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OTA Measurements of LTE MIMO-Enabled Devices
Over-the-air (OTA) measurements are commonly used to determine the wireless system performance of wireless-enabled devices aside from field testing. LTE has introduced MIMO in order to improve network performance. This webinar presents a straightforward and cost-effective solution for LTE MIMO OTA testing to rank radiated MIMO performance. The LTE MIMO OTA decomposition approach determines separate figures of merit for the key MIMO receiver chain subsystems: the MIMO antenna subsystem using the radiated approach and the MIMO receiver using the conducted approach. The webinar focuses on the radiated approach, which takes arbitrary angles of arrival (AoAs) for the MIMO streams into account and provides sufficient control over the AoAs in 3D.
Attendees will learn:
- LTE MIMO OTA test methodologies
- Decomposition approach
- OTA measurements of 2x2 MIMO LTE devices
- Basic understanding of mobile communications standards
- Basic knowledge of OTA measurements
- Engineering and lab managers
- Research and principal engineers
- RF and transceiver design engineers
- Test engineers and managers
- OTA engineers
- Wireless system engineers
Erwin Boehler, OTA Product Manager, Rohde & Schwarz
Erwin Boehler has a degree (Dipl. Ing.) in electrical engineering. He started his career at Rohde & Schwarz as a development engineer for process controllers and continued as a system engineer for production test systems. Since 2009 he has been a product manager for OTA performance test systems and RF test chambers.
Thorsten Hertel, OTA Product Specialist, Rohde & Schwarz USA
Thorsten Hertel is the OTA product specialist for Rohde & Schwarz USA. He is responsible for defining and promoting the Rohde & Schwarz OTA systems, including wireless turnkey systems, measurement and control software, as well as the test and measurement equipment components. He is also the technical representative for Rohde & Schwarz at standardization meetings and industrial conferences such as those hosted by CTIA. Prior to joining Rohde & Schwarz, he managed the antenna design and OTA test teams at HP (previously Palm). He holds a master of science degree in electrical and computer engineering and a PhD from the Georgia Institute of Technology. | <urn:uuid:bac2bd87-31a0-4c5f-bd4a-f77522429f67> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://techonline.com/electrical-engineers/education-training/webinars/4396208/OTA-Measurements-of-LTE-MIMO-Enabled-Devices- | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917533 | 483 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Revista Cubana de Obstetricia y Ginecología
versión On-line ISSN 1561-3062
PUIG VEGA, Ángel et al. Maternal malnutrition and its relation with some perinatal results. Rev Cubana Obstet Ginecol [online]. 2003, vol.29, n.1, pp. 0-0. ISSN 1561-3062.
Nutrition in the pregnant women is a controversial topic nowadays and among the most important factors are the maternal weight gain during gestation and an optimal gestational time. A prospective descriptive study was carried out on 363 patients seen at the Nutrition Service of the hospital, 115 of them were adolescents up to 19 years-old and the remaining 248 were pregnant over 20 years. . Data were collected in a tailored-made register book and later processed in an IBM computer in Matanzas University through MICROSTAT system. They allowed estimating the percentage, the median and the standard deviation as a measure of central tendency and of dispersion respectively, and Chi square (X2) where a £ 0,05. Twin pregnant women and those who did not give birth at the hospital were excluded from the sample. It was shown that the adolescent pregnant women did not show the biggest complications and that the most important thing was an adequate weight gain during pregnancy that may affect not only the neonate´s weight but also the perinatal morbidity and mortality indicators.
Palabras llave : MOTHER NUTRITION; NUTRITION DISORDERS; PLACENTAL INSUFFICIENCY; INDICATORS OF MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY; BIRTH WEIGHT; RISK FACTORS. | <urn:uuid:65867047-4628-4708-b70b-167e81b77dff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://scielo.sld.cu/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S0138-600X2003000100003&lng=es&nrm=iso&tlng=en | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923845 | 358 | 1.835938 | 2 |
March is National Nutrition Month, a nutrition education and information campaign created by the American Dietetic Association. For over 50 years, The Golden Age Centers of Greater Cleveland has played a primary role in providing healthly lunchtime meals in a group setting and vitally needed home delivered meals to homebound seniors in the Greater Cleveland area.
Did you know that:
** The Greater Age Centers serve more than 1200 hot and nutritious meals EACH DAY to seniors in need?
** 93% of seniors receiving home delivered meals are eligible for nursing home care, but are able to stay in their homes, with assistance from the Golden Age Centers?
** $100 provides 100 home delivered meals to one senior for one month?
** The GAC is a primary provider of vouchers which enable low income seniors to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables, normally not attainable within their budgets?
We are proud to provide outstanding programs which enhance the quality of life and independence of older persons. Thanks to the Golden Age Centers of Greater Cleveland, 291,745 hot meals were provided to needy seniors over the past year!
Isabel Taylor, a 90 widow who lives on less than $1,000/month, is frail and alone. She says that her participation in the Lake Shore Golden Age Center, gives her a daily purpose and provides her with the necessary support to continue to live independently. She is one of the more than 5,000 elderly who live in the Cleveland community served by the Golden Age Centers of Greater Cleveland.
Five days a week, community donations to the Golden Age Centers, provide free transportation, a nutritious hot meal (for many, the only meal they will eat all day) and a variety of social and educational services. 55% of the seniors served by the GAC live alone, 72% are women, 90% or more live below the poverty level, and 98% of the home delivered meal clients are eligible for nursing home care. Many participants have multiple disabilities such as cognitive impairment, physical limitations, and hearing and visual impairments. Without the support of the GAC, this vulnerable population would face insurmountable obstacles.
Come hear the stories of Isabel and so many like her, who benefit from GAC programs which promote independence, alleviates loneliness and isolation, and defines what a caring society is truly about. Help support the Golden Age Centers by attending the GAC's Annual Meeting, 3/22 or by sending in a donation via How You Can Help on our website.
"The true measure of any society is how it treats its most vulnerable members." | <urn:uuid:0ace1581-cccc-4a65-a3cc-aa0117d66255> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://goldenagecenters.org/blog/archive/2010/2/default.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948959 | 517 | 2.265625 | 2 |
We live in a complex society. So did the Romans. Ours is more complex because of the modern technology, but the basics are the same. Like us the Romans specialized production with some people making pottery, some being tradespersons, some farmers, some professional soldiers, and so on. The upside of this is that by specializing resources can be combined to achieve an economy of scale in production, which can result in considerable quantities of good quality items being made widely available. The downside is that when most people specialize they often lose both the means and the skills to perform many of the functions necessary for survival, and become reliant on the services of others and the system to provide them with much of what they require. Unlike in a simpler society where everyone or every community is more or less self sufficient, in a complex society like ours or ancient Rome's when things begin to fall apart the links that bind it together begin to break leaving it vulnerable to social and economic disaster. At its peak Rome dominated the Mediterranean basin and outlying portions of Europe, Africa and the Mid-East. Somewhat like our society it was one built on trade with significant urban populations that received their food supply from the far corners of the empire. It levied considerable taxes to support a standing army to protect it, and to finance public works such as roads and water systems. The average Roman of 07 AD probably would have found it hard to imagine the total collapse of the system that she or he lived in. Yet, four hundred odd years later the Western half of the empire was collapsing for various reasons, central authority was evaporating and without it security was lost. Specialized production declined, trade diminished, the abundance of quality goods shrank, and the infrastructure began to decay. Within a century or so the state of Western Europe's society and economy was worse than it was in pre-Roman times. In Britain, for example, a country that had been relatively literate was no longer keeping written records, and in much of the rest of the empire literacy was becoming less widespread. Today our society may be facing a fate similar to that of ancient Rome. We have taken a social and economic ethos built on private welfare and greed, fed it with a great abundance of non-renewable energy, and developed a complex system much more vulnerable to catastrophe than that of the Romans. Today we ship much of our food from halfway around the world, as well as our clothing, our tools, our toys and so on. And we do it in a manner that makes some of us quite wealthy, a wealth that comes at the expense of others. And underneath it all lies a foundation of petroleum and coal, the primary sources of the energy that drive our modern, very complex, industrial system. That foundation has not only given us wealth, it has also given us the means support much larger populations. The bad news is that petroleum production is expected to go into decline as the world's supplies are exhausted, and even if it wasn't, the excessive use of petroleum and coal are damaging our atmosphere and changing our climate. We are caught in a bind where on the one hand some of the resources that we require to maintain our society and support our populations are vanishing, while on the other hand if we continue to use them as we have, the by-products may destroy us anyway. The real bad news is that many of us are in denial about this, and there might not be the political will to take adequate corrective steps before our complex system starts to unravel. This week officials from around the world gathered in Bali to discuss the problems. Mostly what they did is put on a show for political purposes without really facing the problem. If anyone thinks that serious work to fix the environment was on the table, just look at the Canadian delegation. One would think to find environmental scientists who have studied the issue there. Not so in Canada's case, they were not invited. Instead we have officials from the private energy companies serving on the delegation. It is like sending Klu Klux Klan members to represent us at a conference on race relations. Unlike the ancient Romans we have their example and almost two thousand more years of history to learn from it. And unlike the post Roman Britains we are still literate. The writing is on the wall, all that is lacking is officials who will take action on it rather than try to avoid it. | <urn:uuid:7b750e71-596a-46e7-945d-75f183f92dbf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_jerry_we_071212_climate_change_3a_the_.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976381 | 883 | 2.9375 | 3 |
When I say Dell, what comes to mind? If you’re like most people, not much. Perhaps a vague recollection that it’s a custom computer building company. Maybe that it has some sustainability measures. I’m betting you’re painfully short on specifics, and it’s been a while since Dell’s been actively on your radar.
You’re not alone. For a global company with a deep presence in both the consumer and enterprise market in 100+ countries, Dell has been surprisingly low key. Last week was the latest in a series of events they hope will remedy such invisibility: So called CAP Days, a chance for Dell to meet in person everyone from their biggest brand fans to the most staunch CSR watchdogs.
In this case, I and 13 other hand-selected people were flown by Dell to its Austin headquarters, where they had people from across the company (and the world) there to share what Dell has been up to in terms of sustainability.
This was no day long infomercial. I felt that Dell clearly cares about doing things the right way, as thoroughly as it can – and listening to what others think about it. I’m a long time Apple user, but I have to say that Apple could definitely learn from Dell’s willingness to be transparent about what it does, and where it falls short. And whereas Apple is seen as the innovator on so many fronts, it’s largely a laggard behind what Dell is up to in terms of sustainability, from product and packaging design to materials sourcing and end of life take back.
Much was discussed that day, but it was Dirk Olin, Editor of Corporate Responsibility magazine that put it best when he explained what “faulty source monitoring” means: When the brain is absent stimuli, it will make something up to fill in the space. Translated to a business context, it means that people will fill in whatever story they think fits best, if they don’t know the real one.
Though what I learned Dell was doing was impressive, it became clear they needed to simplify and put front and center the messaging regarding the depth of their commitment to sustainability. Otherwise, people just baselessly speculate. Sound familiar?
A few of the things that most impressed me:
Deep, domestic recycling efforts. Dell wanted to ensure that ecycling happened as cleanly and ethically as possible, so it began reaching out to Goodwill, the donations based organization that most people in the US think of as where to bring their old electronics for recycling. Dell Reconnect was the result, accepting all brands of used computer components, at no cost.
But an example of faulty source monitoring when it comes to Dell is this sentence, buried deep on a secondary Reconnect background page: “Dell Reconnect does not export waste or send any environmentally sensitive material to landfills.” Many people are hesitant to recycle electronics due to this very concern. Absent that information, they may fill it in with an overseas shipping, child labor using, toxics exposing version of reality.
Dell has helped 2200+ participating Goodwill locations become much more versed in how to effectively manage the computers brought to its locations. The program has created 250 domestic e-waste recycling jobs. The scope and thoroughness of Dell & Goodwill’s efforts are something other companies would do well to learn from.
The creativity of Dell’s recycling is inspiring, as shown in the video below. For instance, older yet still functioning machines may get turned into gaming specific machines, with a number of vintage titles installed for that purpose.
Dell has 65 global recycling partners, and regularly consults on remanufacturing issues, improving future iterations of its machines to reflect what they learn. Currently, 95% of the materials going into Dell products are able to either be directly reused as a whole, on a component basis, or recycled for materials. Dell has also begun to use post consumer waste recycled content in the computer shells, including enough milk jug plastic to reach from Florida to Canada.
Plant based packaging that makes business sense. It’s no easy feat to create packaging from atypical materials. It’s even tougher to do it at less cost than the typical options. And yet Dell has done it, creating a bamboo replacement for the styrofoam customarily used to cushion products in their boxes. Wheat chaff, the “waste” from farming that’s often burnt or thrown away, is being looked into as well.
Dell’s thoroughness shows here, not only going with FSC certified bamboo, but going there themselves to meet the foresters managing the supplies, to be certain of the integrity of the operations. All of the water used in processing is recycled, aside from what evaporates. When the sun is out, it’s what’s used to dry the resulting materials.
Going further, Dell announced this week at Fortune Brainstorm Green that they are testing the use of mushrooms in their server packaging. Mushrooms? Yes, mushroom’s greater density than bamboo can take the increased weight of servers as compared to bamboo for lighter, consumer level electronics.
If there’s anywhere that Dell falls short, it’s how clearly, effectively, and bravely they convey who they are as a company and their commitment to being as green as possible. Some Dell staff at the DellCAP meeting expressed concern that they’d be seen as “tooting their own horn” by being too forward with their green credentials. Horn tooting is warranted, Dell is doing an excellent job!
Paul Smith is a sustainable business innovator, the founder of GreenSmith Consulting, and has an MBA in Sustainable Management from Presidio Graduate School in San Francisco. He creates interest in, conversations about, and business for green (and greening) companies, via social media marketing. | <urn:uuid:6774572f-6f9e-4a2f-a932-2b6dc53656a8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/04/dell-invisible-green-computer-company/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963388 | 1,232 | 1.539063 | 2 |
As the nation approaches the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, an Arab-American Muslim man, his wife and six kids continue to wrap their brains around a terrorist attack that befell them almost two years after the world's attention turned to New York City. This time, it was in West Covina, Calif. This time is was at a Hummer dealership. And this time, it was 8/22 instead of 9/11. For all the dissimilarities between the two events, there was one constant: terrorism. The two events, reinforced by the recent Norway bombing, have taught me this: I'm looking forward to a day when the term "terrorism" is not explicitly linked to "Islam" or "Arabs."
That August 2003, all of my family was shaken out of bed at the usual hour of 5 a.m., just as we had been two years earlier, to the news of an inexplicable terrorist attack.
My father, a Syrian man who had migrated to the states in 1968 and received his citizenship in 1984, arrived only minutes later in jeans, a polo from the '70s, and sandals -- a far cry from his standard suit-and-tie uniform -- to see one of the fruits of his rags-to-riches, American-Dream successes, his Hummer of West Covina dealership, in flames.
Hours later, my father's fears were put to rest. This was not a hate crime targeting his religious or racial background. The culprits of the arson attack, three members of the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), used our West Covina dealership as the backdrop for a sensationalist stunt to nationally publicize their message: down with "gas-guzzling" Hummers and the "big, fat, lazy Americans" who drive them, as two of the various slogans graffitied onto more than 80 SUVs on the lot stated. About 125 vehicles, ranging in their degree of damage, and a firebombed parts building bore the brunt of the attack. The monetary damages exceeded several million dollars.
Since two of the three suspects fled the country, only one, a doctoral student at Cal Tech, was tried and sentenced to an eight-year term years later.
We received both national and international attention, from The New York Times and the U.K.'s The Independent to features in magazines like Maxim, and we were even the focus of documentary films. As I worked for my father at the time, I was asked to don another hat in addition to my role as Operations Manager, that of Media and Public Relations Representative. Many of these aforementioned publications and others like them contacted me for the story behind "the story." Thus, I was constantly forced to confront points of irony, ambiguity and understandings of justice connected to our story under a media microscope.
Ironically, ELF members chose to target our dealership, a dealership that had sold more electric vehicles than Hummers at that point. In fact, my father had donated electric vehicles to local high schools and colleges.
Another point of complication was the efficacy of the ELF's methods. According to fire officials on the scene, the fire produced by a Molotov cocktail emitted more toxins into the air than all the burned Hummers and SUVs could have done in their entire life cycles! In fact, so detrimental was this to the cause of environmental awareness and protection that even Arianna Huffington issued a statement of disdain in The New York Times with regard to the attack: "'What these people are doing isn't activism -- it is vandalism, and I strongly oppose it."
Now, to the understandings of justice, I had to ask myself: had Arabs or Muslims orchestrated this arson attack, how would the media have portrayed the perpetrators? Yes, the media, from newspapers to TV news coverage, depicted the arsonists as loony extremists. But had they been anything other than white, how different would their portrayal have been? Would the incident still be represented as an isolated one, committed by fringe lunatics like Anders Behring Breivik; James von Brunn, the white supremacist who perpetrated the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum shooting; or Timothy McVeigh? (Maybe you don't remember all these names now, because they belong to the anomalies we are suppose to forget.) Or would a community have to answer for an individual's or a few individuals' deplorable act of violence? Would the accused serve an eight-year prison term or be sent to Guantanamo Bay? As an Arab-American Muslim woman working on a doctorate in American Studies & Ethnicity, questions like these are hard to avoid. And questions like these shed light on the glaring deficiency in our attempts as a nation -- politically, socially and culturally -- to come to terms with the limitations of a certain term.
And there was something else that articles, documentaries and TV news stories failed to capture concerning the uniqueness of this story: the complexity of defining terrorism, and especially domestic terrorism. In light of the incident and others that followed, the FBI started to suggest that "eco-militants," including environmental and animal-rights militants, were the biggest terrorist threat in the U.S. as of 2005. But as we approach the 10th anniversary of 9/11, a treasure trove of documentaries, books representing both sensationalistic and investigative journalism, Hollywood action blockbusters, PBS and Christiane Amanpour specials later, there still seems to be a lack of clarity around and an obsession with the term "terrorism" -- and a certain kind of racially and religiously understood "terrorism." Although clear and pointed, the FBI's memo seemed to be lost amid terror-gasmic action films like "Traitor" and "The Kingdom" set in the Muslim world and Saudi Arabia, and fear-mongering pundits like Glenn Beck, who once started an interview with Muslim Congressman Keith Ellison by saying, "[W]hat I feel like saying is, 'Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.'" Nothing highlighted the complexity surrounding the term more for me then a personal experience I had almost three years ago.
In November 2008 I was invited to participate in a roundtable organized by the Department of Homeland Security's Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberities, which hand selected 20 Muslim, Arab, South-Asian and Sikh youth leaders in the Los Angeles area to discuss our experiences and perspectives on government policy in the post-9/11 climate. The then-DHS-Secretary, Michael Cherkoff, listened to our concerns and recommendations for government policy, increasing civic engagement, and defining violent radicalism and terrorism. Earlier in the day, the participants were asked by DHS to weigh in on the department's suggested alternative terms for defining terrorism. The one that department officials appeared to flaunt around victoriously, "takfirism," deriving from the Arabic word "takfir," which refers to apostasy in Islam, continued to affirmatively support what the U.S. media and public and even government officials had already suggested: an understanding of "terrorism" in Arab or Muslim terms.
In reaction to the limited scope of application, I presented an anecdotal curve ball to the DHS officials: my father's experience. After recounting my father's story, I implored officials and panel members, "Given my father's case, please tell me how the term 'takfirism' could have protected him? Was he not a victim of terrorism, too? Or, because it wasn't Islamically motivated, was he not to be protected?" A stinging silence fell on the room. It seemed that this "curve ball" conundrum perplexed us all, Cherkoff included. At the end of the day, we resolved to reject the term but did not offer up a replacement. And yet, even as I demonstrated the insufficiency of such religiously-based definitions of terrorism, Cherkoff had decided on "violent Islamic extremism" when we could not offer a term.
I did not then or know now of a viable alternative to the term or our standardized references to terrorism. But I can speak from experience as to how a term limited to notions of "Islamic fundamentalism" for the just protection of terrorist victims can fail us all.
So, as we approach the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, I call for a more nuanced understanding and application of the term "terrorism." After all, as my father's case demonstrated, defining terrorism in terms of race or a racialized religion will do less to make us feel safe as a country, as such targeted terms are more likely to contribute to sowing seeds of Islamophobia rather then increase the scope of protection for victims of domestic terrorism. If "terrorism" were to be applied both socially and politically to anyone who inflicted terror on a person, people or populations, protection would be protection as opposed to racial profiling. As a nation, we are disabled, not enabled, when we reach for the stereotype band-aids to heal our wounds. Ten years and a new administration later, it's about time that we the citizens and government officials work together, head to the lab and not the medicine cabinet, to invent new methods to heal a country's pain, because maybe it's something beyond a hotly contested word.
As I confessed earlier, I don't know what that term could possibly be, or if it even helps us to rely on a single term. But, what I can offer is this prescription: for us as a collective, and even as individuals, to conscientiously challenge these stock uses of "terrorism." My father's story does much to challenge the conventional understanding of "terrorism," as even Arabs can have terrorist attacks committed to them, and even by white Americans. But, I plea with you to ask yourself honestly: now, do your understandings of "terrorism" reflect such a challenge?
Follow Maytha Alhassen on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mayalhassen | <urn:uuid:c6c698f2-8498-42a9-a733-99d2804543db> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maytha-alhassen/from-911-to-822-my-arabam_b_954786.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971908 | 2,034 | 1.507813 | 2 |
PROBLEM: SMALLER GOVERNMENT = HIGHER UNEMPLOYMENT
This may not be self-evident but there is something in this chart that is important if one is to make sense of the uniformed political bickering over minimizing the size of government and minimizing unemployment. The truth is that it is impossible to do both simultaneously!
The difference in height of the red (unemployment) and blue (unemployment excluding government job losses) curves is government job losses as a percent of total employment.
You will notice that since October 2009 the percentage of government job losses has generally increased. In April 2012 unemployment without government job losses is about 7.2% and the overall unemployment of 8.2% is an amount inflated by the 1% contribution of unemployment job losses.
Prognosticators have said that Obama wins in November if unemployment reached 8% of less. Well private employment has consistently increased for at least a year. Unfortunately the private economy has not yet been unable to grow sufficiently fast to compensate for the government layoffs the Obama administration has found necessary to reduce government employment below the record levels of the Bush 2 administration!
So rather than blaming Obama for the lack of jobs it would be far more appropriate to acknowledge that not only has the administration supported conditions conducive to private growth, he has also significantly reduced the size of the previous government!
(via The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Beast) | <urn:uuid:152c1624-0400-49ec-8f0c-1e303dcef10f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://graphicalview.tumblr.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96376 | 294 | 1.742188 | 2 |
I am a firm believer in the power of modeling for students. I'm not talking about getting up on the catwalk in your best outfit and pouting, but rather giving some examples of the type and quality of work you expect them to (eventually) independently produce. As much as I value this tool for teaching, I can't claim that I have used it as often as I should.
One of the skills I'm not seeing my students perform well this year is compare and contrast. I have high school kids, mind you, and my personal opinion is that this is a thinking skill which they should have in place before they hit my classroom. My kids come in knowing that a Venn diagram is a graphic organizer for comparing and contrasting...but they don't really know how to use it. They understand that unique features of two ideas go in the parts of the circles which don't overlap and that something in common should go in the middle; however, there's more to a high-quality compare and contrast than that.
I have been completely disappointed by what I've seen on the first two tests. I've included one short answer item on each which asked students to compare and contrast two concepts from our recent unit. The first issue is simply the lack of organization of ideas. The other one is that most students do not seem to realize that compare and contrast is asking them to do two things, even though the word "and" is included. They just contrast ideas. So, I've decided to back the truck up and start from scratch on teaching kids what they need to do.
We're talking about cells now. The first part we read about was the two types of cells: prokaryotic and eukaryotic. This was a great opportunity to use a chunk of informational text as a basis for a note-taking strategy involving compare and contrast. I drew a t-chart on the board. I told kids that it was okay to use a Venn, but I wanted to give them another tool...and this one was also easier to fill in. (Those circles can be a bear.) The first paragraph we read gave us information on prokaryotes: no membrane-bound structures, unicellular, bacteria as examples. Great. We filled in one side of the t-chart. Then we read the next paragraph about eukaryotes. We used what we had in the chart as a guideline for filling in the other side. Kids didn't realize that they needed to pair their ideas. If prokaryotes have no internal membrane-bound structures, then what do we say about this characteristic for eukaryotes? Number of cells? Examples? We next looked at the diagrams to compare structures. We added "plasma membrane" to both sides of the t-chart. We had compared and contrasted---and had a rather nifty pre-writing piece to boot.
Okay, kiddos, write your summary: A prokaryotic cell has no internal membrane-bound structures, but a eukaryotic cell does. Prokaryotes, like bacteria, are unicellular, but eukaryotes, such as animals and plants, can have one or more cells. Both kinds of cells have a plasma membrane.
Is it worth "losing" science time to teach them to this tool they can use for all of their classes? I certainly think it is. Time will tell about the payoff for this. I recently gave them some independent practice and am hopeful about seeing improvement over the long haul this year. If they're 15 years old and haven't received scaffolded instruction in how to organize their thinking, maybe I need to be the one to demystify these skills for them. It has been another good reminder for me to be sure that my students have a clear picture of what I expect them to know and do. | <urn:uuid:657a4f2f-2cbc-4f84-a64f-443d179b0a19> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.whatitslikeontheinside.com/2007/11/teaching-thinking-skills.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979439 | 789 | 3.296875 | 3 |
i can't play fast arpeggio very well, especially in white key (for me, it's very hard to play fast arpeggio in C Major, F Major, and G Major)...is there any suggestion for practicing fast arpeggio?
Technique is not something that is achieved overnight. I suggest playing B major, D flat major, F sharp Major, and A flat Major arpeggios to begin with, and then start with the white keys. Time is an important element in piano. Time, Patience, and hard work can ensure success. As for practice, I know it can be very boring just playing the arpeggios over and over again. I suggest playing Prokofiev's etude in C major known as "The Harp" prelude. This of course is not an any piece, but isint exactly his 2nd piano concerto cadenza either. This prelude focuses on arpeggios mostly in the right hand and some in the left hand. It has beautiful harmonies and at the same time very beneficial. Here is the link to the scores http://imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/c ... piano_.pdf
It is the 7th piece titled Prelude
Hope I was able to help. | <urn:uuid:ad8d6cd4-5fd8-4290-b334-71f9c2996073> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pianosociety.com/new/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=4372&p=42927 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969304 | 269 | 1.953125 | 2 |
Nightly News | October 03, 2012
>>> we're back as promised with an nbc news investigation about smoke detectors that may surprise a lot of people including those of us who follow the rules about where to install them, how often to check the batteries. the problem is, as you're about to see, even when the deadliest fires erupt, they may not deliver the warning needed to save lives. tonight's report from our national investigative correspondent jeff rossen is an urgent matter that gets off to a very disturbing start.
>> i have a fire in my home.
>> reporter: a desperate mother waking up to a house full of smoke, trying to save her kids.
>> my first thought is the four people that i have upstairs. trying to make sure they're not scared to death, that they're safe.
>> reporter: the kids didn't make it. cause of death -- smoke inhalation . so why didn't they have more warning? after all the house had working smoke detectors .
>> then when it was time, they never went off.
>> reporter: amanda says she had the most common type of smoke detector used in 90% of homes. inexpensive, easy to find alarms that rely on ionization technology. they work well to detect fires with fast flames, but experts say they may not save i in smoldering smoky fires that can strike while you sleep. don russell is a scientist at texas a&m . when i buy a smoke detector , i assume they're going to sound when there's smoke.
>> that's a reasonable assumption, but it's wrong.
>> reporter: we had him set up a test, playing thee ionization detectors in a room, then setting a couch on fire. toxic smoke is building, but it takes 36 minutes for the first detector to go off. but there's another technology out there that gives you better warning in these fires. it's called a photo electric detector. so dr. russell set up another test. this time with a photo electric next to those three ionization detectors. 17 minutes in, with barely any smoke in the room, the photo electric sounds the alarm. the ionizations? they're still silent for another 21 minutes. even with smoke everywhere.
>> if i would have relied on ionization, then my family probably wouldn't make it out. but with the photoelectric they'd have plenty of time to get out.
>> reporter: the leading smoke detector companies do make photoelectric alarms but still sell most of their products without it.
>> it's probably a business decision.
>> reporter: they cost less money to make than the photoelectric?
>> that is a correct statement.
>> reporter: the companies told us all their detectors provide adequate escape time and meet safety standards but critics say the government should force higher standards. so we went to the agency overseeing the companies. why not mandate photoelectric?
>> because both technologies are working in saving lives.
>> reporter: we know of several cases where the smoke alarm , people say, just did not go off.
>> in those cases, they need to practice a fire escape plan to make sure they can get out.
>> reporter: but if the smoke detector didn't go off and the house is full of smoke by the time it does, what does an escape plan do?
>> it helps them escape better when the smoke alarm eventually goes off.
>> reporter: but eventually isn't good enough for the mom that lost nearly everything.
>> i would think that if i had known i might have a family of seven instead of a family of three.
>> reporter: just to be clear, no one is saying throw out your smoke alarm tonight. fire officials say the best advice is to have both technologies in your home. you can buy a dual detector that has both in one. thing is, they're harder to find in the stores and will cost you a little more money, too.
>> jeff rossen , thank you for your reporting on this. | <urn:uuid:5b484abc-8312-4027-92d6-a082db45518f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nbcnews.com/video/nightly-news/49279732 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97772 | 833 | 2.21875 | 2 |
Property and Mortgages: Overview
The UK mortgage market is the most sophisticated and innovative in Europe, with a huge range of choices to suit all kinds of needs and circumstances. It is difficult enough for the professionals to keep up to date with latest developments in this fast moving environment; for property owners who venture into the market once every few years, the 'do-it-yourself' approach is fraught with hazards.
Property has proved to be a very profitable investment for many people, but it is important to understand that there are risks. Property values have been known to go down both across the board – as in the late 80s and early 90s – and in particular areas, perhaps as result of regional economic problems or local planning decisions. Paying too high a price or borrowing too much can both be dangerous, especially if the property boom slows down or stops. So it is important to diversify and to be fully aware of the possible downsides.
We can help with your strategic financial planning in terms of both the proportion of your wealth you should hold in property and the way you should finance the purchases.
Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
There may be a fee for mortgage advice. The precise amount will depend on your circumstances and/or amount of borrowing. We will notify you of any costs before any advice is provided. | <urn:uuid:0021e53f-1d9e-447b-abfb-9f1307269085> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eafsolutions.co.uk/site/knowledgebank/ifa_know_propertyandm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960131 | 284 | 1.539063 | 2 |
ABSTRACT: Controlled laboratory chlorination of acetaldehyde (ACD) under typical drinking water conditions (pH 6.7, 7.6 and 8.8, and temperature 4 degrees C and 21 degrees C) revealed that the formation of chloral hydrate (CH), the most common halogenated acetaldehyde (HAs), increased with contact time (0-10 days). However, at increased pH and temperature, CH reached maximum levels and subsequently broke down partially to chloroform and other unidentified compounds. After 10 days contact time, a maximum of 63% (molar) of the initial ACD consumed were converted into CH or chloroform (TCM). Various surveys of drinking water systems indicated that ACD is not the only precursor of CH. A suite of aldehydes (including ACD), and chlorinated disinfection by-products (including TCM and CH) were found in most distribution systems. The levels of bromide in source water impacted speciation of HAs. In addition to CH, brominated and other mixed (Cl/Br) acetaldehydes were detected in most samples; the speciation of HAs and THMs followed comparable trends. Similar to chloroform for trihalomethanes, CH contributed from as low as 5% to up to 60% of the total HAs. The bromine incorporation factors (BIF) in THMs and HAs were shown to increase with increasing bromide ion concentrations in the source water. Brominated THMs are more readily formed than their HA analogues; in fact, BIF values for THMs were 2-3 times higher than for the HAs. It was found that HAs may be as high as THMs in some drinking waters. As a result, the determination of the other target HAs, in addition to CH, is necessary for a better assessment of the pool of disinfection by-products in drinking water.
Chemosphere 07/2008; 72(6):875-81. · 3.21 Impact Factor | <urn:uuid:14212a26-009a-4cf1-b280-89bbba249ffa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.researchgate.net/researcher/14678414_Boniface_Koudjonou/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954913 | 419 | 2.109375 | 2 |
Melting is a fundamental process in which a crystal undergoes a phase transition from a solid to a melt. Despite its common occurrence, understanding this process still a challenge.
A number of theories, which consider melting as a process occurring homogeneously throughout the crystal have been proposed during the past century. For example, according to Lindemann, melting is triggered by a mechanical instability of the solid, which caused by enhanced vibration of the atoms. Solids liquefy when the amplitude of atomic thermal vibrations exceeds some fraction of interatomic spacing. According to Born, melting arises from the onset of a mechanical instability of the crystal lattice, which manifests itself in an imaginary phonon frequency and the vanishing shear elastic moduli, accompanied by the collapse of the crystal lattice. Other models are based on spontaneous thermal production of the intrinsic lattice defects (vacancies, interstitials and dislocations) near the melting point and this leads to break-down of the long-range crystalline order and melting transition. However, the extrinsic defects (free surfaces and grain boundaries) were not considered as an important ingredient of a melting scenario. Those models are based on the concept of one-phase melting or continuous melting, i.e. they imply that the phase change might be continuous or nearly so; given sufficient resolution it should be possible to track the breakdown of the solid throughout its transition to the liquid state. These models are capable of calculate the melting temperature , but in the most it is overestimated.
The existing theories of melting are still far from being complete and raise new questions. Hence, the purpose of the present research is to gain a better understanding of the mechanism of melting transition, and especially to investigate the rôle of point defects and the surface of the solid in the melting transition. Despite the fact that we learned very much recently about the melting of fcc metals, it is not clear if those results were specific to fcc structure of these metals, so we decided to study melting of a bcc metal, vanadium, by means of computer simulations.
An interatomic potential proposed by Finnis and Sinclair , was chosen for our simulations. The potential was tested by calculation of various properties of a perfect crystal of vanadium. The results are in good agreement with available experimental data. Afterwards point defects were introduced into the bulk either by the removal an atom (vacancy) or by the addition one (self-interstitial). The most stable configuration of defects at low temperatures was found to be a dumb-bell, the split-interstitial. Point defects change the physical properties of the solid. Interstitials expand the sample, while vacancies decrease its volume. The change of the volume is less noticeable for vanadium than for copper which is attributed to the less close-packed structure of its bcc lattice. We found also that the shear moduli are softened as a result of the volume expansion of the solid which is associated either with an increase in temperature or interstitial concentration. This softening of the moduli is less pronounced for vanadium in comparison with copper.
There is a strong evidence that Born instability is the trigger for bulk melting. The instability is set in by interstitials which expand the solid up to a critical volume, at which the lattice of the crystal becomes mechanically unstable and collapses. This defect-mediated mechanical melting occurs at the temperatures below the melting temperature of the perfect crystal. We verified that the critical volume at which the crystal melts is independent of the path thru the phase space by which it reached, i.e. either by heating the perfect crystal or by adding defects at a constant temperature. We performed simulations with various concentrations of point defects and found that bulk melting temperature is lowered by interstitials, but this effect is less pronounced in comparison with the same effect for copper.
The mechanical melting can not be observed directly in the laboratory, because a real crystal will eventually melt at which is lower than via thermodynamic melting process that nucleates at its surface. The process can be suppressed experimentally if the surface is eliminated, for example, by coating one material with another one, with larger . In this way silver coated by gold was superheated by K above . In computer experiments we are able to eliminate the surface using periodic boundary conditions in all directions and thus can investigate bulk melting.
In order to study surface melting we use periodic boundary conditions only in two directions and create a free surface in the third one. The thermodynamic melting temperature was found to be by means of the method proposed by Lutchko et al. (the bulk melting temperature of a perfect sample is ). Melting of crystals begins at the surface, because the activation energy for formation of a liquid phase is lower at the surface, than in the bulk. The liquid layer at the surface eliminates the barrier for nucleation of the liquid phase, and thus no metastability effects (superheating) exist.
Most of the theoretical models of surface melting phenomenological in nature, and therefore neglect the atomistic details of the phenomenon. Only recently the first microscopic theory has been proposed , which is capable of describing static properties of the rare-gas crystals. The microscopic description of surface melting phenomena emerged mainly from computer simulations.
We studied surface premelting of vanadium using molecular dynamics. The structural, transport and energetic properties of the various low-index surfaces of vanadium, namely Va(001), Va(011) and Va(111), at different temperatures were investigated. We found that upon increasing the temperature the vibrations of atoms at the surface region becomes so large, that they ``disturb'' each other. As a result, point defects are generated which begin to migrate between the surface layers and an adlayer appears on the top of the first surface layer. The disorder begins to spread from the topmost layer to a deeper ones. At higher temperatures a thin quasiliquid film appears in the surface region. The observed premelting phenomena are most pronounced in the surface region of the least packed Va(111) face, and is less noticeable for the closest packed Va(011) face. Similar results were obtained in simulations of fcc metals, where the least packed face (011) exhibits premelting, while the closest packed face (111) remains ordered almost up to the melting point.
In order to understand the relation between the bulk and surface melting, we applied the Born criterion of melting to the surface region and found a linear relation between the activation energy of surface defects and the melting temperature. This relation was confirmed by results of experiments and computer simulations of metals with fcc structure . In order to test the model for metals with bcc structure, we calculated the activation energy of the surface defects for the least packed Va(111) and compared it with theoretical prediction. The agreement between the theory and simulations was found to be reasonable. A general conclusion was made that the Born criterion correctly describes both surface and bulk melting, and may provide the ``missing link'' which will finally tie together these two scenarios for melting transitions. | <urn:uuid:a11c7e81-b3f7-47a4-9969-9dc4f0acc425> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://phycomp.technion.ac.il/~phsorkin/thesis/node1.html | 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 | 0.948194 | 1,427 | 3.484375 | 3 |
Cold weather safety
January 23, 2013
With the extremely cold weather we’re experiencing,
the district presents some tips on cold weather safety.
Parents are ultimately responsible for ensuring that their children are properly clothed and not allowed to remain outdoors in extreme weather conditions of any sort. Children’s—even teens’—outerwear should be monitored every day during extreme weather conditions. Warm jackets, hats, scarves, boots and an extra pair of dry gloves in their pockets will help protect them during extremely cold temperatures.
