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Didier Daeninckx Day at Detectives Beyond Borders
This week, in the space of two days, I found his story "Les Négatifs de la Canebière," which I'm reading with the help of a dictionary, and the good folks at Melville House sent along Murder in Memoriam, a translation of Daeninckx's 1984 novel Meurtres pour memoire.
The book is a fictionalized examination of the Paris massacre of Oct. 17, 1961 that takes in the history of Drancy, the French town from where Jews were transported to Auschwitz. According to a publisher's blurb, the novel "confronts two of the darkest chapters in French history — its(sic) colonial racism and its complicity in genocide."
And that, in turn, leads me to suspect affinities with the work of Dominque Manotti, Jean-Patrick Manchette. and perhaps Leonardo Sciascia as well.
I wish they'd chosen a different name for their imprint, but it's hell of an idea. Like Hersilia Press, the imprint is a welcome source for English-language readers. Godspeed to these two exciting publishing ventures.
© Peter Rozovsky 2012 | <urn:uuid:eb2b7cb6-6791-4408-ba55-8fd407e97762> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/didier-daeninckx-day-at-detectives.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939963 | 252 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Greenpeace commends the Deni for protecting their land from illegal logging
Manaus, Brazil, 18 October 2001: After a two year struggle supported by Greenpeace, Missionary Indigenist Council (CIMI), and Operacao Amazonia Nativa (OPAN), the Deni Indians of the Brazilian Amazon won formal recognition of their rights to their traditional land.
The land will now be held for their sole occupation and use, and industrial exploitation, such as logging and mining, will be prohibited.
The Decree, signed by Brazil's Minister of Justice Jose Gregori last week, was officially published on October 16 in Brasilia.
The Deni's land is inhabited by 670 people and spans 1,530,000 hectares in the remote southwest of the Amazon.
According to the Brazilian Constitution, all Indian lands should have been demarcated by 1993 and the Deni themselves were first promised this in 1984. Of the 580 Indian territories identified in Brazil, only 360 have been formally demarcated.
In 1999 Greenpeace first learned that the Malaysian logging giant WTK had purchased 151,000 hectares of land that overlapped with the Deni's traditional territories. Greenpeace went to the area and met with the Deni, who until that time were unaware of the threat.
Subsequent visits by Greenpeace, CIMI and OPAN led to the Deni asking for help to mark the borders of their land and to have this recognised by the Brazilian Federal Government.
"The Deni, after years of broken promises from the Federal Government, decided to take control over the fate of their tradition lands," said Greenpeace campaigner Nilo D'Avila. "And they succeeded. We are proud to have played a small part in their great victory."
Over the past month volunteers from Greenpeace, CIMI, and OPAN supplied technical and logistical support to the Deni as they marked their most vulnerable borders, cutting 53 km of trails through thick jungle, and 218 km along the banks of rivers and creeks. Along the routes, the Deni posted signs reading "Entry Prohibited. Deni Land."
A letter dated 30th September, 2001, from 10 Deni leaders to FUNAI, Brazil's Indian Agency, stated ''Deni waited a long time for the demarcation, but the demarcation did not happen. Deni decided to do the work. Deni will only halt the work if FUNAI gives a precise date of the beginning of demarcation and accepts the work that Deni has already completed".
On October 9, FUNAI accepted the demands of the Deni, and one week later the Minister of Justice signed the Decree.
"The Brazilian Government must now, as a priority, keep their promises to the Deni. They must legally recognise the work done by the Deni, and complete the demarcation of all Deni lands, under the supervision of the Deni themselves," said D'Avila.
Greenpeace also calls on the Government of Brazil to, with urgency, meet their constitutional, social and moral obligations to demarcate all Indian lands in Brazil. 20% of the Brazilian Amazon is Indian land.
Greenpeace's support for the Deni's demarcation is part of a campaign to protect the world's remaining ancient forests. Some 80% of the world's ancient forests have already been degraded or destroyed and only 20% remain intact. Time is running out unless governments around the world take swift action to ensure the future of the ancient forests. | <urn:uuid:f1184010-0365-4f75-b44d-08d32b58f65d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/media/press-releases/deni-indians-win-legal-right-to-their-amazon-land | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96605 | 726 | 2.765625 | 3 |
The food portion of the consumer price index declined for the first time since 1961. Dairy prices plunged the most since the Depression.
After a long slumber in 2008, inflation blinked open its eyes last year in the United States, rising 2.7 percent in December from the same period a year ago, the US Department of Labor reported Friday.
While that rise in 2009 was far more than the 0.1 percent increase the previous year, it was mostly due to a rebound in energy prices and was not out of line with long-term averages. What really stands out about 2009 is a historic fall in food prices.
Last year, for the first time since 1961, the food index fell – 0.5 percent. While the cost of dining out rose 1.9 percent, it was more than offset by a decline in the cost of food at home. Prices for all six major grocery groups fell in 2009, with dairy and related products posting a 7.6 percent decline. That's the largest annual decline since the Depression year of 1938, the Labor Department reported.
While a boon for consumers, the price plunge reflects the huge challenge now facing dairy farmers.
Food costs as well as energy prices often move swiftly up and down, which is why economists exclude them when looking at so-called core inflation. For 2009, the core inflation rate rose 1.8 percent, the same as in 2008.
That muted increase suggests that inflation won't come roaring back anytime soon.
In December, "there were one or two isolated signs of higher prices: clothing prices increased by 0.4 percent, reversing a drop the months before, and used car prices increased by 2.5 percent," wrote Paul Ashworth, a senior economist with Capital Economics Ltd., in an analysis. "But these won't last. In general, core inflation is slowing. We expect it to slow further this year, possibly to only 1.0 percent by the end of 2010." | <urn:uuid:0bde1ecf-deca-4918-8de2-eafd6800b163> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://m.csmonitor.com/Business/2010/0115/Consumer-prices-rose-but-your-grocery-bill-fell-in-2009 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967458 | 396 | 2.390625 | 2 |
Hello I am just starting factoring, the book lists the correct method for solving the following problem as.
but what if you were to do it like this?
Very confusing since they both give the correct answer once distributed.
Thanks & one last thing for now.
can be factored out because in the term is the MOST that can removed and still remain an x value. And since factoring is "divided into" we are subtracting the exponent values because . Thus can be factored out, does that logic sound correct? Also this procedure is not done for the z and y variables because they do not show up in all the terms right?
your logic seems about right, but i would call it "dividing out of" but maybe that makes no sense. you are correct with y and z. but yes, you watch the powers in the same way you stated. and you can double check yourself by seeing that when you are multiplying out again, the powers add up to give you what was in the original | <urn:uuid:b1aaf00f-7362-4de6-832e-e3ad802c2f25> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mathhelpforum.com/algebra/46480-basic-factoring-question.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962373 | 211 | 2.4375 | 2 |
|Quick Facts: Oil and Gas Workers|
$37,640 per year
$18.09 per hour
|Less than high school|
|See How to Become One|
|8% (Slower than average)|
Oil and gas workers carry out the plans for drilling that petroleum engineers have designed. They operate the equipment that digs the well and that removes the oil or gas.
Oil and gas workers often work in remote locations outdoors and around heavy machinery, so they must follow precautions. Most work full time, and they often work overtime.
Workers in oil and gas occupations usually must be at least 18 years old, be in good physical condition, and pass a drug test. A high school diploma is not necessarily required but is preferred by some employers.
The median annual wage of oil and gas workers was $37,640 in May 2010.
Employment of oil and gas workers is expected to increase by 8 percent from 2010 to 2020, slower than the average for all occupations. Demand for oil and gas workers will depend on the demand for the products and services of two industries in particular: oil and gas extraction and support for mining activities.
Compare the job duties, education, job growth, and pay of oil and gas workers with similar occupations.
O*NET provides comprehensive information on key characteristics of workers and occupations.
Learn more about oil and gas workers by contacting these additional resources. | <urn:uuid:f42a7dfa-1953-45f0-82b0-cbb0307e19fc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.stats.bls.gov/ooh/construction-and-extraction/oil-and-gas-workers.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968812 | 288 | 3.28125 | 3 |
Last month, config files found in Android 4.2.2 hinted that the Android@Home initiative for home automation announced in May 2011 may finally be ready to roll. Now it seems that Google is also planning a homey role for its Google Glass head-mounted display (HMD) computer. Earlier this week, Engadget uncovered a USPTO patent application for a Google Glass-like device that can control devices like refrigerators, espresso makers, TVs, garage doors, alarm and lighting systems, and office appliances.
So far, Google Glass has been promoted as a hands-free smartphone, camera, and GPS navigator that uses voice and gesture control. Marketing has emphasized camera use and augmented reality applications in public spaces, assisted by the Siri-like Google Now application. The patent application expands the scope, envisioning that users will keep the glasses on at home to seamlessly orchestrate their digital appliances.
According to the patent application, when the Google Glass-like "HMD" is detected in proximity, a compatible appliance will reveal operating information and potentially enable itself to be controlled via a "virtual control interface." The application mentions a variety of technologies for identification and communication, including the HMD's camera, RFID, IR, QR codes, GPS, acoustic or optical signals, WiFi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, cellular, or NFC.
The appliances will provide information such as control panels or multimedia help either directly or via a remote Internet server. Displayed via augmented reality overlays, the content can change depending what on the appliance the user's camera focuses on. The application cites I/O including gestures, head motions, voice controls, or if all else fails, ye old touchpad. Some actions can be preset and triggered by proximity, as when approaching a garage door.
Patent descriptions don't always match the end product -- or result in any product at all. In this case, however, the described HMD matches up well with the Google Glass "Explorer" prototype. Last month, Google widened its pre-order access to the device via an essay contest. Google execs also revealed that the device should reach consumers by the end of the year for under the current $1,500.
Is Android@Home Back?
The patent description is similar to the home automation scenarios hyped for Android@Home, minus the overlays and in-depth camera integration. In almost two years, however, nothing has come of the project, not even the promised wirelessly controllable light bulbs from Google partner LightingScience. The somewhat related, simultaneously announced Android Open Accessory Development Kit DIY technology for connecting Android phones with Arduino devices has made some progress, but has hardly set the world on fire.
Yet, Android@Home may have a future after all. The config code in Android 4.2.2 is limited to basic lighting controls, but there are also mentions of mesh networking and Google Now support. The Google I/O show on May 13 may reveal more. If Google plans to actively push the technology, it could be used as the underlying framework for future Google Glass home automation applications. The two could fit together well since Android@Home appears to focus on background communications among devices via wireless mesh networks, while the Google Glass patent application is more about user interaction.
Home automation is complicated. That's why the fledgling market is still dominated by comprehensive, all-in-one solutions priced well over $10,000. Although the market is increasingly turning to more affordable Linux-based products, as with the Control4 platform, these are still primarily closed-loop, soup-to-nuts solutions. Other systems that touch on home automation are sold primarily as security or smart-grid energy monitoring systems.
Meanwhile, on the outside looking in, Microsoft's Xbox has been used as a basic home automation device. Various low-end contenders like Belkin's Linux-based WeMo lighting control devices, have focused primarily on integrating with iPhone clients, although an Android-based WeMo app should arrive soon. No matter what happens with Android@Home and Google Glass, more Android-based home automation products are on the way.
Google Glass and Android Compatibility
Unlike most smart watches, including a model Google is developing, according to an FT Times report yesterday, Google Glass is not merely a wirelessly-enabled accessory to a smartphone, but a standalone embedded system. On the prototype, a Bluetooth connected Android or iPhone handset is required for cellular connections, but the device has its own WiFi and GPS chips, and a hardware patent application revealed last month includes an LTE option.
Google Glass is almost certainly based on Android. Yet, in the blog site Cult of Android, Mike Elgan argues that just because Google is based on Android, doesn't mean the final version will run anything that can easily run Android apps. In fact, he suggests, it may well constitute an Android fork.
Earlier this week, Google announced that Chrome project leader Sundar Pichai was taking over from Android creator Andy Rubin as head of Android development. Although many have suggested this is a sign Google will soon merge Android with Chrome OS, there are just as many arguments to suggest otherwise. According to Elgan, Google will not only be happy to continue with two separate operating systems, but may be happy to add a third Linux-based OS with Google Glass.
"The goal of unifying platforms should be subordinated to the goal of perfecting user experiences," writes Elgan. "And if there’s any company skillful at managing multiple, even competing, product organizations and product lines it's Google."
Aside from the usual obstacles facing any new embedded platform, Google Glass faces steep challenges, most notably price and the potential that despite the sleek Yves Behar design, the masses won't find the glasses as fashionable as geeks and supermodels do. Privacy and etiquette issues stemming from the camera could mean trouble, as well. If you can't be sure your conversation partner is not simultaneously recording video, reading their email, or Googling you, paranoia might run rampant.
In The Verge story, Google reps countered the etiquette claims by noting that smartphones are already hampering interpersonal relationships. In other words, with Google Glass, you might at least gain eye contact, although perhaps with only one eye. | <urn:uuid:d4a13dc7-0883-4fcd-aee2-a1e0ce40103c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.linux.com/news/embedded-mobile/mobile-linux/710575-google-glass-eyes-home-automation- | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933182 | 1,278 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Thinking about Elephants
Toward a Dialogue with George Lakoff
Since last November's election, George Lakoff's book, Don't Think of an Elephant!1, has deservedly captured the imagination of mainstream Democrats and of many progressives as well. He offers us the promise that we can achieve our political vision if only we spent a little more time "framing" our messages to appeal to mainstream America.
For a large number of Americans, he argues, the Right creates a personal connection to policies such as tax cuts for the wealthy and the idea of small government by communicating values — values like personal responsibility and the importance of a strong "traditional" family rather than big government to solve most social problems.
But we shouldn't get so excited about Lakoff 's contribution that we overlook some deafening silences or, to switch metaphors in midstream, some glaring blind spots in his way of framing American politics.
Lakoff is a cognitive psychologist but he weaves together insights shared by the sociologists, political scientists, and communications specialists who have been analyzing "framing contests" for the past 30 years. On the following points, he speaks for a broad interdisciplinary consensus:
Facts never speak for themselves. They take on their meaning by being embedded in frames, themes which organize thoughts, rendering some facts as relevant and significant and others as irrelevant and trivial. Framing matters and the contest is lost at the outset if one allows one's adversaries to define the terms of the debate. To be selfconscious about framing strategy is not being manipulative. It gives coherent meaning to what is happening in the world. One can either do it unconsciously, or with deliberation and conscious thought.
A frame is a thought organizer. Like a picture frame, it puts a rim around some part of the world, highlighting certain events and facts as important and rendering others invisible. Like a building frame, it holds things together but is covered by insulation and walls. It provides coherence to an array of symbols, images, and arguments, linking them through an underlying organizing idea that suggests what is essential — what consequences and values are at stake. We do not see the frame directly, but infer its presence by its characteristic expressions and language.
The idea helps us understand why changing our political situation does not rest on just the media presenting the facts better or people paying better attention. Some progressives threw up their hands in dismay and frustration when polls showed that most Bush voters believed that there was a connection between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. The "facts" were clear that no connection had been found. If these voters didn't know this it was because either the media had failed in its responsibility to inform them, or they were too lazy and inattentive to take it in.
But suppose one frames the world as a dangerous place in which the forces of evil — a hydra-headed monster labeled "terrorism" — confront the forces of good. This frame depicts Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda as two heads of the same monster. In this frame, whether or not there were actual meetings by agents or other forms of communication between them is nit picking and irrelevant.
People carry around multiple frames in their heads. We don't simply have one way of framing an issue or an event. Lakoff emphasizes two meta-frames2 or cultural themes operating in the United States, embodied in two competing family metaphors: the Strict Father vs. the Nurturant Parent. He sees these meta-frames as underlying, respectively, conservative and liberal thought more generally. But Lakoff is wise enough to recognize that we don't carry around just one of these in our heads but both of them. One may be much more easily triggered and habitually used but the other is also part of our cultural heritage and can be triggered and used as well, given the appropriate cues.
In a framing contest, such as between liberals supporting gay civil unions and conservatives opposing gay marriage, a successful framing strategy involves the ability to enter into the worldview of one's adversaries. Lakoff does not demonize conservatives but makes a successful effort to enter into their way of thinking. In doing so, he illustrates a useful rule of thumb: To reframe a message effectively, you should be able to describe a frame that you disagree with so that its advocates would say, "Yes, this is what I believe."
The Problem with Strict Fathers and Nurturant Parents
As critics have pointed out, part of Lakoff's appeal is the promise of a silver bullet through which liberals and progressives can rebuild their majority support if only they will follow the formula. Progressive values such as fairness, inclusiveness, empathy, and community have broad cultural appeal, Lakoff reminds us. Reframing political debate to focus on those values, then, is the roadmap to regaining power.
Well, yes and no. The family metaphor seems to work better as a metaframe for conservative thinkers than it does for progressives. But even here, there are fissures between conservatives who find it resonant and those who fear Big Brother rather than embracing Strict Father when thinking about the role of government. Some libertarian conservatives make common cause with liberals who don't like the government telling them what they can read or buy. It isn't very clear how the Strict Father model articulates with a free market meta-frame that underlies conservative support for the privatization of Social Security, for example. Strict fathers don't have invisible hands.
Furthermore, the nurturant parent embodied in the New Deal — America's soft version of the European style welfare state dating to the 1930s that brought us Social Security and federal labor regulation — resonates differently between those who call themselves liberals versus those who call themselves progressives. The nurturant parent metaphor doesn't really have a lot of resonance for people who see themselves on a quest for social justice. Nor is mutuality — a progressive goal or value — quite the same as nurturance. Locking arms and singing "We shall overcome" is about self-help and interdependence, about brotherhood and sisterhood, not parents.
Family metaphors are not the most likely frames for most people to use on foreign policy issues. Lakoff has little to say about another resonant meta-frame: The world is a dangerous place. Much has been written about the cultural roots of such a frame in supporting the Cold War and the nuclear arms race. One can substitute "terrorism" for "communism" and the same underlying frame remains serviceable. The superhero who rescues the innocents from unprovoked attacks by evil forces in children's cartoons isn't exactly a strict father or nurturant parent but a benevolent outsider who protects the whole family from outside threats. What to do about Osama and Saddam is not really about tough-love versus cocounseling.
What Lakoff Obscures
Like any frame, Lakoff's framing of contemporary American politics highlights some things and obscures others. Lakoff directs our attention to the message but he shifts attention away from the groups, political parties, governments and other carriers of those messages, and the complicated, uneven playing field on which they compete. Social movements and the advocacy groups they spawn successfully challenge official or dominant frames frequently. They compete on a playing field in which inequalities in power and resources play a major role in determining whether they succeed. Nevertheless, some movements were dramatically successful against long odds in reframing the terms of political debate and it behooves those engaged in reframing efforts to analyze their experience.
In failing to embed framing guides in this broader movement-building context, Lakoff asks us to ignore not only the elephant in the room but also the moles, ferrets, chipmunks, occasional black panthers, raging bulls and wild boars, and the more domesticated donkeys and carrier pigeons. There is a whole menagerie out there that Lakoff is not thinking about. And it is this multi-faceted complexity that the Christian Right has, at times, effectively traversed.
To succeed, challengers need to integrate their framing strategies with broader movement- building strategies. This means building and sustaining the carriers of these frames in various ways — for example, by helping groups figure out how to gain access where blocked, and how to strengthen their ability to collaborate better with groups sharing similar goals. Framing contests are about a lot more than staying on message.
There is an irony here because Lakoff, to his credit, has been spending a lot of his time over the past several years talking to many of the "carriers," convincing the political groups of the importance of framing. The danger here is that the focus on message, divorced from movement-building, reduces framing strategy to a matter of pitching metaphors for electoral campaigns and policy debates, or perhaps contracting with think tanks like the Lakoff's own Rockridge Institute to find the right hot buttons.
By focusing entirely on the content of the message, while ignoring the frame carriers and the playing field, Lakoff falls into the pitfalls of the social marketing model.3 Without a strategy to build a base or constituency, and without democratic media reform, framing can become simply a more sophisticated but still ungrounded variation on the belief that you just need to communicate the right ideas – i.e. "the truth will set you free." To counter the assumption that the frame will set us free, framing strategies must not just address the content of the message or the style of debate but attend to base building and challenge the contours of the non-level playing field in which the contest is carried on.
The one intermediary that Lakoff recognizes is the think-tank that helps its political allies to shape their message through its clever marketing skills. He rightly appreciates the skill of conservative social marketers ensconced in their wellfunded think tanks like the Heritage Foundation or American Enterprise Institute. But he has nothing to say about the rise of a relevant social movement, the Christian Right, in the late 1970s. The Christian Right's infrastructure supported conservative frames in ways that went far beyond finding better ways of marketing their message. Political scientist Duane Oldfield describes how evangelicals built movement- oriented broadcast media and active local congregations to grow in political significance. 4 By the late 1980s, the influence of the movement was directed through the Republican Party.
Christian Right organizations did a lot of movement-building work to further the success of their preferred frame but often remained behind the scenes. On the abortion issue, for example, they rarely speak to the media directly but support broader coalitions such as the National Right to Life Committee as spokespersons for their movement's frame.
Lakoff's narrowness leads him to such astounding claims as the one he makes in his introduction to Don't Think of an Elephant!: "There is only one progressive think tank engaged in a major reframing exercise: the Rockridge Institute." Perhaps it is tunnel vision stemming from Lakoff's roots in cognitive psychology that blinds him to the civil rights movement's "major reframing" of Black American experience, the feminist movement's "major reframing" of women's experience, as well as the major reframing of gay, lesbian and transgendered experience, the reframing of labor (social unionism) and the major reframing of nuclear power.
The list of successful reframing efforts would be incomplete without mention of the Black feminist movement, that reframed the feminist reframing, and the environmental justice movement that reframed environmental organizing. In other words, not only are broad-based social movements critical to reframing efforts, but such movements ensure that reframing remains an active process of engagement with shifting political realities.
Nor does Lakoff acknowledge the rise of a media reform movement, whose participants engage in a variety of media critique, alternative and oppositional media, and media reform efforts. While we strongly agree with Lakoff that progressive framing efforts have lacked adequate resources, hundreds of organizations operating at the national, regional and local level have included reframing in their efforts to build progressive movements.5
The central lessons to be learned from Lakoff's omission is that building an effective framing strategy is not merely about more effective marketing expressed through catchy symbols that tap an emotional hot button and trigger the desired response. The problem isn't that it doesn't work — in the short run, it may — but that its singular focus on finesse in individual framing undermines the goal of increasing citizens' sense that they can collectively change things. By treating potential participants as individuals whose citizenship involves voting and perhaps conveying their personal opinion to key decision-makers, citizens as collective actors are moved off of the screen.
In contrast, a participatory approach to promoting progressive frames looks at the failings of mass media with an eye on supporting a group's strength in building longterm, on-going relationships with journalists. Building these working relationships are themselves opportunities for framing contests that, when successful, further the prominence of one's preferred frame in the competitive media field.
An essential guide for progressives must address these issues as well as how framing strategies can draw out the latent sense of agency that people already carry around with them. In sum, a participatory communication model involves developing an ongoing capability of people to act collectively in framing contests. One doesn't transform people who feel individually powerless into a group with a sense of collective efficacy by pushing hot buttons. Indeed, one doesn't transform people at all. People transform themselves through movement building — the work of reflection, critique, dialog, relation building and infrastructure building that synergistically constitute a "major reframing effort."
Framing matters but it is not the only thing that matters. There is a danger of "quick fix" politics — the sexy frame as the new hot button. Just as conservatives worked slowly and patiently for three decades, progressives need to start small and build big, to win back our base of support. Framing work is critical to this process, but framing work itself must be framed in the context of movement building.
Integrating framing and other forms of movement building is necessary if the frame carriers are going to be able to compete successfully against the carriers of official frames with lots of resources and organization behind them. This involves an explicit recognition of power inequalities and how to challenge them and a recognition of citizens as potential collective actors, not just individual ones. Think tanks that want to help progressives are an important component of creating a supportive infrastructure but they will fail if they adopt a social marketing model that ignores the nature of the playing field and focuses only on the message.
There is a story circulating on the Internet, attributed to Jim France of the Pavilion Hotel Group in Bangkok. Elephant rides were one of the main attractions at a resort hotel in Phuket. About twenty minutes before the first wave of the tsunami hit, the nine elephants became extremely agitated and unruly. They broke out of their confinement, climbed a nearby hill, and started bellowing. Many people followed them up the hill before the waves hit.
After the waves had subsided, the elephants went down the hill as a group and started picking up children with their trunks and running them back up the hill. After the children were taken care of, the elephants started helping the adults. According to the account, they rescued 42 people. They wouldn't let their handlers mount them until the job was done.
To make the metaphor fit our message, let's add a detail that didn't actually happen. Let's imagine that in carrying out their rescue mission, the elephants confronted a group of government soldiers assembled to enforce a law against elephants acting as a pack. And imagine further that these nine elephants just ran right by the soldiers, brushing them aside to complete their mission. Now there are some elephants to think about.
This essay is the product of a collaborative process involving the MRAP (Movement/ Media Research and Action Project) seminar including Matt Williams, Jeff Langstraat, Vered Malka, Michelle Gawerc, Johanna Pabst, and Jesse Kirdahy-Scalia.
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“Death” is such a harsh term — can’t we say “transition to a happier place”?
Photo: Sophia Wallace.
Or, how else can I put this … You don’t have to fall out of the tree. Just climb down and join us on the ground. Let’s talk.
If you work on environmental issues, chances are you don’t know me. I represent the other other side. The one outside the greenhouse. I’m young, I’m colored, I’m female, I’m urban — and environmentalism isn’t reaching me like it needs to.
So I want to add a few thoughts to the “Death of Environmentalism” discussion: first, an argument for why environmentalism cannot die; second, a snapshot of who the environmental movement is missing; and finally, a few of the practical shifts I see as necessary for making this a worthwhile transition instead of a death whose dramatizing serves no one.
We live in the most frightening of times, the most fearless of times. Our president, the leader of the most profligate world power in recent history, opposes environmental regulations at home and multilateralism abroad. The majority of our country’s citizens have been successfully lulled into thinking that the environment will somehow sustain itself. We don’t have good examples of sustainable culture; instead of taking care of our own waste, we dump it on the rest of the world. Rather than encouraging careful resource use, pushing for more innovative and effective products and technologies, and promoting renewable energy, our government goes to war to hoard the natural resources of other sovereign nations.
We see it. The people you aren’t reaching are not blind, we aren’t unmoved. More and more young people are realizing every day that the whole world is paying the price for the way we live, and we are waking up to that reality with shame and with a desire to change it. But we often don’t connect that desire, or the work we do in our own lives, with the environmental movement.
And with good reason. Come with me on a little journey called: I’m young, I’m colored, and I need a job. I need an education to get that job, and then I need that job to pay off the student loans. I gotta figure out some way to get to and from school or work as gas prices go up and public transportation costs go up. I have to hustle all day long, have to hope I don’t get arrested while working for being Arab or black or Latino or Pakistani, have to go home and eat some packaged non-food and then turn and try to love someone when neither of us has access to the condoms and sex education we need to be really safe and empowered in our interactions. If I’m lucky, I’ll get to take a minute and dull my mind with some substance and watch a couple of hours of television where humans cut open their skin and try to put someone else’s face on, or compete to eat bugs for a million dollars. And at some point I get to sleep in my tiny home with a window that looks into someone else’s window.
At the end of that day, I may not separate the glass from the paper, the plastic from the cans. I may not carry my own water bottle everywhere I go. For a lot of young people right now, the environment is an issue for the privileged or the issueless. People who feel they are becoming extinct care less about the extinction of owls and oak trees. We sit on buses that pump nasty black smoke into our air, dreaming of owning SUVs. Many of us don’t see real, unfenced trees anymore. We don’t see stars — the blue of our skies is unreal. The natural world is becoming a place to visit or dream of, a privilege for those who can find work outside cities, or a trap for those in the migrant worker population who lack fair wages and work situations.
Overall, too many young people see the struggles of humans as separate from the struggles for a healthy environment. It isn’t because we have bad intentions — it’s because a generation that does not care about the impact of its lifestyle on the environment can be easily manipulated for corporate greed. We are getting played out. And unfortunately, the environmental movement has actually helped enforce that disconnect by seeming to draw divisions between the natural world and its human inhabitants — and by seeming to worry more about the former than the latter.
That is the context for the next stage of environmentalism. You have an oppressed, depressed, furious mass waiting to be mobilized. And sure, some of us eat at McDonald’s and wear leather shoes — but we feel it is possible to demand better from our government and from ourselves for our environment. We feel it is imperative to connect the different survival struggles we are engaged in if we truly hope to sustain a viable movement for change. You will not die if you try to link hands with us in this struggle, if you try to meet us halfway.
We are in a unique organizing space right now, fresh off the election, understanding that it is imperative to combine electoral organizing with community organizing with issue organizing, in new and unique ways. Environmentalists have done groundbreaking work in this arena, getting citizens informed and involved around policies and petitions. But the movement has failed to reach the urban masses, and it has fallen prey to the marketing of the right, which casts caring about the planet as goofy liberalism instead of instinctual self-preservation.
So I offer three transition steps for the leadership of the environmental movement:
- Change your framework. You have to frame environmental issues in a way that makes sense for us and relates to the issues we care about. But you will have to get closer to us and to the work we’re doing in order to make that happen. We’re talking about racism — meet us there. I know the research shows one thing, the statistics make your case; but they also make a case that the most pressing issues in my life should be stopping the prison industrial complex, stopping the HIV that’s ravaging my community, stopping the president from cutting Upward Bound funding. There’s a place for you in each of those battles, just as there’s a place for those activists in the battle for the environment. It is not either/or. The loss of your borders won’t mean a dilution of your vision, it will simply mean a larger, greater, more inclusive vision.
- Be easy and appealing. You need to turn up the heat and the appeal for environmentally friendly products and practices, while putting time and energy into bringing down the price. It’s not written anywhere that everything recycled has to look used and cost twice as much. Lose that sage color scheme and price your wares to Target. If you aren’t willing to be a little savvy for the survival of the world, then how committed are you? Take five minutes and catch up to what appeals to the greatest number. The environmental movement needs to make its home in this real world of ours.
- Stop the environmental evangelism. I say this as a loving criticism of the people who are at the forefront of this work: you often get so caught up in the sky-is-falling mentality of environmental work that you can only see the urgency of your own issue. That’s not how to approach folks. Fiscally conservative people of color vote in their economic interest, not because someone approaches them on the street apoplectic about mercury in the water. Mercury in the water is a completely relevant topic for black folks, but not if we can’t see our faces on and in that movement, and see our interests as clearly part of the platform. You’ve got to talk to folks about the things that will move them — which means you’ve got to identify how your work relates to the issues that matter to other people.
As a young woman of color who doesn’t do environmental work for a living, I believe environmentalism needs to become something that the masses can integrate into how we live our lives. It’s nothing personal. Every issue-based movement needs to think in terms of solidarity and collaboration right now.
How this discussion can move forward into worthwhile proposals and actions — that is the question. Stepping back and thinking about a vision for a movement is absolutely necessary. Dramatizing its slow and agonizing death borders on indulgent. Too often, people rush to say something is dying when it’s merely in a period of transition. Be less presumptuous. Shedding an old skin is not death but renewal, and those who follow the life of the planet should grasp that better than anyone else. | <urn:uuid:5fe8db0b-a547-46c4-8c2b-16a6ab0cc167> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://grist.org/article/brown8/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949655 | 1,845 | 1.664063 | 2 |
We have to look not just at the face our main character presents to the world, we have to look at who they really are.
Now we’re going to delve deep into our main character’s mind, thoughts and beliefs. This interview session may make them quite uncomfortable…and may be quite revealing to you, their creator.
The interview continues:
- Do you have any special belief systems?
- What do you look for in a friend?
- What do you look for in a partner?
- What are your talents and skills?
- Do any of these talents or skills have a down side?
- What are the things you like most about yourself?
- What are the things you like least about yourself?
- What was your first sexual experience?
- How did you feel about it?
- How would you describe your childhood?
- What are some experiences from your childhood that have affected the sort of person you are now?
- How do you feel about discipline?
- Are you someone who fits in with society or someone who fights it?
- How would you spend a typical day?
- What do you want more than anything in the world?
- What is the best thing that could happen to you?
In this session of getting to know my main character, I start to think about the qualities that define them.
For example, they might strongly believe in ‘truth’ – honesty could be a fundamental element of their belief system – a part of who they are. I look at the reverse of this quality and its implications.
What if they were too honest? What if they confessed to something that they should have kept quiet about?
A character’s strongest quality can also be the thing that brings them undone.
Here’s what I mean:
REVERSE CHARACTER TRAITS
There are two sides to every character traits
GOOD THINGS ABOUT CERTAIN TRAITS
- Perfectionist – things get done properly
- Super responsible – makes someone reliable
- Family loyalty – helps family
- Keeps their cool – useful in a crisis
- Predictable, reliable – makes people comfortable around her.
- Strong moral values – makes a character trustworthy
- Intense – makes character focussed
- Bossy – gets things done
BAD THINGS ABOUT THESE SAME TRAITS
- Perfectionist – compulsive behaviour, causes stress
- Super responsible – unable to have fun
- Family loyalty – enables self destructive behaviour to continue in members of the family
- Keeps their cool – bottles up feelings, especially anger. Can be seen as unfeeling
- Predictable, reliable – reacts badly to change
- Strong moral values – judges others
- Intense – makes her sensitive to criticism and addicted to dramaBossy – makes her controlling
Depending on how long your story is, you could spend a lot of time with these characters so enjoy getting to know them.
The more you know your characters and how they behave, the more interesting and believable they will be for your readers.
P.S. next time we’ll be looking at how to fix an unlikeable character | <urn:uuid:c6822744-d582-4a5f-bf36-7b1b2e2e8957> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://deescribewriting.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/how-to-get-to-know-your-main-character-part-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955681 | 663 | 2.296875 | 2 |
Posted by: Matthew Vella on December 28, 2006
Alt fuels — everybody’s doing ‘em! BMW made headlines (in the auto press at least) by showing its Hydrogen 7 version of the 7 Series which runs, you guessed it, on hydrogen. Some environmentalists weren’t that impressed, but it is — at the very least — an interesting technology demonstration.
In any case, the company is certainly exploring its green side. As part of that development, the company’s setup an intriguing environmentally themed website, ClubOfPioneers.com. The site is social networking meets blogging and green advocacy. But, it features typically BMW slick production.
