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On Jan 24, a crossing guard was injured after being struck by a van in Cambridge while assisting a student across Blair Road.
Anyone who works as a crossing guard performs the same duties that this crossing guard was performing when she was hit.
On Jan. 29, a horrific incident took place on a school bus in Alabama. An armed man ambushed a school bus, kidnapped a child and fatally shot the school bus driver. Anyone who drives a school bus performs the same duties that this driver was performing when he lost his life.
All employees deserve to feel safe when they report to work each day and they should not have to worry, “Is this going to happen to me?” Undoubtedly, these were rare and exceptional incidents.
Kudos, then, to Heather Franklin, the Cambridge crossing guard who resigned after 19 years, for shining a light on the way many members of the public treat people in these tertiary roles to the education system. I can assure you, after working in the school bus business for many years, that many of these workers have been subjected to far worse taunts than “Why don’t you get a real job?”
We ask a lot of these folks. Both crossing guards and school bus drivers receive relatively low pay; work a split shift totalling about four hours a day; are required to obtain a vulnerable-persons search that often requires fingerprinting; have to deal with irate motorists; and at least for school bus drivers, maintain valid first aid and CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) certification, along with ongoing annual training.
Why is it, then — and how can some members of society feel — that it is acceptable to treat these (or any) people as second-class citizens and deride them publicly?
All of us deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. Is it so hard to remember the golden rule? Where along the way did we become complicit with treating people who are working in these types of positions as somehow less valuable?
I wonder if people would be so quick to pass judgment if these services weren’t provided as a courtesy by the cities and the school boards. Just because we don’t pay directly for these services certainly doesn’t mean they’re free, any more than a visit to the doctor’s office is free.
Many parents want their children to have the convenience of a school bus to get to school, but no one wants to get stuck behind a school bus. If their students are within walking distance, they appreciate having crossing guards at the busy crosswalks, but no one wants to get delayed by the crossing guard helping students cross safely.
Simply put, we want to have our cake and eat it too.
Judging these people by their profession is like judging a book by its cover. There are some truly incredible people performing these tasks day in and day out. We have retired professionals, including engineers, doctors, entrepreneurs, stay-at-home parents and many who just feel a calling to do something positive for their community and the students.
Many of these people form bonds with the students they meet and interact with on a daily basis. Often we hear that the real reward is making a difference in, or having an impact on, a student’s life.
Most people turn away when asked to do these jobs. They can be stressful and thankless. To those that are out there day in and day out, they not only accept the challenge — they welcome it.
Let’s say thank you for their dedication in helping ensure the safe passage of our students each day.
You’ll often see, if you watch for it, a wave between the crossing guards and the school bus drivers, a kind of acknowledgement that they share in the brotherhood or sisterhood of being an important part of the school system.
Angus McKay, of Puslinch Township, helps run a school bus company. | <urn:uuid:55675bca-d508-4edf-b49f-17bce375f57e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.therecord.com/opinion/columns/article/887669--don-t-be-cross-with-crossing-guards | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977439 | 814 | 2.015625 | 2 |
Reporting Tim Ryan
Election ReturnsComplete Election Results
VALLEJO (KCBS) – We all have our opinions – even about big things like how to spend millions of dollars.
And, if you live in Vallejo, you actually have a chance to weigh in on how you’d spend a big wad of cash in the city’s coffers.
On Monday, the city kicked off an experiment to put revenue from last year’s one-percent sales tax hike in the hands of its residents.
“In 2012, the Vallejo City Council established the first city-wide Participatory Budgeting (PB) process in the United States. Through PB, the community is helping decide how to spend over $3 million of revenue from the Measure B Sales Tax. Vallejo residents and stakeholders will propose spending ideas and develop project proposals, residents will vote on projects, and the list of projects that receive the most votes will be submitted to City Council for approval,” the Participatory Budgeting Vallejo website announced.
“I’ve heard some really very cool ideas,” said Joey Lake, chairman of the Citizens Steering Committee, which was helping to coordinate the process.
The Committee planned to meet nine times over the coming weeks to discuss what ideas would be formally present to the Vallejo City Council for consideration.
“I think they would be hard pressed to veto those ideas once they’ve gone through this rigor of a process,” Lake reasoned.
KCBS’ Tim Ryan Reports:
The first public assembly was scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Vallejo Adult School, 2833 Tennessee St.
Subsequent public assemblies were scheduled for Nov. 1, 7, 14, 15, 17, 18, 29; Dec. 5, 2012 at various locations around Vallejo: time and location of those meetings was available online.
(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.) | <urn:uuid:202626f0-5502-46ab-af03-23e09d6f8a17> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/10/29/vallejo-asking-public-for-new-spending-ideas/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9371 | 428 | 1.773438 | 2 |
- Child tickets: age 5 - 15 (under 5s are free)
- Concession tickets: over 60s and students (valid ID required
- Family ticket: 2 adults and up to 3 children or 1 adult and up to 4 children
To place an order add the required quantity to the box below and click on Add to Shopping Basket.
Founded by William the Conqueror in 1066, The Tower of London is one of the world’s most famous fortresses. Dark secrets and stories conveyed through a series of fascinating exhibitions and history is brought well and truly to life by the Ravens and Beefeaters that still protect the tower to this day.
1st March - 31st October:
Tuesday - Saturday 09:00-17:30 (last admission 17:00
Sunday; Monday 10:00-17:30 (last admission 17:00)
1st November - 29th February:
Tuesday - Saturday 09:00-16:30 (last admission 16:00)
Sunday & Monday 10:00-16:30 (last admission 16:00)
Closed 24th/25th/26th December and 1st January
The Crown Jewels at the Tower of London are a unique working collection of royal regalia and are still regularly used by the Queen in important national ceremonies. The displays examine how the royal regalia are used during the Coronation ceremony, and explore the symbolism of each object.
This priceless collection holds some of the most legendary and extraordinary diamonds in the world. The most famous of these is the legendary Koh-i-Noor Indian diamond, at one time the largest in the world and the cause of many bitter feuds and wars over the years.
Share the secrets of one thousand years of royal gossip and intrigue with a Beefeater, or to give them their proper title ‘Yeoman Warder'. This body of men - and now one woman - has guarded the Tower of London for centuries. Pain and passion, treachery and torture, you'll be equally amazed and appalled by the tales that have been passed down for generations, all delivered with their matchless style!
The White Tower
A castle built to strike fear and submission into the unruly citizens of London and deter foreign invaders! Inside you will find ‘Fit for a King’, a journey through 500 years of royal arms and armour. Created for both the battle field and the sporting field displays include Henry VIII's horse armour, Japanese samurai armour presented to King James I and even Prince Charles' polo helmet and knee pads.
Prisoners of the Tower
Despite its reputation, there are no dungeons at the Tower of London. The Tower was rather more ‘exclusive’ - with prisoners from the higher levels of society. Find out what life was like imprisoned in the Bloody or Beauchamp Towers and experience the sights, sounds and inscriptions left from captives over five hundred years ago!
London's original zoo, the Royal Beasts exhibition is where you can see sculptures and art of lions, baboons, elephant and even polar bear who once inhabited the tower. Hear the amazing tales of how the animals were fed and housed, as well as various unfortunate incidents when the public got a little too close! | <urn:uuid:56401ed6-89dd-4bc4-87eb-06f773ed66ce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.visitbritainshop.com/nordics/attractions/attractions-in-london/product/tower-of-london-tickets.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940446 | 667 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Criminal Law and Criminal Defense Guide
If you have ever been arrested or have been on the wrong side of the law, then you may not know what your rights are regarding Criminal Law and Criminal Defense.
If you watch crime drama you no doubt have heard the famous reading of the rights. However, you have others that may not be mentioned in your average police drama. The purpose of this article is to teach you what your rights are in regards to criminal law and criminal defense.
We have all heard this famous line, you have the right to an attorney, and if you cannot afford an attorney one will be provided for you. This is true, everyone has the right to an attorney you also have the right to an attorney throughout the entire legal process. You will be provided legal council at no cost to you in you are unable to provide your own lawyer but at the end of the proceedings you may be asked to pay all or some of the costs if you circum stances chance.
Criminal Law and Criminal Defense states that you also have the right to a jury trial. You are entitled to a speedy and fair trial; everyone brought into court is innocent until proven guilty. You also cannot be convicted unless a jury of 12 unanimously agrees that based on the evidence you are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt Criminal Law and Criminal Defense states that you have the right to confront witnesses: You (usually your attorney) have the right to question, depose and cross examine any witnesses testifying against you.
Criminal Law and Criminal defense also states that you have a right against self incrimination. You have the right to remain silent during and after arrest and don't have to say anything without an attorney present. You can decline to answer any questions that will incriminate you and have the right to take the stand in your own defense.
Finally, Criminal Law and Criminal Defense states that you have the right to produce evidence on you behalf. This means you have the right to subpoena witnesses to bring forward any and all evidence favorable to you.
These are some of the most basic rights under criminal law and criminal defense. Hopefully you will never have the need to use this knowledge but you never know. In legal matters, knowing what you are entitled to can go a long way. | <urn:uuid:53eca788-00aa-4289-a50b-28ed7fad4a66> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.resource4thepeople.com/criminallaw/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972235 | 455 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Because of their build, dachshunds are prone to disc fractures and other problems, which can lead to paralysis of the hind legs. According to Pet MD, the combination of a long back and a low-set carriage makes dachshunds vulnerable to intervertebral disc disease, in which damaged discs press on the spinal cord – essentially slipped discs. Other causes of paralysis include infections and injury. Paralysis may not be permanent, as surgical treatments, therapies and medications exist. Whether or not your pet recovers, you will certainly have to provide an increased level of care for a while, particularly with regards to hygiene and sore prevention. Although caring for a paralyzed pet is challenging, it is quite possible for your dachshund to have a happy, comfortable life.
Arrange a veterinary appointment as soon as possible if your pet shows signs of weakness or paralysis, if you haven’t already. Paralysis is a serious problem and requires professional attention. Follow your vet’s advice closely, especially with regards to urination. Paralysis can lead to incontinence, the continuous passing of urine or an inability to pass urine without assistance, and the care required differs greatly.
Stock up on the necessary supplies. Depending on the severity of the paralysis and its symptoms, you may need a dog cart for small breeds, dog diapers and a supportive harness. If your veterinary clinic or local pet stores don’t stock everything you need, you can order online through specialist suppliers. You should also obtain wipes, a very mild dog shampoo and a baby bath or similar large bowl.
Prepare a bed with plenty of soft bedding, such as towels and cushions. Your vet might advise an enclosed space to prevent your dog from injuring himself through dragging when you are not around.
Examine your dog daily for signs of sores developing, especially where the paralyzed body parts touch the ground, which can arise either through dragging or through enforced immobility. Look for redness, inflammation, broken skin and patches of fur loss. If you find a sore, use bandages and an appropriate ointment as per your vet's instructions.
Wipe away any urine clinging to your pet immediately. Urine can cause burns if left on the skin. If burns have already developed, be careful because they are painful. As with other care, advice from your vet is essential. Follow your vet’s instructions on the correct urination procedure, while will depend on how the paralysis has affected your dog. He might need diapers or help emptying his bladder. Manually expressing the bladder involves applying pressure, but you must ask your vet to show you the procedure first, otherwise there is a risk of causing further injury.
Bathe the dog about once a week in lukewarm water, according to your vet’s advice. Paralyzed dogs find it difficult to keep themselves clean. Use a very mild shampoo, rinse thoroughly and be alert for the signs of dry skin developing -- i.e, flaking and irritation.
Perform physical therapy daily as per your vet’s instructions. This might be as simple as flexing and massaging the paralyzed legs.
Use a support harness for walking your dog. Although dachshunds are small, it can be awkward both supporting him with one or more harnesses and holding his leash; you may wish to ask a friend or family member to help. | <urn:uuid:f9bef022-7478-4dc6-a16c-174344e23adc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailypuppy.com/articles/how-to-care-for-a-paralyzed-dachshund_1534.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938898 | 698 | 2.3125 | 2 |
soul S3 W3
the part of a person that is not physical, and that contains their character, thoughts, and feelings. Many people believe that a person's soul continues to exist after they have died [↪ spirit]:
the immortality of the soul
It was as if those grey eyes could see into the very depths of her soul.
in somebody's soul
the restlessness deep in his soul
the souls of the dead
used in particular phrases to mean 'a person'
happy/sensitive/brave/simple etc soul
He is really quite a sensitive soul.
not a soul in sight/not a soul to be seen
The night was dark and still, and there was not a soul in sight.
poor (old) soul (=used to show pity for someone)
The poor old soul had fallen and broken her hip.
a type of popular music that often expresses deep emotions, usually performed by black singers and musicians:
musicalso soul music [uncountable]APM
He listens to a lot of soul.
a soul band
sense of beauty[uncountable]
the ability to be emotionally affected by art, music, literature etc:
My brother thinks that anyone who doesn't like poetry has no soul.
the quality that affects people emotionally, that a painting, piece of music etc can have:
Her performance was technically perfect, but it lacked soul.
the special quality or part that gives something its true character
Basho's poems capture the true soul of old Japan.
to always be extremely careful to keep secrets:
Leon is the very soul of discretion.
if something is good for the soul, it is good for you and you should do it, even though it may seem unpleasant - often used humorously:
They say that hardship is good for the soul.
used when you mention the name of someone who is dead:
My father, God rest his soul, died here at Vernison Hall.
the number of souls in a place is the number of people who live there:
people in a place[plural] literary
a village of two or three hundred souls
10 old-fashioned spoken
used to express surprise | <urn:uuid:5d6ddb3c-ded2-412c-8a3f-23364dd9389e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ldoceonline.com/Religion-topic/soul | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956051 | 458 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Source: Missouri News
Senator Bond concerned by online posting of civilian nuke sitesWednesday, June 3, 2009, 3:28 PMBy Steve WalshThe inadvertent online posting of U.S. civilian nuclear sites has Missouri's senior U.S. Senator very much concerned about this lapse in security. Senator Christopher "Kit" Bond (R-MO) says this is the kind of thing that can only aid terrorists.
"That is unbelievable - that is a treasure map for terrorists," said Bond during his weekly radio conference call. "Communities have a right to prevent terrorists from using government information to target and attack facilities in their backyard."
The 267-page document that was posted on Monday is a draft declaration of U.S. nuclear facilities to the International Atomic Energy Agency - the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency. It includes the locations of facilities that storing enriched uranium and other materials used to make nuclear weapons. The emergence of the document was first disclosed by an official with a group known as the Federation of American Scientists, which Bond considers a far Left organization.
"There's a group called the Federation of American Scientists - a far Left-wing fringe group that wants to disclose all our vulnerabilities," said Bond. "I don't know what their motives are but I think they are very dangerous to our security."
Bond says authorities are still trying to determine whether this information was released intentionally or by mistake. | <urn:uuid:8d21cf55-169f-43b9-9d00-788ea5a06fd5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/2009/06/bond060309.html | 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 | 0.972433 | 286 | 1.648438 | 2 |
The Worship of Asherah
I've come across a great many religious disputes in the course of my journey, but this one is very mysterious
and really hit close to home. It also touches upon all of the sons of Abraham, not just some of them, and has
remained a bone of contention between the different sects to this day. The complaint, itself, concerns the worship
of Asherah, the Queen of Heaven, and whether or not such worship can be considered a heresy. In other words,
did this practice violate the laws of God? Here is a selection concerning the complaints against the practice:
Book of Jeremiah, Chapter 7 verse 18:
YHVH: The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to bake cakes
to the queen of heaven, and pour out drink-offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke Me.
Book of Jeremiah, Chapter 44 verse 15 ~ 21:
Then all the men who knew that their wives offered unto other gods, and all the women that stood by,
a great assembly, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah,
saying: As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to
you. But we will certainly perform every word that has come out of your mouth, to offer unto the queen of
heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and
our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then we had plenty of food, and
we were well, and we saw no evil. But since we stopped offering to the queen of heaven, we have
wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.
Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to the men, and to the women, even to all the people that had given
him that answer, saying: The offering that you made in the cities of Judah, and in the
streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the
LORD remember them?
This dispute can be answered in very simple terms. Let us first consider the Laws God gave to Israel. In particular,
the one law that deals with the very creation of the Sabbath Day itself and place this along with the complaint:
Book of Exodus, Chapter 35, Verse 1 ~ 3:
YHVH: Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you a holy day,
a sabbath of solemn rest to the LORD; whoever does any work therein shall be put to death.
You shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the sabbath day.
Book of Jeremiah, Chapter 7 verse 18:
YHVH: The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the
dough, to bake cakes to the Queen of Heaven, and pour out drink-offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke Me.
I wanted to bring more light to the fact that tending a fire on the Sabbath Day (for any reason) is unlawful.
So, I have to wonder what kind of consort the Queen of Heaven really was if she had encouraged the Jews to disobey
the laws of God? Personally, I would expect the divine consort of God to teach respect for his laws,
but this was not what happened.
What do the Muslims Believe?
A single honest recitation of the Shahadah in Arabic is all that is required for a person to become a Muslim according
to most traditional schools. The Shahadah is the first of six kalimas. The full six kalimas are displayed below, and yes,
they do most certainly address the matter of whether or not God has a partner:
1. I testify that there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.
2. I bear witness that none is worthy of worship but Allah, the One alone, without partner,
and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.
3. Glory be to Allah and Praise to Allah, and there is none worthy of worship but Allah, and Allah is the
Greatest. And there is no might or power except with Allah, the Exalted, the Great One.
4. There are none worthy of worship except Allah. He is only One. There are no partners for Him. For He is the Kingdom. And for Him is the Praise. He gives life and causes death. And He is Alive. He is Eternal.
Possessor of Majesty and Reverence. In His hand is the goodness. And He is the goodness. And He is on everything powerful.
5. I seek forgiveness from Allah, my Lord, from every sin I committed knowingly or unknowingly, secretly or openly,
and I turn towards Him from the sin that I know and from the sin that I do not know. Certainly You, You are the knower
of the hidden things and the Concealer of the mistakes and the Forgiver of the sins. And there is no power and no
strength except from Allah, the Most High, the Most Great.
6. O Allah! I seek protection in You from that I should not join any partner with You knowingly.
I seek Your forgiveness from that which I do not know. I repent from it (ignorance) I free myself from disbelief and
joining partners with You and from all sins. I submit to Your will I believe and I declare: There
is none worthy of worship besides Allah and Muhammad (Peace be upon Him) is his Messenger."
A Song of Azrael Closing Statement:
I hope you have enjoyed this thought-provoking study of the complaints that were raised concerning the worship of the Queen of
Heaven. As these Special Presentations are published, you'll find there is quite a lot of religious agreement between the Jewish
and Muslims scholars, once the matters are given enough light and consideration.
Our next Special Presentation is: Azrael and the Gift of Name. | <urn:uuid:c3299b29-f101-436e-ba5c-71b360af7df7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.songofazrael.org/presentations/jeremiah/asherah.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954745 | 1,314 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Undergraduate Student Handbook
Promptness and regular class attendance are expected of all students. The student should inform his or her instructor of reasons for absence from class -- before the class if she or he plans to be away, or after the class if she or he has a sudden illness.
Failure to attend a class for which one is registered does not result in being automatically dropped from the class. Students should check Penn InTouch before the end of the Course Selection period and before the end of the Drop period each semester to verify their roster.
Athletes are responsible for making up any work missed because of athletic obligations.
The University observes the following holidays: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and the day after, and New Year's Day.
The University also recognizes that there are several religious holidays that affect large numbers of University community members, including Christmas, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, the first two days of Passover and Good Friday. In consideration of their significance for many students, no examinations may be given and no assigned work may be required on these days. Students who observe these holidays will be given an opportunity to make up missed work in both laboratories and lecture courses. If an examination is given on the first class day after one of these holidays, it must not cover material introduced in class on that holiday.
The University further recognizes that there are other holidays, both religious and secular, which are of importance to some individuals and groups on campus. Students who wish to observe such holidays must inform their instructors within the first two weeks of each semester of their intent to observe the holiday even when the exact date of the holiday will not be known until later so that alternative arrangements convenient to both students and faculty can be made at the earliest opportunity.
See the University’s complete policy on holidays.
In the fall 2012 semester, a select group of courses at Penn will be participating in a pilot of a new tool, the Course Absence Report (CAR) system. Only students enrolled in these courses (BIOL 101, FREN 110, and FREN 121) are subject to the following procedures. However, the CAR system will be expanded to all Penn courses by the spring 2013 semester.
Course Absence Reports are designed to provide a way for students to communicate with their instructors when medical issues, family emergencies, or other concerns necessitate missing class. Students log in to the CAR system (from Penn InTouch) and send a report to one or more instructors, indicating the number of days missed (up to a maximum of five days) and the general reason for the absence. Instructors may opt to receive these notices by email or to view a digest of all submitted reports.
Each instructor will have a policy on class attendance that will be communicated to students in the course. Students who submit Course Absence Reports are still responsible for following up with the instructor about any missed work. Course Absence Reports do not constitute “excuses.”
Please note: the CAR system replaces earlier instructor notifications provided by the Office of Academic Programs (APO). That is, for students in the pilot courses, APO will no longer collect documentation or provide instructor notification for absences of five days or less. Students who will miss more than five days of class should still contact APO (215-898-7246 | email@example.com) to discuss the impact of this longer absence on their schoolwork. | <urn:uuid:7ff1f3e4-6119-46d6-a8b1-fe677ea9f619> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.seas.upenn.edu/undergraduate/handbook/policy/class-attendance.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937895 | 716 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Maliger is formed from the latin words malus and gero meaning “mast” and “bear.” Hence, “I bear a mast” referring to the high dorsal fin. Quillback rockfish are relatively small, and are of "stout" morphology; a characteristic common among nearshore Sebastes found in close association with the bottom. They are usually orange-brown to black in color with a yellow or orange pale area between the eye and pectoral fin.
Distribution, Stock Structure and Migration
Quillback rockfish can be found from the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska to the Anacapa Passage, California. They are considered common between southeast Alaska and northern California. They can be found in shallow to moderate depths but have been observed at depths of 900 ft.
Like other Sebastes of shallow, benthic habitat, individual quillback rockfish are not known to range far. Tagging studies in central California and Washington have shown quillback to be residential (no movement other than diurnal) or to show movement of less than 6 miles.
Age and Growth
In California, quillback rockfish have been aged to 15 yr, but are known to live longer: They have been aged to 95 yr in Canada. Quillback can grow to 24 inches.
Reproduction, Fecundity and Seasonality
In California, size at first maturity as well as 50% maturity for males is 8.7 in. TL (4 yr.), and for females is 10.2 in. TL (6 yr.) As with all Sebastes, quillback have internal fertilization and are viviparous. In California, mating takes place in the late winter/early spring, and parturition April through July; with a peak in May and June. After roughly one or two months in the plankton, they begin to settle near shore.
As planktonic larvae, quillback rockfish are known to consume nauplii invertebrate eggs and copepods. After they settle in the shallow, nearshore areas they remain zooplanktivorous and feed on crustaceans. As adults their habit is more benthic, and they are known to feed on a variety of prey such as crustaceans; small fish, including rockfishes and flatfishes; bivalves and fish eggs.
As juveniles, they are preyed upon by fishes, including larger rockfishes (such as yelloweye), lingcod, cabezon and salmon. Various marine birds and pinnipeds take juvenile quillback as well. Adults are also subject to predation by larger piscivorous fishes including some sharks, as well as pinnipeds, and possibly, river otters.
Though quillback rockfish occur with a host of other nearshore benthic species, no information on competition was found.
The larvae of quillback rockfish are planktonic. After about one to two months in the plankton, they begin to settle near shore. Young-of-the-year quillbacks are found among relatively shallow, low-relief rocky substrate and shallow, vegetated habitats such as kelp and eelgrass beds. Juveniles tend to inhabit the very nearshore benthos as well, and are found over both low and high rocky substrate. Adults are most often found in deeper water and are solitary reef-dwellers living in close association with the bottom. They are often seen perched on rocks or taking shelter in crevices and holes. Adults have also been noted to retreat to eelgrass beds at night. Quillback are also associated with the rock-sand interface, but are rarely seen in the open away from suitable cover.
Status of Stocks
No stock assessment has been done for this species. Quillback rockfish are a minor component of the nearshore recreational fishery with decreasing occurrence south of northern California. They are also a component of the nearshore commercial fishery.
Information on this page was originally presented in the Nearshore Fishery Management Plan (these profiles updated July, 2010). | <urn:uuid:88ffab63-c354-4bfb-ad0e-e17994c69fde> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/nearshorefinfish/quillbackrockfish.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966009 | 858 | 3.484375 | 3 |
The Price of Fire
The Price of Fire
So it is that once again, after more than 500 years of colonialism, the millions of indigenous Bolivians are once again rising up to take control of their destiny, propelling for the first time an indigenous person, Evo Morales, into the presidency of the country.
This new wave of rebellion is the focus of radical journalist Ben Dangl's first book The Price of Fire: Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia. Dangl is no stranger to this topic, having reported on events unfolding in Bolivia for a number of years, including as an eyewitness of the 2003 uprising, for amongst others Z Magazine, The Nation, and Green Left Weekly, as well as editing the online magazine Upside Down World, an invaluable source of information on political change in Latin America.
In his book, Dangl returns to
Whilst providing much valuable information on the origins and impacts of neoliberalism in Bolivia, the book's most important contribution is Dangl's tracing of the origins and distinct features of the new actors in Bolivian society -- coca growers of the Chapare region, neighborhood committees of El Alto, a movement of landless peasants, and feminist and cultural organizations amongst others -- providing important insights into their nature. Crucially, Dangl allows those at the center of this struggle to tell their story, introducing readers to numerous well-known, and not-so-well-known, protagonists.
It is through interviews with street vendors, members of neighborhood committees, Aymara journalists and sociologists that Dangl provides a window into the world of the people of El Alto, central actors in the writing of
Dangl articulates how the fusing of the habits and skills of the miners, left unemployed by privatization, and the organizational structures and traditions of the rural Aymaran ayllus, have created a collective identity of community cohesion and organization. Dangl elucidates how, for the majority informal workforce of El Alto, their involvement in unions provides a "sense of collective identity . . . important to vendors who operate in an often isolated and economically competitive atmosphere."
A similar outline is made of the coca grower, or cocalero, movement in the Chapare region, who, faced with the US-imposed "war on drugs," were forged into one of the most combative social movements of the country.
Whilst the influences of the miners' unionism impacted more strongly due to historic factors, Dangl explains that the "syndicatos, community organization similar to unions" are much more than simply instruments of struggle, acting to "organize work cycles and distribution of land, and mediated disputes."
Recounting her story, Leonilda Zurita, who helped establish the first woman's federation of cocaleros in 1995, explains the role of these syndicatos. Zurita says to Dangl: "[Many] women in the Chapare don't know how to read or write. So the best school for the women is the union. There we have empowered people. We learn about which laws are in favor of us and which are not. This has all shown us that the union organization is important to defend mother earth, defend the coca, and defend our natural resources."
Today, Zurita is a senator with the Movement Towards Socialism -- Political Instrument for the Sovereignty of the Peoples (MAS-IPSP), which emerged as a political response, primarily of the cocaleros of the Chapare, to "policies that were destroying their livelihoods."
It is also from the ranks of these cocaleros that Morales emerged, who, as Dangl points out, helped develop MAS into "an 'anti-imperialist' and 'anti-neoliberal' party that, amongst other platforms, advocated the decriminalization of coca production and putting natural resources, such as gas and oil, under state control."
Dangl also sketches out the development of important social organizations such as the Movement of Landless Peasants, the Coalition in Defense of Water and Life, and feminist organization Mujeres Creando. Throughout all the close observations of the different dynamics at play within these, and other movements, not only in Bolivia but in the rest of South America, Dangl continues to return to what binds them together, their struggle to recuperating control over their natural resources.
Dangl summarizes this view at the end of the chapter "Occupy, Resist, Produce" -- a slogan made famous by the occupied factories movement of Argentina: "At the heart of each of these occupations," in this case the occupation of factories in Argentina, land in Bolivia and Paraguay, and a jail in Venezuela, "is the question of property and ownership, and whether or not a privileged elite or poor majority should use these resources."
In focusing on this question, Dangl goes beyond just introducing readers to the social movements of Bolivia, towards making an important contribution to the debate on the dynamics of social change, the role of the new left governments, and the question of state power, which makes the book an invaluable resource for those interested in the unfolding discussion.
Dangl's position departs from the viewpoint that the "regional integration building between progressive Latin American governments" has helped shift the balance of power "away from Washington and multinational corporations and into the hands of Latin American social movements and left of center governments"; rather, he argues, the real possibility for transformation comes from those social movements who "wield a power to organize and create an alternative social fabric that is in many cases stronger than the state."
This leads to two shortcomings in his analysis. First, it simply lumps together all the left of center governments, without drawing a distinction between, for instance, the governments of Morales and Hugo Chavez (
Secondly it also downplays the importance of state power. Dangl refers to well-known Uruguayan leftist commentator Raul Zibechi's analysis of the October 2003 uprising, who wrote, "it could be argued that if unified, organized structures had existed, not as much social energy would have been unleashed. The key to this overwhelming grassroots mobilization is, without a doubt, the basic self-organization that fills every pore of the society and has made superfluous many forms of representation."
Yet, as Dangl himself notes, the key factor in the rise of Morales was that "while other leaders of leftist unions or parties at the time focused their energy solely on campesino, or indigenous, issues, Morales -- an indigenous coca farmer originally from the altiplano -- spoke to campesinos, indigenous, and cocalero voters."
It is precisely because Morales and the social movements who make up the base of MAS focused on creating a "unified, organized structure" -- MAS-IPSP -- and using this instrument not only to win elections, but to take power, that the two central demands of the social movements -- nationalization of gas and constituent assembly -- have become reality, notwithstanding some of valid criticisms Dangl makes of the shortcomings in their implementation.
Morales has been able to unite Bolivia's diverse, regional movements into a powerful movement for a project of national liberation aimed at not just recuperating control of national resources, but also "nationalizing" the state.
By occupying the existing state, Morales, working together with
Federico Fuentes is a frequent writer for the Australian socialist newspaper, Green Left Weekly, and maintains the blog Bolivia Rising. He is a member of the Democratic Socialist Perspective, a tendency within the Australian Socialist Alliance. | <urn:uuid:e44f0561-08a8-4faf-81aa-90d568b703bd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.zcommunications.org/the-price-of-fire-by-federico-fuentes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943768 | 1,563 | 2.046875 | 2 |
generative modeling for Rhino
Does anyone know how to use the Falloff function in the custom spatial deform component, i have been able to get the spatial deform to work great with an random set of number but as soon as the numbers are sorted the highest numbers over power the surrounding motion vectors and shift the whole mesh in one direction.
Does this help?
Not Really, sorry. I had read that post among others so understand the logic just now trying to understand how to control the distance that a vector can influence its neighbours. I have just tryed using the expresion that Michael used to create this image : http://www.grasshopper3d.com/photo/spatial-deform-shell?context=latest
Which seems to smooth out the deformation if the numbers are random but not if they are sorted so still would like to understand how this expression is converted into field of influence. As would like to use the deformation to form find with Ecotect Data | <urn:uuid:96c37473-c68c-4574-b9ff-985c5c43c1bb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.grasshopper3d.com/forum/topics/another-spatial-deform-question | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949706 | 202 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Wild Wild West
Night of the Bubbling Death, #6701
"Searching for the stolen U.S. Constitution, West comes up against a lethal woman, a whip-wielding bodyguard and a pool of boiling acid."
When Victor Freemantle, a dangerous revolutionary, steals the U.S. Constitution, agents James West and Artemus Gordon are sent by the government to the Panhandle Strip in Texas to recover it. West and Mr. Silas Grigsby, a curator of the United States Archives, go to a secret underground hideout where the Constitution is being held to verify the authenticity of the document. After determining that it is the genuine article, West and Grigsby are presented with Freemantle's demands: They are to cease negotiations with Mexico, and the U.S. is to recognize the Panhandle Strip as a sovereign enclave between the borders. A $1,000,000 ransom in gold must also be paid. As part of their agreement, Freemantle holds Grisby hostage until West returns. But West and agent Artemus Gordon decide to ignore the demands and rescue the Constitution themselves by infiltrating Freemantle's castle; Gordon disguises himself as a whiskey salesman and West hides underneath his wagon.
The Night of the Bubbling Death was the opening episode of the third season of the series and it is a great showcase for the many gadgets that were used in the show. A ring that cuts through glass, powder that burns through floors, and the famous sleeve gun that shoots divots into the wall for a climbing rope are among the amusing effects one encounters in this episode.
Carlotta: Madlyn Rhue
* The above information was compiled from The Wild Wild West: The Series by Susan E. Kesler (Arnett Press), "Michael Garrison's Wild Wild West," an article by Robert Alan Crick in Epi-Log Journal #11 and other sources.
Freemantle: Harold Gould
Silas: William Schallert
Cartwheel: Timmy Brown
Brad: Val Avery
Pima: A. G. Vitanza
Driver: John Matthews
Directed by Irving J. Moore
Written by David Moessinger
Back to Wild Wild West page
Animated graphics (c) 2001 by The Animation Factory. | <urn:uuid:929bcb98-7eb0-4fd1-b85e-5a4878d04a3c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.angelfire.com/mn/nn/wBubblingDeath.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93022 | 469 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Last year, Forbes.com featured a report by the National Organization for Research at the University of Chicago ranking the “happiest” jobs. Some may surprise you, and of course, there are exceptions to every rule. Nevertheless, the list is worth checking out.
The top 10 happiest jobs:
- Physical therapist
- Special education teacher
- Financial services sales agent
- Operating engineer
Many of these jobs are perhaps most enjoyable because they involve helping others. Other occupations to make the list, like author and artist, often allow individuals to express themselves and sometimes even make their own hours.
Curious about the 10 most hated jobs? Electronics technician, marketing manager and law clerk made the list. See all of them at www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2011/08/11/think-your-job-is-bad-try-one-of-these.
Whether you love your job or are looking for a change of pace, it’s always interesting to see how others rate their happiness at work. Enjoy “10 Happiest Jobs” in pictures at www.forbes.com/pictures/egee45hfif/clergy. | <urn:uuid:b8765f34-eb81-4529-b4bd-085be76970fe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.imakenews.com/eletra/mod_print_view.cfm?this_id=2375776&u=stonehamford&show_issue_date=F&issue_id=000581352&lid=b11&uid=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931865 | 250 | 1.671875 | 2 |
The Conservatory revoation project continues
The Conservatory renovation project has begun to take shape, and last week we took some photos. Check them out!
