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The hotter and more widespread the inferno, the more wind it self-generates. That wind fans the flames like the bellows in a blacksmith's forge until a raging firestorm consumes everything in its path. Then the wind blows embers into the sky, carrying the eager coals to combustible fuel, and the fire clones itself in a new place.
Even though hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, and tsunamis create massive damage, they tend to come and go in a relatively short period of time. But a wildfire can hang on for weeks or even months (remember Yellowstone), defying all human efforts to suppress it until there is virtually nothing left to burn. In the worst cases, firefighters can exhaust themselves, struggling against impossible odds, eventually having to wait for rain or snow to come to their aid.
An uncontrolled wildfire is truly a monstrous type of catastrophe with an appetite that will not be sated until the last combustible fragment is consumed.
If you're ever caught up in a wildfire, there are certain things you can do to survive.
- Get out of the area early. Don't wait for an official evacuation order, because by then the escape routes might be clogged with fleeing evacuees.
- Unless the fire is upwind of your position, head upwind because the fire will run downwind.
- If the fire is upwind of your position, choose an escape route that will take you directly away from the advancing fire. If the fire is small and localized, you may be able to make an end-run around it and get upwind. But if there is a lengthy and active fire line burning, move directly away.
- Try not to get uphill of the flames, because fire burns rapidly up a slope. If anything, try to get to a lower elevation, as long as that takes you farther from the fire.
- Roll up the windows and close the vents. Drive slowly with headlights on so others can see you through the smoke.
- If you must stop, park well away from trees, brush or other combustible objects.
- If the fire overtakes you, get down on the floor and cover up with a blanket or coat to protect against the intense heat.
- Stay in the vehicle until the fire passes. Fuel tanks rarely explode from the heat of a wildfire.
If trapped in your home:
- Move to an interior room that has no walls or windows directly in contact with the outside of the house.
- Close doors, but leave them unlocked so rescuers can enter and search for survivors.
- Don't leave the relative protection of the house or vehicle and try to run away on foot, because you will probably be overcome with heat and smoke. | <urn:uuid:f6f13860-c8fb-4b69-b8e1-e8f64e78f267> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wilderness-urban-survival.blogspot.com/2012_03_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9221 | 560 | 3.140625 | 3 |
Do you need as much
memory when you're running office applications in Windows
Vista as you do when you're gaming? How much memory do you need in Vista to game comfortably, and spreadsheet smoothly?
Usually a hardware upgrade isn't required for a new operating system. Yet if you
are planing to upgrade Microsoft Windows XP to Microsoft Windows Vista, it's
almost impossible to avoid a PC overhaul. If the PC doesn't have enough RAM to
satisfy Vista's intense thirst, you'll be the slowest thing on two wheels.
Generally speaking more computer memory is better than
less. However, installing more than2GB of RAM doesn't
necessarily translate into a faster Vista desktop PC. Only a few applications may see improvement, and then the law of diminishing returns kicks in. So 2GB of RAM is generally considered the sweet spot for Windows Vista. As the operating system matures, along with supporting software, it's possible that number will climb. It's a wise move to choose a PC that can be upgraded to 4GB. | <urn:uuid:7bcf4e40-104c-4793-bcbf-89bf45167257> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pcstats.com/NewsViewArch.cfm?NewsID=68635 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939461 | 217 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Several thousand people welcomed the arrival of the Year of the Snake on Saturday with a raucous cross-cultural celebration at the Tacoma Dome.
The lunar calendar is recognized in cultures throughout much of East Asia, including China, Taiwan, Vietnam and Korea.
Saturdays celebration in Tacoma also incorporated the Pacific Islands with a kaleidoscopic array of costumes, dance and cultural demonstrations ranging from traditional Chinese dragon dances and Filipino martial arts to a steamy fitness fusion called Hot Hula.
The free festival was the 15th annual New Year celebration organized by the Asia Pacific Cultural Center, a Tacoma-based organization dedicated to bridging cultures throughout Asia and the Pacific.
This years entertainment spotlight focused on Taiwan, with an hour-long noontime presentation of folk and aboriginal dance and music.
But the stage in the Exhibition Hall was busy all day long, with other entertainers representing the Philippines, Hawaii, Samoa, China, Japan, Tahiti, India, Tonga, Fiji, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Guam and New Zealand.
For 16-year-old Anna Neshyba of Tacoma, the New Year celebration was a chance to demonstrate her skill at the centuries old Japanese martial art of Kendo. Barefoot and wrapped in traditional black fighting garb and face mask, Neshyba wielded a wooden staff resembling a broken-off pool cue in a fearsome display of dance and self-defense.
Each of her attacks on a similarly protected opponent was accompanied by a hair-raising primal scream.
For me the attraction is to have a connection with something thats so much older than I am, Neshyba said. And its a great stress reliever.
Tepora Salanoa and Roe Harper, Hot Hula fitness instructors at the Asia Pacific Cultural Center, combined ancient and modern by fusing aerobics and traditional Pacific Island dance.
Hot hula has been great, said Salanoa, who lives in Puyallup. It gets us healthy and active and also brings us back to our own culture. Its also a good weight loss program, Salanoa said, noting that shes 70 pounds lighter than when she started the program.
Lua Pritchard, executive director of the Cultural Center, said Asian cultures have slightly different dates and ways of celebrating the New Year, but they all have one thing in common: Its wishing well to everyone and good luck for us to celebrate, she said. | <urn:uuid:eb43172c-4503-47ef-8f22-623060f17c44> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thenewstribune.com/2013/02/09/2468634/cross-cultural-event-at-tacoma.html?storylink=rss | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930795 | 495 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Caffeine is a popular pre-workout energy and alertness booster for all types of athletes. There have been many studies measuring the effects active adults can expect from performance beverages containing caffeine, and a new one published in the International Sportmed Journal found a 23% increase in anaerobic work capacity.
Researchers had 8 men in their mid-20s ride a stationary bike to exhaustion at 80%, 90%, 100% and 110% of their peak power output. Subjects who has 6 mg of caffeine per kg of body weight (about 400 mg for a 150 pound guy) were able to ride further to exhaustion in the 100% and 110% trials when compared to subjects who got a placebo. The caffeinated cyclists also exhibited significantly improved anaerobic work capacity. If you get your caffeine from green tea, check out today's Breaking News post at optimumnutrition.com | <urn:uuid:ec00b365-8302-421d-98c1-9c6521cfc1b0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.abbperformance.com/news/caffeine-increases-anaerobic-work-capacity-n1565/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956626 | 176 | 2.203125 | 2 |
Beijing sets annual economy growth goal at 9%
Updated: 2008-01-20 10:45
Beijing has planned its economy to grow by nine percent per year in the next five years, said vice and acting mayor of Beijing Guo Jinlong on Sunday.
Guo made the remarks while delivering a government work report at the opening of the first annual session of the Beijing People's Congress, the legislature.
He said the city aimed to realize a $10,000 per capita gross domestic product (GDP) in 2012, up from the current $7,000.
Beijing saw an annual 12 percent economy growth in the past five years, increasing its GDP from 433 billion yuan ($60 billion) in 2002 to 900 billion yuan in 2007, the official added. | <urn:uuid:99ace5f4-25b4-4504-9d7b-e179e6171faf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2008-01/20/content_6406789.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945827 | 159 | 1.789063 | 2 |
A major obstacle confronting blind and visually impaired students in their science education is the inaccessibility to graphical materials that are critically instructive and abundantly available to sighted students. The use of three-dimensional models can effectively address this problem. Specifically, this article discusses how scale models of near-Earth asteroids can be used to teach space science to blind and visually impaired students. The models, published in the peer-reviewed literature and in almost every case based on radar observations, are developed with a rapid prototyping process. With these models, many of the recent exciting discoveries about near-Earth asteroids suddenly are directly accessible to blind and visually impaired people. Recent research has shown that many sighted students also learn better when their haptic sense is engaged. ©2003 Bernhard Beck-Winchatz. Copyright assigned to the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc.
Blind and visually impaired students are often at a disadvantage when they study science and math because of the ubiquity of important graphical information, which generally is not made available in alternate formats accessible to them. This problem is particularly severe in astronomy and space science because the objects of interest usually cannot be examined in the laboratory, and their properties are difficult to relate to familiar objects on Earth. Like their sighted peers, many blind students in elementary and middle school have a natural interest in space, which can motivate them to learn fundamental quantitative skills. For some, this interest can even present a pathway into careers in science, math, and engineering.
The lack of appropriate K–12 resources makes it difficult for teachers and parents to engage students in science and math, and students are often discouraged from pursuing these fields even if they show interest and talent (Scadden 1996). This lack of resources and encouragement from teachers and parents causes many blind students to ultimately lose interest in science. Although effective strategies and tools exist for making text, math formulas, and graphical information accessible to blind and visually impaired students (e.g., Gardner 2002), and recent technological advances have opened the door for blind and visually impaired scientists and mathematicians to work in these fields, their numbers remain small (Jackson 2002; Sakaran 1995).
One way to make graphical information accessible to the blind is to convert images into raised line drawings (e.g., Grice 2002; Jaquiss 2003). To avoid clutter, such tactile images usually have to be simplified by eliminating less important elements without compromising those parts that are needed to convey crucial scientific content. Different groups have developed guidelines that can help in the design of tactile graphics (TAEVIS 2002; Edman 1992; American Printinghouse for the Blind 1997; Levi & Rolli 1994; Eriksson 1999).
An important drawback of tactile graphics is the fact that many blind students have little experience interpreting two-dimensional renderings of three-dimensional objects. Most sighted children develop these skills effortlessly because they are exposed to pictures, maps, and graphs from an early age. Blind children generally do not have access to the tactile counterparts of such information and therefore do not develop the same spatial skills (Gardner 1996; Lewis & Tolla 2003). Although they may have learned how to interpret simple shapes and spatial relations (a sphere is usually represented by a circle; if two objects have similar shapes, the smaller one is often further away, and so on), it is difficult to include more complicated three-dimensional objects without making the images confusing. This problem is further exacerbated by the fact that the haptic perception of humans is intrinsically less detailed than sight (Gardner 1996).
Some of the drawbacks of two-dimensional tactile graphics can be avoided with three-dimensional models, which allow blind students to perceive spatial structures directly. In recent years, rapid prototyping has become essential in helping mechanical engineers quickly produce prototype physical models of new designs directly from digital data. This process has also been used to fabricate three-dimensional scientific plastic models for blind students (Skawinski et al. 1994; Jones 1998). Recently, accurate scale models of asteroids, including the ones that can make extremely close approaches to Earth, have become available (Design Cast Studios 2000; see Table I).
Our planet resides in a swarm of asteroids thought to contain about a thousand asteroids as large as a kilometer, about a hundred thousand as large as a football field, and many millions as large as a house. Most of these near-Earth asteroids (NEAs, defined as objects with perihelia as small as 1.3 AU) probably come from the main belt, but a few might be extinct comet nuclei. Some NEAs might be (or share) the parent bodies of meteorites (Wetherill & Chapman 1988). They hold clues to relationships between those small-body populations, to mechanisms for delivery of material into Earth-crossing orbits (Greenberg & Nolan 1989), and to the nature of terrestrial-planet planetesimals (Weissman et al. 1989). Coincidentally, many NEAs also gain relevance as the cheapest targets of human or robotic exploration beyond the Earth-Moon system (Jones et al. 1994), as sources of minerals with potential commercial value (Hartmann & Sokolov 1994; Lewis, Matthews, & Guerrieri 1993), and as long-term collision hazards (Chapman & Morrison 1994).
Radar is the most powerful Earth-based technique for physical characterization of NEAs (Ostro et al. 2002). Delay-Doppler images (Ostro 1993) provide resolution as fine as a decameter, and a sequence of such images can be inverted (Hudson 1993) to yield accurate physical models. Radar-based reconstruction of asteroid shapes has been applied to objects with diverse sizes, shapes, and rotation states (Hudson & Ostro 1994, 1995, 1999; Hudson et al. 2000; Hudson, Ostro, & Scheeres 2003; Benner et al. 1999; Ostro et al. 1999), and improvements in radar instrumentation are extending this work to main-belt asteroids (Ostro et al. 2000).
Radar-derived shape models of asteroids have opened the door to a variety of theoretical investigations central to a geophysical understanding of these objects. They are relevant for future spacecraft rendezvous and landing missions, and for investigations of the potential effectiveness of nuclear explosions in deflecting or destroying hazardous asteroids.
The radar-derived computer models are polyhedra with enough vertices to accommodate the most detailed structure revealed in the images. Rapid prototyping methods (e.g., Kai, Fai, & Chu-Sing 2003), such as selective laser sintering and stereolithography that add and bond materials in layers to form objects, can fabricate a scale model of an asteroid directly from the computer description of its polyhedron. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has produced three-dimensional models of seven asteroids (all reported in the peer-reviewed literature), and Design Cast Studios in Henderson, Kentucky, manufactures and sells copies of these models under a JPL licensing agreement (see Table I).
The general strategy of a radar observation is to transmit modulated waveforms toward the asteroids and process the echoes into images. Thus, in contrast with “passive” astronomical observations that rely on natural electromagnetic emissions or reflections, radar astronomers provide their own personally tailored illumination. Interestingly, this parallels the process by which blind people form mental images of three-dimensional objects: instead of detecting the light emitted by these objects with their eyes, they analyze the tactile feedback from the surface of the object to their hands (see Figure 1). Similarly, radar astronomers analyze the electromagnetic feedback from the surfaces of the asteroids via radar waves sent and felt by their radio telescopes.Figure 1.
NEAs naturally lend themselves to teaching fundamental standards-aligned science concepts in middle school and high school. In an effort to help teachers incorporate three-dimensional models and recent astronomical discoveries, and to actively engage blind students in scientific inquiry, we have developed four prototype activities for blind students. These activities are based on the asteroid scale models, tactile orbit diagrams of asteroids and planets, and a tactile map of the surface of the Moon (Edinboro University of Pennsylvania Planetarium and Tactile Lab 2002). We tested them with students at the Wisconsin Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired (WCBVI) and at a workshop during the 2003 convention of the National Federation of the Blind. In both cases, students worked in small groups under the guidance of an experienced teacher from the WCBVI.
In the first activity, students tactually explore the asteroid models and match them to descriptions of the asteroids in Braille and large print. Students learn that, along with the planets, smaller objects with varying shapes, sizes, orbits, rotation periods, and compositions orbit the Sun.
In the second activity, the students estimate how long it would take them to walk all the way around the asteroids. The activity is designed to give the students an intuitive sense of the asteroids' sizes. Advanced students with good problem-solving and mechanical skills can find the answer independently, using a Braille meter tape (see Note 1), string, and information about the scale of each model. Alternatively, instructors can provide the time estimates in the form of Braille and large print cards, which the students then match to the models.
In the third activity, students discover that asteroids exert gravitational forces on objects on or near their surfaces and that the magnitude of these forces depends on the sizes and masses of the asteroids. To start the activity, one might ask the students to guess what familiar objects would have the same weight on the asteroids as one of the asteroid models has on Earth. Students can then collaboratively develop a solution to this question using the asteroid models. This may, for example, involve an experimental determination of the volume of the models using water and a Braille measuring cup (see Note 1), which, together with an estimate of the density of the asteroids and information about the scale of the models, allows them to calculate the average gravitational acceleration at the surface. If this is too difficult or time consuming, instructors can do these calculations for the students, who then discover the relationship between mass and gravitational force by matching the objects to the asteroids.
In the fourth activity, students analyze tactile diagrams depicting the orbits of the asteroids and the planets. They discover that some asteroids have elongated orbits, which periodically take them very close to Earth's orbit. They discuss the consequences that asteroid impacts might have on Earth, and how they have affected Earth throughout its history. Finally, they study a tactile map of the Moon, discover the ubiquity of impact craters, and discuss why there are fewer impact craters on Earth.
Although the activities described above were primarily designed for blind students, sighted students can benefit from multisensory approaches to learning as well. To explore objects in their environment, young children have a natural instinct to touch. Even though visual and auditory learning become dominant as the child matures, haptic learning experiences can still benefit students of any age (Treviranus 1999).
Note 1: Braille meter tapes, measuring cups, and other measuring equipment are available, for example, from the Lawrence Hall of Science (http://www.lhs.berkeley.edu/cml/saviselph/)
Note 2: Asteroid orbit diagrams constructed using the JPL Horizons On-Line Solar System Data and Ephemeris Computation Service (http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.html) are available on the Web at http://analyzer.depaul.edu/SEE_Project/. Tactile versions can be created from these diagrams with thermal expansion machines (Jaquiss 2003).
The authors would like to thank Kelly Bailey and Mark Riccobono from the Wisconsin Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired for providing guidance in the development testing of the activities, and for converting written materials into Braille and large print. Thanks to Noreen Grice (YouCanDoAstronomy.com) for creating the raised-line diagrams of the asteroid and planet orbits, and to Barbara Cheadle (National Organization of Parents of Blind Children) for providing the opportunity to test the activities at the 2003 convention of the National Federation of the Blind. This work was supported in part by an IDEAS grant from NASA's Office of Space Science. Part of this research was conducted at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Fig. 1. A 12th-grade student from the Wisconsin Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired examines a model of near-Earth asteroid Toutatis. First citation in article
|Table I. Stereolithographic Scale Models of Near-Earth Asteroids|
|1998 KY26||0.03||7.5||1:400||Ostro et al. 1999|
|CASTALIA||1.6||8||1:20,000||Hudson & Ostro 1994|
|TOUTATIS||4.6||11.5||1:40,000||Hudson & Ostro 1995; Hudson |
et al. 2003
|GOLEVKA||0.69||7.5||1:9,000||Hudson et al. 2000|
|KLEOPATRAa||217||7.5||1:2,900,000||Ostro et al. 2000|
|GEOGRAPHOS||5.1||11.5||1:44,000||Hudson & Ostro 1999|
|EROSb||33||11.5||1:290,000||Veverka et al. 2000|
|BACCHUS||1.05||8||1:13,000||Benner et al. 1999|
|aMain Belt Asteroid|
|bProduced by the San Diego Supercomputer Center for Cornell University from data collected by the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft.|
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It’s hot out there. Checking in with friends and colleagues around the country this week, the weather forecast seemed like I was having déjà vu no matter where I was calling. Helena, Montana: 90° and dry. West Palm Beach, Florida: 93° and humid. St. Louis, Missouri: 92° and thunderstorms. Judging by what seems to be a universally sun burnt, heat zapped spirit, it seemed as though dinner plans for the weekend were something along the lines of if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen and into an air-conditioned restaurant.
As much as I love a good air-conditioned restaurant, there is nothing like eating in your own air-conditioned home, especially if you can “cook” dinner without ever having to light a burner. By cooking raw, at least this week, I am not referring to that new-age trend toward vegan gourmet restaurants that swear off ovens and stoves as well as animal fats. I am actually referring to the potential to eat both animal fats and various fish using no more tools than an extremely sharp knife and a cutting board.
Fish probably is the most widely experienced form of raw food now that sushi can be found everywhere from a Wal-Mart in Kansas City to equally land-locked, south of the border Mexico City. Thanks to sushi, the average person has most likely already had their first taste of fish in the raw even if it was only in the nearly ubiquitous form of a California roll. But beyond the contributions of the Japanese to raw cooking, we can look to two very different parts of the world, Scandinavia and Latin America, to find other examples of cooking fish without heat.
In both cases, fish is “cooked” not with heat but with acid. Pickling and curing fish from herring to salmon in a combination of salt and sugar and vinegars creates some of the most popular dishes in countries like Norway. A classic salmon dish known as gravlax involves curing salmon in a combination of salt, sugar and dill for over a day, then slicing it thin to eat either as a component of a salad or on its own with brown bread and mustard.
Looking to Latin America, fish is treated similarly to those much colder countries but the “cooking” process is more to order. Fish is treated with a combination of acids either from vinegar or citrus fruits. Left to sit for several minutes, the acids start to break down the proteins in the fish, giving the appearance of being cooked and creating the popular dish known as ceviche.
Beyond fish, there are a few members of the “meat” category that can forgo the fire. In France they have tartare and in Italy it is carpaccio to which tender butt-ends of beef often discover their fate. Either way, the presentation of raw beef is far from the barbarism is implies and is instead somewhat of an elegant delicacy. The best cut to use for such a venture is beef tenderloin, although in a pinch sirloin will also work. For tartare the beef is freshly ground, served with a display of capers, anchovies, finely chopped egg whites and yolks and served with toast points. Carpaccio is similar in that the plate is classically decorated with a combination of salty and acidic elements from capers to lemon juice. The beef, which can be frozen first to ease in cutting, is sliced paper thin and arranged on a platter. Shallots or thinly sliced onion are a good accompaniment along with optional arugula for some green contrast, truffle oil for richness, or a creamy horseradish sauce for a zip.
The heat may be rising outside but inside the kitchen it can be as cool as a Norwegian winter. You and the large, scary men of pro-wrestling may both like your beef raw. But keep your Monday Night Raw sophisticated, keep the oven off and leave the sweating to the men on TV.
Beef Carpaccio with Capered Goat Cheese Recipe
Ready in: under 30 minutes
* 1 pound beef tenderloin, frozen for at least 30 minutes
* 2 shallots
* 2 cups of baby arugula
* 4 ounces goat cheese, room temperature
* 1/4 cup capers, rinsed and drained
* 1 lemon
* 2 teaspoons truffle oil (optional)
* Coarse sea salt
* Black pepper
* 1 loaf French bread
Remove beef from freezer. Peel shallots and thinly slice. Wash and dry arugula. Combine goat cheese and capers in a small bowl. Cut lemon in quarters.
With an extremely sharp knife, slice beef across the grain in paper thin slices. If beef is not thin enough, it can be pounded out between two sheets of plastic wrap with a mallet or heavy pan until it is paper thin.
On a large platter, arrange beef in a single layer. Mound capered goat cheese in the center of the plate. Sprinkle with shallots. Mound arugula over cheese and beef. Drizzle plate with truffle oil (or olive oil if truffle is not available) and sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper. Arrange lemon wedges around the side.
To serve, use lemon if desired and eat beef with a bit of everything on the plate on some crusty bread. | <urn:uuid:8a205ee8-39e8-4455-acde-579455b514e6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/amy-powell/550-raw-food/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951511 | 1,116 | 1.695313 | 2 |
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Splendour and Glory – Art of the Russian orthodox church at the Hermitage in Amsterdam
Last month I went to see an exhibition about Macedonian icons at the museum Catharijneconvent in Utrecht. Today I'm on my way to the Hermitage in Amsterdam. They're holding an exposition about Russian icons. I'm curious to find out about the differences and similarities.
It's my first time at the Hermitage. I join the free guided tour and am glad we get a bit of information about the museum itself first. It opened it's doors just two years ago, in June 2009. For over 300 years the building had served as a home to the less fortunate elderly. With the changes in medical care, the rise of modern standards and the different approach to the care of the elderly, the building was no longer suitable as a care home. The residents were moved elsewhere and in 2007 the empty building along the Amstel started its transformation. Two years later it was ready to open its doors for paying visitors. The old nursing home had been successfully transformed into the dependance of the famous and gigantic Hermitage museum at Saint Petersburg in Russia: the Hermitage Amsterdam was completed.
Icon of Our Lady of Kazan, Icon: Moscow, late 19th century; setting: Moscow, Pavel Ovchinnikov Factory, 1887; charms: St Petersburg, Carl Faberge Company, 1890—1900, Wood, tempera, silver, gold, diamonds, roses, sapphires, emeralds, rubies, pearls, enamel; 31.5 х 27 cm
© State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
Besides the changing exhibitions in collaboration with its big Russian brother, the museum shows the history of the building. There is the Regentessekamer (Governesses’ room) and a restored kitchen where they cooked for hundreds of people on a daily basis. It's lovely to see and walk through these old rooms. It gives the already beautiful building even more charm and depth. It is an illuminating building, with many windows and open spaces. There is an elevator made of glass and the walls, floors and stairs are shiny white or transparent. The history and architecture of the building are worth a visit on its own.
Today however, I have come to see some more icons. Russian icons this time. The guide tells us that for this exhibition the museum cooperated with two other Russian museums, next to their usual partner, the Hermitage in St.-Petersburg. This way they were able to acquire a more diverse range of icons. The exposition contains not only icons, but also robes worn by the priest during the service, gold and silver objects used for religious customs and a huge iconostasis. The second floor gives an chronological overview of the history of the Russian orthodox religion. Giant panels display texts and images illustrating the different phases and developments within Russian iconography. At the end of the overview a film can be watched which shows the terrible destruction of religious buildings, artifacts and the murder of religious leaders by the communists in the twentieth century. With the politics of glasnost en perestroika of Michael Gorbatsjov at the end of that century, religion could come out of hiding again. Nowadays it has recaptured its important role in Russian society and the painting of icons has regained its place as a specialism within religious arts.
Royal Gates with depictions of The Annunciation and the Four Evangelists
Moscow Tsardom. 16th century, restored in the 19th century. Panel; pavoloka (linen canvas), tempera. 159.5 x 86.8 x 3.2 cm. Provenance: acquired in 1936 from the State Museum Fund; previously in an Old Believers worship house in Volhovskaya Street in St Petersburg
© State Russian Museum, St Petersburg
But let's start with the beginning. In 988 Russia became officially Christianised. Vladimir of Kiev made it the prevailing religion for his country. The story goes that Vladimir was searching for something to unite his people. He sent different envoys in all directions to go and find a suitable religion. The Jewish and Muslim faith were too strict, moreover the Russians needed their pork and vodka. The Catholic Germans were too boring and plain. But then the envoys arrived at Constantinople where they were enchanted by the sacred music, the beautifully decorated church and the smell of incense. It seemed to them as if they had landed in paradise. Vladimir converted to the orthodox faith and immediately let Byzantine architects and artists come over to build churches and decorate them with icons and frescoes.
On the first floor in the middle of the main exhibition hall stands a large impressive iconostasis. It is beautifully presented with a deep red background and a golden framework. The surrounding walls are painted cobalt blue wall and display different icons. Originally the iconostasis was placed in the center of the church to hide the altar from the view of the churchgoers. In the middle of the iconostasis there are two small doors decorated with images of the Annunciation and the four evangelists. The doors open only at important occasions and offer the people a glance of the holy altar. A little further on a travel kit which belonged to Tsar Alexander can be admired. On his campaigns to fight Napoleon, the Tsar brought a chest with religious artifacts including his personal mobile iconostasis. It's wonderful to see and hard to imagine he took the effort to carry those big and heavy objects with him.
Presentation vase for Easter Eggs, Russia, St.Petersburg, Imperial Porcelain Factory, mid-19th century, Porcelain, overglaze painting in gold; velvet; 22.5 х 36.5 х 36.5 cm
© State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
Within the orthodox faith Mary is referred to as Mother of God and she is the most important saint. This is true within orthodox Macedonian religion, as I saw in Utrecht a month earlier. There are twelve important celebrations a year which all commemorate important events in the life of the Mother of God and her son Jesus Christ. Above these so-called great feasts stands Easter, the most important religious celebration by far. It is celebrated extensively and surrounded by a solemn atmosphere. Traditionally people give each other decorated eggs. The story behind this custom is not officially recognized by the church, but goes as follows. Mary Magdalene went to see emperor Tiberius to tell him about the resurrection of Christ. He didn't believe her and said: “Someone who has died, cannot rise from the dead, just as a white egg cannot turn red”. At that point Mary reached inside her gowns and showed him an egg which had miraculously turned red. Hence the tradition to present each other with a painted or decorated egg during the Easter holidays. Several of these beautifully decorated eggs are presented at the Hermitage, some by the famous Carl Fabergé.
The museum offers free guided tours on Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. On Sunday the tour is in English. For a couple of Euros you can get an audio tour in Dutch or English. During the summer there are several special activities organised around the exhibition to make your visit even more worthwhile. Splendour and glory offers a magnificent look into the glittering history of Russian orthodox faith.
Splendour and Glory
Art of the Russian Orthodox Church
19 March – 16 September 2011
birdseye - view - Hans van Heeswijk Architects - photo: Aerofoto Schiphol B.V.
Was it of interest? Why not share it with others! | <urn:uuid:60016329-379e-41e9-9bd5-79ba6ddb03c2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kunstpedia.nl/blogs/splendour-and-glory-%E2%80%93-art-of-the-russian-orthodox-church-at-the-hermitage-in-amsterdam.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955773 | 1,699 | 1.984375 | 2 |
It was the biannual gathering of over 100,000 Protestants in Bremen, a small town in Germany. As the articulate minister for environment, Sigmar Gabriel, came to participate in a discussion on energy security for a climate-secure world, many stood up. Soon the hall was full of blue placards, held high, all saying: “No to coal.” The minister, I could see, was riled. He believed he was the environmentalist in the crowd. He said he would build coal power stations, because the country was phasing out nuclear power. | <urn:uuid:e89119f9-d324-49ae-afd0-91f2ea866934> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cseindia.org/blog_entries_by_author/6/4175?page=9 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986642 | 120 | 1.5 | 2 |
Summary: Avian Influenza (AI) Workshop Russian Far East
Feb. 13-14 2006
This workshop brought UAF researchers together with local avian experts and ornithologists working in Russian Far East and Hokkaido , Japan . These collaborators are known for many years to the UAF researcher, Falk Huettmann from previous expeditions investigating bird migration issues along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. This gigantic flyway connects Alaska and Russia with Asia ( India , Vietnam , China , Korea , Philippines , Indonesia , Papua New Guinea ) and Australia and New Zealand . The flyway is still poorly known and studied, and therefore requires investigations at key sites to better understand where birds are coming from, whether they carry Avian Influenza (AI) and how they manage to migrate along such a vast area without harm. We have first indications from Australian bird banding and flagging data that some birds make such a long migration twice a year and for over 10 years even! Other information shows that Alaska has birds wintering in China and along the entire flyway. It is very likely that this flyway has many more secrets and mysteries to offer which contribute greatly to our understanding of AI.
Therefore, for the outlined strategic study sites below the following individuals were invited:
· Kamchatka (lead by Alexey Druzyaka, Novosibirsk ; species: shorebirds, passerines, seabirds and waterfowl)
· Sakhalin Island (lead by Vladimir Zykov, Yushnow-Sakhalinsk; species: passerines, seabirds and waterfowl)
· Kurile Islands, Iturup (lead by Ekatarina Matsina, Novgorod ; species: passerines, seabirds and waterfowl)
· Amur River (lead by Aleksey Antonov, Khabarvosk; species: shorebirds, passerines, seabirds)
· Vladivostok (lead by Nikita Chernetsov, St. Petersburg ; species: passerines, seabirds)
· Japan ( Hokkaido ) (lead by Kaisuke Saito , Japan ; species: Dunlin, passerines, raptors, waterfowl)
A key purpose of this workshop was to build linkages and contacts between the UAF AI core group (consisting of George Happ, Jonathan Rundstadler, Falk Huettmann and Teresa Lyons) with the Russian group of co-workers. This goal was very well achieved during the meetings as well as at the Welcoming Banquet. The excellent travel arrangements made by INBRE/EPSCOR, Dottie Moss, went flawlessly and contributed further to the nice atmosphere at this meeting. One representative from Sakhalin Island (V. Zykov) could not join the meeting but provided his firm commitment in writing.
After introductions and overviews by the Project Leaders, presentations were given by each of the five participants regarding their proposed field sampling site, its set up and bird species. Further, project details were discussed with the group, resulting into a high degree of familiarity with the project and field sites among all participants. A group dinner rounded off this eventful first day.
The second day provided an in depth opportunity to discuss the field techniques on how to conserve and to transfer AI samples. This was done together with the INBRE staff resulting in a high degree of compatibility among field sites and highest data quality for analyzing AI samples from the field in the lab. Another section of this session dealt with protocol adjustments so that compatible data are collected beyond the AI sampling. Such data are crucial for bird banding information (shared among participants), but also to learn more about bird migration and biology in order to trace down origins of potential virus allowing for actions in affected areas.
Copyrights were discussed, agreed on and finalized, resulting into a list of shared publications with a high impact factor, as well as shared bird measurement data, photos etc.
The Vladivostok region will be covered by the bird banding lab by Olga Valchuck; Nikita Chernetsov will remain available to us as a project advisor, collaborator and co-author.
Another opportunity arose for additional Kamchatka samples collected by Misha Markovets, Biological Station Rybachy, housed at the University of St. Petersburg . This option was agreed on after the workshop.
Last but not least, contract details were discussed with each Russian Co-Worker, and a draft Memo of Understanding (MOU) was discussed and agreed upon. This MOU is currently under final negotiation from the participating parties, and is about to be signed prior to the field season.
We agreed to accept an invitation in Novosibirsk for a follow-up and review meeting in November 2006 after the first field season. In addition, the Novosibirsk group will likely support the AI sample export as well.
The successful workshop ended with a social dinner where also relevant members from the Ornithological and Russian community in Alaska , including students, were invited in order to increase our network of contacts further.
Falk Huettmann, Fairbanks 20th February 2006 | <urn:uuid:cfa74555-5bdd-4eb5-a83e-78584572de6a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.alaska.edu/inbre/research/alaska-asia-avian-influen/2006/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948312 | 1,061 | 2.21875 | 2 |
Before stem cells, of whatever origin, can be used to treat patients, scientists will need to learn how to coax them to develop into the desired cell types, a major challenge. In the 12 October 2004 issue of Developmental Cell, researchers from the University of Chicago present the first rough road map, suggesting how to lead a hematopoietic stem cell down the narrowing path to becoming an antibody-producing B cell.
The researchers describe four critical stages on the way from a multi-potent precursor to a committed B-cell and suggest how combinations of regulatory proteins and signaling pathways direct maturing cells through each crossroad, guiding them down one specific developmental path, preparing them to respond to signals yet to come, and blocking off other options.
"Our findings reveal considerable complexity, but are promising from the standpoint of directing stem cell differentiation," said Harinder Singh, Ph.D., Louis Block Professor of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology and an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of Chicago.
"For this one cell type, about which we already knew a great deal, it's a complicated and elaborate recipe that involves multiple ingredients at each step and mixing them in a particular order. We expect that other cell types will require similarly complex regulatory networks for their generation."
"But the work is also promising," Singh added. "Once we order the components and gain insight into the design principles of such regulatory networks we may be able to make any kind of cell we want, or even produce hybrids that combine features of different cell types, such as antibody-producing skin cells."
Singh and colleagues work with hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), which give rise to the different types of blood cells. Unlike embryonic stem cells, HSCs have already taken some steps in differentiation and are committed to producing various types of blood cells.
"This is a wonderful model system," Singh said. "We know more about the differentiation of B cells and red cells than other cell types in the blood system."
After a series of experiments that involved manipulating multiple genes encoding regulatory proteins, Singh and colleagues came up with a "hierarchical regulatory network" that orchestrates the differentiation of a stem cell into a committed B-cell precursor.
Five transcriptional regulators guide future B cells along this pathway, activating genes that move the cell to the next stage and enabling the cell to respond to specific chemical signals later on. For example, the transcription factors PU.1 and lkaros are crucial early in the process, nudging a multi-potent progenitor cell -- stage 1, which could become any type of blood cell -- toward becoming a lymphoid progenitor, stage 2. They trigger the expression of certain receptors on the cell surface, such as Flk2 followed by IL-7R, which are necessary for receiving subsequent external signals.
