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Jamie Bartlett discusses the Foreign Office's suspension of an anti-Al Qaeda film in the Guardian.
Since 9/11, we face a new type of security challenge - violent radicalism associated with Islam. The al-Qaeda (inspired) network has challenged received wisdom: it is a global terror network with the unswerving aim to deliver maximum destruction to the West, one that understands the importance of symbolism and ideas.
The dynamics of al-Qaeda and inspired groups make it especially challenging; authorities must move seamlessly from the global to the local, must fill large gaps in their knowledge about Islam and the Islamic world, and maintain a delicate balance between operational interventions and long-term relationship-building.
The task is difficult because al-Qaeda's growth coincides with a wider but very diverse movement of Muslim mobilisation in Europe, some highly radical (some violent, some non-violent), and anxiety has been heightened by unease about the growing visibility of Islam in Europe
Some commentators welcome the emergence of radical mobilisation as a positive sign of Muslim integration. Others view it as a danger to the stability of Europe or a trend towards separatism. Most agree that factors including socio-economic, crises of identity, international travel and communication, integration, immigration, foreign policy, and media portrayal are key to this phenomenon.
It is critical that counter-terrorism strategies address these broader concerns, as well as the specific challenges posed by the terrorists. Despite European experience of terrorism, there is insufficient understanding of how different factions and types of mobilisations relate to one another.
The project will consider these issues primarily in the context of Canada, but also in the UK, France, the Netherlands, and Denmark. The project will:
This report compares violent and non-violent radicals looking at their behaviour, the appeal of the al-Qaeda narrative and the role of governments and communities in responding.
This report makes recommendations for the forthcoming review of the Government's 'Preventing Violent Extremism' programme.
The Power of Unreason, the first in a series of reports by Demos on emerging themes in extremism and terrorism, examines the role played by conspiracy theories in extremist groups.
This pamphlet is a summary of two years of research examining the difference between violent and non-violent radicals in Europe and Canada.
Jamie Bartlett says the axed FCO anti-terrorism film is anything but trivial.
I've got an article on Comment is free which you can read here. The article draws...
So, apparently the police are watching 2,000 terror suspects, but they aren’t the... | <urn:uuid:b447a9f6-b9ea-4301-88a0-57618b0aad74> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.demos.co.uk/projects/fromthreattoopportunity | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932659 | 525 | 2.109375 | 2 |
216 South Professor, 1885
The Johnson family gave Oberlin its most spectacular link with the flamboyant world of nineteenth-century capitalism. The patriarch of the clan, I.M. Johnson, was president of the first national bank of Oberlin and lived on East College Street in the big house later known as Cranford (destroyed in 1971) until he retired to the California coast in 1878. One of his sons, Edward, was a longtime village clothing merchant. Another was Albert H. Johnson, who worked as cashier in his father's bank and then as owner of the Oberlin gasworks before becoming president of the Arkansas Midland Railroad.
In the early 1880s Albert Johnson bought the old Dascomb property and several acres around it on South Professor. He then moved the Dascomb house across the street, and asked Cleveland architect George Horatio Smith to plan a suitable home for him on the rise above Plum Creek. Smith, who would co-design the Cleveland Arcade five years later, was already well known for his service to the housing needs of the Euclid Avenue elite. His Oberlin response was Johnson House, completed in 1885, the instant showpiece of the town, a domestic Peters Hall.
With Johnson House the Queen Anne enthusiasm, imported from England by way of the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, hit Oberlin in full force. A vast pile of irregular shapes, and surfaces enclosing 24 rooms, the house was a lavish personal display exploiting the architectural possibilities opened up by wealth and central heating. Complexity of form -- tower, turret, gables, and bays -- is reinforced by the grand profusion of detail in surface textures, mounting in intensity as the eye rises across the panelled gables and molded cornices to the patterned tiles of roof and tower.
The impact satisfied. Pride of achievement was evident in every line: the Johnsons had made it. Albert H. Johnson enjoyed his house for 14 years. He was killed in a train wreck in Colorado in 1899. Charles Martin Hall bought the place in 1911 and gave it to the college. It was used for the Oberlin Academy till 1916, and for a college dormitory since.
In 1981 preservationist Steven McQuillin, a recent Oberlin graduate, arranged a period repainting of the house which brought back to it some of the passing glory it had enjoyed ten decades before. | <urn:uuid:b04d9b95-9c29-4c37-8a0b-e183f4721803> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oberlin.edu/external/EOG/HistoricPreservation/HPJohnsonHouse.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971701 | 489 | 2.09375 | 2 |
History of BAS
The UK has been a leader in Antarctic science and exploration for more than 200 years. Britain’s interest in Antarctica began with Captain James Cook, who in the 1770s became the first person to sail around the continent. But the most famous British expeditions to the Antarctic took place during the so-called “heroic age” at the start of the 20th Century.
Primarily remembered for their extraordinary feats of courage and endurance, the expeditions of Scott and Shackleton had important scientific goals. During the southern winter before the fateful push for the pole, Scott’s expedition gathered large amounts of scientific data. Undoubtedly the most hard won were five emperor penguin eggs, which three men travelled for more than a month in the middle of the Antarctic winter to collect, in the hope they would shed light on the evolutionary links between reptiles and birds.
Britain’s scientific interest in the Antarctic continued during the 1920s and 30s when, funded by taxes from the whaling industry, the Falkland Islands Dependencies Government supported 13 so-called Discovery voyages. Among their successes were important advances in marine biology and major improvements in the charting of Antarctic waters.
British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is the UK’s national Antarctic operator, and has for the past 60 years been responsible for most of the UK’s
scientific research in Antarctica. BAS has its roots in Operation Tabarin, a secret World War II mission. Designed to deny Antarctic waters to enemy ships, Tabarin also had a scientific role, collecting data on Antarctic biology, geology and weather during the last two years of the war.
After the end of the war in 1945, Tabarin’s three bases and its scientific work were transferred to a new organisation – the Falklands Islands Dependencies Survey, which in turn was renamed in 1962 as BAS.Since then, BAS has become a world-leader in Antarctic research. Headquartered in Cambridge, BAS employs more than 400 staff amd is part of the Natural Environment Research Council. BAS operates five research stations, two Royal Research Ships and five aircraft in and around Antarctica. | <urn:uuid:61169c71-3ce6-4e3a-99db-f0385f81199c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/about_bas/our_history/history_of_bas.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962499 | 438 | 3.953125 | 4 |
| Definition - The -ing form of a verb when it is used as a verb.
1. When the -ing form of the verb is used as a noun, it is called a gerund.
(1) I'm working hard. (present participle as verb)
(2) I'm a working man. (present participle as adjective) | <urn:uuid:0cc81539-1055-436f-b700-5481c7046837> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://odlt.org/definitionsOut/present_participle.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952526 | 75 | 2.265625 | 2 |
When it comes to new experiences, it's always normal as a human being to experience some anxiety; so don't feel bad about it!
I remember many times when I walked into an unfamiliar office for an interview and how the butterflies in my stomach were dancing to hip hop music right there in my stomach to the point where I started feeling sick!
Think about it; you've filled out a Wal mart application, you've been considered for a job, and now all you have to do is pass the interview and a few other formalities and you're in. No pressure, right?
By the way, if you've submitted a job application wait 2 weeks or so and if you dion't get a call back by then, I suggest you visit the store you want to work at and inquire about the status of your application; this shows that you're interested, and no one can fault you for that.
By preparing yourself for the interview and following through the way you are expected to, you will have erased one more of the Walmart job openings at that particular store and you'll be on your way to success.
Over time I've learned to control my job finding nervousness somewhat, and here are some tips I can recommend to make that Wal Mart job yours and pass the interview with flying colors:
- Conduct some research about how Walmart careers and where you think you fit in according to your qualifications and strengths as well as your experience in the retail or related field.
It would be completely awkward to go into a job interview without even knowing what position you are interested in, and why. Find out about other careers at Walmart such as pharmacist jobs, managerial positions, etc.
Go into the interview with your goals clearly in your mind and you'll make a great, lasting first impression.
- Time your arrival so that you get there at least 15 minutes early, preferably 30 minutes, and walk in at the 10 minute mark.
An easy way to become over-anxious and become nervous to the point where it will affect your interview is to get to the interview even 1 minute late!
- Dress conservatively! In today's society it isn't uncommon to see someone with ten earrings across the top of their earlobes.
If you're thinking this is the time to express your individuality by wearing those fashionable gold pants and glittery shirt or blouse, you're wrong unless you're in the fashion industry!
People who conduct hiring, regardless of federal laws pertaining to equal rights, want to hire people they perceive as "normal."
So, my advice is to appear as plain as possible, then when you're hired, express your individuality however you want to as long as you adhere to the company's guidelines.
Finally, one of the biggest mistakes people make after filling out a Walmart online job application is to think it's just any other job because it's a large, well-known company with hundreds of thousands of employees.
Approach your Walmart job interview as if it's the last job on earth, then put all your effort into interview preparation, and you'll give yourself the best chance at getting hired. | <urn:uuid:066d6936-8d3f-4c9d-a4f6-014ae1b6107f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.walmartonlinejobapplication.com/2009/09/tips-to-make-your-walmart-job-interview.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971331 | 640 | 1.578125 | 2 |
7 Secrets About Life and Career From "Office Space"
Let’s get one thing clear — I don’t think Mike Judge wrote the movie “Office Space” to help people improve their career prospects or “find themselves.” It’s a funny, and searing, indictment on the modern workplace (aka cubicle farms), and it did the job so well, it’s become one of the best-selling DVDs ever.
But when you get beneath the oft-repeated quotes (“Hey Peter, what’s happening,” “Looks like someone has a case of the Mun-days,” and “I believe you have my stapler”) there’s a lot more to “Office Space” than great satire.
So let’s look at seven work and life lessons we can all learn from the movie. (See also: Financial Lessons From "The Hunger Games")
1. Life’s Too Short to Work at a Job You Hate
Peter Gibbons hates his job. Every day is a prison sentence. In fact, he confesses to a shrink that every day is the worst day of his life:
So I was sitting in my cubicle today, and I realized, ever since I started working, every single day of my life has been worse than the day before it. So that means that every single day that you see me, that's on the worst day of my life.
His best friends and co-workers Michael Bolton and Samir Nagheenanajar also dislike their jobs but not with the same disdain and loathing as Peter. Even the squirrelly Milton Waddams has major issues, as he is constantly moved and demoted. And across the street, Peter’s girlfriend Joanna hates her job at Chotchkie’s, where flair must be worn to keep the customers happy.
In short, everybody in “Office Space” seems to hate their jobs.
In a bad economy, people are thankful to have any job at all, so advising you all to quit your awful jobs and wait for something better to come along is not what I have in mind. But if you don’t have a better job lined up, work at making your current job easier to tolerate. Many of the big problems are never going to change, but you can change your outlook on them. I’ve done it myself, and sometimes I have to remind myself to do it or fall into the trap of whining and complaining. Don’t let hate, anger, and apathy rule your working life.
2. You Have the Ability to Change Your Work Environment
Directly related to the point above, "Office Space" shows us what happens when a guy who hates his job makes it completely livable. When Peter gets hypnotized by the psychiatrist, his paradigm shifts. He decides to lay in bed all day and not go into the office on the weekend. He becomes completely honest with “the Bobs,” the consultants brought in to make staff cut recommendations, and it does him credit. He removes one of the walls of his cubicle to see the scenery. He changes what was seemingly unchangeable, and he becomes better for it.
Sleeping in all day when we should be at work is probably not an option for most of us. We can’t go hacking up the furniture and building. But we can make changes, however small, that help us out. If you really hate your work environment, see if you can change it. Maybe you can be moved to a different area. Maybe you can get a better view. Is the lighting awful? Can you have it switched off, and bring in your own ambient lighting? Can you work flexible hours, maybe to avoid bad traffic or work around a schedule you prefer? Employers are more accommodating than you’d think, and even the smallest changes could make a big difference to your happiness.
3. Your Dreams Can Come True (in the Strangest Ways)
Consider Tom Smykowski, the mustachioed anxiety-ridden “people person” who was one of the first to get axed by “the Bobs.” He had an idea. Not a great idea. Not even a mediocre idea. It was the “Jump to Conclusions” mat, and it was his version of the Pet Rock. Basically, he took the Twister mat concept and put different conclusions on it, that the user could them jump to.
As Michael Bolton said, with a sigh, “That’s the worst idea I’ve ever heard in my life...”
But it was Tom’s baby. He loved it. We wanted it to happen. And when he got fired, his failed suicide attempt resulted in a bizarre accident that got him a seven-figure settlement from the auto insurance company.
Yes, he was in a neck brace and back brace, he and broke every major bone in his body. But he was also the creator of the Jump to Conclusions mat! His dream came true, and at a time when he should have been at his lowest.
So whether you have a terrible idea like the Jump to Conclusions mat, or something that actually has a chance of being bought and used, never give up on your dream. Life has this habit of delivering right when you least expect it.
4. Don’t Be Afraid to Visit the Therapist
If you’re having major problems with your job, your direction in life, or even your relationship, then do not rule out therapy. Most insurance plans cover therapy with a co-pay for at least a few months of weekly sessions. And once you get over the hurdle of admitting you need help, those sessions can help you find some balance and peace.
Peter went to an occupational therapist who tried to hypnotize him, and during the process, the therapist died and left Peter in a trance. The trance became the most significant improvement in his adult life. Or at least, it was the catalyst.
Therapy can be a great way to help you relieve some of the burden. Talking about your problems can help you resolve them. And you could finally figure out the direction you want to take in life, if you haven’t done so already.
5. Deal With Small Irritations Before They Become Big Problems
Corporate accounts payable, Nina speaking. Just a moment! Corporate accounts payable, Nina speaking. Just a moment! Corporate accounts payable, Nina speaking. Just a moment! Corporate accounts payable, Nina speaking. Just a moment!
If you hear that hour after hour, day after day, eventually you’re going to snap. And you can’t snap if you want to keep your job.
Find a way to neutralize the little annoyances before the straw breaks the camel’s back. Maybe it requires the wearing of headphones or moving to a different place in the building. Sometimes all it takes is a little conversation. I have heard stories at my current job of a woman who used to spray perfume and deodorant at least once an hour. There was a cloud of the stuff hanging over her cubicle. It was resolved with just a quick conversation, but not after several people went months complaining to each other but not to the person who could do something about it.
6. It’s Not a Good Job If It Makes You Unhappy
Two people in the movie start out with what many would consider “good jobs” only to end up with jobs that most would consider awful. Peter goes from working an office job, with a suit, tie, and business card, to cleaning up on a construction crew. He’s happier with his hard hat and shovel, working in the sunshine, than he ever was in his grey cubicle.
We also meet Steve, a guy selling magazine subscriptions door-to-door. He pretends to be a former crack addict, but he’s actually a former software engineer, just like Peter, who now makes more money selling magazines. And he likes it.
So, don’t think that the job you’re in is the one you need to stay in. Don’t even think the career you chose is set in stone. Life gives us plenty of chances to change paths. We can retrain. We can set up our own home businesses. I’ve talked to several people this week who quit corporate jobs to start eBay businesses, work their own hours, and avoid the kind of stress that comes with corporate politics.
7. Get Your Facts Straight Before You Act
There are several instances in “Office Space” that illustrate the dangers of hearing things second hand, or misunderstanding what you’ve been told.
Peter believes his girlfriend once had a relationship with his boss, Bill Lumbergh, a vile, soulless pig of a man. Turns out it was a different Lumbergh, but that didn’t stop them almost breaking up.
Peter assumes that the software he installed to steal fractions of pennies from his company would result in a lenient, country club prison sentence with conjugal visits. He was way off.
Michael assumes that because he works hard, and Peter is flaky, it will be Peter that will be the one getting marching orders from the efficiency experts. Actually, both he and his friend Samir are getting the ax. Peter is getting a promotion.
You never know what anyone’s plans are until you see them yourself or you hear them from several legitimate sources. So, don’t worry about rumors, and don’t play the gossip games. They will only hurt you and your career.
Can you recall any work/life lessons from "Office Space" I may have missed? Please share them in comments! | <urn:uuid:fbfce2b4-066c-489b-9c9b-8aa6a3dd40ce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wisebread.com/7-secrets-about-life-and-career-from-office-space | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97192 | 2,062 | 1.539063 | 2 |
An article in The New Yorker featured the career of Dick Van Dyke, who at almost 85 years old was singing and dancing in A Musical Memoir. One of the themes throughout the article was his high energy level. In fact, on Thanksgiving Day of last year he appeared at a mission on Skid Row, entertaining the residents while they ate. His comment, “I sing and dance. That’s what I do.”
I think that philosophy is critical whether becoming a better speaker or getting the most out of our lives. Never Stop Dancing is even the title of an excellent book by Gordon Livingston. I completed my career as a professor a couple of months ago and in advance I asked a colleague if she would dance out of the classroom with me at the end of my last class. She agreed.
As scheduled, she showed up and we danced down the hallway. What I did not know was that word had gotten out and about 150 students lined the hallway to watch the event. Our secretary filmed with her flip camera and you can watch us dance at Steve Boyd Fare Well Dance.
I’ve been taking dancing lessons for 17 years and I don’t intend to stop dancing. I’ve been teaching and speaking for several decades and I plan to continue speaking as often as I can and experiencing as many new things as I can.
This philosophy should guide our daily lives. For example, as a speaker I want to continue to improve. I believe my best speech is my next one. Each presentation I deliver gives me more experience. I urge all speakers always to seek to improve. Never stop dancing.
You can always make improvement if you keep working at developing your skills. This is true whether you are learning a new technology or simply working on your golf game.
Remember the life philosophy of Dick Van Dyke: “Never stop dancing.” | <urn:uuid:f08f3b30-7fce-4b85-9aeb-ba2af5252500> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sboyd.com/category/music/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972315 | 385 | 1.765625 | 2 |
I first discovered this article in May of 2003. I did a search on my posts for the word “present”, and this is the second post that came up. The first is this one on a trip to Disneyland. This seems to be around the time when I actually began to wake up from my deep depression.
Perhaps what it is really all about is simply learning to be present, to be here now, as they say. It seems trite, but once you’ve really learned that, everything else becomes so much easier. Just to be present with yourself, with how you really actually feel in the moment, seems to be what makes us most alive.
The experience of certain feelings can seem particularly pregnant with desire for resolution: loneliness, boredom, anxiety. Unless we can relax with these feelings, it’s very hard to stay in the middle when we experience them. We want victory or defeat, praise or blame. For example, if somebody abandons us, we don’t want to be with that raw discomfort. Instead, we conjure up a familiar identity of ourselves as a hapless victim. Or maybe we avoid the rawness by acting out and righteously telling the person how messed up he or she is. We automatically want to cover over the pain in one way or another, identifying with victory or victimhood.
Usually we regard loneliness as an enemy. Heartache is not something we choose to invite in. It’s restless and pregnant and hot with the desire to escape and find something or someone to keep us company. When we can rest in the middle, we begin to have a nonthreatening relationship with loneliness, a relaxing and cooling loneliness that completely turns our usual fearful patterns upside down.
There are six ways of describing this kind of cool loneliness. They are: less desire, contentment, avoiding unnecessary activity, complete discipline, not wandering in the world of desire, and not seeking security from one’s discursive thoughts. | <urn:uuid:d4f6c420-23d1-47a3-ae90-6a59561a8220> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.woodka.com/2008/01/02/cool-loneliness-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955052 | 408 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Scientist Claims Our Solar System Evicted A Planet So Earth Could Survive
Colorado scientist David Nesvorny was running solar system evolutionary simulations recently when he realized that during 6,000 different simulations the Earth couldn’t survive during the system’s early years based on the current planetary count.
Once Nesvorny added another planet to the system however Earth survived as expected.
According to his work our solar system at one point had a ninth planet, a gas giant that was nudged out of the system billions of years ago to make room for Earth’s survival.
According to the Mother Nature Network ”gas giant number five” started off bound together with Saturn and Jupiter and pushed out lighter planets including Neptune and Uranus eventually to be pushed out of the system on its own after a collision with Jupiter.
According to his work David said the planet was likely orbiting about 15 times further from the sun than our own planet.
His work shows that if another giant gas planet was not present it’s almost certain that the other four large gase-based planets in our solar system would have destroyed one another or Earth. | <urn:uuid:d8135bba-fcd5-4e28-bfc8-cc478de2c13c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.inquisitr.com/145348/scientist-claims-our-solar-system-evicted-a-planet-so-earth-could-survive/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966382 | 237 | 3.109375 | 3 |
Crowd funding is allowing an entrepreneur from the Lafayette area to sell his invention.
Sean Connell created “A Tool of Multipurpose” (ATOM). He used the crowd funding website Kickstarter for people to pre-order it. That money will allow him to produce the key-shaped tool.
Connell has surpassed his goal by more than $30,000. He says the website he used does have some restrictions, but the screening is done by potential funders who read about the investment or product and the project’s creator.
Purdue’s next vice president for physical facilities is coming from state government.
The university is hiring Indiana Department of Transportation Commissioner Mike Cline. He graduated from Purdue in 1988 with a degree in civil engineering.
Cline has been with INDOT since 2006. When Purdue President Mitch Daniels was governor, he appointed Cline as commissioner in 2010. Governor Mike Pence reappointed him to the position earlier this year.
A multi-million dollar project in White County has begun. Minnesota-based Magnetation is building a $350 million plant in Reynolds that will recycle iron waste to produce iron ore concentrate. The company is working with AK Steel, which will use the iron pellets produced there.
Magnetation CEO Larry Lehtinen says the facility will use the latest technology to make it one of the most efficient plants of its kind. | <urn:uuid:edc24b11-b2d1-44dc-9952-7f96b62176c8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wbaa.org/term/business | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970015 | 284 | 1.625 | 2 |
GAYLORD - The Otsego County Library is recognizing Black History Month with a musical program tracing the influence of slavery on early American music up to the early jazz age.
Ray Kamalay, a professional musician from the Detroit area, will perform at the library on Tuesday, Feb. 13 at 6:30 p.m. The event is free to the public.
Kamalay tells the story of "Freedom, Slavery and the Roots of American Music," interspersed with a variety of spirituals, blues, minstrel show tunes, ragtime and jazz. Through a combination of information and performance the audience will discover the rich contributions of those held in slavery to American popular music, including Scott Joplin, Louis Armstrong and even the marches of John Philips Sousa.
"The music of these slaves, in spirituals, blues, ragtime, gospel and jazz, is an immortal contribution … to human culture, on the shelf along with Shakespeare, Lao-tze and Handel," Kamalay wrote. "But the individual authors of this great music are not and, perhaps, can never be known." | <urn:uuid:b7f0be17-db98-41cf-b0ba-d4a0df028b31> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.petoskeynews.com/2007-02-07/ragtime-and-jazz_24053044 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920224 | 235 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Snags in Canada's healthcare
Provincial premiers will huddle next week to discuss how to fix foundering system.
Cancer Care Ontario couldn't ask for a better spokespatient than Marilyn Markou for its "Buffalo patients." That's the rubric for people the province pays to send to the US for treatments Canadian hospitals too backlogged to handle.Skip to next paragraph
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Canada's state-paid healthcare is often seen as fairer and more cost-effective than the American system. But Canada also needs to rely on America for medical services that it can't provide.
Ms. Markou, who spent seven weeks in Buffalo, N.Y., last summer receiving radiation treatments, has nothing but good things to say about the care she received. She even saw her summer sojourn as an opportunity to do some sightseeing. "I had never gotten to know Buffalo."
Still, she has some pretty stern criticism of Canadian Medicare, universal, government-paid medical care.
"The government has to pull its socks up.... I was sort of embarrassed that I had to go to another country because my own country couldn't look after me. That was not a good thing."
The existence of re-referral programs like Cancer Care Ontario's - and the waiting lists that produced them - are taken by many Canadians as sure signs that something is wrong with their beloved healthcare system. If this system - that to Canadians makes their country a kinder, gentler alternative to their neighbor to the south - is so great, then why does Canada have to send people to the US for treatment?
Province after province is experiencing medical inflation in the double digits. Poll after poll reports that the public identifies healthcare as the leading issue facing this country. But neither the public nor the politicians seem to have many ideas of how to fix what's broken. It's the policy debate that hasn't happened.
"There's an appallingly low level of public debate ... with a 'know-nothing quality' to it," complains historian Michael Bliss of the University of Toronto.
Indeed, a recent Internet poll asking, "Do you prefer the Canadian approach to providing health services or the American approach?" found 96 percent of the 447 respondents favoring "the Canadian public pay system." Exactly one respondent said, "I prefer the American private pay system." Three percent favored "a combination of the two." In fact, both countries have a "combination," albeit with much greater public involvement in Canada.
That "the public tends not to be knowledgeable," as Michael Rachlis, a health-policy consultant in Toronto, tactfully puts it, impedes debate. So does the tendency to see the options as either/or, public-pay Canadian medicine vs. greed-driven American medical care.
In the political arena, the genuine complexity of the challenge is compounded by fingerpointing as federal and provincial governments vie to see who can offer more in the way of tax cuts. Healthcare analyst Fred McMahon at the Consumer Policy Institute in Toronto describes the dialogue between Ottawa and the provinces: "What everybody says is, 'Money's not the answer. Real reform is needed.' Then the next sentence is, 'You're not giving enough money.' "
The most concrete reform proposal is Alberta Premier Ralph Klein's Bill 11, which would modestly expand the range of minor surgeries private clinics can provide. It's been hugely controversial; the banner headline across a recent letters page in the Toronto Star was "Klein's way is the law of the jungle in fine dress."
Federal Health Minister Allan Rock made a special trip to Calgary March 10 to give a speech raising questions about the proposal, but he hasn't offered much in the way of reforms of his own.
Huddle on healthcare | <urn:uuid:e993c0ff-04c9-4b72-b9ac-ba4fad881ee2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.csmonitor.com/2000/0323/p1s3.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967107 | 773 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Google’s Chrome OS project, first announced in July, will become available for download within a week, we’ve heard from a reliable source. Google previously said to expect an early version of the OS in the fall.
What can we expect? Driver support will likely be a weak point. We’ve heard at various times that Google has a legion of engineers working on the not so glamorous task of building hardware drivers. And we’ve also heard conflicting rumors that Google is mostly relying on hardware manufacturers to create those drivers. Whatever the truth, and it’s likely in between, having a robust set of functioning drivers is extremely important to Chrome OS’s success. People will want to download this to whatever computer they use and have it just work.
We expect Google will be careful with messaging around the launch, and endorse a small set of devices for installation. EEE PC netbooks, for example, may be one set of devices that Google will say are ready to use Chrome OS. There will likely be others as well, but don’t expect to be able to install it on whatever laptop or desktop machine you have from day one. Google has previously said they are working with Acer, Adobe, ASUS, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, and Toshiba on the project.
We’ve seen convincing and not so convincing screenshots of Chrome OS over the last several months. The good news is the speculation is about to end, and you can try it out yourself. If you have one of the supported devices, that is. | <urn:uuid:9e304742-2720-4ac0-b2b1-0f937dd4f16d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://techcrunch.com/2009/11/13/google-chrome-os-to-launch-within-a-week/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954916 | 330 | 1.539063 | 2 |
The $700 billion bailout may not have thrilled voters, politicians or even financial markets, but it’s made at least a few people happy: bike commuters. Here’s a taste of how some have been reacting:
“Awesome! It’s about time.”
And two-wheel enthusiasts have sent messages to the League of American Bicyclists, exulting: “Finally!!! This is very exciting!!!!” and “It’s a small step forward, but a beginning of something very positive.”
Well, it wasn’t the bailout per se that thrilled them, but a provision tucked into the law that sets aside a $20 per month tax credit for employees who bike to work. Critics (many bike-riders among them) have derided the bicycle reimbursement as just one more giveaway stuffed into an already porcine piece of legislation, but to the long-suffering bicyclists who dodge trucks and ride through freezing rain on their commutes, it represented a small but meaningful victory.
“We were just thrilled. We’ve been working on this for seven years,” said Elizabeth Kiker, vice president of the League of American Bicyclists. “We think it’ll help anyone who wants to get to work by bicycle.”
As for the measure’s connection to the maligned bailout, Kiker said, “We were sorry that it had to happen this way, but we’re thrilled that it passed.” | <urn:uuid:44839553-a811-4fb6-9bfc-c5e8b03c1a85> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/cyclists-at-least-praise-a-bailout-provision/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971158 | 322 | 1.5625 | 2 |
1-abc.net Backup 5.00
Save each kind of important data scheduled and automatically!
One of the most problems people have with their Windows PCs nowadays is loss of data. Even if you decide to make backups for security reasons from time to time, on the day where your computer hangs you remember that you did not do it often enough.
- Very easy-to-use interface
- Backup single files or the content of complete folders
- Program can also read from and write to SD cards, USB sticks, external drives etc.
- Backups can be saved to ftp folders too
- Schedule your backups in days, hours and minutes
- Permanent or real time scheduling (counts time even if program is not active)
- Full or incremental backup (all or only modified files)
- Start the program with Windows automatically to allow regular backup processes
- Log file to get a summary of your past backup processes
- Load and save backup projects
- Define files and folders to be excepted from backup processes
- Program can be installed on USB sticks, floppy disks or nearly all other re-writable media
- Very low system resources required | <urn:uuid:7eb2d224-f42d-4520-a0ea-0a7d87bebe18> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.1-abc.net/0021/index.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90612 | 240 | 1.59375 | 2 |
NuEnergy Gas reported that its wholly owned subsidiary NuEnergy Gas has agreed a variation of the Joint Venture agreement dated 17 November 2011 with Tancoal Energy, a subsidiary of Intra Energy Corp. The Unconventional Gas Joint Venture Variation Agreement (JVVA) captures all unconventional gas, which includes coal bed methane and shale gas. Key terms of the JVVA are shown below. The agreement cements the entry of NGY into the unconventional gas business in East Africa consistent with the company's 2012 business strategy.
Key terms of JVVA:
• Tancoal will hold 30% and NuEnergy will hold 70% of the venture. Tancoal's 30% share to be carried by NuEnergy until any unconventional gas extracted reaches a revenue stage, or for a period of 5 years from commencement, whichever comes first.
• NGY has the right to explore for gas at uneconomical coal depths of over 600 metres and Tancoal may also allow NuEnergy to drill and test for unconventional gas at depths of less than 600 metres where Tancoal have each decided not to conduct coal mining below this level | <urn:uuid:c43c5ef4-40b7-45f7-ab68-14bd3bd40cff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scandoil.com/moxie-bm2/news/contracts_world/nuenergy-gas-agrees-variation-of-unconventional-ga.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934408 | 224 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Surely there are not 600 substantial threats to the Great Lakes ecosystem. Yet the federal government, through a $300 million pot of funding each year, provides money for more than 600 projects related to the Great Lakes.
There are significant threats of immediate concern, of course. One of them is the invasive species known as Asian carp, which could decimate populations of other marine life in the lakes, if allowed to multiply.
More than one-fifth of the surface freshwater on the planet is contained in the Great Lakes. Obviously, keeping them healthy is important to all Americans.
To accomplish that, federal officials should take a more focused approach to funding Great Lakes projects to make limited resources count. | <urn:uuid:59b1d533-73b2-488a-90ee-3caf76f4a60f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tribune-chronicle.com/page/content.detail/id/568296/Make-Great-Lakes-projects-matter.html?nav=5007 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952782 | 140 | 2.984375 | 3 |
The experiments described in these materials are potentially hazardous. Among other things, the experiments should include the following safety measures: a high level of safety training, special facilities and equipment, the use of proper personal protective equipment, and supervision by appropriate individuals. You bear the sole responsibility, liability, and risk for the implementation of such safety procedures and measures. MIT and Dow shall have no responsibility, liability, or risk for the content or implementation of any of the material presented. Legal Notice
The old adage takes on new meaning... with the help of a little flash paper and isopropanol. (No money was harmed during the making of this video.)
Teaching Notes: Burning a $1.00 Bill (PDF)
Chemistry Magician: Dr. Bassam Shakhashiri
You can also view this video on TechTV.