If students are allowed outdoors in extreme weather, they must tell an adult if they feel cold, or if they feel pain or numbness and/or if they see a color change in any part of their body, or if they become wet (especially if boots and/or gloves are wet). In these instances, the student should see the school nurse to be warmed, given dry clothing and evaluated for frostbite. Schuylerville students will not be allowed outside during the school day or for club and athletic activities if temperatures are dangerously low.
Children should be instructed not to remain outdoors for longer than five minutes in extreme temperatures, and should know to go inside sooner if they are cold, feeling pain or numbness in their hands, feet, ears, or nose, or if their clothing (especially boots or gloves) becomes wet.
should avoid leaving children completely unattended before bus
pick-ups and should discuss with their children what to do in an
emergency or bus delay if the parent has already left for work. For
instance, parents should arrange for a place for their children to
go in the event the parent needs to leave a child before the
scheduled bus arrival. Children should be familiar with this
emergency plan (i.e., they should know: when to ask for help, where
to find safe shelter in an emergency, how to protect themselves with
proper winter clothing and the danger signs for frostbite). | <urn:uuid:b324062e-d098-4408-af41-0168c0d5eba2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.schuylervilleschools.org/News/12_13/1_23_13_ColdWeatherSafety.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940348 | 405 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Music brings everyone together. But there are times when we feel that the music we're listening to is old and boring, like we've been there and done that. We want new music, new adventures, new perspective. So we set out to explore a vast expanse of new artists, songs, and genres. It can be overwhelming. Here's how to be organized and find the best of the best.
1. Read: Spinner, Rolling Stone, and most other small publications offer music reviews. These can help you broaden your horizons and get a better sense of what is hot at the moment.
2. Internet: Sites like MySpace still cater to the musical crowd, but if you want to become familiar with artists who you may like immediately, without doing the research, sites like Pandora and Last.fm play music similar to the artist who you identify. iLike also works well because it works in tandem with...
3. iTunes: Downloading the latest version of iTunes will help to refamiliarize you with old music that you might have forgotten. Newer software is smarter, faster, and more reliable. To increase the likelihood that you hear songs you like when you put it on shuffle, rate the songs, or comment on the artists.
4. Car: When you're listening to mobile audio, you get a good sense of what sounds good coming from your car audio subwoofers. It doesn't just depend on how hard your car audio amplifiers are working, it also matters how many heads you turn as you cruise down the street. Plus, when you're listening to music in your car audio, you are taking advantage of the perfect music listening opportunity. | <urn:uuid:d6782891-db49-4e77-aa80-1e488d2ec3ec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://vintagepapers.blogspot.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949024 | 342 | 1.601563 | 2 |
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* Eastern workers, groups say reject plan to split NOC
* Benghazi calling for NOC to be moved back to eastern city
* Concern over Libya output due to disruptive protests
By Marie-Louise Gumuchian
BENGHAZI, Libya, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Eastern Libya is rejecting a compromise proposal by the government to split the OPEC member's main oil body as popular pressure for more authority in the energy-rich region gathers pace, potentially threatening output through protests.
The National Oil Corporation (NOC) is headquartered in Tripoli and since the end of the 2011 war that ousted Muammar Gaddafi, workers in the east have called for more powers in a region accounting for around 80 percent of Libya's oil wealth.
Oil Minister Abdelbari al-Arusi has proposed splitting the NOC into an exploration and production body based in the capital and a refining and petrochemicals company in Benghazi.
But eastern oil workers and civil groups want the NOC to be transferred to Benghazi, cradle of the anti-Gaddafi uprising and where the North African country's biggest oil company, Arabian Gulf Oil Company (Agoco), was the first to restart production.
"We don't want a NOC branch, we want the whole thing," Tahani Mohammed Ben Ali, head of Agoco's Benghazi workers' union, told Reuters. Agoco has about 6,000 employees, of which around a third are in the headquarters in Benghazi.
"We have had several protests ... We haven't had any strikes in the fields yet, but they could also move."
The struggle over the NOC's powers adds to broader discontent simmering in Benghazi, Libya's second biggest city, as residents say they still feel marginalised by Tripoli.
Libya's east was starved of cash during Gaddafi's 42-year rule, and long-standing complaints the region has been deprived of its fair share of wealth have led to calls for a federal political structure rather than strictly central rule.
Opponents of the proposal want control over exploration and production and say there are fewer commercial activities in refining. Easterners like Ben Ali also cite the NOC's historical roots as one of the main reasons they want the body in Benghazi.
Its predecessor the Libyan General Petroleum Company was set up there in 1968. The NOC was established in 1970, a year after Gaddafi came to power, and relocated to Tripoli.
"We as the local council take the responsibility for trying to bring back organisations that were taken to Tripoli such as the NOC," Abdelhamid Elhadad, head of the industrial and oil committee at Benghazi local council, said.
"We refuse this offer - there is a big difference between a NOC dealing with refineries and petrochemicals and a NOC dealing with exploration and production. I cannot stop anyone from fighting for Benghazi; we just want a decision."
FINDING A SOLUTION
The east is also home to Ras Lanuf, Libya's biggest refinery, and key export terminals Marsa al-Brega and Tobruk.
In October, the NOC issued a resolution to open a Benghazi branch but its Tripoli workers protested at the powers it would be granted.
When the NOC said it would amend the resolution that sparked protests in east Libya. In November, Arusi announced the proposed split in a move seen as placating easterners' demands.
"This is something difficult that needs lots of discussion," Yussef al-Ghariani, head of the executive committee of the oil and gas workers' union, said. "As people here refused this proposal we are trying to find a solution to solve the problem."
Speaking in the building that once housed the NOC's predecessor, he proposed creating two bodies: one in charge of gas and another of oil. "We are working on a presentation we hope will be ready by the end of January."
But in a country where protests have become an effective way of changing policy, he said it would be put to civil groups who want Benghazi to become Libya's economic capital for feedback.
Oil installations have become a focal point of popular protests in the new Libya, with the latest demonstration shutting down the eastern Zueitina oil terminal.
Such disruptions risk cutting Libyan output after returning close to pre-war levels of 1.6 million barrels per day.
"We have seen time and time again over the last few months protests have shut down refineries and refineries are directly linked to oilfields... It's a cumulative effect of constant struggles like this that impact output," Amrita Sen, chief oil analyst at Energy Aspects in London, said.
"Overall we have Libya (output) flat (in 2013) but I would say... there is significant downside risk."
Libya's new rulers know they have to strike a careful balance and stress the proposal is still being discussed.
"Before we have a decision, we should submit the vision, scope and activity and the timetable... I think that's still not finalised yet," Deputy Oil Minister Omar Shakmak said.
"It is not easy, maybe it does require some more negotiations and discussions in the media and workshops to explain to people what the whole idea is."
Some activists say they are giving Tripoli until next month to decide on moving the NOC and other bodies to Benghazi. They have stopped short of threatening to cut output if their demands are not met, but some threaten "another revolution."
"They may say it's difficult to move the NOC to Benghazi," one worker at Agoco said of the government. "But some thought we would never get rid of Gaddafi, yet we did." (Additional reporting by Ghaith Shennib; editing by James Jukwey) | <urn:uuid:83b3319e-1e6f-4229-be60-83bdc102f67e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/thomson-reuters/130118/libyas-east-heightens-calls-control-oil | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96822 | 1,185 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Dec 25, 2012 — The rebels, rule breakers and renegades who rule this year's Top 10 list aren't looking for a Ph.D. in Traditional Cooking. They're pleasure seekers whose books are filled with quirky facts, gorgeous pictures and ingredients deployed in unexpected places.
Oct 16, 2012 — America's Test Kitchen experts Jack Bishop and Bridget Lancaster join Fresh Air to explain what makes a great marinade — and why you might want to add an anchovy or two to your next beef stew.
Oct 12, 2012 — Forget the room-temperature eggs and the tenderizing meat with a marinade, America's Test Kitchen host Chris Kimball tells Morning Edition. A little bit of science goes a long way in the kitchen, he says.
Sep 25, 2012 — The traditional mother-daughter dynamic turned on its head for New York Times columnist Alex Witchel in the wake of her mother's struggle with dementia. But Witchel's memoir, despite its raw honesty, fails to provide the depth needed to make it a standout in a trendy genre.
Aug 23, 2012 — In fiction, Robert Harris explores a financial crash and Jennifer DuBois recounts a fateful meeting. In nonfiction, Thomas Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum analyze how the U.S. lags, Tony Horwitz looks at abolitionist John Brown and Adam Gopnik considers the meaning of food.
Apr 29, 2012 — Some of the most popular culinary creations — Granny Smith apples, Caesar salad and nachos — are products of fortuitous discoveries. Josh Chetwynd's new book, How the Hot Dog Found Its Bun, chronicles the quirky history of kitchen favorites.
Feb 1, 2012 — Novelist David Levithan takes a wry look at adultery, while food writer Jessica Harris takes an African journey, astronomer Mike Brown explains the demotion of planet Pluto, novelist Stephen Amidon probes the human heart with his cardiologist brother, Thomas, and veterinarian Nicholas Dodman offers help for aging dogs.
Sep 1, 2011 — What's the difference between wooden and plastic cutting boards? When should you throw out frozen fish? Harold McGee, an expert on the science of food and cooking, untangles these kitchen mysteries and more in his Keys to Good Cooking.
Jul 27, 2011 — Is there anything fresh to be found in a food memoir? Reviewer Susan Jane Gilman says yes — and to prove it, she recommends five excellent books that will quench your desire for amazing food and adventure this summer.
Mar 12, 2011 — Journalist Annia Ciezadlo covered the Iraq War and the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict for major newspapers. While abroad, she absorbed local recipes and the culture of food, and stories like the bravery of a mother driving across Baghdad for her 11-year-old daughter's birthday cake. | <urn:uuid:d5828b38-3d29-4685-8c80-077e20221d29> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/nprnews.php?id[137906740]=Food | 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 | 0.911223 | 580 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Finding a Research Topic
Having a hard time getting started on that paper or research assignment? Just can’t think of a topic your professor might approve? The Library can help. We have created a page with suggestions for deciding on a topic. Whether your paper is supposed to be informative, persuasive, taking one side on a controversial issue, or “digging deeper” into your academic field take a look at this LibGuide, http://libguides.liberty.edu/content.php?pid=257690, for some helpful tips. And as always, don’t hesitate to “Ask Us” if you have additional questions!
Posted by Timothy Siegel at 2:03 PM | Comments (0) | <urn:uuid:b9a2c1fa-ea54-4b3d-8268-87d11b652cd8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.liberty.edu/index.cfm?PID=9720&blogpid=11566&id=557265 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934828 | 152 | 2.0625 | 2 |
Female Shaman's Grave Loaded with Goodies
A 12,000-year-old burial site in Israel contains offerings that include 50 tortoise shells and a human foot, and appears to be one of the earliest known graves of a female shaman.
The remains were discovered in a small cave called Hilazon Tachtit, which functioned as a burial site for at least 28 individuals. The grave woman, likely a shaman, was separated from the other bodies by a circular wall of stones.
Other grave goodies buried within that wall included tail vertebrae from an extinct type of cattle called an auroch, skulls from two stone martens (members of the weasel family), bony wing parts from a golden eagle, the forearm of a wild boar and a nearly complete pelvis from a leopard.
"What was unusual here was there were so many different parts of different animals that were unusual, that were clearly put there on purpose," said researcher Natalie Munro, a zooarchaeologist at the University of Connecticut.
Great pains were likely taken long ago to collect the animal remains for the grave, not to mention the long trek that must have been made from the closest domestic site at the time, about 6 miles (10 km) away, say the researchers.
This care along with the animal parts point to the grave belonging to both an important member of the society and possibly a healer called a shaman, the researchers conclude in their research published this week by the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Such healers mediate between the human and spirit worlds, often summoning the help of animal spirits along their quests, according to the researchers.
Life was tough
The woman was about 45 years old when she died and based on measurements of the skull and long bone, she stood at about 4.9 feet (1.5 meters). Wearing of her teeth and other aging signs on the bones suggested the woman was relatively old for her time. And she likely had a limp or dragged her foot, the researchers speculate, due to the fusion of the coccyx and sacrum along with deformations of the pelvis and lower vertebrae.
The human foot lying alongside the body came from an adult individual who was much larger than the women.
"What's interesting is it's only the foot," Munro told LiveScience. "She hasn't been disturbed, but a part of another human body was definitely put into the grave. It could be related to the fact they were moving body parts around sometimes, but we don't know why."
At least 10 large stones had been placed on the head, pelvis and arms of the buried individual, which the researchers suggest helped to protect the body and keep it in a specific position, or possibly to hold the body in its grave.
Scattered around the body and beneath it were tortoise shells. Before arranging the shells inside the grave during the burial ritual, humans cracked open the tortoise shells along the reptiles' bellies (so as not to crack the back part of the shell) and sucked out the meat, possibly for food.
"So they took the insides out by breaking the belly, but they left the back intact and that was probably meaningful," Munro said.
The woman was part of the Natufian culture, a group of hunter-gatherers who lived from 15,000 to about 11,500 years ago in the area that now includes Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
The finding is particularly interesting since the Natufians were on the verge of becoming a more sedentary, farming society.
Finding an early shaman grave during this transition makes sense, Munro said.
"With the beginning of agriculture we seem to see an intensified ritual behavior," Munro said. "When things change dramatically, people tend to try to reestablish the legitimate order of things by using ritual and religion to deal with change."
She added, "These people are starting to live in more permanent communities; they're in more contact with one another from day to day. It's not surprising that we start to see evidence for those ritualized behaviors at this point in time."
Cults, Religion and the Paranormal
MORE FROM LiveScience.com | <urn:uuid:5bbd5243-1b02-4edf-b488-c273106713ae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.livescience.com/5179-female-shaman-grave-loaded-goodies.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980097 | 865 | 2.734375 | 3 |
|Matthew Garrett (mjg59) wrote,|
@ 2012-01-17 06:45 pm UTC
|Entry tags:||advogato, fedora|
Secure boot requires that all code that can touch hardware be trustedRight now, if you can run unstrusted code before the OS then you can subvert the OS. Secure boot gives you a mechanism for making sure you only run trusted code, which protects against that. So your UEFI drivers have to be signed, your bootloader has to be signed, and your bootloader must only load a signed kernel. If you've only booted trusted code then you know that your OS is safe. But, unlike trusted boot, secure boot provides no way for you to know that only trusted code was executed. That has to be ensured by OS policy.
This doesn't sound like too much of a problem. But it is. Imagine we have a signed Linux bootloader and a signed Linux kernel, and that these signatures are made with a globally trusted key. These will boot on any hardware using secure boot. Now imagine that an attacker writes a kernel module that sets up a fake UEFI environment, stops the kernel from running code and then executes the Windows bootloader - kind of like kexec, but a little more fiddly. The Windows bootloader believes that it's performing a secure boot, but in fact everything that it believes is trustworthy is the attacker's fake UEFI code. The user's encryption passphrase is logged, the Windows kernel is modified to hide the Linux code and despite everything looking fine your credit card details are on their way to China. In this scenario, the signed Linux kernel is simply used as a malware loader. The only sign that anything is wrong is that boot will be slightly slowed down.
Signing the kernel isn't enough. Signed Linux kernels must refuse to load any unsigned kernel modules. Virtualbox on Linux? Dead. Nvidia binary driver on Linux? Dead. All out of tree kernel modules? Utterly, utterly dead. Building an updated driver locally? Not going to happen. That's going to make some people fairly unhappy.
(The same applies to Windows, of course. Windows 7 allows you to disable driver integrity checks. Windows 8 will have to forbid that when the system's using secure boot)
LicensingGPLv3 has various requirements for signing keys to be available. Microsoft's new requirement that systems support the installation of user keys would let users boot their own modified bootloaders, so that may end up being sufficient to satisfy the license. But we're then beholden on Microsoft - if they remove that requirement then users lose that freedom, and suddenly we're in an awkward licensing situation. There are ongoing conversations about exactly what we're able to do here, but it's not a solved problem.
Key distributionThe UEFI spec doesn't describe or mandate a central certifying authority. Microsoft require that everyone carry their key. We could generate our own, but we have much less sway with vendors. There's no way to guarantee that all hardware vendors will generate our key. And, obviously, if we generate a key, we can't just hand the private half out to others. That means that it becomes impossible for people to produce derivative versions of Linux distributions without getting their own key. The kind of identity verification that would be required for getting such a key is likely to be expensive, and also fairly likely to require that the distribution have a legally registered company in order to facilitate the identity verification. Think Extended Validation certificates, not Startssl Free. Hobbyist Linux distributions will be a thing of the past.
Doesn't custom mode fix this?Microsoft's certification requirements now state that all systems must support a custom mode, implying that it will be possible for a user to install their own keys. Linux vendors would then be able to ship with their own keys on the install media and impose their own policies. Everyone's happy. It's not really good enough, though. People have spent incredible amounts of time and effort making it easy to install Linux by doing little more than putting a CD in a drive. Asking them to go into the firmware and reconfigure things adds an extra barrier that restricts the ability to install Linux to more technically skilled users. And it's even worse than that. This is the full description of the requirement for custom mode:
- It shall be possible for a physically present user to use the Custom Mode firmware setup option to modify the contents of the Secure Boot signature databases and the PK.
- If the user ends up deleting the PK then, upon exiting the Custom Mode firmware setup, the system will be operating in Setup Mode with Secure Boot turned off.
- The firmware setup shall indicate if Secure Boot is turned on, and if it is operated in Standard or Custom Mode. The firmware setup must provide an option to return from Custom to Standard Mode which restores the factory defaults.
There's a few things missing from this, namely:
- Any description of the UI. It's effectively impossible to document Linux installation when the first step becomes (a) complicated and (b) vendor specific. Vendors are using the UEFI transition to differentiate themselves by coming up with their own unique firmware interfaces. Custom mode is going to look different everywhere.
- Any description of the key format. A raw binary representation of the key? An EFI_SIGNATURE_DATA struct? A base64 encoding of one, further protected with ROT13? We just don't know.
- Any way to use custom mode for unattended installs. It's a firmware interface that requires a physically present user. Want to install a few thousand machines over the network? This isn't a scalable approach
- …and this one's nitpicking, but there's not actually any requirement that the user be able to add keys - a vendor could conform to this language by only letting users delete keys. This is actually ok as long as the user deletes Pk, because then we'll effectively be back in setup mode and can install our own keys from the installer, but it still results in some practical problems
So no, custom mode doesn't make everything ok. Custom mode with a mandated UI and a documented key format would be much closer, but it wouldn't solve the problem of unattended automated installs. | <urn:uuid:d94e9b3c-a094-4ce2-b2b9-e577d7ae65e7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/9844.html?style=light | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936188 | 1,288 | 2.046875 | 2 |
The key word for this week is BLUE.
Why blue? Why a color? Colors are a form of energy. When you communicate, you're expressing ideas through energy – your personality, your voice, your appearance, and the COLOR you're wearing! When you appear on camera, the lens picks up the energy of that color. Certain colors have more energy and attraction than others. Bright reds and oranges may have a lot of energy, but to most people, these tones are not very appealing. Red can represent passion but also fire, fear, blood, and anger. Dark somber colors – black, evergreen, and brown – are usually perceived as depressing, cold, and sad. Dull shades of gray, navy, and cranberry usually represent the corporate world. Vibrant and pastel shades are generally the most popular. They're used frequently in nurseries, schools, and hospitals, as they are perceived as happy, relaxing, and healing.
And guess which shade is the most popular with most people? You guessed it. BLUE. Why? Blue is the color of the sky and water. It is the most frequent color used in nature – at least on our planet. And it represents a positive energy. Think about it. Blue skies, blue moon, blue screen, JetBlue, etc. On any given day, you'll see more of the color blue than any shade in the rainbow so it's the most universal and the most comfortable. It puts people at ease. Now, you're asking, “How does this relate to ACTING?”
When you audition on camera the first thing that anyone sees is the color you're wearing. Wear something depressing, annoying, or threatening, and no matter how brilliant your performance, they are going to be affected by the color first and the performance second, particularly when you are auditioning for commercials, daytime/primetime TV, or film roles. First impressions count!
If you are portraying a psychopath/murderer, a desperate housewife, an aggressive district attorney, or an FBI agent, maybe choose to wear the more aggressive colors. But if you're portraying a doctor, lawyer, corporate spokesperson, or even a happy parent, use blue in your ensemble and you'll book more jobs. Try it!
Years ago when I auditioned frequently for network TV commercials, I had a $15 Gap blouse. It was my favorite blouse. It was somewhere between sky and French blue. I booked more spots wearing that one top than any other piece of clothing I owned. It earned me a million dollars over a decade! In more than a few screen tests for the roles of lawyer, doctor, Mom, I wore the blouse. Did I have a successful career because I wore blue? Yes and NO. My audition had to be good, and I had to look the part and be the right type as well. But when competing with dozens of other actors who were all talented, attractive, pleasant, professional with comparable credits, how did I have the edge? Ego says it was my talent. But the final "booking factor" might have been the blue blouse.
Once I was even asked, “Could you please bring that blue blouse as wardrobe for the final shoot?" One commercial casting director who had sat in on a final casting session told me that the client (Procter and Gamble) had insisted they hire "that actress in the blue!" and so I booked that high paying network TV spot. True story.
If you want to book more on-camera jobs, get the advice of a color or image consultant or a career coach. What are your strongest/best colors? What hairstyle really sells you? What wardrobe best suits your type? Auditioning is an art – every detail is important. A career coach can advise you on all the above.
Here are some takeaway tips:
For on-camera auditions, avoid wearing red, white or black.
White is a no-no for the camera because it tends to create a green shadow around you and glares! Skin tones are off, and you do not look good!
Red can be exciting and beautiful to wear in person for a special interview/audition or for a gutsy song-dance number, but on-camera, it's a disaster! The color may turn beet-red, dark, dried-blood red, orange, or ugly pink fuchsia. It doesn’t matter what your skin tone is. Eeek!
Black looks like a shadow and literally sucks all the energy from you on camera. (Especially if you have dark skin tones – all the more reason to wear something vibrant so you stand out!)
These colors can be great in an actual shoot because during the real thing, there's a person called a "lighting designer" who can add thousands of overhead lights with "gels" to soften/tone/perfect the look. Sometimes he’ll take an entire day to create the mood and make the lighting fabulous. That's why film stars look so good.
But during an audition in a casting director's studio, you usually have one camera and one little light stand with an umbrella reflecting the strong beam. So these three colors come out weird and make you look, well, less than attractive. You're just shooting yourself in the foot to defy the law of lighting and color. You just won't win. (This applies to headshots too, by the way.”
I've had several clients who wore the classic, all-black outfit – a black t-shirt, distressed jeans, black boots – to every audition and then wondered why they never got a call back for anything!
Instead of assuming it's your performance or blaming the casting director's "lack of imagination,” change your wardrobe and see if you get a different response. I'd be willing to bet on it. You've all heard the classic line, “ Dress the part.” Now, just remember, “Dress the color.” First rule of marketing is making you – the product – desirable. How you dress is the wrapping on the product. Go for the blue!
As the founder and executive director of The Actors's Market, Gwyn Gilliss provides free monthly info seminars, agent/casting director interview tele-seminars, weekly marketing tips, as well as many coaching programs to help actors break into both the NY and L.A. industries. Gwyn has tremendous success with her private career coaching clients. More than 90 percent get agent representation launching their careers with performances in feature films, Broadway productions, and Emmy-award-winning primetime TV series, such as "The Good Wife," "White Collar," "Grey's Anatomy," "NCIS," "House," "Law & Order," "30 Rock," "Criminal Minds."
Email her to request a free 15-minute career session: email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:545c40e0-b2cc-44d9-a8a5-e655eed7394f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.backstage.com/advice-for-actors/backstage-experts/color-you-should-wear-camera-auditions/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965245 | 1,437 | 2.296875 | 2 |
Unlike that of most peoples of the world, the sexual life of the Etoro of New Guinea gives preference to homosexuality over heterosexuality, although the Etoro practice both. Like many contemporary Hindus, the Etoro believed that males were born with a fixed supply of semen. In the Etoro view of things, maturation for males required first by a mother and then with an older male mentor who taught them the secrets of religion, the skills of art, and the ways of warfare. For religious reasons, heterosexual intercourse was forbidden for as many as 260 days each year (295 by one report), but no such restrictions applied to homosexual relations. The Merind-anim The Merind-anim, neighbors of the Etoro, so preferred homosexuality, that they sustained their numbers only by adoption-through-capture of children into their society from neighboring tribes with whom they warred. The Azande Like the classic Greeks, the Azande of the Southern Sudan, expected homosexual relationships to supplement the normal practice of heterosexually based marriage. As have many peoples, the Azande practiced an age-based system of military service prior to marriage, in effect a form of universal military conscription based on age. During their period of military service, young warriors married boys who played the same roles as female wives played for older men. They provided their husbands with food and drink, brought firewood for their husbands fires, and shared their husbands beds at night. When the husbands grew older, they gave up their boy-wives and entered the heterosexual phase of their lives. In turn, their wife-apprentices graduated into warriorhood and took their own boy-brides. | <urn:uuid:3ad45fb6-a2cf-4263-aa12-ca84676e0cb3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.justusboys.com/forum/threads/118616-Father-Son-Incest/page3?p=3225604 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970878 | 339 | 3.171875 | 3 |
This year’s International Women’s Day theme is “A promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women”. In observance, this week USAID is profiling brave individuals and dynamic programs focused on addressing gender-based violence around the world.
War defined childhood for a generation of girls born during Sudan’s civil conflict, which lasted from 1983 to 2005.
For Athieng Riak Jok, who was born in 1984, the disruption caused by war also protected her from being married off at an early age. Jok was born into a cattle-owning community that values women as a source of income in the form of cattle. In order to marry, men traditionally give a woman’s family cattle as a dowry.
For Jok, war disrupted that practice. “I grew up on the run,” Jok says.
She recognized early that her community did not value educating girls, and her own family sent only boys to school. “This experience has shaped my view. I became aware of social injustice at an early age and grew up with increased curiosity. Although I did not start formal schooling until after the age of 11,” Jok says. ” I was using every available opportunity to learn, including imitating my brother who was in school and did homework.”
Jok eventually graduated high school while living in a refugee camp in Kenya, won a scholarship in 2007 and graduated from a Canadian university in 2011. Last year, she returned to South Sudan, which gained its independence while she was in Canada. Jok now works as a community gender technical advisor in Jonglei state through USAID-supported Jonglei Food Security Program (JFSP). Launched in 2011, the program aims to alleviate hunger among 150,000 households in Jonglei state.
Jok’s major task has been to mobilize women in the community to understand their role in society to achieve sustainable development. She encourages them to attend community meetings and voice their opinions. “Any developmental program that will thrive must recognize the contributions of both women and men in order to succeed,” she said. Jok and other women working for JFSP work hard to provide a positive role model in the community, sending a strong message about the benefits of educating girls.
Asked about the meaning of International Women’s Day, Jok said, “This is a day to reflect on achievements of women and on the victims of gender-based injustices. It is also a day to appreciate the contributions made by women and men who have realized the need for gender equality, and have sacrificed their time and resources to advocate for gender equity.” | <urn:uuid:96ad02e6-3dd1-444e-9e80-130b3e782961> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.usaid.gov/2013/03/in-a-traditional-society-a-south-sudanese-woman-becomes-a-role-model/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980281 | 560 | 2.6875 | 3 |
“There is indeed life after death, and Rosenblatt proves that without a doubt.”
From Roger Rosenblatt, the bestselling author of Making Toast and Unless It Moves the Human Heart, comes a poignant meditation on the nature of grief, the passages through it, the solace of solitude, and the healing power of love. Rosenblatt’s Kayak Morning is a classic in the making, akin to A Grief Observed by C. S. Lewis—a coming to terms with tragic, senseless loss that offers readers an unsentimental and deeply moving account of the possibility of true redemption. A profoundly beautiful and intimate gift from an exceptional writer, Kayak Morning is Roger Rosenblatt writing bravely and unforgettably from the heart.
From Roger Rosenblatt, author of the bestsellers Making Toast and Unless It Moves the Human Heart, comes a moving meditation on the passages of grief, the solace of solitude, and the redemptive power of love
In Making Toast, Roger Rosenblatt shared the story of his family in the days and months after the death of his thirty-eight-year-old daughter, Amy. Now, in Kayak Morning, he offers a personal meditation on grief itself. “Everybody grieves,” he writes. From that terse, melancholy observation emerges a work of art that addresses the universal experience of loss.
On a quiet Sunday morning, two and a half years after Amy’s death, Roger heads out in his kayak. He observes,“You can’t always make your way in the world by moving up. Or down, for that matter. Boats move laterally on water, which levels everything. It is one of the two great levelers.” Part elegy, part quest, Kayak Morning explores Roger’s years as a journalist, the comforts of literature, and the value of solitude, poignantly reminding us that grief is not apart from life but encompasses it. In recalling to us what we have lost, grief by necessity resurrects what we have had. | <urn:uuid:abdd1164-ce06-43e4-96e3-1879e9a13357> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.harpercollins.com/books/Kayak-Morning-Roger-Rosenblatt/?isbn=9780062084033?AA=books_SearchBooks_29788 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90934 | 435 | 1.75 | 2 |
With the death of Muammar Gaddafi by National Transitional Council forces, questions are now being asked about NATO presence in the North African nation.
After seven months, attacks on 6,000 military targets, and the deployment of 9,500 attack forces, the death of Gaddafi calls the continued presence of NATO in Libya into question.
Gaddafi's death leaves the NTC to fend off disparate fighting groups - some still loyal to Gaddafi - as much of the deposed leader's vast weapons arsenal remains unaccounted for, all without an official military force.
The new situation leaves NATO with a military and political decision regarding the ability of the NTC to bring peace to Libya and its own role in the nation.
Al Jazeera's Jonah Hull reports. | <urn:uuid:a74ad234-5452-47c1-bb71-ccde9816eb9a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aljazeera.com/video/africa/2011/10/20111020201013903243.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949834 | 152 | 1.773438 | 2 |
The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) today co-signed a letter to leaders of the House and Senate sent by nine biofuel trade associations, environmental advocates, and agriculture policy groups expressing strong support for extending and maintaining federal policies that are critical to the ongoing development of advanced biofuels.
“Congress made an historic commitment to advanced biofuels in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, as part of a comprehensive strategy to reduce oil dependence, improve national security, and spur economic growth. With gas prices recently spiking to record levels and remaining highly volatile, it is self-evident that the United States needs to develop homegrown alternatives to oil to protect American consumers at the gas pump,” the letter states.
“The advanced and cellulosic biofuels industry is now in the process of building new plants, innovating at existing production facilities with emerging technologies, and introducing new product streams that will allow the renewable fuels sector to become more profitable, diversified and efficient. Significant investment dollars are being secured with the expectation that Congress will remain committed to advanced biofuels. Rapidly commercializing these technologies will provide substantial oil savings to consumers with far lower environmental impacts than today’s fuels,” the groups go on to note.
Brent Erickson, executive vice president of BIO’s Industrial & Environmental Section added, “Because of the RFS, innovative U.S. companies in every corner of the nation have moved as rapidly toward commercialization as possible. These companies are at a critical juncture, with new biorefineries under construction and production coming online – at a time when major oil refineries are shutting down production capacity. In order to foster the U.S. lead in innovation, the federal government must continue to support development of the advanced biofuel industry. Private investment in the industry relies on policy stability.” | <urn:uuid:f833ced7-9e65-4350-836e-668b42b84a4d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bio.org/media/press-release/bio-joins-group-organizations-asking-congress-ensure-policy-stability-advanced-b | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938815 | 384 | 1.5 | 2 |
What are Carpet Beetles?
The carpet beetle is a major textile pest of the home where central heating provides a welcome uniform heating and fitted carpets provide harbourage for undisturbed breeding. The Carpet Beetle is 2 to 4mm long and is dark brown or black, mottled with patches of white or yellow scales and resembles a ladybird.
The adult beetle lives from 7-14 days.
Adult carpet beetles seek the light and live out doors on plants but can be found roaming and flying indoors. The larvae (sometimes called woolly bears) are brown and hairy with three bunches of golden hairs on their abdomen. They normally reach a length of 4-5mm. They tend to avoid the light and, when disturbed, curl up into a ball. Larvae are often found in bird’s nests in the eaves. They usually spread down in to the property via the airing cupboard.
Adults are often seen in April, May and June, seeking egg-laying sites; and the grubs are most active in October before they hibernate.
What Damage Do They Cause?
Whilst adults feed on flowers, the larvae require food of animal origin. They can cause considerable damage to carpets, clothes, wool, leather, silk etc, but will not attack man-made fibres.
Are there any Health Risks?
Carpet beetles neither carry germs nor do they spread disease hence their presence does not constitute a risk to health. However, the activities of the woolly bears will cause considerable damage.
How Can I Prevent Getting Carpet Beetles?
The best way to prevent a carpet beetle problem is to:
- Vacuum regularly (especially in areas under storage heaters or at the skirting junction.
- Old bird nests, animal remains and dead insects are sometimes the cause of infestation and should be removed if found.
- Destroy any pieces of old carpet or similar material in lofts or roof voids.
How Do I know if I have a Problem?
- Holes appearing in pullovers and similar clothing.
- Tufts of carpeting coming away when vacuum cleaning.
- However, if you see “woolly bears” crawling on walls, carpets and clothing then you know you have a problem.
How Do I Get Rid of Carpet Beetles?
Carpet beetles can be difficult to treat. This is partly due to the fact that the area where damage has been done may not be the extent of the infestation, and partly due to their life cycle, which offers some protection against treatment.
A Pest Controller Officer can provide advice on treatment or will visit your premises and inspect areas of concern. If you have an infestation, the area will be treated.
|Some of the documents are in pdf format. You can download and install a free PDF reader to enable you to read and print them. Click here to download Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Reader.|
56Kbps Modem: Less than 1 Minute
Broadband : Less than 1 Minute | <urn:uuid:674c7f1e-a2e0-4442-8e49-a8dd7c51ed5a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.testvalley.gov.uk/resident/housingandenvironmentalhealth/pestcontrol/howdoiknowwhetherihaveaproblemandwhatitis-/carpet-beetles/?displaypref=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935559 | 633 | 2.875 | 3 |
Here are some of the latest health and medical news
developments, compiled by the editors of
Obama Administration Appeals Judge's Order Banning Stem Cell
The Obama Administration on Tuesday filed an appeal against a
federal judge's order supporting a ban on federally funded
embryonic stem cell research.
The appeal, filed by the Justice Department with the U.S.
District Court in the District of Columbia, asks Judge Royce
Lamberth to revisit the restraining order he put in place last
Associated Press reported.
In his ruling, Lamberth responded to a lawsuit claiming that the
government is contravening a law prohibiting the use of tax dollars
for work involving the destruction of a viable embryo.
Scientists nationwide have expressed alarm that the halt on
federal funding will interrupt valuable stem cell research aimed at
fighting neurological diseases and other disorders.
Cough Medicine Ingredient May Get New Restrictions: FDA
Restrictions on a cough medicine ingredient are being considered
by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in order to combat growing
On Tuesday, the agency posted its review of dextromethorphan, an
ingredient in more than 100 over-the-counter medications. The FDA
said that inappropriate use of the drug for its euphoric effects
was associated with nearly 8,000 emergency room visits in 2008, an
increase of more than 70 percent from 2004, the
Associated Press reported.
High doses of dextromethorphan can cause fever and boost blood
pressure and heart rate.
"Because of the drug's perceived safety, ease of availability, and desired psychoactive effects, it is sought after by those seeking to alter their mental state," according to the FDA review, the AP reported.
On Sept. 14, an FDA panel of outside experts will meet to
discuss whether dextromethorphan should be available only by
prescription. The FDA typically follows the advice of these
Diabetes Top Reason for Vietnam Vets' Health Claims
Diabetes is the leading cause of Vietnam veterans' health
compensation claims, according to U.S. government documents.
They show that about 270,000 of the one million Vietnam vets
receiving disability checks are getting compensation for diabetes,
according to the
Associated Press, which obtained Department of Veterans Affairs records through the Freedom of Information Act.
The number of vets being compensated for diabetes is greater
than for any other condition, including general wounds, hearing
loss or post-traumatic stress disorder.
Worries about the effects of the defoliant Agent Orange are the
reason why so many Vietnam veterans are being compensated for
diabetes, even though decades of research have failed to find any
firm link between Agent Orange and diabetes, the
The VA also pays compensation for a number of other common
age-related ailments with a possible link to Agent Orange. And the
VA said this week that it plans to add Parkinson's disease, heart
disease and certain types of leukemia to the list of health
problems that might be associated with Agent Orange.
Restaurant Portions Too Large: Study
Americans who eat at chain restaurants often get super-sized
portions even if they order a single entree or regular-sized meal,
finds a new study.
Researchers at the Center for Science in the Public Interest
examined the size of menu items at a number of fast food
restaurants and other popular food outlets and found that many
hamburgers, steaks, bagels and pasta entrees are at least two times
larger than the federal government's definition of a serving,
USA Today reported.
"The super-sized portions are super-sizing our bodies," said Bonnie Liebman, the nutrition director at the Washington, D.C.-based consumer group. "With two-thirds of adults and one-third of kids obese or overweight, you'd think restaurants would shrink their portion sizes, but they haven't."
"Eating half of what the restaurant serves is often just about right. Half is the new whole," Liebman advised, USA Today reported.
The study appears in the September issue of
Nutrition Action HealthLetter.
Support For Health Care Law Declines: Poll
Support for the new U.S. health reform law fell from 50 percent
in July to 43 percent now, according to the August Kaiser Family
Foundation's Health Tracking Poll.
About 45 percent of respondents in the latest poll said they
have an unfavorable view of the new law.
The new figures show a return to the even split in opinion last
seen in May before a slight increase in support during June and
The latest poll found that 29 percent of respondents believe
that they and their families will be better off under the new law,
compared with 32 percent in July and 28 percent in June. Thirty
percent said they expect to be worse off (29 percent July, 28
percent June), and 36 percent believe the new health law won't make
much difference (33 percent July, 39 percent June).