In the next step, the gene for a regulatory protein known as E2A cooperates with PU.1 to activate another regulatory gene called EBF. EBF and E2A act together to push the lymphoid progenitor towards stage 3, a specified pro-B cell. At this stage, many of the genes expressed in B cells have been activated and the genes that encode antibodies have begun the process of recombination.
Finally, EBF and E2A activate a regulator called Pax-5, which pushes the specified pro-B cell to stage 4, a committed pro-B cell. After this point, there is no turning back.
"This is a complicated sequence of events," Singh notes. "There's no denying it." At each stage, different markers or receptors appear on the cell surface, which helps the researchers monitor a cell's progress and enables the cell to reach the next stage.
"To make real use of stem cells we will have to assemble genetic regulatory networks such as this for each cell type we want to generate," Singh added. "This is the next challenge facing the field. Molecular biologists are used to manipulating single genes, but this may require controlling several components in an ordered manner to properly direct a stem cell through a given developmental sequence."
Source: Eurekalert & othersLast reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 21 Feb 2009
Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
-- Robert Frost | <urn:uuid:747aa511-2307-47f8-afd1-d6304322f601> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://psychcentral.com/news/archives/2004-10/uocm-rpr100804.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93648 | 919 | 3.203125 | 3 |
AGUILAR: There’s nothing more rewarding in research than knowing something about the universe that no other human knows, even for an instant....It’s fun. I get sort of a rush from it.
Jesús Aguilar is a third-year astronomy student at The University of Texas at Austin. He’s one of a handful of students who’ve received hands-on experience in astronomical research from the very start of their college careers.
They’re participants in the Freshman Research Initiative, a program of the University’s College of Natural Sciences. It’s helped hundreds of incoming students get a taste of what research is like in all fields of science.
The students work closely with faculty members and research scientists. In astronomy, they learn how to operate telescopes and collect data — then go out and do it. Later, they analyze the data to see what they’ve found, and work with the professionals to publish their results.
The project is entering its fourth year, and students have studied the evolution of stars, new ways to look for planets, and many other subjects — subjects that help them think about their futures — and about the universe. Second-year student James Diekmann:
DIEKMANN: I think one of the things that I really like most about research is that it actually makes you think. It makes you become more creative, and I really enjoy that. It’s not often that you really get subjects or topics to get you really thinking.
Script by Damond Benningfield, Copyright 2011
For more skywatching tips, astronomy news, and much more, read StarDate magazine. | <urn:uuid:cb232ed5-5dc7-4a5b-81f2-eac479556cf3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://stardate.org/print/8143 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961739 | 347 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Bees can flap their wings as fast as 11,000 times per second.
They flap their wings to do a lot of things, but one reason is to heat and cool the hive at all times. The worker bees keep the hive at a steady temperature all year round with their wing flaps. They would like it to be 92-93 degrees -- which is pretty warm.
Honey bees fly in a radius of about 3-5 miles from their homes to forage for flowers and food.
Bees gather both nectar and pollen from flowers and trees.
Nectar: Honey is actually like bee throw-up!!! They bring the nectar back to the hive and regurgitate the nectar into a honey cell. Then through flapping their wings (again!), the bees evaporate some of the liquid in the nectar throw-up until it is honey. Then they seal it for later use.
Pollen: Bees use pollen, which is really sticky, and combine it with nectar to make bee bread. They feed this to the baby bees, which are also called brood.
Bees have a lot of hairs -- everywhere -- even on their eyes! People think this helps them to be really good at collecting pollen which they then move into their pollen baskets on the back of their legs and take home.
Bees see color and they use their eyesight to see flowers. Bees can see colors that we cannot see -- in the ultra-violet rage. Some flowers even have "runways" that are colored maps showing the bees where to land. We people cannot see these markings on the flowers, but the bees can.
Bees preform an essential act by moving pollen and nectar from one flower to another. They pollinate the flowers and trees which allows fruits and vegetables to be created and to grow.
The honey bees that we are used to tlking about fly in the daytime and not at night. Africanized bees can fly with moonlight though.
A hive can make 50-200 pounds of honey a year, and it takes over 150 trips to a flower or tree to make just one teaspoon of honey. | <urn:uuid:57740f3f-9572-4448-b501-0ab221b9a849> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hivesforlives.com/beesandhoney/beegeneralfacts.html | 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 | 0.97158 | 441 | 3.6875 | 4 |
To diagnose diabetes, doctors will take a blood sample and check your sugar level.
If the fasting blood glucose level is 7.0 mmol/L (126 mg/dL) or higher, a diagnosis of diabetes is made. If the fasting blood glucose level is between 6.1 mmol/L and 6.9 mmol/L, the person has impaired fasting glucose and is at risk for developing type 2 diabetes.
Diabetes can also be diagnosed if a blood glucose level taken any time of the day without regards to meals is 11.1 mmol/L or higher, plus you have symptoms characteristic of diabetes (e.g., increase thirst, increase urination, unexplained weight loss).
The main goal of diabetes management is to maintain blood glucose levels within the normal range as much as possible. Weight control, diet, and exercise are all important components of management. The most important and main treatment for type 2 diabetes is nutritional.
Although some people with this type of diabetes are thin, the majority of people (90%) are overweight. Losing weight, even 2 kg to 5 kg (5 lbs to 10 lbs) can help lower blood glucose levels. For many people, following a healthy diet and an exercise program may be all that is needed to help control glucose levels. For others, healthy eating and exercise alone aren't enough to lower blood glucose levels.
They may need to take medications in order to keep glucose levels within a healthy range. Medications for type 2 diabetes are usually taken by mouth in the form of tablets and should always be taken around meal times and as prescribed by the doctor. However, if blood glucose is not controlled by oral medications, a doctor may recommend insulin injections.
There are several types of oral diabetes medications, also called oral hypoglycemics, which work to lower blood glucose:
Doctors may recommend one or more types of medications to help control diabetes. While taking medications, it's important for people with diabetes to regularly test their blood glucose levels at home. There are many different blood glucose meters available on the market. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist about these meters to help you select the best meter for your needs.
As part of proper diabetes management, it is important to be aware of the symptoms of abnormal blood glucose levels and know how to properly monitor your blood glucose levels using a home glucose meter. You should remember to always keep glucose tablets or candies containing sugar with you at all times to manage low blood glucose levels (hypoglycemia). Symptoms of low blood glucose include:
To prevent complications, it's important to follow your diabetes management plan with a well-balanced diet and exercise. If you take medications for your diabetes, it is important to take them exactly as prescribed by your doctor.
Here are some tips to help you stay healthy and prevent some of the long-term complications:
Foot care: Poor circulation and nerve damage caused by diabetes reduce sensitivity in the feet. It's important to check your feet regularly, looking for any blisters, cuts, or sores. Always keep your feet clean and dry and protect them by wearing socks and comfortable shoes.
Eye care: Eye problems (retinopathy) due to diabetes can lead to blindness. Therefore, have your eyes checked by an eye doctor (ophthalmologist) at least once a year. By treating problems early, serious complications can be avoided.
Skin care: High blood glucose and poor circulation can lead to skin problems such as slow healing after an injury or frequent infections. Make sure to wash every day with a mild soap and warm water, protect your skin by using sunscreen, take good care of any cuts or scrapes with proper cleansing and bandaging, and see your doctor when cuts heal slowly or if an infection develops.
Education: People with diabetes should learn as much as possible about this condition and how to manage it. The more you know about your condition, the better prepared you are to manage it on a daily basis. Many hospitals offer diabetes education programs and many nurses and pharmacists have been certified to provide diabetes education. Contact a local hospital, doctor, or pharmacist to find out about programs and diabetes educators in your area.
*All medications have both common (generic) and brand names. The brand name is what a specific manufacturer calls the product (e.g., Tylenol®). The common name is the medical name for the medication (e.g., acetaminophen). A medication may have many brand names, but only one common name. This article lists medications by their common names. For more information on brand names, speak with your doctor or pharmacist.
Did you find what you were looking for on our website? Please let us know. | <urn:uuid:9c8f68d0-1040-4c24-baff-d5a4a9fefa8f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bodyandhealth.canada.com/condition_info_details.asp?channel_id=0&relation_id=0&disease_id=214&page_no=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945654 | 957 | 3.03125 | 3 |
Juba, South Sudan (CNN) -- Clashes erupted Monday on the volatile border between Sudan and South Sudan in the run-up to a planned meeting between the nations' presidents as part of a troubled peace process.
South Sudan army spokesman Philip Aguer accused Khartoum of launching aerial bombing raids on troops in Jaw, a border area where their armies have clashed previously. He said Sudanese ground forces attacked a southern base near the Heglig oil field.
"They repelled the attack, they pursued them to Heglig. The SPLA is controlling part of Heglig," he said, referring to South Sudan's army.
Sudan denied that its air force bombed Jaw, and said the border clashes near Heglig were "minor".
Part of Heglig is disputed, along with much of the 1,200-mile border. Sudan President Omar al-Bashir is scheduled to travel to the southern capital on April 3 to meet with his counterpart, South Sudan President Salva Kiir, and sign a deal on border demarcation.
Under that agreement, the countries would establish a joint committee and technical team to mark the border. Another agreement would guarantee the rights of citizens from each country living on either side of the border.
The accords are considered landmark achievements, reached after eight months of negotiations that began after South Sudan broke away from Sudan and declared independence July 9. The split, which came after two decades of civil war, left a raft of unresolved issues, including how much the landlocked south should pay to transport its oil through a pipeline running across Sudan.
South Sudan shut down oil production in late January after accusing its northern neighbor of stealing $815 million of its oil. Sudan said it confiscated the crude to make up for unpaid fees to use the pipeline and processing facilities in its territory.
Pagan Amum, the south's chief negotiator, said the border and citizenship agreements could open the way to a deal to resume oil production. Both countries are suffering economically since the shutdown began. Upon independence, South Sudan took three-quarters of the formerly united country's oil reserves, and oil accounted for 98% of the new state's revenues.
Monday's border clashes cast doubt on whether either country would honor any agreements. During talks mediated by the African Union, the countries also signed a nonaggression pact on February 10 aimed at bringing peace to the border region.
Aside from clashes between government forces, both countries accuse each other of supporting militia or rebel forces in their territories.
On Thursday, U.S. State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland urged South Sudan to cease military support for rebels fighting the Khartoum government in Blue Nile state and Southern Kordofan state, where Monday's clashes occurred. Southern officials have repeatedly denied providing support to the rebels.
Nuland also demanded that Khartoum "end aerial bombardments of civilian areas." The war has already sent more than 100,000 refugees across the border into South Sudan, and the United States and United Nations have warned that hundreds more could follow, fleeing hunger and violence. | <urn:uuid:8b0bab64-34d0-4b10-8afe-99beb07a40df> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.edition.cnn.com/2012/03/26/world/africa/sudan-border-clashes/index.html?hpt=hp_t3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966701 | 634 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Some of the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include: (i) material adverse changes in aluminum industry conditions generally, including global supply and demand conditions for aluminum, alumina, and aluminum products; (ii) fluctuations in commodity prices, especially London Metal Exchange-based prices for primary aluminum, alumina, and other products, and fluctuations in index-based and spot prices for alumina; (iii) current global economic and financial market conditions generally, including uncertainties regarding the strength or sustainability of the economic recovery and the effects of government intervention into the markets to address economic conditions; (iv) unfavorable changes in the key markets served by Alcoa, including the automotive and commercial transportation, aerospace, building and construction, distribution, packaging, industrial gas turbine, oil and gas, defense, and other markets; (v) the impact of changes in foreign currency exchange rates on Alcoa’s costs and results, particularly the Australian dollar, Brazilian real, Canadian dollar, euro and Norwegian kroner, as some important raw materials are purchased in other currencies while products are generally sold in U.S. dollars; (vi) significant increases in power or energy costs, including electricity, natural gas, and fuel oil, or interruption or unavailability of energy supplies for Alcoa’s operations; (vii) significant increases in the costs of other raw materials, including carbon products, caustic soda, and other key inputs, as well as freight costs associated with transportation of raw materials to refining and smelting locations; (viii) Alcoa’s inability to achieve the level of revenue growth, cost savings, cash generation, improvement in profitability and margins, fiscal discipline, or strengthening of operations or competitiveness (including moving its alumina refining and aluminum smelting businesses down on the industry cost curves and increasing revenues in its Global Rolled Products and Engineered Products and Solutions segments) anticipated from its restructuring programs and cash sustainability, productivity improvement, technology and other initiatives; (ix) Alcoa’s inability to successfully implement or realize expected benefits from its sale of non-core assets, its growth projects in Brazil, China, Russia, and other countries, or its joint ventures and strategic alliances, in each case as planned, within budget and by targeted completion dates, including, without limitation, the Juruti bauxite mine, the São Luís refinery expansion, the hydroelectric power construction projects in Brazil, and the joint venture with Ma’aden for the development, construction, ownership, and operation of an integrated bauxite mine, alumina refinery, aluminum smelter, and rolling mill in Saudi Arabia; (x) further downgrades in Alcoa's credit ratings, material increases in Alcoa’s cost of borrowing, an inability to access the credit or capital markets, or the failure of financial institutions to fulfill their commitments to Alcoa under committed credit facilities; (xi) political, economic, and regulatory risks in the countries in which Alcoa operates or sells products, including changes in interest rates, unfavorable changes in laws and governmental policies, civil unrest and other events beyond Alcoa’s control; (xii) legal compliance risks, including potential claims relating to product liability, health and safety, environmental matters, intellectual property rights, government contracts, taxes, and compliance with U.S. and foreign export laws, anti-bribery laws, competition laws, and sales and trading practices; (xiii) outcomes of contingencies, including significant legal proceedings or government investigations adverse to Alcoa, and environmental remediation matters; (xiv) changes in tax rates and benefits and tax expense and exposure, including changes in the valuation of deferred tax assets and liabilities; (xv) uncertainties regarding the impact of climate change, climate change regulations, or greenhouse effects; (xvi) changes in relationships with, or in the financial or business condition of, customers, suppliers, and business partners; (xvii) effects of cyber attacks and security breaches on the integrity of Alcoa’s information systems, trade secrets and intellectual property, and other company-sensitive data, including potential disruption to Alcoa’s business operations or reputational harm; (xviii) changes in competitive conditions, including actions by competitors, developments in technology, and developments in products, including impacts on customer acceptance of aluminum in substitution for competing materials; (xix) declines in the rate used to discount future estimated liabilities and expenses for pensions and other post-retirement benefits or in investment returns on plan assets, or changes in employee workforce assumptions used for such estimates; (xx) Alcoa’s inability to attract and retain skilled executives and staff with relevant industry and technical experience, whether due to skills shortages in engineering, technical service, construction or other labor market inadequacies or other reasons; (xxi) factors affecting Alcoa’s operations, such as equipment outages, labor disputes, supply disruptions, or other unexpected events; and (xxii) the other risk factors summarized in Alcoa’s Annual Report on Form 10-K
for the year ended December 31, 2012 and other SEC reports.
Certain statements on this website by Alcoa relate to future events and expectations and, as such, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of predictive, future-tense, or forward-looking terminology, such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “expects,” “forecasts,” “hopes,” “intends,” “may,” “outlook,” “projects,” “should,” “targets,” “will,” or other similar expressions. All statements that reflect Alcoa’s expectations, assumptions, or projections about the future other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, forecasts concerning aluminum industry growth, aluminum end-market demand or other trend projections, anticipated financial results or operating performance, and statements about Alcoa’s strategies, objectives, goals, targets, outlook, and business and financial prospects. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause Alcoa’s actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements and are not guarantees of future performance. Alcoa disclaims any intention or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether in response to new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. | <urn:uuid:7fead8c5-86e8-48ed-9fe4-faeae0c6f855> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.alcoa.com/canada/en/info_page/sr_vision_statements.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925995 | 1,406 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Software and the environment
Posted Feb 5, 2009 11:12 UTC (Thu) by eru
In reply to: Software and the environment
Parent article: Aleutia E2: low power to the people
Yes, the light-weight distribution variants alleviate the problem somewhat,
but they really can only change some of the system layers (like the desktop)
less resource-intensive. They cannot make OpenOffice.org or Firefox less bloated. Another problem is that these are oddbal variants which are a bit
different to use from mainstream distributions, so less sophisticated users
will find it harder to get help with them from books or magazines. The use case I have in mind here is a non-geek relative or friend running a virus-infested Windows98 on an old machine... how to linuxify him/her without purchasing new hardware?
Quote [...] Crunchbang, which runs fine in just 200 MB RAM [...]
See the problem here? 200Mb is *huge* if that is needed just to run the OS
and basic desktop utilities without undue delays (as opposed to running
some application that really puts lots of memory to good use). Circa 1995
I used to run OS/2 Warp on a 75Mhz Pentium with 32MB. It was about as
user-friendly as the today's Linux desktops, and did not feel any slower.
So just *where* does all that computing power go? I can think of two
visible differences between my 1995 desktop and current: 8-bit vs 24-bit
colour, and antialiased fonts, but I don't think that comes even close
explaining the difference.
The challenge for these older machines is video - many people expect to be able to see Youtube these days. [...]
I have found a 600Mhz P3 to be quite sufficient for decoding standard
definition and below, when you use a well-optimized player (Mplayer seems
to be the gold standard here), and your display supports the Xvideo
extension properly. But HD content clearly goes out of reach. Does
piping video around the house with VNC really work? AFAIK its encoding
is not optimized for photorealistic video (as opposed to desktop
graphics that have large smooth regions), so you will be transmitting and
forcing receiver to decode vastly more bytes than with a real video codec.
to post comments) | <urn:uuid:3db850cb-1a59-4691-9a8f-d115cbcd1b2f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lwn.net/Articles/318101/ | 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 | 0.934699 | 498 | 1.9375 | 2 |
There are 11 simple rules that govern the comma in AP style. Be aware that this is a particular style. Other styles have different rules for comma use.
1) When the last item in a series is connected by a coordinating
conjunction (e.g., and, or, but, nor, for, yet, so), do not use
a comma before the conjunction.
- I enjoy golf, football and boxing.
2) Use a comma to separate two independent clauses connected by
a coordinating conjunction.
- The UO football team won the game, and the Ducks are going to
the Rose Bowl.
3) Remember: A compound predicate (two or more verbs serving the
same subject) does not need a comma.
- The man voted today and hoped his candidate would win.
4) Use commas following introductory clauses and phrases and other
clauses and phrases that would be confusing without commas.
- In the hassles and headaches of daily life at the University,
it is easy to forget how privileged we are to attend college.
- Although she had always been afraid to fly, she loved her flight in a small plane.
- Every day, journalists report the news.
5) Use commas to set off non-restrictive (non essential) clauses,
phrases and modifiers from the rest of the sentence.
- The lawn mower that is broken is in the garage.
- (Restrictive: Indicates more than one lawn mower)
- The lawn mower, which is broken, is in the garage.
- (Nonrestrictive: Adds non-essential information about the only lawn mower)
6) Use commas to separate descriptive modifiers of equal rank if the coordinating conjunction is missing.
- Tip: If you can use the adjectives interchangeably and can successfully
insert a conjunction and between them, they require a comma.
- In an angry, blunt statement, President Clinton chided his opponents.
7) Use commas to set off parenthetical expressions and nominatives of direct address.
- The test, you may recall, was easy.
- She said, "You know, Jan, that the test is today."
- "Jan, where's the car?" "Where's the car, Jan?"
8) Use commas to set off participial phrases that modify
some part of the independent clause.
- The runner quit, having cut his toe on a broken bottle.
- The judge, tired of the commotion in the courtroom, made everyone leave.
- Driven by an unquenchable desire to win, Sally often cheated.
9) Do not use a comma to separate two independent clauses that
are not joined by a coordinating conjunction. Do not use a comma to
introduce a subordinate clause.
- The test was today, we all passed. (WRONG)
- We all passed the test because it was easy. (RIGHT)
10) Do not use a comma to separate a reflexive pronoun.
- The mayor himself will be here today.
11) Do not use a comma to precede a partial quotation.
- The mayor said that his opponent was "one of the worst candidates ever to run for office."
BUT: If the quotation is a full sentence, it should be preceded by a comma.
- The mayor said, "John Smith is one of the worst candidates ever to run for office." | <urn:uuid:cf3ddb1d-d1d3-4b4c-87c2-84170a7b3cd5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.grammaruntied.com/punctuation/comma.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931828 | 726 | 4.03125 | 4 |
Sep. 9, 2011 A university professor who carried out a major study into the evacuation of the World Trade Centre after 9/11 says the "far-reaching impact" of the attacks is still being felt when it comes to the design of new high-rise buildings across the world.
Professor Ed Galea, from the University of Greenwich, led a three and a half year study into the evacuation of the twin towers, a collaboration between the universities of Greenwich, Ulster and Liverpool.
The project included in-depth interviews with 271 survivors about their experiences of what it was like as they tried to leave the buildings. Their personal stories helped the research team to paint a comprehensive picture of how people acted and what factors influenced their behaviour during evacuation, and assisted in identifying key safety issues that building designers need to address.
"The research is still ongoing and the data we have collected, both on the mechanics of a large-scale evacuation, and on the issues human behaviour, is being shared across the world, as a valuable international resource," Professor Galea says.
Using their buildingEXODUS evacuation software, the Greenwich team analysed the evacuation dynamics of the events of 9/11 and also explored what may have happened if the buildings had been fully occupied. From this work, Professor Galea concluded that, for buildings above a critical population and height, stairs alone were not sufficient for safely evacuating the entire population.
Alongside colleagues Dr Peter Lawrence and Mike Kinsey, at the university's Fire Safety Engineering Group, Professor Galea went on to explore the use of lifts for evacuations in high-rise buildings. As part of their buildingEXODUS software, the researchers have developed advanced human behaviour models, which simulate the choices people make in deciding to use a lift/elevator as part of their evacuation route in an emergency.
"Our studies suggest that buildings should utilise elevators and stairs, in combination," Professor Galea says. "We know stairs alone are not sufficient for full building evacuations, and since 9/11 there has been a trend to use specially designed elevators. But elevators, even fire safe elevators, raise the complex issue of human behaviour, and we know from our studies that many people do not trust using them, or will simply not wait for them, in an emergency.
"So it's vital to consider all aspects when designing new buildings. This means not just the mechanical issues of using elevators to evacuate people, but the whole issue of human behaviour, and this is what we have built into our computer modelling."
Professor Galea, Founding Director of the Fire Safety Engineering Group, warns that, ten years on from 9/11, people need to guard against complacency. "Evacuation drills and training always need to be taken extremely seriously, as successful evacuation depends in part on how quickly people respond," he says. "We found in our research that some people took many minutes to decide to evacuate the towers, while others didn't know where the stairs were, for example. The attacks have also highlighted the need for better information systems in buildings, with proper instructions in an emergency, rather than just an alarm going off.
"We intend that the information we have will help save lives, as it will help improve building design and evacuation procedures."
The original research project, known as HEED (High-Rise Evacuation Evaluation Database), was funded with a £1.6 million grant from the UK Engineering & Physical Research Council (EPSRC).
Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead. | <urn:uuid:4c364440-d6e5-438f-a90b-857469fc4731> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110908080842.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96725 | 737 | 2.84375 | 3 |
The White Church
Welcome to the Jefferson
Township Historical Society's
(JTHS) webpage. Here you will find all of the upcoming events and news on the White Church, Heritage Hall and the Veterans Memorial. The JTHS meets every third Saturday at 10:00 a.m. at the White Church.
The meeting for May will be held on Saturday, 18 May 2013. Come join us for:
"A Charming and Picturesque Southern Plantation"
Guest speaker will be our very own Donnie Grey. Donnie used to own the plantation "Cedar Grove" which was built in 1830 and located in Natchez, Mississippi. He will be talking about purchasing and remoldeling the Plantation which he turned into a Bed and breakfast.
The Jun meeting will be held 15 Jun 2013. The guest speaker will be Ben Strain who will be talking on the history of Greenspring Farm, patent date of 1789 in Jefferson Township.
Thoughts of Freedom
This spring morning as I sat outside
My thoughts turned to those who've fought and died
To keep our country free and strong
They walked into battle, and all along
Were aware that they might give away
Their families and friends if they chose to stayT
In battles and wars where they may never see
How their sacrifices gave us the right to be free
And I thought this day how blessed I've been
That I've never had to see the sights they've seen;
Never felt the pain of losing comrade and friend,
As I watched them fight until the end
While the tears I cried must be silent to prove
That with strength intact I must still move
In direction to win this battle I've fought
To be worthy of my country in each countryman's
Each battle, each war has brought us to be
The most powerful country in the world, so you see,
Each serviceman's life that we've seen lost
Has paid part of the price, at such a high cost,
To give us our freedom, our strength, our power
Let's not take them for granted, not for one brief hour.
A few we have known, but most we have not,
Though they all gave their lives without second thoughts
So let's honor them, each one, as we walk through our days,
And thank them with grace, for our freedom they've saved.
©Laura Baltich Docherty 2006
The Historical Society is always thinking of ways to bring more history information to its members and the community. According to the By-Laws, the purpose of the Jefferson Township Historical Society is to bring together those people interested in history, and especially in the history of Jefferson Township and surrounding areas. With that in mind, it has been suggested that we learn where every one room schoolhouse in Jefferson Township had been located. It would be nice to mark the location with signs. Can you be of help? If you or anyone you know remembers where any one room school houses were located please contact the Historical Society. Thank you | <urn:uuid:75061d7c-2afe-4995-a00b-fc07a44044ba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jeffersontwp.angelfire.com/jths/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950124 | 628 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Writings on Contemporary Fiction.
By Dale Peck.
228 pp. The New Press. $23.95.
ALTHOUGH Robert Southey was the poet laureate of England from 1813 until his death in 1843, and a Lake District buddy of Coleridge and Wordsworth, he is hardly read at all today. A wisecrack by Richard Porson may have done some serious damage. About Southey's epic poems, Porson said, ''They will be read when Homer and Virgil are forgotten, but -- not till then.''
You will notice that I mosey. Some of us, when we are about to be unpleasant, are bothered by the feeling that it's almost as hard to write a bad book as a good one and lots easier to write a slash-and-burn review. So we walk around the block to suck up Randall Jarrell and perspective. Others, like Dale Peck, fall down out of the sky on the head of the pedestrian author like a piano or a safe. Peck is his own blunt instrument.
Which is why, in ''Hatchet Jobs,'' his Newgate Calendar of maledictions, he leans on words with primary colors, like terrible, bloated, boring and gratuitous; hate, resent, stale and slather; maudlin, dreck, drivel and insipid; muddled, pretentious, derivative and bathetic -- not to mention scatologies that can't be reprinted here but brought no blush to the bum of The New Republic, where most of Peck's fatwas first appeared and where most of American literature is generally considered a waste of the editors' warped space and deep time.
Peck is so hard on his elders that you suspect him of symbolic patricide, except that he is just as hard on his peers. Famously, of course, Rick Moody: ''the worst writer of his generation.'' But Colson Whitehead gets it for his ''stiff, schematic'' first novel, ''The Intuitionist,'' and a second, ''John Henry Days,'' with ''the doughy center of a half-baked cake.'' David Foster Wallace's ''Infinite Jest'' so much fails to amuse him that he wishes on Wallace an anal assault. Richard Powers, Dave Eggers and the Jonathans, Franzen and Lethem, are rudely dismissed for lack of ''a true empathetic undercurrent'' and what he elsewhere disdains as ''pomo shenanigans.'' Nor is he impressed by the Dirty Realists (trailer homes), the Brat Packers (nightclubs) or the New Narrativists (sexual transgression).
But the wise old heads are also on his chopping block. So Nabokov, between ''Lolita'' and ''Pale Fire,'' sold out to ''sterile inventions.'' At the bottom of its bowl of ''watery oatmeal,'' the subtext of ''American Pastoral'' is Philip Roth's misogyny. Thomas Pynchon in ''a 30-year writing career hasn't produced a single memorable or even recognizably human character.'' Julian Barnes ''crawls under your skin and itches like scabies.'' Stanley Crouch's ''Don't the Moon Look Lonesome'' is such ''a terrible novel, badly conceived, badly executed and put forward in bad faith,'' that it's amazing the guy shows up on Charlie Rose. The ''ridiculous dithering'' of John Barth, John Hawkes and William Gaddis isn't even worth discussing, but they belong to ''a bankrupt tradition'' going back to James Joyce and ''the diarrheic flow of words that is 'Ulysses,' '' which tradition has now broken down ''like a cracked sidewalk beneath the weight of the stupid -- just plain stupid -- tomes of Don DeLillo.''
John Leonard reviews books for Harper's Magazine and The Nation, television for New York magazine and movies for ''CBS News Sunday Morning.'' | <urn:uuid:6c1fe593-2e14-443a-99ed-c649efc6308f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/18/books/smash-mouth-criticism.html?src=pm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941355 | 814 | 1.515625 | 2 |
The Western Legislative Academy, put on by the Council of State Governments-WEST (CSG-WEST), a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization serving Western state legislators, will build excellence and effectiveness in state legislators in the Western region.
“I’m honored to be selected for this academy, to have the opportunity to learn from legislators from other states and to build stronger bipartisanship in our state legislature,” Patterson said. “Arizona is on the wrong track and I hope to work toward moving our state forward next year.”
Admission to the Western Legislative Academy is competitive and is based on commitment to public service, desire to improve personal legislative effectiveness and interest in improving the legislative process. CSG-WEST chose 39 state legislators as members of the Class of 2010.
The Western Legislative Academy will convene July 12-15 in Colorado Springs, Colo. and will include intensive training in ethics, team building, communications, negotiations and time management. Faculty will include the Eagleton Institute’s Alan Rosenthal, a nationally recognized authority on state legislatures; Washington, D.C. communications expert Arch Lustberg, and a leading team building trainer for the U.S. Air Force.
“This is an excellent opportunity for skill building and I hope to put to work what I learn from the academy,” Heinz said.
Brewer has driven up state debt to the highest it has been in Arizona history. Talk about wrong track...
Worries increase along with Arizona's debt
by Mary Jo Pitzl - Jun. 9, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Imagine selling your house to raise money - and then leasing it back, with interest, over 30 years.
That's essentially what Arizona is doing this week as it conducts a two-day sale of state buildings. The sale, which concludes today, is expected to net the state $300 million. But it will cost much more to repay when interest is added, and it will contribute to raising the state's total debt load to more than $10 billion, a figure five times as great as a decade ago.
Paying off that debt will strain state budgets for years to come. For the fiscal year that starts July 1, the state must make a $232 million debt payment out of its general fund.
This latest borrowing to help cover the state's massive budget deficit is a stopgap measure, which some politicians say will leave Arizona having to spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year on repayments that could have been spent on programs or used to reduce taxes.
"For a conservative Legislature, which is what we've tagged ourselves, we've borrowed a huge amount," said state Rep. Bill Konopnicki, R-Safford.
He tried in vain to get the Legislature to consider a budget plan that would have aggressively paid down the debt, retiring most of it in five years instead of the current 20- and 30-year time frames. It would have required tax hikes, but it would have been more honest than saddling future legislatures and taxpayers with tax increases to pay for today's spending, he argued.
The state budget, he said, is headed for a car breakdown by adding debt.
And Konopnicki said the breakdown is fast approaching.
"All the lights are on the dash - oil, gas - and we're driving as fast as we can," he said.
Special for the Republic
Arizona House Speaker Kirk Adams wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post, reprinted June 1 in The Arizona Republic ("Arizona faced with battle vs. ignorance," Opinions) that people aren't taking the time to read the facts about SB 1070 - Arizona's new immigration law - but he failed to discuss the real facts about the new law.
Adams left out the most important point of all: SB 1070 fails to solve Arizona's real immigration problems - crime and violence along the border and in our neighborhoods.
But it's typical of Adams and his Republican friends in Arizona who consistently have failed to crack down on the violent and criminal acts that accompany illegal immigration. Their patchwork policies do nothing to solve the real problem that Arizonans experience every day.
Adams failed to point out that the new law will do nothing to stop the coyotes, human traffickers and drugs and arms dealers that cross our border every day.
Adams didn't mention that the new law is an unfunded mandate and gives police no resources or funding to implement the new law. Gov. Jan Brewer and Republicans took police officers off the streets when they massively cut public-safety funding this year.
Law enforcement also can be sued if they don't enforce the law and no doubt will be sued if they do. The law actually ties the hands of police officers instead of enabling them to protect our communities.
We need tough immigration reform on the national level that cracks down on human smugglers, the illegal sale of weapons to drug cartels and other violent criminals, and we need to give law enforcement the tools they need to secure our border. We also need to sanction employers who hire illegal immigrants and require immigrants to pay back taxes, learn English, pass a criminal background check and then get on a path to legalization.
Phoenix is the kidnapping capital of the nation, and we should do everything we can to make sure law enforcement can do their job and protect our kids and neighborhoods. We also need to make sure those who are here legally are treated fairly and respectfully.
Arizona's economy cannot handle the expense of a law that does not provide a real solution to the problem. We need to focus on laws that actually do something to combat the violence.
For example, my bill that was signed into law, House Bill 2763, substituted by Senate Bill 1059, cracks down on human smuggling. It eliminates a requirement to prove that a trafficked individual be obtained "for transport" to qualify as being trafficked for sex or labor. The bill gives police more tools to arrest criminals who traffic people for sex or slave labor.
It's time to get to work and deal with the real immigration problems in Arizona.
SB 1070 fails to do any of that.
Kyrsten Sinema is assistant House Democratic leader in the Arizona House of Representatives.
Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/2010/06/08/20100608sinema08.html#ixzz0qHqjaTFV | <urn:uuid:963c1bb8-03c8-4ce5-bfca-1cf4652adacd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.azhousedemocrats.com/2010_06_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956066 | 1,325 | 1.523438 | 2 |
I am Atefeh: Campaign to Free Atefeh Nabavi Launched
Thursday 26 November 2009
Change for Equality: While the news of heavy sentences issued in the case of political activists has been widely publicized by the press and broadly published on internet sites covering the developments after the disputed Presidential elections on June 12, 2009, the four year mandatory sentence issued in the case of Atefeh Nabavi, on November 24, 2009 has not received due attention by the press.
Atefeh Nabavi, 28, is the first woman to receive a prison sentence in relation to charges brought against her for participating in protests following the Presidential elections in June, 2009. She was arrested, charged and sentenced for participating in a protest that drew millions on June 15, 2009. She is among the many unknown and ordinary citizens who were arrested for their participation in protests and only because they demanded accountability from officials with respect to their votes.
The Campaign to free Atefeh, called “I am Atefeh” was launched by a group of social activists to raise awareness about the unjust and heavy sentence issued in the case of this 28 year woman, whose name coincidentally means affection or empathy in Farsi.
In its first call to action, the Campaign “I am Atefeh” has invited all those who participated in protests following the elections, especially the June 15th protest, to write in support of Atefeh and in objection to the harsh sentence issued in her case by the Judiciary. The call to action, urges ordinary citizens and social activists to write about their participation in the protests and confess that they have committed the same crime as Atafeh. “We want to say that we too think like Atefeh. We are all Atefeh. You have to imprison us all,” reads the call to action. The following are translations of two of the entries published in response to this call of action and about the protests on June 25:
People were respectful toward one another. You could see mutual trust in their eyes. There was silence and only silence. Nothing was broken. No one was insulted. There was only one question, apparent in the gaze of the protesters, “where is my vote?” It started on Monday, then Tuesday, then Wednesday, then Saturday..Friday, Wednesday, Thursday and…
I was there. We were there. Millions were there. The Media announced that there were millions at the protest—all of them critical, and protesting. From among those participating, some were killed. Some were imprisoned. And one is supposed to be imprisoned for four years? We are all Atefeh. We were all in those protests. We were all in the streets. Either we all serve four years in prison, along with Atefeh, or Atefeh must be released.
