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Last week ACC installed a shared path (cyclists & pedestrians) on North Terrace. It is at the end of Pulteney Street and about as wide. There are signs (outlines of pedestrian & cyclist) attached to street furniture. The purpose is to assist those who cycle to studies or work at University of Adelaide. ACC has kindly provided a map. ACCpult_nort.pdf
The signage actually points the wrong way giving the false impression that its legal to ride along the northern footpath further west and east of that short section. I do it anyway as there are so many road entrances into and out of the Uni/Museum/Art Gallery that the footpath is effectively just a pile of driveways stuck together
Before I moved buildings I used to ride along North Terrace footpath to get from the Frome/NT traffic lights to the UofA underground bicycle cage. It is wide and perfectly safe if you don't go too fast.
I walked by there today. It’s great to see the council responding to a problem which NTPBUG engaged with council over on several occasions. It would seem they still need to add some paint markings and light signals. Yes it makes riding the bike legal at least over North Terrace. Cyclists should yield to pedestrians as they make their way in to the Uni. | <urn:uuid:67fec66b-3016-44a4-ab39-842e648d6610> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.adelaidecyclists.com/group/ntpbug/forum/topics/new-short-shared-path-on-north?page=1&commentId=3086792%3AComment%3A48094&x=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97525 | 275 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Pete Pfitzinger: Was He Right or Wrong?
Reflection and new knowledge can open the mind on 15 years of training and racing advice
When I first wrote for Running Times in the 1990s, I would mail a 5 1/4" floppy disk to editor Scott Douglas. We subsequently evolved to 3 1/2" disks by snail mail and then blissfully launched into the Internet age, giving me an extra two days for writing each month. Technology has changed vastly in the intervening 15 or so years, but how much more do we know about training? In this article, I scan 15 years of my articles for Running Times (with topics suggested by editor-in-chief Jonathan Beverly and the enduring Scott Douglas) and look at when I was right and when, due to subsequent advances in science and coaching, I was, well, wrong. A bit of reflection is healthy and occasionally humbling!
THEN: In the November 2003 issue, I wrote this about tempo runs: "Arguably the single most important type of training for distance runners. Scientific studies have shown that tempo runs are an effective way to improve lactate threshold pace, which largely determines the pace you can maintain in a race. Unfortunately, the science does not provide much detail on how to do tempo runs. As a result, coaches and runners have interpreted them in a wide variety of ways." At the time, I recommended tempo runs of 20-45 minutes. By 2006 I had extended them to 50 minutes.
NOW: I wholeheartedly stand by the endorsement of tempo runs, but am now more open-minded about the range of effective workouts. Rather than limiting tempo runs to a maximum of 45-50 minutes, I now agree that there are benefits from a slightly less intense version of up to about 80 minutes. These runs are useful in preparation for any race of 10K or longer, and particularly for the half marathon to marathon.
Jerry Schumacher, coach of American 10,000m record-holder Chris Solinsky, includes these longer tempo runs (Jerry calls them "rhythm runs") in his athletes' training, with Solinsky gradually increasing his rhythm runs from 10 miles (50 minutes for Chris) to 18 miles. Solinsky starts these runs on the easy side and builds into them. Thinking back, many of the Boston area runners in the 1980s took a similar approach, starting our long runs relatively slowly and building the pace until we were approaching marathon race pace for the last 6-10 miles. Jerry and others have advanced the concept a step further and I bow to their wisdom.
NOTES: More open-minded now.
THEN: In the July/August 2002 issue, I recommended trying barefoot running, saying: "You can strengthen your feet and ankles by using them as they were designed to be used. Take off your shoes and let your feet move on natural surfaces. When you walk or run barefoot, you strengthen the little muscles in your feet which have been sleeping peacefully in your shoes for years. You also stretch and strengthen your calf muscles and may improve your running form. The protection provided by your shoes allows you to get away with sloppy running style. It is very difficult, however, to run barefoot with bad technique and almost impossible to overstride."
I then explained, "You need to be very careful when starting a barefoot running program. Picture your soft little feet muscles and tendons if you suddenly say to them, 'OK, we're going to start this training program by landing with 4 times bodyweight several thousand times'--a sure recipe for injury," and went on to recommend the following way to start barefoot running: "Before you start running barefoot, you should walk barefoot for a few weeks to strengthen the muscles in your feet and ankles and toughen up the skin on the bottom of your feet. Start out by walking barefoot for 5 to 10 minutes a couple of times each day. You can also do exercises while walking barefoot such as high knees and walking on the balls of your feet to prepare your feet for running barefoot."
The column continued, "Start out with 5 minutes at the very most, and increase slowly, running barefoot every two to three days. After a couple of months, you may get to where you can run barefoot for 20 minutes, but for some people a few minutes will be all they can handle. … After a few weeks of running barefoot two or three times per week, your feet and ankles will be much stronger, which should reduce your injury risk when running. You should also find that you have more spring in your step and a slightly longer stride. Approached cautiously, barefoot running can be a useful and refreshing addition to your training."
NOW: Barefoot running has boomed since 2002, with many runners ending up on the injury heap from launching into it too quickly. I stand by both my overall endorsement of barefoot running and the particularly cautious approach to incorporating it into training.
THEN: In the July/August 2000 issue, I discussed when it's beneficial to run twice per day. My advice was: "Many elite runners incorporate 'doubles' in some way, and this training pattern offers a number of benefits. Most runners, however, should resist the urge to shift from single runs to doubles as they increase training mileage, and instead add miles to single runs."
I stated, "Do not do double workouts until you have maximized the training volume you can handle in single daily workouts" and "If you are preparing for a marathon, do not do doubles unless you are running more than 75 miles per week."
NOW: I now believe that for older runners, or those with a history of injury, double runs can be a beneficial way to run relatively high mileage with less injury risk than longer single runs. Doubles can also help you improve your stride rate and running technique because you'll be relatively fresh during your runs and less likely to get stuck in a marathoner's shuffle. I would now recommend double runs for runners over 40 preparing for races from 5K through the marathon any time except their long run day. (My open-mindedness has limits.) For example, rather than trying to get in a mid-week 11-miler, if breaking it up into a 7-mile run and a 4-miler will help ensure you put in the mileage and stay injury-free, then that's a smart option.
NOTES: More open-minded now.
THEN: In the July/August 2004 issue, I discussed 10 ways to improve your running economy (how much oxygen you use to run at a given pace). The basic idea is that if you can run faster using the same amount of oxygen then your racing performances will improve. I made the following six training recommendations: "1) run a portion of your training at race pace; 2) during training, simulate the terrain you will race over; 3) increase your training mileage; 4) improve your running technique; 5) eliminate weaknesses; and, 6) taper your training before races" and the following four recommendations for racing: "1) wear lightweight shoes; 2) draft behind other runners into the wind; 3) relax while racing; and, 4) wear aerodynamic racing gear."
NOW: While each of those factors is still valid six years later, if I were to rewrite the article, I would put a much higher emphasis on adding resistance training (strength training) to improve your running economy. A 2008 review of studies on the effects of resistance training on running economy in highly trained runners in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found an average improvement in running economy of 4.5 percent after adding six to 14 weeks of weight training or plyometrics. Improvements in running economy should result in improved racing performances--and 4.5 percent is big!
What kind of resistance training is most effective in improving running economy and racing performance? At this point we can't be sure, but studies have found that both heavy weight training and explosive plyometric training have led to improvements in running economy. As an added bonus, your running training inhibits hypertrophy, which will allow you to make strength and power gains without getting bigger muscles (and added weight). The runners I work with currently do two resistance training sessions per week, including both traditional weightlifting exercises (e.g., dead lifts and split squats) and several explosive plyometric exercises. As with barefoot running, there's a definite injury risk in the start-up phase, so get advice from an experienced coach to ensure you're doing the right exercises in the right amount with the right technique.
NOTES: Know more now.
THEN: In the December 2003 issue, I wrote, "The role of the warm-up is to prepare your body to run hard. When you accelerate to race pace after the starting gun fires, the physiological demands on your body increase suddenly and dramatically. For example, the amount of blood pumped by your heart increases 5 to 6 times, and your oxygen consumption increases about 15 times. If you do not warm up thoroughly, you put unnecessary additional strain on your muscles, tendons, ligaments and cardiovascular system."
My recommendation was to run 10-15 minutes, and then "Stretch gently for 10 to 15 minutes. Stretching will help prepare your muscles for the longer stride length you use when running fast." I added: "Recent evidence indicates that prolonged static stretching has a short-term effect of reducing muscle strength, so limit your stretching to two to three repetitions per muscle group and do not hold your stretches for more than 15 seconds. Save your major stretching session for after the workout or race."
NOW: There's now evidence that dynamic stretching provides better preparation for racing than static stretching. In fact, too much static stretching before a race can reduce running economy, which, as discussed above, would be detrimental to racing performance.
Dynamic stretching consists of a series of exercises that warm up the muscles using running-like movements. Dynamic stretching increases your heart rate and prepares your muscles for the range of motion you'll use in the race. This more specific warm-up better prepares the muscles and nervous system for fast running, and can have the added benefit of improving coordination and running technique. There are many types of dynamic stretching exercises; they typically include movements such as lunges, high knees, skip marching and butt kicks. There are a number of useful videos available showing dynamic stretching routines for runners.
THEN: In September 2001, Naoko Takahashi became the first woman to break 2:20 for the marathon by running 2:19:46 in Berlin. Catherine Ndereba shattered that record a week later, running 2:18:47 in the Chicago Marathon. This quick progression led to a resurgence of speculation as to whether the best women's marathoners would ever catch the men.
In the March 2002 issue, I wrote, "Will the gap between men's and women's marathon world-best times get smaller? Probably, but not by much. Even with the best 10,000 meter runners such as Paul Tergat and Haile Gebrselassie now turning to the marathon, the record is unlikely to drop by more than another minute or so in the next decade. While only a handful of women have threatened the women's mark to date, it is the increasing depth of women's distance running worldwide, particularly from the strong African nations, that will likely see the women's mark fall by another 2 to 3 minutes in the next 10 years."
NOW: Today, the women's record is 2:15:25 set by Paula Radcliffe in the 2003 London Marathon, and the men's record is 2:03:59 set by Haile Gebrselassie in the 2008 Berlin Marathon. The gap between the men's and women's records has decreased from 13 minutes and 5 seconds in early 2002 to 11 minutes and 26 seconds today. Thank you, Paula, for improving the women's record by 2 minutes and 22 seconds. If only you were African, my prediction would look pretty good …
NOTES: Wrong continent.
THEN: In the June 1995 issue, I wrote, "Chances are that what makes you slow down in the last few miles of a marathon (or any event that takes longer than an hour and a half to complete) is dehydration or glycogen depletion. A few extra miles in training won't help much, but a well-laid plan to take in water and carbohydrates both before and during a race can make a huge difference in your performance."
The article continued, "Before the race, you must concentrate on carbohydrate loading to increase your muscles' glycogen stores for the start of the race and on drinking enough water to ensure you're fully hydrated. During the race, you must take in carbohydrates to prevent glycogen depletion and take in fluid to prevent dehydration."
NOW: While the fact that dehydration is one of, if not the most significant factor in causing slowdown in the later stages of long races, unfortunately, this article may have contributed to a tendency among some runners to over-drink during races. Studies have found that some marathoners finish the race weighing more than at the start, indicating that they've gone overboard in trying to prevent dehydration. Importantly, in 1995 I didn't discuss the importance of sodium, but added in a column on the same topic in the July/August 2006 issue, "The American College of Sports Medicine advises that, "inclusion of sodium (0.5-0.7 grams per liter of fluid) in the rehydration solution ingested during exercise lasting longer than one hour is recommended since it may be advantageous in promoting fluid retention, and possibly preventing hyponatremia [dangerously decreased sodium concentration in the blood] in certain individuals who drink excessive quantities of fluid."
We now know that two other recommendations in the 1995 article weren't right. I advised, "It takes time for your body tissues to absorb water. You're better off drinking a little at a time frequently than drinking a lot all at once." Research has now found that drinking more fluid less frequently, compared to drinking the same amount in smaller, more frequent intakes, speeds gastric emptying (from your stomach to your intestines). I also stated, "Avoid caffeinated drinks such as coffee, tea and cola, because caffeine is a diuretic and will leave you less hydrated." We already discussed that was wrong. Science has clearly advanced on this topic over the past 15 years.
VERDICT: RIGHT and WRONG
THEN: In the March 2004 issue, I wrote about whether taking caffeine can improve running performance: "Several hundred studies have been conducted on the effects of caffeine on sport performance, and the answer is: probably. Studies with runners and cyclists have shown that caffeine can improve performance in the lab during simulated events lasting from 5 minutes to several hours. Extrapolating from run-to-exhaustion studies in the lab, the likely benefit of taking caffeine is in the range of 1 to 2 percent (20 to 50 seconds in a 10K, 90 seconds to 4 minutes in a marathon)."
At the time, I also wrote, "The side effect that is most likely to reduce running performance is caffeine's diuretic effect. Caffeine may increase dehydration, which would cancel out its performance-enhancing benefits. Interestingly, taking caffeine during exercise does not seem to increase urine formation, and caffeine is less of a diuretic in individuals who are regular caffeine users."
NOW: Since 2004, many more studies have been conducted on the effects of caffeine on athletic performance, and there's now somewhat more evidence that caffeine can positively affect performance. According to several of these studies, a dose of 3 to 6 mg of caffeine per kilogram of bodyweight, depending on your individual response, is still appropriate. Rather than taking caffeine an hour before racing as recommended in 2004, I know a number of marathoners who take 3 to 4 mg/kg bodyweight (e.g., 200 mg caffeine) about a half hour before the start and take more caffeine (e.g., 50 to 100 mg) in the form of gels during the race. Recent studies have also emphasized that staying off caffeine for at least three days pre-race will help increase your sensitivity on race day.
Regarding the diuretic effect of caffeine, however, a couple of studies were already questioning the view I presented by 2004, and a 2005 study found that moderate ingestion of caffeine doesn't increase urine output more than a similar amount of water. I confess to not getting that right!
The 2004 column concluded, "My view is that runners should only consider using caffeine if they are already training hard and intelligently, have an excellent diet, and are working to optimize various other aspects of their lifestyle. If you decide to try caffeine to improve your race performance, start with a low dose and do not experiment in an important race." As a long-time proponent of keeping running as natural as possible, that's still my view.
VERDICT: RIGHT and WRONG
Wrong then? How about now?
If a coach as experienced and knowledgeable as Pete Pfitzinger admits to being wrong on advice he gave 10 to 15 years ago, how can a runner or coach know that current advice isn't equally wrong?
As demonstrated in an area like stretching, today's wisdom may indeed be tomorrow's folly. That said, unless taken to excess, it's unlikely that something like warming up "improperly" with static stretching sabotaged anyone's running career. Keeping up with the most recent knowledge, however, may make the difference in garnering a medal or a PR. Runners and coaches need to be lifelong learners, always holding onto key, timeless principles, but being willing to adapt as research and experience add to our collective knowledge of training and racing.
Pfitzinger states, "The pace of change is slow and steady, with roughly equal contributions from coaches and scientists. There have not been any fundamental changes in training for distance runners since 1995, but a variety of advances in specific areas such as hydration, stretching, and the benefits of resistance training. The basic formula of long runs and tempo runs is still the backbone of successful training from 8K through the marathon." --The Editors | <urn:uuid:d2294578-badd-4369-b8e2-07815a7d22ab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.runnersworld.com/race-training/pete-pfitzinger-was-he-right-or-wrong?page=single | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959198 | 3,745 | 1.773438 | 2 |
If you want to burn fat quickly and reach your goals in the shortest possible time then you need to maximize the amount of fat you burn every day. If for example you could double the amount of fat you burned daily just think of the impact that would have on your body. What if you could actually be burning fat all day long just imagine how much faster your progress would be then?
The problem I see all the time is people who are trying really hard to lose weight but just can´t seem to make any real improvement. Yes they might lose a few pounds here and there but then it stops for a while, then they put some back on, then they lose that and the whole process keeps on repeating itself. They just don´t seem to be able to keep losing fat consistently and get any form of momentum going. Does this sound familiar?
If this applies to you then the simple truth is that you are just not burning enough fat regardless of what exercise or nutrition plan you are following. Here are 3 reasons why this could be happening.
1.You’re not thinking about your hormones.
Most of the mainstream weight loss programs only look at losing weight by using calorie manipulation. ie. Eat x amount of calories and you will see the fat melt away. The thing if this was completely true then most woman I meet would be stick thin however this is not the case and a lot of it is to do with hormones.
When it comes to burning fat hormones are the ones in control.
Hormones such as Leptin, Insulin and Adiponectin are all involved in the fat burning process and they control how much fat we store and how much we burn. If the foods you eat and the way you eat is not set up correctly these hormones can get out of sorts leading to reduced fat burning or even worse increased fat storage.
However there are strategies you can learn to such as food combining, nutrient timing and re-feeding days that allow the body to manage then hormones in your body much more efficiently and therefore allow them to do their job properly which is dealing with the fat in your body.
If you want to know more about these strategies that stop this problem and turn your body into a non-stop fat burning machine then go here – How to to double your fat burning potential every day.
2.The exercise program you follow is not boosting your metabolism properly.
I have touched on this subject of what type of exercise you should be doing for optimal fat burning in previous posts such as how to lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks or how to get a six pack in a month but it is always worth bringing up again.
Essentially you need to be working out with intensity and to accomplish this properly you need to a certain type of exercise technique. If you are going to the gym, training at home or even going outside and doing what we could call traditional fat loss workouts doing one pace cardio exercises such as jogging or doing light weight, high repetition resistance workouts and not seeing quick results you need to ask yourself why.
Yes your diet may not be perfect but another factor is that you are just not raising your metabolic rate enough both during and after the workout. Of course you will have burned calories while you work out but the fat burn will be relatively small and won´t last for long.
Now of course this is still progress but to see really noticeable results this approach will take much longer and require that your diet be really dialed in without any flexibility.
I don´t know about you but I don´t have the time or the inclination to be working out for months on end without seeing much reward for all my efforts.
If you really want quick results and to get the most from the time you set aside for exercise that actually has a positive and lasting effect on your metabolism and therefore on how much fat you burn then in my opinion you need to be doing a combination of full body resistance workouts and interval training done at high intensity ie with short recovery periods.
If you want to more about how to do this type of training then click here – How to burn fat every minute of the day
3.You’re not consistent in your actions
If you were a training client of mine then you would know that consistency is one of my favorite words. In my book consistency is the key factor in achieving anything whether it be fat loss, building muscle or anything else you want to achieve in life.
If you are not doing what needs to be done in terms of exercise and nutrition on a consistent basis you will struggle to lose fat. In fact most of the people who visit my site or read this article already know the basics on how to lose fat but still don´t get results and the problem is lack of consistent effort.
The thing is you are not alone with this issue because apparently less than 10% of people actually stick with any weight loss program for a lengthy period of time and therefore always fall short reaching their goals.
There a number of reasons for this but the ones I see most often are:
Loss of motivation because the program is either too restrictive or too extreme
Not having the time – Most of the time this is just an excuse and really means I am not prioritizing my fat loss regime.
Not seeing results quickly enough
No planning or lack of definite goals
No support network so feel isolated and unable to continue – this one is common for many people
If you know any other barriers as to why people fail to stay with any fat loss programs I would love to hear your views in the comments below.
I know losing weight is tough but if you can see it through the rewards are fantastic. Therefore isn´t important you have all the right information in a plan that you can follow and more importantly stick with?
If you believe so then I recommend you click here Burn fat every minute of the day…..and start making things happen.by | <urn:uuid:b5b804a7-a903-4f02-aea8-e93333f552e9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://energiafitness.com/3-reasons-why-you-struggle-to-burn-fat-consistently/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96502 | 1,207 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Today In History Today In History - May 3 03 May 2012 Bibby Sowray Picture credit: © Rankin ON this day in history......2002, Vivienne Westwood set Channel 4 News' Jon Snow in her sartorial sights. The designer launched an attack on the news anchorman's attire, after spotting him on stage at a conference at the British Museum. "That man's tie looks like it was chosen by a blind man," she said. "It's as if he picks them in the dark. It looks like a rainbow or a broken TV set. I haven't a clue who he is because I never watch television," she added. Snow reacted to Westwood's comments, saying: "She's a fine one to talk. Have you ever seen what she's wearing? She looks like an ice-cream cone - the full Neapolitan flavour. I have to say, in my defence, that, although my ties might look ghastly in the daytime, they look absolutely great in a studio." ...2011, Alice Temperley spoke about the emerald green dress she created for Pippa Middleton to wear to the royal wedding reception. "I was honoured that Ms Pippa Middleton asked us to design her dress for the royal wedding evening reception," the designer told VOGUE.COM. "Pippa is a beautiful young woman and a delight to work with. She looked incredible and the green colour looks great on her skin tone. She came into our store in Colville Mews and she fell in love with the Long Arabia dress - we chose a new colour and reworked it with the lovely new back - incorporating new artwork panels with crystals, gold and silver details. We had about four fittings in our private bridal suite in the Mews. We decided on the colour and artwork panels together."...2004, Elle Macpherson's then-boyfriend, and the father of her two children, Arpad Busson, raised £10 million in five hours. Busson, known as Arkie, invited 400 of the city's most successful financiers to Battersea Power Station and managed to persuade them to part with more than £25,000 each in aid of his children's charity ARK. The auction, which was conducted by Harry Dalmeny of Sotheby's, included a fashion extravaganza coordinated by Tom Ford and Elizabeth Walker, a walk-on part in Pride and Prejudice and dinner with AA Gill and Nigella Lawson. | <urn:uuid:7aba6aed-406d-46da-a0d6-caa5c7252bdb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/history/2012/05/03/jon-snow-said-vivienne-westwood-looked-like-an-ice-cream-cone | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977079 | 515 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Obama urges Congress to pass transportation bill
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama is appealing to Congress to pass a transportation bill that would put money in the pipeline for roads and construction jobs, arguing that it's an economic imperative.
Republicans say they support passing the bill, but Obama says time is running out and "political posturing" may stand in the way.
"There's no reason to put more jobs at risk in an industry that has been one of the hardest-hit in this recession," Obama said Saturday in his weekly radio and Internet address. "There's no reason to cut off funding for transportation projects at a time when so many of our roads are congested, so many of our bridges are in need of repair and so many businesses are feeling the cost of delays.
"This isn't a Democratic or a Republican issue - it's an American issue," the president said.
Obama issued his call as he prepares to make a major jobs speech to a joint session of Congress on Thursday in which he's expected to push for bipartisan action on tax credits and infrastructure spending to get the economy out of its doldrums. A new jobs report just found the economy stopped adding jobs in August and unemployment stood at 9.1 percent.
Federal highway programs, and the fuel taxes that pay for them, will expire Sept. 30 unless Congress acts, and money for construction projects across the country would be held up. That follows the partial shutdown this summer of the Federal Aviation Administration over a showdown between the House and Senate that led to thousands of layoffs of workers on airport construction and other projects.
Transportation experts say the impact of an expiration of highway programs would be even more devastating for the economy. Transportation programs tend to have wide bipartisan support, but given the focus of the House Republican majority on cutting the budget, the legislation could run into disputes over how much to spend on it.
Republicans used their weekly address to push for passage of a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution and attack Obama over his approach to job creation. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., complained that the administration has spent too much money on stimulus initiatives that didn't work while piling on burdensome regulations.
"While our workers are being held back by Washington, there's nothing in place to stop the federal government from bankrolling further big government spending - the kind that leads to government expansion into private-sector jobs, burdensome mandates on job creators and skyrocketing national debt," Goodlatte said.
The debt legislation passed last month requires both the House and Senate to vote on a balanced-budget amendment, and Goodlatte said Obama should use his upcoming jobs speech to join the call for the measure.
But the administration and most Democrats oppose the approach as unnecessary and political, arguing Congress should be able to control the budget without amending the Constitution. Passage is unlikely anyway since it requires two-thirds approval of both houses of Congress and ratification by three-quarters of the states.
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There can be few images of loss in literature more potent than that of the empty stool shown to Scrooge in the Cratchit house after Tiny Tim has died. There are few images more powerful in a film than that of Dumbo’s mother as she is torn from her child and left without him. It’s strange that a topic which can be dealt with so beautifully in cartoon films meant for children is such a taboo, so very unspoken, in every day life. We need a day to remember; even then, I think International Infant Loss Awareness Day is something many people will brush over, most of all because they simply cannot bear to consider it happening to them. So it is better not to think it at all.
None of us were any different before it happened to us. Unlike the Cratchit’s, there is no chance for us to be saved by some unexpectedly benevolent being changing a past and a future. We can’t reverse time. We can’t change it. We can’t fix it or rerun it or scream that we can’t cope with the reality and please could someone alter it for us.
We are stuck with clothes that were never worn.
We are stuck with memory boxes and not nearly enough memories.
We are stuck with a place at a table that will never be filled.
We are stuck with platitudes, sometimes from our own mouths.
We are stuck birthdays that simultaneously do and do not happen.
We are stuck with never being able to grasp a memory, an image and a thought and say “that was him, that is the joy of that person that I remember.”
As this piece of writing says so beautifully, “Infant loss is more than an empty cradle. It’s a life sentence.”
And if you read the comments to that piece, you’ll see we are also stuck with the people who will always believe it was somehow our fault. And we are also stuck with wondering that ourselves.
This year, like last year, I remember.
I remember Freddie.
I remember a twin.
I remember Evie Rose.
I remember Benjamin.
I remember Joel.
I remember Toby and Estella.
I remember Sophia and Thomas.
I remember Matthew.
I remember Lily.
I remember the lost potential children of friends & family who I love.
I remember Florence Violet and Emma Faith, daughters of mothers I knew before these losses.
I remember Daniel.
I remember Minnie.
I remember Thomas.
I remember Jack.
And I remember all the babies of people who have kept me sane this last 18 months and 2 days on my blog, on their blogs, and at Glow. A list I will inevitably keep adding to for days as I get to yet another blog I read and realise the enormity of loss that silently surrounds us. (Forgive me if I have not yet added your child, please remind me, my memory & rss feed are equally inadequate prompts.)
I remember Iris.
I remember Lucie.
I remember Georgina.
I remember Charlotte.
I remember Alex.
I remember Reid.
I remember Hope.
I remember Haloumi.
I remember Gabriel.
I remember Micah.
I remember Cullen.
I remember Otis.
I remember Foster.
I remember Liam.
I remember Laura.
I remember Joseph.
I remember Snowflake.
I remember Margot.
I remember Catriona.
I remember Isabelle.
I remember all the babies of the men and women on Glow who have stood beside me this year.
I am thinking of the babies who belong to women who have told me their stories this year in person, to comfort me and abide with me, but who have not always told me their names.
I am thinking of babies held in hearts and kept private to their families.
I am thinking of the mothers for whom hope was gone almost before it had taken root.
I am thinking of the babies who were longed for and never came.
I am thinking of the mothers for whom pregnancy became surgery & medical procedures.
I am thinking of the women who made the decision to say goodbye for a greater good, while it tore their hearts out and broke their souls.
I am thinking of the mothers who discovered horror on a day that should have meant a whether pink or blue nursery needed preparing.
I am thinking of the mothers who felt stillness where a moment before there had been back flips.
I am thinking of the mothers who prepared or laboured to deliver a baby knowing they would never hear a cry.
I am thinking of the mothers who unexpectedly heard the loudest silence in the world.
I am thinking of the parents who hovered over a neonatal crib, hoping for a miracle, learning medical terms they never wanted to know.
I am thinking of the parents who chose the moment of their child’s last breath and held them as they died.
I am thinking of the parents who didn’t get there in time to do that.
And of all those who fall into the myriad of cracks between, each a chasm as deep and dark as any other.
And for the fathers, the siblings, the aunts and uncles and grandparents for whom life is never quite the same again.
If a woman, or a man, mentions a lost baby or a pregnancy in passing, don’t gloss over it and move on. It won’t save them pain. They mentioned it because they want you to know of that child. They want to speak a name and of a moment and you will help them to allow it.
If they tell you of their loss, don’t equate it to any other loss you know, that was similar in your eyes. It is NOT the same as losing your dog. It is not even the same as losing a grown person you loved. Not more important, but not the same.
Only say “I understand” if you do. Otherwise, “I am so sorry” is quite okay.
If they tell you of their loss, don’t try to make it acceptable. Don’t say it was better that he died earlier before they really loved him, or better that they never knew her, or that he never came home, or that at least they have other children.
Just abide. Just walk a moment beside them.
Just remember that there will always be hope that turned to tragedy. There will always be an empty chair at their table and a space under the Christmas tree where there should have been a present. | <urn:uuid:394154ed-1a9f-40ce-a90e-e91565dfd4a4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.patchofpuddles.co.uk/archives/6024/empty-chairs-at-empty-tables | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966971 | 1,393 | 1.726563 | 2 |
The 'Hereford, Ross and Gloucester Railway' built the line due to an Act of Parliament being passed in 1851. The first section of the Hereford-Ross-Gloucester Railway was opened on 11th July 1853 and ran from Grange Court, which was the junction with the South Wales line, to a temporary station and engine depot at Hopesbrook (or Hopeswood) near the eastern end of the Lea tunnel.
There was slow progress building the 771-yard Lea Tunnel and this delayed completion line. It was built for broad gauge and the single track bore was the most significant structure on the section to Ross. This also marked its highest point on the line.
Passengers, who could have originally boarded at Paddington where the trains originated, had to continue their journey by bus to Ross. It was a further two years before the Hereford, Ross and Gloucester Company completed the construction of the tunnels, bridges and viaducts from Hopesbrook to Hereford.
The stretch from Hopesbrook to Hereford was opened on Friday 1st June 1855 and the first trains arriving were decked out with flags and the Goods Shed at Ross was used to hold a celebratory tea party for 2000 local children.
The opening of the line was a celebrated event not only in the town itself, but across the country and the "Illustrated London News" for July 14, 1855 described the line opening and Ross as:
Quoted from 'Illustrated London News'
OPENING OF THE
HEREFORD, ROSS AND GLOUCESTER RAILWAY.
At length we have the satisfaction to record the opening of this line Railway, which took place on the 1st day of June last, with great rejoicings. On a Rocky eminence looking over the Wye stands the town of Ross. Nothing can be more picturesque than its position from the Railway.
The line allowed the "working classes" access to scenery and places that they would previously only read or heard about. This is illustrated by this extract from the Illustrated London News:
Quoted from 'Illustrated London News'
We should add that the opening of this line of railway gives the tourist cheap and easy access to the tour of one of the finest rivers in Europe. The Wye tour, considered not to be excelled by any in Switzerland, can, by means of this railway, be accomplished in less than two days; and, by by an excursion-train of Great Western, there is not a mechanic in London who may not enjoy, at the cost of one day`s labour and three days` wages, a treat hitherto only within reach of the wealthy.
This meant that Ross was able to cater for an even wider range of the population thus increasing the status of the town.
The woodcut associated with the article
After the completion and opening of the complete line, the temporary depot at Hopebrook were closed and Ross became the principle station. As it was a single track the trains had to pass on the loop at Ross.
Being as the line was not seen as a prosperous one, the land originally purchased to allow the line to be converted to a double track was never used5.
From the beginning the line was worked by the Great Western Railway (GWR) and in 1862 the Hereford-Ross-Gloucester Company was absorbed by the GWR.
Ross to Tewkesbury
A further Act was passed in 1856, allowing a rail link from Ross to Tewkesbury although this was never built. This did lead to the 10 mile Monmouth to Ross line that passed through Walford, Goodrich, Lydbrook and Symonds Yat. This was opened to passengers on 4th August 1873.
James Wallace Richard Hall
James Wallace Richard Hall, who was from Springfields, was a local solicitor and banker and a major player in the creation of the Hereford, Ross and Gloucester Railway Company.
He started out as a solicitor to the company and then later became a director. He died suddenly in 1860 and local donations were used to erect a fountain in his memory.
The original location of the Fountain (Click for a larger image)
Fountain in memory of James Wallace Richard Hall (Click for a larger image)
Part of the fountain is currently located on the corner of Smallbrook Road and 'Station Approach'. It was originally located on the junction of Cantilupe Road, Smallbrook Road and Station Street close to where the roundabout is today but had to be moved to allow improved access to the Ashburton Industrial Estate. Ross-on-Wye Civic Society helped to raise funds to move and rebuild it in 1992.
In 1863 Great Western Railway took over the running of the line.
In 1869 the entire South Wales Railway and the Great Western's main line from Exeter to Truro was broad gauge. The Great Western was determined to change this and do a full conversion by closing up the 7 foot 1/4 inches rails so that they measured 4 foot 8-1/2 inches rather than adding a third rail to "mix" the gauges.
This meant that tests were needed to prove the viability of this. This meant that an experimental conversion was made between Grange Court and Hereford. The twenty-two and a half miles stretch was far from easy to convert. It included short tunnels, sharp curves and difficult gradients. This meant three hundred plate-layers were given seven working days to complete the task.
The experiment was highly successful. Valuable information was gained by the GWR engineers about how future large-scale conversions could be carried out. This brought the realization that every detail possible should be planned and prepared in advance and that the men could not be divided into gangs shifting on as a section was converted because the whole line needed to be tackled simultaneously.
The Hereford to Gloucester line was then fully converted later that year.
Ross-on-Wye Station Building
The first Station building was replaced by the main Station building which was opened in 1890. This was designed by J. E. Danks of the G.W.R Civil Engineer's Department in Paddington.
Ross-on-Wye Station in 1880
Here we can see both the North and South Signal Boxes, the engine shed, the goods shed and the station.
The Ross Station layout in 18801 (Click for a larger image)
Ross-on-Wye Station in 1920
By 1920 the layout had changed. Be careful when reading the diagram, as it also shows various additions to the junction that happened in 1938. In 1938 a third "West" Signal Box has been added to replace both the North and South ones (no evidence remains of any of them) although some of the gear from the Box, including the Webb-Thompson Electric Train Staff Instrument, can be found at the Didcot Railway Centre and were purchased in February 1979 (src: GW Echo No. 67. Autumn 1979. p.16). [ more details ]
The Ross Station layout in 19201 (Click for a larger image)
This is an extract from a GWR half-day excursions timetable for June 1937 from Barry and Penarth Districts. It shows the Third Class return fairs and timetable from the South Wales area up the Wye Valley line to Ross-on-Wye.
Half day exclusion from 1937 (Click for a larger image)
Engine 1445 approaching Ross from Monmouth (Click for a larger image)
This is a scan of a photo of Collett '14xx' class 0-4-2T engine, number 1445, with two carriages as it approaches Ross-on-Wye station from Monmouth. In the background can be seen houses at Hildersley that were just outside the station.
Here we see a photo taken off a train as it sits in Ross Station after it has been snowing.
This shows the back of the station with the main station building in the background and the West Signal Box can be seen in the foreground, dating the photo to sometime after 1938 when that box was added. Many people can be seen on the platform and hanging out of the doors of the train. I believe this train would have been coming from or going towards Monmouth on the Ross to Monmouth line thus the photo was taken pre-1959 which was when the last passenger train ran.
Photo of Ross Station from the east Many thanks to Andrew Hiley for allowing me to use a copy of this photo. (Click for a larger image)
The road, spearhead fencing and trees to the centre and left of the photo are still there today but none of the station buildings themselves remain and this area is now part of the Ashburton Industrial Estate.
The trees, now much larger, have recently had a preservation order put on them because there was a plan to cut them down, but after some petitioning and effort by the people living in the locality, they have been saved.
The loading dock and Hildersley (Click for a larger image)
Here we see the view back towards Hildersley. In the background can be seen the houses at Hildersley, with the engine shed in the middle and the loading dock or platform in the foreground.
This is a photographic view of the south platform as a train pulls into the station and people wait to board it. The layout of the station is quite clear. The bridge between the platforms can be clearly seen as can the various waiting rooms for the different passenger classes with the main station building behind.
A photograph of the south platform (Click for a larger image)
Ross, Railway Station in around 1906 [published by Friths] (Click for a larger image)
A photo view of the Station (Click for a larger image)
Above are postcard and photograph views of the outside of Ross Railway Station.
The main station building in Ross was of a similar design to the one in the photo below. The station below can be found at Kidderminster on the
Severn Valley Railway line.
Kidderminster's SVR Station (Click for a larger image)
Increasing car ownership meant that people were choosing not to use the railway so it became redundant. This was well before the Beeching Report caused the closure of the majority of the smaller lines. This marked the beginning of the end for the railway through Ross. This meant that on the 4th January 1959, the last passenger train from Monmouth arrived in Ross and the line was officially closed on 5th January 1959.
As a direct result of the Beeching Report, on the 31st October 1964, the last trains left Ross for Hereford, on the Ross-on-Wye to Rotherwas Junction section, and the section was officially closed on the 2nd November 1964.
The Ross-on-Wye to Gloucester line, the Ross-on-Wye to Grange Court section, was finally closed on the 1st November 1965 and the Ross to Monmouth line, the Ross-on-Wye to Lydbrook Junction section, was also closed on the 1st November 1965.
A single ticket from Weston-under-Penyard to Ross
Photo of Ross Station after the rails were removed (Click for a larger image)
Here we see a photo, although not particularly clear, of the station area after the rails were removed. In the foreground are the sleepers and to the right is the goods shed. In the distance is the station and bridge between the platforms.
The Last Train
The last passenger train to run the Ross to Monmouth section was a "closure special" (ticket no. 55 can be seen to the right) on 4th of January 1959 and was put on by the Stephenson Locomotive Society. It ran from Chepstow to Ross-on-Wye via Monmouth and is believed to have been the only train to have ever run this route in a single journey.
A ticket from the last train (Click for a larger image)
The last train in Ross Station (Click for a larger image)
The special was hauled by 6412 and 6439, which were a pair of 0-6-0 pannier tanks number 6439 and 6412. Since then, 6439 has been broken up for scrap but 6412 is operating on the West Somerset Railway.
To the left is a photo showing 6439 pulling the last train in Ross Station.
1Track Layout Diagrams of the G.W.R and BR W.R. Section 36 Ross, Monmouth and Chepstow - R. A. Cooke 2The Ross and Monmouth Railway Act, 1871 - printed in London by George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswoode 3Wye Valley Railway - BM Handley/R Dingwall - Oakwood Press 4 Ross Gazette - Article: Tireless worker for town... 5 Ross Gazette - Article: In Memoriam August 31st, 1835 | <urn:uuid:c5d9cd95-f477-4e6a-9632-51d3ea94d837> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ross-on-wye.com/index.php?page=ross_530The_Railway&pg=full | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977376 | 2,688 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Anime, or animation series that either originate from Japan or have distinctive Japanese influences, have achieved enormous popularity in the west. With their Manga style art and their incredible, often unrealistic storyline, anime are generally targeted at an older demographic, though there have been anime for children as well.
Anime are prominent today in both print as well as television. Here are ten of the most awesome and well loved anime of all times:
1. Dragon Ball
One Piece is the story of a boy pirate who gains the super power of elasticity because of having eaten the fruit of a special tree, and his search for the legendary treasure named, you guessed it, One Piece. The charm of this series is that it moves away from the eye-patch and ”Arr!” stereotypes of pirates that we have grown up with, and introduces bizarre ideas like pirates skilled in fighting with the Japanese katana. The characters are lovable and scruffy, and the emphasis is on adventures rather than violence.
This is the story of the adventures of the adolescent Naruto, and how he proves himself to his fellow villagers by becoming the greatest ninja ever. A nine tailed fox demon was trapped inside the orphan Naruto’s body when he was just a baby, and this is why the others in the village have looked down upon him and treated him with disgust all his life. To redeem himself, Naruto must realize his destiny and become a Hokage, the highest rank a ninja can achieve. Naruto is encouraged by his teachers, and he makes some unexpected friends. Action packed and thrilling, Naruto will have you rooting for the underdog.
4. Neon Genesis Evangelion
What could be better than giant anime robots battling scary anime aliens? Neon Genesis Evangelion is a futuristic anime series in which teenagers are trained to pilot huge robots called Evangelions to protect the earth from great big space creatures called angels. Unlike most other action filled anime, Evangelion has a lot of cerebral content. The story is many layered, and a bit of the secret is revealed in every episode. The characters too are well developed and easy to relate to, and you gradually get to know unimaginable things about them as the story unfolds. If you are a fan of science fiction on mystery, this series will appeal to you.
5. Full Metal Alchemist
Full Metal Alchemist is the story of two brothers who have lost parts of their bodies in an experiment gone wrong and are trying to get them back. In the meanwhile, they’ve replaced their missing limbs, or in one’s case, a whole missing body, with metal limbs. While that summary sounds grim and depressing, this anime series is delightfully peppered with humour and wit.The animation is really impressive, and not choppy like most other anime, and the characters are interesting and well rounded. This is an entertaining ride for anyone with a fun side, who is looking for an adventure with laughs.
6. Death Note
When a faultlessly perfect young boy comes across a notebook that says it can kill anyone whose name he writes in it, it makes an excellent premise for a sinister drama to unfold. Death Note is the story of Light Yagami, who decides to rid the world of evil with his new found weapon, but the viewer is gradually made to realize that power can corrupt even the good. As Light transforms from a crime fighter to a serial killer, he searches for other holders of Death Notes, even while he himself is hunted down by his nemesis, the wily detective L. A deliciously dark story and some amazingly believable characters make Death Note one of the best loved anime ever.
7. Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion
Set several years in the future, Code Geass is the story of a Japanese guerilla rebellion against imperialistic forces. With neat action and a gripping storyline, this anime has managed to captivate the imagination of anime lovers throughout the world. But the best and most unique part of Code Geass is its protagonist, Lelouch, the charismatic leader of the rebellion. At once authoritative and scornful of authority, Lelouch is one of the coolest male anime protagonist. Other characters, too, are edgy and enigmatic. Each episode in this series ends in a cliffhanger, making this anime inescapably addictive.
