text stringlengths 213 24.6k | id stringlengths 47 47 | dump stringclasses 1
value | url stringlengths 14 499 | file_path stringlengths 138 138 | language stringclasses 1
value | language_score float64 0.9 1 | token_count int64 51 4.1k | score float64 1.5 5.06 | int_score int64 2 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A hearty thanks to Douglas Rooks for the great article on Vermont's efforts to enact a single-payer health care system (May 15).
While Vermont will lead the way to a more equitable system, recognizing that all their citizens deserve access to affordable, high-quality care, the Maine Legislature has opted to rearrange the deck chairs on the health insurance Titanic, clinging to the belief, in spite of decades of experience to the contrary, that health care is a commodity that can be handled by the free market — just like buying a pair of shoes.
Health care costs are going to continue to rise due to the aging of the population, technological advances and the rising incidence of chronic disease. Those are the facts.
Inviting more health insurance companies to the state, allowing Mainers to buy insurance over state lines and forcing people off Medicaid and into more expensive emergency departments does nothing to confront the fundamental problems.
Vermont's governor and legislators have committed to finding more effective, efficient ways to deliver and pay for care for all their citizens. They should be applauded for their courage and vision.
Vermont: the way life should be.
Mary Ann Larson, New Gloucester | <urn:uuid:607a541f-837e-4b87-ad64-e439e18bb12a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sunjournal.com/comment/79003 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947976 | 240 | 1.859375 | 2 |
Delaware Avenue is unquestionably a gem. It even merited its own chapter in The Grand American Avenue while my hometown counterpart, East Avenue -- with its mansion district marred by 20th-Century demolitions and infill -- didn't. While we rightly show off Delaware Avenue to out-of-town guests and with architectural tours, what many don't realize is the preservation work simply never stops even as it assumes a smaller scale and may have an effect not necessarily visible from the street or a casual drive-by viewing.
Delaware Avenue saw some of Buffalo's earliest post-war struggles to retain its heritage and urban character. Unfortunately, much of that character was lost from North Street to Niagara Square. But north of North, a proposal to significantly widen an already wide street brought swift opposition from the Butler Family, then owners of the Buffalo Evening News. And later, in the mid-'70s, a proposal by IBM to demolish three mansions (including the one featured in this article) to make way for a post-war, two-story building sparked a struggle that not only succeeded in its immediate objective but also spurred creation of the Delaware Avenue Historic District. And this struggle has been credited as one of the seminal moments for Buffalo's preservation movement.
Historic mansion districts like Delaware Avenue have served as a cradle for preservation in other cities besides Buffalo, as well. One of my favorite stories of preservationist Joni Monroe, Executive Director of the Rochester Regional Community Design Center, is that when she was a feisty teenager she actually went to the door of the suburban home of a developer who was planning to knock down an East Avenue mansion -- and confronted him personally. As an adult, armed with preservation and architecture degrees from Colombia and Yale, she oversaw the monumental effort to conduct an architecture and historic resources survey of the entire city of Rochester -- an effort which still hasn't been duplicated in Buffalo.
This is the kind of passion stirred by preservation -- and may it always be so -- but after a building is saved from the wrecking ball the other side of preservation takes over and may take decades to fully play out. Decades of neglect and ill-considered, insensitive modifications can't always be fixed quickly or all at once, especially in a weak-market city where resources for building projects more often than not are measured in dribs and drabs.
Thanks to the Preservation Plus conference, underway in Buffalo all week, I got a chance to get a really good look at a perfect case study of this: the Lockwood Mansion. Its present owner, Child and Family Services, in 1998 added it to two other adjacent Delaware Avenue mansions it has owned for decades. The organization provides services at several locations in Buffalo and western New York. Their programs include schools and residency programs for at-risk children and children with special needs, and, well, visit their website, click "What We Do," and prepare to be amazed. Robert Sonberg, facilities director (and, I'd add, Chief Preservationist), gave us an in-depth tour and discussed with us additional restoration and maintenance projects.
The story of the Lockwood Mansion is an amazing cross-section of Buffalo history. It also represents an important strand in the rich tapestry of architectural history in Buffalo and even the nation. I can give you a flavor of it here, but of course the great Buffalo Architecture and History website is your go-to source for whatever you need to know (and then some) about 844 Delaware. The first building on the site was the Jewett Richmond Mansion, an early Gothic-revival mansion of the early "cottage" style championed in America by Alexander Jackson Davis -- an architectural era which has been almost entirely lost in Buffalo. Richmond Avenue was named for Richmond, in no small part because he once owned the land from his Delaware Avenue mansion all the way to that street.
After Richmond, the property saw a succession of mansions (one of which burned), and series of outbuildings. Other than the original mansion, nothing of which remains, portions of all of them remain in the current structure, which was designed by Esenwein and Johnson. Along the way, other notable architects were involved in the house and outbuildings, including Burdett of Marling & Burdett, who once worked for the great H.H. Richardson, and Rochester's most notable architect, Andrew Jackson Warner, who worked with Richardson as supervising architect on the seminal Richardson Complex.
The last non-institutional occupants were the Lockwood family, a name familiar to any graduate of UB who ever set foot in the school's Lockwood Library. The son of a nationally prominent father, Thomas Lockwood was no less prominent himself. The Lockwood family's legacy to UB was so significant, including his collection of medical instruments and rare books, that the Lockwood name was retained on the UB library even after moving to North Campus. The original UB Lockwood Library, designed by family friend E.B. Green, is now the Medical Library on South Campus, and contains display cases with items from the Lockwood collection. Lockwood daughter Annette Cravens, who grew up in the house, has continued the family tradition by donating her own collection, art pieces in uniquely designed open cases, that make up Craven's World at the UB Anderson Gallery.
Since the Lockwood family sold the mansion, it has been in the hands of several institutional occupants over the years, before coming into the hands of Child and Family Services. So how does a nonprofit organization without unlimited resources, and a facilities director without unlimited time go about properly caring for such an integral part of the community's rich heritage? Especially given that at the same time it also needs to function as working space for a very active organization, serving an important clientele? In short: a lot of knowledge, a lot of help, and developing a culture of preservation at all levels of the organization.
Sonberg's introduction to preservation came shortly after becoming facilities director, when he appeared before the preservation board to talk about surface parking in front of the Lockwood Mansion. If you are a regular reader of Buffalo Rising, you can imagine that the reception he got wasn't a warm one. But the preservation board, to their credit, also helped him out. Board member Tim Tielman met with him on site and discussed with him potentially better options -- not just theoretically, but backed up by example photos of other projects -- and helped convince him and his organization to consolidate their parking to the rear of the building. Tim also helped them run interference with a City official who wanted to mandate signage as unnecessary as it was incompatible with the character of the district.
Now that may seem a relatively small step in the overall scheme of things, but nonetheless the cumulative effect of such changes over time improves the quality of the historic district. In a sense, it's a reversal of a process that over decades took a stretch of Delaware Avenue from what once was described as a park-like setting to the post-war low point from which it's been in an ongoing process of recovering.
But just as important, that step led to the next and then the next. As a result of those initial conversations, Sonberg became like a sponge soaking up the concepts and issues involved in preservation -- an especially important thing to know when you're responsible for prominent buildings in a prominent historic district. And he and his organization saw firsthand the improvement made by the parking reconfiguration, in terms of both appearance and function. The process has collectively enhanced their skill at balancing the needs of the organization -- which with eight buildings on their Delaware Avenue campus and nineteen buildings overall are substantial -- with the rich heritage represented by the buildings in their care.
Sonberg also formed a "history club" within his organization, currently with thirty members, who have assisted him with research on the buildings and with hosting tours. On one tour organized by Preservation Buffalo-Niagara, nearly one thousand visitors toured the house. He has also worked with Architectural Historian Martin Wachadlo, who has especial expertise in Esenwein and Johnson buildings. And this year, they worked with preservation architecture firm Flynn Battaglia to restoring the back terrace, which had developed major masonry issues. The project represented a homecoming of sorts for principal Peter Flynn (who was on the tour), as his first professional work in preservation architecture was preparing a study for a counter-proposal to IBM that would meet their needs but also preserve the threatened mansions (IBM eventually opted to locate on the waterfront).
Through it all, Sonberg has worked at every level in his organization to instill awareness and respect for the legacy which they've been entrusted. Helping him make the case was a recent State grant the organization received which covered the majority of the cost of the terrace restoration. It was both a sign that there is help available to meet the need, and feedback of the most positive kind that they're on the right track.
Another project Sonberg is currently working on is converting the mansion's library -- with one of Buffalo's most notable mantlepieces -- into a visitors center of sorts, with displays, photographs, and curated items related to the history, architecture, and notable occupants of the mansion. It will both enhance the tour experience at the mansion, as well as provide the organization a showcase for this aspect of their mission -- and a very special location for events and presentations. I think this is a great step forward, as I've been a proponent of the idea of creating spaces like this in our most-toured buildings. Dedicating such a space is a way for a business or organization entrusted with a piece of our collective heritage to make a statement that This Place Matters -- and more importantly also tell the story of why.
While the idea doesn't originate with me, I strongly maintain that communities that succeed in preservation are those that have developed a culture of preservation. Buffalo is a case study of this -- although there is much more work to be done. What struck me on the tour, however, was the importance of localizing that culture of preservation down to the organization level (or neighborhood level). And if you think about it, examples abound. White's Livery Stable would be entirely gone today, were it not for the preservation culture of the Cottage District neighborhood that led them to fight the demolition tooth and nail. And that largely shared value also gave them the staying power to hold on through four years of inaction on the project. And while the Guaranty Building remained standing due to the preservation campaign spearheaded by the late, great Jack Randal, its restoration took the dedication and long-term commitment of law firm Hodgson Russ, whose chief instiller of a culture of preservation there has been Attorney Harry Meyer.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Child and Family Services, in addition to all the award-winning work they do with the clients they serve, someday in line to receive a preservation award for their excellent stewardship of some key Buffalo heritage structures that have been entrusted to their care.
Great job, folks!
And speaking of preservation awards, this just in:
PRESERVATION LEAGUE ANNOUNCES
PRESERVE NEW YORK GRANTS
Three Erie County-based Organizations to be Honored
During "Preservation Plus" Conference
The Preservation League of New York State will announce three grants to Western New York organizations at a luncheon on Friday, September 28, at the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center, 153 Franklin Street in downtown Buffalo. The lunch is part of the Preservation Plus Conference being presented by Preservation Buffalo Niagara, for information and or to register, please visit here.
This is the first time in the Preserve New York program's history that three projects in one county will receive a grant award in a single year. The recipients are all cultural institutions, and the grants make up some 28% of the 2012 Preserve New York funding.
The League will make a grant of $7,000 toward the cost of preparing a cultural landscape report for the c. 1810 Hull Family Home and Farmstead. The Hull House Foundation (HHF) was established in 2006 to restore the house and lands of the oldest masonry residence in Erie County open to the public. HHF has engaged a team to interpret the site's 22 acres of agricultural lands as an example of pre-Erie Canal farm life. The report will inform the use of a grant of $113,087 from New York's Environmental Protection Fund (EPF).
A second grant of $10,000 will be made to the Martin House Restoration Corporation of Buffalo. The grant will support the cost of completing a cultural landscape report for the Darwin D. Martin House Complex (1903-1909). Over the past decade, the six-building complex designed by Frank Lloyd Wright has been meticulously restored. The Restoration Corporation now seeks to bring the same professional standards to the site's 1.5 acre setting by determining the use by Wright and others of "organic architectural principles." The goal is to create an appropriate and authentic context for the National Historic Landmark Martin House.
The League will also make a grant of $6,200 toward the cost of completing a State and National Register of Historic Places nomination for the Fargo Estate neighborhood located on the west side of Buffalo. Comprised of more than 300 primarily residential properties that reflect several development booms between 1860 and 1890, its origins are linked to William G. Fargo, co-founder of Wells Fargo. National Register designation will allow property owners access to state and federal tax credit programs for rehabilitation. The project will foster links between the area's cultural center, Kleinhans Music Hall, and the nearby neighborhood.
The Preserve New York Grant Program is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. "With the announcement of the 2012 awards, the total support provided by Preserve New York since its launch in 1993 is over $1.7 million to 279 projects statewide," said Jay DiLorenzo, President of the Preservation League. "Preserve New York has a strong track record of bolstering local preservation efforts and delivering a strong return on investment."
"At its August, 2012 meeting, the Preserve New York grant program panel selected 14 applicants in 11 counties around the state to share $83,674 in funding," said Tania Werbizky, the League's Regional Director of Technical and Grant Programs in western New York. "As always, the competition for these funds was intense. The Preservation League is delighted to help advance the preservation efforts of these Western New York organizations with timely funding from Preserve New York grants."
Organizations and municipalities receiving grant awards in 2012 are: Chenango County: Guilford Historical Society; Columbia County: Town of Claverack; Delaware County: Village of Sidney; Erie County (3): Kleinhans Music Hall Management, Inc..; Martin House Restoration Corporation; Hull House Foundation; Franklin County: Historic Saranac Lake; Greene County: Zadock Pratt Museum; Kings County: Crown Heights North; Otsego County (2): Town of Hartwick; Town of Lisbon; Rensselaer County: City of Troy; Rockland County: Garnerville Arts Project.
For more information on the Preserve New York Grant Program, please call 518-462-5658 or visit the League's website.
All Images: Buffalo Architecture and History
Note: this article is dedicated to the memory of the great Mary Hanson, who as vice-president of Rural Opportunities, Inc. (now Pathstone) in Rochester, played a role similar to that played by Robert Sonberg described above. I had the privilege of working with Mary on several consulting projects for her organization, which owns several prominent mansions and buildings on East Avenue in Rochester. They care for their buildings with the same pride and respect that they show for their clientele. After wrapping up several months of work for Mary, she took an entire afternoon out of her busy schedule to tour me through every nook and cranny of their buildings. Whether she knew it or not, Mary was unquestionably their "Chief Preservationist" -- but even more importantly, a good soul and good friend to all. If we hadn't lost Mary way too young, I know she'd thoroughly enjoy, and see herself in, this article. The organization she left behind established a building fund in her memory -- a fitting tribute she would have appreciated. | <urn:uuid:e7f4928a-d2f4-43c7-b322-b234df93dd17> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.buffalorising.com/2012/09/advancing-preservation-in-the-cradle-of-buffalo-preservation.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968317 | 3,373 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Riverdeep Interactive Learning's Destination Reading
Riverdeep Interactive Learning's Destination Readingguides K-3 students through the essential steps of becoming a successful reader. This standards-based program takes students from key emergent literacy concepts through phonemic awareness, phonics, coding and comprehension. The program includes the Riverdeep Learning Management System, which lets educators continually evaluate students and link those evaluations to Destination Reading curricula. Key features of the program include colorful graphics, animation and sound; language skills taught in the context of real language use and applied to real language tasks; reading and writing skill development that builds upon previously learned skills; and both diagnostic and prescriptive assessment with tracking and reporting functions. Riverdeep, Cambridge, MA, (800) 362-2890, www.riverdeep.net.
This article originally appeared in the 08/01/2002 issue of THE Journal. | <urn:uuid:14cc87aa-1392-4f29-b5e3-c7b99acebbdb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thejournal.com/articles/2002/08/01/riverdeep-interactive-learnings-destination-reading.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.900866 | 178 | 2.671875 | 3 |
The First King of England
Date of publication: July 2012
Publisher: Yale University Press
The powerful and innovative King Æthelstan reigned only briefly (924-939), yet his achievements during those eventful fifteen years changed the course of English history. He won spectacular military victories (most notably at Brunanburh), forged unprecedented political connections across Europe, and succeeded in creating the first unified kingdom of the English. To claim for him the title of "first English monarch" is no exaggeration.
In this nuanced portrait of Æthelstan, Sarah Foot offers the first full account of the king ever written. She traces his life through the various spheres in which he lived and worked, beginning with the intimate context of his family, then extending outward to his unusual multiethnic royal court, the Church and his kingdom, the wars he conducted, and finally his death and legacy. Foot describes a sophisticated man who was not only a great military leader but also a worthy king. He governed brilliantly, developed creative ways to project his image as a ruler, and devised strategic marriage treaties and gift exchanges to cement alliances with the leading royal and ducal houses of Europe. Æthelstan's legacy, seen in the new light of this masterful biography, is inextricably connected to the very forging of England and early English identity. | <urn:uuid:aa183fa8-8764-42ab-b42a-f84216c8767d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/BOOKSHOP/details.aspx?titleId=2736&tab=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970636 | 274 | 3.34375 | 3 |
Orange County’s unemployment rate fell in August, although the county saw a decline in the number of jobs from July. Locally, the area shed 5,200 in August from July. The current unemployment rate in O.C. is 7.7 percent, down from 7.9 percent in July. This compares with a national unemployment rate of 8.2 percent and 10.4 for California.
The decline in the unemployment rate despite a month-over-month jobs loss is accounted for by a nearly 1 percent dip in the local labor force; the cause is typically job seekers turning away from their search.
In the month’s job losses, government was the largest decline, shedding 5,100 jobs. Dr. Wallace Walrod, chief economic advisor to the Orange County Business Council, says these losses are easily accounted for.
“The job losses all came from government, and those are all seasonal and they’re all from local government education. They’ll be added back in when school starts up again in the fall,” Dr. Walrod said. “Basically it was a flat month, if you take that out.”
Education and health services also saw a drop, declining by 2,500 jobs over the month. Like the government positions, those jobs are likely to be replaced in the fall, Dr. Walrod said.
The county added 29,000 jobs over the past 12 months, a gain of 2.1 percent. Local industries to see growth included leisure and hospitality, with 9,100 new jobs coming mainly from gains in accommodation and food services and dining and beverage establishments.
The area to see the largest growth over the period was professional and business services, which added 10,600 jobs. Dr. Walrod commented that one sector that has seen significant success over the past year is financial activities.
“Very quietly, financial services has put in a pretty good year-over-year number,” he said. “That’s a sector that was really hit hard in the recession, and now it’s coming back. Financial services gained almost 5,000 jobs over the last 12 months. That would be the fourth highest job growth sector during the period.”
Orange County maintains employment levels in July
Orange County unemployment rises in June
May unemployment sees marginal bump | <urn:uuid:3e703d24-df73-4918-918a-66afb2eb9491> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ocmetro.com/t-OC-unemployment-declines-in-August-09-21-2012.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96479 | 482 | 1.71875 | 2 |
It was so painful, you could not watch.
It was so heartbreaking, you could not listen.
The president wiped away tears, but what parent didn't, as we stared at the television screen and saw the looks on the faces of the children who got away?
On this horrific Friday, we went to an awful place even this blood-soaked society has never been. And what you wonder is how we ever find our way back. When enough will finally be enough, or if we are too far gone to know.
It was all there again; senseless carnage in a culture that lives and dies with violence. A culture that is entertained by it, profits from it, talks it, glorifies it, swims in it. And every so often, when the day is bad enough, gets shocked and sickened by it.
Virginia Tech and Colorado. Wisconsin and Connecticut. On and on and on. Bullet after bullet, body after body.
Much of the discussion in response to all the dead kindergartners in Newtown, Conn., will focus on guns, and rightfully so. If little girls gunned down at their desks don't force the issue, what will?
But it is so much more. What is it about us, that so many pull triggers? This was the act of a disturbed man, but why so many acts, and why so many killers? No new gun control law can answer that.
The psychologists will eventually tell us their theories about this individual and why he picked up weapons one morning and decided to shoot 5-year-olds. If only it was as simple as one madman. Only as infrequent as one grim Friday.
But it's not. You wonder if we have created too fertile a breeding ground for violence. You wonder why the predominant emotion among so many of us so often is rage.
And then you look around, and the way we communicate with one another.
You look at our talk shows that once fostered thoughtful discussion and meaningful debate. Now they value one word only. Attack. Attack. Attack. The more vicious the better, because it sells.
You look at our Internet, and its vast promise of an interchange of ideas. And then see how that promise has been perverted, to where assault is made all the easier by anonymity, and even the media no longer has use for beauty or perspective, because scandal and conflict and heated rhetoric get so many more computer hits.
You look at our entertainment, and note the high body count, where we are numb to bloodshed and blind to its consequences. Where the winner is often the one who kills best.
I look at my own pitifully trivial world of sport. Where proposals for safer football rules are hooted down, because the game might be less violent, and the crowds might stay away.
I look at some of the mail I get. Abusive, brutal language from those furious about a Heisman vote or top 20 pick. If college football provokes such fury, one can only imagine what the real world must do.
If rage and rancor are so much a part of our daily lives, it should not be a shock that gunfire breaks out. It has happened so often, that now when the first reports come, we ask the same questions, dulled as we are by mayhem.
Where? How many? How young?
What terrible questions for a society to have to keep asking itself.
No, our violence-rich culture does not make murderers of us all. But cigarettes don't give everyone lung cancer. That does not make them non-lethal.
The haunting memory from Friday will be of young voices, shrieking in fear. Of parents thrust into their worst nightmare. Of Christmas stockings that will never be filled.
Have we finally had enough? It must not start with just gun control. It must start with us. We've surrendered common civility because something else makes more money, or gets more attention. The result? Many simply live angrier lives.
But a few pick up guns, and go off to kill children who still believed in Santa Claus.
Copyright 2013 USATODAY.com
Read the original story: After tragedy in Conn., have we finally had enough? | <urn:uuid:819bc52e-03e1-4c40-acb4-db40816fd2ec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.htrnews.com/usatoday/article/1770559 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967666 | 866 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Chairman Sensenbrenner, Rep. Scott, and members of the subcommittee: Thank you for your leadership on homeland security issues, and thank you for holding this important hearing today so that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) can provide you with an update on the progress the states have made implementing the REAL ID Act of 2005, Title II of division B of Pub. L. 109-13 (“REAL ID Act” or “Act”). We welcome the opportunity to submit this testimony on how the state, territory, and federal partners have improved the security of driver’s licenses and identification documents.
Over the last two Administrations, we have worked to implement the REAL ID Act of 2005. States have the principal responsibility for implementing REAL ID. DHS developed an Implementation Plan in June 2007 and published a Final Rule in January 2008, which provided states and territories with information on the minimum requirements that must be met and the funding available to help meet those requirements. Since then, DHS awarded over $200 million in grants to states and territories to fund enhancements to driver’s license security programs. Additionally, DHS has issued guidance documents and engaged stakeholders to ensure their concerns were heard. DHS, the states, and the territories have collectively built or are building the technical infrastructure and systems to support verification of social security numbers, birth certificates, U.S. passports, and immigration status—key steps toward improving the security of our documents. Perhaps the greatest success of REAL ID has been that the security of driver’s licenses has been improved in ALL states, even in the 13 states with legislation prohibiting their participation in REAL ID. Diligent outreach and work with states by DHS has yielded real benefits in the last several years.
In my testimony, I will elaborate on the progress but first it is important to provide the background to how we got to where we are today.
Why We Need Secure Identification Documents
Law enforcement must be able to rely on government-issued identification documents and know that the bearer of such a document is who he or she claims to be. Obtaining fraudulent identification documents presents an opportunity for terrorists to board airplanes, rent cars, open bank accounts, or conduct other activities without being detected. According to the 9/11 Commission Report, “All but one of the 9/11 hijackers acquired some form of U.S. identification document, some by fraud.”1
We recognize that preventing terrorists from obtaining these documents is critical. As the 9/11 Commission noted, “For terrorists, travel documents are as important as weapons.”2
The 9/11 Commission recommended that the federal government work with other layers of government to solidify the security of government-issued IDs. While improving government-issued IDs alone will not thwart every planned terrorist attack, it does present an important obstacle to any potential terrorist operating in the United States and could aid law enforcement in stopping terrorist plots. Securing IDs is a common-sense national security and law enforcement imperative, which also helps to combat identity fraud and illegal immigration. The 9/11 Commission spelled out the need for the federal government and the state or territory3 to take action together on this issue and together we have made considerable progress.
1 The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, at 390 (2004).
2 The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, at 384 (2004).
3 States and territories is used to refer to all fifty-six jurisdictions covered by the REAL ID Act, to include the fifty states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands.
Passage of the REAL ID Act of 2005
In May 2005, Congress enacted the REAL ID Act of 2005 in response to the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations for more secure standards for identification. The Act included the following provisions:
- Prohibits Federal agencies from accepting driver's licenses or identification cards unless the Department determines that the state or territory meets minimum security requirements.
- Establishes minimum standards for the:
- Information and features that appear on the face of the card;
- Physical security of cards to prevent tampering, counterfeiting, and duplication of the documents for a fraudulent purpose;
- Presentation and verification of source documents, including presentation and verification of documents evidencing citizenship or lawful status; and
- Physical security of production and storage facilities and for materials from which REAL ID cards are produced.
- Authorizes the Department of Homeland Security to make grants to states and territories to assist in conforming to the minimum standards of the Act.
In June 2007, DHS submitted, and the Senate and House Appropriations Committees subsequently approved, the REAL ID Implementation Plan. In the REAL ID Implementation Plan, DHS outlined its plans to make grant funds available specifically for projects that addressed the following areas:
- Enhancements to existing communications and verification systems to support cost effective electronic verification of source documents.
- Development of a secure indexing or pointer system for verification that an individual does not hold multiple licenses in multiple states or territories.
- Development of a cost effective capability for verification of lawful status. Improvements to the infrastructure to support electronic verification of birth certificates.
- Model privacy standards, security practices, and business rules regarding verification of applicant information with Federal and state agencies.
Additionally, in January 2008, the Department published the REAL ID regulation (“Minimum Standards for Driver's Licenses and Identification Cards Acceptable by Federal Agencies for Official Purposes” (6 C.F.R. part 37)) providing greater detail on the minimum requirements states and territories must satisfy to be in compliance with the Act.
When determining whether a state has implemented a secure driver’s license program, DHS will base its decision on what states have done to meet the requirements of the regulation. The security benchmarks in the regulation focus on: identity assurance procedures; license information and security features; secure business processes; employee training and background checks; and privacy protections. They also address the primary sources of fraud in the issuance and use of driver’s licenses and identification cards.
DHS Funding to Support Efforts to Meet the Security Standards of the REAL ID Act
Since FY 2006, the Department has obligated a total of $273 million in REAL ID program funds to support states and territories in their efforts to meet the requirements of the REAL ID Act.
From FY 2006 through FY 2011, FEMA awarded approximately $200 million in grants to 54 states and territories to fund individual projects to improve the security of their credentials, facilities, systems, and business processes commensurate with the standards of the REAL ID Act. States and territories have been able to allocate these funds based on individual needs, priorities, and operations.
States and territories have used these awards to meet the material compliance security benchmarks and other REAL ID standards, including:
- Adding tamper resistant or enhanced security features to their documents.
- Modifying their facilities to limit access to sensitive materials and card production areas.
- Modernizing information technology systems to promote interoperability.
- Conducting fraudulent document training or re-engineering the driver’s license issuance process to reduce customer wait times.
- Implementing verification of lawful status.
- Improving their ability to protect applicants’ personal information.
For example, using REAL ID FY 2008 Demonstration Grant funds, the State of New York purchased facial recognition software to detect individuals holding multiple drivers’ licenses, sometimes in an attempt to evade law enforcement detection. New York used facial recognition technology to review the records of 600,000 holders of New York State Commercial Driver Licenses (CDLs). The results of this effort led to the arrest of more than 50 commercial drivers for fraudulently obtaining multiple driver licenses using an alias. Since February 2010, 800 people have been arrested for having two or more licenses under different aliases.
From FY 2008 through FY 2011, FEMA also awarded approximately $63 million in targeted grants to five states, Mississippi, Kentucky, Indiana, Florida, and Nevada, which volunteered to upgrade existing communications and verification infrastructure needed by all states and territories to meet the requirements of the REAL ID Act.
- The following verification capabilities to meet the verification requirements of the REAL ID regulation are either operational or in pilot testing. Specifically:
- The states have upgraded the infrastructure necessary to support DMV verification of birth certificates. Birth records from 38 state Vital Records Agencies are now available for electronic verification;
- Fifty states and the District of Columbia are verifying social security numbers;
- Forty-seven states and territories have signed an agreement with USCIS to verify lawful status through the SAVE program; and
- Four states are piloting verification of U.S. passports and this capability will be available to all states later this calendar year.
- Driver Licensing Agencies (DLAs) have used, and are continuing to use, remaining Driver’s License Security Grant awards to fund the local information technology and business process improvements needed to connect to and use these systems.
Additionally, USCIS has supported almost $10 million in projects for the development and deployment of cost-effective methods that states and territories can use to verify lawful status, U.S. passports, and social security numbers. USCIS has worked together with the states and territories in the development, testing, and deployment of these capabilities.
Facilitating Conformity with the Standards of the REAL ID Act—Guidance and Outreach for the States and Territories
The Department’s efforts extend far beyond providing financial assistance to states and territories. DHS has been working with states and territories to assist them in understanding and meeting the security standards of the REAL ID Act. In 2008 and 2009, DHS issued two guidance documents for that purpose:
- REAL ID Mark Guidelines (October 2008), providing DHS recommendations for the marking of licenses.
- REAL ID Security Plan Guidance Handbook (February 2009), providing best practices for: securing facilities where enrollment, production, and/or issuance of REAL ID driver’s licenses and identification cards occur; card design and security; privacy; personnel security, and the contents of the security plans.
Because of additional requests from the states for clarification, the Department plans to issue additional guidance in the near future to clarify the minimum standards that states and territories must meet to achieve full compliance with the Act and provide examples of how states can meet them. While DHS has worked closely with many individual states and territories—some of which already submitted full compliance packages—the Department believes that the guidance will reduce the uncertainty surrounding the regulation and encourage states and territories to submit information on their progress consistent with the minimum standards of the REAL ID Act. In providing further guidance, DHS’s purpose is to afford every state and territory the flexibility and opportunity to reach full compliance in a practical manner.
DHS’s subject matter experts have worked with the states and territories continually since 2007. Through its participation in meetings with the states, territories, partnering federal organizations, and stakeholders as well as attendance at a wide range of conferences, our program office, the Office of State-Issued Identity Support (OSIIS), visited 44 of 56 states and territories covered by the REAL ID Act, including four of the five U.S. territories. DHS continues to work closely with the Department of State on the passport verification module. DHS has worked with the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) to coordinate implementation of the standards of the REAL ID regulation. In particular, DHS participated with the states and territories in the drafting of the Personal Identification – AAMVA North American Standard – DL/ID Card Design to ensure that states and territories can implement the REAL ID requirements for card design by means of common, consensus-based data formats and card technologies endorsed by all states and territories.
Since 2007, OSIIS has also participated in at least 40 meetings with AAMVA and member states regarding all aspects of the REAL ID program, and provides regular briefings at the semiannual AAMVA Board of Directors Meetings and regional meetings. OSIIS representatives have also attended annual meetings of National Association for Public Health Statistics and Information Systems since 2007. The program communicates regularly with the Coalition for A Secure Driver’s License. OSIIS has also participated in a dozen on-site meeting with the State of Mississippi and the Mississippi consortium of states leading state efforts to improve the communications system infrastructure supporting the verification requirements of the Act.
Thirteen states4 have laws prohibiting compliance with the REAL ID Act. Even so, DHS believes that some of these states already issue secure identification documents consistent with the standards of the regulation.
It is important to note that the REAL ID regulation provides DHS with the ability to recognize comparable programs in states and territories that issue driver’s licenses and ID cards consistent with the minimum requirements of the regulation. States and territories are, in fact, already achieving success with their comparable efforts.
For example, four states (Michigan, New York, Vermont, and Washington) currently issue Enhanced Driver’s Licenses and Enhanced Identification Documents (EDLs) that were developed in alignment with the REAL ID standards, but can also be used by U.S. citizens as a border crossing document to enter the United States through a land or sea port of entry in accordance with the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI).
4 Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, and Washington.
The deadline for meeting the standards of the REAL ID Act is January 15, 2013. To assist DHS in making compliance determinations, the regulation also requires states and territories to submit certification materials at least 90 days prior to the effective date of compliance. A DHS compliance determination means that a state’s or territory’s program meets or exceeds the REAL ID regulatory requirements or has a program comparable to the requirements of the REAL ID regulation.
This hearing seeks to take stock of implementation of the REAL ID Act of 2005. DHS relies on alternative data collection methods, such as grant reporting, to document progress made by states and territories in improving the security of their driver’s licenses and identification cards commensurate with the standards of the REAL ID Act. While this does not afford DHS full visibility into all the progress states have made, we can say that the Department, along with our federal, state and territory partners, has made great strides in improving the security of credentials since 9/11 and the subsequent enactment of the REAL ID Act of 2005. States and territories have made significant progress in meeting the benchmarks and other requirements of the REAL ID regulation and most are meeting REAL ID facility, production, issuance, and card standards. We commend them for their efforts.
Thank you again for this opportunity to testify. I am happy to answer any questions you may have. | <urn:uuid:d65ccf98-d9a9-4d47-88ca-e5df35599d26> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dhs.gov/news/2012/03/21/written-testimony-dhs-policys-assistant-secretary-house-judiciary-subcommittee | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928625 | 3,053 | 1.5 | 2 |
Posted on 03-24-2011
By Jake Caldwell
President Barack Obama embarked on a historic trip to Latin America last week to strengthen U.S. ties to this vital region and commemorate the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s “Alliance for Progress.” The United States and Brazil should seize this opportunity to forge a strategic partnership to confront global food insecurity.
Feeding the hungry throughout the Western Hemisphere was a key priority of the original Alliance for Progress. President Kennedy declared at the launch of the alliance in 1961:
For hungry men and women cannot wait for economic discussions or diplomatic meetings; their need is urgent, and their hunger rests heavily on the conscience of their fellow men.
This remains a pressing global need today. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, or FAO, now estimates that more than 925 million people worldwide go to bed each night malnourished and hungry. Making matters worse, food prices have risen to record levels in the past eight months in a world agricultural system that is rapidly changing and under increased strain from a growing global population, changing diets, tight supplies, rising energy costs, and climate-change-induced extreme weather events affecting crop yields.
Rising food prices hit the world’s poor extremely hard. The World Bank estimates that the spike in food prices since June has placed 44 million people into extreme poverty.
The good news is the United States and Brazil are well-positioned to help reverse these trends. They are the largest economies in the Western Hemisphere and they are recognized global agricultural superpowers. The United States is the largest agricultural exporter in the world and Brazil is ranked third. The two nations are also ranked number one (United States) and two (Brazil) in the production and export of soybeans, beef, and poultry, and they are major producers of corn, cotton, and pork. They both share impressive records in agricultural research and innovation.
Confronting the rise in current food prices and achieving lasting global food security will require long-term investment in developing countries’ agricultural development. The United States and Brazil will also need to impart lessons learned—some good, some not-so-good—from their respective experiences increasing food production. Brazil has made remarkable progress in agriculture development in the last 40 years. Strengthening U.S.-Brazil links on food security creates an opportunity to assess and draw on Brazil’s efforts in agricultural production.
Several of the methods and conditions the United States and Brazil have used are simply not practical elsewhere. Clearly, exclusive reliance on the large-scale, energy-intensive industrial agriculture model that the United States and Brazil are frequently associated with will neither be sustainable nor appropriate for boosting agricultural production in the vast majority of the world.
Nonetheless, the Brazilian experience—explained in brief in the next section—can help guide ongoing efforts to boost agricultural development in the developing world as an essential component of meeting the world’s food security needs. That experience should be combined with an emphasis on meeting local agriculture needs with local knowledge, sustainable techniques, and less resource-intensive farming in developing countries.
Brazil is in economic overdrive. The economy grew in 2010 at a rate of 7.5 percent, and Brazil is now the seventh-largest economy in the world. Brazil’s growth in the agricultural sector is even more impressive. It made the successful transition from a net food importer in the 1970s to a net food exporter powerhouse. The value of Brazil’s crops grew 300 percent in the last 16 years.
Brazil is nearly the physical size of the United States and it is blessed with substantial land and water resources. But the majority of its agricultural production gains in recent years have been a result of boosting yields and less a result of increased land use.
The country is undoubtedly using more land for agriculture. Land under cultivation has increased by one-third and numerous challenges remain to ensure biodiversity conservation is not overrun by agriculture and deforestation in the cerrado and Amazon regions. In general, however, agricultural production is 10 times the level of land use. Grain production in the cerrado increased 129.7 percent from 1991 to 2007 but the corresponding area cultivated increased by only 25.9 percent.
Brazil’s success increasing yields is less about importing and attempting to replicate other nations’ identical agricultural successes of the past. That approach rarely works. Brazil’s achievements are instead more noteworthy for blending agricultural research and innovation with actual conditions on the ground.
As Brazil developed its agricultural sector, both the private and public sector dedicated resources to agricultural research and the United States provided considerable support. Brazil focused on enhancing soil quality, low-technology cross-breeding of plant varieties, and a willingness to explore innovative techniques such as no-till agriculture that results in more nutrient and carbon-rich soil.
Brazil has also made impressive commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 36 percent to 39 percent by 2020 by reducing deforestation by 80 percent in the Amazon and 40 percent in the cerrado savannah.
Brazil can put this knowledge and experience to use in helping the rest of the developing world enhance its agricultural development.
Today’s rising global food prices are a harbinger of things to come. FAO experts estimate global agricultural productivity must double in 40 years to keep pace with increased demand and a projected global population of 9.1 billion in 2050.
Climate change’s impact on agriculture and development in developing countries is projected to be particularly acute. More than 1 billion of the world’s poor depend on agriculture for their livelihood and it is predicted that severe crop losses leading to food shortages in Africa and South Asia will happen in a much shorter timeframe than previously anticipated.
Agriculture productivity is a fundamental building block of economic development and poverty reduction in many developing countries. The United States and developed countries have neglected investment in agricultural development and small farmers in developing countries for too long. Investment in agriculture programs has shrunk to 3.5 percent of all U.S. overseas development assistance from 18 percent in 1979. Agricultural productivity growth in developing countries has dropped below 1 percent.
Greater collaboration on food security between the United States and Brazil can reverse this dangerous course.
For starters, they will need to rethink the sustainability of exporting industrial-level, energy-intensive agriculture productivity to developing countries. This approach is unlikely to meet global food security needs over the long term in a resource-constrained world. A more diverse strategy is needed.
Instead, the United States and Brazil should provide technical assistance, training, and financial incentives to developing countries to enhance food security and adapt to the destructive impacts of climate change. The two nations should focus on agricultural production that preserves the soil and water supply, promotes crop diversification, encourages local agricultural knowledge and the role of women farmers, and reduces dependence on fossil fuels and other high-cost inputs. It will be vital for the private and public sector in the United States and Brazil to fund agricultural research to increase food production yields, conserve biodiversity, and combat pests and disease in a safe and transparent manner.
