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Document for June 2nd:
"Act of June 2, 1924, ... which authorized the Secretary of the Interior to issue certificates of citizenship to Indians."
Approved on June 2, 1924, this act of Congress granted citizenship to any Native Americans born within the United States. At the time many were still denied voting rights by individual state or local laws.
Research more Native American topics...
Share, comment and suggest new documents at the Today's Document Tumblr Blog | <urn:uuid:eebd056c-0166-4e28-844f-82ce1c0b303d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/todays-doc/index.html?dod-date=602 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966634 | 95 | 3.265625 | 3 |
Maputo — Mozambican Prime Minister Alberto Vaquina declared in Maputo on Monday that community radios should be a factor for political and social stability in the country.
He said that community radios and the mass media in general should take a position against all forms of promoting hatred and violence.
“Since the media in general, and particularly the community radios are at the service of the public they should take a position for the preservation of peace and social harmony”, urged Vaquina.
He was speaking at the opening of a three day international conference on “Critical Reflections about Community Radios in Africa”. The purpose of the meeting is to reflect on the role of community radios, in the knowledge that they face severe challenges concerning the political and social environment in which they work and their financial sustainability.
In most countries where community radios broadcast, they have not only removed the state monopoly on broadcasting, but have brought pluralism and diversity to the sector, giving a voice to communities in matters concerning their own development, and providing them with an opportunity to participate in decisions that affect their lives.
Vaquina said that the Mozambican government is committed to strengthening the mass media, and particularly the community media, since this covers the rural areas, where the majority of the population lives, “who in their daily struggle to free themselves from poverty achieve successes which are not always known and publicised”.
“The community radios should take these people out of their anonymity, showing us their concerns, praising their efforts and celebrating their victories”, the Prime Minister stressed.
He added that the prestige that these radios enjoy in their communities arises to a large extent from the fact that they use the local Mozambican languages to broadcast their messages. Their programmes also reflect the interests of the local public, catching with greater sensitivity details, and even questions that are essential for community life, which national broadcasters do not deal with,
The conference will deal with matters such as access to information, the genesis of community radios and their legal framework, questions of culture, language and identity, the financing and sustainability of the radios, and the migration from analog to digital broadcasting.
One threat Mozambican community radios face is interference from district administrators who may not like the content of what they broadcast. Thus in November, the administrator of Macanga district, in the western Mozambican province of Tete, shut down the Furancungo Plateau Community Radio or several days, alleging that it was being mismanaged.
The radio’s coordinator, Vasco Captone, believed that the true motivation for the closure was the outspoken way in which the radio has reported on the life of the district.
A similarly illegal closure occurred in the central province of Manica in October. The mayor of Manica town, Moguene Candieiro, was accused of ordering the closure of the radio, alleging internal conflict in the Macequece Community Association which owns the Macequece radio.
But the radio’s editor, Arlindo Francisco, claimed “What is happened is that the politicians want to interfere in the radio and we won't let them". | <urn:uuid:edb527db-ac98-44ab-8d79-fa18b22eaf0d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://allafrica.com/stories/201212050341.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9544 | 647 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Until 2 weeks ago I was one of the linksys. Then my software began notifying me of IP-address conflicts with other computers in the network. So, whether by accident (which linksys is mine?) or on purpose, I wasn't surfing alone. Though I pretend that I'm a nice girl, I have a limit on data transfer, and I was repeatedly disconnected from my own wireless, which sucks. Therefore, I decided to secure my WLAN. For my friends and family that now makes me an expert on wireless networking, and I am kind of tired to repeat the same thing. So, here's once and for all, for mum and her colleagues, for Stefan's neighbors, and for everybody else:
How to secure your WLAN
- Go online.
- Remember your WLAN's administrator name and password. You were most likely prompted to enter it when you installed your software, the default being 'admin' or something like this. If you can't remember what you entered, well, call customer service or so.
- Click here. You should be prompted for said administrator name and password. If that doesn't work, try this, or this. If none of that works, well, call customer service or so.
- Enter administrator name and password, that should get you to the configuration page of your WLAN. If your password doesn't work, well, call customer service or so.
- Go to a section called Wireless and a subsection called Wireless Security.
- For the option Security mode chose WPA personal.
- For the option WPA Algorithm chose AES.
- In the field WPA Shared Key enter a password you can remember. I recommend you take the word 'password' so I can use your WLAN whenever I'm around.
- Click on a button saying Save Changes or likewise.
- In case you were online via your wireless, you should be disconnected now. Go to the 'available wireless networks' menu. Your network should now show up as secured network. Click on 'connect'. You should be prompted for the WPA key.
- Enter the password you set in step 8. If that works, that's it. If that doesn't work, congratulations! You have sucessfully secured your WLAN from yourself. Look for your ethernet cable and repeat steps 1,2,3,4 and 8.
- Call customer service and yell at someone just for fun. | <urn:uuid:8b91f3f2-ce4a-457f-be8b-9039549fd130> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://backreaction.blogspot.com/2006/10/how-to-secure-your-wlan.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937106 | 501 | 2.015625 | 2 |
If you see a teacher during the first week of March, give them a hug; it is TAKS time.
Here we go again with faulty reasoning and skewed thinking .
We can hold teachers accountable for a multitude of responsibilities, but whether our kids are smart is not one of them.
We can hold them responsible for opening doors to that intellect, enhancing that intellect, and even for teaching our children how to use that intellect.
We can hold them accountable for awakening that intellect and for inspiring a thirst for learning that can't be quenched.
I just don't think we can expect them to install that intellect.
I also believe that intrinsic motivation and curiosity far surpass extrinsic motivation any day of the week. I do not believe that the thought of a specific reward, the day of the exam, will determine whether or not a student does well .
I do not believe that student A thinks, 'I am going to answer these questions incorrectly because no one has offered me pizza , in order for me to do otherwise.'
Unfortunately, the preparation necessary to master this form of state testing is not usually geared to awakening a lust for learning that today's world demands . Just take a look at the faces of students sitting in TAKS tutoring sessions to see what I mean. Expressions of feigned indifference or anxiety ridden terror, yes. Light bulb moments of understanding, painstakingly nurtured by the TAKS tutor, yes.
Just know that there are a multitude of reasons why students may fail the TAKS test, and it may have nothing to do with how smart they are or how successful they will become.
Our world is filled with brilliant, highly successful adults whose high school record didn't meet someone's standards.
Blaming a teacher exclusively for student performance is a little like blaming a car manufacturer for how someone ultimately drives a car: safely or dangerously.
However , having said that, I know without a shadow of a doubt that every teacher across the street from where I live is giving it their best college try- in fact more than that- regardless of what anyone else says or does.
That is the purest form of intrinsic motivation.
They believe they are responsible.
So when you see a teacher, even if you no longer have children in school, say something. Go out of your way. They have already earned it, regardless of what the scores say in May. | <urn:uuid:561e8839-6412-44de-9325-dcb9b11d8a8c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.whitespraypaintblog.com/2009/02/i-can-say-this-i-am-teacher.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961039 | 496 | 1.890625 | 2 |
Whether you love them, use them, eat them, or wear them, animals impact everyone’s life nearly every day. Here in the United States animals are often a luxury item or provide companionship, but in developing nations, they are essential for life through meat, milk, and labor.
For this reason, Dr. Kim Carney, her husband David and son Caleb of Harrogate are moving to Bolivia to serve with Christian Veterinary Mission.
“We will be volunteer teaching at a veterinary college in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, to share Christ’s love with the students, while improving their clinical skills and experience,” Kim said. “ Our vision is to use the students to do outreach projects in remote, rural villages to do animal health training and development projects. In this way we can multiply our efforts over generations of students and reach many more remote areas than just what our family can assist directly.”
David will be working with the Talita Cumi orphanage in Santa Cruz. It is estimated that around 10 percent of Bolivia’s 3.5 million children under 15 are living in orphanages and more than 3,000 are living unaccompanied on city streets. Talita Cumi is one of two orphanages in the country that can accommodate brothers and sisters in the same facility.
Bolivia is consistently ranked as the poorest country in South America with more than half the population living on less than $2 per day, putting them in the top 25 poorest in the world. In rural areas the major currency is livestock, but knowledge of medical care is very limited.
“The indigenous population of Bolivia, the Guarani, the Quechua, tend to be leery of outsiders, but if you can help their prized possessions, their animals, you can earn their trust and friendship,” said Kim. “We have seen this in even the most brutal tribes in Africa — the UN is regularly attacked, but the veterinarian is protected by the tribes.”
Earning trust and building relationship is the key to effective assessment of need and training of the people, as well as the ability to share Christ, she added.
Kim Carney has been on staff at Harrogate Hospital for Animals for more than 11 years. Through this time she has been serving on the Board of Directors of Christian Veterinary Mission (CVM) and has been on many short-term missions all over the globe with her family. Christian Veterinary Mission has over 40 veterinarians and families serving long-term in 27 countries as well as 450 short-term volunteers spanning the world. The vision of CVM is “sharing Christ’s love through veterinary medicine.”
Kim, David, and Caleb are planning to depart after the first of the year and are currently raising funds to this end. Their initial contract is three years, but they are open to staying as long as they are needed there. Christian Veterinary Mission is a non-denominational mission-sending agency, so their missionaries are responsible for raising all of their project and living expenses. Prayer and financial supporters can be part of this exciting ministry by contacting the Carneys to receive monthly updates. They have a blog at www.carneycvm.blogspot.com to keep their friends and family updated.
The Carney family would love to speak to groups and churches about their mission plans. If you would like them to speak to your group, reach them via email or phone at: email@example.com or Harrogate Hospital for Animals, 423-869-3666. | <urn:uuid:117d5dd4-4c3d-4495-9909-f8eb45a6d473> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.middlesborodailynews.com/pages/home/push?class=&per_page=5&x_page=114&rel= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965808 | 732 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Dr. Michele Warmund, MU fruit tree researcher, reminds us that we should treat our fruit trees for scale before the growing season. Control must be made before bud swell with an application of superior soil. In early springs, this spray is often missed as trees will start growing earlier than expected.
According to her, apricot, cherry, peach and plum are generally the first fruit trees to begin growth. Then these are followed by apple and pear. Dormant oils should be applied when temperatures are above 40 degrees F. and its primary purpose is to smother overwintering mite eggs and young scale crawler.
A great resource for those who care for fruit trees is Extension guide 6010, Fruit Spray Schedules for the Homeowner. A copy can be obtained at your Livingston County Extension office in Chillicothe and for more information, contact the Extension office at 660-646-0811. | <urn:uuid:f93eafc8-382a-432b-a693-59b53e0ebb78> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.waynesvilledailyguide.com/article/20130301/blogs/130309942/0/Home | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928262 | 185 | 2.890625 | 3 |
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”
Dec 19 2012
– Martin Luther King Jr., an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience.
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Oct 12 2012 | <urn:uuid:eb158964-7aa1-40ee-8a87-34d22cb31518> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://iliketowastemytime.com/2012/12/19/darkness-cannot-drive-out-darkness-only-light-can-do-hate-cannot-drive-out-hate-only-love | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937001 | 99 | 2.203125 | 2 |
Model #7640 1640 Rock Clock
In 1640 the "Waaguhr" was the first mechanical clock that was affordable by the new middle class in Europe. Its simple design allowed for only one hand indicating the hours. The average person of the Seventeenth Century measured time with only three times of day:sunrise, high noon, and sunset.
The Verge and Foliot escapement is the earliest known method of advancing the beat in mechanical clocks. It?s use further developed mechanical clocks, and is a very important step in the history of technology.
The mechanism of this clock is made of wood and is powered by a roughly hewn rock from the Black Forest. This clock is interesting to watch as a moving decorative piece, but should not be counted on for accurate timekeeping. So many technological advancements have occurred in the last four hundred years that should be taken advantage of when you are looking for a clock to keep you on schedule! If you are looking for a more accurate and reliable timekeeper of this style, be sure to check out our castle clocks. | <urn:uuid:8796260b-0295-4294-b3cd-dbc8a05466d6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cuckookingdom.com/Rock-Clock-Wooden-Gears-Model-7640.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965282 | 219 | 3.0625 | 3 |
Defense Issues: Volume 11, Number 48-- National Missile Defense Program: When, not Whether If a national-level missile threat does not emerge in the short term, the U.S. plan is to continue to advance defensive technologies so we will be ready to deploy an even more capable system when the threat develops.
Volume 11, Number 48
National Missile Defense Program: When, not Whether
Prepared remarks by Gen. Ronald R. Fogleman, Air Force chief of staff, to American Defense Preparedness Association/National Defense University Missile Defense Breakfast, Washington, May 16, 1996.
Thank you. ... This morning, I would like to describe how the United States Air Force, which I describe as the nation's full-service Air Force, is working to provide a near-term, affordable option to perform national missile defense for America if a decision is made to deploy such a capability.
I am not here to inject myself or the Air Force into a debate on whether or not we should deploy this capability. You have recently heard from both sides of this issue with outstanding presentations by Sen. Jon Kyl and Bob Bell of the National Security Council.
I will tell you, however, that my firm belief is that it is not a question of whether or not we will have a NMD in this country -- it is a question of when it will occur. I think we're seeing many people on the international scene, as represented by [former British Prime Minister] Margaret Thatcher's recent presentation in Prague [Czech Republic], becoming more and more cognizant of what missile defense will mean worldwide and the role it will play in coalition warfare. As such, it's becoming an ever more important subject.
In recent remarks at the George Washington University [Washington, D.C.], Secretary of Defense [William J.] Perry highlighted the emerging threat of missile technology in the hands of rogue states -- states that could be hostile to the United States. As he indicated, a very real danger exists that these states could secure long-range missiles and couple them with nuclear, biological or chemical warheads. Then, that hostile regime -- one that we may be unable to deter with the threat of nuclear retaliation -- could employ intercontinental ballistic missiles against our country.
Secretary Perry stressed that we need to be ready to deploy an NMD system to defend our nation against this potential threat. While no rogue nation has ICBMs today, he indicated that it is conceivable that a country could develop its own missile delivery system or secure outside help in fielding an intercontinental strike capability. In this manner, the leaders of a rogue nation could deploy a weapon system that could reach America's shores from their country.
As a result, the U.S. is pursuing what we would call a hedging strategy that entails developing an NMD system that we could deploy if this kind of ICBM threat appears on the horizon.
That NMD system will be capable of defending North America and Hawaii against a small and relatively unsophisticated ICBM attack that a rogue state could mount in the foreseeable future. The defensive system will also be capable of intercepting an unauthorized or accidentally launched missile from a more recognized state. It will include sensors in space to identify and track incoming missiles, ground-based radars, and interceptor missiles.
In essence, the Department of Defense is shifting from a technology readiness to a deployment readiness program in order to position the U.S. to respond effectively to a strategic missile threat as it emerges. This program entails developing the elements of an initial NMD system over the next three years. Then, if a rogue threat emerges, we will construct and deploy the defensive system within three additional years, by about the year 2003.
If such a threat does not emerge, we will continue to advance missile defense technologies so that we will be ready to deploy an even more capable system when the threat develops. You all know this approach as DoD's three plus three program.
In an effort to be good stewards of the nation's defense, the United States Air Force has developed what we think is a viable option for fielding a NMD system that fits well within the three plus three program.
Our Minuteman NMD option leverages existing components and infrastructure to provide the required defensive capability at the earliest time, for the lowest cost and with the least risk. Fundamentally, it entails deploying 20 modified Minuteman missiles armed with defensive kinetic kill vehicles in existing silos at a single site in central United States.
This option, we believe, offers significant growth potential. It will comply with existing arms control agreements. And it will not preclude any long-term options. I am not here to promote this concept today, but I am here to describe it before what I consider to be one of the most informed audiences on this subject in this country.
The Minuteman NMD concept originated in 1995 during the deliberations of a "tiger team," which was established by BMDO [Ballistic Missile Defense Organization] to look at this issue. The team sought to develop a national missile defense system that could be deployed at the earliest possible date to counter the developing missile threat posed by rogue nations.
The tiger team recommended deploying 20 Minuteman ICBMs equipped with kinetic kill vehicles in existing silos at Grand Forks AFB [Air Force Base], N.D. Those interceptors would be supported by a network of early warning radars enhanced by software upgrades. The BMDO tiger team determined that such a single-site Minuteman NMD system could provide the capability to defend North America and Hawaii.
Then, at BMDO's request, the Air Force provided technical support in evaluating the Minuteman NMD option. In doing so, we discovered that our Minuteman missile system and infrastructure could make a major contribution to the defense of the nation against ballistic missiles at a substantial cost savings to the American taxpayer.
Charged with defending this great nation against external threats in a time of limited resources, we felt obligated to further develop the Minuteman option as a candidate for the initial NMD system and offer it to the people who are engaged in the debate. Minuteman NMD fits well within DoD's three plus three program, providing the earliest available and least costly defense for North America and Hawaii that would also be treaty compliant. In fact, we believe that if required by the nation, we could achieve an initial operating capability within four years.
Now, Minuteman NMD's superior characteristics derive from the fact that it leverages three operational systems that are now in the field: the Minuteman ICBM weapon system, deployed strategic sensors and existing battle management systems.
Let me give you some background on Minuteman. In nearly 34 years of operation, the Minuteman weapon system is one of the most reliable and effective systems in the U.S. inventory. The Minuteman missile has maintained alert rates that routinely exceed 96 percent, and it has demonstrated its reliability in hundreds of operational tests from Vandenberg AFB, Calif. In fact, typically we accomplish three test launches each year involving operational assets taken from the field and launched down the Western Test Range. The latest launch occurred on the March 6, and it achieved excellent results.
The Minuteman system has been modernized and upgraded over the years to extend its useful life as part of ... America's strategic nuclear deterrent force ... through the year 2020. Minuteman solid booster motors are now being refurbished to extend their service life and to maintain high reliability rates. Also, Minuteman III missile guidance sets are being upgraded with state-of-the-art electronic components.
All these improvements are part of an already established and funded program to maintain Minuteman as a reliable and robust booster system. They are not part of a new program undertaken for NMD. As a result, Minuteman boosters used for missile defense would provide the same level of performance as our ICBM force.
Both BMDO and the Air Force's ICBM System Program Office have assessed the engineering plans to convert the Minuteman to a defensive role. They have discovered no technical show-stoppers. In fact, they found that converting the Minuteman to a defensive role would be a very straightforward endeavor. It would involve using all three stages of the missile, changing some computer software and replacing the re-entry vehicles with a kinetic kill vehicle and associated kick stage.
Our ICBM SPO [System Program Office] estimated that it would require, at most, four years to engineer, test, produce and deploy the Minuteman interceptor. In the end, the availability of the kill vehicle will be the thing that will drive the program completion date.
The Minuteman booster also offers the added advantage of being compatible with a variety of kinetic kill vehicles. This results from using its own guidance system and does not have to rely on the kill vehicle for initial guidance. This is a big advantage that the Minuteman option offers.
The Air Force NMD option of deploying 20 interceptors at a single site would capitalize on the existing Minuteman infrastructure to include our trained personnel, specialized equipment, and established support network.
In fact, the ongoing deactivation of the 321st Missile Group at Grand Forks AFB will free up existing missile silos and launch control centers for possible use in an NMD launch system. And our ICBM SPO assesses that we will not have to invest in any significant changes in the ground support systems to produce a defensive capability.
Additionally, we would be able to utilize the fully developed test, evaluation, and training infrastructure that currently support our Minuteman weapon system. In the end, Minuteman NMD would capitalize on the Air Force's nearly 40 years of experience in operations with long-range, guided missiles.
As envisioned, the defensive system would also capitalize on existing and planned improvements to strategic sensors and battle management systems.
The DSP [Defense Support Program] satellite program will detect missile launches against the U.S. and cue upgraded early warning radars. These radars will generate track information for the battle management center at Cheyenne Mountain Complex in Colorado, which will disseminate the track info to the interceptor site for launch and guidance. Ground-based X-band dish antenna radars will provide refined tracking data to help discriminate reentry vehicles from other objects.
After detection and warning of a missile attack, a Minuteman interceptor would be launched from its silo, and it would guide itself to the vicinity of the target. Then, the kill vehicle would separate and receive guidance updates from a ground-based radar located at the interceptor site. Finally, the kill vehicle would acquire the target, guide itself into the path of the oncoming warhead and destroy it through impact at high velocity.
In the end, the U.S. will have to deploy the X-band ground-based radars I mentioned to support whatever initial NMD system that the nation decides to field. Once operational, the Minuteman system will be able to take advantage of enhanced warning and cueing provided by advanced strategic sensors -- for instance, the much touted Space and Missile Tracking System -- as they are deployed in the future.
Feasibility tests of Minuteman NMD are already under way -- we have a major test scheduled in June that will demonstrate our concept of operations. Then, in January of 1997, we will conduct a major end-to-end test.
We estimate that it will take approximately four years to field the Minuteman NMD system at a cost of about $2.5 billion. The resulting NMD system will provide the nation a force of 20 interceptors capable of defending all 50 states as the earliest available and least costly alternative.
We believe that the Minuteman NMD system can accomplish this mission and be deployable in this time frame because it maximizes the use of existing infrastructure and relies upon minimal modifications or upgrades to current systems. The Minuteman weapon system, the DSP satellites, early warning radars, battle management centers and communications interfaces are existing, functioning systems today.
This approach to fielding an initial NMD system is directly in line with DoD directives for major defense acquisition programs. These directives require the military to first look at using or modifying existing weapon systems to provide the required capability before investing in brand new systems.
We think that Minuteman NMD also provides us tremendous flexibility. First, it supports DoD's current three plus three program. Should a rogue nation threat emerge in the near future, we could deploy an initial force of 20 interceptors at a single site within the designated time frame to provide an effective defense against this limited, relatively unsophisticated threat.
Second, Minuteman NMD would allow growth in the future. We could expand a Minuteman-based NMD to 100 interceptors at a total cost of between $3.5 to $4.5 billion. Or we could upgrade kill vehicles to deal with a more sophisticated threat should it develop before more advanced NMD options are available.
Third, the Minuteman approach would not preclude any long-term option that the nation might chose to develop nor would it drive the long-term NMD solution in any particular direction.
Instead, we believe it would put an effective homeland defense capability on line at the earliest possible time for the least possible cost. And it would not entail building costly new infrastructures involving environmentally sensitive issues such as digging new missile silos -- an issue that cannot be ignored in building weapons systems today. Moreover, it would not absorb enormous resources that would then be unavailable for investing in other future defensive technologies or other modernization programs.
In the end, the Minuteman option would provide a highly cost-effective, initial NMD capability to protect America against the rogue nation threat.
Let me talk just a minute about arms control implications -- keeping in mind that you are the experts on the issues, not me. I would never want to present myself as an expert on these issues, but let me address a few points.
Let me start out by saying that all NMD proposals under consideration have treaty implications that the nation will have to address. However, we believe that Minuteman NMD can be made compliant with both the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty and the ABM [Anti-ballistic Missile] treaty.
The START agreement does not bar the use of ICBM boosters in a missile defense role. What it does require is that the U.S. agree to count Minuteman interceptors against the offensive ceilings established by START.
So, by serving as START counters, we believe that the Air Force proposal of having Minuteman interceptors would further enhance stability and confidence between the U.S. and Russia. That is, we are reducing the number of offensive weapon systems to build a defensive system.
Additionally, START provides inspection and data exchange rights to the Russians that would reveal more information about a Minuteman-based NMD system than would be obtainable if the U.S. built a wholly new defensive system. That is, under START we would be obligated to give them the same access to a defensive Minuteman system as we have to our offensive systems under the START agreement.
At the same time, we must also comply with the ABM treaty. Or let's say that we have to make the assumption that we must abide by or comply with the ABM treaty. Again, this is a policy issue being debated at levels well above the Air Force.
So I assume we must ensure that we don't exceed the ABM treaty's numerical and geographic limits. And we must make the interceptor's launcher distinguishable from ICBM silos. We think that these two items are relatively straightforward technical tasks that we can readily accomplish should we proceed with Minuteman NMD.
In the final analysis, Minuteman NMD will not violate START or the ABM treaty if the U.S. is willing to use START-accountable interceptors and launchers exclusively for defense; the U.S. agrees to make them distinguishable from Minuteman ICBMs and launchers; and the U.S. obeys the numerical and geographic restrictions of the ABM treaty.
Thus, we could deploy up to 100 interceptors at a single site in the central United States and still comply with both START and ABM treaties.
Now, the Air Force realizes that if the Department of Defense selects the option we propose and the Congress funds it, then the U.S. will need to discuss treaty implications of Minuteman NMD with the Russians. However, we believe the possibility of fielding an effective NMD system to defend the nation that would save billions of dollars in program costs makes this option well worth pursuing. And DoD has already indicated a willingness to discuss with the Russians the treaty implications of deploying an initial NMD system.
So now to the bottom line: We in the Air Force believe that we have no higher obligation to the American people than to defend them and our country against attack. Timing and concepts are driven by the threat.
So as a service chief charged with organizing, training and equipping forces as well as conducting research and development, it's quite appropriate for me to be interested in developing the Minuteman NMD option and making it an achievable program for the nation because in the end, Minuteman NMD offers a viable response to the emerging danger posed by rogue states that would gain the capability to attack the U.S. with long-range ballistic missiles.
In the end, we must be able to field a defensive system capable of protecting America against such a threat when it eventually arises. And Minuteman NMD can provide that capability.
It takes maximum advantage of established, operational capabilities to create a near-term, cost-effective, low-risk, flexible and we believe, stability-enhancing NMD system. It capitalizes on existing technology, proven reliability and nearly 40 years of operational experience to provide an affordable and effective capability.
In an era of declining resources and competing social requirements, I believe it's essential that we secure the best value for every dollar expended on America's defense. We're convinced that if the nation decides to field a treaty-compliant NMD system in the near future to defend against a rudimentary rogue nation threat, then the Minuteman option will provide the best value for the nation.
Thank you very much.
Published for internal information use by the American Forces Information Service, a field activity of the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs), Washington, D.C. Parenthetical entries are speaker/author notes; bracketed entries are editorial notes. This material is in the public domain and may be reprinted without permission. Defense Issues is available on the Internet via the World Wide Web at http://www.defenselink.mil/speeches/index.html. 11 6 * As presented at ADPA/NDUF Missile Defense Breakfast, Washington, D.C., 16 May 96 | <urn:uuid:1edb7ebe-7deb-404e-b139-1c67aff023b7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.defense.gov/Speeches/Speech.aspx?SpeechID=984 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94089 | 3,898 | 2.03125 | 2 |
24 September 2009 The United Nations human rights chief urged Member States to sign and ratify a new instrument that strengthens the protection of economic, social and cultural rights, which opened for signature today.
The Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights – adopted in December 2008 – will enable victims to complain about violations of the rights enshrined in the Covenant at the international level for the first time.
“This is a historic moment in the evolution of the protection of human rights and in providing access to remedies to victims of violations of economic, social and cultural rights,” High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay told a ceremony at UN Headquarters in New York.
She said the Optional Protocol closes a historic gap in human rights protection, as it reaffirms the equal importance of economic, social and cultural rights with civil and political rights.
“It will enable victims to seek justice for violations of their economic, social and cultural rights at the international level for the first time, through the submission of communications before the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
“Thus, the Optional Protocol represents a veritable milestone in the international human rights system,” said Ms. Pillay.
The High Commissioner noted that violations of a set of rights reverberate on other rights and undermine them all. “Indeed, economic, social and cultural rights, like other human rights, are the birthright of every human being.
“A child excluded from primary school because of school fees, a woman paid less than her male colleague for the same work, a family forcibly evicted from their home, a man left to starve when food stocks lie unused – these are all instances of individuals denied their economic, social and cultural rights,” she stated.
“I call on all States to promptly sign and ratify this crucial new human rights instrument.”
The Optional Protocol is one of 39 treaties highlighted in this year's annual UN treaty event, during which Member States are encouraged to sign, ratify or accede to legal instruments with global reach in areas ranging from climate change to terrorism and the use of nuclear weapons.
News Tracker: past stories on this issue | <urn:uuid:7058d774-5bdd-4859-ba0b-b58f858fb25f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=32207&Cr=cultural+rights&Cr1= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925031 | 447 | 2.484375 | 2 |
The Autosuture ENDO STITCH suturing device is designed to simplify endoscopic (running or interrupted) suturing and intracorporeal knot tying. The ENDO STITCH instrument, with its integral needle and suture enables a surgeon to perform most endoscopic procedures without struggling with loose needles and suture. A wide range of available suture materials makes it suitable for use in most endoscopic procedures, including Nissen Fundoplication, gastric bypass, and myomectomy. All needles and sutures are housed in convenient, ready-to-load cartridges. The shaft of the ENDO STITCH 10-mm instrument is 36 cm long to provide enhanced access to the tissue site. The large 4-mm tissue gap, combined with the jaw' s ability to compress tissue, allows the ENDO STITCH device to accommodate a wide variety of tissue thicknesses, from thin, delicate tissue to tissue requiring the application of a 4.8-mm staple. | <urn:uuid:0291a079-044c-4bb3-873f-5611a2e22d04> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.surgicalproductsmag.com/product-releases/2005/06/endoscopic-suturing-device?qt-recent_content=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907026 | 201 | 1.578125 | 2 |
The North Atlantic Current gives Paris the standard climate of Western Europe. The city has a mild climate with a moderate amount of rainfall. Rainfall throughout the year in Paris is steady, though not persistent. The city is known to have sudden downpours, so an umbrella is never a bad addition to your items.
The summers in Paris are pleasantly sunny and warm with averages of 15 to 25° C. Though temperatures have been seen to reach 40° C, this is only in extreme cases. The mild spring and autumn weather is quite unstable and travellers should be warned that you should be prepared for both hot and colder weather when visiting at this time, as the changing of seasons can be surprising.
The winters in Paris are darker and cold. The average winter temperatures are about 7° C and stay above freezing, though night-time frosts sometimes occur. It is rare that it would snow in Paris and when it does, it does not usually settle. The exception to this would be, as with the summer heat waves, a cold wave that can produce heavy amounts of snowfall.
We had a great time!
read our story | <urn:uuid:c277bf56-942a-4818-9336-36bf9fd17cd8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.anycarhire.com/car-hire/paris/weather-paris.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962791 | 230 | 2.4375 | 2 |
MCC boosts humanitarian aid to Gaza in wake of attacks
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) is committing an additional $15,000 for emergency food assistance in Gaza following Israel’s aerial bombardment of the impoverished region.
Earlier this month MCC approved an emergency cash grant of $10,000 to help the Amira Society, Al-Najd, and Culture and Free Thought Association distribute food assistance to some of the most vulnerable families in the Gaza Strip (north, central and south).
The ongoing Israeli economic blockade on the Gaza Strip, home to 1.5 million Palestinians, had pushed people into deep levels of poverty even before the aerial attacks began.
"The situation was very bad in July when we visited Gaza but it is a lot worse now," said MCC worker Bassem Thabet in an interview from Jerusalem before the current Israeli attacks. Israel says the aim of its military campaign is to end rocket attacks launched into Israel from Gaza.
MCC staff has not been able to visit Gaza in recent months. However even before the attack MCC partner organizations in Gaza were reporting that some of the most vulnerable families now use milled animal feed to make pita bread and discarded plastic pipes as fuel to cook bread and meals.
An estimated 1,800 people will benefit from the MCC emergency assistance which will consist of food, blankets, clothes for children, diapers, mini gas cookers and more. The families will be chosen based upon need and the number of children in the household. Each kit will include different items according to the needs of the targeted families.
Although there is a shortage of food and supplies in Gaza and prices are high, the partner organizations will still purchase the food and other materials within Gaza. The economic blockade has made it very difficult to get food, fuel, medical supplies and other necessities into the region.
In February, MCC approved a $25,000 aid package to purchase food kits, blankets and winter clothing for distribution to 180 households in the Khan Yunis refugee camp and Gaza City.
A material aid shipment followed in early April providing 3,159 school kits, 3,285 health kits, 200 bales of comforters and 750 relief kits.
gaza crisis
Donations to MCC’s response in Gaza can be made online at mcc.org, by telephone (in the U.S. at 1-888-563-4676; in Canada at 1-888-622-6337) or by sending a cheque to your nearest MCC office. Donations should be designated “Palestine Emergency Assistance.” | <urn:uuid:2fa4f7c8-5aae-4f80-993e-ba5efb183587> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mcc.org/print/stories/news/mcc-boosts-humanitarian-aid-gaza-wake-attacks | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959645 | 535 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Veterans with questions about courses at California State University at Sacramento used to have to stand and wait. Long lines led to the registrar's service counter, which an adviser would then leave to consult a veterans-benefits coordinator, in a cubicle behind two doors. Forget it, some students would say on their way to class or work or home to their kids.
Then, in 2006, California founded the program Troops to College to make the state's public institutions "more veteran-friendly," and the Cal State system's chancellor leaned on its 23 campuses. Sacramento State took note of its neighbors: two Air Force bases and the California Department of Veterans Affairs. And university officials made veterans a top priority, backed by the president, Alexander Gonzalez, a Vietnam vet from East Los Angeles who had gone to Pomona College on the GI Bill.
In five years, Sacramento State has progressed from a hidden cubicle to the Student Veteran Success Program. From its growing headquarters, two staff members and several student workers now promote services across the campus for a population of veterans and dependents that has nearly doubled, to 1,250, about 5 percent of the total enrollment. Collaborators come from academic departments, student groups, the career center, and the development office.
"Everybody knows about the veterans program," Mr. Gonzalez says. "It's not just an add-on."