15 year old Kurosaki Ichigo is not like other teenagers, because, ever since he was a child, he could see ghosts and spirits. One day, when his family is attacked by evil ghosts called Hollows, they are rescued by a Soul Reaper called Rukia. Rukia is so badly injured during her fight with the Hollow, that she can no longer fight, and she transfers her powers to Ichigo, transforming him into a Soul Reaper. The rest of the Bleach series tracks the adventures of Ichigo and Rukia as they hunt down and battle evil spirits. With an enormous cast of characters and a twisting storyline, Bleach is the show for you if you like ghost busting, Japanese style.
9. Katekyo Hitman Reborn
When perpetual loser Tsuna finds out that he is the next boss of the dreaded Vongola Mafia Clan, he finds this something very hard to accept. But when they send their best hitman, Reborn, out to train him, he has no choice but to face his destiny. This anime series is the story of the transformation of Tsuna from a friendless fall guy, to the toughest Mafia Lord ever. Every episode witnesses the main character getting stronger and more confident, as he defeats enemies and makes new friends. This series leaves us with the realization that the real battles are fought within ourselves. You will love this anime for its bizarre plot twists, its amazing character development, and its memorable storytelling.
The Pokemon series enjoys a lot of popularity among children of all ages. This series follows Pokemon trainer Ash Ketchum in his endeavour to collect and train all the Pokemon he can find, and pit them against other trainers, in order to be known as the best Pokemon trainer there is. While a lot of people complain that this series is actually sequenced like the Pokemon video games, that is not necessarily detrimental. The Pokemon anime series have a child like appeal, a simplicity, and a factor that can only be called cuteness. If you collected Pokemon cards or played the game, you will love the series.Ads by Google | <urn:uuid:8407257b-0e90-4100-b454-2a13572e8fc7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://savedelete.com/the-10-best-anime-series-ever.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963217 | 1,298 | 1.6875 | 2 |
There are many ways to induce labor in pregnancy, both naturally & medically. Medical labor induction involves taking in drugs and other medication that could be harmful to both the mother and the baby. With more and more women becoming aware of the importance of healthy living, methods to naturally induce labor have come out of the woods and gained mainstream popularity.
Inducing labor naturally is a safe way to stimulate the uterus to contract. It does not introduce chemicals or drugs into the body during pregnancy but instead uses natural methods to induce labor contractions and achieve delivery of a healthy baby.
There are many natural ways to induce labor in pregnancy. But these methods should not be used when the baby isn’t fully developed. Labor induction should be applied when the gestation age has reached the 42-week mark to avoid any unnecessary risk to both mother and child. At the right time, women who are pregnant should try to find the best way that will induce labor naturally if they want to be safe. However, these methods will only work when you’re ready for labor and your due date has arrived.
When you are pregnant, your health and nutrition should be attended with care if you plan to use natural ways to induce labor. A well-balanced diet rich in fiber, vitamins, and minerals will keep your body in a good and comfortable condition when the day comes. Avoid high blood pressure and leg cramps associated with pregnancy by eating cereal and potassium-rich meals. Potassium deficiency will weaken your muscles and take away the strength that is necessary for childbirth and labor contractions that come with it.
Women who are pregnant should take vitamins and supplements to ensure that the required daily dose is met. Besides, you can consult with your health care provider regarding the supplements that you should be adding to your diet. Often, Nature’s Sunshine products, food supplements, are of high quality and made with strict adherence to government regulations.
Acupressure to induce labor is safe. It also reduces the pain of labor contractions and has no side effects. The acupressure points that help induce labor are the following:
- Hoku point (the webbing that is located between the thumb and the index finger)
- Spleen 6 point (the area that is about 4 fingers above the ankle bone and to the inside of the shin bone)
- Bladder 32 (the depression located above the buttock line and the end of the spine)
By applying gentle pressure with fingers and making small circular motions, natural labor induction is produced to generate contractions of the uterus. Usually, the midwife or your partner can do the acupressure on you.
There are special techniques in acupressure that induce labor naturally:
- Adjoining Valley – the Hoku point connects to the large intestine that encircles part of the uterus. Apply pressure to the space between the thumb and forefinger to induce labor.
- Big and High – press the Spleen 6 point to help the baby to descend to your pelvis and open the cervix.
- Three Yin Crossing – press the ankle on the inside of the leg to make contractions stronger.
- Shoulder Well – measure a 4-finger width from the highest point on the shoulder muscle, moving in towards the neck. This is a very tender area and applying pressure here will manage the pain during labor.
Labor naturally with exercise. Walk at your own pace when you reach the third trimester of pregnancy. Walking and being in an upright position helps to pull the baby down to the pelvis by gravity and encourages the cervix to open. During exercising, you should drink plenty of fluids to keep yourself hydrated. Don’t overdo the exercise and rest if your body is stressed.
Induce labor naturally with castor oil. Castor oil causes spasms of the bowels and brings about diarrhea. It also stimulates the uterus and induces labor contractions, thereby helping in the delivery of the baby. Taking 2 tablespoons of castor oil with a glass of orange juice or milk lessens the unpleasant taste and odor. You should feel contractions within 24 hours after drinking castor oil. The risk of taking castor oil is the possibility of your baby passing meconium into the amniotic sac, although there has been no study proving such direct cause of castor oil.
Naturally induce labor by nipple stimulation. You can stimulate labor by gently rubbing and rolling your nipples between your fingers. Do this for 5 minutes and rest for 15 minutes, and work on one nipple at a time only. Nipple stimulation is a potent and strong method of inducing labor as contractions may come in powerful force; therefore, you should use this technique with caution. This method works by releasing oxytocin, which is a hormone that induces contraction of the uterus. Do not perform nipple stimulation if the contractions are coming 3 minutes apart.
Healthy eating is only one aspect of healthy living. The entire spectrum of health care also includes mental health. Too much anxiety is not good for women’s health. Practice relaxation techniques, meditation, and visualization to remain calm. Being physically, emotionally, and mentally healthy will make natural labor induction easier.
Sex is also a great natural way to induce labor. The orgasm the woman experiences will release oxytocin to stimulate the uterus. Prostaglandin from the male semen also helps to soften the cervix and prepare it for opening and effacing.
There are many ways to naturally induce labor during full term pregnancy. Guide to childbirth manuals are available to give you detailed information on how to induce labor using natural methods. | <urn:uuid:f393d5af-1ec1-429b-9f10-259c78ec7109> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.inducelabornow.com/how-to-naturally-induce-labor | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943784 | 1,146 | 2.296875 | 2 |
Now we know how ‘locally led’ the aid really is
April 5 2011: The first Keystone Partner Survey is a ground-breaking initiative to measure the performance of northern NGOs. It summarises feedback from over 1,000 of their southern partners, who told the northern NGOs exactly what they thought about them. Because the data was quantified, the northern NGOs could benchmark their performance and pinpoint where they were doing well and where they should improve.
The first Keystone Partner Survey is a ground-breaking initiative to measure the performance of northern NGOs. It summarises feedback from over 1,000 of their southern partners, who told the northern NGOs exactly what they thought about them. Because the data was quantified, the northern NGOs could benchmark their performance and pinpoint where they were doing well and where they should improve.
During 2010, Keystone brought together 25 international NGOs based in the UK and US, including household names like Save the Children and Christian Aid, and smaller organisations such as Peace Direct. Keystone administered the same carefully-designed questionnaire to all of them. The report and questionnaire are available here.
Across the field, two very clear findings stand out.
First, local organisations send a clear message. They do not want to be treated as sub-contractors, carrying out international agencies’ projects and priorities. They want agencies’ help to become independent and influential organisations in their own right, responding flexibly to local people’s needs.
Second, this feedback is a reliable way of measuring performance. Benchmarks have been calculated and direct comparisons can be made between aid agencies – which is a first for the sector. The report calls for a new reporting standard for agencies that fund local partners. This would create a new level of transparency and accountability, so funds can be directed towards agencies that support local efforts best.
Impressively, some of the international agencies have already chosen to publish their confidential reports, including AbleChildAfrica, Peace Direct, Progressio and Practical Action. Let’s hope more of the others follow.
Carolyn Hayman, PeaceDirect’s CEO, commented: “The Keystone report has helped us focus on the strengths and limitations of our model of locally led peacebuilding. It’s invaluable to have direct and honest feedback from our partners, in a form that is specific enough that we can improve in the future. The benchmarks provide a whole new level of insight so we can understand exactly how we are performing compared to other NGOs.”
Respondents were equally enthusiastic. Their comments included:
I really appreciated the survey. All questions are clear and relevant and will surely contribute to improve our relationships with [the NGO] in future.
And these comments on various NGOs indicate Southern partners’ preferences:
[Our NGO’s] approach [is] much appreciated. It consults us while developing a proposal, takes time to discuss with us and finalise the proposal, fund it and go on with monitoring. All this process in a respectful and transparent manner.
[The NGO] supports us to … undertake international advocacy and networking with like-minded organisations. This is very important in an era of globalisation.
“In the past [the NGO] was much more flexible, and respected [our] planning and priorities. Now it tends to be much more demanding, trying to get partners to fit the requests of the governments or other co-funders.
[The NGO] seems to set ambitious targets as compared to the anticipated result [and] the resources provided… This kills the creativity and flexibility of partners implementing to attain the result.
In summary, the survey process has generated powerful performance data for the northern NGOs and a reliable and safe way for southern partners to make their views heard about how relationships can work better for them. It is already leading to changes in how the northern NGOs operate. If it became standard practice, and surveys were routinely conducted, it could create incentives for northern NGOs to be even more responsive to their southern partners and drive up performance across the sector.
Or, as another respondent put it, “I believe this survey will assist [the northern NGO] in assessing its relationship with its partners and provide an opportunity to narrow any existing gaps in terms of its internal management. This survey will be an important tool for long term planning for [the northern NGO] and its partners.”
Peace Direct was ranked top agency in the survey. Its response can be read here (pdf).
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With government and rebels sitting around the negotiating table, and a growing mass movement calling for peace, what are the prospects for peace in Colombia? Read more » | <urn:uuid:571c50b6-c305-4d5d-a3e3-b868f5fdbaf3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.insightonconflict.org/2011/04/now-we-know-exactly-how-locally-led-the-aid-really-is/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960538 | 1,008 | 1.507813 | 2 |
It Started With One
Woman collects more than 3,000 Nativities.
A Texas woman celebrates the holidays year-round with her one-of-a-kind nativity collection.
Judy Klein, known as "The Manger Maid," has grown her collection from one scene in 1970 into a nativity museum.
"Collecting wasn't in my mind," Klein says.
However, that one scene quickly multiplied.
"Another one came from somewhere and another one and another one and another one and another one," Klein explains.
"The story doesn't change," Klein says. "It's the same in all the countries. But to see how different countries express it, it just blows me away."
Klein's collection continues to grow as friends and family give her new sets.
Her husband even built a separate house for the nativities, and that's how Little Bethlehem of Denton County was born.
It's been open for more than a decade, and visitors from all over the world come for a glimpse.
"I see it as an opportunity to share the Gospel, to share God's gift," Klein said.
No matter the style, shape, or material, she said each one is precious in her eyes.
"Some of us are like wooden clothes pins," she said. "Some of us are 24-karat gold. Most are in between, but God loves the wooden clothes pins just as well."
Bethlehem of Denton County is open to visitors in the evenings and on weekends by appointment only. | <urn:uuid:446d9659-a504-4237-b39e-c9e4f299c921> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kveo.com/news/it-started-with-one | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975723 | 319 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Dec 17, 2012
Is planetary science correct to use Earth as the basis for explaining other planets?
“Appearances to the mind are of four kinds. Things either are what they appear to be; or they neither are, nor appear to be; or they are, and do not appear to be; or they are not, and yet appear to be. Rightly to aim in all these cases is the wise man’s task.”
Recent images from the Mars Science Laboratory, otherwise known as the Curiosity Rover, are suggestive of sedimentary layering and “crossbedding“. Martian areologists claim that the slabs of rock they observe are similar to shale deposits on Earth. The formation was given the name “Shaler” for just that reason.
There is no evidence of shale on Mars. Its surface is largely composed of iron and silicon, with massive quantities of oxygen bound into the soils and bedrock. Although much like Earth geology in some respects, the crust is low in aluminum, one of the most common elements on our planet. Since the atmosphere on Mars is so tenuous—sometimes described as standing on top of a mountain six-times higher than Everest—it lacks the ability to aggressively attack the Martian lithosphere.
On Earth, water vapor in the atmosphere forms a weak carbonic acid solution when it mixes with carbon dioxide and that helps to wear away the rocks. On Mars, such erosion is impossible for several obvious reasons, not the least of which is that there is no open water on Mars or in its atmosphere.
The presence of iron oxide in several different forms causes some investigators to conclude that there was once a dense, oxygen-rich atmosphere that allowed for “rusting” of the iron in its crust to take place. As the overall theory goes, in order for what has become the subtext of nearly every presentation about Mars to exist, the planet must have gone through a stage when there were oceanic quantities of liquid water on the surface. Modern science has retained the long-hoped-for desire that Mars could be the cradle of different life forms that arose and evolved in a separate ecology. Indeed, that is Curiosity’s primary mission, the search for life.
However, there is disagreement in the scientific community about whether such volumes of water could ever have existed on Mars. In the March 5, 2007 edition of Scientific American, it was reported that most of what has been interpreted as water-based erosion on Mars could have come from “dry avalanches” of dirt. The authors expressed serious doubts about whether observations have demonstrated any effects caused by liquid water.
The striated and layered rock in the above image is sharp-edged and broken into angular polygons. The fissures running through the area are filled with pebbles and fine dust. Close up images of the layered chunks reveal some of them to be razor-thin. Similar structures were observed by the Opportunity Rover, still alive and rolling through the Martian terrain.
Those formations exhibit fractures that radiate in concentric arcs from what appear to be hollow impact zones, and have been roughly etched, or eroded away on top. The cracks have edges that are also sometimes razor-sharp. Many are undercut. Several seem to have been sliced off at ground level from large blocks composed of the same material. They cannot be the result of water erosion, and Shaler is not.
Due to their close resemblance to terrestrial physiography, the shapes on Mars are thought to be extremely old and cut by water millions of years ago. Electricity is never part of the equation when geological theories are presented. Failing to consider it, NASA scientists have missed a vital clue in the search for answers to the puzzles of planetary scarring and the origin of Martian surface features. | <urn:uuid:01066ad3-9a1b-41a7-9bf1-cd17f3de175b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thunderbolts.info/wp/2012/12/17/appearances-of-the-fourth-kind/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96458 | 773 | 3.671875 | 4 |
In another of his short essays about the novel
, John Sutherland meditates on the role of the novel as a vehicle for instruction and ‘clueing-up’ in the ways of the world. He’s pretty sympathetic to science fiction, pointing out that it ‘has done as much for the factual scientific education of the average reader as all the educational reforms introduced since CP Snow’s 1959 polemic The Two Cultures
lamented his fellow Britons’ epidemic ignorance of the second law of thermodynamics.’ And while I at first bridled at Sutherland’s suggestion that because a high proportion of Americans believe in X-File alien probings (how quickly SF authors get tired of being asked about UFOs), SF may have been responsible for ‘dumbing down the citizenry’, on reflection, he has a good point; after all, although SF writers aren’t responsible for the finer flights of fancy of flying saucer afficiendos, they did after all invent and propogate tropes about aliens and alien invasions. And worse than flying saucer fever, SF has produced a clutch of post-catastrophe novels that mendaciously suggest that plague, nuclear war or asteroid impact may be a beneficial winnowing of the dumb and undeserving, and that clever and resourceful people will flourish and bring in a Utopia. As if. (On the plus side, SF in the 1950s and 1960s definitely boosted interest in space travel; many people working for NASA were hooked by SF at an impressionable age.)
Whether or not novels instruct and enlighten the reader and make her a ‘better, or at least, better informed’ citizen (a lovely notion), they certainly allow the authors to indulge in their interests and obsessions. I had a lot of fun researching paleolithic art and theories of consciousness for Mind’s Eye
, and delving into police procedures and the economies of massively multiplayer online role-playing games for Players
. And right now I’m deeply immersed in the landscapes of Saturn’s moons, trying to figure out how to convey their strange and wonderful beauty with a minimum of infodumping. | <urn:uuid:582cffe9-80aa-49c7-a82f-7bcbd1af7976> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://unlikelyworlds.blogspot.com/2006/09/learning-world.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95592 | 451 | 1.632813 | 2 |
School district police step in after D.A.R.E. program cut
Metro cutbacks are affecting a popular school program that teaches kids to stay off drugs and alcohol. Video by ktnv.comvideo
Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) -- Cutbacks by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department are affecting a popular school program that teaches kids to stay off drugs and alcohol.
The D.A.R.E. program will be suspended until further notice, but school police are not letting our local students go without drug and alcohol abuse education.
A video produced by Metro explains the $46 million budget shortfall.
"I'm very worried about the budget situation we're faced with and the service level that we provide," Sheriff Doug Gillespie said.
Las Vegas currently has less than the standard officer-per-resident ratio. As a result, the popular D.A.R.E. program was suspended in order to get those officers who teach it back on the streets patrolling.
"When you're looking at budget cuts, nothing is safe," Captain Ken Young with CCSD police said. "The man bread and butter for us is the protection of our citizens, so I understand when the Sheriff is making the decision that he needs more bodies on the streets. We understand that."
But parents in the Vally remain concerned that their children won't get the drug and alcohol abuse education they need. That's why CCSD police are stepping in. They'll be working with the Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program to come up with a curriculum like D.A.R.E. and will be using school officers to teach it.
"We're looking at some of the best practices of D.A.R.E. and some of the things that really worked," Captain Young said. "We're also looking at removing some of the things that didn't work, and adding those things that are specific to us so that we can tailor it to our kids."
Although the curriculum is still in the early stages, there will most likely be a focus on prescription drug use and marijuana use. Police say those are their biggest areas of concern. | <urn:uuid:481f6ed8-28fe-4e29-8b6d-c5af275922f1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ktnv.com/news/local/167922205.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970435 | 442 | 1.671875 | 2 |
CAUTION: This post is very upsetting but I hope you will read it because it is a story of a hero from another land. I hope you read this story so that we can all remember that not only human lives are destroyed by war. I hope you read this story so that we can all remember to have compassion for every living creature on this planet. I hope you read this story so that we can all know that love does endure.
I cried and unless you are a much better person than I, you will cry too. I read about this hero months ago and I knew I wanted to tell as many people as I could his story but I have not been able to. Every time I started to write about him I would start crying. I am certain that there are far worse atrocities in this world but there is just something about this story that breaks my heart.
The city of Kabul, Afghanistan once had a beautiful zoo. In 1978, the zoo received a lion cub from a zoo in Germany and they named him 'Marjan', which is Afghan for 'precious stone'. He was only two years old and little did they know just how precious he would turn out to be.
The Russians invaded Afghanistan in 1978 and for more than a decade, Kabul was spared the ravages of war. In 1992 after the Russians left, civil war broke out and it centered around Kabul. In the months that followed the zoo was virtually destroyed and the animals that were injured were not even given pain medication because the shelling had destroyed their medical supplies.
After the civil war in 1993, a foolish soldier decided to show his friends how brave he was. He went into the lion, Marjan's den and decided he would pet the mate, Chucha, of Marjan. The lioness did not react to the soldier but Marjan ran across the enclosure and killed the man. Now it is a lion's nature to protect his lioness and Marjan was no different than any other lion. The dead soldiers brother retaliated against the lion by coming to the zoo and throwing a hand grenade in with Marjan who though it was food.
The purpose of a male lions mane is to protect him from other lions who might attack. It apparently works with hand grenades as well. When the grenade exploded, Marjan's neck and chest were spared serious injury but his face was badly mutilated by the blast. One eye had to be removed and shrapnel became embedded in his jaw and mouth and most of it could not be removed. The concussion also rendered him deaf. But Marjan recovered and lived on.
Despite the massive injury to Marjan, he was still standing and a photojournalist who was present and who assisted in holding the lion for treatment said that it was amazing how Marjan seemed to know that the stranger was trying to help him and did not struggle.
Marjan was loved by the people who took care of him and Marjan showed his love for them in return. Lions are very spiritual people and are capable of forming the deepest bonds with humans (Just watch youtubes video about 'Christian the Lion' if you doubt this).
Love can give new strength to someone who is weak and Marjan's relationship with his human friends surely strengthend his will to live.
Still it was not easy for Marjan. He had surgeries to repair damages to the jaw but he lost his teeth. Majan could no longer chew on bones. He had to be fed soft meat so he could eat it properly. He needed other types of special care too but in spite of everything he continued to thrive.
The peaceful times for the Kabul Zoo were short lived when the Taliban took over in 1996. They regularly tormented the few remaining animals in the zoo. Marjan was badly stoned and the Taliban officials wanted to kill all the zoo animals. The animals were spared when it was pointed out to the officials that Mohammed had loved animals and kept pets.
Some time in 2000, Marjan's lioness, Chucha, died of a mysterious illness. Marjan grieved her death. He did not eat for a week. He was closely bonded to his keeper and received comfort from him. The keeper had no fear of Marjan. The keeper said he was a noble, gentle king.
After 9-11 when the U.S. began their attacks on Afghanistan, things at the zoo became even worse. The zoo workers received no pay but they loyally remained and cared for the animals left at the zoo. A local butcher saw to it that Marjan always had something to eat. He was already a local hero with the people. He was the lion who would not give up and continued to be proud.
Marjan became world famous in 2001, when Kabul was freed from the Taliban. Soon after the plight of the zoo was made known around the world and help poured in, especially for Marjan. There are several organizations in America still helping the zoo.
Eventually a team of zoo experts made it to the Kabul Zoo. After a thorough exam of Marjan he was reported to be weak and thin but in reasonably good health. They felt any further surgeries to Marjan would be risky because of his age and his injuries had healed fairly well. He was treated for parasites and put on vitamins and heat was installed to his den box. They also decided to build a ramp into his den box as Marjan often stumbled as he entered it. It was believed he was going blind in his remaining eye.
At first Marjan responded well to his treatments and then he seemed to have trouble moving around. Then he started to go downhill and he stopped eating. It was not long before he became very weak and required assistance to get in and out of his den box. Always the strong lion, Marjan did not appear in any distress and enjoyed lounging in the warm sunshine. Within a few days he became so weak he had to be carried into his den box on a mattress. The next day his caretaker found him dead lying in the same spot he had been placed the night before. Grown men cried. Marjan's age had been established at just over 25 years at the time of his death.
It is believed that Marjan died of liver and kidney failure. He would have been about 88 years in human years. Lions usually live about 20 years in captivity.
Some wondered why Marjan had died when he was in reasonably good health a few weeks earlier. The old lion had led a tough stress filled life for most of his years. His deep relationship with his caretakers enabled him to ward off the adverse conditions in his life. He was much loved by his caretakers and the Afghan people. He was able to let down his stress defense and relax for the first time in many years. So Marjan, who had survived many tough times gave in to old age.
They said that Marjan did not appear to suffer very much. Even though he did not move around very much in the end his caretaker said he appeared content. They said he drifted off peacefully and died in his sleep.
Marjan is in that special place God has for brave souls (and creatures). He is once more whole and he can see and hear and he is free from the suffering and cruelty of this world.
After Marjan died, his body was left where it lay. Many Afghan people came by to pay their respects to their brave hero. His remains were buried on the zoo grounds. A memorial service was held for Marjan and a statue is being erected at the zoo entrance when it is rebuilt.
A sign was erected over Marjan's grave. The sign reads, 'Marjan. He was about 25 and he was the most famous lion in the world'.
Marjan was born in captivity and lived a life on the front line. Marjan was a symbol to the Afghan people. They felt he was old like their country and like their country he went through hardships but remained strong.
He is a symbol of strength when all hope is lost. He was a symbol of love that few of us can really understand.
Well, I hope everyone made it through April Fool's Day. Why do people think this is such a fun day? Why does this day cause a sane, peace lovin', usually the first to come to the rescue of anyone havin' a problem, person who is old enough to have grown up enough to have gotten all this nonsense out of their system, wreck havoc on their household?
I just don't know the answer to that, I wish I did. I mean I wouldn't even think about puttin' a rubber band around the sprayer on the kitchen sink so when the innocent spouse turns on the faucet first thing in the mornin', well, let me just say they got sprayed good. Or when the coffee pot button is pushed (the thoughtful spouse prepared the coffee the night before) and the yummy smell of fresh brewed coffee entices one to reach for their favorite coffee cup, but for some reason they can't pick up the cup because the offendin' spouse has rubber cemented it to the shelf!
Maybe this was a sign? Maybe someone has put sugar (a lot) in the bottom of the coffee filter in the pot and just put a little coffee on top of said sugar. The innocent spouse doesn't even notice the color of the coffee is off. I mean, that coffee was certainly needed because the poor tricked spouse had to get up at 2 a.m. and again at 4 a.m. to see why the car alarm was goin' off.
You think it would end here, right?
It's sad to say, this was kinda just the start. The poor innocent spouse was soooo glad when April Fool's Day bit the dust.
I must say my husband is such an easy goin' person AND a good sport!
So to make it up to him today I am gonna make his favorite coffee cake.
I call this coffee cake Blackberry Buckle and is it yummy. All the ingredients combined make this one of the best coffee cakes you're ever gonna taste. It's full of good for you goodies like blackberries, oats, nuts, milled flax seed, more nuts and.......well, let me just give you the recipe.
TOPPIN' 1/2 cup white sugar 1/3 cup flour 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 cup butter, softened 1/2 cup nuts, chopped
MIDDLE STREUSEL FILLIN' 1/2 cup brown sugar 2 tablespoons flour 2 teaspoons cinnamon 2 tablespoons butter, melted 1/2 cup nuts, chopped
1 cup sugar 3/8 cup canola oil 2 eggs 1 cup buttermilk 2 cups flour 1 cup oats 3 teaspoons bakin' powder 1 teaspoon bakin' soda 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup milled flax seed 2 cups frozen or fresh blackberries
Now I use blackberries 'cause I have frozen ones on hand but this recipe can be made with blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and peaches. Just about any fruit you want to use will work.
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
We'll mix the toppin' first.
In a small bowl, mix the sugar, flour and cinnamon together.
Toss in the nuts. I use pecans but walnuts work just as well.
Mix in the softened butter. Set this bowl aside.
In another small bowl mix the brown sugar and flour.
Add in the cinnamon.
Any cinnamon will work but Vietnamese cinnamon is considered the best in the world and if you've never tried it well, tarnation thunder, it tastes like it's already got sugar in it! It is sweet and the best tastin' cinnamon you'll ever taste.
Add you melted butter to the mixture.
Stir in the nuts, and sit this bowl aside.
Now for the cake,
In a large bowl, mix the sugar and oil together well. Please disregard the wrong picture here. The correct photo disappeared and it's out floating around blog land somewhere.
Whisk in the eggs and buttermilk. Set bowl aside.
In another bowl, blend flour, oats, bakin' powder and soda, salt and flax seed together well.
Blend flour ingredients gently into egg and buttermilk mixture just until well blended together.
At this point it kinda looks like a bowl of oatmeal.
Very gently mix in your blackberries or fruit of choice. If you use frozen fruit, do not thaw, just mix the frozen fruit right in there.
Spread 1/2 of the blackberry batter into a 13x9" casserole bakin' dish.
Sprinkle the middle streusel fillin' over the top of the blackberry batter.
Drop by spoonfuls the rest of the blackberry batter over the streusel.
Sprinkle the toppin' mixture all over the top.
Pop this bad puppy into your preheated oven and bake 45-50 minutes.
Your kitchen is gonna smell like heaven while this is bakin'. And the flavor, I reckon it's about the best coffee cake I've ever eatin'. And I know it seems like there is a lot of sugar in there but it really isn't too sweet so don't think that.
Brew a pot of coffee (minus the cup of sugar), add a dollop of whip cream and any girlfriend will be happy to come over and spend the mornin' visitin' with ya.
And your husband will forgive you just about anythin'. At least until next April Fool's Day.
Hi, my name is Sadie and I rule the roost around here. I may be a little dog but I'm a mighty dog, all 3 pounds of me. My favorite place to lie is on the couch. My favorite toy is a toilet paper roll, no paper just the empty cardboard. I love to chew on it and tear it to pieces and even though my mommy has a whole basket full of toy's, that ol' paper roll is the cat's meow.
Speakin' of cat's,
My life was very peaceful here until my mom thought I needed a companion. For some reason she thought I would like a cat. My life has not been the same since they brought HER into the house. They thought it was cute to name her Skitty because she's Sadie's kitty, get it, Skitty. Yeah, I'm greatly amused.
No matter where I lie, she thinks she needs to be there too. She hogs the pillow and is constantly pickin' a fight.
I love lyin' on the furnace vent when the warm air is blowin' and now it's a constant battle for the one I want to lie on, never mind there are a half dozen other vents SHE can go lie on, it has to be the one I want.
Mommy thought it was so cute to put me in the clothes basket today. That pesky cat wanted in the basket with me but I wasn't gonna let her.
SHE is so annoyin'.
"I said, You are not comin' in here with me!"
"Ha ha, I'm in and you're not."
"Stop that you pesky thing!"
Okay, now I'm gettin' out!
"Would somebody get me outta here?"
"Back you BEAST!"
I gotta get out of here!
"Mommy, please get me out of here"
Now this is the way it should be. Just leave HER in there forever as far as I'm concerned.
"Ha ha you stupid cat!"
"They're gonna leave you in there forever!"
"Hee hee hee"
Oh yes, back on the couch where I belong and no pesky cat in site!
Be sure and come back to see me again, I love the attention.
1) Just one God 2) Put nothin' before God 3) Watch yer mouth 4) Git yourself to Sunday meetin' 5) Honor yer Ma & Pa 6) No killin' 7) No foolin' around with another fellow's gal 8) Don't take what ain't yers 9) No tellin' tales or gossipin' 10) Don't be hankerin' for yer buddy's stuff
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Psalm 19:14
I live in a small farming community in the Ozarks with my husband, five cats,and one adorable teacup Yorkie. We have two grown children, a daughter and a son and one incredibly amazing granddaughter.
Wikipedia lists a
Hillbilly as: Someone who lives in the Ozark Mountains.
I know a lot of people who have moved here from other parts of the country and they are definitely not hillbilly's.
So visit for a spell and I'll show you some pictures of these hills, give you some recipes for good down home vittles and fill you'uns in on a little hillbilly way of talkin and some history on them thar hills!
I hope you and yourn enjoy my website. | <urn:uuid:11251f30-d550-45fa-85fb-6061785c1c72> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hillbillywoman.blogspot.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983888 | 3,569 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Dani Neuharth-Keusch, Indianapolis
Group should help block plant
On Tuesday, consumer and environmental advocates called on Citizens Energy Group to be a hero for Hoosier ratepayers.
Heroes take a stand when the people are at risk. Right now, the people of Indiana face $1.1 billion in higher heating bills over the next eight years if Indiana Gasification LLC, a subsidiary of the New York Based holdings company Leucadia National Corp., moves forward with its proposed coal to gas plant in Rockport.
Citizens Energy is not the villain in this story, but it's not the hero yet, either. As a charitable trust, Citizens Energy should be at the forefront of the movement to protect ratepayers by stopping this project. Yet even as Indiana's investor-owned utilities lobby against the Rockport plant, Citizens Energy has yet to choose a position. Here's a question for Citizens Energy: will you play it safe and keep silent, or will you save the day and stop this project in its tracks? | <urn:uuid:2194a2ca-2175-4001-9d02-f54429f216ca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.courierpress.com/news/2012/dec/09/no-headline---095/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927625 | 212 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Toothed whales and dolphins are mammals that live in the sea. They may look like large fish, but, like other mammals, they breathe air, have warm blood and give birth to live young that resemble the parents and which are fed on milk by their mothers. The ancestors of the toothed whales were land mammals that went back to the water millions of years ago. They adapted to water so well that they now spend their entire lives at sea. Their front legs have turned into flippers and their back legs have been lost completely. Their tails have become broad and flattened for swimming and they have lost all of their fur. The dolphins are the best known group of toothed whales . Others in the group include the mighty sperm whale made famous in the story "Moby Dick". All toothed whales breathe air through a single blow hole in the top of their heads. Some can dive very deep after prey. They are found all over the world from the tropics to the poles. Some live in shallow coastal areas, some up rivers, and others in the deep oceans. All of them have a special ability called "echo location" which enables them to find food using sound. Some are thought to be very intelligent.
Sylvia Annie Adam
Group size range:
1.5m - 11m.
|To be a member of this club you need:
|Other names these organisms are known as:
dolphins, porpoises, sperm whales and killer whales.
|What do they look like?
Most toothed whales look like very large fish except that they do not have any scales, have a single blow hole on the top of their heads for breathing air, and have a horizontal instead of vertical tail. Many species have a large dorsal fin in the middle of their backs. Their bodies are very streamlined and most do not have necks, their heads merging with their bodies. Most are grey to black, their bellies usually lighter in colour than their backs and often lightly spotted. Many of the dolphins and smaller toothed whales have a long muzzle or 'rostrum'. All have teeth, although, in some they stay buried in the gums while in others they can have strange shapes. Most, though, have many small pointed teeth for catching fish and squid. Their backs are often covered in pale scars caused by injuries from other whales or sharks or fishing nets. Usually they are seen in groups or 'pods' from a few to several hundred individuals. The young look like miniature versions of their parents and can swim as soon as they are born. The sperm whale looks a bit different to the others as it is much larger and has an enormous square head with a very long narrow lower jaw.
|Where do they live?
The toothed whales can be found in almost every ocean and sea in the world. Some prefer the tropics, others the poles, and others can be found almost anywhere. Some live entirely up rivers. Others live in shallow coastal waters, in bays and around rocky headlands. Some live in amongst the ice floes at the poles. Larger members of the group tend to live in the deeper waters of the oceans. Most tend to only make comparatively shallow dives in search of food. The exception is the sperm whale which can dive to 3200m for up to 2 hours, where it hunts and eats giant squid. Most species do not seem to be territorial, wandering over large areas or great distances along coastlines. They usually live in small groups, or 'pods', although, especially with some species of dolphin, large groups of several hundred animals may occur. Little is known of migratory patterns in these animals.
|How and what do they eat?
Toothed whales differ from their cousins, the baleen whales, in that they chase and eat individual prey. Fish form the basic diet of all toothed whales, but some eat squid as well. To do this, all members of the group are fast and agile swimmers. Most have many small pointed teeth for holding onto slippery prey. The sperm whale, the largest member of the group, will dive to great depths for up to 2 hours to hunt giant squid. Killer whales (which are really large dolphins) are fierce hunters and will eat penguins, seals and even other whales, as well as fish. All toothed whales probably use 'echo location' to find food. This is like a sonar system where the whales make a clicking sound which bounces off their prey and back to the whale. From this reflected sound, the toothed whales can determine the size and the location of the prey. Some blind river dolphins depend on this 'sixth sense' entirely. Some researchers thinks the clicking sounds the whales make may be able to be focused into a beam, and in large whales this beam may be so strong that it may also be able to stun prey as well as find them.
|What eats them?
Toothed whales have few predators. The smaller members of the group may be hunted by sharks but are generally able to escape from them by being fast and agile or can defend themselves in groups. There have even been reports of dolphins ramming sharks in the belly in order to defend other members of their pod. The only other real predator of most toothed whales is itself a member of the group - the killer whale or 'orca'. Killer whales are considered by many to be the greatest predators in the oceans and have no natural enemies. At times they have even been seen attacking large baleen whales such as the blue whale. Apart from these natural enemies, the biggest killers of toothed whales are people.
|How do they grow and reproduce?
Toothed whales spend their entire lives in the water and so mate and give birth in the seas. Many members of the group do not seem to have a seasonal pattern of breeding and may breed at any time of the year, but with peaks of activity at various times. Gestation for most members is between 10 and16 months. Unlike most mammals, when toothed whales give birth, the 'calf' comes out tail first or 'breech'. The new born whale must then get quickly to the surface for its first breathe and is often helped by a 'nurse' whale accompanying the mother. The young are able to swim strongly almost immediately after birth. They are nursed by their mothers, feeding on milk from her mammary glands for up to two years before being entirely independent .The life span of most members is probably around 25 years, although the sperm whale may live to 50 years or more.
|Who do they live with?
The toothed whales usually live in small groups known as 'pods'. These are generally loose family groups like tribes. However, some species will form huge groups of several hundred animals. Others may spend most of their lives being solitary, forming small groups only during the breeding season. Sometimes they are seen mixing with their larger cousins, the baleen whales, and dolphins have even been seen 'bow-riding' on the front of some whales. They have their own species of parasites that live both internally and externally.
|Their connection with people.
Most toothed whales are considered harmless, even friendly by some people. There are several places in the world where wild but curious dolphins have learnt to interact with people. Many dolphins and even some larger toothed whales like pilot whales and killer whales are kept in captivity around the world where they learn to perform spectacular tricks. These captive whales have also been studied intensively and some scientists believe that they may have a very rudimentary language. Unfortunately, however, the majority of our interactions with toothed whales are destructive. Hundreds of thousands of toothed whales, particularly dolphins, die each year as a result of the activities of the world's fishing industries. Many are caught in nets and drown, others are killed by fishermen that think dolphins are eating their fish. Commercial killing of dolphins is practiced in some parts of the world. Sperm whales, the largest members of the group, were once the prime target of the whaling industry, 'spermaceti' and 'ambergris' from their carcasses being worth a great deal of money.
|Enviro Facts - Dolphins|
|WWF - Dolphin and Porpoise Facts|
|Whales on the Net - discovering whales|
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ICSU-UNESCO RIO+20 Regional Workshop
6-18 April 2011 (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
The Workshop facilitated discussion among prestigious scientists and engineers of the region on the main themes of Rio+20 as well as high-level dialogue with local scientific and technological authorities.
The third International Forum for Sustainable Asia and Pacific (ISAP-3 )
26-27 July 2011 (Yokohama, Japan)
Sessions were dedicated for discussions on governance of sustainable development and green economy, and the Forum developed key messages from regional stakeholders to be delivered at the Regional Preparatory Meeting in October.
Major Group & Stakeholders Asia-Pacific Meeting "The Road to Rio 2012: Charting Our Path "
17-18 October 2011 (Seoul, Republic of Korea)
The Meeting fed into the Rio+20 preparatory processes and was an opportunity for major groups and stakeholders to contribute to the development of the final outcomes at Rio+20. Outcomes of the meeting were the form of messages, statements and contributions from major groups to the themes of Rio+20.
Promoting a Transformative Agenda for Sustainable Development: A regional conference on development models and CSO strategizing session on Rio +20
15-17 August 2011 (Bangkok, Thailand)
The meeting was organized to 1) increase the awareness and understanding of CSOs and People's movement of the South of policy agenda in Rio+20, and 2) bring different CSOs and People's movement of the South into a common discussion to exchange ideas and experiences and develop a common advocacy agenda for Rio+20 and beyond.
Asian Women's Forum on Gender justice and the Green Economy: Special focus on water, energy and food security
12-16 September 2011 (Bangkok, Thailand)
The Forum developed key recommendations for gender equity and integration of gender perspectives into decision making process of planning and the implementation of programmes in water, energy and food security. | <urn:uuid:1e45989a-568a-4e5f-b261-a12f10b55389> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.unescap.org/esd/environment/Rio20/pages/Prep-participation.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924365 | 396 | 1.8125 | 2 |
ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOX) More and more we hear the term “global marketplace”. But do we speak the language?
KMOX News asked Susanne Evens, founder and CEO of St. Louis-based AAA Translation. “English is still the business language. English has been transformed from a matter of the elite, to nowadays a skill needed for the entire the workforce.”
But Evens adds, its helpful to know even a few words of a business counterpart’s native tongue, “If you’re very forthcoming and you’re willing to meet people and you’re willing to learn about the culture and know a few of the words like ‘please’ and ‘thank you’, that opens up the world for you.” And if you want your children to be able to better navigate an international marketplace she says there are a number of language options. Evens says Spanish is the top recommendation she hears, along with French, “some people are saying Chinese would be a good language and then Arabic. I’ve noticed a lot of people that I run into on the international level are studying Arabic.”
Of course Evens recommends a translator for business discussions. She says relying on computer software isn’t a safe bet. In one case for a pharmaceutical company it created a deadly error. “In English the instructions told patients to take a pill once a day. The translating software translated the word ‘once’ into Spanish correctly but instructed the patient to take the medication eleven times per day.”
Evens says computer programs can’t catch nuances; words in some languages don’t exist in others, programs don’t compensate for dialects, and may miss puns and metaphors.
Copyright KMOX Radio | <urn:uuid:d16eb9f4-3fc7-481a-828e-aa238123c8ae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2012/11/15/international-business-do-you-speak-the-language/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942405 | 386 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Temperatures have not risen in Florida, and it has been six years since Florida was hit by a hurricane – the longest period on record. But the author wanted to blame something on global warming so he made up some mindless crap and his editor published it.
The debate over global warming tends to focus on future perils – scary maps of flooded suburbs, the northward creep of tropical diseases, rich farmland turning into desert.