The United States and Brazil are also the global leaders in the production and export of biofuels. They have a mutual interest in ensuring that future biofuels production moves forward in a sustainable manner in a world experiencing growing competition for grain and natural resources. The next generation of biofuels does have a role to play in diversifying the energy needs of the United States and Brazil and other countries. But ongoing progress will require action to ensure biofuels are done smarter and better.
The United States and Brazil should strive to produce advanced biofuels that deliver measurable lifecycle greenhouse gas reductions, use feedstocks grown sustainably or nonfood-based feedstocks, and are produced in closed containers or on semiarable land that minimizes competition with food or feed. The two countries should collaborate immediately to leverage funding, increase private investment, coordinate trade policy, and expedite the deployment of technology to spur advanced biofuels development in developing countries.
The United States and Brazil have an opportunity and a responsibility to lead the fight against one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century: food security. Making the world more food secure is an urgent but achievable goal, and the 50th anniversary of the Alliance for Progress is a fitting moment to strengthen this joint effort.
In the medium term we can expect global food prices to remain high due to increased demand, low stocks, high oil prices, and increasing vulnerability of harvests to the impacts of climate change. The world food system must transform to meet these challenges.
An emboldened strategic partnership on food security between the United States and Brazil will require an honest assessment of conventional resource-intensive past practices. Only the best ideas that meet local needs and contribute to increasing yields and sustainable production should be deployed in developing countries.
Together, the United States and Brazil can strengthen agricultural investment and development in developing countries to meet the needs of a growing world population. Words must be turned into action.
Jake Caldwell is the Director of Policy for Agriculture, Trade & Energy at American Progress. | <urn:uuid:34073e1a-2879-46d1-877a-8f1ec2ff5c25> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.elsemanario.net/print.php?nid=1882&origen=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932201 | 1,852 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Renown Minnesota architect Leonard Parker dies at 88by Euan Kerr, Minnesota Public Radio
St. Paul, Minn. — Internationally-recognized architect Leonard Parker, known for his work designing the Minneapolis Convention Center and numerous buildings at the University of Minnesota, died Sunday at age 88.
As a young man Parker worked with famed modernist Eero Saarinen Parker on projects such as the St Louis Gateway Arch and Christ Church Lutheran in Minneapolis. He formed The Leonard Parker Associates in 1958 and did work in various locations in and outside the U.S.
Parker's designs were elegant and practical, said Tom Fisher, dean of the University of Minnesota design school.
"He was a very humanistic designer who was concerned about the comfort of people in his buildings," Fisher said. "I think he had strong environmental interests and i also think he was someone who could work well across a wide variety of cultures."
Parker, as a teacher at the U of M's architecture school for decades, also influenced many young architects who have gone on to make their own mark in the world, Fisher said.
Parker's designs were built around the world. In Minnesota, he also designed both the Humphrey School and the Mondale Law school at the U of M, the Minnesota Judicial Center in St Paul, and the 1974 addition to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
Editor's note: This story was updated to correct Leonard Parker's age at his death. | <urn:uuid:04a2640d-9557-4a28-9f4a-adfb70b2df62> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/07/25/leonard-parker-obit?refid=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985077 | 298 | 2.375 | 2 |
Below are the first 10 and last 10 pages of uncorrected machine-read text (when available) of this chapter, followed by the top 30 algorithmically extracted key phrases from the chapter as a whole.
Intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text on the opening pages of each chapter. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
Do not use for reproduction, copying, pasting, or reading; exclusively for search engines.
OCR for page 35
ATTACHMENT A STATEMENT OF TASK Anniston is proceeding to design and install a Dynasafe SDC1200 system to destroy problematic mustard-filled munitions. These will include currently stored, overpacked 4.2-inch mortars and 105-mm projectiles, all rejects generated during future operations, and possibly 2,500 M60 105-mm rounds with a single safety feature fuze. The Dynasafe SDC2000, in operation at the GEKA facility at Munster in Germany, performs well and serves as a solid basis for the design of an effective system for Anniston. However, the pollution abatement system (PAS) planned for Anniston is different in some aspects from the PAS employed at Munster. For example, a bulk oxidizer is used for further potential treatment of the off-gas from the detonation chamber in place of the secondary combustion chamber used at Munster. The Anniston PAS includes a spray dryer, whereas the Munster PAS does not. The Munster PAS design includes several features that the Anniston PAS potentially does not: including use of a cyclone immediately downstream of the expansion tank for particulate control, use of ammonia injection for control of oxides of nitrogen, and the use of a caustic scrubber in addition to acid and neutral scrubbers. Therefore, to minimize safety or operational problems during systemization and subsequent munition destruction campaigns, the Army would benefit from a review by the NRC of this SDC system, with emphasis on the PAS. The NRC will establish a committee to: Obtain detailed information on the design of the Anniston Dynasafe SDC1200 CM system and review and comment on the design of the system with emphasis on the pollution abatement system (PAS). Determine the design basis for each unit operation and review materials of construction. Compare the design of the PAS being designed for Anniston with that currently in use at the GEKA facility in Munster, Germany and identify all differences. Evaluate any potential impacts of these differences. Obtain requirements for agent destruction within the Static Detonation Chamber (SDC) system and for emissions from the PAS. Evaluate and comment on the ability of the planned SDC system to meet these requirements. | <urn:uuid:981a1f3a-de52-4afc-8179-a66099473f36> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12971&page=35 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923762 | 592 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Paralysis Ticks - treatment ideas.
wlmss at PEG.APC.ORG
wlmss at PEG.APC.ORG
Sat Jul 1 00:13:07 EST 1995
>From: DARBEN at redash.qut.edu.au
>Date: Thu, 29 Jun 1995 14:40:39 +0000 (AUSTRALIA/QUEENSLAND)
>Subject: An unusual foriegn body of the ear (fwd)
>To: forteana <forteana at PrimeNet.Com>
>Given recent topics of conversation, I thought someone might be interested.
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Wed, 28 Jun 1995 21:25:14 -0700
>From: InduDharan Manon <dharan at kb.usm.my>
>To: parasite at net.bio.net
>Subject: An unusual foriegn body of the ear
>To Whomsoever it may concern,
>This is to bring your attention to a recent problem which we encountered
>in the city of Kota Bharu in Malaysia. We in the Department of ENT of the
>University Sains Malaysia were faced with an unusual foreign body of the
>ear in some of our patients. Few of them presented with complaints of an
>insect in the ear, while others presented with various comlaints like
>pain, bleeding and vertigo. On examination we found a red haemorrhagic
>bulla which on removal was found to be the blood filled bloated body of a
>tropical cattle tick which was identified as Boopilus microplus. Removal
>of this tick immediately relieved the complaints, though the ear drum is
>partially damaged in most of the cases. One of the most recent cases
>presented with a history of insect in the right ear and sudden onset of
>right lower motor neuron paralysis of the seventh cranial nerve(facial
>palsy) of three days duration. On examination the finding was a "typical
>haemorrhagic bulla". Due to the history of the insect, we tried removal
>and it was found to be the cattle tick mentioned above. The ear drum was
>torn at the site of attachment of the tick, but the middle ear as could be
>seen through the tear was clean and dry. Surprisingly within 48 hours the
>facial palsy recovered! Is there anybody who know of any neurotoxins or
>enzymes in ticks that can produce neurological manifestations like this in
>animals or man? Is it possible to analyse this tick for any toxin that
>produced facial palsy? I would much appreciate a reply. Thank you,
>Lecturer, Department of Otorhinolaryngology,
>PPSP, University Sains Malaysia,
>16150 Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, MALAYSIA
> Fax. 09-7653370
> E-mail. dharan at kb.usm.my
DON'T try to remove the tick, that is what damages the ear drum.
Dab a household insecticide (pressure-pack type) on it using a
cotton bud. It has to die fast, or it will spit more toxin in.
Educate people for a vital lifestyle change - a careful wash and
change immediately when coming indoors from contact with the forest.
Actually you are probably seeing victims of ecological change, for
these ticks are coming from the fringes of cleared areas.
Watch pets are not bringing them indoors too!
Our ecologies are similar so it is likely the ticks will be too,
based on what you describe. Here, I keep antihistamines on hand. A
single blue phenergen tab will generally banish the symptoms and
rest the patient. But use much less on a child - so as to keep it
awake. Provide a cool, quiet place and plenty to drink and keep
them under observation.
But definitely don't try to pull them off, at least not until
they are well and truly dead. Then it is often best to let
the body come out and leave the head behind, rather than do
further damage to the outraged tissue.
We have at least three types of paralysis tick in North Queensland,
Os. One is smaller than pin-head size when they brush onto an animal
from the underside of a leaf. But I have seen three kill a little
duckling, while I was observing an eclipse! It snuffed out quietly,
they were on its neck and I surmise the chest muscles were affected.
Sometimes you see people - often kids - who have picked up scores
and scores, they aggregate around the warm parts and dig in creating
a rash of bright red spots, each with a black or white soeck at the
centre. A bit of metho or insect repellent takes care of them. The
big risk is infection from scratching. They can be removed with
a finger-nail but it is an art.
Another is known as a shellback, and it is about 1 cm across and
very vigorous. It attaches and over several days swells into a
big purple bubble that drops off when pea-sized. It is a serious
killer, although it never seems to harm its natural host, the
bandicoot. I have seen one kill a kitten, and even larger dogs
and cats can go down from them, usually losing their back legs
first and then finally their breathing when it gets to their
chest muscles - or is it respiratory centre? Once the tick is
killed and removed the animal usually recovers quickly. People have
to hand-inspect larger dogs every day for them when the ticks
are in season. Vets recommend weekly dips in "Asuntol", a brand of
tick dip for our furry friends. It depends on how much exposure
people or animals have to the places where the ticks come from.
If the tick has not really dug in it is often easiest to pick
them off early with tweezers or skilled fingernails.
I have heard of a child dying from one that got in its ear and went
unrecognized. Usually they are found early. One was on a child's
penis. Another was right on the fontanel. Adults often get them
in their hair near the neckline. You feel an ache, then your whole
shoulder gets too sore to move and your head pounds. A guy who used
eucalyptus oil did not kill it but made it spitting mad...he got
really sick, poor guy.
Another type is the burrowing tick. It is rarer. It can kill if you
miss it when it is burrowing in. I just got the arse end of one with
a TINY dab of cocky killer as it vanished under the flesh on the
throat of our tiny dog. That fixed it immediately and I assume she
scratched it out later. It did not poison her -incredibly near miss.
I only assume the Malaysian species might sponsor some sort of
immune response treatable in a crisis with antihistamine drugs.
I have to add I am not a Biologist or a Doctor and speak only
from 30 years or so experience with the blasted things.
Just what long term effect they might have, I know not.
Certainly people and animals develop a degree of tolerance to
them, but what this does to one's general immune response is
Ticks have their place in the blind scheme of things. They
act to protect tolerant native species from incursions by
less tick-tolerant feral species - e.g. cats, dogs, humans.
The Medical Library at Queensland University shouyld be able to
do a full search for you - try keywords TICK TICK_FEVER
More information about the Parasite | <urn:uuid:7da293fb-8668-46fb-8a68-e7258dc08b74> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bio.net/bionet/mm/parasite/1995-July/000825.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936522 | 1,692 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Do celebrities do more harm than good when pushing health issues?
In one of the more questionable aspects of being a health reporter, I frequently report on diseases and health conditions that transform into hot news stories simply because they’re linked to a celebrity diagnosis. Has multiple sclerosis become more of a pressing health concern since we learned that Jack Osbourne has it? Does Michael J. Fox represent the typical face of Parkinson’s disease?
The answer to both these questions is probably not, but both of these celebrities have brought much needed attention -- and donations for research -- to diseases that afflict thousands of Americans.
On the flip side, some celebrities have been criticized widely for controversial health issues they’ve embraced: Actress Jenny McCarthy’s campaign against the increase in childhood vaccinations -- which she blames on her son’s autism -- may have contributed to a decline in immunization rates in some states, public health experts contend, and a recent resurgence of whooping cough.
And breast cancer survivor Suzanne Somers raised quite a few eyebrows in the medical community by promoting the use of “natural” estrogen supplements to slow aging and prevent a recurrence of her disease. Since the hormone estrogen is thought to feed the majority of breast cancers, patients with these kinds of cancers are routinely treated with drugs to block estrogen.
Somers told me in a previous interview that her doctor had warned her she could die from taking estrogen and avoiding traditional anti-estrogen drugs but that she felt that her choices were “the best shot” she had at survival.
So, do celebrity-centered health campaigns yield a net benefit or net risk to our health? That’s a tough call to make, and two public health experts took opposing sides on the debate in opinion papers published in the latest issue of the British Medical Journal.
Simon Chapman, a public health professor at the University of Sidney in Australia, argued that critics of celebrity involvement in health issues “hone in on celebrity endorsement of flaky complementary medicine or quack diets...but they are silent about the many examples of celebrity engagement that have massively amplified becalmed news coverage about important neglected problems.”
Geof Rayner, an honorary research fellow at Britain’s City University London, disagreed that celebrity campaigns delivered long term gains for public health “for the logical reason,” he wrote, “that celebrity status is fleeting.” While acknowledging that celebrities can provide a short-term boost to issues -- like TV chef Jamie Oliver’s campaign to improve school lunches -- they “tread a cautious path of support because of the risk that the celebrity becomes the story, not the campaign.”
Unfortunately, researchers haven’t come up with a mathematical model to measure the net effect of star power on various health causes. That could prove to be impossible given that those in the medical community don’t always agree on when celebrities are doing more harm than good for a cause.
Sports stars like Gus Williams, a former basketball player for the Seattle SuperSonics, and former NFL football linebacker Cornelius Bennett are both involved in a current campaign urging all men to have prostate cancer screening even though a panel of experts recently recommended against routine screening since it often detects cancers that would never become life-threatening. Most medical groups recommend that men make an informed decision about the risks and benefits after speaking to their doctor.
Of course, urologists who treat prostate cancer -- and who still believe in routine PSA testing for men over 50 -- would consider the celebrity campaign to be a definite net gain.Deborah Kotz can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org. Follow her on Twitter @debkotz2.
May 1, 2013
By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff The catch-phrase “Boston Strong” has become an emotional rallying cry a …
April 30, 2013
By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff Wrigley’s launched a caffeinated gum this week called Alert Energy, add …
March 11, 2013
By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff About 15 percent to 30 percent of people with allergies have allergic r …
March 6, 2013
By Deborah Kotz and Brian MacQuarrie, Globe Staff As Congress debates whether to toughen the nation’ …
March 7, 2013
By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff No doubt, the biggest appeal of exercise is to build biceps, heart musc …
March 4, 2013
By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff A survey released today makes the case for exercising to improve sleep …
April 8, 2013
By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff If you needed another reason to limit your intake of red meat and sugar …
March 29, 2013
By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff Kids meals at restaurant chains are just as bad as ever, according to a …
Gideon Gil, Health and Science Editor
Elizabeth Comeau, Senior Health Producer | <urn:uuid:ae99d19e-1fb5-42a7-9a97-fc49e83011b6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.boston.com/dailydose/2012/09/27/celebrities-more-harm-than-good-when-pushing-health-issues/QPXalKB0zXgiea8alyxBLN/story.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948589 | 1,014 | 2.1875 | 2 |
|Advantages of bridges
A bridge is a fixture used to replace missing teeth. While removable bridges are available, most bridges are permanent or 'fixed.' They can be used to replace one tooth or nearly all the teeth in your mouth, thus having both functional and aesthetic importance.
|Advantages of crowns
A crown is a cap that's used in order to help restore or hold together a tooth that has been chipped or damaged. Crowns can also cover a large filling to help keep it in place, and they can protect a tooth recovering from a root canal.
In addition to serving different functions, crowns and bridges also vary in cost. Crowns are moderately priced because the installation of a crown is relatively simple and it only affects one tooth.
|Insurance coverage for crowns and bridges
Insurance coverage for crowns and bridges varies in regard to the different types of dental policies available. The average policy won't cover pre-existing conditions, but will cover at least 50 percent of the total cost. | <urn:uuid:32437807-511d-4fcc-88fa-05a676d68d56> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.myabc50.com/guides/health/dental/heading.aspx?heading=Crowns%2FBridges | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937628 | 211 | 2.4375 | 2 |
Submerged in the murky water of the Ramona Duck Club’s artificial ponds is a rare type of soil that harbored one of the last stands of an endangered plant, the San Jacinto Valley crownscale.
The duck club last year brought in heavy equipment to refurbish the ponds and lure game birds. The earth was scraped bare, and the alkali, clay-rich soil was covered with as much as a foot of water.
The state approved the work, although the club has received more than a half-million dollars in public money since 2008 for conservation efforts that were supposed to protect the plants while maintaining wetlands for waterfowl.
But state Department of Fish and Game officials, who have authority over the property, could produce no evidence that any of the plant’s habitat was saved.
In 2008, wildlife biologists had found as many as 220 crownscale plants growing within the club’s 92 acres along the southwest shore of Mystic Lake. Most were clustered near the center of the duck club land.
View Conservation Controversy in a larger map
At least three times, the need to protect the plant’s habitat was emphasized in public documents concerning the duck club property:
In 2006, the club obtained a permit to use 2 acres for parking, water storage, restrooms and other amenities. The rest of the land was designated as part of a regional wildlife reserve system, partly to provide a safe harbor for crownscale and other rare plants, according to regional conservation authority records.
In 2008, the club accepted $138,000 in federal grant funds, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service required known stands of crownscale to be flagged and avoided during work to refurbish duck ponds.
In 2011, state wildlife officials paid the club $383,000 to preserve the land for conservation, noting in a report the land supported the crownscale and other plants listed under the Endangered Species Act.
Critics say the club and the state Department of Fish and Game have little regard for the endangered plants that require the area’s unique soil to survive.
Among those critics is Tom Paulek, a former manager of the state’s San Jacinto Wildlife Area and a wildlife biologist. The state land borders the duck club.
The club essentially used public money to rebuild ponds to attract ducks for hunters and rode roughshod over rare plant habitat that should have been saved, he said.
“It just galls me to see this plundering,” Paulek said.
Walking along a dirt road separating the duck club and the wildlife area, Paulek gestured to the ponds in frustration. He said his complaints to Fish and Game and several other agencies were fruitless.
“If you are going to pay them,” he said, “for God’s sake, they’ve got to protect the plants.”
Duck club President Malcom Smith said he knows of no endangered plants on the property. He said Fish and Game officials, who oversee a conservation easement on the club property, approved the pond work.
Fish and Game spokesman Andrew Hughan said the department took “due diligence” to avoid harming protected plants, but he could not provide details.
He said he did not know how the plants were protected, nor could he point to any particular places where the plants had been growing.
Although public documents repeatedly mention the land’s value as rare plant habitat, state and federal officials have said there was nothing improper about the earth-moving work.
Kimberly Nicol, a Fish and Game regional manager based in Los Alamitos, said in a Dec. 14 letter to Paulek that the duck club property has no long-term conservation value for the crownscale plant because of the land’s ongoing use as duck ponds.
“Suitable habitat for rare plants was not expected,” she wrote.
The Fish and Wildlife Service has found no violations related to last year’s grading, agency spokeswoman Stephanie Weagley said.
In an email, she said work done in the fall involved repairing one levee and “normal maintenance.”
The service has consulted with a biologist for the California Waterfowl Association, a hunting and conservation group that oversaw the grant-funded pond rehabilitation project, and has asked him to prepare a report on how the duck club’s work affected the plants. Weagley said federal officials plan to visit the property when ponds are drawn down later this year.
Earth-clearing work described in public records and observed by The Press-Enterprise in September appears to have been far more extensive than routine maintenance.
The crownscale has been losing ground for decades.
The spindly, silvery-green plant can live only in the moist, clay-laden, alkali soils associated with Mystic Lake, the San Jacinto River and Salt Creek, all in the area between Perris and the Badlands east of Moreno Valley.
Most of its traditional range has been eaten away by farming, development and waterworks, said Orange County biologist David Bramlet, an expert on crownscale and other rare native plants.
The plant clusters grow in the damp soil of seasonal pools that fill in winter and slowly evaporate in spring. During dry months, the plant withers, and the seeds lie dormant in the soil.
“It is our very own Riverside County plant; it doesn’t grow anywhere else,” said Andrew Sanders, a UC Riverside plant scientist and curator of the university’s herbarium.
Letting it become extinct would be a loss to a local ecosystem and probably would harm other wildlife, he said. Scientists might have a great deal to learn from it — research on other rare plants has led to development of improved crops and better drugs, Sanders said.
The crownscale is one of 146 vulnerable plants and animals in western Riverside County protected by a habitat-preservation effort spearheaded by the Western Riverside County Regional Conservation Authority, which is working to establish an interlinked reserve system covering about 500,000 acres.
The system saves “pristine open space to protect threatened and endangered species and preserve the region’s natural beauty for future generations,” said Tom Mullen, a former Riverside County supervisor who led the efforts to create a regional conservation plan a decade ago. Mullen later served as the authority’s executive director.
Building reserves also benefits transportation projects, he said.
It “accelerates the construction of much-needed road and freeway improvements in the region by satisfying in advance federal and state habitat conservation requirements for plants and animals protected by the Endangered Species Act and other environmental laws,” Mullen said in an email.
Because the duck club is in a sensitive habitat area, the Conservation Authority had to be consulted in 2006 when the club sought a county permit to use 2 acres for parking, water storage, restrooms and trap and skeet shooting ranges.
When the permit was granted, the rest of the property was designated for the regional wildlife reserve system. The land would “conserve … soils supporting sensitive plants such as San Jacinto Valley crownscale,” among other rare species, according to authority records.
The land also would maintain habitat for waterfowl, preserve seasonal pools and establish permanent open space allowing wildlife to pass between other reserve areas, the records say.
The Conservation Authority’s goal is to set aside 6,900<TH>acres suitable for crownscale. So far 3,300 acres are considered conserved. That area no longer includes the duck club land.
In 2008, the California Waterfowl Association, a duck- and goose-hunting advocacy organization, obtained a $1 million grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for waterfowl habitat enhancement in San Diego County and the Mystic Lake area, including three privately owned duck clubs. The application for the North American Wetlands Conservation Act grant said the crownscale and other plants listed under the Endangered Species Act could benefit.
The Ramona Duck Club received $138,000 from the grant to restore its system of hunting ponds.
According to the grant agreement between the club and the waterfowl association, 56,000 cubic yards of earth would be moved for levee construction, and 2,700 feet of water pipe would be installed.
The agreement included a 30-year habitat management plan that made no mention of crownscale but called for the ponds to be disked during dry months to promote the growth of swamp timothy and other plants that provide food and cover for ducks and geese.
Chadd Santerre, a biologist and grant project manager for the waterfowl association, said in a November interview that endangered plants were not an issue because none were found during biological surveys of the club property in 2008. He emphasized that the project benefited ducks and other waterfowl by providing space for them to forage, nest and raise their young.
When provided with Fish and Wildlife Service records showing as many as 220 crownscale plants on the property in 2008, Santerre said he had had a memory lapse. He added that he oversees several projects and that the Ramona Duck Club surveys were done more than three years ago.
The federal record showed that the Fish and Wildlife Service required several areas where crownscale was found, including a patch of 100 to 200 plants, to be flagged and avoided during construction.
Other federal requirements called for broad levees to give the endangered plants places to grow; early-season draining to provide more opportunity for the crownscale; and setting aside topsoil to re-establish seed banks, according to an Endangered Species Act consultation document released by Fish and Wildlife. The use of federal grant money triggered the consultation.
A biologist for the California Waterfowl Association was to supervise construction to ensure the conservation measures were followed.
Santerre said the measures pertained only to work done in 2008 and that the club’s efforts last year to repair broken levees was no different than a homeowner doing a project in his or her yard. He also said the ponds benefit many plants and animals that depend on wetlands.
Ileene Anderson, a botanist with the Center for Biological Diversity, said the pond work most likely severely damaged the plant habitat by compacting the soil, burying seeds too deep to germinate and making the land too wet.
The Tucson, Ariz.-based environmental group is exploring legal options to compel the Fish and Wildlife Service to make up for apparent habitat losses.
The duck club received a larger influx of public money last year.
The California Wildlife Conservation Board, which buys habitat lands for the state, in February approved the $383,000 conservation easement purchase, covering 89 acres of the club’s 92-acre holding. Such easements prevent future development.
A need to preserve habitat for the crownscale and other listed plants was part of a staff pitch for the expenditure. A conservation easement would “provide for the protection of habitat, open space and special-status species that are native to the area,” according to minutes of the Feb. 24 conservation board meeting.
William Gallup, a senior land agent for the board, added during the meeting: “No new buildings, structures, or improvements other than a fence are permitted.” The deal gave the state Department of Fish and Game authority over the land.
The easement grant deed allows for “preservation and maintenance of managed wetlands” without defining what activities are considered maintenance.
A section of the deed concerning native plants is more specific: The easement prohibits “removal, destruction or cutting of native plants, trees or other vegetation located on the conserved property.”
Shortly after escrow on the easement closed in September, two Caterpillar 623B earthmovers graded most of the club’s property in what appeared to be a major project to rebuild ponds, levees and islands for duck blinds. The earthmovers, called scrapers, are 41 feet long and have tires 6 feet in diameter.
Press-Enterprise videos and photographs show that the grading occurred in the same areas where the crownscale was found during the 2008 biological surveys, including the stand of 100 to 200 plants.
Paulek managed the San Jacinto Wildlife Area for 13 years and is now a member of an environmental group called the Friends of the Northern San Jacinto Valley. He said he complained about the grading to several agencies.
One of his complaints went to Riverside County code enforcement, because county rules require a grading permit if more than 50 cubic yards of earth is to be moved. Code enforcement officials investigated and concluded no violation had taken place because the work was being done under the authority of the state, according to Riverside County spokesman Ray Smith.
When a code enforcement officer arrived at the site Sept. 16, club member and site supervisor Elmer Lackey told her the work needed to be done so the club could comply with the terms of the federal grant, according to county records. The work was described as disking and leveling ponds, repacking dikes and rebuilding a road, according to the code enforcement officer’s notes.
The code enforcement officer also spoke to Scott Sewell, the San Jacinto Wildlife Area manager who also oversees the duck club easement. He concurred with Lackey’s statement, according to her notes.
The code enforcement records make no mention of endangered plants.
The absence of a grading permit effectively cut the Regional Conservation Authority out of the loop, although it had been counting on the land for its reserve system.
Under county rules, when a grading permit is sought in sensitive habitat areas, the Conservation Authority must be contacted so the property can be surveyed for protected plants and animals before the land is disturbed.
Grading applications are “the trigger,” said Charlie Landry, the agency’s executive director. “That is the way we start everything that happens.”
On a sunny September afternoon, Paulek stood next to the duck club boundary and watched the scrapers clear the earth. The native plants could never survive such heavy work, he said.
The project makes “a charade” out of the region’s habitat conservation effort, he said.
The Department of Fish of Game isn’t doing its job, he said.
“California is mandated to manage for all the plants and animals,” he said. “This is not just a place to shoot ducks.” | <urn:uuid:821a0e11-2553-41ca-8436-1171baf86e0e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pe.com/local-news/local-news-headlines/20120114-san-jacinto-endangered-plant-loses-to-duck-ponds.ece | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955822 | 3,010 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Producing environmentally-conscious clothing is a complicated and often vexing challenge for “green” clothing manufacturers. Certainly, conventionally-grown cotton has been clearly identified as one of the world’s “dirtiest” crops, consuming 10% of the world’s pesticides and 25% of the world’s insecticides, according to the Pesticide Action Network North America. Synthetic fabrics are, well, just that – synthetics, made from petro-chemicals, releasing large quantities of nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide, and producing toxic waste water, in their manufacturing processes, and are not biodegradable.
Despite “cleaner” fabric choices, clothing manufacturers face additional unavoidable carbon emissions in the growing, harvesting and refining of raw materials, the clothing manufacturing process, and the ultimate shipping and delivery of their products. Carbonfund.org’s emission neutralization strategies help environmentally-responsible producers to mitigate these operational emissions by supporting renewable energy development and carbon reduction projects around the world.
One of Carbonfund.org’s long-time CarbonFree® Business Partners, ONNO Textiles, produces its socially-responsible t-shirts using sustainable fibers from bamboo, hemp and organic cotton. Their website provides great information about the fabrics used to make their more sustainably produced shirts.
But ONNO Textiles recognized the harmful environmental impact of their overall production and delivery processes. They manufacture their apparel overseas, and move raw materials and finished product all over the globe. To balance the resulting environmental harm, ONNO Textiles has partnered with Carbonfund.org for the past five years to neutralize their operational emissions by supporting our renewable energy technology and carbon reduction initiatives around the world. This long-term commitment to carbon emissions mitigation through investment in clean air projects makes the CarbonFree® partnership between ONNO Textiles and Carbonfund.org a great example of true operational sustainability. | <urn:uuid:8ba7fa5c-e49f-437b-8166-e73a0f0e0706> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://carbonfund.org/blog/itemlist/tag/sustainable%20tshirts | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914404 | 397 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Africa / AID
In the last few years international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have become part of the landscape of Africa. They are as present as the tropical climate of the west coast of Africa, the biting sun and dry soils of the Sahel region, the thousand hills of Rwanda and south-west Uganda. One can even say they are not just part of the landscape any more; they are the landscape itself, with their Land Cruisers, Land Rovers, Pajeros and other assorted four-wheel drives equipped with radio phones and advertising their endless projects.
So pervasive is their presence that there is virtually not a single district in most parts of Africa that does not have some sort of contact with them. They come as private voluntary organizations, development agencies, religious groups and so on. What unites them is the fact that they are all controlled, financed and executively staffed by Europeans and North Americans. Wealth and direct or indirect backing from their governments put them above the local community groups and NGOs in their 'host' countries.
The continuous rise of the NGOs, their dominance and control over civil society in Africa cannot be divorced from the crisis of the post-colonial African state. Whereas in the immediate post-independence period the political economy of Africa was characterized by neo-colonialism (political sovereignty without economic independence) the current epoch is characterized by recolonization through the IMF, World Bank and Western NGOs.
Today if you want to know the economic fortunes or otherwise of an African country you are better off talking to the country representative of the IMF or World Bank who, to all intents and purposes, is the modern equivalent of a colonial governor. The difference is that unlike the governor who was sent by the colonial power (and therefore ultimately accountable to some public opinion in the parent country), these new governors are bureaucrats, accountable to nobody but their faceless superiors and peers in the Bretton Woods system. They come with a ready-made solution called structural adjustment which is supposed to be a cure-all. Governments that have run down their countries through systematic graft, kleptomania and state robbery have no choice but to do the bidding of their new masters.
However, the operation of structural-adjustment programmes has demonstrated that economics is not just a technical matter to be resolved by 'experts' and other eggheads sent in from Washington. Far from delivering their promised gains, liberalization, privatization and technocratic management have only increased the poverty of the people and further indebted the countries concerned. The more they have adjusted, the deeper they have sunk into the abyss of poverty, joblessness and socio-economic crisis.
Structural adjustment threw up new social contradictions as the already poor condition of the people worsened. Workers were up in arms, civil servants no longer had job security and rural farmers encouraged to produce more got even less money for their goods because of the slump in the global prices for commodities.
Soon it was discovered that while structural adjustment removed the state from all areas of the economy, cutting public expenditure on education, social welfare and health, there was a need to police the resulting crisis. So it was not a weak state that was needed but a very strong one - and an uncaringly wicked one at that. It is only such a state that can impose these draconian measures. So the police, paramilitary and intelligence services had to be strengthened to crush strikes, demonstrations and popular uprisings. The African state was thus restored to its colonial role as the bodyguard of imperialism.
Liberal and social democratic forces in the West began to have qualms about the social effects of adjustment. Their liberal consciences sought a palliative to relieve the pain without curing the disease.
The answer was a new-found religion: NGOism. The new catechists joined the right-wing chorus about the inefficient state and declared their newly discovered civil society (often inappropriately used to mean NGOs) to be the new angels. Refugees, civil wars and other calamities created an immediate need for this humanitarian industry. And African governments were glad to co-operate by handing over responsibility for education, water, health - whatever - to NGOs. A myth developed that because these organizations are based 'among the people' they are best placed to deliver services to the people. In the right-wing climate that followed the Thatcher and Reagan years, it all seemed to make sense. Government was bad and NGOs were good.
What this fails to recognize is that much of the influence of foreign NGOs in Africa derives from the power of their governments, embassies and companies. Some of the most powerful NGOs get the vast majority of their money from their own governments, whether for emergency operations or for development projects. In effect these NGOs are the civil arm of their governments' policies and the ideological cousins of the IMF and World Bank. One slaps us in the face and the other offers us handkerchiefs to wipe the tears.
The first problem with NGOs is that they have become sacred cows that cannot be touched. Anyone who wishes to criticize Western NGOs is likely to meet accusations of ingratitude, churlishness, inhuman cynicism or lack of sympathy for the victims of disasters. How dare you talk ill of these selfless missionaries who have come to help you? This sacredness has encouraged arrogance and strengthened their feeling of superiority and we-know-best attitudes. No doubt many are involved in the charity business out of moral and political commitment. But it is also true that there are many who are doing it only for career purposes. Our misery is their job. If you are a disaster manager, what will you do if there are no more disasters?
This is particularly true at a time when more and more NGO money is going into emergency operations rather than long-term development work. There is even a danger that emergencies will be converted into permanent situations. A typical case was that of post-genocide Rwandese refugees in former Zaire, Tanzania and Burundi. The Ngara refugee settlement became the second-biggest city in Tanzania after Dar-es-Salaam. Yet it was not under the control of the Government. It was controlled by NGOs. A trip there would have shocked any liberal conscience. Flags of different NGOs were hoisted in different compartments, with the obvious suggestion to rival organizations: 'Keep off my refugees and I'll keep off yours.' Many of these NGOs did not wish the camps to be closed because their jobs and influence would go too. The pressure to make the camps habitable was turning them into permanent cities with amenities that the refugees were never going to get if they went back to their hills in Rwanda. Yet if you suggest to the NGOs that long-term development work in Rwanda itself will actually persuade refugees to go home, they plead that it is not their mandate.
A second major problem arising from the mushrooming of NGO work in Africa is the internal brain drain. The external brain drain from Africa is a dismal phenomenon which has been exacerbated by the economic crisis. Thousands of Africans with university degrees or professional qualifications end up in dreary jobs in Europe or America, from cleaning the streets to working anti-social hours that would be refused by the natives. Meanwhile NGO employees, almost all of them white, head back in the opposite direction. One might ask, if the NGOs genuinely wish to help, why could they not send African skills back to Africa with the same fantastic salaries and perks as the European experts?
But the internal brain drain is a less recognized problem. The few skilled people left behind in Africa are tempted away from public institutions by the NGOs who can afford to pay ten times what governments can afford. Furthermore, the same NGOs that drain this local expertise away get consultancies to train and build up 'local capacity'. Go to any university in Africa and you will find that the professors who are doing well are those with access to the foreign NGO community as consultants and researchers. In effect they spend more time chasing or performing these jobs than they do teaching their students.
The pervasive presence of NGOs is even changing the social geography of African cities due to the high-spending lifestyles of the 'expats'. Wherever there is a big expatriate community there is invariably sex tourism. One cannot blame prostitution on expatriates but there is a particular twist that the dollar power has imposed on the exchange. A lot of African women and men now hope to do better for themselves by hooking an expatriate partner. They can pay much more and if you are lucky they may even take you back to the West!
The economic power of NGOs is precipitating a cultural crisis that is now very acute. It is not just that the colonial mentality is back in the shape of white expatriates being treated as 'bosses' (and many of them are literally bosses to numerous domestic servants). But for African countries that already suffer the debilitating effect of inferiority complexes brought about by slavery and colonialism, these new relations cannot do much for our collective morale, esteem and confidence.
As if this is not bad enough it has now become fashionable to hear Western journalists, humanitarian 'experts' or even some Africans advocating a return to some kind of colonialism (probably under UN mandate) as a remedy for Africa. Actually colonialism never really left Africa. Like the deadly aids virus, it merely mutated.
The choice facing Africa is not between chaos and recolonization, as propounded by so many, but between Pan-Africanism and recolonization. The African Unity agenda remains the only basis upon which Africans can reclaim their dignity and become equal partners with the rest of humanity. It is not that Africa does not need help but at the moment it is too weak to determine where this help should be and how it should be used.
Hope is not what somebody else bestows on you. It is what you give to yourself. Only a union of African states can create the enabling environment for Africa's hope to be realized.
is the General Secretary of the Pan-African Movement,
Both photos: ERIC MILLER / PANOS
This first appeared in our award-winning magazine - to read more, subscribe from just £7 | <urn:uuid:9614a8cc-2c50-4f8f-9772-d440b4d23d91> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://newint.org/features/2000/08/05/impact/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97096 | 2,063 | 1.960938 | 2 |
A couple of days ago the hardware that is used to host this blog was upgraded – doubling the amount of RAM in the machine. To do this the machine was halted, memtest86+ was run to ensure that the new RAM worked correctly, and then it was booted up again. During that process my ssh session was not stopped! I merely refrained from typing anything until the upgrade was complete.
This is one feature I really like about Xen. It can save the memory image of a running domain to a file and then restart it later. TCP sessions remain open if timeouts have not elapsed. The command xm save can be used to save the state to a file and the command xm restore will restore it.
In Debian the location of the save files is stored in the file /etc/default/xendomains with the variable name XENDOMAINS_SAVE and defaults to /var/lib/xen/save.
A quick experiment with one test domain (running Debian/unstable in 128M of RAM and had just run apt-get dist-upgrade so the memory contents would not be all zeros) showed that gzip -9 would decrease the file to 35% of it’s size at a cost of just over 1 minute of CPU time on a Pentium-M 1.7GHz. But gzip -3 compresses it to 37% and only takes 9 seconds. 9 seconds of CPU time to save 80M of disk space seems a reasonable trade-off.
In my particular case it saves CPU time as the encryption I use for my root filesystem takes more CPU time than gzip -3 so compressing the data saves time. But I don’t expect my case to be common.
Now when Xen is used on a more modern machine with a faster CPU gzip -3 has the potential to save time as well as disk space. A machine with a CPU that is in aggregate 10x faster than my laptop (I think that means most 64bit multi-core CPUs) running with a single S-ATA disk (that will have a sustained contiguous read speed of 80MB/s and write speed that is less) will save time when saving multiple Xen DomU’s if it runs them in parallel and compresses them.
Also gzip is not the fastest compression program. There may be other options that are better suited to the needs of Xen.