Conservatory at Birmingham Botanical Gardens to undergo $1.4 million renovation project
In 2013, one of Birmingham’s most iconic sights will undergo a $1.4 million renovation project, allowing the Conservatory at Birmingham Botanical Gardens to open to the public for the first time since April of 2011. Originally opened in December of 1963 and designed by the now defunct Lord & Burnham firm, the building has become a rare piece of architecture as many similar structures across the nation have since been razed. Though safety concerns about the building’s glass ceiling forced its closure, the structure remains sturdy and especially worthy of preservation as one of the last of its kind.
This project, Phase I of a series envisioned in The Gardens’ master plan, will begin in earnest in May, after the season’s final frost. This phase will include stripping the old glass and cleaning the structure, upgrading base electrical distribution and automating ventilation sashes, repairing interior partition walls and replacing doors, remediating asbestos and lead, re-glazing with safety glass, restoring the original entrance appearance and installing an internal mylar shade blanket and insulation system. Its completion will allow the Conservatory to open for public use for the first time in two years. September is the targeted date for completion, in time for the new school year’s return of Discovery Field Trips, The Gardens’ award-winning, curriculum-based educational programs which have provided a free science education to nearly 100,000 Birmingham children over the last decade. Phase I does not include new exhibits, and some old exhibits have been removed from the Conservatory in order to facilitate the project.
The Pennington Group, Inc. has been awarded the project. Based in Birmingham, The Pennington Group, Inc. is a commercial contractor offering a full range of construction services, registered and licensed in the state of Alabama. The Pennington Group, Inc. has developed a firm foundation for commercial construction and is often selected as the contractor for interior renovation, rebuilding, demolition and build-out projects. The City of Birmingham funded $115,000 for the design and engineering performed by Montgomery Smith, Inc. in 2012; principle Jim Smith has been retained for construction administration Phase I. The City also supplied in-kind services to shepherd this project through the design and bidding process.
The $1.4 million Conservatory Improvement Project, Phase I, was made possible through the generous donations of: The Lucille S. Beeson Charitable Trust, The Brooke Family Foundation, City of Birmingham, Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, Lyndra and Bill Daniel, The Daniel Foundation of Alabama, Lorol Roden Bowron Rediker Rucker Foundation and two anonymous donors. Additional funding was provided by The Butrus Family Advised Fund at Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham and The Holly Oak Garden Club.
This project is just Phase I of a lengthy plan to maximize the potential of The Gardens’ Conservatory. While it will conclude with the facility being open for Discovery Field Trips, long-term plans envision an even brighter future:
Phase II: addition of indoor exhibits
Phase III: addition of horticulture office and maintenance building
Phase IV: addition of conservatory buildings, concert stage and conservatory terraces
Phase V: addition of new potting shed and production greenhouses
Phase VI: addition of activities building and public restrooms, Persian Garden, expanded Bruno Vegetable Garden, Herb Terrace and Carver crops
We’re eager to see one of the Magic City’s landmarks evolve over the coming years! Come see us grow at Birmingham Botanical Gardens! | <urn:uuid:72fadbcf-ddba-47f3-a62a-a2aac70e3289> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.bbgardens.org/?tag=conservatory | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93387 | 771 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Former prime minister Kevin Rudd says the international community should consider arming Syrian rebels in a bid to end its bloody civil war.
But the Gillard Government flatly rejected the idea that Australia might help supply the weapons and said it was only willing to provide medical aid to the war's victims.
Mr Rudd's comments come before the British defence and foreign secretaries meet Defence Minister Stephen Smith and Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr in Perth this week for talks on Syria, Iran and regional security.
Mr Rudd, who has previously called for stronger action against the Syrian regime, said the world should "deploy all available options" to save lives.
"If that means relevant states with the capacity to provide arms to the Syrian national coalition to protect themselves, then so be it," Mr Rudd said.
Last week, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he would lobby the European Union to lift an arms embargo on Syria, which could open the way for Britain to provide weapons to Syrian rebels.
"Syria is well past the point of being a humanitarian crisis, it is on the road to becoming a crime against humanity," Mr Rudd said.
Mr Rudd said the world intervened in Libya in 2011 when only 2000 people had been killed, yet the United Nations believed more than 60,000 had died so far in Syria.
Mr Hague and Defence Secretary Philip Hammond will be in Perth for the important so-called AUKMIN talks on Friday.
The talks, held annually in Britain or Australia, are likely to prompt a security crackdown in Perth, though more discreet than when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited late last year.
A spokesman for Senator Carr confirmed Syria would be on the agenda but said Australia was not considering military aid to rebels.
"Our immediate priority is our medical plan, to secure safe hospital access and safe passage for medical workers inside Syria," he said.
Perth has become a hub for major foreign policy events. In 2011, world leaders visited for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and Mrs Clinton and former US defence secretary Leon Panetta were in Perth in November.
The AUKMIN meetings are expected to take place at the State Reception Centre in Kings Park.'Syria is well past the point of being a humanitarian crisis.' " Former prime minister *Kevin Rudd *
'The West Australian' is a trademark of West Australian Newspapers Limited 2013.
All rights reserved.
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What the Pope Learned From His Favorite Composer
BY FATHER ANDREAS KRAMARZ, LC
September 23-29, 2007 Issue | Posted 9/18/07 at 1:44 PM
Austria’s president honored Pope Benedict on the final day of his visit to the “Alp Republic” Sept. 9 with Mozart music in the Vienna Concert House. After the music, the Holy Father met with Church and civil volunteers in order to honor their service.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in the Austrian city of Salzburg in 1756, but that’s not why his music was played for the Pope. In fact, there have hardly been any cultural events that Pope Benedict has attended in which a piece of Mozart has not been performed.
That’s because it is well known that Mozart is the Pope’s favorite composer.
Consider what Pope Benedict contributed last year to a book collecting 58 testimonies for the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth:
“When in our home parish of Traunstein on feast days a Mass by Mozart resounded, for me, a little country boy, it seemed as if heaven stood open. In the front, in the sanctuary, columns of incense had formed in which the sunlight was broken; at the altar the sacred action took place of which we knew that heaven opened for us. And from the choir sounded music that could only come from heaven; music in which was revealed to us the jubilation of the angels over the beauty of God. …
“I have to say that something like this happens to me still when I listen to Mozart. Mozart is pure inspiration — or at least I feel it so. Each tone is correct and could not be different. The message is simply present. …
“The joy that Mozart gives us, and I feel this anew in every encounter with him, is not due to the omission of a part of reality; it is an expression of a higher perception of the whole, something I can only call inspiration out of which his compositions seem to flow naturally.”
Music for the Pope is much more than mere entertainment. He possesses a profound sense of aesthetics.
Influenced by the great theological aesthete Hans Urs von Balthasar, in many of his essays the Holy Father has reflected upon the importance of beauty and harmony for the faith and, especially, for expressing faith in liturgy.
“The encounter with the beautiful can become the wound of the arrow that strikes the heart and in this way opens our eyes, so that later, from this experience, we take the criteria for judgment and can correctly evaluate the arguments,” he wrote in August 2002 in a remarkable message, dedicated to the “contemplation of beauty” and directed to a meeting of the Communion and Liberation Movement in Rimini, Italy.
In the same text, he recalls an experience he had after listening to a Bach concert conducted in Munich by Leonard Bernstein.
After the last tone had faded away, he looked spontaneously at the person next to him “and right then we said: ‘Anyone who has heard this knows that the faith is true.’ The music had such an extraordinary force of reality that we realized, no longer by deduction, but by the impact on our hearts, that it could not have originated from nothingness, but could only have come to be through the power of the Truth that became real in the composer’s inspiration.”
Since his childhood, the Holy Father had learned to appreciate music that “had a bigger and bigger role in our family life,” as he recounts in the 1997 book-length interview “Salt of the Earth.”
For 30 years, Msgr. Georg Ratzinger, the Pope’s brother, was the director of Regensburger Domspatzen (The Cathedral Sparrows of Regensburg), perhaps Germany’s most prestigious boys choir. And even as Pope Benedict, Joseph Ratzinger continues to play the piano in some free moments he may find in the midst of his heavy workload.
Before he became Pope, Cardinal Ratzinger wrote that he remembers that Traunstein, where he spent most of his youth, “very much reflects the influence of Salzburg. You might say that there Mozart thoroughly penetrated our souls, and his music still touches me profoundly, because it is so luminous and yet at the same time so deep. His music is by no means just entertainment; it contains the whole tragedy of human existence.”
Pope Benedict’s sensitivity for the beauty in music and art as much as his particular affection for Mozart’s style may well be one of the explanations not only of his well-rounded style, but also of the intellectual architecture of his theological writings, which are characterized by a high degree of perfection, with a rare combination of simplicity, clarity, depth, and both logical and persuasive power.
That’s why Cologne Cardinal Joachim Meisner calls Pope Benedict the “Mozart of Theology.” Cardinal Meisner developed this further in a homily that he gave on the occasion of the Pope’s 80th birthday in St. Hedwig’s Cathedral in Berlin:
“Pope Benedict XVI has the gift of pointing out to people the sanctifying message of the Gospel in its beauty, fascination and harmony, so much so that he is called the ‘Mozart among the theologians.’ His theology is not only true and good, it is also beautiful. His words sound like music in the ears and hearts of people. He manages masterfully to transform the notes of the Gospel into thrilling music. That’s why the stream of pilgrims that flock to his audiences is growing every month.”
The Pope’s appreciation for beauty is by no means blind optimism.
In fact, the Holy Father has remarked that the “wounds of humanity” don’t justify a flight into irrational aestheticism, closing our eyes before the often difficult reality of life. In his 2002 reflection he said that Christ is recognized by the Church both as the “fairest of men” (see Psalm 45:3) and the disfigured one, during his passion:
“Whoever believes in God, in the God who manifested himself, precisely in the altered appearance of Christ crucified as love ‘to the end’ (John 13:1), knows that beauty is truth and truth beauty; but in the suffering Christ he also learns that the beauty of truth also embraces offense, pain, and even the dark mystery of death, and that this can only be found in accepting suffering, not in ignoring it.”
And he continues: “The icon of the crucified Christ, however … imposes a condition: that we let ourselves be wounded by him, and that we believe in the Love who can risk setting aside his external beauty to proclaim, in this way, the truth of the beautiful.”
So it is that the Holy Father’s words in praise of the volunteers in the concert hall on Sept. 9 could just as well be applied to the music that preceded it: “The value of human beings cannot be judged by purely economic criteria. Without volunteers, then, no state can be built up.”
And not without music, either.
Legionary Father Andreas Kramarz is a professor and music director at the Legionaries’ Novitiate and College of Humanities in Cheshire, Connecticut.
Copyright © 2013 EWTN News, Inc. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:8f1f6b2b-c4da-4534-bb5e-79aef2b35124> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ncregister.com/site/print_article/4606/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970005 | 1,594 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Father John A. Hardon, S.J. Archives
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A Eucharistic Retreat
Imitating Christs Charity in the Real Presence
by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.
In this Eucharistic Retreat, we have already reflected on the love of Christ in the Real Presence from two perspectives: the manifestation of Christs divine love in instituting the Blessed Sacrament and the profession of our love for Him in our adoration of the Holy Eucharist. Our purpose in this meditation is more distinctive. We will look at our imitation of Christs charity in the Real Presence.
What do we wish to see? We want to see what is not only distinctive but unique in Christ' practice of charity in the Real Presence we are privileged to imitate. Following the lead of the great saintly devotees of the Holy Eucharist, we will see the charity of Christ in the Real Presence is patient to a divine degree. We will ask two questions in this conference: how does Christ practice patient charity in the Real Presence and how are we to imitate His patient charity in our own lives?
Patient charity in the Real Presence
Charity is not just love, it is supernatural love. It is supernatural several times over: Charity is Love Incarnate. God who is Love became man to reveal to a selfish human race this divine love. Without Christ, we might still use the word charity. But unless God had become man in the person of the Incarnate Jesus Christ, the depth of meaning of what charity is would never be known to the human race. Love had to become Incarnate to make charity even conceivable.
Charity is the love we cannot begin to practice except through the illumination and inspiration of grace which comes from God. Charity is supernatural love which only God in human form can practice or which those whom the Incarnate God gives the light and strength to practice.
Patient charity may also be called mercy. As we have discussed in a previous meditation, mercy is love which suffers and endures. Certainly, Christ practiced mercy when He instituted the Blessed Sacrament. In fact, the Holy Eucharist cost Our Lord the shedding of His blood on Calvary as He said at the Last Supper. This is my Body which will be given up for you. And This is my Blood which will be shed for you. Notice that the body given up for you and the shedding of Christs blood was necessary for the Eucharist even to come into existence. But our concentration here is on Christs practice of mercy as patient charity in the Real Presence.
We must note that this patient charity in the Real Presence is a distinctive kind of mercy. It is not only that Christ paid (past tense) dearly to institute the Holy Eucharist. We may also say He is presently paying dearly in the Real Presence in the Eucharist. How so? In many ways, but in none more evidently than in the neglect of His presence on earth by so many of the human race, and not only those who have never had the Gospel preached to them. Christs patient charity is seen in the fact that after almost 2,000 years, the human race does not even believe Hes on earth.
Once more I will quote from the great apostle of the Real Presence, St. Peter Julian Eymard, who paid so dearly during his own lifetime for telling people, in his own words, The Most Blessed Sacrament is not loved.
Alas, it is but too true: Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament is not loved!
He is not loved by millions of pagans, by millions of infidels, by the millions of schismatics and heretics who either dont know anything of the Eucharist or have no notions about it.
Among so many thousands of creatures in whom God has placed a heart capable of loving, how many would love the Blessed Sacrament if only they knew it as I do!
Must I not at least try to love it for them in their stead?
Even among Catholics, few, very few love Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament. How many think of Him frequently, speak of Him, come to adore Him ?
What is the reason for this forgetfulness and coldness? Oh! They have never experienced the Eucharist, its sweetness, the delights of His love.
They have never known the goodness of Jesus!
They have no idea of the extent of His love in the Most Blessed Sacrament.
Some of them have faith in Jesus Christ, but a faith so lifeless and superficial that it does not reach the heart, that it contents itself with what is strictly required by conscience for their salvation. And besides these last are but a handful among so many other Catholics who live like moral Pagans as if they had never heard of the Eucharist.
From all biographical accounts, Peter Eymard was a very gently man, but these are hard hitting words! You do not talk this way and get away with it. Peter Eymard was plagued with opposition from his own clergy for the outrageous criticism, which, as we know, was animated by his deep love of Our Lord in the Eucharist. There is no one so courageous, so absolutely fearless as the one who is in love to defend what the one loves. Yet this is the kind of language Catholics need desperately to hear today. Why? Because in so many parts of the Catholic world, the Real Presence in the Eucharist is paid little attention to, ignored, treated as though it did not exist, being demeaned and even denied. Someone, somewhere better have the courage of a Julian Eymard and speak up to defend it to defend Divine Love who became man and is in our presence in the Holy Eucharist!
The least we can do is try to make up, call it expiate, for the widespread neglect of Christs presence in a world which does not even recognize that God became Incarnate and less still that this Incarnate God is on earth in every Catholic Church and Chapel of the universe. So how does Christ practice patient charity in the Real Presence? I hope Peter Eymard helped answer our first question. We all know that there is nothing on earth more painful than love given and not returned.
Imitating Christs Patient Charity
We come now to what is our principle reason for this meditation. How are we to imitate Christs patient charity made manifest in the Holy Eucharist in our daily lives? Let us begin this reflection by quoting from the Collect at Mass, which scholars say dates back to the ninth century. The prayer reads:
O God, who by the patience of Thine only begotten Son didst Thou crush the pride of the ancient enemy. Grant us, we beseech Thee, to have a worthy recollection of the things which He devoutly endured on our behalf and thus, by His example, patiently to bear our adversities.
Thats the spirit with which we are to examine Christs patient charity. Note that we are to imitate His patient charity not only as He practiced it in Palestine, but as He practices it now under the sacramental veils.
To realistically come to grips with this crucial element in our following Christ, we must first ask: what is Christian patience? Patience in general is a form of the moral virtue of fortitude (also know as courage). Patience enables one to endure present evils without sadness or resentment in conformity with the will of God. But Christian patience is far more. Indeed, Christian patience includes the fortitude in bearing present evils without sadness or resentment, but not only in conformity with the will of God, but in the imitation of the Son of God who became man to teach us by word and example how to endure suffering and pain out of love of God. This is much more than generic patience! Christian patience is the imitation of Christs patience for a definite purpose. Whats the purpose? The salvation and sanctification of souls. What are we saying? We are saying that in Gods mysterious providence, it is mainly by our patient charity with others that we cooperate with Christ the Redeemer as channels of His grace. Patient people are apostolic people; nobody else is. That is why Christ places people into our lives who cause us pain. Remember, patience comes from the Latin patientia, which is simply the noun for the verb pati, which means to suffer. You can talk about patience, write about it, give lectures on it, but you dont have any patience unless you have some pain. So Lord, how about some pain!
Here we touch the rock bottom of our Christian faith. We are saying that God providentially places painful people into our lives. Let us say He provides such people in our lives, and these people cause us suffering, irritation or discomfort because of their neglect, oversight, indifference or even just by not realizing were here. Remember, we cannot comprehend the mysteries of our faith. We can only begin to see the divinely ordained reason for this from Christs passion and death on the cross and His divinely permitted practice of patience in the Holy Eucharist. There is a divine logic in the practice of patience:
The first level is to bear difficulties, especially those caused by others. And we should do so without interior complaint. Avoiding exterior complaining may be good business, but it is far from real patience. True patience bears its difficulties without interior complaining as well.
The second level is to use hardships to make progress in virtue. We all want to grow in sanctity. What Christian doesnt? But then we look at the price tag and say, Oh no! The price of sanctity is patience, and the ground of patience is pain, and the principle cause of pain is people. But we can endure our hardships and pain in order to grow in sanctity.
The third level of Christian patience is not only to patiently bear the pain others cause us without complaint because faith tells us this is the price of growing in sanctity. The highest degree of patience for which we should all pray is to actually desire the cross and the afflictions out of love of God. To accept with spiritual joy these pains and these crosses which especially come from other people. Yes, with joy! The rest of the body may be trembling and as far as the soul can shiver, I may be shivering in all my feelings. But spiritual joy is joy in the will, joy that comes from the mind and knowing that I am doing the will of God.
Why? Just as we pray while making The Way of the Cross: We adore Thee, O Christ and we praise Thee, because by thy Holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world, so we believe by joining our sufferings in patient charity with those of Christ, we are cooperating with Him in saving a sinful world. Amen.
Copyright © 1998 by Inter Mirifica
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J A N U A R Y 2 7, 2 0 1 2 - NEWS ALERT
Beach Road to Get Porous Asphalt
- First project of its kind in New York State.
- One of the most important lake-saving projects ever for Lake George.
Beach Road at the south end of the Lake is about to become even more famous. It's about to become the first heavily traveled roadway in New York State (and one of the only roads in all of the Northeast) to be paved with porous asphalt. This exciting technology allows stormwater to drain right through it and be filtered naturally by the earth below. The silt, salt and pollutants the stormwater carries will be filtered out naturally and will not go into the Lake.
Kudos to Warren County Director of Public Works, Jeff Tennyson, and the state Department of Transportation, for moving forward on this revolutionary project, one we believe will get national recognition, and will set a precedent for many like it to follow in other lakeside communities.
Beach Road has been in need of reconstruction for several years. In 2010, Warren County was planning to use traditional asphalt on the road. After attending the North County Stormwater Conference & Trade Show, and seeing several presentations on porous asphalt applications, Randy Rath, project manager at the LGA, and Dave Wick, director of Warren County Soil and Water Conservation District, encouraged the county to consider porous asphalt as an alternative to traditional asphalt. Together, Randy and Dave quickly conducted research on the possibilities and made a presentation. They knew there had been many significant improvements in the strength, durability, and production cost of porous asphalt, and thought Beach Road was a perfect fit for the new technology. In 2011, the LGA provided just over $8,000 in funding for a feasibility study with project engineer Tom Baird (Barton & Loguidice), to provide the information the county and state needed to move forward. At the same time, Dave Wick helped draft an application for additional monies to offset any higher cost from using porous asphalt. The pieces of the puzzle came together at the right time. We want to thank Jeff and the county DPW for offering us the opportunity to advance this project. We'd also like to thank Tom for his passion and expertise, and for the many hours he gave to the project.
According to today's story in the Adirondack Journal, the $6 million-plus reconstruction project will begin in mid-April, and will be completed in about 18 months. The pavement will be installed between Canada Street and Fort George Road.
Because this technology is still relatively new in the U.S., the county plans to install the infrastructure and storm drain system that would be needed with traditional asphalt, while the road is under construction. This traditional drainage system will be capped off and will only be brought online in the event that the permeable pavement fails and has to be replaced by traditional asphalt at some point in the future. So the Beach Road project will provide a true demonstration for the permeable pavement, and many people around the state and nation will be watching it to see how it works.
Stormwater runoff is the number one source of pollutants entering Lake George. The dense development at the south end of the Lake, and the many impervious surfaces created by it, increases the volume and rate of flow of stormwater. Along with the stormwater, many contaminants, such as silt, salt and harmful nutrients, are carried directly into the Lake.
Research studies and previous projects have shown that porous pavement is highly effective in draining stormwater, and as a result, it increases traction, reduces the build up of ice, and requires much less de-icing material in the winter. (See the Albany parking lot at right -- with porous asphalt in the foreground and traditional asphalt in the background.) This is all very good news for the Lake, as the amount of salt detected in the south end of the lake has doubled in just over 20 years. The University of New Hampshire Stormwater Center has conducted numerous studies showing how effective and beneficial this new technology can be.
The Beach Road project will be a great complement to the West Brook Conservation Initiative. We can't wait to show both projects off in our own backyard!
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Lake George Association, Inc.
PO Box 408
Lake George, New York 12845-0408
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Boston , MA —Despite its seeming invisibility, high blood pressure is dangerous, even deadly. Its effects can linger throughout many life activities, including sex. The October issue of the Harvard Heart Letter examines the overlooked connection between high blood pressure and a healthy sex life.
One of the biggest problems with high blood pressure is that many people who have it don't feel it. The absence of immediate symptoms makes it easy to ignore, or stop drug treatment when side effects appear. One group of these side effects—sexual problems—are a main reason people stop taking drugs that lower blood pressure. Sex-related side effects have been ascribed to virtually all classes of drugs used to control blood pressure. The October issue investigates the different types of drugs—diuretics, beta blockers, ACE inhibitors, angiotensin-receptor blockers, and calcium-channel blockers—and their effects on sexual function.
However, sexual problems aren't always the drugs' fault. High blood pressure itself can interfere with a satisfying sex life because it can change circulatory patterns in the body and damage the inner lining of arteries, both of which may decrease blood flow to the penis and vagina.
Other problems attributed to high blood pressure or drug therapy for it include: impotence and ejaculation problems in men, painful or uncomfortable intercourse, difficulty having an orgasm in women, and lack of desire in both sexes.
The October issue notes that if patients think a blood pressure drug is affecting their sex life, they should notify their doctor. Another helpful step is to make a list of all the medications a patient is taking, including herbal supplements and over-the-counter drugs, and ask a pharmacist to review it. A good pharmacist can identify drugs or drug combinations that might be contributing to sexual problems. | <urn:uuid:8d9b73c9-1d6b-474b-b4a6-9dbe0964b7b0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.health.harvard.edu/press_releases/high_blood_pressure_and_sex | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948293 | 361 | 1.804688 | 2 |
What can any of us do if we do not fully understand the scope of the problem that we are facing? If we do not realize the connections between everything monetarily and how economically they all combine to have dire effects for us, than we stand mute unable to speak the truth about what’s happening.
The Nevada debate awarded to three of the five remaining Democratic candidates for president by General Electric had one thing good come out of it: a question was asked connecting foreign money to home foreclosures. It brought forward slightly (I believe) the idea that outsourcing and offshore tax havens have had an effect on how loans are conducted in America. It also linked those evasions of American policies to the scandal going on with the subprime loan industry.
It didn’t go any further. It left Americans like me who are in the dark on the whole scope of the problem with the economy still thinking compartmentally. It left us unaware that fixing home foreclosures can only happen if you reexamine bankruptcy laws. It ignored taking a look at the credit card and banking industries, which graciously allow this mess to be wrought upon us all. It ignored hedge funds, which to tell you the truth I wish I could look my father straight in the face and explain to you how those work but despite all my research, he does not know because I cannot coherently tell him what hedge funds do.
“It’s the economy, stupid” was a fitting phrase during the 1990s and the age of Bill Clinton or Clintonomics. Now, a better phrase might be, “It’s the economy, and I’m stupid so…” And the dot dot dot or ellipses signifies a trailing of thought, a trailing that occurs because we are ashamed that we cannot fight this because we do not understand this and don’t know how to understand this.
We don’t know how to convey the scope of this problem to the American people because it is reported to the American people in fragments and connecting it all together makes everything seem like a conspiracy. Conspiracies don’t happen in America (that’s what the history books children get their education from would like us all to believe, right?).
Without being able to comprehend the scope of the problems with our economy, how can we as a nation know who does and does not out of the field of candidates understand fully the subprime loan scandal and all the other issues with our economy? When they tell us they get it, how do we figure out if they do or do not?
It's a sad thing to suggest that we are incapable of electing the right man but it's a definite possibility that America has reached a point where we truly are blind to the defects of our leaders. It's even possible we do not know what defects look like in a leader anymore.
Having watched Chairman Dennis Kucinich run Domestic Policy Subcommittee hearings on urban America and discuss the economic turmoil we are in, which directly addressed the subprime loan scandal in America, I am almost there. Having heard of hedge funds numerous times from him in speeches, I think I am getting closer. And hearing about foreign investment in Dubai having effects here that are not good, I might be just shy of connecting the dots and producing a fine exposé for you all to read.
Connecting the dots via Google or however you seek to gain your information is the best thing we can do if we seek to fix the economic problems in this country. I have the LexisNexis at my disposal since I am a college student. Combined, there is no reason I cannot know of the filthiest and dirtiest dealings in America unless the powers that be have succeeded in keeping them hidden.
But for those who do not have Internet or LexisNexis access, where do they go? We’ve uncovered the Poverty of Knowledge in America. It combines with the Poverty of Understanding and Education in America to allow for mainstream corporate media to be the only source of information we tap into. That poverty results in Americans not realizing they aren’t being told the full story or not hearing certain stories. (I also know people who are afraid of the CIA or FBI harassing them if they knew the whole truth and so they are okay with being kept in the dark.)
My uncle didn’t know a New Hampshire recount was happening when it was reported on the Internet it had been awarded to Dennis Kucinich and Albert Howard who would each be paying for it from their campaign funds. And yet, when I told him, it’s not like he made the decision to never watch cable news again and just get information from the Internet or some public access television show like Democracy Now!.
The Poverty of Knowledge and the Poverty of Understanding and Education is perhaps primarily generational but it is also financial. Those struggling to get by haven’t the time or opportunities to muckrake---to go through endless amounts of information and put the pieces together for people to think seriously about.
So, it becomes the duty of people like me and you (if you write articles and get Diggs or Reddits) to connect dots for them, write about it, and find ways to get our articles or ideas published in the mainstream corporate media.
In my connecting of the dots for others who cannot, I came across the idea that bankruptcy reform bills passed in the past seven years have brought forth this sub-prime loan scandal or made it way worse than it would have been.
I started here at a place called Impact Lab where it says “2005 Bankruptcy Law Changes Causing Subprime Loan Scandal.” I continued on to a Business Week article titled, “Bankruptcy Reform Bites Back.” Then I came across the great CommonDreams.org where an article titled “36 'Democratic' Senators Vote For Credit Card/Banking Industry's Bankruptcy 'Reform” was published six years ago. It shows that John Edwards and Hillary Clinton both voted for it along with other Democrats who sold out the American people. And then I see Citigroup was involved in Tom Daschle’s district…
…Citigroup has invested hundreds of thousands in Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. John Edwards has Citigroup invested in him but the amount has not been disclosed on WhiteHouseforSale.org.
1 | 2 | <urn:uuid:f2c85650-7b4f-470e-ba09-24ec8c59ad17> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.opednews.com/populum/page.php/opedne_kevin_go_080122_it_s_the_economy_2c_an.htm?f=opedne_kevin_go_080122_it_s_the_economy_2c_an.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963085 | 1,317 | 1.742188 | 2 |
You may perhaps be aware that you can leave part of your estate free of inheritance tax – as matters currently stand the amount concerned is £325,000.00.
There are also exemptions for gifts to charities, and subject to certain restrictions, farmland, forestry land, business assets and unquoted shares. The most important exemption, however, is for a gift to a spouse.
This means that if you leave your whole estate worth £1,000,000.00 to your wife on your death, there will be no tax payable.
Before October 2007 we used to advise testators to give as much as was possible up to the tax free limit to their children or to a discretionary trust since otherwise by leaving the estate of the first to die to the spouse, it serves to swell the spouse’s estate with a potential tax bill on their death of an additional £120,000.00.
Matters were stood on their head in October 2007 when as part of the bidding war between Gordon Brown and David Cameron by way of preparation for the election which never happened, David Cameron announced that he was planning to lift the inheritance tax threshold to £1,000,000.00 to which Gordon Brown came up with the rival offer of a carry forward of the allowance for the first to die provided that this had not otherwise been used.
Following this very significant change in the law, we cannot now recommend discretionary trusts as a tax avoidance measure though they can be useful in other circumstances, such as for an ESN child.
Our recommendation now is that on the death of the first, they should leave the whole of their estate to the survivor and if it was intended that there should be gifts to the children on the death of the first, these should be made by the survivor as lifetime gifts. The reason for this is rather complicated, and is best illustrated by an example.
Let us imagine that by a fluke a husband and wife are both each worth £500,000.00.
On the death of the husband, he leaves £200,000.00 to the children and the remaining £300,000.00 to his wife.
On the death of the wife she leaves £800,000.00 being her £500,000.00 plus £300,000.00 from her husband – most unlikely in fact that it would be this exact but let’s imagine! There is an exemption for the first £325,000.00 and the balance pays tax at 40% – 40% of £475,000.00 is £190,000.00.
The Executors realise, however, that they can claim the carry forward allowance, but this is not a full second allowance because £200,000.00 of this was used up on the gifts to the children and therefore the carry forward allowance is only £125,000.00.
You might think at first sight that there is in reality no difference in the figures and it is just a matter of timing when the children will receive that £200,000, but tax saving on leaving everything to the survivor comes about because the tax exempt allowance tends to be increased from time to time. It is currently frozen, but there have been increases in the past and if by the time the second dies the tax free allowance were to be £500,000.00, then the figures are up rated proportionately and the carry forward allowance after the gift to the children becomes £192,000.00 whereas if everything had been left to the spouse the carry forward allowance would have been £500,000.00, i.e. tax will be payable on an additional £107,000.00 and that gift to the children on the death of the first parent to die will cost on the death of the second £43,000.00 in extra inheritance tax.
Food for thought!
A possible way of avoiding this problem might be for the husband and wife to agree between themselves that on the death of the first, the second will make a gift of £200,000.00 to the children. This is inside the tax free limit for gifts (£325,000.00) and will only be taxable if the second were to die within seven years.
There would be no problems over loss of any part of the carry forward allowance.
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Return to Physics Index
Kathleen Moore O. W. Holmes
955 W. Garfield Blvd.
Chicago IL 60621
This lesson is designed for grade levels 1 - 3.
1. To understand that sound is caused by vibration.
2. To understand that sound travels through solids, liquids and gases.
3. To understand that high pitched sounds are caused by more vibrations and low
pitched sounds are caused by fewer vibrations.
plastic ruler(s), tuning forks of 2 or 3 different pitches, ping-pong ball
attached to a string with tape, boom-box-type radio, balloon filled with air,
paper plate, tiny pieces of torn paper, baggie filled with water, scissors,
several glass bottles of the same size, large container for water, styrofoam
cups, wire coat hangers, string (different types), wire cutters, pencils (with
wooden ball attached to the eraser end if possible), stopwatch, flower pots of
varying sizes attached to rope, long tubes of PVC pipe cut to different lengths
for different tones, xylophone, plastic straws, tape.
1. Ask children if anyone knows what a vibration is. Ask children to vibrate
their bodies. Write vibrate on board. Put a plastic ruler overhanging the edge
of a table; hit the ruler and watch it vibrate. Ask: "Can we see the vibration?
Can we hear the vibration? Can we feel it?" Show tuning fork; hit; listen;
touch vibrating tuning fork to ping pong ball attached to a string. Observe the
effect; ask same questions. Pass tuning forks around so children can experience
the sound and feel the vibration; note differences in pitch. Hold inflated
balloon in front of boom-box speaker with volume turned up loud. "Can you feel
the vibration? Where is it coming from?" Place small paper plate with tiny
pieces of paper on it on top of speaker. (Boombox must be turned so that
speakers are facing up.) Observe what happens to the papers. Explain that all
sounds are caused by something vibrating; sound is vibration, etc.
2. How do vibrations from tuning fork and ruler reach us as sound? The
vibrations cause waves to carry sound through the air. (You will perhaps need
to discuss waves, depending on age and experience of children.) "We know sound
travels through air. Does it travel through a solid? Put your ear on the desk.
Tap the desk. What do you hear?" Try several such examples. "Does sound
travel through a liquid?" Get children to talk about experiences they have had
such as talking underwater in the bathtub or swimming pool. Can they hear sound
under water? "Try putting a plastic baggie filled with water next to your ear.
Have another child speak loudly directly into the other side of the baggie. Can
we hear the sound through the water? Does sound travel through a solid, a
liquid, and a gas (air)? When was it the loudest?" (through the solid) "Why
do you think this may be true?" (The molecules in a solid are more tightly
packed, so the vibration can travel without being dispersed as it does in air.)
3. Show a child's xylophone or an autoharp. Strike a short bar, then a long bar
and ask children what they heard. Do the same for the lengths of PVC pipe.
(Hit the end of the pipes with the palm of your hand.) Make a kazoo out of a
plastic straw by flattening one end and cutting it into a triangular shape;
blow. As one person blows through the kazoo, another takes a scissors and snips
an inch or so off the end. Keep doing this and ask the students to notice
what's happening to the sound as the straw gets shorter. Help them relate the
shortness of length to high pitch through a variety of such experiences.
4. Now allow the children to experiment and "play" with all the materials so
that they develop strong physical understanding of vibrations in all the ways
that have been presented. Have a set of 8 identical bottles and a container of
water and have them fill the bottles with varying amounts of water. See if they
can match the scale of the bottles to that of the xylophone. Give children the
opportunity to make a string phone or wire-hanger chime. (Tie a length of
string to each end of a wire coat hanger. Put the other end of each string in
your ears, tap the hanger against something like a desk. Listen for the ringing
through the string.)
