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The Future of the Mac: Networking
The next two years promise much faster short-range and medium-range wired and wireless networking, and zippier mobile connections.
What’s the point of these increasing speeds, when today’s networking gear already feels reasonably fast? Video, primarily. The name of the game is streaming or downloading high-definition video—across a room or from one end of the house to the other—while still leaving enough room on the network for other activities such as file downloads, Facebook, and email.
Back when Thunderbolt technology was still under development, Intel (its main mover) said that optical cabling would enable multiple-gigabits-per-second connections to displays, peripherals, and networks, and would permit cords to run as far as 30 meters. Things didn’t quite pan out that way.
Apparently optical cabling was hard to produce and expensive, so Apple and Intel switched to copper wiring instead. That wiring still supported the Thunderbolt spec’s two channels of simultaneous bidirectional (“full duplex”) 10-gbps data. But it didn’t allow for those long cables; instead, connections could be no more than about 10 feet (3 meters). Using wire also necessitated the addition of chips to the cables, to handle signaling and to ensure backward compatibility with DisplayPort. The one upside: Thunderbolt cords can pass up to 10 watts per device, more than double USB 3.0’s capacity.
In the future, when compatibility with older connection standards becomes less important, Thunderbolt will likely return to optical cables. Those cables will allow for 30-meter runs. And the intelligence could move from the cables into computers and mobile devices, making Thunderbolt cables cheaper. On the flip side, the cables will likely be able to deliver just 4.5 watts or so per device. My guess is that an optical update to Thunderbolt could arrive in Apple hardware within two years—but rather than replacing current Thunderbolt ports, it would have to come in the form of a new port on Apple’s pro models.
In the meantime, USB 3.0 has found its way into all new Mac models (except the Mac Pro). At 5 gbps, USB 3.0 is not exactly slow, and compatible hardware is widely available. It meets many of the needs that Thunderbolt fills, except for standard support of external displays. I predict that the scarcity and high costs of Thunderbolt-compatible hardware will keep USB 3.0 as the preferred choice for people who don’t need the highest possible performance.
While gigabit ethernet is available in all Mac gear with ethernet ports (except the AirPort Express and Apple TV, which top out at 100 mbps), the 10-gbps flavor of ethernet seems unlikely to come to Apple hardware anytime soon. That’s largely due to the cost of adapters and switches. Thunderbolt may be the solution. Apple already offers a Thunderbolt-to-gigabit-ethernet adapter, and the company could conceivably sell a 10-gbps adapter as that market matures. But outside of server rooms and data centers, gigabit ethernet will probably remain the default choice.
Through the ether
The 802.11n flavor of Wi-Fi has become the default in all Apple devices that have wireless capabilities. Newer 802.11n devices (including the iPhone 5) boost wireless speeds by supporting both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency bands. But wireless networking will soon get even more of a boost thanks to the advent of two new wireless technologies: 802.11ac (which is an update to 802.11n) and 802.11ad (for in-room superhigh-speed streaming).
The 802.11ac update, already shipping in some equipment from several vendors even though the standard is not yet finalized, can boost wireless networking speed to a raw rate of over 1 gbps, but only in particular cases. While 802.11n tops out at a raw data rate of 450 mbps in Apple equipment and similar networking gear, comparable 802.11ac base stations will have a minimum top rate of 867 mbps.
Since 802.11ac works only in the 5GHz band, 802.11n will remain the standard for communicating in the crowded 2.4GHz band. In addition, much of 802.11ac’s performance improvements will be realized only in particular circumstances or when you’re using advanced hardware; for that reason, the greatest boosts in speeds won’t be apparent in consumer networking, but rather in enterprises, on academic campuses, and perhaps at large-scale hotspots such as airports and convention centers.
Despite those limitations, Apple could add a preliminary version of 802.11ac to its base stations as soon as the next major refresh of the product line, and that typically happens in February or October. Adding 802.11ac to mobile devices might not enhance their speed much, but it would improve efficiency: A base station with that standard built in can simultaneously and separately communicate with multiple simpler 802.11ac devices (those that can’t send multiple data streams at once) instead of interacting round-robin among them.
Although 802.11ac will eventually become part of the certified Wi-Fi spec, the 802.11ad standard is something else altogether. It offers four channels, over each of which data can race at rates up to 7 gbps. But such speeds are available only over distances of no more than about 30 feet. That’s because 802.11ad uses the 60GHz band to transmit data, and signals at those frequencies can’t penetrate objects well. It’s certain to be restricted to applications in which the networked devices are in line of sight (or reflection) of each other.
For that reason, 802.11ad’s primary uses will be for rapid transfer of large files—such as sending a movie file from a computer to a set-top box—or for streaming uncompressed high-definition video. Normally, high-definition video is stored in compressed form on hard drives, DVDs, or Blu-ray; when you stream video over the Internet, it travels in compressed form, too. Once your device receives the compressed data, it decompresses the data for playback. Repeated compression and decompression can compromise video quality. If you can send video uncompressed—which 802.11ad enables—you can watch it at the highest possible quality.
The ideal convergence will be base stations and adapters that incorporate 802.11n for 2.4GHz and 5GHz, 802.11ac for 5GHz, and 802.11ad for 60GHz, switching as necessary to the best medium for the task or the reception quality. Some chipmakers have already announced plans to make sets of chips for just that purpose—but you shouldn’t expect to see 802.11ad in shipping hardware any earlier than 2014.
LTE (Long Term Evolution), a mobile broadband standard that cellular operators are rapidly deploying around the world, is all the rage right now. AT&T, Sprint Nextel, and Verizon Wireless have LTE installed in a reasonable percentage of the United States already, and by 2013 all three companies expect that most or all of the areas where they currently offer cellular data will also have LTE.
But the kind of LTE that carriers have put in place so far is more of a low-speed version of the spec. When LTE was first being devised as a thorough overhaul to the evolutionary approach of GSM-derived 3G and 4G networks a few years ago, the developers knew that an even faster version would be possible. That version, now called LTE Advanced, calls for speeds up to 3 gbps with fixed devices and hundreds of megabits per second for in-motion receivers traveling rapidly, as in cars and trains.
Like LTE, LTE Advanced can make use of frequency channels of many different widths, in contrast to the hard limits of 3G and 4G networking technology. LTE Advanced goes even further, and can allow aggregating channels that are spread out, as opposed to continuous frequencies, making it possible for a carrier to assemble bandwidth at lower cost.
LTE and LTE Advanced have essentially won the mobile-standards battle worldwide for cellular networks, too, so any advances we see will come from this technology.
Apple buyers shouldn’t hold their collective breath for LTE Advanced, however. Carriers have to acquire more bandwidth to make it truly useful, and in many cases are already paying billions to install the existing LTE technology flavor. Reports indicate a target of 2014 and beyond for any substantial upgrades and availability in handsets and other receivers. | <urn:uuid:7d17390b-3399-4fc0-b277-b86856f47168> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.macworld.com/article/2017348/the-future-of-the-mac-networking.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934293 | 1,790 | 2.203125 | 2 |
The European legislation on waste has recently been revised in 2008 through the issuing of the Directive 2008/98/CE.
The declared aim of the Directive 2008/98/CE is that of helping the European Union to come closer to a "recycling society" trying to avoid the production of waste and to use waste as a resource. The directive represents a turning point because it switches from a management of waste which mostly deals with its treatment and safe management for public health and the environment, to the exploitation of the natural resources contained in it.
The new Directive requires a hierarchy in the planning and management of waste which includes, in order:
2. preparation for re-use;
4. recovery of other kinds;
The hierarchy is set according to the environmental cost (ascending) and allows a degree of flexibility, since it is permitted to deviate from this hierarchy in the event that it can be shown that a solution at a lower level is more convenient for the safeguard of the environment.
The directive intervenes on a fundamental aspect, that of the determining of the waste status: besides the now classic definition, according to which waste means any substance or object which the holder discards or intends to discard or is required to discard, the conditions are specified under which goods become or cease to be waste and are considered by-products or secondary raw / recycled material.
Furthermore, the existence of certain European requirements on safety and the quality of recovered materials favours the placement on the market of secondary raw materials and also contributes to removing biases and prejudices that may impede the opening of these materials and of products made with these recycled materials.
The most innovative element of the European legislation regarding waste is given by the definition of objectives and relative deadlines within which these should be achieved. In fact, in this way it will be possible to measure the quality of the policies deliberated by each state and, in the case of failure to achieve the objectives, it will be more difficult to avoid any sanctions in the case of non-fulfilment.
The objectives to be achieved are the following:
1. by 2020, the preparation for re-use / recycling shall be increased to a minimum of overall 50% by weight for the following waste: paper, metal, plastic and glass from households, and possibly from other origins (as far as these waste streams are similar to waste from households);
2. by 2020, the preparation for re-use / recycling and other material recovery, including backfilling operations using waste to substitute other materials, shall be increased to a minimum of 70% by weight for non-hazardous construction and demolition waste.
Article 8 of the framework directive on waste invites the Member States to introduce extended producer responsibility, which implies that any natural or legal person who professionally develops, manufactures, processes, treats, sells or imports products, must assume responsibility for the management of the waste in the post-consumer phase, also in the event that use has been made by a different subject.
This model of responsibility stimulates the commercialization of products that are more easily recoverable, encouraging in this way the development of new technologies for the planning (eco-design) and creation of goods and services with these properties, as well as more advanced methods of waste recovery.
Lastly, an additional new element is given by the determination of the minimum requirements for the recognition of energy recovery: by now it is no longer sufficient to transform part of the thermal energy produced by combustion into power for it to qualify as energy recovery, but it is necessary to ensure the attainment of a minimum energy efficiency factor, which varies depending on the construction date of the plant.
On the Italian front, the adoption of the Community Directive (Legislative Decree No. 205 dd. December 3rd 2010) and the identification of minimum targets for separate collection (set by Legislative Decree No. 152/2006 and by Law No. 296 dd. December 27th 2006), have outlined a strong regulatory framework for the implementation and development of proper waste management. This framework was then further integrated with measures regarding individual categories of waste (for example the Ministerial Decree No. 65/201018 on the treatment of WEEE).
A further boost to the industrial development of the waste management sector could be given by the future liberalization of the public services market (Presidential Decree 168/2010), starting from 31.12.2011 and should combine the necessary environmental requirements together with an adequate transparency and competitiveness in the sector. | <urn:uuid:d445028c-0225-480e-8316-33d1336251a0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gruppobiancamano.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=90&Itemid=111&lang=en | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942826 | 906 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Earliest archaeological evidence found of the existence of the city of Bethlehem already in the First Temple period – the first ancient artifact constituting tangible evidence of the existence of the city of Bethlehem, which is mentioned in the Bible, was recently discovered in Jerusalem.
|Bulla bearing the name of the city of Bethlehem (Photo: Clara Amit, courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority)|
(Communicated by the Israel Antiquities Authority)
While sifting soil from archaeological excavations the Israel Antiquities Authority is conducting in the City of David, in the “Walls around Jerusalem National Park”, a bulla measuring c. 1.5 cm was discovered bearing the name of the city of Bethlehem, written in ancient Hebrew script. The sifting is underwritten by the ‘Ir David Foundation‘ in a project being conducted in the Emek Tzurim National Park.
A bulla is a piece of clay that was used for sealing a document or object. The bulla was impressed with the seal of the person who sent the document or object, and its integrity was evidence the document or object was not opened by anyone unauthorized to do so.
Three lines of ancient Hebrew script appear on the bulla:
בת לים Bat Lechem
According to Eli Shukron, director of the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, “it seems that in the seventh year of the reign of a king (it is unclear if the king referred to here is Hezekiah, Manasseh or Josiah), a shipment was dispatched from Bethlehem to the king in Jerusalem.
The bulla we found belongs to the group of “fiscal” bullae – administrative bullae used to seal tax shipments remitted to the taxation system of the Kingdom of Judah in the late eighth and seventh centuries BCE. The tax could have been paid in the form of silver or agricultural produce such as wine or wheat.” Shukron emphasizes, “this is the first time the name Bethlehem appears outside the Bible, in an inscription from the First Temple period, which proves that Bethlehem was indeed a city in the Kingdom of Judah, and possibly also in earlier periods.”
In the Bible Bethlehem is first mentioned in the verse “in Ephrath, which is Bethlehem”, and it was on the way there that Rachel died and it is where she was buried (Genesis 35:19; 48:7). The descendants of Judah settled there, among them the family of Boaz (Book of Ruth). Bethlehem’s greatness begins with the anointing of David, son of Jesse, as king (1 Samuel 16). | <urn:uuid:223df206-60e1-4fb0-9ef6-2ae6cee50901> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cija.ca/israeli-history-and-archaeology/earliest-evidence-of-bethlehem-in-first-temple-period/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955797 | 549 | 3.34375 | 3 |
This special guest post is from James Hawkins, a UK solar energy industry employee, and gives us some more inside information on the recent changes,.. and challenges,.. and changes in the UK solar feed-in tariff policy. Enjoy!
In April 2010, the UK government launched a flagship feed-in tariff policy for solar panels. It meant that solar panels were no longer just a great ecological decision (the approximate figures are for 1,000kg of carbon dioxide reductions per set of installed panels) — homeowners were offered just under $0.70 for each kWh of electricity generated with their solar panels, with a couple of cents extra for selling back the electricity to the main grid. The returns were guaranteed for 25 years, and were linked to inflation, which made it a very attractive investment. The following is a report for the number of searches in Google.co.uk for the term “solar panels”, which shows how the level of interest has soared, and then fallen, since the start of this scheme in April 2010 (to enlarge, hold “ctrl” or “command” and click the “+” button):
As you can see, the scheme built in popularity over the course of 2010 — certainly a manageable level of growth was achieved. However, it was 2011 when the real growth was seen. But why was there such a large increase? In January 2012, the Department of the Environment and Climate Change stated that the cost of installed solar panels had fallen by 45% since the start of the scheme (as in this pdf – however, make sure to read Section 3.4 Data Sources). Since the feed-in tariff had remained constant at the $0.70/kWh rate, this represented a massive increase in the financial returns. The news and media picked up on this fact, and demand from households wanting to install solar panels sky-rocketed.
The feed-in tariff was initially given a budget of £867 million, and by the end of 2011, it became clear that it was going to overshoot this figure. The aim was for nominal (pre-inflation) returns of 7-10%, but most solar companies were quoting returns of 7-10% after inflation due to the falling prices.
On the 28th of October 2011, an official document was accidentally leaked online with the feed-in tariff at just $0.33/kWh. This change was quickly spotted and Chris Huhne, then the Energy and Climate Change secretary, released a statement that the feed-in tariff would be introduced from the 12th of December 2011 until the end of an official consultation over the rate — the date of which was at the end of December. Essentially, Huhne attempted to cut the rate without any public consultation. This change threw the solar industry into uproar, and several of the largest installers combined with Friends of the Earth and went to court over the issue. The solar panel companies won and the feed-in tariff was put back to its previous $0.70 rate.
An official consultation was then run and it was declared that the feed-in tariff would be reduced for new installations from the 3rd of March 2012, and this would include an energy efficiency requirement on the property from the 1st of April 2012 — just a few days ago. What has the impact on the industry been?
The metric ‘Clicks’ is how many people searched and then clicked on our adverts (we run a national solar power quotes service, dealing with approximately 800 customers a week), whereas ‘Conv.’ is the number of people who requested a quote through our website. The busy period in October was before the changes were announced and solar panels were very popular because of the attractive returns. The peak before the large dip was a sudden rush in households trying to install solar panels before the December 12th “deadline”, which was later over-ruled as illegal in court. The court case took until the 25th of January to resolve. Hence, there was enormous uncertainty in the industry up until this date, and there was a resulting significant drop in numbers through this period.
As solar installers breathed a collective sigh of relief, the DECC then went further and announced they’d challenge this verdict made in the High Court, taking their legal battle to the Supreme Court level — the most powerful legal court in the UK. This created further instability — households would be told that they would either receive the $0.70/kWh rate or the $0.33/kWh rate depending on the outcome of this second challenge. Hearing that an investment’s returns could possibly be about 50% lower depending on a technically-uncertain outcome in court decreases the value of the investment enormously, depressing solar demand in the UK until the Supreme Court case was rejected.
Why did the government go to court a second time? The likely answer is that they knew it’d maximize the uncertainty even if it wouldn’t have a successful outcome, thereby decreasing the number of installations regardless and making the feed-in tariff scheme more likely to stay within it’s allocated budget.
However, this decision for the government to make short-term gains is likely to have caused long-term harm to all renewable energy industries currently subsidized by government schemes. Sudden policy changes, and particularly those showing the DECC’s willingness to stunt an industry’s growth to maintain political harmony with other government departments, will not be forgotten by investors — whether at the commercial or domestic scale. Now, in order to encourage a similar uptake of solar panels, for example, a greater rate must be paid per kWh generated to compensate for this new perceived risk factor which comes with the investment.
How could the policy have been implemented differently? If the original implementation of the feed-in tariff had included a rate modeled on the average cost of solar panels (a figure which could be made publicly available), then the rate could have been adjusted much sooner and much more predictably based on this model. The statistic the DECC used in its report for the average price of installed solar panels was based on general quotes and information from a few random installers, and is unlikely to be accurate. Already, whenever solar panels are installed, the solar power system must be registered to receive the feed-in tariff. If the price of the installed system were registered at this point simultaneously, then real-time information could be collected with near-total accuracy. If the number of installations and the price of these installations can be followed instantaneously, then the rate of the feed-in tariff can be continuously adjusted to keep the total installed capacity within the affordable range. Hopefully, governments implementing solar feed-in tariffs in the future will use this approach.
Written by James Hawkins, head of marketing for a range of energy efficiency websites, dealing with boilers, solar panels, double glazing, and much more!
I'm the director of CleanTechnica, the most popular clean energy website in the world, and Planetsave, a leading green and science news site. I've been covering green news of various sorts since 2008, and I've been especially focused on solar energy, electric vehicles, bicycling, and wind energy for the past few years. You can also find my work on Scientific American, Reuters, Think Progress, GE's ecomagination site, several sites in the Important Media network, & many other places. To connect on your favorite social network, go to: zacharyshahan.com | <urn:uuid:ec1b2759-5bda-4162-bdff-7904e2753800> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cleantechnica.com/2012/04/13/renewable-energy-instability-uk-policy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973413 | 1,538 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Navy Birthday Concert
For more than two centuries, American men and women have stood the watch. Sailors move silently through deep Atlantic waters and guide massive fleets across the Pacific. Desert Sailors hike across the hills of Afghanistan and make for their own the great blue skies. our Navy does this across the globe and around the clock. Sailors were the first to plant a flag, the American flag, at the North Pole, and the moon. The oceans of the world belong to the American Sailor for one reason: a fighting spirit that has stood the test of time.
Join Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert and the United States Navy Band for a special afternoon of music at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 14 at 4 p.m. The free concert will feature the Navy's Concert Band, Sea Chanters chorus, and Country Current country/bluegrass group.
This year's concert, "America's Navy: Defining the Fighting Spirit," celebrates our Navy: past, present and future. From the Battle of Baltimore, where our national anthem was born, to the establishment of the SEALs 50 years ago, to our forward-deployed force of today, we are America's Navy - always ready and forever standing the watch.
Visit the Naval Historical Society's website for more information on the Navy's Birthday. | <urn:uuid:9079f98e-e401-48e7-83fa-abd80fd491d2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.navyband.navy.mil/Navy_Birthday.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928898 | 277 | 1.96875 | 2 |
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GOP Version2013: Battling Not Just Democrats but Democracy
On a day when most Americans were focused on the stirring second inaugural address of President Barack Obama—and on the broader majesty of the transference of an election result into a governing mandate—Republican state senators in Virginia hatched an elaborate scheme to rig the electoral system against democracy.
Prevented by an even 20-20 divide in the chamber from gerrymandering Senate districts to favor one party or the other, the Republicans knew that their only opening to draw lines that favored their candidates in this fall’s off-year elections would be if at least one Democrat were missing. Inauguration Day gave them an opening, as an African-American senator, a veteran of the civil rights movement, was in Washington to recognize the beginning of the new term of the nation’s first African-American president.
In a matter of minutes, the Republicans introduced and approved—on a 20-19 vote—a new map that is designed to concentrate African-American and liberal white votes in a handful of districts while virtually guaranteeing that Republicans will win a majority of the new districts and control of the legislature. And if a Republican wins the governorship this fall, the GOP will, thanks to a legislative coup and the electoral map it created, have complete control of a state that was easily won by Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, that has two Democratic senators and that most observers believe is trending Democratic.
After doing the dirty deed, the Republican senators adjourned their Rev. Martin Luther King Day session not in honor of the civil rights icon but “in memory of General Thomas J. ‘Stonewall’ Jackson.”
Welcome to GOP Version2013.
Shaken by the overwhelming defeats of 2012—a 5 million popular-vote defeat in the presidential race, an Electoral College wipeout, the loss of two US Senate seats in a year where they had been expected to gain, a 1.4 million popular vote deficit in US House races nationwide and the loss of seven of eleven gubernatorial races that were in play—Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus has made it clear that he wants his partisan minions to use what power they retain to rig the electoral process.
The Virginia example is blatant.
But it is not isolated. It is part of a national strategy to allow Republicans to “win” even when they lose. And its primary focus will be on gerrymandering not just state legislatures and the US House but on rigging the Electoral College.
Last week, Priebus urged Republican governors and legislators to take up what was once a fringe scheme to change the rules for distribution of Electoral College votes.
Under the Priebus plan, electoral votes from “battleground” states that now regularly back Democrats for president would be allocated not to the statewide winner but to the winners of individual congressional districts.
“I think it’s something that a lot of states that have been consistently blue [Democratic in presidential politics] that are fully controlled red [in the statehouse] ought to be considering,” Priebus says with regard to the schemes for distributing electoral votes by district rather than the traditional awarding of the votes of each state (except those of Nebraska and Maine, which have historically used narrowly defined district plans) to the winner.
This is not just a theoretical discussion. Legislation to change how electoral votes are distributed is already being prepared in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. And Republicans in three other states where their party controls the governorship and the legislature—Florida, Ohio and Virginia—are openly discussing the Priebus plan. Those six states voted for President Obama in 2012 by comfortable margins. Yet, had the Priebus plan been in place just in those six states before the 2012 election, the president’s Electoral College margin would have collapsed from a 322-206 landslide to a 270-268 squeaker. A variation on the Priebus plan, which would give each state’s two statewide electoral votes to whoever won the most congressional districts, would have elected Republican Mitt Romney.
So President Obama would have won by 5 million votes, carried the majority of states and swept the battlegrounds. But Romney would have been inaugurated as the nation’s forty-fifth president.
That’s not democracy. But that is the point of the Priebus plan.
Priebus and his team have seen the demographic data. They know that their party’s crude appeals to the past—“in memory of General ‘Stonewall’ Jackson”—have less and less appeal to an American electorate that election results and polling data suggest has little taste for Tea Party fantasies schemes to redistribute wealth upward, American Legislative Exchange Council “Stand Your Ground” laws or attempts to divide the country along lines of race, gender or sexuality.
But Priebus and his allies—including key players such as Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, who calls the scheme “an interesting concept…a plausible concept”—also know that a sly rewriting of the rules for the distribution of Electoral College votes could get them back in the presidential game for 2016.
Priebus has a long history of seeking to game the political system—supporting restrictive “voter ID” laws, seeking to end same-day voter registration and aligning Republicans with groups that make little secret of their determination to intimidate likely Democratic voters. He also has made the RNC an aggressive player in developing and supporting strategies to gerrymander congressional and state legislative district lines (while at the same time isolating minority voters) in order to guarantee elections “wins” even when Republicans lose popular support.
In 2012, when Republicans did in fact lose popular support, the strategy paid off handsomely. Democrats won the national popular vote for congressional seats by a striking 1.4 million votes. Yet, Republicans retained control of the House and, with it, an ability to block agendas favored by the American people.
The Electoral College gambit now being advanced by Priebus builds on gerrymandering strategy, with an ambitious goal. Under the current rules, Barack Obama has twice won the presidency with more than 51 percent of the vote—the first president since Dwight Eisenhower to do so—and secured sweeping Electoral College victories.