I have filed a Debian bug 435406 requesting that compression be supported. | <urn:uuid:7bcb6f54-6984-40ba-8bbd-13018f2e9526> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://etbe.coker.com.au/2007/08/02/xen-saves/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947852 | 512 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Transcribed from "An Illustrated History of The
Big Bend Country, embracing Lincoln, Douglas, Adams and Franklin counties,
State of Washington", published by Western Historical Publishing
CHARLES W. HENSEL, who resides
five miles north from Waterville, was born in Prussia, on August 25, 1839.
His parents, Gottfried and Christian Hensel, both natives of the same place,
came to the United States in 1850. Settlement was made in Wisconsin
where the father labored in clearing the land and there lived until his
decease, in 1865. The mother died in 1900, being nearly ninety years
of age. Our subject gained a good education in Germany, before coming
to this country and labored at home until he was twenty-two years of age.
He went to Minnesota, bought land and farmed for nearly twenty years in
Waseca county. In March, 1887, he came to Spokane, and October 10th
moved to Douglas county and took up a pre-emption, where he now resides.
He later changed it to a homestead and has bought a quarter section in
Mr. Hensel has devoted himself with energy
and assiduity to diversified farming and stock raising since his settlement
here and without doubt he has one of the finest places in the state of
Washington. The quality of land is no better than that of others.
The only difference lies in that Mr. Hensel has made a study of horticulture
and has put into practical demonstration the knowledge he has obtained.
No man in Douglas county is better posted
on what this section will produce and how to handle it to get the finest
yield, than is Mr. Hensel. He raises brome grass, alfalfa, the cereals,
fruit and vegetables, also has a fine band of registered cattle, and some
of the best Poland-China hogs in the county. He is erecting a new
residence and is to add larger barns to his estate. Mr. Hensel has
not only gained a good success for himself but his farm stands as an object
lesson in the Big Bend country and it has induced hundreds of settlers
to make this their home. Too much cannot be said in favor of the
excellent work which he has accomplished in Douglas county and it is with
great pleasure that we are privileged to chronicle these items in the history
of the county. We also wish to note that Mr. Hensel is a great reader
and keeps his library well stocked with the latest journals on general
subjects and especially horticulture and stock raising.
Mr. Hensel has three brothers, Ernest, Otto
and Albert, and three sisters, Tena Snell, Emilie Kletzine and Ida Burke.
On November 25, 1865, at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin,
Mr. Hensel married Miss Minnie, daughter of Frederick and Rosetta (Buch)
Lawrence, both natives of Prussia as was also Mrs. Hensel. The father
died when Mrs. Hensel was nine months old. The widow later married
R. M. Wahlegmuth, who died in 1891, leaving two children, Bertie and Eustino.
Mrs. Wahlegmuth died in Wisconsin in 1902. To Mr. and Mrs. Hensel
ten children have been born, named as follows: George A., a farmer adjoining
our subject; Charles F., a miller on Puget Sound; Levi H., at Rosalia,
Washington; Samuel W., deputy treasurer in Douglas county; Alfred B., a
postal clerk on the railroad; Arthur T., a clerk in Waterville postoffice;
Alice, wife of R. P. Webb, proprietor of the Invale farm at Wenatchee;
Ida, residing in Spokane; Winnie and Rosetta at home.
Mr. Hensel is a Republican and always takes
an active part in political matters. He has been a delegate to nearly
all the county conventions and the state convention of 1902. He materially
assisted in organizing the first school in the district and has been a
hearty supporter of education during his stay here. He has been either
clerk or director for seventeen years, occupying both positions now.
Also he has been justice of the peace for the same length of time. | <urn:uuid:d8220a81-facc-4919-ab6d-22d0674aba10> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~heeyjude/Douglas/henselc.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968983 | 919 | 1.953125 | 2 |
from THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS
AND OTHER POEMS
LSU Press, 2009
by David R. Slavitt
THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS
Surely, there must be some mistake. I admit
at once that my name is there with the other six,
but after all, if you look at what I am
and what I do, as you should not only for my
sake but your own, and examine in however
perfunctory a fashion before passing
judgment, you will realize that I have about me
a certain dignity, even a moral weight,
and that my contribution over the generations
has been by no means negligible. Only call me
self-respect, or, avoiding false modesty, honor,
and where are we then? In what way are my promptings
sinful? Pride gives men a reason for doing
the right thing even when the world
has gone mad. Without any self-regard,
I suggest that a man is helpless, very likely
depressed, and could at any moment go
native. In this light you must concede
that I am one of the bulwarks of decency: I
embody not only ethical norms but also
standards of good taste in dress and deportment
as well as in art and music without which
civilization would long ago have toppled.
A sin? No, I’m a virtue and have my pride.
This is, to say the very least, annoying,
but as you see, I am calm, I am in control.
I should like to point out, however, that the capacity
for anger is morally neutral, and even, sometimes,
a good thing. Does injustice make you angry?
Do cruelty and suffering not engage
your emotions? Intellectual disapproval
is never enough. What you want is your blood to boil,
to seethe with fury at the outrageousness of what
you cannot tolerate, and mankind ought not to permit.
Anger, or call it instead righteous wrath,
is an aspect of the divine, and if we partake
to any degree in that perfection, then we
also feel rage at what goes on around us.
For me to be classed as one of the seven deadly
sins is enough to make anyone angry,
but what’s wrong with that, as long as I maintain
proper decorum? The mental state, the mere
idea of anger cannot be sinful. Any
random thought that crosses your mind . . . Are you held
accountable for that? Then you are all
eternally damned—that is if you still believe
in damnation and those scary Italian pictures
of the last judgment with the shrieking souls falling
on one side of the canvas, and, on the other,
beatific wimps ascending, smiling,
full of the gas of gentle piety.
Do you want to be one of those? Do you? I ask you.
Grow up, accept who you are, and accept me.
I know what you’re about to say: radix
malorum est cupiditas. I admit
that, in Latin, it has a nice ring to it, but let us
be frank with each another and try to imagine
a world in which there wasn’t at least some degree
of cupiditas. The industrial revolution
is erased, the capitalist system in which mankind
is better off, at least in a material way,
than it ever has been since they rooted about
for acorns. Ambition? The desire for betterment,
for one’s self and family too, the eagerness
for respect that society shows, it cannot be
denied, in financial terms, the only language
universally understood . . . You want to chuck
all that? What are you, some kind of left-wing dreamer?
Greed can get out of hand (but then what can’t?)
and be carried sometimes to grotesque excess.
And if that is the case, then Greed isn’t the sin
but Excess—which oddly does not appear on the list.
A roof over your head, a decent bed,
a nice house, or maybe even a little
more than that? A car that’s fun to drive
and you’re on the road to hell? Does that make sense?
Who’s left? You want to go and live on a commune?
Or maybe some simple place in the third world?
Well, maybe you do, but only because it’s cheaper,
you can get good servants for next to nothing, and live
remarkably well on what your portfolio yields.
The rest of them envy me, and I admit
that I am pleased by this. It’s always nice
when somebody looks at your ring, your stick-pin, your wife,
the emeralds at her neck and on her bosom,
and smiles to hide the grinding of his teeth
as he admits to himself (but you know, too)
that you are the alpha male. The other six
are on the list, but I am the only one
who appears as well in the Ten Commandments, which galls them.
Not that this makes me especially heinous or different,
for who does not feel envy when window-shopping
on Madison in the sixties? He’s blind, or dead,
or he has so much, himself, that he only knows
envy from the receiving end, for it
is a two-way street. You crave what this man has,
or how much he knows, or how good he looks, or his youth
or health, or his success, or his children’s . . . Of course,
you do, and this is a goad to work harder.
Take a longer view, and all the improvements
of the past five hundred years, you must admit,
resulted from my prompting. The labor movement?
Universal suffrage? The fundamental
belief in equal justice? They’re all my doing,
and answers to the envy that first informed
those men and women that they were being treated
like beasts, like dirt. Why then does my name appear
on lists of prohibitions and taboos?
Precisely for that reason—that I disturb
the social order and make the nobles quake
in their huge dining rooms with the centerpieces
of silver and gold, the crystal chandeliers,
the flatware, the fine china, and all those footmen.
They count on it that wealth arouses envy
and hope that the peasants, believing what they’ve been told,
won’t riot (at least not yet), for that would be sinful.
I have an affirmative defense. I am not only not
a sin but the subject of Jehovah’s first commandment:
Be fruitful and multiply. How else does that happen,
do you suppose, and what demented church father
loathing the body, loathing himself, dreamed up
the perverse idea that lust was, in itself,
a bad thing? The Greeks, who were civilized—
at least for a while—thought of me as a god
and accorded me respect. What man or woman
can look at a painting or sculpture, never mind of a nude
but even a pot of flowers, a landscape, a still life,
without lust, or say an appreciation
of the sensuous forms the painter has on offer,
and not respond at all? I should not have been put here
on this ridiculous list, and whoever thinks
I deserve such a calumny ought to see
a shrink. People can, I concede, misuse
my gift, but that’s their business. Love, children,
the survival of the species have their costs.
I invite you to take a walk with me in the springtime
when the girls first reappear in their summer dresses
and tell me it is not good to be alive.
What, I ask you, distinguishes me from hunger
that can’t be a sin, except in the mind of some
self-abusing monk in his cell, despising
whatever is not pure spirit? Men are bodies,
and bodies need to be fed. But to answer the question,
gluttony is excess, some unattractive
fat rich man whom it’s easy to laugh at.
There are, nevertheless, a few words
of explanation (not perhaps a defense
but at least an extenuation) for the deeper
question is the nature of his hunger
that he knows is unhealthy. His doctor, at every visit,
talks of his sleep apnea, his arthritis,
and his A1C hemoglobin that’s high,
and the poor fellow would cut back if he could.
He resolves to do better, and tries, and fails.
That hunger of his isn’t for food but for love.
He is sad, or beyond sad, and in his heartbreak
he needs to be consoled and he dimly remembers—
or cannot quite remember what his body
keeps, still, in its deepest recesses—lying
on his mother’s breast, snug, warm, loved,
and being suckled, and he would give the world
to go back to that, but he can’t, and instead he gorges,
stuffs himself, and never is satisfied.
But is that a moral defect? Or is it the world,
perilous and unfriendly as it is,
that deserves reproof? Show him a little compassion,
the understanding and love that he hungers for.
Not laziness, no, it’s bigger than that. The older
name was better, Accidie, which suggests
a larger fatigue, not only of flesh but of spirit,
a failure, at last, of faith, and that indeed
would be a sin, that is if you believed
in sin. But my people don’t. Perhaps they used to,
but now they get by on pills, the Lexapro
and maybe a little Wellbutrin. And their despair
may not indicate madness but sanity,
for they have seen through to the dismal truth of things—
that nothing lasts, that the dreams of their youth were merely
dreams. They grow up and age, and the body betrays,
and the mind, as it starts to consider the emptiness
that beckons, resigns itself. The childhood faith
they used to have seems quaint, or a bad joke.
There is no afterlife. There is no life.
Return to table of contents here. | <urn:uuid:0b3717fe-d997-45bc-b8ce-06d0b74f6d2e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://maydaymagazine.com/issue2poetryslavittsevendeadlysins.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956103 | 2,283 | 2.328125 | 2 |
had not yet been compiled. After the completion of the study, information on total intake was published (Garriguet, 2010).
Considerations about the adequacy of vitamin D intake must be interpreted in view of the fact that these reference values assume that no vitamin D is contributed to the human body by sun exposure. Given the unknowns concerning the contribution from sunlight as well as the inability to recommend an acceptable level of sun exposure, this assumption was necessary. However, it confounds interpretation of the intake assessment. If persons are obtaining some vitamin D from sun exposure, they are less likely to be at risk for inadequacy if their intakes are below the reference value. Although the extent to which this may be the case cannot be determined, a concomitant examination of serum 25OHD levels can assist in better describing the assessment. Moreover, as mentioned earlier, it is an appropriate component of the assessment of dietary adequacy (foods and supplements) because, whenever possible, the assessment should consider biological parameters (IOM, 2000).
Figure 7-4 shows U.S. vitamin D intake from foods alone. Median vitamin D intake levels for males ranged from 272 to 396 International Units (IU)/day depending upon life stage group. For females, median vitamin D intakes spanned between 160 and 260 IU/day. When intake from supplements is considered to provide total intakes (Figure 7-5), all life stage groups for both male and female Americans show a slight increase in values. The most marked increase is among older women, as was the case for calcium. For women 51 to 70 years of age, median intake of vitamin D from both food and supplements increases to 308 IU/day, compared with vitamin D intake from foods alone, at 140 IU/day. For women more than 70 years of age, the increase in median intake associated with supplement use is an additional 196 IU/day (356 IU with supplements vs. 160 IUs from foods alone).
As shown in Figure 7-5, the 95th percentiles for total vitamin D (foods plus supplements) for males and females range between 568 and 940 IU/day, with both this high and low value found among the female life stage | <urn:uuid:43e97c9a-89ab-48c0-97cc-41c5813277a9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=13050&page=468 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944072 | 449 | 2.84375 | 3 |
versão On-line ISSN 1657-9534
VILLAVICENCIO, Judy Elena. Teachers performance evaluation: the experience of the Dentist Academic Program of the Universidad del Valle. Colomb. Med. [online]. 2008, vol.39, n.1, suppl.1, pp. 57-63. ISSN 1657-9534.
Background Teaching activity evaluation as a result of students' opinion is a process that has been developing in the Dentist Academic Program for approximately ten years. This kind of evaluation has its formal origin in American and European universities during the 1920´s. Objective To analyze the results of the teacher's performance trends according to the inquiries undertaken by the Dentist Academic Program students of the Universidad del Valle from 2005 to 2007, and to determine if there are significant differences in the teacher's evaluation results according to academic ranks and program formation areas. Method: A descriptive transversal study was carried out, with teaching evaluation questionnaires undertaken by students of the Dentist Academic Program of the Universidad del Valle during 2005 and 2007. Results: A total of 474 teachers were evaluated. The average results during the five semesters evaluated for the teachers were 4.4. It was found that in four of the five semesters analyzed do exist significant differences in the results of the evaluation by the students at the level of teachers' academic ranks. Additionally, there were no significant differences in the results of the students' evaluation for the Academic Program Areas.
Palavras-chave : Teacher evaluation; Academic program; Academic ranks; Formation area; Higher education. | <urn:uuid:33bb495a-7407-4d77-8ed6-7b32ab1181d5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scielo.org.co/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S1657-95342008000500007&lng=pt&nrm=iso | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946181 | 329 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Dumb Friends League
|The Dumb Friends League is committed to the welfare of animals.
We shall provide shelter and care for animals.
We shall provide programs and services that enhance the bond between animals and people.
We shall be advocates for animals...
Since 1910, the Dumb Friends League has been committed to the welfare of companion animals. In a year's time, as many as 25,000 lost, unwanted and abused pets come through our doors. We provide shelter, food, veterinary care, love and attention for these animals. We also bring educational and outreach programs to those who may not have an opportunity to visit our facilities.
Our dedicated professionals and volunteers share their compassion, talent and commitment with the thousands of pets in need of our assistance. | <urn:uuid:4b109465-0b7f-420a-b5fe-d18da1b00672> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tatteredcover.com/storepicks/221409 | 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 | 0.958166 | 153 | 1.5 | 2 |
Get involved! Send your photos, video, news & views by texting WN NEWS to 80360 or e-mail us
Help at hand for victims of self storage firm collapse
HELP has been offered to families who are due to retrieve their treasured possessions from a failed Worcester storage company.
As reported in the Worcester News this week, the doors to Guardian Self Storage, Sherriff Street Industrial Estate, which have been locked to customers for about four weeks, opened at 10am today.
Customers have been trying to get their belongings back for weeks with many having cherished possessions locked up at the site, including photographs, furniture, vital household items and even an army training kit.
Guardian Self Storage, which opened in 2000, has gone into voluntary liquidation and a message on its website tells customers to contact the landlord to retrieve their belongings.
Meanwhile, Simon Atkins, of Green Self Storage, Hylton Road, said his business would be happy to provide transport for people if they needed it and had space for items to be stored on his site.
“We heard this was going down the pan about a month ago,” he said.
“We managed to get 10 people to get their stuff out of the container and give them storage here. We want to offer people help or transport. We know it’s a very stressful time moving. Whatever we can do to help we will.”
A family-of-five and a Worcester soldier are among the people who have some of their possessions stored at the site.
“If you’ve got a storage site you’ve effectively got people’s lives in there,” Mr Atkins said.
“You are being a custodian to their history. The last thing I want to see is people questioning the safety of putting stuff into storage.”
For help or more information, call Green Self Storage on 01905 423330. | <urn:uuid:923b78a9-8653-42b3-8a45-17c575188ffe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/local/10023375.Help_at_hand_for_victims_of_self_storage_firm_collapse/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972264 | 404 | 1.515625 | 2 |
A landmark court decision was handed down Wednesday in the case against Ahmed Ghailani, a Guantanmo Bay detainee accused of taking part in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya. Ghailani, a Tanzanian national, was acquitted of all but one of the 286 charges levied against him, most of which were for the murder of the 224 people killed in the embassy bombings. After a disturbed juror asked to be removed from the deliberation process last week, many feared that the Ghailani trial, the first U.S. detainee trial to be conducted in a civilian court, would yield a hung jury. Few, however, predicted such a propitious verdict for the al-Qeada collaborator, an outcome which carries heavy implication for the Obama administration and its controversial quest to try Guantanamo detainees in the criminal justice system.
The trial took place in lower Manhattan before a jury of six men and six women. In addition to the murder (and attempted murder) charges, Ghailani, who is a former Islamic cleric, was also accused of conspiring with Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda. Ghailani had been held in Guantanamo since September 2006 until being transfered to New York in 2009. The decision to try Ghailani in New York City — a “trial” balloon, if you will — was met with fierce opposition from both hawkish conservatives and heedful liberals alike. The trial proceeded for five weeks and the jury deliberated for five days before rendering its verdict.
Many are already claiming a victory of sorts for the Obama administration, and the Justice Department wasted no time issuing a written statement claiming to be “pleased” that Ghailani “now faces a minimum of 20 years and a potential life sentence for his role in the embassy bombings.” Mason Clutter from the Soros-linked Constitution Project declared, “The system worked here.” Did it? In all likelihood, the now-convicted terrorist will indeed face life in prison. Such glowing pronouncements, however, fundamentally misunderstand the broader — and more disconcerting — issue at stake.
A puzzling aspect of the Ghailani case is the one count for which the defendant was found guilty: taking part in a conspiracy to destroy U.S. property. Prima facia, it is unclear how a jury could find someone guilty of conspiracy, but not, by extension, hold that person accountable for the deaths that resulted from that conspiracy.
In ordinary jurisprudence, the prosecution must prove intent beyond a reasonable doubt. In this case, the defense portrayed the defendant as an unwitting collaborator, or, as Ghailani’s attorney Peter Quijano put it:
This innocent, naive boy was used as a dupe by his friends…Call him a pawn, call him a fall guy, but don’t call him guilty.
The upshot is that, according to his defense team, Ghailani knew that he was participating in a concerted effort of some kind, but, hypothetically speaking, this does not necessarily mean that he was aware that what he was participating in was meant to have lethal consequences. At least the jury decided it could not determine intent to kill given the lack of probative evidence and the apparently successful obfuscation of the true nature of the defendant’s state of mind at the time the bombing occurred.
Pages: 1 2 | <urn:uuid:e9f47382-af89-4d77-bb0b-5df93d4b277b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://frontpagemag.com/2010/n-m-hungerford/a-terrorist-victory/comment-page-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96846 | 697 | 1.859375 | 2 |
Almost 3 years after the FDA warned of increased mortality in elderly patients who received atypical antipsychotics off-label for neuropsychiatric syndromes of dementia, no medication has been approved as safe and effective for this increasingly challenging problem. Recent publications, however, including a white paper from the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP), indicate that clinical investigators are wrestling with the dilemma and considering potential alternatives to antipsychotics.
"To prescribe or not to prescribe" the second-generation antipsychotics for behavioral symptoms in elderly patients with dementia is the question posed by Dilip V. Jeste, MD, and Thomas Meeks, MD,1 in 1 of 3 commentaries on this topic in the October issue of the Southern Medical Journal. Jeste is also lead auth- or of the ACNP white paper, in which he and colleagues acknowledge this question as "a clinical conundrum for which there are no immediate or simple solutions."2
The white paper laments the lack of clinical trials with psychotropics in older adults in general and in those with dementia in particular, "with consequent lack of evidence-based therapeutic alternatives." After the ACNP paper was issued, however, the November American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry carried the first head-to-head comparison of an SSRI and a second-generation antipsychotic for noncognitive symptoms associated with dementia.3
Bruce Pollock, MD, PhD, and colleagues found citalopram(Drug information on citalopram) (Celexa) and risperidone(Drug information on risperidone) (Risperdal) to be comparable in their effect on behavioral and psychotic symptoms. The finding of comparable effect from agents with disparate mechanisms, they suggest, may contribute to the understanding of underlying pathophysiology. "Neuro- chemical data consistently point to dopaminergic deficits in dementia," Pollock and colleagues said, "casting doubt about the rationale for using D2-blocking agents in these patients. In contrast, serotonergic deficits are strongly associated with impulse-control disorders and aggression."An indication awaiting medication
In the editorial accompanying the citalopram-risperidone comparative trial, Clive Ballard, MD,4 notes the pressing need for safe, effective treatment of the aggression and nonaggressive agitation that occurs in about 20% of patients with Alzheimer disease in the community and in about 40% to 60% of these patients in care facilities. Although hallucinations have been found in prospective studies to often resolve over a few months, Ballard points out that delusions and agitation are more persistent.
Ballard noted that behavioral problems develop in 90% of people with dementia during their illness. "These symptoms are frequently distressing for the patients who experience them, are problematic for their caregivers, and often precipitate institutional care."
Atypical antipsychotics have generally replaced older antipsychotics in off-label use for dementia-related behavioral symptoms in the elderly because of their advantages of less anticholinergic effect and liability for tardive dyskinesia. This trend came into question, however, with the emergence of other adverse effects, particularly metabolic, and with mixed results from efficacy studies.2
The trend toward using second-generation antipsychotics for this population was further disrupted by FDA warnings of stroke associated with risperidone, olanzapine(Drug information on olanzapine) (Zyprexa), and aripiprazole(Drug information on aripiprazole) (Abilify), as was evidenced in a meta-analysis of 11 trials with risperidone or olanzapine and 3 with aripiprazole.5 A subsequent FDA warning in 2005 associated all second-generation antipsychotics with a 1% to 2% increased mortality rate (a 4.5% mortality rate among patients who received antipsychotics vs 2.6% with placebo in 17 short-term trials).6
In addition to adverse effects, second-generation antipsychotics have shown no more than modest efficacy for patients with dementia in meta-analyses of clinical trials and in the large CATIE-Alzheimer Disease (AD) study. In a meta-analysis of trials before the CATIE-AD, including a total of more than 3300 patients with dementia, there was a statistically small effect size in symptom rating scale scores, supporting evidence of efficacy of aripiprazole and risperidone but not of olanzapine; and insufficient data to ascertain efficacy of quetiapine(Drug information on quetiapine).5
In the CATIE-AD study, with more than 400 patients, olanzapine, quetiapine, and risperidone were not significantly better than placebo in the primary outcome of time to discontinuation.7 Discontinuation for lack of efficacy did favor olanzapine and risperidone, while discontinuation because of adverse events favored placebo. Dementia patients with neuro- psychiatric disturbances other than psychosis did better with the antipsychotics than did those with psychotic symptoms.
Although the FDA warnings on cerebrovascular events and mortality rates were specific to the second-generation antipsychotics, there is evidence that the first-generation antipsychotics are no safer. A retrospective population-based cohort study with more than 27,000 matched pairs found a higher risk of death with these neuroleptics at all monthly points in the 4-month study period.8 Another retrospective study, published shortly after the FDA warning of increased mortality with second-generation antipsychotics, also found a higher risk with first-generation agents.9
"This scenario leads to a Hamlet-like dilemma," Jeste and Meeks1 declared. "Should [physicians] continue or stop prescribing atypical antipsychotics, the drugs that are presently the most commonly used off-label medications for this group of patients?"Testing an alternative
The ACNP white paper indicated that there are fewer studies with all other medication classes than with antipsychotics for neuropsychiatric symptoms of dementia.2 The studies with alternative medications were characterized as having "at best, mixed results regarding therapeutic efficacy and tolerability."
One of these trials, however, had indicated that citalopram was superior to placebo in reducing total score and scores on the lability and agitation subscales of the Neurobehavioral Rating Scale (NBRS); and as efficacious but better tolerated than the antipsychotic, perphenazine(Drug information on perphenazine) (Trilafon).10 From this, Pollock and colleagues3 undertook the comparison of citalopram with risperidone. They hypothesized that risperidone would be more efficacious for psychotic symptoms but that citalopram would be better tolerated and more efficacious for agitation.
The study randomized 103 elderly patients with dementia, who were hospitalized for behavioral symptoms, to 12 weeks of treatment with titrated doses of either citalopram or risperidone. The mean maximum doses were 31.1 mg of citalopram and 1.3 mg of risperidone. The primary outcome measure was a reduction in the NBRS agitation and psychosis scores.
Citalopram and risperidone were associated with comparable and statistically significant reductions in psychosis scores. The reduction in agitation score was also comparable between agents but was statistically significantly reduced only with citalopram. Patients receiving citalopram also had a lower burden of adverse effects, which included sedation, tension, and apathy.3
Although the agents were associated with comparable symptom scale score reductions, the investigators were unable to conclude that they demonstrated comparable efficacy. They were limited in such interpretation by the absence of a placebo control design, which was ruled out for this population by the institutional review board.
Without placebo control, Pollock and colleagues3 said, "rather than equivalent efficacy of the two drugs, the absence of differences may reflect their similar lack of efficacy."
Given the better tolerability of citalopram in this study, however, and the concerns regarding cerebrovascular events and increased mortality rates associated with the antipsychotics, these authors suggest, "our findings should encourage the conduct of additional trials of citalopram and other agents in the treatment of behavioral and psychotic symptoms associated with dementia."
1. Jeste DV, Meeks T. To prescribe or not to prescribe? Atypical antipsychotic drugs in patients with dementia. So Med J. 2007;100:961-963.
2. Jeste DV, Blazer D, Casey D, et al. ACNP white paper: update on use of antipsychotic drugs in elderly persons with dementia. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2007 Jul 18; [Epub ahead of print].
3. Pollock BG, Mulsant B, Rosen J, et al. A double-blind comparison of citalopram and risperidone for the treatment of behavioral and psychotic symptoms associated with dementia. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2007;15:942-952.
4. Ballard C. Agitation and psychosis in dementia. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2007;15:913-917.
5. Schneider LS, Dagerman K, Insel PS. Efficacy and adverse effects of atypical antipsychotics for dementia: meta-analysis of randomized, placebo-controlled trials. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2006;14:191-210.
6. FDA Public Health Advisory: deaths with antipsychotics in elderly patients with behavioral disturbances. April 11, 2005. Available at: http://www. fda.gov/Cder/drug/advisory/antipsychotics.htm. Accessed November 27, 2007.
7. Schneider LS, Tariot PN, Dagerman KS, et al. Effectiveness of atypical antipsychotic drugs in patients with Alzheimer's disease. N Engl J Med. 2006;355: 1525-1538.
8. Gill SS, Broskill SE, Sharon-Lise T, et al. Antipsychotic drug use and mortality in older adults with dementia. Ann Intern Med. 2007;146:775-786.
9. Wang PS, Schneeweiss S, Avorn J, et al. Risk of death in elderly users of conventional vs atypical anti- psychotic medications. N Engl J Med. 2005;353: 2335-2341.
10. Pollock BG, Mulsant BH, Rosen J, et al. Comparison of citalopram, perphenazine and placebo for the acute treatment of psychosis and behavioral disturbances in hospitalized, demented patients. Am J Psychiatry. 2002;159:460-465. * | <urn:uuid:9d5b1d77-3305-44df-9385-af0ccb9425a2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/display/article/10168/1147566 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920202 | 2,224 | 1.992188 | 2 |
Decaf may also offer some protection, study finds,,,,
MONDAY, Dec. 14 (HealthDay News) -- Here's good news for people who can't start their morning without a cup or two of java: Coffee and tea consumption may decrease the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
That's the conclusion of an Australian study that also found the more coffee you drink, the lower your risk of diabetes. Every cup of coffee was associated with a 7 percent reduction in the risk of diabetes, the researchers said.
"There is good evidence that consumption of coffee, including decaffeinated coffee, and tea is independently associated with a reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes," said the study's lead author, Rachel Huxley, an associate professor and director of the renal and metabolic division at The George Institute for International Health at the University of Sydney in Australia.
Results of the study are published in the Dec. 14/28 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Other studies have also noted health benefits from coffee. Last week, at the American Association for Cancer Research meeting, researchers reported that coffee consumption reduced the risk of dying from prostate cancer. According to other studies, coffee may help thwart liver disease, Alzheimer's, stroke and Parkinson's disease.
Experts initially thought caffeine was the source of any health advantages from coffee. However, research on decaffeinated coffee suggests that java minus the caffeine can still benefit your health.
In an attempt to better assess the relationship between coffee, decaffeinated coffee and tea on diabetes risk, Huxley and her colleagues reviewed 18 previously completed studies that included 457,922 people. Six of those studies included information on decaffeinated coffee consumption, while seven included information on tea-drinking habits.
The researchers found that people who drink three to four c
All rights reserved | <urn:uuid:a657636d-d4d8-47da-864e-7f378dbec1b0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bio-medicine.org/medicine-news-1/coffee--tea-might-stave-off--diabetes-63246-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962444 | 371 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Culture and the Commons - Cultural Policies for Commons Practices
0 (0 Likes / 0 Dislikes)
Culture and the Commons Cultural policies for Commons practice International Commons Conference, Berlin, 01.11.2010 Ok, the 5 minutes challenge.. My name is Jose Murilo, and I am from the Brazilian Ministry of Culture and I am going to present our experience implementing digital culture policies from inside the government. It all starts with Gilberto Gil our minister from 2003 to 2008 when he became the minister of culture he is a grammy awarded world musician and he declared himself a 'hacker-minister' in the sense of studying the government mechanisms in order to adjust and reconfigure them according to the dynamics and needs of present times In this picture he is in a concert with David Byrne in New York promoted by Wired magazine and Creative Commons, it was in September 2004 But it is important for us here to trace back what Gil was doing in the sixties this is the Tropicalia movement in Brazil The Tropicalia movement presented a totally new approach and became a cultural revolution in Brazil The main aspects of Tropicalia were: openness, for example: regional rhythms mixed with electric guitars and the urge to communicate and mix across cultures also, transnationalism, and a kind of a confusion about left-right positions in politics For example: Gil managed to aggravate both the military right and the intellectual left with his music the former for subversion and the latter for embracing Anglo-American rock and pop. The fact of having Gilberto Gil from Tropicalia at the Brazilian Ministry of Culture caught the attention of some observers In fact, the close connection with the Creative Commons movement from someone that is a state minister, was key to that. But there were some other important elements too The Cultural Hotspots a project of the Ministry of Culture which the idea is to empower local cultural groups with: a broadband connection; digital multimedia infrastructure; and technical workshops on open-source audio and video-editing software The goal is to enable the cultural groups to digitize their creativity and publish it under alternative licenses mixing: free software, advanced concepts on copyrights, and some kind of a new awareness . But the ministry absorbed these new technologies, these new possibilities. Digital Culture as the Culture of Using these technical possibilities Which means the institution, the ministry, getting a hold of the many possibilities of interaction with its users making an intensive use of blogs, social networks, and interactivity This is the social network that the government The Ministry of Culture launched the CulturaDigital.BR which is a permanent platform for open and collaborative policy design It is also the very place where the Digital Culture Coordination which is a formal sector of the ministry, works. During this year we had some important open political processes hosted at the social network CulturaDigital.BR one of them is the collaborative policies for digital culture There is one project that is very dear to me which is the 'ecossystem for digital collections' a communication protocol to integrate digitization programs also the civil-rights based regulatory framework in a partnership with the Ministry of Justice . After the open collaborative process to build the proposal, it is about to be sent to congress for approval. and also the reform of the Brazilian Copyright Act We finished the open consultation, and the consolidation is being prepared to be sent to congress. There is also the National Broadband Program In this case, the social network is a kind of political avatar at the committee that evaluates the guidelines for the program. Brazil is in a very special moment Dilma Roussef won the election yesterday [YES!] Dilma was the one who launched the process of the Brazilian Digital Culture Forum so she is very connected with us it happened as she was the Secretary of State in 2009. In 2 weeks from now we will have the 2nd Edition of the Brazilian Digital Culture Forum which happens in Sao Paulo This one is called the network of networks, and will showcase the many developments of digital culture in Brazil We invite all of you to come we also invited Dilma, we hope she will be with us.. and we hope this will be a moment to celebrate digital culture and a projection of possibilities for the next term in Brazil. The opening will be with John Barlow and Gilberto Gil It will be very nice.. And I think.. that's all. I just have to say that this experience shows how culture and politics, blending, have a very interesting way of pushing the Commons into a new narrative. Thank you..
Duration: 6 minutes and 6 seconds
License: CC - Public Domain
Genre: Video Blog
Producer: Jose Murilo
Director: Jose Murilo
Views: 210 (129 embedded)
Posted by: josemurilo on Dec 22, 2010
Speed Presentation of Exciting Commons Projects #6 - Digital Culture Commons in Brazil - International Commons Conference 2010 - Berlin - Heinrich Boell Foundation
Sign In/Register for Dotsub to translate this video. | <urn:uuid:61ee2539-71e9-47ac-a539-edc0a201c293> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dotsub.com/view/a8d44ba1-74ce-4781-bfc1-335dacbc61d5 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939715 | 1,000 | 1.515625 | 2 |
To explore current public relations/communications practices with Wikipedia, I’m conducting a survey sponsored by the Arthur W. Page Center. My goal is to explore current engagement with Wikipedia and identify what changes are necessary.
I started researching Wikipedia in 2006 with Marcus Messner, Virginia Commonwealth University, and we have been arguing for years that public relations professionals should monitor their Wikipedia articles. Our 2010 study found that the negative content in corporate Wikipedia articles increased from 2006 to 2008 to 2010 and articles were becoming less focused on historical information and more on legal issues and controversies.
Given our findings and the wide use of Wikipedia by the public, having articles with incorrect or outdated information is not in anyone’s interest, but edits made by public relations professionals are unlikely to stick. Gerry Corbett, chair and CEO of the Public Relations Society of America, along with many others have suggested that Wikipedia policies should be based on accuracy and transparency in Wikipedia articles; no matter who does the editing, as long as the information is accurate, unbiased and properly referenced.
Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia, doesn’t agree and has stated “This is not complicated. There is a very simple “bright line” rule that constitutes best practice: do not edit Wikipedia directly if you are a paid advocate. Respect the community by interacting with us appropriately.”
Unfortunately, many public relations professionals don’t know the rule, tried playing by it without success, have chosen to ignore it, and/or quite possibly the rule needs to be changed or better communicated.
I’m a member of the Corporate Representatives for Ethical Wikipedia Engagement (CREWE) group and we are working with Jimmy Wales and other Wikipedia editors to identify how we can have a constructive relationship with the goal of maintaining accurate Wikipedia articles. This has proven not to be an easy task and hopefully my research study can help.
This article originally appeared as a Research Conversations blog posting on the Institute for Public Relations website.
Marcia W. DiStaso, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Public Relations at Pennsylvania State University, Chair of the PRSA Financial Communications Section, and Co-Chair of the PRSA National Research Committee. | <urn:uuid:7afe8934-bd0f-4210-ad57-32794da25b88> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://comprehension.prsa.org/?p=4603 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94701 | 452 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Sorting it all Out Michael Kaplan's random stuff of dubious value Be sure to read the disclaimer here first!
I'm not sure how many of you remember when I posted Hungarian is even more complicated than I thought and More on the fabled EqualString.
Not because I don't have stats or anything, but because there is no way to gauge how many of you are new readers and how many of you really have nothing better to do that read what I am posting here. :-)
Anyway, I am going to talk about RtlEqualUnicodeString and RtlCompareUnicodeString, the functions in ntdll.dll that do binary comparisons that can be cae insensitive, again.
I found out something really interesting about them the other day.
Now it is obvious how RtlEqualUnicodeString might be used -- I mean, if you have two strings and you need to know in a binary sense whether they are equal (possibly ignoring case) then it can be very handy. Because no matter how un-natural the comparison seems to humans, the fact is that lots of Windows loves it.
Of course the actual usage of RtlCompareUnicodeString is a bit less clear -- I mean, the order has no meaning to humans. So a function that uses it to order two strings seems like a ripe source for incorrect usage.
Don't worry, it turns out that nobody is using that order inappropriately.
In just about every case, the return value of the function is tested to see whether it was equal to or not equal to zero.
Yes, that is right -- almost everyone who uses it is essentially duplicating the functionality of RtlEqualUnicodeString.
When you get down to it, one has to wonder how much more expensive is operation A than operation B:
A - compare two strings, one WCHAR at a time, return the difference if there is one as soon as you find it, then compare that number to zero to see if there is in fact a difference.
B - compare two strings, one WCHAR at a time, return TRUE or FALSE as soon as you know whether they are in fact equal.
Remembering for a moment that a difference that makes no difference, makes no difference -- do you think it makes a significant difference?
Hopefully not. Though it worries me that no one seems to be doing anything beyond what RtlEqualUnicodeString would provide. So why take a hit at all?
I resisted the temptation to just go and fix all of the occurrences (it is a 100% safe change but even so, I hate when people do it to code I own).
I also resisted the temptation to send out a bunch of mail to all of the owners to tell them to change their code (I hate when people do that to me, too).
Now that I read this post again, it occurs to me that this will probably not actually be very interesting to people. It just seemed weird to me.
Though if you own one of those calls to RtlCompareUnicodeString, then feel free to change it; at worst it will just be more self-documenting as to the intention, and at best (if the code is called many times in a tight loop) it could even help performance!
This post brought to you by "P" (U+0050, a.k.a. LATIN CAPITAL LETTER P)
(no, this post is not about a rap or hip hop song, or its lyrics, though I admit the title may have been
(Negative assessment word ( blows ) chosen via a magic eight ball and the info in this post ) Benski
The title quote comes from a Friends episode with Lisa Kudrow ending the mini conversation by giving
"Ouch... for a while, I figured Rtl stands for Right-to-left! "
Nope, it stands for "Run-Time Library". Do you know about the NT Native APIs in NTDLL.DLL? Rtl* APIs were utility functions that in user mode did not call directly to kernel mode. Nt* and Zw* APIs were in user mode stubs to do a system call to kernel mode which implements the API. In kernel mode, the Win32 API do not exist, and so the NT Native APIs are always used, and in kernel mode there is a difference between Zw* and Nt*. These APIs are mostly undocumented, the third-party that created Interix (a replacement for the POSIX subsystem) had to obtain NT source code to do so. | <urn:uuid:bb35c8d8-30fe-4c2f-9a5d-61651e33aae9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.msdn.com/b/michkap/archive/2006/02/09/528297.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958258 | 955 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Rates will increase despite slower growth in demand
February 16, 2010
Electricity rates in Indiana are predicted to rise despite slower than normal growth in demand, according to a recent report from the State Utility Forecasting Group at Purdue. These increases could ultimately lead to gains in efficiency.