Amir Hossein Writes:
On June 25, I saw Atefeh in the street protests. We walked along side one another till Azadi (Freedom) Square. Whatever she did, I too did. We walked, we were silent, we chanted slogans, we laughed, we were happy, and we enjoyed the energy of the public. This is all that occurred on that afternoon. If in response we have to be imprisoned for four years, then I along with millions of other citizens, who were present on that afternoon, all belong in prison with Atefeh. Either she is not guilty or we are all criminals. | <urn:uuid:ef851742-ccbc-4663-b871-d3497633ea22> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://1million4equality.info/english/spip.php?article602 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988656 | 722 | 1.6875 | 2 |
At any rate, deciding, in the spirit of Christmas, to base Alcoholic Geography there this week was a mistake. Had we gone ahead with this idea and kept a straight face, our recommendations would have been limited to seawater, whale urine and whatever you could find in a flask pried from the cold, dead hands of a sea captain caught in a winter squall. It would have been…raw, to say the least.
So we took a different tack. One that requires perhaps a bit of fantastical thinking, but bear with us; making these drinks will be well worth it when the holidays officially get into full swing.
Eggnog. The staple of every WASP Christmas ever. The origins of this wonderful cream, raw egg and rum mixture are debated, but we’re willing to wager it comes from an Anglo-Saxon household sometime in the 17th century, before they had discovered Coca-Cola, since rum mixes much better with that than with raw eggs. In fact, very few things mix with raw eggs, but we all still see fit to drink eggnog with great abandon every holiday season.
How to make it: We could give you a whole gourmet recipe here, but for fear of being cited for spreading salmonella among our readers, we’re going to take the easy way out: Go to grocery store, buy cartons of eggnog, buy rum, return home, pour both rum and eggnog into pitcher/bowl, testing every so often until preferred strength is attained. Sprinkle with nutmeg, serve.
Our preferred drink for the holidays, cider contains approximately 100 percent less raw eggs and as such is less likely to cause projectile vomiting and paralysis, both huge plusses in our book when looking to drink profusely during the holidays. Also unlike eggnog, the origins of cider are lengthy and quite detailed, but Wikipedia manages to sum it up nicely: “Before the development of rapid long distance transportation, regions of cider consumption generally coincided with regions of cider production: that is, areas with apple orchards.” See, you’d never get that with eggnog: “Regions of nog consumption generally coincided with regions of nog production: that is, nowhere, because nog isn’t a thing that exists.”
How to make it: Assemble the following: 4 cups of apple cider, 1 cup of orange juice, half a cup of peach schnapps, half a cup of triple sec, a pinch of cinnamon, a pinch of nutmeg. Put all these things into a saucepan, bring to a simmer on medium-high heat, reduce heat to low and let cook for 20 minutes. Serve hot.
It’s Christmas morning. Your children are running around hopped up on pure Santa-induced adrenaline. Your parents are beeping and blipping their way through whatever new gizmo they got for Christmas, hopelessly confused, asking all kinds of inane questions. Your grandparents are muttering in the far corner about how Christmas used to be a simpler time, how they used to get a nickel and some shoe polish and were happy, and your dog is choking on all the wrapping paper and peeing everywhere out of sheer excitement. It’s eight A.M.: it is time for a drink.
Mimosas are the antemeridian choice for upscale alcoholics, but it’s Christmas, so let’s change it up a bit with the Poinsettia.
How to make it: Break open a bottle of champagne. Pour four parts champagne to one and a half parts cranberry juice. Consume. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
Maison Kitsuné Pernod Absinthe
What better time of the year than Christmas to drink something that has a fantastical history of inducing states not dissimilar to those prompted by licking psychedelic toads? Absinthe has long been heralded as a hallucinogen and while we will neither confirm nor deny reports that our staff spent a few nights last week talking to “Santa’s Reindeer,” the folks at Pernod in conjunction with Maison Kitsuné have cooked up one hell of a bottle here. With its art (designed by Maison Kitsuné) inspired by the imaginary world of Absinthe and Pernod ponying up limited quantities of this special batch, this Absinthe is the crème de la crème of Christmas cocktails.
How to make it:
Mix it with water and sugar if it’s too bitter. If you want to get fancy then place a spoon over the glass and drip water through the sugar cube to dissolve into the absinthe. Or mix it with sparkling wine as your New Year’s Eve libation. Then party like it’s 1849. | <urn:uuid:8f167e9c-6ab5-4143-b6a8-588b837fe417> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.playboy.com/playground/view/drinks-for-christmas-holidays | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936755 | 1,020 | 1.75 | 2 |
Learn something new every day More Info... by email
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) acts as an independent agency under the jurisdiction of the United States government. It operates with full autonomy outside of other government agencies and focuses on a variety of specific issues involving labor. Some of the main focuses of the organization include labor unions and general labor practices. The NLRB has the authority to intervene on behalf of workers operating within the confines of the United States and was established by executive order from President Franklin Roosevelt in 1934.
The full jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Board is limited to either private sector employees and those of the U.S. Postal Service. It cannot intervene or claim any authority with other government employees. The organization is also prevented from handling concerns over railroad, airline or agricultural employees according to the Adamson Railway Labor Act and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The primary duties of the National Labor Relations Board are to oversee elections of labor unions, conduct investigations and make decisions regarding unfair labor practices. In regards to labor unions, its responsibility is to maintain proper procedures and push for clarity and transparency. It also mitigates the possibility of corruption and calls for overall fairness in contract negotiations. Unfair labor practices in general account for any violations conducted by employers. This can include wage disputes, safety violations, harassment and other general conduct questions. The exact parameters of what a private company can do and what it can't do are the main concern of the organization.
According to the Taft-Hartley Act, the National Labor Relations Board is divided into two distinct bodies: the Board itself and a General Counsel. The General Counsel is comprised of five people appointed by the President of the United States and approved by the U.S. Senate. These appointments last for four years. The Board itself is comprised of thirty regional offices. These offices are staffed by elected officials and administrators which handle all of the investigations and related duties in their areas. The balance of power is separated with a checks and balances system in which the General Counsel acts as the prosecutor in cases and the Board fulfills the duty of a judicial body.
The National Labor Relations Board is divided into four sectors: the Division of Administration, the Division of Advice, the Division of Operations Management and the Division of Enforcement Litigation. Each division is responsible for specific sections of management when handling the processes of labor disputes and union regulations. | <urn:uuid:03930ea3-8bf0-4af7-a912-3a58f4f9a2b4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-national-labor-relations-board.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958074 | 483 | 3.078125 | 3 |
As the U.S. economy continues to struggle with high unemployment rates, now more than ever Maine needs manufacturing and, in turn, manufacturing needs Maine.
Maine’s pulp and paper sector provides 7,500 jobs and accounts for approximately 15 percent of all manufacturing jobs in the state, and Sappi Fine Paper North America’s Somerset Mill and its 840 employees are an important part of that sector. For manufacturing companies such as ours to have a viable future, we need to invest in our assets and implement reasonable and achievable environmental reforms.
Sappi works to protect our natural resources, not just because it is the right thing to do but because it is fundamental to the future of our planet and our business. Our commitment starts at the beginning of our supply chain with raw materials — all of the wood that we procure to make our pulp and paper comes from sustainably managed forests.
Since 2008, our Somerset Mill in Skowhegan has been certified by the three most recognized sustainable forestry certification programs: the Forest Stewardship Council, the Sustainable Forestry Initiative and the Programme for the Endorsement of Certification.
Additionally, the energy that we use to power many of our manufacturing operations also comes from renewable resources. With more than 85 percent renewable energy, Sappi has the lowest carbon footprint in the industry, surpassing an industry average of 66 percent. Between 2007 and 2010, we were able to reduce our emissions by 40 percent, thereby significantly outpacing legislative targets concerning climate change.
Recently, our Somerset Mill became certified as a Green-e Energy organization with the Center for Resource Solutions. The Green-e certification attests that 100 percent of the electricity used to manufacture select products at the mill is made with certified renewable energy that we generate on site. This certification was made possible by a $49 million capital project we completed last year to upgrade the Somerset Mill’s recovery cycle equipment. The project enabled us to use more “black” liquor that is produced from our pulping operation and further reduce our fossil fuel usage.
We also strive to reduce our impact on the environment through attention to the transportation that we use to deliver our products. For more than two years, Sappi has been a certified EPA SmartWaySM Transport Partner, utilizing freight delivery services that are designed to increase energy efficiency while significantly reducing greenhouse gases and air pollution.
Improving our energy efficiency and reducing our fossil fuel usage not only lowers our greenhouse gas emissions and benefits the environment, but it also helps reduce our costs — a benefit that is critical to any business in today’s economy.
We are proud that despite challenging economic conditions, we continue to invest in our infrastructure in order to bring greater environmental and economic benefits to our business. We support legislation that calls for environmental protection and sets realistic goals for companies to achieve them.
We commend Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe and Rep. Mike Michaud for their support of manufacturing interests in Maine. At the same time, we are concerned that despite their efforts, certain regulatory efforts such as the EPA’s proposed Boiler MACT and Non-Hazardous Secondary Materials rules could result in job losses and divert important capital from other improvement projects for the paper industry in Maine and elsewhere.
The exceptionally high costs for compliance standards outlined by the proposed regulations could create conditions where using renewable biomass fuels would become so expensive that Sappi and other companies would have to revert to using more fossil fuels, which goes directly against the goals of improving the environment and operating sustainably.
We understand that operating sustainably and protecting our environment is a responsibility in which everyone — individuals and companies alike — must do their part. Sappi Fine Paper North America has a rich history of providing jobs in Maine dating back to 1854, and we look forward to many years to come. Yet, our ability to remain globally competitive and provide good paying jobs for our employees is contingent on regulations that balance both costs and benefits while keeping U.S. manufacturing globally competitive.
We need to continue making investments in our assets, which can bring environmental and economic returns to Sappi, Maine, and the communities where we live and work.
Mark Gardner is president and CEO of Sappi Fine Paper North America. He joined Sappi in 1981, and his experience includes serving as the vice president of manufacturing and vice president of supply chain. He also has worked at the Westbrook and Somerset mills. | <urn:uuid:2146271a-0809-458d-a310-54f82c6c7c4d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bangordailynews.com/2011/08/29/opinion/contributors/sustainable-forestry-works-for-maine-paper-industry/?ref=relatedBox | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957744 | 893 | 2.21875 | 2 |
The web site shows 221 potential targets for observation. I checked about ten of them and very few observations have been made since the YSO forum started. Do you have a priority list? What frequency is appropriate? Are multi-band observations valuable or is a single filter preferred? I know from observing HBC 722 and VSX J2051+44 that these objects tend to be very cool, so if we use a single filter is it better to use I or R? The two I've been oberserving are much brighter at these wavelengths enabling better measurements and allowing me to use a smaller scope for observations.
Also, is there a good text or set of introductory articles about YSO's beyone what is discussed on the web site? I think many of us would like to know more about them, and also understand how photometric measuarements can be utilized to better understand these objects. In particular, are the measurements of value "stand alone" or do they need to be coordinated with professional spectral observations? | <urn:uuid:852d9097-659c-4691-9321-6f018e79ab82> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aavso.org/priortizing-targets | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958555 | 208 | 1.5 | 2 |
- About Us
101 W. Main St.
Waukesha, WI 53186
Children ages 6-10 years old can spend one, two, or three weeks at the museum this summer! This week's theme:
You have read the stories, but be prepared to experience famous fairy tales, myths, legends, and fables like never before! Campers will have a Mad Hatter tea party with Alice, battle dragons like knights, talk to helpful forest creatures, ride tornadoes with Pecos Bill, make shoes for Cinderella, travel to the cave of wonders for wishes, and more much! At the end of the week, campers will present their own fairy tale to families with a special performance. | <urn:uuid:f774df88-39a9-43d9-9f7f-2c921267a5ae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.downtownwaukesha.com/event.php?ID=211865 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915792 | 147 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Sep 18 2012
OK – I’m having one of those “someone is wrong on the internet” moments. But this someone is a fellow physician (Des Spence, a general practitioner from Glasgow) and the swirling black hole of wrongness is not just on the internet, but published in a generally respected medical journal, the BMJ. Spense is writing in defense of homeopathy, but he is not a homeopath and acknowledges that homeopathy is “bad science,” and the pills are little more than placebos. What he does do is marshal every “shruggie” bad argument, misinformation, and logical fallacy into a “Gish gallop” of apologist nonsense.
In his introduction he acknowledges that homeopathy doesn’t work, but then states:
Today, homeopathy is medicine’s whipping boy, repeatedly and systematically beaten to the ground. Yet despite explaining that the tablets are just placebos, homeopathy always gets up to take another beating. Some homeopathy is funded by the NHS, through general practice, and in the few homeopathic hospitals. This fact enrages the growling commissars of evidenced based medicine who want homeopathy purged from the NHS.
He is trying to create the impression that homeopathy is the badly-treated underdog, and that those who defend a science-based standard of practice is medicine are little more than mad dogs (growling commissars). Yes – I would like to see homeopathy purged from every corner of legitimacy within the field of medicine – because it is abject pseudoscience defended with nonsensical arguments, and it doesn’t work. How does Spense resolve the apparent contradiction that, as he writes: “Homeopathy is bad science but good medicine.”
Here is the core of his argument:
Does it cure infection, degenerative conditions, and cancer? It most certainly does not. And if any such claims are made they must be vigorously denounced. But homeopathy is most commonly used for medically unexplained symptoms in patients dismissed as neurotic; the so called “worried well.” These patients have passed from specialist to specialist, enduring repeated invasive and needless negative investigations. Or homeopathy is used in addition to, but not instead of, conventional treatments.
So many logical fallacies. He does acknowledge that homeopathy has no actual medical effect. It is placebo, a literal sugar pill. But then he goes into what is essentially a tired old “well, modern medicine is not perfect” type of argument. His premise is that there are patients who have non-specific symptoms that are not easy to explain (which I grant) but also that mainstream medicine is dismissive toward such patients, while simultaneously getting multiple invasive investigations.
Well – which is it? Are they dismissed, or overly investigated. These are mutually exclusive claims. Why would someone order a battery of tests on someone they dismiss as the “worried well?”
Of course, there is a range of competence and diligence in medicine, and I cannot vouch for every practitioner. I can tell you what I do and what doctors I respect do. Patients who present with non-specific symptoms are not dismissed, but taken seriously. Even if we think they are being neurotic – neurotic patients can be really sick too. Their symptoms are worked up in a reasonable way for plausible medical causes. When the tests are negative, and anything serious, progressive, or specific is ruled out, then we can reassure patients and focus on treating their symptoms and improving their quality of life. Often there are lifestyle factors that can be addressed, like poor sleep, lack of exercise, or being overweight.
It is often challenging, however, to deal with the patient’s internal narrative of their own illness. Often patients expect what I call the “Dr. House” treatment – they want a specific medical diagnosis that will lead to a cure from a specific treatment. When they don’t get that, because the workup is negative, they are likely to seek out another opinion, and another, and another. It’s challenging to change their narrative, to get them to understand that the workup has been adequate, it’s a good thing that it’s negative, that we will keep an open mind if new information comes to light, but meanwhile there are diminishing returns, and even potential harm, to endless workups. We can address their symptoms without a more specific diagnosis.
Spence would boil down this entire complex and challenging approach to these patients as simultaneously dismissive and excessive, as if he’s the only doctor in the world who can take a thoughtful and nuanced approach to such patients. He is setting up a straw man for homeopathy to knock down.
He concludes that paragraph with a “what’s the harm” type of argument. As long as patients seek real medicine in addition to homeopathic nonsense, who cares?
Next we get the torrent of pro-CAM propaganda:
The homeopathic doctors I know are caring people, disillusioned with the crudeness of conventional medicine, not your typical aggressive alpha medical type. They are not in the pay of big pharma, whose drugs potentially kill 100 000 people a year in the United Statesalone.1 They listen, spend time, and offer some explanation for the unexplainable—and their patients like them. The effect of homeopathy is the positive effect of a therapeutic relationship that is reassuring, accepting, and supportive. Society should never underestimate the healing effect of a kind word or the value of a holistic approach. These consultations genuinely improve wellbeing. Homeopathic pills are placebos, but the placebo response is great, maybe even as high as 80%.
This is the - medicine is flawed, so that justifies pseudoscience, deception, and nonsense – argument. Modern medicine is very complex and multifarious. It is wrong to dismiss it entirely as “crude.” Some treatments are crude, we lack knowledge in some areas, while others are well developed, advanced, and even nuanced. But remember – Spense is setting up an easy straw man for homeopathy.
Then he makes a cheap shot at “Big Pharma.” This is another straw man and a false dichotomy. He is saying that doctors don’t really care about their patients. They are aggressive jocks who are compromised by conflicts of interest. While homeopaths care, spend time with their patients, and take a “holistic” approach, and have bunny rabbits and flowers in their waiting rooms.
I an my science-based colleagues have been very critical of the pharmaceutical industry for trying to put their thumb on the scale of the scientific process. We also generally agree with transparency in pharmaceutical payments to doctors, and academic researchers need to maintain their independence as much as possible. At the same time, there are legitimate partnerships between academia and industry that produce tangible benefits for the public. It’s a tricky relationship, and it’s evolving in a good way, but there are problems.
What about the homeopathic remedy industry? Spence pretends that homeopathic pharmaceutical companies are not making billions also, and that homeopaths don’t have a vested interest in their claims, profession, and products.
Further, what is Spence’s evidence that homeopaths are more caring than science-based practitioners? Sure, they have a different practice model. They get to charge patients with disposable income cash. They get to give every patient a specific answer, because they are just making it up.
As I have argued before – CAM practices are disconnected from the constraints of science, evidence, and (I would argue) even ethics. So they evolved over time to maximize the other aspects of care that are effective marketing, telling patients what they want to hear, friendly treatments, and good bedside manner. I, on the other hand, have to tell patients the truth, give them informed consent, and consider risk vs benefit in every decision. Sometimes maximal benefit lies in an unpleasant procedure.
Spence implies that homeopathy is “holistic” - but this is nonsense, just more propaganda. Homeopathy takes a very narrow (and wrong) approach to illness and treats symptoms with magical potions. They don’t consider actual biology or physiology. Whereas I learned to practice with the “biopsychosocial” model of medicine. Science-based medicine was “holistic” before being holistic was trendy.
Spence makes another straw man when he implies that mainstream medicine denies the power of a good therapeutic relationship. It’s challenging, but you can have good bedside manner and maximize the therapeutic relationship within the confines of ethical science-based medicine. You don’t have to chuck science and lie to patients in order to make them feel good.
Spence finishes with an appeal to placebo medicine, and quotes the outrageous and vague figure that “the” placebo effect: “maybe even as high as 80%.” Where did he get that figure from? He gives no reference. And what does he mean - the number of people that have any placebo response, or the degree of resolution of the symptoms, and which symptoms? This is a meaningless statement – and it’s also wrong. There are many placebo effects, most of which are just illusions. For most hard outcomes, there is no measurable placebo effect. For subjective symptoms there is a variable transient placebo effect. None of this justifies giving literal placebos to patients.
Spence then gives us a false equivalency argument:
But likewise the more you understand of research evidence the more you understand it is mere modern marketing quackery. There may be some dangerous homeopathic charlatans, but there are plenty in mainstream medicine too.
Homeopathy is an easy target; we would be better to focus on the failings of conventional medicine.
Is he dismissing all scientific medical research as “marketing quackery?” His argument is the equivalent of saying, “there may be some criminals in organized crime syndicates, but plenty of ordinary citizens have shoplifted too.”
No system is perfect, so you can find fault and abuse anywhere. That doesn’t mean that a transparent democracy is equivalent to a brutal dictatorship, because there is corruption in democracy too. Homeopathy is pure pseudoscience. Telling patients made up nonsense that is not true and then giving them placebos is unethical, even if it makes them feel better. The imperfections in science-based medicine do not justify this behavior.
It gets worse:
“We need to accept that patients will still use homeopathy, and having access to it through the NHS means it is regulated and safe. “
This old argument has already been so thoroughly trashed, I will just give Edzard Ernst’s pithy quip about it, “The most meticulous regulation of nonsense must still result in nonsense.” Regulating nonsense does not protect patients or improve quality, it just legitimizes the nonsense and causes harm.
I was astounded that the BMJ would publish such a pile of nonsense in their journal. Spence gets just about everything wrong. He comes off as simultaneously naive (toward homeopathy) and cynical (toward modern medicine). He gives no evidence that he has read or understood the careful and thorough arguments made for science-based medicine or against the practice of pseudoscience, so he repeatedly makes fallacious and discredited arguments as if he’s the first person to have thought of them.
He is not engaging in a productive conversation (as one would expect of a peer-reviewed journal), but spouting naive propaganda from 20 years ago. I fear how many of my colleagues share this clueless, cynical, and shruggie attitude.
11 Responses to “A Bit of Homeopathy Nonsense in the BMJ”
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You must be logged in to post a comment. | <urn:uuid:489429dc-1759-408c-861a-4c8e930728ae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/a-bit-of-homeopathy-nonsense-in-the-bmj/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960902 | 2,481 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Keeping Up With Your New Year's Resolutions
Last reviewed by Faculty of Harvard Medical School on August 28, 2012
By Erin Sisk M.S., R.D., C.N.S.D.
"Start running," "Lose 10 pounds," "Go to the gym more," "Stop eating out during the week." We've all made New Year's resolutions with such good intentions and high hopes. But we've all broken them, too. So your sneakers sit in your closet gathering dust again. Those 10 pounds you wanted to lose after the holidays are still there.
So what happened? Somehow you lost the motivation to see your resolutions through. How do you keep that motivation high and make changes that develop into habits? Here are some tips.
Set realistic goals
Instead of the goal "I will lose 10 pounds," set a goal that involves action or a process. For example "I will go to the gym three times a week," or "I will bring my lunch to work three times a week." A goal you can measure is more likely to bring about change and help you reach your overall objective of weight loss or completing a marathon.
Plan for success
Don't focus on past failures or past resolutions that you didn't keep. Instead reflect on the reasons why you were unsuccessful. Then make a new plan that ensures success. How? Focus on things that are within your control. and pick only one or two resolutions/goals to focus on at time. Having too many can be daunting and lead to failure. One or two concise goals, however, can help you focus and be successful.
Track your progress
Use online tools or keep a journal to track your exercise, food intake and weight loss progress daily and as a reminder of what your goals and accomplishments are. Review this journal on a weekly basis to make sure you are still on the right track. If you see yourself slipping back into old habits in one particular area readjust and try again.
Don't keep your resolutions or goals a secret. Telling a friend or family member can keep you motivated. It can also keep you accountable for your actions and on track toward your goals. You may also find another person who has the same goals and is also looking for support. The benefit? You are more likely to do something, such as go to the gym, if you're counting on each other.
Keep reminders around your home, office or car about what your goals are. When tempted to skip the gym or eat something unplanned, stop, breath, and ask yourself if this will help you achieve your goal. More often than not the answer will be "no." Be proud of yourself for sticking with your goal instead of feeling guilty, which can lead to further slips.
Cope with stress
Stress can hinder anyone from meeting a goal or resolution. Letting stress of any kind take precedent over your health can only create more stress. So find healthy ways to cope. For example, eating when you're stressed won't help you reach your weight-loss goals. Find a more constructive activity, such as taking a walk, reading, or calling a friend, to cope. First, make a list of what stresses you out and the ways you have dealt with them in the past. Then write down new ways you plan to cope that will help you achieve your goal instead of sabotage it. Instead of snacking at night because you're anxious about an important presentation you're giving in the morning, go to the gym and work off that nervousness!
Celebrate small milestones to stay motivated. Don't reward yourself with food, as you might have in the past. Instead, find things that will encourage your new behaviors. For example, treat yourself to a new gym bag after going to the gym for one month consistently. Or order a subscription to a health and fitness magazine for sticking to your new diet.
Finally, it all comes down to remaining motivated. Find joy and a sense of accomplishment in completing one small act that helps you meet your goal. For example completing 30 minutes of exercise or creating a low-calorie and tasty dinner should be a successful and joyful act, not a daunting task. And when it seems too overwhelming, take a moment to write down all the positive outcomes reaching your goal would have. This can only help to motivate you to make that New Year's resolution an attainable goal and a lasting lifestyle change!
Erin Sisk M.S., R.D., C.N.S.D. is a graduate of the University of New Mexico with a Masters in Nutrition Sciences. She is a Senior Clinical Dietitian at Brigham and Women's Hospital. | <urn:uuid:d3a78589-bed2-47da-bf5b-85c88be90a4b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtPrint/WSANP000/35320/35327/1017095.html?d=dmtHMSContent&hide=t&k=basePrint | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964018 | 951 | 2.296875 | 2 |
Artlook Boutique - Stages 1-3
In this educator-led workshop students gain inspirration from Museum objects and create their own artwork.
Museum educator-led program
Students investigate, draw and transform the shapes and patterns of selected natural specimens and cultural objects. They engage, close up, with the Museum collections as a professional artist would, collecting ideas and making artworks in response. During this program they will develop their powers of observation, drawing skills and knowledge of the artworks they have drawn. When booking please specify your area of particular interest such as mammals, rocks and minerals, birds, insects or indigenous cultural objects.
- Syllabus links: Visual Arts Stages1-3, Science and Technology Stages 1-3
- Maximum number of students: 30 (4 sessions per day)
- Duration: One hour
- Cost: $4.40 (incl GST) per student in addition to general Museum entry charge
- Location: Nature Space 2, Level 2
Education Resource Kit
Ms Helen Wheeler , Education Project Officer | <urn:uuid:464d3310-83aa-4a6e-bd30-f4549ab412c4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://australianmuseum.net.au/Artlook-Boutique-Stages-1-3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909271 | 216 | 2.53125 | 3 |
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. (AP) — A Catholic nun who ran Iona College’s finances embezzled more than $850,000 and spent it on herself, federal prosecutors said Friday.
The U.S. attorney in Manhattan said Sister Marie Thornton used Iona College funds for her personal expenses from 1999 to 2009. As vice president of finance, she submitted false invoices and had Iona pay her credit card bills, the complaint said. It did not detail her expenses.
Thornton, 62, was arrested Thursday and pleaded not guilty in federal court in Manhattan. She was allowed to remain free. Her attorney, Sanford Talkin, said Friday, “I expect us to reach a resolution that all sides will think is fair.”
Thornton’s religious order, the Sisters of St. Joseph, said Thornton had been recalled and her activities had been restricted. It said she has been ordered to cooperate with investigators and is being given “emotional and spiritual support.”
Iona reported a theft last year but did not publicly identify a suspect.
In a statement Friday, still not naming Thornton, the college said, “When it was discovered that the funds had been misappropriated, we took immediate action to terminate the employee.”
It said the theft had been investigated and new procedures implemented.
“Today, we have a new CFO and staff in place; we have recovered the majority of the missing funds; and, from the College’s perspective, the matter is considered closed,” the statement said.
Iona, named for an island monastery off the Scottish coast, was founded in 1940 and has about 4,200 students. Its main campus is in New Rochelle, 15 miles from Manhattan.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) | <urn:uuid:f31e4892-ab76-4dfd-a859-ed8e7d879adf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2010/12/10/iona-nun-accused-of-embezzlement-pleads-not-guilty/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977668 | 385 | 1.546875 | 2 |
The medical field offers a wide array of career opportunities — that’s why you need a university that transforms your interests into an individualized path to success. Drake University offers many programs that will give you exceptional preparation for post-graduate study and a rewarding career in medicine.
Our 12:1 student-faculty ratio, flexible curriculum and emphasis on undergraduate research opportunities ensures you’ll be able to explore your areas of interest under the guidance of expert faculty members who are dedicated to maximizing your preparation for medical school.
Drake’s location in Des Moines provides a wealth of career and internship opportunities, particularly for students seeking work in the health care industry. Des Moines is home to five major hospitals, Iowa’s largest medical school, and numerous clinics, pharmacies, insurance companies and health-related businesses, government offices and nonprofit organizations.
At Drake, the pre-medicine, pre-dental, pre-veterinary and other pre-professional health care programs are course tracks that you can include in the curriculum of your major. Regardless of your area of study you’ll benefit from small class sizes, one-on-one attention from faculty, undergraduate research opportunities, access to internships and a wealth of other hands-on learning opportunities.
Popular majors for students who are on a pre-med, pre-dental or pre-vet track at Drake include:
Preparation for entrance into a post-graduate medical program requires rigorous study and steadfast perseverance. At Drake, you won’t have to go it alone. You’ll receive guidance from dedicated faculty whether you’re in class, in lab, performing research or preparing for medical school. From your very first year at Drake, a Pre-Med Advisory Council will work with you on an individual basis to help you stand out on entrance exams and med school applications. Often, your advisers will be the same professors who teach your preparatory courses. This relationship gives you the distinct advantage of detailed and personal recommendations.
To stand out to medical schools, you’ll need more than stellar grades. Undergraduate research is an invaluable asset for medical school and dental school applicants, and Drake offers numerous opportunities for you to help faculty members with their research and perform research of your own.
Many areas of study not only encourage but also require laboratory and research experiences in state of the art environments — like our new disease prevention and personalized medicine labs, which opened in
Outside the classroom, you’ll have the opportunity to gain invaluable research skills through internships, partnerships with local hospitals and clinics, and participation in the DrakeUndergraduate Science Collaborative Institute.
You can display your work, and see the work of other students, during the Drake University Conference on Undergraduate Research in the Sciences. And if you want to see the world, you we’ll help you study and perform research abroad.
Drake offers more than 160 student organizations, focusing on a wide variety of issues and interests. Students with an interest in health care can participate in the AEΔ (Alpha Epsilon Delta) Premedical Honor Society and the Drake Pre-Medical Organization.
Our students are admitted to top medical schools and graduate schools around the country and the Midwest. Students in some departments are eligible for early enrollment to Des Moines University’s Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine program. For more information about career opportunities, areas of study, and applying to Drake, call 1-800-44-DRAKE (37253), x3181. | <urn:uuid:240b0c16-aaf8-453a-88b1-ff383d352485> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.drake.edu/academics/undergraduate/majors/premed/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937632 | 721 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Clear and Bright
With a Chance of Sunspots and Magnetic Storms
Because of our increasing reliance on satellite-driven technology and far-flung power grids, the Sun and its magnetism can wreak havoc on society in a matter of hours. New computer models and observing tools developed at NCAR are sharpening scientists’ views of the vast forces shaping magnetism on and above the Sun’s surface. These tools also help point the way toward prediction of solar storms, as well as the strength and timing of the Sun’s 11-year cycle.
The case of the missing sunspots
It wasn’t big news when sunspot activity diminished between roughly 1645 and 1715. Astronomers of the day took note of the spots that did occur, but the overall lack of activity didn’t stand out until the discipline itself grew older. In the 1880s, German astronomer Gustav Spörer took a closer look at the 1645–1715 sunspot drought.
He concluded that it was more than just the result of a small number of observers in a still-young discipline. A few years later, E.W. Maunder carried out further study on the mysterious minimum. In 1976, NCAR scientist John Eddy labeled the period the Maunder Minimum and named an earlier minimum, from about 1420 to 1570, for Spörer. The two periods fall within a regional cooldown in Earth’s climate known as the Little Ice Age. Today, researchers continue to explore and debate the extent to which variations in the Sun affect climate on Earth.
AT THE UNIVERSITIES
Atmospheric research in outer space
David Charbonneau (Harvard University) was in graduate school in the mid-1990s when astronomers announced the first discovery of a planet outside our solar system. “It was clear that extrasolar planets were going to be a big field of astronomy,” he recalls. “I was very interested in developing new methods of finding them.”
Charbonneau pursued his interest while completing his doctorate at Harvard by visiting NCAR and launching a fruitful collaboration with HAO’s Timothy Brown. The two focused on detecting the dimming of light caused when a planet transits, or crosses in front of, its parent star. They broke new scientific ground in 2001 when they used the imaging spectrograph on NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope to detect the first atmosphere on an extrasolar planet. Charbonneau, Brown, and several colleagues recently set up the Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey, a network of small telescopes designed specifically to look for planets orbiting bright stars. In 2004, they detected a Jupiter-sized planet some 500 light years from Earth. Charbonneau expects TrES to lead to new insights into the formation and evolution of planets orbiting other stars by deploying tools such as NASA’s newly launched Spitzer Infrared Space Telescope to determine temperatures, atmospheric compositions, and other properties. “We want to see if most stars like the Sun have systems of planets that are similar to ours,” says Charbonneau.
A solar veteran’s forecast: increasing progress
One of NCAR’s most senior solar researchers, Thomas Holzer—who came to NCAR in 1973 to start a program investigating Earth’s magnetosphere—believes we are on the verge of critical scientific breakthroughs because of increasingly powerful observing instruments and improvements in solar modeling.
“I have a feeling we’re going to be making enormous strides over the next ten years,” he says. In his role as senior scientist, Holzer is helping to oversee research into such issues as the origins of coronal mass ejections and the generation of magnetic fields. He is especially interested in solar prominences, which may provide insights into the types of coronal mass ejections that can affect Earth’s atmosphere. “We’re laying the basis for eventually decent space weather forecasting,” he says. Meanwhile, several NCAR groups are collaborating on the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM), which incorporates Sun-driven effects on Earth’s upper atmosphere. The time may not be far off, Holzer adds, when scientists will be able to model the entire Sun-Earth system. “It would be my hope that we will eventually have a coupled model all the way from the solar interior to the surface of Earth,” he says.
For centuries, the ebb and flow of weather has engaged the predictive efforts of soothsayers, folklorists, and—more recently—scientists. In the late 20th century, the notion of solar weather prediction joined its earthbound counterpart as a scientific goal. As the threats of solar activity to a burgeoning array of vulnerable technology became clear, solar weather prediction became both more critical and more plausible. So what features tell us most about when, where, and how powerfully the next solar storm will assail satellites, mobile phones, or electrical grids?
The vast solar corona, the outermost part of the Sun’s atmosphere, holds key clues. It’s the launching pad for energized particles that can trigger geomagnetic storms in Earth’s atmosphere. Research on the corona has been part of NCAR since 1961, when the new center absorbed the pioneering High Altitude Observatory (HAO).
There’s now fresh momentum to HAO’s work on solar processes in the corona and other promising regions. New computer models, observations, and a groundbreaking NCAR instrument may yield critical insights into the 11-year cycle of sunspots, the mechanisms that lead to giant eruptions known as coronal mass ejections, and the behavior of magnetic fields.
Will the next solar cycle be on time?
Scientists for generations have speculated about the mysterious mechanisms that drive sunspots. These regions of concentrated magnetic fields at the Sun’s surface can cause powerful solar storms, known as coronal mass ejections, that sometimes buffet Earth’s atmosphere. But why does sunspot activity tend to ebb and flow in cycles of about 11 years?
Equipped with a groundbreaking computer model, NCAR scientists and colleagues may be closing in on some important clues. The key to the 11-year cycle, they believe, has to do with a current of plasma, or electrified gas, that circulates between the Sun’s equator and its poles.