Currently, 39 percent believe the new law will benefit the
nation and 37 percent say it will have a negative effect, compared
with 43 percent vs. 35 percent in July and 42 percent vs. 32
percent in June. | <urn:uuid:10a0048e-38d0-4d8e-979d-0c4205277948> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.harthosp.org/HealthLibrary/News/default.aspx?fontsize=2&chunkiid=619133 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934367 | 1,109 | 1.625 | 2 |
- CDC's flu recommendations emphasizes convenience of retail pharmacy
- Rite Aid takes a bite out of obesity; relaunches weight-loss program for New Year
- Flu cards just tip of functioning health-reform iceberg
- Citi's flu care card pushes employers toward lower-cost retail channels
- Crisis averted: NACDS, NCPA get their wish
ARLINGTON, Va. — The National Association of Chain Drug Stores made its voice heard in the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations on the role of pharmacists in influenza vaccination, the retail pharmacy lobbying group said Wednesday.
The subcommittee had a meeting Wednesday titled "Influenza: Perspective on Current Season and Update on Preparedness," drawing a statement from the NACDS about the recognition of community pharmacists' by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for helping prevent the spread of infectious diseases through vaccinations.
"According to data collected by CDC, pharmacists have been instrumental in increasing the vaccination rate in the United States," the statement read. "In fact, the CDC has specifically asked the pharmacy community for its continued support and efforts to help address vaccination needs in their local communities." | <urn:uuid:0b510bef-4f6e-47a9-aecc-713c59b594db> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.drugstorenews.com/article/nacds-touts-pharmacists-role-vaccinations-house-subcommittee-hearing | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946615 | 244 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Following another full week of spectacular spring weather, I'm firmly locked in the grasp of the trout season, and I won't let go.Each evening, the frogs holler from the bogs. In the morning, the trout whisper to me from the streams. At this rate, it looks like it's going to be a very long season and I intend to enjoy every moment of it.
We'll surely suffer a few more miserable days and be revisited by a vagrant snowstorm or two, but it appears that spring is actually here to stay. It's in the air, under the water and on the ground, heralded by the return of a million living things.
The oddball weather patterns will surely accelerate the mayfly hatches and bump the prime angling dates forward by at least a week.
Instead of Mother's Day weekend delivering the peak of spring angling on the ponds, the peak will likely arrive on the first weekend of May. In the Catskills, fly fishermen have already been reporting hatches of Hendrickson mayflies, almost three weeks earlier than normal.
Father's Day weekend, which arrives the third week in June, has long been considered the peak weekend for fly fishing the local streams. The timeframe usually produces a variety of mayfly hatches, highlighted by clouds of green drakes along the fabled Ausable.
If weather patterns hold true, the green drake hatch may over before Father's Day arrives.
The Fishing Report
Despite low water temperatures, the new season has already produced some fine specimens, especially from the ponds.
As water temperatures on the lakes struggle to get into the upper 30s, the shallow shoreline waters of the ponds have been warming rapidly.
On April 8, while fishing a small pond, I recorded a surface water temperature of 54 degrees. Many other local ponds have waters that are already in the 40-degree range.
Soaring temperatures in the early season do not bode well for the water's oxygen content, which is regulated by temperature.As water warms up, the oxygen content diminishes and fish inhabiting these waters become oxygen depleted and sluggish.
Water temperatures are also dependent on the availability of cold, fresh water that is provided from springs or tributary inlets.
Another important factor related to water temperature is a pond's flush rate, a gauge of how quickly its waters are replenished.
Currently, the local ponds appear to be in great shape, but I have to wonder what water temperatures will be like by mid-summer?
The streams and rivers have returned to normal levels following the spring runoff and water clarity is excellent. Along the Ausable, water temperatures remain in the low 40s and a good supply of holdover trout await the patient angler.
There are two upcoming dates that avid anglers should note.One arrives on Saturday, May 22, when the 11th annual Two Fly Challenge returns to the West Branch of the Ausable in Wilmington. Contact the Whiteface Mountain Regional Visitors Bureau at 946-2255 for more information and registration.
On Saturday, May 1, The Wild Center in Tupper Lake will host its annual Free Community Day.This year's event will be a collaborative effort of organizations, agencies and individuals dedicated to reconnecting children with nature. The event will provide families with the tools and confidence necessary to take their children fishing.
The event will include equipment demonstrations, casting contests, a display of small portable boats, as well as opportunities to win free equipment and tackle.
The sporting dilemma
A recent national survey indicates that two-thirds of all Americans or approximately 134 million people participated in at least one of 14 human-powered recreational pursuits over the past year. Of this total, roughly half the participants were female.
Studies show that 66 percent of families with incomes in excess of $50,000 took vacations that included some element of outdoor recreation.
Over the past decade, many outdoor adventure activities have experienced tremendous growth in participation levels. Boating and paddle sports have grown by an estimated 17 to 20 percent. In the same timeframe, hiking, backpacking and camping are up 93 percent, 72 percent and 24 percent, respectively.
Unfortunately, the traditional sporting pursuits of hunting and angling have not kept pace with the other outdoor pursuits. Although fishing license sales rose by nearly 4.7 percent last year nationwide (the largest percentage increase in over 30 years), industry reports indicate an estimated decline ranging from 13.9 to 36 percent has occurred over the last decade.
Today, an estimated 30 million Americans remain avid anglers, yet 20 years ago there were three times as many anglers as there are today, by percentage.
Within the same timeframe, the number of hunting enthusiasts has been on a steady decline nationwide as rural America continues to condense and the population gravitates to urban areas. There are an estimated 12.5 million hunters.
Attempts to boost participation in traditional sports have included the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation's highly successful Take Me Fishing marketing program, as well as Families Afield, a similar effort funded by the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
Despite numerous industry initiatives, which have been combined with a national trend to lower the minimum age for hunters, the future of traditional sports remains bleak.
It is not a growth industry. Unfortunately for fish and wildlife, these sporting pursuits also represent the major funding source for the nation's conservation industry.
Although the typical angler only spends about $176 annually on fishing tackle, they contribute over $40 annually to conservation via license dollars and excise taxes on equipment.
Ultimately, anglers and other sportsmen and women, are the most significant funding source for conservation in the United States.
In 2008, $720 million of excise taxes were distributed for fisheries management and recreational boating enhancement. In addition, fishing and hunting license sales generated nearly $900 million in revenue for state fish and wildlife agencies and habitat protection.
Get the kids out
Spring is an ideal season to instill an appreciation for the sporting life in the next generation of hunters and anglers. It is a time when the woods come alive, trout are on the take and turkeys begin to strut. It is an exciting time to be outdoors.
New York State's Youth Spring Turkey Hunt arrives the weekend of April 24-25. It offers an opportunity for hunters ages 12-15 to take to the field with an adult mentor, before the regular season begins on May 1. Youth hunters are permitted to take one bearded bird.
Similarly, the new trout fishing season provides adults with another excellent venue for introducing newcomers to the sport. Surveys reveal that adults consistently rank angling adventures as the most memorable outdoor experiences of their youth.
Angling is an ideal activity to introduce kids to the outdoors.It can be exciting and entertaining and it is one of the few activities where adults and children participate on equal footing.When fish are biting, they don't know or care who is connected to the other end of the line.
Most children don't simply wake up one morning and decide they want to become an outdoorsmen or women.It's a process that typically requires the assistance of a parent, friend or relative.
Although most outings require only a small effort on the part of an adult, the experience can have a lifelong impact on a child. Kids quickly forget their first toy, but they'll never forget their first fish. | <urn:uuid:9d5b685e-7ee0-4874-82ce-eefb7f01d62b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/page/content.detail/id/512399/Spring-is-in-the-air--under-the-water-and-on-the-ground.html?nav=5044 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94926 | 1,505 | 2.15625 | 2 |
Caritas Europa has a heartfelt commitment to analyse and fight poverty and social exclusion as well as to promote true integral human development, social justice and sustainable social systems in Europe and throughout the world.
Caritas Europa advocates for, and with, people in need in order to transform society into a more just and inclusive civilisation.
Caritas Europa recognises the need for mutual learning and innovation in all we do.
This network, inspired by the Gospel and the Catholic social teachings, is totally opposed to every form of oppression and is committed to justice. The inviolable dignity of the human person is its essential guiding principle, since nothing on earth is as sacred as man and woman, created in the image and likeness of God.
Guiding Values and Principles | <urn:uuid:296d4025-90d1-462b-b1d2-2ea330568ede> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.caritas-europa.org/code/en/abou.asp?Page=3&menuPage=3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959299 | 152 | 1.890625 | 2 |
The girls of SEA have been getting real-world experience, fixing networking, computer and wiring issues, helping to update and upgrade the systems at their school.
So far Linux Mint is a solid win on the girls’ newly-built computers – thanks to the guys at MintCast for letting me tell the world a little bit about what we’re trying to do here.
Open Source Software is, in short, a fair part of how we can do what we are doing. Students are using various tools for real-world solutions — like DBAN to wipe a hard drive so it can be safely re-purposed.
Several of the girls have applied for the Xtreme IT! Program at local University of Missouri – St. Louis.
The school hopes to offer this as a for-credit course during the 2012-2013 school year.
(I was going to write a newsletter, but I feel like I just did)
“Girls Can!” is something very simple, and yet fundamental.
It’s about helping girls get over that initial “I can’t touch that, I’ll break it!” fear of technology, so they find out they really *can* do that.
The shortage of women in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) fields is no secret. I feel a lot of it has to do with what happens before college. Girls, in general, are not as often encouraged to tinker, take things apart, figure out how things work. So what happens, if you give the girls a little support, and a few tools?
There’s a wonderful school in St. Louis, called St. Elizabeth Academy, that is all about helping girls find out just what they are capable of. They very generously agreed to help me start this project, offering not only the use of their computer lab, but the enthusiastic support of staff and students alike. In just over four months, this group of young ladies proved …
They can build a really awesome desktop PC, running Linux Mint 12 64-bit on a quad-core AMD.
They can help replace a switch on the school network.
And, I believe, they can do anything they set their minds to. It amazes me, how much they have accomplished, in such a short time … just an hour, once or twice a week, squeezed in between orchestra, basketball, study hall, and even after school and Saturdays.
Last week, we went on a field trip to MicroCenter. The girls got to tour the “Build Your Own” area, and then to speak with one of the “Knowledge Bar” associates, and to see the work shop area. Huge kudos to the wonderful folk there — many, many thanks!!
One of the biggest challenges is finding time slots where the girls can attend. Next year, St. Elizabeth is hoping to be able to make this a for-credit course. I’d love to see that happen — and to see this grow. | <urn:uuid:c7705e43-3bf5-48e8-99fc-12e279188084> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.girls-can.org/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954402 | 629 | 2.03125 | 2 |
- Life Style
When Israel named its recent military operation on the Gaza Strip “Pillar of the Cloud,” many drew a biblical connection to Exodus, when Moses and his Jewish followers crossed safely to the land of Canaan while the pharaoh and his army drowned.
Not only was the attack directed at the Islamist government of Gaza, but many perceived it as directed at Egypt’s emerging Islamist authority and its Muslim Brotherhood president, Mohamed Morsy.
Indeed Egypt was immediately put under the spotlight as the only viable broker of a ceasefire, with international diplomacy outsourcing the job to the country’s new elite, still in the process of configuring a coherent policy regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Morsy is the solution
Responding to a simple question on who can stop the bloodshed that has claimed more than 100 lives in Gaza, as of press time, a former American diplomat responded unhesitatingly, “Mohamed Morsy.”
“Our position continues to be that those nations in the region, particularly nations that have influence over Hamas — and that’s principally Egypt and Turkey, also Qatar ... — that those nations need to use that influence to de-escalate the conflict,” White House Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said Monday. President Barack Obama stressed the need for an end to Hamas rocket attacks on Israel in a telephone call to Morsy Monday to discuss ways to de-escalate cross-border fighting in Gaza, the White House said.
From the onset and nominally, Egypt chose hardline rhetoric against Israel, very different to that used under ousted President Hosni Mubarak, highly perceived as someone who bended to both Israel and the US.
Morsy sent Prime Minister Hesham Qandil to Gaza Friday in what was the first visit by an Egyptian official there since Hamas took over the territory in 2007. Morsy also gave a 20-minute-long televised speech in which he described Israel’s acts as “unacceptable.”
“I say to those on behalf of all the Egyptian people that Egypt today is different from yesterday, and Arabs today are different from yesterday. I say confidently that Egypt will not leave Gaza alone ... We assure [Israel] that the price will be high for continued aggression,” he said.
One of his advisers, who preferred to remain anonymous, stressed that Egypt after the revolution would not leave the Palestinian people behind.
“This is no longer the Egypt you used to know before. We are accountable to the people who elected us,” he says.
Meanwhile, Khaled Meshaal, head of Hamas’ political bureau, also commended Egypt for the role it is playing, asserting that it is a different country now that it is throwing its support behind his government against the Israelis. He spoke at a press conference in Cairo Monday.
Pundits see the rapprochement as only expected, given the organic ties between the Brotherhood and Hamas.
“Egypt has a lot of influence now on Hamas, due to historical, ideological and even personal ties between the new president and Hamas, as opposed to the mistrust and backstabbing that dominated relations between Mubarak and Hamas,” Omar Ashour, director of the Middle East Graduate Studies Program at the University of Exeter Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, tells Egypt Independent.
During Mubarak’s reign, the regime “empowered Israel” during negotiations and weakened Hamas’ stance, Ashour says.
“Now, under Morsy, it’s the other way around,” he explains.
Many in Egypt and Palestine bitterly recall how the Israeli Operation Cast Lead on Gaza in 2008–2009, which claimed more than 1,400 Palestinian lives, was launched while former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livno was in Egypt — with complete support from Mubarak, Ashour points out.
A calculated position
In the wake of possible weakened Iranian influence over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Morsy is perceived as the only one who can step up and fill the gap.
Ashour thinks that if Egypt succeeds in brokering a truce, it will strengthen its position in the region as Morsy proves to the world after only a few months of taking power that he is capable of leading the peace process.
The alienation of Hamas by the former Egyptian regime had made it turn to Iran, the empire much dreaded by the West and Israel. However, the Shia-dominated Iran lacks the ideological and historical ties that bring the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood closer to Hamas.
“Iran mostly supported Hamas through funding against their common enemy Israel, while the Brotherhood’s ties with Hamas are much stronger and deeper,” says Emad Gad, an international relations expert at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.
Gad argues that Hamas was further distanced by Iran following its strong support for the Syrian regime, which has been repressing a months-long rebellion against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.
Renowned journalist Abdallah al-Senawy says Hamas has been primarily depending on Egypt to sort out a solution for the current impasse.
“Egypt was the main country that Hamas depended on in the negotiations to broker the truce,” he says, adding that Qatar’s role remains unclear.
Qatar’s Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa paid a historic visit to Gaza before the Israeli attacks started in October. The visit was dubbed by many, including Umma University in Gaza political science professor Adnan Abu Amer, as “an attempt to seize the opportunity of a power gap left in Gaza following the Arab revolutions and regional changes. Qatar has its political interests in the region.”
But this interest was not played out by the small kingdom, which has strong affiliations with the West in the current conflict.
As of press time, news of the truce remained unclear. But Palestinian sources had mentioned that the deal would include a halt on Israeli assassinations of Hamas leaders alongside Hamas’ halt on rockets fired from Gaza into Israel.
Besides opening its operation with the killing of the senior Hamas military commander Ahmed al-Jabari, Israel has struck more than 1,350 targets in Gaza, according to AFP. Meanwhile, 640 rockets have hit southern Israel, while another 324 have been intercepted, as of Tuesday.
While this Islamist-flavored brokerage is not necessarily friendly to Israel, it is committed to the peaceful relations that reigned between the two countries since the 1970s, suggesting no radical change in the core of the relationship.
In an interview with Egypt Independent, the presidential adviser confirms that the country is committed to the peaceful nature of its revolution.
“Most of the Arab Spring states were peaceful, and we are trying to maintain this peaceful attitude. As a strategic option, we would like to participate in making peace and taking whatever steps we can to achieve that,” the adviser says.
And while talk about amending the peace accords between Egypt and Israel was looming, there has been no indication of commitment to any change.
“The truce won’t affect Camp David in any way,” Senawy says, referring to the peace treaty, arguing that Egypt doesn’t have the will to renegotiate the treaty now, when it still has many internal issues to handle.
But many argue the preservation of the status quo regarding the peace deal means the continuation of the weak state presence in Sinai, which Israel has complained about, after several rockets were launched from the peninsula.
Jabari, whose assassination inaugurated operation Pillar of the Cloud, was described by Israeli academic and politician Gershon Baskin as a subcontractor for Israel’s security in the strip and the surrounding areas, policing militant groups such as those infiltrating Sinai.
Egypt’s caution hence will need to hinge on Israel’s appeasement, alongside its rapprochement with Hamas — a balance many deem difficult.
This piece appears in Egypt Independent's weekly print edition. | <urn:uuid:1a555263-dd27-4ebf-afee-f6c9456b58a7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/banking-brotherhood-israel-gaza-truce | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967999 | 1,664 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Founded in 1740
at bottom of page
Click pictures for enlargements
Mikveh Israel Cemetery
by Shirley Milgrim
Twenty-six years before William Penn, the Quaker leader who founded Philadelphia set foot in the New World in 1682, a few Jews were trading with the Native Americans along the South River of the New Netherlands (later known as the Delaware River). The commerce-minded Dutch had wrested this territory from the Swedes; and young Hebrews with official permission to travel and barter ventured south from Dutch-held New Amsterdam to scout new sources of furs.
The Jewish community in New Amsterdam numbered some two dozen souls who had first arrived in the trading post on the Hudson River in the autumn of 1654. Exiles from Brazil, they had gained permission to stay in Manhattan from the Dutch West India Company, sponsor of the colony. In time, a handful of adventurers from Jewish communities in Holland, London and Dutch-held islands of the Caribbean made their way to New Amsterdam. Some moved on to Newport, Rhode Island; others probed the South River area for commercial possibilities.
The British took New Amsterdam from the Dutch in 1655 and named it New York. Jewish fears that they might be restricted under the British were soon put to rest when the King decreed that all persons who behaved themselves were free to roam the British colonies.
On March 4, 1681, King Charles II of England signed the patent that granted William Penn, leader of the Quakers, land between New York and Maryland, west of the Delaware River. Penn informed the King he wished to embark on a "Holy Experiment": he would establish a "Great Towne," which he would name Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love. William Penn planned his colony carefully, and when he followed his agents to America in 1682, he found the most promising city in the colonies already rising. With its excellent outlet to the sea, its location about halfway between the northern and southern British colonies, and its strong-willed, able-bodied inhabitants already at work with hammer and nail, Philadelphia's success seemed assured.
Jewish trading agents from New York took note of how quickly houses, shops and taverns rose in Philadelphia; how the harbor on the Delaware berthed an ever-increasing number of sailing vessels from the West Indies and Europe; how the number of market stalls with produce from Mennonite farms outside the town multiplied; how the Lenni Lenape Indians, pelts slung over their shoulders, clustered where William Penn held sway, confident of fair treatment. Nor did the clamor for nails, tools and other supplies by the Scotch-Irish immigrants anxious to move westward and clear wilderness for themselves fall on deaf ears.
The reports of the traders brought New York merchants to Philadelphia. One of them was the New York-born son of Moses Levy, established merchant, active in the Jewish community of New York. In 1737, Nathan Levy settled permanently in Philadelphia where he built a business of his own. He and his cousin, David Franks, formed the first important Jewish company there, Levy and Franks, importers and merchants.
Nathan Levy had lived in his new home in Philadelphia less than a year when one of his children died. He appealed to William Penn's son, Thomas Penn, Chief of the Proprietary Government of Pennsylvania for a private place in which to bury his child. A pious Jew, he sought hallowed ground in which to bury his child in accordance with Jewish law.
Nathan Levy was allowed to buy a small plot on the north side of Walnut Street between Eighth and Ninth Streets, to be enclosed with a "fence of boards ... an area characterized by woortleberry bushes and cows grazing in open fields." In 1740, Nathan Levy established a permanent cemetery on Spruce Street between Eighth and Ninth which Thomas Penn ordered to be held in trust as a burial place for Hebrews. Benjamin Eastburn, the official surveyor of the Province, drew the plan for the site.
Oral history tells us that a group of Jews banded together to hold religious services in a rented house sometime in the mid-1700's. This group met for prayer and was probably joined on special occasions and the High Holy Days by Jewish travelers from Lancaster and other nearby towns. Although they did not establish a congregation in the formal sense until the 1770's, Congregation Mikveh Israel dates its beginning to the establishment of the cemetery in 1740. The cemetery is the oldest tangible evidence of Jewish communal life in Philadelphia.
The cemetery in 1740 was a 30' x 30' plot. In 1752, Nathan Levy received an additional grant of land north of the first plot. In1765, John Penn granted Mathias Bush, another member of Mikveh Israel, an adjacent piece of ground for burial purposes. Thus the area that the cemetery embraces today was completed. If you click at right for the surveyor's drawing, you will see that it covers an area fronting 60 ft. on the north side of Spruce Street and continuing 127 feet in depth to Manning Street. On the east side is Darien Street and Schell Street is on the west.
The appearance of the cemetery underwent several changes in the course of years. Nathan Levy enclosed it with a low brick wall in 1751 to protect the gravestones from "many unthinking people in the habit of setting marks and firing shots." Legend has it that when the British occupied Philadelphia in 1777, Redcoats would execute army deserters against the cemetery wall. In 1803 a new, higher wall replaced the one of colonial brick. Wrought-iron gates were added, and a sandstone marker erected telling of the cemetery's origin.
In 1791, Congregation Mikveh Israel appointed five trustees for the burial ground. A document of November 30, 1791, signed by David Franks reads:
"Whereas Nathan Levy..., Merchant, did apply for two pieces of ground for a burial place for his family … this is to certify and declare that said application, which was in the name of the aforesaid Nathan Levy, was intended for the use of his family, and also for the use of the Hebrew Congregation (Mikveh Israel) of this City; it being intended at the time he applied for the same, to be a trust for a burial place for the internment of Hebrews."
This document records the right of Mikveh Israel to ownership of the Spruce Street Cemetery. It states the intent of Nathan Levy and Mathias Bush for the cemetery to be the resting place not only for their family members but for Jews in Philadelphia and beyond to be buried on sanctified ground in accordance with Jewish Law. Ownership was confirmed in 1828 by an act of the Pennsylvania Legislature.
Leaders of Mikveh Israel and their family members were buried in the cemetery on Spruce Street. Nathan Levy's tomb, dated 1753, bears the oldest decipherable inscription in the cemetery. The dates and the names, barely discernible on the weathered old tombstones, add dimensions today to the story of the emerging American nation.
Two plaques memorialize Haym Salomon, patriot and dedicated Jew. Born in Poland in 1740, he left Poland at the time of the Partition of 1772. He traveled in Europe for several years before immigrating to New York City around 1775. On the continent, he acquired mastery of European languages, currencies, and finance. In New York, he opened a brokerage and commission merchant's business. He was jailed in New York by the British as a spy and for participating in other revolutionary activities of the Sons of Liberty.
Salomon escaped to Philadelphia with his family. There he joined fellow Jews who had fled the British occupation. He established himself as a broker, selling currencies and notes at a discount. Robert Morris, Superintendent of the Office of Finance appointed Haym Salomon as official broker. From 1781 until1784, in this capacity, Salomon converted bills of exchange and foreign government notes into spendable cash at a low rate of interest for the highest obtainable price. The money was used to meet the urgent needs of the army, navy, and government
Solomon was known as "The Good Jew." In addition to his commitment to American Independence, Salomon devoted himself to Jewish affairs. A trustee of Congregation Mikveh Israel, he was the largest contributor to its first building, dedicated in 1782
The gravesite of Haym Salomon is unmarked. He is commemorated by a marble tablet on the east wall, installed by his great-grandson, William Salomon. A granite memorial is set inside the gate of the cemetery. Haym Solomon Lodge 663 of Brith Sholom contributed it and financed extensive repairs to the cemetery.
Haym Salomon died in 1785 at the age of 45. He left assets which barely covered his debts. The following obituary was printed in the Independent Gazetteer:
"Thursday, last, expired, after a lingering illness, Mr. Hyam Solomon, an eminent broker of this city, was a native of Poland, and of the Hebrew nation. He was remarkable for his skill and integrity in his profession, and for his generous and humane deportment. His remains were yesterday deposited in the burial ground of the synagogue of this city."
Aaron Levy (1742-1815}, a close friend and financial supporter of Haym Salomon, was a pioneer and fur trader. He founded of the town of Aaronsburg, Pennsylvania.
Rebecca Machado Phillips (1746-1831) was born to an eminent Portuguese Marrano family. She was the daughter of the David Mendoza Machado, Hazan (minister) of Congregation Shearith Israel of New York City. Her husband, Jonas Phillips, patriot and merchant, was a Parnas (president) of Congregation Mikveh Israel, as was her son, Zalegman Phillips, Esquire. She was very active in educational, social and philanthropic organizations and was mother to twenty one children. Among her eminent descendants are Commodore Uriah Phillips Levy and Mordechai Manuel Noah.
Michael Gratz (1740-1811) was Parnas of Mikveh Israel from 1784 to 1785. As a tribute to him and his wife Miriam, the northwestern section of the cemetery was reserved for the Gratz family. He arrived from Germany in 1758, following his older brother, Bernard, who was previously apprenticed to David Franks. Together they set up a coastal shipping service between New Orleans and Quebec. The French & Indian Wars interfered with shipping, and drove the brothers to western frontier trade in Pennsylvania, Illinois and Kentucky. They, along with David Franks, Mathias Bush and others, signed the Non-Importation Resolutions of 1765 to protest the Stamp Act. Later, the Gratz brothers supplied the Continental Army. During the British occupation of Philadelphia, the firm relocated to Lancaster, home of the father-in-law of Michael Gratz, Joseph Simon.
Michael and Miriam Gratz were the parents of twelve children. Among their children buried here are:
Jacob Gratz (1790-1856) served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and State Senate. Simon Gratz (1773-1839) and Hyman Gratz (1776-1857) inherited their father's business. Their store was at the Graff House (7th & Market) where Thomas Jefferson wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence. Both Simon and Hyman Gratz were treasurers of Mikveh Israel. They were among the founders of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Simon served in the Pennsylvania Volunteers during the war of 1812. Hyman was one of the managers of the first Jewish Publication Society, founded by Reverend Isaac Leeser in 1845. The will of Hyman Gratz established a trust fund for his descendants with the provision that after no descendants were living, the entire estate came into possession of Congregation Mikveh Israel "for a College for the Education of Jews." Gratz College, founded 1893, is now a separate institution in Melrose Park, Pennsylvania.
Rebecca Gratz (1781-1869) achieved renown as founder and officer of social and educational institutions managed by women. These organizations served as a model for others. They are the source of schools and social agencies in existence today. A bronze plaque in appreciation of her communal activities can be found at the cemetery
The Jewish soldiers of the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812 and the Civil War are interred in the burial grounds.
Phillip Moses Russell (1747-1830), a surgeon's mate, who received special commendation from General George Washington for his services at Valley Forge during the winters of 1777 and 1778.
Benjamin Nones (1757-1826), served on the staffs of both General Washington and General Lafayette. While still a private under Count Pulaski, he received a letter of commendation in 1779 written by Captain Verdier, a splendid testimonial to his courage. He fought in almost every action in the Carolinas. Nones became a Major of the Hebrew Legion of 400 men attached to DeKalb's command. Several years after the war, he was appointed an interpreter of Spanish and French for the United States government. Nones was Parnas of Mikveh Israel for 13 years over four different terms.
Reuben Etting (1762-1848), who enlisted in the Revolutionary Army at 19 years of age, suffered capture by the British at the surrender of Charleston. He was commissioned a captain of the Independent Blues in 1798 and was later appointed a United States Marshal for the State of Maryland by President Thomas Jefferson.
Four Minister/Rabbis from Congregation Mikveh Israel are buried in the cemetery. Their names and dates of tenure are:
- Reverend Jacob Raphael Cohen, 1784-1811
- Reverend Nunes Carvalho, 1815-1817
- Reverend Abraham Israel Keys, 1824-1828
- Reverend Leon Elmaleh, 1898-1927, emeritus 1927-1972
Reverend Jacob Raphael Cohen celebrated the ratification of the United States Constitution by walking hand-in-hand in the procession with Reverend William White of Christ Church, the dean of Philadelphia's clergy.
The cemetery ceased to be a regular place of burial in 1886 except for the interment of Josephine Etting in 1913, Fanny Polano Elmaleh, wife of Reverend Leon H. Elmaleh, in 1966 and Reverend Leon H. Elmaleh in 1972.
In July 1953, an Ordinance was introduced in the City Council of Philadelphia establishing the Mikveh Israel Cemetery as a historic shrine. Since 1956, Mikveh Israel Cemetery has been designated a National Historic Shrine. The late congressman James Byrnes, in whose district the burial ground is located, introduced in the House of Representatives a bill to make the Spruce Street Cemetery and Christ Church, located at Second and Market Streets, where Washington worshipped, national historic sites. On July 23, 1956, the House passed the bill.
In January 1956, a hearing was held in Washington, DC concerning a proposed Federal Bill to make the historic burial ground a part of Independence National Historic Park. A campaign, spearheaded by "The Jewish Times", was instrumental in bringing about the designation. The Senate and House of Representatives passed the bill. On August 6th, 1956, President Eisenhower signed the bill into law.
Those involved in the designation were Congressmen James Byrne, Earl Chudoff, Hugh Scott, Jr., and William Barrett. Additional advocates of the bill were Esther Klein, Publisher and Editor of "The Jewish Times", Philip Klein, President of Harcum Junior College and the Junto Adult School; Reverend Leon H. Elmaleh, Rabbi Emeritus, Reverend Alan Corre, Rabbi, Gustave Klein, President and Isidor Ostroff, Esq., Board Member.
Ellen and Joseph Bunford Samuel gave service to the upkeep of the grounds. They provided restoration of the wall and a new gate. Mrs. Samuel was the great-granddaughter of Rebecca Machado Phillips.
In 1971, the Jewish Cemetery Association of Greater Philadelphia worked with the officers of the congregation to have the cemetery placed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was added at the same time that Christ Church (Episcopal) and the cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul (Roman Catholic) were admitted to the list.
During the decade of the sixties and the first five years of the seventies, grass and trees were trimmed when funds and manpower were made available by Jewish war veteran groups and the Haym Salomon Lodge 663 of Brith Sholom.
In 1975, in anticipation of the national Bicentennial Celebration and an influx of visitors to one of the most important concentrations of historic buildings and sites in the United States, the Colonial Philadelphia Historical Society, a non-ethnic organization, volunteered its services to the Congregation Mikveh Israel and the National Park Service to restore and maintain Philadelphia's earliest Jewish cemetery. The offer was gratefully accepted.
In 1980, the Colonial Philadelphia Historical Society established the Mikveh Israel Cemetery Trust to provide for the perpetual upkeep of Mikveh Israel Cemetery. | <urn:uuid:572b6d08-9b86-4516-8ff5-4154bfdb7944> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ushistory.org/mikvehisrael/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965939 | 3,539 | 3.578125 | 4 |
Aripo Main Cave, Trinidad
|Coordinates:||10.7195 N 61.2442 W (mistake up to 200 m)|
|No:||351 (list of all attractions)|
|Address:||North America, Caribbean, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunapuna-Piarco, south from the summit of El Cerro del Aripo|
The largest and longest accessible cave system in Trinidad island is Aripo Main Cave.
Just like many other caves in this part of Trinidad, Aripo Main Cave has formed in Jurassic limestone. Cave is located at the foot of the tallest mountain in Trinidad - the 941 m tall El Cerro del Aripo. Walk to the cave takes a long, strenuous walk through the tropical forest.
This cave is impressive and spatious. The entrance is more than 10 m tall and passage goes below the Aripo stream. Cave itself contains a small stream with waterfalls.
Aripo Main Cave is adorned with numerous stalactites and stalagmites.
Swarming life in the darkness
Stay into this cave is rather creepy experience. The darkness of the cave is filled with deafening noise of its unique inhabitants - guacharos, countless bats and birds are flying around and the thick layer of putrid guano is teeming with insects (with incredibly long antennae which help to orientate in the darkness) and other invertebrates. Six insect species have been first described in this cave.
Cave is dangerous - guano at places is infested with Histoplasma capsulatum fungus which can infect lungs.
Several species of bats live in the cave - Glossophaga s. socrina, Anoura g. geoffroyi and the exotic vampire bat Desmodus r. rotundas.
The most famous inhabitant of the cave is guacharo (Steatornis caripensis) - the only fruit eating nocturnal bird in the world. Here, in the cave live some 150 of these rare birds, who have built their nests in the crevices of the walls and ceilings.
This unusual bird is both disgusting and exciting. It uses echolocation to orientate in the darkness. Guacharo contains lots of oil and local people hunted them for cooking oil, which sometimes was used as lighting too.
See Aripo Main Cave on the map of Trinidad and Tobago!
- Donald A. McFarlane, Ross D. E. MacPhee. Amblyrhiza and the Quaternary Bone Caves of Anguilla, British West Indies, Cave Science Vol 16, Nr. 1., April 1989. Accessed in 5th October 2012
Trinidad and Tobago is a Caribbean nation, but the nature here in many respects resembles the lush, rich nature of the nearby South America. This small island country is rich with interesting natural landmarks.
Cave is natural underground space which is large enough for human to enter.
Every year there are reported exciting discoveries of new caves and discoveries of new qualities such as cave paintings in the ones known before. But there still is a feeling that our knowledge covers just a small part of these natural monuments. | <urn:uuid:57079037-0d56-4ac9-b300-64d76f379151> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wondermondo.com/Countries/NA/LesserAntilles/TrinidadTobago/AripoCave.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907178 | 664 | 2.375 | 2 |
Cardiovascular disease has been the leading cause of death in New York City and the United States for decades. More than 21,000 New Yorkers die from heart disease and stroke each year. The cardiovascular disease death rate has dramatically decreased in the city in recent years but the dual epidemics of obesity and diabetes threaten to undermine this progress.
The Health Department continues to work to prevent and control the modifiable risk factors of cardiovascular disease, including smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and obesity. For example, the Department is promoting self-blood pressure monitoring, as studies have shown that patients who monitor their blood pressure at home have better control of their hypertension.
Last Updated 1/31/13 | <urn:uuid:3bed083c-96d7-4c56-b080-93a623ce5499> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nyc.gov/portal/site/nycgov/menuitem.d063513af78552917d857c1066a09da0/index.jsp?epi-content=GENERIC&wcproxyurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.nyc.gov%252Fhtml%252Fdoh%252Fhtml%252Fabout%252Ftcny04.shtml&beanID=2027100071&viewID=proxy_view_secondary | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937608 | 142 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Even for the crazy world of quantum mechanics, this one is twisted. A quantum computer program has produced an answer without actually running.
The idea behind the feat, first proposed in 1998, is to put a quantum computer into a “superposition”, a state in which it is both running and not running. It is as if you asked Schrödinger's cat to hit "Run".
With the right set-up, the theory suggested, the computer would sometimes get an answer out of the computer even though the program did not run. And now researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have improved on the original design and built a non-running quantum computer that really works.
They send a photon into a system of mirrors and other optical devices, which included a set of components that run a simple database search by changing the properties of the photon.
The new design includes a quantum trick called the Zeno effect. Repeated measurements stop the photon from entering the actual program, but allow its quantum nature to flirt with the program's components - so it can become gradually altered even though it never actually passes through.
"It is very bizarre that you know your computer has not run but you also know what the answer is," says team member Onur Hosten.
This scheme could have an advantage over straightforward quantum computing. "A non-running computer produces fewer errors," says Hosten. That sentiment should have technophobes nodding enthusiastically. | <urn:uuid:0bb0f44b-6509-4929-a09e-43ce4d47384b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tswe.blogspot.com/2006/02/too-cool-for-words.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966419 | 301 | 3.4375 | 3 |
Unique Colors made with authentic mineral pigments. Certain colors have captured the imagination of artists for hundreds or even thousands of years. Daniel Smith PrimaTek colors are made from naturally occurring pigments, reviving a tradition of making paints the way the ancient Egyptians, Mayans and other early cultures did. Some of these pigments come from some of the most remote areas in the world. Their diversity is amazing, from the subtle earth tones of Hematite, Minnesota Pipestone and Sedona to the exquisite jewel shades of Malachite, Amazonite and Lapis Lazuli Genuine. As you paint with these colors, we know you'll experience something new in your oil color mixtures and paintings.
The Merri Artist, Inc.
321 NE Baker Street McMinnville, OR 97128 | <urn:uuid:bf7d0e29-578c-4866-ab08-ca1a0a23ca64> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.merriartist.com/Daniel_Smith_PrimaTek_Oil_Colors_s/1085.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924548 | 162 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Post Archives tagged ‘holiday’
A school is a place to celebrate any holiday we can get our hands on. Valentine's Day lends itself to delving deeply into caring for others and being loved ourselves. Today I worked with my class on understanding Lyric Poems. These are poems that have strong rhyming patterns and have a song-like quality. The poem tells about the feelings and emotions of the author, rather … Continue reading the story "Valentine’s Day Activity"
New Year, I am plotting a redesign of my entryway. I have a relatively large space which gets overrun with bags, shoes and jackets. Then, to add to the mayhem, I have random … Continue reading the story "Organizing For the New Year"
Having danced in public on stage, enjoyed a few weeks of well-fitting clothes, and generally satisfied that I looked pretty good, I did it again: I blew it all over Christmas! Why did I do this? What was I thinking? Why don't my tight jeans fit anymore? Was it … Continue reading the story "Christmas Binge!" | <urn:uuid:4f35a3f6-946f-4c9b-a93a-2911438eb05b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://healthyworkingmom.net/tag/holiday/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961109 | 226 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Farmers Race for Lost Time
Farmers breathed a sigh with the clear skies and 90-degree plus weather, but now they face a new challenge. They must make up for time lost because of the wet weather and quickly plant crops that should already be in the ground.Keenan Bishop, Franklin County Agriculture and Natural Resources extension agent, says there is just enough time to get the planting done, but farmers will have to hurry.
According to the National Weather Service, Frankfort’s 13.25 inches of precipitation during April was the highest on record for that month. It far surpassed the previous record of 9.28 inches during April of 1948. Just a few more inches would have surpassed the state’s overall record of 15.77 inches set in January of 1937.
Bishop says that depending on the crop of choice, the weather will impact each farmer differently, but there is no doubt that an impact will be felt.
Bishop says tobacco farmers may face an increased chance of disease in their plants because they have had to keep them in greenhouses throughout the rainy period.
Other farmers may have to spend extra money on supplements to feed their livestock because of a decreased supply of hay.