Specifically, the report says overall rates will increase by 12 percent in 2013. Residents will see a 14 percent rise while commercial and industrial sectors will see 13 percent and 11 percent increases, respectively.
Duke Energy, the company providing electricity to the West Lafayette and Lafayette areas, will also likely see an increase in its rates. Purdue also buys 55 percent of its electricity from Duke Energy,
Lew Middleton, Duke Energy spokesman, said the company does not have a specific projection for rates, but “we do foresee that electricity prices will go up.”
Rates are increasing because of several main factors, according to Douglas Gotham, director of the Forecasting Group.
“The biggest one is probably the utilities have added new pollution containment units in order to meet stricter federal emission standards,” Gotham said.
This applies to Duke Energy as, according to Middleton, the company has invested hundreds of millions of dollars on environmental compliance. Duke Energy is also working on a new, cleaner plant costing roughly $2.35 billion that converts coal into a synthetic gas before being burnt.
“Those costs are eligible to be recovered by rate payers,” Middleton said. Stated differently, Indiana laws allow the cost of adding technology to make power plants cleaner to be passed onto consumers. Previous calculations by Duke placed an 18 percent rate increase from 2008 to 2013.
Another factor, Gotham said, which actually increases electricity rates, is the slower than normal growth in demand.
“The growth in demand has slowed from what we’ve seen in the last 25 years,” Gotham said.
Gotham proposed that economic factors are at the root of the slacking growth, with manufacturers consuming less, along with increased consumer efficiency.
“Any time electricity rates go up, that tends to dampen consumption,” Gotham said.
The connection between increased rates and efficiency was stressed by Gotham. Offering support to his position, Gotham said, “States across the U.S. that tend to have the most active efficiency programs have the highest electricity rates.”
Consumers, motivated to save money, will reduce consumption.
“Companywide, we have initiatives to help customers save money and be more efficient,” said Middleton.
Duke Energy offers free efficiency audits for customers and encourages the use of fluorescent bulbs, which can have a major impact on electricity consumption.
“If I replace all the incandescents with compact fluorescents ... then I’m going to be using one-fourth of the electricity,” Gotham said.
Beyond improving the efficiency of its consumers, Duke Energy actively improves its energy production profile.
Middleton said, “In Indiana, we are purchasing up to 100 megawatts from the Benton County Wind Farm.”
Purdue University, generating 45 percent of its electricity needs from its Wade Utility Plant, purchases the other 55 percent from Duke Energy, said Erick Van Meter, director of utilities. For fiscal year 2010, the purchased energy budget is $10.4 million. Van Meter said an increase of $400,000 is expected for next year as well as the next two to three years.
The power plant at Purdue is considered to be primarily a heating and cooling plant. Electricity is simply a byproduct. In the face of rising costs of buying electricity, Van Meter said Purdue will try to produce more of its own.
“We’ll generate slightly more, but chances are we’ll end up purchasing more,” said Van Meter. “Sometimes that energy costs more for us to make than to buy it.”
Overall, Van Meter was not surprised by the increase in rates resulting from energy companies adapting to new environmental concerns and regulations.
Van Meter said, “It’s just part of business, and they’re doing their part for the environment.”
Source: The Exponent Online
May 10, 2013
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Researchers have created a new tool to detect flaws in lithium-ion batteries as they are being manufactured, a step toward reducing defects and inconsistencies in the thickness of electrodes that affect battery life and reliabiRead Full Story | <urn:uuid:c4f95cb3-2396-44ba-8380-6f0716e5734b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.purdue.edu/discoverypark/energy/news/view.php?id=209 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953849 | 932 | 2.234375 | 2 |
Migraine is a common neurological condition occurring in at least 15 to 20 percent of the population and in up to 50 percent of women.
Classic migraine starts with visual symptoms (often zigzag lines, colored lights or flashes of light expanding to one side of your vision over 10 to 30 minutes), followed by a single-sided pounding, severe headache. Along with the headache, you may have nausea, vomiting and light sensitivity.
Common migraine may cause only a headache felt on both sides of the head. Many people who thought their headaches were due to stress, tension or sinus pain may actually have this form of migraine.
Some people experience flashes of light that look like jagged lines or “heat waves” in both eyes, often lasting 10 to 20 minutes. These types of flashes are usually caused by a spasm of blood vessels in the brain. If a headache follows the flashes, it is called a migraine headache.
However, you can experience the jagged lines or heat wave flashes and not have a headache. In this case, the light flashes are called ophthalmic migraine, or migraine without headache. Contact your ophthalmologist if you experience these symptoms.
Next Page: Migraine Causes | <urn:uuid:b96dd948-41ea-441e-89be-94749ff174f0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eyecareamerica.org/eyesmart/diseases/migraine.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929626 | 248 | 3.375 | 3 |
The potato plant (Solanum tuberosum) is a member of the Solanaceae, or nightshade, family, a family of flowering plants that also includes the eggplant, mandrake, deadly nightshade or belladonna, tobacco, tomato, and petunia. Its starchy tubers (stem thickened for use as a storage organ), called potatoes, are one of the world's most commonly grown and important food crops.
Potatoes are the world's most widely grown tuber crop, and the fourth largest crop in terms of fresh produce (after rice, wheat, and maize), but this ranking is inflated due to the high water content of fresh potatoes relative to that of other crops. The potato is native to in the Andes, likely somewhere in present-day Peru or Bolivia, and spread to the rest of the world after European contact with the Americas in the late 1400s and early 1500s.
Being easy to grow and having excellent nutritional value (although raw and wild potatoes have some toxicity concerns), the potato was the major staple crop of Ireland when the potato famine hit in the mid-nineteenth century, costing millions of lives. That crisis revealed some of the worse of human nature and misapplication of religious beliefs. Some Irish Catholics simply accepted their fate as divine providence. On the other hand, some Protestants considered it punishment brought on by the Catholics for practicing a flawed religion—even requiring starving families to convert to Protestantism before they would be given food, thus ignoring Jesus' dictum to love one's enemy and the religious principle of living for the sake of others.
The sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) is another crop plant with large, starchy, tubers (from roots), but is only distantly related to the potato (Solanum tuberosum). Although the sweet potato is sometimes known as yam in the United States, it is unrelated to the botanical yam.
The potato plant is an herbaceous perennial in that it lacks a woody stem and lives more than two years. It grows 90 to 100 centimeters (3 to 4 feet) tall and is covered with dark green leaves. The above-ground part of the plant dies each winter and regrows in spring. It flowers three to four weeks after sprouting. The flowers are white, pink, or purple with yellow stamens. After many years of cultivation, the potato has lost much of its ability to produce seeds. Only very rarely does a flower produce a fruit. These are called seed balls and look like small green tomatoes. Each contains up to three hundred seeds, which are sometimes planted in an effort to create new potato varieties. They should not be eaten as they have poisonous substances.
The below-ground part of the potato plant continues to live after the above-ground part has died in winter. Food energy for the next year's growth, in the form of protein and starch, and also water is stored in tubers, called potatoes, which are rhizomes (modified stems) attached to the root system. They are covered by an outer skin called the periderm. Inside that is the cortex, which serves as a storage area for protein and starch. Inside that is the vascular ring that receives starch from the plant's leaves and stem. The starch moves out of the vascular ring to the parenchyma cells that surround it. These cells are the tuber's main storage areas for starch. The pith, which makes up the center of the tuber, is the main area for water storage.
A potato plant grows anywhere from three to 20 tubers during its growing season. In the spring the tubers sprout and the above-ground plants grow anew.
There are about two hundred species of wild potato. They all somewhat resemble the common potato, Solanum tuberosum, which does not grow in the wild. They are found only in the New World where they grow in Western South America from central Argentina and Chile, north through Mexico, and into the Southwestern United States. Peru has the largest number of wild potato species (Hijmans and Spooner 2001).
Most potato species grow at high elevations in mountainous regions with hot summers and cold winters.
It is likely that people have been digging up and eating wild potatoes for thousands of years. At some point, it was discovered that by replanting stored tubers a larger crop could be produced and potato cultivation began. This seems to have happened about 7,000 years ago in Southern Peru. Besides Solanum tuberosum, six other species of potato are cultivated today in South America.
Potatoes were an important part of the diet of the Incas and other peoples of Western South America. They were prepared in many ways, including being frozen and ground into flour. Hundreds of varieties of potatoes were, and still are, grown in South America. They are adapted for different growing conditions, some being grown at an elevation of 4,500 meters (15,000 feet).
A. Hayatt Verrill, in his book Foods America Gave the World, wrote:
I do not believe that anyone knows how many varieties of potatoes there are in Peru, but to a person accustomed to out ordinary everyday “spuds," the display of potatoes in a Peruvian market is simply bewildering. There are tubers with white, yellow, pink, gray and lavender "meat"; with skins white, pink, red, yellow, brown, green, purple, orange, black, and spotted and streaked with various hues; potatoes of every conceivable size and shape, some as smooth and shiny as a tomato, others as rough and warty as a toad.
The first European record of the potato came in 1537 from the Spanish conquistador Castellanos, who discovered the tuber when his group raided a village in South America. After the potato was brought over to Spain, it gradually spread across Europe. Initially, the food was treated with distrust, and was believed to be unhealthy and even un-Christian. This prevented widespread acceptance for a period, although it began to be promoted as a medicinal plant.
Popular legend has long credited Sir Walter Raleigh with first bringing the potato to England. History suggests Sir Francis Drake as a more likely candidate. In 1586, after battling the Spaniards in the Caribbean, Drake stopped at Cartagena in Colombia to collect provisions—including tobacco and potato tubers. Before returning to England, he stopped at Roanoke Island, where the first English settlers had attempted to set up a colony. The pioneers returned to England with Drake, along with the potatoes. Agriculturalists in Europe soon found potatoes easier to grow and cultivate than other staple crops, such as wheat and oats; potatoes produce more food energy than any other European crop for the same area of land and require only a shovel for harvesting.
The potato became such an important food for the Irish that the popular imagination automatically associates the two today, but its early history in Ireland remains obscure. One speculation has it that the potato may have originally arrived in Ireland washed ashore from wrecked galleons of the Spanish Armada (1589). Another story credits the introduction of the potato in Ireland to Sir Walter Raleigh, a financier of transatlantic expeditions, at least one of which made landfall at Smerwick, County Kerry in October 1587. However, no record survives of what botanical specimens it may have carried or whether they thrived in Ireland. Some stories say that Raleigh first planted the potato on his estate near Cork. A 1699 source (over one century after the event) says, “The potato .... Was brought first out of Virginia by Sir Walter Raleigh, and he stopping at Ireland, some was planted there, where it thrived well and to good purpose, for in three succeeding wars, when all the corn above ground was destroyed, this supported them; for the soldiers, unless they had dug up all the ground where they grew, and almost sifted it, could not extirpate them” (Tomas 2003).
Whatever the source, the potato became popular in Ireland both because of its high productivity and because of the advantages of both growth and storage hidden underground. English landlords also encouraged potato-growing by Irish tenants because they wanted to produce more wheat—if the Irish could survive on a crop that took less land, that would free a greater area for wheat production. By 1650, potatoes had become a staple food of Ireland, and they began to replace wheat as the major crop elsewhere in Europe, serving to feed both people and animals.
A single devastating event, however, looms large in the Irish history of potatoes—the Irish potato famine. In the 1840s, a major outbreak of potato blight, a plant disease caused by a fungus, swept through Europe, wiping out the potato crop in many countries. The Irish working class lived largely on the unpalatable but fertile 'lumper,' and when the blight reached Ireland their main staple food disappeared.
Though Ireland grew a variety of crops at this time, most went as exports to Europe for sale at a higher price. In fact, during the Potato Famine, Ireland remained a net exporter of foodstuffs, being that the exported foods remained too expensive for the Irish themselves to afford. Historians continue to debate the roles that English rule and European market prices played in causing the famine. The potato, which was a blessing to Ireland because of its nutritional value coupled with the fact that many potatoes could be grown on small areas of land, became a problem when the people became overly dependent on it, with a homogenous diet.
Some misguided aspects of religion also played a role. Many of the Catholic Irish considered it the work of divine providence and just accepted their fate, and many of the non-Irish Protestants, particularly in England, as well as Irish Protestants, likewise considered it providence, caused by the Catholics for having a flawed religion. Some Protestants insisted on conversion prior to giving any food, even to those parents and children starving to death (Stitt 2006).
Ultimately, the famine led to almost a million deaths, and the subsequent emigration of millions more Irish. Over 18 percent of the population of Ireland died in 1847 and almost 18 percent in 1849. Emigration from the German states also grew, although central Europe did not suffer the mass starvation that occurred in Ireland.
By the seventeenth century, the potato had become firmly established as a staple of Europe's poor, leading richer people to spurn it. This changed gradually, with Antoine-Augustin Parmentier's persuading King Louis XVI of France of the value of the crop that he was fed as a prisoner of Prussia during the Seven Year's War. The soup potage Parmentier and shepherd's pie hachis Parmentier take their names from the great horticulturist. By the end of the eighteenth century, the potato had become popular in France due to the advocacy of Parmentier.
Today, potatoes grow widely in Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Russia, and other Northern or Eastern European nations, due to their ability to thrive in cold, damp climates. Potatoes figure in many national dishes of this region. Because the potato grew so well in Northern Europe, it may have contributed to the population explosion there in the nineteenth century.
In Russia, potatoes met with initial suspicion: the people called them "the Devil's apples" because of folklore surrounding things that grow underground or that have associations with dirt.
Although potatoes were called "potatoes of the Virginia" by early English botanists, they were in fact from South America, not Virginia. The first mention of potatoes in North America comes in an account of Scots-Irish settlers in Londonderry, New Hampshire during 1719. Potatoes were used for food and as animal feed. The first potatoes planted in Idaho were in 1836, but it was not until after the development by Luther Burbank of the Russet potato that potatoes became a major Idaho crop, at the beginning of the twentieth century. While potatoes are grown commercially in at least 35 states, most potatoes are grown in the north. Idaho grows 30 percent of the total U.S. potato crop, Washington state another 20 percent; Michigan, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Colorado, and Oregon round out the top producers.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, the worldwide production of potatoes in 2005 was 322 million metric tons which makes it the fifth highest production crop in the world.
The leading producers of potatoes in 2005 were:
in million metric tons
Potatoes are an important part of the diet in many countries, especially in Northern Europe and North America, and are featured in a number of their national dishes and most popular dishes. Potatoes are an excellent food providing carbohydrates, protein, vitamins (especially Vitamin C and Vitamin B6), and minerals (especially iron and potassium). Freshly harvested potatoes retain more vitamin C than stored potatoes. Potatoes contain almost no fat, and are low in calories. The skin of potatoes has dietary fiber and cooking potatoes in their skin tends to result in less leaching of vitamins and minerals.
The potassium and magnesium content, with low sodium content, helps in keeping blood pressure low. Magnesium also helps to prevent tissue calcification and in overcoming formation of stones in the bladder.
Potatoes (particularly mashed potatoes) are known to have a high Glycemic index (rate at which a food raises the blood sugar level), a disqualifying factor in many diets. New potatoes have a lower Glycemic index, as well as are higher in vitamin C.
New and fingerling potatoes offer the advantage that they contain fewer toxic chemicals. Such potatoes offer an excellent source of nutrition. Peeled, long-stored potatoes have less nutritional value, especially when fried, although they still have potassium and vitamin C.
Toxic compounds in potatoes
Potatoes contain glycoalkaloids, toxic compounds of which the most prevalent are solanine and chaconine. Cooking at high temperatures (over 170 °C or 340 °F) partly destroys these. The concentration of glycoalkaloid in wild potatoes and raw potatoes suffices to produce toxic effects in humans. Glycoalkaloids occur in the greatest concentrations just underneath the skin of the tuber, and they increase with age and exposure to light. Glycoalkaloids may cause headaches, diarrhea, and cramps. Those with susceptibility may also experience migraines, even from a small amount of potatoes. In severe cases of poisoning, coma and death can occur; however, poisoning from potatoes occurs very rarely. Light exposure also causes greening, thus giving a visual clue as to areas of the tuber that may have become more toxic; however, this does not provide a definitive guide, as greening and glycoalkaloid accumulation can occur independently of each other. Some varieties of potato contain greater glycoalkaloid concentrations than others; breeders developing new varieties test for this, and sometimes have to discard an otherwise promising cultivar.
Breeders try to keep solanine levels below 0.2 mg/g (200 ppmw). However, when even these commercial varieties turn green, they can approach concentrations of solanine of 1 mg/g (1,000 ppmw). Some studies suggest that 200 mg of solanine can constitute a dangerous dose. This dose would require eating one average-sized spoiled potato or four to nine good potatoes (over 3 pounds or 1.4 kg) at one time. The National Toxicology Program suggests that the average American consumes 12.5 mg/person/day of solanine from potatoes. Dr. Douglas L. Holt, the State Extension Specialist for Food Safety at the University of Missouri - Columbia, notes that no reported cases of potato-source solanine poisoning have occurred in the U.S. in the last 50 years and most cases involved eating green potatoes or drinking potato-leaf tea.
Solanine is also found in other plants, in particular the deadly nightshade. This poison affects the nervous system causing weakness and confusion.
- Hamilton, A., and D. Hamilton. 2004. Potatoes - Solanum tuberosums (accessed on May 4, 2005).
- Hijmans, R. J., and D. M. Spooner. 2001. Geographic distribution of wild potato species. American Journal of Botany 88: 2101-2112.
- Houghton, C. S. 1978. Green Immigrants; The Plants that Transformed America. New York, NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
- Ingram, C. 1996. The Vegetable Ingredients Cookbook. Lorenz Books. ISBN 1859672647
- Salaman, R. N. 1985. The History and Social Influence of the Potato. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
- Spooner, D.M., et al. 2005. A single domestication for potato based on multilocus amplified fragment length polymorphism genotyping. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, Published online before print October 3, 2005.
- Stitt, S. 2006. The roles and attitudes of Irish Protestants during the Potato Famine. Irquas Insight 2. http://homepage.eircom.net/~archaeology/two/famine.htm.
- Tomas, P. M. 2003. The potato in Irish history.
- Verrill, A. H. 1937. Foods America Gave the World Boston, MA: L. C. Page & Company.
New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:
Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed. | <urn:uuid:7e3f4db1-dd8b-4f80-9dc9-6ec6930c2e16> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Potato | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951084 | 3,734 | 3.484375 | 3 |
Adjust Volume ^
:: We'll Carry You Back :: Step Into the 1850s ::
Exchange Place, - a living history farm, is Kingsport's tonic for today's fast paced life. The site was once a community that served as a self-supporting plantation, a relay station along the Old Stage Road and the Post Office for Eden's Ridge, TE. Exchange Place -- the Gaines-Preston Farm recaptures life in the early 1800s where you exchange horse, money and stories.
Spring Garden Fair : April 27 (10:00 -- 5:00) & April 28 (12:00 -- 5:00). Admission charged at gate. $1 adults, 50 cents children under 12.
As part of Exchange Place's commitment to preserve 19th century agricultural life, period livestock now reside on the farm. Domestic skills, including spinning, weaving, quilting, candle dipping and basketry, are frequently demonstrated during festivals and by special arrangements. (See Calendar of Events) | <urn:uuid:a6488b08-d940-4991-a780-62c2596e184b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.exchangeplace.info/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936222 | 205 | 1.773438 | 2 |
It's definitely not named after Midori Matsuo, the lingerie designer from Japan. And we know it's not related to the "refreshing green liqueur" that tastes like a melon. No, Midori is the code-name for the new Microsoft operating system project that could follow after Windows 7.
According to a BBC report, itseems Midori will use "managed code" – which is a fancy way of saying that the OS is hardware-independent: it will run on any device regardless of the hardware platform, a true "cloud computing" OS. Similar to how data centres use virtualisation to run multiple operating systems, or how Java can run the same application on multiple phones, a managed code OS would not be tied to the PC.
Working in a cloud
That's important for several reasons. One is that, in cloud computing, where you are is not as important as having Internet access. Your data lives in a netherworld, "somewhere" in a remote data centre. The entire concept is meant to encourage mobility, platform independence, and reliable data stores.
In this future scenario, where Google is literally parked in your same neighbourhood in the same way that the power company provides electricity (and you don't need a home generator any more), Midori would be just as portable as the device you're using. It would be as portable as Java and as powerful as Windows.
Or is it just another version of Windows? That's hard to tell. The rumours started when SD Times got wind of some secret documents that spell out what all the Midori details. According to the site, the OS will run" directly on native hardware, be hosted on the Windows Hyper-V hypervisor (a competitor to VMware virtualisation), or even be hosted by a Windows process."
The report goes on for pages and pages using terms like "heterogeneous mesh" that sounds a little painful. The main point: it will be massively parallel in that the OS can handle multiple instances of an application in a distributed computing environment. Today, online apps such as Twitter crash routinely because too many users are accessing the source files on a server somewhere, and it is a crude and unreliable platform.
Microsoft is not about to shoot itself in the foot. Any successor to Windows would have to tackle the distributed computing paradigm and solve it once, for all time. This means the pressure is on: any Web-based successor to Windows would have to be so remarkably stable, and run so many powerful apps, that it would be a no-brainer for Microsoft's multiple million-strong user base to upgrade.
Still, the company is pushing a "software + services" strategy, which is basically like saying they support Web 2.0 and the cloud, but want them to coexist with their desktop-bound apps like Word 2007. They could encourage some users to stick with Windows 7 and for mobile users to choose Midori.
And there's another question: will Midori be free? To date, almost all cloud computing tools that have gained nay traction have been freely available, including Gmail and the Zoho suite. It's assumed, unless there is a strong enterprise computing model, which does not seem to be the case here. Midori is not going to be a product that sits alongside Visual Studio 2008 on the virtual shelf. It's for anyone.
Midori will likely appear in the next five years after Windows 7. It's essentially an evolutionary step, one that follows the work of Microsoft Research and the Singularity project, which was also a managed code OS the company started working on in 2003. Microsoft Research tends to be an experimental lab where the projects have a hard time "jumping the shark" into the real world, so it's possible that Midori is actually just a research test and not a real, legitimate project.
Or it could even be an offshoot of Windows 7 (we all know Microsoft can release various versions at different price points). No one knows for sure, and Microsoft – who declined to elaborate on Midori – is not talking either. | <urn:uuid:1cebc54d-dafe-41c8-b5be-ea3360bb2878> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.techradar.com/news/software/operating-systems/midori-a-successor-to-windows-7-452804 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947061 | 835 | 1.992188 | 2 |
Texas House Speaker calls for truth in budgeting
AUSTIN, TX -- Texas lawmakers should stop using an accounting practice that allows them to use balances in funds specially dedicated for other programs to balance the state's general revenue budget, Texas House Speaker Joe Straus said Monday.
The practice, known as funds consolidation, allows lawmakers to stockpile funds intended for programs such as improving hospital trauma care or helping poor people pay their utility bills and then using that money to balance the state budget. By law, the State Comptroller must certify that the budget is balanced every two years and lawmakers use a variety of accounting methods to achieve certification.
Straus spoke as a House Appropriations Subcommittee met to work on making the budget more transparent and to study transportation spending.
Straus said the current budget was balanced on $4.9 billion of dedicated funds. As a result lawmakers, did not appropriate those special funds for their dedicated uses.
"The state collects millions of dollars each year through surcharges to repeat traffic offenders and drunk drivers. That money is supposed to go for hospital trauma care, but much of it sits unspent so that is can be counted for budget certification," Straus told the committee. "We should make the budget more transparent by spending these fees toward their intended purposes or by not collecting them at all."
Last year, lawmakers used spending cuts and a variety of accounting tricks to balance the state budget. They cut more than $4 billion in public education spending, pushed $2 billion in education spending into next year's budget and underfunded Medicaid, the health care program for the poor and disabled, by $4.8 billion.
Straus acknowledged that lawmakers will face growing public school and Medicaid costs in another difficult budget when they meet again next year, but he urged the subcommittee to develop a plan for the Legislature to wean itself off the funds consolidation accounting trick.
"In the end, Texans will have a budget that is fairer, simpler and more straightforward," Straus said. "The goal ... is to be more honest with the taxpayers and fee-payers in the state."
Rep. John Otto, a Republican vice chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said he expected the Legislature would need to reduce the 20-year-old practice over time.
"We didn't get here overnight and we're not going to fix it overnight," Otto said. "I would at least hope that the House and the Senate will put a cap on it until we can get where we want to be."
Democratic Sen. Kirk Watson of Austin welcomed Straus' call to end the practice.
"Budget honesty and transparency are among the most important issues facing Texas today," Watson said. "Ending the diversion of dedicated money has ranked among my highest priorities since I was elected to the Senate, and I have repeatedly filed bills and amendments to end this practice."
In a second hearing later Monday, the subcommittee met with the Transportation Committee to address the shrinking budget for the state's highways and bridges. A large percentage of the transportation budget comes from fuel taxes, which have remained stagnant for the last 20 years
James Bass, chief financial officer at the Texas Department of Transportation, said that an aging transportation system, shrinking fuel tax revenues and inflation is hurting funding for the state's bridges and highways.
"We're in the era of uncertainty in 2015," Bass said.
The fuels tax could be indexed to inflation or to vehicle fuel inefficiency to make sure highway funding would remain stable, he said. Another option could also tax vehicles on how many miles they travel rather than the amount of fuel they purchase.
Bill Hammond, president of the Texas Association Business, said the state's growing population and business community needs better infrastructure, and that means raising more revenue.
"We've come today to support raising the vehicle registration fee by $50 a vehicle," Hammond said. "We need to make a much stronger investment in our infrastructure needs."
Bass said that a committee asked to research the annual needs to the agency estimated Texas should be spending more than $14 billion a year, while the Legislature only appropriates roughly $10 billion for routine needs.
Rep. Joe Pickett pointed out that much of the Department of Transportation's budget is from government bonds, which require the agency to pay interest on the debt. Lawmakers have authorized the agency to take on $17.3 billion in debt, which will cost $31.1 billion to repay.
Since the agency is reaching its debt limit, Picket asked at what point will the present bond funding for highway projects run out. Bass said most contracts will be awarded by the end of 2013 and there will be a major drop off in new projects after that.
- Tanker spill cleanup to continue overnight
- Chrysler agrees to recall 2.7M older model Jeeps
- Officials: Homeowner fatally shoots intruder
- Gay pride parade's condom policy draws criticism
- James helps Heat stave off elimination in Game 6
- Houston man sentenced for operating bogus ambulance companies
- Texas Equusearch hit by criminals
- Minn. mother, son accused of stealing gopher feet
- Diving great Greg Louganis to marry in fall
- Residents fire through door, killing woman
- Woodlands woman accused of setting fire to boyfriend's home
- otrc: Johnny Depp talks split with Vanessa Paradis
- abcnews: NFL player's home searched after killing
- Video: Two teens saved in dramatic cliff rescue | <urn:uuid:d4c56978-de43-4c9f-9771-c387890aedda> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/politics&id=8729338 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959963 | 1,118 | 1.671875 | 2 |
This study investigated the effect of B-cell* depletion on central nervous system white and gray matter pathology in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in common marmosets, a relevant preclinical model of multiple sclerosis.
B cells are the cell of the immune system that make proteins called antibodies.
EAE was induced in 14 marmosets by immunization with proteins from human myelin. At 21 days after immunization, B-cell depletion was achieved by weekly intravenous injections of a human-anti-human CD20 antibody that cross-reacts with marmoset CD20. MRI showed widespread brain white matter demyelination in control marmosets that was absent in CD20 antibody-treated marmosets. High-contrast postmortem MRI showed white matter lesions in 4 of the 7 antibody-treated marmosets, but these were significantly smaller than those in controls. The same technique revealed gray matter lesions in 5 control marmosets, but none in antibody-treated marmosets. Detailed analysis confirmed that inflammation, demyelination, and axonal damage were substantially reduced in brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves of CD20 antibody-treated marmosets.
Conclusion: B-cell depletion profoundly reduced the development of both white and gray matter lesions in the marmoset CNS. These data underline the central role of B cells in CNS inflammatory-demyelinating disease.
"I am not sure about the ethics of this study as anti-CD20 treatment has already been shown to be effective in MS and is in late stage development in phase 3 in both relapsing-remitting and primary progressive MS. Do you we need to do trials in primates at this stage? What do you think?"
Trials of anti-CD20 in MS: | <urn:uuid:28328a70-3211-464a-ab96-a48fdd02bc75> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://multiple-sclerosis-research.blogspot.com/2011/10/b-cell-depletion-in-primate-model-of-ms.html?showComment=1319130671013 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946977 | 369 | 2.609375 | 3 |
If you've spent any amount of time browsing our daily news coverage here at Tecca, you already know that two of our favorites pieces of geek culture are Legos and fan-made Portal props. The video above shows a fusion of the two, and as you might have guessed, we couldn't be more excited.
Made by an employee at the Lego store in Minneapolis, the life-sized replica of the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device — or simply, "the Portal gun" — includes all the features you'd expect. The prongs on the front of the gun are motorized using Lego Mindstorms battery power, and the transparent tube that runs the length of the gadget actually switches colors between orange and blue with a simple flip of a switch.
In the video, the guns designer — who identifies himself only as "Ted" — says the device is built from over 2,000 plastic bricks and took over a year to design. We can't help but pray that the amazing replica eventually becomes its own Lego set. And thanks to Lego Cuusoo — which has already yielded the Lego Minecraft collection — there's actually a chance it may happen.
[via Nerd Approved]
More from Tecca: | <urn:uuid:eb045ab4-a1c0-489e-98ad-f09078739079> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technology-blog/lego-store-employee-builds-life-sized-motorized-portal-152542122.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959513 | 247 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Nelson's Waldorf School digging for new passions
The Nelson Waldorf school has once again offered Project Days to the students of grades 6 to 8. Each fall and spring for the past five years, adult mentors from the community have offered a variety of full day workshops to the students. This year students participated in:
• Natural horsemanship with Kristina and Karin Weidemann
• Creative writing with Tom Hardy
• Portraiture with Vivi Harder
• Archery with Inti Valdes
• Model rocket building with Ernie Fidgeon
• Pet care with Birgit Chart
• French cuisine with Daniel Blanchet
• Collage making with Deirdre McLaughlin
Throughout Project Days, community mentors lead the students through an entirely hands-on workshop, sharing their passion and expertise for what they do. At the end of the Project Days, students share examples or demonstrations of what they learned at a full-school assembly.
“I can’t wait until it’s my turn,” said a student in Grade 4 this year.
Project Days began as a way for students to immerse themselves in an area of interest that they might not have the opportunity for otherwise. Teachers also recognize how important it is for adolescents to meet and work with a variety of different adult mentors as they begin their journey into adulthood and explore their individual interests. Project Days are much anticipated each year, by students and adults alike.
“I get just as much out of it as they do,” said Harder, a local artist who offered a workshop on portraiture.
The next Project Days are March 13 to 15. If you have a passion that you would love to share with youth, contact the Nelson Waldorf school: 250-352-6919. | <urn:uuid:efc6549f-3688-4f95-abca-af3ee0d246f4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nelsonstar.com/community/179193341.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958817 | 369 | 1.820313 | 2 |
If you read financial theory, you'll get the impression that the only time to sell stocks is when you have to defend the world against an invasion of Venusian Brain Garglers. And that is, of course, a very good reason to sell stocks.
But there are other good reasons to sell stocks, many of which do not involve Venus or the gargling of brains.
Here are four:
• It's a big, fat disappointment. Let's say you bought Hewlett-Packard after reading about its announced restructuring back in May. The company had announced plans to increase productivity and save $3 billion or so over several years and reinvest that money in the company. Granted, companies that plan to lay off 27,000 workers — 8% of the workforce — probably aren't in growth mode, but you liked the cost-savings and reinvestment part. You bought 100 shares on May 29 for $22.80 a share, or $2,280.
Looking at the stock today, you might feel a bit chagrined. It's selling for about $11.90, in part because its purchase of software maker Autonomy didn't work out. But you can't blame all of the stock's lousy performance on a bungled buy. It's been swooning more frequently than a herd of fainting goats, and you're down 48%.
The mathematics of losses is ugly. To get back to $22.80, HP will have to gain more than 90%. This may happen over time, but it's likely to be a long time, and in the meantime, your money might be best deployed elsewhere, such as in a low-cost index fund. Sell the stock and take the deduction for a loss.
• You've made enough money. Stop laughing. Suppose your goal for retirement is $1 million, which you achieved by a lifetime of saving as well as a mix of stocks, bonds and money market funds. You have your $1 million: Do you need to have 60% of your assets in stocks?
Probably not. You can gear back your stock holdings and set your goal to beating inflation, rather than growth. The idea in investing is to meet your goals with minimum risk — and if you can do that with a smaller portion of your money in stocks, then do so.
Jeremy Grantham, co-founder of the GMO funds, pointed out in a recent letter to shareholders that stocks are highly likely to let you down when you most need them — when you're in a recession and out of work, for example, or in a period of soaring inflation. Don't let your recent gains blind you to your portfolio's overall risk.
• You're planning to sell anyway. Typical tax advice is to delay taking gains into the next tax year: Why pay taxes any sooner than you have to? But this year could be different.
No matter what Congress does about the mix of budget cuts and tax increases due to take place on Jan. 1, you will pay higher long-term capital gains rates in 2013 than 2012, thanks to the Affordable Care Act. Assuming nothing else happens, single filers with adjusted gross income of more than $200,000 will pay an additional 3.8 percentage-point Medicare tax on gains in 2013, meaning the maximum long-term capital gains rate will rise to 18.8%. The higher tax applies to couples with AGI of more than $250,000.
If Congress allows the Bush-era tax cuts to lapse, the maximum long-term gains rate will rise to 23.8% — an even stronger argument for selling before Dec. 31, not after.
Bear in mind that this only applies to stocks or funds you were considering selling anyway. If you think your stock or fund will gain 7% a year for the next five years, then your brain has probably already been gargled. Your gains over the coming years will far outweigh your increased tax burden.
• You need to balance out a big gain. Losing money stinks. But you can use your losses to reduce your taxes elsewhere. When you sell a stock at a loss, you can use it to offset gains elsewhere in your portfolio. If your losses exceed your gains, you can deduct $3,000 of those losses from your income and carry forward any remaining losses to the 2013 tax year.
If you sell losing stocks to reduce your gains, you can reinvest in those stocks after 30 days. Doing so sooner will result in a wash sale, and the IRS will disallow your capital loss. Even if you think a losing stock has potential, spending 30 days on the sidelines probably won't erase your gains over time.
Bear in mind that taxes are always a secondary consideration, not a primary one. | <urn:uuid:4cc77526-5025-4799-962e-1cfecf8db1bd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/columnist/waggoner/2012/11/22/investing-waggoner-sell-stocks-taxes/1717569/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966134 | 972 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Charles D. Seeberger
Born 1857 – September 12, 1931
Patent #: 617,778
Charles Seeberger was an inventor whose patented idea contributed to the
development of the escalator in its modern form.
Born in Oscaloosa, Iowa and employed by the Otis Elevator Company,
Seeberger is most commonly attributed with coining the term escalator, a
combination of the Latin “scala” meaning “steps” with “elevator.”
Seeberger’s invention consisted of a series of risers attached to a
series of levers and wheels which traveled in tracks. As the slats were
pulled along the tracks, the movement of the wheels and lever arms
ensured that the steps remained horizontal throughout the entire
operation. In addition, an elastic rubber strip placed underneath the
slats remained in contact with the adjacent riser. The rubber strip
served as a safety device to seal any gaps between steps. | <urn:uuid:5662f92e-744b-4f82-b1b2-6d5e58bb48ce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://invent.org/hall_of_fame/362.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929744 | 208 | 2.984375 | 3 |
A sermon delivered by Robert Browning, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Frankfort, Ky., on August 5, 2011.
Let’s talk about heroes and villains this morning. They have been around ever since man was given the ability to make decisions, which means they will always be with us.
They showed up once again in Colorado three weeks ago when a twenty-three year old graduate student at the University of Colorado burst into a crowded theater in Aurora and started shooting innocent victims. Before he ran out, seventy people had been killed or injured.
For the first few days, most of the attention was upon the attacker, James Holmes. He grew up in San Diego in what appears to be a normal home. Like all boys, he interacted with people, but tended to be a loner. No one who knew him had any idea he was this disturbed and was remotely capable of committing such a horrible crime.
It has been reported that he was seeing a school psychiatrist. Evidently, she was aware things were not right and was reaching out for help. I wish she had found it before he turned into a monster.
In the last week or so, stories of the heroes from that horrible night have surfaced. One by one, people are telling about ordinary people who did extraordinary things to save the lives of others.
Jon Blunk went with a friend, Jansen Young, to the theater that night for the opening of Dark Night. When the gunman entered the room, Jon threw Jansen on the floor and covered her body. As the shooter walked up and down the aisles, Jon pushed Jansen further under the seats, out of the line of fire.
When the shooting subsided, Jansen crawled out and attempted to pull Jon up by the shoulder. He didn’t move because he had been mortally wounded.
The tears flowed as Jansen said in an interview a few days later, “Jon took a bullet for me. He threw me to the ground and was like, ‘We have to get down and stay down!’ ”
In another part of the theater, twenty-seven year old Matt McQuinn sat beside his girlfriend, Samantha Yowler, and her brother, Nick. When the gunman started shooting, Matt and Nick pulled Samantha to the ground and shielded her. Samantha suffered a bullet wound to the leg, Nick was uninjured, but Matt was hit three times and died while protecting Samantha.
Similarly, Alex Teves shielded his girlfriend, Amanda Lindgren, when the bullets started flying. He pushed her to the floor, but before he could get out of harm’s way, he was hit and killed.
Recently, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper said, “This terrible incident was marked by countless acts of heroism; indeed, heroism isn’t a strong enough word.”
In his remarks, President Obama said, “It will be the good people, the heroes who took action, who will remain in our memories long after James Holmes, the alleged gunman, has been forgotten.”
What does a hero look like? The heroes in the theater that night looked like ordinary people, the kind we see every day on the streets and in the shops of our town. Even though each was different in many ways, they had two things in common, compassion and courage. They looked beyond their own needs that night and did whatever was needed to protect those around them.