If this proves to be the case, the finding could lead to better predictions of upcoming solar cycles. For example, the team forecasts that the next one, known as cycle 24, will begin in late 2007 or early 2008—or at least six months late—because of a deceleration of the plasma circulation.
Scientists for years have known about this current of plasma, or the meridional flow, which moves at a pace of around 72 kilometers per hour (45 miles per hour) near the surface. But they had not previously connected it to sunspot activity. The meridional flow appears to act as a sort of conveyor belt by slowly transporting remnant magnetic signatures of the sunspots of previous cycles from the Sun’s surface to the interior. Inside the Sun, the remnants give rise to a new generation of magnetic fields that produce new sunspots at the surface.
“In our model, we can show how physical processes relate the surface signatures of solar magnetic fields from old cycles to that of the new cycle,” explains NCAR’s Mausumi Dikpati. The model results are consistent with observed solar features, she adds. Dikpati is working with HAO colleagues Giuliana de Toma, Peter Gilman, and Oran White; also on the team is Charles “Nick” Arge (U.S. Air Force).
The team is putting the model through a number of tests. It has already successfully reproduced abnormal elements of cycle 23, when the typical magnetic reversal of the Sun’s north and south poles took place slowly. Now the researchers are working on making additional predictions for cycle 24, including when the peak will occur and how intense it will be.
Ten years from now, Dikpati hopes the model will be able to make some estimates of sunspot count for the next cycle. The model might also help society brace for an extended period of unusual solar activity, such as that during the Little Ice Age, when the number of sunspots dropped dramatically and temperatures cooled in some regions of the globe.
Forecasting mighty magnetic forces
Sunspots get attention in part because they may cause a far larger type of solar disturbance, one that can propagate all the way to Earth’s atmosphere. About once a week when the Sun is relatively quiet and about two or three times a day at the peak of the 11-year solar cycle, a great bundle of plasma escapes from the Sun’s surface. This coronal mass ejection, or CME, accelerates through the corona in only a few hours. If it’s pointed at Earth, it can irradiate astronauts, disable the circuitry in satellites, knock out surface power grids, degrade the accuracy of the Global Positioning System, and paint the high-latitude skies with shimmering auroras.
Forecasts issued by NOAA shortly after a CME emerges from the Sun provide warnings from hours to several days in advance of a potential geomagnetic storm. But will we ever be able to predict one before it erupts? To give society such lead time, scientists will have to learn the precursors of CMEs. They’ll need to illuminate the plasma contortions below the solar surface that give birth to a CME and the coronal magnetic fields that shape its evolution. Spotting a newborn CME is now routine, but viewing the magnetism that lies at its heart—and throughout the surrounding corona—isn’t so easy.
Since 1998, NASA’s Transition Region and Coronal Explorer satellite (TRACE) has parted the curtains somewhat. With a tight focus on small regions, it measures how the magnetic field shapes coronal plasma from the photosphere up through the corona at an exceptionally fine horizontal resolution.
While intrigued by the TRACE images, coronal experts have been tantalized by what is still unseen. The arching structures uncovered by TRACE denote only a few of the corona’s intricately nested magnetic field lines—arches within arches, as it were. To help see these multilayered structures, many coronal specialists have turned to animation. Technology is on their side: desktop computers and software packages are now powerful enough to produce useful animations in short order.
At HAO, Sarah Gibson is using visualization routines based on modeling by colleague Yuhong Fan to see how an idealized twisted tube of magnetic flux—a CME in the making—might appear in observations. She concentrates on a sigmoidal (S-shaped) portion of the twisted field. This zone is the interface between field lines that are firmly tethered to the dense solar surface and those that have a portion suspended in the atmosphere and thus move more freely. “This is the region where heating is likely to happen during an eruption,” says Gibson.
Recent x-ray data show that hot coronal gas can take on a sigmoidal structure a few days to weeks before a CME emerges in the same area. While the relationship isn’t guaranteed, and it currently has limited use as a forecasting tool, “the link is definitely intriguing from a scientific point of view,” says Gibson. “If we can figure out the science behind the eruptions, we’ll be in a much better position for making future forecasts.”
A Sun-wide glimpse of coronal magnetism
Attempts to observe the solar corona have long been thwarted by the Sun’s far-brighter surface, as if someone were trying to decipher a whisper amid a thunderstorm. Eclipses help muffle the visual noise of the solar disk, and filters can artificially block it, but each approach has its limitations.
In early 2004, a handful of NCAR researchers fulfilled a long-sought measurement dream. At the National Solar Observatory in New Mexico, they collected the first-ever data on magnetic fields across the entire solar limb (the slice of the Sun’s corona perpendicular to Earth). Animations from their instrument, the Coronal Multichannel Polarimeter (CoMP), reveal turbulent, high-velocity magnetic features spewing outward from the Sun’s surface.
“People have measured coronal magnetism before,” says HAO’s Steven Tomczyk, “but we believe this is the first time it’s being done in a time sequence like this, where you can see an evolving structure. I think we’re making important steps and demonstrating that this technology works.”
Near the Sun’s surface—especially in the photosphere, the lowest part of the Sun’s atmosphere—magnetism has been traced for over a decade by ground- and space-based instruments, such as NCAR’s Advanced Stokes Polarimeter. These devices infer the magnetic field by measuring several components of visible radiation. The brightness of the polarized light is proportional to the strength of the magnetic field along the line of sight.
The HAO team also devised a way to measure two wavelength components simultaneously. Earth’s atmosphere scatters a continuously varying amount of background light from the brighter disk into the coronal line of sight. The simultaneous measurements in CoMP allow the varying background signal to be accurately removed while preserving the faint coronal signal.
Using a separate instrument based on a somewhat different approach, a team led by HaoSheng Lin (University of Hawaii) began producing maps of the solar corona later in 2004. “There’s a little bit of friendly competition,” says Lin. However, both groups hope to pair their devices with a larger, yet-to-be-designed telescope on the order of a meter in diameter. “Ultimately,” says Tomczyk, “you want to gather more light.” | <urn:uuid:36dd219e-65b9-4ed4-9e55-c3cfb2958275> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ucar.edu/communications/highlights/2005/solar/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93454 | 2,947 | 3.96875 | 4 |
In December of 2009 Apple bought a small startup led by Bill Nguyen named Lala. The company was named after the first words of Nguyen's adopted son. It was also a word play on the solfège note "La". Lala struggled through pivot after pivot in the music industry, buying digital radio stations, a CD swapping business and finally streaming music.
Amongst it's struggles, Lala did have an interesting success. In 2009 when you Googled a song, the first result was a Lala result. Not an iTunes result, not the artist's MySpace or website… a Lala result. Every click that led to Lala wasn't leading to iTunes for a potential music purchase. Even worse for Apple, Lala was often a better deal. When Lala partnered with Google (for Google's Music Beta) there was a clear and present danger to Eddy Cue and his iTunes empire. Nguyen had pure gold and started a bidding war for the control of the company.
The war didn't start with Apple and Google though, as you might think. Curiously, it began with Nokia. In a small room, on a cold night, with 40+ people hovered around a Polycon in Finland, they crafted an offer letter to Nguyen and his near-dead Lala. The intention was to breathe new life into Nokia's mobile OS by creating an edge on a major aspect of mobile devices, music.
Upon reception of the Nokia offer, Bill immediately called Google and said they were discussing an acquisition deal with Nokia and that time was limited. Google's investment and engineering resources in Lala were seemingly about to vaporize. Unbeknownst to Google, though, Nguyen was absolutely disgusted with the offer from Nokia (around $11M).
Google was worried, they moved fast. They presented Nguyen with an offer for the company. Previously, Bill told M&A from Google what it would take to acquire the company. Instead of meeting his demands they decided (via a lowball offer) to see if Nguyen was desperate or bluffing. Bill made his next move.
He called in a few favors and got a meeting with the leadership at Apple. He explained that he had offers from the largest mobile OS competitors and that they wanted to acquire his music startup. Cue knew if Google obtained Lala the ownership of the service coupled with search dominance could be disruptive to their stronghold. Bill was notorious at getting great deals with the music elite, usually through Lala's investor, Warner Brothers Music.
In late November, Nguyen was seated at the dinner table in Steve Job's home on Waverly St in Palo Alto. Also present were Eddy Cue and Tim Cook and other Apple executives. Steve led the conversation while eating a beet salad:
"I'm going to give you a number, Bill, and if you like it, let's do it and just be done with this whole thing. Okay?" Bill agreed.
Jobs passed a piece of paper to Nguyen and Bill nodded. The deal was done. Apple successfully acquired Lala for roughly $80M (purchase price) with an additional $80M in retention bonuses for the remaining employees valuing the entire deal around $160M.
The ultimate irony in this story is that quite a few notable members of the Lala-to-Apple team followed Bill through the door and onward to his next venture. They left millions in options at a the $196.48 exercise price they had from the 2009 sale/retention bonuses. Some of those same engineers returned to Apple in the highly covered rumor that 20+ engineers went to Apple for $7M.
Apple obtained the same employees for pennies on the dollar. This time with even more experience and startup life under their belt. Paying twice was genius.
Image credit: Shutterstock/Malyugin | <urn:uuid:4c7a9972-c206-4163-b96f-a8f93ebbc552> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gizmodo.com/5977076/the-amazing-story-of-how-bill-nguyen-sold-two-companies-youve-probably-never-heard-of-to-apple?tag=acquisitions | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981753 | 782 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Scientists develop new strategy to overcome drug-resistant childhood cancer
A new drug combination could offer hope to children with neuroblastoma one of the deadliest forms of childhood cancer by boosting the effectiveness of a promising new gene-targeted treatment.
Researchers at The Institute of Cancer Research in London have found a way to overcome the resistance of cancer cells to a drug called crizotinib, which recently showed positive early results in its first trial in children with cancer.
Crizotinib has already been licensed by the US Food and Drug Administration for use in adult cancers, but early experience suggests tumours eventually stop responding to treatment, after developing additional mutations in the ALK gene targeted by the drug.
The paper, led by The Institute of Cancer Research in collaboration with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Children's Hospital in Boston, publishes this week in the prestigious journal Cancer Cell. The study received funding from a variety of sources including The Neuroblastoma Society, Cancer Research UK, Sparks, the children's medical research charity and The Rooney Foundation.
In the study, scientists detailed their new strategy of combining crizotinib with a second class of drugs mTOR inhibitors to knock out the resistance of cancer cells.
Scientists identified the strategy after revealing for the first time the role played by the ALK cancer-causing gene in driving neuroblastoma, which accounts for 15 per cent of all the UK's childhood cancer deaths.
Neuroblastomas are cancers of the developing nervous system, and new drug combinations are desperately needed as aggressive forms of the disease are very difficult to treat with conventional chemotherapy.
Senior author Dr Louis Chesler, leader of the neuroblastoma drug development team at The Institute of Cancer Research and honorary consultant at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, said: "With the first paediatric clinical trial reporting substantial responses to crizotinib in patients with ALK driven tumours, we are looking for ways to increase the effectiveness of ALK inhibitors in general. We have identified a very promising way to overcome crizotinib resistance in neuroblastoma, by adding a second drug called an mTOR inhibitor. Many mTOR inhibitors are already in adult clinical trials."
"We hope that our work will benefit children with neuroblastoma by increasing the effectiveness of crizotinib. Our study may also have relevance for adult patients with ALK-driven lung cancer and lymphoma who develop resistance to crizotinib, because loss of treatment response in these patients correlates with the development of point mutations in the tyrosine kinase domain of ALK. In children with neuroblastoma these point mutations are in fact the most common primary somatic changes that we see in ALK, so we hope our work with a paediatric cancer will in this case help to unravel resistance mechanisms in adult cancer as well."
Neuroblastoma patients with ALK mutations frequently have alterations to the MYCN gene, which is closely linked to the development of aggressive neuroblastoma but is difficult to target directly with drugs.
The team therefore set out to investigate how a common ALK mutation, ALKF1174L, and alterations in MYCN interact to drive the onset of neuroblastomas, and also to attempt to find a way to overcome resistance to crizotinib.
They found that the ALKF1174L mutation and changes in MYCN cause more aggressive, crizotinib-resistant neuroblastoma, by turning on the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway. This pathway has been implicated in the development of neuroblastoma and many adult cancer types, and has been an intense focus of drug-development in adult cancer.
The team found that combining an mTOR inhibitor with crizotinib prevented the growth of neuroblastoma by simultaneously inhibiting MYCN and ALK, overcoming the resistance of these tumours to treatment with crizotinib alone. As well as delivering a strategy to overcome crizotinib resistance in general, this work highlights a treatment approach that may be effective for patients with aggressive neuroblastoma who carry both genetic changes at diagnosis.
Journal reference: Cancer Cell
Provided by Institute of Cancer Research
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The Tempting of America: The Political Seduction of the Law
by Robert H. Bork
Free Press, 432 pp., $22.50
Battle for Justice: How the Bork Nomination Shook America
by Ethan Bronner
Norton, 399 pp., $22.50
The People Rising: The Campaign Against the Bork Nomination
by Michael Pertschuk, by Wendy Schaetzel
Thunder’s Mouth Press, 317 pp., $13.95 (paper)
Three years ago, on October 23, 1987, the Senate voted not to confirm Ronald Reagan’s nomination of Robert Bork to serve as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Only eleven Supreme Court nominations have been rejected by the Senate, and no nominee has ever been defeated by as large a margin as Bork. Yet no one accused Bork of private vices, or challenged his intellectual competence. The campaign against him attacked his ideas about the Constitution, and his attitude toward those—judges, academics, politicians, and citizens—who held different views from his. The battle was fought not in the back halls of Congress but in public: Bork’s opponents conducted an elaborate and effective national campaign in the press and television, and the televised hearings on his confirmation concentrated national attention on the Constitution and on constitutional theory to a degree that has seldom if ever been equaled in our history.
Was Bork fairly treated? Was his defeat good or bad for constitutional justice in the United States? In his own book, The Tempting of America, Bork himself claims that he was defeated, by unscrupulous means, precisely because his appointment would have helped to restore legitimacy to constitutional adjudication.
Much of his book is devoted to a critical historical survey of constitutional law, in which Bork’s aim is to show the extent to which the justices of the Supreme Court have allowed their own political convictions to influence their decisions. He claims that justices have made political decisions from the earliest days of the Court onward, and that this practice, which he believes to be outrageous, became firmly entrenched, the rule rather than the exception, in the modern Court.
Bork’s complaint that the modern Court plays politics is well illustrated by his discussion of Griswold v. Connecticut, the 1965 decision which held that states may not prohibit the use of contraceptives. In that case, the Court recognized that individuals have a constitutional right, which it called a right of “privacy,” to be free from governmental interference in certain matters of personal choice. It relied on the Griswold case as a precedent when it held, in its 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, and in other cases, that the right of privacy includes a limited right to an abortion. In 1986, however, in Bowers v. Hardwick the Court rejected the claim, which also relied heavily on Griswold, that laws prohibiting sodomy are unconstitutional. Bork offers the Griswold decision as a clear and extreme example of judicial politics. He deplores the result in Roe v. Wade as an extension of the mistake the court made in the Griswold case, and applauds the result in Bowers as a return to “the original understanding” of the Constitution.
In his confirmation hearings, Bork suggested that he would not want to reverse the outcome of the Griswold case; but in his book he returns with some vehemence to his earlier clear opposition to that decision. His characterization of … | <urn:uuid:6be387b6-cd02-40c2-80f0-89e72fa5d127> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1990/oct/25/back-to-bork/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972602 | 731 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Bishopsgate Tower - "The Pinnacle"
City of London, England
Kohn Pederson Fox
Promotional video (YouTube)
At 288m, the Bishopsgate Tower will form the dramatic centrepiece and soaring pinnacle of London’s financial district.
It will be over 100 metres taller than the City's current tallest building, Tower 42
Plans for a tower on this site have been around since 2002. A previous design by Helmut Jahn was rejected after concerns
about the base and top, and its bulky appearance on the skyline. This new design, however, is more sleek and elegantly
proportioned. The architects of this new version, Kohn Pederson Fox, have created a tower which is more sensitive to the
City skyline, especially from Fleet Street, and complements the neighbouring proposals.
A planning application for a 307m tower was submitted in June 2005. Following concerns about flight paths from the Civil Aviation Authority,
a revised planning application with a 19m height reduction was submitted and given final approval in April 2006. In November 2006, the
developers secured funding for the project.
Demolition has now begun, and with funding and contracts secured, it has been confirmed that the tower will be
built speculatively. Actual construction is expected to begin in Easter 2008, with completion in 2011.
The full planning report for the tower can be accessed by clicking here | <urn:uuid:e57aaac3-9535-4aab-836a-92f9a06f6906> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=145528 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946072 | 291 | 1.59375 | 2 |
DURHAM, N.H. – Using the techniques of modern science alongside an historical understanding of the plentiful oceans from bygone days, University of New Hampshire ocean policy and fisheries expert Andrew A. Rosenberg will help address the issue of how to best protect and manage the planet’s imperiled ocean resources at this year’s American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Boston February 14-18.
Rosenberg, a professor at the UNH Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space and department of natural resources, and a former commissioner of the U. S. Commission on Ocean Policy, will both convene and present at multiple sessions, which vary topically but are centered around a common theme: the rich historical diversity of ocean ecosystems contrasted with the depleted seas of today.
“Clearly, ocean ecosystems were very much more productive in the past. We need to learn from our mistakes and find new approaches to foster recovery. Some progress has been made but there is a long way to go,” Rosenberg says.
New approaches range from the continued refinement of fishing privileges to the emerging, all-encompassing method of “ecosystem-based management” of ocean resources.
Ecosystem-based management seeks to tie the disparate ocean-related puzzle pieces together so that policies put in place can be most effective when confronted with the inevitable trade-offs between ecosystem “services” – from seafood to erosion control to recreation.
“While it’s certainly true that overfishing has been a major impact, so have coastal development, changes in river sources, changes in habitat, and other kinds of utilization and exploitation,” says Rosenberg, who is also one of three senior scientists with the Communication Partnership for Science and the Sea or COMPASS – a nationwide, collaborative effort dedicated to advancing and communicating marine conservation science.
The work Rosenberg is doing in conjunction with COMPASS will develop scientific advice for policymakers here in New England as well as nationally.
At the AAAS meeting, Rosenberg notes, “We’ll be talking about how you go beyond the concept of everything being connected to figuring out how you implement a management system that is integrated and connected.”
Just as climate change experts rely on computer simulations to forecast climate scenarios, ocean scientists will develop models to implement an ecosystem-based management approach.
Says Rosenberg, “And that’s a big challenge. Where do you get the data" How do you create a model that’s not so complex you have no confidence in the outputs"” He adds that an effort to answer such questions is currently underway via a collaborative project with ocean experts all around New England, including himself and his Ph.D. student Verna DeLauer, who is working for COMPASS on a new integrated suite of models that can assess the true value of ecosystem services.
For details on the AAAS presentations, visit http://www.aaas.org/meetings/Annual_Meeting. For more on COMPASS visit http://www.compassonline.org.
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system. | <urn:uuid:259f03b5-8178-45b0-917e-59b40e8afa2e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-02/uonh-ros021208.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931884 | 681 | 2.59375 | 3 |
This wiki is still undergoing renaming, updating, and reorganization. There are still many references to the old name (MiniD) strewn about, as well as some outdated library docs and some broken links. But most of it should work.
Croc is a small, dynamically-typed language most closely related to Lua, with C-style syntax. Its semantics are borrowed mainly from Lua, D, Squirrel, and Io, though many other languages served as inspirations. It aims to be somewhat unique among dynamically-typed languages by making it as difficult as possible for you, the programmer, to make mistakes. It also tries to be fast and to make memory allocation the exception rather than the norm. Lastly, it is meant to be a language that is perfectly capable on its own, but which can be seamlessly integrated into and/or extended by a host language.
It used to be called MiniD.
It was conceived, written, and is maintained by Jarrett Billingsley.
For a more in-depth explanation of where it came from and why it exists, read the Introduction.
Why isn't this on GitHub?
Croc's source code and issues are hosted on GitHub. But I've chosen to put the wiki here on my own site because I already had a huge amount of wiki material written in the Trac syntax (which doesn't seem to map nicely onto any of the wiki syntaxes provided by GitHub), and also because GitHub doesn't have the appropriate syntax highlighter for Croc source. At least not yet. I'll try to get the Croc lexer into Pygments, and once GitHub gets a version that has it, it'll be supported. But for now, hosting the wiki myself is the only way to do it.
If you have questions or comments, you can use the Croc Forum for that. Yes, you have to register; no, it's not hard. Maybe I'll be able to set up OpenID logins for it.
If you want to suggest a change, or have a bug to report, or if you want to submit patches, use the Croc GitHub Page. You can use the Issues system to report bugs and feature requests, or if you're more ambitious, you can fork the repository, implement a change yourself, and then initiate a pull request.
Lastly there's the IRC channel, #croc on freenode.net. There's not a lot of people there yet. Please go!
Let's get started
The documentation is split into five parts, which are explained here, and which you can also quickly jump to at any time by using the Quick Nav links right below the banner. You can also use the Search box below the banner to search the wiki.
- Installation and Downloads - Getting the Croc binaries and library source, as well as some additional downloads like syntax highlighters for code editors.
- Language Tutorials - An informal hands-on introduction to the language. You can follow along by getting the Croc interpreter from the Installation page.
- Croc Standard Libraries - Documentation for the libraries that come with Croc.
- Croc Language Specification - The long, formal specification for Croc. ALL the features are documented here, and if you want a deeper understanding of the language, you should read this.
- Croc Native API - Documentation and tutorials for using the native API for the reference implementation of Croc in D. If you want to embed Croc in a D app, this is what you need to read. | <urn:uuid:53eac02f-cd3e-4d55-9270-2150dd311daa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jfbillingsley.com/croc/wiki | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948048 | 728 | 1.953125 | 2 |
Capitol Punishment is the lawful infliction of the death penalty. The three most common death penalties are the gas chamber, lethal injection, and the electric chair. These methods are used to be a deterrent against crimes such as murder. The point given to these people is that they are less likely to commit a crime knowing they’ll receive the ultimate punishment to kill.
«No other punishment is to deter man so effectively from committing a crime as the punishment of death». Now many people may agree that this statement is correct, but Criminologists have built a strong case that the threat of death failed to deter murder, anymore effectively than prison. Therefore, to inflict harm to one, is just simply useless. Capitol Punishment is meant to deter crimes but at what cost? Capital trials are longer and more expensive at every step than other murder trials. Pre-trial motions, expert witness investigations, jury selection, and the necessity for two trials--one on guilt and one on sentencing--make capital cases extremely costly, even before the appeals process begins. Guilty pleas are almost unheard of when the punishment is death. In addition, many of these trials result in a life sentence rather than the death penalty, so the state pays the cost of life imprisonment on top of the expensive trial. On top of that some states are spending large amounts of money, but murder rates are not going down. For example, the most comprehensive study in the country found that the death penalty costs North Carolina $2.16 million per execution more then life imprisonment. Texas, with over 300 people on death row, is spending an estimated $2.3 million per case, but its murder rate remains one of the highest in the country.
A death penalty case costs an average of $2.3 million, is about three times the cost of imprisoning someone in a single cell at the highest security level for 40 years. The exorbitant costs of capital punishment are actually making America less safe because badly needed financial and legal resources are being diverted from effective crime fighting strategies. Across the country, police are being laid off, prisoners are being released early, the courts are clogged, and crime continues to rise. In Texas, prisoners are serving only 20% of their time and rearrests are common. Now if money was putting men in prison instead of killing them…. Also, Georgia is laying off 900 correctional personnel and New Jersey has had to dismiss 500 police officers. Yet these same states, and many others like them, are pouring millions of dollars into the death penalty with no resultant reduction in crime. In Florida, the budget crisis resulted in the early release of 3,000 prisoners. - In Iowa, life imprisonment means life imprisonment. Convicted murderers in Iowa die in prison; they are not paroled. Iowa consistently has one of the lowest murder rates in the nation. (Iowa was second only to North Dakota in the latest comprehensive comparison.) States without the death penalty generally have the lowest murder rates. - Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, the number of executions and the size of death row have substantially increased.
Yet during this same period of time, the FBI Uniform Crime Reports show virtually no change in the national murder rate. - One of the biggest arguments against capital punishment is people feel that it violates the eighth amendment which forbids cruel and unusual punishment. People against Capital Punishment believe the death penalty is absurd and is in un-christian practice.
Please do not pass this sample essay as your own, otherwise you will be accused of plagiarism. Our writers can write any custom essay for you!
Capital Punishment As Deterrent Sample essay topic, essay writing: Capital Punishment As Deterrent - 451 words
I find no conclusive evidence to support the view that the death penalty is or is not an effective deterrent in controlling crime. Opponents of capital punishment argue that it is not a deterrent, because in some states where capital punishment is allowed the Capital Punishment Should be Stopped Each year there are about 250 people added to death row and 35 executed. The death penalty is the harshest form of punishment enforced in the United Sates today. Once a jury has convicted a criminal offense they then proceed to the second part of the trial, the punishment phase. If the jury recommends the Death Penalty Sample essay topic, essay writing: Death Penalty - 537 words
The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, and violates the right to life. It's hard for me as a Swede to understand that a country such as USA still have that kind of punishment. For many people and nations the USA serves Both Sides of Capital Punishment Murder is the unlawful killing of another human being with an intentional or criminal intent. In today's world, terrible crimes are being committed daily. Many believe that these criminals deserve one fate: death. Capital punishment, the death penalty, is the maximum sentence used in punishing people who kill another human being - and is a Capital Punsihment Sample essay topic, essay writing: Capital Punsihment - 777 words
Capital Punishment There once was a man, long ago, that was sentenced to death for crimes the government said he had committed. He was not a murderer or a thief. He wasn't a rebel he was just a normal man doing what was right. Since the
Need Book Reports, essays, lectures? Save to bookmarks - » Capitol punishment. Collections of essays on literature! | <urn:uuid:5a5dda8c-cd70-4dca-bc4e-c33211a95f4a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mannmuseum.com/capitol-punishment/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960663 | 1,100 | 2.484375 | 2 |
Trash Amps "can" deliver big sound in a small package
It's no secret that sound and music, when trapped inside a hollow space, are naturally amplified. That's the concept behind Trash Amps, small amplifiers that are designed to be used in hollow containers that might otherwise be thrown away. The Trash Amps slogan is "Reuse it for Music" and they go to great lengths to recycle cans, takeout food boxes and even their shipping containers while manufacturing their product.
The actual amp is a small, battery-operated device with a retractable connection cord and it's primary designed to sit on the top of standard soda or beer cans. They sell the amps in combo packs with cans for $49.99 and takeout boxes for $59.99, and you can buy additional cans, boxes and grilles to have multiple styles for your amp. They also show an amp being used in a glass jar with a guitar.
Each amp has two modes, "jam" and "chill." The jam mode is for maximum volume, when you want to hook up to a guitar or other instrument, and chill mode is for listening to music. Check out the video below for a demonstration.
This is a cool idea and I really appreciate the recycling aspect of it. in addition to reusing cans and takeout containers they recycle plastic clam shell boxes, used for strawberries, along with recycled cardboard for their packaging. The sound is big for such a small device, but I have to say I was a little surprised at the $50 price tag. Seems like $30 would be a better price point for something like this, without knowing the production costs.
If you like the concept of the Trash Amps and don't have $50 to spend, you might want to check out this Pringles promotion. Through the promotion you can get a similar device to put on a Pringles can by sending proof of purchase of four cans of Pringles. I'm guessing it isn't as powerful as the Trash Amps and it doesn't have two modes, but it seems basically the same. I sent away for one a week ago and will post a review once I receive it. | <urn:uuid:05cdf7fe-17b9-4287-9a9b-8227af722cf9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/latest-gadgets/content/trash-amps-can-deliver-big-sound-small-package | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963399 | 448 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Brian Wise covers the classical music business for WQXR, including aspects of performance, technology, philanthropy and institutional trends. He manages the station's homepage and makes sure what you hear on air is what you see online. Follow him on Twitter at @Briancwise.
Montserrat Figueras, Soprano with an Ethereal Voice, Dies at 69
Wednesday, November 23, 2011 - 09:04 PM
The Catalan soprano Montserrat Figueras, who brought a soulful voice to a broad swath of medieval, Renaissance and Baroque vocal music, died on Wednesday in Barcelona at age 69. Her death, from cancer, was announced by Alia Vox, a record label that she co-founded with her husband Jordi Savall, a viola da gamba player and conductor.
Figueras and Savall founded three pioneering ensembles together: Hespèrion XX (now called Hespèrion XXI), La Capella Reial de Catalunya and Le Concert des Nations. These groups infused pre-classical music with a decidedly international spirit, introducing listeners to sounds that spanned the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.
With her silvery, light soprano voice, and penchant for flowing, multicolored gowns, Figueras created a beguiling presence on stage. Born in Barcelona to a musical family, Figueras studied singing as a young girl, originally as part of her studies to be an actress. She married Savall in 1968 with whom she had two children, Arianna and Ferran, both musicians.
In 1974 Figueras and Savall founded Hesperion XX, an ensemble devoted to Hispanic and European repertoire before 1800. The group arrived just as the early-music movement was gaining momentum in concert halls across Europe and eventually the US. Among their first recordings was "El barroco español," featuring the keyboard player Ton Koopman.
Figueras went on to appear on more than 70 albums, including many for Alia Vox. Among them were lavishly researched thematic collections organized around topics as diverse as the worlds of the Borgia Dynasty, Christopher Columbus and Caravaggio. Last year Figueras and Savall brought their project, "Jerusalem," about the history of the three major religions in Jerusalem, to Lincoln Center, which was broadcast on WQXR.
Figueras received a number of awards and was named an offer of France's Order of Arts and Letters in 2003. In 2008 she and her husband were named "Artists for Peace" by UNESCO. Her record company said she continued to give concerts and make recordings until August, even as she fought the effects of cancer. | <urn:uuid:34f7acd2-b93d-4a5c-9d90-3c80ad6fea98> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wqxr.org/blogs/wqxr-blog/2011/nov/23/montserrat-figueras-soprano-ethereal-voice-dies-69/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966858 | 565 | 1.757813 | 2 |
A color resulting from the combination of a pure vivid red with more or less white; -- so called from the common color of the flower.
The European minnow; -- so called from the color of its abdomen in summer.
Resembling the garden pink in color; of the color called pink (see 6th Pink, 2); as, a pink dress; pink ribbons.
A species of salmon with very large spots on their backs with large, oval black blotches on both lobes of their tails. Their scales are very small. The spawning adults take on a dull gray coloration on the back and upper sides with a creamy-white color below. The males develop a pronounced hump on their backs and are sometimes called "humpbacks."
a light shade of red
a color frequently associated with homosexuals
Always a favorite, this girly color is sweet and pretty.
Pink is a color often made by mixing red and white. It can be described as a light red, but it is more accurately a bright, undersaturated red. Pink can also be used to describe other colors, including some that are actually shades of magenta rather than red, such as fuchsia pink, Hollywood cerise and shocking pink. | <urn:uuid:927c72cb-c75f-4d56-88d0-3236bff08c07> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://metaglossary.com/meanings/398193/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955004 | 252 | 3.09375 | 3 |
It was a wet day. With an average annual rainfall surpassing 300 inches (762 centimeters), almost every day in Kauai’s Alaka`i Swamp is wet. That 26th day in April 1996, 4 tiny puaiohi eggs were collected from wild nests. In total, there were seven puaiohi (or small Kauai thrush) eggs collected that year, all a cream color with a thousand tiny, brown spots speckling the fat end, and only five were fertile.
In 1996, the Hawaii Endangered Bird Conservation Program (at that time operated by The Peregrine Fund) was spearheading efforts to recover Hawaii’s native birds. By that time, the wild population of the puaiohi was at a crossroads. It was thought to be extinct in 1950. Habitat loss, rats, cats, and disease carried by introduced mosquitoes were the biggest enemies to puaiohi survival and continue to haunt all wild forest birds in Hawaii. Luckily, this enigmatic little bird was rediscovered by Frank Richardson and John Bowles in 1960. When it was officially listed as endangered in 1967, the puaiohi was given a second chance at life; but with 177 total sightings between 1968 and 1973 and only 13 in 1983, it was in dire need of assistance.
Joop Kuhn harvests precious puaiohi eggs from the wild in 1996.
Little was known about these birds, as they had never been bred or kept in captivity. With so few individuals left, each incoming puaiohi egg was a precious gem whose population couldn’t afford mistakes. In preparation, `ōma`o, the only Hawaiian thrush not endangered (or extinct) at the time, were used as a “model” species to develop incubation and captive-rearing techniques and release methods. Wild eggs artificially incubated and hatched were considered the best option, because wild adult birds might not adapt to captive life as well as birds raised in managed care. The strategy proved successful, and 25 `ōma`o were hatched and eventually released. With the triumph of the surrogate program, the proverbial “stage” was set and ready for puaiohi.
Fluctuating cabin pressure made transporting eggs inter-island risky. Instead, the eggs were brought to local biologist Jim Denny’s “egg house” to complete their incubation and were monitored with great anticipation. The first to hatch was named Ikaika, meaning “strength” in Hawaiian. (It was an oddly fitting name, considering its inspiration came off the back of the softball shirt Jim Denny wore as he hiked through the Alaka`i!) The last egg collected hatched on April 27, and the chick, given the studbook number 5, was transported to the Keauhou Bird Conservation Center on the Big Island three days later. She grew up and laid her own eggs the following year, but none of the original eggs collected in 1996 produced males, so #5’s first eggs were infertile. Twelve more eggs were collected from the Alaka`i in 1997, and by 1998, the first fertile puaiohi eggs were laid in captivity. The following year, the first 14 birds we raised were released into the Alaka`i.
Cyndi Kuehler and Tom Snetsinger candle a puaiohi egg in 1996.
Remaining with us, #5 hatched and successfully reared seven chicks, including babies she fostered in addition to her own brood; she even fostered palila eggs! Because of this, puaiohi #5 ultimately earned the name Green Mama in part due to the tiny green band on her left leg. She was retired from the breeding program in 2002 to give her body a break but continued in her determination to benefit the species by building nests and teaching an army of staff and interns the ways of her kind.
The morning of April 25, 2012, two days short of her 16th birthday, Green Mama died. In the days leading up to her death, she showed no signs of ill health and was happy to chase after every insect tossed her way. Like most birds, she was never one to complain, but at almost 16, Green Mama was actually very old. She was the record holder for longest-lived captive puaiohi and was also the last surviving founding member of the first 15 eggs hatched during the program’s inception. Quite simply, her time had finally come.
While we mourn Green Mama’s passing, we also celebrate a great victory for the puaiohi, the only Kaua`i forest bird species that has not declined over the last decade. Recent surveys show that the wild population has increased to 500 to 800 birds and is now relatively stable. A more accurate estimate is difficult to obtain due to the difficult nature of the terrain in the Alaka`i. But at this point, our captive breeding and release program can be halted while field crews monitor the wild population to see if it can thrive on its own over longer periods of time (see post Puaiohi: Released and Breeding). Green Mama would be proud!
In the islands, aloha is an expression of the joy in one’s soul and refers to the genuine feeling of love, friendship, and compassion that is readily given to all. We use it as a greeting when giving our aloha to those we meet and to wish someone well when they take their leave. In this manner, perhaps it is best to wish Green Mama aloha as she continues her journey so we never have to say goodbye.