1. Children must: Arrange bottles with varying amounts of water in row
according to pitch. Explain the relationship between the amount of water and
the pitch. Tell what is vibrating. Blow across or just into the top of each
bottle and explain how the relationship between pitch and the amount of water in
the bottle changes. Hypothesize as to why this might be.
2. Make a stereo coat hanger as explained above. Tell how you might make one
with a higher pitch (shorter wire). Cut hanger with wire cutter to get
different lengths and different pitches.
3. Make a straw kazoo. Listen to its pitch. Have your partner cut off an inch
or two with a scissors while you are blowing. What happens to the sound? Cut
off another inch. What do you notice now?
4. Listen to the sound of each tuning fork. (Strike tuning fork on your shoe
then put it to your ear.) Arrange the tuning forks from highest pitch to
lowest. What do you notice about the forks when they look this way?
The shorter the tube (or straw, or xylophone key or amount of water in the
bottle) the higher the pitch. The longer the tube, the lower the pitch. Pitch,
(high and low) is caused by the frequency, or number, of vibrations per time.
More vibrations per time ("bigger" frequency) = higher pitch; fewer vibrations
per time ("smaller" frequency) = lower pitch.
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Mars Sample Return: Issues and Recommendations
samples, the life detection techniques thus developed might serve as the basis for improved technology for the robotic exploration of planetary surfaces. Samples returned from Mars would constitute an especially interesting specimen in an ongoing series of specimens analyzed by the facility, and the research carried out there would produce significant scientific results regardless of whether the martian samples contained evidence of past or present life. | <urn:uuid:42c1ade1-061b-4715-8c12-eb4b855980a2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=5563&page=33 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90718 | 122 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Is Chicken Dangerous?
- Are Color Additives Dangerous?
- Rosemary Lemon Chicken
- Gluten Free Chicken Strips
- Make Curried Chicken Salad
- Bake Gluten Free Pecan Crusted Chicken
- Chicken Science
Eating chicken can be hazardous to your health. According to a study by Consumers Union, the people behind Consumer Reports magazine, most boiler chickens sold in stores across the country are rank with salmonella or campylobacter, types of bacteria that commonly lead to food poisoning.
In fact, in their recent test of 525 fresh, whole broilers bought at supermarkets, gourmet shops, and natural food stores in 23 states – the biggest national sample and analysis published to date –- 83% of birds tested harbored one or more of these dangerous bacteria. Campylobacter was detected in 81% of the chickens and salmonella in 15%. Only 17% of all chickens were bacteria-free.
Consumer Reports has been testing chickens since 1998 and these are the lowest numbers of safe chickens to date. In 2003, for example, more than half of the birds tested came up clean of all bacteria. According to the Centers for Disease Control, campylobacter and salmonella sickened over 3.4 million Americans and killed more than 700 in 1999, the most recent year of study available. And that's when more chickens, as a whole, were healthier.
But before you head off to Whole Foods with your weekly paycheck in hand, consider this: spending more for your dinner seems to have little effect. Organic and non-organic no-antibiotic brands were tested right alongside their cheaper brethren. But overall, they were more likely to contain salmonella than were conventional chickens –- even though they cost $3 to $5 per pound, rather than $1.
So what's a person to do? To keep your family safe:
- Assume that any chicken you buy is contaminated.
- Make sure you choose well-wrapped chicken and that you store it in a plastic bag, so that it doesn't leak onto anything else in your fridge.
- Don't let raw chicken sit for more than a day or two – otherwise freeze it. Thaw it in the refrigerator or on a plate in the microwave.
- Clean anything uncooked chicken touches (the knife, the cutting board, the plate, your hands) immediately with soap and water.
And remember, hot is good. Cooking chicken to at least 165 degrees F will kill any bacteria. Whatever you do, don't put your freshly cooked meat back on the plate you brought the raw stuff out on. It may save you some dishwashing, but it's almost guaranteed to bring on a family-wide stomachache.
For more information, see www.consumerreports.org.
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- Should Your Child Be Held Back a Grade? Know Your Rights | <urn:uuid:6f1e9b92-e80e-4fdb-ab18-c2b0ae8143ef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.education.com/magazine/article/Ed_Chicken_Dangerous_2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932993 | 712 | 2.796875 | 3 |
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Proposed cattle EID rules must not follow sheep debacle, says NFU
2:55pm Friday 14th September 2012 in News
The NFU has urged European policy makers to learn from their mistakes on the law governing the electronic tagging of sheep when implementing new rules for bovine EID.
The call comes as MEPs adopted new suggested guidelines for farmers that choose to use electronic identification in cattle.
After heavy lobbying from the NFU, the MEPs backed the European Commission proposals for bovine EID to be voluntary and rejected an amendment to introduce mandatory EID ten years from now. The MEPs also accepted an amendment put forward by the NFU to acknowledge that errors while using EID technology are often outside of farmers’ control, such as faulty tags or inaccurate electronic readers, and as such shouldn’t be penalised under cross compliance rules. Charles Sercombe, NFU livestock board chairman, cautiously welcomed the MEP vote.
“The letters EID strike fear into farmers after the debacle we experienced over sheep EID. That is why we have worked in Brussels with MEPs and policy makers to learn from the mistakes on electronic sheep tagging with these proposals on bovine EID,” he said.
“It is essential that the introduction of bovine EID is voluntary to allow farmers to choose to use the technology if they are likely to see a benefit in their farm business. For those farmers that do use the technology it is equally important that they are not penalised for errors which are beyond their control.
“Given our past experiences it is slightly worrying that the MEPs have asked the Commission to review the voluntary rules on bovine in five years from now but we will continue to work in Brussels to make sure our cattle farmers do not suffer under this review.”
The MEP vote on the bovine EID regulation comes after the European Commission published proposals to amending its current regulation on the identification and registration of bovine animals in August last year. The proposals provide for the voluntary introduction of bovine electronic identification and the deletion of voluntary beef labelling provisions.
The MEP conclusions will now be passed to EU agriculture ministers to consider, before being passed back to the European Parliament for its final approval. | <urn:uuid:79daba90-d097-43a1-b04a-06ecb6d8c1e8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.smallholder.co.uk/news/9930648.Proposed_cattle_EID_rules_must_not_follow_sheep_debacle__says_NFU/?ref=nt | 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 | 0.948439 | 491 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública
Print version ISSN 1020-4989
SANTO, Augusto Hasiak. Paracoccidioidomycosis-related mortality trend, state of São Paulo, Brazil: a study using multiple causes of death. Rev Panam Salud Publica [online]. 2008, vol.23, n.5, pp. 313-324. ISSN 1020-4989. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1020-49892008000500003.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate mortality in which paracoccidioidomycosis appears on any line or part of the death certificate. METHODS: Mortality data for 1985-2005 were obtained from the multiple cause-of-death database maintained by the São Paulo State Data Analysis System (SEADE). Standardized mortality coefficients were calculated for paracoccidioidomycosis as the underlying cause-of-death and as an associated cause-of-death, as well as for the total number of times paracoccidioidomycosis was mentioned on the death certificates. RESULTS: During this 21-year period, there were 1 950 deaths related to paracoccidioidomycosis; the disease was the underlying cause-of-death in 1 164 cases (59.69%) and an associated cause-of-death in 786 (40.31%). Between 1985 and 2005 records show a 59.8% decline in the mortality coefficient due to paracoccidioidomycosis as the underlying cause and a 53.0% decline in the mortality as associated cause. The largest number of deaths occurred among men, in the older age groups, and among rural workers, with an upward trend in winter months. The main causes associated with paracoccidioidomycosis as the underlying cause-of-death were pulmonary fibrosis, chronic lower respiratory tract diseases, and pneumonias. Malignant neoplasms and AIDS were the main underlying causes when paracoccidioidomycosis was an associated cause-of-death. The decision tables had to be adapted for the automated processing of causes of death in death certificates where paracoccidioidomycosis was mentioned. CONCLUSIONS: Using the multiple cause-of-death method together with the traditional underlying cause-of-death approach provides a new angle on research aimed at broadening our understanding of the natural history of paracoccidioidomycosis.
Keywords : Paracoccidioidomycosis; multiple causes of death; mortality; acquired immunodeficiency syndrome; neoplasms; Brazil. | <urn:uuid:c83f8147-78a6-4f06-8bce-8cfd327d5ec0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S1020-49892008000500003&lng=en&nrm=iso | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.904331 | 568 | 2.234375 | 2 |
Network Management Trial
The company announced in March 2008 that it will switch to a new network management technique by the end of the year for managing bandwidth use and congestion. This new technique does not look at particular protocols or applications. Instead, it will focus on the bandwidth consumption activity of individual customers who are contributing to congestion on Comcast's network. The technique measures only aggregate bandwidth consumption, not the protocol or content being used by customers.
The first step for using this new network management technique is to run a trial of the technology in a market of Comcast High-Speed Internet customers. The trial will allow Comcast to better understand how this technique works in a "real world" setting. It will also let the company try different settings and learn from trial results in order to fine tune this new technique so Comcast can deliver the best online experience possible for all of its customers.
Comcast is currently running trials of this network management technique in the areas of Chambersburg, PA, Warrenton, VA. We recently announced an expansion of our Network Management trial to Lake City, FL and East Orange, FL and Colorado Springs, CO. | <urn:uuid:4eb048da-0e1d-4b1a-a691-57ef2703515c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://networkmanagement.comcast.net/index.php/component/content/article?id=29 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936868 | 226 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Greek police accused of using girl as human shield during Merkel protest
Fury at photos of protester being frogmarched by officers as they confronted stone-throwing mob during German chancellor's Athens visit
Greek authorities have launched an investigation into allegations that riot police used a young female protester as a human shield at a rally during the visit to Athens by German chancellor Dr Angela Merkel this week.
Witnesses said the girl, who has yet to be identified, was frogmarched in handcuffs ahead of riot police as protesters threw stones at officers.
News of the investigation came as magistrates launched a separate inquiry into a Guardian report that anti-fascist protesters, arrested after clashing with extremists from the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party, were subjected to torture by officers at the Attica General Police Directorate.
Human Rights Watch said accountability for police abuse was urgently needed.
The group said: "The scenes described by the victims are deeply shocking. No one should be treated that way by police."
The inquiry into the human- shield allegation was opened after photographs of the incident circulated on the internet.
The girl, her face daubed in white anti-tear-gas solution and with a pink rucksack on her back, is seen being escorted by riot police before being placed in front of the unit when it faces up to stone-throwing protesters.
Witnesses said she appeared to be disoriented and terrified as she was marched through Athens in handcuffs.
Foula Pharmacides took part in the demonstration outside parliament, but fled when police fired tear gas to disperse the crowds. She described terror on the girl's face.
"When the protesters started throwing things, the cop holding the girl takes her from the front of the unit to the back to face them and he starts moving her like a shield from left to right.
"The girl was falling down and he was picking her up again. She was crying and clearly terrified. I couldn't believe it.
"Everyone started screaming, 'Shame on you! Shame on you!'
"I remember there were two women next to me and they were crying, too, and screaming for the police to stop."
Another witness, Sokratis Michalopoulos, said: "I don't think I will ever forget her face. It was as if she were an object not a human being and I think she was in shock. She was definitely being used as a shield.
"Thank God photographers were there and we now have cameras on phones, otherwise people would think we were mad. No one would believe us."
As Greece descends into further chaos amid social and political tensions, accusations of police brutality are growing.
The heavy-handedness has been attributed to links between the police force and the far-right Golden Dawn, whose popularity has surged due to soaring crime and anti-immigrant hysteria.
Prominent leftist activist Panos Garganas said: "The police are angry. They're overstretched, underpaid and increasingly anti-government and radicalised - in this case to the right." | <urn:uuid:3438b8a9-3c7b-4692-a892-2c89b4aaa710> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1059711/greek-police-accused-using-girl-human-shield-during-merkel-protest | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98564 | 623 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Normal sleep, healthy ageing linked: StudyJune 12th, 2008 - 1:46 pm ICT by IANS
Washington, June 12 (IANS) Normal sleep and healthy ageing are related, according to a study based on an analysis of the sleeping patterns of 2,226 women of over 60 years. The study, by University of California researchers, monitored sleeping aids, daytime somnolence, napping and snoring to come to its conclusion.
It found that 20.8 percent of the women who were categorised as “successful agers” were also “good sleepers”.
“Our findings reinforce the idea that good sleep is of utmost importance for good health,” said Sonia Ancoli-Israel, who led the study.
Unfortunately, the study found, many older adults often get less sleep than they need. One reason is that they often have more trouble falling asleep.
The study also looked at adults over 65 and found that 13 percent of men and 36 percent of women take more than 30 minutes to fall asleep.
Also, older people often sleep less deeply and wake up more often through the night, which may be why they nap more during the day.
Night-time sleep schedules may change with age too, the study found. Many older adults tend to get sleepier earlier in the evening and awaken earlier in the morning.
Not sleeping well can lead to a number of problems, including depression, attention and memory problems, excessive daytime sleepiness, more nightly falls and overuse of sleep aids.
Other recent studies have linked lack of sleep with serious health problems such as an increased risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
While most people require seven to eight hours of sleep a night to perform optimally the next day, older adults might find it harder to obtain the sleep they need.
The findings of the study were presented Wednesday at SLEEP 2008, the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.
Tags: california researchers, cardiovascular disease, daytime sleepiness, eight hours, excessive daytime, good health, good sleep, lack of sleep, memory problems, night time, older adults, professional sleep societies, risk of obesity, serious health, sleep aids, sleepers, sleeping aids, somnolence, sonia ancoli israel, utmost importance | <urn:uuid:eedaf755-2b0a-478f-9143-41858d631915> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/normal-sleep-healthy-ageing-linked-study_10059258.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96108 | 481 | 2.875 | 3 |
Posted in Answers on January 17th, 2012 by Reagan
Tags: answers, cutting, Razor cuts, Reagan's Hair Dictionary, Shelfed, styling
I have a few clients who literally have half curly/half straight hair. Meaning, the hair that grows from their crown is straight, and the hair that grows underneath is curly (or the other way around)…two completely different textures. It creates a problem with cutting and daily styling. After getting an email from a girl with this type of hair, I thought it would be a good idea to post about it here! She and the girls I know can’t be the only bi-texturals!
This can be caused by damage, or nothing at all! I know some people who after doing the Keratin treatment a few times experienced entire straight sections, I know people whose hair was damaged from bleach and lost wave, but I also know people with perfectly healthy/virgin hair that just likes to do its own crazy wonky thing! Silly hair!
First thing, make sure you find the right hair cut. This is very important. The first time I saw a girl with straight underneath and curly on top, I thought she had been given the most uneven haircut ever. It turned out it wasn’t uneven, it was just cut wet. Once the hair dried into it’s natural state, the curly hair shrunk up, leaving a huge gap inbetween the length and the layers. She had been unintentionally *shelfed! I undercut the length on this particular girl to make sure she is never shelfed again. So, make sure you explain very well to your stylist how your hair behaves naturally. Have a real discussion about how the hair cut may fix it (or at least enhance it). For example, using a razor to cut internal layers on the straight portion can encourage wave!
For styling, unfortunately you can’t just go natural (unless you like the bi-textural look). My suggestion is to use a curling iron to blend the straight parts with the curly parts. You don’t have to do every section, just the most troubled! Curl a few pieces from the curly section as well to blend those with the straighties. So it doesn’t look like the photo of me below!
1. A situation where a hairstylist has intentionally or unintentionally created a severely chunky layer not coordinating with the client’s length, simulating a shelf.
2. A person(s) who became victim to a stylist whose refusal to blend heavy layers ends up in an incredibly shelfy and unmanageable hairstyle.
“Have you seen Lisa’s new haircut? She’s been shelfed!” | <urn:uuid:fa25df38-77de-4edf-942f-6913dee6afe5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hdofblog.com/tag/reagans-hair-dictionary/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959928 | 567 | 1.625 | 2 |
By Tom Fitzpatrick
Active power control management for low-power designs has become a hot topic, especially with the latest update to the Unified Power Format standard.
Version 2.1 was approved by IEEE on March 6, 2013. UPF gives the ability to specify power control for different parts of a design, separate from the RTL itself. The advent of low-power design has greatly increased the complexity of functional verification, requiring the verification team not only to verify a design’s functionality, but to do so under various power conditions. A number of EDA tools are available to help with the task of verifying power control functionality.
First, let’s briefly review what’s involved in low-power design. Smaller geometries require additional active power control techniques beyond clock gating. Often the design is partitioned into power domains, whose states are controlled by power controllers. All power domains can be in an On state, in which power to the domain is switched on; some power domains can also be in an Off state, in which power to the domain is switched off. Some domains may have additional states, such as Sleep states, in which power is maintained to some extent to preserve state, but configured to minimize leakage. Changing the state of a domain requires a sequence of control signals (clock gate, isolation, retention, power gate, etc.). Each power state of the overall system corresponds to a particular combination of domain power states. Thus, changing from one system-level power state to another may require several changes in states of individual domains (see Figure 1). From a verification standpoint, it then becomes necessary to verify that the power controller can correctly manipulate the individual power domains and correctly move from one system-level state to another. As the design progresses, several methods can be employed to verify the power control.
For each domain, there is a set of power supply signals (VSS, VDD, etc.) as well as power switches that are controlled by the outputs of a finite-state machine (FSM). The FSM inputs are either driven as inputs to the block or as bits in a power control register (PCR). In either event, the FSM itself must go through several transitions in order to generate the proper sequence of control signals required to effect each state transition for a given power domain (see Figure 2).
One way to organize the control would be to have a system-level FSM that can directly control all of the domains. A more scalable solution is for each IP block to have its own local power control FSM for its domains, usually requiring a system-level FSM to interact with each local FSM. In verifying the FSM, the first step is to use automatic formal analysis to ensure that all states can be reached and to perform other safety-related checks. To ensure correctness of the FSM, assertions can be written about the correct behavior of the control signals (see Figure 3), as well as for the correct sequencing of multiple domain states as the system transitions from one power state to another. These assertions can then be verified formally or in simulation.
This analysis is a good first step in verifying that the power control subsystem itself is self-consistent and meets the requirements for each specific domain. However, we still need to verify the overall behavior of the system. The need to verify the overall behavior of the system leads to higher-level tests to ensure that each power domain behaves correctly in the system when given the correct control sequences. So how do we model those control sequences?
In most SoC designs, power states are actually controlled by software running on the processor that writes to the PCR of each block (or set of blocks). If we’re trying to verify correct behavior earlier in the process, say at the block level, we can use a UVM testbench to model the power control for verification purposes. Whether the power in the block is controlled by input signals or via registers, UVM allows us to mimic the system-level behaviors to control the domain’s power state transitions.
If the power signals are driven as block-level inputs, then the power control signals can be thought of as another interface to the block. In such a case, the power control signals can be driven according to the required protocol by a UVM agent that receives power control transactions from a power control sequence. For multiple domains, each can have its own power-control agent to drive its particular protocol. Transaction layering can create a system-level sequence that can execute lower-level power control transactions on each domain to cause system-level power state transitions.
Power control inputs to a block can be thought of as another interface to the block—the power control interface. The UVM testbench will employ the register layer to allow the PCR to be accessed as any other register in the block to accomplish the power state transition. This method is recommended because it allows power control transactions (which are now just a specific type of register access) to be interleaved with other normal data transactions to the block. This gets us much closer to our goal of verifying that the system performs properly as we integrate the power state transitions into the overall behavior of the system.
Note that in either of the two cases described above, the UVM testbench simply controls the power state transitions as it would any other functionality. It is not necessary, and in fact counterproductive, to attempt to manage the power state transitions through the use of the run-time phasing mechanism in UVM. The only run-time phase that is required is the run_phase. This is because it is particularly important to verify that any domain can be powered down or up while other domains are continuing to run normally. Using run-time phasing to model the power states will result either in incomplete verification, or in a hopelessly complex phase schedule and related infrastructure.
Once you are ready to assemble your SoC, you can easily move the UVM sequence-based power control to that level as well. If your processor model isn’t yet available, or if you choose not to include it for initial integration testing, you can simply use a UVM agent as the master on your bus/fabric, and have it issue PCR commands to the different domains as necessary. When you ultimately include your SoC, these sequences will be replaced by actual software instructions executed by the CPU. This transition is best handled if we can have a way of expressing the commands at a higher level of abstraction than simple UVM sequences. Mentor’s tool enabling such abstraction is Questa inFact, which models the power control along with other CPU-driven traffic as a series of concise graphs that are mapped to UVM sequences or to actual software commands for the CPU. Questa inFact’s software-driven verification capability allows the graphs to communicate to ensure maximum coverage in minimum execution time to verify all power states along with all functionality, including the software’s ability to interact with external stimuli provided to the peripherals in the SoC model. Of course, the ultimate test is to run actual application-level software, including drivers and operating system, on the SoC model, and this requires the model to execute in an emulator. Mentor’s Veloce TBX emulator lets you keep your testbench infrastructure while executing your model in the emulator, allowing orders of magnitude faster simulation to model actual software execution, without sacrificing debug or coverage analysis capabilities.
Any of the techniques I’ve described here will help you get a better handle on the verification of your low-power design, but the important thing is to realize that you will have to adjust your thinking a little bit to account for the additional complexity.
—Tom Fitzpatrick is a verification evangelist at Mentor Graphics. | <urn:uuid:6a1ceae1-b8e1-4ae9-b5b0-9a8810517b50> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lp-hp.com/mentor/2013/03/14/best-practices/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931185 | 1,583 | 2.5625 | 3 |
SIDS and Other Sleep-Related Infant Deaths: Expansion of Recommendations for a Safe Infant Sleeping Environment
- Task Force on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
Despite a major decrease in the incidence of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) since the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released its recommendation in 1992 that infants be placed for sleep in a nonprone position, this decline has plateaued in recent years. Concurrently, other causes of sudden unexpected infant death that occur during sleep (sleep-related deaths), including suffocation, asphyxia, and entrapment, and ill-defined or unspecified causes of death have increased in incidence, particularly since the AAP published its last statement on SIDS in 2005. It has become increasingly important to address these other causes of sleep-related infant death. Many of the modifiable and nonmodifiable risk factors for SIDS and suffocation are strikingly similar. The AAP, therefore, is expanding its recommendations from focusing only on SIDS to focusing on a safe sleep environment that can reduce the risk of all sleep-related infant deaths, including SIDS. The recommendations described in this policy statement include supine positioning, use of a firm sleep surface, breastfeeding, room-sharing without bed-sharing, routine immunizations, consideration of using a pacifier, and avoidance of soft bedding, overheating, and exposure to tobacco smoke, alcohol, and illicit drugs. The rationale for these recommendations is discussed in detail in the accompanying “Technical Report—SIDS and Other Sleep-Related Infant Deaths: Expansion of Recommendations for a Safe Infant Sleeping Environment,” which is included in this issue of Pediatrics (www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/full/128/5/e1341).
- sudden infant death
- infant mortality
- sleep position
- sleep surface
- Copyright © 2011 by the American Academy of Pediatrics | <urn:uuid:8f37f7ba-7f8c-40d0-9700-d7b86f7cbb4e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/128/5/1030.abstract?rss=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924691 | 387 | 2.984375 | 3 |
“I don’t write for children. I write — and somebody says, ‘That’s for children!’”
The world is a little dimmer this week at the news that Maurice Sendak has died at the age of 83, he who gave us such cultural treasures as Where The Wild Things Are and such hidden gems as these little-known Velveteen Rabbit illustrations. It is perhaps some kind of cosmic joke that this week also marks the release of Stephen Colbert’s first children’s book, I Am A Pole (And So Can You!), which features possibly the best book blurb of all time, by none other than Sendak himself:
The sad thing is, I like it.
In this two-part interview titled Grim Colberty Tales with Maurice Sendak, recorded in January 2012, Sendak makes his last known video appearance and banters with Colbert, lucid and wryly witty as ever, about everything from the state of children’s literature today to the free market to being gay.
COLBERT: Why do you write for children?
SENDAK: I don’t write for children. I write — and somebody says, ‘That’s for children!’ I didn’t set out to make children happy or make life better for them, or easier for them.
COLBERT: Do you like them?
SENDAK: I like them as few and far between as I do adults — maybe a bit more, because I really don’t like adults at all.
In the second part, Colbert reads from I Am A Pole (And So Can You!) and gets a drawing lesson from Sendak.
COLBERT: What does it take for a celebrity to make a successful (children’s) book, what do I gotta do?
SENDAK: You’ve started already by being an idiot. That is the very first demand.
Top photo via MSNBC | <urn:uuid:2663743d-d3ef-4a10-b888-9f5f2b2bef3f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/05/09/grim-colberty-tales-maurice-sendak/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961938 | 419 | 1.554688 | 2 |
When global warming enters the realm of politics, the conversation usually focuses on a few “solutions” — a bill capping carbon dioxide, “clean coal,” a climate treaty (you’ve read a lot here on “clean coal”; a lot more on treaties is coming shortly).
Joe Romm, an energy specialist, climate campaigner and blogger (and someone who has taken issue with my characterization of the climate challenge), has been trying to lay out the hard reality of what it would really take to cut carbon dioxide emissions as humanity grows and continues trying to prosper. After James E. Hansen of NASA posted his latest prescription for energy policies to limit climate risks, Mr. Romm posted an open letter to Dr. Hansen saying why he feels the NASA climate scientist has the science right, but the energy strategy wrong.
Among other points, Mr. Romm says the “fourth generation” form of nuclear power discussed by Dr. Hansen has no greater potential benefits than other technologies (solar-thermal power plants, for example) that were not mentioned but that could be deployed at large scale much more quickly.
He also rejects Dr. Hansen’s push for a tax instead of a cap to drive down emissions of greenhouse gases, but at the same time acknowledges that cap-and-trade legislation limiting emissions — widely portrayed by politicians as the prime point of debate — is not Step 1, but part of a long-term strategy. Keep that in mind as the Congressional debate begins.
There’s a lot more in Mr. Romm’s Sunday post and the string of earlier pieces he links to. Here’s a follow-up e-chat I had with him last night to amplify on a few points. My four questions are followed by his answers.
1. You seem to say that if folks change the message (better journalism; better, more informed leaders), the public will then buy the higher costs and changes that are now politically untenable. Do you really believe that or am I misreading?
2. As I wrote in 2006 (“Yelling Fire on a Hot Planet“) problems that get people’s attention (and cause them to change) are “soon, salient and certain” and the dangerous aspects of human-forced climate disruption remain none of those things. The factors that matter most to society are the least certain, like the overall sensitivity of climate to rising CO2, the rate of sea level rise by 2100, even as the long-term picture remains clear (as I’ve written for ages). As Sir Nicholas Stern put it, “The sting is in the tail.” Gary Yohe at Yale says uncertainty, not what is known, is the reason to act. Is your own definition of urgency a function of what’s known, or what’s possible?
3. You call global warming urgent and call Barack Obama’s climate plan “extraordinary.” (By the way, when you predict conservatives will torpedo it, are you including Democrats from fossil states?) But with Mr. Obama’s much-repeated $15 billion per year for advanced clean energy contingent on cap-and-trade auction revenues that may not come for years, do you see that as conveying adequate urgency?
4. Can you point me to your best explanation for how a politically feasible cap-and-trade bill — even one crafted by a relatively climate-friendly Congress — will have any impact at all on emissions sufficient for the atmosphere to notice by midcentury or so? (This is particularly important given that the financial mess may have reduced taxpayers’ confidence in any trading system involving billions of dollars and something as hard to weigh as tons of carbon dioxide.)
From Joe Romm:
On the science If people understood what Hansen has been explaining, what the IPCC report says if you read it closely, what climate scientists say off the record, what I try to cull together from the literature, they would understand that we can’t go above 450 p.p.m. [parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere], because that will almost certainly take us across thresholds that shoot to 750 to 1000 p.p.m. — and that is 5°C+ warming, and that is an ice-free planet. You and I have talked about this briefly sometimes. In particular, if carbon in the tundra and the peatlands start to go in a serious fashion, especially as methane, then it is game over.
On scientists a) Few understand energy, so they only understand one half of the grim equation. Only people like Hansen, who have taken the time to educate themselves on energy understand how dire things really are. b) They refuse to internalize the fact that the world isn’t listening to them, so they keep running all these models of 450 p.p.m. and 550 p.p.m. and 650 p.p.m. that create this absurdly false range of future impacts. And this leaves policy makers with the notion that scientists don’t know with precision what’s going to happen.
There isn’t any uncertainty about what happens if we keep doing nothing or very little. The people who are peddling the uncertainty myth are internalizing the notion that politicians are going to start deploying multiple wedges starting almost immediately. ["Wedges" comes from an assessment by two Princeton scientists of ways to get big CO2 emission reductions from particular sectors, like transportation and efficiency (see our 2006 graphic explaining some emission wedges). Mr. Romm's posts provide good background on this thought experiment.]
This may well be my biggest disagreement with you. You understand this but you don’t convey this to your readers: Doing nothing or doing little eliminates the uncertainty.
On what drives action and what kind of leaders we need This post [on lessons from the financial bailout] lays out my thinking:
Multi-hundred-billion-dollar-sized government action happens only when there is a very, very big crisis…. A necessary, but not sufficient, condition for a crisis to be “very, very big” is that it must be labeled as such by very serious people who are perceived as essentially nonpartisan opinion leaders…. In addition, bad things must be happening to regular people right now…. The credible people must say that the government action is going to solve the problem.
Then I say how this applies to climate.
We simply don’t have a critical mass of credible nonpartisan opinion leaders who understand the nature of our energy and climate problem.
On Obama What we most need now is an educator and persuader in chief. That we have. Can he start doing a half-dozen wedges? No. But can he create the technological means and public knowledge needed so that the next president can when things start really going bad? Yes.
We will need a WWII-style approach, but that can only happen after we get the global warming Pearl Harbor or, more likely, multiple Pearl Harbors. The crucial thing is that we need to be ready when that happens both technologically and politically. That will take 5 to 10 years — and not because we need breakthroughs, but because we need to see some significant penetration of things like CSP and plug-ins [CSP is concentrated solar power, or arrays of mirrors that generate heat to drive a generator; "plug ins" refers to plug-in hybrid vehicles.] so they can be really ramped up.
For me, 2015 is the target year. If you have any cost-effective, scalable low carbon technology then, that’s what we’ll go with. Obama will launch the $15 billion a year in 2009. I suspect the first two years will be part of the stimulus — which I expect will have many more tens of billions of dollars in it for clean energy. Future years can be forward borrowed until the cap kicks in.
On cap and trade legislation I don’t see that as the first strategy anymore, as I said in my Nature Online article. The latest science suggests that national and global climate policy is seriously misdirected. We must aim at achieving average annual carbon dioxide emissions of less than 5 GtC [5 billion metric tons of carbon] this century or risk the catastrophe of reaching atmospheric concentrations of 1,000 p.p.m.
A carbon price set by a cap-and-trade system is a useful component of a longer-term climate strategy. Implementing such a system, however, is secondary to adopting a national and global strategy to stop building new traditional coal-fired plants while starting to deploy existing and near-term low-carbon technologies as fast as is humanly possible.
So we need to stop new coal now. Ramp up spending on technology deployment now. Shift state regulations to put energy efficiency on an at least an equal footing as supply. Meanwhile, we enact a hard cap without many offsets.
One final point — those “impossible” eight wedges I laid out probably represent a switch in investment of 2% to 3% of global GDP if done in two decades, half that if done in four decades (as the I.E.A. analysis shows). That is a fantastic quantity of money in absolute terms but a very small fraction of our wealth. Plus you get back a lot of the money in energy savings.
That’s why I.E.A. and I.P.C.C. and McKinsey find that 450 p.p.m. only slows GDP maybe 0.1% per year. MONEY isn’t the problem. Time and political will are the problem.
There are a few important points above that I’ll be writing on — and asking Mr. Romm about — in coming weeks, months (and, yes, probably years).
Perhaps the most important one comes where Mr. Romm — echoing others, including Paul Hawken here — says that meaningful climate policy, even with leadership and effective communication, still requires another element: “Bad things must be happening to regular people right now….”
As I wrote in our “Climate Divide” package, however, wealthy countries are already using wealth and technology to shield themselves from the hazards that attend climate extremes even as poor countries in the South are most apt to get hammered. What kind of wake-up call does Mr. Romm think is conceivable on a time scale relevant to near-term policy? [UPDATE 12:30 p.m. - His answer is below.]
Lacking that element (and my sense is that nature may well exhibit more than enough variability for years to mask potential “Pearl Harbor” moments), does Mr. Romm see his game plan holding up? That’s why I’ve been asking, “Can Climate Campaigns Withstand a Cooling Test?” and “Are Words Worthless in the Climate Fight?”
I’ll also keep examining arguments for an “energy quest” in which cutting climate risks is one component, and a greatly intensified, sustained research enterprise focused on energy frontiers is also a top priority. Look at the graph in my post on what an “energy moon shot” would look like to see the effort and investment that went into the Apollo program and the war on cancer. Compare those efforts to our public investment in pursuing energy advances. And don’t think the private sector is filling the gap. (Click here to see the long-term drop in private energy R.&D.)
Joe Romm’s answer to the question above on near-term “Pearl Harbors”:
Mutliple Pearl Harbors over the next decade — half or more of these happening:
1) Arctic goes ice free before 2020. I have bets out on this. It would be a big, visible global shock.
2) Rapid warming over next decade, as recent Nature and Science article suggests is quite possible
(posts here and here)
3) Continued (unexpected) surge in methane
4) A megadrought hitting the SW comparable to what has hit southern Australia.
5) More superstorms, like Katrina
6) A heatwave as bad as Europe’s 2003 one.
7) Something unpredicted but clearly linked to climate, like the bark beetle devastation.
8) Accelerated mass loss in Greenland and/or Antarctica, perhaps with another huge ice shelf breaking off, but in any case coupled with another measurable rise in the rate of sea level rise,
9) The Fifth Assessment Report (2012-2013) really spelling out what we face with no punches pulled.
Postscript, 6:20 p.m.: I encourage you to read this solid and sobering overview of the Obama administration’s quandary with respect to China and climate policy by Keith Johnson over at WSJ.com. | <urn:uuid:5497e9f2-49d0-4029-8c20-abd12ecd3eeb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/24/joe-romm-on-hansens-mistakes-caps-limits/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944874 | 2,677 | 2.15625 | 2 |
Student performance on statewide assessments tests in Kansas dropped in 2012 for the first time in more than a decade, according to a report presented Tuesday to the Kansas State Board of Education.
Kansas State Department of Education deputy commissioner Brad Neuenswander presented the state's "report card." It started with good news about graduation rates jumping from 80.7 percent to 83 percent, but the majority of the report showed slight achievement declines that were especially pronounced among disabled, African-American and Hispanic students, as well as English language learners and those on free or reduced-priced lunches.
Those declines were similar across the core subjects of reading, mathematics, science and history/government.
"It's the first year we've seen it, but what we do see is it's persistent in all assessed areas," Neuenswander said.
