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Differential weight by flotation
Weights descending through air force themselves by their weight into a liquid and rise by flotation on the other side of the U-shaped chamber.
A represents the blocks; B is the hexagon-shaped wheel; C is the endless chain, which remains attached to the wheel by means of its pointed hooks; E is the receptacle; F is the square wheel from which the chain, C, at the bottom of its course is detached to reascend round the wheel B; G, rollers, of which there are four, made of India rubber or other elastic material, placed at the entrance of the receptacle E; and H is the India-rubber angle pieces, also placed at the entrance, between which rollers, G, and angle pieces, H, pass with slight friction the blocks, after being disengaged from the chain C. These blocks, A, angle pieces, H, and rollers, G, being in close contact, form a stoppage, so that the water can not issue, and are pushed and moved forward by the blocks which descend after them. I is the endless band, resting on supports, J, fixed to the inside of the receptacle, supporting the blocks and moving with them. The blocks, when in the vertical part of the receptacle, are conducted by four wires, one on each of their four sides. K is a roller upon which tilt the blocks, guided by the endless band when on the top of the receptacle to leave the same; L, friction rollers, on which fall and roll the blocks after having tilted, in order to reach the hexagon wheel B.
(Subsection 952, from p.381)
From: Gardner D. Hiscox, M.E., Mechanical Appliances and Novelties of Construction (1927), Norman W. Henley Publ. Co. | <urn:uuid:6c51bcc6-06c9-4b8b-bac1-1fb428ff502f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.todayinsci.com/Books/MechApp/chap23/page39.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958852 | 387 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Your history' battle commences
2 October 2006
This October sees children from all over Scotland embarking on a war of words to express their interest in their local Historic Scotland sites. In conjunction with the October Kids Go Free promotion, children are being asked to write about the site they gained free admission into, in a special competition called 'Your History!' Entry forms will be handed out at over 70 Historic Scotland attractions across the country, and the winner from each region will win a special Historic Scotland prize.
To start our young writers off, the line 'I enjoyed being a 'kid go free' as this is what I got to see' is at the top of the entry form, the rest is up to their infinite creative talent! It can either be a short feature (200 words) or a poem, although we are aware that some of our attractions do have rather hard names to rhyme with!
As well as adding a bit of fun to a family day out, the competition is also being used as a way to encourage children to take a real interest in the history of their area as well as gain a sense of pride in it. It is hoped that if the historic attraction inspires the child to write about it, then it will also go some way to inspiring them to discover more about their country’s history and why it is so important.
Rebecca Hamilton from Historic Scotland said:
'This competition is a great opportunity for us to see our attractions through a child’s eyes. Our sites are hundreds, even thousands of years old, so anyone visiting them has to use their imagination to picture what they would have been like in the past. Children are often the most adept at doing this, creating their own stories and adding their own slant to Scottish history.
We are hoping children all over the country will enjoy taking part in the competition, and that the experience of writing about their local historic attractions will spark a desire to discover more and appreciate the importance of our historic past. Our aim is to get at least one short story or poem for every single one of our attractions!'
Notes for editors
Dumfries and Galloway
- ‘Your History’ Competition entry forms will be available at the sites listed below. Children must be under 16yrs. A winner will be chosen from each region and will win a special prize. For more information, contact 0131 668 8959.
- Closing date for entries is 1 November 2006.
- Historic Scotland has 345 outstanding historic properties and sites in its care. These include some of the leading tourism attractions in the country, including Edinburgh, Stirling, and Urquhart Castles, Fort George, Linlithgow Palace, the Border Abbeys, and Skara Brae.
- Historic Scotland Properties included in 'Your History' competition:
New Abbey Corn Mil
(Please note that Whithorn Priory and Museum are not included in the Kids Go Free promotion.)
Edinburgh and Lothians
Dirleton Castle and Gardens
Seton Collegiate Church
Trinity House, Leith
(Please note that the Palace of Holyroodhouse and Holyrood Abbey are not included in the Kids Go Free promotion.)
Glasgow, Clyde and Ayrshire
Central and West
Bonawe Historic Iron Furnace
Castle Campbell and Garden
Dunstaffnage Castle and Chapel
Aberdour Castle and Gardens
Dunfermline Abbey and Palace
Inchcolm Abbey – charge for ferry crossing
St Andrews Castle and Cathedral
Perthshire, Kinross and Angus
Edzell Castle and Garden
Meigle Sculptured Stone Museum
North and Grampian
Dallas Dhu Distillery
Kinnaird Head Castle Lighthouse
The Western Isles
The Blackhouse, Arnol
Calanais Standing Stones and Visitor Centre
Kisimul Castle, Barr
Bishop’s and Earl’s Palaces
Broch of Gurness | <urn:uuid:2f375838-50e1-4473-b220-69bc6cdb4922> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/news_search_results/news_article.htm?articleid=17659 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917758 | 819 | 2.296875 | 2 |
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How can you not be dumbfounded every time you review the data from Fort Larned’s s...
A multi-race bet in which all winnings are subsequently wagered on each succeeding race.
All Thoroughbreds celebrate their birthday on Jan. 1.
Horseshoer, blacksmith. Also called a "plater."
Joint located between the cannon bone and the long pastern bone, also referred to as the “ankle.”
Female horse four-years-old or younger.
The end point of a race. Also referred to as the “wire”.
A horse of either sex in its first year of life.
Area of the foreleg located between the elbow joint and the knee (carpus), which is made up of the radius bone and the ulna.
Lock of mane hair that falls forward from the poll (top of the head) to just above the horse's eyes.
A horse whose running style is to attempt to get on or near the lead at the start of the race and to continue there as long as possible.
The area of the racetrack open to the public where races are viewed in the afternoon.
An eighth of a mile.
A race for two-year-olds in which the owners make a continuous series of payments over a period of time to keep their horses eligible. Purses for these races vary but can be considerable. | <urn:uuid:11616730-22c7-4da0-9f55-4518565bd0b5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ntra.com/en/racing-101/racing-terms/f/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971158 | 334 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Ptah – ancient Egyptian God
Ptah is the ancient Egyptian God of creation and creative arts, also called Netjer of Mennefer (better known as Memphis, the capital of the dual Kemetic state for most of its history). Stonemasons and architects showed Ptah as a bald man or with a skullcap crown, often wrapped up like a mummy but with his hands free to bear the symbols of life, power and stability. Sometimes Ptah is also depicted as a hawk or a scarab beetle.
Ptah's importance may be illustrated best by explaining that Egypt is
a Greek corruption of the phrase Het-Ka-Ptah, meaning House of the Spirit of Ptah.
The principal deity of Memphis was the husband of lion goddess Sekhmet, but sometimes the husband of Bast. By the New Kingdom Bast no longer was associated with any one husband, instead being the perpetual virgin sexual partner of every God and Goddess. Ptah’s children were Nefertem, Mahes, and Imhotep. A celebrated triad in Egyptian mythology is that of Ptah, Sekhmet and Nefertem (sometimes Imhotep).
Contrary to the other Egyptian Gods, Ptah was not created. He simply was. It was Ptah who created the universe with his own hands, as if sculpting a piece of art. Myths tell us that the creation by Ptah occurred when the Cosmic Lotus rose from the Chaos of Nun. On this Cosmic Lotus was the Cosmic Egg (Ra-Sekhmet-Bast), which opened to reveal Ptah. In some myths Ptah created the Elder deities: Ra (the supreme God), Atum, Amon, and Mwt. As a creator, Ptah was more directly involved with the physical art of creating than his more spiritual associates Ra and Tem.
For the common Egyptians, Ptah was connected with architecture and stonemasonry, being patron of sculptors, painters, builders and carpenters, as well as anyone who created with his or her hands. His oracles came to the Egyptian people through the sacred bull Apis in his temple in Memphis. The remains of the temple are still worth a visit, located near the Egyptian village of Mitrahine.
The God of creation was also incorporated in the composite funerary God called Ptah-Seker-Osiris, worshipped during the Middle Kingdom period. In this form Ptah represented the three aspects of the universe: creation, stability, and death. | <urn:uuid:92a3fb62-15c6-4472-9b46-392e64fde59a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://everything2.com/title/Ptah | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980124 | 520 | 3.265625 | 3 |
Virtual Private Network technology is heavily influenced by tunneling, which is the process of creating and maintaining logical network connection or ‘tunnels’ with the help of public internet. Such a connection transmits data packets between client and server of the VPN and de-encapsulates them after they reach the receiver side.
However, before the transfer takes place, the packet is constructed in a VPN protocol and encapsulated in some other carrier protocol. Some of the most important tunneling protocols that are thus used to perform such transfer are mentioned below.
Point-To-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) is one of the most commonly used tunneling protocols for VPN, thanks to its easy maintenance and simple configuration. It is an extension of the standard Point-to-Point protocol that was used for data transfer between two remote locations over the internet.
It was developed with the collaborative efforts of Microsoft and several other corporations and this is the reason why all the windows platforms consist of built-in support for this particular protocol. The earlier versions of PPTP were considered to be less secure; however, the current versions have removed such flaws with the help of EAP authentication. The protocol is also duly supported by a wide list of firewalls with Cisco PIX, ISA Server and Sonic wall to name a few.
Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) came into existence with the joint efforts of Cisco and Microsoft. It includes the combined features of PPTP and Layer 2 Forwarding (L2F) protocol developed by Cisco. Similar to PPTP, L2TP also lies at the data link layer, which is the second layer of the OSI model and hence the name.
Alongside providing data confidentiality as in PPTP, L2TP also allows data integrity that is the protection of data against its customization between the time it takes to reach from sender to receiver. Origin authenticity and replay protection are among its other advantageous features. It requires a digital certificate or a shared key for its implementation and is available as built-in feature in Windows.
The IPSecurity (IPSec) protocol can either be used as a tunneling protocol itself or can work in sync with the L2TP to provide security during the L2TP data packets transfer. It is often considered to be the standard VPN solution for gateway-to-gateway VPNs connecting two networks and operates at the 3rd Layer of the OSI model, i.e. Security layer.
The protocol is specifically designed for IP traffic and can be quite time-consuming and costly. Most of the Windows versions including windows 2000, 2003, and XP support IPSec protocol.
Secured Socket Layer (SSL) holds this substantial edge over the other protocols that it does not require a VPN client software but a web browser (or http) to connect to the VPN client. It is for this reason that the VPN operating via SSL protocols are termed as “clientless”. As the name suggests, this protocol operates at a layer one level higher than the IPSec, i.e., the Session layer, and needs cryptographic keys or digital certificates for authentication. These are used at both the client as well as server’s end.
SSTP is Windows based SSL Protocol developed by Microsoft. Whereas, if a user requires SSL for Mac and other operating systems, they go for OpenVPN, another SSL based VPN protocol perfect for Mac and Linux. OpenVPN also works perfectly fine on Windows, but it is highly advised to use SSTP on Windows to have a better SSL Performance.
Some of the VPN client vendors have come up with the VPNs that are developed with the integration of different features of IPSec and SSL protocols, respectively along with several other protocols. These are known as Hybrid VPN protocols and are created to connect with varied VPN clients. Such types of protocols are more secure and flexible at both the client and server end. However, owing to their hybrid feature, they are expensive.
Another interesting protocol being offered is Double VPN, it is not a protocol in itself, rather it is an extension to what a single protocol has to offer. Double VPN, as the name suggest, provides you with double anonymity, that is almost impossible to break.
Double VPN, gives users two different IP addresses, that is the IP address at the time of input is different from the IP address at the time of output, contrary to same IP address at the time of input and output with normal VPN Connections.
Best VPN Protocol
We would say the Best VPN protocol for a VPN user would SSL based SSTP or OpenVPN, as they run HTTPS port, hence giving users maximum security, with better speeds and stability. In addition, the best aspect of SSL Based Protocols is that they are impossible to block. Blocking SSL would mean you are blocking the entire traffic that flows on HTTPS port, which means authorities will end up blocking all HTTPS websites and applications.
PPTP, L2TP and IPSec protocols are best for your Mobile devices, whereas, if you intend to use VPN on your Desktops and Laptops, SSL based VPN are preferred. Similarly, in highly internet censored countries like China, Iran and UAE, SSL VPN Services are best to go with.
Top 10 VPN Services and Protocols
To ease the buying process for our customers please find below the list of our Official Top 10 VPN Services and the protocols they offer.
|3||Private Internet Access||$6.45/month|
You can also see here the all time Top 10 VPN Providers list.
Wish you a Happy and Private Internet Life !!
Latest posts by Mark (Posts)
- Best VPN to Watch BBC iPlayer Outside UK | Top 10 VPN - September 15, 2011
- Shared IP VPN | More Accessibility, More Anonymity but Shared Price: - September 14, 2011
- Best VPN to Stream Hulu, iPlayer, Zattoo, iTV & 4OD - September 14, 2011 | <urn:uuid:eab5bc2e-7956-428c-83cc-5d1fa11abb32> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bestvpnservice.com/blog/best-vpn-protocol/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934981 | 1,224 | 3.484375 | 3 |
- existence in a former state or previous to something else; specifically : existence of the soul before its union with the body.
- The Pre-existence of Christ
- Christ pre-existence is clearly shown through the Old Testament and taught by the The teaching of Christ pre-existence is foundational to the Christian faith.
- The Preexistence of the Messiah
- Proof of His Preexistence. There are eight areas .. Jews that this preexistence of Yahushua as the .
- Did Jesus Preexist in Heaven?
- it has concluded that Jesus' preexistence indicates that he was and is God. But in modern times, the idea that Jesus preexisted has been seriously challenged.
- 1 The Preexistence of the Soul in Medieval Thought Lodi Nauta I
- coupables ou Dieu serait injuste"4 - was to posit a preexistent life of the soul before its union often the reason for believing in the soul's preexistence; cf.
- THE IDEA OF PRE-EXISTENCE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF
- Nowhere is this tension more evident in Mormonism than in its doctrine of pre- existence.
- The pure truth: 95-year-old Palatine man remembers deal that shaped Schaumburg
- But did the preexistence of what was by then the Unocal building have any influence at all on that later development?
- 'Native American rights widely abused'
- “The states have acknowledged the preexistence of indigenous people in the American territory, but still their rights continue to be undermined.
- WA Liberals defeat Indigenous welcome challenge
- "Acknowledge the pre-existence of not only the Indigenous people but also the British heritage that stands side by side." The party also endorsed a motion to ensure Western Australia is returned at least 75 cents in each dollar of GST revenue.
- Acting Up to Save Bali's Environment
- The inconsistency cited by the group was the governor's acceptance of the Bali International Park (BIP) project in South Bal despite the pre-existence of a moratorium on new hotels.
- A Mormon's pre-existence
- Did everyone pre-exist in heaven? Because of Where does this teaching of preexistence come from? “Before This verse is not talking about pre-existence.
- PreBirthExperience.com - Spiritual Pre-existence
- This site contains a collection of Pre-Birth Experiences such as Pre-Birth Memories and Pre-Birth Communication.
- The Pre-existence | Mormon Beliefs
- Mormons believe we existed before we came to earth as spirit children of God, who is literally our Father in Heaven.
Preexistence is described in multiple online sources, as addition to our editors' articles, see section below for printable documents, Preexistence books and related discussion.
Suggested Pdf Resources
Suggested News Resources
Suggested Web Resources
Great care has been taken to prepare the information on this page. Elements of the content come from factual and lexical knowledge databases, realmagick.com library and third-party sources. We appreciate your suggestions and comments on further improvements of the site. | <urn:uuid:da750092-f8b9-4d2a-9c4c-10a70a3f93a2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.realmagick.com/preexistence/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923811 | 665 | 2.46875 | 2 |
By RJ Bardsley
If you currently are or have been a teenager anytime in the last forty or fifty years, you know that your life during these years revolves around part-time work and odd jobs. From baby-sitting to tutoring to garden work, the odd job is the center of your income and to some extent your social life as a teen and college student. Traditionally, these jobs came through your parent’s network, through a school official, or maybe through an employment office in a smaller town. Strangely, not a whole lot has changed over the last thirty years in the way students and teens get odd jobs. As the rest of the world has gone social – from dating, to full time employment, to shopping, odd jobs and part time work have been stuck in the past.
That’s where Flipgigs comes in. Flipgigs is a new social marketplace that connects people and businesses that need part-time workers with a network of students between the ages of 14 and 25 who are willing and ready to work. I recently had the opportunity to chat with the founder, entrepreneur Jayati Sengupta. What drove her to develop the site was the experience she had with her own two teens. She was discouraged with what she saw from existing channels like Craigslist or local job boards, and she saw an opportunity and she started Flipgigs.
Sengupta might just be onto something big. When you look into the numbers, there is a pretty good market for Flipgigs. There are about 28.2 million students between the ages of 18-24 in this country and some estimates have put the student buying power at $60 billion annually. Something needs to feed that buying power… besides mom and dad’s wallets.
Here’s how it works:
Students can sign up and become a “Flipgigger” on Flipgigs.com by entering a Student Profile. Profile details include a telephone number where they can be reached (preferably a mobile phone number) and details on their skillset and what jobs they are interested in. Bad news for you tweens out there – you must be 13 years old to become a Flipgigger.
Student Services are readily searchable by anyone who visits the site. When someone views their service, they can use the Flipgigs message system to communicate with the student. The student will be notified through emails about a new response to his post. When someone decides to move forward with the student’s service, they will proceed to click “Book Now.” The system will then send contact information across to both parties so they can set a time and date for the task.
If you need a Flipgigger for an odd job or part time work, you can also post a gig on the site. Students can use the messaging system to get in touch with you and bid on your gig. If you wish to move forward with a bid you like, you can “Accept a Bid” to make that happen. After a gig is completed, students are encouraged to rate and review the person who posted the gig. This is to help other students who wish to bid on gigs posted by the same person. Flipgigs also uses this system to help maintain the integrity of the network.
So, if you’ve got an odd job or if you’re a student looking for an odd job, head over to Flipgigs.com and check it out. Let me know how you like it. | <urn:uuid:0e33e610-64a5-4c55-8db5-9b4fb8e724c3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mobilefiller.com/2012/04/16/odd-jobs-on-the-go/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967096 | 724 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Lithium Batteries for Hybrid-Electric Vehicles
A long-standing focus of EETD electrochemical research has been to support the development of high-performance rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles. This has proved to be an extremely challenging task because of the need to simultaneously meet multiple battery performance requirements: high energy (watt-hours per unit battery mass or volume), high power (watts per unit battery mass or volume), long life (10 years and hundreds of deep charge-discharge cycles), low cost (measured in dollars per unit battery capacity), resistance to abuse and operating temperature extremes, perfect safety, and minimal environmental impact. Despite years of intensive worldwide R&D, no battery can meet all of these goals.
A compromise of sorts is the hybrid-electric vehicle (HEV). The HEV is a centerpiece of the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV), a multi-agency government program aimed at introducing automobiles with three times the fuel economy of our present-day fleet. In a hybrid vehicle, a battery, a combustion engine (or a fuel cell), or both are used to drive an electric motor. The advantages of this configuration include the use of a smaller battery (compared to an all-electric vehicle) and a smaller combustion engine (compared to a conventional vehicle). The system can be designed so the combustion engine operates at a nearly constant speed, which greatly reduces its exhaust emissions and increases the overall vehicle fuel economy. The battery provides power for vehicle acceleration and absorbs the energy released during vehicle deceleration (regenerative braking). Prototype HEVs not only achieve more than 60 miles per gallon of gasoline, but also meet ultra-low vehicle emission requirements. The battery, however, must be designed to deliver very high power and undergo hundreds of thousands of shallow charge-discharge cycles. This is basically a new type of battery, and little is known about how it behaves under such use conditions.
The PNGV has contracts with three battery companies to develop high-power batteries for HEVs, and the U.S. Department of Energy has recently formed a new R&D program to support the PNGV contractor efforts. The basic chemistry chosen by the PNGV and its contractors is the lithium-ion system. This system uses a lithium-carbon negative electrode, an organic electrolyte, and a mixed metal-oxide positive electrode (typically nickel and cobalt oxides). Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Sandia National Laboratory (SNL), Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEEL), and Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) participate in this new cooperative effort, which is called the Advanced Technology Development (ATD) Program. A unique feature of the ATD Program is the design and manufacture of special high-power lithium-ion battery cells, which are tested under strict protocols at INEEL, SNL, and ANL and then sent to Berkeley Lab and BNL for detailed diagnostic examinations (some cells are retained at ANL and SNL for related diagnostic tests). The program participants meet on a regular basis to discuss testing and diagnostic results. This represents a significant advance in cooperative R&D among national laboratories, at least in the electrochemical area. It also exemplifies the role national labs can play in supporting technology innovation in the private sector.
The primary Berkeley Lab role is to carry out diagnostic studies to determine cell component chemical, structural, and morphological changes that lead to battery performance degradation and failure as the batteries are aged, cycled, or abused. Berkeley Lab's diagnostic results will guide the development of improved cell chemistries and complement the results obtained at the other national laboratories. Berkeley Lab is using Raman spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy (performed at Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source), atomic force microscopy, impedance measurements, gas chromatography, and other analytic tools to characterize electrodes and electrolytes taken from cells that have been cycled at other national laboratories. Our data are being compiled with related information obtained at the other participating laboratories on an ATD Program web site and are being made available to the PNGV managers and contractors.
EETD researchers participating in this program are Thomas Adler, Elton Cairns, John Kerr, Fanping Kong, Robert Kostecki, Frank McLarnon, Steve Sloop, and Kathryn Striebel, as well as Materials Science Division researchers Phil Ross and Sherry Zhang.
For more information, contact:
- Frank McLarnon
- (510) 486-4636; fax (510) 486-4260
Frank McLarnon's Research Groups' web page.
This research is supported by the Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Office of Transportation Technologies, Office of Advanced Automotive Technologies of the U.S. Department of Energy. | <urn:uuid:3e086aec-649f-4701-88d8-1b0cf4cfe789> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://eetd.lbl.gov/newsletter/nl04/eetd-nl04-1-batteries.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909482 | 987 | 3.390625 | 3 |
When considering BI (business intelligence) projects, organisations would be better off in the long run to set up an enterprise-wide data warehouse, rather than running different data marts for individual projects, advised Michael Jones, senior vice president of IT for the Gap clothing retailer.
Jones spoke at the National Retail Federation's annual conference, held in New York last month.
As a result of running a single enterprise data warehouse, rather than maintaining a series of data marts set up to answer a specific set of questions, the Gap's managers can get a wider array of metrics and reports about what is happening across all its stores and different brands.
"We're able to answer many more questions as if we had the data in silos, which we have had in the past," Jones said.
The Gap has multiple brands to keep track of, including Old Navy, Banana Republic, The Gap and the online-only PiperLime. Over 3,100 of its stores are spread out across North America, Europe and Japan, and the company has franchises in 25 countries. The company reported US$14.5 billion in sales in 2008, including more than $1 billion in online sales.
"Our challenge is to try to provide information across an entire enterprise," Jones said.
The company's first experience with BI was to deploy a number of individual data marts, each designed primarily to answer one set of questions for one business unit. "We used projects to drive what went into our data marts," Jones said.
Over time, however, that data was reused in larger, enterprisewide assessments, which had varying degrees of fidelity to the business as a whole. So in 2000, the company kicked off an initiative to build an enterprise-wide data warehouse, one that would draw data from all the operational systems. Though it would cost more, it would provide a wider array of answers.
The overall goal was to get updated business information that could be used to measure the results of business strategies. "We have to have up-to-date information, across our enterprise in an almost real-time methodology," Jones said.
The key to this job was the ability to integrate data across different business units. "Learn once, use many times," Jones said.
That Gap contracted Teradata to set up the enterprise data warehouse. Teradata's retail data model served as a template for its own data model. A data czar was also appointed to work with each of the brands to make all the data and the definitions for that data were consistent across the different segments.
"We're taking a much more data-centric approach to the business," said Mark Brennan, vice president of infrastructure and data warehouse services.
The two major categories of data the company keeps is on sales and inventory. In simple terms, the company has about 15 different questions it needs to ask on a regular basis on how well its products are selling, and about 25 concerning its inventory.
Here is where the efficiencies of scale kick in, however. By aligning data from all the business units into this single data warehouse, the company is able to answer a total of 96 questions, more than the number of questions it could answer by keeping the sales and inventory data in separate silos.
Plus, the company can now answer new questions and allow its managers to produce unique reports.
"We are able to answers many questions that we were not able to do before," Jones said. The Gap uses query software from MicroStrategy, so if a business manager requires a unique analysis of data, one can be served up fairly easily.
Overall, setting up an individual data mart only costs about 10 percent to 20 percent of the price of setting up a full-fledged data warehouse, but the extra flexibility is well worth the cost, according to the Gap.
For instance, the Old Navy stores do a lot of promotions. With the data warehouse in place, the brand managers can get "a lot more immediacy and feedback on the those promotional events," Jones said. | <urn:uuid:f89e4eee-85a2-48ab-b87e-cf948f35b257> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.computerworlduk.com/in-depth/applications/2967/the-gap-bi-better-in-enterprise-wide-deployment/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967946 | 823 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Studies Shed Light On Why Species Stay or Go in Response to Climate Change
Two new studies by scientists at UC Berkeley provide a clearer picture of why some species move in response to climate change, and where they go.
One study, published online Aug. 6, in the journal Global Change Biology, finds that changes in precipitation have been underappreciated as a factor in driving bird species out of their normal range. In the other study, published August 15 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, researchers found a sharp decrease in range for the Belding's ground squirrel, but noted some surprising areas where the species found refuge.
The two studies exemplify the type of research being explored through the Berkeley Initiative in Global Change Biology, or BiGCB, an ambitious effort to better understand and predict how plants and animals will respond to changing environmental conditions by studying how they have responded to earlier periods of climate change.
The first study's findings challenge the conventional reliance on temperature as the only climate-related force impacting where species live. The authors noted that as many as 25 percent of species have shifted in directions that were not predicted in response to temperature changes, yet few attempts have been made to investigate this.
"Our results redefine the fundamental model of how species should respond to future climate change," said study lead author Morgan Tingley, who began the research as a graduate student in UC Berkeley's Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management. "We find that precipitation changes can have a major, opposing influence to temperature in a species' range shift. Climate change may actually be tearing communities of organisms apart."
The findings are based upon data gathered from the Grinnell Resurvey Project, which retraces the steps of Joseph Grinnell, founder of the UC Berkeley Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, in his surveys of Sierra Nevada wildlife from the early 1900s. The resurvey project, which began in 2003, was led by Craig Moritz, former UC Berkeley professor of integrative biology, and his colleagues at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology.
For the bird study, the researchers included 99 species in 77 historic survey sites in Lassen Volcanic, Yosemite and Sequoia national parks, as well as in several national forests. In the century that has passed since the original Grinnell survey, summer and winter temperatures have increased an average of 1-2 degrees Celsius in the Sierra Nevada. Yosemite experienced the most warming -- with average temperatures increasing by 3 degrees Celsius -- while parts of Lassen actually got cooler and much wetter.
Among the bird species that moved upslope are the Savannah Sparrow, which shifted upward by 2,503 meters, and other meadow species such as the Red-winged Blackbird and Western Meadowlark. The ones that shifted their range downslope include both low-elevation species like the Ash-throated Flycatcher and Western Scrub-Jay, and high-elevation species like the Cassin's Finch and Red-breasted Nuthatch.
"Temperature did not explain the majority of these shifts," said Tingley, who is now a postdoctoral researcher at Princeton University's Program in Science, Technology and Environmental Policy. "Only when we included precipitation as an explanatory variable did our models adequately explain the movement patterns we observed."
The researchers found that while rising temperatures tended to push birds to cooler regions upslope, increased precipitation, which is more common at higher elevations, pulled them downslope.
"We believe many species may feel this divergent pressure from temperature and precipitation, and in the end, only one wins," said Tingley.
Notably, more than half of the bird species in each of the three study regions did not shift their range despite pressures from climate change. "Moving is a sign of adaptation, which is good from a conservation standpoint," said Tingley. "More worrisome are the species that have not shifted. How are they adapting? Are they moving, but we just can't detect it? Or are they slowly declining as environmental conditions gradually become less ideal where they live?"
The answers are complex, as illustrated by the second UC Berkeley paper about range changes for a species of squirrel found in the mountains of the western United States.
In that paper, researchers again used information obtained from the Grinnell Resurvey Project. Through visual observations and trapping surveys conducted throughout the mountains of California, they discovered that the Belding's ground squirrel had disappeared from 42 percent of the sites where they were recorded in the early 1900s. Extinctions were particularly common at sites with high average winter temperatures and large increases in precipitation over the last century.
"We were surprised to see such a dramatic decline in this species, which is well-known to Sierran hikers and was thought to be fairly common," said study lead author Toni Lyn Morelli, a former National Science Foundation postdoctoral researcher who was based at UC Berkeley. "In fact, the rate of decline is much greater than that seen in the same region for the pika, a small mountain-dwelling cousin of the rabbit that has become the poster child for the effects of climate warming in the contiguous United States."
Morelli added that the squirrels are thriving in areas that have been modified by humans. For example, irrigated Mono Lake County Park serves as an artificial oasis that sustains squirrel populations despite otherwise hot and dry conditions in eastern California.
"As predictions indicate that the range of the Belding's ground squirrel could disappear out of California by the end of the century, these areas might be particularly important for this and other climate-impacted species," said Morelli, who is now a technical advisor for the U.S. Forest Service's International Programs in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Although the Belding's ground squirrel is widespread, the rapid decline in its distribution is of concern because it is an important source of food for raptors and carnivores. However, the paper suggests that even when climate change causes large range declines, some species can persist in human-modified areas.
"Taken together, these two studies indicate that many species have been responding to recent climate change, yet the complexities of a species' ecological needs and their responses to habitat modification by humans can result in unanticipated responses," said Steven Beissinger, professor at UC Berkeley's Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management and the senior author on both studies. "This makes it very challenging for scientists to project how species will respond to future climate change."
Funding from the National Science Foundation, National Park Service, and California Landscape Conservation Cooperative helped support this research. | <urn:uuid:9cf5dee6-cd62-4e5b-9660-272e9beffc27> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://eponline.com/articles/2012/08/20/studies-shed-light-on-why-species-stay-or-go-in-response-to-climate-change.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964112 | 1,365 | 3.40625 | 3 |
The Research Division, Department of Comprehensive Dentistry, Dental School, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) seeks to be a leader in discovery and in the promotion of evidence-based practice. Investigators housed in the Research Division have received funding from the federal government (NIH, HRSA, DOD, US Navy, VA), state government, as well as private industry and foundations. Investigators in the Division have demonstrated expertise in the following major focus areas of research that include epidemiological research, basic science research, and clinical trials.
- Biomaterials Engineering and Science
- Caries Detection and Management
- Dental Public Health Research
- Human Stem Cell Research and Wound Healing
- Implantology Research
- Oral Cancer Pathogenesis and Prevention
- Oral Candidiasis
- Oral Health Workforce
- Oral-Systemic Epidemiological Research
- Product Testing and Evaluation
- Salivary Research
- Waterline Asepsis
Members of the Research Division, Department of Comprehensive Dentistry have established research collaborations with investigators at universities and dental schools across the nation. In addition, faculty members in the Division collaborate with local scientists at Southwest Research Institute, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, and the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District to name a few organizations.
As one of the four primary missions (research, teaching, service, patient care) of the Dental School, the Department of Comprehensive Dentistry defined goals that are aligned with the research focus at UTHSCSA. The goals of the Division are to:
- Promote science and research within the Department of Comprehensive Dentistry through the development of a culture of discovery.
- Advocate for science and research through internal and external funding sources.
- Foster, support, and sustain a collaborative environment among all stakeholders that facilitates the highest quality of scholarship and research.
- Provide academic and administrative leadership in the conduct of research within the Department, including ethical and regulatory compliance.
- Disseminate knowledge through publication and presentation.
We are excited about opportunities for discovery, translation into practice, and collaboration and ask that you join us in the accomplishment of this goal.
For information, please contact:
Ms. Elissa K. Klein
Administrator, Division of Research
Department of Comprehensive Dentistry | <urn:uuid:6b06d911-3dc6-44b7-b041-8c06f5131ce5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://compdent.uthscsa.edu/research.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916578 | 468 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Susan Boa (202) 483-9570
Stephanie Crane (914) 793-9400
North Atlantic Swordfish Show Dramatic Recovery
New scientific assessment shows that when "given a break" fish can rebound; Give Swordfish a Break Campaign organizers jubilant over findings
Washington, October 3, 2002 -- North Atlantic swordfish have recovered to 94% of levels considered healthy over the last three years, according to a new report issued by the scientific arm of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas.
In 1998, Give Swordfish a Break organizers SeaWeb and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), along with other conservation organizations, successfully advocated for recovery measures to restore north Atlantic swordfish. North Atlantic swordfish had been severely depleted after decades of overfishing and mismanagement. The new report is the first assessment of north Atlantic swordfish since those measures, which included reduced international quotas and protection of swordfish nursery areas in the United States, were adopted.
"This report shows that if we give fish a break, they can recover," said Lisa Speer, senior policy analyst with NRDC. "This is a real victory for swordfish and shows that we can restore seriously depleted fish."
"All the participants in the Give Swordfish a Break campaign can feel incredibly proud that their actions helped make the difference for this fish," said Vikki Spruill, executive director of SeaWeb. "Overfishing and business as usual is not acceptable. This recovery shows that making tough decisions pays off."
The campaign officially ended in August 2000 when the U.S. government closed nursery areas in U.S. waters, thus meeting the second goal of the campaign. International quota restrictions were adopted in 1999.
Give Swordfish a Break was the first large effort to mobilize chefs and consumers to support stronger fish conservation. Over the course of the campaign, hundreds of chefs signed the Give Swordfish a Break pledge, while others – the Peabody hotel chain, cruise lines, grocery stores, airlines, and uncounted others – agreed to remove north Atlantic swordfish from their menus and dining choices.
"When SeaWeb and NRDC first approached me about this campaign, I knew I had to participate," said Nora Pouillon of Restaurant Nora and Asia Nora in Washington D.C. "I knew there was a problem just watching swordfish get smaller and smaller in the markets –changes had to be made. It is wonderful that the initial result of these changes are positive, but we need to continue to stay the course . I can't wait to see the large fish come back."
"We saw striped bass come back in the 1980's after we stopped fishing them for a time. Now it's swordfish," said Rick Moonen of restaurant RM in New York. "As a restaurateur, I need to make sure my seafood supply is stable into the future. This is a victory for consumers who love seafood and we need more victories like this."
Next month, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas will meet to decide whether to maintain lower quotas that sped the recovery, or to permit overfishing of swordfish to resume. Members of the commission include the United States, Japan, Spain, and other major fishing nations.
"The United States needs to ensure that this hard won victory for swordfish doesn't vanish under pressure from other countries to raise quotas," said Speer. "The recovery is fragile and uncertain, and renewed pressure could easily take us back to the bad old days of depleted stocks and out-of-work fishermen."
NRDC and SeaWeb also voiced strong support for retaining protections for swordfish nursery areas, which are critical to the recovery. The adult swordfish population has recovered only slightly in the past several years, and majority of fish are juveniles that have not had the chance to reproduce. Finally, the two groups are concerned that if swordfish quotas are increased, longline gear used to catch swordfish will also increase. Longlines catch and kill many other ocean creatures, including sea turtles, birds and other fish, such as marlin. For all these reasons, it is important to retain strong conservation and recovery measures domestically and internationally, the groups said.
"Give Swordfish a Break served to raise awareness to the problems of overfishing and showed consumers that making better seafood choices is good for the ocean, good for the fish, and good for the fishermen," said Spruill. "We hope consumers will continue to make seafood choices that are good for the environment."
Many conservation organizations worked to save north Atlantic swordfish including the Ocean Wildlife Campaign, which consists of the Natural Resources Defense Council, Wildlife Conservation Society, National Audubon Society, National Coalition for Marine Conservation, The Ocean Conservancy, and World Wildlife Fund; along with Oceana.
For interviews with spokespeople, please contact Susan Boa at (202) 483-9570 or firstname.lastname@example.org or Stephanie Crane at (914) 793-9400 or email@example.com.
The Natural Resources Defense Council is a national, non-profit organization of scientists, lawyers and environmental specialists dedicated to protecting public health and the environment. Founded in 1970, NRDC has more than 400,000 members nationwide, served from offices in New York, Washington, Los Angeles and San Francisco. More information is available through NRDC's Web site at www.nrdc.org
SeaWeb is a multimedia public education effort designed to raise awareness of the world's oceans and the life within. SeaWeb's outreach is anchored in science, with the goal of making ocean protection a high environmental priority in the United States and around the world. For more information visit www.seaweb.org.
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A new article in the Electronic Pages of the journal Pediatrics
presents a second case of a Canadian infant whose penis was accidentally
destroyed during circumcision, and whom doctors "reassigned as a female"
by removing his testes. In contrast to "John/Joan", whose case
was widely reported last year, this individual is reported to have developed
a female gender identity, though rather atypical.
Bradley, Susan J., Gillian D. Oliver, Avinoam B. Chernick, and Kenneth
J. Zucker. 1998. Experiment of Nurture: Ablatio Penis at 2 Months,
Sex Reassignment at 7 Months, and a Psychosexual Follow-up in Young Adulthood.
Pediatrics (Electronic Pages) 102 (1):E9.
The report received widespread attention in the popular press.
Because these cases have been used as "evidence" about whether
or not children with ambiguous genitals can successfully be assigned and
raised as either sex (as asserted by, for example,
the American Academy of Pediatrics), we would like to present a sampling
of comments on the article by intersex people, many of whom were subjected
to surgeries motivated by interpretations of cases like "John/Joan."
The following were assembled by Kiira Triea,
CISAE (firstname.lastname@example.org, email@example.com).
Max Beck (Re: Experiment of Nurture):
Thanks for the fascinating (if disturbing) URL.
I tend to avoid things medical and academic, particularly those bearing
the label "pediatric," simply to spare myself the inevitable pain.
(Call me an
ostrich...) The mention of J/J caught my attention, however, since
Diamond and Sigmundson's work - and, more importantly, John's courage
- have played a key role in my moving away from pain and into healing.