But some of the effects of global warming have already arrived in South Florida, as coastal cities flood more frequently and overheated corals turn white and die. The region’s temperatures have not gone up, however, and many scientists say climate change has had little effect on hurricanes. | <urn:uuid:69bdcf9f-3a6d-4216-a176-4553ab96f7ae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.real-science.com/mysterious-teleconnections-global-warming | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972144 | 144 | 2.59375 | 3 |
You may have seen an announcement today from privately-held Achronix, which plans to start manufacturing a future line of FPGA products on our forthcoming 22 nanometer chip-making process.As many of you know, Intel enjoys a multi-year lead on manufacturing and process technology. Our factories or “fabs” are our prized possession. In fact, we just recently announced another $6-8 billion multi-year investment in manufacturing in the US alone. As Senior VP Brian Krzanich told CNET, we now have line of sight to 22, 15, 11 and 8 nanometers, with first 22nm products expected to be in production in the second half of 2011. Mind you, a nanometer measures in at one billionth of a meter. These days, more than 10 million transistors can fit in the period at the end of this sentence, and we can now make chips the size of a fingernail that have about one billion transistors inside them. Being ahead and relentlessly pursuing Moore’s Law means smaller and lower-power Intel® Atom®, Core® and Xeon® chips about every two years. Yet these chips will still increase performance and provide more chip ‘real-estate’ to add features such as graphics or virtualization inside. But the advantage isn’t just a time-to-market one. We are also increasingly adding unique features to our manufacturing capability, such as our 2007 Hafnium-based high-k, metal gate technology, which created a new formula for reducing current leakage, and thus power consumption, of transistors. We’ve shipped more than 500 million chips with high-k, and we’ll be on our third generation of that technology when we begin producing 22 nm processors. With Achronix, we are selectively offering access to our 22 nm fabs. For perspective, this deal would only make up a tiny amount of our overall capacity, significantly less than one percent, and is not currently viewed as financially material to Intel’s earnings. But it’s still an important endeavor for us that we’re committed to deliver on. I can tell you the folks over at Achronix are very excited about the opportunity and the expected performance boosts they will see in their Intel manufactured products. We are too. So what say you? Assuming Intel (and our customers) can find alignment to benefit and profit from a relationship like this, what’s your view of opening up our manufacturing doors to others? Let us know.
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A NEW exhibition at the Red Location Museum in New Brighton has contextualised the devastating riots that rocked Port Elizabeth's northern areas more than two decades ago.
The exhibition – The 1990 Northern Areas Uprising in Context – is also an attempt to heal those affected by the unrest of that August in which dozens died.
Northern Areas History and Heritage Project (NAHHP) member Michael Barry was the keynote speaker at the launch last night.
"Twenty-three years ago saw the people of the northern areas being traumatised. Our communities were separated but now is the time to talk with each other. This process will assist to heal the community," Barry said.
For the full story read The Herald, or get the complete newspaper, including comics, classifieds, crosswords and back editions in our e-Edition | <urn:uuid:b9f17952-c673-4d50-a95a-d3571b2bb684> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.peherald.com/news/article/12997 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97598 | 164 | 2.1875 | 2 |
Extra Sleep in Infants Seems to Signal Growth Spurts
Bodies of babies lengthened within 48 hours of sleep bursts, study found
SUNDAY, May 1 (HealthDay News) -- Increased bursts of sleep in infants are linked with growth spurts, new research indicates.
The new study included 23 parents who kept daily sleep records for their infants (14 girls, nine boys), who were 12 days old at the start of the study. The researchers analyzed the total of 5,798 daily sleep records and also tracked the infants' growth.
The infants had uneven bursts of sleep, with the amount of sleep over a 24-hour period increasing at irregular intervals by an average of 4.5 hours per day for two days, the study found. In addition, the infants' number of sleep episodes per day also increased in intermittent surges of an average of three extra naps per day for two days.
There was a significant association between these increases in sleep and growth spurts in body length, which tended to occur within 48 hours of the sleep bursts. The researchers determined that the likelihood of a growth spurt increased by about 43 percent for each additional sleep episode and by 20 percent for each extra hour of sleep.
The study is published in the May 1 issue of the journal Sleep.
"The results demonstrate empirically that growth spurts not only occur during sleep but are significantly influenced by sleep," lead investigator Dr. Michelle Lampl, a professor in the department of anthropology at Emory University in Atlanta, said in a news release from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. "Longer sleep corresponds with greater growth in body length."
The nature of the link between increased sleep and growth in infants isn't clear, but it is known that the secretion of growth hormone increases during sleep, Lampl said.
The findings may be helpful for parents, who can become frustrated by the variability and unpredictability of an infant's sleep patterns, she added.
The Nemours Foundation has more about children and sleep.Robert Preidt SOURCE: American Academy of Sleep Medicine, news release, May 1, 2011 Related Articles
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“Well here we are out here in Westfield and the Lord only knows what is to become of us. Everything is very uncurtain. They are crouding about every soldier in N.E. in here. The Maine troops are a wonderful body of men. There will soon be 250 men to each company. Some company.” -Letter from Sam Avery, 8/23/17
Forming a new United States Army to favorably compare in size and skill with the battle-hardened armies of Europe was an enormous undertaking. In order to build the camps and cantonments (training centers) required to train and organize the National Guard and National Army (draftee) divisions, the Army Construction Division was formed in May, 1917. 16 cantonments for the training of National Army troops and 16 camps for reorganizing and training National Guard troops were constructed throughout the U.S.
Initially quartering troops in tents with wood floors, these training bases were each able to accommodate a “Pershing Division” of approximately 28,000 men. By September 1, 1917, troops were housed in each of the encampments, but by that time the 26th Division was already prepared to make its way to France.
The 26th Division had been quickly organized from National Guard units throughout New England beginning in mid-August, 1917. In his writings Sam Avery indicates that in late July, 1917 the 8th Mass. N.G. was mobilized and sent to existing Massachusetts National Guard training areas, first at Camp Houston in Lynnfield and then at Camp Bartlett in Westfield where it was ultimately dismantled and integrated into the Army’s new divisional structure. State troops were Federalized on August 5, 1917 and formally integrated into the U.S. Army National Guard structure, thereby losing their former State Guard identities.
Camp Bartlett was located about two miles north of Westfield on a site known as “Hampton Plain” along the Westfield-Holyoke rail line. It was closed to visitors except at prescribed hours. On the east side was the 52nd Brigade HQ along with the camps of the 103rd Infantry, 103rd Machine Gun Battalion and Maine heavy artillery. On the west side were the camps of the 104th Infantry and the Depot Brigade. All the troops were housed in tents with a wide open parade and drill ground which had been cleared for the purpose. Each night at Retreat the different Battalions in rotation would hold evening parade. It was from Camp Bartlett in Westfield that First Sergeant Sam Avery then traveled to Hoboken, N.J. with the newly-formed 103rd Infantry Regiment to board the S.S. Saxonia and sail first to Halifax, Nova Scotia and then to Liverpool, England before finally landing at Le Havre, France. | <urn:uuid:4b404889-192b-4f09-a5d4-05ceed9ef376> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://worldwar1letters.wordpress.com/the-adventure-unfolds/watchful-waiting-1917/training-encampments/?like=1&_wpnonce=3a725eea8d | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983114 | 573 | 2.703125 | 3 |
MAMALIGA (ROMANIAN CORN PORRIDGE, OR POLENTA)
Mamaliga (Romanian Corn Porridge, or Polenta)
- Cooking Time: 15
- Servings: 6
- Preparation Time: 5
- 3 cups water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1-2/3 cup yellow cornmeal, medium grind
- freshly crack black pepper to taste
- butter and sour cream (or yogurt, to feel more virtuous) for serving
1. Bring water to boil in a medium saucepan. Add salt and butter.
2. Begin stirring the water in one direction, sprinkling about 1/3 cup of the cornmeal into the depression that forms in the center. Once the water returns to the boil, pour in the rest of the cornmeal, stirring continuously to prevent clumps from forming. Turn heat to low and continue stirring until cornmeal begins to thicken.
3. Cover the pot and cook on low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 10 to 15 minutes. When it is done, the mamaliga will pull away from the sides of the pot. (A tip from Nicolae Klepper, author of Taste of Romania: Wet the handle of a wooden spoon and insert it into the center of the mixture, spinning it a few times. If it comes out clean, the mamaliga is done.)
4. Invert the pan onto a wooden cutting board and carefully lift it away — the mamaliga should hold its shape, spreading out slightly. Slice into six wedges and top with butter and sour cream. (Note that as it cools, the mamaliga will harden.)
Mamaliga is the Romanian version of this staple and has been called the country's national dish. While the recipe itself is not revolutionary, the history behind mamaliga is fascinating. Cooked in a round-bottomed kettle called a "ceaun," the cornmeal porridge would be turned out into the center of the peasantry's wooden farm tables, where it hardened as it cooled, holding its rounded shape. Portions would be sliced off using a piece of string held taut, and pieces would be topped with butter and sour cream, or with cascaval cheese, a sheep's milk cheese similar to pecorino. After each meal the matriarch would scrub the table clean, and it's said that many a Romanian table is concave and shiny in the center, a testament to the daily tradition of eating mamaliga.
When making mamaliga, examine the piece served to you; any cracks that appear on the top of your portion indicate an unexpected journey lies ahead.
Grandma never made her creamed chicken without mamaliga to serve alongside it. | <urn:uuid:8c0bb04a-9593-4ec4-b1a4-42fb28a9bf94> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bakespace.com/recipes/detail/Mamaliga-(Romanian-Corn-Porridge,-or-Polenta)/52101/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918624 | 584 | 1.96875 | 2 |
Many local residents have already learned that the Holyoke Public Library is a great resource to find help when looking for employment. For starters, Holyoke Library can provide assistance to those who wish to improve their skills in various ways. They can also obtain information on current job openings by using the library’s public computers to job-search online. The library computers can also be used to create or update resume, letters of application, thank you responses following interviews, and to fill out applications online.
Holyoke Public Library provides free G.E.D. refresher programs to help patrons who plan to take G.E.D. examinations in the near future. These courses are designed to help individuals improve their skills in math and in essay writing. Refresher programs are offered at various times throughout the year, with the next series scheduled to begin. To register for the next session please contact Reference Librarian, Cheryl Livengood at 413-322-5640.
Another area where Holyoke Library can assist those seeking jobs or learning new skills is through the library’s extensive collection of training videos on such subjects as auto mechanics, carpentry, nursing and many other specialized skills. The instruction material for these training programs is available on videos and can be borrowed free of charge. The library also has course material on CDs to assist patrons seeking to learn different languages, such as Spanish, French, Italian, Polish and English. These language courses are an additional free service offered by the library.
Many Holyoke Public Library patrons are taking advantage of free Internet access at the library. In addition to job-related services using the internet for travel information, making hotel or transportation reservations, reserving tickets for sporting or entertainment events can save time and money.
For more information regarding job search assistance, training courses and the many other free services available with a Holyoke Public Library membership card, please visit Holyoke Public Library at 355 Maple Street, or check the library website at www.holyokelibrary.org. | <urn:uuid:ce0d2a29-fa7e-417e-b52c-65a62e3bedcf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.masslive.com/elpueblolatino/2010/02/job_searchskills_offered_at_ho.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935613 | 406 | 1.851563 | 2 |
Winter edition of “Horticulture Hints”
The "Horticulture Hints" newsletter is a service of the LSU AgCenter and provides pertinent information on appropriate seasonal care and maintenance for various landscape plantings including vegetable gardening and fruit culture.
Quarterly newsletters are provided as Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter editions.
The Horticulture Hints winter edition is now available and features LSU AgCenter recommendations on the following topics: Dealing with Insect Pests on Houseplants; Pruning Ever-Blooming Roses; Care for Holiday Plants; Controlling Snails and Slugs; Growing Amaryllis; The Louisiana Master Gardener Program; Vegetable Gardening and Crop Highlights; Soil Survey Web Information at Your Fingertips; Winter Care of Turf grass and Lawns and Soil Test Information; Winter Care of Fruit Trees; and a Landscape Maintenance Checklist for December, January and February.
Also included in this edition is a Home Vegetable Garden Survey asking homeowners for suggestions on how the LSU AgCenter can better serve the public.
The Horticulture Hints newsletter is free to the public and can be viewed on-line and downloaded for printing by visiting the LSU AgCenter’s web page at www.lsuagcenter.com and typing 2011 Winter Horticulture Hints in the search column at the top of the web page.
As there are no mail-outs of Horticulture Hints, hard copies are made available to the local public for pick-up at any of the following locations in St. Charles and St. John Parishes.
St. Charles Parish: All parish libraries, Martin’s Nursery and Garden Center in Luling, Ace Hardware stores in Destrehan and Des Allemands, True Value Hardware in Boutte, Crack Pot Nursery and Garden Center in St. Rose, and the LSU AgCenter Extension County Agent’s office in Luling.
Whatever your gardening interest, the LSU AgCenter’s Horticulture Hints newsletter can serve as a great resource for home gardeners wanting up to date information for all seasons.
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Trio charged with arson in 3 Montz fires - 716 views
Two juveniles and a 25-year-old man have been arrested in connection with two separate Friday fires in Montz – one of which destroyed a home. | <urn:uuid:8e7c830f-d84b-4f1f-bff0-925e2eb2e6f3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.heraldguide.com/details.php?id=10166 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910379 | 704 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Are You Hardy Enough?
Life is stressful. Financial strains, employment worries, relationship difficulties, and parenting challenges can all lead us to feel overwhelmed. But what exactly makes the difference between those who get pushed over the edge with stress and those who, when faced with stressors, actually thrive and develop? In his 30- plus years of research, psychologist and founder of the Hardiness Institute, Dr. Salvatore Maddi, has discovered that hardiness coping strategies, attitudes, and beliefs make the difference. Hardiness describes a personality trait characterized by resilience and the ability to cope effectively with stress. This year, the American Psychological Association acknowledged Dr. Maddi’s theoretical and research contribution to understanding hardiness by giving him their Gold Medal Award for Life Achievement in Psychology in the Public Interest .
Dr. Maddi’s original study on hardiness was conducted at Bell Telephone when employees, managers and supervisors had to deal with deregulation and the lay-offs and restructuring that followed. Many employees suffered adverse effects on their mental and physical well-being, but others actually grew and thrived from the stress. In-depth interviews and extensive psychological tests done years before the changes occurred revealed the traits, outlook, and coping strategies that made the difference. What was found in this research is that those who saw change as a positive challenge, who were open to new ideas, who felt confident and capable, and who problem solved rather than avoided the stress did better.
There are three traits that make up hardiness: challenge, control, and commitment. Challenge means seeing problems or stressors as challenges and opportunities. Individuals with this trait accept change as part of life and don’t expect life to be easy. The second “C” of hardiness, control, means not seeing oneself as a helpless victim who is at the mercy of stressors. It involves having an internal locus of control, in other words, feeling that you can influence the course of your life and take actions that will improve your chances of achieving your goals. Individuals with this trait are generally optimistic and hopeful and feel a sense of personal power. Commitment, the third “C” of hardiness, involves having a sense of purpose and meaning in life. Persons with this trait do not just survive, going through life with little direction, instead they thrive.
Research on many groups–including soldiers, executives, athletes, and students–have replicated these findings: that hardiness predicts success, adaptive coping ,and wellbeing. The outlook and coping approach of hardy individuals is consistent with the traits of a fully differentiated individual, as outlined in my new book, co-authored by my father Dr. Robert Firestone and Joyce Catlett, The Self Under Siege: A Therapeutic Model for Differentiation. Individuals who are more differentiated, who are living their lives based on their own unique values and desires, are open to new experiences rather than tied to routine. They can think clearly and problem solve. They are proactive not victimized when faced with difficulties. They take personal responsibility for their well-being and take good care of themselves. They pursue their goals, actively seeking what gives meaning to their lives.
All of these are traits defined as hardiness in Dr. Maddi’s research. He found that one-third of individuals in his original study manifested hardiness. Many elements may go into why some people are hardier than others, but one thing that has been proven is that people can become hardier with training. In childhood, parents who encourage children to feel capable to solve problems and who offer them support contribute to a child’s development of hardiness traits. For those who were not as fortunate in terms of the parenting they received, there is also hope that hardiness can be learned. Hardiness training has been found to improve people’s ability to deal with crises and the stress of everyday life. Similarly, we have found that people who achieve greater degrees of differentiation, by using the therapy approach we outline in the book, are better able to cope with adversity and to create meaningful satisfying lives for themselves.
In The Self Under Siege we delineate a method to develop and become a more fully differentiated individual, and therefore, more hardy or better able to cope with stress. There are four steps in the process of differentiation:
1) Separate from self-destructive and self-soothing thought processes, or “critical inner voices.” These thoughts talk you out of going after the things you want in life and encourage you to engage in self-defeating, self-destructive behaviors toward yourself and others. The critical inner voice contributes to attitudes and behaviors that are the opposite of hardy, for instance seeing oneself as a helpless victim who has no control over their life and no direction. Examples of the critical inner voice are:
- “Nothing ever works out for you.”
- “They always disregard you.”
- “They expect too much from you.”
- “There is nothing you can do to make things better.”
2) Recognize negative traits in your parents and how you manifest these behaviors in your own life. Noticing when you behave in a manner that is not in line with how you want to be as a person or finding yourself having an attitude that is objectionable to yourself, is the first part of this step. Could it be that these behaviors and attitudes are similar to the traits in your parents you liked the least? Changing the negative traits that you incorporated from your parents and acting like the person you really want to be is second part.
3) Give up self-soothing behavior patterns that were once an adaptation to the circumstances of your early life, that served as survival mechanisms in your past, but that now interfere with and are not appropriate to your adult life. These often include addictive behaviors and self-protective, inward approaches to life.
4) Develop your own moral compass and pursue the activities and people who make your life meaningful.
A hardy individual feels a sense of competence and a willingness to take personal responsibility for achieving his or her goals. These attitudes are consistent with those of a differentiated person. Differentiation involves identifying aversive behaviors and faulty programming in the family and in society. It involves developing insight into the relationship between these factors and one’s “critical inner voices,” a self-destructive way of thinking, that both causes and enhances personal distress when faced with challenges. It involves understanding the source of these problems and modifying one’s negative, self-sabotaging attitudes, personality traits, and behaviors.
As people differentiate, they feel a deeper sense of personal power. Personal power involves strength and confidence and the ability to pursue what really matters to you. The more differentiated a person is, the more he or she will be able to deal effectively with adverse circumstances and to see challenges as opportunities. In the United States, given the current economic crises, the stress of 10 years at war, and the generally fast-paced, competitive nature of our society, we could all especially benefit from becoming more differentiated and, therefore, more hardy.
Learn more about The Self Under Siege
Dr. Lisa Firestone, PhD, is the Director of Research and Education for The Glendon Association. Since 1987, she has been involved in clinical training and applied research in suicide and violence. In collaboration with Dr. Robert Firestone, her studies resulted in the development of the Firestone Assessment of Self-Destructive Thoughts (FAST) and the Firestone Assessment of Violent Thoughts (FAVT).Dr. Firestone has published numerous professional articles, and most recently was the co-author of the books: Sex and Love in Intimate Relationships (APA Books, 2006),Conquer Your Critical Inner Voice(New Harbinger, 2002), Creating a Life of Meaning and Compassion: The Wisdom of Psychotherapy (APA Books, 2003), and The Self Under Siege (Routledge, 2012).
Tags: critical inner voice, hardiness, resilience, self-awareness
Leave a Reply | <urn:uuid:793b4dca-837e-44f7-8b36-d9aee014570e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.psychalive.org/2012/08/are-you-hardy-enough/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96753 | 1,657 | 2.515625 | 3 |
The zodiac is a circle of space surrounding the earth and is an imagined belt in the heavens in which the planets travel or as is commonly understood as the apparent path of the Sun round the earth, i.e. elliptic. It is invisible. The zodiac has been divided into twelve parts of 30 degrees each; each part is called a Sign comprising 30 degrees of celestial longitude.
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Spirituality & Religion
Astrology is as important to male or female as is psychology. This branch of knowledge deals with the human soul deriving awareness of the mind from the careful examination of the facts of consciousness. The above mention is given by <a href="http://www.astrologypandit.com/"> World Famous Astrologer </a>.
In addition to the discussion, we know from ancient times, that planets affect human beings and that was not accepted by many scientists, but later after experiments, observations and experience the found that Electronic Radiations from the heavenly bodies produce molecular change in earth’s atmosphere and produce cellular change in organic bodies of all dwellings therein, so says Rodney Collin.
Our ancient sages had studied astrology and have framed the rules to predict about personal matters, diseases, weather fore castings, calamities, coronations, wars, rains, earthquakes, personal and other orbit incidents which are correct even today and cannot be denied. The critics and scientists are against astrology as if this science is their rival.
Venus becomes the lord of the 6th and the 11th houses. Both the 6th and the 11th houses are houses of injury. Hence if both Mars and Venus are throwing their influence by association or aspect on any house, that house is bound to suffer through injury.
If the lord of the 6th house is posited in the 8th house, and is weak, it gives in it’s own sub period and in the sub periods of the weak lords of the 2nd, 7th, 8th and 12th houses physical trouble of rather serious nature.
The 6th house and it’s lord should be studied along with sign no 6 i.e. Virgo and it’s lord Mercury. If all the four factors are under malefic influence by association or aspect, then the limb no 6 of the native i.e. the intestines are weak and as such the native suffers from such diseases as constination, dysentery, hernia, kidney trouble etc.
Debts are generally incurred to others and not to our own people from whom we generally get thing gratis. Hence debts are considered from the 6th house. When the lagan the second and the 11th house are under malefic influence and the lord of the 6th house has established a relation by aspect etc.
An enemy or a hurdle can be a veritable source of injury to us. Hence injuries are very appropriately examined from the 6th house. The 11th house lord is as much a cause of injuries as the lord of the 6th house, according to the principle of “BHAVAT BHAVAM” already stated. Among the planets, Mars and Ketu are the planets responsible for causing injuries.
Please get to know some nice spiritual realizations of an American saint based in India | <urn:uuid:c33c32a6-6d39-4db9-a27b-a7f73d1ff29f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.openblogdirectory.com/category/spirituality-religion | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967289 | 703 | 2.28125 | 2 |
A. J. Muste
1954 Contributing Editors:
National Committee to Abolish the House Un-American Activities Committee
As of May 1964, A. J. Muste Secretary Emer., Fellowship for Reconciliation, was listed as a sponsor of the Communist Party USA front, National Committee to Abolish the House Un-American Activities Committee.
Herbert Aptheker Testimonial Dinner
On April 28, 1966 A. Muste was a sponsor of the Herbert Aptheker Testimonial Dinner. The dinner was held on the occasion of Herbert Aptheker's 50th birthday, the publication of his 20th book, and the 2nd anniversary of the American Institute for Marxist Studies. It was held in the Sutton Ballroom, The New York Hilton, Avenue of the Americas, 53rd to 54th Street, New York City. Most speakers, organizers and sponsors were known members or supporters of the Communist Party USA.
Muste has contributed to the liberal magazine, The Progressive.
- ↑ Dinner Program for the Herbert Aptheke Dinner, April 28, 1966 | <urn:uuid:4b2ef856-1033-4587-8ce1-f3932c33dcfd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.keywiki.org/index.php/A._J._Muste | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93697 | 227 | 1.539063 | 2 |
2009: Behold… A New Thing: Emerging Expressions of Faithfulness
Earl Lectures and Leadership Conference, January 27–29, 2009
There is something new emerging inside, alongside, and even outside the familiar institutions and expressions of Christianity in North America. What will this “new thing” be, and how will it affect the traditional church? The 2009 Earl Lectures, held on the Pacific School of Religion campus January 27-29, 2009, provided an opportunity to experience and reflect critically on new forms of spirituality and worship associated with the emerging church.
The 108th Earl Lectures and Leadership Conference, entitled “Behold…a New Thing: Emerging Expressions of Faithfulness,” was held in the Ecumenical Center of Berkeley, the former University Christian Church, and marked the first time the lectures had been held on Holy Hill since 1949.
The program included three days of public lectures and workshops open to people in ministry and the general public. It was led by three “emerging church” figures, Jay Bakker, Bruce Reyes-Chow, and Karen Ward; and by scholars Gerardo Marti and PSR's Boyung Lee. They guided explorations of popular culture, generational change, and religious innovation in North America. There was also a screening of the new film, The Ordinary Radicals, a feature-length documentary about “a conspiracy of faith in the margins of empire."
2009 Earl Lecturers, Preachers, and Workshop Leaders
Jay Bakker is a 32-year-old pastor who grew up witnessing both the good and bad of the church. His parents are Jim and Tammy Faye, ministers-turned-TV-hosts who helped start both the Trinity Broadcasting Network and the 700 Club in the 1970s, and later founded PTL (Praise The Lord) Club. At the height of their popularity, they pastored the largest church in the country–until their lives were changed by one of the biggest scandals in American history. Jay was exposed to the dark underbelly of religion--an experience that would stay with him to this day. After witnessing firsthand the excommunicative treatment his family received from the church, Jay wanted nothing to do with God. And so began a new life filled with substances easily abused and nonstop partying created to mask the pain and suffering caused by this surreal rejection. Eventually, Jay was able to conquer his demons and made a personal decision to find out who God really was. What he discovered floored him–God wasn’t some judgmental, condemning deity sitting on a throne waving an angry fist in the direction of sinners–rather, he was an understanding God offering his gift of love and grace with no strings attached. As a result of this discovery, Jay started a church for those who feel rejected by traditional approaches to Christianity; this church is called Revolution. The idea behind Revolution is to show all people the unconditional love and grace of Jesus without any reservations due to their lifestyles or background, past or future. In the desire to bypass geographical boundaries, all services are recorded and posted on the Revolution Church Web site to create an “online church for people who have given up on church.” In addition to pastoring Revolution, Jay travels the country speaking to churches and organizations, encouraging them to reach out to the lost and hurting. His goal is to return to the grassroots of Christianity founded on inclusion, love and grace. Jay has spoken at numerous festivals and churches as well as appeared both on television (Sundance Channel’s “One Punk Under God,” Larry King Live, 20/20, Good Morning America) and in print (inlcuding Rolling Stone, New York Times, Time).
Jay Emerson Johnson, a theologian and Episcopal priest, earned his PhD in philosophical theology from the Graduate Theological Union. He has worked for PSR's Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry since 2003 and is currently the CLGS senior director. He also teaches courses at PSR and the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, both GTU member schools, and recently joined the core doctoral faculty in theology at the GTU. From 2001 to 2007, Johnson served as co-chair of Gay Men’s Issues in Religion group of the American Academy of Religion. He has also served as a parish priest in the Episcopal Dioceses of Chicago and California, and is currently a clergy associate at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Berkeley. Johnson has published articles on theology and sexuality and his first book, Dancing with God: Anglican Christianity and the Practice of Hope, was published in 2005. His current research and writing interests involve the intersections of queer theory and Christian traditions. Johnson is a popular retreat leader and facilitator of adult education programs in the Bay Area and around the country.
Boyung Lee, associate professor of educational ministries at Pacific School of Religion, is the author of the forthcoming "Restoring Community in the Mainline: A Pedagogical Guide to Communal Faith and Ministry." She is a postcolonial feminist religious educator who teaches and studies the interaction of pop culture and theology.
Richard Lindsay is a PhD student in Art and Religion at the Graduate Theological Union. Since graduating with an MDiv from Yale University in 2004, he has worked in media relations and communications with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and Soulforce, and at Pacific School of Religion and the Center ffor Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry. In 2008, he co-led a young adult outreach at Presbyterian General Assembly with That All May Freely Serve, a grassroots organization working for full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the Presbyterian Church (USA). Richard has preached and led worship at churches and conferences in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Ohio, Kentucky, and California.
Gerardo Marti is a sociologist and author of three books: A Mosaic of Believers: Diversity and Innovation in a Multiethnic Church (Indiana University Press, 2005), Hollywood Faith: Holiness, Prosperity, and Ambition in a Los Angeles Church (Rutgers University Press, 2008), and Worship across the Racial Divide: Notions of Race and the Practice of Religious Music in Multiracial Churches (Oxford University Press, forthcoming). After 15 years as an ordained pastor, he received his PhD at the University of Southern California and became assistant professor of sociology at Davidson College. Dr. Marti is active in several research partnerships and currently holds the Lynette S. Autrey visiting professorship of religious studies at Rice University. As a sociologist of religion, his broad interests include worship and the arts, racial and ethnic diversity, 20- and 30-something religion, theological adaptations, and congregational responses to social change.
Yuri Morita is the Director of the Empowerment Center located in Nishinomiya, Japan. The center offers professional training sessions for the workers/volunteers in the field of prevention/intervention of violence against children and women, diversity, and human rights. It also runs unique performing programs for empowering women and children. Morita has been a strong advocate of nonviolence and empowerment as a professional trainer, therapist, author and story teller. Morita has published over 25 books, two of which received national awards. Recently, she received the 57th Public Health Award for 25 years of leadership and pioneering work in the field of prevention of violence against women and children. Morita holds a master's degree from the Graduate Theological Union.
Nicole Naffaa has served as Pacific School of Religion's Director of Recruitment and Admissions for the last six years. She is ordained clergy in the United Church of Christ, and a pastor in covenant at New Spirit Community Church in Berkeley, where she is involved with worship leadership. Nicole has participated in the music program at New Spirit for six years, and has been singing in choirs since grade school.
Bruce Reyes-Chow, an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church(USA) since 1995, founded Mission Bay Community Church in San Francisco in 2000. As the main speaker-preacher at MBCC, Reyes-Chow believes that "a good message is one that is relevant, compelling, and creates an emotional and intellectual connection between life and faith." He is firmly convinced that "life is chaotic and that the key to finding security amidst the chaos is not to put life in a rigidly controlled box, but to embrace and claim God's presence in the ambiguity." In 2008, at the 218th General Assembly of the PC(USA), Reyes-Chow was elected the youngest moderator in the history of the assembly. He is currently serving a two- year term bringing a message of hope and rejuvenation. This self avowed "pastor-hack-geek-dad-moderator" has created an engaged and relevant ministry for his peers while interpreting it to the wider church.
Keith Stafford, who received his MDiv from PSR in 1978, has been writing, collecting, and sharing songs from a variety of sources that celebrate “the glory of the presence in all” for almost 40 years. In 1984 Keith founded the Gorilla Choir which gathered every week for 20 years and sang at hospitals, fairs, retreats, and "come-unity" rituals of every persuasion. Keith has been singing and leading devotional songs at New Spirit Community Church for more than a year.
Roland Stringfellow earned a bachelor of science degree in education and a master of science degree in counseling from Indiana University. He later earned a master of arts degree in ministry from Grace Theological Seminary and in 1990 became a licensed minister in the Baptist Church. In 2005, Roland was ordained with the Metropolitan Community Church and in 2006 earned his MDiv from PSR with a certificate in religion and sexuality. He has worked as a pastor in Indiana and California. Roland also worked in the field of education in a variety of capacities – teacher, guidance counselor, college advisor, and vice-principal. Currently, Stringfellow is continuing his work in creating dialogues on the topic of LGBT equality with church congregations and in religious institutions in his role as the coordinator of the Coalition of Welcoming Congregations in the Bay Area with PSR's Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Sexuality.
Rebecca Voelkel, an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, is the director of Institute for Welcoming Resources and Faith Work for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Before coming to the Task Force, she served as interim national coordinator for the United Church of Christ Coalition for LGBT Concerns, as pastor of Spirit of the Lakes United Church of Christ; and as Program Staff for the Center for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence. Voelkel is the author of Preventing Sexual Abuse: A Course of Study for Teenagers (Pilgrim Press, 1996), as well as numerous articles and sermons which have appeared in such journals as Spirit Currents, The Journal of Religion and Abuse, Creating Change, and Parenting for Peace and Justice. She is a faith-based community organizing trainer as well as workshop presenter on a wide variety of faith-based justice issues. She is a graduate of Earlham College and Yale Divinity School, and is currently working towards a DMin at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities. Voelkel is a theologian, pastor, and organizer and has devoted her life’s ministry to following Jesus’ command to minister in partnership with “the least of these,” ones whom society has deemed outcast, unclean, or unworthy. This commitment constantly challenges her to ground her thinking and her acting in real-life situations that make real-life differences. Voelkel is also a runner, hiker, biker, and avid community-builder, spending time with friends and family as often as she can. She and her partner, Maggie, are parents of one year-old Shannon MacKenzie.
Karen Ward is an abbess and founding pastor of Church of the Apostles in Seattle, an emerging monastic, incarnational Christian community of the Episcopal Church USA and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. | <urn:uuid:db2861aa-e642-4670-b2ef-0bbbf571ec66> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.psr.edu/2009-behold%25E2%2580%25A6-new-thing-emerging-expressions-faithfulness | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968724 | 2,495 | 1.515625 | 2 |
It is sometimes automatically assumed that Sonja Henie was the greatest female singles skater of the 1930's. However, when one takes a closer look, she was extremely fortunate to win the 1936 Olympics as Cecilia Colledge ran her a very close second. As Sandra Stevenson pointed out in her obituary on Colledge for the UK Independent on the 21st April 2008 (Link Here): after the School Figures, "the closeness [of the competition] infuriated Henie, who, when the result for that section was posted on a wall in the competitors' lounge, swiped the piece of paper and tore it into little pieces. The draw for the free skating [then] came under suspicion after Henie landed the plum position of skating last, while Colledge had to perform second of the 26 competitors. The early start was seen as a disadvantage, with the audience not yet whipped into a clapping frenzy and the judges known to become freer with their higher marks as the event proceeded. Years later, a fairer, staggered draw was adopted to counteract this situation".
British youngsters, Megan Taylor and Cecilia Colledge were Henie's closest competitors during the 1930's. Taylor and Colledge were both selected to compete for Great Britain at the 1932 Olympics - Colledge was 11 years and 68 days old at the start of the 1932 Olympics on the 4th Feb 1932 - 11 years and 73 days old at the start of the Ladies figure skating competition on the 9th Feb 1932, and Taylor was 11 years and 102 days old at the start of the Olympics - 11 years and 107 days old at the start of the Ladies figure skating competition. They were the youngest ever female competitors in any Olympic sport and the youngest ever competitors at the Winter Olympics. Taylor finished 7th and Colledge 8th. Taylor and Colledge went on to have a intense rivalry thereafter. Colledge finished a very close second to Henie at the 1936 Olympics (which Taylor unfortunately missed). Colledge would then go on to become World Champion in 1937 (beating Taylor into second place), but Taylor famously beat her into second place to become World Champion in 1938 (See attached photograph re the welcome she got after her win). Colledge gained her revenge though by beating Taylor in the 1939 British and European Championships in 1939, but missed the 1939 Worlds (due to an achilles tendon injury), thereby allowing Taylor to retain her world title. Without doubt, either Colledge or Taylor would have become Olympic champion in 1940, but tragically World War 2 deprived them of that opportunity.
An illustration of just how ardent the rivalry between Colledge and Taylor was, was that after Colledge beat Taylor into second place for the British title in 1938, Taylor congratulated Colledge and then immediately burst into tears - so upset was she! Their rivalry reached its zenith during 1937 - 1939. During this period, they competed against each other 8 times in British, European, and World Championships. Taylor finished second to Colledge on every occasion, except at the 1938 World Championships when she beat Colledge into second place in controversial circumstances. Hence, the head-to-head between them during 1937-39 was 7-1 in Colledge's favour. This is in stark contrast to the period 1932-34 when the head-to-head between the two was 6-0 in favour of Taylor (who beat Colledge into second place at all 3 British championships during that period. At both the 1932 Olympics and Worlds, Taylor finished 7th and Colledge 8th, and at the 1933 Worlds, Taylor finished 4th and Colledge 5th).
So how good were Sonja Henie, Cecilia Colledge and Megan Taylor when assessed from a modern perspective and which of the three was the best? Here is some footage of them (footage of their competitive careers obviously being very scarce):-
Sonja Henie and Cecilia Colledge - 1936 Olympics
Cecilia Colledge - Mini Doc (montage of career highlights)
Megan Taylor - Ice Capades 1942
Megan Taylor - Ice Capades 1942
Sonja Henie - Mini Doc of career highlights
Sonja Henie - Film: One in a Million
World War 2 (WW2) practically finished both Colledge's and Taylor's competitive careers, although Colledge returned after WW2, but then turned professional after just 1 year. Colledge drove an ambulance in the Motor Transport Corps during the London Blitz, moved permanently to the United States in 1951 (saying of Britain that "there was nothing left for me there except unhappy memories" - due to her experiences during WW2 and the death of her brother during the war), and pursued a distinguished career as a coach with the Skating Club of Boston between 1952 and 1977, coaching skaters such as Ron Ludington. Taylor spent much of the early 1940's with Ice Capades. However, after finishing with Ice Capades, not much is known about what she did thereafter and she died in Jamaica in 1993. Does anybody know what happened to Taylor after Ice Capades? | <urn:uuid:28ed6770-4779-4c6f-886d-809e2d8ca6dd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/showthread.php?78833-Status-of-US-Ice-Dancing-off-season&goto=nextoldest | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974635 | 1,025 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Joaquín Rodrigo is certainly known for his often
performed works for guitar and orchestra. Now thanks to Naxos, his rather
sizeable production of orchestral music is being brought to the fore,
and if this disc is representative of Rodrigo’s overall output, we’ve
much cause for rejoicing. Rodrigo, born in Valencia in 1901 was left
blinded by an attack of diphtheria when he was four years old. He received
his first music lessons at the age of five while attending the school
for the blind in his birth city. By the time he had reached his twenties
he had begun to compose, and continued writing well into old age, ceasing
his output in 1982, seventeen years before his death.
The piano concerto recorded here began life in 1942
as the Concierto heroico and was inspired by events of the Spanish
civil war. An intense, passionate work, it requires Herculean skills
on the part of the soloist. From its blazing opening movement to the
lonely desolation of the largo, this is a virtuoso tour de force
requiring not only hands of steel, but also rhetorical commitment and
intelligence from the soloist. Daniel Ligorio Ferrandiz is a completely
capable exponent in this vivid performance. He plays with fire and vigor
in the fast technical passages and his very soul is poured into the
hauntingly beautiful slow movement.
The orchestral works on this program are amongst the
most atmospheric and delicious that I have experienced in some time.
Rodrigo’s orchestrational language is certainly influenced by his countryman
Manuel de Falla, but there is nothing about it that is anything less
than fresh and original. At once truly Spanish and truly international,
Rodrigo’s is a palette of vast color selection. He possessed a skill
with the orchestra that easily rivaled the legendary Maurice Ravel,
and his nationalistic tendencies never pigeonhole his work into a specifically
Of particularly poignant beauty is the splendid Musica
para un jardin. Adapted from earlier compositions originally for
solo piano, these are some of the most delightful works for orchestra
that I have encountered in some years.
The Castille and Léon Symphony Orchestra turns
in a performance that is without findable flaw. String playing is lush
where needs be, and of shimmering transparency when appropriate. The
winds play superbly, and particular notice should go to the oboe and
cor anglais player(s), who literally sing throughout this magnificent
That Rodrigo studied in France is evident from his
orchestrations, but this music is no recycled Debussy. This is a composer
with a unique voice, deserving of a wider appreciation. Bravo Naxos
for yet again mining the fringes and striking gold. Excellent program
and biographical notes enhance a disc whose sound quality is first tier.
Don’t walk, run to the CD shop and add this one to your collection. | <urn:uuid:c656b406-b4aa-423c-8aa4-4d45bb354b7a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2003/May03/rodrigo4.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949352 | 642 | 1.640625 | 2 |
The debate over universal, mandatory military conscription in Israel is heating up. It is a very important debate, which may change the character of the country quite significantly.
Israel has in place universal military conscription for its citizens, men and women, at the age of 18. Until now, there have been a number of categories of exemptions. Military service in Israel is of great importance. Aside from the existential threats that Israel faces on a continual basis, the military plays an important rule in developing networking, leadership skills and employment opportunities for many of Israel's young adults, across class lines. This is discussed at length in Start Up Nation, which I reviewed recently. Those who do not serve in the military or some other form of national service likely face reduced employment prospects and opportunities in Israel. Hence, the development of greater equality in Israeli society, across various lines, is hindered by the large scale exemptions, which have existed until now.
One category has been the ultra-religious ("Haredi") community. At Israel's inception, Israel's founding government agreed to provide an exemption from military service for a limited number of ultra-religious Yeshiva (a Jewish seminary) students, who would devote all of their time to the study of Torah. There was some basis in Jewish law for the institution of this type of arrangement on a limited scale.
However, over the years, the exemption became broader and broader as the Haredi community grew and came to be viewed as a general exemption from military service for all young Haredim who attend a yeshiva. Over time, the effects of this exemption have been dramatic and extremely harmful to Israeli society. The exempt Haredim who choose to study full-time rather than perform national or military service have wound up with significantly limited employment opportunities. This is not only a result of their exemption from national service but also because of the lack of a general studies curriculum in the schools at which they attend. This combination of non-integration with Israeli society and the failure to develop employable skills has led to toxic levels of poverty in the Haredi community. Yet Israeli governments have continued to fund this system due to the nature of Israeli coalition politics and, particularly, the fear of alienating the Ultra-Religious parties.
Recently, Israel's High Court of Justice struck down the law exempting the Haredim and held that equality in Israel would require a completely different apporach. A committee was formed, the Plesner Committee, to institute a replacement law and conscript the Ultra-Orthodox. Yet the religious parties have continued to hold substantial power in Israel and Prime Minister Netanyahu has been very reluctant to upset the Haredim by changing the conscription law to include the Ultra-Orthodox community. The media has been filled with reports of extreme statements from members of the Haredi community about intended civil disobedience in the event of mandatory conscription. On-line news channels, such as Ynet News - Op-Ed have printed guest editorials attacking the idea of forcing this change on the Haredi community.
Yet, there is nothing in the Torah, the Talmud or other Jewish sources that would exempt all observant Jews from serving in the military. To the contrary, Jewish sources, historical and biblical, are filled with stories of military events and of the necessity of defending the people and the nation. As the Haredi population continues to grow, its members simply must recognize that they are as responsible for national defence as any other Israelis. They are also responsible for economic self-sustainment and these goals will intertwine. Haredi veterans of the Israeli Defence Forces are almost certainly going to be much more employable than those who are exempt. This will benefit the Haredim and the rest of Israel.