Sounds a lot like Jesus, doesn’t it? His heart was also filled with compassion and courage, which enabled him to be brave in the face of great danger.
Jesus did not deserve to die, either. He had done nothing wrong. To the contrary, he had done a lot of things right.
He spent his life, especially his public ministry, trying to protect the most vulnerable around him from those who exploited them and made their lives difficult. He exposed the hypocrisy of selfish and corrupt leaders, spoke truth to power and challenged all leaders, religious and secular, to use their influence to make life better for everyone, not just a chosen few.
When necessary, he didn’t mince words and he was certainly not timid. He called the Pharisees a brood of vipers and overturned the tables of the money changers when he entered the temple during Passover. His pursuit of justice and peace brought him everything but peace. In the end, it cost him his life.
“When they came to the place called the Skull,” writes Luke, “they crucified him, along with the criminals, one on his right and the other on his left.”
Why didn’t Jesus save himself from this horrible death? Why didn’t he leave Jerusalem that fateful week when he realized his life was in danger? Why didn’t he run into the night when the soldiers came for him in the Garden of Gethsemane?
He didn’t run for the same reason these three young men did not abandon their loved ones in that theater. His heart was filled with compassion and courage, which always bring the best out in a person.
“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends,” Jesus taught his disciples. When faced with this challenge, Jesus did this very thing. However, he laid his life down not only for his friends, but also his enemies.
“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing,” Jesus prayed as he endured their merciless taunts. Their worst behavior brought out his best, which caught his tormentors by surprise.
When compassion and courage combine, they are powerful. Compassion without courage can be intimidated and silenced. Courage without compassion can be self-absorbed and violent. Together, however, they turn people from all walks of life into heroes.
Have you ever thought of yourself as a hero? Probably not, and most people who have done something extraordinary refuse that label. “Just doing what anyone else would have done,” they often say.
If a person’s heart is filled with compassion and courage, they may be right.
Think you will ever be a hero? If your heart is filled with compassion and courage, chances are you already have been, and you will have plenty more opportunities.
There is no shortage of injustice, acts of violence and vulnerable people in our world, as it was in Jesus’. Let me encourage you to listen to your heart and seize every opportunity to confront evil and help someone who is struggling under its devastating effects.
Who needs you to listen to your heart? Who needs you to stand with them in their darkest hour? Who needs to hear your voice speaking out on their behalf? Who needs you to protect them from someone trying to harm them? Who needs you to pray for them?
I have a feeling, in God’s eyes, this is what heroes do. It is what Jesus did.
I am also confident God will help you, just as He did Jesus. He will strengthen you as you reach out to His children when they need you most.
While the bread and cup, which remind us of Jesus’ compassion and courage, are passed this morning, will you ask for God’s help? | <urn:uuid:fe40b83a-bea9-4bb6-905c-45504d015645> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ethicsdaily.com/what-does-a-hero-look-like--cms-19889 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985729 | 1,510 | 1.789063 | 2 |
I must admit, it’s a pretty outlandish statement. The thought that a single generation of young consumers could halt the wheels of product consumption seems, well, absurd. We’re all about the products. Aren’t we? Having more possessions than we can all truly enjoy. The advertisements are everywhere we look. There’s no getting away from any of it. We want it all. Right?
Well, we do want it all. However, what we want, what Gen-Y wants, has significantly evolved from our consumer notions of the 1990s and 2000s. A recent study, the 2010 MetLife Study of the American Dream, has more than a few interesting tidbits of information regarding this. And it all beings with 95% of Gen-Y believing it’s possible to achieve the American Dream within their lifetime. A number that has grown from 85% in 2006.
Call them young, naïve and inexperienced. They’re a generation that faces the highest unemployment rates, rising debts, and uncertainties created by the recession. Frankly, you could go on and on. Even with all that, their dream grows with wants for “family, children” and “successful careers” leading the way, which are significantly higher than other generations. And though, “financial security” is part of their dream, it’s remarkably lower than that of all other generations. Just another gap in the generational story.
Their unbridled optimism is irrefutable. And this is where the fun begins. What’s extraordinary about Gen-Y’s dream is that it’s not as materialistic as everyone would have you believe. 39% of Gen-Y believe they “already have what they need, and the necessities in life will remain constant.” A notable increase from 26% in 2008.
And like many writers, entertainers, researchers and bloggers, I’ve saved the best for last. One characteristic that is absolutely fascinating but equally holds some serious implications. Not only are those amongst Gen-Y less materialistic, those in Gen-Y who believe that there is a “growing pressure to buy more and better material possessions” has dropped an incredible nineteen percentage points, from 66% in 2006 to 47% 2010.
In a world of increasing competition and unimaginable marketing dollars, a few percentage points means quite literally everything. And when you’re talking about a group as large as Gen-Y, a 19% drop in buying more and better material possessions is undeniably profound. However does this mean that Gen-Y will kill the product brand? Not immediately. But the Gen-Y dream is clearly less ambivalent and concerned about product brands.
Call it what you want. Lack of financial aptitude, growing debt and high-rate of jobless Gen-Y, one thing is clear and that is these trends have grown in their respective directions over the last four years. A couple of years of which were clearly before the recession.
The Gen-Y [American] Dream might not kill the product brand – yet – but it’s clear that Gen-Y is dreaming of a less materialistic future. A future that isn’t interested in product brands. And though it might seem like a cynical viewpoint towards products and their brands, the reality is times are changing and everyone has to adapt to this change. The ones ahead of the curve understand the shift to lifestyle brands and what values Gen-Y has in them.
And maybe you don’t even believe in the American Dream, or in any dreams for that matter. If the numbers suggest anything, they suggest about 95% of Gen-Yers do. The same Gen-Yers who believe in a family, children and successful careers to achieve it. The same Gen-Yers who are dreaming less of materialistic goods year-over-year. If you don’t believe in the Dream, you shouldn’t forget that Gen-Yers do. | <urn:uuid:35c76ca2-2d3a-4839-92b8-1b92fab41f9c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://itsjosipnotjoseph.com/2010/08/will-the-gen-y-dream-kill-the-product-brand/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965364 | 829 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Exactly what these nineteen executive actions are is as yet not spelled out. They may track closely with this Mayors Against Illegal Guns report from 2009. Again, we will have to await events.
(Meanwhile, their editorial page solicits civil war.)
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Monday told a group of John Hopkins students that President Obama ought to sidestep the wishes of Congress and order swift new executive gun control measures.Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Monday that President Obama should implement a series of gun control measures through executive action.“There are steps that President Obama can take without congressional approval at any time he chooses with just one stroke of the pen,” Bloomberg told the mixed audience of students and scholars, speaking at the “Gun Policy Summit” at John Hopkins University.Bloomberg’s remarks came hours before President Obama argued in a rare press conference that executive privileges afforded him the power to implement some federal gun control measures without the permission of Congress.“My understanding is the Vice President is going to provide a range of steps that we can take to reduce gun violence,” President Obama told the White House Press Corps. “Some of them will require legislation, some of them I can accomplish through executive action.” | <urn:uuid:12b3955a-3360-4d54-8e3c-c183eebaf02e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-nineteen-executive-actions.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957309 | 254 | 1.695313 | 2 |
| About Us
| Products |
ISRAEL-ARRIVE (UPDATED) May-11-2009 (1,130 words) With photos. xxxi
Pope condemns anti-Semitism, prays for interreligious harmony
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
JERUSALEM (CNS) -- Reaching Israel, the country at the heart of his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Pope Benedict XVI condemned anti-Semitism and prayed for a new era in which all believers in the one God would live in peace and treat each other with respect and justice.
In his arrival speech May 11 at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, the pope prayed that Isaiah's prophecy would be fulfilled and all the peoples of the world would walk along God's paths -- "paths of peace and justice, paths that lead to reconciliation and harmony."
The pope was welcomed at the airport with warm handshakes from Israeli President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as the greetings of other government officials and representatives from Israel's Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities.
At a reception in the garden of the president's residence in Jerusalem that afternoon, Pope Benedict said, "I pray daily for peace born of justice to return to the Holy Land and the entire region, bringing security and renewed hope for all."
Addressing religious leaders, members of the diplomatic corps, members of the Knesset and others invited by Peres, the pope focused on the "divine gift" of peace, which flows from seeking God and living according to his will, and for security, which flows from trust.
"Security, integrity, justice and peace. In God's design for the world, these are inseparable," the pope said. "Far from being simply products of human endeavor, they are values which stem from God's fundamental relationship with man and dwell as a common patrimony in the heart of every individual.
"There is only one way to protect and promote these values: Exercise them; live them," he said.
Every person and every nation without exception has an obligation "to live in justice and to work for peace," the pope said.
While nations obviously must take measures to ensure the security of their people, he said, it is not legitimate to do so in a way that provokes further divisions or suffering for others.
"A nation's true interest is always served by the pursuit of justice for all," he said.
"Lasting security is a matter of trust, nurtured in justice and integrity and sealed through the conversion of hearts" and "not by blocks or obstructions," said the pope in what many people read as an allusion to the high security wall Israel has built along part of its border and through parts of the Palestinian territories.
Three children -- one Jewish, one Muslim and one Christian -- helped Peres welcome Pope Benedict to the residence, offering him an array of fruits of the Holy Land; while the pope admired the bounty, the only thing he sampled immediately was a date, delicately removing the pit when he was finished.
The pope and Peres met privately inside the residence before giving their speeches in the garden; during the photo opportunity, the pope was overheard saying to Peres, "My English is very difficult," but then explaining how he hoped his visit would promote closer Catholic-Jewish collaboration.
Catholics and Jews share a spiritual heritage, the pope told him.
"Your prophets are our prophets. Your fathers are our fathers. I hope we will understand each other more as brothers and sisters," he said.
In his formal speech to the pope, Peres told him: "Divisions are stubborn, but the peoples of our region have tired of wars. We shall leave the divisions to history, and the new history we shall write in letters of faith and peace."
From the moment he arrived, the German-born pope honored the memory of the 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis during World War II and condemned anti-Semitism, which "continues to rear its ugly head in many parts of the world."
"This is totally unacceptable," he said during his speech to leaders at the airport.
Pope Benedict told the leaders, "I come, like so many others before me, to pray at the holy places, to pray especially for peace -- peace here in the Holy Land, and peace throughout the world."
The pope said that although Jerusalem means "city of peace," unfortunately "for decades peace has tragically eluded the inhabitants of this holy land."
"The eyes of the world are upon the peoples of this region as they struggle to achieve a just and lasting solution to the conflicts that have caused so much suffering," Pope Benedict said.
As he had said in Jordan on the first leg of his trip, Pope Benedict told Israelis that peace and justice in the region require respect for the religious identity of each person, guaranteed access to their holy sites and an acknowledgment of the right of both Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace "in a homeland of their own within secure and internationally recognized borders."
Speaking at the airport, Peres told the pope he saw the papal trip as "an important spiritual mission of the highest order: a mission of peace, a mission of planting seeds of tolerance and uprooting the weeds of fanaticism."
The president said, "We have made peace with Egypt and Jordan, and we are in negotiations to make peace with the Palestinians; we may also arrive at a comprehensive regional peace in the near future."
Seeing the pope off at the airport in Amman that morning, Jordan's King Abdullah II said, "It is vital to make justice real for those who suffer today, whether from occupation, deprivation or disrespect."
"For too long the Middle East has been entangled in conflict," the king told the pope. "The Palestinian people, in particular, have suffered under occupation and its evil. It is time this situation ended through a settlement that will guarantee the Palestinians their rights to freedom and statehood and give Israelis the acceptance and security they need."
The king said, "The two-state solution" -- fully independent and recognized nations for Israelis and for Palestinians -- "enjoys the support of the international community precisely because it offers the only promise of lasting peace."
As he began his visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories, Pope Benedict had a special word of encouragement for the area's Christian communities.
"By your faithful witness to him who preached forgiveness and reconciliation, by your commitment to uphold the sacredness of every human life, you can make a particular contribution to ending the hostilities that for so long have afflicted this land," the pope said.
In a region marked by the continuing emigration of Christians, the pope told Catholics of the Holy Land, "I pray that your continuing presence in Israel and the Palestinian territories will bear much fruit in promoting peace and mutual respect among all the peoples who live in the land of the Bible."
- - -
Contributing to this story was Judith Sudilovsky.
Copyright (c) 2009 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
CNS · 3211 Fourth St NE · Washington DC 20017 · 202.541.3250 | <urn:uuid:006ccb0a-d91a-413f-adf9-bc8748cf6aed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0902152.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965935 | 1,486 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Fog slowly dissipates over Dubai [Reuters]
For the third day in a row, the United Arab Emirates has been dealing with thick fog across much of the country.
While a very beautiful sight when viewed from the top of the Burj Khalifa, on the ground it has been making the morning commute very treacherous.
Driving in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah can be a nightmare. But when you add fog on top of that, reducing visibility down to 150 metres or less, you’re only adding fuel to the fire.
On Wednesday as many as 141 accidents occurred in the early morning hours. Some onlookers reported seeing drivers who were obviously unaccustomed to such a phenomenon travelling much to fast. Visibilities on the road can drop down to zero within seconds.
Brigadier Omar Abdul Aziz Al Shamsi, director of the command and control centre in the police operations room, appealed to all motorists to be extremely cautious in reduced visibility and keep sufficient distance between vehicles.
Al Shamsi also stressed to use all the appropriate lights during the early morning drive, but avoid using hazard lights as this will not allow the driver to indicate intentions to change lanes.
Dubai International airport also closed both of its runways in the early hours following a power failure during the foggy conditions. Airport authorities confirmed that 50 flights needed to be diverted to other locations.
Fog at this time of year across the Emirates is not uncommon. Overnight temperatures across the region are now dipping down to the mid 20’s. When warm moist air from over the Gulf waters moves inland, the moisture condenses and fog forms. Normally by late morning, the sun will have warmed the air sufficiently to totally evaporate the fog.
Conditions are still in place in which drivers could see a few more mornings of foggy and slow commutes across the UAE. | <urn:uuid:ade91a54-5b1f-497b-b842-195e81dea84f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aljazeera.com/weather/2012/10/2012101195935446979.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95591 | 383 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Re: History of Black Belt?
I think Sandan is the barrier for many of these arts and then there are arts where promotion is based on shiai - a young talented Judo or Kendo player can have an advanced dan rank especially if he's been at the game since he was 5.
I think what I'm trying to say is that there is so much variation that a comparison is essentially meaningless.
Ani - didn't you in a previous thread complain that a Japanese Shodan was not particularly impressed with yours. He of course might have been using different criteria than your previous instructor but he is probably also convinced that Shodans outside of Japan aren't worth much. | <urn:uuid:5da016cb-bd93-49f0-a501-dba876f03987> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aikiweb.com/forums/showpost.php?p=114379&postcount=16 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.990197 | 140 | 2.03125 | 2 |
No Child Left Behind. Successful or Not Successful?
No Child Left Behind, (NCLB), was and act that was passed in 2001. It was an act by congress about education of the children of the United States. The bill was passed May 23, 2001. The purpose of this act is to develop basic skills to all students in certain grades. There is some question about whether NCLB is successful or not. Has No Child Left Behind been successful?
Many people would say that No Child Left Behind has been successful. It has improved test scores, increased accountability, more attention on minority populations, quality of education has increased, and there is more funding.
"One of the best things that has come out of No Child Left Behind is the focus on the need to be proficient in math and reading," Kafer said.
Others say that NCLB has not been successful because it has caused a lot of different problems. Problems such as, the high-preforming students are getting "held back" in a sense, too much focus on standardized tests,
Critics have argued that the focus on standardized testing (all students in a state take the same test under the same conditions) as the means of assessment encourages teachers to teach a narrow subset of skills that will increase test performance rather than focus on deeper understanding that can readily be transferred to similar problems. For example, if the teacher knows that all of the questions on a math test are simple addition equations (e.g., 2+3=5), then the teacher might not invest any class time on the practical applications of addition (i.e. treating 2+3=5 as a word problem) so that there will be more time for the material which is assessed on the test. This is colloquially referred to as "teaching to the test."
leaving out the arts, and other electives, and more segregation between the high and low performers.
I found all this information by using the You Decide website and searching through Google. When I Google searched I went to both search the web and search the news. I found both very help full and definitely feel like I will continue to use these tools often. | <urn:uuid:824ab02a-ed31-4ae2-9d6d-dbe6bd2894ce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://youthvoices.net/discussion/no-child-left-behind-successful-or-not-successful | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966788 | 447 | 3.21875 | 3 |
Bisbee Tourist Attractions
Bisbee began as a mining camp in 1877 and developed into a prosperous little town. When the mine closed the town became little more than a ghost town.
Squatters took over some of the abandoned miners cabins that lined the hillsides surrounding the main town center and the place became a haven for hippies. Eventually, artists began to flow into the area and Bisbee became known as an artists colony.Today Bisbee is once again thriving as a major tourist destination, particularly for day trippers from surrounding towns and cities like Tucson, Tubac, and Tombstone. The historic old town center is now filled with shops and galleries. The grand old hotels have been renovated and are open for business. The early 1900s miners' cabins have largely been restored and are homes with much character. Built as they are on the hillside, many of these homes are not located on streets but off stairways that run up the hills.The famous Copper Queen Mine and the Lavender Pit, along with the associated museums are now some of the town's biggest attractions. Bisbee also has several coffee roasting companies and the smell of roasting beans wafts through town and you can also get a free sample on a walk through downtown.Despite the town's dramatic come back Bisbee has retained a very small town feel and locals still live very modest life styles.
Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum
The Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum depicts life in the early years of the town with dioramas, photos and artifacts. As an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, it is housed in the former Phelps Dodge Office Building, constructed in 1897.The Research Library of the Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum houses photographs, manuscripts, and research books that highlight the history of Arizona and the era of copper mining.
Address: 5 Copper Queen Plaza, Box 14, Bisbee, AZ 85603-0014, United States
Opening hours: 10am-4pm
Always closed on: New Year's Day (Jan 1), Thanksgiving - USA (4th Thursday, Nov), Christmas - Christian (Dec 25)
Entrance fee in USD: Adult $7.50, Senior over 60 $6.50, Child 16 & under $3.00
Copper Queen Mine
The Copper Queen Mine in Bisbee was in use for over 60 years until it was shut down in 1943. There are guided tours of the four levels, with 147 miles of passageways. Visitors to the Queen Mine are provided with a hard hat, miner's headlamp, and a yellow slicker for the underground tour.
Address: 118 Arizona Street, Bisbee, AZ 85603-1800, United States
Opening hours: 9am-4:30pm
Always closed on: Thanksgiving - USA (4th Thursday, Nov), Christmas - Christian (Dec 25)
Entrance fee in USD: Adult $13.00, Child 12 & under $5.50, Child 4 & under FREE
Useful tips: It can be cold inside - bring a sweater. Tours at 9, 10:30, 12, 2 and 3:30. Reservations are suggested.
Guides: Guided tour included with admission.
Typical Visit: 1 hour 30 minutes
Lavender Open Pit Mine
Muheim Heritage House
Muheim Heritage House in Bisbee is a restored home, named for a local businessman who emigrated from Switzerland in 1883. The interior is filled with period furnishings and offers a superb panoramic view of the surrounding area. | <urn:uuid:5319565c-5480-430d-a838-9856e602176d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.planetware.com/arizona/bisbee-us-az-bb.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9569 | 730 | 2.28125 | 2 |
The outbreak risk of rust diseases in the northern production regions has been associated with the level of overwintering in Gulf Coast regions. This relationship also may be applicable to soybean rust. This year's soybean rust was found overwintering in Georgia and four Gulf Coast states: Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas. In Florida, the level of disease from over-wintering areas has been reduced because of the dry spring conditions. In Texas, the field where infected soybean was found was plowed and planted with corn.
In Louisiana, however, plant pathologists report finding the disease on kudzu plants in a town west of New Orleans. The detection date was 53 days earlier than last year. Because Louisiana is in a route suitable for the northward spread of this disease as indicated by the spread of this disease last year, this finding has been considered significant. If an outbreak develops from this early occurrence before the end of June in Louisiana, the risk of soybean rust will be quite different from the last two years. In the last two growing seasons, the weather was dry and the disease moved slowly in the Mississippi Basin.
Early occurrence of the disease in the South means early arrival of the spores to northern states. Arrival of soybean rust spores early in the growing season in the northern soybean production regions does not necessarily result in disease outbreaks. Last year, spores of soybean rust fungus were found as early as June in northern soybean production regions. Interestingly, the spores found early last year were not accountable with the computer model predictions that were made with known sources from the southeastern region and Florida. Plant pathologists were questioning where these spores were from. One possibility was from undetected regions in the continental United States. The finding in Louisiana this spring may provide a clue to answer the question.
To have an outbreak of this disease in Iowa, we must have a large amount of spores arrive as early July and have abundant rainfall in the month of July or August. Currently, the amount of disease in Louisiana is below an outbreak level. To meet the first condition, further development before the end of June in the southern region from Kentucky to Louisiana is critical. Outbreaks in Louisiana for the period before the end of June are critical to produce sufficiently large amounts of spores to blow to upper states such as Arkansas and Kentucky. After June, regions in the Gulf Coast are too hot for disease to occur.
As for the second condition, the climate outlook is on our side so far. The climate outlook from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts normal precipitation for July and August.
Studies on data from China and Brazil show that 12 days of rain in a month are needed for an outbreak severe enough to cause yield losses. The normal rain days in July or August in Iowa are about eight days. Since we are still learning about the disease after it entered the continental United States in 2004, a surprise could happen. Monitoring the developments in the southern region and subsequent northward movement from the South will help avoid a surprise.
X. B. Yang is a professor of plant pathology with research and extension responsibilities in soybean diseases.
This article originally appeared on page 147 of the IC-498(10) -- May 14, 2007 issue. | <urn:uuid:cfa37389-48cb-4617-a5ce-5debf82cfa57> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/icm/node/2416/print | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975164 | 656 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Congress is racing to pass a 2013 spending bill needed to avert a partial government shutdown when the current stopgap funding measure expires next week.
Assuming lawmakers succeed, the final bill is virtually certain to continue a freeze on employee pay scales through December.
Neither the House nor Senate is likely to repeal punishing across-the-board budget cuts that recently took effect, but some agencies could get increases to help buffer some of the severest effects, although the tweaks may also pose tough choices for managers.
The Defense Department, for example, is in line for a $10.4 billion boost to its operations and maintenance account, under both the House and Senate versions of the bill. Because salaries for most of DoD’s 800,000 civilian employees come out of that account, the proposed increase should lessen the need for furloughs, said Cindy Williams, a former senior Congressional Budget Office staffer.
But operations and maintenance also pays for items like jet fuel and spare parts, said Williams, now at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Because total funding will still fall short of the Pentagon’s needs, she said, “the real question is do they want to buy more fuel for operations and furlough more people” or vice versa.
Lawmakers are also moving to sustain staffing for more than 40,000 Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection agents who face furloughs as well. Under the Senate bill, CBP would get $11.9 billion this year, a $300 million increase from last year. That should avert the need for a large number of furloughs, although it’s not enough to restore the loss of routinely used overtime pay, said Stewart Verdery, a former Department of Homeland Security official.
“It’s an important but partial solution to CBP’s funding challenges,” said Verdery, now a partner at Monument Policy Group, a consulting firm.
Both the House and Senate propose about $8 billion for FBI salaries and expenses. Those funds “should help ensure that unnecessary furloughs can be prevented,” Konrad Motyka, president of the FBI Agents Association, said in an email.
FBI and CBP representatives declined comment. The Defense Department, where furloughs would save about $5 billion of the $46 billion that must be cut, will wait for the passage of legislation “before considering adjustments to current furlough plans,” said a spokeswoman, Army Lt. Col. Elizabeth Robbins.
The spending legislation now working its way through Congress will replace a six-month continuing resolution that expires March 27. Because lawmakers plan to be off next week, they must likely send a bill to the president by the end of this week or else trigger a shutdown. Numerous observers expect an agreement.
“Neither chamber has an appetite for letting the government close; they’ve seen the political fallout,” said Joanne Carney, director of government relations at the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
A final deal would give agencies budget certainty through the end of the fiscal year in September. But both the Senate and House bills would repeal an executive order issued by President Obama in December to increase employee pay scales by 0.5 percent at the end of March. That extension would lengthen the ongoing freeze to a full three years.
Lawmakers are also set to lock in the $85 billion in across-the-board sequester cuts. The cuts, required under the 2011 Budget Control Act, are set to lop almost 8 percent out of most Defense Department accounts by September. Many non-Defense programs will have to absorb a 5 percent hit. Military pay and the entire Veterans Affairs Department are exempt.
The sequester kicked in March 1. Throughout the government, administrators are still scrambling to confront the effects of the cuts.
“It’s just a management nightmare in one agency after another,” said Scott Lilly, a former top congressional appropriations staffer with the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank.
There’s also disagreement on what difference the current spending legislation would make. Lilly, for example, predicted that it would have little effect on the Pentagon’s plans for civilian furloughs.
At the National Treasury Employees Union, President Colleen Kelley said the extra money would not be enough to halt furloughs at Customs and Border Protection. The union represents about 24,000 CBP employees.
And by requiring the agency to keep the workforce at a certain size, Kelley said in a statement, lawmakers would make the situation worse by crimping the agency’s plan to cut the number of employees through a hiring freeze.
The final version of the 2013 spending bill likely will give DoD and other agencies “the flexibility to revisit previous personnel actions, including furloughs and firing temporary and term employees,” J. David Cox, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said in a statement. Instead of making those moves indiscriminately, agencies could use “mission requirements, program needs and other priorities,” Cox added.
“We will press the administration and Congress to ensure that agencies use that flexibility,” he said.
The House, which approved its version of the spending bill March 6, extends the CR for most agencies for the rest of the fiscal year but gives more spending flexibility than the current CR does to DoD and Veterans Affairs in comparison with last year’s funding levels.
The Senate version would grant similar latitude to the Agriculture, Commerce, Homeland Security and Justice departments, as well as NASA, the Food and Drug Administration and the National Science Foundation. The bill also would make dozens of changes to specific programs at other agencies that otherwise would be covered by the yearlong CR.
“We are absolutely committed to no shutdown, no showdown, no lockdown, no slamdown,” Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., said last week in introducing the bill with the panel’s top Republican, Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama. “We want to do the job.” The measure could get a Senate vote as early as Tuesday. Assuming it passes, the legislation must then be swiftly reconciled with the House bill.
To keep the total cost under the Budget Control Act’s discretionary spending cap of about $1 trillion, the Senate measure cuts more than $2 billion from military construction and reduces numerous programs at DoD and other departments.
Stephen Losey contributed to this story. | <urn:uuid:8d6680cb-db5a-4dd2-91c7-030296737583> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20130317/AGENCY01/303170006/CR-could-reduce-furloughs-other-cuts?odyssey=mod%257Cnewswell%257Ctext%257CAdvice%2520&%2520Opinion%257Cp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947146 | 1,347 | 1.515625 | 2 |
After my first day at the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival I could hardly wait to get up the next morning and do more birding. The morning was cloudy and windy as a front was moving through the area. Nevertheless I was excited to set off for Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge.
On the way to the refuge I saw two Aplomado Falcons, but both of them had flown by the time that I was able to stop my rental car. I certainly wish I had taken this photo. They are truly lovely birds!
When I arrived at the Visitor’s Center I was delighted to see many residents at the feeding stations and the water feature. These are birds seen only in South Texas.
These are birds that you will not see unless you travel to South Texas. If you would like to see them without traveling to Texas, Sabal Palm Audubon Sanctuary has a very nice webcam so that people can see these beautiful birds.
I am including this next bird because although it is a common bird for people in the Eastern half of the U.S., New Mexicans and most Westerners do not see this beautiful bird.
The birds suddenly fled, and I looked for the cause of their disturbance. I finally spotted a small coyote in the underbrush, as wary of me as the birds had been of it. The coyote was quite small compared to the ones that I am accustomed to seeing in New Mexico.
I drove the fifteen mile Bayside Drive loop, which runs for a significant distance along Laguna Madre, the bay between the mainland and South Padre Island. The scenery was interesting as desert scrub-type vegetation grows right to the water’s edge.
As I looked out over the bay, a Caspian Tern hunted overhead.
A Great Blue Heron fished in the shallow water near the shore.
I looked up and saw an Osprey with a fish, flying overhead. It was almost beyond the range of my lens …
… but I was able to get a much better look when it landed on the shore.
Several Semipalmated Sandpipers watched from a distance, hopeful of fish scraps.
I continued along Bayside Drive and watched Egrets fishing in the shallow water of Laguna Madre Bay.
Here is a short video of shorebirds feeding along the edge of Laguna Madre Bay:
When I came to the end of Bayside Drive I saw a gorgeous Harris Hawk sitting on a post. It was kind enough to post for several photos.
As I left Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, I saw a Crested Caracara flying toward me. I was quicker than I had been with the Aplomado Falcon, and I was able to get a photograph.
I thoroughly enjoyed my day at Laguna Atascosa. The next day would bring new challenges involving shorebird and sparrow identification, two of my weaknesses. | <urn:uuid:8b3bdc14-93ba-4eec-9501-830d3d24b271> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://photofeathers.wordpress.com/tag/northern-cardinal/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974202 | 607 | 1.835938 | 2 |
YEREVAN, December 27. /ARKA/. Armenia will start harmonizing its rural products with European standards in 2013, the country’s minister of agriculture Sergo Karapetyan told ARKA Agency.
Serious efforts are currently made toward harmonization. The state food safety service set up last year has departments dealing with development of standards and compliance requirements, the minister said.
The harmonization consists of three stages: first, training of specialist, second, upgrade of technical facilities to make analyses of any type, and third, approaching to the EU standards.
“First of all, this is important to ensure food safety for the population and to ensure exports. We cannot say we don’t know what we eat, but often products appearing on the stalls have no labels and expire date on them, producers cheat sometimes, whereas this system will help exclude cases like that,” Karapetyan said. -0- | <urn:uuid:acc38f68-9e74-4dc8-a917-dd071b8f59cf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://arka.am/en/news/economy/armenia_to_start_harmonizing_its_agriculture_with_eu_standards_in_2013/ | 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 | 0.941783 | 193 | 1.859375 | 2 |
by Tom Bethell
(Posted with permission from The Mountain Eagle, Whitesburg, KY)
Just when you think you’ve seen it all, somebody in the Bush administration comes up with another way to compromise somebody else’s rights. The latest example is Richard Stickler, director of the Mine Safety and Health Administration.
MSHA has been much in the news since 2006. Coal miners have suffered a string of disasters – Sago, Aracoma Alma, Kentucky Darby, Crandall Canyon – that might have been avoided or mitigated if MSHA since 2001 had stuck to its congressionally mandated job, which is law enforcement. But the Bush years have seen the agency shifting to “compliance assistance” (try requesting that the next time a trooper stops you) while hobbled by budget cuts, resulting in having too few inspectors to handle even their more compliant role.
At Crandall Canyon, as you’ll remember if you watched the news, Stickler seemed subordinate to mine owner Robert Murray, whose flawed mining plan led to the deaths of nine miners – six who were trapped when the inadequately supported mine walls erupted behind them and three (including a federal inspector) who were killed ten days later while trying to rescue the trapped miners.
MSHA’s handling of the Crandall Canyon mine from start to finish – from approving a bad mining plan to botching a rescue – was so obviously inept that Labor Secretary Elaine Chao was forced to appoint a team of independent investigators to look into how the agency conducted itself. As we noted in an August 6 editorial, the two investigators – Ernie Teaster and Joe Pavlovich, both MSHA veterans now retired – did a remarkable job, delivering a report that left no doubt of the desperate need for someone to lead MSHA back to its original mission.
Stickler, we now learn, is not that kind of leader.
As Salt Lake Tribune reporter Mike Gorrell revealed last Sunday, it wasn’t the report’s recommendations that got Stickler’s attention. No, what he wanted to know more about was who the sources were for the many unflattering comments in the report about how he performed at Crandall Canyon – candid comments by MSHA personnel, in interviews with Teaster and Pavlovich that were supposed to be kept confidential.
It’s not surprising that Stickler didn’t like the comments, which depict him as a real piece of work – a manager with no listening skills who was inclined to fire anyone questioning his thinking during a crisis. Whether that’s a fair portrayal, it’s how some front-line people felt, and for the sake of MSHA’s future it’s important that they expressed those views. But it’s equally obvious that they wouldn’t have talked so candidly if they had known that Stickler would track them down.
Which seems to be exactly what he’s doing. Stickler reportedly demanded, and got, the transcripts of the supposedly confidential interviews. When Gorrell broke the story, a Labor Department spokesman blandly maintained that there would be no firings, no nasty reassignments, no recriminations of any kind for those whose identities have now been revealed to their chief.
Oh, sure. How would a Labor Department flack – far removed from the front lines – have any idea? You might as well ask the greeter at Wal-Mart.
That said, let’s cut to the chase. The whole point of the investigation was to be independent – of all those responsible for MSHA’s conduct before, during, and after the Crandall Canyon calamity. Confidential interviews were as essential to its independence as water to a fish. Take away confidentiality and you take away any confidence in the investigation – not just this one, but any such investigation in the future. After this breach of faith, can you seriously imagine federal employees talking candidly to investigators about the failings of their agency?
With any luck, Richard Stickler has only a few more months in office. He could have used the time to battle the rising rates of black lung among miners who shouldn’t be being exposed to potentially lethal levels of respirable coal dust. He could have used the time to start correcting all the institutional flaws revealed by Teaster and Pavlovich in their eye-opening report. Instead, he’s burrowing into transcripts, looking for the dirt on who said what.
We’ve seen this movie before. It was called The Caine Mutiny, featuring a Captain Queeg. Things didn’t turn out very well for him (in a role reprised by Richard Nixon). Netflix would do Stickler a real favor by sending him the film – if he’s not too busy to watch it.
The editorial was written by The Mountain Eagle Contributing Editor Tom Bethell, who has covered coal for the paper off and on for nearly 40 years. Based in Washington, D.C., he is also the author of The Hurricane Creek Massacre, a book about a 1970 mine disaster, and is a former research director of the United Mine Workers of America. He was part of a team that investigated the Sago mine disaster in 2006. (The Mountain Eagle celebrated its 90th anniversary last year.)
See also: “Chao and Stickler did WHAT?”
8/28/update: Salt Lake Tribune editorial “Deceitful Disclosure” Aug 26, 2008 | <urn:uuid:f90f1ad3-a312-4cd2-8513-1375b79dd80a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://scienceblogs.com/thepumphandle/2008/08/27/undermining-independence/ | 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 | 0.972395 | 1,140 | 1.578125 | 2 |
- — 27 September, 2007 11:45
- First things first: why do you want one?
- How digital cameras work
- Photo Terminology
- Camera features
- Image Compression
Good cameras can take pictures, display them, and let you scroll through menus quickly without having to stab buttons again and again to get something to work. Compare models side by side to gauge their speed, as well as the usability of the menu settings and functions.
After all, you don't want to spend your time trying to figure out how to swap between stored images and photo-taking modes when capturing that once-in-a-lifetime pic.
A plethora of menu and usability choices is out there. Most cameras use LCD panels to display your menu options, while others also employ dials for various image and setting options. Again, the quality of the camera you buy will determine the number of functionality features on the camera.
All digital cameras have the option of using auto focus to focus on the subject. Higher-end units may also offer manual focus, which will allow you to focus the image you are taking yourself. This can be useful for close-ups or situations in which the camera can't get an automatic focus lock.
Auto focus is great for users who want to keep photo-taking simple, but won't please the avid photographers who want more control over the focal length or depth of field used in the image (see "Photo terminology" section for more on these terms).
Also, look for a macro focus option. This will allow you to take very close-up photos of subjects on which you wouldn't otherwise be able to focus with a normal lens. Macro lenses can focus on a subject as close as 2cm or 3cm. | <urn:uuid:8094ef9a-bc96-4f84-aa37-04d59e52b9e2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.goodgearguide.com.au/article/196448/digital_cameras/?pp=6 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943142 | 358 | 2.359375 | 2 |
Which benchmark should I use?
What is a benchmark?
A benchmark is program that uses standard tests to measure performance. Our benchmarks produce scores which can be used to compare different computers and devices. Comparing scores is easier than comparing confusing hardware specifications.
Running benchmarks regularly, and especially before and after making changes to your system, can help highlight problems with your set-up. Comparing scores with similar systems can help you judge the value of upgrading components. | <urn:uuid:dd56c0eb-a980-45d4-a853-c33d4ea6655a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.futuremark.com/benchmarks | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925232 | 93 | 2.5 | 2 |
Setpoint Systems builds custom automation solutions and in the process there are problems that come up where a creative solution can come in quite handy. Recently we used a creative solution to fix a problem of excess energy with servo motors. Many people don’t understand that one of the issues faced with running motors and servos at high speed and high cycle rates is the deceleration. As if accelerating to speed were not bad enough, you have to be able to stop the thing as well. Accelerating requires extra current, but in decelerating, there is a lot of energy that has to be disposed of somewhere. In fact, the energy available in an object in motion increases with the square of the velocity. If the velocity doubles you increase the energy by 4X. All that energy has to be absorbed by something.
Commonly in servo drives and frequency drives that excess energy shows up in the form of excess DC voltage on the DC bus. If this voltage gets high enough, the drives are designed to protect themselves, usually by declaring a fault and shutting down. Well, now that’s really convenient, eh? So the question that begs to be answered is: What do you do with all that extra DC voltage? Most drives have some sort of internal method of absorbing the extra energy, frequently in the form of a resistor circuit. This feature allows the excess voltage to bleed off to ground at a reasonable rate. If the DC voltage climbs too high or too fast, such that the bleed off circuit can not absorb all of it, then the drive faults. Let’s add more resistors! That will usually work.
However, on a machine that I was working on recently we sized a resistor to handle the excess energy of a VERY LARGE servo press that had to stop VERY fast. The resistor recommended by the vender was 48” long. No that’s not a misprint. That is four feet long, for a resistor! We didn’t like that option. So our vender recommended that we look at a product from a company named Bonitron. They make several sizes and flavors of devices that take excess DC energy, chop it up and spit it back out onto the three phase AC line. They call them Line Regen Modules. By using a diode module, also from Bonitron, we were able to hook multiple drives onto a single DC bus without back feeding into each other and feed it into the Line Regen Module. So far, it’s working great. I am quite impressed with the capability of these units. Check them out the next time you see a “DC BUS OVERVOLTAGE” fault, it was a great solution for us. | <urn:uuid:28f64988-75d3-49b1-af13-369b53f9b4ba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.setpointusa.com/blog/category/creative-thinking/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963311 | 558 | 2.15625 | 2 |
John Calvin Biography
Born: July 10, 1509
Noyon, Picardy, France
Died: May 27, 1564
French religious leader and reformer
The French religious reformer John Calvin created a strict version of Protestantism, which originally arose in opposition to the Catholic Church. He is known for his belief in predestination (meaning God has already chosen who will and will not be saved) and his view of the state as enforcer of church laws.