I find it interesting that the authors of this
study do not investigate the possible effects of "negative nurture"
- or reverse psychology - which seem to leap right off the page: While
John had a
well-adjusted male twin and a supportive, loving father, Bradley's
patient had an alcoholic father who left when she was 3-4, in part "because
of the father having had a greater difficulty than the mother in dealing
with the 'loss' [With what arrogance do the authors suggest a loss
*hasn't* occurred?!!] of his son," followed by an alcoholic stepfather.
No wonder she "denied ever feeling that she had wanted to be a male"!
More importantly, however, I find the positive
slant given the patient's desire for further corrective surgery naive and
misguided, and I can only agree with Lee's comments re. time and healing:
At 26, I was - ostensibly - happily, heterosexually married to a man; had
team of doctors shown up to ask me how I was, that is most certainly
what I would have told them. 2 years later, at 28, I was divorced, and pursuing
further corrective surgery to normalize my genitalia
(specifically, to reduce or remove a "palpable, thick cord of
erectile tissue running from the glans," which, I "specifically
complained," became quite engorged "with sexual arousal")
- a normalizing surgery I requested because previous experience had
shown me that while male
partners rarely offered commentary, my desired partners - females
- inevitably did, i.e., I wanted to be more "normal" so I could
be comfortably "deviant"!
4 years later, I am infinitely thankful that
an accepting and appreciative lover appeared on the horizon mere weeks before
the scheduled surgery, which I immediately cancelled. I have been living
as a male (and on the Big T) since March of 1998, and had I proceeded
with surgery, where would my wonderfully engorged phalloclit - more than
double its pre-testosterone size - be today?! It is *so* very important
to move away from these snapshot case histories toward a bigger picture!
Think of the damage this study might do if it had been published just a
few years ago, with the patient (valiantly, one supposes...) still struggling
to "right" her body for heterosexual
Lee Brown (Re: Experiment of Nurture):
I think the paper is a reasonably transparent attempt to challenge
the Diamond's findings of the J/J case. Showing that the Money paradigm
has some validity in this person's case takes away some of the 'blame/guilt'
which can be targeted at psychologists and other specialists involved in
intersexual medicine. It does this by re-enstating the necessity of
very early intervention (7 months against 17-21 months for J/J (p.4.l)
and echoing the old demon 'parential ambivalence' (p2r;3l). This is
what gets me most about the paper -- the person is presented as a showpiece.
At least in Diamond's work we do get to hear a lot from John (something
which is very uncommon in any of the sexology literature it seems).
I agree with all the points which Heike says are problems with
the paper ... I would add however some of my general concerns. First intersexuals
are trained to be good patients and to say what the
'white-coats' want to hear. There are some rebels in the ranks
but many (including myself) seem to
internalise those doubts and feelings while they continue to play
the good patient (at least I did then -- I tend to be a slow learner, even
of rebellion ;-) ).
My second problem is the question of age. I know that at
26 I was still busy trying to deny my pain and gender confusion to myself
-- acknowledge it or finally find 'names' for it rather than wonder is
this what life is? -- my breakdown / burst-through was still
some years off.
My third point is that the paper seems to suggest very little hospitalisation
(although whether that's the case or not is impossible to tell) whereas
medical intervention in the J/J case, if the Rolling
Stone article was correct, was Analoguous to Childhood Sexual Abuse
(to borrow the title of (Tamara Alexander's paper)).
BTW This is also my difficulty with Diamond's paper on the case
-- what is read as the rejection of being regendered could also be the rejection
of a traumatic situation vis a vis 'being intimately
studied.' I do know that in my case the trauma of being regendered
by the "caring professions" locked me out of myself for many years
It is actually very interesting to note that Slijper et.al., ["Long-Term
Psychological Evaluation of Intersex Children", *Archives of Sexual
Behavior* 27(2):125-144, 1998] mention in passing that
hospitalisation can be a traumatic experience for children but do
not follow it up at all. They, like the papers mentioned above, remained
focused on the question of gender identity order/disorder rather than questions
of personal bodily integrity and violation.
In a sense I don't think the paper is a study of the question of
gender identity, rather it is interesting to read it as study of the politics
Heike Boedeker (a world w/out love):
the focus on "fuckability" is something I always experienced
as abysmally awful, and, indeed, a form of extreme violence. I experienced
it as an "aversion therapy" that, despite my obvious sexual curiosity
and several crushes I had on males (as well as females, I'm not the type
to miss too many things :-)) in my teens, *forced* me to pursue an asexual
lifestlye until my mid 20s, as I just
couldn't allow the last remnants of my personal integrity to be destructed.
The pathetic irony being that if I could have felt loved this had been the
form of sexuality that I had wanted (I know I'm
boring :-)). But a world in which my bodly integrity constantly was
at stake, and in which my genitals were something people took upon
themselves to exploit, was a world w/out love. And everyone who had told
me something different I only could have called a liar :-((
Jeannine Howe (Re: a world w/ out love):
Sorry Hon I couldn't get through the article. The abstract made me
want to puke. It was patently obvious IMNSHO that they don't know enough
to fucking go cutting on babies and if they want to slice off a dick they
should begin with the one that belongs to them.
Kiira Triea (Babes in Genderland):
It's funny how one's perspective on these surgical issues changes
eh? I think over the past five years I've gone from near suicide over my
surgical results to "Since I was treated like crap at the PRU I think
it is appropriate that my genitals *look* like crap. I'm *proud* of my crappy
looking genitals!" In fact during those episodes of Naivety Psychosis
when I sought help from Hopkins they tried to convince me that they could
_improve_ upon Jones' 1974 efforts... in essence I think trying to buy my
availability again. Thankfully, my fear protected me. <sigh>
It's also interesting how we differ in our preconceptions and experiences
with partners. I never even attempted sex with men or women for fear of
being "discovered" and also shame of my body and
history. But when I acquired a sense of sexuality I imagined myself
first to be heterosexual because of the nature of my sexuality, then bisexual
and finally "empirical lesbian" seemed to fit best. This was
at age 32 ... I knew *nothing* of any of this at age 26! Yes.. if
the "white-coats" had asked me did I want sex with men I would
have answered yes. But I believe very strongly that tied up in my ability
to be sexual with women and not men is simply the belief that women
were less likely to hurt me over my "difference". I am not surprised
considering that my father abandoned me, my stepfather abused me verbally
and physically after surgery and most of the trauma incurred at Hopkins
was inflicted by men. Am I likely to expose my innermost emotional and physical
self under these circumstances?
What pisses me off is that we ourselves try to believe this stuff
- then when it all crashes we have no one to turn to. We have each other
but I'm betting this kid has no one.
Martha Coventry (URL?):
I, like Max, am tired of snapshot cases and endless words and paper
being spilled out in overanalyzing one case. I hate the practice of the
medical/academic world of extrapolating theories and whole treatment paradigms
from one or two or even a handful of cases. Look what that practice did
to the clits of America starting in the 50s!! Anyway. I appreciated your
comments, Max, and will read them again after I read the entire piece. They
made me think of my own body and
what I did to be a woman who could finally be fucked by a man -- only
to see my desire for women find its natural course less than a year later.
Ah, lucky there is self-forgiveness in the world.... (sigh and smile). | <urn:uuid:aa7ee136-7570-4274-9fe5-ae835abb72c9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.isna.org/node/80 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960933 | 2,474 | 1.734375 | 2 |
I have to own up to some skepticism when I first heard that a bill had been introduced in the Connecticut General Assembly proposing that anyone obtaining or renewing a driver's license be certified in CPR first aid.
Surely, I thought, no Connecticut lawmaker would make such an outlandish proposal.
After all, what would follow that? Mandatory mask wearing for the sick? Nutrition certification for all mothers? Umbrella requirements for pedestrians walking in the rain?
Surely, I thought, no one would suggest anything as Draconian as requiring each and every driver to learn to deliver specific first aid techniques.
Never mind the outsized nature of the idea. Who would arrange and pay for all that training?
Skepticism grew into something more in the order of surprise when I tracked down House Bill 6054, introduced by Democrat Diana Urban of North Stonington, and discovered that it does indeed propose CPR training for all Connecticut drivers.
By the time I reached Urban Tuesday to ask about her proposed legislation, she already seemed to be backing away a bit from the idea. I am sure I was not the first to call.
"I have every opportunity to stop my own bill," she said, a bit defensively, after I started asking questions. "I can make sure it doesn't go forward."
That, of course, begs the question: Why did she introduce it at all?
Urban said the was convinced to submit the CPR mandate bill by a constituent who offered some engaging statistics about the effectiveness of CPR, and how many lives can be saved when it is administered in a timely way.
No doubt that's true.
Urban also offered that the constituent gave her some material suggesting the driver's license mandate had been instituted elsewhere. But Urban, calling from her car Tuesday, said she didn't have that information in front of her, and she admitted she hasn't done a lot of research on the topic.
I later did a little poking around and found a proposal, which never made it into law, to require new drivers in Ohio, mostly teens, to get CPR training. I could not find any other CPR driving mandates.
Urban told me she knows there are too many unnecessary bills introduced in the legislature.
On the other hand, she said, she is a multitasker, and she said she expects that other lawmakers, too, should be able to take up worthy attempts at new laws, even when the state is facing monumental problems, like the budget shortfall.
Other bills she has introduced or co-sponsored this session also center around topics important to her, like safeguarding and educating children and animal rights.
Among the bills she has introduced or endorsed this session, for instance, include a requirement that the euthanization of any cat or dog be done by a licensed veterinarian, that animal shelters keep records of the number of animals they adopt and euthanize, that an animal advocate be appointed in family relations matters involving care and custody of an animal and that a person who wants to be excused from jury duty for a disability be able to present a disability opinion letter from a naturopath or chiropractor.
The last one, Urban said, was also directly suggested to her by a constituent who had a problem being excused from a jury.
I admire Urban's instincts to try to make government more responsive and effective. And I like the fact that, as a legislator, she believes new laws can improve peoples' lives.
"I don't think we should talk about whether big government is good," she told me. "The question we should be talking about is whether government is working."
I can even respect Urban's instincts to make everyone safer and less likely to die of a heart attack because so many people around them might be able to help in the event of an emergency and deliver life-saving first aid.
But I think some of the points she mentioned Tuesday when I asked about the CPR bill - whether new technologies, for instance, might make it easier and cheaper for more people to learn CPR - should have been considered before she tossed that particular bill in the legislative bin.
This is the opinion of David Collins | <urn:uuid:b41bd31e-63ab-4ba9-9609-c065fed53e23> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theday.com/article/20130206/NWS05/302069971/1044/Fight-brews-over-Riverside-Park-playground-gear/Proposed-law:-Everyone-with-a-driver's-license-must-learn-CPR | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979401 | 844 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Wax Begonias With Bigger Flowers for Containers
Written by Chris Eirschele
The wax begonia is an annual bedding plant that has fibrous roots. Smallest of the Begonia plants, it is used in shaded garden beds and containers outside and grown as houseplants.
Wax begonias are easy to grow plants, with very few pest and disease issues. The petite size and inexpensive cost makes these plants a good choice for children and new gardeners. Despite the simplicity of wax begonias, they bring added value to a garden by attracting hummingbirds and bees.
Bigger Flowers More Choices
Begonia x benariensis Big series includes ‘Big Red’ with bronze or green leaves and ‘Big Rose’ with bronze leaves. The plant has an upright and arching appearance. The flowers are two to three inches in diameter. Begonia x semperflorens ‘Volumia’ is a green leaved, tinged with red margins, series with many flower color choices. These include light pink, pink and white. The scarlet color looks reddish orange and the rose bicolor is dark pink and white. The plant grows 12” – 15” tall, is heat and drought tolerant and flower size are one inch diameter.
Begonias for Shade Gardens
Wax begonias should be grown in a part shade or shaded spot, in morning sun and on the north side of a building are places to consider. Wax begonias tolerate full sun if kept moist. However, gardeners should monitor plant health for diseases such as stem rot or powdery mildew when grown in a higher humidity environment.
When mass planting wax begonias in a flower garden, use the same variety, leaf size or color for a uniform appearance. In container gardens, use in mass in several containers or singly in a combination planting. Indoor gardeners will find that individual begonias, eventually, become specimen plants.
Although they perpetually flower, wax begonias are considered low maintenance plants because they are self-cleaning, requiring no deadheading. Cut back plants in late summer if they become too leggy.
Propagation is easy with wax begonias, another reason for new gardeners and children to start with these plants. Leaf or soft stem cutting will quickly give any gardener multiple plants.
Begonia Cocktail Series
Another wax begonia series to consider is Cocktail series, with its bronze leaves and flowers in many colors. This wax begonia tolerates full sun and grows up to ten inches tall.
A native of Wisconsin, Chris now makes her home in zone 5 of central Ohio. She is a member of Garden Writers Association and Perennial Plant Association. More of Chris' garden musings may be seen at http://flowergardens.suite101.com and visit her profile at www.theMulch.com/my-profile/userprofile/staygardening1. | <urn:uuid:03f8a69e-05f6-4dc6-90fb-9d3580592800> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.themulch.com/plant-recommendations/wax-begonias-with-bigger-flowers-for-containers | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923388 | 622 | 2.625 | 3 |
Playfulness must have been part of my great grandmother’s personality. I say that because her albums have several photos that are clearly staged with elements of the whimsical. Take this one, for example, I’m pretty sure that the third woman on the back row (to the left of the woman with the reins) is my great grandmother Maude Rury nee Hilton. The ladies are all dressed up with hats, purses, handkerchiefs poised yet are sitting on a donkey!
Something about this postcard reminds me of the Wizard of Oz…
I suppose its the hat, the nice dress, the stiff posture and riding a bicycle/donkey, which are things that just don’t seem to go together.
This photo wasn’t taken in Kansas, rather it was probably taken near Ponca City, Oklahoma between 1902 & 1912. You can see the very flat land with some buildings in the background. I think the photographer’s message, just like The Oz, was “Pay no attention to that” boy behind the woman holding her hat or the dog just behind the donkey. Do you see them? I presume the boy is there to control the donkey just in case it were to take off.
As you can tell from the back of this 3.5″x 4.5″ postcard, it was never mailed and I believe I’m the one who wrote “Hilton” on it. This postcard is one of a series of two, the other one has twelve children in similar poses but somehow the scene does not remind me of Dorothy and doesn’t seem as, well, whimsical.
Other interesting photos with Maude:
This is my submission to the 5th edition of A Festival of Postcards, Quadrupeds. | <urn:uuid:0606f790-ed55-4720-a03f-93d969ff766c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kbea831.wordpress.com/2009/10/10/a-whimsical-nature/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=b19f116cf4 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970216 | 375 | 1.53125 | 2 |
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Status and Availability
2012 Feb 25
NIRI is available for queue and classical imaging observations.
Not all filters are available at any one time; check the filter list to see which are currently installed.
NIRI occasionally suffers from vertical striping and shifts in DC levels which can both vary from quadrant to quadrant. Details can be found here.
Previous News Items
2010 Jun 21
The NIRI focal plane unit which holds the various spectroscopic slits and imaging masks stopped responding on the night of June 19. On Sunday we were able to nudge the wheel to the f/6 imaging position and today engineers locked out the mechanism so that NIRI may be safely used for imaging with any camera in combination with the f/6 beam splitter and f/6 focal plane mask. Spectroscopy will be unavailable until NIRI can be warmed up and taken into the lab for repairs. Until we can disassemble NIRI to assess the severity of the problem it is unknown how much time will be required to return NIRI to a fully operational state.
2010 Apr 29
The beam splitter wheel, which determines the size of the beam to direct to the science detector, is again having problems moving into position reliably. In order to resume science operations with NIRI, we have decided to fix the beam splitter at the f/6 position which sends the largest field of view through the instrument and can therefore be used with all three cameras. This results in a several percent increase in background (which is not uniform over the field) and slightly different vignetting when used with Altair and its field lens. See here for more details.
2010 Apr 15
NIRI is cold and the beam splitter mechanism is working perfectly! NIRI is about to be re-installed on the telescope and should be available for science tomorrow.
2010 Apr 2
The beam splitter wheel detent roller and bushing were removed and refurbished (the inner bushing had translated axially and was binding the roller against the detent arm) and the Phytron drive motor was replaced. While NIRI was open we recut the f/32 4-pixel slit to be parallel and vertical.
2010 Mar 24
NIRI is cold again, and there are now no slipping gears, however, there is still too much friction in the system for the motor to move the beam splitter wheel reliably while cold. The two likely culprits which could be causing this problem are the Geneva detent mechanism roller and/or the drive motor. We have therefore begun another warm up in order to work on these components. If all goes well NIRI should be available for science in ~3 weeks. More information will be posted here as it becomes available.
2010 Mar 15
The beam splitter wheel gear box was removed and disassembled. An inspection uncovered two places where the gears had spun on their shafts, so new set-screws were installed, including one which was bent and rubbing against a nearby gear. The Geneva gear and roller assembly was re-lubricated and the gear box was re-installed. We are continuing with a thorough examination of other mechanisms while NIRI is in the lab, and will start cooling the dewar on Thursday March 18, with an on-sky target date of March 24.
2010 Mar 4
The NIRI beam-splitter wheel which is used to select between the three cameras (optomechanical layout) stopped responding on the afternoon of March 2. Troubleshooting indicates that the problem is internal and mechanical. We will therefore begin warming NIRI today to investigate further and expect NIRI to be unavailable for science through the end of March.
2009 Sep 10
After a very thorough investigation, Gemini engineers discovered two problems with NIRI: the detector controller electronics had an intermittent issue with the slow clocks, and there was a short circuit between two pins in the detector mount. These problems were fixed and routine maintenance was performed on the detector mount and cabling. Testing is ongoing, and NIRI is now being scheduled for science operations.
2009 Aug 27
Work on the NIRI detector and electronics is ongoing, and we are planning on cooling down next week to do more testing. The earliest NIRI may return to science operations is September 10.
2009 Aug 12
Over the past four months we have seen several failures of the NIRI detector to activate. These events lasted anywhere from several minutes to several hours, and the instrument was unusable during these periods. We contacted outside experts and were investigating options for troubleshooting the problem.
Unfortunately, on the night of 2009 Aug 9 this condition transitioned from intermittent to persistent, and we have not been able to activate the array since.
As the cause and severity of the problem are still unknown, it is impossible to provide an exact date when NIRI will be fixed. We are starting to warm up NIRI today so that we may perform diagnostics on the detector and control electronics. We are hoping that the problem can be located and resolved quickly so that NIRI can return to science operations by the end of August. However, NIRI may be unavailable for longer if invasive work is required.
2009 July 14
Filters rearranged for 2009B. Removed H2O ice, hydrocarbon, Br(alpha)cont. Installed Hcont, CH4(long) and HeI(2p2s).
2009 Jan 15
Filters rearranged for 2009A. Remove Bra, CH4long, Hcon157. Installed H2Oice, hydrocarb, Bracont.
2008 July 25
Filters rearranged for 2008B. Removed Jcont(1.12), Pa(beta), K(short) and hydrocarbon. Installed Y, Br(alpha), and two NB ice filters.
2008 May 14
Changed L spectroscopic flat configurations in OT library to give narrower range of signals across band.
2006 May 22
Replaced cold heads.
2005 Dec 12
Removed FeII filter; installed Pabeta and Jcont(1207).
2005 May 9
Removed Jcont(1.207) and Pabeta filters; installed Jcont(1.065).
Begin multi-instrument queue observing.
2004 Nov 5
The Oct 21 - Nov 4 run was nearly wiped out by bad weather, with clouds and high humidity during the entire run. The problems with the array readout culminated during this run, and on Oct 25 we changed out the coadder board, and on Nov 1 we disabled the window cover ionizer. Ever since the array has been behaving very well, and we have seen very few instances of the quadrant bias variations or pattern noise.
2004 May 16
Third and fourth NIRI runs completed. Weather generally better during both runs, but with only a few nights of excellent seeing. ALTAIR now in frequent use with NIRI, with almost all Band 1-3 programs under way or completed. Problems with electronic pickup on array frames were somewhat alleviated starting on April 5. Typically 90% of the data frames obtained in each program since then are uncontaminated; we continue to work toward a complete solution to this problem. One of NIRI's internal motors began failing toward the end of the May run, limiting our observing options during the final three nights of the May run. That motor is being replaced during mid-May and it is expected that the instrument will be available for use at the start of the May 29 - June 9 run.
2004 Mar 12
Second 2004A observing run completed - weather conditions were appallingly bad - heavy snow/thunderstorm complete with electrical damage closed telescope for several nights; weather poor thereafter (clouds, horrible seeing) - only able to do parts of the few programs that could tolerate those conditions. Continued problems with vertical striping and different dc levels in the four array quadrants in some images; as the pattern appears nearly constant, some workarounds for this are possible.
2004 Feb 12
First 2004A observing run completed - weather conditions were generally poor (esp seeing). Some problems with array dc level instability visible as vertical striping and as different dc levels in the four array quadrants in some images; otherwise instrument performance was nominal.
2004 Jan 20
NIRI update, Dewar being cooled after mechanical overhaul and replacement of some filters in preparation for 2004B
2003 Jun 19
NIRI update, Semester 2003A Results
2003 Jan 31
NIRI update, Important guidance on selecting guide stars for NIRI during 2003A
2002 Dec 29
NIRI completes scheduled queue nights for 2002B - weather (seeing) not great on most December nights, but instrument performs well
2002 Dec 2
NIRI on telescope and being used in H-band for commissioning of ALTAIR
2002 Oct 7
NIRI update, damaged mechanisms inspected and fixed
2002 Sep 24
NIRI update; failure of pupil wheel and gimbal mechanism
2002 Sep 12
NIRI update, beginning of semester 2002B
2002 Jul 12
NIRI update, end of semester 2002A
2002 Apr 10
NIRI update, midway through semester 2002A
2002 Jan 30
Report on progress with NIRI during semester 2001B; update on current status
2001 Sept 26
Excellent progress with NIRI flexure; update on acceptance tests, queue and System Verification observations
2001 May 3
Statement regarding the availability of NIRI in 2001A | <urn:uuid:009b1885-a090-450f-8427-15d90cdad689> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gemini.edu/accessibility?q=node/10048 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94171 | 2,100 | 1.570313 | 2 |
A recent survey done by the Pew Research Center found that Americans both with and without college degrees accurately estimate the difference in average yearly earnings at $20,000. The official number, according to the report, is just a hair under that at $19,550.
Of course, a closer look at their research shows that even that number varies greatly depending on field of study. For example, as you can see in chapter 5 of their study, liberal arts and education degrees are worth significantly less than an engineering degree. In fact, a degree in education is worth about half a million dollars less than the average Bachelor’s degree over the course of a working life. But I digress.
The real question here is the title of the study: is college worth it? It’s a question that does not often come up in discussions about K-12 education, but one that really should. Often (as is the case in my district) the assumption is that college is not only worth it, but almost required. The majority of our students graduate and go on to college. However, “the majority” is certainly not “all,” so the question becomes much more immediate. We are in the business of preparing students for success beyond high school, and if “success” does not necessarily mean going to college, we should be preparing students for whatever “success” might look like.
I have slowly come to believe that perhaps college (particularly 4-year liberal arts study) is really not ideal or necessary for many of the students we work with every day. Let’s ignore the rapidly increasing cost of a college education. I know a number of students who, as 9th graders, are excited about the prospect of doing some sort of skilled labor. One 9th grader, in particular, is already doing an apprenticeship as a blacksmith and is incredibly excited about that opportunity. Moreover, the Pew study shows that it’s very possible for them to make a better living doing this kind of skilled labor. It begs the question: is it worth it for this student to continue with a school and curriculum that is focused on preparing him for college?
Mike Rowe, of Dirty Jobs fame, talked to the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee about this topic and espoused the desperate and immediate need for skilled labor across the country (read the text of his speech here). In the talk, Rowe shares a valuable insight and some interesting numbers. Most notably, he says
Right now, American manufacturing is struggling to fill 200,000 vacant positions. There are 450,000 openings in trades, transportation and utilities. The Skills Gap is real, and it’s getting wider. In Alabama, a third of all skilled tradesmen are over 55. They’re retiring fast, and no one is there to replace them. [Emphasis Added]
If we are preparing students to be successful the real world, it would seem that helping them develop valuable skills in these trades is one means to that end. These skills, as Rowe points out, are lifelong skills that don’t go away. In addition, as my own father likes to point out, skilled labor simply cannot be outsourced. Having this sort of skill is job security, and for many in those fields, it pays very well (in all likelihood, much better than teaching does).
In addition, such as that in this New York Times article, is suggesting that maybe a college education isn’t impacting students anyway. In fact,
a large number of the students showed no significant progress on tests of critical thinking, complex reasoning and writing that were administered when they began college and then again at the ends of their sophomore and senior years.
If a student goes to a 4-year college and demonstrates absolutely no gains in thinking skills (as 36% of the subjects did), there seems to be a serious problem with the quality of the “education” these students are receiving. As we in K-12 education are trying to educate students and prepare them to be successful after high school, if the colleges they attend are not helping prepare them to be even more successful, what is the point (apart from, of course, that magical degree)?
So the question posed by the title of the Pew survey remains – is college worth it? As is nearly always the case, the answer is much more complex than “yes” or “no.” However, I think it might be safe for us to say that college is likely not the best option for every student. In fact, for many, there are probably better options that will allow them to be more successful in every regard than a college education would. | <urn:uuid:c0f9367c-ab38-42c6-8d7c-15c9100c4606> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thehurt.wordpress.com/tag/pew-research-center/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981218 | 967 | 2.53125 | 3 |
June 24, 2009 University of Michigan aquatic ecologist Donald Scavia and his colleagues say this year's Gulf of Mexico "dead zone" could be one of the largest on record, continuing a decades-long trend that threatens the health of a half-billion-dollar fishery.
The scientists' latest forecast, released June 18, calls for a Gulf dead zone of between 7,450 and 8,456 square miles—an area about the size of New Jersey.
Most likely, this summer's Gulf dead zone will blanket about 7,980 square miles, roughly the same size as last year's zone, Scavia said. That would put the years 2009, 2008 and 2001 in a virtual tie for second place on the list of the largest Gulf dead zones.
It would also mean that the five largest Gulf dead zones on record have occurred since 2001. The biggest of these oxygen-starved, or hypoxic, regions developed in 2002 and measured 8,484 square miles.
"The growth of these dead zones is an ecological time bomb," said Scavia, a professor at the U-M School of Natural Resources and Environment and director of the U-M Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute.
"Without determined local, regional and national efforts to control them, we are putting major fisheries at risk," said Scavia, who also produces annual dead-zone forecasts for the Chesapeake Bay.
The Gulf dead zone forms each spring and summer off the Louisiana and Texas coast when oxygen levels drop too low to support most life in bottom and near-bottom waters.
The Gulf hypoxia research team is supported by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research and includes scientists from Louisiana State University and the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium.
The forecast for a large 2009 Gulf hypoxic zone is based on above-normal flows in the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers this spring, which delivered large amounts of the nutrient nitrogen. In April and May, flows in the two rivers were 11 percent above average.
Additional flooding of the Mississippi since May could result in a dead zone that exceeds the upper limit of the forecast, the scientists said.
"The high water-volume flows, coupled with nearly triple the nitrogen concentrations in these rivers over the past 50 years from human activities, has led to a dramatic increase in the size of the dead zone," said Gene Turner, a lead forecast modeler at Louisiana State University.
Northeast of the Gulf, low water flows into the Chesapeake Bay shaped Scavia's 2009 forecast for that hypoxia zone.
The Bay's oxygen-starved zone is expected to shrink to between 0.7 and 1.8 cubic miles, with a "most likely" volume of 1.2 cubic miles—the lowest level since 2001 and third-lowest on record. The drop is largely due to a regional dry spell that lasted from January through April, Scavia said. Continued high flows in June, beyond the period used for the forecasts, suggest the actual size may be near the higher end of the forecast range.
"While it's encouraging to see that this year's Chesapeake Bay forecast calls for a significant drop in the extent of the dead zone, we must keep in mind that the anticipated reduction is due mainly to decreased precipitation and water runoff into the Bay," he said.
"The predicted 2009 dead-zone decline does not result from cutbacks in the use of nitrogen, which remains one of the key drivers of hypoxia in the Bay."
Farmland runoff containing fertilizers and livestock waste—some of it from as far away as the Corn Belt—is the main source of the nitrogen and phosphorus that cause the Gulf of Mexico dead zone.
Each year in late spring and summer, these nutrients make their way down the Mississippi River and into the Gulf, fueling explosive algae blooms there. When the algae die and sink, bottom-dwelling bacteria decompose the organic matter, consuming oxygen in the process. The result is an oxygen-starved region in bottom and near-bottom waters: the dead zone.
The same process occurs in the Chesapeake Bay, where nutrients in the Susquehanna River trigger the event. In both the Gulf and the Bay, fish, shrimp and crabs are forced to leave the hypoxic zone. Animals that cannot move perish.
The annual hypoxia forecasts helps coastal managers, policy makers, and the public better understand what causes dead zones. The models that generate the forecasts have been used to determine the nutrient-reduction targets required to reduce the size of the dead zone.
"As with weather forecasts, the Gulf forecast uses multiple models to predict the range of the expected size of the dead zone. The strong track record of these models reinforces our confidence in the link between excess nutrients from the Mississippi River and the dead zone," said Robert Magnien, director of NOAA's Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research.
U.S. Geological Survey data on spring river flow and nutrient concentrations inform the computer models that produce the hypoxia forecasts.
The official size of the 2009 hypoxic zone will be announced following a NOAA-supported monitoring survey led by the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium on July 18-26. In addition, NOAA's Southeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program's (SEAMAP) is currently providing near real-time data on the hypoxic zone during a five-week summer fish survey in the northern Gulf of Mexico.
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Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead. | <urn:uuid:3e9af723-c447-4781-a4fd-6df66ec4dd61> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090618124956.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935453 | 1,161 | 3.140625 | 3 |
Taha Aki was one of the last great spirit chiefs who was well known for his wisdom and for being the man of peace. He was the first shape-shifter of the Quileute tribe and has passed the genes on to three families: the Blacks, the Uleys, and the Atearas.
Taha Aki was a leader of the Spirit Warriors of the Quileute tribe. He forced one of the spirit warriors, Utlapa to leave the people, and never use the spirit because he was angry at him. One day, when Taha Aki left to perform his duty as he leaves his body as a spirit himself and fly to the spirit world. Taka Aki figured that Utlapa followed him, and found out about Utlapa's murderous plan. He tried to race back to his body, but realized that it was gone. Taha Aki followed his body down the mountain, but Utlapa managed to get into it first. Taka Aki watched with despair as Utlapa took his place as chief to the Quileutes.
Eventually, Taha Aki tried to destroy his body to save the tribe from Utlapa. He then summoned the Great Wolf to try and kill the body, but since Utlapa was behind many warriors, he forced the wolf away. Taha Aki figured that the wolf had a body and therefore a soul, so he asked the Great Wolf that he would make room in his body for his spirit and share the physical form. Granting his request, Taki Aki managed to enter to the wolf's body. He returned to his village to stop Utlapa. The warriors realized that the wolf was no ordinary animal and realized that it was Taha Aki inside it. The explanation was given by Yut who entered to the spirit world where he discovered the truth. Taha Aki took care of Utlapa once and for all and destroyed Utlapa's body where he left it in the woods, before entering the spirit world. Since that fateful day, Taha Aki was able to share the body of a wolf whenever he wished. He became to be known as "Taha Aki the Great Wolf" and "Taha Aki the Spirit Man".
Taha Aki then became conditionally immortal, and lived for roughly two centuries; his first two wives died of old age. He was also around at the time of the Cold Man's attack. He had obtained the ability to restrain himself from phasing, which allowed his aging to continue. However, this came to a halt when he, along with his phased sons, fought the vampire's mate and all were killed except him. His third wife sacrificed herself to give him enough time to kill the vampire. After this, Taha Aki never rejoined the tribe or changed back to a man again. He lay for three days beside the body of his wife, growling whenever someone tried to touch her, and then he went into the forest and never returned.
It is unknown if he is still alive today.
|Ephraim Black's pack||Ephraim Black • Quil Ateara II • Levi Uley|
|Uley pack||Sam Uley • Jared Cameron • Paul Lahote • Brady Fuller • Collin Littlesea|
|Black pack||Jacob Black • Leah Clearwater • Seth Clearwater • Quil Ateara V • Embry Call|
|Ateara family||Quil Ateara III • more...|
|Black family||Billy Black • Rachel Black • Rebecca Black • Sarah Black • more...|
|Clearwater family||Harry Clearwater • Sue Clearwater • more...|
|Other characters||Kaheleha • Taha Aki • Taha Wi • The Third Wife • Yaha Uta • Yut • Utlapa • Tiffany Call • Kevin Littlesea • Emily Young • Claire Young • Solomon Finau • Kim|
|Related pages||Astral projection • First Beach • Imprinting • La Push, Washington • Makah tribe • Pack structure • Quileute tribe • Shape-shifter • Treaty| | <urn:uuid:c7e2aba7-b6cb-4cd9-b293-9bba49dbc561> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://twilightsaga.wikia.com/wiki/Taha_Aki | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972067 | 844 | 1.65625 | 2 |
This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, the first day of the Lenten season. This is the day we mark the beginning of the pilgrim’s journey toward Easter, following Jesus as he goes before us, through his sorrows, and into the joy of his eternal life. Join us Wednesday evening for a 40 minute event from 6:40 to 7:20 pm. If you have been part of the Westside community over these past few years, you will know that we have been collectively learning the wisdom of the Christian calendar, this rhythmical retelling of the story of Jesus.
We recently completed the season of Advent, which for us at Westside involved a simple and home-centered table liturgy centered on joyous waiting. In Advent, which means coming, we waited for the One long promised. When that moment arrives, the joy is palpable. No wonder that the giving of gifts is the characteristic way we celebrate.
Lent, the season which precedes Easter, is a characteristically different season. It has a more demanding nature, a different realism, and a deeper compensating joy.
Joan Chittister, in her book The Liturgical Year, reminds us that life is not merely about joy. LIfe is also about the willingness, the perseverance, and the commitment to endure what is not joy. That may seem like a startling comment in some ways, especially because we have granted so much decision-making value to whether or not we are enjoying ourselves, whether or not we are having fun. This tendency just might be a cultural disease: the criteria called “fun” might say more about our immaturity than anything else.
Chittister suggests that we might see Lent as adult spirituality, or at least the invitation to adulthood. Lent involves ideas like sacrifice, and endurance, and self-giving love, themes which require a certain kind of stability, a certain kind of deep-set knowledge of things. Lent presents the question of whether or not ultimate joy is worth more to us than temporal fun, a defining question on the maturity scale.
The anonymous Letter to the Hebrews tells us this about Jesus: “For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2b, TNIV). The picture here is one of suspended joy, the willingness to go through suffering and shame in order to realize an ultimate and lasting joy, even triumph. In this way, Jesus is not only our saviour, he is our champion in faith.
Reflecting on this, I have drawn up the following four principles for my own Lent reflection this year:
- in order to grow up I need to see what is going on, I need to pay attention — I will prayerfully re-read the story of Jesus during Lent, this year from the gospel of Mark
- in learning to pay attention I am reminded that God’s purpose for me is to grow up into spiritual adulthood, into a mature faith (Ephesians 4:13ff)
- maturity has one clear characteristic: it means that I am to think of the needs of others ahead of myself, learning what it means to wait for my own greatest joy
- and being “spiritually adult” means valuing reality over appearance, valuing the eternal over the temporal, valuing substance over all else — it means that I will seek out a lasting joy by enduring what is not joy
As I write there is one aspect of my childhood that has suddenly re-appeared to my consciousness: the fact that as a child I wanted to grow up. Every birthday was a celebration, not just because of the attention and the gifts, but because I somehow knew I was closer to finding life’s promise, life’s possibilities. I have suddenly remembered what so often captured my childhood imagination, the fact that I wanted to become something, be someone. I am sure this is a universal. To begin life is to want to find life in all its possibilities. Perhaps then, when Jesus said we should become “like little children”, this is one childlike quality in need of recapture — to be a child is to want to grow up. I want to think about this, and pursue this theme over these next 40 days of Lent. I am very middle-aged, but I am not sure I am all-the-way grown up.
On February 13, Ash Wednesday, we begin the 46 day journey to Easter, the season that carries us through sorrow to the most exuberant of realities. This Wednesday, for 40 brief minutes from 6:40 to 7:20 pm, we take time for two thoughts, two prayers, two songs, and the marking of ashes. We have prepared a devotional resource which will help you read through the gospel of Mark, a way to live thoughtfully and prayerfully as you make your way towards Easter.
This year, for Lent, I want to give up on all that is childish in me, and embrace the child-like quality of wanting to grow up. | <urn:uuid:f24a5799-5e9a-46d9-af71-dadc84b16d41> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wkc.org/ash-wednesday-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963153 | 1,057 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Robotic Dog a Hit With Lonely Seniors
Robotic Dog, Named Aibo, Cheers Lonely Nursing Home Residents as Much as Living Dog
Feb. 27, 2008 -- A robotic dog named Aibo may be as good as a real dog at
easing loneliness in nursing home residents.
So say researchers at St. Louis University School of Medicine who studied 38
lonely residents at three St. Louis nursing homes.
Some of the residents got one-on-one visits with Aibo every week for eight
weeks. Aibo stayed in its recharging cradle during those half-hour visits; the
robotic dog wasn't allowed to scurry around the room or bark.
Other residents got one-on-one visits from a real dog for the same amount of
time. For comparison, a third group of lonely residents didn't get visited by
Aibo or the real dog.
Lonely seniors who got visited by Aibo or the real dog became less lonely,
according to their before-and-after loneliness ratings. The robotic and real
dogs eased loneliness to a similar degree. But Aibo took some getting used
"Anecdotally, some residents and staff were initially reluctant to
interact with Aibo; however, with exposure, this resistance largely
dissipated," write Marian Banks, DNS, and colleagues in the March edition
of the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association.
Sony took Aibo off the market in 2006. | <urn:uuid:b64e3096-809f-4e40-b86e-bb97562f90c3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.webmd.com/balance/news/20080227/robotic-dog-a-hit-with-lonely-seniors | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96591 | 308 | 1.921875 | 2 |
We shouldn't blame the ordinary Arab citizen because every time a crisis occurs, he just sits and watches as if he is watching a new movie. In fact, he is watching the same old movie over and over again, hoping that the result would be different — opposite to the past defeats. Gaza today has been hit as it had been yesterday. Should we give up hope?