The other broad category of exemption has been Israeli Arabs. Israel has historically recognized an exemption for its Arab citizens due to security concerns and other related issues. But this is also a matter that must be reexamined.
The discussion here is about Arab Israelis, that is Arabs who are citizens of Israel. These Israeli Arabs enjoy the right to vote, access to full health care, education, freedom of speech, religious freedom and all of the other aspects of a free, open, democratic country that is far ahead of its Middle Eastern neighbours by any measure in any of these areas. There are Arab Members of Knesset (MKs - members of Israel's Parliament), Arab judges and Arab Israelis in high level positions across the country.
To be sure, many Arab Israelis have certain grievances and concerns, many of which are legitimate. They would like to see equality of funding for health care, education, housing and other areas. They would like to see employment prospects improve. They would not want to be forced to fight against their cousins or family members in Gaza or the West Bank.
These are all legitimate concerns and should be addressed as mandatory universal military or national service conscription is instituted. But for the same reasons that apply to the Haredi community, Israeli Arabs who are citizens should face the same obligations as other citizens. Military service will improve relations between young Israelis and young Arabs. It will improve employment prospects and will lead to greater equality.
This week, it was Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who led the charge to institute full conscription for everyone including Haredim and Arabs. Though he has dragged Prime Minister Netanyahu towards this goal kicking and screaming, it is Lieberman who has taken a principled, equality-oriented approach, regardless of the political intentions that Lieberman may have.
The reaction from the Israeli Arab community has been as shrill and rejectionist as the reaction from the Haredi community. According to Ynet News, One MK, Jamal Zahaka, called the attempt to force compulsory service on Arab youth a "declaration of war on the Arab sector." MK Ahmed Tibi urged the government to talk about "equal infrastructure, education, land allocation and employment" rather than military service. To which Netanyahu responded that this is all "solvable." There should be little doubt that universal military or national service conscription would lead to greater equality for Israeli Arabs who would come to be viewed as partners in Israeli society (like the Druze community currently) rather than as a potential fifth column.
Since the Kadima party, now lead by Shaul Mofaz, joined the current coaltion government, there has been a sense that some changes can be made to Israeli law in a number of areas. One of these key changes, is a more equal approach to military and national service for all Israelis. This is something that Lieberman is pushing very hard and that Mofaz seems bound to support (with his Kadima party). Once it is addressed properly, the government can begin to address the even trickier issues of religion and the state, the electoral system - and of revised economic priorities. These kinds of changes will only be possible with a broad governing coaltion in which the constituent members are all willing to stand up to the pressure from minority Haredi and Arab parties and to act for the benefit of all Israelis. We will soon see if Prime Minister Netanyahu's current government can meet that test.
Postscript (Added July 3, 2012): Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday announced that he was dissolving the Plesner Committee - and essentially caving in to the pressure from the Ultra-Orthodox. It is unclear what will happen as a result of the High Court's decision, which mandated a change to the Tal Law. However, it has become clear that Netanyahu will not readily support, at this time, a universal conscription bill that would include Ultra-Orthodox and Arab recruits. | <urn:uuid:99f6d426-2eb4-4a2a-9e13-105fe25186d0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.torontotoranana.blogspot.ca/2012/06/israel-to-draft-ultra-religious-and.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968591 | 1,558 | 2.1875 | 2 |
Flush with his third and most resounding electoral victory, Recep Tayyip Erdogan bestrides the Turkish stage like a colossus. That victory was his alone: polling shows that more than half of the 50 percent of Turks who cast their votes for the piously Islamic ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) last month were voting for the ruggedly populist prime minister himself, not his party. His electoral pitch looked far ahead, to 2023—the 100th anniversary of the founding, under Kemal Atatürk, of the modern, and secular, Turkish state following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. He makes no bones about intending to be in charge from now until then, as a president endowed with greatly expanded powers under a new Constitution that will refashion Turkey on the model of what he calls “democratic conservatism,” but that his political opponents grimly characterize as Islamo-fascist.
Last week marked another milestone in Erdogan’s march to power, with the appointment by him and President Abdullah Gül of new commanders across the entire span of Turkey’s once all-powerful armed forces, the first time that civilians, not the military, have had the final say. The military itself cleared the field: on Friday, July 29, the entire Turkish high command—Gen. Isik Kosaner, chief of the general staff, plus the commanders of the ground, naval, and air forces—simultaneously tendered their resignations.
The news shook Turks but not Turkey’s friends abroad—to whom the military SOS signal was primarily directed. In Washington, the State Department affirmed its “total faith” in all Turkish institutions, civilian and military. Ria Oomen, the European Parliament’s Turkey rapporteur, was positively gushing: “Turkey is getting more democratic by the day.”
The very opposite is the case; that was the farewell message General Kosaner was trying to get out. He was resigning, he wrote, in protest at the lengthy detention on remand of 250 generals, admirals, and lower-ranking commissioned and noncommissioned officers, 173 of them still serving, arrested without due regard for “legal rules, rights, justice, or conscientious values” and accused of membership in a conspiracy that they insist never existed. Earlier that Friday the prosecutors had demanded the arrest of a further 22, including the commander of the Aegean forces, the head of Army intelligence, and the military’s judicial adviser, this time for setting up a “hostile” website. Kosaner stood down, he said, because he had been prevented from protecting the legal rights of people who had not even been formally charged, let alone faced trial, in the twin “Ergenekon” and “Sledgehammer” cases. (The former refers to an alleged clandestine secularist group, the latter to an alleged coup plot.) And he accused the authorities of dragging out the investigations “to keep the Armed Forces continually in the news, thereby creating the impression in public that it is a criminal organization.”
That is how it increasingly looks to many troubled Turks who initially welcomed the pursuit of the once untouchable military as an overdue move against the “deep state” it had dominated and as a guarantee against further military coups. The European Commission has blandly described the Ergenekon and Sledgehammer trials as “an opportunity for Turkey to strengthen confidence in the proper functioning of its democratic institutions and the rule of law.” But the way the investigations have been conducted, and the ever-swelling list of detainees, suggests not so much a democracy resolutely confronting malign forces from the past as Stalin’s military show trials of 1938 and Hitler’s systematic crushing of all opposition after coming to power in 1933. As the supposedly “pragmatic” Erdogan stealthily undermines the separation of state and religion that was Atatürk’s key reform, there is a reek of totalitarian sulfur in the Turkish air.
Not only the military but journalists, academics, businessmen, and even jurists are vulnerable: anyone who criticizes the AKP; champions equal rights for Turkey’s large Kurdish minority; or, still more perilous, probes the penetration of Turkish schools, universities, media, and bureaucracy by the AKP’s own “deep state” ally, a wealthy and powerful Islamist movement directed from luxurious self-exile in the U.S. by Imam Fethullah Gülen, Erdogan’s friend and mentor. This was dramatically highlighted in March by the arrest of Ahmet Sik and Nedim Sener, radical award-winning reporters renowned for investigating abuses of power by the military. Both are now, preposterously, accused of complicity with Ergenekon. Sik was about to publish a book, The Imam’s Army, on the Gülen movement’s saturation of police ranks. As he was led away, he shouted: “If you touch them, you will burn.”
Turkey now tops the world in jailing its journalists, surpassing China and Iran. Nearly 70 are in prison, thousands more are under interrogation, and courts have imposed draconian sentences—dual life sentences or even, in the case of two journalists from the Atalim newspaper, 3,000 years each. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) reports that it has never before seen such a “pervasive, indiscriminate assault” on freedom of expression, and further adds that the government has exploited law 5651—enacted in 2007 purportedly to protect minors from Internet pornography—to block at least 3,700 websites, including YouTube. Phone tapping is so ubiquitous that no one, but no one, I met in Turkey last month dares to talk openly on cell phones. Thousands of homes and offices are bugged—even an office in the Court of Appeals. The OSCE reports with concern that the government—emulating Chinese practice—is developing a state-supported Turkish search engine that will reflect “Turkish sensitivities.”
“The message is don’t write, don’t read, don’t do anything, and our democracy won’t harm you,” says a young hotelier. A television producer elaborates: “Erdogan shuns religious language and peppers his speeches with the D word, but by ‘democratic,’ he means that the AKP reflects the ‘popular will.’ He once said that democracy was like a bus, useful to get to your destination. If his popularity wavered, he’d hop off that bus.” And he adds: “I met some Iranian journalists the other day. They said, ‘We used to look on Turkey as a model. Now we pity you.’ ”
The AKP plays to perfection the role of devout protectors of the poor, under constant threat from dark forces in the Turkish elite. Conspiracies, as Hitler demonstrated with the Reichstag fire, can be power multipliers. The investigation into the alleged Ergenekon armed-terror organization started in 2007, when police found 27 hand grenades in a shanty belonging to a retired noncommissioned officer. From that small beginning, prosecutors have spun a web of conspiracy charges, with an indictment stretching to 8,032 pages, and detained more than 400 military and civilian defendants.
The web stretched still wider last year after an unknown person deposited with a journalist a suitcase of documents and CDs purporting to contain proof of a coup code-named Sledgehammer, allegedly planned in 2003 under the leadership of the First Army commander, Gen. Cetin Dogan, for which nearly 200 officers face trial. The “evidence” is highly suspect. What is genuine in the dossier—an official recording of the Army seminar that was allegedly the plotters’ “dress rehearsal”—contains no trace of a conspiracy. The single incriminating CD containing detailed plans of the alleged coup, dated 2003, is a demonstrable fake created no earlier than 2009; it lists ships not then built, hospitals that did not exist, organizations not yet founded, vehicle license plates issued in 2006, and nonexistent military units. The alleged authors of other documents in the case got their own titles wrong, misspelled their own names, or magically contrived to use computers to which they had no access. Few Turks doubt that some in the military would dearly love to oust the AKP—but not a tenth of the entire military command, plus many more forced into early retirement. Erdogan can now pack the military with AKP loyalists—as he has already packed the Constitutional Court (a “reform” astutely included in a referendum package last year) with 110 new judges. The government’s repeated insistence that it is merely letting justice take its course is wholly unconvincing.
The question is, why go to such lengths? Turkey’s political opposition is fragmented, and a military coup implausible. Here is a crowd-pulling demagogue who is a hero among Turkey’s rural and urban masses, and who has solid accomplishments to boast about. In 2002 the AKP inherited a broke country, politically fractured and rumbling with resentment over glaring inequalities. Erdogan’s “forward democracy”—which he defines as a strong economy, a strong government, and, above all, a “strong party”—may not be remotely liberal, but it is efficient. Not only have health reforms given the poor access to high-quality care, but he has wrought a smile-or-you’re-fired transformation of the public sector, compelling bureaucrats to treat ordinary people not with contempt, but courteously. Slums are being razed in a massive and heavily subsidized state housing program (enriching “loyal” contractors in the process). He peppers his speeches with long lists of roads paved, clinics opened, and gigantic new projects.
Living standards have been boosted by a tripling of the Turkish economy: this year’s growth rate of 11 percent may look dangerously like overheating to foreign investors, but after decades in the doldrums, Turks are not complaining. But the price in freedoms forgone has been ever higher, and Erdogan’s absolute intolerance of criticism, even from within his party, more and more obvious. What does this strongman want, and what will he do with what now seems unassailable power? Atatürk changed Turkey from top to bottom and turned it westward. Erdogan is changing Turkey from bottom to top, and turning it toward its Islamic neighbors. If by your friends ye shall know them, Erdogan’s chums have, somewhat embarrassingly just now, been Muammar Gaddafi (from whom, last December, he received the El Gaddafi international peace prize), Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, and Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Hamas and Hizbullah are his soulmates; Israel, in a stark reversal of Turkish foreign policy, his enemy. In Egypt the Islamists already refer to him as a caliph, the leader of a postmodern Islamic umma, an Ottoman empire without borders.
Yet abroad this dictator in the making is still credited with restoring democracy to Turkey, albeit with an Islamic hue. The AKP benefits from Turkey’s strategic importance as a bulwark for stability in a nasty neighborhood, and also from the West’s desire, post-9/11, to befriend “moderate” Islamism. Governments do not care to inquire into the crushing of Turkey’s dissenting voices and the erosion of personal freedoms. They should think again. In Turkey last month I encountered not just anxiety but great bitterness. When it was a question of Kurdish rights in Turkey, they say, we in the West screamed blue murder, yet now that intellectual and political freedoms are being suppressed clean across society, there is total silence. We should wake up, they say, before the only question left is, who lost Turkey?
Righter is associate editor of The Times of London. | <urn:uuid:12b8d3f9-7c73-4c47-b57f-08abbc067890> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/08/07/turkey-s-military-resignations-make-erdogan-even-stronger.print.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957388 | 2,520 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Two whales washed up on two separate and nearby beaches in East Hampton Township only hours apart on Sunday.
A 59-foot finback whale was discovered in Napeague around 8 a.m. The giant marine mammal was already dead, though officials from the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research have yet to release the cause of death pending results of a necropsy performed on Monday.
The second whale, a 5-foot juvenile pygmy sperm whale, beached in Amagansett the same day. The sperm whale was called in around 2:30 p.m. and members of the Riverhead Foundation had to euthanize the animal because it had skin lesions and appeared “sickly,” according to an Associated Press report.
Marine biologist and conservationist Carl Safina, of the Blue Ocean Institute at Stony Brook University, shared that he believed the fin whale had likely been dead a week when it washed ashore Sunday. “Fin whale had some entanglement marks, possibly old. Damage on dorsal surface possibly a ship strike. Pygmy sperm whale had some skin lesions suggesting bacterial infection. Did not seem thin. Ingestion of plastic always a possibility. They’ll be examined more closely via necropsy in coming days,” Safina shared on his Facebook page after investigating the animals on Sunday, also noting that the two whales beaching was a “truly bizarre coincidence, a once-in-a-lifetime rarity…”
Safina is a world-renowned personality and expert on marine life. His television series Saving the Ocean with Carl Safina is currently airing on PBS. He was en route to Kenya, Africa to research his latest book on Tuesday and was unavailable for direct comment.
The Riverhead Foundation, located within the Long Island Aquarium has said they don’t believe the two beached whales are connected. Both animals were scheduled for necropsy examinations on Monday, which should help determine more concrete causes of the illness and death. READ FOLLOW UP HERE | <urn:uuid:78dbeb73-c2ac-4440-a5f2-88845b5f6af0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://danshamptons.com/article/the-scoop/the-scoop/two-whales-beached-in-east-hampton-town/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975564 | 421 | 1.921875 | 2 |
daverupa wrote:There's only one section in the entirety of MN 9 that makes even an oblique reference to rebirth (24-27, from within 1-71), and the whole thing is couched within terms of alternative and equivalent ways of coming to Right View. The idea that rebirth is a necessary part of Right View is wholly incorrect.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html
A2. "Because there actually is the next world, the view of one who thinks, 'There is no next world' is his wrong view.
B2. "Because there actually is the next world, the view of one who thinks, 'There is a next world' is his right view.
MN 60 is preached to brahmin householders and incorporates rebirth as a component of right view based on this audience.
MN 9 is preached to bhikkhus who repeatedly ask Sariputta "But, friend, might there be another way in which a noble disciple is one of right view... and has arrived at this true Dhamma?" and rebirth shows up after a number of other descriptions are explicated, and other descriptions without rebirth follow along, all of it summing Right View, whence the name of this Sutta.
In other words, MN 9 showcases that rebirth is one among many, and definitely not the only way, which is your claim. MN 60, your evidence for rebirth-as-required, rather showcases that the Buddha felt that these brahmin householders would benefit from having the rebirth assumption accepted for argument's sake as a way of setting up a version of Pascal's wager for them, the "safe bet" approach for which the Sutta was named.
daverupa wrote:The idea that rebirth is a necessary part of Right View is wholly incorrect. | <urn:uuid:94cbbd94-c118-48be-9064-ffea7fc73402> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?p=152579 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950035 | 385 | 1.875 | 2 |
Just when you thought QR Codes can’t get any bigger, they prove you wrong. Who? That is the Kraays, of course.
The Kraay family run a farm in Lacombe Canada and they have been creating maze for many years now and treat it as a yearly family affair – I guess it is their way of spicing farm life up a little every year. This year, the Kraay family decided to take it up a step by creating a QR Code maze. Rachel Kraay, who has seen these atypical square boxes in magazine and newspaper ads, thought that it would be a great idea since QR Codes looks somewhat like a maze. When she posed the idea, things snowballed and now they are looking at creating headlines with a Guinness World Record for the largest QR Code thus far.
They are known for being veterans in maze creation but little did they know that they would eventually make it to ABC News for the maze. It wasn’t an easy feat even for the veterans because they ran into a couple of teething problems with the corn maze-albeit QR Code because it didn’t work the first time round. Turns out, the snag was due to the fact that the color difference between the ‘black’ and ‘white’ areas were too slight, therefore, they needed to make the dark parts darker in order for smartphone QR Code readers to recognize it as a QR Code.
What started out as a mere idea turned into a 7 acre maze on the 15 acre piece of land.
The Kraays also got some help from others who were more experienced in customizing and creating QR Codes after encountering several problems with creating the maze. Although realistically impractical for everyone to scan the QR Code from the sky, we think that if they had images of the maze and promoted it virally online and through their website, it could be a big hit. For more information about the services and the maze that they have created, head over to their website at http://www.kraayfamilyfarm.com/
It is most definitely one of the most creative ways farm folks have ever tried to advertise themselves.
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Tips, advices, how-to's and DIYs for the latest technologies. | <urn:uuid:13f09580-f7e6-49e4-bbd1-9d870ece1a2c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://beqrious.com/qr-code-maze-makes-waves/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957837 | 840 | 1.570313 | 2 |
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The measures show very large financial imbalances. Social Security faces an imbalance of $10.4 trillion, while Medicare’s imbalance is 6 times larger at $61.6 trillion — for a combined shortfall of $72 trillion.
These numbers confirm our own calculations for the president’s 2004 budget — widely reported in the news last year — were, if anything, quite conservative. Indeed, the president later signed a prescription drug bill the trustees estimate will cost nearly another $17 trillion in present value.
This eye-popping $72 trillion shortfall will not be immediately obvious to some readers of the Trustees’ Reports. The Reports officially claim Social Security and Medicare face a combined imbalance of $32 trillion because they assume Medicare will receive $40 trillion from general revenue.
To be sure, the law commits Congress to fund a large portion of Medicare using general revenue. But Congress has not actually allocated this money, and so the true financial strain of these two programs is $72 trillion.
The present value approach now adopted by the Social Security Trustees discounts (that is, reduces) future cash-flow shortfalls to recognize that preparing to pay $1 owed in the future requires putting aside less than $1 today because the sequestered amount can earn interest in the meantime.
Thus, the new approach places present and future dollar flows on an equal footing (that of the present) before adding them. The trustees’ calculations project shortfalls in America’s entitlement programs so massive that, even after reducing them at the government’s interest rate, they total a whopping $72 trillion today.
The new estimates show the amount of funds the government would have to “set aside” today to finance future shortfalls. Of course, the government cannot set aside $72 trillion immediately. Indeed, this imbalance is almost double the value of America’s total wealth, including the value of all companies, homes, autos, durable goods and everything else.
Instead, this shortfall must be met from increasing revenues or cutting costs over many years. No doubt, these policy reforms will require sacrifice. But they will be less burdensome if we act immediately rather than postpone action.
Although many economists from different political persuasions agree on the need for present value analyses of programs with significant long-term implications, the new shortfall estimates have opponents.
Critics argue making projections even over a few years is fraught with uncertainty: So how could we be confident about estimates incorporating shortfalls well into the distant future?
This criticism, however, is misplaced. First, ignoring the future is not the correct response to uncertainty. Second, the problems facing Social Security and Medicare are driven by relatively stable and predictable long-term demographic trends. Indeed, predicting next year’s budget deficit is relatively harder because it is subject to more volatile short-term economic shocks that average out over a longer horizon.
Finally, our own study has shown the range of policy changes needed to place the nation’s entitlement programs on a sustainable course are not very sensitive to changes in most underlying assumptions — with one very important exception.
That exception is the assumed growth rate in future health-care outlays. In their calculations, the trustees assumed federal health-care outlay growth will exceed growth in gross domestic product (GDP) by just 1 percentage point during the next several decades. However, historical experience shows overall medical expenditures outpaced GDP by about 2.3 percentage points during the last 20 years.
In fact, Medicare’s imbalance could be twice as large if the growth in health care costs over the next few decades were assumed to be closer to its historical average. In other words, the trustees’ estimate of Medicare’s $61.6 trillion imbalance is, if anything, on the low side.
Not only do the new measures adopted by the trustees constitute fuller and more honest measures of shortfalls in U.S. entitlement programs, they are also better guides for policy decisions. Conventional budget measures fail to fully consider burdens passed on to future generations because these measures are based on a limited time horizon. That makes it easy for present generations to spend beyond their means and leave large financial burdens for future ones.
The next step is for the Office of Management and Budget and the Congressional Budget Office to extend the present value approach to all federal operations. Indeed, the nation’s Medicaid program, which provides health care to poor, is growing rapidly as well. But its costs are currently estimated only five to 10 years into the future.
The longer-term costs of defense, highway construction and maintenance, education, federal retirement, welfare and all other spending and revenue programs also need to be officially analyzed on a present value basis.
Toward that end, Sen. Joe Lieberman, Connecticut Democrat, has just introduced the Honest Government Accounting Act in the U.S. Senate. If enacted, the bill would require the federal government to adopt a more appropriate long-term perspective in making future budget estimates and policy decisions.
The good news is a fuller airing of the imbalances in America’s entitlement programs has begun — thanks to the Social Security and Medicare trustees. We hope the new estimates provoke a vigorous debate on reform options before the next presidential election. | <urn:uuid:4231843c-62c1-4361-a5be-6c5dca33e36d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/gaping-entitlement-imbalance | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936055 | 1,070 | 2.265625 | 2 |
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SOURCE National Multiple Sclerosis Society
MS Awareness Week March 11 - 17, 2013
Every Connection Counts at MSconnection.org
NEW YORK, March 11, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Multiple sclerosis is a life altering disease that affects each person in a unique and different way. MS destroys connections, divides minds from bodies, pulls people from their lives and away from one another. Millions of people are affected by MS worldwide. There is no cure. Therefore, it's only fitting that connections would be its greatest enemy. As more connections are formed, more knowledge is shared, more questions are asked, more resources are gathered, and more hope is provided to help people living with MS move their lives forward. Every connection counts.
Connect during MS Awareness Week – March 11-17
People impacted by MS are connecting across the nation during Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Week March 11 – 17 to combine their efforts, knowledge and hope in order to move us closer to a world free of multiple sclerosis.
The National MS Society is a prominent force in forging connections among people with MS, their friends and family who raise awareness and funds; health professionals who treat those with MS; and, researchers who work to stop the disease, restore the function it takes and end MS forever. In less than two decades, this has helped move MS from being an untreatable disease to one where there are at least nine treatment options for those with relapsing MS, the most common form of the disease, with even more new therapies speeding through the pipeline offering hope to people with all forms of the disease.
This MS Awareness Week and beyond, find the power of connection and visit www.MSconnection.org. Just some of the opportunities you will find are:
This week, March 11, kicks off year-round MS Awareness building efforts:
About Multiple Sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis, an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system, interrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body. Symptoms range from numbness and tingling to blindness and paralysis. The progress, severity and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot yet be predicted, but advances in research and treatment are moving us closer to a world free of MS. Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, with at least two to three times more women than men being diagnosed with the disease. MS affects more than 2.1 million people worldwide.
About the National Multiple Sclerosis Society
The National MS Society addresses the challenges of each person affected by MS. To fulfill this mission, the Society funds cutting-edge research, drives change through advocacy, facilitates professional education, collaborates with MS organizations around the world, and provides programs and services designed to help people with MS and their families move forward with their lives. In 2012 alone, the Society invested $43 million to support 350 research projects around the world while providing programs and services that assisted more than one million people. The Society is dedicated to achieving a world free of MS. Join the movement at www.nationalMSsociety.org.
©2012 PR Newswire. All Rights Reserved. | <urn:uuid:ab9e671f-dc69-4262-b210-b911837afada> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.news10.com/story/21570441/ms-kills-connection-connection-kills-ms | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953583 | 692 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Master Alfred Edward Peacock
Master Alfred Edward Peacock was born at 35 Orchard Place, Southampton on 8 September 1911, the son of Mr Benjamin Peacock (mechanical engineer) and Mrs Edith Peacock (his mother christian name was incorrectly recorded as Treasteall on his birth certificate and her son's christian name incorrectly as Albert). His father had travelled to Elizabeth, NJ during his wife's pregnancy in 1911 and the intention was that they were to rejoin him there.
He travelled on Titanic in third class with his mother and sister, Miss Treasteall Peacock. He was lost in the sinking, along with his mother and sister.
Philip Hind (Editor)
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Titanic Passenger and Crew Summary
Name: Master Alfred Edward Peacock
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Join our group on Facebook for the latest discoveries. | <urn:uuid:4093339a-6c00-4058-866c-80116ca0e546> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-victim/alfred-edward-peacock.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973177 | 200 | 2 | 2 |
The government of the city and the general management and control of its affairs are invested in a city council, which is composed of eight (8) council members together with the mayor, who votes only in case of a tie; the mayor is elected from the city at large by the voters at large.
The voters of the precinct in which the council member resides elect one council member from each precinct in the city.
The city council directs the exercises of all of the powers of the city. In addition to other powers conferred upon it by law, the council may adopt and provide for the execution of such ordinances, rules, and regulations as may be necessary or appropriate for the preservation and promotion of the health, comfort, convenience, good order, better government, and general welfare of the city and its inhabitants.
As appointed by council, a City Manager serves as the administrative head of the city. The City Manager is responsible for the administration of all city offices & departments, positions, boards & commissions and agencies.
As appointed by council, a City Attorney serves as legal advisor to the city council, the city manager and all city departments, officers and agencies including the Planning Board, Personnel Board, and Board of Adjustments, and represents as counsel the city, its officers, agents, or employees, in any legal action arising out of or connected with the proper functions of the city, its offices, agents, or employees. The City Attorney cannot give legal advice to private parties. | <urn:uuid:cda60ee0-ff4b-4412-9d34-336c79176613> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ci.lumberton.nc.us/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=111&Itemid=54 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977221 | 297 | 2.296875 | 2 |
The water you get from your faucet can come from two places – from the water in lakes or rivers (surface water), or from water that comes from wells (groundwater). Some people who live in large cities or towns get their water for drinking from lakes and rivers, but most people in the United States get their drinking water from groundwater.
Through the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulates the community water systems that supply drinking water to most Americans. Every system is required to publish a yearly “consumer confidence report” detailing contaminants or violations of water quality standards. You can see the report for your water system by contacting the system directly. To find yours, visit the EPA's Safe Drinking Water Information System website.
The MWRC helps with the work of making sure that your drinking water is safe. Feel free to contact us for guidance if you need tests done on your drinking water. We can help you determine which contaminants to test for and recommend potential solutions for any problems that might be found. | <urn:uuid:d322dfe8-66e7-4629-90af-67266341707d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cmich.edu/_layouts/CMich.TextOnlyMobile/TextOnly.aspx?HtmlFilterASP_URL=/academics/sci_tech/iglr/mwrc/drinking_water/Pages/default.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944821 | 213 | 3.34375 | 3 |
Alpha & Omega Ministries Apologetics Blog
On the King James Only Issue and Dr. Hills
05/21/2005 - James WhiteDr. Hills' honesty is a breath of fresh air. If he had not begun with the assumption of the superiority of the TR, he would undoubtedly have been led to a conclusion in favor, at the very least, of the "Majority Text" rather than the modern critical texts. But another argument precluded his coming to any conclusions other than the ones he presented, and that was the "argument for certainty" as I call it. This argument is the "glue" that holds the KJV Only position together. It is the common thread that ties Dr. Hills to someone as completely different in approach and mannerism as Dr. Ruckman. Since it is central to the KJV Only position, we will take the opportunity to review the argument as presented in its best form by Dr. Hills. We can see how it functions in this quotation by Dr. Hills:
In short, unless we follow the logic of faith, we can be certain of nothing concerning the Bible and its text. For example, if we make the Bodmer and Chester Beatty Papyri our chief reliance, how do we know that even older New Testament papyri of an entirely different character have not been destroyed by the recent damming of the Nile and the consequent flooding of the Egyptian sands?The desire for absolute certainty in all matters plainly lies behind statements such as this, and the much less polished (and much more emotional) versions of the same argument that are encountered in less scholarly KJV Only materials. It is argued that unless we embrace the KJV as our "final authority," we have no final authority at all, and hence all is subjectivity and uncertainty. People do not want subjectivity, but desire certainty and clarity, and so we must hold to the "traditional" text.
This argument is extremely powerful and should not be under-estimated. Many people fulfill their longing for "certainty" in religious matters by swearing allegiance to a particular leader or system. For example, many Roman Catholics find the idea of an infallible pope very "comforting," for when things get confusing they always have a source of certainty and absolute authority to turn to. In a similar way many Mormons look to the Prophet and the Apostles in Salt Lake City, and Jehovah's Witnesses look to the Governing Body in Watchtower headquarters in Brooklyn, New York. Others find a TV preacher or evangelist and, without stating it in so many words, invest him or her with some level of infallible religious authority. The fact that groups that offer this kind of "trust us and we will give you absolute certainty in all religious matters" mentality continue to attract followers should tell us that the lure of "absolute certainty" is a strong one indeed.
Protestants, however, should be quick to question any such notion of absolute religious certainty. The concept of the individual's responsibility before God is deeply ingrained in Protestant theology. We cannot hand off our responsibility in religious matters to someone else. We cannot say "the pope told me to do that" or "the prophet instructed me to believe that doctrine." God holds us individually responsible for our beliefs and our actions. This was one of the great scandals of the Reformation: the idea of the plowman and the merchant carrying and reading the Bible was unthinkable to the medieval Catholic theologian. How could the layman understand religious things without asking the priest? The Reformers preached a radical concept: a man is responsible to learn God's Word as best he can, and to follow what he learns. We are called to be students, responsible men and women who make learning, and studying, God's Word a high priority in our lives. We cannot blame anyone else for our ignorance, or our errors.
As imperfect human beings we will make mistakes. As Paul said, we see in a glass darkly in this life. There are things that are unclear, things that are simply not as plain as they someday will be. The KJV translators themselves said in their Preface, quoted earlier, "For as it is a fault of incredulity, to doubt of those things that are evident: so to determine of such things as the Spirit of God hath left (even in the judgment of the judicious) questionable, can be no less than presumption." Those who offer us certainty beyond all questions, the translators would rightly say, are being presumptuous with God's truth. Those who offer absolute certainty do so at a cost: individual responsibility.
If we say that we can have no certainty regarding the biblical text unless we embrace the KJV (or the TR), we are simply moving the question one step back and hoping no one notices. How can we be certain of the textual choices of Desiderius Erasmus, or Stephanus, or Theodore Beza? How can we be certain that the Anglican churchmen who chose amongst the variant readings of those three men were themselves inspired? Are we not, in reality, saying, "Well, I must have certainty, therefore, without any factual or logical or even scriptural reason for doing so, I will invest the KJV translators with ultimate authority." This is, truly, what KJV Only advocates are doing when they close their eyes to the historical realities regarding the biblical text.
---The King James Only Controversy, pp. 93-95. | <urn:uuid:0427e7e3-d3d9-4e50-807a-037ecc8c47b6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://aomin.org/aoblog/index.php?itemid=408 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956022 | 1,117 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Forecasters said Megi was the strongest storm to hit the Philippines since Typhoon Durian unleashed mudslides that buried entire towns and killed over 1,000 in 2006, and was likely the most powerful in the world this year.
It pummelled remote coastal areas of the northern Philippines with gusts of up to 260 kilometres (160 miles) an hour on Monday morning as it made landfall, tearing roofs off houses and bringing down power lines.
"We are marooned inside our home. We can not go out. The winds and rain are very strong. Many trees are being uprooted or snapped in half," Ernesto Macadangdang, a resident of Burgos town in Isabela province, told DZBB radio.
Megi's force slowed marginally after making landfall with maximum wind gusts of 225 kilometres an hour, but it continued to dump huge amounts of rain across the northern half of the main island of Luzon throughout the afternoon.
The northeastern provinces of Isabela and Cagayan were the first to feel the typhoon's fury on Monday morning.
"There are landslides in the mountains, we have swells, storm surges and big waves along the coastline, and now we have flood alerts," chief weatherman Graciano Yumol said in an interview with GMA 7 television.
Isabela and other provinces in Megi's direct path are mostly agricultural and fishing areas, with a few million residents who are well-drilled in preparing for the many storms that hit each year.
Over 3,000 people had already been moved from their homes in the northern provinces as part of a "pre-emptive evacuation" of threatened areas, the civil defence office said.
Local television showed footage of debris, including fallen trees and electrical posts, littering the highway leading to Isabela's capital just hours after Megi hit land.
Flights to and from northern Luzon were also suspended and ships there were told not to leave port.
Military, police and relief agencies had positioned supplies and rescue units to provide swift assistance to any affected areas, the civil defence office reported.
The government said the US military had also offered six heavy lift helicopters to help if needed.
Authorities reported one death by late Monday afternoon, but with many areas remained cut off from communications, officials fear the death toll could rise.
Cagayan province governor Alvaro Antonio said rising waters had made many bridges impassable, adding that strong winds made it dangerous to venture out.
"You cannot travel. It is very dangerous even if you use a vehicle. The wind is very strong and the rains are getting stronger," he said.
"We cannot as of yet give you a complete picture or assessment of the extent of the damage."
The sole reported fatality was of a man who drowned in a river while fishing, the nation's civil defence chief, Benito Ramos, told reporters.
The state weather bureau said Megi was expected to exit the Philippines' western coast for the South China Sea by midnight (1800 GMT) Monday, but said storm alert signals remained hoisted over much of Luzon island.
Megi did not directly hit the nation's capital, Manila, although its 12 million residents were told to remain on alert for any possible heavy rains.
More than 1,100 people were killed when Tropical Storm Ketsana and Typhoon Parma struck Manila and other parts of Luzon within a week of each other last year, triggering the worst flooding in recent history.
The Philippines is battered by an average of 20 typhoons a year, but Megi looked set to make records as one of the fiercest in recent memory.
Rosalinda de Guzman, head of the government's climatology data division, told AFP that Megi was the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines since Durian in 2006.
Forecasting website Accuweather reported Megi was the strongest cyclone anywhere in the world this year, but de Guzman said local authorities were not able to make a global comparison.
Source: AFP Global Edition | <urn:uuid:1a2832b2-765f-4042-abfa-e3fac961db5b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.blnz.com/news/2010/10/18/Typhoon_Megi_smashes_into_northern_a40f.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971367 | 834 | 1.765625 | 2 |
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Family man, Family Practitioner
12/2/09: Laurali Noteman
Jonathan Bowman, what a guy! And I mean that. Bowman was born and grew up in Chihuahua, Mexico. He was born in the "green Hospital", (no that’s not the name it’s the color) and delivered by Dr. Hatch. Bowman joked, "My brothers and sisters used to tease me, ‘We were born and you were hatched.’ "
"Dad was a Spanish teacher. Actually he ran the entire Humanities Department," Dr. Bowman related. He was going to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a Spanish teacher until his wife, Donna, had their first child.
"We were poor. Donna decided to have a midwife and have our first baby at home," Bowman continued. "But after 35 hours of labor the midwife sent her to the hospital. I was there for the C-Section and the whole process." That is when he decided he wanted to be a physician.
His childhood background is in large part why he wanted to become a rural physician. Wages were low for his father as a teacher, so his family ran a cattle ranch and pear orchard. "We (the kids) would pick pears and sell them to the market." The kids would save their money then go to El Paso, Texas, to buy school clothes once a year.
The Bowman’s now have 9 children ranging in ages 16 years to 6 months, with a set of triplets thrown in the mix. If you ask the Doc how many are in the family he’ll tell you, "We have 9 kids, 4 horses, 3 cows, 30 chickens, and 2 cats."
His family believes in a strong work ethic. The kids all help with chores and they can all make butter, ice cream, and bread. He just glowed as he told me that their oldest daughter, Johanna, made and sold 2,000 loaves of bread to earn money for the Eisenhower People to People program. A tour designed for young students and by invitation which took her to England, Scotland, and Ireland.
Dr. Bowman loves to interact with his family. They all enjoy horseback riding and ranching. He loves construction. He and his family will soon begin construction on "The Hacienda" the name they have affectionately given their future home.
Dr. Bowman came to Kane County Clinic in August 2003. This week he delivered his 278th baby in Kanab, he has delivered 478 to date.
I wish I had more space to recall some of his stories. They are colorful and told with laughter and enthusiasm. Next time you see Dr. Bowman check out the twinkle in his eyes, its there, his zest for life. | <urn:uuid:7761d65c-ecd9-4d9b-8958-8551e406742a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kchosp.net/articles.cfm?id=23 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.991009 | 629 | 1.734375 | 2 |
The study of the origin of words. It has influenced exegesis, especially of the OT. It has sometimes been assumed that the root meaning of a verb in Hebrew, or a related Semitic language, was a clue to its meaning in the Bible, and that it was even possible to build a doctrinal structure on this basis. But it thus tended to ignore the changes made in the course of time by other (e.g. Hellenistic) cultures in the meaning of words and to overlook the contexts in which they were used.
Etymology, in the sense of the study of the formation of words, appears in the NT at Matt. 1: 21, where the name Jesus, the Greek equivalent of Hebrew Joshua (= Yahweh saves) is explained as ‘he will save his people from their sins’. | <urn:uuid:a58a060d-708b-49a7-9cba-af588cfe1458> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oxfordbiblicalstudies.com/print/opr/t94/e632 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983816 | 170 | 3.53125 | 4 |
I am working on the learning project where you capture the temperature and load it to COSM. I have the RPi set up and the code seems to be working correctly. The problem is it keeps reading the adc0 as 0 which shows as -50 C & -58 F. I have checked the TMP36 and it is reading .75 volts and I have bypassed the cobbler and wired straight into the ribbon (to check my soldering). Could my MCP3008 be bad, or am I missing something? I wired the breadboard identical to the images shown. | <urn:uuid:10a501b7-ef9b-4bd0-87a9-c5a62a5afa7f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://adafruit.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=170133 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96053 | 121 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Does the witness of a crime have rights? What should I do if
I am afraid to testify?
Yes, a witness has certain rights. For information
on the rights of crime victims and witnesses, contact The
Board of Victim Services or the victim/witness
coordinator of State's Attorney office. If you are afraid to testify,
you should contact the State's Attorney for assistance. What happens if I get a subpoena to appear as a witness?
A subpoena to appear as a witness is a court order and
must be obeyed. Failure to appear in court in response
to a subpoena could place you in contempt of court.
The subpoena may contain information or instructions
about the trial. You should try to follow these instructions
as it may save you time. What should I do if I am unable to appear on the scheduled
You should contact the attorney who has called you
as a witness as soon as possible. If you are being
called as a witness for the state, contact the State's Attorney in the county where the trial
I have to appear in court if I already gave a statement
before the trial or gave a statement to the police?
Under our system of justice, the law requires a witness
to appear in court and present the evidence under
oath. In this way all parties in the case have an
opportunity to question the witness. So even though
you may have given a statement about the facts of
the case, your presence at the trial is still necessary.
Want to know when an offender is released from jail, has an upcoming court hearing, or has changes to his/her parole or probation?
Call VINE for information or to sign up for free phone or email alerts!
Toll-Free (866) 634-8463 — TTY (866) 847-1298 — http://www.vinelink.com
The Maryland VINE is a project provided to you by Governor's Office of Crime Control and Prevention, and the Maryland State Board of Victim Services. http://www.courts.state.md.us/district/selfhelp/disclaimer.html
Top of Page | <urn:uuid:3018c513-3a4b-4efb-a427-b57c42d5ced7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.courts.state.md.us/district/selfhelp/witness.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926665 | 451 | 1.789063 | 2 |
The crisis, say the optimists, we will leave in 2013. But nothing will be as before, mainly due to the digital revolution that is sweeping business models. The trends of the year…….
Building relationships at work can be a great way to give you the confidence and relaxed state that you need while you are at work. When you are friends with your fellow co-workers and bosses, it gives you that sense of excitement to arrive at work. Most people are usually stressed, nervous, or anxious about what their co-workers are going to say to them. Work is sort of like school as you are going to see them for a long time, especially if you plan to stay there long term. You are definitely going to be much happier and excited when you know that you have friends to see at work.
Hang Out With Them More Often
Being able to hang out with your co-workers and bosses at the end of the week just can’t be done for most people who have families at home. However, a few days a month can already be good enough to help bring everybody together. Whether you would like to establish a relationship with only one person to begin with or a lot of them, it is highly suggested that you try to create a few nights a month where you can all enjoy each others company without being in a work setting. A good tip is to work hard at building those relationships. If it means approaching your boss yourself, then be ready to do so. It will surely be worth it in the long haul.
Build More Trust
Building trust is the best way to make real relationships last for years. Being trustworthy can only be seen primarily by your bosses at work. If they ask you to run an errand or basically do anything, make sure that you are doing it the correct way and wholeheartedly. Even if your co-workers ask you to do the most simplest thing, if you can do exactly what they asked, they will find you as a trustworthy person. Trust is definitely the most important part when building relationships at work.
Become a Great Listener
When you get the time to talk to the people at work normally, show them that you can listen to them and that you are willing to care for their problems. Even if they have no problems, they will come to see how nice of a person you are when they notice how often you listen. A good listener always has real relationships.