Sharon Belcher is a senior research associate at the Maui Bird Conservation Center. Read her previous post, Nene: Movin’ On Up. | <urn:uuid:b65ff6e2-c209-4dcc-ae46-c61f1574f78f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.sandiegozoo.org/category/conservation/hawaiian-birds/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980603 | 1,194 | 3.90625 | 4 |
May 3, 2012
Reform movement spearheads faith letter to Obama on discrimination
Nearly two dozen faith groups joined an initiative led by the Reform Jewish movement calling on President Obama to reconsider his decision not to issue an anti-discrimination executive order.
In Thursday’s letter, 23 organizations expressed disappointment that the president did not issue an executive order to include sexual orientation and gender identity as prohibited forms of employment discrimination practices by U.S. government contractors.
“We believe that no one should face discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity: Our various faith traditions and belief systems counsel the treatment of all people with dignity,” the organizations wrote.
The letter was spearheaded by the Reform movement’s Religious Action Center. Signatories included Christian, Muslim and Jewish groups.
In addition to a number of Reform-affiliated bodies, Jewish groups included the Reconstructionist movement, the Anti-Defamation League and the National Council of Jewish Women. | <urn:uuid:e3499b0d-69b2-4b43-9b0f-10b4027aa34b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jewishjournal.com/nation/article/reform_movement_spearheads_faith_letter_to_obama_on_discrimination_20120503 | 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 | 0.954309 | 194 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Steve Rubel wonders if "the Interruption Economy sacks prosperity:" "Conventional wisdom says that technology -- and nowadays the Internet -- will always continue to advance and bring with it productivity gains and prosperity. That's certainly been the case for years. However, historically there are pauses. After the benefits of the Industrial Revolution were fully realized it took awhile for the next big era to begin. I wonder if we're about to enter a similar lull now that the Information Age is arguably almost 30 years old." Rubel demands "we need new tools for managing interruptions -- and they may not be technological, but social. Our prosperity may depend on it."
Rubel is not the only one who expresses concern about the World Wide Web hampering productivity. He refers to Mark Cuban, who has made a similar case, and Idris Moote, who points at research showing that interruptions from e-mail, cell phones, instant messaging, and blogs take up nearly 30% of each day, which -- on an annualized basis -- represents a loss of 28 billion hours for the entire US workforce. Are we on the way to becoming the United States of ADD? Are we a nation of knowledge workers with very little but heavily dispersed knowledge and only a bit of attention capital left? Will there be an information backlash, as a result of a new digital divide "between geeks and those who are blissfully and decidedly low tech" (Rubel)?
There are some serious signs indicating that the new generation of digital citizens, the twenty-somethings who have grown up with the Internet and are accustomed to ubiquitous information, may already be one step ahead. Gone are the days of 'net pour le net.' Although the number of new blogs (more than 120,000 new weblogs are created each day) is staggering (as is the number of deserted blogs), blogging has not become a social norm -- it remains the passion (or addiction) of a few. Furthermore, the average time users spend on social networking sites is on the decline, and the once explosive growth of social networks has stagnated. In fact, a certain Facebook fatigue has set in, and users (including, reportedly, Bill Gates) are leaving the site, deactivating their accounts (if they can). In its heyday, social networking was an activity, now it may finally be turning into what at least Facebook, according to its mission statement, has always claimed to be: a utility. (Of course, the ironic truth is that Facebook would never have experienced such explosive growth if its claim had been true).
The new digerati have brokered a new online/offline balance as they find their "first life" in the real world unexpectedly attractive: face time trumps Facebook. They do not respond to emails on the weekend, as they are hiking, traveling, or engaging in some world changing social endeavor -- from running an AIDS marathon to volunteering for the Obama campaign to founding their own non-profit. They share the sensation that one's fortune is not made in front of a screen and that "quality of life" is the prerequisite of a good life. The new digerati want to be connected but only for a reason. They build their own social networks and take advantage of the communication tools at hand -- but they have matured their use of them. They scoff at those who spend their time chained to the PC, while they themselves enjoy utmost mobility. Applications that aim to succeed with the new digerati need to provide utilitarian value for social users on the go: Take, for example GyPSii, a new social networking platform designed specifically for the mobile phone. It connects people, places, content, and events, but it is no longer a destination. | <urn:uuid:686abc6d-5dc8-4fe0-b392-2ba4fe91300d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://iplot.typepad.com/iplot/2008/02/the-new-digerat.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959851 | 757 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Startups Need to Make Money
Rob Go, a Venture Capitalist I follow, posted a very interesting article the other day that discussed the influx of VC funding for companies that seem to lack a business model. I found this post incredibly useful and interesting considering the inordinately large amount of funding that start-ups are generating. This article reached into my mind and plucked out a very question that commonly circulates: “How is that possible given that the company isn’t making any money and doesn’t have any business model?”
I think it is a safe assumption that because VCs care about generating a return on their investment, most would care about a company that can generate some type of revenue. Rob Go and Lee Howard agree with this thinking and discusses three all encompassing business models that every single Internet based company can possible have. Pasted directly from their posts, they are:
1. Media Models (primarily monetized through advertising)
2. Transaction Models (including e-commerce but also lead-generation)
3. Premium, User-Paid services
While I previously decided the only existed 2 valid Internet business models were advertising and a payment service, the distinction in my latter model between Transaction Models and User Paid services clarifies products. These three business models cover every end goal method of generating revenue and holding a substantial business model. I truly believe that every organization that is trying to be a company should have a goal to have a sustainable business model. Unfortunately, that is not always the case because there is another exit option. This “4th Business Model,” if you will, is to be acquired.
Rob’s 3 business models encompass every END GOAL method of generating revenue, but not every startup is actually interesting in being a sustainable business. Many startups are building a product that fits as a perfect tool to a very profitable corporation, but have no real way of generating revenue by itself. These startups scream to be acquired.
Then, there are also other startups that do not understand Rob’s 3 business models. Some only have the goal of generating a huge user-base, but have no feasible idea of translating this into revenue. Combine this with VCs who fund many startups with the end goal of being acquired, and we see a huge presence of hungry entrepreneurs starting companies with a product that will never have a business model. I believe every startup should aim for one of the three models; the fourth sets a dangerous precedent of potentially wasted talent and capital.
From.Us, a 500 Startups company that aims to revolutionize the process of gift giving, is an example of a company with a business model that I think I can understand. Users looking to buy gifts will very readily click through for relevant advertisements; From.Us will more effectively monetize through the media model than many other chatting apps. Given the proper partnerships, From.Us may even monetize off the transaction model by skimming a portion off facilitated transactions. This attached excel model quickly looks at the population of the United States and estimates the amount of gifts each person may receive in a year. If From.Us is able to capture .1% of all monetary transactions of online gifts, whether through advertising or e-commerce, they may generate over $7.7 million in revenues. Barring flaws in my assumptions in estimating the market and the actual company’s ability to perform, From.Us may possible make a sizable amount of revenue. Besides providing value for their users, startups should have a very clear way to eventually make money. | <urn:uuid:727bc357-0ed2-4918-ac51-c237532ddd33> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jasonkwok.com/2011/08/startups-need-to-make-money/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956741 | 727 | 1.890625 | 2 |
I came across this pamphlet at ampm last night. It has some very important things to say that I think everyone should hear.
Like many of mankind’s greatest inventions, alcohol was discovered accidentally. In the case of alcohol, it was stumbled upon by two lab workers too awkward to express their true feelings for one another.
Today, alcohol is still primarily used to facilitate the hooking-up process. However, when used irresponsibly for this purpose, alcohol may result in children or - in extreme cases - even marriage.
There Are Three Distinct Stages of Intoxication
- You become smarter
- You become funnier
- You lose your inhibitions
- Articles of clothing mysteriously vanish
- You pass the hell out
- Coma or death may occur
In fact, as strange as it may sound, there are actually risks involved with alcohol use, including:
Making Poor Life Decisions
For example, dreadlocks on a white guy.
Saying Things You Don’t Really Mean
Encountering Laser Ghost Cars from the Future
Alcohol Abuse Inevitably Leads to Hangovers
This is no cause for concern, however. Simply remain in bed until the hangover symptoms subside.
Millions of Adults are Actually Nondrinkers
These people are either:
We hope that these facts have increased your understanding of our old friend alcohol. If you enjoyed this pamphlet, please look into our other educational materials, including:
Aspirin: The Silent Killer
brought to you by The Ministry of Counter Propaganda | <urn:uuid:408a31ab-da94-481f-9286-fffcfb3aa4ff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thefifthcolumn.blogspot.com/2005/06/truth-about-alcohol.html?showComment=1120993200000 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940381 | 325 | 1.664063 | 2 |
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To download a list of projects for this collection in an Excel spreadsheet, see the Project Index. For instructions on interpreting the Project Index, see The Guide to the Project Index.
(1926 - 2013)
A native Californian, Nisbet joined the army after high school and served in WW II. Upon return to civilian life, he enrolled in an architecture and engineering college in San Francisco, where he was inspired by the designs of Frank Lloyd Wright. He worked as a carpenter's apprentice until 1950, when he was accepted as a Fellow at Taliesin West. In 1953, he left Taliesin, and began work on his own. In 1958, following an extended stay in Tahiti, he moved to Hawaii, and established a practice there. He returned to California in the 1960s. Nisbet's beautiful drawings reflect the style and influence of Frank Lloyd Wright.
|This collection contains drawings of built and unbuilt projects, mostly residential, spanning the years 1950-1990.|
|Related Collections: Olof Dahlstrand|
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News & Events || Donations || Outreach Programs || Location || Campus Architecture || Links || Site Index | <urn:uuid:4033006c-fae2-410a-a1f7-c565d12023fe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ced.berkeley.edu/cedarchives/profiles/nisbet.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930517 | 262 | 1.828125 | 2 |
A Quote by Mitch Albom on living, feeling, and experiencing
if you hold back on the emotions if you don't allow yourself to go all the way through them you can never get to being detached. You're too busy being afraid. You're afraid of the pain, you're afraid of the grief. You're afraid of the vulnerability that loving entails. But by throwing yourself into these emoitions by allowing yourself to dive in, all thew ay, over your head even you experinece them fully completly You know what pain is. You know what love is. You know what grief is. And only then can you say "Alright I have experineced that emotion. I recognize that emotion. Now I need to detach from that emotion for a moment."
Source: Tuesdays with Morrie
Contributed by: Amanda | <urn:uuid:124575ab-2872-4639-a154-610874927cb1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.gaiam.com/quotes/authors/mitch-albom/63050 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963652 | 172 | 1.609375 | 2 |
“The Siri app itself isn’t expensive; in fact, it’s free to iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch users. The algorithms that make the app work, however, are the product of years of defense-sponsored research at Menlo Park, CA-based SRI International and other institutions that cost taxpayers at least $150 million,” Wade Roush reports for Xconomy. “After SRI spun out Siri, Inc., to commercialize this work in 2008, Silicon Valley venture capital firms Menlo Ventures and Morgenthaler Ventures poured another $24 million into the technology. And finally, this April, Apple itself acquired the startup for a reported $150 million to $250 million.”
Roush asks, “How could a single mobile application have caused so much money to change hands?”
“The answer, of course, is that the fuss isn’t about the Siri app. It’s about the artificial-intelligence insights behind it: the chain of machine-learning, natural-language processing, and Web search algorithms that swing into action with every Siri query,” Roush reports. “When you can access these algorithms from a mobile device like the iPhone, and prime them with a bit of contextual awareness such as a GPS location reading or an understanding of the user’s preferences, you have a powerful personal tool that Norman Winarsky, SRI’s vice president of ventures, licensing, and strategic programs, likes to describe as a ‘do engine’ rather than a search engine.”
“Right now, Siri can handle a limited range of jobs, such as checking a flight time, sending a tweet or an e-mail reminder, or finding out when a movie is showing—all things that can be achieved by connecting with existing Web services or tapping the structured information in open Web databases,” Roush reports. “But as the technology evolves, it could help to change consumers’ expectations of their mobile devices, gradually weaning them away from the keyword-driven thinking inculcated by traditional search engines and allowing them to interact with their gadgets in more conversational ways. So it’s not hard to understand why Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), which is betting a large part of its future on the iPhone and the iPad, would pay to bring Siri in-house (and, not incidentally, to keep it away from Google).”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Carl H." for the heads up.] | <urn:uuid:8a5d0d6d-c62b-436e-ae9f-011e517624ce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://macdailynews.com/2010/06/14/the_story_of_siri_from_birth_to_acquisition_by_apple/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940155 | 539 | 1.90625 | 2 |
Time to Sell Fort Knox?
May 17, 2011
The United States may have run up a huge debt, but it is not a poor country by any stretch of the imagination. The federal government owns roughly 650 million acres of land, close to a third of the nation's total land mass. Plus a million buildings. Plus electrical utilities like the Tennessee Valley Authority. And an interstate highway system. Not to mention millions of ounces of gold in Fort Knox worth billions of dollars, says the Washington Post.
Economists of a conservative or libertarian bent have long argued that the federal government needs to get out of certain businesses, unload unneeded assets, and privatize such functions as passenger rail service and air traffic control. No one advocates selling Yellowstone, but why, some economists ask, should the federal government be in the electricity business?
Economist Kevin Hassett of the American Enterprise Institute said the federal government should consider the sale of interstate highways.
- Motorists would have to pay tolls to the private owners, he said, but the roads would likely be in better shape.
- Federal, state and local governments could raise hundreds of billions of dollars through highway privatization.
The Obama administration is not opposed, in principle, to asset sales.
- The Treasury department is steadily unloading the mortgage-backed securities it acquired in the 2008 economic meltdown.
- The administration also has a program known as the Civilian Property Realignment Act that would sell some assets.
- But these asset sales aren't connected to the debt-limit debate, and aren't framed as a way of significant source of revenue for easing budget deficits.
Source: Joel Achenbach, "U.S. Should Sell Assets like Gold to Get out of Debt, Conservative Economists Say," Washington Post, May 15, 2011.
Browse more articles on Tax and Spending Issues | <urn:uuid:09e0cedd-157f-4f5c-9a0e-87e05426cbb0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=20673 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94176 | 378 | 2.265625 | 2 |
Sales of portable space heaters start to take off this time of year. But be aware, space heaters can be dangerous. They cause around 1,700 house fires a year and some 70 deaths.
Consumer Reports just tested 19 portable electric heaters and checked to make sure they have adequate safeguards. One test assesses whether the overheat sensor shuts the heater off before it poses a fire risk.
With the Optimus H-5210 space heater, the sensor did not activate in time. The test fabric caught fire in a matter of minutes. The Optimus H-5210 also failed a second test where a folded cloth simulates a drape placed on it. Like most heaters, the Optimus carries a warning: "Risk of fire — keep combustible materials, such as furniture, paper, clothes and curtains at least three feet … away ..."
Consumer Reports says that drapes and fabrics can easily contact any heater in a typical home. And this is the only electric heater to ignite the fabric in its tests. Because of the potential risk of fire, Consumer Reports judges the Optimus Model H-5210 heater a Don't Buy: Safety Risk.
Consumer Reports contacted Optimus and test results the company provided show a potential safety problem with the H-5210 heater. A spokesperson says the company has fixed models manufactured for 2012. The heaters Consumer Reports tested — 2011 models — were purchased earlier this summer.
Consumer Reports is asking the Consumer Product Safety Commission to recall the Optimus H-5210. It urges anyone who owns he heater to stop using it and ask the retailer for a refund.
Consumer Reports also uses an infrared sensor to measure surface temperatures. The bar on the Sunbeam space heater model SQH310 gets hot enough that it could burn you if you grab it. Other tests measure performance to see how quickly each heater can comfortably warm a room.
In the end, Consumer Reports named the $40 Holmes HFH436 portable heater a Best Buy. It passed all of Consumer Reports' safety tests and can quickly heat up a room.
No matter which portable heater you use, Consumer Reports says it's very important to keep furniture, bedding and curtains at least three feet away from the heater. For more information log on to www.ConsumerReports.org.
Copyright 2012 WGCL-TV (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved. Consumer Reports contributed to this report.
Friday, May 24 2013 10:30 PM EDT2013-05-25 02:30:43 GMT
The story is familiar. Students park their cars in a lot at Emory Village, go into a restaurant for lunch, but when they walk out they see a sight that gives them indigestion. "I found my car was booted,"More >
Students have complained that, for years, Alpha Booting Company has swooped in and booted legally parked cars.More >
Friday, May 24 2013 7:16 PM EDT2013-05-24 23:16:39 GMT
(RNN) – When faced with a cleaver-wielding killer who'd just murdered someone, what would you do? For Ingrid Loyau-Kennet, the answer was obvious. Instead of running for her life, she engaged him inMore >
A British woman voluntarily put herself face-to-face with an alleged terrorist and may have saved lives. More >
Friday, May 17 2013 7:16 PM EDT2013-05-17 23:16:53 GMT
One person has died in a crash near Harrisonville, MO, Thursday evening. The crash happened on Missouri Highway 7 and Walker Road. It involved a car and a tractor-trailer. Harrisonville is in Cass County.More >
Savannah Nash celebrated her 16th birthday last week. She died Thursday when her car slammed into a semi while she was texting during her first time driving by herself.More > | <urn:uuid:35459aad-72eb-4046-880e-fd0ce4313ab4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cbsatlanta.com/story/19584490/consumer-alert-dangerous-space-heater | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951375 | 793 | 1.9375 | 2 |
was developed by Jeanette Runnings, an Occupational therapist and yoga practitioner/teacher. She has been a Pediatric Occupational therapist for over 20 years, working to help special children meet their full potential. Her experience includes working with children with Autism, Down syndrome, Cerebral palsy, Learning disabilities, ADD/ADHD along with other developmental challenges. She had taken yoga classes for several years before incorporating yoga into her therapy practice. She received her 200 hour Yoga teacher training certificate through Gilbert Yoga; to strengthen her knowledge and appreciation of yoga. Most recently she received certification by the World Laughter tour to add laughter exercises to her repertoire. She received children's yoga certification through Karma Kids Yoga in NYC and The Radiant Child Yoga Programs 1-2. The latter program is accredited through the Yoga Alliance. While attending the Karma Kids teacher certification program in June 2005, she was inspired to create and develop the Yoga-Yingo game series. The goal is to introduce children and families to the benefits of yoga in a fun and educational game format. The games were developed to be used at homes, daycares and for family and children's yoga classes. She hopes you will find them fun and helpful.
Jeanette has found kids enjoy doing yoga and sees progress especially with balance, flexibility, anger control, self calming skills and regulation. Originally working in Idaho, she is now practicing and working in Arizona.
She began sharing her knowledge with other therapists in 2006 via observations of her yoga classes, sharing resources and ideas through discussions. She began nationally speaking and giving presentations on adding yoga as a treatment modality in 2009.
She can be reached by mail at: 1220 N. Farrell St. Gilbert, AZ 85233, or phone at: | <urn:uuid:d80af4ab-60b0-47e6-9077-a0fb3e5b2359> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.yoga-yingo.com/5706.html | 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 | 0.974975 | 352 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Raymond Wilder's parents were Mary Jane Shanley and John Louis Wilder, who was a printer. Music played a large part in the family, and Raymond learnt to play the piano, in particular playing to accompany silent films in local cinemas. He also played the cornet in the family orchestra at dances and fairs. Although mathematics attracted him at school, when he entered Brown University in 1914 it was with the intention of becoming an actuary. World War I caused Wilder to take a break in his studies from 1917 to 1919 when he served in the U.S. Navy as an ensign. Following his war service he returned to Brown University to resume his studies. He received his first degree in 1920.
Wilder then taught mathematics at Brown during 1920-21 while studying for his master's degree in actuarial mathematics which he received in 1921. He married Una Maude Greene in 1921; they had three daughters, Mary Jane, Kermit and Beth, and one son David. Wilder moved to the University of Texas in 1921 where again he was appointed as an instructor while he worked for his doctorate. It was here that his interests moved towards pure mathematics under the influence of Robert Moore. When he asked permission from Moore to take his topology course, Moore replied (see for example ):-
No, there is no way a person interested in actuarial mathematics could do, let alone be really interested in, topology.
After Wilder persuaded Moore to let him take the course, Moore proceeded to ignore him until he solved one of the hardest problems Moore posed to the class. Wilder gave up his plans to study actuarial mathematics and became Moore's research student. He suggested Wilder write up the solution to the problem for his doctorate which indeed he did, becoming Moore's first Texas doctorate in 1923 with his dissertation Concerning Continuous Curves.
The dissertation was concerned with the Schönflies programme which aimed to study positional invariants of sets in the plane or 2-sphere. A positional invariant of a set A with respect to a set B is a property which is shared by all homeomorphic images of A which are contained in B. The best known example of such a positional invariant is embodied in the Jordan curve theorem: A simple closed curve in the 2-sphere has precisely two complementary domains and is the boundary of each of them. A converse to the Jordan curve theorem, proved by Schönflies, states that a subset of the 2-sphere is a simple closed curve if it has two complementary domains, is the boundary of each of them, and is accessible from each of these domains. Wilder's thesis contained a new approach to the Schönflies programme. He continued to undertake research with this aim and in 1930, in A converse of the Jordan-Brouwer separation theorem in three dimensions, Wilder showed that a subset of Euclidean 3-space whose complementary domains satisfied certain homology conditions was a 2-sphere.
After a year as an instructor in mathematics at the university of Texas, Wilder was appointed as an assistant professor at Ohio State University in 1924 but here he encountered difficulties due to his :-
... reluctance to sign a required loyalty oath at Ohio State University. Wilder's hostility to mindless patriotism and his predilection for liberal thought accompanied him throughout his life.
After two years at Ohio State, he joined the faculty of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. There he progressed from his initial rank of assistant professor to become an associate professor in 1929, and then a full professor in 1935. He played a significant role in the American mathematical scene during World War II in particular he helped settle European refugee mathematicians in the United States. He became a research professor in 1947, a position he held for 20 years until his retirement in 1967.
The initial phase of Wilder's research on the Schönflies programme, which we described above, was in in set-theoretic topology and lasted until around 1930. After this he worked in algebraic topology, and in 1932 he called for the unification of the two areas. His work was then directed towards the theory of manifolds, for example Generalized closed manifolds in n-space (1934), and in particular to extending the Schönflies programme to higher dimensions. This work was presented in a unified form in Topology of Manifolds (1949); this was reprinted in 1963 and again in 1979 with a few notes on the current status of the problems. The final three chapters of the book discuss Wilder's contributions in the theory of positional topological invariants.
It was around the time that Wilder published the first edition of Topology of Manifolds that his research interests underwent a major change. He had already become interested in the foundations of mathematics as illustrated by his article The nature of mathematical proof (1944) in which is concerned with:-
... the preconceptions, sometimes not consciously avowed, which underline and unavoidably influence the point of view of active mathematicians.
At the International Congress of Mathematicians in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1950 he addressed the Congress on The cultural basis of mathematics. In his lecture he asked:-
How does culture (in its broadest sense) determine a mathematical structure, such as a logic?
How does culture influence the successive stages of the discovery of a mathematical structure?
He attempted to answer these questions by giving examples such as intuitionism and symbolism. The first major text he published on foundations, which was based on lecture courses he had given, was Introduction to the foundations of mathematics (1952). He wrote in the introduction:-
The reason for instigating such a course was simply the conviction that it was not good to have teachers, actuaries, statisticians, and others who had specialized in undergraduate mathematics, and who were to base their life's work on mathematics, leave the university without some knowledge of modern mathematics and its foundations.
Beth writes in a review:-
The first part of this book gives ... an exposition of the basic theories of modern mathematics: the theory of sets, the real number system (on the basis of the Peano axioms) and the theory of groups (including some of its applications in algebra and geometry). Special attention is given to those topics which are important from the point of view of research on foundations, such as the relations between various definitions of infinity, diagonal procedures, well-ordering, the choice axiom and its equivalents. ... The second part is devoted to a discussion on various viewpoints on foundations. After a summary of the earlier developments (up to the Zermelo system), the Frege-Russell thesis, intuitionism, and formalism are more fully explained. A final chapter deals with the cultural setting of mathematics.
Wilder's ideas continued to develop along the lines of cultural anthropology. He presented his ideas in Evolution of mathematical concepts. An elementary study (1969). May, in a review, writes:-
The author quietly proposes that we study mathematics as a human artefact, as a natural phenomenon subject to empirical observation and scientific analysis, and, in particular, as a cultural phenomenon understandable in anthropological terms. Since this flies in the face of the dominant paradigm of the history of ideas nearly isolated from the social context, it may be misunderstood or ignored. But since it complements the interest among historians of science in constructing a science about science, it may initiate a new pattern.
In the book Wilder himself writes:-
The major difference between mathematics and the other sciences, natural and social, is that whereas the latter are directly restricted in their purview by environmental phenomena of a physical or social nature, mathematics is subject only indirectly to such limitations. ... Plato conceived of an ideal universe in which resided perfect models ... The assumption made in the present work is that the only reality mathematical concepts have is as cultural elements or artefacts.
In 1981 Wilder published another major text Mathematics as a cultural system which has a similar title to the talk he gave to the International Congress of Mathematicians thirty years earlier. Hirst writes:-
The book begins with an explanation of his notion of a cultural system in general, and how mathematics fits into this. Evolutionary processes are discussed, with the idea of "hereditary stress" serving again as an important springboard for the emergence of new ideas and insights in mathematics. Consolidation is discussed, as a force or process which unifies existing fields of mathematics and may at the same time spawn new ones.
After Wilder retired from the University of Michigan in 1967 he moved to the University of California at Santa Barbara. He lectured there in 1970-71, then became a research associate retaining this position until his death. At the time of Wilder's death in Santa Barbara there were 23 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren in his family. His wife, Una, survived him for an additional 19 years, dying at the age of 100 in Long Beach.
Raymond writes about Wilder's teaching, interests, and personality in :-
His advanced graduate classes and seminars were intimate and stimulating. He enjoyed talking about the people, many of whom he knew personally, behind the ideas and theorems. I found myself often staying after his class. Our conversations would follow up some of the items in the classroom but would soon drift to other areas of his expertise. He was a devoted student of southwestern Native American culture. One day he told me that after retiring he would like to be a bartender in a rural area of Arizona or New Mexico, because he found the stories of the folk that he met in those bars so fascinating.
Among all the great mathematicians I have known, Wilder was the most approachable. He had a wonderful sense of humour and his wisdom made him a father confessor to many of his colleagues. With his wife, Una, they made their home a centre of hospitality.
Wilder contributed much to American mathematics. He was a strong supporter of the American Mathematical Society being a member of its Council from 1935 to 1937, a semicentennial lecturer in 1938, colloquium lecturer in 1942, vice president during 1950-51 and president during 1955-56. He was also the Society's Josiah Willard Gibbs Lecturer in 1969. Wilder played a major role in the Mathematical Association of America being its president during 1965-66. The Association awarded him the Distinguished Service Medal in 1973. He was honoured by election to the National Academy of Sciences (United States) in 1963. He was awarded honorary degrees by Bucknell University (1955), Brown University (1958), and the University of Michigan (1980).
Article by: J J O'Connor and E F Robertson | <urn:uuid:e24de116-6359-4cc3-91b0-a896caa5ea5e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://turnbull.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Printonly/Wilder.html | 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 | 0.978269 | 2,187 | 2.21875 | 2 |
Dense fog expected to continue into today
Dense fog that shrouded the area Saturday is expected to continue today, meteorologists said.
Fog has been able to persist because very mild air pumped up from southwest stayed aloft, relative humidity was at or near 100 percent, and there was no other air mass or wind to disrupt the pattern, said Mark Paquette, a meteorologist with Accuweather based in State College.
"I would expect it to stay foggy right through (today), at least in the morning or afternoon," Mr. Paquette said. That's because above-average temperatures that are forecast to rise even higher today should eventually burn off the fog.
The average high and low temperatures for both Jan. 12 and Jan. 13 are 33 degrees and 18 degrees, respectively, Mr. Paquette said.
Historically, these averages have tended to persist from Jan. 10 to Jan. 26, making this two-week period the coldest of a winter.
However, coming on the heels of the warmest year on record, 2012, temperatures in this first month of 2013 so far have been above average since Jan. 4, he said.
Saturday's high of 44 degrees was 11 degrees higher than the historical average high of 33 degrees, but well below the record high for a Jan. 12 of 52 degrees set in 2006, he said.
Today's high temperature is forecast to hit 54 degrees, also well above average, but far below the record high for a Jan. 13 of 69 degrees set in 1932, Mr. Paquette said.
"Fog is pretty typical in this type of weather pattern," Mr. Paquette said. "Generally, if it's colder, the air is a lot drier, so you wouldn't have fog."
Dense fog warning signs were flashing across turnpike message boards all day Saturday, Turnpike Commission spokeswoman Renee Vid Colborn said.
State Department of Transportation spokesman James May advised drivers to exercise caution and take it slow in heavy fog.
While the fog made for scant visibility in both valleys and higher elevations, as well as on roads and highways, it did not deter skiers and snowboarders from schussing down the slopes at Snö Mountain in Scranton. Looking up the mountain from the lodge at the bottom of the slopes, skiers cut ghostly figures as they emerged from the fog bank seemingly out of thin air Saturday afternoon.
The above-average temperatures also made for a slushy snow base that some skiers favored over a slicker surface.
"It wasn't bad conditions. The snow was real good," said skier Paul Macknosky of Dickson City.
George Lear of South Abington Twp., who skied with his children, Bryan, 8, and Maya, 6, agreed, but added, "It is tough to see out there."
Staff Writer Joseph Kohut contributed to this report.
Contact the writer: email@example.com | <urn:uuid:040b735a-37e8-4f2c-b6c1-ce35b10457ab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/dense-fog-expected-to-continue-into-today-1.1429062 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959427 | 623 | 1.859375 | 2 |
How to Create an Ergonomic Computer Workstation
An ergonomic office chair and an adjustable keyboard tray are the building blocks of an ergonomic workstation.
Ask yourself these questions:
- Does your chair fit?
- Is your keyboard properly placed?
- Is your monitor positioned correctly?
- Do you reach for your mouse?
- Is there enough light?
If your answer is yes to any of these questions, it may be time to consider replacing them, or augmenting them with supplemental ergonomic products like a:
Monitor placement and workplace lighting are also important.
Use the following guidelines to help you evaluate your workstation ergonomics:
- 1. Adjust the height of the seat so that the work surface is elbow high.
- 2. Place feet on the floor. Thighs should be parallel to floor, with the backs of the knees slightly higher than the seat, or knees level with your hips.
- If your chair doesn't allow for this, you might consider a footrest.
- 3. An apple should fit between the back of your calf and the front of the seat edge.
- 4. Armrests should support both forearms and slide under work surfaces when not in use.
- 5. The backrest should push your lower back forward slightly.
- 6. The seat of your chair should have a rounded, "waterfall" edge.
If your seat does not meet these criteria, maybe you need an ergonomic office chair!
Your Keyboard and Mouse
- To avoid carpal tunnel syndrome, tendinitis, and fatigue it is essential that your forearms, wrists, and hands should be straight and parallel to the floor.
- Your keyboard should be close enough so you do not have to reach for it. If you have your keyboard on your desk, we highly recommend moving it onto a keyboard tray, to bring your forearms parallel with the floor.
- Your mouse should also have a tray or surface to keep your mouse on. You should not have to reach up or too far to the side. A mouse tray works wonders.
- Reach out and touch your monitor. Ideally, you will graze the monitor with your fingertips.
- Close your eyes and relax. Where you first gaze when you open your eyes is the place to put the center of your screen. Usually, the top border of your monitor screen will be level with your eyes. A monitor arm is indispensable for positioning your monitor. | <urn:uuid:a4db4f1e-15a7-4c5d-baf2-a0e1d3cec328> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ergostoreonline.com/how-to-create-an-ergonomic-computer-workstation.aspx | 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 | 0.913811 | 509 | 2.328125 | 2 |
In natural languages, we would say "some color is a primary color if the color is red, blue, or yellow."
In every programming language I've seen, that translates into something like:
isPrimaryColor = someColor == "Red" or someColor == "Blue" or someColor == "Yellow"
Why isn't there a syntax that more closely matches the English sentence. After all, you wouldn't say "some color is a primary color if that color is red, or that color is blue, or that color is yellow."
I realize simply
isPrimaryColor = someColor == ("Red" or "Blue" or "Yellow") because instead of Red Blue and Yellow they could be boolean statement in which case boolean logic applies, but what about something like:
isPrimaryColor = someColor ( == "Red" or == "Blue" or == "Yellow")
As an added bonus that syntax would allow for more flexibility, say you wanted to see if a number is between 1 and 100 or 1000 and 2000, you could say:
someNumber ((>= 1 and <=100) or (>=1000 and <=2000))
Very interesting answers, and point taken that I should learn more languages. After reading through the answers I agree that for strictly equality comparison something similar to set membership is a clear and concise way of expressing the same thing (for languages that have language support for concise inline lists or sets and testing membership)
One issues that came up is that if the value to compare is the result of an expensive calculation a temporary variable would need to be (well, should be) created. The other issue is that there may be different evaluations that need to be checked, such as "the result of some expensive calculation should be prime and between 200 and 300"
These scenarios are also covered by more functional languages (though depending on the language may not be more concise), or really any language that can take a function as a parameter. For instance the previous example could be
MeetsRequirements(GetCalculatedValue(), f(x):x > 200, f(x):x < 300, IsPrime) | <urn:uuid:4ddbf132-92b4-4f98-adc1-ec86fff76d81> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3205065/why-do-most-programming-languages-only-have-binary-equality-comparison-operators | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946782 | 436 | 3.109375 | 3 |
The Private Life of Plants: Travelling
Also known as: Programme 1
Bringing to life an extraordinary world few have ever considered, The Private Life of Plants uses impressive time-lapse photography to explore the specialised physiology and adaptations of the plant kingdom.
Taking an in-depth and entertaining look into plant life, BBC Natural History Unit producer Mike Salisbury employed the talents of a large team including the world-renowned cameramen Hugh Miles, Mike deGruy and Steve Downer.
The opening episode of David Attenborough's award-winning series, Travelling is a unique insight into the locomotive side of botany. Examining seed dispersal, squirting cucumbers are seen to 'explode', while liana seeds form aerodynamic gliders and sycamore trees release airborne 'helicopters'. Impressive photography allows a glimpse into plant movement as brambles bulldoze through their intended course and dandelions colonise vast strips of land.
Credited with opening the public's eyes to the complex and previously unseen world of plants, The Private Life of Plants was hugely popular and received a Panda Award for Cinematography at Wildscreen 1996. | <urn:uuid:a28bf9d5-1996-4b7d-9c94-a6ee77067d7f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wildfilmhistory.org/film/187/Travelling.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917319 | 241 | 2.09375 | 2 |
....ARC : Pamela HOBBS
Pamela Hobbs is a fine-art photographer whose work explores feminine identity. She creates miniature scenes to photograph composed of dolls, plaster figures, sculpted forms and painted backdrops. The black and white photographs are toned and sometimes hand-colored. The effect is surreal and mysterious.
Her most recent group of photographs entitled, "Time and Remembering"(2009-11) is a series of sepia-toned photographs which address the issues of memory and loss. Antique wooden chambers and curio cases house dried flowers, broken eggs and forgotten dolls. Images are housed in rustic shadowbox frames or encased in wax.