According to the site, the Club of Pioneers is “about a sustainable lifestyle. We rely on a kind of living that is responsible and aesthetic at the same time. In the fields of vehicles as much as energy technologies, design, architecture, food etc. you find new approaches to sustainability. We unite these voices on this platform and create a model for a new kind of living.”
A little fluffy? Yes, but the site has attracted some notable bloggers including Treehugger’s Nick Aster and PSFK’s Piers Fawkers. It’ll certainly be interesting to see how (if?) the site develops heading into the new year. | <urn:uuid:65585fd5-7fb1-48b3-b943-199750d82d04> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.businessweek.com/autos/autobeat/archives/2006/12/a_greener_bmw.html | 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 | 0.95424 | 278 | 1.546875 | 2 |
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Horse Thieves in Early Oregon
The following articles are taken from the Oregon Spectator. The first from the November 4, 1851 edition, page 2 column 6. The second article is from the November 11, 1851 edition, page 2, column 4.
"Horse Thieves--Exciting News!"
The exciting news contained in the subjoined extract from a letter, will take our readers by surprise. We regret exceedingly that there are such renegades in our land. It is only a development of the principles inculcated by the Statesman; it has sown the seed and the country is about to reap the harvest.
Dalles of the Columbia.
October 23, 1851.
Dear Sir:—Nothing new has transpired since we left Oregon City, only that there is a party of men here from Chasta City, of twenty, after horse thieves. I presume you know Antoine, the Indian that Rogers took through with him to California when we went through. He and another by the name of Joe, a Yacoma [Yakima] Indian, were concerned with the thieves. The thieves are Charley Smith, Reason Haynes, and Terwilliger, son of Terwilliger at Portland. They had got near Barlow's Gate [on the eastern slope of Mt. Hood], with their stolen horses, amounting to about 300, when these two Indians took it in their heads that they might as well own the property as the white men, and murdered those three men. The party that was in pursuit of them found the bodies and recognized each of the murdered men. It is supposed that there is a party of twenty-five men at the Grand Ronde with about 300 horses from the Chasta [Shasta—in northern California] mines, who intend to spend the winter there, these are a club that was formed at Chasta city this fall, of horse thieves, who are on their way to the States, but as yet we have not heard of them here.
P. S. Bye-the-bye, they have got Antoine the Indian in irons at the Garrison just at this moment. They have just god a white man by the name of Markham, a lad of 18 years of age; he has been selling horses for a mere song, stolen property by way of Willamette valley—There is a file of soldiers consisting of 10 men going with this party over to Yacoma after this companion of Antoine's, concerning the murder of these three men, they are going to start to-morrow morning. Antoine reports that this young man has $4,000 in gold dust with him, that he took from Charley Smith and party after they had murdered them. There is a great excitement here about this affair. I should not wonder if we would have a second Cayuse war. The Indians do not know what to make of it. This party of men have a sworn constable from Chasta City, with them, with the power to take all the horse thieves he may find east of the Cascade mountains, in the American territory. He has even taken up a man for selling a horse belonging to Rev. Mr. Rosseau, but Mr. R. has got the value of his horse. * * * * *
To David McLaughlin
"Chasta Horse Thieves--Full Particulars."
We are informed by John D. Cook Esq. one of the party who has been in pursuit of the Chasta horse thieves, that during the summer horses have been frequently stolen, and pack trains stampeded, &c. by which means mules were supposed to be lost, but were in fact taken by this infernal band of scoundrels. That Reason Haynes, D. C. Smith, (generally known as Charley Smith,) and D. B. Hartley (commonly called Doc. Hartley), and Terwillegar son of Terwillegar at Portland, kept a rancho on Chasta river, 3 or 4 miles from Chasta City, during the latter part of summer, and were for some time suspected of being engaged in running off stock and stealing it in various ways; until, about the last of September, Smith, Haynes and Terwillegar left the country, taking with them the two Indians Antoine and Joe, leaving Hartley in charge of the rancho. Some animals being missed about the time of their leaving suspicions were aroused; Hartley, as well as Winslow, Stillman and James Pool (the latter three supposed to be interested in the rancho,) together with a many by the name of Thompson, were upon this arrested. Upon Hartleys' being arrested, great feeling was exhibited against him, arising from the satisfaction on the part of the miners of his guilt; and being called upon to do so, he made a statement relative to the matter as follows. Mr. Cook here informed us that the statements heretofore made, about a rope being placed around his neck, &c., is incorrect, no such means having been used. Hartley said that while keeping the rancho, some 16 horses were stolen by them, and that Smith, Haynes and Terwillegar took these horses with them when they left. They started with the intention of joining a company of Chasta Butte, who were a part of a company of twenty-five, engaged in stealing and herding animals at the Grande Ronde. Hartley stated that he got this confession from Haynes who was acquainted with several of the Grande Ronde company. That their intention was to remain in the neighborhood of the Butte--continue their depredations until about the last of December, and then leave with their animals for the rendezvous at Grande Rounde. But for some reason, fear of detection it was supposed, they kept on in the direction of the Dalles.
On the 3d of October they were pursued by a company of 26 men, 10 of the pursuers turning back on the fourth morning. The party of 16 continued their pursuit, and the first time they struck the trail of the thieves was to the north side of the Klamath lake, about 150 miles from Chasta. After two day's further pursuit, they reached the head waters of De Chutes river, and there found the bodies of the three men, under the following circumstances. Noticing an encampment, and the irons belonging to two or three saddles, the saddles having been burned, suspicion was excited that something must have occurred of an extraordinary character, and they immediately commenced a search. Seeing a trail through the grass with the appearance of something having been dragged over it, it was followed and the body of Haynes was discovered in the creek, about 125 yards from the encampment. About 25 yards below, the body of Smith was found partly out of the water. Their bodies were taken out and examined, and it was found that Haynes was shot with a rifle ball thorough the head. Terwillegar was also shot in the head and a deep wound in the back of the neck, breaking the neck—apparently done with an axe. Smith had received four blows with an axe on the head and face, either of which it is supposed by our informant, would have produced instant death. No signs of his having been shot discovered. His right arm was broken at the wrist. Their bodies were interred by the party and they then continued on in pursuit of the Indians. They followed three to the Dalles, where they found Antoine, and about 60 miles above among the Yacoma's Joe was found. The horses were in possession of the Indians.
The two Indians were arrested, and brought down by the pursuing party, accompanied by our informant as far as the forks of the road at Mr. Foster's where he left the party to come to this city, they continuing on with the Indians to Chasta. The Indians confess the murder, and five the following description of the manner in which it was done. Joe shot Haynes, at the same time Antoine commenced upon Smith with an axe. Joe then says he shot Terwilliger with a revolver, upon which Terwilliger attempted to raise himself up, when Antioine dealt him a severe blow in the back of the neck.
Our informant also informs us that they arrested a young man calling himself John Markham, who confessed having stolen seven horses from a Mr. Cooper, residing in the Willamette valley. The reason for the theft assigned by Markham was that Cooper owed him some $200, borrowed money, and refused to pay it--and that he thought he could sell the seven horses for that amount.
The above are the particulars of this horrid transaction as furnished us by Mr. Cook. It shows the most extensive combination of dastardly scoundrels to rob the traveller of his property, and we doubt not if need by, of his life. The most vigorous means should be used to bring the guilty ones to punishment, and check this growing evil at once. | <urn:uuid:7b153962-a95a-4b8a-8078-2a1fbdc271c1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ormultno/History/horsethief.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983022 | 1,907 | 2.390625 | 2 |
Officials in Venezuela say President Hugo Chavez is still suffering from respiratory problems following his cancer operation in Cuba in December.
Chavez returned from Cuba Monday and has since been treated in a military hospital in Caracas.
Venezuela's Information Minister Ernesto Villegas said Thursday that Chavez is being treated there for breathing problems. But he said treatment for the president's main illness continues without significant adverse effects for now.
"The breathing insufficiency that emerged post-operation persists, and the tendency has not been favorable, so it is still being treated. Medical treatment for the base illness continues without significant adverse effects for now. The patient remains in communication with relatives and the government political group in close collaboration with the medical work group. The president holds firm to Christ, with absolute will to live and maximum discipline in the treatment of his health,'' said Villegas.
Venezuela's leftist leader has been hospitalized since returning from Cuba Monday. He had his fourth cancer operation in December in Havana.
The government released photos of the president last week, but he has not been seen publicly since his latest operation. | <urn:uuid:caaab0fb-4544-47bb-ac11-150a6e6f4bd2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.voanews.com/content/venezuelas-chavez-suffers-breathing-problems/1608555.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982944 | 225 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Sponsored Link •
Luke Hohmann talks with Bill Venners about the social role of software architects, the value of sticking with a product release after release, and the importance of domain knowledge.
Luke Hohmann is a management consultant who helps his clients bridge the gap that often exists between business and technology. In his past experience, he has played many of the varied roles required by successful software product development organizations, including development, marketing, professional services, sales, customer care, and business development. Hohmann currently focuses his efforts on enterprise class software systems. He is the author of Journey of the Software Professional: A Sociology of Software Development (Prentice-Hall, 1997), which blends cognitive pyschology and organizational behavior into a model for managing the human side of software development. He is also the author of Beyond Software Architecture: Creating and Sustaining Winning Solutions (Addison-Wesley, 2003), which discusses software architecture in a business context.
On March 8, 2004, Bill Venners met with Luke Hohmann in Sunnyvale, California. In this interview, which will be published in multiple installments on Artima.com, Hohmann discusses software architecture in the context of business.
Bill Venners: What's the role of a software architect?
Luke Hohmann: Most people think of architecture as technical, and the architect as a technical person. And absolutely, the architect must be technical. But there's also a social aspect of the architect role that I think is not well communicated or understood. The architect is the person who will say, "This is the way we do things."
An architecture is like a dirt road. The first time a car drives over it, the road looks about the same. By the time the 10,000th car drives over it, though, there will be grooves in the road. As an architecture mature, it gets grooves.
For example, one kind of groove that is common in architecture is error handling strategy. Whether you handle errors by returning error codes or throwing exceptions is part of your architecture. In practice, most teams will choose one error handling mechanism as the dominant approach, the other as the subordinate approach, because you often need to use both. Among the roles of the architect is choosing the dominant approach to error handling, keeping the flame of the dominant approach, and educating the team on when the subordinate approach is an acceptable alternative. That's one aspect of the architect's job, and that's a social role.
Conversely, you can tell when a system hasn't had an architect, because it
lacks consistency in things like error handling, naming, and so on. In a system I'm
working on right now, for example, I noticed that some of the database
tables have a unique identifier column named
id, other tables have a
unique identifier column named
<table name>id, and other tables do
something completely different. So table
foo would have a
fooid column, and table
bar would have an
id column. I finally went to the development team and said, "Let
me guess. You've had more than one DBA [Database Administrator] in your time here." And they said,
"Oh yeah, we've had five of them." Every DBA had their own way of naming
columns. They didn't have an architect to ensure a technical consistency in
column naming. There wasn't a notion of conceptual integrity from a technical
Bill Venners: What do you mean by conceptual integrity?
Luke Hohmann: That goes back to Frederick P. Brooks in his book,
The Mythical Man Month. Conceptual integrity means that one or
few minds are making the decisions, and the rest of the people associated
with the project honor the decisions that were made. I may have an opinion on
how to name table identifiers, but it's not like I would really care whether they
chose to give every table a column named
or one named
id, because at least there would be regularity.
The current approach requires you to have the schema in front of you, because
unless you magically remember which table does which thing, you've got to
look it up. That little bit of friction is an example of a technical architect not being
involved. So the technical architect is a person who helps make sure the big
picture decisions are made, and then keeps them consistent throughout the | <urn:uuid:78365f9a-61e8-42d2-8ea8-ca2567e08e73> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.artima.com/intv/architect.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958349 | 919 | 1.757813 | 2 |
America Is Turning Into One Big Prison for People in Debt
Continued from previous page
Falling into debt was a particularly ruinous affliction for those who aspired to modest independence as shopkeepers, handicraftsmen, or farmers. As markets for their goods expanded but became ever less predictable, they found themselves taking out credit to survive and sometimes going into arrears, often followed by a stint in debtor’s prison that ended their dreams forever.
However much the poor organized and protested, it was the rich who got debt relief first. Today, we assume that debts can be discharged through bankruptcy (although even now that option is either severely restricted or denied to certain classes of less favored debt delinquents like college students). Although the newly adopted U.S. Constitution opened the door to a national bankruptcy law, Congress didn’t walk through it until 1800, even though many, including the well-off, had been lobbying for it.
Enough of the old moral faith that frowned on debt as sinful lingered. The United States has always been an uncharitable place when it comes to debt, a curious attitude for a society largely settled by absconding debtors and indentured servants (a form of time-bound debt peonage). Indeed, the state of Georgia was founded as a debtor’s haven at a time when England’s jails were overflowing with debtors.
When Congress finally passed the Bankruptcy Act, those in the privileged quarters at New Gaol threw a party. Down below, however, life continued in its squalid way, since the new law only applied to people who had sizable debts. If you owed too little, you stayed in jail.
Debt and the Birth of a Nation
Nowadays, the conservative media inundate us with warnings about debt from the Founding Fathers, and it’s true that some of them like Jefferson -- himself an inveterate, often near-bankrupt debtor -- did moralize on the subject. However, Alexander Hamilton, an idol of the conservative movement, was the architect of the country’s first national debt, insisting that “if it is not excessive, [it] will be to us a national blessing.”
As the first Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton’s goal was to transform the former 13 colonies, which today we would call an underdeveloped land, into a country that someday would rival Great Britain. This, he knew, required liquid capital (resources not tied up in land or other less mobile forms of wealth), which could then be invested in sometimes highly speculative and risky enterprises. Floating a national debt, he felt sure, would attract capital from well-positioned merchants at home and abroad, especially in England.
However, for most ordinary people living under the new government, debt aroused anger. To begin with, there were all those veterans of the Revolutionary War and all the farmers who had supplied the revolutionary army with food and been paid in notoriously worthless “continentals” -- the currency issued by the Continental Congress -- or equally valueless state currencies.
As rumors of the formation of a new national government spread, speculators roamed the countryside buying up this paper money at a penny on the dollar, on the assumption that the debts they represented would be redeemed at face value. In fact, that is just what Hamilton’s national debt would do, making these “sunshine patriots” quite rich, while leaving the yeomanry impoverished.
Outrage echoed across the country even before Hamilton’s plan got adopted. Jefferson denounced the currency speculators as loathsome creatures and had this to say about debt in general: “The modern theory of the perpetuation of debt has drenched the earth with blood and crushed its inhabitants under burdens ever accumulating.” He and others denounced the speculators as squadrons of counter-revolutionary “moneycrats” who would use their power and wealth to undo the democratic accomplishments of the revolution. | <urn:uuid:941f0fb1-0a44-44bc-bc57-49baf6402646> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.alternet.org/economy/america-turning-one-big-prison-people-debt?page=0%2C2&akid=9989.278734.fXpPXS&rd=1&src=newsletter785633&t=12 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970475 | 822 | 2.609375 | 3 |
The days are getting shorter by about three minutes per day, so there is less time to spend on outdoor activities in the fall.
Many anglers also like to go hunting, with archery deer season, bear season and small game seasons currently open. There are also school-related activities, outdoor projects and fall sports to take time away from fishing late in the season.
Each angler has to decide when to pull the plug on the open water season and put the boat away for the winter. This means there will be fewer people on the water as fall progresses to compete for the more popular fishing spots on area lakes.
The water temperatures in the lakes have stayed pretty stable in the past week, with most lakes in the low 60-degree range.
The thermocline has broken down in most lakes, so fish are able to access deep water if that is where they can find the best feeding opportunities.
Walleyes and crappies are two species that like to go deep in the fall in many lakes, while perch, sunfish, bass, northern pike and muskies usually prefer to stay in shallow water.
Healthy green weeds will attract fish late in the open water season and even under the ice. Dead and dying weeds are less attractive to fish and usually won't attract fish while they are decomposing.
The weed beds will begin to break apart in the fall after they have formed their seeds. The mature plants become more brittle and get broken off by they waves.
The tops of the weeds get carried away by the waves, which spreads their seeds to new areas in the lake. This is all part of the normal process of reseeding the weed beds for next spring.
The short stocks of the weed beds will eventually die off, but protected areas in the lakes tend to have green weeds longer than wind-swept areas in the fall.
The remaining healthy green weeds are attractive to many species of fish including walleyes.
Walleyes in shallow lakes like Winnibigoshish and Leech Lake will make use of the green weed beds in the fall and will often feed on the deep edge of the weeds.
Other species like sunfish, bass, northern pike and muskies are all attracted to green weeds late in the season, with the healthiest weeds able to support fish even after the lakes freeze.
The shallow walleye bite has remained good on both Winnie and Leech, with good numbers of walleyes using 6-10 feet of water in areas with broken rock or green weeds.
A jig and minnow has been the presentation of choice for most anglers in shallow water, with crankbaits and live bait rigs also producing some fish.
Anglers should use lighter jigs in shallow water whenever possible, to avoid dragging their baits on bottom and collecting weeds or getting snagged in the rocks.
Anglers are also using jigs and minnows in the deeper lakes. Most anglers like to keep their baits directly below the boat in deep water, so they can feel the bites and be sure they are close to bottom and in the right zone to catch fish.
Anglers should watch their electronics closely in deep water to be sure they are fishing areas holding fish. Sometimes fish will hold tight to the bottom in deep water, which can make them more difficult to see on sonar.
Crappies also like deep water in the fall and will usually be more active during they day than they have been most of the summer.
Crappies are often be attracted to areas with deep rocks late in the season, so anglers are able to watch their electronics to find schools of crappies if they are looking in the right areas.
Anglers often need to use small jigs to catch crappies, so getting small jigs into deep water often takes light line and ultra light rods to be able to feel the bites.
Some anglers like to use plastics for crappies whenever they can, because plastics are more efficient and don't need to be reeled up and checked every time anglers miss a bite.
Paul A. Nelson runs the Bemidji Area Lakes Guide Service. He can be contacted by calling 218-759-2235. | <urn:uuid:ffa7dcb4-e1c1-418b-9523-0aedbd41af30> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/content/fish-still-biting-fewer-anglers-water?qt-latest_trending_article_page=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965881 | 872 | 2.46875 | 2 |
INCREDEIBLE COUNTRY INDIA
This is a project worked by Students of Class VI.They worked together to tell the world about the land, the culture,the living, the heritage of the country India.
The project covers much more than the students study in their curricular standard.
The purpose of this project is that the browser should get interested and feel curious to know and visit India.
The information needed for the Project was collected from various Resources.Reference was done from Newspaper,magazines, yearly magazine Manorama,various other books and not to be leftoff is some easily available Free Websites. We also went on Field trips to collect Photographs and information about Places of worship, natural beauty, culture,etc.,
The project will help the school students to get the information they need. People in the community and the world will know the culture, the heritage, food habits,dress,ancient India, history, monuments, Great Personalities, NationalSymbols, Indian calendar,Indian Union, Climate,Geographical features,Epics poetry,Regional Traditions, Festivals,music, Dances, Musical Instruments,agriculture, science, sports,languages, tourist places, politics,Chandrayaan, The Firsts in India,etc.
SHRAVYAKendriya Vidyalaya No.2 Mangalore, Karnataka, India
AnjanaKendriya Vidyalaya No.2 Mangalore, Karnataka, India
HaleemathKendriya Vidyalaya No.2 Mangalore, Karnataka, India
AmrithaKendriya Vidyalaya No.2 Mangalore, Karnataka, India
12 & under
Rama NandiniKendriya Vidyalaya No.2 Mangalore, Karnataka, India
Social Sciences & Culture
Every student is equally talented.They worked together collecting informations from elders,collected relevant books,Educational CDs,magazines and discussed with the coach the way they should present.Accordingly two-two students distrubuted the topic on which they would work and wrote aricles on the topic selected and typed in word.One student got the idea of presenting in a Powerpoint too. So they all made it as powerpoint too to enhance the looks of the presentation.
We worked after school hours and on holidays to accomplish the needful.
Only one child has computer at home. She would edit at home but all others referred some books and came prepared with articles written at home. They would come to school and type it.
We went on a Field trip to zoo, all religions places of worship, garden to help the students get first hand experience.
All this helped us to complete the Project.
All students belong to same cless VI.They were good friends and the team work helped them to learn better. They enjoyed working and learning together. Each of them are talented. They worked together to accomplish this Project.
Coming to culture, all the four speak different languages,three belong to one religion and one more belongs to another.This was not a matter at all for working or their friendship.After school hours they would share their food, eat and continue their work.
Books, magazines, some free websites, Field trip were our sources. | <urn:uuid:456ee643-f93c-4c5d-9ef1-47a3d6e40660> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thinkquest.org/pls/html/f?p=52300:100:433891645183415::::P100_TEAM_ID:487325141 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950214 | 687 | 2.65625 | 3 |
During it's 50-year history, the Youth with a Mission ministry has helped transform the idea of modern missions by releasing young people from more than 200 nations to help complete the great commission.
The group allows people of any background or nationality to use unconventional methods to share the gospel.
Loren Cunningham's vision of Youth with a Mission first took shape in 1960. Fifty years later, nearly 4.5 million people have been involved with his group.
"I began to see that God was calling us to break some norms and change the paradigm of missions, although I didn't know what that meant except we were used to do the radical," Cunningham said.
His wife Darlene played an integral role in the formation of their work. Together the couple focused on developing others' potential.
"We've always recognized that it's going to take everybody to do it, and that God has uniquely made different people," Darlene said. "We were called to release young people into their destiny."
"Now Christians didn't think that missionaries were anyone but a westerner speaking to a non-westerner, often under a shade tree with a pith helmet. And that was the view of a missionary," Cunningham added. "And that was not what God's view was. We asked God. We said, "Who was a YWAMer, Lord? He said, "Anyone that I send to you.'"
Kenny and Maria Jackson teach and train at YWAM's University of the Nations. They take pride in the ministry's diversity.
"One of the things that's really thrilling to me is a lot of black YWAMers that are from Africa or even YWAMers from Brazil or sometimes YWAMers from Polynesian cultures," Kenny Jackson said. "They get really excited (and say), 'Wow you're the dean of the college of communications,' and it does something. Sometimes it just says," There's room for you.'"
YWAMers recently gathered from more than 100 countries at the final jubilee year celebration in Kona, Hawaii.
"At the opening of the ceremony there, I saw all the nations there and I'm like everyday is like the United Nations meeting in my life," said YWAMer Chimene Djumo.
"I heeded to the call and to the voice of Jesus knowing that He was willing to use an Indian, ordinary person, to bless the nations, added Benny Prasad. "And that fact clearly shows to the world that God is no respecter of nationality, color or anyone. That He could use anybody, from any nation, to pick them up and be a blessing to the nations out there."
Today, more than 20,000 full time YWAMers are deployed in every sphere of society, taking creative risks when few others will.
"When He asks us to take a risk... and you're saying, 'God I can't do this, I can't, I can't do it.' Well then you hear that wonderful voice of the Lord say, 'Oh I'm so glad that you know you can't, now I can!'" Darlene explained.
As staff and students gather to celebrate the past, another wave of young people have received the torch from YWAM leaders.
"All the nations are sending nations. They all have in their Bible the great commission, no matter what language they read it in. And so, we need each other desperately," said YWAM president John Dawson. "So at this point, YWAM is a majority non-westerner mission. It's an incredible thing to see the riches of Jesus revealed through the human creation, blended together in this adventure that we've experienced these last 50 years."
"It builds my faith to know that it's really possible to finish the great commission in this generation," Loren added.
"We've just been the people that had this enormous privilege of blowing the bugle. And we have been honored and humbled by what God has done," Darlene continued. "He indeed is the wavemaker, and it's my desire to see these waves get bigger and go farther and be more powerful." | <urn:uuid:31c6caa4-fb3a-4a20-a8d4-d74a6f8112a6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2010/December/50-Years-Later-YWAM-Still-Innovating-Mission-Work/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982096 | 862 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Blankets of rubber lie on the floor of Lake Tahoe at the entrance to Emerald Bay. More than 5 acres of the lake bottom are being covered with the rubber in an effort to smother many of the Asian clams now found near the bay. / Marilyn Newton, Reno (Nev.) Gazette-Journal
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Efforts are under way to rid Emerald Bay - perhaps Lake Tahoe's most iconic place - of an unwelcome visitor.
Asian clams, which have overrun the southeast portion of the lake, might still be eliminated successfully from the landmark bay on lake's west shore, scientists say.
Scuba divers are unrolling large rubber mats on five acres of the lakebed near the mouth of Emerald Bay, where Asian clams are found, with the idea of killing the invaders by suffocating them.
The $810,000 project has a chance at success because the number of clams in Emerald Bay is still relatively low, experts say. Success matters because of the lake's role in recreation, tourism and the area's economy.
"That's the urgency with Emerald Bay. It's so special. We're trying to really get on top of this at the outset," said Geoffrey Schladow, director of the University of California Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center.
Unfortunately for seafood lovers, Asian clams grow to about 1.5 inches at most and are tasteless. So any idea of creating a culinary sensation from the invaders like tilapia, lionfish, snakeheads or black tiger shrimp isn't on the table.
"If there was a commercial incentive to aid in their removal, that would be fantastic," Schladow said.
Asian clams were first noticed in Lake Tahoe, North America's largest Alpine lake, about a decade ago but exploded in number in 2008, the same year they caused a nasty bloom of algae in Lake Tahoe's Marla Bay near Zephyr Cove, Nev. In that area, clams now number more than 7,000 per square yard in places, "probably the highest in the world," in terms of population concentrations, he said.
The clams pose a water quality threat to the lake's shallows because they release nutrients that promote algae growth, reproduce rapidly and clog drinking-water intake pipes.
It's also feared they could alter calcium concentrations in the lake in such a way as to encourage the successful establishment of another invader, the quagga mussel. The species is a relative of zebra mussels that adhere to hard surfaces and cause problems clogging water intake systems in the Great Lakes.
Scientists don't pretend they will ever be able to eradicate Asian clams from Lake Tahoe but say it should be possible to control their spread by attacking populations like those now in Emerald Bay.
Asian clams have also been found in Donner Lake, another large Sierra Nevada lake, and may have migrated down the Truckee River to Reno, Nev., and potentially to its mouth at Pyramid Lake about 40 miles northeast of Reno.
"Eradication isn't a word that's used. It's controlling it," Schladow said. "If we can identify satellite populations, let's hit those first, and go back to the mother lode."
In 2009, scientists first used rubber barrier mats to kill clams at Marla Bay and South Lake Tahoe, Calif. The method proved highly effective at killing clams by robbing clam beds of oxygen.
Subsequent tests conducted at the Emerald Bay infestation were less effective, "an unpleasant surprise" scientists eventually linked to soil conditions and temperature variations, Schladow said.
The problem is now being overcome at Emerald Bay by putting down a layer of shredded aspens beneath the rubber mats. The decomposing material helps eat up oxygen and kill clams.
"They're not easy to suffocate. Clams are very good at clamming up," said Brant Allen, a UC Davis researcher who was diving at the Emerald Bay kill zone Tuesday. At the depth of about 15 feet, Allen and his colleagues are in the process of laying down more than 200 mats, each 100 feet long and 10 feet wide.
Copyright 2013 USATODAY.com
Read the original story: Project attempts to smother invasive clams | <urn:uuid:ad820835-1188-4f4a-9362-187638e3c571> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theleafchronicle.com/usatoday/article/1671959?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFrontpage%7Cs | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952271 | 880 | 2 | 2 |
Trunnell seemed to be thinking for several minutes. Then he spoke.
“There’s lots o’ bugs an’ things forrads, ain’t there?” said he.
“If by lots ye means millions, I reckon ye’re talkin’,” said the man.
“Well,” said Trunnell, “I’ll tell ye what I’ll do. You get a sail needle an’ a line to it about half a fathom long, see?”
“Well, then ye go about between decks, an’ in the alleyways, an’ behind the bunks, an’ around the galley, an’ earn yer own outfit with that needle, see? When ye have a string o’ bugs a-fillin’ the string like clear up to the needle’s eye, ye bring them aft to me, an’ I gives ye credit fer them in clothes or grog, each string bein’ worth a drink, an’ a hundred worth a shirt or pants. Do ye get on to the game?”
“I get on to it well enough,” said the fellow, “but what I wants to know is, whether ye’ll take me whurd o’ honner that I’ll catch a string o’ bugs afore night, an’ give me the rum now to stave off the chill.”
“I will,” said Trunnell.
The old man rose from the hatchway, and struggled hard to get into his shirt. The garment had shrunk so, however, that the sleeves reached but to his elbows and the tails to his waist band. He seized the open front in his hand and looked solemnly at the mate with his sad eyes.
“Lead me to it! Lead me to it! For the Lord’s sake, lead me to it!” he said quietly.
And Trunnell went into the forward cabin with the apparition following eagerly in his wake.
What a strange little giant he was, this mate! “Discipline is discipline,” he would say, and no man got anything for nothing aboard his ship.
We crossed the line in 24 west longitude, running close to the St. Paul’s Rocks. These strange peaks to the southward of the equator caused some interest aboard, rising as they do out of the middle of the ocean a mile or more in depth.
The air was hot and muggy the day we crossed into the northern hemisphere, and the light breeze died away again, leaving the ship with her courses clewed up, rolling and wallowing uneasily in the swell.
Jackwell, as I must always call him now, spruced himself up better than usual, and paid more attention to the ladies. He avoided me at every opportunity; but as neither Chips nor myself ever alluded to the story we had heard from Jim, his courage rose, and he became more familiar with the men.
Up to this time, we had not sighted a single sail since the Sovereign; but here on the line, where the fleets of the maritime world congregate to pick up the north or southeast trades, we sighted many ships bound both out and in.
One of these that happened near us was the Shark, whaling brig of three hundred tons, commanded by Captain Henry,—a man who had sailed in American ships engaged in the deep-water trade for years before he had taken to whaling. This vessel signalled us; and when we had answered and found out who our neighbor was, we were invited aboard. | <urn:uuid:b70c27df-820c-422c-871f-43dad837f4ac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bookrags.com/ebooks/13073/100.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97178 | 787 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Credit unions help small businesses by providing credit at reasonable rates. Small businesses are going for credit unions for loans as a result of banks having a tighter hold on credit. The banks are having very less businesses when compared with Credit Unions. If there is successful change in the law caps by Congress, 7,500 credit unions will make even more business loans. This would ultimately result in increase in finances for small businesses.
As per the Credit Union National Association(CUNA), the lending of loans by banks to small businesses dropped to 3.9 percent, but there was a hike of 11 percent to $36 billion in the credit union loans for the first and foremost time in nine months of 2009.
As per the credit union, the economic fall has given them a best chance to sway the lawmakers to increase the federal limit on their business loans. It would give unfair advantage to tax exempt credit unions, as per the banks. | <urn:uuid:59aac7ca-a623-4057-9835-8e53f6534436> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://top-developments.com/2010/09/small-business-credit-unions/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975488 | 186 | 2.1875 | 2 |
The Surprising Source of New York's First Environmental Problem
Was it the automobile? Was it lead from paint? Was it poor water conditions? No "“ it was horse pollution.
Treating a Dead Horse
Near the end of the 19th century, cities were completely riddled with horse manure. Worse still, carcasses filled the streets. In the late 1880s, New York City was occupied by 1,206,299 people, and about 170,000 horses for transportation. Because the horses were commonly overworked and abused, the average streetcar horse had a life expectancy of about two to four years. Often, they'd die on the street, here owners would either abandon the bodies, or dump them into nearby rivers or bays.
In 1880, New York City removed 15,000 dead horses from the street. Chicago removed 9,202 horse carcasses as late as 1916! Moving the 1,300 pound carcasses was no easy task "“ special trucks that hung low to avoid excessive lift had to be made. Think today's traffic is bad? An 1886 article in the Atlantic Monthly described Broadway as congested with "dead horses and vehicular entanglement."
It's estimated that each horse produced 15-30 pounds of manure per day. Remember, the horse population in New York City was about 170,000 in the 1880s. That means there were 3-4 million pounds of manure piling onto city streets each day.
In 1894, the Times of London estimated that every street in the city would be buried 9 feet deep in horse manure by 1950. A New York editorial estimated that horse manure would rival the height of Manhattan's 30-story buildings by 1930. Also, each horse produced about a quart of urine daily. That makes about 40,000 gallons per day in New York and Brooklyn.
Thankfully, change was on the way. The first international Urban Planning Conference was held in New York in 1898. The topic of the conference: how to deal with horse pollution. Luckily for them, the automobile was beginning to usurp the horse's role for transportation. Though experimental motor cars had been around for quite some time, the cities had previously banned them or limited their use for reasons varying from cars frightening children and horses, to cars being "rich men's deadly toys." The most well known regulation was Britain's Red Flag law, which required all cars to be preceded by a man of foot carrying a red flag.
The horse pollution crisis in the 1890s, which ignited fears of pollution and traffic jams, coupled with the rising prices of hay, oats, and urban land, led governments and urban city dwellers to embrace the automobile. By the early 1900s the horse had become unprofitable and a great environmental hazard. The car, the modern-day environmentalists' nemesis, was, at the time, a savior. | <urn:uuid:caaaa8ac-4270-415a-be38-33cffa8bff37> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mentalfloss.com/article/18783/surprising-source-new-yorks-first-environmental-problem | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971039 | 580 | 3 | 3 |
Crowned and winged female genius; sits on death as a skeleton, a winged putto in front of her.
Corfe Castle - home of Queen Aelfthryth- the first anointed and crowned queen of England, and a reputed witch. There are only five know references to witches in Anglo saxon documents one being the 12th century monastic chronicle the Liber Eliensis went so far as to accuse her of being a witch, claiming that she had murdered not only her stepson King Edgar the Martyr but also Abbot Brihtnoth of Ely, who is said to have seen her practicing magic under a tree. The stories that grew up around her are extraordinary. She is an ancestor of King Henry II - through Saint Margaret of Scotland, giving links to the ancient Anglo-Saxon Noble families.