He also said that, with the data in hand, his department would now try to zero in on the reasons for the declines.
Jana Shaver, R-Independence, said she believed years of budget cuts were "finally catching up to us." She said areas commonly axed include summer school, after-school programs and in-class paraprofessionals — services directly aimed at "at-risk" students.
Neuenswander said after his presentation that it was too early to attribute the declines to any specific factor. He said the economy could be a factor, noting that the percentage of Kansas students on free or reduced-priced lunches had risen to almost 50 percent.
Carolyn Campbell, D-Topeka, agreed with Shaver that cuts to after-school tutoring programs are harmful, but said parents also have to do their parts.
"We're there to help their kids, but they're the ones who have to make sure they don't goof off after school," Campbell said.
While all student groups saw some declines, the drops were dramatic among some subgroups. For instance, the percentage of white students with proficient reading scores dropped from 91.6 percent to 90.9 percent, while the percentage of African-American students at proficiency fell from 73.9 percent to 65.7 percent.
Campbell, the board's only African-American member, called the growing ethnicity achievement gap "very sad." She said she was especially concerned with science scores that showed the percent of African-American students meeting the standards had fallen from 65.6 percent in 2011 to 51.7 percent in 2012.
"It appears to me some of our school districts — maybe through professional development — need to come up with some different strategies," Campbell said. "We can't teach all children the same way when they come from different backgrounds."
According to the presentation, the percentage of "highly qualified teachers" in Kansas public schools also decreased in every category except foreign languages in 2012. Still, they remained at 94 percent or above in all categories except English as a second language, which dropped from 87.2 percent to 82.4 percent, and special education, which fell from 76 percent to 56.8 percent.
Neuenswander also noted that there is a one-year lag time on the graduation rates, because some class of 2012 students are still finishing up work on their diplomas or GEDs. So the gains presented to the board Tuesday came from the class of 2010 to the class of 2011.
The board also approved Tuesday a budget proposal that would shave 10 percent from the Kansas School for the Blind and School for the Deaf starting in the 2013-2014 school year.
The budget is part of a request from Gov. Sam Brownback that all state agencies propose 10 percent reductions for next fiscal year. At the school for the blind in Kansas City it would mean the loss of seven staff members, including 2.5 teaching positions. At the school for the deaf in Olathe it would mean the loss of 15 staff members, including four "faculty positions."
Several board members, including chairman David Dennis, expressed concerns about the measure before passing it 6-3. Campbell, Walt Chappell and Sue Storm voted against it.
Dennis said the final decision on the cuts would be "up to the governor and the Legislature." He called the board's vote "pretty symbolic" because though the board acts as the local school board for the two state schools, it has no authority over budgetary manners.
"If there's something else the state board can do, I think we'd be happy to do it," Dennis said. "The three that voted against it, I fully understand why you voted against it." | <urn:uuid:9fb7af7e-8c14-458a-9004-4c505d84553d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cjonline.com/news/2012-09-18/school-scores-drop-first-time-11-years | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9785 | 937 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Wear Vibram FiveFinger barefoot shoe
I want you to be prepared for what is coming your way. The following is a step-by-step guide to trying on the ever-popular vibram five fingers barefoot shoe.
1. Toes First: For many,getting your toes in can be the most difficult part of the FiveFinger process. Begin by sliding your toes and forefoot in the shoe. Position the toes just before each toe slot and plant your foot on the ground. Now wiggle. Use your fingers as much as you can to guide your toes to their perspective places. You may have to count your toes. Don't be shy, count 'em!
2. Choose a shoe: Vibram makes a plethora of styles from which to choose, each unique in intended use. The Bikila, for example, is Vibram's running FiveFinger, featuring a running-specific sole and enclosures. The Sprint is great for water sports, the Performa and Moc are great for indoor use and the Classic is great for casual wear. First, you must browse vibram five fingers sale styles to find the perfect match for your wants and needs in a barefoot shoe.
3. Take Them for a Spin! Now that you've stood in one place and determined how the shoes feel on your feet, test them out! If you're going to be running...run! Walk around, twirl, boogie or hop in your Fivefingers and make sure you can feel yourself wearing these for your activities.
4. Heel in and Adjust: Once the toes are in slide the rest of the shoe under your heel and adjust all the straps to your liking. Some styles have more secure holds than others so make sure you have found them all!
5. How They Should Fit: Once you're over the initial shock of their aesthetics, step away from the mirror and direct your focus to your feet. Your vibram five fingers outlet might not be fitting correctly if there is extra space at the end of toes, a heel is rubbing or there is uncomfortable tightness anywhere on the shoe. The Vibrams are meant to fit your foot like a glove, so make sure the shoes fit snugly. If you're not sure, try on another size.
6. Know Your Vibram Size: Vibram FiveFingers are listed in European sizes. Vibram has crafted a very handy sizing chart for men and women based on the style you want and your foot measurement in inches. Get that ruler out and see the sizing chart on their website under the "size+fit" tab.
Post new comment | <urn:uuid:53f08fb5-2076-47e0-8d7d-6fab37c39ae0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.r8ny.com/blog/1aa/wear_vibram_fivefinger_barefoot_shoe.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9409 | 547 | 1.507813 | 2 |
To make your organisation accessible – To bring together PR and IT – To control your information
Making institutions accessible
Polydea is based on a simple idea:
The general public is often unfamiliar with the institutions that affect their lives, and thus deserve to be known and recognized.
New technologies like Web 2.0 can help bridging the gap between, on the one hand, European actors (institutions, officials, international organisations), and, on the other hand, the general public as well as corporations and voters.
- European actors – officials and Members of Parliament, institutions, international organisations, trade-unions, lobby groups – can significantly increase their visibility towards the general public or their specific target groups.
- European citizens are seeking information, on a range of specific issues, and are looking for transparency in the activities of their institutions and their elected representatives.
- New media in their multitude and diversity offer a range of effective means to establish a direct link between citizens and the major actors on the European level.
Bringing together PR and IT
- European Public Relations: Our consultants have acquired their experiences and expertise in European institutions and Public Affairs consultancies. They understand and master institutional challenges and questions of European politics and communication;
- Information technology and Web communication: Artists and web designers, developers, animators, publicists, bloggers etc. Polydea’s staff & technical experts engage with the latest developments in the web and new media sector.
Controlling your information
With a proactive strategy and a solid infrastructure, you can master information about yourself and your work:
- You are the source of all information – collect and communicate your activities, publications, productions and projects online;
- Improve your notoriety – target and reach your audience;
- You get to know your audience ratings - you can hence adapt your tools and content accordingly.
Together we build your online communication! | <urn:uuid:e8fe6db5-668d-4a7c-b9d1-f54be146d277> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.polydea.eu/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915303 | 386 | 1.640625 | 2 |
I know, I know, I’ve already been remiss in blog-posting. This is due, in part, to the bloody events of the weekend, events that don’t happen all that often in the City of Saint Francis. (Sorry, Francis, but there are certain city ordinances that must be upheld.)
Now that I can safely say I know something about killing (surprisingly cooperative) fowl, let’s move on to one of the most common questions asked at the Mark Fiore Industries Consumer Questions and Complaints Division. “How do you make these cartoons?”
In this installment, I’ll explain the idea phase of my process.
First up, Trolling-for-Topics. I begin by reading the newspaper (Paper!)-- although most of my research is done online-- until something jumps out at me that makes me angry, strikes me as wrong or is hypocritical. The best animation ideas usually have their beginnings in a news article that pisses me off. This part of the process can happen gradually over the week(s) as I listen to the news, read or watch a bit of cable news. (I generally avoid most television news because it tends to make me feel slimy after a while.)
Next, I crawl into my sketchbook, where I have been writing notes about various news topics. Words, or an event may draw my attention—anything from depressing/sad news that | <urn:uuid:501fab92-5e24-4052-afc7-fd4d111df2a7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.markfiore.com/taxonomy/term/1609 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95492 | 298 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Robyn Kim and Ladan Shams have a nice article, titled “What Can Magicians Teach Us about the Brain?,” in Scientific American. Here are some excerpts.
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. . . . Magicians . . . are masters of exploiting nuances of human perception, attention, and awareness. In light of this, a recent Nature Reviews Neuroscience paper, coauthored by a combination of neuroscientists (Stephen L. Macknik, Susana Martinez-Conde, both at the Barrows Neurological Institute) and magicians (Mac King, James Randi, Apollo Robbins, Teller, John Thompson), describes various ways magicians manipulate our perceptions, and proposes that these methods should inform and aid the neuroscientific study of attention and awareness.
Magicians Secrets Revealed
The underlying concept of using quirks in human perception to learn about how the mind works is an old one. Visual, auditory and multisensory illusions, in which people’s perceptions contradict the physical properties of the stimuli, have long been used by psychologists to study the mechanisms of sensory processing. Magicians use such sensory illusions in their tricks, but they also heavily use cognitive illusions, manipulating people’s attention, trains of logic and even memory. Although magicians probably haven’t studied these phenomena with the scientific method—they don’t do controlled experiments—their techniques have been tested over time, perfected by practice and performed under conditions of high scrutiny by skeptical audiences looking to spot the trick.
An example of a visual illusion used by magicians is spoon bending, in which a rigid horizontal spoon appears flexible when shaken up and down at a certain rate. This effect occurs because of how different parts of objects (in this case, the spoon) are represented in the brain. Certain neurons are responsive to the ends/corners of the object, whereas others respond to the bars/edges; the end-responsive neurons respond differently to motion than do the bar-responsive neurons, such that the ends and the center of the spoon seem misaligned when in motion.
Attention can greatly affect what we see—this fact has been demonstrated in psychological studies of inattentional blindness. To misdirect people’s attention and create this effect, magicians have an arsenal of methods ranging from grand gestures (such as releasing a dove in the theater to distract attention), to more subtle techniques (for instance, using social miscues). An example of the latter can be found in the Vanishing Ball Illusion . . . .
At the last toss, the magician does not actually release the ball from his or her hand. Crucially, however, the magician’s gaze follows the trajectory the ball would have made had it been tossed. The magician’s eye and head movement serves as a subtle social cue that (falsely) suggests a trajectory the audience then also expects. A recent study examining what factors produced this effect suggests that the miscuing of the attentional spotlight is the primary factor, and not the motion of the eyes. In fact, the eyes aren’t fooled by this trick—they don’t follow the illusory trajectory! Interestingly, comedy is also an important tool used by magicians to manipulate attention in time. In addition to adding to the entertainment value of the show, bouts of laughter can diffuse attention at critical time points.
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Magic’s Role in Neuroscience
Cognitive neuroscience can explain many magic techniques; this article proposes, however, that neuroscientists should use magicians’ knowledge to inform their research. . . .
More concretely, the use of cognitive illusions—for example, during brain imaging—could serve to identify neural circuits underlying specific cognitive processes. They could also be used to map neural correlates of consciousness (the areas of the brain that are active when we are processing a given aspect of consciousness) by dissociating activity corresponding to processing of actual physical events from the activity corresponding to the conscious processing.
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* * * | <urn:uuid:9e76a27c-c3aa-4c35-946e-27bf324462c0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thesituationist.wordpress.com/2009/03/28/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932388 | 822 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Do you want to know more about Parkinson's? PDF's materials provide information about symptoms, medications, resources & more.
News in Brief
Reducing the dosage of dopamine agonists in people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) may produce withdrawal symptoms, such as dizziness, anxiety and panic attacks, according to a report in the January issue of Archives of Neurology.
Melissa J. Nirenberg, M.D., Ph.D., and her colleague Christina A. Rabinak, of New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, studied the effects of dopamine agonists, a class of PD medications that includes pramipexole (Mirapex®) and ropinirole (Requip®).
Dr. Nirenberg performed a retrospective study examining the medical records of 93 people living with PD, 40 of whom had received dopamine agonists and 53 of whom had been treated with other medications. The participants were similar with regard to age, disease duration, gender and age of Parkinson’s diagnosis.
She and her colleague found that during routine Parkinson’s care, the dopamine agonist dosages of 26 people within the group had been reduced by their doctors. This “tapering-off” was often performed because the person was experiencing an impulse control disorder, such as pathological gambling, compulsive eating and compulsive shopping — which can be side effects of the medications.
Following the reduction in medication dosage, five people developed persistent anxiety, panic attacks, depression, orthostatic hypotension (low blood pressure), fatigue, pain and drug cravings. Dr. Nirenberg has named this phenomenon as dopamine agonist withdrawal syndrome, or DAWS. The syndrome tended to develop immediately following drug tapering, which resembles the course of withdrawal symptoms in most situations of drug dependence or addiction. In addition, the individuals who experienced DAWS had all previously experienced an impulse control disorder, such as a gambling addiction, hypersexuality or excessive spending. Individuals with DAWS requested to resume their prior high dose of dopamine agonists, even though their PD motor symptoms were well controlled.
The reward and pleasure systems of the brain use the neurotransmitter dopamine. Impulsive, addictive behaviors have been associated with the dopamine drugs used in Parkinson’s. Some people with PD take excessive amounts of dopamine agonists in order to alleviate anxiety and unpleasant sensations that occur when their medications wear off.
This study reveals another consequence of dopamine agonist dependence in people with PD: a prolonged unpleasant withdrawal state that is not easily relieved. The study involved a small number of people, and more research is required to learn about incidence, risk factors, time course and pharmacological aspects of DAWS, as well as strategies to avoid or treat the syndrome. For people with PD and physicians who plan to reduce dopamine agonists, it is important to be aware that symptoms of withdrawal can occur, especially in individuals with a history of anxiety and addictive behaviors.
This study was conducted with funding from PDF through its Center Grant to Weill Cornell Medical Center.
To learn more about currently available medications for Parkinson's, visit http://www.pdf.org/en/meds_treatments.
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For some of the people who experience Parkinson’s disease (PD) before the age of 50 and who carry a genetic mutation in a gene named LRRK2, it appears that gait and balance difficulties are more common than tremor. These findings were reported in the December 2009 issue of Archives of Neurology. Although genetic mutations like LRRK2 account for only a small percentage of cases of Parkinson’s, scientists hope that these few cases will open a window into the cause(s) of the disease. It is speculated that understanding the roles of genes in PD will help predict its symptoms and progression.
The authors, led by Roy N. Alcalay, M.D., and Karen Marder, M.D., M.P.H., of Columbia University, gathered data on 925 people living with early-onset Parkinson’s (those who developed PD before the age of 51) — all of whom were recruited from 13 movement disorder centers that constitute the Consortium on Risk for Early-Onset Parkinson’s Disease (CORE-PD). Studying early-onset PD is especially useful in research because these individuals are more likely to have a familial form of PD.
Using a neurological examination to rate each person’s PD symptoms, according to the standardized Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), the investigators classified people into two groups: individuals with mainly a tremor of the arm or leg and individuals with a predominance of gait and balance problems. On average, the clinical assessments were done at the ten-year point in the development of PD. All of the people involved in the study had donated blood for genetic testing, and the researchers detected the most common known mutation — the G2019S mutation in the LRRK2 gene — in 34 of the 925 people (or 3.7 percent).
It turned out that nearly all of the 34 carriers of the G2019S mutation experienced balance and gait problems as the main signs of their PD. The researchers further noted that these problems were not the result of longer disease duration in the people with PD with the genetic mutation, even though in previous studies, scientists had linked balance and gait problems to more severe disease progression.
In the long run, careful studies of genetic mutations that examine the way in which the disease presents itself may help researchers understand what type of PD a person has and how best to treat it.
This study was supported by PDF’s Center grant to Columbia University.
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For the latest Parkinson’s science news, visit www.pdf.org/en/science_news. | <urn:uuid:388beb05-9b32-4de1-b3fc-5441fb7756c8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pdf.org/en/spring2010_news_in_brief | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957567 | 1,209 | 1.992188 | 2 |
Arizona has declared war on Mexico. SB1070, a new immigration bill signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer, has set off national boycotts, lawsuits, protests, and denouncements. Even right-wingers like Tom Ridge are balking. The sheriff of Pima County (south of Phoenix) has called it “stupid and racist.” Although amended in its very first week of existence, this ill-conceived law still requires state and local police to demand proof of citizenship from anyone they stop who looks illegal — whatever that means. It will certainly lead to racial profiling of legal Mexican-Americans as well as desperate Mexican citizens. Logistically, morally, constitutionally, and economically the new law is indefensible.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon has criticized it, but his words ring hollow since his American-backed crackdown on drugs has led to more than 20,000 murders in northern Mexico since 2005. This bloodbath — distinct from (though exacerbating) the phenomenon of illegals coming here to peacefully work — has hurt tourism and increased poverty south of the border, while fueling fear north of the border. This fear has narrowed Arizonans’ attitudes, and trivialized the importance and ubiquity of Mexican culture on which cash-strapped Arizona capitalizes every day.
My memories are rich with Sonoran overtones: a “birthday cake” of pineapple tamales with sparklers on top; a mission-style cathedral mass with full mariachi band converting every dirge into a happy waltz; a highway overpass festooned with colorful metal panels cut to mimic Mexican paper art; young girls decked out in gowns and tiaras for their quinceañera parties; street vendors selling home-made burritos; Virgin of Guadalupe tattoos on shaved heads; grocery stores with entire piñata aisles; immaculate low-riders and their proud owners. All already state-side and legal, mi amigos!
Every November, downtown Tucson comes alive with a nighttime parade celebrating the Mexican Catholic holiday, the Day of the Dead. Thousands of people dress as skeletons and carry pictures of departed loved ones; scores more line the streets to watch. In the years I’ve participated, I have never seen a single act of violence, vandalism, or disrespect. Yet, that’s what Americans conjure when they think of cultural immigration.
This fear can be seen in the presence of the Border Patrol, their impromptu check-points increasingly popping up on southwest roads. Each time I go through the one near Tombstone it’s a little bigger, graduating from a few agents, a tent, and a couple of cruisers, to a fleet of vehicles, generators, lights, drug dogs, permanent structures, and a helicopter hovering nearby.
Returning from Nogales, Mexico, one afternoon, our shuttle van was stopped. When the fatigue-clad agent opened the side door he was clearly surprised at my Caucasian face and my perfect driver’s license. “Thank you, sir!” he said reverentially. He then checked the papers of everyone else on board, which took a while — since none had a simple license, nor a white face. A few months later that shuttle service and others like it were raided, arrests were made, and people were deported.
That very night, though, others climbed fences, traversed tunnels, and died of exposure in the harsh Arizona landscape. Border crossers pay desert guides their paltry life savings, but are often double-crossed. Minutemen militia members, armed and angry, mark their territory with hand-made signs depicting ever-vigilant silver-hearted coyotes. Liberal establishments display the common words “Humanitarian Aid is Never a Crime” in support of the drinking-water stations compassionately set up along immigration routes. The anachronistic words “dago” and “wetback” are uttered with alarming nonchalance. Thousands march for solidarity, while hundreds taunt them; it’s a powder keg. | <urn:uuid:2f4961bd-035a-4e02-8162-30b05999fc3f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thephoenix.com/Boston/news/101871-notes-from-a-borderland/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959158 | 847 | 1.757813 | 2 |
IDB Biofuels Sustainability Scorecard
The Sustainable Energy and Climate Change Initiative (SECCI) and the Structured and Corporate Finance Department (SCF) of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) have created the IDB Biofuels Sustainability Scorecard based on the sustainability criteria of the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (RSB). The primary objective of the Scorecard is to encourage higher levels of sustainability in biofuels projects by providing a tool to think through the range of complex issues associated with biofuels. Since the scientific debate around these issues continues to evolve, the Scorecard should be seen as a work-in-progress and will continue to be updated and revised as needed. Comments can be submitted at the end of filling out the Scorecard.
Please review the following general guidance for completing the Scorecard prior to beginning to fill it out.
Disclaimer: Neither completion, submission, nor acceptance of this Scorecard implies that the project is eligible for financing by the IDB or that financing by the IDB will be provided. The IDB will verify the results of the Scorecard for eligible projects during the loan due diligence process. Scoring well on the Scorecard should not be considered as an indication that the project will pass RSB’s biofuels certification when it becomes available. | <urn:uuid:65269fb4-8614-492b-94a9-865295ecba32> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.iadb.org/biofuelsscorecard/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932185 | 273 | 2 | 2 |
Modern search engine indexing techniques have been designed to be hostile to artificial influences on results rankings.
Google, the king of the search engines, uses technology they call PageRank to index and rank sites:
We've had a few issues come up lately, though, where people were concerned that particular pages didn't come up as a result of particular search queries, even though the words in the search query were nowhere to be found on the page. It is important that the words that you would expect your site to be found by actually appear in the text of the page.
I did insert a cheat in the 'Role and Mission' page in the 'About UNL' subsite just today ... it's inline and a hack, though, and I wouldn't advise it as a general rule.
If you scroll to the bottom of http://www.unl.edu/unlpub/special/aboutunl/roleandmission.shtml
, and highlight the text after 'continue to Teaching, Research and Service,' you'll see a few keywords. | <urn:uuid:238f1d6d-5793-4d9b-a481-79759366b897> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www1.unl.edu/wdn/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=153 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969919 | 217 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Anxiety, Fatigue, and Coping
First some context: it would be impossible to be diagnosed with breast cancer, undergo cancer surgery, and not feel anxious. Through the years, I have learned not to make any assumptions about a woman's usual state of mind based on her mood and coping when I meet her in the early days of breast cancer. No one is at her best, and most of us are quite overwhelmed with anxiety and sadness. There are two general kinds of anxiety which mental health people think of as "trait anxiety" and "state anxiety". Trait anxiety refers to something that is part of a person's personality and baseline coping; some people are just generally anxious. State anxiety refers to anxiety that is generated by an event or situation, and surely a cance dignosis would quality.
If you would like a bit more of an explanation, click here.
The second part of today's equation is fatigue. Again, we have different baselines of fatigue and energy level. Some people sleep better than others, and we maintain different schedules and routines. There are people who are always tired, and others who are generally well-rested and energetic. Add a new cancer diagnosis and it is safe to assume that everyone is sleeping less well, ruminating in the middle of the night, and feeling more depleted and tired. For some women, this state of exhaustion is a real hindrance to functioning, worse than anything that can be helped with a cup of coffee or a short walk or a nap. (And this leads to an aside: I recently read a study that asked people, who were feeling tired, to do one of those three things. The people who took a ten minute walk felt best.)
This is an article from PsychoOncology about the relationships between anxiety, fatigue, and coping after surgery. Bottom line: women who had trait anxiety had a more difficult time. Here is the abstract and then a link to read more:
What is the relationship between trait anxiety and depressive symptoms, fatigue, and low sleep quality following breast cancer surgery?
J. P. M. Lockefeer1* and J. De Vries2,3 1Department of Medical Psychology, TweeSteden Hospital, Tilburg, The Netherlands 2Centre of Research on Psychology in Somatic Diseases, Department of Medical Psychology and Neuropsychology, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands 3Department of Medical Psychology, St Elisabeth Hospital, Tilburg, The Netherlands Abstract
Background: Depressive symptoms, fatigue, and low sleep quality are common symptoms during and after breast cancer (BC) treatment. In the present study, the relationship between trait anxiety and these symptoms in a long follow-up period was examined.
Methods: This was a prospective study. Participants, composed of 163 women with BC and 224 women with benign breast problems (BBPs), completed questionnaires on depressive symptoms, fatigue, and sleep quality before diagnosis and 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months after diagnosis (BBP group) or surgical treatment (BC group). In addition, patients completed a questionnaire on trait anxiety before diagnosis.
Results and Conclusions: Trait anxiety was the most signi?cant predictor for depressive symptoms ( p < 0.001) and lower sleep quality ( p = 0.040) at 2-year follow-up. For fatigue, fatigue at baseline and trait anxiety together was the most important predictor ( p < 0.001). Linear mixed model analyses showed that there was an interaction effect of time with trait anxiety and with diagnosis for depressive symptoms ( p = 0.001 and p < 0.001) and fatigue ( p = 0.004 and p < 0.001). There was no interaction effect of time with trait anxiety or diagnosis for sleep quality ( p = 0.055 and p = 0.225). Together with diagnosis, trait anxiety was an important determinant of depressive symptoms, fatigue, and low sleep quality following diagnosis of BBP or BC and seemed to be a common factor in these persisting symptoms. | <urn:uuid:9b612eb0-b900-4796-9ec5-f8b2119dd73c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bidmc.org/YourHealth/BIDMCInteractive/Blogs/LivingwithBreastCancer/2012/June/Anxiety%20Fatigue%20and%20Coping%20after%20Surge | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951741 | 824 | 2.1875 | 2 |
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Everyone has to write at work!
Emails, proposals, website copy, newsletters, blog posts, even Tweets. Regardless of who you are, or where you are on your career continuum, writing has an impact on your success at work.
Through fun and interactive discussion and exercises borrowed from the world of creative writing, you’ll learn how to be confident and creative with your words, improve your efficiency, and be persuasive in your written communications.
We will share professional writing tips and techniques to help you tap into your creative spirit while remaining true to corporate philosophy and marketing goals.
Think of it as creative writing with a sprinkle of call-to-action and a dose of marketing message. Whether you are focusing on content marketing, sales proposals, interoffice memos, employee communications, the company blog, or merely perfecting your business-writing acumen, this session will teach you the secrets of persuading your reader to take action.
Our unique one-day seminar will help you:
- Face down the blank page and get started, using journalistic and fiction-writing techniques to unlock the writer within you.
- Understand “calls to action”and learn strategies for to entice your reader to act.
- Learn which questions to ask before you start writing using our Business Writer’s Checklist.
- Learn what to look for when revising and editing to take your project from a first draft to a shiny, finished masterpiece.
Students may wish to follow up this fast-paced, intensive day of training with individual coaching to continue to improve their skills and receive editing feedback and direction on day-to-day communications projects.
Small group instruction—StoryStudio Business Writing classes are limited to 15 students assuring you of personal attention and plenty of interaction.
Writers on writing- Our instructors are professional writers, editors and teachers. We share our knowledge about writing and about navigating your company’s communications culture.
We bring the lessons of fiction to the corporate world – Using storytelling techniques to unlock your inner writer, we can show you how to tap into your own creative spirit (while still remaining true to corporate philosophy and culture).
We do lunch! We’ll provide a box lunch and break time within our creative space to let you recharge midday – and to help you connect with fellow students. There is also free wi-fi in case you have to check in with the office.
PLUS: Have two or more employees sign up and receive $10 off each student fee. (Please call us to register multiple students: 773.477.7710.)
Who should attend?
This course is open to everyone who has to write while at work. Entry level employees as well as senior managers will benefit from learning how to write more clearly and persuasively. Especially recommended for those in corporate communications, marketing, content marketing, employee communications, public relations, and small businesses.
About the Instructor
Beth Nyland is a communications consultant and founder of Spencer Grace LLC. Her employer/client list includes Accenture, Lands’ End, Motorola, PepsiCo Inc., Sears, Roebuck and Co., and Unilever. As a creative business communicator, Beth firmly believes “creative business writing” need not be an oxymoron. Her experience includes both agency and corporate roles, all focused on raising the quality of internal and external communications. Her writing style features everyday words, active verbs, clear examples, and even a sense of humor—-the same approach she recommends to her students and clients at all organizational and experience levels. Her goal is to put forth writing that reaches and involves people so they believe, understand, and do what’s needed for an organization to succeed. In addition to her work with StoryStudio Chicago, Beth is a wife, mother of six, poet, humorist, memoirist, and blogger.
business writing, Chicago business, Chicago writing classes, business courses | <urn:uuid:7ce0fa0a-4d8d-4bdd-a8c3-5872079e2256> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.storystudiochicago.com/classes-and-events/writing-at-work-the-basics-of-clear-compelling-communication/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931174 | 815 | 1.53125 | 2 |
A group of spokespeople for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in Havana, Cuba, named three of the five negotiators they hope to send to Norway in October to engage in peace talks with the Colombian government to end that country's nearly 50-year old civil conflict. These nominees include a former member of the Caribbean Bloc, currently in jail in the United States: Ricardo Palmera, alias “Simon Trinidad.”
Trinidad was an ideologue who stood out among the FARC ranks because he came from the upper middle class rather than the peasantry. Before he joined the rebels at age 36, in 1987, Trinidad worked as a university professor, then a banker.
As a guerrilla leader, Trinidad rose through the ranks quickly, in part because of his business acumen. This included using information he'd gained as a banker to target members of wealthy families for kidnappings.
In one sense, his nomination to the delegation is not a surprise. During the 1998-2002 peace talks, Trinidad acted as the FARC’s pointman on economic issues and land reform.
But following those talks, Trinidad was injured and traveled to Ecuador where he was arrested in 2004. At the time, he was the most high-level FARC commander ever captured during Colombia’s 40-year war against the rebels.
He was later extradited to the US and convicted of participating in the kidnapping of three US Pentagon contractors in 2003. In 2008, he was sentenced to 60 years in a high-security prison in Colorado. He would have likely received a life sentence, but that is banned under the terms of the extradition agreement between Colombia and the US.
One of Trinidad’s defense lawyers has said that, in legal terms, it is “impossible” for Trinidad to participate in Colombia’s peace talks. President Juan Manuel Santos said he has not yet discussed the issue of Trinidad’s release with the US, adding, “The process needs to be realistic...Some things will be possible and others won’t.”
InSight Crime Analysis
At first glance, the FARC’s request to have Trinidad on the negotiating team may seem like a deliberate effort to stonewall the process before it has even begun. But their request may not be so unreasonable and appears to be an indirect way of establishing the ground rules of what will be one of the central issues of this process: extradition.
There are clear indications the US would like to get their hands on other guerrilla leaders to prosecute them. In 2006, the Southern District of New York issued a lengthy indictment on drug trafficking charges of more than 50 FARC leaders, some of whom were part of the Secretariat. Just two years later, the Colombian presidency extradited to the United States 14 top level right-wing paramilitary leaders -- all of whom had been indicted separately on drug trafficking charges -- who were negotiating a peace deal with the government.
So the issue for the FARC is trust. They do not want to enter a negotiation only to find themselves on an airplane to the United States and facing down 60 years in prison. Putting Trinidad's name on the table means Colombian and US authorities will have to make a decision on how to treat the FARC leaders: as political actors or as criminals. | <urn:uuid:26f42d2d-f60b-479f-8f57-ae4034b8637a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.insightcrime.org/news-analysis/simon-trinidad-farc-colombia-peace-talks | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970577 | 677 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Options for Reusable Items
Use the resources listed below to divert waste and conserve natural resources through reuse, upcycling, or repurposing. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
This is a well-known website where you can post practically any item imaginable to sell or donate. Simply post a quick description of your item(s), with your location and a reasonable price, and you may quickly receive a response from interested buyers.
Offer, take, or request goods through this website. It’s also fun to browse and find stuff you can use! Users must register prior to viewing or posting messages.
Gigoit is also an online resource for folks to donate or receive items that are unwanted. Users can quickly search or donate based on their zip code.
Your tax-deductible donation to Goodwill helps local communities. They accept household items, clothing, accessories, furniture, working games and electronics, and more. Visit their website for a complete list of acceptable items and locations.
Habitat for Humanity ReStore
Habitat for Humanity St. Louis creates comprehensive programs for families willing to work toward building and owning their own home and giving back to the community in a meaningful way. You can donate acceptable new and reusable building supplies and materials to Habitat for Humanity. Donations can be dropped off at the ReStore (in St. Louis City) Tuesday through Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
From computers and graphing calculators to band instruments and headphones, teachers need school supplies.
Share goods and resources with neighbors and friends. The best part of this website is that you can borrow items you need as well!
When your children outgrow their gently used preschool books, you can donate them to Ready Readers, a volunteer, nonprofit organization that provides reading hours to low-income preschool children. View their booklist for titles they would love to have.
ReSource St. Louis
After a demolition occurs, there is an opportunity to recover and reuse construction materials. ReSource St. Louis is a web-based construction and demolition materials exchange, where materials can be offered or requested.
The Salvation Army accepts appliances, automobiles, furniture, clothing, and household goods. See the Donation Value Guide for a detailed list of accepted items and the corresponding value.
The Upcycle Exchange
Miscellaneous items such as common household items, crafty goods, and sewing supplies are sought after at the Upcycle Exchange. Visit their website and see their wish list for a detailed request list. Support local and independent artists, designers, and crafters with your donation in exchange for coupons for handmade creations!
**If you are looking for more ways to improve your reuse system, keep an eye on localreuse.org, a website you can use to find nearby charitable organizations that will gladly take used goods. The site will provide up-to-date information on over 1.5 million non-profits! Features will include custom RSS feeds and mobile apps for “reusers” on the go. Their current launch date is April 22nd (Earth Day) 2012. **
Please contact us
with suggestions for additional outlets not included above. | <urn:uuid:801968d8-5d7a-46d4-8df4-9ab697ef7011> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.stlouisco.com/HealthandWellness/RecyclingandSolidWaste/RecyclingInformation/Whattodo | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926971 | 658 | 1.921875 | 2 |
Narrative:On September 29, an Embraer Legacy 600 executive jet (N600XL) was scheduled to be delivered from the Embraer factory at São José dos Campos Airport (SJK) to the United States. An intermediate stop was planned at Manaus (MAO). The Legacy took off at about 14:51. The filed flight plan included a routing via the OREN departure procedure to Pocos beacon, then airway UW2 to Brasilia VOR (BRS), airway UZ6 to Manaus. The cruise altitude was filed as FL370, with a planned change to FL360 at BRS, and to FL380 at the TERES navigational fix, approximately 282 miles north of BRS.
Meanwhile, at 15:35, GOL Flight 1907, a Boeing 737-800, departed Manaus (MAO) on a scheduled flight to Brasilia (BSB) and Rio de Janeiro (GIG). The flight was also routed via UZ6 to BRS. Cruising altitude was FL370, which was reached at 15:58. At that time, Legacy N600XL had just passed BRS, level at FL370. There is no record of a request from N600XL to the control agencies to conduct a change of altitude after passing BRS. There is also no record of any instruction from air traffic controllers at Brasilia Center to the aircraft, directing a change of altitude. When the airplane was about 30 miles north-northwest of BRS, at 16:02, the transponder of N600XL was no longer being received by ATC radar. Between 15:51 and 16:26, there were no attempts to establish radio communications from either the crew of N600XL or ATC. At 16:26 the CINDACTA 1 controller made a "blind call" to N600XL. Subsequently until 16:53, the controller made an additional 6 radio calls attempting to establish contact. The 16:53 call instructed the crew to change to frequencies 123.32 or 126.45. No replies were received. Beginning at 16:48, the crew of N600XL made a series of 12 radio calls to ATC attempting to make contact. They heard the 16:48 call, but the pilot did not understand all of the digits, and requested a repeat. No reply from ATC was received. The pilot made 7 more attempts to establish contact.