Sacramento State is responding to a widely acknowledged but often neglected need. More than half of colleges provide some services to veterans, typically related to education benefits, but less than a quarter help them transition to campus, according to a report in 2009 by several higher-education groups. On average, student veterans perceive lower levels of support than their classmates do, the National Survey of Student Engagement found last year.
Colleges' efforts are expanding, but many still fall short, says Meg Krause, associate director for military programs at the American Council on Education's Center for Lifelong Learning. "You can't just slap on a sticker and say, 'This is a veteran-friendly program.'" Private and federal grants, including from the council and the Walmart Foundation, are trying to identify the best strategies for serving student veterans.
A long view is vital for traditional colleges at a time when for-profit institutions, with generally lower retention rates, are aggressively recruiting veterans, says Ed Mills, Sacramento State's associate vice president for student affairs, enrollment, and student support. He is motivated not by competition but by a sense of obligation. "We've built a really comprehensive experience that's focused on graduation," he says. "I definitely want a student veteran to be at Sac State."
Janelle Adams, an Army veteran, first enrolled here in 2006. She struggled to make friends and withdrew from campus life, she says: "I felt like I didn't belong." Before the end of the semester, she was recalled and deployed to Iraq.
When she came back, in 2008, she found a Veteran Success Center, adorned with pennants and posters, including the U.S. Soldiers Creed ("I will always place the mission first," it says, among other things. "I will never accept defeat."). It was crowded with classmates who studied and swapped war stories and slung banter like old buddies.
"Feeling comfortable here first," Ms. Adams says, "allowed me to feel comfortable in the rest of the university."
Matthew Ceccato, a former Army paratrooper, camped out in the center after transferring from Sacramento City College in 2009. "I was in here all the time, asking questions," he says.
Of course some students still hang back, but a veterans lounge opening on campus in the fall—couches, TV, computers—may draw them in, he says. "We'll get more people who fall through the cracks."
Building Up and Out
If Sacramento State is on a mission, Jeff Weston is in command.
After four years in the Air Force, Mr. Weston came home and enrolled at the university in 2003, working part time for the veterans-benefits coordinator. Two years later he graduated, she left the job, and he replaced her.
Tucked away in the cubicle, Mr. Weston processed benefits for about 600 veterans and dependents. They submitted their paperwork at the counter until he changed the procedure: Students would drop it off to him. "That at least gives you 30 seconds to get a face to a name," he says.
He hired a couple of work-study students, held afternoon round tables, and found a small group to start a student-veterans organization. "We knew they had the leadership capacity," he says. "We just needed to harness that."
Then Mr. Mills joined the administration and heard about the lines. He moved Mr. Weston, who was earning a master's degree in educational leadership, out of the registrar's office. Senior administrators, committed to a more comprehensive program, promoted him to director of veterans services.
The University Foundation, which raises funds for Sacramento State, invited Mr. Weston and a student, Austin K. Sihoe, to share their ideas with its board of directors; the chairman, George Crandell, immediately pledged a gift.
"I looked at Jeff and I was like, 'That's a pretty handsome donation, $2,500,'" recalls Mr. Sihoe, a Navy veteran and physical-therapy major. An e-mail afterward confirmed that the amount was $25,000, and that the foundation had started a campaign to raise $100,000.
The momentum brought recognition—and visitors, like Chrystal C. Ramirez Barranti, an associate professor of social work and a behavioral-health volunteer with the National Guard. "I just went over and introduced myself," she says. "From then on I was like, 'Jeff, we've got to do this, we've got to do that.'" With her help, the fledgling program won a $100,000 grant from the American Council on Education and the Walmart Foundation.
That paid for Ms. Barranti to design and teach a veterans-studies course, then experimental, now permanent. And Mr. Weston brought on a temporary benefits coordinator, Lindsey Wathen, whom the student-affairs division later hired, freeing Mr. Weston to expand the program.
Six-foot-six but unimposing, he is well known around the campus. The former logistics officer has enlisted partners in admissions, financial aid, and counseling. "I went to the Pride Center, the Women's Resource Center, and said, 'You know, can we collaborate?''"
Last September the Veteran Success and Pride Centers sponsored a panel discussion, "Don't Ask, Don't Care," with gay military veterans. In November the student-veterans organization and two other groups held a diversity conference with sessions on military women and dependent life. That week the campus newspaper ran a series of profiles of student veterans.
They look out for one another, organizing "vet cafés" with representatives of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, for example, and the Wounded Warrior Project. For classmates with families or night shifts, they recap evening meetings the next day at lunch.
The veterans program has grown at Sacramento State by focusing not on students' risks but on their potential, says Mr. Weston. He surrounds himself with students for their ideas, he says. Each semester he hires two work-study students and six more through the Department of Veterans Affairs, which lets recipients of educational benefits perform related work.
To find the next classes of students and leaders, Mr. Weston goes out recruiting. He regularly visits a half-dozen local community colleges, as well as churches and VFW and American Legion meetings. He wants to talk with veterans who may not be thinking about college, he says, grinning. "Yet."
Of course, growth costs money. Unfortunately, that's in short supply these days, especially in California.
Still, the university has committed to maintain two positions for the veterans program, its "rising star," says Lori E. Varlotta, vice president for student affairs. Beyond staff, expenses are uncertain. This year the program gave out $80,000 in scholarships to student veterans, and Mr. Weston and Ms. Wathen hope to sustain, if not increase, those awards.
They also plan to expand a five-week Veterans Success Academy from 10 participants in its first cycle, last summer, to 50 this year. "Outside funding is going to be critical," Ms. Varlotta says.
Glossy materials are at the ready, and administrators can boast success. On average over the past four years, 93 percent of student veterans have returned for their second year of college. Last spring veterans' grade-point average was 3.11, compared with 2.94 for the general student population.
In December, Wells Fargo pledged $100,000 to the program; the University Foundation has raised about $150,000 from individual donors. Mr. Gonzalez, the president, wants to set up a special endowment for private funds, which lack the restrictions of state appropriations.
As fund raising has become a bigger part of Mr. Weston's job, he's found that he likes discussing plans: to provide dedicated services to female veterans, for example, and to military spouses and dependents. To start mentorships between student veterans and Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets. To extend professional preparation beyond career fairs by tapping a new alumni-veteran chapter.
One project is veteran-friendly zones, an idea Mr. Weston adapted from the Pride Center's safe zones for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students and staff: sensitivity signaled by stickers on office doors. (Veterans on the campus may not feel unsafe, he says, but stigmatized.) He and Ms. Barranti are developing a 90-minute training session on issues common among veterans.
Another front is academic credit, which veterans often earn in the military and want to count toward their degrees. Mr. Mills has set his sights on an agreement to accept transfer credit from the University of Maryland University College, whose online courses consistently appear on veterans' transcripts, he says.
The next few years will be hard, Mr. Weston says, but he's confident. "We're going to flourish," he says, "despite the budget problems."
Meanwhile he looks for any services he can provide without more money or staff. In the student union, the engineering dean shouts a friendly greeting; Mr. Weston later explains that he is referring a student to the dean. He senses when student veterans are somber, he says; sometimes all they need is a pep talk. He connects new and seasoned students who share the same majors.
"What can we do with what we have?" he asks. "We can always do more." | <urn:uuid:1e2833d0-008d-4ae5-90f9-629da4068862> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://chronicle.com/article/Sacramento-State-Deploys/127689/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969557 | 2,225 | 1.71875 | 2 |
LONDON – Former heavyweight boxer Henry Cooper, one of Britain's most popular sportsmen who was best known for knocking down Muhammad Ali while he was still known as Cassius Clay, died Sunday. He was 76.
The first boxer to be knighted and receive the title "Sir" from a British monarch, Cooper died just two days before his 77th birthday, the British Boxing Board of Control said. He died at his son's house in Oxted, Surrey, in southern England, after an extended illness.
"I am at a loss for words over the death of my friend, Henry Cooper," Ali said in a statement. Cooper floored Ali, then an up-and-coming contender named Clay, in a 1963 non-title fight at Wembley Stadium.
Cooper threw a trademark left hook — known by fans and British boxing writers as "'Enry's 'Ammer" in acknowledgment of his south London accent — toward the end of the fourth round, catching the much larger Ali flush on the jaw and sending him through the ropes and onto the canvas.
Ali, who later said the knockdown punch "not only shook me, it shook my relations in Africa," won the bout by technical knockout in the next round while trailing on the scorecard.
The two fought again in 1966 at London's Highbury Stadium. This time, Ali came in as the world champion and he retained his belt by stopping a bloodied Cooper in the sixth round.
Ali said he visited with Cooper two summers ago during a visit to Windsor.
"Henry always had a smile for me; a warm and embracing smile," Ali said. "It was always a pleasure being in Henry's company. I will miss my ole friend. He was a great fighter and a gentleman. My family and I extend our heartfelt sympathies to his family and loved ones."
Cooper, who won the British, European and Commonwealth heavyweight titles but never the world crown, remained revered in Britain as much for his warm personality and gentlemanly manner as a 40-14-1 record in a professional career spanning more than 16 years.
"He's not the only one who wasn't good enough to beat Ali," said Robert Smith, the general secretary of the British Boxing Board of Control. "For such a small man, he put up some great performances in a world-class context.
"It's not just the boxing and your ability, it's the personality as well. He won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year on two occasions, which is a tremendous feat for a boxer. Everyone called him 'Our Enry,' and he was much loved. He served boxing wonderfully."
Many fans in the partisan Wembley crowd believed Cooper was only denied victory over Ali in the 1963 fight by debatable tactics from his corner.
Trainer Angelo Dundee brought a rip in Ali's gloves to the attention of the referee and Ali had time to recover while new gloves were located and brought to the ring. He then stopped Cooper in the next round.
Cooper retired in 1971 shortly after losing his British, European and Commonwealth belts to Joe Bugner by a quarter of a point. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2000.
"He transcended boxing," promoter Frank Warren said. "He was a true gentleman of sport and had a huge place in the public's affection. He never won the world title but he had true British grit, he tried.
"His weakness was that he cut very easily."
Recent British champions paid their respects to Cooper, who also fought Floyd Patterson.
"One of Britain's greatest sportsmen Sir Henry Cooper passed away today," WBA heavyweight champion David Haye tweeted. "A true warrior and great human being. Rest in Peace."
Former undisputed heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis tweeted: "R.I.P. Sir Henry Cooper. Former British, Commonwealth and European Champion. My deepest condolences to the Cooper family."
WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan said that his compatriot had encouraged him in the early stages of his professional career.
"I met Henry in London a few times. He was very humble, we had a good conversation about my own career and what steps I should be taking," Khan told BBC radio. "He told me not to rush it as a pro, pick the right fights at the right time. I'm young and there are bigger fights ahead.
"It was great advice."
Cooper's twin brother George, who turned professional with him in 1965, died last year.
Cooper's wife of 47 years, Albina, died in 2008 of a heart attack. The couple had two sons, Henry Marco and John Pietro.
AP Sports Writer Rob Murray in London contributed to this report. | <urn:uuid:948b6c5f-e6e3-439d-87f2-2af1419a64cd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2011/05/01/heavyweight-contender-cooper-dies-age-76/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985078 | 972 | 1.851563 | 2 |
South Carolina Guard Makes Big Splash With Artificial Reef
By Army Master Sgt. Phillip Jones
Special to American Forces Press Service
NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C., July 17, 2009 The South Carolina National Guard recently dropped 32 armored personnel carriers and M-113 track vehicles into the Atlantic Ocean -- and it wasn’t by accident.
Since 1997, the Guard has deposited decommissioned vehicles to more than 39 sites along the state’s coastline to create artificial reef environments for fish and other wildlife.
Reef-X is a collaborative artificial reef project with the South Carolina Department of National Resources.
“It is a wonderful partnership that has proven to be a valuable asset to the community and beneficial for wildlife along the coast,” said Army Maj. Gen Stanhope S. Spears, South Carolina’s adjutant general.
Along with vehicles, the state delivered several metal box containers to the Jim Caudle Artificial Reef in Horry County, S.C.
“We’re very excited to be partnering once again with the Army National Guard and the Jim Caudle Memorial Reef Foundation,” said Bob Martor, the department of natural resource’s Marine Artificial Reef Program coordinator. “These organizations have done a great deal to assist our reef program through the years, and these joint efforts have always resulted in exceptional reef habitat.”
The Jim Caudle Artificial Reef, which began in 2000, has the distinction of being the most visited reef in the state, which generates millions in revenue for the local economy through tourism and fishing, officials said.
The reef, which is named after Jim Caudle, a popular local recreational fisherman who passed away in 2000, is now estimated to be more than 260,000 cubic feet.
“[It] is the most popular fishing reef along the South Carolina coast,” said John Frampton, director of the South Carolina Department of National Resources. “The materials create a thriving wildlife habitat and with this refurbishing project, the reef sites are a fishing paradise for offshore anglers.”
(Army Master Sgt. Phillip Jones serves in the South Carolina National Guard.) | <urn:uuid:7ba7d114-bc2b-47ab-b50d-bf06b9901e26> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.defense.gov/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=55169 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922346 | 451 | 1.84375 | 2 |
By For more information, contact firstname.lastname@example.org or 978-934-3224
Contact: Al Kyle, President and CEO, email@example.com, 617-834-7420
LOWELL, MA -- A startup company using UMass Lowell facilities and expertise has shown the feasibility of drug delivery to the brain in a large animal model, achieving a significant milestone in the development of their new medical device. The company, Perfusion Technology, says it is the first such demonstration of ultrasound-enabled penetration of the blood-brain-barrier.
“Many therapeutic drugs, such as chemotherapeutics, are unable to penetrate the brain. We have worked for several years to develop a device that safely opens the blood- brain barrier to allow delivery of large molecule therapeutic drugs,” says Ulrich Herken, M.D., Ph.D., founder and chief science officer of Perfusion. “Until now, our research has used rodent models with highly promising results. This new study shows that our device is effective in larger animals, with brains closer in size to humans. Success in a large animal model is a much better predictor of treating patients suffering from brain tumors.” The study is supported by a National Institutes for Health SBIR grant.
The experiment was conducted in collaboration with RxGen, Inc, a Connecticut-based privately held biotechnology company that leverages highly predictive pre-clinical models of human disease to accelerate the drug development process. “The initial results of our joint research using the Perfusion device are very encouraging,” says Steven R. Gullans, Ph.D., RxGen president and CEO.
“This is the kind of breakthrough that is needed to develop treatments of a variety of disorders of the brain and central nervous system,” says Dr. Gullans, former director of the Harvard Medical School-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital Biotechnology Center. “Continued success will allow us to extend the research in several directions, including delivery of large molecule therapeutics and diagnostics to the brain.” Gullans has used advanced technologies to develop biomarkers and potential therapeutics for ALS, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disease.
According to company executives, Perfusion’s next steps are to finalize the large animal studies, then transition to “proof of concept” studies in humans. “We have a collaborator identified with a protocol to show delivery of chemotherapeutics for treatment of brain cancer patients. We are eager to begin,” says Al Kyle, Perfusion President and CEO. The company’s ultimate goal is to use non-invasive ultrasound to treat a wide range of neurological disorders, beginning with brain cancer. FDA approval would likely follow several years of testing in humans, which could begin next year.
The initial focus of the company has been directed to delivery of conventional therapeutic drugs, followed by gene therapy for treatment of diseases of the brain and central nervous system. Perfusion is privately held, and has conducted its research at Massachusetts General Hospital, the Ohio State Cancer Center and with RxGen.
UMass Lowell, a comprehensive university with a national reputation in science, engineering and technology, is committed to educating students for lifelong success in a diverse world and conducting research and outreach activities that sustain the economic, environmental and social health of the region. UML offers its 11,000 students more than 120 degree choices, internships, five-year combined bachelor’s to master’s programs and doctoral studies in the colleges of Arts and Sciences, Engineering and Management, the School of Health and Environment, and the Graduate School of Education. www.uml.edu. | <urn:uuid:196b202b-060d-423e-9d1c-a162c10cbdb4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uml.edu/News/press-releases/2006/uml-aided_company_announces_br.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949683 | 771 | 2.171875 | 2 |
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can a spider plant grow in something other that water? (ex: vinegar, liquid jell-o, coffee)
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Wed Dec 12, 2007 7:08 pm
That's a very interesting question! I am thinking the acid in vinegar might be a problem. But jello -- mostly sugar, gelatin, water, and coloring, right? Coffee? Hmm, is the chemical makeup of coffee?
I found a lot of information about spider plants on Google when I typed "Growing spider plants." It seems that maybe too much water could be a problem -- whether it is coffee or jello. So you will need some kind of control -- perhaps distilled water and another control grown in soil. One reference on the web said chemicals are a problem --so you might compare distilled water to water from a creek or even your street after a storm.
A basic scientific approach is to understand the dimensions you are studying (usually called dependent variables). For example -- the amount of water and the properties of the water could affect the growth of the plants. The acidity of the water is another variable.
When you test other liquids such as coffee and vinegar, you'll need to know how they are related, and this will suggest other liquids to test. For example, given that vinegar is acidic, you could also use milk, which is non-acidic (pH > 7). In this case, you'd want to measure the pH of the coffee. This doesn't mean that pH is a critical factor, but it's one of the differences you'll need to consider between the liquids you test.
As another example, jello has sugar in it. So in using jello you might actually be testing how sugar affects the growth of spider plants.
To summarize, you'll need to understand some of the properties of the liquids -- a way to relate them chemically -- or your results will be perhaps interesting, but not tell you anything fundamental about the growth of spider plants.
I hope this is helpful to get started.
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Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest | <urn:uuid:9e519a33-7bb8-4ca3-b0e8-6cd5ab9a98d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=3212&p=13578 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925707 | 583 | 2.90625 | 3 |
An email to a spouse, or a text message to a friend. Many employees use their work-issued Blackberry or cell phone for personal reasons every day. But should those messages stay private? That's something the Supreme Court is deciding right now!
This decision could affect employee privacy everywhere, but it all stems from a case out of California. A police department decided to audit text messages on work devices, and what they found- shocked them.
One particular police sergeant was sending personal messages over his work-issued pager to his estranged wife, his girlfriend, and another officer on the force. During an one-month audit, they found Sergeant Jeff Quon had received 456 personal messages while on duty. Only three were deemed work-related.
Attorneys for the city say Sergeant Quon should have never assumed those messages would remain private. But Quon's attorney says the city had no right to read them, and that he assumed he had a "reasonable expectation" of privacy.
Now there are two issues: How far a government employer may go to monitor communications of it's workers, and also, whether service providers like AT&T or Verizon can be held liable for providing those communications without the consent of the sender. | <urn:uuid:b40eb8f1-d117-416b-98a6-33f00dbe064f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.winknews.com/Home/2010-04-20/Supreme-Court-takes-up-mobile-phone-privacy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977979 | 250 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Black Abolitionist Archive
Subtitle: Mr. Loguen.
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Provincial Freeman (1853 - 1859)
The editor responds to criticism of free black Canadians by Reverend Loguen, who recently visited Canada. Reverend Loguen stressed the superiority of the fugitive slaves who had immigrated to Canada over those of African descent who were born free there.
Description of file(s): two scanned, two columned, newspaper pages
People: Loguen, Mr.
Organization: Society of Friends
The material featured on this site is subject to copyright protection unless otherwise indicated. The documents may be reproduced free of charge in any format or medium, provided it is reproduced accurately and not used in a misleading context. The source of the material, the University of Detroit Mercy Black Abolitionist Archive, must be identified and the copyright status acknowledged. | <urn:uuid:40427289-4545-4c63-a08d-08ce46da8df6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://research.udmercy.edu/find/special_collections/digital/baa/item.php?record_id=1082&collectionCode=baa | 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 | 0.900581 | 189 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Make stretching a priority before and after workouts, or anytime really, with these five top stretches for increasing and maintaining flexibility.
Lie on your back on the floor, lift your knees, and squeeze them to your chest with your arms. Hold for a breath. Keeping your shoulders on the floor, slowly lower legs to the right. Let your back stretch for a breath; then lift your knees up and repeat on the left.
Still on the floor on your back, grab your left leg behind the thigh, and pull it up. Slowly straighten out your leg until it's vertical. Lower it down to the ground. Repeat with your right leg.
Lie on your right side. Reach down with your left hand and grab your left ankle. Slowly pull your ankle back toward your rear. Release after you feel a light stretch. Roll onto your left side and repeat with your right leg.
While sitting upright, relax your shoulders and slowly turn your chin to your left shoulder, then to your right. Slowly cock your head to your right shoulder, then your left.
Stand with feet shoulder-width apart. Slowly rotate your hips clockwise as if you were Hula-hooping. Complete 10-12 rotations and repeat, rotating counterclockwise. | <urn:uuid:9e5071b0-c97d-4c86-b6f2-d863ead605f0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://deliciousliving.com/print/body/top-five-stretches-stay-flexible | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926964 | 254 | 1.585938 | 2 |
You never know what may spark your brain to connect with an idea. This is really a small idea...probably one that you already do. But for me it was an "enlightenment". And it involves glass jars. Lots of them.
I was reading through "50 Things you can Reuse" and #26 jumped out at me. "Reuse old glass containers" jarred me a little. You see, I am in dire need of storage containers, and I'm trying to stay away from the plastic ones. I made up my mind to look for some American made glass containers, but just haven't gotten around to it yet. But, wait, I already have lots of glass jars in my pantry, in the frig, and on my counter! In the past, when we used up the contents of the jars, we always threw the glass in the recycler container. Wouldn't it make more sense to reuse the jars? Since I buy lots of natural, organic foods from farmer's markets, I have many interesting styles, shapes, and sizes.
You would think I just won the lottery or something - I'm so excited about this! The reusing possibilities are endless. I'll just name a few of my ideas ...a really cute fresh flower vase for yourself or a gift, storage for rice, flour, sugar, cereal, etc. (make sure the jars are food safe, with airtight lids), mixing jar and storage for homemade salad dressings, mason jar beverage glasses (so cute), candy jar, reusable water container, picnic/lunch food and condiment containers, hardware (nails, screws, washers,etc) or office odds and ends such as paper clips, pens/pencils, personal items such as cotton balls, cotton swabs.
The main reason I am out of reusable plastic containers is that I love to send food home with people after entertaining. I usually don't get them back. So, you know I'll be filling those jars up with leftovers for friends and family, and I am sure they will reuse them even more. Yes!!!
Got more ideas? We're always listening!
Check out this site for some great "reusing" ideas http://www.squidoo.com/reuse-everythng
Brand of the Free - Better Apparel for a Better World
Click here for BOTF Facebook Page | <urn:uuid:4bda4a99-ee58-4ad9-9ca0-ce1651c6fc98> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://brandofthefree.blogspot.com/2010_06_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946322 | 493 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Yogyakarta the capital city of the most powerful and respected Kingdom of Java, is also at the heart of the Batik art.
All the old Traditions and customs are observed, as well as in Solo, and one can still find many symbols that are related to Hindu-Javanese culture.
The combination of motifs in Yogya batik is unique, and there is a tendency to combine a number of large geometric motifs.
The Grompol motif is a distinctively Yogya design customarily used for wedding ceremonies. Grompol, which means gather together symbolizes the coming together of all goods things, such as luck, happiness, children, and harmonious married life.
The Nitik motif is found in great numbers in this area. During a colonial annual fair (Jaarbeurs) during the Dutch period, a batik producer gave the name Nitik Jaarbeurs to a motif which received an award. | <urn:uuid:eedae964-856f-4d41-8a30-25542cf7ca4b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://discover-indo.tierranet.com/batikpag6.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946056 | 195 | 2.515625 | 3 |
updated 01:40 pm EST, Tue February 14, 2012
Problems so far inconsistent
Apple may be trying to intentionally sabotage hacked versions of Siri, accounts received by iDownloadBlog suggest. The company has reportedly introduced a "SetActivationToken" into the system, creating problems for Siri hacks dependent on third-party servers, such as Spire. Difficulties have been inconsistent though, such that some users of the hacks have been completely unaffected.
A potential solution involves deleting the com.apple.assistant.plist file under the var/mobile/Library/Preferences/ directory. If Apple is trying to disable Siri hacks, it may be concerned about the amount of server traffic the users generate, and/or people complaining about Siri on unsupported devices. The only officially supported Siri platform is the iPhone 4S. | <urn:uuid:4170a5fc-5cb4-4526-8037-edeb7ffaa171> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.macnn.com/articles/12/02/14/problems.so.far.inconsistent/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928287 | 168 | 1.546875 | 2 |
American consumers have long relied heavily on credit, and the Great Recession has only made it worse. The average credit card debt of American households now stands at almost $14,750. Add to that mix high unemployment, the housing crisis and skyrocketing medical costs, and it’s no wonder that more consumers are sinking even deeper into credit card debt.
Now, a growing number of consumers are looking for outside assistance to help get a handle on their debt and put their financial lives back on track. Last year, the two largest networks of nonprofit credit counseling agencies helped a combined total of 7.3 million people with their finances.
“A lot of self-worth is tied to your credit score, so most people feel really bad when they call us for advice” says Melinda Oppenheimer, a spokeswoman for Springboard Nonprofit Consumer Counseling, a nonprofit credit counseling agency. “But we’ve just lived through one of the worst economic downturns in our lifetime, and it’s not financially irresponsible to have a hard time. Millions of people are in the same boat.”
Getting help is commendable, but it’s important not to get sucked into a scam. If you’re considering getting help with your credit card debt, you need to distinguish between so-called debt settlement companies and legitimate credit counseling agencies. Debt settlement companies typically lure in customers by offering to settle their debt for pennies on the dollar; but most companies promise much more than they deliver. Credit counseling, on the other hand, can be a valuable service when offered by a legitimate nonprofit counseling agency.
If you’re looking for a financial coach to help you work your way out of excessive credit card debt or other debt-related issues, here are four steps to help you get the best results.
1. Make sure you choose a legitimate agency.
In the past, the shortcut to finding a legitimate credit counseling organization to work with was to simply look for a nonprofit credit counseling agency. Unfortunately, scam and high-fee companies figured that out, and many now operate under nonprofit status.
To find a legitimate credit counseling agency, look for an organization affiliated with one of the two major umbrella groups for nonprofit credit counselors:
Additionally, check to see if the agency is approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to offer counseling on housing issues. Even if you don’t need help with housing, a HUD-approval means that the agency has undergone investigation by an outside party to ensure it is legitimate.
2. Look for an agency that can help you with your unique issues.
When choosing a credit counseling agency, look for one that offers the services you need. The best credit counseling agencies have a variety of options, from free education to one-on-one assistance in making a budget or interpreting your credit report. Good agencies will also be willing to communicate with you over the phone, email or in person. Be wary of agencies that don’t offer educational materials or that only take on consumers with large amounts of debt.
“If the only tool is the Debt Management Plan, keep shopping,” says Gail Cunningham, a spokeswoman for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. “A DMP is a useful tool, and is often the appropriate resolution. However, each consumer’s situation is different; thus the solution should be customized to fit your specific needs. A one-size-fits-all approach is a sign you should continue your search.”
In addition, before signing up, check out the fees. Legitimate nonprofits almost never charge money for education. And if other services do come with a fee, it should be a small one, only around $15. Avoid any agency that won’t give you full disclosure of fees before you sign on the dotted line.
3. Pick the best counselor.
Even at legitimate agencies, the quality of the individual counselors can vary. Inquire about a counselor’s education, training and credentials before you enter into a working relationship with him or her. If the counselor is a Certified Consumer Credit Counselor, it means they’ve passed inspection by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling and thus have had their financial knowledge vetted by an outside party.
Additionally, look for someone who has experience working with consumers facing issues similar to your own. It’s OK to ask for someone with seniority or for counselors who are experts in the areas in which you need help. In addition to expertise, you also want to find someone who understands your specific situation. Getting out of debt isn’t one-size-fits-all, and you need someone who understands what will and will not work for you.
Also, don’t be afraid to ask for a second opinion. If you don’t feel good about the credit counselor you met with, or if you just need more advice, seek help from someone else. Some financial experts recommend seeing at least three experts before committing to a working relationship with a credit counselor or to a specific course of action.
4. Recognize that the end is only the beginning.
Finding a credit counselor that you feel you can trust and are inspired to work with is well worth your time. Having a trained coach on your side will ensure that you make the fastest progress toward clearing up your debt and restoring your credit rating.
Keep in mind, though, that finding a trustworthy credit counselor is just the beginning. The best credit counselor in the world won’t be able to help you if you’re not willing to be honest with them and follow their advice. But if you can swallow your pride and lay everything on the line, you’ll be that much closer to living a debt-free life. | <urn:uuid:1c1f6ef7-a272-40b2-a294-7075a96e4500> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.creditcardguide.com/creditcards/credit-tips/find-good-credit-counselor-story/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956514 | 1,194 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Impacts of Nuclear Accidents
An assessment of the transboundary environmental and health impacts that would result in Greece from postulated severe nuclear accidents in nuclear power plants of neighboring countries is performed. Besides health effects, the economic cost of the countermeasures considered are also assessed. Estimated impacts are also compared to corresponding actual impacts of the Chernobyl accident in Greece. The results of the analyses performed have shown that no early fatalities or injuries would be expected among the Greek population from any of the scenarios studied, even in the absence of countermeasures. These results suggest also the necessity of employing an emergency planning strategy, in spite of the large distances involved between reactor site and area of interest. Simple emergency response actions that would be employed, i.e. food disposal, would have the effect of reducing significantly the various impacts assessed with a relatively low cost.
Table of Contents of the 1997
Program of the 1997 SRA-Europe Conference
RiskWorld Welcome Page | <urn:uuid:ae50b160-ee12-47d5-9f95-f581cc9d73ec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.riskworld.com/abstract/1997/Europe97/eu7ab092.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942081 | 192 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Most environmental experts agree that artificial Christmas trees are not the way to go to deck your halls. Even though they should technically last for life, most artificial trees are used, on average, only 7.5 years before they are disposed of. I can personally attest to this from my own experience with an artifical tree – after about five years, they get dog-eared, lose “needles”, and generally do not hold up to yearly seasonal use.
Natural trees usually come from local tree farms, where they are replanted each year, and purchasing one helps your local economy. Most natural tree lots in cities are supplied by tree farmers, and if you are lucky enough to live near a tree farm, you can go straight to the source to either chop one down yourself or purchase one where the dirty work has been done for you.
How to get rid of an artificial tree if you’ve already bought one? Use it as long as you possibly can, unless you have small children, in which case you may want to throw it out early since the needles do usually contain lead.
Local communities generally offer a tree recycling service which mulches the tree when the Christmas season is over. Check with your local waste disposal unit for more information on where and when you can find yours when the holiday season is over. | <urn:uuid:333e1a38-b75f-408d-84d8-5d7d39dfe1dc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.myessentia.com/blog/artificial-christmas-trees-leach-lead-end-up-in-landfills/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964422 | 269 | 2.640625 | 3 |
It's no wonder that our confidence in the economy is at an all-time low. "Americans have been bombarded by new worries in recent days with the war in Libya, unrest in much of the Middle East, and the seemingly endless series of catastrophes in Japan," a recent Gallup poll measuring economic confidence reported. Add to that the weak job market, increasing fuel prices, and fierce budget battles in Congress, and it's clear the U.S. economy still faces serious headwinds on the road to recovery.
What should we brace for next? Here are some numbers worrying economists and Americans alike:
$14.2 trillion. That's the national debt, and it's growing at a breakneck speed of $58,000 per second. High and rising public debt can raise interest rates for consumers and slow economic growth. "If we continue to do this, we nearly guarantee every family that's trying to buy a home or buy a car sees a much higher cost," says Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action Forum, a Washington, D.C.-based policy institute. "Family income stagnates, costs are going to rise, and that's the good-news version. It will be just like the financial crisis in 2008, but the recession will be even deeper."
Higher interest rates aren't the only potential side effect of Uncle Sam's borrowing binge. Consumers could also see a weaker job market, higher taxes, and higher inflation down the road.
$3.68. Average fuel prices, currently hovering around $3.68, are up almost 86 cents from a year ago. Prices could go higher amid continuing unrest in the Middle East, and even hit $4 per gallon this summer, the U.S. Energy Information Administration says.
Higher gas prices put pressure on consumer discretionary spending. If Americans have to spend more to fill up at the pump, they'll have less to spend in stores, restaurants, and other consumption-driven industries that power the U.S. economy.
The price of crude oil directly relates to gas-price fluctuations. "Estimates are that for every $10 a barrel increase over the course of 12 months, it can impair economic growth to the tune of about two-tenths of 1 percent," says Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Philadelphia, Penn.-based financial services firm Janney Montgomery Scott.
That might seem like a tiny figure, but an economy growing at a sluggish rate of about 3 percent doesn't leave a large margin of safety, he says. "[0.2 percent is] not consequential enough to say 'Well, therefore, the economy is going to roll back into recession,'" Luschini says. But sustained price elevation or prices near the $125 or $130 per-barrel mark could stifle the struggling recovery, he adds.
8.8 percent. The national unemployment rate is slowly creeping down, but at 8.8 percent—a 27-year high—it's still creating significant drag on the economic recovery. Even grimmer is the percentage of Americans who are "underemployed," Luschini says.
Underemployment, which measures the number of part-time workers looking for full-time work, sat at about 19.9 percent in mid-March, according to a recent Gallup poll, nearly identical to the figure a year ago. Although more positive economic data may buoy job seekers' confidence in the long term, the short term is a different story. "What it means is that we're not getting the strength from consumer spending that you would normally expect to see under a swifter recovery in employment," Luschini says.