These tips are very easy to do by anybody. Building relationships at work is similar to making other relationships work out. There is definitely going to be a lot of drama and heartache, but if you decide to choose love whenever you are at work, you will be able to look at everybody with love and achieve better relationships because of your patience. The tips above are all very powerful to help you build your relationships at work. You are probably going to work there for a long time, so you might as well become great friends with those that you work with, along with your bosses.
Author of this is marketing associate for iNetGiant, free online advertising community.
With the staggering number of college graduates each year while the international economic scene is still trying to recover from the recent recession, it is expected to see a large…….
About a decade earlier, outsourcing was considered possible only by companies of larger scale than when compared with smaller companies. Since that time, outsourcing has become a basic necessity than…….
You may be able to control your online business with the click of a mouse, but can you get customers into your brick ‘n’ mortar shop? You can send out…….
Many working parents often struggle to find wholesome activities for their children while they are at work. Parents want their children to be inspired and motivated while nurturing their passions……. | <urn:uuid:ece57822-e94f-41b4-b03d-94999ed8b936> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://digpreneur.com/2012/03/23/how-to-build-great-relationships-at-work/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976985 | 776 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Traffic in baby gorillas threatens numbers in the wild
A mountain gorilla is seen during a census inside Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda. Photo: Reuters
A SURGE in trafficking of baby gorillas is further endangering the species in the Democratic Republic of Congo, wildlife officials have warned.
Poachers demanding $40,000 for one of the animals were caught this month in an undercover sting. It was the fourth such incident since April, making this a record year for the poachers caught with baby gorillas.
Mountain gorillas are critically endangered, with about 790 left in the world - about 480 in the Virunga volcanoes conservation area (shared by D.R. Congo, Rwanda and Uganda) and just over 300 in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda. Eastern lowland gorillas are more numerous but largely outside protected areas and still in decline.
A census of mountain gorillas is continuing in Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable National Park to estimate numbers.
Emmanuel de Merode, director of Virunga National Park, said: ''We are very concerned about a growing market for baby gorillas that is feeding a dangerous trafficking activity in rebel controlled areas of eastern D.R. Congo. We are powerless to control the international trade in baby gorillas, but our rangers are doing everything they can to stamp it out on the ground.'' An infant gorilla was rescued on October 6 when park rangers went undercover posing as potential buyers. Dressed in civilian clothes, they agreed on a price for the 18-month-old male eastern lowland gorilla that poachers were hiding in a small backpack. Rangers arrested the three poachers.
Christian Shamavu, the leader of the operation, said: ''It's very likely that the mother and other gorillas were killed because it's very difficult to take a baby gorilla from its family. The poachers will never admit to this, though.''
Baby eastern lowland gorillas were confiscated from poachers in D.R. Congo in April and June, and Rwandan police recovered a baby mountain gorilla as poachers tried to smuggle it over the border in August.
The animals suffer physical anguish during the process. Dr Jan Ramer, a vet with the Mountain Gorilla Veterinarian Project, partners with Virunga National Park, said: ''Many of these infants are injured from ropes around their hands, feet or waist, and some are quite ill.''
The market price for infant gorillas can reach $40,000, but officials say they lack the resources or jurisdiction to fully investigate the racket. | <urn:uuid:cb90d37d-fba1-47dc-89b3-27b429ff2336> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.watoday.com.au/world/traffic-in-baby-gorillas-threatens-numbers-in-the-wild-20111018-1lynn.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950825 | 539 | 2.109375 | 2 |
The Anime and Manga Portal
Anime (アニメ) refers to the animation style originated in Japan. It is characterized by distinctive characters and backgrounds (hand-drawn or computer-generated) that visually and thematically set it apart from other forms of animation. Storylines may include a variety of fictional or historical characters, events, and settings. Anime is aimed at a broad range of audiences and consequently, a given series may have aspects of a range of genres. Anime is most frequently broadcast on television or sold on DVDs either after their broadcast run or directly as original video animation (OVA). Console and computer games sometimes also feature segments or scenes that can be considered anime.
Manga (漫画) is Japanese for "comics" or "whimsical images". Manga developed from a mixture of ukiyo-e and Western styles of drawing, and took its current form shortly after World War II. Manga, apart from covers, is usually published in black and white but it is common to find introductions to chapters to be in color, and is read from top to bottom and then right to left, similar to the layout of a Japanese plain text. Financially, manga represented in 2005 a market of ¥24 billion in Japan and one of $180 million in the United States. Manga was the fastest growing segment of books in the United States in 2005.
Anime and manga share many characteristics, including: exaggerating (in terms of scale) of physical features, to which the reader presumably should pay most attention (best known being "large eyes"), "dramatically shaped speech bubbles, speed lines and onomatopoeic, exclamatory typography..." Some manga, a small amount of the total output, is adapted into anime, often with the collaboration of the original author. Computer games can also give rise to anime. In such cases, the stories are often compressed and modified to fit the format and appeal to a wider market. Popular anime franchises sometimes include full-length feature films, and some have been adapted into live-action films and television programs.
Case Closed, known as Meitantei Conan (名探偵コナン?, lit. Great Detective Conan, officially translated as Detective Conan) in Japan, is a Japanese detective manga series written and illustrated by Gosho Aoyama. The series is serialized in Shogakukan's Weekly Shōnen Sunday since January 19, 1994, and has been collected in 78 tankōbon volumes as of December 2012. The story follows the adventures of Jimmy Kudo, a prodigious young detective who was inadvertently transformed into a child after being poisoned.
Since its publication, Case Closed has spawned a substantial media franchise. The manga has been adapted into an animated television series, two original video animation series, sixteen animated feature films, three live action dramas, a live action series, numerous video games, and many types of Case Closed-related merchandise. Compilation volumes of the manga have sold more than 120 million copies in Japan. In 2001, the manga was awarded 46th Shogakukan Manga Award in the shōnen category. The anime adaptation has been well received and ranked in the top twenty in Animage's polls between 1996 and 2001. In the Japanese TV anime ranking, Case Closed often ranked in the top six. Both manga and anime have had positive response from critics for its plot and cases.
Charizard, known in Japan as Lizardon (リザードン Rizādon), is a Pokémon species in Nintendo and Game Freak's Pokémon franchise and the evolved form of Charmeleon. Created by Ken Sugimori, Charizard first appeared in the video games Pokémon Red and Blue and subsequent sequels. They have later appeared in various merchandise, spinoff titles and animated and printed adaptations of the franchise. Shin-ichiro Miki, the actor who voices James in the original Japanese version of the Pokémon anime voices Charizard in both the Japanese and English-language versions of the cartoon. Known as a Flame Pokémon, Charizard are violent yet honorable creatures that fly proudly around the sky and constantly seek powerful opponents to quarrel with.
Charizard is featured in the Pokémon anime series with the most recurring being from the main character, Ash Ketchum. It is featured in printed adaptations such as Pokémon Adventures, in the possession of Blue, one of the main characters. Charizard has received positive reception from the media, with GamesRadar describing it as "hands-down one of the coolest Pokémon out there". Charizard is the version mascot of Pokémon Red and FireRed versions, and makes an appearance on the boxarts of Pokémon Stadium, Pokémon Ranger, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team, and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky.
Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl is a Japanese animated television series. The episodes of the anime were directed by Nobuaki Nakanishi, and animated by Studio Hibari. The series was based on a manga series of the same name. The anime's plot revolves around the drama between the three female main characters' romantic struggles in a love triangle.
The televised series aired on the TV Tokyo Japanese television network between January 11, 2006 and March 29, 2006 comprising twelve main episodes. Four pieces of theme music were used in the anime, one opening theme, two ending themes, and one insert song used in episode twelve. The episodes were released on seven DVD compilations released between April 26, 2006 and October 27, 2006, each containing two episodes. The seventh DVD also contained an original video animation episode entitled "A Girl Falls in Love with a Girl" (少女は少女に恋をした Shōjo wa Shōjo ni Koi o Shita). Produced by the same production team of the anime series, this one-off episode is set four months after the events of the anime series during the Christmas season. | <urn:uuid:3d9480f2-81af-4ad0-bcb7-b38b04eb34ed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Anime_and_Manga | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960375 | 1,213 | 2.484375 | 2 |
LAMB OF GOD
ALBION & LOS
SEVEN EYES OF GOD
Perhaps Plate 62 of Jerusalem is an attempted summation of Blake's myth up to that point. Putting all of the Old Testament and New Testament allusions in the text, as well as connecting the picture to text on a plate that falls much earlier in the story, points toward an amalgamation of various threads.
COLORED IMAGE: Jerusalem, Plate 62, Albion and LosThe picture itself goes beyond the stated imagery of the text on either Plate 62 or Plate 33. In the introduction to William Blake's Circle of Destiny, Percival presents the overall theme of his book: that when the long cycle comes to an end, it renews (repeats) itself if error is not cast off, or it reaches the Last Judgment which ends all temporal things. Percival sees Blake presenting the whole of the cycle: from the undifferentiated status of Eternity to the Apocalypse where time ends - in all its aspects of politics, science, history, sociology, psychology and religion.
In the Illumination on Plate 62, we have an example of how Blake presents the explicit and implicit simultaneously. The explicit is invariably the lessor of his communications. Although the seven spots direct us to the Eyes of God, there is a suggestion of twelve spots. The implied twelve suggests the Zodiac and other instances of twelve entities for which we may seek associations.
Through the images incorporated in this picture of Albion, Blake may be suggesting a turning point in cosmic events. The ouroboros (seen as a snake around Albion's head), as a representation of cyclical experience reminds us that Albion may break the cycle or repeat it. The peacock feathers surrounding the head remind us that this is a point of transition. The Eyes of God tell us that Albion is under the protection of the Eternals though he has not returned from the world of time. The twelve eyes point to the Zodiac, another image of cyclical movement. (Percival is able to correlate the stages traversed in Blake's myth with passage through the signs of the Zodiac in Chapter VIII of his book.)
Using alchemical symbolism, Percival makes this observation, "The feminine mercury passes from black to white through an intermediate stage in which all the colors assert themselves. The symbol of this stage is the peacock's tail. The appearance of this symbol is a good omen; it means that the fire is doing its work, that death is awakening into life, or, as Paracelsus puts it alchemically, "it showeth the workings of the philosopher's mercury on the vulgar mercury."
Milton O. Percival, William Blake's Circle of Destiny, Page 206.
Just as Blake wanted us to think of the events of the Old and New Testaments as we read the words of the text, in the illumination he is calling to our minds the seven days of creation, the twelve tribes of Israel, and whatever associations with the numbers seven and twelve which we may have from our reading of history, literature and numerology. The feet, cold to the point of blue death, are surrounded by the fires of destruction and redemption. And what about how Albion grasps the stone tenaciously? The face of fear, anguish and confusion suggests an agonizing decision making process like that undergone by Jesus in the Garden.
Blake bombards us with images, as he makes us ask the question, "Which direction will Albion choose?"
Thanks to Jim and Mark for ideas included in this post. | <urn:uuid:860b73b5-9daf-4734-9d4d-8fd972d0d446> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ramhornd.blogspot.com/2010/01/albions-anguish.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935921 | 729 | 2.1875 | 2 |
The Navy’s newest Virginia-class attack submarine Mississippi will be commissioned June 2, 2012, during a 10 a.m., CDT, ceremony at the Port of Pascagoula in Pascagoula, Miss.
Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus will deliver the ceremony’s principal address. Allison Stiller, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for ship programs, will serve as the ship’s sponsor. In the time-honored Navy tradition she will give the first order to “man our ship and bring her to life!”
The selection of Mississippi as the name for the submarine is dedicated to the state’s long-standing tradition of shipbuilding in support of our nation’s defense. It also honors the indomitable spirit of the people of Mississippi, who have made great strides in recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. This fighting spirit will be an inspiration to all sailors who embark aboard Mississippi.
There have been four previous ships named Mississippi. The first Mississippi, a side wheeler, served as Commodore Matthew Perry’s flagship for his historic voyage to Japan and fought with Admiral Farragut’s forces on the Mississippi River during the Civil War. The second and third were battleships, a BB-23 in World War I and a BB-41 in World War II. The fourth Mississippi, a Virginia-class nuclear guided missile cruiser, was decommissioned in 1997.
Designated SSN 782, the ninth ship of the Virginia class, Mississippi is built to excel in antisubmarine warfare; antiship warfare; strike warfare; special operations; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; irregular warfare; and mine warfare missions. Adept at operating in both the world’s shallow littoral regions and deep waters, Mississippi will directly enable five of the six Navy maritime strategy core capabilities – sea control, power projection, forward presence, maritime security, and deterrence.
Capt. John McGrath, a native of Neptune, N.J., and a 1990 graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy, will be the ship’s commanding officer, leading a crew of approximately 134 officers and enlisted personnel.
The 7,800-ton Mississippi was built under a teaming arrangement between General Dynamics-Electric Boat and Huntington Ingalls Industry-Newport News Shipbuilding and was delivered to the Navy one year ahead of contract schedule and under cost. Mississippi took just over 62 months to build, which set the record for the Virginia Class Submarine program’s fastest delivery.
The boat is 377 feet long, has a 34-foot beam, and will be able to dive to depths of greater than 800 feet and operate at speeds in excess of 25 knots submerged. Mississippi is designed with a nuclear reactor plant that will not require refueling during the planned life of the ship – reducing lifecycle costs while increasing underway time.
The commissioning will be aired live on the U.S. Navy’s Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/usnavy and Livestream channel http://www.livestream.com/usnavy beginning at 10 a.m., CDT. Join the conversation on Twitter #NewMiss. | <urn:uuid:4bc8d2c3-90b6-4925-ab3c-0b5525d0bb4b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aerotechnews.com/news/2012/05/31/navy-secretary-to-commission-submarine-mississippi/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934531 | 663 | 1.726563 | 2 |
The Toyota Motor Co. Ltd was first established in 1937 as a spin-off from Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, one of the world's leading manufacturers of weaving machinery.
The Toyoda Automatic Loom Works was then headed by Japan's "King of Inventors" Sakichi Toyoda. The patent rights to one of his machines had been sold to Platt Brothers (UK) and provided the seed-money for the development and test-building of Toyota's first automobiles.
August 1997 marked the 60th anniversary of TMC. The fledgling company founded by Kiichiro Toyoda, Sakichi's son, has since blossomed into the leader that it is today.
In 1950 the company experienced its one and only strike. Labour and management emerged from this stoppage firmly committed to the principles of mutual trust and dependence, and that corporate philosophy still guides our growth today.
Production systems were improved in the late 1950s, culminating in the establishment of the 'Toyota Production System.' It became known as TPS in 1970 but was established much earlier by Taiichi Ohno. Based on the principles of Jidoka, Just-in-time and Kaizen, the system is a major factor in the reduction of inventories and defects in the plants of Toyota and its suppliers, and it underpins all our operations across the World.
Toyota launched its first small car (SA Model) in 1947. Production of vehicles outside Japan began in 1959 at a small plant in Brazil, and continued with a growing network of overseas plants. Toyota believes in localising its operations to provide customers with the products they need where they need them; this philosophy builds mutually beneficial long-term relationships with local suppliers and helps the company fulfill its commitments to local labour.
Over and above manufacturing,Toyota also has a global network of design and 'Research and Development' facilities, embracing the three major car markets of Japan, North America and Europe.
In every community in which the company operates, Toyota strives to be a responsible corporate citizen; close relationships with people and organisations in the local community are essential contributors to mutual prosperity. Across the world, Toyota participates enthusiastically in community activities ranging from the sponsorship of educational and cultural programmes to international exchange and research.
Today, Toyota is the world's second largest manufacturer of automobiles in unit sales and in net sales. It is by far the largest Japanese automotive manufacturer, producing more than 9.1 million vehicles per year, equivalent to one every six seconds. In the time it has taken you to read this paragraph, we'll have produced at least another three or four cars! | <urn:uuid:1d756ac7-096a-4a00-9e96-fed8eb6414e3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.toyota.co.nz/AboutUs/Corporate+Profile/ | 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 | 0.963377 | 527 | 2.140625 | 2 |
Technology has changed the way designers work. Traditional design phases, from hand-drawn sketches to clay modeling, are now realized through digital tablets and digital three-dimensional modeling. Designers must combine the best traditional and new approaches to define the optimal balance between digital and analog solutions.
Our first Featured Speaker Frank Stephenson began his career at BMW, where he designed the X5 and the popular Mini. He was the design director at Ferrari, Maserati, and Fiat before joining McLaren and achieving his boyhood dream of working on at the pinnacle of car design – Formula 1.
Automobiles have always been a reflection of technology draped in art, and "super cars" are the ultimate expression of automotive art and technology. Designers who create the next generation of super cars must have the right tools to articulate their vision. At the same time, they must always ask: What’s next? In his featured speech, McLaren Design Director Frank Stephenson explains how his world-class design team looks beyond what’s next to challenge the future.
More Featured Speakers and Special Sessions will be announced soon.
Featured Speaker and Special Sessions are open to Full Conference and Full Conference One Day attendees only.
Courses Pass provides invaluable learning and skill-developing opportunities in three formats (tutorials, half-day, and full-day courses) at beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. SIGGRAPH Asia 2010 have course presenters from Blizzard Entertainment, Pixar Animation Studios, Industrial Light & Magic, Microsoft & Microsoft Game Studios, Nvidia, ARM, Google, Weta Digital, Disney Imagineering, KAIST, MIT Media Lab, Jeju National University, Seoul National University, and many more.
Courses Pass includes all tutorials and workshops instructed by prominent industry experts for four full days, access to the Exhibition and Animation Theater screenings all three days, and one Electronic Theater Ticket.
Computer Animation Festival Pass
Some of the world's finest computer-generated animation and visual effects from 47 countries presented in over 100 screenings. Also: Panels and Talks presented by producers and creators of the works featured in the Festival.
Computer Animation Festival Pass: Only ₩15,000! Access to all Computer Animation Theater screenings and the Exhibition for all three days!
Preview the world-class work in the Computer Animation Festival and the breakthrough research findings revealed in Technical Papers.
Short illustrated talks on computer graphics and interactive techniques in art, cinema, advertising, design, science, and engineering. Following their talks, sketch presenters answer questions and discuss future implications of their work.
Graphic displays of incremental, preliminary, partial, and innovative insights that are important but not fully developed. Posters are displayed throughout the conference week in a high-traffic area within the convention center, and presenters discuss their work in scheduled sessions.
Technical Sketches & Posters Highlights
Parallel Progressive Photon Mapping on GPUs A GPU implementation of progressive photon mapping. The main idea is a new data-parallel progressive radiance estimation algorithm, including data-parallel construction of photon maps.
Interactive Voxelized Epipolar Shadow Volumes A new visibility sampling in epipolar space that can be efficiently computed via a standard parallel scan. This allows shadow rendering in participating media at up to 300 fps.
More than 20 universities from Korea and other Asian countries have been invited to display the creativity and technology of their faculty and students, including Chungkang College of Cultural Industries, Ewha Womans University, KAIST, Kaywon School of Art & Design, Konkuk University, Korea National University of Arts, Kyonggi University, Kyushu University, POSTECH, Sangmyung University, Sejong University, Seoul National University, Soongsil University, Yonsei University, and more. Learn about the latest technologies and meet Asia's leading creative minds and researchers. | <urn:uuid:b9d675cd-3bc5-4fd4-9085-a60ee2b6f388> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cgw.com/Press-Center/News/2010/New-for-SIGGRAPH-Asia-2010-First-Featured-Speake.aspx?LargeFonts=true | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914007 | 789 | 1.835938 | 2 |
This series of factsheets sets out the 10 key characteristics of good nutritional care in healthcare environments.
Care providers should:
- Deliver food service and nutritional care safely.
- Maintain an environment conducive to people enjoying their meals and being able to safely consume their food and drinks. (In hospitals this is known as ‘Protected Mealtimes’.)
- Support a multi-disciplinary approach to nutritional care, and value the contribution of staff, service users, carers and volunteers.
- Include guidance on food service and nutritional care in service delivery and accountability arrangements.
- Screen all patients and service-users to identify malnourishment or risk of malnourishment.
- Design facilities and services which are centred on the needs of the people using them.
- Create a personal care or support plan for each patient or service-user, and give them input to identify their nutritional care and fluids needs.
- Ensure that staff and volunteers have appropriate skills and competencies, and receive regular training.
- Involve patients and service-users in planning and monitoring arrangements for food services and drinks provision.
- Create a policy for food service and nutritional care which is centred on the needs of users. | <urn:uuid:c757c602-a22d-477f-b0a4-f9cca861c89f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nrls.npsa.nhs.uk/resources/all-settings-specialties/?entryid45=59865&p=3 | 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 | 0.928287 | 252 | 3.109375 | 3 |
Hockey is your heritage. It's in your blood. You've been a "rink rat" since you were five.
Hockey is one of the most physically demanding sports around. It takes speed, endurance, strength and toughness.
That's what inspired you to put on your skates and grab a stick that very first game. You are one of the best skaters and shooters around, but you want to raise your game to be a better all-around player. And you play with the intensity of "The Great One."
Sharpen Your Slapshot
Developing the right swing for a strong, controlled slapshot breaks down into five key phases: Preparation, Wind-Up, Down-Swing, Impact and Follow-Through. By working on the muscles that are most crucial in these five steps, you can help improve your swing. It will also help protect you from injury; so you can keep on playing at your highest level every period, every game, every season.
Become a threat on the ice by honing your slapshot accuracy and power with these easy to follow instructions and downlodable illustrated exercises.
You need to keep your body as balanced as possible. Strong abs and back muscles will help your stability. So perform a balance ball rollout routine with a. A multi-directional lunge with a will provide better balance to the lower body.
A firm grip on the stick and holding it straight to the puck is your first step. That takes strong forearms and triceps. Those muscles can be developed by performing wrist curls and reverse wrist curls with.
Keep your wrists cocked and be sure to stabilize your shoulder. You can achieve strong pectorals and triceps by performing chest presses with the help of aand . Another good exercise for your shoulder stability is a bent-over upright row with a .
A smooth, controlled movement of your mid-section is essential. So build up those abdominal and lower back muscles with a series of ab crunches using a.
To help keep your balance and posture, work on your lower body muscles. Performing squats with awill not only help your balance not only when shooting, but when skating and checking as well.
To help with the internal rotation of the back arm and shoulder, a well-developed upper body is a necessity. A seated overhead press usingis a simple but effective exerciseas well as performing internal and external rotation exercises.
As your weight is shifted during the swing, keeping the body stable as you push off the ice takes strong calf muscles. A heel raise usingcan make a huge difference.
A side lateral raise withwill add control and velocity to your shot. Since you're not just shooting with your arms, but all of your entire upper body, be sure your abs are toned to help give you puck-striking power. Repeated crunches with a will help you out there.
You can gain additional strength by performing chest presses with aand . A Russian Twist with a will help with your torso rotation at the moment of impact.
Overall body stability can be increased by performing squats with a. This will also help with the push-off that occurs during weight shift.
Maintaining your grip and control of the stick begins with your wrists. So be sure to incorporate wrist curls and reverse wrist curls with ainto your workout routine.
To protect your back and help with your stability on the ice, build up those muscles with arollout routine. This will also help you maintain body control as you complete your follow-through. | <urn:uuid:c9f0917a-89cb-4ad5-aff9-f0959dab0c1e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://zonfitness.com/Hockey_Skills | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946692 | 730 | 1.914063 | 2 |
Bible Verses About Discouragement
"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”"
John 16:33 ESV
"and Joshua continued, " Don't ever be afraid or discouraged. Be brave and strong. This is what the LORD will do to all your enemies.""
Joshua 10:25 CEV
"Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul."
3 John 1:2 ESV
"[ Israel Destroys the Town of Ai ] The LORD told Joshua: Don't be afraid, and don't be discouraged by what happened at the town of Ai. Take the army and attack again. But first, have part of the army set up an ambush on the other side of the town. I will help you defeat the king of Ai and his army, and you will capture the town and the land around it. Destroy Ai and kill its king as you did at Jericho. But you may keep the livestock and everything else you want."
Joshua 8:1 CEV
"But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me"
2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV
"Joshua sent about three thousand soldiers to attack Ai. But the men of Ai fought back and chased the Israelite soldiers away from the town gate and down the hill to the stone quarries. Thirty-six Israelite soldiers were killed, and the Israelite army felt discouraged."
Joshua 7:4 CEV
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths."
Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV
"I've commanded you to be strong and brave. Don't ever be afraid or discouraged! I am the LORD your God, and I will be there to help you wherever you go."
Joshua 1:9 CEV
"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."
Jeremiah 29:11 ESV
"When Moses told this to the Israelites, they were too discouraged and mistreated to believe him."
Exodus 6:9 CEV
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|Freedom from Porn| | <urn:uuid:a8101d2f-9080-4adf-801f-baa2d5df840f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.topbibleverses.com/bible-verses-about-discouragement | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935378 | 639 | 1.976563 | 2 |
The Jewish Holiday of Purim: A sparkling collection of intriguing insights on this Jewish Holiday & the megillah with fascinating questions & profound answers on the incredible story of Purim that unmask the beauty of this Jewish Holiday.
1. Like the era of Purim, the era of the Chanukah story saw great miracles. However, unlike the time of Purim, the struggle against the Syrian-Greeks at the time of Chanukah was long and hard, and many Jews lost their lives in those battles, including most of the Maccabee brothers. Since the victory came with the cost of many Jewish lives, and many Jews found themselves mourning for their loved ones following the victory, the Sages decided not to institute an obligatory seudah to celebrate.
In contrast, the Jews at the time of Purim saw great miraculous victories without a single Jewish casualty. Not one Jew died in the battles! Since there was not a single house of mourning among the Jews at Purim, and every home shared the tremendous simchah in total completeness and unity, the Sages instituted that a festive seudah be a part of the Purim celebration each year. (Tallelei Oros, Esther 9:16–17, citing Yosef Lekach) 2. During the time of Chanukah, the Syrian-Greeks and Hellenists were not looking to destroy the Jewish people physically. They only sought to eradicate every vestige of Torah, and turn the Jews into idolaters. As a result, the salvation Hashem wrought at that time was a spiritual one, and Chazal therefore instituted that Chanukah be celebrated with the spiritual commemorations of lighting candles, reciting Hallel, and singing songs of praise. Conversely, Haman did not seek to stamp out our spiritual observance, but to completely and totally annihilate the Jewish people on the physical level. Therefore, since the salvation of Purim was wholly physical, Chazal instituted that it be celebrated with the physical observance of a seudah, with eating and drinking. (Mishnah Berurah 670:2:6)
1. We eat seeds on Purim in commemoration of a miracle that took place shortly before the Purim story. The first perek of Sefer Daniel describes how Nevuchadnetzar, the Babylonian king who destroyed the First Beis HaMikdash, was looking to hire the wisest men in the world to be his advisors. A group of candidates were called, including Daniel and several other Jews. However, before they could come before Nevuchadnetzar, they were required to be fattened up so that they would be physically fit for the king’s service. Daniel and the other Jews requested of the officer in charge that they be fed only seeds, so that they would not have to eat the nonkosher food being served.
Understanding the officer’s fear of execution for failure to properly nourish them, Daniel proposed that they be fed seeds for ten days as a trial. Miraculously, at the conclusion of the ten-day period, not only were Daniel and the other Jews looking healthy, but they appeared more robust than the other candidates who ate the nonkosher food. Shortly thereafter, they were chosen to be advisors to the king.
This miracle relates to Purim because Daniel actually played an important role in the Purim story. When Mordechai donned sackcloth and ashes in mourning over Haman’s decree, he was unable to enter the palace gates by Persian law (see Esther 4:2), and consequently his contact with Esther was cut off. However, it was necessary for Esther and Mordechai to communicate regarding their plans for her to seek mercy for the Jews from Achashveirosh. Therefore, Esther asked Hasach, a servant of the king who is identified by the Gemara (Megillah 15a) as Daniel, to carry messages between her and Mordechai.
With Haman in power, Daniel was risking his life by acting as messenger, and was in fact killed al kiddush Hashem carrying out these duties. The Midrash (Pirkei D’Rabbi Eliezer 50) explains that Haman killed Daniel when he noticed Daniel carrying the messages, because he suspected Mordechai of attempting to get word to the king to annul the extermination decree.
We eat seeds on Purim in remembrance of this great tzaddik and his mesiras nefesh, self-sacrifice, for klal Yisrael. In addition, it was through the miracle of the seeds that Daniel was first put in the royal employ that continued with all subsequent kings. Daniel was thus in a position at the palace in which he was able to act as messenger between Mordechai and Esther, whose correspondence through him resulted in the salvation of the Jews. (Rama, Orach Chaim 695:2; A.P.S.)
2. We eat seeds in commemoration of Esther’s resolve to only eat kosher food when she was taken to the palace. She requested from Heigai, the steward in charge, that she only be fed seeds, and her request was granted. (Mishnah Berurah 695:2:12, citing Megillah 13a)
1.22. Why are hamantaschen eaten on Purim, and how did this pastry acquire its name?
1. Hamantaschen are eaten in remembrance of the great hidden miracle of Purim. A hamantasch is essentially a cookie whose filling is hidden inside the dough, just as the miracle of Purim was hidden under the guise of nature. Until the destruction of the First Beis HaMikdash, which occurred shortly before the time of Purim, the Jews regularly saw open, supernatural miracles. However, with the destruction began a period that lasts until today, where Hashem operates in a behind-the-scenes fashion, and His hand is not so apparent in daily events. The Purim story was the first time the Jews realized that the absence of overt miracles did not mean that Hashem had abandoned them. Instead, they realized that Hashem had a new modus operandi, as they understood how the Purim miracle was concealed and hidden within nature. Although an observer at the time might misinterpret the events as normal and natural political happenings, every step of the Purim story was directed by the hand of Hashem. (Sefer Menuchah V’Kedushah 2:20)
2. One of the main themes of Purim is that of “v’nahafoch hu,” the turnabout. The story represents not only salvation from our enemies, but a complete reversal and interchanging of situations for the parties involved. The Jews switched from being completely dominated by their enemies to completely dominating them. There are many avenues through which Hashem could have caused His plan to come about. On Purim, Hashem used Haman, the very person who desired to destroy Hashem’s people, to actually bring about their salvation. Haman’s decree to annihilate the Jews caused a massive teshuvah movement and recommitment to the Torah, culminating in the hanging of Haman on the same gallows he had built to execute Mordechai. We eat hamantaschen on Purim, a sweet cookie named after the bitter Haman, to symbolize the v’nahafoch hu of how Haman and his evil actions turned into the source of sweetness and nourishment for Jewish survival. (Rabbi David Aaron, Endless Light, pp. 81–82)
3. Nowadays, hamantaschen are filled with all types of jellies, jams, and even chocolate. However, originally they were filled with either sesame or poppy seeds, designed as another method of fulfilling the minhag of eating seeds on Purim (see 1:21). Therefore, hamentaschen are effectively pocket pastries filled with poppy seeds. In Yiddish, poppy seeds are called “mohn,” and pockets are called “taschen,” revealing the source of the name mohn-taschen. Beginning with the minhag of eating seeds, this pastry became a Purim mainstay because of the similarity of the word mohn (ïäÈî) to Haman (ïÈîÈä), both in pronunciation and in spelling. For this reason, the name mohn-taschen eventually evolved into hamantaschen. (Sefer Matamim, Purim 2)
4. The word tash in Hebrew means to “weaken.” On Purim, we specifically eat the pastry hamantaschen because it means “Haman became weakened.” This commemorates Hashem saving us by weakening Haman during the time of Purim, and in addition expresses the wish that Hashem should always save us by weakening the Hamans of every generation. (Otzar Kol Minhagei Yeshurun, 50:11, p. 126)
5. On Purim, we eat hamantaschen, a food that carries the name of Haman, because as eating destroys the food being eaten, we symbolically fulfill the mitzvah of destroying Amalek by eating Haman. (Sefer HaMoadim, vol. 6, p. 153; Rav Yaakov Kaminetzky, BeMechitzas Rabbeinu HaGaon Rabbi Yaakov Kaminetzky, p. 142)
6. Haman offered ten thousand kikar, talents, of silver to Achashveirosh for permission to exterminate the Jews. We eat hamantaschen specifically filled with poppy seeds because the countless number of poppy seeds in the “Haman-taschen” (“Haman-pockets”) commemorates the ten thousand kikar of silver Haman had in his pocket to offer to Achashveirosh. (Sefer HaMoadim, vol. 6, p. 154) 7. The Alshich explains that at first, the Jews did not believe that they were going to be completely wiped out. In an effort to convince them of the seriousness of the situation, Mordechai sent numerous letters to the Jews describing the true brutal natures of Haman and Achashveirosh. However, because Mordechai feared that the king might intercept these messages that painted him in an unfavorable light, Mordechai hid them in pastries, which he then sent to the Jews. These pastries saved the Jews, because when they found Mordechai’s letters hidden within the dough, they became convinced of the direness of the situation and were stirred to repentance. On Purim, we eat hamantaschen, a pastry that contains hidden filling, to commemorate how the hidden filling of Mordechai’s pastries brought about our salvation. (Sefer Menuchah V’Kedushah 2:20)
1. “Oznei Haman” literally means “Haman’s ears.” There are many reasons given for the minhag of eating hamantaschen on Purim, which all basically revolve around commemorating Haman’s downfall (see 1.22). The name “oznei Haman” similarly commemorates Haman’s hanging, as there is a mesorah, tradition, that Haman’s ears were cut off before he was hanged, a pre-execution custom that was practiced through the Middle Ages. (Sefer HaMoadim, vol. 6, p. 153)
2. There is a midrash that describes how Haman bent over in shame when he entered the king’s treasury to retrieve the royal robes and horse for Mordechai, just before he was to parade Mordechai through the streets. In describing Haman’s shame, the Midrash says that he was bent over with “oznayim mekutafos,” meaning “clipped ears.” From this description, many communities labeled these pastries prepared in remembrance of Haman’s downfall “Haman oyern,” meaning “Haman’s ears” in Yiddish, to draw his shame into the commemoration.
Apparently, each Jewish community that used this name translated it into the language of its host country. In Italy, for example, they were called “orrechi d’Aman,” and eventually, the name was translated into the Hebrew “oznei Haman.” (Purim V’Chodesh Adar 10:36; Sefer HaMoadim, vol. 6, p. 153; see also Targum Sheini, Esther 6:11)
1. The three-sided shape represents the three avos, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, whose merit helped saved the Jews on Purim, by causing Haman to become “tash,” weakened. (Sefer Matamim, Purim 2)
2. Traditionally it is thought that the three corners of the hamantaschen are reminiscent of the three-cornered hats worn by Haman and those in the Persian court. These hats may have resembled the tricornered hats worn by Napoleon or George Washington. Hamantaschen were fashioned and baked into the shape of Haman’s hat to further the symbolism commemorating his downfall. (Sefer HaMoadim, vol. 6, p. 154)
3. There are several opinions discussed in the Gemara (Megillah 19a) regarding the exact point in the text of the Megillah from which one must begin reading to fulfill the mitzvah of Megillah reading. None of the opinions feel that the reading should begin later than the words, “On that night, the king’s sleep was disturbed,” in 6:1. However, there are three opinions that hold that the reading should begin even earlier than that. One opinion is that one should begin reading from Haman’s rise to power in 3:1; another is that the reading should at least begin with the Megillah’s first mention of Mordechai in 2:5; and the third is that the entire Megillah must be read from the beginning. Because the Gemara cannot reach a conclusion as to which opinion to follow, it rules strictly, incorporating all three opinions. Thus, the resulting halachah is that one must read the entire Megillah to fulfill the mitzvah. Hamantaschen are made with three sides in commemoration of this halachic ruling that incorporated all three opinions. (Sefer Menuchah V’Kedushah 2:20)
Kreplach, dumplings, which are made of meat wrapped in dough and then cooked or fried, are traditionally eaten on Purim, Hoshana Rabbah, and Erev Yom Kippur. On these three days there are no restrictions of work as there are on yom tov. Nevertheless, there exists an element of yom tov on each of these days because we sit down to festive meals. We eat meat on yom tov because the Torah commands, “You shall rejoice on your festival” (Devarim 16:14), and Chazal explain, “There is no rejoicing without meat” (Pesachim 109a). Since Purim, Hoshana Rabbah, and Erev Yom Kippur are partial or “covered” yom tovim, we eat foods that contain meat, but are “covered.” (Rabbi Shmuel Gelbard, Rite and Reason [Otzar Taamei HaMinhagim], p. 456) | <urn:uuid:eb8ed976-aa31-4ff1-b469-2dafdaf98b77> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://targum.com/excerpts/inside_purim.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963946 | 3,348 | 3.421875 | 3 |
The singer paused during a Euro 2012 concert to voice his disappointment following reports of physical attacks on members of the Ukrainian gay community.
John, who was playing as part of an AIDS charity event in Kiev yesterday (June 30), described the country as his "second home" following his failed adoption of an HIV positive baby named Lev from a Ukrainian orphanage in 2009.
"Recently I read about violence against gay people in Ukraine," he explained. "Beating up gay people is wrong. This for me does not symbolise Ukraine.
"I plead with you. Stop the violence against gay people."
Euro 2012 concludes in Kiev today (July 1). Prior to the opening match of the tournament on June 8, a gay pride march in the capital was cancelled and one of its leaders was violently assaulted.
Last Saturday (June 22), a leading Ukrainian gay rights activist revealed that he had also received hospital treatment in Kiev after being beaten by a group of people who screamed homophobic insults at him.
John has been in a civil partnership with David Furnish since 2005 and frequently speaks out about gay rights. He is also head of the Elton John AIDS Foundation, a charity that supports the fight against HIV across the globe.
Watch a video of Elton John singing 'Your Song' at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations below: | <urn:uuid:499070ff-d91e-4b2c-afc7-927ef2482783> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/news/a390837/elton-john-urges-ukraine-to-stop-homophobic-attacks.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987322 | 269 | 1.523438 | 2 |
King Day 2012 Celebration program co-chairs Christopher Cohilas, left, and Billie Robinson, right, present Lee County Middle School sixth-grader Traedjon Washington with the first MLK Youth Dream Award during Monday night’s King Day Celebration banquet at the Albany Civic Center.
ALBANY, Ga. — Accompanied by music from the Albany Marine Band and artwork produced by students of the Dougherty County School System, dozens of people from throughout the community gathered to honor a man considered to be the pivotal figure in the Civil Rights Movement.
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
The King Day 2012 celebration was held Monday at the Albany Civic Center. The event included award presentations and an address from the Rev. Grady Caldwell, an Albany native who now serves as a minister in Griffin.
Following a special presentation made to former Albany Mayor Willie Adams by state Sen. Freddie Powell Sims, D-Dawson, came what has become the highlight of the annual observance — the presentation of the Dream Awards.
The Dream Award is meant to honor six individuals nominated for their selfless work to better the community.
The recipients this year were:
- Linda Harris, a case worker with the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) program who also works with the Carver Community Center;
- John Culbreath, former Dougherty schools superintendent and co-founder of Strive 2 Thrive — an initiative to help battle poverty in the community;
- Colette Jenkins, founder of Chosen to Conquer — a nonprofit whose purpose is to help women impacted by multiple sclerosis
- Yolanda Amadeo, a WALB-TV meteorologist.
Although not present to accept the award in person, Todd and LaDonna Urick also received a Dream Award in recognition of Mission:Change, a movement they are spearheading to raise awareness on the impact of homelessness and poverty in the community.
For the first time this year, the issue arose as to whether to give a Dream Award to a youth in the community. It resulted in the creation of the Martin Luther King Youth Dream Award.
The first youth to receive this honor on Monday was Traedjon Washington, a student of Lee County Middle School. In two weeks, he raised funds — more than $3,000 — for a community student center, and he is currently looking for sponsors to help the unemployed in the community.
In 2008, he assisted with voter registration efforts, though he was too young to cast a ballot himself, and has been acknowledged as one of the top readers in his grade level.
Caldwell took the stage near the end of the program, taking the opportunity to emphasize that the most important thing in the world could be summed up in one word — understanding.
“There is no person in this room, or listening on TV, that has an excuse for not understanding that God has a purpose for us in this world,” Caldwell said. “We did not get here alone.
“I was taught at an early age that I had value and could do anything I set my mind to.”
He went on to talk about his maternal grandmother, who, by never finishing school, understood the value of an education. His father died when he was a toddler, and the man who he considered to be his second father was Dr. William Anderson, the leader of the Albany Movement.
“We must do a critical self-examination,” Caldwell said. “It is not about you or me, but it is about how God wants us to impact the lives of others.
“We must bring this country back to God.”
Also during the program, Geraldine Hudley, a board member for the Albany Civil Rights Institute, said that officials would be soon posting the position of executive director.
The former executive director, Lee Formwalt, left his position at the institute late last year.
The proceeds from Monday’s event over actual expenses will go to the institute, as well as to support next year’s celebration. | <urn:uuid:ce483f7b-404f-4adc-99ce-40fde190c650> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.albanyherald.com/news/2012/jan/16/king-dream-awards-presented/?opinion | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971795 | 844 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Celiac disease is a lifelong (chronic) condition that occurs when Reference gluten Opens New Window triggers an abnormal Reference immune system Opens New Window response that damages the Reference small intestine Opens New Window Reference Opens New Window.
Your small intestine is lined with tiny, finger-shaped tissues called villi. The villi create a large surface that absorbs vitamins, sugars, and other nutrients as food passes through the small intestine. When a person who has celiac disease eats gluten, the villi flatten out and the intestinal lining becomes damaged. This decreases the area that can absorb nutrients.
In some cases, this inability to absorb nutrients may be bad enough to stunt growth and weaken bones. The loss of vitamins and minerals may lead to Reference other problems, such as anemia, osteoporosis, or growth delays in children.
People who have celiac disease may have periods when their symptoms seem worse. Or symptoms may sometimes not be noticed at all. In adults, symptoms may occur at any age but most commonly occur during the 20s, 30s, and 40s.