A three headed eagle - an edition of the Splendor Solis
Funerary Crown of Philip the Bold of Burgundy ~1404
Early Crown of an English Queen from Blanche’s dowry ~1370
Intaglio of a crowed Ibis
Reliquary crown - Mosan ~ 1260-70
Demons crowning Julian the Apostate ~1450-1460
Coronation of William the Conqueror -MS in British Museum ~1470 | <urn:uuid:f62beb1a-d569-4c9d-9930-83a26fa4a0e8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tagaoth.tumblr.com/tagged/crown | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948779 | 273 | 2.875 | 3 |
Look around you. Where did all of the “stuff” you use every day come from? Are you sitting on a plastic chair? Do you have rock countertops in your kitchen and bathrooms? Do you use pencils or powder?
Almost everything we use every day comes from our natural resources, and many of those natural resources are geological – they come from under the surface of the earth. Rocks, minerals, water, oil and gas are all geological resources that we depend on every day.
Where do we get the water and the oil that we pump up from underground? Is it in pools and rivers running underground? Or is it trapped somewhere else? Let’s find out!
Our favorite links for information on Natural Resources:
We have had two very busy months to start out 2009. We visited all of the 3rd graders at Mattawan Later Elementary School - once to talk about Michigan Geology and Natural Resources and once to talk about Climate Change. We also visited the 3rd grade Visions class at Plainwell's Starr Elementary to explore Michigan Geology and we will visit them again in late February to talk about Michigan's Geological Natural Resources.
CoreKids and MGRRE also hosted several field trip groups in January and February.
Field trip groups had the opportunity to explore the concepts of porosity and permeability of rocks and sediments and learned why these concepts are important in everyday life. They also used data from an oil well in SW Michigan to determine at what depth geologists would have expected to find natural resources and then examined the rock core from the well to see what rocks holding our natural resources look like.
What is that black stuff in the rocks? Could that be OIL? So maybe oil, gas and water isn't really flowing in underground rivers and streams, maybe, as our visitors learned, it is really inside the pore spaces in rocks. Parents, ask your CoreKids about porosity and permeability and they can probably set you straight!
2242 thru 2244 feet deep
2235 thru 2237 feet deep
2226 thru 2228 feet deep
The numbers written in black on the rock are the depths below the surface of Allegan County that the core sample was taken at. The oil well the students worked with data and samples from was drilled in July of 1987 and the rock core is preserved at the Michigan Geological Repository for Research and Education, where today's geologists can go to examine data and rocks from the past in order to better explore for and manage Michigan's natural resources today.
Check back again – we have more resources coming. | <urn:uuid:db3899d3-cdf3-491b-91ec-f68e2fe9b749> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wmich.edu/corekids/Geology-and-Natural-Resources.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967496 | 530 | 3.5 | 4 |
The Orlando Science Center’s public relations efforts generate awareness for its exhibits, films, programs and events through media coverage as well as enhance its image as a community resource.
Through careful planning and good relationships with local newspapers, TV networks, websites and radio stations, the Orlando Science Center enjoys consistent coverage.
The Orlando Science Center also functions as a reliable resource for area reporters in need of quick story ideas or colorful backgrounds for live reports. Area media often interview guests and staff on issues involving science, technology and current events.
14 February 2011
Posted in Press and Media
Central Florida Families Can Enjoy the Science Center, Mission Nutrition 4, Curious George and More for Just $5/Person
Saturday, February 19, 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
ORLANDO, FL - (February 14, 2011) - The Orlando Science Center, in partnership with the Walmart Foundation, has announced the next “Walmart $5 Day” will be Saturday, February 19. Thanks to Walmart’s generous support, all guests to the Science Center on February 19 will enjoy exhibits, films and live programs for the significantly discounted price of $5. General admission fees are usually $17 for adults and $12 for kids (ages 3-11).
This year marks the second year for this partnership between the Science Center and the Walmart Foundation. Walmart $5 Day provides admission to all the Science Center’s exhibits, films and programs, including a special day of activities and displays on health and wellness. For many, this event presents the opportunity to experience the Science Center for the first time. Walmart Market Manager for Central Florida Steven Daniel said, “These are the types of community programs we are proud to sponsor for our Central Florida neighbors.” | <urn:uuid:198926d9-6270-4bf0-ba3d-203ab58379b7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://osc.org/~orlando1/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=79&Itemid=149&limitstart=35 | 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 | 0.939973 | 364 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Developing an Application Ontology for the Sleep Domain
A number of medical ontology models provide broad coverage of clinical terms and their relationships. In-depth coverage, however, is often not available, limiting their use in specialized sub-domains such as Sleep Medicine. Current ontology use is often limited to data annotation and as a source for term lists. Applications that need additional information for terms such as their data types, measurement units etc. need to model this information separately.
The NCRR-funded, multi-CTSA-site PhysioMIMI project is developing a federated data integration environment supporting collaborative clinical and translational research in Sleep Medicine. An 'application ontology' for sleep medicine (Sleep Domain Ontology or SDO) is being developed using upper level and reference ontologies such as BFO, FMA, CPR and OGMS to provide a common framework for physiological and clinical data in Sleep Medicine and also provide adequate term definitions to guide user interfaces. Polysomnography (PSG or sleep study) along with sleep phenotypes, diseases and medications in the context of a clinical use case is used as an exemplar for this project. | <urn:uuid:3d424ce9-d914-4aa9-98ec-621f3bb3e14f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bioontology.org/sleep-ontology | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921502 | 237 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Like most college students, my roommates and I had a hodgepodge collection of kitchenware in our house. Mismatched silverware, chipped plates, random mugs – basically, whatever our parents no longer needed in their kitchens came to school with us. This included a wide selection of scratched pots and pans, some of which were coated with nonstick surfaces. I’ll never forget making scrambled eggs for a late-night snack and finding little black specks from the Teflon coating mixed in.
That didn’t seem quite right to me.
Sure enough, a bit of research revealed that the non-stick coating (usually referred to as Teflon) really isn’t very safe or healthy according to many studies. When nonstick surfaces like Teflon are heated to 450+ degrees, they release a chemical called perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). PFOA is linked to developmental harm and cancer.
Here are some other points to consider:
1. The fumes emitted from nonstick coated pans left over heat have killed pet birds (here’s a link to that study: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1119084)
2. At 554 degrees Fahrenheit, studies show that ultra-fine particles start coming off a Teflon-coated pan. These tiny particles can embed deeply into the lungs, resulting in flu-like symptoms like headache, chills, backache, and a temperature between 100 and 104 degrees. DuPont (the maker of Teflon) acknowledges this “reversible” syndrome, but downplays it because the symptoms subside “in just a few days” according to spokeswoman Uma Chowdhry.
3. Back in 2004, the EPA found DuPont guilty of withholding blood and water pollution studies. In the early 1980s DuPont scientists at the company’s West Virginia Teflon plant uncovered startling evidence that an important Teflon ingredient had contaminated local drinking water supplies. Further, babies of plant workers had a Teflon ingredient in their blood and were born with birth defects of the eyes and nostrils. DuPont maintains that PFOA does not cause birth defects, and that there is no evidence of it harming human health.
4. Teflon is found in more places than just pots and pans. It is used in carpet (as a stain repellent), as a bullet coating (to protect the gun barrel), a roofing material and an insect repellant. It is found in clothes marketed with the brand Gore-Tex.
I chose to avoid non-stick pots and pans altogether. I’ve come up with a few tips for making life without Teflon a lot less messy:
1. Heat a non-stick pan properly before putting food into it. Putting food into a cold pan is asking for a sticky mess. This is especially true when cooking proteins like eggs, salmon or chicken. When I heat the pan and a bit of oil first, foods can easily move around the pan.
2. Wash the pan right away. I know the inclination is to let a messy pan soak, but I’ve found that (carefully) washing the pan while its still hot brings up the sticky stuff immediately. Think of it this way: when you deglaze a pan over high heat (adding liquid to bring up the yummy bits on the bottom of the pan) everything comes up. Putting a hot pan right into water and washing it brings up all the bits, too! Here’s photo proof that this trick works:
3. Invest in high quality pans. This doesn’t mean spending a lot of money, but it does mean doing a bit of research to find pots and pans that suit your lifestyle. I use a Lodge cast iron skillet, a LeCruset stock pot and a wonderful stainless steel set from All-Clad.
© Copyright 2013 Homemade Mothering | A Back to Basics Approach to Mothering and Homekeeping | <urn:uuid:908badc3-1e3a-4b0e-b957-0dedeec60989> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://homemademothering.com/2012/01/homemade-avoid-nonstick-pans.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944734 | 842 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Raspberry Pi, the wonder chip for $35 can do wonderful things, but until now it has been a potential rather than a real-world item, until now. Google's Chromium OS has been ported to Raspberry Pi, where a port of the OS has the ability of booting from the $35 device.
The initial port has been completed by 'Chromium OS hacker' Hexxeh, who laid his hands on the Raspberry Pi system in mid-April. Raspberry Pi already has three versions of the Linux OS available to owners and developers to run on it, but now the choice of Google's Chromium OS has opened many more doors to users.
A screenshot of Chromium OS booting up on the Raspberry Pi was uploaded yesterday to Liliputing.com, which is a site all about "compact computing". Hexxeh has a history of porting Chromium OS to various machines such as MacBook Air's, and PCs, but in order to get the OS running on your PC, notebook or netbook, you require the right combination of hardware to get it to work. If you want to try out Chromium OS builds, click here.
Further Reading: Read and find more Operating Systems news at our Operating Systems news index page. | <urn:uuid:9c0ec21d-ba83-4401-a7c1-ee67e73df98b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://australia.tweaktown.com/news/24635/google_s_chromium_os_has_been_ported_to_raspberry_pi/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952079 | 257 | 2.0625 | 2 |
And it was made possible by an Englishman. Also, do you remember who was the second woman to be apppointed to the U. S. Supreme Court?
Friday, August 10th, the 223rd day of 2012
Elvis Week begins today in Memphis.
Today is National Lazy Day, a day to take it easy.
The famous Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. was established on this day in 1846 by the United States Congress as an institute of learning. An Englishman, James Smithson, made it possible to create the institute with his generous monetary gift of $500,000; hence, the name, Smithsonian.
1948: Allen Funt’s “Candid Microphone,” later called “Candid Camera,” made its television debut on ABC Radio.
1993: Ruth Bader Ginsburg was sworn in as the U.S. Supreme Court`s 107th justice, and second female member.
1985: $47.5-million was paid for ATV Music, a catalog of the Beatles’ copyrights, which included 251 songs written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Although one of the bidders was Paul McCartney himself, the winning bidder turned out to be: Michael Jackson. | <urn:uuid:329e8aa6-1761-4f31-a87c-b9c88671be9f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.101gold.com/2012/08/10/arguably-americas-greatest-museum/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971007 | 263 | 2.453125 | 2 |
There are a few principles that should be emphasized while considering the ongoing "Muslim cartoons" furor.
- The Western media has an absolute legal right to publish cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed, providing they do not incite hatred.
- The Western media is now awash with these images.
- Those who publish these images now are fully aware that there is no genuine legal restriction on this right. They are defying no formal laws on freedom of expression, only informal laws governing social behavior.
- Just because it’s wrong for Muslims to threaten death and riot over these cartoons doesn’t mean that it is a virtue to publish them. Only a child thinks that way.
- Ezra Levant is an ass, always has been ass, and always will be an ass.
Consider: For over sixty years, the music of Richard Wagner was not heard in Israel. Wagner, a notorious anti-Semite whose music was embraced by Hitler and the Nazi Party, was considered anathema in a Jewish state with a significant population of Holocaust survivors. There was no "ban" on Wagner’s music — only a social consensus that performing such music was insensitive.
Performers who wished to break that social contract could expect to suffer abuse. When the Israel Philharmonic tried to break the taboo in 1981, a Holocaust survivor stormed the stage in protest and the concert had to be stopped. Daniel Barenboim managed the feat in 2001 only by deceiving organizers of the Israel Festival and conducting an unadvertised Wagner encore.
Those who flout such taboos like to pose as fierce and principled defenders of freedom of expression. They are nothing of the sort.
As Richard Taruskin observed in the New York Times five years ago, such people "[fail] to distinguish between voluntary abstinence out of consideration for people’s feelings and a mandated imposition on people’s rights…. Censorship is always deplorable, but the exercise of forbearance can be noble. Not to be able to distinguish the noble from the deplorable is morally obtuse."
Of course, expecting Ezra Levant to behave nobly is like expecting a donkey to sing "Nessun dorma." We have the right to behave like children — for our entire lives, if we so wish. Just don’t expect to be congratulated for it.
A note: Taruskin’s article, "Music’s Dangers and the Case for Control," is not available anymore on the Times’ website. I was able to find a copy of it here. It is one of the finest essays of the immediate post-9/11 period. | <urn:uuid:7e0cb11a-6c1f-46e3-ae45-f400d31dbd31> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://paulmitchinson.com/archives/170 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944901 | 544 | 1.992188 | 2 |
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
Tentacled creatures have appeared in Japanese erotica since the Edo period; among the most famous of the early instances (and perhaps the first) is a Hokusai woodcut called The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife, depicting a woman entwined and sexually molested by a pair of octopuses. Another antecedent in Western art is La Pieuvre by Félicien Rops.
Tentacle eroticism has become popular in contemporary Japanese hentai and ero guro titles, where various tentacled monsters violently rape or otherwise impale young women (or, less commonly, men). The best-known title in the "genre" is the 1987 title Urotsukidoji.
The genre supposedly exists because of Japanese censorship regulations which prohibit the depiction of the penis but apparently do not prohibit showing sexual penetration by a tentacle or similar (often robotic) appendage.
- The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife (1820), by Hokusai
- Frontispiece by Fernand Khnopff to Joséphin Péladan’s Istar (1888)
- La Pieuvre/Octopus ()- Félicien Rops | <urn:uuid:f23ea516-40f0-4161-9b6f-99b6850e1834> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.artandpopularculture.com/Tentacle_rape | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.903008 | 260 | 2.09375 | 2 |
June 23, 1999 PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Researchers at Brown University have identified the primary signals that tell an embryo where and when a liver should appear and have used those signals to direct immature mouse cells to become liver cells and begin liver formation.
Understanding how to control both tissue growth and cell identity may lead to new disease-fighting methods that would rely on tissue regeneration and the ability to reprogram diseased cells into normal ones.
"This basic research won't translate into a cure tomorrow, but opens the way to think about new mechanisms of dealing with certain tissue degenerative diseases, particularly of the liver," said Ken Zaret, professor of molecular biology, cell biology and biochemistry in the Brown School of Medicine. "The liver is a critical organ and a target for viral hepatitis, alcoholism, metabolic diseases and cancer."
The experiments were conducted using undifferentiated cells, called endoderm cells, removed from the inner layer of mouse embryos. In the developing mouse, these endoderm cells have the potential to become a liver, pancreas, or other gut organs, based on the signals received.
In the June 18 issue of Science, Zaret and colleagues describe the signaling mechanisms that initiate these unspecialized embryonic cells to begin liver formation. The researchers developed the techniques to sift through tiny fragments of tissue to identify the relevant signaling factors. In doing so, they found that the fibroblast growth factors FGF1 and FGF2, and to some extent FGF8, begin the liver development process by differentiating the multi-potential endoderm cells into liver cells. FGF8 also helps prompt the cells to begin growing and forming liver tissue.
"Three signals are being conveyed to make sure that the liver appears at a specific time and place," Zaret said. "Thus there is a high degree of FGF signaling redundancy during liver specification."
Scientists have known that FGF signaling is important elsewhere in the body, where it prompts organ growth after initial specification by other growth factors. This study is the first to associate FGF signals with the initial specification of organs derived from gut endoderm such as the liver, pancreas, lung, stomach and thyroid. Zaret and colleagues hope to conduct further research to test whether these liver-formation signaling mechanisms influence the initial development of other cell types.
In the course of their work, the researchers isolated endoderm cells that are the explicit forerunners to the liver.
"We are working with the true embryological precursors to the liver, allowing us to study how cells go down that particular pathway," Zaret said. "With this lineage of definitive precursor cells, we have a chance of advancing the field of stem cell biology."
The study's lead author is graduate student Joonil Jung. The other authors are Zaret, former graduate student Minghua Zheng, and Mitchell Goldfarb, of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. The work was funded by the National Institutes of Health.
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Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead. | <urn:uuid:23273966-aff7-4e3b-87c1-93776dfece04> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/06/990623062540.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948635 | 657 | 2.96875 | 3 |
Decatur Evening Herald
April 21, 1927
Another Cyclone Unroofs Houses
Durant, Ok. April 21- Sixty homes were demolished and a woman injured at Caddo, Ok. 15 miles northeast of here late Wednesday when a cyclone struck the town. No deaths have been reported.
The woman, Mrs. J. W. Overstreet, was not seriously hurt. Caddo is approximately 50 miles southeast of the territory near Hugo, Ok where 11 person lost their live in a tornado Monday night.
The Caddo Herald
April 22, 1927
A Tale of a Tornado
At 6 o’clock Wednesday afternoon a cyclone traversed the west portion of town, doing a great deal of damage to property. No one was seriously injured. Mrs. J. W. Overstreet was slightly hurt by a falling brick flue.
A careful check of the storm damage at Caddo reveals the following houses damaged:
J. M Bardwell barn, mile west of town.
Martin home and barn, half a mile west of town.
J. W. Overstreet, three houses and three barns badly wrecked.
H. W. Thompson, shingles off large house; barn and garage wrecked as were other outhouses.
M. A. Linch, house skewed around and parted, porch roof off, barn wrecked.
Mr. C. V. Ellis, house and barn wrecked.
Harve Phelps, house wrecked.
Mrs. J. B. Lyle, barn wrecked.
John C. Hogan (old place), shingles off houses, barn wrecked.
Mrs. Hensley, house badly wrecked.
J. T. Petty, barn and garage gone.
W. A. Robinson, house skewed around, barn gone.
Lafferty home twisted around and parted.
J. A. Davis house badly twisted, barn gone.
H. A. Costello, house twisted, barn wrecked.
M. B. Taylor barn wrecked.
L. M. Wood, north of town, house wrenched, barn gone.
Amos K. Bass, house twisted and barn gone.
Tom Boydstun, barn damaged.
George Cobb, barn demolished.
A part of the barns of Granville Moman and J. L. Sargent were damaged. These were not in the path of the storm.
Considerable damage was done to shrubbery and trees. Several beautiful cedars are pitiable.
Clouds forming in the southwest looked like smoke belching from a large factory chimney. They swirled for ten or fifteen minutes then a cone shape began to appear, darker than the rest. At first it was indistinct, then gathering form, it began its short but destructive journey toward town. Nearly everybody burrowed into the ground. Standing room in cellars was at a premium.
A rushing, mighty wind swirled through town with the speed of a racing automobile and played havoc with everything in its path. Houses were twisted like paper boxes, roofs torn off and shingles sent flying through the air like flocks of birds. Timbers and parts of roofs were carried far from their original places of abode.
The twister struck the ground a half-mile west of town and business picked up. The garage of J. W. Overstreet was broken into kindling wood, his car taken to the middle of the street and left with its wheels dangling in the air. The home of Overstreet was a wreck, but he and his wife remained in the house, with but a slight injury to Mrs. Overstreet, who received a blow on the hip by a brick from a falling flue.
The home of H. W. Thompson was almost divested of shingles, like as if someone had picked them off one by one. The sheeting and rafters were left intact.
Thomas F. Smith, an invalid from the world war was seated in a car in front of the home of Harve Phelps. He sat through the cyclone without injury, though the top and windshield were torn from the car. His wife and child ran into a garden nearby and received only a soaking from the torrential rain.
After going through town the cyclone stopped several minutes on a hill north of town and there toyed with the debris it had picked up. The air was filled with whirling shingles, tree limbs, parts of roofs, and planks.
Then the twister vanished to give place to rain and hail. Some stones as large as hen eggs fell, but little damage was done by them for not much crops have been planted.
Within a hundred yards of the path of the twister one could get a fair idea of its modus operandi. The circle was a block wide and resembled much the ordinary whirlwinds one sees in the summer playing down the roads spinning like a large top.
For six hours after the cyclone a torrential rain fell. The streets were young rivers.
Those left homeless were gladly welcomed into homes of their neighbors.
Lights were out so the little town sat in darkness, or by candle light, thankful that no one was killed, sympathetic in each other’s company.
An hour after the main storm, lightening struck the home of W. C. Smith just out of the path. Mr. Smith had gone to succor any who might have suffered, and his home was consumed. Such a downpour of rain prevented any aid coming to him. He had some insurance. | <urn:uuid:36578cb1-080c-40aa-b455-a6b04f931f84> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mem55.typepad.com/caddo_my_home_town/2009/12/tornado-1927.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977828 | 1,149 | 1.921875 | 2 |
The falling leaves -- The pleasures of a naturalist -- The flight of birds -- Bird intimacies -- A midsummer idyl -- Near views of wild life -- With Roosevelt at Pine Knot -- A strenuous holiday -- Under genial skies -- A sheaf of nature notes -- Ruminations -- New gleanings in field and wood.
through the minute hairs on its rootlets, called fibrillæ, and the animal body absorbs its nutriment through analogous organs in the intestines, called lacteals.
Whitman's expression "the slumbering and liquid trees" often comes to my mind. They are the words of a poet who sees hidden relations and meanings everywhere. He knows how fluid and adaptive all animate nature is. The trees are wrapped in a kind of slumber in winter, and they are reservoirs of living currents in summer. If all living bodies came originally out of the sea, they brought a big dower of the sea with them. The human body is mainly a few pinches of earth salts held in solution by several gallons of water. The ashes of the living tree bulk small in comparison with the amount of water it holds. Yes, "the slumbering and liquid trees." They awaken from their slumber in the spring, the scales fall from their buds, the fountains within them are unsealed, and they again become streams of living energy, breaking into leaf and bloom an | <urn:uuid:8b467c2c-35db-4fe0-b814-ff79aa07f24d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://manybooks.net/titles/burroughsj3024630246-8.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944813 | 288 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Roommate Success Guide
Congratulations, your college years have begun! Many new and different experiences await you. An important part of college is learning to get along with others by developing an awareness and appreciation for other lifestyles and values. One of the first opportunities you will have is establishing close relationships with others. The time you will also learn about living in a community will be when you move into your room! The information below is designed to assist you in building a positive relationship with your roommate.
Also be sure to look at Emily Post’s tips for roommate success .
The Guide to Positive Roommate Relations
Having a positive relationship with your roommate depends on each of you trying to make an honest attempt to get know the other. When students are placed in a residence hall they must prepare for this new experience with an open mind and an appreciation for those differences that exist in each person’s background. The following information is designed to assist you in practicing the important communication skills of careful listening, open and honest feedback, and reaching a mutually agreed upon living arrangement.
Part I: About My Background
During the first couple of days at Delaware State, sit down with your roommate and begin to get to know each other. Even if you have been friends before coming to school, it is important to start getting to know each other as roommates. If you have just met your roommate it can be difficult to begin sharing, but start with the basics.
Some suggested topics for “breaking the ice”:
- Discuss your family backgrounds and hometowns.
- Share you reasons for choosing Delaware State University.
- Describe your neighborhood, your high school friends, and your best friends.
- Explain your hobbies, interests, and activities.
- Answer the questions: What will you miss most while being away from home? What will you miss the least?
Part II: Personal Preferences
Once you have covered the basics about each other, you are ready to move into more serious areas of concern for roommates. Living in the same room does not mean that you must do everything together nor will you necessarily be the best of friends, but you do have to develop the ability to communicate with each other and adapt to each other’s lifestyle. Discuss the following questions with each other.
- Discuss your sleeping habits (i.e., weekdays, weekend, etc.).
- Discuss what kind of sense of humor you have (e.g., silly, sarcastic, etc.).
- What time do you typically come home by? (e.g., before midnight, after midnight, 2:00 am) Discuss how to handle late nights and evenings.
- Discuss issues about the noise level in the room (e.g., TV, radio, studying, sleeping, etc.).
- How much TV do you watch and what kinds of shows do you like to watch?
- Does it bother you if your roommate watches TV when you are in the room? (Give examples when it would/would not be okay).
- Discuss what state you like the room to be in (e.g., very neat, messy, etc.)
- What kind of music do you listen to? Are there any types of music that you dislike?
- Where do you like to study?
- What belongings of yours are you willing to share? If so, what are the ground rules?
- How do you feel about the use of drugs/alcohol?
- Do you smoke? (Keep in mind, residents cannot smoke in the residence halls.)
- What are your spiritual or religious values?
- What are some of your habits that a roommate might need to know?
- What guidelines should be set for guests in the room? Under what circumstances can someone else stay in the room? Does this conflict with the University’s overnight guest policy?
Part III: My Emotional Style
How you experience and express your feelings has a lot to do with how easy you are to get along with. Roommates who enjoy living with each other typically “read” each other’s feelings fairly accurately, and respond with empathy. By sharing some information about your emotional style, you may make understanding and responding to each other easier.
Discuss the following issues:
- When I am upset about something I usually…
- Something that will usually cheer me up…
- When things are going really well I’m usually…
- I would prefer to be left alone when…
- When do you need time alone?
- How will you let me know when you need time alone?
- You’ll know when I’m angry because I usually…
- What makes you angry?
- How will you let me know when you are angry?
- I get tense or uptight when…
- What makes you tense or uptight?
- How will you let me know when you are tense or uptight?
- You’ll know I am tense/stressed because I usually…
- How will you let me know when you are tense/stressed?
- Something that is likely to annoy me is…
- How will you let me know what annoys you?
- We will communicate feelings or frustrations by…
To me, relaxing is…
Part IV: My Impressions/Reactions
The quality of roommate relationships is related to the communication between roommates. Positive relations have been shown to be typified by roommates more clearly understanding each others' expectations, more openly communicating with each other, and their ability to verbalize to each other thoughts and feelings about one another. During all of your discussions with your roommate, listen carefully. Try to be unconditionally accepting of what you hear even though you may disagree. When you are accepting, your roommate will feel free to express things honestly.
Try to follow these guidelines:
- Be willing to listen and speak openly.
- Try to understand rather than evaluate or judge.
- Be receptive to different ways of life and different values.
- Be willing to make compromises.
- Spend time getting acquainted.
Be aware of assumptions and try to get the facts.
When differences arise, try talking out issues while using the communication skills that help most—be open and honest, listen closely, and be specific.
Use the Roommate Agreement Form (see below), reevaluate your living situation, and change the ground rules. You will both change throughout the year, which means that this document should change as well.
However, if difficulties do arise in your roommate relationship, there are people and resources on campus available to assist you:
- Talk with a residence life staff member in your corridor or another staff member in the building.
- Seek assistance from the Resident Advisor, Manager, or Assistant Manager.
- If you still have a need for further assistance,
The Roommate Agreement Form
This agreement is designed to help roommates get to know each other, and to start opening the lines of communication on topics that we know are important for successful roommate relationships.
A blank Roommate Agreement will be given to all residents within the first day or two after move-in. Roommates fill out and sign the Roommate Agreement Form together.
This agreement may be revised at any time. Residents are encouraged to revisit this agreement after the first month of the semester.
Click here for a copy of the Roommate Agreement Form in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format. | <urn:uuid:f4027e07-9287-4078-84c7-ccfceae8636e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ecaple@desu.edu/print/281 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935929 | 1,543 | 2.078125 | 2 |
America's Legislators Back to School Program
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the America's Legislators Back to School Program?
How is the event organized?
How can I get involved?
Can we change the date?
Is the event geared to a specific grade level?
What kinds of resource materials are available?
Do educators support this event?
How is the project being evaluated?
Who are the NCSL contacts?
What is the America's Legislators Back to School Program? Slated to "kick off" the third week of every September, this special program gives elected officials in all 50 states the opportunity to meet personally with their young constituents and to answer questions, share ideas, listen to concerns and impart a greater understanding of the legislative processes necessary for developing effective public policy.
Sponsored by the National Conference of State Legislatures, the America's Legislators Back to School Program is designed to teach young people--the nation's future voters and leaders--what it's like to be a state legislator: the processes, the pressures, and the debate, negotiation and compromise that are the very fabric of representative democracy. NCSL emphasizes that the America's Legislators Back to School Program is a bipartisan event. Legislators of both political parties are urged to participate in this national event and to tell the story of representative democracy in America.
NCSL introduced the America's Legislators Back to School program in 1999, as a one-day event, to provide a contemporary approach for engaging the American student population in understanding the value of democracy. It was a great success and was enthusiastically received by both legislators and schools. The program was so productive and compelling that it was expanded into a one-week event in 2001 and a year long program in 2005. In 2004, more than 1,400 state lawmakers visited an estimated 320,000 students in their classrooms.
The America's Legislators Back to School Program is a program of the NCSL Foundation for State Legislatures Trust for Representative Democracy, which seeks to improve public understanding and support of our nation's democratic institutions. With the goal of helping to instill the values of representative democracy, strengthen the democratic process and encourage young Americans to play an active role in their government, the project speaks to youth in their own language about their own concerns.
How is the event organized? NCSL provides training, resources and materials, promotion strategies and organizational support. The legislative leaders of each state have been asked to appoint a state legislative coordinator to work with the legislators to develop a specific state plan to implement the program. State coordinators will also serve as liaisons with NCSL, assist in the distribution of materials and help evaluate the program.
How can I get involved? Leaders in each state have appointed state legislative coordinators who are responsible for implementing a state plan for America's Legislators Back to School Program in their state. Legislators and other groups interested in state specific activities should contact their designated state coordinator. If you want a legislator to visit and no coordinator is appointed for your state, you can contact your state legislators directly. To find out who represents you in your legislative district, check the following Web site and have your 9-digit zip code ready. http://www.vote-smart.org
Can we change the date? NCSL's national publicity for this event will focus on the third week of September as the "kick-off" for the program that will run throughout the school year. NCSL encourages flexibility in implementing the program in your state. Legislators and teachers are encouraged to schedule the classroom visits at times throughout the school year that work best for everyone involved. Contact your state coordinator to schedule a visit.
Is the event geared to a specific grade level? We do not target any particular grade level for the America's Legislators Back to School Program, although different states or individual legislators may wish to target specific grade levels. More information about specific grade level activities.
What kinds of resource materials are available? NCSL makes available, free of charge, publication and video resource materials for high school, middle/junior high school and elementary school students to be used by state legislators visiting classrooms in conjunction with the program. Online lesson plans for teachers are also available.
Back to School Program Materials Page
Online Lesson Plans
Do educators support this event? Yes. Premier education associations support The America's Legislators Back to School Program.
Back to School Program Materials
Back to School Program Partner Organizations
How is the project being evaluated? NCSL has prepared program evaluation forms for legislators, state coordinators, teachers/principals and students.
Back to School Program Evaluation Forms
Who are the NCSL contacts? NCSL staff contacts are Karl Kurtz, director of the Trust for Representative Democracy and Joyce Johnson, director's assistant. They may be reached at (303) 364-7700 or email firstname.lastname@example.org.
Updated 9/15/09; 2/28/13 | <urn:uuid:a7444643-c75f-4536-9af2-360280cf34e9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ncsl.org/legislatures-elections/backtoschool/faqs.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941575 | 1,021 | 2.46875 | 2 |
The principle of lex orandi, lex credendi (which can be translated as “the law of praying is the law of believing”) has an immediate appeal to almost all Christians. It is easy to see that how we relate to God in prayer is a mirror-like reflection of our beliefs, and we sense intuitively that our [...]
Posts Tagged ‘ Soli Deo Gloria ’
Given our recent discussions on the nature of the atonement and predestination, here’s an opportunity to apply this to something concrete at the popular level: a rap song
In this episode, Tom Riello interviews Sean Patrick and Tim Troutman on the topics of their recent articles on Called to Communion: Soli Deo Gloria and Sola Gratia.
The Divine goodness is the end of all corporeal things because the entire universe, with all its parts, is ordained towards God as its end, inasmuch as it imitates, as it were, and shows forth the Divine goodness, to the glory of God. Reasonable creatures, however, have in some special and higher manner God as [...]
Catholicism seemed like the last religion on the earth that I would ever embrace. In embracing the Gospel as understood by most Protestants, I affirmed that the Gospel was all about giving God glory, and to Him alone. If I were to sit down and choose a faith that looked Christian but missed this central [...]
The “five solas” of the Reformation are often seen as uniquely Protestant, and to be sure, most common applications are. But examining the underlying principles of the solas from a Catholic perspective is an important task for Reformed-Catholic reconciliation. And while worthier attempts would fall short of doing justice to even one of these, in this [...] | <urn:uuid:8b061cd8-e1c1-4cfc-8ab0-fdae5ba5d2ca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.calledtocommunion.com/tag/soli-deo-gloria/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955109 | 368 | 1.882813 | 2 |
In March of 2010, the united States Congress passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), which was signed into law by President Barack Obama. This historic legislation addressed some of the most pressing health care issues of our time. However, we still face many challenges providing health care to our nation's underserved populations. One of these challenges is our high level of tuberculosis (TB) infection, and the racial, ethnic, and economic disparities in the TB infection rates.
Tuberculosis is a disease of poverty affecting vulnerable groups and killing almost 4,000 people every day. Despite its prevalence, many people are unaware of the causes and risks. The disease is transmitted by the spread of germs from person- to-person through the air. The most common signs of the disease are coughing and chest pain, but symptoms can vary greatly if TB spreads from the lungs to other organs. The disease causes 1.4 million deaths per year worldwide. TB is the world's greatest killer of persons with HIV/AIDS.
As Chair Emeritus of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, I am particularly aware of the dramatic disparity in TB infection rates between ethnic groups. While only 12,904 cases of tuberculosis (4.2 cases per 100,000 persons) were reported in the united States in 2008, native Hawaiians contract the disease at a rate of 15.9 cases per 100,000 and Asian Americans contract it at a rate of 25.6 cases per 100,000—more than five times the rate of the general population.
I have worked with many of my colleagues at the local, state, and federal level to combat this disease and eliminate these disparities. Over the last few years, I have worked to make sure that efforts to counter diseases like tuberculosis remained a priority for our federal government. As a Member of the Appropriations Subcommittee for Labor, Health, Human Services, and Education, I have repeatedly fought to ensure continued funding for the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and Tuberculosis. I have also co-sponsored several TB-related bills, including the Comprehensive TB Elimination Act, and the TB Now Act.
The fight against tuberculosis does not stop at our country's borders. It requires coordinated global action as the emergence of drug-resistant TB presents new risk of pandemic and threatens the effectiveness of current HIV treatment programs, to which America is committed. The United States is the largest single donor to the Global Fund, whose programs have provided treatment to 8.2 million TB patients.