But Republican statehouse wins in 2010 gave the party the ability to game the electoral process, not just for elected members of the US House but for electing the president. Because of gerrymandering by Republican governors and legislators, and the concentration of Democratic votes in urban areas and college towns, divvying up Electoral College votes based on congressional district pluralities would in almost every battleground state yield significantly better results for the GOP. In Wisconsin, where Obama won in 2012 by a wider margin than he did nationally, the president would only have gotten half the electoral votes. In Pennsylvania, where Obama won easily, he would not have gotten the twenty electoral votes that he did; instead, under the Priebus plan, as many as thirteen votes would have gone to Republican Mitt Romney.
FairVote: The Center for Voting and Democracy has run the numbers. They say the results would have been dramatically closer and might even have yielded that Romney win. Under the most commonly proposed district plan (the statewide winner gets two votes with the rest divided by congressional district), Obama would have secured the narrowest possible victory: 270-268. Under more aggressive plans (including the one that awards electoral votes by district and then gives the two statewide votes to the candidate who won the most districts), Romney would have won 280-258.
“If Republicans in 2011 had abused their monopoly control of state government in several key swing states and passed new laws for allocating electoral votes, the exact same votes cast in the exact same way in the 2012 election would have converted Barack Obama’s advantage of nearly five million popular votes and 126 electoral votes into a resounding Electoral College defeat,” explains FairVote’s Rob Richie.
This is something Priebus, a bare-knuckles pol who promoted a variety of voter-disenfranchisement schemes in 2012, well understands.
Americans who are more respectful of democracy should also understand the stakes.
There are many reforms that are needed to expand democracy in the United States. But gaming the Electoral College is not one of them.
Indeed, as Richie says, the very fact that it is possible to rewrite the rules and use gerrymandered congressional district lines to thwart the will of the people regarding the election of the president of the United States “should give us all pause.”
“The election of the president should be a fair process where all American voters should have an equal ability to hold their president accountable,” says Richie. “It’s time for the nation to embrace one-person, one-vote elections and the ‘fair fight’ represented by a national popular vote. Let’s forever dismiss the potential of such electoral hooliganism and finally do what the overwhelming majorities of Americans have consistently preferred: make every vote equal with a national popular vote for president.”
That’s the right standard for a modern nation that respects democracy, just the right standard for drawing district lines in the states would preclude a surprise gerrymandering session of the legislature on the day of President Obama’s inauguration and celebrations of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, birth.
But just as Virginia Republicans were willing to abandon any pretense of fairness in order to game the system for statewide electoral advantage, there is every reason to believe that Republican legislators in states across the country will, with encouragement from the national chairman of their party, move to rig the Electoral College so that a losing Republican might again “win” the presidency—as popular-vote loser George W. Bush did in 2000, with an assist from a Republican-dominated US Supreme Court.
Americans who presume that there are limits to the willingness of Priebus and his Republican stalwarts to rig the rules in their favor have not been paying attention. The Virginia coup should serve as their wake-up call. Reince Priebus’ GOP Version2013 threatens not just Democratic victories but democracy itself. | <urn:uuid:4095a7c6-1eed-4ff7-bb01-60494dbef7f3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/01/24-6?quicktabs_1=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957664 | 2,089 | 2.53125 | 3 |
From Connecticut, USA:
We will be traveling at the end of the month to Ireland with my five year old daughter who has diabetes. Do you have any knowledge about how Type 1 diabetes is treated in Ireland as opposed to in the United States? She is five years old and on the pump.
Childhood diabetes is managed very similarly in Ireland to the US. However, I am confident that they have as little pump experience as we do in the UK. The reason for this is partly financial. However, the principles of insulin therapy are the same.
Last Updated: Tuesday April 06, 2010 15:09:03
This Internet site provides information of a general nature and is designed for educational purposes only. If you have any concerns about your own health or the health of your child, you should always consult with a physician or other health care professional.
This site is published by Children With Diabetes, Inc, which is responsible for its contents.
© Children with Diabetes, Inc. 1995-2013. Comments and Feedback. | <urn:uuid:cb79080a-33cf-4a99-b5de-f720b5c90bbb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.childrenwithdiabetes.com/dteam/1999-06/d_0d_3ub.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957192 | 208 | 1.859375 | 2 |
France Burqa Ban:Islamic Veils Banned in France
Jerry Reth | Jul 13, 2010 | Comments 2
France Burqa Ban:Islamic Veils Banned in France – The French Parliament has approved a ban on wearing burqa-style Islamic face veils, according to reports that were released on Tuesday. The ban was made in an effort to protect French values that have disconnected many in the huge Muslim community that exists within France.
Many have said that the law should not be passed because it is prejudice. Lawmakers in the country have said that they can see why someone would believe that it is prejudice, but that they are passing the law for reasons other than race.
In the National Assembly that took place on Tuesday, there were 335 votes for the bill and just one against it. The main opposition group, the Socialist Party, walked in and for the most part refused to vote, even though many of them support the ban. Some inside the party have voiced an issue with where within the country the ban would be enforced.
Discussions regarding the face veil have dragged on for over a year, after Sarkozy said in June of 2009 that the religious garments were “not welcome” in France. Politicians have argued on both sides of the ball, but it appears that most of them agreed on the ban and were able to easily pass the bill.
The legislation would forbid face-covering Muslim veils in all public places in France, and would result in a $185 fine if they are worn. The individual also may be required to attend citizenship classes.
Filed Under: World News | <urn:uuid:50a4171b-8a23-4930-b2ff-c404469107ce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newsopi.com/world/france-burqa-banislamic-veils-banned-in-france/3036/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984592 | 329 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Spanish Finance Minister Luis De Guindos speaks with Eurogroup president Jean-Claude Juncker before an eurozone meeting in Brussels.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Europe has a lot riding on its latest tool to stabilize the euro currency union, but there are now more questions than answers about the European Stability Mechanism.
The ESM is a permanent bailout fund that will have a maximum lending capacity of €500 billion. It is designed to replace the European Financial Stability Facility, which has backed bailouts for Greece, Portugal and Ireland.
Some eurozone politicians had said the ESM would be in effect Monday, but the treaty has yet to be ratified by all 17 euro area governments.
The German Constitutional Court is expected to weigh in on the legality of the ESM sometime this week, after the nation's parliament approved the treaty earlier this year. The Italian parliament has yet to ratify the treaty.
The ESM is central to plans European Union leaders announced late last month to break the "vicious circle" between banks and governments, which threatens to bring down one of the region's largest economies.
But there appears to be some disagreement over exactly what the ESM will be able to do, particularly when it comes to buying government bonds and bailing out banks. It is also unclear whether the ESM has enough money to achieve all of its goals.
The deal needs to be approved by the parliaments of all 17 eurozone nations, but Eurogroup president Jean-Claude Juncker said he hopes an initial €30 billion installment will be made by the end of the month.
Since the ESM does not exist yet, the EFSF will provide the initial funds, said Juncker. The money will go to Spain's bank bailout fund, which means the debt will not fall on the government.
The concern is that the deal will run into resistance as it works its way through eurozone parliaments. Some politicians in more fiscally conservative nations have called for the Spanish government to guarantee the bailout loans, shifting the debt back onto Madrid's balance sheet.
"The credibility of the rescue package for Spain has been called into question even before the loans have been disbursed," said Nicholas Spiro, director of London-based consultancy Spiro Sovereign Strategy.
In addition to recapitalizing banks, EU leaders agreed last month to give the ESM more flexibility to intervene in the sovereign debt market.
The goal is to ease borrowing costs for euro area governments undertaking economic reforms. But it remains to be seen if the ESM is large enough to effectively backstop the bond markets in Spain and Italy.
While it will eventually have up to €500 billion to lend, the ESM will not have all of its "paid-in" capital on day one.
Under the treaty, the ESM will have €80 billion in cash, which eurozone governments will provide in €16 billion installments over the next few years. The remaining €420 billion will be "callable," meaning it will be paid as needed.
"Unfunded stability funds are baloney," said Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, a research firm in Valhalla, NY.
Even with its full firepower, the ESM is "woefully inadequate," said Spiro.
The ESM's €500 billion is roughly equal to one-sixth of the outstanding bonds issued by Spain and Italy, he said. "It would struggle to defend Spain, let alone Italy."
What's more, much of the ESM's resources have already been committed.
The ESM will ultimately take over responsibility for recapitalizing Spanish banks, which could cost up to €100 billion. It will also back a second €130 billion bailout for Greece, along with the International Monetary Fund. The bailout for Cyprus could drain another €5 billion to €10 billion.
One big concern is that Spain will be forced to seek a bailout similar to those given to Greece, Portugal and Ireland. While the government's debt load is relatively small, the fear is that Madrid will ultimately pay the price for the nation's banking crisis.
That could cost the ESM another €200 billion, which is roughly how much debt Spain owes in the bond market, said Christian Schulz, a London-based economist at Berenberg Bank.
Given all of these obligations, "the ESM is clearly too small," said Schulz.
However, increasing the ESM's resources is unlikely to happen for political and economic reasons.
Germany, the largest and strongest eurozone economy, is reluctant to put more money into the pot.
In addition, raising the ceiling on the ESM could hurt the credit rating of the eurozone's second-largest economy, France. That, in turn, would undermine the ESM's rating.
The limited nature of the ESM could end up doing more harm than good, said Schulz. If investors believe the fund is capped, they will attempt to unload all of their Spanish and Italian bonds on the ESM, resulting in an even bigger sell-off, he warned.
Overall, analysts say the European Central Bank is the only institution with the financial strength to restore confidence in the bond markets. But ECB president Mario Draghi has said repeatedly that governments are ultimately responsible for solving the underlying economic problems in the euro area.
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|Overnight Avg Rate||Latest||Change||Last Week|
|30 yr fixed||3.66%||3.58%|
|15 yr fixed||2.79%||2.72%|
|30 yr refi||3.64%||3.57%|
|15 yr refi||2.79%||2.72%|
Today's featured rates: | <urn:uuid:349d94d9-e3b1-4d43-b9b7-b88944e8ca9f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://money.cnn.com/2012/07/10/investing/european-stability-mechanism/index.htm?eref=aol | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951307 | 1,226 | 1.890625 | 2 |
It is only through merit that you can have faith. When you lack faith, happiness is neither in the inner nor the outer world. Happiness springs forth from faith. Happiness is forgetting the body consciousness. Pain or sorrow is holding on to the body consciousness. Whenever you are happy, you don't feel the body and when you are miserable, you have aches and pains.
Question: Then why in meditation is the attention taken to various parts of the body?
Sri Sri: For an arrow to go forward, you have to pull it back. In the same way when you take the attention to the various parts of the body, it frees you from body consciousness. | <urn:uuid:4bf7e526-2ee0-4678-81ad-97071ba4a1a8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.artofliving.org/ar-en/arrow-faith | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947806 | 137 | 2.125 | 2 |
Bruton Parish Church
- First Anglican church built in 1660
- First rector Reverend Rowland Jones
- Named for Bruton, Somersetshire, England
- Many patriots belonged to Bruton Parish
- Used as hospital during two wars
- Rev. W.A. R. Goodwin led 20th-century restoration
- Church still owned by and serves its three-centuries-old parish
Parish history dates to Middle Plantation in 1660
Among the men of the Revolution who attended Bruton Parish Church were Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Richard Henry Lee, George Wythe, Patrick Henry, and George Mason. But the building's history, and that of its churchyard, goes back further in time.
Dating from 1715, the present structure is the third in a series of Anglican houses of worship that began in 1660. The first, which may or may not have been at or near the 18th-century site, was built, probably of wood, in the Old Fields at Middle Plantation, Williamsburg's name until the 66-year-old community was incorporated in 1699.
Formed from Middletown and Marston Parishes in 1674, Bruton Parish was about 10 miles square. It is named for Bruton, Somersetshire, in England, the home of then-Governor William Berkeley and Virginia secretary Thomas Ludwell. As late as 1724, the parish contained only 110 families.
John Page donated land for new brick church
In 1677, the vestry ordered that a church be built of brick on land donated by John Page November 14 of that year. Page also donated £200. The contract was let in June 1681 and the building, which stood a few steps northwest of the 1715 church, was complete by November 29, 1683. Its buried foundations remain. The first rector, the Reverend Rowland Jones, dedicated the structure on January 6, 1684.
The church stood near the center of Williamsburg's original survey map drawn 15 years later. Its location suggested the church's importance to the colonial community's life, but the building was already in disrepair. On November 21, 1710, the vestry declared its condition ruinous and proposed construction of a third church. The vestry submitted a plan for one large enough to meet only the needs of parish residents and invited the colony's government to finance an enlargement to accommodate its officers and others who came to the capital when the General Assembly sat.
Virginia General Assembly approved financing of larger new building
The house approved a £200 grant December 5, 1710, to be financed from the taxes on liquor and slaves.
The Reverend James Blair, president of the College of William and Mary and Virginia's highest-ranking clergyman, approved construction on March 1, 1711. The same day, Governor Alexander Spotswood provided an architectural drawing of a cruciform design 75 feet long and 28 feet wide "in the clear," with two wings 22 feet wide and 19 feet long. Spotswood offered to underwrite 22 feet of the length and provide some or all of the bricks if the vestry would finance 53 feet and the assembly paid for the wings. His proposition was accepted. The contract was let to carpenter James Morris on November 17, 1711, the wings to be raised by John Tyler, builder of the Magazine.
Work began in 1712 with an October 15, 1714, deadline. The December 2, 1715, entry in the vestry book says, "at length new Church is finished, or nearly so." The second church was demolished the same year.
Governor Spotswood was provided with a canopied chair on a platform inside the rail opposite the raised pulpit with its overhanging sounding board. Parishioners sat in boxed pews, their walls providing privacy and protection from drafts. In the early years the sexes sat apart. A vestry book entry for January 9, 1716, says:
"Ordered that the Men sitt on the North side of the church, and the women on the left."
A succession of galleries was built for particular groups beneath the soaring ceiling. For example, on July 10, 1718, William and Mary students were assigned a gallery that still stands. Exterior stairs were added for access to some of these railed, overhanging rows of benches. In 1744, the building was enlarged, and in 1752 the vestry voted to make the east end as long as the west, extending the chancel 25 feet to the east. The assembly paid for the work, and it was completed in 1755.
Windows provided ventilation and light
The north, east, and south gables are pierced by rosette windows, the north and south walls by tall arched and sashed windows. All were provided for ventilation as well as light.
In 1758, the church received a chalice, paten, and alms basin from the old church at Jamestown.
Notables buried beneath church
Among the Williamsburg notables buried beneath the marble flagstones inside the church was Governor Francis Fauquier, one of the best loved of the colonial governors, who died in 1768.
The same year an English organ was installed. Gaolkeeper Peter Pelham was hired to play it for £25 a year, a position he held until about 1802. Pelham brought to church with him a prisoner from the Gaol, whose job it was to pump the instrument. The organ remained in service until 1835. The present organ, the church's fourth, was presented by John D. Rockefeller Jr. in 1954.
In 1761, merchant James Tarpley presented the church with a bell. Bids for a steeple or belfry to house the bell were let on January 1, 1769. The vestry awarded a £410 contract for a brick tower surmounted by a wooden octagon and for miscellaneous repairs to Benjamin Powell that September 14. The addition can be seen from outside the church, as the steeple bricks have a darker color than the salmon-hued bricks of the rest of the church. Tarpley's bell is still in use.
Served as hospital and storehouse during Battle of Yorktown
In 1781, the church served as a storehouse or hospital, perhaps both, during the Battle of Yorktown. In 1799, a visitor noted that the church again was "much out of repair." The exterior stairs were removed in 1834, and in 1838, the vestry agreed to major remodeling. Begun in 1839 and finished the next year, the renovations made a coal bin of the lower tower, walled off the west end for a Sunday school, relocated the pulpit against that wall, and opened a door in the east end. A town clock was installed in the steeple June 1, 1840.
Served as hospital during the Civil War
For a week after the May 5, 1862, Battle of Williamsburg, the church served as a Union hospital for Northern and Confederate soldiers.
The vestry ordered extensive repairs and modifications in 1886 and 1896. By turns, the original pews were sawed shorter, then removed. Many of the marble floor slabs were removed in 1840 or in 1886, and a wooden floor was substituted. Some slabs were recovered when another restoration began in 1901 under the Reverend W. T. Roberts, but new ones had to be ordered for that restoration.
Reverend W.A.R. Goodwin restored church in 1907 and 1937
The Reverend Dr. W. A. R. Goodwin became rector in 1903 and took over the restoration. He raised funds to restore the church to close to its original form and obtained the services of New York architect J. Stewart Barney. Dedicated in 1907, the work cost $27,000.
Goodwin undertook another restoration in 1937 when the walls of the church were found to be in danger of collapse. Dr. Goodwin's health failed the next year, and Colonial Williamsburg helped the parish complete the restoration project.
Bruton Parish Church is owned by, and still serves, the three-centuries-old parish. | <urn:uuid:3f4ab0a6-b501-467e-863b-22176cd13461> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/almanack/places/hb/hbbruch.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977881 | 1,690 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Portion control plays an important role in weight loss and disease prevention. Many men and women do not realize the actual portion size of their meals and can underestimate their daily calorie intake significantly.
When working to lose weight, finding the right portion size can be difficult. In this video from the American Heart Association, you can learn some helpful ways to remember the appropriate portion size for a few heart-healthy foods.
If you have any questions about dietary recommendations, let Riverside Community Hospital be your resource—call us at (951) 788-3463 for answers to your health-related questions. | <urn:uuid:e71b27f6-1185-4ead-bdbc-d4635a5ff3db> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.riversidecommunityhospitalblog.com/517454/2012/08/10/portion-control-helps-to-keep-you-healthy.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934473 | 120 | 2.296875 | 2 |
The Science of Diversity and Its
Relevance in a Fast Changing World
Diversity in the workplace, organization, even nation, has recently become a much touted goal. Our understanding has evolved to recognize that diversity includes more than ethnic variety, but also cultural and educational variety, in fact, any aspect of an individual that leads to a variety of approaches to problems, even personality. Yet, the scientific basis behind the role of diversity in social systems is largely unknown. Research at Los Alamos is providing support for our intuitive understanding of the importance of diversity in social systems.
Much of the past understanding about social diversity is motivated by the analogies to biodiversity in nature. The prevailing research on the role of biological diversity focuses on improvement of system performance (e.g., individual or species survival) by the selection from a pool of genetic diversity, in the process of natural selection or survival of the fittest. This process is fundamentally competitive between individuals or groups, with explicit winners and losers. This selection reduces diversity in its application - diversity is reduced by selection and must be replenished by mutation or migration. While a similar selection process may occur in social systems, this is neither an compelling justification for diversity within organizations, nor the only mechanism by which diversity contributes to better organizations or society.
Current research at Los Alamos has identified an alternative process for higher system performance, which does not involve competition or cooperation between the individuals, but instead stresses the importance of non-competitive self-organization.
Simulating collective problem solving
We wish to address the question: what is the most simple demonstration of increased global performance of a collective above that of the individual? The idealized system examined is the solution of a sequential problem (Insert in Figure 1), which has many optimal and non-optimal solutions, solved by agents that have identical capabilities. While this maze problem is quite simple, it serves as a representation of more complex problems encountered by individuals and organizations: the solution of a problem that has many decisions points and possible solutions and that has difficulty greater than solvable by one individual. Here, agents can represent individuals, groups or organizations within a greater system.
Because the agents have no global sense of the problem, they initially explore the problem until a solution is found. This "learned" information is then applied by the individual agent to solve the problem again, often with a shorter path as a consequence of eliminating unnecessary loops. Because the initial search is random, a collection of individuals shows a diversity of experience (regions of the maze), of preferences (preferred paths), and of performance (path lengths), even though they started with identical capability. (This source of diversity in performance by individuals of identical capability is a reminder how many of the advantages and disadvantages an individual has in social situations are a result of random events and not directly related to our "inherent" capability. Said another way, if we replayed or lived our own lives again, likely it would be quite different due to these random effects.)
Information for a collective of individuals is then constructed by a linear combination of the each individual's experiences. Then the same rules are used on this collective information to find a collective solution. As seen in Figure 1, the collective typically outperforms the average individual for larger collectives. In repeated solutions to a problem, we tend to remember only the information needed to solve a problem and forget extraneous information associated with unused paths. Here, the equivalent effect is for the individual to contribute to the collective only "established" information along paths used by individual, thereby "forgetting" unused paths. Both the learned and established information produce the same path for the individual agent. As seen in Figure 1, the solution using the established information performs better than the learned information. Furthermore, for collectives above 20, the optimal solution is found, even though nothing in the agent's rules seeks a minimal path length. Figure 2 shows one mechanism for the reason that the collective does better than any individual: individual information can be combined to indicate a shorter path for the collective.
Importance of Diversity
To better understand the role and importance of diversity in this simple model and gain insight into social systems, quantitative measures of diversity were examined. The first choice of a measure, the breadth of experience of a collective over all possible paths, was found to be uncorrelated with performance.
The best measure found defines diversity as the degree of unique information in a collection of agents. If all agents contribute the same information, even if it is for the entire domain, then this measure of diversity is low. If each agent contributes unique information not shared by others, then this diversity measure is high. Consequently, collectives contributing "established" rather than "learned" information exhibit higher diversity, even though less information is contributed by each agent. So we conclude that it is not how much information is important, but how the information contributed fits in to the other information known.
Not only does this measure of diversity correlate best with collective performance, it also indicates the degree of insensitivity to noise. The performance of a collective with low diversity is poor when valid information is randomly replaced with false information, a measure of the robustness of a solution. False information can lead to unexplored paths in a less diverse collective, and then the solution degenerates to a random search (imagine driving and finding yourself on an unfamiliar road - the solution is either to backtrack or to search randomly). Diverse collectives have contingency information that makes the groups highly insensitive to noise. The stabilizing effect of diverse groups is critical in dealing with difficult problems where false information can lead to unexplored paths. In research which focuses on rational individuals with perfect information, an evaluation of performance often does not consider the robustness to noise, hence, the reason that diversity is rarely considered important. Yet, robustness is a critical aspect of any modern organization.
If the effect of information exchange between individuals (a form of cooperation) is included in the above simulations, such that the individual while learning the maze can benefit from other agent's experiences, we find that improved individual performance can be achieved. But if the outside information is used too strongly, then there is the ultimate loss of diversity in the collective as every individual has the identical experience. In this case, the robustness of the collective can be severely degraded if the positive feedback or coherence is too great. We conclude that cooperation is actually a form of selection and reduces the expression of diversity (if I cooperate with you consistenly, then I don't cooperate with someone else). It is easy to see that the random associations that are beneficial to the group and individual above can be reinforced to the point of being exclusive. While this leads to more optimal performace, it also causes the groups to be less robust. (To see how this transition is part of a bigger view of how systems develop, see the paper titled Developmental Insights into Evolving Systems: Roles of Diversity, Non-Selection, Self-Organization, Symbiosis on the documents page. )
Social and Organizational Implications
The above study illustrates how diversity can arise with agents of identical capability from experiential differences within a system which contains multiple options. Just the existence of random options in the problem domain creates diversity. This is in contrast to the standard ecological arguments that diversity originates from competition to fill new niches. It is believed that this generation of random options and traits are a direct consequence of the system becoming more complex, a natural consequence of the development cycle of evolving systems (see the paper titled Developmental Insights into Evolving Systems: Roles of Diversity, Non-Selection, Self-Organization, Symbiosis on the documents page. )
Furthermore, higher system performance and robustness occurs by the simple combination of the experiences of individuals, even though each individual solves a problem from a limited perspective. Unlike the selectionist view of diversity in natural systems, this study indicates that even in the absence of direct competition between and the consequencial selection of individuals, a higher system performance can be achieved with an alternative mechanism: the non-competitive combination of information from a diversity of individuals. In fact, the idealized system exhibits lower performance or lower stability if any selection is made, either by eliminating participation or reducing their contribution. In some cases, it is even found that eliminating the contributions of the higher performers actually can improve the group solution!