The prayers of the Palestinians on the far left and right were answered, but their fortunes have not changed. Hosni Mubarak is gone and Egypt is now ruled by their brothers "the Brotherhood," still the result is the same.
Israel has promised to return to the 2005 agreement if Hamas promises to become Israel's policeman inside Gaza strip and pledges to rein all Palestinian factions and forces that launch missiles. This should give a strong indicator. In fact, it may pave the way for allowing an end to the long nightmare and misery of Gazans.
There is so much hope in the promised agreement and it can lead to cease-fire. There is a possibility that the politics and the political and military dealing in Gaza would change and Hamas would ally itself with the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah without the need to return to the joint rule. The result will be two Palestinian entities with two presidencies, but one united politics and Egyptian support.
Of course, the immediate scene doesn't foretell the change we are talking about; all is still the same. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhom reiterates the same fact he said four years ago: "These raids are massacres against the Palestinian people." The same news as 2008, but with different names. US President Barack Obama called Muhammad Mursi, his Egyptian counterpart, to discuss ways to stop the attack. Ismail Haniyeh is calling for the same concessions that Sheikh Hamad of Qatar called for. Yet the Arab summit is only a miniature summit in Cairo to support Hamas. This time it has taken place with the participation of Turkey's and Egypt's prime ministers. In 2008, it was held in Doha with the participation of President Bashar Assad, Libya's Qaddafi and Sudan's Bashir.
Israel is still calling its operations with cinematic names. In 1982, it called its attack on South Lebanon "Al-Jalel Finger." It called its attack on Gaza four years ago “Cast Lead.” And now, it is calling the operations “Cloud Column” or “the punishment of God.” The operations are punishment to the Palestinians in the strip as well. The United Nations Security Council held a meeting, but without any announcement. In the previous war it had assembled as well, but ended without any resolution. The same old events, but will a different result emerge from this crisis?
Militarily, the results won't change because the balance of power is in Israel's favor. As for the balance of Arab political propaganda, it will not admit defeat, although people often find their way to the truth.
We all recall that Hezbollah claimed that it triumphed in its battle against Israel. At the time, Nasrallah concealed that he had agreed to withdraw his militias to cover approximately one-third of Lebanon, away from the Israeli borders. Indeed, all those who inhibit the area knew that the river has become a forbidden passage for Hezbollah elements, at least during that period.
The new factor in today's war is that Hamas, that did only put its trust in Syria and Iran before, although lost those important allies, has now gained more significant ones, namely, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
Personally, I think the new Egypt could change the rules of the game. It could be the Hamas guarantor in the face of the Israelis in their promised agreement, whose outlines they recently announced.
It would also be easier for Hamas to accept any agreement without being accused of betraying their case as long as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt support their new understanding.
The recent and the most significant issue that many people want to know both in Washington and the Arab world is if Gaza and Cairo are ready to engage in a broader peace talk so that Gaza can become the open gateway after having been the besieged Gaza Strip.
(The writer is the General Manager of Al Arabiya. The article was published in Arab News on Nov. 21, 2012) | <urn:uuid:5c8ab529-a56c-4e28-89d9-f3089dab366d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://english.alarabiya.net/views/2012/11/21/250856.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975209 | 873 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Historic Environment Policy Review
Strategic Environmental Assessment - scoping exercise
Historic Scotland is currently collaborating with a range of partners and stakeholders on a review of historic environment policy in Scotland. While the review is still at an early stage and no decisions about changing the current policy direction have been taken, we consider that the review and any revised policy is likely to require a strategic environmental assessment (SEA). We are therefore seeking to undertake an environmental assessment of policy options and alternatives at the earliest opportunity. In particular, this assessment will look at how the policy for the historic environment delivers, contributes to, or obstructs other environmental objectives.
This scoping exercise is one of the early stages of the SEA process.
What is SEA?
The purpose of SEA is to ensure that information on the environmental effects of a plan, programme or policy is gathered and made available to plan-makers and decision takers as it is prepared and implemented. The overarching aim of SEA is to provide a high level of protection for the environment, to reduce environmental impact and to enhance environmental outcomes. It also ensures that policies and proposals are informed by relevant environmental information and provides further opportunities for people to get involved in the process.
We have prepared an SEA scoping report which can be found on our website:
This survey asks 4 questions in relation to this report and should take a short time to complete.
We would welcome any comments you may have on the report. However, we would ask that you focus upon the SEA element as opposed to providing general comments upon the policy itself. Comments in relation to policy review more generally should be sent to: firstname.lastname@example.org | <urn:uuid:a2a4ba17-3900-4314-8534-6434d7fc37f8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7F3BTLL | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9508 | 342 | 2.0625 | 2 |
I recently finished reading The Nature of Paleolithic Art by R. Dale Guthrie. Dr. Guthrie also authored Frozen Fauna of the Mammoth Steppe and dozens, perhaps hundreds, of articles for scientific journals, many of which I’ve read. It took me almost a month to read The Nature of Paleolithic Art because it’s 500 pages and has small print and numerous pictures on every page that are worth careful examination. The book is a brilliant creation, taking decades of research and writing to complete. It’s well-written and the line drawings replicating the cave paintings show Dr. Guthrie is a talented and patient artist. Because I can’t live in the Pleistocene as I so often fantasize on this blog, I wanted to get inside the heads of the humans who actually did. Dr. Guthrie does this with his detailed analysis of their art. Most books about paleolithic art have been written by art historians, anthropologists, and archaeologists, but this book is the first written from the point of view of a vertebrate paleontologist, making it unique. I noticed amazon.com didn’t have much information about this book, so I will remedy this with a chapter-by-chapter review.
The first chapter is entitled “Drawn from Life.” It consists of a discussion of how this work compares to others on the subject. This is where Dr. Guthrie introduces one of the important themes of his book: Most paleolithic art was drawn realistically and the images were not representations symbolizing magic or religion, a view held by many anthropologists. I agree with Dr. Guthrie. To me this seems rather obvious–too many scholars look for something deep and complex when there is a much simpler explanation. The people living in Europe then depended on hunting and that is what they depicted. This chapter also covers the ecology of Pleistocene Europe. Humans lived on the ecotone between southern European forests and the vast mammoth steppe that stretched from the British Isles to Alaska. And there are detailed descriptions of cave geology, preservation, and taphonomy.
The second chapter is “Paleolithic Artists as Naturalists” which was perhaps one of the most interesting for me (well…that and the sex chapter). He finds usable information about extinct species and extirpated subspecies from cave paintings.
Page from The Nature of Paleolithic Art. The top drawings depict the most common large mammals living in Eurasia during the Pleistocene including Woolly mammoths, woolly rhinos, Megaloceros–a giant extinct deer, elk, caribou, aurochs–wild cattle, bison, musk-oxen, horses, asses, ibex, sable antelope, cave bear, brown bear, lions, hyenas, wolves, and humans.
For example the cave paintings inform us that European lions had no manes, and horses in southwestern Europe had some striping, an adaptation for living in brushy habitat. Dr. Guthrie shows the reader how the cave paintings represent real animal behavior–there are depictions of mating and flight response.
Chapter 3 is “Tracking down the Pleistocene Artists.” Dr. Guthrie conducted a study that analyzed the hand prints on the cave walls. Statistical differences between age and sex exist in the measurements of finger and palm size. The cave painters made the hand prints by spitting a mouthful of red ocher over their hands. Based on hand measurements, Dr. Guthrie determined most but not all the cave painters were boys aged 12 and under.
A statistical analysis of hand measurements suggests most the cave painters were boys aged 12 and under. The kids making the hand prints were likely the same kids who were drawing the animals.
Although many cave paintings are masterpieces, most look like something a third grader might doodle. The highest quality paintings are famous, but they’re vastly outnumbered by little known drawings that were done by less talented or less experienced artists.
It’s no coincidence that nearly every cave with paleolithic art was discovered by teenaged boys. During the paleolithic just like in the present time, adventurous boys would be the most likely members of society to venture into caves. Because life expectency was so low then, children made up a bigger percentage of the population then than they do now and teenaged boys would have been a significant segment of society. Contrary to popular belief, paleolithic people didn’t live in caves but inhabited open air sites, temporary huts, and rock shelters. This explains why most of the cave artists were young boys.
Chapter 4 is “Testosterone Events and Paleolithic Imagery.” This one is about the evolution of human behavior and art. He explains the evolutionary reason why paleolithic men and women differed in the partition of labor and why modern politically correct attitudes stifled early studies on the role evolution played in making men the hunters while women were better able to perform tedious tasks such as sewing clothes. Younger men with higher levels of testosterone than women took more risks when hunting and were also more likely to explore caves. Accordingly, the art on caves is more representative of a young male’s point of view. Much information about women’s contributions is missing–the clothes they made are organic and long gone. Boys painting on cave walls rarely drew people wearing clothes, even though they must have, considering the harsh climate. There are rare exceptions. The few pictures depicting clothes show paleolithic people wearing parkas, hoods, and boots.
Chapter 5 is “The art of Hunting Large Mammals.” Dr. Guthrie begins by reviewing the evolution of hunting behavior in hominids. He uses evidence from physiology, sociobiology, ecology, and accounts from the ethnographic record to show that hunting was a driving force in human evolution. He believes hunting created the modern social bond between man, wife, and child.
Incidentally, Dr. Guthrie believes the red spots on some cave paintings of Pleistocene horses represent the tracking of blood from wounded animals. This is an alternative explanation for the ones I gave in a previous blog entry– http://markgelbart.wordpress.com/2011/12/02/pleistocene-spotted-horses/
Another page from the book. These are line drawings of cave paintings.
The chapter on hunting is a long one covering paleolithic weapons, the use of disguises, tracking wounded game, and harpooning fish.
Chapter 6 is “Full-figured Women in Ivory and Life.” He explains the common depiction of full-figured fat women represents the female sex when they were most fertile. In most hunter-gatherer societies, women are rarely fertile due to a combination of environmental stress and the care of an already existing baby or toddler. Women were most likely fertile during times of plenty when they had no young children nursing. Men evolved to identify when women were most fertile. And, of course, young boys drew pictures on cave walls and sculpted the famous figurines because women with big boobs and big butts were what was constantly on their minds, along with hunting large mammals.
Dr. Guthrie doesn’t go so far as to suggest the possiblity that the Venus of Willendorf represents sex slavery as I did in a previous blog entry– http://markgelbart.wordpress.com/2011/10/14/the-venus-of-willendorf-pleistocene-sex-object/
But he does dismiss the notions they represent fertility or goddess cults.
I don’t agree with Dr. Guthrie when he writes that paleolithic people chose their mates carefully. The population was so low then that people probably had a hard time even meeting members of the opposite sex who were not related to them, and they had to accept what they could get.
Paleolithic people had many sexual items and enjoyed practices we consider modern. Cave paintings prove paleolithic women wore lingerie. Many cave paintings depict buxom women wearing nothing but bracelets, belts, and boots. Paleolithic dildoes (made of stone) are very common. One broken sculpture suggests they played bondage games.
Chapter 7 is “The Evolution of Art Behavior in the Paleolithic.” Here, he discusses the evolution of play and how art is an extension of play. Art contributed to the survival of paleolithic people because it helped make their brains more creative which did have practical uses. Creativeness is heritable.
Chapter 8 is “Bands to Tribes.” Very little paleolithic art is abstract, but the development of agriculture led to an increase in the use of abstract symbols in art. Humans needed to invent abstract symbols to account for stored foodstuffs. Agricultural civilization changed the human experience but not all for the better–humans suffered more malnutrition from starch-based diets, they contracted diseases spread from domesticated animals, and they experienced more warfare from being in economically unequal societies. Not a single paleolithic drawing known depicts a shield or warfare, though individual man on man violence was rarely drawn.
Chapter 9 is “Throwing the Bones.” This was the only chapter I found uninteresting. It’s about the evolution of the belief in the supernatural. There’s not enough concrete evidence left about early human’s supernatural beliefs, making this part of the book too vague and unnecessarily long-winded. That’s really the only negative criticism I have of the book. Sometimes, Dr. Guthrie overwrites and gives 5 or 6 examples when 1 0r 2 would have been enough. Otherwide, I enjoyed the book very much. | <urn:uuid:b324f68b-d7b3-427a-8a5e-91d2b28ca867> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://markgelbart.wordpress.com/2012/01/25/the-nature-of-paleolithic-art-by-r-dale-guthrie/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964173 | 2,006 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Collaborative tech morphs data into intelligence
Researchers explore new ways to assimilate and share critical information
To more quickly and effectively make battlefield decisions, warfighters need the final product of shared knowledge and collaboration: actionable intelligence.
Defense and intelligence community researchers and the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance industry are looking for technologies that help intelligence analysts and warfighters share information more easily and meaningfully. Rather than merely pushing sensor data to troops, the goal is to create a common operating picture that facilitates faster decisions in the field.
Analysts say there have been great strides in ISR data collection during the past decade. Systems such as the Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) Integration Backbone (DIB) have provided the foundation for a common architecture that enables more data sharing throughout the Defense Department and intelligence community.
“Not an awful lot of technology investment needs to be made in this industry to make significant progress beyond where we are,” said McClellan “Guy” DuBois, vice president of Raytheon's Intelligence and Information Systems business unit and chief executive officer of Raytheon UTD. “No miracle has to happen to make this happen. What needs to be done is more focused on the overall architecture itself.”
“What started out almost a decade ago as an Air Force program has now broadened out to the DIB being an accepted standard” by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, DuBois said. “And it's moving a lot of information around both vertically and horizontally. The growth of applications on the DIB has made information sharing much easier. It hasn't solved all the problems, but by getting it down to the lowest common denominator, it’s made it a lot easier to innovate.”
For example, Raytheon has developed a multimedia intelligence application, called the Raytheon Android Tactical System (RATS), that uses Google’s Android mobile phone operating system to deliver imagery and full-motion video to troops in the field. “With RATS, we’re taking a mobile phone and turning it into a collection and dissemination tool. A soldier in the field can, for example, see someone like Osama bin Laden and take his picture and pump it back into the system through the DCGS Backbone.”
Although sharing within DCGS is becoming easier, problems arise when trying to move intelligence information across domains — from one classification level to another, from the intelligence community to DOD, from U.S. systems to allies', or from DOD agencies to homeland security agencies. Another problem is identifying intelligence that analysts need to send to warfighters on the front lines while moving forward to analyze the new data that warfighters send.
“At one level, there's this information management problem,” said William Regli, professor and director of the A.J. Drexel Institute for Applied Communications and Information Networking at Drexel University. “There's an overwhelming amount of data coming in, and somehow all of it has to be filtered and rarefied. And people have to make decisions based on that data.”
Working Across Domains
Search and signal-processing technologies can help resolve those problems by capturing information from multiple data streams without the work of an analyst, Regli said. But, he added, they don’t address the second problem: "How do you manage hypotheses, theories [and] do the diagnostics on top of that data?"
That calls for collaboration across domains to tie together the analysis of related data so the analysis can be more effectively and efficiently completed, consolidated and shared with people who need the results.
There are a number of ways that analysts can share intelligence data across domains. Many of those systems are on the Unified Cross Domain Management Office’s Cross Domain Baseline list, and they are systems for intelligence information sharing that have been deployed, tested and approved for wide use by the office.
Access solutions are one category of systems on the baseline list, said Ed Hammersla, chief operating officer of Trusted Computer Solutions, a vendor of three approved mechanisms for information sharing.
“Access solutions allow you to gain access to multiple networks from a single device," Hammersla said. "But it doesn't allow the transfer of information between them.”
That allows analysts to work with information from, for example, the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System network — which contains information classified up to top secret and sensitive compartmented information — at the same time as they access systems on the Secret IP Router Network and Unclassified but Sensitive IP Router Network. Trusted Computer Solutions’ access solution, called the Trusted Thin Client, was deployed as part of the new combined air operations center for Central Command in October 2009. Hammersla said the system uses a single server that connects to all three networks to serve thin-client systems via a single network, allowing the Air Force’s 350th Electronic Systems Group to set up the combined air operations center with fewer desktop computers and less administrative overhead.
"We added far more robust systems, all while enhancing the interoperability of each work area and reducing space and power needs,” Air Force Capt. Dennis Smith, the 350th Electronic Systems Group fielding flight commander, said in an Air Force statement. “We also expect this to be more efficient because it will reduce the power requirement for the computers and the air conditioning.”
However, access solutions don’t solve the collaboration problem because they don’t allow multiple-level security access and cross-agency data sharing. That’s where guard systems, as Hammersla calls them, come in. Those systems sit at the boundaries between networks and provide ways for high classification information to be downgraded and shared with lower-classification networks. They also can pass information from lower-classification networks upward while preventing malware or attempts to hack into the classified network.
“Either of these — high to low, or low to high — can be automated or have a man in the loop,” Hammersla said. “There are automated guards to downgrade imagery. But there's also automatic low to high. A good example is Air Force weather data, which comes from unclassified sources but is needed on the classified networks for mission planning.”
Some guard systems require a person to approve the movement of information and complete the downgrade. “That's a producer/releaser construct, where one person creates it, another person approves its release,” Hammersla said.
But that sort of connection creates a problem in an information-saturated operation, Regli said. Although data crosses both ways, it’s hard for everyone to share what data they’re working on.
“There's too much going on,” Regli said. “So you can't have a human being sitting there at the firewall between networks looking at every intelligence hypothesis on either side and say, 'Hey, you people have the same idea. You should work together.'”
A variety of efforts have demonstrated promise in addressing that challenge. One example is the JWICS-based Analytic Space, or A-Space, a project of the Office of Analytic Transformation and Technology at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Although A-Space allows intelligence community analysts to collaborate on topics of mutual interest, it excludes everyone down the classification chain who could often benefit from the results of that analysis — or even contribute to the analysis.
Another approach is shared systems, such as the Intellipedia wiki created by the U.S. intelligence community. However, Intellipedia operates as three separate systems — one on JWICS, one on SIPRnet, and the Open Source Intelligence version on NIPRnet. There’s no effective way of moving data between the systems because the information is unstructured and does not have tags to ensure proper content transfers.
An effort by Accenture could help bridge the divide. Accenture is working on what Ryan La Salle, a director at Accenture’s defense industry group, calls a semantic wiki. "A wiki is unstructured information, and any structured data in the wiki is inconsistent," La Salle said. "A semantic wiki allows it to act more like a structured database.” With that structure, he said, it can be easier to move information across domains in an automated fashion.
Accenture is also working on ways to automatically populate a wiki with intelligence information. “Wikis require people to manually input data,” said Chris Zinner, also a director at Accenture’s defense industry group. “So it's one of the reasons we have what we have today [in failures to share information]. Whenever you ask someone to put information into a specific form, it slows them down. So we’re leveraging experts in our lab around text mining and looking at the question, ‘What if we used text mining technologies and tried to seed the wiki?’ We could pull in unstructured data, intelligence reports and automatically construct a wiki page.”
Text mining can’t generate a 100 percent solution, Zinner said. “But we can get it semi-automated. If we can leverage text mining to get 80 to 90 percent of the way, people can become data stewards rather than just entering data.” | <urn:uuid:b4f7a57a-d8b7-4fac-b7cb-bd6bad4cae48> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://defensesystems.com/articles/2010/04/26/defense-it-1-intelligence-sharing.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933239 | 1,945 | 2.125 | 2 |
In case you missed it. . . . . there was an article in the newspaper on June 15 about deer ticks being discovered at Doctor’s Park in Bayside. A UW-Madison research team stated there was evidence of an established, breeding population of deer ticks in the area. It had been thought that deer ticks were usually found in northern
Now is a good time for everyone to become more aware of deer ticks and their ability to carry communicable disease, including Lyme disease. Prevention of tick bites is important and not too difficult. Some very simple habits can help protect you:
- Walk in the middle of trails and avoid sitting on logs and leaning on trees.
- Wear a hat, long-sleeved shirt, shoes and socks, and long pants.
- Consider appropriate repellents.
- Wear light colored clothing to make it easier to spot ticks.
- Do tick checks immediately after outdoor activity and again 24 hours later.
Symptoms of Lyme disease can begin within a few days or up to a month after a tick bite. 70-80% of victims have a “bull’s eye” rash at the site of the bite. Fatigue, fever, headache, mildly stiff neck, and muscle aches can be other acute symptoms. Left untreated, Lyme disease can continue to progress and cause more serious illness.
More information about Lyme disease can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/Features/LymeDisease and http://dhs.Wisconsin.gov/communicable/tickborne/lymedisease. | <urn:uuid:72e154e4-5601-4fd1-88fc-f89ecd67fc10> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mequonnow.com/blogs/institutionalblogs/97103989.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948236 | 325 | 3.28125 | 3 |
Excellence for All
How a New Breed of Reformers Is Transforming America's Public Schools
Publication Year: 2011
Published by: Vanderbilt University Press
Table of Contents
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I do particularly wish to thank a distinct subset of readers who, while leafing through this book, will be struck by a sense of familiarity if not complete recognition—those who encountered the work in various stages of its evolution and left indelible marks on it. This includes the publications staff at Taylor & Francis, Ltd., who granted...
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“We can’t continue like this,” President-elect Barack Obama observed in late 2008, announcing Chicago schools CEO Arne Duncan as his pick for education secretary. “It’s morally unacceptable for our children and economically untenable for America.” In order to build a “twenty-first-century education system,” Obama noted...
1. The Right Time: 1980-2010
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By the time of Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009, the idea of excellence for all had been firmly established as the highest aim in American education reform. Equally well accepted was the notion that by taking an entrepreneurial approach to the nation’s education problem, reformers could identify “what works” and...
2. The Right Space: The Small Schools Movement
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In the last decades of the twentieth century, education reformers made the case that America’s urban public high schools had reached a point of intolerable failure. In an era in which higher education was being more frequently seen as a prerequisite for active economic participation, reformers bemoaned urban public schools as outdated...
3. The Right Teachers: Teach for America
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Getting the right teachers in the classroom has been a major part of the school reform agenda for as long as policy makers have sought systemic change in education. As school quality depends in large part on teacher quality, school reformers across the twentieth century worked to establish criteria to identify suitable teachers...
4. The Right Curriculum: Expanding Advanced Placement
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The 1980s ushered in a new era of concern over the quality of the school curriculum. At a time when economic competitiveness demanded greater educational achievement, standardized test scores revealed that American students were continuing to fall behind their international counterparts.1 And, in the post–civil...
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In 1991, education writer Thomas Toch observed that public schools had reached a pivotal point in their history. They were, as he wrote, “poised to take the American experiment in free universal education to a new level, one where all students have not only an equal right to walk through the schoolhouse door but...
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Page Count: 208
Publication Year: 2011 | <urn:uuid:ae0bd582-67a8-4c0a-b186-7af9bdfc7ab3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://muse.jhu.edu/books/9780826518125 | 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 | 0.925189 | 631 | 2.546875 | 3 |
I am trying to desgin a little penny balista toy (built with a 3d printer).
The short description is that there is a track with a mass ("hammer") that slides along it. There is a stack of pennies in a hopper at the front. The hammer goes from back to the front, slams into the penny at the end and launches it.
I had a debate with a friend about whether it would go farther if the penny started at the back and was accelerated along the full length of the track along with the hammer (a more difficult design).
My question is, all else being the same, which method would impart more energy to the penny? (my suspicion, based on those "newtons cradle" toys, is that it would be the same). | <urn:uuid:89871acf-adff-4af0-b8f6-968ed5963ff5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/31908/can-you-launch-an-item-farther-by-slamming-into-it-or-accelerating-it-along-a-le | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979789 | 160 | 2.359375 | 2 |
Arrivederci, Water Profiteers: Italians Claim Water as a Common Good
“Water—whether we treat it as a public good or as a commodity that can be bought and sold—will in large part determine whether our future is peaceful or perilous,” wrote the scholar Maude Barlow.
In Italy last month, an overwhelming number of people (96 percent of the 57 percent of the population that voted) cast their ballots for a peaceful future based on shared ownership of water.
The referendum overturned a law passed by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s government, which would have encouraged private companies to buy up public water utilities and guaranteed them a profit on their investment, opening the door to rate hikes.
The referendum also stripped Berlusconi government ministers of special court privileges and reaffirmed public opposition to nuclear power.
An international grassroots movement is working to make sure that water, that basic building block of life, is treated not as a commodity to be bought and sold but a common heritage to be shared by all.
With the referendum victory behind them, organizers have now fixed their sights on passing a general water law to guide public management of the common good.
“Beating back privatization is a critical first step towards responsible stewardship of water,” said Daniela Del Bene, an organizer with the NGO Cevi, a member of the Italian Forum of Water Movements. “Not to diminish the importance of the victory but in some ways, now comes the harder part—strengthening a public management system that satisfies both people and nature’s water needs in a sustainable and equitable way.”
The vote was closely watched around the world. “The success of the referendum in Italy is a true display of the power and potential of grassroots activism,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food and Water Watch. “The Italian Forum of Water Movements and Italian citizens managed to mobilize an entire nation and raise awareness around the human right to water and defending water as a common good."
Water privatization, of course, is a contentious issue the world over. In many places, corporations are angling to control scarce water resources; where they have succeeded, rates often increase dramatically. The World Bank and other international donors often obligate countries to privatize their water systems—or, at a minimum, enter into public-private partnerships—as a prerequisite for investments.
But, as in Italy, an international grassroots movement is pushing back, working to make sure that water, that basic building block of life, is treated not as a commodity to be bought and sold but a common heritage to be shared by all. Last summer, in a landmark decision, the United Nations affirmed the human right to access clean drinking water and sanitation.
“Indeed,” said Del Bene, “our victory is not only for Italy, but in favor of a new discourse on water management and on other commons all over the world.” Renato Di Nicola, an Italian water activist with the Abruzzo Social Forum, praised the Italian movement’s predecessors, those who have fought and won some of the first battles for water justice: “We don’t forget that our teachers were the indigenous people of Cochabamba with their Water War and the Uruguayan comrades that won a referendum as we have.”
Italian tactics were colorful and varied—from sympathetic musicians singing at metro stops to flash mobs running naked through the streets. Most of all, there were long days of neighbor-to-neighbor organizing. “This has been a victory of, by and for the people, under no party banner,” said Del Bene.
No doubt the Italian case will be much discussed this coming March in Marseilles, where two visions of the future of the world’s water will compete. The World Water Council, with a Board of Directors weighted with private water industry representatives, will organize the Sixth World Water Forum. The self-described water justice movement, of which the Italian Forum of Water Movements considers itself part, is organizing an alternative forum at the same time to feature ways water can be managed for the common good—such as in Paris, one of a growing number of cities ending their contracts with private water operators to return water ownership to the public.
Who owns and controls water is crucially important—and becoming more so. But for Daniela del Bene and other water justice activists, the debate is bigger than water: it’s about how we manage the resources which we all own, and on which we all depend. We have entered “a new path discussion on the commons, on community-based ways of managing them, and on a new form of participation in our democracy,” she explained. | <urn:uuid:69d940f3-05be-4a99-9890-e77b4509d294> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nationofchange.org/arrivederci-water-profiteers-italians-claim-water-common-good-1311577793 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963229 | 985 | 2.515625 | 3 |
(Note that all material is copyright Gaumont, Columbia Pictures, and Sony Pictures Entertainment)
General: Have you at least identified it?
Scientist: We tried but the computer went off the charts. You see, normal human beings have 40 DNA memo groups, which is more than enough for any species to perpetuate itself. This one has 200,000 memo groups.
General: Sounds like a freak of nature to me.
Scientist: Yes...can't wait to meet him.
In the lab...
Scientist: No no no...we put it through the cellular hygiene detector. The cell is, for lack of a better word...perfect.
So pretty much every single line in this scene is messed up. Really. The issues at hand are:
- How a few cells are "more than [you] need" to reconstruct an entire organism from scratch.
- Multiple DNA helices + tightly packed DNA being equated to the perfect being
- What are earth are memo groups? And/or how species perpetuate themselves?
- Leeloo having "perfect cells"
Okay, I am not going to spend a long time on this as I think it was adequately covered after Jurassic Park was made. Extremely cool concept, but not realistic. DNA is super fragile and extracting and amplifying the entire, 2 meter long, intact DNA sequence from one cell, let alone thousands, is a difficult task, especially with archaeological samples. I mean, we had enough trouble sequencing the human genome in the late '90s before completion in the year 2000, and that was with live donors. Now, of course every cell has a copy of one's entire genetic sequence, and I am happy the writers realized that much. But being able to completely rebuild Leeloo from a few cells is a bit much. Plus, how does she magically get generated at young adult stage? In JP, all of the dinosaurs came out as babies from eggs.
That said, I still think the idea of generating a person from a few cells in a gauntlet totally rocks.
(Note: JP photo copyright Universal Pictures)
Problem 2: Superior genetics?
Where to begin with this one....let's start with the easy problem. Saying her DNA is tightly packed and that is one reason she is superior is crap. Everyone's DNA is tightly packed. It's not "highly coiled," it's supercoiled. In fact, that was one of my favorite parts of biochem class. Understanding how a 2m-long string of DNA is wound up into each of your itty bitty cells is awesome stuff. Our bodies are amazing. So she ain't superior for that; she's just an average gal. But b/c I can't resist, I am included an awesome schematic here about the supercoiling of DNA, just b/c it makes me happy. :)
Now let's take a look at Leeloo's DNA structure. The schematic of normal DNA is great--they even show the base pairs, which is nice. However, if you look at Leeloo's DNA there's not two, not three, but eight helices going on there. Count 'em. That is insane! In fact, the miraculous octuple helix design is supposed to give her "infinite genetic knowledge".
- Problem A: More DNA does not equal superior organism. Forget about the helices for now. Let's start with how the basic concept of this is just plain wrong. This is like the old misconception that Albert Einstein must have literally had a bigger brain than the rest of us b/c he was so smart. Bigger brains don't make smarter people,. and more DNA does not equal genetic superiority. In fact, yeast (yes, what makes bread) have more genes than you or I. So length of DNA and/or number of genes is meaningless. I mean, if you want to create the premise for a superior life form, do you think saying it has more DNA is the way to go?
- Problem B: The helices. Dude, I don't know where to start. As Lisa pointed out, this gal would either have a ton of diseases or just not exist. If her "genetic components are the same as ours" per the movie, how exactly does that work? Currently, one hot area of research is siRNA therapy, in which you stick a short strand of RNA that is complementary to the DNA of your least favorite gene into a cell, and let it stick to that gene. Your RNA transcriptase can't transcribe the dang gene; ergo, no more bad protein is made (in theory, at least.) If she has multiple helices all bound together, how exactly do her polymerases (RNA or DNA) function? B/c there is no way those 8 strands are sticking together in the first place unless they are somehow complementary. If they weren't, you'd only have a bunch of double helices. So by having multiple complementary strands she is sabotaging her own genetic machinery. Not to mention, there is no way on earth that she would even get a helical form out of that. Studies have shown that a triple nucleic acid helix can exist (it happens all the time when you are transcribing DNA to RNA) but 4 together are no longer helical. :(
The problem with this is that most higher organisms with additional chromosomes are toast. Extra chromosomes can be broken down into aneuploidy and polyploidy. Aneuploidy refers to having an extra copy of a particular chromosome; polyploidy is an extra copy of your entire genome. A good example of aneuploidy is trisomy 23, in which a person has an extra copy of their 23rd chromosome, resulting in the condition known as Down's Syndrome. But if Leeloo wanted to have the equivalent of 8 DNA strands or 4 double helices, she would want extra copies of her entire genome. 1 set of chromosomes = 23 = "haploid"; humans are diploid (46 chromosomes). If Leeloo wanted 4 times the amount of DNA of the rest of us, she would have to be octoploid (I don't even know if I spelled that right or if that even exists in nature, even with synthetic nanotubes.) Some plants are tetraploid, which means 4 sets of chromosomes. But for most humans, that is a bad thing. In order to better understand the cause of miscarriages, doctors have karyotyped babies after stillbirth. Many cases of early term miscarriage are due to triploidy in the baby--most likely, when two sperm fertilize one egg. Even rarer is tetraploidy. So if Leeloo were to have even one more copy of each chromosome, she would not be in good shape.
As an aside, I am not even getting into the "greasy solar atoms" that force skin to grow thing. Like skin cells are programmed by your DNA? Duh. Or is she genetically inferior in that aspect??
Problem 3: What are memo groups? And how do they help species "perpetuate themselves"? Ok, right off the bat, let's get this straight. No one genetic element helps you perpetuate your species. Reproduction does that. Saying she has genetic elements that allow her to regenerate from a few cells in a glove does not equate to perpetuating her species. Especially if she is the only member of her species. I don't even get where that came from.
As far the memo groups, I am totally excited about the mention of this. I might be wrong, but I think they are referring (intentionally or not) to telomeres. Every cell in the body has regions at the end of their chromosomes called telomeres. In a nutshell, these regions protect the chromosomes and also limit the number of divisions each cell goes through. The telomere region gets shorter with every cell division, until eventually the cell dies. Telomere research gets attention from the media from time to time as it is related to cell aging and/or lifespan. So the media dub telomerase research work on the "fountain of youth."
Now, I don't know how many telomere repeats humans have. There are a given number of repeats per chromosome, and the number of the repeats vary with cell age. I doubt the 4,000 and 20,000 numbers have any basis in fact. However, my guess is that maybe the screen writer read something about telomeres in the news and turned that into "memo groups" which affect lifespan and aging--allowing Leeloo to extend her life as an ancient organism, if not "perpetuate her species." That is just a hunch, but I think it would be cool if that was their intent.
Problem 4: How does Leeloo have "perfect cells"?
Okay, this just bothered me. Like, how does any scientist define a perfect cell? The general just wanted to know if she had a disease or weird abnormality or something. Does being currently disease-free mean perfect cells? Or does it mean you have super duper DNA polymerases that never, ever make an error in transcription? Does it mean you are impervious to all infection via some awesome genetic mutations of some sort? (For example, there are people who cannot contract HIV because they have a mutated, nonfunctional CCR5 receptor, which HIV needs to enter cells.) Or is physical beauty all you need to have perfect cells? I just thought this line was kind of lame. And, ever since our team did that whole eugenics project in college, the idea of "perfect" genetic anything bothers me. I know that's not what they meant in the movie, but still.
So all this made me think: How do you define a perfect being? In the movie, having more genetic material and more regenerative/healing ability made Leeloo perfect. If you were going to describe a perfect being, are those the criteria you would choose?
Coming soon: X-Men: Genetic mutations, Radiation, and Yellow Spandex | <urn:uuid:961a8434-a7ea-4b43-a31f-8305b68e90d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://moviesunderthemicroscope.blogspot.ca/2008/08/how-not-to-make-perfect-being-fifth.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967938 | 2,093 | 2.53125 | 3 |
The Internet is now the world's most popular network and it is full of potential vulnerabilities. In this series of articles, we explore the vulnerabilities of the Internet and what you can do to mitigate them.
If you've read the Cookoo's Egg - or if you've even heard of it, you know about how Cliff Stohl helped track down attacks against computers in the United States by investigating a seemingly trivial accounting error in his system. The good news is that detecting the sorts of attacks described in Cliff's book is far easier now than it was then. The bad news is that once you've detected an attack, tracking down the source has become even harder.
I've mentioned our Internet site before, and I've probably told you that we detect more than one suspicious activity per day on average. What I haven't told you about is what happens when we try to track down the sources of these activities. That's what this month's article is about.
I have chosen three incidents from 1995 that give a flavor of what happens when we try to track down the source of an attack and do something to prevent the attacker from trying again.
A U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) site tried using our free one-time automated testing service to detect vulnerabilities in their configuration. Upon seeing the incoming test, someone at the site apparently misinterpreted the action as hostile and returned the favor by trying to test our facility without the courtesy of asking us. The inbound activity was detected and generated automatic response in the form of email to the site administrator.
After 3 days of email non-delivery, it would normally fall upon our fearless systems administrator (yours truly) to do a manual follow-up. This particular attack was of special concern because of the apparent determination of the attacker to test our defenses. In the face of our refusal to accept inbound telnets (nobody from their site has a legitimate reason to telnet into our network so we don't allow then to even try), the person on the other end apparently decided that it might be a problem with the particular computer and proceeded to try to login from several other computers at that site. Real-time detection on our system generates on-screen audit trails as well as email to the systems administrator. Upon seeing the series of attempted entries on the screen and reading the various emailed notices of inbound activity, it was decided to forego the normal 3-day waiting period and go to a more active approach to defense.
We started by calling the Computer Emergency Response Team at Carnegie-Mellon University. After some rather hostile words on my part, they decided the case was worthy of response, so they gave me the telephone number of the DoD response team and sent me on my way. I then called the DoD emergency response team and identified what was going on. They asked for audit trails so I sent them a page or two worth of audit trails via email (it arrived safely within a few minutes). We also discussed the fact that this was probably a response to the automated test they had run, and pending decisions by higher authority, decided it would be prudent to prevent a recurrence by restricting our testing service to disallow tests from their particular branch of the military. This was done during the telephone conversation (it takes less than a minute to restrict tests - we simply add the domain to our list of sites not wanting to allow tests).
The people at the military site assured me that they would try to track down the source of the attack. Indeed, within a very short period of time, the attacks did stop. As to tracking down the source of the attacks, well, ...
Since the military site didn't run the ident daemon, we couldn't track each attempt down to a particular user ID, but you would expect that normal system logs would indicate which user was logged into which of those systems at the right times to allow all of the attempted entries. Apparently this is my misimpression. The response team later reported back to me that they had narrowed the search down to four people, none of whom would admit any involvement in the process. Rather than proceed further, it was decided that the no-harm no-foul principle would be applied, and I was assured that all of the individuals were quite certain that they would never do such a thing in the future, even though they were all quite certain they had not done such a thing in the past.
It's fairly common for attackers to break into accounts at one site and use those accounts to break into other sites. They feel that the indirection provides limited protection against traceback - and they are right. It's not that they can't be easily traced - it's that the more systems administrators become involved in the process, the more likely it becomes that one of them will be unable or unwilling to take the next step. Of course the indirection also increases the time for a traceback in many cases.