John Calvin was born at Noyon in Picardy, France, on July 10, 1509. He was the second son of Gérard Cauvin, who was secretary to the bishop of Noyon. It was decided early in his life that Calvin would serve the Catholic Church, and at the age of twelve he became a chaplain at the Cathedral of Noyon. In August 1523 he went to Paris, France, and entered the Collège de la Marche at the University of Paris, where he soon became skilled in Latin. He then attended the Collège de Montaigu until 1528. Then, at the suggestion of his father, he moved to Orléans, France, to study law.
In 1531 Calvin returned to Paris with his law degree. At this time Protestant opposition to the church was growing. The ideas of Martin Luther (1483–1546) concerning the saving of one's soul by faith alone were becoming popular in the city, and Calvin became involved in the movement for church reform. In January 1534 he fled Paris during a crackdown on Protestants and went to Angoulême, France, where he began writing down a full description of his beliefs. After several trips back to Paris he finally settled in Basel, Switzerland.
In 1536 Calvin expressed his new beliefs in the most famous book on Protestantism ever, the Institutes of the Christian Religion, which he continued to work on until his death. The book's theme is the majesty of God and the worthlessness of man. God has predestined (decided in advance) who will be granted eternal glory or suffer eternal damnation, and man can do nothing to change this decision. Calvin was not the creator of this idea, but no one ever expressed it more clearly.
Calvin also advised people to pray, saying men must worship even though they may have no chance to be saved. The prayer should be simple, and all fancy ceremony should be rejected. Calvin said that Christ is present whenever believers gather in prayer, and that priests have no special powers. He also stated that there was no separation of Church and state; both must work together to preserve the word of God, and the state was allowed to use force if necessary against those engaging in false teachings.
After returning briefly to France in 1536, Calvin left his homeland permanently. Traveling through Geneva, Switzerland, he met Guillaume Farel, a Protestant who asked him to stick around. In 1537 the city fathers
Back in Geneva, Calvin went right to work organizing the Reformed church. In 1542 the council approved his new regulations. The ministry was divided into pastors, teachers, lay (nonreligious) elders, and deacons. The pastors governed the Church, and their permission was required to preach in Geneva. To control public behavior, an elected group of pastors and elders were given the right to search people's homes; to banish anyone from the city; to force attendance at weekly sermons; and to ban gambling, drinking, dancing, and immodest dress. Criticism of Calvin or other church officials was forbidden, as were immoral writings and books about Catholicism. Punishment for first offenses was usually a fine. Repeat offenders were banished, and extreme offenses carried the death penalty. From 1541 until Calvin's death fifty-eight people were executed and seventy-six were banished in order to preserve morals and order.
Calvin's last years were spent criticizing his enemies and updating Geneva's laws and the Institutes. Geneva became a model of order and cleanliness and was admired by visitors. Men trained by Calvin carried his ideas all over Europe. He lived to see his following grow in the Netherlands, Scotland, Germany, and even France. On May 27, 1564, Calvin died after a long illness, having left a huge mark on the Christian world.
For More Information
Bouwsma, William J. John Calvin: A Sixteenth-Century Portrait. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.
Cottret, Bernard. Calvin: A Biography. Grand Rapids, MI: W. B. Eerdmans, 2000.
Wellman, Sam. John Calvin: Father of Reformed Theology. Ulrichsville, OH: Barbour, 2001. | <urn:uuid:f0672956-d45b-4d7f-952c-4c9ffcfc3bcf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.notablebiographies.com/Ca-Ch/Calvin-John.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982662 | 978 | 3.3125 | 3 |
PDT Staff Writer
Shawnee State University (SSU) is in the process of making upgrades to it’s mass notification system to allow for text message capabilities.
According to Elizabeth Blevins, Director of Communications for SSU, the current mass notification system has been in place for several years and allows the university to contact those signed up to receive a message in the event of an emergency.
“With the push of one button, these alerts are sent instantly to all phone numbers and e-mail addresses in the system. With the upgrade, students, faculty and staff will also receive a text message with the alert information, as well as the voice phone call and e-mail. The system also allows for the alert message to automatically be uploaded to the university’s Facebook and twitter accounts as well as its website,” Blevins said.
She said the most common use for the system has been in the event of snow emergencies and safety alerts.
Blevins said when new students arrive on campus they are prompted through their online student information site called MySSU to opt in or out of the system by providing their information.
“We currently have around 7,000 numbers in the system. Faculty and staff are also reminded periodically about the system. Participation is voluntary. They (students faculty and staff) have to opt in to the system,” Blevins said.
She said though the system is restricted to the SSU community, it’s a good way for SSU officials to communicate with members of the community in the event of an emergency where ever they may be.
“This upgrade helps us to better communicate with our students - using whatever method they most often use,” said, David Thoroughman, Director of the SSU Department of Public Safety. “Many of our students have indicated that they would prefer receiving a text message over a phone call. The new system now allows us to do that, as well as communicate with them instantly in social media.”
Upgrades are expected to be in place in March. In preparation, SSU is asking faculty and staff to update their contact information.
For more information about Shawnee State University and the many programs and activities offered visit www.shawnee.edu.
Wayne Allen may be reached at 740-353-3101, ext. 228, or firstname.lastname@example.org. | <urn:uuid:9983a933-d835-4888-a982-5ff6eeb0d0ec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://portsmouth-dailytimes.com/bookmark/21673823 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964476 | 503 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, together with other partners, demonstrated how using information and communication technologies (ICTs) and telecommunications networks could result in considerable savings in power-grid infrastructure and electricity consumption, reported the Network World on 22 October.
The test network allowed consumers to select their usage preferences via a web portal. Smart controls-based devices such as virtual thermostats were interconnected with a service-oriented architecture (SOA) through middleware, and using broadband internet. The so-called GridWise project showed that both the power demand at the SOA electricity marketplace could be managed more evenly and customers were in better control of their energy consumption.
For more information on the project, please click here.
This article was originally published in the ITU-D CYB Newslog. | <urn:uuid:7b286365-e843-4e4d-89f5-830ec1b1602c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/newslog/ICTs+Could+Help+Save+Electricity+And+Cost.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938438 | 170 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Jacob serveth Laban seven years for Rachel: but is deceived with Lia: he afterwards marrieth Rachel. Lia bears him four sons.
Then Jacob went on in his journey, and came into the east country.
And he saw a well in the field, and three flocks of sheep lying by it: for the beasts were watered out of it, and the mouth thereof was closed with a great stone.
And the custom was, when all the sheep were gathered together to roll away the stone, and after the sheep were watered, to put it on the mouth of the well again.
And he said to the shepherds: Brethren, whence are you? They answered: Of Haran.
And he asked them, saying: Know you Laban the son of Nachor? They said: We know him.
He said: Is he in health? He is in health, say they: and behold Rachel his daughter cometh with his flock.
And Jacob said: There is yet much day remaining, neither is it time to bring the flocks into the folds again: first give the sheep drink, and so lead them back to feed.
They answered: We cannot, till all the cattle be gathered together, and we remove the stone from the well' s mouth, that we may water the flocks.
They were yet speaking, and behold Rachel came with her father' s sheep: for she fed the flock.
And when Jacob saw her, and knew her to be his cousin-german, and that they were the sheep of Laban, his uncle: he removed the stone wherewith the well was closed.
And having watered the flock, he kissed her: and lifting up his voice, wept.
And he told her that he was her father' s brother, and the son of Rebecca: but she went in haste and told her father.
Who, when he heard that Jacob his sister' s son was come, ran forth to meet him; and embracing him, and heartily kissing him, brought him into his house. And when he had heard the causes of his journey,
He answered: Thou art my bone and my flesh. And after the days of one month were expired,
He said to him: Because thou art my brother, shalt thou serve me without wages? Tell me what wages thou wilt have.
Now he had two daughters, the name of the elder was Lia: and the younger was called Rachel.
But Lia was blear eyed: Rachel was well favoured, and of a beautiful countenance.
And Jacob being in love with her, said: I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter.
Laban answered: It is better that I give her to thee than to another man; stay with me.
So Jacob served seven years for Rachel: and they seemed but a few days, because of the greatness of his love.
And he said to Laban: Give me my wife; for now the time is fulfilled, that I may go in unto her.
And he, having invited a great number of his friends to the feast, made the marriage.
And at night he brought in Lia his daughter to him,
Giving his daughter a handmaid, named Zelpha. Now when Jacob had gone in to her according to custom when morning was come he saw it was Lia:
And he said to his father in law: What is it that thou didst mean to do? did not I serve thee for Rachel? why hast thou deceived me?
Laban answered: It is not the custom in this place, to give the younger in marriage first.
Make up the week of days of this match: and I will give thee her also, for the service that thou shalt render me other seven years.
He yielded to his pleasure: and after the week was past, he married Rachel:
To whom her father gave Bala for her servant.
And having at length obtained the marriage he wished for, he preferred the love of the latter before the former, and served with him other seven years.
And the Lord seeing that he despised Lia, opened her womb, but her sister remained barren.
And she conceived and bore a son, and called his name Ruben, saying: The Lord saw my affliction: now my husband will love me.
And again she conceived and bore a son, and said: Because the Lord heard that I was despised, he hath given this also to me: and she called his name Simeon.
And she conceived the third time, and bore another son: and said: Now also my husband will be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons: and therefore she called his name Levi.
The fourth time she conceived and bore a son, and said: now will I praise the Lord: and for this she called him Juda. And she left bearing. | <urn:uuid:382ed756-36a5-4ec1-b5e7-d19fdba2c406> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.drbo.org/x/d?b=drb&bk=1&ch=29&l=7 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.990822 | 1,012 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Philip Pro Lectureship in Legal History with Tomiko Brown-Nagin
This year's Philip Pro Lectureship in Legal History will be delivered by Professor Tomiko Brown-Nagin of Harvard Law School on the topic of her award-winning book, Courage to Dissent: Atlanta and the Long History of the Civil Rights Movement, published by Oxford University Press. A reception will immediately follow the presentation. Free and open to the public; no RSVP required.
Brown-Nagin is Professor of Law and Professor of History in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University. An expert on constitutional law, social and legal history, education law, and inequality, Brown-Nagin has published widely in these areas. Her 2011 book, Courage to Dissent, received several prizes, including the Bancroft Prize, the Organization of American Historians' Liberty Legacy Book Award, and the Lillian Smith Book Award.
Judge Philip M. Pro
Philip M. Pro was appointed United States District Judge for the District of Nevada by President Ronald Reagan and confirmed by the United States Senate on July 23, 1987. He served as Chief Judge for the District of Nevada from 2002 to 2007. Prior to his appointment as District Judge, Judge Pro served as United States Magistrate Judge from 1980 to 1987. Appointed by Chief Justice Rehnquist as Chair of the U.S. Judicial Conference Committee for the Administration of the Magistrate Judges System, and by Chief Justice Roberts to the Board of the Federal Judicial Center, Judge Pro has served on a variety of advisory and educational committees of the federal judiciary. Judge Pro also has represented the federal judiciary in a variety of “Rule of Law” programs throughout the world. He currently Chairs the Law Related Education Consortium of the State Bar of Nevada, and since its founding in 1987, has actively participated, locally and nationally, in the We the People . . . the Citizen and the Constitution program for high school students. A strong supporter of the William S. Boyd School of Law, Judge Pro served as Co- Chair of the Advisory Board for the founding of Boyd, and currently serves as a member of the Board of the Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution.
Learn more about Judge Pro here.
About the Lecture Series
In 2005, Pulitzer prize-winning historian Gordon Wood inaugurated the Philip Pro Lectureship in Legal History at the William S. Boyd School of Law. The series annually brings an internationally prominent scholar to UNLV to deliver a public lecture. Past lecturers include Jack Rakove, Geoffrey Stone, Sarah Barringer Gordon, John Witte Jr., Larry Kramer, Joyce Appleby, and Frank Zimring.
Special thanks to the UNLV History Department and Phi Alpha Theta, Psi Sigma Chapter for their contributions. | <urn:uuid:5266ec0c-8096-421c-b7c6-c6d8bfb9c212> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.law.unlv.edu/PhilipProLecture2013 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959657 | 569 | 1.53125 | 2 |
This article is published in Canadian New Media, Volume 7, Issue 16, under "Newsmakers".
Why creators should oppose DRM
By Russell McOrmond
One of the most controversial aspects of recent copyright reform worldwide has been the proposed prohibition on the circumvention of digital rights management (DRM). This proposal is part of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) copyright treaties that specific members of the Canadian Parliament wish to ratify soon.
DRM is controversial. It can be used by copyright holders to restrict activities which are not restricted in copyright law, effectively allowing DRM software to replace legislation as the authority on what can or cannot be done with a work. DRM can also be abused by copyright infringers to hide their infringement, and can be used by media companies to create or extend harmful monopolies. | <urn:uuid:780c2050-c549-4cdd-83b1-198f10f61497> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.digital-copyright.ca/node?page=323 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935888 | 166 | 2.46875 | 2 |
Library, Animal Control
Wildlife as Pets
Natural habitat for animals overlaps with suburban sprawl so humans and wild animals come into contact frequently. With the decline in hunting of local wildlife, generations of wild animals have lost their fear of people and are now active during the day. When young tractable animals are found by people, especially infant animals who require care to survive, people often consider keeping keep them as members of their family.
Why it's not a good idea
Most importantly, it's illegal to keep or handle a wild animal in Maryland without a permit. This is mostly to protect people from diseases wild animals transmit including plague, parasites and rabies. It also protects people from injury. Wild animals, even babies, communicate fear and hunger by biting and scratching. Mother animals, who are often nearby and unseen, may cause human injuries when their young are disturbed.
It also protects animals. Captive wild babies may not eat and do not maintain sufficient activity to remain healthy without careful support and appropriate enclosures. Additionally, prey animals panic at the sights and scents of danger. Wild animals living in busy households are in a constant state of fear, especially in homes with domestic pets. Constant stress is harmful to an animal's health.
To complicate matters, wild animals have the ability to hide symptoms of disease so as not to attract attention from predators. Veterinary care for wild animals is difficult to find in an emergency and their needs are very different from dogs, cats or livestock. It may be too stressful to confine the animal at a hospital which also houses dogs and cats. Anesthetizing a panicked wild animal is risky. Some species transmit rabies preventing vets from legally treating them at all.
Finally, wild animals travel extensive territories from acres to miles every day (or night) foraging for food and avoiding predators. Losing the ability to climb, forage and travel can lead to development of abnormal behaviors. A human household contains many dangers from fans to electrical cords. Most households do not have the space or resources to provide the activities to which a species has adapted for centuries. Wild animals can become suddenly aggressive during their mating season, making them impossible to handle safely under any circumstance, especially once they view humans as part of their social group. Unfortunately, they can not always be safely neutered.
What if the animal seems suitable?
Tragically, even for those households which can provide a suitable environment for a wild pet, after a time of reliance on human care, these animals can not be released into the wild. They cannot support themselves, do not get along with other members of their species, and will approach people without fear. Unfortunately, zoos and wildlife rehab centers are not able to accept them, either. These facilities do maintain animals with injuries that prevent their release. However, these animals are able to interact with others of their species and have a calming effect on new captives. Wild animals raised as pets cannot serve this purpose.
Wild/domestic hybrids such as wolf/dog crosses and wild/domestic cat crosses create a special situation. Wolves and wild cats have a low tolerance for constant stimulation from human households. There is no way to predict if a particular wolf/dog puppy or cross-bred kitten will inherit his wild parent's increased sensitivity or his pet parent's domestic tranquility. Within one litter, each baby will have his own physiological mix. How do we predict which puppies must remain with the wolves and which can be kept as pets? Will the kitten inherit the domestic response to a rabies vaccine which makes it effective? If he inherits hunting instincts and can escape any fence, will we build an enclosure fulfilling enough to prevent him developing a habit of incessant pacing or other destructive behavior?
Maryland State Permits
Maryland Department of Natural Resources issues permits to those who rehabilitate baby animals with the plan to release them to the wild. Most relocated animals live an average of two weeks, which is not a humane solution at all. Rehabbers are skilled at preparing wild animals for successful release, sometimes monitoring them afterward for weeks. A Maryland state permit requires registration and continuing education as well as inspection of facilities.
It's never a good idea
For all of the reasons stated, wild animals should not be considered potential pets. Although unusual circumstances exist, and knowledgeable handlers can make this work, it is likely the end result will include injury to people and death to the animal. Wild animals should only be handled by folks with appropriate permits and with the intention of returning them to their wild habitat.
Powered by CivicPlus
12 East Church Street
Frederick, MD 21701 | <urn:uuid:209dcba9-11b1-404f-9b55-44610270707b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.frederickcountymd.gov/index.aspx?NID=131 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951151 | 937 | 3.59375 | 4 |
EST’s ambassador to Lithuania, Edvardas Pocius, takes a look at the upcoming parliamentary elections in Lithuania and explains if any foreign policy changes should be expected, and if so, which obstacles might need to be overcome first.
Posts Tagged ‘ Foreign Policy ’
Historically, China has strictly stuck to the non-interference principle. But, this sacred principle as interpreted in the Chinese foreign policy may appear quite ambiguous. It has been during a long time pushed by the Chinese diplomacy to its limits but appears somewhat flexible, depending on what it is at stake.
Nowadays, this principle seems to be sometimes overworked. So much so the concept is losing its substance. Therefore, let’s go back to the origins…
December’s topic of the month invites your contributions! “Chinese invest ments in Africa – how to compete with the dragon?” is what we ask this time. Submit your concrete topic proposal!
The trial against medical staff that treated protesters in Bahrain is now in full swing. The lack of any significant reaction from Europe against the Bahraini regime amidst continuous human rights violations stands in stark contrast to the reaction against other Arab dictators. It is a shame that political and economic interests prevent the West from severely sanctioning the tiny Gulf state.
Tensions in the Eastern–Mediterranean area are escalating: A short time ago, Cyprus begun to conduct drilling for oil and gas in its exclusive economic area, facing the contradiction of Turkey. Turkey claims a share in the “controversial” Block 12.
US President Barack Obama has undertaken a six-day trip of ‘the old continent’. In the wake of his journey, what can we tell about the relationship with Europe in the current American administration? What will be the future of the transatlantic relation between Europe and the United States?
The death of Osama Bin Laden is a great victory for the free West. Almost ten years after the devastating attacks on September 11th 2001, the circle of the thousands of deaths on that fateful day is now complete. What does this mean for the security of the world? Is the ‘war on terror’ about to be concluded?
France’s bombs on Gbagbo and Italy’s bombs on Khadafi show that Europe’s countries dare to act in their former colonies. Accusations of neocolonialism by evildoers should be accepted as compliments, as it means standing up for human rights, even in countries where acting militarily is sensitive.
The disturbances in the Middle-East and North Africa have now truly reached Europe. The past weekend, Italy started distributing humanitarian visas to refugees from Tunisia, who had started arriving at the small Italian island of Lampedusa after the revolt in their home country. Around 25.000 visas will be handed out, which gives them full travel possibilities throughout Europe. What will be the impact on the other member states?
The western world has begun its third military intervention in a Muslim country since the attacks on September 11th. After previous conflicts, what lessons have been learned? What is the most desirable outcome in the Libyan conflict? And what can be said about the role of the international coalition? | <urn:uuid:9b22b266-6f0b-4fad-9ca9-437edda4a0c1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://studentthinktank.eu/tag/foreign-policy-china-africa-human-rights-arabian-revolution/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957939 | 660 | 1.9375 | 2 |
Guide dogs lead a double life.
Naturally inquisitive and playful, they know that when they slip on that green jacket, they're in full guide-dog mode and all activities cease in deference to their blind human partner.
These dogs get to be this refined in knowing their place and what is expected of them thanks to volunteers like Cory Olson and his wife Diane, who take in new puppies at eight or nine weeks old and teach them basic obedience and good manners as well as help socialize them to the human world.
The Olsons brought home their newest pup two weeks ago: a black Labrador by the name of Geo who had not yet been potty-trained. They are part of a small but dedicated group of Plateau residents who raise puppies for the national organization Guide Dogs for the Blind. Currently, the group, operating under the name Future Vision, is about 10 strong, made up of residents in Enumclaw, Buckley and Bonney Lake, and they are working with five dogs for the organization.
Jana Decker and Kristen Schuver are this group's leaders. Their dogs represent the spectrum of training that guide dogs typically receive from volunteers before they are returned to the organization's 'college' in Boring, Ore., to learn specialized skills adapted for the blind as well as for final assessments and placement.
Decker's currently working with Lila, another Lab who had started training with the Olsons. Schuver was ready to say goodbye to Allegra, a Golden Retriever she had been working with the last 13 months who was ready to graduate and head to 'college.'
Socializing Volunteer Work
Prior to the dogs leaving their volunteers trainers, they typically spend between 14 to 18 months working together, and much of the training involves socializing the dogs so they get to go to a lot of places with their human trainers.
Schuver, who works at Enumclaw School District, takes Allegra to school with her. Decker, likewise, brings Lila to her office at Boeing. The dogs need to learn to tolerate not really moving for several hours at a time, Decker said. They also go to church.
At the opposite end of the noise spectrum, the dogs also learn to adapt to noisy environments such as athletic events, the grocery store and restaurants. "We get them used to being around people," Decker said. "This community is amazing in allowing us to bring the dogs in, and the businesses are just very nice and open to all of us to coming in. A blind partner has to eat. They want to go to a restaurant, get a haircut, see their dentist..."
The Olsons bring their dogs to the elementary schools during reading times. Given their different destinations, the group also swaps dogs regularly to ensure they receive the full experience of human interaction.
"We just socialize them the best we can and if it means rotating the dogs, than it means rotating the dogs," Decker said. "They have to be comfortable around kids and in an office environment."
Drawbacks: 24/7 Work and Saying Goodbye
The pups are adorable and fun to play with, but Decker doesn't deny the fact that the volunteer work is hard and there's no off time.
"It does take a family to raise it," she said. "The kids can't be the ones to do it alone."
Future Vision's guidelines for prospective puppy raisers requests that "all family members must show a willingness to learn GBD (guide dogs for the blind) puppy training techniques and be willing to participate in club activities."
The other drawback to raising guide dog pups is knowing that you don't get to keep them. Cory said it was a fear they had when they started. They have actually taken one dog back to keep.
"You know these aren't your dogs," Decker said. "Out of 12 dogs we raised, I have never taken a dog back but my daughter took one back. ... she became too attached."
Volunteers get the chance to meet the blind partner their dog is assigned to, assuming they pass all assessments, during a graduation ceremony. The volunteer actually gets to pass the leash off to the blind partner. Those who befriend the partners get the benefit of receiving regular updates about how their dog is doing. "As soon as you hand the leash off to the partner, you know why you do it," Decker said.
The Other Benefits
Lila is Decker's 12th dog. "You get hooked," she said. "After the first one, you cry and you say goodbye, and then the second one you get another puppy and you're going, 'why am I doing this again?' Next thing you know you're on your 12th dog."
The process of socializing the dogs also gives the volunteers a chance to be social creatures themselves. Decker said having her dog with her at work is a calming influence not just for her but for office mates as well.
"You have to be a senior citizen to understand how easy it would be to associate only with people your own age and just go down that road," Diane said. "This keeps you very plugged in to the community at large and multi-generational activities."
It also keeps her young. "You definitely have to think while you're doing this," she added. ''They're just fun. I would not do it if it wasn' t fun."
People in public are eager to pet the dogs and chat with the volunteers too, Cory said. "People give you recognition for what you do," he said. "It's gratifying."
"It's a wonderful way to meet people," Diane added.
And when the dogs sometimes become too overwhelming, the group members turn to each other for support, sometimes swapping dogs not so much for socializing purposes but just to give one another a break, Decker said.
Want to Raise a Pup?
Future Vision is holding an information meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 4 in Bonney Lake for anyone who wants to learn more about what commitments are required to become a volunteer.
Some expectations include attending meetings and functions, having all members of a family sign on to working with the puppy and covering food costs for the dog. The organization covers all medical expenses, Decker said.
Prospective volunteers at some point also receive a home visit by group leaders to ensure a proper and safe space for the dog.
Decker emphasizes that this volunteer work can be especially beneficial to high school students. Both her children who graduated from Enumclaw High School helped to raise puppies for their senior projects and for community service. "The kids got a lot of money for scholarships because of the community service projects," she said. "It made it really nice for the parents."
The meeting takes place at Midtown Grill (20609 State Route 410) in Bonney Lake from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
For more information about the meeting, call 253-862-3767. To learn more about Guide Dogs for the Blind, visit www.guidedogs.com. | <urn:uuid:39215414-14e6-468d-a1bc-b4abc7779f3a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://enumclaw.patch.com/groups/around-town/p/future-vision | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980312 | 1,450 | 1.992188 | 2 |
CANTON The new Kevlar vest, a gift from a SUNY Canton student group, made the St. Lawrence County sheriffs deputy grin ear-to-ear, stick his tongue out and wag his tail.
Hershey, a 5-year-old chocolate Labrador retriever who makes up one-half of the departments only K-9 unit, matched his partner, K-9 Officer Andrew J. Ashley both wore the black bulletproof vests emblazoned with Sheriff in bright yellow letters Wednesday morning.
Hell only wear it on higher profile calls, Mr. Ashley said.
The vest was a gift from SUNY Cantons Criminal Justice Student Association, which worked in conjunction with the schools American Criminal Justice Association and Veterinary-Technician Association, said Eli Max, a criminal investigation senior from Freeport.
It cost us around $1,000, he said. We spent four months raising the money.
Mr. Max, a David Sullivan-St. Lawrence County Law Enforcement Academy cadet, said the association raised the money by selling flowers leading up to Valentines Day, and selling lottery tickets and T-shirts.
On Wednesday morning, the students met the beneficiary of their efforts. Mr. Ashley, a Heuvelton native and SUNY Canton criminal justice graduate, said Hershey wasnt used to the attention.
He hasnt sat still this long in his entire life, he said. He knows it is time to go to work.
Most law enforcement agencies consider their canine partners full-fledged officers, the same as humans, Undersheriff Scott F. Bonno said.
He works in the face of danger, just like Andy does, Mr. Bonno said. This is body armor comparable to what our officers wear.
Mr. Bonno said Mr. Ashley and Hershey are the Sheriffs Departments only K-9 unit at this time.
In the history of the department, weve had four or five, he said. This is the first Lab weve had. Its always been German shepherds before.
The students will continue their work, said William J. Fassinger, associate professor of criminal justice and faculty adviser to the Criminal Justice Student Association.
Theyre prepared to do a second vest, he said. The students did a fantastic job organizing and raising funds, and their efforts provided protection for a local law-enforcement officer. | <urn:uuid:d37773c9-604d-418f-a598-681515d88325> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20130221/NEWS05/702219855/1035 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953928 | 496 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Margarita Ribas Groeger
José A. Ramos
21F.702 / 21F.752
Undergraduate / Graduate
This course features a set of in-class exercises and activities.
Spanish II continues to develop students' listening, speaking, reading and writing skills using the second part of the video-based program, Destinos, begun in Spanish I. Destinos is a soap opera that allows students to learn Spanish and experience its cultural diversity while following a good story full of surprises and human emotions. Spanish II also includes additional materials, such as Spanish films and other media, various types of reading selections and online resources. | <urn:uuid:4ca95d83-6a3f-4365-ad22-c10ab11c4b38> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/foreign-languages-and-literatures/21f-702-spanish-ii-spring-2004/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923891 | 131 | 2.0625 | 2 |
Belts and pulleys will continue to replace traditional gears in the coming years as more carmakers turn to Continuously Variable Transmissions to
According to a new Automotive News report, by the numbers, about one percent of new vehicles were equipped with a CVT in 2005. By 2010, that number of new vehicles in the U.S. grew to seven percent, thanks largely to Nissan, not to mention an increase in the number of hybrid models sold in America (most of which are fitted with the technology). Experts at IHS Automotive now predict that percentage will more than double by 2016 to 16 percent.
The belt-and-pulley transmission can adjust to an engine's torque in an infinite number of ways, making it more efficient than traditional gearboxes. But CVTs have become the bane of many enthusiasts and critics because of a number of undesirable characteristics – namely the unpleasant 'rubber band' sound they emit under hard acceleration.
According to Automotive News, Japanese carmakers appear especially interested in adding CVTs to their lineups. Honda is widely expected to offer a CVT on its next-generation four-cylinder Accord, Toyota may include a CVT on its future Corolla, and the CVT stalwarts at Nissan introduced its 2013 Altima earlier this year with an upgraded CVT that helps it achieve 38 miles per gallon on the highway.
While CVTs continue to improve, some providing faux programed "shift points" through sport programs or paddle shifters, they remain a non-starter with most enthusiasts we talk to. Further, critics like us can't help but note that with the advent of newer, lighter automatics and dual-clutch gearboxes with more and more speeds (eight speeds are becoming increasingly common, and nine- and ten-speed autos cogswappers on the horizon), the efficiency advantages of the CVT aren't as impressive.
We'll obviously need some sort of pulley mechanism to drag us into the future. | <urn:uuid:29728d45-0b57-4ca2-b27d-7b74b727c503> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.autoblog.com/2012/07/30/cvts-expected-to-more-than-double-in-popularity/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949246 | 403 | 2.140625 | 2 |
There has been quite a stir over at the Atlantic this week over Anne-Marie Slaughter’s article “Why Women Still Can’t Have it All”; ( the article has over 97,000 likes on facebook and about 1,900 comments on the discussion board). The article discusses Slaughter’s experience attempting to balance a high-powered working career with her her equally-challenging role as a mother; she also addresses her conversations with young women who aim to create a sort of work/family balance for their futures.
Check out Slaughter’s article, but also read Lori Gottlieb’s response ( also on the Atlantic); after comparing Slaughter’s overall assumptions to those of a spoiled child, Gottlieb makes some interesting conclusions:
The real problem here isn’t about women and their options. The real problem is that technology has made it possible to work 24/7, so that the boundary between work and our personal lives has disappeared. Our cubicles are in our pockets, at the dinner table, next to our beds and even next to our children’s beds as we’re tucking them in. In many households, one income isn’t enough, and both men and women have to work long hours — longer hours than ever before — to make ends meet. The women Slaughter cites as being efficient – who wake up at 4 am each day, who punch in 1:11 or 2:22 on the microwave rather than waste the millisecond to punch in 1:00 or 2:00, who put their babies in front of the computer while they type rather than savor that tiny infant in their lap – made me want to cry. How terribly sad those lives are. But to make this about women misses the point. The problem here is that many people work too much — not just women, and not just parents.
Give me your thought Salvo readers. How have the ideas of career and work changed over the years? Has technology really given us the upper hand or have we lost something in the modernizing process? | <urn:uuid:197db1b5-2c17-4ecd-a270-cc6943c680ee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://salvomag.com/blog/2012/06/working-nine-five/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970647 | 429 | 1.695313 | 2 |
How Is a Kindle Like a Cuttlefish
Research out from a multidisciplinary team headed by the
University of Cincinnati examines parallels between e-Paper technology
(the technology behind sunlight-readable devices like the Kindle) and
biological organisms that change color.
Date: 9/26/2012 7:45:00 AM
By: M.B. Reilly
Phone: (513) 556-1824
Photos By: Photo illustration by Lisa Ventre
Over millions of years, biological organisms – from the chameleon and cuttlefish to the octopus and squid – have developed color-changing abilities for adaptive concealment (e.g., camouflage) and communication signaling (e.g., warning or mating cues).
Over the past two decades, humans have begun to develop sophisticated e-Paper technology in electronic devices that reflect and draw upon the ambient light around you to create multiple colors, contrast and diffusion to communicate text and images.
And given the more than 100 million years head start that evolution has provided to these animals and their cellular systems, it’s not surprising that e-Paper devices lag behind in optical performance, especially color generation.
In an effort to close that gap, a multidisciplinary team led by University of Cincinnati researchers is out today with a paper that aims to help biologists who work with these color-changing creatures and engineers who work with e-Paper technology. The paper – “Biological vs. Electronic Adaptive Coloration: How Can One Inform the Other?
” – is in the “The Journal of The Royal Society Interface” (electronic version) and will be featured on the cover of the upcoming print issue.
Authors are Eric Kreit, a recent doctoral graduate in UC’s College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS); Lydia M. Mäthger and Roger T. Hanlon, research scientists at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass.; Patrick B. Dennis and Rajesh R. Naik, scientists at the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright Patterson Air Force Base; Eric Forsythe, scientist at the Army Research Laboratory; and Jason Heikenfeld, associate professor of electronic and computing systems, also in the University of Cincinnati’s College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS).
According to UC’s Kreit, “Our main goals were threefold: To allow display engineers to learn from millions of years of natural selection and evolution. To teach biologists the most advanced mechanisms and performance measurements used in human-made reflective e-Paper and to give all scientists a clearer picture of the long-term prospects for capabilities such as adaptive concealment and what can be learned from now you see me, now you don’t mechanisms.” WAYS IN WHICH ANIMALS AND ELECTRONICS ARE ALIKE
One of the researchers’ key findings is that there are numerous approaches to change the reflective color of a surface and that the highest-performance approaches developed by both humans and nature share some powerful common features. Both use pigment, and both change or achieve color expression by either spreading or compacting that pigment. Animals use muscle fiber to spread or compact pigment, and electronics make use of an electric field to do so.
However, even if the basic approach for color change is similar, humanity has never developed anything as complex or sophisticated as the biology and physics of cephalopod skin. (Cephalopods are a diverse ocean group and include 700 species of cuttlefish, squid and octopus – and are the acknowledged masters of color change on the planet).
According to Heikenfeld, “The highest performance human-made approaches have been only recently developed, well after numerous other approaches were tried. Perhaps in the past, if we had more closely trusted nature’s ability to find the best solution, we would be further along today in creating better display technology.” ANIMALS ARE EFFICIENT USERS OF AVAILABLE LIGHT
Biological organisms that change color are very efficient at using available light. The animal’s skin either reflects light to achieve a bright-color effect or absorbs light to achieve stunning, multi-colored effects.
In their use of available light, the biological organisms are more efficient than electronic devices, which generally require large amounts of electric power to generate an internal/emissive light to generate bright color.
Said Roger Hanlon, “Cephalopod skin is exquisitely beautiful and radiant, and can be changed in milliseconds, all without generating any intrinsic light from within the skin; there are elegant solutions from biology waiting to be translated to our consumer and industrial world.”
In fact, overall, animals “outscore” synthetic devices when it comes to sophistication and integrated systems; required energy use for color change; size scalability (cephalopods’ adaptive coloration works over a wide range of sizes in the organisms’ class – from small-size cuttlefish to large-size octopus and squid); and surface texture (cephalopods can selectively adapt or “crinkle” their skins to match a variety of three-dimensional textures, which provides additional light scattering and shadowing). ELECTRONIC DEVICES ACHIEVE COLORS FASTER AND ACHIEVE MORE COLORS
Human-developed technology is far superior to cephalopods or other color-adapting animals when it comes to speed. In other words, human-made electronics can achieve color and a color change faster than the response time of a biological organism.
In addition, synthetic devices can provide a greater range of colors and more efficient dark or black state. In other words, a device can achieve a black screen, but most biological organisms cannot achieve such darkened coloring. This is, in part, due to the fact that an organism like a marine animal generally has no reason, in terms of survival adaptation or signaling, to go to a dark or black state. Such an adaptation would actually make them more visible, not less, to predators. FUNDING
This research was funded by the Air Force Research Laboratory, National Science Foundation, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Army Research Laboratory, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Office of Naval Research. | <urn:uuid:b07dad50-ae59-40ff-960e-1cdb60b744c2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uc.edu/news/NR.aspx?id=16530 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.904731 | 1,296 | 3 | 3 |
Severe sepsis and septic shock are common problems in the intensive care unit and carry a high mortality. Endotoxin, one of the principal components on the outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria, is considered important to their pathogenesis. Polymyxin B bound and immobilized to polystyrene fibers (PMX-F) is a medical device that aims to remove circulating endotoxin by adsorption, theoretically preventing the progression of the biological cascade of sepsis. We performed a systematic review to describe the effect in septic patients of direct hemoperfusion with PMX-F on outcomes of blood pressure, use of vasoactive drugs, oxygenation, and mortality reported in published studies.
We searched PubMed, the Cochrane Collaboration Database, and bibliographies of retrieved articles and consulted with experts to identify relevant studies. Prospective and retrospective observational studies, pre- and post-intervention design, and randomized controlled trials were included. Three authors reviewed all citations. We identified a total of 28 publications – 9 randomized controlled trials, 7 non-randomized parallel studies, and 12 pre-post design studies – that reported at least one of the specified outcome measures (pooled sample size, 1,425 patients: 978 PMX-F and 447 conventional medical therapy).
Overall, mean arterial pressure (MAP) increased by 19 mm Hg (95% confidence interval [CI], 15 to 22 mm Hg; p < 0.001), representing a 26% mean increase in MAP (range, 14% to 42%), whereas dopamine/dobutamine dose decreased by 1.8 μg/kg per minute (95% CI, 0.4 to 3.3 μg/kg per minute; p = 0.01) after PMX-F. There was significant intertrial heterogeneity for these outcomes (p < 0.001), which became non-significant when analysis was stratified for baseline MAP. The mean arterial partial pressure of oxygen/fraction of inspired oxygen (PaO2/FiO2) ratio increased by 32 units (95% CI, 23 to 41 units; p < 0.001). PMX-F therapy was associated with significantly lower mortality risk (risk ratio, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.43 to 0.65). The trials assessed had suboptimal method quality.
Based on this critical review of the published literature, direct hemoperfusion with PMX-F appears to have favorable effects on MAP, dopamine use, PaO2/FiO2 ratio, and mortality. However, publication bias and lack of blinding need to be considered. These findings support the need for further rigorous study of this therapy. | <urn:uuid:f4a90879-b8d5-400f-9a6f-7757bf19676f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pubmedcentralcanada.ca/pmcc/solr/reg?pageSize=25&term=&sortby=score+desc&filterAuthor=author%3A(%22Perazella%2C+Mark+A.%22) | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916462 | 552 | 1.539063 | 2 |
The START Treaty, an arms control act between the U.S. and Russia, was ratified in the Senate with 13 Republicans joining the Democrats. From the LA Times:
Under the treaty, Russia and the United States agree to limit the number of nuclear warheads to 1,550 each, down from the ceiling of 2,200. The pact also establishes a system for monitoring and verification. The treaty was signed by Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on April 8.
Also from the LA Times:
The partisan politics of ratification were clear in the debate. In his comments, Cornyn mentioned the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Obama in the early days of his administration. The citation praised Obama for creating a new climate in international politics, Cornyn noted.