OCW is grateful for
the support of | <urn:uuid:fe25a145-6cac-4d94-be4d-80e947b5b49c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ocw.mit.edu/high-school/chemistry/demonstrations/videos/money-to-burn/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930288 | 181 | 1.921875 | 2 |
Germany has led the way in pioneering a new form of tourism which focuses on what it does best: industry.
All across Germany industry has branched out into tourism in specially built themed centres on the premises of, for example, Audi in Ingolstadt, BMW in Munich, and VW’s Autostadt in Wolfsburg. But western Germany has led the way in revamping actual old industrial infrastructure itself, and turning obsolete blast furnaces and coal mines into monuments to human endeavour. That culminated, in 2010, with the selection of the Ruhr area as European Capital of Culture, the first time an industrial region, rather than a city, has been chosen for that honour.
The Ruhr is nobody’s idea of a tourist destination. A coal-rich region in western Germany, close to the Dutch border, it incorporates cities like Essen, Dortmund, Duisburg and Gelsenkirchen, with a combined population of over 5 million. By 1950 there were 156 coal mines in operation here, feeding a morass of steel mills and chemical plants, but then came globalization. These days a ton of Australian coal costs half the price of a ton of German coal, so all but four of the Ruhr’s 156 coal mines had to close, and those too will be gone by 2018. Without cheap fuel, manufacturing became uneconomic.
The Ruhr’s attractions come, literally, in heaps and tons
But instead of shrugging their shoulders and letting their industrial dinosaurs rot away, the Ruhr’s regional governments have selected some of them and transformed them into cultural attractions. Thus the giant Gasometer at Oberhausen – one of the largest in the world – has become an exhibition space, currently showing an exhibition about the planets.
Thus the former mill alongside the river port at Duisburg, part of a ravishing dockland development by our own Sir Norman Foster, houses the modern art collection of rich industrialists.
Thus the massive former blast furnace at Duisburg-Nord has become a ‘landscape park’, with climbing walls, mountain bike trails, and an after-dark light show by the lighting engineer for Pink Floyd.
Thus a slag heap has been turned into a ski slope, another gasometer has been filled with water to become a diving centre, and a former mining shaft has become an indoor sky-diving club. The Ruhr’s attractions come, literally, in heaps and tons.
The most dramatic of the conversions is Essen’s elegant Zeche Zollverein, once the world’s largest coal mine, which has been listed by UNESCO. Today Zollverein attracts a million visitors a year and is a fabulous venue and an example of what can be done with a mine if you’ve a cool €160 million of redevelopment money to spare.
Ruhr itinerary showcasing best examples. | <urn:uuid:57ab5341-3f6e-4e3a-bcce-b13bfa31178f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://germanyiswunderbar.com/western-germany/germany-holidays-industrial-tourism/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946219 | 610 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Big Otter Elementary School is located in Duck, WV and is one of 4 elementary schools in Clay County Schools School District. It is a public school that serves 242 students in grades PK-5.
Big Otter Elementary School made AYP in 2010. Under No Child Left Behind, a school makes Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) if it achieves the minimum levels of improvement determined by the state of West Virginia in terms of student performance and other accountability measures. See Big Otter Elementary School's test results to learn more about school performance.
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Student Economic Level (2011)
In 2011, Big Otter Elementary School had 72% of students eligible for free or reduced price lunch programs. West Virginia had 51% of eligible students for free or reduced price lunch programs. Eligibility for the National School Lunch Program is based on family income levels.
Student Ethnicity (2011)
Clay County Schools District Spending
The Clay County Schools spends $10,268 per pupil in current expenditures. The district spends 56% on instruction, 36% on support services, 8% on other elementary and secondary expenditures. More about Clay County Schools District
In 2011, Big Otter Elementary School had 11 students for every full-time equivalent teacher. The West Virginia average is 14 students per full-time equivalent teacher. | <urn:uuid:3911593b-8ae0-4a5c-92b0-e19757b53944> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.education.com/schoolfinder/us/west-virginia/duck/big-otter-elementary-school/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942835 | 305 | 2.140625 | 2 |
A Quiz on No Child Left Behind – Who Said What?
Recently, two highly recognizable, Washington DC-based education policymakers offered suggestions for reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), currently known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB). One of these individuals is a well-known Republican; the other is a well-known Democrat.
Here’s a quiz. For each statement below, identify if it was suggested by the Democrat or the Republican.
a. Eliminate 100 percent proficiency by 2014.
b. Eliminate the unrealistic goal of 100% of students scoring at the proficient level by 2014
a. Change state standards to make them more rigorous and consistent across states.
b. Get rid of wildly discrepant state standards and cut scores that lead to non-comparable results and mean that a school’s fate depends more than anything else on what state it’s in.
a. Eliminate federally prescribed sanctions for schools that don’t meet AYP targets, and federal requirements for school choice and supplemental tutoring.
b. Quit being far too prescriptive about what states/districts are supposed to do with/about/to their low performing schools (and districts), little of which then actually happens; the choice provisions aren’t working.
a. Stop disallowing use of “multiple measures” to determine AYP, leading to inordinate emphasis on reading and math skills; achievement “growth” should count, too—for all kids, not just those nearing proficiency.
b. Change state assessments and improvement measures to align them with common standards, and cover a broader range of subjects, skills, and outcomes.
Low Performing Schools
a. Stop identifying far too many schools as “needing improvement” rather than focusing on the most troubled.
b. Add approaches for supporting and intervening in low performing schools
Highly Qualified Teachers
a. Eliminate the current federal criteria for determining which teachers are highly qualified.
b. Eliminate the highly qualified teachers section
Again, for each of the six sets of statements, decide which one, “a” or “b” was suggested by the Democrat and which one by the Republican. Come back in a couple of days to check your answers.
Who said bipartisanship in Washington was dead? | <urn:uuid:19d21142-5932-41f6-a57c-70eced40d8a0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pdkintl.org/blog/2010/02/a-quiz-on-no-child-left-behind-%e2%80%93-who-said-what/ | 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 | 0.937545 | 492 | 2.3125 | 2 |
DHV Water BV, P.O. Box 484, 3800 AL Amersfoort, The Netherlands, Tel: +31 33 4682497,
Fax: +31 33 4682301, Email: A.Giesen@WA.DHV.NL
An advanced alternative for phosphate removal by conventional precipitation is to apply crystallisation. DHV, a multi-national group of consulting engineers and general contractors with headquarters in The Netherlands, has developed and patented a fluid-bed type of crystallizer in which phosphate is removed and recovered from the wastewater while phosphate pellets with a typical diameter of 1 mm are produced. The major advantages of the crystallisation technology, the so-called Crystalactor®1, are that (1) the installation is compact, (2) phosphate pellets with a high-purity are produced, (3) the produced pellets have an extremely low water content (5% to 10% moisture) and (4) the pellets can be reused. Up to now Crystalactor plants were constructed for the removal/recovery of heavy metals, phosphate, fluoride and the softening of drinking and process water.
1The Crystalactor® is the registered trademark of the pellet reactor systems developed by DHV Water BV, Amersfoort, The Netherlands, for water treatment.
1 CONVENTIONAL PHOSPHATE REMOVAL
In municipal water applications and many industrial unit operations phosphate-polluted wastewater is generated.
In general, conventional phosphate removal techniques are applied for the wastewater treatment. These conventional processes are based on the phosphate precipitation as calcium or iron salt or fixation in activated sludge. These processes unfortunately generate huge amounts of a water-rich sludge which has to be disposed off at continuous increasing costs. To minimise disposal costs, the sludge is often mechanical dewatered prior to disposal. Typically, even after dewatering the water content of the sludge still amounts to 60% to 85% and a relatively large part of the disposal costs comes from the expensive disposal of water. Due to high water content and the low quality of the waste sludge, reuse of phosphate is not an economic attractive option. Furthermore the operation of mechanical dewatering equipment is often troublesome. Also the area requirement for conventional phosphate precipitation processes is relatively high because of the four process steps are performed serially. They are (also refer to Figure A):
2 CRYSTALLISATION IN A CRYSTALACTOR®
An advanced alternative is to apply crystallisation instead of precipitation. The Crystalactor®, a fluid-bed type of crystallizer, has been developed for this purpose. Instead of bulky sludge, this process generates high purity phosphate crystal pellets that can be re-used in many ways. Recovery of phosphate because more and more important since it is a sustainable solution to the environmental problems related to the mining and processing of natural phosphate resources.
The Crystalactor enables phosphate removal and recovery by means of several process routes. The most important routes are:
2.1 Process description
Actually, the chemistry of
the process is comparable to the conventional precipitation. By
dosing a calcium or magnesium salt to the water (e.g. lime, calcium chloride,
magnesium hydroxide, magnesium chloride), the solubility of CP, MP, MAP
or KMP is exceeded and subsequently phosphate is transformed from the aqueous
solution into solid crystal material. The primary difference with conventional
precipitation is, that in the crystallisation process the transformation
is controlled accurately and that pellets with a typical size of approx.
1 mm are produced instead of fine dispersed, microscopic sludge particles.
The Crystalactor® is a cylindrical reactor, partially filled with a suitable seed material like sand or minerals. The phosphate-containing wastewater is pumped in an upward direction, maintaining the pellet bed in a fluidised state. In order to crystallise the phosphate on the pellet bed, a driving force is created by a reagent dosage and sometimes also pH-adjustment. By selecting the appropriate process conditions, co-crystallisation of impurities is minimised and high-purity phosphate crystals are obtained.
The pellets grow and move towards the reactor bottom. At regular intervals, a quantity of the largest fluidised pellets is discharged at full operation from the reactor and fresh seed material is added. After atmospheric drying, readily handled and virtually water-free pellets are obtained.
2.2 No Residual Waste
A major advantage of the
process is its ability to produce highly pure, nearly dry phosphate pellets.
Table A shows the typically characteristics of the pellets in comparison
with precipitation sludge.
|Parameter||crystallisation in pellet reactor||conventional precipitation|
seed material content
CP, MP, MAP, KMP-content
|round pellets 0.8 - 1.0 mm 1 - 5 % < 5 % 90-98 %||sludge 60 - 85 % (after dewatering) - 20 - 30 % (after dewatering)|
No copious amounts of waste sludge, but compact reusable
Due to their excellent composition, the pellets are normally recycled or reused in other plants, resulting in no residual waste for disposal. Several reuse options are:
Phosphate processing industries have expressed interest in reusing Crystalactor pellets since it shows to be an attractive and clean (low in heavy metals) secondary phosphate source.
In the rare event that pellets have to be disposed of by other means, the advantage of low-volume secondary waste production still remains: water-free pellets, not bulky sludge.
2.3 Capacity and effluent concentrations
The reactivity of phosphate is reflected in the crystallisation process and high reactor loadings can be applied. The reactivity for MP, MAP and KMP is even substantial higher (factor 3-5) than for CP.
Depending on the pH and the calcium or magnesium dosage rate, phosphate can be removed from the wastewater down to low concentration levels. The phosphate concentration in the effluent from a pellet reactor when treating a typical wastewater stream depends on the applied process route. With the CP-route effluent concentration below 0.5 mg P/l can easily be obtained, while the other routes result in effluent containing typically 5-10 mg P/l. If the Crystalactor is applied in a side-stream, as is the case in combination with biological phosphate removal, the actual effluent quality discharged by the Crystalactor-unit is less important. In this case the crystallisation capacity determines the overall performance.
As result of the high reactor capacity, the high surface loadings (40-120 m/h) and since the coagulation, flocculation, separation and dewatering processes are combined into one by the crystallisation process, the unit often is compact (refer to Figure A).
Figure A: The four steps found in conventional treatment processes are combined into one by the crystallisation process
In general the crystallisation process enjoys a substantial higher selectivity than conventional precipitation. This is caused primary by the selectivity related to the crystal structure and secondly by the fact that adsorption of impurities to the phosphate sludge flocs is minimal.
2.5 Process parameters
The efficiency of fluoride removal for the pellet reactor depends upon the following three process parameters
The pellet reactor effluent contains dissolved phosphate and suspended micro-crystals from nucleation. Nucleation is effectively minimised by the particular construction of the crystallizer and the choice of the appropriate degree of supersaturation. The dissolved phosphate concentration is fixed by the solubility product, the ionic reagent concentration and the process pH. This means, that the desired phosphate effluent concentration can be obtained by selection of the pH and reagent dosage. In practice at the optimal process pH, an overdose of 0.5-5 mol/m3 is applied
At a given pH and overdose, the degree of supersaturation depends only upon the phosphate concentration of the wastewater. The phosphate concentration at the bottom of the reactor has to be maintained below a critical value in order to prevent primary nucleation. Moreover, the mechanical strength of the crystals decreases with increasing supersaturation. In practice, it has been observed that negligible nucleation occurs at a phosphate concentration of 25-125 mg/l P. This concentration is obtained in the pellet reactor by the correct selection of the circulation ratio, irrespective of the phosphate concentration in the wastewater.
Hydraulic reactor load
The hydraulic reactor load is the supernatant liquid velocity in the pellet reactor. This hydraulic load has to be selected in such a way that the pellet bed is fluidized. An increase in hydraulic load will result in an increase in secondary nucleation. In practice, good results are obtained for phosphate crystallisation with a hydraulic load of 40-75 m/h.
3 EXAMPLES OF APPLICATIONS
3.1 Phosphate recovery food industry
In the food industry waste waters with a high organic load are released. The waste water of a potato processing plant of AVEBE is treated in an anaerobic biological reactor because of the low sludge production, the low energy consumption and the biogas production. The effluent is polished in an aerobic biological treatment plant. Cost effective phosphate removal by struvite crystallization in the Crystalactor® was tested on semi-technical scale. MgCl2 and NaOH solutions were dosed into a part of the effluent of the anaerobic stage and in a fast reaction strong NH4MgPO4 crystals were formed. No filter is required because of the high crystallization efficiency and the fact that rest phosphate uptake takes place in the aerobic stage.
Phosphate recovery AVEBE
A flow of maximum 150 m3/h with 120 ppm PO4-P was succesfully treated in a Crystalactor® with a reactor diameter of 1.8 m).
The effluent contains about 10 ppm PO4-P and the pH is 8-8.5. The NH4MgPO4 pellets are reusable as "slow release fertilizers". The advantages of the Crystalactor® for AVEBE were:
3.2 Phosphate recovery municipal wastewater treatment plants
In 1988 the first full-scale application has been realised at the municipal wastewater treatment plant of Westerbork, The Netherlands.
Phosphate removal plant Westerbork
The plant operates successfully and removes phosphate below 1 mg/l P from the effluent of the biological section. No sludge is produced and the pellets are re-used by the phosphate processing industry. Since phosphate-free detergents are used in Dutch households, the phosphate concentration in raw municipal wastewater has decreased importantly. Direct phosphate removal from the effluent by the Crystalactor® is not economical attractive anymore and the plant was closed.
For these lower inlet concentrations a combination of biological phosphate removal and the Crystalactor® as is applied at the municipal wastewater treatment plants of Geestmerambacht (230.000 p.e.) and Heemstede (35.000 p.e.) is more attractive. The process set-up is as follows: - a part of the return sludge is pumped to an anaerobic tank where acetic acid is dosed (other lower fatty acids are also possible);
- phosphate is released by the sludge in this anaerobic tank;
- the sludge is separated from the supernatant by a gravity-thickener in Geestmerambacht and a decanter in Heemstede;
- the thickened sludge is returned to the aeration tank where it takes up phosphate again;
- the phosphate is recovered from the supernatant by Ca3(PO4)2 crystallization in the Crystalactor®; since the Crystalactor® is located in a side stream no filter step is required;
- the effluent of the Crystalactor®
is returned to the aeration tank.
4 OTHER APPLICATIONS
The pellet reactor crystallisation technology is not only applied for phosphate recovery, but also for water softening, fluoride removal and heavy metal recovery. In principle all crystalline salts can potentially be removed from wastewater. As shown in table C, there is an extensive experience in removing most heavy metals and major anions, and the number of applications continues to grow. Metals are generally removed as hydroxide, carbonate or sulphide compounds.
Table C: Periodical system showing pellet reactor experience
In some cases it has proved to be attractive to form metal phosphates. Anions are usually removed as calcium salts. Occasionally it is more desirable to form complex salts. For example, phosphate can be removed as NH4MgPO4 while simultaneously reducing the wastewater nitrogen content. The following picture shows some samples of produced pellets.
Pellet reactors for softening of drinking water, Municipal Drinking Water Company of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Capacity: 8,500 m3/h
Pellet reactor for nickel and aluminium recovery,
5 ENVIRONMENTAL SOUND OPERATION
Municipal wastewater treatment plants and commercial industries need cost-effective, compact and reliable technology to reduce waste emissions. Moreover, this technology has to provide a sustainable solution to the problem of avoiding secondary emissions. Secondary emissions such as waste sludges represent a growing environmental liability for those producing them. More important, they will increasingly be subject to ever-rising charges levied by the authorities, and ultimately their disposal will be prohibited altogether.
Consequently, industry has embarked on a new strategy to tackle environmental load problems. Alongside waste recovery - often referred to as reuse or recycling - waste prevention is now a key feature.
The Crystalactor® offers a sustainable solution to above mentioned problems and combines an environmental sound production or wastewater treatment with attractive economics. | <urn:uuid:caf3e808-5236-44dc-a34e-d492bf691785> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/research/projects/phosphate-recovery/crystalct.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914805 | 2,841 | 2.109375 | 2 |
What Antarctica Looked Like Before the Ice
Like Alaska's mighty Yukon, a broad river once flowed across Antarctica, following a gentle valley shaped by tectonic forces at a time before the continent became encased in ice. Understanding what happened when rivers of ice later filled the valley could solve certain climate and geologic puzzles about the southernmost continent.
The valley is Lambert Graben in East Antarctica, now home to the world's largest glacier. Trapped beneath the ice, the graben (which is German for ditch or trench) is a stunning, deep gorge. But before Antarctica's deep freeze 34 million years ago, the valley was relatively flat and filled by a lazy river, leaving a riddle for geologists to decode: How did Lambert Graben get so steep, and when was it carved?
The key to Lambert Graben's history was found in layers of sediments just offshore, in Prydz Bay. In a new study, Stuart Thomson, a geologist at the University of Arizona (UA) in Tucson, looked into the past by decoding sands deposited by the river, and the messy piles left behind by the glacier. The river sands are topped with a thick layer of coarser sediment that signals the onset of glacial erosion in the valley, the researchers found. The erosion rate more than doubled when the glaciers moved in, Thomson said.
"The only way that could happen is from glaciers," he said. "They started grinding and forming deep valleys."
Understanding when glaciers first wove their way across Antarctica will help scientists better model the ice sheet's response to Earth's climate shifts, the researchers said.
"There's a big effort to model how glaciers flow in Antarctica, and these models need a landscape over which glaciers can flow," Thomson told OurAmazingPlanet. "Once these models can predict past changes, they can more accurately predict what will happen with future climate changes."
The sediments also hold clues to the tectonic evolution of East Antarctica, and a mountain range buried beneath the vast, thick ice sheet. [Album: Stunning Photos of Antarctic Ice]
The findings are detailed in the March 2013 issue of the journal Nature Geoscience.
History of the ice
Lambert Graben formed during the breakup of Gondwana, an ancient supercontinent, a process that happened in stages. Antarctica, India and Africa tore apart in the Late Cretaceous (about 80 million years ago). The split created long, linear valleys oriented perpendicular to the continental coastlines. At the time, Earth's climate was warmer than it is today, and as Antarctica moved southward, settling into its home over the South Pole, the continent teemed with plants and animals.
Scientists can partially reconstruct this past environment with fossils and through radar that peers beneath the ice to map the shapes of the rock below. A 3D map of Antarctica today shows chasms carved by glaciers, rugged mountains and other remnants of its warmer existence.
But the surveys tell nothing about how the landscape looked before the ice carved out all those features. "People have speculated when the big fjords formed under the ice," Thomson said. "But no one knows for sure until you sample the rocks or the sediments."
Thomson and his colleagues analyzed sediments drilled from the ocean floor just offshore of Lambert Glacier, as well as from onshore moraines, the rock piles pushed up by glaciers. Tests on minerals in the sands and muds helped them figure out when and how fast the surface eroded.
Here's what the sediments say: From about 250 million to 34 million years ago, the region around Lambert Glacier was relatively flat, and drained by slow-moving rivers, Thomson said. About 34 million years ago, which coincides with a cooling of Earth's climate, big glaciers appeared, shaping the spectacular valley now hidden under thick ice.
"It seemed like it occurred very early on, 34 [million] to 24 million years ago," Thomson said. Erosion slowed dramatically as the ice sheet stabilized about 15 million years ago, he said.
Some 5,250 to 8,200 feet (1.6 to 2.5 kilometers) of rock have since disappeared, ground down by glaciers and carried away by the ice, according to the study.
"Glaciers can carve deep valleys quickly — and did so on Antarctica before it got so cold that the most of it got covered by 1 or 2 miles [1.6 to 3.2 km] of thick, stationary ice," Peter Reiners, a UA geologist and study co-author, said in a statement.
Clues to buried mountain range
Lambert Graben extends about 375 miles (600 km) inland, ending at one of Antarctica's most enigmatic features — an entombed mountain range called the Gamburtsev Mountains. Buried under the ice, the mountains rose during Gondwana's rifting. Geologic evidence suggests two pulses of upliftfrom rifting events about 250 million years ago and 100 million years ago pushed up the jagged peaks.
But Thomson and his colleagues did not find evidence in the sediments for a second uplift phase 100 million years ago. The river sands contain minerals from the Gamburtsev Mountains, and the tiny grains suggest the mountains got their height with one tectonic push.
"This underscores both the mountain range's remarkable age and the extraordinary degree of subglacial landscape preservation," writes Darrel Swift in an accompanying article in Nature Geoscience. Swift, a geologist at the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom, was not involved in the study.
MORE FROM LiveScience.com | <urn:uuid:19b0ddf4-47ac-464e-b95a-ffc85f6c619d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.livescience.com/27715-antarctica-before-ice.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944964 | 1,154 | 4.5625 | 5 |
GM foods not served in Monsanto cafeteria
The Independent newspaper reports that there is a notice in the cafeteria of the Monsanto pharmaceutical factory is High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, advising customers “as far as practicable, GM soya and maize (has been removed) from all food products served in our restaurant. We have taken the steps to ensure that you, the customer, can feel confident in the food we serve.”
The notice was posted by the Sutcliffe Catering Group.
Monsanto confirms the authenticity of the notice, but company spokesman Tony Coombes says the only reason for the GM-free foods is because the company “believes in choice.” Coombes says in other Monsanto locations employees are happy to eat GM foods because they are “sprayed with fewer chemicals.”
Adrian Bebb with Friends of the Earth says the notice in the Buckinghamshire plant is hard to misinterpret. “The public has made its concerns about GM ingredients very clear – now it appears that even Monsanto’s own catering firm has no confidence in this new technology.” | <urn:uuid:2d8a9879-5e2d-4e5b-ab06-2d0c7a638c8f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://crisisboom.com/2011/08/22/gm-foods-not-served-in-monsanto-cafeteria/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957756 | 226 | 1.773438 | 2 |
During our lifetime, we all experience many kinds of losses. This book focuses on the loss of a loved one. The first two chapters discuss grieving, which is a normal response to loss. Practical suggestions for supporting a grieving friend or child are also provided. Chapters three and four provide essential information about attending to the emotional, physical, and spiritual needs of a person who is dying. As well, the author stresses the importance of self-care when attending to the needs of a dying person. The next chapter addresses the decisions that need to be made when you plan a funeral service for a loved one. In the final chapter, readers will learn the importance of making their own legal, living and/or spiritual will. The easy-to-read text is enhanced with photographs, illustrations, and interactive activities. | <urn:uuid:fbcbd9dd-01e6-4b3f-a41e-262536450ffe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.grassrootsbooks.net/us/catalog/product/view/id/90/s/living-with-grief-and-loss/category/20/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943516 | 162 | 2.296875 | 2 |
If you follow education research – or quantitative work in any field – you’ll often hear the term “significant effect.” For example, you will frequently read research papers saying that a given intervention, such as charter school attendance or participation in a tutoring program, had “significant effects,” positive or negative, on achievement outcomes.
This term by itself is usually sufficient to get people who support the policy in question extremely excited, and to compel them to announce boldly that their policy “works.” They’re often overinterpreting the results, but there’s a good reason for this. The problem is that “significant effect” is a statistical term, and it doesn’t always mean what it appears to mean. As most people understand the words, “significant effects” are often neither significant nor necessarily effects.
Let’s very quickly clear this up, one word at a time, working backwards.
In education research, the term “effect” usually refers to an estimate from a model, such as a regression. For example, I might want to see how education influences income, but, in order to isolate this relationship, I need to control for other factors that also affect income, such as industry and experience. Put more simply, I want to look at the average relationship between education and income among people who have the same level of experience, work in the same industry and share other characteristics that shape income. That quantified relationship – usually controlling for a host of different variables – is often called an “effect.”
But we can’t randomly assign education to people the way we would a pharmaceutical drug. And there are dozens of interrelated variables that might affect income, many of which, such as ability or effort, can’t even be measured directly.
In good models using large, detailed datasets with a thorough set of control variables, a statistically significant “effect” might serve as pretty good tentative evidence that there is a causal relationship between two variables – e.g., that having more education leads to higher earnings, at least to some degree, all else being equal. Sometimes, it’s even possible for social scientists to randomly assign “treatment” (e.g., merit pay programs), or exploit this when it happens (e.g., charter school lotteries). One can be relatively confident that the results from studies using random assignment, assuming they’re well-executed, are not only causal per se, but also less likely to reflect bias from unmeasured influences. Even in these cases, however, there are usually validity-related questions left open, such as whether a program’s effect in one context/location will be the same elsewhere.
So, in general, when you hear about “effects,” especially those estimated without the benefit of random assignment, it’s best to think of them as relationships or associations that are often (but not nearly always) causal to some extent, though the estimate of that association’s size varies in its precision, and the degree to which it reflects the influence of unmeasured factors.
Then there’s the term “significant.” “Significant” is of course a truncated form of “statistically significant.” Statistical significance means we can be confident that a given relationship is not zero. That is, the relationship or difference is probably not just random “noise.” A significant effect can be either positive (we can be confident it’s greater than zero) or negative (we can be confident it’s less than zero). In other words, it is “significant” insofar as it’s not nothing. The better way to think about it is “discernible.” There’s something there.
In our education/income example, a “significant positive effect” of education on income means that one can be confident that, on average, more educated people earn more than people with less education, even when we control for experience, industry and, presumably, a bunch of other variables that might be associated with income.
(Side note: One can also test for statistical significance of simpler relationships that are not properly called “effects,” such as whether there is a difference between test scores in one year compared with a prior year.)
Most importantly, as I mentioned in a previous post, an “effect” that is statistically significant is not necessarily educationally meaningful. Remember – significant means that the relationship is not zero, but that doesn’t mean it’s big or even moderate. Quite often, “significant” effects are so small as to be rather meaningless, especially when using big datasets. You need to check the size of the “effect,” the proper interpretation of which depends on the outcome used, the type and duration of “treatment” in question and other factors.
For example, today’s NAEP results indicated a “significant increase” in fourth and eighth grade math and eighth grade reading, but in all three cases, the increase was as modest as it gets – just one scale score point, roughly a month of “learning.” Certainly, this change warrants attention, but it may not square with most people’s definition of “significant” (and it may also reflect differences in the students taking the test).
So, summing up, a when you hear that something has a “statistically significant effect” on something else, remember that it’s not necessarily significant or an effect in the common use of those words. It’s best to think of them as “statistically discernible relationships.” They can be big or small, they’re not necessarily causal, and they can vary widely in terms of precision.
- Matt Di Carlo | <urn:uuid:018ea9e4-f8a7-436f-aa8d-9026b4af972c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://shankerblog.org/?p=4082 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957366 | 1,234 | 3.421875 | 3 |
I knew the Turkish language reform involved some odd notions of linguistics, but Brent Brendemoen’s chapter on the process in The Turkic Languages (Routledge, 1998) introduced me to the weirdest part yet, the Sun-language Theory:
There are strong indications that Atatürk was not entirely happy with about the lists of proposed replacements for the Arabic and Persian words published by the TDK in the first years of the reform. In 1935 and 1936, a complete retreat was made with the introduction of the so-called Güneş Dil Teorisi, the ‘Sun-language Theory’, based on a draft that Atatürk had received from an Austrian Serb, Dr Hermann F. Kvergić. According to this theory of language development, Turkish was the mother of all languages. Thus it was no longer necessary to search for pure Turkish words to replace Arabic and Persian ones, since the ultimate origin of these words and languages was Turkish anyhow.
A fine introduction to the episode is an article by Geoffrey L. Lewis in the periodical Turkic Languages, vol. I issue 1 (1997). Kvergić’s work, “La Psychologie de quelques éléments des languages torques” was not entirely absurd, for it basically used Turkish as a mere example for some general musings about morphology:
The theme was that man first realized his own identity when he conceived the idea of establishing what the external objections surrounding him were. Language first consisted of gestures, to which some significant sounds were then added. Kvergić saw evidence for his view in the Turkish pronouns. M indicates oneself, as in men the ancient form of ben ‘I’, and elim ‘my hand’.
Things went bad when language reformers thought that Turkish retained somehow all of the primitive interjections, and therefore could be seen as the parent of all other languages. Lewis writes:
[The theory] saw the beginning of language as the moment when primitive man looked up at the sun and “Aaa!”
That vocable, ağ, was the “first-degree radical of the Turkish language”. It originally meant sun, then sunlight, warmth, fire, height, bigness, power, god, master, motion, time, distance, life, colour, water, earth, voice. As man’s vocal mechanisms developed, other vowels and consonants became available, each with its own shade of meaning. Because the primeval exclamation was shouted, and it is obviously easier to begin a shout with a vowel than with a consonant, any word now beginning with a consonant originally began with a vowel, since abraded. The words yağmur ‘rain’, çamur ‘mud’, and hamur ‘dough’, for example, are compounded of ağmur ‘flowing water’, preceded by ay ‘high’, aç ‘earth’ and ah ‘food’ respectively. (The reader is urged not to waste time searching the dictionary for the last four words.)
… [The reformer] Dilmen began the next day with a lengthy outline of the theory, proving, among other things, the identity of English god, German Gott and Turkish kut ‘luck’. The proof is simple enough: Gott is oğ + ot, god is oğ + od, kut is uk + ut. He avoids explaining the second t of Gott by spelling it with only one t. | <urn:uuid:0491e025-7823-45ec-b62e-bb5aba9e6f66> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.christopherculver.com/languages/turkic/turkish | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954219 | 750 | 2.359375 | 2 |
Q: David Vladeck, head of the US Bureau of Consumer Protection, has described himself as “essentially a Luddite” who isn’t on Facebook or Twitter. I thought a Luddite was someone opposed to technological change, but now it’s apparently someone who isn’t technologically with it. What do you think?
A: The term “Luddite” has taken on new life in the computer age. Interestingly, the word was born in another period of technological upheaval – the Industrial Revolution.
The Oxford English Dictionary says it originally meant “a member of an organized band of English mechanics and their friends, who (1811-16) set themselves to destroy manufacturing machinery in the midlands and north of England.”
The word is capitalized because it’s said to be based on a proper name, Ned Lud or Ludd. Who was he? The history is unclear, but the OED cites a story in George Pellew’s Life of Lord Sidmouth (1847).
Ned Lud, a “person of weak intellect who lived in a Leicestershire village about 1779,” supposedly rushed into a hosiery-maker’s house “in a fit of insane rage” and destroyed two frames used to knit stockings.
As a result, so the story goes, “the saying ‘Lud must have been here’ came to be used throughout the hosiery districts when a stocking-frame had undergone extraordinary damage.”
The OED’s verdict? “The story lacks confirmation.”
The dictionary’s first citation for the use of the word in print is from The Annual Register (1811), a yearly British publication that recorded and commented on great events in history:
“The rioters assumed the name of Luddites and acted under the authority of an imaginary Captain Ludd.”
The noun Luddism (defined as “the practice of the Luddites”) first appeared in The Annual Register the following year: “Several persons have been apprehended [at Huddersfield] on various charges of Luddism.”