Some farmers may have to purchase extra herbicide or fertilizer to make up for any washed away by rain.
Corn farmers caught one lucky break. In spite of the possibility of a smaller crop than expected, the price of corn is currently so high that Bishop says it should even out any economic hardships they would have been facing. This may encourage farmers to stick with corn instead of switching to soybeans, a common practice.
In Kentucky, corn and soybeans account for more than half and as much as three-fifths of the annual cash receipts for planted crops.
University of Kentucky agronomist Chad Lee told The Courier-Journal that in a normal year farmers would switch over to soybeans by June 1, but farmers like Kevin Dick in Oldham County said the muddy spring has kept him from planting a single soybean yet this year.
“And I was kind of lucky to get the corn done — mudded the last of that in,” Dick said.
Planting in muddy conditions can result in poor root system development and stunted growth for corn.
“Over the past five or 10 years, I don’t know that we’ve had a spring quite like this one,” Lee said.
Lee said there are other worries that the wet spring could throw off seed development through August, one of the state’s hottest and driest months.
“We’ve had a little bit over half of our annual rainfall already at this point. And so if you’re playing the numbers that doesn’t bode well for rain throughout the rest of the season,” Lee said.
Terry Rhodes, a Daviess County farmer, said he has a couple of days more of corn left to plant, already has about 30 percent of his beans planted and can been done in about a week. Rhodes said corn planted in late May in western Kentucky can still turn out well, he said.
“It just depends on the rainfall in the latter part of July and during the first half of August,” he said. “So I never give up until it’s in the grain bins. You never know what can happen.”
Non-farmers throughout the county may notice that the wet spring makes a difference for them, as well. Delayed availability of summer vegetables and fluctuating prices of corn-yielding grocery items were just a couple examples that Bishop gave of changes that may be noticed in upcoming months.
In spite of any hardships caused by the weather, Bishop says it is nothing farmers aren’t used to dealing with.
“You always have to have a plan B and C when you’re a farmer,” Bishop said. | <urn:uuid:b8523fa4-10c5-4f5b-87c3-6ace4a0f21a0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://weku.fm/post/farmers-race-lost-time | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972407 | 814 | 2.34375 | 2 |
WADEVILLE, TEXAS. Wadeville, near Farm Road 309 three miles south of Kerens in southeastern Navarro County, was among the earliest settlements in the county. Around 1846 J. T. Parsons established a store on the south bank of Rush Creek, and a small community known as Parsons' Trading Post grew up. David Sherrill built a gin there around 1856, and a post office was established in the store in 1861. After Parsons died in 1871 the post office was moved to a general store run by Mack Wade, and the community was renamed Wadeville. At its height around 1880 Wadeville had a school, a gin, a drugstore, a Masonic lodge, a Presbyterian church, and a cotton gin. The population in 1880 was 152. When the St. Louis and Southwestern Railway was constructed through the area in 1881, it bypassed the town. The merchants and most of the residents moved to the newly established town of Kerens on the railroad, and within a short time Wadeville was a ghost town. In the early 1990s no trace of the former community remained.
Annie Carpenter Love, History of Navarro County (Dallas: Southwestern, 1933). Wyvonne Putman, comp., Navarro County History (5 vols., Quanah, Texas: Nortex, 1975–84). Alva Taylor, History and Photographs of Corsicana and Navarro County (Corsicana, Texas, 1959; rev. ed., Navarro County History and Photographs, Corsicana, 1962).
The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this article.Christopher Long, "WADEVILLE, TX," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hrwvc), accessed May 18, 2013. Published by the Texas State Historical Association. | <urn:uuid:1d8b8e5e-0aba-4860-b25c-8888467d3b4f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hrwvc | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952644 | 394 | 2.84375 | 3 |
So... here we go. We will take each blending mode and show what it will do to this photo on top of itself, this photo on top of the gray paper, and the gray paper on top of the patterned paper. If you want to really get the feel of the way these work, open a photo and a couple of sheets of paper and follow along!
This is obviously... well... normal. :) No formal explanation needed here.
Compares the color of the top and bottom layers and blends the pixels where the top layer is darker than the bottom.
I usually use this one in addition to other blend modes. I'm not really excited about what it does by itself to photos, but as you can see in this example... it can do some cool stuff to papers sometimes!
This is a great one too! Can do some cool things to photos, but I think even more so with papers. It can be waaaaay to dark and harsh on the wrong photo, but get the right photo and it can do WONDERS... especially with a SCREEN layer underneath!
This is a good one too. It can be used over a MULTIPLY or COLOR BURN layer to give it some harshness. Playing with the opacity on this one is almost always key. It doesn't usually do anything great for papers, though. It makes them a bit too harsh in my opinion.
Ditto to what I said on Color Dodge.
This one is what I use when Overlay is just a bit too much. Again... it is sometimes all I do to a photo.
This one really pumps up your photo. Sometimes I use this one by itself if I want a really edgy, dramatic effect, but I usually have to play with the opacity a bit.
I don't use this one as much, but there are some photos that it works beautifully on.
This blending mode is very cool, however, I've yet to use it on a layout. But it is GREAT at getting a very "pop art" effect. I'm determined to use this one on a layout at some point.
With the photo on photo here, I actually had to set the top layer at 80% opacity to even see the photo... it made it just a black image. but the photo on paper and paper on paper, you can see the effect it gives.
Didn't do us much good on the photo on photo or photo on paper, but the paper on paper... it gave us a totally different (and really pretty) peice of patterned paper. :)
Ditto to what I said about Hue and Saturation.
This one is cool too. As you can see with the photo on paper, it turned our photo the same color tone as the bottom layer... as well as with our paper on paper.
Paper on Paper:
I would LOVE to know what you think of this tutorial. Feel free to leave comments!
If you have any questions regarding this tutorial, you can certainly email me at email@example.com.
***I would love to hear what type of tutorials YOU would like to see! While your here, stop by the "SUGGESTIONS box" and let me know what you would like to see! In the meantime....
STAY TUNED for these great tutorials coming up....
ALL ABOUT TEXT: Choosing the right font for your layout; where to place it; what size to make it; what color; tips on journaling and documenting... everything I can think of about text.
INSPIRATION NEEDED: You have a photo you want to scrap... you have it on your page... now what? I will take you through several different routes of a scrapbook page in progress and give you some starting points on what direction to take different photos in.
ORGANIZATION: Do you have a TON of digital scrapping supplies? Need to know how to organize them? I feel certain that everyone does it differently, but I will share my method with you to see if it might work for you.
BRUSHES: We will talk about downloading brushes, loading and saving brushes, organizing brushes, even making you OWN brushes!!!
You can find a PRINTABLE version of this tutorial (and all of my others) in the Tutorial Section at Oscraps! | <urn:uuid:33de4fc8-2549-4695-bc18-c59fc106673c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.taylormadebydesign.com/2008/07/blending-options-defined.html?showComment=1224251160000 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954123 | 903 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Patients who have abnormal blood tests and a liver biopsy which shows features consistent with a diagnosis of PSC but who have a normal MRCP or ERCP (cholangiogram) are described as having small-duct PSC.
6-16% of the PSC population have small duct disease. For the most part, the course of their disease is milder than for large-duct disease with fewer symptoms and a favourable prognosis with regard to survival, need for transplantation and the chance of development of cholangiocarcinomais extremely small.
Reviewed 10/05/12Taken from Chapman, 2011. Primary sclerosing cholangitis. Medicine,39(10): 588-591 | <urn:uuid:e2dab1b2-e54f-4ac0-8439-d87eda7d54fc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pscsupport.org.uk/small-duct-psc | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938405 | 153 | 2.0625 | 2 |
HOME | LAWS | ORGANIZATIONS | CASES | LEGISLATION
HF 1897 would remove the requirement that conscientious exemptions to immunizations be notarized. Instead they must be signed and dated. It would also require parental notification on how the commissioners of education and health will use immunization data.
01/24/2012 (House) Introduced, first reading, referred to Education Reform Committee
05/10/2012 (House) This bill died when the House adjourned on May 10
| Other Resources| | <urn:uuid:2e539ba7-9da0-4a1d-90e3-549c6020f237> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hslda.org/cms/index.php?q=bill/house-file-1897-immunization-requirements-modified-schoolchildren | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923634 | 107 | 1.65625 | 2 |
NEW YORK — In November of 2006, City Council member Melissa Mark Viverito spoke out against police commissioner Ray Kelly’s parade permitting rules. Mark Viverito felt the rules would violate the civil rights of activists. Ironically, on Sunday she faced a large contingent of protesters – permits in hand – at her own front door. Calling Viverito a “serpent” and a “sellout”, members of Movement for Justice in El Barrio visited her luxury townhouse to express their outrage with her support of the 125th Street rezoning plan. To many of the protesters Mark Viverito seemed to personify the gentrification going on in Harlem.
According to her website, “Melissa Mark Viverito made history in November 2005 by becoming the first Puerto Rican woman elected to serve District 8 on the City Council” in 2005. District 8 includes Manhattan Valley, East Harlem, and part of Mott Haven in the Bronx.
Council Member Mark Viverito was born and raised in Puerto Rico. She worked for 1199 SEIU in New York City before being elected to the City Council. Her campaign promised greater transparency in city government. But by 2008, Mark Viverito and her constituency were estranged. On April 30th, Viverito and 41 other City Council members approved a controversial rezoning plan that will bring condominiums and 21 story skyscrapers to Harlem’s historic 125th Street. Only two members of the council, Charles Barron and Tony Avella, voted against the plan. Speaker Christine Quinn called in police to remove protesters from the council chambers when tempers flared in response to the vote. The vote was seen as a victory for real estate developers and was supported by Mayor Bloomberg.
Standing against the gentrification of East Harlem is a grassroots organization called Movimiento por Justicia del Barrio (Movement for Justice in El Barrio). MJB is a self described organization of “immigrants and low-income people of color” who have made their views known and presence felt.
In an effort to avoid being displaced from their neighborhood, members of MJB have filed a groundbreaking lawsuit against property investment giant Dawnay Day Group. The London based firm has a stated goal of increasing the rent sharply in its 47 Harlem properties. MJB alleges that Dawnay Day Group has conducted a campaign of neglect and tenant harrassment in an attempt to force the current residents out so that it may raise the rent. In its suit MJB argues that Dawnay Day has charged current residents “thousands of dollars in false fees” as part of its efforts to drive out low income residents.
In the battle for the soul of East Harlem, Movement for Justice in El Barrio has kept up the pressure on Dawnay Day Group and those politicians, including Mark Viverito, who vote against the interests of their poorer constituents. Complementing its lawsuit and a well run media campaign, MJB has taken to the streets to get their message out.
On Sunday a large contingent of MJB and its supporters rallied at 116th Street and Lexington Avenue – not far from Mark Viverito’s office. The rally was the first stop in what MJB called a “March for Dignity and against Displacement.”
The second stop was the home of City Council member Melissa Mark Viverito.
Carrying signs that said, “Harlem no se vende” (Harlem is not for sale), “We will not be moved” and “El Barrio will not be sold”, the protesters marched down Third Avenue to Viverito’s home. Mothers, fathers and young children held vigil outside the townhouse as activists spoke out against Viverito’s support of gentrification. Protesters spoke through a makeshift bullhorn – a rolled up sign – pointing out that, in addition to voting for the rezoning of 125th Street, Mark Vierito also voted for the Columbia University expansion into West Harlem. The announcement was met with jeers and boos.
The final stop of the protest was the Vertical City realty office on Third Avenue and 99th Street. Here protesters spoke out against the ongoing gentrification of their neighborhood – Vertical City rents Dawnay Day Group’s East Harlem properties. Several speakers vowed to defeat those who would gentrify Harlem as other demonstraters held signs that said, “estamos en la lucha” – we are in a struggle. | <urn:uuid:129b6ab4-cc68-4ce5-bb9f-c7e3099b1a5f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://antiauthoritarian.net/NLN/?p=480 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964297 | 930 | 1.515625 | 2 |
August 18, 2009
Q: What are good ab exercises?
We’ve divided the exercises into upper and lower ab exercises. Note that there aren’t two separate muscles that you can truly isolate, so all the exercises stress the whole abdominal wall. However there are “clusters” of muscle separated by connective tissue (these make up the “washboard” or the “six-pack”). You can focus on the upper clusters by moving just the torso and the lower clusters by moving the pelvis.
For the lower abs, in increasing order of difficulty:
lying leg raises
vertical lying leg thrusts
hanging knee raises
hanging leg raises
For the upper abs:
Lower Abs Exercises
This exercise can be done on the ground or on an incline sit-up board. All you need is something behind your head to hold. If you use the incline board, use it with your feet lower than your head.
Lying on your back, hold a weight or a chair leg (if lying on the floor) or the foot bar (if using the sit-up board). Keep the knees slightly bent.
Pull your pelvis and legs up so that your knees are above your chest and then return to beginning position. This exercise is very similar to a hanging knee raise, but a little less intense.
Lying Leg Raises
Lie on your back with your hands, palms down under your buttocks. Raise your legs about 30cm (12″) off the floor and hold them there. Now trying to use just your lower abs, raise your legs by another 15cm (6″). Do this by tilting the pelvis instead of lifting the legs with the palms. Make sure your knees are slightly bent.
If you’re big or have long legs or both, you should probably avoid this exercise. For people with legs that are too heavy for their lower abs strength, this exercise pulls the lower back into an exaggerated arch which is bad (and painful). For reasons why it’s bad, see Question 5. If you have this problem you can either try bending your knees slightly and making sure you keep your
lower back fairly flat, or just try another exercise.
Upper Abs Exercises
Lying on your back, put your knees up in the air so that your thighs are at a right angle to your torso, with your knees bent. If you like you can rest your feet on something, like a chair. Put your hands either behind your head or gently touching the sides of your head.
Now, slowly raise your shoulders off the ground and try to touch your breastbone to your pelvis, breathing out as you go. If you succeed in touching your breastbone to your pelvis, see a doctor immediately.
Although the actual movement will be very small (your upper torso should move through less than 30 degrees) you should try to go as high as possible. Only your spine should bend, your hips should not move. If the hips move, you are exercising the psoas.
Do these fairly slowly to avoid using momentum to help. You can increase the difficulty of the exercise by extending your hands out behind your head instead of keeping them at the side. Make sure you don’t jerk your hands forward to help with the crunch, keep them still.
Like ab crunches, take the lying, bent-knee position, but this time crunch diagonally so that you try to touch each shoulder to the opposite hip alternately. At the top position, one shoulder and one hip should be off the ground.
About the Author:
Victoria Johnson is the nation’s premier Health & Fitness and Wealth & Spirit “activist.” Victoria is the owner and president of Victoria Johnson Intl., a personal training, consulting, marketing and management company. She is not only a fitness guru, she’s a born and bred entrepreneur. She believes everyone should be healthy and prosperous. She has produced and starred in over 24 award-winning exercise and dance fitness DVD’s and videos, produced and starred in her own television show entitled “Victoria’s Body Shoppe” and most recently authored her third book, Body Revival, Lose Weight, Feel Great and Pump Up Your Faith!
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Ensuring Appropriate Training and Supervision
NEA believes that paraeducators play an increasingly critical role in improving student achievement by supporting and assisting certificated/licensed educators in both instructional and other direct services.
Further, NEA believes that all paraeducators, not just special education paraeducators, should be appropriately trained and supervised.
Properly trained paraeducators play an important role in reinforcing and enhancing a teacher’s effectiveness in the classroom. In preparing for their professional roles and responsibilities, paraeducators should have sufficient preparation and training.
Preparing to Become a Paraeducator
NEA recommends that all paraeducators be given the chance to acquire the basic competencies, skills, and knowledge necessary for their positions. Competencies are identified skills and/or knowledge that an individual must have in order to perform a specific job. Core competencies are those knowledge and skills that all paraeducators should have. Examples include:
- Knowledge of roles and responsibilities
- Communication skills
- Behavior management skills
- Knowledge of growth and development
- An understanding of legal and ethical issues
- Instructional strategies
- An understanding of diversity and equity issues
In addition to core competencies, there are specialized competencies for specific job responsibilities. Specialized competencies might include skills and knowledge in:
- Early childhood/intervention
- Students with disabilities
- English as a second language
- Transition programs
- Health and safety
- Physical therapy (for students with disabilities)
- Occupational therapy (for students with disabilities)
Some paraeducators may need to meet specific preparation requirements. IDEA 2004 states that personnel standards for paraeducators who provide services to children with disabilities must be in accordance with state law, regulations, or written policy (see "Being Aware of Laws and Regulations Affecting Paraeducators"). In addition, paraeducators who are covered under NCLB provision requirements for highly qualified paraprofessionals should make sure that they have appropriate training as determined by the state.
Becoming Credentialed— Registration, Certification, and Licensing
Depending on the position, there may be state and/or local requirements that paraeducators must meet before they can practice. These requirements are called credentials. The most common credentials that paraeducators may need are:
- Registration: Paraeducators file their names, addresses, and qualifications with a government agency before beginning to work. Paying a fee or posting a bond may be required.
- Certification: Paraeducators who meet a state’s predetermined standards have the right to use an occupation title (right to title). Without certification, paraeducators can perform the occupational duties but may not use the occupation title.
- Licensing: Under these regulations, it is illegal for paraeducators to work without meeting state or federal standards.
Requirements typically vary from state to state, and the terms "registration," "certification," "licensing," and "training program completion" may have different connotations from state to state.
NEA was a member of the Education and Training Voluntary Partnership that developed standards for paraeducators. The document, Skill Standards for Frontline Workers in Education and Training— Paraprofessionals, Paraeducators, Teacher Assistants, Child Care Workers— Working in General Education, Special Education, Early Childhood Care and Education (PDF, 397kb, 96pgs) may be downloaded from the Web.
Completing Formal Training
In addition to registration, certification, and licensing, paraeducators may be able to complete a training program—an entry-level program of structured learning—that satisfies requirements for specific competencies. Some technical colleges or community colleges offer programs of study for paraeducators that lead to a diploma or associate’s degree. Many such programs allow credit for appropriate related work experience.
Diploma programs can usually be completed within one year if the student is enrolled on a full-time basis. Classes that might be offered in such programs include:
- Managing classroom behavior
- Technology in the classroom
- Child and adolescent development
- Overview of special education
Associate’s degree programs can usually be completed within two years if the student is enrolled on a full-time basis. Many of these programs focus on preparing individuals for careers as paraeducators in early childhood education. Some programs also provide the foundation for further study at a four-year college.
The section below, Selected Paraeducator Preparation Programs, provides examples of formal training programs. Although these examples are by no means exhaustive, they may be helpful to state or local Associations and school districts that are involved in organizing programs. Paraeducators should check with their state to determine the availability of programs in their area.
Orienting Paraeducators to Their Jobs— School District Preservice Training
In addition to making sure that any applicable requirements set forth in NCLB are met, school districts will want to ensure that paraeducators are qualified for their positions. Prior to beginning work with students, paraeducators should receive an orientation. Such preservice training should include information about job responsibilities, district policies, and other relevant information. The section below, Preservice Orientation Training Topics, provides examples of topics that school districts might consider when planning orientation programs.
During the first two days at the job site, paraeducators should receive orientation training. At a minimum, they should be provided with the following:
- Introduction to building site policies
- Review of procedures and services
- Opportunity to observe and work alongside a mentor in the same position (job shadowing)
- Introduction to classroom curricula, rules, and Procedures
- School behavior management plan
- Specific student information
Deciding to Become a Teacher
For many individuals, being a paraeducator is their chosen career. However, the experience may lead some to a desire and determination to become a teacher. In fact, school systems increasingly are finding the ranks of paraeducators to be an excellent source from which to recruit teachers. In such cases, paraeducators may choose to participate in traditional teacher education programs or to pursue alternative pathways that lead to teacher certification.
In programs that do not involve school districts, paraeducators may take evening, weekend, and summer classes at a college or university to earn a bachelor’s degree, or they might opt for a teacher education program that leads to certification. Other programs involve a collaborative effort among a school district, the local Association or union, and a college or university. Some of these programs may allow paraeducators to use their current employment situation as a practicum, thereby gaining college credit for the work they perform. Check with your local/state Association regarding programs. It is important to note that IDEA 2004 provides some funding for alternative route special education teacher certification programs that serve qualifying paraeducators.
New paraeducator orientation prior to working with students should include:
- Paraeducator roles and responsibilities
- District overview
- District policies and procedures
- District discipline policy
- District educational jargon
- Safety and emergency procedures
- Employment or contract information
California: California State University, Long Beach. The university offers three programs for paraeducators.
(1) Paraeducator to Educator: A School-University Preservice Partnership Program
Goals: To recruit paraeducators from underrepresented populations and prepare them to teach students with disabilities at school district sites; to provide support to paraeducators that ensures their ability to remain in school; and to refine the relationships among the school districts, local community colleges, and the university. The program leads to a B.S. degree and eventual teaching credential.
Description: Under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, this three-year program prepares selected paraeducators from selected school districts in Southern California to work with students with disabilities in regular and special education K–12 settings. Participants commit to teach for two years for every year funded.
(2) Paraeducator Partnership Project
Goals: Sixty paraeducators from the Long Beach Unified School District will receive tuition and support for preparation to teach students with disabilities in special education settings.
Description: Due to the success of the Paraeducator to Educator project (described above) another grant was written, also funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. The four-year project assists paraeducators in attaining education and training through tuition coverage and support.
(3) Paraeducator Training Course
Goals: To provide training in a broad variety of subjects pertinent to working with students in school settings; to increase the knowledge and skills for paraeducators’ present positions; and to act as a stepping stone for those wanting to continue their education and become teachers.
Description: A three-unit, upper division level college course, utilizing curriculum developed by the National Resource Center for Paraprofessionals in Education and Related Services. Each course is tailored to meet the needs of the particular school district and is taught at district sites by faculty in the Department of Occupational Studies at California State University, Long Beach. Course topics include communication and problem solving, working as a member of an instructional team, the instructional process, human development, legislation, special education, working with families, appreciating diversity, and emergency procedures.
Cynthia Hutten-Eagle, Director
Paraeducator Training Program
Department of Occupational Studies
California State University, Long Beach
1250 Bellflower Boulevard
Long Beach, CA 90840-5601
Maine: Educational Technician Authorization System: Approved Study Maine Department of Education
Goal: To enable paraeducators (known as educational technicians or ed techs) to obtain training required to perform certain types of professional work in Maine schools.
Description: Approved study is defined as inservice training or other training, as long as it is documented, new learning and related to the educational technician’s job. Individual school districts may establish an educational technician’s authorization system to be chaired and run by educational technicians themselves. Although the educational technician authorization is required for all paraeducators, it does not guarantee employment, nor does it guarantee a specific level of compensation, benefits, or course reimbursements for those who are employed. These are subjects for collective bargaining.
MEA UniServ Director
35 Community Drive
Augusta, ME 04330
Voice: 800-452-8709, ext. 337
Nebraska: Project PARA: Training Resources for Paraeducators University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Teachers College
Goals: To provide school-based preservice training programs for special education paraeducator personnel and to develop model procedures and materials to support school programs in providing systematic school-based preservice training.
Description: The program provides essential and accessible training for paraeducators through self-study focusing on preservice, inservice, and on-the-job training. Eight topic units are offered, including roles and responsibilities of paraeducators; developing instructional skills; observing and recording student performance; and effective communication with students, teachers, and other professionals. Communication via Internet is an integral part of the program. Two instructional videotapes for training paraeducators and supervisors are available for sale and may be ordered through the program contacts.
New Mexico: Teacher Education Program College of Santa Fe
Goals: To provide an opportunity for teaching assistants to obtain a B.A. in elementary or secondary education. Students are supervised in their place of employment. Applicants already holding a B.A. degree qualify for elementary or secondary standard licensure and elementary, secondary, or special education alternative licensure. Applicants already holding an M.A. degree qualify for school counseling licensure, community counseling licensure, or educational administrative licensure.
Description: The program meets New Mexico entry-level competencies for licensure in each area. Classes are offered at special evening and weekend reduced tuition rates and take place in late afternoons, on weekends, and during the day in the summer.
Rhode Island: Teacher Assistant Training Program Rhode Island Department of Education
Goals: To enable paraeducators to meet standards for teacher assistants employed in Rhode Island school districts. This training is required for all teacher assistants who have not been employed previously in that position in Rhode Island public schools; do not hold teacher assistant certification in another state; do not hold a B.A. or associate degree; and have not completed training consistent with the teacher assistant program standards. Ongoing professional development is a condition of continued employment for teacher assistants in Rhode Island.
Description: Specific training programs for teacher assistants offered by a school district or other agency must be approved by the state department of education and must provide documentation or equivalent evidence that individuals who complete the program meet specific standards and indicators set forth by the department. The standards include professionalism in communication and collaboration with colleagues, families, and related agencies; support of teachers; support of a positive learning environment; and knowledge of health, safety, and emergency procedures.
Rhode Island Department of Education
Office of Teacher Preparation, Certification, and Professional Development
255 Westminster Street
Providence, RI 02903
Voice: 401-222-4600, ext. 2252
http://www.ridoe.net/ and http://www.ritap.org/ | <urn:uuid:639d3f6d-9f71-4643-b4b3-553911d7ea5d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nea.org/home/20794.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940337 | 2,817 | 3.609375 | 4 |
The Wilderness Committee, Canada's largest member-based environmental organization, honoured hall of fame broadcaster and co-founder of The Common Sense Canadian Rafe Mair with its annual Eugene Rogers Award for outstanding contribution to environmental protection in BC at its AGM this past weekend. Mair, who joins a long list of distinguished recipients of the annual award going back to its inception in 1992, received the tribute "for his outspoken determination to protect BC’s environment and wild fish from threats posed by salmon farming, private hydropower and proposed oil pipeline projects."
Mair's colleague, filmmaker Damien Gillis, accepted the award on his behalf as he was unable to attend. In a statement read by Gillis, Mair said, "I cannot express how thrilled I am to receive the coveted Eugene Rogers award from an organization I have so long looked up to as the premier environmental organization in British Columbia." Noting the many ways in which he and the Wilderness Committee have worked together on issues of mutual concern, Mair added, "I know that, again and more successfully, we will fight our battles side by side." | <urn:uuid:b35abe72-62b2-4e94-9a34-f55785d7e922> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thecanadian.org/item/1777-video-rafe-mair-wilderness-committee-eugene-rogers-award-joe-foy-damien-gillis | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970535 | 225 | 1.554688 | 2 |
December retail sales down 0.1%
The volume of retail sales fell by 0.1 per cent in December compared to the previous month, the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office show.
The figures also revealed the volume of sales decreased by 1 per cent on an annual basis last month, the largest decline in five months.
If the volatile motor trade is excluded, the volume of sales rose by 0.8 per cent last month compared with November, resulting in an annual increase of 0.8 per cent.
Department stores benefited most from the Christmas period, recording the largest month-on-month increase with a 6.3 per cent jump in sales.
Sales at bars also increased by 4.4 per cent compared with the previous month while trade in books, newspapers and stationery rose by 3.4 per cent.
However, there were large monthly decreases in furniture and lighting sales which fell 7.1 per cent and other retail sales which dropped 3.1 per cent in December.
The CSO also noted that car sales were down nearly 22 per cent in December compared to the same time in 2011.
There was no change in the value of retail sales in December when compared with the previous month and there was an annual decrease of 0.7 per cent. | <urn:uuid:26964fae-7d1c-4f54-af21-c6bb61a6adfc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.irishtimes.com/business/sectors/retail-and-services/december-retail-sales-down-0-1-1.1072151 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968607 | 260 | 1.625 | 2 |
Asian immigrants now fastest-growing group in US, surpass Hispanics, study says
WASHINGTON (KABC) -- Asian immigrants are now the fastest-growing group in the United States, overtaking the number of Hispanics, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center.
The study says 430,000 Asian immigrants arrived in the U.S. in 2010, which made up 36 percent of new immigrants. That same year, 370,000 Hispanic immigrants came into the U.S., which made up 31 percent.
It found new immigrants are mainly from India, China and South Korea and visas are being granted to specialized workers and wealthy investors as the U.S. economy becomes driven less by manufacturing and more by technology.
The study says the tipping point likely occurred during 2009 as illegal immigrants crossing the border from Mexico sharply declined due to increased enforcement and a dwindling supply of low-wage work in the weak U.S. economy.
Many Mexicans already in the U.S. have also been heading back to their country, putting recent net migration at a standstill.
Also, 6 in 10 international students studying at U.S. colleges and universities are now most likely to come from Asian countries. Both foreign-born and U.S.-born Asian students earned 45 percent of all engineering Ph.D.s in 2010, as well as 38 percent of doctorates in math and computer sciences, and 33 percent of doctorates in the physical sciences.
According to the study, both Asians and Hispanics lean democratic.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
immigration, national news, rudabeh shahbazi
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- PHOTOS: 'Dancing With The Stars' finale | <urn:uuid:fbbc2c16-0548-4f04-8fc1-57a4c4e8bd57> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/national_world&id=8707026 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949317 | 492 | 1.671875 | 2 |
(Regular aspirin use benefits…)
An aspirin a day could lower risk of death from prostate cancer, especially in men with high risk of the disease, a new study has suggested.
Preclinical studies have shown that aspirin and other anticoagulation medications may inhibit cancer growth and metastasis, but clinical data have been limited previously.
Dr. Kevin Choe, assistant professor of radiation oncology at UT Southwestern, and colleagues looked at almost 6,000 men in the Cancer of the Prostate Strategic Urologic Research Endeavor (CaPSURE) database who had prostate cancer treated with surgery or radiotherapy.
About 2,200 of the men involved - 37 per cent - were receiving anticoagulants (warfarin, clopidogrel, enoxaparin, and/or aspirin). The risk of death from prostate cancer was compared between those taking anticoagulants and those who were not.
The findings demonstrated that 10-year mortality from prostate cancer was significantly lower in the group taking anticoagulants, compared to the non-anticoagulant group - 3 percent versus 8 percent, respectively.
The risks of cancer recurrence and bone metastasis also were significantly lower. Further analysis suggested that this benefit was primarily derived from taking aspirin, as opposed to other types of anticoagulants.
"The results from this study suggest that aspirin prevents the growth of tumor cells in prostate cancer, especially in high-risk prostate cancer, for which we do not have a very good treatment currently," Dr. Choe said.
"But we need to better understand the optimal use of aspirin before routinely recommending it to all prostate cancer patients," he added.
The study was recently published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. | <urn:uuid:a340c70a-a6ca-43f1-8c7c-ab38386e0f0e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-09-05/health/33474981_1_prostate-cancer-aspirin-metastasis | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967237 | 365 | 2.46875 | 2 |
WASHINGTON — The Federal Trade Commission is cracking down on what officials say is deceptive advertising by energy-efficient window manufacturers, including two companies that President Barack Obama lauded as part of his administration’s “green stimulus” initiative.
The FTC filed complaints earlier this year against five companies in California, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Maryland for making “exaggerated and unsupported claims about their windows’ energy efficiency.” All five denied any wrongdoing, but they agreed to settle with the FTC, which followed up in August by issuing warning letters to 15 more companies nationwide.
The letters don’t accuse the companies of breaking any laws, but they cite “unsubstantiated claims” similar to those challenged in the previous five FTC complaints.
“These weren’t bad companies,” said Josh Millard, an FTC staff attorney. “These weren’t fraud cases. People got windows. But I think it can be fair to say that they made poor decisions in promoting windows with claims that weren’t substantiated.”
The FTC actions shine a spotlight on an industry that benefited from millions of dollars in “green” tax credits offered as part of the 2009 economic stimulus, and they reveal some of the pitfalls of zealous marketing, in business and in politics.
The complaints and letters from the FTC are part of a larger effort by the agency to deter marketers who sell “environmentally friendly” products without the scientific evidence to back up their claims. The FTC on Monday issued the latest version of its Green Guides, publications designed to help businesses ensure that their ads stay on the right side of the law.
“Because you have a lot of firms that are competing in this marketplace, unfortunately we have seen in the past something of a race to the bottom,” Millard said. “If one marketer makes a particularly bold claim that consumers can save with their windows, other marketers feel the need to match those claims, regardless of whether they can back those claims or not.”
The barriers to entry for window dealers are relatively low, and the result is hundreds of companies vying in the same market, said Rick Wuest, the president and CEO of Thompson Creek Window Co., a Maryland manufacturer that received a visit from Obama last year, followed by one of the FTC’s warning letters in August.
“Some of this can be attributed to companies trying to keep up with or outdo each other,” Wuest said.
Among those targeted by the FTC was Serious Energy, a Sunnyvale, Calif., company that Obama hailed early in his term for “producing some of the most energy-efficient windows in the world.” In remarks touting investments in clean energy and new technology on March 23, 2009, Obama pointed to Serious as an archetype for green-job creation, citing the company’s decision to reopen a bankrupt plant near Pittsburgh.
Obama was introduced at the event in Washington by Paul Holland, a venture capitalist whose firm, Foundation Capital, backed Serious and who’s listed as a member of Serious Energy’s board of directors.
Holland and his wife, Linda Yates, are generous donors to Obama and the Democratic Party. Holland gave $44,100 and Yates $33,800 to Democratic candidates in local and national races from 2007 to 2010. Holland also donated $5,096 to the National Venture Capital Association political action committee and $1,000 to Republican Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts.
In January 2010, Serious received a $548,100 tax credit as part of the Obama administration’s plan to invest $2.3 billion in clean-energy manufacturing projects across the U.S. Other clean-tech companies funded by Holland’s firm got a total of more than $8 million in Department of Energy grants.
Two years later, Serious has gone from exemplar to embarrassment. The company announced in February that it would shut down one of its factories in Chicago and it closed another in Winnipeg, Manitoba, after a fire in January gutted the plant. Then the company got hit with the FTC lawsuit.
The FTC alleged that Serious had distributed “false or misleading” promotional materials, including brochures that said its windows were “guaranteed to reduce your heating and cooling use by up to 49 percent.” The FTC contends that most homeowners aren’t likely to see such big savings.
Serious Energy and Holland didn’t respond to calls or emailed questions.
A few months after Serious settled with the FTC, another company once praised by Obama received one of the FTC’s 15 warning letters. The letter to Thompson Creek Windows took issue with a claim on its website that customers would save up to 30 percent on their energy bills.
“We were surprised when we received the letter because we reviewed all of our advertising materials after the FTC settlement with five other companies in February, and we determined that the energy savings claims we included in our advertising were factual and substantiated,” CEO Wuest said. The company responded by modifying one sentence on the website, changing the promise to “measurable savings,” he said.
Thompson Creek hasn’t received any grants, loans or tax credits from the DOE, Wuest said.
In a speech last year at the company’s plant in Landover, Md., Obama said Thompson Creek had seen a 55 percent boost in sales thanks to a tax credit for consumers who buy energy-saving windows.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 allowed taxpayers to qualify for credits of up to $1,500 toward the cost of installing energy-efficient windows and other environmentally friendly home improvements. That credit has since expired.
When the tax credit began, “the marketing arm of Thompson Creek got busy,” Obama said to laughter. “And that’s the right – that’s exactly what we intended. That’s exactly what we wanted to see, is explaining to the American people you can save money on your energy bill, this is a smart thing to do, take advantage of it.”
The company added an endorsement on its website: “Even President Obama loves Thompson Creek!”
The White House referred written questions to the DOE, which issued a statement.
“There is no question that the windows produced by these companies can, in many cases, help consumers realize significant energy savings, but we welcome the actions of the FTC in ensuring that all of the advertising claims being made are accurate,” the statement reads. “That doesn’t change the fact that the tax cuts in the Recovery Act have helped save and create thousands of jobs for American workers in clean energy manufacturing.”
The department has made 15,000 competitive awards to more than 5,000 recipients as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The Obama administration wanted to hit two birds with one stone by addressing environmentally friendly initiatives along with job creation, said Tyson Slocum, the director of the energy program for Public Citizen, a national consumer-advocacy group.
“Largely the government record has been pretty solid, but there’s no question there’s been a couple of stumbles,” Slocum said.
The FTC doesn’t dispute the potential benefits of new windows, “but we don’t want people get an exaggerated idea of how much they can save,” said Millard, the FTC attorney.
If homeowners decide to purchase energy-efficient windows, they shouldn’t to expect recoup the investment anytime soon. Given that it costs $7,000 to $20,000 to outfit an average home, it could take 20 years or more to break even, according to Consumer Reports magazine.
Email: email@example.com; Twitter: @lindsaywise | <urn:uuid:17bd3c32-58aa-4330-b7f1-23f622fd017f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bradenton.com/2012/10/02/4223291/ftc-cracks-down-on-energy-efficiency.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965241 | 1,640 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Will power. Wanting to have power over others. Wanting to be powerful. Wanting to have the power that others have. Being involved with the government – for better or worse. Wanting a powerful position in the world. Needing to show or prove how powerful you are. Needing to show or prove your intensity of purpose. Powerful creative forces. A compulsive personality. An obsessive personality. Pitting yourself against people who are more powerful than you are. Allying yourself with powerful people. Diving into your own depths. Getting to know your deepest self. Self-regeneration. Self-transformation. Psychoanalysts. Intense self-discovery. Throwing yourself into extreme situations to see what you’re made of. Throwing yourself into crisis to create self-transformation. Grappling with a desire to explore the seedy side of life. Needing to live a life beyond surface expectations. Needing to live a life of depth. Feeling compelled to interact with people who will tear down your ego. Feeling compelled to have someone “rip you a new one” from time to time. Bringing difficult circumstances upon yourself to test your own mettle. Shining a light into the totality of who you are – the dark and the light. Blending and healing the dark with the light and the light with the dark. People who live close to death or deal with dead or dying. People who live close to power. Living in the shadows. People who live on the dark side. Darth Vader.
The Villain. A person who represents everything we hate in ourselves -everything we want to crush, disown, cast out or kill. You draw villainous people to you. You draw powerful personalities to you. You measure yourself against other powerful people. You measure yourself against the worst of society and claim, “I’m nothing like that!” or fear that you are exactly like that underneath it all. Identifying with the villain. Identifying with criminals. Identifying with powerful people. Identifying with the scourge of society. Identifying with healers and shamans. Identifying with your obsessions and compulsions. Identifying with processes of deep cleansing, transformation and rebirth. Feeling empowered by life.