The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and funding for the Global Fund are helping to ease the burden of women afflicted with these illnesses in low and middle-income countries.
As tuberculosis affects women primarily in their economically and reproductively active years, the consequences of the disease are also strongly felt by their children and families. Too often, women afflicted with TB are left undiagnosed and end up spreading the disease to their children. Furthermore, maternal TB is associated with increased risk of mother- to-child HIV transmission.
In the past year, U.S.-funded research has made significant contributions to the treatment and prevention of Tuberculosis, AIDS, and malaria worldwide. There are promising developments in TB diagnostics, drugs, shortened treatment regimens, and vaccines, and we are on the verge of a breakthrough in the fight against TB. It is critical that we continue to support health-related research at colleges and universities-- we are on the verge of a breakthrough in the fight against TB. There also needs to be continued collaboration between the TB and HIV communities in providing prevention, treatment, and care to all people.
If we are bold and innovative in the face of the TB threat, then we can forge a future where tuberculosis is a thing of the past--a future where women and children across the globe can live healthier, safer, and fuller lives. | <urn:uuid:208cd428-c984-47c9-9fa3-7e38224c8deb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ghdnews.com/index.php/global-health-challenges/tb/16-the-fight-against-tuberculosis | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957568 | 793 | 2.421875 | 2 |
FCC chairman talks about National Broadband Plan but says little
Specifics on National Broadband Plan still mysterious
LAS VEGAS — Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski addressed an audience at the Consumer Electronics show today about the scarcity of wireless spectrum and the National Broadband Plan, due out next month. However, taking the slogan "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" a bit too literally, Genachowski revealed little new information about the plan.
Consumer Electronics Association President Gary Shapiro led the question-and-answer session.
Shapiro asked Genachowski about the process for the National Broadband Plan and whether he could "show a little leg."
“We hope it will be the living, breathing plan for the country for years," Genachowski said, adding that the broadband team has held more than 50 public hearings and workshops.
Broadband expansion could serve as an engine for economic growth and help achieve goals for health care, education, energy and public safety, Genachowski said.
However, broadband deployment remains uneven. "There are still places in the U.S. where people can't get broadband even if they wanted it," he said.
Shapiro noted that almost everyone at CES had experienced problems with their wireless devices. More than 110,000 tech-oriented people had descended on one area, and the wireless system was overloaded.
"The record is pretty clear," Genachowski said. "We need to find more spectrum." However, we also need to make more efficient use of the spectrum we have, he added.
Genachowski said we need to ask if we are devoting enough money to spectrum research. "There isn't enough spectrum for us as a country to do what we need to do."
He said the FCC needs to become a 21st-century agency. Toward that end, the agency relaunched its Web site as Reboot.fcc.gov this week with the goal of encouraging greater participation by the public.
Shapiro asked for "a one-sentence goal of where we're going." He pressed Genachowski several times for a clear summary of the FCC’s direction. "How do we measure you?" Shapiro asked. "What is it you want to do?"
"We'll announce goals," Genachowski promised in response. However, he said, "I'm not allowed to talk about [those goals] today."
Trudy Walsh is a senior writer for GCN. | <urn:uuid:de7b30c1-b6d8-4488-bfc8-bb81e531804b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fcw.com/Articles/2010/01/11/FCC-chairman-shows-very-little-leg-at-CES.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968114 | 512 | 1.6875 | 2 |
[Victor Samuel]. 1897-1974. Botanist and herbarium curator, author of Wild Orchids of Britain (1951). Doyen of orchids, in charge of orchid herbarium at Kew for 39 years 1924-64. Expert on African and Polynesian, as well as British, Orchidacaea and established Kew as world centre on the family. OBS (1950).
In 1920s, one of the pioneer ecologists, taking part in Oxford Spitsbergen expedition 1921, on which he wrote papers with W.S. Elton. Active member of British Ecological Society, treasurer 1938-57. Slight in build, 'quick and incisive in speech and manner'. A kindly man with a few amusing oddities: he wore a 'disgusting' hat when botanising and prnounced species 'svecies'. | <urn:uuid:40eb162f-f028-4020-878c-058d034c3939> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newnaturalists.com/authors/pages/v-s-summerhayes.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915685 | 186 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Ireland on Tuesday announced it will legalise abortions when the mother’s life is at risk, weeks after the death of Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar who died after being refused an abortion in the European country.
The decision comes after a huge public outcry over the death of
31-year-old Savita, who died on October 28 at Galway University Hospital. She had been 17-week pregnant and was found to be miscarrying.
Savita’s husband said she asked repeatedly for a termination of the pregnancy but was refused and was told the foetal heartbeat was still present and “this is a Catholic country”.
The Irish government has decided to repeal legislation that makes abortion a criminal act and to introduce regulations setting out when doctors can perform an abortion when a woman’s life is regarded as being at risk, including by suicide, the Telegraph newspaper reported.
Irish health minister Dr James Reilly said that the government was aware of the controversy surrounding abortion.
Ireland’s abortion laws are the strictest in Europe and any proposed legislation to decriminalise abortion will stoke furious debate in the country.
For two decades, successive Irish governments have resisted passing any law in support of a 1992 Supreme Court judgment that abortion should be legalized in Ireland in exceptional cases where pregnancy endangers a woman's life. Ireland's highest court ruled that a 14-year-old girl who had been raped by a neighbor should be provided an abortion because she was making credible threats to kill herself if denied one.
In 1992 and 2002, governments asked voters to approve constitutional amendments that would permit abortions only in medically essential circumstances, and exclude suicide threats as valid grounds. Voters rejected the proposals on both occasions.
Catholic conservatives oppose the court's suicide-threat justification, arguing it could be used to expand access to abortion beyond relatively rare cases where a pregnancy endangers a woman's life.
Reilly said the government would ensure "that the issue of suicide is not abused as it has been perceived to be" in other countries.
Kenny, a Catholic conservative himself who rose to power in March 2011, has fiercely criticized the Vatican over its involvement in the chronic cover-up of child sexual abuse by church officials in Ireland. He said all lawmakers in his party must vote in support of the government's eventual abortion bill or risk expulsion.
The Catholic Church's four archbishops in Ireland issued a joint statement urging the government to exclude any threat of suicide as grounds for granting abortion and called on lawmakers to resist Kenny's insistence on party discipline.
The government normally has an unassailable majority in parliament, but any abortion vote could threaten it. About a dozen lawmakers in Kenny's party already say they oppose voting in favor of any access to abortion. This means Kenny could require support from left-wing opposition lawmakers to ensure passage.
The archbishops said the Supreme Court judgment was flawed, and passing a law in support of that ruling "would be both tragic and unnecessary."
"The lives of untold numbers of unborn children in this state now depend on the choices that will be made by our public representatives," the archbishops wrote.
They said the government should afford lawmakers "complete respect for the freedom of conscience. No one has the right to force or coerce someone to act against their conscience."
Dr. Berry Kiely, spokesman for an Irish anti-abortion pressure group called the Pro Life Campaign, said the suicide clause would be exploited by pregnant women and represented a choice to kill an unborn baby, not a medical requirement to save a woman's life.
"A woman who says she's suicidal because of being pregnant with this baby, what she's saying is she doesn't want a living baby at the end of this procedure," Kiely said. "You're actually, in that situation, proposing to directly and intentionally ensure the death of her baby."
The Supreme Court judgment did legally empower Irish hospitals to begin providing such abortions, but doctors in practice have often refused to provide them anyway, citing the risk of facing lawsuits or criminal charges because of lawmakers' refusal to provide any definitive legislation on the matter.
Two years ago, Ireland lost a lawsuit in the European Court of Human Rights brought by three Irish women who said their health had been needlessly jeopardized by the lack of any explicit, clear Irish abortion laws.
The court agreed with litigants that Ireland failed to provide clear access to information on when abortions could be performed lawfully in the country. It also ruled that one woman, a cancer survivor in remission, should have received clear medical advice in Ireland as to whether her pregnancy posed a severe risk to her health. She ended up researching her medical circumstances on the Internet, then traveling to England for an abortion, but suffered severe medical complications because of the delay involved.
Approximately 4,000 women travel from the Republic of Ireland annually for abortions in England, where the practice was legalized in 1967.
© Copyright © 2013 HT Media Limited. All Rights Reserved. | <urn:uuid:2634ef06-ee4c-4bd0-ac41-c2fc14062391> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/974719.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975361 | 1,018 | 2 | 2 |
Editors' note: This is part of a series examining 50 years of space exploration.
If you want to be among the next group of astronauts to traipse about the moon--or among those who later land on Mars--you'll need to dress the part.
That means having a space suit that doesn't just bundle you up against the extraterrestrial elements, but one that also lets you move freely and perhaps even gracefully as you perform your everyday exploratory tasks.
Today's outer space outerwear won't cut it. As well as NASA's current space suit has performed, the so-called extravehicular mobility unit really wasn't designed for the movement and manual labor that shuttle and space station crews have undertaken. And it was built for microgravity environments, for astronauts floating around those orbiting vessels, not for the men and women who'll eventually be digging up moon rocks and sifting Martian soil for signs of water.
Enter the space suit designers. One of them is Dava Newman, a professor of aeronautics, astronautics and engineering systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her group at MIT has been working on a research project called the BioSuit, a distinctively form-fitting outfit that is meant to give its wearer much better mobility than current gear through its use of mechanical counterpressure--basically, squeezing down on the torso and limbs. By contrast, the EMU worn outside the space station is puffed up by gas pressurization.
The BioSuit won't be the actual suit worn back to the moon on NASA's Constellation missions, which are scheduled to begin with test flights in 2009, followed by flights to the International Space Station through the next decade and a return to the lunar surface around 2020. But it will likely give the space agency some ideas about what that space suit should look like and how it should be built.
Newman spoke to CNET News.com recently about how to tailor a space suit for locomotion and what it takes to get from prototype to flight suit.
Q: Can you describe the suit and what your group was aiming for with it?
Newman: We definitely were looking for some breakthrough design concepts and the technologies that might help us think about revolutionary suit concepts for 10 to 20 years out, a long-term horizon. You have to give (astronauts) a pressure suit. The conventional way is gas-pressurized suits that are fantastic--I'm in admiration of the current system--but now that we're going to go to the moon and Mars, how can we get mobility and flexibility? They're really paramount. They haven't been the showstoppers up in microgravity--different environment, different tasks to do--but now we need locomotion capability for the moon.
One of the key design features with the BioSuit is the way it's form-fitting. How does that work?
Newman: We get great mobility and flexibility. You can bend down, you can get down on your knee and pick up a rock, so we have significantly increased amounts of mobility of the limb joints.
Is that the biggest challenge in trying to redesign a space suit?
Newman: It depends which approach you take. We've taken a mechanical counterpressure approach, which means basically you apply the pressure directly to the skin. So constant pressure production is probably one of the biggest technological challenges, for sure.
As form-fitting as the BioSuit is, you still have that big, bulky helmet. Is there any way to get headgear that's not quite as disproportionate?
Newman: We think it'll be more like a conventional helmet. Not that it's bulky. Of course you'd like lightweight systems but you want to give them as much vision as possible. If you did true mechanical counterpressure for the whole suit, you'd shrink-wrap the head as well, but there's no advantage to doing that, and there are a lot of disadvantages. It's very hard to get something that tight, say, for the eye sockets. There's really no reason to do mechanical counterpressure on the head and there are good reasons to use a conventional gas-pressurized helmet design. It's comfortable.
Where our contributions come in into the helmet is more the information technology. Right now there's really no information technology displayed within the suit. So that's been a research theme for us, for sure--what information should you display to the astronaut in the suit, and how would we do that? How's my heart rate, how much oxygen do I have left? You maybe call up the topographical map of the moon, and what you need to get done, what information you need to do your exploration.
So the conventional helmet--sure, in terms of the bubble design, give them a large periphery, but we think then about layering the different kind of information content onto a helmet.
The space suits of today, they've been around for a while--are they just reaching the end of the line for what they can provide to astronauts, in terms of the kinds of missions that are coming up?
Newman: Yeah, basically the current space suit was fielded for the space shuttle. It's a great outfit, a great system, for the shuttle, and then it's performed remarkably well for the space station. The design requirements initially were not for a space station, multimonth suit in microgravity. It's really adapted and performed for changing missions, which went from shuttle to station. We'll be able to continue using both NASA's suit and the Russian suit to get the work done on the space station to do extravehicular activity, but it's definitely not a locomotion suit. You can't walk or lope or bound in it. A few steps is about the capability right now.
Day 1: Private industry moves to take over space race
The space race taking shape in the private sector today is due in large part to boyhood dreams of becoming astronauts.
Day 1: Space entrepreneur shoots for the moon
Space Adventures CEO Peter Diamandis talks about the future of private space travel to the moon and beyond.
Day 1: Key milestones in space exploration
A timeline of some of the events that brought humans into space and will guide where we go next.
Day 2: Silicon galaxy
Technologies developed by NASA have led to some of the most important commercial innovations to come out of Silicon Valley.
Day 2: The satellite age
The commercial satellite market has grown into a multibillion-dollar industry, but future growth could suffer.
Day 3: Do we need NASA?
Is NASA still worth spending more than $16 billion in taxpayer money each year?
Day 3: Designing a 21st-century space suit
MIT professor Dava Newman tells how the form-fitting BioSuit will help give NASA a ready-to-wear outfit for the moon and Mars.
Memories from the space age
CNET News.com readers (and writers) share their memories from the early days of space exploration. October 5, 2007
Japan probe approaches moon
A new space race is getting under way, with as many as five nations expecting to land hardware on the moon within five years. October 4, 2007
Who's who in space travel
The private sector is laying the groundwork for a new era of space exploration. October 3, 2007
A half-century of space flight
We take a look at how the ships that enable space exploration are evolving. October 1, 2007
Strange visitors to other planets
The first Voyager spacecraft left Earth 30 years ago. Now, nearly 10 billion miles from home, they aren't finished yet.August 28, 2007
Building a better space suit
At MIT and the University of North Dakota, researchers are trying out new designs to clothe astronauts heading to Mars. July 18, 2007
Stellar views from the Hubble at 17
NASA and ESA celebrate the Hubble Space Telescope's anniversary with colliding stars and supernovas.April 25, 2007
The race to space: Recalling Sputnik
The Baltimore Sun
Science Times special coverage
New York Times
The next 50 years in space
Happy birthday, Sputnik! (Thanks for the Internet)
Thank Sputnik for today's orbital freedom
Christian Science Monitor
Editors: Jennifer Guevin, Jim Kerstetter
Design: Andrew Ballagh
Production: Madeleine Kempton
1 commentJoin the conversation! Add your comment | <urn:uuid:c3a30c4d-d5f3-4d99-bc27-ab08b5e9a2f1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.cnet.com/QA-Designing-a-21st-century-space-suit/2009-11397_3-6211275.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950702 | 1,741 | 2.578125 | 3 |
CNN Money Cites Cost Engineering Among Top 100 Jobs in America
November 26, 2012
CNN Money, a website formed by CNN, Money and Fortune magazines, has released its 2012 report on the Top 100 Jobs in America. Jobs are ranked based upon compensation, increased demand and growth potential, perceived working condition factors such as stress, flexibility and benefit to society. Among the Top 100 jobs, according to these three news agencies were six job categories with significant representation from among AACE International members. The job categories are:
“The CNN Money study confirms that the practice of total cost management will be an attractive career choice for the foreseeable future. While this report only reflects the United States market, it is consistent with global trends toward a growing appreciation of the value added that total cost management practitioners bring to the marketplace in both the public and private sector,” commented AACE International Executive Director Dennis G. Stork. | <urn:uuid:1b30344f-b86d-4e01-ad7e-ea991052e1ad> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aacei.org/mbr/news/2012/2012-11-26.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944687 | 184 | 1.585938 | 2 |
SE Utah February Fishing Report
Abajo Mountains. DWR Conservation Officer Randall Scheetz reports little or no fishing activity at San Juan County waters. A new daily bag limit is in place at Blanding #4 Reservoir. The daily bag and possession limits of trout have been raised to 16 fish, because Blanding City plans to drain the reservoir. This change will remain in effect until March 15.
Electric Lake. No report. Bait is not allowed at this lake, where the trout limit is two.
Huntington Creek. Trout have been biting on #12 Montana nymphs. Trout average 11-12 inches. Harvest of brown trout on the left fork is encouraged, where the limit is four fish. On the left fork, fish must be taken with artificial flies or lures. On the Right Fork, from Flood and Engineer's Canyon upstream to Electric Lake dam, only two trout may be taken and artificial flies must be used. No bait or lures are allowed in this section of the creek.
Huntington Reservoir(near the top of Huntington Canyon). No recent report. Release of tiger trout is encouraged so that fish can grow larger. Any brown trout caught should be harvested. The reservoir is closed to the possession of cutthroat trout and trout with cutthroat markings.
Joes Valley Reservoir. DWR Southeastern Region Aquatics Manager Louis Berg reports that anglers, tipping a jig with a two inch dead minnow, are experiencing excellent success for 13-17 inch splake in Seely Creek Bay in 15-25 feet of water. Aquatics Biologist Mike Slater experienced good success on the west side in 10 feet of water, using a white curly tail jig tipped with a piece of chub or sucker meat. Berg encourages anglers to release all larger splake for the control of the abundant Utah chub population. The splake limit is two fish. All splake between 15-20 inches must be immediately released.
Lasal Mountains. Conservation Officer Edward Meyers reports that Ken's Lake is completely frozen. Ice thickness ranges from 10-12 inches. Meyers says that fishing has been very good. One angler caught 15 fish in three hours using a chartreuse jig and worm. Fishing seems to be best in 18-20 feet of water on the west side. Most fish are being caught 6-12 inches off the bottom.
Lower Fish Creek. Access to the middle portion of the stream on DWR property is closed until late spring. Only artificial flies or lures can be used below the railroad bridge, which is about 1 mile below the dam.
Scofield Reservoir. Fishing pressure has been heavy. No report on angling success. Release of all trout is encouraged. | <urn:uuid:6e477881-035d-4099-bfc9-90756ee4c6b8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sunadvocate.com/index.php?tier=1&article_id=318&poll=269&vote=results | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918896 | 562 | 1.625 | 2 |
Thu February 14, 2013
In Tennessee, Questions are Raised Regarding Efforts to Boost Minority Rates at Universities
A few Tennessee lawmakers are voicing concerns with a bill that aims to end any preference shown to minority groups on public college campuses. The legislation was delayed after a long committee hearing at the state capitol.
The proposal comes from out of state. A former university Regent in California who is an African American has helped pass similarly worded constitutional amendments in a few western states.
Ward Connerly says he’s attempting to re-level the playing field after years of informal affirmative action.
“We have evolved this theory that as long as we’re discriminating for good things, that that’s alright," said Connerly.
Some Republican members of the Senate Education Committee asked to put off a decision by a week. But chairwoman Delores Gresham vowed to pass the bill eventually, sharing her own experience in the military.
“I hated it when I was trotted out – one more time – as the duty, Hispanic, woman, lieutenant colonel," she said.
University presidents in Tennessee still have objections, saying it’s unclear what would be considered showing “preference” during the admittance or hiring process. | <urn:uuid:904b82dc-df71-4a6c-b74a-a2e9fa035114> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wkyufm.org/post/tennessee-questions-are-raised-regarding-efforts-boost-minority-rates-universities | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963555 | 263 | 2.109375 | 2 |
Two years after making a bet on Guatemalan nickel laterite, Anfield Nickel (ANF-V) has some hard numbers regarding the wisdom of the venture with its first preliminary economic assessment on the Mayaniquel project.
The study looks at a strip mining operation, with a 0.35-to-1 ratio, delivering 3,600 tonnes of lateritic ore to a plant for 30 years. The end result would be a mine producing 20,000 tonnes of nickel a year, within 83,000 tonnes of ferronickel.
The process would involve separating 19% of the material that would go straight to a processing plant, with the rest rerouted to an upgrading plant. The rerouted material would then be separated into lower- and higher-grade nickel, with the low grade rejected. The overall feed to the processing plant would come in at 1.68% nickel.
Later processing would involve drying and calcining the material with coal in a rotary kiln, and feeding it into an 80-megawatt furnace. Much of the accessible resource for a laterite deposit is in the saprolite, which does away with the need for a more complex high-pressure acid leach system.
But the infrastructure and electricity demands are not cheap. The study estimates capital costs of US$1.23 billion, plus sustaining capital costs of US$200 million, with a payback of just over five years. The cost per lb. nickel would be US$3.14, after a 19¢ contained iron credit.
That works out to a net present value of US$606 million at an 8% discount rate, or US$337 million with a 10% discount, while the internal rate of return comes in at 14.1%. Anfield used a long-term nickel price of US$8.25 per lb. The current price is around US$10.50.
The study is based on the Sechol and Tres Juanes deposits. An earlier report estimated that the saprolite and transition zones has 17.2 million indicated tonnes at 1.62% nickel and 23.3 million inferred tonnes at 1.44% nickel, while the lower-grade limonite zone has 7.5 million indicated tonnes at 1.2% nickel and 7 million inferred tonnes at 1.17% nickel. The company notes that the two deposits make up 63% of Anfield's indicated resources and 52% of the inferred resources, above a 1% nickel cut-off, at its Mayaniquel project.
The company was started by Ross Beaty, David Strang and Marshall Koval following their earlier success at Lumina Copper. Anfield snagged the 800-sq.-km property on Lake Izabal from BHP Billiton (BHP-N) in May 2009 for US$2.5 million, and a 1.5% net smelter return royalty, after the global giant largely pulled out of the sector.
Guatemala has a presidential election coming up in September, but Anfield president and CEO Koval said in a conference call that the heads of the two leading parties were both pro-development, and he doesn't anticipate any problems with the upcoming election.
Anfield's share price rose 45¢ over two days, closing at $4.90 the day after the results were released. The company has a 52-week share price range between $2.89 and $5. Anfield has 38 million shares out, with Lumina Capital holding about 35%.
© 1915 - 2013 The Northern Miner. All Rights Reserved. | <urn:uuid:e663d036-c07b-4688-b59f-c850fd9a102d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.northernminer.com/news/anfield-gets-hard-numbers-for-mayaniquel-project/1000531080/?type=HotSectors | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945799 | 728 | 2.015625 | 2 |
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£45K boost for wildlife project
7:00pm Friday 27th July 2012 in New Forest
A NEW campaign to protect wildlife in the New Forest has received a £45,000 boost.
The National Park Authority (NPA) has obtained a grant towards the cost of developing community wildlife plans with the help of parish councils and other organisations.
The plans will identify habitats such as ponds, rivers and woodland – and the species that live in them.
An NPA spokesman said: “The aim is to help residents better understand the importance of where they live and how changes in wildlife management and restoration projects will enhance these areas.
“In each area community wildlife champions will receive training from a project officer.
“They will work with the Land Advice Service, leading survey work and becoming local experts on natural environment issues.”
The grant has come from the Rural Development Programme for England.
Kathryn Boler, the NPA’s external funding officer, said the project would help residents protect key habitats and species.
“It is a great opportunity for people with an interest in wildlife to get involved and find out what is on their doorstep.” | <urn:uuid:bbfc428e-0f89-4d73-b3ad-3d3a5a3cb5f8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/district/newforest/9842878.__45K_boost_for_wildlife_project/?ref=rss | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946509 | 270 | 1.679688 | 2 |
You might think of Bit.ly simply as a service that shortens links for your Twitter feed. But to Hilary Mason, the company’s chief scientist, Bit.ly is building a fresh new way to know what’s going on in the world.
Check out this video to learn more about Bit.ly’s mission and what inspires Mason to keep innovating.
Read more about how Bit.ly reveals the web and the world.
See more from our Who’s Next series for more profiles of big thinkers. | <urn:uuid:57e44697-c307-4a8f-ab26-375a1e040d0e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.fastcompany.com/post/11868966476/you-might-think-of-bit-ly-simply-as-a-service-that | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921792 | 113 | 1.546875 | 2 |
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Zmag Article, February, 01 2008
Chamberlain's ZSpace page
In 1996 Museveni’s troops began forcing the northern Acholi people into concentration camps. Though some entered the camps voluntarily for their own security, the majority were forced there by Museveni’s troops, who bombed and burned Acholi villag... | <urn:uuid:d3b5e1fe-3a80-437b-a17c-42db1e25d5e7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.zcommunications.org/zsearch/contents_list/209520 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94021 | 81 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Compiled by Melissa Quinn
On Tuesday night, school board candidates from districts A, B and C met at George Washington Middle School to discuss the most significant topics facing Alexandria City Public Schools. The debate, hosted by the PTA Council, addressed hot button issues like capacity, city council and redistricting. [Editor's note: The Times limited coverage to the competitive races in Districts A and B only.]
Every available classroom in the ACPS is being used yet enrollment continues to rise. Additional schools beyond the three that are already planned and budgeted for will take years to construct and are not a solution to our immediate pain. Possible short term solutions mentioned by ACPS include increasing class sizes, creating a staggered schedule with some students arriving early and others late, creating satellite centers, additional online learning opportunities, moving from a neighborhood elementary school model toward one in which some spots are reserved for the neighborhood but the rest are open to the rest of the city, and adding modulars to existing buildings. What do you think is the best way to address the capacity problem?
Bill Campbell (District A): We can’t just keep talking about it. We have to come up with a realistic plan that looks at what’s happening in terms of construction, and what our projections are. In terms of more short range [solutions], the student to teacher ratio [could be tweaked]. If you have socially and emotionally competent kids, you can have a higher ratio.
There are things you can do. I’m not absolutely married to the lower class size, especially if we have room for modulars. … Certainly, we can have modulars in the short term but in the long run we’ve got to develop a more comprehensive, long-range plan for capacity. And that also includes looking at rezoning.
Marc Williams (District B): We have 2,600 more students now than we did in 2008. That’s a 25 percent increase. … Thankfully, it’s a great problem to have that we have lots of students coming to our public schools. We do have some short-term fixes — the modified open enrollment [and] we have the modular units — but we are going to have to build and I think that needs to come through in the city council election. … We are going to have to build new schools and we will probably have to go to a different type of enrollment system. I would like to look at a parental choice system that would emphasize diversity and proximity: living near your home and going [to school] where you live.”
Describe one program in place within ACPS that has particularly impressed you and that you are committed to continuing should you be elected? And conversely describe one program that you believe should be eliminated?
Heath Wells (District A): “I am very proud of the success of the AP programs and the AP tests that have been coming out of the Alexandria school system. We have more kids taking the tests; we’ve got more kids in the classes than any others in the school system. I’d love to see that expanded because I think kids will stretch to meet the challenges. [If] we get more kids in AP programs we’ll get more kids that [will] learn what they need to learn. The one thing I’d like to see pulled back is this flavor of the month club that I see going through much of Alexandria. For example, at [Jefferson-Houston], they’re talking about starting the International Baccalaureate [curriculum] at the grade school level. And while I’m all for the International Baccalaureate at the high school level, at the grade school level it’s not as well known and it’s already supposed to be a music and arts school [at that school]. We need to let them be what they’re intended to be, not keep changing it so the kids keep trying to figure it out.
Kelly Carmichael Booz (District B): “There are a number of programs that I have been impressed with in Alexandria but in particular I really like the AVID program that has been implemented in Alexandria. It’s a great way to get students to tackle the achievement gap — students that are going to be perhaps the first students that are going to college in their family or perhaps students who are lower performing students, [this will] let them know that they can succeed, that they can do this, that they can take these honors advanced classes. I think it’s a really great program.
I’d also argue that the individual achievement program plan is a really great program in Alexandria. I’d like to see it expanded.
In terms of programs that need to be eliminated, there have been a lot of programs that have been instituted in the last three to six years. In fact, I feel like I’m learning about a new program every day. So I’m hoping to come to the table with my experience in education, my experience of developing curriculum and evaluating curriculum and do an inventory of those programs.
For example, Success for All and some of the reading programs. I’ve heard some of the people rave about that program and then I’ve heard people that are saying ‘this is not great, this is not good for my student.’ I really want to get to the bottom of that and evaluate those programs. The IB program, I’m a huge supporter of that program, but I’m not sure if it’s been implemented fully, and I want to evaluate that.”
Dr. Sherman has raised the issue of racial imbalances between our middle schools. Hammond has roughly a 10 percent white population and [George Washington's] white population is about 37 percent. He has suggested that ACPS may need to take steps to address this with the implication of re-districting. What is your opinion on this issue?
Justin Keating (District B): “I think everybody in this room and everybody that has a child in ACPS, we comprise the diversity of our schools. That said, I think it doesn’t make sense to focus on getting our two middle schools exactly the same in terms of black percentage and white percentage. There’s a lot more diversity than simply color of skin and it doesn’t make sense [to focus on] the need for that parity there.
Are there any educational innovations you have read about or seen in action that you would like to see brought to Alexandria schools?
Michael Brookbank (District B): “Well I actually brought two. You know I like STEM so I’m particularly fond of this program. The Charles R. Drew school in Atlanta adds an A to the STEM program for arts. Partnering with two local universities, it has brought in local writers, illustrators, painters and other artists to provide instruction to the school. And I think that is an excellent example of how we can bring an initiative into the system that we already have.
The second one is at Saddlebrook elementary in Omaha, Neb. This is a community school or multi-purpose building, it’s initially a [kindergarten through fifth grade] elementary school but it’s also a public library, a parks and recreation rec center with elevated walking track and during the school day, one wing of the library is closed off by a magic book case. At the end of the day, the school opens that for use of the entire population. It is also school clinic, with the staff to screen students for glasses, hearing, nutrition, vaccinations and other health issues. In this city where we’re very tightly space, a multi-use buildings make lots of sense.”
How would you describe the relationship between the roles of city council and the school board? If elected, what would you do to make this relationship as collaborative and effective as possible?
Chyrell Bucksell (District B): Well it’s very important that when we have our work sessions with the city council that we honestly bring every effort and everything that we’re working on to the table. It’s important to be honest and open with city council to let them know the ideas that we have to improve our school system. It’s important the city council supports the school system. I’m sure a lot of people that don’t have kids in the school system heard a lot about the school superintendent this year because of a city council member making comments about [him]. So it’s important that those kinds of things don’t happen. We want the city council to support our efforts and we want to support the city council as well in their efforts.
How would you work with the superintendent if there were a disagreement about the [value of individual] programs?
Karen Graf (District A): I have seen programs implemented where [the program] doesn’t match up with the audience’s needs. I think it’s a waste of money to spend on kids who don’t need different types of instruction and it is taking from the children who need the instruction. We need to analyze the finances behind the programs and, like I said in my intro, to meet the goals and have clear measurements in place to know whether we’re succeeding. It seems lately we’ve been on an 18-month cycle where if we’re not seeing progress we change it. It takes a long time for change [to happen] and to see change … and that’s frustrating. It’s part of the job. We have to work with the superintendent.
Joyce Rawlings (District A): “There has to be open and honest dialogue when there is a disagreement. We need to hear from the community so we can address them so we don’t keep keeping it inside. I really think there needs to be open dialogue, respectful differences of opinion, with eyes open to it on all sides.
What would you do to change about special education scores if you were on the board?
Stephanie Kapsis (District A): “I worked with a principal who had all teachers refer to students as students with special needs, putting them as students first as you would do with any other student. I was always impressed with [the principal] putting them as students first and foremost.”
What is your view regarding whether ACPS should participate in the Thomas Jefferson High School program for science and technology?
Helen Morris (District A): “We would have the opportunity to allow 13 students who live in Alexandria and attend Alexandria City Public Schools to have the opportunity to apply and put their application into a pool. Even if we got 50 percent of our kids in — seven — that’s not 13 spots. [It’s just the] 13 who can apply. I don’t know what the right answer is. | <urn:uuid:73d0a85a-59bd-4d22-8ccd-b459ad332ba8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://alextimes.com/2012/10/alexandria-school-board-debate-digest/?pagenum=4&sort=id&dir=DESC | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969095 | 2,280 | 1.6875 | 2 |
New water pumps at Yongsan, South Korea save money
January 24, 2013
YONGSAN GARRISON, Republic of Korea (Jan. 24, 201) -- U.S. Army Garrison Yongsan took a big step forward to save tax payers' dollars by replacing deteriorated in-line pumps at the well water intake station to brand new efficient pump. The garrison expects to save over $1.3 million by not purchasing City Water.
USAG Yongsan relied on two sources of water: The primary source of water is the wells and the Seoul City Water as an Emergency backup. However, the garrison depended more on the City Water because they constantly lost water with the deteriorated pumps and the pumps couldn't meet the hydraulic needs of the community.
Calvin Cobbs, chief of Plant Operations and Sanitation Branch for USAG Yongsan's Directorate of Public Works, through his personal investigation, made a decision that the garrison could be saving more money by implementing the new system at the wells even if they can operate it for only few years.
The original pumps produced water at an efficiency rate of less than 20 percent per each pump, which indicated that the pumps had passed their life cycle and needed to be replaced.
"The garrison was using on or about 40 percent city water and 60 percent well water to service water to the community," Cobbs said. "We are now using 100 percent well water and have ordered all city water lines closed."
Economic matter was not the only reason the project was planned. Cobbs was also concerned about the risk of losing water from the defected pipe and the possible outcome of it.
"Losing water in the pipeline may have caused sink hole which can lead to an unfortunate accident from subsurface erosion and cause a serious damage to the host nation main arterial," Cobbs said.
The cost to replace the intake pumps at the Han River well was $405,977. The work was done through the Energy Savings Contract Program by Johnson Controls.
This is one of many on-going energy saving projects at Yongsan garrison. By saving energy, Yongsan supports the Department of the Defense's budget.
"Now that we will realize a return on the investment on or about six months from now as a result of the $1.3 million savings," Cobbs said. "I have turned my attention to the waste water system to determine similar cost savings were we can reduce the cost of waste water charges paid to the host nation." | <urn:uuid:517b1717-f54e-4c77-8cd5-d4731610bbfb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.army.mil/article/94942/New_water_pumps_at_Yongsan__South_Korea_save___/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974095 | 507 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Can you live with the unknown?
That’s part of being a human. We can try to take steps to produce the best possible outcome, but in the end anything beyond this moment is a complete mystery. Most of us find that really difficult to live with. We want to know what our future holds. We want to ensure a future of safety, financial security, and happiness. We do so many things to try and create a better or a positive outcome for what is to come.