"Dearly Departed" (2007) is a series of sepia-toned photographs which consider the issues of death and mortality. Women are pictured in twilight landscapes disappearing into uncertain futures. A woman, who is becoming part of the landscape, stands at a window gazing at the specter of herself in a moonlit scene. Other images picture statuesque forms of women obscured in cocoon-like enclosures, with dried flowers and discarded nests.
The series of photographs entitled, "Motherland" (2003) considers the idea of fertility and reproduction in the feminine experience. Natural forms such as nests and cocoons are found in landscapes and combined with figurative elements. "Woman" is pictured in a larger, impersonal context of metamorphosis, decomposition and regeneration. Sepia-toned, she is frozen in a silent landscape as a statuesque ideal.
"Rights of Passage" (2000) illustrates girls' coming of age stories. Images are inspired by short stories written by women and the depiction of girls' transition to women in history. These works were also inspired by women surrealist artists such as Frieda Kahlo, Remedios Varo, Leonor Fini, Kay Sage and Dorothea Tanning who used the figure and nature to picture feminine identity. | <urn:uuid:2f845933-c860-4914-a1c1-c8ea8b19ef64> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.arcgallery.org/member-artists_detail.aspx?mem_id=78 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941779 | 402 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Sir Richard F. Burton’s translation of The Kama Sutra remains one of the best English interpretations of this early Indian treatise on politics, social customs, love, and intimacy. Its crisp style set a new standard for Sanskrit translation.
The Kama Sutra stands uniquely as a work of psychology, sociology, Hindu dogma, and sexology. It has been a celebrated classic of Indian literature for 1,700 years and a window for the West into the culture and mysticism of the East.
This Modern Library Paperback Classic reprints the authoritative text of Sir Richard F. Burton’s 1883 translation.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Share your thoughts on the The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana Education eBook with others!
|Title of eBook: The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana|
|Release Date: 12-18-2007|
|Allowed Countries (hover)|
|Publisher: Random House Publishing Group|
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|Parent title||The Kama Sutra of...|
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The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana
Chapter OnePart I
The Vatsyayana Sutra
Salutation to Dharma, Artha, and Kama
In the beginning, the Lord of Beings created men and women, and in the form of commandments in one hundred thousand chapters laid down rules for regulating their existence with regard to Dharma, Artha, and Kama. Some of these commandments, namely those which treated of Dharma, were separately written by Swayanshur Manu; those that related to Artha were compiled by Brihaspati; and those that referred to Kama were expounded by Naudi, the follower of Mehadeva, in one thousand chapters.
Now these 'Kama Sutra' (Aphorisms on Love), written by Nundi in one thousand chapters, were reproduced by Shevtaketu, the son of Uddvalaka, in an abbreviated form in five hundred chapters, and this work was again similarly reproduced in an abridged form, in one hundred and fifty chapters, by Babhravya, an inheritant of the Punchala (South of Delhi) country. These one hundred and fifty chapters were then put together under seven heads or parts named severally?
1st. Sadharana (general topics).
2nd. Samprayogika (embraces, etc.).
3rd. Kanya Samprayukteka (union of males and females).
4th. Bharyadhikarika (on one's own wife).
5th. Paradarika (on the wives of other people).
6th. Vaisika (on courtezans).
7th. Aupamishadika (on the arts of seduction, tonic, medicines, etc.).
The sixth part of this last work was separately expounded by Dattaka at the request of the public women of Pataliputra (Patna), and in the same way Charayana explained the first part of it. The remaining parts, viz., th... | <urn:uuid:b018a0bc-f7fd-4d4c-b3bd-7bb91cc74ea4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.diesel-ebooks.com/item/9780375759246/Burton-Richard-The-Kama-Sutra-of-Vatsyayana/1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911776 | 791 | 1.789063 | 2 |
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Dunlap, Cecelia Halston
Birth Year : 1858
Death Year : 1908
The Cecelia Dunlap Grand Chapter, O.E.S., an Eastern Star organization founded in Kentucky, is more than 100 years old. The organization had existed for several years when it was named to honor the late Cecelia Dunlap in August of 1913 during a chapter meeting in Winchester, KY. Dunlap had lived in Earlington, KY. [In some sources, her first name is given as Celia or Celie.] The Grand Chapter was organized in 1895, and Cecelia Dunlap was one of the original members. According to an article in the Bee newspaper, 08/08/1895, p. 2, Cecelia Dunlap traveled to Henderson, KY, to attended the "grand session of the ladies department of Masonary." She attended the 1897 meeting in Bowling Green, KY [source: "Mrs. Celia Dunlap...," Bee, 08/05/1897, p. 2]. The following year, at the Grand Chapter meeting in Hopkinsville, KY, Celia Dunlap was elected the R. G. A. M. [source: "Colored Department," Paducah Daily Sun, 08/30/1898, p. 3]. She served as the third Grand Worthy Matron of the Grand Chapter from 1901 until her death in 1908. During her tenure, the chapter was incorporated. Celia Dunlap was often sick during her membership with the Grand Chapter, and periodically her name appeared on the sick list in the Colored Column of the Bee newspaper, beginning as early as 1895 [source: "Mrs. Celia Dunlap is slowly recovering from an attack of neuralgia." Bee, 08/25/1895, p. 4]. In 1891, the following appeared in the column "Old Kaintuck" in The Freeman, 02/14/1891, p. 6: "Celia Dunlap is recovering from a recent illness." According to the 1880 U.S. Federal Census, Celia Dunlap was born in Alabama around 1858, did washing and ironing, and was the wife of Simon Dunlap. The family of four lived in Macedonia, TN. The couple had married on February 25, 1875; Simon Dunlap and Celie Halston were joined in matrimony by Rev. James Rhodes in Maury County, TN [source: Tennessee State Marriages, 1780-2002 in Ancestry.com]. Simon Dunlap (1855-1936) was born in Mississippi. He, Celia and their three children lived in Tennessee until sometime around 1900, when they moved to Earlington, KY, where Simon Dunlap was employed as a coal miner, according to the U.S. Census. In her biography, Cecelia Dunlap is said to have been a Cherokee Indian. In the 1900 Census, the entire family is listed as Black. Cecelia Dunlap died December 8, 1908. For more information see the 1985 publication A Bright Star: a biography of Cecelia Dunlap, by Mollie M. Bradley, G. W. M., Cecelia Dunlap Grand Chapter, O.E.S., P.H.A., Jurisdiction of Kentucky; and Cecelia Dunlap Grand Chapter, Order of Eastern Star of Kentucky, P.H.A.
Subjects: Women's Groups and Organizations
Geographic Region: Alabama / Earlington, Hopkins County, Kentucky / Winchester, Clark County, Kentucky | <urn:uuid:79ef7d06-bcf6-448f-891c-23ce2e8f496f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uky.edu/Libraries/NKAA/record.php?note_id=2677 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966935 | 740 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Tool Troubleshoots VOIP
Apparent Networks Inc. this week at VoiceCon in Orlando, Fla., will roll out a voice-over-IP version of its network troubleshooting tool that allows users to assess their networks ability to handle voice traffic and lets them quickly address VOIP problems.
Because of its sensitivity to jitter, latency and packet loss, VOIP is not simply another application running on data networks. Increasingly, VOIP deployments are faltering when users fail to take into account voice traffics unique needs, experts say.
The companys new AppareNet Voice offering can be used to predetermine network readiness for carrying VOIP traffic and, after deployment, to find the cause and location of jitter, latency, packet loss, bottlenecks, configuration issues and more.
Beta testers at the Internet2 Technology Evaluation Center at Texas A&M University find AppareNet Voice "close to indispensable for managing VOIP," said Walt Magnussen, director of telecommunications at the school, in College Station, Texas.
"To be able to look at the network in advance and decide whether the link is sufficient is a big help," Magnussen said. "But to use it to figure out whats changed when problems happen is a big plus."
AppareNet Voice includes a voice sequencer program for sending predefined packet bursts to destination IP addresses. If packets are deformed along the path by network problems, they can then be analyzed in a network intelligence system that performs pattern matching to determine the cause of the problems. The system measures throughput, propagation delays and MOS (mean Opinion score) and performs diagnostic functions. The voice sequencer takes into account VOIP codecs and QOS (quality of service) settings.
"With the MOS measurements, you can click on a graphic scale, and itll play back what the voice quality sounds like at that MOS score," said Kelly Daniels, chief technology officer at Apparent Networks, in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Texas A&M used AppareNet Voice to locate problems "down to the router on another institutions network," said Magnussen. The Internet2 Technology Evaluation Center also uses the product routinely to test links before they are used for videoconferencing, which is similarly sensitive to certain network problems.
"We always test before we do a videoconferenceeven if its within our enterprise," Magnussen said.
AppareNet Voice is slated to ship in April.
Check out eWEEK.coms for the latest news, views and analysis on voice over IP and telephony. | <urn:uuid:3b17ed5c-1d94-43eb-95e8-c86c000a1088> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eweek.com/print/c/a/VOIP-and-Telephony/Tool-Troubleshoots-VOIP/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917611 | 528 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Cork tot Megan Malone will return home at the start of September after life saving treatment in America – months after Irish doctors told her parents she had weeks to live.
Four-year-old Megan is now cancer free after revolutionary care in New York and Boston saved her life.
Megan, from the village of Kilnamartyra near Macroom, was diagnosed with a rare cancerous brain tumor last October.
Irish doctors said she had just weeks to live but her parents John and Sheila refused to believe them.
Now, after spending over a million dollars on treatment in the States, they are preparing to bring their little girl home to Ireland in September.
Her American care, first at the specialist Head Start treatment programme at New York’s Presbyterian Children’s Hospital and then in Boston, has cleared her of cancer.
US immigration authorities ask to see Megan Malone’s fund details
Megan Malone’s parents express concerns over charity trust’s management of funds
Cork girl in New York for life saving treatment hopes for all clear this week
Tests in Boston last month confirmed Megan as ‘visually cancer-free; but doctors there have continued a course of radiotherapy as a precautionary measure.
While there is no evidence of cancer, doctors say the continuing radiotherapy will kill any microscopic cancer cells which might still exist.
Dad John revealed: “We have booked our flight home for September 3rd and we’re all very excited about that. It’s been a long and difficult road for every member of our family, but especially for Megan.
“We are so proud of her and hope that she will not remember most of it.
“Our wish is that Megan will remain cancer-free and enjoy every minute of a long and happy life. I haven’t seen our other children so excited in such a long time.”
Megan begins a third week of a six-week course of proton-beam radiotherapy at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston on Monday.
The total cost of Megan’s treatment in the US will come to over a million dollars and most of this has been paid for by an anonymous donor.
Ireland’s Health Service is to cover the $340,000 cost of Megan’s radiotherapy treatment in Boston. | <urn:uuid:4ecf0d65-d365-4e21-bd9f-85e5e6289d09> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Miracle-girl-Megan-is-cancer-free-after-US-treatment-126506668.html?mob-ua=mobile | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96045 | 482 | 1.695313 | 2 |
The Miami Beach Garden Club
The Miami Beach Garden Club is a non-profit organization that is affiliated with the Florida Federations of Garden Clubs. We are a medium size club with approximately 58 members.
Our Mission is to promote the cultivation of plants and flowers in our community through projects that focus on: beautification of our city; mentoring and sponsoring student programs (locally and statewide); and support of the Miami Beach Botanical Gardens. Some of our programs include working with local Girl Scouts and school children on their gardens at multiple local schools, we offer our assistance at our local community garden, we offer floral design classes, and continue to expand our knowledge through monthly programs. Our dedicated women also hold some fundraising events to support our mission, (see events page).
Our motto is to “Know, Sow and Grow”, and our Theme is Knowledge thru work; Growth thru service!
For more information about a club in your area, visit the Florida Federation of Gardeners website,(www.ffgc.org), or the National Garden Clubs website,(www.gardenclub.org). For more information about our club or membership, contact us at firstname.lastname@example.org | <urn:uuid:0073001a-71b4-49b3-a9f1-7ac00ef2d062> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://miamibeachgardenclub.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919695 | 249 | 1.539063 | 2 |
One of the exciting aspects of Design with the Other 90%: Cities is the ability to connect the international themes of the exhibition to a New York setting. In our second DesignPrep workshop held at the United Nations, teens examined key issues highlighted in the exhibition. The workshop was an opportunity for teens to raise awareness about local issues through graphic design campaigns. Graphic designer and activist John Emerson led the workshop and tour of the exhibit. Teens identified features of successful graphic design campaigns and implemented those strategies in their own proposals. Students worked together in teams to brainstorm and refine their ideas. The final proposals were prototyped using iPad applications. Campaign topics ranged from issues relating to trash, school overcrowding, subway congestion and access to affordable prom attire.
Workshop leader John Emerson is an activist, graphic designer, writer, and programmer based in New York City. He has designed web sites, printed materials and motion graphics for leading media companies as well as local and international non-profit organizations. You can read more on his Social Design Notes blog. | <urn:uuid:8342fa53-f413-4e74-90c7-b9f25ce0d58e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cooperhewitt.org/conversations/2012/01/11/teens-create-socially-responsible-campaigns | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961877 | 206 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Weather: cloudy with some bright intervals.
Fighter Command Serviceable Aircraft as at 0900 hours:
- Blenheim – 66
- Spitfire – 256
- Hurricane – 368
- Defiant – 24
- Total – 714
Enemy activity was largely confined to convoy reconnaissance. Preparations by the Luftwaffe for Adlertag were accelerating. In raids by Bomber Command on Haamstede Aerodrome several Me109s on the ground were damaged. Fighter Command flew 393 sorties at no cost to themselves.
266 Squadron Operational Record Book, 7 August
Warm – bright and cloudy intervals – visibility good. “B” Flight at readiness. “A” Flight available. Practices included sector tactical exercise – affiliation exercise with Blenheim aircraft of no.110 Squadron from West Raynham. Night Flying Tests.
Reported Casualties (RAF Campaign Diary 7th August 1940):
* Enemy: – nil.
* Own: – nil.
Todays’s theme: Top Gun Gallery – ‘Ginger’ Lacey | <urn:uuid:0194273d-2ce7-489c-bbd6-992d6bf66f87> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://battleofbritainblog.com/2010/08/07/day-29-august-7th-1940/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90834 | 231 | 1.890625 | 2 |
One of the most important leadership traits I learned in the military was the courage to seek council.
Seeking council is essential for effective leadership. This has only been reinforced for me since I began working as a consultant and coach seven years ago. It is the attitude of knowing that you may not have all of the answers and that you need the help of others to achieve your mission and objectives. It is also the standpoint of someone who accepts that they don’t have all the information to make a perfect decision, and that they must act despite uncertainty and high levels of risk.
To be an effective leader, you have to involve your entire team in the process of creating and implementing decisions and plans. It is impossible for one person to know everything and to have all the required skill sets. This is why the military surrounds young officers with a cadre of non-commissioned officers who can advise them and provide the counterbalance of experience to the exuberance of youth and intellect. Even more experienced officers recognize that it is essential to gain the opinions of subordinates and key advisors before making important decisions.
All leaders must make decisions with imperfect knowledge, uncertainty, and risk. With a willingness to accept that they don’t have all the answers, and the courage to ask for advice and help, leaders can make a difference and perform better under all conditions as the conductor of a team rather than a one-man band.
Richard Martin is founder and president of Alcera Consulting Inc. He is a consultant, speaker, and executive coach. He brings his military and business leadership and management experience to bear for executives and organizations seeking to exploit change, maximize opportunity, and minimize risk.
© 2013 Richard Martin. Reproduction and quotes permitted with full and proper attribution. | <urn:uuid:998692d5-2627-488a-a155-f061bef80525> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://exploitingchange.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966408 | 359 | 1.734375 | 2 |
To get an idea, get those new digital weight scales, from costco or bed bath and beyond, they give you a reading of Body Mass Index bmi, water, muscle, bones, and body fat. Oh yes and weight.
From my understanding, they send a little zap through your feet, and calculate.
This way, if you drank a gallon of fluids, and your blood cells are well hydrated, the scale will give you credit for muscle gain and fat loss, even though your gravity weight is up due to water retention and the "output" pending in your intestine.
Read up on BMI its a more honest measurement when dieting and trying to shed fat weight.
By the way, when you exercise, you build muscle and burn fat. Muscle is dense and weighs more than fat.
Example is that your waist line belt line is slimmer (fat loss) but the weight scale says more lbs (muscle gain)
Trust BMI, and get a good bmi scale with good reviews, not the cheapie with sporatic results. Read the manual, for accurate readings, your feet need to be slightly damp or wet for the electric sensor to work. | <urn:uuid:11ef0b38-4b01-44ab-95cd-bb18b77ff087> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=64147&skip_to_post=549312 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94299 | 242 | 1.8125 | 2 |
technically speaking, how do you do a six o'clock?
I keep trying to find a good video out there that demonstrates and explains proper technique on penché, but I haven’t come across one that I feel is adequate :(
So here goes! I’ll post some new stuff and some recycled stuff from previous posts.
Penché is all about your back muscles and counterbalance. Of course to have a 180 degree penché, you also need to have your splits on both legs!
Penché is an extension of arabesque. From your arabesque position, send energy out your back leg so that it rises against your back muscles. Do not initiate penché by shifting your torso forward. Instead, initiate with the reaching of the working leg, pressing it against your back. Feel the strong connection between opposite shoulder and inner thigh. It’s like a drawbridge chain between your working leg and opposite shoulder, and doesn’t allow your heavy leg to drop. As your leg lifts against your back, your torso will be forced to shift forward. Keep your shoulders and hips even, don’t pinch one side or bring one shoulder forward. Slide your shoulder blades down into your “back pockets.” Reach and lengthen in all directions. (More pointers at the bottom!)
Here’s a video of a resistance machine that improves penché. Watch what is happening with the girl’s spine and back muscles as she does each rep. Her shoulder blades slide down her into her back pockets, her chin is lifted without jamming her neck. Notice that she does a pretty good job of keeping her shoulders and hips even, which maintains the criss-cross drawbridge connection. Keeping the criss-cross connection between shoulder and opposite leg is key. You can see the points where she could probably push herself a little further. (Her knees could be straighter, but she’s at that coltish knobby-kneed stage!)
Here are a couple of videos on the approach to arabesque, which is the foundation for your penché:
Lengthening out through the toes in arabesque (unfortunately the camera angles suck in this video…but the important thing here is the idea of sending energy down the leg and reaching away with the toes)
Ok, I’m going to give you this photo as a reference. It’s a lovely 6 o’clock with one technical issue that I can point out which should be helpful.
This position is really lovely. Her shoulders and hips are nice and square. Now, it looks like her torso is upright, correct? But we know it’s just an optical illusion. If you look at her stomach, it’s parallel to the floor. Her torso is tilted forward to a 90 degree angle. Also, look at her back. Her thoracic vertebrae are in a straight diagonal line. We can only straighten the curve or our thoracic, not hyperextend it. The appearance of the curve comes from the cervical spine, the lumbar spine, and the femur in the hip socket. Her chin is lifted, but her neck is actually pretty straight and her head is lifted. She’s not jamming her neck.
The technical problem in this photo is that her weight is way too far back over her heel. If she let go of the barre, she would probably not be able to hold that position. You can see she’s pushing into her hamstrings and hyperextending her knee, which can lead to injury and doesn’t do anything for balance. She’s also very turned out on the supporting leg, which is pretty, but actually hinders balance. A sneaky secret to penché is to relax the turnout on the supporting leg a bit so that when you send your weight forward over your toes, it’s going a little more forward than usual, and you can balance more easily!
Pointers for arabesque:
- abdominals engaged
- scapula sliding down the spine into your back pockets
- space between shoulders and ears (like you’re wearing dangly earrings)
- heart/sternum expanded and forward
- don’t tilt the head back and jam the neck, keep it long, nape of the neck released, head floating away like a balloon
- hamstrings engaged and lengthened
- imagine a connection between your inner thigh and the opposite shoulder (this will help engage the most efficient muscles for lifting the leg and holding it in place)
- reach the top of your head and the tips of your toes up and away from each other in a “V” (if you imagine this continuous reaching action, engaging the hamstrings and back muscles with correct posture will come naturally, and you won’t really have to think about it that hard!)
- therefore I can’t stress REACH and LENGTHEN enough!!!
- initiate the arabesque by sending energy down the spine and leg and reaching out through your toes into tendu until it has to leave the floor and reach away from your body, head reaching in the opposite direction for counterbalance
- as the leg gets higher, your torso will shift in response…in other words, don’t send your torso forward and then play catchup with your leg because that creates more work for you - lifting the leg first engages the back muscles, and then you eventually have no choice but to move your torso forward in response to the push from the rising leg
- allow your torso to reach forward when it has to for counterbalance
- your leg is quite heavy as the femur is a large bone and the leg muscles are substantial, so you need to use your back muscles and torso counterbalance to get it in the air like that
- keep the shoulders even while maintaining the pull between opposite shoulder and leg - don’t pinch the side of your back that connects the lifted leg with the same shoulder
- you need to be turned out enough to move the hip that direction in the socket and have a pretty line, but not so much that you whack the hip and pinch the back (as demonstrated in one of the videos)
- bear in mind that extension happens in the lower back and the hips; the thoracic vertebrae of the spine along the rib cage can only straighten, not bend back!
- one more time: REACH AND LENGTHEN! It just makes everything easier :)
Tips for technique and approach to a ballet penché:
- while it’s ideal to have the supporting leg as turned out as possible, it’s okay to relax the turnout a bit in order to achieve the full 180 degrees; in fact, turning the supporting foot slightly more parallel will help you balance (shhh! it’s a secret!) but make sure you don’t turn it in past parallel
- keep your weight forward over the ball of your standing foot as your reach the toes of the working leg in the opposite direction
- when you begin the penché from arabesque, initiate the motion by lifting your leg against your back, the torso only moving in response as you keep your back muscles engaged (if you do it piecemeal and send your torso forward first, you’re making more work for yourself by disengaging the most efficient muscles and messing with your balance)
- keep feeling the connection between opposite shoulder and the knee or inner thigh of the working leg (like a drawbridge chain)
- keep the heart/sternum lifted up and up on a diagonal in relation to your torso
- don’t drop the head unless you’re supposed to or it’s an inversion/illusion or something; keeping the head slightly lifted keeps the back muscles engaged and helps with counterbalance (but don’t jam your neck back)
- in addition to not dropping the head, don’t follow the natural inclination to drop your eyes to the floor; if you raise your eyes and look straight out and far away from yourself rather than down and close, you will find balancing so much easier (this helps a LOT)
- if you’re reaching one arm forward in a first arabesque position, use the same philosophy with not dropping the eyes; keep the arm coming straight out from the shoulder and reach out on a shallow diagonal rather than breaking the shoulder line and reaching straight down to the floor
- stretch through your knees and reach both feet away from each other; reach your sternum out and away on a diagonal from your rising leg; reach your arabesque arm and legs away from each other; reach and lengthen in all opposing directions!
- abdominals like WHOAH! Pull that belly button in toward the spine and up and under the rib cage for support
Look at lovely Gillian here! Turned out, but slightly relaxed turnout on both legs. Arm on a diagonal, not straight down. Chin lifted (her eyes could be more lifted to help balance, but she’s a rockstar). Heart/sternum open and expanded. Limbs reaching and lengthening away from each other in all directions. The only technical issue here is that her shoulders/hips aren’t square (her stomach is facing us instead of the floor) and her higher arm is parallel to her leg instead of proper first arabesque position out from her shoulder. BUT, this is choreography in a performance, and we are allowed to set technique aside for a pretty, reaching line :) Not in class, though! XD
I hope that was all helpful! Some of the stuff was recycled from previous posts, so if you need more specific info, please don’t hesitate to ask! | <urn:uuid:a466d7bf-f72a-4e85-94bc-024192d02a4f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/pench%C3%A9 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945418 | 2,042 | 1.601563 | 2 |
I want to replace the drywall ceiling in my house. It's old and has been painted over a million times. Home was built in the 50s. How do I replace the ceiling without replacing the insulation? Or if I take out the insulation to replace it with new, is there a best way of doing it? Insulation is all blown in cellulose. Thought about just shoveling it into bags and into a dumpster. That would take a while. Home is one story. 950 sq ft. Seattle area.
Maybe you should consider putting a layer of 3/8" sheetrock over the existing ceiling. Find the strapping or ceiling joists, mark them on the wall, them go right over the old damaged ceilings. This will save you a ton of work and mess, and not waste the insulation. With the money you save, install extra insulation!
Basically, a leafrake and garbage bags.
No vacuum cleaner has enough capacity or is clog proof enough. They make cyclone converters for steel garbage cans for use with sawdust removal around woodworking equipment, but keeping the stuff moving through the hose into the can is a major part of the operation. If you attempt to use a plastic garbage can, you will have massive static buildup.
So I got two leaf rakes, removed the handle on one of them for close in operation, and then got one of the smaller flowerbed rakes. Mine was blown in fiberglass, nasty stuff that required a respirator and tight fitting gogles in addition to gloves and thick sleeves. Dust still gets everywhere. Rake it in, ball it up, shove it in the bag.
So here is what I did. I cut 3 ft x 3 ft square holes in the ceiling. Then I made multiple plastic bags, each out of one 10 x 25 sheet of plastic. Used packaging tape to tape up both sides of the "bag".
Then I attached the bag to the hole using lots and lots of staples. In my 1000 sq. foot home I had 5 holes cut at different points in the house. Then I spent three nights in the attic digging out insulation with a small but long rake and dumping it down the holes.
The most time-consuming part was creating and stapling up the bags. I probably spent 10 hours in the attic actually cleaning out the attic. The rest of the time was spent taping the bags and attaching them to the holes. If I'd had someone else with me taping bags while I filled other bags, it would have gone much better.
Also, I would get knee pads for kneeling on joists. And a board about 4 ft. by 1 ft. to sit or lay on while you're reaching for insulation tucked away in corners. I used goggles, respirator, head lamp, and 3m disposable coveralls with hood. Do not attempt this in the summer. I did it at the beginning of December and it was bad.
I did not encounter any rodents, or insect nests. Luckily, I did it right after a home inspector had been through the attic so I was pretty sure nothing was living up there.
When I was done, I cut the bags down, sealed the top with more tape, and rolled them out of the house into the dumpster in my front yard. Just be sure not to fill the bags too full. I had to call two friends to help me get one of them out. | <urn:uuid:e3765c35-0fc0-4c56-bf5e-3dca7a68f1a6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://diy.stackexchange.com/questions/21035/how-do-i-remove-blown-in-attic-insulation | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969816 | 703 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 8.djvu/22
THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.
In considering the effect of married or celibate life upon women in relation to crime, we are beset by many difficulties in regard to data. The officials upon whom devolve the duty of collecting criminal statistics, have yet to learn that they deprive their labor of much of its scientific usefulness by their errors of omission. The information has but little value that so many male or female criminals are married or unmarried. A proper study of the subject requires that this information be given in its relation to crime as it affects persons or property, the age at which the criminal career began in the two classes respectively, and crime among the widowed or divorced. Nearly all these facts are wanting. We can, however, collect sufficient data to enable us to shadow forth the probable truth in regard to this important matter. We may safely term marriage the unit of force in our present civilization. I have briefly called attention to its innate strength and weakness, which are inseparable from human mutability. It is easy to perceive the manner in which marriage may act as a conservator of morals, and its operation as a promoter of crime is equally evident; but the extent of its operation in either direction is difficult if not impossible to measure. In the examination of the returns of crime for the years 1867, 1871, and 1873, in New York City, and which show great uniformity in the social condition of the sexes, we are met with the strange fact that the percentages of the married of both sexes correspond, being thirty-nine per centum; while for males the percentage of the unmarried is fifty-five, and for females in the same social condition it is forty-two. Regarding marriage as a conservator of morals in its affirmative rather than its negative relation, this statement places man on a level with woman; but observing further that the excess of male criminals is furnished from the unmarried,
lyzing the circumstances which bear upon infanticide, we are studying the darkest page of woman's criminal history. It proves that under a sufficient motive, and with every opportunity which her peculiar relation to that offense gives, she demonstrates her capacity to equal man in both the degree and number of her criminal acts. It is, however, an offense so characteristically entwined with her sexual life, and with her relations to society, that we must have a due regard for circumstances in contrasting it with any crime or series of crime in men. As already perceived, I am disposed in this inquiry to assign it but one value: her disposition to entertain the criminal idea, and under favorable opportunity to give that idea expression. In other respects the crime stands alone, and can be used only in contrasting woman against woman. There are certain abnormal states of sexual cerebration connected with this offense which will more readily present themselves when we study the crime against society—the social evil.
- Table "B" 23d and 27th, and Table "A," 29th, "Annual Reports of the Prison Association, State of New York." | <urn:uuid:de4c745e-7bb9-4874-9641-5ecc321832b1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:Popular_Science_Monthly_Volume_8.djvu/22 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963702 | 632 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Now therefore so shall you say to my servant David, Thus said the LORD of hosts, I took you from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel:
Treasury of Scripture
I took thee
1 Samuel 16:11,12 And Samuel said to Jesse, Are here all your children? And he said, There remains yet the youngest, and, behold, he keeps the sheep...
1 Chronicles 17:7 Now therefore thus shall you say to my servant David, Thus said the LORD of hosts, I took you from the sheepcote...
Psalm 78:70 He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds:
following [heb] after
2 Samuel 6:21 And David said to Michal, It was before the LORD, which chose me before your father, and before all his house...
2 Samuel 12:7 And Nathan said to David, You are the man. Thus said the LORD God of Israel, I anointed you king over Israel...
1 Samuel 9:16 To morrow about this time I will send you a man out of the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be captain over my people Israel...
1 Samuel 10:1 Then Samuel took a vial of oil, and poured it on his head, and kissed him, and said...
ContextGod's Covenant with David
4And it came to pass that night, that the word of the LORD came to Nathan, saying, 5Go and tell my servant David, Thus said the LORD, Shall you build me an house for me to dwell in? 6Whereas I have not dwelled in any house since the time that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle. 7In all the places wherein I have walked with all the children of Israel spoke I a word with any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people Israel, saying, Why build you not me an house of cedar? 8Now therefore so shall you say to my servant David, Thus said the LORD of hosts, I took you from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel: 9And I was with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies out of your sight, and have made you a great name, like to the name of the great men that are in the earth. 10Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime, 11And as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused you to rest from all your enemies. Also the LORD tells you that he will make you an house. 12And when your days be fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, which shall proceed out of your bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. 13He shall build an house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. 14I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: 15But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before you. 16And your house and your kingdom shall be established for ever before you: your throne shall be established for ever. 17According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak to David.
Parallel VersesAmerican Standard Version
Now therefore thus shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, that thou shouldest be prince over my people, over Israel;
And now thus shalt thou speak to my servant David: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I took thee out of the pastures from following the sheep to be ruler over my people Israel:
Darby Bible Translation
And now, thus shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: I took thee from the pasture-grounds, from following the sheep, to be prince over my people, over Israel;
King James Bible
Now therefore so shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel:
Young's Literal Translation
and now, thus dost thou say to My servant, to David: 'Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, I have taken thee from the comely place, from after the flock, to be leader over My people, over Israel; | <urn:uuid:5ddc2084-6555-4f67-b85a-825c9ec1864e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://biblebrowser.com/2_samuel/7-8.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965309 | 1,030 | 1.6875 | 2 |
- » About Us
Florida International University College of Medicine, South Florida's only public medical school, is transforming the future of public health and educational opportunity in the region. Created in 2006 amid pressing community health concerns and a projected critical shortage of physicians nationally, the College of Medicine is developing a curriculum that reflects an innovative, 21st century approach to health care and medical education.
The medical school will provide quality, affordable medical education and educate physicians who are culturally sensitive to South Florida's diverse demographics. It will help advance South Florida's health care dynamic by facilitating improved access to first-ratemedical care among our medically underserved populations and lead an economic impact that will eventually reach more than $1 billion each year.
Distinguishing characteristic: Only public medical school in South Florida
Authorization by the State Board of Governors: March 2006
Opening of the FIU College of Medicine: Fall 2009
Number of students in inaugural class: 40
Number of students at full capacity: 480
Annual tuition cost: For cost of attendance - click here
Expected annual economic impact: More than $1 billion to the state's economy
Contribution to the state tax base: As much as $62 million
New jobs to be created in South Florida: More than 8,300
Affiliated Hospitals: Baptist Health System, Broward Health System, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Jackson North Medical Center, Leon Medical Centers, Memorial Health Care System (Hollywood), Mercy Hospital, Miami Children's Hospital, Mt. Sinai Medical Center. | <urn:uuid:ed2293d8-a951-4369-bea1-dbbbf3c4ee83> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://medicine.fiu.edu/about-us/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927974 | 309 | 1.75 | 2 |
Reviews of Latin American Films
Reviews offer opinions, suggestions and commentaries.
Argentinian documentary movie by Diego Ceballos, Jorge Antonio Fortes - "Primarily, the film is a compendium of individuals' experiences as black in an overwhelmingly white society (97% are of European ancestry) - or, at least, a society that wants to think of itself as overwhelmingly and unproblematically white."
"A true Hispanic American film, this classic drama could be located just about anywhere in Latin America. This commonality is perhaps the film's greatest achievement."
Argentinian movie by Juan Carlos Desanzo - "The key to the bleak portrait of an exploited Buenos Aires street kid in "El Polaquito" is the lack of contrived hope."
Movie by Joshua Marston - "Maria Full of Grace" paints a passionate but never overdramatized portrait of women who fly to America with drugs in their stomachs."
Brazilian movie by Heitor Dhalia - "Nina" could have easily been called "Crime e Punicao em Sao Paulo," because that's exactly what it is: a modern version of the great Russian novel "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, the story of a man who kills an old woman because he believes himself to be above moral codes and laws."
"Irene (Jennifer Connely) is a magazine editor living under the shadow of the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile. Francisco (Antonio Banderas) is a handsome photographer and he comes to Irene for a job."
Peruvian movie by Fabrizio Aguilar - "Set in the majestic Peruvian Andes in the 1980s, amidst a bloody civil war, "Paloma de Papel" (Paper Dove) recounts the harrowing coming of age of Juan (Antonio Callirgos), as he struggles to survive poverty, corruption and violence."
This movie was filmed in the Andes and selva, or Amazon, areas of Ecuador. | <urn:uuid:d386eb5d-5133-4190-9c52-f95e7ba1cd1f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gosouthamerica.about.com/od/moviereviews/Reviews_of_Latin_American_Films.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940029 | 418 | 1.625 | 2 |
GAP 1: Bridging the gap between science and stakeholders: Phase 1 – Common Ground
The stakeholder and scientist participants in GAP1 will initiate cooperative research by making plans to combine knowledge in future participatory research through a series of European and regional workshops.GAP1 represents phase 1 of a three-phase program that aims to explore the complementary nature of alternative knowledge and investigate how to combine it in ways that will enhance understanding and management of natural resources. Tied to knowledge, GAP1 is an evidence-based approach that uses participation as the vehicle to improving understanding on fisheries research and management issues of common concern to stakeholders, scientists and policy makers. Through initiation of cooperative research and helping build the capacity of stakeholders to engage in participatory research, GAP1 contributes towards the wider aspiration of the Science in Society program. In particular, to enhance democratic debate with a more engaged and informed public, thus providing better conditions for collective choices on scientific issues relating to sustainable management, conservation of ecosystem integrity and biodiversity of the marine environment.