$157,000. Historically, a resurgent housing market has been a major driver in broader economic recoveries. That premise has been challenged this time around as median home prices—currently $157,000, according to the National Association of Realtors—have continued to slump. "Even though we have historically low or thereabouts mortgage rates and even though housing stock is plentiful and housing prices on an affordability basis are very inexpensive, we're not seeing that same phenomena occur," Luschini says. "People are uncertain about the future or are not fully employed, and that's contributing to why we're not seeing the same recovery in terms of housing this time through, as we've seen in previous cycles." | <urn:uuid:e2d46eb7-bc85-492a-88fa-623d67b22712> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/2011/04/07/5-numbers-that-could-rattle-the-recovery | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963658 | 896 | 2 | 2 |
This afternoon the papal @pontifex’s Twitter account was back up and running! The first tweet ”HABEMUS PAPAM FRANCISCUM” — We have Pope Francis — had been retweeted almost 65,000 times late Wednesday. Shortly after Pope Francis I, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, recited the Lord’s Prayer and a Hail Mary at the Vatican Twitter was ablaze with the almost 1.8 million followers.
Tweets were coming from all sorts of places including major news organizations to famous people, including President Obama -”I look forward to working with His Holiness to advance peace, security, and dignity …” and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio - “Truly inspiring that our new pope has taken the name of Francis, saint who lived a life of humility and charity”.
The new pope, 76-year-old Jorge Bergoglio, the archbishop of Buenos Aires, is the first pontiff from Latin America and the first Jesuit. He was born Dec. 17, 1936, in Buenos Aires to Italian parents Mario, a railway worker, and Regina, a housewife. As a cardinal he rode the bus to work, refusing to live in the residence provided for him, he chose to live in a simple apartment and cook his own meals. To many in Buenos Aires, he is known simply as “Father Jorge.”
The new pope is deeply concerned about social inequities in Latin America and elsewhere.
Written by: Laney Fichera | <urn:uuid:10e70aca-9820-48bc-a355-c31abca7f8b5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.itssohollywood.com/the-new-pope-is-trending-like-wildfire-on-twitter/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965613 | 321 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Two Coastal Carolina University professors are conducting a
to help educate females and female athletes in Horry County regarding
The two-part study is being conducted by Kathryn Hilgenkamp-
Rodgers, assistant professor of health promotion, and Sharon Thompson,
associate professor of health promotion.
Part one of the study, conducted by Hilgenkamp-Rodgers, is titled
"Reducing Risk of Osteoporosis Among College-Aged Females." The second
part of the study is being conducted by Thompson and is titled
"Osteoporosis Prevention for Female Athletes in High Risk Sports."
"The most important time for bone formation is between the ages of
10 and 30," said Thompson. "Our goal is to make young females aware of
the dangers of osteoporosis and to encourage them to develop a healthy
lifestyle early on in their lives to help prevent this disease. Some of
the factors that help reduce osteoporosis are sound nutritional and
exercise habits and an increase in calcium consumption. The calcium
requirement for teenage girls and young women is 1,200 milligrams per
According to Thompson, her study will look at a recently
recognized syndrome called the female athlete triad, which females
athletes who engage in extensive training may develop. The syndrome
consists of three distinct but interrelated conditions – eating
disorders, amenorrhea and osteoporosis. Amenorrhea refers to irregular
or absent menstrual periods.
The objectives of the study are to: (1) develop instructional
information regarding skeletal growth and maintenance, debilitative
effects of excessive protein consumption, detrimental effects from the
use of caffeine/nicotine/alcohol, and sources of calcium in the diet;
(2) include individuals from Coastal and the community in the planning
of programs designed to impact behaviors which will reduce the
incidence and severity of osteoporosis among females; (3) develop a
plan to continue with osteoporosis prevention in local schools and
educate athletes in high risk sports – gymnastics, ballet and long
distance running; (4) develop a plan with local hospitals and physical
therapists who offer sports physicals to Horry County students to offer
osteoporosis screening programs on a regular basis for female residents
in the county.
Hilgenkamp-Rodgers received her bachelor's degree from the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, her master's degree from Southern
Illinois University-Carbondale and her doctoral degree from the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She has done post-doctoral study at the
University of Nebraska Medical Center and at the University of
Nebraska-Omaha. She is also a certified health education specialist.
Thompson, who joined the Coastal faculty in 1993, earned her
bachelor's degree from Clemson University and her master's degree and
Ed.D from the University of South Carolina. She is a certified health
education specialist and certified personal trainer. Thompson was named
the South Carolina Health Education Professional of the Year in 1997. | <urn:uuid:5d40af44-cb1a-4f4e-a557-6fbd4a8998b8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.coastal.edu/newsarticles/story.php?id=225 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938874 | 642 | 2.5 | 2 |
Featured from New Loan Books
Click on the call number to check the book's current status.
Nudge : Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness
New Haven : Yale University Press, 2008
HB74 .P8 T53 2008
A groundbreaking discussion of how we can apply the new science of choice architecture to nudge people toward decisions that will improve their lives by making them healthier, wealthier, and more free.
Every day, we make decisions on topics ranging from personal investments to schools for our children to the meals we eat to the causes we champion. Unfortunately, we often choose poorly. The reason, the authors explain, is that, being human, we all are susceptible to various biases that can lead us to blunder. Our mistakes make us poorer and less healthy; we often make bad decisions involving education, personal finance, health care, mortgages and credit cards, the family, and even the planet itself.
Thaler and Sunstein invite us to enter an alternative world, one that takes our humanness as a given. They show that by knowing how people think, we can design choice environments that make it easier for people to choose what is best for themselves, their families, and their society. Using colorful examples from the most important aspects of life, Thaler and Sunstein demostrate how thoughtful "choice architecture" can be established to nudge us in beneficial directions without restricting freedom of choice. Nudge offers a unique new take - from neither the left nor the right - on many hot-button issues, for individuals and governments alike. This is one of the most engaging and provocative books to come along in many years.
Quoted from dustjacket. | <urn:uuid:9adf7c0d-eed5-453e-b806-3d665703c154> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wtamu.edu/library/books/thaler.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943704 | 344 | 2.34375 | 2 |
It’s funny how the passing of someone you never knew personally, but yet was a part of your personal life can affect you in a way that is surprising. This was the case for me and hundreds of millions people when the world learned of Steve Jobs death yesterday at the age of 56. One of the things Pat and I made sure of when we were putting together The Casitas was that “guests have something into which they can plug their iPods or iPhones into”. It was part of the business model, a must have.
In school when I learned about the likes of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Edison I wondered what it would be like to live in a time when one person was responsible for history changing innovation. Well guess what, now I know. Steve Jobs made having “the best” something to strive for. He brought families together in ways maybe only foreseen by him. How many parents have looked at the songs on your children’s iPod and been surprised, maybe even shocked, to find many of the same songs that you listened to when you were their age and are on your playlists? Raise your hand if that’s the case. BTW, both of mine are up.
Steve Job’s was the very rare individual that created passion on both sides of the buying equation. People loved working for him and more importantly, people who didn’t couldn’t wait to see what new device he was going to introduce that they couldn’t live without. Pat got up at 5 in the morning to wait in line at the Apple store in San Luis Obispo three times in the hopes of getting an iPad2. This was after 4 “normal” attempts at getting to the store at 8 in the morning.
That was the genius of Steve Jobs, creating the passion and then delivering, time after time. He was no one hit wonder, he was the Beatles of our, my, generation.
Thank you Steve, wish you had time to share “one more thing” with us. | <urn:uuid:b8516643-f426-4000-8323-1c0f5ff9d174> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thecasitasofarroyogrande.com/blog/?m=201110 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984647 | 433 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Awards & Honors
UCLA Alumni Honored as Nobel Laureates
Richard F. Heck, Chemistry, 2010
“For the development of palladium-catalyzed cross coupling” [Nobel Prize Citation]
Richard F. Heck, who shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with two other scientists, has two chemistry degrees from UCLA: B.S. 1952, Ph.D. 1954. He did his graduate work at UCLA under Medal of Science winner Saul Winstein. Heck's dissertation was entitled "Methoxyl and aryl groups in substitution and rearrangement." He went on to discover the Heck reaction.
Heck worked in industry for the Hercules Corporation before joining the University of Delaware in 1971. He retired in 1989. Photo courtesy of University of Delaware.
Heck was born in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1931; at age 8 he moved with his parents to Los Angeles.
Elinor Ostrom, Economics, 2009
“For her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons” [Nobel Prize Citation]
Elinor Ostrom, the first female recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics, held three degrees from UCLA: B.A. 1954, M.A. 1962 and Ph.D. 1965. All three were in political science. Ostrom's dissertation was titled "Public entrepreneurship: a case study in ground water basin management."
Ostrom served on the faculty of Indiana University from 1965 to 2012. She received the UCLA Medal in 2011. Photo courtesy of Indiana University.
Ostrom was born in Los Angeles in 1933 and died in Bloomington, Indiana in 2012.
William Sharpe, Economics, 1990
For "pioneering work in the theory of financial economics" [Nobel Prize Citation]
William Sharpe has three degrees in economics from UCLA: B.A. 1955, M.A. 1956 and Ph.D. 1961. He pays tribute to UCLA professor Aren Alchian, his thesis adviser and role model "who taught me how to think like an economist."
Sharpe was awarded the UCLA Medal in 1998. Photo © the Nobel Foundation, used by permission
William Sharpe was born June 16, 1934.
Bruce Merrifield, Chemistry, 1984
For "his development of methodology for chemical synthesis on a solid matrix" [Nobel Prize Citation]
Robert Bruce Merrifield came to UCLA as a transfer student from Pasadena City College. After earning his bachelor's degree in chemistry, he worked for a year before returning to UCLA for graduate school. He received his Ph.D. in 1949. In 1997, the UCLA Alumni Association honored Merrifield as Alumnus of the Year.
Robert Bruce Merrifield was born July 21, 1921. He died May 14, 2006.
Glenn Seaborg, Chemistry, 1951
For "discoveries in the chemistry of the transuranium elements" [Nobel Prize Citation]
Glenn Seaborg worked his way through UCLA in a variety of ways — as stevedore, night watchman, apricot picker and linotype mechanic apprentice, earning his B.A. degree in 1934. Later he attended UC Berkeley where he became a faculty member and chancellor. Seaborg talked about the influence of "John Mead Adams of UCLA who taught a course in atomic physics in which I learned about nuclear physics. After that course, I knew that I wanted to get into nuclear research."
Seaborg kept close ties with the UCLA Chemistry Department; the annual Seaborg Symposium is still held in his honor.
Glenn Seaborg was born April 19, 1912 and died February 1999.
Ralph Bunche, Peace Prize, 1950
"May there be, in our time, at long last, a world at peace in which we, the people, may for once begin to make full use of the great good that is in us." [Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech]
Ralph Bunche enrolled at UCLA in 1922, when the school was known as the Southern Branch of the University of California. He played football and basketball, and worked on the campus paper and yearbook. When the debate society declined to accept him because he was Black, he started another debate society. He graduated summa cum laude in 1927 with a B.A. in political science.
In 1950 Bunche spoke at UCLA’s commencement. In 1969 he returned to campus for the dedication of Bunche Hall.
Ralph Bunche was born August 7, 1904 and died December 9, 1971.
For Faculty Nobel Laureates, see the Faculty Honors and Awards section.
We make every effort to keep these listings current and accurate. Please notify if you notice an error or discrepancy. | <urn:uuid:93191392-d62e-4065-bdcb-f27b2baf85bc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ucla.edu/about/awards-and-honors/alumni-and-students/nobel-laureates | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973015 | 981 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Guest Post by Jani-Petri Martikainen. Jani-Petri is a theoretical physicist doing fundamental research in the field of ultracold quantum gases. Most of his current research activities are computational and involve bosonic or fermionic atoms in optical lattices. He has a lively interest on environmental, climate, and energy issues. He runs the blog PassiiviIdentiteetti, which is mostly written in Finnish.
By aggregating power generation from wind farms spread across the whole (North Sea) area, periods of very low or very high power flows would be reduced to a negligible amount. A dip in wind power generation in one area would balanced by higher production in another area. European renewable energy council and Greenpeace (page 34).
Since it appears difficult (certainly outside academic journals) to find detailed numbers on how strongly, for example, wind power actually relies on fossil fuels, I decided to do some estimates myself. I am not primarily interested in cosmetic amounts of wind power production, but will take the ambitious renewable visions seriously and study scenarios where wind power would be enough to power our entire society. I want to understand to what extent electricity production in such scenarios still relies on reliable energy sources and what kind of energy storage is required to enable wind power to stand on its own feet. Since hydropower capacity at a global level is limited, I will mostly use the term “reliable energy source” as an euphemism for fossil fuels. Not to be too parochial and allow for massively distributed generation, I will assume a “super(duper?)grid” coupling wind power sources from three different continents together.
As a starting point I want to create a production profile based on real wind power production data. As sources I choose south-eastern Australia, Ireland, and the Bonneville Power Administration in Oregon, US. Each has roughly comparable amounts of wind power installed, but I will scale the capacity of each to 3333 MWe so that the combined capacity will end up being 10 GWe (peak). Data for BPA and Australia is given every 5 minutes while the Irish data is every 15 min.
To get the datasets to match I will make a linear interpolation of the Irish data. Furthermore, since my chosen time period for the Australian data (1.8.2010 — 30.7.2011) is a bit different from the other two (1.7.2010 — 30.6.2011), I will fold the Australian data onto itself from the end to generate few missing datapoints. I take the consumption profile from the BPA load, but reserve the right to change its scale to suit my purposes. As a result, I get a combined wind power production from three massive clusters of wind turbines on three different continents. (Note: A slight bias might be caused by increasing capacity over the year.) In Figure 1, I show the power distribution for the individual clusters and for the combined system. The distributions look a bit different to each other, presumably because the Australian turbines are the most distributed geographically. The combined system has about a 7% probability of producing less than 10% of the installed capacity.
Figures 2 and 3 show how production and consumption relate to one another during one randomly picked week in two different scenarios. In the Figure 2, the minimum consumption is the same as the maximum production, so that no wind power has to be wasted. In the Figure 3, the wind power produces the same amount of electricity in a year as the society consumes. Because in neither case does the consumption match the production, some reliable source of energy must bridge the difference. For now I assume that this reliable source of energy can be turned on instantaneously in response to changes in wind production. This assumption is typically wrong and eventually I will make few remarks as to how serious this assumption is.
For the scenario in Fig. 2 it turns out that 74% of the electricity is produced with fossil fuels and the capacity of the reliable power plants must be 92% of the peak demand. The CO2 reductions in this scenario are nowhere close to what is required and the entire wind capacity has been build to work in tandem with power plants burning fossil fuels. This modest tinkering of electricity supply is quite close to what is being practiced today in many countries.
In the ambitious scenario presented in Figure 3, some of the wind power ends up wasted and periods of low production must be covered with fossil fuels. It turns out that the capacity factor of wind power drops from around 30% to about 24%. Power plants burning fossil fuels cover about 21% of demand and their installed (standby) capacity must be 88% of peak demand. If we take the threat of climate change seriously, even this rate of emissions is excessive, given that electricity production is not the only source of greenhouse gases and that the global electricity consumption will most likely rise. Importantly, it should also be noted that in this scenario the reliable power plants are running at a capacity factor of only 15%, which increases the cost of their power dramatically. Under this scenario one would quite likely (and perversely) end up paying subsidies to the owners of the power plants burning fossil fuels.
(As an aside, a leaked European Commission document apparently includes a 50% wind scenario by 2050. Based on the above approach this would imply a need for reliable power plants that can account for 92% of the peak demand. Capacity factor for these standby plants would be around 35%. Since solar PV production almost never peaks during the peak demand period and is reliably off during most of the day… CSP with storage might be theoretical possibility, but to be able to contribute to next days peak demand and compensate for the cloudy days they will need substantial storage. Solutions where CSP plants are backed up with fossil fuels are clearly not satisfactory.)
That these scenarios rely fundamentally on fossil fuels does not feel right to someone seriously concerned about climate change. This dependency can be broken if wind power during periods of high production could be stored somewhere. How much storage would be needed? I will now assume that: (i) (only) 20% of the energy is lost during the transfer of wind-generated energy to and from the storage, (ii) storage doesn’t “leak”, (iii) there are no limits on the storage input-output powers, and (iv) that the storage is arbitrarily large. Only type of storage that might approach these conditions even to some extent, appears to be pumped-hydro storage.
In Figure 4 I show how the energy content in the storage varies over the year. I choose the consumption to such a level that the storage at the end of the year is about the same as in the beginning of the year. It turns out that the entire electricity consumption (95% of wind production) could be covered with wind power if the storage amounts to about 9% of the yearly production, or 2.5 million MWh. In practice, about this amount of energy equates to that which would be released when the water from a 90km2 lake that is 20 meters deep drops 500 meters. Naturally this same volume of (fresh) water would also have to be stored at lower elevation to await pumping back into the mountains. However, this scenario appears somewhat unrealistic in that it requires that we can store energy at a power 5.1 GWe and release it at 4.3 GWe. These figures are massive relative to the maximum demand of 4.7 GWe.
So let us proceed to make things perhaps a bit more realistic by throttling the storage input-output power to “just” 1 GWe. In this case some of the wind power is again lost and dependence on fossil fuels reappears. Consumption can now be 89% of yearly wind power production and storage must be sufficient for about 5% of production. In this scenario, 4.5% of consumption would be covered by reliable power plants running with a capacity factor of just 5%. However, their installed capacity must still be 63% of peak demand. If we throttle the storage power further, the need for fossils fuels increases.
What if we just store energy for few days? If the storage is for 5 days peak production, and we throttled its power like before, about 9% of consumption must be covered with reliables. Their installed capacity must be 70% of peak demand and the capacity factor is 8%. If we are to remove reliables entirely from the picture, the consumption must drop drastically to the average level of about 900 MWe. Naturally, this implies a drop in the winds capacity factor to less than 9%.
So far I have assumed that reliables can react instantaneously to changes in wind power production. Let us add a delay of 10 — 30 minutes to the scenario of Fig. 3, where most electricity was from wind. i.e., I assume that if the reliable source was turned off, it takes 10 – 30 minutes for it to start producing power again. In Figure 5 I show the resulting difference between production and demand. As is clear from the diagram, even with only 10 minutes delay, more than 600 MWe of mismatch can appear. Smaller discrepancies appear regularly over the year and their frequency increases as the reliables response becomes more sluggish. These observations presumably set some constraints on the amount of reliable power plants which must either be constantly spinning no matter what the wind conditions are, or be able to react very rapidly to changing wind conditions (hydro probably).
It is of interest to check what we actually gain by (hypothetically) combining the time-matched production from Irish, Australian, and BPA productions within a “super grid”. If we only use the production data from Australia for the wind-dominated scenario, 24% of the electricity would come from reliables (c.f. 21% with the “supergrid”) , required reliable capacity would be 92% (vs. 88%), and the reliables capacity factor would be 17% (vs. 15%). Therefore, it seems that distributing wind turbines over an area larger than around 1 million square kilometers (on three continents) provides only modest additional benefits. These benefits should naturally be balanced against the additional costs.
In all the above I have taken the consumption pattern to be fixed. In principle, using smart grids the consumption could change and become more flexible. However, not only does the required change have to be very rapid, but it also has to be potentially a very large fraction of the total demand at certain times. It is naturally partly a political and ideological question as to whether it is desirable to force society to adapt to failures of the chosen technology, rather than demanding that the technology adapts to way people behave. (The way I phrased it, makes it quite clear where I stand.) In fact it is curious how eagerly proponents of, for example, wind power, wish to rely on smart grids even though the most obvious use of smart grids seems to be almost diametrically opposed to their vision! Let me explain.
Sending more detailed pricing signals to consumers, has the potential advantage of lowering peak demand and perhaps inversely increasing night time demand. Under such circumstances, the difference between average and peak demand is reduced and the share of the baseload power actually increases. In the extreme limit case, we would end up with an electricity supply entirely made out of baseload power plants (coal or nuclear typically). Not only would this lower the cost of average kWh, but it would also seem to simplify the design and maintainance of the energy infrastructure. i.e., used in this way, a smart grid seems to be a really smart idea! However, the way proponents of unreliables intend to use smart grids is quite different. For them, the smart grid is a way to lower demand not when demand is necessarily high, but when their favored energy supply is failing. The smart grid is then transformed into a system of managing (avoiding) brownouts, blackouts and load shedding. Used in this way, it is about giving consumers the choice between very costly energy and a blackout. A managed blackout is certainly better than unmanaged one, but how is it exactly better than not having blackouts is unclear.
For the reasons above, I think it is clear that it is very difficult to base the electricity supply on erratic sources of energy. As soon as we start estimating the required storage capacity or the capacity of reliable backup power, we end up with massive figures, implying huge escalations in costs, or an unacceptable reliance on fossil fuels. Getting the production and demand to match each other becomes ever more complicated, and I cannot help myself thinking that the resulting device starts to, more and more, resemble a Rube Goldberg device.
Here is the scenario you end up with: If wind power is too variable, build a supergrid and then connect it to smart grid. Then combine everything to solar power on the other side of continent, which will be smoothed with wave power coupled to geothermal, and as an icing on the cake build large number of microlevel bio, natural gas,and hydro power plants across the continent. If the goal is to create a reliable voltage difference, is there no easier way? If the goal is to redistribute common resources to those who manufacture pieces of the device, however, then there is unarguably some internal logic. Also, if the real goal is to maintain de facto dependence on fossil fuels, this approach is eminently sensible.
Unfortunately, this kind of confusion makes it harder to understand how the whole system works (or doesn’t work) and also harder to understand the final costs and emission levels involved. (Sometimes I get the feeling that proponents for unreliables prefer it that way.) Such visions do not become more convincing when one observes the politics involved. Each part of the device is constructed with scant regard for other parts, with multitude of different national (especially in the European Union) subsidy schemes. Many parts of the device also seem to be more like rhetorical tools, to divert attention from the shortcomings of the activity under spotlight. For example, supergrids are often evoked as a tool that would make huge fluctuations of wind power at national level disappear. As we have seen from this analysis, not only is this assumption unjustified, but it also seems unclear who exactly is supposed to pay for such grids. It is certainly not included in the typical cost estimates for wind power. Also, how are the small nations around Germany, some of which have no need for wind power, supposed to balance the wind power of 80 million Germans? Would Germany pay for the construction of wind turbines in, and transmission cables from, another country? Not likely.
Only scenarios which are based on reliable energy sources from the beginning seem to avoid the problems discussed here. Scenarios based on unreliable sources become progressively harder as their share of electricity supply increase. Reducing GHG emissions sufficiently requires, in practice, total decarbonization of the electricity supply, and the emissions reductions achieved by the time erratic sources run into trouble are far too low. I cannot avoid the conclusion that approaches based on renewables will mainly, at a very large expense, end up delaying the real decisions we must eventually make to lower emissions to acceptable levels. The alternative zero-carbon baseload source seems rather obvious… | <urn:uuid:fd9357c2-8985-4757-bfbe-af60ebe9cedd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/10/29/gws-sg-es/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955747 | 3,128 | 2.328125 | 2 |
FAU’s Frontiers in Science Lecture Series Presents ‘Turning Venom into Drugs: Using Killer Marine Snails to Kill Pain’
BOCA RATON, FL (October 25, 2007) – Florida Atlantic University’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Science will continue its 2007 Frontiers in Science public lecture series with a presentation by Dr. Frank Marí, associate professor in FAU’s department of chemistry and biochemistry. "Turning Venom into Drugs: Using Killer Marine Snails to Kill Pain" will take place on Thursday, November 8 at 3:30 p.m. in Room 126 in the Charles E. Schmidt Biomedical Science Center, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton campus.
In his Frontiers presentation, Marí will discuss the discovery and development of components of the venom of deadly marine snails into therapeutics for the treatment of chronic pain and other conditions such as stroke and multiple sclerosis.
Marí works extensively with amino acid-based compounds found in the sea, especially those from the venom of cone snails, which are carnivorous mollusks which prey upon fish, mollusks or worms. His most recent development is in the area known as “Conopeptidomics,” where he seeks to intensify the discovery process of the importance of how these marine compounds affect central and peripheral nervous systems, and evaluate their potential for drug development.
Marí, an internationally-recognized researcher in the area of marine natural products, came to FAU in 1993. He and his colleagues have specialized in the discovery of new microprotein domains that interact with the central nervous system. Mari was awarded Florida Atlantic University's Researcher of the Year for 1996–1997.
This lecture is free and open to the public, and is sponsored by the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science and supported by FAU’s Lifelong Learning Society Endowed Professorship.
The reception that follows the program is made possible by the Warren Lloyd Holtzman Seed Grant, a component of the Community Foundation of the New River Valley.
For more information, contact Patsy Jones at 561-297-1307 or firstname.lastname@example.org.
Florida Atlantic University opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University serv es more than 26,000 undergraduate and graduate students on seven campuses strategically located along 150 miles of Florida's southeastern coastline. Building on its rich tradition as a teaching university, with a world-class faculty, FAU hosts nine colleges: the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts & Letters, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Biomedical Science, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, the Barry Kaye College of Business and the Colleges of Education, Engineering & Computer Science, and Architecture, Urban & Public Affairs. | <urn:uuid:cd54da9a-dc01-43a3-aba9-32239d643760> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fau.edu/mediarelations/Releases1007/100732.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917625 | 603 | 2.25 | 2 |
If someone told you there was a "Miss Holocaust Survivor" beauty pageant, you would probably think they were making a not particularly hilarious joke. After all, the Holocaust doesn't seem like a tasteful basis for an evening of fun, but more importantly people who survived a systematic campaign that killed six million people have already won—and making them compete to be the "best survivor" seems awkward at best, and at worst, incredibly offensive. Yet it's no joke; it's a real pageant that was held in Haifa, Israel, and there were tiaras and everything.
The pageant was organized by a group called Yad Ezer L'Haver (meaning "Helping Hand") that assists Holocaust survivors in need. It must have been an unusual spectacle to see the 14 women between 74 and 97 competing for the title of "Miss Holocaust Survivor." The Washington Post describes the scene:
Wearing black dresses, earrings and necklaces, and sporting blue-and-white numbered sashes, they grinned and waved as they were introduced to the adoring audience. Music played as the contestants walked along a red carpet, introduced themselves and described their memories of World War II.
They were evaluated by four judges—"three former beauty queens and a geriatric psychiatrist who specializes in treating Holocaust survivors." That's quite a combination. Shimon Sabag, director of Yad Ezer L'Haver, said the contestants were judged not only on physical appearance, but also on their stories of surviving concentration camps and Nazi ghettos. Their contributions to their communities after the war were also considered. He estimated that looks made up about "10 percent" of the judges' criteria, and he said a cosmetics company had come to help the women get dressed up for the occasion.
The judges eventually crowned Hava Hershkovitz (above, center) the winner. She is about to turn 79, but back in 1941 she was banished from her home in Romania and shipped to a Soviet detention camp where she stayed for three years. Her granddaughter, Keren Hazan, was with her at the pageant and said, "I'm very proud of her because she's the most beautiful woman in the room tonight." Hershkovitz herself said of the event,
This place is full of survivors. It puts us at the center of attention so people will care. It's not easy at this age to be in a beauty contest, but we're all doing it to show that we're still here.
On the one hand, it's simple to see why the women would enjoy coming together and having a night of fun and sharing their stories. But on the other hand, there is something so cringe-worthy about judging them on their tales of surviving unspeakable horrors and then making even a small part of it about being beautiful and how one presents oneself. So, it's no surprise that many people found the pageant offensive. Among its critics is Colette Avital, who chairs Israel's leading Holocaust survivors' group. She said,
It sounds totally macabre to me. I am in favor of enriching lives, but a one-time pageant masquerading (survivors) with beautiful clothes is not what is going to make their lives more meaningful.
She was also critical of the cosmetics company who was involved in the event, saying they were exploiting Holocaust survivors as a way to promote their products. Lili Haber, the daughter of a survivor and the head of an Israeli organization that helps survivors from Poland, was also opposed to the competition:
Why use a beauty contest to show that these people survived and that they're brave? I think it's awful. I think it's something a decent person shouldn't even think about.
But Sabag, the pageant organizer, disagrees. He argued that since the emphasis was on survival and rebuilding their lives, not appearance, it was a nice occasion for the women. He said, "They feel good together. They are having a good time and laughing in the rehearsals," and he added, "The fact that so many wanted to participate proves that it's a good idea." Well, history is rich with examples of why that's hardly foolproof logic.
It is true that it might have been totally fine, even enjoyable, for the women competing—which is, of course, important—but then there are also the feelings of the rest of the people in the country (and world) to consider, many of whom have their own deep connections to the Holocaust. So even if it's not the most offensive thing ever done, it does smack of a certain insensitivity. Gal Mor, editor of an Israeli blog called "Holes in the Net," made an excellent argument about what was flawed about the pageant:
Why should a decayed, competitive institution that emphasizes women's appearance be used as inspiration, instead of allowing them to tell their story without gimmicks?. This is one step short of "Survivor-Holocaust" or "Big Brother Auschwitz." It leaves a bad taste. Holocaust survivors should be above all this.
It's hard not to agree, but then you hear the story of Esther Libber (seen above on the far left), a 74-year-old who during the war fled her home in Poland and hid in a forest until she was rescued. She lost her entire immediate family to the Holocaust. She was a runner-up in the pageant, and she says of the event,
I have the privilege to show the world that Hitler wanted to exterminate us and we are alive. We are also enjoying life. Thank God it's that way.
And, of course, she should enjoy life in whatever way she wants—God knows, she's earned it. It's just hard not to think that this event might have been better received it were organized as a simple celebration of these women's many and impressive achievements—an opportunity for them to be doted on, get dressed up, share their stories, and be honored, without having to decide which one of them is the most beautiful of all. | <urn:uuid:638486e8-e8b5-4d8e-8f97-b49288977814> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jezebel.com/5922277/the-miss-holocaust-survivor-beauty-pageant?tag=yad-ezer-l.haver | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987335 | 1,238 | 1.921875 | 2 |
A petition drive seeking to lower property taxes has more than 100 thousand verified signatures, which is more than twice the number needed to trigger a review by the state Supreme Court.
This proposed amendment is receiving mixed reviews from the public.
If passed, the amendment would double the tax exemption for people who live in homes that they own, and the difference would be picked up by the owners of commercial, vacant, and rental properties.
Alfred Clark says his name will not be on the list of Floridians petitioning to lower property taxes statewide. "Everybody likes their taxes lowered, but you can only lower them so far without things suffering."
The proposed amendment would lower property taxes by doubling the current homestead tax exemption of $25,000 to $50,000.
"I think the average homeowner has always felt like their home should have at least a homestead exemption that went up with inflation."
John Armstrong, a property owner, says "Naturally, being retired, any tax cut helps. So it sounds like a good idea to me!"
"If it's implemented, the amendment would save Leon County residents that own and live in their homes an average of $1100 a year... state officials say the rest would be made up by taxing the owners of commercial and rental property."
John Smith of the Florida League of Cities says "The way we estimate it currently, it would be about a $2 million shift from those homestead properties to the non-homestead taxpayer."
Representatives from the Florida League of Cities say this isn't fair to non-homestead taxpayers. But Leon County’s property appraiser says more than half of the 100 thousand parcels of land in Leon County are homestead properties. And more than likely, the amendment will be on the ballot in November.
In addition to commercial and rental property owners, the owners of vacant and industrial property would also have to pick up the slack from the doubled homestead exemption.
Leon County’s property appraiser says the Leon County School Board and the County Commission could each lose around $11 million, and the city itself could lose close to $2.5 million. | <urn:uuid:a45b9097-7a96-44e2-b1b1-9cbfca49a180> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/757712.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968937 | 440 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Fort Worth Flashback: Pioneer family’s homestead became Cultural District
Posted July 9, 2012
The Van Zandt cottage at 2900 Crestline Road has played an important role in Fort Worth’s history.
Major Khleber Miller Van Zandt settled in Fort Worth after the Civil War. He was part of Company D, Texas Seventh Regiment for the Confederate Army. He was also a member of the Texas Legislature, a cattleman, banker and merchant.
Between 1871 and 1873, Van Zandt acquired about 600 acres of land to the west of the newly incorporated city of Fort Worth. Some of Van Zandt’s property was purchased by the City of Fort Worth in 1892 to build a water treatment plant and city park. This purchase eventually became what is now known as Trinity Park.
In 1936, the city purchased from the Van Zandt family most of the land that is now considered the Cultural District. This purchase included the cabin.
When Major Van Zandt purchased the land, the cabin was already there, so the exact date of its construction is unknown. The cabin is the only structure of its type in Fort Worth still in its original location. However, the home has been significantly modified over the years.
Fort Worth architect Joseph R. Pelich was hired to restore the cabin in 1936. Many of Pelich’s designs were in the Colonial Revival style, and his work is evident in the cottage. The original home had unpainted board siding, which was replaced with a more modern wood siding and has been painted gray. Shutters were also added to the windows and additions were made in the rear to provide space for a museum.
The Fort Worth Library has approximately 10,000 items pertaining to the history of Fort Worth and Tarrant County. These items include city and county government documents, newspapers, directories, cemetery association records, maps as well as popular and scholarly books written by local authors or about local subjects. To learn more, call 817-392-7740 or email the Genealogy, History and Archives Section.
- Fort Worth Flashback: Cats hosted many big-league players
- Fort Worth Flashback: Symphony celebrating a century of making beautiful music
- Fort Worth Flashback: Swartz brothers chronicled early life in Fort Worth
- Fort Worth Flashback: Spring Palace showcased Texas wares, ended tragically
- Fort Worth Flashback: Fox photo collection is now digitized
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* The Final WW Date is the final date from which you can withdraw from the unit without academic penalty, however you will still incur a financial liability (see Withdrawal dates explained for more information).