Now, if you are a mother – you worry about their future too. It’s not just your own future that preopccupies your thoughts. We wonder how our children are going to do in school. We wonder if they will graduate and want to go to college. We want them to go to college. So, we do our best to instil a love of learning in them and encourage them to get good grades so that they will be able to go to a good school. Still, we cannot be sure of any of it. When they are young, we cannot be positive that they will like school. We cannot be positive that even if they do fantastic in school they will want to go to college. Even if they go to college we cannot be sure they will come out of college to get a good job. Nothing is ever for sure until the moment it actually happens. We cannot be sure our children find a partner who is right for them and who will make them happy for the rest of their lives. There is so much about which we cannot be sure. And yet, we put so much time and energy trying to do all the things necessary to make sure they are happy in the future and that they do well in life. And still, sometimes all our efforts do not produce the desired results. Their life is a complicated mix of influences and there is nothing we can do to prevent them from fulfilling their own destinies. Sometimes it will work out exactly as we had planned and sometimes it won’t. As children, they are like little sponges soaking up what everyone is telling them from us to the TV to the kid next door. All we can do is our best. But can we live with the unknown? Can we live with not knowing how their future will turn out? Can we live with not knowing how our future will turn out? Can we love them with all our hearts right now and know that that is enough no matter what happens 10 years down the line? Can we live with the unknown? A lot of us cannot. We are so busy trying to control the future that we forget to enjoy the present.
No one can predict their future. | <urn:uuid:c53a5dba-1acd-48d5-a3b5-048c40697070> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.letahamilton.com/blog/can-you-live-with-the-unknown | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976105 | 546 | 1.867188 | 2 |
The Camelia Botnar Foundation provides residential training and work experience, helping young people to learn a skilled trade, embark on a useful career path and successfully make their own way in
The Foundation invites applications from anywhere in the UK. Potential trainees can be either
male or female, but must be aged between 16 and 19 and have left full time schooling.
Applicants should be in a disadvantaged or problematic situation. They may be referred to
the Foundation by their probation officers, social services, schools, organisations that help young people in difficulty, or by direct approach from relatives, guardians or the applicants themselves.
Whatever the referral, each application must be voluntary.
No previous experience in a particular craft or skill is needed and no academic
requirements are imposed.
The Foundation welcomes applications from anyone who meets the basic entry criteria and who have
a real and positive commitment to learning a skilled trade and to changing the pattern of their life for the better and for good.
For further information please see our How to Apply page. | <urn:uuid:49cc10ad-80b9-414a-b2dd-a78fe17e032a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cameliabotnar.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932254 | 209 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Healthy People 2020 will hold a webinar on Thursday, March 21, noon ET, highlighting the success of 1 community-wide partnership in reducing childhood obesity through community outreach, advocacy, education, policy development, and environmental change. US Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Health, Howard Koh, MD, MPH, will lead the 45-minute webinar, which will include a roundtable discussion on the impact of this critical leading health indicator topic.
Register here for this event.
Last week, 2 APTA members participated in the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute's (PCORI) Preventing Injuries From Falls in the Elderly work group meeting held in Washington, DC. Bonita (Lynn) Beattie, PT, MPT, MHA, vice president of injury prevention, National Council on Aging, and Steven Wolf, PT, PhD, FAPTA, FAHA, professor, departments of rehab medicine and medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, are part of a 14-member diverse work group that includes perspectives of researchers, patients, and other stakeholders.
Beattie presented in a session on patient and stakeholder perspectives on information gaps. Wolf spoke during the researcher presentations. The work group also discussed proposed research topics, refinement of research questions to be addressed, and next steps.
More information and presentation slides from the meeting can be found on PCORI's website. PCORI is accepting comments and questions through March 26, and the group will consider input as it develops targeted funding announcements to address falls prevention.
PCORI aims to help people make informed health care decisions and improve health care delivery and outcomes by producing and promoting high-integrity, evidence-based information that comes from research guided by patients, caregivers, and the broader health care community. | <urn:uuid:65532a94-9350-4133-aed9-c12aa29e7a67> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.apta.org/PTinMotion/NewsNow/2013/1/18/COEDonation/?blogmonth=3&blogday=18&blogyear=2013&blogid=10737418615 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92756 | 369 | 1.90625 | 2 |
Gems and jewellery exports down 20%
In October last year, these exports stood at USD 3.39 billion.
"The demand for gems and jewellery items is still sluggish in the US and European markets. This is hitting our exports," an official of the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEP) said.
Major markets for the country's gems and jewellery include Europe, the US, the UAE and Hong Kong.
In the beginning of the fiscal, the council had estimated that gems and jewellery exports would touch USD 40 billion in 2012-13.
However, during April-October 2012, these exports dropped 13.1 per cent stood at USD 22.5 billion compared to USD 25.9 billion.
Gems and jewellery exports sector which employs 1.5 million people constitute 17 per cent of India's total exports.
During 2011-12, these exports were worth USD 43 billion.
Be the first to comment. | <urn:uuid:b214056d-e02d-4cc5-af93-93797dc4f331> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.financialexpress.com/news/gems-and-jewellery-exports-down-20-/1033752/0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949811 | 198 | 1.632813 | 2 |
SciAm reports on a new meta-study:
In the aftermath of traumatic events like the Newtown massacre, Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Katrina, children need to heal, just as adults do. ...This means that the experts who prescribe drugs and other therapies are not following the scientific evidence on what works, and those who promote these therapies have been unable to show any benefit. This meta-study says that no pharmacotherapy intervention demonstrated efficacy.
The study focused on non-interpersonal trauma, such as natural disasters, terrorism and community violence, and excluded sexual abuse and domestic violence. A total of 22 trials meeting the criteria provided evidence on interventions for children exposed to trauma. ...
Among the 20 treatments included in those trials were various psychotherapies focusing on trauma or grief, school-based programs, group therapy and three medication trials: imipramine (Tofranil), fluoxetine (Prozac) and sertraline (Zoloft). The results are sobering: researchers don't know if any medications help, don't know if anything works long-term, and don't know much about possible harms from interventions.
Most of these studies did not even consider the possibility that the therapies could be harmful, even tho drugs have side effects and studies show that grief therapy makes people worse. SciAm continues:
In fact, some PTSD therapies have shown harms in adults recovering from sexual abuse, such as retraumatization, but only five studies in this review even looked for harms. No harms were found in two psychotherapy trials, but among the three medication trials, none showed benefit and one showed possible harm. The placebo group in the sertraline study showed more improvement in quality of life measures than those receiving the medication showed, and those taking sertraline experienced side effects from the medication and more suicidal thoughts.So what does help? Having family support:
A growing body of research points to the importance of "protective factors" in helping children cope with trauma and develop resilience. Protective factors include how engaged children are with their communities, schools and faith, how well they regulate their emotions, what their support systems are and how attached they are to a caregiver.The phrase "attached ... to a caregiver" seems to be some sort of liberal euphemism for having a mom and dad in the home. The article uses this term as if a babysitter or social worker were an adequate substitute for a parent, but no study says that.
As noted before, the rise of therapism is a direct attack on the American family. It is led by supposed experts, but it is not grounded in scientific research.
A long NY Times story on the hazards of psychotropic drugs reports:
Various studies have estimated that 8 percent to 35 percent of college students take stimulant pills to enhance school performance. Few students realize that giving or accepting even one Adderall pill from a friend with a prescription is a federal crime. Adderall and its stimulant siblings are classified by the Drug Enforcement Administration as Schedule II drugs, in the same category as cocaine, because of their highly addictive properties.Another long NY Times article on student pressure says that stress is not necessarily harmful:
There are many psychological and physiological reasons that long-term stress is harmful, but the science of elite performance has drawn a different conclusion about short-term stress. Studies that compare professionals with amateur competitors — whether concert pianists, male rugby or female volleyball players — show that professionals feel just as much anxiety as amateurs. The difference is in how they interpret their anxiety. The amateurs view it as detrimental, while the professionals tend to view stress as energizing. It gets them to focus.So if you hear an expert say that stress is bad, realize that stress of often good for kids. | <urn:uuid:fa7922f6-d733-4b73-aeba-b565e42fc7f3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.eagleforum.org/2013/02/trauma-therapy-causes-harm.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960888 | 774 | 2.625 | 3 |
Wednesday, March 20, 2013 11:00 AM
Dawson County Library
TOTALLY TODDLERS is designed for children ages 2 to 3. The program is shorter than Movers and Shakers Story Time and offers age appropriate books, songs, and fingerplays. Children in this age range tend to have a shorter attention span, so several short activities are used between each book in order to hold the child's interest.
Check the description for complete information on the gathering area for each event.
EventList powered by schlu.net | <urn:uuid:32753173-460d-44a2-b661-43f4cb627c8a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://chestateelibrary.org/index.php?view=details&id=1553:totally-toddlers&option=com_eventlist&Itemid=75&el_mcal_month=3&el_mcal_year=2013 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91977 | 111 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Connecting a Camera to an iPad
Here are some guidelines to follow if you are interested in connecting a camera to your iPad:
1. You will need to purchase an iPad camera connection kit (no matter what type of camera you are using)
2. Make sure that the camera you’d like to use is compatible with the iPad (look on the camera maker’s website)
3. You may need to purchase a USB hub that has an external power supply. You will know whether a hub is required if when you plug the camera into the iPad using the connector you receive a message on your iPad that says insufficient power for the connected device.
For anyone interested in connecting a pocket video camera (e.g., Flip camera) to your iPad, you will most likely need a USB hub.
As a side note, anyone who is interested in photo or video editing apps should look at the apps FlipShare and ReelDirector. ReelDirector is one of the few video processing apps that will download to the 1st Gen iPad. Most of the the video apps require an integrated camera, such as you’d find in an iPhone. | <urn:uuid:b242de58-f8a8-49c0-8634-2f2421f760ff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.as.ua.edu/ipad/connecting-a-camera-to-an-ipad/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942416 | 237 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Investigation of the link between early brain enlargement and abnormal functional connectivity in autism spectrum disorders
University of Washington
Basic & Clinical
People with autism have been found to have abnormalities in brain growth, characterized by an enlargement of the brain early in development, followed by premature growth arrest. In the present study, researchers will test the hypothesis that early changes in brain growth in autism has long-term consequences for neural connectivity, or communication between different regions of the brain, as changes in connectivity are thought to underlie the symptoms of autism. Dr. Kleinhans and colleagues will examine this proposed relationship between early brain growth and later brain connectivity. They will gather previously collected measurements of brain size and volume from 3 to 5 year old children with low-functioning autism. When these children are 15 years old, they will be asked to participate in a brain imaging study using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a non-invasive method of imaging patterns of brain activity and neural connectivity. These data should determine whether an increase in brain size during childhood is correlated with weakened or changed patterns of connections between brain regions in teenagers with autism, and contribute to our understanding of the developmental basis of behavioral impairment and clinical outcomes in autism spectrum disorders. | <urn:uuid:16b1207e-f550-4e15-b96d-544926e68949> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.autismspeaks.org/neuroscience/grants/investigation-link-between-early-brain-enlargement-and-abnormal-functional-conne | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934777 | 247 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Floridians who take the time to sit through public meetings of local boards, commissions and state agencies will no longer be barred from speaking up, under a bill that is on its way to passage in the Florida Senate.
Sen. Joe Negron, R-Palm Harbor, has proposed SB 50, which would require local and state agencies to let the public speak before their boards take any action. The Legislature is not included in the requirement. The Senate gave it preliminary approval Tuesday.
“Among our most cherished rights are a right to a trial by jury, our right to vote and our right to speak,’’ said Negron, a lawyer and 9-year veteran of the legislature. “It may be surprising to learn that under our statutes in Florida, while the public has a right to attend a public meeting, it doesn’t have a right to speak.”
The goal, he said, is not to tell state and local boards how to give public access to speak out, just require that they do it.
“You work for the citizens and if you are making decisions that affect the public, the public has a right to speak,’’ he said.
There are no penalties attached to the proposal, although members of the public can sue a board if they believe the law has been violated, and can recover attorneys fees in the process. “I don’t want to criminalize more things,’’ he said.
Meetings of boards that are “quasi-judicial” in nature and are exempt from the public meetings laws will also be exempt from the statute. | <urn:uuid:d233c6a5-3aaf-4816-bd7c-89e7fde6ff6f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2013/03/senate-advances-bill-to-give-public-voice-before-boards-and-commissions.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974878 | 340 | 1.65625 | 2 |
I'm sorry to hear so many people have been taught the wrong way to use wheatgrass juice and are using grass that is too old and bitter.
When Dr. Wigmore’s doctors in Boston tested the grass in their labs, the grass that is 7 days old was very sweet.
If a person has parasites, bacteria and viruses in their GI tract, it will make you throw up, definitely. It’s supposed to. It you’re not upchucking, it’s not working.
The optimum way to take it is to chew every mouthful at least 2 minutes before you swallow it. That way everything is broken down for easy assimilation. The protein is broken down into amino acids; the starch, into simple sugar; and the fat, into essential fatty acids.
Cutting it on the 7th day is the trick, because on that day, something very special happens – the electrical force switches from positive ionization (which makes you feel like you are under a fluorescent tube all day or in a ’sick’ office) to negative ionization (which makes you feel like you’re in a rain, or at the beach, fresh and alert).
I don’t like the grass that is being grown with animal manure because the pathogens have not been killed all the way, for most of those that I’ve tried, and it’s dangerous.
It’s so easy to grow your own. Take a teaspoon of kelp and sprinkle it on the dirt and mix it in well and it won’t mold. The peroxide works too, but it not as good as the kelp. When we began to grow wheatgrass, buckwheat and sunflower tray greens in Puerto Rico at the Ann Wigmore Institute there, we had to move the nursery around until we got the temperature just right, because they need around 72 F.
My email address is firstname.lastname@example.org if you want to know private things to do with wheatgrass juice.
I have it growing and I just cut some off and chew it and spit the pulp out.
It should not be put into smoothies, ever.
Peace and Love Be With You,
Dr. Flora van Orden III | <urn:uuid:e3f5bdb3-ce7e-435d-ab8a-086ee81c0f27> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rawlivingfoods.typepad.com/1/2010/05/the-proper-use-of-wheatgrass.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959451 | 475 | 1.890625 | 2 |
You can officially call New York City the “Marijuana Arrest Capital of the World,” according to a new report from the Drug Policy Alliance. Not only do low-level pot possession offenses make up the number one reason for arrest in the city, 86 percent of those arrested are black or Latino. The overwhelming majority are people under the age of 30. In 2010, 50,383 people were arrested for low-level marijuana offenses.
In 2005, just 29,752 people were arrested for similar offenses, the Drug Policy Alliance says, adding that marijuana use hasn’t increased. Rather, the “dramatic rise” in arrests is due to a shift in policy within the NYPD to prioritize low-level drug offenses. The city is going on the sixth consecutive year of increases in arrests for pot possession.
“The NYPD and Mayor Bloomberg are waging a war on young blacks and Latinos in New York,” said Kyung Ji Rhee, director of the Institute for Juvenile Justice Reforms and Alternatives, in a statement. “These 50,000 arrests for small amounts of marijuana can have devastating consequences for New Yorkers and their families, including: permanent criminal records, loss of financial aid, possible loss of child custody, loss of public housing and a host of other collateral damage. It’s not a coincidence that the neighborhoods with high marijuana arrests are the same neighborhoods with high stop-and-frisks and high juvenile arrests.”
It’s not just that these mass arrests cripple black and Latino communities. Blacks are not more likely than whites, and in fact as of 1994 were less likely than whites to be past or current users of drugs. A more recent 2009 study from the Department of Health and Human Services pins drug use among black, white, Latino and Native American communities around a very close range, all are around seven to 10 percent. And yet the disparities in arrests are vast.
If ever a person needed more salient proof of systemic inequities in criminal justice system, these numbers seem to provide it. | <urn:uuid:36ec5cd5-b053-4a5a-b9c9-9da86ce3bfeb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://colorlines.com/archives/2011/02/report_blacks_and_latinos_are_86_of_2010_nyc_arrests_for_pot_possession.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948624 | 422 | 1.945313 | 2 |
To GOD OF THE FREE
GOD OF THE FREE, we pledge our hearts and lives today to the cause of all free mankind.
Grant us victory over the tyrants who would enslave all free men and nations. Grant us faith and understanding to cherish all those who fight for freedom as if they were our brothers. Grant us brotherhood in hope and union, not only for the space of this bitter war, but for the days to come which shall and must unite all the children of earth.
Our earth is but a small star in the great universe. Yet of it we can make, if we choose, a planet unvexed by war, untroubled by hunger or fear, undivided by senseless distinctions of race, color or theory. Grant us that courage and foreseeing to begin this task today that our children and our children's children may be proud of the name of man.
The spirit of man has awakened and the soul of man has gone forth. Grant us the wisdom and the vision to comprehend the greatness of man's spirit that suffers and endures so hugely for a goal beyond his own brief span. Grant us honor for our dead who died in the faith, honor for our living who work and strive for the faith, redemption and security for all captive lands and peoples. Grant us patience with the deluded and pity for the betrayed. And grant us the skill and valor that shall cleanse the world of oppression and the old base doctrine that the strong must eat the weak because they are strong.
Yet most of all grant us brotherhood, not only for this day but for all our years-a brotherhood not of words but of acts and deeds. We are all of us children of earth-grant us that simple knowledge. If our brothers are oppressed, then we are oppressed. If they hunger we hunger. If their freedom is taken away our freedom is not secure. Grant us a common faith that man shall know bread and peace-that he shall know justice and righteousness, freedom and security, an equal opportunity and an equal chance to do his best, not only in our own lands, but throughout the world. And in that faith let us march toward the clean world our hands can make. Amen.
1 By Stephen Vincent Benét. Written for and read by President Roosevelt to the United Nations on Flag Day, 1942.
Contact AQUAAC | Home | Diamond Light | Greeting Cards | United Nations | Guestbook | <urn:uuid:519f1a4e-4cdd-4e45-b89e-8b2e4073eaeb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aquaac.org/un/prayer.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933937 | 502 | 1.90625 | 2 |
Click on each of the following links to explore informally a wide range of K-12 innovations and resources, many by Alaskan Natives. Return to your favorite sites at your convenience for more in-depth exploration. The most interesting part of many web sites is often their listings of other web sites, where one generally makes the greatest discoveries of new resources.
The following cultural web sites are from the "Favorite Native American Resources" listing at http://lone-eagles.com/native.htm
Alaskan Educational Institution Resources
|Alaskool Alaskan Native Curriculum
We feature some of the best materials on Alaska Native history and culture available,
and the tools to help instructors use them in the classroom.With our Interactive
Curriculum Planner and Class Bookmarks teachers can
tailor students' Alaskool experience to suit their educational goals and
objectives, as well as national standards.
|Alaskan K12 School Web Sites:
The master listing!
|How to find a Teaching Job in Alaska!
|Alaskan Native Knowledge Network
A major project based at the University of Alaska/Fairbanks Campus,
supported by the National Science Foundation and the Annenberg Rural
Challenge to collect and disseminate indigenous curriculum.
|Arctic Celebration Student Cultural Projects
|Alaskan Regional Assistance Center: AKRAC
|Juneau School District
See "Favorite Links" for more Alaskan Educational Resources.
|Todd Bergman's "Made In Alaska" Integrated
History and Technology Unit
Exceptionally interesting; the history of technologies and their cultural impacts in Alaska.
Yukon-Koyukuk Regional Consortium Web pages
|Yukon-Koyukuk School Distric
|GCI School Access|
|Galena Charter School, Interior
Distance Learning for Alaska (IDEA) and Yukon-Koyukuk School District
The official web page for the Galena School District's many innovative
|Delta Junction Cyberschool
|CyberLynx Cyberschool from Nenana
Alaskan K12 Web Innovations WebTour
Review the following innovations of teachers and students with the understanding that learning the "how-to's" is not nearly as important as understanding what computers and Internet make possible. Once you know what you want to learn, there are many learning options available and its never as hard as you'd thought it would be. The secrets here are that 1. It's more fun to learn with others, and 2. Students often can learn many of these skills and teach them to their classmates!
There are now over 5,000 quality instructional web sites created by students posted at the Thinkquest web site. Listed by subject area, this resource is exciting for teachers in that the resources are ready to use and that they motivate students when they learn the web sites are student-created. Several Alaskan schools have won in both the 1996 and 1997 competitions.. See the Thinkquest site for details! http://www.thinkquest.org (Search for keyword "Alaska")
Other Native Cultural Projects of Interest
This year, two high schools will graduate their first classes of students who have attended schools where the Hawaiian language was the dominant language for all 12 years. Twelve language immersion schools are in operation currently. An entire K12 printed curriculum has been translated into Hawaiian. Academic scores were 30% higher than English-based comparable schools. Six hundred Native speakers use electronic communications to exchange information in their Native language on the projects First Class BBS. This BBS is also used by elementary students. The software for this bulletin board system (BBS) has menus in Hawaiian. The Netscape web browser will be modified so all its menus are also in Hawaiian.
Seven hundred hours of oral histories of Native elders will soon be posted on the Internet as a means of sharing their cultural history. Keola Donaghy, at the University of Hawaii, Hilo Campus, is the lead teacher (firstname.lastname@example.org) and has written the following summaries of this work: http://lone-eagles.com/keola.htm and http://www.olelo.hawaii.edu/keola/lone_eagles.html Many components of Keolas work are absolutely the first such innovations for Native languages and intense interest has been show by many other Native groups.
K12 Cultural Curriculum Models and Resources
A wonderful model for developing your own project-based learning activities:
Start here and read a bit about why teachers love WebQuests! Select the Slide Show! http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/webquest/webquest.html
In a typical webquest activity, students would use the Internet to access specific information on a defined topic, researching first as an individual, and then engaging with others in a defined small group activity to share their research results and integrate it with those of others. The activity ends with a group presentation and often creation of a web page with the research findings. Linking such activities to real world problems and issues makes this model extremely important and relevant as a necessary trend in education.
The Official Webquest homepage, http://edweb.sdsu.edu/webquest/webquest.html, offers teachers a highly customizable format for creation of their own online projects. Online recertification courses for teachers are available during which they will create their own webquests and then post them all on the Internet.. Rich collections of teacher-created webquests are available via web pages created as a result of these previous classes, giving teachers a model for sharing their creative lessonplans with other teachers.
Teachers can start by using webquest activities created by other teachers:
Teachers can use template web pages
to easily design their own projects. See the WebQuest Tutorial on
designing WebQuests http://edweb.sdsu.edu/webquest/materials.htm
Cyberfair is a project-based competition where students create web pages showcasing various school/community synergies. Here is a link to the Choctaw Tribal School's winning Cyberfair entry; http://cyberfair.gsn.org/pres/index.htm And heres their main school homepage; http://www.choctaw.org The Choctaw Tribal Schools are also involved with the I*EARN First Peoples Art Project. The lead teacher is Bob Smith (email@example.com) The significance of participating in a global competition, and winning recognition for their work, is a key replicable feature of Internet competitions and activities. The students literally feel they are championing the cause of their culture and develop great pride in their multimedia depictions of their culture.
Cyberfair is a competition for students of all ages sponsored by MCI and Cisco Systems and offers a structured opportunity for students to create web pages showcasing school and community synergies among the eight categories listed below. Many Elementary School entries of extraordinary quality make the point that even very young students can participate, as shown by the three Alaskan winning entries below! Cyberfair is expanding with a Community Share project to encourage students to share information and online projects with other communities.
- Local Leaders
- Community Groups and Special Populations
- Business and Community Organizations
- Local Specialties
- Local Attractions (Natural and Man-Made)
- Historical Landmarks
- Environmental Awareness
- Local Music and Art Forms
Here's three Alaskan Elementary School Winners:
Hunter Hornet's Cyberquilting Bee
The Magnificent Moose Project
Alaska Native Art Virtual Museum
Complete with Athabaskan curators. Check it out!
The Cradleboard project http://www.cradleboard.org
This fascinating project has developed a program for linking Native American students via Internet with traditional non-Native classrooms for the specific purpose of having Native American students teach about the history of their tribes; adding a level of authenticity previously missing regarding the teaching of Native American History. This project, and model, has dramatic implications for worldwide replication. The entrepreneurial potential of offering structured project-based learning activities via Internet, with cultural authenticity, cannot be over emphasized.
Buffy St. Marie, a well-known Native Activist, Graphics Artist and Singer, created the Cradleboard project, which she describes below;About twelve years ago I began to develop a program to provide accurate curriculum about Native American cultures to non-Indian teachers. Six years ago I extended the idea to include live and interactive curriculum-based exchanges between cross cultural classes of school children in Hawaii and Canada, and I saw the whole curriculum come to life. The Cradleboard Teaching Project developed out of those twelve years of informal experience, which I funded with my own monies through my Nihewan Foundation. Two years ago we received a major grant from the Kellogg Foundation. We are presently operating cross cultural pilot sites at 33 classes in 11 states.
Briefly, Cradleboard is a nationwide, cross-cultural initiative to help children of all races to build self-identity and self esteem through excellent Native American curriculum and personal cultural exchange using communications technology. The Project uses all available technologies to empower Indian children with a richer, more profound understanding of their own cultures by helping them share it, live and interactive, with the rest of America's children, who deserve to know the positive reality of Native American culture. Our curricula in Geography, Science, Music, Social Studies, and History all match National Standards, and we would like to add the Arts to this list.
We are in the middle of creating three (very) interactive CD Rom for Science, which will be offered in the fall to our participants in Elementary, Middle and High School grades ( that's why there are three). In all, we plan to create 15 CDs 5 subjects listed above X 3 grade levels.
The project combines curriculum with genuine interactivity. The interactivity part includes live chat and live video conferencing between Native and Mainstream classes; personal visits, phone calls, letters, curriculum exchange, and website stuff. The CD is being designed to be easy and make sense to teachers and kids in real schools, not just to impress those of us with T1 lines and fast machines. So many of our grantees (schools) have a jumble of lowest common denominator, 'whatever' computer situation - slow, limited access etc - that we are holding back on true CD-website interactivity and concentrating on the content.
We brought 200 people to Kauai in March. Scholarshipped students, teachers and administrators to learn Cradleboard methods. Four foreign countries - NZ, Australia, Norway, Canada - came, as they want to unleash us for upgrading race relations in their indigenous-mainstream countries.
Two Perks 1. Several schools have lobbied their schoolboards to upgrade Cradleboard to full curriculum status, so that time and connectivity is scheduled on the same basis as social studies and science. 2. NAES College in Wisconsin gave graduation credits to their teachers in training for attending one of our regional conferences to learn Cradleboard methods.
The White House links to the Cradleboard Teaching Project website as an example of Promising Practices for the President's Initiative on Race. We were recently featured at wired.com 's website; and Yahoo is doing a print story that includes us for the fall; and plans to do a feature later.
Buffy St. Marie
C/O Business Support Services
1191 Kuhio Hwy.
Kapaa, HI 96746
The 4Directions Project
"Internet Strategies for Empowering Indigenous Communities in Teaching and Learning" is funded by the Technology Literacy Challenge grant program from the U.S. Dept. of Education.
One very interesting component is their work on "Developing Virtual Museums in Native American Schools" http://www.conexus.si.edu/VRTour The 4Directions multicultural curriculum for K12 at "The Explorer Trail;" http://ernie.wmht.org/trail/explor02.htm
The Cultural Survival Quarterly http://www.cs.org
This unique journal has recently published a special issue on"The Internet and Indigenous Groups" which is of exceptional quality and presents many significant case studies worldwide. See also "Reclaiming Native Education: Activism, Teaching and Leadership" Select "Publications, CS Quarterly, Back Issues"
Wireless Solutions for Home Internet in Villages
- Native Alaskan Crafts
Toksook Native Alaskan Crafts marketed worldwide!
Never before in human history have individuals had the power to self-publish globally on equal par with the world's greatest governments, corporations and universities. Many Native American artists and crafts persons have their own web pages allowing global marketing direct from their reservation. Digital cameras and new types of software programs allow economical creation of 3-D object images which allow anyone on the Internet to rotate an image of an object, such as a Native craft, and view it from all angles. This capability has enormous significance for global marketing of locally produced crafts and products.
Similar software allows the creation of 360 degree panoramic images. To produce an image that would allow anyone on the Internet to literally use their mouse to turn left or right in a full circle, one would simply take pictures in a circle and easily run a program to "stitch" them into one seamless image. These images also allow the viewer to zoom in and to look upward and downward.
Historical sites, local cultural museums, eco-tourism locations, tours of the school and community, and even the interior of classrooms could all be viewable worldwide with minimal effort and expense. Since an increasing number of travelers use the web to gain information prior to traveling, eco-tourism and cultural-tourism opportunities, as well as Bed and Breakfast accommodations have proven the web exceptionally effective as a means of promotion.
Recent advances in software have made these multimedia-publishing capabilities easy enough for primary students to use. With the current emphasis on School-to-Work programs, many Native students have created exciting entrepreneurship models. Here are a few example sites: | <urn:uuid:47a417d8-9040-4565-9bce-66403b8d8f2d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lone-eagles.com/alaskan.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922835 | 2,925 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Alert, high-energy, friendly, protective breed, good for police/military
Males 24-26", Females 22-24"
Males 65-75 lbs, Females 55-65 lbs
Mahogany with black overlay, brindle or tan with black ears and muzzle or mask
Short, harsh topcoat with fine undercoat
The Belgian Malinois is a highly intelligent breed with a strong work ethic and devotion to it’s owner. It’s intense energy and focus is typical of many other working breeds, and they are happiest when given the opportunity to challenge their minds and bodies. Like its Belgian cousins the Tervuren, Groenendael, and Laekenois, the Belgian Malinois has been bred to promote it’s herding ability, loyalty, and protective instincts. Considered to be one of the more intelligent breeds, Malinois are frequently used in law enforcement, search and rescue, and the American Armed Forces, and can make excellent guard dogs.
The Beligan Malinois has a sensitive yet intelligent nature similar to the Tervuren. They love to learn and want to please their owners, and therefore can learn obedience and house training easily with early consistency. Forceful or aggressive training is discouraged; the Malinois requires a kind yet firm approach to develop love and respect for it’s owner. They are happiest with an owner who has the time and willingness to develop a regular working relationship with their dog.
Malinois can be very reserved with strangers. They also possess a strong prey instinct and tend to chase smaller animals, including other family pets. Early and extensive socialization can allow the Malinois to become well-rounded and social. With this training, they can be playful, loving and loyal members of the family.
The Belgian Malinois, named for the Belgian city of Malines where the first breed club was formed, is one of the four varieties of Belgian Sheepdogs (the other varieties include the Tervuren, the Groenendael, and the Laekenois). In Belgium, as well as most other countries, all four are considered to be the same breed, distinguished only by their coat color and texture.
Prior to the Industrial Age, the rural farmers of Belgium had a great need for a general purpose herding and guard dog. The protective instinct of these dogs provided security for the farm and the family, and their herding abilities assisted with the daily maintenance of the stock. The mental development of the breed as a versatile helper and attentive companion paralleled the physical evolution of a medium-sized, well-balanced animal with strength and stamina. With industrialization, the rural farm dog became less important, but the beauty and loyalty of the breed made them well appreciated as family companions.
The American Kennel Club classified the four Belgian Sheepdogs as one breed until 1959, when the Malinois and the Tervuren were given their own classifications.
Body Structure and Composition
Like many other working breeds, the Malinois was bred based on working ability as opposed to physical form, so individuals can vary greatly in appearance. Many appear at first glance to be short-haired German Shepherds, though they are smaller and more compact, and their backs are parallel to the ground (instead of sloping from shoulder to rump). Malinois are generally described as being “square,” meaning that they are almost equally as long as they are tall, and carry their weight squarely on their toes. The level back leads down to a long tail and deep chest. The triangular ears are held erect on top of a flattened skull. Malinois are evenly brown or mahogany with some degree of black overlay or tipping, and have a dark muzzle and ears.
Malinois males are often noticeably larger and more robust than females, who are usually more gracile in appearance.
Belgian Malinois are generally very healthy dogs that are more likely to suffer from accidents on the job than inherited medical issues, though hip and elbow dysplasia are somewhat common to this breed. These afflictions can result in arthritis or general pain as the joints degenerate.
Due to their high muscle to fat ratio, Belgian Malinois are particularly sensitive to anesthesia. It is important to discuss this with your veterinarian before surgery.
The Belgian Malinois is the preferred breed of the American Armed Forces. In fact, Navy Seal Team Six used a Belgian Malinois named Cairo during Operation Neptune Spear, during which Osama Bin Laden was killed.
Along iwth a fast turn around, our dog DNA test collection process is simple — no visit to the veterinarian and no drawing of blood. Our painless process involves a quick cheek swab in the comfort of YOUR dog house.
Click here for our new video!
Approximately 75 million dogs have humans in the United States. 10% of those dogs were rescued from a shelter with little or no known history.
The top 10 dog names of 2011 were: Bella, Max, Buddy, Daisy, Bailey, Lucy, Molly, Coco, Charlie and Rocky. Source: Banfield Pet Hospital
The list of most unusual names for 2011 include: Almost-A-Dog, Franco Furter, Stinky McStinkerson, Sir Seamus McPoop, Audrey Shepburn, Dewey Deimell, Knuckles Capone, Beagle Lugosi, Shooter McLovin, Uzi Duzi Du. Source: VIP Pet Insurance
"The Canine Heritage Breed Test is one of the most innovative products I have seen in years. I am a huge proponent of adoption, so my four legged family comes from shelters and breed rescue groups. Finding out what breeds are in my dog's genetic makeup has not only satisfied my curiosity, but given me invaluable health and behavioral information."
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Animal Planet Media Enterprises | <urn:uuid:c2879e4d-40a0-4ae9-9f8a-c9089eac5295> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dog-dna.com/breeds/Belgian-Malinois.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948531 | 1,191 | 1.890625 | 2 |
A college degree pays dividends for a lifetime, report finds
09/21/2010- The Washington Post
Adults with at least a college degree went unemployed at about half the rate of those with only a high school degree during the Great Recession, according to a new report from the nonprofit College Board.
Among adults age 25 and older, unemployment hit 4.6 percent in 2009 for those with a four-year college degree, according to the report Education Pays 2010. The jobless rate for high school graduates that year was nearly double, 9.7 percent.
The college-educated have consistently found more work than those with only a high school diploma. But the recession magnified the gap. In 1999, by contrast, overall unemployment was 4 percent and the gap between jobless rates for college and high school graduates was 1.7 points.