“You ask what is the relevance of this to consideration to the START treaty,” Cornyn chided. “I fear that the New START treaty will serve as another data in a narrative of weakness, pursuing diplomacy for its own sake or indulging in a utopian dream of a world without nuclear weapons divorced from hard reality.”
Cornyn closed by urging defeat of the START agreement to prove that the era of “unilateral American concessions is over.”
That’s right, we’re making unilateral concessions, like requiring Russia to also reduce their nuclear weapons. Wait. What?
And it’s so scary to only have 1,550 nuclear warheads. How can we ever destroy the world with only 1,550 nuclear warheads. Wait. What?
I think the main problem Republicans are having with this bill is that it’s yet another lame duck victory for President Obama and Democrats. Man, if only the Democrats had pretended they were a lame duck group the last two years, who knows what they could have accomplished?
Enjoy it while it lasts.
- internal hemorrhoids treatments on Egypt Reactions
- like this on John Thune and Sotomayor
- jquery mobile tutorial on College Football/Nebraska-KSU Challenge
- discount learn css3 pdf on Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now aka ACORN
- site link on Rep. Weiner on Justice Thomas and the Appearance of Bias
- rate us online on House Officially Disapproves of Wilson’s Outburst
- rate us on Will Rogers Said It Best
- t1 circuit info on Good God Glenn
- reality show casting on Teacher takes Student the wood shed…
- insurnace companies on Vermont Legalizes Gay Marriage
Most Commented Posts
- Miss me yet (130)
- Arizona's Racist Law (119)
- Confessions of a Tea Party Casualty (83)
- Smoking Ban Thoughts and Poll (80)
- Tom Tancredo Wants Literacy Tests (76)
- The Apparent Trap/Hawaiian Health Care (62)
- Sarah Palin: Persecuted Jew? (57)
- Healthcare (53)
- Cash for Clunkers: What a joke! (50)
- Tom Coburn Has Pelosi's Back and a Point (49) | <urn:uuid:c8733a29-ae30-48f4-adf8-c4de4a8652a4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://theamericannews.net/election/?p=2379 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916555 | 643 | 1.875 | 2 |
“Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global average sea level.”
- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Threats to biodiversity, spreading pollution, degraded river basins and disappearing forests are problems in most of the countries in the world, where climate change is knocking on the door. The poor are more dependent on natural resources and have less of an ability to adapt to a changing climate. Diseases, declining crop yields and natural disasters are just a few of the impacts of climate change that can devastate the world’s most vulnerable communities.
Youth and children, as the next generations, have the right to a clean future – Pick up any kid in a crowd and he/she would never wish to inherit a toxic, radioactive, dirty and carbon-driven world.
Of course young people like me are concerned, I think rightly much more than adults are, for the future of the world. “We have - most of us here - the sun on our backs, and they (youth & Children) have to face the sun and are very worried”.-Hugo Chavez
The youth today demands a clear definition of sustainable energy and time-bound targets for the implementation of a sustainable energy policy that will free us from respiratory ailments, air pollution, climate change and a radioactive legacy.
We also stand in solidarity with vulnerable communities, including low-income and marginalized groups, indigenous populations and those living in geographically vulnerable areas, which bear and suffer a disproportionate share of the impact of climate change. In the age of sensationalism, it is easier to propagate and digest news about pandas, elephants, great apes or whales dying as a result of hunting or habitat destruction than more complex stories of ecosystem degradation.
There is no point in changing the climate as it is hardly possible. So change the system.
-Saket Mani Youth Activist United Nations Environment Programme | <urn:uuid:848767c0-ddce-4539-87ab-917422b2399d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.voicesofyouth.org/posts/climate-change-are-we-doing-our-best | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923432 | 413 | 3.0625 | 3 |
BY ROBERT KAGAN
Special to The Washington Post
In the interest of national security, and the preservation of the world order the United States has upheld and benefited from since World War II, Republicans and Democrats must make the necessary compromises and agree on a deal to address the nation’s fiscal crisis in both the near and the long term.
I am not an economist or a budget analyst, so I don’t presume to know exactly what a “grand bargain” should look like. It seems pretty obvious that a compromise will require both tax reform, including if necessary some tax increases, and entitlement reform, since those programs are the biggest driver of the fiscal crisis. What I do know, as a national security analyst, is that our continuing failure to address the crisis in a way that makes possible a return to stable economic growth has become a serious foreign policy problem.
In a world that still looks to U.S. leadership on many issues, despite what some say, our utter dysfunction on matters involving the basic health of our economy does not inspire confidence. Nor will the United States act with confidence abroad while we are unable to address our problems at home. It is no accident that all the misguided talk of a “post-American world” came after the financial crisis exploded.
A principal victim in the absence of a deal to address the fiscal crisis has been and will continue to be the national security budget. Republicans and Democrats alike have been prepared to see hundreds of billions of dollars cut from the defense budget, with even more cuts coming if Congress fails to avoid the automatic “sequestration.” The already shrunken foreign-aid budget is also being cut at a time when, in the Middle East, for instance, we need to be spending more, not less, to support stable economies as the basis for democratic reform.
It would be one thing if the world were kindly affording us a timeout, a nice period of placidity in international affairs, while we get our house in order. But the world is not cooperating. The international environment is becoming more, not less, challenging.
Iran continues to move closer to obtaining a nuclear weapon, and the prospect of a conflict cannot be dismissed. The outcome of the Arab revolutions remains uncertain. The tumult in Syria threatens to embroil the entire region. The future of Afghanistan and nuclear-armed Pakistan remains worrying. Terrorists continue to expand their efforts in the Middle East and Africa. China’s military is growing, and at a time of changing leadership some forces in the Chinese system are pushing for greater assertiveness in the South China Sea and elsewhere. Even absent some new crisis, both Leon Panetta and Bob Gates have warned of the catastrophic consequences of deeper defense cuts to the nation’s security.
We need to dispel the illusion that cuts to the national security budget really save us money. Some Republicans who oppose compromising on taxes make the same miscalculation as Democrats who favor deeper defense cuts. They think that if the United States would simply scale back its role in the world, it could save money and make raising further revenue unnecessary. This is a faulty assumption. The present global economic and political order, which has provided the environment in which the United States has grown and prospered for decades, is built on and around American power and influence. Were the United States to cease playing its role in upholding this order, were we to retreat from East Asia or to back away from the challenge posed by a nuclear Iran, the result could only be global instability. From a purely economic perspective, it would be far more costly to restore order and stability - both essential to a prosperous global economy - than it would be to sustain it. Indeed, if there is no deal on the fiscal cliff and the long-term fiscal crisis because Republicans and Democrats won’t make a sensible compromise on raising revenue and reforming entitlements, and the result is further cuts in the defense and foreign affairs budgets, then the cost - including the dollar cost - could make the present budget arguments look absurdly petty.
The point is, none of the elements of a deal to address the fiscal crisis - not taxes or entitlements or anything else - can be considered in isolation. We should have learned the lesson of the 1920s and 1930s, another period when a global economic crisis was inconveniently accompanied by an unsettled and dangerous geopolitical situation. Then, American leaders concentrated on trying to address their domestic economic problems, somehow imagining these could be separated from the broader international economic and political environment. The United States actively retreated from global involvement to focus on what these days we would call “nation-building at home.” The result was disastrous both at home and abroad.
The United States is far more deeply integrated in the global economy than it was 80 years ago, and the well-being of the global economy is far more dependent on the security and stability that U.S. power and influence provide. The world won’t stand still while Americans fight these political battles. And it won’t be forgiving of decisions that weaken our ability to defend the international order in which Americans have for so long prospered.
Robert Kagan, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a monthly columnist for The Post, is most recently the author of “The World America Made.” | <urn:uuid:dc265a7c-7c7a-4652-88a1-9210f6d48a87> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://brainerddispatch.com/opinion/guest-columns/2012-11-13/price-security | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954762 | 1,087 | 1.851563 | 2 |
History and Production
From Greek word argos, meaning inactive. Its existence in air was suspected by Cavendish in 1785. However, it was not until 1894 that Lord Rayleigh and Sir W. Ramsey recognized it as an element.
The gas is isolated via fractionation and distillation of air. Argon is mainly used as an inert-atmosphere in high-temperature metallurgical processes such as arc-welding, cutting, and in the production of some reactive elements such as titanium.
It is also used in providing an inert environment for growing silicon and germanium crystals. It is used in various lighting equipment such as light bulbs, fluorescent tubes etc.
It exists as the monoatomic entity in the atmosphere (0.94% by volume). Both liquid and gas are colorless and odorless. It is very inert and is not known to produce any real compound.
Interatomic distance: 360.0 pm (van der Waal diameter)
Melting point: -189.35°C
Boiling point: -185.35°C
Thermal conductivity/Wm-1K-1: 0.0177 (27°C), 0.0165 (0°C)
Density/kgm-3: 1380 (b.p.), 1.784 (0°C)
Standard Thermodynamic Data (atomic gas)
Enthalpy of formation: 0 kJ/mol
Gibbs free energy of formation: -
Entropy: 154.8 J/mol K
Heat capacity: 20.8 J/mol K
Electronic configuration: [Ne] 3s2 3p6 = [Ar]
Term symbol: 1S0
Electron affinity: (not stable) Electronegativity (Pauline): -
Ionization energy (first, second, third): 1520.57, 2665.86, 3930.82 kJ/mol
Argon's outer-most electron shell has already achieved the most stable configuration and hence the atom is particularly resistant to chemical reaction.
There are no known stable compound of argon. However, along with other heavier noble gasses, water molecules can be arranged to form cavity to
encapsulate argon under high pressure. These species are known as clathrates. Argon does not form chemical bonds, rather it is weakly held via van der
Waals forces with the water molecules. | <urn:uuid:a940a198-ee85-4472-aea6-a7d904568b50> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://elements.etacude.com/Ar.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916233 | 507 | 3.5625 | 4 |
Death Lives On
When John Holbrook put together a photo essay of Texas death row inmates for Fort Worth Weekly in 2008, he probably little suspected that its effects would still be rippling outward more than three years later. His eerie pictures have been exhibited in Geneva, Rome, and Oslo, and even in a lighthouse inside the Arctic Circle. Holbrook, a private investigator who has worked for attorneys defending death-penalty cases, has become an advocate for abolishing the death penalty — not because he thinks all the people sentenced to death are nice people or innocent of their crimes, but because he came to believe that, “The only way we can truly stop suffering is to love and forgive those who have caused the suffering.”
More recently, Holbrook has worked with reporter Renaud Dumesnil of the French Arte TV channel, which Holbrook said is something like PBS in this country. Dumesnil has put together a 28-minute documentary on the death penalty, centered on a Texas death-row inmate. Hank Skinner was convicted by a Tarrant County jury of a 1993 triple murder in Pampa, in which his girlfriend Twila Busby was bludgeoned and her two adult sons were stabbed to death (the case had been moved here on a change of venue). Skinner has come close to being executed several times; currently his execution has been stayed while lawyers seek court rulings on whether new DNA evidence should be tested and allowed to be submitted as evidence in a new trial.
In October, Dumesnil, who is based in New York, came to Fort Worth and, with Holbrook, interviewed two of the jurors in Skinner’s original trial. Both jurors, Holbrook said, told them that they would not have convicted Skinner had they known of the possibility of new evidence and witness recants.
Holbrook will have a part in the documentary, which is expected to air in the next few months. More important to him, his Texas death-row photographs, including some of those that first appeared in the Weekly, will be shown.
In keeping with the often-bizarre nature of his work regarding the death penalty, Holbrook said he and Dumesnil interviewed one of the two former jurors on Halloween with the lightheartedly ghoulish trappings of that holiday all around them.
“It was a very strange dynamic,” he said. | <urn:uuid:902e41d9-4295-4fe9-966c-2ed1294346c6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fwweekly.com/2012/01/11/death-lives-on/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984312 | 488 | 1.585938 | 2 |
1770 Delisle de Sales Map of the Ancient Nation of Assyria (Iran, Iraq)
Description: This is a beautiful example of the 1770 Jean-Baptiste-Claude Delisle de Sales' map of ancient Assyria. Essentially a map of the entire Middle East and Persia, this map covers from the Black Sea to the Gulf of Oman and from the Mediterranean Sea east as far as the western part of India. This area includes the modern day countries of Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Israel, and part of Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The map was drawn to illustrate the history of the three Assyrian monarchies of Nineveh, Babylon and Ecbatana. Several important towns, rivers, mountains and other topographical elements are beautifully rendered. This map was issued as part of Delisle de Sales' Histoire des hommes. Partie de l'Histoire Ancienne. Becasue most of Sales' work was burnt under the censorship of heresy, this volume is exceedingly rare.
Date: 1770 (undated)
Source: Delisle de Sales, Histoire des Hommes. Partie de l'Histoire Ancienne (Paris) 1770.
Cartographer: Jean-Baptiste-Claude Delisle de Sales or Jean-Baptiste Isoard de Lisle (1741–1816) was a French philosopher, historian, and heretic active in the late 18th century). Sales is best known for his publication of the multi-volume opus The Philosophy of Nature: Treatise on Human Moral Nature. The work, among other ideas, challenged the Biblical theory that the earth was created in 4004 BC. Instead, Sales asserted, supposedly based upon astronomical observations, that the earth was 140,000 years old. Sales' revolutionary ideas saw him heretic and his works were censored, and for the most part destroyed, by the Catholic Church. Consequently all of his works are extremely rare. Sales was also, notably, a close friend of Voltaire who in 1777 visited him in prison, gifting him 500 pounds towards his release. Delisle de Sales is unrelated to the more famous De L'Isle family of cartographers. Click here for a list of rare maps by Jean-Baptiste-Claude Delisle.
Size: Printed area measures 14.5 x 9 inches (36.83 x 22.86 centimeters)
Condition: Very good. Original platemark visible. Minor wear along original folds. Blank on verso.
Code: Assyria-sales-1770 (to order by phone call: 646-320-8650) | <urn:uuid:14c417c9-30fc-4beb-9839-d6749ea74ad9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.geographicus.com/P/AntiqueMap/Assyria-sales-1770 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926809 | 550 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Both in terms of tax reform (yet to be determined) and financial markets reform, alternative investment firms will face a new set of standards that will have a major impact on the firms, their principals and the investors in such funds. Hedge funds and private equity funds will be impacted by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which includes the Private Fund Investment Advisers Registration Act of 2010. This legislation requires many investment advisers and hedge fund managers to register as investment advisers with the SEC. It may also result in some investment advisers and hedge fund managers that are now registered with the SEC to register at the state level.
This bill also revised one of the definitions of an "accredited investor" by excluding the value of a person's primary residence from the $1 million net worth calculation. The SEC will now be required to review the definition of "accredited investor" in order to determine whether adjustments should be made after four years, and at least once every four years thereafter.This is effective immediately.A person is considered an accredited investor if he or she: (1) has $200,000 in annual income (or $300,000 jointly with a spouse); or (2) has a net worth of at least $1M.
This new definition of "accredited investor" can be subject to further interpretation and will not result in excluding those currently invested, but, rather, will limit new investors or additional subscriptions from existing investors.
Private equity firms and hedge funds will need to amend their offering agreements so as to comply with the new definition of an accredited investor each time it is updated by the SEC.
As part of this legislation, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) is going to be required to complete a feasibility study to possibly form a self-regulatory organization to oversee alternative investment funds.It is clear from the Act that there will be certain systemic changes which will directly impact hedge funds, including:
• tighter leverage requirements on banks;
• expected higher capital charges for banks;
• SEC registration requirements (as mentioned earlier); and
• central clearing requirement on derivatives.
As noted previously, under the Reform Act, an investment adviser will no longer be exempt from registration under the Advisers' Act of 1940 on the basis that the investment adviser advised fifteen or fewer funds or clients over a 12 month period. Although the Reform Act provides several new exemptions from registration, including an exemption for advisers solely to venture capital funds and an exemption for advisers with assets under management in the United States of less than $150 million, the Reform Act will subject numerous investment advisers, previously exempt, to registration with the SEC. The registration requirements will be effective one year after enactment of the Reform Act.
The requirements based on fiduciary, compliance and reporting standards for currently registered advisers is extensive. Presumably, most alternative investment firms will now face similar standards and be burdened with a new set of operational requirements, which includes:
• Fiduciary Obligations
• Creation of a Code of Ethics
• Adoption of a Compliance Program
• Reporting Obligations (via Form ADV)
• Maintenance of Books and Records
• As a fiduciary , a registered investment adviser must provide its clients with an affirmation of operating in good faith to act in the best interests of the client and to make full disclosure of all material facts, particularly in cases where the adviser's interests may conflict with the clients' interests.
• Registered investment advisers must have a code of ethics governing their employees and monitor insider trading procedures. The code of ethics must, at least, include (1) standards of business conduct for "supervised persons" that require them to comply with applicable federal securities laws; (2) provisions that require "access persons" to report personal securities transactions periodically and which require the adviser to review these reports; (3) provisions requiring supervised persons to report violations of the code of ethics to the adviser's chief compliance officer and (4) provisions that require each supervised person to be provided with the code of ethics and acknowledge receipt thereof.
• Registered investment advisers must adopt and implement written policies and procedures that are designed to prevent violations of the Advisers' Act. These policies and procedures must address at a minimum portfolio management processes, including allocation of investment opportunities, accuracy of disclosures made to investors, clients and regulators, proprietary trading, safeguarding of client assets, the creation of required records and their maintenance, privacy standards for client records and data, trading practices, marketing advisory services, procedures for valuation ofclient holdings and address fees, and business continuity plans.
• Registered investment advisers are required to file a Form ADV with the SEC and to file an annual update of Part 1A of the Form ADV.This needs to be completed within 90 days after the end of each fiscal year or more frequently if the information in the ADV needs to be updated.Registered investment advisers are required to provide prospective clients a written disclosure statement (which may be Part II of their Form ADV or a brochure that contains at least the information required to be included in Part II).This information must be provided, or at least offered, to each client on an annual basis.
• Registered investment advisers must keep accurate and current books and records including advisory business financial and accounting records, records that pertain to providing investment advice and transactions.They must also document the adviser's authority to conduct business, provide advertising and performance records, and records relating to the code of ethics.
• The various compliance requirements that were not previously part of most alternative investment firms' operations will require the hiring of either an internal compliance officer, or use of outside advisors.
Besides the impact on firms from the Dodd-Frank Act, it is expected that some form of tax legislation will be passed that will also impact alternative investment firms and their principals.While the most recent efforts did not pass the Senate, they may offer some insight into what should be expected.
Due to the projected revenue raising results and political landscape, we would anticipate some form of legislation particularly with regard to "carried interest."By way of summary, the following gives an overview of the recent proposed legislation, and may be a good indication of what might be expected in future legislative offerings.The American Jobs and Closing Tax Loophole Act of 2010 which was shot down in the Senate included the following:
• All partnership interests granted in connection with the rendering of services to a partnership will be subject to Section 83.
• By default, the recipient partner will be deemed to have made a Section 83(b) election and will have to affirmatively elect out of Section 83(b) treatment, if desired.
• All (or in the case of an individual partner, a specified portion) of the distributive share of certain partners' will be taxed at ordinary income rates, regardless of the actual character of the partnership's income.
• Partners subject to this rule include any partner providing management services to an "Investment Services Partnership," and the interest held by such a partner is defined as an "Investment Services Partnership Interest" or "ISPI."
• The prior proposal stated that for tax years in 2011 and 2012, the applicable portion that will be treated as ordinary income will be 50 percent of such an individual partner's income; beginning in 2013, the percentage increases to 75 percent.
• Distributions of assets attributable to an ISPI will result in tax recognition at the partnership level, allocable to the partner.
The investment funds that would be subject to these provisions include, generally:
• Private Equity,
• Venture Capital,
• Commodity, and
• Rental or Investment Real Estate (not active development).
In anticipation of any future tax legislation dealing with the issue of "carried interest," certain alternative investment funds may consider:
1. Distributing appreciated assets of the partnership to the partners in advance of the (to be determined) effective date of the proposed legislation.
2. Accelerating gains on investment assets, if the 2010 applicable tax rate is expected to be less than that of future years.
3. Analyze the tax deduction value of "built in losses" existing in the assets if tax losses are recognized in 2010, versus recognition in a future year.
Michael S. Maglio is a Managing Director of WTAS, LLC located in Madison, New Jersey. He may be reached at (973) 210-7063. | <urn:uuid:707cf1e1-5224-4f24-8b86-844ff5e28611> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.metrocorpcounsel.com/articles/12838/effect-financial-reform-bill-alternative-investment-firms | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949999 | 1,704 | 1.679688 | 2 |
LONDON: A European court has stopped deportation of radical cleric Abu Qatada, branded as head of al-Qaida in UK, to Jordan, saying he could face torture from authorities in his home country.
Qatada had been branded by a British High Court Judge as "truly dangerous" and at the centre of al-Qaida related activity in UK, BBC report.
The UK government had told the court that Qatada, 51, father of five children had come to Britain on a forge passport and had "extensive contacts" with terrorists worldwide and videos of his sermons were found in an apartment of one of the hijackers involved in the 9/11 attacks in the US.
The European court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, ruled that Abu Qatada should not be sent back to Jordan because there is substantial risk that evidence obtained by torture could be used against him in the court there.
The court also disregarded pleas by the UK authorities that an agreement had been reached with Jordan intended to ensure that Qatada would not be ill-treated. | <urn:uuid:226a0814-a1dd-4572-af76-f1093f0473e8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-17/uk/30634997_1_al-qaida-qaida-abu-qatada | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987227 | 221 | 1.5 | 2 |
In this guest post, Young Fabian Rhasan Brunner makes the case for greater support for young people
One of the best things about Britain is that young people have freedom of speech and have many opportunities to engage with people who have influence.
Young people today have a powerful voice and many are now prepared to play a part in tackling the issues we face. They are doing this through groups such as the UK Youth Parliament, through which the voice of young people is represented on a national level. Organisations like the Young Fabians are providing young people with opportunities to meet politicians and key opinion formers.
It is vitally important in today’s tough times that young people are able to take matters into their own hands and tackle them, head on. Not only does this have an impact today, it provides the foundations for a positive future for the country.
This is truly inspiring. Young people are following the footsteps of great historical figures such as Mary Wollinstincroft and Martin Luther King.
However, more must be done to give young people greater power and influence. For more information about how this can be done you can visit these websites and find out more about what young people are doing:
The British Youth Council http
UK Youth Parliament
Children’s Rights Alliance for England | <urn:uuid:973b7523-6bf6-43f2-a48e-cb1b97e35e98> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.youngfabians.org.uk/blog/index.php/2010/10/04/power-to-the-young-people/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96541 | 266 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Home > Press > Nano-Motor with a Light Switch Light-triggered myosin allows real-time study of cells
Molecular "motors" are at the root of most biological movement. They propel cell components, whole cells, and even our muscles on command. Barbara Imperiali and a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, USA), the University of Virginia (Charlottesville, USA), and the National Institutes of Health (USA) have now provided the motor protein myosin with an "on switch" that is activated by light. As the scientists report in the journal Angewandte Chemie, this should make it possible to follow cellular processes that involve myosin in real time.
Nano-Motor with a Light Switch Light-triggered myosin allows real-time study of cells
Cambridge, MA and Charlottesville, VA and Bethesda, MD | Posted on May 10th, 2011
In order for our muscles to contract, two types of fibrous proteins, myosin and actin, must interact. Driven by splitting of the cellular fuel adenosine triphosphate (ATP), "buttons" on the myosin molecules attach, allowing the myosin to dangle off of the actin filaments. In non-muscular cells, myosin ensures that the cell constricts itself in the division process. Myosin consists of several different protein chains. The activity of non-muscular myosin is regulated through its regulatory light chain. As soon as a phosphate group binds to a specific site (Ser19) of the light chain (phosphorylation), myosin become active. The activity can be amplified through binding of a second phosphate group at a neighboring site (Thr18).
Myosin has been intensively studied. However, it has not been possible to examine precisely what happens after activation of the molecule in living cells both spatially and over time. This research team has now found a trick that makes real-time observations possible: A myosin molecule that can be switched on by light. To achieve this, the researchers used protein synthesis to produce a synthetic regulatory chain that already contains one or two phosphate groups. The trick is that one of the phosphate groups is covered by a cage. In this form, the chain is inactive. Irradiation with light makes the cage split off, switching on the regulatory chain and activating the myosin.
The researchers replaced the natural light chain in myosin molecules with their synthetic one and introduced this light-activated myosin into cells. Irradiation activates it at a defined time in a defined place. In this way, the researchers hope to observe what happens after the activation of myosin in a cell in real time.
For more information, please click here
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Tel: (617) 253-1838
Fax: (617) 452 2419
Copyright © Angewandte Chemie
If you have a comment, please Contact
Issuers of news releases, not 7th Wave, Inc. or Nanotechnology Now, are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.
Angewandte Chemie International Edition , | <urn:uuid:652629d3-8d92-4760-b98b-78339add7d9a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nanotech-now.com/news.cgi?story_id=42430 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91354 | 665 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Litmus is a substance, made of lichen-based dyes, that is absorbed in paper and used to test acidity. Blue litmus turns red when exposed to acidic materials and red litmus turns blue when exposed to nonacidic materials. This is the origin of litmus test in its figurative sense—i.e., a test that draws broad conclusions based on a single factor. By extension, it’s also used to refer to a small result that is useful for predicting a larger result.
Photo by magnuscanis - http://flic.kr/p/6VvUVQ | <urn:uuid:9104cdbe-064d-4005-8640-206d052cbef7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://q-ontech.blogspot.com/2012/06/litmus-test.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943502 | 128 | 3.015625 | 3 |
(CNN) -- A marine expedition of environmentalists has confirmed the bad news it feared -- the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" extends even further than previously known.
Organized by two non-profit groups -- the Algalita Marine Research Foundation and the 5 Gyres Institute -- the expedition is sailing from the Marshall Islands to Japan through a "synthetic soup" of plastic in the North Pacific Ocean on a 72-feet yacht called the Sea Dragon, provided by Pangaea Exploration.
The area is part of one of the ocean's five tropical gyres -- regions where bodies of water converge, with currents delivering high concentrations of plastic debris. The Sea Dragon is visiting the previously unexplored western half of the North Pacific gyre -- situated below the 35th parallel, and home to a massive expanse of plastic particles known as the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" -- to look for plastic pollution and study its effect on marine life.
Leading the expedition is Marcus Eriksen, a former U.S. marine and Ph.D student from University of Southern California.
"We've been finding lots of micro plastics, all the size of a grain of rice or a small marble," Eriksen said via satellite phone. "We drag our nets and come up with a small handful, like confetti -- 10, 20, 30 fragments at a time. That's how it's been, every trawl we've done for the last thousand miles."
Eriksen, who has sailed through all five gyres, said this confirmed for him "that the world's oceans are 'plasticized.' Everywhere you go in the ocean, you're going to find this plastic waste."
Besides documenting the existence of plastic pollution, the expedition intends to study how long it takes for communities of barnacles, crabs and molluscs to establish, whether the plastic can serve as a raft for species to cross continents, and the prevalence of chemical pollutants.
On a second leg from Tokyo to Hawaii departing May 30, the team expect to encounter material dislodged by the Japanese tsunami.
"We'll be looking for debris that's sub-surface: overturned boats, refrigerators, things that wind is not affecting," Eriksen said. "We'll get an idea of how much is out there, what's going on and what it's carrying with it, in terms of toxins."
Scripps Institute graduate Miriam Goldstein was chief scientist on a similar expedition to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in 2009. According to her research, there has been a 100-fold increase in plastic garbage in the last 40 years, most of it broken down into tiny crumbs to form a concentrated soup.
The particles are so small and profuse that they can't be dredged out. "You need a net with very fine mesh and then you're catching baby fish, baby squid -- everything," Goldstein says. "For every gram of plastic you're taking out, you probably take out more or less the equivalent of sea life."
Scientists are worried that the marine organisms that adapt to the plastic could displace existing species. Goldstein said this was a major concern, as organisms that grow on hard surfaces tend to monopolize already scarce food, to the detriment of other species.
"Things that can grow on the plastic are kind of weedy and low diversity -- a parallel of the things that grow on the sides of docks," she says. "We don't necessarily want an ocean stuffed with barnacles."
Eriksen says the mood on the Sea Dragon has been upbeat, with crew members playing a ukulele and doing yoga, "but the sobering reality is that we're trawling through a synthetic soup."
Also on board is Valerie Lecoeur, founder of a company that makes eco-friendly baby and children's products, including biodegradable beach toys made from corn, and Michael Brown from Packaging 2.0, a packaging consultancy.
Eriksen says they have been discussing the concept of "extended producer responsibility".
"As the manufacturer of any good in the world today, you really can't make your product without a plan for its entire use, because you could eventually have 7 billion customers buy your product," he said.
"If one little button has no plan, the world now has a mountain of buttons to deal with. There is no room for waste, as a concept or a place -- there's just no place to put it anymore. That's the reality we need to face. We've got this plastic everywhere." | <urn:uuid:aef42ef5-8327-45f8-ae5a-a442a8260f15> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://asia.cnn.com/2012/05/21/world/asia/algalita-eco-solutions/index.html?iid=article_sidebar | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963785 | 933 | 2.75 | 3 |
World's smallest bit of nylon
A US scientist has made the world's smallest fragment of nylon and hopes to make more by harnessing the self-assembling properties of DNA.
Professor Nadrian Seeman of New York University says the long-term plan is to make ultra strong nylon.
He gave a paper on his work at the recent International Conference on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology in Brisbane.
"The same properties of DNA that make it such a wonderful genetic material can be utilised in other ways," says Seeman, a pioneer of what is called structural DNA nanotechnology.
In nature, DNA's bases enable it to pair up with and attach to another strand of DNA to form a linear double helix.
Seeman is exploiting this ability of DNA to self-assemble to make his nano-nylon.
But he is using synthetic DNA that can form branches rather than linear lines.
"You can make lattices, you can make networks, you can make objects, you can make all sorts of things with branched DNA whereas with linear DNA you're just making a long line," he says.
Seeman has been working on a synthetic version of a related molecule, RNA, which also self-assembles.
So far, he's attached chemical groups used to make nylon to fragments of synthetic RNA to make the equivalent of a single molecule of nylon.
"That's about the shortest piece of nylon you can make," he says.
He is now working on making larger pieces of nylon using DNA. The plan is to knit the nano-nylon into a form of molecular chain mail, which would make a much tougher and stronger fabric than currently exists.
But, says Seeman, this is a long-term project.
"This is very hard chemistry," he says, revealing that it took seven years to work out how to attach the nylon components to DNA.
Nearly 20 years ago scientists amazed the world by writing the world's tiniest corporate logo in atoms.
The tiny IBM logo was made using a large machine that laboriously placed each atom in place.
Seeman's research is part of a different approach to assembling things at the atomic or molecular level.
"We're talking about making things from the bottom up," he says, "unit by unit".
The approach involves mixing synthetic DNA molecules in a solution to assemble vast amounts of desired molecular structures.
Seeman says molecular self-assembly can also be used to organise nanoelectronics, an idea he first raised in 1987.
This would involve attaching molecules that conduct electricity, such as carbon nanotubes, to DNA.
So far, Seeman has demonstrated the concept by attaching gold nanoparticles to DNA.
He says his work could also be used as a tool in the imaging of biological molecules, including drug receptors, which in turn will be useful in drug design. | <urn:uuid:ce3ec13d-a94f-4c92-8a40-8420175d6b06> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2006/07/28/1699809.htm?site=science&topic=latest | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962642 | 592 | 3.5 | 4 |
Fulton Street runs the east-west length of Brooklyn, from the Queens frontier where it begins as modest 91st Avenue until it hits a kink in Brooklyn Heights and becomes Joralemon Street a few blocks before it empties in Brooklyn Bridge Park. You can’t get from one to the other without switching from the B25 bus to the J/Z subway on Alabama Avenue; the whole length is about seven miles end to end.
In 2004 the New York City Department of Transportation installed bus lanes on Fulton Street between South Oxford Street and Flatbush Avenue in order to facilitate faster travel times for the bus routes that operate in the corridor. Then-commissioner Iris Weinshall (wife of Senator Charles Schumer) prioritized traffic flow during her tenure and saw the installation of “peak direction” bus lanes as the most effective route to harmonizing movement on congested routes. The logic behind the more flexible iteration of bus routes doesn’t take a doctorate in transportation planning to understand: more people are going towards the city in the morning and away in the afternoon, so dedicated transit lanes should reflect those preferences. Travel times decreased by 12% along the affected corridors, leading to extensions past Flatbush avenue in 2010 and the creation of the Fulton Mall transit center. There may be gripes among drivers but transit ridership in the on the rise, and NYC DOT has completely rehabilitated its image from corrupt bureaucracy to administrative talisman. Polls show that most New Yorkers think the DOT is uncannily attuned to their needs, from bike lanes to safety programs. Transportation planning has become improbably trendy.
If I were writing a 5,000 word essay on the genesis of the modern bus lane and how it’s propelled transportation planning into an era of incremental pragmatism, that’s exactly how it would begin. But even with an audience of dedicated transit and planning enthusiasts I’m not sure how much the topic would actually stick. Invention is only interesting in its novelty or re-purposing, and painting a white line down a busy stretch of asphalt doesn’t satisfy either test. Surveying violations is only marginally more interesting, mostly because it gives you an idea of what drivers do when they think no one of consequence is watching.
It’s pretty fucking terrifying. | <urn:uuid:da48dbb4-da74-467c-ac3e-ab62379be92a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.radialsblog.com/category/urban-planning/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946365 | 472 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Ed Kramer was born and raised on an Iowa farm during the last half of the 1930’s. He was the youngest of four brothers, so they had a profound effect, in so many ways, on his…
Ed Kramer was born and raised on an Iowa farm during the last half of the 1930’s. He was the youngest of four brothers, so they had a profound effect, in so many ways, on his early life. He attended a rural, one-room, country school for the first eight years of his life. He describes, in detail, what a typical country school looked like, and how it functioned. Many younger people today have no idea what it was like to have only one teacher for their first eight grades. The idea of having all eight grades in a one-room school-house boggles their minds even further! Ed thoroughly enjoyed his farm experiences. He grew up in a difficult era of our country. He points out that the concept of the “good ole days” was not all true. Hardships and dangers abounded around every corner. Farming was a dangerous business. However, along with the dangers and hardships, there were so many fun and exciting times. Ed vividly describes threshing time on the farm. Many of the older generations will be able to relate to Ed’s stories. Ed loved the outdoors and nature. He learned to adapt to, and live with, the outdoors and nature. Ed understood the need for mankind to appreciate the importance of both in our lives and the impact they leave on all of us. This was very evident in his outdoor hobbies and experiences. What was it like to transition from country school to high school - going from a small school to a large school, and from a class size of four to one with thirty-two? What impact did sports have on Ed’s life? So many teachers! What an adjustment that he had to make! So many important decisions had to be made, and so little time. Life seemed to be moving fast now. Ed wanted to let his readers know what went through his mind, as he tried to cope with the many options available, in steering the future course for him. Should he listen to his brother’s advice? Should he follow in his brother’s footsteps? What process did he use to arrive at a decision? College was another phase of Ed‘s life. He had to decide what would be his major. What did he really want to do later in life? Again, so many more teachers, subjects and larger class size. It seemed like each phase of his life was on such a higher level. How did he feel having a brother as his professor? Did that help or hurt their relationship? He understands that each person has a different vision of what college would be like. He tries to point out some mistakes he made in college, so that others may avoid them. Ed was fortunate to have had summer employment that paid his way through many of his college years. He understood that the cost of attending college was much less during his era. However, for his family, the cost was high. His summer employment happened to be in the forest service. That gave him the opportunity to extend his horizons. It meant going out on his own to execute, or perform, what he had learned in his earlier years. Now he could put his good Iowa work ethic to good use. He learned that hard work, patience and perseverance paid off. He accepted new responsibilites and assumed a leadership role that he never experienced before. Decisions are a part of everyday life. One of Ed’s most important decisions was to enter the military service. He tries to point out to his readers what a man or woman has to go through in the military. There will be good and bad days, as there are in any part of life. He mentioned before, that each phase of his life meant reaching out further to a higher level. Each phase prepared him for the next level. Each phase was a steppingstone to greater things to come. Ed wants his readers to understand that, even though growing up today is a lot different than when he grew up, there still are many similarities. Developing a good work ethic is still paramount today. Religious faith was important to Ed, as it carried him through so many difficult times in his lif
Add To Collection
This is a Free Preview
Unfortunately, we are not able to offer this document in
You're reading a free preview. Purchase the full version and... | <urn:uuid:c36e83ae-3701-4665-8cc5-21b237ecefe6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scribd.com/doc/54767473/Iowa-Farm-Boy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.99479 | 929 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Since 1996, when the bridge from the mainland burned, Bridgeport's Pleasure Beach has been inaccessible to the average person.
A boat owner could get across the short expanse of Johnson's Creek, but otherwise the 63-acre peninsula, once home to an amusement park and a ballroom that drew the biggest of the Big Bands -- and their fans -- was just an out-of-reach oasis laying off the shore of one of Bridgeport's most impoverished neighborhoods.
Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch promised he would restore access, and it appears from news reports that he will indeed achieve that goal.
It was four years ago that the city was promised a $2 million federal matching grant to buy water taxis. And an initial estimate had those vessels in operation by summer 2012.
A pair of 30-passenger water taxis are now on order from a West Coast manufacturer.
Pleasure Beach is a primo location, fronting on Long Island Sound, brushed by its breezes and offering beautiful vistas looking back at the city and down the shoreline both east and west.
It is a place that could -- and should -- offer respite to people from the city, particularly those on its East Side and East End, who have no easy access to Seaside Park.
The city is looking for a "soft opening" later this year and providing limited access to the peninsula. "Limited" would apply to both the number of people who would be able to go over and to the area and number of acres the public would be able to access.
Depending on the time of year, there will be issues with the nesting grounds of the piping plover, a small shore bird that is on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's roster of endangered species.
With care, there's no reason people can't avail themselves of the beaches, too.
The Finch administration has had to meet dozens of bureaucratic requirements since asking in February 2009 for bids on development of a Pleasure Beach master plan.
That access later this year will be limited is a minor inconvenience. The main moral here is that after far too long, a recreational resource all too valuable and scarce in a city like Bridgeport is going to be available once again. | <urn:uuid:58ec7f67-04b4-4a11-9d7f-2c04c995b9fc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Perseverance-on-beach-access-4327072.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9662 | 457 | 1.992188 | 2 |
Only a few people understand about medical care. Perhaps only those who study in this field know about that. You always can read in the internet about certain disease, symptoms, how to cure naturally or using medicine etc. However, you also need a card that could be read anytime you need the information.