Examines tragic and comic dramas of classical antiquity, which established the nature of western drama for later ages, including the works of Sophocles and Aeschylus, and the bawdy and irreverent Greek and Roman comedies. Particular attention will be paid to the plays' exploration of moral and intellectual issues, the development of the tragic and comic form and the nature of performance.
HTC211: 3,000 words written work (60%);2-hr exam (40%)
HTC311: 3,500 words written work (60%);2-hr exam (40%)
FLEXIBLE & ONLINE STUDY OPTIONS Note: Class attendance may still be required
Web supported - I,L,N,W Online access to some part of this unit online is optional
Resource supported teaching & learning - I,L,N,W,H Additional resources are provided for your optional use; e.g. audio taped lectures
About Flexible Study Options
25% in level 100 Ancient Civilisations or HTA, HEA, HTL, HTG
Units are offered in attending mode unless otherwise indicated (that is attendance is required at the campus identified). A unit identified as offered by distance, that is there is no requirement for attendance, is identified with a nominal enrolment campus. A unit offered to both attending students and by distance from the same campus is identified as having both modes of study.
Campus - H Hobart, L Launceston, W Burnie. Study Centre - V Sydney, R Rozelle, P Beauty Point. Distance units may also have a campus identifier of I Isolated, N Interstate, O Overseas. Units delivered in Transnational Education (TNE) Programs have a campus identifier of A Hangzhou, F Fuzhou, G Shanghai, K KDU Malaysia, Q Kuwait or Y Hong Kong. | <urn:uuid:9bb422d7-491e-43c1-b069-63fb392074c8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://courses.utas.edu.au/portal/page/portal/COURSE_UNIT/UTAS_UNIT_DETAIL?P_UNIT_CODE=HTC311&P_YEAR=2012&P_CONTEXT=NEW | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90767 | 427 | 1.921875 | 2 |
To what extent will the quality of the training you provide be scrutinized in the event of a lawsuit? Paul Salvatore, an employment-law attorney at the New York City office of Proskauer Rose, explains that documentation of proper training is an employer’s best ally.
“The general rule is that employers are better off and better able to insulate themselves from liability if they provide proper training in a whole variety of areas,” he says. If the training provided is not found to be proper, it becomes a negligence issue. “These are jury cases, so the jury could award damages,” says Salvatore. “The more improper or incomplete the training is determined to be, the higher the degree of the employer’s negligence.”
Whether the training was provided by an outside vendor or conducted in-house, the employer will likely still be liable, since the employer selected the vendor. “It’s very important that employers are careful about the vendors they choose,” notes Salvatore, particularly when it comes to sexual harassment training. “This area is a lot more subjective and there are more sensitivities than in how you operate the clutch on your vehicle,” says Salvatore.
How do you know your training is working? Give employees tests after each training session. “That way, if there’s trouble, you can say, ‘We trained them — and they passed!’” says Salvatore.
Source: Workforce Week, www.workforce.com.
Request More Info about this product/service/company | <urn:uuid:cb88dce8-13e0-4eaf-8114-fab2fb2d85c7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.schoolbusfleet.com/Channel/Management-Training/Articles/2002/03/Train-Well-Reduce-Liability.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960778 | 338 | 1.5 | 2 |
- n. Plural form of semiconductor.
“The US position in semiconductors is really very good. jmo Says:”
“When I was working in semiconductors (at a design house, not in manufacturing) I did worry that much of the semiconductor manufacturing was overseas.”
“Actel specializes in semiconductors called field programmable gate arrays, which are able to withstand high radiation, while Microsemi focuses on analog and integrated chips that help regulate power usage.”
“They spent a year designing a new kind of inverter called a microinverter, harnessing expertise in semiconductors, software, communications and power systems.”
“Players can cooperate, defect by claiming property (happened in semiconductors and in software, where claiming property was uncommon but then became standard), or defect by copying.”
“State and federal officials are aiming to reassert the nation's traditional leadership in semiconductors by providing hundreds of millions of dollars toward a cutting edge research institute and the construction of a $4.5 billion silicon chip manufacturing plant.”
“And warm quantum states have recently been demonstrated in semiconductors (Lau et al, 2006; Stern et al, 2006; c.f. Amin et al, 2006).”
“Stanford researchers predict a new state of matter in semiconductors”
“Giaever, who invented and studied the detailed properties of the "tunnel junction", an electronic component based on superconductivity, shared the second half with Leo Esaki for work on tunneling phenomena in semiconductors (see below).”
“The theorists at Bell had all done work in semiconductors at some time or another and were very helpful in the learning process, particularly through their constant give-and-take with the experimentalists.”
Looking for tweets for semiconductors. | <urn:uuid:1b099d46-28f0-43f1-91d7-58d634ec60b6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wordnik.com/words/semiconductors | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941285 | 406 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Veterans recall Battle of El Alamein horror
Veterans of the Battle of El Alamein today described the horror of losing than 4,000 Allied troops as they marked its 70th anniversary.
An evensong service at Westminster Abbey in London commemorated seven decades since the battle in North Africa, which was widely hailed as the turning point in the Second World War.
Around 40 British and Australian veterans, many of whom are now in their 90s, were part of a 500-strong congregation to honour those who fought in the 14-day battle.
Major Freddie Salinger, 94, who served with the Royal Artillery Medium Regiment, was subjected to a dive bomb attack in which four men from his troop were killed.
Speaking ahead of the service, Major Salinger said: "I think of them now with great sadness that they were cut off in their prime in their mid 20s."
"It was not until about the 9th day (of battle) ... in the morning, the sun was shining, I looked up and saw some Stuka dive bombers. I didn't realise it but they were for us. I found out we had lost four, including a sergeant."
Major Frederick Hunn, who turns 93 tomorrow, served at the Battle of El Alamein with the Duchess of Cornwall's father, Major Bruce Shand, in the 12th Royal Lancers.
He described the counter-attack ordered by Gen Montgomery on October 23 when almost 1,000 guns levelled at the German positions were discharged at once.
"I'd been used to battle because I'd served at Dunkirk but I remember on the 23rd, at 9.40pm, every gun opened up," he said.
"The sky was bright from the guns. We were a mile away but could still hear the tremendous amount of noise.
"I'd seen plenty of barrages but I'd never seen one like this before."
Major Hunn said the service provided the chance to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in the battle.
"If they're great friends, as most of them in my regiment were ... when they are killed beside you, and you're a young chap at only 22, it's sad when you lose such young people."
Revealed: Devastating impact of 'bedroom tax' sees huge leap in demand for emergency hardship handouts for tenants
Notes from a small island: Is Sealand an independent 'micronation' or an illegal fortress?
You thought Ryanair's attendants had it bad? Wait 'til you hear about their pilots
Revealed: Eerie new images show forgotten French apartment that was abandoned at the outbreak of World War II and left untouched for 70 years
Chloe Johnson death: Family of five-year-old British girl who died in a pool at in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh resort 'angry' that more wasn't done to save her
- 1 Stoke City investigate 'religious abuse' after 'pig's head is found in Kenwyne Jones' locker'
- 2 Gove’s lesson: spare the comma, spoil the child
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- 5 Join Ryanair! See the world! But we'll only pay you for nine months a year
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£85 - £120 per day: Randstad Education Cheshire: KS2 teacher needed to do PPA ... | <urn:uuid:f0be5e18-c2ba-49b6-9089-089cf08a9a6d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/veterans-recall-battle-of-el-alamein-horror-8229166.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97387 | 875 | 2.0625 | 2 |
It’s a small world
Release 1 / Serial number 120421 / Inform 7 build 6G60 (I6/v6.32 lib 6/12N) SD
You see glass walls surrounding you. The floor is also glass. You see what looks like Earth. There is a ladder going down. You can’t see where it leads to.
You see potions brewing all around you. Some of them have skulls on them. You shiver. It is getting colder. Suddenly everything freezes and starts seperating into countless little pieces. You remember learning a little about these things. They are called atoms. You see the Subatomic plane below you.
You see atoms floating about. You think maybe you can control them. Sure enough, when you say create down quark, a quark forms in front of you.
You can’t go that way.
Now I just need to finish up the quark design. | <urn:uuid:03ef8a34-c8cd-4278-889a-4a6f0d7578b5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2012/04/21/almost-donenot-with-the-whole-thing/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943487 | 197 | 2 | 2 |
In the early 1990's, Italian director Gianni Amelio had already been hailed by international critics and audiences as a singular voice tackling relevant social dramas in the neo-realist tradition of the 1940's. Amelio travelled to Albania in 1994 to direct 'L'America', the story of a corrupt Italian businessman who discovers personal salvation in the immediate years after the fall of communism.
Upon it's release, the film further cemented Amelio's reputation garnering over a dozen awards including four prizes at the Venice Film Fesival and the coveted
Felix Award for Best European Film.
But in Albania 'L'America' caused considerable controversy and was denounced by many as a gross exaggeration of conditions in the country. After the film received wide distribution around the world, many Albanians came to regard L'America as furthering the kind of negative stereotype that 'Midnight Express' gave Turkey.
Gianni Amelio will return to Albania to appear at this years Tirana International Film Festival for a special screening of 'L'America'. Afterwards, critics and audiences will be invited to discuss with the director the films lasting impact and its place in Albania's recent history.
The TIFF is also honored to screen two of Gianni Amelio's most acclaimed films, his 1990 'Porte Aparte' (Open Doors) and the 2004 'Chiavi di Casa' (Keys to the House | <urn:uuid:9175ea03-5637-4374-949d-46258f3ce2e1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tiranafilmfest.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=175%3Agianni-amelio&catid=57%3Aevents-archive&Itemid=300 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944582 | 291 | 1.585938 | 2 |
TO THE FAITHFUL OF THE DIOCESE AND CITY OF ROME
ON THE URGENT TASK OF EDUCATING YOUNG PEOPLE
Dear Faithful of Rome,
I thought of addressing this Letter to you in order to speak to you about a problem of which you yourselves are aware and to which the various members of our Church are applying themselves: the problem of education. We all have at heart the good of the people we love, especially our children, adolescents and young people. Indeed, we know that it is on them that the future of our City depends. Therefore, it is impossible not to be concerned about the formation of the new generations, about their ability to give their lives a direction and to discern good from evil, and about their health, not only physical but also moral.
Educating, however, has never been an easy task and today seems to be becoming ever more difficult. Parents, teachers, priests and everyone who has direct educational responsibilities are well aware of this. Hence, there is talk of a great "educational emergency", confirmed by the failures we encounter all too often in our efforts to form sound people who can cooperate with others and give their own lives meaning. Thus, it is natural to think of laying the blame on the new generations, as though children born today were different from those born in the past. There is also talk of a "generation gap" which certainly exists and is making itself felt, but is the effect rather than the cause of the failure to transmit certainties and values.
Must we therefore blame today's adults for no longer being able to educate? There is certainly a strong temptation among both parents and teachers as well as educators in general to give up, since they run the risk of not even understanding what their role or rather the mission entrusted to them is.
Dear brothers and sisters of Rome, at this point I would like to say some very simple words to you: Do not be afraid! In fact, none of these difficulties is insurmountable. They are, as it were, the other side of the coin of that great and precious gift which is our freedom, with the responsibility that rightly goes with it. As opposed to what happens in the technical or financial fields, where today's advances can be added to those of the past, no similar accumulation is possible in the area of people's formation and moral growth, because the person's freedom is ever new. As a result, each person and each generation must make his own decision anew, alone. Not even the greatest values of the past can be simply inherited; they must be claimed by us and renewed through an often anguishing personal option.
When the foundations are shaken, however, and essential certainties are lacking, the impelling need for those values once again makes itself felt: thus today, the request for an education which is truly such is in fact increasing. Parents, anxious and often anguished about the future of their children, are asking for it; a great many teachers going through the sorrowful experience of their schools' deterioration are asking for it; society overall, seeing doubts cast on the very foundations of coexistence, is asking for it; children and young people themselves who do not want to be left to face life's challenges on their own are also asking for it in their inmost being. Those who believe in Jesus Christ, moreover, have a further and stronger reason for not being afraid: they know in fact that God does not abandon us, that his love reaches us wherever we are and just as we are, in our wretchedness and weakness, in order to offer us a new possibility of good.
Dear brothers and sisters, to make my considerations more meaningful, it might be useful to identify several common requirements of an authentic education. It needs first of all that closeness and trust which are born from love: I am thinking of the first and fundamental experience of love which children have, or at least should have, from their parents. Yet every true teacher knows that if he is to educate he must give a part of himself, and that it is only in this way that he can help his pupils overcome selfishness and become in their turn capable of authentic love.
In a small child there is already a strong desire to know and to understand, which is expressed in his stream of questions and constant demands for explanations. Therefore, an education would be most impoverished if it were limited to providing notions and information and neglected the important question about the truth, especially that truth which can be a guide in life.
Suffering is also part of the truth of our life. So, by seeking to shield the youngest from every difficulty and experience of suffering, we risk raising brittle and ungenerous people, despite our good intentions: indeed, the capacity for loving corresponds to the capacity for suffering and for suffering together.
We thus arrive, dear friends of Rome, at what is perhaps the most delicate point in the task of education: finding the right balance between freedom and discipline. If no standard of behaviour and rule of life is applied even in small daily matters, the character is not formed and the person will not be ready to face the trials that will come in the future. The educational relationship, however, is first of all the encounter of two kinds of freedom, and successful education means teaching the correct use of freedom. As the child gradually grows up, he becomes an adolescent and then a young person; we must therefore accept the risk of freedom and be constantly attentive in order to help him to correct wrong ideas and choices. However, what we must never do is to support him when he errs, to pretend we do not see the errors or worse, that we share them as if they were the new boundaries of human progress.
Education cannot, therefore, dispense with that authoritativeness which makes the exercise of authority possible. It is the fruit of experience and competence, but is acquired above all with the coherence of one's own life and personal involvement, an expression of true love. The educator is thus a witness of truth and goodness. He too, of course, is fragile and can be mistaken, but he will constantly endeavour to be in tune with his mission.
Dear faithful of Rome, from these simple observations it becomes clear that in education a sense of responsibility is crucial: the responsibility of the educator, of course, but also, as he grows up, the responsibility of the child, the student, the young person who enters the world of work. Those who can measure up to themselves and to others are responsible. Those who believe seek further; indeed, they seek to respond to God who loved them first.
Responsibility is in the first place personal, but there is also a responsibility which we share as citizens in the same city and of one nation, as members of the human family and, if we are believers, as children of the one God and members of the Church. Indeed, ideas, lifestyles, laws, the orientations in general of the society in which we live and the image it has of itself through the mass media exercise a great influence on the formation of the new generations, for good but often also for evil. However, society is not an abstraction; in the end we are ourselves all together, with the orientations, rules and representatives we give one another, although the roles and responsibilities of each person are different. Thus, the contribution of each one of us, of each person, family or social group, is necessary if society, starting with our City of Rome, is to become a more favourable context for education.
Lastly, I would like to offer you a thought which I developed in my recent Encyclical Letter Spe Salvi on Christian hope: the soul of education, as of the whole of life, can only be a dependable hope. Today, our hope is threatened on many sides and we even risk becoming, like the ancient pagans, people "having no hope and without God in the world", as the Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians of Ephesus (Eph 2: 12). What may be the deepest difficulty for a true educational endeavour consists precisely in this: the fact that at the root of the crisis of education lies a crisis of trust in life.
I cannot finish this Letter, therefore, without a warm invitation to place our hope in God. He alone is the hope that withstands every disappointment; his love alone cannot be destroyed by death; his justice and mercy alone can heal injustices and recompense the suffering experienced. Hope that is addressed to God is never hope for oneself alone, it is always also hope for others; it does not isolate us but renders us supportive in goodness and encourages us to educate one another in truth and in love.
I express my affection for you and assure you of my special remembrance in prayer, as I impart my Blessing to you all.
From the Vatican, 21 January 2008
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI
© Copyright 2008 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana | <urn:uuid:fa550d9c-02b2-4348-a0f8-a2f2a80c995f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/letters/2008/documents/hf_ben-xvi_let_20080121_educazione_en.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976804 | 1,832 | 1.625 | 2 |
If you're 62 or older and looking for money to finance a home improvement, pay off your current mortgage, supplement your retirement income, or pay for healthcare expenses – you may be considering a reverse mortgage. It's a product that allows you to convert part of the equity in your home into cash without having to sell your home or pay additional monthly bills. This Financial Guide explains how reverse mortgages work.
Three types of reverse mortgage plans are available:
- Single-purpose reverse mortgages, offered by some state and local government agencies and nonprofit organizations
- Federally-insured reverse mortgages, known as Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs) and backed by the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
- Proprietary reverse mortgages, private loans that are backed by the companies that develop them
This guide describes the similarities and differences among them and discusses the benefits and drawbacks of each. Since each plan differs slightly, it is important to choose the one that best meets your financial needs.
The reverse mortgage is not without risk however, and knowing the pros and cons will help you acquire the best possible deal should you decide to go with a reverse mortgage. Staying informed of your rights and responsibilities as a borrower may help to minimize your financial risks and avoid the threat of losing your home.
How Does A Reverse Mortgage Work?
A reverse mortgage is a type of home equity loan that allows you to convert some of the equity in your home into cash while you continue to own the home. Reverse mortgages operate like traditional mortgages, only in reverse. Rather than paying your lender each month, the lender pays you.
Reverse mortgages differ from home equity loans in that most reverse mortgages do not require any repayment of principal, interest, or servicing fees as long as you live in the home. The loan is repaid when you die, sell your home, or when your home is no longer your primary residence. The proceeds of a reverse mortgage generally are tax-free, and many reverse mortgages have no income restrictions. When the homeowner dies or moves out, the loan is paid off by a sale of the property. Any leftover equity belongs to the homeowner or the heirs.
In other words, the primary benefit of a reverse mortgage is that it allows homeowners who are age 62 and over to keep living in their homes and to use their equity for whatever purpose they choose. A reverse mortgage might be used to cover the cost of home health care, to pay off an existing mortgage to stop a foreclosure, or to support children or grandchildren.
Who Qualifies for a Reverse Mortgage?
- Applicants must be 62 years of age.
- Potential borrowers must either completely own their home or only have a couple of mortgage payments remaining.
- Reverse mortgage borrowers must live in the home being used as collateral.
- Borrowers must have an excellent credit history in order to qualify for reverse mortgage loans.
- All homeowners are required to sign the paperwork in order to secure the reverse mortgage.
- Primarily, single family one-unit dwellings are required to qualify for a reverse mortgage.
- During the reverse mortgage process, the homeowners are responsible for property taxes and repairs to the property as they still own their home.
How Payments Are Received
Depending on the lender, borrowers can choose to receive monthly payments, a lump sum, a line of credit, or some combination.
Tip: The line of credit offers the most flexibility by allowing homeowners to write checks on their equity when needed up to the limit of the loan
The reverse mortgage payments you receive are nontaxable. Further, if you receive Social Security Supplemental Security Income, reverse mortgage payments do not affect your benefits, as long as you spend them within the month you receive them. This rule is also true for Medicaid benefits in most states.
Tip: To find out the exact impact of reverse mortgage payments on benefits you are receiving, check with a benefits specialist at your local area agency on aging or legal services office.
Interest on reverse mortgages is not deductible until you pay off your reverse mortgage debt.
Maximum Loan Amounts
Maximum loan amount limits are based on the value of the home, the borrower's age and life expectancy, the loan's interest rate, and whatever the lender's policies are. Maximum loan amounts range (depending on the lender) from 50% to 75% of the home's fair market value. The general rule is: The older the homeowner and the more valuable the home, the more money will be available.
Example: A 65-year-old homeowner with a home worth $150,000 would be able to get a $30,000 lump sum or credit line. A 90-year-old homeowner with the same home could be eligible for as much as $94,000.
All reverse mortgages have non-recourse clauses, meaning the debt cannot be more than the home's value. Thus, the lender seeks repayment from heirs, family members, or the borrower's income or other assets.
Here are some of the downside aspects of reverse mortgages.
You Incur a Large Amount of Interest Debt
Reverse mortgages are rising-debt loans: The interest is added to the loan balance each month, since it is not paid currently, and the total interest you owe increases greatly over time as the interest compounds.
Note: Some plans provide for fixed rate interest. Others have adjustable rates that change based on market conditions.
Fewer Assets for Heirs
Reverse mortgages use up the equity in your home, leaving fewer assets for your heirs.
The high up-front costs of reverse mortgage may make them less attractive to some people. All three types of plans charge origination fee, interest rate, closing costs, and servicing fees. Insured plans also charge insurance premiums.
Tip: If you are forced to move soon after taking the reverse mortgage (e.g., because of illness), you will almost certainly end up with a great deal less equity to live on than if you had simply sold the house. This is particularly true in the case of loans terminated in five years or less.
Tip: Your lender may permit you to finance these costs, so that you won't have to pay them up front. But they will be added to your loan amount. Because of the high up-front costs on all reverse mortgages, effective interest rates for short-term loans are out of this world.
Adjustable Interest Rates
With many reverse mortgage plans, interest rates are adjustable annually or monthly and tied to a financial index, in some cases with limits on how far the rate can go up or down. Reverse mortgages with interest rates that adjust monthly have no limit. Bear in mind that the higher the rate, the faster your equity is used up.
In order to give a fixed rate, one lender requires appreciation sharing, with which it gets a part of any increase in the home's value over and above the debt. Another lender offers percent of value pricing, collecting a fixed percentage of the home's value when the loan comes due. The latter option can be very expensive if the loan must be paid off after only a few years.
Is A Reverse Mortgage For You?
Although a reverse mortgage may be the answer for house-rich and cash-poor retirees, they are not for everyone. For instance, if you plan to move a few years down the road or there is a possibility you will have to move due to illness or any other unforeseen event, then a reverse mortgage makes no sense. They make the most sense for those who plan to stay in their homes permanently. Also, if you already have a substantial mortgage on your home, the reverse mortgage is probably not for you, since you will have to pay it off before you can become eligible.
If you want to pass your home to your children or heirs, the reverse mortgage is also not a good choice since the lender will get most of the equity when the home is sold.
Besides the reverse mortgage, here are some alternatives to consider.
Programs that help with real estate taxes, repairs. Many state and local governments have programs that provide special purpose loans to seniors for (1) the deferral of property taxes and (2) making home repairs or improvements. These loans can often prevent retirees' having to sell their homes. To find out whether your state has a special-purpose loan program for property taxes and/or for home repairs and improvements, contact your state agency on aging.
The Qualified Personal Residence Trust (QPRT). If you want to pass your home to your children or other heirs, this option should be considered, especially if your home is worth a great deal and you want to remove it from your estate for estate tax purposes. The QPRT trust allows you to keep the home for a certain amount of time with ownership eventually passing to your heirs.
The sale-leaseback. You sell your home to your kids, and continue to live in it, paying them a fair market rent.
Note: Do not arrange a sale-leaseback without professional guidance.
Getting a Good Deal
Reverse mortgages are complex financial transactions. How do you know you are getting the best deal? Fortunately there are laws in place (such as the Federal Truth in Lending Act) to make sure you understand the terms and costs involved before you sign. The Federal Truth in Lending Act requires lenders to disclose such things as the Annual Percentage Rate (APR) and payment terms. On plans with adjustable rates, lenders must provide specific information about the variable rate feature. On plans with credit lines, lenders also must inform you of any charges to open and use the account, such as an appraisal, a credit report, or attorney's fees.
If you're considering a reverse mortgage, shop around. Compare your options and the terms various lenders offer. Learn as much as you can about reverse mortgages before you talk to a counselor or lender. That can help inform the questions you ask that could lead to a better deal.
If you want to make a home repair or improvement or you need help paying your property taxes, then you should find out if you qualify for any low-cost single-purpose loans in your area. Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) generally know about these programs. To find the nearest agency, visit www.eldercare.gov or call 1-800-677-1116. Ask about "loan or grant programs for home repairs or improvements," or "property tax deferral" or "property tax postponement" programs, and how to apply.
All HECM lenders must follow HUD rules. And while the mortgage insurance premium is the same from lender to lender, most loan costs, including the origination fee, interest rate, closing costs, and servicing fees vary among lenders.
If you live in a higher-valued home, you may be able to borrow more with a proprietary reverse mortgage, but the more you borrow, the higher your costs are. The best way to see key differences between a HECM and a proprietary loan is to do a side-by-side comparison of costs and benefits. Many HECM counselors and lenders can give you this important information.
No matter what type of reverse mortgage you're considering, understand all the conditions that could make the loan due and payable. Ask a counselor or lender to explain the Total Annual Loan Cost (TALC) rates: they show the projected annual average cost of a reverse mortgage, including all the itemized costs.
A Summary of Available Plans
This section describes the three types of reverse mortgages available. Although the FHA and lender-insured plans appear similar, important differences exist. This section also discusses advantages and drawbacks of each loan type.
FHA-Insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs)
Backed by the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), over 90 percent of all reverse mortgages are HECMs. These mortgages offer several payment options:
- Monthly loan advances for a fixed term, or for as long as you live in the home
- A line of credit
- Monthly loan advances plus a line of credit
This type of reverse mortgage is not due as long as you live in your home. With the line of credit option, you may draw amounts as you need them over time. Closing costs, a mortgage insurance premium, and, sometimes, a monthly servicing fee are required. Interest is at an adjustable rate on your loan balance. Interest rate changes do not affect the monthly payment, but rather how quickly your loan balance grows.
The FHA-insured reverse mortgage allows you to change the way you are paid at little cost. This plan also protects you by guaranteeing that loan advances will continue to be made to you if a lender defaults. However, the downside of FHA-insured reverse mortgages is that they may provide smaller loan advances than lender-insured plans. Also, loan costs may be greater than with uninsured plans.
The most widely available plan is the Federal Housing Administration's Government-insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program. To qualify for an HECM loan, homeowners must be at least 62 and live in a single-family home or condominium that is their principal residence. Under this program, the amount of equity homeowners may borrow against depends on where they live, as well as on prevailing interest rates.
For people who have more expensive homes or who need to borrow more, there are alternatives. A program from the Federal National Mortgage Association grants larger reverse mortgages on home equity.
Counseling is required before homeowners can apply for an HECM loan. This counseling allows homeowners to discover whether a reverse mortgage is really the best answer to their cash-flow problems.
Tip: For an approved counselor, contact any HECM lender.
Single-purpose reverse mortgages
Offered by some state and local government agencies and nonprofit organizations, these reverse mortgages are the least expensive option. They are not available everywhere and can be used for only one purpose, which is specified by the government or nonprofit lender. For example, the lender might say the loan may be used only to pay for home repairs, improvements, or property taxes. Most homeowners with low or moderate income can qualify for these loans.
Proprietary reverse mortgages
This type of reverse mortgage is a private loan that is backed by the company that develops it. Like HECM loans, they may be more expensive than traditional home loans and upfront costs can be high. There are no income requirements and can be used for any purpose.
Tip: Most private reverse mortgages are not insured. Only the strength of the lender backs whatever promises it may make as to payments and other terms. So if you are looking to a reverse mortgage for future income, rather than a lump sum up front, you are better off in a federally insured program.
Government and Non-Profit Agencies
To obtain a current list of lenders participating in the FHA-insured program, sponsored by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), or additional information on reverse mortgages and other home equity conversion plans, contact:
Reverse Mortgage Education Project
American Association of Retired Persons
601 E St., NW
Washington, DC 20049
National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association
1400 16th St., NW
Washington, DC 20036
If you have a question or complaint concerning reverse mortgages, call:
Federal Trade Commission
Note: Although the FTC generally does not intervene in individual disputes, the information you provide may indicate a pattern or practice that requires action by the Commission. | <urn:uuid:bb413bbf-50d2-48e7-8367-1253ec5f2266> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.frlcpa.com/le-reversemortgages.php | 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 | 0.950711 | 3,184 | 1.726563 | 2 |
U.S. Secretary of State delivers remarks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Pakistani General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, and Pakistani Foreign Secretary Jalil Jilani before their meeting in Tervuren, Belgium on April 24, 2013. A text transcript can be found at http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2013/04/207920.htm
A photo board with photos of Anne Smedinghoff, a Foreign Service Officer killed in Afghanistan, stands in the Diplomatic Lobby of the U.S. Department of State on the day of her wake, April 16, 2013. [State Department Photo/Public Domain]
|—||U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, April 7, 2013|
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry reflects on the life of Anne Smedinghoff, a Foreign Service Officer who lost her life in Afghanistan on April 6, and says she was as “everything our country stands for,” during his remarks to U.S. Consulate General staff and families in Istanbul, Turkey, April 7, 2013. Go to www.state.gov for details about the Secretary’s travel. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]
On April 6, 2013, Secretary of State John Kerry issued a statement about the attack in Zabul Province, Afghanistan. The Secretary said:
“Our State Department family is grieving over the loss of one of our own, an exceptional young Foreign Service Officer, killed today in an IED attack in Zabul province, along with service members, a Department of Defense civilian, and Afghan civilians. Four other State Department colleagues suffered injuries, one critically.
“Our American officials and their Afghan colleagues were on their way to donate books to students in a school in Qalat, the province’s capital, when they were struck by this despicable attack.
“Just last week in Kabul, I met our fallen officer when she was selected to support me during my visit to Afghanistan. She was everything a Foreign Service Officer should be: smart, capable, eager to serve, and deeply committed to our country and the difference she was making for the Afghan people. She tragically gave her young life working to give young Afghans the opportunity to have a better future.
“We also honor the U.S. troops and Department of Defense civilian who lost their lives, and the Afghan civilians who were killed today as they worked to improve the nation they love.
“I spoke this morning with our fallen Foreign Service Officer’s mother and father and offered what little comfort I can for their immeasurable loss. As a father of two daughters, I can’t imagine what her family is feeling today, or her friends and colleagues.
“I also have been in close touch with Secretary Hagel, the White House, and our senior management team at the State Department, including Deputy Secretary Burns, Undersecretary Kennedy, and Ambassador Cunningham in Kabul. We will all keep in close contact as we learn more facts about this attack and the brave people who were killed and wounded. We are also in contact with the families of those injured.
“We know too well the risks in the world today for all of our State Department personnel at home and around the world — Foreign Service, Civil Service, political appointees, locally employed staff and so many others. I wish everyone in our country could see first-hand the devotion, loyalty and amazingly hard and hazardous work our diplomats do on the front lines in the world’s most dangerous places. Every day, we honor their courage and are grateful for their sacrifices, and today we do so with great sadness.”
On March 25-26, 2013, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry traveled Kabul, Afghanistan, where he met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and other officials to discuss a number of issues of mutual interest.
“Today, Afghanistan is managing three very significant transitions: a security transition, a political transition, and an economic transition,” Secretary Kerry remarked in a joint press availability with President Karzai. “And America will continue to support the Afghan people through all three of these transitions just as we agreed to do in the strategic partnership agreement and in the bilateral security agreement that we are currently negotiating. We also support the Afghan-led peace process, the reconciliation—recognizing that the reconciliation is the best… more »
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry delivers remarks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul, Afghanistan on March 25, 2013. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]
About the Author: Tara Sonenshine serves as Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs.
This past month I had the opportunity to meet two incredible groups of young artists from Afghanistan — and to see firsthand evidence of how our public diplomacy efforts for young people in that country are bearing fruit. It was also a chance to underscore our commitment to support the strengthening and preservation of national cultures around the world.
The first artists were students of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM), who began a State Department-funded tour in the United States with a concert of traditional Afghan music. I had the pleasure of introducing them, and we were joined by Secretary of State John F. Kerry, who shared his own love for music with the audience. Over the course of their… more »
About the Author: April Wells serves as a Staff Assistant in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs.
At a small compound not far from the airport in Dushanbe, an Afghan, a Tunisian, and a Tajik official sit side-by-side listening to a lecture on weapons smuggling interdiction. As the American instructor’s words are simultaneously translated into Dari, English, and Tajik, the students furiously scribble notes. They will have to present research projects on this material in the near future. They do not want to be caught unprepared.
The students are but three of 41 border management and/or security officials from Central Asia and beyond who have come to the OSCE Border Management Staff Collegein Tajikistan to learn how to fight terrorism, human trafficking, illicit drug trade, and many other threats that governments face as they manage long, porous borders. More Afghans have… more » | <urn:uuid:6945a96d-9e8a-4d77-9a27-5b0b33aa2907> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://statedept.tumblr.com/tagged/Afghanistan | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964722 | 1,301 | 1.695313 | 2 |
50 Priority Wards
During 2011, GCRO embarked on a statistical and spatial analysis process to provide strategic decision support to the Gauteng Planning Commission. The aim of the project was to select 50 wards based on the 2011 local election ward boundaries using indicators developed to identify priority wards, on a basis that does not only relate to poverty in its basic sense. These wards are referred to as ‘Priority Wards’ (PW). More information about the 50 priority wards project is available on the 50 priority wards project page.
The 50 priority wards theme contains the results of the project in the form of an interactive table and dynamic maps, as a unique theme in the GCRO GIS viewer. Users can interact with the 50 priority wards, or select, map, print and export individual indicators. | <urn:uuid:ab3325c4-ea93-4168-96ff-d68022efd5ab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gcro.ac.za/maps-gis/interactive-maps/50pw | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906971 | 165 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Ready Camera One is a group contract designed primarily for students interested in exploring visual literacy, television production, performance and media criticism. Students will be introduced to both media deconstruction and media production skills through a series of lectures, workshops, and design problems that focus primarily on collaborative multi-camera studio production. In both theoretical discussions and production workshops we will consider the parameters and influences of television, video art, video activism, music videos, video blogs, microcinema and interactive media. While admission to this program requires an audition and submission of a written application, no prior media production experience is required.