In this particular case, the attempted entry was detected when a user at a University tried to telnet into our site. Our automatic response to such attempts is to send a mail message to the systems administrator at the source of the attempt. Here's what one of our automated responses looks like:
A user at your site has just attempted to telnet into our site without proper authorization. We consider this inappropriate behavior and would like an explanation of this action as soon as possible.
This message is generated automatically at the time of the attempted entry and is sent to our administrators and the postmaster at the machine making the attempt. We have included any information provided by your ident daemon (if in use) on the subject line of this message. We also do a reverse finger for future reference.
Fred Cohen - fred at all.net - tel:US+330-686-0090
The systems administrator at the university responded within less than two hours stating that they appreciated the heads up and that they would investigate and let me know how it came out. Within two days, the story came back that the account attempting the entry was a stolen account and that it was being used from another university. The stolen account had been disabled and the student who owned it was given a new account. The next university down the line had been contacted and they were going to trace things from there. The administrator thanked me, and I haven't heard anything about the incident since then.
It might be nice to do more comprehensive follow-ups on these incidents, but remember, we get one-a-day on average, and if we followed each one up to find out what finally happened, we would never get any other work done. We would probably feel differently if the attack had succeeded, but in a failed attack, detecting it, getting the source shut down, and tracking it two steps down the line is about as far as we can normally go. By the way, if the administrator at the second site reads this, please send me a note telling me what happened next.
If you're in the military and you try attacks, you'll probably get shut down quickly. If you try to exploit a university system and get detected, they will probably shut down your stolen account and trace back further to try to catch you. But if you want to attack with relative impunity, the best place today seems to be small Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
Most small ISPs lease a 56K, 64K, or T1 (or equivalent) telephone line to connect them to the nearest Internet backbone site. At the ISP's end, you will likely find a few Sun file servers, a router, and a modem bank. The modems are used by their customers to dial in for service, and the ISP provides domain name system (DNS) services and an IP class C address range for their use.
Most small ISPs have their hands full keeping their systems operating. When it comes to securing outsiders against attacks by their customers, they are not very anxious participants. Most systems administrators don't know how to track down attacks, and when it comes to reading audit trails, they often don't even know where they are located or if they are operational. But perhaps the most important reason small ISPs don't like playing detective against their customers is that their customers are paying them for Internet service, while the person being attacked by one of their customers is not paying them. If they find an attacker among their customers they reduce their income and send the customer to the competition.
Perhaps this explains the response I recently got from an ISP in the northeastern United States. Our system detected an attempt to scan our Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) ports looking for services. This is a typical start of an attack wherein the attacker identifies available services by trying every possible service (as opposed to asking the service called portmapper which is supposed to list available network services). After available services have been identified, services with well known vulnerabilities are attacked one-at-a-time in an attempt to gain entry. Our detection system automatically responded to some of these attempts by sending email to the systems administrator at the ISP's site.
The ISP's response was less than supportive. In essence, the systems administrator responded that these few attempts to enter our site didn't constitute a threat worth following up on. I responded by stating that, in my opinion, it was a violation of federal law to attempt to enter another Internet site without authorization to do so. The administrator responded that it was just too much effort to try to track down such an attack. After all, they have scores of users at that time of day. I was basically told that this was the end of it as far as he was concerned.
My next step was to get details on the site from the InterNIC (the Network Information Center for the Internet - rs.internic.net). By using the whois command, the InterNIC provides contact information for Internet sites. Once I found the site details, I tried to contact higher authority at the ISP's site by telephone. In sizable ISPs, there is usually someone (perhaps the owner) who is in authority over the systems administrator and can ask the administrator to follow-up on this. Unfortunately, this is a small ISP, and as a result, there is no higher authority. The systems administrator owns and operates the whole show, so there is no appeals process.
My next and increasingly distasteful and less likely to succeed step was to contact the CERT at C-MU. I figured that the ISP might be embarrassed or bullied into investigating further if contacted by the CERT. The CERT expressed that there is nothing they can do to force an ISP to do anything, but that if I wanted them to, they would contact the ISP and ask them for their side of the story. I said that it would be worthwhile to do this and that I would like the CERT to keep a file on the incident so that any further incidents could be correlated as to source.
The CERT said they would proceed along these lines if and only if I filled out their incident report form. As I filled in the form, I noticed several questions about my internal configuration which I felt were inappropriate. I certainly didn't want to identify details of my security setup to the CERT for storage on a publicly funded database. I answered these questions n/a or in some other similar fashion and sent the form off to the CERT.
The next day, I got a two-part response. The first part was, in essence, that they had contacted the ISP and that the ISP would do nothing further to investigate (no big surprise). The second part advised me to run some hokey computer security software that the CERT thinks will help to secure my system. In my opinion, this second response is completely inappropriate (and I told them so):
At this point, my legal options were essentially exhausted. Since this was an Interstate incident, local and state police could be of no assistance. They probably wouldn't understand what I was talking about, but even if they did, they can't help in Interstate crimes. The FBI can only investigate if there is damage in excess of $5,000. Since I defended against the attack successfully, there isn't enough damage to bother tracking down the attacker, and they won't even start a file over such a minor incident. Three's no higher authority to go to, it's not worthwhile to file a civil law suit over such a thing, and anything I might do to find the information out on my own would probably involve breaking into someone else's system, which I will not do.
Unfortunately, very little can be done by individuals about a global situation. But fortunately, every systems administrator can do their part. Here are a few suggestions that will help to improve the situation for all of us:
Perhaps the biggest Internet hole of all is the fact that when an incident is detected, there's no uniform or enforcable way to track down attackers and punish them.
Our system detects and prevents over 350 attacks per year, tracks each of them down to a specific computer (and in some cases even a specific user), and reports many of them to the administrator of the affected site. In 1995, our efforts resulted in action against only about five individuals, and in no case was the action of any noticeable significance. One person was told to stop it, one person was told to be more polite, one person was given a copy of the site policy and told not to do it again, ... you get the idea.
There's an old saying about computer crime that goes something like this:
If this is true, the risk is 1 in 1.5 million of being punished. We've done our part by cutting this down to 1 in 15,000. Now if we could only get everyone else to do their part, we could win this thing. | <urn:uuid:de08f55b-c28f-43f2-8e1b-55aa4786d14f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.all.net/Analyst/netsec/1996-03.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979673 | 2,819 | 2.15625 | 2 |
| If you are familiar with the AdobeR FlashR platform, you already have the skills to create AndroidR and iOSR apps. This book entitled Professional Flash Mobile Development: Creating Android and iPhone Applications by Richard Wagner is a great introduction to Adobe AIRR for Android and iOS.|
Wagner begins by walking you through downloading and installing the AIR SDK (version 2.5) in Flash Professional and Flash Builder. He discusses the preliminary steps to get you up and running to create and test your first example app for both the Android and iOS platforms. This VanillaApp is a simple "Hello World" sample app and takes you through the steps to start a new Android and iOS application in Flash and build a splash screen for the VanillaApp.
Building on the skills you have learned with the first app, you create a few more small apps that teach you how to capture and respond to multi-touch user interaction such as the touch, swipe, rotate and zoom events. At this point, the author touches on the important steps to optimizing your ActionScript code for mobile devices including object pooling, bitmap caching, GPU rendering, garbage collection and event bubbling.
The next few chapters cover how to access the native features of your mobile device such as the Accelerometer, Auto Orientation, Geolocation and service protocols. You learn how to code the ActionScript that will capture the event input from the device and then respond to the event. For example, you will create a Find Me A Pizza app that will use the device's Geolocation feature and YahooR Local web services to find the nearest Pizza restaurant.
Your can use your mobile device to make phone calls, send SMS and emails. The author helps you add these features to your applications. You create a PhoneDialer app that makes phone calls and a PhoneServices app that sends SMS and emails. You also learn how to access the Android camera and microphone.
Many applications require you to collect and store information from the user and the device. The author discusses how to code your app to read and write to a file and to make queries to the SQLite database.
Now you are ready to learn how to test your app both from within the Flash workspace and remotely via WiFi. When you are ready, the author covers how to prepare your app for submission to the app stores.
Although this book touches on how to optimize your application for mobile devices, it doesn't thoroughly cover this important topic.
Richard Wagner has authored several books and is the Lead Product Architect at MAARK.
*I purchased this book with my own funds.
Join us in the Flash forum. | Join us in the Digital Art and Design forum. | <urn:uuid:78c5ff9c-d515-4464-bf20-7299fbe9293d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art174171.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920858 | 545 | 1.898438 | 2 |
By: Nikhil Malankar
India is a very beautiful country. We all have heard about its rich culture, unity in diversity and many things about India. It is actually a heaven on Earth. Well, let me ask you a question first. Have you visited India or do you reside in India? If not then take my advice and visit India. You will have a great time in India. You can actually spend your whole life in knowing India but for time being let me introduce 5 must visits in India. Let me start with the list.
You may have heard about Mumbai many a times. It is one of the most modern cities in India. The people here are always in a rush. It is a lovely place. Mumbai is actually a city which never sleeps. Many film stars live here. You can munch on the street food which has a lot of variety ranging from pani puri to vada pav. It is a must visit and on the top of the list. You can shop, cruise and do anything and everything in this city. There are many places to visit in Mumbai. You will find many malls in this city. Some popular places in Mumbai are Juhu Beach, Bandstand, Gateway of India, Marine Lines. There is no end to the list and you will find that there is a lot more variety in Mumbai.
A very calm and cool place. If you want to be in peace and away from the daily noise of traffic in the city then this is THE place for you. You will find many things to do here. The best time to visit Shimla is in summer. You will actually experience what bliss is in this part of India. It is a heavenly place and the people are very affectionate. The temperature is cold throughout the year. It is one of the best places for skiing.
Indians call Kerala as Gods own country. It is a great place. You get to see the backwaters and can also swim in those. This one is mostly famous for its greenery. The people here are highly educated and Kerala ranks first in literacy in India.Kerala is truly Gods own place as it has a variety of heavenly bliss and so many photographic locations. You will actually feel at home in this part of India.
Gujarat is a very developed state and its population mainly consists of Gujaratis. The people are very sweet and so is the food. You can visit Ahmedabad city and Surat city here. You will find many industries over here. Gujarat is a very good city for tourists. You have a good variety of places to see here. We also get to see the Sabarmati Ashram where we have memories of Mahatma Gandhi with us. The food quality is just good and you will also find the taste good.
Punjab is a city of joy. The people here are very big hearted. It is a very posh country. The most famous dish of Punjab is ‘Makke ki roti aur sarso kaa saag’. There are many places to visit in Punjab. The temperature is a little cold in this country. The speciality of this country is that you will not observe a single mountain till the border of this country. It is a beautiful place and the people are really kind.
So, these are the 5 must visits in India. Next time you visit India please take a note of these places and don’t forget to visit them. | <urn:uuid:ae249730-8212-4bd1-9452-3b37ee3015b7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://geneticwriters.wordpress.com/tag/visits/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971484 | 708 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Remember being blindfolded and spun around the first time you played Pin the Tail on the Donkey? It’s pretty scary stuff being blinded and disoriented in a strange room — floundering about having no idea of where you are or where you are going. You’re unfamiliar with the room, so you’re not sure what obstacles might be there, let alone where they might be. Since you’ve never played before, you aren’t quite sure what’s expected of you. It’s really quite unsettling. People are watching and evaluating your every move. Some might be mean and trip or push you, because that’s just who they are. Others might unintentionally do things that distract you, causing you to falter. Others might try to be helpful. They might make a lot of noise to guide you. You might hear them say: “go to the left, go forward, go right,” but that makes it even harder to find, and to keep, your bearings. You may stumble and fall, but you do everything in your power to hold onto that tail — the one with the dangerous pin sticking out of it. You wish this would just hurry up and be over!
That’s what caregiving is like — except the stakes are much higher and there isn’t a nice prize at the end.
But remember that nice thing which happened when you played Pin the Tail on the Donkey? Somebody came along and took your hand, and they led you to where you needed to be. Remember how that felt? You were no longer alone. Somebody remembered what it was like when they first entered the game, and they understood what you were going through. Suddenly you felt safer and everything felt better with this reassurance, guidance and direction. Six caregiving wives and I share our experiences to do just that for you in The Caregiving Wife’s Handbook. Get a few of their best tips here:
Giving permission for self care is the hardest step for caregivers. And the six wives were no exception. Like other caregivers, they couldn’t/wouldn’t do it for themselves, but would to be better caregivers. They each devised ways that worked given their finances and freedom. Let their creative ideas inspire you.
Utilize respite. Tina’s husband, Tom, suffers from dementia. Giving him loving care totally drains her. To recover, she takes a month-long visit to her family in Argentina. She tells friends and family that “if Tom dies while I’m away, don’t call me. Just put him on ice and I’ll take care of it when I get home.” And she’s serious! In order to protect her own health, she’s willing to risk criticism from everybody.
Do simple things. Cathy doesn’t have much money or a car, so she takes relaxing walks in her neighborhood. She enjoys “inner” vacations as she chants, meditates, reads and does affirmations while her husband, Craig, sleeps. She escapes into herself in healthy ways. If the house isn’t perfect for visitors, she says they can clean it themselves! Children and grandchildren descend on the house expecting to be entertained and fed, but if they don’t bring and prepare their own food, they don’t get to eat.
Use what’s in your neighborhood. Susan’s husband, Sam, is dying of cancer. She does “shop therapy” to get her out of the house and into those beautiful havens called shopping malls. Shop therapy may be as simple as buying something at a flea market or dollar store because getting something new gives the feeling that there is a future. Neighborhood churches provide another free source of uplifting beauty.
Stay socially involved. This is how Mary cares for herself while Mark is dying of Parkinson’s. He is able to care for himself long enough for her to lunch with friends, which she does despite criticism from some. If she doesn’t attend to her social life, she won’t have one after he dies. She is simply preparing for her future.
Get help and enjoy your friends. Fran, a teacher, cares for Frank, who is dying of emphysema. She arranges to have one of their children stay with him one Saturday a month and one evening a month so she can go out with co-workers. She shares immediate concerns with co-workers during class breaks.
Have fun and get rest. Joe has been struggling with Parkinson’s for many years. Jean arranged for a neighbor to stay with him while she went to a jazz club one night every week. She also had someone come one entire night each week so she could take a sleeping pill and get a good night’s sleep.
Know that his journey and your journey are not one and the same. You’ve got different things for which to prepare, so don’t get lost on his path. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Take the hands that are held out to guide you on your journey with strategies, tools, and resources in The Caregiving Wife’s Handbook. | <urn:uuid:150e945f-8fd6-42b6-8d09-22e9c3d4555d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.seniorsforliving.com/blog/2012/05/31/caregivers-need-someone-to-hold-their-hand/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975428 | 1,087 | 1.5625 | 2 |
New Warwick book tells human tale behind decline of industrial cities
Urban sociologist Dr Alice Mah has explored the history and communities of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in the UK, Niagara Falls in the US and Canada and Ivanovo in Russia.
Her book, Industrial Ruination, Community and Place: Landscapes and Legacies of Urban Decline, looks at how these derelict sites remain connected with the urban landscapes that surround them.
Dr Mah said: “I chose these three sites because they were all once the main cities in their industries and had fascinating stories to tell. For Newcastle, the industry was shipbuilding and you walk around that city and you can feel there is a still a strong legacy there. Ivanovo was once one of the biggest producers of textiles, and Niagara is particularly interesting. It is thought of as a honeymoon destination and a tourist site, but it is less well known for its chemical factories and as a site of environmental contamination.”
Dr Mah visited each city and carried out more than 80 interviews with residents, workers, former workers, trade unionists, city officials, urban planners, and community activists.
She took all of the photographs that feature in the book, showing derelict industrial sites including abandoned shipyards along Walker Riverside in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, contaminated chemical brownfields in Niagara Falls, and semi-abandoned textile factories in Ivanovo.
Dr Mah said: “By focusing on people and places that have been left behind in the knowledge and service economy, this book challenges dominant models of post-industrial change. My research highlights the complex social realities for people who live in and with industrial ruination and the importance of the imagination for shaping urban futures.”
Listen to an interview with Dr Mah about her book
The book is available from Amazon
A selection of pictures from the book are available:
Notes to editors
To arrange an interview with Dr Mah, please contact Kelly Parkes-Harrison, Press and Communications Manager, University of Warwick, email@example.com, 02476 150868, 07931 557834 | <urn:uuid:26b08d6d-21db-43b0-9adb-177ffcd718be> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/new_warwick_book | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945782 | 437 | 2.078125 | 2 |
This article presents a very small scale blog engine using ASP.NET and SQLServer. The idea here is to understand how a rudimentary blog engine can be implemented with proper architecture.
I have been a C++ programmer for 5 years writing core applications mainly dealing with graphics, multimedia and networking domain. After that, I started writing Windows applications using C# and WPF. Recently, I started writing websites using ASP.NET/C#/SqlServer. On this recent project, I got a chance to learn a lot about web development. Here I am taking care of one particular service starting from its Data layer to its presentation layer. Although the architecture here is not following a strict n-tier approach, that didn't stop me from learning and implementing the n-tier architecture for web applications. When my wife asked me about how things work in ASP.NET (she is more of a web designer than a developer), I created this small blog engine to explain to her the basics of ASP.NET websites and n-tier architecture.
Using the Code
We have tried to follow a proper n-tier architecture. The bottom most layer is the Data layer which contains the tables and stored procedures of SqlServer. On top of that, we have a Data Access Layer (DAL). This Data access layer is created as a separate solution so that the changes in DAL only need the recompilation of DAL and not the complete website. Also the changes in other areas outside this solution will not demand for DAL recompilation. On top of DAL, we have our Business Logic Layer(BLL). It is also in a separate solution for the same reason, and the Presentation layer is a website containing ASP.NET pages running on top of BLL.
The Data Layer
The first thing we need to do is to plan out the database schema that we will be using. Here is the snapshot of the database schema that I created.
Along with the schema, I also created few stored procedures for common operations on database. I like the idea of having stored procedures for all database operations as it is the most secure way of accessing the database (from the perspective of SQL injection). If you ask me, the best way to implement the DB operations is:
- Stored procedures
- Executing Parametrizec commands
- Dynamically creating queries by
string concatenation (only when I absolutely have to because this is the worst way so I usually avoid it)
So the stored procedures that we have in this application are:
The Data Access Layer(DAL)
The data access layer talks to the database, retrieves the results and passes it to the business logic layer in the form of
DataTables. The DAL contains the following classes:
The respective classes in this DAL are responsible for talking to the respective database tables. The common functions are moved inside the class
The Business Logic Layer(BLL)
The BLL takes care of manipulating the data as per the request from the user interface, have some additional checks and operations that need to be performed. The main classes in our BLL are:
The Presentation Layer
The presentation layer contains the web forms that the user can access. The presentation layer is divided in two areas, one for the normal users to browse through the blog entries and the other for the administrator to add/change blog entries, categories and/or metadata. (Please see the source for detailed implementation.) I have not used the forms authentication or Windows authentication for this small website rather I am keeping track of users in my databases and authenticating and authorizing then programmatically. This was a design decision I made (perhaps not a good one) but more elegant solutions can be implemented too (since the main idea here was learning data access in n-tier apps, so I didn't).
The website runs in two modes:
- User mode - Simply run the website after compiling the BLL and DLL
- Admin mode - Run the website. Add /admin in the URL to go to the Admin mode (USERNAME: admin, password: 12345)
Points of Interest
The idea behind this exercise was to understand and implement n-tier data access architecture for beginners. But I am ready to take suggestions and add improvements so that this engine can further be improved.
- 9 Feb 2012: YaBlogEngine's Version 1 implemented | <urn:uuid:52da3470-293c-4245-abfe-fa730e36ec81> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/327764/YaBlogEngine-A-Tiny-Blog-Engine-written-in-ASP-NET?fid=1684844&df=90&mpp=10&sort=Position&spc=None&tid=4427912&noise=3&prof=True&view=Expanded | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9133 | 896 | 1.875 | 2 |
For some, this is not a hypothetical question. Just ask L. Paul Bremer III, Antonin Scalia or the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
Last year, The Times suggested on Page 1 that Bremer was a coward: "L. Paul Bremer III, the civilian administrator for Iraq, left without even giving a final speech to the country — almost as if he were afraid to look in the eye the people he had ruled for more than a year."
False. Not only had Bremer given a farewell speech, CNN had broadcast key parts of it.
In the lead sentence of another front-page article, The Times claimed that Justice Scalia had acted unethically by speaking to a group that — according to The Times — was backing a lawsuit against gay rights: "Justice Antonin Scalia gave a keynote dinner speech in Philadelphia for an advocacy group waging a legal battle against gay rights."
False. The group had nothing to do with that lawsuit.
In yet another front-page article, about the Swift boat veterans who opposed John Kerry's presidential candidacy, The Times claimed: "None of the men in the Swift boat group behind the anti-Kerry ad served on Kerry's patrol boat during the war."
False. Steven Gardner, a Swift Boat Veterans for Truth member, served on a patrol boat with Kerry for 2 1/2 of the four months that Kerry spent in country.
Each of these false assertions damaged someone's reputation, and each ran on the front page of the L.A. Times. In each case, The Times later ran a small correction inside the paper — alongside corrections of trivial errors, such as misspelled names. In each case, only a fraction of the people who read the original article ever saw the correction.
This is business as usual — not just at the L.A. Times but at newspapers nationwide. Yet for people whose reputations are harmed by false assertions, business as usual isn't good enough. How do you think L.A. Times editors would feel if their reputations were unfairly smeared on the front page of a national newspaper? Would they be satisfied with a small correction hidden inside the paper? Not likely.
The Times can prove that it takes the journalistic value of fairness seriously by placing noteworthy corrections in a more prominent space. A substantive correction should be at least as conspicuous as the original article in which the error appeared. A correction of a substantial error in a front-page article should run on Page 1. The policy would make it more likely readers would actually see corrections of significant errors. It would give reporters and editors greater incentive to get stories right. And it would encourage more vigorous scrutiny for political bias, latent or overt.
The mistakes cited above follow a consistent ideological pattern. I could fill this entire Sunday Opinion section with similar examples. Errors like these do not result from any conspiracy to distort the truth. Rather, they are the natural result of a newsroom that I'm willing to bet is staffed by people who largely share similar views.
All humans have opinions and beliefs, and with them come ideological blind spots. Most people are better at catching errors when the errors conflict with their own point of view. Journalists are no different. This is why newspapers should strive to have a mix of viewpoints in the newsroom. If The Times staff reflected a wider variety of political perspectives, the errors cited above might never have appeared.
By balancing the editorial staff's ideological makeup, The Times could minimize its factual errors. By more prominently correcting errors when they do occur, the paper would better inform its readers and begin repairing its reputation as a reliable news source. | <urn:uuid:8c763af3-ae2f-4874-848b-fc085133bc24> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.latimes.com/news/la-op-tent13feb13,1,5596764.story | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960707 | 735 | 1.617188 | 2 |
The presidents of Chile, Croatia and the Dominican Republic descended on UCLA with their entourages over a five-day span Sept. 24-28. The dignitaries held meetings with Chancellor Gene Block and university, state and city officials and forged international partnerships in education, research, environmental issues and other areas.
A lecture by UCLA professor of Geography Jared Diamond.
Lauren Robin Derby became enchanted with the people, music and popular culture of the Dominican Republic and Haiti while on a research fellowship following her college graduation. This associate professor in history has since devoted her career to studying the history of both nations. Derby's recent book is based on her doctoral dissertation, which focused on the authoritarian regime of Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic from 1930 to 1961. | <urn:uuid:35820ae9-2606-48b3-bd88-c5212d2308a1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.international.ucla.edu/news/index.asp?countryAbr=DO | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958831 | 154 | 1.859375 | 2 |
Roanoke, Va., the commercial and cultural center for southwest Virginia and southern West Virginia, is one of those cities large enough to have the entertainment and dining options you expect in a city and small enough to be easy to get into, explore and get out of when it's time to head home. It's a breeze to get to from Knoxville by taking Interstate 40 East and 81 North into Virginia and then 581 South into the city. Despite being all interstate, it is nonetheless a rather scenic drive.
Roanoke is beautifully situated in a valley between the Allegheny Mountains rising on the west and the Blue Ridge Mountains on the east. The huge Jefferson National Forest is close by. The Roanoke River runs through the south side of the city and Mill Mountain, isolated from the area's surrounding ridges, is just the other side of the river. A little further out on the south side is the Blue Ridge Parkway.
It is a nicely walkable city with a compact downtown centered around the Market District. The Historic Roanoke City Market is the oldest continually running open air market in Virginia, and area vendors offer locally grown foods and other products there 363 days a year. One block over is the City Market Building, a 1922 structure set to have its Grand Reopening on Labor Day after extensive renovations. Renowned artist Cheryl Foster has created colored tile mosaics at the building's four main entrances, each depicting an element of Roanoke history and culture.
Be sure to get one of the Downtown Roanoke Walking Tour maps created by the Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation. It'll significantly enhance your appreciation for the history and architecture of the city.
Roanoke is known as "Star City of the South" because of the 88.5-foot-high, 10,000-pound metal red, white and blue neon star more than 1,000 feet up on Mill Mountain overlooking the city. It's been there since 1949. At night it's quite a splendid sight, and during the day, you can drive up to it for a closer look and also enjoy a bird's eye view of the city and surrounding area.
Also located atop Mill Mountain is Mill Mountain Zoo, a small but fully accredited and engaging zoo. There are 35 species at this mountaintop menagerie including spectacularly colored birds, red pandas, red wolves, otters, a snow leopard and many more.
The railroad has been a vital part of Roanoke's geographic, economic and cultural landscape for more than a century, and the city is the historic home of the headquarters for the famed Norfolk & Western Railway. The Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke's historic Norfolk & Western Railway Freight Station is a treat for anyone caught up in the romance of the railway. The museum and its outdoor pavilion have mammoth iron and steel trains of yesteryear, including the largest collection of diesel locomotives in the South, along with lots of railroad memorabilia and artifacts.
An easy walk from the transportation museum is the O. Winston Link Museum, another railroad-themed display. Link was a photographer profoundly passionate about steam locomotives who devoted countless hours to capturing the last days of the Norfolk & Western railway on film. The museum offers not only his dramatic photos but also a short documentary film, audio recordings and more.
Roanoke's delicious menu of restaurants range from simple diners to mid-range eateries to fine dining establishments. For breakfast, it's hard to beat The Roanoker Restaurant, a renowned eatery well worth the few minutes drive from downtown. Another fine choice is Thelma's Chicken & Waffles. This family-run business dishes up one lip-smacking Southern breakfast.
Two charming diners have been around just short of forever. Each offers inexpensive, tasty sustenance served up in authentic retro chic. The Roanoke Weiner Stand at Center in the Square has grilled hotdogs for about a buck and a half and other items. A few blocks down on Church Avenue is the Texas Tavern, a tiny old-school diner that serves up $1.25 hamburgers and Coney Island hotdogs and chili at its small counter.
For something a little more upscale but still casual, try Fork in the City or sister restaurant Fork in the Alley. Here you'll find soups, salads, gourmet burgers, interesting sandwiches and brick oven wood-fired pizza. It's garnered best hamburgers, best pizza and best Southwest Roanoke restaurant awards, among other categories, in city-wide competitions.
Roanoke also has several excellent choices for upscale dining. Blue 5 Restaurant has won just about every "Best of Roanoke" category The Roanoker magazine could come up with including Best Downtown Restaurant. Also sure to please pampered palates is The Regency Room at Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center, a fine restaurant with the added bonus of being located inside a grand hotel that's been designated a National Historic Landmark. | <urn:uuid:b8011b81-7623-4836-a5bb-7e0204697688> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/aug/06/roanoke-va-offers-big-city-attractions-in-small/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958394 | 1,019 | 1.632813 | 2 |
State emergency officials say that South Dakotans who registered with FEMA in 2011 for damage caused by Missouri River flooding may be eligible for additional assistance if further damage has been discovered.
Residents of Hughes, Stanley, Charles Mix, Yankton and Union counties were eligible to register last year for possible damage claims because of flooding.
Those who registered with the Federal Emergency Management Agency can seek additional individual assistance if additional flood-related damage has been found in the past year.
South Dakota Office of Emergency Management Director Kristi Turman says because the original deadline to register was Oct. 24, 2011, many residents barely had time to return to their properties let alone identify all flood-related damages.
The deadline for filing claims for new damage is Feb. 23. | <urn:uuid:23e68ee2-be47-4bbd-b1be-3e6d80407efa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.keloland.com/communities/yankton/localdetail12047.cfm?Id=138435 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952241 | 153 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Consultations focus on how chronic pain relates specifically each individual patient. Dr. Felice’s objective is to discover the best type of natural therapies appropriate for each condition. He begins by examining various factors such as a patient’s nutrition, home life, stressors, body flexibility and restrictions, movement patterns and strength. The goal is to come up with a complete picture and to identify areas of imbalance. Key aspects of these imbalances are targeted with natural therapeutics so that the healing powers of the body can be harnessed to bring the body back into balance.
In physical medicine, the physician’s job is to “set” the body to heal itself. To do so, Dr. Felice gently applies a precise amount of force to promote healthy movement of tissues. Treatments help eliminate abnormal movements and release compressed bones and joints from restrictions. In addition, the areas being treated require proper positioning to assist the body’s ability to regain normal tissue function. This procedure is called naturopathic manual medicine or naturopathic manipulative treatment.
Dr. Felice adheres to the principle that a patient’s history of illness and physical trauma are written into the body’s connective tissue structure. His developed sense of touch allows him to palpate (feel) the patient’s “living anatomy” (the flow of fluids, motion and texture of tissues, and structural make-up). | <urn:uuid:ec224499-cb61-4cd8-9c8b-fccf6e5ae950> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.drjakefelice.com/services/chronic-pain-treatments/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922316 | 295 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Massachusetts Gets Nod for National Facility to Test Blades for Wind Turbines
U.S. Secretary of Energy Bodman meets with Governor Patrick, announces renewable energy test site to be located in Charlestown
This state-of-the-art facility will become a leading center for large wind blade testing in North America, capable of assessing the structural integrity and durability of commercial wind-turbine blades of up to 230 feet in length. The wind test center will be located in Charlestown, in the Boston Autoport property owned by Massport and currently operated by Diversified Automotive.
"Hosting a national wind technology testing center will boost the clean energy technology sector already taking root in Massachusetts," said Governor Patrick. "This is an important win for us, and further proof that Massachusetts is on the way to becoming a global center for renewable energy."
Rapid growth in wind turbine size over the past two decades has outgrown the capabilities of DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory's National Wind Technology Center, located outside Boulder, Colorado, which operates the only blade test facility in North America capable of performing full-scale testing of megawatt-scale wind turbine blades. The Massachusetts testing center is the first of two announced today by Secretary Bodman. The second will be located in Ingleside, Texas.
"These two testing facilities represent an important next step in the expansion of competitiveness of the U.S. domestic wind energy industry," said Secretary Bodman. "We congratulate Massachusetts and Texas for their outstanding proposals and we believe this work will build upon the Administration's goal of prompting states to research, develop, and deploy more clean energy technologies."
"I commend Governor Patrick for his leadership in bringing this important investment to Massachusetts and for his commitment to keeping Massachusetts at the forefront of new energy technologies for the future," said U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy. "This partnership has the potential to produce the breakthroughs vital to guiding our nation to a cleaner, more independent energy future, and it's gratifying that Secretary Bodman and the Department of Energy have confidence in that potential."
"I am proud that Boston has been chosen among cities across the US to be the home for the National Renewable Energy Lab Wind Blade Test Facility," said Mayor Thomas M. Menino. "Boston is among the world's leading cities for clean technology innovation, an emerging economic cluster that will help advance Boston and the Commonwealth's ambitious climate protection goals while creating good jobs."
U.S. DOE will provide $2 million in technology licensing and leases, as well as staff support to certify and launch the facility. The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, which will lease space for the facility from Diversified Automotive, is providing, through its Renewable Energy Trust, more than $13 million in grant and loan financing for construction and start-up costs for the center, which will eventually become self-sustaining. MTC financing consists of:
- $7 million grant to fund capital cost of the building
- $5 million in loans for potential capital costs
- $1.2 million as a working capital loan
MTC will also create a $5 million fund to support extraordinary research opportunities related to the test center's work.
Other partners in the winning proposal include the University of Massachusetts Renewable Energy Resource Laboratory and the state's Executive Offices of Energy and Environmental Affairs and Housing and Economic Development.
Although the facility itself will at the start employ just eight technicians, examining two blades at a time for three to four months, the testing site is expected to become a hub of wind-turbine engineering, with blade designers and manufacturers drawn to the area.
"This national testing facility will be a magnet for the emerging wind-energy industry, which is ultimately a precision engineering and composite materials business," said Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Dan O'Connell. "Massachusetts has a proud history in this field, and this center will translate into new jobs for years to come."
The wind turbine test facility announcement comes on the heels of Evergreen Solar deciding in April to locate its first U.S. solar-panel manufacturing plant in Massachusetts, after working closely with the Patrick Administration on new initiatives to spur the adoption of solar energy in the Commonwealth, and after moves by clean-energy entrepreneurs to organize a trade association following Governor Patrick's encouragement to do so.
"Thanks to intellectual resources, venture capital, and entrepreneurial spirit, Massachusetts is well positioned to become a national and international leader in clean energy," said Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles. "Massachusetts can blaze the trail toward a clean energy future, and the world will follow." | <urn:uuid:4ce99c2b-8f8c-4d27-9506-665fcb530917> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mass.gov/governor/pressoffice/pressreleases/2007/renewable-energy-test-site-announced.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947286 | 947 | 1.765625 | 2 |
In the first half of the nineteenth century, the recent discovery of some of the finest painted Etruscan tombs fired the imagination of students at the Academy of France in Rome. Félix Duban was among them. Winner of the Grand Prix for architecture at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1823, he lived in the Villa Medici for five years. The young architect met other architects there, Léon Vaudoyer, Joseph-Louis Duc and the Labrouste brothers, Henri and Théodore. If Henri Labrouste was nicknamed ‘the Etruscan', Duban was known as ‘the Pompeiian'.
This fantasy is a free interpretation of the tomb of Biges at Tarquinia in Lazio. It is not clear whether Duban was able to visit the tomb during his stay in Tuscany in 1827, because it was closed until 1829. It is possible that he copied drawings by Henri Labrouste and used them for this imaginative composition.
He has used the frieze which decorates the walls of the tomb. In it we can see male and female dancers, athletes and one of the blue horses that so irritated Viollet-le-Duc. One day, in conversation with the architect Prosper Morey (1805-1886) Viollet-le-Duc exclaimed: "Are you for Etruscan architecture? Blue horses on a red ground!"
Duban collected drawings of Etruscan or similar objects he saw in museums: vases, altars, urns decorated with reliefs, a sarcophagus, a column from another tomb. As always in his work, the colour is heightened by the play of light and shade. This drawing testifies to a particular moment in archaeological and architectural history, to the taste for a mysterious Etruria which suited Felix Duban's enquiring mind and romantic nature very well. | <urn:uuid:5a5f6d90-e441-4406-b608-d75161a2c2fb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/works-in-focus/search/commentaire_id/composizione-di-antichita-9996.html?no_cache=1&cHash=87a4b0c0de | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948254 | 399 | 3 | 3 |
"Genie" (b. 1957) is the pseudonym of a young girl raised in an abusive and isolated environment until the age of 13. The
collection consists of material that chronicles her discovery and the study and rehabilitation efforts of researchers. Items
include reports and essays; correspondence; notes; medical records; diagnostic material; legal paperwork such as depositions,
summonses, and settlement agreements; pedagogical material; administrative paperwork; Genie's artwork; articles and clippings;
photographs and slides; audio-visual videotapes, cassettes, and film; assorted printed material; and ephemera.
"Genie" is the pseudonym of a 13 year old girl who, on November 4, 1970, was admitted to Childrens Hospital Los Angeles as
a victim of extreme isolation and deprivation by her immediate family. She was discovered after a Department of Social Services
case worker took note of Genie when her mother, who was losing her eyesight, visited Social Services seeking assistance for
the blind. Subsequent medical and psychological tests at Childrens Hospital noted that Genie had language and motor skills
far below her age level.
74 boxes (37 linear ft.)
7 oversize boxes.
The materials in the collection raise privacy and confidentiality concerns that prevent the University from granting any permission
to access the materials for any purpose other than personal research. The University does not hold any copyrights in these
materials and cannot grant permission to copy or publish. Any person seeking to publish the materials would have to resolve
potential issues concerning copyright, statutory protection of medical records (HIPPA), and common law and California constitutional
privacy. The University cannot address or resolve these issues. While the University is able to provide access to some of
the materials for personal research purposes, it cannot provide access beyond this narrow restriction nor grant permission
to copy or publish."
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: This collection is RESTRICTED and CLOSED to access. Contact the UCLA Library Special Collections
Reference Desk for additional information. | <urn:uuid:bab895f4-7b0c-4b93-b6a5-8ab636965647> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt0q2nc69q/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920503 | 425 | 2.171875 | 2 |
Here's one measure of just how big the current crude oil production boom is: Sometime this year monthly U.S. crude oil production is expected to exceed crude oil imports, a situation that hasn't been seen since February 1995.
The reasons are the shale oil and gas boom, made possible by hydraulic fracturing, and discoveries of huge reserves beneath the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, an area where Texas-based Anadarko Petroleum Company (NYSE:APC) is making big discoveries.
On Tuesday, Anadarko said its 2 Shenandoah exploratory well found a 1,000-foot deep zone of pay dirt. To find the oil, Anadarko drilled to 31,405 feet below the seabed. The rig that drilled the wildcat was in 5,800 feet of water.
"With ownership in the successful Shenandoah wells, the adjacent Yucatan prospect, and the very encouraging results from the nearby Coronado well, Anadarko is strategically positioned in the Shenandoah Basin, which has the potential to become one of the most prolific new areas in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico,” Bob Daniels, senior vice president of deepwater and international exploration, said.
Wall Street is paying close attention. UBS AG responded Wednesday by raising its price target on the company's shares to $105 from $102.
"Conservatively assuming an average net pay of 650 foot for Shenandoah, we estimate gross resource potential at about 720 million barrels of oil equivalent, above our prior 325 million barrels of oil equivalent estimate," UBS analyst William A. Featherston said in a note.