Using power and intimidation to your advantage. Knowing how to intimidate people. Having a powerful presence. Not suffering fools. Deep cleaning your ego. Letting yourself have extreme experiences for the sake of the learning experience. Power mongers. Despots. Polarizing individuals. These are people most people either love or hate. You know how to get under people’s skin. Interrogators. Controlling personalities. Self-destruction. Self-annihilation. Purging. Living in the underworld. Criminals. Shining a light into the underworld. Entering where other people dare not step. Trying to always keep the upper hand in all situations. Hiding your true self. Concealing who you really are. Staying hidden. Keeping yourself shackled. Having good control over yourself. Staying underground and off the radar. Self-obsessed. Paranoid. Obsessed with your own fame or other people’s fame. Obsessed with your own self-expression. Children who are given too much power. Children who control the parents. Powerful pride. Indomitable will. Power games and power struggles. Struggles for dominance. Being abused, or abusing others. Feeling powerless. Feeling overpowered by life. Self-loathing.
Attempting to control the men in your life. Feeling controlled by the men in your life. Experiencing your father as a controlling person. The urge to dominate. Feeling that you are being dominated by others. Feeling that you have no control over your life. Feeling that your life is controlled by others. Feeling that your purpose is out of your hands. Finding deep healing resources within yourself. Finding the capacity to fully and fundamentally transform who you are. People who take part in transforming their generation’s purpose. Regenerating the dead aspects yourself. Recognizing your shadow self rather than casting it on other people. | <urn:uuid:c14807d2-27d3-457e-adc3-1bae1150ce0f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://astrofix.net/2011/03/09/sunpluto-aspects/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940997 | 840 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Pauline Newman helped advance the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU) to become a dominant force in 20th century industrial America. Born in the early 1890s in Kovno, Lithuania, Newman's propensity for activism started at an early age. Barred from attending the local public school because she came from a poor, Jewish family, she fought to attend an all-boys religious school, a right that was eventually granted. Following the sudden death of her father in 1901, Newman's family immigrated to New York City.
That same year, at the age of eight, Newman began working at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company, earning $1.50 a week. During the 12-hour workdays, laborers were constantly under surveillance; workers' lavatory breaks were timed, and their wages were penalized with any mistake they made on the factory floor. "All we knew," Newman wrote in a letter, "was the bitter fact that after working 70 or 80 hours in a seven-day week, we did not earn enough to keep body and soul together."
As a teenager, Newman joined the local Socialist Literary Club where she and her fellow workers improved their English and discussed progressive political and social theories. These informal gatherings solidified Newman's feminist identity and provided her an education in socialist teachings. In 1907, after helping to facilitate one of the largest rent strikes in the history of the city, Newman was heralded as a working class hero, and by 1909, having quit her job at the Triangle Company, Newman had become a dynamic member of the local trade union. When she was just a teenager, the Socialist Party nominated her as their candidate for Secretary of State in New York.
On November 22, 1909, Newman was in the audience at Cooper Union when Clara Lemlich famously incited the crowd of immigrant workers to strike. In the following months, more than 40,000 female New York City factory workers protested their poor working conditions and low wages. Newman was at the center of the strikes, planning strategies, inciting crowds, and gaining support from some of the city's most influential socialites such as Anne Morgan and Alva Belmont. The strike met with mixed success; although many garment workers were able to return to work with the protection of the union, larger and more powerful companies, such as the Triangle Shirtwaist Company, refused to unionize. However, the strike symbolized the first organized resistance of female laborers.
When the strike finally ended, the ILGWU recognized Newman's achievements by appointing her general organizer for the Union, making her the first woman to hold that position. While serving in the post, she traveled the country organizing major strikes in Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Kalamazoo, Michigan.
On March 25, 1911, Pauline Newman was campaigning in Philadelphia when she received news of the fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. The tragedy affected Newman deeply as she had worked closely with many of the victims.
The Triangle factory fire galvanized Newman, and she continued her efforts to organize garment workers around the country for the next year. In 1912, Newman accepted a position as an investigatory on the Factory Investigating Commission (FIC), a federal group created in response to the Triangle fire to oversee worker safety. As a member of the Women's Trade Union League (WTUL) in Philadelphia, Newman lobbied for progressive labor reform, where she met her lifelong partner, Frieda Miller.
In 1923, the ILGWU created the Union Health Center in New York City, where, for the next 60 years, Newman worked as coordinator of the Education and Public Relations programs. In this capacity Newman worked with several high profile figures, including Eleanor Roosevelt. Following World War II, Newman was commissioned by the U.S. Department of State and Labor to review post-war factory conditions across Germany. Newman also served as a consultant to the U.S. Public Health Service under the Truman administration. Newman died April 8, 1986 in New York City.
The influential musical pioneers from Appalachia whose recordings lifted spirits during the Great Depression.
The story behind the development of the oral contraceptive that put women in control of birth control.
America's first great songwriter, Stephen Foster, wrote 200 songs but died a penniless alcoholic at 37.
The personal journey of three generations of a Japanese American family, including their stint in internment camps during World War II.
A year in the life of Wyoming cowboys and the ranching families of the American West.
Begun during the Civil War, the transcontinental railroad employed 20,000 men, mostly immigrants, who built the iron road with their bare hands.
French settlers in Louisiana merged with African Americans, Afro-Caribbeans and others to create Cajun and Zydeco musical traditions.
During the Great Depression, Americans built the Hoover Dam, one of the greatest engineering works in history. | <urn:uuid:82b9a61c-c4a0-4322-9bf5-c160dfdcaa2f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/biography/triangle-newman/?flavour=mobile | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970919 | 996 | 3.46875 | 3 |
Single-Instance Storage (SIS)
Comparison to deduplication
If you change the title of a two-megabyte Microsoft Word document, SIS retains the first copy of the Word document and stores the entire copy of the modified document. Any change to a file requires that the entire changed file be stored again. Data deduplication, which reduces subfile-level data, recognizes that only the title had changed and so only stores the new title, with pointers to the rest of the document's content segments.
Generally, EMC Data Domain systems enable two to four times data reduction on an initial full backup, six to seven times reduction on subsequent file-level incrementals, and 50 to 60 times reduction on subsequent full backups. SIS doesn't offer benefits to the initial full or to file-level incrementals so, at that level, EMC Data Domain deduplication is 80 to 90 percent more efficient—meaning that much less storage is required—than SIS.
It's an even bigger gap with structured data. Databases change daily and are generally backed up in full daily. SIS offers no benefit here, but Data Domain systems can reduce backup storage requirements by 10 to 30 times with this data. | <urn:uuid:74097415-64d9-4fcf-b244-b05069ad3195> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.emc.com/corporate/glossary/single-instance-storage.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922416 | 253 | 2.5 | 2 |
I spend a lot of time at the Library of Congress online site. Their American Memory collection is a wonderful massive online gallery of a small sampling of what is available at the library. One of my favorite areas is their large online collection of WPA-era posters.
The By the People, For the People: Posters from the WPA, 1936-1943 collection consists of 908 boldly colored and graphically diverse original posters produced from 1936 to 1943 as part of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal. Of the 2,000 WPA posters known to exist, the Library of Congress's collection of more than 900 is the largest. These striking silkscreen, lithograph, and woodcut posters were designed to publicize health and safety programs; cultural programs including art exhibitions, theatrical, and musical performances; travel and tourism; educational programs; and community activities in seventeen states and the District of Columbia. The posters were made possible by one of the first U.S. Government programs to support the arts and were added to the Library's holdings in the 1940s.
Take time to visit this wonderful gallery of artistic posters. It will be time well spent. The posters can be searched by keyword or browsed by subject. There is also an interesting background history for the collection. | <urn:uuid:152d8df2-1a6b-4f23-bbd9-eb9ecb95ef13> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.itawambahistory.blogspot.com/2008/07/american-memory-collection-of-wpa-era.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959898 | 259 | 2.1875 | 2 |
It's been 15+ years, but I am wanting to model antennas again. I pulled out my AO Antenna Optimizer v 6.35, and it doesn't work, so I figured 4Nec2 is now what I need to use. I like the idea of using an optimizer, and EZNEC doesn't appear to have this feature.
In any case, I have gone to the 4Nec2 site http://home.ict.nl/~arivoors/
), and downloaded the 4Nec2 and 4Nex2x pieces. I played around a little bit with it, but now realize I need a "for beginner" tutorial as to how to use the software. I downloaded everything on that site, no of which looks like a tutorial specifically for the software.
Do you know of where such a tutorial may be? | <urn:uuid:d2c66695-c48f-4b7e-85a9-9d51d7f28651> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eham.net/ehamforum/smf/index.php?topic=68444.0;prev_next=next | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957143 | 179 | 1.554688 | 2 |
rituximab (Intravenous route)Pronunciation
Fatal infusion reactions may occur within 24 hours of rituximab infusion; approximately 80% of fatal reactions occurred with first infusion. Monitor patients and discontinue rituximab infusion for severe reactions. Acute renal failure requiring dialysis with instances of fatal outcome can occur in the setting of tumor lysis syndrome following treatment with rituximab monotherapy in patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Severe and potentially fatal mucocutaneous reactions can occur. JC virus infection resulting in progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) and death can also occur .
Commonly used brand name(s)
In the U.S.
Available Dosage Forms:
Therapeutic Class: Antineoplastic Agent
Pharmacologic Class: Monoclonal Antibody
Uses For rituximab
Rituximab injection is used alone or with other medicines to treat a type of cancer called non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). It helps the immune system destroy cancer cells. Rituximab injection is a monoclonal antibody.
Rituximab is used together with fludarabine and cyclophosphamide to treat a type of cancer called chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).
Rituximab is used together with methotrexate to treat the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. It helps to keep joint damage from getting worse after at least one other medicine (eg, adalimumab, etanercept, or infliximab) has been used and did not work well.
Rituximab is used together with steroids to treat granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA or Wegener's granulomatosis) and microscopic polyangiitis (MPA). These are immune disorders that cause blood vessels to be inflamed.
rituximab is to be administered only by or under the immediate supervision of your doctor.
Once a medicine has been approved for marketing for a certain use, experience may show that it is also useful for other medical problems. Although these uses are not included in product labeling, rituximab is used in certain patients with the following medical conditions:
- Immune or idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) (a blood disease).
- Posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder (blood disorder occurring after an organ transplant) in children.
- Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia (cancer of the blood).
Before Using rituximab
In deciding to use a medicine, the risks of taking the medicine must be weighed against the good it will do. This is a decision you and your doctor will make. For rituximab, the following should be considered:
Tell your doctor if you have ever had any unusual or allergic reaction to rituximab or any other medicines. Also tell your health care professional if you have any other types of allergies, such as to foods, dyes, preservatives, or animals. For non-prescription products, read the label or package ingredients carefully.
Appropriate studies have not been performed on the relationship of age to the effects of rituximab injection in the pediatric population. Safety and efficacy have not been established.
Appropriate studies performed to date have not demonstrated geriatric-specific problems that would limit the usefulness of rituximab injection in the elderly. However, elderly patients are more likely to have infections and age-related heart and lung problems, which may require caution in patients receiving rituximab injection.
|All Trimesters||C||Animal studies have shown an adverse effect and there are no adequate studies in pregnant women OR no animal studies have been conducted and there are no adequate studies in pregnant women.|
There are no adequate studies in women for determining infant risk when using this medication during breastfeeding. Weigh the potential benefits against the potential risks before taking this medication while breastfeeding.
Interactions with Medicines
Although certain medicines should not be used together at all, in other cases two different medicines may be used together even if an interaction might occur. In these cases, your doctor may want to change the dose, or other precautions may be necessary. When you are receiving rituximab, it is especially important that your healthcare professional know if you are taking any of the medicines listed below. The following interactions have been selected on the basis of their potential significance and are not necessarily all-inclusive.
Using rituximab with any of the following medicines is not recommended. Your doctor may decide not to treat you with this medication or change some of the other medicines you take.
- Rotavirus Vaccine, Live
Using rituximab with any of the following medicines is usually not recommended, but may be required in some cases. If both medicines are prescribed together, your doctor may change the dose or how often you use one or both of the medicines.
- Adenovirus Vaccine Type 4, Live
- Adenovirus Vaccine Type 7, Live
- Bacillus of Calmette and Guerin Vaccine, Live
- Influenza Virus Vaccine, Live
- Measles Virus Vaccine, Live
- Mumps Virus Vaccine, Live
- Rotavirus Vaccine, Live
- Rubella Virus Vaccine, Live
- Smallpox Vaccine
- Typhoid Vaccine
- Varicella Virus Vaccine
- Yellow Fever Vaccine
Using rituximab with any of the following medicines may cause an increased risk of certain side effects, but using both drugs may be the best treatment for you. If both medicines are prescribed together, your doctor may change the dose or how often you use one or both of the medicines.
- Influenza Virus Vaccine (Subvirion)
- Pneumococcal Vaccine Polyvalent
Interactions with Food/Tobacco/Alcohol
Certain medicines should not be used at or around the time of eating food or eating certain types of food since interactions may occur. Using alcohol or tobacco with certain medicines may also cause interactions to occur. Discuss with your healthcare professional the use of your medicine with food, alcohol, or tobacco.
Other Medical Problems
The presence of other medical problems may affect the use of rituximab. Make sure you tell your doctor if you have any other medical problems, especially:
- Angina (chest pain), history of or
- Heart disease or
- Heart rhythm problems (eg, arrhythmia), history of or
- Hepatitis B or
- Infection (eg, bacteria, fungus, or virus) or
- Kidney disease or
- Lung problems (eg, asthma, bronchitis), history of or
- Stomach or bowel problems (eg, intestinal blockage, perforation, ulcers)—Use with caution. May make these conditions worse.
Proper Use of rituximab
Before receiving rituximab, make sure you understand all the risks and benefits from receiving the medicine. It is important for you to work closely with your doctor during your treatment.
You will receive rituximab while you are in a hospital or cancer treatment center. A nurse or other trained health professional will give you rituximab. rituximab is given through a needle placed in one of your veins.
Rituximab must be given slowly, so the needle will remain in place for a few hours. You may also receive medicines (eg, acetaminophen, antihistamines) to help prevent possible allergic reactions to the injection.
rituximab should come with a Medication Guide. It is very important that you read and understand this information. Ask your doctor about anything you do not understand.
Precautions While Using rituximab
It is very important that your doctor check your progress at regular visits to make sure that rituximab is working properly. Blood tests may be needed to check for unwanted effects.
rituximab may increase your risk of developing infections (viral, bacterial, or fungal) during or after treatment with rituximab. These infections can be severe and lead to death. Some patients have developed low levels of certain antibodies in their blood for a long period of time (longer than 11 months). Some of these patients with low antibody levels developed infections. Avoid being near people who are sick or have infections while you are using rituximab. Wash your hands often. Tell your doctor if you have lupus or if you have any kind of infection before you start using rituximab. Also tell your doctor if you have ever had an infection that would not go away or an infection that kept coming back.
rituximab may cause a rare and serious brain infection called progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML). The risk for getting this infection is higher if you have rheumatoid arthritis. Talk to your doctor about the benefits of taking rituximab and the risk of this infection. Check with your doctor right away if you are having more than one of these symptoms: vision changes, loss of coordination, clumsiness, memory loss, difficulty speaking or understanding what others say, and weakness in the legs.
Call your doctor right away if you start to have a cough that won't go away, weight loss, night sweats, fever, chills, flu-like symptoms (such as a runny or stuffy nose, headache, blurred vision, or feeling generally ill), painful or difficult urination, or sores, ulcers, or white spots in the mouth or on the lips. These may be signs that you have an infection.
While you are being treated with rituximab, and after you stop treatment with it, do not have any immunizations (vaccinations) without your doctor's approval. If you have rheumatoid arthritis, non-live virus vaccines should be given at least 4 weeks before receiving rituximab. Rituximab may lower your body's resistance, and there is a chance you might get the infection the immunization is meant to prevent. In addition, other persons living in your household should not get live vaccines (eg, nasal flu virus vaccine). Try to avoid persons who have taken live vaccines. Do not get close to them and do not stay in the same room with them for very long. If you cannot take these precautions, you should wear a protective face mask that covers the nose and mouth.
Rituximab may cause chest pain, fever, chills, itching, hives, flushing of the face, rash, troubled breathing, or swelling of the face, tongue, and throat within a few hours after you receive it. Tell your doctor or nurse right away if you have any of these symptoms.
rituximab may cause a serious type of reaction called tumor lysis syndrome (TLS). Your doctor may give you a medicine to help prevent this. Call your doctor right away if you have a decrease or change in urine amount, joint pain, stiffness, or swelling, lower back, side, or stomach pain, a rapid weight gain, swelling of the feet or lower legs, or unusual tiredness or weakness.
Serious skin reactions can occur during treatment with rituximab. Stop using rituximab and check with your doctor right away if you have blistering, peeling, or loosening of the skin, red skin lesions, severe acne or skin rash, sores or ulcers on the skin, or fever or chills while you are using rituximab.
Stop using rituximab and check with your doctor right away if you have any symptoms of liver problems. The symptoms include skin and eyes turning yellow, dark brown-colored urine, right-sided abdominal or stomach pain, fever, or severe tiredness.
rituximab may cause serious stomach and bowel problems, especially when used with other cancer medicines. Check with your doctor right away if you start having stomach pain while being treated with rituximab.
Use an effective form of birth control to keep from getting pregnant. You should not become pregnant while you are using rituximab and for 12 months after stopping it. Talk to your doctor about effective birth control.
Do not take other medicines unless they have been discussed with your doctor. This includes prescription or nonprescription (over-the-counter [OTC]) medicines and herbal or vitamin supplements.
rituximab Side Effects
Along with its needed effects, a medicine may cause some unwanted effects. Although not all of these side effects may occur, if they do occur they may need medical attention.
Check with your doctor or nurse immediately if any of the following side effects occur:More common
- Abdominal or stomach pain
- black, tarry stools
- bleeding gums
- bloating or swelling of the face, arms, hands, lower legs, or feet
- blood in the urine or stools
- blurred vision
- body aches or pain
- chest pain
- cough or hoarseness
- difficulty with breathing
- dizziness, faintness, or lightheadedness when getting up suddenly from a lying or sitting position
- dry mouth
- ear congestion
- fever and chills
- flushed, dry skin
- fruit-like breath odor
- hives or welts
- increased hunger
- increased thirst
- increased urination
- large, hive-like swelling on the face, eyelids, lips, tongue, throat, hands, legs, feet, or sex organs
- lower back or side pain
- noisy breathing
- pain or tenderness around the eyes and cheekbones
- painful or difficult urination
- pale skin
- pinpoint red spots on the skin
- pounding in the ears
- shortness of breath
- skin rash
- slow or fast heartbeat
- sore throat
- sores, ulcers, or white spots in the mouth or on the lips
- stuffy or runny nose
- swelling of the tongue or throat
- swollen glands
- tightness of the chest
- tingling of the hands or feet
- troubled breathing with exertion
- unusual bleeding or bruising
- unusual tiredness or weakness
- unusual weight gain or loss
- Blistering, peeling, or loosening of the skin
- blisters in the mouth
- blisters on the trunk, scalp, or other areas
- burning, crawling, itching, numbness, prickling, “pins and needles”, or tingling feeling
- burning, tingling, numbness or pain in the hands, arms, feet, or legs
- decreased frequency and amount of urination
- difficulty with moving
- feeling sad or empty
- irregular heartbeat
- joint or muscle pain
- loss of appetite
- loss of interest or pleasure
- muscle cramps
- muscle pain or stiffness
- numbness or tingling in the hands, feet, or lips
- pain at the injection site
- pain, swelling, or redness in the joints
- red skin lesions, often with a purple center
- red, itchy lining of the eye
- redness of the face, neck, arms, and occasionally, upper chest
- stabbing pain
- trouble concentrating
- trouble sleeping
- Abdominal or stomach cramps
- blue-yellow color blindness
- blurred vision or other change in vision
- burning or stinging of the skin
- decreased vision
- dilated neck veins
- dry cough
- extreme fatigue
- eye pain, tearing
- feeling of discomfort, illness, or weakness
- irregular breathing
- painful cold sores or blisters on the lips, nose, eyes, or genitals
- sensitivity of the eye to light
- severe abdominal or stomach pain
- severe vomiting, sometimes with blood
- sores, welting, or blisters
- swelling, stiffness, redness, or warmth around many joints
- swollen and inflamed joints
- swollen lymph glands
- vision loss
Some side effects may occur that usually do not need medical attention. These side effects may go away during treatment as your body adjusts to the medicine. Also, your health care professional may be able to tell you about ways to prevent or reduce some of these side effects. Check with your health care professional if any of the following side effects continue or are bothersome or if you have any questions about them:More common
- increased cough
- lack or loss of strength
- night sweats
- throat irritation
- Agitation or anxiety
- change in taste
- dry eyes
- excessive muscle tone
- feeling of constant movement of self or surroundings
- increase in body movements
- muscle tension
- pain or redness at the injection site
- sensation of spinning
- swelling of the stomach
Other side effects not listed may also occur in some patients. If you notice any other effects, check with your healthcare professional.
Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to the FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088.
See also: rituximab Intravenous side effects (in more detail)
The information contained in the Truven Health Micromedex products as delivered by Drugs.com is intended as an educational aid only. It is not intended as medical advice for individual conditions or treatment. It is not a substitute for a medical exam, nor does it replace the need for services provided by medical professionals. Talk to your doctor, nurse or pharmacist before taking any prescription or over the counter drugs (including any herbal medicines or supplements) or following any treatment or regimen. Only your doctor, nurse, or pharmacist can provide you with advice on what is safe and effective for you.
The use of the Truven Health products is at your sole risk. These products are provided "AS IS" and "as available" for use, without warranties of any kind, either express or implied. Truven Health and Drugs.com make no representation or warranty as to the accuracy, reliability, timeliness, usefulness or completeness of any of the information contained in the products. Additionally, TRUVEN HEALTH MAKES NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTIES AS TO THE OPINIONS OR OTHER SERVICE OR DATA YOU MAY ACCESS, DOWNLOAD OR USE AS A RESULT OF USE OF THE THOMSON REUTERS HEALTHCARE PRODUCTS. ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE ARE HEREBY EXCLUDED. Truven Health does not assume any responsibility or risk for your use of the Truven Health products. | <urn:uuid:592edbfd-6d4d-460a-9669-3260cc368358> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.drugs.com/cons/rituximab-intravenous.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.900479 | 3,950 | 2.40625 | 2 |
INTERNET HALL of FAME PIONEER
Dr. Crocker is CEO and co-founder of Shinkuro, Inc., a start-up company focused on dynamic sharing of information across the Internet and the deployment of improved security protocols. Dr. Crocker has been involved in the Internet since its inception. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, while he was a graduate student at UCLA, he was part of the team that developed the protocols for the ARPANET and laid the foundation for today's Internet. He organized the Network Working Group, which was the forerunner of the modern Internet Engineering Task Force and initiated the Request for Comment (RFC) series of notes through which protocol designs are documented and shared. For this work, Dr. Crocker was awarded the 2002 IEEE Internet Award. He currently serves as the chairman of the board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). | <urn:uuid:c2f75f17-14bf-408b-9011-5f197cb1b2eb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.internethalloffame.org/inductees/steve-crocker | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975813 | 188 | 1.507813 | 2 |
I was listening to the radio the other week and heard a piece that made me stop and think about the judgments we make. A British journalist was talking about his experiences of living in Paris for the last 14 years.
He described several of his favourite areas of the city, which despite being immediately adjacent to the tourist hotspots, were passed by or missed by visitors. Other favourites were unique and beautiful areas in the suburbs – unfairly referred to as the ‘dreaded Banlieues’ – that were largely avoided by Parisians themselves despite being within easy reach.
He described visiting each of them as stepping into ‘a completely different world’. And it was that phrase in particular that made me stop and think. Is it perhaps the fear of choosing a different route that kept the tourists from straying from the familiar and well-worn routes? Are ‘labels’ and preconceptions about the suburbs keeping the Parisians in their comfort zones?
It struck him – and me too -- that tourists and Parisians alike could be missing out on the most wonderful experiences by not opening their minds to the possibility of stepping outside their comfort zone, and made me question some of my own perceptions preconceptions of areas of I wouldn’t choose to visit.
This got me thinking about how much we all rely on our ‘comfort zones’ whilst at work. To illustrate my point, consider how many of the thousands of decisions made every day are precisely defined in a policy or procedures manual… I’d guess that the answer is relatively few. So what is it that ‘guides’ us? A large part of the answer must be our values – ‘how we do things around here’. But I also suspect that our ‘comfort zones’ have a strong influence. These are the things that help us intuitively sense what direction we will “lean” when we make each decision.
So whether it’s how we run meetings and how we recruit, or who we invite to meetings and who we recruit, is the lure of the familiar, the easy, and the ‘accepted’ holding us back at times? Do we overlook and even avoid those ‘different worlds’? Do we forget that different people – whether it’s different ages, gender, ethnicity, experiences, values, knowledge or whatever -- bring different perspectives, values and thinking to the table.
Of course, I understand there are often good reasons for sticking with what’s familiar to us. It’s usually easier and doing so can stop us from doing something stupid or reckless for example. But I believe there are equally good reasons for discovering the different, for moving out of our comfort zone, extending ourselves and challenging our own preconceptions. Because not doing so might stop us from experiencing those new, different and at times better views. And any organisation that doesn’t push itself to experience these things will limit its capacity for innovation.
I’m not advocating that we throw caution to the wind, just that we push ourselves to consider le different as an opportunity, and not a threat. | <urn:uuid:0a391ee3-db1f-40f5-80a1-3f0f550eba02> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.cisco.com/diversity/vive-la-difference/ | 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 | 0.96879 | 645 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Government of Singapore Investment Corporation
|Republic of Singapore||US$ 247.5 Billion|
Transparency Rating: 6
View Sovereign Fund Transaction Data
View Asset Allocation
Firm Investment Style: Mixed
Entity Structure: Corporate
Population Est.: 5.3 million – 2012
Wealth Per Capita Est.: $46,589
The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) does not own the funds it manages but manages them on behalf of their clients: the Government of Singapore and the Monetary Authority of Singapore. GIC is wholly owned by the Government of Singapore and has three major sovereign wealth enterprises (SWE): GIC Asset Management Pte Ltd, GIC Real Estate Pte Ltd, and GIC Special Investments Pte Ltd.
Singapore’s GIC receives an annual government contribution. The contribution is not fixed and is subject to the government of Singapore.
Strategy & Objectives
The fund was established after a decision by Deputy Prime Minister and Monetary Authority of Singapore Chairman Dr. Goh Keng Swee to invest Singapore’s growing reserves worldwide for higher returns. Furthermore, the Government Investment Corporation of Singapore is to facilitate government savings necessary to meet power strikes, budget deficits, tax hikes, rising oil prices, currency volatility, global disinflation and to support Singapore’s wealth over the long term.
Sovereign Wealth Enterprises
GIC Asset Management Pte Ltd
GIC Asset Management Group is composed of several departments, including a department that is responsible for the management of GIC’s external managers. Objectives of the GIC Asset Management Group involve outperforming the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Indices and Lehman Aggregate Bond Index. Some of the asset classes invested by the departments include the following: Equities, Fixed Income, Foreign Exchange (which includes commodities and money markets), and Alternative Investments.
GIC Real Estate Pte Ltd (GIC RE)
GIC RE was started in 1982 as a real estate investment department within GIC. In April 1999, the real estate department was incorporated as GIC RE. GIC Real Estate Group is among one of the top 10 global real estate investment firms in the world. With over 200 investments across more than 30 countries, investing a multi-billion US$ portfolio. Direct property investments include: offices, retail stores, residential, hotels, senior and student housing, and sports and medical facilities. Indirect property investments include: funds, public and private corporate entities, real estate investment trusts (REITs), and real estate debt.
Notable investments include:
Seoul Finance Centre, Seoul, South Korea
Azia Centre, Shanghai, China
Shiodome City Centre, Tokyo, Japan
Queen Victoria Building, Sydney, Australia
Uptown Munich Tower, Munich, Germany
Westin Paris, Paris, France
Bluewater Shopping Centre, Kent, UK
30 Gresham Street, London, UK
Franklin Centre, Chicago, US
Subsidiaries of GIC RE include:
1. Reco Pearl Pte Ltd – Chinese Subsidiary
2. Reco Shine Pte Ltd – Chinese Subsidiary
3. Reco Shahzan (M) Sdn Bhd (RECO) – Malaysian Subsidiary
4. Recosia Pte Ltd – incorporated in Singapore – which is an asset holding company managed by GIC Real Estate Pte Ltd
5. Jasmine Hotels Pte Ltd
Subsidiaries of Recosia pte Ltd include:
- Reco Bay NSW – A company incorporated in Singapore as an investment vehicle and registered as a foreign company in Australia.
- Ipoh Pty Ltd – Owned by Reco Bay NSW, it is a specialist CBD retail property, investment and management company.
GIC Special Investments Private Limited
GIC Special Investment Group (GIC SI) was started one year after the inception of the Government Investment Corporation of Singapore. It is the direct equity investment arm of GIC. Managing a multi-billion US$ portfolio, GIC SI is one of the world’s largest private equity firms. Investments of GIC SI include: leveraged buyouts, venture capital, growth capital, mezzanine financing, distressed situations, infrastructure and other special situation investments. GIC SI is composed of seven groups which include: The Corporate Services Unit, The North America Private Equity Group, Europe Private Equity Group, Global Technology Group, Asia Private Equity Group, Global Infrastructure Group, and the Global Strategy and Investment Group.
Geyser Investment Pte Ltd is part of GIC Special Investments.
Seletar Investments Pte. Ltd is part of GIC Special Investments.
Tetrad Ventures Pte Ltd. is a corporation organized under the laws of Singapore and a 100% owned subsidiary of The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (Ventures) Pte Ltd.
Indivest Pte Ltd invests in Indian companies
Major Direct Foreign Investments (Public)
[Content protected for Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute Standard subscribers only. Please subscribe to view site content.]
View Financial Advisor League Tables | <urn:uuid:a739f71b-be15-4223-8f2a-833773d731a7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.swfinstitute.org/swfs/government-of-singapore-investment-corporation/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.903887 | 1,046 | 1.5 | 2 |
is an Iris Giclée?
the next best thing to owning the original.
The word giclée
is a French word (pronounced: Zhee-clay) that means to spray ink.
The Iris printer has been in existence for quite a while. Printers have used it to produce quick and accurate proofs,
but today’s Iris Giclée prints differ remarkably from a standard Iris
print. The main difference is
in the inks and papers that are used.
The new technology developed for the Iris Giclée has produced an
archival ink that is water based, organic, and designed to last.
These archival inks are sprayed on 100% rag watercolor paper to
produce museum quality prints that truly rival the original artwork.
Yellow Flags Unfurled
is printed on 140lb Arches watercolor paper and First Rays of
Morning Light is printed on Somerset Velvet.
These Iris Giclée print collages are already matted in white
archival rag mats. What you
see is actually a double print. One
is matted normally; the second is cut, retouched with watercolors and
collaged to the first print out over an archival white mat.
Luminous irises literally grow out of the picture plane over
the mat in a technique that is part trompe-l’oeil, part actual
3-D. These unique IRIS giclée/collage
prints are each offered in a signed and numbered edition of 250.
They have not been coated, so please protect them from moisture and
humidity. They should be
framed with glass and displayed out of direct sunlight just as you would
treat an original watercolor. | <urn:uuid:398f420c-3564-4326-bd7b-11d527107394> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rebeccawilkinsonstudio.com/web%20giclee.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.900605 | 372 | 2.1875 | 2 |
It was as creepy and as slippery as it gets. Animal control officers in new bedford had their hands full this morning. It wasn't the usual rescue of a cat in a tree. This time, it was a snapping crocodile.
A four-foot long crocodie greeted New Bedford animal control officers when they were called to rescue some abandoned pets Tuesday morning. He may look like an alligator, but he's actually a Caiman, which is a member of the Crocodile family.
"This one is about 3 and a half, four feet long. It is very unusual to have him, this big around the area," Emanuel Maciel of New Bedford Animal Control said.
The reptile has several wounds where someone stabbed it, but officers think he'll recover.
This is not the end of the road for this little guy. He'll be transferred to New England Reptile in Taunton, and will be properly cared for there.
The Caiman was found in the abandoned second floor apartment on Ashley Street in New Bedford. An abandoned pit bull was also found in the apartment.
"We've had some issues with that house before. About a year ago, we took 26 animals from that first floor. It's been an eyesore for us," said Maciel.
Despite signs of abuse, Animal control officers expect both animals to survive. | <urn:uuid:3f6fe396-feca-46c6-8c83-f366b2a0eb4c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.abc6.com/story/18710798/four-foot-crocodile-found-in-new-bedford-apartment | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00076-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.989574 | 279 | 1.632813 | 2 |
A newly discovered portrait claimed to be of Jane Austen, and a sampler worked in slightly wonky stitches by the author as a girl, will go on display at the Bodleian Library in Oxford for just one day to celebrate World Book Day on Thursday.
The claim that the pencil drawing of a beaky nosed woman was the first genuine portrait of Austen as an adult author made international headlines late last year. The picture was given to Dr Paula Byrne, author of a new book on Austen, by her husband – and apart from the inscription on the back reading "Miss Jane Austin", Byrne said she immediately recognised "the striking family resemblance", particularly the long, straight Austen nose.
The only authenticated portrait of Austen is a charming if amateurish watercolour sketch by her sister Cassandra, which was then adapted as an even more sentimental portrait when her novels were published.
The portrait was the subject of a BBC documentary and the attribution has been passionately debated by Austen scholars – and Richard Ovenden, deputy librarian at the Bodleian, expects it and the sampler to provoke a lot more debate among visitors to the library.
The sampler is being loaned for the day by another private collector.
The sampler is a prayer, signed Jane Austen 1787 – the stitching is frayed so that it now appears to read 1797 – and was worked when she was about 11. A note on the back says an early owner was related to Austen and given it as a memento.
Austen created an equally uncertain young needlewoman in Northanger Abbey, when Henry Tilney says to Catherine Morland that he has had time to read more novels: "I had entered on my studies at Oxford, while you were a good little girl working your sampler at home!" Catherine responds ruefully: "Not very good I am afraid."
• Jane Austen Revealed, free at the Bodleian, Oxford, Thursday 1 March | <urn:uuid:211cde7b-3ec2-4f20-841f-4cfa64647a6e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/26/jane-austen-portrait-world-book-day | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977255 | 405 | 2.234375 | 2 |
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OSU has new potato breeding head after two-year vacancy
December 11, 2012
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State University once again has a plant breeder leading its potato development efforts after filling a position that was vacant for nearly two years.
Sagar Sathuvalli, who started this month, is leading OSU's work to create new varieties of potatoes that are more nutritious and resist pests and diseases, including late blight. He is based at its Hermiston Agricultural Research and Extension Center.
A native of India, Sathuvalli spent most of the last decade in Corvallis, earning doctoral and master’s degrees in horticulture from OSU. In 2011, he began working as a post-doctoral research associate in hazelnut breeding and genetics at OSU.
In his new post, Sathuvalli and his colleagues will search for favorable traits in wild species, then cross those potatoes with domesticated ones. Creating new breeds of potatoes can take at least 12 years, but OSU hopes to speed up the process by using genetic markers, which are sequences of DNA that are found near genes researchers are analyzing.
Sathuvalli assumes the responsibilities of departed OSU potato researchers Dan Hane, who retired, and Isabel Vales, who accepted a job elsewhere.
The position had remained vacant because of funding shortages, said Russ Karow, the head of OSU’s department of crop and soil science. A portion of Sathuvalli’s salary will be funded through an endowment created by a recent $500,000 commitment to OSU by the Oregon Potato Commission.
“There is an expectation to find new varieties for the Pacific Northwest,” Karow said. “We are in a strong cooperative relationship with the Oregon Potato Commission, regularly discussing issues and research. We work hand-in-hand with the commission to look at their research priorities.”
Sathuvalli is also working closely with OSU's potato researchers around the state, including Solomon Yilma in Corvallis, Brian Charlton in Klamath Falls and Clint Shock in Ontario. The group is collaborating on breeding and marketing efforts with peers in Washington and Idaho as part of the Pacific Northwest Tri-State Breeding Program.
“We will try to find solutions as a team,” said Sathuvalli. “My main philosophy is to listen to growers, to see what they’re interested in and any issues in variety development. I look forward to finding out what the industry needs.”
When not conducting research, Sathuvalli will perform duties for the OSU Extension Service by disseminating new information to farmers and processors. Among his top priorities is to spearhead the development of a new website.
“We will use the website to create awareness about our breeding program. It will house information useful for researchers across the globe,” said Sathuvalli. “Hopefully it will bring new collaborations, too.”
Real-time alerts about disease and pest outbreaks, such as zebra chip and tuber moth, will also be featured prominently on the website.
Potatoes were Oregon's sixth most-important agricultural commodity in terms of gross sales in 2011, according to a report by the OSU Extension Service. The state's sold $165 million of them in 2011 after harvesting nearly 40,000 acres, the report said.
Source: Sagar Sathuvalli | <urn:uuid:dd623783-02ba-444a-b27c-f6bbaf85b994> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://extension.oregonstate.edu/news/release/2012/12/osu-has-new-potato-breeding-head-after-two-year-vacancy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958 | 730 | 1.820313 | 2 |
APNewsBreak: Thorpe's son seeks return of remains
Thursday, June 24, 2010
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- A son of Jim Thorpe is suing the Pennsylvania town that bears his father's name over the remains of the Native American often called the 20th century's greatest athlete.
Jack Thorpe of Shawnee, Okla., filed the lawsuit Thursday under a federal law designed to return Native American artifacts to their tribal homelands.
Jim Thorpe is a native Oklahoman who was a member of the Sac and Fox tribe. He won the decathlon and pentathlon in the 1912 Olympics and played professional football and baseball.
The Pocono Mountains town of Mauch (MAW) Chunk, Pa., made an odd 1950s deal with his third wife to bring his remains there. It then renamed itself Jim Thorpe and built a monument to the athlete.
Jack Thorpe wants the remains returned to Oklahoma. | <urn:uuid:8360be8c-c4a9-4e9a-a8be-99caf03d053c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.columbian.com/news/2010/jun/24/apnewsbreak-thorpes-son-seeks-return-of-remains/ | 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 | 0.975248 | 196 | 1.867188 | 2 |
Schroon Lion Dick Newell scans a young man’s eyes as part of the Lions SEE program. The program has visited Schroon Lake and Crown Point schools.
continued “We need a minimum reliability of 7 before we submit the results,” Lavarnway said. “We do not know the significance of the other measurements taken and we do not interpret them. The data is sent to the Ira G. Ross Eye Institute in Buffalo, where it is analyzed by professionals. They, in turn, send those results directly back to the parents and/or the school for their records. If a problem is detected, recommendations for the next steps are given to the parents.”