By reading Medical Pocket Cards, you can do own medical care at home. These cards are so useful to give necessary knowledge about the disease and how to handle it if nobody at home that could help you. The cards are used by medical students, nurses, clinicians, educators and those who concern about medical world. This practical quick-reference tool has complete information about Stemi Protocol, treatment, what kind of drug, diagnostic, recommended dose of drugs, counseling points and so on. With semi protocol, you will get accurate clinical information, especially with specific recommendation of fibrinolysis, antiplatelet therapy, fibrinolytic-facilitated PCI and rescue PCI. By having this recommendation, you can take precise decision of using drug with generic or brand names. Having such education is very important for those who have been sick or even for preventing action. You don’t need to search the information which will consume a lot of time if you can get all of information from the pocket card. If you have asthma, you can’t be cured only in one step. There are several steps of treatment that you should follow. Simply just read asthma guidelines pocketcard which will show about treatment algorithm, diagnostic, dosing information, medicine therapy, patient monitoring and counseling points. You will know whether you need to take inpatient or outpatient treatment according to the level of your disease. The medication is not for adults only, but also for children with complete information about the tablets names. You will know the formulation of drug like the strength, comments and side effects.
Furthermore, Chest Guidelines are not solely about asthma, but also other acute chest problems like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, atrial fibrillation, coronary artery disease and many more. Also, you can learn about wise approach to cure your disease naturally. The price of this card is very affordable. You only spend less than $10. If you purchase in more quantities, you will get cheaper price. Save life with complete knowledge about medical treatment. You will know whether you should follow or not follow doctors’ advice information from this card. And, you don’t need to be doubt with your disease since you get complete guideline A to Z here. | <urn:uuid:fe68f9ed-1f56-4e75-b88c-a10879bec66f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.askcms.com/health-care-medical/complete-medical-pocket-cards/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945351 | 511 | 2.390625 | 2 |
Late Breaks in Holland
Imagine large shoes, the smell of black coffee beans brewing in the air, multi-colored Tulips and the best tasting cheese you will likely ever try. Now imagine bicycling past green luscious fields that go on for miles without even the slightest hint of a hill or slope nearby. This is what awaits you in Holland during your late break.
The geography of Holland is amazingly unique as much of its landscape features a whopping 7 meters below the sea level. It is a wonder why it is not covered in water. This makes it a wonder to see though because in order to keep the water at bay, sophisticated canals were formed throughout the country. These canals are commonly traveled by tourists and locals alike for some very romantic evenings.
Planning a Late Break in Holland -
When planning a late break to Holland, there are some great places in which you can visit and get a breathtaking experience in a short amount of time. Dutch cites like Maastricht and Nijmegen, located in old Holland, are perfect for this. You can easily and quickly travel to and from each of these cities by using Europe’s world famous railway system. Enjoy a comfortable and fully accommodated ride with stunning scenery on your way to any of these cities. Here are the cities broken down by tourist attractions, history and accommodations.
History and culture- Maastricht is one of the oldest known cities in all of the Netherlands and it is located in a small corner that is very approximate to the Belgium border. The streets are line with cobblestone and filled with tiny boutiques and shopping centers where you can get the perfect keepsake souvenirs. Besides the wonderful sites, Maastricht is full of history that entails an ancient story of the Romans and Celtics.
This city was thriving as early as a hundred thousand years ago when the Celtics settled here. It was the Romans though, who finished the development, making it what it is today. Remnants of the Romans lie all over this city in the form of sculptures and even bathing rooms. The history here also greatly involves religion. Many famous popes like John Paul the second have visited and even lived in Maastricht. The battle for independence in this city took place in early times but was lost to the Dutch. Since then, control over this city swapped hands many times between the Spanish and even the French but ultimately resided with the Dutch.
Places to stay-
The hotels located in Maastricht are cozy and very welcoming. You can stay right in the city or on the borders next to the countryside. Staying in a hotel on the country side promises some very fresh air and fantastic outdoor activities. Although, being in the city is not like staying in a traditional city, it is quiet and peaceful so wherever you stay, you are sure to have a relaxing trip. Prices can range from £33 to £330 depending on location and length of stay. If you are looking for more of a at home kind of feel for your late break, there are always local homes and rooms that are for rent on a short term basis. You can usually find these in local ads online.
Places to see- Maastricht is full of great places to see including museums and ancient artifact sites. Museums like the Spanish Government Museum which can be found on the Vrijthof square is a must see. The museum was home to Charles V and other famous aristocrats during very early times in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth centuries. Here you can see their personal belongings that include riches like porcelain and silver. While it is only open 4 days a week, pricing is very reasonable at € 3.00 and kids under 16 pay nothing to get in. One great site to see here is Fort St Peter. It was built in the early Seventeen hundreds on Mount St. Peter and has many galleries surrounding it. You can climb to the top for a fantastic view of the city.
History and culture- The eldest city in the Netherlands dubbed, the city on the river, Nijmegan is a city with allot of deep history. It is a city surrounded by rivers, canals, and greenery which make the view astounding. Once occupied by the Jewish people, it tells a tale of the many tragedies that took place during the time of the Holocaust. Nijmegan is currently under Roman rule.
Places to stay- Hotels in Nijmegan, are located nestled in the heart of the city where you will be surrounded by large wooded areas, canals and all the local shopping your heart desires. The staff are typically very friendly to visitors and make them feel right at home. You can book some great hotel deals online for your late break in Holland.
Places to see- One of the things that Nijmegan is known for are the many national parks that are located here. A good one to see is The Hoge Veluwe. It is located on the outskirts of the city and contains fifty five hundred acres covered in flowers and trees which hold lots of species that are near extinct. The best thing is that the park provides bikes to ride for free while you are there.
Another magnificent national park is the Veluwezoom. It is known as being larger than any other national park in Holland. Here you will find an abundance of many types of birds including species which are endangered. These National parks are always great for sightseeing and taking a nice stroll through the wilderness.
The great outdoors, fabulous little shops, restaurants and cobblestone walkways. There is nothing more exhilarating than this while you take a stroll through the countryside, city and river canals learning about the fabulous history of Holland. Plan a late break here and you can experience all of this and more that you will be likely to never forget. | <urn:uuid:f887600c-1eb6-43ae-8c5c-ac182174f0f9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.londonparistrain.com/late-breaks-in-holland-travel-eurostar.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973167 | 1,197 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Polio eradication stalling due to lack of fundingListen /
Global polio eradication efforts could grind to a halt over the next two years unless a one billion dollar funding shortfall is met, according to the World Health Organization(WHO).
The agency says the funding is needed to scale up vaccination campaigns in Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan, which are the remaining polio endemic countries.
WHO says the Global Polio Eradication Initiative is cutting back on immunization campaigns in 24 countries which are at high risk of polio transmission in order to fund programmes in Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Fifty-five cases of polio have been reported this year.
Dr Bruce Aylward is in charge of WHO’s Polio Department.
"India now we believe is Polio free, over one year since they had their last child paralyzed by Polio. Which puts to rest finally any questions as to the technical feasibility of polio eradication. It can be done, its not a technical issue, its not a biological issue, it's an issue of political will to finance it to hold people accountable to implement the strategies and parental will to have children vaccinated." Duration 28"
WHO estimates that 2 million children were likely to become paralyzed if polio is not eradicated over the next decade. | <urn:uuid:803c48a2-0b86-45a3-851c-9e3f41a513cd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.unmultimedia.org/radio/english/2012/05/polio-eradication-stalling-due-to-lack-of-funding/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951481 | 260 | 2.28125 | 2 |
By: Marjorie Salada
Trying to lose weight has probably got to be the single most difficult thing in my life that I have tried to accomplish. Ask anyone else that has lost weight or tried to lose weight and I am sure that they will tell you the same thing. If it was easy, a larger percentage of people would be successful at it.
I think motivation is a major determining factor in how successful you are going to be at achieving your weight loss goals. If motivation is something that could be bought, we would all be rich and thin, but unfortunately it is something you have to work at. What works best for me is identifying certain things that make me feel like sticking to my plan and reaching my goals. Once I have identified these motivating factors; I surround myself with them and practice them.
The single thing that motivates me the most is success stories. When I say success stories, I mean people who have used a plan that is sensible. I tend to try to stay away from the ''to good to be true'' testimonials. You know the ones, ''I took this pill and lost 100 pounds in six months and you too can do the same'' or advertisements where they are talking about somebody's weight loss and below it in tiny print are the words ''results not typical.'' If the results are not typical, what it means to me is it will not work that way for 95 percent of the people that try it.
The stories that motivate me are the ones where they lost 1 to 2 pounds a week and they did it with a tolerable, sensible diet and tolerable, regular exercise. When I say tolerable, I mean something you can live with, because if it is hard to live with you are not likely to stick with the plan for very long. People that have lost a lot of weight following a diet plan, that meets this criterion, are a lot more likely to keep the weight off.
I also tend to stay motivated if I do a lot of reading or research on subject matter that pertains to the task at hand. So, I spend a lot of time at the library and Barnes and Noble getting the latest information about things that are happening in the weight loss industry and learning about how the successful people reached their weight loss goal.
The other thing I have learned to do is avoid things that are going to cause me to feel overwhelmed. Nothing zaps my motivation quicker than feeling like there is no light at the end of the tunnel. If I can do things in an organized fashion 80 percent of the time, I will be able to stay on track and take the necessary steps to stay motivated to reach my weight loss goals.
The sooner you can identify the things in your life that make you feel good about your self, the better things are going to be for you. Surround yourself with positive things and you will find it easier to stay motivated not only in your weight loss journey, but also in other areas of your life.
About the Author
Marjorie Salada is the owner of http://www.weightloss3000.com, a website that contains information on weight loss, exercise, weight loss surgery and living a healthy lifestyle. | <urn:uuid:c3cae34c-e029-4d8d-9e5e-a5cafb31f0d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.searchmothers.com/features/feature-staying-motivated.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970697 | 653 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Can someone please, please look at the following passage for grammar? I have indicated the areas in blue where I myself suspect some changes.
Being the foodie type, we would have been to almost all the well-known restaurants in town during my vacation. One of the restaurants in the list is China Town. I am no die hard Chinese food lover, but opening eyes in a family which is fanatically addicted to Chinese food, I have no option left other than to accompany them.
I have nothing particularly personal against Chinese food or the restaurant. As the matter of the fact, the restaurant is pretty well adorned, the service is quite efficient, the food tasty and the environment comfortable. I quite liked the big beautiful white talking parrot that is kept at the reception to welcome the guests. We went there in the afternoon and had to wait for a quarter of an hour before we could get seats. My mom fixed me Chicken Corn Soup, Fried Prawns, andChicken with Chillies along with Egg Fried Rice.
I am not that a Chinese food addict, but I still played a good fork and knife. I think for all those who love Chinese food very much, it is the best place to serve their appetite!
Thanks so much in anticipation. | <urn:uuid:eb45d119-0ede-4607-b28a-04cade4583d0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/ask-teacher/74431-chinese-food-print.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974378 | 255 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Real-time Stock quotes, portfolio, LIVE TV and more.
Aug 07, 2012, 04.20 PM IST
Rating agency CRISIL has slashed its forecast for the country's GDP growth this fiscal to 5.5% from 6.5% earlier, citing deficient monsoon and the worsening of the crisis in Eurozone as the major factors.
Rating agency CRISIL has slashed its forecast for the country's GDP growth this fiscal to 5.5% from 6.5% earlier, citing deficient monsoon and the worsening of the crisis in Eurozone as the major factors. Also, it expects lower foreign capital flows this financial year, and so has lowered its target for the rupee to 53 per US dollar, from 50 to the USD earlier.
Excerpts from the report
▪ CRISIL Research has cut India's real GDP growth forecast for 2012-13 to 5.5% from its earlier forecast of 6.5%. The average WPI inflation forecast has been raised to 8.0% from 7.0% released earlier.
▪ The downward revision in India’s growth forecast factors in the adverse impact of rainfall deficiency (an expected deficiency of 15% for June-September 2012, as per Indian Meteorological Department) and worsening of the Euro zone growth outlook (a revision in 2012 growth forecast to -0.6% by Standard & Poor’s relative to the earlier forecast of 'zero' %).
▪ Despite slowing growth, CRISIL Research has revised up its average WPI inflation forecast for 2012-13 to 8.0% to reflect the adverse impact of deficient monsoon on food inflation.
▪ We now expect the fiscal deficit to worsen to 6.2% of GDP in 2012-13 from our earlier estimate of 5.8%. The increase in the fiscal deficit to GDP ratio largely reflects lower revenue growth as a result of slowing GDP growth. In case of a substantial fiscal stimulus to the economy, the fiscal deficit to GDP ratio could worsen further.
▪ The rupee is now expected to settle around 53 per US$ by March-2013 compared to our earlier forecast of 50 per US$. Given the worsening of the Euro zone economy as well as domestic growth slowdown, we now expect the Indian economy to attract lower foreign capital inflows compared to our earlier estimate.
▪ The revised growth forecast assumes that the stretched fiscal situation will limit the ability of the government to give a generous stimulus to the economy. If it does so, then growth will go up but so will fiscal deficit. Similarly high inflation will tie the hands of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in aggressively cutting rates to stimulate the economy.
▪ Swift policy action to solve issues related to mining, land acquisition and speedy clearance of projects can create upside to the growth projection.
After we revised India’s macroeconomic forecast for 2012-13 in June, two key risks to the economy have emerged: First, the deficient monsoon; second, worsening of the Euro zone economic outlook. We now forecast India’s real GDP growth in 2012-13 at 5.5%, a percentage point lower than our June estimate of 6.5%. Our forecast assumes
▪ Monsoon deficiency at 15% for the full south west monsoon season (June-September) as indicated by Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) on August 2, 2012
▪ Euro zone growth in 2012 at -0.6%, which is Standard & Poor's (S&P) revised forecast compared to its earlier forecast of 'zero' %.
The revised growth forecast for India does not take into account any substantial fiscal stimulus that may be provided to the economy to arrest and reverse a growth slowdown. A fiscal stimulus may create some upside to industrial and services growth. Upside to growth can also arise from sorting out policy-related issues in mining and power sectors. In contrast, the key downside risks to the revised growth outlook arise from
▪ Monsoons deficiency of more than 15% for the full season as indicated by IMD. In that case, agricultural production could be hit much harder.
▪ A deeper recession in the Euro zone in 2012 with the region's economy shrinking by 1.0%, which is the worst-case scenario projected for the Euro zone by S&P. This will hurt India’s exports and capital inflows further.
According to the IMD, rainfall for the south-west monsoon season is likely to be around 15% deficient close to 20% deficiency recorded in June-July. Even if there is a partial recovery in rainfall in the coming weeks, an overall deficiency of 15% would imply that 2012-13 will end up as a drought year and will result in a substantially lower sowing not only in the kharif season, but will also adversely influence the rabi crop. As a result, agriculture GDP would not grow this year and would record 'zero' % growth compared to our earlier estimate of 3% under the assumption of normal monsoon.
The rupee’s appreciation against the dollar from current levels to around 53 per US$ by March-end 2013 would be supported by easing of the current account deficit in 2012-13 to nearly 3.1% of GDP, from 3.6% estimated earlier. Lower import growth compared to our earlier assumption, due to a fall in India’s GDP growth as well as softening of international oil prices, would reduce the import bill. Despite a slight worsening of the Euro zone situation, India would continue to remain attractive to foreign investors due to 1) Attractive valuations of Indian equity markets because of the sharp rupee depreciation and correction in equity prices. 2) Over 400 bps growth rate differential that India will maintain with the West, despite growth slowdown. However, given the worsening of global and domestic growth outlook, we now expect the Indian economy to attract less foreign capital inflows than expected earlier. As a result, we now expect rupee to settle around 53 per US$ by March-end 2013 compared to our earlier forecast of Rs 50 per US$.
At the current juncture, both monetary and fiscal policies are constrained to revive growth in the immediate run. The upside risks to inflation and limited ability of lower interest rates in propping up growth implies lower room for monetary loosening. The fiscal policy can create some upside to our projected growth scenario by 1) boosting investment expenditure 2) swift policy action to solve issues related to mining, land acquisition and environmental clearances, and speedy clearance of projects. It will also be critical to raise the administered fuel prices to reduce subsidies and create fiscal room for expenditure related to drought-relief measures. Boosting investor confidence in the government’s resolve to tackle both short-term and long-term challenges to sustain growth, especially demonstrating its ability to push through key reforms related to land, labour, taxation and government expenditure, would hold the key to raising India’s growth prospects over the medium run.
Disclaimer: CRISIL Limited has taken due care and caution in preparing this Report. Information has been obtained by CRISIL from sources, which it considers reliable. However, CRISIL does not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of any information and is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information. CRISIL Limited has no financial liability whatsoever to the subscribers / users / transmitters / distributors of this Report. The Centre for Economic Research, CRISIL (C-CER) operates independently of and does not have access to information obtained by CRISIL's Ratings Division, which may in its regular operations obtain information of a confidential nature that is not available to C-CER. No part of this Report may be published / reproduced in any form without CRISIL's prior written approval.
To read the full report click here
May 23 2013, 16:33
- in Asian markets
May 23 2013, 09:33
- in Technicals | <urn:uuid:abc1cac6-8df9-486c-b7a6-aeae3c05a5bb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/asian-markets/crisil-research-cuts-2012-13-gdp-growth-forecast-to-55_741305.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937421 | 1,637 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Woodcraft Industries (St. Cloud, MN), a manufacturer of hardwood and laminated components for the woodworking industry, started as a cabinet and fixture shop in St. Cloud, MN, in 1945. By 2004, it had grown through acquisition and expansion to seven locations in five states.
One specific division, PrimeWood (Wahpeton, ND), has always had some sort of quality control in place throughout the manufacturing process. But within the past nine years, PrimeWood's customers have driven them to produce better quality products.
Alan Torrance, quality assurance manager, explains, "In industry it really comes down to the competitors having the same product and service and the only differentiation between them is who has the better quality."
PrimeWood's mission is, "Quality is no mistake." Torrance is convinced that the more quality parameters put into action on the shop floor, the less scrap a company is going to produce. He also realizes that product pricing is another differentiating factor between competitors and believes that as scrap is controlled through quality improvements, a company is in a much better profit position if price ever becomes an issue.
Originally, PrimeWood was using 24-inch and 40-inch calipers to measure product quality. But the calipers were being dropped and damaged by the employees and the company had to find a solution. Torrance turned to Accurate Technology (Ashville, NC) and its linear digital measurement device called ProScale. These units are high-precision electronic measuring devices that can measure from 10 inches to 20 feet. Measurements are displayed in decimals, fractions or millimeters and accurate up to 0.002 inch. They can be retrofitted to machinery or purchased as specialized products for use as shop measuring tools. "We retrofitted the ProScale units onto various machines and we even made our own calipers out of them in our own machine shop," says Torrance.
According to Tom Erhart, quality engineer at PrimeWood, they purchased several ProScale units for their plant and several ProTable units. The ProTables are made to measure products up to 96 inches, but are also
custom-made to measure up to 19.5 feet. "These products have worked so well for us that now our other seven divisions have added these quality measurement products to their production lines," Erhart says.
Through experience and teamwork PrimeWood has increased quality and reduced scrap throughout the manufacturing process, and Torrance and Erhart have stepped up their quality parameters on incoming inspection as well.
In the past, there was little to no incoming inspection. If a supplier's product did not conform, they had to scramble to find a replacement product. So they implemented a program whereby all suppliers had to produce their products well in advance, send a pre-shipment sample for testing at PrimeWood's facility and wait for a quality inspection clearance before releasing the order. The result was just-in-time deliveries, and a vendor history documenting all shipments-and their record on meeting PrimeWood's specifications. "From this historical recordkeeping we have been able to track our suppliers' quality consistency and hence perform less inspections with certain vendors," Torrance says. "But, we continue to perform our daily plant inspections and review products that we're producing on the floor that day."
Quality assurance and product control go side by side at PrimeWood. Quality work centers are positioned on the production floor in each of the four product groups. Each area has its own quality tasks and those requirements are posted at each work center. Staff members have the authority to stop the line and review quality. Everyone is quality assurance-from the start of the line to the end of the line.
Each center includes ProScales, ProTables, in-house gages and quality requirements and is networked to the plant's computer system for calling up CAD prints. "The centers are on-line so that whatever they need for production clarification can be pulled-up on the screen; no hard copies are on the shop floor," Erhart explains.
PrimeWood continues to invest in quality control measurement and so do the other divisions under Woodcraft Industries. They have all been able to provide documented proof on the cost savings they realize in scrap reduction alone. "Not only have we purchased more equipment, but we've purchased more of the same devices for the company's other divisions," Erhart says. "And each of those divisions have quality personnel in place to justify additional purchases in measurement control."
PrimeWood not only saved money, but it also saved time. Set-up time improved from 30 minutes to 20 minutes, and changeovers from 10 minutes to 7 minutes. Dimensional QA checks also improved from 3 minutes to 30 seconds.
Torrance says, "When you measure the cost of quality, in terms of nonconformance, scrap or rejects, taking the investment approach is the way to go." He believes that many companies have a problem investing into quality assurance equipment and personnel. Instead, companies tend to invest in additional machinery for the production floors to produce more products. "What we're saying is if you continue to invest in quality, you can produce more for less. By having less scrap or rework you're actually going to produce more."
-PrimeWood's set-up time improved from 30 minutes to 20 minutes, and changeovers from 10 minutes to 7 minutes. Dimensional QA checks also improved from 3 minutes to 30 seconds.
-From historical recordkeeping, PrimeWood has been able to track suppliers' quality consistency and hence perform less inspections with certain vendors.
-PrimeWood and other divisions under Woodcraft Industries have all been able to provide documented proof on the cost savings they realize in scrap reduction alone.
-Each quality work center includes ProScales, ProTables, in-house gages and quality requirements and is networked to the plant's computer system for calling up CAD prints. | <urn:uuid:4919143c-e969-4bf4-bfcc-86f3e9402f8a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.qualitymag.com/articles/print/84761-case-studies-quality-is-no-mistake | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970264 | 1,201 | 2 | 2 |
Your Flu Season Toolkit
The influenza virus strains circulating the globe change on a regular basis. In February of each year, the World Health Organization (WHO) makes recommendation on the strains to be included in the influenza vaccine for the northern hemisphere. Two influenza "A" type viruses and one influenza "B" virus are selected based on the characteristics of the current circulating and new influenza virus strains. The selected strains are used to produce the influenza vaccine for the following fall and winter influenza season. Continual change of the circulating influenza virus means that a new influenza vaccine is reformulated each year to protect against new infections.
The effectiveness of influenza vaccination depends on several factors, including the similarity between the viral strains used in the vaccine and the strains in circulation during influenza season. With a good "match," influenza vaccination has been shown to prevent the flu in 70% to 90% of healthy individuals, and for about 50% of the elderly.
Studies show that when there is an imperfect match between the strains included in the vaccine and the circulating influenza viruses, depending on the degree of mismatch, the influenza vaccine can still reduce the overall risk of influenza infection by up to 50% in healthy adults.
A vaccine that is not perfectly matched doesn't necessarily mean that more people will get sick or that illness will be more severe. It can still offer protection against related viruses making illness milder and preventing complications. | <urn:uuid:a160c50d-e282-4364-8034-cf769725a8a6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/im/iif-vcg/qa-qr-eng.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935973 | 281 | 3.984375 | 4 |
Halfway to Spring!SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2012
This year’s Halfway to Spring walk was Feb 5. Last year it fell on Feb 13. This year, similar to last year, it was low- to mid-40s and sunny. Last year, however, there was deep snow while this year there is plenty of bare ground. There was also plenty of ice and mud on Sunday – a bit treacherous in some places.
We set off to look for the things we tend to observe around the halfway to spring mark: singing cardinals and black-capped chickadees (affirmative!), snow fleas (no, but see below), skunk cabbage points (affirmative!), and “pussy willows” (affirmative!).
We checked in on the shed antlers by the row of Cornus in Longenecker. Status: still there and totally un-gnawed. Mice are known to chew through these quite rapidly and effectively, so the fact that they are still untouched is curious. We then checked on the row of willows. Just short of a month ago, there were only a few little pussy willows (immature catkins) poking out. But the willows have been busy in the last month – some of them more than others. A couple species were in full show, covered in silky catkins. Note, however, that the willows in Longenecker are horticultural varieties that can survive our winter, but not species that evolved in Wisconsin.
The skunk cabbage are up! Some of the maroon flowers are visible, but not yet in their full maturity. These plants have fascinating metabolic tricks that enable the plants to maintain a temperature significantly higher – even 30 degrees F – that the air temperature (I’ve seen varying numbers but you get the general idea). In other words, these plants are thermogenic. Typically, a plant (or animal or other organism) breaks down sugars (and other compounds) converting the chemical energy stored in the sugars into another type of chemical energy that cells can use for cellular activities. And, of course, some energy is released as heat. Skunk cabbage’s thermogenic abilities are because it uses an alternate metabolic pathway and breaks down stored sugars without producing any usable energy compounds. Instead, all of the energy is released as heat. Cool trick.
I had found some “snow fleas,” a type of springtail, the day before but we didn’t find any during our walk – despite many eyes a-looking. We did, however, find a lovely winged insect plodding along the snow. The day before I found another, different type of active winged insect, also unidentified. There are many kinds of insects that are active on these warm(ish) winter days. Some are already out and mating – at least on days when the air temperature reaches about 45 degrees F, if only in one little spot of sunshine. Others just take advantage of warm weather to get out of their protective shelter-spots and hopefully find something to eat. Insects also have fascinating metabolic strategies for coping with freezing weather. Some make cellular changes that allow them to avoid freezing. Others make cellular changes to help them tolerate freezing. (The ability to freeze living tissue and then have it defrost back to a functional state is of particular interest to some in the medical field, as you can imagine, and a hot research topic.)
We heard, but did not see, cardinals. We heard and some folks spotted black-capped chickadees.
I admit that the halfway to spring landmark seems not quite so exciting to me this year, since I’ve barely noticed that it’s winter. That said, I’ve also been greatly enjoying the many warm sunny Arboretum walks this season.
Sara Cohen Christopherson, Naturalist | <urn:uuid:e8ae1ff1-784e-48f5-bb7c-0ac3f73c156f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://uwarboretum.org/news/singlePost.php?id=502&origin=news&activeCategory=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961799 | 807 | 2.46875 | 2 |
New V8 Tech Gives Chrome an Extra Shot of Speed
Google's Chrome browser already enjoys something of a reputation for speed, and the most recent stable version to debut--Chrome 18--extended that further by improving graphics performance on both new and older hardware.
On the SunSpider benchmark, in fact--one that focuses on very short-running tests--V8's speed has improved by about 25 percent, as indicated in the chart below.
Two Alternate Compilers
A second, optimizing compiler is available that can generate faster machine code, but it takes much longer and thus must be used selectively, Kummerow explained. Accordingly, V8 is designed to try to predict which functions will benefit most from optimization and use that second, more time-intensive technique only on the most promising candidates.
“In the past, V8 stopped once every millisecond to look at currently running functions, and eventually optimized them,” he noted. “For long-running programs, this worked great, but short-running programs often finished before they could benefit much from the optimizing compiler.”
Bottom line? The current beta version of Chrome 19 and its successors promise the benefit of an extra shot of speed.
Want to try out the latest beta version? It's available as a free download for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X from the Chrome site. | <urn:uuid:80aef14e-c695-41e3-afeb-e069d2992be5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pcworld.com/article/254977/new_v8_tech_gives_chrome_an_extra_shot_of_speed.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950423 | 280 | 1.570313 | 2 |
While Mel Gibson's Oscar-winning 1995 Braveheart may take its story from legendary Scot rebel William Wallace, it's far from historical drama. But then again, very little historical information exists about Wallace, except that he mounted an army of defiant Scots and ran roughshod over the English during the Scottish uprising of 1296-1305 before being captured by the brutal King Edward I (a.k.a. Edward the Longshanks) and executed for his seditious crimes. But even if the majority of Wallace's history largely comes from oral traditions, that's certainly no reason not to mount an epic film, and in Braveheart Gibson decides on a very contemporary theme individual freedom, what it's worth, and the price some people pay for it (certainly a more poetic concept than such commonplace political notions as home rule or local control, which Wallace probably was demanding from the English in the first place, and which Scotland and Wales still bemoan today). Scenarist Randall Wallace buoys his three-hour tale from one emotionally charged scene to the next, as the young Wallace must deal with the violent death of his father, the loss of his wife to brutal English soldiers, and the mounting of a rag-tag but effective army, which forces him to negotiate not only with the English monarchy but also with various Scottish gentry, including Robert the Bruce (Angus MacFadyen), who counsels Wallace that a political solution is the only way Scotland can move towards a more autonomous future. And while there is an element of political skullduggery towards the latter half of the film, Gibson's Wallace remains free of it fighting the good fight is his raison de etre, and ultimately more important than his own personal survival. There are only a few weak parts of Braveheart, and while many critics have commented that it lags in moments, some of that simply is because the marvelous battle scenes are so effective that the remainder of the film can barely compete. The reliable Patrick McGoohan portrays Longshanks, but there is something almost cartoonish about his villainy, as if he rules not to fortify his power but merely to inflict suffering on others for his own personal amusement (in fact, while ruthless, Edward I is regarded as a pious man committed as much to the Holy Crusades as his native land, and he probably was no more bloodthirsty than any other effective king). The delicate Prince of Wales (Peter Hanly), who would become Edward II, is given the proper historical context (yep, he was gay), but again his simpering manner and hysterical rejection of his wife does nothing to flesh out the milieu of these early Plantagenet kings any more than Gibson and scenarist Wallace grant their protagonist any real depth of character. But Braveheart isn't The Godfather, it's a rousing, inspiriational story and marvelous entertainment. There are few films made anymore that boast scores of extras, all of which are apparent in Gibson's bloody, magnificent battle sequences. In fact, there probably never has been better battle scenes committed to film with the amount of horses seen here the way Gibson has countless steeds fly to the ground under assault, nearly crushing men underfoot as they let out cries of pain, is terrifying and a testament to the director's devotion to his craft. Paramount's DVD edition of Braveheart features a solid anamorphic transfer (2.35:1), with audio in DD 5.1 or Dolby 2.0 Surround. Informative commentary with Gibson, 28-minute "making-of" doc, two trailers. Keep-case. | <urn:uuid:61fa89eb-4cfd-4133-9e49-f6dbe794d198> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dvdjournal.com/quickreviews/b/braveheart.q.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973095 | 732 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Early Risk Management Planning
Title: Risk Assessment for Transit Projects
Phase(s): Final Design
Date: April 22, 2009
The Regional Transportation District’s (RTD) West Corridor (WC) Project (WCP) is a 12.1 mile light rail transit (LRT) system that runs from the existing Central Platte Valley line in downtown Denver to the Jefferson County Government Center end-of-line station in Golden, Colorado. For much of the proposed alignment, the WCP is being built on an abandoned freight railroad Right-of-Way (ROW) owned by RTD. Most of the route will be at-grade but there will be several significant rail/highway grade separations.
There will be 12 stations along the WC; of these, six will have parking facilities. The WCP will be implemented using the Construction Manager/General Contractor (CM/GC) project approach. A Value Engineering (VE) process was complete in December 2006.
The Project Management Oversight Consultant (PMOC), in conjunction with its consultants and the Federal Transit Administration Region (FTA) VIII, held Risk Assessment (RA) meetings/reviews in July 2008 and October 2007.The Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) was signed on January 16, 2009. The estimated WCP cost (as of July 22, 2008) is $709,830,000.00 in Year of Expenditure (YOE) dollars
2. The Lesson
When the grantee embraces the RA process early and uses the RA Meetings/workshops sessions to define risk area, risk levels, cost, mitigation approaches and then develops a Management and Risk Management Plan, the Grantee is able to identify and mitigate risk early and cost-effectively. This essential step helps ensure that the Capital Project will meet the Grantee’s goal at an acceptable cost and level of risk.
The WCP entered Preliminary Engineering (PE) at a time when commodity and labor costs were relatively low, but beginning to trend significantly and unexpectedly upward. In addition, property costs were escalating, although at rates well below national averages. To manage and mitigate these cost increases, risk and ensure the best possible design going forward, RTD took a number of steps including:
• A week-long VE workshop that identified approximately $113 million in potential cost savings.
• Using Letters of No Prejudice (LONP) to fund early construction and acquisition of selected commodities and materials such as rails and ties. This also enabled RTD to mitigate cost increases in structural steel for pre-fabricated bridges.
• Exercising options from another contract to purchase almost all the light rail vehicles (LRV) needed for the WC at a pre-negotiated substantially lower price than would have been the case for a new procurement.
Value Engineering provided significant cost savings and established the basis and support for dealing with potentially contentious issues such as “single-tracking” (5.8 miles) from the Denver Federal Center to the Jefferson County Government Center end-of-line station.
RA meetings/workshops were valuable for bringing RTD, with its local perspective on potential issues and needed contingency, together with the PMOC and its consultants with their wide-ranging experience with transit projects across the nation. The sessions were essential to defining risk areas, risk levels, and mitigation approaches and establishing agreed upon costs for allocated and unallocated contingency. The RA workshops proved invaluable for defining and reconciling key areas and levels of risk and reaching understandings on the levels and allocations of contingencies.
Overall, the results of the RA workshops (and related discussions and meetings) provided a good basis for the PMOC’s recommendations to the FTA on the status of the WCP and the readiness of RTD to submit its FFGA application. In addition, the Contingency Management and Risk Management Plans produced by RTD following the RA, has enabled RTD to effectively track, manage, and react to issues that may have adverse impacts on the use of contingency by using the contingency drawdown curve and other metrics. These plans were the tools that supported RTD’s lower contingency figure versus the higher contingency recommended by the PMOC for its FFGA application.
Implementing the PMOC RA workshops provided a number of key benefits:
• By applying the new RA Program Guidance (PG documents (PG-32, PG-33, and PG-34) the scope, cost, and schedule of Major Capital Projects were thoroughly reviewed and evaluated.
• Using PG-40 and PG-35, a contingency draw-down curve as well as a float draw-down curve were developed and established a "baseline" for subsequent and ongoing PMOC monitoring activities.
• The “Findings” made during the RA workshops were provided as recommendations to the Grantee to enable improvement and refinement during project development.
• Provided an unbiased reinforcement to the Grantee of the importance of “thinking through” the project from the risk/ uncertainty perspective.
Subsequent to the FFGA, construction has continued and encountered some problems. Right-of-Way acquisition has proven to be more difficult than expected; with the result that the CM/GC has had to develop “work-arounds” to stay on schedule and utility relocations were not progressed as quickly as planned. To mitigate these potential delays/risks, RTD and the CM/GC are holding regular meetings with the utility companies and the meetings have been very effective. These items and other (25 items) identified risks are being tracked in RTD’s Risk Management – Risk Register, which tracks, Probability, Cost, Time, Score and Discipline leader. The Risk Register has helped WC Risk Management Team develop procedures to identify, analyze, implement mitigation, and manage risk.
The RA workshops with the prospective Grantee, the FTA, the PMOC, and the PMOC’s consultants is an essential step to ensure the Major Capital Project will meet the Grantee’s goals at an acceptable cost and level of risk. The PMOC and its consultants bring a diverse range of experiences from projects across the country and can therefore assist the potential Grantee to fully explore potential risk areas and mitigation approaches. In addition, the experiences of the outside specialists can help the potential Grantee:
• Make informed decisions about allocating contingency
• Assess and reevaluate costs
• Identify and mitigate risks as early and cost-effectively as possible
• Quarterly Progress Review Meetings reports
• WCP monthly reports
• RTD monthly and progress reports
• PMOC RA Spot Report | <urn:uuid:79fca87e-6794-4c05-bc31-d819f8dd6f03> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fta.dot.gov/grants/12840_9649.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94907 | 1,361 | 2.015625 | 2 |
We have artificially separated our brains from our bodies. We talk about psychosomatic illness, and the body-mind connection as if our mental and physical selves are two separate entities. In reality the brain is just one part of our body. Poisons harm it and it needs the right balance of nutrients to function right. While foods and toxins affect our whole body, there are certain substances that have a definite impact on cognition. Here is what some of the research says about nutrition and thinking.
Lead and Intelligence
Some historians say that lead poisoning caused the decline of the Roman Empire. Researchers worry that we will suffer the same fate if we don't control lead contamination within our society. Lead exposure is commonplace. When leaded paint (banned in 1978) crumbles and turns to dust, we may inhale it or inadvertently consume it if that dust touches our hands. Water is tainted by lead found in old plumbing. Although prohibited in most regions, lead from gasoline used in the past has settled into soil along roadways. Imported
pottery, lead crystal glassware, and the ink on the outside of plastic bread bags are also sources of lead.
It is established that lead is a neurotoxin, a substance poisonous to the nervous system. Children are most harmed by lead poisoning. Their small bodies and developing nervous systems are very susceptible to lead's adverse effects. Symptoms range from fatigue and reduced appetite to nervous system disorders such as lead encephalopathy. More frightening is that exposure to low levels of lead appear to be eroding our children's intelligence.
Two Pennsylvania investigators gathered together a dozen studies on lead poisoning and assessed how this heavy metal affects a child's IQ. They concluded that even low doses of lead over a period of time probably impairs a child's mental capacity (1).
All cases of lead poisoning are preventable (2). Yet based on maximum safety levels of 15 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood, as many as four million American children are afflicted (3). Sixty-eight percent of African American children living in the inner cities have been poisoned by lead. These figures would be even higher if the newer, more stringent standards of 10 micrograms per deciliter were used (4).
Aluminum and Alzheimer's
Alzheimer's disease is a devastating condition that slowly robs a person of his mental functions. There are no clear answers why this form of dementia occurs, but growing evidence suggests that aluminum may be partially responsible.
Not only is aluminum the most abundant metal in the world, but like lead it is prevalent among the many foods and products we use. It is found in baking powder, antiperspirants, antacids, black tea, drinking water, cookware, aluminum foil, and aluminum cans. It can
also be inhaled. Industrial waste contributes to aluminum exposure and acute aluminum poisoning.
The body is skilled at disposing of excess aluminum. Whereas lead targets the very young, low doses of aluminum take longer to alter cognition. As an editorial in the British medical journal, The Lancet, says aluminum "may cause slow death of ageing brains" (5).
The link between Alzheimer's disease and aluminum is complex and still considered controversial. Some researchers have discounted aluminum's contribution to Alzheimer's disease. Donald Sherrard, MD, a Seattle physician, feels that we need more evidence before we "throw out the aluminum cookware" (6). | <urn:uuid:32363270-c1f4-4a63-934d-7a87e04b78a4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.healthy.net/scr/Article.aspx?Id=350 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942222 | 695 | 3.234375 | 3 |