In fall quarter we will take an historical approach, examining and emulating the production style and lessons from the early history of 20th century live television. Students will be expected to perform in front of as well as behind the camera and will explore the logistics and aesthetics of multi-camera direction and design. In winter we will deepen our study of television production, turning our attention to the development of original material and sharpening our skills in preparation for the spring quarter series.
This group contract will investigate the politics of representation, i.e., who gets the camera, who appears on the screen, and who has the power. Therefore, students who choose to enroll in Ready Camera One should be vitally and sincerely interested in the issues and ideas concerning the representation of gender, race, ethnicity, class and sexual orientation in the media. Activities in the group contract also will include training in the multi-camera TV studio facility, instruction in basic digital field production and non-linear editing, and a survey of visual design principles. Additional workshops will include script writing, visual design (costume, make-up and set), lighting and basic acting for television.
A spring quarter option involving the production of a weekly series for public access cable and/or web streaming will be available.
Early Television Recording: 1933 | <urn:uuid:f8b802c1-7333-4ac2-9c2e-88aa7814d4a7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.evergreen.edu/readycamera1/about/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920805 | 382 | 1.765625 | 2 |
[More from Mashable: Facebook Adds Organ Donor Option to Timeline]
Big Idea: Every November, men around the world grow a mustache -- a "Mo" -- to raise funds and awareness for men's health issues, such as prostate cancer. The global campaign is driven largely by social media, online awareness platforms and a mobile app.
Why It's Working: Individuals grow mustaches and mobilize friends and family to donate online -- through a "Mo Space." Movember dominates social media chatter during November, and mentions of "prostate cancer" and "getting checked" increase, suggesting that Movember does in fact mobilize men to see a doctor. Aside from encouraging men to be proactive about their health, the 2011 Movember campaign raised more than $14.5 million for men's health research.
[More from Mashable: 20 TV Shows With the Most Social Media Buzz This Week [CHART]]
"We as men don't feel comfortable talking about our health," says Garone, explaining why he and a few friends launched Movember in 2004. For the 30 days in November, men are asked to grow a "Mo" -- the oft-awkward facial hair "generates so much conversation" that it raises awareness and millions of dollars for men's health. At launch in 2004, social networks were minimal, but the rise of the social web has led to a snowball effect online.
"Over the last two years, we've seen an acceptance of social media," which helps to accelerate the amplification of the Movember messaging. says Garone. During Movember 2011, the U.S. Twitter handle @Movember saw 13,404 mentions, and "Movember" was part of 937,817 social media conversations. On one's Mo Space, a "Mo Bro" is encouraged to post updates about mustache growth, which is shared to his social networks on Facebook and Twitter, contributing to these conversations and helping to build a passionate community.
Thanks to social and digital savvy, Movember has grown into a global movement that spawned more than a million mustaches last November, helping to net more than $14.5 million. Check out the video above to see Adam Garone, founder and chief executive of Movember, talk mustaches and social media.
Series presented by GE
This story originally published on Mashable here. | <urn:uuid:c2d88859-26bb-4e82-a1c7-4db2f26aacd4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.yahoo.com/movember-mustaches-social-media-raise-awareness-mens-health-100011383.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951173 | 478 | 1.789063 | 2 |
FLOORING 101Everything you need to know about flooring is right here.
janka hardness test What is the Janka Hardness Test?
Janka hardness test measure the hardness or density of wood. Testing is done on samples, not on actual flooring. It measures the force required to embed a 0.44" steel ball into the wood until half of the steel ball is into the wood. It was developed as a variation of Brinell test (measurement method of hardness of metals). Factors affect how flooring performs with type of core (for engineered flooring), grain direction and thickness of surface.
Results of measurements are stated in various ways for different countries. In United States, the measurement is in pounds-force (lbf). Other countries may state the test result in different units: kilogram-force (kgf), newtons (N), kilonewtons (kN), or simply treated as units (ex. "660 Janka").
For more information on Janka test, please follow this outside link to USDA's Forest Service, Research and Development: Forest Product Laboratory.
The common use of the Janka hardness test determines whether a species is suitable for use as flooring. This measurement technique determines the ability of type of wood for wear and withstand denting. | <urn:uuid:147ef740-f217-4371-955e-23c46d9761f3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.urbanfloor.com/Janka-Hardness-Test.html?xid_a70d7=2e3900391ff2cb3fd5fea015d9d03413 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91104 | 267 | 3.53125 | 4 |
Gode Cookery Presents
True stories, fables and anecdotes from the Middle Ages
Establishments for ale-brewing and selling were common in Anglo-Saxon times, if not also in Roman, and the proprietors - variously called brewsters (from a word of feminine gender in Old English), ale-wives or polewives (clearly women), bribsters, hucksters, or regrators of ale - established their businesses in rural or urban settings, wherever the prospects looked good. More humble alehouses opened for business intermittently to dispose of surplus household product for profit or when the materials for brewing were available, while wealthier alehouses would have been permanent drinking establishments. The quantity of ale brewed as well as its quality undoubtedly varied enormously among alehouses. The basic procedure was to use barley (though wheat, oats, and millet were also tried) which was stepped in water until germination took place. The germinated seeds were then dried, ground, and infused in water to await fermentation. Various spices, like long-peppers, might be added for taste and as preservatives. The resulting ale was apparently rather like a thick soup, even chewy if the grinding stage had been lazily done, and the taste can hardly have been deeply satisfying. Ale could not be effectively preserved, and had to be consumed within a few days of brewing. Wine, too, was difficult to keep for any length of time until it began to be bottled in the sixteenth century. Dreams of substantial brewings of ale at considerable intervals to supply a wide geographical area were beyond the possible.
Ale was so commonplace in society that the king attempted to impose some standards on the trade through the Assize of Ale in 1266. Communal drinking was a common feature of social life, and perhaps should even be considered an essential part of some of the rituals that held society together. The institutions of the church-ale, brewed to help meet parish expenses, and the bride-ale, used to benefit a newly married couple, are two examples. Another common sort of charity ale was the was the bid-ale or help-ale, where ale would be brewed and friendly folk would gather round to drink, contributing the money collected from selling the ale to a worthy cause. It was a communal drinking session to raise funds, often to help friends and neighbours through a crisis time, without compromising the dignity of the recipient. It was also an opportunity to socialize, and contributed to the social solidarity of the participants. Bid-ales seem for the most part to have been informal, held at times of the year when pleasant weather could be expected. The beneficiary, a respected and usually popular person, would actively participate in putting on the event, and people were expected to be generous. Charity ales existed in many parts of England as a convivial way to raise money for a cause. For instance, the qual called the Cobb, vital to the prosperity of Lyme Regis, was maintained by annual infusions of cash through the Cobb Ale.
Ale was the most common alcoholic beverage available to the lesser economic orders of society, but in some regions cider, mead, and piment were to be found. Various kinds of wine when augmented with honey and spices were known as piment, apparently from the word for apothecaries, pigmentarii, as it was they who had originally prepared the concoctions. Hippocras, spiced with cloves, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and other spices as well as with honey, was a favourite piment, served as a rule at the conclusion of banquets with wafers and dessert.
Pleasures and Pastimes in Medieval England. Compton Reeves. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
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Home > Through People > Soldiers
Despite his distinguished military service, neither Thomas Chester nor his black soldiers were honored alongside the Union Army in Washington, DC. Fortunately, he was from Pennsylvania, and his achievements did not go unnoticed.
Read the Story
Clearly, this would be no ordinary war. Determined to help the Union cause, Nicholas Biddle traveled with his local militia on their way to Washington, DC. But first they had to get through Baltimore -- and an angry mob armed with bricks.
John Burns fought with distinction in the battle of Gettysburg, survived multiple bullet wounds, and was honored by President Lincoln for his heroism. He was 69 years old.
Levi Duff's hatred for slavery has been preserved for the ages – thanks to his passionate love for his wife. Find out what we’ve learned from the love letters he sent from the battlefield.
As a wounded war veteran, James Addams Beaver distinguished himself just as he had on the battlefield: with passion, dedication, and more than a little pride.
In his 53 years, John White Geary accomplished more than most men even have time to think about. Learn about the distinguished political and military career of a true overachiever.
As commander of Pennsylvania’s Bucktail Regiment, Hugh McNeil led one of the war’s most well-known and respected companies. Learn about his inspiring career, and its legendary end.
Journalist. Writer. Abolitionist. Academic. Oh yes, and the highest ranking African American officer during the Civil War—Martin Delany broke down racial barriers.
Not even a bullet to the ankle or her thieving husband and his soldier friends would keep this determined woman off the battlefield. Learn how Marie Tepe earned the nickname “French Mary.”
One of the bravest soldiers of the U.S. Colored Troops, Alexander Kelly earned the military's highest decoration for not letting the Union flag fall.
Want to learn more about The Civil War? Find an event near you.
Get personal with the Civil War. Hear the Gettysburg Address, see Civil War artifacts and navigate the timeline and map.
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|PAROCHET DONATED BY ISRAELI CONSULATE TO SHANGHAI REFUGEE MUSEUM|
The Consul General of Israel in Shanghai, Jackie Eldan, gifted a curtain to adorn the front of the Torah Ark of the former Ohel Moshe Synagogue. The parochet was mounted and installed in an official ceremony on 18 March 2009.
The gift is a true representation of the Jewish Diaspora experience; designed in Israel, crafted in the United States, adorned with gems from India and installed in China.
The Ohel Moshe Synagogue was once the spiritual home to the community of Jewish refugees during the Holocaust.
During the 1930s and 1940s, China, specifically Shanghai's Hongkou district, provided a safe haven for over ten thousand Jews and allowed them to escape Nazi persecution.
The Ohel Moshe Synagogue, originally built in 1927, following the mass exodus of the Jews from Shanghai after World War II, the Synagogue soon ceased to be used for as a place of worship. It now houses the Shanghai Jewish Refugee Museum which sees nearly seventy visitors a day, most of whom are local Chinese. The museum has also become a must see on the sightseeing list of almost every Jewish tourist.Please login or register to see the full article | <urn:uuid:49b003fb-e64f-4de9-975f-4de5f40695b6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jewishtimesasia.org/main-news-topmenu-48/290-2009-04/1295-parochet-donated-by-israeli-consulate-to-shanghai-refugee-museum | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942695 | 268 | 2.25 | 2 |
Whistler's mother and the West Coast
A bohemian Hebridean connection is revealed.
the centenary of the death of James Abbott McNeill Whistler, one of the
most influential painters of the Victorian era, and this year Glasgow
is host to the world's largest retrospectives of his work. Whistler was,
in his own words, a "painter, gentleman and critic", and he was one of
the leading lights of the late 19th century bohemian life, with a reputation
for witty sayings to rival Oscar Wilde. But what links a Massachusetts-born
Victorian dandy with Scotland?
The answer lies in Whistler's painting "Arrangement in Grey and Black
No.1: Portrait of the Artist's Mother". This unconventional portrait of
a grey-garbed matron, commonly knows as "Whistler's Mother", patiently
sitting for her artistic son became an American icon and an emblem of
motherhood. The subject of the painting, Anna Matilda McNeill Whistler,
was born in North Carolina in 1804 to a middle class family of Scots descent.
Anna led a remarkable life for a 19th century housewife; moving from the
United States, via Tsarist Russia and sudden widowhood at a young age,
to London with her son 'Jemsie', where she recorded in her diaries visits
to the Whistler household from such literary and artistic luminaries as
Algernon Swinburne and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. A traditional woman with
a strong sense of morality, Anna Whistler upheld the conventional family
values of the time, turning a blind eye to her artistic son's bohemian
amorous involvements in favour of encouraging his genius.
Thanks to correspondence from the Centre for Whistler Studies at Glasgow
University, it appears that Anna was descended from the McNeills of Barra,
as Whistler himself stated in a letter replying to a query about his Scottish
heritage: "Our MacNeills are those of Bar[r]a-the Highland McNeills….-though
I fear I have rather neglected my cousinships, having lived so much away
from my own people."
A group of Glasgow artists who called Whistler 'The Master' reinforced
the links between the artist and Scotland. Artists such as James Guthrie
and John Lavery, known as 'The Glasgow boys', lobbied the Corporation
of Glasgow to buy Whistler's portrait of Thomas Carlyle, a similar composition
to "Whistler's Mother". So in 1891 the corporation became the first public
body to purchase Whistler's work. Although Whistler visited Scotland only
once, at the age of 15, he forged strong Glaswegian connections with the
art dealer Alexander Reid and the collector William.
He was awarded an honorary degree by Glasgow University in 1905, and Whistler's
sister-in-law, Rosalind Phillip, bequeathed the artist's book, papers,
photos and letters to the Hunterian museum. As a result, Glasgow is now
a world centre of Whistleriana. The portrait of Whistler's mother was
lent to the Hunterian Museum by the Musée D'Orsay in Paris where it is
usually on permanent display. So it seems a portrait of a Barra descendant,
which displayed the first hints of abstraction in modern art, has enjoyed
a kind of emigrant homecoming, as Anna McNeill Whistler sits stoically
in the land of her ancestors, captured in her son's muted representation.
Next in the Histories series here.
Edinburgh University Press - all rights reserved | <urn:uuid:6da8f8de-fd1a-487a-afb9-1636d26a1278> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/history/scottishroots/histories/whistler.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93993 | 786 | 2.421875 | 2 |
The trio of artists over at Caldera Gallery consistently opens my mind—by way of my prejudices—to the possibilities in art.
Both with the Hide and Seek show in December and now with PS I Love You, I initially thought, “Great, more San Francisco (oh, I’m sorry, you call it ‘the City’) hipster dilettantism, more liberal arts majors who spent their 20s traveling on their parents’ dimes, now sitting around watching Uncle Buck and The Goonies, asking us to view their homemade crafts as art worth buying.”
Yes, this rant seems to contradict my previous columns about expanding the notion of art, but I’ve experienced too many exalted sorority theme parties and whimsical creative endeavors too focused on being art to be genuine.
Fortunately, Cris Brodsky, Sandra Wang and Crockett Bodelson are not dilettantes, and Caldera’s mission as well as its practice is totally genuine. I discovered these things by actually hanging out over there, which on most occasions has been an hour or two-hour venture. I also discovered the word “gallery” to be a misnomer in the context of Caldera.
By today’s standards, a gallery sells art; the works have names attached to them; and visitors grab a free glass of wine before looking around, if they don’t run into someone with whom they want to talk first.
Yet Caldera’s Hide and Seek gave away artworks. “Art can’t be bought,” Bodelson tells me on a recent visit to the space. “You have to go out and find it.” He also expresses his displeasure that alcohol factors predominantly in social gatherings.
For PS I Love You, 18 local artists painted envelopes that people can have hand-delivered to friends in Santa Fe for $20. They created more than 600 original pieces of art to be distributed in a sort of performance piece by artists in pink jumpsuits. Most works do not display the artist’s name—the artists and Caldera share the proceeds by percentage—and local businesses paid for a number of envelopes so that even folks without the 20 bucks can participate.
“The inspiration was trying to utilize artists, not only to decorate these envelopes, but also to create this telegraph service,” Bodelson says. “It’s also this thing for art buyers; they have to ask, ‘Do I buy this for myself, or do I buy it for someone else?’”
Mail art has precedence, Bodelson says, referencing one project involving hundreds of carrier pigeons bearing messages to random people. And Wang mentions an initiative to hand-write letters to everyone in the world.
Trying to open the gallery to new artists though this show, Caldera found itself in a bit of a quandary with friends whose works it had never seen before, but those contributions also forced the three collaborators to open their minds.
“I think, ‘How can you be satisfied with this?’” Bodleson says. “It’s weird, but that’s what makes art interesting.”
Though the show covers the period from Valentine’s Day to St. Patrick’s Day, Wang says the intent isn’t for this to be a holiday show, nor for the envelopes, now papering the gallery walls, to be covered in hearts.
“We want to treat it as an art show,” Wang says. “We’re not trying to make stationery.”
Bodelson then remembers those horrible pink Valentine’s Day cards, distributed in grade school and immortalized by Ralph in The Simpsons: “You choo-choo-choose me.” Some people received them and others didn’t, and that interaction created mixed emotions in the classroom, possibly explaining the widespread disdain for the holiday today.
Watching Bodelson and Wang talk and laugh—occasionally throwing out new ideas like a letter box for envelopes to be randomly delivered—I begin to see that this is how ideas start at Caldera. I leave feeling excited and a little jealous. Caldera turns hip, little ideas into active, community-engaging arts initiatives.
6-9 pm Thursday
Through March 18
926 Baca St., 926-1242
Follow The Curator on Twitter: @mji76 | <urn:uuid:41c488f8-cc6d-472b-a1aa-5dd7642b490d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sfreporter.com/santafe/article-6564-envelopes-and-pink-suits.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950198 | 947 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Unspeakable (Short Story to Untraceable) by SR Johannes
Price: Free! 5010 words.
Language: English. Published on May 22, 2012. Fiction » Children’s books » Short Stories.
This short story is a companion to Untraceable and is 5,000 words.
When Mo sees a strange girl in the woods, he follows her. He soon realizes they are both in a dangerous position and may not get out alive. | <urn:uuid:7c7292f1-48e4-4c40-b9ee-4d0a99d1ce20> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.smashwords.com/books/category/4482/downloads/0/5.99/any | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924774 | 96 | 1.6875 | 2 |
What is the price of one woman’s self-knowledge? By the end of this novel, even the foolish notions of Charlotte Tradescome are forgiven as she is forced to accommodate lowered expectations and the sense of place that defines her. Marriage to scholarly Henry Tradescome, twenty years her senior, has tried Charlotte’s patience: “Loving him was like nursing a wounded animal.”
Of a staunch New England temperament, Henry’s bout with childhood polio has caused an excess of reserve, a caution against hope. His wife is an antidote to such a sour approach to the world, if a somewhat trying one, Charlotte’s belief in changing Henry intransigent. When Henry and Charlotte move from Manhattan to Cape Cod and the site of Henry’s childhood, Oyster Creek, Charlotte begins to comprehend the compromises and demands of marriage, her yearning for romance and how actions beget unexpected consequences.
To finance their simple lifestyle, Charlotte sells off part of Henry’s inherited property, starting a chain of events that will challenge her place in Oyster Creek and introduce the gentrification that has begun to change the New England coastal land. Three-year-old Fiona clings to her mother, Henry caught up in his writing, content to let Charlotte define the nature of their new home: “The pity was his blinded heart, tap-tapping its grim path through the gorgeous world.” Charlotte is soon in love with local color and personalities, including the oystermen who work their beds when the tide pulls out.
Schmidt captures the change of pace from city to shore, the daily rewards of hard work, Fiona’s joy in the fascinating world of nature’s bounty, and Charlotte’s gradual realization that her assumptions about marriage have been childish. From early days and Charlotte’s affection for her intellectual and emotionally-stunted husband to a blooming and dangerous romance with Darryl Stead, a man shedding his past mistakes and managing his limitations, Charlotte matures from a naïve woman to one who appreciates her place in this environment.
The characters are pure New England: hardy, stubborn, complicated family histories from generation to generation, the exception the brash new owner of the property next to Henry’s, who builds his house like a castle and brooks no interference with his rights. Tough as it is to make a place among those who have always lived in the tidal basin, Charlotte learns the price of belonging and the stigma of being an outsider, let alone the cause of litigation.
It is Charlotte who has instigated the legal challenges of the sale of adjoining land, unleashing inevitable clashes between old and new, the livelihood of the oystermen threatened by their rude new neighbor. Atmospheric and dramatic, even the impetuous Charlotte is subdued by her environment, her demands made right-sized by the lessons she is forced to learn. Even Charlotte can be forgiven her carelessness in the end, chastened by experience, appreciating precious moments and the life she has chosen. | <urn:uuid:abb8a987-9093-47a4-ba4f-f6d16305b3d4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.curledup.com/oystrcrk.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959978 | 628 | 1.75 | 2 |
Knutson is keynote speaker for '99 Dakota Conference Dr. Wayne S. Knutson, professor emeritus at The University of South Dakota, is a keynote speaker at the 31st annual Dakota Conference on History, Literature, Art and Archeology this week on the Augustana College campus in Sioux Falls.
Knutson's address, "Oh, Up from Every Valley: The Legacy of the One-Room School Experience," will speak to the conference's main theme, "Education on the Northern Plains."
Freya Manfred, daughter of the late USD writer-in-residence Fred Manfred, will present a luncheon address on the subject of her father entitled, "How a Writer Lives and Dies."
Norma Clark Wilson from USD's English department will join her co-author, Charles Woodard, in signing copies of their new book, One-Room Country School: South Dakota Stories, at the event's autograph party.
Heather Collins, Thomas Gasque and Rita Easterby Olson, all of USD, Kent Scribner of the USD Foundation will be among several dozen persons presenting papers at the three-day event.
In addition, Mary Edelen of Vermillion, director of the state historical society, will moderate a panel on "The South Dakota State Historical Society at 98 in '99," and Herbert Hoover of the USD history department will chair a conference session on "20th Century Benedictinism in South Dakota." | <urn:uuid:78549ed7-4617-4c15-ad0a-a14eb70b12d6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://plaintalk.net/1999/05/knutson-is-keynote-speaker-for-99-dakota-conference/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919467 | 296 | 1.96875 | 2 |
Records for U.S. forces in Iraq as of 2010 amounted to 20 to 50 terabytes of data -- as much as five times all the books cataloged by the Library of Congress -- with the information stored in an unmanaged, unstructured format with no metadata, according to an internal Pentagon report that the Defense Department Freedom of Information Act Office released Dec. 4.
Veterans organizations told lawmakers at a Dec. 5 hearing of the House Veterans Affairs Committee that the lack of war records frustrates veterans when they file disability claims with the Veterans Affairs Department. Richard Dumancas, deputy director for claims for the America Legion, told lawmakers it’s been difficult to locate records for many of the 653,000 National Guard and reserve members who served in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The June 2010 report, prepared by the Joint Staff secretariat information management division for the Defense Chief Information Officer Office, revealed that “large gaps in records collections exist, resulting in the failure to capture a significant and historical archive.”
A Joint Staff records assessment team visited U.S. Forces-Iraq -- the command authority on the ground there -- in April 2010 and found that military officials had no plan to manage records as U.S. troops withdrew from the country and the volume, location, size and format of records “was unknown.”
The team discovered that records in Iraq were stored “on shared drives, desktop platforms and even paper format with little or no resources or guidance for their proper maintenance,” and did not comply with Defense instructions for electronic records management.
The report also revealed that Multi-National Force-Iraq, which managed the Iraq war prior to U.S. Forces-Iraq, experienced a “catastrophic failure” with its document sharing Microsoft SharePoint portal in August 2008 “with a consequent loss of record material.”
The report did not quantify how many records were lost due to that failure.
ProPublica, a public interest investigative journalism organization, and the Seattle Times reported Nov. 9 that dozens of Army units deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan either had no field records or lacked sufficient reports for a unit history, key information needed to support a disability claim. Conrad C. Crane, director of the Army’s Military Institute, told ProPublica “I fear we're never really going to know clearly what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan because we don't have the records.”
Rep. Jon Runyan, R-N.J., chairman of the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs, said at the Dec. 5 hearing that “Defense must determine the best way to maintain digital records in various environments, from DoD hospitals to combat zones.
“Often, a single record or notation can be the difference in whether a veteran’s disability claim is granted or denied. This is why we must work together to ensure that no records are lost, overlooked or otherwise unable to be associated with an individual disability claim,” he added. | <urn:uuid:0988d3d7-b248-499b-8d05-e641158e4d4b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nextgov.com/defense/2012/12/defense-failed-adequately-manage-terabytes-iraq-war-data/60302/?oref=ng-relatedstories | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943705 | 617 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Rioters fought with firefighters and police in the Canadian city of London, Ontario, as St Patrick’s Day parties spiralled out of control overnight.
Dozens of police were drafted in to deal with the unrest, which was sparked when several student parties spilled on to the streets.
Rioters hurled bottles at police and set a TV truck alight, feeding the flames with a propane tank and TV sets.
Police said 11 people were arrested and appealed for rioters to come forward.
Police were called out late on Saturday, but did not move in until 04:00 on Sunday (08:00 GMT).
“Never in my 32 years as a police officer have I observed behaviours that escalated to the point where there was risk that individuals could seriously be hurt or quite frankly killed,” said London’s police chief, Brad Duncan.
“We will not tolerate this lack of respect for our community, our laws and specifically this neighbourhood.”
The authorities estimated that the damage would cost $100,000 (£65,000) to repair. | <urn:uuid:c0b410dc-1cf3-4014-8796-06b9dd7d3c94> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://every1letstalk.com/2012/03/19/canada-suffers-st-patricks-day-riot-in-london-ontario/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980326 | 228 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Imagining Mary Dean: Representing another's life in text
Brien, Donna L. (2004) Imagining Mary Dean: Representing another's life in text. M/C: a journal of media and culture, 7.
Leon Edel expressed the central puzzle of writing biography as "every life takes its own form and a biographer must find the ideal and unique literary form that will express it" (qtd. in Novarr 165). My primary challenge in writing Poisoned: The Trials of Mary Dean – a biography in the form of a (fictionalised) first-person memoir purportedly written by the subject herself – was the location of a textual voice for Mary that, if not her own, could have credibly belonged to a woman of her time, place and circumstance.
2The 'Dean case' caused a sensation across Australia in the mid-1890s when George Dean was arrested for the attempted murder of his 20-year-old wife, Mary. George was a handsome Sydney ferry master who had played the romantic lead in a series of spectacular rescues, flinging himself into the harbour to save women passengers who had fallen overboard. When on trial for repeatedly poisoning his wife, his actions and motivations were not probed; instead, Mary's character and behaviour and, by extrapolation, those of the entire female sex, were examined and analysed. This approach climaxed in defence counsel claims that Mary poisoned herself to frame her husband, but George was found guilty and sentenced to hang, the mandatory punishment for attempted murder at that time.
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|Item Type:||Journal Article|
|Keywords:||Biography, Creative writing, Autobiographical narratives, Nineteenth century, Australia|
|Subjects:||Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification > LANGUAGES COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE (200000) > COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA STUDIES (200100) > Communication and Media Studies not elsewhere classified (200199)|
Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification > STUDIES IN CREATIVE ARTS AND WRITING (190000) > PERFORMING ARTS AND CREATIVE WRITING (190400) > Creative Writing (incl. Playwriting) (190402)
|Divisions:||Current > QUT Faculties and Divisions > Creative Industries Faculty|
|Copyright Owner:||Copyright 2004 (please consult author)|
|Deposited On:||04 Nov 2005|
|Last Modified:||09 Jun 2010 22:21|
Repository Staff Only: item control page | <urn:uuid:22371fee-78ec-45c0-9d35-b8fccc1ac028> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://eprints.qut.edu.au/240/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918517 | 680 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
On December 17, Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett celebrated the five-year anniversary of his December 2007 Pedestrian Safety Initiative, which for the first time provided a blueprint for action to improve pedestrian safety based on measurable strategies. Since 2009, pedestrian collisions have decreased 12 percent and the most severe collisions, those where pedestrians are incapacitated or killed, has declined 21 percent.
“In 2007, we charted a course to dramatically improve pedestrian safety and accessibility in Montgomery County – a course that is proving to be successful,” said Leggett. “We are seeing significant reductions in pedestrian collisions in areas where we have taken a comprehensive and targeted approach. Every resident deserves a truly walkable community where pedestrians can safely cross the street. Our challenge in the future is to continually reassess what we are doing, keep what’s working well and find new and creative ways to significantly expand our pedestrian safety efforts.”
The Initiative outlined an approach to pedestrian and traffic safety that focused on three essential components: education, engineering and enforcement. The Initiative significantly enhanced the County’s investment in educating motorists and pedestrians, keeping enforcement efforts visible and intensive and aggressively applying the most innovative and pedestrian-friendly road engineering designs.
To fulfill Leggett’s vision for increased pedestrian mobility and safety, the Initiative established goals to:
• Reduce pedestrian-related crashes, injuries, fatalities, and their associated social and economic costs; and
• Ensure that all areas of the County provide safe and convenient travel options for pedestrians.
Some of the achievements of the Initiative include:
• Reducing pedestrian fatalities from a high of 19 fatalities in 2008 to 11 last year and six so far this year.
• Reducing pedestrian collisions 12 percent since 2009.
• Reducing the most severe collisions that incapacitate or kill pedestrians 21 percent since 2009.
• Reducing collisions 35 percent in areas where traffic calming measures have been installed.
• Reducing collisions by 45 percent In High Incidence Areas (HIAs), locations with the highest concentrations of collisions.
• Reducing collisions by 72 percent within a quarter mile of schools targeted for engineering, education and enforcement activities under the Safe Routes to Schools program.
Mr. Leggett was joined at the event by County Councilmember Valerie Ervin, County Councilmember Hans Riemer, Department of Transportation Director Arthur Holmes, Police Chief Thomas Manger, Fire & Rescue Assistant Chief Scott Graham, and PBTSAC Chair Erwin Mack.
Click here for the press release, including additional statistics on the results of the initiative.
For articles about the event, please click below: | <urn:uuid:e8494ec1-a235-49f5-aa26-8c7c74e8d037> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www6.montgomerycountymd.gov/apps/News/Blog/DOTblog.asp?blogID=25&blogItemID=2104 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940454 | 542 | 2.234375 | 2 |
Mumbai formerly known as Bombay, is the capital of the state of Maharashtra, and the most populous city of India. It is a city filled with excitement being home to India's Hindi film and television industry, known as Bollywood. Mumbai is the commercial and entertainment capital of India and has attracted migrants from all over India because of the immense business opportunities, and the relatively high standard of living, making the city a potpourri of various communities and cultures.
The city has a deep natural harbour and the port handles over half of India's passenger traffic and a significant amount of cargo. Mumbai is also one of the rare cities to accommodate a national park, the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, within its city limits.
Port Location - The port is located in downtown Mumbai.
Transport Links - The closest airport is in Bombay. Once you get off, you can take a train, bus or cab to get to Mumbai.
There are two train lines running through the city and buses, taxis and auto rickshaws are available. | <urn:uuid:ce87f8ca-4f9f-4d1c-b992-ba56f72a5b03> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cruiseabout.co.nz/destinations/mumbai | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962354 | 210 | 1.695313 | 2 |
What is your major and area of focus?
My major is civil engineering and my area of focus is environmental engineering. After this upcoming semester, I will complete a minor in architecture. This will play an important role in my future goals. I am pursuing a master’s degree which fully integrates environmental engineering processes and architecture. It is my hope that this integration between both disciplines can result in the creation of buildings that are not just efficient in their use of energy, water, and resources, but also achieve an architecture that tackles regional problems, like air quality and land pollution, and global problems, like climate change and, in some cases, ocean acidification. Thus, the idea is that buildings will not just be mere machines for living, but will promote the sustainability of our important natural environments. For example, the Bank of America Tower, one of my biggest inspirations, is the most eco-friendly tall building in New York City. While this building is exemplary, the reason I am attracted to it is because of its incorporation of air filters. Such air filters provide the best indoor air quality in the city and consequently are cleaning the city’s air from harmful carcinogens, fiberglass particles, and other residuals from the fall of the Twin Towers in 2001. The concept in which buildings improve the condition of the environment is called “regenerative architecture”, which I am approaching with an environmental engineering focus.
What brought you to our department?
The University of Texas at Austin has one of the most established and recognized environmental and civil engineering programs in the country. Thus, I was very attracted to the department and to the possibility of meeting and working with great faculty. Thanks to the help of my current academic adviser, Molly Gully, I was able to make the best decision of my life, coming to UT-Austin.
What is your background?
I was born in Venezuela. Since I was a little boy I was taught about major environmental problems in our community, ranging from garbage pollution to increased industrial pollution. I became aware of these problems thanks to my family’s consciousness. When I was about nine years old, my family had the opportunity to move to Mexico, where I saw another culture, environment, and type of human experience. In Mexico, I gained an awareness of the living conditions of the less fortunate people in our society and the need to create better environmental conditions for them. After living in Mexico for five years, I moved to the state of Montana. I completed high school there, learning and perfecting my English in the process. In Montana, I further developed my views on environmental conditions and how to tackle global problems such as climate change and ocean acidification.
Please describe your role in student engineering organizations at UT and why you chose to get involved.
My biggest involvement in the student engineering organizations has been with the Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW), an organization sponsored by the CAEE Department and advised by environmental engineering Professor Richard Corsi. I started out as a project member on the recycling initiative and after one semester, became project lead and expanded the project to include the recycling of electronics and batteries on campus. Under my leadership, we also expanded the program to include eight locations, ranging from Jester West to the Campus Computer Store. After only one semester of being project lead, I was asked to become Vice President of Projects for the organization and we doubled the number of ESW active projects. Two of these projects were also awarded first and third place in the annual alternative energy competition hosted by the Student Engineering Council (SEC).
Another important accomplishment was the collection of materials and funds from the ESW national chapter and the Sun Edison company to start building a solar-powered smoothie cart. After completing my sophomore semester, I seized the biggest opportunity to increase my leadership skills and create a significant change at UT: I became 2012 President of ESW. As a president I have been able to work with eight passionate and excellent engineers from different majors. I have also helped to increase our student member base, which has nearly doubled. Also, we have tripled corporate involvement, generated a new website, participated in over 10 different events, maintained a positive budget, increased project accountability, connected with different environmental organizations on campus, won second place in the SEC video contest, and hosted the first ever ESW event for the campus-wide celebration of Earth Day. In addition to these accomplishments, I have reformed and updated the organization’s constitution, updated the ESW display case on the first floor of the ECJ engineering building, and helped instigate the beginnings of an inter-organizational environmental board, the Student Organizations for Sustainability Board (SOS), with a goal of improving the overall sustainability on UT campus. It is my hope that all environmental efforts on campus can come together to create a long lasting and powerful effect.