About 3 to 5 percent of students screened are identified with a problem, Lavarnway said.
The Schroon Lions are working with local school officials to conduct the screenings.
“These were our first sessions and we coordinated them through the superintendents and the school nurses who provided the necessary contact with the parents,” Lavarnway said of the Schroon Lake and Crown Point screenings. “Everything went very smoothly and we thank all the folks involved for their help.”
Lions Dennis D’Amico and Cathy Moses are co-chairs of the Lions SEE program in Schroon Lake.
“Our Lions Club has many ways that we support individuals and groups in our area,” D’Amico said. “I can’t think of any, however, that are more in line with what Lions do than to screen a child’s eyes to prevent a lifetime of vision problems.”
The Schroon Lions will reach out to other schools and day care centers in the area to schedule more screenings in the near future.
In 1925 Helen Keller addressed the Lions Clubs International Convention in Cedar Point, Ohio, and challenged Lions to become “knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness.” Since then, Lions have worked to aid the blind and visually impaired.
“It goes back to the original emphasis and focus of the Lions’ mission to combat blindness; to help these young students who have their entire lives ahead of them makes it even more special,” Moses said of the SEE program.
Information on the Lions SEE program is available online at www.LionsSEE.org.
“I would like to thank everyone who supports the efforts of the Lions,” Lavarnway said. “We rely on the generosity of the people we serve to maintain our programs and to add new ones such as the Lions SEE program.“ | <urn:uuid:82f70739-bebc-4fca-886a-f79ab9c897c7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.denpubs.com/news/2013/jan/02/schroon-lions-screening-eye-problems/?page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952727 | 541 | 1.859375 | 2 |
ITHACA, NY: At the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology’s Macaulay Library things can get a little wild. As the world’s largest scientific archive of biodiversity audio and video recordings, this collection encompasses over 195,000 sound and 60,000 video clips. Curator of Audio, Greg Budney and Supervising Audio Engineer Bill McQuay routinely investigate new tools to aid their research. Most recently they have been experimenting with the Pro-Codec, an audio plug-in created by UK-based Sonnox and Germany’s Fraunhofer (developer of MP3 technology).
Introduced last year, the Pro-Codec is a groundbreaking plug-in designed to revolutionize the process of mastering audio for online distribution. By enabling audio engineers to precisely audition codecs in real time, the Pro-Codec eliminates the prolonged cycle of encoding a music mix to MP3/AAC, previewing and tweaking it and then returning to their starting point to re-render. The abridged process frees the engineer to focus on producing a compensated, optimized mix.
Budney and McQuay first learned of the Pro-Codec while attending last year’s Audio Engineering Society Convention in NYC. “I spoke to the Fraunhover folks about our need to demonstrate appropriate and inappropriate uses of MP3 sound files to the scientific research community, and they directed us to the Sonnox booth,” McQuay says.
“We’re a resource for scientists studying evolutionary relationships between animals,” Budney explains. “Many species have genetically based sounds. By examining the vocalizations of a group of animals, their sounds can provide a window into their evolutionary relationships. Motion picture producers also use our collection,” he adds. “Skywalker Sound routinely contacts the Library for creative fodder, sometimes for sounds to build upon, sometimes for accurate natural world sounds.”
“We are trying to demonstrate to the scientific community that there may be appropriate and inappropriate uses for a lossy codec like MP3, which is based on human perception, but is not necessarily the perception of other species. In many cases we don’t know the perceptual limitations of these species – what frequencies they do and do not find important or encoded with meaningful information. We want to demonstrate that MP3 may be valuable for applications such as auditioning sounds, but may not be for serious sound analysis. The Pro-Codec provides a simple interface that allows us to consider what information in the frequency and time domains are being eliminated by the lossy MP3 codec,” McQuay adds.
McQuay and Budney want to assure scientists that they are listening to and analyzing sound with the greatest amount of content – audio content which might be critical to the species they are studying. “Scientists are really hip to spectrograms, they love those things,” McQuay says. “The Pro-codec’s real time FFT display graphically illustrates exactly what is happening to sound being processed by the MP3 or another lossy codec. And, the Pro-codec’s ability to make the sounds being eliminated audible helps to reinforce its lossy nature. Our hypothesis is that for serious sound analysis, the use of MP3 or other lossy formats may not be the appropriate choice.”
Research currently underway at the Macaulay Library will eventually be published in a scientific journal, pending the outcome of McQuay’s analysis. Budney points to the Library’s webpages, which provide technical support to researchers across a broad range of disciplines. “They might be marine mammalogists, ornithologists, or individuals studying animal behavior or bioacoustic phenomenon,” he says. “The library is recognized as a source of solid technical information by researchers around the globe. We’ll also be posting this information on our own webpages soon.”
Photo cap: Cornell Lab Curator of Audio, Greg Budney (left) and
Supervising Audio Engineer Bill McQuay
For information on Sonnox Oxford Plugins please visit: www.sonnox.com | <urn:uuid:8266d470-232d-450c-94e3-fa8b20c0af10> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.radiomagonline.com/briefing_room/2012/04/11/cornell-university-discovers-ornithological-research-app-for-sonnox-fraunhofer-pro-codec/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923819 | 865 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Let there be light: How I conquered the dark days
Can money buy happiness, a sense of self-worth, optimism? I was counting on it, looking for happiness in a box, the one that had just landed on my back porch. It was late November, and my joie de vivre was circling the drain.
It happens every year. When darkness closes in, as the days grow suffocatingly short, my idea of a good time is to burrow deep below my comforter, suspended on a sea of memory foam. Even when the weak winter sun is shining, it’s hard to buckle down and get things done. My mind wanders from the task at hand, and the question that arises again and again: What’s the point?
And all too often, the siren song of carbohydrates becomes irresistible, as a batch of warm chocolate chip cookies– I think of them as culinary heroin– becomes a quick fix in the quest for a lighter mood.
Spring and summer are a different story. With longer days, the world becomes a benevolent place. Hope and happiness are right there; I don’t have to look for them. But pretty soon, I’m flipping the lights on by 4pm, it’s dark so early, and it feels like we should all complain to the authorities. Surely, there’s something to be done about this: a referendum, or maybe a Constitutional Amendment.
Around the world, in regions far from the equator, millions of people share this experience of the “winter blues,” a condition brought on by diminished daylight. The lack of bright sunlight appears to disrupt the availability of the hormone melatonin, as well as the neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine. Melancholy, lethargy, and weight gain are wintertime companions for those whose brain chemistry waxes and wanes with the changing seasons.
For some, the symptoms are severe enough to be labeled “Seasonal Affective Disorder,” and require professional intervention. For the rest of us, non-prescription strategies like exercise and taking melatonin supplements can offer some relief. The idea is to fix the errant brain chemicals, one way or the other, and bring back the mood and behavior enjoyed during the sunny months.
(Doesn’t this make you wonder what personality really is, anyway? We figure everyone has control over how they feel and what they do. And maybe that’s true for most people. But there are significant variables, like this involuntary reaction to annual light deprivation, and other kinds of messed-up brain chemistry caused by junk food, genetics, lack of sleep, heartbreak, and God knows what else.)
Since light is what I’m missing in the winter, it made sense to use the remedy that brings it back. Alas, my budget didn’t allow for a trip to the tropics, so I chose the next best thing: a powerful lamp designed to treat the winter blues.
The day the light box arrived, I felt a little foolish for thinking that some gadget could, quite literally, bring me back to happiness. After sliding it out of the box, I noted that it was about the size of a brownie pan. Inside it were three white-light providing, compact fluorescent bulbs.
According to the directions, in order to get the full benefit and bask in the glow of all 10,000 lux (whatever those are– I looked it up, and still couldn’t tell you) for twenty to thirty minutes each morning you have to remain about one foot from the light.
Hmm. That’s pretty close, and for a significant stretch of time. It comes with a stand, so you could set it up to shine down over your computer, or over your Cheerios. Or both.
After plugging it in to make sure it arrived in good working order, I discovered that the meaning of “10,000 lux” must be “wicked bright.” This would take some getting used to.
I sized up various placement possibilities in our house and settled upon mounting it on the wall perpendicular to the bathroom mirror.
For years, it's been taking me at least twenty minutes to pull myself together in the morning. Suddenly, my high-maintenance habits of daily blow-drying, flat-ironing, and makeup application were a plus. Now, I could multitask, tending to both exterior and interior maintenance.
By the time I’d attached the thing to the wall, it was mid-afternoon. Too late, in theory, to do the recommended morning bask. Undeterred, I flipped the switch and basked (if one can be said to bask while standing up) for maybe half an hour.
I then turned it off and wondered when the happiness would start. Nothing. My already-low sense of self-worth was sinking further. And now, I had to explain to my husband why there was a klieg light hanging on our bathroom wall.
What was I thinking? Money does not buy happiness, and it certainly does not come sealed up in a box from Amazon.com. Rather than packing it back up and returning it, I figured I’d give it a few days.
The following morning, as directed, I stood in the glow of the light box for over twenty minutes. Still nothing.
However, that afternoon, something changed. I stood a little taller, as though some invisible, weighty layer had lifted. Someone was humming – it was me. I was looking forward to checking off items on my “to do” list, and thinking of other stuff I also wanted to tackle.
Oh, right: happiness, optimism, self-worth. I remember those! I felt like I should contact anyone I had bummed out or let down during one of my annual light-deprived stupors and apologize.
This happened a year ago. Ever since that first day, when I opened the box and wondered whether I was an idiot for thinking it could bring happiness, I have faithfully placed myself in the light every morning. It’s still working.
So, can money buy happiness? Apparently, it can.
Janis Jaquith pens her essays from a now light-infused dwelling in Free Union.Read more on: season affective disorder | <urn:uuid:ebe0acbb-75f8-4790-a989-6027f3e0362a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.readthehook.com/108844/let-there-be-light-how-i-conquered-dark-days?quicktabs_1=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963471 | 1,323 | 1.664063 | 2 |
71,000 New Yorkers: “Rise Does Matter!”
Superstorm Sandy produced record storm surge levels for locations in and around the NY City metropolitan region. One way that global warming made Sandy worse is because global warming is causing sea levels to rise. Sea levels have risen more than a foot in the New York City region since the Industrial Revolution. So what difference did this extra foot make for the citizens of New York City? Quite a lot. 6,000 more people impacted for each inch of rise!
70,929 more people and 30,551 more homes flooded.
I asked storm surge expert Dr. Ben Strauss to reflect on what this extra foot meant for New Yorkers. His reply appears below (with permission):
According to NOAA’s preliminary tide gauge readings, Sandy peaked at 9.15 ft above Mean High Water (MHW, the average high tide line) at The Battery in NYC. Surging Seas uses the same elevation reference, MHW. So from our tool you can see we estimate that in NYC alone, ~633k people live on, and ~273k homes sit on, land that’s less than 9 ft above MHW. Compare that to 8ft, or one foot less: ~562k people and ~242k homes. So, yes, Sandy’s damage would absolutely still have been unthinkable without the extra 8 inches or so we might attribute to warming since the late 19th century. But you add about 6k people per vertical inch in this 8-9 ft elevation range. I think we all would have been happy to see just a few percent less damage here!
A few other thoughts:
- flood damage increases more steeply than flood depth
- how many pieces of infrastructure might have been saved if the water were a bit lower?
- a relative of mine heard a CBS news radio report that the water got 1.5 ft higher than anyone at Con Ed had ever imagined/planned for — I don’t know the exact wording. Would the 14th St transformer station that exploded and left so much of lower Manhattan in the dark — would it have exploded with 8 inches lower water? (est. global sea level rise since 1880) 15 inches? (est total NYC SLR since 1880, including local land subsidence)
Sea level rise is certainly not the main story line here, but it contributed to the total damage from flooding and surge without any doubt. Furthermore, Sandy provides an illustration of flood levels that could be common — say, once a decade or worse toward the end of this century — if the upper end of sea level rise projections for NYC are realized.
Dr. Ben Strauss serves as Chief Operating Officer and Director of the Program on Sea Level Rise at Climate Central. In the latter capacity, he has published multiple scientific papers, testified before the U.S. Senate, authored the Surging Seas report, and led development of the SurgingSeas.org coastal flood risk tool, leading to front-page coverage in the New York Times and Washington Post, appearances on NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS and NPR national programming, and extensive coverage nationwide, from AP, Reuters, Bloomberg, USA Today and the LA Times, to many hundreds of local news outlets, to numerous editorials and op eds.
In the future, we will look back at the one foot sea level rise as “the good old days”. According to the New York State Sea Level Rise Task Force Report, it is very possible that seas will rise an additional 2.5 ft by the 2050s and 4.5 ft by the 2080s. Imagine what a Sandy would do then? It is pretty clear that New York City planners have much work to do to avoid future catastrophes. City officials did not endorse many of the recommendations of the Task Force in 2010. Perhaps they will reconsider their position now? | <urn:uuid:73f6be06-b453-4419-82be-684d6003b14f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://profmandia.wordpress.com/2012/11/05/71000-new-yorkers-rise-does-matter/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=18b5244a97 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94183 | 796 | 2.875 | 3 |
CALL FOR PAPERS: WALLS AND THE CITY
DEADLINE, DECEMBER 1ST, 2009
I would like to bring to your attention the following call for papers for a main session at the next International Conference on Urban History, to be held in Ghent (Belgium) between the 1st and 4th of September 2010.
Main session 17: WALLS AND THE CITY
In contemporary Europe walls are far from being an old-fashioned device. Even if after the collapse of the Berlin Wall borders within EU-Schengen countries have became progressively flexible and porous, borders towards non-EU countries have became increasingly policed and fortified. In fact, walls still serve to keep people in, as much as to keep people out; they display power in concrete and symbolic terms. For some they might signify security and regularity, freedom and protection, identity and divergence as experiences to be held either inside or outside the line of the wall; for others they represent exclusion, marginalisation and stigma. In sum, walls (both real and imagined) demarcate, they chart the city-fabric and the nature of people’s civic and civil spirit, engagements and interactions.
In this panel we seek to make explicit the paradoxes of confinement and liberty that underpin the existence of walls in contemporary European cities. By observing the material morphology and location of walls in the modern urban fabric, we seek to understand the multiple interpretations and representations they embody.
The following issues might be taken as a guide for paper proposals:
• Walls as visible objects.
• Walls as invisible processes of control and security.
• Social underpinnings of walling processes in contemporary cities: the rebirth of old devices to produce new ghettoised communities.
• Adoption and adaptation of walls as devices to order peoples’ practices and urban rhythms.
• The performance of walls in the urban space: who are the actors, who is addressed, what justifies their presence?
• Shifting between presence and absence: what is it that walls make recognisable or alien
• Walls: accommodating differences through integration and segregation in the urban space
• Multiculturalism and citizenship in divided cities: is there commonality amidst the differences
• What are the challenges faced by current urban developments in terms of social cohesion in increasingly controlled and segmented urban environments
Though we expect modern historians to be interested in these topics, we would welcome papers from historians of earlier periods who might wish to offer perspectives on how walls, imagined and real, forged divisions in society.
Daniela Vicherat Mattar (Marie-Curie Fellow, School of History, Classics & Archaeology,University of Edinburgh)
Prof. Richard Rodger (School of History, Classics & Archaeology, University of Edinburgh)
Paper proposals have to be submitted on the conference website(www.eauh2010.ugent.be/registration) between 1 October and 1 December 2009. Session organizers have to decide which papers they accept, and they should inform the speakers and the organizing committee about their decision (deadline: 1 February 2010). In April 2010 the final
program will be available on the website.
Daniela Vicherat Mattar
School of History, Classics and Archaeology
University of Edinburgh
50 George Square
Edinburgh EH8 9JY
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announcements appearing in this service. (Administration) | <urn:uuid:2bae2fc6-c5d6-417d-808d-35d1cda8b55c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=171853 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923673 | 768 | 2.03125 | 2 |
By ED MALONE
City-owned trees are dying of thirst, reports the Advance. “City-owned”? The taxpayer bought these trees! Is it lack of water or is it the lack of supervision, incompetence or both? Does the Parks Department ever inspect the work of the contractors that must maintain these trees over the two years of the contract? It appears not!
The Advance on-line site refers to the “neglected city-owned trees [with pictures] along Grymes Hill.” However, Parks does not neglect its employees. Witness all the expensive hybrid cars and SUVs parked at the commissioner’s office in Clove Lakes Park.
Recently, two new Chevy Volts, adorned with Parks’ logo appeared, list price over $39,000 and Consumer Reports tested the Volt over $43,000.
Sorry, Parks, my green dollars do not equate with your waste and incompetence.
Earth to Parks! With current water rates that have increased 135 percent since FY 2003 and Water Board’s promise to increase rates another 7.9 percent next year, we don’t have the green to water our lawns, fill our pools or water YOUR TREES. | <urn:uuid:a603ce41-dd1c-4471-a3c4-f3df1a19c4f1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.silive.com/opinion/letters/index.ssf/2012/08/why_should_residents_have_to_w.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940716 | 250 | 1.75 | 2 |
Craig A. Richards, Deputy Commissioner
The data and information available in the BBHHF data system allows for intricately detailed summaries of types of services utilized by the location of the service delivery (both geographic location and actual setting of service delivery). The integration of the outcomes into the BBHHF overall system design and monitoring is imperative for the behavioral health system in West Virginia to be successful. This section also works to understand the needs of each geographic area of the state as well as identifying which service delivery models achieve the greatest successes to allow for an opportunity of re-assessing the funding made available to each provider throughout the state. This will ensure the most cost efficient service delivery model that will achieve the outcome goal established by the BBHHF.
Data and Technology
The BBHHF, through its Division of Data and Technology, continues to collect and store a very robust and comprehensive data set pertaining to the services tendered to the citizens of West Virginia... read more about Data and Technology
The Finance Division of the Bureau for Behavioral Health and Health Facilities is responsible for all fiscal related duties for the bureau including budgeting, fiscal reporting, and administrative policy... read more about Fiscal Management | <urn:uuid:739bcf7c-41f6-4604-96ab-b6c513ff5400> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dhhr.wv.gov/bhhf/sections/administration/Pages/default.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931698 | 238 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Oh no!!! He forgets your birthday, your anniversary, there are no any surprise presents springing out of boxes for you, or for that matter, any display of effort that may make your heart thump, soar and make you feel you are truly loved and special.
He pooh-poohs Valentine's day as commercialisation of love making you want to throw darts at every heart-shaped balloon being sold at signals. And what do most likely do in return? Most expectedly, you despair and blame him for not caring or you get irritable and compare him with what others do for their loved ones, or even what you do for him, or perhaps you just simply feel unappreciated and lash out at him. It's very easy to brush things off with 'typical forgetful, thoughtless male behaviour' not realising that everyone expresses their love differently. We grow up with a couple of main languages of love or ways that we recognise that we are loved and automatically assume that everyone 'speaks' the same love language as us, but they don't. So you need to teach your partner your love language and you need to learn theirs.
I recently read The Five Languages of Love by Chapman. The five languages are: Words - telling your partner how much you appreciate or admire specific talents or things they do well; Touch - hugs, kisses, cuddles, pats, squeezes; Actions - anticipating just what your partner wants and showing how well you know them by surprising them with something simple like making them tea, running a bath, recording a programme, whatever; Time - making your partner the absolute centre of your attention for a while, with no distractions allowed, perhaps just talking, but really listening; Gifts - little presents, often for no particular reason.
It's time to teach and learn a new language!
There is a girl in my college whom I like. I want to know her more but cannot think of how to approach her and I do not want to come across as a creep. Please help.
Find out what her interests are first. See if they match yours and if so, use your common likes to initiate an endearing conversation. For e.g., "Hi if you're wondering how I've popped up from out of the blue, I hear you're fond of rock music and I was wondering if we could exchange notes on our collection!" Or ask for her help on something she is known to have an aptitude for or expertise with. That way it takes away the 'going on a date' pressure, and you both can get to know each other a bit more first.
I am a 19-year-old girl in a relation with a boy. The problem is that his parents are against love marriage and they feel it's never a success. I really love him and cannot live without him. Please tell me what should I tell his parents so that they will agree to our relation?
You are only 19 and there is no need to get it to the 'tell the parents phase'. As long as the two of you are happy together, just keep it simple. Encourage each other to study hard, get good grades, good jobs and parental approval and blessings should automatically come with financial stability and a relationship that has endured the test of time.
I am 30 years old, in a relationship with a guy for the last nine years. We were going to tell our parents so that things could be finalised. But my brother and cousin landed unannounced to his place and behaved badly with his mother and sister in his absence. After two days, they told us they had gone to my boyfriend's place. Now his side is uninterested in the marriage, neither is he talking to me properly. What should I do?
How unfortunate that things should take such a turn. He's naturally upset the men in your family misbehaved with the women in his. As a protector of his family, you will have to give him time to wrap his head around how to comfort and assure them as well as incorporate you into his nest. Tell him he has your unconditional love and support and that you do not, in any manner, tolerate what certain members of your family have done. Give it time to heal and repair.
I am a 21-year-old guy in love with a girl since the past eight months. We have been talking daily and have been in constant touch. I told her that I like her but she never replies back. What should I do because she is giving me all the signals but is just not saying that she loves me?
How lovely is the shy and courting phase! In some of the greatest love stories that have been written, countless chapters are devoted to the man simply trying to elicit a yes, a nod or any acknowledgement of 'interest' from the woman he is pursuing. It is well researched that the more a man pursues, the more he invests time, energy and effort, the better and stronger the relationship has chances of being. Enjoy the phase, enjoy the chase! | <urn:uuid:c2600e49-1fa8-4019-bb10-be294b397630> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://m.timesofindia.com/PDATOI/articleshow/12910597.cms | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980929 | 1,033 | 1.734375 | 2 |
READING 960 SYLLABUS
WELCOME TO READING 960, READING FUNDAMENTALS
Susan Smith, Instructor
Office: LA Office, 4G
Office Hours: MWTH, 10:30-11:30, Additional hours by appointment
Telephone: (408) 741-4054
This course is designed to assist students in developing basic reading emphasizing word attack skills, vocabulary development, and comprehension. This letter-graded course has a credit/no credit option.
REQUIRED TEXTS AND MATERIALS:
HOMEWORK: Homework will include weekly textbook assignments as well as additional outside reading assignments, an ongoing vocabulary assignment, and a long-range project. Homework must be completed prior to attending class. Late homework is not accepted. A portion of your grade is based on completion of homework and class participation.
ATTENDANCE: Regular attendance is essential for your success in this course. The policy of West Valley College is that instructors may drop students for excessive absences. Please notify me if you anticipate being absent for more than one class meeting. You are responsible for all class work and homework upon your return to class. You are responsible for processing add slips or for dropping the course. The last day to drop with a W is November 22.
THE CLASSROOM: This is an interactive classroom in which you will be actively involved in the learning process. In addition to instructor presentations, the class will include group discussion, individual and small-group assignments, and projects. In order to participate actively in this class, please
GRADING: The following scale will be used in grading: A (90-100), B (80-89), C (70-79), D (60-69) and F (59 and below). Your final grade will be determined by your test average, including a comprehensive final exam, completion of work assigned, and a review of your work over the semester.
READING SKILLS LAB: You are encouraged to enroll in a Reading Skills Lab which will provide individual instruction in the skills that we will be working on in class. You will receive extra credit for completing one of these labs. We will be having an orientation to the lab during the second week of class. | <urn:uuid:ec7443f3-1cca-4635-b11c-27a84a4e4c0a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://instruct.westvalley.edu/ssmith/reading960.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931407 | 466 | 1.8125 | 2 |
I don’t multitask. Or, I do it so badly that I end up dropping everything in a massive tangle of badness with me standing baffled at its center. This frustrates my wife to no end. She can balance on a beach ball while writing things in her calendar, listening to Radio Lab, text-messaging, and juggling chainsaws (it’s a neat trick — and also kind of hot). I hold that monotasking allows me to get a string of things done right, one at a time. Kristi thinks that multitasking is a prerequisite for inclusion in post-Stone Age society and that monotaskers should be rounded up and reprogrammed at underground government facilities.
The question is, is there hope for us monotaskers? Should monotaskers like me strive for less inept sessions of multitasking, or should we just give it up completely?
For my book, Brain Trust, I posed the question to David Strayer, director of the applied cognition lab at the University of Utah, who studies multitasking in the fertile realm of distracted driving. His studies found that “ninety-eight percent of people can’t multitask — they don’t do either task as well.” That’s certainly not surprising to me, being firmly among the 98 percent.
But here’s the interesting part: 2 percent of people can juggle without dropping a ball or, indeed, without any ball even sailing less high — they show no ill effects from multitasking. Strayer calls these people supertaskers. “The question we had,” says Strayer, “is, who are these people?”
To find out, he put supertaskers through a battery of tests, including neuroimaging and genetic evaluation. And he found that, sure enough, the very structure of the supertasker brain looks different than those of 98 percent of us. “These brain regions that differentiate supertaskers from the rest of the population are the same regions that are most different between humans and nonhuman primates,” says Strayer. In other words, the brains of supertaskers are just that much further away from those of apes, “the leading edge of evolution,” says Strayer. Specifically: “Certain parts of the frontal cortex are recruited in an interesting way,” says Strayer. In fact, these areas show less activity when multitasking than do the same areas in normal, human, mammalian, non-alien-overlord brains like mine.
And it’s distinct — you either efficiently recruit this region or you don’t. You’re either a supertasker or you’re not. You’re either human like me, or a supertasking, blood-drinking, shape-shifting, reptilian alien like my wife.
If you’re a supertasker, you know it. Please feel free to continue reading this post on your smartphone or tablet while you drive one-handed and one-eyed down the freeway. But if you’re not a supertasker, the overwhelming message of science is this: just give it up already! By multitasking, you do everything less well. Instead, if you want to get the most done right, design your life to monotask. Your brain will thank you for it.
“Writers from Muir to Abbey have talked about the benefits of getting into nature,” says Strayer, “but we haven’t studied it at a neuroscience level until now.”
This is attention restoration theory, based partly on the idea that refraining from multitasking in a text-rich environment might detox, rest, and restore fried neurons in the frontal lobe. While Strayer is quick to say that more research is needed, he points out that from a large pool of anecdotal evidence, “After three days, you start to experience radically different thoughts.” (For an example, video search “double rainbow.”)
And so there may be hope for me, and by extension all of humanity, yet. If you find your frontal lobe freaking out, head for the hills as quickly as possible. You’ll meet me on the way. And if you do, please be alert because I’m likely texting and may swerve dangerously. | <urn:uuid:d94ec402-af92-4c13-a844-1491632ddf5f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.science20.com/brain_candyfeed_your_mind/brains_multitaskers_structurally_different_brains_monotaskers-87257 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927437 | 922 | 2.390625 | 2 |
Every now and then you hear a story about someone who has overcome tremendous odds to reach their dreams, and this is no less the case with 44 year old Aimee Smith from Janesville, Wisconsin. After having gastric bypass surgery about 2 years ago she has lost 222 pounds to transform her body into a top shape triathlete, and many have found her story truly inspiring.
Before her surgery Smith weighed 427 lbs. and was battling with high blood pressure, joint pain, and pre-diabetes. She credits her weight loss to changing her relationship with food. After hiring a health coach she says she embraced fruits and vegetables, causing the weight loss to rapidly come off. Yet she also realized that diet alone wouldn't complete her transformation and signed up for a program called 'Couch to 5K' or C25K. The program is 9 weeks consisting of 3 workout days a week. It helps people progress to completing a 5K, or 3 miles, in as little as 30 minutes. Smith eventually surpassed this program to run 10K's and other marathons. She even started swimming to compete in triathlons.
Smith praises her friends and family for supporting her in her weight loss journey, acknowledging that they have had a tremendous impact on her success. She also finds the response from professional athletes to be rewarding. She says "These are serious athletes who stand on the podium at the end of a race. I expected them to be snobs. But it's been very eye-opening how compassionate they've been towards me. They love my determination and they go out of their way to let me know they're proud of me for not quitting."
If you have been looking for a way to start a weight loss journey her suggestion is to start slow. The C25K program can be downloaded onto a phone and taken with you to the trail, track, or gym for a workout in your pocket.
Get a glimpse of the program here: http://www.c25k.com/ | <urn:uuid:38609321-49e0-4650-8282-01acf1a4f320> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.nj.com/fitness/2013/01/inspiring_story_of_woman_shedding_over_200_pounds_to_become_triathlete.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980708 | 408 | 1.765625 | 2 |
The Erie Maritime Museum will host a reception for a new exhibit, The Erie-Extension Canal: Gateway to the Great Lakes, on Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. in the museum's west wing gallery.
The exhibit and reception are free and open to the public.
After Sunday, the exhibit can be seen as part of museum admission through June.
The Erie-Extension Canal, also known as the Erie & Beaver Canal, was the last section of a statewide network of canals to be completed in the early 19th century.
When the first canalboats arrived in Erie on Dec. 2, 1844, it marked the opening of an inland waterway that connected Lake Erie to Pittsburgh and the Ohio River, and from there to the Mississippi River.
The Canal facilitated the growth of Erie as a port city, moving raw materials, manufactured goods and passengers through Erie Harbor, as well as spurring economic development and growth of towns along its tow paths. | <urn:uuid:ed3bde00-24d6-48fa-bcf0-3aef0095190f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.goerie.com/article/20130122/NEWS02/301229914/Erie-Maritime-Museum-to-host-reception-exhibit-Sunday | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970518 | 198 | 2.34375 | 2 |
Brain Tumors and the Division of Neuro-oncology
The Division of Neuro-Oncology, as part of Yale Brain Tumor Center, puts together all of the components critical to managing patients with primary brain tumors, metastases, and neurologic complications of cancer: comprehensive evaluation and diagnosis, leading edge treatment options, thorough follow-up and psychosocial support. Patients are welcome whether they are newly diagnosed or have already received extensive treatment.
The most common disorders treated by our division are:
Primary Nervous System Tumors
- Neuroepithelial Tumors (astrocytomas, oligodendrogliomas, glioblastoma multiforme, medulloblastoma etc.)
- Primary Central Nervous System Lymphoma
- Nerve Sheath Tumors (Schwannoma, Neurofibroma)
- Germ Cell Tumors
- Pituitary Region Tumors (Pituitary Adenoma, Craniopharyngeoma)
Nervous System Metastases
- Metastases of Brain, Spinal Cord
- Meningeal Metastases (‘meningeal carcinomatosis’)
- Epidural Metasases, Spinal Cord Compression
Neurologic Complications of Cancer
- Complications of Cancer Therapy (for example, chemotherapy-related neuropathies)
- Cancer-related Seizures
- Paraneoplastic Syndromes including (for example, myasthenia gravis, limbic encephalitis)
- Opportunistic Infections
- Stroke in Cancer Patients
Yale Brain Tumor Center is a multidisciplinary disease unit at Yale Comprehensive Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale New Haven Hospital comprised of five neurosurgeons, two medical neuro-oncologists, three radiation oncologists, two neuropathologists, two neuroradiologists, a clinical coordinator, physician assistants, social worker, nurses, and clinical research staff. Yale Comprehensive Cancer Center is accredited by the National Cancer Institute. Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale New Haven Hospital is a newly built state-of-the-art 14 story facility offering 168 inpatient beds, 12 operating rooms, radiology services, doctors’ offices and outpatient infusion suites dedicated to the care of cancer patients. Yale Brain Tumor Center is a member of the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group.
Calls from referring physicians, patients or their families are handled by an experienced clinical care coordinator. The coordinator ensures that appropriate appointments are made quickly. New patients with brain tumors are usually seen within a couple of days. The care coordinator also acts as the patient’s interface with the various medical specialists who are called into play in each treatment plan.
The patient is our team’s focus. Complex cases are presented at our weekly multidisciplinary team conference in order to arrive at the most appropriate treatment plan for each individual. As an academic referral center, our team of specialists has the ability to treat the rarest as well as the most common neuro-oncologic disorders. Because of the center’s research and teaching mission, its practitioners are well acquainted with the most advanced treatment methods. Patients benefit from that knowledge and from specialized resources such as state-of-the-art outpatient and inpatient chemotherapy units, a dedicated neurological intensive care unit, latest imaging technologies including intraoperative MRI, as well as the most advanced radiation techniques.
A monthly support group meeting for brain tumor patients and their families provides continuing emotional and educational support to those living with a diagnosis of brain cancer. Patients have an opportunity to learn first-hand from others who have experienced similar surgeries and therapies. It provides an informal setting to talk, listen and learn more about what resources are available.
Physicians in our division maintain a close working relationship with physicians practicing in the community. They welcome referrals and supply physicians with regular reports on diagnostic findings and treatment recommendations.
- Joachim M. Baehring, MD, DSc, Divison Chief, Associate Professor of Neurology, of Medicine (Medical Oncology) and of Neurosurgery
- Kevin Becker, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Neurology
To schedule an appointment or make a referral to one of our general neurology specialists, please call (203) 785-7284 or send a fax to (203) 737-2591. | <urn:uuid:3f25700d-3ec6-45fd-8b63-8ebfe9a81593> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://medicine.yale.edu/neurology/divisions/neurooncology/neuro-oncology.aspx | 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 | 0.916015 | 914 | 1.84375 | 2 |
- West Branch
- Local History
- Young People's
|-A A A+|
Did you know that YP staff members read many of the materials found in our department? This allows us to offer recommendations and provide readers advisory services to our patrons, from toddlers to adults! YP Currently Reading lets you know what materials we are reviewing, and what we think about them.
They call it "Progress". I guess it sounds better than "Juvenile Facility" or "Youth Institution". Reece is serving his sentence there, but he doesn't see much real progress. People come and go, but the situations remain the same. Reece is frustrated, because he wants a better life for himself, but he just can't seem to stay out of trouble. When he is placed on work release, Reece makes an unlikely friend who helps him realize that the past is behind him, and the future is what he makes of it.
Sixteen year old Tessa faces vampires, demons, and the truth about her missing brother in the fast paced adventure. Mysterious and intriguing characters such as Will, Jem and Charlotte join Tessa in the war against the Magister.
This book reminded me of traveling in the car with my Mom, Dad and Brother. We had fun and so do the Watsons!
This is a great family read because everyone can participate in solving the riddles presented! Each page gives a riddle that can be answered with the title of a popular children's book! Try to see how many you can solve, and be sure to check out the titles you have not read! Spot the Plot is a 2011-2012 Young Hoosier Book Award Nominee for grades K-3, and promises to be popular with readers of all ages!
Mandy is a pregnant teenager who has to make some tough decisions about her future. She has had a rough life, watching her mother work through an endless string of dead end relationships. She has no idea how to parent a child or how to begin to make better choices for herself. When she meets a family willing to adopt her baby, she is exposed to a lifestyle vastly different from any she has ever experienced. She begins a journey of self-realization, which leads to an interesting, if unusual conclusion.
Adult fans of YA titles will appreciate Zarr's work, as will teens who have experienced their own love or loss.
Little Red Bird is a Young Hoosier Book Award Nominee for the 2011-2012 school year. Little Red Bird has spent her entire life in a cage and she is quite content there. But then the day comes that she is given the opportunity to spread her wings, and explore the world around her. Should she stick with what she has always known, in a place where she feels comfortable? Or should she venture out and experience new and different surroundings? The author thoughtfully asks readers, “What would you do?” making this book a great starting point for discussion about trying new things and taking chances.
Poor Alligator! He is best friends with a young girl named Amanda, and more than anything, he wants to make her happy! But Amanda is human, and Alligator is... well, stuffed, and they don't always see eye to eye. Anyone who has ever treasured a stuffed animal will appreciate the friendship between the two main characters and understand the obstacles they face in trying to maintain their relationship as Amanda gets older. Fans of Mo Willems' Elephant and Piggie series will enjoy Amanda and her Alligator.
What do you do when the person you depend on most is killed in a traffic accident? For Gaston Giambanco Jr., the answer is simple… develop an intense hatred for the people who caused the accident. An illegal immigrant was behind the wheel of the car that hit Gaston’s mother head on.
Eager to escape the less than ideal home life that only worsened after the accident, Gaston sets out to make it on his own. His journey leads him to a job at a racetrack stable where he learns that in order to be successful he must rely on the very people he despises most.
At 150 pages, Homestretch is a fairly quick read with short chapters and a straightforward storyline that will engage horse lovers and race fans alike.
12 year old Matt Pin has been living with his adoptive family for two years. He loves his parents and his little brother. He's just made the school baseball team as a star pitcher and he is becoming an accomplished pianist. Life is good; but Matt keeps his nightmares and memories of his war-torn country to himself. He doesn't mention the helicopters, bombs, and flames that were a part of his life. He doesn't mention the mother and little brother he left behind. More importantly, he doesn't mention the cruel remarks he hears from his classmates whose family members fought in the war zone. It takes a wise baseball coach and an injured Vietnam Veteran to help put the broken pieces of Matt's life back together.
Vigo County Public Library
One Library Square
Terre Haute, IN 47807
*Labor Day to
Special Collections is
9am - 9pm
9am - 6pm
9am - 5pm
1pm - 5pm
Memorial Day only
closed on Sundays | <urn:uuid:d92ce4ca-446b-4247-8acb-424004511f5e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.vigo.lib.in.us/yp/yppicks?page=3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97442 | 1,095 | 1.523438 | 2 |
This project was initiated to establish a wind-power industry in the country. Wind-power has proven to be a safer alternative than other energy sources besides being an economically viable and sustainable option. The projects aims to achieve this by removing policy, institutional, regulatory, fiscal and technical barriers to private investments in wind farms and their integration into the power grid, especially in remote areas where alternative generation options are limited and/or costly.
To reduce Green House Gas (GHG) emissions through the facilitation of commercial-scale exploitation of renewable wind energy for power production in Pakistan.
Five wind masts installed and made operational. Installationof further two wind masts is in progress.
Wind data generated from the wind masts being used by private investors to plan setting up of wind farms in these locations.
AEDB- the implementing partner of the project with funding of ADB is working on the development of legal framework for net metering applications of renewable energy projects.
Rural electrification model on solar/wind hybrid systems under implementation. The completion of these demonstration models will provide access to secure alternative energy sources to 100 households in a village of 600 population | <urn:uuid:02fc5a32-e101-42a2-8cb9-53269f6038c4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://undp.org.pk/sustainable-development-of-utility-scale-wind-power-production-project-phase-i.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9194 | 233 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Can you really grow plants without soil? We're going to find out for ourselves in our science unit soon!