Both the GOL Boeing 737 and the Legacy were now on a head on collision course on airway UZ6 at the same altitude. Because the transponder of N600XL was not functioning properly -for as of yet undetermined reasons- the TCAS equipment on both planes did not alert the crews. At FL370, over the remote Amazon jungle, both aircraft collided. The left winglet of the Legacy (which includes a metal spar) contacted the left wing leading edge of the Boeing 737. The impact resulted in damage to a major portion of the left wing structure and lower skin, ultimately rendering the 737 uncontrollable. The Boeing 737 was destroyed by in-flight breakup and impact forces.
The Embraer's winglet was sheared off and damage was sustained to the vertical stabilizer tip. The crew made numerous further calls to ATC declaring an emergency and their intent to make a landing at the Cachimbo air base. At 17:02, the transponder returns from N600XL were received by ATC. At 17:13, an uninvolved flight crew assisted in relaying communications between N600XL and ATC until the airplane established communication with Cachimbo tower.
A safe emergency landing was made.
PROBABLE CAUSE: "The evidence collected during this investigation strongly supports the conclusion that this accident was caused by N600XL and GLO1907 following ATC clearances which directed them to operate in opposite directions on the same airway at the same altitude resulting in a midair collision.
The loss of effective air traffic control was not the result of a single error, but of a combination of numerous individual and institutional ATC factors, which reflected systemic shortcomings in emphasis on positive air traffic control concepts.
Contributing to this accident was the undetected loss of functionality of the airborne collision avoidance system technology as a result of the inadvertent inactivation of the transponder on board N600XL.
Further contributing to the accident was inadequate communication between ATC and the N600XL flight crew."
» Court wants two pilots' passports seized (AP 3-10-2006)
» Crash site of Brazil jet found (Reuters, 30-9-2006)
» Gol divulga lista de passageiros do Boeing desaparecido (O Globo, 30-9-2006)
» GOL press releaes
» Update on Brazilian investigation into September midair collision over Amazon jungle (NTSB 22/11/2006)
Official accident investigation report
This map shows the airport of departure and the intended destination of the flight. The line between the airports does not
display the exact flight path.
Distance from Manaus-Eduardo Gomes International Airport, AM to Brasília-Presidente Juscelino Kubitschek International Airport, DF as the crow flies is 1940 km (1212 miles). | <urn:uuid:7ae473d8-2550-4f25-85e6-5c9d9d47c8e7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20060929-0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951165 | 1,095 | 2.03125 | 2 |
In the search for new antibiotics, researchers are taking an unusual approach: They are developing peptides, short chains of protein building blocks that effectively inhibit a key enzyme of bacterial metabolism. Now, scientists at the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIP... Read More
A new study in the Netherlands has found a deep-sea microbe living in high-temperature hydro-thermal vents can thrive on chlorate and perchlorate anions. Perchlorate, an ingredient in rocket fuel and fireworks, is toxic to most organisms.
The researchers, led by Martin Liebensteiner of Wageni... Read More
Following up on our coverage of the work of John Rogers, who is leading efforts at University of Illinois to develop flexible and bioresorbable electronic systems, there’s news now of new findings evaluating such implants in animal models.
Presented at the 245th National Meeting & Exposition ... Read More
Sandia National Laboratories is developing a suite of complementary technologies to help the emerging algae industry detect and quickly recover from algal pond crashes, an obstacle to large-scale algae cultivation for future biofuels. The research, which focuses on monitoring and diagnosing alga... Read More
Shingles vaccine is associated with reduction in both postherpetic neuralgia and herpes zoster, but uptake in the US is low. A vaccine to prevent shingles may reduce by half the occurrence of this painful skin and nerve infection in older people (aged over 65 years) and may also reduce the rate ... Read More
Placement of copper objects in intensive care unit (ICU) hospital rooms reduced the number of healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs) in patients by more than half, according to a new study published in the May issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for He... Read More
Who knew frozen mice could be so useful? Mouse viruses discovered in a bank of frozen rodents could pave the way for future progress in hepatitis research, enabling scientists to study human disease and vaccines in the ultimate lab animal. In mBio this week, authors from Colombia University and ... Read More
A study at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine has identified a chicken-killing virus as a promising treatment for prostate cancer in humans.
Researchers have discovered that a genetically engineered Newcastle disease virus, which harms chickens but not humans, kills... Read More
The Rockefeller University's Luciano Marraffini is interested in understanding how bacteria evolve by incorporating DNA sequences from other bacteria or from the environment into their genomes. His research focuses on the mechanisms that control the traffic of DNA molecules between bacteria.
Nearly half of the world's population is at risk of infection by the dengue virus, yet there is no specific treatment for the disease. Now a therapy to protect people from the virus could finally be a step closer, thanks to a team at MIT.
In a paper published today in the Proceedings of the N... Read More
Technology that enlists natural soil bacteria as 21st century roughnecks now is commercially available and poised to recover precious oil remaining in thousands of exhausted oil wells, according to a scientist who spoke in New Orleans on April 8. His report on a process termed microbially enhanc... Read More
Researchers suspect H7N9 virus is in bird markets as human cases rise rapidly. Virologists know its name: H7N9. What they don’t yet know is whether this novel avian influenza virus — first reported in humans in China less than two weeks ago — will rapidly fizzle out, become established in animal... Read More
The Gulf of Mexico may have a much greater natural ability to self-clean oil spills than previously believed, an expert in bioremediation said here today at the 245th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world’s largest scientific society.
Terry C. Hazen, ... Read More
Placement of copper objects in intensive care unit (ICU) hospital rooms reduced the number of healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs) in patients by more than half, according to a new study published in the May issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, in a special topic issue focused ... Read More
In the most extensive screen of its kind, Texas Biomed scientists have demonstrated the feasibility of repurposing already-approved drugs for use against highly pathogenic bacteria and viruses. The pathogens included emerging diseases and potential bioterror threats ranging from anthrax to the M... Read More
Taking an approach similar to that used for discovering new therapeutic drugs, chemists at the University of California, Davis, have found several compounds that can boost oil production by green microscopic algae, a potential source of biodiesel and other "green" fuels. The work appears online ... Read More
The research has created the first detailed and up-to-date map of dengue distribution worldwide, enabling researchers to estimate the total numbers of people affected by the virus globally, regionally and nationally. The findings will help to guide efforts in vaccine, drug and vector control str... Read More
Lecture by C. Erec Stebbins, Associate Professor, The Rockefeller University
When it comes to the evolution of life on earth, those who have been here longest have seniority. And after four billion years, bacteria reign supreme. Unfortunately for us, some of them have been using that time to ... Read More | <urn:uuid:c0618af6-019e-43b1-ae01-5220aab38bc4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.microbeworld.org/index.php?option=com_browse&view=browse&term=6&Itemid=50&filter=365&recent=1&limitstart=180 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92951 | 1,122 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Plasma PCSK9 levels are significantly modified by statins and fibrates in humans
1 Chronic Disease Program, Ottawa Health Research Institute, The Ottawa Hospital, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
2 Clinical Research Laboratory, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, The Ottawa Hospital, University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
3 Vascular Disease Prevention and Research Centre for Southeastern Ontario, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Lipids in Health and Disease 2008, 7:22 doi:10.1186/1476-511X-7-22Published: 11 June 2008
Proprotein convertase subtilisin kexin-like 9 (PCSK9) is a secreted glycoprotein that is transcriptionally regulated by cholesterol status. It modulates levels of circulating low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLC) by negatively regulating low density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) levels. PCSK9 variants that result in 'gain of function' have been linked to autosomal dominant hypercholesterolemia, while significant protection from coronary artery disease has been documented in individuals who carry 'loss of function' PCSK9 variants. PCSK9 circulates in human plasma, and we previously reported that plasma PCSK9 is positively correlated with total cholesterol and LDLC in men.
Herein, we report the effects of two lipid-modulating therapies, namely statins and fibrates, on PCSK9 plasma levels in human subjects. We also document their effects on endogenous PCSK9 and LDLR expression in a human hepatocyte cell line, HepG2, using immunoprecipitation and immunoblot analyses. Changes in plasma PCSK9 following fenofibrate or gemfibrozil treatments (fibric acid derivatives) were inversely correlated with changes in LDLC levels (r = -0.558, p = 0.013). Atorvastatin administration (HMGCoA reductase inhibitor) significantly increased plasma PCSK9 (7.40%, p = 0.033) and these changes were inversely correlated with changes in LDLC levels (r = -0.393, p = 0.012). Immunoblot analyses of endogenous PCSK9 and LDLR expression by HepG2 cells in response to statins and fibrates showed that LDLR is more upregulated than PCSK9 by simvastatin (2.6× vs 1.5×, respectively at 10 μM), while fenofibrate did not induce changes in either.
These results suggest that in vivo (1) statins directly increase PCSK9 expression while (2) fibrates affect PCSK9 expression indirectly through its modulation of cholesterol levels and (3) that these therapies could be improved by combination with a PCSK9 inhibitor, constituting a novel hypercholesterolemic therapy, since PCSK9 was significantly upregulated by both treatments. | <urn:uuid:238d46c5-59b4-49e4-a279-2ec513c08bf8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lipidworld.com/content/7/1/22/abstract | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912211 | 611 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Here we are in 2009. The Web, which is considered by many people the most important invention of past century is certainly the fastest media changing space. At this stage anyone may become a web architect. Designers, coders and all kind of developers use their skills to create beautiful websites. Seems that nowadays everyone is able to start a site in seconds.
Either is using a free template, a free blogging system or other custom solution, every person with just a little knowledge about computers is able today to “show” something. But who are the real professionists behind the scene? Who are the real designers in this big ocean of information? Well… some years ago we could have provided a simple answer: men. But today? … Many people would say… still men. Many surveys proved that and maybe its the same, but what about women? Who else can bring emotional, stylish and artistic touch on web design other then women? We searched the web and found an impressive number of great female web designers that bring inspiration and great sensitivity in this web design community.
Please enjoy our 50 best female web designers list and in case you know about other great female designers please add them to our list.
All you have to pass ccna certification by appearing to the 640-802 cisco certified network associate exam after your mcts certification. | <urn:uuid:e75a7bd6-b9a8-4424-bf52-45db1f69028d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://indeziner.com/design/50-best-female-web-designers-around-the-world/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947539 | 272 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Loss of Mobility
Loss of mobility may range in severity from limitations of stamina to paralysis. Some mobility challenges are caused by conditions present at birth while others are the result of illness or physical injury.
Injuries to the spinal cord cause different types of mobility impairments, depending on the areas of the spine affected. Quadriplegia refers to the loss of function to the lower extremities and the lower trunk. Students with paraplegia typically use a manual wheelchair and have full movement of arms and hands.
Other cases of mobility challenges include, but are not limited to, amputation, arthritis, back disorders, cerebral palsy, neuromuscular disorders such as muscular dystrophy or multiple sclerosis and fibromyalgia.
- Many students with mobility difficulties lead lives similar to those without impairments. Dependency and helplessness are not characteristics of physical disability.
- A physical disability is often separate from matters of cognition and general health; it does not imply that a student has other health problems or difficulty with intellectual functioning.
- People adjust to disabilities in a myriad of ways. Character traits (e.g. courageous or manipulative) should not be assumed on the basis of disability.
- When talking with a wheelchair user, attempt to converse at eye level as opposed to standing and looking down. If a student has a communication impairment as well as mobility impairment, take time to understand the person. Repeat what you understand, and when you don’t understand, say so.
- A student with a physical disability may or may not want assistance in a particular situation. Ask before giving assistance, and wait for a response. Listen to any instruction the student may give. By virtue of experience, the student likely knows the safest and most efficient way to accomplish the task at hand.
- Be considerate of the extra time it might take a student with a disability to speak or act.
- Allow the student to set the pace of walking or talking. A wheelchair should be viewed as a personal-assistance device rather than something to which one is “confined.” It is also a part of a student’s personal space; do not lean on or touch the chair.
- Mobility impairments vary over a wide range, from temporary <temporary conditions checklist for website.pdf> (e.g. a broken arm) to permanent (e.g. a form of paralysis or muscle degeneration). Other impairments, such as respiratory conditions, may affect coordination and endurance. These can also affect a student’s ability to participate/perform in class.
- Physical access to a class is the first barrier a student with loss of mobility may face, but it is not the only accessibility concern. A sidewalk that hasn’t been shoveled, lack of reliable transportation, or mechanical problems with a wheelchair can easily cause a student to be late or absent.
- Common accommodations for student with mobility impairments include peer note takers, accessible classroom, location, and furniture, alternative ways of completing assignments, lab or library assistants, assistive computer technology and time extensions for exams.
- Include a disability access statement in the course syllabus such as: "To obtain disability related accommodations and/or auxiliary aids, students with disabilities must contact Access Services as soon as possible by calling 507.457.5878 or emailing email@example.com."
- If necessary, arrange for a room change to an accessible classroom.
- If possible, try not to seat wheelchair users in the back row. Move a desk or rearrange seating at a table so the student is part of the regular classroom seating.
- Height of tables should permit wheelchair access. Tables can be easily raised using blocks of wood under the legs.
- Make field trip arrangements early and ensure that accommodations will be in place on the given day (e.g. transportation, site accessibility).
- Make sure accommodations are in place for in-class written work (e.g. allowing the student to use a scribe, to use assistive computer technology, or to complete the assignment outside of class).
- Be flexible with deadlines. Assignments that require library work or access to sites off-campus will consume more time for a student with mobility impairment. Student with chronic and medicated pain may need extended time or additional explanations of material covered in class or pending assignments.
- Students using wheelchairs or other utility devices may encounter obstacles to getting to class on time. Others may have periodic or irregular difficulties, either from their disability or from medication. Faculty can help by being flexible in applying attendance and promptness rules to such students.
- When in doubt about how to assist the student, ask him or her as privately as possible without drawing attention to the student or the disability.
- Allow the student the anonymity afforded other students (i.e. avoid pointing out the student or the alternative arrangements to the rest of the class).
Maxwell Hall 314
P.O. Box 5838
Winona, MN 55987
MN Relay Service: Dial 7-1-1
Academic Year: 8am – 4:30pm
Summer Hours: 7:30am – 4pm | <urn:uuid:098049cb-f38d-4473-a3f6-36f05fed3d35> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.winona.edu/accessservices/disabilitytypes-Mobility.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917223 | 1,069 | 3.6875 | 4 |
"Megan's Law," which requires that citizens be notified when a convicted sex offender moves into their community, has survived a challenge in the New Jersey Supreme Court, but it took an odd bit of jurisprudence to do it. In order to avoid holding the law unconstitutional, the court rewrote it from the bench, inserting safeguards that a panicky New Jersey State Legislature failed to include last year.
Nevertheless, this well-intended law still violates the United States Constitution's prohibition against state laws that retroactively add to the punishment for past crimes. Even if the state courts ignore this flaw, enacting these laws is unwise.
Gov. George Pataki signed New York's version of Megan's Law on Wednesday. It has many of the safeguards the New Jersey jurists added. Most important is the right of the offender to contest in court the police's judgment that he is still dangerous. But New York's law also violates the constitutional prohibition against adding extra punishment for past crimes. Other states are passing similar laws. Various courts have produced mixed opinions, suggesting that the United States Supreme Court will soon have to confront the matter.
The New Jersey law was an outraged reaction to the rape and murder of 7-year-old Megan Kanka, who was lured into the Hamilton County home of a man twice convicted of sexually assaulting young girls. No one denies the Legislature's power to require defendants convicted of sex crimes in the future to notify local police of their whereabouts. But it is quite another matter to force public disclosure of that information about past offenders.
The New Jersey court declared that the provision was not punitive since it was intended to serve the commendable objective of informing and protecting the public. In a cogent dissent, Justice Gary Klein challenged the majority's reliance on the Legislature's benign motives, especially when the law so clearly adds to the punishment of offenders previously convicted under existing penal laws, a classic example of an ex post facto law.
The majority expressed confidence that citizens would not harass offenders or spread their names beyond the schools or communities that the law says are entitled to the information. In doing so, however, it ignored widely reported instances where private citizens have already begun to abuse the law with vigilante assaults, harassment and publicity actions.
Laws like New Jersey's are the product of genuine community anguish and rage. But as the New Jersey Supreme Court has demonstrated, these laws also lure justices into specious reasoning and legal draftsmanship beyond their competence.
Correction: August 3, 1995, Thursday An editorial last Saturday, "Megan's Law, Rewritten," about the New Jersey Supreme Court's decision upholding that law, incorrectly identified the dissenting justice. He is Gary S. Stein. It also misstated the place where the murder of 7-year-old Megan Kanka occurred; it was in Hamilton Township, not Hamilton County. | <urn:uuid:d57230a8-6aaf-4dd0-bced-0e8cdd986e22> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/29/opinion/megan-s-law-rewritten.html?src=pm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958318 | 576 | 1.5625 | 2 |
08 Jan 2013
Iran Creates `Smart Software’ to Supervise Users on Social Media
Iran is investing in customized software to help the government restrict and control citizens’ access to social networking platforms, including Twitter and Facebook.
Currently, Internet users in Iran cannot legally access popular social networking platforms as their government filters and blocks these websites with a state-approved mechanism as part of the national Internet censorship act.
Apparently these measures haven’t managed to stop Iranian Internet users from accessing banned sites because people became good at finding and using various methods to circumvent the blocks. This made the government realize that restricting and controlling users while on these sites can be more effective than banning the sites altogether.
“Smart control of social networks is better than filtering them completely,” Esmaeil Ahmadi Moghadam, head of the national security forces in Iran, told local newspaper 7Sobh. “The designing of intelligent software to control social networking websites is underway."
The “smart software” agenda follows the setting up of a Facebook page dedicated to the country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – a page that shortly became the center of attention of crowds of people in the country and abroad.
Throughout the years, Iranian authorities put a lot of effort into convincing their citizens that using social networks makes them part of a scheme set up by Western world to undermine the Islamic regime.
The Iranian Internet censorship program includes also a customized intranet meant to shield citizens against anti-Islamic content.
Source: Security Week | <urn:uuid:6a981d82-b5b8-4b19-8f40-3ad7c487b672> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bitdefender.com/security/iran-creates-smart-software-to-supervise-users-on-social-media.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943903 | 320 | 2.125 | 2 |
A 19 year old South Korean boy died after playing a game for more than 12 hours, according to a Daily News report (citing a Korean Times report). According to the report, a young man identified only by the surname "Moon" arrived at "PC Bang," an Internet cafe in the city of Ulsan, at around 2 a.m. on Dec. 27. He spent eight hours playing an "online action game" then went home to have a meal. Moon returned to PC Bang at 10:30 a.m. and resumed playing the game. At around 12:00 he collapsed and was rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors were unable to save him.
Local officials are investigating just what happened to Moon. The Daily News report doesn't come right out and blame games but it hints at it with the subtitle "Excessive gaming does more than just kill social lives, apparently." The government has been cracking down on Internet Cafes that let school-aged children from playing past certain times, and a recent law made it illegal to build a gaming parlor within a 200-meter radius of a school.
Source: Daily News | <urn:uuid:9aa5603e-d29b-4a33-bad8-8ee172f108d9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gamepolitics.com/2010/12/30/south-korean-teen-dies-after-12-hour-gaming-marathon | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978632 | 232 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Manuel Izquierdo: Myth, Nature, and Renewal
By Roger Hull
Manuel Izquierdo: Myth, Nature, and Renewal chronicles the life and times of this distinguished Portland sculptor and teacher who helped bring a new level of sophistication to Oregon modernism in the second half of the twentieth century. Throughout his 60 year career, Izquierdo created stunning and evocative sculptures in steel, wood, and stone, as well as exquisite prints and works on paper, based on mythological figures as well as abstract and biomorphic plant and animal forms.
Born in Spain in 1925, Izquierdo spent his early years in Madrid. The Spanish Civil War disrupted his childhood and he immigrated to the United States with his brother and sister in 1942, living in New York for a year before moving to Portland, Oregon in 1943. Izquierdo would eventually attend the Museum Art School in the late 1940s and early 1950s, where he studied with sculptor Frederic Littman, another European émigré. In time, Izquierdo would join the faculty at the Museum Art School, where he influenced several generations of students and emerged as a dynamic force in the Oregon art scene.
Roger Hull is senior faculty curator at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art and professor of art history emeritus at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon.
136 pp., 115 color and black/white illustrations, notes, bibliography, 8.5” x 11”
- Paper ISBN 978-1-930957-67-1
- Price: $34.95
- To order, call: 503-370-6855 | <urn:uuid:705ef96f-7e96-4b79-babe-be81cf72d9a3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://willamette.edu/arts/hfma/exhibitions/library/2012-13/manuel_lzquierdo_related/manuel_izquierdo_monograph.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9423 | 346 | 2.0625 | 2 |
New street bike sound test developed
June 19, 2009
Filed under Features
The Society of Automotive Engineers International (SAE) has produced a “simple, consistent and economical” sound test standard to determine whether an on-highway motorcycle exhaust system emits excessive sound, the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) reported in a release this week.
“The motorcycling community and law enforcement have long sought a practical field test for measuring street motorcycle exhaust sound,” AMA’s Ed Moreland said in the release. “Thanks to the hard work of the Motorcycle Industry Council, and the SAE engineers involved in the project, for the first time a simple field test is now available.”
The standard, which the SAE issued in May, establishes instrumentation, test site, test conditions, procedures, measurements and sound level limits. It is known as the J2825 “Measurement of Exhaust Sound Pressure Levels of Stationary On-Highway Motorcycles.”
The new standard follows a template established by the SAE J1287 off-highway motorcycle sound test, a standard the AMA says it recommends wherever off-highway motorcycles are operated.
Street bike measurements require holding a calibrated sound meter at a 45-degree angle 20 inches from the exhaust pipe of a running engine. The procedure spells out how to do the test with the bike at idle, at a predetermined engine speed or by slowly increasing the engine speed of the bike.
The creation of a new street motorcycle sound measurement procedure was a top recommendation of the 2003 National Summit on Motorcycle Sound, the AMA said.
The SAE J2825 standard can be downloaded on the SAE Web site for a fee here. | <urn:uuid:0af6f377-c813-42a7-a249-e17359ae12be> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.powersportsbusiness.com/features/2009/06/19/new-street-bike-sound-test-developed/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909634 | 359 | 1.96875 | 2 |
|Many Afghans accuse Pakistan of backing armed groups that foment instability within their country [Reuters]
Hundreds of Afghans have taken to the streets of Kabul to condemn the recent shelling of border towns by Pakistan's army and accusing its powerful spy agency of involvement in the killing of Burhanuddin Rabbani, the country's influential former president.
Sunday's protest came amid heightened tensions between the neighbours, with Afghan officials blaming Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Taliban's senior leadership over Rabbani's assassination last month.
Rabbani, who was head of a peace council tasked with trying to reach a negotiated settlement to the 10-year war, was killed at his Kabul home on September 20 by a suicide bomber who claimed to be carrying a message of peace from the Taliban leadership.
Angry protesters, gathered under tight security, chanted "Death to Pakistan" and "Death to ISI".
"Pakistan and its ISI must stop interfering in Afghanistan. Our patience is running out," said Daoud Kodamani, a 22-year-old university student.
Top Haqqani commander arrested in Afghanistan
"Fighting our country's enemies is nothing new for Afghans and Pakistan is another enemy to fight with," he said.
Many Afghans have long accused Pakistan and the ISI of backing armed groups to further Islamabad's own interests, which Pakistan denies.
Afghan provincial officials say Pakistan's military fired hundreds of rockets between September 21-25 in eastern Kunar and Nuristan provinces, which share a long border with lawless tribal areas inside Pakistan.
Although the shelling did not cause significant casualties, it followed more than a month of bombardments by Pakistan's military in June and July that Afghanistan said had killed at least 42 people.
Pakistan has repeatedly blamed Afghanistan for allowing armed groups to find refuge on its side of the border.
A spokesman for Hamid Karzai meanwhile said the Afghan president was reviewing his strategy for making peace with the Taliban and would reveal the next steps "very soon".
"All peace talks with the Taliban are suspended," said Siamak Herawi on Sunday. "The president will review the peace and reconciliation strategy."
Jalal Rabbani, son of Burhanuddin Rabbani, told Al Jazeera that the Taliban were "enemies of peace and we will not be sitting with them when they don't discuss peace".
On Friday, Karzai expressed frustration with senior Afghan Taliban chiefs and stressed the need to hold discussions with Pakistan to ensure security.
"If [the Pakistanis] would like to see peace in Afghanistan, it is within their reach; and right now the world needs to convince them that the only way to proceed in Afghanistan is through peaceful manners," said Rabbani.
He also accused Pakistan of playing "double games" and purposely providing Afghans with false intelligence about armed groups.
Afghanistan's intelligence agency said on Saturday that it had handed Pakistan evidence that the Taliban's leadership plotted Rabbani's assassination on Pakistani soil.
The National Directorate of Security (NDS) said that the killing was planned in a suburb of the Pakistani city of Quetta. Pakistan denies the claim.
Meanwhile, the United States is also stepping up pressure on Pakistan to take action against the Taliban-allied Haqqani network.
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently charged that the Haqqani network was a "veritable arm" of Pakistan's intelligence service.
US President Barack Obama added Friday that Islamabad has "got to take care of this problem".
Jalal Rabbani told Al Jazeera that it was time the international community recognised Pakistan's role in fomenting instability in Afghanistan.
"It is time that the Security Council conveys a meeting particularly in regards to Pakistan that they are actively involving themselves in terrorism, supporting terrorism of any kind - violent, extremist," he said.
On Saturday, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said it had captured Haji Mali Khan, a senior Haqqani commander who is also the uncle of its de facto leader Sirajuddin Haqqani. | <urn:uuid:1f515dda-bae5-4f8a-8e63-737fb7d0c36c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2011/10/201110291948747336.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963171 | 832 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Joseph Stiglitz, a renowned economist, has just published a book entitled The Price of Inequality, in which he directly tackles the cost and root causes of societal inequality. While I do not agree with his broad recommendations or his overall view of the world, I believe that he correctly identifies inequality of political access and influence as the source of economic inequality.
Based on the experiences of being involved with both government and private sector marketplaces in which individuals have gotten very rich or successful, I would make four broad observations about economic inequality:
- More complex customer procurement rules or political systems increase inequality;
- More intensive government regulation to redistribute opportunity increases inequality;
- “Stimulative” government programs to increase opportunity increase inequality; and
- Many well-intended, but flawed, rating, ranking and measurement increase inequality.
Complexity, over-reaching government regulation, stimulus programs and badly designed rating, ranking, and measurement systems benefit people with pre-existing advantages and widen their advantages, and, in some cases, they become obscenely rich.
Increasing system complexity increases inequality.
When I was at Pitney Bowes, we were investigated several times for having achieved leadership positions in mail-related markets. The Justice Department assumed that we must have done something wrong to have a leadership position that spanned several decades. They were wrong, and, eventually, after five investigations in 22 years, they implicitly admitted that something other than bad conduct was behind our leadership position.
The technical and process complexity of how we evidenced and collected postal revenues, both through postage meters and mail service operations, gave us a huge advantage. The postal rate structure for work-sharing discounts was extremely complex. Success depended on successfully making arguments that caused the Postal Service and the Postal Regulatory Commission to approve increases in particular discounts of as little as .1 cents. Every .1 cent discount increase we received gave us over $10 million of operating income. To make these arguments required us to hire and educate postal economic specialists, who understood the unique economics of postal mail processing. Without the complexity of postal economics, which few economists could master, we would not have the significant competitive advantage that enabled us to grow and be profitable.
There was nothing sinister about this complexity. It was no different from the economics of other public utility pricing systems, but, because postal mail economics was a smaller perceived business opportunity, few economists attempted to master it, which gave us a big opportunity.
The more complex the discount structures became, the more difficult it became for our smaller competitors, many of whom were anxious to have us acquire them. Our experience is replicated every day as large private sector companies create very complex procurement processes that benefit incumbents or large, resource-rich vendors, at the expense of start-up businesses.
More intrusive government regulation and attempts to redistribute wealth, income, and opportunity have exactly the opposite effect.
This is the point at which I most completely diverge from Stiglitz and others sharing his point of view. When governments try to “level the playing field” between those they believe to be advantaged and disadvantaged, they are more likely to increase inequality.
Complex and comprehensive laws and regulations that attempt to micromanage the economy to redistribute wealth increase inequality in two ways:
- They give advantages to those with more know how and resources to figure out how to play more effectively within the new rules.
New York City rent control laws have been in place since 1947. They have benefited wealthy people who can maintain a New York apartment and spend their own money for capital improvements, since no honest landlord can afford to invest in upgrading rent-controlled apartments for lower-income tenants. They also benefit unscrupulous landlords, because they are designed to protect absurdly low rents only while the existing tenant is in place. Instead of improving the housing stock to increase the value of the property, landlords finding creative ways to force out or buy out rent-controlled tenants, either by renting adjacent apartments to rock musicians or motorcycle gangs, refusing to make basic repairs, or engaging in noisy construction. The rent control laws induce this dysfunctional behavior because they create a wide gap between the market rate and the rent control rate. Wealthy tenants can fight these abuses, but the lower-income tenants rent control laws are designed to protect cannot fight back easily.
- They create a new class of people who thrive on being intermediaries, consultants, or other service providers in the marketplace created by these redistribution schemes. Addressing the needs of these various intermediaries adds cost, complexity, and inequality to any marketplace these intermediaries touch.
Public sector labor unions clearly thrive when the government creates more jobs to “redistribute” wealth, since more government employees are needed in such an environment. Civil service professionals do well by “monitoring” the disbursement of funds from government to “disadvantaged” people. Major agricultural corporations benefit from highly profitable food stamp programs. Firms that provide specialized software for managing government social service programs make a lot of money licensing that software to non-profits that have to comply with complex government requirements. Ross Perot became a billionaire because he mastered the intricacies of serving government programs, first at EDS and later at Perot Systems. Not surprisingly, an individual, a small business, or an under-resourced large business will have an even greater disadvantage the more of these intermediaries with which they have to deal.
- Title IX has created a whole new cottage industry of parents, coaches, guidance counselors, college counselors, and providers of athletic equipment that benefit from building girl’s sports teams at the K-12 level. Wealthy, resourceful people “game” the college applications process at top-rated schools by getting their daughters into Title IX-induced sports like lacrosse, equestrian sports, squash, and rowing. Greater governmental intervention to redistribute wealth, income, and opportunity simply creates new opportunity for those who are already rich. Title IX has created new opportunity for women, but has significantly skewed all sports toward wealthier women and men. The sports programs that get cut to support a new women’s sports program in lacrosse, squash or equestrian sports are inevitably sports that are more accessible to lower income students, like baseball, track and field, or swimming.
Government “stimulus” programs get burdened by the inevitably costly, onerous and time-consuming audit and compliance programs that accompany them. Wealthy, resourceful people are far smarter in navigating through these expensive requirements.
Elected officials so completely distrust those to whom they give money for stimulus purposes, and are so concerned about failing to catch fraud, waste, and abuse that they insert requirements that slow up the flow of money and siphon off money that should go toward stimulus. This was amply documented in Michael Grabell’s comprehensive analysis of what went right and wrong with the stimulus legislation in Money Well Spent? Many well-intended programs were delayed and costlier because of an excessive preoccupation with government rules and processes.
One example was the weather-stripping program that was going to reduce energy costs for homeowners, reduce environmental pollution, and provide middle-class jobs for people of moderate skills. Despite the program’s obvious merits, it was delayed for several months in communities that did not apply the resources to get the government to define “prevailing wages” for determining compensation. Wealthier communities were far better able to drive the government to act than their economically challenged counterparts.
Major infrastructure programs end up in wealthier states and localities and major government spending programs often are disproportionately spent in wealthier communities, because these communities can marshal the resources to do what it takes to get the money, especially when the program requires matching funds.
My favorite example of this last point (although it did not arise from any stimulus legislation) was the case of Westhampton Dunes, a community formed in the early 1990’s at the western end of a barrier island in a super-wealthy resort area on Long Island. A group of very wealthy real estate speculators bought up beachfront homes that had been severely damaged by ocean wave surges during storms in the late 1980’s, at prices ranging from $50,000 to $100,000 per property. The damage to beaches and homes was caused by a shortsighted county supervisor decision not to fund the construction of protective barriers along several miles of beach (because he thought it only helped wealthy homeowners.) The speculators petitioned the Army Corps of Engineers and the state of New York for 91% of the funds required for beach replenishment and the construction of protective barriers, and then assessed the wealthy owners of the beachfront properties for the remaining 9%.
After the Army Corps of Engineer project was completed, each property was worth millions of dollars. The homeowners got very rich from this well-intentioned government program, because they had the capital and the network to assemble the property, the money and the lobbying strength. The real estate speculators who benefited were far wealthier than those who sold their homes at $50,000 to these speculators.
Many well-intended rating, ranking, and measurement systems have the unintended consequences of increasing inequality.
Given the apparent importance of a college degree from a “good school,” the competition to get into “good schools” is more ferocious than ever. Schools appear to be more exclusive than ever is that schools actually have the incentive to increase the number of applicants they reject. The U.S. News & World Reports college ranking and rating system ranks schools higher, based on their “exclusivity.” As a result, many schools encourage applications from many students who, realistically, have no chance to be admitted.
The flood of applications creates additional complexity and risk for those who actually are qualified, but might be rejected, simply because admissions officers have too many applications to review and have to use shortcuts to screen out applicants. Wealthier people spend a considerable amount of money and time working with college counselors, who help their children “game” the applications process. The ranking system helps create the conditions that make this “gaming” necessary and more effective.
To bring greater “rationality” into the reimbursement system for physicians, Medicare and Medicaid adopted a system developed by a Harvard Medical School professor called the “Relative Value Resource Based System” in the late 1980’s. Payments for clinical encounters were determined by a complex points system, which over-rewards complex procedures undertaken by highly-trained specialists, as opposed to simple cures through consultations by primary care physicians. The end result: American has so lopsided a reimbursement in favor of subspecialists versus primary care physicians that we only see 4% of medical school graduates go into primary care. This is one reason why our healthcare costs are so high relative to other developed countries. We excessively reward skill and inadequately reward cost-effective performance.
Stiglitz and others are correct that persistent and widening inequality is dangerous and destructive of the American dream. However, the notion that government intervention is the “cure” for this inequality is misguided. Government has done a great deal, in the interests of eliminating inequality in the past, to create the conditions that have led to the inequality we face now. I do not believe that the future would be any different. | <urn:uuid:59f8aaac-65a1-4003-984e-801088649086> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mikecritelli.com/category/innovation/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964755 | 2,325 | 2.46875 | 2 |
HARVESTING AND GINNING PROCESSES TO ENHANCE THE PROFITABILITY OF STRIPPER COTTON
Location: Cotton Production and Processing Research
Title: COMPARISON OF COTTON-BASED HYDRO-MULCHES TO CONVENTIONAL WOOD AND PAPER HYDRO-MULCHES-STUDY II
Research conducted cooperatively with:
| Prt Marketing, Llc.|
Submitted to: Journal of Cotton Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: August 10, 2005
Publication Date: September 11, 2005
Citation: Holt, G., Buser, M., Harmel, D., Potter, K. 2005. Comparison of cotton-based hydro-mulches and conventional wood and paper hydro-mulches--Study II. The Journal of Cotton Science. 9:128-134.