GAP 2: Bridging the gap between science, stakeholders and policy makers: Phase 2 - Integration of evidence-based knowledge and its application to science and management of fisheries and the marine environment
GAP2 is about making a difference to an issue of significance to the whole of society; the wellbeing of the marine environment and the sustainability of fisheries upon which society depends for food. It builds on the relationships, processes and plans arising from GAP1 by enabling Mobilisation and Mutual Learning (MML) actions that promote stakeholder participation in the debate on and development of research knowledge and structures relevant to emerging policy on fisheries and the marine environment. The aims are to promote and enable processes for open and effective participation of stakeholders in research and management, and demonstrate through specific examples and critical evaluation, the role and value of stakeholder driven science in the governance of fisheries and the marine environment. DTU Aqua is the case study leader of one of the selected cases of GAP2.
-13 other leading European universities and fisheries research institutions
- 5 administrative senior officers (EU and National)
-18 leading European NGO’s and Fisheries Organisations- Pelagic RAC, Baltic RAC and North Sea RAC (RAC = Regional Advisory Council)
The project is coordinated by the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, UK.
|Period||01-01-08 → 31-12-15|
- Research area: Marine Living Resources | <urn:uuid:d45549e2-baad-4520-bd86-5dae7c3cc2ee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://orbit.dtu.dk/en/projects/bridging-the-gap-between-science-stakeholders-and-policy-makers-gap-1--gap-2-38133(f4a7c72c-8a17-4da1-8bac-abff9de4067a).html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906795 | 507 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Today, we are looking at some of the amazing women who are taking the startup world by storm. These women have raised millions in funding, have millions of users and are making money. Their companies range from one that creates a soccer ball that doubles as an Eco-friendly generator, to a 16 year old with a fashion accessory line backed by investors like Lori Greiner, Mark Cuban and Robert Herjavec. Check out the full list of these women and the great companies they are building…
Jennifer Carter Fleiss
Company: Rent the Runway
The numbers: $30 million funding with over 2 million members
Rent the Runway is a membership-based website that rents high-end designer apparel and accessories on a 4- or 8-day basis. The company was founded by two Harvard Business School graduates, Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Carter Fleiss. Launched in November 2009, the website now offers over 25,000 dresses and accessories from over 165 designers such as Badgley Mischka, Vera Wang and Calvin Klein. The company is also on 150 campuses through their Runway Rep college ambassador program.
Alexa von Tobel
The numbers: $24.5 million in funding
Alexa started her career at Morgan Stanley, left the job and invested $75,000 into her company LearnVest. LearnVest quickly recruited advisors like the former CEO of the Huffington Post and former COO of DailyCandy. After securing $1.1 million in funding in 2009 the site launched and has signed up over 100,000 members.
LearnVest focuses on helping young women develop good financial habits early on in life. Today, the company has raised over $24.5 million in funding and with an experienced team behind it they are poised for growth.
The numbers: $15 million valuation
Meet Juliette who released her first book at the age of 16 which has gone on to sell over 100,000 copies. Juliette came up with the idea for Miss O and Friends at the age of 10 and by 19 the company was worth over $15 million.
The company focuses on the “tween” market and prides itself on being for girls built by girls. Juliette prides the company on helping build self-esteem in young girls and developing who they are.
Company: Hearsay Social
The numbers: $21 million in funding
Hearsay Social provides the first comprehensive social media SaaS offering for brands with local branches and representatives. Hearsay Social helps these “corporate/local” organizations centrally measure, manage, and deploy content, compliance, monitoring, and analytics across corporate and local social media presences including Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter.
Company: M3 Girl Designs
The numbers: $5 million+ in sales
Maddie Bradshaw is the founder of the $5 million a year company, M3 Girl Designs. What started as simple locker decorations has turned into a thriving company for young girls. The companies necklaces and designs are sold throughout the U.S. and they sell over 50,000 necklaces a month.
Maddie has plans to expand the company into other accessories beyond just necklaces in the near future. You may recognize her from the show Shark Tank where she landed $300K from Lori Greiner, Mark Cuban and Robert Herjavec.
Hayley Barna & Katia Beauchamp
Age: 27, 28
The numbers: $11.9 million in funding
BirchBox is a monthly subscription service that delivers beauty product samples to users on a monthly basis. The site offers relevant editorial content and a e-commerce site. With $11.9 million in funding and over 45,000 users and launched in Sept. 2010. Birchbox is invested in by Lerer Ventures and Sam Lessin who was featured on last year’s Most Influential Young Entrepreneur list.
Susan Gregg Koger
The numbers: $19.8 million in funding
Founded by high school sweethearts, Eric Koger and Susan Gregg Koger, ModCloth.com is an online clothing, accessories, and decor retailer with a focus on independent and vintage-inspired fashion. Modcloth does alright for itself with $15 million+ in revenue in 2009 and a reported 138 employees.
Company: Paperless post
The numbers: $6 million in funding
Paperless Post was founded in 2009 by Alexa and her brother on the idea that people would use the internet to send wedding invites. So far that hunch has been a solid one as they have secured the company $6.3 million in funding and brought it to profitability in 2010.
Today, the company is continuing to grow as they bring the formal and personalized feel of offline communication to people with the efficiency and cost effectiveness of the online world.
The numbers: $2.67 million in funding
Founded in 2009 by Ben Keighran and Cathy Edwards, Chomp, Inc. is the only company to enable app search based on what an app actually does. One billion apps are being downloaded every month. As the number of apps explodes, it’s become difficult for users to find the perfect app for what they want to do. Chomp’s patent-pending algorithm is able to understand what an app does and what a user wants and then makes the best match.
Danielle Snyder and Jodie Snyder
Age: 26 & 29
The numbers: $1 million+ revenue
These two sisters have always had a thing for fashion and designing jewelery. Even in high school friends took note of their creativity which led them to open their first store in Jacksonville, FL. Even though they ended up closing that store as they went off to college the two reunited in NYC a few years later to revisit their passion.
They launched Dannijo in 2008 and it quickly grew as their jewelry was worn by celebrities like Beyonce and has been seen at New York’s fashion week, in shows like Gossip Girl and the Today Show. Today, the company boasts over $1 million in revenue and has been seen on numerous celebrities and fashion magazines.
The numbers: $3.75 million in funding
Alexa Andrzejewski is the co-founder and CEO of Foodspotting, a website and mobile app that lets you find and recommend dishes instead of just restaurants. Foodspotting was named a “Hot Trend of 2010” by iTunes and one of Time Magazine’s “50 Best Websites of 2010,” and Alexa has been featured in Inc Magazine’s “30 Under 30” and Gourmet Live’s “50 Women Game-Changers” in food.
Jessica O. Matthews and Julia Silverman
Company: Uncharted Play
Age: 23, 23
The numbers: $2 million+ in revenue
In May of 2011, Jessica O. Matthews and Julia Silverman founded Uncharted Play–a new kind of social enterprise that would show the world that doing good and doing good business need not be mutually exclusive. The Uncharted Play dream began in 2008 when Matthews and Silverman met during their junior year at Harvard College. Both studying to be social scientists with no experience in engineering, they nonetheless worked together on a class project to invent the SOCCKET–a soccer ball that doubles as an eco-friendly portable generator.
The numbers: $1.2 million in funding
Gobble is an online marketplace for home-cooked food. Local chefs may build a personal online storefront, and offer their meals to nearby families and companies. Currently in alpha mode, Gobble processes over 500 orders a month in the Bay Area. Founded in 2010, Gobble is based in Palo Alto, CA.
The numbers: $5.13 million in funding
Getaround provides a peer-to-peer carsharing marketplace that enables car owners to rent their cars – from Priuses to Teslas – to a community of trusted drivers by hour, day, or week using just their smartphones.
Car owners invest huge amounts of time and money into an asset they barely use. The average car is idle 92% of the time, while potential drivers walk past blocks of underutilized cars. “We are here to connect the dots… to help people get around.”
Company: The Marketing Zen Group
The numbers: Revenue in the millions
In 2009, at 24, Kabani founded The Marketing Zen Group, a social media marketing firm in Dallas. The company, which she launched with $1,500 of her own money, specializes in all aspects of web marketing for clients–from Facebook and Twitter to blogs and video.
Shama hosts a web TV show about technology. Her 2010 book, The Zen of Social Media Marketing: An Easier Way to Build Credibility, Generate Buzz and Increase Revenue, is the No. 4 seller about web marketing on Amazon.com.
Desiree Vargas Wrigley
The numbers: $500k in funding
GiveForward pages empower friends and family to send love and financial support to patients as they navigate a medical crisis. Create a page today to spread hope and contribute to a loved one’s out-of-pocket medical expenses.
The numbers: $823k in funding
Looking for a new place to live is frustrating, stressful and time-consuming. Listings are scattered, false advertisements are everywhere, and dead-ends are common.
Nestio is the easiest way for consumers to make the best and most informed decision on their next home.
Category: Startup Advice | <urn:uuid:53b88a66-db34-44e9-a376-b14f9896a4da> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://under30ceo.com/20-young-women-entrepreneurs-and-their-rising-companies/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940566 | 1,981 | 1.585938 | 2 |
There was a good deal of discussion back in May about David Greenberg’s Slate article, “That Barnes and Noble Dream”, about whether academic historians should aspire to be “populizers”. I thought Greenberg had some interesting observations that I didn’t always agree with. One thing I do think, however, is that it’s a very good thing for a historian to aspire at some point in their career to write a broad “synthesis” history, if they happen to work in a field which has gone without such a synthesis for some time.
Diarmaid MacCulloch’s The Reformation seems to me a great example of this kind of work. You wouldn’t want to make something this good and magisterial the standard to which academic history was held accountable, given how impressive an achievement it is. Still, this kind of writing delivers a readable but also deeply knowledgeable account of history to a potentially broad public. It’s a history that I myself knew less about than I ought before I read the book.
Two supplementary things occurred to me as I was reading it, going in different directions.
First, I’m really struck at how alien the public face of the politically active religious right in America is to the struggles and concerns of the Protestant Reformation at its roots. MacCulloch takes pains to argue that the Reformation was defined by concern with ideas, specifically theological ideas. Whether its leaders were trying to bring themselves together or busily fracturing further into more and more congregations, their primary concerns were scriptural and doctrinal. The politically active religious right in the US isn’t especially concerned with a deep knowledge of scripture or doctrine any longer: most of its dearly held positions are temporal and cultural, a matter of habitus rather than theology. Sure, the leaders and many of the followers of the movement insist that their authority derives from scripture, but any given position (on abortion, sex, war, you name it), that scriptural basis tends to be a cherry-picking of quotes from the Bible, not a deeply worked-out and disciplined interpretation of scripture, philological or otherwise. I’m sure this is an old, careworn insight about evangelical religion in the United States that carries back to the Great Awakening–the history of religion is definitely one of my intellectual weak spots. But it does seem to me to divide the political, public religious right from the rest of American protestantism in various ways.
2) MacCulloch’s book is a really nice one in pedagogical terms not just for teaching students about the Reformation, but also for teaching students about the nature of “argument” in historical writing. I’m almost thinking of working up another undergraduate guide to reading that works with this text. At one level, you can just read it as informative narrative, with its argument being largely about allowing contemporary Christians and others to discover the roots of their own faith, or an important part of modern society. As such, it has a relatively simple argument: this particular aspect of the past, seen in its entirety, is uniquely important to the disposition of the present.
At a deeper level, the level I think we most want our undergraduates to read for in history courses, MacCulloch is arguing for the importance of what would classically be defined as intellectual history against social, cultural or political history. It’s not that he ignores the social, cultural or political history of the Reformation, but he does insist as a matter of emphasis that ideas qua ideas were an important cause of the Reformation, that ideas were not just epiphenomenal window dressing for some deeper force or driver. I know this is the kind of argument I most want my own students to pick up on when I assign scholarly work, because it’s the kind of argument I think they can meaningfully adjudicate: it has both an empirical dimension and a philosophical one, both potentially accessible to them.
Then at a deeper level still MacCulloch is picking all sorts of fights with specialists in the field, some small and detailed, others fairly substantive, ranging from whether Biblical scripture is intrinsically hostile to homosexuality (he thinks it is) to whether Martin Luther really was constipated before he posted his theses to the door. This is the level that my students sometimes get entangled with when I’m asking them to read for argument, and it’s largely where I do not want them to be, because adjudicating these kinds of arguments requires a scholarly knowledge of the field and a pretty deep historiographical perspective. | <urn:uuid:c1210596-df75-45b2-a30e-16bdc9da6e2a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/blog/2005/06/28/book-notes-diarmaid-macculloch-the-reformation/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961126 | 958 | 1.859375 | 2 |
I think you have to approach it as you would any other class. That is to say that you need to tailor your lessons to precisely the needs of the class. So this means making a detailed Needs Analysis
of the class before going any further.
Once you have that you can sort out the syllabus and lessons to suit. Of course when you get down to the lesson level, you'll need to make sure the topics covered are suitable in both level and content to the class: many Western 12 year olds are interested in pop music, blockbuster films, television and so on with a burgeoning interest in fashion and sport. Does this apply to the children you will teach?
The basic principle here is to keep the lessons relevant to your class. | <urn:uuid:155f9afb-141b-4b19-bea6-2c51c1fe478a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.englishclub.com/tefl/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=11422&p=13992 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972044 | 150 | 2.28125 | 2 |
Posted: Aug 31, 2010 5:44 PM by Rachel Frost
Updated: Aug 31, 2010 5:53 PM
A broken pipe is to blame for dirty water that flowed into homes in a neighborhood in Clinton.
When Preston Gill turned on the faucet in his kitchen sink yesterday evening, what poured out looked more like orange juice than water.
Officials with East Feliciana Rural Water, the parish water company, said another utility company accidentally busted a pipe when workers were digging in the neighborhood. That caused the water pressure to drop and additional minerals from the aquifer to mix into the water supply. Those minerals turned the water a rusty orange color.
The water company said the water is safe to drink, despite the unusual color. According to officials, it could take several days before the discoloration is completely flushed out.
A water sample will be sent to the state health department next week for testing. | <urn:uuid:c0803d40-9c03-49b3-933e-ab832baa7db7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wbrz.com/news/orange-water-raises-concern-in-clinton/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963256 | 187 | 1.828125 | 2 |
So, in my earlier post, I mentioned that I’d been working on a library called xkbcommon. Since it’s got a massively misleading name (and renaming hasn’t been totally ruled out yet …), it’s probably worth an introductory post.
tl;dr: It loads XKB keymaps and can manage tricky things like modifier state for you.
tell me more!
At its core, xkbcommon is nothing to do, as you might think, with X11. It’s about two things: parsing and loading keymaps, and managing their ongoing state. State, in terms of keyboards, is the usual suspects — modifiers (e.g. Shift, Alt), multiple layouts (mostly for multiple languages), and LEDs. In general, you only want one person keeping a canonical copy of the state, and distributing it to its clients, as both the X server and Wayland do today. xkbcommon allows for this mode of operation, and is indeed how all current Wayland clients handle keyboard input.
One notable thing xkbcommon isn’t, is an input method. Anything more complex than ‘I press one key and get a symbol’, such as phonetic compound composition for CJK/Thai/etc (where you type out a word, which, when completed, becomes much fewer characters on screen) or menu-based selections as common in both Arabic and Mandarin (where you type out the beginnings of a word, and are then offered a selection of choices to complete), or even just the seemingly-straightforward compose key (e.g. right Alt + o + / → ø), are implemented internally to the toolkit, and don’t really use xkbcommon at all. Supporting the two (key-based vs. string-based) methods in the same protocol seems straightforward, but quickly becomes hugely unwieldy if you ever need to do anything weird like, say, process shortcuts. Anyway, if you want to find out more about input methods on Wayland, Michael Hasselmann has a very nice update about Maalit and ibus.
This makes life rather more simple for the keyboard-based protocols: all we have to do is tell xkbcommon every time someone presses (or releases) a key, and ask it which symbols resulted from that.
There are two methods of operation. The self-contained approach, suitable if you’re writing programs which back directly on to a terminal and have absolute full control over the entire keyboard, is used by most of our tests, such as interactive.c, which is a reasonably summary of how to implement one of these clients. Here, the same client manages the entire state, and never needs to deal with any external entities.
However, the most common method of operation is the one used by Wayland and X11, where a central server manages the state and informs the clients. Under this model, the clients never update the state implicitly through xkb_state_update_key(); they only ever use xkb_state_update_mask() in response to its master sending it a new and complete copy of the state.
ok — so how do I use it?
Firstly, create a context:
ctx = xkb_context_new(0);
which will be the base for all your xkbcommon operations. Secondly, we need to compile a keymap. If you have a named keymap you want to compile from (e.g. the user has specified ‘Icelandic Dvorak with Caps Lock mapped to Ctrl’), use:
keymap = xkb_keymap_new_from_names(ctx, rules, model, layout, variant, options);
On Linux, the rules and model are almost always ‘evdev’. Layout is usually the ISO two-character country (not language!) code, variant is specific to the layout, and options are global. In this case, we would use:
keymap = xkb_keymap_new_from_names(ctx, "evdev", "evdev", "is", "dvorak", "ctrl:nocaps");
A keymap is a static and immutable ruleset describing the translation between key events and the resulting output (e.g. if d is pressed while shift is held down, then output D). On top of the keymap, for every keyboard we use, we generate a new state object:
state = xkb_state_new(keymap);
which will track things like which keys are currently held down. Every time a key is pressed or released, we first get the symbols it produces:
sym = xkb_state_key_get_one_sym(state, keycode);
which returns a key symbol (listed in xkbcommon-keysyms.h, and identical to the X11 keysyms; xkb_keysym_to_utf8() may be used to translate this to a string) generated by that keypress. For example, pressing the B key on Icelandic Dvorak with AltGr held down would return XKB_KEY_ssharp (i.e. ß). After we have got the symbol to be used, we then update the state object with the keypress. It is crucial the order of these two operations is not reversed! Anyhow, we update the state object like so for sole-control programs:
changed = xkb_state_update_key(state, keycode, XKB_KEY_DOWN);
or thusly for clients who get their master state from an external program, e.g. Wayland compositor:
changed = xkb_state_update_mask(state, mods_down, mods_latched, mods_locked, ...);
and we have now completed our key processing. Hurrah!
Note that you do not need any special cases anywhere: xkbcommon takes care of the mechanics of handling special keys under the hood for you. The one case where you need extended functionality is shortcut processing (e.g. capture Ctrl+P), but that’s a story for another day.
shouldn’t all this be in the documentation?
PS: Funny story: I was planning to explain in this footnote how I’d just picked Icelandic Dvorak for a laugh and no-one would make a layout that ridiculous. But no, it actually exists … | <urn:uuid:f8aafb68-cb8d-4617-922d-493f871a5bd5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fooishbar.org/daniel/blog/lca2004/lca-2004-01-21-20-57.html/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919088 | 1,346 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Pakistan: update on the integrated relief and reintegration support strategy
Millions of people in Pakistan are still living without the most basic necessities and services as their homes, livelihoods and service infrastructure (schools, health facilities etc) have been washed away. Although the WHO supported disease early warning system (DEWS) has been successful in the containment of outbreaks, the potential for serious outbreaks remains.
WHO, UNICEF and WFP launched a “Survival Strategy” in Sindh as a coordinated effort between the Health, Nutrition, WASH and Food Clusters to ensure a coherent approach towards improving the health and well-being of the flood-affected population.
The strategy, called joint “Integrated Relief and Return Support Strategy”, was launched on 17 September to cover relief activities for six months and early recovery activities for 12 months. The plan seeks US$ 200 million to fund 94 health sector projects run by WHO (about 50% of all projects) and Health Cluster partners.
The pilot phase included a few initiatives such as a simultaneous immunization campaign and nutrition survey, integrated health and WASH investigation and response to alerts of communicable diseases, combined food deliveries with hygiene promotion and health messages, etc.
In November the survival strategy initiative looked into new ways of integrated approach with identifying and tackling hot spots in Sindh. This led to joint planning for the protracted emergency and the early recovery phase and the realization that other sectors should be part of the “survival strategy initiative”. Currently the “survival strategy group” in Sindh has expanded to include the education, shelter, protection, agriculture and community restoration clusters and is bringing on board FAO, UNHCR, IOM and UNDP. All agencies are working hand in hand to secure a minimum package of services, ensuring access to health, water, food, education, shelter and protection to the internally displaced people and returnee population.
The Health Cluster benefitted from CERF and USAID funds in April and June 2010, which were allocated to Health Cluster partners to enable them to be in the field in preparation for the floods in KP. These two funds enabled the Health Cluster to mobilize and maintain teams on the ground. | <urn:uuid:464b1d1c-ac4e-4137-8c78-6159ff761c31> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.who.int/hac/crises/pak/highlights/december2010/en/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95433 | 452 | 2.125 | 2 |
GENESEO, N.Y. - The State University of New York at Geneseo's Department of English will recognize the winners of its 5th annual Genesee Valley Peace Poetry Contest May 13 at 7 p.m. in Wadsworth Auditorium on campus. The department sponsored the contest for kindergarten through 8th grade students from 30 area school districts in the Genesee Valley.
The department received more than 500 poems from which 70 winners were selected. The winners have been invited to read their poems at the event, which is free and open to the public.
The contest was founded by Rob Doggett, associate professor of English at Geneseo. He said the contest focuses on elementary and middle school students because "young people need a stable, nurturing and peaceful environment to flourish. Unfortunately, a lot of young people aren't given the chance to find that peaceful environment because they live amid conflict and sometimes, as is the case with many young people in the United States, they simply aren't given the chance to think about peace, about the things that make them happy, content, and loved," he said.
Doggett said the contest is about helping students to develop their own creative skills.
"I have often found that students who win this contest are often the ones who don't always get "A's" in their classes," said Doggett. "But I think that's great: a lot of students who do well get used to success. I honestly feel that this contest can help change the lives of students because it helps them to discover a talent that they didn't know they had."
More information is available about the contest by calling (585) 245-2473.
Media Relations Manager | <urn:uuid:2971f200-f2fb-4db3-8f15-28715f9cb87f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mosaic.cc.geneseo.edu/news_events/suny-geneseo-feature-local-elementary-and-middle-school-students-visions-peace | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98072 | 352 | 1.726563 | 2 |
:: World Traveler
:: Global Fashion Advocate
:: Hiptipico Store Owner
Poverty is the absence of all human rights. The frustrations, hostility and anger generated by abject poverty cannot sustain peace in any society. For building stable peace we must find ways to provide opportunities for people to live decent lives.
How do the real local champions tolerate us, international ‘experts’ who rotate in and out of their countries and keep showing up – different faces, same stupid questions – like a bad penny? What do we mean when we talk about supporting local actors? And are we really ready to relinquish control, face our shortcomings and humbly listen?
Why should there be hunger and privation in any land, in any city, at any table when we have the resources and the scientific know-how to provide all humankind with the basic necessities of life? There is no deficit in human resources; the deficit is in human will.
If wealth was the inevitable result of hard work and enterprise, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire. | <urn:uuid:71487821-a8fe-4b7a-aff7-ddfe76c79bdc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lysscglobal.tumblr.com/tagged/poverty | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907566 | 215 | 1.84375 | 2 |
by Chiots Run
Here are Chiot's Run we don't buy much manufactured food. Our pantry is filled with dry goods, home canned items, and spices. We make our own pasta, butter, cheese, bread, granola bars, salad dressings and try to stay away from food that contain long ingredient lists, preservatives, artificial colors and flavors, and any weird unpronounceable ingredients.
We occasionally buy pretzels, those big sourdough niblets that have a short ingredient list; the same things I would use to make them myself (we do make soft pretzles at home, but haven't mastered the art of crunchy ones yet). Other than this however, our pantry is devoid of boxes and bags of items made in a factory somewhere far far away.
If you're trying to eat healthfully and avoid preservatives it's much much cheaper to make things at home than buy them at the health food store. It does take some time to learn to make all the different things you enjoy. Sometimes it takes a palate adjustment to learn to like and prefer a homemade version of a store-bought item (like ketchup).
This is something you probably don't want to do all at once. A great place to start is by replacing items in your pantry with homemade versions when you run out. This way you don't waste food you've already purchased, and you aren't overwhelmed by trying to learn to make everything homemade at once. Once you learn and make something a few times it becomes much easier. Start with something simple as well, like homemade salad dressing or made from scratch pancakes, muffins or a cake.
Pretty soon you'll wonder why you ever bought mixed and pre-made items from the store, especially since you'll notice the homemade version taste so much better. Not to mention all that extra cash in your wallet and think of all that packaging you'll be saving from the landfill!!
How much of what you eat is made from scratch at home? | <urn:uuid:0c59a583-bf28-4422-804a-bbe3e3624b99> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://simple-green-frugal-co-op.blogspot.com/2010/02/make-it-from-scratch.html?showComment=1266925545098 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972232 | 412 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Finalists and winners of the eYeka competition in support of World Press Freedom Day
In preparation for World Press Freedom Day 2012, eYeka, a global leader in online co-creation and crowd-sourcing creative content, supported UNESCO’s efforts to raise awareness about the importance of freedom of expression and safety of journalists.
eYeka's global community of creative consumers was challenged to create a poster (either using photography or illustration) that shows the importance of having a free press and ensuring the safety of journalists. The online creative competition started on the 2nd of April 2012 and ended on the 23rd of April 2012. Over this 3 week period, a hundred striking images licensed under creative commons were accepted that met the criteria of originality, quality, relevance and narrative. The topic’s importance resonated with many around the World with participants hailing from 23 countries including Algeria, Argentina, Belarus, Belgium, Chile, Colombia, France, Greece, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Portugal, the Russian Federation, Spain, Singapore, Uganda, the UK, the USA, Venezuela and Vietnam. | <urn:uuid:461d60d9-2183-46b2-a5b6-6b608830b280> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/resources/multimedia/photo-galleries/world-press-freedom-day/finalists-and-winners-of-the-eyeka-competition-in-support-of-wpfd/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.913338 | 232 | 1.914063 | 2 |
In 1986, filmmaker David Cronenberg made his mark on the seventh art with The Fly, a science-fiction horror tale about renegade scientist Seth Brundle, whose teleportation experiment goes horribly awry when a fly enters his telepod.
The film was a box-office success, but Cronenberg and composer Howard Shore were left with a sense that the story was destined for another medium. Critics hailed the score as "operatic," and Cronenberg saw the themes lending themselves to the stage. He recalls thinking that "underneath all the technology and the sci-fi stuff, there's a very powerful, scary story of loss, disintegration and decay."
Now his ruminations have become reality. From July 2-13 at Paris' Théâtre du Châtelet (and then Sept. 7-27 at Los Angeles Opera), movie fans and opera buffs alike will be scrambling for tickets to The Fly, a sci-fi musical mutation of the film, scored by Shore and directed by Cronenberg. "I think there's a desire in the world of opera to modernize," says the director. Taking on the challenge are noted talents from screen and stage: special effects and stage design are by Oscar winners Stephan Dupuis and Dante Ferretti, Tony Award winner David Henry Hwang wrote the libretto, and celebrated tenor Plácido Domingo is conducting.
Shore's score shines with moments of great beauty before descending into atonal darkness to parallel Brundle's transformation from man to insect. The opera is "respectful of the past, but very much a 21st century work," Shore says. By the time the curtain closes to a triumphant elegy for the Brundle-fly, the audience may find itself hearing something more: the birth cry of an entirely new operocinematic creature. | <urn:uuid:cee09f84-defe-4265-b97a-b91bc26089bb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1642444_1817482_1817468,00.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960869 | 377 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Tips for establishing good classroom procedures
Here's a general list that comes to mind|
*How to enter classroom
*What to do before school
*Lunch count procedures
*turning in assignments
*doing class jobs
*computer& classroom library use
*how to fill out assignment book
*how to get teacher's attention
*how to react to teacher signals (maybe you dim lights or give another signal to get them settled)
*how they will go to lunch/recess/other classes
*what to do at dismissal
*how to organize supplies
These are in addition to teaching classroom and school rules. I'm sure there are more, but this is a decent start.
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Hi Trish- When I taught 7th grade, I would introduce one (or maybe two) new procedures each day & then tell students that we would practice them during our activities. These activities might be "getting to know you" or might be introduction to some content. |
For example: On day one, I introduced my "Beginning Class" procedures by having them posted as the students entered:
Mrs. Smith's Beginning Class Procedures!
1)Greet Mrs. Smith with a high-five, handshake, or smile!
2)Enter quietly, go directly to your desk, & square away materials.
3)Immediately begin the "warm up" assignment on the board.
4)Wait for further instructions.
After all students entered the room, I called the class to a stopping point & pointed out that those procedures posted would be the exact way we would begin class each day. Then I moved on to...
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Consistent Procedures-Kids want to be good and do what is expected of them but maybe they just don't know what or how to behave. Make it VERY Clear. I teach 6th grade and sometimes I feel like i'm overdoing it, but it is totally working because they are so much better than last year (Last year was my first year)|
Anyways, role play what you want. have them show you what the room should look like and sound like. and don't teach until they're ready. you have to give up so much time in the beginning but it is worth it.
when you do group activities (really any activiites), make a t chart on the board with "looks like" on one side and "sounds like" on another side. Ask, what should the room look like when we're doing this? What will I SEE you doing. Then the same for...
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You didn't say whether you were teaching in an elementary of middle school setting. I teach 6th grade in a Middle School, and our administration stresses procedures from the very beginning of school (in fact, I've been told that if I do nothing. I truly had my students practice going to the locker and the bathroom in less than 4 minutes.
2. Lining up (my students have to line up for both lunch and end of the day). They are required to line up in the hallway, with my line leader even with the firehose in the wall. Each student stands on the 4th tile block from the lockers on the right side of the hallway (this allows students going to their lockers room to maneuver).
3. Pencil sharpening--do it at the beginning of class! I also went over HOW to sharpen a pencil with the electric sharpener. They have a...
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Make sure that you explicitly teach the procedures for everything that you need to do. Coming in, sharpening pencils, going to the restroom, passing in papers, listening/attention getting etc. The list goes on and on. It takes time and practice, but they will get it eventually as long as you are consistent. Having set ways of doing things lets the kids know what to expect and it cuts down the number of descisions you have to make each day.|
As far as walking in the hallway I guess it varies from school to school. In ours, we have to be quiet because we have no doors. I teach my kids exactly how to stand. What their hands should be doing, feet, mouths, etc. We have set stopping points in the hallway where they stop and wait for a signal from me. We walk in a certain area...
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No kidding-the more you rehearse and practice the expectations you've got for your class, the better off you'll be later on!
I don't begin much as far as academics are concerned, other than general writing/reading/math- and that's just to get a feel for what they've retained through the summer.
I go over the expectations for the hallways, restrooms, lining up, cafeteria, using the drinking fountain in our classroom, etc. I have procedures for entering the room and putting lunch money away, etc. You don't want to "procedure them to death" but if there's a special way you want something done, set them up for success by discussing the way you want it done.
You'll need to continue to review these the first 5 weeks or so. During that time, you will begin your reading, writing, math, etc. but always take some time to rehearse your...
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My bathroom and water procedures are pretty much the same as the others. But, I do handle my pencil sharpening procedures a little differently. I have two baskets for pencils. One basket is full of sharpened pencils, and the other basket is for unsharpened/broken pencils. Unless we are taking a test, students are allowed to go to the basket and trade out an unsharpened pencil for a sharpened one as needed. (Key word is TRADE! They aren't allowed to get a new pencil without putting one in the "To be sharpened" basket. Usually I have the first student who arrives in the morning sharpen all the pencils. It really saves time during the day and eliminates distracting noise from the pencil sharpener! Hope this helps!|
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art, artist, arts, battle, begger, beggers, birmingham, canvas, chalk, chalker, chalking, chalks, england, for, history, news, newspaper, pavement, pavement art, paving, philip, publication, screever, screeving, tramps, uk, urban, urbancanvas
A Newspaper for Tramps
Researched by Philip Battle
A newspaper has recently made its appearance in Birmingham, England; but though it is printed in English it would be wholly unintelligible to the ordinary reader. The paper is called “The Abraham Man’s News” and is, as it were the official organ of tramps and vagrants. Typed on a single sheet of paper, the journal costs one “flach” (halfpenny) and is written in a slang only its vagabond readers can understand.
The paper is a mine of information to its readers.
In it the “Screever” (pavement artist) is told where he can lend chalked pictures for a “sucheroon” (five shillings) a day: the “gloak” (beggar) who is “quisby” (broke) and cannot find a “down earwig” (sympathetic clergyman) is enlightened by cryptic signs of the nearest “dolly shop” (illegal pawnbroker) where he can “jug” (pawn) whatever portable property he may have gathered in his travels, and so dine in luxury off a “two-eyed steak” (kipper).
The best of the “woodholes” (workhouses) receive honourable mention and a list of addresses of “flatlews” (public houses) on collateral security. Is always an eagerly sought out feature of the columns.
Published in the Saskatoon Star- Phoenix October 18th 1929
Visit my Artists of the Paving Stone page on Facebook! | <urn:uuid:cf02c5bf-abb2-4e00-aec3-1d550da843ea> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://screever.org/category/birmingham/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946663 | 427 | 2.34375 | 2 |
Apparel makers, anxious to ensure quality and protect their images, are well aware of the risks. Since 1996, when an expose showed that clothes sold under celebrity Kathie Lee Gifford's label were being made in Honduras using child labor, companies have worked hard to prevent a repeat scandal centered on overseas factories. The apparel industry launched Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production, a Virginia nonprofit that certifies factories meeting its standards. Most major retailers now require that auditors visit the plants that make their products, to ensure the owners comply with their codes of conduct.
The Tazreen factory was audited at least twice by Wal-Mart in 2011. Its parent company, Tuba Group, posted a long-expired WRAP audit certificate for one of its other plants on its website.
But WRAP's president and CEO, Avedis Seferian, said audits, alone, won't eliminate risk. He noted that when the group opened an office in Bangladesh in early 2011, its first project was starting a Factory Fire Training Program, hoping to prevent a recurrence of a 2010 blaze at a plant that made clothes for The Gap which killed 29 workers.
But the complexity of the global supply chain helps create a dynamic that allow factories like Tazreen to continue operating, Green said.
"All of these layers, which I think represent rational decisions at an individual level, result in a system that is pretty irrational, where you have a real lack of transparency about exactly what is going on," he said. "And when you have a lack of transparency, you have a lack of accountability."
AP writers Anne D'Innocenzio and Mae Anderson in New York contributed to this report. Adam Geller, a New York-based national writer, can be reached at features(at)ap.org. Follow him on Twitter at
The Associated Press | <urn:uuid:b5ed516d-164c-448f-9a22-abaeed2c960c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/Dec/01/the-factory-fire-global-commerce-local-tragedy/4/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959567 | 379 | 2.1875 | 2 |
Q: Is drinking tea and/or coffee safe for me and my baby while I am pregnant?
A: Pregnancy often triggers expectant mothers to reflect on and be more mindful of their lifestyle choices. The growth and development of a baby in utero is influenced by food and fluids ingested by its mother, and so diet and nutrition is one of the most important considerations for women during pregnancy.