What do you like about the CAEE Department?
There are many things to like in the department of civil engineering, from the helpful and charismatic staff to the excellent faculty members and the diverse group of students. When I am in the ECJ building I feel at home because I see the familiar faces of faculty, staff, and students around me. The department provides me with a sense of importance, purpose, and familiarity. Throughout my two years in the department, I have enjoyed the great counseling from academic advisors Molly Gully and Joanne Belsley. I have also benefitted greatly from the mentorship of our easily accessible faculty members. I love talking to our faculty and appreciate their genuine care towards students. Last, but not least, the students in the department are not only diverse in culture, but they are also amongst the most caring and motivated people I have met. When one has an issue, we all come together to help each other out, a sort of engineering bond is always present.
What do you like about Austin?
Austin is a great city! I love the music scene, the extraordinary food, the outdoor activities, and the feeling of being in a small, but growing city. Living in Austin, I do not know if I want to leave. I love the plethora of music festivals that happen every year from Austin City Limits to Blues on the Greens. I also love to dance with friends! I love the outdoor activities that Austin offers, from kayaking to beach volleyball to hiking. One of the greatest things about Austin is the city’s focus on sustainability and its innovative, progressive, and smart solutions. I love to live in a city that is conscious about our future and always works to achieve a better one.
What would you like to do with your degree once you graduate?
Once I receive a master’s degree in environmental engineering, while exploring regenerative architecture from an engineering approach, I would love to work for a sustainable design firm such as CDM-Smith, Odebrecht, or Atkins. After gaining more experience in the workplace, I would like to direct my attention to fast developing parts of the world such as the Middle East, China, and the Americas. It is one of my great hopes to help the dire environmental situations in my home country of Venezuela, when the time is fit. Overall, I would like to take my goals and apply them to a global scale and help our world community achieve a more sustainable future.
Advice for incoming students?
Try out as many student organizations as possible in your first semester and then pick one or two to join! Become involved in engineering student life, that way you will meet the greatly diverse and exciting student body in our department. Also, get to know your professors, they are excellent at their specific areas and are willing to help to their best of their abilities with anything you might need. Last, but not least, go to class and take advantage of faculty office hours. Even though sometimes you may think you can do without going to class or a TA session, you are going to miss out on the support and the added knowledge that you would get if you attend. Useall the resources at your disposal; it will only make you a better engineer.
Juan-Pablo is studying abroad in Ankara, Turkey at the Middle Eastern Technical University, the sister university to UT. He is studying Turkish and modeling of solar concentrators. Although the class is for mechanical engineers, he has seen a great benefit towards his future goals as he is learning about solar power and sustainability issues with the heating and cooling of our buildings, which is a major consumer of energy. Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning in buildings sometimes account for 45-50% of the total building energy consumed. Thus, optimizing the heating and cooling loads of buildings will help develop a more viable future, especially in areas of the world where cooling loads are huge due to high temperatures climates.
"Studying abroad, I am able to interact with a wide range of Turkish and international students who also have sustainability in mind," he says. "Living outside of the US, I am learning so much about how different problems are tackled in different countries and how people live within their own culture. I am impressed by the efficiency of Turkish buses. They have bus terminals as big and predominant as airports, with buses offering an almost similar experience to flying. I have also visited and modeled heating and cooling loads for solar collectors in North Cyprus; attended an international conference of solar power and sustainability issues in Izmir; and visited some ofthe greatest buildings of ancient times –the Artemis Temple and the Library of Celsus in Ephesus. I highly recommend studying abroad for even a short time. It builds our global competency and helps us become better leaders!" | <urn:uuid:59b2be81-d0ff-4d07-b32c-c9f9124dab82> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ce.utexas.edu/student-profiles/gevaudan/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970469 | 1,956 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Two vehicle terminal operators at the port of Baltimore are fighting the Maryland Port Administration's plan to develop a new automobile terminal, saying the $18.6 million proposal underscores a growing concern that the state is competing with private business.
The MPA, which owns five public marine terminals, is asking the Maryland legislature to endorse a plan to construct the terminal on a site known as Masonville on the south side of the Patapsco River across from Fort McHenry.
The proposed terminal is part of the port's strategic plan to attract more diverse cargo, such as automobiles, even as it has lost container business.
The state already owns one automobile terminal, which it leases to a Toyota processor.
"We feel that we have a strategic advantage in terms of location for this kind of cargo," said Tay Yoshitani, executive director of the MPA.
The agency has reached an agreement with a U.S. company that processes cars in Mexico to lease the terminal with a guaranteed volume of business.
But Hobelmann Port Services Inc. and Premier Automotive Services Inc., which operate privately funded facilities near Masonville, say the MPA's plan would effectively subsidize another company and force them to lower their rates and wages to compete.
"It's a classic example of what the state should not do," said Tim Chadwick, chief executive officer of American Port Services, which owns Hobelmann. "There is no business, practical or employment reason to do this."
Chadwick argued that there is already too much unused automobile terminal space and that the port is not likely in the foreseeable future to need more room.
"There's no pressure from a business point of view and there won't be for years," he said. "There's a vast amount of capacity."
Since the shipping industry was deregulated in 1984, the MPA and other port authorities have provided subsidies in one form or another to lure business.
Steamship lines that carry cargo packed in steel containers are given price breaks on cranes and dockage fees.
But in recent years, with containerized cargo dwindling, the MPA has been trying more aggressively to attract to state-owned terminals cargo such as steel that is also being handled by private terminals.
"When you start to subsidize as all ports do, you can step on toes and you have to be careful about that," said M. Sigmund Shapiro, president of Samuel Shapiro & Co. Inc., a Baltimore-based freight forwarder and immediate past chairman of the Private Sector Port Committee. "I don't think it's intentional the port is trying to substitute imaginative segments of business to take the place of the cargo we're losing."
Hobelmann owns two marine terminals -- Chesapeake and Atlantic -- that handle the export and import of automobiles. It also leases space at the state-owned Dundalk Marine Terminal for car processing.
Premier handles heavy agricultural and construction equipment such as tractors and bulldozers at its 20-acre site in Fairfield.
In addition, some cars and construction equipment are processed at Dundalk.
"The reality is the port will be here for a long time and we hope the private sector and public sector will grow," Yoshitani said. "We have to find ways to co-exist."
Historically, Baltimore has been one of the largest car ports on the East Coast, third after New York and Jacksonville, Fla. In addition to the activity at Hobelmann and Premier, cars and some construction equipment move through Dundalk, and Toyotas are handled at the Fairfield terminal leased by the state.
Last year, the volume of cars increased 7 percent at the state-owned terminals, according to the MPA. At the private terminals, however, the volume declined largely because Chrysler exports were off in the face of the weakened dollar.
The first phase of the Masonville terminal -- to be constructed on a site that the state has owned for several decades -- would involve 50 acres.
A potential 80-acre second phase, which would include two berths and a new dredged channel, would cost between $100 million and $150 million, according to MPA budget documents.
The project would be funded by revenue bonds issued by the Maryland Transportation Authority.
Chadwick criticized Maryland port officials for not discussing specific plans with the companies that handle a sizable portion of the vehicles moving through the port.
"The reason they didn't come to us is they knew we'd say this is an outrageous use of taxpayer money to basically depress the business here," he said. In addition, he said the port did not seek bids to operate the terminal.
Meanwhile, in Annapolis, the chairman of the Senate capital budget subcommittee said the panel will withhold its support for the Masonville terminal until it is persuaded that further capacity is necessary and the new facility would not hurt longtime private businesses.
"You have two businesses that are doing the very same thing," said Sen. Thomas M. Middleton, a Charles County Democrat. "We need to demonstrate that this is needed and that it will have a synergistic effect."
Pub Date: 3/10/98 | <urn:uuid:a5dd1090-f850-414f-a3e5-915ba25f6eae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1998-03-10/business/1998069006_1_marine-terminals-port-services-cargo | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970134 | 1,053 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Dramatic scenes have unfolded in central Queensland where a teenager has been rescued from raging floodwaters, as the remnants of ex-tropical cyclone Oswald lash the region.
The 14-year-old boy was found clinging to a tree in floodwaters in Rockhampton this morning.
Six swift water rescue crews rushed to the scene and managed to reach the teen.
As the boy grabbed hold of a tree, and climbed towards other rescuers waiting on a bank, the man who'd saved him was swept away.
He went under a nearby bridge but was able to pull himself up onto a bank. He was taken away in an ambulance but is believed to be fine.
Dozens of stranded people have been rescued from homes and cars overnight and this morning as the state struggled to cope with the deluge.
More than 70 roads, including major highways, have been cut by floodwaters since Oswald was downgraded to a storm after crossing the Cape York Peninsula's west coast on Tuesday.
Rockhampton was suffering its wettest day in 60 years and councillor Bill Ludwig said many parts of the city were under water, and the city was also experiencing ''very destructive winds''.
''They're saying this is not a cyclone but it's not far off it,'' Ludwig told ABC TV.
He said he was not going to venture outside the building where he was on Friday morning, while a large corrugated sheet of iron was flapping from another building nearby.
A search was underway for two fisherman whose boat started taking on water off Rockhampton.
The skipper of the 38-foot fishing vessel made the call early this morning.
He told authorities he was in Casuarina Passage.
Rough weather conditions prevented authorities from launching an immediate search, police said.
Air and sea searches began this morning, but heavy rain and high winds are hampering the operation.
The ABC said planes were unable to land at Rockhampton because of the 90kmh winds, heavy rain and poor visibility, while many roads are inaccessible.
In the flood-hit Rockhampton suburb of Frenchville, a house has been hit by a large landslide.
The home was still standing but debris was piled up against the two-storey dwelling, the Department of Community Safety said.
At Yeppoon, northeast of Rockhampton, more than 10 homes have flooded and people were sandbagging other properties in a bid to save them, the ABC reported.
"We've had some flash flooding in low lying areas, and those low lying areas are all still cut," one Yeppoon resident told the broadcaster. | <urn:uuid:baf9177b-4176-43c3-b09d-73657a9f33e3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/national-news/8222613/Queensland-floods-as-cyclone-sweeps-past | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983442 | 541 | 1.515625 | 2 |
When Franklin D. Roosevelt became president in 1933, the U.S. government fell under the control of a man who disliked the Japanese and harbored a romantic affection for the Chinese because, some writers have speculated, Roosevelt's ancestors had made money in the China trade. Roosevelt also disliked the Germans in general and Adolf Hitler in particular, and he tended to favor the British in his personal relations and in world affairs. He did not pay much attention to foreign policy, however, until his New Deal began to peter out in 1937. Thereafter he relied heavily on foreign policy to fulfill his political ambitions, including his desire for reelection to an unprecedented third term.When Germany began to rearm and to seek Lebensraum aggressively in the late 1930s, the Roosevelt administration cooperated closely with the British and the French in measures to oppose German expansion. After World War II commenced in 1939, this U.S. assistance grew ever greater and included such measures as the so-called destroyer deal and the deceptively named Lend-Lease program. In anticipation of U.S. entry into the war, British and U.S. military staffs secretly formulated plans for joint operations. U.S. forces sought to create a war-justifying incident by cooperating with the British navy in attacks on German U-boats in the northern Atlantic, but Hitler refused to take the bait, thus denying Roosevelt the pretext he craved for making the United States a full-fledged, declared belligerent—a belligerence that the great majority of Americans opposed.In June 1940, Henry L. Stimson, who had been secretary of war under William Howard Taft and secretary of state under Herbert Hoover, became secretary of war again. Stimson was a lion of the Anglophile, northeastern upper crust and no friend of the Japanese. In support of the so-called Open Door Policy for China, Stimson favored the use of economic sanctions to obstruct Japan's advance in Asia. Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau and Interior Secretary Harold Ickes vigorously endorsed this policy. Roosevelt hoped that such sanctions would goad the Japanese into making a rash mistake by launching a war against the United States, which would bring in Germany because Japan and Germany were allied.The Roosevelt administration, while curtly dismissing Japanese diplomatic overtures to harmonize relations, accordingly imposed a series of increasingly stringent economic sanctions on Japan. In 1939, the United States terminated the 1911 commercial treaty with Japan. "On July 2, 1940, Roosevelt signed the Export Control Act, authorizing the President to license or prohibit the export of essential defense materials." Under this authority, "[o]n July 31, exports of aviation motor fuels and lubricants and No. 1 heavy melting iron and steel scrap were restricted." Next, in a move aimed at Japan, Roosevelt slapped an embargo, effective October 16, "on all exports of scrap iron and steel to destinations other than Britain and the nations of the Western Hemisphere." Finally, on July 26, 1941, Roosevelt "froze Japanese assets in the United States, thus bringing commercial relations between the nations to an effective end. One week later Roosevelt embargoed the export of such grades of oil as still were in commercial flow to Japan." The British and the Dutch followed suit, embargoing exports to Japan from their colonies in Southeast Asia.Roosevelt and his subordinates knew they were putting Japan in an untenable position and that the Japanese government might well try to escape the stranglehold by going to war. Having broken the Japanese diplomatic code, the American leaders knew, among many other things, what Foreign Minister Teijiro Toyoda had communicated to Ambassador Kichisaburo Nomura on July 31: "Commercial and economic relations between Japan and third countries, led by England and the United States, are gradually becoming so horribly strained that we cannot endure it much longer. Consequently, our Empire, to save its very life, must take measures to secure the raw materials of the South Seas."Because American cryptographers had also broken the Japanese naval code, the leaders in Washington also knew that Japan's "measures" would include an attack on Pearl Harbor. Yet they withheld this critical information from the commanders in Hawaii, who might have headed off the attack or prepared themselves to defend against it. That Roosevelt and his chieftains did not ring the tocsin makes perfect sense: after all, the impending attack constituted precisely what they had been seeking for a long time. As Stimson confided to his diary after a meeting of the War Cabinet on November 25, "The question was how we should maneuver them [the Japanese] into firing the first shot without allowing too much danger to ourselves." After the attack, Stimson confessed that "my first feeling was of relief . . . that a crisis had come in a way which would unite all our people."
[Updated to add: Also think about how political leaders lack the compunction to even offer their citizens as sacrificial lambs (Pearl Harbor casualties 2,402 deaths 1,282 injured) in order to pursue personal political agenda.] | <urn:uuid:d4f608c3-0768-4055-bc5a-402f805e42a6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://prudentinvestornewsletters.blogspot.com/2012/12/robert-higgs-how-economic-warfare.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972914 | 1,024 | 3.6875 | 4 |
Agricultural Economics applies the principles of economics to the production of crops, livestock and other agricultural areas. It focuses on creating a business mindset, while providing students with hands on and real world experiences. Students gain valuable management skills that they can apply to a variety of areas within the agricultural industry.
The Department of Agricultural Economics is the academic home of three majors:
Congratulations to students, Morgan Kramschuster and Brittany Statz, who attended the National Farmers Union 2013 College Conference on Cooperatives in February! Read more here
Get to know Jim White, associate professor of agricultural economics, who stated fall 2012. Read more here
Congratulations to Danielle Hammer, Ag Business major who was recognized this semester with the Chancellor's Award, one of the highest institutional awards offered by the university. | <urn:uuid:e903d08c-5ddc-4324-9aae-77b3a40a863e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://uwrf.edu/AGEC/index.cfm?respOpt=TRUE | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923864 | 158 | 2.109375 | 2 |
How do I Paint My Historic Home?Updated 2/17/2008
There are a number of publications available for preservationists interested in paint colors. Roger Moss has written several books on historic paint colors, including Paint in America: The Colors of Historic Buildings. While Paint in America is now out of print, you should be able to locate it at your library, in a used bookstore, or through an online bookseller; local bookstores will have his more recent publications. The National Park Service's "Preservation Briefs" will also be helpful and are available on the NPS website. Two briefs which will be particularly useful are: No. 10 - Exterior Paint Problems on Historic Woodwork and No. 28 - Painting Historic Interiors.
The National Trust has worked extensively with the Valspar Corporation to develop an exclusive collection of historical colors. The resulting palette, sold exclusively at Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouses, covers the spectrum of historic hues. It features 250 colors certified by the National Trust, having been developed from samples taken from the Trust's Historic Sites; examples include Woodrow Wilson Presidential Ivory, Lyndhurst Duchess Gold and Woodlawn Plantation Pear. These 100% acrylic paints are available for both interior and exterior work and all carry a lifetime warranty. Valspar also supports preservation by donating a portion of every paint sale to the National Trust and by supplying paint to the National Trust's Historic Sites. For more information - including a complete listing of available colors - please visit our historic paint colors page. | <urn:uuid:fc43e658-aa18-4781-817d-80c981088f32> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.preservationnation.org/resources/faq/historic-homes/paint-my-historic-home.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932082 | 307 | 2.4375 | 2 |
Bora Zivkovic is the Blog Editor at Scientific American, chronobiologist, biology teacher, organizer of ScienceOnline conferences and editor of Open Laboratory anthologies of best science writing on the Web. Follow on Twitter
Back in December 2011, The Guardian USA and New York University’s Studio20 (see their Tumblr – note: I am associated with the program) announced a new joint project – US presidential election 2012: the citizens agenda. Here is some background information from that time:
The Guardian USA:
The citizens agenda: making election coverage more useful: We invite you to help refresh the media’s tired templates of campaign coverage to address issues people really care about
Studio 20 Will Collaborate With The Guardian on How to Improve Election Coverage: On Dec. 8, Studio 20 and The Guardian US jointly announced that they will collaborate in the development of a “citizens agenda” approach to election coverage during the 2012 campaign for president.
Nieman Journalism Lab:
Civic journalism 2.0: The Guardian and NYU launch a “citizens agenda” for 2012: Jay Rosen and Amanda Michel reunite for a project that aims to inject citizen voices into campaign coverage.
The Citizens Agenda in Campaign Coverage: The idea is to learn from voters what those voters want the campaign to be about, and what they need to hear from the candidates to make a smart decision. So you go out and ask them: “what do you want the candidates to be discussing as they compete for votes in this year’s election?”
Re-thinking Elections 2012: As part of the Studio 20 graduate program at NYU, we’re partnering with the Guardian on a big question: how do we make election coverage more useful to the average user? So, today we launch the “Citizens Agenda”, an attempt to do just that.
What does that all mean?
The idea is for a media organization with a strong reputation, large audience, and necessary resources to team up with a group of smart, dedicated, innovative, tech-savvy and Web-savvy students of journalism to explore and analyze the questions posed by the media to the presidential candidates (most notably during the presidential debates), to see what questions are asked frequently, what questions rarely, and what questions not at all – and then to provide the citizens with the opportunity to have their own voices heard, adding questions they want to ask, inquiring about topics they care about the most:
Have the 839 GOP debate questions reflected the ‘citizens agenda’?: By studying the 20 Republican presidential debates of this election season, we can better see if the questions being asked correspond with the issues voters actually care about.
Some questions that may be of great interest or importance to the voters may be tip-toed around or completely ignored by the media, while other questions that are asked often may not be as informative to the public. For example:
Don’t ask, don’t tell: Mormonism mentions scant at GOP debates: Despite being the religion of two candidates, only three questions over 20 debates have dared to utter the M-word.
There have been 20 presidential debates so far this season, generating a total of 839 questions. The students have analyzed the questions, classified them and are starting to publish the details of the analysis – this is the first one, with more to come over the next several days:
The GOP debates: what questions do journalists like to ask? We looked at all the questions that have been posed to the Republican candidates in the 20 debates since May 5, 2011.
Interestingly, most of the questions were quite serious and substantial, but a small percentage could be characterized as “fluff” questions, designed primarily to entertain the audience, and secondarily hoping that a candidate may trip up or say something unusual or revealing:
The nine quirkiest questions from the Republican debates: There have been some strange moments over the last 20 debates involving the GOP candidates. Here are our favourites.
Interestingly, in some of the debates, the candidates were asked questions posed by the public, either by the members of the audience in the room, or from Twitter. Those questions were much different – they covered different topics, were often quite tough, and usually had a personal story as a starting point. By posing problems, the audience questions forced the candidates to abandon the talking points and put themselves in a “problem-solving mode”, which may be potentially much more useful to the television viewers at home:
At the GOP debates, ‘regular people’ didn’t shy away from tough questions: When the mic was handed over to audience members, they framed their questions around personal stories – and big issues
What was asked so far?
According to the first analysis (and more is upcoming), there are certain topics or types of questions that were asked at the debates very frequently. For example: on the economy and jobs (227 questions), the candidates’ lives and records (223 questions), fixing government and reducing the debt (188 questions), foreign policy and national security (160 questions), strategy and maneuvering among the candidates – the “horse-race journalism” focused on polls, electability and mutual criticisms of candidates, attempting to provoke a fight between them on the stage (113 questions), and the “How conservative are you?” type of question (104 questions).
Interestingly, concerning foreign policy questions, out of 200+ countries of the world, only a handful were mentioned in the questions, most frequently Iran and China, while many other countries, regions and entire continents were completely ignored (including very rare mentions of Iraq).
On the other end of the spectrum, restoring American greatness (“Are we still as powerful as we once were?” – 9 questions), human interest fluff (12 questions), education (12 questions) and religion (24 questions, but see above for lack of questions on Mormonism), were not often asked. There was nothing about, for example, women’s issues (apart from abortion), or about small-business owners.
In the middle are: immigration (61 questions to multiple candidates, 16 to Gingrich, nine to Romney, six to Santorum, six to Paul), healthcare (53 questions), social issues: abortion and gay rights (46 questions), and social spending: Medicaid, Medicare, social security and unemployment (42 questions).
Science and technology questions, including space and climate, were in the middle of the pack, with a total of 44 questions asked to date. Here are some examples:
On climate change:
John Harris (Politico): Governor Perry — Governor Perry, Governor Huntsman were not specific about names, but the two of you do have a difference of opinion about climate change. Just recently in New Hampshire, you said that weekly and even daily scientists are coming forward to question the idea that human activity is behind climate change. Which scientists have you found most credible on this subject?
And a follow up: John Harris (Politico): Just to follow up quickly. Tell us how you’ve done that. [applause] Are there specific — specific scientists or specific theories that you’ve found especially compelling, as you? (both from September 7, 2011 | Republican Candidates Debate in Simi Valley, California)
On stem cell research:
Shannon BREAM: Alright, Governor Pawlenty, just days ago a Federal court struck down the ban on using Federal funds for embryonic stem cell research. You identify yourself as strongly pro life, but you don’t oppose government funding for research on existing stem cell lines already derived from embryos, but is that still spending tax payer money on elements that were generated by, at some point destroying an embryo. (MAY 5, 2011 | FOX SOUTH CAROLINA DEBATE)
On energy and environment:
Brian Williams (NBC News): Governor, time. Congresswoman Bachmann, a question about energy, back to that subject for a moment. Were you quoted correctly — and do you stand by it — as wanting to drill in the Everglades in Florida? (September 7, 2011 | Republican Candidates Debate in Simi Valley, California)
On green energy:
Bret Baier (Fox News): Governor Perry, you — you have railed against the special treatment of Ford and Solyndra as have the other candidates here tonight. And particularly the tax code incentives for green technologies and allowances that have been made for this industry. But it’s nexus, governor you have afforded the same attention to the oil industry. Back in 2003, you signed a bill that reduced the tax paid by some natural gas companies that have helped them reap since, better than $7 billion in tax savings. So I — I guess what I’m saying is, are you guilty of the same behavior as governor, favoring an industry, that you claim this president has, favoring the green industry? (December 15, 2011 | Republican Candidates Debate in Sioux City, Iowa)
On the EPA:
John DISTASO: Speaker Gingrich, what exactly is an Environmental Solutions Agency? I don’t — I think a lot of people might not know or understand that — why you want to disband the EPA and set up — set up something that kind of looks like the EPA? (Republican Candidates debate in Concord, Hampshire January 8, 2012)
On nuclear energy and the Yucca Mountain:
Q from audience: QUESTION: My question for you is, do you support opening the national nuclear repository at Yucca Mountain? ANDERSON COOPER: Speaker Gingrich, we’ll start with you. [crosstalk] ANDERSON COOPER: Sorry, go ahead. ANDERSON COOPER: Is Yucca Mountain that place? ANDERSON COOPER: You were for opening it in Congress, right? (Republican Candidates debate, Las Vegas, Nevada October 18, 2011)
On the space program:
WOLF BLITZER, CNN: We have a question. I want to speaker to weigh in as well. [applause]This question is related from — we got it from Twitter. Speaker Gingrich, how do you plan to create a base on the moon while keeping taxes down in eight years? [laughter] (January 26th, 2012 | Republican Candidates Debate in Jacksonville, Florida)
How to build a citizen’s agenda?
Next presidential debate will be on Wednesday, February 22nd, moderated by John King of CNN. Another four debates have been scheduled in case no clear candidate emerges in the meantime. After that, there will be general election debates between the candidates of the two major parties. As the year progresses, the program will evolve, adapting to the circumstances on the ground.
In this first phase, between today and the next debate, the citizens (both of the USA and other countries) will be encouraged to post their questions – what they would like to see the candidates asked – in the comment sections of this post. Alternatively, people can tweet their suggested questions at @JohnKingCNN using the hashtag #unasked. The students will also do a quick classification of all the questions to send to John King’s producer just before the debate.
Will there be many questions? Will they be much different from what the media asks anyway (after all, the mass media shapes the public opinion)? Will a few of those questions emerge as strong contenders by being asked repeatedly by many people? Will John King actually ask one or more of these questions? Will moderators of future debates ask the citizens’ questions? Will other media outlets pick up these questions and ask the candidates whenever they have the opportunity to do so? That is still to be seen.
Asking about science?
Many important policy questions are in some way related to science or rely on scientific information. The same can be said of medicine, environment and technology.
While many science publications collect candidates’ quotes on scientific matters every four years (including us, just a couple of weeks ago), attempts to get presidential candidates to answer science questions have been made in the past without much success. Most notably, ScienceDebate.org managed to get some answers from both Obama and McCain four years ago, and intends to try to do the same this year. Occasionally a very lucky blogger may get an exclusive interview with one of the candidates specifically about science (I was that lucky four years ago, interviewing then presidential candidate John Edwards).
But questions posed by a large number of citizens are harder to ignore than questions posed by an organization, be it a specialized science media organization, or an organization of scientists (which can be dismissed as an “interest group” by the politicians). Also, questions about science, when placed in the mix with other questions of interest to the public, may have a better chance to get answered than if science is kept in isolation and treated as a special topic.
I am confident that the readers of Scientific American would love to ask science-related questions of the candidates, and can come up with good, well-informed questions that can lead to important and informative answers. This is your chance to influence the Citizen’s Agenda, by posting science-based questions on the Guardian site or on Twitter. Let’s see if we can influence the Citizen’s Agenda, and if that, in turn, may affect what questions get asked of the candidates in the mass media.
Image: Nadja Popovich | <urn:uuid:ada2965c-ebea-4e7c-b042-a51cf68f01bd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2012/02/17/can-we-ask-presidential-candidates-about-science/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954278 | 2,771 | 2.171875 | 2 |
Standing out from the crowd of applicants vying to get into Stanford University’s Computer Science undergraduate program is no easy task. That’s not surprising, given the high rankings Stanford has: U.S. News rated it No. 2 for Computer Science in 2012, for example. With such a reputation, the competition for admission is fierce. So how does one think outside the box and grab the attention of admissions officers? Write an iPhone app!
That’s exactly what Alex Greene did, which I think is brilliant and gives new meaning to the phrase, “There’s an app for that.” Greene’s software isn’t something that anyone else would use, as it’s very specific. Basically, in a fun way, it explains who he is and why he wants to attend Stanford after high school.
Have a look:
Is the app glitzy and full of features? No, not at all. But in building the app, Greene would have my attention if I were on the admissions committee. Greene spent the time to add something extra to his application package while at the same time demonstrating that he’s got a passion for his intended course of study. Apparently, there really is an app for everything. | <urn:uuid:5cc27b12-611e-4e67-8f06-e8c6b4668890> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gigaom.com/2013/02/08/which-iphone-app-may-get-you-into-stanford-the-one-you-make/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963936 | 260 | 1.734375 | 2 |
This monograph examines the growth of public spending in the UK. Using empirical evidence, evidence from theory, and the results of economic modelling, the author considers the wider economic consequences of the current high level of government spending. It is clear from the analysis that UK public spending is well above optimal levels. Furthermore, there is regional injustice, as large amounts of money are transferred from England to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - to the detriment of both donor and recipient.
How can such a situation prevail? Why are politicians not interested in one of the key determinants of economic welfare? Why is it impossible to tell the policies of the main parties apart on this issue? David B. Smith analyses these questions too and proposes changes that would make it more likely that Britain could have a smaller government sector.
2006, Hobart Papers 158, ISBN 978 0 255 36579 6, 187pp, PB
How Should Britain's Government Spending and Tax Burdens be Measured? by David B. Smith. | <urn:uuid:8edb4ce4-7de5-4f4c-8b93-213b4f6240a4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.iea.org.uk/publications/research/living-with-leviathan-public-spending-taxes-and-economic-performance | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925484 | 202 | 1.9375 | 2 |
Lots of good ideas in this story for how to dispose of or reuse excess Halloween candy (except we forgot the best one: Eat it yourself after the kids are in bed). But there is a first hurdle that hasn’t been mentioned: How do you get the sweets out of your children’s grubby, costumed hands in the first place?
Enter the Switch Witch.
She’s part Tooth Fairy, part Santa, part dentist’s friend.
On Halloween night, after the little monsters have returned home and spilled their new booty on the living room floor, let them count out a few pieces, an arbitrary number that seems good to you — 10? 20? — and bag the rest. Set the bag in a special place (we use the dining room table in our house). Bright and early on Nov. 1, the kids will find the Switch Witch has visited overnight, taking the candy and leaving a toy or other non-sweet treat.
Easy, and it avoids a tug-of-war over that plastic pumpkin overly full of unhealthy goodies.
I first heard of the Switch Witch from a West Coast online friend a couple of years ago, but Miss Witch doesn’t seem to ride her broom to this part of the country too often. She’s been a welcome annual guest at our house ever since, and thoughtfully brings all the candy she collects to the Pocono Record newsroom. She knows that hungry reporters will eat anything.
If you have an idea or tradition for dealing with Halloween excess that you’d like to share with readers, send it to email@example.com with “Halloween” in the subject line. | <urn:uuid:da75ac93-cd49-4c7c-b8f0-c29c2718e167> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.thepoconos.com/minute-mom/2012/10/26/tricking-the-treats-away-from-your-kids/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00076-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924891 | 353 | 1.5 | 2 |
North Raleigh Ministries History
In the early 2000s, pastors from several churches in the North Hills area started having lunch together to fellowship and talk about what was going on in the lives of their respective churches. During the course of their conversations, they realized that their neighbors in crisis were coming to each one of their churches for help with emergency financial and food assistance. They wanted to help more people and help them in a more efficient way. Thus, the idea for a nonprofit that could effectively distribute benevolence to North Raleigh residents in a Christian spirit was born.
The North Hills Crisis Center (now North Raleigh Ministries) opened its doors on March 4, 2004 in small 1,200 square foot house on Six Forks Road in the North Hills area, and became officially incorporated as a 501(c)3 nonprofit in 2005. The ministry provided emergency financial and food assistance only and served five zip codes in the North Hills area. There were five member churches: St. Timothy’s Episcopal, St. Mark’s Methodist, Trinity Baptist, Hudson Memorial Presbyterian, and Grace Lutheran. The member churches provided initial donations and volunteers to support the ministry, as well as one member each for the Board of Directors.
In the summer of 2005, it became clear that the North Hills Crisis Center needed to change locations for this reason: the space was simply too small for the amount of people that the ministry was helping. The North Hills Crisis Center Board of Directors searched all over North Raleigh for a suitable location, and finally found a space on Spring Forest Road that would allow them to operate a Crisis Center, Market, and Thrift Shop. The new thrift shop was planned to generate funds to support the ministry, and has become an integral part of the North Raleigh community.
So, during October of 2005, the ministry moved from a 1,200 square foot space to a 10,000 square foot space. With the change in location, the name of the ministry also changed from the “North Hills Crisis Center” to “North Raleigh Ministries”, as the ministry was no longer located in the North Hills area. The move to the larger space and the addition of the Thrift Shop also allowed North Raleigh Ministries to expand its service area to seven zip codes.
Even though North Raleigh Ministries was able to add 10,000 more square feet to its space in the Spring Forest location in 2007, the location on Spring Forest Road was still not large enough to accommodate all of the donations and neighbors that it was receiving, so another move became necessary. In March of 2011, North Raleigh Ministries moved to its current location on Strickland Road, with the Thrift Shop in the front and the Crisis Center and The Market in the back. And in December of 2011, a building behind the same shopping center became available, so the Crisis Center moved in and was able to add its long-awaited education wing for classes, allowing the organization to expand its programming to include Jobs for Life classes for the unemployed and underemployed.
Over the years, North Raleigh Ministries has gained many business partners, many new projects to help their neighbors in need and many new member churches that are now associated with the ministry. Today, the member churches are: Crossroads Fellowship Church, New Hope Baptist, Christ Baptist, Greystone Baptist, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian, North Raleigh Church of the Nazarene, Church of the Apostles, Grace Community Church, St. Timothy’s Episcopal, St. Mark’s Methodist, Trinity Baptist, Hudson Presbyterian, and Grace Lutheran. There are also about 20 other churches in the North Raleigh area that participate every month in ways such as donating resources and providing volunteers to help run the ministry. Without the prayers and support of the Christian community in North Raleigh, North Raleigh Ministries could not function.