This past Thursday after school I had the privilege of touring Finger Lakes Fresh, a hydroponics greenhouse located right on Route 13 across from NYSEG. It was really cool to see how they grew their lettuce! In the greenhouse, computer-sensored lights and fans control the light and temperature to create a year-round growing season (as you can see in the picture below, it's snowy outside but beautiful, healthy lettuce is growing inside!)
and then once the seeds germinate
and the plant grows big enough, they cut up the pieces into squares and place them onto floating platforms. The roots soak up the pool of water underneath
and within one month (twice as fast as growing it in uncontrolled conditions like your garden outside) the beautiful leaves are ready to harvest!
They sell their lettuces to Wegmans (both here and Syracuse!), Tops, Price Chopper, Greenstar, and Ludgate Farms. In addition, Cornell University, Ithaca College, Cayuga Medical Center, Moosewood Restaurant, and The Heights Cafe and Grill buy the lettuce for serving. I've had this lettuce before and it is the best salad I've ever had! I highly recommend it! | <urn:uuid:fd503fca-8296-4256-8b63-3ccc442b5e83> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://coffeyscorner.blogspot.com/2010/03/finger-lakes-fresh.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964598 | 268 | 2.265625 | 2 |
By Sikivu Hutchinson
White people have started to return to South Los Angeles. They can be seen watering lawns, walking dogs, and frequenting local restaurants. Legend has it that there are a few white families that never left during the postwar mass exodus that magically transformed what was once Southwest L.A. into “South Central”—that internationally notorious, mythic den of drugs, drive-bys and destruction that launched a thousand gangsta rap careers and corporate parasites rolling to the bank on the backs of “bitches” and “hos.”
Back in the day all of the “bad” black and brown schools in Compton, Watts, and Inglewood were teeming with whites. Americana Leave it to Beaver mom icon Barbara Billingsley even graduated from a local ‘hood school in the 1930s. But these new white transplants are merely symbols of the turbulent real estate market, not inner city missionaries slumming for an ethnographic high. They’re canaries in the coalmine of negative equity. Priced out of the “better” (read white) areas of the city some white homebuyers have been forced to venture back into the hood. Snapping up Spanish or Craftsman-style bungalows in savvy short sales they’re rediscovering the “quaintness” of Black neighborhoods that their forebears escaped decades ago courtesy of government programs like the GI Bill and FHA mortgage lending. Touring the streets wide-eyed with their travelogues some register surprise at the area’s suburban aura, the “tidiness” of the homes, the “unexpected” pride in ownership that the natives demonstrate. But having the luxury to move back to the “ghetto” they built through generations of apartheid housing policies is part of whites’ democratic birthright.
White American democracy has always meant the bliss of segregation and the willful ignorance of the bodies that get displaced. It’s ladled out in cultural initiations like being warned to keep the car windows up when driving through Black areas or having a nifty cell phone app nicknamed “Avoid Ghetto.” Even in the era of rampant “Main Street” foreclosure and negative equity white American democracy still means the privilege of mobility. When whites move into neighborhoods that residents of color have been forced to leave due to plummeting home values and high unemployment it’s called gentrification. It is only cause for national political action and reform when white middle class homeowners are impacted by imploding housing bubbles. Bipartisan political rhetoric that fixates on the “middle class” (as the default category), while marginalizing disproportionately asset poor working class people of color, merely reinforces a colorblind class myth where struggling white people have it “just as bad” as people of color.
This is true, because, for the party of the Religious Right, poor people don’t work and they don’t pay taxes. God’s pecking order does not favor being on the dole and accepting handouts. American exceptionalism is validated by the specter of the Black ghetto as den of immorality. According to this narrative African Americans have squandered the advantages of living in a democratic society in which everyone has an equal chance at economic mobility. Black poverty is only immoral insofar as it reflects a certain cultural indolence and pathology on the part of shiftless blacks. While “cultures of poverty” corrupt, cultures of success, based on capitalism, free enterprise, and hard work, uplift and moralize. Systemic discrimination has never been deemed immoral in the American mainstream. For the Right, systemic discrimination is a quaint oxymoron, vestige of a primitive era when the U.S. was presumably less evolved. The moral universe consists of getting ahead in a manifest destiny mish mash of Darwinism and divine providence; i.e., the way God wanted it, free of the fetters of restrictive public policy that rewards the sloth of homeowners of color.
In 2011 former mortgage giant Countrywide was found guilty of engaging in predatory lending which targeted Black and Latino homebuyers. Last week lending titan Wells Fargo settled a lawsuit after it was accused of steering over 30,000 Black and Latino homebuyers to subprime loans. The class action stemmed from a Baltimore city lawsuit in which former employees alleged that Wells Fargo “loan officers referred to minority borrowers as ‘mud people’ and called subprime mortgages ‘ghetto loans.’” During the lending boom Wells Fargo officials regularly conducted “wealth building” seminars in communities of color, (often headlined by talk show host Tavis Smiley) where reps secretly peddled subprime loans.
So while homebuyers of color were essentially taxed for being black or brown; white homebuyers “bootstrapped” their way to the American dream with lower interest rates and better terms handed to them by the big banks. “Homebuying while white,” many of them had the same credit scores and incomes as applicants of color. What they didn’t have was the same capital and asset holdings. Not only is Black and Latino wealth a fraction of white wealth but the vast majority of it is based on home equity; home equity that has been pillaged by Wells Fargo, Countrywide, Bank of America and other lenders. As Yuan Miu of the Washington Post argues, the housing bust has “left a scar on the finances of black America…(it) has not only wiped out a generation of economic progress but could leave them at financial disadvantage for generations to come.”
Yet mainstream narratives on the housing meltdown tend to revolve around irresponsible homebuyers lapping up variable mortgages they couldn’t pay off or vulnerable homebuyers sacrificed on the altar of Wall Street’s credit default swap morass. After President Obama finished bailing out the big Wall Street banks his rhetoric turned to shoring up Main Street. To hear Obama tell it, the brunt of the crisis was squarely centered in Middle America. Urban neighborhoods devastated by the TKO of predatory lending, foreclosure, job discrimination, and mass incarceration barely registered on the radar of the administration or the mainstream media. There was little mass outrage over the immoral systematic disenfranchisement of Black and Latino homebuyers by the banking crooks. Neither GOP lawmakers, nor prominent Democrats, other than those in the Congressional Black Caucus, rushed to criticize the lending industry’s white affirmative action. Nor did they condemn the racist practices of bankruptcy attorneys who refer debt-ridden Black consumers to more costly Chapter 13 bankruptcy filings.
Being against “big government” or social welfare for working class communities of color has always been about morality. It is reflected in right wing venom against public employee unions and health care reform which are both overwhelmingly supported by people of color. It is amplified in racist discourse around illegal immigration, spearheaded by Christian fascist states in the Bible Belt and the Southwest. As the white population and white births continue to decline nativist propaganda against racial, social, and gender justice has become more unabashedly Christian fascist. It’s the wages of white affirmative action that have always defined American democracy—model for the civilized world.
Sikivu Hutchinson is the author of Moral Combat: Black Atheists, Gender Politics, and the Values Wars and the forthcoming Godless Americana: Race and Religious Rebels. | <urn:uuid:4cbab84c-1a0b-4fde-9e8b-7fa79e4fd799> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://freethoughtblogs.com/blackskeptics/2012/07/17/wages-of-white-affirmative-action-predatory-lending-the-ghetto/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948317 | 1,542 | 2.125 | 2 |
Many people have high hopes for ethanol made from corn–that it will prevent future gasoline shortages, prevent global warming, be a wonderful investment, and improve the income of farmers, among other things. Other observers raise a whole host of concerns including scalability, impact on the environment, and impact on food prices. Why is there such a huge disparity in views? What is the real promise for corn ethanol?
1. Why don’t we see more stations selling E85 (85% ethanol/15% gasoline mixture)?
In 2006, about 20% of the US corn crop was used to produce ethanol. Even with this huge share of the corn crop, US corn-based ethanol amounted to only about 3.5% of the US gasoline supply by volume, and 2.4% of the supply by energy contribution.
Even if all the corn-based ethanol that was produced were used as E85, there would not be many gasoline stations selling E85. In fact, only a very small portion of the corn ethanol that is produced is used to make E85 — the remainder is used as a fuel additive, in concentrations up to 10% of the gasoline.
2. Why is so much ethanol used as a gasoline additive?
There are two reasons:
a. E85 isn’t very popular. The fuel is quite corrosive, and only a small percentage of cars that have been specially manufactured (or adapted) can use it. E85 is also quite expensive for the energy it provides. It is often priced similarly to gasoline, but gets about 25% worse mileage.
b. MTBE is being phased out, and ethanol can be used as a substitute. Until recently, methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) was used as a gasoline additive, to raise octane of gasoline and to make fuel burn more cleanly. MTBE does not biodegrade and often gets into the ground water, where it gives a bad taste and smell. Furthermore, laboratory tests suggest it may cause cancer. MTBE was banned in some states, and is being phased out in other states because of liability concerns.
Ethanol can be used as a substitute for MTBE. The amount of ethanol needed as an MTBE substitute is huge — roughly equal to the 5 billion gallons of corn based ethanol produced in 2006. With so much ethanol used as a substitute for MTBE, there is very little left over for E85. One advantage of using ethanol as an additive is that in concentrations up to 10%, it can be used in any car without modification.
3. How does ethanol compare to MTBE as a gasoline additive?
Ethanol is clearly better than MTBE in one regard — Ethanol biodegrades well, so there is no issue with it contaminating the ground water.
In other regards, ethanol’s score is mixed. Ethanol makes gasoline somewhat cleaner burning, so it helps oil companies meet emission standards.
There are several areas in which ethanol is not as good as MTBE:
a. Ethanol, when blended with gasoline, tends to evaporate in summer, causing smog. This tendency can be partly overcome by modifying the gasoline base to which it is added.
b. Ethanol needs to be shipped separately from gasoline. Because of its corrosive nature and tendency to combine with water, ethanol needs a separate truck/barge/train shipping system (or a dedicated pipeline, but this would be very expensive). MTBE can simply be added to gasoline at the refinery, and shipped by pipeline.
c. MTBE acted as a US-produced non-petroleum gasoline extender. While it may seem strange, ethanol is not as good as MTBE in this role. MTBE (made from natural gas) was relatively plentiful, and could be added in quantities up to 15% to gasoline as required. Ethanol is less available, and can only be mixed to a concentration of 10% of gasoline. Adjustments must also be made to the gasoline base, in order to minimize ethanol smog problems.
4. What kind of impacts did the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) expect when oil companies phased out MTBE and increased the use of ethanol as an additive?
The EIA expected that phasing out MTBE and substituting ethanol would tend to decrease the amount of gasoline available and raise prices, as discussed in this report. It would also somewhat negatively impact air quality.
Currently, most ethanol is used between the months of May and September. It seems likely that the use of ethanol during this time-period contributes to the higher gasoline prices experienced in recent summers.
5. To what extent can the production of corn-based ethanol be increased?
We are currently using 20% of the corn produced in the United States to produce ethanol. Under the most optimistic scenarios, this amount could be tripled, to the equivalent of 60% of our 2006 corn production. At this production level, corn-based ethanol would replace about 10% of the volume (or about 7.2% of the energy content) of the US gasoline supply. This is still not very much, and there are serious questions whether this optimistic production level can in fact be reached.
If this level of production can be reached, the full amount of corn-based ethanol produced could be used as a fuel additive (as the 10% level), with no ethanol left over for E85.
6. What impact does corn-based ethanol have on global warming gasses?
Many people believe that using ethanol from corn would greatly reduce the emission of gasses implicated in global warming. This belief is based on the observation that if a corn plant grew, and then was burned, without any fossil fuel inputs or fertilizer, there would be no net gain in global warming gasses. This is because the carbon dioxide released in the burning of the plant would be offset by the carbon dioxide absorbed by the plant while the plant was growing.
This simplistic model is not correct for the production of corn-based ethanol because fossil fuels are used in the growing of corn and the production of ethanol, and these contribute to global warming gasses. Nitrogen used in fertilizer also tends to produce nitrous oxide, which is 300 times as potent a global warming gas as carbon dioxide.
There are also secondary impacts — for example, increasing US corn production is likely to result in less US soybean production. If this occurs, Brazil, the largest producer of soybeans, is likely to increase its soybean production. Space for this increased Brazilian production is likely to be obtained by cutting down rain forests, which will tend to increase global warming gasses.
One review of the impact of ethanol on global warming gasses found “ambiguous” indications, with some studies indicating small increases, and others indicating small decreases. The authors’ best estimate was a 13% decrease relative to the emissions made by gasoline. This implies that burning ethanol still contributes to global warming gasses — but to a slightly smaller extent than gasoline.
7. What other biological/ environmental impacts does the production of corn-based ethanol have?
• Huge use of water. Approximately 4 gallons of water are used for every gallon of ethanol produced. Water use is much greater if irrigation is required. If ethanol production is in an arid region, non-renewable aquifers may be drawn down.
• Increased soil erosion. Even when corn is grown using the latest “no till” methods on flat land, there is some soil erosion. The amount of erosion increases if land in hilly or low-lying areas is tilled. Since soil regenerates very slowly, soil loss is a serious concern.
• More fertilizer use. Nitrogen fertilizer use is associated with increased global warming gasses and its run-off causes “dead” areas in the sea. Nitrogen fertilizer is made from natural gas, which is is in declining supply in North America. In the future, we will depend more and more on foreign imports of nitrogen fertilizer.
• More herbicide and pesticide use. Causes pollution problems. Also, since these are made from oil and natural gas, future supply is likely to depend on imports.
8. To what extent does the use of corn-based ethanol reduce fossil fuel use?
Studies vary in the extent to which the extent to which corn-based ethanol can be expected to reduce fossil fuel use, depending on how the corn is grown, and the “boundaries” considered in the analyses. Some studies show that more fossil fuel energy is used in the production of ethanol than is provided in the ethanol produced. Other studies show a small net gain – typically about 20% of the fossil fuel inputs. Thus, the ratio of energy output to fossil fuel input is about 1.2 to 1.0.
One concern is that this net gain is much lower than for many other liquid fuel sources. For oil produced from wells, typically 15 gallons of oil are produced for each gallon of fossil fuel used in production. For ethanol from sugar cane produced in Brazil, the net energy gain is about 8 or 9 to 1. For most types of biodiesel, the net gain is about 2.0 and 3.0 to 1.0. Thus, even when the best planting areas are available, ethanol from corn appears to be inefficient compared to other liquid fuels.
9. Does it matter whether there is a net energy loss in the production of corn-based ethanol -– that is, it takes more fossil fuel energy to produce ethanol than the ethanol itself produces?
Some argue that we need liquid fuels, and we have large amounts of coal and natural gas, so it does not matter if we use an inefficient way of converting these fuels to a liquid form. Thus, having a net energy loss is the production of corn-based ethanol is OK.
This argument is wrong for two reasons. First, our fossil fuels are much more limited than most people believe. Natural gas is in especially short supply. If we use large amount of natural gas for ethanol production, we risk shortages for other purposes, including electrical production and home heating. We also drive up the price of natural gas.
Second, using large amounts of fossil fuels to produce ethanol is likely to exacerbate global warming. One argument for using ethanol is that it (hopefully) reduces fossil fuel use, and thus produces less carbon dioxide, which contributes to global warming. If instead of decreasing fossil fuel use, it really increases fossil fuel use, the effect is reversed – more carbon dioxide is produced, rather than less.
10. To what extent does corn-based ethanol replace imported foreign oil?
As discussed above, ethanol in the quantity produced today is almost exclusively a replacement for MTBE. MTBE is made from natural gas, and was primarily US produced. Thus, what we are doing is replacing one US produced item with a more expensive US produced item. Since some diesel fuel is used in the production of ethanol, one might argue that we may even be slightly increasing our use of foreign oil.
11. What economic impact does corn-based ethanol have?
Since at this point we are replacing one US-made product (MTBE) with a more expensive US-made product performing a similar function, the basic impact is inflationary. We are reducing the amount of corn available for export abroad, so we are most likely making our balance of payments worse. It is not clear that there is any savings on the amount of petroleum needed to be imported from overseas.
The price of corn, and in fact many food products, is expected to increase with the greater use of corn ethanol. This tends to raise the income of farmers. Costs to farmers are also expected to rise, as the price of land rises and the cost of other inputs, such as fertilizer and fuel oil, rise. Consumers are likely to have to pay more for food products, so this transfers more of their wealth to those producing food.
The overall effect is expected to be a slightly lower standard of living for Americans, because a less efficient approach is being used to produce a fuel additive. Resources which might have been used for goods with higher value to consumers are now being devoted to ethanol production. There will be some transfer of wealth among groups, with farmers and ethanol producers perhaps being winners.
12. Is there a possibility of a better economic outcome, if the production of corn-based ethanol is greatly expanded?
It is not clear that corn production can be greatly expanded, without harmful impacts. At this point, nearly all of the land that can reasonably be used for corn without undesirable impacts is already being used for that purpose. To increase corn production, one or more of the following approaches are likely:
• Grow corn on land that needs to be irrigated. Result: more fossil fuel energy used than obtained from ethanol; may deplete aquifers.
• Grow corn on hill sides, or on other areas subject to erosion. Result: soil loss; not sustainable.
• Grow corn without crop rotation. Result: much more fertilizer used; more fossil fuel energy used than obtained from ethanol. Soybean production shifted overseas, resulting in increased imports of soybeans.
Even if expansion of corn production is accomplished, it is not clear that it can be maintained for long. The amount of natural gas available is expected to decline in the next few years, making fertilizer less available, and reducing the fuel available for producing ethanol.
If ethanol expansion occurs, transportation of the ethanol is also a question. Existing train/rail/barge systems are being strained with the current volume of ethanol. Significant investment in infrastructure may be needed if much larger volumes of ethanol are produced.
13. There are a number of new approaches to producing corn-based ethanol, using more renewable energy in the production of ethanol (such as methane from waste products or wind energy). What role do these efforts play in corn-based ethanol’s future?
These efforts are to be applauded. To the extent that they are successful, they can perhaps be substituted for some of the natural gas and coal used in producing ethanol today. The use of the renewable fuels in ethanol production will tend to give corn-based ethanol a more positive energy balance and will reduce the use of fossil fuels. Some of these efforts may prove to be cost-effective as well.
It is not clear that these new methods will have a significant impact on the total amount of ethanol that will produced. Current ethanol production seems to be guided by a government plan to increase production to the maximum amount which can produced. This maximum amount apprars to be governed by factors such as the amount of corn that can be grown and the amount of transportation that is available for the final product. Whether or not it is economic to produce fuel in this way does not seem to enter into the decision.
14. What do recent analyses say about expanding ethanol production?
There recently have been two major studies looking at the question of expanding biofuels, one by the Congressional Research Service for Congress and one by the United Nations. Both urge caution in the expansion of biofuels because of the likelihood of unintended consequences. The Congressional Research Service Report looked specifically at the issue of ethanol from corn; the UN report report looked at biofuels more generally.
One concern raised in the Congressional Research Service Report is that corn-based ethanol is likely to be quite variable in supply, depending upon the weather. Thus, if we expand corn-based ethanol production, we will be exchanging the variability associated with foreign oil with the variability associated with weather.
15. Is there any reason why corn-based ethanol should continue to receive tax subsidies?
No. Corn-based ethanol does not appear to have any particular advantage over other biofuels, and it is questionable whether it can be significantly expanded without adverse consequences. If other types of biofuels make more economic sense, they should be given a level playing field. Corn-ethanol will continue to be produced if it makes economic sense, without tax subsidies. The subsidies in place currently benefit the corporations that produce ethanol, with little benefit for individual farmers.
One potential disadvantage of removing tax subsidies is that this may tend to raise the price of gasoline at the pump. If higher prices encourage consumers to conserve fuel and companies to explore other types of biofuels, the higher prices may in fact be an advantage.
To Learn More
Supply Impacts of an MTBE Ban, US Energy Information Agency
Refining 101: Summer Gasoline, Robert Rapier on TheOilDrum.com.
1. Read the section in Robert Rapier’s Refining 101 article about Senator Diane Feinstein’s campaign to limit ethanol blending in California, because of smog problems. Would you side with Senator Feinstein or the Environmental Protection Agency? Why?
2. How would the market be different today, if, instead of providing subsidies only for corn ethanol, subsidies had been provided over the years for any type of biofuel, including potato based ethanol, diesel from soybeans, and any other type of biofuel considered?
3. How would the market be different today, if no subsidies had been provided for any type of biofuel?
4. Does it ever make sense for the government to select one “winner”, such as corn ethanol, for subsidies?
5. Suppose the government taxes gasoline, but not biofuels. What is likely to happen to government revenue if gasoline production declines and biofuel use increases? Would this make public officials happy or unhappy? Is there any way of avoiding this problem? | <urn:uuid:8698ded1-aa76-4c98-8c8b-102e6fedbc41> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ourfiniteworld.com/2007/05/29/corn-based-ethanol-is-this-a-solution/ | 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 | 0.950697 | 3,587 | 3.296875 | 3 |
Kultali police station in South 24 Parganas distict is rapidly turning into a communally disturbed area, with the active assistance of Muslim criminals, Islamic clergy, and the rapidly growing Islamic population.
This area, which was relatively peaceful just a decade or two earlier, is turning into a graveyard for Hindus as Muslims are increasing their acts of well planned and organized attacks on Hindus with every passing week. On Dec 5 2012, at around 1 pm IST, a Hindu girl – Debola Halder, daughter of Sukumar Halder, aged around 13 years, was on her way to the school at Kaorakhali to take her exam. At Chandpur, which is between Purba Gopal Nagar, the village of the girl, and Kaorakhali, a Muslim activist youth named Samsul Sardar, (son of Sheikh Icha Sardar) aged around 20-22 years assaulted and attempted to rape her.
The girl resisted with all her ability and started shouting for assistance. Hearing her cries for help, local Hindus gathered at the spot, in support of the victim. The perpetrator escaped the place threatening the girl saying that this was a communally disturbed area and she would bring dire consequences against her (Hindu) community if she approached the police.
The family of the girl has nevertheless, lodged a complaint in the local police station, and the Officer-In-Charge of Kultali police station, Shubhendu Sarkar has assured them full cooperation in apprehending the molestor.
Hindu Samhati regularly monitors and reports violations against Hindus in West Bengal. We also work with both governmental and NGO agencies for proper education on protection and ensure remedies to the Hindu populace as per prevailing law of the land. | <urn:uuid:01317f27-ccd4-4770-9c80-4a9cc92c4fa0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hindusamhati.blogspot.com/2012/12/hindu-girl-escapes-rape-from-muslim.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967741 | 357 | 1.609375 | 2 |
It's your government, so make it listen
- Published: 24/01/2013 at 09:31 AM
- Online news:
Here we go again, section 112 of the Criminal Code, the lese majeste law. Another citizen, Somyot Prueksakasemsuk, editor of Voice of Taksin, was found guilty on two counts on Wednesday and sent to prison for 11 years.
Immediately, some red-shirts organised protests, even if small ones. Immediately, human rights groups and the various non-Thai bodies, committees and agencies clicked send on their press releases, condemning the judgement.
Immediately, newspaper writers penned their thoughts on the subject, tip-toeing ever so gently -- for no one would want to share a cell with Somyot. Who, me? No way.
Indeed, we go through the same routine every time.
It’s like wondering if some day we will know why Samson loves Delilah and whatever happened to Amelia Earhart. What’s the point of wondering about these things? They are just lines from a song I can’t get out of my head, since 1999.
This is the Criminal Court of the Kingdom of Thailand, a country where the lese majeste law is honoured and abused, championed and exploited. What other verdict could there be but guilty, guilty and guilty?
So instead of venting at the court, why not actually change the law? I swear I’m not the first person to have come up with this idea. Really, I’m not.
There is this government legislative body whose job it is to make or change laws. This legislative body is the parliament, in which the Pheu Thai Party holds an absolute majority. The party that received the most votes in the July 3, 2011 general election.
Those who caste the votes, instrumental to the campaign and key to the Pheu Thai victory, were members and supporters of the red-shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD).
This is a civic group that champions justice, democracy and human rights – at least that’s the claim. Through the years, the UDD flew the banner against lese majeste. They cried against it. They marched against it.
The UDD crusaded against old, corrupted power. They raised fists against outdated, archaic laws that impede justice, undermine democracy and destroy human rights. They have sacrificed lives and limbs, for sincerely and devoutly they believed the Pheu Thai Party would bring justice, democracy and human rights to Thailand.
This is a civic movement that activists, journalists, anonymous internet bloggers and anyone with a twitter from around the world hailed as fighting for true justice, true democracy and true human rights.
The movement that showed the world the power of the people on July 3, 2011 - that yes, we can! We can make changes! We can make a difference! We are the power of the people! Pheu Thai is the government by the people and for the people!
Today, the UDD – plus activists, journalists, random internet bloggers and anyone with a twitter from around the world – are still waiting with baited breath.
Hello? What has the prime minister to say about Somyot’s conviction?
Hi? Excuse me, what is the Pheu Thai government’s stance on the lese majeste law?
No, no, don’t ask the Democrats, the military or the court. We know whose side they are on. Don’t need to bother them. It would be like asking a thirsty man if he wants water. We know the answer.
A group of people hold signs at the court house to support Somyot Prueksakasemsuk on Jan 23, 2013. (Photo by Achara Ashayagachat)
As a side note, let’s applaud those red-shirt members and others who were at the court house to support Somyot. Those who held signs and made their voices heard.
You may disagree with their politics, but you might want to respect the consistency of their stance. They are not hypocrites when it comes to standing up for what they believe is justice, democracy and human rights.
But let’s ask the leadership of the UDD – those men and women, many of whom now sit in parliament and enjoy ministerial portfolio.
Excuse me, your excellencies; what do you plan to do with the lese majeste law and with the case of Somyot?
You see, there seems to be a clear and transparent way in which you can change the law, no? A clear stance by the people who voted for you, no? A clear majority in the parliament, no? So clear the way to change the legislation, no?
Oh I see; it’s a sensitive issue and you’re going to set up committees to look into it. All right then, understood, mai pen rai (never mind), carry on.
What’s that my pink Bentley-driving deputy prime minister? Oh, in December 2011 you volunteered to lead a campaign against internet content deemed offensive to the monarchy? What? You don’t even care what colour shirt the websites belong to?
Ah, that clears things up then. See, this is what we like about you. You’re the most honest person in the government.
Chalerm Yubamrung comes out of his pink Bentley. (Photo by Apichart Jinakul)
About the author
- Writer: Voranai Vanijaka
Position: Political and Social Commentator | <urn:uuid:3090d3d5-ece0-4141-a35e-764617b34298> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bangkokpost.com/print/332390/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951088 | 1,186 | 1.664063 | 2 |
A dugout or dugout canoe is a boat made from a hollowed tree trunk. Other names for this type of boat are logboat and monoxylon. Monoxylon (μονόξυλον) (pl: monoxyla) is Greek -- mono- (single) + ξύλον xylon (tree) -- and is mostly used in classic Greek texts. In Germany they are called einbaum ("one tree" in English). Some, but not all, pirogues are also constructed in this manner.
Dugouts are the oldest boats archaeologists have found, dating back about eight thousand years. This is probably because they are made of massive pieces of wood, which tend to preserve better than, e.g., bark canoes. Einbaum dug-out boat finds in Germany date back to the Stone Age. Along with bark canoe and hide kayak, dugout boats were also used by indigenous peoples of the Americas.
Construction of a dugout begins with the selection of a log of suitable dimensions. Sufficient wood needed to be removed to make the vessel relatively light in weight and buoyant, yet still strong enough to support the crew and cargo. Specific types of wood were often preferred based on their strength, durability, and density. The shape of the boat is then fashioned to minimize drag, with sharp ends at the bow and stern.
First the bark is removed from the exterior. Before the appearance of metal tools, dugouts were hollowed-out using controlled fires. The burnt wood was then removed using an adze. Another method using tools is to chop out parallel notches across the interior span of the wood, then split out and remove the wood from between the notches. Once hollowed out, the interior was dressed and smoothed out with a knife or adze.
More primitive designs keep the tree's original dimensions, with a round bottom. However, it is possible to carefully steam the sides of the hollow log until they are pliable, then bend to create a more flat-bottomed "boat" shape with a wider beam in the centre.
For travel in the rougher waters of the ocean, dugouts can be fitted with outriggers. One or two smaller logs are mounted parallel to the main hull by long poles. In the case of two outriggers, one is mounted on either side of the hull.
The Dufuna canoe from Nigeria is an 8000-year-old dugout, the oldest boat discovered in Africa, and the third-oldest worldwide. The well-watered tropical rainforest and woodland regions of sub-Saharan Africa provide both the waterways and the trees for dugout canoes, which are commonplace from the Limpopo River basin in the south through East and Central Africa and across to West Africa. African Teak is the timber favoured for their construction, though this comprises a number of different species, and is in short supply in some areas. Dugouts are paddled across deep lakes and rivers or punted through channels in swamps (see makoro) or in shallow areas, and are used for transport, fishing and hunting, including, in the past, the very dangerous hunting of hippopotamus. Dugouts are called pirogues in Francophone areas of Africa.
A centuries-old unfinished dugout boat, a big banca (five tons, measuring 8 by 2 by 1.5 meters) was accidentally retrieved on November, 2010 by Mayor Ricardo Revita at Barangay Casanicolasan, Rosales, Pangasinan, Philippines, in Lagasit River, near Agno River. It is now on display in front of the Municipal Town Hall.
De Administrando Imperio details how the Slavs built monoxyla that they sold to Vikings in Kiev. These ships were then used against the Byzantine Empire during the Rus'–Byzantine Wars of the 9th and 10th centuries. They used dugouts to attack Constantinople and to withdraw into their lands with bewildering speed and mobility. Hence, the name of Δρομίται ("people on the run") applied to the Rus in some Byzantine sources. The monoxyla were often accompanied by larger galleys, that served as command and control centres. Each Slavic dugout could hold from 40 to 70 warriors.
The Cossacks of the Zaporozhian Host were also renowned for their artful use of dugouts, which issued from the Dnieper to raid the shores of the Black Sea in the 16th and 17th centuries. Using small, shallow-draft, and highly maneuverable galleys known as chaiky, they moved swiftly across the Black Sea. According to the Cossacks' own records, these vessels, carrying a 50 to 70 man crew, could reach the coast of Anatolia from the mouth of the Dnieper River in forty hours.
The Pesse canoe, found in the Netherlands, is a dugout which is believed to be the world's oldest boat, carbon dated to between 8040 BCE and 7510 BCE. Dugout boats have been found in Scandinavia and Germany. In German, the craft are known as einbaum (one-tree). These boats were used for fishing and transport on calmer bodies of water. Dugouts require no metal parts or shipbuilding expertise, and were likely common amongst farming folk in Northern Europe until large trees suitable for making this type of watercraft became scarce. Length was limited to the size of trees in the old-growth forests—up to 10 metres (33 ft) in length. Later models increased freeboard (and seaworthiness) by lashing additional boards to the side of the boat. Eventually, the dugout portion was reduced to a solid keel, and the lashed boards on the sides became a Lapstrake hull.
In Northern Europe, the tradition of making dugout canoes survived into the 20th and 21st centuries only in Estonia, where seasonal floods in Soomaa, a 390 km² wilderness area, make conventional means of transportation impossible. In recent decades a new surge of interest in making dugouts (Estonian haabjas) has revitalized the ancient tradition.
Dugout canoes were constructed throughout the Americas where suitable logs were available. The indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest are very skilled at crafting wood. Best known for totem poles up to 80 feet (24 m) tall, they also construct dugout canoes over 60 feet (18 m) long for everyday use and ceremonial purposes.
In 1978, Geordie Tocher and two companions sailed a 3.5-short-ton (3.2 t), 40-foot (12 m) dugout canoe (the Orenda II), made of Douglas fir, and based on Haida designs (but with sails), from Vancouver, Canada to Hawaiʻi to add credibility to stories that the Haida had travelled to Hawaiʻi in ancient times. Altogether they ventured some 4,500 miles (7,242 km) after two months at sea.
The dugout canoes were made mostly of huge cedar logs in the state of Washington for the ocean travelers but for natives that lived on the smaller rivers used smaller cedar logs.
Two log boats were discovered in Newport, Shropshire and are now on display at Harper Adams University Newport. The Iron Age residents of Great Britain were known to have used logboats for fishing and basic trade. In 1964, a logboat was uncovered in Poole Harbour, Dorset. The Poole Logboat dated to 300 BC was large enough to accommodate 18 people and was constructed from a giant Oak tree. It is currently located in the Poole Museum.
In the Pacific Islands, dugout canoes are very large, made from whole mature trees and fitted with outriggers for increased stability in the ocean, and were once used for long-distance travel. Such are the very large waka used by Māori who came to New Zealand probably from East Polynesia, about 1280. Such vessels carried 40 to 80 warriors in calm sheltered coastal waters or rivers. It is believed that trans-ocean voyages were made in Polynesian catamarans but none has ever been found in New Zealand. In New Zealand smaller waka were made from a single log, often Totara, because of its lightness, strength and resistance to rotting. Larger waka were made of about seven parts lashed together with flax rope. All waka are characterized by very low freeboard. In Hawaiʻi, waʻa (canoes) are traditionally manufactured from the trunk of the koa tree. They typically carry a crew of six: one steersman and five paddlers.
John F. Kennedy's PT-109
The Solomon Islanders have used and continue to use dugout canoes to travel between islands. In World War II these were used during the Japanese occupation - with their small visual and noise signatures these were among the smallest boats used by the Allied forces in World War II. After the sinking of PT-109, Biuki Gasa reached the shipwrecked John F. Kennedy by dugout.
- 1000 Inventions and Discoveries, by Roger Bridgman
- Excerpt from the "De Administrando Imperio" with self-study questions.
- Viking era dugout boat found in lake
- Haabjas - Estonian Dugout Canoe. Retrieved 5-2-2011.
- Pacific Northwest Coastal Indians website
- Stall, Robert (5 March 1979). "A man, a tree and an ocean to cross". Maclean's: 4–6.
- Peter SpSpeck, Peter (22 November 1978). "Orenda recalled". North Shore News. pp. 2 and 12.
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to: dugout|
- Fundamental origins of ship types
- Ship replicas in the world
- For more information on Tocher's voyage | <urn:uuid:5becd04b-bf5d-4ce4-aa1a-c698ee8ab656> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dugout_(boat) | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961724 | 2,068 | 3.890625 | 4 |
So at one point Captain Kirk has to send the current navigator off to do something in another part of the ship and he says, “Lieutenant Uhura, take over navigation,” and she just does and it is no big thing. So to anyone out there who ever said that Uhura was only a glorified phone operator, SHE CAN TOTALLY FLY THE SHIP SO THERE.
(image from TrekCore)
Childhood ADHD Linked To Adult Obesity
“Indian Territory That Garden of the World, Open for Homestead and Pre-Emption”
Sunday, May 20 marks the 150th Anniversary of the Homestead Act, passed on May 20, 1862. It greatly accelerated settlement of the western United States, providing 160 acres of free land to qualified citizens, but this often came at the expense of displaced Native Americans. | <urn:uuid:eac2a995-182c-4567-9f24-32cd01d6b65d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://deedixon.tumblr.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950155 | 176 | 1.71875 | 2 |
[Baypiggies] Baypiggies snippets
zia at cruzio.com
Thu Mar 29 19:19:26 CEST 2007
On Mar 28, 2007, at 10:42 PM, Keith Dart ♂ wrote:
> Max Slimmer wrote the following on 2007-03-28 at 22:27 PDT:
>> What doug is asking for is any sequence to have some method say
>> flatten such
>> Seq = [a,b,c]
>> Flatseq = Seq.flatten()
Actually, what the english word says to me is what Ruby's "flatten!"
i.e., alter the sequence object itself, instead of the above, which is
what Ruby's "flatten" (no exclamation mark) does.
> Perhaps. But what's implied is that what he's asking for isn't really
> the right thing to ask. ;-) It should not be a method, but a function
It's a matter of taste. To supply a file-like object, you supply an
object with a "read()" method and/or a few other methods, right? I
just think that sequence is a strong enough concept to merit a class,
and that flattening is a common enough operation on sequences to
merit being a method.
> On 3/28/07, Keith Dart ♂ <keith at dartworks.biz> wrote:
>> Doug Landauer wrote the following on 2007-03-21 at 23:07 PDT:
>> > If we have come across the need/desire for a new general method that
>> > should work just fine with anything that "quacks like a sequence",
>> > we would like to make it available to any sequence in any of our
>> > code, and I want to invoke it as foo.method for any foo that is
>> > a sequence, then where/how would I define such a method?
> I'm not sure in which thread Doug posed this question
A week ago, in this very thread.
> , but if I
> understand it, you want to have a way of adding a method to all
> sequence like objects? I think the short answer is that you have to
> make it a function, not a method, and call it like a function with the
> sequence as argument. The long answer I'll have to leave for later,
> or someone else, but basically methods are defined in, or inherited
> from, a class, and if you make a method that operates on sequences,
> not all sequence-like objects will inherit from that class.
Indeed, that's how I do this sort of thing in Python today. All I'm
saying is that this is a workaround, based on historical accident,
rather than a feature. And it impairs (very slightly) the readability
of code that has to use this workaround. For Python 3000 or maybe
Python 40,000, ".flatten" could well be redefined as a method that's
expected in any sequence-like object. And it could be provided in
some library class that offers basic sequence operations, that
user-defined sequences would choose sometimes to inherit from, for
To me, it's analogous to "list.sort()" vs "sorted( iterable ... )".
"flattened(...)" could be the function that Keith described, and
".flatten()" could be the method that I described, if there were
any class in which to define it.
> I'm no Ruby expert, but your example seem ruby-ish, and perhaps it
> provides a way to do what you are asking?
Yes, as I mentioned in the message that spawned this sub-thread:
"For what it's worth, Ruby's Array class has just such a 'flatten'
Here's where I'm coming from: I've used Python for over ten
years and love it. But my day job for the past two years has been
writing a compiler in Ruby. So I've gotten an in-depth look at the
little places where they differ. This is one of the few spots where
Python's way of doing things feels just a teeny bit clunkier than
-- Doug L.