Today, a “Luddite” is more generally defined as “one who opposes the introduction of new technology, esp. into a place of work,” the OED says. And “Luddism” is “intense dislike of or opposition to technological innovation.”
But those definitions are from the OED’s second edition (1989) and have no citations more recent than 1986.
That’s practically the Dark Ages from a technological point of view, long before iPhones, Facebook, ebooks, iPads, Twitter, and all the rest.
It’s been our observation that “Luddite” and “Luddism” don’t have such bitter connotations anymore.
Many people who call themselves “Luddites” these days do so humorously, and merely mean they aren’t on the cutting edge of technology or, as you say, with it.
And here’s an aside. At more than 250 years old, The Annual Register is still in business and is now available online. Nothing Luddite about it.
Check out our books about the English language | <urn:uuid:e3588fa6-0396-45cd-bccb-b6d223004121> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/08/are-you-a-luddite-if-youre-not-on-twitter.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947678 | 715 | 2.65625 | 3 |
“By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.” (Hebrews 11:24-25 NIV)
Be yourself. Don't try to be somebody else. God made you for a purpose; he made you for a plan. There's nobody who can be you except you.
Moses had to deal with this at the very beginning of his life. In Egypt the baby Jewish boys were condemned to die, so his mother put him in a little boat in the Nile River. It happened that the daughter of Pharaoh was taking a bath, and she took this little boy back into the palace to raise him as her own son.
Moses had an identity crisis. He was born Jewish, but he was raised Egyptian. He had to ask himself at some point in his life, "Who am I?” This was quite an important choice because it would determine the rest of his life. He was in line to be Pharaoh. If he said, "I'm an Egyptian" and faked his heritage, he would live a life of ease. He would have an outstanding career. He would have fame and fortune.
If he said what he really was — Jewish — he would be humiliated, kicked out of the palace, and sent to live with a bunch of slaves for the rest of his life.
Yet Moses saw his people being badly mistreated as slaves, and he could not be silent. He was a man of character and integrity. He could not quell his conscious. So he made a decision that cost him the next 80 years of his life.
Hebrews 11:24 says, "By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter” (NIV). The word “refused” in the Greek literally means to reject, deny, to totally disown. Moses cut himself off from a promising career as an Egyptian, and he refused to live a lie. Instead, he wanted to do what God had made him to do.
There's something liberating about just being yourself. The quickest way to an ulcer is to try to be somebody you're not. If you want to live an effective life, just relax and be yourself.
Talk About It
What differences do you notice — physically, emotionally, and in the way you treat others — when you are not trying to be anyone but yourself?
What circumstances in your life pressure you to be someone you are not? What can you do differently?
Rick Warren is the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., one of America's largest and most influential churches. Rick is author of the New York Times bestseller "The Purpose Driven Life." His book, "The Purpose Driven Church," was named one of the 100 Christian books that changed the 20th century. He is also the founder of Pastors.com, a global Internet community for pastors.
This devotional ©2012 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission. | <urn:uuid:2caf8f4b-04b1-4b8c-988d-e481372ff086> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://purposedriven.com/blogs/dailyhope/index.html?contentid=11486 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.992066 | 656 | 2.453125 | 2 |
The first lady and President Obama at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Memorial… (Kristoffer Tripplaar /…)
President Obama has sided with those who argue that returning Vietnam veterans were spat on by ungrateful opponents of that long-ago war. In a Memorial Day address at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the president didn't literally endorse the spitting scenario, but he gave it figurative support.
Addressing Vietnam vets, he said: "You were often blamed for a war you didn't start, when you should have been commended for serving your country with valor. You were sometimes blamed for misdeeds of a few, when the honorable service of the many should have been praised. You came home and sometimes were denigrated, when you should have been celebrated. It was a national shame, a disgrace that should have never happened."
Even with the qualifiers "often" and "sometimes," Obama's comments ratified a meme that entered the popular consciousness decades ago. As Jack Shafer described it in an article in Slate in 2007:
"As with most urban myths, the details of the spat-upon vets vary slightly from telling to telling, while the basic story remains the same. The protester almost always ambushes the soldier in an airport (not uncommonly the San Francisco airport), after he's just flown back to the states from Asia. The soiled soldier either slinks away or does nothing."
The problem, Shafer said, was that there was no evidence that the iconic humiliation ever occurred. Shafer cited a 1998 book by Jerry Lembcke, himself a Vietnam veteran, in which Lembcke was unable to document reports of spat-upon vets. Lembcke did, however, "uncover ample news stories about antiwar protesters receiving the saliva shower from anti-anti-war types."
Shafer's article drew denunciations from readers who insisted that they, indeed, had been spat on for their service in Vietnam, but after a second spelunking into the question Shafer remained skeptical, though he didn't rule out the possibility. Which is where I come down too. I remember being suspicious of the spitting accounts long before reading about Lembcke's book. Like the notion that returning veterans were denounced as "baby killers," the spitting story fitted too neatly into conservative denunciations of the antiwar movement.
True or not, the story seems to have impressed on Americans the importance of separating "support for the troops" from support for a particular military adventure. (That distinction inspired a classic spoof in The Onion.) But even an edifying myth is still a myth.
How to house homeless vets
Romney campaign thanks veterans
On Memorial Day, Obama talks of closure | <urn:uuid:aa754e6a-5c94-429e-a3d1-4772a20f2366> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.latimes.com/2012/may/30/news/la-obama-vietnam-veterans-20120530 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968201 | 551 | 1.867188 | 2 |
The use of personal pagers, cell phones, and other electronic communication and entertainment devices (e.g., MP3’s, CD players, tape recorders, video-graphic recorders, any such contrivance with photographic capability, etc.) in classes, labs and the library is prohibited. Pagers, cell phones, and other electronic equipment should be turned off and put away prior to entering classes, labs, or the library. Students with legitimate reasons for using this equipment can do so only after receiving explicit consent of the instructor or a librarian. Failure to comply with instructor or librarian request can lead to disciplinary action based on the Student Code of Conduct and referred to the Dean of Student Services for appropriate review and discipline. | <urn:uuid:6ac1d13a-8ea1-4e4e-9024-d2d2c0a49bc8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.svcc.edu/about/policies/electronic-devices.html?navRef=50206 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911107 | 150 | 1.71875 | 2 |
SEATTLE — Apr 25, 2011 — The largest study ever to examine the association of dietary fats and prostate cancer risk has found what’s good for the heart may not be good for the prostate.
Analyzing data from a nationwide study involving more than 3,400 men, researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center found that men with the highest blood percentages of docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA, an inflammation-lowering omega-3 fatty acid commonly found in fatty fish, have two-and-a-half-times the risk of developing aggressive, high-grade prostate cancer compared to men with the lowest DHA levels.
Conversely, the study also found that men with the highest blood ratios of trans-fatty acids — which are linked to inflammation and heart disease and abundant in processed foods that contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils — had a 50 percent reduction in the risk of high-grade prostate cancer. In addition, neither of these fats was associated with the risk of low-grade prostate cancer risk. The researchers also found that omega-6 fatty acids, which are found in most vegetable oils and are linked to inflammation and heart disease, were not associated with prostate cancer risk. They also found that none of the fats were associated with the risk of low-grade prostate cancer.
These findings by Theodore M. Brasky, Ph.D., and colleagues in the Hutchinson Center’s Public Health Sciences Division were published online April 25 in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
"We were stunned to see these results and we spent a lot of time making sure the analyses were correct," said Brasky, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Hutchinson Center’s Cancer Prevention Program. "Our findings turn what we know — or rather what we think we know — about diet, inflammation and the development of prostate cancer on its head and shine a light on the complexity of studying the association between nutrition and the risk of various chronic diseases."
The researchers undertook the study because chronic inflammation is known to increase the risk of several cancers, and the omega-3 fatty acids found primarily in fish and fish oil supplements have anti-inflammatory effects. In contrast, other fats, such as the omega-6 fats in vegetable oil and trans-fats found in fast foods, may promote inflammation. "We wanted to test the hypothesis that the concentrations of these fats in blood would be associated with prostate cancer risk," Brasky said. "Specifically, we thought that omega-3 fatty acids would reduce and omega-6 and trans-fatty acids would increase prostate cancer risk."
The mechanisms behind the impact of omega-3s on risk of high-grade prostate cancer are unknown. "Besides inflammation, omega-3 fats affect other biologic processes. It may be that these mechanisms play a greater role in the development of certain prostate cancers," Brasky said. "This is certainly an area that needs more research."
Currently there is no official recommended daily allowance for omega-3 fats for adults or children, although many nutrition experts and physicians recommend 450 milligrams of omega-3 DHA per day as part of a healthy diet.
The study was based on data from the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial, a nationwide randomized clinical trial that tested the efficacy of the drug finasteride to prevent prostate cancer. While the trial involved nearly 19,000 men age 55 and older, the data in this analysis came from a subset of more than 3,000 of the study participants, half of whom developed prostate cancer during the course of the study and half of whom did not. The clinical trial was unique in that prostate biopsy was used to confirm the presence or absence of prostate cancer in all study participants.
Among the study participants, very few took fish oil supplements – the most common non-food source of omega-3 fatty acids, which are known to prevent heart disease and other inflammatory conditions. The majority got omega 3s from eating fish.
So based on these findings, should men concerned about heart disease eschew fish oil supplements or grilled salmon in the interest of reducing their risk of aggressive prostate cancer? Brasky and colleagues don’t think so.
"Overall, the beneficial effects of eating fish to prevent heart disease outweigh any harm related to prostate cancer risk," Brasky said. "What this study shows is the complexity of nutrition and its impact on disease risk, and that we should study such associations rigorously rather than make assumptions," Brasky said.
The National Cancer Institute funded this study, which also involved researchers from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and the NCI.
# # #
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
At Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, our interdisciplinary teams of world-renowned scientists and humanitarians work together to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer, HIV/AIDS and other diseases. Our researchers, including three Nobel laureates, bring a relentless pursuit and passion for health, knowledge and hope to their work and to the world. For more information, please visit www.fhcrc.org.
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center | <urn:uuid:9bb6a458-ff37-42dd-90bb-f8bc7ce20b3c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fhcrc.org/en/news/releases/2011/04/omega-3-fatty-acid-aggressive-prostate-cancer.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96142 | 1,042 | 2.453125 | 2 |
Shopping in the Middle East and around the world is set to become more sophisticated as an increasing number of international retailers sell their products online.
According to research published this week by CBRE, the amount of online shopping conducted globally is set to double. The property consultant surveyed 50 leading international retailers with a combined worldwide network exceeding 32,000 stores.
They said while online sales currently represent 5 per cent of their total, in two years they estimate this will double to 10 per cent.
Although 70 per cent of international retailers view their businesses as based in physical stores, 63 per cent say by 2014 their businesses will be fully integrated with online shopping and mobile apps. The survey found although online shopping remained in its infancy outside the developed markets of the United Kingdom, the United States and Australasia, retailers felt online retailing would play an increasingly important role in emerging markets including the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Central and eastern Europe.
With a dearth of postal services hampering the growth of online shopping in many parts of the Middle East, two thirds of retailers predicted over the next two years, shoppers would be ordering online and picking up their goods in stores. When asked how they would do more business online, 80 per cent of respondents said they would offer shoppers the chance to use online kiosks in their stores.
Another 77 per cent said they would offer mobile apps or smartphone-enabled websites within the next two years.
"In the Middle East, participation in multi-channel retailing is still in its infancy with consumers immersed in an established mall culture that has become a focal point for everyday life and an avenue for social interaction among the region's growing youth population," said Matthew Green, the head of research & consultancy for CBRE Middle East. "However, there has been notable growth in participation levels for Web-based auction sites, group discount sites and flight and hotel bookings engines.
"To be successful online retailers will have to become more creative in their offer in order to entice shoppers away from organised formats," he said. | <urn:uuid:5c447f2f-e54f-4e8a-9245-0cfc25cd2cc8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.albawaba.com/print/business/online-shopping-middle-east-443838?quicktabs_accordion=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965208 | 412 | 1.59375 | 2 |
SARANAC LAKE - Homeward Bound Adirondacks is throwing in the towel on creating its first retreat center for veterans at 124 Glenwood Drive.
In a press release sent to the Enterprise Tuesday, Bob Ross, president of the organization's board of directors, said Homeward Bound is dropping the plan due to opposition to the project from neighbors.
"HBA indicated that it would not attempt to force its way into a community that did not support and desire the project in their community," Ross wrote. "As a consensus of support is not now available, HBA is, with great disappointment, withdrawing from pursuit of the 124 Glenwood project. HBA especially regrets the lost opportunity for veteran and community volunteers to work together on restoring an historic house for use as HBA's home base."
Homeward Bound had put down a $12,500 deposit on the vacant home, which Ross said it will now lose. The sale of the property, which is currently Thomas and Richard Trepanier of Mamaroneck, was supposed to close on Tuesday.
Homeward Bound had been promised $125,000 in funding from a foundation headed by Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau, who grew up in Saranac Lake and is a Homeward Bound board member, to purchase the eight-bedroom home, which at one time was owned by his grandfather, Dr. Francis Berger Trudeau. Ross has said it would have been home to an office and a small retreat center that would host programs for veterans and their families.
The official end of the project comes less than a week after Homeward Bound, at Wednesday's village Planning Board meeting, withdrew a request to have 124 Glenwood and an adjacent vacant parcel rezoned from residential to institutional use due to strong opposition from neighboring property owners. Ross described it as "the best of a poor set of choices" that were recommended by the village for converting the home to a retreat center. Just rezoning 124 Glenwood was ruled out because it would have been spot zoning and subject to a potential legal challenge.
Earlier this month, some neighbors had gone on record supporting the rezoning of 124 Glenwood, as long as a number of conditions restricting the use of the property were adhered to, only to turn against the project after learning Ross had actually sought rezoning of two parcels.
Esther Arlan, one of several Glenwood-area residents who spoke at Monday night's village board meeting, said promises made by Ross and other Homeward Bound supporters several weeks ago to keep the community and neighbors informed about the project in a timely fashion were broken.
Arlan said she's not opposed to serving veterans, but she noted that this is the second time in six months that a rezoning in the area has been proposed for a veteran-related project spearheaded by Ross, who is also the CEO of St. Joseph's Addiction Treatment and Recovery Centers. Earlier this year, the village board approved the rezoning of a parcel of St. Joseph's land for a 25-bed community residence for veterans suffering from substance abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder, but only after St. Joe's made a series of concessions to the neighbors, including relocating the building and creating a permanent buffer on the property.
"How many more properties will be rezoned and removed from the tax rolls?" Arlan asked.
Speaking at Monday's meeting, Ross said he hoped for a continued dialogue among the neighbors, the Planning Board and Homeward Bound on finding another way to convert the house to a retreat center.
"It's not the desire of Homeward Bound to impose ourselves on the community, but if there was a way in which something could be worked out collectively, we certainly would be pleased to have such an opportunity," Ross said.
Kiwassa Road resident Steve Erman said he supported Ross' approach to see if "there's a legal way the project could be accommodated in that neighborhood." He urged the village board to have a lawyer, seasoned in planning and zoning, participate in that conversation.
But other neighbors were still concerned. Jon Vinograd said Ross was trying to "shoe horn" the project into the Glenwood neighborhood without changing the zoning.
"The zoning law and the master plan says this is an area for single-family residences only," said Glenwood resident George Nagle. "What part of 'only' don't some people understand?"
In a telephone interview Tuesday, Ross described the opposition as the product of "a serious misunderstanding" about what Homeward Bound had proposed. He said he had talked to one resident of the neighborhood, after the rezoning application was submitted, and described that two parcels were needed to accomplish the rezoning.
"I would take some exception to the notion that we didn't communicate at all," Ross said. "Did we discuss it? Yes. Could the conversation had been more extensive? Undoubtedly."
Ross said he didn't know if the $125,000 in funding from Trudeau's Grandison Foundation for the purchase of the house would still be available to Homeward Bound.
While the Glenwood project is now off the table, Ross said Homeward Bound will continue to focus on developing and implementing its veteran reintegration programs, fundraising and finding another site for its activities. The organization will soon be announcing the receipt of a "major grant," Ross said. | <urn:uuid:f32b2809-f31d-41bf-ab94-f109b7a3b31d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://adirondackdailyenterprise.com/page/content.detail/id/531547/Homeward-Bound-drops-plan-for-Glenwood-home.html?nav=5008 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97974 | 1,113 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Posted: Feb 7, 2013 6:59 PM by Krystal Scott
Updated: Feb 7, 2013 11:03 PM
The company bid $12.7 million for the project. The interchange is part of a larger project around Stadium Boulevard that will widen lanes and create a sixth lane with divided roadways. It will also add lanes to Fairview Road from Worley Avenue to west of Columbia Mall and Bernadette Drive.The full project is estimated to cost $19.6 million. The corridor improvements are funded by the City of Columbia, MoDOT and three Transportation Development Districts.
Columbia Fire Marshal, Brad Fraizer said, "Stadium Boulevard and Bernadette Drive is an area where we see tremendous amounts of accidents. We're confident that improvements to that portion of Stadium will decrease the number of vehicle accidents and decrease the amount of traffic allowing an increase in emergency response times."
The new diamond interchange will also help emergency responders and commuters be able to get to I-70 faster.
The new route will criss-cross the roads and allow left lane of traffic to flow straight off of Stadium on to I-70.
This type of "diverging diamond interchange" can also be found in Springfield, Missouri at I-44 and MO-13.
For more information about how the diamond interchange will work, check out this link: Stadium Boulevard Corridor. | <urn:uuid:d80923c0-6671-45bb-a064-edb9388a60f3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.komu.com/news/columbia-company-will-build-stadium-interchange/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909986 | 283 | 1.539063 | 2 |
The Sea Chest
By Toni Buzzeo; Illustrated By Mary Grandpre
Buy this book
A lonely little girl, a lighthouse, an island, a storm, a mysterious stranger--these compelling elements give The Sea Chest the look and feel of a children’s classic that will be loved for generations. Toni Buzzeo tells this story-within-a-story in rich, poetic language, while Mary GrandPre’s lush illustrations draw the reader ever deeper in. Like the best adoption tales, The Sea Chest will appeal to a broad readership of adults as well as children.
On the request of her great-grandniece, Aunt Maita recounts the story of her unusual childhood. She spent her early years on a windswept island as the only child of a lighthouse keeper and his wife. But one day, after a storm sinks a ship offshore, a sea chest washes up on the beach and changes Maita’s life forever. Inside is a baby, the daughter that the ship’s captain and his wife put to sea in a desperate effort to save her.
Maita’s parents take the baby in, adopt her, and raise her as their own, and Maita relishes her role as big sister. As Maita finishes her story, we learn that her great-grandniece is preparing to embrace another mysterious newcomer: The girl’s parents are overseas adopting her sister.
Though the story is based on a legend that almost certainly never happened, the author’s own experience gives it the spirit of truth. Buzzeo was an only child for years until her family took in a foster daughter. She never forgot her foster sister, who was adopted by another family. In The Sea Chest, it seems, Buzzeo heals that old loss through storytelling.
Reviewed by Amy Klatzkin, a contributing editor to Adoptive Families.
Back To Book Reviews | <urn:uuid:fddd6b05-d9e9-453b-be47-50185d002d19> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://adoptivefamilies.com/articles.php?aid=601 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963111 | 407 | 1.953125 | 2 |
Poisoning by Aflatoxins in Horses
Aflatoxins are one of many different types of chemicals that have proven to be toxic to horses, and they can come in many forms. Usually produced by a type of fungus called Aspergillus flavus, aflatoxins have been found in several different types of foodstuffs, usually to the surprise of the horse owner.
The Aspergillus mold is a naturally occurring fungus that proliferates in humid conditions, particularly in crops, hay, vegetation, soil, and grains. Aflatoxins primarily affect the liver where they lead to problems with protein synthesis, blood clotting, and fat metabolism. Aflatoxins in other species are known to be carcinogenic and can be immunosuppressive as well.
Symptoms and Types
Acute Aflatoxin Poisoning
- Severe depression
- Abdominal pain (colic)
- Yellowing of the mucous membranes (jaundice)
- Bloody feces
- Bleeding from the nose
- Ataxia (loss of coordination)
- Recumbence (lying down)
- Muscle spasms
Chronic Aflatoxin Poisoning
- Weight loss
- Rough hair coat
- Formation of hematomas beneath the skin
- Ingestion of food that is contaminated with aflatoxins. These toxins can be present in both grains and forages.
Definitive diagnosis of aflatoxicosis is difficult as the clinical signs are non-specific and mimic a variety of other equally serious conditions. Blood work will show elevated liver enzymes and other non-specific abnormal changes. There are, however, no samples that can be taken from a live horse that will definitively diagnosis the ingestion of this toxin. Sampling the contaminated feed is the best way to obtain a diagnosis.
There is no specific type of treatment available for aflatoxin poisoning. The best methods of treatment, and those that have proven the most effective and reliable, are by oral administration of activated charcoal. Activated charcoal is known to absorb toxins, allowing them to pass through the system without the body absorbing them. Other treatments are supportive. A low-fat diet that is easily digestible has been recommended and vitamin supplementation may be beneficial. The most important step in treatment initiation is to identify and remove the source of the aflatoxin so the horse is no longer ingesting it.
Living and Management
Inspection of foods for the presence of mold may help in the avoidance of aflatoxin poisoning. Additionally, horse owners should store feeds and hay in a manner that prevents the growth of mold.
The group of processes that involve the use of nutrients by the body
A condition in which the skin becomes yellow in color as do the mucous membranes; this is due to excess amounts of bilirubin.
A substance created by a certain fungus, Aspergillus flavus, a carcinogen; known to contaminate corn, some nuts, and certain types of grain. | <urn:uuid:1d5f84f7-2d54-4772-b49e-ce822ba124cc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.petmd.com/print/7164 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940589 | 615 | 2.90625 | 3 |
1 November 2011 The Security Council has called on interim authorities in Libya to take action to prevent the proliferation of arms, missiles and related materiel, warning of the danger they pose to the newly liberated North African country and the wider region.
In a resolution adopted unanimously yesterday, Council members also authorized its committee on Libyan sanctions to draw up proposals for how to keep any stockpiles of arms and materiel away from terrorist groups, including the group known as Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.
The resolution, adopted hours before the mandate for authorized intA report will be prepared by the committee on preventing proliferation, as well as on how to ensure that any stockpiles are managed safely and securely, that border controls are strengthened and that transport security is boosted.ernational military action in Libya came to an end, voiced concern about the proliferation of arms in the region, especially man-portable surface-to-air missiles – otherwise known as MANPADS.
The text said Libyan authorities must take “all necessary steps to prevent the proliferation of all arms and related materiel of all types, in particular man-portable surface-to-air missiles, to ensure their proper custody, as well as to meet Libya’s arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation obligations under international law.”
Council members called on Libyan authorities to work closely with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) with the aim of destroying the country’s stockpiles of chemical weapons. In addition, States in the region were asked to play their part to prevent arms proliferation.
The committee set up after sanctions were imposed earlier this year was asked “to assess the threats and challenges, in particular related to terrorism, posed by the proliferation of all arms and related materiel of all types.”
A report will be prepared by the committee on preventing proliferation, as well as on how to ensure that any stockpiles are managed safely and securely, that border controls are strengthened and that transport security is boosted.
Last week Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) declared the full liberation of the country, more than eight months after a popular uprising began against the regime of Muammar al-Qadhafi, and days after his death in his home town of Sirte.
The uprising in Libya was part of the so-called Arab Spring, a wider pro-democracy movement across North Africa and the Middle East that has also led to the toppling of long-standing regimes in Tunisia and Egypt.
News Tracker: past stories on this issue | <urn:uuid:15a7be4c-79d8-4a77-a452-5bdaad5263ca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=40268&Cr=Libya&Cr1= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961563 | 526 | 1.921875 | 2 |
After decades of false sightings, the Simon Wiesenthal Center claims it is closing in on Aribert Heim, a former physician nicknamed the “Butcher of Mauthausen” because of the torture experiments he conducted on Jewish prisoners at the concentration camp in Austria.
According to Efraim Zuroff, director of the center’s office in Jerusalem, a recent visit he paid to South America has yielded clues that Heim is alive and hiding in a remote area between Chile and Argentina. If indeed still alive, the Austrian doctor would be 94 years old.
“I think we are closer than we ever were,” Zuroff told the Forward. “Both Argentina and Chile appear ready to make a big push.”
Three years ago, Heim sightings in Spain generated international media reports of his impending capture. When contacted by the Forward to discuss the sightings, the German state prosecutor leading the cold-case investigation into Heim’s whereabouts alleged that Zuroff had manipulated the facts in order to garner press coverage.
Pressed this past week about the German allegations in 2005, Zuroff noted that reports of Heim living Spain did not originate with him, adding that the claims he is now making are based on his recent fact-finding trip to South America.
Zuroff traveled to Chile and Argentina in mid-July in order to sensitize the local authorities and the general public about the campaign to catch Heim. The trip took an unexpected investigative turn during a visit to the southern Chilean fishing town of Puerto Montt, where Heim’s daughter lives.
Zuroff said he met three people who claimed either to have seen Heim in the past 45 days or to have information about his whereabouts. Based on those testimonies, as well as briefings with the German police unit that has been tracking him for years and with the Israeli embassy in Chile, he claims that the former Nazi is hiding out somewhere between Puerto Montt and the Argentinean town of Bariloche. The two towns lie a relatively short distance away from each other but are separated by the high Andes.
The South American trip is part of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s “Operation: Last Chance,” which aims to bring aging war criminals to justice before they die. Heim tops the list of wanted Nazis. The center, the German and Austrian governments and a private donor are jointly offering a reward of nearly $500,000 for information leading to his capture.
Horst Haug, a spokesman for the Baden-Württemberg state police, which is running Germany’s long-standing investigation of Heim, confirmed a recent meeting with Zuroff but added that until Heim was captured, “there was nothing new.”
“There has been repeated speculation about this over the years,” he said, adding that the Simon Wiesenthal Center have more freedom to investigate abroad than do the German authorities.
Zuroff’s trip to South America generated broad coverage in the local media. He said that he was able to hold face-to-face interviews with acquaintances of Heim’s daughter, and he described this as a “turning point” in the investigation. Zuroff said she had refused to meet with them and was away during their visit.
“She is the key to Heim,” he said, but declined to elaborate.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center will soon put out advertisements about Heim in national newspapers in both Chile and Argentina, as well as in local papers in Puerto Montt and Bariloche.
While in South America, Zuroff met with Argentina’s justice minister and the head of Chile’s law enforcement agency, and with Interpol officials in both countries.
“We briefed them and stressed that it was important that this be their own investigation and not something by a foreign country,” Zuroff said. “I think they were already reaching that point, and this why we are very hopeful.”
Heim was indicted in Germany after World War II on charges of murdering hundreds of inmates at the Mauthausen concentration camp in 1941. He was held for two-and-a-half years by the American military but was released without trial. He worked as a gynecologist in Germany until 1962, when he fled the country after being tipped off that German authorities were about to indict him. | <urn:uuid:c7426e38-c344-4507-bc68-c5b1c236cb24> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://forward.com/articles/13850/nazi-hunter-claims-most-wanted-prey-is-alive-and-f-/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979384 | 927 | 1.773438 | 2 |
United States and the European Union
Transatlantic Task Force on urgent Antimicrobial Resistance (TATFAR)
The Transatlantic Task Force on urgent Antimicrobial Resistance (TATFAR) was launched on November 3, 2009 by the United States and the European Union (EU) with these objectives:
- Increase mutual understanding of US and EU activities and programs pertinent to antimicrobial resistance issues
- Extend the transatlantic dialogue and uphold information exchange, coordination and co-operation
TATFAR is made up of government representatives from the US Department of Health and Human Services, various European Union agencies, and representatives from the EU Trip Presidency of Spain, Belgium and Hungary.
Further information is available on the TATFAR website .
Secretary Sebelius and Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the European Commission and Commissioner for the Digital Agenda signed a Memorandum of Understanding in December 2010 to support collaboration in health related information and communication technologies. The HHS Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) partners with the Commission, as well as individual EU Member States and governmental and nongovernmental organizations, to provide leadership in the development, recognition, and implementation of standards and the certification of health IT products.
Transatlantic Economic Council
The United States and the European Union are committed to increasing the efficiency and transparency of transatlantic economic cooperation and to accelerating the reduction and elimination of barriers to trade and investment. The Transatlantic Economic Council is a joint framework for advancing economic cooperation and is the primary forum for economic dialogue between the US and EU. HHS participates in a variety of TEC activities, especially those related to drug and device safety and health information technology.
Further information is available at:
- Transatlantic Economic Council
- Transatlantic Economic Council/High Level Regulatory Cooperation Forum | <urn:uuid:eea5ddc1-bd22-4882-b18d-f1280defe5f5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.globalhealth.gov/world-regions/europe-and-eurasia/united-states-and-european-union/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912643 | 367 | 2.375 | 2 |
Standard & Poor’s Rating Services raised its long-term rating and underlying rating (SPUR) to ‘AAA’ from ‘AA+’ on Lake Zurich Community Unit School District 95’s general obligation bonds.
According to Standard & Poor, “the rating action reflects our view of the school district’s consistent financial surpluses and increased fund balances.”
“The ‘AAA’ rating reflects our view of the school district’s:
- Participation in the diverse Chicago metropolitan area economy,
- Very strong income levels and extremely strong market value per capita,
- Very strong combined educational and operations and maintenance (O&M) fund balance, and
- Low overall net debt as a percentage of market value coupled with rapid amortization.
Elizabeth Hennessy, Partner at William Blair and Company, the District’s bond underwriter said, “The school district’s financial discipline and balanced budget policies resulted in a strong financial position affording the upgrade to the highest rating level.” Of the 868 school districts in Illinois only twenty-three are rated ‘AAA’ by Standard and Poor’s including Lake Zurich Community Unit School District 95.
This news release was submitted by Lake Zurich Community Unit School District 95. | <urn:uuid:061bd7aa-46d1-4936-a840-71fe8bcc5db2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lakezurich.patch.com/groups/schools/p/s-p-upgrades-lake-zurich-d95-from-aa-to-aaa | 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 | 0.900214 | 272 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Placing Loudspeakers correctly in Control Rooms
- consider the loudspeaker radiation space
- wall reflections change the frequency response
- follow the free-standing placement recommendations
- exact symmetry produces accurate sound stage imaging
- angle the loudspeakers towards the listener
- height and width matters in TV/film monitoring
- battle room modes
The loudspeaker Radiation SpaceAn enclosed dynamic loudspeaker drive unit has theoretically ideal working conditions only if its frontal radiation space is either a full or a half space (i.e. spherical or hemi-spherical radiation).
In practice the radiation angle decreases as the frequency increases first because of the finite size of the front baffle of the loudspeaker cabinet and secondly because of the size of the drive unit itself. When a loudspeaker is then placed near a wall, the wall presents an extension of the baffle of the loudspeaker at low frequencies, its frequency response will be modified, and we experience a bass boost.
> To learn more, read here further about Radiation Space.
Wall reflections interfere with the direct soundA free standing loudspeaker is usually surrounded by boundaries that generate reflections (walls, ceiling and floor). These boundaries act as acoustical mirrors to the loudspeaker's radiation, enhancing or canceling the direct sound, depending on the phase difference between the reflection and the direct sound at the listening position.
The problems of boundary reflections diminish as the frequency increases. This is because the directivity of a conventional loudspeaker increases with frequency. This is why boundary reflections mostly cause problems at low frequencies.
The most common problem at low frequencies is the interference between the loudspeaker's direct radiation and the reflection from the wall behind the speaker. At low frequencies this reflection will be delayed so much as to be in opposite phase relative to the direct sound. Depending on the relative amplitudes of the direct and reflected sounds, a cancellation dip (typically 6...20 dB deep) will occur in the frequency response.
> Read here to learn how to overcome the Wall behind the Loudspeaker Cancellation.
Free-standing placement recommendationsAlthough flush mounting loudspeakers offers many benefits it is usually expensive and in most cases, especially in small installations, loudspeakers are placed free standing. As stated before, reflections from various boundaries will characterize the performance of free standing loudspeakers.