North Raleigh Ministries is a very special organization that God has tremendously blessed. There have been many challenges over the years, but God has truly provided the resources that were needed to overcome them. North Raleigh Ministries has grown and expanded extremely quickly, but somehow, the resources have always been available to keep its doors open and its mission to “love thy neighbor” alive. And as North Raleigh Ministries moves forward, those who love the organization always remember where it came from and what it was originally intended to do. Denise Crumpler says “When this ministry started, I didn’t realize that sometimes our commandment to ‘sit and wait upon the Lord’ means that you have to get up and get it done!” And with the Lord’s blessing, North Raleigh Ministries will continue to operate and serve its neighbors in need for many years to come. | <urn:uuid:4d0d5a2a-137e-4fd5-b15e-6f672c1c8705> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.northraleighministries.com/history | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978445 | 965 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Even Toddlers Succumb to Peer Pressure, Study Says
THURSDAY April 12, 2012 -- Toddlers are more likely to pick up a behavior if they see most other toddlers doing it, a new study shows.
Researchers found that 2-year-olds were more likely to copy an action when they saw it repeated by three other toddlers than if they saw an action repeated by just one other toddler.
The findings appear online April 12 in the journal Current Biology.
"I think few people would have expected to find that 2-year-olds are already influenced by the majority," study author Daniel Haun, of the Max Planck Institutes for Evolutionary Anthropology and Psycholinguistics in Germany and the Netherlands. "Parents and teachers should be aware of these dynamics in children's peer interactions," Haun said in a journal news release.
The study also found that chimpanzees tend to follow the crowd, but orangutans do not. This suggests that humans and chimps have shared strategies for social learning, the researchers said.
While parents may be dismayed to learn that their toddlers are already sensitive to peer pressure, this type of behavior has advantages in terms of evolution.
"The tendency to acquire the behaviors of the majority has been posited as key to the transmission of relatively safe, reliable and productive behavioral strategies," Haun noted.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has more about toddler growth and development.
Posted: April 2012 | <urn:uuid:27f1d5c6-6c8b-4200-8b9e-0910aadc602f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.drugs.com/news/even-toddlers-succumb-peer-pressure-study-says-37556.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968368 | 295 | 3.203125 | 3 |
National Wildlife Refuge
Lewistown, MT 59457
Phone Number: 406-538-8706
|Visit the Refuge's Web Site:
|A redhead pair swims together on a wetland.|
Environmental education programs are available for schools or civic groups. The Refuge hosts an annual event during Refuge Week, which varies from year to year.
Boating and fishing is permitted on the Missouri River and Fort Peck Reservoir. Numerous boat ramps and several marinas are located around the Refuge. Fishing for walleye, sauger, paddlefish, and northern pike, among other species, is very popular. A state license is required, and state limits and seasons apply. The uppermost 12 miles of the Missouri River within Refuge form part of the Wild and Scenic Missouri River. Canoeing is popular during warmer months. The James Kipp Recreation Area, located just east of U.S. Highway 191 on the south bank of the river is an excellent take-out point. Upstream motorized travel is restricted between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
The Refuge is open to hunting for the following species: whitetail deer, mule deer, elk, bighorn sheep, pronghorn, coyotes, upland game birds, waterfowl, and mourning doves. A state license is required, and special regulations may apply. Some satellite Refuges and Waterfowl Productions Areas that are part of the Charles M. Russell NWR Complex are open to hunting. A state license is required and state regulations apply. Please contact Refuge staff for additional information.
A variety of brochures and informational materials are available at the Refuge headquarters and all Wildlife Stations. A self-guided auto tour route starts 0.5 miles north of the Missouri River on the east side of U.S. Highway 191. The tour route follows an all-weather gravel road that parallels the Missouri River before climbing out onto upland prairie and rolling rangeland. The drive time for this 20-mile loop is about 2 hours. Tour guides are available from the Refuge headquarters or the Sand Creek Wildlife Station. Numerous interpretive panels are found throughout the Refuge including the Slippery Ann Wildlife Viewing Area, the entrance to UL Bend NWR, and at Hell Creek.
The Refuge is home to many species of wildlife. Sixty species of mammals and more than 235 species of birds have been observed on the Refuge. Bird watching provides opportunities to see many northern prairie grassland species such as western meadowlarks, mountain plovers, chestnut-collared longspurs, and prairie falcons. Large ungulates such as elk, mule deer, pronghorn, and bighorn sheep are common, while native predators like coyote, bobcat, and mountain lion are secretive and not commonly seen. Hundreds of elk congregate during the fall rut, providing a spectacular wildlife viewing opportunity at the Slippery Ann Wildlife Viewing Area. Contact the Refuge staff at the headquarters for the latest information.
The auto tour route and western river bottoms are excellent locations for elk, deer, and birds. The Big Dry Arm of the Fort Peck Reservoir is the best place to photograph pronghorn. Sage and sharp-tailed grouse are found throughout the Refuge, but are best seen at UL Bend NWR. Elk are frequently observed on the north side of the reservoir near the Pines Recreation Area, Harper's Ridge, Mickey and Brandon Buttes, and the Larb Hills. Bighorn sheep may be seen at Two Calf Creek or in the Brandon Buttes.
Satellite Refuges and Waterfowl Production Areas are also open to wildlife observation and photography.
All Refuge Complex offices are open from 7:30 am to 4:00 pm, Monday through Friday, except on Federal holidays.
The Refuge does not charge an entrance fee.
The Refuge does not charge user fees (i.e., hunt fees, camping fees, boat launch, meeting rooms rental fees, auto tour fees, guided tour fees, etc.).
|- Refuge Profile Page -| | <urn:uuid:c04d0dda-e20b-41c5-a2e9-3db79636b213> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fws.gov/refuges/profiles/recEdMore.cfm?ID=61523 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927387 | 844 | 1.570313 | 2 |
This course can help prepare students who wish to continue their scientific education after high school, as well as students who wish to perform exceptionally well on the SAT exam. The level of aptitude in this subject will assist students wishing to excel on the SAT and in college courses. Students who wish to go into a career in science or even enter a science-related field of study in college should strongly consider getting a jump start on their education and take AP Chemistry.
According to the College Board, AP Chemistry is an introductory college level course designed to be the equivalent of a student’s first year of college chemistry. It may also fulfill a lab requirement and free students from having to take other science classes. Students should attain a depth of understanding of fundamentals and a reasonable competence in dealing with chemical problems and solutions.
AP Chemistry is a course geared toward highly motivated students with interests in chemical and physical sciences. AP Chemistry builds on concepts covered in a regular or "honors" chemistry course, using greater detail in concept exploration and laboratory investigation. This course prepares students to take the AP Chemistry exam toward the end of the academic year. AP Chemistry topics include atomic theory, chemical bonding, phases of matter, solutions, types of reactions, equilibrium, reaction kinetics, and thermodynamics.
Anyone wishing to take an AP Chemistry course should take at least two years of high school math before enrolling in this course. Their math experience should also include a second year Algebra course in order to ensure that students are familiar with the types of functions that will be used during experiments. A basic first year chemistry course (Chemistry I) should also be completed in order to provide students with the foundation they need to succeed with higher levels of chemistry. Additionally, while AP Chemistry is a desirable course, universities also recommend that students take a basic physics course while in high school as well as higher math classes to prepare students for college.
AP Chemistry is a serious course and includes many course goals. According to the College Board’s website, by the time students take their AP Chemistry exam (or the SAT exam) they should be prepared to do the following:
- Express scientific ideas both orally and in writing.
- Plan scientific experiments involving chemical use, while also being able to record and explain each step of the experiment for future records.
- Gain a deeper understanding of the periodic table as well as its more basic elements. Students should also become familiar with how different types of chemicals combine, their reaction when combined, as well as the behavior of molecules during the reacting process.
- Become familiar with chemical equations and mathematical principles involved in chemical experiments and calculations.
- Spend at least 290 minutes in a laboratory, familiarizing themselves with laboratory protocol, safety rules, equipment, etc.
- Spend approximately 5 hours per week outside of class, studying chemistry and applying what they’ve learned. A practical application of chemistry is crucial to fully appreciating the course.
- Gain an appreciation for chemistry as a coherent body of information and its applications towards science as well as everyday life.
- Gain an appreciation and understanding of the scientific process and its many uses in chemistry, other scientific endeavors, and everyday life.
- Use study notes and other study techniques in conjunction with textbooks such as Chemistry: The Central Science, or Modern Chemistry.
Students who choose to take Advances Placement courses should remember that they’re just that: Advanced. Students should be prepared to challenge themselves in order to develop above average study skills and discipline. Students who do this and commit themselves to their education will see a definite payoff. Their grades and academic confidence will improve tremendously, as will their preparedness for college.
Advanced placement courses are not only important for a student’s development, but they can look excellent on high school transcripts. Students that wish to get into the college or university of their choice should talk to their counselor about enrolling in an AP course (or several). Most importantly, students can save valuable time, energy, and money by earning college credit while still in high school! The more a student does to prepare themselves for college, the more it will pay off in the end. Advanced Placement courses are the perfect answer to students who want to get the most out of their education.
Here you will find AP Chemistry outlines and slides. We are working to add more AP Chemistry resources such as vocabulary terms, unit notes, topic notes, study questions, practice quizzes and glossary terms. | <urn:uuid:2b6097f9-2d03-486b-98b3-737bc9c86ddf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.course-notes.org/Chemistry | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957643 | 905 | 3.546875 | 4 |
In iOS 6 viewWillUnload and viewDidUnload Are Deprecated
October 15, 2012
Prior to iOS 6, in low memory conditions iOS would call viewWillUnload and viewDidUnload before releasing unneeded views from memory. Apple has determined that the memory captured was not worth the overhead and additional issues caused by using these methods.
Beginning in iOS 6, viewWillUnload and viewDidUnload are deprecated, as views are no longer removed from memory if the OS runs low on the same. Put another way, if your app targets iOS 6, these methods will not be called.
Apple recommends code that you had in these methods should be reviewed, and if needed, moved to dealloc, viewWillDisappear or viewDidDisappear.
Interesting note, Apple mentioned at WWDC 2012 that they fixed a whole class of application crashes by removing the calls to viewWillUnload and viewDidUnload.
Good to know that Apple continually reviews their API’s and sometimes an update equals removing code. | <urn:uuid:4f3074a2-c7c9-471c-ba73-159e6d11de82> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://iosdevelopertips.com/memory-management/in-ios-6-viewwillunload-and-viewdidunload-are-deprecated.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92339 | 215 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Diwali is one of the most important holidays in India. It entails many meanings and interpretations but the most significant meaning of this holiday is good vs. evil. The celebration of Diwali brings together family and friends enjoying sweet and savory delicacies, exchanging gifts, lighting lamps and fireworks.
This year, for the festival of lights, I made the traditional Halwa. Although it is a dessert, and most desserts are served at the end of a meal, Halwa can be served with the meal. This recipe was given to me by my mom. I had written it down, along with other family recipes, before I moved to California. I must admit, making Halwa takes diligence. The first time I made it (last year), it got burnt. I was so discouraged at that time but I attempted to make it again this year. It tasted great this year but it still didn’t taste like my mom’s.
Suji is also known as Semolina. You can easily find it at any Indian grocery store.
Ghee is clarified butter.
Saffron is derived from a flower. It is delicate and exclusive.
Cardamom is a spice used in small amounts for sweet and savory dishes in India.
1. Place a heavy bottom pan on medium-low heat and stir in suji and ghee. Mix constantly until it changes color slightly and the ghee starts to separate.
2. Add milk, sugar, ground cardamom, saffron, and stir constantly. (I used a whisk to get the clumps out.)
3. Whisk until the mixture changes consistency to a smooth and congealed product.
4. This halwa can be served warm or cold. You can garnish with more ground cardamom, raisins, almonds and cashews.
Prep time: ~15-20 minutes.
Serves 3-4 people. | <urn:uuid:b88eaf68-f052-4926-88d7-1c58b1324bef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://themessimake.com/halwa/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953586 | 397 | 1.789063 | 2 |
What ways can a person contribute to significant science without being a full-time professional scientist?
I'm interested in hearing any possibilities that could fit a broad interpretation of the question, and compiling a list that could be useful to a wide range of people.
To stimulate your thinking...
"Person" could mean an interested layperson with a few hours to spare at one end of the spectrum, or at the other end it could mean a former research scientist who now works in some other profession, and could put in significant effort given the right opportunity.
"Science" can be taken as broadly as you want, including physical sciences, life sciences and social sciences.
"Contribution" could mean anything from spending an hour on Galaxy Zoo
on up. It could even mean taking up a career that contributes directly to some field of science, but using existing skills that came from some other field. (E.g. I got the sense from some other Mefi questions
that it might be possible to work in computational biology based on programming and data analysis skills without having deep training in biology.)
If it's something that would have a person feel they helped advance science in some way, and it doesn't require going back to college for several years to do it, it probably counts.
Please also explain what skills and resources people would need, where that's not obvious. | <urn:uuid:b95fc7d3-0892-4f56-97e4-94e14480d903> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ask.metafilter.com/211882/What-ways-can-a-person-contribute-to-significant-science-without-being-a-fulltime-professional-scientist | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971998 | 279 | 1.789063 | 2 |
|« Type O And Arthritis||Types O, B, AB And Corn »|
QUESTION: I am concerned about soy and brain aging. I respect your educated experience, follow the A diet, and would extremely appreciate your comments.
ANSWER: Probably the most prominent research that's evoking these suspicions was the published work of Lon White at the Pacific Health Research Institute in Honolulu. Dr. White's ongoing study of 3,734 Hawaiian men over more than thirty years suggests that regular consumption of tofu over many years during their middle age was associated with early dementia or what Dr. White terms "accelerated brain aging." (1)
White's study was a long-range study charting the eating habits of the men since 1965. Final assessments were made of their cognitive functioning (e.g. thinking, learning, memory) along with tests for measuring brain atrophy or shrinkage. The stunning conclusion was that the men who ate two or more servings per week of tofu had steeper declines in brain functioning resulting in dementia.
Yet, despite the dramatic results of his work White recently told an interviewer, "I would be violating a cardinal rule if I said my data says you shouldn't eat tofu [or other soy foods]." While White believes his research is solid, the results, he says, "can't be turned into sweeping conclusions and the findings must be considered only preliminary." In addition this same study concluded that the men who ate tofu had a 65 percent lower incidence of prostate cancer than their anti-soy counterparts.
However, this has not stopped the soy bashers from having a field day.
Dr. White's study was of an observational nature in which the participants chose their lifestyles. He says his findings demand further investigation through more randomized trials. For example, study subjects (humans or animals) would be randomly divided and one group would be fed tofu and the other would not. The incidence of dementia in the two groups would then be measured and compared. A progression of such studies would either confirm or refute Dr. White's findings. He believes it will take at least ten years for a conclusion.
One could argue that if a causal effect existed between soy and Alzheimer's or increased brain aging, a greater incidence of Alzheimer's should exist in Japan and China, where tofu is eaten regularly. Also White's findings have not been duplicated in animal models. Though in general I am not fond of extrapolating conclusions from animal to humans, but in this case it may be well worth noting that since White concluded that the effects of soy isoflavone was on the synthesis of new DNA in the brain, its effects should be more marked in animals, who actually have more brain DNA synthesis active for a longer percentage of their lifespan than humans.
Finally, some researchers are questioning whether the link between tofu and brain aging may actually be another link between aluminum and brain atrophy, since although soy is low in aluminum, it does absorb quite a bit of it when cooked in aluminum cookware. The results of this preliminary investigation suggest that the aluminum concentration in soy products is increased slightly by cooking, particularly in an aluminum pot, and strongly (as much as 15-fold) by some methods of tofu production.
Conclusion: Given the current evidence, soy products should occupy an important place in the blood group A anti-cancer strategy plan.
Many of these concerns prompted the FDA to reject assertions from opponents of soy products attempting to block recommendations for the use of soy to control cholesterol, as was reported in the FDA Register:
"...d. Other. (Comment 20). ….FDA finds that this abstract does not provide a sufficient basis to evaluate the merits and weaknesses of this study. As such, it is not useful in evaluating the safety concerns at issue. Moreover, the report does not provide information on total soy intake or what variables were controlled in the analysis. If tofu or soy were implicated in Alzheimer's disease, its prevalence would be expected to be higher in Japan than in Hawaii, but White et al. (Ref. 115) found the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease was higher in Hawaii than in Japan. Therefore, FDA is not persuaded by the comment raising concerns about potential adverse effects of soy protein in dementia and brain atrophy in older persons.
1. White LR, Petrovitch H, Ross GW, Masaki K, Hardman J, Nelson J, Davis D, Markesbery W. Brain aging and midlife tofu consumption. J Am Coll Nutr. 2000 Apr;19(2):242-55. | <urn:uuid:0b9742a8-3d69-4e42-81e0-5d8560de107a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dadamo.com/B2blogs/blogs/index.php/2009/08/11/will-soy-rot-your-brain?blog=27&title=will-soy-rot-your-brain&disp=single&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960972 | 923 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Cellulosic biomass technology developer GraalBio is planning to help build Brazil’s biorefinery industry with a R$300m ($146m) investment of a new 22m gallons/year cellulosic ethanol plant to be constructed in Alagoas using sugarcane bagasse and straw for initial feedstock.
GraalBio is also developing a new type of cost-competitive biomass called Energy Cane, a cross hybrid of sugarcane varieties with selected types of grasses producing low sugar content but high fiber. An experimental site in Alagoas is expected to produce 100,000 Energy Cane seedlings by the end of the year. The company is hoping to achieve productivity target of 100 tons of dry mass/hectare.
GraalBio said the cellulosic ethanol facility will be Brazil’s first. Construction is expected to start in July and start-up of operations is expected by the end of 2013. For pretreatment and conversion of biomass, GraalBio has licensed the PROESA technology from Italy-based Beta Renewables – a joint venture between Chemtex (a division of Italian plastic producer Gruppo Mossi & Ghisolfi) and investment firm TPG.
Chemtex will provide engineering services, equipment and technical field services to GraalBio’s facility. Dutch firms Novozymes and DSM will provide the enzymes and industrial yeasts, respectively.
By the way, Novozymes said it has been looking for locations in Brazil to build its new enzyme manufacturing plants dedicated to support the country’s growing advanced biofuel industry.
“The location of new plants will, among other things, depend on where the industry is expected to scale up, where Novozymes’ partners are located, and where the best framework conditions exist,” says Peder Holk Nielsen, Novozymes VP.
GraalBio said it will also expand the use of its Energy Cane biomass into the bio-based chemicals field. The company is also building a pilot plant in Campinas this year for the development of new biochemical pathways using PROESA. By 2017, GraalBio said it hopes to build five facilities for the production of biobased chemicals in Brazil using modified Brazilian yeasts. | <urn:uuid:9219b81b-e4bc-4013-9c82-d623f8e3b9b1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sbera.org.br/en/2012/07/brazil%E2%80%99s-first-commercial-cellulosic-ethanol-plant/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939626 | 462 | 1.976563 | 2 |
NICHCY’s Structured Abstract 61 describes the following:
Title | A Meta-Analysis of Interventions to Decrease Disruptive Classroom Behavior in Public Education Settings
Authors | Stage, S.A., & Quiroz, D.R.
Source | School Psychology Review, 26(3), 333-68.
Year Published | 1997
Describes a meta-analysis* of 99 studies that used interventions to decrease disruptive classroom behavior in public education settings. Overall, results indicate interventions yield comparable results to other studies investigating effectiveness of psychotherapy. Findings show that efficacious treatments used in public school settings decrease disruptive classroom behaviors.
Students who frequently display disruptive behavior during elementary school are at increased risk for serious emotional and behavioral disorders in the future. School psychologists are often consulted about which interventions are most effective for children with disruptive behavior.
This meta-analysis examines the effectiveness of some of the most commonly used interventions for disruptive behavior, including:
- Behavioral Interventions, such as token economies, timeout, over-correction, differential reinforcement*, response-cost procedures, group contingencies*, home-based contingencies, stimulus cueing, and self-management interventions.*
- Cognitive-Behavioral Interventions*, such as anger control programs, affective imagery, self-instructional training programs, and social problem-solving interventions.
- Individual Counseling with individual therapists or school personnel who have been trained in counseling techniques.
- Parent Training, where the child’s parents are taught how to use strategies such as differential reinforcement, compliance training, or timeout.
This study compared the effectiveness of behavioral interventions in managing disruptive classroom behavior in public education settings.
- Number of Studies Included | 99
- Number of Subjects | 5,057
- Years Spanned | 1967-1995
5,057. From the studies that reported demographic information: 615 students were female; 910 were male.
Age/Grade of Subjects
4-18 years old
AD/HD, Serious Emotional Disorders, Learning Disabilities, and Mental Retardation.
To be included in the study, participants had to have received treatment to reduce disruptive classroom behavior. Treatments were grouped into 16 categories: token economies or point systems, differential reinforcement, response cost, group contingencies, teacher approval or disapproval, peer management, noncontingent exercise programs, home-based contingencies, functional assessments, self-management interventions, stimulus-cue interventions, punishment, cognitive-behavioral interventions, parent-training, parent-child communication training, or individual counseling.
Duration of Intervention
- Group contingencies*, self-management strategies*, and differential reinforcement were significantly more effective in reducing disruptive classroom behavior than cognitive-behavioral interventions.
- There was no specific type of behavioral consequence that was more effective than another.
- Students with emotional disturbance were more responsive to interventions than students with oppositional defiant or conduct disorder;
- Interventions were more successful in self-contained classrooms.
Combined Effects Size
A total of 223 effect sizes yielded a mean effect size of -.78, indicating that, on average, 78% of treated students reduced their disruptive behavior compared to untreated students.
The conclusion that emerges from this meta-analysis is that behavioral interventions more effectively reduce disruptive behavior than do cognitive behavioral interventions. The most effective behavioral interventions appear to be:
- Group contingencies—These are similar to token economies; however, in group contingencies, the group as a whole earns and receives the reinforcement.
- Self-management strategies—In these interventions, students learn to monitor and evaluate their own behavior and use self-reinforcement techniques.
- Differential reinforcement—In this approach, reinforcement is based on a predetermined low level or absence of disruptive behavior during a specified time period. As long as students experienced some form of consequence for their behavior, whether that consequence was positive, negative, or combined did not significantly change the outcome.
* Terms Defined
Cognitive-behavioral interventions (CBI) | CBI is a broad term that encompasses cognitive-behavioral modification (CBM) and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). It is a behavior modification approach that promotes self-control skills and reflective problem-solving strategies. Interventions combine elements of behavior therapy (modeling, feedback, reinforcement) with cognitive approaches (problem solving, self-monitoring, self-instruction, communication skill building, relaxation, and situational self-awareness training) to teach individuals to recognize difficult situations, think of possible solutions, and select the most appropriate response.
Differential reinforcement | In this approach, reinforcement is based on a predetermined low level or absence of disruptive behavior during a specified time period. Consequences for behavior may be positive, negative, or combined.
Effect size (ES or d) | A statistical calculation, often represented as ES or d, that measures the impact of an intervention. An effect size below d = 0.20 suggests that a treatment did not have a significant effect. An effect size of d = 0.20 is considered small or low; an effect size of d = 0.50 is considered moderate; an effect size of d = 0.80 or above is large.
Group contingencies | These are similar to token economies. However, in group contingencies, the group as a whole earns and receives the reinforcement.
Meta-analysis | A widely-used research method in which (1) a systematic and reproducible search strategy is used to find as many studies as possible that address a given topic; (2) clear criterion are presented for inclusion/exclusion of individual studies into a larger analysis; and (3) results of included studies are statistically combined to determine an overall effect (effect size) of one variable on another.
Self-management interventions | In these interventions, students learn to monitor and evaluate their own behavior and use self-reinforcement techniques.
Self-management strategies | Students learn ways (strategies) to monitor and evaluate their own behavior and use self-reinforcement techniques. | <urn:uuid:735161e8-55db-4f3a-8423-78b791236001> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nichcy.org/research/summaries/abstract61 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928987 | 1,241 | 3.21875 | 3 |
- Special Sections
PUNXSUTAWNEY — The Punxsutawney Area Historical & Genealogical Society has once again graced the community with its wonderfully fascinating exhibits.
This year, at their Christmas Open House, the society brought a variety of exhibits, all pertaining to the history of our town.
This year's exhibits include "Seating" and "Tracing the Path of People of Color through the Punxsutawney Area," both of which are located in the Highland Gallery at the Lattimer House. The "Punxsutawney Family Tree" exhibit is located in the Bennis House, which is where the tour concluded after beginning at the Lattimer House.
The "Seating" exhibit was the first exhibit in the tour and included a variety of chairs — one of which is over 200 years old and another of which is a reproduction of a Roman chair with Boreas — the Greek God — carved into the back.
Other chairs in the exhibit include an American Eastlake Chair; a ladies' music chair, a formal American gothic (for ecclesiastical use) and children's chairs, including a little wicker chair and a high chair that turns into a stroller.
There are four types of rocking chairs in the exhibit — including one that was handmade in the year of 1911 by Mr. Yuhas. He made it while awaiting his wife’s arrival from Austria.
Another piece of history included on the tour was an office chair once owned by Abraham Light, who was the owner of "Light Coal Company."
As the story goes, Mr. Light started out as a peddler who invested in the coal business and became a success. His success led to him becoming owner of his own company.
Other chairs in the exhibit include spool-turned chairs, plank-bottomed chairs and school desks from the 1880's-1950's.
One particular chair that stands out was made by the most famous chair maker in Punxsutawney — Mr. Thomas McKee. McKee settled in the area in 1838. and in 1850 went on to become the Representative for the district.
An old wheelchair rests next to one of the most breathtaking pieces, which is a riding saddle used in the 104th Calvary of 1921. Another fascinating piece is a tuffet, which is a short stool made from tree fungus — popularized by the fairy tale rhyme about Miss Muffet.
The second exhibit on display at the Lattimer House is the "Tracing the Path of People of Color through the Punxsutawney Area" display, which is considered a multi-layered exhibit.
One layer shows photos of the safe houses and stations that operated in the Underground Railroad.
They provided food and shelter as well as passage to other safe houses. One safe house was the Winslow Farm, located in the village of Hudson. It was owned by Judge James Winslow, who was a supporter of the abolitionist cause.
Two other safe houses were The Minish House located on Mahoning Street and the Carmalt Farm, which sat where the Country Club now 
is.
Another layer to the exhibit is a timeline in American Civil Rights, which includes a photo of the first settler, Joseph Barnett, coming to the area in 1784. Another photo shows the Native Americans helping Barnett build his home.
There is also a photo of Charles Southerland, an African American man who helped with George Washington's horse in the exhibit as well. Southerland eventually settled in our area.
The third exhibit is, of course a yearly one, "The Punxsutawney Phil" exhibit, which includes all things related to the groundhog.
The fourth and smallest exhibit is the one dedicated to Christmas Decorations.
"The Punxsutawney Family Tree" exhibit is located in the Bennis House and has each room decorated to represent the various settlers who came to our area, from the Native American room — dedicated to the people who first resided here — to other rooms, including the English, German, Scottish-Irish, French and Belgian, Italian, Eastern European and the Scandinavian rooms.
In the French and Belgian room, a dress uniform that was once worn by August Dereume, a Belgian and former resident, are on display.
A wedding dress worn by the granddaughter of the very first French settler, John White, also is on display.
In the Italian room, there is some old fashioned clothing and a beautiful tablecloth, known as "The Lonni Felice Tablecloth."
The Vitello Family donated a true piece of art work, done by Mr. Vitello who crafted a replica of the Catalan Gothic Cathedral located in Palermo, Sicily. It was carved out of grocery and orange crates.
In the Eastern European room are two Kracow Szopkas, which are homemade nativity scenes originating from Kracow, Poland.
One was made by Jeannie Curtis, director of the society.
Hanging in the Scandinavian room is an actual reindeer hide, which was a parting gift to Richard Jenks 
following his time in Norway.
Also located in the room are a Kosta Boda Glass Snowball and a handmade quilt from John Benson's family.
There are also handmade ornaments and other handmade trinkets.
In the German room is a large Christmas Tree decorated in German tradition.
Each room represents the different cultures that reside in our town and what they have brought from their countries to our own. The exhibits will continue to be on display until after Groundhog Day.
Those who have helped to make this exhibit possible are the Historical Society 
members and volunteers. They include Marty Armstrong, president; Jeannie Curtis, director; and board members Shirley Sharp, Joyce Thames, Rose Cook and Mary Ann Hampton. These women not only provided history but also helped with the tours. Hours of operation for the Lattimer House are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday and Saturday, 1 p.m.-4 p.m. Friday and Sunday. The Bennis House is open Thursday through Sunday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tours of the Highland Gallaries are Thursday and Sunday at 1:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. | <urn:uuid:9a9d73d2-e785-4405-86a0-ba08667b38ab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.punxsutawneyspirit.com/content/historical-society-hosts-christmas-open-house-showcase-displays?quicktabs_2=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976909 | 1,350 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Metamorphoses Book 3: Narcissus and Echo
The first to seek Tiresias' guidance was a water nymph enquiring about her son's future. Tiresias told her that her son, Narcissus, would live a long and happy life as long as he did not know himself. When Narcissus was 16, he was out in the woods and a nymph, Echo, saw him. She fell in love with him, but she could not call out to him because Juno had reduced her powers of speech to only repetition because the nymph used to stall her with conversation while Jove and the other nymphs escaped from her. So when Narcissus called out to his friends, Echo answered him with the last words that he cried. The played the game back and forth, and he was intrigued, so she ran out of the cover of the woods and wrapped her arms around him, but he pushed her away. He rejected her, and she was so crushed, that she returned to the woods and pined away until all that was left of her was her voice.
Narcissus was scornful of all that loved him, and one day a rejected lover wished that the boy would know the sting of unattainable love. Not long after that, Narcissus saw his own reflection in a pool of water and fell helplessly in love with it. But each time he reached out to hold it or kiss it, it slipped away from him. He pined away for this evasive love until he realized that it was his reflection. Distraught at the impossibility of ever reaching the object that he loved so dearly, the boy died. When the nymphs came to bury his body, they found only the flower that now bears his name, the narcissus. | <urn:uuid:c4d458ef-0b86-4202-ba66-8d5fccf1d3b6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bookrags.com/notes/met/PART18.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.992952 | 367 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Howard Zinn, who died of a heart attack last week at the age of 87, was a scholar of extraordinary influence. Indeed, few academicians did more than the late Boston University professor to poison the minds of so many young Americans with a vulgar narrative of history in which the United States was forever cast as the villain.
The author of more than twenty books, Zinn was best known for his 1980 publication of A People’s History of the United States. Though its first press run consisted of a mere 4,000 copies, by 2003 the book had topped a million sales over the course of multiple editions. Today the title’s aggregate sales are approaching the two-million mark. A People’s History is assigned as required reading in high schools and colleges across the United States, not only in history classes but also in such fields as economics, political science, literature, and women’s studies. As a result, its author became a household name in academic circles and emerged as one of the most sought-after speakers on the college lecture circuit. As his colleague and admirer Noam Chomsky said last week, “The happy thing about Howard was that in the last years he could gain satisfaction that his contributions were so impressive and recognized. He could hardly keep up with all the speaking invitations.” Added Chomsky, Zinn’s “historical work changed the way millions of people saw the past.”
On this count, Chomsky was correct. At its root, A People’s History is a Marxist tract that paints the United States as the wellspring of earthly evil– a wretched embodiment of sexism, racism, and imperialism and a scourge not only to most of its own population, but also to a vast portion of humanity around the globe.
Zinn’s portrayal of America, the world’s standard-bearer for capitalism, reflected his deeply held conviction that free-markets breed greed, vice, and suffering. Having long maintained that “capitalism has always been a failure for the lower classes,” Zinn in March 2009 rejoiced in saying, “[T]he American capitalist system is falling apart. And good! I’m glad it’s falling apart.” He cited capitalism as the reason “why we have 45 million people without health care,” “2 million people homeless,” and “millions and millions of people who can’t pay their rent.”
In A People’s History, Zinn claims to present American history through the eyes of those whom the raging tide of capitalism has engulfed in poverty and oppression: American Indians, blacks, slaves, women, and the ever-exploited “workers.” In 1995 Zinn wrote candidly about the political agenda that underlay his work:
“I wanted my writing of history and my teaching of history to be a part of social struggle. I wanted to be a part of history and not just a recorder and teacher of history. So that kind of attitude towards history, history itself as a political act, has always informed my writing and my teaching.”
In an interview three years later, Zinn elaborated that his goal in producing A People’s History had been neither to write an objective history nor to write a complete one:
“There’s no such thing as a whole story; every story is incomplete. My idea was [that] the orthodox viewpoint has already been done a thousand times.”
When confronted by critics who suggested that his book was “not an unbiased account,” Zinn shot back:
“So what? If you look at history from the perspective of the slaughtered and mutilated, it’s a different story.”
In keeping with that perspective, Zinn wrote America’s story as an uninterrupted narrative of depravity. Born in sin, the nation, as Zinn saw it, would forever be morally defective – at least until such time as its leaders might finally awaken to the healing splendors of Marxism.
In Zinn’s telling, America’s “Founding Fathers … created the most effective system of national control devised in modern times, and showed future generations of leaders the advantages of combining paternalism with command.” The Declaration of Independence, Zinn said, was not so much a revolutionary statement about the God-given rights of man and the principles of limited government that logically flowed from it, as it was a cynical effort to manipulate people into rebelling against the King of England for the sole purpose of further enriching a handful of already-wealthy “white males.” And for good measure, Zinn condemned “the English invasion of North America” as “a barbarous epoch of history” that was “ruled by competition,” and whose noteworthy hallmarks included “deception,” “brutality,” “slavery,” the “massacre of Indians,” and “conquest and murder in the name of progress” – all as a result of the “powerful drive born in civilizations based on private property.”