Interpretive Summary: Mulches are commonly used to reduce soil erosion resulting from rainfall from sites with steep slopes, bare soil, or construction activity. Mulches that are applied using hydro-seeders or hydro-mulchers are known as hydro-mulches. Conventional hydro-mulches are commonly made from paper, wood, or some blend thereof. In a previous study, conventional hydro-mulches were compared to cotton-based mulches produced from cotton gin byproducts and cottonseed hulls. This study is a follow-up study from the first evaluation. A total of six mulches were evaluated: a) paper hydro-mulch, b) wood hydro-mulch, c) three cotton gin byproduct mulches produced using the COBY process, and d) cottonseed hulls. The mulches were applied on an unconsolidated sandy clay loam soil tilted at a 9% slope using a commercial hydro-mulcher at rates of 2000 and 3000 lb/acre. Mulches evaluated in the study experienced a 4.1 inches of simulated rain per hour. Results indicate the cotton-based mulches performed equal to of better than the wood and paper hydro-mulches in reducing erosion and promoting grass seed establishment. The COBY mulch produced from Texas stripper gin waste had significantly less soil in the runoff than did either the wood or paper mulches. However, the soil coverage of the cotton-based mulches was lower than the wood and paper mulches. Overall, the cotton-based mulches performed well and show great promise for erosion control applications, but refinement of the product is needed in order to produce a product that provides soil coverage equal to its performance in reducing soil erosion.
The erosion of soil from steep slopes, bare soil, or construction sites can create gully formations that adversly impact fish and/or wildlife in the surronding environment as well as limiting the ability of beneficial vegetation to become established. Mulches have been one means of mitigating the effects of erosion. Mulches that are commonly applied to disturbed soil or steep slopes with a hydro-mulcher are commonly known as hydro-mulches. Wood and paper are the most commonly used hydro-mulches. In this study, conventional wood and paper hydro-mulches were compared to cottonseed hulls and three thypes of processed cotton gin by-products. The mulches were applied at two rates, 2241 and 3362 kg/ha (2000 and 3000 lb/ac). An unconsolidated sandy clay loam soil on a 9% slope was used and subjected to a 10.41 cm/hr (4.01-in/hr) rain event. The response variables investigated were: 1)mulch loss (as percent of applied), 2) soil loss, 3) grass seed establishment, and 4) mulch coverage factor (C-Factor). Results indicated the initial C-Factor values for the cotton-based mulches were lower than the wood or paper mulches. However, even with the lower C-Factor values for the cotton-based mulches perform equal to or better than the conventional wood and paper mulches in reducing soil erosion and promoting grass seed establishment. Overall, the cotton-based mulches showed great promise in erosion control applications but refinement of the product is needed in order to produce a hydro-mulch that provides soil coverage equal to the performance seen in reducing soil erosion. | <urn:uuid:3eca322c-17f9-43b2-827f-4d828d334313> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications/publications.htm?SEQ_NO_115=180071 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943171 | 904 | 2.640625 | 3 |
When investment banker and hobby mycologist Gordon Wasson embarked on his first psychedelic shroom journey with the Mixatec shaman Maria Sabina, 1947 in Huautla de Jimenez, Oaxaca, he could hardly have fathomed that this very incident was not only to open "the doors of perception" (as Huxley so aptly described the psychedelic experience in his famous book of 1954) for him, accompanying fotographer Allan Richardson and Wasson's wife Valentina but, in the years and decades to come, hundred thousands of others, God-seekers, fun-lovers, hippies, mycophiles and celebrities like Jo
On Monday August 5, after "seven terrifying knuckle-in-teeth minutes", the Mars rover Curiosity successfully landed on Martian grounds, causing excessive shoulder patting among NASA engineers and U.S. government officials. In the months to come the spacecraft will investigate Gale Crater, the terrain surrounding its landing site Aeolis Palus, to explore Martian climate and geology and trace back the history of liquid water on the planet.
Peeing on a Frog's Back: Xenopus Laevis and Early Pregnancy Testing
Bugs and beetles have not exactly ranged among humans' darling species in the past, but they might as well become the heros of tomorrow, a new microelectromechanical technology developed at the U.S. University of Michigan suggests. Equipped with minute microphones, cameras, and/or gas sensors, the insects could soon scout hazardous environments like collapsed buildings or contaminated zones and so facilitate search and rescue operations.
Sexual mimicry is not an unusual phenomenon in the animal world. In a number of species, males frequently exhibit female sexual behavior, either to evade conflicts with rivaling males or to enjoy benefits that would otherwise be reserved for the female population. An example often cited to illustrate the case is the garter snake. Peculiarly, male garter snakes have often been found to mimic their female counterparts only during the first two days after emerging from hibernation.
All of us are acquainted with the phenomenon of bioluminescence and most have seen it, one way or the other, with their own eyes, be it glowing plankton on the sea or a swarm of fire flies. Bioluminescence is relatively rare in land dwellers (some insects such as fireflies, earthworms, and glowing fungi build the exception) but could be called standard in ocean inhabitants. There are, in fact, many places in the open oceans where bioluminescence does occur in 80 to 90% of all organisms; it is used to find food, attract a mate, lure prey, camouflage, or fight off predators.
The journal Marine Ecology Progress Series (MEPS) reports that man's efforts at protecting habitat have not been able to stem the decline in species diversity over the past 40 years. This is despite the continued expansion of protected wildlife areas, of which 8 million square miles have been established since 1960. The Living Planet Index, an indicator of global biodiversity put out by the World Wildlife Federation and the London Zoo, indicates a steady decline in terrestrial and marine species over the same time period.
Until a few years ago, tool-making was thought to be a skill unique to humans. It seems now that not only great apes but also monkeys are more intelligent than we thought. Researchers from Durham University, UK, filmed a mandrill picking his toenails with a stripped twig very likely prepared for exactly that purpose. While other primates like chimpanzees are known for a rather sophisticated use of selfmade tools - they were, for instance, not only seen cracking open fruit and nuts with stones as hammer and anvil but also chopping up their food into smaller, more handy pieces using stone cleavers- monkeys have obviously been underestimated in the past. | <urn:uuid:b612f67f-e6f0-4fbf-a7d9-4d1e8510ec15> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.species.com/category/channels/science | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948224 | 782 | 2.171875 | 2 |
||Scanning transmission electron microscopes (STEMs) are the tools of choice for nanotechnology research, since they are capable of producing images with magnifications in excess of 1 million and verifiable measurements in the range of a few Angstroms. There is currently a strong industrial push for automating STEMs.
Such automation requires to control a number of parameters, such as defocus range, optical aberration strength, or sample positioning, which can only be measured from images. The image formation process in a STEM microscope can be considered a linear system over space, whose transfer function varies over time. Moreover, under very simplified conditions, this behavior can be modeled by a PDE.
Thus, the goal of this master thesis project is to develop a Simulink-based simulation environment for the image formation process of a TEM microscope using as a starting point the current PDE simulation tools. This simulator will then be used to test different control strategies for the microscope | <urn:uuid:c6d29595-a79f-40d4-ab0f-5a9040a68aa1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dcsc.tudelft.nl/Education/ThesisProposals/proposal-5672.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910273 | 195 | 1.875 | 2 |
"Do Not Track" Has It Backwards
By Tony Bradley, PCWorld
Google is doing its part for Internet privacy by adding a Do Not Track feature to its Chrome Web browser. The move is admirable, and Do Not Track may be better than nothing, but why should users have to opt out of having their online actions monitored?
The move from Google comes in the wake of allegations that it has been circumventing privacy controls in the Safari Web browser on iOS devices, and in Internet Explorer to track online activity. However, it is not a reaction to that controversy. A Google spokesperson told me: ?We've been evaluating our [Do Not Track] options for a long time and have also been closely involved with standards bodies.?
Google is jumping on the "Do Not Track" bandwagon by adding the feature to the Chrome browser.
It also comes on the heels of increased pressure from Washington DC in the form of President Obama?s blueprint for a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights. Susan Wojcicki, Google Senior Vice President for Advertising, praised that initiative. ?We?re pleased to join a broad industry agreement to respect the ?Do Not Track? header in a consistent and meaningful way that offers users choice and clearly explained browser controls.?
More details: http://www.pcworld.c....html#tk.hp_new | <urn:uuid:34051891-5ee3-4bc2-86cd-ac9f5f25c129> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gladiator-antivirus.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=122572 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933324 | 273 | 2 | 2 |
- Historic Sites
Uncle Tom? Not Booker T.
August 1968 | Volume 19, Issue 5
Yet there was always an undertow of force. In the plantation family the Negroes were the perpetual stepchildren, linked not only by law but by ties of dependence and enmity in an ambivalence that could not be resolved. For the Negro child, even after he grew up, was rarely allowed to leave. On this point, Washington did not want to be misunderstood. He wrote of the devotion some slaves felt for their masters, but he made it clear that he was not contributing to southern myth: “From some things I have said one may get the idea that some of the slaves did not want freedom. This is not true. I have never seen one who did not want to be free, nor one who would return to slavery.”
The Burroughs family, like many other slaveholdJL ers, were slaves themselves in a sense, bound to a system that made them unkind without thinking. Little Booker was born on the packed dirt floor of a ramshackle cabin because that was the way things were in back-country Virginia in the 1850’s. His white owners lived far from luxuriously. James Burroughs owned approximately two hundred acres in the poorer section of Franklin County, and he did not have a grand “Big House” with Greek Revival pillars. Like most Big Houses, his was large mainly in contrast to “the Quarters”—an elaborate term for the plantation’s two slave cabins. Riders jolting down the Burroughs lane from the pike would have seen the house as the small-porched center of a cluster of outbuildings, dwarfed by a large barn on the right. The house had originally been only a two-room log cabin; an ell, a back porch, and a half-storied second floor had been added. The kitchen shack was behind the house, and it was there that Jane, as plantation cook, lived with her children.
Booker’s home for nine years was a windowless room, about twelve by sixteen feet, with a big fireplace at one end. In the humid summers the heat seemed unbearable; in the winters the ill-fitting door and the cracks in the wall let in the cold. The beds were “pallets” that were rearranged every night from rags in the corner. Jane’s children had all been born there. Booker and his older brother, John, were fathered by different white men; his little sister, Amanda, by Jane’s slave husband. This, too, was the way things were in slavery, but on this plantation there was conscious guilt about it. James Burroughs’ father was a Baptist preacher and this was a religious family.
White people lowered their voices when they discussed the parentage of mulatto slaves, and the very verbs they used were indicative of uneasiness. When it came to Jane’s first child, John, they “blamed” Ben Burroughs, second son of Jane’s master. When it came to Booker, they “accused” one of the Fergusons.
The identity of his father was one secret Washington never divulged. In Up From Slavery he wrote him off: “I do not even know his name. I have heard reports to the effect that he was a white man who lived on one of the nearby plantations. Whoever he was, I never heard of his taking the least interest in me, or providing in any way for my rearing.”
Even his mulatto relative Biah Ferguson, when she accused Washington of not telling the whole truth, could not have wanted him to name his father. Not only the whites but the Negroes who absorbed their attitudes felt shame as well as anger about their sexual exploitation. The majority of slave women yielded to white men with the docility of despair—and then were considered immoral by white society. Biah herself was the illegitimate child of a slave named Mary Ann and her master—a planter named Josiah Ferguson, who lived in a handsome brick house across the pike from the Burroughs plantation. When people asked Biah why she didn’t claim her relationship with Washington when he became famous, she said simply, “when you talk about that, you’re talking about my mother.”
This could also have been the reason that Washington, who adored his mother, dismissed the topic as briefly as he could. But certainly he could not help knowing he was a Ferguson. He looked like the white Ferguson family and very much like Biah and her little brothers and sisters across the road. Like them he had large gray eyes, so startling in a brown face as to look almost luminous. Probably he also knew exactly which one of the large Ferguson family was his father. All the evidence points to Josiah Ferguson’s second eldest son, a brilliant, unreliable charmer named Thomas Benjamin Ferguson.
Ben, as he was called, was said to be “the brightest Ferguson that ever had that name.” He was a twenty-five-year-old bachelor when his presumed son, Booker, was born. By the time Jane’s baby was four Ben had moved away from the family and was in business for himself. He had a tobacco factory three miles down the pike near the post office of Taylor’s Store, but his operation was unimpressive compared to the factory run by his industrious older brother, John Cardwell Ferguson, down at Halesford. When Ben enlisted in the Franklin Rangers—in the very first muster of May, 1861—the family finally had cause for pride in him. | <urn:uuid:d0883090-1978-4aa7-872e-e434617e054a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.americanheritage.com/content/uncle-tom-not-booker-t?page=5 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.991345 | 1,195 | 3.28125 | 3 |
Jun 27, 2011 -
MANCHESTER, CONNECTICUT – Over 100 participants recently attended a parenting presentation at Manchester Memorial Hospital, “No I Won’t, and You Can’t Make Me,” which was sponsored by Eastern Connecticut Health Network’s (ECHN) Family Development Center. The event featured Bill Corbett, an Enfield-based parenting professional. He is also the author of Love, Limits & Lessons and founder/president of Cooperative Kids, a national network of parent educators. During his two-hour presentation, he provided parenting advice for today’s busy families.
Corbett shared 10 irrefutable facts about children.
1. They live only in the moment.
2. They don’t care about cleanliness.
3. They get easily frustrated.
4. They learn by testing boundaries.
5. They need to feel powerful.
6. They strive to belong to the social unit.
7. They have no time management skills.
8. They are wired to explore and discover their world.
9. They don’t always like their sibling or playmate.
10. They are affected by adult emotional chaos (it can create irreparable misbehavior).
The audience learned to replace old discipline techniques with a “new toolbox,” tailored for today’s families.
Corbett was entertaining and humorous. His use of video clips, his practical suggestions, and his real-life examples were very effective.
ECHN’s Family Development Center operates a variety of programs for children and their families: Early Head Start; Nurturing Families Network; Family Resource Centers in Manchester and Vernon; Family Enrichment Services. For more information about the Family Development Center, please contact Ardith Crampton, Manager, at 860.646.1222, Ext. 2442.
Phil Corbett explains his “toolbox” of new discipline techniques to a packed auditorium at Manchester Memorial Hospital. | <urn:uuid:ba930cc9-a67d-46c9-8d29-a4a75f9dd930> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://echn.org/News/News-Articles/Parenting--Toolbox%E2%80%9D-Offers-Families-New-Discipline.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934408 | 417 | 1.820313 | 2 |
South Korea has recently had a ground breaking for a large scale remaking of the four major rivers known as the Han, Nakdong, Yeongsan and Geum. The project includes dredging of the rivers and construction of dikes, reservoirs and hydro-dams whilst creating parks, bikeways, and water recreation areas. This is a major undertaking by South Korea and its President Lee Myung-bak, Lee has a successful track record with rehabilitating rivers as it was during his term as Mayor of Seoul that the successful rehabilitation of 5.8km Cheonggyecheon River occurred.
The Four Rivers Project is expected to cost $19.2 billion USD and is expected to increase the water quality and flood control of the rivers which are somewhat polluted. 400 green groups have filed suit against the project to halt its progress based on environmental grounds including disruption to the ecosystem. The political opposition have joined with the green groups in opposing the project, however the government has countered that thorough environmental studies show minimal distrubance will occur and project will bring great economic benefits to the region.
SOURCES: The Chosun Ilbo – 4-Rivers Project Passes Nat’l Assembly Committee
Arirang – Groundbreaking Ceremony for 4 River Restoration Project Held
New York Times – River Project Fuels Competing Claims of Green | <urn:uuid:566c8ffe-7e79-482c-a8ed-9a14ee75adf6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://worldlandscapearchitect.com/tag/geum/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968772 | 274 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Hard red winter wheat crop receives disaster declaration
Wheat growers in the Southern Plains have known the effects of a drought for about 120 consecutive weeks, and now their neighbors to the north have been added to the drought disaster list. Nearly 600 US counties—20% of them—have been declared disaster areas in the first such USDA designation in 2013. Drought and heat, an environment unsatisfactory for the development of the hard red winter wheat crop, have seriously threatened the vitality of the crop.
While disaster declarations were weekly events in 2012, adding dozens of counties at a time to a growing list that included 2,245 by year’s end, the initial declaration came quickly in 2013. And it is all because of the US wheat crop that began its life in the worst condition since USDA began reporting wheat condition and crop progress.
USDA officially identified 597 counties as primary disaster areas and made farmers eligible for low interest loans. USDA said, “The 597 counties have shown a drought intensity value of at least D2 (Drought Severe) for eight consecutive weeks based on U.S. Drought Monitor measurements, providing for an automatic designation.”
Disaster Program Benefits
USDA identified 9 program initiatives that are available to help farmers in the disaster counties as well as the low interest loans.
Those included “USDA actions to get help to farmers, ranchers and businesses impacted by the 2012 drought, including lowering the interest rate for emergency loans, working with crop insurance companies to provide flexibility to farmers, and expanding the use of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres for haying and grazing, which opened 2.8 million acres and brought nearly $200 million in forage for all livestock producers during a critical period. Many of those same actions continue to bring relief to producers ahead of the 2013 planting season.”
The 597 primary counties designated as disaster areas Wednesday by USDA were in these states: Alabama, 14; Arkansas, 47; Arizona, 4; Colorado, 30; Georgia, 92; Hawaii, 2; Kansas, 88; Oklahoma, 76; Missouri, 31; New Mexico, 19; Nevada, 9; South Carolina, 11; Texas, 157; and Utah, 17. The Farm Service Agency has individual counties list here. With 88 Kansas and 76 Oklahoma counties among the 597, much of the hard red winter wheat area in the Southern Plains is included in the disaster declaration.
There was an indication of the declining quality of the crop in the USDA’s Wheat Outlook published December 31. It reported:
"Winter wheat conditions as of November 25 are not as favorable as last year at this time. For all winter wheat seedings, 33% of the crop rated good to excellent compared to 52% a year ago. 26% of the seedings this year are rated poor to very poor compared to 13% a year ago at this time.
"This year’s crop conditions are quite variable by region of the country. Conditions for HRW seedings are not as good as for SRW seedings. For the Central and Southern Plains, the percentage of seedings rated poor to very poor are: Nebraska, 46; Oklahoma, 44; and Texas, 40; and Kansas, 25. South Dakota is even worse, with 64 percent of the crop rated poor to very poor." | <urn:uuid:3b9b2c1d-e91c-43de-94c2-7fd98b4f4623> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.agprofessional.com/resource-centers/wheat/news/Hard-red-winter-wheat-crop-receives-disaster-declaration-186463541.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965433 | 679 | 2.765625 | 3 |
He's behind you! Elizabeth Vernon, Countess of Southampton by an Unknown artist, circa 1620. © National Portrait Gallery, London
Students researching a new display of Tudor portraits in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery have uncovered a ghost figure, which may be Shakespeare's only known patron, Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton.
The discovery was made when the portrait was x-rayed for a display of portraits at the National Trust property Montacute House, Somerset, curated by students from Bristol University.
The portrait had been subsequently painted over with a portrait of Elizabeth Vernon, Southampton's wife, by the unknown artist, possibly because a commission for a double portrait of husband and wife was abandoned in favour of the single portrait seen today.
A favourite of Elizabeth I, Henry Wriothesley, (1573 -1624), was the only known patron of Shakespeare, who dedicated his poem Venus and Adonis to him (1593). Some hold the theory that Shakespeare's sonnets were addressed to him.
Southampton's tempestuous relationship with the Queen culminated in his involvement in Essex's rebellion in 1601. Condemned to death when the rebellion failed, his punishment was commuted to life imprisonment and he was released by James I.
The x-ray shows the portrait behind the Countess of Southampton. © NPG
The portrait shows Elizabeth Vernon, a maid of honour to Elizabeth I, who was involved in an intrigue with Henry Wriothesley in 1595. She married him in secret three years later.
She is shown in her forties after several decades of marriage. She wears a black dress slashed to reveal scarlet fabric, a white lace coif adorned with pearls and a scarlet flower to match.
Her jewels include ruby earrings and a ring on the little finger of her right hand. The 'S' on her chain presumably stands for 'Southampton' and suggests that the miniature locket which she wears on her chest may contain a portrait of her husband.
Another very similar version of this portrait, attributed to van Somer, exists at Sherborne Castle, Dorset, very close to Montacute House, where this portrait can now be seen.
On the Nature of Women: Tudor and Jacobean Portraiture 1535-1620 runs until October 1 2009. | <urn:uuid:bbf24f31-28f3-4fdc-8651-dc326acb827c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.culture24.org.uk/history%20%26%20heritage/literature%20%26%20music/art56980 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970445 | 485 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Guess what I found today? You can read here two pages from this book. Here is all the text directly from the book, excluding those weird table thingies:
Different Methods of Potion Preparation
Indeed, from antiquity until well into the Modern Ages, a physics devoid of metaphysical insight would have been as unsatisfying as a metaphysical devoid of physical manifestation. The best known goals of the alchemists were the transmutation of common metals into Gold or Silver (less well known is plant alchemy, or “Spagryic”), and the creation of a “panacea,” a remedy that supposedly would cure all diseases and prolong life indefinitely, and the discovery of a universal solvent.
The Right Use of the Ingredients
Alchemists enjoyed prestige and support through the centuries, though not for their pursuit of those goals, nor the mystic and philosophical speculation that dominates their literature. Rather it was for their mundane contributions to the chemical industries of the day the invention of gunpowder, ore testing and refining, metal working, production of ink, dyes, paints, and cosmetics, leather tanning, ceramics and glass manufacture, preparation of extracts & liquors, and so on It seems that the preparation of aqua vitae, the “water of life”, was a fairly popular “experiment” among Europeans. Potions, from antiquity until well into the Modern Age, a physics devoid of metaphysical insight would have been as unsatisfying as a metaphysics devoid of physical manifestation. For one thing, the lack of common words for chemical concepts and processes, as well as the need for secrecy, led alchemists to borrow the terms and symbols of biblical and pagan mythology, astrology, kabbalah and other mystic and esoteric fields; so that even the plainest chemical recipe ended up reading like an abstruse magic incantation. | <urn:uuid:4e275593-4017-4d86-b6f6-c7b66c15fc80> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Talk:Advanced_Potion-Making | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96134 | 385 | 1.984375 | 2 |
The following data is extracted from Genealogy and Biography of Ontario County, New York.
Charles H. Goodman, son of Henry H. Goodman, was born in Saginaw, Michigan, August 9, 1872. He attended the public schools of his native town, and after coming to Phelps with his parents, when he was ten years of age, he completed his education there in the public schools.
He assisted his father on the farm at Phelps during his youth and has always followed farming. He has been prosperous and successful in business. He is prominent in social and public life. In politics he is a Republican. He was elected highway commissioner in 1904 and 1906, and town superintendent of highways in 1909. He is a member of the Maccabees and has been First Master of Guards and Lieutenant of the Commandery.
He married, November 10, 1892, Carrie E. Smith, born February 2, 1870, daughter of Asahel and Adaline (Wright) Smith. Children: Raymond, born February 5, 1894; Ella May, born August 31, 1896, died aged four years; Leon Byron, born November 6, 1899; Carl Smith, born August 27, 1902.
Source: Genealogy and Biography of Ontario County, New York | <urn:uuid:2a10a609-7a03-4dd5-b769-a110e209e740> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.accessgenealogy.com/scripts/data/database.cgi?file=Data&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=0014568 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.989598 | 262 | 1.914063 | 2 |
Posts Tagged ‘indonesia radical islam’
Late last week, I published an article with World Politics Review looking at the threat that radical Islam presents to democracy in Indonesia.
I particularly highlighted Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s timidity in the face of the rise of Islamic extremism. The analysis is based on trends in the country as well as a presentation given to the Fletcher School’s ASEAN Society by Syafi’i Anwar, a senior research fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School and an Indonesian religious activist, who considers radical Islam to be “the No. 1 threat” to the future Indonesian democracy.
The full article is only available to subscribers after a period of time, but let me just mention two brief paragraphs to offer an idea of what I argued.
The evidence [for the rise of religious extremism] is damning. According to the Setara Institute, religious intolerance is on the rise in Indonesia, with a 30 percent increase in documented acts of violence and discrimination from 2009 and 2010 — from 93 to 135, respectively. Most of these have included attacks on minority religious groups and their houses of worship as well as incitements of hatred through public statements. For instance, since Yudhoyono came to power in 2004, Muslim extremists have burned, attempted to shut down or opposed the construction of hundreds of churches. They have also conducted increasingly bold attacks against the minority Muslim sect Ahmadiyah, with 50 acts documented last year alone.
The Indonesian government’s attitude toward these groups has been timid and even accommodating at times. Instead of cracking down on radical Islamists, Yudhoyono decreed the victimized Ahmadiyah sect heretical in 2008 and banned the group from converting fresh members. He also remained silent while Suryadharma Ali, his minister of religious affairs, called for the group to be banned entirely and while several provinces imposed further restrictions on the group at the local level. In a particularly vivid illustration of injustice, Indonesian courts doled out suspiciously light sentences earlier this year for Muslim extremists who, as part of a mob wielding clubs and machetes, killed three Ahmadiyah members. The state’s feeble response has only emboldened rather than accommodated Indonesia’s Islamic radicals.
The web link to the piece is here. | <urn:uuid:5fe62e44-ace3-45f2-b20c-1c0f12663c4d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://asianist.wordpress.com/tag/indonesia-radical-islam/ | 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 | 0.949411 | 478 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Penned by the great French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, a very rare letter threatening to “blow up the Kremlin” sold for an eye-popping 187,000 Euro's, a sale price nearly ten times more than originally estimated for the hand written threat against Moscow. The letter was purchased by a museum in Paris and is likely to soon go on display.
A rare letter in which French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte vowed to "blow up the Kremlin" fetched 10 times more than expected at an auction in France at the weekend.
The code-written letter, signed "Nap" and dated October 20, 1812, sold for 187,500 euros in all at a sale organised by Osenat auction house near Paris on Sunday.
Initial estimates indicated it would fetch 10,000 to 15,000 euros. When the hammer came down, a telephone bidder for a Paris-based manuscript museum snapped it up for 150,000, or a final total of 187,500 euros when additional costs are included. | <urn:uuid:025d0634-c265-4e38-90bd-8ee7ae30cbb5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.justluxe.com/travel/guides/187000-Euro-Letter-Sold-in-Paris__1861714.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95383 | 208 | 1.867188 | 2 |
on the Camry that Sheila used to drive. The car goes to Courtney in a
couple of weeks. As I sit here and ponder the thought that Courtney,
my oldest daughter is beginning to drive, what could be going through
the mind of a teenager in this era of super technology. Facebook,
Myspace, Blogging, Texting...whatever it is; are kids doing this while
driving? I have researched many publicized events in which teenagers
texting while driving causes much grief for family and friends. If
Nancy Grace ever gets a hold of it, never mind the family grief, but
drag the entire continent through the grief as well. The likes of
Oprah, local TV, 60 Minutes and many other outlets have explored the
texting and driving phenomenon. The reason I sat down to write this
blog was not driven politically, out of frustration with rules, or any
other reason other than just simple love for my girls. Don't get me
wrong, the texting and driving laws should be an effective way to
deduce the likelihood of a catastrophe, but is texting all that kids
do? What about rushing to school? What about eating breakfast? What
about friends in a car? What about a bad day at school which pro-
generates homeward bound frustration? What about the iPod connection
failing? What about the assignment they missed and all they could
think about was just finishing it and not the red light they just ran?
What about the billboard marketing a new Disney movie that they just
had to go and see? What about the wind that blows so hard it jostled
the car? What about the accident they just got in because......?
There are many questions that any normal parent would think the moment
their own child takes the keys to the car. You can only hope that you
don't get a call from authorities asking you to come and identify your
child's body in a debris field caused by an accident that occured with
them in it.
Some simple steps to help avoid a mishap can simply start with wide
open communication. Know what your child does. Know what their intent
is when they go somewhere. Know what their destination will be. Know
who their friends are and who they hang out with. Know their frame of
mind prior to them leaving. Triggering on Rushing is a trademark item
that I teach as a result of Safestart, but do kids do it? Are they
under tremendous amount of pressure? Yes! Have frequent discussions
with your child to better understand their frame of mind. You can
only hope that it won't be your last conversation.
In exactly two weeks Courtney takes the keys to the old family Camry.
She will be 16....where did the time go? With all my will, I have to
restrain fear and hope that Sheila and I have done a good enough job
for Courtney to think on her own. I think a tall tale sign is when
she constantly points out my distractions while I drive myself. It
sounds funny. But seriously, I get a bit defensive, but I know she is
absolutely right! So I just (mostly) bow my head and say alright,
alright. But she has been able to communicate like this because we do
it with her, but it is only fair that we behave as we want our kids to
behave, because the last thing we want is to have our kids peer
through the windshield and the last thing they see is a debris field.
I love you Courtney! Please take the wheel to your car and know that
your mom, sister and I love you and always want you to return home
safely just as you left it. | <urn:uuid:d008634d-0755-45a6-aff0-24a21671e744> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://totalsafetycompliance.blogspot.com/2010/03/windshield-to-debris-field.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964051 | 781 | 1.953125 | 2 |
- About Us
BLM - Fire Restrictions
BLM lifts fire restrictions in eastern Wyoming
Cheyenne, WY (AP) - Cooler, wetter weather has caused the US Bureau of Land Management to life fire restrictions on BLM land in Converse, Platte and Goshen counties in eastern Wyoming. That means people can do things such as build a campfire that's not inside a fire grate at a developed site. They also can use a chain saw without having a fire extinguisher on hand. The BLM says setting off fireworks and shooting guns with tracer or incendiary ammunition are still prohibited on BLM land. | <urn:uuid:e766d115-6986-49e2-91a0-6257d7525ab5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://theradionetwork.net/content/blm-fire-restrictions?quicktabs_1=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92735 | 127 | 1.929688 | 2 |
According to employment statistics released Friday, the
unemployment rate dropped slightly in April. Given the
circumstances, though, this was not greeted as good news.
According to the
Bureau of Labor Statistics
, the unemployment rate dropped to 8.1 percent in April. This was
the second consecutive monthly decline, and brought the
unemployment rate down to its lowest level since January 2009. A
year earlier, the unemployment rate was 9.0 percent, and at the end
of last year it was 8.5 percent. In that context, one might think
that an 8.1 percent unemployment rate represents progress.
So what's the catch?
Troubling job trends
There are two problems with recent employment figures.
One problem is that the pace of job creation is slowing. The
number of new jobs has fallen from 259,000 in February to 154,000
in March to 115,000 in April. These figures reveal not only a weak
level of job growth, but also a troubling direction for the months
The second problem is a little less obvious, but it helps
explain why the drop in the unemployment rate is less of a positive
development than meets the eye. The unemployment rate is a function
of how many people are looking for work, compared to the total
number of people participating in the labor force. What taints the
redution in the unemployment rate a little is that an increasing
portion of the adult population is no longer participating in the
In April, the labor participation rate fell to 63.6 percent, the
lowest in more than 30 years. Some chalk this up to the
hopelessness of the recent job market, but this figure has been
declining since the year 2000. That may be an indication of when
the economy first began to decline, or it may be a function of an
baby boomer generation
. Whatever the cause, though, a declining labor force is not
conducive to strong economic growth.
Employment and savings account rates
Employment is a key economic indicator, but it has particular
significance to the current low interest rate environment. For one
thing, lowering the unemployment rate is one of the primary goals
Federal Reserve's low interest rate policy
. As long as unemployment remains high, the Fed is likely to
continue encouraging extremely low interest rates.
Also, employment growth is an indicator of business optimism.
When companies are hiring, it means managers are optimistic and
looking to expand. This same optimism creates loan demand, which is
a key ingredient to getting banks to offer higher
savings account rates
. When the loan business is sluggish, banks simply don't have as
much incentive to attract deposits. When banks can make a healthy
profit by loaning out money, they are more likely to offer higher
deposit rates to attract deposits that they can use for
This is why a falling unemployment rate is more bad news for
savings account interest rates. There needs to be strong growth in
the underlying number of jobs -- not just an easing of the
unemployment rate -- to signal the type of growth environment that
would fuel loan demand. In that context, the slowing pace of job
creation over the last two months represents yet another obstacle
to the nation's savers. | <urn:uuid:cf6b51b3-0bca-44ae-918f-ee9da794c000> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nasdaq.com/article/latest-jobs-report-even-worse-than-it-seems-cm139851 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950075 | 688 | 2.0625 | 2 |
9/11 Defendants Seek to Preserve CIA Sites Where They Were Tortured
- 6:30 AM
The last people you might expect to want to see the CIA’s secret torture prisons kept intact are the people who were tortured there. But the defense lawyers for the 9/11 co-conspirators are arguing that the CIA’s so-called “black sites” need to remain open, untouched and exactly as they were when top al-Qaida operatives were abused.
The CIA torture program isn’t on trial at Guantanamo Bay. The five accused 9/11 conspirators are, and they face the death penalty. But the legal maneuver brings to light an irony of post-9/11 justice: The military tribunals that remain the bane of civil libertarians might be one of the last venues to investigate torture.
On Monday at Guantanamo, Army Col. James Pohl, the judge in the 9/11 tribunal, will hear a longstanding motion filed by the defense team to “preserve any existing evidence of any overseas detention facility used to imprison any witness in this case.” The gambit, explains James Connell, a Defense Department civilian who represents defendant Ammar al-Baluchi, seeks to treat the black sites like crime scenes — something the Justice Department has been reluctant to do.
It’s not that the defendants want others taken to the black sites. It’s that, as Connell tells Danger Room, “If a site is still open, it’s evidence.”
Some of the treatment experienced at the black sites by the five defendants, which include the confessed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, include being doused with water for the simulated drowning known as waterboarding; being kept in contorted “stress positions”; and being deprived of sleep for extended periods, sometimes as a result of the stress positions. But the defense hasn’t been able to review any official material about what went on inside the black sites — something crucial to its legal strategy, since the military commissions are supposed to exclude evidence obtained through “the use of torture, or by cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.” (.PDF)
Emphasis on supposed to. “The government has not yet provided any discovery or information about our clients’ treatment at the black sites,” Connell says. “If the trial were tomorrow, I would have no way of introducing it.”