The simulations also illustrate that improved collective performance can only be achieved with minimally skilled (or better) agents. If the agents gain experience randomly (have no "skill"), the collective shows no improvement over the average individual. We conclude that the performance of the whole is tied to the performance of the individual - as the individual learns, the non-competitive combination of diverse experiences increases the performance of the system as a whole.
These results argue for the importance of organizational environment that freely exchanges information for both the benefit of the individual, but also for the group or organization. Many economic and social models of human dynamics begin with the assumption of competitive agents seeking limited resources. Furthermore, they embody significant capability in their agents to explain higher global performance. In the simple model above, system performance is shown to be greater than the capability of the agents and to occur from essentially independent agents randomly sharing information. Mechanisms of competition or cooperation are not required. The results also show that if the collective dominates the learning of the individual, and thereby reduces the diversity, then group performance become less robust.
In modern times of organizations becoming more complex and facing problems of greater difficulty, centrally directed management of expert resources may not be an optimal approach to problem solving. For organizations to take advantage of increased performance from diversity, these studies suggest that, in addition to a skilled and diverse workforce, it is also necessary to encourage the expression of diverse views and to enable mechanisms for the exchange and processing of these views. The implications for all organizations is to create a work environment in which all employees are willing and able to contribute their knowledge and experience to solving the problems facing these organizations.
Publications | Talks | Interests: Past & Present | Symbiotic Intelligence Project
Contact | Science of Diversity | Home | Links | Diversity Documents | Norman Johnson
Infectious Idea Spread using Epidemiological Modeling | Collective Intelligence in the presence of bias and misinformation
Community, Coexistence and Pre-conflict Minimization Projects | The CISS (Coexistence in Suggestive Simulations) Project | <urn:uuid:63c7a576-e12a-4ebf-9c45-5b1f6e47af78> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://collectivescience.com/sciencediversity.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935402 | 2,115 | 3.125 | 3 |
Image source: NYDN
A few weeks ago we wrote about the mold and black mold that is developing in the soaked materials and structures in the still storm ravaged Rockaways. According to the NY Daily News, on Saturday 12/15 Far Rockaway residents marched through their community “to call on Mayor Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn to fix dangerous conditions caused by the mold, lack of heat and absence of electricity they are enduring.”
One of the problems with mold is that it doesn’t usually stay put. It send out spores and propagates that way, and when an entire neighborhood is mold-ridden, the whole area can feel saturated. There is a cough that has developed, too – locals are calling it the Sandy Cough – which has been encouraged by both the mold spores in the air as well as all the dust churned up.
Pete Nagy, campaign director for New York Communities for Change, and one of the march organizers, said, “The mold is making people sick. It’s creating a dangerous situation for the families here.”
It is still a difficult life in the Rockaways. The FEMA/NYC project Rapid Repair - a free program to help residential property owners affected by Hurricane Sandy make emergency repairs – has been implemented but people are still feeling forgotten. | <urn:uuid:94c13871-10db-44e6-a5be-598e1df99a1e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://queens.brownstoner.com/2012/12/yep-that-hurricane-sandy-induced-mold-issue-in-the-rockaways-isnt-going-away/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970373 | 271 | 2.203125 | 2 |
[b-hebrew] Daniel 6:27 (time indefinite) II
rob at designceramics.co.uk
Tue Nov 15 08:39:50 EST 2005
Hi Harold, Rolf and Peter,
I'd just like to point out that when I mentioned the word "indefinitely" and its meaning it was in the context of describing how I as an English reader understand "time indefinite". I've heard linguists say 'words have no meaning apart from context, only potential meanings or a semantic range'. Now some here seem to be insisting that the meaning of "time indefinite" should be judged on the bulk of glosses for "indefinite" in a dictionary. My experience is that as a reader of NWT the various conexts make the meaning of "time indefinite" specific. In my mind I naturaly associate it with the word "indefinately" which is very close in meaning.
Now if what lexicographers have said about olam signifying "hidden time" is correct, the NWT communicates in a way very similar to the Hebrew,and the expression "time/s indefinite" can also carry forward the plural. As a young teenager reading the Bible (with no special linguistic training) the said translation worked for me.
You may agree or disagree with this translation approach, it has advantages and disadvantages but I feel it at least has a place.
More information about the b-hebrew | <urn:uuid:48bba79e-279b-481a-a571-c2ffc7011de3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/b-hebrew/2005-November/026970.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947263 | 297 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Mum launches petition in support of Ulverston superstore
Last updated at 07:57, Wednesday, 20 February 2013
A PETITION supporting plans for a Sainsbury’s in Ulverston has been launched by a resident who feels the town’s supermarket debate has been too one-sided.
Within a few hours of going online the petition had attracted 25 signatures.
It calls for South Lakeland District Council to approve the application to build a Sainsbury’s at the Beehive, just off the A590.
It claims Ulverston is in danger of becoming a “ghost town” and says by creating jobs and getting more people to shop locally the store would revitalise the local economy.
Ulverston mum Suzie Lawson, of Old Hall Road, said she felt compelled to do something because those in favour of a supermarket in the town were not being heard.
She said: “I don’t see why we should travel eight miles to a different town to do our shopping.”
There has been vocal opposition to the proposed Sainsbury’s, and a rival supermarket at the old Robinsons brewery site, in recent months.
However, Miss Lawson said, despite many people sharing her views, the arguments in support of a new supermarket were not as well promoted.
She said she had been hesitant to speak out for fear of stirring up trouble but wanted to make sure her views were represented.
She added: “There are two sides to every story. I’m not going to be told what’s right and what’s wrong – you are entitled to your own view.
“I don’t want to start an argument. I just think people need to be a bit more open-minded and listen to other people’s opinions.”
Miss Lawson said cafes in the town had not been put out of business every time a new rival outlet opened and she does not see why a Sainsbury’s would be different.
And while many people have argued against the plans because they are for an out-of-town site, that is precisely why she supports them.
She added: “I am against the Robinsons site because I don’t think there should be anything like that in Ulverston.”
She also criticised arguments that a new supermarket would create traffic problems, saying it would take save many people from travelling to Barrow to do their shopping and take cars off the road.
The petition, which had attracted 138 signatures as of February 20, is available at www.gopetition.com/petitions/bring-sainsburys-to-ulverston.html
First published at 16:01, Monday, 18 February 2013
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk
Have your say
the sooner we get a sainsburys the better it will save me going to barrow to shop at asda tesco morrisons and aldi.the keep ulverston specialpeople are way behind times,lets have a proper supermarket sainsburys would be perfect.carry on the good work suzie.ulverston also needs the jobs
Is watching the slow decay of a former site of employment and production part of what makes Ulverston 'Special'? Will it become and archaeological dig one day?I cant get passed the feeling that there is so much snobbery involved in this 'KUS' group - Booths is fine, but Sainsburys doesn't quite fit the demographic that they believe should be allowed into Ulverston. What exactly is 'special' about Ulverston High Street? Tesco? Co-op? Blockbuster? Costa? The patchwork of cobbles and temporary tarmac? Lloyds TSB? And whats even more ironic is the fact that I would wager that (by the looks of them) all of these KUS leaders spent the '80s voting for Thatcher and the rampant free market capitalism that molded the country into how it is today. The Horse has bolted. It isnt 1950 anymore, it isn't going back. What we need are jobs and investment. This stor will tidy up the area and bring a sense that Ulvrston is still worth investing in, and not a camp on the way into ASDA. - Doug
View all 46 comments on this article | <urn:uuid:7d487694-a095-408a-af30-fcb07d8866ba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/ulverston/mum-launches-petition-in-support-of-ulverston-superstore-1.1035932?referrerPath=sport/rugby_league | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972616 | 920 | 1.523438 | 2 |
|Many vehicles manufactured between 1977 and 2003 contain mercury switches. The switches were commonly used to turn on lights in glove boxes, trunks and hoods. Mercury switches also were used in anti-lock brake and air bag sensors. The switches were used in many models of vehicles.
In May 2006, South Carolina passed legislation (Section 44-96-185 of the S.C. Solid Waste Policy and Management Act of 1991) setting up the S.C. Mercury Switch Removal Program. The program is intended to remove and recycle mercury switches from old vehicles before they are crushed and shredded.
According to the legislation, “no person shall knowingly place an end-of-life vehicle into the production stream for a steel recycling facility in South Carolina containing a mercury switch.” As such, automobile dismantlers and scrap metal recycling facilities should participate in the S.C. Mercury Switch Removal Program. Through the program, the state is encouraging recycling and helping to reduce mercury releases into the environment.
The state’s program is offered in partnership with End-of-Life Vehicle Solutions (ELVS), a non-profit corporation formed by automobile manufacturers to manage and recycle the collected switches as well as provide educational materials at no cost.
Participating in the program is easy. Automobile dismantlers or scrap metal recycling facilities may participate in the S.C. Mercury Switch Removal Program by registering with ELVS. For more information, visit www.scdhec.gov/environment/lwm/recycle/pubs/mercury_switch.pdf.
|Home||About Mercury||CleanIng Up Spills||Fish||FAQs|
|Fluorescent Bulbs||Mercury in SC||Mercury Reduction||Thermostats||U.S. EPA| | <urn:uuid:eb5f315d-e16d-483a-896e-9f5110dbef1b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scdhec.gov/environment/admin/Mercury/htm/recycle_switches.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917844 | 364 | 2.6875 | 3 |
by Metiria Turei
Rodney Hide’s latest piece in the NZ Herald exposes a callous and dangerous attitude. He needs to ask himself whether he really wants solutions to reduce child death or whether he just wants to pontificate while more women and more children suffer. Every death of a child at the hands of parent is a deep and terrible tragedy. And we know that the best way to keep a child safe is to keep the protective parent safe.
By choosing to harangue mothers for the tragic deaths of their children, Hide has helped to reinforce the very ignorance that continues to put children at risk. A number of these women had no or very little assistance when pregnant and that shame and fear was a factor in the death of their new born babies. The fact that less than half of the 33 child deaths were at the hands of their mothers further shows that Hide is wrong in placing the sole focus on the mums.
First, Hide places much of the blame for these deaths on the Domestic Purposes Benefit. He claims that the financial support provided by the State enables abuse of children, when in fact without the DPB, it is clear that many thousands more children would suffer from poverty and the associated impacts of that poverty.
Second, the Police report that Hide’s article was based on shows that 12 out of the 15 children killed by their mothers were four years old or less. This strongly suggests post-natal depression played a part in these tragedies (indeed, three of these mothers killed themselves immediately after killing their children).
These tragic deaths seem to me to be the result of despair, not anger – quite a different picture from the child deaths caused by men.
We need solutions to prevent child death, not further vitriol levelled against women.
What is needed to prevent further deaths is more support for new mothers, not less. We have seen a systematic destruction of community services over recent decades, the hands on, trusted, non-judgemental support that all mothers could readily access as they needed. It is this kind of help that community workers say has to be reinstated to protect mothers and their children from violence, hardship and despair.
Post-natal depression, poverty and the lack of community support all need addressing in order to ensure that all children are able to have good lives and the best chance at a fair future. By ignoring these real issues and simply blaming mothers and the DPB, Rodney Hide is frightening even more women away from the help they need to keep themselves and their kids safe. | <urn:uuid:2187c062-5129-4b3f-b45b-ec41b940a809> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.greens.org.nz/2012/11/26/safe-mothers-safe-children/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976731 | 516 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Darcy Downing said her daughter may have been infected by insects near a dead squirrel she wanted to bury at their campground on U.S. Forest Service land, even though Darcy had warned her daughter to leave it alone.
She remembered catching her daughter near the squirrel with her sweat shirt on the ground.
Her daughter later had the shirt tied around her torso, where doctors spotted insect bites.
By the night of Aug. 25, Sierra Jane's heart rate was high, her blood pressure was low, and a swollen lymph node in her left groin was so painful it hurt to undergo the ultrasound that detected the enlarged node, Snow said.
"If she had stayed home, she could've easily died within 24 to 48 hours from the shock of infection," Snow said.
Edited by bwellmysoul on 09/06/2012 15:29:38
I wasn't aware of the BP hitting the USA again, but here in Texas there have been over a thousand confirmed cases of the West Nile Virus and over 40 deaths so far in Texas alone. First killer bees, now this.
This is why I don't let my children touch dead animals.
Pax et Bonum,
"There are some in the Church, who not only do not do what is good, but even persecute it, and hate in others what they neglect to do themselves. The sin of these men is not that of infirmity or ignorance, but deliberate willful sin." — Pope St. Gregory the Great (AD 540-604)
West Nile is rather common in NE. Some people get flu-like symptoms and some unfortuneately suffer lifelong stroke-like health problems. Most of the state this year (due to drought) hasn't had to battle mosquitos. We normally have to spray down with repellent before going outside.
Rather shocked that BP is here. Never heard of it before in America. We have several in / outside pets and a yard full of squirrels.
Squirrels are slightly less full of fleas than are opposums. And opposums are loaded.
The Bubonic Plague hit San Francisco's Chinatown in 1899 and again in 1907 via the Hawaiian Islands. If I'm not mistaken that was the only incident of the Plague in the U.S.
I know someone that had the flu all winter and couldn't shake it this was the first time he was ever this sick in his life,but after a few months or more he finally got rid of it.I get my flu a=shot in Aug. then if I am not around anyone with the flu For two weeks I am in the clear I did fine last year no nothing got it in Aug then to:) I have never herd in my life time of Bubonic Plague in this country I hope we don't get much of that perhaps only dead animals give you this? I thought fleas did?
Fleas and lice are carriers of the Bubonic Plague but the most prolific carriers are ground squirrels. The culprit of the 14th century outbreak in Europe was rats.
I was wrong about the 1899-1907 epidemic in San Francisco being the only incident in the U.S. Apparently there are frequent outbreaks in the Four Corners area of the United States as well.
Edited by heavenlysecrets on 09/10/2012 22:25:20 | <urn:uuid:60ce1c7a-15b1-4f9d-b46e-d815cb4a73b0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.speroforum.com/forum/topic.asp?whichpage=1&TOPIC_ID=8002 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976399 | 688 | 1.851563 | 2 |
Green/Sustainability Knowledge and Skill Statements
Environmental awareness is an important asset needed to engage in a broad range of industries. Green/sustainability knowledge and skills, therefore, are a vital component of preparing students to thrive in the marketplace of the 21st century. CTE courses and programs have a major responsibility for helping students gain such knowledge and skills. To assist in this effort, MPR Associates, Inc., with funding from the U.S. Department of Education and in collaboration with the National Career Technical Education Foundation (NCTEF) and Vivayic, Inc., led the Green/Sustainability Knowledge and Skills project. It provides supplemental standards that complement the Career Clusters Knowledge and Skills Statements for the 16 Career Clusters.
These supplemental statements help states and local programs incorporate a set of green/sustainability standards into all career clusters to prepare students for green occupations. In addition, the initiative developed industry-specific, additional standards for the six Career Clusters that are expected to experience the greatest need for green workers.
These six Career Clusters are: Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources; Architecture & Construction; Information Technology; Manufacturing; Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics; and Transportation, Distribution and Logistics. The standards also include definitions of many of the commonly used terms found in each of the six specific clusters. Development of these standards was informed by technical working groups of industry experts representing the six clusters. These standards are designed to assist teachers in their CTE programs and classes in providing students the knowledge and skills needed to work with green-industry components in their various fields.
On Thursday, Aug. 16, at 3 p.m. (EDT) a webinar will provide an overview and details of the process and resources associated with the development of the Green and Sustainability Knowledge and Skill Statements for the six career clusters. Participants in the webinar will also hear about strategies for implementing the standards.
The standards are available at http://cte.ed.gov/nationalinitiatives/twg/Green_Sustainability_KS_Statements.pdf/. To register for the webinar “Green and Sustainability Knowledge and Skills Statements: Connecting to the Curriculum,” go to http://www.careertech.org/resources/webinars.html.
OVAE is recruiting a GS-13 Education Program Specialist for DATE’s College and Career Transition Branch. The deadline is Aug. 22, 2012. To apply, visit http://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/323617800.
U.S. Department of State Announces Community College Cooperative Agreement Opportunity
The State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs recently announced a cooperative agreement opportunity as part of the Community College Initiative Program (CCI). The bureau intends to award between one and six cooperative agreements for one base year and, pending the availability of funds, two option years. The cooperative agreement for the base year should begin on or about Feb. 1, 2013, and end on or about Dec. 31, 2015, assuming that the two options are exercised. Applications are due by Oct. 15, 2012.
The bureau is seeking scholarship participants from developing countries who represent the diversity of their home countries and who can have a positive impact on their country’s future development. The CCI program will support their undergraduate studies at accredited U.S. community colleges. The intent is to provide quality educational programs, leadership and professional skills development, practical professional experience, community engagement, and programming that build mutual understanding and knowledge about American society and culture to underserved, non-elite international students, particularly women. The Fulbright commissions and/or public affairs sections of U.S. embassies in sending countries are responsible for recruiting and nominating candidates for this program.
Public and private non-profit organizations representing consortia of accredited U.S. community colleges, or combinations of accredited community college campuses, may submit proposals to cooperate with the bureau in administering and implementing the FY 2013 CCI program. The bureau anticipates hosting students from Brazil, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and South Africa for the 2013–14 academic year. Applicants may apply to administer the entire program or a portion of it. Proposals should describe placement strategies so that each cohort consists of no more than 16 participants, with a goal of having no more than four citizens of the same country at the same U.S. host community college. The recipient will place students in fields that may include agriculture, applied engineering, business management and administration, early childhood education, information technology, media, and tourism and hospitality management in programs lasting approximately one academic year and not to exceed one calendar year. Programs of study should lead to a professional certificate.
Please visit the bureau's Request for Grant Proposals (RFGP) webpage to access detailed information on CCI's objectives, goals, and implementation, as well as instructions and mandatory application forms. | <urn:uuid:02199fad-7f00-4060-8dd9-5f6b3a5f8af3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www2.ed.gov/news/newsletters/ovaeconnection/2012/08162012.html?exp=8 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929868 | 1,018 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Lincoln, Nebraska, Apr 20, 2012 -- USDA Rural Development Nebraska State Director Maxine Moul has released “Oh, Nebraska! Investing in Little Towns and Wide Open Spaces through USDA Rural Development”, a video depicting the array of projects USDA Rural Development has funded, impacting rural Nebraskans. USDA Rural Development can build a rural community from the ground up.
“It is with great pleasure that I share this video with Nebraskans,” said Moul. “I think that by viewing the video you will find projects with which we can assist rural communities as well as our accomplishments.”
The video reflects that in federal fiscal year 2011, Nebraska USDA Rural Development delivered $189 million to rural areas of the state. Programs of housing was $121.9 million, community facilities and water and wastewater $29.1 million, business $26.6 million, telecommunications $10.3 million, and distance learning and telemedicine $1.5 million. More than $1.9 billion has been invested in rural Nebraska since the year 1996.
Please view the video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjO8PA1ft1k&feature=youtu.be. The video was produced and directed by State Director Maxine Moul. The music “Nebraska” was provided by the Marcy Brothers of Hay Springs, Nebraska. | <urn:uuid:217dc37b-1e56-4ae7-9e77-92166d675af7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/STELPRD4015860.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944831 | 294 | 1.664063 | 2 |
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Dolores M. DavisDolores M. (Strogin) Davis, age 81, of Kittanning, PA., passed away Tuesday, May 29, 2012 at Armstrong County Memorial Hospital.
She was born on March 3, 1931 in Cleveland, OH to Frank and Frances (Shok) Strogin.
Dolores was a 1949 graduate of Jane Addams Vocational High School in Cleveland, OH. She moved to Kittanning in 1953 and called the area her home ever since. She was a previous line worker for Schenley Distillery until the plant was closed and later worked for 16 years as a counselor and legal advocate for HAVIN, Inc. until her retirement in the September of 2002. Dolores was a member of St. Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Kittanning and belonged to the church's former September Club. She also served as a past teacher aide at the former St. Mary's School and was an original member of the St. Mary's School Board.
Dolores was very active in the community and served as the past president of both the Kittanning Senior High Mothers Athletic Club and the Butler chapter of Parents Without Partners, a former den mother for Cub Scout Pack #616, and a former board member of the East Franklin Boy Scout Troop. Her more recent memberships included the West Kittanning Senior Citizens Club and the AARP. In her spare time, Dolores enjoyed reading, gardening and bird watching, and she crocheted over 70 beautiful afghans that she shared with family and friends. Dolores also collected souvenir spoons and proudly displayed her collection that included spoons from all 50 states and over 80 foreign countries.
The prevention of domestic violence was a cause dear to Dolores' heart and she was instrumental in establishing the Domestic Violence Task Force in Armstrong County. She also helped create the county's Pro-Se System, which is used for the protection from abuse orders. Because of her work with HAVIN, Inc., in 1998 Dolores was the recipient of the National Sunshine Peace Award for working against the intolerance of domestic violence. In 1999, the United States Department of Justice recognized Dolores for her continuing effort to aid survivors of domestic violence; in the following years she received an award from the Office of Victims Rights and various awards from the Criminal Justice System.
Despite her many accomplishments, Dolores always counted her greatest achievement as raising seven children as a single parent. Her family will always remember her constant devotion to them, and her hard-working and loving spirit will be greatly missed.
Her memory will be cherished by her sons, Alan Davis and wife, Melanie, of Kittanning, Danny Davis and wife, Nancy of Kokomo, IN, Frank Davis and wife, Jamie, of Ford City, Ronald "Tim" Davis and wife, Tawny, of Elizabethtown, PA, and Darren Davis, of Kittanning; daughters, Donna Nevling, of Willoughby, OH, and Kathleen DiGiacomo and husband, Thomas, of Butler; 24 grandchildren; 18 great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandchild; brother, Richard Strogin and wife, Barb, of New Port Richey, FL; and sister, Carol Ann Acevedo and husband, Jim, of Cleveland, OH.
She was preceded in death by her parents; infant great-grandson, Ryan Willetts; and son-in-law, Raymond Nevling.
The family will receive friends from 2 - 4 and 7 - 9 PM on Thursday, May 31, 2012 at the Bauer Funeral Home and Cremation Services, Inc., 515 North McKean St., Kittanning.
A Funeral Mass will be held at 11 AM on Friday, June 1, 2012 at St. Mary, Our Lady Guadalupe Church, 101 High St., Kittanning, with the Reverend Douglas E. Dorula as celebrant.
Interment will be at Holy Trinity Cemetery in Manor Twp., Armstrong Co.
Memorial contributions may be made to HAVIN, Inc., P.O. Box 983, Kittanning, PA 16201.
print this page | <urn:uuid:3a72a0c7-e8ff-432f-8429-642ae3ab0651> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bauerfuneralhome.com/viewObit.php?oID=1025 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967012 | 866 | 1.601563 | 2 |
[Jan 7 2006]
These notes would have been impossible without the kindness and support of David Page who initially persuaded me to undertake them; the scholarly and detailed source material of Prof Carrington and Mr R G Harbord in the ORG; Hull Central Library ,and the Brynmor Jones Library of Hull University, and many brilliant critics and biographers, who have been invaluable for their background and factual information and many insights into Kipling's work. John Radcliffe has been a tower of strength as a creative and constructive On-line Editor.
I am grateful to them all.
Finally, I am indebted to my wife for her infinite patience and unfailing support, and to Mr Rudyard Kipling for writing a book that was worth all the effort.
Geoffrey Annis, January 2007 | <urn:uuid:3f16405b-95b9-4eaa-ac1e-1815b4210d96> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kipling.org.uk/rg_light_ack.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966028 | 164 | 1.851563 | 2 |
Sir James George Frazer (18541941). The Golden Bough. 1922.