To learn more, read here how to correctly place in a control room:
> Free-standing loudspeakers
> Free-standing loudspeakers combined with subwoofer
Symmetry for accurate imagingConsidering the simple case of a stereo pair, they must have exactly similar frequency responses to produce exact and accurate stereo imaging. The boundary reflections change the frequency responses of the loudspeakers differently if they are at a different distance from the boundaries. You should take great care to place the loudspeaker pair in an exact symmetry in the listening room to maintain similar frequency responses for both loudspeakers.
As the positioning of tables, screens, racks, etc, is critical for stereo installations, it is even more truth in multichannel control rooms. Early reflections, with high amplitude in relation to the direct sound, can smear the coherence of the sound image and compromise the localisation of the sources in space. To avoid this, all reflecting surfaces between the loudspeakers and the listening position should be minimised. Of course equipments are inevitable, however symmetrical positioning of the equipment is essential.
Also, note that the listening room itself should be symmetrical along the central axis between the loudspeakers to maintain accurate sound stage imaging. This is usually true for modern control room designs.
Aim the loudspeakers towards the listenerThe loudspeaker naturally becomes more directive as the frequency increases, and the loudspeaker has a certain acoustical axis where the response has been optimized. The responses of Genelec monitors have been specially optimized for a wide listening area. The monitors should be directed towards the listener. The frequency response at the listening position should be measured, and the room response controls should be adjusted to obtain correct balance of the frequency response, if needed.
Sometimes it is not possible to place the loudspeakers at the same height with the listeners’ ears, although this is desirable. If you have to place the loudspeakers high, you should aim them towards the listener. This removes the effects of the increasing directivity as the frequency increases. | <urn:uuid:9fee2d26-11f8-4609-985d-de0c7de7f8bc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.genelec.com/learning-center/presentations-tutorials/placingloudspeakers/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911872 | 881 | 2.875 | 3 |
Nearly half the fans at Milwaukee Brewers games come from outside the five-county metropolitan area, and their spending has provided a local boost.
A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report states those fans have an economic impact of about $263 million per year. That's according to a new study by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
The Brewers draw about 2.6 million fans each season, about 1 million more than the team attracted in its final years at County Stadium. Officials with the Miller Park stadium district said the stadium's retractable roof is a big reason because it prevents rain-outs.
Don Smiley is the board chairman of the Southeast Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District. He said the parking lot is often filled with cars and buses from throughout the state and the Midwest. | <urn:uuid:2fcef492-37a5-44e8-bfc5-8130b0a40a2f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.channel3000.com/sports/brewers/Out-of-area-Brewers-fans-provide-economic-boost/-/4054/19296772/-/9k1q2o/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963021 | 156 | 1.695313 | 2 |
We’ll give you three things that are related in some way, and it’s your job to come up with how they are related. Ready? The three things are: poisoned fish, industrial pollution, and a contaminated lake. How do these puzzle pieces fit together? Learn more on this Moment of Science. | <urn:uuid:b239eaf3-3c10-4191-bddc-adc31c257e67> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://indianapublicmedia.org/amomentofscience/tag/industrial-pollution/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962842 | 65 | 1.875 | 2 |
A comparison of offroad and onroad crashes in rural and remote Queensland
Steinhardt, Dale A., Sheehan, Mary C., & Siskind, Victor (2006) A comparison of offroad and onroad crashes in rural and remote Queensland. In 2006 Australian Road Safety Research, Policing, Education Conference, 25th - 27th October, 2006, Gold Coast, Queensland.
Offroad vehicle use and in particular offroad motorcycling has been established as a significant source of injury both within Australia and internationally. However, Queensland's police road crash statistics typically do not report crashes that occur in off-road circumstances. The aim of the current investigation was to compare this under-reported subset of crashes with on-road crashes. The data used was sourced from interviews conducted in Northern Queensland with serious injury patients hospitalised for 24 hours or more after a rural road crash. Of the classifiable crashes, approximately half were motorcycle crashes, of which a half again were offroad crashes. Of the crashes involving cars, roughly 15% were offroad crashes. Results showed males constituted the majority of all motorcycle crashes, with younger males particularly involved in offroad motorcycle incidents. Offroad motorcycling was identified particularly with greater proportions of riding for pleasure, unlicensed riding, unregistered vehicle use and travelling on an unfamiliar track or road. In terms of illegal behaviours, just under 10% of all subgroups reported recreational drug use. Non-use of helmets and seatbelts was higher for offroad compared to onroad groups, though a notable proportion of onroad users also reported non-use. Offroad motorcyclists were more likely to be unlicensed to ride, riding unregistered vehicles and unfamiliar with the area or road. The results are discussed in relation to how this data can inform official crash data sources and the development of interventions to target specific high-risk sub-groups in rural and remote areas.
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|Item Type:||Conference Paper|
|Keywords:||rural, remote, road safety, offroad, riding, driving, motorcycle, car, other vehicles|
|Subjects:||Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification > COMMERCE MANAGEMENT TOURISM AND SERVICES (150000) > TRANSPORTATION AND FREIGHT SERVICES (150700) > Road Transportation and Freight Services (150703)|
Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification > COMMERCE MANAGEMENT TOURISM AND SERVICES (150000) > TRANSPORTATION AND FREIGHT SERVICES (150700) > Transportation and Freight Services not elsewhere classified (150799)
|Divisions:||Current > Research Centres > Centre for Accident Research & Road Safety - Qld (CARRS-Q)|
Current > QUT Faculties and Divisions > Faculty of Health
Current > Institutes > Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation
|Copyright Owner:||Copyright 2006 (please consult author)|
|Deposited On:||15 Nov 2006|
|Last Modified:||29 Feb 2012 23:24|
Repository Staff Only: item control page | <urn:uuid:0d80e84e-0ff9-420b-8643-0742b765d895> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://eprints.qut.edu.au/5424/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908797 | 783 | 2.09375 | 2 |
MALONE — An invasive tree is compromising shoreline stability and jeopardizing concrete foundations near the Salmon River.
But it will be several weeks before Village Department of Public Works crews can get to the troubled spots and kill off the problem with eco-friendly chemicals.
Dr. Dean Chapman told the Village Board that attention is needed before the ashleaf maple, or box elder tree becomes out of control.
He said the ashleaf maple is taking over land that once held native trees.
“It tears off bricks, and walls collapse,” he said. “They breed prolifically and cause damage quickly.”
The damage he described has started on foundations and concrete structures along the Salmon River, including behind the historic Horton Mill.
He said that as the roots of the tree collect water and expand, they push with such force that they punch through and cause breeches between stones or seams and crack solid walls.
Once they get a foothold, the root swelling continues, the cracks get wider, and eventually the stone or concrete breaks off and compromises the supportive structures.
The section behind Horton Mill “is unprotected, and it will push the stones and wall right into the river,” he said.
According to the Franklin County Historical and Museum Society, which is researching the mill’s history, the original grist mill was built with wood before 1806 by one of Malone’s first settlers, John Wood. But it was washed out and eventually torn down in 1853. Hiram Horton purchased the land and rebuilt the mill with stone in nearly the same spot.
Horton Mill was placed on the National Historic Register in 1975.
Some say the ground beneath the structure is compromised and the building could fall into the river and endanger the village’s main water line nearby that brings water from Chasm Falls into Malone.
“It’s astounding what these trees can do,” Chapman said.
According to Alabama forestry guide Steve Nix on about.com, “the box elder is a rather nasty tree where limbs break with a vengeance — a landscape-maintenance nightmare.
“The fruit droops in clusters, which some describe as looking like ‘dirty brown socks,’ which adds to the overall trashy look of the tree,” Nix said.
According to aboutmapletrees.com, they can grow between 30 and 50 feet and thrive in wet or dry soil.
Its wind-borne seeds spread quickly, and trees are commonly found along fence lines, buildings, railroad beds and farm fields.
Its root shoots create thickets “that shade out smaller, more desirable plants,” the website states.
Chapman’s work with local trees is already known to the Village Board.
He received permission in March to conduct the Tree Planting Education Project in conjunction with students in Carol Robinson’s fifth-grade class at Flanders Elementary School.
More than 200 trees were planted by the students at the Malone Recreation Park, giving them hands-on experience in caring for nature.
“I can’t say enough good things about that man,” Robinson said. “He’s a genius, and the kids learn so much.
“Anytime you have someone coming into your classroom, you get a little leery,” she said. “But right from the start, he made me feel so comfortable, and the kids just love him.”
Chapman is a medical doctor who works in Vermont and spends about two hours per classroom visit, teaching the children about trees and nature.
“We walk to the Rec Park, so the kids get phys ed in at the same time as science,” she said. “We go up and feed the trees and care for them.”
The program turned into something much more valuable than anyone realized.
“We thought it was going to be a one-shot deal, but he ended up coming back two times a month,” Robinson said. “He’s coming back this year, so we’ll keep on going.”
She said Chapman adds much to the kids’ education on many topics.
“He’s got all the background on the history of the Adirondacks, and he teaches them unbelievable stuff — stuff they haven’t been taught but should know because we live in the Adirondacks,” she said.
“Other people say, ‘We want him. We want him.’ But he’s mine,” Robinson said. “Whatever he wants to do this year, I’m just going to go with it.”
Chapman told the Village Board he’s afraid Malone will lose a piece of its history if ashleaf maple isn’t brought under control.
Horton Mill is the oldest standing structure in Franklin County, but the supportive ground and retaining wall beneath its east side could collapse and drop into the river.
That could endanger the trout population and other wildlife and plants that rely on the Salmon River to survive.
“If we don’t stop this, we won’t have as much to teach the kids,” he said.
His solution is environmentally friendly but somewhat dangerous for the village DPW employees expected to do the work.
Ashleaf maple can be killed off with industrial-strength Roundup weed-control spray, which seeps down and kills the roots.
He said it costs about $44 a gallon, immediately biodegrades and starts killing the plant in 20 minutes.
But getting to the nuisance trees and maneuvering any needed machinery along the riverside will be a challenge.
Village DPW Superintendent Paul Hutchins said protecting the shoreline is important, “but we’ve got to be careful because I don’t want anyone getting hurt for the sake of getting trees out of there.
“We have to consider the risk to the people who would be going down in there,” he said.
His workers have had to concentrate on other jobs this summer to take advantage of the mild weather, and Hutchins said the job will be safer, easier and more visible in a few weeks when the leaves are gone.
That’s when he will send his people in to get rid of the weed trees.
Email Denise A. Raymo: firstname.lastname@example.org | <urn:uuid:15afb937-a7a9-419d-b708-585b1bcba225> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pressrepublican.com/0111_environment/x708368526/Invasive-trees-threatening-historic-site | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951219 | 1,351 | 2.453125 | 2 |
S.A. Bent, comp. Familiar Short Sayings of Great Men. 1887.
[An American patriot; born in Connecticut, 1755; graduated from Yale College; entered the army, 1775; sent by Washington to penetrate the enemys lines in Long Island, and procure intelligence, September, 1776; was seized and executed as a spy.]
I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.
His last words.
What pity is it
That we can die but once to save our country!
ADDISON: Cato, IV. 4.
Napoleon said, Can a few days of life equal the happiness of dying for ones country?
The last words of Major John André of the British army, who was hanged as a spy, Oct. 2, 1780, for having attempted to conduct secret negotiations with Benedict Arnold for the surrender of West Point, were, when asked on the scaffold if he had any thing to say: Nothing but to request you to witness to the world that I die like a brave man. | <urn:uuid:eb872dcf-3904-4992-9ae1-ad581bfe6737> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bartleby.com/344/205.html | 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 | 0.949267 | 224 | 1.929688 | 2 |
Poachers killed almost 230 rhinoceroses in
South Africa between January and October of last year. Over the past decade,
they’ve killed countless tigers, too, for trading rings that deal in wildlife
skins and body parts. Today, fewer than 3,500 of these big cats remain in the
These are just two of many examples WCS
conservationist Elizabeth Bennett highlights in a recent paper. In the journal Oryx, Bennett addresses how organized
crime has become more sophisticated in smuggling wildlife and wildlife products
and adept at eluding authorities.
“We are failing to conserve some of the
world’s most beloved and charismatic species,” said Bennett. “We are rapidly
losing big, spectacular animals to an entirely new type of trade driven by
criminalized syndicates. It is deeply alarming, and the world is not yet taking
it seriously. When these criminal networks wipe out wildlife, conservation
loses, and local people lose the wildlife on which their livelihoods often
Previously secure wildlife populations are
now under threat as poachers and smugglers step up their game. Some new tactics
include using hidden compartments in shipping containers, rapidly changing
trading routes, and switching to e-commerce, which makes their operating
locations difficult to detect.
As advanced smuggling strategies hasten local
extinctions of wildlife species, better law enforcement is needed immediately.
Bennett suggests various strategies to counter organized wildlife crime
activities. These include increasing numbers of highly trained and
well-equipped enforcement staff at all points along the trade chain, using more
sniffer dogs, conducting DNA tests to search for wildlife products, and employing
smart-phone apps with species identification programs.
The bottom line, Bennett
says, is that wildlife crime must be taken more seriously by law enforcement
agencies. Along those lines, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in
Asia recently listed wildlife crime as one of their core focuses. The recent
establishment of the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime
(comprised of CITES Secretariat,
INTERPOL, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the World Bank, and the
World Customs Organization) also offers hope that enforcement will get the edge
on smugglers worldwide.
“Unless we start taking wildlife crime seriously and allocating the commitment
of resources appropriate to tackling sophisticated, well-funded,
globally-linked criminal operations,” said Bennett, “populations of some of the
most beloved but economically prized, charismatic species will continue to wink
out across their range, and, appallingly, altogether.” | <urn:uuid:149a3a5a-d209-4af0-923d-23e532c17b19> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wcs.org/wcs-org/news-and-features-main/wanted-tougher-enforcement-of-wildlife-crime.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927403 | 552 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Understanding Neck Lumps
What the average person might call neck lumps can actually be signs of a series of varied underlying conditions. Neck lumps could simply be an allergic reaction to a new detergent or a reaction to a rash. On the other hand, certain kinds of neck lumps could be the first sign of a serious condition like cancer. Diagnosing the difference on your own can be quite difficult, so you should see your doctor at the very first opportunity.
What follows is a summary of some of the possible reasons why you might have neck lumps. This article is purely informational in nature however, and you should not read it in lieu of having your condition diagnosed by a medical professional. Delaying care for some of the conditions that present as “neck lumps” can mean the difference between life and death. In short, read this article for clarification of the possibilities, but leave diagnosis to those with medical training.
Soft Neck Lumps
A whole series of soft cyst like neck lumps can occur suddenly. Many are actually skin conditions caused by either allergic reactions or insect bites. In most cases, these will go away by themselves, although sometimes a reaction can last for a prolonged period. If the affected area continues to grow or does not disappear after a few days, you should have it checked out by a physician just to be on the safe side.
One of the most common conditions where people report feeling “neck lumps” is when their lymph nodes have become inflamed. The lymph nodes are the grape like nodules that you can feel along your neck adjacent to your jawbones. When you are healthy you can palpate them with a bit of effort, but you will not regularly notice them. You are most likely to notice your lymph nodes when you have some kind of a viral infection. They become large and sometimes painful and you will be able to feel them impinging on your throat when you swallow.
The lymph nodes fill and become inflamed when the body is fighting infection. The body naturally releases chemical defenses to fight against what it sees as an alien invader to its system. When you have a viral infection, this enemy is actually dangerous to you and the body’s response is wholly helpful. Sometimes, however, the body overreacts to an alien presence. This is what an allergic reaction is. The body goes into shock dealing with an enemy that is harmless to it.
The lymph nodes will often become inflamed when the body is reacting to some sort of problem where the immune system is called upon to do extra work. Sometimes, the reason will be obvious. You may feel under the weather or know that you have the flu. It may be the first days of spring and you are having your seasonal allergies or hay fever.
If you have no clear explanation as to why your lymph nodes have become inflamed, then it is important to get it checked out. Often people will not notice when they have been feeling a little bit tired or under the weather until they notice that their lymph nodes are inflamed. Many serious conditions such as Hodgkin’s lymphoma are first diagnosed when the sufferer notices that he or she has inflamed lymph nodes. Such cancers and diseases often occur in younger people and can be treated if diagnosed early and aggressively managed. Where most people get into trouble is when they refuse to accept reality and allow the disease to get an insurmountable foothold, so you should be sure to get to a doctor right away. | <urn:uuid:62a42e6b-d1d0-4297-8936-71ce1c6fda25> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.healthandnutritiontips.net/neck_lumps/neck_lumps.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966325 | 710 | 2.546875 | 3 |
|NULLIS CERTE VERBIS (On The Need For Civil Sovereignty)|
|Pope Pius IX
|Encyclical Promulgated on 19 January 1860
To the Venerable Brothers, the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops and other Ordinaries Keeping Favor and Communion with the Apostolic See.
Greetings and the Apostolic Blessing.
We cannot express in words what a consolation and what a joy to Us, in the midst of the greatest unpleasantness, are your admirable loyalty and respect, and that of your faithful, for Us and this Apostolic See, We are referring to your truly outstanding unanimity, willingness, zeal, and constancy in defending the rights of this same See and the claims of justice. From Our encyclical of last June 18 and then from Our two allocutions in Consistory, you learned of the evils oppressing civil and sacred affairs in Italy and the attempts against the legitimate Princes of Italy and the holy and legitimate dominion which belongs to Us and this Holy See. In compliance with Our wishes, you immediately ordered public prayers in your dioceses.
2. Afterwards, in kind letters sent to Us and by pastoral letters of other religious and learned writings, you vehemently denounced the sacrilegious attacks made on the civil power of the Roman Church. And defending constantly this dominion, you proclaimed and taught that God gave the civil power to the Roman Pontiff, so that he, never subject to any power, might exercise in full liberty and without any impediment the supreme task of the apostolic ministry divinely committed to him by Christ our Lord.
3. Moreover, Our beloved sons of the Catholic Church, imbued with your teaching and aroused by your example, have striven valiantly and still strive to make the same sentiments known to Us. For from every region of the whole Catholic world, We have received practically innumerable letters from ecclesiastics and laity alike of every dignity, rank, grade, and condition. These are signed by hundreds of thousands of Catholics, in which they declare their filial devotion toward Us and this Chair of Peter. They vehemently oppose the revolution and the attacks made in some of Our provinces. They maintain that the patrimony of blessed Peter ought to be preserved completely intact and inviolate and should be defended from all injury. Some of them have, in addition, asserted this wisely in suitable printed works.
4. These outstanding expressions have so moved Us that We could not forbear to gladly proclaim, "Blessed be God, the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercy and the God of all consolation, who consoles Us in all our tribulation." For nothing in the midst of the gravest straits in which We are oppressed, could be more welcome and more pleasing than to behold your zeal and that of the faithful for the protection of the rights of this Holy See. And you yourselves can easily understand how strongly Our paternal benevolence towards you and these Catholics grows deservingly by the day.
5. Now, however, a new cause of sorrow has arisen from a different source. And so We write to you to make Our sentiments well known. Recently, as many of you know, in a Paris newspaper called Le. Moniteur, a letter of the Emperor of the French was published replying to Our letter. In it, We asked that he, by his most powerful patronage in the Congress at Paris, defend the integral and inviolate nature of the temporal power belonging to us and the Holy See, and that he be willing to safeguard it from evil rebellion. In his letter the great Emperor, recalling his somewhat earlier proposal to Us concerning rebellious provinces of Our papal states, advises that We should of Our own accord surrender the possession of these same provinces, since it seems to him to be the only way to amend the present disorder.
6. You all know that We could not keep silence at the receipt of such a letter. Therefore, without delay, We responded to the same Emperor, declaring freely and openly that We could in no way assent to his counsel. We said that "it offers insuperable difficulties, in consideration of Our dignity and that of the Holy See and Our sacred character and the rights of the same Holy See, which pertain not to the succession of any royal family but to all Catholics." Likewise We professed "what is not Ours cannot be given up by Us, and We plainly understand that the victory he wishes to be conceded to the traitors of Emilia, would be a stimulus for future internal and external disturbers of other provinces to perpetrate the same things, when they saw the prosperous fortune of the rebels."
7. And, among other things, We informed the same Emperor, that "We could not abdicate the provinces in Emilia without violating solemn oaths by which We are bound, without exciting quarrels and disturbances in the rest of Our provinces, without committing injustice to all Catholics, and without, finally, weakening the rights not only of the Princes of Italy but of all Princes of the whole Christian world who could not watch with indifference the introduction of most destructive principles." Nor did We omit to point out that "his majesty could scarcely ignore by what men and by what money and resources the recent attempts at rebellion in Bologna, Ravenna, and elsewhere were inflamed and carried out, while the far greater part of the population showed itself in no way induced to support these movements, something it little expected. It was, in fact, amazed."
8. And since the Emperor felt that We ought to give up these provinces because of the rebellions stirred up in them, We replied appropriately that an argument of this kind, in as much as it proved excessive, has no validity. Similar rebellions have often occurred in Europe and other areas, yet anyone can see that a legitimate argument cannot be deduced from that fact to diminish civil sovereignty. We reminded the Emperor that his first letter, sent to Us before the Italian war, which offered Us consolation, not affliction, differed from his most recent ones.
9. From certain words in his newspaper letter, We gathered that there were grounds for fear that the above cited provinces of Ours in Emilia were already considered as if they had been taken away from Our dominion. We, accordingly, begged him in the name of the Church, that for his own Majesty's good and utility as well, to vanquish this fear. We reminded him that all must give an exact account at some time before the tribunal of Christ and undergo a most severe judgment; therefore each one must take care that he experience the effect of mercy rather than justice.
10. These are the chief matters, among others, that We replied to the Emperor of France. We judged they should be made known to you that you and the universal Catholic world recognize that We will without fear leave nothing untried in fighting bravely for the cause of religion and for preserving the civil dominion of the Roman Church and its temporal possessions and rights. Intact and inviolate these pertain to the entire Catholic world, and We look to the just cause of other Princes.
11. And supported by the divine aid of Him who said "you will have tribulation in the world, but be confident, I have overcome the world" an 16.33) and "blessed are they who suffer persecution for justice sake" (Mt 5.10), We are prepared to follow the illustrious footsteps of Our Predecessors, to emulate their example and to suffer harsh hard things and even lay down Our life, before deserting the cause of God, the Church, and justice in any way. But you can easily conjecture with what bitter sorrow We are affected, seeing the dreadful war which harasses our religion to the greatest detriment of souls and seeing the great whirlwinds which toss about the Church and this Holy See. And you can also easily understand our disquietude at the great danger for souls in these disturbed provinces, where piety, religion, faith, integrity, and morals are weakened daily especially from the pernicious writings published there.
12. Do you, therefore, defend this cause and inflame more and more daily the faithful entrusted to your care so that under your leadership they do not cease either defending the Catholic Church and this Holy See or protecting the civil dominion of the same See and the patrimony of St. Peter. Together with your faithful pray that God may command the winds and the water and come to the benefit of Us and His Church. Pray also that He may enlighten enemies to bring them back to the paths of truth, justice, and salvation.
13. And so that God may incline His ear to Our prayers and yours and those of all the faithful, We ask first the recommendation of the Virgin Mary, who is our most beloved mother and most trustworthy hope and ever present guardian of the Church. Nothing is more powerful with God than her patronage. We also implore the support of Peter, then of his co-apostle Paul, and of all the heavenly citizens who reign with Christ in heaven. We do not doubt that in the light of your outstanding religion and priestly zeal, you will obey these Our prayers and petitions. Meanwhile as a pledge of Our burning charity toward you, from Our deepest heart and with a wish for all every true happiness, We lovingly impart Our Apostolic Blessing to you yourselves and all the clergy, and faithful laity committed to each of your vigilance.
Given in Rome at St. Peter's, 19 January 1860, in the 14th year of Our pontificate.
Electronic Copyright © 1999 EWTN
Provided Courtesy of: | <urn:uuid:5d45e23b-fc83-4474-8c58-7179650737ee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ewtn.com/library/encyc/p9nullis.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961855 | 1,988 | 2 | 2 |
It has rejected criticism of the treaty, however, and has tried to win over Republicans by citing the support of some of the party's foreign policy luminaries, including former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and George Shultz and former President George W. Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley.
The administration says that Russia has strong incentives to abide by the treaty because the U.S. arsenal is technologically superior and the costs of maintaining large stockpiles is harder for Russia to bear.
The defeat of the treaty would damage Obama's efforts to repair U.S.-Russian relations and to rally international cooperation on eliminating nuclear weapons.
Administration officials say that Republicans will ultimately come around because rejecting the treaty would leave the two countries dangerously uncertain about each other's arsenals. The authority to conduct inspections expired with the old START treaty last year.
"There is a simple question to ask: What is this and what if we don't have the treaty?" said Undersecretary of State Ellen Tauscher, the State Department's top arms control official. "I think that the risk of not having this is significant." | <urn:uuid:7f51eb7e-bc38-452a-92a6-1c53f862dcfe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2010/07/23/us-russia-nuke-treaty-facing-hurdles-in-us-senate?page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97216 | 227 | 1.679688 | 2 |
During the Indiana Greener Pastures and Beyond event today in Fair Oaks, Indiana, AMP Americas was invited to join the National Clean Fleets Partnership (the Partnership). The company helps organizations with large trucking fleets move from diesel to compressed natural gas (CNG). The Partnership is run by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Clean Cities program.
The announcement was made during the celebration of the grand opening of AMP Americas’ renewable compressed natural gas, I65/I75 Corridor March 4, 2013. This corridor from Chicago, Illinois to Orlando Florida. is anchored on the Northern end by the CNG Stations in Fair Oaks IN, and Sellersburg Indiana. The partnership consists of AMP Americas, Fair Oaks Farms, Greater Indiana Clean Cities and the Indiana Office of Energy.
“As we continue to reduce emissions and fuel costs, we are committed to cleaner and greener transportation and are very proud to join this elite group that contains some of the world’s most respected businesses,” said Nathan Laurell, CEO of AMP Americas. “By the end of the year we plan to open 13 more CNG fueling stations and to lease additional CNG trucks, lessening the financial barriers for companies transitioning to CNG.” The company operates one of the largest CNG fleets in the country in partnership with Fair Oaks Farms.
According to AMP Americas, the program will enable them to further its efforts to leverage cleaner alternative fuels and technologies, to increase efficiency and cost-savings, and to reduce emissions. The Partnership offers AMP Americas access to technical information, tools, resources and opportunities for collaboration with the DOE.
In addition to expanding its CNG fueling network, the company owns renewable-CNG assets including a CNG plant that produces natural gas from cow manure through anaerobic digestion. | <urn:uuid:edd2ebb3-f128-4813-b227-a788ac132b9d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://domesticfuel.com/2013/03/05/amp-americas-joins-national-clean-fleets-partnership/ | 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 | 0.94069 | 378 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Weeds evolve to get Roundup ReadyA recent study by an agricultural economist shows that Roundup Ready cropping systems are losing profitability and increasing pesticide use, but some area farmers and agronomists disagree.
By: Beth Wischmeyer ,
A recent study by an agricultural economist shows that Roundup Ready cropping systems are losing profitability and increasing pesticide use, but some area farmers and agronomists disagree.
According to a report issued in late November by Charles Benbrook, an agricultural economist with the Organic Center, Roundup Ready systems are the major factor in the net overall increase of 318 million pounds of pesticide-active ingredient applied to U.S. farmland since 1996.
Growing weed resistance to Roundup — a weed-killing compound — has resulted in increased use in addition to over-the-top herbicides and will further increase the amount of pesticide applied to U.S. farmland, according to the report.
“When you have a Roundup Ready crop, it means that the crop has been genetically modified,” said Todd Leake, a farmer from Emerado, N.D., and spokesperson for the Dakota Resource Council. “Meaning that it’s had a foreign gene from a bacteria put into the plant. When you spray Roundup on the crop, then what happens is that the crop doesn’t die from the Roundup herbicide but the other weeds are supposed to die from it.”
Roundup Ready cropping systems began in about 2000, he added.
Richardton, N.D., farmer Greg Messer said he’s been using Roundup Ready corn, canola and alfalfa since they were available and said he hasn’t found issues with the product, nor has he had to increase pesticide use on his land.
“It’s a tool for farmers to use to be able to manage their acres,” Messer said.
Roundup Ready systems were an easy solution, Leake said.
“The idea is you put down the seed, it grows, you wait for the weeds to grow, and then you spray the Roundup herbicide on the whole field, and that kills the weeds, and then the soybeans, for example, continue to grow,” Leake said. “It was an easy herbicide system.”
Leake said the weeds are evolving, and producers are pushing the evolution of them because they are putting the “selective agent out there.”
“We’re going into the field, and we’re killing off all of the ones that are susceptible to the herbicide, leaving the ones that had a certain amount of resistance to pollinate each other,” Leake said. “The only ones that we’re not killing are the ones that we’re reproducing.”
Resistant weeds, according to the report, are forcing producers to double up on herbicide usage.
“A lot of farmers experiencing these resistant weeds, the first thing they do is increase the rate of Roundup that they put on the field,” Leake said. “It gets more expensive to use the Roundup herbicide.”
The report estimates an average of more than $200-per-acre operating costs for Roundup Ready soybean farmers, “leaving just $34 to cover land, labor, management, debt, and all other fixed costs,” leaving “little or no room for profit.”
The Roundup Ready gene is owned by Monsanto, he added.
“They own many, many companies and they franchise that out to other companies,” Leake said.
Mark Egan with the Beach Cooperative Grain Co. said the co-op sells Roundup Ready corn, but hasn’t heard of any issues from growers in the area.
The Dickinson Press and the Herald are both owned by Forum Communications Co.
Tags: local news, agricultural economist, roundup ready, charles benbrook, organic center, todd leake, emerado nd, dakota resource council, richardton nd, greg messer, mark egan, beach cooperative grain co, profitability, pesticide, farmers, agronomists, report, weed, resistance, herbicide, soybeans, gene, northland, agriculture, cropsMore from around the web | <urn:uuid:6029c8dc-ba8c-4c5d-a56e-9f7634e5a7a5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.agweek.com/event/article/id/144276/publisher_ID/40/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95202 | 899 | 2.484375 | 2 |
This 30 metre (100 ft) luxury yacht was developed by Astilleros Tarrab in 1997. Motor Yacht LADY PHOENIX is a well proportioned superyacht. The firm of naval architecture that made this yacht's design details on the yacht was Tarrab Design. The original interior design and styling is by Tarrab Design. Luxury yacht LADY PHOENIX is a interesting yacht that is able to accommodate up to 8 people on board and has a total of 4 qualified crew.
Tarrab Design was the naval architect involved in the technical nautical design work for LADY PHOENIX. Also the company Tarrab Design successfully collaborated on this undertaking. Interior designer Tarrab Design was employed for the creative internal ambience. In 1997 she was formally launched to celebration in Tigre and following sea trials and detailing was then handed over to the yacht owner. Astilleros Tarrab completed their new build motor yacht in Argentina. The hull was crafted from composite. The motor yacht main superstructure is fabricated largely using composite. With a width of 7.62 m / 25 ft LADY PHOENIX has moderate interior. She has a shallow draught of 1.92m (6.3ft).
The 16V 92TA engine installed in the motor yacht is built by DDC. LADY PHOENIX is propelled by twin screw propellers. The engine of the ship gives 1450 horse power (or 1067 kilowatts). She is fitted with 2 engines. The sum thrust for the boat is 2900 HP / 2134 KW. With respect to stabalisers she was built with Naiad.
Bestowing bedding for a maximum of 8 welcome guests sleeping aboard, the LADY PHOENIX accommodates them comfortably. Under normal conditions she requires approximately 4 capable yacht crew to maintain and sail.
The propulsion comes from two 1450 HP / 1067 kW Ddc. Model: 16V 92TA diesel. - Overall output: 2900 HP /2134 KW. - Cruise Speed: 21 nautical miles per hour. - Top Speed: 24 nautical miles per hour. - Approximate range: 2000 at a speed of 12 knots. - Fuel Capacity: 14760 L. - Potable water capacity: 2000.00. - Generators: Onan 2 times 45 kilowatts. - Stabaliser Stabality devices: Naiad. - Yacht Beam: 7.62m/25ft. - Waterline Length (LWL): 25.76m/84.5ft. - Draught Maximum: 1.92m/6.3ft.