The CIA sent 14 detainees from the black sites to Guantanamo in 2009. President Obama forbade the CIA in 2009 from holding any other detainees. But the CIA didn’t build the black sites, it rented them, in places like Romania, Poland and Thailand. And since they’ve been closed, they’re at risk of being destroyed or modified by their host countries in such a way that will prevent anyone outside of the torture program from ever knowing what exactly went on there.
Connell isn’t even asking for documentation from inside the black sites. That’s likely to come later this year, he says. For now, the defense team is looking to preserve the architecture of the sites, which it contends can reveal information about his clients’ treatment. “If a person is in isolation,” Connell argues, “how that isolation is enforced is a relevant legal factor as to whether they’ve been illegally punished, and the building design is relevant to that.”
An earlier version of the military commissions insisted the government not mess with the shuttered black sites. In April 2009, Army Col. Stephen R. Henley, another military judge, ordered the government to “maintain the status quo” at any facility where the 9/11 defendants were held. (.PDF) But in 2010, the Obama administration voided the military commission for the five accused 9/11 conspirators in a failed bid to try them in civilian courts, only to start over with a different commission — one that may not be bound by Henley’s order. “Unlike a civilian court, the authority of a military commission ends when it is dissolved,” Connell clarifies.
If it seems strange that the black sites’ building design should be a factor for disclosure about the treatment that took place inside them, consider that there’s been practically no official disclosure about what did. The Senate intelligence committee recently completed a report into the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation program,” but for the time being, it remains a secret. The Justice Department declined to prosecute CIA officers involved in the torture program. Nearly everything else known about the treatment of detainees kept in black sites has been pieced together from references in declassified legal documents or from journalism.
The secrecy surrounding the commissions prevents Connell from saying if he has specific reason to fear that the black sites are at risk of destruction. (“I can neither confirm nor deny that,” he says.) But it’s not a hypothetical fear. The former chief of the CIA Counterterrorism Center destroyed nearly 100 videotapes documenting brutal interrogations.
Observers of the military commissions are reluctant to predict how Pohl will rule on the black-site preservation. But Daphne Eviatar, who monitors the commissions for Human Rights First (disclosure: a former journalistic colleague of mine), isn’t optimistic after seeing Pohl kill the audio feed in the courtroom last October when it seemed like one of the lawyers was about to use the word “torture.”
And even if Pohl orders the government to preserve evidence from the black sites doesn’t mean he’ll allow that information to be disclosed in open court. A victory for Connell isn’t the same as a victory for openness about torture. And if that’s the way Pohl rules, it may be a long time before the public has a better chance to learn even a little more about what the CIA torture program entailed.
“War crimes trials are often about a public presentation of what happened at some historical point,” Eviatar says. “Here, although what happened [before] 9/11 is the primary subject of the trial, how the U.S. responded to 9/11, through these five defendants, is also important, and the trial out to be able to bring out all of that.”
“If the government wants to go forward with a case seeking the death penalty against these men, it has to make the evidence which may still exist available to them,” Connell says. “If they will not make relevant evidence available, the law suggests the prosecution cannot go forward with the case. ” Unless Pohl decides otherwise.
Danger Room senior reporter Spencer Ackerman recently won the 2012 National Magazine Award for Reporting in Digital Media. | <urn:uuid:6c5309b2-5add-480d-9ead-5759f62355b2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2013/01/black-sites/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+WiredDangerRoom+%28Wired%3A+Blog+-+Danger+Room%29 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949771 | 1,422 | 1.90625 | 2 |
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2. LECTURE II. INSTINCT AND HABIT (continued)
The popular conception of instinct errs by imagining it to be infallible and preternaturally wise, as well as incapable of modification. This is a complete delusion. Instinct, as a rule, is very rough and ready, able to achieve its result under ordinary circumstances, but easily misled by anything unusual. Chicks follow their mother by instinct, but when they are quite young they will follow with equal readiness any moving object remotely resembling their mother, or even a human being (James, "Psychology," ii, 396). Bergson, quoting Fabre, has made play with the supposed extraordinary accuracy of the solitary wasp Ammophila, which lays its eggs in a caterpillar. On this subject I will quote from Drever's "Instinct in Man," p. 92:
"According to Fabre's observations, which Bergson accepts, the Ammophila stings its prey EXACTLY and UNERRINGLY in EACH of the nervous centres. The result is that the caterpillar is paralyzed, but not immediately killed, the advantage of this being that the larva cannot be injured by any movement of the caterpillar, upon which the egg is deposited, and is provided with fresh meat when the time comes.
"Now Dr. and Mrs. Peckham have shown that the sting of the wasp is NOT UNERRING, as Fabre alleges, that the number of stings is NOT CONSTANT, that sometimes the caterpillar is NOT PARALYZED, and sometimes it is KILLED OUTRIGHT, and that THE DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES DO NOT APPARENTLY MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE TO THE LARVA, which is not injured by slight movements of the caterpillar, nor by consuming food decomposed rather than fresh caterpillar."
This illustrates how love of the marvellous may mislead even so careful an observer as Fabre and so eminent a philosopher as Bergson.
In the same chapter of Dr. Drever's book there are some interesting examples of the mistakes made by instinct. I will quote one as a sample:
"The larva of the Lomechusa beetle eats the young of the ants, in whose nest it is reared. Nevertheless, the ants tend the Lomechusa larvae with the same care they bestow on their own young. Not only so, but they apparently discover that the methods of feeding, which suit their own larvae, would prove fatal to the guests, and accordingly they change their whole system of nursing" (loc. cit., p. 106).
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For information about public domain texts appearing here, read the copyright information and disclaimer. | <urn:uuid:b733901e-2709-4451-ae37-3c1c46eda633> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.literaturepage.com/read.php?titleid=russell-analysis-of-mind&abspage=40&changecolor=5 | 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 | 0.941684 | 640 | 3.125 | 3 |
It's debatable whether allowing gay people to wed will open the floodgates to recognition for other relationships. But certainly civil unions present a model that can be broadly applied. I'm not thinking of Rick Santorum's specter of incest and polygamy, but of the elderly who live together and don't want to sully the memory of their deceased spouses with another formal marriage. Civil unions might suit them, along with siblings who want to commemorate their bond (and join their assets). Down the road we may see groups of people sharing the custody of children, or geriatric communes seeking a legal tie. Each of these contingencies will involve its own process of agitation, and it will be up to society to accept or reject each claim. But the result could be a menu of possibilities, ranging from trial unions to so-called covenant marriages that are very difficult to leave. People may elect to pass from one category to another as their attitudes change. This begins to look like the kind of world radicals want to seea world of choice.
Gay marriage won't bring that about; nor will banning gay marriage prevent it. But the outcome of this struggle could determine whether America will adhere to a rigid code of intimacy, enforced by a system of penalties and stigma, or evolve toward the democratic vistas our poets have foreseen. "The greatest lessons of Nature," wrote Walt Whitman, are "the lessons of variety and freedom." America, he believed, was the ultimate repository of that principle. If we see gay marriage in that lightas an emblem of variety and freedom manifest in lovewe can understand why the right feels compelled to crush it. And we can see why the left must defend it, if only for its potential as a radical act. | <urn:uuid:3a466dc5-238b-4e72-8426-4d7f4e2bff40> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.villagevoice.com/2003-09-02/news/the-radical-case-for-gay-marriage/3/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95997 | 350 | 2.21875 | 2 |
Who doesn’t enjoy beholding something beautiful? So much of our time is spent in beautifying things, places and our bodies, that it must indeed be worth the extra effort to incorporate beauty into any endeavor. Whether it is a bunch of cilantro leaves adorning a dish, a long-stemmed rose in a vase accentuating a dining table, a scenic watercolor painting giving life to a bland room, or blooming flowers livening up a lush green garden during spring, a thing of beauty, as they say, is “a joy forever.” So much so that, one of the best traits of a believing Muslim wife is that when her husband beholds her, he is pleased.
This point – beauty in people – invites us to ponder on what really beautifies a human being? Apart from physical appearance and inherent qualities of character and etiquette, it is Ihsan, as our Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) explained in the Hadith of Jibreel:
“(Ihsan) is that you should serve Allah as though you see Him, for though you cannot see Him, yet He sees you.” (Sahih Muslim)
The root of the Arabic word “ihsan” comprises of the letters ‘ha-seen-noon’, which also forms the root of the word “husn”, or ‘beauty.’ Allah says in the Qur’an, that “He loves those who do ihsan.” (Qur’an, 2:195). Ihsan is, therefore, the epitome of good Islamic behavior and action. If a believer were to truly incorporate ihsan in himself, the first and foremost requirement of that would be, to live as though they “see” Allah.
The obvious question that crops up is, “But Allah can never be seen in this life?!” True. Since Allah cannot be seen by anyone in this world, a believer’s actions reach the lofty state of ihsan when he worships Allah at such a high level of consciousness that it is as if he sees Allah.
Our behavior is affected by what we witness. When a mother sees her child laughing, she is tearfully overwhelmed with joy; when someone rich sees a miskeen sleeping on the pavement, he or she is motivated to give in charity; when we meet our relatives after a long time, we hug them. Examples are many, but the bottom-line is, seeing something has a great impact on our action.
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) defined ihsan to be that behavior or action of a believer – whether in worship or in dealings with people – which he does as though he was seeing Allah. Such a person, without doubt, will be very careful not only in how he deals with people in public, but also in what he does in private. Ihsan is a very high level of beautified action, one that can be achieved only with a similar high level of faith (iman).
A doer of ihsan has such strong conviction that Allah overshadows his thoughts, his feelings, and his heart at all times. Such a person will always strive to do what Allah likes. That is what is mentioned in the second part of the hadith: “…for though you can not see Him, yet Allah sees you”.
The believer acts as if Allah is there before his eyes always, enraptured in the knowledge that Allah is seeing him. Thus, the worshipper leaves everything out of his exclusive relationship with His Lord. Every other relationship becomes subservient and a means to strengthen his bond with Allah. A child, who has been warned by his mother not to eat any more sweets, will abstain till the mother is physically in front of him.
As soon as she goes out of sight, he will hurriedly pop another one into his mouth and chew it hastily to swallow it before she returns. Had the mother been present, the child would have never disobeyed her.
Allah is never absent. He is ever-seeing, hearing and watchful of our actions. A Muslim, therefore, does not “yo-yo” between obedience and transgression, depending on whose company he is in, or which place he is at. His actions are consistently in accordance with Allah’s Pleasure, with any human slips wiped out by immediate repentance.
You will not find a person who has reached ihsan sitting in a gathering that ridicules Allah’s signs or prolonging his prayers when being seen by people or hastily donning the hijab in Islamic gatherings and throwing it off in other “social” gatherings. You will not find doers of ihsan being affected by people’s lavish praise or scathing criticism, because their actions only seek the transcendental pleasure of the One they obey.
Incorporating husn to such an extent in one’s life will automatically make him serenely beautiful when beheld by others. – SG | <urn:uuid:8d657246-b5d3-41e4-b43a-b00f2b4e14fe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentID=2009061240621 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969736 | 1,058 | 1.960938 | 2 |
The name is essentially synonymous with hands-free headsets for cell phones. But this fascinating technology does so much more than just cell phones. There are Bluetooth mouse devices, keyboards and so much more. The Personal Area Network (PAN) transmits using the same radio wave frequency, 2.4 GHz, as wireless networks. However, Bluetooth transmits and receives on more than one radio frequency. Bluetooth devices take advantage of a technique known as frequency hopping where the devices switch among 79 different frequencies more than 1,600 times a second. This technique helps the different devices avoid interference with other devices, such as microwaves and other Wi-Fi transmissions.
The concept of using a PAN for personal devices such as cell phones began to emerge in the early 1990s. Two employees of a Swedish technology company called Ericsson rolled out Bluetooth technology in 1994. Jaap Haartsen and Sven Mattisson were the first to really capitalize on the frequency-hopping technology.
It took some time to work the bugs out of the system. When Bluetooth was first released, there were connection issues that needed to be resolved. Modifications were made and there were new versions of the technology issued. In 2009, Bluetooth Version 3.0 debuted with the backing of more than 7,000 different companies. There is even a Bluetooth Special Interest Group located in Washington. The group helps foster the growth of the Bluetooth technology.
Bluetooth was the code name for the technology when Ericsson was first developing the technology. The name stuck and is now used to describe the technology.
Harold Blatand – or Harold Bluetooth – was a Danish king in the 10th Century. His father, Gorm the Old, began uniting the Danish kingdom. When Harold Blatand took over the thrown, he finished the conquest and also united Norway for a brief time under his rule. It was because of this unification that the technology was called Bluetooth. This technology is designed to unite different devices, like King Bluetooth united the Danish empire.
When Bluetooth was first introduced, the intent was to make dispense of wires for devices such as phones and keyboards. However, as the technology matures, the uses are nearly endless. There is now a large variety of different industries attempting to make the most of Bluetooth devices.
Here is just a small sample of some of the lesser-known ways to use Bluetooth products.
An extremely handy device that most people could use on a daily basis is a Bluetooth mouse. This device helps eliminate wires and makes transporting your mouse especially easy. We reviewed a selection of Bluetooth mouse devices and found that two of the best are the Apple Magic Mouse and the Microsoft Bluetooth Notebook Mouse.
When Bluetooth technology first premiered, many thought every digital device would soon be using it. It's more than a decade later and many of our favorite devices are still tied down by wires. But it’s getting better. The technology is progressing and more devices are becoming Bluetooth enabled.
At TopTenREVIEWS We Do the Research So You Don't Have To.™ | <urn:uuid:ac1abe34-be84-4fc1-8511-cebc34025ede> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bluetooth-mouse-review.toptenreviews.com/bluetooth-devices-a-history.html/?cmpid=ttr-tnd | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967957 | 617 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962) popularized the concept of “a paradigm shift” in the realm of scientific thought. While many of us may not be familiar with Kuhn or his book, we have likely experienced the duck/rabbit optical illusion used by Kuhn to demonstrate the way in which a paradigm shift could cause one to see the same information in an entirely different way. Kuhn described a paradigm shift as that which opens up new approaches to understanding that would never have been considered valid before.
The word “epiphany” offers another way to speak about paradigm shifts. To have an epiphany is to have the proverbial light bulb go off in one’s head, as a new idea changes the way in which one sees or understands information. The lights are “switched on” when understanding comes. The English word epiphany comes from a Greek word meaning “manifestation or appearance.” An epiphany is that “a-ha” moment that comes as a result of new vision—of blindness being turned to sight. It is, to borrow from Kuhn’s description, an experience of a paradigmatic shift in view. An epiphany thus reorients, reorders, or transforms our view from one way of looking at the world to another.
In the Christian tradition, the season of Epiphany is a season for new sight, new vision, and paradigm shifts. The season commemorates the arrival of the foreign magi at the birthplace of Jesus. Magi (not three kings of the orient as sung in the famous hymn) were a caste of wise men specializing in astrology, medicine, and natural science.(1) As the Gospel of Matthew records it, these wise men “saw his star in the east,” and recognized that this young child was worthy of worship as King.
During Epiphany, Christians are asked to pay special attention to the teaching and healing ministry of Jesus for the ways in which he is revealed to be the Messiah. All who seek the truth are asked to reconsider Jesus during this season, to have eyes opened and paradigms shifted. The author of the letter to the Hebrews invites all who would look at Jesus to see in him the very epiphany of God. “[I]n these last days God has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the world” (Hebrews 1:1-3). Everyone who looks at his life has the opportunity to experience epiphany, and to have vision altered as time is spent looking at his life and listening to Jesus through his teachings.
But paradigm shifts are never easy. The biblical image invoked again and again for this process is that of moving from blindness to sight. One very ironic example is recorded for in the Gospel of John. It is the story of Jesus healing a man born blind. Using the ordinary elements of clay and his own saliva, Jesus applies the necessary ingredients to literal eyes in order to create the opportunity for spiritual sight. After the man washes the healing balm off of his eyes in the pool of Siloam, his healer is nowhere to be found. The religious leaders are incensed that healing has occurred in such an ordinary way by an ordinary man:
“How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?”
The once blind man answered, “Whether or not he is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.”
Thinking they see the situation quite clearly, the religious leaders put the formerly blind man out of the temple, cutting him off from their community, and taking away the opportunity to make sacrifice to God. Hearing this, Jesus comes to confront these leaders who claim superior knowledge and insight. “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind… If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”(2)
John’s Gospel and the season of Epiphany present a challenging opportunity for a paradigm shift. The Christian story proposes that it is in the humble acknowledgement of blindness that we come to see anything with clarity or insight. Ironically epiphany does not come in assuming that we know all the answers or in clever arguments or assumptions. Jesus turns all of these paradigms upside down in this story. Today, might the realization of our blindness be the paradigm shift that opens our eyes.
Margaret Manning is a member of the speaking and writing team at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Seattle, Washington.
(1) Reference note from the New American Standard Bible.
(2) cf. John 9:39-41. | <urn:uuid:8def2b8a-0784-495c-9d27-a7e9e782b4f5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rzim.org/a-slice-of-infinity/paradigm-shifts/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966885 | 1,013 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Summer is quickly approaching, and over ten million of the nation’s children are preparing for the experience of a lifetime—camp. Yes, it’s true that camp provides children with opportunities to develop authentic relationships and life-skills such as leadership, teamwork, and problem-solving skills, but there is more!. According to the National Summer Learning Association (NSLA) and research conducted by Johns Hopkins sociology professor Karl Alexander, intentional summer programs, like camp, help stem summer learning loss – providing experiences that challenge children, develop talents, keep them engaged, and expand horizons.
Almost all children experience some degree of learning loss in the summer. And, according to an NSLA report, parents consistently cite summer as the most difficult time to ensure their children have productive things to do. Camp satisfies both of these concerns – providing endless activities and social interaction opportunities, and offering educational opportunities in nature’s classroom.
American Camp Association® (ACA) CEO Peg Smith said, "There are thousands of summer camps across this country, and each one of them is a piece of the solution to summer learning loss. Children stay engaged and continue learning at camp."
To succeed in school and life, children and young adults need ongoing opportunities to learn and practice essential skills. This is especially true during the summer months. As one of the leaders in youth development and experiential education, ACA is pleased to partner with NSLA to share resources and information about the positive benefits of summer learning and enrichment for children and youth.
Camps and schools have worked together for many years to develop quality programming for students and campers. According to ACA’s recent survey on Camp-School partnerships:
- Fifty-eight percent of responding camps said they partner with schools either directly or indirectly.
- Approximately 43 percent of responding camps said that they partnered with schools primarily to keep children engaged throughout the year.
- Targeted programs include teamwork, social skills, and problem solving.
Contact Public Relations at 765.349.3317 or pr@ACAcamps.org to interview an ACA spokesperson or for more information about how camp helps stem summer learning loss. For customizable public service announcements or article reprints, visit our Media Center at www.ACAcamps.org/media_center/ .
The American Camp Association® (ACA) works to preserve, promote, and enhance the camp experience for children and adults. ACA-Accredited® camp programs ensure that children are provided with a diversity of educational and developmentally challenging learning opportunities. There are over 2,400 ACA-accredited camps that meet up to 300 health and safety standards. For more information, visit www.ACAcamps.org . | <urn:uuid:a9a22234-42bb-466b-b472-159a4aa5aa83> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.acacamps.org/print/29556 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938846 | 553 | 3.15625 | 3 |
Modest improvement in quality of care, but no reduction in costs of care or acute care utilization
THURSDAY, Nov. 3 (HealthDay News) -- Commercial disease-management companies using nurse-based call centers modestly improve quality-of-care measures in Medicare fee-for-service programs with no evident reduction in costs of care or acute care utilization, according to a study published in the Nov. 3 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Nancy McCall, Sc.D., from RTI International in Washington D.C., and Jerry Cromwell, Ph.D.. from RTI International in Waltham, Mass., assessed whether eight commercial disease-management models that used nurse-based call centers could achieve meaningful savings for the Medicare fee-for-service program while improving quality-of-care measures for beneficiaries, and reducing acute care utilization. In the Medicare Health Support Pilot Program, 242,417 patients with heart failure, diabetes, or both were randomly assigned to intervention (163,107 individuals) or usual care (79,310 controls). A difference-indifferences method was used to compare the effects on clinical care quality, acute care utilization, and Medicare expenditures for beneficiaries.
The investigators found that the eight commercial disease-management programs showed no reductions in emergency room visits or hospital admissions versus usual care. Out of 40 comparisons made in the process-of-care measures, only 14 showed significant improvements. These modest improvements were achieved at a considerable cost to the Medicare program due to the fees paid to the disease-management companies ($400 million), with no evident savings in Medicare expenditures.
"It is unlikely that simply managing the care of elderly patients through telephone contact or an occasional visit will achieve the level of savings that Congress had hoped for when it mandated the Medicare Health Support Pilot Program," the authors write.
Full Text (subscription or payment may be required) | <urn:uuid:76c3b8c9-38e5-46da-b50b-caf4f0c89b97> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nursingcenter.com/lnc/HealthdayArticle?Article_id=658477 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92977 | 386 | 1.648438 | 2 |
El Niño Forecasts
|The ability to forecast El Nino and La Nina events is extremely important as these events tend to be associated with consistent climate anomalies in the tropics and can even influence the atmosphere in midlatitudes. Forecasts are of two types; those obtained from various coupled ocean/atmosphere models those obtained from statistical models (from simple to complex). These models vary in their skill and sometimes can even do better during certain phases of ENSO than others. Forecasters try to take all this in account when making predictions.|
Statistical forecasts of SST anomalies based on current initial
conditions. SST data used in these forecasts have been provided by
NCEP, courtesy of R. W. Reynolds. Contour interval is 0.3 degrees C.
Tropical C-LIM "Coupled" LIM forecast (from PSD)
Tropical C-LIM "Coupled" LIM forecast (from PSD)(See also details. CLIM is user to create forecasts of Tropical Convection, Wind, and SST for out to 200 days. | <urn:uuid:ef950f9a-b92e-463c-b952-1f0be8058c9c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/enso/enso.forecast.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952555 | 229 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Heidi - posted on 04/16/2012 ( 3 moms have responded )
My oldest son is now 11 and has had verbal and motor tics since he was 8. He is very outgoing and has never really had a problem socially because of it. He has gone through an array of tics from a similar hum, to throat clearing, head jerks, sniffing and mouth tics.
I now have a 5-year-old who started having verbal tics a month ago and it is just getting worse. He is so much younger than my oldest child was when he started showing symptoms. I worry that his symptoms might therefore be worse because they are starting earlier. Has anyone else seen this? My youngest just has a verbal tic that sounds like a hum but it is loud and when I discussed it with his teacher, she said children had been commenting on it. He will be starting kindergarten in the fall and I just worry that the teachers in public schools might not be equipped for this. He's so different from my oldest and is much more withdrawn and less social. He's also exhibiting some OCD tendencies, which I read can go hand in hand with TS.
Just wondered if anyone knew if when it starts younger, is it worse in the long run and also, if you have any tips for helping me transition him in school and deal with teachers. Thanks so much for your wisdom and for sharing your experience. | <urn:uuid:aa444563-495a-4a77-a1fd-166066f35faf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.circleofmoms.com/mothers-of-children-with-tourettes/two-boys-with-tourette-syndrome-692591 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00076-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.991393 | 290 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Library "educators" are in a tough position in some ways. They don't have a natural audience the way scholars in traditional academic fields do, because the MLS especially is a professional rather than an academic degree. That's why it's easier in some schools to find a class in rapid-response informatics or distributed cognition environments than in reference or collection development.
If you're a scholar in an academic field, then theory and practice usually join together. Take history, for example. Academic historians usually write for other academic historians. Obviously there is a broad demand for popular history among educated people, and entire subfields of history that have active non-academic historians (particularly military history and the history of the American Civil War), but historians generally don't write for a popular audience. Here's a recent book from CUP, for example: Capitals of Capital: A History of International Finance Centres, 1780-2005. Considering the press, it's probably a great book, but most likely only specialists and students in economic history will ever read it. Historians are practitioners, and in their field theory and practice are one. Even teaching, the other activity of most historians, is training a new generation of historians, a new generation of practitioners. The scholar is also the practitioner, and what they practice is scholarship.
And obviously this is true of many areas of scholarship. Even in Education, a justly maligned academic field, the professors of education generally might have shoddy research methods and an intellectual laxity strengthened by their stranglehold on state educational licensing boards, but they are at least teachers training teachers.
But what happens when we move to fields where the theoreticians are not also the obvious practitioners, such as in LIS. When I was in library school, I was training to be a librarian, not, God forbid, a library school professor. And without fail, the most useful classes I had were taught by librarians at the university library who adjuncted as LIS professors. Some of the professors were very intelligent and productive and perfectly nice people, and some of them had even at some point been librarians, but it was clear they weren't librarians.
The absolutely worst LIS professor I ever had had never been a librarian, but had gone straight from college through an MLS and LIS PhD program. With his new PhD, he was now a real professor, but he knew nothing about working in a library. It's possible the class I had with him was even his first real class. He was terrible. Not only had he never been a librarian, but he'd never even been a teacher. I was at least ahead of him on that score. Frankly, he wasn't very bright, either, but he was well meaning. As an experienced teacher and scholar who wanted to become a librarian, what was I supposed to learn from this fellow?
A library school professor I know has often complained (and cited some statistics to prove) that librarians don't read the work of library educators. Library educators write mostly for themselves in a vacuum divorced from the practice of librarianship. It only makes sense. Historians write for historians. Economists write for economists. Physicists write for physicists. And LIS professors write for other LIS professors. They do write for practitioners, but their practice is the practice of being LIS professors. It's not the practice of being librarians. It doesn't even have a proper name like historian, economist, or physicist. Librarianist? Informationist?
I've told this library professor that the reason I rarely read any of the scholarly output of LIS faculty is because it has almost nothing to do with my work and I don't find it intellectually interesting. I have wide-ranging intellectual interests in the humanities and social sciences, but LIS isn't one of them. Their concerns are not my concerns. I'm not concerned with what a library school professor has to say, for example, about collection development in a research library. Without being immodest, I think I can say that I know a lot more about the subject than most library school professors. And unlike a lot of librarians, I could actually articulate that knowledge. The same can be said for reference as well, though in reference there are some very knowledgeable professors. I may have a lot to learn about these subjects from excellent and thoughtful practitioners, but I have very little to learn about them from LIS professors.
(I will except from my discussion techie subjects where theory and practice might be more aligned. But programmers aren't running libraries. I will also except from this criticism the occasional LIS professor who writes intelligently on issues of genuine concern for librarians.)
This also helps explain why the bulk of the library literature written by librarians is so dull, even if it's sometimes useful. They don't have the time or the inclination to do good theoretical work; they're writing as librarians for librarians and trying to come up with something useful.
I just looked through the faculty research interests website at a highly ranked library school, and not one professor had an interest in collection development (though a couple had interests in digital collections), and only one had a research interest in reference (and she's actually done some good work). LIS professors just don't find those courses interesting, which is understandable because reference and collection development are practices of librarians, not LIS professors. If I want to build library collections and teach people how to use them, there's little I need to know from LIS professors.
And those academic subjects that I do need to know about, and in fact know something about, have nothing to do with LIS. If I were an LIS bibliographer, then I would need to know what they're doing and keep up with the work in the field. But I'm not and never will be. As a research librarian, I need to know about actual academic subjects, not library science.
I see this as a great divide in library education. The further LIS professors gravitate away from the practice of librarianship, the less they offer to the profession. Academically, this isn't necessarily a problem, since some professors produce excellent work. There are a number of outstanding library historians. But while their work may be interesting historically, it doesn't help me in my practice. There are all sorts of LIS professors who write about exciting topics like human rights and race relations. But while their work might be interesting to people bored by librarianship and excited by politics, it doesn't have anything to do with the practice of librarianship, unless librarianship ceases to be about running libraries and serving library populations and instead becomes an exercise in romantic revolution.
But it does raise the question of what library schools are for? Are they for training librarians? Or are they for LIS professors to expand scholarship on various areas of information that is of little use or interest to librarians? Keep in mind, I'm not saying this work doesn't have scholarly value. I'm only saying it has no value for the practice of librarianship. These are two very different things, and it becomes a problem only when the library schools staffed by library professors are supposed to be training librarians. Isn't that what gets them accredited by the ALA?
Finally, I suppose that's one reason I'm so critical of library school. The professors don't want to teach the mundane subjects that will actually be useful in running libraries, with good reason. They're not librarians, they don't understand librarians, and they couldn't possibly speak with the authority I can on those issues. And they think that their area of LIS scholarship should be interesting for people who want to be librarians. Well, it's not. They teach for LIS scholars, but I don't want to be an LIS scholar. I'd rather be a librarian. | <urn:uuid:00dbcf09-b6b9-4c63-b1ab-904456fd3d83> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://annoyedlibrarian.blogspot.com/2007/03/theory-and-practice-in-library.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981896 | 1,645 | 1.617188 | 2 |
With a BBQ planned for this week end and lots of people to entertain. Me and the happy helpers at The Boxed Party HQ set about creating a game to play outdoors on the lawn. We have a real love of puzzles and word games so decided to create our own giant Scrabble game using bits of old cardboard. I think you will agree the results are pretty good for a lot of old cardboard boxes waiting to be recycled.
You will need
Old cardboard boxes, even old cereal boxes will do
Pen or paint for drawing the letters
Pair of scissors
2. Cut out the squares from the cardboard. Then draw on your letters, a proper game of scrabble needs the following letters
Blank: 2 tiles A: 9 tiles B: 2 tiles C: 2 tiles D: 4 tiles E: 12 tiles F: 2 tiles G: 3 tiles H: 2 tiles I: 9 tiles J: 1 tile K: 1 tile L: 4 tiles M: 2 tiles N: 6 tiles
O: 8 tiles P: 2 tiles Q: 1 tile R: 6 tiles S: 4 tiles T: 6 tiles U: 4 tiles V: 2 tiles W: 2 tiles X: 1 tile Y: 2 tiles Z: 1 tile.
Which equates to 100 squares but you may find your helpers get bored so you may end up doing the cutting out over a number of days. !!!! Once you have cut out your squares then paint or draw on the letters.
3. Once the paint has dried put all your letters in a large bin bag and there you have it Giant Homemade Scrabble. We had some great fun and all the family were able to join in young or old, although I don’t think we will win any prizes for our words. | <urn:uuid:46127668-f36a-4b0c-941d-9460ed701588> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://theboxedparty.wordpress.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908315 | 365 | 1.710938 | 2 |
George Washington House
George Washington, later to become the 1st President of the United States of America, visited Barbados in 1751 and spent about two months.
Barbados was the only country he ever visited outside colonial America.
This fact alone should make a tour of George Washington House, the place where he stayed while in Barbados, a must-do activity for all visitors from the USA.
The House, now appropriately under the control of the Barbados National Trust, is also of interest to other visitors, including Barbadians, as it gives useful insights into life as it was in the Barbados of 250 years ago.
The ground floor of the building is furnished in the manner in which it might have been in 1751. On display are such basic items as a four poster bed with a rather lumpy mattress surrounded with mosquito netting very much needed then as protection against these little pests, a small face basin and ewer in one corner and, under the bed, the very necessary chamber pot since at that time there were no indoor bathroom facilities. Other rooms display different requirements for “civilised” living – chairs of various kinds, a marble table top on which to place hot dishes, and various items of crockery and cutlery, some recovered from the nearby gully.
The House provides interesting insights into the ways in which people of that day made the best of circumstances and were quite imaginative in “making do”, as we today would think of it, with what was available. For example ice was not available so wine bottles were kept reasonably cool in two rooms so situated as to benefit from an almost steady breeze. Interesting, as well, was the means used both to filter water and to keep it cool. Water was poured into a stone jar and because of the vessel’s porosity the water gradually dripped into another similar jar below it and from this into yet a third jar below the second one. As a result, impurities in the water were filtered out and as some of the water evaporated it absorbed warmth (heat) from the containing vessels and thus cooled the main body of water.
The second floor of the building is devoted entirely to displays of items typical of life in the mid-eighteenth century, and the items are richly described with both visual and audio aids. On display are some medical appliances of the time – pharmaceutical bottles, thumb lancets and cupping glasses which “were heated to create suction to draw blood to the skin’s surface”. An interesting item is a reminder that Washington contracted small pox, a deadly disease that was rampant at that time and quite frequently resulted in death to those who contracted it, so Washington was fortunate in the doctor who tended him and helped restore him to health. According to the record he was successfully treated by a Dr. Lanaham “a third-generation Barbadian” who was “a practitioner of physick and surgery”, and the note adds the thought-provoking comment by historian Eustace Shilstone that “The course of the nation and perhaps of the whole world may have been changed if the doctor had been less skilful and attentive; a theme which needs no elaboration”.
Other artefacts on display remind present day visitors of the existence of slavery at the time Washington came to Barbados for open to view are such things as spiked manacles, manacle and chain and barbed-neck collars “used as a form of restraint/punishment”. Also displayed are agricultural implements like sickle, cane bill and hoe as well as other items found by archaeologists in digs close to Bush House, as Washington House was previously known. These include stoneware, porcelain bowl, buttons, buckle, glass beads “probably used by slaves”, pipe bowls, grape shot (cannon balls), gun flints, musket balls, bottle fragments and earthenware chamber pots. All these constitute a treasure trove helping to shed light on the Barbados which Washington visited.
Barbadian visitors will find of interest other striking bits of information not widely known such as that “in the context of the British Empire in the 17th and 18th centuries, Barbados played a surprisingly large and important role ... (and) was the central hub of the Caribbean for travellers and goods”. It also had “one of the best fortified coast lines in the British Caribbean” something that proved of particular interest to George Washington who, with the approval of the Fort’s Commander, examined these with great care. One report suggests that “the knowledge gained during his visits to the various forts along the west coast surely influenced his future military career”. Washington was “an excellent horseman” and a “passionate landowner” as well so it is of some importance that “What he observed for the first time in Barbados were some of the most innovative agricultural techniques of the day”. These included “using dried cane stalks or bagasse as fuel in the boiling process’, and “dung farming where animals were put into pens, fed grasses, brush or green matter to produce rich manure … to renew depleted soil in sugar cane fields”. Barbadian and other visitors to Washington House will also learn, almost certainly to their surprise, that “the grapefruit originated in Barbados”.
The display features an interesting reference to the African, Olaudah Equiano, who “purchased his freedom for £40 in 1766 … (and) worked in London as a hairdresser and a seaman”, his autobiography rightly being considered “a manifesto for the abolition of slavery”. This serves as a reminder that in the matter of slavery Washington found himself between a rock and a hard place, to use present-day idiom. He was a slave owner yet “struggled with, and recorded in his papers, the many moral dilemmas of owning human property”. Indeed he was challenged on this matter in a letter from one Edward Rushton in 1797: “Washington, Ages to come will read with astonishment that the man who was foremost to wrench the rights of America from the tyrannical grasp of Britain was among the last to relinquish his own oppressive held of poor and unoffending negroes”.