Sometimes a person who has celiac disease doesn't have symptoms after eating foods that contain gluten. But damage to the small intestine is still occurring.
Within 2 weeks after starting a Reference gluten-free diet, most people with celiac disease find that their symptoms improve. Symptoms should completely disappear within 3 months. But it takes up to 6 months or longer on a gluten-free diet for the villi to return to normal.
Staying on a gluten-free diet usually keeps symptoms from returning and lowers the risk for complications.
In rare cases, a gluten-free diet doesn't help. Some people get better for a while, but their symptoms come back even though they are still eating a gluten-free diet. This condition is called refractory sprue.
In these cases, Reference corticosteroids Opens New Window or other medicines that change the immune system response may be used to control symptoms. People who do not improve on a gluten-free diet should be tested for other conditions, including T-cell lymphoma.
Celiac disease in children
In some children, symptoms begin shortly after cereal is introduced into the diet, usually after 6 months of age.
Symptoms of the disease are controlled by adopting a gluten-free diet. But a child needs to be watched for:
- Delayed growth. Children with celiac disease don't absorb needed nutrients if they eat gluten. This may result in delayed growth if gluten is eaten regularly over a long period.
- Nutritional deficiencies. Eating gluten also can lead to an imbalance of chemicals, minerals, and vitamins. These deficiencies should reverse with a gluten-free diet. But vitamins, iron, or calcium supplements are sometimes needed.
- Tumors. As children who have celiac disease grow into adulthood, they may be at a slightly increased risk for getting cancer (Reference lymphoma Opens New Window). Studies have found that following a gluten-free diet lowers the risk for lymphoma in adults.Reference 1
Children who have untreated celiac disease can become very ill . They may need to go to the hospital for treatment with fluids and medicine to restore nutrients. These treatments are usually short-term. Most children recover completely.
|By:||Reference Healthwise Staff||Last Revised: Reference May 29, 2012|
|Medical Review:||Reference E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine
Reference Jerry S. Trier, MD - Gastroenterology | <urn:uuid:fa6476bd-e3cd-4b52-ace6-1db56afb20e6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pamf.org/health/healthinfo/index.cfm?A=C&type=info&hwid=hw192303§ion=hw192370 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935872 | 723 | 3.890625 | 4 |
E HEALTH AND TRAVEL VACCINATIONS OR MEDICINES
Travel Vaccinations / Malaria Pills
It is important for you to obtain information about possible required travel vaccinations or other medicines or medical aid when visiting another country well in advance.
For some travel vaccinations multiple treatments are need with a couple of weeks in between each treatment. As such, inform about 6-8 weeks in advance prior to departure which travel vaccinations or other medical precautions are needed especially when visiting tropical destinations.
The same goes for malaria pills. Malaria pills come in different kinds and corresponding instructions. You should know which type should be used for your particular travel destination. Among others Malaria occurs in the Amazon rainforest, Africa, South-East Asia, but not in all countries and not in all areas within these countries. Check this for your particular travel destination. Some cures should be started prior to departure.
More information about travel vaccinations can be found at :
Again, don’t wait with this until the very last moment.
Medicines and other medical aid
Keep in mind that medicines are not as well available in most places in the World as you may be used to back home. If you need specific medicines, check this in advance, or bring medicine from home. If this medicine is crucial it is a good idea to keep it in multiple places in your luggage in case something gets lots. For example, some in your large suitcase/backpack, some in your day backpack.
If you would like to comment on this article or share some of your own tips on health and travel vaccinations please contribute by posting a comment below. | <urn:uuid:546e44f7-5cb0-476f-9c88-4698ea4854d7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.travelspecs.com/Travel-Preparation/health-and-travel-vaccinations.html?phpMyAdmin=64f45142c091034b49dbf14fff0b3a6d | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.913885 | 332 | 2.15625 | 2 |
Certain oils like olive and canola can offer your body the healthy fat it needs. They're low in saturated fat and high in monounsaturated fat, considered the healthier kind of fat that can help lower your LDL (bad) cholesterol. That does not mean you're eating foods that are drowning in oil. A fat is still a fat, no matter what. A tablespoon of oil can add up to 100 calories!
When cooking or adding oil to foods, try using an oil mister, like this one from Crate and Barrel ($14.95) or you can try the Misto ($9.95). Through a pumping action, you can give a light mist of regular or infused oils to salads, bread, pans, veggies, meats, and anything else you add oil to. It's easier than using a brush, and healthier than just pouring a whole bunch straight from the bottle. It's a great way to lighten your meals, and add flavor but not too much extra fat and calories. | <urn:uuid:e8e5a2ef-6f76-4d08-97c9-5bfbccbe49d2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fitsugar.com/When-Comes-Oil-Spray-Dont-Pour-876139 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945305 | 204 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Creating Cash flow and Equity
Subject: Intellectual Capital, Forming Habits, Creating Wealth
Many people often ask me how I get so much done in so little time. I proceed to tell them that I do a lot of things myself. They’re in awe that I can design my own websites, create, postcards and brochures using programs like PhotoShop, MicrosoftDraw, develop audio products using programs like SONIC, learn to self-publish my books and so on.
One of the decisions I made early on in my business career as an entrepreneur was to reduce my dependency on others to get things done. You see, I get easily irritated waiting for several days for an update to be made on my website. So,…I decided to learn how to design and modify websites. I got tired of waiting a week or so to have someone design a one page brochure. Worse, I hated waiting a week and then not liking the results.
In essence, I hate being dependent on other people to help me achieve my ‘mini-goals’. And overall, I hated to have to pay for something that either took too long, or I didn’t like. And on top of that, add Murphy's Law that if something is to go wrong, it will go wrong at the wrong time.
Many negative experiences depending on others caused me to make a commitment to ‘learn’ how to do things for myself no matter the mental cost. I struggled to learn how to design websites. I struggled to learn how to use various programs to get what I wanted. But in the end, the struggle was well worth it. I can’t begin to tell you how much money I’ve saved, not to mention how much time and frustration.
Some of you who might be reading this will probably think, “Well, I don’t have the time to learn.” Others may say, “I’m not smart enough to figure this out.” While still others might think, “I’d rather pay to have someone do all these things for me.”
To the first two statements all I can is, “You reap what you sow.” If you devote some time and energy, you will be able to do all these things yourself. It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen. And to the third statement about paying someone to do it for you, if you can afford to pay for it, and you time is better spent marketing or selling, then you’re are correct in your thinking.
As I’ve become more successful, I’ve begun to again let others design things for me and handle some of the development work. The big difference today is: 1) knowing I could do it myself, reduces my stress level, 2) knowing what is expected, I know what questions to ask to find the right person for the job, and 3) having an idea of how much time is involved developing materials, I have a better grasp on how much things should cost and how long they should take.
Knowing or Having Knowledge = Reduced Stress Level.
Creating wealth is not only about making money, it is also about saving money. A company strives to build two things: cash flow and equity. In one’s own business the same can be said. My materials help me get more speaking, training and coaching business thereby increasing my cash flow. By also investing in my own personal training on how to do things myself, I increase my mental equity (i.e., intellectual capital). The more I know, the more valuable my knowledge becomes to those who don’t know.
The first step in wanting to do things yourself is to not be afraid or intimidated by technology. The second step is to make a commitment to learn with a clear reason of why it’s important to you or your long-term goals.
Lastly, create the habits that create wealth. If you decide to learn something new, establish good learning habits upfront. For example, if you want to learn how to create audio programs, dedicate 30 minutes to an hour each day learning. It is often stated that a habit can be formed in 21 days. Form the habit of learning each day something new or more about something you’re currently involved in.
By creating new habits of learning, you are creating mental and personal wealth that will serve you well as your career progresses. The results of you efforts won’t be immediate; success takes time. But by chipping away at the wall of adversity, each day brings you closer to breaking through and mastering self-competency.
It all starts with habit. Habit breeds consistency. Consistency applied prudently breeds success.
Please feel free to forward this on to a colleague or friend. And don't forget to signup for The Logic of Success Newsletter and get a FREE copy of my book.
© 2004. Victor Antonio G.. All Rights in All Media Reserved. Victor Antonio G. is a sales trainer and motivational coach.
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11770 Haynes Bridge Road, Suite 205-501 Alpharetta, GA 30004 | <urn:uuid:2b9583dc-0be2-46ab-95a8-c1c79a7b83d6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thelogicofsuccess.com/creating-equity-cashflow.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914256 | 1,625 | 1.757813 | 2 |
HEALTH:Health workers urged to rededicate themselves to improve child care
The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has called on all stakeholders within the health sector to rededicate themselves to improve care for children under five.
The improved care must span the entire continuum of care from conception through delivery and post natal period to the fifth year of life to ensure that the current under five mortality rate of 80 deaths per 1000 live births was reduced to meet the country’s target of 40 deaths per 1000 live births by 2015.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency yesterday, Dr Kwabena Opoku Adusei, President of GMA said currently, there were 40 per cent of under five deaths and 60 per cent of infant deaths happening in the neonatal age group and called for the need for all stakeholders to pay more attention to newborns that were dying primarily from neonatal sepsis, prematurity and asphyxia.
Sharing the Association’s expectations from the new government, Dr Opoku Adusei explained that doctors needed to take a more proactive leadership role that would help improve under five care.
He also expressed concern about the current three months Maternity Leave and called for a review of the labour laws to grant mothers six months of maternity leave and the mandatory establishment of nurseries in all public and private institutions to encourage exclusive breastfeeding among all working nursing mothers.
He explained that given the proven benefits of six months of exclusive breastfeeding to the newborn and although legally, nursing mothers were entitled to a maternity leave of three months with other provisions to either report to work two hours after commencement of work and/or close from work an hour earlier with allowable breaks for breastfeeding their infants.
“Practically these are not strictly adhered to, rather, expectant mothers are asked to start their maternity leave six weeks prior to delivery in most cases.”
He mentioned the lack of nurseries in institutions of work to allow nursing mothers to breastfeed infants during their breastfeeding breaks as negatively impacting efforts at ensuring that all newborns were exclusively breastfed.
"This has resulted in the use of formula feeds, which may be expensive and cumbersome to prepare leading to the loss of all the health benefits of breast milk."
The GMA President called on health facilities to ensure that they were truly baby friendly and also ensure that newborns were put to the breast within 30 minutes of delivery. | <urn:uuid:7676b28e-cef5-424d-adfd-8f00c035ce0a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ghanadistricts.com/news/?read=48188 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967825 | 488 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Indian Council Fires - Northfield, MA
Posted by: neoc1
N 42° 39.696 W 072° 27.627
18T E 708132 N 4726364
Quick Description: An historical marker relating to events occuring during the start of the King Philip's War.
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 10/31/2011 10:45:54 AM
Waymark Code: WMCZYN
On Millers Falls Road (Route 63) in Northfield there is a marker that tells of the location of three Indian council fires and the ambush and death of Captain Beers. Captain Richard Beers commanded a company of soldiers that came north from Hadley to evacuate the settlement at Northfield, which had been attacked two days earlier. Beers' company was ambushed by Indians on 4 September 1675. Beers and more than half his men were killed.
The marker is inscribed:
1630 - 1930
INDIAN COUNCIL FIRES
Two hundred and fifty yards
eastward are the sites of three
large Indian council fires. The
Beers Massacre of September
4, 1675, took place in a gorge
one-quarter mile to the
Massachusetts Bay Colony
Agency Responsible for Placement: Massachusetts Bay Colony Tercentenary Commission
Year Placed: 1930
City/Town Name: Northfield
Relevant Web Site: [Web Link]
Agency Responsible for Placement (if not in list above): Not listed
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Hypofractionated Radiotherapy Was Safe, Effective for Early Breast Cancer Treatment at 10-year Follow-up
December 6, 2012
- Low local relapse rates were observed after breast cancer radiotherapy.
- Lower total radiation dose in fewer, larger fractions was effective.
- Three-week, 15-fraction schedule is the standard of care in the United Kingdom.
SAN ANTONIO — Appropriately dosed hypofractionated radiotherapy was gentle on healthy tissues and effective in controlling local-regional early breast cancer, according to 10-year follow-up results from the U.K. Standardization of Breast Radiotherapy Trials (START), presented at the 2012 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held here Dec. 4-8.
“Long-term follow-up confirms that a lower total dose of radiation in fewer, slightly larger fractions delivered over a shorter treatment time is at least as safe and effective as standard five-week schedules of curative radiotherapy in women with early breast cancer,” said John Yarnold, M.B.B.S., professor of clinical oncology at The Institute of Cancer Research in London and honorary consultant at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.
Between 1999 and 2002, 4,451 women with completely excised invasive breast cancer were recruited to either the START A or START B randomized controlled trials. In START A, researchers compared 50 Gy of postsurgery radiotherapy given in 25 fractions for five weeks versus 41.6 Gy or 39 Gy in 13 fractions for five weeks. In START B, they compared 50 Gy in 25 fractions for five weeks versus 40 Gy in 15 fractions for three weeks.
Data revealed 139 local-regional tumor relapses among the 2,236 women in START A who were followed for an average of 9.3 years and 95 local-regional relapses in the 2,215 women in START B, followed for an average of 9.9 years.
The 10-year local-regional relapse rates for START A were 7.4 percent after 50 Gy, 6.3 percent after 41.6 Gy and 8.8 percent after 39 Gy. In previously published data from START B, the 10-year local-regional relapse rate was 5.5 percent after 50 Gy and 4.3 percent after 40 Gy.
“These long-term data from the START A trial confirm the findings of our earlier results that breast cancer is, on average, as sensitive to the radiation dose of each fraction as the dose-limiting normal tissues of the breast area and that this effect persists for at least 10 years,” Yarnold said.
However, a five-week, 13-fraction schedule does not offer shortened overall treatment times. “Hence, we also designed the START B trial, a pragmatic comparison of three-week and standard five-week schedules, testing for noninferiority,” said Yarnold. “The 15-fraction schedule is definitely gentler on the healthy tissues, and these long-term data confirm our earlier findings that it appears noninferior in terms of tumor control — a very favorable result.”
The three-week, 15-fraction schedule is now the standard of care in the United Kingdom and is becoming increasingly more common in other countries, according to Yarnold. Future research is focused on the molecular mechanisms that determine fraction size sensitivity, which may lead to individualization of fraction size.
“It is likely that some breast cancers are more or less sensitive than others,” Yarnold said. “We are also testing a one-week schedule of whole breast radiotherapy against our new three-week standard in the U.K. FAST-Forward Trial.”
The START trials were funded by Cancer Research U.K., the U.K. Medical Research Council and the U.K. Department of Health.
# # #
The mission of the 2012 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium is to produce a unique and comprehensive scientific meeting that encompasses the full spectrum of breast cancer research, facilitating the rapid translation of new knowledge into better care for patients with breast cancer. The Cancer Therapy & Research Center (CTRC) at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and Baylor College of Medicine are joint sponsors of the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. This collaboration utilizes the clinical strengths of the CTRC and Baylor and the AACR’s scientific prestige in basic, translational and clinical cancer research to expedite the delivery of the latest scientific advances to the clinic. For more information about the symposium, please visit www.sabcs.org
. Media Contact:
(215) 446-7109Jeremy.Moore@aacr.orgIn San Antonio, Dec. 4-8: | <urn:uuid:1e3ccd23-c8b1-4cba-bf9f-bda202c16241> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aacr.org/home/public--media/aacr-in-the-news.aspx?d=2995 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924977 | 1,016 | 1.882813 | 2 |
Mars as a source of the water that came at the time of Noah's flood.
by Fred P Miller
Fact: Several "meteors" found in the Antarctic ice are confirmed by astronomers to have originated on Mars.
It had been proposed about 1950 by one secular writer in the past that the ice on Antarctica was dumped there in a near cosmic collision. Immanuel Velikovski was a well known historian who taught with and was a companion of Albert Einstein at Princeton University. Also, Donald Patten, a Christian writer also proposed the same thing about 1966 in his Book The Biblical Flood and Ice Age Epic"(See Patten's work on line at: http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/astronomy/SNCMeteorites.html) Recently discovered ancient cosmic events lend some support to this hypothesis. Mingled with the ice on the Antarctic continent are "meteors" (12 discovered so far) whose origin has been established fairly firmly as being from Mars. A larger number of Martian meteors have also been found widely distributed over the rest of the planet Earth.
The Bible account of the Genesis Flood indicates two or three sources for the waters that covered the planet. One was from earth movements from beneath and the other from outer space including the prediluvian water canopy.
Gen 7:11 ...the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
According to the narrative in Genesis the source of the flood diminished when these two sources were turned off and also when the rain stopped.
Gen 8:2 The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;
It is Velikovski's view, with some supporting and corroborating evidence, since his book was written, (He predicted the high surface temperature of Venus among other things before it was possible to verify the data.) that Venus, originally a wandering star and a late-comer to the Solar system, was in a near collision with Mars. Mars was moved and drawn from it's orbit toward the earth and its moons were seen by earth inhabitants, (see number 10 below.) It is therefore possible that these "Worlds in near collision" caused not only some of the rocks to be drawn off Mars and deposited on the earth but also the water that formerly covered a portion of the Mars surface, was, according to Patten's proposal, deposited as ice in the Antarctic and other regions. This may be the answer to where the water on Mars went. There seems to be clear erosion evidence of former oceans on Mars
Several things support this idea.
1. At some time in the past Mars was close enough to the earth for the 2 Moons of Mars to be seen. They have been described in more than one ancient source. They can not be seen with the naked eye.
2. The orbit of Mars is not regular but very eccentric giving evidence of a disturbance of its orbit in the past. The asteroid belt which is beyond Mars also gives evidence of a collision in the past and the fragmenting of a planet that orbited between Mars and Jupiter The former planet now fragmented into asteroids now orbits very eccentrically and crosses the orbits of both Mars and the Earth.
3. The fact that in the past the continents on Earth were much larger and the ocean beds smaller is evidenced by the river valleys in the continental shelves under the present sea level and may be evidence of the addition of water from a celestial source at the time of the Flood.
4. The "meteors" ascertained to be from the surface of Mars show signs of heat by partial burning when entering the atmosphere of the earth amd confirm their "foreign" origin. The fireball of a meteor is caused by melting and ionization of the outer layers of the meteorite, leaving a blackened layer called a fusion crust.
5. The ice in the Antarctic is resting on bedrock far below the surface of the ocean. A buildup of snow over eons can not account for the depth of the ice below sea level. Being dumped from outer space can do so.
6. There is clear evidence that Mars at one time supported a great amount of water, enough to have had an ocean. Please see http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4582649 for this evidence of a shoreline on Mars.
7. The Martian rocks called meteors found in many parts of the Earth are also mingled in the Antarctic ice and are of recent origin according to the most eminent astronomers. The recent origin of the Mars meteors is cited in well documented article on line http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/astronomy/SNCMeteorites.html
"The ALH84001 meteorite was among the SNCs discovered in Antarctica. It is the oldest known SNC, with its crystallization age of 4.5 billion years indicating the rock is as old as Mars itself. The meteorite is thought to have been blasted off Mars 15 million years ago and remained in interplanetary orbit until entering the Earth's atmosphere and landing in Antarctica approximately 13,000 years ago. "
8. Loss of oceans on Mars. In the same scientific survey of the evidence the origin of the Martian "meteors" the astronomers point out that there is evidence on Mars of a condition where there were vast amounts of water that are now missing. Thus the amount of water may have been swept off the planet by the near collision postulated by Velikoski and Patten. The astronomers agree there were oceans (called flood conditions) on Mars in the past as indicated in the following quotation.An analysis of the Chassigny, Shergotty, and Zagami meteorites by Watson et al. (1994) found a high deuterium/hydrogen ratio relative to terrestrial values, as well as only a tenth as much water in the amphibole mineral phases as expected. Watson et al. interpreted these results as supporting the assertion that, in order for Mars to have lost the amount of water implied by the contrast between current Martian conditions and the ancient flood features seen on the planet, the escape rate of hydrogen from Mars must have been higher in the past.
9. Mars' two Moons: There is one other evidence on Mars similar to the fragmentation of the Planet that once orbited in the asteroid belt. That is the two moons of Mars whose origin is more akin to capturing a fragment of an asteroid than to portions of the planet being torn from the surface of Mars itself. The moons are not round as are other planetary moons in the solar system but are elongated and erose and craggy in nature. Astronomers agree with this assumption in a comment in an article on the moons of Mars.Phobos and Deimos [are] compositionally similar to Type 1 carbonaceous chondrites found in the asteroid belt. These data strongly suggest capture as the origin of the two asteroid like moons of Mars.
10. The Moons were seen from Earth with the naked eye. Jonathan Swift wrote in 1726 a remarkably accurate description of the moons of Mars 151 years before they were discovered by astronomers. In Gulliver's Voyage to Laputa Chapter 3 he describes the astronomers in a fictitious place and their ability to describe the moons of Mars before they had been first discovered by astronomers in 1877.They have likewise discovered two lesser Stars, or Satellites, which revolve about Mars; whereof the innermost is distant from the Center of the primary Planet exactly three of his Diameters, and the outermost five; the former revolves in the space of ten Hours, and the latter in Twenty-one and an Half; so that the Squares of their periodical Times, are very near in the same Proportion with the Cubes of their Distance from the Center of Mars; which evidently shews them to be governed by the same Law of Gravitation, that influences the other heavenly Bodies.
Could this be coincidence? Or did Swift have knowledge from an earlier period when Mars was drawn off its orbital path close to the Earth where and when the moons were observed and their sighting preserved in folk lore and oral history.
Where did all the extra water come from? Possibly from Mars. | <urn:uuid:be7deb24-c284-4a2d-850f-7336e7df4e62> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.moellerhaus.com/Gulliver/Marsmeteors.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969511 | 1,694 | 3.78125 | 4 |
Professor of theology and executive director of the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library (HMML) at Saint John’s University (SJU) in Collegeville, Minnesota, Columba Stewart, OSB, writes on early Christian monasticism and monastic spirituality. He is an ordained Roman Catholic priest and a monk of Saint John’s Abbey. Dr. Stewart graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and earned a master’s degree in religious studies from Yale University. After further graduate study in the School of Theology at SJU, he took a D.Phil. in theology at Oxford University in 1989. He returned to SJU as an assistant professor of theology and was appointed a full professor in 2001. As executive director of HMML since 2003, he has led a major initiative to digitize endangered Christian manuscripts in the Middle East, Ukraine, and South India. Dr. Stewart has studied at the École Biblique et Archéologique Française de Jérusalem as a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Fellow and this year has been awarded a second NEH fellowship and a Dumbarton Oaks Research Library fellowship for a study of the origins and development of monastic culture in the Christian East. A member of the editorial board of Spiritus, he has published numerous articles in scholarly journals or in volumes of collected works and is the author of Working the Earth of the Heart: The Messalian Controversy in History, Texts, and Language to 431 (1991) and two books published in 1998 – Cassian the Monk (Oxford University Press), a study of the life, writings, and spiritual theology of a founder of the Latin monastic movement, and Prayer and Community: The Benedictine Tradition (Darton, Longman and Todd and Orbis Books), an overview of Benedictine spirituality that focuses both on the Rule of Benedict and the lived experience of monastic communities during the ensuing centuries. | <urn:uuid:e3cdafa2-4292-4d7a-9684-e896fe69714b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://humbleapproach.templeton.org/faith/ColumbaStewart.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95184 | 409 | 1.859375 | 2 |
DomCore is a set of PHP Foundation classes which are ready to be extended to give basic capabilities to your applications. It features a powerful template replacement engine, a language engine for I18N, an extended debugging mode, enhanced error and exception management, Java-like programming (you can't use a class attribute without declaring it first), serializable class management, mass file operations (full directory copy and delete), shared memory management, multi-level caches on data sources, and implementation of programation patterns.
Fimex is a the File Interpolation, Manipulation, and EXtraction library for gridded geospatial data. It converts between different, extensible data formats (currently netcdf, NcML, grib1/2, metgm, wdb, and felt). It enables you to change the projection and interpolation of scalar and vector grids. It makes it possible to subset the gridded data and to extract only parts of the files. For simple usage, Fimex also comes with the command line program fimex.
etm is an acronym for Event and Task Manager. It provides a simple, intuitive format for using plain text files to store data, a command line interface for viewing stored information in a variety of convenient ways, and a cross-platform, PyQt-based GUI for creating and modifying items as well as viewing them. Displayed items can be grouped by date, context, keyword, or project and can be filtered in various ways. A display of busy and free times is also supported, as is a ledger view of time spent that is suitable for client billing. Alarms are supported for events and repetition for both events and tasks in a powerful and flexible manner.
Cego implements a relational and transactional database system with support for the SQL query language. The current release contains the most common database features for basic table manipulation and data retrieval. Indexes, foreign keys, views, and stored procedures are also implemented. Future releases (2.0 and above) will support a multi-node database concept with log file shipping for an automatic database application failover.
NetXMS is a network monitoring and management system with a modular architecture. It can be used for monitoring an entire IT infrastructure, starting with SNMP-capable hardware (like switches and routers) and ending with applications on servers. The system has a three-tier architecture; the information is collected by monitoring agents (either its own agents or SNMP agents) and delivered to the monitoring server for processing and storing, where it can be accessed by using the management console. It features centralized configuration and centralized agent upgrades. | <urn:uuid:15908973-4aa4-498d-9a48-44c639092199> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://freecode.com/tags/windows?page=1&sort=updated_at&with=&without=4255%2C66 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.904765 | 540 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Biarritz is a luxurious seaside town which lies on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic Coast, in the south-west of France. One of the most famous areas on the Pays Basque, Biarritz is popular with locals and tourists alike, boasting some of the best beaches in Europe. Biarritz became well known in the mid 19th century, when Empress Eugenie (the wife of Napoleon III) built a Palace on the beach, which is now the world class Hotel du Palais. If you were to buy one of the large and expansive 19th century homes located in this area today, you would likely see titles such as Prince, Duke, or Baron on the title deeds.
Biarritz is a cosmopolitan town with not only magnificent beaches, but also many golf courses and numerous sporting facilities. But many visitors are drawn to this area for the world class surfing. Surfing became popular in Biarritz in 1957 and today, avid surfers come from all over the world to ride the waves. The Biarritz Surf Festival is held in July of each year.
If sun and sand is not your thing, there are other attractions in Biarritz worth a visit. For example, the Russian Orthodox Church, with its famous blue dome is located next to the Hotel du Palais. Other sites include the Asiatica Museum (Asian art), Museum of the Sea (aquarium), the St-Martin's Church (12th century), and the Museum of Chocolate. After the sun goes down, be sure to visit either of the two large Casinos (Barriere and Bellevue). | <urn:uuid:126794ea-054a-49a3-9370-6e13bdaf5bfc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.flightnetwork.com/destinations/Biarritz.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973271 | 335 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Eleanor Ross Taylor was born in 1920 in Norwood, North Carolina, and graduated from Women’s College, now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, in 1942. While studying at Vanderbilt University, Caroline and Allen Tate introduced her to novelist Peter Taylor, whom she would marry in 1943.
Her poetry has been described as elegiac, lyric and feminine; writer Erica Howsare explains, “The southernness of her background . . . | <urn:uuid:c1e63ce9-3008-4a72-a824-0e2425e6648b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/240228 | 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 | 0.979328 | 93 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Cookie Craft Christmas: Dozens of Decorating Ideas for a Sweet Holiday
by Valerie Peterson and Janice Fryer
Make every Christmas a cookie craft Christmas! The holidays offer just the right combination of cold weather and family togetherness for cookie crafters to elevate their skills to showstopping new heights. With more than 60 new Christmas cookie designs, along with festive New Year’s cookies and lovely Hanukkah treats, Cookie Craft Christmas delivers colorful inspiration to cookie decorators just when they need it most.
Each spread features a full-page, close-up photograph of one cookie cutter shape with detailed decorating instructions on the facing page. Some pages feature one gloriously decorated cookie, while others might feature two or three interpretations of the same shape — ornaments in complementary colors, Christmas trees decorated in varying styles, or gingerbread men wearing a rainbow of colors and patterns.
Decorating instructions are as simple as tinting cookie dough green before baking Christmas trees or as intricate as piping hair on a gingerbread grandma, creating a frilly pattern for her apron, and decorating her dress using a pretty feathering technique. Techniques are described in full in a Decorating Glossary, and cookie and icing recipes are included.
Fresh inspiration and fabulous decorating ideas fill the pages of this handy little sourcebook. It’s the perfect gift for anyone who has ever picked up a pastry bag.
About the Authors
Valerie Peterson is a writer with over fifteen years of experience working with cookbooks. She grew up in Yonkers, New York, where her second favorite toy was her Easy-Bake Oven.
Janice Fryer is a Pastry Arts graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City. A California native and a New Yorker at heart, she lives with a crazy cat and an even crazier dog. Keeping them from eating her creations is always a lively challenge. | <urn:uuid:4e10a9d7-c8d8-4e05-94d2-0aa86e9b487b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.foodreference.com/html/b909-cookie-christmas.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921461 | 394 | 1.554688 | 2 |
U.S.–Arab Relations Broken After Iraq War, Scholar Reports
University of Maryland and Brookings Scholar Telhami says growing opposition to U.S. foreign policy is not the worst news for the superpower.
If you're a clever government, what you do is you give [Bush] something to claim you as a credit. You give him just enough ... with the notion that, the minute he claims you as a credit, it's over, because he can't take you as a debit the next morning.
When citizens of Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates are asked why the United States invaded Iraq in March 2003, they gravitate in roughly equal numbers towards three explanations. Two of these—to secure oil reserves and to support Israel—are no surprise at all, according to Shibley Telhami, a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution's Saban Center and Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland.
The surprise, a worrisome one, is that most people from the six Arab countries also say that the United States acted in order to weaken the Muslim world, Telhami explained Oct. 18 at a public talk at UCLA sponsored by the International Institute and its Center for Near Eastern Studies. Respondents to the 2004 survey crafted by Telhami in cooperation with polling firm Zogby International chose the three explanations from a laundry list of possibilities. (Results of the yearly survey's 2005 installment will be available in November, Telhami said.)
Telhami added that a perception that America has taken up arms against Islam also emerges in polling data collected in the non-Arab Muslim world since the invasion of Iraq. While cautioning that there was too little data to make long-range comparisons, Telhami said that he observes increased emphasis in Arab countries on religious identity, as opposed, for example, to national and ethnic identity. Muslim identity came first in four of the six countries in 2004.
However, these shifts have not been accompanied by a significant rise in citizens' desire to see the clergy play a stronger role in government, Telhami said. In fact, on some issues, survey respondents in the six countries were more socially progressive than Telhami himself imagined. In 2004, a plurality of Saudi men and a large majority of Saudi women expressed a desire for women to work outside of the home, he said.
Collapse in Trust
Telhami described the broad perception of U.S. hostility towards the Muslim world as one aspect of an even larger problem: a collapse in Arab confidence in the United States. Prior to the failure of U.S.-backed Israeli–Palestinian peace talks mediated by President Clinton in 2000, more than 60 percent of Saudis polled by the U.S. State Department affirmed that they had "confidence" in the United States, according to Telhami.
"I think that that number began collapsing immediately, as tested in these surveys, after the collapse of the Arab–Israeli negotiations in 2000. By the fall it had dropped almost 20 percentage points, and by the spring [of 2001] it had gone down another 15 percentage points. And then it dramatically dropped after 9/11, and now it's in the single digits."
Telhami argued that questions about confidence are key. Affirmative responses reflect not so much agreement on issues as the belief that the other party's interests and goals are knowable and perhaps partly reconcilable with one's own. Without confidence, negotiation makes little sense.
Meanwhile, the Bush administration's post-invasion insistence on democracy in the Middle East as the true motive for war rings hollow in the Arab world. The administration's related demands on regional governments have actually set back democratic reform, Telhami said. Survey respondents in 2004 said that the Middle East was less democratic after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq than before.
Straying from his survey data, Telhami said that Arab governments have realized that concessions on issues unrelated to democracy will often satisfy the United States. Take Libya's pledge to give up banned weapons. Even better, slight motions towards democratic reform—just enough and no more—can win praise from Washington and remove the pressure for further steps, Telhami said. Take Egypt's flawed, though technically competitive, September presidential election.
Because President Bush made the spread of democracy the agenda for his second term, "he needs to show that it's working," Telhami said. Sensing this, Arab governments give in until the administration cites progress and they have "won the game."
"If you're a clever government, what you do is you give [Bush] something to claim you as a credit. You give him just enough ... with the notion that, the minute he claims you as a credit, it's over, because he can't take you as a debit the next morning."
Published: Tuesday, October 25, 2005 | <urn:uuid:d43803f0-0c8b-4381-9433-f959e90ec5f8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.international.ucla.edu/cnes/news/article.asp?parentid=32236 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963823 | 1,008 | 1.945313 | 2 |
It's usually older mums who are thought to run all the risks with later pregnancies, but a new study - albeit on mice - has found the children of older fathers have genetic changes associated with autism and other brain disorders.
Researchers at Queensland Brain Institute in Australia believe DNA from the sperm cells of older dads are more likely to develop specific mutations called CNVs, where genetic material is either deleted or repeated, than sperm that comes from younger men.
Writing in the journal Translational Psychiatry, Professor John McGrath from the Queensland Brain Institute says:
'There's quite convincing evidence now that the offspring of older dads have an increased risk of a range of brain disorders like autism and schizophrenia and maybe even slightly lower IQ. Compared to men in their early 20s, the offspring of men over age 50 have a two-fold risk of getting schizophrenia or autism.'
Prof McGrath used a mouse model to look at the genetics and examined the DNA from the young of both older and younger male mice, mated with mothers of the same age.
They found more of the CNV mutations in the offspring of the older dads. The baby mice born to older fathers also had a different shaped brain and different behaviour to those bred from younger male mice.
McGrath says the next stage will be to find CNVs in humans - something that will require expensive high throughput technology.
He wrote: 'As the studies are done in the next three to five years, we predict that the offspring of older dads will have more of these CNV.'
McGrath concluded that the study could give insight into a potentially modifiable risk factor for autism and schizophrenia and said that 'just as women are now aware that there are risks involved in delaying motherhood, then there may well be the need in the future for public health messages to men that there are risks involved in delaying parenthood.'
Do you agree? Do you think we assume that late parenthood is only a concern baby health-wise for mums? | <urn:uuid:b052f940-2a9e-4512-8fa9-eefb29318072> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2011/08/31/is-there-a-risk-of-autism-for-children-with-older-dads/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968561 | 406 | 2.921875 | 3 |
What better way to help educate small to medium sized businesses (SMB) on the cloud than an app?
At least that is what IBM has done.
In a post on Smarter Technology (sponsored by IBM), Rebecca Kutzer-Rice describes an new app for the iPad that aims to help SMBs understand if the cloud is right for them. It’s called the IBM Cloud for Midsize Businesses by Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide Inc.
No doubt the sheer number of articles and whitepapers in the social sphere on the cloud can be daunting for any SMB owner or IT manager (they could be one in the same) to sift through. IBM put together a simple app for the iPad that hopes to help ease the learning curve and aims SMBs in the right direction.
From what I have read, the SMB market is one that many cloud providers are aiming for, and though many SMB’s have already opted for the cloud in one way shape or form, still two-thirds of them are hesitant about the technology with security cited as the most pressing concern.
According to the Smarter Technology post, this IBM iPad app is packed with easy to navigate definitions, charts, graphs, interviews, and even case studies that mimic real-world scenarios where the cloud may be beneficial.
Kudos to IBM for recognizing and appreciating the fact that the cloud is a bit of the wild wild west right now, and for SMB’s to adopt it in droves, we need to start with some fundamental education and enlightenment. Who among us couldn’t use more of that?
SMB owners: What’s your top concern when it comes to adopting the cloud? | <urn:uuid:54a96ada-286f-4541-80f9-f4f9b363b9d4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://smb.media.seagate.com/2012/03/storage-means-business/smb-cloud-benefits-theres-an-ibm-app-for-that-too/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94611 | 356 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Powerful Choices Podcast: Tips for a Healthier Birthday
Colleen: Hello and welcome to the American Cancer Society’s Powerful Choices Podcast series, where you'll get the information you need to make everyday choices that can help you be well and stay well. I’m Colleen Doyle, the American Cancer Society’s director of nutrition and physical activity. Thanks so much for joining us.
I'm here today with Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, to talk about birthdays. Yup, that’s right, birthdays. To most people, birthdays are just a reminder that they’re getting older. But at the American Cancer Society, “Happy Birthday” is a victory song, because a world with less cancer means a world with more birthdays.
Len: That’s right, Colleen, more than 11 million Americans who have survived cancer—and countless others who have avoided it—will celebrate a birthday this year. And in an effort to create a world with more birthdays, we have a few ideas for how you can make your special day -- and that of your loved ones -- a little healthier.
Colleen: That’s why the American Cancer Society teamed up with the Culinary Institute of America to create a healthier take on the birthday cake. We challenged the Institute's baking and pastry students to create original recipes for a better-for-you birthday cake. We then invited Chef Duff Goldman, star of the Food Network's "Ace of Cakes" TV show, to judge the work of 5 finalists.
Alexandra Mudry came up with the winning recipe, a healthier version of a red velvet cake that delivers plenty of taste but with fewer calories and less sugar and fat than traditional recipes. In addition to cutting back on sugar, eggs, oil and butter, Mudry made inventive additions - including roasted beets, dried cherries, applesauce, and whole wheat and quinoa flours - to add more nutrients than the average cake would have. There's no food coloring in this cake, which means that it may be less red than you expect. But because this cake has less fat and sugar, it is a somewhat healthier dessert that tastes great and still has the fun, celebratory feel of a traditional birthday cake. And the best part is that you can make it at home, as we’ve done with this cake. It doesn’t have to be fancy to be delicious.
Len: So with this cake you can still satisfy your sweet tooth – but also cut down on some of the stuff that’s not so good for you.
Because what you eat and drink, how active you are, and other lifestyle behaviors like whether you smoke . . . all can affect your risk for cancer. We’re talking about the choices you make every day, even on special days, like your birthday.
You can even give a gift with health and wellness in mind. Colleen, I know you have some ideas to share.
Colleen: For cooks or want-to-be cooks, put together a gift basket of “healthy” cooking tools, such as an apple corer, a zester, a lemon/lime juicer, a garlic crusher, or a grater. Another great idea: package flavored oils and vinegars in a pretty, large bowl perfect for salads.
Foodies will love a basket of cheese, crackers, and fresh fruit, or maybe a cooking class gift certificate or a subscription to a healthy cooking magazine.
If your birthday girl or boy is trying to be more active, a step counter or portable music player is a good option. Or consider a gift certificate to a wellness retreat, a workout DVD, or a class, such as a tennis or golf lesson.
Slide: Healthy Gift Ideas for Food-lovers
- Cooking tools like juicers, graters, or apple corers
- Flavored oils and vinegars with a large salad bowl
- Baskets of cheese, crackers, and fresh fruit
- Gift certificate to a cooking class
- Subscription to a healthy cooking magazine
Slide: Active Gift Ideas:
- Step counter
- Portable music player
- Workout DVD
- Sports class or lesson
Len: Those are great ideas, Colleen. For more ideas to make your birthday healthier and to make the American Cancer Society the official sponsor of your birthday, visit us online at morebirthdays.com. To learn more about ways you can reduce you risk of cancer, go to cancer.org or call us at 1-800-227-2345. From all of us here at the American Cancer Society, thanks for watching. | <urn:uuid:cb7998bb-f364-4022-8912-59fdf2c6a4e6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cancer.org/healthy/eathealthygetactive/powerfulchoicespodcasts/powerfu-lchoices-podcast-tips-for-a-healthier-birthday | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921951 | 982 | 1.921875 | 2 |
16 Dec 2010: Opinion
Did Cancun Prove the UN
Irrelevant in Tackling Climate?
The Cancun conference is being credited with keeping international climate talks alive. But the real potential for bringing emissions under control may lie in a Plan B, with nations acting on their own in moving toward a low-carbon economy.
The almost universal conclusion from those who attended the Cancun climate conference last week is that it “put the negotiations back on track” and that after the diplomatic meltdown in Copenhagen, the good temper on show in Cancun means there is now a real prospect of a full deal next year in South Africa.
Not so fast. Diplomats may be happy, but the rest of us do not have much to cheer. There is still no new treaty, and no successor to the Kyoto Protocol. In heeding the warning of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that “we cannot make the perfect the enemy of the good,” the negotiators signed up to a compromise that takes them no farther forward than they were a year ago.
In fact, in some important respects, they are farther away. In Cancun, both Russia and Japan announced that — despite being part of the original Kyoto deal back in 1997 — they would accept no new Kyoto emissions targets when the existing ones expire in 2012. Neither country sees why it should do so while the U.S. continues to sit on the sidelines.
But the upshot is that none of the world’s six biggest emitters of greenhouse gases (the U.S., China, Russia, Japan, India and Indonesia) are now willing to accept legally binding UN emissions limits. The conference backed away from confronting this deadlock by inventing some ludicrous diplomatic language that all sides could sign up to. As one wag put it, the firmest agreement they reached was to meet again next year.
After the debacle of Copenhagen, the delegates were desperate to come home with a victory — any victory. But privately, few observers — and none
Those who tout Cancun must explain why what has not been achieved in 13 years can be achieved in the next year.
privy to the private briefings of the U.S. administration — see any realistic prospect of a deal anytime soon. Looking toward next year’s international climate talks in Durban, South Africa, Eliot Diringer, of the well-connected Pew Center on Global Climate Change, said, “We don’t think South Africa is practical. We don’t think the politics will be ready. If we set Durban as a deadline, we will have Copenhagen all over again.”
Negotiators have known for 13 years that they would need another deal when the Kyoto Protocol’s first “compliance period” expires in 2012. Those who talk up the Cancun outcome have to explain why what has not been achieved in 13 years can be achieved in the next year, especially since in important respects the process has gone backwards in the past year.