Capital One Southcoast called the discovery "game changing" for Anadarko, adding the "exciting story is far from over," according to MarketWatch.
Discoveries such as the 2 Shenandoah are part of the reason for the Energy Information Administration's forecast that U.S. crude oil production will exceed imports sometime this year.
“Monthly crude oil production in the United States is expected to exceed the amount of U.S. crude oil imports later this year for the first time since February 1995,” the EIA said. “The gap between monthly U.S. crude oil production and imports is projected to be almost 2 million barrels per day by the end of next year.”
Here's how the EIA envisions the event:
To contact the editor, e-mail: | <urn:uuid:3f341a78-7956-4070-90a7-a5cc6774c40f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/448454/20130321/oil-crude-oil-production-imports-2013-anadarko-petroleum-gulf-of-mexico.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949098 | 511 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Appeals Court Rules Counsel May 'Google' Potential Jurors During Jury Selection
Evan Brown's Internet Cases blog flagged an interesting case over the weekend coming out of Morris County, N.J. Brown writes that the courthouse in that county provides wireless internet access, and during jury selection, plaintiffs counsel in a medical malpractice case began using his laptop to "Google" potential jurors to gain additional information about them. This led to the following exchange between the judge and the Googling counsel:
THE COURT: Are you Googling these [potential jurors]?
[PLAINTIFFS COUNSEL]: Your Honor, there’s no code law that says I’m not allowed to do that. I-any courtroom-
THE COURT: Is that what you’re doing?
[PLAINTIFFS COUNSEL]: I’m getting information on jurors-we’ve done
it all the time, everyone does it. It’s not unusual. It’s not. There’s
no rule, no case or any suggestion in any case that says-
THE COURT: No, no, here is the rule. The rule is it’s my courtroom and I control it.
The judge then prohibited counsel from doing so. The jury in the case found in favor of the defendant, and the plaintiff appealed the court's ruling that counsel could not make use of the Internet during jury selection.
Brown reports that on appeal in the case (Carino v. Muenzen, 2010 WL 3448071 (N.J.Super.A.D. August 30, 2010)), the appellate court found that the trial court's prohibition was unreasonable:
There was no suggestion that counsel’s use of the computer was in any
way disruptive. That he had the foresight to bring his laptop computer
to court, and defense counsel did not, simply cannot serve as a basis
for judicial intervention in the name of “fairness” or maintaining “a
level playing field.” The “playing field” was, in fact, already “level”
because internet access was open to both counsel, even if only one of
them chose to utilize it.
The appellate court let the verdict stand, however, because the plaintiff failed to show any prejudice from the Google ruling.
How do other courts handle this? In this era of iPad-assisted trials, it seems silly to me that judges would try to limit the flow of information to counsel during a trial.
Posted by Bruce Carton on September 8, 2010 at 11:14 AM | Permalink
| Comments (2) | <urn:uuid:58b08700-75fc-43d8-ad6e-1440e72bf4f2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://legalblogwatch.typepad.com/legal_blog_watch/2010/09/appeals-court-rules-counsel-may-google-potential-jurors-during-jury-selection.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952039 | 557 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Use these 170 reflective journal writing prompts to learn more about yourself and the world around you. Increasing your self knowledge will raise your self esteem.
"One of the marks of an intelligent person is to be able to distinguish what is worth doing and what isn't and to be able to set priorities." Anne Wilson Schaef
These reflective journal writing prompts will give your life clarity and focus. With them, setting priorities will be easier. With more effective decision making skills, your life will be more balanced and stress free.
Most of these reflective journal writing prompts begin with, "What?" "How?" “Why?” and “If?” Other prompts ask about your wishes and dreams. Finally there are some general reflective journal writing prompts.
The prompts will stimulate your imagination, increase awareness of your beliefs and boost your critical thinking skills. Answer these reflective journal writing prompts with as much thought as you can. The richer your answer, the richer the rewards!
For more journal writing prompts ideas have a look at
Reflective Journal Writing Prompts Beginning With “What?
1. What does "holds water” mean to you?
2. What does "copy cat,” mean to you?
3. Would be your ideal birthday present, and why?
4. What would it be like to be in a tornado?
5. What do you think the world will be like in 10 years? Twenty? Fifty?
6. What do you think people say to each other when you're not around?
7. What is your opinion about ghosts?
8. What is your opinion of someone who has bad manners?
9. What do you think about when you can't fall asleep?
10. What do you think courage means?
11. What things do you think are beautiful?
12. What is your opinion of 3D movies?
13. What is the best way to treat busybodies?
14. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
15. Which living person do you most despise?
16. What is the quality you like most in a woman? What is the quality you like most in a man?
17. What things are better than going to school? Why?
18. What makes a good neighbor?
19. What rituals do you have or hold?
20. What do you think is the greatest invention? Why?
1. What is your idea of a boring evening?
2. What is something you are optimistic about?
3. What is something you are pessimistic about?
4. What is your favorite song and why?
5. What would happen if there were no television? Why would this be good? bad?
6. What would you do if you saw a friend cheating—report it, confront the friend, nothing—and why?
7. What is your interpretation of one of your recent dreams?
8. What seemed unusual on your morning commute today?
9. What's your favorite charitable cause and why?
10. What if trash became more valuable than money?
11. What do you think should be done to keep people who are under the influence of alcohol off the road?
12. What do you like most about yourself?
13. What do you like to do in your free time?
14. What kind of animal would you like to be and why?
15. What kind of trophy would you like to win?
16. What TV or movie star would you like to invite to your birthday party?
17. What does "Clothes make the person" mean to you?
18. What does "Have your cake and eat it too" mean to you?
19. What does "The early bird gets the worm" mean to you?
20. What do we mean when we say, "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence"?
There’s no need to respond to all these questions. The large number of these reflective journal writing prompts gives you many options for your journal. By choosing the prompts you really like, you will feel more engaged with your answers.
1. What is your most invaluable possession and why?
2. What is your greatest fear?
3. What historical figure do you most identify with?
4. What living person do you most admire?
5. What trait do you most deplore in yourself?
6. What is your greatest extravagance?
7. What is your favorite journey?
8. What do you consider your most overrated virtue?
9. What do you dislike most about your appearance?
10. What words do you most overuse?
11. What or who is the greatest love of your life?
12. What is your current state of mind?
13. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
14. What’s the finest education?
15. What’s your motto? How would you like to be remembered?
16. What is the most courageous thing you have ever done?
17. What is one of your life goals?
18. What is your most invaluable possession and why?
19. What is something about yourself that you dislike?
20. What was your New Years Resolution this year?
1. What does "You can't take it with you" mean?
2. What do we mean when we say, "You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar"?
3. What do we mean when we say, "Hitch your wagon to a star"?
4. What does "still waters run deep" mean to you?
5. What does "There are two sides to every coin" mean to you?
6. What are you afraid of? Why?
7. What are junk foods?
8. What are some nutritious foods that you like?
9. What are some rules you have to follow at home?
10. What are some examples of prejudice?
11. What is more important to you, appearance or personality?
12. What is something that makes you melancholy?
13. What makes you feel safe?
14. What makes you laugh?
15. What would you invent to make life better?
16. What kind of TV commercial would you like to make? Describe it.
17. What kind of pet would you most like to have—monkey, snake, goat—why?
18. What kind of program do you enjoy most on TV—detective shows, comedies, game shows—and why?
19. What advice would you give a new student?
20. What advice would you give to someone who stole something but now feels guilty?
21. What would you put in a time capsule to be opened by the next generation?
22. What is the proudest moment of your life?
23. What do you feel is your greatest success?
24. What is the best decision you have ever made in your life?
25. What kind of art is your favorite? Why?
26. What is an experience that you would consider a miracle?
Reflective Journal Writing Prompts Beginning With “If?”
These 20 reflective journal writing prompts beginning with "if" will help develop your right brain creative thinking skills as well as deepen your ability to reflect.
The more you practice thinking, the more active your brain muscle will become and the more confident you will feel.
1. If all my wishes came true, I would … .
2. If somebody makes a mess, who cleans it up?
3. If someone gains, someone else loses. How much does this expression reflect life? How much does it come up short? How might your attitudes have been different during events in your past if this expression were true?
4. If you could take home any animal from the zoo, which would it be, and what would you do with it?
5. If you could have been someone in history, who would you have been?
6. If you could only take 3 people with you on a trip around the world, who would you take and why?
7. If you could give any gift in the world, what would you give and to whom?
8. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
9. If you received any sum of money as a gift, what would you do with it?
10. If you had to describe yourself as a color, which would you choose?
More Reflective Journal Writing Prompts Beginning With “If?”
1. If you could do whatever you wanted to right now, what would you do?
2. If you were principal of your school, what changes would you make?
3. If you were a mouse in your house in the evening, what would you see your family doing?
4. If you were lost in the woods and it got dark, what would you do?
5. If it were your job to decide what shows to show or not show on TV., what shows would you choose? Which ones would you eliminate and why?
6. If there were no rules, what would happen in your city? The world?
7. What do you think people say to each other when you're not around?
8. If you owned a store, what would you do to discourage people from stealing from you?
9. If you could participate in an Olympic event, which one would you choose and why?
10. If you could break the Guinness Book of Records it would be for?
Reflective Journal Writing Prompts Beginning With “Why?”
1. Why would we say that someone is "bananas"?
2. Why do you think ability to focus is an important quality?
3. Why does the ocean have a tide?
4. Why is important to have good manners?
5. Why do you think some people smoke/drink?
6. Why is exercise important to someone your age?
7. Why have men and women usually only done certain types of work?
8. Why should or shouldn't a man stay home to care for the house and children while his wife goes to work?
9. Why do you think some people take advantage of others?
10. Why would we say that someone is "passing the buck"?
11. Why do some people choose to dress differently?
12. Why do people drive on parkways and park on driveways?
Reflective Journal Writing Prompts on Things You Wish For
1. I wish I had a million. Then I would … .
2. I wish I had one … . Because … .
3. I wish I could be like…. This person is special because …
4. I wish to be a …. when I grow up. Then I will … .
5. I wish there were a law that said … . This would be a good law because … .
6. I wish I could forget the time I … . Because … .
7. I wish trees could … . Because … .
8. I wish I could see … . Because … .
9. I wish I could learn… . Because … .
10. I wish I didn't have to eat because … .
11. I wish everyone would learn to … . Then everyone would … .
12. I wish I never … .
13. wish I had one more chance to … . Then I would … .
14. I wish there was an electric … .
15. I wish I had enough money to … .
16. I wish everyone loved … .
17. I wish all children would … .
18. I wish everyone had … .
19. I wish I could touch … .
20. I wish animals could…… If they could, then … .
21. I wish I looked like…. Because … .
22. I wish there were no more … .
23. I wish I didn't have to … .
24. I wish I could go to … .
25. I wish I could hear … .
26. I wish I could give … .
General Reflective Journal Writing Prompts
1. When you look at an elderly person's hands what do you see?
2. Which disease known to humankind do you hate the most? Explain why.
3. Explain why we say, "Dead as a door nail".
4. How did you meet your first boyfriend or girlfriend?
5. Describe your typical day, from wake to sleep.
6. Conversely, which superhero do you find to be the most overrated and why?
7. You have one hour to come up with the most interesting television show you can and describe/pitch it.
8. Where would you want to live if Earth was uninhabitable?
9. Describe the ocean to a person who is blind.
10. Complete this sentence: Love is… .
More General Reflective Journal Writing Prompts
1. Could writing a children's book really affect a child for the rest of their life?
2. Just a spoonful of what makes the medicine go down?
3. In your imagination, what will the world be like in 50 years?
4. How do you think eating junk food affects you?
5. Describe a time when you felt vengeful.
6. Explain why we say, "Dead as a door nail".
7. Do you think there is too much fighting on TV. Why or why not?
8. Do you think it is necessary to have alcohol at a party in order to have a good time?
9. Is there something that you memorized long ago and still remember?
10. Which way does the toilet paper roll go? Over or under?v
More General Reflective Journal Writing Prompts
1. Who are your favorite writers?
2. Who is your favorite fictional hero?
3. Describe one of your oldest photographs.
4. Talk about a characteristic you admire in others.
5. Write your life mission statement.
6. Has religion played a role in your life? How?
7. Describe a time you helped someone.
8. Describe something you do well.
9. Describe your home. Which is your favorite room? Why?
10. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
11. Which talent would you most like to have?
12. If you could choose what to come back as, what would it be?
13. How loyal are you?
14. How would you like to die?
To deal with the large number of reflective journal writing prompts, just scan each section to choose the ones you want. More options will give you more valuable results.
Enjoy these reflective journal writing prompts. With them you will deepen your self- knowledge, stimulate your thinking and develop your self esteem. Have fun on the journey! | <urn:uuid:d88aa1be-3b46-4264-b592-284d07f3e6e5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.self-esteem-health.com/reflective-journal-writing-prompts.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961866 | 3,124 | 2.734375 | 3 |
The Community Services Block Grant enables the Capital Area Community Action Agency to give people the opportunity to learn the skills they need to obtain and maintain employment.
The Northern Virginia CASH Campaign helps a man file his taxes through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program.
Paid sick days for parents help kids recover faster and keep classrooms safe.
Carolyn had to have brain surgery three years ago – but her daughters were not allowed to use their paid sick days to care for her.
The Missouri Association for Community Action uses Community Services Block Grant funds to establish a community needs assessment web-based tool.
Due to the lack of paid sick days, I lost my job, I faced an eviction, and I was unable to care for my two dogs, who are my family.
Because of these programs, I was able to meet the basic needs of my children and focus on improving our lives by attaining a college education.
I received the Pell Grant. Truly, I would not be able to climb the ladder without it.
The National Farmworker Jobs Program helped Maria obtain a good quality job with benefits.
Safety net programs help a grandmother afford health care, food, and electricity. | <urn:uuid:19f44f02-61dd-4569-a0a9-58eed5eaa523> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://halfinten.org/stories/all/P30/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972409 | 239 | 1.8125 | 2 |
The World of "Old Fritz": Major New Exhibition in Potsdam
Enlarge image Potsdam's Neues Palais (New Palace) will surely draw throngs of visitors when it opens for the Friederisiko exhibit April 28. (© Michael Lüder/SPSG) Enlightened monarch, a lover of culture and a warring general: Frederick the Great (1712-1786) had a multifaceted personality and was one of the most outstanding yet controversial figures in German history. The influence of the Prussian King on the fate of 18th century Europe was matched by only a few of his contemporaries. He waged wars with France, Austria and Russia. He wrote poetry, composed and played music, philosophized – and is seen by historians as a representative of a new type of state: enlightened absolutism.
To mark the 300th anniversary in 2012 of Frederick II’s birth, the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg (SPSG) is highlighting the many faces of Frederick the Great with an extensive jubilee exhibition in Potsdam from April 28 to October 28. The chosen venue for the show is the largest and most magnificent of Frederick’s palaces: the New Palace in Sanssouci Park. Enlarge image The 600 square meter marble floor in the Neues Palais in Potsdam was being restored for the Friederisiko exhibit in December 2011. (© picture alliance / dpa) The Prussian King commissioned the palace (photograph) with more than 900 rooms following the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763) as a symbol of power, and it was built in record time.
The “Friederisiko” exhibition is on show in more than 70 rooms of the New Palace and in Sanssouci Park. Many of these rooms have been lavishly restored and are open to the public for the first time. The exhibition takes visitors on a historical tour that enables them to rediscover the contradictory character and the worldview of the venturesome monarch, who was popularly called “Old Fritz” towards the end of his life. “Friederisiko” is unprecedented in size: it is the largest exhibition ever staged by the SPSG, covering 6,000 square metres and including some 500 exhibits. The twelve thematic sections provide insights into the everyday life of Frederick the Great and illustrate his attitudes towards politics, religion, music and philosophy, as well as his strange love of animals: the skeleton of Frederick’s last horse, the gelding “Condé”, is also on show.
Under the title “Frederick the Great – respected, revered, reviled” the German Historical Museum (DHM) in Berlin is showing a major exhibition that throws light onto Frederick’s legacy in art, politics and society. This exhibition runs until July 29, 2012. | <urn:uuid:d6d5bfbf-6495-4d45-8ad6-a32eb51f49fc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.germany.info/Vertretung/usa/en/__pr/K__Wash/2012/04/25-Friederisiko.html?archive=1994792 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958671 | 605 | 2.46875 | 2 |
In the 1980s, Jean Lafrance thought he had the answer.
An assistant deputy minister in Children’s Services at the time, he thought that by giving responsibility for child protection back to the First Nations the province could finally move on from the legacies of residential schools and the sixties scoop.
Finally, white society would stop taking aboriginal children from their homes, destroying their connections to family and culture. First Nations could finally get elders and communities involved in supporting struggling families. They would “have the room and the flexibility to create programs what worked for them.”
But it didn’t happen that way.
Many First Nations did set up their own delegated authorities. “But you know, in very short order the elders were excluded from the process. What we ended up doing was overlaying a white system run by aboriginal people over an aboriginal community. They took our approaches and basically applied them,” said Lafrance.
The child welfare system barely changed.
It’s a system far too focused on child apprehension rather than on supporting families, and it shows in the statistics, he said. Today, 70 per cent of the children in care in Alberta are aboriginal. They make up just nine per cent of the general population.
Lafrance, who started his career nearly 50 years ago as a front-line social worker, moved on from assistant deputy minister to become provincial children’s advocate. He now teaches at the Edmonton campus of the University of Calgary and works with the Creating Hope Society here to make sure mothers know their rights when dealing with the system.
Red Brother, White Brother, his book on what went wrong and what’s now needed for aboriginal families in crisis, was published in January by iUniverse. The head of Child and Family Services for the Edmonton region bought 750 copies for her staff.
In his book, Lafrance argues real change must come from all levels of the system — from community members to case workers to executives.
First Nations, too, must have the courage to listen to their communities.
When First Nations authorities were first set up, legislators expected them to eventually write their own legislation and policy and find a new way of working with children.
The Kainai in southern Alberta came closest to realizing that vision, Lafrance said. He worked with the community for many years, attending meetings where people came together to think of ways to support the children at home, involve elders to mediate with families and child welfare workers, and ensuring children in care continued to learn their language and attend feasts and ceremonies in their community.
“The community had a very clear vision about what they wanted,” he said. “But you know, at all the community meetings we had, child welfare would never show up. The staff working in child welfare would not show up.”
There’s fear of change involved, fear of losing control, he said.
About five years ago, the Kainai wrote their own child welfare legislation. Lafrance sat at the table as officials went through the proposed legislation with community members line by line. “It was like the technicians had kind of taken over the process. None of these people had been to the meetings. None of these people had read anything different (from the provincial legislation),” he said.
“My hope was that the Blood Tribe would be quantum leaps ahead of everyone else. They had been talking for years about having their own legislation. Then I saw the way it came out, and there was nothing.”
Much of Lafrance’s book explores the current challenges in child welfare through the voices of the children and parents who have been through the system.
The children spoke about feeling lost long after they left the system, and often faced challenges reconnecting with their families and communities.
Parents on and off reserve spoke about being worried their children would be abused in foster care, about having no information on where to go for help, and said they were exhausted by demands they take many treatment programs. Their workers’ expectations seemed to change from month to month.
“I’ve been through so many programs in the last three months. Sometimes I barely ate. I’ve even barely slept,” said one mother.
“You’ve got to jump through hoops to even try and get a visit with your kids,” said another.
In their experience, visits were irregular and always took place supervised in the child welfare workers office with no privacy, even for families with no history of abuse.
The problems come from a child welfare system that is too rigid, focused only on following the policy manual, Lafrance said. Alternatives, such as bringing all parties together to discuss what’s best for the child, are not common.
Every time another negative story hits the news, regulations tighten and case workers end up spending more time on paper work. They have less time to get to know those they are working with.
But Lafrance said he does sense some change coming.
On reserves in Alberta, there has been some limited new funding for prevention programs, although they still tightly regulate how money can be spent, he said.
As well, the Assembly of First Nations and others are taking the federal government before the Canadian Human Rights Commission this month, arguing that Ottawa’s failure to provide funding equivalent to the provinces on child welfare is discrimination. That could lead to more funding in the future.
Off reserve, Alberta’s shift toward “outcome based services delivery,” which gives large-scale contracts to not-for-profit community groups to manage their own files, should result in greater flexibility, said Lafrance.
“There are winds of change,” said Lafrance. “(The province and agencies) are really trying to do something different. You see pockets where people are ready to take that on.
“There’s also a huge amount of inertia to overcome but there are cracks opening up in the system. That’s the part that I find encouraging.”
The real key is to start listening again to the families and communities affected, he said. “We need to turn in a very serious way back to the community. Because we’re deceiving them when we say we can handle it.” | <urn:uuid:7a28cf72-5d54-4408-b156-3f5c8a32c891> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Change+coming+aboriginal+child+welfare+author+says/8043369/story.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980451 | 1,312 | 2.125 | 2 |
A Dose of Selenium That Goes a Long Way
In western areas where some rangeland vegetation doesn't contain enough selenium for grazing animals, ewes that consume a natural high-selenium supplement in their food can pass the needed selenium to nursing offspring in their milk.
In western parts of the United States where some rugged ranges can only be reached by horseback, ranchers often find themselves saddling up weekly to deliver mineral supplements to livestock grazing in nutrient-deficient regions, especially areas scarce in selenium. The routine is not only time-consuming but also costly, and in some leased-land arrangements, such supplementation practices are prohibited.
Selenium, a trace mineral and component of important selenoprotein antioxidants, is essential for good health in livestock and humans. If the body cannot form these important antioxidant proteins, it predisposes the animal to sickness and eventually death at a young age.
Selenium deficiency in livestock affects more than 35 states and costs sheep, beef, and dairy producers an estimated $545 million in losses each year. Lack of adequate selenium in sheep reduces conception rates, increases neonatal mortality, and in some instances, causes white muscle disease—nutritional muscular dystrophy. Lambs that do survive suffer from increased disease, reduced weight gain, and impaired performance.
Which Selenium Is Best?
In search of a more cost-effective and longer lasting supplement, scientists at the Agricultural Research Service’s U.S. Sheep Experiment Station (USSES) near Dubois, Idaho, and at North Dakota State University (NDSU), in Fargo, isolated a selenium-rich coproduct of milling high-selenium wheat and studied its effects on ewes and their lambs.
Animal scientist Bret Taylor (left) and technician Tonya Thelen collect milk samples from a ewe to measure milk production and selenium content.
The most common form of selenium supplement is sodium selenite, which is usually added to salt-based mineral mixes fed to grazing livestock. Sodium selenite is inexpensive, but it doesn’t last long in the body, says USSES animal scientist Bret Taylor, so it must be provided frequently to animals living in selenium-deficient regions.
“To provide enough of these mineral mixes to a band of sheep—around 1,000 ewes and their lambs—grazing remote areas, it would take a lot of horses to carry the supplement and supplies,” says Greg Lewis, USSES research leader. “That’s because sheep can consume a lot during the week.”
In a study by Taylor, the wheat coproduct, which is rich in a different form of selenium—selenomethionine, was included in the diets fed to some ewes during their last 40 to 50 days of pregnancy. The coproduct, derived from high-selenium wheat harvested in South Dakota, was fed at levels providing 10 times the daily selenium requirement.
Ewes passed the supplemental selenium to their fetuses during pregnancy and to their nursing offspring through their milk.
Because the coproduct was rich in longer-lasting selenomethionine, the selenium status of these ewes remained adequate 6 to 10 times longer than that of ewes fed supplemental sodium selenite during pregnancy, Taylor says. Ewes did not need any additional supplements until they returned for lambing the following year.
“All of the costs involved with delivering supplements on a frequent basis year round are eliminated with this type of feeding strategy,” Lewis says. “We’re really talking about only one time a year.”
In areas where soil and vegetation are low in selenium, ewes that consume a selenium-rich wheat coproduct in their feed pass the needed selenium to their nursing offspring. The adults can retain the selenium benefit for up to a year before they require more of the coproduct.
Two for the Price of One
Scientists discovered that the best time to feed ewes a diet rich in selenomethionine is when they are lactating. That’s because lactating animals consume more feed, and thus, will consume more of the product, Taylor says. Furthermore, selenium consumed by the dam will pass to the nursing young through the milk.
In one of the experiments, ewes that had given birth to twin lambs were divided into two groups. Each ewe was housed with its lambs only. One group was fed a regular diet containing the standard sodium selenite at the recommended daily amount, and the other was fed a diet that included the selenium-rich coproduct providing selenium at nine times the daily requirement.
“What’s unique is that during the first 19 days of their lives, the lambs were only allowed to consume milk from their dams,” Taylor says. “Not only did the selenium-rich coproduct from wheat enhance the selenium status of the ewe, it enriched the milk with selenium, which was subsequently passed to the lamb.”
Making the Most of Milk Production
In another study, colostrum and milk production were measured in ewes that were fed either a diet containing the selenium-rich coproduct or a basal diet supplying selenium requirements. Within each selenium treatment, ewes were fed either 60, 100, or 140 percent of their daily energy and protein requirements throughout pregnancy. At birth, treatments were stopped, lambs were raised separately from their mothers, and ewes were machine-milked twice daily for 20 days.
The selenium-coproduct group produced more milk, says Joel Caton, NDSU animal science professor. These ewes also produced more colostrum—a milklike substance produced by the dam right after she gives birth that provides antibodies to protect nursing lambs against bacteria, viruses, and other foreign elements.
“There was less butterfat in terms of percentage. But because ewes produced so much more colostrum, 540 grams vs. 390 grams, they were able to provide their offspring a lot more total grams of butterfat,” Caton says. “The colostrum was more dilute, but because there was so much more of it, there were a lot more nutrients going to that offspring.”
Scientists also addressed nutrient restrictions of rangeland sheep. They examined how limited nutrition and high levels of dietary selenium during pregnancy affect growth of adolescent ewes and their lambs.
Adding the selenium coproduct feed to diets of pregnant ewes appears to enhance weight gains and body composition, says Allison Meyer, a former NDSU doctoral student who is now an assistant professor of animal science at the University of Wyoming.
“The birth weight of lambs was reduced by low-nutrition diets. But when ewes were also fed the coproduct diet, their lambs had a greater birth weight,” Meyer says.
Load and Go
Selenium deficiency is a soil issue, especially in the West where many of the soils are a little too acidic, Taylor says. Either selenium is not present or it exists in a form that the plants can’t absorb.
“Because the selenium in the vegetation is so low, animals can’t meet their daily selenium requirement,” he adds. “They just can’t eat enough plants in 24 hours to get what they really need.”
“With the new program, sheep can be fed the selenium-rich coproduct diet before being released to graze selenium-deficient range,” Taylor says. “We can load sheep with selenium from the natural coproduct feed before they go, and they’ll have plenty in their system to meet their selenium needs.”—By Sandra Avant, Agricultural Research Service Information Staff.
This research is part of Food Animal Production (#101), an ARS national program described at www.nps.ars.usda.gov.
J. Bret Taylor is with the USDA-ARS U.S. Sheep Experiment Station, 19 Office Loop, Dubois, ID 83423; (208) 374-5306.
"A Dose of Selenium That Goes a Long Way" was published in the February 2012 issue of Agricultural Research magazine. | <urn:uuid:5eca7ebc-a784-4191-82ef-deabbe5f6ad5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/feb12/selenium0212.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954648 | 1,795 | 3.203125 | 3 |
The grown men turning back to children before their mother's eyes....
Brothers Michael, 42, and Matthew Clark, 39, from Hull, have been diagnosed with leukodystrophy. The condition has turned them into young boys, trapped in adult bodies
Like Christine and Anthony Clark, dealing with children's petty squabbles, tantrums and bad sleeping patterns is a daily battle familiar to most young parents.
But Mr and Mrs Clark are not young parents.
They are in their 60s — an age where most of their friends are enjoying their retirement, and their "boys" are actually fully grown men, each with families of their own.
Brothers Michael,42, and Matthew Clark, 39, from Hull, have been diagnosed with leukodystrophy — a rare genetic disorder that causes a progressive loss of speech and movement.
In the case of Michael and Matthew, it has also made them slowly regress into a childlike state. Where they were once men, they are now young boys, trapped in adult bodies.
The Mail Online first reported the curious case of the Clark brothers earlier this year.
But now their condition is deteriorating to the point where Mrs Clark fears they will no longer be able to walk or feed themselves, like babies.
The family will feature on a Channel Four documentary which follows them on their fascinating and traumatic journey over the last few months as they struggle with their day-to-day life.
Matthew, 39, and his wife had a daughter, Lydia, now 19. She has had a baby, making him a grandfather
Their plight has led to them being likened to the character played by Brad Pitt in the film The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, an old man who gradually becomes younger.
But Mrs Clark said she finds the analogy upsetting.
She told the Independent: "For one thing, they're not getting smaller — there's no return to them being cute little boys, they're big strong men — and that presents a quite different set of problems."
She said she first realised something "was not right" when she and Mr Clark took them on a family holiday.
The men acted childish throughout, shouting and cheering "yippee" as the plane took off and squabbling like young children. They were both in their thirties at the time.
The men had both been academically bright, with Matthew offered places both in the Royal Navy and at agricultural college, and Michael joining the RAF at the age of 20.
Both men were married and all had seemed to be going well for them.
Matthew and his wife had a daughter, Lydia — now 19 — and Michael also had stepchildren.
Mr and Mrs Clark decided to take early retirement and then, seven years ago, they sold their home in Gloucestershire and moved to a village near Benidorm, hoping their sons would visit when they could.
But the couple became concerned when Michael and Matthew stopped returning calls.
"And then, one day, Lydia phoned to say a worker from a hostel had called to say her dad was living there, and there were some problems he needed to discuss," Mrs Clark said.
It seems the couple's departure coincided with their sons' downward spiral, and the men, by now both divorced, had become gradually unable to look after themselves, and ended up on benefits and sharing a squalid flat.
Mr and Mrs Clark say when they returned to find their sons had been arguing like toddlers and no longer able to live together.
Michael had moved out of the flat and into a hostel, where workers arranged for him to have medical checks.
When doctors realised he had a brother with similar problems, they ran a series of genetic tests, which revealed both brothers were found to have terminal leukodystrophy.
It means the mens' brains were being destroyed.
Both intellectually and emotionally, they were returning to their babyhood.
The couple were left with no other option then to leave their dream retirement and return home to care for their sons, who are now getting younger by the day.
Mrs Clark said Michael is the most child-like and moody, and he can't be left on his own, whereas Matthew talks all the time, saying 'whatever comes into his head.'
She said: "They can be very affectionate, particularly with one another, they'll often put their arms around one another, and Michael will say, 'He's my little brother'. Just like small children, they wake up a lot during the night — I was up seven times with them last night — and, also like children, they'll deny and deny that they're tired, even when you can see their eyelids drooping."
nBROTHERS RARE GENETIC LOTTERY:
One in 3 billion chance of two people who carry the gene deficiency meeting and becoming partners.
Leukodystrophy is a neurological disease which affects the brain, nervous system and the spinal cord. The condition usually only affects newborns, and is so rare there are only 100 people affected in the whole of the UK.
Leukodystrophies are mostly inherited disorders, meaning that it is passed on from parent to child.
The Myelin Project funds research into the disease. CEO of Myelin's British arm, Lynda Carthy, said: "There is an estimated one in three billion chance of two people who carry the gene deficiency meeting and becoming partners.
"The chances of the children developing the condition are dependant on what type of leukodystrophy the parents have. If both have the recessive gene then there is a one in four chance of the children having the disease. If only the mother has the gene every boy born would have a form of leukodystrophy.
"Of course it's important to say there are 37 known types of the disease at the moment but doctors are diagnosing new forms which simply have not been catalogued yet and named."
All cases are a result of problems with the growth or maintenance of the myelin sheath, so far about 40 different types of leukodystrophy have been identified. | <urn:uuid:062cd877-fb89-41cf-a555-5ba9b8c1a14c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=219587 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986888 | 1,261 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Jan. 9, 2010 Neuroscientists have forged an unlikely molecular union as part of their fight against diseases of the brain and nervous system.
The team has brought together the herpes virus and a molecule known as Sleeping Beauty to improve a technology known as gene therapy, which aims to manipulate genes to correct for molecular flaws that cause disease.
The work, detailed in a paper published online in Gene Therapy, has allowed scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center to reach a long-sought goal: Shuttling into brain cells a relatively large gene that can remain on for an extended period of time.
"We've broken what is in effect a size barrier -- a limit to how much genetic material we can put into the nucleus of a cell and keep functioning for a long period of time," said neuroscientist William Bowers, Ph.D., a scientist in the Center for Neural Development and Disease and the leader of the team. "That opens up more diseases to possible treatment with gene therapy."
The first author of the paper is Biochemistry graduate student Suresh de Silva, who defends his doctoral thesis later this month.
The molecular rendezvous of Sleeping Beauty and herpes in human brain cells could spell good news in the search for treatments for horrific brain diseases known as pediatric leukodystrophies, or a group of diseases known as lysosomal storage disorders. In many of these diseases, even though just a single gene or protein is defective, the effects are devastating -- the diseases slowly rob children of their brain cells and are often fatal after years of severe symptoms.
The findings bolster the tools that researchers have when approaching certain diseases, said Bowers, including Usher syndrome, which results in deafness and vision loss; Niemann-Pick disease Type C, a fatal childhood lysosomal storage disorder; and von Willebrand disease, an inherited disease that causes extensive, chronic bleeding.
"The field of gene therapy is just beginning to yield some successes for patients. Improvements like this are crucial for increasing the number of patients who might benefit from such an approach," said Bowers, who is an associate professor of Neurology, Microbiology and Immunology, and of Pharmacology and Physiology.
The research is part of a decades-long endeavor by scientists trying to get the right genes into the right cells at the right time to improve human health.
In the new work, scientists dramatically increased the size of the "genetic payload" they can deliver to brain cells compared to some conventional techniques, nearly tripling the amount of genetic material by some measures. They hope to deliver even bigger genes in the future.
The team did this by bringing together in a new way two molecular players, herpes and Sleeping Beauty, which are commonly used in molecular technology.
For years Bowers' team has been using the herpes virus -- HSV-1, the type that causes cold sores -- to shuttle genes into cells. Viruses like herpes are adept at infecting human cells, and scientists like Bowers use such viruses to carry into cells genes that would help people who are sick. Bowers and colleagues modify the viruses extensively, removing the portions that could make a person sick and using the portions that the virus uses to gain access to human cells.
Many scientists use other viruses, such as lentiviruses or a cold-related virus known as adeno-associated virus (AAV), to do a similar job. Each virus has its strengths and weaknesses when it comes to gene therapy. Herpes, for instance, readily infects cells, and it can carry a huge amount of genetic material, typically 15 to 30 times the amount of DNA that other viruses can carry into a cell.
But herpes as a genetic tool has a couple of big weaknesses. While the virus can deliver DNA into the nucleus of a cell, the genetic payload it carries does not become part of the package of genes that cells pass from one to another. Simply put, herpes cannot integrate the new DNA into the host genome. Instead, the DNA is adrift in the nucleus, where it's silenced within a few weeks. The short time span spells trouble when scientists are trying to treat a disease that requires the genes to be active for months or years.
That's where Sleeping Beauty comes in.
In molecular biology, Sleeping Beauty is a mobile genetic element that jumps into and out of longer segments of DNA. It's normally silent, but years ago a team of scientists was able to activate or "awaken" the snippet -- hence, Sleeping Beauty. Since Sleeping Beauty actually integrates segments of DNA into mammalian genomes, it sidesteps the main difficulties that herpes encounters inside a cell: Genes integrated within the cell's chromosomes by Sleeping Beauty operate for much longer periods of time. The drawback: The molecule can insert only small snippets of DNA.
So the Rochester team brought herpes and Sleeping Beauty together in an attempt to get the best of both worlds: Delivery of the bigger genetic package made possible by herpes, and the integration of the DNA into the host genome made possible by Sleeping Beauty.
And that's exactly what happened. In the tag-team approach funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, herpes gets the genetic package into the right neighborhood, the cell's nucleus, and then Sleeping Beauty delivers the package precisely where it needs to go to be most effective -- into the cellular genome.
In the current experiments, the herpes virus carried into cell nuclei the gene for green fluorescent protein, which allows scientists to track where the gene is active. The team also outfitted the herpes package with special molecular signals that Sleeping Beauty would recognize. Separately, the team introduced Sleeping Beauty into the cells. When the two met, Sleeping Beauty transferred the gene for GFP from the herpes package to the genome of the human cells, where the gene was stably expressed.
The team has previously shown that the Sleeping Beauty/herpes combination works efficiently in brain cells known as neural progenitor cells, which go on to form brain cells known as neurons. Modifying these cells -- perhaps by adding a gene that creates a protein crucial for health -- is one technique scientists are experimenting with to try to treat several brain diseases that are currently untreatable.
The gene segment used in the experiment described in Gene Therapy was about 12 kilobases long, which is larger than the limit of either AAV (4.5 kb) or lentiviruses (9 kb). Those few kilobases matter, a lot. The ability to transfer bigger genes gives scientists room to try to address more diseases with a gene therapy approach. The added space also makes it possible to include more regulatory elements -- instructions that help determine how and when genes are turned on or off. This allows scientists to package additional safety directives, in the form of more DNA, along with the gene designed to treat the disease.
In addition to de Silva and Bowers, authors include technical associates Michael Mastrangelo, Louis T. Lotta Jr., and Clark Burris, as well as Howard J. Federoff, M.D., Ph.D., a former Rochester faculty member who is now executive vice president for health sciences at Georgetown University.
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Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead. | <urn:uuid:075d8b96-a554-4573-afa0-1ab0451b3b18> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100108101431.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948907 | 1,512 | 3.40625 | 3 |
Do the kids in the photo look familiar? You know... the often serious and sad looking youth? Although varying in their image, commonly appearing with heavy use of black but occasional punk color influences mixed in. Boys with long hair perfectly positioned over their faces resembling girls, skinny pants so tight, it looks like concrete poured into a mold?
These are the Emos, a growing counterculture in Puerto Rico and in the US. You will see them at the Mayaguez Mall lingering around the Hot Topic store, excited over the latest skull covered t-shirt or hoodie, etc.