The Pilgrims who came to New England “were coming not to vacant land but to territory inhabited by tribes of Indians,” Zinn explained – portraying those natives essentially as a peaceful network of brothers who had long lived in idyllic harmony with one another, until the fateful moment when white “invaders” (as Zinn put it) first arrived on the shores of North America.
From Zinn’s account, one would never learn that the history of American Indians was replete with inter-tribal conflicts of great violence, or that slave-trafficking played a very significant role in a number of Indian societies. Indeed, long before the first Europeans arrived in the New World, an elaborate slave-trading network had developed among the Indians of the Northwest coast, where slaves constituted as much as 10 to 15 percent of some tribes’ populations. But in Zinn’s version of history, the only slavery that mattered was the white-on-black variety. The vices of nonwhites were deemed insufficiently interesting to merit mention. The lines between good and evil were drawn with clarity and boldness. There were no shades of gray; there was only white wrongdoing on the one hand, and the radiant goodness of nonwhites on the other.
As Zinn saw things, America’s moral failings were not merely the stuff of yesteryear. When the professor looked at modern America’s physical and social landscape, he saw nothing worthy of redemption. Rather, he saw a nation engaged in “the poisoning of the air, the seas and rivers”; a nation beset by profound economic injustice; and a nation that spent far too much money on its weapons of war, but far too little on the teeming masses who had been dealt a most unfortunate hand by capitalism’s unpredictable caprices. All of these flaws, Zinn maintained, were the bitter fruits of the free market.
Where there was crime, Zinn saw “a class of criminals” who had been “bred by economic inequity.” Criminals, in Zinn’s calculus, were merely people engaged in understandable rebellion against the “fierce competition” and “the contrasts of wealth and poverty” that epitomized America’s “culture of possession.” He explained that American society, “so stratified by wealth and education,” lent itself “naturally to envy and class anger.” And of course Zinn saw racism, observing not only that “a disproportionate number of prisoners in American jails” were “poor and non white,” but also that black children were “four times as likely as white children to grow up on welfare.” All these things, Zinn reiterated, were the result of capitalist society’s failings.
The disgust that Zinn plainly felt for America stood in sharp contrast to his more benign view of the most notorious Communist dictatorships of the 20th century. For example, Maoist China was, in the professor’s estimation, “the closest thing, in the long history of that ancient country, to a people’s government, independent of outside control.” Castro’s Cuba, similarly, “had no bloody record of suppression,” according to Zinn. And the Marxist Sandinista dictators of Nicaragua in the 1980s were allegedly “welcomed” by the people of that country, while the opposition Contras – who were supported by the United States, and whose presidential candidate emerged victorious when a free election was held – were described by Zinn as a “terrorist group” that “seemed to have no popular support inside Nicaragua.”
During the Cold War, Zinn supported the Soviet Union in its rivalry against the United States. And in a pamphlet titled Terrorism and War, which he penned after 9/11, Zinn depicted America as a veritable terrorist state, while painting its jihadist enemies as freedom fighters who were bravely defending themselves against the ravages of U.S. imperialism.
Just as Zinn held the United States in contempt, so did he despise America’s closest ally in the Middle East, Israel. Zinn maintained, for instance, that “after the Six-Day War of 1967 and Israel’s occupation of territories seized in that war (the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights, the Sinai peninsula),” he personally “began to see Israel not simply as a beleaguered little nation surrounded by hostile Arab states, but as an expansionist power.” Missing from Zinn’s narrative was any acknowledgment of the fact that Israel’s role in the war was purely one of self-defense against an impending Arab invasion, and that the territories Israel captured in the battle were acquired not as a result of aggression, but in the course of a desperate fight for survival against the Jewish state’s would-be Arab exterminators.
During his long career as a professor and public speaker, Howard Zinn’s hatred for Israel and America alike became dominant themes of his writing and his pedagogy. As noted, he was more than candid about his burning desire to make his teaching of history “a political act.” His ultimate objective was to influence new generations of young students into becoming revolutionaries whose hatred for the United States would impel them to work toward “a transformation of national priorities” and a comprehensive “change in the system.” “The prisoners of the system will continue to rebel,” Zinn said in hopes that someday “our grandchildren, or our great grandchildren, might possibly see a different and marvelous world.”
That “world” was the Marxist utopia that had led to the deaths of so many throughout history – and that one of America’s leading historians encouraged his students and readers to pursue by any means necessary. | <urn:uuid:fbb3b721-0b0a-4a0f-9544-d158d8d8071e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://frontpagemag.com/2010/john-perazzo/howard-zinn%E2%80%99s-history-of-hate/comment-page-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976143 | 2,324 | 2.3125 | 2 |
Reaching Escape Velocity
This is for those who are attempting to launch a gonzo engineering project or large-scale expedition with minimal resources. It is not about specific hardware or software technical methods, but instead the meta-hack of developing enough support and buzz to get your project to take on a life of its own. Large corporations can do this with brute-force methods (unlimited money and people), but individuals face daunting hurdles when competing for mindshare and resources. Without the ability to leverage larger forces as a sort of martial art, it is difficult for a lone geek to escape the gravity well.
This little book is the collection of “trade secrets” that have made my 25 years of adventures possible… the art of working with sponsors, volunteers, and media to get an insanely ambitious project off the ground and keep it moving on its own momentum.
- The Business Angle
- Getting Educated
- The Media Dance
- A Public Presence
- Building the Team
- What is Gonzo Engineering?
Reaching Escape Velocity is also available from Amazon in both print and Kindle editions (although, if you prefer the paper version, buying it with the link at the top of this section gets you an autographed copy). Oh, and there was a sweet little mention in Make: Volume 21, as well as an excellent review in the 77 Zero blog.
Winnebiko II Poster
These 18×24 posters carry an amazing image drawn from life by Robert Dvorak (author of Drawing Without Fear) in 1987. The Winnebiko II is accurately represented, and the associated text highlights the features of this machine… the version that covered both coasts of the US from 1986-1988. We used to sell these for $15 back in the ’90s and ran out, then believed for years that they were rare. The artist contacted me in early 2011, wondering if I wanted the stack he’s been saving… so I bought the whole lot and am now offering them at a bargain price.
Posters are shipped rolled in a mailing tube. You can also pick one up at the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley (where you can see BEHEMOTH at the same time).
Please specify how you would like it signed (or not). I’d be happy to include a custom message if this is a gift for a geekling…
Back Issues of Journal of High-Tech Nomadness
20+ years ago, publishing was a very different phenomenon. There were no blogs or websites, and online publishing was limited in scope and ASCII only. Zines were hip. During the epoch of the Winnebiko II and the development of BEHEMOTH, I published twelve issues of a small magazine… the first six called The Journal of High Treknowledgy, and the next called The Journal of High-Tech Nomadness.
Most of the inventory is long gone (with the early ones exceedingly rare), but I have a good pile of issues 8 and 10. This store item is one of each, shipped in a poly mailer (7 ounce package, First Class). It’s fun stuff… here are the contents of the two 28-page issues:
JHN8… Call to Nomadness, CSPC (the poor man’s composite, using cardboard and fiberglass), Immersed in Santa Cruz, The Evolution of the Winnebiko showing the three console versions, Nomad of the Night (guest column), Networks in the Sky (packet radio), Writing “The Other Man” (guest column), Maggie’s Adobo & Megadora recipes, tech notes about the BEHEMOTH system, Hack of the Month (by a brilliant 4-year-old), and a letters column.
JHN10… Last-Minute Update about Silicon Valley life, On the Loose in Dataspace, Pound-Miles per Hour (poking fun at the bicycle-racing speed obsession), Mobile R&D tools, The Evolution of BEHEMOTH (three full bike photos), Eating B’Dang B’Dang by the late Jef Raskin, Notes from Maggie’s adventure, 2 book reviews, and Notes from the Bikelab (BEHEMOTH overview, HF dipole, microwave motion sensor, LED taillights, solar and battery management, RUMP packaging, CD packaging, and network architecture). | <urn:uuid:d51d1747-57d2-4def-8d5a-464de5d2ca60> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nomadness.com/store/technomadic-publications | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916253 | 918 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Siletz Valley School is about to begin receiving closer attention from the State Department of Education as well as the Lincoln County School District so that it may boost its students’ academic achievement.
Siletz Valley School ranked in the bottom 5% of all schools in Oregon that have a high poverty rate in their community. State education officials say the low rating will trigger a “deeper diagnosis” into why student scores are so low and what can be done about them. State officials say once the diagnosis is complete, the state will step in with more support and couple it with greater involvement of the school district, teachers, parents and the community. That collaboration will create a plan, called a Comprehensive Achievement Plan, to attack the school’s problems and then turn the school around.
At the other end of the student achievement scale is Sam Case Elementary School in Newport. Sam Case students scored in the top 5% of schools that have a high poverty rate in their community. State education officials say that the tactics used as Sam Case Elementary to achieve their high student scores will be used as a model of success, among a number of others, to help lesser achieving schools around the state improve their student scores.Share on Facebook | <urn:uuid:67c323ce-5caf-4ac2-8236-824d410cfd1b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newslincolncounty.com/archives/57844 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966224 | 248 | 2.28125 | 2 |
These days many website designers and developers talk about a content management system. Not sure what a content management system is or how it can benefit you?
A content management system (or CMS) allows gives you the ability to change the content of your website at any time, without the need to consult a developer. This not only gives you complete control over your website, but saves you money.
The content mangement system that we use for our website projects is called Joomla!™. Joomla is an Opensource, award-winning content management system written in PHP which is allows users to easily publish their content on the world wide web and intranets. Joomla is created as an open-source project where individuals and teams contribute their skills to its development as well as its supporting systems.
While Joomla is packed with features, its greatest quality is that it is extremely extensible. Because of its extensible structure, there aren’t many things you cannot do with Joomla!. A short list of some important features of Joomla! are the following:
We at web.d3 have been using Joomla as our CMS of choice for several years - since early in the life of Joomla 1.0. We have built upwards of 100 websites using Joomla for our clients, and have found it to be the most flexible, easy to use (for the client) and supported system around.
Contact us today to discuss how a content management system can benefit you, or how we can convert your existing site to become self-managed.
The Joomla!® name is used under a limited license from Open Source Matters in the United States and other countries. web.d3 is not affiliated with or endorsed by Open Source Matters or the Joomla! Project.
Joomla Templates and Joomla Extensions by JoomlaVision.Com | <urn:uuid:af8beb2a-5658-4d63-95c5-d27848064ff8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.webd3.com.au/content-management.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945137 | 391 | 1.625 | 2 |
Fictitious and Symbolic Creatures in Art, by John Vinycomb, , at sacred-texts.com
A chimerical creature of mediæval invention, having the body of an heraldic tiger with mane, and the head of an old man with long spiral horns. Some heraldic authorities make the horns more like those of an ox, and the feet like a dragon's.
The Satyral is apparently identical with the man-tiger.
The belief that certain persons have the power of assuming the shape of the tiger is common in India, and the Khonds say that a man-killing tiger is either an incarnation of the Earth's goddess or a transfigured man. It is thus with the Lavas of Birma, supposed
to be the broken-down remains of a cultured race and dreaded as man-tigers. *
Two satyrals supported the arms of the Lords Stawell.
The supporters of the arms of the Earl of Huntingdon are mantigers, but are represented without horns.
From a mediæval "Bestiaria" we have a description and illustration of a gruesome creature of this name (manticora), evolved no doubt from some traveller's marvellous tale. We are
There are several other fictitious creatures, which, if we may believe certain old writers, excited the minds of our credulous wonder-loving forefathers. Of these little need be said, as they rarely, if ever, appear in modern works on heraldry, and may therefore be classed as extinct monsters.
219:* Tylor's "Primitive Culture." | <urn:uuid:23098e17-fc92-4c4d-a531-87914f348dd8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sacred-texts.com/lcr/fsca/fsca58.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915084 | 335 | 2.921875 | 3 |
D. Christopher Brooks, Ph.D., joined our campus for a conversation on learning spaces. Brooks is a Research Fellow in Educational Technology Services at the University of Minnesota where he conducts empirical research on the impact of educational technologies on teaching practices and learning outcomes. Watch and listen as he shares his findings on the relationship between active learning spaces and student learning outcomes, instructor and student behavior, and student perceptions of the learning experience. Brooks also shares findings on the relationship between the type of pedagogical approach and student learning outcomes and student perceptions of the learning experience.
Pedagogy and Space: Empirical Research On New Learning Environments – December 10, 2012
Space Matters: The Impact of Active Learning Classrooms – December 11, 2012 | <urn:uuid:42ce18b0-4e95-47c3-a0d8-206cc8b5c87f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://spuitunesu.wordpress.com/tag/research/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939366 | 148 | 1.953125 | 2 |
Introduction to MIG Welding (Weekend Price for 2)
Metal inert gas (MIG) welding, also known as wire-feed welding, falls between arc welding and TIG in the welding spectrum. Quieter and cleaner (and some say easier) than arc welding, MIG welding is typically used in production fabrication such as furniture making, light construction, and auto restoration. You’ll learn the basics of MIG welding, as well as plasma cutting and other fabrication processes. Knowledge of arc welding is handy but not essential.
*Young Adults age 16+ must request approval and register to take this class by phone at 510-444-0919 x“0”
Cost: $620.00 (Tuition: $460.00, Studio Fee: $160.00), Members: $574.00
|There are no products to list in this category. | <urn:uuid:1ce72762-ab66-4848-be0b-f7486fea24f1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://store.thecrucible.org/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=417_418_554 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920561 | 183 | 2.15625 | 2 |
Pet Training Made Easy
We will show you all the dog training tips to make training easy.
Welcome to HelpWithPetTraining - a site for the sole purpose of helping you with your pet training needs. As pet owners, we know the importance of a well behaved animal. Having a pet who responds to you in the ways you want, and obeys the rules of the house makes for a much more enjoyable life between owner and pet.
This site can help you with the tough problems that both cat and dog owners face. Whether you are a new pet parent, just trying to teach an old dog some new tricks, or simply having trouble teaching your cat to use the litter box, we can offer guidance to help you out. Our dog training tips and cat training information has been proven to work time and time again.
Our goal is to make pet training easy and fun, and help to restore or create a lasting bond between you and your pet. If a pet goes untrained, the consequences can be devastating, such as coming home and finding your couch torn to shreds. Pets without proper training can destroy a home and make life for the family unpleasant. That’s why pet training is priceless and lasts a lifetime for you and your pet.
If you are an existing pet owner who is looking to change some behaviors in your animals, such as teaching your dog to overcome separation anxiety, we invite you to check out the many pages of this site for free pet training information by top trainers. We hope you will be pleased by the accuracy and ease of use in these training guides we have put together. We take great pride in the free pet training guides we provide, and encourage you to check out the premium dog and cat training guides that we recommend, as these guides provide all the information you need to have a well behaved pet. We only present you with guides that we use ourselves.
Dog Training Tips
Our dog training tips can help make yourand your pet happier together.
Owning a dog can bring a lot of joy into the owner and family’s life. A dog that has behavior problems, though, can cause problems. We offer training help for all the common behavior problems, and more. Our dog training guides offer tips for whatever breed of dog you may have. We can help train your toy dog, and also help with your hound. Our dog training tips come from years of experience with training dogs.
When we decide to get a new dog it is a lot like bringing home the newest family member. If you have yet to pick out a name, check out our list of unusual pet names. Finding the right breed of dog is very important due to the nature of some breeds, for instance a large dog that needs lengthy walks and has a lot of energy should not live with the elderly and may be too large to be around small children. A toy breed should never go to a family with small children because the breed may be too fragile. Understanding the pet basics can help out any new dog owner.
Here are some basic dog training tips:
- The first weeks with a new puppy are the hardest. It is in this time you need to get your new puppy on the right track so you will end up with a well trained adult dog.
- It can be frustrating when a dog has potty issues. Having to constantly clean up messes on your floor can quickly hurt the relationship between you and your dog.
- Having a dog who constantly barks can be really annoying and lower the quality of life in your household. It can also lead to upset neighbors as well.
- Having a dog that bites and nips can also be a big problem, and someone may even get hurt. We have the tips needed to help control a biting problem.
- Clicker and crate training are two great ways to train a dog. We will show you how to make effective use of these training methods.
- Make sure you dog is getting plenty of exercise. Different breeds need different amounts, but all dogs need to be active to live a healthy lifestyle.
- It is important to maintain a regular feeding schedule for your dog. Make sure you are feeding your pet the right food as well. With some of the cheaper dog foods, you have to beware of certain dangers.
- Grooming is also important for a healthy pet and household. You don’t want your shedding dog to leave hair all over your house.
- Bringing a new dog into a home with an existing dog can lead to problems, and we have all the answers you need for introducing a new dog to an existing dog.
- Dog training is really critical for a well adjusted dog. Starting as early as possible is important. We have a lot of free training advice on this site, and also recommend checking out the Secrets to Dog Training. This is the premium guide that has the absolute best methods for training all breeds of dogs. This is the guide most of our free tips are based around. If you are looking to have a well trained dog, this guide is your best tool.
Cat training is easy if you know the proper techniques.
We are not just all about dog training here. We love our dogs, but equally love our feline friends as well. We have a lot of good information on training cats and kittens. Cats and kittens can usually adjust quickly to a new family, but some may develop shyness or even aggressive behavior if they are not comfortable in their surroundings. We can help you to train your cat with guidance and love no matter what the breed of cat, big or small. The importance of cat training should not be overlooked.
Cat training is easy if you know the proper techniques. Some kittens can attack bite and even scratch furniture; these are just a few problems cat owners face along with litter box training. Spraying is one of the most destructive behaviors for cats because the smell of cat urine is so pungent. There is help for this destructive behavior that does work and we want to aid in your pet training and education. Some new cats or kittens to the home may display predatory behavior - this is completely natural but immensely disruptive to not only to us humans but to other animals in the home. Socializing your cat or kitten is one of the hardest cat training techniques because what we think is cute or darling, many of the visitors to our homes do not.
We will also help with other problem areas such as how to keep the new furry member of your family from disrupting the lives of older pets in the home. It’s always a difficult task to have to discipline a new pet and sometimes heart breaking to see the look on their little faces when they make a mistake, but it’s better to do it sooner rather than later. If a pet is not disciplined for bad behavior from the start, they won’t know the behavior is bad for quite some time into training. It is very important that you get started right away. When it comes to training your cat or kitten, there is no better guide than Cat Secrets Revealed by Liz Barton. Liz is the top expert in the field of cat training, and has put together a guide that any cat owner will love. We highly recommend it for anyone wanting to train a new cat or correct existing behavior issues.
Thank you for letting us lend a hand in the training of your pets. Please do explore this site, and we hope you find the pet training info you seek. We hope you have a dog-gone purrrrfect day, and good luck!
The name of the dog from "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" is Max.
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Policy Manual -
Environmental and Safety Policy
Section 1002 Environmental and Safety Policy
Last Revised: 1/13/03
Responsible Office: Human Resources/Facilities
The University of Maine System is committed to protecting the environment and the health and safety of all members of the University community in its operations and activities. We further recognize an obligation to demonstrate safety and environmental leadership by maintaining the highest standards and serving as an example to our students as well as the community at large.
In working to meet this commitment, individual campuses, organizational units, and employees must ensure that sound environmental health and safety planning is integrated into every level of University System decision-making and must demonstrate leadership to meet the following:
Comply with all applicable federal and state environmental health and safety laws and regulations. In the absence of specific laws or regulations, consensus-based standards or best management practices should be adopted;
Develop, implement, and continuously improve environmental health and safety programs that eliminate safety hazards, encourage safe work practices and emphasize safety and environmental education;
Promote environmental health and safety responsibility among employees, students, and visitors through training and assessment;
Include environmental, health and safety factors as an integral part of each institution's planning and operational functions;
Design, construct and operate all facilities in a manner that encourages environmental responsibility and promotes sustainable development on campus properties and in local communities; and
Work cooperatively with government, industry and other organizations in developing reasonable and cost-effective environmental, health and safety legislation and regulations that protect the human health and the environment.
The Chancellor is directed to take actions necessary to assure that all units of the University of Maine System are in compliance with this policy and with all pertinent Federal and State regulations.
The Chancellor or a delegated representative is authorized to review plans developed by individual campuses or other organizational units to assure compliance with this policy. | <urn:uuid:1f2f2cf3-f42e-433c-bdd4-25a265c9e088> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.maine.edu/system/policy_manual/policy_section1002.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945588 | 377 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Washington, Sep 11 : Twitter has become a rage, right from college students to celebrities like Ashton Kutcher, and researchers at Penn State University have now claimed that the micro-blogging site is also benefiting companies.
Jim Jansen, associate professor of information science and technology, College of Information Science and Technology, Penn State, says that 20 percent of the tweets contain requests for product information or responses to the requests.
"People are using tweets to express their reaction, both positive and negative, as they engage with these products and services. Tweets are about as close as one can get to the customer point of purchase for products and services," said Jansen.
The researchers investigated micro-communicating as an electronic word-of-mouth medium using Twitter as the platform, and thus examined half a million tweets during the study.
They looked for tweets mentioning a brand and why the brand was mentioned-to inform others, express a view on the brand or something else- and found that people were using tweets to connect with the products.
"Businesses use micro-communication for brand awareness, brand knowledge and customer relationship. Personal use is all over the board," said Jansen.
With about six million active users daily and predictions of more than 20 million users by the end of the year, Twitter has become the next big thing on the Web.
But, Jansen said that even though Twitter is still in its early stages of adoption, he sees it being around for a while, mainly because people and businesses are starting to make profits from it, using it as a creative way to market their products.
He also said the concept of micro blogging as a whole can be just as influential as other social media channels.
"It may be right up there with e-mail in terms of its communication impact," said Jansen.
The study found that users employ Twitter to inquire about product information-about 20 percent of the tweets contained product information in the form of asking and providing, thus giving companies a "rich source" of information concerning issues and questions that customers have regarding its products.
Surprisingly, it was found that "a lot of the brand comments were positive. There are some good products out there, or at least products that people are happy with," said Jansen.
The results have been published in the Journal of the American Society for Information Sciences and Technology. (ANI) | <urn:uuid:fee61ef6-8a86-4bf5-98f5-6337f039ca31> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://topnews.in/twitter-acting-wordofmouth-publicity-medium-2212930 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970515 | 486 | 2.234375 | 2 |
Pet Travel Guide: Tips For Traveling With Your Pet
Here are some important pet travel tips that you need to know while planning a vacation with your pet.
Bringing your pet with you on your vacation is becoming easier. Lots of hotels and motels are accommodating pet travel.
Most National Parks have strict regulations restricting pets. Check with them ahead of time. Your pet may not be able to walk with you but you can still spend some happy time together.
Before you bring Fido or Fluffy on your trip make sure that they are physically up to it. Take her to the vet first and be sure that she is in sound health.
Make sure she has all her necessary vaccinations along with a health certificate to bring along with you on your trip.
Be sure she has a collar with ID tag that contains your name and phone number. If she gets lost somehow, that could be the only way she gets back home.
A pet that is not well behaved can be a problem and may not be suited to travel. She will be in strange surroundings and you don't want her to scratch or bite out of fear and confusion.
If you must leave your pet home please be sure that she is well cared for. Professional pet sitters, kennels, friends or family are options available to you.
Leave explicit instructions for care and the phone number of your vet.
Most airlines will accommodate pet travel but they all have their own rules. Dogs and cats are usually ok but other pets may present a problem.
Your pet can travel either in the passenger cabin or in the cargo hold. Pet travel in the cargo hold can be a little rough and ventilation is not the best. Your vet should be able to help you evaluate if Fido or Fluffy is up to it.
Well behaved pets that are able to travel in an appropriate sized container may be brought with you on the plane. They will be treated as carry on luggage and will have to ride under your seat.
Pet travel in your car is a much more straight forward arrangement for all. Some pets can't handle it though and it is best to make sure she is up to it before your vacation starts.
Take basic safety precautions like not letting the animal run free in the vehicle. She could cause an accident. This means that she should be leashed securely or travel in a pet container.
Never leave your precious pet in a hot car with the windows shut. It doesn't take long for the temperature inside to reach lethal levels.
Make sure you provide her with fresh water and food. For dogs, she will greatly appreciate frequent stops to get a quick bit of exercise.
When bringing your pet to a motel or hotel that accommodates pet travel please be sure to follow all their rules. A bad experience will make it more difficult for future pet owners. Keep her leashed and clean up after her. Do not allow her to damage property by chewing or scratching.
Be prepared for emergencies and possible problems due to stress. If possible, find out the name and phone number of a local vet or animal hospital near where you will be staying.
With a little effort your vacation can be safe and fun for both people and animals. Remember, Fido or Fluffy can't look after themselves so it is up to you to be sure that their traveling needs are taken care of.
About the Author: The author, of this article, Peter Shannon, is the owner of the website http://www.1001-vacation-ideas.com. Here you will find a large collection of vacation and getaway ideas for travelers searchable by theme and location. | <urn:uuid:0e149f34-9bbd-4aa9-9f06-b7eb0e8f0772> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.roseindia.net/articles/traveling-with-pet.page | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956547 | 742 | 1.789063 | 2 |
updated 08:10 am EDT, Wed October 1, 2008
Apple May Ramp LEDs
Apple is once again scaling up its production of LED-backlit displays and the notebooks to match, if a production forecast today proves accurate. Kenmos, one of Apple's key suppliers of LED backlights, is said to be boosting its production from at most 80,000 notebook lights during the summer to 200,000 for the fall, returning to levels unseen since the start of 2008 and the launch of the MacBook Air as well as refreshed MacBook Pros.
How much of this is earmarked for Apple is unknown, though it and Dell have previously been considered Kenmos' primary customers. As many as 70 percent of the LEDs will be used for high-end notebooks, according to the alleged sources behind the forecast. It's not known what criteria would define this split.
Apple has been one of the most prolific users of LED backlights in its portables and first began using them with the 15-inch MacBook Pro in 2007, since then expanding them to the MacBook Air and to an optional screen for the 17-inch MacBook Pro. Dell itself is increasing its LED backlight usage for notebooks in the fall with the advent of its new Latitude line but is making LEDs almost exclusively optional rather than standard.
Apple is known to be revising its MacBook line in the near future and is believed to be redesigning the 13-inch MacBook to use aluminum, though whether this will switch to LED is unconfirmed.
Both companies have publicly committed to adopting mercury-free displays in their lineups and are believed to be using LED backlights as a move towards that goal; Apple has shied away from a timetable and says it's dependent on technology, though Dell has committed to shipping all its notebooks with LED lighting by some point within 2010. | <urn:uuid:fad122fa-3e93-4382-bce8-c2b011577b23> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/10/01/apple.may.ramp.leds/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967887 | 369 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Here are my two versions of Mint Apple Jelly.
The jar on the right is for puritans. It has no food coloring.
The one on the left? I'm going to fess up and tell you right off the bat: it's not-so-pure. It had help turning green. It's for the people who once in awhile throw caution to the wind and add a couple drops of food coloring to make something look more like the stuff they remember from childhood. Food coloring is not the most evil thing in the world. It's in Red Velvet Cake and Orange Jell-O and the commercially-made Mint Apple Jelly my mom served with roast leg of lamb at Easter.
You see, one reason why mint is so beautiful when it's growing in nature is that it's still raw, but if you want to extract the flavors from this versatile herb for jelly, you're going to need to give it a bath in boiling water and that changes its appearance dramatically.
After the mint leaves sit for an hour, strain the liquid off the leaves.
This pale liquid in the jar is what you'll have left:
At this point, your fresh mint has been turned into a very important ingredient for your Mint Apple Jelly. And if you've changed your mind about making jelly...well...you've got a delicious glass of mint tea!
If you want to add green food coloring, it's totally up to you, of course. That's one reason why we preserve food ourselves. To make conscious choices about the ingredients we feed ourselves and our friends & families.
Honestly, I had to go out and buy food coloring for this. I'm not a big fan of artificially-colored or artificially-flavored anything. The last time I tinted something red I used beet powder. But I felt strongly about creating a true Mint Apple Jelly that was not only full of delightful fresh mint flavor, but one that reminded me of my childhood. I absolutely loved the Mint Apple Jelly my mom bought at the grocery store and I knew the only way to duplicate it was to add a bit of food coloring.
I'll let you decide which Mint Apple Jelly version to make, but every time I see that pretty green jar in my pantry, it makes me smile.
Oops...notice the tell-tale stain on my thumb.
Rest assured the food coloring incorporated better once the jar of jelly was processed!
Mint Apple Jelly
(Adapted from the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving)
- 1 cup firmly-packed mint leaves
- 1 cup boiling water
- 4 cups high-quality apple juice
- 2 Tablespoons bottled lemon juice
- 3 cups sugar
- Green food coloring (optional!)
Yield: 3 or 4 half pint jars
1.) Put mint leaves in a bowl and pour boiling water over the top. Stir gently, then let sit for one hour.
2.) Prepare jars by first washing them in hot soapy water then rinsing them well. Place the clean jars in a boiling water bath canner, fill it halfway with water, and place it on the stove.
3.) Turn on the heat and bring the water to a boil, then turn off the heat, but do not remove the jars from the hot water. Leave the jars in the canner until you are ready to use them.
4.) Strain mint leaves, pressing to extract the liquid.
5.) Combine mint liquid, apple juice, lemon juice, and sugar in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan.
6.) Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar.
7.) Cook to gelling point, stirring occasionally. It will probably take 20-30 minutes for the mixture to reach 220 degrees F, and it might need to cook even longer. It's best to use one or more tests to check for the proper gelling point.
8.) Remove from heat and add a few drops of green food coloring, if desired.
9.) Ladle into hot jars, leaving 1/4" headspace. Wipe rims clean with a damp paper towel. Place a seal on the jar, then screw on a band until it's finger-tip tight.
10.) Process for 10 minutes in a Boiling Water Bath.
11.) Turn kettle off and let jars rest in kettle for 5 more minutes.
12.) Remove jars carefully from kettle using jar-lifter tongs, and gently set aside to cool on the counter, on a kitchen towel, in a draft-free place.
13.) Let rest for 24 hours, then check jars for a proper seal* before storing.
14.) If jars lid seals it will easily keep for one year in a cool, dark place. If jar doesn't seal, place it in your refrigerator and eat within 3 months, and within one month after opening.
*Check lids for a proper seal by pressing down on the middle of the lid with a finger or thumb. If the lid stays down, it is sealed and will easily keep for up to one year in a cool dark place. If the lid springs up when you release your finger, the lid is not properly sealed. | <urn:uuid:b55df0e9-7953-46bd-bc9a-4b12be981287> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.learntopreserve.com/the-art-of-preserving/2012/6/27/double-your-mint-apple-jelly-fun.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916926 | 1,065 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Strategic planning is a process that helps companies formally determine their goals and develop strategies to reach those goals. While it applies on a company-wide scale, strategic planning should also be a key part of your marketing process. A properly crafted strategic marketing plan will serve as a roadmap, facilitating the trip to your marketing goals and keeping you on course should road blocks occur.
Step 1: Define your mission and vision
To begin the planning process, it is critical that you know where you are and where you want to go. A clear mission statement defines your organization and outlines the key measures of success. You’ll also want a distinct vision of where you want to take the company, although the planning process may play a role in cultivating that vision. A concise but thorough vision statement should ultimately communicate the result you’re trying to achieve.
Step 2: Embark on a discovery
Discovery is the key to knowledge-based marketing. At Scott Cooper Associates, the discovery process includes extensive analysis of existing or new research to develop an in-depth knowledge of the company or products and services being marketed. A thorough exploration of competing-company personalities, approaches, marketing tactics, etc. provides key information for the competitive analysis. Equally important in the discovery process is information gathered on the target markets. Analyzing the current and potential markets will aid in the development of an efficient and productive strategic plan. All this data is then analyzed to determine current strengths and weaknesses as well as threats and opportunities.
Step 3: Identify critical success factors
Equipped with valuable information on the competitive landscape; the next step is to define critical success factors necessary to reach the defined vision. Developing a clear, more compelling story than your competitors and cultivating name recognition are examples of qualitatively measured factors. Quantitative determinants like capturing consumer segment insights by modeling best customers and positioning marketing efforts based on the results of the modeling, could also be critical factors to success.
Step 4: Put the plan in place
Next up is the development of a plan to effectively reach the appropriate target audience. Good decisions on tactics, timing and messaging are facilitated by the broad and detailed knowledge gained during discovery. Use your mission and vision to help you staying on course with messaging and tone. Your plan may consist of a mix of advertising, direct mail, internet marketing, social media and public relations, depending on your budget. And don’t forget to develop a timeline for launches and measurement.
Step 5: Measure your success
Lastly, you’ll want to develop metrics to evaluate the success of each tactic or phase of the plan. Whether they involve website analytics, focus group feedback, or business outcome metrics like market share assessment, the use of qualitative and quantitative measurements can provide invaluable information. The data from these analyses will not only prove the value of the marketing initiatives but will also facilitate alterations to the strategic plan to accommodate market changes or deviations in a timely manner.
Developing a strategic plan takes time, focus and commitment, but it will ultimately lead to better decision making and more productive and successful marketing efforts.
Switch to our mobile site | <urn:uuid:f0cc018c-d6f9-497d-b2f1-ff1787e7f6fd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://scottcooper.com/agency/services/strategic-planning | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924789 | 632 | 1.851563 | 2 |