§ 5. Virbius and the Horse
WE are now in a position to hazard a conjecture as to the meaning of the tradition that Virbius, the first of the divine Kings of the Wood at Aricia, had been killed in the character of Hippolytus by horses. Having found, first, that spirits of the corn are not infrequently represented in the form of horses; and, second, that the animal which in later legends is said to have injured the god was sometimes originally the god himself, we may conjecture that the horses by which Virbius or Hippolytus was said to have been slain were really embodiments of him as a deity of vegetation. The myth that he had been killed by horses was probably invented to explain certain features in his worship, amongst others the custom of excluding horses from his sacred grove. For myth changes while custom remains constant; men continue to do what their fathers did before them, though the reasons on which their fathers acted have been long forgotten. The history of religion is a long attempt to reconcile old custom with new reason, to find a sound theory for an absurd practice. In the case before us we may be sure that the myth is more modern than the custom and by no means represents the original reason for excluding horses from the grove. From their exclusion it might be inferred that horses could not be the sacred animals or embodiments of the god of the grove. But the inference would be rash. The goat was at one time a sacred animal or embodiment of Athena, as may be inferred from the practice of representing the goddess clad in a goat-skin (aegis). Yet the goat was neither sacrificed to her as a rule, nor allowed to enter her great sanctuary, the Acropolis at Athens. The reason alleged for this was that the goat injured the olive, the sacred tree of Athena. So far, therefore, the relation of the goat to Athena is parallel to the relation of the horse to Virbius, both animals being excluded from the sanctuary on the ground of injury done by them to the god. But from Varro we learn that there was an exception to the rule which excluded the goat from the Acropolis. Once a year, he says, the goat was driven on to the Acropolis for a necessary sacrifice. Now, as has been remarked before, when an animal is sacrificed once and once only in the year, it is probably slain, not as a victim offered to the god, but as a representative of the god himself. Therefore we may infer that if a goat was sacrificed on the Acropolis once a year, it was sacrificed in the character of Athena herself; and it may be conjectured that the skin of the sacrificed animal was placed on the statue of the goddess and formed the aegis, which would thus be renewed annually. Similarly at Thebes in Egypt rams were sacred and were not sacrificed. But on one day in the year a ram was killed, and its skin was placed on the statue of the god Ammon. Now, if we knew the ritual of the Arician grove better, we might find that the rule of excluding horses from it, like the rule of excluding goats from the Acropolis at Athens, was subject to an annual exception, a horse being once a year taken into the grove and sacrificed as an embodiment of the god Virbius. By the usual misunderstanding the horse thus killed would come in time to be regarded as an enemy offered up in sacrifice to the god whom he had injured, like the pig which was sacrificed to Demeter and Osiris or the goat which was sacrificed to Dionysus, and possibly to Athena. It is so easy for a writer to record a rule without noticing an exception that we need not wonder at finding the rule of the Arician grove recorded without any mention of an exception such as I suppose. If we had had only the statements of Athenaeus and Pliny, we should have known only the rule which forbade the sacrifice of goats to Athena and excluded them from the Acropolis, without being aware of the important exception which the fortunate preservation of Varros work has revealed to us.
The conjecture that once a year a horse may have been sacrificed in the Arician grove as a representative of the deity of the grove derives some support from the similar sacrifice of a horse which took place once a year at Rome. On the fifteenth of October in each year a chariot-race was run on the Field of Mars. Stabbed with a spear, the right-hand horse of the victorious team was then sacrificed to Mars for the purpose of ensuring good crops, and its head was cut off and adorned with a string of loaves. Thereupon the inhabitants of two wardsthe Sacred Way and the Suburacontended with each other who should get the head. If the people of the Sacred Way got it, they fastened it to a wall of the kings house; if the people of the Subura got it, they fastened it to the Mamilian tower. The horses tail was cut off and carried to the kings house with such speed that the blood dripped on the hearth of the house. Further, it appears that the blood of the horse was caught and preserved till the twenty-first of April, when the Vestal Virgins mixed it with the blood of the unborn calves which had been sacrificed six days before. The mixture was then distributed to shepherds, and used by them for fumigating their flocks.
In this ceremony the decoration of the horses head with a string of loaves, and the alleged object of the sacrifice, namely, to procure a good harvest, seem to indicate that the horse was killed as one of those animal representatives of the corn-spirit of which we have found so many examples. The custom of cutting off the horses tail is like the African custom of cutting off the tails of the oxen and sacrificing them to obtain a good crop. In both the Roman and the African custom the animal apparently stands for the corn-spirit, and its fructifying power is supposed to reside especially in its tail. The latter idea occurs, as we have seen, in European folk-lore. Again, the practice of fumigating the cattle in spring with the blood of the horse may be compared with the practice of giving the Old Wife, the Maiden, or the clyack sheaf as fodder to the horses in spring or the cattle at Christmas, and giving the Yule Boar to the ploughing oxen or horses to eat in spring. All these usages aim at ensuring the blessing of the corn-spirit on the homestead and its inmates and storing it up for another year.
The Roman sacrifice of the October horse, as it was called, carries us back to the early days when the Subura, afterwards a low and squalid quarter of the great metropolis, was still a separate village, whose inhabitants engaged in a friendly contest on the harvest-field with their neighbours of Rome, then a little rural town. The Field of Mars on which the ceremony took place lay beside the Tiber, and formed part of the kings domain down to the abolition of the monarchy. For tradition ran that at the time when the last of the kings was driven from Rome, the corn stood ripe for the sickle on the crown lands beside the river; but no one would eat the accursed grain and it was flung into the river in such heaps that, the water being low with the summer heat, it formed the nucleus of an island. The horse sacrifice was thus an old autumn custom observed upon the kings corn-fields at the end of the harvest. The tail and blood of the horse, as the chief parts of the corn-spirits representative, were taken to the kings house and kept there; just as in Germany the harvest-cock is nailed on the gable or over the door of the farmhouse; and as the last sheaf, in the form of the Maiden, is carried home and kept over the fireplace in the Highlands of Scotland. Thus the blessing of the corn-spirit was brought to the kings house and hearth and, through them, to the community of which he was the head. Similarly in the spring and autumn customs of Northern Europe the May-pole is sometimes set up in front of the house of the mayor or burgomaster, and the last sheaf at harvest is brought to him as the head of the village. But while the tail and blood fell to the king, the neighbouring village of the Subura, which no doubt once had a similar ceremony of its own, was gratified by being allowed to compete for the prize of the horses head. The Mamilian tower, to which the Suburans nailed the horses head when they succeeded in carrying it off, appears to have been a peel-tower or keep of the old Mamilian family, the magnates of the village. The ceremony thus performed on the kings fields and at his house on behalf of the whole town and of the neighbouring village presupposes a time when each township performed a similar ceremony on its own fields. In the rural districts of Latium the villages may have continued to observe the custom, each on its own land, long after the Roman hamlets had merged their separate harvest-homes in the common celebration on the kings lands. There is no intrinsic improbability in the supposition that the sacred grove of Aricia, like the Field of Mars at Rome, may have been the scene of a common harvest celebration, at which a horse was sacrificed with the same rude rites on behalf of the neighbouring villages. The horse would represent the fructifying spirit both of the tree and of the corn, for the two ideas melt into each other, as we see in customs like the Harvest-May. | <urn:uuid:c30bbf3c-2bf1-4f08-90eb-1db29e82d49a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bartelby.net/196/119.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981496 | 2,011 | 3.265625 | 3 |
Release a pigeon thousands of kilometers from home, and it'll fly across seas, forests, or deserts to return. It's not sight or smell that allows this amazing navigation; migratory birds can sense the magnetic fields that vary across Earth's surface. Now, scientists have identified a collection of brain cells that let pigeons interpret these magnetic fields. They hope the findings will help reveal how the birds sense the magnetism in the first place, and shed light on this mysterious sixth sense.
"This is very exciting," says biologist John Phillips of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, who was not involved in the new study. "There have been very few clear-cut findings in the past."
Debate on how birds sense geomagnetic fields has largely revolved around magnetite particles found in various parts of their heads. Scientists have hypothesized that magnetite, a form of iron that's the most magnetic of naturally occurring minerals, is the key ingredient in specialized cells that react to changes in magnetism. And the presence of magnetite in birds' beaks had led some researchers to believe that this structure was key to birds' homing abilities.
But earlier this month, a team of scientists showed that the iron in birds' beaks isn't magnetite—it's balls of another, less magnetic, form of iron accumulated in white blood cells that are cleaning toxins out of the animals' bodies."That whole story just crashed and burned," says Phillips.
At Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) in Houston, Texas, biologist David Dickman had previously found magnetite in the inner ears of pigeons, offering an alternate hypothesis for where the magnet-sensing cells are located. Last year, he discovered that four areas of the brain that are largely linked to inner ear function each showed a broad change in activity when pigeons were exposed to magnetic stimulation.
In the new study, published online today in Science, Dickman and BCM biologist Le-Qing Wu placed seven homing pigeons (Columba livia) in a dark room in the center of a cube-shaped set of magnetic coils. As the cube was rotated, the intensity of the magnetic field felt by the pigeon in the center varied. The scientists turned it in every direction, testing out the effect of various magnetic fields found on Earth. As they did this, Dickman followed the activity of 329 neurons in one of the areas of the brain he'd previously implicated. Fifty-three of the brain cells showed significant changes in activity as the coils rotated, reacting to field strength and polarity. The properties of the neurons allow them to have a unique activity pattern for every different spot on Earth, the scientists realized. Not only can the neurons allow the pigeons to pinpoint their longitude and latitude, says Dickman, but they can differentiate the Northern Hemisphere from the Southern Hemisphere and tell the pigeons which direction they're facing.
The data don't reveal which cells detect the magnetic fields, but, when combined with Dickman's previous results, they suggest that the inner ear is key. Some scientists still hold that the magnetic sensing cells will be found in the beak, or in birds' eyes, but working backward from the brain will help sort it out, says Dickman. "We now have a tool to study this with. We can go back and ask what cells and organs are feeding into this circuitry."
The new findings could apply to other animals as well, says Phillips. Sea turtles, fish, and vertebrates including mice, cattle, and deer have been found to be sensitive to geomagnetic fields. But whether it applies directly to humans is unknown, he says. "There's no evidence for that now. But there could be some kind of unconscious magnetic sense that helps us sense direction and spatial orientation." | <urn:uuid:120e4e0f-3a7b-4fbc-82b0-52894095d45b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2012/04/global-pigeoning-system.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960809 | 774 | 3.828125 | 4 |
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Last week’s column dealt with the diary of Moravian missionary Theodor Schulz who traveled to Bethlehem and other nearby Moravian settlements in 1799. As noted last week, personal documents such as diaries, letters, journals, business records, and art work created by people living during the old times are the most trustworthy historical sources.
The Theodor Schulz Diary is presently part of the Henry Stauffer Borneman Pennsylvania German collection at the Free Library of Philadelphia. A stellar collection, it was previously owned by Henry Stauffer Borneman, Esq. (1870-1955). Borneman had an expert eye as he selected rare examples of Pennsylvania German Fraktur, imprints, and manuscripts. After his death in 1955, the Free Library of Philadelphia was fortunate enough to purchase eighty-five years worth of carefully chosen artifacts. It’s also interesting to note that Borneman was co-founder of the Temple University School of Law.
According to Borneman family historian Ruth Borneman, Henry Stauffer Borneman was born in Allentown, the son of pharmacist and dentist Joseph Borneman. Dr. Borneman moved his family to Clayton, near Bally, in 1872. He then became the proprietor of Eagle Drug Store in Boyertown.
It has been said that the Bornemans in this area are all descendents of Daniel Borneman who emigrated in 1721. He bought land and cleared a farm along what became Knight Road in Upper Hanover Township. Daniel’s son Christian moved to Limerick Township and his son John, a stone mason who settled in Boyertown, was the father of Joseph.
Historian and researcher Del-Louise Moyer of the Free Library of Philadelphia is transcribing and translating Schulz’s Diary for a forthcoming publication. It is written in German script, a cursive handwriting that replaced Gothic calligraphy at the beginning of the sixteenth century. Under a Save America’s Treasures grant from the National endowment for the Humanities, the Diary is being conserved by the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts in Philadelphia.
During his four months in Pennsylvania, Theodor Schulz recorded what personally interested him, and reflected on matters close to his heart: the contemporary landscape, customs of the land, architecture, crops, commerce, weather and the daily spiritual life of the Moravian communities he visited. Selections continued from last week:
“2 September , Christiansbrunn (Christian’s Springs) and Gnadenthal (Gracedale) . One finds fruit and peach trees at both locations. The grain here is usually threshed using horses. The barns are built on the hillsides, so that on one side, built into the foundation, are entrances for the animals to their stalls, and on the other side, above the stalls, is the threshing floor, across which one can drive . The way milk is kept here is also quite wonderful. By means of small water locks, clear flowing spring water can be fed at higher or lower levels into stone spring houses. The milk pans stand in this cold flowing water (Spring water has a constant temperature in southeastern Pennsylvania of 50-55 degrees F.)…
“13 September, Br. Reichel showed us around the place, and we were especially impressed with Br. Henry’s rifle manufactory, the lovely hatmaking workshop, and the metal workshop. In the afternoon we went to Br. Henry’s mill in Plainfield Township, about three miles distant from Nazareth, where his rifles are bored, smoothed, and polished. It was a superb walk northwards through pleasant chestnut and nut trees, and beautiful plantations—four miles from the Blue Mountains, which formed a magnificent vista. Here we tasted the wild, large wine grapes known as fox grapes, which, although very large in size—almost the size of plums—and therefore quite noticeable to us, were not to our liking. There is another type of wild wine grape in Pennsylvania, which is smaller than normal, but tastes very good….
“21 September, …First we traversed the Lehigh river and its islands; then through the small Jordan Creek at Trexlers. We breakfasted on the Little Lehigh and Large Spring. After that we went through the village of Cootstown (Kutztown), then the city of Reading. The latter lies in a charming area on a plain between rocky mountains, not far from the Schuylkill, over which we took a ferry. We travelled through the mountains on very stony paths, and several creeks. On the way we encountered a lot of undergrowth and ground acorns—thus the saying that in America the swine eat the acorns from the trees. Then we went through a miserable little place called Adamstown, which probably got its name from the red earth, i.e. Adam’s earth. We came to Reamstown at noon, and afterwards past Ephrata where the German Seventh-Day Baptists have their colony and cloister. …
To be continued…
Schulz served as a Moravian missionary to Surinam, but returned to Bethlehem in 1806 due to his wife’s deteriorating health. He went on to serve as pastor to Moravian congregations.
Preservation of the Free Library of Philadelphia’s Pennsylvania German Manuscript Collection has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: because democracy demands wisdom. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Credits: Transcription/Translation: Del-Louise Moyer, Theodore Schulz Diary (forthcoming publication) Courtesy: Henry Borneman Pennsylvania German collection, Free Library of Philadelphia. | <urn:uuid:627909f4-5d94-4fc0-8545-945303c46b9d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.the-communityconnection.com/article/20121206/NEWS01/121209948 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963479 | 1,222 | 2.546875 | 3 |
As the Nevada legislative session draws to a close, two bills protecting transgender individuals passed the Senate and now head to a favorable vote in the Assembly. Senate Bills 368 and 331 passed 13-8 and 11-10 respectively, both outlawing transgender discrimination in housing and public accommodations. A third bill, Senate Bill 180 , failed 10-11, and would have designated violence based on gender identify or expression a hate crime.
State Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas stated , "I view this bill as not being about creating special rights… It is about explicitly extending equal protection of law to those who are often the target of discrimination."
While happy about the passage of the two bills protecting against discrimination in housing and public accommodation, activists were frustrated at the failure of SB180, which lost by one vote and had support from Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval. The other two bills now go to the Assembly, which recently voted 29-13 in favor of Assembly Bill 211 , which would outlaw employment discrimination against transgender people.
Existing state law prohibits employers from singling out individuals based on race, religion, sexual orientation and other attributes – but leaving out real or perceived gender discrimination has put transgender people in a vulnerable place, often subject to higher unemployment rates than the general population.
Should the transgender nondiscrimination bills pass, Nevada will join 12 other states and DC as having laws on the books to protect against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. (In addition to the 12 states, Nevada and 8 other states offer statutory protection based on sexual orientation, but not based on gender identity.)
Source: Human Rights Campaign
Creating Protections in Your State
States with existing laws protecting sexual orientation as a category may add gender identity to their statute. Others that have neither category protected can pass legislation that includes both sexual orientation and gender identity, using the following definitions:
- The term “sexual orientation” means heterosexuality, homosexuality, or bisexuality.
- “Gender identity” means gender-related identity, appearance, mannerisms, or other characteristics of an individual, with or without regard to the individual’s assigned sex at birth.
According to the ACLU , for those situations in which it isn’t politically feasible to pass the legislation as written above, a recommendation would be to roll gender identity into sexual orientation, defining it as either:
- the term “sexual orientation” means heterosexuality, bisexuality, homosexuality or gender identity; or
- the term “sexual orientation or gender identity” means heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality or a gender-related identity, appearance, mannerisms, or other characteristics of an individual, with or without regard to the individual’s assigned sex at birth.
(The second version listed above is preferable, as it is a much more comprehensive definition of gender identity.)
In terms of best practices for model policy, legal experts at the ACLU argue that “any policy should apply to ‘actual or perceived’ sexual orientation or gender identity. You can do this either in the definition of sexual orientation and gender identity, or in the provision of the law that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.” The best way to include ‘actual or perceived’ is in front of all the characteristics protected by the law; for example:
- It shall be unlawful to discriminate on the basis of actual or perceived race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, age or disability.”
Messaging Around Fairness
Few reading this article would disagree that individuals should be judged on their skills and capabilities in the workforce. More and more individuals – including elected officials – are coming to terms with the fact that firing an individual because they are gay or do not meet stereotypical norms for gender identity or expression is wrong and goes against American values of fairness and job performance. Some talking points from the ACLU’s Lesbian Gay Rights Project :
- Hardworking, high-performing employees shouldn't be fired just because they're gay or transgender. Americans almost universally believe that workers should be judged by their job performance-and that this principle also applies to gay people in the workplace. Gay and transgender people can and do lose their jobs just for being gay or transgender-and Americans believe that's wrong.
- Emphasize values like hard work, earning a living, and providing for our families. Research shows that it's effective to use messages such as, "If you work hard and do your job, you shouldn't be fired just because you're gay." When talking about employment protections, talk about the importance of hard work, productivity, and contributing to the economic health of the nation. Remember, it's about having the ability to earn a living (not about being "entitled" to work). And, it's about work as a way to provide for and be responsible for our families.
- Make it clear that America (and corporate America) supports employment protections.Employment protections are a mainstream issue. Since Gallup started measuring public opinion on workplace protections for gay people, support has risen from 56% in the 1970s to 89% today.
Full Resources from this Article
View other items from this edition | <urn:uuid:0c59480b-9750-4383-b8d4-6203c9ed40ad> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.progressivestates.org/print/27135?page=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941101 | 1,067 | 2.46875 | 2 |
Paulus, Friedrich von
Friedrich Paulus, born 23-09-1890 in Breitenau, Hesse-Nassau, the son of a school teacher. He tried, unsuccessfully, to secure a cadetship in the Kaiserliche Marine and briefly studied law at Marburg University. After leaving the university without a degree, he joined the 111th Infantry Regiment as an officer cadet in February 1910. He married Elena Rosetti-Solescu on 04-07-1912. When World War I began, Paulus's regiment was part of the thrust into France, and he saw action in the Vosges and around Arras in the autumn of 1914. After a leave of absence due to illness, he joined the Alpenkorps as a staff officer, serving in Macedonia, France, and Serbia. By the end of the war, he was a captain. After the Armistice Paulus fought with the Freikorps in the east as a brigade adjutant. He remained in the scaled-down Reichswehr that came into being after the Treaty of Versailles and was assigned to the 13th Infantry Regiment at Stuttgart as a company commander. He served in various staff positions for over a decade (1921–1933) and then briefly commanded a motorized battalion (1934–1935) before being named chief of staff for the Panzer headquarters in October 1935, a new formation under Lutze (see Lutze) that directed the training and development of the army's three panzer divisions. In February 1938 Paulus was appointed Chef des Generalstabes to Guderian’s (see Guderian) new XVI Armeekorps, which replaced Lutze's command. Guderian described him as ‘brilliantly clever, conscientious, hard working, original and talented’ but already had doubts about his decisiveness, toughness and lack of command experience. He remained in that post until May 1939, when he was promoted to Major General and became Chief of Staff for the German Tenth Army, with which he saw service in Poland, the Netherlands (see About), and Belgium. Paulus was promoted to Lieutenant General in August 1940 and the following month he was named deputy chief of the German General Staff. In that role he helped draft the plans for the invasion of the Soviet Union. Paulus was promoted to General of the Armoured Troops and became commander of the German Sixth Army in January 1942 and led the drive on Stalingrad during that summer. Paulus' troops fought the defending Soviet troops holding Stalingrad over three months in increasingly brutal urban warfare. In November 1942, when the Soviet Red Army launched a massive counter-offensive, code named Operation Uranus, Paulus found himself surrounded by an entire Soviet Army Group. Paulus followed Adolf Hitler's (see Adolf Hitler) orders to hold the Army's position in Stalingrad under all circumstances, despite the fact that he was completely surrounded by strong Russian formations. A relief effort by Army Group Don under Field Marshal Erich von Manstein (see Manstein) failed in December, inevitably: insufficient force was available to challenge the Soviet forces encircling the German 6th Army, and Hitler (see Did you know) refused to allow Paulus to break out of Stalingrad despite Manstein telling him it was the only way the effort would succeed. By this time, Paulus' remaining armour had only sufficient fuel for a 12-mile advance anyway. In any event, Paulus was refused permission to break out of the encirclement. Kurt Zeitzler, he died age 68, on 25-09-1963,
the newly appointed chief of the Army General Staff, eventually got Hitler to allow Paulus to break out—provided they held onto Stalingrad, an impossible task. For the next two months, Paulus and his men fought on. However, the lack of ammunition, equipment attrition and deteriorating physical condition of the German troops prevented them from defending effectively against the Red Army. The battle was fought with terrible losses on both sides and great suffering. On 08-01-1943, General Konstantin Rokossovsky (see Rokossovsky), commander of the Red Army on the Don front, called a cease fire and offered Paulus' men generous surrender terms—normal rations, medical treatment for the ill and wounded, permission to retain their badges, decorations, uniforms, and personal effects, and repatriation to any country they wished after the war. Rokossovsky also noted that Paulus was in a nearly impossible situation. By this time, there was no hope for Paulus to be relieved or supplied by air, and most of his men had no winter clothing. However, when Paulus asked Hitler for permission to surrender, Hitler rejected this request almost out of hand and ordered him to hold Stalingrad to the last man. Hitler promoted Paulus to Field Marshal. In deciding to promote Paulus, Hitler noted that there was no known record of a Prussian or German field marshal having surrendered. The implication was clear: Paulus was to commit suicide. If Paulus surrendered, he would shame Germany's military history. Paulus, a Roman Catholic, was opposed to suicide. During his captivity, according to General Pfeffer (see Pfeffer), Paulus said of Hitler's expectation: "I have no intention of shooting myself for this Bohemian corporal". Another General told the NKVD that Paulus had told him about his promotion to Field Marshal and said: "It looks like an invitation to commit suicide, but I will not do this favour for him." Paulus also forbade his soldiers from standing on top of their trenches in order to be shot by the enemy. Although he at first refused to collaborate with the Soviets, after the attempted assassination of Hitler on 20-07-1944, Paulus became a vocal critic of the Nazi regime while in Soviet captivity, joining the Russian-sponsored National Committee for a Free Germany, with General Seydlitz-Kurzbach (see Seydlitz-Kurzbach) and appealing to Germans to surrender. He later acted as a witness for the prosecution at the Nuremberg trials. From 1953 to 1956, he lived in Dresden, East Germany, where he worked as the civilian chief of the East German Military History Research Institute and not, as often wrongly described, as an inspector of police. In late 1956, he developed motor neuron disease and was eventually left paralyzed. He died in Dresden on 01-02-1957, age 76 of cancer, exactly 14 years after he surrendered at Stalingrad. His body was brought for burial in Baden-Baden on the Hauptfriedhof next to that of his wife, who had died in 1949 having not seen her husband since his surrender. General Choltitz (see Choltitz) is buried close by. | <urn:uuid:5c23f71f-c422-4fae-8cc6-4dec63f3cb46> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ww2gravestone.com/general/paulus-friedrich-von | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978491 | 1,425 | 2.203125 | 2 |
Professional women frequently think, “Vacation -- are you kidding? With all these work projects and responsibilities and laundry building up?” Yet, a vacation is probably just what is needed to enhance productivity and creativity at work, as well as better functioning in the family. If you are not sure you need a brief getaway, take this short quiz. Read these statements and count how many of them describe you:
1.) I’m snapping more at my spouse or family.