Her deck material is predominantly a grp-teak deck.
The luxury yacht LADY PHOENIX displayed on this page is merely informational and she is not necessarily available for yacht charter or for sale, nor is she represented or marketed in anyway by CharterWorld. This web page and the superyacht information contained herein is not contractual. All yacht specifications and informations are displayed in good faith but CharterWorld does not warrant or assume any legal liability or responsibility for the current accuracy, completeness, validity, or usefulness of any superyacht information and/or images displayed. All boat information is subject to change without prior notice and may not be current. | <urn:uuid:bfea2a6d-5004-442e-8507-6da62bf1909a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.charterworld.com/index.html?sub=yacht-charter&charter=lady-phoenix-5181 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920068 | 691 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Many are significantly underfunded and the gap between what state and local governments have on hand today and what they owe could be getting bigger.
Under current accounting standards from the Governmental Accounting Standards Board — a nonprofit group that sets guidelines for how governments report their finances — public pensions use a discount rate for future benefit liabilities using an assumed rate of return on assets.
Historically, that number has been around 8 percent.
But, as returns have fallen off in uncertain economic times, 8 percent is a risky number to assume moving forward.
In June, the GASB issued new standards to improve pension accounting and financial reporting. It is saying the discount rate should be more conservative, which means governments need to save more today to pay for pensions down the road.
"It's all dependent on how much you fund the plan," said Andrea Caladie, a partner in Philadelphia-based ParenteBeard's Wilkes-Barre office. "In the last few years, governments have not funded pension plans, so liabilities could be much higher."
State and local governments normally report as a liability only the difference between the contributions they are required to make to a pension plan versus what they actually fund. The new standards will require them to disclose the net pension liability equal to the difference between the total pension liability and the value of assets socked away to pay pension benefits. | <urn:uuid:9e91acb8-ef14-4405-b7e2-1bf8b4e00054> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.centralpennbusiness.com/article/20120921/FRONTPAGE/120929946/0/California-wine-store-debuts-in-Lancaster-area/PENSION-CRISIS:-GASB-changes-pension-accounting-financial-reporting-standards | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954853 | 278 | 2.4375 | 2 |
Defenders of Wildlife
This gray wolf is part of a pack near Ketchum, Idaho, that might have been the intended targets of poison-laced meat.
Fearing that someone is trying to kill gray wolves in central Idaho, an environmental group and a sheep ranch this week put up a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of whoever laced meat with poison that instead killed one dog and sickened another.
That the poisoning happened wasn't so much a surprise. The resurgence of gray wolves across the Pacific Northwest is controversial, including this area of central Idaho known as the "sheep superhighway."
But Defenders of Wildlife and the Flat Top Ranch hope their reward will galvanize locals and showcase the value of using non-lethal tools to try to minimize wolf conflicts.
"It would be a real shame for incidents like this to undermine all our hard work," Suzanne Stone, the Defender of Wildlife's Northern Rockies representative, said in a statement announcing the reward. "We hope the community will use this as a rallying cry to continue promoting greater tolerance for all native wildlife."
John Peavey, owner of Flat Top Ranch, acknowledged that the resurgence of wolves has meant "many challenges," but he added that "we must meet them within the framework of our laws. Those responsible need to be brought to justice."
The poisonings happened in mid-August, when two dogs fell sick after eating chunks of meat while on separate hikes with their owners outside Ketchum, a town that also is home to the world-famous Sun Valley Lodge and ski resort.
One dog died a few days later, while the other recovered.
The meat was poisoned with Xylitol, an artificial sweetener used in human food but which can be lethal to animals by causing a surge in insulin and becoming toxic to its liver.
Xylitol first surfaced in connection with wolves in 2010 when anti-wolf activist Toby Bridges blogged that many hunters were packing "a healthy dose of the sweetener whenever they head out for big game."
He also warned hunters to make sure their dogs didn't get near poisoned carcasses.
Washington state completes a sharpshooter cull of a wolf pack that had been feeding on livestock. KING's Gary Chittim reports.
Stone told NBC News she didn't know of any confirmed cases of wolves being poisoned with Xylitol, but added that federal and state officials with whom she met suspected the batch eaten by the dogs was meant for wolves.
Gray wolves used to be abundant across the Northwest, but settlers a century ago nearly wiped them out.
In the 1990s, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began an effort to return them to the northern Rockies, bringing 66 wolves into Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho from Canada.
The wolves eventually went beyond the park's borders and into other parts of Wyoming and neighboring states. About 1,400 are in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, where wolves were taken off the federal endangered list due to their rising numbers.
The poisoning incident comes after several years of progress with local sheep ranchers in minimizing wolf attacks, she added.
Defenders of Wildlife
A hidden camera used to track wolves captures the alpha female of a pack near Ketchum, Idaho, in mid-August along with her pups.
Part of what's known as the Wood River Wolf Project, those non-lethal tools include:
- Using more sheepdogs during parts of the year;
- Tracking the local wolf packs with motion sensitive cameras;
- Firing starter guns or air horns to scare wolves;
- Deploying portable strobe light/alarm systems to alert herders that wolves are near;
- Electrified barriers made with small flags to keep wolves out;
- Keeping humans with bands of sheep at night.
Lava Lake Lamb
A herder with Lava Lake Lamb sets up a fence made with flags to deter gray wolves as part of the Wood River Wolf Project in Idaho.
"Our field crew has spent more than 70 nights camping with the sheep bands this summer," Stone said. "The deterrents are working very well despite the almost constant presence of wolves near sheep."
Out of more than 10,000 sheep in the area, she added, just four were lost this summer.
Those four sheep belonged to a project partner who initially wanted the wolves killed but then backed off when it was realized the pack was a new one that hadn't been tracked, Stone said.
"As a result of his support," she said, "no wolves were killed and our nonlethal deterrents kept wolves from killing more sheep since that event in early July."
This week and next, field crews will sleep with a band of sheep as it makes its way down the "sheep superhighway" and then through Ketchum on Oct. 13 for the annual Trailing of the Sheep Festival, Stone said.
"We have wolves right where the sheep are now," she told the Idaho Mountain Express. "We’ve had our field crew intercept wolves coming in to howl and bark at the dogs. So far, the deterrents have been holding."
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- Philadelphia student wearing Romney shirt told to 'get out of the class' | <urn:uuid:485a05e0-f312-4d54-93d0-0c5a1ef3a2a4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/05/14224468-gray-wolves-probably-real-target-of-poisoned-meat-that-killed-dog?pc=25&sp=25 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968686 | 1,158 | 1.929688 | 2 |
>Take logs (and ax)
You don't have any way to carry the logs or the axe! (Your hands contain a handsaw and a gray pillow.) (Your pockets contain the Poorly Drawn Fork, $5, and the Simple Key.) (Your carrying capacity is limited by damage taken.) Perhaps you should drop something?
> Examine objects in the corner.
There is a pile of wood, chopped into neat, easy-to-draw round logs. One of the logs is significantly gray-er than the rest. Perhaps it's from a different kind of tree? An axe is leaning against the firewood.
The platforms are supposed to be supported by the poles at the corners, and the wall it's up against. But you're right, it's a pretty useless, improbable scaffolding. With floating stairs.Originally Posted by Doomish | <urn:uuid:cb5a606d-59ce-44c8-8b24-45010422ba38> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mspaforums.com/showthread.php?24334-Purpose-Quest-FINISHED&p=3054222&viewfull=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947677 | 176 | 2.015625 | 2 |
From some wonderful students at Princeton:
CAMPAIGN TO REMOVE FRESHMEN FROM SIDEWALKS IN SECOND SUCCESSFUL WEEK
A group of students at Princeton University would like to eliminate the right of freshmen to walk on campus sidewalks. Stating that they would like to “preserve traditional sidewalk values” that define a sidewalk as a “pathway for sophomores, juniors, seniors, graduate students, faculty, staff, and other members of the university community,” the group, which is acting in support of a measure termed “Princeton Proposition 8,” is now entering its second successful week of demonstration.
The students emphasize that they are not “froshophobic” and that some of their best friends are freshmen, but they maintain that freshmen on the sidewalk degrade the sacred institution of sidewalks, and jeopardize the validity of upperclassmen’s own perambulation. It also makes some of them uncomfortable. They are very excited that California’s Proposition 8 has set a clear precedent for a majority to eliminate a minority group’s civil rights, and they see it as a perfect opportunity to utilize this development for their own gain.
The demonstration, which has featured signs, chants, and original music, has collected almost 500 signatures for a petition in support of Princeton Proposition 8, including those of many professors and even University President Shirley M. Tilghman. A video report of the protest produced by the University’s ‘Daily Princetonian’ has received 21,000 views on YouTube in just two days. It has also been featured on dozens of regional and national blogs including Campus Progress Action’s Pushback, DailyKos, and Andrew Sullivan’s Daily Dish. The organizers of the demonstration have also begun outreach to other universities.
The demonstration will continue at the plaza in front of Firestone Library on the Princeton campus between 9:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on Monday 11/24 and Tuesday 11/25.
The Princeton Proposition 8 campaign aims to secure the definition of Princeton University sidewalks as a means of pedestrian transit for sophomores, juniors, seniors, graduate students, faculty, staff, and other members of the university community, but supports the elimination of the right of freshmen to walk on sidewalks.
Only walking on sidewalks by sophomores, juniors, and senior students is valid or recognized at Princeton.
Contact: Christopher Simpson | <urn:uuid:f92319af-6f2e-46c3-a703-5867b97e564c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://americablog.com/2008/11/princeton-proposition-8-to-protect-traditional-sidewalk-values.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944746 | 513 | 1.546875 | 2 |
The synthesis and antitumour properties of some DNA-directed alkylating agents
Abstract (Summary)Restricted Item. Print thesis available in the University of Auckland Library or available through Inter-Library Loan. Bifunctional alkylating agents are an important class of clinically useful antitumour drugs which prevent cell replication by cross-linking DNA. However, these reactive compounds also alkylate other cellular macromolecules as well as DNA. This not only lowers the potency of the drugs, but also leads to the majority of the DNA lesions being monoadducts rather than diadducts. The disadvantages resulting from this are the high doses of drugs required in the clinic, and the mutagenic properties arising from a high ratio of monoalkylation to dialkylation. With these factors in mind a series of DNA-targeted aniline mustards were prepared and their physicochemical and biological properties, together with those of other members of the class and their corresponding untargeted counterparts were evaluated in vitro and in vivo. Two series of oxygen- and methylene- substituted aniline mustard functions were linked to the amino group of the DNA-intercalating 9-aminoacridine chromophore by a methylene chain of variable length attached at the mustard 4-position. An amide and a carbonyl-linked analogue with contrasting reactivities were also prepared. Synthesis of these compounds involved the use of a methyl ester function as a precursor for the amine needed for the coupling of the aniline mustard moiety to the acridine chromophore. Rates of hydrolysis were dependent on mustard reactivity for both series bur the attachment of 9-aminoacridine had no effect. Although targeting increases potency (up to 100-fold) over the untargeted mustards, the ratio of monoalkylation to dialkylation was not improved. A second series of compounds was synthesised where the mustard was attached to a well known regioselective chromophore (amsacrine) at either the 9-anilino or the acridine ring. Preliminary biological results showed that these compounds were generally less potent than the 9-aminoacridine series, but were more efficient DNA cross-linkers especially the 4-carboxamide analogues. A minor groove alkylating analogue (215) was also synthesised in an attempt to improve the DNA cross-linking ability. The molecule was based on the polybenzamide bisquaternary ammonium backbone, the two arms of a mustard moiety being separated and placed at meta positions on the two outer phenyl rings. Preliminary results showed a higher degree of cross-inking ability (1 in 10 alkylating events) with this compound compared with the former series. The compound alkylates adenines in the opposite strand, followed by interstrand cross-linking in the minor groove.
School Location:New Zealand
Source Type:Master's Thesis
Date of Publication:01/01/1990 | <urn:uuid:1d52eb3e-58a0-4530-a42b-26753f885cdb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.openthesis.org/documents/synthesis-antitumour-properties-some-DNA-552655.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950801 | 631 | 1.578125 | 2 |
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Site Map artifitial turf Phoenix Arizona synthetic green Chesapeake VA turf artificial grass Chula Vista California kids putting green Washington District of Columbia best grass for putting greens North Hempstead New York artificial grass surfaces Austin Texas
artifitial turf Phoenix Arizona artifitial turf Phoenix Arizona artifitial turf Phoenix Arizona artifitial turf Phoenix Arizona artifitial turf Phoenix Arizona artifitial turf Phoenix Arizona artifitial turf Phoenix Arizona artifitial turf Phoenix Arizona artifitial turf Phoenix Arizona artifitial turf Phoenix Arizona artifitial turf Phoenix Arizona artifitial turf Phoenix Arizona artifitial turf Phoenix Arizona artifitial turf Phoenix Arizona artifitial turf Phoenix Arizona artifitial turf Phoenix Arizona artifitial turf Phoenix Arizona artifitial turf Phoenix Arizona artifitial turf Phoenix Arizona | <urn:uuid:df225610-8b54-492d-9849-08da74ea866f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.organiccleanersetc.com/directories/waterlessgrass/artifitial-turf-Phoenix-Arizona.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.905631 | 1,377 | 1.53125 | 2 |
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Cardiac arrest, (also known as cardiopulmonary arrest or circulatory arrest) is the cessation of normal circulation of the blood due to failure of the heart to contract effectively. Medical personnel can refer to an unexpected cardiac arrest as a sudden cardiac arrest or SCA.
A cardiac arrest is different from (but may be caused by) a heart attack, where blood flow to the muscle of the heart is impaired.
Arrested blood circulation prevents delivery of oxygen to the body. Lack of oxygen to the brain causes loss of consciousness, which then results in abnormal or absent breathing. Brain injury is likely if cardiac arrest goes untreated for more than five minutes. For the best chance of survival and neurological recovery, immediate and decisive treatment is imperative.
Cardiac arrest is a medical emergency that, in certain situations, is potentially reversible if treated early. When unexpected cardiac arrest leads to death this is called sudden cardiac death (SCD). The treatment for cardiac arrest is cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to provide circulatory support, followed by defibrillation if a shockable rhythm is present. If a shockable rhythm is not present after CPR and other interventions, clinical death is inevitable.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
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May 23, 2013 | 4.6 / 5 (14) | 2 |
Salamanders' immune systems are key to their remarkable ability to regrow limbs, and could also underpin their ability to regenerate spinal cords, brain tissue and even parts of their hearts, scientists have ...
May 20, 2013 | 4.9 / 5 (7) | 4 | | <urn:uuid:b69166f4-9b2a-4f10-8600-8fedfddff30d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://medicalxpress.com/conditions/cardiac-arrest/sort/liverank/1w/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936174 | 1,083 | 2.78125 | 3 |
The Director of the Peter Sayclon Orphanage home in Margibi County, the Reverend Mother Martha Sayclon, is calling on the Government of Liberia and her international partners to empower Liberian youth. She said the youth of Liberia can become future leaders only if government invests in their education to make them effective and efficient in leadership. According to the Liberia News Agency, Mother Martha Sayclon made the call recently at the Kakata City Hall when she delivered the keynote address at the 2nd graduation program of the Economic Empowerment of Adolescent Girls and young women (EPAG).
The program is a three-year pilot project aimed at increasing employment and income among 2,500 young Liberian women between ages 16 and 27. It is being implemented through the Ministry of Gender and Development with funding from the Nike Foundation and the Government of Denmark under the administration of the World Bank.
The EPAG project with strong support from President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is the first of its kind under the World Bank's Global Adolescent Girls initiative with a team of service providers and consultants.
Speaking on the topic: "After Skills Training, What Next?" Mother Sayclon urged members of the graduating class not to bury the knowledge acquired, but begin to immediately utilize them for the betterment of themselves and the country.
Earlier, the Deputy Gender Minister for Planning and Administration, Andrew Tehmeh, who deputized for Minister Julia Duncan Cassel, commended the EPAG project administrators and service providers for their hard work and dedication to ensuring the overall success of the training program.
The Deputy Minister also congratulated the graduates and urged them to serve as torchbearers of the EPAG project. Over 220 adolescent girls received basic skills in business management, professional driving, and hospitality, among others. | <urn:uuid:a36d9ff2-4567-4309-87ff-382325fb6dfd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://allafrica.com/stories/201206200410.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948603 | 364 | 1.554688 | 2 |
The key historical characters whose stories are told in Tī Kōuka Whenua are given prominence in this section called Tangata Rongonui.
Te Rauparaha was the son of Werawera (Ngāti Toa) and his second wife Parekowhatu (Ngāti Raukawa). He was a short man and was often called the “Napoleon of the South” as a testament to his fighting skills and short stature.
He rose to leadership of Ngāti Toa through his aggressive defence of his people and his prowess as a leader in battle.
Te Rauparaha was the son of Werawera (Ngāti Toa) and his second wife Parekowhatu (Ngāti Raukawa). It is thought that he was born in late 1760s and was alive when Captain Cook visited New Zealand. It is believed that he was born at Kawhia or at his mother’s home of Maungatautari. He was a short man and was often called the “Napoleon of the South” as a testament to his fighting skills and short stature. His name is derived from an edible plant called rauparaha. After he was born, the chief who had killed and eaten his father, had threatened to eat him with the plant as an accompaniment. He was named Te Rauparaha in defiance of this statement.
Although not of high rank, he rose to leadership of Ngāti Toa through his aggressive defence of his people and his prowess as a leader in battle. The arrival of firearms in New Zealand from 1819 allowed those tribes with access to firearms to assert their dominance over other neighbouring tribes and old adversaries. Te Rauparaha was quick to see the advantages to be gained in using the new weapons and participated with Tamati Waka Nene (a northern chief) in the musket wars in the far north.
There was much inter-tribal warfare for dominance of Kawhia between Ngāti Toa and Waikato tribes. Te Rauparaha and his followers would eventually find themselves established at Kapiti Island, a large island off the coast of Wellington.
Te Rauparaha in Te Waipounamu
Te Rauparaha was keen to control the supply of greenstone (pounamu) and other resources to be found in Te Waipounamu (South Island). He had the advantage over the southerners because they had not yet acquired guns (muskets) and he had reason to seek revenge on them as some of their chiefs had insulted him and fought against Ngāti Toa in earlier encounters. So in 1828, he sacked the Ngāti Kurī pā at Kaikōura and Ōmihi before heading to Kaiapoi, the large Ngāi Tahu settlement near the Ashley River north of Christchurch.
A group of senior Ngāti Toa chiefs (including Te Pēhi Kupe) who accompanied Te Rauparaha entered the pā to trade and were killed. Te Rauparaha, who did not enter the pā, attacked, killing some Ngāi Tahu and then made his escape to Kapiti Island.
He was back in 1830 when he carried out an elaborate plan to get revenge for the killing of the chiefs. He persuaded Captain Stewart of the brig Elizabeth to assist him with his plan. Tamaiharanui the paramount chief of Ngāi Tahu at that time, on returning to Takapūneke (his homebase) was persuaded to board the vessel to trade and was captured and taken to Kapiti Island where he was tortured and killed. On the way to Kapiti Tamaiharanui strangled his daughter to prevent her enslavement and it is also reported that his wife Te Whe threw herself overboard, preferring death at her own hands to what awaited her at the hands of her captors.
In 1831 Te Rauparaha again besieged Kaiapoi Pā digging trenches up to the walls and setting fire to the palisades. A change of wind assisted him to breach the walls and capture this important Ngāi Tahu pā. During the following summer season in 1832, Ōnawe pā on a peninsula in Akaroa harbour was besieged by Ngāti Toa and Ngāti Awa warriors camped on nearby tidal flats before gaining access and capturing the pā. This marked the final incursion of Te Rauparaha into the Ngāi Tahu territory.
By 1833 Ngāi Tahu had acquired guns of their own and were able to resist his attempts to extend his territory in the South Island. He was nearly captured himself at Kapara-te-hau (Lake Grassmere) during the first of the expeditions to oust Ngāti Toa in 1833. During the next few years a number of expeditions took place led by fighting chiefs from further south, such as Tuhawaiki, Taiaroa, Haereroa and Makere, which brought to an end Te Rauparaha’s incursions into the south.
Te Rauparaha spent the final years of his life at Otaki and died on 27 November 1849. He was first buried near the church called Rangiatea and later re-interred on Kapiti Island.
He had a huge impact on tribal events and relationships during the years before the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. He is also remembered as the author of the haka “Ka mate” performed by the New Zealand All Black rugby team at the start of all important matches.
- Tamihana Te Rauparaha, Dictionary of New Zealand Biography
- Tau, Te Maire and Anderson, Atholl editors. Ngāi Tahu A Migration History, Bridget William Books 2008 | <urn:uuid:d788390f-75e8-4c3d-a7fc-ddb65ce01b4b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/TiKoukaWhenua/TeRauparaha/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987961 | 1,234 | 3.1875 | 3 |
As Ernesto drenched parts of southern Mexico, another tropical system looms in the Atlantic Ocean.
In the National Hurricane Centers' 5 a.m. advisory on Friday, Tropical Depression #7 was about 930 miles east of the Windward Islands with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph with higher gusts. It was moving west at 20 mph.
The tropical depression was expected to continue moving in the same direction over the next 48 hours. Some strengthening was forecast, and the system could become a tropical storm late Friday.
Meantime, NOAA updated its 2012 hurricane season forecast, raising it to 12-17 named storms, 5-8 hurricanes and 2-3 major hurricanes. | <urn:uuid:2c5ef8fc-9ad1-4d7e-a7cb-e8105a75a688> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.local10.com/weather/Tropical-Depression-7-forms-in-Atlantic/-/1717142/16043078/-/thl8kqz/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960067 | 138 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Brock Link is one of my TNT fitness trainers at Reston Sport & Health. He has a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology from Penn State, which means he studied anatomy, physiology and biomechanics. Impressive, if you ask me.
Fitness is his life. He started wrestling at five years old (family activity) and has never struggled with weight (we’ll forgive him.) He’s been a TNT trainer for seven years.
I asked him how does a trainer stay fit? Exactly the same way you do, he says: strength work, cardio and sound nutrition. He lifts weights, climbs the gym stair step machine and and jumps rope.
Oh, and he drinks a daily protein recovery shake. More on that in future posts.
Brock’s advice is pretty simple. Structure your fitness plan into your week and make it routine and non-negotiable. Do a cardio workout five days a week. Join a gym and don’t just poke around it. Get a coach or leader to challenge you. And finally, eat smaller portions five or six times a day.
It is simple, but not easy.
He’s really good at what he does which means he pushes me to challenge myself. Some days I like the external motivation—other days, not so much. But he’s always calm, consistent, and positive and he has helped me stay committed and focused on my strength training which is new for me. That’s the sign of a good trainer. | <urn:uuid:fafd245b-e501-4e5c-b113-f4170d0a2b5b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://reston.patch.com/articles/training-with-the-trainer | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968774 | 317 | 1.5625 | 2 |
PM-in-exile deplores lack of international action on Tibet
NEW DELHI |
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The head of the Tibetan government-in-exile on Tuesday accused the international community of doing little to break the deadlock over Tibet, where nearly 100 Tibetans have set themselves ablaze since 2009 to protest against Chinese rule.
Lobsang Sangay, prime minister-in-exile in Dharamsala, told a news conference in New Delhi that Tibet remains a test for the international community with Tibetans taking drastic measures to protest what he called repressive policies and no freedom of speech.
"The international community ought to act now, ought to speak against continuing occupation and repression of Tibetan people," Sangay said ahead of a four-day solidarity campaign in New Delhi on Wednesday.
China has defended its iron-fisted rule in Tibet, saying the remote region suffered from dire poverty, brutal exploitation of serfs and economic stagnation until 1950 when Communist troops "peacefully liberated" it.
China has tightened already strict controls since an upsurge in self-immolations by Tibetans over the past two years. Nearly 100 Tibetans have set themselves alight since the protests began in 2009, most of whom have died.
"We continue to appeal to (them) not to resort to such drastic matters yet it persists, which reflects the desperation and determination of Tibetan people," Sangay said.
The Harvard law scholar, who in 2011 replaced the Dalai Lama as political leader of the exiled Tibetans, said uprisings in countries like Syria have got more support from the international community despite their violent nature.
"It makes us wonder what the priority is because we have been subscribing to non-violence and democracy, and how come the support we get is comparatively less than some other movements where they have resorted to non-violent ways to pursue their goals," he said.
Sangay also said he wanted India to "do more" for the Tibetan people.
"I think Indian representatives often do and they ought to speak out as frankly as possible on the issue of Tibet,"he said.
(Reporting by Arnika Thakur; Writing by Tony Tharakan)
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- Digg this | <urn:uuid:6aa613ff-6e35-4a35-bd87-d77994c3aa34> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/01/29/india-tibet-lobsang-sangay-idINDEE90S0FL20130129?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FINtopNews+%28News+%2F+IN+%2F+Top+News%29 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964284 | 465 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Insomnia is a common problem that affects a large chunk of the population. Are you frequently wide awake during the middle of the night, and find yourself constantly watch the clock tick away? You probably suffer from a case of insomnia. This can lead to some health issues, affect your mood, and hinder your ability to be productive throughout the day. Fortunately, there are some changes you can make to your lifestyle that will make it easier to go to sleep at night.
You should understand that not every case of insomnia is the same. Some people may get their 7-8 hours of sleep and feel fatigued throughout the day. This could also be a case of insomnia. Also, there are many different caused of insomnia. For some, it could be as simple as having too much caffeine throughout the day.
In order to pinpoint your case of insomnia, you will need to think of things that could be potentially causing it. Here are a few examples of things you should think about:
- Are you feeling stressed throughout the day?
- Is your sleep environment dark and quiet?
- Are you feeling anxious or nervous?
- Are you feeling depressed?
- Are you eating or drinking coffee late in the day?
- Are you taking any medication that could be causing insomnia?
Treating insomnia is a matter of being honest with yourself and experimentation. Simple changes to your lifestyle could be the key to your treatment.
Try a Natural Sleep Aid Supplement
Many people even look to natural sleep aid supplements such as Amazon.com: Insomnia Natural SLEEP Aid Supplement (30 Fall Asleep Fast Sleep Aids): Health & Personal Care.
These supplements can help you fall into a deep sleep so that you will wake up feeling refreshed.
Things not to do before bed
Here are some good habits you should consider before going to bed:
- Don’t drink any coffee or caffeinated drinks late in the day. You should allow at least 8 hours to let the caffeine digest.
- Make up a sleep schedule and stick to it. Your biological clock plays an important role in your sleep routine
- Avoid exercising right before bed.
- Try to relax in the hours leading up to your sleep.
Another good tip is to avoid tossing and turning at night waiting to fall asleep. If you find that you are wide awake, get up and read a book or something until you are feeling tired. Also, make sure any clocks are hidden so you are not watching it and making yourself anxious.
Curing your insomnia may take some trial and error. You should implement all of these tips and re-evaluate your lifestyle. | <urn:uuid:2941c01e-ef04-4625-a770-b8627dc69dfd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nokiaplanb.com/category/health-products/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958623 | 536 | 2.28125 | 2 |
I just returned from a weekend conference all about stress in the workplace. Listening to the array of international attendees and presenters I realize that we are not alone in this issue. However, stress is a serious concern.
Personally, I call stress the “root of all evil”, since it often leads to poor coping behaviors like smoking or excessive drinking, poor diet and lack of exercise. Let’s face it, after a rough day, people don’t crave salads.
While this particular conference was looking at what employers can and should do for their employees, not every workplace effectively addresses stress. If you don’t have a workplace program, you are left to figure it out on your own. Here are some of the most basic tips I can give.
- Set Boundaries – In a time of downsizing it can seem like everyone is expected to do the work of two or three people. Of course, you can’t “pass” on all of the projects your boss has for you, but you can be clear about your available time, energy and expectations of quality. Being able to effectively communicate how additional projects justifiably means that others might have to be delayed or less than complete is essential to preventing burnout. Additionally, being smart in eliminating unnecessary tasks or streamlining tasks is important. For instance, don’t check your email every 30 minutes and PLEASE turn off the new message notifications! At the same time, if you agree to check emails on your personal time, know that you create an expectation that you can be reached at all hours. You can only do what one person can do and you have to be clear on where your boundaries lie. Taking on more than you can handle only means quality of the work and your health will suffer.
- Single-Task – We’ve all been told that effective time management is just about learning how to do more within the time we have. Therefore, we all jumped on the multi-tasking bandwagon and found ourselves clearing out emails while on conference calls, working through lunch, and working on projects while on the phone with a client. Sometimes it is important to focus on one thing at a time. To be in tune with the person you are talking to, whether that is over email, the phone or in person you have to remove all distractions. Focusing means you will often finish a task faster and with better quality. It certainly means less frayed nerves too.
- Maintain a Good Attitude/Focus on the Positive – Much of stress is about perception. If you perceive that you work in a hostile environment and everyone is out to get you, you’ll leave stressed each day. If you feel that you are in a secure environment that rewards risk-taking and recognizes a job well done, you will likely feel challenged by tasks. While these workplace cultures can be very real, our minds can look for “facts” that prove our theory. Try to look for the good. Better yet, be the example of good. I have seen employees from all types of industries have an impact on making their work fun. Attitudes are contagious – both positive and negative. Be the positive force.
- Support a Culture of Health –Building off of that concept of being a positive force, it is your responsibility to help support a culture of health. This means being the one who congratulates others’ work, not being jealous and stirring up the rumor mill. You and your coworkers are in this together. I realize it can seem like a dog-eat-dog world at times, but look to build a network of supportive coworkers. I promise this good workplace karma will come back to benefit you.
- Reflect on Successes – It may be no surprise that those who feel like they are more employable are able to find jobs faster after a layoff than those who don’t have the same confidence – regardless of skill. When we remind ourselves of our accomplishments and the challenges we have overcome, it helps us build upon that success to achieve more. You are also more likely to set and stick to those boundaries I mentioned before (see #1).
Whether your workplace offers stress management and wellness programming or not, you have the power to choose to be healthy. Just like Eleanor Roosevelt said “no one can make you feel inferior without your consent”, I believe no one can make you feel stressed without your consent. Learn to reduce and manage your own work stress for health and longevity. | <urn:uuid:394dab1f-f798-4010-ac40-c32fc4f01714> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.deliciouslywell.com/category/get-it-together/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960873 | 920 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Back in October of 2010, Brian O’Roark, Ph.D., traveled on a mission trip to Haiti with his church, the Chippewa Evangelical Free Church to build a water treatment facility along with paid Haitian workers. There they stayed with two American families living in Haiti as part of the Fellowship International Mission. This past March, O’Roark, an associate professor of economics at RMU, returned to the Haitian town of Fort-Liberté, where he worked to promote sustainable development in the earthquake-ravaged nation.
How did you first become involved in this missionary work?
It all began with the earthquake back in January 2010. That really opened people’s eyes about the problems in Haiti, and people started wondering what they could do to help. My church was working with a missionary, Matt McCormick, who was starting work down there with the Paulos Group, which tries to break the cycle of dependency in the country. Unfortunately, most Haitians rely on hand-outs from other countries. Our goal is to help the Haitian people take control of their own economic destiny; to create an environment where we are not just giving out hand-outs but rather teaching the Haitian people how to grow their own food, make their own clothes, and build their own homes.
What is traveling to Haiti like?
The first time I went we flew into Port-Au-Prince, and it was quite a shock. The airport is full of desperate people just hanging out because they know that’s where the aid comes in. The urban areas are pretty dirty, but the the interior of the country is incredibly beautiful and mountainous. This time we flew into Santiago in the Dominican Republic and then took a three-hour car ride to Haiti. Santiago is very westernized, but it gets poorer out in the countryside. At the border it’s like a scene out of “Mad Max”. There are people with automatic weapons, burned out towns, dirt roads, pits where you throw your garbage, animals wandering about…it’s a totally different world, like going to outer space.