In a growing number of both public and private Christian schools in Puerto Rico, you will also find them lingering around each other, as the "movement" exposes the results of its gender blending, sexuality challenging teenage ideology.
I hope that you believe in evolution, because these guys are evolving fast. Emo started in the 1980's as a supposed music genre, a sub-genre to hardcore punk. Today it has rapidly evolved into a mix of fashion and misguided philosophy by minds so immature they haven't yet reached the legal drinking age.
The Emo music genre shifted in the 90s, becoming more mainstream. And now it shifted again. If your kid is listening to the Fall Out Boys, or My Chemical Romance, they are listening to some of the current bands that supposedly represent or have some connection to the culture. Musicians always push the limits - they are artists, and that's not a bad thing. However, many of these kids you see dressed up like what many consider extremely silly looking, are just wannabees, not actual musicians. They may cling to the IPODs, without knowing how to play any instrument at all.
The problem is not so much the music as it is the departure from the music into the fashion and misguided self-therapy these kids are using it for. It does have associations with depression and suicide. Many of your "cutter kids" may fit very well with the Emo mentality, which can be argued as not ONLY asking for attention but also celebrating their self-victimization status.
These kids might be a little "sadder" to find out that many of their favorite bands want nothing to do with an Emo association. Many are quoted as indicating they want to get as far away from it as possible. Wikipedia lists Russia as making attempts at cracking down on this trend, since they see it as dangerous. Perhaps it is time for Puerto Rico's educational institutions to take a greater interest as well.
On a related note, a local kid was visiting me recently and mentioned that he was going to hang out with his gay friend. For the record, this kid is straight. Without any personal judgment, I asked if his straight friends would give him any trouble over spending time with his gay buddy. His response shocked me a little. He said that all the Emo kids at public school are bi-sexual now, girls and guys, so it's no big deal.
Remember, I'm not making any moral assertions here regarding sexuality. What I am doing is identifying what appears to be a growing population of Emo and "socially" influenced bisexual kids in the school system. I can only imagine this is going to create some issues for the Christian schools which are generally heterosexually "focused", particularly when the majority of parent's who send their kids to these schools believe that their children should be heterosexual. Are they going to be happy when they find out the influence that is lurking in their schools?
My main criticism of the emo culture, beyond personally thinking they "look" absolutely ridiculous, is that I don't like the dangerous "victim attitude" they maintain. I understand that every generation represents changing times, a new generation that will adapt our culture in sometimes small and sometimes large increments, and that many of them may certainly have valid concerns about issues in their personal lives or the outside world around them... which they don't feel comfortable with.
So the question to me is:
Will an army of Emo kids really change the world in a positive way, or just make it dark and depressing? What is their model for fixing the stuff they don't like about their lives? Suicide and branding themselves with razor cuts?
I think they have a very weak philosophy, and I hope for their own safety, they are able to evolve into a more stable counter culture.
I propose the introduction of the "Logos", which is short for "Logical" instead of the Emos - "Emotionals". The Logos are a group of kids who want to address issues that teens and young adults are having without becoming depressed, creating a dark outer image to broadcast it, or spend time thinking about the glamor of suicide. The Logos will take pride in their intelligence, and rather than presenting themselves as symbols of failure to punish their parents and society at large, will demonstrate how rational they are and how well equipped they are to have a say in their own lives. The Logos might have been traditionally referred to as "normal".
If your kid is a full blown Emo or wannabee Emo, why not sanitize them? If they want to represent depression in their style, then take them to a psychologist. They are under your rule while in your home. Forcing haircuts suitable for boys and pants that won't cause infertility by adulthood, or taking down posters and monitoring their Internet usage, is not really abusive under the new liberal guidelines, is it? I sure hope not.
Logos: I know you are out there. Please create an image of positivity and rational behavior, and help make this Emo culture vanish into obscurity.
Parents: Call your school, and ask if they have any Emo kids at the school that could be setting a bad example for your "child". Ask them what standards they have in place regarding dress code and behavior that would place restrictions on the Emo influence. If you do this, at least you will be aware, before you are shocked to discover your son Jose or daughter Christina blacking out their eyes with eyeliner before heading to Church so they can look depressed in Jesus' house. | <urn:uuid:dbc12ce9-7c8b-4c5e-b81a-170dd76e1527> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://puertorico.countrytoolbox.com/puerto-rico-blog-22/war-emos-logos-begins-333/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973683 | 1,267 | 1.835938 | 2 |
I expand an earlier post with the same title.
My colleague EHK told me about a difficulty she experienced in her first encounter with arithmetic, aged 6. She could easily solve “put a number in the box” problems of the type
buy counting how many 1′s she had to add to 7 in order to get 12
but struggled with
because she did not know where to start. Worse, she felt that she could not communicate her difficulty to adults.
A brief look at Peano axioms for formal arithmetic provides some insight in EHK’s difficulties. I quote Wikipedia, with slight changes:
The [...] axioms define the properties of the natural numbers. The constant 1 is assumed to be a natural number, and the naturals are assumed to be closed under a “successor” function S(n).
Axiom 1. 1 is a natural number.
Axiom 2. For every natural number n, S(n) is a natural number.Axioms 1 and 2 define a unary representation of the natural numbers: the number 2 is S(1), and, in general, any natural number n is Sn-1(1). The next two axioms define the properties of this representation.
Axiom 3. For every natural number n other than 1, S(n) ≠ 1. That is, there is no natural number whose successor is 1.
Axiom 4. For all natural numbers m and n, if S(m) = S(n), then m = n. That is, S is an injection.The final axiom, sometimes called the axiom of induction, is a method of reasoning about all natural numbers; it is the only second order axiom.
Axiom 5. If K is a set such that:
- 1 is in K, and
- for every natural number n, if n is in K, then S(n) is in K,
then K contains every natural number.
Thus, Peano arithmetic is a formalisation of that very counting by one that little EHK did, and addition is defined in a precisely the same way as EHK learned to do it: by a recursion
Commutativity of addition is a non-trivial (although still accessible to a beginner) theorem. To force you to feel some sympathy to poor little EHK, I reproduce its proof from Edmund Landau’s famous book Grundlangen der Analysis, 1929. I am using notation from Landau’s book: .
Theorem 1: If then .
Proof: Otherwise, we would have and hence, by Axiom 4, .
Theorem 2: .
Proof: Let be the set of all for which this holds true.
I) By Axiom 1 and Axiom 3, , therefore belongs to .
II) If belongs to , then , and hence by Theorem 1, , so that belongs to . By Axiom 5, therefore contains all the natural numbers, i.e. we have for each that .
Theorem 3: If , then there exists one (hence, by Axiom 4, exactly one) such that .
Proof: Let be the set consisting of the number and of all those for which there exists such a . (For any such , we have of necessity that by Axiom 3.)
I) belongs to .
II) If belongs to , then, with denoting the number , we have , so that belongs to .
By Axiom 5, therefore contains all the natural numbers; thus for each there exists a such that .
Theorem 4, and at the same time Definition 1: To every pair of numbers , we may assign in exactly one way a natural number, called ( to be read “plus”), such that
1) for every ,
2) for every and every .
is called the sum of and or the number obtained by
addition of to .
Proof: A) First we will show that for each fixed there is at most one possibility of defining for all in such a way that and for every .
Let and be defined for all and be such that
, for every .
Let be the set of all for which
I) ; hence belongs to .
II) If belongs to , then , hence by Axiom 2, , therefore
so that belongs to .
Hence is the set of all natural numbers; i.e. for every we have .
B) Now we will show that for each it is actually possible to define for all in such a way that
and for every .
Let be the set of all for which this is possible (in exactly one way, by A) ) .
I ) For , the number is as required, since
Hence belongs to .
II) Let belong to , so that there exists an for all .
Then the number is the required number for , since
Hence belongs to . Therefore contains all .
Theorem 5 (Associative Law of Addition):
Proof: skipped, since not needed for proving commutativity of addition.
Theorem 6 (Commutative Law of Addition):
Proof: Fix , and let be the set of all for which the assertion holds.
I) We have and furthermore, by the construction in the proof of Theorem 4,
, so that
and belongs to .
II) If belongs to , then , therefore
By the construction in the proof of Theorem 4, we have
so that belongs to . The assertion therefore holds for all .
Landau’s book is characterised by a specific austere beauty of entirely formal axiomatic development, dry, cut to the bone, streamlined. It is claimed that logical austerity and precision were Landau’s characteristic personal traits. [Asked for a testimony to the effect that Emmy Noether was a great woman mathematician, he famously said: "I can testify that she is a great mathematician, but that she is a woman, I cannot swear."]
Grundlagen der Analysis opens with two prefaces, one intended for the student and the other for the teacher. The preface for the student begins thus:
1. Please don’t read the preface for the teacher.
2. I will ask of you only the ability to read English and to think logically-no high school mathematics, and certainly no higher mathematics. [...]
3. Please forget everything you have learned in school; for you haven’t learned it.
Please keep in mind at all times the corresponding portions of your school curriculum; for you haven’t actually forgotten them.
4. The multiplication table will not occur in this book, not even the theorem,
but I would recommend, as an exercise for Chap. I, 4, that you define
and then prove the theorem. | <urn:uuid:2d0723d0-4572-4823-a47f-2d4bfba202a4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://micromath.wordpress.com/2008/05/26/why-is-arithmetic-difficult-ii/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=27cac980df | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93977 | 1,434 | 3.09375 | 3 |
These are an artist's rendition of the sun-like designs found in Chumash rock paintings. The Sun and its movements were very important to the Chumash.
Click on image for full size
The Chumash Tribe
The sky and the heavens impacted every part of the life of the Chumash. Like the Pawnee
, the Chumash of California also had a ranking for those objects they saw in the sky. It is important to keep in mind that these objects were also supernatural gods to the Chumash.
The ranking is:
- 1st - The Sun who was seen as an aged widower carrying a blazing torch
- 2nd - The Moon, a female god who controlled human health
- 3rd - Venus as the morning star, a kind god. Then Venus as the evening star, the evil god
The Chumash believed in supernatural gods and they believed that humans could influence those gods. The most important time of the year for the Chumash was right before
the winter solstice
. They believed that this was the time when the Sun might not choose to come back to the Earth. The Chumash took this very seriously because they knew they needed the Sun. So, they took it upon themselves to
influence the Sun to come back. The Chumash people held times of prayer and dancing that would last for several days. They observed the Sun by putting sun sticks and poles in the ground. This watchfulness was meant to pull the Sun back to Earth
In their time, the Chumash were fairly advanced in astronomy. They named an enormous number of stars. They kept astronomical records on tally cords and notched sticks. Sun shrines and observatories exist all over California. It is thought that the Chumash might have used these to observe the solstices. Finally, they painted beautiful rock art of astronomical happenings. These ancient people show an intellect and creativity that we don't often credit them with.
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Kepler's second law he again discovered by trial and error. Kepler realized that the line connecting the planet and the Sun sweeps out equal area in equal time. Look at the diagram to the left. What Kepler...more | <urn:uuid:8638b929-f234-468f-8ebd-7ef6eb580200> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.windows2universe.org/the_universe/uts/chumash.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971764 | 803 | 3.28125 | 3 |
Two efforts by banks to create a bigger footprint in real estate have met strong resistance, but the fight is far from over. If banks are successful, they'll be competing with, management, and development firms. But if some commercial practitioners win, banks will stick to handling money.
The first effort to expand bank capabilities involves rules proposed in 2001 by the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Department of the Treasury to reclassify brokerage and property management as financial activities, allowing national banks to offer those services.
The proposal drew objections from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), which has successfully lobbied Congress to insert a provision in each year's budget bill preventing the proposed rules from taking effect, thereby banning banks from selling and managing real estate. The ban must be renewed each year, so the issue remains fluid.
Banks have been more successful in the second effort — developing on properties they own. The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has allowed several national banks to develop their own property. In Charlotte, N.C., Bank of America has begunof a Ritz Carlton hotel on its property. In Pittsburgh, PNC Bank has begun a project that includes office space, a hotel, 32 residential condos, and parking.
“There's a real need for competition in brokerage and property management activities,” says Wayne Abernathy, executive director for financial institutions policy at the American Bankers Association in Washington, D.C. “It's rare that you see any competition on the basis of price. If you gave banks the authority to engage in brokerage, consumers would get better services at a lower cost.”
Not so, says Bob McMillan, a commercial broker at Coldwell Banker McMillan & Associates in Decatur, Ala. “The myth that all real estate brokerage companies charge the same thing and that it's ‘a fixed percentage’ is patently untrue,” he insists, noting that for each of the past 21 years his company's commission per transaction has declined.
“Big national banks would have unfair competitive advantages over local real estate companies,” adds McMillan. For example, banks have access to capital at a lower rate, not to mention huge databases of customers.
Gary Nalbandian, president of NAI/CIR, a commercial brokerage and management firm in Harrisburg, Pa., says the threat of banks moving into commercial real estate is overblown because banks aren't equipped to do brokerage and don't have an entrepreneurial mindset.
Property management is no different than money management, Abernathy explains. “Management is a financial activity because if you're managing a building, you're moving payments,” from renters to owners to the service providers maintaining the building. “A bank might be able to handle property management,” Nalbandian agrees, “but I don't know many bankers who'd wake up at 3 a.m. to check on a police call.”
McMillan of Coldwell Banker says that if the comptroller of the currency allows further expansion of banks' ability to develop, banks could end up stealing opportunities from developers.
He cites a hypothetical case in which he decides to develop a strip mall and takes theto the bank for financing. “Who's to say my paperwork wouldn't get slowed up, my option on the land expires, and the bank comes in and buys that position and is going to do the same development?” asks McMillan. “If you open the door to allowing the people controlling the money to compete with your project, you've at least opened the door to an extremely unlevel playing field.”
Keith Lord, president of The Lord Cos. LLC, a-based broker and developer, has no problem with banks doing development. “A lot of companies do their own development,” he says, citing examples of grocery stores and office tenants who develop property for their own use and lease the rest.
But Jon Morris, a developer at Beacon Partners in Charlotte, N.C., does see risk. Giving banks the ability to develop properties “is like giving an addict cocaine,” he says. “They might do projects that are pretty poor just because they can. That would ruin one of the inherent checks and balances on the development cycle, because banks might be less disciplined than they would be if they weren't developing for their own account.”
The issue of banks entering brokerage and property management will emerge again during the next federal budget cycle, when the current ban expires. Expect realtors to push to extend the ban for another year or even permanently, a move that will continue to face strong opposition from the bankers. Stay tuned.
G.M. Filisko is a Chicago-based reporter and attorney who writes on legal and real estate issues. She can be contacted at email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:498f6887-789d-4d50-9f90-e59577e77328> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nreionline.com/commentary/bankers-brokers | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952865 | 1,019 | 1.710938 | 2 |
WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives is expected to approve Wednesday an $825 billion plan aimed at reviving an economy that's rapidly falling into the worst recession since World War II, but President Barack Obama is likely to fall short of getting the strong bipartisan consensus he so badly wants.
Obama made a visit Tuesday to Capitol Hill, meeting separately with Republicans from the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Participants praised the comity, but afterward, few GOP lawmakers said they were ready to vote for the Democratic plan.
"I'm not sure how successful he was," said Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Pa. "Our concern obviously isn't with the president; it's with being locked out of this process."
Democrats don't need Republican support and have accepted virtually none of their major initiatives. Democrats expect to lose at most a handful of their 255 members — 218 are needed for passage.
They'll be considering a bill that includes $550 billion in spending and $275 billion in tax cuts, measures aimed at jolting an economy that’s been in a downturn since December 2007.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported Tuesday that without a stimulus, the shortfall in the nation’s output relative to its potential would be the largest — and longest — since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
CBO estimated that the current recession will last until the second half of this year, which would make it the longest since World War II. The 1973-75 and 1981-82 downturns each lasted 16 months.
The House bill includes Obama’s “Making Work Pay” credit, providing rebates of $500 in payroll taxes for most taxpayers. Also included are breaks for college tuition, renewable energy and school construction.
In the spending area, the bill would create a $79 billion State Fiscal Stabilization Fund. That includes $39 billion to local school districts and public colleges and universities; $15 billion for other education aid; and $25 billion to “prevent layoffs in high priority areas such as public safety and other general services.”
The next stop will be the Senate, where the Finance and Appropriations Committees on Tuesday wrote their own versions of the stimulus bill. Appropriations approved by 21 to 9 the $366 billion spending portion of the bill, and four Republicans joined Democrats in voting yes.
The Finance panel added a provision that would give more than 20 million taxpayers a break from paying an alternative minimum tax this year. That would add about $70 billion to the stimulus package’s cost.
The full Senate plans to debate and vote on the bill next week, and because its rules are different from the House’s, Republicans will be able to offer dozens of amendments.
Thus, the Senate legislation could look quite different from the House version.
Negotiators from both houses will work out the differences, with final votes likely the week of Feb. 9.
(Lesley Clark and Barbara Barrett contributed to this article.)
ON THE WEB
MORE FROM MCCLATCHY | <urn:uuid:175e4d0d-8fef-4c75-8c62-f8b1ebdb37ed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2009/01/27/60863/gop-votes-unswayed-by-obama-lobbying.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961262 | 622 | 1.6875 | 2 |
African Meeting House on Nantucket/The Museum of Afro-American History
29 York St.
Nantucket, MA 02584
Built in 1820s, pristinely restored with a coved ceiling reflecting its maritime heritage. National Historic Landmark, located in area formerly known as New Guinea, home to Nantucket's African American community. Museum also includes Florence Higginbotham House (1845), home of an early 20th century black domestic. Significant architectural features from the late 1700s. | <urn:uuid:4898c3e7-9afd-424b-9281-5332eeb7256e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.massvacation.com/find/details.php?cid=1&ns-region=4&attrs%5B0%5D=13&pn=1&oid=121 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92477 | 106 | 2.59375 | 3 |
The University of Miami's efforts to study the impact of hurricanes on buildings received a boost on Monday by way of a $15 million grant from the U.S. Commerce Department.
The stimulus money grant — the largest for the school in recent history — will go toward the construction of a new, $48 million research facility at the UM's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science in Virginia Key, a place where scientists and researchers will now dissect hurricane-generated winds, waves and storm surges.
The construction project already had $28 million in matching funds.
"We are thrilled with the prospect of this new research building, which will help us further investigate how hurricanes and other extreme weather phenomena affect our natural and man-made environment," said Dr. Roni Avissar, the dean of the Rosenstiel School.
For UM, the grant represents the second awarding of stimulus money to its marine school in days.
Last week, a grant for $82,128 was awarded for a summer research experiment focused on the study of sea hares, a large marine snail with a simple nervous system. Students and teachers will focus on improving egg quality in the slugs. The sea hares are used to conduct research on selected aspects of life history and neurophysiology of this species.
Read more at MiamiHerald.com | <urn:uuid:ffa97713-b6cc-4ee2-8b0a-e89aa976f06a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2009/07/21/72252/university-of-miami-gets-grants.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943636 | 271 | 2.265625 | 2 |
The National Electrical Code
and Your Project
The guidelines for electrical work in the USA are set by the National Electric Code (NEC). The NEC is published by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), a non-profit corporation. Throughout the country, the NEC has been adopted as the standard for all electrical work. Each community is free to modify the standards; when they do they usually make them more stringent. Check with your governing agency to determine what standards apply to your home.
The NEC is updated and published every three years. The current edition was published in 2011 and the next edition will be published in 2014. To order an excerpted copy of the residential NEC click below.
Each time the NEC is updated, elements of your home's wiring may fall out of conformance with current code. Usually it is not necessary to conform to the current code, only to the code that applied when the electrical work was done. New work must comply with the current code. In the case where you repair or replace a device (such as a fixture, outlet or switch) and no new cable is being run, you typically do not need to upgrade to meet current code.
Each community's rules about doing electrical work vary. Your community may permit you to make repairs, install new devices, add circuits or they may require a licensed electrician to complete some or all of these projects. Furthermore, your community probably requires a permit for any work before the work has started. Check with your local building department to determine what rules govern electrical work in your community. Failure to obtain a permit may make you subject to fines and may require you to open completed work so that it can be inspected.
Improperly completed electrical work has the potential to lead to damage, fire, injury and death. Do not underestimate the seriousness of undertaking your own electrical work. If you do not fully understand the work you are planning, understand the electrical code or do not have the proper skills to complete the work, you should hire a professional, licensed electrician. | <urn:uuid:71975795-ac6d-4360-b963-65c28f12496f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.acmehowto.com/electrical/national-electrical-code.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938711 | 411 | 2.703125 | 3 |
A partnership between Tyler Junior College and Texas energy producer Luminant gained recognition from a national educational and policy studies organization.
The goal is to help create a talent pipeline to ensure businesses remain competitive, according to the news release.
Luminant Power Track was developed as a means to replenish the technical leadership at Luminant power plants.
Power Track students major in power plant technology at TJC, where they learn technical and safety aspects of plant operations, responsibilities of plant operators and mechanical and chemical technology needed for working in related industrial operations, according to the news release.
Participating students receive a Luminant-funded scholarship covering books and tuition.
Students also are eligible to receive paid internships at a Luminant power plant and the opportunity to build up to a full-time job with the company after successfully completing the program.
Luminant Academy director Dr. Dirk Hughes said the academy has seen remarkable interest since the program started, and they are seeing great value in it.
Karen Elzey, director of Skills for America’s Future, said the program is pleased to have Luminant Academy and TJC as new members of the growing network.
“We know that the energy industry has a particularly urgent need to train its next generation of workers,” Ms. Elzey said, according to the news release. “Luminant and TJC have designed an effective and cost-efficient partnership that serves both the workers and the company well.
“We look forward to working with Luminant and TJC and helping them share their story with other employers and other community colleges who seek to train a skills ready workforce for their companies and regions.” | <urn:uuid:c30bdcb9-af6f-4b70-b0b3-1595e1aefbc4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tylerpaper.com/article/20121026/NEWS08/121029826/0/BUSINESS03 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967161 | 344 | 1.859375 | 2 |
This just further adds to my considerable misgivings about all of the so-called healthy lifestyle and healthy living campaigns that the government and quasi-governmental bodies are subjecting us to nowadays.
Certainly the current ad of the Commonwealth targeting chronic disease, centred on the issue of body weight, is almost certainly a complete waste of health dollars because it is based upon very questionable assumptions that are largely underpinned by poor quality epidemiological studies with very weak findings.
But also the false claims of outfits such as the Cancer Council that diet can cause cancer (and its corollary that diet can prevent it). There is simply no good evidence in the scientific literature to support this claim (but plenty of bad), but it is now almost accepted universally as true.
There was an ad in today's West flogging apples as some kind of "miracle food" in relation to cancer. False advertising pure and simple. Anyhoo - the nocebo effect:
A financial publication isn’t a place you might expect to find an insightful article on health, but Financial Times proved the exception. Last weekend, Stuart Blackman explored how seemingly helpful educational health messages can be bad for our health. In fact, they can lead us to believe we are unhealthy and to actually feel quite unwell.
His article, “Why health warnings can be bad,” began by describing the nocebo effect. That’s the powerful phenomenon of developing the most extraordinary physical symptoms when we believe or fear that something is bad for us. It’s the negative stepsister of the placebo effect and the full significance of both isn’t understood by many people.
According to John Adams, professor emeritus at University College London and Britain’s leading risk expert and author of Risk, a major contributor to our negative expectations is the popular trend among health professionals and health agencies to issue precautionary advice concerning health risks, even when there is no evidence for any credible risk to people’s health. He labeled it a “syndrome” he calls C.R.A.P.
Full post at Junkfood Science | <urn:uuid:c818ec5f-97b0-40bd-bd0e-2f41ecd87e2d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://straightshooters.blogspot.com/2009/05/nocebo-effect-or-crap-syndrome.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944654 | 437 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Video Friday: Scary UAVs, Friendly Exoskeletons, and Cheetah Gets a Tail
Curiosity self-portrait. Larger version here.
It's been a huge week for robots. Hopefully, you were able to follow along with us at JPL while we watched Curiosity land, and the landing, while arguably the most exciting part, is just the beginning of the awesomeness that we're expecting to come from the robot as it starts exploring Mars. We'll keep bringing you updates (albeit at a slightly less frantic pace) as Curiosity starts to drive around, and we're already planning a trip back to JPL to learn more about her autonomous capabilities.
Meanwhile, we've been neglecting some other robots a little bit since we've been covering Mars 24/7, so let's get caught up on everything else that's been going on with today's Video Friday.
Also taking place last week was AUVSI Unmanned Systems North America in Las Vegas, and we heard that the expo hall was pretty wild this year. Lockheed Martin put together a highlight vid of some of the programs and systems that it featured this year, set to some music from The Matrix, if I'm not mistaken.
Ekso Bionics has introduced a new version of its rehab exoskeletion, featuring several new walking modes and a wireless sensing system.
Still no word on when we can expect a model that will turn us all into superheroes.
[ Ekso Bionics ]
Speaking of exoskeletons, this is a slightly less fancy version that a little girl named Emma uses to help her compensate for underdeveloped arms. The Wilmington Robotic Exoskeleton (or WREX, no relation) is a 3D printed wearable framework with elastic bands that make Emma's arms weightless so that she can move them around:
We're really looking forward to the day when 3D printers will be just another appliance that everyone will have at home, so that this kind of thing can be even easier to do.
[ Stratasys ]
Travis at Hizook got a tour of Artiaic a while back; it's a company that uses robots to create tile mosaics faster and more efficiently than humans can:
We've seen some great examples of how useful tails can be for fast-moving robots, so it makes perfect sense that if you're building a robotic cheetah (like MIT is), you'll want to give it a tail too. And it works, even when your robot is standing still:
[ MIT ]
And we'll finish up this week with a TED talk by Ken Goldberg from UC Berkeley on "4 Lessons from Robots about Being Human."
[ TEDxBerkeley ] | <urn:uuid:b82bb59f-b453-444e-9cc0-f6b2a1917bc5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/robotics-hardware/video-friday-2523 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945482 | 567 | 1.945313 | 2 |
MSSQL Server Reporting Services: Mastering OLAP Reporting: Relationally-Based Picklists for OLAP Reporting - Page 2
September 19, 2005
Relationally-Based Picklists for OLAP Reporting
Introduction and Business Scenario
As I explored in my articles String Functions: The .Name Function and String Functions: The .UniqueName Function, both members of the Database Journal MDX Essentials series, .Name and .UniqueName provide us with an ideal pair of identifiers to populate a Report Parameter dialog in Reporting Services for an OLAP report. It becomes evident, as we saw in String Functions: The .UniqueName Function, that, when used in an MDX query together, the two functions allow us to produce a list of Names and Unique Names that works wonderfully to populate report picklists. The dual column list provides the standard, easily understandable names from which the consumer selects, while supplying the MDX equivalent for the associated choice for passage by Reporting Services to the underlying Dataset query or elsewhere within the report structure. The result, as we have noted, is cube-based picklist support, thanks to the MDX .Name and .UniqueName functions.
We will begin our examination of this approach to meeting business needs within our usual context of a business scenario. We will assume that we have received a request from a group of information consumers in the Finance Department of the FoodMart organization. The request is for support in making an existing report, currently used for one purpose, fit varying needs that arise for information contained within the Sales sample cube. Initial discussions make it clear that we can convert the existing report to a multi-purpose report that can be shared beyond the current immediate circle of users.
The consumers begin to discuss the specifics, focusing first on the Product Family report parameter, which currently allows selection of one of the three families at run time, as depicted in Illustration 1.
The consumers tell us that that existing Product Family parameter selection is too limited in a couple of ways: First, they would like to be able to select "all" Product Families in some cases, instead of being able only to choose between the families, each time they run the report. Second, they wish to extend parameterization to lower levels within the Product dimension hierarchy (Product Department, Product Category, and beyond). Within all new levels, they want to replicate the "all" selection capability that they have requested for the Product Family selection options.
As an additional nuance relating to the Product Family parameter, the consumers make one further request: They tell us that based upon a recurring need to see "Food" versus "Non-Food" items, they would like to add one more selection to the parameter picklist. They would like to call this selection "Food & Drink," and for this option to provide a combination of the Food and Drink families in the report when selected. (We might have suggested the word "Consumables," but the team seems set upon "Food & Drink," and, as we know, appearances are everything in the reporting environment...). The consumers add that, within the picklist, they want the "all" selection to appear as the default in the selection box at run time.
We listen carefully to the requirements. After confirming our understanding of the specified enhancements, we set about to provide the requested functionality in the sections that follow. | <urn:uuid:436f4799-c99e-40d9-8c95-f64b09988388> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.databasejournal.com/features/mssql/print.php/10894_3549496_2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919099 | 683 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Last updated on 30-Aug-2011 09:10:34 AM
You need to analyse quickly what they are doing. You need to work out their strengths and weaknesses too, which they will have. Then try to work out a strategy that will stop them exposing your weakness and find a way to expose theirs.
I guess that is why they call equate Table Tennis to chess.
When you find these strategies make sure you write them down somewhere so that when you play the player again you don't spend the first part of the match trying to work out those things again. The PingSkills Vault is a tool that you can use to write and record for yourself this sort of information. | <urn:uuid:6a910ea8-8079-4e93-b7f6-6919f736b7f9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pingskills.com/table-tennis-forum/playing-to-my-weaknesses/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962122 | 139 | 1.75 | 2 |
Paysafecard is a prepaid card, just like the ones used for telephones. It is accepted by thousands of websites like Unibet bingo in Europe and the United Kingdom. Paysafecard is a replacement for cash, which is useless as such on the internet. Via a cash payment at one of the 200.000 retail points, you are able to purchase a Paysafecard: a plastic card or voucher with a 16-figure serial code. This card makes it possible to pay online with (digital) cash for goods and services. The size and the look of the card do no matter as long as the card has been warranted by a machine or retail point of Paysafe.
Paysafecards are Available in 10, 25, 50 and 75 Sterling or similar vouchers in other currencies. Paysafe prepaid cards are only available for persons 18 years or older and if necessary the retail point might ask for a proof of legal age. The legal is age is 18 because Paysafecard vouchers are usually used online to handle gambling deposits. Otherwise, it becomes increasingly difficult to check for the legal age of gamblers. Prepaid cards warranted by Paysafecard are just like cash money. If you lose the card, everyone is able to make use of it in order to purchase goods or services.
If you make use of Paysafecard for your online transaction, you don’t need a bank account or credit card. By converting cash into a value with which you can pay online, all data of the buyer is protected. Third parties do not have access to your personal and financial details. Paysafecards are common among youth that don’t have a credit card yet, or among people that do not want to share personal details on the internet.
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Paysafecard offers his services to citizens of: Germany, Austria, United Kingdom, Spain, Greece, Switzerland, Slovenia, The Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, Italy, Ireland, France, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania and Czech.
Paysafecard supports the following languages: English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Greek, Polish, Czech, Slovenian, Romanian, Bulgarian.
Paysafecard allows for converting cash into vouchers for later use on the internet. Due to an increasing number of cases related to online fraud, Paysafecard offers a safe and easy alternative for the credit card. A Paysafe Card is easy in use and available at many retail points. The total amount does not have to be used in one purchase. When the amount of purchase is lower than the value of the Paysafecard, you receive the change in a 16-figure new code. This code represents the left-over value of the change. You can use a maximum of 10 Paysafecards in a row for a deposit on an online gambling site.
Paysafecard originates in Austria and was developed in 2000 by Wertkarten AG. They became operational in 2001 with the website Paysafecard.com and their first office in Germany. In 2002 the first Paysafecard was sold via a retail point in Germany and the company really takes off. In 2003, over 90% of specialized outlets in Germany and Austria sell Paysafecards. In the following year, the number of websites that accepts Paysafecards grows to 1500. The number of retail points exceeds 20.000, spread over Germany and Austria. Another specialised payment option for the German market is DirectEbanking where our visitors can find more information on the DirectEbanking Poker and DirectEbanking Bingo pages.
Paysafecard starts to grow and the company enters the markets of Greece, Slovenia, the United Kingdom and many other countries. Next to the introduction of the card, different currencies are being offered and the growth of the company in Europe progresses steadily. In 2008, Paysafecard is accepted as a financial institution and it receives an e-money license of the FSA (UK). Now, Paysafecard is an official and regulated supplier of financial services. In 2009 the prepaid cards are available in many countries and at over 200,000 different retail points.
You can get in touch with Paysafecard trough the following contact details:
Prepaid Services Company Ltd
1 Yarmouth Place
London W1J 7BU
Fax: +44 (0)207 629 8410
Tel: +44 (0)203 326 7014 | <urn:uuid:0ad1c455-300c-460f-85b3-55578f7f019f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gamblingdeposits.com/en/paysafecard | 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 | 0.921969 | 1,191 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Chrysler will offer wireless Internet access in 2009 models
The struggling automaker's announcement comes shortly before California enacts a law that requires hands-free cellphone use while driving.
By Ken Bensinger, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
June 25, 2008
Have you ever thought rush hour on the 405 Freeway might be more bearable if you could check your e-mail, shop for a book on Amazon, place some bids on EBay and maybe even, if nobody is looking, download a little porn?
Then perhaps you should be driving a Chrysler.
The nation's third-largest automaker is set to announce Thursday that it's making wireless Internet an option on all its 2009 models. The mobile hotspot, called UConnect Web, would be the first such technology from any automaker.
Struggling Chrysler is hoping that providing motorists access to the information superhighway will set it apart from competitors and help reverse a dismal year; through May, sales are down 19.3% compared with 2007, the worst drop-off in the industry.
"It's a notion of always wanting to be connected wherever you are," said Scott Slagle, Chrysler's senior manager of global marketing strategy, who has been testing the technology since last week, allowing his daughters to surf the Web from the back seat. "There's a demand for that."
Coincidentally, Wi-Fi on wheels is being unveiled just days before new hands-free legislation goes into effect July 1 in California and Washington state. Those laws, designed to reduce accidents caused by driver distraction, prohibit talking on a cellular phone without a headset or other hands-free device. | <urn:uuid:5e012f1e-dd07-411d-85f3-8a7972c61d34> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.conservativeunderground.com/forum505/showthread.php?1146-WiFi-For-Cars-Coming-in-2009&p=14539&viewfull=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944511 | 339 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Protecting Endangered Species on Military Lands
The Sonoran Pronghorn
The Sonoran pronghorn (Antilocapra americana), federally listed as an endangered species in 1967, is the fastest land mammal in North America, clocking speeds of up to 60 miles per hour. The species, however, can no longer outrun the myriad threats to its continued existence.
The Sonoran pronghorn once roamed in the thousands throughout the Sonoran Desert, but is now confined to tiny fragments of its former range in Arizona and Mexico. A desert sub-species of the antelope family, the Sonoran pronghorn is smaller and lighter in color than other pronghorn subspecies and is uniquely adapted for survival in harsh desert conditions. Threats to the Sonoran pronghorn include barriers to movement from fencing and highways, loss of habitat, coyote predation, and vehicle collisions.
Five Sonoran pronghorn drinking from free standing water, surprising biologists who thought water requirements were met only through the intake of vegetation.
In southwestern Arizona, the Sonoran pronghorn shares its lands with the Barry M. Goldwater Range (BMGR), an active military flight training range overlaying 1.3 million acres of the low mountains and basins of the Sonoran desert, adjacent to Mexico. In October 1999, Congress passed the Military Lands Withdrawal Act, which designated the Air Force as the manager of the eastern segment of the BMGR and the Marine Corps as the manager of the western segment.
The Air Force and the Marine Corps work collaboratively with the Army National Guard, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and Arizona Game and
Fish Department (AGFD) to conserve the remaining subpopulation of the Sonoran pronghorn found primarily on BMGR. FWS staff from the adjacent Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge and the Ecological Services office in Tucson support the military training mission and provide protection for the pronghorn. As a partner, AGFD fully supports the military mission, while conducting many of the pronghorn conservation projects through contracts or cooper-ative agreements with oversight by
the military and the FWS.
The 2002 Drought
In 2002, the Sonoran pronghorn population on BMGR dropped nearly
80 percent, primarily due to lack
of rainfall. Drought conditions
affected all major Sonoran desert plant communities that the pronghorn relies on during each year. Additional stress to the animals because of land use activities in the region may have also played a part, but lack of significant rainfall from mid-August 2001 until the winter of 2002 contributed to the lowest count ever--only 21 pronghorn.
In light of the dire circumstances, the Marine Corps, Army National Guard, Air Force, FWS, and AGFD all stepped up to plan, fund, and implement a series of emergency recovery measures to reverse the low population trend. Previous research indicated that Sonoran pronghorn obtained their water solely from vegetation. The recovery team decided to test this theory by hauling water directly to the animals. AGFD, FWS, and Marine Corps staff carried water to a remote site three miles from the nearest road. Surprisingly, the pronghorn drank straight from the coolers. This significant finding led to the decision to construct water wells and forage enhancement plots. Water wells not only provide a direct source of water for the pronghorn, but also distribute water above ground to establish and maintain edible vegetation in the harsh desert conditions.
The second major recovery effort was construction of a one-square mile semi-captive breeding enclosure on the non-wilderness portion of the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge. The FWS contributed funds for the enclosure as well as other recovery activities. Construction of the enclosure was completed in January 2004.
The third action was to get some new genes into the remaining pronghorn population pool by bringing in animals from the larger of two subpopulations in Sonora, Mexico. The goal was to move five pronghorn a year for three years, and to transport them as rapidly as possible to minimize stress. The AGFD did a superb job in working with the Mexican government to obtain approval and required permits. The FWS obtained the necessary Federal permits from the Department of Agriculture and the approval of the Convention of International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES). The AGFD, the military, and the Mexican government worked together to gain air space clearances to fly the animals by helicopter directly from Mexico to the enclosure.
With all approved permits in hand and six months of planning the capture and transport operations, the capture in Mexico took place in mid-January 2004. Seven pronghorn were captured, but only two survived and were released into a semi-captive breeding facility on the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge near Ajo, Arizona. According to the AGFD, one animal died from a medical problem, and four others died due to a syndrome called “capture myopathy.” Capture myopathy occurs due to the build up of lactic acid in the system following overexertion, which when combined with over stimulation of the nervous system, results in disruption of the animal’s metabolism. The animal then suffers from over-heating or hypothermia.