The gap has widened in recent years. Between 2005 and 2009, the difference in unemployment rates between college and high school graduates grew from 2.3 points to 5.1 points.
"If it wasn't clear before, it should be abundantly clear now that a college graduate is far more competitive in today's workplace," said Gaston Caperton, the College Board president, in a statement.
Income increased more rapidly in recent years for college graduates, as well. As of 2008, college graduates earned $22,000 more a year than high school graduates, $55,700 vs. $33,800. A college graduate can now expect to earn two-thirds more in lifetime pay than a high school graduate.
The far-reaching report, released at midnight by the educational nonprofit, shows the college-educated living not only a more prosperous life but a healthier one:
Obesity rates were lower in 2008 for the college-educated, 20 percent, than for the high-school educated, 34 percent.
Rates of smoking declined from 14 percent to 9 percent among college-educated adults over the past decade, while the rate for high school graduates dipped only from 29 percent to 27 percent.
And college graduates were almost twice as likely in 2008 to exercise vigorously than high school graduates, 63 percent vs. 37 percent.
Follow College Inc. on Twitter.
By Daniel deVise | September 21, 2010; 12:00 AM ET | <urn:uuid:3a732c3a-26e6-43f5-a1d2-e68dd58eafa4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mcla.edu/BWLI/news/acollegedegreepaysdividendsforalifetimereportfinds_662/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970885 | 468 | 2.3125 | 2 |
It is important to take the time for a mid-year check-up of your teens, especially when it comes to their education. This ensures school success, helps keep them motivated and on the right track. Summer is still a few months away, and the 2nd semester is in full-swing, but summer is probably playing on their minds, as is the school year-end. Let’s help keep them positive until summer comes, so, they can feel free to relax and rejuvenate when they get their long break.
Remember that knowledge is power, so, it is vital that we educate ourselves regarding our teen’s experiences; either in school or when out. Being a teenager is hard enough without all the stress that comes hand-in-hand with education. Stress simply makes your teen more susceptible to other potential problems.
Keep Teens on Track and Motivated
There are a number of items the parent can check for mid-year learning success – more or less on their own – without seeming to be too intrusive. Mid-year is basically the time of year when parents can best assess how teens are coping at school. It is generally easier to determine what subjects they are good at, and where they might be struggling if they don’t find a new subject easy to grasp. A routine mid-year check, just might check the stress, and prevent either the parent or teen from being caught off-guard.
By now older teens may be experiencing classes that are more difficult, as high stakes tests draw near. So, it’s a great time to check for a dip or downslide in progress. Current test scores and grades can be checked on the teens’ teachers websites to get some idea of what is taking place with their marks if the child is not being forthcoming. If there is a problem, then arrange a meeting with the teacher – technology has not advanced so far that parents/teachers are no longer required to meet face-to-face. Develop a motivational plan for improved school performance, based on the results of that meeting.
Check up on the teens’ attendance and tardies. No parent likes to find out that a child has not attended school without their permission, but raising children is not an exact science. One of the major reasons for teens failing to thrive educationally is skipping class. These results can also be found on the school website. Isn’t technology marvelous? But remember we want to keep these teens motivated, so, if they have been skipping school, it is best to find out what the root cause is, not play the heavy handed parent.
While this might be difficult to assess, most parents seem know when a child or teen is having difficulty relating to peers, or making friends if you like. Peer support is very important to the self-esteem of children of most ages. They seem to do better at school if they have the support of friends their own age. Teens don’t need a lot of friends, but they do need a buddy or two who have good values with regards their own education. Concentrating on school work is a lot harder when you’re alone.
One idea for helping teens to make friends includes; identifying what is the child’s passion, and allowing them to pursue this in a peer-age-related group.
There are various other facts that can magnify mid-year stresses for teens, these include but are not limited to; activity overload, sleep deprivation, skipping meals and quite simply too much stress. It is interesting to note that 85% of teens say that they are too stressed, and they are not just saying this. If your teen says they are stressed – it pays to look into stress triggers. Best be safe than sorry is what my wise old mum would say. | <urn:uuid:52adb540-13f9-4465-a530-8133fbd1d9d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.drwendyschwartz.com/Los-Angeles-Marriage-and-Family-Counseling/tag/motivational/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96958 | 779 | 2.21875 | 2 |
Over the weekend I tried to buy a new dishwasher. Being the fine net-friendly fellow that I am, I began Google-ing for information. And Google-ing. and Google-ing. As I tweeted frustratedly at the tend of the failed exercise, "To a first approximation, the entire web is spam when it comes to appliance reviews".
This is, of course, merely a personal example of the drive-by damage done by keyword-driven content -- material created to be consumed like info-krill by Google's algorithms. Find some popular keywords that lead to traffic and transactions, wrap some anodyne and regularly-changing content around the keywords so Google doesn't kick you out of search results, and watch the dollars roll in as Google steers you life-support systems connected to wallets, i.e, idiot humans.
Google has become a snake that too readily consumes its own keyword tail. Identify some words that show up in profitable searches -- from appliances, to mesothelioma suits, to kayak lessons -- churn out content cheaply and regularly, and you're done. On the web, no-one knows you're a content-grinder.
The result, however, is awful. Pages and pages of Google results that are just, for practical purposes, advertisements in the loose guise of articles, original or re-purposed. It hearkens back to the dark days of 1999, before Google arrived, when search had become largely useless, with results completely overwhelmed by spam and info-clutter.
Google has to know this. The problem is too big and too obvious to miss. But it's hard to know what you can do algorithmically to solve the problem.
Do read the rest, about content farms.
So what really scares me? It’s the rise of fast food content that will surely, over time, destroy the mom and pop operations that hand craft their content today. It’s the rise of cheap, disposable content on a mass scale, force fed to us by the portals and search engines.
On one end you have AOL and their Toyota Strategy of building thousand of niche content sites via the work of cast-offs from old media. That leads to a whole lot of really, really crappy content being highlighted right on the massive AOL home page. This article, for example, is just horrendous. One of AOL’s own blogs trashes the company’s spinoff, rambles for miles without any real point, and adds a huge factual error to top things off (”the company is losing money”). Hiring a bunch of people who couldn’t keep their old media jobs and don’t have the stomach to go out on their own and then slapping little or no editorial oversight onto these masses of sub-par journalists leads to an inevitable conclusion – cheap, crappy content. And that crappy content is given a massive audience on the AOL portal.
On the other end you have Demand Media and companies like it. See Wired’s “Demand Media and the Fast, Disposable, and Profitable as Hell Media Model.” The company is paying bottom dollar to create “4,000 videos and articles” a day, based only on what’s hot on search engines. They push SEO juice to this content, which is made as quickly and cheaply as possible, and pray for traffic. It works like a charm, apparently.
These models create a race to the bottom situation, where anyone who spend time and effort on their content is pushed out of business.
We’re not there yet, but I see it coming. And just as old media is complaining about us, look for us to start complaining about the new jerks.
My advice to readers is just this – get ready for it, because you’ll be reading McDonalds five times a day in the near future. My advice to content creators is more subtle. Figure out an even more disruptive way to win, or die. Or just give up on making money doing what you do. If you write for passion, not dollars, you’ll still have fun. Even if everything you write is immediately ripped off without attribution, and the search engines don’t give you the attention they used to. You may have to continue your hobby in the evening and get a real job, of course. But everyone has to face reality sometimes.
Forget fair and unfair, right and wrong. This is simply happening. The disruptors are getting disrupted, and everyone has to adapt to it or face the consequences. Hand crafted content is dead. Long live fast food content, it’s here to stay. | <urn:uuid:881580e6-ce8a-4bc4-acfb-28b2d613761b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wrightinformation.com/blog/files/tag-content-farms.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940645 | 967 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Tina McClain is the first UC student to gain experience through a partnership to restructure William Howard Taft Elementary into a state-of-the art STEM school, but she’ll be one of many UC students both sharing and gaining valuable experience through the partnership.
But through the summer, University of Cincinnati student Tina McClain was working behind the scenes as part of her first cooperative experience with CPS, helping to guide the crews that were transforming the school into a state-of-the-art facility.
The fall opening of William H. Taft Elementary is the first milestone in a partnership – including Cincinnati Public Schools, UC, General Electric, Duke Energy, Procter & Gamble, Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, Apple, Inc., and the Cincinnati Museum Center – to build a PreK-16 educational pipeline to excellence in the STEM professions and STEM education. Students completing eighth grade at William H. Taft Elementary will automatically be eligible to attend Hughes Center, a school just down the street from UC that is undergoing its own transformation into a STEM high school.
|Digital commons planning|
The digital commons have laptop and desktop computers, videoconferencing and video streaming capability.
James Basham, a UC assistant professor of teacher education who is working with CPS educators on the partnership, adds that each room has some form of interactive white board – an electronic board that interacts with computers. “The white boards are also height adjustable, which means they can be matched to the different heights of children in a PreK-8 school, allowing for team learning and problem-solving activities among the students,” adds Basham.
McClain, meanwhile, says she’s had a fantastic experience on her co-op as the old carpet comes up and a revitalized school and its programs gear up for its grand opening. “This has been very exciting,” she says. “Everyone knows what they need to do. I’m just working to keep everything on track, and I feel like we’ve played a fairly integral role in making this happen. I enjoy the people and the atmosphere.”
McClain, 31, is balancing achieving her education with the responsibilities of family, and she says she was happy to have a co-op experience close to home. Her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Madison, attends UC Child Care Center, Inc. McClain will celebrate her eight-year wedding anniversary with husband James this year.
It’s her second student experience at UC, she says, after she first started at UC’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning right after graduating from Mercy High School. “I meandered through college for a couple of years and then I decided to leave and figure out what I really wanted to do. I did real estate for a while, did homeowner’s claims for a while, and figured out what I didn’t want to do,” she laughs. “My brother, meanwhile, was majoring in construction management in CAS, and he liked it, so I decided to pursue the technical side of architecture through architectural engineering technology.”
|Principal Donna Fields, the Bearcat, first-grader Malik Denkins and Daja Dankey (daughter of a Taft elementary teacher) at Community Day|
Those connections include future collaborations with UC students. Anant Kukreti, UC professor of civil and environmental engineering, is coordinating with the William H. Taft administration to provide opportunities for UC students in the College of Engineering’s NSF-funded S-STEM scholarship program to serve as tutors, field trip guides, mentors for students and to offer computer expertise for teachers, as part of the UC students’ 30-hour per year community service component of their scholarship. Kukreti says the program supports 32 underrepresented engineering students who were awarded the scholarships last fall.
Furthermore, students pursuing careers in STEM education in UC’s College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services (CECH) will also be involved in the collaboration as part of their field experience.
The William H. Taft Elementary STEM school partnership is a pioneering concept, but of course UC’s involvement is no surprise to Tina McClain as she completes her co-op, a program that alternates time in the classroom with paid, on-the-job experience related to the student’s study. After all, it was UC that pioneered cooperative education back in 1906 – an idea that sees continued growth today in academic programs around the world. | <urn:uuid:56afe0d6-7e0c-4c13-ac3a-a5e2f0eba3ef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uc.edu/profiles/profile.asp?id=8747 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966186 | 959 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Smith, Mark J.
(1999). Visual ethics: Interpreting Hogarth's 'The Stages of Cruelty'.
In: Smith, Mark J. ed.
Thinking Through the Environment: A Reader.
London: Routledge, pp. 132–136.
About the book: Brings together material from ecological thought, environmental policy, environmental philosophy, social and political thought, historical sociology and cultural studies. The extracts tell the story of the way the natural environment has been understood in the modern world and how this has recently been questioned as contemporary societies are seen as characterised by uncertainty and complexity.
The literature guides the reader through the conventiaonal grounds for thinking about rights and obligations in relation to future generations, non-human animals and the biotic commununities, bringing each into question. This then leads into a critical examination of social and political theories and their capacity for drawing on ecological thought. Each of the seven sections of readings is introduced by the editor who locates the set of readings within the specific themes and issues at the heart of each section. This broad-reaching and thought-provoking set of readings stresses the diversity of response to environmental problems both within and between anthropocentric and ecocentric approaches and will encourage the reader to examine how they are manifested in the areas of environmental ethics, policy analysis and social and political theory.
Actions (login may be required) | <urn:uuid:ec91763b-d425-48da-a5a4-7b858d35daee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://oro.open.ac.uk/21536/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925141 | 287 | 2.28125 | 2 |
By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News website
Al Gore's acceptance speech was a powerful piece of rhetoric
Former US Vice-President Al Gore has urged the world's two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, the US and China, to work together on climate change.
Receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Mr Gore referred to climate change as a "planetary emergency".
He said he hoped for a positive outcome from the UN climate talks in Bali.
The chairman of Mr Gore's co-laureate, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said climate change threatened human security.
"Societies have a long record of adapting to the impacts of weather and climate," said Rajendra Pachauri, the Indian engineer who has chaired the IPCC since 2002.
"But climate change poses novel risks often outside the range of experience."
The IPCC's fourth major assessment of climate science, impacts and economics, released over the course of 2007, forecasts increases in droughts, declining crop yields, and scarcity of fresh water over large areas of the planet.
Dr Pachauri paid tribute to the thousands of scientists whose work had contributed to the IPCC assessments, notably its inaugural chairman Bert Bolin, who was unable to attend the ceremony as a result of ill-health.
As befits the cinematographic auteur of An Inconvenient Truth, Mr Gore's speech was a rhetorical tour de force.
"We, the human race, are confronting a planetary emergency - a threat to the survival of our civilisation that is gathering ominous and destructive potential even as we gather here," he said.
"The Earth has a fever, and the fever is rising. The experts have told us it is not a passing affliction that will heal by itself.
"We are what is wrong, and we must make it right."
The former vice-president painted a gloomy picture of the climate impacts that might lie ahead. But he was more upbeat in his assessment that carbon emissions could be tackled.
"In every land the truth, once known, has the power to set us free," he said.
Essential steps, he said, included the universal ratification of the Kyoto Protocol - a reference to the US which is now alone among industrialised countries in its rejection of the 1997 treaty - a moratorium on conventional coal-fired power stations, widespread taxation of carbon, and the mobilisation of entrepreneurial initiative worldwide.
His warm words for the efforts that Europe and Japan have made in recent years contrasted with his assessment of "two nations that are now failing to do enough" - China and the US.
"Both countries should stop using the others' behaviour as an excuse for stalemate and instead develop an agenda for mutual survival in a shared global environment."
Mr Gore and Dr Pachauri now travel to the UN talks in Bali, which have just entered their second week.
Delegates there have also heard stern messages about the potential impacts of climate change.
On the fringes of the conference, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that rising temperatures were already taking malaria into regions where it had previously been too cold, such as Bhutan and Nepal.
The negotiators' main task is to initiate a process that will result in targets for greenhouse emission reductions when the current Kyoto Protocol targets expire in 2012.
A draft text proposes that industrialised countries agree to cut their emissions by 25-40% by 2020. The US is opposed to any notion of binding targets.
Dr Pachauri said that hopes remained alive for the Bali meeting, "unlike the sterile outcomes of previous sessions in recent years".
The question, he told delegates in Oslo, was whether policymakers would listen to the voice of science and knowledge.
"If they do so at Bali and beyond, then all my colleagues in the IPCC and those thousands toiling for the cause of science would feel doubly honoured at the priviledge I am receiving today on their behalf." | <urn:uuid:d6c3cac6-043c-4b4f-af18-f78dc3c8fc27> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7136755.stm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963187 | 812 | 2.109375 | 2 |
DWR Monitoring Cwd in Utah
|The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources' Brad Crompton processes a CWD sample at a field station.|
Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) personnel are in the process of monitoring the presence and prevalence of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in the State of Utah. A small number of deer harvested in the state have tested positive for CWD during the past four years. Sportsmen participating in next week's muzzleloader deer hunt are encouraged to participate in this disease monitoring effort.
Testing for the disease is done by removing the lymph nodes in the throat of the deer. The abnormal prions (proteins) indicative of CWD tend to accumulate in these lymph node tissues. Lymph node samples from each deer sampled are sent to a laboratory in Logan and hunters can learn whether the deer has tested positive for CWD within 4 weeks.
Currently, there is no evidence to suggest that the disease can be transmitted to humans by eating or handling meat of infected animals. However, it is advised that hunters avoid consumption and direct contact with brain tissues, spinal fluids, and lymph nodes.
DWR personnel will be taking disease samples from deer harvested throughout the southeastern region. Hunters may encounter officers in the field or at check stations. Hunters who are not contacted and have questions regarding CWD can contact the Price DWR office at (435) 636-0260 during business hours, or (435) 820-8921 during non-business hours.
Castle Country hunters can also have deer tested at a checking station behind the Walker's Truck Stop in Wellington between the hours of 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Friday, September 30 through Sunday, October 2. Sampling will resume during the rifle deer hunt, which runs from October 22-26. | <urn:uuid:e4f29bc7-255b-43ca-9cad-d471b2c2d814> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sunadvocate.com/index.php?tier=1&article_id=7645 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956504 | 370 | 2.515625 | 3 |
News Box Video Postings Additional Posts
The result of over six years of work can be seen in Canon Ambassador, and nature photographer, Thorsten Milse's new coffee table book 'Polar World' -- a 354 page tome that features nearly 300 images shot in the extreme weather conditions of the Arctic and Antarctic regions.
The book includes both German and English language versions of all the text, technical information about each image shot, a mixture of landscape and wildlife images, plus a foreword by German explorer Arved Fuchs. Thorsten Milse explained: "I shot the project over a six year period -- the first pictures are from 2004. The last time I was there was in 2009. In 2010 I started with the book layout and I worked for one year on the book. It was hard work."
Milse added: "For this six-year project, there were over 200,000 photos, and more than 20 expeditions with icebreakers, helicopters, Zodiac boats and Ski-Doos. It is hard to go into these regions -- when the open water is totally frozen you have no chance. There is only a short time available with an icebreaker. Although it's a long time period for a book, in the Arctic the little polar bear season is only four weeks and it's then same for the emperor penguins -- you have only four weeks to take good photos." | <urn:uuid:02ac5c28-595e-427f-8a68-825d6570b376> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.inspirationgreen.com/thorsten-milse-polar-world.html?start=40 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950669 | 283 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Willing to Pay a 'Mac Tax'?
Are you paying the "Apple tax"? If you own a Mac you are, according to Microsoft. Late yesterday Microsoft whipped up some talking points and had its PR machine Waggener Edstrom circulate them to the media explaining why Apple users pay more for a computer. What sparked the memo? Perhaps Apple's big MacBook announcement today, when it is expected to introduce notebooks priced as low as $800.
Microsoft's basic thrust is that Apple consumers pay more for less choice, and will find far more freedom and flexibility on a Windows machine. (see below for the complete memo)
Brad Brooks, vice president of Windows Consumer Product Marketing, went beyond the memo yesterday and made his case for why consumers should look to Microsoft Vista instead of Leopard when he spoke with CNET's Ina Fried.
"There really is a tax around there for people that are evaluating their choices going into this holiday season and going forward," Brooks said. "There's a choice tax that we talked about, which is, hey, you want to buy a machine that's other than black, white, or silver, and if you want to get it in multiple different configurations or price points, you're going to be paying a tax if you go the Apple way. "
Brooks has a point that you will find a lot more flexibility when purchasing a Windows machine than an Apple. There are a few Mac exclusives, but as Harry McCracken says on his Technologizer blog, TV tuners, e-Sata, fingerprint reader, 3G, and other features are currently Windows exclusives. However, Apple hardware is also high quality, and a lot the add-ons I just mentioned really don't impact a computer user's experience today.
Brooks also says: "There's going to be an application tax, which is if you want choice around applications, or if you want the same type of application experience on your Mac versus Windows, you're going to be purchasing a lot of software. And even at that you're not going to get the same experience. You're not going to get things like Microsoft Outlook. . . "
Not true. Windows machines have far less usable software out of the box than Apple, and any problems that Apple users have with Microsoft Outlook or other parts of Office should fall squarely on the shoulders of its designer . . . Microsoft.
Brooks: "That is a fallacy to think that Macs are somehow invulnerable, or impervious to virus, or phishing, or spyware. And we will tell you that based on our own data that you're 60 percent less likely to get any type of virus. . . if you're running Windows Vista versus Windows XP SP2."
Hold on -- comparing Vista to XP SP2 is not entirely fair. Windows XP is by far the most widely used operating system in the world today. Vista may be its successor, but it is not widely used enough to really hold up to a comparison with XP. As far as Apple versus Vista, it's true that everybody is vulnerable to phishing and spyware, but virus attacks on Mac, while on the increase in recent years, don't even come close to infection numbers on Windows machines.
So, what's going on here? Well, as Brooks says in his interview, Microsoft is tired of having their products framed through Apple's "Hello, I'm a Mac" commercials, and I can understand why. For years, Apple has been suggesting that Windows computers are less able to do fun things than Mac, which is also not true. Reality lies somewhere between the Windows and Apple advertising campaigns. Both systems have their die-hard proponents who think the other side is complete garbage, but it seems to me there is very little difference between Windows and Leopard these days. The choice between systems really comes down to personal preference. But as Mac starts to pull in a larger consumer base, you can expect the Mac vs. Windows rivalry is starting to heat up! The question remains, who will you be voting for?
Here's Microsoft's Memo:
The economy is impacting consumer choices, but Macs, due to their high upfront, won't sell in a more conservative market. On Sept. 29th, Morgan Stanley noted: "PC unit growth is decelerating and the remaining source of growth is increasingly the sub-$1,000 market where Apple does not play." Even if Apple were to drop pricing, the Apple Tax still prices Macs well outside of the sub-$1000 range.
You can get a PC laptop with a bigger hard drive, more RAM, a media-card reader, more USB ports, and a bigger screen, for much less than a Mac. See the comparison chart below for just a few examples of what you can get today...we'll send out an updated comparison chart after Apple's announcement tomorrow.
You can upgrade just about any Windows desktop PC, but the only significantly upgradeable Mac is the Mac Pro listed at $2799.00.
Repurchasing software to make your Mac do all the things your PC does will cost you hundreds of dollars. Buying a Mac means scrapping your software and buying new applications (for up to $1,100) that run on Mac, just to do what you can still easily do on a new PC with the applications you already have. We've listed a set of common applications below.
HDMI, Blu-Ray, eSATA, MediaCard Readers, built-in 3G, Fingerprint readers, TV Tuners, all have been shipping as built-in features on PCs for years, but none are available on a Mac. Not only does this mean you get to use the latest and greatest now, but since it's so easy to upgrade PCs, it also means that your computer is more future-ready...you can get today's technology now, and tomorrow's technology the minute its available. | <urn:uuid:4ce24a2b-2f55-428d-85f8-d7669093d1dd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pcworld.com/article/152224/microsoft_mac_tax.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96467 | 1,207 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Throughout history mankind has suffered the mortal effects of ravaging diseases brought on by number of factors ranging from animals to one single human host. Given below are the five worst diseases that have plagued humankind in recorded history....―
Internet is the richest source of information and the most vast as well in the existing world. There is almost no word or phrase that is not found in the Search. People have become well informed of their state of health and of course their ...―
Smoking is number one cause of preventable premature death in the United states. Percentage of US poplation that smokes comes to around 25% with Male more then Female. But The teenage females have a high rate of smoking. ∙ Types of Smoking-...―
What is Cornea? ∙ Clear transparent dome infront of the black portion of the eye which focuses rays of light on the retina. Like a window it allows the light to enter the eye. ∙ What is Corneal blindness? ∙ Loss of Corneal...―
Leukemia is cancer of Blood cells that accounts for most of the malignancies of childhood. ∙ Leukemia : A story of Struggle- Gabriela ∙ At 23:55 on the 20th of May 2009, Gabriela was born in the Virgen de la Arrixaca Hospital in ...―
Keeping blood sugar in normal range prevents all the further complications diabetes can bring. Control of Diabetes can be attained by dietary control, insulin, oral hypoglycemic drugs and weight loss. All people with diabetes are required to take...―
Malaria : Awareness Effort by Nepal Government ∙ Introduction ∙ Malaria is a communicable disease transmitted from one person to another through mosquito bite. 2 species of plasmodium has been identified to cause this disease at ...―
image from www.ign.com ∙ Yahoo! as ∙ the Internet’s original media ...
Online businesses, mostly with a home based business model, are known to bring a ...
When it comes to online marketing email remains to be one of the most powerful channels ... | <urn:uuid:6aa761c9-1eef-43c7-9d08-eadda3d25faf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bloggers.com/topics/disease+awareness | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942526 | 426 | 2.3125 | 2 |
||This article needs additional citations for verification. (October 2011)|
Original pickle
Branston Pickle is made from a variety of diced vegetables, including swede, carrots, onions, cauliflower and gherkins pickled in a sauce made from vinegar, tomato, apple and dates with spices such as mustard, coriander, garlic, cinnamon, pepper, cloves, nutmeg and cayenne pepper with sugar. In recent years high-fructose corn syrup has replaced sugar in the product sold in the American market. Sugar is still used in the British version.
Branston Pickle is sweet and spicy with a chutney-like consistency, containing small chunks of vegetables in a thick brown sticky sauce. It is commonly served as part of a ploughman's lunch, a common menu item in British pubs. It is also frequently combined with cheddar cheese in sandwiches, and many sandwich shops in the UK offer "cheese and pickle" as an option. It is available in the standard 'chunky' version, as well as a 'sandwich' variety, where the vegetable chunks are smaller and easier to spread. Premier Foods also introduced a 'squeezy' variety in a plastic bottle. A spicy variety was briefly manufactured, but was not as popular as the original versions, and is now in short supply.
Generic varieties
As with any product that becomes popular, other manufacturers have developed their own brand of a Branston-type pickle. Many supermarkets now have generic own brand versions. In order to prevent problems with the registered trade name, the terms "sweet pickle" or "ploughman's pickle" have been adopted by most manufacturers.
Pickle Crisis of 2004
At 1:45 am on 27 October 2004 a fire almost destroyed the Bury St Edmunds factory and cut the stocks of Branston Pickle in half, reducing the supply of the product, and in some instances increasing the price. The factory is now back in production and has recently launched Branston tomato ketchup and brown sauce along with a range of relishes and baked beans.
Brand extension
In October 2005, Premier Foods Plc launched Branston Baked Beans. The marketing and promotion of this product was aimed squarely at challenging Heinz's dominance of the UK baked bean market. This marketing included an advert, featuring a Branston Bean Tin explaining how Branston Beans are very "saucy." Promotional activities included a 'Great British Bean Poll' where members of the public across the country were invited to blind taste both 'the brand leader' (assumed to be Heinz) and Branston. In the poll, 76% of participants picked Branston over the brand leader. Heinz was subsequently obliged to re-evaluate its advertising strategy in the face of this aggressive activity, although in public Heinz spokespeople dismissed the challenge as a 'non-starter'. Premier Foods have also attempted to leverage the traditional Branston Pickle brand name by producing Branston Relishes in four different flavours: Hot Chilli & Jalapeño, Gherkin, Sweet Onion and Tomato & Red Pepper.
Premier Foods Sells Branston Brand to Mizkan
In late 2012 it was announced that as part of an aggressive debt reduction strategy, Premier foods would be selling the Branston Brand to Japanese food manufacturer Mizkan Group for £92.5m, joining Sarson's Vinegar and Hayward's Pickled Onions as recent Premier Foods to Mizkan brand acquisitions. It is expected that the Bury St. Edmunds plant will continue to manufacture Branston products and staff will transfer to Mizkan.
Availability outside the UK
Branston Pickle is available in Ireland, the United States, Canada, Australia, Norway, Singapore (Cold Storage and Market Place), Germany (REWE and Globus Warenhaus), Turkey (Tesco Kipa) and Hong Kong (Taste). | <urn:uuid:719b5f98-0b1b-44ad-b3fe-d8cb652f443c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branston_(food) | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95191 | 805 | 1.882813 | 2 |
The Department of Psychology attempts to provide the student with an in-depth understanding of human behavior, stressing its complexity, development and integration. The department is committed to a broad interdisciplinary study of humanity. Because psychology is an empirically-based discipline, the scientific nature of psychology is emphasized in both general and specialized courses. The Psychology curriculum is designed to meet the diversified needs of today's students. For the Psychology major, this includes an integrated sequence of learning experiences that prepare the student for multiple career options after graduation. In view of the importance of advanced degrees in psychology, a thorough preparation for graduate work is emphasized. An undergraduate major in psychology is the best preparation for graduate training in psychology and is also an acceptable major for graduate study in a variety of related fields. Bachelor's-level career paths are also frequently pursued by graduates of the department (e.g., in business, government and clinical settings).
Student/Faculty Ratio: 13:1
Middle States Commission on Higher Education
Office of University Admissions
Department of Psychology | <urn:uuid:168dab29-fe61-418e-946a-6a7baa7dde0b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.marywood.edu/academics/majors_minors/major_minordetail.html?id=80763&crumbTrail=Psychology&pageTitle=Psychology | 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 | 0.937071 | 209 | 1.921875 | 2 |
I’ve said before that no issue has resonated more over the last month or so than Bank of America’s plan for a monthly $5 debit card purchase fee. It helped drive the Occupy Wall Street protests, kickstarted a new incarnation of the Move Your Money movement, bolstered community banks and offered a powerful real-world example of greedy Wall Street fat cats.
The rest of the banking industry has taken notice.
A month after Bank of America got pummeled by consumers and politicians for introducing plans for new debit-card fees, most other big U.S. banks are steering clear of imposing similar charges.
Following eight months of consumer testing, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. has decided that it won’t charge customers who use their debit cards to make purchases, according to a person familiar with the bank’s plans. The New York bank’s Chase retail unit is one of the largest U.S. consumer banks, with 26.5 million checking accounts and 5,300 branches.
J.P. Morgan joins U.S. Bancorp, Citigroup Inc., PNC Financial Services Group Inc., KeyCorp and other large banks that have said in recent days that they won’t impose monthly fees on debit cards. None of those banks said they made their decisions because of the outcry over Bank of America’s fees.
It’s amazing that banks had to even think twice about this. The idea that customers would passively accept paying five bucks to use their own money makes no sense whatsoever. More than being about money, it’s about the total lack of respect that big banks who feel entitled to rip off their customers have.
I’ll bet Bank of America is just thrilled about this. They surely expected all the other big banks to go along with them, minimizing their damage. Instead, only Wells Fargo has instituted a fee, and only as a test case in five states (and they’ll probably quietly phase it out after a couple months). So BofA is all alone, looking the greediest. Can’t say I feel sorry for them.
Kevin Drum points out that banks will probably turn to some other scheme to raise money off of fees from their customers. Now we have a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau willing to point it out and make the fees transparent, however. And the BofA experience has shown that merely publicizing the fees is powerful enough to get the industry to stand down. | <urn:uuid:ea719598-6cd7-4727-b501-9081f5cf45ad> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.firedoglake.com/2011/10/28/banks-realize-people-dont-like-being-charged-to-use-their-own-money/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949467 | 512 | 1.523438 | 2 |
p2pnet.net News Feature:- Warez is a computer slang term meaning copyrighted material (usually software) traded in violation of its copyright license. The term generally refers to releases by organized groups, as opposed to file sharing between friends – Wikipedia
It’s a given that the real warez action goes on in the vacuum of deep, deep cyberspace, not the oxygenated atmosphere of the Net where 99% of the online population surf.
In those far reaches, warez enthusiasts trade in movies, software. music, you name it. But whatever the file being traded, it’s all about getting there. First!
Money doesn’t come into it – unless you’re talking about the secret fees some people pay to become a part of the ‘elite’.
“Once a file is posted to a topsite, it starts a rapid descent through wider and wider levels of an invisible network, multiplying exponentially along the way,” writes Jeff Howe in Wired Magazine’s January, 2005, The Shadow Internet.
A ‘topsite’ is one of about 30, “underground, highly secretive servers where nearly all of the unlicensed music, movies, and videogames available on the Internet originate,” he says.
“They start with a single stolen file and pump out bootleg games and movies by the millions. At each step, more and more pirates pitch in to keep the avalanche tumbling downward. Finally, thousands, perhaps millions, of copies – all the progeny of that original file – spill into the public peer-to-peer networks: Kazaa, LimeWire, Morpheus. Without this duplication and distribution structure providing content, the P2P networks would run dry. (BitTorrent, a faster and more efficient type of P2P file-sharing, is an exception. But at present there are far fewer BitTorrent users.)
“It’s a commonly held belief that P2P is about sharing files. It’s an appealing, democratic notion: Consumers rip the movies and music they buy and post them online. But that’s not quite how it works.”
Synonymous with ‘crook’
Howe’s piece on how the warez-cum-trading groups work makes an interesting, not to say sensational, read. And it’s mostly true, although there’s not much new in it.
That’s the way the elite ‘leet’ groups have always worked. Only ways and means differ, or are up-dated as new processing and acquisition technologies and methods come along, or are figured out.
Most of the operators are in their teens or early twenties. And they don’t do what they do for profit. They do it for fun.
Unfortunately, however, the elite groups also training grounds.
Hackers are, for the most part, people with an insatiable need to know what, where and how. They’re clever, often brilliant, and they find cool ways to explore interesting systems. Surreptitiously. .
Unfortunately, a handful use their knowledge for illicit purposes and the activities of these few have meant ‘hacker’ is now synonymous with ‘crook’ to many people, particularly if they’re members of one or other of the government or corporate enforcement agencies.
The same applies to warez traders.
Although 99% of them do what they do for the thrill, eventually going onwards an upwards and becoming ‘normal’ members of society, a tiny handful are either recruited by organized crime gangs to produce ‘product’ for the underground markets, or they set themselves up as suppliers.
In the process, all warez traders are labeled as criminals.
A pirate elite
Howe is writing about a minority and as he stresses, “Outside of a pirate elite and the Feds who track them, few know that topsites exist.”
The tragedy is, thanks to ongoing, extremely successful misinformation efforts on the part of the entertainment industry through its RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America ) and MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America), the mainstream media and substantial numbers of the public at large believe the people currently being persecuted for sharing files online are either members of this ‘pirate elite,’ or work with them.
In reality, however, the two groups have nothing to do with each other.
The ‘file sharers’ who have become such a great source of headlines for the mainstream media, thanks to the MPAA and RIAA , are actually people who’ve found a way to try before they buy.
They don’t sell the tunes and flics they download. And they still do what they did before p2p came along. They buy CDs and go to the movies.