It may be that the tortuous negotiations required to persuade countries to sign up to binding targets are just too much for the UN system. Too many nations — and both the U.S. and China are prominent here — place too much emphasis on their national sovereignty to cede power on matters of such importance.
But there is good news, too. For finally recognizing that the UN negotiations are truly broken could be the key to unlocking a Plan B. There is growing evidence that countries are willing to do unilaterally what they refuse to commit to at the UN.
Listening to the negotiations in Cancun was depressing. But my tours of the events in the exhibition halls across the resort city reinforced the fact that there is a huge amount of activity going on around the world to cut emissions. And this is unilateral activity that is not dependent on a UN deal.
That activity may not be enough yet to stave off warming of two degrees Celsius or more. But it is real. And it is a dynamic process — a technological revolution — that could make the UN process irrelevant.
Plan B is based not on burden sharing (the basic UN proposition), but on profit-making. It is based on the growing realization that low-carbon business is good business. Low-carbon is often more energy efficient and thus more cost-effective. And it is smart business — it feeds a growing appetite among consumers for products made without trashing the planet, an issue I wrote about in my last Yale Environment 360 post
, on the sustainable palm oil business.
Last year in Copenhagen, China promised a 45-percent reduction in the carbon intensity of its economy, with no strings attached. Now that pledge has been enshrined in the country’s next five-year plan, which comes into
Some spoke of the power of ‘green growth’ to do what the United Nations cannot.
force next month. Of course, pledges do not necessarily become reality. And there are real concerns about China’s reporting regimes for both its carbon emissions and its GDP, which could make verification tricky. But it is clear that China is now acting to reduce its emissions, even though it has no Kyoto targets and won’t accept any in the foreseeable future. And it is the world’s largest producer of wind turbines and solar panels and so has a clear interest in developing local markets for these products.
A special issue of the government-controlled China Daily
, widely distributed in Cancun, carried the headline: “Even as we talk, China is acting. Countries must not wait until legally binding documents are hammered out.”
And many countries are doing just that. Lord Nicholas Stern, the British economist who wrote an influential report on the economics of climate change, spoke of the power of “green growth” to do what the UN cannot. “South Korea, Mexico, Indonesia, Ethiopia, and many other developing countries provide important and credible examples of the way forward,” he said. “All are driven by the attraction of the new energy and industrial revolution and the prospects for sustainable low-carbon economic growth.” Stern would prefer a UN deal, but he says its failure would not stop the low-carbon revolution.
Brazil last year promised a 36- to 39-percent cut from business-as-usual. And visitors to Brazil’s pavilion in Cancun could hear its ministers and top scientists expounding in detail how that would be achieved — through cuts in deforestation (it has already cut rates of forest loss in the Amazon by 70 percent) and a dramatic move to turn its rapacious commercial agriculture into a low-carbon industry. As with China, all this may not happen, but the intent is clearly there, and the policies are consistent with what researchers believe can be delivered. Brazil’s agricultural goals are based on rehabilitating the vast areas of cattle pastures gouged out of the Amazon rainforest, and the spread of no-till cropping, which involves not plowing the field but planting the next crop in holes drilled among the stubble of the previous crop, thus keeping more carbon in the soil.
Barbara Bramble, the National Wildlife Federation’s senior program advisor on international affairs and a U.S. veteran of Amazon campaigning, says Brazil is undergoing a cultural revolution to greener values. Until recently, deforestation made Brazil the world’s third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases. But now farmers and slaughterhouses are falling over themselves to join a nationwide “zero deforestation” campaign.
This is partly because the new public mood in Brazil means that “ranchers are being blacklisted and public prosecutors are even targeting supermarkets and slaughterhouses that accept cattle products from rainforest areas,” Bramble said. But it’s also partly because ranchers and farmers can unlock “sustainable” markets both in the West and in Brazil that demand beef, leather, soybeans, and other products untainted by the stigma of deforestation.
This is Plan B in action, Bramble pointed out. With prospects of a UN treaty receding, she said, “We are looking at what we can do now, and perhaps instead [of a treaty], by eliminating deforestation from the supply chain.”
Indonesia, currently the world’s third-largest CO2 emitter, says it is trying to turn over a new leaf by placing a moratorium on deforestation and rehabilitating drained peat bogs. Financier George Soros told a side meeting in Cancun that he was attempting to assemble funding to help the Indonesians achieve that ambition.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said his country intended to become carbon-neutral by 2025, while also becoming a “middle-income
If Plan B takes flight, the time may come when the UN’s best contribution would be to get out of the way.
nation.” That sounds overly ambitious. It is based on switching to hydroelectric power generation (something the country’s neighbors on the Nile might have something to say about
) and on following Brazil’s lead by turning its eroding soils into carbon sinks. But it shows how developing nations have gotten the message that green economics and low-carbon development are not the fanciful visions of Western environmentalists, but real practical options for them.
I don’t want to get carried away. What has been voluntarily pledged so far, of course, may never materialize. And even if it does, it will not be enough to set the world on track to capping warming at two degrees, which is the scientific consensus of what is needed to prevent warming from becoming globally dangerous. (It is locally dangerous in some places already, of course.)
According to the UN Environment Program (UNEP), a realistic trajectory for global carbon dioxide emissions that might achieve that goal requires CO2 emissions, which are currently around 32 billion tons a year, to peak by 2020 at no more than 44 billion tons. Thereafter they need to decline to very low levels by mid-century. But UNEP says that current pledges will overshoot those emission levels by between 5 and 9 billion tons. It calls this the “gigaton gap.”
Can Plan B bridge the “gigaton gap”? Its proponents believe so.
Take the most positive outcome of the Cancun talks, an agreement on the outline of rules for the operation of a system to compensate countries that curb deforestation and the carbon emissions they cause. The system, known as Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), would tap into billions of dollars each year from companies keen to meet emissions targets through carbon offsets.
REDD can only tap funds if companies face emissions targets and a “cap-and-trade” regime to allow them to use offsets to meet them. So, on the face of it, REDD needs a global deal and the creation of a global carbon market. Plan A would certainly be best. But it is a remote prospect. And following the U.S. mid-term elections in November, the United States, a large potential source of REDD funds, will not be enacting cap-and-trade legislation anytime soon.
But that is not the only game in town. California is going ahead with its own cap-and-trade scheme in 2012. And the existing European Union carbon-trading market will grow in 2013, with the activation of the EU’s new targets, aimed at reducing emissions by 20 percent by 2020. There also is talk of China setting up its own carbon-trading scheme.
So REDD negotiators, who are in despair at slow progress on the big deal, are contemplating other options. “REDD could go forward independent of the UN process,” says Diringer at the Pew Center.
Three years ago in Bali, when the current round of negotiations for a successor to the Kyoto protocol began in earnest, the representative for Papua New Guinea — Kevin Conrad, son of American missionaries and a graduate of Columbia University — told a filibustering U.S. delegation: “If you are not prepared to lead, get out of the way.” They did.
Before long, the same request might be made to the tortured UN system as a whole. The thousands of government delegates in Cancun thought they were essential to cutting carbon emissions. Perhaps they are. But if Plan B takes flight, the time may come when their best contribution would be to get out of the way.
POSTED ON 16 Dec 2010 IN
Climate Energy Policy & Politics Water Asia Asia Central & South America North America | <urn:uuid:96ea5335-cf3f-4c7b-bfcf-e6406f0f5873> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2351 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954283 | 2,620 | 2.390625 | 2 |
Summer is here, and the pickin' is easy: the wild strawberries (and farm ones too!) are ripe and ready, the wild blueberry bushes scattered throughout the woods behind my house are showing off their green berries, and the raspberries are just threatening to come out, but they'll be here later in the summer.
What will you do with all of your summer berries? Chances are, we'll be baking with some, but most of them end up in our mouths before they even hit the bowl. If you've got some extras, now might be the time to try making your own wild berry wine
Beyond a cup of berries, water, and a quart jar, you really don't need anything but a little time to shake it all up each day. After about two weeks, you should be able to enjoy your wine.
has more details on your home brewing experiment, and instructions on how to make vinegar or age your wine. If you've got some berries to spare, let the brewing commence! | <urn:uuid:369bbd66-f73b-4427-a0c8-5a414be588ab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.diylife.com/2008/06/26/brew-wild-berry-wine/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964043 | 209 | 1.765625 | 2 |
My mother's family has roots that date back to the 1800's in Holmes County, Mississippi, where Lexington is the county seat. And with relatives in Holmes County, as well as in neighboring Attala County, we often traveled there to see relatives during my childhood. It was during one of these trips that I first recall seeing the marker that directs travelers to "The Little Red Schoolhouse," a Mississippi landmark, just off Highway 14 near Richland, Mississippi. The cornerstone for the planned two story brick structure was laid in October of 1847, shortly after Masonic Lodges in Holmes County had raised over $3,000 for its construction. Although the original name for the school was to be the Richland Literary Institute, the name was changed to Eureka Masonic College shortly after its construction. In addition to being one of many privately endowed educational institutions that were built to address inadequate education in Mississippi during the 1800's, "The Little Red Schoolhouse" is also known as the birthplace of The Order of the Eastern Star. The historic building is now owned by the Grand Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star in Mississippi and is maintained in the honor of Dr. Robert Morris, the school's first headmaster and the author of the Order's ritual.
Must See Mississippi, 50 Favorite Places by Mary Carol Miller, Mary Rose Carter, Greg Iles, Published by University of Mississippi Press, 2007 | <urn:uuid:bb12a93f-63ea-4657-a8a4-11fa9e6e42bb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mymississippimemories.blogspot.com/2009/02/little-red-schoolhouse.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98266 | 280 | 2.265625 | 2 |
Final Communique of the 42nd Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights
1. The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Commission), held its 42nd Ordinary Session in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, from 14th to 28th November 2007.
2. Commissioner Yassir Sid Ahmed El Hassan, former Vice-Chairperson of the African Commission, participated at the opening ceremony of the 42nd Session and spoke on behalf of the outgoing Chairperson of the African Commission, Madam Salamata Sawadogo.
3. Commissioner Sanji Mmasenono Monageng, the newly elected Chairperson of the Commission, chaired the deliberations of the Session.
4. The following Members also participated at the Session:
6. Several parallel activities were organized in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo to celebrate the African Commission’s twenty years of existence and to take stock of its achievements. On the occasion of these celebrations it was noted that the human rights situation remains a matter of great concern in some African countries. The African Commission noted that in these past twenty years, the human rights violations continue to feed the internal armed conflicts in some Member States of the African Union. There is no doubt that the failure to respect the rights guaranteed under the African Charter is one of the major causes of internal conflicts in some Member States.
7. As is customary, at the beginning of the Ordinary Session of the African Commission, the Session was preceded by the Forum of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), organized by the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies, which was held from the 10th to 12th November 2007. The 54 interest groups within the NGO Forum examined the human rights situation in many countries in the African region, expressing concern over specific issues such as the situation of the rights of women and of human rights defenders on the Continent.
8. On the general human rights situation, the NGO Forum lamented that after several years, human rights issues on the African Continent still remain critical. Underscoring the alarming human rights situation in many parts of the Continent, the Forum declared that Africa’s development is plagued by ignorance, disease, poverty, hunger, unemployment, violent conflicts, the debt crisis, bad governance and corruption. Against this background, the Forum noted that the commemoration of the 20th Anniversary of the African Commission serves as a reminder that while we celebrate the Commission’s coming of age, we should not forget that in many parts of the Continent, intolerance in all its forms has plunged millions of men, women and children into misery.
9. The Department of Political Affairs of the African Union Commission also organised a series of activities prior to the 42nd Session, in particular:
10. In his welcoming statement, the former Vice-Chairperson of the African Commission, Commissioner Yassir Sid Ahmed El Hassan, expressed, on behalf of the Members of the African Commission, and on his own behalf, his gratitude to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Congo for accepting to perform the official opening of the Session. He also thanked the Congolese Government and People on behalf of the African Commission for agreeing to host the 42nd Ordinary Session.
11. The Vice Chairperson stated that the 42nd Session marks twenty years of existence of the African Commission. He stated that despite efforts made by the International community, the human rights situation in certain parts of the Continent like Somalia, the Darfur region in Sudan, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe remains a matter of concern, due to the persistence of armed conflicts and political crises. He also intimated that human rights defenders should be protected from human rights violations in the context of their activities.
12. Addressing the State Parties to the Charter directly, he informed them that the Commission continues to receive numerous reports of human rights abuses perpetrated on the Continent. The Vice-Chairperson further stated that the lack of commitment to fully implement human rights obligations is giving rise to numerous difficulties on the Continent. The Vice-Chairperson further lauded the decision of the AU to allow the African Commission to prepare and defend its own budget and to present a new structure before the Permanent Representative Committee (PRC) of the African Union to enhance its human capacities and other resources of the Secretariat of the African Commission. He also referred to the draft revised Rules of Procedure, and the Strategic Plan which the Commission was to adopt during the session. Finally, he acknowledged that the African Commission has at times encountered difficulties but it remains steadfast in its resolve to achieve its mandate.
13. Speaking on behalf of the AU Member States, the Minister of Justice of the Central African Republic stated that the 42nd Session is taking place at a time when the issue of human rights has become a top priority for States Parties and is regarded as an important component of the global agenda. He indicated that if Africa is to develop, all countries on the Continent must respect human rights. He acknowledged that Africa is facing numerous human rights challenges which need to be addressed.
14. Speaking on behalf of the Commission of the African Union, Her Excellency, Mrs Julia Dolly Joiner, Commissioner for Political Affairs, assured the African Commission of the continued support of the African Union in the discharge of its mandate and reiterated that the African Commission is an integral part of the United Nations-African Union 10-year Capacity Building Programme as well as the Africa-EU Dialogue on Human Rights and Capacity Building issues.
15. The 42nd Ordinary Session was officially opened by His Excellency Voumba Isidore, Prime Minister, of the Republic of Congo, responsible for Governmental Coordination and Privatisation. His Excellency welcomed the African Commission to Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo. The Prime Minister intimated that a large number of Africans are ignorant of the existence of the African Charter and that the popularization of this legal instrument is very important for all African countries. He stated that by hosting the 42nd Session, the Congolese Government is proud to contribute to the dissemination and promotion of the rights enshrined in the African Charter.
16. The Prime Minister also declared that according to the January 2002 Constitution of the Republic of Congo, all the treaties ratified so far have been integrated into national law, but acknowledged that a lot more remains to be done for the enjoyment by all Congolese of the rights guaranteed by the Charter. He noted however that the Republic of Congo is doing its best, adding that freedom of press, for instance, is guaranteed by law and that prison conditions have also improved. He indicated that the Government is firmly committed to peace and security, adding that other rights such as the right to good health, the right to development, and the rights of women and children will remain on the agenda of the State.
17. Following the election by the Assembly of the Heads of State and Government of the African Union, of five members to the African Commission in July 2007, the new Commissioners including Commissioner Angela Melo whose term was renewed, took their oath of office during the 42nd Ordinary Session. The five members were:
18. In accordance with Article 42 of the African Charter and the relevant provisions of its Rules of Procedure, Commissioner Sanji Mmasenono Monageng was elected Chairperson of the Commission, and Commissioner Angela Melo, Vice-Chairperson as members of the Bureau for the next two years, with effect from 15 November 2007.
19. During the Session, the Commission heard statements relating to the human rights situation in Africa from the representatives of States Parties, including in particular, those from the Republic of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Cote d’Ivoire, the Republic of Mali, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, Senegal, Nigeria, Rwanda, Botswana, Ethiopia and Sudan.
20. Statements were also made by the representatives of Intergovernmental and International Organisations, by the Network of National African Human Rights Institutions as well as the National Human Rights Institutions in Africa and Non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
21. In his intervention, the Representative of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr Patrice Vahard informed to the Session that twenty years on, the situation of human rights on the African Continent remains generally critical. He indicated that the nexus of corruption and impunity jeopardizes the efforts being deployed in many parts of the Continent to alleviate poverty and strengthen peace building.
22. Nonetheless, he noted that considerable progress had been registered in the African Continent and in the world at large in the field of human rights. He also reiterated that the links between human rights and development on the one hand, and between peace, security and human rights on the other, are recognised and mainstreamed at the global and regional levels.
23. The Representative of the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Ms. Colette Letlojane, expressed the concern of the NGO Forum regarding the human rights violations brought about by the exploitation of Africa’s natural resources, and requested the Commission to put in place a Special Mechanism to work on human rights pertaining to the exploitation of natural resources. She also expressed the concern of the NGO Forum regarding the persistence of human rights violations against women, in particular the practice of female genital mutilation and gender-based violence, and urged States Parties which have not yet done so to ratify the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa.
24. In conformity with Article 62 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the Periodic Reports of The Peoples Democratic Republic of Algeria, the Republic of Tunisia and the Republic of Rwanda were presented to the Commission.
25. Members of the African Commission presented reports of the activities they undertook as members of the Commission, as well as reports of activities undertaken during the inter-session in the context of their various special mechanisms and mandates. The Reports of the Special Rapporteurs on the Rights of Women, Prisons and Conditions of Detention, Freedom of Expression, Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Internally Displaced Persons were also presented, as were reports from the Chairpersons of the Working Group on the Implementation of the Robben Island Guidelines, and the Working Group on Indigenous Peoples.
26. The Commission considered the applications for Affiliate Status and decided to grant the said Status to the following National Human Rights Institutions:
This brings the number of NHRIs with affiliate status with the African Commission to 21.
27. The Commission considered the applications for Observer Status and granted the said status to the following NGOs:
This brings the number of NGOs with Observer Status with the African Commission to 375.
28. The African Commission considered and adopted the Report of the fact-finding mission to the Republic of Mali and to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania.
29. The Commission also adopted its 2008-2012 Strategic Plan.
30. The African Commission reiterated its decision to organise seminars on the following topics in 2008:
31. The African Commission appointed the following Commissioners and individuals to head and serve as members of the following mechanisms, effective from 28 November 2007:►Commissioner Soyata Maiga - Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women.
The following experts were appointed members of the Working Group:
► Commissioner Musa Bitaye - Chairperson of Working Group on Indigenous Populations/Communities. The following were also appointed members or their membership renewed in the Working Group on Indigenous Populations/ Communities:
► Commissioner Angela Melo - Chairperson of Working Group on Specific Issues. The following persons were also appointed members or their membership renewed in the Working Group on Specific Issues:
► Commissioner Angela Melo - Chairperson of the Working Group on Economic and Social Rights: The following were also appointed members of the Working Group on Economic and Social Rights:
► Commissioner Catherine Dupe Atoki - Chairperson of the Monitoring Committee on the Implementation of the Robben Island Guidelines. The following persons were also appointed members or their membership renewed in the Monitoring Committee on the Implementation of the Robben Island Guidelines:
► Commissioner Yeung K. J. Y. Sik Yuen - Chairperson, Focal point on the Rights of the Elderly. The following persons were also appointed members:
► The African Commission renewed the appointment of Mumba Malila, as Special Rapporteur on Prisons and Conditions of Detention in Africa.
►The African Commission renewed the appointment of Faith Pansy Tlakula – as Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression in Africa. The mandate was also expanded to include “Access to Information.”
►The African Commission renewed the appointment of Mme Reine Alapini-Gansou as Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders.
► The African Commission renewed the appointment of Bahame Tom Mukirya Nyanduga as Special Rapporteur for Refugees, Asylum Seekers, Internally Displaced Persons and Migrants in Africa.32. Each Commissioner was entrusted with the responsibility of carrying out promotional activities in the State Parties to the African Charter as follows:
33. The African Commission adopted the following resolutions:
34. The African Commission considered 81 Communications: it was seized with 11; it considered 42 on admissibility, 27 on the merits and 1 on review.
35. The African Commission adopted its Twenty Third (23rd ) Activity Report which will be submitted to the 12th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the African Union and the 10th Summit of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union, which is scheduled to take place in January 2008 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
36. The African Commission decided to hold its 43rd Ordinary Session from 15 – 29 May 2008 at a venue to be determined in due course.
37. The African Commission expresses its sincere appreciation and profound gratitude to the Government and People of the Republic of Congo for the facilities placed at its disposal, and for the warm welcome and hospitality accorded to the participants, all of which contributed to the excellent outcome and success of the deliberations of its 42nd Ordinary Session.
38. The closing ceremony of the 42nd Ordinary Session took place on the 28th November 2007 in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.
39. The Chairperson of the African Commission held a Press Conference after the closing ceremony.
Done in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, 28 November 2007 | <urn:uuid:3db821f9-d79c-414a-ba1d-9ed2335a27ee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.achpr.org/sessions/42nd/info/communique42/?prn=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955883 | 2,942 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Blogging has been proven and advised to attract large quantities of visitors, readers and, possibly, customers. Whatever your reason to blog is, follow these proven techniques from the experts to become a successful blogger.
Put plenty of effort in your blog
Most beginner bloggers think that blogging is easy. It is, on the surface. However, you may want to know that:
- it takes time and effort to produce posts
- it takes time to get noticed
- it takes time to learn new things in your industry and about your site, such as how to manage your blog, for example
But most importantly, the more you put in your blog in terms of time and efforts, the better it becomes and the more popular it becomes with time. If you just sit and wait, it won't help :)
Be an expert in your field
To actually provide value to your readers, you need to know what you are talking about. For that, you can either learn things yourself or, if you are already a professional, provide absolutely useful tips for your readers.
Know your audience
Being in the expert in your field, you are likely to know
- what your readers want to know most
- know what words they use
- what problems they have
- and how you can help solve their problems
If you don't, you'd rather learn all the points above before writing. All this will help you create better and more useful content for your audience.
Whatever you do, the time will pass anyway. So if you want to achieve something, you gotta do it now, not later.
If you are slow, you may as well forget the interesting idea you had and you'll become overrun with the new issues before you can write about it.
If anything, save an idea or a post draft for future use.
Write a lot
If you want plenty of unique, quality content for your blog to get visitors and links to get more visitors, you need to start now and write a lot.
You don't have to publish often, but you need to write often to use your time effectively and create better posts. In my experience, writing a post for at least two days increases its quality a lot. A week is better.
Save post drafts
As you write a lot and jot dow your ideas, you will sometimes find that you don't have more thoughts to add to the post. Save it, but don't publish it. Saving drafts is useful, because:
- you will need less efforts to continue the post on the same idea
- you will have a post to publish, when you are booked or don't have any ideas what to write about
- you can create really great posts over a matter of weeks or even months, as you contribute to them as you can
As you can see, carefully organizing your writing and publishing schedule can help you not only produce better, more useful posts, but to provide a consitent flow of reading material for your readers.
Write unique posts
Of course, if you think that some subject is not well covered, you can build an awesome resource (hopefully, timeless) to attract a large number of visitors.
Write researched, useful posts
Admittedly, post formatting becomes ultimately important here, so you need to use short sentences/paragraphs, lists and subheadings to make things easy to read.
I find that a well researched, thoughtful (and useful) post is much more interesting to the public. It also gets much more traffic and links, but that's another story.
Write concise posts
Interchanging concise posts with large posts will give:
- you time to create other researched posts
- you a chance to share a quick tip/thought
- your readers a chance to read something different
This will help your readers read what you have written, bookmark, share or link to your posts.
For example, posts that:
- are lists
- only have images (or just plenty of them)
tend to do good with the people, because they can be easily absorbed and shared.
Write in simple language
If you want your people to understand what you are writing, you need to use the simplest language you can write in. This will help people read and understand the article, so they could share it.
Online, people can't see each other and they can only trust by what they read. If you address your readers as you address friends, they will become to know you better and start trusting you, which will turn them into more loyal readers.
Write great titles
Title is the first thing your readers read and it may be the only thing, if the title isn't compelling enough. Stick to the title writing formulas to craft mind-blowing headlines.
Write naturally, for the people
Though some may say that you need to write for the search engines to get search engine ranking, this is largely false.
You can write as you want, for the people, because:
- if you know your audience, you already their needs
- you already know the words they use
- you use the words naturally in the posts and that's what the search engines try to identify and value most
- most importantlt, your posts will be read by live people and you want them to keep reading, instead of closing the window
- by using a variety of words, you may find hidden traffic sources the keyword research tools keep quiet about
Format your posts
If you want your posts to be read to the end, you not only need to write for your readers, but format the text in short paragraphs, sentences, bullet lists and subheadings.
Link to your other posts
You want your readers to read all the posts on your blog. For this, you need to link to the posts from the one you are writing now: it will not only get you more readership, but will also help your blog to rank well with the search engines (use call to action and relevant words in the link text).
Link to external resources
If you link to
- various researches, studies and benchmarks
- useful blog posts, articles or forum threads
- other useful sites, tools, etc
you not only show a broader perspective to your readers and help them understand your point of view from the linked to articles, but you also provide them with quality content they can read.
Once your audience starts reading the posts, articles or visiting sites you link to, the people will be grateful for more useful information and websites.
Aim to help other people
Though people often read blogs for fun or entertainment, mostly, they have a problem to solve. Identify the problem and help your readers solve it. That's how your posts will become useful.
Read other blogs
By reading related blogs, you will find:
- more topics to write about
- more posts to link to
- more people to talk to
- a place to comment on and get some interested readers/subscribers
All this will help you provide better content, have more people to share or bounce off your ideas.
Socialize with people
As you read blogs, you'll find more people that write about what interests you and your readers. You can talk about the subject in the post comments and most likely, the blog author will come to your blog and comment, too.
If your content is good enough, these blog owners will link to you, too.
Establish an authority
By doing all of the above, you get noticed among the people in your industry and establish your authority. This will
- help your ideas spread
- get you more interesting things to work on
- and to know more interesting people in your field
Since visibility and authority is your most valuable asset (along with trust), you can later build something more useful and interesting on it, using your readership to promote/test/improve your new venture.
Make it easy to share
If you want your ideas and posts to spread, you may want to have the following in mind:
No one "sends" an idea unless:
they understand it they want it to spread they believe that spreading it will enhance their power (reputation, income, friendships) or their peace of mind the effort necessary to send the idea is less than the benefits
No one "gets" an idea unless:
the first impression demands further investigation they already understand the foundation ideas necessary to get the new idea they trust or respect the sender enough to invest the time
So, basically, besides having useful posts, you may want to make it really easy to share your stories.
Additionally, you can use various social bookmarking buttons, like the ones you see under this post, to remind people to bookmark the post and share it with others on the sites they frequent. Needless to say, the sites need to be targeted at your audience (such as Sphinn for Internet marketers, for example).
Participate in social sites that interest you
If you want to:
- be on the edge of your industry news
- read plenty of interesting stuff
- meet lots of people with similar interests
then you need to take part in the social sites that match your blog topic. For example, for bloggers (Internet marketers, SEOs, web designers, usability professionals, etc), you can try:
- Sphinn (Search Engine Marketing)
- PlugIM (Internet Marketing)
- del.icio.us (General, active in most topics)
- Tweako (Web developers, mostly, but suitable for related topics)
- Dzone (Web developers)
- you only get to view sites that match your interests
- you can meet other people with similar interests
- you can get visitors to your website, if someone stumbles your website
As you take part in the social networks, more and more people, whose interests match yours and the topic of your blog, start visiting your blog. They may very well add your posts to the social networks, because they like it and know you from the social site (you are online friends, remember?)
Note: participating in social networks, because it is fun, is vastly different from submitting all of your stories to the site. The best way to socialize is to contribute useful posts and articles that you find around the web.
Share your own stories
If you truly think that your post is worth sharing (you should get the feeling about a great post, if not, improve it), you may want to
- share it with the people you know in the industry
- submit to relevant social bookmarking sites using descriptive and interesting titles and descriptions - or ask someone with a high profile to do it(though Digg doesn't like self-promotion)
Note: this only works if your post is astounding, like the post about the titles linked to above. Only do what you feel right, otherwise you'll ruin your reputation by spamming your friends, industry experts and social sites.
For example, if you have a post about blogging, you can catch the train with the 31 Days Group Writing Project (that only runs in August) at ProBlogger and submit your post to the project.
Have an easy to read and use blog
How easily your readers read and navigate around your blog can really help your visitors read your posts. For example, you can:
- name your categories using words that relate to your visitors
- have clear, distinct categories
- offer related posts for your posts
- make your text readable, as well have a readable font (Verdana 10pt works nicely, as on this blog)
- link to your older posts
- use a descriptive call to action in link text
- reduce clutter on your blog (only leave the most necessary plugins on, such as related, recent posts and social bookmarking buttons
Your site may have other interesting features to keep your readers happy:
- 10 Weblog Design Mistakes from Jacob Nielsen
- Blog Usability Interview with Kim Krause Berg on SEO Book
- 20 Blog Usability Tips
- Does Your Website Have Friendly Features? (from Chris Garrett)
- Blog Usability Study (PDF)
Knowing all the important moments in mind will help you start building a greater blog from the beginning, bringing you well deserved readers, recognition and, possibly, profit. | <urn:uuid:41f1c4a9-0546-46ed-87f3-988c87590f84> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://improvetheweb.com/expert-techniques-successful-blog | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949528 | 2,529 | 1.710938 | 2 |
An innovative exhibition of photographs by Tim Walker, revealing how this leading fashion photographer is a significant artist with roots in traditions of English landscape ... view details
General News > Rokeby: (Poetry and Landscape) Walter Scott & Turner in Teesdale
Stunning landscapes, inspired by an epic poem, form the basis of a major exhibition coming up at The Bowes Museum in the New Year.
Rokeby: (Poetry & Landscape) Walter Scott & Turner in Teesdale, opening on Saturday 26th January, marks the bicentenary of the publication of Scott’s epic poem, Rokeby, a thrilling tale of star crossed lovers, ghosts and treasure, set against the backdrop of the English Civil War.
Exploring the relationship between literature and art, the exhibition - curated by the Museum’s Keeper of Fine Art, Emma House - examines the poem’s role in attracting artists such as Turner, Atkinson Grimshaw, and the Pre-Raphaelite Alfred William Hunt to the region, highlighting the importance of Teesdale in the development of landscape painting in Britain. It will include loans from the British Museum, Tate, and regional galleries as well as paintings from the Museum’s own collection.
Scott penned Rokeby following several visits to John Morritt’s country estate, Rokeby Park, having taken inspiration from the surrounding scenery. The Bowes Museum is situated a mile or so from the estate, at the centre of the landscape brought to life in the poem. Originally published in 1813, it placed Teesdale firmly on the tourist map as well as drawing a succession of artists to the region, including Turner, who later produced 20 views for Whitaker’s An History of Richmondshire, four of which relate to locations in the poem.
Scott’s publisher was later to commission Turner to illustrate newer editions of the poet’s work, stating that he could sell 8,000 copies with Turner’s illustrations as opposed to 3,000 without.
The exhibition, which runs until Sunday 28th April, will be supported by a full programme of events. Walking tours and newly published leaflets will encourage visitors to explore the region’s attractions and viewpoints in relation to the paintings and literature they inspired.
A further programme of painting, photography, textile and writing workshops will encourage participants to get their creative juices flowing and respond to the poem by producing their own works of art inspired by the landscape.
The Museum will also be working with Dora Frankel Dance, who will perform a newly choreographed piece – The Unfolding Sky: Turner in the North - exploring Turner’s landscape paintings. There will also be an opportunity to take part in a dance workshop.
The exhibition has been supported by funding from the Heart of Teesdale Landscape Partnership. Further support has come from the Museum Friends, who have assisted with the preparations. The Museum is also indebted to historian Michael Rudd for his work on the exhibition and supporting programme, and to Tony Seward for his contribution to the accompanying catalogue. | <urn:uuid:54324183-b2c0-4356-b2ef-0454abb47e1d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thebowesmuseum.org.uk/about/news/news/476/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958809 | 632 | 1.851563 | 2 |
Putting context to Kristel’s deathBy Rafael Castillo M.D.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
We sincerely sympathize with the family of Kristel Tejada, a 16-year-old first year behavioral science student from the University of the Philippines (UP) Manila, who committed suicide late last week.
The first time I read the heading of the story, I purposely didn’t read the rest of the story, because this is the kind of news that gives me that glum and down-in-the-dumps feeling. But since it’s all over the media, one gets a full serving of the details of this most unfortunate tragedy.
It’s always easy to look in retrospect and point fingers at people, especially university administrators, blaming them for the untimely death of Kristel, who was blessed with intelligence and physical looks, and who would have likely made a successful professional in her chosen career someday. But as the experts tell us, preventing suicide is not as simple as it may seem it is. “It’s a confluence of so many factors,” says psychiatrist Dr. Paul Lee.
It’s medically rational to assume that even if Kristel was not asked to file her LOA (leave of absence) for failing to pay her tuition, she might have been still a suicide risk. Granting for the sake of argument that the UP problem was the final straw that broke the camel’s back, the predisposition to commit suicide must have been brewing for quite sometime already, and even the least stressful situation could have provided the final straw.
While we empathize with Kristel and sympathize with her family for their big loss, we should also try to put things in proper perspective to prevent more student suicides from happening. We’re just concerned that Kristel’s act might be interpreted by our students as an act of great courage or even martyrdom in fighting for a cause, and that they can consider the same option should they be in a similar situation.
Our teachers and professors at various school levels should discuss the problem of suicide objectively and dispassionately with their students and disabuse any idea in the minds of these students that suicide is a lofty act to do when one can no longer see a clear solution to the many problems confronting a student.
Suicide is one of the top causes of deaths among students. Unfortunately, this problem has not been properly recognized and adequately addressed in most schools. Unless this is recognized as a real and serious problem among students, which requires preventive interventions, I’m afraid we will have many more Kristels in the future.
If we want to give more meaning to Kristel’s death, the schools and universities have to focus on proactive interventions identifying students at risk and aggressively collaborating with their families on how to help and treat the student. Thinking that it’s merely a financial issue is actually skirting the issue and won’t really solve the problem of student suicides.
Lowering tuition fees or changing policies on fees may help alleviate the problem, but it’s only a band-aid solution or a knee-jerk reaction, and unless other sustained programs on preventing suicides are done, it won’t reduce the rising incidence of student suicides on the long term.
Students who attempt suicide are actually ambivalent about killing themselves; they are just so confused about what options to take. They have this all-consuming feeling that no one really cares for them or would even notice if they’re already gone. They feel trapped, hopeless, helpless and their minds play dirty tricks on them, making them think that suicide is the only way out of their pitiful situation. For as long as they can be pulled out of their depression and assured that some people still care for them, they are likely not to commit suicide.
Alleviate academic stress
We would like to sound off our call for all schools and universities to have organized programs to alleviate academic stress and worries and all other problems that students are commonly confronted with. A stronger personal mentorship or “Big-brother,” “Big-sister” program can also help provide a strong emotional support for distressed students.
In some schools abroad, they have actually made it part of the curriculum of freshmen students to understand the root causes of student depression and suicide, and recognize immediately if one has signs and symptoms that can make him or her at risk for suicide.
If we could retrain our minds on the real causes of student suicides and prod our school administrators on institutionalizing programs in collaboration with the students’ parents to prevent it and families, then Kristel’s death shall not have been in vain.
Short URL: http://business.inquirer.net/?p=113659 | <urn:uuid:99199d15-9658-4975-8904-f5357e685346> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://business.inquirer.net/113659/putting-context-to-kristels-death | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963246 | 993 | 1.820313 | 2 |
[The terms of the ceasefire plan] means withdrawal of all heavy armory [weapons] from population centers and [sending them] back to the barracks. They [Syrian authorities] are claiming that this has happened. Satellite imagery, however, and credible reports show that this has not fully happened, so this is unacceptable, said Ahmad Fawzi, a spokesman for special envoy Kofi Annan in Geneva.
Speaking in Sweden, Annan called on Syria to implement the terms of the ceasefire plan in their entirety.
Fawzi also charged that Syrian soldiers and security forces are harassing and even killing people who were seen talking to U.N. truce observers in the country.
“When they [are there] the guns are silent. We have credible reports that when they leave, the [shelling] start again,” Fawzi said.
There are currently only a handful of U.N. observers in Syria, although there are plans to authorize up to as many as 300.
Syria has a population of about 23 million.
“With 11 or 12 monitors, you can’t be everywhere, and there are many cities that have seen destruction and have seen fighting, and we have to be present,” Fawzi said. “With up to 300, we will be able to monitor more cities than two to three at a time.”
Reuters reported that after one week of relative calm, 20 people were killed by the Syrian military in the flashpoint city of Hama on Monday, just one day after a group of unarmed U.N. monitors visited the area.
Separately, the state-controlled SANA television channel said three people were wounded on Tuesday when a car bomb exploded near the Yelbagha complex in the central district of al-Marjeh in Damascus. Reuters reported the detonation occurred near an Iranian cultural center. Iran is the chief remaining ally of the Syrian regime.
SANA accused armed terrorists” of carrying out the attack.
SANA also reported that a Syrian intelligence officer, Lt. Col. As'aad Ahmad Ismael, and his brother were killed in Jedaydet al-Fadel, near Damascus.
The U.N. estimates that at least 9,000 people have been killed in Syria since the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad erupted last March. | <urn:uuid:7e045e87-5d57-4730-8d15-d652683d2a59> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ibtimes.com/syria-not-withdrawing-weapons-urban-areas-promised-un-692848 | 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 | 0.981225 | 483 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Click on any phrase to play the video at that point.Close
Now, when you talk about dangerous animals, most people might think of lions or tigers or sharks. But of course the most dangerous animal is the mosquito. The mosquito has killed more humans than any other creature in human history. In fact, probably adding them all together, the mosquito has killed more humans. And the mosquito has killed more humans than wars and plague.
And you would think, would you not, that with all our science, with all our advances in society, with better towns, better civilizations, better sanitation, wealth, that we would get better at controlling mosquitos, and hence reduce this disease. And that's not really the case. If it was the case, we wouldn't have between 200 and 300 million cases of malaria every year, and we wouldn't have a million and a half deaths from malaria, and we wouldn't have a disease that was relatively unknown 50 years ago now suddenly turned into the largest mosquito-borne virus threat that we have, and that's called dengue fever.
So 50 years ago, pretty much no one had heard of it, no one certainly in the European environment. But dengue fever now, according to the World Health Organization, infects between 50 and 100 million people every year, so that's equivalent to the whole of the population of the U.K. being infected every year. Other estimates put that number at roughly double that number of infections. And dengue fever has grown in speed quite phenomenally. In the last 50 years, the incidence of dengue has grown thirtyfold.
Now let me tell you a little bit about what dengue fever is, for those who don't know. Now let's assume you go on holiday. Let's assume you go to the Caribbean, or you might go to Mexico. You might go to Latin America, Asia, Africa, anywhere in Saudi Arabia. You might go to India, the Far East. It doesn't really matter. It's the same mosquito, and it's the same disease. You're at risk. And let's assume you're bitten by a mosquito that's carrying that virus. Well, you could develop flu-like symptoms. They could be quite mild. You could develop nausea, headache, your muscles could feel like they're contracting, and you could actually feel like your bones are breaking. And that's the nickname given to this disease. It's called breakbone fever, because that's how you can feel.
Now the odd thing is, is that once you've been bitten by this mosquito, and you've had this disease, your body develops antibodies, so if you're bitten again with that strain, it doesn't affect you. But it's not one virus, it's four, and the same protection that gives you the antibodies and protects you from the same virus that you had before actually makes you much more susceptible to the other three. So the next time you get dengue fever, if it's a different strain, you're more susceptible, you're likely to get worse symptoms, and you're more likely to get the more severe forms, hemorrhagic fever or shock syndrome. So you don't want dengue once, and you certainly don't want it again.
So why is it spreading so fast? And the answer is this thing. This is Aedes aegypti. Now this is a mosquito that came, like its name suggests, out of North Africa, and it's spread round the world. Now, in fact, a single mosquito will only travel about 200 yards in its entire life. They don't travel very far. What they're very good at doing is hitchhiking, particularly the eggs. They will lay their eggs in clear water, any pool, any puddle, any birdbath, any flower pot, anywhere there's clear water, they'll lay their eggs, and if that clear water is near freight, it's near a port, if it's anywhere near transport, those eggs will then get transported around the world. And that's what's happened. Mankind has transported these eggs all the way around the world, and these insects have infested over 100 countries, and there's now 2.5 billion people living in countries where this mosquito resides.
To give you just a couple of examples how fast this has happened, in the mid-'70s, Brazil declared, "We have no Aedes aegypti," and currently they spend about a billion dollars now a year trying to get rid of it, trying to control it, just one species of mosquito. Two days ago, or yesterday, I can't remember which, I saw a Reuters report that said Madeira had had their first cases of dengue, about 52 cases, with about 400 probable cases. That's two days ago. Interestingly, Madeira first got the insect in 2005, and here we are, a few years later, first cases of dengue. So the one thing you'll find is that where the mosquito goes, dengue will follow. Once you've got the mosquito in your area, anyone coming into that area with dengue, mosquito will bite them, mosquito will bite somewhere else, somewhere else, somewhere else, and you'll get an epidemic.
So we must be good at killing mosquitos. I mean, that can't be very difficult. Well, there's two principle ways. The first way is that you use larvicides. You use chemicals. You put them into water where they breed. Now in an urban environment, that's extraordinarily difficult. You've got to get your chemical into every puddle, every birdbath, every tree trunk. It's just not practical. The second way you can do it is actually trying to kill the insects as they fly around. This is a picture of fogging. Here what someone is doing is mixing up chemical in a smoke and basically spreading that through the environment. You could do the same with a space spray. This is really unpleasant stuff, and if it was any good, we wouldn't have this massive increase in mosquitos and we wouldn't have this massive increase in dengue fever. So it's not very effective, but it's probably the best thing we've got at the moment. Having said that, actually, your best form of protection and my best form of protection is a long-sleeve shirt and a little bit of DEET to go with it.