Describe a typical day for you on these trips:
This time we’d get up around 5:30 when it was still dark out. Then we’d go running with the missionaries into town, a 4-mile round trip. By 7:15 we’d be working on a house, putting on metal roofs, basically trusses with sheet metal on top. And then we’d screw everything down with rubber washers. Around 12:30 we’d break for lunch, which usually consisted of cans of chicken, tuna pouches, fruit, etc. Then it was back to work until 6:30 or 7 p.m. when sun goes down. After that we’d go have dinner at one of the missionary’s houses. Then we’d go to bed and get ready to do it all over again the next day.
Most of our work focused on building homes for Haitian families and teaching them basic construction. It’s not your typical American home, by any stretch of the imagination. The walls are almost like a poured Styrofoam–it’s a good insulator and it won’t kill you if it collapses from an earthquake or hurricane. And everything is solar powered–the indoor plumbing, the refrigerator, etc. There are lots of sunny days in Haiti, so solar works well. Haitians don’t want big kitchens, either; they cook outside a lot. They’re moving out of tin-roof shacks, basically, so what we build them are the kind of homes they’ll actually use and take care of. What’s funny is the first thing they want is a lawn. We take it for granted here, but for them it means things won’t get dirty and dusty. A lawn keeps the house cleaner inside and prevents respiratory illnesses too.
What’s the economic outlook of Haiti?
It’s improving, but they still need a workforce who knows what to do, people who are willing to risk investment, and a political system that will support it. There’s still a lot of corruption, and most of the aid doesn’t ever get where it needs to be. Thanks to CAFTA (the Central American Free Trade Agreement) there is some incentive now for foreign countries to produce things in Haiti. There are no tariffs on shipments of goods from Haiti to the U.S. So there is hope that there will be more investment in Haiti in the near future.
What’s the most challenging part of the work?
First of all, most days it’s anywhere from 80 to 90 degrees or more during the day. On top of that, we’re working with substandard materials that are produced in Haiti or the Dominican Republic. The cinder blocks are not standard sizes, for example, so there’s a lot of improvisation in the construction process. You have to deal with warped lumber, finding screws that are the correct size, etc. The professionals working with us get especially frustrated having to spend so much time on things that would be a snap back home.
What’s the most rewarding part?
To see the progress that’s been made since we last went in 2010. To see the families who have taken ownership of their homes and learned basic grounds-keeping skills. It’s amazing seeing these people improving their lives and the lives of their children and future generations. There’s hope being brought to them as a result of what we’ve been doing there.
How can members of the RMU family help the people of Haiti?
Sending money isn’t the best solution. It doesn’t always go where it’s supposed to go, and you encourage a dependent attitude. Make sure you do your research before sending money to any organization. The best way would be to find a trip that goes to Haiti and see for yourself what goes on there. Give of your time. ~
by Valentine J. Brkich | <urn:uuid:6f496de8-6210-4ec4-a08b-a6f908c7735e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rmublog.wordpress.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963229 | 1,279 | 2.0625 | 2 |
Pancreatic Cancer and Smoking
Quitting cigarettes is not easy, but decreasing your risk of pancreatic cancer is a great reason to make this life-saving change.
Pancreatic cancer will strike one in 76 Americans in their lifetime, and it is one of the most deadly and serious types of cancer. Pancreatic cancer is the fourth-leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. It is usually diagnosed late and is therefore very difficult to treat.
Unfortunately, there aren't many ways to prevent pancreatic cancer, and its causes are largely unknown. What is known, however, is that smoking is a huge risk factor for pancreatic cancer. The risk of getting pancreatic cancer is two to three times higher among smokers. Scientists think this may be due to cancer-causing chemicals in cigarette smoke that enter the blood and damage the pancreas.
People who use smokeless tobacco are also at higher risk of pancreatic cancer. And, unfortunately people who switch to "light" cigarettes with lower tar and nicotine levels do not decrease their risk of pancreatic cancer.
Not Just Pancreatic Cancer: Smoking’s Deadly Reach
Quitting all tobacco products reduces your risk of not only pancreatic cancer, but also other health problems, such as heart disease, lung disease, and other types of cancer, including lung cancer, bladder cancer, and esophageal cancer. It will also reduce the risk of secondhand smoke exposure to those around you.
"[The] risk of all of those cancers goes down when one stops smoking. They go up if one starts smoking," says Otis W. Brawley, MD, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society. According to Dr. Brawley, within 24 hours of not smoking, your body already reacts favorably.
Kicking the Habit
Anyone who has tried to quit smoking knows that it is not easy. Quitting cigarettes and other tobacco products may be one of the hardest things you overcome in your life, the reason being that the key ingredient in cigarette tobacco, nicotine, is highly addictive.
Most people are not able to quit on their first try, so don't give up. It may take time to quit smoking, but it will be the best thing you can do to protect your health and prevent pancreatic cancer.
There are many steps you can take to help you kick the smoking habit for good. There are also a number of organizations to turn to for help. Ask your doctor to point you in the right direction or call the American Cancer Society for more information.
Overcoming Smoking Triggers
There are certain situations that may cause you to want to smoke. These are called smoking triggers. Identify what circumstances make you want to light up and take steps to avoid them. Here are some of the more common smoking triggers and suggestions to overcome them.
Stress, feeling down or blue: When you feel stressed or sad and want a cigarette to calm down or cheer up, take a walk instead or practice deep breathing exercises.
Talking on the phone, driving, playing cards, or watching TV: Instead of smoking during these activities, suck on sugar-free candy or chew gum. Try eating carrots, celery, nuts, or other healthy snacks to satisfy your oral craving.
Drinking alcohol: For many smokers, having a drink and a cigarette go hand-in-hand. This may be one of the hardest barriers to quitting. Stay away from alcohol and social settings until you have gotten your nicotine craving under control.
Finishing a meal or drinking coffee: Go for a walk after dinner, pick up a cross-word puzzle, or try up knitting or any activity that keeps your hands busy. Try sucking on sugar-free candy or jump in the shower until the craving passes. If coffee is a trigger, reach for a healthy fruit smoothie instead. By eating healthy foods, you may be less likely to want to put unhealthy smoke into your body.
Being with other smokers: Avoid being around other smokers until you have truly kicked the habit. Your friends and family will understand. Consider joining a non-smokers support group.
Taking a work break: Go for a walk, meditate, or try some relaxing deep breathing exercises when you need a break. Alternatively, don't take a break until you get your cravings under control. Your increased productivity will make you feel good.
After sex: Brush your teeth, take a shower, chew gum, cuddle, or get a glass of hot tea.
Remember That Quitting Is a Process
Sometimes you take three steps forward, then one step back. If you give in to a craving and have a cigarette, that doesn't mean that all is lost. So you had one cigarette — make that one your last one and start over. Figure out what made you give in to the urge. Was it having a glass of wine, going out to dinner, or a long drive in the car? Identify your areas of weakness and take steps next time so that you won't give in.
If you are a smoker and are concerned about your increased pancreatic cancer risk, quit smoking now, especially if you have a family history of pancreatic cancer. Turn to supportive family and friends for help. Learn and practice tricks to outsmart your smoking triggers. And when you need motivation to help you stay a non-smoker, just think of all you're doing for better health. | <urn:uuid:f0461f2e-bf9b-49c3-97fd-6d038923f1b8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.everydayhealth.com/pancreatic-cancer/smoking.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957791 | 1,110 | 2.96875 | 3 |
Meeting to tackle crime
Howick and Pakuranga Times
The public meeting at Sunnyhills Primary School Hall on February 24 at 7.30pm is an opportunity for people to find out what Neighbourhood Support does, how it works and how it improves communities.
Itís a voluntary organisation run by the community for the community, with the backing of the police, but with present levels of support there is a real risk the service could be lost.
Inspector Jason Hewett, area commander for Counties Manukau East Police, community and youth sergeant Keith Olsen and Neighbourhood Support will give short presentations at the meeting.
Issues of crime impacting on the community will be covered, as well as how a little support can go a long way to create a safer environment.
There will also be a chance to meet the new community constable for Pakuranga at the meeting, which will be chaired by city councillor Dick Quax.
A question and answer session will follow if there is enough time.
Everyone is welcome. For more information about Neighbourhood Support, visit http://www.nsupport.co.nz | <urn:uuid:34a0f9de-ca47-4abe-8e31-dc0ed4ebbfa1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ns.org.nz/index.html/News/MeetingToTackleCrime | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950981 | 235 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Ornithology hasn’t gotten much press since it was mentioned in 2000 hit, “Kids” by Kylie Minogue and Robbie Williams. Bird watching usually requires you standing in a swamp need deep in muck to see anything worthwhile. Japanese designers Nendo are making things a little bit easier by bringing the birds to you through smart design.
The design firm has created a mega birdhouse for the Momofuku Ando Center, in the forests of Komoro City, Japan. The center is devoted to promoting and increasing access to natural activities. And this is exactly what “bird-apartment” does. As the name suggests, it isn’t a simple suburban birdhouse for a single bird family with 2.6 chicks, but rather a high-density development. The house sits high in the trees of the forest and looks like a quaint Swiss cottage. The aerial access to bird-apartment leads to 78 snug nest for birds. Each nest is painted in one of many shades of off-white and look like extrusions that have been stacked on one another. Each nest has a little steeped awning to keep the rain out. But how does all this help humans? Well it has a secret room behind the nests that is accessible via a ladder and can hold one person. Spyholes along the dividing wall allow visitors to see what the birds inside are up to without the birds knowing they are being watched. This voyeuristic approach allows visitors to see a part of the birds’ lives that we are usually not privy to.
Bird-apartment goes a long way in helping the Monfku Ando Center in making nature more accessible. It works by not only putting birds on show, but also making a habitat that the birds themselves feel safe in. | <urn:uuid:f3748073-3862-4643-b17c-6d47252a7239> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tevami.com/2012/09/12/no-need-for-binoculars-bird-apartment-makes-ornithology-a-breeze/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955871 | 369 | 2.140625 | 2 |
Don’t Be A Scam Victim
Don’t want to be the victim of a scam? Then don’t wire money! Almost every scam involves your money being wired.
Thousands of dollars are stolen from Jamestown residents each year, by scammers, claiming they (or you) won a sweepstakes or inheritance. Or the scammer may have placed a classified ad, claiming he or she has something for sale or is willing to buy the item you posted. The scammer may post an ad for a work at home opportunity, like a secret shopper. The scammer may ask you to cash a check (counterfeit), keep a portion for yourself and wire the remaining back to him. The scammer may claim he is your grandson’s attorney and bail is needed to get your grandson out of jail. You met the scammer, chatting online and for you two to get together you need to wire him or her some money. In any case, who ever is trying to scam you, will eventually ask you to wire them money, that’s when you should realize this is a scam.
To catch a fish (or you a victim), you need a hook, bait and line. The hook is the phone, the computer or the classified ad. The bait is the sweepstakes, the classified ad, the bail out, or the job opportunity. The fishing line is the wire. Don’t wire money to anybody you have not physically met. Someone you met on-line, who sent a photo of themselves, is not someone you have physically met, don’t be fooled by a photo. Once your money is wired it is very difficult to track, because the scammer can basically be anywhere to receive it. Don’t be a caught fish, snap the line. | <urn:uuid:dae4e7dd-0d1d-43e3-8ae9-be2023f9b788> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jamestownnd.org/departments/public-safety/police/crime-prevention | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959735 | 375 | 2.234375 | 2 |
solar technology | analysis | markets
The U.S. International Trade Commission announced on Dec. 2 a preliminary determination that the import of Chinese-made solar cells and panels may have
harmed American solar manufacturers.
“For us, this is a resounding validation that illegal Chinese
practices have injured U.S. manufacturers and eliminated
thousands of jobs,” said Ben Santarris, a spokesman for Solar-
World USA, the Hillsboro, Ore., factory that initiated the
anti-dumping petition in October. “This is the first positive
step toward restoring sustainable module production in the
Solar World USA is the American subsidiary of the public-
ly traded Solar World AG, of Bonn, Germany. The company’s
petition is backed by an anonymous consortium of Ameri-
can factories organized as the Coalition for American Solar
Trade Commission: Chinese Module Pricing Suspect
Manufacturing (CASM), which claims 150 members representing about 11,000 workers.
“For the past 20 years we’ve had vigorous competition that reliably reduced wholesale
prices by 8 to 10 percent annually,” Santarris said. “Now a centrally planned economy has
severely distorted the rules of supply and demand.”
The U.S. Commerce Department began its own parallel investigation on Nov. 9, and may
announce as early as Jan. 12 whether trade remedies are in order. That could take the form of
import duties on Chinese-made products, possibly applied retroactively to October 2011.
Installers and developers of solar power systems are concerned that tariffs may drive prices
upward, which may slow construction of new systems.
“We do think that the threat of tariffs is problematic for the solar industry,” said Kevin
Lapidus, senior vice president for legal and governmental affairs at SunEdison and a spokesman
for the Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy, which opposes the CASM petition. “Projects
now under development were underwritten at a certain expected price for modules. Rational
economic actors won’t wait for an awkward surprise later on.”
Lapidus notes that the battle over tariffs has just begun. “This is a preliminary finding,
at a lower legal threshold of reasonable suspicion [that harm has been done]. It now goes
back to the Department of Commerce and then to a formal investigation. The final deci-
sion, which we expect in the fourth quarter of 2012, will be to a higher legal standard of
substantial evidence.” — SETH MaSIa
10 January/February 2012 SOLAR TODAY solartoday.org
When general electric announced in april that it had bought the outstanding shares of Primestar
solar, it came on the heels of ge’s acquisition of con-
verteam, a major manufacturer of power-conversion
equipment, including very large generators and invert-
ers. ge, which claims to have built 25 percent of all the
electric-generating capacity in the world, is jockeying
for the lead in renewable energy hardware.
that includes solar power. in october, ge began
renovating an existing building in aurora, colo., to
make 400 megawatts (m W) annually of cadmium tellu-
ride modules, with production beginning in 2012. the
plant will employ about 350 people locally, and ge will
add 100 to its solar staff in niskayuna, n.y.
diane merfeld, ge’s director of solar technologies,
said that the new modules will offer a conversion effi-
ciency of 14 percent (in april, Primestar had achieved
12. 8 percent at its 30-m W plant in arvada). she sug-
gested that the new modules will be larger and lighter
than cdte panels now in production — and very cost-
competitive. — SE TH MaSIa
gE Scales Up for Leading Role
in Cd Te modules
170 TWh. Add in all forms of hydroelec-
tric power (including pumped-storage
generation) and all renewable capac-
ity rose 259 percent, to 154.9 GW, with
generation up 104 percent, to
Two reports issued in November mark the progress of renewable energy sources in the United States.
The Energy Information
Administration of the U.S.
Department of Energy issued its
Electric Power Annual Report.
It showed that over the decade
ending in 2010, net summer electrical
generating capacity rose 28 percent, to
1.05 terawatt (TW), while actual domestic generation rose 11. 7 percent, to 4,128
terawatt-hours (TWh). Coal-burning
capacity rose 0.5 percent, to 316.8 gigawatts (GW), and actual generation fell 6
percent, to 1,847 TWh. Natural gas capacity rose 27 percent, to 407 GW, surpassing coal levels back in 2003. Natural gas
generation rose 64 percent, to 988 TWh.
Nuclear power capacity rose 3. 5 percent,
to 101.1 GW, and generation rose 7 percent, to 806 TWh.
Hidden in these data are
the capacity factors — the
percentage of capacity actually
used. Coal plants went from 71
percent in 2000 to 67 percent
in 2010, while natural gas went
from 31 percent to 28 percent.
Nuclear plants improved from 88 percent
to 91 percent, and nonhydro renewables
dropped from 59 percent to 36 percent as
more intermittent sources came on line
(biomass plants are a smaller part of the
equation now). Average capacity factor for
the entire grid in 2010: 45 percent, down
from 52 percent in 2000.
Meanwhile, nonhydro renewable
electric capacity rose 246 percent, to 53.9
GW, and generation rose 110 percent, to
Meanwhile, in California, the Envi-
ronment California Research and Policy
Center reported that the state’s 2006 Mil-
lion Solar Roofs Initiative (SB1), halfway
through its mandated 10-year life, passed
1 GW of installed rooftop photovoltaic
capacity, and is on pace to meet its goal of
3 GW by 2016.
Even in a weak economy, California’s
solar market has been expanding by about
40 percent annually. Even if that rate falls
to 25 percent per year, the state will achieve
the 3,000 MW goal by the end of 2016. | <urn:uuid:8a9b0f61-a91a-4dee-98a3-9c99e89c0470> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.solartoday-digital.org/solartoday/20120102?pg=10 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906335 | 1,393 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Report an inappropriate comment
Fri Jan 25 09:12:40 GMT 2013 by Markjb
I'm not saying here that antimatter necessarily falls up - but if it's observed that antimatter falls up and disintegrates (into energy) very much faster than matter then that would agree with my explanation of gravity.
Re my expianation of (some) dark matter and advanced clumping at all scales with homogeneity in the expansion, my theory in november 1994, stated that the visible cosmos should be accelerating apart, That was contrary to the general assumption of the time, but affirmed by observations of supernovae (type 1(a)) in 1998.
Of course, having a theory that predicts unexpected observations does not mean for certain that it's right. It's impossible to prove for certain that the basis of my theory (that the greater universe is infinite and eternal) is right or wrong. | <urn:uuid:d0256606-c177-4caa-9339-bcd1ec94d031> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newscientist.com/commenting/report?id=mg21729014.500-6 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947822 | 185 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Six summers ago, in the blistering drought of 2002, virtually all adult trout in Bear Creek were killed from the Evergreen Dam downstream at least as far as Idledale. The problem was a lethal combination of low flows, high temperatures and oxygen-robbing algae blooms. Although the community responded splendidly when watering restrictions were called, it was not enough to save the trout, and the EPA subsequently placed the creek on Colorado’s statewide list of “impaired streams.”
If you currently subscribe or have subscribed in the past to the Canyon Courier, then simply find your account number on your mailing label and enter it below.
Click the question mark below to see where your account ID appears on your mailing label.
If you are new to the award winning Canyon Courier and wish to get a subscription or simply gain access to our online content then please enter your ZIP code below and continue to setup your account. | <urn:uuid:e05aa69f-29c2-4fd0-9720-3f3fb2e5ecf0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.canyoncourier.com/content/plea-water-conservation?quicktabs_2=0&mini=calendar-date%2F2013-01 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945756 | 190 | 2.0625 | 2 |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MONDAY, NOV. 2, 2009
Secretary Locke, Census Bureau Launch National 'Census in Schools' Initiative to Improve the 2010 Count
Public Information Office
e-mail: <Jennifer Smits>
BALTIMORE — With the 2010 Census less than five months away, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke and Census Bureau Director Robert M. Groves today visited a Baltimore high school to help launch a new initiative to help local school districts educate young people about the U.S. Constitution and the importance of the census.
"We are thrilled to launch the Census in Schools program," Locke said at Digital Harbor High School in Baltimore. "The census is a vital part of our democracy and children have historically been undercounted. When local schools decide to include census ideas in their curriculum, kids will learn about the important role the census has played throughout American history and increase their awareness of the upcoming 2010 Census."
Scholastic Inc. — a global children's publishing, education and media company — has worked with the Census Bureau to develop the standards-specific supplementary education materials, which are being provided to all 118,000 schools nationwide. It is expected that schools will decide on their own whether to include the material as part of their standard curriculum.
The Census in Schools materials are available free online at <www.census.gov/schools> for educators, students, parents, home-schoolers and the public. Teachers can use the lesson plans — as they are or adapted as needed — to teach a host of topics including mapping, math concepts, data literacy and civics.
For students who come from homes where English may be a second language or where there's a low level of information about the decennial count, the Census in Schools program represents an opportunity for students to teach their parents about the importance of participating in this national, civic exercise and the central role it plays in the annual allocation of more than $400 billion of government funding.
"The Census in Schools program offers creative ways for students of all ages to think about their community and how this important constitutional responsibility can impact it," Groves said. "Kids cannot vote but the census offers a real way they can actively participate in our democracy. We hope schools will find some useful ideas to supplement their regular curricula."
Available resources online include:
- Lessons Plans: Materials will feature skill-building activities in map literacy, graphing, reading and civic responsibility.
- Teaching Ideas: Provides ways teachers can incorporate census information into the classroom.
- Facts for Features: A compilation of facts about special days, including anniversaries and observances such as Women's History Month, Cinco de Mayo, Back to School and more.
- Broadcast, Photo and Radio Services: Easy-to-access research opportunities include photos and videos.
- Quick Facts: Quick, easy access to facts for students and teachers to learn about people, business and geography for the nation or states, counties or large cities.
- Maps: Teachers can print and post maps in their classroom enabling students to closely study real-world census data and graphically see the demographics and population distribution of the United States.
Home schools can access the same materials online at <www.census.gov/schools>.
For more information about the Census in Schools program or to learn about how to participate, visit <www.census.gov/schools>. | <urn:uuid:18a18e34-16de-449a-ae27-ede6dad93d2f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.census.gov/2010census/news/releases/census-in-schools/census-in-schools-national-launch.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943195 | 706 | 3 | 3 |
Want to remind yourself or a friend about this program? Fill out this simple form and klru will email you a reminder on the day that it will air.
The Ugly Duckling: Becoming A Swan
series: Super Why!
air date: 3/14/13 9:00 AM
Pig is too big for his bed and his sneakers are pinching his feet - what is going on? The superhero readers zoom into the story of The Ugly Duckling: Becoming a Swan, and meet a little guy who is experiencing growing pains of his own. Super Why and his friends help Duckling accept himself as he is while Pig learns an important lesson about the benefits of getting bigger. Educational Objectives: To learn about getting bigger. Young viewers will build the alphabet and identify the letters B, I, G, N, E, S, and T. They'll also practice the magic of spelling and use the power to read to change the story.
WARNING: Email reminders for this program have already been sent out. Your reminder may not reach the intended address in time for this program's airing.
Back to TV Schedule | <urn:uuid:0430b01f-ba58-4958-bc86-3ce2b98811df> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.klru.org/schedule/email-reminder/?id=209786&airtime=9:00%20AM&airdate=3/14/13&channel=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956638 | 234 | 2.140625 | 2 |
Readers expound on the pro and cons of agile development
GCN’s Reality Check columnist Michael Daconta created a bit of a stir this week with his column, “6 IT trends government IT managers should be wary of.” The majority of comments posted to GCN concerned No. 3 on Daconta’s list:
“3. Agile development is a programmer’s fantasy and a manager’s nightmare. In my more than 20 years of software development experience, I have never met a government program manager who is available on a daily or even weekly basis to help design an application on the fly. Extreme iteration and pair programming are almost exclusively programmer perks and not in the best interests of government IT. Please don’t build the next space shuttle that way.”
Agile development is a term coined in 2001 by a group of 17 developers in the Agile Manifesto. The group defined the approach in the 12 “Principles of the Agile Manifesto,” among them: “Simplicity -- the art of maximizing the amount of work not done -- is essential.”
A hard-and-fast definition isn’t so simple, however. According to a definition on the Agile Modeling Web site, “Many people will correctly say that agile software development conforms to the values and principles of the Agile Manifesto, and those sites are clearly great resources. But, if you're looking for a 'sound bite' definition of agile software development, that's a little harder to come by.”
TechTarget’s definition includes: “Agile software development focuses on keeping code simple, testing often and delivering functional bits of the application as soon as they're ready.”
And the site Loosely Coupled explains: “In contrast to traditional software development methods, agile developers liaise continuously with business clients, aiming to deliver working software as frequently as every two weeks during a project, and welcome changes to the requirement in response to evolving business needs.
Definitions aside, readers had their own ideas about the value of agile development.
One veteran programmer wrote: “This is a new buzzword for an old concept. We called it ‘Rapid Prototyping,’ and that was a buzzword, too. The idea is that, unlike building a bridge, software engineering acknowledges its use in a changing environment. The idea is to incorporate cyclic development with a pace comparable to the aggregate of change in the particular application area. Engineers constantly bemoan ‘requirements slip’ and the idea that the world won't freeze while they take their time building a ‘perfect’ application. By the time that happens, the world has moved on. Requirements have to reflect that fact just as they need to reflect the constraints of the technology and the needs of the user. AND, BTW -- none of that is static, so your meta-process needs to allow for constant drift and adjustment as you build your system. The alternative is stasis, and trust me, you wouldn't like it. ...”
Another wrote: “Agile Development is just a name for the test-driven development model and that type of approach is the current standard, not a programmers dream. Maybe your team is not as advanced and into development. You may have consultants cook your sausage for you, but those developers that are being contracted to do your dirty work are using Agile Development, and if you brought it into your shop, you might save some money.”
One reader brought up a potential flaw with agile development: “If I may continue the Agile thread, there is one significant problem with this kind of development: it leaves little documentation. The Agile Manifesto puts software delivery first. Documentation and management are considered hindrances. I have worked with some of the earlier buzzwords, too. There are good points to all, but they have mostly fallen by the way-side. Agile will go too in the government sector when many agencies fail the new FISCAM audits. This new standard for security audits almost forbids some Agile practices and requires standard SDLC and governance. Its a big document but worth a read.”
Wrote another: “Developers don't bemoan when the project management is able to run a nice fence around the requirements and only simple and quick and easy inclusions can be made, that maybe where most projects have problems. You must wrap up the project and move to production when requirements have been met and maybe one or two short follow up releases to plug up the holes. Thats it, no cyclical or enhancements unless there is a justified ROI (Get value from the App). There must be a good working relationship between developers and management and the less chiefs, the better.”
This reader defended the approach: “Obviously Mike is not from Silicon Valley these days. Cisco now has a six-week development cycle for many products. BTW, if you recall, the traditional way also lead to a very expensive spacecraft hurling into a planet at high speed instead of landing on it due to a metric conversion error. May be the wisdom of the crowds approach would have prevented this.”
And finally, one reader addressed the entire column’s look at current trends: “Superb! Finally a GCN contributor that sees past the fanatic hype and gets to the objective facts of the mission of the gov and what is required to support it. I sincerely appreciated the comparison between the government and a Web start up. The startup can afford to fail; the government cannot.”
Posted by Kevin McCaney on Aug 14, 2009 at 7:05 PM | <urn:uuid:c5eadb10-84aa-4418-bb16-b67b7ea5722e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gcn.com/blogs/gcn-tech-blog/2009/08/reader-comments-agile-development.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95361 | 1,186 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Farmall Cub Forum
Moderator: Team Cub
2 posts • Page 1 of 1
Many of the radiators I determined to have caused overheating had accumulated huge amounts of debris and field dust turned to dried mud due to areas of damaged cooling fins on the fan side of the radiator.
The cooling fins soldered to the tubes dissipate heat just like the cooling fins on a small engine requiring them to be clean and have airflow along them to be efficient.
When these fan-side fins are bent over, not only is airflow reduced but they also trap debris and dust which fill the core from the inside out, further impeding airflow through the core.
Remember the dirt that collects in the air cleaner cup was also drawn from the same dust cloud inhaled by the fan, whether it passed through or became lodged depends on cooling fin condition.
Damage to the fan side of the radiator is most often caused while changing belts. Before performing mechanical work near the radiator, cut a piece of cardboard to cover the core to ensure knuckles, belts or wrenches don't flatten the fragile fins.
If fins are found to be damaged, obtain a fin straightening tool or other suitable device to correct the misaligned fins. With time and patience, you can transform flattened fins to near original alignment and spacing. The straightening tool does a nice job but you must start the straightening process one fin at a time before the tool will dig in.
If you use compressed air, it is better directed from the fan side pushing the crud out the way it went in. Unless you are positive the cooling fins are straight on the inside, avoid air or water from the front as the debris has no where to go and will only pack tighter in the damaged areas further reducing radiator efficiency.
Sometimes the simplest causes of overheating are overlooked and not addressed because they are not in plain sight.
"HAVE ALL YOUR DELIVERIES MADE BY UNION DRIVERS"
LAZY UNION DRIVER
GOOD READ-----WELL WRITTEN
I MIGHT SAY I HAVE MADE A COPPER TUBE WITH A .060"" HOLE IN IT TO PUT WATER INTO EACH FIN ( +/- )
WORKS GOOD-----I USE A LOLLY POP STICK TO STRAIGHTEN OUT FIN'S-----BUT YOUR WAY IS BETTER------
2 posts • Page 1 of 1
Who is online | <urn:uuid:931b92f0-ad54-407b-8f47-4586e1e14686> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.farmallcub.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=74479 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918076 | 498 | 1.867188 | 2 |
Celebratory gunfire filled Mogadishu on a cool evening, on September 10, 2012, as citizens cheered the defeat of the corrupt leaderships of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the election of a new leader for the country.
The objective of this essay is to assess whether this change of leadership will usher in a new dawn for an exhausted and humiliated people or if it will reproduce the misery of the past 30 years. Many of those rejoicing the change of leadership might wonder why the question mark in the title of the article.
There are three reasons for the guarded optimism of the author. First, the process which produced the change was deeply and thoroughly corrupt and as such one might conjecture if such a mechanism can produce a genuine break with the past. Second, one wonders if the UN and the international community (IC) that steered the transition have the decency to change their attitude and genuinely assist the new leadership serve the Somali people. Finally, a critical concern is whether the new Somali team will break with the sectarian ways of building a government and reintroduce what Somalia's most distinguished democratic Prime Minister called "Karti iyo hufnaan" (governance based on integrity and competence).
The process of change
The final stages of Somalia's political transition began last year after the TFG regime failed to live up to its obligation of preparing the country for democratic transition. The UN, AU and Western members of the IC took the matter in to their hands and decided to force the process of change. British Prime Minister David Cameron was most emphatic in articulating that the transition will end as planned in August 2012.
Such a categorical deadline pleased the Somali people, but thoughtful Somalis were troubled by the PM's endorsement of the ongoing corrupt process being used to induce a regime change. Many Somalis saw the British intervention as a thinly veiled attempt to subvert the forthcoming Istanbul Conference organised by Turkey to help Somalis help themselves.
All along, the UN Special Representative (SR) remained the principal actor guiding the transition process and was emboldened by the new rhetoric from the IC. He ran with the corrupt practice and allied himself with the TFG leadership who did everything conceivable to gerrymander the process in their favour. In one instance, he was confronted by the three major TFG leaders in Galkayo who forced him to agree to the so-called Galkayo Agreement.
The author learned this from a team member of the SR who had foreseen this coming as the latter was ill-prepared for the confrontation. As a result, the SR succumbed to the demand.
Inside Story - The promise of Somali elections
The last three steps of the transitional process involved the selection of "traditional Elders" (TE), the nomination of members of parliament, and the election of a new president. Selecting 135 "traditional elders" (TE) anchored the rest of the process, since this group nominated members of parliament. Once summoned, the TE were sequestered in an old military camp where the three senior leaders had virtual monopoly in accessing the TEs and consequently were well positioned to influence this process although others contested their dominance.
It appeared at the time that the most dominant figure among the three leaders was the former speaker of parliament who supposedly controlled nearly a third of the elders from his genealogical group. However, all the top three leaders were able to ensure a majority of those selected "TEs" were amenable to their respective agendas. Soon it became apparent that the TEs were willing to receive substantial bribes from the three leaders as well as those eager to be appointed to parliament. The purpose of these "gifts" was to help the TEs appoint the "right" MPs.
Once the selection of MPs began, vast sums of money began to change hands. Individuals who were eager to be appointed as MPs paid money, while several of the presidential candidates who coveted MPs' support paid up to $20,000 per MP seat in order to replace those appointed with their supporters. Such a scheme produced a parliament vastly populated by members whose votes were mortgaged. In one case, a presidential candidate was able to buy 10 MP slots for his supporters.
Once parliamentarians were appointed, the three TFG leaders who had their eyes on becoming president of Somalia jostled to have undue influence on the process.
Given the tribal formula that governs Somalia's current political dispensation, each of the three presidential candidates strove to have an MP from the opposing camp forced into the speakership.
The consequence of this affair was that whoever was elected to that post would automatically disqualify any member of his kin group from running for president. The TFG president and PM successfully seduced someone from the former speaker's group to run for speaker and as a result knocked off Sharif Sh Aden from being a contender for the presidency. The former speaker was livid, but after two interventions from the Kenyan government and business friends from UAE decided to throw his lot with his supposed arch-enemy, Sharif Sh Ahmed.