2.) I am not as productive at work.
3.) I have been getting more colds, headaches, or stomach upsets.
4.) At night I feel as though I’ve “hit the wall” and just collapse into bed.
5.) My husband and I are living friendly but separate lives.
6.) The household looks as though a tornado hit it.
If three or more of these statements apply to you, then you would benefit from a brief vacation. Here are six ways a getaway can help.
1.) Knowing you are going away increases your effectiveness at work. You get more focused and say no to the less urgent things at work -- like going out to lunch or running across town to that new wine store. The prospect of a vacation can also spark better family functioning. Suddenly, mom realizes, for example, that she is doing too many of the family tasks. Preparing for the vacation heightens her awareness that she needs to delegate some of the family responsibilities to her spouse and children.
2.) As work and family life get out of control, the stress hormone cortisol compromises health and effectiveness. Bodies need a break from being in overdrive for too long.
3.) Brains need a vacation from stress hormones. When there is a work problem, over-concentrating on it blocks out good ideas. The brain repeats a person’s problem-solving habits. Using the same techniques lessens the expression of new solutions. Remember when a “lightning bolt of an idea” hit you while driving, cooking, or taking a shower? This phenomenon happens when the brain is freed up to activate other neurons that permit new thoughts. So, try lying on the beach, strolling through a quaint town, or bird watching to allow the brain to relax its focus and invite in new plans.
4.) Busy professional, married women sometimes short-change their spouses emotionally. Vacations provide time to renew passion and closeness. A refreshed marriage produces the calming hormones that counteract the negative side effects of too many stress hormones.
5.) If you include your children on your vacation, you strengthen your relationships with them. When you and your children are having fun is one of the best times to introduce new family rules and responsibilities. During fun times because the brain’s pleasure hormones dominate, they can blunt children’s potential negative reactions to increased tasks and expectations. | <urn:uuid:efa614d2-7e94-4e74-8d35-e0b61873e691> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.workitmom.com/articles/detail/6279/recharge-for-family-and-work | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949786 | 598 | 1.578125 | 2 |
LGBT Foster Care Bill Headed to Senate Committee
Bill would require culturally sensitive training for foster care providers on LGBT issues
Rosa RamirezNew America Media
June 24, 2012More than 40 years ago, when Jamie Lee Evans, project director of Y.O.U.T.H. Training Project, was 5 years old, her foster parents at a group home in Los Angeles taunted a young boy who they believed was gay.
The boy was effeminate. The foster parents didn’t really like that about him, Evans said.
“Not only were we required to beat him up but they would say ‘we have to beat the gay out of the little kid,’” said Evans, who now trains child welfare professionals about LGBT youths. “It was a pretty traumatizing business as you can imagine.”
While the treatment of foster care youths who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender has improved, many continue to experience subtle discrimination, hostility and even rejection by the people entrusted to care for them, said Evans. In 2003, California passed theFoster Care Non-Discrimination Act that prohibits the harassment of youths on the basis of actual or perceived race, ethnic group, national origin, religion, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation or gender identification.
“A lot of things have changed but not enough,” Evans said.
On June 26, the California State Assembly Committee on Human Services is scheduled to hold a hearing on AB 1856, a bill that would require culturally sensitive training for foster care providers on issues facing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender children and teens (LGBT).
Authored by Rep. Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) and sponsored the largest LGBT advocacy group in the state, Equality California, the bill would require caretakers to complete 40 hours of classroom instruction and best practices for providing adequate care for LGBT youths in foster care.
It’s estimated that between five and 10 percent of the total foster youth population are LGBT, according to the National Center for Lesbian Rights. Evans said actual percentages could be higher since many of these youths face abuse at home, or get kicked out when they come out about their sexual orientation, which can land them in the foster care system.
Yet few resources are available to train care providers about these youths’ needs.
“There’s a lot of different forms of discrimination with the foster care system. Even well-meaning caregivers don’t have the tools to support these youths,” said Maceo Persson, program manager at the Transgender Law Center. The Center works to change policy and advocates for transgender people.
Need for cultural competency training
Gay foster youth face discrimination that could range from caretakers failing to call them by the preferred name or pronoun that’s in accordance with the gender identity to forcing the teen to dress in clothing that doesn’t fit the gender the youth identifies with, Persson said.
A 2006 study documenting experience of LGBT youth in the foster care system called “Out of the Margins” found that these foster youths are vulnerable to violence, rejection or abuse not only from their home but also in schools, foster care and communities.
“As we delved into it more, we noticed there was a dearth of training in LGBT sensitivity,” said Cecilia Tran, an assembly fellow with Ammiano’s office.
Some foster care agencies, Evans said, have forms where potential foster care parents can indicate if they’re not willing to care for an LGBT youth.
“Why are we accepting foster parents who say I don’t want or will not take care of an LGBT [children]? How we can allow that to be?” she said.
Fostering Support for LGBT youths
Marissa Guerrero, a program manager at California Court Appointed Special Advocates, said there’s a push in California to incorporate LGBTQ cultural competency training for those working with foster teens.
Some CASA programs, a network of child advocates, in the state, for instance, integrate LGBTQ cultural competency into their core training. Volunteers undergo at least 30 hours of core training on dependency law, child development, among other topics. Two programs, including those in Riverside and Santa Cruz, have incorporated LGBTQ cultural competency into their core training, Guerrero said.
“LGBTQ youth in foster care need the same things all young people need - to feel safe and supported, to have opportunities to engage with their cultures and communities, and to find permanency and interdependence,” Guerrero said. “The value of cultural competency training is that oftentimes the adults in these kids’ lives are committed to ensuring and providing these things for kids, youth, and young adults, but may not know how to do this for LGBTQ youth.”
In April, California CASAhosted a symposium on mental health and LGBTQ youth in the foster system, led by the Y.O.U.T.H. Training Project, a program of the California Youth Connection, and Rob Woronoff, a leader in training for LGBT youths, and director of Family Builders Putting Pride into Practice Project.
“We just have to teach general acceptance support and love,” Evans said.
Rosa Ramirez is a reporting fellow for Fostering Media Connections, a news organization covering children and youths. This story was first published in the Chronicle of Social Change. | <urn:uuid:e0b67fad-51a2-452f-b1f3-7f568d6c24ab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://theskanner.com/index.php/article/LGBT-Foster-Care-Bill-Headed-to-Senate-Committee-2012-06-24 | 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 | 0.951327 | 1,136 | 2.140625 | 2 |
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By Pete Kotz
By Michael Musto
By Michael Musto
By Capt. James Van Thach told to Jonathan Wei
By Kera Bolonik
By Michael Musto
By Nick Pinto
By Steve Weinstein
At 77, Dr. Harry S. Jonas can still pinpoint the exact moment when he understood the importance of making abortion legal. The year was 1952 and he was an eager, young obstetrics-gynecology intern in Independence, Missouri. The specialty promised exciting pregnancies and bouncing babies, but his very first patient entered the hospital extremely sick. A mother of 12 children, she had triedunsuccessfullyto induce an abortion. "She came into the hospital with her intestines hanging out her vagina," recalls Jonas. "Then she died."
WHY CHOICE MATTERS
210 million: Annual worldwide number of pregnancies
38: Percentage that are unplanned
22: Global percentage of unplanned pregnancies that end in abortion
46 million: Number of abortions performed annually worldwide
20 million: Number of these estimated to endanger women
20: Approximate number of years a woman seeking to limit her family to two children, without resorting to abortion, needs to successfully practice birth control
1 in 3: Number of American women who will have had an abortion by age 45
7: Number of people killed in the U.S. since 1993 for helping women get abortions
Sources: The Alan Guttmacher Institute and Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health
For Mildred Hanson, the belief that abortion laws had to change came more gradually, even after she first learned about the danger of illegal abortions as a girl in rural Wisconsin. In 1935, when Hanson was 11, a woman on a neighboring farm died at home after having an illegal abortion. Hanson remembers her mother going next door to help the ailing woman, holding her while she died. The widower was left with six children, two of them in diapers.
By the time she finished her medical training in 1959, Hanson was seeing many patients with complications from illegal abortions. Some had gone to illegal practitioners. Others attempted the procedure themselves using rubber tubes, knitting needles, or potassium permanganatea corrosive substance that could end a pregnancy but all too often only caused bleeding, ulcers, and burns. And of course there were the wire hangers. Hanson eventually developed a reputation for being among a minority who would treat these women. She tended to their infections, bleedings, and wounds for almost two decades. And by the time abortions became legal, Hanson knew she would perform them.
Eugene Glick's first experience with illegal abortion was personal. His wife, who was then his girlfriend, was 19 when she got pregnant in 1951. Neither was ready to have a babyshe wanted to finish college and he was planning on going to medical school. They thought they were lucky to find an OB-GYN willing to perform the procedure illegally, but "he didn't even sterilize the instruments," as Glick remembers. Glick's wife got a serious infection and wound up needing major surgery.
When he got to medical school, Glick noticed his teachers willfully ignored the consequences of illegal abortions. "They didn't want it to even appear that they knew what to do," he remembers. But Glick couldn't overlook the desperationand began finding ways to perform abortions even before they were legal. His hospital had an abortion committee, which would approve the procedure if a doctor determined that a pregnancy threatened a woman's physical or mental health. "We all knew which psychiatrist to send them to," says Glick. "All of us sort of bent the rules." Eventually, in 1977, after delivering 5,000 babies as an obstetrician, Glick started performing abortions full-time.
If their paths toward providing abortions were different, Hanson, Glick, and Jonas have a few things in common. Like many other doctors committed to choice, they witnessed the devastating consequences of illegal abortions firsthand. This week, the 32nd anniversary of Roev. Wade, the Supreme Court decision establishing the constitutional right to end a pregnancy, will occur just two days after our anti-abortion president celebrates his inauguration. With several Supreme Court appointments potentially at stake, it's worth remembering what those pioneering physicians learned through treating thousands of women who'd had unsafe abortions: Outlawing the procedure doesn't make it go away.
Abortions were common well before New York decriminalized them in 1970 and Roe made them legal in the rest of the country in 1973. The Alan Guttmacher Institute, which does research on reproductive issues, reports that in 1930 almost 2,700 women died from illegal abortionsand that's just the number who had abortion recorded as their official cause of death. Almost one in 10 low-income women in New York City reported having attempted to end a pregnancy with an illegal abortion, according to one study done in the 1960s. In 1962 alone, almost 1,600 women were treated for incomplete illegal abortions in at Harlem Hospital. And there's plenty of current evidence showing the danger of outlawing the procedure. According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 80,000 women around the world still die each year of complications from illegal abortion.
Roev. Wade quickly cleared up this country's illegal-abortion mess, almost overnight. Deaths from botched abortions slowed dramatically. The number of women admitted for unexplained miscarriages dropped precipitously. And doctors could finally spare their patients the dangers of untrained, illegal practitioners or self-inflicted injuries without risking jail time or their medical licenses.
Yet some physicians, especially younger ones, don't seem to grasp the grim situation women faced before 1973. "Doctors who weren't practicing before Roe don't fully understand about the kind of degradation and death that really resulted from illegal abortion," says Wendy Chavkin, chair of Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health, and a professor of OB-GYN and public health at Columbia University. "As a result, they're more likely to be vulnerable to the attacks on abortion and decide that performing them is too much trouble. What they don't know is that, without legal abortions, their patients will suffer, die, or have drastically reduced life options."
The fading of collective memory helps explain why the number of doctors willing to perform the procedure is falling. There were only 1,819 abortion providers in 2000, down 11 percent from the 2,042 abortion providers in 1996, according to the Guttmacher Institute. And these days, as legal restrictions on abortion mount, most doctors who do abortions are over 65. Rather than performing the procedures in their offices or in hospitals, they've been forced to do them in freestanding clinics, where they and their patients are exposed to violence and harassment.
Find everything you're looking for in your city
Find the best happy hour deals in your city
Get today's exclusive deals at savings of anywhere from 50-90%
Check out the hottest list of places and things to do around your city | <urn:uuid:cf96c949-d41f-4e11-a00e-9a20b49aa1be> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.villagevoice.com/2005-01-11/news/when-there-was-no-choice/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974082 | 1,428 | 2.3125 | 2 |
Somewhere in one of Barack Obama's campaign speeches this election year, like a piece of barbed wire in an otherwise light and puffy soufflé of empty platitudes, was this remarkable comment:
"If you've got a business, you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen."
There are certain phrases, like this one, so memorable that they come to stand for the whole of a speech. Indeed for a whole attitude, for the whole spirit of a man and maybe of an age. For instance: "Give me liberty or give me death!" "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" Or, in our own, less elevated time: "I never had sexual relations with that woman."
Yes, the president's speech also included a grudging tribute here and there to free enterprise, the entrepreneurial spirit and innovative thinkers in general, but it was clear all that was just lip service. There was no mistaking his general drift -- to the decided left.
Barack Obama's whole attitude was unmistakable to anyone game enough to plow through his long, wordy speech. Between liberty and equality, those two poles in the never ceasing tug-of-war over the meaning of America and the American dream, the president's tilt was clear. His speech was about as fair and unbalanced as Fox News--only in the opposite direction.
No wonder that single quote lit up the Internet. It inflamed the president's critics and reduced his defenders to the kind of long and tendentious explanations that don't really explain, and leave even those making them sounding defensive.
Soon enough these remarks of the president's will be offset by another of his appeals to American business to invest more, hire more workers and create more jobs. Even while he is proposing to tax businessmen more and wrap them ever more tightly in red tape. He seems completely unaware of all the contradictions he's wandered into, as if he had only been speaking, not thinking.
It was all enough to make his more appalled listeners wonder if this president understands how a free economy works. Or a free country.
Barack Obama was something of an unknown quantity when we elected him president. For many of us, it was enough to know he wasn't George W. Bush.
Now, almost four years later, Mr. Cool seems to have grown even more distant and detached. And the longer he speaks, the less we seem to know him -- or he us.
But there's no mistaking our president's tendency to dismiss the importance of the individual and celebrate the power of the collective: "We rise and fall together as one nation, and as one people, and that's the reason I'm running for president because I still believe in that idea...." | <urn:uuid:4585cf19-afa7-408b-b759-b43401e65a49> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://townhall.com/columnists/paulgreenberg/2012/07/26/mr_president_meet_m_de_tocqueville | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981377 | 564 | 1.960938 | 2 |
Note: I’m unable to write this morning. Given that unemployment insurance extension is being blocked in the Senate, and, so, many more people will be unable to afford housing I thought I’d repost these two items from 2007 with more links to resources, which generally have worth while links of their own. I'll probably be writing about homeless people more in the coming months.
When they retired from the farm, my grandparents lived in "the little house", about 16 feet square, four rooms and a water closet. There was also an outhouse in a tiny, unattached shed. Though it was a perfectly good place for two people to live and they had lived there with two of their children early in their marriage, it would probably never be allowed today. At least not unless it was on wheels.
The tiny house movement is a good thing, a rational reaction to the absurd mega-mansions that people have been gulled into wanting. Seems that a lot of people are rethinking letting a large house and mortgage eat up their lives. While some of the tiny houses are jewels of traditional and modern architecture, those are out of the income range of many who you really need a tiny house. As the Cooper Hewitt exhibit which featured the Mad Housers pointed out, there are 90% of the world who need to get through a life as well.
The Mad Housers began in Atlanta, Georgia. It's a group which builds tiny shacks for homeless people where they can sleep and get out of the elements. The houses are built by volunteers of donated materials and then turned over to the people they are built for. Their website shows two basic models, with plans. There is the 6x8' house with a sleeping loft and the 4x8' "low rider" for situations in which the housing has to be really inconspicuous. In northern climates they would have to include insulation, even with the tiny, funky home-made wood stoves they provide. While I'm not sure about the stoves, they say they've got a good record of safety. Still, I'd like to see one before I decide on it.
The Housers, like any well thought out shoestring group, has to be very careful about where they expend their limited resources and volunteer time. While the placement of the huts is often of marginal legality, there are some situations more marginal than others. I'm impressed at their practicality and realism. Some of their clients use the huts as a way to get out of destitution some of their clients are so down and out that they will probably never climb out.
Lending people money at a ruinous rate of interest, risking their falling into destitution is not only legal, it's encouraged by banking and lending laws. Providing housing for people living in the rough makes you an outlaw. Sometimes, at least. In their FAQ there is one dealing with the advisability of providing housing for people without houses as if being disparately poor without a place to sleep wasn't bad enough. Somewhere in the things I read for this post someone asks if people would rather have someone sleeping in their doorway or in one of these huts. Maybe that question is the best answer.
Taking Care of Unfinished Business
Or A Modest Disposal.
Responding to the post last week about the Mad Housers huts for destitute people, some readers asked what the inhabitants of these tiny huts would do about toilet facilities. I appreciate the practicality of their question about this, perhaps, second most important issue facing anyone who would live in such a tiny house. It could be pointed out that the Mad Housers' clients, already being homeless, would have long ago found ways to deal with the problem. You don' t need to have a house to have the need of a toilet. One can imagine many solutions, some of them quite hygienic, some far from it.
There is a simple alternative that might be considered, especially now that it's freezing cold. I read The Humanure Handbook a number of years back* and am pleased to find out that it is available as a free online download. When properly done, the odor is reported to be minimal and the sanitary implications minor and far simpler than dealing with plumbing. That is when it's properly done. You will want to observe the advice given in the book strictly, especially keeping the necessary compost well away from water sources and fully composting the waste. If you think the idea of using human waste as fertilizer is repugnant, there is an excellent chance that you are already eating food that is grown using some kind of human waste now. Human waste is widely used as fertilizer, wouldn't it be best to do so in a way that is more likely to render it safer?** That's not to mention that even the meat industry recommends treating poultry and other meat as if was hazardous waste. E coli, for Pete's sake. Enough said?
For some people finding a source of clean, uncontaminated, pressure-treated-free, sawdust or a substitute is probably the greatest obstacle but for many that might not be insurmountable. Jenkin's system is a better way than to dump it into the drinking water, a practice that has been accepted with remarkable equanimity considering what it means. We are all down stream.
* No further personal details will be given.
** Ideally all waste should be used to generate bio-gas to produce energy and cut down on methane being released into the atmosphere. Methane is known to be a lot more of a problem than carbon dioxide in global warming. There are many small scale biogas plant plans available.
UPDATE: From My E-mail Box Is this supposed to be funny?
The issue achieves a sense of urgency through the natural concerns of some astute readers. Actually, it's an issue to which we all give our full, though unconsidered, concern at least once a day. If we are fortunate. Though it's an issue which we are used to allowing to pass unconsidered shortly after the business is concluded. The problem, is however, a problem that is quite important and which requires more reflection. While we are happy to be relieved of it, untroubled, the problems flowing from it don't just float away never to trouble us again. Even with our modern systems of distraction and denial, the ramifications will inevitably pile up and demand our attention. It's a rather unsavory problem but one which becomes far more than distasteful when ignored.
Experience teaches us, though that such things won't be seriously considered; however, when someone does feel the necessity of bringing it forth. Not without a leavening in the lump. As it were. Still, it's not a subject that naturally lends itself to a dry wit, though a stale jokes are often resorted to. I think it's best to just let nature take its course, oiling the skids as necessary. | <urn:uuid:d8cd79a5-ef43-46d9-9439-2aa3dadb7245> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.echidneofthesnakes.blogspot.com/2010/06/tiny-houses-as-if-people-really.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979034 | 1,432 | 1.710938 | 2 |
100 Jazz Profiles
1907 - 1970
Alto saxophonist. One of the most distinctive solo voices in jazz, Hodges was inextricably bound up with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, which he first joined in may 1928, remaining for most of the rest of his life, apart from a brief venture into bandleading from 1951-5. His plaintive blues playing was as memorable as his haunting ballad playing, and although he was capable of producing a tone of incredible beauty and intensity, he could also add a jazzy edge to his sound, and play in a jumping swing style.
He was born in Cambridge, across the river from Boston, and worked in that region until he came to New York in the mid-1920s. He played both alto and soprano sax, having had a few lessons from Sidney Bechet on the latter instrument. He was always capable of playing soprano in a style strongly derivative of Bechet's, but he chose to specialise on the alto from the time he joined Chick Webb's band in the mid-20s.
Ellington liked Hodges' strongly identifiable sound, and wrote many pieces to feature the taciturn-looking altoist. He also involved Hodges in the many small group recording sessions that he made with members of the orchestra, giving him the chance to play more extended solos. He also played on many freelance sessions, notably with Lionel Hampton.
Hodges had several nicknames, of which the best-known were Rabbit and Jeep, the latter commemorated by Ellington in two pieces that contrasted the altoist's main skills - his mastery of slow tempos on Jeep's Blues, and the jaunty swinging Jeep Is Jumping. Between them, Ellington and his co-composer Billy Strayhorn write many more features for Hodges, including the delicate ballads Passion Flower and Isfahan (from the Far East Suite). Hodges died during the recording sessions for Ellington's New Orleans Suite, and his final disc was the rousing Blues For New Orleans.
Stanley Dance: The World Of Duke Ellington (London, Macmillan) 1970
Johnny Hodges: Passion Flower 1940-46 (RCA Bluebird 07863 66616-2)
Suggested track: Passion Flower
Johnny Hodges at Down Beat
With bio and picture, plus links to music
on radio 3
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites.
This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so. | <urn:uuid:4a65cc59-b7d5-4bf4-a6c7-34443ffb7c91> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/jazz/profiles/johnny_hodges.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97377 | 590 | 1.90625 | 2 |
The days of the guinea pig and the lab rat for testing chemicals, potential drugs and new therapies may soon be over.
Animal models of human disease are a mainstay in the pharmaceutical industry. We have obtained a deep understanding of the physiology and causes of a variety of illnesses using lab rats and mice, as well as non-human primates including monkeys. Scientists study these animal models instead of using people as subjects. No new drug can be approved without meeting the Food and Drug Administration requirement of proof of safety and effectiveness in at least two animal species before any tests are conducted in people, usually healthy volunteers (Phase I clinical trials).
Along with these successes have come many disappointments. How often have you heard of a “breakthrough discovery” in the news media, for example a new treatment for cancer, based upon findings using lab animals? The reporter often ends the piece with a statement such as “It may take 5 to 10 years to see whether this discovery will help cancer patients.” In many cases, this is the last that you hear about the new “cure” for cancer, because the encouraging results seen in the lab rats do not apply to people. Don’t get me wrong. In some cases, the results do apply to people and many patients benefit. The challenge is that we don’t understand enough to be able to predict the outcome.
There is an emerging trend in studying animal models for human disease that is a vast departure from traditional practice. More and more studies are focusing on creatures such as worms (nematodes), fruit flies (not just for genetics anymore!), zebrafish and frogs. These models have been used to study Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injury, eye disease (glioma), kidney disease and melanoma – to name a few.
As we learn more, computer modeling will become increasingly reliable to predict what would happen in a living creature. We have a long road ahead, but use of computers will eventually remove our reliance on animal models to understand human disease.
I don’t believe anyone would like to return to the days of using people as subjects, as was done in the early 20th century using prisoners and other “volunteers” with little or no knowledge about the effect of an experimental treatment.
What you think? I invite you to “vote” in the poll below. | <urn:uuid:aecb006d-0575-4234-90d6-7fd1aa8621c8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.nj.com/njv_jeff_toney/2010/06/of_mice_and_men_no_more.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962491 | 492 | 3.125 | 3 |
Griffin, D.P. (2009) The relationship between management and control planes for delivering quality of service in multi-service networks. Doctoral thesis, UCL (University College London).
Full text not available from this repository.