The main difference is: where before the advent of the Net and file sharing, they had to take things on trust, now they can see and hear good, but far from perfect, examples before they throw their money away on a $15 CD with only one decent track, or a film that looked terrific in the trailer, but which turned out to be pure garbage in the cinema.
Most of the movies, and some of the music, on the p2p networks may indeed have originated with traders, but by the time they reach the p2p network level, they’re pale, low quality imitations of the originals that no one would pay a dime for.
And while the entertainment industry terrorizes the men, woman and children who share these kinds of files, epitomizing them as hardened criminals, or closes down sites such as Suprnova, the true hard-core criminals continue to dance rings around the various agencies, laughing all the way to the bank.
But that’s not a picture the entertainment industry wants to be seen in public. | <urn:uuid:69495819-aec1-476a-832b-d12ac74bbfcd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.p2pnet.net/story/3425 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953196 | 1,244 | 2.078125 | 2 |
This Mooney aircraft includes an aviation inflatable restraint system
from AmSafe using the same technology as automotive air bags,
customized for aircraft use. The inflatable portion is contained within
the belt itself, and the electronics are contained within a small
taken out of the restraints. However, seat belts do not stretch,
and once the slack is taken out, the body will stop abruptly.
This sudden stoppage can cause serious internal injury.
The human body can withstand decelerations of 20g’s
without injury, and aircraft harness systems are designed to
handle this load. This means that most aircraft accidents can
be survivable assuming that the harness is fitted properly
and the occupant is securely restrained.
Both the location of belts and the lack of slack are critical
to safety. The goal is to locate belts over the strongest skeletal
parts of the body. Lap belts that are positioned too high will
cause internal injuries to the abdomen. If they are positioned
too low, they will not restrict forward movement enough to
adequately protect the occupant.
While three-point restraints are adequate, four- and especially five-point restraints are especially suited to aircraft
use. This is due to the three-dimensional forces common in
aircraft accidents. In automobiles, frontal impacts are much
more common than rollovers. In aircraft, nose-down impacts
are typical. Therefore, it’s essential that the pilot and passengers are protected in all directions.
Four-point restraint systems add a second shoulder belt,
ensuring that the occupant cannot twist past a single diagonal restraint. However, the “ultimate” solution is the five-point harness system. The five-point system has a crotch
strap that the four-point system doesn’t have. This strap is
critical because it stabilizes and “locks in” the rest of the
straps to the seat bottom. While this is less common, and not
the most comfortable in your average GA traveling machine,
it’s a must for aerobatics.
Designing Harness Systems in
If you are designing a harness system for your own experimental aircraft, you can mount the harness to either the
seats or the aircraft structure. Either way, there are two
critical factors to consider:
1.) Mounting Point Strength
Since we know that the human body can withstand g
loads up to 20g’s, the mounting points for the harness
system should be able to withstand more than that 20g
force. Whether you’re dealing with a steel, aluminum, or
composite structure, it’s critical that the mounting points
be securely attached to the aircraft structure and designed
to spread the load at the time of impact.
2.) Location of Mounting Points
Without proper locating of the mounting points, you will
never be able to properly adjust the harness. The location
of the mounting point should allow the lap belt to sit
directly across the upper pelvis of the occupant, regardless
of the seat position. A mounting point too far back will
cause the belt to locate too high; too far forward and the
belt will sit too low.
The mounting points for the shoulder harnesses may
be on a secondary aircraft structure. However, the mounting location should be able to withstand a 500-pound test
load. The mounting points should be within an angle of
30 degrees above the horizontal from the shoulder of the
seat occupant. It is extremely important that the shoulder straps’ mounting points be outside of the shoulders
of the occupant. If they fall too close to the occupant’s
neck, the harness could asphyxiate the occupant during
One of the most significant new products with respect
to aircraft crash survivability is the aviation inflatable
restraint system (AAIR) from AmSafe. This system incorporates an air bag that is built into the seat belt itself, with
a separate inertial sensor and deployment system. AmSafe
has received supplemental type certificates for its AAIR
harnesses for a variety of general aviation aircraft. They
are even standard equipment for many new aircraft from
Cessna, Hawker Beechcraft, Cirrus Design, Diamond,
Mooney, and more.
As pilots, we work hard to avoid accidents at all cost.
However, for all the effort that we put into training to
avoid accidents, it pays to put some effort into maintaining and improving on the restraint systems that may save
our lives, and those of our loved ones, in the event that
an accident does happen.
Jeff Simon is the president of Approach Aviation, a provider of educational products, tools, and supplies for aircraft owners. To learn more about aircraft ownership and
www.ApproachAviation.com or call | <urn:uuid:9880eed6-4c25-4e3f-8124-3750cf70322c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sportaviationonline.org/sportaviation/200910?pg=99 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917747 | 1,001 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Art Deco Trust
Address: 163 Tennyson Street, Napier
Phone: 06 835 0022
Website: Art Deco Trust
Venue Types: Club & Society, Art Gallery
The Art Deco Trust interprets Napier's Art Deco architecture, constructed following the disastrous earthquake of 1931. Guided walks and freedom walks are available and free video screenings are run continuously at the Art Deco Shop. A wide range of publications about the architecture of Napier and nearby Hastings are on sale as well as material about the Art Deco and other early 20th century design movements.
The Art Deco walk provides an insight into art history and the human spirit, as it tells the story of Napier's destruction by earthquake and fire, its reconstruction in the depth of the depression and its rediscovery and preservation in the 1980s and 1990s.
• Art Deco Napier Self Drive Tours
The Art Deco tour map guides you from downtown Napier to historic Ahuriri, through Marewa and on to the Earthquake Memorial Grave at Park Island. It then takes you through the 1930s architecture of Hastings, 20 kilometres away, to Havelock North and Te Mata Peak via wineries and orchards, and back to Napier along the coastal route.
This fascinating drive through beautiful Hawke's Bay countryside is your best general-interest tour route through the Napier/Hastings area. The tour will take from half to one day depending on how many options you choose on the route.
• Art Deco Napier Guided Walking Tours
Take an easy stroll with an accredited guide through the Art Deco quarter in Napier's vibrant city centre. Walks are held twice daily throughout the year, rain or shine. No bookings are necessary.
All walkers receive an informative Art Deco Walk booklet. Complimentary refreshments and a 30-minute audio visual presentation are available afterwards.
Morning walks: One hour long.
Afternoon walks: Two hours long including some interior visits and a 30-minute introductory slide presentation.
Special guided walks can be arranged in advance.
• Marewa Meander
Use the Marewa Meander leaflet to explore domestic Art Deco in Napier's suburb of Marewa.
Discover the house and garden styles of the 1930s and 1940s, built on former swampland raised by the 1931 earthquake.
The Meander takes from one to one-and-a-half hours. The starting point is near the Marewa Shops, just over a kilometre from downtown Napier.
Upcoming events at Art Deco Trust
Past events at Art Deco Trust
- Are you responsible for Art Deco Trust? Claim it | <urn:uuid:94a43c51-a91c-49d7-85a4-f286ee90d137> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eventfinder.co.nz/venue/art-deco-trust-napier | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.902741 | 558 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Before she decides to completely give up a career in public service, here are five things that Ashley Judd should know.
No single financial institution should be so large that its failure would cause catastrophic risk to millions of American jobs or to our nation's economic wellbeing. And no institution in America should be above the law.
A funny thing, wonderful in its own small way, happened last week. The Senate voted 99-0 in favor of an amendment to end subsidies to too-big-to-fail financial institutions. This vote is a harbinger of things to come -- if the public keeps ratcheting up pressure.
The proposals put forward by Democrats in Congress reflect the values of the overwhelming majority of Americans. The same cannot be said for the budgets put forward by Republicans in Congress.
The U.S. Senate cast key votes on the fiscal 2014 budget resolution Friday that sent a clear message on climate change: we won't stand in the way of executive action to cut the carbon pollution from our nation's power plants.
The sequester was set in stone for the next six months, so America is now going to learn what "budget cutting" really means.
The National Popular Vote plan does not "counteract" the excess power of small states. In fact, it does just the opposite, giving voters in small states the attention and electoral clout that they deserve in proportion to their votes.
Rumor has it the U.S. Senate will consider a budget bill provision to approve the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. Here's what they need to share with their constituents.
Both Republican and Democratic senators see the Obama administration as unduly delaying the approval of this Keystone pipeline.
'Comprehensive Immigration Reform,' a.k.a. CIR, seems to be on a roll. The Gang of Eight in the Senate and a similar cabal in the House claim they will release bills in April. I hope they do.
Want to cut something like $850 billion from the next 10 years of budgeting? End the War. There's a novel budget-cutting idea, eh, folks? The Drug War has now cost us roughly the same amount as the Iraq War, to put it in context -- $2 trillion each.
While the military justice system is different from our civil justice system for good reasons, the time has come to take a hard look at the rules which allow military commanders to vacate entire jury convictions, expunge criminal records, and reinstate convicted sex offenders.
Paul Ryan introduced his version of the Republican budget this week, and it seems Ryan has agreed that two or three of President Obama's biggest budget victories actually do significantly cut the deficit, and are therefore worth including in the Republican plans for the future.
There is a clear role for the Treasury, and senators should use today's hearing to clarify it. If the Treasury has a responsibility to coordinate and ensure regulatory oversight of U.S. financial institutions, then what is it doing to ensure financial regulators provide stronger oversight?
As long as both parties go into negotiations determined to make each other side look bad, they have about as much chance of reaching a meaningful bipartisan agreement as a non-floater has of beating Michael Phelps across the pool.
When agreements are always so far off, and hair-brained ideas like "Sequestration" become policy, we are looking a situation where something drastic is called for. | <urn:uuid:b1d31063-a2ea-44ba-9507-c58069e4d8cb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/senate/5 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957503 | 691 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Alaska's Mount Redoubt Volcano erupted on March 22, 2009, spewing ash into the atmosphere and obscuring the skies. Four more eruptions followed. According to scientists at the Alaska Volcano Observatory, the ash plume reached a height of 50,000 feet above sea level.
Because they happened at night, the eruptions could only be detected in thermal infrared imagery; high temperatures appear black, while lower temperatures are white. The ash plumes become very cold as they rise high in the atmosphere, making them appear white in the image. The MODIS instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite captured the image on March 23, just as the fifth eruption was about to start. | <urn:uuid:d7a94c24-ed9d-4577-bc8f-e6667d2cb931> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://discovermagazine.com/sitefiles/resources/image.aspx?item=%7BE8DAE223-1167-496C-BD83-73A3AC87E646%7D | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943537 | 136 | 3.953125 | 4 |
| Quote #4
Yet had I known such pain was in the next room, and had it been dumb, I believe—I have thought since—I could have stood it well enough. It is when suffering finds a voice and sets our nerves quivering that this pity comes troubling us. (8.26)
An age-old moral issue. Only once suffering becomes obvious for Prendick—it makes his nerves quiver—does it start raising moral flags for him. If suffering is silent it doesn't bother him and he can more or less continue on with his day. Thank goodness we're not at all like Prendick in this respect, right?
| Quote #5
Could the vivisection of men be possible? (10.26)
First, let's get this off our chests: ew. Now onto the good stuff. The question may seem rhetorical. Obviously you can experiment on a person while he's still alive. It's sick, but if horror films have taught us anything, it's doable. However, here Prendick is really thinking in terms of morals and ethics. He just can't imagine anyone would actually do it. The idea is so utterly alien to him and his moral code.
| Quote #6
"Not to go on all-Fours; that is the Law. Are we not Men?"
"Not to suck up Drink; that is the Law. Are we not Men?"
"Not to eat Flesh or Fish; that is the Law. Are we not Men?"
"Not to claw Bark of Trees; that is the Law. Are we not Men?"
"Not to chase other Men; that is the Law. Are we not Men?" (12.12-16)
There you have it, folks: the moral code of the Beast Folk. Notice how it not only gives them a code of conduct, but also ascribes to them social place based on that code. Follow the code, and you're a man. Don't and you are a beast. Check out our "Society and Class" theme section for more. | <urn:uuid:210ca098-8062-4da2-84f9-315b733dd2e8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.shmoop.com/dr-moreau/morals-ethics-quotes-2.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979692 | 435 | 1.898438 | 2 |
We’ve had a policy of (mostly) not commenting on the various drafts, misquotes and mistaken readings of the Fourth Assessment report (“AR4″ to those in the acronym loop) of the IPCC. Now that the summary for policy makers (or “SPM”) has actually been published though, we can discuss the substance of the report without having to worry that the details will change. This post will only be our first cut at talking about the whole report. We plan on going chapter by chapter, hopefully explaining the key issues and the remaining key uncertainties over the next few months. This report will be referenced repeatedly over the next few years, and so we can take the time to do a reasonable job explaining what’s in it and why.
First of all, given the science that has been done since the Third Assessment Report (“TAR”) of 2001 – much of which has been discussed here – no one should be surprised that AR4 comes to a stronger conclusion. In particular, the report concludes that human influences on climate are ‘very likely’ (> 90% chance) already detectable in observational record; increased from ‘likely’ (> 66% chance) in the TAR. Key results here include the simulations for the 20th Century by the latest state-of-the-art climate models which demonstrate that recent trends cannot be explained without including human-related increases in greenhouse gases, and consistent evidence for ocean heating, sea ice melting, glacier melting and ecosystem shifts. This makes the projections of larger continued changes ‘in the pipeline’ (particularly under “business as usual” scenarios) essentially indisputable.
Given all of the hoopla since the TAR, many of us were curious to see what the new report would have to say about paleoclimate reconstructions of the past 1000 years. Contrarians will no doubt be disappointed here. The conclusions have been significantly strengthened relative to what was in the TAR, something that of course should have been expected given the numerous additional studies that have since been done that all point in the same direction. The conclusion that large-scale recent warmth likely exceeds the range seen in past centuries has been extended from the past 1000 years in the TAR, to the past 1300 years in the current report, and the confidence in this conclusion has been upped from “likely” in the TAR to “very likely” in the current report for the past half millennium. This is just one of the many independent lines of evidence now pointing towards a clear anthropogenic influence on climate, but given all of the others, the paleoclimate reconstructions are now even less the central pillar of evidence for the human influence on climate than they have been incorrectly portrayed to be.
The uncertainties in the science mainly involve the precise nature of the changes to be expected, particularly with respect to sea level rise, El Niño changes and regional hydrological change – drought frequency and snow pack melt, mid-latitude storms, and of course, hurricanes. It can be fun parsing the discussions on these topics (and we expect there will be substantial press comment on them), but that shouldn’t distract from the main and far more solid conclusions above.
The process of finalising the SPM (which is well described here and here) is something that can seem a little odd. Government representatives from all participating nations take the draft summary (as written by the lead authors of the individual chapters) and discuss whether the text truly reflects the underlying science in the main report. The key here is to note that what the lead authors originally came up with is not necessarily the clearest or least ambiguous language, and so the governments (for whom the report is being written) are perfectly entitled to insist that the language be modified so that the conclusions are correctly understood by them and the scientists. It is also key to note that the scientists have to be happy that the final language that is agreed conforms with the underlying science in the technical chapters. The advantage of this process is that everyone involved is absolutely clear what is meant by each sentence. Recall after the National Academies report on surface temperature reconstructions there was much discussion about the definition of ‘plausible’. That kind of thing shouldn’t happen with AR4.
The SPM process also serves a very useful political purpose. Specifically, it allows the governments involved to feel as though they ‘own’ part of the report. This makes it very difficult to later turn around and dismiss it on the basis that it was all written by someone else. This gives the governments a vested interest in making this report as good as it can be (given the uncertainties). There are in fact plenty of safeguards (not least the scientists present) to ensure that the report is not slanted in any one preferred direction. However, the downside is that it can mistakenly appear as if the whole summary is simply up for negotiation. That would be a false conclusion – the negotiations, such as they are, are in fact heavily constrained by the underlying science.
Finally, a few people have asked why the SPM is being released now while the main report is not due to be published for a couple of months. There are a number of reasons – firstly, the Paris meeting has been such a public affair that holding back the SPM until the main report is ready is probably pointless. For the main report itself, it had not yet been proof-read, and there has not yet been enough time to include observational data up until the end of 2006. One final point is that improvements in the clarity of the language from the SPM should be propagated back to the individual chapters in order to remove any superficial ambiguity. The science content will not change.
Had it been up to us, we’d have tried to get everything together so that they could be released at the same time, but maybe that would have been impossible. We note that Arctic Climate Impact Assessment in 2004 also had a similar procedure – which lead to some confusion initially since statements in the summary were not referenced.
How good have previous IPCC reports been at projecting the future? Actually, over the last 16 years (since the first report in 1990), they’ve been remarkably good for CO2 changes, temperature changes but actually underpredicted sea level changes.
When it comes to specific discussions, the two that are going to be mostly in the news are the projections of sea level rise and hurricanes. These issues contain a number of “known unknowns” – things that we know we don’t know. For sea level rise the unknown is how large an effect dynamic shifts in the ice sheets will be. These dynamic changes have already been observed, but are outside the range of what the ice sheet models can deal with (see this previous discussion). That means that their contribution to sea level rise is rather uncertain, but with the uncertainty all on the side of making things worse (see this recent paper for an assessment (Rahmstorf , Science 2007)). The language in the SPM acknowledges that stating
“Dynamical processes related to ice flow not included in current models but suggested by recent observations could increase the vulnerability of the ice sheets to warming, increasing future sea level rise. Understanding of these processes is limited and there is no consensus on their magnitude.”
Note that some media have been comparing apples with pears here: they claimed IPCC has reduced its upper sea level limit from 88 to 59 cm, but the former number from the TAR did include this ice dynamics uncertainty, while the latter from the AR4 does not, precisely because this issue is now considered more uncertain and possibly more serious than before.
On the hurricane/tropical strorm issue, the language is quite nuanced, as one might expect from a consensus document. The link between SST and tropical storm intensity is clearly acknowledged, but so is the gap between model projections and analyses of cyclone observations. “The apparent increase in the proportion of very intense storms since 1970 in some regions is much larger than simulated by current models for that period.”
We will address some of these issues and how well we think they did in specific posts over the next few weeks. There’s a lot of stuff here, and even we need time to digest it! | <urn:uuid:811d95cd-4f30-4c2e-a19a-4d4c91dc0717> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/02/the-ipcc-fourth-assessment-summary-for-policy-makers/comment-page-1/?wpmp_switcher=desktop | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965788 | 1,702 | 2.15625 | 2 |
Bovine genomics technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace. Since the first genetic marker in beef cattle — a marker for marbling — was available in 2000, rapid advancements in the breadth and application of genomics have transformed the landscape of beef cattle genetics.
Pfizer Animal Genetics is releasing a new genomic test this month that will expand the breadth of cattle DNA evaluation by almost a thousand-fold — from a current 56-marker technology to predictions that utilize more than 50,000 markers.
The new high-density 50K (50K HD) offering is based on the Bovine SNP50 DNA-marker chip, which will provide a much more complete genetic profile of each animal evaluated. The test is being offered initially for Angus producers, with customization for other breeds expected to follow.
New information offers endless possibilities to beef producers
According to Dr. Ronnie Green, senior director of global technical services for Pfizer Animal Genetics, the 50K HD test will allow for the evaluation of a host of economically relevant traits — including tenderness, dry-matter intake, yield grade, average daily gain and feed efficiency — which are not typically evaluated using EPDs. “This by no means implies that EPDs will become obsolete,” Green stresses. “Rather, evaluation of the new suite of traits will significantly add to the decision-making toolbox available to breeders, enhancing the precision and speed at which they are able to make genetic progress in their herds.”
Breeders like Lee Leachman, Wellington, Colo., realize the opportunities the new 50K predictions offer to their operations and the entire beef industry.
“Until now the 50K technology has been just used for research. Now, using this technology in the seedstock business will expand our selection to cover almost all of the traits that affect profitability,” Leachman says. “As an industry, we’ve evolved from selection based on a few traits to a point where we are now interested in 15 to 20 traits (like growth, carcass, fertility and longevity) that are influenced by thousands and thousands of genes. The 50K technology will increase the accuracy of our decisions on nearly every important trait.”
Leachman sees the impact that the new technology will have on profitability. “For us, there is tremendous value in using predictions from the 50K technology to choose from a group of a thousand yearling bulls, with accuracy, which ones will provide the most profit,” Leachman says. | <urn:uuid:8cd7bbe3-5a53-496a-bbe4-8ac5412526a3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cattlenetwork.com/drovers/departments/issues-that-matter/coming-soon-50k-hd-dna-testing-114053339.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936732 | 520 | 1.953125 | 2 |
III. INSTITUTIONAL COORDINATION MECHANISMS
D. Institutional overlaps and conflicts
Government ministries and agencies have differing mandates and objectives, many of which do not embrace environmental responsibilities. It has also been observed that environmental conservation and protection are not accorded the highest of government priorities. The result will be conflicts over the allocation of limited government resources to competing demands in cases where responsibilities overlap between those ministries concerned with higher economic growth and those concerned with the environment.
Conflicts generally arise when responsibilities for the management of a particular resource or project overlap among several government agencies. Water management is one such example, as responsibilities are spread between TWB, the Ministry of Health, the Village Water Committees, the Ministry of Lands, Survey and Natural Resources through its Hydrogeology Section, the Ministry of Works, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
Box 3 provides is a good example of how the responsibilities for one resource may be spread over several agencies. There have been conflicts, but they have been resolved reasonably and sensibly. However, with future increases in consumption and in demand for better quality, more and more conflicts are bound to arise. Therefore it is now necessary to:
There are two other examples which will help to illustrate the conflicts that arise from overlapping responsibilities. Despite some objections from the Ministry of Health (1996) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Ministry of Lands, Survey and Natural Resources has continued to issue leases and subdivisions for residential buildings on foreshores and in mangrove areas in Tongatapu, especially around Fanga'uta Lagoon, and in Vava'u. The damage to the lagoon and marine life, and pollution from human wastes have been considerable. As one senior official of the Ministry of Lands, Survey and Natural Resources noted: "how can we preach environmental protection and conservation to other ministries and the public when we ourselves are, in reality, encouraging the destruction of Fanga'uta Lagoon and its environs?"
There is no easy way out of such situations, apart from a specific and definitive legal deterrent barring the Ministry of Lands, Survey and Natural Resources from further allocations of such fragile land and foreshores. With the rapidly growing population of Nuku'alofa and its surrounding suburbs, the pressure on the Ministry to allocate the fragile fringes of Fanga'uta Lagoon will be too great to resist unless it is possible to enforce legally binding regulations.
Another example is the Popua rubbish dump. Despite pleas from the Ministry of Health and residents in nearby settlements that the Ministry of Lands, Survey and Natural Resources allocate another site to replace the Popua dump, nothing concrete has been done. It is a serious environmental problem which is creating health risks for the Patangata and Popua settlements. The failure of the Ministry of Lands, Survey and Natural Resources to resolve the problem has damaged its credibility as the official environmental protection institution. | <urn:uuid:be555174-63d2-44d9-971a-9a64efc788d8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.unescap.org/DRPAD/publication/integra/volume1/tonga/1tg03d.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951221 | 594 | 2.546875 | 3 |
There are lots of scary books in the world, with almost anything written by Stephen King or Sarah Palin pretty much unreadable if you’re afraid of the dark and camping somewhere isolated.
Of course, there’s another type of scary: certain “holy” books that, in my opinion, people do themselves an injustice by taking too literally (and killing non-believers in the name of).
And then there are truly terrifying tomes; books such as Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’ The Manifesto of the Communist Party and the infamous Malleus Maleficarum, all of which inspired the murders of millions of people.
While Hitler’s screed helped spread his genocidal anti-Semitism and Marx and Engels’s work was used as a blueprint for numerous brutal regimes, the less well known Malleus Maleficarum – latin for “The Hammer of Witches” – is only slightly less blood-soaked.
Published in 1487, Malleus Maleficarum was written by Heinrich Kramer, a German Inquistor of the Catholic Church and, in the centuries following his death, it became the Do-It-Yourself guide for how to identify, torture and kill a witch … | <urn:uuid:05dd9040-349f-46cb-97c5-fb6e0b45a488> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.malleusmaleficarum.org/270/ | 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 | 0.941184 | 273 | 2.296875 | 2 |
Explosions Are Main Cause of Spine Injuries in U.S. Soldiers
FRIDAY, Sept. 21 (HealthDay News) -- Explosions are the main cause of spine injuries among wounded U.S. military personnel, a new study finds.
Researchers analyzed more than eight years of data on back, spinal column and spinal cord injuries suffered by American military personnel serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. Of nearly 11,000 evacuated casualties, about 600 (nearly 5.5 percent) had a total of more than 2,100 spinal injuries.
Explosions accounted for 56 percent of spine injuries, motor vehicle collisions for 29 percent and gunshots for 15 percent, the study found. In 17 percent of spine injuries, the spinal cord also was injured. Fifty-three percent of gunshot wounds to the spine led to a spinal cord injury.
The study also found that 92 percent of all injuries were fractures, 84 percent of patients' wounds were the result of combat and spinal injuries often were accompanied by abdomen, chest, head and face injuries.
The findings, published Sept. 19 in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, are an important first step in helping orthopedic surgeons develop treatment plans for military personnel with spine injuries, as well as for civilians with similar injuries, according to the researchers.
"In these current military conflicts, the latest technologies in body armor, helmets and other protective devices have helped save many soldiers' lives," Dr. James Blair, an orthopedic surgery chief resident at the Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston, in Texas, said in a journal news release.
"We also have access to advanced life-saving techniques in the field and medical evacuation strategies that are keeping many more service members alive," he added.
"But when a person survives an explosion or vehicle collision, there has still been a great deal of force on the body," Blair noted. "Many of those survivors are coming to us with severe injuries to their spine and back. We needed to describe and characterize these injuries so recommendations can be made on how to provide the most effective treatment and rehabilitation for our wounded warriors."
The North American Spine Society has more about spine and spinal cord injuries.
SOURCE: Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, news release, Sept. 19, 2012 | <urn:uuid:f3bf62a6-1004-4802-aa72-ee1fef8b269b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mission4health.com/Health-Library/Article.aspx?CT=6&C=668817&LargeFonts=true | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962755 | 466 | 2.765625 | 3 |
With our previous article that we published moments ago, demonstrating the performance of the GeForce 7800GTX 256MB under Linux with the 1.0-8174 Rel80 drivers that were finally released today, there's no disputing that the Windows XP NVIDIA ForceWare users can generally see a significantly higher frame-rate with the same hardware components, in addition to other features that aren't yet supported by the proprietary NVIDIA Linux drivers. However, how do NVIDIA's initial Rel80 Linux drivers (1.0-8174) fair in the world of Scalable Link Interface? Today we will be investigating all of these areas of SLI as we measure the level of performance on this Athlon 64 system with Enemy Territory v2.60, Quake 4 v1.0.5, and Doom 3 v1.3.1302. To start with, below is the system setup used during the testing for this article. The basis for this system is Tyan's K8E-SLI, which we recently reviewed here, and it has proved to be an exceptional desktop and workstation motherboard and is based off of the nForce Professional 2200 Chipset rather than the nForce4 SLI.
|Processor:||AMD Athlon 64 3000+ (Winchester) @ 2.25GHz|
|Motherboard:||Tyan Tomcat K8E-SLI S2866|
|Memory:||2 x 1GB OCZ EB PC-4000 Platinum|
|Graphics Card:||NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT 128MB|
|Hard Drives:||Western Digital 160GB SATA2|
|Optical Drives:||MSI 16x DVD-ROM|
|Power Supply:||SinTek 500SLI 500W|
|Operating System:||OpenSuSE 10.0 OSS|
|GCC (GNU Compiler):||4.0.2|
|Graphics Driver:||NVIDIA 1.0-8174|
As mentioned previously, all of the game testing today had occurred with Enemy Territory, Quake 4, and Doom 3, with the testing for this article being a single 6600GT against a 6600GT SLI comparison. We will also be delivering additional SLI results from other GeForce 6/7 cards soon. The various settings in which we benchmarked Enemy Territory are standard settings while Doom 3 focused upon High Quality, High Quality - 2x Quincunx AA/4x AF, High Quality - 4x AA, 9-tap Gaussian/8x AF, and High Quality - 8x AA/8x AF. Quake 4 was benchmarked at Low Quality, High Quality, High Quality - 2x Bilinear AA/2x AF, High Quality - 4x Bilinear AA/4x AF, and High Quality - 8x AA/8x AF. We originally intended on delivering performance results at multiple resolutions, however, one of the problematic areas we have found thus far in our initial testing has been no SLI performance gains unless the game resolution is that of the X.Org server. In the case of this article, the testing was performed at 1280 x 1024. (EDIT [2005-12-06]: NVIDIA has told us the lack of SLI scaling is caused by a problem in XVidMode, that they have yet to correct, but you should see improved performance if using the XRandR extension to change resolutions.) There are also a few additional bugs with the SLI portion of these drivers that have yet to be worked out. On the following pages are our 1.0-8174 results under these three games using both single and dual graphics cards. If you would like more information about Linux SLI in regards to the hardware and software setup, it can be viewed in our Linux SLI Primer. During our Linux SLI testing, we ran the 6600GT pair in Alternate Frame Rendering (AFR) as well as Split Frame Rendering (SFR) and SLI Antialiasing (SLIAA). In Alternate Frame Rendering, one GPU draws the next frame while the other matched GPU is processing the frame after that while in Split Frame Rendering the graphics load is simply split between the two contenders. In the final mode, SLIAA, the Antialiasing load is split between the two GPUs. | <urn:uuid:01d6c4ed-bb4a-40f7-959d-230f19879d64> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=338&num=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911406 | 880 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Longtime Cosmo editor Helen Gurley Brown has died
“You can't be sexual at 60 if you're fat,” she observed on her 60th birthday. She also championed cosmetic surgery, speaking easily of her own nose job, face-lifts and silicone injections.
An ugly duckling by her own account, Helen Gurley was a child of the Ozarks, born Feb. 18, 1922 in Green Forest, Ark. Growing up in the Depression, she earned pocket money by giving other kids dance lessons.
Her father died when she was 10 and her mother, a teacher, moved the family to Los Angeles, where young Helen, acne-ridden and otherwise physically unendowed, graduated as valedictorian of John H. Francis Polytechnic High School in 1939.
All the immediate future held was secretarial work. With typing and shorthand learned at a business college, she went through 18 jobs in seven years at places like the William Morris Agency, the Daily News in Los Angeles, and, in 1948, the Foote, Cone & Belding advertising agency. There, when finally given a shot at writing ad copy, she began winning prizes and was hired away by Kenyon & Eckhardt, which made her the highest paid advertising woman on the West Coast.
She also evidently was piling up the experience she put to use later as an author, editor and hostess of a TV chitchat show.
“I've never worked anywhere without being sexually involved with somebody in the office,” she told New York magazine in 1982. Asked whether that included the boss, she said, “Why discriminate against him?”
Marriage came when she was 37 to twice-divorced David Brown, a former Cosmopolitan managing editor turned movie producer, whose credits would include “The Sting” and “Jaws.”
Her husband encouraged Brown to write a book, which she wrote on weekends, and suggested the title, “Sex and the Single Girl.”
They moved to New York after the book became one of the top sellers of 1962. Moviemakers bought it for a then-very-hefty $200,000, not for the nonexistent plot, but for its provocative title. Natalie Wood played a character named Helen Gurley Brown who had no resemblance to the original.
She followed up her success with a long-playing record album, “Lessons in Love,” and another book, “Sex in the Office,” in 1965.
That year she and her husband pitched a women's magazine idea at Hearst, which turned it down, but hired her to run Cosmopolitan instead.
In 1967 she hosted a TV talk show, “Outrageous Opinions,” syndicated in 19 cities and featuring celebrity guests willing to be prodded about sex and other risque topics.
She also went on to write five more books, including “Having It All” in 1982 and in 1993, at age 71, “The Late Show,” which was subtitled: “A Semiwild but Practical Survival Plan for Women Over 50.”
“My own philosophy is if you're not having sex, you're finished. It separates the girls from the old people,” she told an interviewer.
The Browns were childless by choice, she said.
Rayner Pike contributed to this report.
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- 4098As Boy Scouts' vote on gay members nears, faith groups weigh in | <urn:uuid:7b048174-aaf6-42e7-9eb5-a885deee4188> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://newsok.com/longtime-cosmo-editor-helen-gurley-brown-has-died/article/3700574/?page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974269 | 831 | 1.523438 | 2 |
The Climax of Prophecy by Richard Bauckham, T&T Clark, £29.95. Revelation, Vision of a Just World by Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza, T&T Clark, £9.95
THE LAST BOOK OF the Bible is often neglected, as a work of lurid wishful thinking, a patchwork of Old Testament imagery, written in botched Greek for vengeful persecuted Christians. Professor Bauckham's series of studies shows just how shallow this view is. To begin with, the structure is not that of two documents simply tacked together, but is highly complex and artistic, with interlocking elements and clearly marked transitions. The numerical symbolism is extraordinarily developed, revolving around threes, fours, and sevens.
The relationship of the material to its context in the circles of Christian prophets in
Asia Minor is fascinatingly presented. Some of the imagery is shared with contemporary Jewish apocalypses, though probably derived from earlier tradition. Similarly indicative of a lively and flourishing Christian community in the background are the slight variations from the Gospels in the sayings of the Lord.
From different points of view two especially valuable chapters are on the Worship of Jesus and on the Economic Critique of Rome. The former shows how monotheism is preserved, despite the strongest statement in the New Testament of the divinity of Jesus, by the association of the worship of Jesus
Chris not so wi expe the r Chris were the po social wonl
in the one worship given to God. The importance of the latter study is that it shows the early Christians were not so taken up with their expectation of the return of Christ that they were blind to the political and social ills of the world around them.
Schussler Fiorenza's book is a revision of her 1 9 8 1 commentary on Revelation. Most of the introduction (which comprises one quarter of the book) is taken up with outlining the approach to be taken, one element of which is, of course, feminist criticism. It
Early tians were taken up th their ctation of eturn of t that they blind to litical and ills of the d around them'
abounds in technical terminology ("polysemous images and tensive symbols"). I find that important ideas sometimes go unexplained: the notion of the "concentric pattern of epistolary inclusion" which determines the structure is never justified; it would be valuable to know how it is "a conic spiral moving from the present to the eschatological future".