George Washington did seek to free his own slaves but, according to the information presented, he and his wife together owned some 300 slaves and “It would have cost nearly £6,000 to free them all. However, his plantations made only £900 a year”. So, as the display puts it, “the question of slavery was left to another generation to resolve.”
Worth a Visit
George Washington House is most certainly worth a visit by all, Barbadians included.
George Washington House is located within the World Heritage Site - Historic Bridgetown and Its Garrison.
To visit this beautiful location and others, take an island tour. | <urn:uuid:d457bfe1-b6be-439e-b1d3-559d54d9d2ec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.barbados.org/george_washington.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978781 | 1,463 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Press ReleaseView print version
Prescribed Burns Planned for Wind Creek State Park
February 17, 2010
State parks personnel will be conducting several prescribed burns along State Highway 128 within Wind Creek State Park from mid-February to mid-March as part of a Piedmont longleaf ecosystem restoration project. This project will be following approved burn plans and permits from the Alabama Forestry Commission and the Alexander City Fire Department.
Prescribed fire is a safe way to apply a natural process that benefits various habits, reduces wildfire risk and ensures ecosystem health. Wildlife habitat and animals such as deer, turkeys, and quail flourish in areas that are maintained with prescribed fire. Some rare animals such as the red-cockaded woodpecker and the gopher tortoise require fire-adapted habitats to survive.
Recently Gov. Bob Riley designated February 2010 as Prescribed Fire Awareness Month. The official proclamation encourages all Alabamians to learn about the importance of prescribed burning to the stewardship of our natural resources and its role in the protection of our citizens from wildfires.
The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources promotes wise stewardship, management and enjoyment of Alabama’s natural resources through five divisions: Marine Police, Marine Resources, State Lands, State Parks, and Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries. To learn more about ADCNR, visit www.outdooralabama.com . | <urn:uuid:f78f9243-f91f-40d8-afc7-8edbd48fc3c4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://guntersville.campground@dcnr.alabama.gov/news/release.cfm?ID=778 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925843 | 277 | 2.25 | 2 |
The majority were the external USB modems that mobile operators have been pushing for some time. Growth has been bolstered by mobile operators who bundled USB modems with netbooks in subsidized price plans.
A further 3.5 million were embedded modems, built into the computers. According to ABI Research principal analyst Philip Solis, "After years of slow growth, the embedded cellular modem market is starting to show signs of life, increasing volumes and exceeding expectations. ABI Research expects that, building on a good showing of 3.5 million units in 2008, shipments of embedded modems will more than double in 2009."
Qualcomm and Ericsson have been targeting the embedded modem market directly, positioning their products very competitively against each other. Operators, especially in Western Europe, are subsidizing USB modems and offering premium data plans that include "free" netbooks or laptops equipped with embedded modems.
Solis warns that despite the positive picture for embedded modems, the global recession will inevitably have an impact on the market. "In light of the prevailing economic conditions and the resulting slowdown in laptop shipments, ABI Research has lowered its overall forecasts for the cellular modem market for 2009. However, shipment rates will continue to grow, albeit at a slower place, because this is an underpenetrated market and because of subsidies and other incentives offered by mobile operators."
"Cellular PC Card Market Data" (http://www.abiresearch.com/products/market_data/Cellular_PC_Modems_Market_Data) provides market share and shipment forecast data for cellular modems used to supply cellular connectivity for all types of laptop computing devices. It includes data for cellular modems' four form factors: PCMCIA cards, USB modems, internal modems, and 3G/Wi-Fi routers. | <urn:uuid:5f6ba982-d035-4482-88ee-78d043d1f098> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wirelessandmobilenews.com/2009/02/35-million-cellular-modems-hit-market-in-2008.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943521 | 373 | 1.976563 | 2 |
New Delhi: Fearing oil refineries will be hit hard by the Finance Ministry's move to change the way petrol and diesel are priced, Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily has asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to constitute an expert committee to decide on the issue. The Finance Ministry has informed the Petroleum Ministry that auto fuel needs to be priced at export parity rather than import parity as the 2.5 per cent customs duty was adding to the under-recoveries of the state-run oil marketing companies without contributing any revenue to the exchequer.
"Immediately switching over to export parity, whether it is possible or feasible is a question which has to be examined," he said. Oil companies, Moily said, feel the new pricing norm would make oil refining a difficult business.
"I am suggesting to Prime Minister that an expert committee, like the previous ones headed by C Rangarajan and Kirit Parekh (based on whose suggestion trade parity pricing was adopted), can be constituted," he said. Moily said India's surplus refining capacity, which enables export of large volumes of petroleum products, was a strength and if refineries do not function to their full capacity, imports of fuel would add to the current Rs 7,00,000 crore of oil import bill.
The Finance Ministry has informed the Petroleum Ministry that auto fuel needs to be priced at export parity rather than import parity.
Sources said Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum together are projected to end the fiscal with close to Rs 1,60,000 crore of under-recoveries or revenue loss on selling diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene below cost. Upstream oil companies like ONGC are to meet about Rs 60,000 crore of this and the rest Rs 1,00,000 crore was to come from the government as cash subsidy.
By changing the pricing methodology, the Finance Ministry wants to cut its cash outgo by about Rs 18,000 crore in the current fiscal. Sources said like any other product, traditionally domestic refiners enjoyed 5 per cent duty protection by way of higher customs or import duty on petroleum products (finished product) than on crude oil (raw material).
So, if crude oil attracted 5 per cent import duty, finished product was charged a customs duty of 10 per cent. A few years back, the duty on finished products was brought down to 7.5 per cent and crude oil to 2.5 per cent.
In fact, the duty on crude oil was brought to zero and that on products to 2.5 per cent a few years ago, effectively reducing the protection refiners enjoyed from flooding of domestic market with cheaper imported fuel. Now, if the import duty on fuel is brought down to zero, the refineries will have no protection.
Sources said the Finance Ministry has informed the Oil Ministry that it plans to remove the 2.5 per cent import tax on petrol and diesel since the duty on diesel was adding to the under-recoveries of the state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) without contributing any revenue to the exchequer. This would lead to a change in the methodology for calculating the under-recoveries. The imported price of petrol and diesel, which includes customs duty, is used by the refineries to calculate the prices charged from retailers.
The difference between this price and the pump price is the under-recovery or revenue loss. While the government had freed petrol from its control, diesel continues to be subsidised. There is no import duty on kerosene and LPG, the other two subsidised fuel.
At 2.5 per cent, its net effect is an increase of Rs 1.13 per litre on the ex-refinery price of diesel. This translates into an under-recovery of Rs 18,000 crore. On petrol, the customs duty impact is about one rupee but it is passed on to the consumers and there is no impact on government's subsidy bill. | <urn:uuid:7c38ff3f-6e8e-4eea-9154-22dbbfefd789> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ibnlive.in.com/news/veerappa-moily-asks-pm-to-appoint-expert-panel-to-examine-fuel-pricing/370491-7.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957216 | 816 | 1.554688 | 2 |
|European leaders have urged China to invest in a fund to support eurozone's struggling economies [AFP]
The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that Europe's debt crisis risks plunging the global economy into a "lost decade", saying it was rich nations' responsiblity to shoulder the burden of restoring growth and confidence.
Christine Lagarde told a financial forum in Beijing on Wednesday that European plans to bolster a rescue package for Greece were a "step in the right direction", but that the outlook for the world economy remained dangerous and uncertain.
"There are clearly clouds on the horizon. Clouds on the horizon particularly in the advanced economies and particularly so in the European Union and the United States," Lagarde said.
Speaking on the first of a two-day visit to China, Lagarde said Asia was not immune to the problems currently sweeping the eurozone.
"Our sense is that if we don't act boldly, and if we don't act together, the economy around the world runs the risk of a downward spiral of uncertainty, financial instability and potential collapse of global demand ... We could run the risk of what some commentators are already calling the lost decade," she said.
The "lost decade" reference carries echoes of Japan's experience of persistent deflation, mounting debts and economic weakness through the 1990s and beyond after its real estate bubble burst - an outcome many analysts fear could be repeated given the debt and property origins of Europe's problems.
Lagarde's meetings are expected to focus on efforts to contain the crisis in Europe, which in the past week led the prime ministers of Greece and Italy to announce plans to resign.
Europe seeks Chinese help
The IMF chief has so far held talks with Chinese central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan on the "global economic situation", the People's Bank of China said in a brief statement.
Hong Lei, the foreign ministry spokesman, said Lagarde would also meet "state leaders" but did not specify who they would be.
Lagarde said she was hopeful that the technical details of an EU plan to boost the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF) - set up to bail out struggling economies in the eurozone - to about one trillion euros from its present 440bn euros would be ready by December.
European leaders have called on China, which has the world's largest foreign exchange reserves at $3.2 trillion, to invest in the EFSF.
The head of the fund, Klaus Regling, has previously travelled to Beijing for talks about a possible contribution, but China has as yet made no firm commitment to provide financial assistance for the troubled eurozone.
Beijing remains sceptical and public opinion in China is firmly against bailing out countries that still enjoy far higher
average incomes than Chinese.
Before arriving in Beijing, Lagarde had spent two days in Moscow, trying to convince Russia to boost the eurozone bailout fund. But the so-called BRIC nations - Brazil, Russia, India and China - are still reluctant to invest directly in Europe's rescue fund, preferring to contribute via the IMF.
Lagarde, speaking at an event organised by the Institute for International Finance - the global association of the world's most important banks - also said that China needed to shift its growth model from being export-led to a more balanced one and that the country needed a stronger currency. | <urn:uuid:013be615-59e5-45c0-99c8-98be01bd304b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2011/11/201111910351655317.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959704 | 683 | 1.960938 | 2 |
At the turn of the century bungalows took America by storm. These small houses, some costing as little as $900, helped fulfill many Americans’ wishes for their own home, equipped with all the latest conveniences. Central to the bungalow’s popularity was the idea that simplicity and artistry could harmonize in one affordable house. The mania for bungalows marked a rare occasion in which serious architecture was found outside the realm of the rich. Bungalows allowed people of modest means to achieve something they had long sought: respectability. With its special features – style, convenience, simplicity, sound construction, and excellent plumbing – the bungalow filled more than the need for shelter. It provided fulfillment of the American dream.
The bungalow was practical, and it symbolized for many the best of the good life. On its own plot of land, with a garden, however small, and a car parked out front, a bungalow provided privacy and independence. To their builders and owners, bungalows meant living close to nature, but also with true style.
But what is a bungalow anyway? Where does the term come from? And what is so great about this architectural style?
Most dictionaries are explicit: a bungalow is a one- or one-and- a-half story dwelling. Good enough, except that since the period when most bungalows were constructed – roughly 1880 to 1930 in the United States – literally every type of house has at one time been called a bungalow. Two-story houses built on the grounds of hotels are still called bungalows, for example. And to further muddy the definition, the great Southern California architect Charles Sumner Greene went out of his way to call his Gamble house (1909) in Pasadena, Calif., a bungalow. Instead, the Gamble house is a sprawling two-story residence with a third-floor pool room.
Low profile, high foundation. A bungalow’s distinction is its low profile. There are no vertical bungalows even though in a few cities such as Sacramento, Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, the basically horizontal house type is raised on high foundations. Promotional literature in the early 20th century almost always noted the chief purpose of the bungalow: to place most of the living spaces on one floor. The advantages are obvious–the absence of a second story simplifies the building process. Utilities can be installed more easily than in a two-story house. Safety is at a premium because, in the event of fire, windows as well as doors offer easy escape. Best of all, the bungalow allows staircases to be eliminated, a boon for the elderly and also for the homemaker, who can carry out household tasks without a lot of trips up the stairs.
The origin of the bungalow has its roots in the Indian province of Bengal. There, the common native dwelling and the geographic area both had the same root word, bangla or bangala. Eighteenth century huts of one story with thatched roofs were adapted by the British, who used them as houses for colonial administrators in summer retreats in the Himalayas and in compounds outside Indian cities. Also taking inspiration from the army tent, the English cottage, and sources as exotic as the Persian verandah, early bungalow designers clustered dining rooms, bedrooms, kitchens, and bathrooms around central living rooms and, thereby, created the essential floor plan of the bungalow, leaving only a few refinements to be worked out by later designers.
Almost inevitably, this economical, practical type of house invaded North America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The first American house actually called a bungalow was designed in 1879 by William Gibbons Preston. Contrary to the usual definition, it was a two-story house built at Monument Beach on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It was probably called a bungalow because it resembled resort architecture.
From the East the idea spread westward. Naturally, California – in everyone’s mind the ultimate resort – was a promising locale for bungalows. Land was relatively cheap, and the possibility of affordable and comfortable housing was attractive to the young on the make, the sick on the mend, and the old on modest pensions. The first California house dubbed a bungalow was designed by the San Francisco architect A. Page Brown for J.D. Grant in the early 1890s. A true bungalow, this one-and-a-half story residence was set on a high foundation and located on a hillside. It was a strange blend of Bengalese, Queen Anne and Swiss chalet architecture.
The bungalow craze took off after the turn of the century, during an era in which Americans were obsessed with the notion of health or simply attracted to economic opportunities in the booming West. Before World War I, a small bungalow could be built for $900. A good-sized bungalow cost maybe $3,500.
Ironically, the bungalow that had once been the symbol of retreat to the countryside became the architecture of the city and its suburbs. Yet the bungalow did not lose its identification with the rural idyll and a better, golden day. Be it ever so humble, it embodied an ideal for the majority of Americans – the free-standing, single- family dwelling set down in a garden – an ideal that clings to us today.Pin It | <urn:uuid:03492a52-0083-4cdd-b422-d41819e450d7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ambungalow.com/all-about-bungalows/what-is-a-bungalow/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970309 | 1,129 | 3.03125 | 3 |
The CASUS Authoring System is user-friendly allowing for quick creation of case studies enabling the author to concentrate on the course content versus the mechanics of the software; and the varying design possibilities provide for a professional presentation.
Authoring in CASUS is quick and effective allowing for ease of operation. When we developed CASUS, one of our priorities was to enable both inexperienced and experienced Internet users to use all authoring functions immediately. Our authoring system design follows generally known functions closely eliminating the need for extended training time.
One of the strengths of CASUS is the smooth integration of multimedia elements; such as, graphics, photos, and films. In principle, all electronic documents can be included in a CASUS case with multimedia elements integrated with a simple mouse-click.
The CASUS Authoring System offers interactive elements* authors can easily create in cases without having programming experience. In addition to the many standardized interactive elements, specific expert comments can be embedded in cases adding pedagogical value.
* Interactive elements include a wide range of question and answer types, references, hyperlinks, and many more.
Specialized E-Teaching Module
Unique to CASUS is its specially developed E-teaching module enabling student/teacher contact, thus providing the possibility for a direct dialogue as well as a quick overview of students’ performance and motivation.
Methodological Didactic Approach
We, at Instruct AG, recognize E-learning is a different way for students to learn. As a result, we have invested time and expertise in creating an authoring system that serves as the best possible base for didactically effective knowledge transfer. The design of the CASUS software structure and its creation tools force the creation of E-learning cases that are methodological and didactical thus allowing authors to focus more on content than its software integration generating professional, useful cases.
Our expert knowledge is at your disposal. We can help you with the content component in the E-learning environment. Attend one of our didactics seminars or arrange for an individual training.
A Wide Range of Question and Answer Types
Because we know question and answer variations are an essential component of didactical case creation and processing, CASUS offers a number of question and answer types. CASUS, matched by few software suppliers in today’s market, provides the largest possible bandwidth in order to choose the most effective question type suitable for each learning target.
Special “Concept Mapping” Tool
In order to respond to the extensive demand of the medical sector, we implemented a task type which is currently unmatched: “Concept Mapping” for the support of differential-diagnostic hypothesis creation, improving diagnosis quality by a two-dimensional display of concepts and their relations. By structuring knowledge and through the more intense examination of individual concepts and their interrelations, learning efficiency is increased and knowledge gaps are more easily recognized.
In order to display the elaborate knowledge of interrelations within a specific field, the Concept Mapping tool is also a first-class option for other fields.
Publishing with CASUS
CASUS provides opportunity for you to enjoy the benefits of publishing professionally. Professional reviews of your CASUS case serve to monitor the quality of your case and present opportunity to obtain an official reference for your work. At Instruct AG, we understand the importance of professional publications for scientists and we also assist you in obtaining the necessary identification numbers (ISBN) for your publication. | <urn:uuid:9e2ef83b-c70e-4bc3-8846-9f8f4a15fd71> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.instruct.eu/?q=en/content/autorensystem | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919416 | 704 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Damaging M6.7 Main Shock and M6 Aftershocks in Philippines: Insured Losses Less than $100 Million
A magnitude 6.7 earthquake occurred in the Cebu region of the southern Philippines on February 6, 2012, followed by at least three aftershocks exceeding M5.5. Landslides, damage, and casualties have been reported. EQECAT estimates less than $100 million USD insured loss due to this event and economic loss approximately 10 times this amount. The earthquake was centered in the Negros Oriental province within the Visayas group of Islands, approximately 600km south-southeast of the Philippine capital of Manila. Little to no shaking was experienced in Manila.
USGS ShakeMap: Cebu Region Philippines
Source: U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
A population of approximately 1 million were exposed to strong shaking intensity, according to PAGER estimates, and a population of about 5.5 million were exposed to moderate shaking, including Cebu city, the second-most populous metropolitan region in the Philippines. Damage and casualties are expected to be concentrated in the vicinity of the epicenter, including Guihulngan City (approximate population 100,000).
Damage is expected to stem primarily from landslides and shaking to vulnerable construction such as unreinforced masonry buildings. In the vicinity of Cebu city, earthquake-resistant construction is expected to have withstood the shaking with minimal to no damage.
The Philippine islands are in a tectonic setting of active seismicity with mapped seismic hazard among the highest across the globe, but this region of the Philippines has experienced a relatively low frequency of damaging earthquakes, in comparison to the rest of the nation. Over the past 40 years, only one earthquake exceeding magnitude 6.0 has occurred within 100 km of the February 6 earthquake's epicenter.
Historical destructive earthquakes in the Philippines.
For quakes prior to 1984, earthquakes with intensities M>7 and greater are included.
For quakes after 1984, those with M>6.5 are included.
Exposure is changing rapidly in the region due to growing economic development. A common construction type is heavy timber residences elevated off the ground for flood resistance. While the shaking resistance of such buildings is generally good due to their relatively low mass, all building types are vulnerable to landslide. Shaking-induced landslides are common in hilly and mountainous regions that experience earthquakes, and landslide susceptibility is exacerbated by conditions of saturated or poorly-consolidated soils.
EQECAT model users are advised to consider event IDs 9124, 9180, 10877, and 10935 as proxies for this earthquake.
Subscribe to CatWatch email alerts and receive CatWatch Catastrophe Reports to your inbox. | <urn:uuid:511456a3-0fc4-44ac-a93d-670ac0fff675> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eqecat.com/catwatch/m-6-7-earthquake-negros-cebu-region-philippines-2012-02-07/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950552 | 569 | 2.59375 | 3 |
AfriGeneas Military Research Forum
Re: WWII - THEY LANDED ON D-DAY
The 761st Tank Battalion is a storied unit, but it was neither the first nor the second African-American combat unit to land at Normandy. My Dad's unit, the 452nd AAA AW [Anti-Aircraft Artillery, Automatic Weapons] Battalion came ashore at Normandy on June 23 (D-Day +13), and had been actively engaging the enemy for some three months before the 761st had even arrived in France the following October.
The 452nd spent its first several months in combat providing nighttime anti-aircraft protection to the daily influx of new troops and supplies landing at Normandy. It went on from there to participate in every major campaign in N. Europe, including the Battle of the Bulge, as part of Patton's 3rd Army/XII Corp. By V/E day, the 452nd was credited with having shot down more than 100 German warplanes, while seriously damaging 17 more. | <urn:uuid:d354b9d0-81f5-461f-8ff4-0d11a147bae8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.afrigeneas.com/forum-military/index.cgi/md/read/id/2275/sbj/wwii-they-landed-on-d-day/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973922 | 212 | 2.34375 | 2 |
banks are like cathedrals, Since casinos took their place."
really know what the above lyric means, but it sounds so good. Did
the casinos replace the banks, or did the casinos replace the cathedrals?
It's not really clear. Maybe casinos replaced cathedrals in that
people are now worshiping money, gambling on fate rather than trusting
God. If so, then why are the banks now like cathedrals? The banks
house money, so there is some connection between casinos and banks.
That's about as far as I can take that interpretation. Or maybe
the lyric is saying that casinos replaced banking, so gambling is
now considered as conservative as investing, and investing is so
conservative that it is considered medieval worship, and cathedrals
are so conservative they don't even exist anymore. What we have
here is a great pop lyric that makes a lousy meaningful sentence.
hypertext literature is a wonderful subject for discourse, theory,
and intellectual hobnobbing; but in the final analysis, there's
really not that much to it. Insofar as hypertext binds the Web together,
it's wonderful. Insofar as hypertext allows multimedia Web art to
function, it's great glue. Insofar as hypertext comprises a new
literary genre, it's about as riveting as those "write your own
story" books that came out when I was a kid ("If you choose to fight
the dragon, turn to page 72. If you choose to elope with the maiden,
turn to page 287").
Dadaism, some things are better in theory than in execution. The
iconoclastic idea of Duchamp's urinal as art is much more impressive
than the urinal itself. And of course, that was Duchamp's point.
Likewise, the elaborate theories expounded on interactive novels
and stream-of-consciousness-enabled poetry make much better reading
than the hypertext poems and novels themselves. Jorge Louis Borges
foretold interactive literature in his 1941 short story, "Examen
de la Obra de Herbert Quain" from the collection Ficciones
. The story itself is not interactive literature; instead, it
is faux criticism of a piece of non-existent interactive literature.
Even back then Borges must have known what I've recently come to
suspect: Critical theory of non-linear text is much more fun to
write and read than non-linear text itself!
many a progressive online literary magazine might not agree with
me, but I have two good objections: 1) Text yes, but why hyper?
and 2) Hyper yes, but why text? Catchy, concise, and very, very
linear. I'll present these two objections later down the line, but
exactly is hypertext?
Web has inundated our culture with reams of new technologies and
communication paradigms over the last five years. Consequently we're
so overwhelmed with buzzwords, we can't tell a neo-media environment
from an interactive literary community. (Or was it net banking,
or did online casinos take their place?) So what exactly is hypertext?
is just text that links. OK? That's it.
has been written about the wondrous paradigm-shifting nature of
"the linking event." For example, isn't it interesting how the human
mind interprets the Web as a place? We feel we are hopping from
site to site, when in reality, we are merely requesting different
documents from different machines, and those documents are being
sent to our machine while we don't move at all.
See how tempting it is to expound on the depths of the interactive
Web experience? Here I am writing an article trying to debunk our
overblown fascination with hypertext, and even now I am succumbing
to the temptation. Theorize on, dear friends. I won't cast stones.
without the Web and its resources is really nothing much. Tim Berners-Lee
originally invented HTML to allow physics researchers to communicate
with each other via the Internet in a way beyond mere e-mail and
file transfer protocol. Tim's purpose for adding the hypertext element
to his markup language was twofold:
I have a table of contents at the beginning of my long physics paper,
I no longer have to say "Chapter 5: Non-linear experiments in fluid
dynamics (p. 45)." I can merely link all that text straight to page
45, and leave out the reference to page 45. So hypertext was originally
meant to save its readers the trouble of having to "flip through"
the digital pages of their digital documents.
in my physics paper I want to refer to another physics paper, and
I know the location on the Internet of that other paper, I can send
my readers straight to that other paper via hypertext. Let's liken
this function to using the yellow pages, except instead of reading
a number from the Yellow Pages and dialing it into a phone manually
(the old ftp method), you simply press the number right there in
the directory itself, and the phone number is dialed for you (the
new HTML method). Sure, a great time saving device, but an advancement
know what Berners-Lee's Hypertext Markup Language spawned, namely
Ye Olde Web. But note, Berners-Lee wrote his markup language for
research papers and physics databases. Is there a difference between
reading an instructional manual and reading a novel? You bet. The
former is non-linear, and the latter is linear. And necessarily
#1: Text yes, but why hyper?
subscribed to a theory of organic poetry which I find instructive.
It's been a while since college, and I'm grossly oversimplifying,
but basically Wordsworth says that every piece of a poem should
be essential, adding to the whole. A poem should be constructed
so that if any bit were added or removed, it wouldn't work. Furthermore,
a poem should be organic like a flower is organic. A poem should
begin as a seed and proceed into full blossom so that each part
rightly relates to the parts which precede and follow it in sequence.
A good poem should grow from beginning to end. In other words, linear
cohesion is part and parcel of good poetry.
back to middle school plot diagrams, you've got your initial incident
which builds to a climax and then falls to a resolution. It's left
to right, in a sequence, in a line. It actually is a line, come
to think of it. And why is it that good poems and good stories by
their very nature tend to be linear?
answer has to do with the nature of existence, space, and time.
We exist in a sea of millions of possible future events that may
or may not happen. Every day we wake up and begin bringing into
existence a series of those possible events, turning them from the
possible into history, and stringing them together in a chronological
line. We call this activity "life." We enjoy stories and poems about
life that proceed from beginning to end, because we live life in
time from beginning to end. Tension and release are the essential
elements of pleasure. "Will such and such happen? I'm waiting...
I'm waiting, Yes! It did happen!" So great writing is writing that
presents a meaningful mediated "life experience." And since our
life experience is linear, non-linear writing is less likely to
be great writing.
have the burning desire to describe several possible linear life
experiences? Write several novels. Otherwise, your single hypertext
novel will just wind up having the dramatic impact of the end of
Wayne's World. If there's more than one ending, then there's
really no ending at all.
like Groundhog Day are amusing because they ask, "what if
life weren't linear?" But note, Groundhog Day is still a
linear movie commenting on non-linear/cyclic possibilities. If every
time you watched Groundhog Day the movie itself changed order,
how would that increase the impact of the narrative? (I dare say
the same holds true for Joyce's Portrait of the Artist, stream-of-consciousness
as it may be.) Once again, a linear analysis of a non-linear event
proves more compelling than the non-linear event itself. Was Bill
Murray's character enjoying his non-linear life in Groundhog
Day? Or was his life very disorienting and frustrating? Most
non-linear writing is just that: disorienting and frustrating to
read. Are you into near-Broadway impromptu theater where actors
throw fruit at you and verbally berate your grandmother? Do you
enjoy that kind of paradigm-shifting avant-garde experience? Then
curl up to a cozy hypertext novel and suck marrow, baby.
#2: Hyper yes, but why text?
to teach a class on Web site design at a two-year technical college.
When we got to the "make a site with whatever you want on it" phase,
everybody wanted to write about their cat. Second only to the pet-glorification
sites were the hypertext poem/essay sites. "Look, I wrote a poem
where one word in the poem links to a second page with an entirely
new poem based on that first word. And look, in the second poem
there is another word where if you click on it..."
reason my students were drawn to these hypertext poems was that
we hadn't yet gotten to graphics. Once they knew how to create and
incorporate images in their pages, the hypertext poems suddenly
seemed old-school. That's the way I feel about hypertext literature.
With so much media converging on the Web, why not use the Web's
interactivity to do something other than merely write words?
piece of interactive art (apart from the universe) is the CD-ROM
"game" "Riven." If you're going to ask me to forge the outcome of
your art, then at least make me the main character and give me some
moving objects and people to look at and listen to so I can have
some virtual fun. In other words, make a fully mediated world and
drop me in it (vis-ą-vis Nell's primer in Neil Stephenson's The
Diamond Age). Otherwise, I'll just continue to enjoy the media-rich
interactive experience that is my life, while occasionally reading
Robyn Miller, the primary creator of "Riven," has now gone into
linear filmmaking. His reason? Greater control over one's narrative
leads to the construction of a greater narrative. There's no chance
your viewer is going to wander into a corner, or go out of order,
or never arrive at the main point. You can choose the one plot that
most communicates your message, hone that plot for maximum impact,
and then present it with the assurance that if your viewer doesn't
get it, it wasn't for your lack of trying.
"Riven" rocks my world. I do get it. I also get and enjoy many interactive
multimedia Web installations. Yes, interactivity does immerse and
involve me in art by empowering me, but what exactly is it that
I'm empowered to do? Am I empowered to blend various audio loops
and in so doing create a correspondent video collage? (See Peppermint
Lounge). Am I empowered to modify a surrealistic landscape by
tweaking various controls that are themselves part of the ever-changing
landscape? (remember the old snarg.net?) Or am I merely empowered
to wander around a few discrete word chunks that I can only read
but can't rewrite or influence in any major way? The first two interactive
multimedia scenarios empower me to co-create my own unique immersible
experience, the last raw hypertext scenario empowers me to be disoriented
final analysis, hypertext literature may prove to be the deconstructivist
critic's secret fantasy realized: a literary genre better known
for its literary criticism than for its actual literature. Personally,
I'd rather pore over obscure U2 lyrics. How are banks like cathedrals?
Let me count the ways...
© 2000 Curt Cloninger. All Rights Reserved.
Cloninger lives at lab404.com
. He likes his art with a bit of beauty to it. Anything else is
just an idea.
discuss this article on our | <urn:uuid:882bc871-eb5b-4879-a040-63d0a2895ccd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.spark-online.com/november00/discourse/cloninger.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935979 | 2,680 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Make Your Websites Directory and File Structure Search Engine Friendly
Search engines get clues about the nature of a site from its domain name as well as from the site’s directory and file structure. The added lift is probably not large, but every little bit counts, right? You might as well name directories, web pages, and images by using keywords.
For example, rather than create a directory named /events/, you could name it /rodent-racing-events/. Rather than have a file named gb123.jpg, you can use a more descriptive name, such as rodent-racing-scores.jpg. Don’t have too many dashes in the file and directory names, though, because overdoing it may cause search engines to ignore the name.
You should separate keywords in a name with dashes, but not with underscores, despite what your web designer may tell you. Google has dramatically changed the way in which it deals with underscores in URLs, so it’s no longer as important as it once was (Google regards rodent_racing, for instance, as a single word).
Don’t let anyone tell you that you should be using underscores rather than dashes in file and directory names — it’s simply not true!
It may be a good idea to keep a flat directory structure in your website — that is, keep your pages as close to the root domain as possible, rather than have a complicated multilevel directory tree. Create a directory for each navigation tab and keep all the files in that directory.
Many observers believe that search engines downgrade pages that are lower in the directory structure. This effect is probably small, but the theory is that you’re better off using a structure with fewer sublevels than with more. For instance, the first page that follows, according to this theory, would be weighted more highly than the second page:
However, a flat directory structure is probably not terribly important. The directory structure doesn’t matter to Google, the single most important search engine. And sometimes it’s nice to use a directory structure to add a few keywords to the URL to tell the search engines what the page is about. For instance, you might have the following in a real estate site:
Don’t use too many hyphens, though; a few here and there are okay, but overdoing it might cause problems. | <urn:uuid:c8b3560f-8e8b-4380-aed0-8d57e634a58a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/make-your-websites-directory-and-file-structure-se.navId-405063.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941792 | 497 | 2.453125 | 2 |
Researchers show cost-effectiveness of HIV testing in drug abuse treatment programs
Less than half of community-based substance abuse treatment programs in the United States currently make HIV testing available on-site or through referral. A new study led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College shows the cost-effectiveness of integrating on-site rapid HIV testing into drug treatment programs.
The study, published in today's issue of Drug and Alcohol Dependence, is a collaboration with the HIV Rapid Testing and Counseling Study trial, sponsored by the National Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network. The randomized clinical trial conducted in 12 community-based substance abuse treatment programs in 2009 found that 80 percent of the participants offered on-site HIV testing with a rapid test accepted the testing offer and obtained test results, as compared with less than 20 percent of those referred for off-site testing. These recent results were published in the June issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
The new study measured the cost-effectiveness of on-site rapid HIV testing in drug abuse treatment programs using data from the HIV Rapid Testing and Counseling Study, including patient demographics, prior testing history, test acceptance and receipt of results, undiagnosed HIV prevalence and program costs. Researchers used the Cost Effectiveness of Preventing AIDS Complications (CEPAC) computer simulation model to project life expectancy, lifetime costs and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) for the HIV-infected individuals. The researchers calculated the cost per QALY with and without on-site testing, also taking into account the costs associated with testing individuals who turn out not to be HIV-infected.
"Our cost-effectiveness analysis supports integrating HIV screening and prevention services with substance abuse treatment programs, which is called for in President Barack Obama's National HIV/AIDS Strategy, " says the study's lead investigator Dr. Bruce R. Schackman, an associate professor of public health and chief of the Division of Health Policy at Weill Cornell Medical College. "We found that on-site testing with a description of the testing procedure, without pre-test risk-reduction counseling, resulted in a beneficial cost-effectiveness ratio. This strategy provides better value than off-site referral."
Study results show a cost-effectiveness ratio of $60,300 per QALY, which is below one acceptable cost-effectiveness threshold of $100,000 per QALY used in the U.S. In addition, researchers found that participant-tailored risk-reduction counseling does not provide better value in this setting. Risk-reduction counseling increases the cost per participant by nearly 90 percent, and in the trial it had no significant effect on self-reported sexual risk behavior.
Although medical advances over the past 15 years have made HIV a substantially manageable illness, new HIV cases in the U.S. continue to emerge at a steady rate. More than 20 percent of infected individuals are unaware of their infection and are therefore not treated. This both reduces their life expectancy and quality of life and makes them more likely to transmit the infection to others. To identify more people infected with HIV, in 2006 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended routine HIV screening for all adults in health care settings, as well as expanding testing in non-medical settings.
"This study shows that introducing on-site rapid HIV testing to substance abuse treatment programs should be an important element of the CDC's strategy to identify and treat HIV-infected persons earlier to improve their lives and reduce transmission," says study co-author Dr. Lisa R. Metsch, the Stephen Smith professor and chair of sociomedical sciences at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University and the principal investigator of the initial HIV Rapid Testing and Counseling Study. "The study provides strong evidence of the societal value of on-site HIV testing. We need to overcome barriers to implementing HIV testing in non-medical settings for those not recently tested."
"The study reinforces the clinical and economic value of offering on-site rapid HIV testing in drug abuse treatment programs by demonstrating its cost-effectiveness," says senior author Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. "Our study should serve as motivation for policymakers and substance abuse treatment leaders to seek funding for on-site rapid HIV testing in substance abuse treatment programs."
Journal reference: Drug and Alcohol Dependence
Provided by New York- Presbyterian Hospital
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Classical and Quantum Mechanics via Lie algebras
Apr 15, 2011 I'd like to open a discussion thread for version 2 of the draft of my book ''Classical and Quantum Mechanics via Lie algebras'', available online at http://lanl.arxiv.org/abs/0810.1019 , and for the...
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