The irony in the entire affair is that neither the former Speaker nor the TFG President and Prime Minister considered the position of Speaker to be worthy of their dignity signalling their contempt for the idea of institution building in a country that has no functioning national organs. Thus, they did not believe parliament to be the most vital institution of the country’s post-transition establishment.
The mad rush towards the presidency began once the speaker was elected and everyone assumed that the two principal contenders for the office were the TFG leader, Sharif Sh Ahmed and the PM, Abdiweli Gaas. Everyone assumed these two were the candidates to beat since they had stashed away substantial amounts of public money to purchase votes. The rest of the contenders were a mixed group since some had significant cash accounts (some of the money came from overseas) to use for the same purpose, while others loathed the market for MP votes. This foul market for votes operated in the open and under the gaze of the SR and the IC.
|The new president comes from civil society and
has been deeply involved in education [AFP]
The final act of gerrymandering took place just a couple of hours before parliament was to vote for president. Sharif Ahmed and his allies forced parliament to vote on two dozen candidates for parliament who were originally barred from the assembly for being warlords or for engaging in "corruption". The new speaker of parliament, connived with Sharif Ahmed, and compelled Parliament to vote on the issue through a show of hands rather than the appropriate secret ballot. Advocates for the warlords won by a margin of 10 votes while nearly a third of MPs were too frightened to vote and therefore abstained from the vote.
The warlords were then seated in parliament to take part in the deliberations. The sordid wheeling and dealing went on right to the last minute. Finally, voting began after a delay of six hours. Four of those candidates who paid handsomely for the votes ended as the top vote getters in the first round of balloting.
Sharif, the TFG president, marginally led this count. It appears there was a general agreement among the opposition candidates to support anyone among them who garnered the most votes in the first round, and immediately after the first ballot, the TFG PM took to the podium and openly urged all to support the alternative candidate. The third and fourth ranked candidates withdrew from the competition. Nearly 90 per cent of those who supported the opposition in the first round switched their votes in the final round to Hassan Sheikh who overwhelmingly won the presidency.
The challenge and the promise
Most Somalis applaud the change of leadership and are eager for the new president to succeed.
There appears to be a popular sentiment that the new man must break the prevailing corrupt and tribalistic political order for reform to have any chance of success.
The critical question is whether the fraudulent and illegitimate process that accidently propelled a decent man to the top post could be unshackled to spawn a new era. A clear manifestation of the depth of the sectarian political disease is the fact that three of the top four candidates in the second round of the presidential vote came from a relatively small genealogical group that populates parts of the old capital.
Many Somalis wonder how could this be and some conjecture that such domination of the process by a small segment of the population is because the cosmopolitan old capital has lost its national lustre and has become an insular city. Others add that because of this insularity candidates from other communities do not have the political and economic support base in Mogadishu and consequently are significantly disadvantaged.
Opening up the economic and political landscape of Mogadishu for all Somalis is essential if the city is going to reclaim its position as the legitimate political center of the nation.
Since the new president comes from civil society and given that he has been deeply involved in education for the last two decades many people feel he could potentially destabilise the faithless political order and induce a refreshing civic epoch. They wonder whether he and those around him have the courage to help the country step out of the quagmire.
"If the new team fails to measure up to the challenge, history and the Somali people will judge them harshly."
The first act that will signal whether the president is embarking on a civic or sectarian journey will be the appointment of the new government. Another indicator of reform will be how the new man and his team relate to the UN and the IC. This relationship will demonstrate if Somali leaders' subservience to the UN, the IC and regional powers remains or whether a sovereign nation re-emerges.
Somalis are holding their breath and praying for a bold, sensible and strategic political programme that can inspire the people and translate their goodwill into productive assets for the nation. If the new man is able to articulate such an agenda and act on it, then that will give the population an opportunity to turn this development into a wonderful miracle by demolishing the system that kept Somalis in a political cage for over two decades. This is a fleeting chance that must be seized swiftly.
If the new team fails to measure up to the challenge, history and the Somali people will judge them harshly. Let us hope that the new President has the courage and the wisdom to act faithfully!
Abdi Isamil Samatar is a professor of geography at the University of Minnesota and a research fellow at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. He is a member of the Somali political party Hiil Qaran.
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy. | <urn:uuid:6f79c2df-7528-4612-92e9-062881ca7820> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/09/201291612255832176.html?utm_content=automate&utm_campaign=Trial6&utm_source=NewSocialFlow&utm_term=plustweets&utm_medium=MasterAccount | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975198 | 2,168 | 1.609375 | 2 |
WASHINGTON -- Despite greater environmental awareness, growing demand for resources is threatening the world's environmental health more than ever, according to a United Nations-sponsored report that said humans eventually will pay the price.
The broad decline of the world's ecosystems -- the interaction of organisms with their physical environment -- must be reversed or there ''could be devastating implications'' for human development, the study said.
''For too long in both rich and poor nations, development priorities have focused on how much humanity can take from our ecosystems, with little attention to the impact of our actions,'' concludes the report released Sunday by the World Resources Institute, a private environmental think tank.
The report reflects the findings of 197 scientists.
The preliminary findings, based on a two-year study, are to be presented in detail at a meeting in September of the U.N. General Assembly. It will be key in deciding whether the United Nations will direct a broader study on the state of the world's environmental well-being, similar to an examination of climate change underway since the early 1990s.
The study was sponsored by the U.N. Development Programme, the U.N. Environmental Programme and the World Bank. It assessed the current health of agriculture, coastal areas, forests, fresh water environments and grasslands.
Brainerd Dispatch ©2013. All Rights Reserved. | <urn:uuid:12f6acc1-c10c-46c1-963f-73f433233f4a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://brainerddispatch.com/stories/041700/nne_0417000017.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935585 | 271 | 3.046875 | 3 |
The right greenery ensures a holly, jolly holiday
Published: Sunday, December 9, 2012 at 4:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, December 7, 2012 at 2:25 p.m.
Decorating the house with fresh greenery for the holidays has been a tradition in the South since Colonial days.
There are lots of fresh greens you can bring inside to decorate your home for the season. Branches of holly are one of the most used yuletide decorations, with their shiny dark green leaves and bright red berries. Why not have a holly bush in the garden that can provide bright red berries?
Most hollies prefer well-drained soil that is rich in organic material. You often see hollies growing naturally in the damp, shady places at the edge of the woods. They also grow in the sun, and for the best berry production, some sun is needed.
There are more than 400 species of hollies, and these can be quite diverse. They vary in size, from very small to quite large. They also vary in leaf shapes.
Most hollies are evergreen, but some are deciduous. Some have an abundance of berries, and some have leaves that look like they are polished because of their sheen.
If you're considering planting a holly, the first rule is to know how large it will be in 10 to 15 years. Too often, people plant a tree or shrub without researching this, and the tree outgrows its spot.
Hollies can be very versatile. They can be used as a single specimen or in a group for a focal point or to frame your house. They make excellent privacy screens and require very little care.
As for the ones that are wonderful in your home for decorating, I will mention a few hollies that are favorites of some of my flower-arranging friends.
Sarah Todd says her favorite is the native American holly. She likes the slight yellow tint of the leaves and says they look great in arrangements of mixed greens. She seems to always have them in her foyer. She also says the native holly reminds her of Christmas and is traditional.
Libbo Wise thinks everyone should have a winterberry holly in their gardens. She loves the profusion of berries on each branch and declares that they add a special touch to any arrangement.
John Burnett of Roebuck Garden Center says liberty, red robin and Nellie Stevens are three heavy berry producers that he chooses for arrangements. Liberty happens to have darker leaves than most other hollies; if you're looking for dark green foliage, take a look at it.
Jane Dempsey prefers old-timey Burford. She says it's easy to grow and easy to find.
Nellie Stevens holly, a cross between English and Chinese holly, is popular and faster-growing than some others. It makes a great specimen tree and is used a lot in our area because it's pest- and disease-resistant. Its lovely pyramid shape makes it a favorite of landscape designers.
Mary Nell is also very popular, and from this holly, the red holly series was developed by the Tom Dodd Nursery and others. The red series consists of oakleaf, red robin, patriot and cardinal. All of these are wonderful plants to have in your garden.
If you're looking for smaller-leaf hollies, Fosteri 2 is a good choice. It tends to grow straight and tall, usually with a single trunk. Savannah hollies are pretty, but they often put up multi-stems that usually separate with age or break with ice.
Winterberry holly is deciduous, making the berries on the bare branches really stand out. I planted mine near a drain pipe, and it gets plenty of moisture.
Some hollies need a male pollinator, and winterberry is one of them. My male pollinator died, and I still had berries. I'm convinced that some of our native hollies or other hollies I have planted are the reason mine still produces fruit.
I try hard to prune my bushes or trees to a single main trunk. Trees with a single trunk are stronger and do not break as easily with age or ice. The tree might look a little unbalanced when first pruned, but it will fill out in no time, and your tree will live longer.
Pruning in the winter months is best, especially if I'm doing hard pruning. Pruning helps keep hollies healthy and gives them a neat appearance. It's nice to prune the bushes during the holidays and share the greenery with your church, neighbors or friends.
Reach Betty Montgomery, a master gardener, at firstname.lastname@example.org or 585-9213.
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged. | <urn:uuid:02f5fb58-4800-4bd5-ac04-376fec708e7f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/HT/20121209/NEWS/121209843/1189/placead | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967743 | 1,042 | 2.375 | 2 |
The Trans Characters That Changed TV and Film
BY Matt Kane of GLAAD
November 19 2012 1:30 PM ET
Chaz Bono’s appearance on Dancing With the Stars last year turned out to be a tremendous step forward in raising awareness of the transgender community, and it highlights the fact that much of the public first learns about transgender people through popular culture. Though those representations have often been very problematic, there are also many films and television shows that deserve recognition for complex and truthful depictions of transgender characters.
These are by no means the only ones, but here are a handful of some of the most memorable characters we at GLAAD have seen over the years that helped change the way audiences viewed the transgender community.
The World According to Garp (1982)
Based on the celebrated novel by John Irving, the film adaptation costarred John Lithgow as transgender former football player Roberta Muldoon, who lives in a home for abused women run by the protagonist’s mother. Roberta is considered by many to be one of the first sympathetic transgender characters in a film made for a mass audience.
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- Women Lena Dunham Is NOT Amused By Lesbian Porn Parody of Girls 2:54 PM | <urn:uuid:61ed03c1-7e6e-482a-8894-34f6809ea813> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/2012/11/19/trans-characters-changed-tv-and-film | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.905485 | 384 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Tiny Israel a space power, conference shows
TEL AVIV — Israel may be a tiny nation but it has a lot to offer the international space field.
That was the main message to come out of the eighth annual Ilan Ramon Space Conference in Herzliya at the end of January, which drew a record 14 heads of space agencies as well as experts from around the world, including NASA and the European Space Agency.
“Israel belongs to an exclusive club of about 10 countries in the world that have all capabilities in space – producing satellites, launching them and communicating with them,” Daniel Hershkowitz, Israel’s minister of science and technology, told The CJN. “We are small, but Israel is a power in space research.”
Hershkowitz said Israel’s importance in the field was highlighted at the conference, where participants included current NASA administrator Charles Bolden, the heads of space agencies in France, Brazil and Italy, deputy heads of agencies from Canada and Russia, a senior representative from China, and representatives from several top companies.
Israel’s space industry specializes in specific areas, including miniaturization and communication technologies.
And though the Israel Space Agency’s budget is all but insignificant compared to that of NASA, it is a sought-after collaboration partner.
“Israel is one of the anchors of co-operation with NASA, along with several other countries. We will consider expansion of co-operation on other applications in space exploration and development of integrated technologies” Bolden told the conference.
“The entrepreneurial spirit of the Israeli people is so overwhelmingly strong,” former NASA administrator Sean O’Keefe told the Media Line Mideast news service. “You have honed the idea of using whatever you have to respond to the situation.”
The meeting in Israel also recalled the 10th anniversary of the Columbia shuttle disaster, in which Israel’s first astronaut, Ilan Ramon, was killed.
“This conference commemorates the amazing life of Ilan Ramon by fostering co-operation among nations,” Bolden told the attendees. “The word ‘shalom’ is not simply ‘peace,’ but wholeness and completeness. Ilan and the whole crew brought us wholeness, even though they are no longer here. It’s up to all of us to build on their legacy.”
And though the schedule had many workshops on the latest developments in the field, space agency heads and astronauts took time to meet with the next generation of space explorers.
Bolden attended the opening of Israel’s new educational Moona Science, Environment and Space Center in Sakhnin, which is being dubbed as a new opportunity to further Arab-Jewish coexistence.
“A space shuttle successfully connects between 14 astronauts from around the world, no matter what culture, religion, race, gender or nationality they are,” Bolden told students at the opening of the centre. “They all connect, which means that we can also do that on the ground, and in this way, you can act and succeed.”
Bolden and U.S. astronaut Randy Bresnik also judged an exhibition of solar system models built by Jerusalem-area high school students.
“Israel has a strong human resource. But human resource is not something you find at age 25. It’s something you invest in from birth. Exposing children at an early age to the magic of science is extremely important,” Hershkowitz told The CJN.
Space IL, a non-profit organization established by a multidisciplinary team of Israeli space enthusiasts to compete for the $30-million Google Lunar X Prize, was also at the conference. Google’s challenge calls for a team to successfully launch, fly and land a robotic spacecraft on the Moon. Yariv Bash, a co-founder of the Israeli team, said it was important that NASA leaders took time to talk to the school children.
“They are the future of Israel,” he said. “Space IL is aimed at the young generation. We are trying to ignite the imagination of the country’s young generation and push ingenuity past its limits. We want to stimulate the young to take an interest in space exploration.”
Bolden said at the conference he is sure Israel will eventually produce another astronaut.
The Science and Technology Ministry put out a statement that said it is looking seriously into the option of training another Israeli to become an astronaut in the tradition of the late Col. Ilan Ramon. The Israel Space Agency is making informal contacts with international space authorities on the matter. Although NASA has halted the dispatching of manned space shuttles into space, it may be that an Israeli trained by NASA could be sent to work at the International Space Station in a few years, the ministry said. | <urn:uuid:0b4554ab-a3a4-491e-a055-6921110a7550> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cjnews.com/node/95587?q=node/101758 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951998 | 1,026 | 2.140625 | 2 |
Why We Muslims Are Angry
You want to know why Muslims are so offended by the caricature of the Prophet? It boils down to respect--a lack of it.
The reaction to the Danish caricature of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) can be described as nothing short of mind-boggling. Angry protests sparked across the Muslim world: Flags were burned, guns were fired in the air, people were threatened and even beaten, products were boycotted, and ambassadors were recalled. All this over a bunch of cartoons.
Yet, why was this so? What was it about these caricatures that infuriated many Muslims worldwide so much that they would torch a Danish embassy and bring sales of Danish cheese to a halt in the Middle East?
I think it’s more than--as many media outlets are reporting--the Islamic tradition that forbids the caricature of God or any of the prophets. Of course any image made of God or His prophets will invoke some Muslim protest. But it is the grossly negative caricature in the Danish cartoons that has sparked the intensity of this furor.
The cartoons depict the Prophet Muhammad to be a blood-thirsty brigand, a knife-wielding Bedouin, an inhuman terrorist. What was particularly bothersome to me was the cartoon that showed the Prophet telling suicide bombers at the gates of heaven: "Stop! Stop! We have run out of virgins!"
These depictions are so offensive because the Prophet holds such a special place in the hearts of every Muslim on earth. We believe he was the Messenger of God and the seal of the prophets. Islam tells us he was visited by the Angel Gabriel, that he ascended to heaven and spoke to God, and that he transmitted the very word of God to His servants on earth.
The Prophet suffered so much pain and torment just to give the message of Islam to the world, a message that will save me on earth and in the hereafter. So I love and revere the Prophet, and to see him maligned and attacked in such an insensitive and repulsive way causes a pain in my heart that I simply cannot bear.
These caricatures of the Prophet is akin to publishing a cartoon of Jesus Christ as a Catholic priest being dragged away in handcuffs for sexually abusing a young boy. Christ is wholly innocent of the crimes committed by a minority of Catholic priests against young boys. If such a cartoon were to ever be published, I would be shocked, angered, and deeply offended.
The same goes for the Prophet Muhammad. He has nothing to do with the terrorist monsters who kill in the name of Islam. It is completely inappropriate to equate him with them. I would never attack the character of any of God's Prophets. These men are His representatives to humanity and deserve nothing short of respect, honor, and reverence. In my mind, to attack their character is to attack God Himself.
But the Muslim reaction went way too far.
Read more on page 2 >> | <urn:uuid:f2080cba-03ab-4ce4-84fd-e9bf3aba82d2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Islam/2006/02/Why-We-Muslims-Are-Angry.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969417 | 602 | 2.21875 | 2 |
Finicky mating behavior appears to be the driving force behind the speedy speciation of the Laupala cricket, the scientists wrote in the Jan. 27 issue of Nature magazine.
Females in the Laupala genus detect tiny differences in the pulse rates of male courtship songs, which differ from one Laupala species to the next. They refuse to mate with males of other species, thus promoting the formation of new species.
The scientists say their findings shed light on the role of individual choices in the evolution of species and the growth of biodiversity.
"Animals with nervous systems and brains have preferences and can make choices," says Tamra Mendelson, an evolutionary biologist at Lehigh. "Changes in these preferences and choices appear to drive speciation.
"That raises the question: Can something seemingly so individual as a choice have macro-evolutionary consequences in terms of increasing biodiversity? If so, this affects how life on the planet looks. The more species you have, the more complex the ecology is going to be."
In down-to-earth terms:
"What turns a female cricket on? Why does she prefer one pulse rate over another? Whatever the reason, it's very important that she exercise this preference in order to keep the species distinct."
Mendelson spent three and one-half years studying the Laupala cricket with Kerry Shaw, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Maryland.
The thumbnail-sized Laupala spawns new species at the rate of 4.17 every 1 million years, or more than 10 times faster than the average speciation rate for invertebrates. This rapid evolution is contributing to an "explosion" of new cricket species, especially on Hawaii, the largest and youngest island in the Hawaiian archipelago, say the two scientists. Some 38
Contact: Kurt Pfitzer | <urn:uuid:3cb55f06-4b2b-4030-9fc4-9d139d5a409a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.bio-medicine.org/biology-news-3/Crickets-finicky-mating-behavior-boosts-biodiversity-13122-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918526 | 375 | 3.515625 | 4 |
an old person. Derives from "Oldie Hawn," a play off of the name of the actress Goldie Hawn.
"There are so many hawns here in Las Vegas!"
Acronym for "Have A wonderful Night".
Mainly used in text messages en social media to bring some joy and happiness in someone's life.
HAWN is used in the evening = Have a wonderful night
HAWD is used in the morning = Have a wonderful day
used in a friendly way, can be used for friends,family and lovers <3
In a text message: Hi shorty i'm of to bed, i'm really tiered. I had so much fun tonight. C ya tomorrow. #HAWN
Social media: I slept like a rose last night. Hmmm I love good times and lovely weekends. love you all! greetings sanoj #HAWD
social media: happy b-day bro! #HAWD & #HAWN | <urn:uuid:b2e17fb8-00ce-43b3-9636-9a1f46c109cb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hawn&defid=2400496 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908949 | 202 | 1.914063 | 2 |
Springtime and lamb are both upon us.
The key to cooking lamb — of any cut — is to keep it simple. Forget the tales from hardened lamb-haters who say it's "gamey" or hard to cook. They're likely remembering a haunch of mutton they happened upon that was, indeed, as tough as the older sheep it came from.
Spring lamb is from animals that are around 5 months old, which means you'd have to cook a cut of lamb to cinders for it to be tough this time of year. For any meat to be labeled as lamb, it has to be from an animal 12 months old or younger, and that, too, is pretty good insurance against toughness.
For people who've never cooked lamb before, think of it as another red meat: It responds well to roasting or grilling, and needs to be served a touch on the pink side, cooked between 145-155 degrees on a meat thermometer. Remember that gray is not an appetizing color in any food.
A roasted leg of lamb is usually the showy choice for Easter dinner. Cheaper cuts, such as lamb shoulder, do well when they're cut into cubes and stewed. For skeptics, a savory, rich stew may be the safest introduction to a product the rest of the world enjoys about four times as much as the average American.
In buying lamb, look for selections that are deep pink in the grocery case. A 6-pound leg of lamb will serve between 6-8 people.
The cardinal rule is not to overcook lamb, or cook it at too high a heat. Roasting temperature shouldn't go above 325 degrees. Lamb fat is different from that of beef, pork or poultry, which can withstand a good, hot oven with no ill effects. People who complain of lamb being "smelly" likely roasted it at too high a heat.
On the grill, it doesn't take too long to cook lamb chops, so they, too, need a mild kiss of flame — not enough BTUs to heat Pete Mathews Coliseum.
Charlie Thompson has been raising sheep in Lauderdale County for 30 years. He says simple is best. Season lamb chops with salt and pepper, and you're good to go. Cook them 4-5 minutes per side.
"Most people overcook it. That's the biggest thing," Thompson said. "Room temperature before you cook is also the key."
Thompson has been working on a seasoning rub for folks who aren't sure what combinations work well with lamb. "I'm kinda like Colonel Sanders," he said.
To order Thompson's lamb seasoning rub, or for information about the Alabama lamb growers association, contact him at 256-229-6929.
As far as accompaniments to lamb, keep it simple. Lamb packs a lot of flavor, so roasted potatoes, peas and rice or roasted carrots are all it needs to complete a meal.
ROASTED LEG OF LAMB
This is a fun recipe for kids, because it involves stuffing and smearing.
1 whole leg of lamb
6 whole cloves of garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
1/ 4 cup Dijon mustard
3-4 sprigs of fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Black pepper to taste
With a paring knife, make rows of tiny slits — each large enough to hold a garlic slice — all over the lamb. Insert a garlic slice into each. Smear a smooth coat of mustard all over the roast, then insert about 1/ 2 inch of a rosemary sprig into each of the slits along with the garlic. Season lightly with the salt and pepper.
Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let set in the refrigerator 4-8 hours.
Take the lamb out of the refrigerator at least 45 minutes before it goes into the oven, so it can begin to come to room temperature. (Putting a cold roast in the oven not only takes longer to cook, but also increases the odds of having a roast that's done on the outside and raw in the middle.)
Roast in a 325-degree oven for 2 1/ 2 to 3 hours, or until meat thermometer reads 145-150 degrees. Remove from oven, cover loosely with foil and let rest 10 minutes. (The temperature will rise another 5-10 degrees or so.)
3 pounds lamb shoulder with a little fat, cubed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/ 2 cup flour
1-2 tablespoons oil
2 large yellow onions, roughly diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 large carrots, peeled and sliced
2 cups chopped celery
12 ounces Guinness stout
3 large russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 bunch fresh rosemary
1 bunch fresh thyme
1 bunch fresh parsley
2 quarts beef stock
1/ 2 cup pearl barley (available locally)
Season the meat with salt and pepper, and dust with flour. Brown the meat in the oil in the bottom of a heavy soup pan or Dutch oven. Add the onions, garlic, carrots and celery and cook for about 5 minutes, or until the vegetables begin to soften. Add the Guinness, potatoes, herbs and stock. Simmer about 2 hours. Twenty minutes before serving, raise the temperature to a near boil and stir in the barley (add more stock if the stew is getting too thick). Cook the barley 20 minutes, then serve with lots of bread. | <urn:uuid:a91737ee-cd8b-455c-b6ad-a3b562ae0d58> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.annistonstar.com/view/full_story/6889424/article-Lamb--It-s-not-just-for-Easter-dinner | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941486 | 1,117 | 1.875 | 2 |
This is very simple. All you need to do is wire in a cord that plugs into your wall. You do not need a transformer of any type. You would need a transformer if it required DC current or a low voltage AC. 110, 115, or 120 are all your normal household current. | <urn:uuid:da068b24-765f-4f43-a18c-fc13a8104d89> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hauntworld.com/haunted_house_forums/showthread.php?9122-FCG-help&p=73097 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928367 | 60 | 1.601563 | 2 |
When you connect your Mac to a network, if you receive a proper configuration such as an IP address and DNS servers from your router then you should be able to use Mail, Safari, and other networking client programs to access various services either on the local network or through the Internet. However, sometimes it can happen that despite a seemingly healthy connection you aren't able to access Web pages and e-mail.
Recently MacFixIt reader Tom ran into such a situation with a university network:
We have a MacBook Pro mid-2012 release running 10.8.2. The computer is connected to Michigan State's wireless network when this happens (not our AirPort Router). The MBP will have a valid IP address. However, Safari, Chrome, Mail will not work.
While it is not uncommon for odd configuration issues in a system such as caching or other handling of the network settings to cause problems with some connections, the troubleshooting steps tried by Tom in this situation did not show any change in behavior or results that indicated the source of the problem:
- The system always seems to have an IP address that is from the university system when the MBP can not connect. So it is not like the system is making a wireless connection elsewhere.
- Pinging something like 220.127.116.11 (Google's public DNS) or Facebook's IP results in the packets come back with no losses.
- We have tried to flush the DNS via dscacheutil -flushcache
- We have tried to plug in via an ethernet cable, however the ethernet adapter is not registered so that could be the issue. Of course there is a Wi-Fi IP address, but no connectivity.
- We have tried a PRAM reset
- We tried to clean up a number of misc wireless networks that were registered (though not in use).
- The system seems to have better success in some locations than others, but the Airport Express needs unplugged and plugged back in all the time.
- The firewall on the Mac is Off
- We have manually set the MTU to 1300 in System Preferences > Network > WiFi > Advanced > Hardware > Manually > MTU: Custom > 1300
Despite all of these checks and settings changes, the system continued to still receive an IP address but block access to services. As a result, my recommendation to Tom was to manually clear out the system's network configuration files and have it recreate them from scratch, to ensure that the configuration files would be built properly and would not be a source of the problem. However, when Tom did this it did not affect the problem at hand, suggesting the cause lay elsewhere.
On many university and corporate networks, IT departments add layers of security to network connections, which sometimes are a matter of supplying log-in credentials but also which may use certificates and other security features to validate the connection, so even if your system is getting valid IP address information it still may be prevented from accessing network services.
This ended up being the case in Tom's situation: the university's captive portal network was not being configured properly on the Mac system. Captive portal networking is a common method for supplying open network access to organization members, in which upon connecting you are presented with a Web page where you supply log-in credentials. The page then configures a certificate that is used to maintain the connection so you can access the Internet through other programs besides your Web browser.
To gain access to the portal the Wi-Fi network will issue an IP address, so the system will appear to be properly connected, but without proper authentication handling the connection will still be blocked.
In Tom's case the certificate was not being set up properly in OS X, which may be from a bug in the latest version of the OS or from how the university has its captive portal configured, so the fix for this problem was, as outlined in this StackExchange discussion, to extract the certificate and put it in the system's keychain.
In order to do this, Tom had to open Firefox and get to the captive portal log-in page, followed by going to the Tools > Page Info > Security > View Certificate > Details window and then choosing the Export function to save the certificate as a ".crt" file. Importing this in the keychain involved opening the Keychain Access utility and dragging the certificate from the Finder into the log-in or system keychain.
Once imported, double-clicking the certificate opened its settings, and expanding the Trust section revealed how the system would handle it. Under this section, selecting Always Trust when using the certificate allowed unhindered use of it for establishing the connection to the university's network.
If you have similar problems with connections through captive portal networks, then you might take a look at the certificate being used and see if similarly importing it into your system's keychain helps overcome the problem. | <urn:uuid:4da615fa-4430-4d71-ba4f-ffa1ebc3abd8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-57557838-263/one-way-to-tackle-captive-network-connection-errors-in-os-x/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943307 | 996 | 1.976563 | 2 |
ASCP Certification Requirements and Information
The American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) offers over 20 professional certifications for pathologist's assistants, laboratory technicians and technologists. In California and New York, ASCP certification qualifies some technicians and technologists for state licensure. The certification requirements vary by category, but all include a combination of education, training and experience.
ASCP Certification Requirements
The ASCP Board of Certification offers technician, technologist, specialist, diplomate and international professional certifications for laboratory professionals and pathology assistants. Requirements for certification vary by category. Although some technician candidates may have a minimum of a high school diploma, most ASCP certifications require candidates to have a minimum of a bachelor's degree and six months of experience in a medical laboratory. Additionally, fees are required to take certification exams.
After successfully passing an exam, ASCP certification remains valid for three years. Certification maintenance requirements vary by certification type, but all require a minimum number of continuing education and a minimum number of practice hours.
Technician certification options include phlebotomy technician, histotechnician, medical laboratory technician and donor phlebotomy technician. Phlebotomy technician certification requires a minimum of a high school diploma and a phlebotomy training course. Other technician certifications require a minimum of 60 postsecondary education credits, or the completion of an associate's degree, including coursework in chemistry and biology.
Technologist certification specialties include molecular biology, medical laboratory scientist, histotechnologist, blood banking, chemistry, hematology, microbiology, cytotechnologist and cytogenetics. To qualify for these certifications, candidates must have a minimum of a bachelor's degree in chemistry or biology coupled with clinical laboratory experience.
Specialist certification options include pathologist's assistant, laboratory safety, blood banking, chemistry, microbiology, hematology and cytotechnology. These certifications can be obtained by achieving a minimum of a bachelor's degree in combination with other certifications, or holding a graduate degree in conjunction with clinical laboratory experience.
The diplomate in laboratory management certification is for those with experience in all aspects of laboratory management, including finance, human resources, operations and marketing. Diplomate eligibility requirements include a combination of a postsecondary degree with laboratory management experience. The minimum qualification is a bachelor's degree with four years of experience and multiple laboratory certifications. A graduate degree is preferred.
International certification from ASCP offers credentials to laboratory professionals regardless of an applicant's physical location in the world. The certification options include international designations as a medical technologist, phlebotomy technician, technologist in molecular biology, medical laboratory technician and technologist in gynecologic cytology. The certification options vary based on regional location.
The American Society for Clinical Pathology provides both education and certification opportunities for pathologists and laboratory professionals. ASCP also serves as membership organization with more than 130,000 members. To become a member one must be a pathologist, pathologist's assistant or a laboratory professional. Annual dues are required for membership.
Although ASCP only certifies laboratory professionals, it also provides continuing education programs for pathologists, physicians and other non-laboratory medical professionals. Pathologists, who are medical doctors certified by the Board of Pathology (BOP), may complete ASCP's maintenance of certification program to keep their BOP certification valid.
ASCP has offices in Chicago, Indianapolis and Washington, D.C. The Chicago office is the organization's main headquarters and the Washington D.C. office serves as the advocacy headquarters. ASCP is also a major publisher of pathology media, including the American Journal of Clinical Pathology.
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Chai has been all the rage in the West for the past few years, with Starbucks’ Chai Latte and Oregon Chai leading the pack amongst many other brands. However, making chai at home is very simple and can be often done in less than 5 minutes! Chai just means “tea” in various South Asian languages including Urdu and Hindi. So tip #1: don’t say “chai tea” because you’re really saying “tea tea” :)
Onto the recipe! In South Asian households chai is usually made multiple times a day. This recipe is for the type of chai that is made in Pakistan or Northern India – with the milk cooked with the tea on the stove instead of being added in later. Serving size: 2
Ingredients & Tools
- Cup strainer – buy here or from your local 99cent store
- Sugar to taste
- 1.5 cups Water
- 4 Tea Bags or 2 Tsp Loose Tea. I highly recommend Tapal Danedar
or PG Tips – both available from your local Indian store or online
- 1 cup Whole milk (lowfat milk just isn’t the same in chai)
- 1-2 pods Cardamom (optional)
- other optional spices: 1 cinnamon stick, 2-3 slivers garlic (good for when you have a cold)
Generally 1 cup of chai should contain 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup milk and either 1tsp loose tea or 2 teabags. Here is the recipe for making 2 cups. Keep in mind that some of the water evaporates while boiling so you’ll want to start out with more water than necessary.
- Place water and cardamom into saucepan and heat to a boil.
- Add tea and wait until the color comes out (~2 minutes).