In a short commentary of this kind it would be unfair to expect the detailed explanations offered by Bauckham's scholarly articles. But the discerning reader should be aware that the comments and explanations spring from a depth of teaming comparable. This does not appear to be the case, and there are frequent occasions when the discussion would have been enriched by knowledge of his articles, let alone his sources.
HENRY WANSBROUGH OSB | <urn:uuid:6aaf2969-00c6-4f06-93c3-17fcee5391b6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://archive.catholicherald.co.uk/article/6th-may-1994/6/wondering-about-the-apocalypse | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950525 | 613 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Hope College Nursing continues to be among the select group of programs nationwide whose graduates have achieved a 100-percent pass rate on the profession’s national licensing exam.
Every Hope nursing graduate who took the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) during 2011-12 (December and May) passed on the first attempt. It is the second year in a row that 100 percent of the program’s graduates have done so.
The most recent reported state and national averages were 90 percent and 88 percent respectively. According to the National Council of State Boards of Nursing’s program report, only six percent of all nursing-education programs nationwide achieved a 100-percent pass rate between April 2011 and March 2012.
“We are extremely proud of our nursing graduates,” said Dr. Susan Dunn, associate professor of nursing and chair of the department. “Such an exemplary pass rate on the nursing licensure exam can be directly attributed to the high caliber of our Hope students, the excellence of the Hope faculty and the terrific experiences offered to our students in clinical agencies throughout West Michigan.”
According to the NCSBN’s report, only 125 of the nation’s 1,871 nursing-education programs achieved a 100-percent rate between April 2011 and March 2012.
Hope is one of 51 programs offering a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree among the top 125 in the report. The total of 125 also includes 65 programs that offer an Associate degree and nine programs that offer a Diploma in nursing.
The department of nursing at Hope began in 2002, although nursing education at the college goes back another two decades. From 1982 through 2003, Hope and Calvin College operated a nursing program jointly before creating their own, independent programs.
The program is approved by the Michigan Board of Nursing and is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE).
Students begin studies in the program as sophomores based on completion of prerequisite classes as freshmen. The major includes coursework on campus as well as multiple field placements, the latter spread across six specialty practicum courses, a research practicum, a family health course and an internship. Area clinical sites have included Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, Holland Hospital, the Ottawa County Health Department, Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services, Spectrum Health and Zeeland Hospital. | <urn:uuid:950a0d9a-4664-4970-bd71-d2445b202cad> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hope.edu/2012/10/08/hope-nursing-graduates-achieve-perfect-pass-rate-second-year | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959902 | 484 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Tehran’s nuclear ambitions have been subject to widespread suspicions that it is trying to acquire nuclear weapons, with Israel fearing it would be the target of an Iranian strike. It has threatened a pre-emptive military strike in response.
Baroness Ashton, the EU’s chief foreign affairs representative, will on Wednesday lead representatives from six world powers - the US, Russia, China, the UK, France and Germany - in crucial negotiations that could prove a turning point on the issue.
The so-called “P5+1” grouping are due to meet Iranian representative, Saeed Jalili, in Baghdad.
Diplomats now expect the talks to yield an Iranian offer to suspend part of its nuclear programme in return for negotiations on dismantling the UN sanctions regime that includes the prospect of a US and European-driven oil embargo. This could include an offer to limit uranium enrichment to 3.5 per cent.
The hopes of a breakthrough follow two days of preliminary talks between Mr Amano and Mr Jalili in the Iranian capital.
Speaking as he returned yesterday, Mr Amano said: “The decision was made to conclude and sign the agreement ... At this stage, I can say it will be signed quite soon.
“We understood each other’s position better.”
The Iranian regime quickly made clear however, that any concessions must be immediately reciprocated - probably with an agreement “turn down the volume” on sanctions.
“It is of crucial importance that our cooperation will entail reciprocal steps, that is, our nation’s trust should be built in the trend of talks and cooperation,” Mr Jalili said.
The West’s main concern is Iran’s production of uranium enriched to 20 per cent, which is far higher than needed for regular energy-producing reactors. The US and its allies fear the higher-enriched uranium could be quickly boosted to warhead-grade material.
One Western official told The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday night: “The meaningful issue must be the 20 per cent enriched material - then some sort of pause on sanctions is not a difficult thing.
“The key thing is what is good enough and what prevents a third party strike on Iran.”
As part of any agreement, Mr Amano is focused on getting Iran to let UN experts into high-profile Iranian sites, including the Parchin military complex southeast of Tehran.
Israel however, warned yesterday of the dangers of Iranian tactics.
“Iran wants to destroy Israel and it is developing nuclear weapons to fulfill that goal,” Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, said. “Against this malicious intention, leading world powers need to display determination and not weakness. They should not make any concessions to Iran.”
Hillary Clinton, the Secretary of State, has publicly denied she has eased the US stance in pursuit of President Barack Obama’s policy of talks with Iran.
It was Mrs Clinton’s husband, Bill, as president who first imposed restrictions on Iran over its nuclear programme banning companies from investing in Iranian oil and gas and trading with Iran in 1995.
The net has closed ever tighter with four rounds of UN sanctions between 1996 and 2010 and a raft of bilateral restrictions, including moves by the EU and US to impose a semi-global oil embargo by the end of June. As Opec’s second largest producer, Iran’s oil industry has been pitching into chaos by the embargo.
While fixated on the removal of sanctions, Iranian officials maintain the country has a legal right to nuclear technology. One diplomat close to the talks said that the ultimate success of the diplomacy would hinge on conceding this point to Iran so it can portray the negotiations as a victory at home.
“It’s a myth the West doesn’t accept their nuclear entitlement but it has be framed in a way that allows them to claim victory on this as a sweetener to real concessions,” the diplomat said. | <urn:uuid:a9b4cc47-4f18-4fdf-861d-b020cbf0825b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.offnews.info/verArticulo.php?contenidoID=39579 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958815 | 824 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Dextromethorphan is a long-acting dissociative anesthetic and depressant that affects serotonin levels and causes hallucinations by separating perception from sensation.
names include: cough syrup, robo, tussin, robotrip, robocop
DXM is legally available in many over-the-counter cough suppressants (both syrup and pill forms). It is either ingested directly or extracted then ingested. It is also sold on the black market in pills and powder form, sometimes falsely marketed as "Ecstasy."
DXM is not physically addictive, but some users who are entranced by the dissociative affects develop psychological addiction because of the drug's wide-spread availability. (This is not very common because of the difficulties inherent in regular use of the drug - including tolerance.)
It is possible to overdose on DXM, but to do so requires the ingestion of a massive quantity of the drug.
More dangerous is the possibility of overdose from other substances present in cough syrup, such as Acetaminophen and Ephedrine.
The Guafenisen in many cough syrups causes nausea and vomiting at high doses.
More likely than physical DXM overdose is the possibility for panic or psychological breakdown as the result of a strong trip. Users can become paranoid if they are stuck in a "time loop" or will never return to their original perspective. This can really only be combatted by reassuring the user that the drug will wear off eventually.
Mixing DXM with other depressants can result in overdose through respiratory failure.
Mixing DXM with alcohol results at best in vomiting and at worst in alcohol poisoning.
Mixing DXM with other serotonin-affecting hallucinogens (especially Ecstasy) can lead to Serotonin Syndrome and chronic depression.
Heavy, chronic use of DXM or other dissociatives (like Ketamine and PCP) can cause Olney's Lesions to form on the brain. This type of brain damage affects memory, cognitive ability, and emotional behavior. While some studies suggest that stopping the chronic use of dissociatives can allow for minor damage to heal, more serious cases have been documented where the user's mental deterioration continues regardless, often ending in epilepsy and permanent psychosis.
Do not mix with ecstasy, alcohol, or depressants. Do not mix with stimulants if you have heart problems.
Do not ingest over-the-counter medicines with active ingredients other than DXM. The risk of overdose is very real. Ingesting products containing Guafenisen is not life-threatening, but will inevitably cause nausea and vomiting at high doses.
Do not drive. It might not be as obvious as with standard hallucinogens, but when you take DXM, you are still tripping.
As with any tripping situation, using a sitter is always a wise idea.
Do not attempt strenuous physical activity. It is possible to hurt oneself without noticing it.
Do not scratch needlessly. Half of the uncomfortable feeling is psychosomatic. Merely relaxing will help.
If you seem to be experiencing mental problems from chronic DXM use, it is imperative to stop using. Seek medical help if your condition does not improve.
Last Updated: 1/21/09 | <urn:uuid:548ef4ff-b4e0-41a4-857b-901c238df144> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dartmouth.edu/~healthed/groups/dapa/otherdrugs/dxm.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930756 | 670 | 1.945313 | 2 |
|Handbook of Jainism||
FIRST STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT
In the state before development commences, the life is an indefinite life; the false beliefs are of an indefinite kind; they have not taken any shape; whereas the false beliefs of beings whose development has advanced in the first stage are shaped and definite; certain view are held on certain subjects.
In the early stages of this first stage the person has an intense dislike of truth. When the truth is presented to him he does not believe it at all, nor will he have anything to do with it.
In these stages of development the relation is given between the energies of the eight classes and the impelling forces which cause them.
Delusion (mithyatva), lack of self-control (avirati), passion (kasaya), lack of other activities of thought, speech, and body (yoga), - the four "causes" mentioned above - are all operative in this first stage of development, and so, out of the whole list of energies that can be generated, we may in this stage generate anyone (except the one by which a person becomes a master, or those which give us the body (aharaka sarira) used for visiting a higher being. Thus, in this stage of development we are liable to generate such undesirable states and characteristics as life in hell, life as a being with only one, two, three, or four, instead of with five senses; life as a tree or other stationary being; life as an invisibly minute being (not nigoda); life as a being having a body in common with innumerable other beings (such as a potato); also the neuter sex passion; delusion (mithyatva); and a few (four) others. These states are not generated in the stages of development above the first, however. To avoid them we must stop the cause (mithyatva).
The four instrumental causes of these energies were sub-divided, and there were five sub-divisions of the first. These do not operate in any stage above this first stage of development; they are controlled by the mind.
It is, therefore, important to know how to get out of this first stage of development; and also, if we are out of it, how to prevent ourselves from falling back into it; for these stages are, as already mentioned, in logical order but not in chronological order, and it is possible to fall into a lower one from a higher one until we reach the 12th whence we do not fall to a lower one.
Before dealing with the means of reaching the stages above this first stage of development, the second and the third stages each being of only a few moments duration, may first be described. | <urn:uuid:d4e4937f-0bbf-4e7c-baf4-faf8ca492402> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jainworld.com/jainbooks/handbook/first.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960897 | 566 | 2.59375 | 3 |
The egg has always been a universal symbol of renewal and rebirth—a perfect symbol for the celebration of Easter. And it is a very popular collectible. But did you know that elaborately painted eggs have been found in Italian burial sites dating as far back as the 7th century B.C.? It’s clear that today’s collectors join a very ancient tradition.
There are hundreds of different varieties of collectible eggs—they come in all sizes and materials, they can be ornate or plain, and they span a full range of budgets and tastes. Here’s a fun look the genre.
Hand Decorated—These eggs (from domesticated chickens, geese or ducks) are the most familiar and most often associated with Easter. The tradition of coloring eggs for the holiday can be traced back hundreds of years as evidenced by the household budget of King Edward I in the year 1290, which included 18 pence for the purchase of 450 eggs to be dyed red or covered in gold leaf. Other regions in Europe used many different decorating techniques such as pressing a natural leaf pattern onto an egg or using wax and acid etching to create designs. The custom came to the United States with the first immigrants.
Hand-etched Polish ostrich egg with four panels
Those of us in the Southwest love the Mexican tradition of hollowed-out Easter eggs filled with confetti and glitter. Called cascarones (pronounced kahs-kah-ROH-nays), the eggs are meant to be playfully broken over the heads of friends. A confetti shower and a hair full of sparkles are signs of good luck. Some historians believe this custom originated in Asia and was brought to Italy by Marco Polo. Those eggs were filled with perfumed powder and tossed at attractive women by potential suitors. The practice traveled to Spain and was brought to Mexico in the 1860s by the wife of the Emperor Maximilian.
Candy Containers—During the early 1900s, large eggs were made from pressed cardboard and covered on the outside with vibrant lithographed paper. The scenes on the covers often depicted images of spring—children, flowers, chicks and bunnies. The eggs opened in half, and the insides were lined with beautiful printed paper in a softer pattern. The openings were edged in delicately cut paper lace. These eggs were made to be candy containers, and some also had a loop of string at the top so that they could be hung. The containers mostly originated in Germany, although some were made in England. They are reproduced today, but holiday collectors really covet the originals.
Lithographed cardboard candy container
Sculpted Eggs—Sculpted eggs have been crafted for centuries. During the 1800s, many countries produced lacquered nesting eggs with the most famous coming from Russia and Japan. In the late Victorian era, milk-glass eggs were embossed, hand painted and gilded. And in the early decades of the 1900s, J. Chein and other toy companies first produced tin lithographed eggs. Today, dozens of different porcelain, art glass, figurine, toy and ornament companies produce collectible eggs and egg boxes, often issuing new releases each year. These include Avon, Noritake, Fisher-Price, Goebel, Hallmark, Lenox, Radko, Franklin Mint, Limoges and scores of others. The variety is almost endless, and eggs can be found made of wood, stone, rock crystal, mother-of-pearl, papier-mâché, wax, ivory, gold, silver, jade, pewter, spun sugar, straw, chocolate, plastic, alabaster and virtually any other material. The collecting fun is in the enormous assortment available.
1995 Franklin Mint gazebo egg
Antique hand-painted milk-glass egg
Original Fabergé—These are the most lavish examples of egg art in the world, created between 1884 and 1917 for Czars Alexander III and Nicholas II by Russian jeweler Peter Carl Fabergé. They are famed for their gold, silver and jewel-encrusted composition accompanied by brilliantly colored enamel. And each egg opens to reveal an equally elaborate, tiny masterpiece inside. More than 100 of these opulent eggs were believed to have been made (with more than 50 going to the imperial family), but only 69 survived. After the Russian Revolution, most of the imperial eggs were sold. Today, the majority of these (valued at millions of dollars each) are housed in public museums around the world, although a few are still in private collections. Many view these eggs as the indulgence of a doomed monarchy, but they are a stunning triumph of craftsmanship.
This pink enameled Fabergé egg sold in 2007 for $18 million
Whew! The collecting world is full of an amazing variety of eggs. And there are many collectible areas of this genre that we haven’t even mentioned: books about eggs, dolls holding eggs, paintings of eggs, darning eggs, dinosaur eggs, ostrich-egg purses and egg recipes, to name just a few. Other people collect egg-shaped objects and containers such as perfume bottles, cigarette lighters, candles, paperweights, dishes, charms and jewelry.
For those who just can’t get enough, there are even museums devoted to eggs—in Egg Harbor, Wis.; Cobleskill, N. Y.; the tiny village of Soyans, France; and Kolomyya, West Ukraine. A museum in Siófok, Hungary, has more than 5,000 decorated eggs from 19 different countries. And don’t forget the Royal Alberta Museum in Canada that has one of the most extensive collections of wild and extinct bird eggs in the world.
Collectible, incredible (not edible) eggs—they’re everywhere!
WorthPoint—Discover Your Hidden Wealth
Join WorthPoint on Twitter and Facebook. | <urn:uuid:6cbd3ea5-7a6a-4f34-9768-7bba6ca80476> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.worthpoint.com/article/cracking-collecting-eggs/comment-page-1 | 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 | 0.962972 | 1,231 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Mainstreaming Biological Diversity - CEPA
01 August 2010 | News story
This eight-page publication presents the case for the work programme on communication, education and public awareness (CEPA) for the Convention on Biological Diversity. It highlights the role of communication as a policy tool. English / French / Hungarian
Article 13 – Communication, Education and Public Awareness (CEPA)
The Convention on Biological Diversity recognises in Article 13 the need to create awareness
and educate the public. However it is not sufficient to simply tell people what is happening
so that they can correct what they do. The changes required of people will not come
about by rational individual choice alone. Biodiversity planners need to think differently
about using communication, education and public awareness rather than just making
scientific information available to the public.
It was written several years ago by Gwen van Boven and Frits Hesselink, and is featured here as CEC looks ahead to a CEPA side event at the October 2010 meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Nagoya.
This brochure looks at:
- Exploration of current practices and motives for change among stakeholders
- Social responsbility
- Behaviour change
- Social marketing
Professional networks with the expertise, experience and skills needed to build the capacity for CEPA exist. The IUCN Commission on Education and Communication advises on the use of CEPA and provides capacity building programmes for managers and policy makers. Commission members can be found around the world. | <urn:uuid:975697e8-fe4c-40f8-a469-dbd90aab695e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cms.iucn.org/news_homepage/news_by_date/2010_news/august_2010/?5809/cec-mainstreaming-biological-diversity | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921283 | 306 | 2.625 | 3 |
You know last week we talked about beautifying your landscape with pansies and they sure are spectacular. But if we have extremely cold weather cold temperatures can kill these things or really burn them back severely.
When I plant my landscape with my old mama in Tennessee I always use some of these Dianthus. She used to call them pinks because that's probably the only color they had in the old days. But, of course, as you can see the Dianthus or pinks now come in all shades of colors, mixed and matched, reds, and every other color. They really are spectacular in the landscape.
The nice thing about these is they will not freeze. I don't care how cold it gets they will not freeze so they are a wonderful addition to the landscape. The problem with them is the reason people use pansies more is because pansies will bloom a little bit during the winter and still give you that spring bloom. Dianthus doesn't hardly bloom much in the winter at all, but in the spring there's nothing that can compare to it.
Remember when you are planting Dianthus plant a bunch of them. If you're not stopping traffic in the road a hundred yards away, you haven't got enough of them in a group. So group them together and what you might want to do is plant some pansies, Dianthus, and snapdragons like this lady's done and see how bad the winters going to do. That way you will always have some spring beauty for your mama wherever she might be and she'll love you for that. The best Christmas gift you can give her.
This is Jerry Parsons, Vegetable Specialist for the Texas Agricultural Extension Service, the Weekend Gardener.
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The libretto displayed on this site follows G. Schirmer's 1902 vocal score. To the best of my knowledge, the Schirmer edition follows the complete opera as originally written by Balfe.
In 1915 Novello published a reduced version edited by Emil Kreuz, titled "concert and acting edition". The Kreuz edition consists of four scenes only, corresponding to the first, third and fourth scenes in the original act two, along with the original act three. The Kreuz edition omits the original first act and the second scene of the second act.
In a preface to the edition Mr Kreuz writes, "In preparing this edition, act one, being in the nature of a prologue, has been omitted, the usual cuts have been adopted, and a few numbers that are not absolutely necessary to the continuation of the plot have been dispensed with. All the finer numbers have been retained, and as much work as possible given to the chorus. [...] It is hoped that choral and operatic societies will find in this simplified and condensed edition a useful addition to their repertory, and that it will be found to give an effectual fillip to the growing appreciation of stage-representations of classic works by enthusiastic amateurs."
In the libretto displayed here, differences in the Kreuz edition are noted in brackets. They are as follows:
1. "The Bohemian Girl". The name of the opera is misleading, since the supposed title character is not Bohemian in any way. Rather, she is an Austrian who has been raised as a gypsy, so a better name for the opera would be "The Gypsy Girl". The actual title derives from a mistranslation of the French term "bohémienne", which in fact means "gypsy girl".
The most immediate source of Bunn's libretto is a French libretto by the Marquis de Saint-Georges, titled "La Bohémienne". Saint-Georges's ballet based on the same story was titled "La Gipsy". The original source (from which this libretto deviates considerably) is a short story by Cervantes, titled "La Gitanella", part of his collection of "Novelas Exemplares". Presumably even that story is not original with Cervantes; most likely he drew from an earlier oral tradition. [Go back.]
2. Some sources (including Kobbé) label Count Arnheim a bass; both the Schirmer and Novello scores list the Count as a baritone. In my opinion the part is better suited for a lyric bass (basso cantante). [Go back.]
3. Some sources (including Kobbé) label the Queen of the Gypsies an alto or contralto; both the Schirmer and Novello scores list the Queen as a soprano. In the duet which closes the first scene of Act Two ("It is thy deed"), the Queen is called upon to sing several high notes (including a high C). In ensembles, the Queen sings the alto part. Her original aria ("Bliss for ever past") and the replacement aria ("Love smiles but to deceive") both seem to me best suited for a lyric mezzo-soprano. [Go back.]
4. In the character list included in the Schirmer score, Buda and the Officer are both labeled with voice parts. Neither of them, however, is called upon to sing in the opera. Both are speaking roles only, though they may be members of the chorus. (But parts are in act one, and thus are not included in the Kreuz edition.) [Go back.]
5. The Captain of the Guard has only one solo line, but his part in one of the ensembles ("To the hall") is written separately and doesn't exactly match any of the chorus parts. In the character list included in the Schirmer score, the Captain is labeled "bass", but the aforementioned ensemble line is better suited to a baritone. (The Captain's part is cut in the Kreuz edition.) The Captain may be a member of the chorus. [Go back.]
The Bohemian Girl: Index | Characters | Act I | Act II, scene 1 2 3 4 | Act III | Footnotes
Go back to libretto/texts index. | <urn:uuid:9410f91c-8057-4488-91e5-3df71346a6ea> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://home.earthlink.net/~markdlew/lib/bohgirl/bohgfn.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95552 | 910 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Flag of the United States
The flag of the United States of America consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white; there is a blue rectangle in the upper hoist-side corner bearing 50 small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows of six stars (top and bottom) alternating with rows of five stars. The 50 stars on the flag represent the 50 states and the 13 stripes represent the 13 original colonies.
The United States flag is commonly called the Stars and Stripes and less commonly Old Glory. The name Old Glory was coined in the 1830s, and was of particularly common use during the era of 48-star version (1912 to 1959).
4.1 Standards of respect
While institutions often display the flag year-round, most homeowners reserve flag display for civic holidays like Memorial Day, Veteran's Day, Presidents' Day, Flag Day and the Fourth of July. On Memorial Day it is common to place small flags by war memorials and next to the graves of U.S. war dead.
To some U.S. citizens, their flag symbolizes many things. They have seen it as representing all of the freedoms and rights guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights. Perhaps most of all they see it as a symbol of individual and personal liberty like those put forth in the U.S. Declaration of Independence.
The approved method of destroying old and tattered flags consists of burning them in a simple ceremony. The flag is cut into three pieces: first a horizontal cut is made between the seventh and eighth stripes, then a vertical cut separating the star field from the seven shorter stripes. Then the three pieces are typically placed on a pyre as 'Taps' is played. Burning the flag has also been used as a deliberate act of disrespect, at times to protest actions by the United States government, or sometimes in displays of Anti-Americanism. Some groups concerned by these actions have proposed a Flag Burning Amendment that would outlaw burning the flag in disrespect or protest.
Flags with similar design
Flags from other countries share, at varying degrees, the design and/or color scheme of the United States flag. Several of the flags of the Confederate States of America also reflect the colors and design of the Stars and Stripes. Some examples of national flags sharing elements of the U.S. flag include:
There are certain guidelines for the use and display of the United States flag as outlined in the United States Flag Code of the federal government. It should be stressed that these are guidelines, not laws, which lack a penalty for those who fail to comply with them.
Standards of respect
- The flag should never be dipped to any person or thing.
- The flag is flown upside down only as a distress signal.
- The flag should not be used as a drapery, or for covering a speakers desk, draping a platform, or for any decoration in general. Bunting of blue, white and red stripes is available for these purposes. The blue stripe of the bunting should be on the top.
- The flag should never be drawn back or bunched up in any way.
- The flag should never be used as a covering for a ceiling.
- The flag should never be used for any advertising purpose. It should not be embroidered, printed or otherwise impressed on such articles as cushions, handkerchiefs, napkins, boxes or anything intended to be discarded after temporary use. Advertising signs should not be attached to the staff or halyard.
- The flag should not be used as part of a costume or athletic uniform, except that a flag patch may be used on the uniform of military personnel, fireman, policeman and members of patriotic organizations.
- The flag should never have placed on it, or attached to it, any mark, insignia, letter, word, number, figure, or drawing of any kind.
- The flag should never be used as a receptacle for receiving, holding, carrying, or delivering anything.
- The flag should not be draped over the hood, top, sides, or back of a vehicle, railroad train or boat.
- When the flag is lowered, no part of it should touch the ground or any other object; it should be received by waiting hands and arms. To store the flag it should be folded neatly and ceremoniously.
- The flag should be cleaned and mended when necessary.
- When a flag is so worn it is no longer fit to serve as a symbol of the United States, it should be destroyed in a dignified manner, preferably by burning. (Note: Most American Legion Posts regularly conduct a dignified flag burning ceremony, often on Flag Day, June 14.)
Contrary to a commonly believed urban legend, the flag code does not state that a flag which touches the ground should be burned. Instead, the flag should be moved so it is not touching the ground.
Displaying the flag outdoors
- When the flag is displayed from a staff projecting from a window, balcony, or a building, the union should be at the peak of the staff unless the flag is at half staff. When it is displayed from the same flagpole with another flag, the flag of the United States must always be at the top except that the church pennant may be flown above the flag during church services for Navy personnel when conducted by a Naval chaplain on a ship at sea.
- When the flag is displayed over a street, it should be hung vertically, with the union to the north or east. If the flag is suspended over a sidewalk, the flag's union should be farthest from the building.
- When flown with flags of states, communities or societies on separate flag poles which are of the same height and in a straight line, the flag of the United States is always placed in the position of honor—to its own right. The other flags may be smaller but none may be larger.
- No other flag ever should be placed above it. The flag of the United States is always the first flag raised and the last to be lowered.
- When flown with the national banner of other countries, each flag must be displayed from a separate pole of the same height. Each flag should be the same size. They should be raised and lowered simultaneously. The flag of one nation may not be displayed above that of another nation.
- The flag should be raised briskly and lowered slowly and ceremoniously.
- Ordinarily it should be displayed only between sunrise and sunset. (By Presidential proclamation and law, the flag is displayed continuously at certain honored locations like the United States Marine Corps Memorial in Arlington and Lexington Green.)
- It should be illuminated if displayed at night.
- The flag of the United States of America is saluted as it is hoisted and lowered. The salute is held until the flag is unsnapped from the halyard or through the last note of music, whichever is the longest.
Displaying the flag indoors
- When on display, the flag is accorded the place of honor, always positioned to its own right. Place it to the right of the speaker or staging area or sanctuary. Other flags should be to the left.
- The flag of the United States of America should be at the center and at the highest point of the group when a number of flags of states, localities, or societies are grouped for display.
- When one flag is used with the flag of the United States of America and the staffs are crossed, the flag of the United States is placed on its own right with its staff in front of the other flag.
- When displaying the flag against a wall, vertically or horizontally, the flag's union (stars) should be at the top, to the flag's own right, and to the observer's left.
Parading and saluting the flag
- When carried in a procession, the flag should be to the right of the marchers.
- When other flags are carried, the flag of the United States may be centered in front of the others or carried to their right. When the flag passes in a procession, or when it is hoisted or lowered, all should face the flag and salute.
- To salute, all persons come to attention.
- Those in uniform give the appropriate formal salute.
- Citizens not in uniform salute by placing their right hand over the heart and men with head cover should remove it and hold it to left shoulder, hand over the heart.
- Members of organizations in formation salute upon command of the person in charge.
Pledge of Allegiance and national anthem
- The Pledge of Allegiance should be rendered by standing at attention, facing the flag, and saluting.
- When the national anthem is played or sung, citizens should stand at attention and salute at the first note and hold the salute through the last note. The salute is directed to the flag, if displayed, otherwise to the music.
The flag, in mourning
- To place the flag at half-staff (or half-mast, on ships), hoist it to the peak for an instant and lower it to a position half way between the top and bottom of the staff.
- The flag is to be raised again to the peak for a moment before it is lowered.
- On Memorial Day, the flag is displayed at half-staff until noon and at full staff from noon to sunset.
- The flag is to be flown at half-staff in mourning for designated, principal government leaders and upon presidential or gubernatorial order.
- The U.S. flag is otherwise flown at half-staff (or half-mast, on ships) when directed by the President of the United States or a state governor.
- When used to cover a casket, the flag should be placed with the union at the head and over the left shoulder. It should not be lowered into the grave.
Folding the flag
Flags, when not in use, should be folded into a triangle shape. The final triangle shape result is said to invoke the image of the three-point hats popular during the American Revolutionary War. Former American territories, e.g. the Philippines, also use this method to fold their flags.
- To properly fold the flag, begin by holding it waist-high with another person so that its surface is parallel to the ground.
- Fold the lower half of the stripe section lengthwise over the field of stars, holding the bottom and top edges securely.
- Fold the flag again lengthwise with the blue field on the outside.
- Make a triangular fold by bringing the striped corner of the folded edge to meet the open top edge of the flag.
- Turn the outer end point inward, parallel to the open edge, to form a second triangle.
- The triangular folding is continued until the entire length of the flag is folded in this manner.
- When the flag is completely folded, only a triangular blue field of stars should be visible.
Places where the American flag is displayed continuously
According to Presidential proclamation and in some cases, U.S. law, the American flag is displayed continuously at the following locations:
- Mount Slover limestone quarry, in Colton, California (Act of Congress). First raised July 4, 1917.
- Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine, Baltimore, Maryland (Presidential Proclamation No. 2795, July 2, 1948).
- Flag House Square , Albemarle and Pratt Streets, Baltimore, Maryland (Public Law 83-319, approved March 26, 1954).
- United States Marine Corps Memorial (Iwo Jima), Arlington, Virginia (Presidential Proclamation No. 3418, June 12, 1961).
- Lexington, Massachusetts Town Green (Public Law 89-335, approved November 8, 1965).
- The White House, Washington, DC (Presidential Proclamation No.4000, September 4, 1970).
- Fifty U.S. Flags are displayed continuously at the Washington Monument, Washington, DC. (Presidential Proclamation No. 4064, July 6, 1971, effective July 4, 1971).
- United States Customs Service Ports of Entry that are continuously open (Presidential Proclamation No.4131, May 5, 1972).
- Grounds of the National Memorial Arch in Valley Forge State Park, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania (Public Law 94-53, approved July 4, 1975).
- In addition, the American flag is presumed to be in continual display on the surface of the Earth's Moon, having been placed there by the astronauts of Apollo 11. It is assumed however that the flag was knocked down by the force of Apollo 11's return to lunar orbit.
The flag has gone through 26 changes since the new union of 13 states first adopted it. The 48-star version holds the record, 47 years, for the longest time the flag has gone unchanged. The current 50-star version will tie the record if it is still in use on July 4, 2007.
At the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, July 4th, 1776, the most commonly flown flag was the Grand Union Flag. This flag was initially flown by George Washington and is recorded as being first raised by Washington's troops at Prospect Hill on New Year's Day in 1776. This flag formed the basis of the Stars and Stripes, consisting of 13 red and white stripes with the British Union Jack in the canton.
On June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress passed the Flag Resolution which stated: "Resolved, That the flag of the United States be made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation." Describing the new flag, the Congress wrote, "White signifies Purity and Innocence; Red, Hardiness and Valor; Blue signifies Vigilance, Perseverance and Justice." Flag Day is now observed on June 14 of each year.
The Flag Resolution did not specify any particular arrangement for the stars. Initially, a variety of designs were used, including a circular arrangement (above left), but gradually a design featuring horizontal rows of stars emerged as the standard. As further states entered the union, extra stars and stripes were added until this proved to cause too much clutter. It was ultimately decided that there would be a star for each state, but the number of stripes would remain at thirteen to honor the original colonies. It was the 15-star, 15-stripe flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write "The Star-Spangled Banner", now the national anthem.
When the flag design changes, the change always takes place on July 4 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as a consequence of the Flag Act of April 4, 1818. July 4, Independence Day in the United States, commemorates the founding of the nation. The most recent change, from forty-nine stars to fifty, occurred in 1960, after Hawaii gained statehood in August 1959. Before that, the admission of Alaska in January 1959 prompted the debut of a short-lived 49-star flag.
The origin of the U.S. flag design is uncertain. A popular story credits Betsy Ross for sewing the first flag from a pencil sketch of George Washington who personally commissioned her for the job. However, no evidence for this theory exists beyond Ross's own records. The British historian Sir Charles Fawcett has suggested that the design of the flag may have been derived from the flag and jack of the British East India Company. Comparisons between the 2 flags support Fawcett's suggestion. Another popular theory is that the flag was designed by Francis Hopkinson. He reportedly originally wanted the stars arranged in four bands, one vertical, one horizontal, and two diagonal. By the same reports, this arrangement was rejected due to similarity to the British flag.
Historical star patterns
On the current 50-star flag, the width (fly) of the blue rectangle is 76% of the height (hoist) of the whole flag, and its height is 7 of the 13 stripes.
Note that the following star patterns are merely the usual patterns, with the exception of the 48-, 49-, and 50-star flags, as there was no official arrangement of the stars until the proclamation of the 48-star flag by President William Howard Taft in 1912. For alternate versions, see this page at Flags of the World
13 (1776) Betsy Ross flag
50 (1960 - present) Modern Flag
Proposed 51-star flag in case of a future state
Patterns and Symmetry
- symmetry with respect to horizontal axis: 50, 49, 48, 46, 44, 38, 37, 36, 34, 33, 32, 30, 28, 26, 24, 20, 15, 13 (standard)
- symmetry with respect to vertical axis: 51, 50, 48, 46, 45, 44, 37, 36, 35, 34, 33, 32, 31, 30, 29, 28, 27, 26, 25, 24, 23, 21, 20, 15, 13 (standard and Betsy Ross)
- both, hence also point symmetry: 50, 48, 46, 44, 37, 36, 34, 33, 32, 30, 28, 26, 24, 20, 15, 13 (standard and Betsy Ross)
- no symmetry: 43
- chessboard pattern: 51, 50, 49, 45, 15, 13 (standard)
- rectangle of stars: 48, 35, 30, 28, 24, 20
There are ongoing statehood movements in Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, and New York City. Other insular areas such as the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa may eventually become states as well.
- Flags of the U.S. states
- Flags of the United States armed forces
- Flags of the Confederate States of America
- Flag desecration in the United States
- United States Army Colors
- U.S. Flag Etiquette
- The United States Flag Page
- Encyclopedia Smithsonian: Facts About the United States Flag
- The Flag Code--U.S. Code Home: Title 4, Flag and Seal, Seat of Government, and the States--Chapter 1, The Flag
- Executive Order No. 10798, with specifications and regulations for the current flag
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