The capture operation was immediately shut down when the team realized what was happening. Unfortunately, capture myopathy is a delayed reaction, which the team of experts did not foresee. The planning for the operation involved wildlife biologists with decades of experience along with veterinarians and experts from the Phoenix and Los Angeles Zoos and Disney World. Most of these people had devoted a significant part of their lives to recovering the Sonoran pronghorn. Everyone was saddened by the loss, but they knew that, without their help, the pronghorn population would never recover.
The two pronghorns successfully captured, both does, are doing well in the predator-proof 640-acre natural environment located on the refuge. The animals are alert, feeding, and responding naturally. In the spring of 2004, a male pronghorn, thought to be around two years old, was captured from the Sonoran desert and released into the enclosure with the females.
Sonoran pronghorn drink straight from constructed wells.
Personnel continue to monitor the animals and patrol the perimeter fence daily to check for predator intrusion or other tampering. New fawns have been observed in the area outside of the enclosure, and permits are in place for the next translocation. The recovery team is optimistic that they will improve and continue the breeding effort necessary to reverse the de-clining trend and preserve the Sonoran pronghorn’s heritage in the beautiful Sonoran desert ecosystem.
Conservation Team Leader, Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Installations and Environment), 703-604-0524
Chief, Division of Partnerships
and Outreach, Endangered Species Program, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 703-358-2390
Click tabs to swap between content that is broken into logical sections. | <urn:uuid:84216dc8-b20f-4ad4-89af-c6398c58049a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://digitalmedia.fws.gov/cdm/singleitem/collection/document/id/954/rec/5 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946514 | 1,451 | 3.359375 | 3 |
APWA has selected “Because of Public Works...” as its theme for 2013's National Public Works Week, which will be celebrated May 19-25.
The theme is about the quality of life brought to communities around the world. We are able to have clean water, safe streets and neighborhoods, efficient traffic and safe clean communities, "Because of Public Works..."
About this year's artist: Jannie Ho
This year, artist Jannie Ho shows the many facets of public works in a whimsical and bright illustration. Born in Hong Kong and raised in Philadelphia, Jannie studied at Parsons School of Design in New York.
Her work appears in children's books, magazines, toys, crafts and digital media.
The poster may either be purchased imprinted with the APWA logo or CPWA logo. | <urn:uuid:f9457811-d108-445c-91c6-4693c0ce8656> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www2.apwa.net/bookstore/detail.asp?PC=PSTR13CPWA | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960292 | 166 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Even though President Bush and his Republican Party won a decisive victory, Election 2004 was hardly the transformational contest that some are making it out to be.If the country has gone from being a 49-49 nation, as the Almanac of American Politics' Michael Barone noted two years ago, to a 51-48 nation, that is an important shift but hardly a massive one.
Iowa and New Mexico moved from "blue" to "red," while New Hampshire went from "red" to "blue" and Ohio narrowly stayed light red. This time, the presidency hinged on 130,000 votes in Ohio, out of 120 million cast nationwide.
The GOP's impressive four-seat Senate gain should make that party proud, but the fact that every pickup was in a state Bush carried in both 2000 and 2004 hardly suggests transformation. Rather, what we saw was the continuing realignment of the South: Only two Southern Democrats -- Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana -- are left in the Senate.
But in the House, had it not been for the redistricting in Texas, Republicans would have lost two seats, not gained three. Finally, in state legislatures, Republicans dropped from having a 64-seat edge nationally to having a 12-seat deficit.
So this was hardly an election that charted a new course. There were a host of reasons for this election's outcome. Democrats did an amazing job of getting their vote out, but the other side did even better. In the battleground states, Democrats pulled in the number of votes that they thought were sufficient to win, yet failed to match Republican totals.The Republican Party apparatus and the business community, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business-Industry Political Action Committee, along with social conservatives, had unprecedented success in getting out a very high turnout, exceeding the herculean effort on the Democratic side.
Interestingly, according to Emory University's Alan Abramowitz, turnout in the 12 swing states increased 17.3 percent, from 31.2 million in 2000 to 36.6 million in 2004. In the strong-Bush states, it went up 14.9 percent from 37.6 million in 2000 to 43.1 million in 2004. Yet in the 14 strong-Kerry states, turnout rose only 1.9 percent, from 36.6 million to 37.4 million.
While the disparity between turnout in deep-red states and deep-blue states obviously did not affect the outcome of the electoral vote, it explains Bush's 3.5 million popular-vote advantage.
I suspect that Republicans in red states, even though they knew that their votes didn't matter in terms of the Electoral College, turned out because they were for someone -- Bush. Democratic voters in blue states often were less in favor of Kerry than they were against Bush. Their failure to show up masked what would otherwise be yet another very, very close race for the popular vote.
The Kerry campaign clearly made strategic mistakes -- for example, allowing too much of the campaign to be dominated by the war in Iraq, thus diminishing the focus on the economy, Bush's Achilles' heel. Kerry talked too little about another serious vulnerability for Bush, health care. And that void probably decreased both the level of turnout among women and Kerry's share of the female vote.
Women normally constitute 51 percent of the national vote; this time, they were 49 percent. And although Bush carried the male vote by 11 points, Kerry won among women by only 3 points, down from Al Gore's 11-point edge among women in 2000.
Kerry failed to talk to women about the issues that they cared about in a way they found compelling.The Kerry campaign did get much better toward the end. Bush's campaign advisers noted that their rival's message got sharper and his verbal gaffes diminished once the Clintonistas arrived to lend a hand in early September.
I still question whether Kerry got any votes that just about any other Democrat challenging Bush under these circumstances wouldn't have also gotten. Some of his defeated rivals for the Democratic nomination might have done a better job of communicating a compelling economic message in Ohio and Iowa.
It's a shame that elections aren't like computer games. Then we could replay them to see whether a different nominee or a different sales pitch could have gotten the Democrats the extra votes they needed in Ohio. | <urn:uuid:e30d50fa-87cc-457b-bc28-ad7d982b893d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.govexec.com/oversight/on-politics/2004/11/no-transformation/18033/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976793 | 888 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Facilitated by Suzanne Beckett and Doug Lewis
Presi Presentation – Link
- Do away with conventional metaphors – stroke of insight, lightbulb moments. Ideas are not single moments.
- An idea is a network – a “liquid network”. Our breakthrough ideas are often “cobbled together – from whatever parts happen to be near by … ideas from other people, from people we’ve learned from, from people we’ve run into the coffee shop and we stitch them together and into new forms and we create something new and that’s really where innovation happens.”
- The spaces that have lead to innovation are chaotic, unpredictable collisions.
- Good ideas didn’t happen at the microscope with eureka moments, all most all of them happened at the conference table at the weekly lab meetings. Often where they shared the mistakes they were having.
Library Patron Levels of Engagement
Core Patron Access of the Library
- Space – they get familiar with space first – website and/or building – identity and comfort
- Technology – hardware, software, wireless
- Collections – typical simply an article or reserves or a book – learning how the collections works – how databases work, how
- Assistance – broad – chat, email, one on one, digging deeply into a topic, a paper jam – the totality of the library providing whatever kind of help they need
Upper Level Patron Access of the Library (Beyond Core)
- Advocacy – positive word of mouth – someone familiar with the library tells others or helps them of their success in the library – a kind of endorsement
- Partnership – they take a particular ownership and try to improve it – the library is their instrument to not only use, but improve.
Brain Mathew’s “Blocks of Library Outreach” – Link | <urn:uuid:458cbc92-8466-4cd6-a84f-82fe5a9eb9d8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.uta.edu/libbuild/2013/01/16/campus-engagment/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928745 | 381 | 2.578125 | 3 |
The Fire Tower (T?ztorony) with the Town Hall - Sopron, Hungary
After the First World War Hungary was split up. Sopron was part of Burgenland, a Hungarian region that was given to the Austrians. The people of Sopron protested though and were given the chance to vote on whether to stay in Hungary or join Austria. They chose Hungary and the rest is history.
This stock photo collection of Sopron shows that it survived the ravages of the wars with the Turks and is one of the few truly medieval towns in Hungary. It has a gothic church and of course palaces that were updated in the Baroque style. It is a fascinating town with an old town centre of little streets leading to its famous fire lookout tower which is the symbol of Sopron.
You can license this stock photo collection pictures to use on web site or promotional ads. If fall in love with and of the Sopron photos you can buy prints on line.
Visit Funky Stock’s Sopron Photo Collection
Other Hungarian Photo Collections | <urn:uuid:c15a4e01-8e75-4462-bc5d-9d6f5cd7bc83> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.funkystock.eu/news/stock-photos-of-sopron-pictures-fotos-images/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953445 | 219 | 2.390625 | 2 |
The question essentially is based on a situation like this-
A car has a small object hung from the cieling on a string (apparently at an angle of 0 degrees to the ceiling).
The car is accelerating and the object is now hanging at a 30 degree angle (to the ceiling). How would I figure out how much the car is accelerating.
PS - This is homework but Im stuck and would appreciate any advice. Thanks.
Edit: changed angle from 45 to 30. | <urn:uuid:1ebbcafb-c6af-417e-91ea-6cfbe1c39894> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/39121/calculating-cars-acceleration-from-change-in-angle-of-hanging-object/39137 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972227 | 100 | 2.296875 | 2 |
What Are the Benefits of Space Exploration?
Basically the exploration of outer space is known as Space exploration. The process of space explorations are done by taking the information provided by astronomy and space technology. The need to explore space is more so today as it has been found to have high potential not only for the survival of human life but also it can help to make life on earth more convenient. The process by which space exploration is conducted physically is by sending manned space crafts into space to study it and also by sending unmanned by robotic space crafts. Though earlier it was astronomy which is the observation done through telescopes to understand the various objects in space, later it was the rockets that were sent into space that recorded information of outer space making it more convenient for physical exploration as there are a number of benefits of space exploration.
There are many reasons why space exploration has become a necessity as it has been found that a number of benefits of space exploration exist. Some of the areas in which the benefits have been seen are scientific research in various areas, uniting the nations of the world, delving for possibilities for future human survival and above all communication in various areas that range from the military to the telephonic conversations.
Though such space explorations have faced flak for over expenditure, especially in such financially low times, the critics have been silenced by the supporter of space exploration. According to them the benefits of space exploration are so many that it is definitely a boon to mankind and for a more comfortable and convenient life. Some of the benefits that space exploration can lead to include predicting natural calamities like floods, storms, hurricanes and even wild fires with the help of the satellites that are well equipped to provide information.
Some of the other more important benefits of space exploration include agriculture and forecasting the weather. The weather forecast today has a high accuracy level and this accuracy has helped in preventing a lot of calamities from causing damage. Besides weather forecast the satellites put up on space, are also able to predict the quantum of agricultural yields, information regarding infestation by pests of various kinds and a complete geographical analysis of the area that is to be cultivated. Such geographical analysis also helps in identifying the minerals and metals ores that are buried in the depths of the earth. Till recently unfathomable, these areas have now become potentially rich resources for the country in which it is located.
Other areas that have had great benefits of space exploration include that of medicine, energy sciences and Electronics. Firstly the medical field today has seen vast development due to the space explorations. The metals that are used for the space crafts are now used very safely and successfully in the health care industry. Secondly a number of instruments have now been developed in the medical to make things easier for the patients as well as the medical fraternity.
Overall the benefits of space exploration have touched upon almost all aspects of life on earth and made it quite comfortable end easy besides making it healthier and richer. More job opportunities have been generated, as such explorations lead to more peripheral opportunities like manufacture of raw materials and its providers. | <urn:uuid:19e173fd-8bac-4b9e-9351-d31a792550a0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.space-exploration.org/?page_id=12 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971685 | 617 | 3.234375 | 3 |
OK, it's an assignment, and one can't have an assignment without a few rules. Please review these simple yet crucial guidelines for this week's photo assignment:
- Photos must be shot this weekend: Fri, Sat, or Sun.
- You must provide the EXIF information if asked (we'll help you, if you'd like to know how to get it).
- No photoshop alteration (we're looking to improve your skills with your camera, not software).
- Your photograph must adhere to the theme, which will be described below.
- Post only one photo per post, so that commentary can be easily provided for that photo. You may post more than one photo, but try to keep it to a handful.
- We encourage you to creatively title your photo so it can be referred to later.
- Post your photos in this thread only. Do not start a thread in reply to this assignment. Please post your photos no later than next Wednesday.
- And, the most important rule: have fun! We're looking to spread the joy that many of us derive from taking pictures, particularly ones that tell a story of some kind.
This week's theme: "Triangle"
It doesn't take a geometry teacher to recognize a triangle. This three-sided shape is arguablly one of the most basic and recognizable forms. It is also, by definition, two-dimensional. Sure, you can find a triangle and take a picture of it, but where's the sport in that? Can you find something triangular (not pyramidal) in your composition or subject matter?
It's Friday. Go nuts. | <urn:uuid:eb9b7730-c040-4484-89b3-dfd264f6ffa8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bmwmoa.org/forum/showthread.php?21734-Photo-Assignment-Weekend-11-17-07&p=261005&viewfull=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954438 | 339 | 2.28125 | 2 |
Long Island City
Apparently the legendary alligators that were rumored to roam the New York City sewer systems are tired of the fast paced city life, choosing now to head to the suburbs of Long Island.
On Saturday, Suffolk county animal welfare officials headed to Lilly Pond Park on Long Island in search of a reported alligator. Upon arriving, they located a 3 foot alligator in a lake near a children's play area according to a NBC New York report.
A lieutenant with the SPCA ( Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), equipped with protective gear, waded into the water to rescue the alligator before transporting it to a wildlife rescue.
The Suffolk County SPCA chief Roy Gross told CBS New York:
“Anybody that would do something like that with an illegal reptile is facing jail time. They [alligators] do not make good pets. If you want to see an alligator, you want to see the snakes, go to a zoo.””
He went on to say that the alligator would not have survived long with the cold weather.
It is illegal to keep alligators and other wild animals as pets in the state of New York.
SPCA officials say this was the latest in a string of reptiles found on Long Island, and the second found over the weekend.
On Saturday, a 3 foot boa constrictor was found in Mastic Long Island. On Oct. 8th an alligator, measuring close to 4 feet long, was found in a plastic container outside an Applesbees in Shirley Long Island. Another alligator was found earlier this month in a couples apartment. A total of 7 have been found in less then a month, with the first being located on Sept. 28th. Besides the alligators and the boa constrictor, a rattlesnake and an iguana have also been found.
Gross has not called the rash of alligator sightings in Long Island an epidemic, but he did acknowledge that all the alligators found were same breed and similar in age. | <urn:uuid:b2837c9e-c021-4513-84ba-503d2ec7e4fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/335330 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972386 | 425 | 1.875 | 2 |
Elizabeth Marquardt — who opposes equal marriage rights, because (she says) if we recognize same-sex couples that alters the meaning of marriage and heterosexual fathers will lose connection to their kids — writes:
And estimates are as high as 1 in 4 in nine states!
“An estimated 18% of females nationwide will become teen mothers, according to a new Child Trends research brief. The brief also finds that states vary widely in the estimated percentage of females who will have a baby before the age of 20, ranging from 8% in New Hampshire to 30% in Mississippi.”
So which 9 states are projected to see 1 in 4 teenage girls become mothers? Mississippi, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Arkansas, Nevada, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and Tennessee. All of those states are well-known hotbeds of marriage equality.
So in contrast, how did Connecticut and Massachusetts — where same-sex marraige is legal — rank? In the entire country, only Vermont and New Hampshire have lower projected teen motherhood rates. Oh, and by the way, Vermont’s senate just voted for legalizing gay marriage.
So apparently we can have both equality for same sex couples and low teen motherhood rates. Who knew? | <urn:uuid:fd23cf7c-4a1b-4212-88cd-971db51845c6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.amptoons.com/blog/2009/03/23/teenage-motherhood-and-same-sex-marriage/comment-page-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951351 | 253 | 2.265625 | 2 |
4. Stay in Groups: The most critical time for attempted abductions is when a kid is going to and from school or a school related event, McBride said. Summertime is also a time of heightened danger because kids are often alone longer and outside longer. Parents should teach their kids to stay in groups whenever possible.
5. Stranger Danger Is Wrong Message: How a child and how an adult defines a stranger are very different. Offenders are often patient, appear nice and offer kids something that doesn't seem evil—a puppy, candy. If an offender appears nice, they lose that stranger status. McBride says you shouldn't instruct your child to avoid all strangers because a stranger might be who helps them flee from an abductor or exploiter if you're not with him or her. An important message to give to your children when it comes to someone who they are suspicious of, they do not have to be polite to that person. "They do not have to respond to the person...if they get engaged in conversation, then they let their guard down," McBride said.
6. Practice and Have a Plan: McBride said that you should instruct your kids first and foremost that getting away is the most important thing. Secondly, when out with your children, discuss and practice different scenarios. | <urn:uuid:5fc4017c-c3b3-4321-bc5d-c60eace364af> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://abcnews.go.com/US/jaycee_dugard/jaycee-dugard-interview-tips-report-missing-child-protect/story?id=14031582&page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968028 | 264 | 2.484375 | 2 |
By Editorial Staff
Published May 1, 2008
Following, then, the holy fathers, we unite in teaching all men to confess the one and only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. This selfsame one is perfect both in deity and in humanness; this selfsame one is also actually God and actually man, with a rational soul and a body. He is of the same reality as God as far as his deity is concerned and of the same reality as we ourselves as far as his humanness is concerned; thus like us in all respects, sin only excepted. Before time began he was begotten of the Father, in respect of his deity, and now in these “last days,” for us and behalf of our salvation, this selfsame one was born of Mary the virgin, who is God-bearer in respect of his humanness.
We also teach that we apprehend this one and only Christ-Son, Lord, only-begotten – in two natures; and we do this without confusing the two natures, without transmuting one nature into the other, without dividing them into two separate categories, without contrasting them according to area or function. The distinctiveness of each nature is not nullified by the union. Instead, the “properties” of each nature are conserved and both natures concur in one “person” and in one reality [hypostasis]. They are not divided or cut into two persons, but are together the one and only and only-begotten Word [Logos] of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus have the prophets of old testified; thus the Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us; thus the Symbol of Fathers [the Nicene Creed] has handed down to us.
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“When the lives of the unborn are snuffed out, they often feel pain, pain that is long and agonizing.” – President Ronald Reagan to National Religious Broadcasters Convention, January 1981
Ronald Reagan became convinced of this as a result of watching The Silent Scream – a movie he considered so powerful and convicting that he screened it at the White House. More recently, it was by catching just a glimpse of what this film reveals that Planned Parenthood director and abortion advocate Abby Johnson turned and became a strong advocate for the pre-born.
The modern technology of real-time ultrasound now reveals the actual responses of a 12-week old fetus to being aborted. As the unborn child attempts to escape the abortionist’s suction curette, her motions can be seen to become desperately agitated and her heart rate doubles. Her mouth opens – as if to scream – but no sound can come out. Her scream doesn’t have to remain silent, however … not if you will become her voice. This newly re-mastered version features eight language tracks and two bonus videos.
“…a high technology “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” arousing public opinion just as Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 antislavery novel ignited the abolitionist movement.” – Sen. Gordon Humphrey, Time Magazine
Languages: English, Spanish, French, South Korean, Chinese, Russian, Portuguese, Japanese
Running Time: 28 minutes
$17.95 — ORDER NOW!(We accept all major credit cards and PayPal.)
What is true Revival and Spiritual Awakening?
Discover the answer in this eyewitness account by Dennis Kinlaw, President of Asbury College, Wilmore, Kentucky, who recounts the story of a visitation of the Holy Spirit in 1970. This is the presentation that has continued to spark the flames of Revival in the hearts of people around the world. Contains eyewitness footage from the Revival at Asbury College in 1970 in Wilmore, Kentucky.
Certain to challenge you to greater holiness and a deeper commitment to full-scale revival. Original news and private footage has been included. If you are a student who longs to see a spiritual awakening at your school, you must see this video!
“This simple video does a wonderful job of conveying something of God’s heart and power, Everyone we have ever shown this to has received an immediate impartation of faith for revival and the power of prayer.”
— Bob and Rose Weiner, Weiner Ministries Int’l
Running Time: 40 minutes
$19.95 — ORDER NOW!(We accept all major credit cards and PayPal.)
Exposes the Dangers of Abortion to Women!
These shocking eyewitness accounts expose the dangers of abortion not only to unborn children, but to the health and lives women as well. An antidote to the smokescreens of the liberal media, these six short clips show what really happens in and around abortion clinics.
Although the content is emotionally gut-wrenching, these videos have been used in church seminars and small groups to educate Christians on the abortion issue and to lead people toward a pro-life position.
Watch these pro-life videos on-line.
“These videos helped change my mind from pro-choice to pro-life. Your videos are what did it for me. I will be walking in next year’s March For Life in San Francisco.” — A. Jackson, California
“I was going to have an abortion until I saw your video. Praise Jesus!”
— M. Drew, YouTube Commenter
$4.95 — ORDER NOW!(We accept all major credit cards and PayPal.)
Download the Free Study Guide!
Just what is Calvinism?
Does this teaching make man a deterministic robot and God the author of sin? What about free will? If the church accepts Calvinism, won’t evangelism be stifled, perhaps even extinguished? How can we balance God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility? What are the differences between historic Calvinism and hyper-Calvinism? Why did men like Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Spurgeon, Whitefield, Edwards and a host of renowned Protestant evangelists embrace the teaching of predestination and election and deny free will theology?
This is the first video documentary that answers these and other related questions. Hosted by Eric Holmberg, this fascinating three-part, four-hour presentation is detailed enough so as to not gloss over the controversy. At the same time, it is broken up into ten “Sunday-school-sized” sections to make the rich content manageable and accessible for the average viewer.
Running Time: 257 minutes
$19.95 — ORDER NOW!(We accept all major credit cards and PayPal.)
“Give me liberty or give me death!”
Patrick Henry’s famous declaration not only helped launch the War for Independence, it also perfectly summarized the mindset that gave birth to, and sustained, the unprecedented experiment in Christian liberty that was America.
The freedom our Founders envisioned was not freedom from suffering, want, or hard work. Nor was it freedom to indulge every appetite or whim without restraint—that would merely be servitude to a different master. No, the Founders’ passion was to live free before God, unfettered by the chains of autocracy, shackles that slowly but inexorably bind men when the governments they fashion fail to recognize and uphold freedom’s singular, foundational truth: that all men are created in the image of God, and are thereby co-equally endowed with the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
This presentation is a similar call, not to one but many. By reintroducing the principles of freedom that gave birth to America, it is our prayer that Jesus, the true and only ruler over the nations, will once again be our acknowledged Sovereign, that we may again know and exult in the great truth that “where the Spirit of the LORD is, there is liberty” (2 Cor. 3:17).
Welcome to the Second American Revolution!
This DVD features “Liberty: The Model of Christian Liberty” along with “Dawn’s Early Light: A Brief History of America’s Christian Foundations.” Bonus features include a humorous but instructive collection of campaign ads and Eric Holmberg’s controversial YouTube challenge concerning Mitt Romney’s campaign for president.
$14.95 — ORDER NOW!(We accept all major credit cards and PayPal.) | <urn:uuid:43fae876-f96a-41a9-9df5-d901ca46c636> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.forerunner.com/chalcedon/X0010__5._Chalcedon.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943865 | 1,759 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Graduate Record Examination (GRE)
Students seeking admission into any Masters Program in US, and many other European countries as well are required to take GRE. The test is meant to measure the scholastic abilities of a candidate at the undergraduate level. The test's scores are one of several important components considered in the admissions process, and also influence decisions on financial awards (e.g. fellowships, assistantship etc) to students. | <urn:uuid:63e183a9-74d0-4450-a4eb-2130af6f82fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.studentsindia.com/tags/gre | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958032 | 88 | 2.421875 | 2 |
June 21, 2010 -- In the continuing debate over system-level design, one seemingly important aspect of the question is often overlooked. Using a dialect of C to model an SoC at behavioral level and then synthesizing the model into RTL is not the only possible way to increase the level of abstraction at the beginning of the design process. For many design teams the most important abstraction is encapsulated IP-treating blocks of IP, often from third parties, as nearly black-box representations of functions during the design flow.
By Ron Wilson, EDN Executive Editor
This brief introduction has been excerpted from the original copyrighted article. | <urn:uuid:6c3feb2b-dcd0-44fb-becc-198f42748b8c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://soccentral.com/results.asp?EntryID=31707 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96015 | 128 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Dinosaurs are taking over London! We’ve met dinosaurs at The Proms and Walking with Dinosaurs arrives at The O2 tonight.
Are you planning to see Walking with Dinosaurs at The O2 or Wembley Arena? You’ll see full size dinos roaring and fighting on stage!
If you love dinosaurs, head to either the Natural History Museum or Crystal Palace Park before the show for more prehistoric scares.
The Natural History Museum is home to an impressive collection of dinosaur fossils. Get close to dinosaur skeletons and explore the science behind these big creatures. What does dinosaur skin look like? Did you know that there are still dinosaurs alive on earth today? What did they eat and will they eat you? Find out the answers to all your dinosaur questions at the Natural History Museum.
If you want to meet dinosaurs in the wild, visit Crystal Palace Park. These life size sculptures were built by the Victorians and you’ll find them lurking in the woods like a real life Jurassic Park. Scientific understanding about dinosaurs has moved on a bit since these dudes were created so there’s a few funny faces and poses, but they’re still scary and huge.
Entry to the Natural History Museum and Crystal Palace Park is free. It’s not too late to book tickets for Walking With Dinosaurs. | <urn:uuid:51292bbf-d725-49ca-87df-19e933921722> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.visitlondon.com/2009/08/dinosaurs-in-london/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921298 | 272 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Extent: 1.0 Linear Feet
Predominant Dates: 1951-2000
Subjects (links to similar collections)
Scope and Contents: Files in this collection were created from 1951-2012. Materials include newspaper clippings, photographs, correspondence, videotape and handwritten notes. Subjects covered by the files include civil rights, the Vietnam War, apartheid in South Africa, and others. Many of these materials were not used in the final exhibit, but provide rich information on the history of student activism at Brandeis. The collection has been expanded to include activism materials collected and produced after the exhibit and panels in 2000. | <urn:uuid:2d8e36e2-e183-48c8-9de8-6f6fd148dc8e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://archon.brandeis.edu/Archon/?p=collections/controlcard&id=114 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94574 | 127 | 2.21875 | 2 |
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida lawmakers are moving ahead with a new plan for restoration of the Everglades.
A Senate panel on Thursday unanimously approved a bill that would keep intact an existing tax on farmers until 2036. The money from the tax will be used to help pay for restoration projects.
The legislation (SB 768) also calls for spending $32 million a year for the next 10 years.
The bill has the backing of environmental groups and sugar farmers. The House is scheduled to debate a similar bill Thursday.
The measure is backed by Gov. Rick Scott since it carries out the agreement that he negotiated with the federal government.
There have been legal battles over the fate of the famed River of Grass for the last two decades. | <urn:uuid:e90ef2ed-1b3c-4711-b7cc-b16c4225b8e9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.venicegondoliersun.com/sunnews/venice/5020802-457/sunnewspaperslawmakerssettookevergladesrestorationplan.html.csp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95649 | 158 | 2.015625 | 2 |
A session on Codex Sinaiticus at the SBL, "Virtual Codex Sinaiticus: Studying and Experiencing an Ancient Codex" included an overview of the project of digitizing the Codex by Juan Garcés, and a brief talk by Father Justin from the monastery of St Catherine's on Mount Sinai. Juan Garcés coped astonishingly well with fluctuating internet access to live images of the codex. Prof. David Parker chaired the session and Amy Myshrall's paper was read by Timothy Brown. The site is being updated constantly. The November 22 upload includes the Wisdom of Solomon, Proverbs, Sirach, and the Song of Songs. At the beginning of the Song of Songs for example, we see distinctive red letters identifying the speaker: here "he nymphe," the bride.
A conference will be held at the British Library Conference Centre, 6-7 July 2009. A number of leading experts have been approached to give presentations on the history, text, conservation, paleography and codicology, among other topics, of Codex Sinaiticus. I learnt from Prof Parker at the session that there is too much material for it to be produced on CD. | <urn:uuid:581d0956-6a5e-42b2-9c04-a14b10da8844> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.notbeingasausage.blogspot.com/2008/11/codex-sinaiticus-update.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932036 | 242 | 1.71875 | 2 |
March 7, 2013
PAVLOV'S DOGS RESPOND TO THE BELL, NOT THE MEAT:
Fracktivists for Global Warming : How Celebrity NIMBYism Turned Environmentalism Against Natural Gas (Michael Shellenberger & Ted Nordhaus, 3/06/13, The Breakthrough)
We're not talking about deep thinkers here. They're reactionaries. Posted by Orrin Judd at March 7, 2013 9:30 PMOver the last year, celebrities such as Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon, Robert Redford, Mark Ruffalo, Mario Batali, Scarlett Johansson, Alec Baldwin, and Matt Damon have spoken out against the expansion of natural gas drilling. "Fracking kills," says Ono, who has a country home in New York. "It threatens the air we breathe," says Redford.In fact, "gas provides a very substantial health benefit in reducing air pollution," according to Daniel Schrag, director of Harvard University's Center for the Environment. There have been "tremendous health gains" from the coal-to-gas switch, MIT economist Michael Greenstone told The Associated Press. Indeed, air pollution in Pennsylvania has plummeted in recent years thanks to the coal-to-gas switch. "Honestly," added Greenstone, "the environmentalists need to hear it."Fracktivism might be dismissed as so much celebrity self-involvement had it not reversed the national environmental movement's longstanding support of natural gas as a bridge to zero-carbon energy -- and kept shale drilling out of New York state. | <urn:uuid:12b89244-778a-45b3-b7a0-2a3cf246f9a5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://brothersjuddblog.com/archives/2013/03/pavlovs_dogs_respond_to_the_be.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941549 | 324 | 1.96875 | 2 |
Politics gets nasty.
When I was a graduate student at Tulane University, I remember reading newspapers dating from the 1830s. The political rhetoric that filled those publications during national elections was incredibly vitriolic and hateful. The political cartoons were sometimes even more scathing! The attacks often turned downright personal. The material rivaled any hotly contested race today.
Politics just gets that way.
But today, it seems to me that we're crossing sacred boundaries to our own peril. Some of what is being said in this campaign cuts into the health of the nation's soul.
Earlier this week, we heard reports of racial epitaphs being shouted from campaign audiences against Senator Barack Obama. The use of the senator's middle name in a blatantly discriminatory and fearful manner, the veiled language of racism that identifies Obama as "not like us," charges that he was a terrorist and even voices shouting for his death were heard in more than one campaign speech and from more than one rally crowd. This all reminds me of the rhetoric surrounding the 1960 presidential campaign and the hate-filled language directed toward President Kennedy leading up to his assassination here in Dallas. It is all despicable.
For the leaders of such audiences, and by that I mean those who are at the podium speaking and those who organize the events, to refuse to stop immediately and challenge or correct such behavior is a serious moral problem. Such tactics destroy community, foster hatred and diminish the quality of life for every American.
This is not a partisan issue. It is not a political issue. This is a spiritual concern that points up just how far off course we have gone.
Announcement from Duke Memorial UMC
1 week ago | <urn:uuid:c2b15526-b044-451a-a049-29d884748559> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://larryjamesurbandaily.blogspot.com/2008/10/hate-speech.html?showComment=1223650500000 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97927 | 338 | 1.65625 | 2 |
LOS ANGELES — History has long denied the political genius of the Black Panther Party. At worst, its members have been cast as unconscionable criminals. At best, such seminal figures as party founders Huey Newton and Bobby Seale and early supporter Stokely Carmichael have been portrayed as outlaw folk heroes who, propelled by the progressive winds of the late 1960s, dared to take on the establishment.
But a UCLA graduate student in sociology who worked alongside former Panthers a decade ago as a community organizer in Oakland, Calif., didn't buy the conventional wisdom.
"You look at the period of the growth of the party, and you find that within just a couple years, 68 cities opened chapters, and suddenly thousands of people were dedicating their lives to this revolutionary struggle," said Joshua Bloom, the co-author of a new book on the history of the Black Panther Party. "People came to the party and said, 'We want to be Black Panthers.' So clearly, the innovative political practices and strategies of the Black Panther Party were successful in attracting followers."
Bloom set out to analyze those practices. Twelve years in the making, the resulting 539-page tome details the political strategies that catapulted the Panthers to the vanguard of the New Left in the years from 1968 to 1970, disrupting "business as usual" in a way the country had not seen since the Civil War and hasn't seen since.
"Black Against Empire" (University of California Press, 2013) deftly links the Black Panther movement to a string of major historical moments in the 1960s and '70s and demonstrates that the party's leaders, rather than being the passive beneficiaries of changes sweeping the nation, were at the forefront of a broad anti-imperialist movement that drove draft resistance and protests on college campuses and led to the Left's alliances with revolutionary struggles internationally.
Ultimately, the Panthers helped create a sweeping social challenge to institutionalized political power to which authorities responded by repealing the draft, winding down the Vietnam War and making nationwide concessions in minority hiring, college admissions and political representation, argue Bloom and his co-author, Waldo E. Martin Jr., a renowned authority on black history and a history professor at UC Berkeley.
Subtitled "The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party," the book arrives on the 45th anniversary of the founding of the first Panther chapters outside Oakland, in 1968, including the Los Angeles chapter in February of that year and the New York chapter in April. As with New York, most chapters were founded after the April 4, 1968, assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., a tragedy widely interpreted as a rebuke to non-violent activism.
"Black Against Empire" has garnered rave reviews and received endorsements from such key players of the period as former Panther Angela Y. Davis, activist and former politician Tom Hayden, and Seale. "Finally! A book that clarifies the history of our movement, our aspirations, our struggles and the bitter challenges we faced," Seale's book-jacket endorsement reads.
Bloom and Martin trace the party's name to a logo adopted during the civil rights movement by black leaders in rural Alabama. In an attempt to reach illiterate voters, black activists in Lowndes County in the mid-1960s used the symbol of a pouncing black panther to differentiate their political candidates from those of Jim Crow segregations.
As a party, the Black Panthers rose to prominence in the period following the civil rights movement — a movement, the authors argue, that did little to advance conditions for African Americans living outside the South. With urban centers in the West, Midwest and Northeast practicing what Bloom and Martin describe as a "politics of containment," police routinely used brutality to isolate blacks in ghettos. A range of groups saw the need to address this institutionalized brutality, as well as the extreme poverty and exclusion in which these urban blacks lived, but none had found a means to mobilize black power until the Panthers, the authors contend.
Beginnings: an armed approach to self-defense
Bloom and Martin credit Huey Newton, the party's streetwise and legally astute co-founder, with hitting on the formula that first brought attention to the group. By leading armed groups of Panthers on patrol against law-enforcement harassment in his hometown of Oakland, Newton demonstrated how urban blacks could successfully challenge police brutality.
Panthers coached community members to alert them when the police detained others. In an act of defiance that quickly won over black youth, the Panthers, pistols and rifles in hand, would then surround the police officers and advise citizens of their rights. And it was all completely legal.
"Here were people standing up to the police with guns, and the police were flipping out, saying 'You can't be here,' and the Panthers were responding, 'Why, yes I can, and this is the exact law that allows me to do so,'" Bloom said.
An emergency session of the California Legislature aimed at outlawing the Panthers' armed approach led to the passage of the state's Mulford Act, signed in June 1967 by then Gov. Ronald Reagan, which made the public display of firearms illegal.
Newton, not to be denied, advocated that blacks arm themselves against unwarranted police invasions in their own homes. "This sustained the tension of self-defense with police without it being so explicit," Bloom explained.
The state's crackdown in 1967 might have stopped the movement in its tracks, but instead, it inspired Newton to take a tack whose brilliance, the authors argue, has not yet been fully appreciated.
Panthers as global anti-imperialists
Borrowing from the teachings of communist revolutionary Mao Zedong, anti-colonial activist Frantz Fanon and slain black activist Malcolm X, Newton cast the black community as a colony neglected and embattled by the United States. And he went beyond the Panther's politics of self-defense to establish much-needed community outreach programs, such as those providing free breakfasts, clothes and community schools for impoverished children.
"The Panthers said, 'We're not just going to pick up guns and defend ourselves — we're going to do that as part of a general claim to the right to self-representation and self-determination,'" Bloom explained. "They argued that the black community needed that as part of a global challenge to imperialism."
Their rhetoric and activism allowed the Panthers to find common cause not just with moderate blacks and anti-war activists but also with a long string of U.S. foes abroad. Cuba offered political asylum to Panthers facing criminal charges, and the Viet Cong offered to release American prisoners of war in exchange for the release of Panthers in U.S. prisons. Algeria, then the center of pan-Africanism and home to the world's anti-colonial movement, invited the Panthers to establish an embassy at a time when not even the U.S. government had one. Zhou Enlai, premier of the People's Republic of China, extended an invitation to Newton and met with him — a meeting that preceded the communist leader's historic session with President Nixon.
To the extent the party got a lift from the times, it came not so much in the form of trailblazing by white leftists, as has been maintained, but, rather unexpectedly, as a result of the establishment's repression, the authors say. Unrelenting persecution of party members by law enforcement, from the municipal to the federal level, acted like a kind of gasoline on the fire of support for the Panthers, Bloom and Martin show. Especially galvanizing was the three-year imprisonment of Newton on a voluntary manslaughter conviction resulting from a 1967 skirmish with police that left one officer dead. "Free Huey" became an international rallying cry.
In fact, the party only started to unravel after Newton's conviction was overturned on a technicality in 1970. Within the year, the party succumbed to infighting and struggles over control, goals and tactics. But at its brief zenith, the Black Panthers harnessed a force for change that altered history and dramatically changed the nation in ways still evident today, "Black Against Empire" shows.
"Not since the Civil War 150 years ago have so many people taken up arms in a revolutionary struggle against the United States," Bloom said.
Bloom's work builds on a tradition of scholarship on the American black power movement at UCLA. The campus is home to Robert Hill, the world's leading authority on the pan-Africanist Marcus Garvey; Scot Brown, an authority on the Panthers' rival black power organization, US; and celebrated historian of African American culture Robin D.G. Kelley, whose latest book illustrates how American jazz artists lent support and inspiration to the African decolonization movement in the 1950s and '60s. Bloom's work received support from UCLA's Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, where he served as a fellow in 2011–12.