The management and control planes are intrinsic components of communications networks. Control plane functions - such as routing - are on-line mechanisms responsible for establishing and maintaining the way data is routed and forwarded through the network and, as such, they are usually embedded within network elements. Management plane functions, on the other hand, include tasks such as network design, planning, configuration and fault handling. Management algorithms - such as traffic engineering logic for link-weight optimization - are off-line components operating over longer time-scales with a broader scope and are usually housed in separate management workstations. Delivering Quality of Service in multi-service networks is a non-trivial task that involves both on-line mechanisms – for traffic differentiation and resource scheduling - and off-line functions - for service definition, resource planning and traffic engineering. This thesis addresses the question of the degree to which off-line management plane functions and on-line control plane functions should cooperate in order to provide the benefits of network-wide optimization while remaining responsive to actual network conditions without burdening the network equipment with computationally expensive logic. The approach taken is to design an architecture encompassing all functions involved in QoS delivery, ranging from service definition, through network planning and provisioning, to network configuration, routing and forwarding. Interactions in the form of provisioning cycles are defined to facilitate the necessary cooperation between off-line management plane algorithms and on-line control plane mechanisms. Two specific mechanisms are designed and evaluated. Firstly, Dynamic Resource Management (DRsM) configures the bandwidth allocated to Per Hop Behaviours in Differentiated Services networks. This is achieved in cooperation with off-line traffic engineering functions that identify the required resources according to predicted traffic levels. Because demand may differ significantly from predicted demand DRsM is responsible for tuning the allocation of resources according to actual conditions. Secondly, QoS enhancements to the Border Gateway Protocol (q-BGP) include QoS attribute values in BGP UPDATE messages as well as extensions to the route selection process to make it QoS-aware. Off-line management plane algorithms define the attributes to be propagated and the route selection policies to be adopted by the control plane.
|Title:||The relationship between management and control planes for delivering quality of service in multi-service networks|
|Additional information:||Authorisation for digitisation not received|
|UCL classification:||UCL > School of BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Electronic and Electrical Engineering|
Archive Staff Only: edit this record | <urn:uuid:017e9f51-005f-4fba-a68e-3a2bdad04b6b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/17966/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909177 | 561 | 2.078125 | 2 |
'It is a method where people are trying to get some money out of you, that's exactly what it is.'
Chief Deputy Ward Calhoun is talking about an e-mail that's now circulating in Lauderdale County. Within recent weeks at least three residents have received it.
Excerpts of it read as follows: 'You do not need to know who I am or where I come from. I was paid in advance of $60,000 to kill you.' It further states that, 'I am more than five days on the mission and I have known your house and every of your moves both day and night.' Given the letter's poor grammar and other components about it,, Calhoun says the e-mail is completely bogus!
'Many of these individuals who do these types of scams aren't even in our country,' says Calhoun. 'We're seeing more and more on the Internet where individuals can be in another country on the other side of the world and be sending you this. Actually, they're sending out thousands of these. They don't know you. They're not here. They're not watching you. They're simply hoping for the few people who will be scared enough that they will respond by sending the money to them."
In the e-mail that's now circulating, the sender is requesting thousands of dollars to ultimately not harm the person who receives it. Although some scams of this nature are still sent through the postal service, Calhoun says there's a steady increase in these type scams over the Internet.
'The Internet of course gives individuals who do this type of thing, they can go to a lot more people, a lot quicker. For them it is a lot safer.'
Calhoun is advising anyone who receives suspicious mail over the Internet or in the mailbox to contact the appropriate authorities and to never send money if requested.
To file an official complaint about a scam over the Internet log onto ic3.gov. To file a complaint about a scam through the mail log onto postalinspectors.uspis.gov | <urn:uuid:6d9da769-96da-48f7-9056-15ab3fca2419> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wtok.com/news/headlines/Hitman-Scam-173155381.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970729 | 418 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Biotech student study group needs assistance
svetlov at oncology.wisc.edu
Tue Oct 7 20:00:47 EST 1997
In article <343AA7A9.8619E112 at biokin.com>, Petr Kuzmic <pkuzmic at biokin.com>
> Vladimir Svetlov wrote:
> > Rick Bright <rbright at emory.edu> wrote:
> > > The process of obtaining information from the internet or newsgroup is
> > > an educational experience in itself and should be encouraged.
> > Good sermon, Rick. The only problem with it is that internet-mediated
> > education is a pink pankadoo.
> I believe that the Internet-mediated education (of which this discussion
> group in some sense is a part) increases in quality if everyone's
> messages strenuously avoid sarcasm.
I believe that sarcasm is entirely appropriate when somebody picks up a
tertiary tangent to the original question and delivers a passionate message
about the nature of Man and the Internet. Let's now put both our beliefs in
a glass jar and see which one wins.
> My understanding is that the
> previous correspondent was attempting to have a conversation about the
> role of Inernet in learning, for which, I am convinced, there must be an
> appropriate discussion group.
Previous (to my post) correspondent was commenting on the reprimand, that
correspondent before him made towards yet even more previous
correspondent's alledgedly inappropriate request. That makes your post a
4th level pointer to an original impropriety. That's deep, man.
> This group is advertised under the heading "Requests for information and
> laboratory reagents in molecular biology". I think that exchanging
> views here on completely unrelated topics is misplaced.
And thus you should be rather discussing the uses of say, sarcosyl, and not
sarcasm. The topic, however, elevated or degenerated into discussion of the
kind of requests, that some people find frustrating, disruptive or
exploitational. As such this topic is not unrelated, but rather corollary
to the board. I remember this issue exploding before.
> labeling anyone's message on any topic a "sermon" is highly
> inappropriate, as it does not promote courtous and respectful exchange
> of widely differing points of view, for which the Internet is so ideally
Well, in this case my widely differing point of view is that the term
"sermon" is perfectly suited to describe an emotional outburst mixed with
preaching and condemnations. Now let's go back to Sarcosyl.
More information about the Methods | <urn:uuid:ae0629f8-b04b-44c4-acc9-81c2e8230ed4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bio.net/bionet/mm/methods/1997-October/061560.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921644 | 575 | 1.664063 | 2 |
An effort to throw another off their subject matter by responding on an entirely different subject matter or responding in such a way that is inconsistent with the statements of the other
Marry's constant forcrudating indicated that she rarely ever listened to what other people had to say to her.
I wish you'd stop forcrudating and give me some adequate feedback.
I had to forcrudate Billy as nothing he was telling me was very important.
Billy, a domineering fellow, was constantly forcrudating people to try to control the direction of the discussion
"I enjoy spending time with you, Mark," said Sydney. "Ok then Sydney? You got it?" Mark replied. "Don't forcrudate me, jerk. I am trying to be romantic here," Sydney shrieked. | <urn:uuid:90f057da-3f02-4831-b92a-45c4cdf15aee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=forcrudate&defid=1900372 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986057 | 168 | 1.75 | 2 |
Covering the Future: Environmental Stewardship of the Carpet and Rug Industry
Recycled carpeting is a way the carpet and rug industry is committed to improving both the indoor and outdoor environments through ongoing stewardship initiatives.
These initiatives include:
Recycled carpeting is just one way the industry is demonstrating its willingness and equally dedicated spirit to promoting open communication with the general public on all issues. To this end, The Carpet and Rug Institute, representing all segments of the industry, has compiled this report on industry endeavors currently being undertaken to improve and sustain our environment.
Manufacturings Environmental Role
Carpet manufacturers are striving to minimize the quantities of natural and energy resources used in day-to-day operations. They are reducing waste reusing and recycling raw materials, packaging materials, waste, and by-products.
Individual companies are pursuing environmental efforts at different points in the manufacturing process. Many of the following efforts are industry-wide, but some are small pilot programs.
Advanced monitoring systems and processes in the mills help conserve water, electricity, and other fuels. As an example, new developments in dyeing techniques require less water. Dye materials are removed from waste water; the waste water is monitored, reprocessed, and then reintroduced into the manufacturing system.
New systems recycle thermal energy, capturing, condensing, and then re-heating the water for use in the finishing of carpet. Oil waste is sold to recycling companies or is used as boiler fuel.
Reduce, Reuse and Recycle
Waste disposal has become as issue of increasing concern worldwide. As responsible corporate citizens, the carpet and rug industry recognizes the need to continue to minimize the effect of industrial waste and post-consumer carpet products on existing landfills:
Although more efficient manufacturing is reducing excess carpet waste, such as selvedges, trimmings, and shearings, the industry has found creative uses for carpet by-products, such as carpet trim and yarn scraps, to avoid the use of local landfills. Individual companies are engaged in recycling efforts, including the following:
Because the collection, sorting, and transporting of used carpet is such a mammoth challenge, the tasks are being addressed by carpet and fiber companies and individual entrepreneurs. Several companies have collection sites in place and are developing means to separate carpet components and recover polymers. The industry is working toward recycling these materials into new carpet fiber. Some companies are refurbishing used carpet modules. Currently, plastic beverage bottles are being used to make polyester carpet fibers.
To address the challenges of post-consumer recycling, The Carpet and Rug Institute has assembled a committee of member representatives to rally industry expertise and resources. The committee will work toward perfecting an identification system of carpet materials, to make the sorting of fiber and backing compounds in the future much easier and more efficient. The committee also will share technology that will accelerate the recycling of used carpet back into raw materials and the development of a "closed loop" recycling system.
These efforts present exciting possibilities for the future.
See Also: Recycled Carpet Guide
© 2011 FloorBiz, Inc. All Rights Reserved | <urn:uuid:c2480a07-5ea0-47ac-b20b-7f4e3b225ec9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.floorbiz.com/carpet/carpet-buying-guide/carpet-construction/recycled-carpeting.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941982 | 644 | 2.984375 | 3 |
FEMA: Heed Emergency Warnings For 'Large Size' Hurricane
Impact of Hurricane Sandy expected spread over two days, bringing coastal surging, inland flooding and spot rainfalls of up to 12.
Hurricane Sandy's impact on weather along the coast and inland is expected to continue over two days, potentially bringing coastal surges of 6 to 11 feet, and rainfall of up to 12 inches at spots that could cause river and other inland flooding, federal officials said in a press conference on Sunday morning.
No matter exactly where or when the hurricane makes landfall, Sandy is a large system that will create potentially life-threatening surges along hundreds of miles of coastline from North Carolina up to Cape Cod, according to spokespersons for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The hurricane's effect, already being felt in the southern part of the mid-Atlantic, will last up to a day before and after the hurricane's actual arrival, according to Dr. Rick Knabb, National Hurricane Center Director for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
"Sandy is a large hurricane and a large system," Knabb said. "The large size of the system is why it's capable of producing a life-threatening storm surge." Tropical storm conditions already had hit the North Carolina coast as of about noon, he said.
But rainfall and strong winds also will be penetrate inland, he said. "The long duration of winds will continue for a couple of days," Knabb said. Rainfall could be up to a foot in some places, although it will vary throughout the vast region affected along the East Coast, he said.
"Millions of people are at least in an area that can have some chance of experiencing flash flooding or river flooding," Knabb said.
The seriousness of Sandy's impact will remain whether hurricane status remains at the time of landfall, or even if the storm has been changed to tropical storm status, federal officials said.
"Don't forcus on the fact that this is just a category 1 [hurricane]," Knabb cautioned. "I urge people not to compare this to past storms."
Emergency preparations, evacuations already should be underway
FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate began the press conference with a caution that the time is past for residents to be considering potential preparations they might take.
"People need to be acting now," Fugate said.
One of the biggest problems during major weather events is people ignoring orders from emergency directors in their area, Knapp said.
"We urge people to heed local emergency managers," Knapp said. "Do what your emergency managers tell you to do."
Christie already has ordered evacuation of New Jersey barrier islands
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie already has called for an evacuation of New Jersey's coastal barrier islands by 4 p.m. on Sunday. The governor also encouraged others along the coast to voluntarily evacuate.
U.S. Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-District 11) said in his briefing he had been told residents in his district in northern and central N.J. should anticipate "widespread, long duration power outages are extremely likely."
Last year's Hurricane Irene and the Oct. 29 snowstorm both caused widespread power outages throughout the region, with some residents in New Jersey communities were left without power for a week or more.
FEMA officials were reluctant to be pinned down to a figure of 50 million as to the number of people who might be affected by the storm, other than to say it will be felt in a number of ways in different areas. They also hedged on exactly where the hurricane's landfall might occur, except to say it would be somewhere between Long Island, New York and the Delmarva Peninsula in Maryland and Virginia.
Potential snowfall is predicted in the mountains of Virginia and Kentucky, said NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Prediction Director, Dr. Louis Uccellini.
Flooding in New England could spread beyond the coastal states and reach into Vermont and New Hampshire, officials said. | <urn:uuid:977c7648-706e-4871-8231-e617351a2797> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://westorange.patch.com/articles/fema-heed-emergency-warnings-for-large-size-hurricane?logout=true | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965643 | 819 | 2.40625 | 2 |
Meh, on the other hand a lot of my Japanese friends have pondered the question of "who decided english would be the world language, and why do we need it" in fact Japanese society has gotten along quite well without it and I'd even argue it's been a blessing - and yes sometimes a curse - but it's offered some protection to their domestic market from being so easily outsourced
or taken-over / dominated by foreign conglomerates. Think of the tens of thousands of customer support jobs that we in the western world find outsourced to india or the philipines each year - I know because I work at a call center and have constantly been moved to new departments as my old jobs keep getting shipped off to india where wages are lower.
Of course there are drawbacks to this but really I think the preservation of Japanese language is extremely safe thanks in no small part to a poorly implimented and questionably useless English education system.
I do agree though that definately, the system is flawed. I just don't happen to think that's necessarily a bad thing.
As for who decided the language, I would say the biggest driver would be "economics", which is in turn a result of historical circumstances.
In order to convince others to target learning a language, you need to have some form of goal. Making money is a good goal.
Being the largest market in the world, it makes sense to target america for trade/business. Japan is #2 now, but it wasn't always that way. Also, since the japanese domestic market tends to favor japanese companies and as such it's difficult to break into those markets.
It tends to be countries in "lower economic positions" that really focus on learning Japanese- China, the Philippines etc... they have a relatively large number of ppl trying to learn japanese. Mainly to work in relatively lowly-placed jobs, or jobs that japanese have no choice but to outsource due to incredibly high demand and low supply- e.g. aged-care nurses etc. This is partially because japanese are very exacting in the levels of customer service that are expected, so any such jobs normally would not favor non-native speakers, simply because they could not guarantee the required minimum level of customer service that is expected.
Not to mention that technological implementation of CJK languages was much harder than latin-based languages- the fundamentals of computers and the internet were based on english, though any language with a simple-to-display small-sized character set would also have worked well. Stuff like arabic and farsi is a bit tougher than english to display, but japanese/chinese/korean is another ballgame all together. The standard english/french/german/swedish/spanish/italian etc is really trivial.
Japan can live in isolation as a country as much as it likes. It will suffer the frustration of not being given any of the political power that it craves as a result, however. It is trying to push for a permanent seat on the UN security council, however whilst it maintains it's isolationist stance I cannot see that eventuating in the near future, no matter how much money it throws at the issue (they are the #2 contributor of funds). | <urn:uuid:0d8745ee-2a1e-4cdf-9250-517b3066f448> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.yesjapan.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=66602 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978281 | 685 | 2.140625 | 2 |
Sometimes I hold seminars about journalism – photo journalism in particular of course. Most of the time I start talking about the journalistic rule number one.
What is rule number one? Journalism works very simply. When a dog bites a man – this is not a story. Dogs bite men. Unless the man is Prince Charles or the President of the United States, nobody is interested. But the opposite case – when a man bites a dog – that’s a story. The story will be even bigger if the man who bites the dog is the U.S. President and the dog belongs to Prince Charles.
However, in the future I must change my seminars and change the picture from the dog to the octopus “Paul” — better known as the “octopus oracle” at the Sea Life Aquarium of Oberhausen, a former coal mining and steel producing city in western Germany.
The two-and-a-half year-old octopus has become a star all over the world by predicting all six of Germany’s 2010 World Cup games correctly – two defeats and four victories.
With his nine brains it takes him only a few moments to choose between two glass boxes – each filled with a delicious mussel. Each box is decorated with the flags of the respective teams that are scheduled to clash in South Africa. The keepers of the Sea Life Aquarium strictly follow the FIFA regulation: the home team gets the left box and the guest team receives the right box. Then hungry Paul reaches with one of his eight tentacles into one of the boxes to steel the little mussel. When the mussel quickly disappears into his mouth a whole nation is plunged into disbelief or jubilation. | <urn:uuid:f0770e39-db27-457f-85bf-72ea6477ff52> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.reuters.com/photographers-blog/tag/oracle/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945733 | 349 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Communities across the UK will make a show of support for servicemen and women as the country celebrates Armed Forces Day.
More than 100 events, ranging from veterans' parades and bands to barbecues and fairs, will be held at the culmination of a week of tributes to British troops and their families.
The day is marked to raise awareness of the contribution made by the Army, Navy and RAF, and to allow the public to demonstrate their appreciation.
Prime Minister David Cameron said: "Today is an opportunity for everyone up and down the country to clearly show how grateful we are to all our brave servicemen and women for all that they do.
"It's also vitally important that we remember the sacrifices that the armed forces and their families make every day for the safety of our country."
The celebration comes as military charities report a 26% increase in donations since the beginning of the economic crisis in 2008.
Help for Heroes saw a 181% gain in income, while Support Our Soldiers, which sends care parcels to the frontline, saw an 87% increase, according to The Sun.
A national event will be held in Plymouth, where there will be a parade through the city by members of all three services, joined by military bands and veterans. The parade will finish on the Plymouth Hoe with a drumhead service, although entertainment will continue throughout the day.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said: "Today I'm joining the rest of the country in saying thank you to our armed forces. We owe our servicemen and women a huge debt of gratitude for their dedication, resilience and sacrifices."
Mr Clegg said the celebrations should "go some way to showing how grateful we are for the work of all our armed forces and how much we recognise their contribution". | <urn:uuid:01899f86-3d54-405d-992a-53621a74e987> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/uk/cameron-praises-armed-forces-day-28766289.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963003 | 364 | 1.554688 | 2 |
In 2009, Americans took a variety of steps in response to excessive noise. We petitioned our representatives, wrote letters to the editor, drafted ordinances, destroyed property, intimidated or shot our neighbors, sued celebrities, and much more. In today’s year-end post here at Weird Vibrations, we summarize 2009′s most notable noise control stories. The review is organized according to where each item fits within the five branches of American government – legislative, executive, judicial, peer pressure, and vigilante justice.
- The city of Clio, Michigan passed an ordinance regulating roof-mounted wind turbines which, although “green,” produce a loud, annoying hum.
- In Venice Beach, California, the city proposed a lottery to deal with a plethora of street performers on the boardwalk. Local residents claimed they had become “captive listen[ers],” forced to hear music in their homes.
- In December, the CALM Act, which seeks to cap the volume of TV commercials, advanced from the House to the Senate. CALM stands for “Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation.”
- A man in Mesa, Arizona wants to change local noise ordinances so that they apply to churches, which are currently exempt in all cases. According to the man, a local “Christian new-age church that plays rock music at weird hours” located 10 feet from his backyard not only disturbs him, but threatens to set a bad precedent for the entire city.
- New York City police raided a West Village club in a residential neighborhood after numerous noise complaints. A Greenwich Village Block Association member recalled that neighbors had dealt with similar problems in the past by simply purchasing the offending establishment in order to ensure a more quiet operation.
- The city of Devens, Massachusetts debated whether to shut down or fine a manufacturer of solar panels that recently moved to the area. Neighbors are demanding that the plant shut down operations at night.
- The Brainerd, Tennessee District Attorney asked police to shut down Club Deep Blue after a series of noise complaints. One neighbor claimed to have called the police over 300 times, to no avail. After the D.A. filed a petition, reporters found a sign on the club’s door reading “‘Closed due to racial descrimination (sic) within the Chattanooga City Government.”
- Noise complaints are on the rise in Columbus, Ohio, but for some reason police citations are down. Officers are at a loss to explain the discrepancy.
- A bishop in Phoenix, Arizona was convicted of disturbing the peace because the bells atop his newly-built church rang too frequently and at too high a volume. An attorney for the bishop claimed the ruling was a First Amendment violation. “We were living in a bell tower,” said one resident.
- One of her neighbors on the Upper West Side of Manhattan sued Madonna. From the complaint: “Madonna and one or more of her guests repeatedly dance and/or train in Apartment 7-A to unreasonably high-decibel amplified music.”
- The Georgia Supreme Court denied a claim by two University of Georgia-Athens students that a local noise ordinance restricted their freedom of expression with regard to playing music at parties. According to an article, a lawyer for the students said that “Volume should be constitutionally protected because it is to the artistic quality of music as light and shade are to paintings.”
- The city of Virginia Beach has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court after the state court overturned its local noise ordinance. The ordinance, which relied on the concept of a “reasonable [listener],” was said to be too vague.
- Responding to resident complaints about last year’s concert, the Outside Lands festival in San Francisco placed “sound monitors” in nearby neighborhoods, who could in turn contact “sound consultants” to assess disruptive noise and fix it between days of the festival. A complaint hotline was also established.
- Guanabanas restaurant in Jupiter Inlet Village, Florida, has tried its damnedest to be sensitive to neighbors’ noise complaints. According to the owner, John Zimmerman, no one from Sunni Sands, across the street, has complained since a series of acoustic renovations three years ago. Zimmerman even consulted with the owner of nearby Castaways restaurant and the Barrons Landing motel, but some residents apparently remain unsatisfied.
- An Erie, Pennsylvania man threatened a hunger strike to protest the noise from a pet food maker called Dad’s Products Co. down the street from his home. Harry Davies, 62, who built a shed in which to carry out the strike, wrote in a letter that “I guess you could say it’s either the noise or me.”
- The author of a motorcycle column in the Philadelphia Examiner suggested that proposed regulations on motorcycle exhaust pipes in New York State are discriminatory.
- 2009 witnessed a spate of complaints about grunting in women’s tennis. Critics charge that the grunts are tantamount to cheating by distracting one’s opponent, while defenders say it helps establish rhythm.
- A weekly San Francisco drag party was canceled voluntarily after neighbors approached the local Entertainment Commission about its noise. The organizers claimed the pressure was homophobic: “”The Polk no longer welcomes gay businesses.”
- A Charlestown, Massachusetts resident wrote a letter to the Commander of the USS Constitution (“Old Ironsides”) complaining about the ship’s twice-daily cannon firing, a tradition that dates back to the 18th century. Most area residents seemed to feel that the firings should continue.
- An Arizona man was fatally shot after a confrontation with his neighbor over noise. “Now I have to take his body back and I had to tell his daughter that he’d never see his new grandchild,” said the slain man’s wife.
- Ashton Kutcher unleashed a viral video documenting his neighbor’s untimely construction work, which allegedly began some days as early as 7:00am. “I’m gonna lose it on this guy, I’m gonna lose it!,” said the star of What Happens in Vegas.
- A 46-year-old woman in Cambridge, Massachusetts spit on her upstairs neighbor while drunk, after the neighbor’s noise allegedly disturbed the woman’s parents on multiple occasions.
- A Tallahassee, Florida man was charged with assault after aiming a shotgun at two neighbors who had been doing construction work at odd hours. The suspect was specifically upset about their hammering.
- Several Durham, North Carolina residents posted signs on their street stating that speeding vehicles would be hit with paintball guns. As of August, no shots had been fired. | <urn:uuid:abc7b594-0aa0-4515-8c0e-d6e2aa0c4d09> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.weirdvibrations.com/tag/noise/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963792 | 1,411 | 1.710938 | 2 |
by guest blogger Annie Spiegelman (a.k.a. the Dirt Diva)
It’s estimated that 75 percent of the processed foods in U.S. supermarkets contain genetically engineered (GE) ingredients. This manipulation occurs by taking a specific gene of one species, let’s say a flounder, and inserting it into another, such as a tomato, or inserting a bacterium into a corn plant to make it resistant to certain pests. Genetically engineered food differs from traditional plant breeding because it breeds using different species, a process that, last time I checked, does not occur in nature…. Once you’re aware of this meshuga (crazy) food on your plate, you may wonder why no one bothered to tell you that there are flounder parts (or RoundUp) in your Chopped Salad? And, why there are presently no U.S. laws requiring GE labeling, even though 30 other countries, including Japan and most of Europe, have restrictions or outright bans on them. Oh, how I yearn for the good ol’ days, when 93 percent of U.S. corn and 86 percent of soybeans weren’t genetically modified…
Twelve thousand years ago humans discovered agriculture by doing something as simple as saving seed. A vast variety of seeds were passed down from generation to generation, farmer to farmer, garden-geek to garden-geek. Yet, in the last century, 30,000 vegetable varieties have become extinct. Today, there are seeds created in biotech labs and patented by arrogant and reckless multinational corporations that believe they have the right to own agriculture. For the last 20 years, some have even been suing family farmers if the company’s biotech seeds are accidentally blown by wind onto a non-GE-planting farmer’s land.