The placenta delivers essential nutrients to the fetus via the mother’s bloodstream. When caffeine is consumed by the mother, some may be transferred to baby. While small to moderate amounts of caffeine are OK, a high level of caffeine consumption may have effects on a fetus in womb. Since caffeine is a stimulant, it may cause changes in the sleep patterns of the infant in utero and also after birth while breastfeeding.
So, how much caffeine is too much during pregnancy?
Health Canada recommends a limit of 300 mg of caffeine per day for women who are planning pregnancy, pregnant and /or breastfeeding. There are conflicting studies on whether excessive caffeine intake (more than 300 mg daily) increases the risk of miscarriage in the first trimester of pregnancy. As a precaution, it’s recommended that women significantly reduce caffeine intake during the first trimester, followed by a moderate intake for the duration of the pregnancy if caffeine cannot be eliminated.
If your caffeine consumption pattern is high and you are planning a pregnancy, slowly decrease your caffeine consumption over several weeks by one cup each day, or decrease the size of the serving (i.e. from large to medium to small). This will help to reduce the occurrence of headaches and irritability as a result of taking a “cold turkey” approach. You may choose to substitute caffeinated beverages with water, juice, or milk/milk alternatives.
Where is caffeine found?
The most common sources of caffeine are coffee and tea. A small Tim Hortons coffee contains 100 mg of caffeine, a small tea contains 50 mg, and a small cappuccino contains 60 mg. A large coffee contains as much as 200 mg of caffeine. Even green tea, white tea, iced tea beverages contain caffeine. Chocolate contains small amounts of caffeine: about 7 to 19 mg per ounce, depending on the type.
By far the largest caffeine source is energy drinks, where one serving may contain between 80 and 180 mg of caffeine. All energy drinks are different, and labels must be read very carefully.
If you are pregnant and are unsure about your caffeine intake, speak with your family doctor or a registered dietitian.
For more information and resources, visit the Health Canada website at http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/iyh-vsv/food-aliment/caffeine-eng.php.
House Calls is written by experts at Hamilton Health Sciences. Gywneth Xagoraris is a registered dietitian at McMaster University Medical Centre. | <urn:uuid:b3da19ea-d70f-4870-8949-a8cd4515dc78> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thespec.com/living-story/2114999-caffeine-baby-and-you-how-much-is-safe-during-pregnancy-/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9317 | 603 | 2.25 | 2 |
Date of this Version
Food plots are a vital element for the survival of game bird species such as bobwhite quail (Colinus virginianus) on Fort Riley Military Installation in Kansas. However, white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) tend to eat the sorghum when it starts to ripen in September and continue feeding on it through November and December, often leaving no food for the quail during the winter. We conducted pen and field trails to determine if repellents were an effective and feasible method to protect grain sorghum food plots from deer damage. Two-choice pen trials with both deer and game bird species were used to determine preference and avoidance of milo treated with Liquid Fence® and Plantskydd™. Individual food plots on Fort Riley were used to test both repellents’ effectiveness in protecting a 6-row perimeter around established food plots. When given a choice both bobwhite quails and pheasants avoided Plantskydd (P < 0.001). Both repellents were avoided versus the control in the pen trials for white-tailed deer (P ≤ 0.0001); however, we found no difference in seed head damaged between field control plots and plots treated with Liquid Fence or those with Plantskydd (F7,23 = 0.88, P = 0.54). Although milo treated in the pens deterred white-tailed deer, we feel the use of repellents for treating food plots may be cost prohibitive and less effective than other deterrents such as netting fences. | <urn:uuid:b910736a-2ec2-49ba-83f4-09fb1008d5a2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/icwdm_wdmconfproc/102/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950179 | 322 | 2.703125 | 3 |
17 May 2012
NATO’s hitherto most significant out-of-area operation – over 10 years in Afghanistan – is winding down with little grounds for optimism. Whether the outcome of the intervention validates its cost has been debated from different angles endlessly in global capitals and on the ground at various points in time. In the more recent operation in Libya, the Alliance has managed to preclude this type of soul-searching by keeping the military engagement limited in duration and tightly focused on the UN Security Council mandate to protect civilians. Many observers have taken this opportunity to speak of a new, leaner model for NATO’s conduct in out-of-area operations.
As NATO member countries convene in Chicago in May, political will to intervene in crises abroad is low, and the capabilities for doing so are thinly stretched. Nevertheless, leaders should take a moment to reflect on what past experience reveals about the complex interplay of interests, motivations, and expectations in order to reassess the scope for future out-of-area operations under the NATO banner. At the very least, this should inspire greater caution regarding so-called models or templates, which provide a false sense of predictability.
A chief lesson to guide this debate is that interventions take place within a complex web of stakeholders with multiple agendas. First, the experience of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan has illustrated the diversity of motivations behind NATO member countries’ participation. The United States – itself the reason for every other ally to contribute troops in ISAF – and a few others, like the British, had a clear objective in defeating the Taliban and denying Al Qaeda safe havens in Afghanistan. Many other coalition members in practice had as their true, yet “hidden”, priority the limitation of their engagement (in other words, blood and treasure). This created diverging policies and choices at all levels of the mission.
Second, the local population’s expectations are generally believed to converge in the desire for basic and a predictable level of security to invest in jobs and livelihoods. However, Afghanistan has also shown that local stakeholders’ agendas and quest for power could become a strategic liability. For years after the fall of the Taliban regime, neither the new central government nor ISAF could demonstrate reliable improvement in vast stretches of the country. Who would ultimately deliver security, justice, and development became an increasingly secondary concern for many locals as the mission dragged on. In a twist ISAF planning did not anticipate, contrary to Afghanistan, part of the success of the U.S. military’s surge in Iraq rested on the perception that the only viable path towards security and order seemed to be cooperation with the Iraqi central government and the coalition forces.
Third, regional actors add another layer of potentially competing interests. While a stable neighbour is generally preferable in terms of commercial and security interests, manageable degrees of disorder may benefit certain regional actors. Moreover, the coalition’s objectives with regard to the future political and strategic orientation of Afghanistan may diverge with regional stakeholders’ preferences. When a regional actor has a decisive influence on the ultimate outcome – as Pakistan has had in Afghanistan for decades – this aspect should weigh in all the more powerfully on strategic considerations.
Naturally, the likelihood of a successful completion of the mission increases with the greater the convergence among perceptions and interests within this kaleidoscope of stakeholders. Gathering political will and resources at the right time to project the right combination of hard and soft power in an intervention is crucial – as the experience of Afghanistan has shown. Chances for success for the large scale nation-building effort implemented only after 2009 were considerably lower than if they had begun in 2002. Divergent agendas within the coalition, shifting preferences on the ground, and a delicate web of regional dynamics work against such strategic timing. NATO’s “model intervention” in Libya should not be taken as a reason to believe that the alliance can counter weigh these challenges with a fixed template based on the application of hard power alone. The patterns of each and every crisis in which NATO military intervention is contemplated are unique – and no model can eliminate the complexity of complicated, and very human, competing factors.
Andrea Barbara Baumann is Visiting Research Associate and Gergely Varga is a Visiting Fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations at SAIS, John Hopkins University. Both are members of the Atlantic Council’s Young Atlanticist Working Group.
This article was originally published in the Diplomatic Courier's May/June edition. | <urn:uuid:42f2c6af-9f82-49ea-8b7e-8eaa6f279a2d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.diplomaticourier.com/news/topics/security/968 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948823 | 915 | 1.976563 | 2 |
Living In The Lab
When firms need firsthand evidence that green building strategies work, they turn to their own offices.
They are not perfectly controlled and calibrated laboratory experiments, but that’s not the point when firms deploy green building practices in their own offices. They need firsthand evidence something works or doesn’t work, especially when many of those practices are relatively new to most in the architecture, engineering, and construction industry. These handful of firms want to test a product or strategy in a real-world setting, while insulating their clients from repercussions. And with LEED certifications for their offices becoming de rigeur, they have their own projects as willing guinea pigs.
Based on what you have seen and read about this project, how would you grade it? Use the stars below to indicate your assessment, five stars being the highest rating.
Some firms have put their employees’ productivity on the line to explore and prove a strategy. As part of its LEED for Commercial Interiors (LEED-CI) certification, the global architecture firm HOK moved 235 of its St. Louis office staff from a traditional segmented office to an open floor plan. A handful of closed offices remain, and a variety of conference work stations are available for meetings or phone calls, says Tim Gaidis, a senior associate. “The rentable area per employee went way down—we consolidated 78,000 square feet to 60,000 square feet,” he says. “There was a breaking-in period where people had to get used to a new way of doing things,” he notes, but it has been a success that has carried over to clients. “If we can’t walk the talk, how can we expect our clients to really believe in what we’re proposing?” asks Gaidis.
HOK continues to learn from its space. “Our space does not have thermostatic controls for everyone, but it does have receptacles,” Gaidis says. Many people bring in fans, space heaters, and task lights to improve their comfort. “For our corporate clients we recommend considering personal controls,” says Gaidis, in part based on this experience. Clients resist the added cost of the strategy, he adds, but plug loads and purchases of fans and space heaters by staff allows HOK to argue that leaving out personal controls merely sidesteps, but does not avoid, their needs.
As with other companies pursuing LEED certification, firms cannot always afford to pursue all the green strategies they would like. OWP/P, a Chicago-based architecture firm, faced this problem with its current pursuit of LEED-CI certification, says Rand Ekman, AIA, senior associate and director of sustainability. “We decided that wasn’t a good enough reason not to test them in a laboratory setting,” says Ekman. “If it was a good idea, we would implement it at some level.”
Outside OWP/P’s main conference area is a roof-deck patio with large planters the firm installed in order to study five different green-roof systems. The firm will leave it to others to monitor green roofs for stormwater and thermal benefits; the purpose here is to provide a visual demonstration and test for obvious installation and maintenance issues. “We can sit there in a conference with a client and say, ‘What about a green roof?’—and there are five right outside that have been sitting there for a couple of years,” Ekman says. “They can just go and see how it works.”
A 3,600-square-foot green roof grows prominently outside Cook + Fox Architects’ LEED-CI-Platinum office in New York City, partly for environmental benefit and partly to push the envelope. “Our office is focused on the next steps of the green movement,” says Jared Gilbert, communications associate at Cook + Fox. “From just about anywhere in our office you can see the green roof and be able to see the changes in the weather, sun, and seasons and how we are knitting back together the ecosystem of the city,” Gilbert says, discussing regenerative design and biophilia as part of the firm’s focus on health and productivity. Anyone visiting the offices, he notes, “can feel that connection back to nature and back to the outside.”
A3C Collaborative, an architecture firm based in Ann Arbor, Mich., made itself the guinea pig in its own LEED-CI-Gold retrofit. Among its energy-saving projects is a closed-loop ground-source heat-pump system. The firm’s building takes up its whole lot but is adjacent to a city-owned alley. “We approached the city about the use of the alley as our geofield,” said Dan Jacobs, AIA, principal. It took A3C eight months to complete the paperwork, but it pulled it off even though “there were no other models in the state for doing this,” Jacobs said. The experience, unusual as it was, came in handy soon thereafter when A3C helped another company with a sidewalk right-of-way in front of its offices. It would have taken a dedicated client to persist through the bureaucratic obstacles A3C faced, but by volunteering as that client, A3C greased the skids for the next project.
Lighting is another common focus of testing and continual improvement for many architects. In the New York office of sustainability consultants Atelier 10, the company relies on “an exceptionally low-power lighting system,” says principal Paul Stoller. Ambient lighting is provided at 0.6 watts per square foot—a low level even before the office staff dims or turns off the lights to use daylight as well as task lights. Though Atelier 10 took this concept further than most companies would be willing to go, says Stoller, “people come to our offices and say, ‘Cool lighting, can we do this?’ ” Atelier 10’s offices also use natural ventilation far more than most offices in the city. True to the firm’s high-performance design focus, the office relies on a psychrometric chart to decide when to use adaptive-comfort tools like windows and fans and when active cooling is needed. The experience has taught the firm that comfort decisions affecting the office need clear policies as guidance and one person with the authority to make decisions.
“We would rather have it fail on our own building versus failing at a client’s site,” says Meredith Elbaum, AIA, head of architecture firm Sasaki’s Green Laboratory Group at its offices in Watertown, Massachusetts, summing up a common reason for firms to experiment in their own offices. Sasaki’s group installed five different types of pervious paving in 10 of its own parking spaces and verified the performance of each in stormwater infiltration and in reducing surface temperatures.
However, pervious paving, like any paving in the Northeast, sees its greatest trial in the winter, and Sasaki’s team looked to the first snowstorm as a key test. Both a gravel paving and a grass paving system “were torn up and pushed against the building,” Elbaum said. The next spring, the firm replaced the failed spots with one of the paving systems that had survived, and observation of the parking lot goes on. “All week long people bring clients out to see the spots,” Elbaum adds, noting that by putting pervious paving to the test, Sasaki gained credibility in proposing the strategy to clients.
For firms willing to experiment, the learning opportunities are valuable and numerous. Most firms leverage these opportunities by making demonstrations as visible as possible and by involving their staff in implementing strategies. When HOK’s St. Louis office was pursuing LEED, “we took interested staff members and said ‘you document this credit’ and ‘you document that credit,’ and we were able to spread the learning opportunity broadly,” says Gaidis. At Cook + Fox, the staff provided most of the labor for installing the green roof over a weekend. As a result, “Everyone takes pride of ownership,” Gilbert says. The staff has a gardener’s attitude of patient expectation toward the roof, he adds, providing an apt description for the approach of all of these firms to green building strategies: “We watch it grow, weed it, and do a little bit of watering.”
share: more » | <urn:uuid:7962fc8f-7ab0-4274-b9f7-8f6637494c80> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://greensource.construction.com/features/0801_LivingInTheLab.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96441 | 1,803 | 2.0625 | 2 |
When walking into The College School visitors are surrounded by student art. You’ll hear it, see it, smell it, and feel it all around you. The visual, performing, and musical arts are a thriving and integral part of the TCS experience.
We are graced with an exceptional cadre of teachers dedicated to the arts throughout the building. Early Childhood students have work beautifully displayed throughout their hallway and in classrooms. Classroom teachers and early childhood art specialist, Sarah Hassing, carefully guides these children in the arts on a daily basis. The TCS Commons are filled with middle school documentation of grade level outdoor educational experiences. The middle school teaching team and arts specialists Jane Sanders and Mary Jo Wilmes work with students on a daily basis with art mediums of water colors, oils, ceramics, charcoal, photography, clay, colored pencils, glass, woodwork, clay and textiles. Student art from first through fifth grade is displayed in hallways, stairwells, restrooms and every spare nook and cranny.
While strolling through TCS, visitors are also likely to hear any grade level composing, rehearsing and performing original musical compositions on Orff instruments guided by TCS music specialist, Carl Pandolfi.
Around other corners a person might run into students balancing peacock feathers or juggling clubs, juggling beanbags, rings, or clubs. Students walking on a tight-wire, walking a globe while rehearsing circus skills, or memorizing lines for the American classic play performed each fall. And also students can be found working on special effects for the 4/5 Play, trying out the latest stage techniques for the annual spring Shakespeare production or rehearsing a story to be told to their class. These rehearsals and performances are adapted and directed by drama specialist, Scott Hanson.
Whether working with the five arts specialists or with grade level teachers, students at The College School are encouraged to enthusiastically embrace, work on and celebrate creativity from preschool through eighth grade. When students move on from The College School, they have many years of experience working independently and in ensembles and are confident and comfortable creating and presenting the best of their creative selves. | <urn:uuid:fe014d0e-deff-4e07-b8c2-f4222f883a6e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thecollegeschool.org/page.cfm?p=28 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947239 | 441 | 1.648438 | 2 |
The Programmable Currency
Over on Phil's blog, I called Bitcoin a "programmable currency".
I have no idea what I actually mean by that, but much like the "exmosis" moniker, I get the feeling it's something important. Sometimes the words get ahead of their own meaning.
Originally I guess I meant "programmable currency" to refer to a value-medium (like any currency or asset) that was easily scriptable - for example, a bedroom coder can easily shunt huge numbers around with the right JSON calls.
No need for institutions to validate. No 3-day waiting times. No fecking Verified-By-Visa splash screens.
That's huge. We're starting to see meta-currencies, sibling-currencies, and other "spin offs" from Bitcoins, but which are transferrable, synonymous, backed by them. Witcoin converts Bitcoins into a unit for forum-activity. Bitbills convert Bitcoins into a "physical" form through hidden QR codes.
All we're doing is passing IDs around. Some of them are open. Some of them are closed.
A New Network
Typically, this has meant people rent server farms, or upgrade their GPU to get more processing power. But recently we've seen people pooling together to share not just their resources, but profits from this "mining" activity. Just like Lottery syndicates.
I won't call this a "networked economy" - influence and power are always network based. Just the network is shifting from those with enough resources and impetus to wield influence, to something else. Here, the network is based on TCP/IP rather than on "schmoozing". Here, the content is algorithmic power, rather than rhetoric and persuasion.
(A sidenote: Brute CPU power alone is not what Bitcoin is based on - there are plenty of software/hardware-level optimisations one can do to increase computational power. Quality cracking, as well as quantity.)
I haven't decided yet if Bitcoin is a currency or not - any more than if I've decided the Pound is a currency or not.
But it does store value, and you can transfer it between people. That's good enough.
We can do business with it. We can keep track of notions of debt with it. We can speculate with it. We can track value over time with it. The notion of "currency" gives way to what is simply "practical".
More importantly, we can do all this globally, and for the transaction fee we decide. I can send a penny's worth of Bitcoins to someone in Australia in the same time it takes me to send it to someone in the same room as me. I can (for now) be sure that all of that penny's worth will go to them, rather than some middle-man holding transactions hostage.
Remember when you first got e-mail? That crazy notion that you could basically do what the postal system did: send a letter anywhere in the world, but for free? With a single, universal address?
Here's mine: 16XfuKyktJDUJLMGwAu8u5Y2Wq1b61h7Sz
Friday, May 20, 2011
The Programmable Currency
Sunday, May 08, 2011
Facebook, vague laws, weak authentication... all the things I'm really, really trying hard to avoid these days are coming home to roost.
Use pwned systems, by all means. But a) never give out anything you don't mind losing control of, and b) always keep a back-up of what's important to you.
Or just follow Robert De Niro's advice.
Phil's trying to think of something interesting to say about Osama (with some great results) - and I'm inclined to struggle in the same way.
My initial reaction is kind of a "so what?" - terrorism isn't down to one big bad boss, as Hollywood or computer games might have you believe. The urge to pin extreme acts on one guy, or even one group (or brand?) may make for good storytelling/news headlines, but doesn't translate very well into policy.
In fact, is "Terrorism" itself a handy scapegoat, positioned right down the other, most abstracted end of the scale? A scale that focuses on the forces of Good overcoming a single Evil - whether that's a person, an organisation, or a linguistic term. Are we destined to portray things as a fight against both a 1984/Bond-style individual with bad facial hair AND an indefinable, uncatchable mode of ethics? What do we gain by setting ourselves this paradox? What do we lose?
More disconcerting is the notion that Osama was driven (at least publicly) by cultural, economic and social ideas. His rhetoric was to tackle the West's "progressiveness" - a vague term that means different things to different people. But underneath this subjectivity, what can we really say about Osama's actions? Was he an independent, "evil genius" terrorist, or was he riding a more fundamental system of the global power struggle?
To cut to the Chase: Is "new war" the continuation of "new politics" by other means?
Waging war by attacking symbols of wealth? Use of violence - unsanctioned, yet justified by the actor - as a symbol, in itself, of protest and a threat for change? The disatisfaction with "big" politics decided by some very influential minorities with some very vested interests? Do these all come down to a system of networks (the how) and symbolism (the what)?
Isn't this what's playing out in Egypt? In Syria? In London? When the threat of violence is eradicated through preventative force, how far away is the progression from terrorism to pure destruction - or at least to violence purely to show control is not all one-sided? When does the *threat* give way to a non-stop series of televised attacks?
How we approach the figure of Osama (that is, his image, his reputation and his propaganda, all seen through a Western media lens) speaks volumes about how we approach any form of modern dissent, and how we portray forces of disagreement not thoroughly proscribed in advance.
The narrative of separation, criminality, outsideness, and ultimately the causes of violence itself, will define the next century - and how "politics" will continue to manifest.
Scribed at 1:33 pm
Wednesday, May 04, 2011
Sad to see Rob Simpson's MyCity model build project come to an end, although I can see why he'd want to stop.
I've been watching the model slowly grow for the last few months - something about it is entrancing. I'm not sure if it's watching something usually so large and organic grow beneath our eyes, or if it's the ghostly white texture pervading the scene. But this has been great fun to watch.
Hope he displays it somewhere.
Just posted something on Witcoin that I was originally going to blog, so here's a link instead.
Can we sell more stuff based on the idea that the tiger is dying out and that land is at a premium, than we can if both were rife and sustained?
Or, like currency and BTCs, is everything given a value somewhere in between "un-usefully rare" and "un-usefully common"?
Wish I had more time to think it through - more thoughts welcomed. | <urn:uuid:536547e8-0877-4f0c-a219-d590148436f0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://describe.blogspot.com/2011_05_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956958 | 1,558 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Geographical Index > Canada > British Columbia > Report # 13464|
Submitted by witness on Wednesday, January 04, 2006.
BC family sees a possible family group of sasquatch
(Show Printer-friendly Version)
PROVINCE: British Columbia
LOCATION DETAILS: South Okanagan Valley
NEAREST TOWN: 1st = Cawston , 2nd = Keremeos
NEAREST ROAD: 1st = nighthawk 2nd = Ahnola River Rd
OBSERVED: Both incidences happened in 2005, and in the same general area.
The first encounter happened last summer. My family and I were on another family outing in the Cawston, B.C. area. We had travelled to this spot once before, and thought we would go for a walk again in the same area. After we had finished our walk, we were coming back to the truck, and I noticed four black objects standing in the Similkameen River. Two were standing and it looked as though the other two were bent down drinking. I said "What is that?!", and the rest of my family and I watched these things move around in the water. The only thing we could say for sure due to the distance (roughly 300 meters) was that they were all completely black, and they looked huge. It's funny, I've often wondered how people guess that something is so large when it's far away, but trust me, it's really obvious. We wanted to get a better look, so we hopped in the truck to try to drive around to get a better view. We couldn't find a spot , so we turned around and returned to the original location. They were gone. We were excited, but we had nothing concrete, so we just kind of chalked it up as something we MIGHT have seen.
The next incident happened last monday (Jan.02/06). We went for another family drive, again looking to do a little hiking. We passed through Keremeos and turned off to go up the Ashnola toward a camp that is there with a provincial park strewn with trails. we pulled off not very far from the main road, and the minute we got out of the truck, we heard screaming coming from the forest. I have shown my son screams that are reported to be sasquatch on the internet, and right away, said "That's like the sounds on the internet!" I totally agreed. We stood there frozen as we listened to this freaky sound. I wanted to investigate, but my wife would have none of it, not with two small kids. So the got back in the truck ,and I headed off down the trail to try to get closer to whatever it was. Just as I start, suddenly, I hear "BEEP,BEEP,BEEP....." [car horn] my wife either was freaked out and did it on purpose or she really did do it by accident, but either way, the howling stopped immediately.
I went back to the truck, and told everyone it was a coyote. My wife bought it, but my son didn't. He said "That didn't sound like a coyote." So we went to leave, but I thought we could go down the road in my truck as I hadn't been there before, and wanted to see where it went. We had gone about a quarter mile, when I could see footprints in the snow in the middle of the road. I stopped to check them out. I could'nt believe what I was looking at. They had to be twenty inches long and roughly 8-10 inches wide. The first thing I looked for was stride length, and it was large. The tracks were old, but totally convincing when we had just experienced such a strange noise coming from the forest.
OTHER WITNESSES: yes, my family (3 others)
OTHER STORIES: No.
TIME AND CONDITIONS: about noon, the weather was mild, no wind, overcast
ENVIRONMENT: pine forest, both occurances happened close to or in water
Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Blaine McMillan :
The witness has stated that he and his family have had two seperate incidents.
The first was a visual sighting on the lower portion of the Similkameen River, in the south Okanagan Valley and that he and his family watched the subject group for about five minutes. He described to me what appeared to be a group of four sasquatch.
All four individuals were black in colour and they were standing in the Similkameen River. Two of the creatures were bent over and appeared to be drinking from the river and the other two were standing nearby in the river. The witness observed that the two sasquatch who appeared to be drinking did not use their hands to scoop water rather they simply slurped water from the surface of the river. The witness believes that the water depth was about 3 feet deep and the water came half way up their thighs.
The witness informed me that the largest of the group shuffled around in the water but it did not appear that it was maintaining a "lookout" position.
The witness did not notice any objects being carried by the creatures nor could he identify any facial features as they were near 400 yards away.
The second incident took place about 50 miles away, north east near the Ashnola River.
The witness and his family heard some vocalizations and saw some possible tracks in the snow. The vocalizations were stated to be low in tone and although the witness did not feel as if he was being watched he believes that whatever was making the sounds could see him. He stated that the vocalizations were very similar to the sounds found on the BFRO website.
About BFRO Investigator Blaine McMillan :
- Retired Canadian Military (Reg Force) Safety Systems / Aviation technician with experience on CF-101 Voodoo, CT-133 Silverstar and various SAR platforms including CC-115 Buffalo and CC-130 Hercules.
- Married with two young sons. An avid camper, hunter and fisherman.
- Holds a BA in Criminology from the University of Manitoba, courses in Alternate Dispute Resolution, Anthropology and Political Science
- Attended the BFRO BC Expeditions in August of 2005, 2006, 2012 as well as Vancouver Island 2010 and 2012.
- Organized the 2007, 2008 Vancouver Island as well as 2009 North Vancouver Island Expeditions. | <urn:uuid:273a8975-58d6-4fcd-a82f-0ba43645843a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bfro.net/GDB/show_report.asp?id=13464 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987102 | 1,360 | 1.773438 | 2 |
01.Mad cows - US vs Australia
The infection of a single dairy cow with an atypical strain of mad cow disease in California has set off alarm bells in the US and has encouraged the advocacy arm of Consumer Reports to make a renewed call for stricter regulations to ensure consumer safety.
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) – more commonly known as mad cow disease – is a degenerative brain disease caused when cattle are fed the remains of other cattle in the form of meat or bone meal.
Thousands of cows contracted BSE this way during the UK epidemic in the 1980s and 1990s, but US authorities claim this case was caused by a rare genetic mutation and was not contagious. Nevertheless, Consumers Union says it is a “warning flag” that illuminates the inadequacies of feeding regulations and the current testing program. The US Department of Agriculture test only 40,000 of the 35 million cattle slaughtered annually – just 0.1%.
Feeding regulations in the United States allow cattle to be fed chicken coop floor waste from chickens that have been previously fed beef waste. The Consumers Union has called for such methods to be banned, urging the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to stop “turning cows into cannibals – the practice that started the mad cow problem in the first place”.
While Australian consumers need not worry about such practices (they're banned under domestic law), CHOICE believe this case highlights the need for us to maintain our strict regulations concerning what our animals are fed.
In a statement released on Friday, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) stated that Australia does not currently import beef or beef products for human consumption from the United States.
“Australia has strict biosecurity conditions in place that minimise the risk of such harmful diseases entering the country and before any nation can export beef to Australia it must undergo a rigorous risk assessment and food safety assessment,” said the spokesperson.
For more News, see Consumer news. | <urn:uuid:ed0b7145-8c2e-407e-85ee-4597a2fd7ff4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.choice.com.au/media-and-news/consumer-news/news/mad-cow-in-california.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946936 | 417 | 3.0625 | 3 |
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. (John bore witness to him, and cried, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, for he was before me.'") And from his fulness have we all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.
Let me ascend a flight of five stairs with you this morning from the invisibility of God to the great Christmas truth—that we may receive (even this morning) grace upon grace from Jesus Christ. The five steps are here in this text. And we will take them one at a time.
1. God Is Invisible
The first and lowest step in the flight of five stairs is that God is invisible. Verse 18: "No one has ever seen God." What fools we can make of ourselves by denying what we cannot see.
I received a video recently, put out by the Fund for the Feminist Majority, called "Abortion for Survival." We watched it as a staff a few weeks ago. It is a powerful visual statement of why pro-abortionists think abortion is utterly necessary as a means of birth control especially in poor countries. The miseries caused by unwanted pregnancies among the poor are all graphically portrayed.
I wondered if the reality of the unborn child would ever be referred to in the video. It wasn't. The tacit assumption was that it didn't exist. Why? Because you can't see it. Just like God. At two points in the film they took a large syringe and squirted a bloody mass into a dish and said something like, "This is the result of an eight week abortion; hardly a child." Which is like getting your finger caught in a meat grinder and looking at the remains and saying, "O, I guess it wasn't a finger after all. So I really won't miss it. No harm done."
At no point in the video was a picture of that baby shown before it was ground up by abortion. Why? Because the invisibility of the unborn child is a great help in building up faith in the child's non-existence or insignificance.
It's the same approach that Yuri Gagarin the first Soviet cosmonaut used in 1961 when he said in space, "I don't see any God out here."
So when John says in verse 18: "No one has ever seen God," he poses a problem. If you can't see him, how can you know him? That's step number one in the flight of five stairs in this text: God is invisible.
2. God Revealed Himself in the Law of Moses
The second step is this: God revealed himself in the law of Moses before he revealed himself in the Lord Jesus.
This is found in verse 17. Let's read verses 16 and 17, "And from his fulness have we all received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." Does that mean that the law of Moses is contrary to grace and truth—that the law is not gracious and not truthful? I don't think so. What verse 17 says is that before the REALITY—the embodiment—of grace and truth came through Jesus, a WITNESS to that reality came through the law of Moses.
The reason I don't think verse 17 intends to make a sharp contrast between the law of Moses and Jesus is what John says about Moses and the law in other places. For example, in John 3:14 he says, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life." Here Moses does something gracious and truthful that points to the grace and truth of Jesus.
Another example is John 5:46 where Jesus says, "If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?" Here Moses is in harmony with Jesus and writing truth about Jesus and his grace. Finally in John 6:32 Jesus says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven." This means that the manna in the wilderness was a gracious gift of God, but it was not the true bread. It was not the reality of grace itself. It was a witness to the grace to come, a foretaste of Christ.
So John's point in verse 17 ("The law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ") is that the law was not the reality—the embodiment—of grace and truth themselves, Jesus was. The law was a witness to grace and truth. Jesus was the fulfillment not the contradiction of the law of Moses.
That's step number two in our flight of five stairs. First, God is invisible. Second, God revealed himself in the law of Moses before he revealed himself in the Lord Jesus.
3. God Became Human
The third step in the flight of stairs is this: God became human.
The text begins with this statement. Verse 14 says, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." Now to hear the full force of that verse you have to go back up to verse 1: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." The Word was God and the Word became flesh. If the Word was God and the Word became flesh, then God became flesh. God became human. Jesus Christ was human and Jesus Christ was God.
"The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." The word for "dwelt" is the word for "set up a tent" in Greek. I used to think that implied mainly that he was here only temporarily. But when I looked up all the places this word occurs in the New Testament, I found that it doesn't imply temporary status. For example, in Revelation 21:3 where the eternal new heavens and new earth are described, it says, "Behold the dwelling [tent!] of God is with men. He will dwell [pitch his tent!] with them, and they shall be his people."
I think what pitching a tent with us implies is that God wants to be on familiar terms with us. He wants to be close. He wants a lot of interaction. If you come into a community and build a huge palace with a wall around it, it says one thing about your desires to be with the people. But if you pitch a tent in my backyard, you will probably use my bathroom and eat often at my table. This is why God became human. He came to pitch a tent in our human backyard so that we would have a lot of dealings with him.
That's the third step in our flight of stairs. First, God is invisible. Second, God revealed himself in the law of Moses before he revealed himself in the Lord Jesus. Third, God became human and set up his tent among us.
4. In Jesus We See God
The fourth step is that in Jesus we see God. Verse 14 says, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father."
Notice: "we have beheld—seen—his glory." Who does "his" refer to? It refers to the Word. "The Word became flesh, and we beheld HIS glory." "And the Word was with God and the Word was God." So in Jesus we behold God—the glory of God.
God Wants to Be Seen and Known in His Son
God came to live in a tent so we can watch him more closely. God wants to be seen and known in his Son.
The same point is made in verse 18. "No one has ever seen God; the only Son [other older manuscripts say "the only God"], who is in the bosom [in the lap or the embrace] of the Father, he has made him known." Here the point is that even though God is a Spirit and is therefore invisible (John 4:24), he has now revealed himself in an utterly unique way—by the incarnation of himself in his Son Jesus. In Jesus we see God.
You don't have to wonder today if there is a baby in the womb of a woman eight weeks pregnant. And you don't have to wonder what it's like. We have pictures and videos and models and detailed physiological descriptions.
And so it is with God. You don't need to be in the dark about God. He has gone beyond parchment and paper. He has gone beyond tapes and cassettes. He has gone beyond videos and even beyond live drama. He has actually come and pitched his tent in our backyard and beckoned us to watch him and get to know him in the person of his Son Jesus. When you watch Jesus in action, you watch God in action. When you hear Jesus teach, you hear God teach. When you come to know what Jesus is like, you know what God is like.
What Is God Like?
So what is God like? What do we see when we see Jesus? John is very clear in what he wants to stress. We see the glory of God's grace and truth. Verse 14: "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." Then John repeats this in verse 17, "The law was through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."
The point is this: the essence of what God reveals about himself in Jesus is, first, that he is true—that is, he is real, more real than all that you can see. In a sense everything that looks so real to us is like a short dream. (2 Corinthians 4:18, "We look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.") God is truth. God is reality. And that is what we see in Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life.
And second, God is grace. Or as John says in his first letter: "God is love" (1 John 4:8). God is free and overflowing and lavish in his goodness to sinful creatures. This is grace. This is the essence of God's reality because nothing reveals the fullness of his deity more than the freedom of his grace. He is full, happy, and sufficient in himself so that he does not need us to meet his need but is surging with infinite energy and fullness to meet ours. That's his grace. And that's the capstone of his glory. "We saw his glory . . . full of grace and truth."
That's step four. First, God is invisible. Second, God revealed himself in the law of Moses before he revealed himself in the Lord Jesus. Third, God became human and set up his tent among us. Fourth, in Jesus we see God and know what he is like: true reality and fullness of grace.
5. God Came to Give Us Grace; We Must Receive It
Which brings now to the top of our flight of stairs to the practical Christmas truth.
What is the connection between all this revelation and you? Verse 16 gives the answer: "And from his fulness have we all received grace upon grace." So step five is this: God came not just to show us grace but to give us grace; and we must receive it.
God doesn't just want to stock your head with knowledge about his truth and grace, he wants you to receive it and experience it. This Christmas he wants to give you personally a foundation of truth and reality to stand on so you won't cave in under stress. This Christmas he wants to treat you with grace—to forgive all your sins—all of them!—to take away all your guilt, to make your conscience clean, to help you with your problems, to give you strength for each day, and to fill you with hope and joy and peace. Isn't that the meaning of grace? And isn't that why he pitched his tent among us?
But note well the word: "From his fulness we have received grace upon grace." Don't spurn it this morning. Receive it. Welcome it for what it really is. And let it fill your heart with everlasting joy—joy to the world! | <urn:uuid:37f1e25a-b5cc-4e1d-8db9-1520a5c053d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/the-word-became-flesh/print?lang=en | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984238 | 2,659 | 1.960938 | 2 |