- Add milk and decrease heat to medium or less. The trick is to now let the milk slowly simmer and create a skin on top of the tea.
- Milk will come to a rolling boil but monitor it and quickly decrease the heat so that it doesn’t spill. Repeat 2-3 times depending on how frothy you like your milk.
- Strain into cups and enjoy!
- Pan cleaning tip: just soak it in water for a bit and it’s easy enough to clean if you’ve used loose tea. | <urn:uuid:203e0426-2cf3-403f-9556-a0e97fd68bb5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.inaila.com/food/recipe-chai-for-two/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918798 | 508 | 1.921875 | 2 |
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...to light; pain in the back and limbs; and sleeplessness, apathy, or delirium. The most characteristic sign, however, is the subsequent appearance of one or more tender, swollen lymph nodes, or buboes, which are usually distributed in the groin and armpits. The temperature rises rapidly to 40 °C (104 °F) or higher and frequently falls slightly on the second or third day, with marked...
...is the ulceroglandular form, in which there is a painful sore at the site of the infection and a swelling of the lymph node that drains the area; the sore is often on the finger and the swelling, or bubo, in the armpit. The bubo can break down and discharge pus, but it sometimes remains hard and tender for weeks. Along with these local signs, the infected person has a fever that may persist for...
What made you want to look up "bubo"? Please share what surprised you most... | <urn:uuid:c898cf41-a627-48eb-b969-3b5b942b12f0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/82718/bubo | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92448 | 239 | 2.53125 | 3 |
On the Horizon: 10Gb Ethernet
A boon technology that took LANs to the next level when it came on the scene more than 20 years ago, Ethernet is again poised to introduce significant increases in network speeds with the upcoming IEEE 802.3ae standard for 10 Gigabit (Gb) Ethernet. With a target date of March 2002 for the completed standard, industry watchers have already positioned 10Gb Ethernet as a technology that targets the enterprise and beyondto the Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) and Wide Area Network (WAN). As a LAN/MAN/WAN technology, 10Gb Ethernet is expected to be of interest to both enterprises and service providers.
|A LAN is a network confined to a relatively small, local area--usually the building(s) occupied by a company in one place. A MAN, as its name suggests, is a network designed for a metropolitan area--a city or town. The largest type of network structure, the WAN, encompasses a large geographic area; a single WAN generally is made up of multiple LANs.|
According to the 10 Gigabit Ethernet Alliance, Newport Beach, Calif., the primary factor driving 10Gb Ethernet is the increase in Internet and intranet traffic. A number of factors contribute to this increase:
- an increase in the number of network connections
- an increase in the connection speed of each end-station
- an increase in the deployment of bandwidth-intensive applications, such as video
- an increase in Web hosting and application hosting traffic
With approximately 250,000 ports of 1Gb Ethernet shipped each month, according to Bruce Tolley, manager Emerging Technologies, Gigabit Systems Business Unit at Cisco Systems Inc., San Jose, Calif., and vice president of the 10Gb Ethernet Alliance, 10Gb Ethernet will serve as an aggregator in LAN applications. "We expect to see 10Gb Ethernet used between switches in a campus environment and, eventually, for storage applications," he says.
With the amount of storage bits transported over the network expected to bypass that of normal data traffic, 10Gb Ethernet is projected to provide pipes fat enough to move enterprise storage across the network. "Storage vendors are looking at ways of connecting directly into the Ethernet environment," says Duncan Potter, director of product marketing at Extreme Networks Inc., Santa Clara, Calif., noting that such an application can easily flood the network at today's gigabit rates.
Increased Traffic, New Demand
In the MAN/WAN application area, 10Gb Ethernet will enable ISPs and network service providers to create very high-speed links at a very low cost, between co-located, carrier-class switches and routers, according to the 10Gb Ethernet Alliance. Additionally, notes the Alliance, the technology will allow the construction of MANs and WANs that connect geographically dispersed LANs between campuses or points of presence.
"We expect that in the MAN market, 10Gb Ethernet will take a portion of the backbone away from SONET because it's less expensive," says Paul Strauss, research manager at International Data Corp. (IDC), Framingham, Mass. In fact, he notes, Ethernet is cheaper than SONET by as much as half to two-thirds. SONET, which was originally designed for voice applications, is a more complex technology, and the equipment is more expensive.
However, industry watchers predict that SONET and 10Gb Ethernet, two different technologies, will complement each other. "The technology of choice will depend on the business case of the service provider and what service is being delivered," says Tolley. The 10Gb Ethernet standard specifies a means of connectivity to the SONET infrastructure. //
Lynn Haber writes on business and information technology from Norwell, Ma. | <urn:uuid:a9155bcc-514a-406c-b18b-4eae345496c6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.enterprisenetworkingplanet.com/print/netsysm/article.php/600331/On-the-Horizon-10Gb-Ethernet.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939201 | 761 | 2.21875 | 2 |
Test instruments capable of recording and playing back RF communications signals are practical solutions for testing receivers under signal fading and multipath conditions.
Channel impairments can be disruptive on RF-based communications devices. Impairments such as fading and multipath, which are often unpredictable, can hinder wireless communications. Because channel impairments are often unpredictable and not repeatable, many engineers face the challenge of supplying a prototype receiver with a reliable model of the real-world signal environment. Fortunately, by understanding the causes of these impairments through the use of modern measurement techniques, including the use of recorded test signals, it is possible to check a receiver's capabilities of operating effectively in the presence of channel impairments.
Free-space signal propagation can be predicted with reasonable accuracy under ideal conditions. However, factors such as buildings, geographic topography, and other obstructions can significantly impact signal strength in a real world environment. Unfortunately, large-scale channel fading often produces broadcasts that are subject to variations as a result of reflection, diffraction, and scattering.
One of the most common models for predicting signal propagation in free space is the two-ray ground reflection model (Fig. 1).1 In this model, signals traveling directly from the transmitter to the receiver follow a shorter path than those reflected from other surfaces. According to the law of reflection, the initial signal phase, Θi, is equal to the final signal phase, Θ0. Because of this law, it is possible to determine the difference in distance (for a given wavelength) between the paths of the line-of-sight (LOS) signal component (Elos) and the ground-reflected signal component (EG). With some simple math, it is possible to determine the difference in distance, d, as shown in Eq. 1.
For RF and microwave signals, even a small difference in the signal propagation path ( d,) between a LOS and a reflected signal can produce a substantial effect on the phase of the aggregate of the signal observed by the receiver. In fact, it is possible to calculate the difference in phase between the two paths with Eq. 2.
Equation 2 illustrates that especially for high-frequency signals, where the wavelength (λ) is short, even small changes in the distance between the transmitter and receiver can have substantial changes in phase of the aggregate signal. Moreover, because the LOS signal and the reflected signal are 180 deg. out of phase with one another, the two waves will periodically add or cancel one another, depending on the distance between the transmitter and receiver.
Over long distances, the antenna height is negligible, and the large-scale fading observed in these scenarios is not significantly affected by ground reflections. However, over shorter distances, ground reflections can have a substantial impact on the power observed at the receiver.
Diffraction is a phenomenon by which electromagnetic (EM) waves can propagate around buildings, mountains, and other physically large objects. Like reflection, diffraction can also produce substantial fluctuations in the signal strength observed by a wireless receiver. In addition, this effect becomes more prominent in urban environments, where a large number of buildings are positioned close together. To understand this, consider how diffraction can affect signal strength (Fig. 2). A large object may prevent LOS signal propagation, but EM waves will actually wrap around the object, producing an attenuated but usable signal. Some theoretical models may help to understand just how much signal attenuation can occur as a result of diffraction.
One of the more popular models for analyzing the effects of diffraction on EM waves is the Knife-edge diffraction model.1 It provides a mechanism for estimating signal strength as a function of wavelength, object height, and distance between the transmitter and the receiver. Based on a geometric model of the physical environment, it is possible to calculate a Fresnel-Kirchoff diffraction parameter using Eq. 3.
As Eq. 3 shows, the diffraction parameter (and hence loss) increases with the height of the obstructing object. In addition, since wavelength, λ is in the denominator, higher-frequency microwave signals are much more susceptible to attenuation from physical objects. Based on the calculated Fresnel-Kirchoff diffraction parameter, it is possible to calculate the expected loss in signal strength as a result of diffraction. William C. Y. Lee, a pioneer in wireless communications technology, actually approximated the loss/gain due to diffraction, Gd (dB), as a function of the Fresnel- Kirchoff diffraction parameter, v. His derivation follows in Eq. 4.
Figure 3 graphically depicts the diffraction gain/loss, Gd (dB), as a function of the Fresnel-Kirchoff diffraction parameter. Based on the equations above, consider a scenario where a transmitter and receiver are 1 km away (d1 = d2 = 500 m) and a 100-m object (such as an urban office building) is equidistant between them. Based on these distances, a 1 GHz signal (λ = 0.3) will have a Fresnel- Kirchhoff diffraction parameter with a value of 11.457. Thus, the receiver will observe a signal strength loss of approximately 34.2 dB. As this exercise illustrates, even a single object (if tall enough) can result in significant loss of signal strength. Thus, compensation for fluctuations in signal strength is an important requirement of wireless receiver design.
While large-scale channel fading often causes rapid changes in signal strength, small-scale channel fading produces distortion in either the phase or amplitude of an EM wave. In a typical environment, a receiver will pull in a signal comprised of signal components from many different signal paths. In this case, an EM wave from each signal path will arrive at the receiver at a different time. Unfortunately, such multipath propagation causes intersymbol interference (ISI) in which symbol n - 1 will distort the phase and amplitude of symbol n. While ISI does not significantly affect the overall power level of a received signal, it does affect the modulation quality.
Two models commonly used to emulate multipath fading are the Rayleigh and Rician fading models. The Rician model includes both LOS propagation between the transmitter and the receiver and non-LOS signal propagation. In this model, a K parameter represents the power of the LOS transmission relative to the aggregate sum of the multipath signal products. When the K parameter is large, multipath products are minimal and the ISI is reduced. When K is small, ISI becomes more significant. Figure 4 shows this effect, comparing the K parameter for a 16 QAM signal with a symbol rate of 3.84 MSymbols/s and the influence of a Doppler frequency shift of 5 kHz.
As Fig. 4 shows, higher ISI significantly reduces the modulation quality, as measured in terms of error vector magnitude (EVM), in situations where LOS signal propagation is not possible. As a result, receiver validation often requires multipath channel emulation to ensure that the receiver will behave as expected in its actual operating environment.
Both large-scale and small-scale fading pose design challenges. To maximum a receiver's dynamic range, most receivers implement an automatic- gain-control (AGC) circuit to compensate for rapid changes in received signal strength. The ADC is typically placed immediately following a preselector filter in a wireless receiver (Fig. 5).4 The AGC ensures that the mixer and intermediate-frequency (IF) levels remain relatively constant, allowing the receiver to achieve adequate dynamic range even with rapid fluctuations in signal strength.
Continue to page 2
In addition to the design challenges created by largescale and small-scale fading, they also make it difficult to test a wireless receiver for such conditions. For realistic evaluation, engineers must provide a receiver under test with a stimulus that most accurately represents the deployment environment. Traditionally, receiver design validation and verification has been a difficult, expensive, and often time-consuming process. Today's test engineers generally use one of three approaches for receiver validation: channel emulation, drive testing, and signal record and playback.
Channel emulation can be performed with a channel simulator designed to reproduce various types of fading. Typically, these instruments use statistical models for various frequencies and types of environment (urban, rural, mountains). With a channel simulator, as many as 6 to 12 different signal paths can be used to recreate large-scale or small-scale multipath fading.
However, channel simulators have their drawbacks. Because receivers often experience as many as 40 or more different signal paths in their deployment environment, even the most sophisticated simulators cannot recreate the full complexity of a realworld signal. In addition, simulators usually only have limited options for simulating interference. While some simulators provide a second interference channel, they cannot typically provide multiple sources of interference at varying levels of power intensity, as commonly found in a deployment environment. A channel simulator provides the comfort of performing measurements in a lab, but may lack the capability to simulate the actual operating environment.
For this reason, drive testing is another method used for evaluating a receiver's performance under real-world conditions. Drive testing ensures that a receiver can adapt to both largescale and small-scale channel fading. By driving through a typical deployment environment, engineers can determine if their receiver can adapt to even the most drastic power changes and multipath fading introduced in the channel. In some cases, engineers will choose a particularly difficult environmental scenario in which many receivers are known to fail or give poor performance.
But even drive testing has drawbacks. Not only are drive tests expensive and time consuming, they often are not repeatable. Because environmental factors such as weather and humidity can substantially impact signal propagation during a particular test, it is often difficult to recreate those same conditions when needed. For this reason, substantial interest is growing in technology that enables engineers to record an RF signal of interest and play it back in a laboratory environment.
By recording actual signals, it is possible to capture a wide range of channel impairments such as large-scale channel fading, multipath propagation, and interference. The process of capturing actual RF communications signals involves literally taking an RF recording system on a drive. It is driven through an environment known to be difficult for receivers. Then, once a large amount of data is captured (hours or more of signal data), the recorded signal can be regenerated in a controlled laboratory environment and directly connected to the receiver for evaluation.
The use of recorded waveforms for receiver testing has many advantages over traditional test methods. Compared to channel simulators, this method enables a receiver to be evaluated with more natural impairments as opposed to simulations. This approach also produces test results that are perfectly repeatable. Because a recorded waveform will not change from one test to the next, the receiver can be characterized throughout multiple stages of the design cycle using the same stimuli data set. Finally, RF record and playback solutions are often more cost effective than the alternative methods. As an example, consider testing a receiver in different worldwide locations. While drive testing requires transporting a receiver to each location for evaluation, recorded signals from multiple locations can be stored on file and generated with the same system.
Actual implementations of RF record and playback systems are not without significant design challenges. In fact, two key innovations have enabled these systems to effectively address the mainstream of receiver applications: improvements in digital bus technology and AGCs with gain reporting.
Traditional RF instruments use embedded random access memory (RAM) as a mechanism for waveform storage, limiting the maximum waveform size to several hundred megabytes. However, the evolution of faster bus speeds enables instruments based on the PCI Extensions for Instrumentation (PXI) bus format to use high-speed external redundan-array-of-inexpensive-disks (RAID) memory to store and replay much larger waveforms. Using external RAID memory, PXI instruments can generate or acquire waveforms as much as several terabytes in length at the full data rate of the instrument.
Using LabVIEW signal-processing software from National Instruments, RF stream-to-disk applications achieve best results with a concurrent loop structure called producer-consumer loop. In this case, the producer loop acquires baseband data from a vector signal analyzer (VSA) and passes it to a queue structure. The queue structure passes baseband data to a second loop (the consumer), which writes it to disk. Figure 6 shows how this system can be configured in software. The approach can be used at the full bandwidth of a PXI instrument. As an example, the NI PXIe-5672 2.7-GHz vector signal generator (VSG) from National Instruments can support continuous generation of bandwidths as wide as 20 MHz for five hours or more.
A second design challenge of RF record and playback designs is the difficulty in maintaining the full dynamic range of the acquisition instrument. While the dynamic range of one recording instrument, the PXI-5661, operates with as much as 80 dB of dynamic range, it is difficult to maintain that dynamic range through an entire drive test without an AGC. For example, real-life FM signals range from less than 0 dB V to +110 dB V. Moreover, even at 0 dB V, the noise floor is around 13 dBV. Thus, a VSG would need more than 120 dB of dynamic range without external signal conditioning to record large changes in signal strength.
A possible solution is to add a simple AGC at the front end of the recording instrument, such as an AGC available from Averna Technologies and shown in block diagram form in Fig. 7. The AGC ensures that the recording instrument observes a relatively constant power level. By maintaining constant power at the VSA, it is possible to use the full dynamic range of the instrument even as the power of the recorded signal is constantly and often significantly changing.
This approach provides the capability to store the gain data supplied by the AGC. By storing this information, the reverse gain (attenuation) can be applied to the signal upon playback with a vector signal generator. As a result, a record and playback system with an AGC can be used to accurately capture and reproduce RF signals even when rapid changes in signal strength occur. To illustrate the effectiveness of an AGC when used with a recording instrument, Fig. 8 compares the power of a record-and-playback signal with and without the AGC on the front end. As Fig. 8 illustrates, an AGC can be used to recreate the large-scale fading of the recorded RF signal with less than 2-3 dB of variation from the actual signal strength. In addition, this can be done without sacrificing the dynamic range of the recording instrument.
Although EM waves for communications can undergo a great number of impairments in the real world, modern RF record and playback systems offer a practical solution to these changing signal conditions. With AGC-enabled instrumentation, test engineers can now accurately recreate challenging physical channels in a laboratory environment. Even waveforms with complex modulation formats, including advanced digital modulation formats, can be stored in PXI instrument memory and manipulated in terms of fading and other channel impairments in order to precisely emulate the signal environment that a communications receiver is likely to face under actual working conditions. Thus, receivers can now be tested with greater repeatability and at lower cost than ever before.
1. Theodore S. Rappaport, Wireless Communications: Principles and Practice, Prentice-Hall PTR, Saddle River, NJ, 2001.
2. W. C. Y. Lee, Mobile Communications Engineering, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1982.
3. Jeffery H. Reed, Software Radio: A Modern Approach to Radio Engineering, Prentice-Hall, Saddle River, NJ, 2002.
4. Quzheng Gu, RF System Design of Transceivers for Wireless Communications, Springer, New York, 2006. | <urn:uuid:3c8e5b52-20ed-4fba-aff8-64141df9c035> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mwrf.com/print/test-and-measurement/test-radio-receivers-recorded-signals | 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 | 0.935837 | 3,255 | 3.515625 | 4 |
Why We Share: How to Tap Into the Consumer Psyche to Drive Social Advocacy
We’re human; therefore, we share. From cave paintings of the prehistoric era to the social networks we update daily, the desire to connect with others—spreading information and ideas along the way—has been deeply embedded in the human psyche since the beginning of time.
While the act of sharing is not new, the rise of social media has created a fundamental shift in the way we share content and ideas, and the consumer/brand dynamic has changed forever. Word of mouth (WOM) marketing is more prevalent than ever, consumer recommendations are expected in the purchase path, and the organizations that understand what motivates advocacy—empowering customers to market for them—are winning the race. But what is it, exactly, that motivates consumers to share in the first place?
The 5 Core Motivations for Sharing
The New York Times, in a study conducted with Latitude Research, offered a roundup of the five core human wants/needs that spur sharing:
1. To bring valuable/entertaining content to others
49% (of respondents) say sharing allows them to inform others of products they care about and potentially change opinions or encourage action
2. To define ourselves to others
68% share to give people a better sense of who they are and what they care about
3. To grow/nourish our relationships
78% share information online because it lets them stay connected to people they may not otherwise stay in touch with
69% share information because it allows them to feel more involved in the world
5. To get the word out about causes or brands
84% share because it is a way to support causes or issues they care about
Which motivating factors are most applicable to your customers? The answer is all of the above. By giving consumers the tools to realize any of these core motivations, you’re setting them up to satisfy their own inherent needs, promoting your brand in the process.
Where They Share (and Why)
At what point in the purchase path are visitors most likely to share? When they first hit your homepage? Land on a curated deal page or gift center? Navigate to a specific product listing? Finding the sweet spot comes with understanding when a consumer is most engaged with your brand.
While we’re strong believers in experimenting with sharing functionality throughout the shopping experience, a site visitor is never more engaged than after they’ve converted, or completed a transaction on your site. At this point, a customer has already identified a need/want, done research, compared products/vendors, and made a decision to place their trust (and hard-earned dollars) in your hands.
By presenting a customer with the ability to share their recent purchase or spread the word about your brand post-purchase, you’re making it easy for them to satisfy any and all of the core motivations for sharing, at the point when they’re most likely to do so. Whether a customer wants to express something about their personality through a purchase, get content in front of friends who will find value in it, or spread the word about their new favorite brand (yours), catching customers when they’re most emotionally invested in your brand is key to an effective social sharing strategy.
Need proof? Analyzing Extole client data found that giving consumers the ability to share on the post-purchase confirmation page resulted in the highest volume of shared content, compared to other promotional placements across a brand’s owned assets. Eventbrite, which helps people buy and sell event tickets online, found similar results. Through their service, not only did the majority of sharing happen post-purchase (60% compared to 40%, pre-purchase), but post-purchase shares were also 20% more effective in driving ticket sales than pre-purchase shares.
The Bottom Line
As any marketer knows, understanding the customer—and why they buy—is critical to the success of any organization. The fundamentals haven’t changed. What has changed, in our increasingly social world, is that we now also need to understand what motivates customers to become brand advocates who will readily preach the gospel of our products, services, and causes for us. In summary, the process of developing a successful social sharing program involves:
- Understanding what motivates consumers to become advocates in the first place (see above)
- Identifying where in the shopping experience a consumer is most engaged with your brand and best equipped to satisfy motivational needs (hint: post-purchase is the place to start; order confirmation page, follow-up email receipt, etc.)
- Experimenting with different tactics in these critical touchpoints to figure out which post-transactional offer most resonates with your customers (e.g. most effective social networks, incentive programs, etc.) | <urn:uuid:55e13903-8df3-41fd-a44e-7e01de88b258> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://extole.com/blog/why-we-share-how-to-tap-into-the-consumer-psyche-to-drive-social-advocacy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944273 | 1,009 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Does your Practice Meet Meaningful Use Requirements?
Who Is Eligible?
Eligible Providers (EPs) can choose to get money from CMS based on either their Medicare collections or their Medicaid patient volume, but not both.
For those applying for Medicare incentives, which are based on your annual Medicare collections, eligible providers are any doctor (MD, DO, DPM, OD, DC) or dentist (DDS, DMD, DDM) who performs at least 90% of their clinical services in an office-based setting (e.g., not an inpatient hospital or emergency room).
The potential Medicaid incentives are higher, but so are the requirements. The Medicaid incentive is based on the percentage of your patients who are on Medicaid. Eligible Providers for this incentive program must be an MD, DO, CNM, NP, and certain PAs (and dentists) who performs at least 90% of their clinical services in an office-based setting AND whose patient mix include at least 30% Medicaid beneficiaries. Pediatricians can qualify if their patient mix contains at least 20% Medicaid beneficiaries, and EPs at Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) or Rural Health Center (RHC) can qualify if 30% of their patient mix are people in need – defined as patients who have Medicaid, receive uncompensated care, or for whom charges are adjusted on a sliding scale.
How Much Money Are We Talking About?
Let’s be frank, this incentive money being used to encourage providers to adopt EHR technology and use it “meaningfully,” is long overdue given the chronically poor reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid. So while the dollar amount seems significant, don’t get too excited. There is always a chance the funding will be removed as our economy and political landscape ebbs and flows.
Medicare incentive program: If you are an EP who uses an ONC-ATCB Certified EHR in a meaningful way (defined later), you can receive up to 75% of your annual Medicare collections, or $44,000 – whichever is less. For example, if you collect $24,000/year (or more) in Medicare payments then you may receive the maximum of $44,000 over 5 years:
$18,000 in 2011 or 2012 (or 75% of your Medicare collections, whichever is less)
$12,000 the next year (or 75% of your Medicare collections, whichever is less)
$ 8,000 the year after that (or 75% of your Medicare collections, whichever is less)
$ 4,000 the year after that (or 75% of your Medicare collections, whichever is less)
$ 2,000 the year after that (or 75% of your Medicare collections, whichever is less)
= $44,000 total from Medicare.
As long as you get going sometime in 2011 or 2012, you can get the full available amount as shown below providing you collect at least $24,000/year from Medicare:
|Max Payment in 2011||$18,000||$0||$0||$0||$0|
|Max Payment in 2012||$12,000||$18,000||$0||$0||$0|
|Max Payment in 2013||$8,000||$12,000||$15,000||$0||$0|
|Max Payment in 2014||$4,000||$8,000||$12,000||$12,000||$0|
|Max Payment in 2015||$2,000||$4,000||$8,000||$8,000||$0|
|Max Payment in 2016||$0||$2,000||$4,000||$4,000||$0|
|Maximum 5 year Payment||$44,000||$44,000||$39,000||$24,000||$|
Keep in mind, however, if you collect less than $24K/year from Medicare, you get less. For instance, if you collect $10,000/year from Medicare, this is how your compensation might look:
$ 7,500 in 2011
$ 7,500 in 2012
$ 7,500 in 2013
$ 4,000 in 2014
$ 2,000 in 2015
= $28,500 total
Although significantly less, $28,500 is still nice. What is even nicer, is that since this money is not related to the price of your EHR, Amazing Charts users get to keep this government stimulus money, rather than pass it on to one of our overpriced competitors.
This EHR incentive money is the carrot being fed to eligible providers. The stick that will slap those of us who fail to use this technology appropriately is a 1% reduction of the Medicare fee schedule starting in 2015. This penalty increases to 2% in 2016 and 3-5% in 2017.
Medicaid incentive program: To receive the Medicaid EHR incentive money, an EP must have a practice composed of a minimum percentage of Medicaid patients as detailed above. The payments for Medicaid are:
$21,250 in year 1
$ 8,500 in year 2
$ 8,500 in year 3
$ 8,000 in year 4
$ 8,500 in year 5
$ 8,500 in year 6
= $63,750 total from Medicaid
(There are no penalties for failing to adopt an EHR in the Medicaid program.)
So What is Meaningful Use?
Unfortunately, it isn’t as easy as just owning or using an EHR. One must show they are using this technology “meaningfully.” So the government has spent tons of time and money defining what this means, and have come up with 25 meaningful use objectives. To qualify for money, 20 of the 25 must be met. Here are some examples of these requirements:
- More than 30% of unique patients with at least one medication seen by the eligible provider (EP) must have been prescribed electronically, and more than 40% of all permissible prescriptions must be transmitted electronically using certified EHR technology.
- The ability to implement electronic drug-drug and drug-allergy interaction checking must be enabled for the entire reporting period.
- More than 50% of the unique patients seen by the EP must have a preferred language, gender, race, ethnicity, and DOB documented as structured data.
- And a whole bunch more discussed here.
There are also Clinical Quality Measures that must be met such as BP measurements, assessment of tobacco use, etc. All of the objectives and how they are measured and reported are detailed here, and full details on all these CMS incentive programs can be found at the CMS EHR Incentive Program website. | <urn:uuid:dc80a72e-cccc-4e4b-b969-e79a02a2d344> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pgmbilling.com/electronic-medical-records-emr/electronic-medical-records-subsidy/meaningful-use/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938081 | 1,406 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Generic Name: chlorhexidine (klor-HEX-ih-deen)
Brand Name: Examples include Betasept and Hibiclens
Betasept liquid is used for:
Cleansing skin and wound areas. It may also be used for other conditions as determined by your doctor.
Betasept liquid is a topical antimicrobial. It works by reacting with the microbial cell surface, destroying the cell membrane, and killing the cell.
Do NOT use Betasept liquid if:
- you are allergic to any ingredient in Betasept liquid
Contact your doctor or health care provider right away if any of these apply to you.
Before using Betasept liquid:
Tell your health care provider if you have any medical conditions, especially if any of the following apply to you:
- if you are pregnant, planning to become pregnant, or are breast-feeding
- if you are taking any prescription or nonprescription medicine, herbal preparation, or dietary supplement
- if you have allergies to medicines, foods, or other substances
Some MEDICINES MAY INTERACT with Betasept liquid. However, no specific interactions with Betasept liquid are known at this time.
Ask your health care provider if Betasept liquid may interact with other medicines that you take. Check with your health care provider before you start, stop, or change the dose of any medicine.
How to use Betasept liquid:
Use Betasept liquid as directed by your doctor. Check the label on the medicine for exact dosing instructions.
- To cleanse the skin, thoroughly rinse the area to be cleansed with water. Apply the minimum amount necessary to cover the skin or wound area and wash gently. Rinse thoroughly.
- If you miss a dose of Betasept liquid, use it as soon as possible. If it is almost time for your next dose, skip the missed dose and go back to your regular dosing schedule. Do not use 2 doses at once.
Ask your health care provider any questions you may have about how to use Betasept liquid.
Important safety information:
- Betasept liquid is for external use only. Avoid contact with eyes, ears, and mouth. If Betasept liquid contacts any of these areas, rinse out promptly and thoroughly with water.
- Betasept liquid may stain clothing.
- PREGNANCY and BREAST-FEEDING: If you become pregnant, contact your doctor. You will need to discuss the benefits and risks of using Betasept liquid while you are pregnant. It is not known if Betasept liquid is found in breast milk. If you are or will be breast-feeding while you use Betasept liquid, check with your doctor. Discuss any possible risks to your baby.
Possible side effects of Betasept liquid:
All medicines may cause side effects, but many people have no, or minor side effects. Check with your doctor if any of these most COMMON side effects persist or become bothersome:
Seek medical attention right away if any of these SEVERE side effects occur:
Skin irritation, itching, or redness.
Severe allergic reactions (rash; hives; itching; difficulty breathing; tightness in the chest; swelling of the mouth, face, lips, or tongue).
This is not a complete list of all side effects that may occur. If you have questions about side effects, contact your health care provider. Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. To report side effects to the appropriate agency, please read the Guide to Reporting Problems to FDA.
If OVERDOSE is suspected:
Contact 1-800-222-1222 (the American Association of Poison Control Centers), your local poison control center, or emergency room immediately. Betasept liquid may be harmful if swallowed.Proper storage of Betasept liquid:
Store Betasept liquid at room temperature, between 68 and 77 degrees F (20 and 25 degrees C). Avoid excessive heat above 104 degrees F (40 degrees C), and light. Keep Betasept liquid out of the reach of children and away from pets.
- If you have any questions about Betasept liquid, please talk with your doctor, pharmacist, or other health care provider.
- Betasept liquid is to be used only by the patient for whom it is prescribed. Do not share it with other people.
- If your symptoms do not improve or if they become worse, check with your doctor.
- Check with your pharmacist about how to dispose of unused medicine.
This information should not be used to decide whether or not to take Betasept liquid or any other medicine. Only your health care provider has the knowledge and training to decide which medicines are right for you. This information does not endorse any medicine as safe, effective, or approved for treating any patient or health condition. This is only a brief summary of general information about Betasept liquid. It does NOT include all information about the possible uses, directions, warnings, precautions, interactions, adverse effects, or risks that may apply to Betasept liquid. This information is not specific medical advice and does not replace information you receive from your health care provider. You must talk with your healthcare provider for complete information about the risks and benefits of using Betasept liquid.
Disclaimer: This information should not be used to decide whether or not to take this medicine or any other medicine. Only your health care provider has the knowledge and training to decide which medicines are right for you. This information does not endorse any medicine as safe, effective, or approved for treating any patient or health condition. This is only a brief summary of general information about this medicine. It does NOT include all information about the possible uses, directions, warnings, precautions, interactions, adverse effects, or risks that may apply to this medicine. This information is not specific medical advice and does not replace information you receive from your health care provider. You must talk with your healthcare provider for complete information about the risks and benefits of using this medicine. | <urn:uuid:322c128a-44d8-43d1-a27d-27575fff2053> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.drugs.com/cdi/betasept-liquid.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906609 | 1,249 | 2.109375 | 2 |
The BBC has been running a documentary series that asks why poverty exists.
The episodes compare and contrast Sierra Leone, Cambodia, the US and Britain. Titles including Stealing Africa and Park Avenue—Money, Power and the American Dream.
The latter episode examines gross inequality in society and the spread of food banks across Britain and US. It points out that the US has one of the worst infant mortality rates in the world and looks at the effects of rapacious multinationals in Africa.
Give Us The Money looks at the Live Aid project that raised over £150 million 30 years ago but barely scratched the surface of the problem.
There are some powerful moments in these programmes. They argue that baby deaths in poorer countries are only caused by lack of resources.
There is a great world history of poverty and redistribution. It argues that there has only ever been one economic system that can create extreme inequality and enough wealth to go round—capitalism. There are some irritating moments but nevertheless it’s very interesting.
Why Poverty? is available on BBC iPlayer till 12 December | <urn:uuid:6f17d2f8-c086-406c-bd59-33520a014e9f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.socialistworker.org.uk/art.php?id=30137 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940524 | 218 | 2.203125 | 2 |