So let's start again. Let's design a product, right from the word go, and decide what we want. Well we clearly need something that is effective at reducing the mosquito population. There's no point in just killing the odd mosquito here and there. We want something that gets that population right the way down so it can't get the disease transmission. Clearly the product you've got has got to be safe to humans. We are going to use it in and around humans. It has to be safe. We don't want to have a lasting impact on the environment. We don't want to do anything that you can't undo. Maybe a better product comes along in 20, 30 years. Fine. We don't want a lasting environmental impact. We want something that's relatively cheap, or cost-effective, because there's an awful lot of countries involved, and some of them are emerging markets, some of them emerging countries, low-income. And finally, you want something that's species-specific. You want to get rid of this mosquito that spreads dengue, but you don't really want to get all the other insects. Some are quite beneficial. Some are important to your ecosystem. This one's not. It's invaded you. But you don't want to get all of the insects. You just want to get this one. And most of the time, you'll find this insect lives in and around your home, so this -- whatever we do has got to get to that insect. It's got to get into people's houses, into the bedrooms, into the kitchens.
Now there are two features of mosquito biology that really help us in this project, and that is, firstly, males don't bite. It's only the female mosquito that will actually bite you. The male can't bite you, won't bite you, doesn't have the mouth parts to bite you. It's just the female. And the second is a phenomenon that males are very, very good at finding females. If there's a male mosquito that you release, and if there's a female around, that male will find the female.
So basically, we've used those two factors. So here's a typical situation, male meets female, lots of offspring. A single female will lay about up to 100 eggs at a time, up to about 500 in her lifetime. Now if that male is carrying a gene which causes the death of the offspring, then the offspring don't survive, and instead of having 500 mosquitos running around, you have none. And if you can put more, I'll call them sterile, that the offspring will actually die at different stages, but I'll call them sterile for now. If you put more sterile males out into the environment, then the females are more likely to find a sterile male than a fertile one, and you will bring that population down. So the males will go out, they'll look for females, they'll mate. If they mate successfully, then no offspring. If they don't find a female, then they'll die anyway. They only live a few days.
And that's exactly where we are. So this is technology that was developed in Oxford University a few years ago. The company itself, Oxitec, we've been working for the last 10 years, very much on a sort of similar development pathway that you'd get with a pharmaceutical company. So about 10 years of internal evaluation, testing, to get this to a state where we think it's actually ready. And then we've gone out into the big outdoors, always with local community consent, always with the necessary permits. So we've done field trials now in the Cayman Islands, a small one in Malaysia, and two more now in Brazil.
And what's the result? Well, the result has been very good. In about four months of release, we've brought that population of mosquitos — in most cases we're dealing with villages here of about 2,000, 3,000 people, that sort of size, starting small — we've taken that mosquito population down by about 85 percent in about four months. And in fact, the numbers after that get, those get very difficult to count, because there just aren't any left. So that's been what we've seen in Cayman, it's been what we've seen in Brazil in those trials.
And now what we're doing is we're going through a process to scale up to a town of about 50,000, so we can see this work at big scale. And we've got a production unit in Oxford, or just south of Oxford, where we actually produce these mosquitos. We can produce them, in a space a bit more than this red carpet, I can produce about 20 million a week. We can transport them around the world. It's not very expensive, because it's a coffee cup -- something the size of a coffee cup will hold about three million eggs. So freight costs aren't our biggest problem. (Laughter) So we've got that. You could call it a mosquito factory. And for Brazil, where we've been doing some trials, the Brazilian government themselves have now built their own mosquito factory, far bigger than ours, and we'll use that for scaling up in Brazil.
There you are. We've sent mosquito eggs. We've separated the males from the females. The males have been put in little pots and the truck is going down the road and they are releasing males as they go. It's actually a little bit more precise than that. You want to release them so that you get good coverage of your area. So you take a Google Map, you divide it up, work out how far they can fly, and make sure you're releasing such that you get coverage of the area, and then you go back, and within a very short space of time, you're bringing that population right the way down.
We've also done this in agriculture. We've got several different species of agriculture coming along, and I'm hoping that soon we'll be able to get some funding together so we can get back and start looking at malaria.
So that's where we stand at the moment, and I've just got a few final thoughts, which is that this is another way in which biology is now coming in to supplement chemistry in some of our societal advances in this area, and these biological approaches are coming in in very different forms, and when you think about genetic engineering, we've now got enzymes for industrial processing, enzymes, genetically engineered enzymes in food. We have G.M. crops, we have pharmaceuticals, we have new vaccines, all using roughly the same technology, but with very different outcomes. And I'm in favor, actually. Of course I am. I'm in favor of particularly where the older technologies don't work well or have become unacceptable. And although the techniques are similar, the outcomes are very, very different, and if you take our approach, for example, and you compare it to, say, G.M. crops, both techniques are trying to produce a massive benefit. Both have a side benefit, which is that we reduce pesticide use tremendously. But whereas a G.M. crop is trying to protect the plant, for example, and give it an advantage, what we're actually doing is taking the mosquito and giving it the biggest disadvantage it can possibly have, rendering it unable to reproduce effectively. So for the mosquito, it's a dead end.
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In a single year, there are 200-300 million cases of malaria and 50-100 million cases of dengue fever worldwide. So: Why haven’t we found a way to effectively kill mosquitos yet? Hadyn Parry presents a fascinating solution: genetically engineering male mosquitos to make them sterile, and releasing the insects into the wild, to cut down on disease-carrying species.
Biotech entrepreneur Hadyn Parry leads a science start-up that develops GM insects to fight dengue fever. Full bio » | <urn:uuid:26724214-dc0e-4473-80a3-5bda17c42591> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ted.com/talks/hadyn_parry_re_engineering_mosquitos_to_fight_disease.html?c=583091 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975738 | 3,018 | 2.90625 | 3 |
NBC.com Hacked, Infected With Citadel Trojan
NBC said Thursday that it was working to resolve a problem on its website after security researchers began issuing warnings that NBC.com and related sites had been hacked and infected with malware that was redirecting visitors to malicious websites.
"We've identified the problem and are working to resolve it. No user information has been compromised," NBC said in a statement.
Malware on NBC.com and other sites associated with the TV network's entertainment portal was also detected and blocked by Internet browsers like Google's Chrome, NBC News reported. The network's NBC News Digital sites, including NBCNews.com and TODAY.com, were unaffected, according to NBC News.
Facebook also blocked NBC.com for a period of time after reports of the malware infection emerged, according to Reuters.
Security software developer Malwarebytes identified the malware infecting NBC.com and properties like the network's website for "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" as the Citadel Trojan.
New Mac ‘Crisis’ Trojan Taps Into Webcam, More
Security researchers have discovered a new Mac Trojan, dubbed OSX/Crisis, which eavesdrops on unsuspecting users by intercepting communications like email and IMs.
Once installed, OSX/Crisis, also known as Morcut, can affect everything from mouse coordinates and IMs to the internal webcam and address book contents, Sophos said in a blog post.
The Trojan runs on OSX versions 10.6 and 10.7 – Snow Leopard and Lion. It does not affect the new Mountain Lion 10.8 OS, and while it might run on Leopard 10.5, it has a tendency to crash, security firm Intego said in a separate post.
Neither firm has seen Crisis in the wild, so the threat remains low risk, they said.
The Trojan arrives disguised as an Adoble Flash installer, in a file named AdobeFlashPlayer.jar. No administrative password is needed for installation, so the malware, which survives reboots, can go unnoticed by the untrained eye. Those concerned about infection are encouraged to run anti-virus software.
In April, Sophos reported that one in five Macs is infectedwith some sort of malware, which is often intended for Windows machines. Cybercriminals tend to target Apple products because users believe the machines are virus-resistant, according to Sophos analyst Graham Cluley.
Report: NotCompatible Trojan Attacks Android Via Hacked Websites
As the number of mobile devices connected to the Internet grows, the number of threats to our smartphones, tablets, and other connected devices grows as well. And guess what? Lookout Mobile Security on Wednesday reported that there are now hacked websites targeting Android devices with a new Android Trojan called NotCompatible, an attack vector previously only used to infect PCs with malware.
"In this specific attack, if a user visits a compromised website from an Android device, their Web browser will automatically begin downloading an application—this process is commonly referred to as a drive-by download," the security firm said on its official Lookout blog.
"When the suspicious application finishes downloading, the device will display a notification prompting the user to click on the notification to install the downloaded app. In order to actually install the app to a device, it must have the 'Unknown sources' setting enabled (this feature is commonly referred to as 'sideloading'). If the device does not have the unknown sources setting enabled, the installation will be blocked."
NotCompatible was actually discovered by an HTC Rezound owner whose phone was infected after visiting a pest control company's website. She posted an item about the incident on Reddit early on Wednesday where it was spotted by the Lookout team.
Lookout called the development "the first time hacked websites are being used to specifically target mobile devices." Malware threats to Android phones in the past have largely come via apps.
Flashback Trojan Still on 140,000 Computers
The impact of the Flashback Trojan that hit more than half a million Macs earlier this year is on the decline, but it is still present on at least 140,000 computers, according to new stats from Symantec.
"The statistics from our sinkhole are showing declining numbers on a daily basis," Symantec said in a Tuesday blog post. "However, we had originally believed that we would have seen a greater decline in infections at this point in time, but this has proven not to be the case."
The number of computers currently infected has "tapered off," but is currently hovering around the 140,000 mark, Symantec said. Given the number of tools released to fix the issue, the firm expected "a dramatic decrease."
Last week, Symantec said it had detected about 270,000 computers infected with the Flashback Trojan, down from a high of 600,000 on April 6 and 380,000 on April 10. For more, see the chart below.
Flashback Trojan Hits 550,000 Macs
Analysis of a recent Java flaw exploited by the Flashback Trojan reveals that more than 550,000 Macs were affected in the U.S. and abroad, according to anti-virus vendor Doctor Web.
"This once again refutes claims by some experts that there are no cyber-threats to Mac OS X," Doctor Web said in a Tuesday blog post.
About 56.6 percent of the infected computers, or 303,449, are located in the U.S., while 19.8 percent are in Canada, 12.8 percent are in the U.K., and 6.1 percent are in Australia, Doctor Web said. For more, see the map below.
As PCMag's Security Watch noted yesterday, Mac users did not have to download or even interact with the malware to become infected. Websites exploited a Java flaw that let Flashback.K download itself onto Macs without warning. It then asked users to supply an administrative password, but even without that password, the malware was already installed.
"The exploit saves an executable file onto the hard drive of the infected Mac machine. The file is used to download malicious payload from a remote server and to launch it," Doctor Web said.
Mac OS X Trojan Leeches Off Your GPU to Mine Bitcoins
Another day, another piece of Mac malware. This time security firms have discovered a Mac OS X Trojan that steals processing power to create Bitcoin, a virtual currency beloved by libertarians, computer programmers, and hackers of all shades.
OSX/Miner-D, nicknamed "DevilRobber" by AV companies, is being distributed through torrent sites. It installs a Java-based application called "DiabloMiner" that uses your Mac's graphics processing unit (GPU) to generate Bitcoins.
Security vendor Intego said the malware was a combination of a Trojan horse, a malicious app hidden inside another application, a backdoor, an application that opens ports and accepts unauthorized commands, and a stealer that steals personal data and existing Bitcoins from your computer. It's also categorized as spyware because it sends personal data to remote servers, Intego said.
‘BlackHole RAT’ Trojan Can Sneak Into Macs via Back Door
A variant on an established Trojan for the Apple Mac OSX operating system has been discovered by Sophos.
OSX/MusMinim-A is a Remote Access Trojan (RAT) for the OSX platform, which is also known as "BlackHole RAT". SophosLabs analyzed the sample it received and determined that it is a variant of a well-known Remote Access Trojan (RAT) for Windows known as darkComet.
So far, the virus' unknown author describes it as a "beta" version, whose functionality could be improved over time. OSX/MusMinim-A's main threat component is a backdoor, which acts as the server half of a client-server pair of applications, the company said. | <urn:uuid:57db9e65-3dd9-40f7-8b2f-a60025f666ce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.techreviewsource.com/blog/?tag=trojan | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94574 | 1,638 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Karate is a martial art of Okinawan origin. It involves many techniques, including blocks, strikes, evasions, throws and joint manipulations.
The idea behind karate is not to win against the enemy outside the body, but to win against oneself. Karate is used to battle against one's own fear, doubt and indecisiveness. Therefore, it involves both physical and psychological training.
While karate is used as a method of self-defense, those who practice it express respect for their opponent(s).
After mastering the techniques, one can be promoted to the first-degree black belt rank. One can be promoted up to the fourth-degree based on technical excellence. Promotion thereafter is based on one's maturity of technique and dedication to the art. The highest rank, ninth degree, is only given after an individual has studied karate throughout his or her life and achieved maturity (over 60 or 70 years old).
Budo, Chinese martial arts, judo, jujutsu, kata, kickboxing, kihon, kumite, martial arts. | <urn:uuid:f75ff779-5d7c-46a7-8a4a-a0fed335911c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wellness.com/reference/health-and-wellness/karate | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965355 | 222 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Violence erupts in India anti-rape rallies
Outrage over gang rape spurs demonstrations, clashes
India's prime minister called for calm Sunday after clashes erupted between police and demonstrators protesting a gang rape in the country's capital.
"We will make all possible efforts to ensure security and safety to all women in this country," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said. "I appeal to all concerned citizens to maintain peace and calm."
Public outrage has surged after the gang rape and beating of a 23-year-old woman on a moving bus on December 16.
The prime minister's comments came after thousands of protesters defied a ban on demonstrations in New Delhi on Sunday.
For a second day, demonstrators were blasted with water cannons. While some dispersed, others huddled tightly in a circle to brave high-pressure streams in the cold December weather.
"We want justice!" the protesters shouted in chorus.
In addition to banners and cardboard placards, many demonstrators carried Indian flags as they scuffled with police. Authorities fired tear gas to try to break up crowds.
Police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said "hooligans who had joined the protesters" hurled stones, injuring 78 officers.
At least 65 protesters were also injured, he said.
Many police vans and a dozen public buses were damaged during the demonstrations, he said.
As he appealed for peace Sunday, Singh acknowledged that the anger is "genuine and justified."
Authorities haven't released the name of the rape victim, but protesters are calling her "Damini," which means "lightning" in Hindi.
"Damini" is also a 1993 Bollywood film whose lead female character fights for a housemaid, a victim of a sexual assault.
"We support you Damini. We'll keep fighting for you," a middle-aged woman at the historic India Gate said Sunday.
"Damini wants justice," read a placard at the protest.
Police bundled scores of young protesters into buses in the Raisina Hill area, home of the India Gate, the presidential palace, the parliament building and ministerial offices.
Demonstrators slipped under police vans to deflate tires and prevent them from driving off. Officers dragged them out.
The rape victim's injuries were so severe she spent days in intensive care in a city hospital, battling for her life. Police said Saturday that she had recovered enough to give a statement to a magistrate from her hospital bed the night before.
The protest was among a number of anti-rape demonstrations held across the country in the past week.
A video journalist was killed by police gunfire Sunday during a violent protest in India's remote northeastern state of Manipur, authorities said.
The journalist was covering a protest against a separate molestation case in the provincial capital of Imphal, state police said. Protests have rocked Manipur over the alleged molestation of a local actress by a suspected militant on December 18, during a public performance.
Protesters had torched a vehicle, forcing police to open fire, officer Manik Longjam said Sunday.
The journalist died in the gunfire, Longjam said.
Police said the molester was still at large.
Official data show that reported rape cases have increased more than tenfold over the past 40 years -- from 2,487 in 1971 to 24,206 in 2011.
New Delhi alone reported 572 rapes last year and more than 600 in 2012.
Six suspects, including the bus driver and a minor, have now been arrested in connection with the rape of "Damini."
As fury about the assault gathered pace, some Indian lawmakers called for treating rape as a capital crime.
"We'll work collectively to see we make a law which is deterrent and preventive," said New Delhi's chief minister, Sheila Dikshit.
India's Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde told reporters Saturday that the government would work toward increasing punishment in "rarest of the rare" rape cases.
But pressed on whether the administration would agree to demands for death by hanging in such instances, he said: "We'll have to see in what way it (the rape sentencing) can be enhanced."
Shinde said the government was pushing for a speedy trial for the attack.
Authorities are also taking a number of steps to improve security for women in New Delhi, particularly on public transport, he said.
"(The) government shares the widespread concern and support that has been expressed throughout society for the girl who has so suffered. Government also respects the right of legitimate protest," Shinde said.
"At the same time, there is need to exercise calm at this juncture and for everyone to work together to improve the safety and security environment."
In the meantime, the victim has been promised the best possible medical care, Shinde said.
A physician described the woman's condition Saturday as better than a day earlier, but said there was still a risk of infection. She is receiving psychological as well as medical care, he said.
Following the brutal assault, the country's human rights body sent notices to city police and federal authorities, demanding an explanation.
"The incident has raised the issue of declining public confidence in the law and order machinery in the city, especially in its capacity to ensure safety of women, as a number of such incidents have been reported in the national capital in the recent past," the National Human Rights Commission said in a statement Tuesday.
Home Secretary R. K. Singh announced the suspension of five police officers in the wake of the rape.
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President Obama has tried — desperately, and far beyond the point at which it made any kind of sense — to reach across the partisan divide in the United States. He has bent over backward to be nice to bankers. He has clearly been uncomfortable with any kind of populist rhetoric, although that may finally be changing.
And his reward for all this is that Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts and current candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, describes him as a full-on Marxist: from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs. “[Obama] seeks to replace our merit-based society with an entitlement society,” Mr. Romney said in a recent speech. “In an entitlement society, everyone receives the same or similar rewards, regardless of education, effort and willingness to take risk. That which is earned by some is redistributed to the others. And the only people to enjoy truly disproportionate rewards are the people who do the redistributing — the government.”
Reality just doesn’t matter here — which is why Mr. Obama might as well reach out to his base instead of the unreachable right.
The Long and the Short of It
Olympia Snowe talks nonsense. “Fiscal shenanigans such as permanent tax increases to pay for one-year temporary measures are precisely the problem that drove our nation into a $15 trillion debt crisis,” the Republican senator from Maine said in a statement earlier this month, in response to a new bipartisan jobs-creation bill.
Actually, it’s nonsense on multiple levels. A nation that can borrow at negative real interest rates isn’t exactly facing a debt crisis. We do have a $15 trillion debt in the United States — but that debt reflects a combination of (1) permanent tax cuts, not paid for at all (2) large temporary spending on wars, not paid for at all, and (3) a severe economic crisis, which has depressed revenue (mainly) and required some emergency spending (which accounts for only a small piece of the debt).
And another thing: Short-term outlays offset by long-term austerity is precisely what macroeconomics 101 says you should do when faced with a depressed economy. It’s not “shenanigans”; it’s orthodox macroeconomics and the height of responsibility.
All this gives me an occasion to say more about something that comes up fairly often both in comments here and in attacks from the usual suspects: Why did I criticize President George W. Bush’s deficit-increasing policies, then call for more deficit-increasing policies from Mr. Obama?
Part of the answer is the difference in economic conditions. Deficit spending is expansionary when the economy is in a liquidity trap; it does nothing but crowd out other spending when you’re not up against the zero lower bound.
The other part of the answer is that although the Bushies were happy to use Keynesian arguments to justify their tax cuts, those cuts were all designed to be permanent — that is, they were irresponsible precisely because they weren’t temporary. Nothing of what Mr. Obama has done commits that sin: his long-term spending, basically on health reform, is paid for, and everything else, like aid to state and local governments or expansion of unemployment benefits, was both designed to be temporary and has proved temporary in reality.
Ah well — just another day in political Bizarro World.
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Paul Krugman joined The New York Times in 1999 as a columnist on the Op-Ed page and continues as a professor of economics and international affairs at Princeton University. He was awarded the Nobel in economic science in 2008.
Mr Krugman is the author or editor of 20 books and more than 200 papers in professional journals and edited volumes, including "The Return of Depression Economics" (2008) and "The Conscience of a Liberal" (2007).
Copyright 2011 The New York Times. | <urn:uuid:d7c6b1e4-2c70-41ad-a7d6-12297d65c136> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/5772 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964946 | 839 | 1.679688 | 2 |
The history of art reaches back to the mists of mankind’s earliest beginnings, but in which centuries do scholars believe scientific theories began to define style apart from content?
#106452. Asked by queproblema. (Jun 19 09 5:52 PM)
The 14th and 15th centuries.|
One could argue that when our common ancestors first represented three dimensional animals as two dimensional cave paintings that they were in fact making use of perspective, spatial relations and even geometry albeit in a very informal and instinctual way. That said, I always thought that Pointillism, a term from the 19th century used to describe the style of painting using numerous dots that coalesce into intelligible shapes and colors in a viewer's mind, was the beginning of scientific theory trumping content in art (at least in painting).
"Pointillism is a style of painting in which small distinct dots of color create the impression of a wide selection of other colors and blending. Aside from color "mixing" phenomena, there is the simpler graphic phenomenon of depicted imagery emerging from disparate points. Historically, Pointillism has been a figurative mode of executing a painting, as opposed to an abstract modality of expression.
The technique relies on the perceptive ability of the eye and mind of the viewer to mix the color spots into a fuller range of tones and is related closely to Divisionism, a more technical variant of the method. It is a style with few serious practitioners and is notably seen in the works of Seurat, Signac and Cross. The term Pointillism was first coined by art critics in the late 1880s to ridicule the works of these artists and is now used without its earlier mocking connotation."
However, I found this source which points out the fact that scientific theory was in heavy use earlier on:
"At different stages in the past, scientific theory has contributed the development of artistic expression. During the Renaissance Filippo Brunellschi and Piero della Francesca used their understanding of mathematics to apply the principles of perspective into painting, and thus allow the two dimensional representation of three dimensional objects. Albrecht Dürer utilised devices of his own invention to allow accurate foreshortening to be produced in his compositions. Jan Vermeer and Auguste Ingres were aided by complex optics to create highly-detailed works that brought new levels of realism to the painters' craft, and the inimitable Leonardo da Vinci studied many cadavers in order to enhance artists' comprehension of human anatomy.
Though the need for science as a foundation to artistic endeavour was perhaps more apparent in the Fourteenth and Fifteen Centuries, its importance would not wane completely in the years that followed, and even in contemporary art there are still occasions when its application is vital to the realisation of the finished work."
Not having found any other source to back me up, I would have to agree that the 14th and 15th centuries would be the best answer. Pietro Perugino's painting below was what I had in mind when I was thinking about your question. To me, the use of perspective is quite blatant and almost overpowers the drama in the foreground.
I'm glad you're back - I was having trouble with this one....|
I don't really know the answer to this question.|
Baloo, for his part, privately suggested "Possibly when Golden Section was first talked about, or when Leonardo, Cranach and Uccello were around." (And I do hope he doesn't mind my making it public.)
I've spent a bit of time reading Ed's sources, and prickling over the Pointillist point. :-) Scientific theory was indeed in heavy use earlier on, but to support, not supplant, content. Perugino's "Giving of the Keys to St. Peter" is a distinctly narrative painting strongly supported by style. Pointillism seems to have come rather late in the post-Enlightenment emphasis of style over content. Consider rococo and romantic art.
I'm guessing it was the 1700-1800's.
Anne D'Alleva says that "Marxist, psychoanalytical, and semiotic lines of questionings" "have roots in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century art historical practices." (If I'm not garbling her thoughts and mangling her meanings. Hope not.) From page 11 on:
Leslie Brown Kessler argues "...that seventeenth-century artists and art theorists did not view the problem of style formally, but were rather concerned with the manner in which a style might interpret or support content.
"...it should be recognized that style was not fully defined as a purely formal value, exclusive of content, until the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, when "scientific" and positivistic theories of form elements and their transformation displaced earlier, content-based art theory."
How I would love to have her guide me through a museum!
Find something useful here? Please help us spread the word about FunTrivia. Recommend this page below! | <urn:uuid:85ed73a7-1205-4d62-a590-94ccc3b01674> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question106452.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951423 | 1,040 | 3.625 | 4 |
Remember, don't rely on the "Original Greek" because there is no "original Greek" and we have no "originals", we have copies of the copies.
But a translation (KJV) of those copies of copies is fine? Likely the answer is yes because without corrupt translations your doctrine can't survive.
I see Scripture taken out of context. For example, every knee will bow and every toungue will confess, yes. But that does not mean they will be saved. The Lord Jesus said many will say to Him "Lord, Lord" and yet are not saved.
There is a difference between confessing and saying "Lord, Lord". It's about the honesty of that confession. Lots of tv evangelists shout Lord Lord all the time...to line their pockets.
I think confession in the Bible is about true/honest confession. No fake confessions.. I think reply #3 shows that.
These people trusted in their own works and as a result went to Hell.
Sure not everybody is part of the first Overcomers/first fruit harvest. Not everybody rules with Jesus in His millenium Kingdom. After the 1000 years there is a second resurrection. The sheep and goats. The sheep go to heaven. The overcomers from the first resurrection obviously go to heaven also.
So we already have 2 classes of people that go to heaven. The very good overcomers and the not so good sheep. So those two groups are saved "each in their own order".
So what about the goats? End of line for them?
Revelation 22:14-15 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
When New Jerusalem is on earth the saints are inside the city.
The dogs, liars, thiefs, murderers, etc are outside the city.
But the gates are always open.
A tree with healing leaves of the nations grows inside the city. People are invited to drink from the fountain of life. Imo that fountain represents the teaching of Jesus.
But why are we told that? All the people inside are pure believers. They aren't sick (sinners). Neither do they need healing because they now have perfect bodies.
Could the fountain and the tree be for the sinners outside the gates of New Jerusalem?
Please read Isa 60. Especially verse 11. (especially doesn't mean only...
The gates are open so the nations and their kings can enter. The dogs outside the gates. Also note nations with their kings enter. Which means the plan of God has not
yet ended. 1 Corinthians 15:20-28 shows for example Jesus rules until there are no more other kings.
Notice He says "Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels." Hell was made for Satan and his demons to burn forever but if a human refuses to admit their need for salvation and refuses to trust in Him alone for eternal life, they burn forever.
You mean God changed His mind?
James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no ficklenss, neither shadow of turning
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Alderwood Elementary School and Kulshan Middle School are recipients of the 2011 Washington Achievement Award for Overall Excellence.
The Washington Achievement Awards, sponsored by the Washington State Board of Education and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, celebrate the state’s top-performing schools and recognize achievement in multiple categories. These highly selective awards are given to elementary, middle and high schools for achievement in eight different categories, including Overall Excellence. The award for Overall Excellence is based each school's Achievement Index, a state-wide measure of school performance that includes student achievement in reading, writing, mathematics and science. This index considers how schools are improving over time, how they compare to schools of similar demographics, and whether they are closing achievement gaps.
“We are thrilled and honored to receive this level of recognition,” says Alderwood Elementary principal Stephanie Korn. “Our staff, students and community have worked hard to put several improvements in place that have contributed to our success. We have researched and implemented best practices around professional learning communities at our school. We have developed a response to intervention system to insure all our students receive instruction that is targeted to needs, and we carefully monitor the progress of every student.” By continuing to work with parents and community organizations, Korn is excited to build on the collaborative foundation already in place so that “students can continue to thrive at Alderwood.”
Similarly, Jeanne Hayden, principal of Kulshan Middle School, credits Kulshan staff and the school community for the award. “Kulshan staff members recognize the importance of highly effective instruction and work very hard to meet the needs of a wide range of learners,” she says. “We continue to align our curriculum and assessment practices to state standards and develop interventions and extensions of core subjects to assure that students are both supported and challenged. At the same time, we’re always developing 'the whole child' and model and teach what it means to be respectful and productive citizens. Our collaborative efforts and focus on students undoubtedly serve as the foundation of our overall success.”
The schools will be honored at an Achievement Award event in April. Visit the OSPI Washington Achievement awards site to learn more about the awards, the criteria for selection, and the Achievement Index. | <urn:uuid:7fb40d03-df1a-4d51-a427-c5444c7d3699> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bellinghamschools.org/news/2012-02/alderwood-and-kulshan-honored-overall-excellence | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962593 | 470 | 1.695313 | 2 |
2006 Periodic Report on the Application of the World Heritage Convention
As a country that has ratified the World Heritage Convention, Canada is required to submit a report to the World Heritage Committee describing how it is implementing the Convention. The “periodic report” consists of Section I, an overview of Canada’s legislation, policies and programs for protecting and presenting natural and cultural heritage, and Section II, a series of reports on the current conditions of the existing World Heritage Sites in Canada. The purpose of this report, as determined by the World Heritage Committee, is:
- to provide an assessment of the application of the by the State Party;
- to provide an assessment as to whether the World Heritage values of the properties inscribed on the World Heritage List are being maintained over time;
- to provide up-dated information about the World Heritage properties to record the changing circumstances and state of conservation of the properties;
- to provide a mechanism for regional co-operation and exchange of information and experiences between States Parties concerning the implementation of the Convention and World Heritage conservation.
In addition to the reports mentioned above, Canada is required to submit a joint report with the United States, describing implementation of the World Heritage Convention in North America.
As Canada’s representative for the World Heritage Convention, Parks Canada has been leading the project to prepare the periodic report. This has included working in partnership with provincial government officials in British Columbia, Alberta and Québec and with municipal government officials in Québec City and Lunenburg, Nova Scotia to prepare the Section I (national) and Section II (site-specific) reports. It has also included working cooperatively with the United States National Park Service - the US representative for the World Heritage Convention - to prepare the North American Regional Report. | <urn:uuid:ee594c36-13de-474d-819f-6005833f068e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/docs/pm-wh/rspm-whsr/index.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918555 | 358 | 2.8125 | 3 |
More than 270,000 organic farmers are taking on corporate agriculture giant Monsanto in a lawsuit filed March 30. Led by the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association, the family farmers are fighting for the right to keep a portion of the world food supply organic — and preemptively protecting themselves from accusations of stealing genetically modified seeds that drift on to their pristine crop fields.
Consumers are powerful. For more than a decade, a cultural shift has seen shoppers renounce the faster-fatter-bigger-cheaper mindset of factory farms, exposéd in the 2008 documentary Food, Inc. From heirloom tomatoes to heritage chickens, we want our food slow, sustainable, and local — healthy for the earth, healthy for animals, and healthy for our bodies.
But with patented seeds infiltrating the environment so fully, organic itself is at risk. Monsanto’s widely used Genuity® Roundup Ready® canola seed has already turned heirloom canola oil into an extinct species. The suing farmers are seeking to prevent similar contamination of organic corn, soybeans, and a host of other crops. What’s more, they’re seeking to prevent Monsanto from accusing them of unlawfully using the very seeds they’re trying to avoid.
“It seems quite perverse that an organic farmer contaminated by transgenic seed could be accused of patent infringement,” says Public Patent Foundation director Dan Ravicher in a Cornucopia Institute article about the farmers’ lawsuit (May 30, 2011), “but Monsanto has made such accusations before and is notorious for having sued hundreds of farmers for patent infringement.”
Even as the mega-corporation enjoys soaring stock, the U.S. justice department continues to look into allegations of its fraudulent antitrust practices (The Street, June 29, 2011):
“Monsanto, which has acquired more than 20 of the nation’s biggest seed producers and sellers over the last decade, has long pursued a strict policy with its customers, obligating them to buy its bioengineered seeds every year rather than use them in multiple planting seasons. Farmers who disobey are blacklisted forever.”
It’s a wide net Monsanto has cast over the agricultural landscape. As Ravicher points out, “it’s actually in Monsanto’s financial interest to eliminate organic seed so that they can have a total monopoly over our food supply.” Imagine a world devoid of naturally vigorous traditional crops and controlled by a single business with a appetite for intellectual property. Did anyone else feel a cold wind pass through them? Now imagine a world where thousands of family farmers fight the good fight to continue giving consumers a choice in their food — and win.
Lawsuit Filed To Protect Themselves from Unfair Patent Enforcement on Genetically Modified Seed Action Would Prohibit Biotechnology Giant from Suing Organic Farmers and Seed Growers If Innocently Contaminated by Roundup Ready Genes.
NEW York: On behalf of 60 family farmers, seed businesses and organic agricultural organizations, the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) filed suit today against Monsanto Company challenging the chemical giant’s patents on genetically modified seed. The organic plaintiffs were forced to sue preemptively to protect themselves from being accused of patent infringement should their crops ever become contaminated by Monsanto’s genetically modified seed.
Monsanto has sued farmers in the United States and Canada, in the past, when their patented genetic material has inadvertently contaminated their crops.
The case, Organic Seed Growers & Trade Association, et al. v. Monsanto, was filed in federal district court in Manhattan and assigned to Judge Naomi Buchwald. Plaintiffs in the suit represent a broad array of family farmers, small businesses and organizations from within the organic agriculture community who are increasingly threatened by genetically modified seed contamination despite using their best efforts to avoid it. The plaintiff organizations have over 270,000 members, including thousands of certified organic family farmers.
“This case asks whether Monsanto has the right to sue organic farmers for patent infringement if Monsanto’s transgenic seed or pollen should land on their property,” said Dan Ravicher, PUBPAT’s Executive Director. “It seems quite perverse that an organic farmer contaminated by transgenic seed could be accused of patent infringement, but Monsanto has made such accusations before and is notorious for having sued hundreds of farmers for patent infringement, so we had to act to protect the interests of our clients.”
Once released into the environment, genetically modified seed can contaminate and destroy organic seed for the same crop. For example, soon after Monsanto introduced genetically modified seed for canola, organic canola became virtually impossible to grow as a result of contamination.
Organic corn, soybeans, cotton, sugar beets and alfalfa also face the same fate, as Monsanto has released genetically modified seed for each of those crops as well.
Monsanto is currently developing genetically modified seed for many other crops, thus putting the future of all food, and indeed all agriculture, at stake.
“Monsanto’s threats and abuse of family farmers stops here. Monsanto’s genetic contamination of organic seed and organic crops ends now,” stated Jim Gerritsen, a family farmer in Maine who raises organic seed and is President of lead plaintiff Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association. “Americans have the right to choice in the marketplace – to decide what kind of food they will feed their families.”
“Family-scale farmers desperately need the judiciary branch of our government to balance the power Monsanto is able to wield in the marketplace and in the courts,” said Mark A. Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst for The Cornucopia Institute, one of the plaintiffs. “Monsanto, and the biotechnology industry, have made great investments in our executive and legislative branches through campaign contributions and powerful lobbyists in Washington.”
In the case, PUBPAT is asking Judge Buchwald to declare that if organic farmers are ever contaminated by Monsanto’s genetically modified seed, they need not fear also being accused of patent infringement. One reason justifying this result is that Monsanto’s patents on genetically modified seed are invalid because they don’t meet the “usefulness” requirement of patent law, according to PUBPAT’s Ravicher, the plaintiffs’ lead attorney in the case.
“Evidence cited by PUBPAT in its opening filing today proves that genetically modified seed has negative economic and health effects, while the promised benefits of genetically modified seed – increased production and decreased herbicide use – are false,” added Ravicher who is also a Lecturer of Law at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York.
Ravicher continued, “Some say transgenic seed can coexist with organic seed, but history tells us that’s not possible, and it’s actually in Monsanto’s financial interest to eliminate organic seed so that they can have a total monopoly over our food supply,” said Ravicher. “Monsanto is the same chemical company that previously brought us Agent Orange, DDT, PCB’s and other toxins, which they said were safe, but we know are not. Now Monsanto says transgenic seed is safe, but evidence clearly shows it is not.”
The plaintiffs in the suit represented by PUBPAT are: Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association; Organic Crop Improvement Association International, Inc.; OCIA Research and Education Inc.; The Cornucopia Institute; Demeter Association, Inc.; Navdanya International; Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association; Northeast Organic Farming Association/Massachusetts Chapter, Inc.; Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont; Rural Vermont; Ohio Ecological Food & Farm Association; Southeast Iowa Organic Association; Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society; Mendocino Organic Network; Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance; Canadian Organic Growers; Family Farmer Seed Cooperative; Sustainable Living Systems; Global Organic Alliance; Food Democracy Now!; Family Farm Defenders Inc.; Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund; FEDCO Seeds Inc.; Adaptive Seeds, LLC; Sow True Seed; Southern Exposure Seed Exchange; Mumm’s Sprouting Seeds; Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co., LLC; Comstock, Ferre & Co., LLC; Seedkeepers, LLC; Siskiyou Seeds; Countryside Organics; Cuatro Puertas; Interlake Forage Seeds Ltd.; Alba Ranch; Wild Plum Farm; Gratitude Gardens; Richard Everett Farm, LLC; Philadelphia Community Farm, Inc; Genesis Farm; Chispas Farms LLC; Kirschenmann Family Farms Inc.; Midheaven Farms; Koskan Farms; California Cloverleaf Farms; North Outback Farm; Taylor Farms, Inc.; Jardin del Alma; Ron Gargasz Organic Farms; Abundant Acres; T & D Willey Farms; Quinella Ranch; Nature’s Way Farm Ltd.; Levke and Peter Eggers Farm; Frey Vineyards, Ltd.; Bryce Stephens; Chuck Noble; LaRhea Pepper; Paul Romero; and, Donald Wright Patterson, Jr…
Everyone needs to stand up to these corrupt organizations who want to control our food supply.. They are patenting LIFE; doesn’t that seem like a conspiracy? The Above information was provided by this link which gives substantial evidence that people are fighting this huge corporation for the involuntary lawsuits on Farmers due to the migration of seeds on their land..Remember Karma is a bitch!! Monsanto will get what it deserves in court (hopefully), Anonymous had it’s share of payback.. Now it’s time for the Famers to take back the word Organic and be able to grow chemical-free food for America! Please send me your story about Monsanto at firstname.lastname@example.org | <urn:uuid:d9a07a4e-4e82-4031-b581-024e96796bfd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://usahitman.com/sue-monsanto/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924071 | 2,039 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Individuals with neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2) can now benefit from the Midwest’s only program specializing in the clinical care of children and adults with NF2 – the Washington University NF2 Clinical Program. This new program is a joint project of Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Siteman Cancer Center and the Washington University Neurofibromatosis Center.
NF2 is a genetic disorder that affects one in 40,000 individuals worldwide. Individuals with NF2 develop many tumors in the cranial nervous system. Since tumors can often develop around the acoustic portion of the cranial nerve, some of the earliest symptoms can include hearing loss, tinnitus and problems with balance. One of the frustrating aspects of NF2 is its variation from individual to individual. In this regard, the medical problems and the time course of NF2 may be different, even in members of the same family.
The NF2 Clinical Program is co-directed by Michael Chicoine, MD, Washington University neurosurgeon, and Timothy Hullar, MD, Washington University otolaryngologist. Their collective experience in treating large numbers of patients with this uncommon disease stimulated the assembly of a dedicated group of physicians and other health care professionals from a broad spectrum of medical specialties — including oncology, plastic and reconstructive surgery, audiology and neuro-ophthalmology — to coordinate patient assessment and treatment in a comprehensive approach.
This leading-edge research offers unique benefits to our patients, such as the ongoing work concentrated on the use of chemotherapeutic agents to arrest the growth of tumors or to reduce their size and cochlear implantation to preserve or restore hearing. | <urn:uuid:caef8201-a13d-40ee-97d2-05ef512ab53e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.barnesjewish.org/ip/summer11/new-clinic-specializes-in-uncommon-neuro-disorder | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919247 | 339 | 1.835938 | 2 |
The Eindhoven based designer, Joost Gehem, stumbled upon an eco-friendly design process almost by accident. While he had a long standing interest in recycling and sustainable life styles, he came across re-purposing materials from an unusual angle.
His research into recycling waste brought his attention to statistics affecting our society, such as the number of deaths, divorces, bankruptcies and the amount of elderly people needing to move to retirement homes. When he considered what may link these statistics, he came to an interesting conclusion – household items. These often tragic and life changing events often result in discarded or unwanted objects, as houses are sold or cleared out.
Joost started to wonder what happened to these objects and where they ended up. After searching the internet he realised he could obtain the entire contents of a house that people no longer wanted. Many of these unwanted objects were the result of deaths and divorce, but he was also interested in the people who simply wanted to change or update the interior of their homes.
“I could hardly believe how cheap a complete interior could be and how much of it you could obtain in this way. I began to see it as a material and I envisioned a little factory in my mind. What if I could create products out of this unwanted material. “
He saw this material as almost a raw material that would be re-purposed and remoulded into a different form, changing its appearance and consistency to give it a new life cycle.
At first he was a little concerned about what the grieving friends or family think. Whether they would welcome the possibility that objects once belonging to their deceased friend or family member would be broken down into a pulp and be reused as a material to create a new product.
However after presenting his idea to the son of an elderly widower from whom he was buying the entire 1960s interior of a house, he realised that many people would welcome the reuse of these objects. Reshaping and transforming these old pieces of furniture and household items, gives them a new meaning and a new purpose when they have become obsolete.
“So some people think it’s about recycling or up-cycling etc. I can’t disagree with that, but I did not start this process as an engineer, I’m not qualified to do that. I looked at the process from a different perspective, I focused on the powerful life events like death, divorce, etc. these things happen a lot all over the world. Most importantly I can relieve the ‘owner’ of the product in a considerate/air/appropriate way and create a new usable product ‘life cycle’. That’s my first priority.”
Joost believes in the importance of improving our lifestyle in general, changing the way we live and consume. His products not only provide a solution for unwanted objects resulting from a change of circumstances, but they also provide a way to gain value from something that has possibly been deemed to be worthless. By creating a new product he can change the aesthetics and the purpose of the product itself giving it an completely new lease of life. For more information visit the Transformation & Distribution Centre for Abandoned Household Items. | <urn:uuid:d5637296-aa01-4170-abe7-b4e531832a11> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rincarnation.wordpress.com/category/stools/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974599 | 656 | 1.765625 | 2 |