To that I say, “Really?
Well then, bring me the HEIRLOOMS! We’ve got planting to do, people. Shovels Up!”
I invite you all to join me at The National Heirloom Exposition, taking place in Santa Rosa, California, on September 13–15th, 2011. What exactly is an heirloom? Heirloom plants, both ornamental and edible, are open-pollinated varieties that preserve the past, offer greater disease and insect resistance, come in a wide range of shapes, colors, and tastes, and have much, much hipper names than today’s hybrids and disputed genetically modified seeds. Check out these heirloom tomato names: ‘Chocolate Stripes,’ ‘Aunt Ruby’s German Green,’ ‘Pearly Pink,’ and ‘Radiator Charlie’s Mortgage Lifter’. “Heirlooms are a celebration of the diversity of life. Every single variety has a certain intrinsic purpose and value, grows in different conditions, has a specific flavor, and season—just like humans,” says Helge Hellberg, creator and host of An Organic Conversation on Green 960 Radio. “The incredible vastness of heirloom varieties for me is a mirror of our society, where every expression and character is necessary and makes up the flavor, fabric, and beauty of life.” Hellberg will be one of the panelists speaking on Tuesday, September 13th, at the expo.
More than 50 renowned speakers will be featured at the Heirloom Expo, including chef and author Alice Waters, physician and nutrition expert Dr. John A McDougall MD, cofounder of Seed Saver’s Exchange Diane Ott Whealy, author Wendy Johnson, horticulturist Gwen Kilchherr, Pesticide Watch community organizer Dana Perls, and the editors of Organic Gardening, Sunset, Grit, and Herb Companion magazines. (Visit theheirloomexpo.com for the full lineup and speaker schedule.) There will also be live music, garden art, food demos, giant produce contests, poultry and livestock shows, a plethora of fantastic “foodie” movie screenings, seed, plant, and natural-food vendors, workshops, and various kinds of educational fun for kids.
On Tuesday evening, keynote speaker Jeffrey Smith, best-selling author of Seeds of Deception and founder of Institute of Responsible Technology, will discuss the risks to human health and the environment inherent in GMOs. Smith notes that when the number of non-GMO eaters rises to about 5 percent of consumers, about 15 million, there will be a tipping point, where the major food companies will rapidly kick out genetically modified organisms from their brands—as they did in Europe when the tipping point was achieved there. Smith, who was recently a guest on the Dr. Oz Show, will inform and educate attendees on how they can organize effective local action to accelerate the upcoming tipping point. “There is a non-GMO revolution taking hold in the U.S.,” says Smith. “Millions of people are now actively seeking food made without genetically modified organisms. And no wonder: The American Academy of Environmental Medicine urges everyone to do so, citing animal studies showing infertility, accelerated aging, immune system dysfunction, digestive ailments, and organ damage. Northern California is taking the lead in this movement, which will ultimately reclaim a healthier non-GMO food supply for the nation,” he says.
The heroic and distinguished physicist Dr.Vandana Shiva will be the keynote speaker on Thursday, July 15th. In the mid-1980s, Shiva launched Navdanya, a seed-saving organization that has helped rescue thousands of plant varieties from extinction. She was also instrumental in holding off the introduction of Monsanto’s GM seeds in India until 2002. “Since then, we’ve seen an escalating rate of farmer suicides, which began when Monsanto started to control the cotton seed, ” says Shiva. “Today, Monsanto has 90 percent control over the seed supply of cotton in a land where we used to have 1,500 varieties, including open-pollinated varieties. Heirloom seeds are traditional varieties that have evolved by farmers over millennia. They embody biological and cultural diversity and are the seeds on which our food security rests.” Shiva speaks of “freeing the seeds” as the way to liberate farmers. “GMOs actually increase the toxification of our food system, even while claiming to be an alternative to chemicals. Instead there are now superweeds, which has increased the usage of herbicides, and superpests, which has increased the use of pesticide sprays.”
Have you no mercy, Mother Nature? Stop toying with mankind! You’re making us look like IDIOTS…
This “World’s Fair” of the heirloom industry is in part sponsored by Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. The company opened its “Seed Bank” doors in 2008 in nearby Petaluma, California. Founder Jere Gettle, known to many as “the Indiana Jones of seeds,” planted his first garden at age 3. Today, the company catalogue ships to 250,000 gardeners nationally, and offers the largest selection of heirloom varieties in the U.S.A. “This event has grown faster and larger than I ever imagined. It is exciting and encouraging to see so much interest in preserving our heritage breeds of animals, pure food sources, and traditional arts,” says Gettle.
Wondering which heirloom seeds to plant in September? Paul Wallace, manager of the Petaluma Seed Bank, recommends growing leafy greens and members of the cruciferous vegetable family. Some on his Heirloom Top Ten List in this category are ‘Early Jersey Wakefield’ cabbage, still growing strong since 1840, ‘Long Island Improved’ Brussels sprouts, and ‘Waltham 29′ or ‘Early Purple Sprouting’ broccoli. And last, ‘Purple of Sicily’ cauliflower, a beautiful brilliant-purple color with a fine, sweet flavor that’s insect resistant, rich in minerals, and easier to grow than white varieties.
My recommendation? Why don’t we all collectively grow ‘Little (Middle) Finger’; it’s a sassy, 3-inch, French baby carrot superb for canning and pickling, and patriotically salute it at the Monsanto Company…and holler, “BITE ME!”
And, yes, I mean that just the way you’re thinking.
The National Heirloom Expo
Sonoma County Fairgrounds
1350 Bennett Valley Road
Santa Rosa, CA 95404
September 13–15, 2011
11 a.m.–9 p.m.
Adults: $10 dollars; kids under 17: free
Visit TheHeirloomExpo.com to buy tickets online and see speaker schedule.
Visit Annie at DirtDiva.com | <urn:uuid:ec16048f-d284-4edf-970a-0c3581d284bb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mariasfarmcountrykitchen.com/the-first-ever-national-heirloom-exposition-santa-rosa-california/comment-page-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935377 | 1,865 | 2.203125 | 2 |
News of Riverton, Lander and Fremont County, Wyoming, from the Ranger's award winning journalists.
What the presidential polls show
Sep 27, 2012 - By Doyle McManus
Only six weeks to go in the presidential campaign, and the public opinion surveys have developed a case of the jitters. Last week, one respected poll reported that President Obama had opened an eight-point lead over Mitt Romney, but another reported that the race was dead even. Other surveys were scattered in between. What's a poor voter supposed to believe?
I consulted three smart pollsters -- one a Democrat, one a Republican, one nonpartisan -- and they all offered the same advice: Calm down. It's not as crazy as it looks. Yes, Obama has taken a lead, but only a modest lead, not one big enough to prevent Romney from closing the gap if he can only find the right ingredients.
"It's not unusual to have most of the polls saying one thing and a few others that are outliers," said Andrew Kohut, president of the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, whose poll was the one showing Obama eight points ahead. "The most sensible thing to do is to look at a composite (of several polls) and focus on the trend."
At the end of last week, a composite of polls yielded a four-point lead for Obama, according to the Real Clear Politics website. That's an improvement for the president; he had a much slimmer lead for most of the summer. It's not based on a post-convention "bounce" (that's gone), but it does include the effect of Romney's stumbles over the last two weeks.
"We're in a kind of political equilibrium," Republican pollster David Winston told me. "It's either an even race or a race that slightly favors the president. If you're in the Obama campaign, that equilibrium looks OK. The question for the Romney campaign is: How do you change that equilibrium?"
But wait a minute. Before we get to how the equilibrium can change, how did we get here? With unemployment stuck at 8 percent, wasn't this supposed to be an easy race for any Republican to win?
That appears to be what the Romney campaign was thinking. Only a few weeks ago, Romney aides were confidently predicting that bad economic news, beginning with this month's jobs report, would drive undecided voters into the GOP's arms.
That hasn't happened. Instead, more voters now say they are optimistic about the economy.
The Gallup Poll showed an astounding 11 percent rise in economic confidence in a single week this month -- the week of the Democratic convention.
That odd timing actually helps explain the shift: It's not just the economy; it's also a quirk of political behavior. Yes, there have been scraps of optimistic economic news. But equally important is the fact that the Democratic convention nudged some "soft" Obama voters to make up their minds in favor of the president -- and, having made their choice, they adjusted their economic views accordingly.
Voters, it turns out, don't like cognitive dissonance; they may revise their sense of reality to correspond with their political choices. To take an example from the other side, one poll found that 15 percent of Ohio Republicans gave Romney credit for the death of Osama bin Laden. Did they really believe that? Probably not, but they didn't feel comfortable praising Obama.
"People are increasingly lining up their policy preferences to match their views of the candidates," Democratic pollster Mark Mellman told me.
Unemployment not disastrous
One other intriguing factor may be helping Obama: When unemployment is high, Democratic candidates often do better, even when they are the incumbents. That's the finding of John R. Wright, a political scientist at Ohio State University who studied two decades of election data and determined that voters generally trust Democrats more when the top issue is jobs.
"Democrats benefit from unemployment even when they are in control," Wright wrote.
Which brings us back to Romney's challenge. The GOP candidate's pitch to voters is that he'd be better than Obama at creating new jobs -- because he's a businessman, because his proposed tax cuts would spur new investment and because (as he said at his infamous dinner with donors in Boca Raton, Fla.,) the financial markets would rally if he won.
But Romney is running out of time, and also running out of undecided voters to sway. Pollsters say the number of voters who say they strongly favor their chosen candidate is up; the number who say they might change their minds is down.
"That means there's less play in the middle; less room for preferences to move," Mellman said.
GOP pollster Winston agrees.
"Both sides have been doing the same thing: pointing out the faults of the other," he told me. "Everyone who was likely to move as a result of that has moved by now."
So far, the Romney campaign is still focused largely on its negative message against Obama, as a surefire way to increase GOP passion and, most important, boost GOP turnout.
But if Romney wants to disrupt the equilibrium, he needs to find a game-changer. It could be a shift from the negative message back to a positive one, focusing on an economic plan that voters can sink their teeth into. It could be a winning performance in the three debates in October (although that also requires a losing performance by the president). It could be an unexpected event.
Most likely, it needs to be all three.
Otherwise, despite the apparent volatility of the polls, the campaign is likely to settle more deeply into its current equilibrium, leading to a narrow but decisive reelection for Barack Obama.
Editor's note: Doyle McManus is a columnist for The Los Angeles Times. Readers may send him e-mail at email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:e38a91f8-284e-4fb0-82cf-277a4ce21a7a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailyranger.com/story.php?story_id=3667&headline=What-the-presidential-polls-show | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971262 | 1,207 | 1.703125 | 2 |
With the federal crackdown on Full Tilt Poker entering a new chapter today as prosecutors allege a massive Ponzi scheme, the scrutiny has already turned on the United States' own policy as a possible culprit in the alleged nine-digit scam. But as the pressure ramps back up to legalize and regulate online gambling at home, more and more nations abroad have recently started adopting legalized online gaming of their own, and the United States risks getting left behind.
At Reuters, Felix Salmon wrote on Tuesday, "in a weird way, strict anti-gambling regulations in the US are responsible for this fiasco. If poker sites were legal and regulated, we could trust the regulator — an arm of the US government — to protect gamblers’ funds." It's not for lack of effort on the part of the gambling lobby that there isn't such an enforcement arm. Back in May, a panel at the East Coast Gaming Congress decided that the Internet was definitely the future for their industry, estimating that "the potential annual revenue from legalized Internet gambling in the U.S. at nearly $80 billion," according to the Associated Press. That report pointed to legislation in the works to legalize online gambling, which Gov. Chris Christie vetoed earlier in May. In Nevada, the state gaming commission has already drawn up regulations for online gambling in anticipation of a federal law allowing it. When that law might come along is still anyone's guess, though lobbyists are pushing hard for it.
Meanwhile, jurisdictions outside the United States are increasingly saying yes to online gaming. On Tuesday, Denmark legalized it, in a decision the Financial Times suggested may be a bellweather for European Union nations hoping to regulate the practice. The Danish rule specifies a 20 percent tax on online gaming, as opposed to a 75 percent tax on land-based casinos. According to a Reuters story from Monday, the Gibralter-based online casino 32Red is looking to expand into newly open markets, in particular Italy, which legalized the practice in 2006.
On Monday, the American Gaming Association released a promotional video to accompany its lobbying push, comparing online gambling in the United States to the wild west. But Salmon and others say the latest allegations have probably made a U.S. law regulating online gambling even more unlikely, despite the wisdom in having one. Meanwhile, as the Wall Street Journal points out, Full Tilt's former players say they're owed some $160 million, and outside their online petition seeking payment, they don't have much recourse to retrieve the funds, at least until after the U.S. completes its case. That's a lot of money lost, and a lot of customers probably too burned to risk it again, in the United States or elsewhere. | <urn:uuid:0f45a077-3e05-4592-b60c-b696150f8ccb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2011/09/gamblings-future-online-offshore/42735/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963303 | 546 | 1.5 | 2 |
Just the Tech #12: Satellites, Patent Wars, onLive, Windows 8 trouble, gTLD and Kindle Tablet?
In this episode of Just the Tech: Touching base with the NASA UARS Satellite, streaming gaming coming to the UK from onLive, .london and the gTLD, Windows 8 troubles, and is an Amazon Kindle Tablet going to be announced this week?
This episode of Just the Tech lasts around 12 mins.
Please send feedback, and suggestions for inclusion in future episodes, to firstname.lastname@example.org
NASA UARS Satellite
NASA are reporting that they believe the UARS Satellite fell back to Earth possibly somewhere over the Pacific Ocean although they are not exactly sure.
Chipset makers VIA are reporting that they are suing Apple for patent infringement. The three patents involved refer microprocessor functionality. HTC, as reported on their site, are also suing Apple for patent infringement including Wi-Fi functionality and processor communication technology that as HTC say “enables a seamless integration of a PDA and a cellular phone into a single device providing users with a true smartphone experience.”
OnLive is coming to the UK – and as they say it is “the all new way to play the hottest games anywhere”. HD TV, PC, or MAC, and even mobile phones like iPad and Android based tablets. ” Onlive is a streaming service, in a very loosely similar way to BBC iPlayer however it also allows for an interactive experience.
To use onLive on a HD HTC you will need the onLive game system which includes the onLive micro-console, a wireless controller, and the various required cables. For mobile devices and PC/MAC you will need to download an app onto your device in order to access the service.
Games can be rented on a game by game basis or you can subscribe to the service on a monthly basis. The Huffington Post reports that there are around 150 games currently available in the US including Assassin’s Creed and Deus Ex and the also say that the UK launch will include Batman Arkham City.
Twitter has recently announced the implementation of a new API from BlueVia – allowing for the uploading of photos from smart phones. O2 have also announced they are working with Twitter in the UK to allow O2 customers to upload and share photos simply by sending an MMS message to the Twitter shortcode which is 86444. You can already update Twitter using SMS message but and this new functionality extends that method by adding photos.
Twitter say on their blog that the feature is currently available with Vodafone, O2, and Orange in the UK whilst in the US the carriers are AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Cellular South.
The Telegraph are reporting that London is to apply for its own top level domain .london to represent the city. It could take as long as two years as consultations need to be carried out.
ICANN started talking about generic top level domains back in 2007. ICANN, or the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, is a non-profit company that manages the internet address space. Historically, there have been only a few top-level domains including .com, .net, .org as the process wa highly restricted but in 2011 a vote was carried by ICANN’s board to end the restrictions allowing many more than the 22 currently available.
ZD Net are reporting about a story by a Linux developer who raised the questions about dual-booting Windows 8 and a Linux based operating system.
Windows 8 uses a new secure boot protocol called UEFI, Unified Extensible Firmware Interface, which replaces the current BIOS routines and is designed to prevent malicious code such as bootkits getting on and running on your machine.
The suggestion is that somehow Microsoft could take advantage of the nature of UEFI and somehow lock out other operating systems from starting up.
- VIA: VIA Sues Apple for Patent Infringement, more from VIA
- HTC: HTC Sues Apple For Patent Infringement, more from HTC
- OnLive, more from OnLive
- Huffington Post: On Live Cloud Gaming Launches At Eurogamer Expo, more from The Huffington Post
- Amazon’s Android Kindle tablet: coming on Wednesday to New York?, more from The Guardian
- ZDNet: Microsoft explains Windows 8 boot to quell Linux fears, more from ZDNet
- UEFI secure booting, more about the UEFI Secure Boot
- O2: O2 Launches Twitter MMS in the UK, more from O2
- BlueVia: O2 Customers can use Twitter via MMS, thanks to BlueVia, more from BlueVia
- Twitter Blog: Share a photo via text message, more from the Twitter Blog
- The Telegraph: London to get its own web address, more from The Telegraph
- ICANN: New Generic Top-Level Domains, more from ICANN | <urn:uuid:bb27ebe5-ad62-42f7-8430-325e8cb0b512> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jasonslater.co.uk/2011/09/24/just-the-tech-12-satellites-patent-wars-onlive-windows-8-trouble-gtld-and-kindle-tablet/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924605 | 1,021 | 1.578125 | 2 |
July 31 , 2007
Volume V, No. 4
FDA Announces Program to Enhance States’ Food Safety Programs
Goal is to Strengthen Safety of Food Facilities Overseen by States
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today launched a national program to bring about the adoption of more uniform, equivalent, and high quality regulatory programs by state agencies responsible for regulating facilities that manufacture, process, pack, or hold food under FDA’s jurisdiction.
“This risk-based program represents a significant step in further integrating our food safety system,” said Margaret O’K. Glavin, FDA’s associate commissioner for regulatory affairs. “We realize it will be several years before it’s fully implemented, but we’re confident this program will bring great benefits to the public health.”
Currently, programmatic activities can vary from state to state and such variations can lead to inconsistencies in oversight of food safety. Adoption of voluntary standards for state regulatory programs will establish a uniform basis for measuring and improving the performance of state programs for regulating manufactured food and help the state and federal authorities reduce foodborne illness hazards in food facilities.
The Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards are the result of five years of intensive cooperative effort by federal and state regulators. The standards define best practices for the critical elements of state regulatory programs designed to protect the public from foodborne illness and injury, including:
Each standard has corresponding self-assessment worksheets. Several standards have supplemental worksheets and forms to assist state regulators in determining whether their state program addresses all of the elements in the standards.
The Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards have been approved by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget and will be pilot-tested in New York, Oregon, and Missouri before September 30, 2007.
FDA regulates about 80 percent of the food supply, which includes food for humans and animals, except meat products, poultry products, and egg products, which are regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Limited Seats Available in ISVMA Convention Wet Labs
The ISVMA began offering wet labs and intensives at the 2005 Convention in Springfield. They were so successful that we expanded the number of wet lab and intensives in 2006 (and again in 2007) and have focused on offering programs that can increase practice productivity and profit.
The ISVMA Convention wet labs have limited capacity and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Register early to assure you can attend these great sessions.
This year, ISVMA is offering three wet labs on November 2:
1) Puppy Aggression Prevention and Socialization by Dr. Rolan Tripp
2) 21st Century Ear Medicine by Dr. Louis Gotthelf
3) Equine Dentistry by Dr. Jack Easley
Intensive Programs Designed to Inform and Enhance Your Practice
ISVMA is offering two intensive programs on November 2:
1) Business Practice Intensive by Wendy Myers
2) Complementary & Alternative Medicine Intensive by Dr. Robert Silver
ISVMA Legislative Update
It has been a long and frustrating legislative year and lawmakers continue to delay their summer break as budget negotiations continue. Updates on some key issues follow:
Governor Rod Blagojevich is preparing to implement “contingency plans” for operating state government if neither a permanent nor a temporary budget is in place by midnight. However, Comptroller Dan Hynes said Monday that state government can continue to operate without disruption until at least August 8, which is a deadline for processing school-aid payments and a payroll for about 5,000 state employees.
Lawmakers were supposed to have passed a new state budget by July 1. Unable to agree on a permanent spending plan, they approved a one-month budget. Blagojevich wants lawmakers to pass another one-month budget to keep the state operating while negotiations continue. The four legislative leaders, though, aren’t inclined to support another one-month budget and instead are working on a permanent plan. The Governor and four legislative leaders continue to meet in Springfield in an effort to reach a budget agreement.
HOUSE BILL 3165
ISVMA proposed House Bill 3165 in the General Assembly earlier this year in order to clarify a section of the Illinois Child Labor Law that has recently been interpreted to prohibit children under the age of 16 from obtaining work permits to work in veterinary practices. The bill passed both the House and Senate and was sent to the Governor for his approval on June 15, 2007.
If the Governor does not approve the bill, he must veto it by returning it with his objections to the House of Representatives (chamber of origin). If it is not returned by the Governor within 60 calendar days after it is presented to him, it becomes law - even in the absence of his approval. The deadline for gubernatorial action on House Bill 3165 is August 14, 2007.
The nation's last horse processing plant in DeKalb has reopened while it challenges a state law that forced it to close twice in the last two months.
In late May, Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed into law a measure banning the slaughter of horses for human consumption, or the import, export, or possession of horse meat designated for human consumption.
Forced to close, the plant reopened for several weeks in June under a federal judge's order. It closed again when Judge Frederick J. Kapala decided against extending his order allowing the plant to operate while its appeal of the state law was pending.
Kapala later ruled Cavel's challenges to the state law on constitutional grounds were without merit, and the company appealed.
On July 18, 2007 the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago granted Cavel's request for an injunction prohibiting officials from enforcing the state law. In the brief ruling, the court said "irreparable harm" would come to Cavel if not allowed to resume operations while the appeal is pending.
ISVMA members that have not renewed their membership for the 2007-2008 Membership Year will be suspended at midnight tonight.
Suspended members will not receive the Epitome or E-SOURCE newsletters, enjoy member benefit programs, discount registrations or notifications of major regulatory or legal updates. They will also lose their continuous service status - which will delay their progress to Life Membership. Most importantly, they will lose out on the opportunity to support the veterinary profession by joining with colleagues to represent our interests before the Illinois General Assembly, Executive Branch and regulatory agencies.
Suspended members will be reinstated upon payment of dues. Their memberships will be terminated on June 30, 2008.
About the Photo in This Issue...
The most widespread and familiar of the American plovers, the Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) is technically in the family of shorebirds. They are unusual shorebirds, however, in that they often nest and live far from water. It is a common bird in farmyards, fields, and parking lots and gravel roads. They also appreciate the water's edge, though, and can often be found on the shores of ponds and lakes.
Baby Killdeer (seen in the summer) always come out running. They hatch with their eyes open, and as soon as their downy feathers dry, they start scurrying about, following their parents and searching the ground for something to eat. Newly-hatched Killdeer can't fly, and they need their Killdeer parents for protection and guidance, but they are a lot closer to independence than most baby birds. Seeing fluffy Killdeer chicks is one of the pleasures of summer. Although they are lively right away, just-hatched Killdeer are like new fawns, a bit tottery and clumsy on their overly-long legs.
Baby birds that hatch with their running shoes on are called precocial. Precocial means "ripened beforehand." (The word comes from the same Latin source as "precocious.") Other precocial birds besides Killdeer are chickens, ducks, and quail. None of these precocial babies lies in the nest and gets waited on.
Birds that hatch blind, naked, and helpless are called altricial, which comes from a Greek word meaning "wet nurse." Robins are altricial, as are blue jays, cardinals and most other birds. The hatchlings lie helplessly in their nests, relying utterly on their parents to bring them food and push it down their throats. It's two weeks or more before they mature enough to leave the nest, and even after they leave it, their parents are still feeding them.
Precocial birds stay in the egg twice as long as altricial birds, so they have more time to develop. A one-day-old Killdeer chick is actually two weeks older than a one-day-old robin nestling. Although adult robins and Killdeer are the same size, a killdeer's egg is twice as big as a robin's. There's more nourishment built into the Killdeer egg, to sustain the embryo for its longer time in the shell.