More information about the Baypiggies | <urn:uuid:5b75d503-22f4-4a66-8faf-0ad66eb67da6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mail.python.org/pipermail/baypiggies/2007-March/002054.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95576 | 914 | 1.875 | 2 |
Hidden Costs of Owning a Home
Principal, interest, taxes and insurance are just the beginning. Whether you're a first-time buyer or thinking about moving up, you should plan for extra costs that could add up to thousands each year. First-time homeowners are often startled by the hidden costs of owning a home. The traditional measure of housing expenses -- PITI, which stands for principal, interest, taxes and insurance -- is just the beginning. Maintenance, repairs, supplemental insurance, home improvements and decorating can cost you thousands of dollars a year more than you expect. If you're ready to make the jump from renting to buying, and you're financially in good shape, don' let these expenses dissuade you. Be prepared, however, to make sure your home purchase doesn' drive you into unexpected debt.
Making maintenance routine
How much your home will cost you in maintenance and repairs depends on several factors: the age of the home, how well it's been treated by previous owners, the harshness of your climate -- and how much money you want to get out of your home when you sell it. What should you budget annually for such repairs and maintenance?
Making sure your home is covered
If you need to take out a mortgage to buy a home -- which most of us do -- your lender will require you to purchase homeowners' insurance. These policies cover you for most damage to your property, such as that caused by fire or theft. Homeowners' insurance doesn' cover everything, however. Floods, tornados, hurricanes and earthquakes are among the perils that typically aren' included. If you live in an area where one or more of these catastrophes is a possibility, you should consider buying supplemental insurance to cover your risk. The cost varies widely, from just a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars a year. You may also need to buy additional coverage if you have a large collection of antiques, valuable jewelry, furs or lots of computer equipment. Homeowners' policies usually put limits, often fairly low, on how much of these items they'll pay for, and require you to buy a “rider” for an extra fee if you want them fully covered.
Improving your home the right way
One of the great things about being a homeowner is the opportunity to put your personal stamp on a house. You can paint the walls mauve and chartreuse, if you want, without begging a landlord's permission. It's easy to go overboard with home improvements, though. Relatively few projects add much lasting value to your home, let alone guarantee that you'll recoup your costs. The big projects can be pretty expensive, as well. A major kitchen redo cost an average $38,769 last year, according to Remodeling magazine, while adding a master suite averaged $63,275. Even changing the color of your house can be pricey. The typical exterior paint job costs $8,336. The more you do yourself, of course, the lower the cost. A few weekends of hard labor could shave the painting bill to less than $1,000 for materials. But not every project is a candidate for doing-it-yourself. Many homeowners choose to hire professionals for electrical, plumbing and skilled carpentry work.
Financial planners recommend borrowing money only when you're buying an asset that appreciates in value, and home improvements typically lose value over time. Furnishings cost money, too. You'll also want to budget money for additional furnishings. Since your new home is likely to be larger than your apartment, you'll probably need more furniture. You may also be buying window treatments, lighting fixtures, carpet or area rugs and appliances -- all of which can add up to tens of thousands of dollars. Figure out your budget ahead of time and make sure you have that amount in savings -- after all the other costs of buying a home are factored in.
A much better course is to plan for these hidden costs. Then you can meet the inevitable bills with confidence, rather than stressing or going into debt. You'll be a happier homeowner, and your well-maintained, appropriately furnished home will reflect your good planning.
If you have any questions about buying real estate in the greater Santa Cruz area, contact Lauren Spencer, Coldwell Banker Realtor at 1-831-662-6522 or Toll Free: 1-800-226-4717. | <urn:uuid:3bea5ff2-80ca-4a8e-a0ec-d2d46988522b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mysantacruzrealestate.com/hidden-costs.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963249 | 908 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Tracking the Tropics
Hurricane Irene is working-class disaster for NC
NAGS HEAD, N.C. (AP) -- A tourist speeding to the beaches at Nags Head for Labor Day weekend could be forgiven for not knowing a hurricane flooded the North Carolina coast about a week ago. Blue skies are back. Seafood and ice cream shacks were open Friday.
But a real disaster has befallen local workers who serve tourists and keep the towns running. A clerk at a Roanoke Island hardware store has to muck out floodwater at her parents' home in between waiting on customers. A local car mechanic says he cried while describing to his bank tellers the flooding that wrecked Stumpy Point, and how his evacuated wife broke her collarbone. A woman along a rural highway thanks God that she's alive after a hurricane-induced tornado smashed her trailer to splinters.
"It was a blue collar storm, that's what I'm calling it," said Jason McNair, 37, a bread truck driver who was waiting to steer onto an emergency ferry bound for Hatteras, which lost its only road to the mainland when the hurricane breached Highway 12.
Hurricane Irene has been blamed for at least 46 deaths in 13 states and knocked out power to millions. Six of the storm deaths were in North Carolina.
President Barack Obama signed a disaster declaration for coastal North Carolina, covering the tourist destinations as well as the less-affluent nearby counties. Gov. Beverly Perdue said Friday that preliminary losses in the state from Irene now top $400 million.
On the North Carolina coast, the hurricane inflicted some of its worst damage by pushing the water from the sounds up against the western edge the barrier islands and along the mainland, often in working-class neighborhoods. It exacerbated a jarring difference in lifestyles. While restaurants in Nags Head this week served fresh flounder and broiled crab cakes to visitors, hamlets in nearby Tyrrell County -- one of North Carolina's poorest communities -- still had no electricity by late Thursday. Relief workers distributed boxed charity meals and National Guard soldiers delivered ice by truck.
Compare that to the upscale tourist destination Nags Head, where visitors spend thousands of dollars to book a home for a month. Sharon Taylor, 48, of Appomattox, Va., arrived with eight relatives on Monday. Other than starting their vacation a day late and finding a pile of sand on the steps leading from their oceanside rental to the beach, they've had a good time.
"Other than it being kind of inconvenient -- the sand -- I haven't noticed any problems," she said.
Although the storm did cause damage in some tourist areas and well-to-do neighborhoods, people there typically have insurance and more cash on hand to cope with a crisis.
Back on the mainland, the hurricane flooded Stumpy Point, a tiny hamlet of less than 100 homes inhabited by fishermen and county employees in Dare County. Long-timers were shocked when flood waters got so deep they had to flee by boat. As a nearby emergency ferry shuttled food and relief workers to the barrier islands, the locals picked up the pieces for themselves.
Jeff Parker, an auto mechanic, spent Thursday sorting through the remains of his home, a steel building that contains a mechanic's garage and an apartment where he and his wife have lived. For years, he dreamed of building a new house on his lot. Not anymore.
"We're going to get through this, but I'm going to probably move," he said. "My wife isn't coming back here. I can't put her through that anymore."
He spent his morning phoning insurance agents, cleaning debris and taking an occasional smoke break. He figured he could sell some of the wet engines and gear in his garage for scrap metal. Rising water had floated the furniture around his living room. Drawers of socks and underwear stained dull grey and brown by silt were drying in his yard.
"You don't know what to do," he said. "You walk past something and say, `Well, I'm not gonna keep that. I'm just going to throw that out.' You know what I mean? And then you say, `Oh no, I gotta keep that'. And it's got mud on it. I gotta wash it. Now, the mud's already dried, it takes forever."
He said he cried Tuesday while discussing the storm and his wife's health troubles at the bank.
"All of them were crying," he said. "They had me crying. The people behind us, they didn't do nothing for 20 minutes."
Conditions were also rough farther west in Tyrrell County, more than 40 miles from Nags Heads. Flood waters from the Albermarle Sound and the Alligator and Scuppernong rivers inundated low-lying neighborhoods. The county is one of the state's poorest, with per-capita income at less than $17,000, or a third lower than the statewide average.
County worker Charlene Pate, 43, was answering questions outside a disaster center where residents could file claims for emergency assistance and get food, water and ice. Her father arranged a delivery of food from a faith-based organization when the supply was initially tight.
"It just seems to me that we're forgotten," she said. "We're little bitty, we don't make a lot of money."
She gestured toward the highway leading to the shore.
"That's tourists down there," she said. "That's where the dollar really matters."
Hamlets throughout Tyrrell have been among the last to get electricity restored. Brian Campbell, 21, was standing outside his grandparent's home in Kilkenny when a National Guard truck convoy rumbled through, delivering ice. He had not seen a utility crew on his street since it lost power Aug. 26.
"The way I figure, they're going to the beach to get ready for Labor Day," he said.
As tourists move down the highway for the beach, many will pass by the trailer of Peggy McClese, 55, whose home was struck by a tornado spawned at the leading edge of the hurricane. It looks as if a giant spun her trailer a few times, then stepped on the roof, crunching in its walls. She heard the storm approaching Friday, saw her bedroom window shaking, got out of bed, then fell down.
"That's when everything started blowing, flying around, falling down," she said.
Next thing she knew, she was on the ground and couldn't move because her bedframe was pinned on top of her. McClese said she prayed to God for help and found herself freed, suffering two broken toes and a bruised face.
She expected to spend Labor Day weekend sorting through the wreckage and finding a new home.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) | <urn:uuid:e79fe592-7eda-4a0b-bea5-db7bad68fe97> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/tracking_tropics/21005270661385/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982918 | 1,420 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Plot & Details
At first glance, How to Dial a Murder would seem to be a TV remake of Orson Welles' Citizen Kane. But no, it's a 90-minute installment in the Columbo series, as we soon discover. Nicol Williamson guest stars as a wealthy psychologist and movie buff. He has already murdered his wife, and now he intends to do in her lover. To deflect suspicion from himself, he sets up the killing by phone. The victim-to-be answers, is prodded into repeating the word "Rosebud"-and is then torn asunder by Williamson's dobermans, who've been conditioned to attack upon hearing this verbal clue. Williamson manages to be miles away when the murder is pulled off. Still, the diligent Lt. Columbo (Peter Falk) manages to beard the culprit in his memorabilia-laden den. How to Dial a Murder originally aired April 15, 1978.
- Genre(s): Crime and Mystery,Drama,Thriller
- Run Time: 78min.
- Director(s): James Frawley
- Themes: Treacherous Spouses,Unlikely Criminals,Star Detectives
- Tone: Literate,Quirky,Talky,Tense,Wry
- Keywords: crime-solving,dog,murder,police-detective,psychology
- Language: English | <urn:uuid:34787c60-3243-4801-bd2d-33e3170e4d7d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.moviefone.com/movie/columbo-how-to-dial-a-murder/1086820/synopsis | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943018 | 289 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Ovarian Cancer Screening: Draft Guidelines Suggest More Harm Than Benefit
The USPSTF released on April 12, 2012, an evidence-based recommendation on ovarian cancer screening that is posted in draft form for public comment. “…This draft Reaffirmation Recommendation Statement is available for comment from April 10 until May 8, 2012, at 5:00 PM ET. You may wish to read the entire Recommendation Statement before you comment. A fact sheet that explains the draft recommendations in plain language is available here. …”
I previously shared the USPSTF Recommendation Grades here in a mind map format that you may want to review, although the above link to the fact sheet has a description as well.
In brief, the USPSTF recommends AGAINST screening women at low risk for ovarian cancer. This is a Grade D recommendation. The evidence-based review failed to identify any studies (meeting set criteria for inclusion) that demonstrated a benefit to patients, but they did identify studies which demonstrated more harm than benefit. Again, this recommendation does not apply to those women at high risk for ovarian cancer, such as “…[w]omen with known genetic mutations that increase their risk of ovarian cancer (e.g., BRCA mutations).”
There is an outline of the study design, and references reviewed…it is well worth the read, as well as comment. There was a recent blog post comment which mentioned OVA1, and why it wasn’t mentioned in the draft recommendations. However, OVA1 is not considered by the FDA as a “screening” test for ovarian cancer, and it has specific defined indications. (For more information regarding OVA1, you can also refer to this May 2011 PRNewsire post).
I would encourage you to take the time to read through the material. I will surely read it again…and hopefully, I haven’t misspoken in my initial run-through. Feel free to post your thoughts. It does seem to be the going trend that “less is more” when it comes to cancer screening.
(via Screening for Ovarian Cancer: Evidence Update for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Reaffirmation Recommendation Statement and Screening for Ovarian Cancer: U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Reaffirmation Recommendation Statement DRAFT Summary of Recommendation and Evidence) | <urn:uuid:dc680a2f-dce9-4f6e-8c88-19b36a43e728> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thepopulistcytologist.com/2012/04/11/ovarian-cancer-screening-uspstf-posts-draft-guidelines-for-public-comment/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941465 | 499 | 1.546875 | 2 |
“The price of supporting Narco News vs. the price of losing Narco News”
On August 3, 2004, three young reporters – Amber Howard, Eartha Melzer, and Natalia Viana – and one experienced photojournalist – Jeremy Bigwood – rode with a Bolivian coca eradication unit into the jungles of the Chapare. The reporters gathered in the pre-dawn morning and met with soldiers still rubbing the sleep from their eyes. They waited, patient and observant, taking literal notes and mental notes of the sounds and images – round faced, brown, Spanish speaking soldiers dressed in American military fatigues, boarding and departing in military convoys. They asked questions when it was appropriate and watched in silence when they were called to be observers.
They returned to the Narco News Chapare base with the only thing they were entrusted to return with: the truth.
“All around us we hear the chop, crack, slice of machetes cutting through the thin trunk of the plants,” writes Howard in her first person narrative.
“…the coca leaf is not a drug. What is more is that it has many medicinal purposes. It helps combat fatigue. Lamentably, the coca is also the raw material for the manufacturing of cocaine,” spoke Colonel Jamie Cruz Vera in a rare and candid interview to the four.
“We also thought it would be very important to speak with these drug warriors to construct a wider vision of the complex issue of the drug war, because, as journalists, we believe it is important to listen to all sides of the story,” explains Viana of her reporting.
But this kind of reporting needs no explanation.
It must be read. It must be disseminated. It must be discussed.
And it must be supported.
It’s really that simple.
Their reporting resulted in a narrative essay, a Q&A piece, accompanying photographs, and footage for Chew on This. Their work offered an unprecedented glimpse into the reality of a drug war that seldom escapes the lives of those who live them. It was daring, dangerous, and authentic. Their reporting brought truth to an issue irreconcilably muddied with disinformation and outright lies.
Please make a donation for Narco News to continue this work, online, at this link:
Or by sending a check today to:
The Fund for Authentic Journalism
The price of supporting Narco News is nothing compared to the price of losing Narco News.
|All contents © 2004 The Fund for Authentic Journalism| | <urn:uuid:cdcdae6e-8883-42d1-b024-200e1228a90e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.authenticjournalism.org/sanchez_letter.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951822 | 536 | 1.953125 | 2 |
Greer Glazer, PhD, RN, FAAN
Citation: Glazer, G. (November 3, 1999). Legislative: "The Policy and Politics of Continued Competence." Online Journal of Issues in Nursing. Available: www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/Columns/Legislative/ContinuedCompetence.aspx
Continued competence, how to assure competent beginning and ongoing practice, is a wonderful example of the difference between policy and politics. Diers (1985) differentiates between the two concepts and defines policy as dealing with the "shoulds" and "oughts," setting direction and determining goals or other principles. Politics is the use of power for change and may implement or impede policy. Stevens (1985) focuses on practical decision making rather than the ideal and states that politics "seeks the right decision for this issue in this political climate at this time" (p. 19).
So what is this issue? There is no agreement on the definition of continued competence. Definitions reflect the various stakeholders perspective, the this political climate part of the definition of politics. In other words, politics has impeded policy and we are at the first step of the policy process which is identification of the policy issue.
Policy goals have long been overshadowed by politics in nursing on numerous occasions. Diers (1985) points out that entry into practice lost its policy goal and only deals with educational credentials. She believes that the "rightness" of the position would be explicit if entry into practice were conceived as a policy statement such as "Nursing is complicated work and the American people deserve the most intellectually able and best-educated practitioners to deliver care and humanize institutions" (p. 54).
Nursing needs a policy statement about continued competence that specialty nursing organizations, state nurses associations, state boards of nursing and professional nursing organizations can agree upon. A policy statement might be that registered nurses are practicing in complex environments where technology and practice are constantly changing and the American public deserves registered nurses with adequate knowledge and skills to provide safe quality care. Use of this policy statement would render mute the argument that continued competence only deals with the possession of knowledge and skills rather than performance of care using knowledge and skills. All nursing stakeholders, and indeed all stakeholders, should be able to agree that the primary goal of continued competence is to assure safe, quality, nursing care/practice to clients/the public. Barbara Blakeney, in her keynote address at the 1999 Ohio Nurses Association Convention, mentioned that nurses were the first and consistent voice to identify quality rather than safe care as a goal in the health care debate. The "rightness" of this position is difficult to argue.
Back to politics and "in this political climate." Let's look at the stakeholders. Each of the nursing stakeholders have members and in order to stay in business, they can not disenfranchise their members. One might ask the question if nursing organizations, in their attempts to stay financially solvent, have strayed from what is "right" and best for the public and the nursing profession by basing policy decisions on politics and the very real and imagined fear of losing members. A variety of major credentialing agencies are exploring the feasibility of offering certification exams for registered nurses without baccalaureate degrees. Specialty practice has long been recognized as advanced rather than basic practice and is defined as "a voluntary process of competency assessment conducted by a professional or specialty nursing organization that denotes that the individual has achieved a level of competence in practice beyond the entry-level measured by licensure" (Loquist, 1994, p. 113). Entry level was accepted as the bachelor's degree in a position statement by the American Nurses Association in 1965. Associate degree and diploma nurses who want to be certified need to get their bachelor's degrees. The professional association needs to explore ways to facilitate baccalaureate education for RN's rather than decrease standards by eliminating the baccalaureate requirement. This also raises the question if this policy decision is overshadowed by what will generate income for the organization, allowing it to exist as well as to wield power. The same questions of basing policy decisions on the pocketbook and constituents apply to all organizations.
Continued competence is a major nursing issue at this time, the last part of the definition of politics. Although continued competence as a regulatory issue has been with us since a 1967 Commission on Health Manpower sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare recommended periodic re-examination of physicians, the current debate has largely been stimulated by the 1995 Pew Commission Report, "Reforming Health Care Workforce Regulation: Policy Considerations for the 21st Century." The Pew Commission recommended that states base nurse practice acts on demonstrated initial and continued competence. This has led to an exciting, positive step in the policy process. A Continued Competency task force of 25 stakeholders including the American Nurses Association, specialty and other nursing organizations, the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, National Council of State Legislators and experts has formed and is working to address this issue. They have developed a definition of continued competence and moved forward to conduct research related to development of continued competency assessment models. We have moved beyond the first step in the policy process of problem identification and are immersed in the second step of policy formulation. Only after options and alternatives have been thoroughly analyzed will we be ready to move to the last three steps of the policy process as identified by Ferguson (1985) - policy adoption, policy implementation and policy evaluation.
Bradham (1985) provides two considerations well worth remembering. They are that "major changes can not be reasonably expected from any system because, by definition, a system seeks homeostatic position and consequently tolerates small changes more readily" (p. 171) and a "political system based in democratic procedures will almost surely result in incremental changes acceptable to the majority" (p. 171).
It is inevitable that politics will play a significant role in determination of policy about continued competence. The likelihood that initial policy will probably incorporate small rather than large changes is acceptable because experience with implemented policy always leads back to the first and subsequent steps of the policy cycle. Let's hope that the Continued Competency Task Force works together so that politics implements, not impedes, policy.
Keywords: Continued competence, continued competency, continuing competence, politics, policy
Letters about this article
o Letter to the Editor on "The Policy and Politics of Continued Competence"
by Cady L. Salisbury (May 26, 2000)
with reply by author, Greer Glazer (May 26, 2000)
THE AUTHORGreer Glazer, PhD, RN, FAAN
Director, Parent Child Nursing
College of Nursing
Kent State University
Kent, OH 44202
E-mail Address: GGlazer@kent.edu
Dr. Glazer is Professor and Director of Parent Child Nursing at Kent State University College of Nursing. Besides her many research activities in the field of women's health and stress, Dr. Glazer is chairman of the Ohio Nurses Association Government Affairs Committee, a combination legislation committee and PAC. She is currently the legislative liaison to congressman Steve LaTourette and has previously been on health care committees at the state and national level. Locally she serves on the Board of the Cuyahoga County (Ohio) Children's Trust Fund and recently completed four years on the Health Care Committee allocation panel for United Way in Cuyahoga County.
Blakeney, B. (Oct 4, 1999). Nursing in the new millennium, access, advocacy, accountability. Keynote Address Ohio Nurses Association Biennial Convention. Columbus, OH.
Bradham, D. (1985). Health policy formulation and analysis. Nursing Economics, 3, 167-172.
Diers, D. (1985). Policy and politics. In D. Mason & S. Talbott. Political action handbook for nurses. Menlo Park, California: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, p. 53-59.
Ferguson, V. (1985). Overview of the concepts of power, politics, and policy in nursing. In R. Wieczorek Power, politics and policy in nursing. NY: Springer Publishing Co., p. 5-15.
Loquist, R. (1999). Regulation: Parallel and powerful. In J. Milstead Health policy and politics. Gaithersburg, Maryland: Aspen Publications, p. 105-146.
Pew Health Profession Commission. (1995). Reforming Health Care Workforce Regulation: Policy Considerations for the 21st Century.
Stevens, B. (1985). Nursing, politics, and policy formulation. In R. Wieczorek Power, politics and policy in nursing. N.Y.: Springer Publishing Co., p. 16 - 21.
Talbott, S. & Vance, C. (1981). Involving nursing in a feminist group - NOW. Nursing Outlook, 29, 592-595.
© 1999 Online Journal of Issues in Nursing
Article published November 3, 1999 | <urn:uuid:fd8bdcb0-ede7-425d-ace1-f5f2235aea38> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/Columns/Legislative/ContinuedCompetence.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950904 | 1,873 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Greenpoint Nursery in Novato has proposed building a 660 Kilowatt solar PV project on the unused ground at the periphery of the nursery. (That would be a little smaller than the solar project at Las Gallinas Sewage ponds in the picture above.) This would be the second project in in the county to be built in response to the very favorable Feed-in Tariff offered by Marin Clean Energy.
MCE is offering a 20-year contract at above market rates to local projects of this size (a few acres of panels – - much bigger than a home system but much smaller than “utility size” industrial systems.) That’s because construction of lots of “distributed” systems this size – - hundreds, maybe thousands of them; all over the state; all close to the end users – - is a critical part of the switch from fossil fuels to renewables.
The County Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on this project on Tuesday May 28. Sustainable Novato has taken a position strongly Continue Reading → | <urn:uuid:d30bf88f-254b-4415-884f-d60290324145> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sustainablenovato.org/category/planning/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930042 | 212 | 2.03125 | 2 |
A total of 4,413 new cases of tuberculosis were registered in Kano State from Jan. to Sept. this year, Dr Tijjani Hussain, the coordinator of Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Programme in the state, has said.
Hussain said in an interview with news-men in Kano yesterday that the number of TB cases has been on the increase since 2003.
According to him, the number of registered cases jumped from 2,236 patients in 2003 to 6,090 in 2011.
The coordinator, however, assured that the figure was not frightening as it was below the "20,000 new TB cases expected to be discovered yearly in the state."
Hussain said so far, 50,701 tuberculosis patients have been diagnosed and put on treatment in the past nine years across the state.
On measures to control the prevalence of the disease, the coordinator said the agency was providing free testing and treatment as well as enlightening members of the public on ways to avoid the disease.
"We also intensify diagnosis of HIV clients because they have higher pre-disposition of becoming infected with tuberculosis. In 2003, we had only five general hospitals providing free TB treatment to patients, but at the moment, we have about 218 centres comprising of dispensaries and other facilities across the state providing these services," he added. | <urn:uuid:478e4654-d0f9-4286-b4ae-e9af38453233> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://allafrica.com/stories/201211270827.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971682 | 272 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Hack History Helps IT Bob and Weave on the Web
Like the boxer trying to stay on his feet after a blow that comes from nowhere, the site that dares the world to attack it will stand or fall in full view of both its fans and its detractors. The frame-by-frame study of the bout will show when the sites guard was dropped or when a brilliant combination of blows broke through and will serve as the only kind of lesson that really matters to those who dont want to finish the next contest flat on their backs.
The detailed records of attackers gambits accumulated by eWeek Labs, in three security challenge events since the fall of 1999, are the scouting films that must be reviewed by enterprise IT. These are the punches that will be coming their way as they build out business on the Web, and every one of them can be blockedbut only with relentless attention to detail.
Our first worldwide challenge pitted the combination of Microsoft Corp.s Windows NT and Internet Information Services against Linux and the Apache Web server, with each platform running a classified-advertising application. The first attacks triggered our monitoring tools 7 minutes after a press release announcing the contest hit the wires at 8:30 a.m. EST.
A 20-hour attack by Gibraltar-based security consultant Lluis Mora, working under the nom de guerre of JFS, was slowed by circuit-level firewalls that minimized his knowledge of site configuration.
However, once Mora identified the commerce application on the site as PhotoAds, whose source code comes with the product, he quickly gained the advantage. Mora found a pathway into the system through what was supposed to be a Common Gateway Interface script variable holding an uploaded file name but which he manipulated into a means of general file system access.
Perversely, Mora was able to defeat an automatic file renaming operation (which would have blocked this attack) by sending what appeared to be an invalid file name. The script ignored renaming errors and thus left the input untouched.
This is an excellent example of the success-oriented design, so to speak, that characterizes insecure code. Once the code does what its supposed to do, the developer goes away happy, failing to consider whether the code has also been prevented from doing undesirable things.
Moras attack was complete when he discovered a known system vulnerability for which the remedy patch had not been applied. That loophole in the task-scheduling cron utility gave him the ability to execute the code that he had deviously uploaded, completing the one-two punch that laid us low.
OpenHack 2, conducted in the summer of 2000, fell for a similar combination punch.
The sites MiniVend storefront application served as an entry point by accepting arbitrary commands through a pathway that was supposed to process only file names. That application then became the route for attack on the database of which that application was a trusted user.
This crack is especially notable as developers begin to move toward distributed application designs, based on XML Web services, in which key application components may be maintained by outside service providers. System modules need to regard one another with friendly suspicion, rather than the unguarded trust that an in-house development team may have unwisely come to take for granted.
Amazingly, consultant Mora once again scored the knockout blow, this time with a true sucker punch. From his own transcript of the database crack: "Reading in the [Oracle Corp.] documentation, I found a reference to a procedure that has to be followed whenever you change MDSYS password, which looks really complex to me, so chances are the people at eWeek havent changed it because it involved too much work. I have no idea what the default password for it is, so I gave it a try with the first that comes to my mind: mdsys."
Embarrassingly enough for both Oracle and eWeek, the default password was the same as the name of this default account, and Mora was rightit had not been changed. The lesson, for both IT providers and their customers, hardly needs to be spelled out: Security should be present by default and easy to maintain, rather than being optional and difficult to configure.
OpenHack 3, in January 2001, went beyond typical configurations by employing a "trusted system" foundationArgus Systems Group Inc.s PitBull LX. PitBull is a Linux-based platform (also available with other Unix underpinnings) augmented by internal partitions that strictly limit system components privileges. Even root-level access, normally the endgame of an attack, wasnt enough to win the challenge.
Controversy arose two months after this test, when another Argus challenge site was defeated by a tactic that might have succeeded against the OpenHack 3 site. "By modifying kernel variables," wrote the attacker known as Bladez, "[the variable] ModProbePath can be altered to point to malicious code."
This flaw was patched the following month by Argus, but it highlights the ease with which facilities designed to provide flexibility and efficiency can turn into devastating loopholes.
Finally, we have to give some sort of not-so-honorable mention to the attacker who failed to defeat OpenHack 3 by technical means and who then turned to the tried-and-true cash attack. His proposition was simple: An eWeek insider should assist the attack and share the cash prize. Needless to say, that hack failed as well.
Technology Editor Peter Coffee can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org. | <urn:uuid:0d2e8ef9-8d1f-4724-9680-dcd9308027fc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eweek.com/print/c/a/Application-Development/Hack-History-Helps-IT-Bob-and-Weave-on-the-Web/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969065 | 1,135 | 1.78125 | 2 |
[This piece by Adalah-NY: The New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel was originally published here on January 15th, 2012.]
US-made tear gas, manufactured by companies like Combined Systems Inc. (CSI), Defense Technology, and NonLethal Technologies, continues to be used by governments including Egypt, Israel, Yemen, Bahrain and the United States to repress popular protest movements for economic and social justice.
In response, human rights advocates will protest again on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, January 16th, 2012, outside CSI’s Jamestown, Pennsylvania headquarters (see past Protests against Israel’s tear gas use). In advance of the protest, reports indicate that CSI has replaced the Israeli flag that previously flew alongside the US flag outside its headquarters with a Pennsylvania state flag.
Strong evidence that CSI canister killed Palestinian protester Mustafa Tamimi: On December 9, 2011, in the village of Nabi Saleh in the West Bank an Israeli soldier inside an armored military jeep fired a tear gas canister at close range directly at the face of Palestinian protester Mustafa Tamimi during a protest against the expansion of Israeli settlements on Nabi Saleh’s land. Mustafa died from his wounds the next day. Protesters did not manage to collect the actual tear gas canister fired at him. However, residents of Nabi Saleh have collected samples of the types of tear gas canisters that the Israeli army uses against Nabi Saleh’s weekly protests, including the specific type of tear gas canister – same size and shape - that hit Mustafa. The type of canister that killed Mustafa can be seen in the January 11 and 13, 2012, photos below taken in Nabi Saleh by Bilal Tamimi. The canister has a headstamp on it that reads CTS. CTS stands for Combined Tactical Systems, a brand name of Combined Systems Inc., in Jamestown, PA. Adalah-NY received these photos from the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee.
(Click on photos to enlarge)
CSI canisters and tear gas, shot by Israeli soldiers during protests against Israel’s settlements and wall on Palestinian land, also caused the deaths of protesters Bassem and Jawaher Abu Rahmah in Bil’in, the severe injury of protester Tristan Anderson, a US citizen, in Ni’lin, as well as severe injuries to many other Palestinian protesters (more information on these protesters).
CSI is the primary supplier of tear gas to the Israeli military as well as a provider to Israel’s police (and border police). Until a January 2012 change to it’s website, CSI listed Israeli Military Industries and Rafael Armament Development Authority as among its military customers and development partners (see old webpage). CSI’s founders, Jacob Kravel and Michael Brunn, are Israeli-Americans.
In addition to ubiquitous CSI/CTS canisters found at Palestinian protests, evidence of CSI sales and shipments to Israel is clear. An April 30, 2008, cable available through Wikileaks from the US State Department in Washington DC to the US State Department in Tel Aviv requests clearance for shipment to Israel’s police of the following equipment from CSI: 1,000 Rubber Ball Hand Grenades, 1,000 Tactical Grenades Flash Bang, 1,000 Sting-Ball Grenades, 1,000 Flash Bang Training, and 1,000 Super-Sock Bean Bags. The shipment was part of a larger $5 million agreement between the Israeli police and CSI. An Israeli government website shows that on August 4th, 2011, the Israeli police purchased 6 million shekels ($1.56 million) worth of stun grenades from CSI without issuing a tender.
The PIERS Export Database of US Trade activity is helpful in identifying CSI shipments of tear gas to a number of countries, including Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria (see further information below). However, searching PIERS does not turn up CSI shipments to Israel. The photo of a CSI container below reveals two reasons. The bottom label in the photo shows that the tear gas container was shipped via Israel’s national airline El Al, and PIERS only tracks shipments by sea. Additionally, the bottom label shows the CSI container was sent to Israel’s Ministry of Defense by Interglobal Forwarding Services, in Bayonne, New Jersey. A search on PIERS for Interglobal Forwarding Services over the past year shows over 1,300 shipments, some evidently including tear gas, by Interglobal from the US to Israel’s Ministry of Defense. But the shipments are listed under Interglobal’s name, and do not show manufacturers’ names.
The US company Defense Technology has also provided some tear gas to Israel’s police (see information on Defense Technology in the Middle East and Oakland below, and a photo of a Defense Technology tear gas container in Jerusalem below).
CSI tear gas kills and injures Egyptian protesters: CSI tear gas is also the primary tear gas that has been used by the Egyptian security forces to repress popular protests for democracy in Egypt over the last year, causing protester deaths and injuries. Amnesty International highlighted the shipment of CSI tear gas to Egypt in its December 6, 2011, call for the US government to stop sending tear gas and weapons to the Egyptian government due to tear gas-related deaths and injuries to Egyptian protesters. Using the PIERS database, Amnesty International documented three specific shipments of tear gas from CSI in the US to Egypt in 2011 that were approved by the US State Department, despite the Egyptian security forces’ record of using of tear gas to kill and injure protesters in efforts to crush protests.
As additional documentation, a July 11, 2008, cable from the State Department in Washington DC to the State Department in Cairo available through Wikileaks requests information to finalize the shipment from CSI to Egypt’s Ministry of Interior of 20,000 CS Smoke Hand Grenades, 20,000 CS Smoke Long Range Cartridge, and 4,000 CS Window Penetrating Cartridges, together valued at $621,000.
CSI in the Middle East and worldwide: CSI canisters were also seen (for example at 27 seconds in this Tunisian video) and blamed for protester deaths in Tunisia. The PIERS database reveals an April 1, 2010, CSI shipment of 5.540 kilograms of “grenade cartridges” and “ammunition launchers” to Tunisia. PIERS also shows an April 8, 2011, shipment by CSI of 12,663 kilograms of “ammunition” to Algeria. There is some evidence of use of CSI tear gas by the Yemeni government against protesters.
Other CSI customers include the Netherlands and Germany (information available via PIERS), and (via Wikileaks) Guatemala, India, Timor-Leste, Hong Kong, Argentina, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Cameroon (via Israel), and Sierra Leone.
Defense Technology in the Middle East and Oakland: A Corporate Watch report shows that the US company Defense Technology has provided tear gas to Israel’s police. Defense Technology is headquartered in Casper, Wyoming, and is owned by the UK arms giant BAE Systems. BAE Systems also owns the US arms company Armor Holdings and bought Federal Laboratories, another US company that previously provided tear gas to Israel, and other countries, and was the object of protests and lawsuits during the first intifada (See section on Past Deaths from Israeli tear gas).
Tear gas canisters with Defense Technology and Federal Laboratories have also been used by the Yemeni and Egyptian governments against pro-democracy protesters.
The city of Oakland has also used Defense Technology tear gas in its efforts to stop popular protests by Occupy Oakland. Occupy Oakland protester Scott Olsen, a former US marine, was seriously injured when he was struck in the head by an Oakland police projectile, very likely manufactured by Defense Technology.
Yet another US company, NonLethal Technologies in Homer City, Pennsylvania, is the primary tear gas provider to the government of Bahrain.
US government approval of and funding of tear gas shipments: There is clear documentation, and State Department confirmation that the State Department approves sales of tear gas to foreign governments by US companies as “Direct Commercial Sales.” A US State Department webpage shows many examples in different years of State Department regulated and approved Direct Commercial Sales by US companies of tear gas to countries like Egypt, Israel, and Bahrain. Wikileaks cables also confirm the US State Department approval process for US tear gas sales, as have a number of statements by the State Department. However, in US government records of the US’s “Foreign Military Sales” (FMS), sales of military items by the US government to other governments, use line item descriptions that are too broad to identify whether items like tear gas are being sold by the US government under FMS. Most importantly, because US military aid (“Foreign Military Financing” or FMF) is not reported transparently by the US government, it is not possible for the public to know whether or not the billions of dollars of tax dollars given as military aid to countries like Israel, Egypt, Yemen and Bahrain are paying for US tear gas transferred to those countries through Direct Commercial Sales, or possibly through Foreign Military Sales.
(Click on photos to enlarge) | <urn:uuid:60e9b537-3c64-4ed6-91c6-817feba814e9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://warresisters.wordpress.com/2012/01/18/more-deaths-and-injuries-from-us-tear-gas-in-palestine-around-the-middle-east-and-in-oakland/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94186 | 1,906 | 2.3125 | 2 |
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This project was a major study on the use of scientific information as it affects scientists and society.
The final report, Science as an open enterprise, was published in June 2012.
It aims to identify the principles, opportunities and problems of sharing and disclosing scientific information and asks how scientific information should be managed to support innovative and productive research that reflects public values.
Alongside this project, Research Councils UK in partnership with JISC, the Royal Society and Sciencewise-ERC, commissioned a public dialogue exercise on open data, aiming to engage the public with issues around open data to potentially inform future policies in this area. The report of this exercise is available.
The environment within which science is done is changing, and science must adapt. New modes of communication allow citizens to examine scientific information at the click of a mouse, and scientists to communicate in more efficient ways than ever before. There has been an exponential growth in the rate of accumulation of scientific information through new methods of acquisition, manipulation and storage of data. Citizens increasingly want to interrogate scientific findings that have the potential for major impacts on their lives.
The essence of the scientific process has long been for scientists to publish their ideas and theories, together with the data on which they are based, in peer reviewed journals so that they are available to other scientists to replicate experiments and measurements, to test associated theories and to re-use data in novel ways. This process must now adapt to two challenges. First, the ready access to data needed for replication and re-use is problematic for modern, massive data volumes. Second, the public interest in access to scientific information conflicts with the implicit assumption of many scientists, that the scientific process involves the specialist, professional scientific community alone, and that any major societal implications should be communicated to public and policymakers as finished, expert conclusions.
The response to both these challenges is “open science”, an ethical imperative for science, whose default position is to make scientific knowledge freely and promptly available to others, whether scientists and citizens, in an accessible and useable form, unless there is an appropriate reason not to do so.
Open access to scientific information is not in practice an unqualified good. A commitment to open science does not imply openness to everything, to anyone or for any purpose. Open science should be bounded by considerations of quality, legitimate commercial interests, privacy and security. This study made recommendations as to how to best to ensure we obtain the benefits of opening up scientific information, and how best to manage the challenges and financial implications of so doing.
This project is led by a Working Group, made up of experts. Professor Geoffrey Boulton FRS is the chair of the Working Group.
Final report, case studies of data use and data repositories and the launch eventpublished June 2012
Public meeting and seminarheld in November 2011
Call for evidenceclosed August 2011
Public town hall meetingheld in June 2011
Project details, Terms of Reference and Working Groupannounced in May 2011
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Send a message to the Science Policy team. | <urn:uuid:1bfbe58e-8e2e-4179-b7cc-5d21b0122d68> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://royalsociety.org/policy/projects/science-public-enterprise/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932825 | 687 | 2.609375 | 3 |