"Black Against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party" will be the subject of a panel discussion on Thursday, Jan. 31, at the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA. In addition to authors Joshua Bloom and Waldo E. Martin Jr., participants will include Robin D.G. Kelley, the Gary B. Nash Professor of American History at UCLA, and Aldon Morris, an authority on the civil rights movement and a sociology professor at Northwestern University. The event runs from 4 to 7 p.m. in Haines Hall (Room 135). Admission is free, and the event is open to the public.
For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter @UCLAnewsroom. | <urn:uuid:c9da5127-0d4e-4257-bd85-ba487a27dcec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/29001 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959537 | 1,975 | 2.46875 | 2 |
Not so long ago, being labeled the “most liberal senator” might have been a problem for Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., who is tied with Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut at the far left end of National Journal’s 2012 vote ratings.
In 2004, New Mexico, with its five electoral votes, was a hard-won prize for President Bush on his way to a second term. Only Iowa’s vote in that year’s presidential race was closer. Al Gore won the state by an even slimmer margin—by mere hundredths of a percentage point—in 2000.
In the last two presidential elections, though, Barack Obama “blew the doors off the state,” as one respected New Mexico political analyst put it, garnering 57 percent of New Mexico’s vote in 2008 and 53 percent in 2012. In both years, Hispanics turned strongly against the Republican Party.
That brings us to the present. In the National Journal 2012 ratings being released in this week's magazine, Udall has a 90.7 percent composite liberal score, tying him with Blumenthal as the most liberal member of the Senate last year. Yet the liberal label will likely have little effect on Udall’s reelection bid next year. He is one of the most secure incumbents in the country, something he owes not just to his first-term record or his well-known name in Western politics, but to a changing New Mexico that now rests solidly in the Democratic column.
“The state has gotten more blue, no question,” said Joe Monahan, a communications consultant in New Mexico who has a political blog. “In years past, you might have worried about having that label. It might have helped draw a strong opponent. But the word ‘liberal’ is not what it was here.”
Udall still shies from the label, though. His office declined interview requests and instead provided a statement touting a nonideological approach. “Senator Udall is a New Mexican, and that’s the only label he’s concerned with,” wrote Marissa Padilla, Udall’s communications director, in an e-mail. “He’s proud of his record fighting for the middle-class families and job creation in our state. What’s not reflected in this analysis are the bipartisan bills he introduced last session with Republicans to help Iraq and Afghanistan veterans suffering from exposure to toxic burn pits, prevent ultralight aircraft from being used to smuggle drugs across the border, or prevent senseless drunk driving deaths. The people of New Mexico trust Tom Udall to defend their interests in the Senate.”
“Here’s the thing about New Mexico,” said Mo Elleithee, a Democratic consultant who worked on Udall’s past House and Senate campaigns but is not currently under contract with him. “It is a state where I don’t think the traditional left-versus-right paradigm, liberal-versus-conservative, has ever meant anything.... The ‘us versus them’ is more populist versus the powerful in New Mexico, and that’s always how Tom has been. I don’t think he thinks about whether something is liberal or conservative, he’s just tried to be a champion for people.”
Udall has another nonideological argument to make for reelection. He became New Mexico’s senior senator this year, following Democratic Sen. Jeff Bingaman’s retirement, and Udall also secured a place on the Senate Appropriations Committee. While there are fewer federal dollars to pass around than there used to be, New Mexico still depends on government investment to keep its troubled economy moving, so Udall’s committee seat and his seniority are valuable assets.
Still, Udall’s rise in Congress over the past 25 years corresponds with a general statewide shift toward Democrats. Udall won his first term in the House from the solidly Democratic northern half of the state in 1998, after serving as New Mexico’s attorney general for eight years. But he had run in New Mexico’s 1st District, the longtime swing seat based in Albuquerque, 10 years prior. Udall lost the 1988 election by 4 points against Republican Steven Schiff. “The county was so Republican” that year, Monahan said. “They called it a swing seat but it didn’t swing much.”
It’s not swinging much now, either, though the end result has changed dramatically. Republicans couldn’t even contend in the 1st District when it opened up again last year. Freshman Democratic Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham won nearly 60 percent of the vote in the district that foiled Udall 24 years earlier. Meanwhile, Obama won by 15 percentage points in 2008 and 10 points in 2012, exemplifying the national trend of growing Democratic advantages in heavily diverse areas.
New Mexico is a majority-minority state and Hispanics are the largest racial group there. Forty percent of New Mexicans are white, compared with 46 percent who are Hispanic. And while minorities’ raw population numbers haven’t yet translated to ballot-box dominance in other heavily Hispanic states—Texas, for example—nearly half of all New Mexico voters were nonwhite in 2012, according to exit polls. They voted Democratic at a 2-to-1 clip and had been steadily moving in that direction for much of the past decade.
“We reached a tipping point in the last five or so years,” Monahan said.
Gov. Susana Martinez, a Republican, contradicts any notion that Republicans can no longer find statewide success in New Mexico. But there is no one on the GOP bench to take on Udall who has Martinez’s charisma or personal appeal. Former state party Chairman Allen Weh, whom Martinez bested easily in the 2010 gubernatorial primary, looks to be Udall’s most likely opponent. But he is not expected to give Udall a major contest unless something changes dramatically.
Udall and his allies might shy from the “liberal” label, but it has more to do with his personal brand of governance than with political necessity. The new New Mexico isn’t a place where that hurts anymore, even with an election coming up. “This is a Democratic state now,” Monahan said.
This article appears in the Feb. 20, 2013, edition of National Journal Daily. | <urn:uuid:915697ff-63ff-489d-9455-edb58bdd349f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nationaljournal.com/daily/most-liberal-label-probably-won-t-hurt-sen-tom-udall-20130219?mrefid=flyout | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957013 | 1,356 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Mahatma Gandhi had the ambition to see his country free and independent. Pt. Nehru wanted to see prosperity for India. He had a view of equality for all. He aimed co-operative movement for prosperity of Indian masses. Sardar Patel wanted to unite India as a single unit. The ambition was later on adopted as aim of life and the notable people struggled to fulfill it.
Different people have different aims in life. Some aim at wealth, some at power, some at fame, some at business and some at education and knowledge. My aim is neither wealth nor fame. Ambition changes into aim when we adopt it with a motive to fulfill. I too have an aim to become a doctor in life. I wish to serve by country with best of my talent. I love India and I really believe that every body should think to make it a really great country. It is a noble profession. In medical line, there is much more scope of service. One can serve the patients every where in the country. This is my personal choice. My parents never compelled me to select it. I wish to become a very successful doctor in future. So I am studying hard to achieve my target. I have keen interest in medical line, so I do not feel any trouble in studying at all. A doctor can do a... [continues]
Cite This Essay
(2013, 01). Aimless Life Is Certainly a Sin. StudyMode.com. Retrieved 01, 2013, from http://www.studymode.com/essays/Aimless-Life-Is-Certainly-A-Sin-1362094.html
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"Aimless Life Is Certainly a Sin." StudyMode.com. 01, 2013. Accessed 01, 2013. http://www.studymode.com/essays/Aimless-Life-Is-Certainly-A-Sin-1362094.html. | <urn:uuid:e344acaf-d859-44fb-bac2-9e452a34358f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.studymode.com/essays/Aimless-Life-Is-Certainly-A-Sin-1362094.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942093 | 443 | 2.015625 | 2 |
November 4, 96
Vol. 12 , No. 04
Remembering the Holocaust: The Holocaust and American Popular Culture, 1945-1967
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1996
There is incontrovertible proof that between 1937 and 1945 more than six million Jews were slaughtered in Europe. Despite the overwhelming evidence of this tragedy, a growing number of people deny that the Holocaust occurred. Deborah Lipstadt comprehensively studies this phenomenon in her book Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory (1993).
Lipstadt received widespread acclaim for Beyond Belief: The American Press and the Coming of the Holocaust (1986). This work on Holocaust deniers has been cited by The New York Times as one of the notable books of the year.
Presently, her work is focused on the Holocaust's impact on American culture in the post-World War II period. This coincides with the Athenaeum's series of programs designed to examine the era during which Claremont McKenna College was founded.
Deborah Lipstadt is the Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies at Emory University. In 1994 President Clinton appointed her to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, which oversees the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. Lipstadt helped to design a section of this museum and currently chairs the museum's education committee.
In addition to her books, Lipstadt is a frequent contributor to newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, Time, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The Baltimore Sun. She has appeared on CNN, 60 Minutes, and Today.
Election Night Celebration
JOHN J. PITNEY, JR.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1996
The excitement of an election culminates on election night. Professor John J. Pitney joins the Athenaeum for discussion and commentary on the importance of the results of national and state elections on November 5. He will also comment on "live" television coverage of the election results projected on the large screen in the Security Pacific Dining Room. Although not a fortune teller, Pitney has keen insight into the political process and the 1996 political climate.
After receiving his M.A. from Yale University in 1978, Pitney began his political career in his home state of New York as a legislative assistant for State Senator John R. Dunne. He later worked for the U.S. House Republican research committee while completing his Ph.D., also from Yale. During a leave of absence from CMC, Pitney was acting director of the Republican National Committee's research department.
A professor of government at CMC since 1986, Pitney has published numerous scholarly articles and coauthored the book, Congress' Permanent Minority?: Republicans in the U.S. House (1994). In 1995 he received the Glenn R. Huntoon, Jr. Teaching Award and in 1988, the Richard Shure Faculty Award.
You won't want to miss this lively evening of political history "in the making." A special menu is being planned, featuring Kansas T-bone steaks for the Republicans and Arkansas baby-back ribs for the Democrats-plus vegetarian entrees, of course. Owing to the popularity of this event, only CMC students, faculty, and staff are eligible to attend.
A Road Less Taken: A Journey and Overview of Environmental Education
DIANE SILVER '88
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1996
As a former "Leader in the Making," Diane Silver is much like her fellow grads in her outstanding achievements at CMC and beyond. What distinguishes her from the rest is the field in which she exercises her leadership and scholarship skills.
As part of the "Parks as Classrooms" initiative of the National Park Service, Silver coordinates a residential environmental education program for elementary and junior high school students. The Cuyahoga Valley Environmental Education Center is located in Ohio's Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area.
Silver's journey from Claremont to Ohio took somewhat of a circuitous route, something familiar to this former track and cross country runner. Although she majored in psychology and economics and was a Truman Scholar, Silver opted for an unexpected path. She received a master of science degree in 1993 from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, at its School of Natural Resources and Environment.
Silver's contribution to the environmental awareness and outdoor skills of children reverberates as they return to their communities and make a difference in their local environment.
Diane Silver returns to Claremont as part of the alumni series "The Winning Spirit in Sports and in Life."
Jerusalem in the 20th Century
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1996
Home to some of the holiest sites of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, Jerusalem has occupied a central, and frequently explosive, place during some of the major historical events of the 20th century. Ever since Israel gained its independence from British colonial rule, competition for control of Jerusalem has been the cause of violent confrontation. The battle for Jerusalem continues today in the form of acrimonious negotiations between Israel and the PLO.
The Henry Salvatori Center and the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum are pleased to present the official biographer of Sir Winston Churchill, Martin Gilbert, who has published six volumes of the Churchill biography and a further nine volumes of Churchill's collected papers. Gilbert will shed light on the troubles in Jerusalem in a discussion of his new book, Jerusalem in the 20th Century. Gilbert combines penetrating insight and expert command of historical facts to offer a compelling interpretation of Jerusalem's past and present situation.
Among Gilbert's numerous other writings are two books on the Jewish experience in World War II, Auschwitz and the Allies (1981)and Holocaust: A History of the Jews of Europe During the Second World War (1986), and a chronicle of the struggle of Russian Jews attempting to emigrate from the former Soviet Union, Jew of Hope: The Plight of Soviet Jews Today (1986). He has also published several historical mapbooks, including The Jewish History Atlas (1969) and the Arab-Israeli Conflict Atlas (1975).
A fellow of Merton College, Oxford, since 1962, Gilbert was knighted in 1995 by the Queen of England. That same year he accompanied British Prime Minister John Major on his trips to the Middle East and Washington.
Veteran's Day Commemoration
Duty, Honor, Country
LEWIS LEE MILLET
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 1996
Colonel Lewis Lee Millet could be said to have military service in his blood. He is a descendent of Thomas Millet, who was killed during the Indian Massacre at the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1675. Since then, a member of the Millet family has served in virtually every major military conflict in which the United States has engaged, including the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World Wars I and II, and the Vietnam War.
Colonel Millet has had a long and distinguished career with the United States military, serving in World War II and the Korean and Vietnam Wars when things were the toughest. During this time he held positions as antiaircraft machine gunner, tank commander, artillery gunner, reconnaissance sergeant, and paratrooper. He was the first man to rappel from a helicopter in Vietnam and the last man to lead a company in a bayonet attack. Known for bravery in combat, Millet has gone behind enemy lines time after time. When surrounded in Africa, he and another soldier drove the last remaining vehicle over nearly impassable mountainous terrain to evade a German Panzer attack. In Italy, surrounded on the wrong side of the lines, he called the artillery to bombard his own position to stop the attack. In North Korea, ambushed in a medical convoy, he crawled back to the front lines to lead two wounded soldiers to safety.
Millet has an A.B. degree in political science from Park College, Missouri, and a doctor of humane letters from Emerson College, Massachusetts. He has served as a justice of the peace and has been a candidate for the United States Congress. His awards include the Silver Star, three Bronze Stars, four Purple Hearts, the Medal of Honor, and the Distinguished Service Cross.
Please join the Athenaeum as CMC pays tribute to America's veterans and welcomes one of the country's most distinguished soldiers to deliver the annual Veteran's Day address.
A Rain Forest 40 Stories Tall: The History and Ecology of the California Coast Redwoods
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1996
When the first white settlers followed their manifest destiny as far as the western coast, they found inspiration in the giant trees living there. The ancient, heaven-grazing redwoods seemed like proof of the West's largesse.
As of today, over 95 percent of the old-growth redwoods are gone. Those that still stand continue to inspire wonder and humility in those who see them.
Selected by the national science honorary society Sigma Xi as a distinguished national lecturer for the 1996-97 academic year, Chris Brinegar is currently researching the use of DNA fingerprinting to study the genetic diversity of California coast redwoods. Standing up to 400 feet tall and living up to 2,000 years, these magnificent trees are tied to dramatic events in both human and ecological history.
Brinegar, too, was struck by the redwoods when he moved to California and went on to become an expert in their history, ecology, and prospects for the future.
Brinegar is an associate professor of plant molecular biology at San Jose State University, and he holds degrees from the University of Notre Dame, Cornell, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His lecture is sponsored by the Claremont chapter of Sigma Xi and the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum.
Crossing the Border: U.S. Latino Writers on the Move
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1996
If you have never read any of the numerous articles that Richard Rodriguez has written for such publications as Harper's, U.S. News & World Report, The New York Times, Mother Jones, New Republic, or the Sunday Opinion section of the Los Angeles Times; never heard any of the essays he regularly contributes to the Jim Lehrer News Hour; never looked into his books Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez (1983) or Days of Obligation: An Argument with My Mexican Father (1992), the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies invites you to take the first step in closing the gap in your knowledge of one of America's most acclaimed-and controversial-writers. Rodriguez's Athenaeum presentation will be the sixth in the Gould Center's series devoted to U.S. Latino writers.
Praised for his exquisite prose, while criticized for his views on such issues as affirmative action, ethnicity, and the social and cultural differences between peoples of the Americas, Rodriguez has forged for himself a singular place in contemporary letters. Rodriguez's voice is one of irony, of plaintive reflection on the inevitable loss wrought by Americanization, by the "manifest destiny" of an immigrant nation.
Rodriguez is a contributing editor at Harper's and U.S. News World Report as well as editor at Pacific News Service in San Francisco, where he makes his home. Among the many citations he has won are the Frankel Medal from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the International Journalism Award from the World Affairs Council of California.
The Disappearance of the Samurai, or Whatever Happened to the Managerial Revolution?
DAVID REID '69
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1996
David Reid, an essayist, editor, and independent scholar who attended CMC in the 1960s, will address one of the great illusions of the 1940s in his Athenaeum talk. As a journalist and essayist, David Reid has written on topics as diverse as the secret history of the Beat Generation, the Jonestown massacre, and presidential rhetoric ("Darkness at Noonan"). His writing has appeared in Vanity Fair, Ploughshares, University Publishing, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The State of the Language, and the Pushcart Prize collection.
With Leonard Michaels and Raquel Scherr, Reid coedited the bestselling anthology West of the West: Imagining California (1989). Subsequently, he edited and contributed to the prophetic essay collection Sex, Death and God in L.A. (1992), which appeared nine days before the Rodney King verdict.
Reid is currently at work on The Brazen Age: 1944-1950, a cultural and political history of America from V-J Day to Korea, to be published by Pantheon. "The Disappearance of the Samurai" belongs to another work-in-progress: "Secret Agents: The Historical Imagination at the End of the Millennium."
Please join the Athenaeum in welcoming this distinguished alumnus and student of the '40s, David Reid, for a critical and insightful examination of "The Brazen Age."
Crossing the Border: U.S. Latino Writers on the Move
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1996
Ruben Martinez, special program director for the Gould Center's fall series on U.S. Latino Writers, has called U.S. Latino literature "a grand opera of characters hailing from different lands whom history has thrown together on the 'border' between their respective worlds. But ... the 'foreign land' in the work of many U.S. Latino writers is the barrio only a few blocks away from the suburb in any American city." To bring down the curtain in the final act of this series, Martinez and the Gould Center have enlisted two native Angelenos-local heroes Luis Alfaro and Marisela Norte-to blend voices in a tandem performance. Not merely from, but fundamentally of, the City of Angels, Alfaro and Norte epitomize in their poetry the sights and sounds, the peril and pride, the adversity and excitement intrinsic of the Latino experience.
Besides being a multidisciplinary artist who works in poetry, plays, short stories, performance art, and journalism, Luis Alfaro is a director, a curator, a producer, and a community organizer. As codirector of the Latino Theatre Initiative at the Mark Taper Forum, he has conceived, written, and directed three mainstage productions, and he has coproduced the world premieres of Marga Gomez's A Line Around the Block (1995) and Guillermo Gomez-Pena's Borderama (1995), as well as the West Coast premieres of Oliver Mayer's Blade to the Heat (1994). He is featured in the PBS series The United States of Poetry, and he has performed in the national tour of Nuyorican Poets Cafe Live! at UCLA's Wadsworth Theater.
Dubbed "East L.A.'s ambassador of culture" by L.A. Weekly, Marisela Norte attributes her love of language and literature-Ingles y Espanol -to her Chihuahua-born father and her Veracruz-born mother. Long revered in the East L.A. barrio, where she was born and still lives, Norte began to reach a wider audience with the 1992 release of her spoken-word compact disc Norte/Word.
In addition to maintaining a busy performance schedule, Norte volunteers much of her time at local primary and secondary schools encouraging students to write.
"I just write about what I see-Whittier Boulevard and the Diaz Bakery and the Cinderella Beauty Shop," remarks Norte, who began keeping a journal at age ten. "As a writer, I view my work as a continuing process, a running commentary ... my own personal newsreel."
An Evening of Slavic Music with the Mei Duo
RACHEL VETTER HUANG, violin
HAO HUANG, piano
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1996
You are cordially invited to the Athenaeum for a night of Slavic passion in sight and sound, the first concert in the Stotsenberg Chamber Music Series for the 1996-97 academic year. The program will feature pianist Hao Huang performing the original solo piano version of Modest Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" (1874), together with slides of the visual works by Alexander Hartman that were the work's direct inspiration.
Hao Huang and violinist Rachel Vetter Huang, known as the Mei Duo, will also perform works by Antonin Dvorak and Bela Bartok, including Dvorak's luscious "Romance" (1879) and Bartok's vivid "Rumanian Dances" (1915). The Mei Duo has been honored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Together, they have lectured extensively on violin-piano repertoire in chamber music, and they were selected as feature performers for the 1994 world conference of the International Society for Music Education.
Rachel Vetter Huang has appeared as soloist with the Boston Pops, the Concord Symphony Orchestra, and others. She was awarded scholarships to attend the Aspen and Tanglewood Music Festivals, and she has been featured on several radio and television networks on the East Coast. Holding degrees from Harvard University and SUNY Stony Brook, Rachel Vetter Huang is a member of the music faculty at Scripps College.
Hao Huang graduated from Harvard University, Juilliard, and SUNY Stony Brook. Among his awards are the Overman Foundation first prize, the Frank Huntington Beebe grant for European study, and the New York City Solo Debut Artist Award from the China Institute in America. Huang served as an artistic ambassador of the United States Information Agency on four overseas tours. He was a featured soloist at the Cultural Olympiad of Catalonia preceding the Barcelona Olympic Games. Hao Huang is currently a professor of piano at Scripps College and The Claremont Graduate School.
Money: Back to the Future?
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1996
Walter Wriston has enjoyed an unchallenged reputation as one of the most influential bankers of the 20th century. A visionary who rose to the top of one of America's giant banks-First National City (later Citibank)-Wriston transformed not only his own institution but much of the finance and banking in the United States and the world. Challenging the White House and Congress as well as the Federal Reserve, Wriston revolutionized consumer banking, the use of bank credit cards, and interstate banking by encouraging deregulation. His practice of free market principles made Citicorp as powerful in world affairs as many countries.
In addition to serving as chairman of Citibank, Wriston was also chairman of President Reagan's Economic Policy Advisory Board. Long an advocate of the use of technology to improve the banking industry, Wriston has become a prophet of cybertechnology in finance.
Walter Wriston has written a number of books and essays, including Risk and Other Four-Letter Words (1986) and The Twilight of Sovereignty (1992). He was the subject of a recent 900-page biography by Phillip L. Zweig, and he was featured on the cover of the October issue of Wired magazine.
Please join us for this talk by one of America's great financial pioneers. Walter Wriston's address is sponsored by the Res Publica Society and the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum. | <urn:uuid:4d7ccfb7-02fd-4858-a681-10ad0fb08c43> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.claremontmckenna.edu/mmca/temp_fn.php?volumeFN=12&issueFN=04&articleFN=3&typeFN=f | 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 | 0.951065 | 4,010 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Forget About Bones, These Pups Went Digging for Gold!
ALEXANDRIA, VA, May 17, 2005 – ThinkFun® Inc., the leading producer of mind challenging games, is pleased to announce that Toot and Otto™, a new two player strategy game for younger kids, has been awarded the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio’s Gold Award. The independent consumer organization gave Toot and Otto high marks for being educational, engaging and entertaining.
“Parents that tested Toot and Otto loved that the game called for problem solving skills and patience. The most important feedback from our kid testers was “let’s play again!” noted Stephanie Oppenheim, publisher and co-founder of the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio. “Families are looking for games as a way of connecting with their kids, and Toot and Otto is one of the year’s best entries that we have reviewed.”
Designed for Ages 4-8, Toot and Otto™ is an ideal beginner strategy game that can be played both cooperatively and competitively. The goal of each game play is to spell the words “Toot” or “Otto.” In the cooperative version, players attempt to spell the words as many times and ways as possible. In the competitive version, players work against each other to spell either Toot or Otto by dropping letter tiles down the chutes of the vertical game board. In the competitive version players have to focus on their opponents moves as well as their own moves as blocking and other tactics come in to play. Since Toot and Otto are palindromes, spelling the words is easy for young minds and allows the players to focus on building critical thinking and strategy development skills.
“We’re honored to be recognized by such a respected organization within the toy and game industry as the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio,” said Bill Ritchie, Founder and President of ThinkFun. “The Oppenheim Gold Award validates our belief that Toot and Otto is a game with great play value and strong educational benefits.”
Toot and Otto has a suggested retail price of $9.99 and is available at specialty toy and game stores nationwide. It can also be purchased online at www.ThinkFun.com .
ThinkFun, Inc., located in Alexandria, VA, is the leading creator of mind challenging games. Since 1985, the company has produced award winning games such as Rush Hour®, River Crossing®, and Aha! Brainteaser Classics™. Kids and adults alike look to ThinkFun to create hands-on, thought-provoking games that provide hours of fun-filled challenges. ThinkFun is committed to high-quality, innovative games that help people of all ages develop thinking skills through play. To learn more, please visit www.ThinkFun.com . | <urn:uuid:f0bf016c-6588-4fdf-bd5e-7b5aefeae533> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thinkfun.com/print/211 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960949 | 596 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Law enforcement gears up for Mayan calendar festivities
The Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office urges visitors to take precautionary measures
Siskiyou Daily News, Yreka, CA
Updated Dec. 19, 2012 @ 12:42 pm
Updated Dec. 19, 2012 @ 12:42 pm
» Social News
SISKIYOU COUNTY – As tourists travel the icy roads to Siskiyou County for Mayan calendar and Winter Solstice events, local law enforcement officials have been meeting to discuss safety precautions, stated a press release issued by the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO).
As Mount Shasta area motels fill up, the SCSO recently held joint meetings with the Mount Shasta Police Department (MSPD) and United States Forest Service (USFS) to discuss the upcoming gatherings and events scheduled in the Mount Shasta area on Dec. 21.
“This means more crowds and traffic will be encountered on Everett Memorial Highway and other highways and roads in the Mount Shasta area,” stated the release. “Weather reports indicate several inches of snow will fall before Friday, which will create hazardous driving conditions and potentially challenging environmental conditions in the Mount Shasta area.”
Considering these potentially hazardous environmental conditions, the SCSO would like to remind all motorists and outdoor enthusiasts to be careful during this time of the year and to take extra precautions to avoid mishap during the holiday season.
The release warns visitors to expect cold weather, freezing conditions, snow, fog, rain, ice and hazardous roadways, especially in higher elevations. Major storms can last for several days in duration and reduced visibility, high winds and damage to power lines and trees often create additional roadway hazards.
Often times, blizzard-like conditions are encountered in the area and intermittently on all mountain passes and area roadways, especially at higher elevations. Rain in the winter can be particularly hazardous when mixed with snow and ice and area roadways can turn into sheets of ice. Even dryer-appearing roadways may, due to freezing temperatures, yield “black ice” especially on bridges, curves and underpasses, the release stated.
The SCSO offers the following tips while traveling in severe weather conditions:
• Always drive after plenty of rest and do not drink and drive or operate a vehicle after consuming medication in violation of a physician’s or pharmacist’s advice.
• Use safety belts and ensure children are restrained with the appropriate child safety seat or seat belt.
• During inclement weather, allow extra time to get to the destination and always drive at a speed safe for prevailing traffic conditions. One should always allow extra distance between vehicles during winter months, especially when the roadway is wet or icy.
• Use caution when enjoying outdoor winter activities. Frostbite and hypothermia can occur without warning and it is important to hydrate, even when the temperature is cold. Always dress warmly and layer to provide maximum comfort and warmth. Be sure to use proper footwear and headwear for protection from the elements.
• When traveling in a vehicle – even for short trips but especially when traversing local freeways or county roads – always carry extra warm clothing in case of an emergency. Carry a warm coat, winter boots, gloves, hats, blankets, water, a flashlight, food, a first aid kit, flares and at least one reliable communication device when driving, even for short distances.
• One should always ensure his or her vehicle is in good running order and check tires, the spare tire, windshield wipers, belts and fluids. It is recommended to always travel with at least one-half tank of gas and a full tank if traveling long distances.
• Always travel with at least one other person if recreating in the area and one should always make sure a responsible person knows where he or she is, the route and when he or she plans to return.
• Always observe and follow regulatory and precautionary signs and never venture into areas closed to the public during the winter season.
• Carry tire traction devices (chains) at all times, even if driving a 4-wheel drive vehicle. It is the law and they may be needed. In addition, carry a small shovel in the trunk or bed of a pick-up in case snowy conditions cause one’s vehicle to become stuck.
• Stay informed and current on local weather conditions and if possible, stay home during major storms.
• Remember to report impaired drivers by dialing 9-1-1. Any other non-emergency unsafe roadway or environmental conditions should be reported to the California Highway Patrol (CHP) by calling 841-6000. Routine information from the SCSO may be obtained by calling the 24-hour dispatch number at 841-2900.
“We hope everyone enjoys a very joyous and safe holiday season. The weather and environmental conditions will pose some challenges for all of us and we are asking everyone residing here or visiting Siskiyou County to help make this the safest winter season on record,” stated Sheriff Jon Lopey in the release. “On behalf of the department we thank you for your cooperation and support for us and all public safety agencies working during the holidays to help ensure your safety and the welfare of the citizens we serve. Again, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.” | <urn:uuid:f884b018-0ec9-4846-933d-10f1652be7af> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.siskiyoudaily.com/article/20121219/NEWS/121219734/0/Entertainment%20Life | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929952 | 1,105 | 1.507813 | 2 |
The Deming Edu Foundation is driven by its mission to integrate quality into every aspect of the educational effort it is undertaking in India. The Foundation relies on endowments from a not-for-profit trust comprising industry professionals and scientists.
Innovation will be a watchword for the Foundation, whether in its curricula or as part of its educational processes. The Foundationis determined to ensure that in case of talented students, back ground becomes irrelevant in obtaining top-notch higher education.Such a vision needs support from eminent scholars, academics and higher education stalwarts whose directions will be needed foreffective implementation of the Deming project in India.
The Foundation registers the fact that there are brilliant minds to be found both in our urban and rural areas; there are young people who do not lade talent but sadly lack opportunity or resources to pursue higher quality
The Foundation's primary aim is to seek out meritorious students across the country, select students, and induct them into prestigious post graduate programs in the areas of Strategic Marketing, Finance, HRM, and FT. The selected students, on completion of the programs, are expected to hold positions of responsibility in the corporate world. We expect their experience with us will be a transformative one, and will lead them to achieve career enrichment on the one hand, and more meaningful societal integration on the other. In order to pursue our core objective i.e. "Search for Excellence", the Foundation has introduced on a National basis, the Deming Full Bright Scholarship Program to attract talented students from various parts of the country. | <urn:uuid:1c81efa0-a47b-482f-b7e1-ca1dc87ad87d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.demingasia.com/foundation.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945311 | 316 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Revealed: Skin Messages, Invisible Ink and More Secret WWI Spycraft
- 4:32 PM
How to read the Hun’s letter without noticeably opening it: mix copper acetyl arsenic with three ounces acetone. Then add a pint of amyl alcohol. Heat the mixture in a hot water bath. The resulting fumes should break down the letter’s adhesive. Back in World War One, this was state of the art spycraft.
Or maybe it wasn’t. On a document declassified on Tuesday by the CIA listing the nearly century-old formula for surreptitiously opening mail, an anonymous agent scribbled, “Tried — not successful.”
And maybe that’s why the document and five others, detailing espionage techniques used by the Office of Naval Intelligence in 1917 and 1918, haven’t seen the light of day since they were penned. Until Tuesday, they were the six oldest classified documents the government possessed.
CIA Director Leon Panetta explained that “recent advancements in technology made it possible” to release the documents after almost a century, without elaborating. (What, PDFs?) But they could also be an early example of the government keeping some of its national security blunders out of the public view. (Update: CIA spokeswoman Marie Harf adds, “In recent years, the chemistry of making secret ink and the lighting used to detect it has greatly improved.”)
Either way, they’re a rare glimpse at the U.S. intelligence community in the days before it ballooned to a global entity costing $80 billion every year. In a letter dated October 30, 1917, an “assistant chemist” at the Department of Commerce named A.M. Heinzelmann provides formulas for what appears to be invisible ink, warning that some of them “doubtless exert a very corrosive action on steel pens.” (Namely, 100 ccs of water when added to three grams of potassium bromide and the same amount of copper sulfate.)
Back in the first World War, even the human body came under suspicion for being a medium for secret messages. A pamphlet printed for Post Office inspectors advised counterintelligence agents to “develop a suitable reagent sprayed with an atomizer” to reveal the secret tattoos. To get rid of your own hidden tattoos, scrub down with citrus.
Two different documents from 1918, written in French, detail the Germans’ favorite methods for concocting invisible ink. Spoiler alert: compressed or powdered aspirin mixed with “pure water.”
Suffice it to say that spycraft in the first World War really relied on invisible ink. A different method to concoct it used five grams of “Iodite of Potassium,” mixed with 100 grams of water, two grams of tartaric acid, “Sulpharated soda,” “Ferro cyanite of potassium” and diluted ink.
Others are more traditional, like lemon juice mixed with potassium, a favorite of the Revolutionary War. Carefully put your parchment up to a heat source to read the hidden message.
All the more amazingly, intelligence bureaucrats believed for decades that these long outmoded tools of the spy trade needed to be kept out of the public purview. One of them carries a stamp from 1978 marking it “EXEMPT from automatic declassification.” The one with the invisible tattoos has a different non-disclose stamp from 1989. So figure we’ll be living in Martian colonies by the time we learn what the “secret weapon” used by special operations forces in Iraq during the surge really was. Especially if it didn’t exactly work as well as the hype suggested.
Image: U.S. Army propaganda poster from WWI, via dhm.de
Danger Room senior reporter Spencer Ackerman recently won the 2012 National Magazine Award for Reporting in Digital Media. | <urn:uuid:d9274e8a-4701-4249-97f0-a0c95ad167d6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/04/revealed-skin-messages-invisible-ink-and-other-secret-wwi-spycraft/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920802 | 821 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Botswana: Year In Review 2005Article Free Pass
|Area:||582,356 sq km (224,848 sq mi)|
|Population||(2005 est.): 1,765,000|
|Head of state and government:||President Festus Mogae|
Though the Botswana Democratic Party had consolidated 40 years in power with its ninth successive electoral victory in 2004, the year 2005 was one in which economic setbacks were accompanied by political disquiet.
In May 2005 the pula currency was devalued by 12% in an attempt to increase government revenue from diamond exports sold abroad against a declining U.S. dollar and to reduce the relative cost of wages and development projects in government service and the export sector. Construction, manufacturing, and retail sectors were in recession, and foreign investors crossed the border to South Africa.
Much of the criticism leveled against Pres. Festus Mogae and Vice Pres. Ian Khama centred on 72-year-old Australian academic Kenneth Good, whose expulsion from Botswana after 15 years in residence was ordered by presidential fiat in February. Good challenged the order but in July the appeals court ruled that the constitution did not oblige the president to offer a reason, and Good was then deported. The example of Good’s case added to criticism of arbitrary presidentialism, reinforced by the ongoing critique of insufficient representation of ethnic minorities and their languages in education, broadcasting, and the advisory House of Chiefs.
The high court case of the ||Gana and |Gwi people, challenging their relocation from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, was suspended in September 2005 to give the applicants time to raise more funds to cover legal costs. Frustration over this delay led to clashes between game scouts and those people who had returned to live in the reserve.
What made you want to look up "Botswana: Year In Review 2005"? Please share what surprised you most... | <urn:uuid:2959f395-42f2-45a3-a4d8-eef3ceca749a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1090177/Botswana-Year-In-Review-2005 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962294 | 389 | 1.929688 | 2 |
Use your own favorite cliche for this.
Texas soon will be shelling out more per year to pay back money it borrowed for road construction than it spends from its quickly vanishing pile of cash to build new highways.
Legislative leaders characterize the state’s transportation funding as a crisis. Most Texans, they say, are unaware of its severity and must be educated before the state can find new ways to finance new roads.
The gasoline tax pays for road maintenance and construction but has not increased in 20 years. Gas tax revenue peaked in 2008 and likely will decline as vehicles become more fuel-efficient.
“It’s not a crisis until everybody agrees that it’s a crisis. Right now, people who don’t understand it are saying, ‘You’re crying wolf,’” said House Transportation Committee Chairman Joe Pickett, D-El Paso. “Yes, it’s a crisis.”
Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee Chairman Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, agrees.
“The gravity of the situation is that in the absence of further action by the Legislature this session, we will literally be out of money for new construction in 2012 in the fastest-growing state in the country and in one of the largest states in the country,” he said. “We need to begin to have a discussion about it.”
State lawmakers still have $3 billion left to authorize from a $5 billion road bond issue approved by Texas voters in 2007. Williams said he will push for that in the coming months.
The state began borrowing money in 2003 to pay for roads and now owes $11.9 billion. It will cost more than $21 billion to repay those bonds, Pickett said.
“We are trying to warn people,” Pickett said, “Is this the way you really want to go? If you could get everybody around the table and put politics aside, common sense would say the conservative thing to do would be to limit borrowing capacity and put more cash in.”
Naturally, an increase to the gas tax is off the table, because it might actually help solve the problem. And if someone would like to explain to me why issuing bonds like this is not the same as deficit spending, I’m all ears. To be clear, I’m not against spending borrowed money on infrastructure. It’s just that I don’t see why we need to be borrowing money, which will need to be paid back with interest, when we have a less expensive alternative available to us. Clearly, I just don’t get it.
By the way, while it is true that these funds are separate from general revenue and thus not directly related to the budget shortfall, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a connection. There are no enterprise funds at the state level that don’t get raided for other purposes. The gas tax is also used to fund the Department of Public Safety, and a portion of it is taken off the top for education. There’s been talk for awhile about doing something to stop all these redirections and have the gas tax be used fully for transportation, but doing so would then add to the shortfall. One way or another, it all comes back to a lack of revenue. PDiddie has more. | <urn:uuid:21fccb97-fb7c-43a7-935e-3f15b8019582> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://offthekuff.com/wp/?p=34347 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952942 | 698 | 1.710938 | 2 |
The Bak MSOA science department is staffed by award winning teachers, who are committed to facilitating the exploration of science through the use of hands-on, highly motivating lessons. Students will discover the exciting world of science through dissections, cooperative learning labs, and field trips. They will have the opportunity during their science career at Bak MSOA to travel to Kennedy Space Center, the Peace River for a fossiling trip, Key Largo Marine Lab for snorkeling, and Busch Gardens (Tampa) to apply physics studies. Because of this highly motivating curriculum, students at Bak have earned the top FCAT science scores in Palm Beach County for the last 8 years. Also, Bak has been among the top two schools in award winners at the Palm Beach County Science and Engineering Fair for the last 10 years, sending students to the state competition each year for the last 4 years. BAK MSOA SCIENCE ROCKS!!!!! | <urn:uuid:dc57c146-a371-4ed5-8f61-a8fa9473d96a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.palmbeach.k12.fl.us/MiddleSchooloftheArts/science.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947134 | 186 | 1.75 | 2 |