Precocial birds (i.e. Killdeer, ducklings, chicks) are all cute. They are small, bright-eyed, fluffy replicas of their parents. In contrast, altricial bird babies, like robins and blue jays, are not cute. They are blind, bald, wrinkly-skinned little creatures that take two or more weeks to begin resembling anything that might be considered bird-like.
Although many species of birds pretend to have a broken wing to lure predators from their nest, the Killdeer is the one most commonly seen performing this distraction display. Perhaps you have seen an adult Killdeer that seemed to have a broken wing. It struggles in front of you, as if it can barely walk, let alone fly. One or both wings drag pitifully on the ground. If your instinct to rescue the killdeer overcomes you, and you try to catch the bird, it almost lets you reach out and pick it up. But somehow, while struggling to keep its balance, the Killdeer manages to stay one step ahead of you. As you pursue it, the Killdeer leads you farther and farther away from its four downy Killdeer babies crouching on the ground or half hidden under a tiny bush.
When the Killdeer feels that the young are safe from you, its broken wing heals suddenly, and the bird flies away, calling a loud "KILL-DEE" that sounds like a jeer. After you've been fooled a time or two by the broken wing display, you'll learn not to give the deceiving adult Killdeer a second glance. Instead, you should look around for the killdeer babies. You may see one disappearing into the grass or flattening itself on the ground and freezing.
I photographed this Killdeer at the top of this newsletter along the Rio Grande River in Salineno, Texas in January 2005. I took the photograph of the adult Killdeer in the broken-wing display at Montrose Harbor in Chicago, IL in July 1996.
Please feel free to forward this issue of the E-SOURCE to veterinarians that are not receiving ISVMA’s electronic newsletter. Any ISVMA member may subscribe to the E-SOURCE for free:
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State Veterinary Medical Association
Phone: (217) 523-8387
Copyright © 2003-2006 Illinois State Veterinary Medical Association
Web design by Rareheron Web Design, Portland, Oregon | <urn:uuid:8132e5a8-71c1-4c37-a01a-65319cd870e7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://isvma.org/isvma_library/e-source/volume05/esource_v_number04.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957687 | 2,478 | 1.742188 | 2 |
September 2, 2012
Gabrielle Douglas, is, at age 16, making a transition to being more explicit. She’s also learning that this comes with a price. Douglas should be praised for speaking out about what she faced. But instead it’s earning an outrageous response.
August 11, 2012
As Gabby told the New York Times in June: “I have an advantage because I’m the underdog and I’m Black and no one thinks I’d ever win. Well, I’m going to inspire so many people. Everybody will be talking about, how did she come up so fast? But I’m ready to shine.” Shine she did. Dominique Dawes, the great African-American gymnast who won team gold in 1996, exclaimed: “I feel like Gabby is my child or something. I am so anxious for her to win. I know it will have an enormous impact on encouraging African-Americans and other minorities to go into the sport of gymnastics.”
May 5, 2011
Let’s stop perpetuating the idea that athletes have forfeited their right to say whatever they damn well please. To Chris Douglas-Roberts and Rashard Mendenhall: Yes, athletes DO have a right to have perspectives, and I hope we can continue to hear what’s on your mind. | <urn:uuid:e34f69d4-98b5-48ec-b4e6-ae75861e8f3b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sfbayview.com/tag/billie-jean-king/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950293 | 288 | 1.664063 | 2 |
It appears Apple abandoned the use of Google Maps in its new iPhoto for iOS app, as reported by 512pixels. The maps shown in the application look unlike data fed from the Google Maps API, suggesting Apple may have finally put some of its mapping acquisitions into use.
As noted in comparison images within the 512pixels post, the mapping functionality in iPhoto for iOS shows different location data than in iPhoto for Mac OS X. It also pins the location request in a slightly different place. OpenStreetMaps are a possible source, but unlikely, since their representation of the same location is different from the first two.
In our own comparison above, we couldn't find much to go on based on location processing. However, the Mac OS X version of iPhoto and the iOS version do display the neighborhoods of New York City differently.
Apple bought mapping companies C3, PlaceBase, and Poly9 within the last few years, but have done little with them since. Any, or all, of these services could be feeding the location information shown in iPhoto for iOS. If so, Apple shoving off from Google Maps would be a big, if not unforeseen, departure.
Apple did not respond immediately to requests for comment. | <urn:uuid:cc4e6afe-531d-4bd5-b2f8-3bdf0e3db7fe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/03/apple-may-have-finally-dropped-google-maps-in-iphoto-for-ios/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950647 | 251 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Topic 6 – Socio-Cultural Determinants of Remittances
Remittance flows and remittance expenditure patterns are not only determined by economic variables in destination and origin countries, but are also affected by patterns of migrant selectivity and socio-cultural factors in origin societies. This is exemplified in a paper by Kurien (2008) based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork on remittances in three village communities in Kerala, India. Kurien observed striking differences in remittance flows and remittance expenditure in the three villages, which all experienced large-scale migration to the Gulf region. Whereas in the Muslim village, emphasis was given to distributing remittances to a large circle of community members, migrants in the Hindu village tended spent large sums of money on life-cycle rituals. In the Christian village, remittance expenditure was largely confined to the immediate family, with an emphasis on saving the money earned for dowries and education. These differences should also be partly attributed to differences in migration selectivity, with Muslim migrants mostly working in the informal sector of Gulf countries and Hindu and, particularly, Christian villagers taking up formal positions as technicians, clerical workers and semi-professionals.
There is a lively but still inconclusive debate on differences in remittance patterns among male and female migrants. Based on an analysis of National Migration Survey data from Thailand, Osaki (1999) concluded that female internal migrants show a deeper commitment than male internal migrants to providing economic support to households left behind. Similarly, Tacoli (1999) concluded that among Filipino labour migrants in Rome, women’s commitments and obligations toward their households in home areas were generally stronger than those of their male counterparts. However, spatial distance and increased financial independence may provide some Filipina migrants with the opportunity to pursue `self-interested' goals while at the same time keeping within the ‘altruistic’ role dictated by normative gender roles.
However, some other empirical studies have reached rather more inconclusive or opposite conclusions. For instance, drawing on household survey data Semyonov and Gorodzeisky (2005) showed that Filipino male overseas workers remit more money than do women. This might indicate that whereas women are often under higher social pressure to remit money, men might be able to send more money because of their generally higher earnings. In line with this hypothesis, Semyonov and Gorodzeisky (2005) reveal that earnings of Filipina overseas workers are lower than those of Filipino workers, even after controlling for variations in occupational distributions, destination countries, and socio-demographic variables. However, even when controlling for income differentials between men and women, Filipino men still remitted more money than female migrants do.
Published: Social Science Research Council, March 2009
Citation: Topic 6 – Socio-Cultural Determinants of Remittances (Brooklyn, NY: Social Science Research Council, March 2009).
A Socio-Cultural Perspective on Migration and Economic Development: Middle Eastern Migration from Kerala, IndiaKurien, Prema | <urn:uuid:1930e930-4d05-4ef2-bae4-65595afe6e47> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ssrc.org/publications/view/topic-6-%e2%80%93-socio-cultural-determinants-of-remittances/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944178 | 618 | 2.640625 | 3 |
By John D. Stoll and Liz Heron
Two days after the Swedish government’s innovative Twitter program gained widespread attention, the experiment took a unexpected turn when the woman currently in charge of the account used it to make comments about Jewish and gay people. Sweden hands over the keys to its Twitter account, @Sweden, to a new citizen each week. This week’s official tweeter, Sonja, who describes herself as a 27-year-old mother in her Twitter bio, began asking questions and making observations that have elicited strong responses, as we noticed this morning. When reached by The Wall Street Journal, Sonja declined to talk about her Twitter strategy “right now.” Organizers behind the Twitter strategy declined to comment on specific tweets on the @Sweden feed, but appear to be open to letting Sonja continue to say what she wishes.
“It’s very important for us to let everyone take a unique viewpoint,” said Tommy Sollén, Social Media Manager at VisitSweden, in a phone interview. “Every one of our curators is there with a different perspective.”
Mr. Sollén noted that Sonja is the initiative’s 24th curator and past participants have had a range of occupations, including journalists, truck drivers and school teachers.
“Some of them have been talking about music, some of them have been talking about food,” he said. “Sonja is more focused on her own brand of humor and asking probing questions.”
Swedes frown on censorship, Mr. Sollén said, and to selectively delete posts or ban a particular participant could be seen as blatant censorship. “You cannot look at any specific tweet, you can only judge a curator on the whole week…How else are you going to show the multi-faceted people that Sweden is composed of?”
A few examples of Sonja’s tweets are below:
[View the story "@Sweden's Official Twitter Account Sparks Controversy" on Storify] | <urn:uuid:d8926d31-086c-4f95-b7b0-55838ff6bad5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.wsj.com/dispatch/2012/06/12/sweden-stands-by-twitter-strategy-despite-controversy/?mod=e2tw | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964989 | 431 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Teen Job Interview Question: How has your school experience prepared you for working at our company? ?
At school, I have to meet daily deadlines, set goals for myself in a variety of subjects and activities, and accomplish them. I believe these experiences will translate to the workplace and will prepare me to excel at your company. At school, I also work with my peers and teachers everyday so I know how to work in teams and with a manager.
I understand the importance of being on time and working within specific blocks of time. One of the most useful skills I gained from my school experience, was learning how to plan, execute, and complete quality work within the time period given. I feel my strong time management skills have prepared for the position you are looking fill.
I have taken a number of computer skills classes in school. I learned many different ways to utilize the technology the computer has to offer. I am proficient in Microsoft Office software, I am comfortable with doing in depth research using the Internet, and I have become familiar with many different types of graphic design software. All these computer skills have prepared me to work for your company.
More Teen Job Interview Questions
Review more job interview questions and answers for teens to be sure that you ace the interview. | <urn:uuid:2b688eaa-edb8-4de6-96f0-aba469b33d11> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jobsearch.about.com/od/teenjobinterviews/qt/teenintquest3.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963963 | 255 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Grant to target youth alcohol, drug abuse
EVANSVILLE A local group has been awarded a $625,000 grant to aid its efforts in fighting underage drinking and drug abuse in Evansville.
The money, which comes from the federal Drug Free Communities Support Program, will be awarded across five years to BASE, also known as Building A Safer Evansville. According to its website, the coalition's mission is "to raise awareness about the impact that high risk behaviors have on our community, provide education and engage all stakeholders to reduce youth substance abuse."
The single biggest outlay of the grant will be for the cost of a full-time staffer who will serve as executive director of the coalition, said Jennifer Braun, BASE project coordinator.
The coalition plans to use the money to offer training and mentoring programs at the Evansville Youth Center and at area schools. BASE also will organize campaigns to discourage drug abuse and drinking at high-risk during high-risk youth events such as Prom and Homecoming.
Since 2010, Evansville has seen 47 arrests for underage drinking, 11 juvenile arrests for possession of marijuana, 21 arrests for youth possession of drug paraphernalia and 14 arrests for providing alcohol to minors, Braun said in an email.
The ultimate goal of the local program is to promote a significant decrease in underage drinking and prescription drug abuse, Braun said.
"It's a great thing for Evansville," she said. "It's going to help us change the culture of the community."
DRINKING, DRUG ABUSE NUMBERS
This data is from the 2012 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which is administered once every two years to sophomores and seniors in Wisconsin public high schools.
Had at least 1 drink in the past 30 days:
Evansville: 47.7 percent
Rock County: 38 percent
Had five or more drinks in a row, in the past 30 days:
Evansville: 27.7 percent
Rock County: 22.5 percent
Used marijuana in the past 30 days:
Evansville: 22.6 percent
Rock County: 17.6 percent
Used prescription drugs without a prescription:
Evansville: 8.2 percent
Rock County: 10.7 percent
Source: Building a Safer Evansville | <urn:uuid:23c82d2e-6984-4fc2-80a5-afa2219651b4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gazettextra.com/news/2012/aug/30/grant-target-youth-alcohol-drug-abuse/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934207 | 466 | 2.015625 | 2 |
Originally Posted by Daffy
I read about Silverstripe.
Silverstripe has not been ported to OpenBSD. This does not mean that it won't run on OpenBSD, but the amount of work required to make it work may range somewhere simple to quite involved. Seeing that the site provides some guidelines for installing on Linux, you will most likely need to resolve Linux filesystem differences. Studying the hier(7)
manpage is a start.
There may also be library differences in which you will have to resolve. In essence, you are will be the first to port the application to OpenBSD, so there may be a myriad of issues which will need to be resolved.
My suggestion would be to search through what applications & frameworks have already been ported to OpenBSD, & one of simpler ways available is through OpenPorts
. Recognize that the OpenPorts site lists all ported third party applications to -current
. If you are running -release
, some of the ports listed will be recently approved, & will not be available to -release
users until OpenBSD 4.9. At the bottom of each page describing ported applications is a commit log of activity. From this, you will be able to discern whether the application is recent or established.
...but can you propose something for a beginner? (and after that, the installation questions are coming )
Actually, it will be better if you find a problem in which you
have interest. There will be at some point hard problems for you to resolve. If you are interested in the overall project, you may have enough motivation to get past the hard parts. If you aren't committed, it will be very easy to abandon the entire endeavor.
As ideas, build a family Webpage, a fan page for some organization you admire, a site which explains something you uniquely understand, or build some tool which can be used by a non-profit to advertise their services, track some resource(s), etc. | <urn:uuid:c9289aec-4ec7-435f-a64a-5a1934e3e358> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.daemonforums.org/showthread.php?p=35282&mode=linear | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941272 | 407 | 1.59375 | 2 |
The Vz. 61 Skorpion is a compact submachine gun in .32 ACP. The gun in some configurations is capable of emptying a 20-round magazine in one second, and it has virtually zero muzzle climb. It has since been replaced with a newer 9mm submachine gun; we love ‘em both.
The original Skorpion, designed and developed by Miroslav Rybář, is a straight-blowback pistol-sized SMG that weighs less than three pounds, and because it’s chambered in the subsonic .32 caliber cartridge, fired from a 4½-inch barrel, is easily suppressed. The original models feature an over-folding wire stock, and despite its small size, is very easy to point and handles like a dream.
Even without help of the stock, the light-recoiling cartridge means the gun can be controlled in full-auto with ease, and while people tend to warn away from the small bullet, it’s hard to discriminate against ten or 20 of them flying through the air in one burst.
There were a handful of variants that saw little or no production in other calibers, although the Yugoslavian-licensed M84 was produced in numbers, chambered in .380 ACP. The gun served special forces and security services very well, because it’s simple design lends itself to exceptional reliability. Civilian models were made in pistol packages and trickle into the U.S. from time to time, even though the Vz. 61 has been officially discontinued.
It was replaced with a very modern submachine gun, the CZ Scorpion (no K) EVO 3 A1, a tacticalicious 9mm with a 7.7-inch barrel that’s rated out to 250 meters, and feeds from 30-round magazines. It weighs six pounds and has a folding stock and quad rails. The EVO 3 A1 selector has four positions; safe, single-shot, three-round burst, and full-auto.
Ján Lučanský, EVO 3 designer and his great SMG. That smile breaks all language barriers.
A civilian SBR variant is in the works; the CZ Scorpion EVO 3 S1, although no word as yet to it’s availability in the U.S. Please, CZ, pretty please with sugar and all that, please sell us this gun. It would make an excellent companion to the CZ 805 BREN, a carbine in 5.56 NATO or 7.62 Russian.
But as astonishingly cool as the EVO 3 is, it’s size and style just isn’t the same as it’s namesake; the Skorpion’s incredibly-small size and clean looks make it appealing to this day.
Look, we can’t pick one. We love them so much, equally. We’ll have to just get both. | <urn:uuid:16df0d0c-4ffb-490f-8260-0ce69941e245> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.guns.com/review/2011/12/23/cz-skorpion-then-and-now-vz-61-to-evo-3/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952156 | 618 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Museum of Nebraska Art (Kearney, NE)
Founded in 1976, the Museum of Nebraska Art (MONA) in Kearney became the state's official visual arts collection by legislative act in 1979. The collection of more than 5,000 artworks contains work by Nebraskan artists and works reflective of Nebraska's culture and environment. Artists represented in the collection include Regionalist painter Thomas Hart Benton, wildlife illustrator John James Audubon, and contemporary fiber artist Sheila Hicks. MONA's community programs, in support of its mission to enhance the quality of life for all Nebraskans through expanded arts education, includes artist and scholar lectures, musical and theatrical performances, and hands-on arts workshops for youth and adult students.
In FY 2004, MONA received an NEA Challenge America grant of $10,000 to support its ARTreach program in which works from the museum's collection are toured and exhibited statewide. The program brings quality original art to citizens who do not have regular access to it, particularly those living in rural areas.
Grant funds were used to print interpretive and promotional materials as well as for the transportation and installation of the touring artworks. Beginning in October 2004, 22 sites were offered a chance to participate in the project, which is scheduled to run through September 2006. Presenters may request one of six thematic exhibitions, such as Afro Psalms, an exploration of African American life through the juxtaposition of works by illustrator Grant Reynard and poet Charles Fort. MONA expects up to 2,500 individuals will benefit from each site's four-week exhibition.
(From the 2004 NEA Annual Report)
National Endowment for the Arts · an independent federal agency | <urn:uuid:a4a0996e-ec6b-421a-9540-7ada63b24baf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nea.gov/features/storiesCMS/story.php?id=2005_11_03 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961309 | 351 | 2.53125 | 3 |
The increasing amount of choice we have now allows us to lead lives that are objectively better, but subjectively worse than before. This thought-provoking book by Barry Schwartz tries to show why the increasing amount of choice in our lives isn’t making us happier — in fact, it’s making us less happy. Fortunately, he also describes solutions to allow us to manage the negative effects of choice.
I tend to agree with him in general. Here’s a rather trivial example of a way I have tried to avoid the problem. When confronted with a restaurant menu, I try to read down the menu until I find something that sounds good to me. Then I stop, and order that thing. There are some restaurants I have been to several times where I have never read to the end of the menu, because I know that I will end up agonising over my choice and thinking I should have chosen something else anyway.
Now I realise that my life would be pretty cushy if this were the biggest problem I had to deal with. It’s not. But it does illustrate the gist of the book. “Satisficing” is the word to describe this strategy of choosing something that’s good enough, rather than holding out for “the best”, whatever that is.
Here’s my summary of the whole book. Feel free to print this out and stick it on your bedroom wall. Words to live by.
Reduce the number of options you consider. It’s easier to choose when you have fewer choices, and most of the time the reduced choices won’t lead to a significantly worse outcome.
Satisfice rather than maximise. If you can develop good standards for what is “good enough”, then you’ll usually feel better about your “good enough” choice than you would have about your “best” choice.
Minimise consideration of opportunity costs. Thinking about opportunity costs can help you avoid making a genuine blunder, but thinking too much can paralyse you.
Make decisions irreversible. Decide, accept your decision as irrevocable, and move on with the rest of your life.
Anticipate adaptation. You may be delighted with your decision now, but expect the novelty to wear off. It will. This is normal.
Curtail social comparison. There’s always somebody else who seems to have made a better choice than you. It doesn’t help you to find out who.
Acknowledge the good things in your life. Everything of any value has good and bad in it. Try to focus on the good.
Regret less. You may now regret a choice you made earlier, but that one choice probably didn’t change your life as much as you think. And at the time it was probably the best choice you could make.
Putting all these strategies together may help you to spend less time choosing, and more time living. | <urn:uuid:b1b18180-2502-40bc-b50c-a219279a9d24> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thunderguy.com/bennett/2009/10/25/the-paradox-of-choice-why-more-is-less/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962777 | 619 | 2.03125 | 2 |
The authority for sports coverage in the Fredericksburg region.
OVERVIEW: Autumn is in the air, with cool nights and bright sunny days. Fall patterns are emerging. Fish are actively feeding in preparation for the winter months and the fishing will stay good through October.
RAPPAHANNOCK RIVER: Bass fishing remains decent upriver from Port Royal to Fredericksburg. Below Port Royal, bass fishing has fallen off. Spinnerbaits, crankbaits and soft plastics will all work. Crappie fishing is improving with the water temperatures dropping. It was recently reported that a Snakehead was found while shocking the river near Hick’s Landing. Upriver, smallmouth bass fishing is very good.
POTOMAC RIVER: Water temperatures are cooling but grass remains a strong pattern, according to Reel Bass Adventures. Top water poppers are still producing early in the morning until the sun is on the water and then switch to a wacky rigged stick worm. Swim baits worked through the grasses are also producing as will spinner baits. When the grass pattern is slow, switch to hard cover, such as rocks, docks, wrecks and the like. Dark colored tubes and medium diving crank baits work on bass, stripers and an occasional redfish. Anglers are patiently awaiting some bigger stripers downriver. Typically, the bigger fish arrive as the water cools; late October, November and December are the best months.
LAKE ANNA: No reports.
CHESAPEAKE BAY/ATLANTIC OCEAN: As water temperatures begin to cool, summer favorites are preparing to exit the area, while cold water species are becoming more active. Although cobia action slowed after the front passed through last week, the action is rebounding with fish pushing to over 60 pounds. Anglers are intercepting these fish as they linger on buoys and collect into pods near the mouth of the bay and along the ocean front using both jigs and live bait. Big red drum (some exceeding 50 inches) are schooling in the lower bay and along coastal waters. Boaters are finding good catches of big reds near the 3rd island of the CBBT and near buoys 36 and 38 off Cape Charles. Peeler crabs, bunker, and crabs are working well as these fish fatten up for their migration south next month. King mackerel are showing some promise, with a few fish boated off of Sandbridge. A hook-up with a large shark is also still a possibility in these areas.When anglers can get out and the water is clear, the fall flounder scene is good. Nice keepers (5–7 pounds) are taking jigs, live and drifted bait along the CBBT structure and drop-offs, with the high rise area, and the 3rd and 4th islands producing the best lately. Offshore and inshore wrecks are also providing good flatfish action, along with nice triggerfish and some seabass. Speckled trout are still making a good showing, with bigger fish moving in recently. The folks at Chris’ Bait and Tackle report that Hungar’s Creek and Oyster are holding good numbers of fish, some over 8 pounds. this week. Other hot spots include the Poquoson Flats, Elizabeth River, Rudee, Lynnhaven, and Little Creek Inlets. Puppy drum are still on the loose in these same areas. The spot bite remains steady in the lower Bay and along the ocean front. Croaker ranging up to around 2.5 pounds are taking bait in most any deep water location in the lower Bay. Rockfish are hitting lures all over the lower bay, and will become more active as the water temperature drops. Amberjack enthusiasts continue to catch nice fish on offshore wrecks and at the South Tower. Billfish are providing good action, with many boats reporting up to 10 releases, or more. Boats are encountering white and blue marlin, as well as the occasional sailfish and spearfish. Yellowfin tuna, blackfin tuna and dolphin are also available, and wahoo should continue to pick up through October.
—Compiled by Michael O’Malley | <urn:uuid:930b2685-9a36-4f6e-a8a0-b4c1b16b3e72> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.fredericksburg.com/sports/2012/09/26/fishing-report-26/ | 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 | 0.960807 | 867 | 1.578125 | 2 |
By Dennis Crouch
Most operating businesses that rely on intellectual property (IP) rights do not focus on a single form of rights but instead take a layered approach that includes patent law along with trademark, copyright, contractual limitations, and design rights, for instance. Each form of IP has weak points and overlapping coverage provides a greater level of certainty that any underlying market value can be protected. Of course, overlapping rights create difficulties for users that rely upon the public domain and fair use. The bulk of governmental money spent on administering intellectual property rights goes through the US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) — an executive agency housed within the Department of Commerce. Although the PTO only administrates patent and trademark issues, the Director of the USPTO also serves as the Undersecretary of Commerce in charge of Intellectual Property and has the role of advising the President and other federal agencies on all aspects of intellectual property – including copyright law. Of late, this role is shared somewhat with the White House Office of the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator.
Whither the Copyright Office: There is a clear structural reason why the President and executive agencies cannot rely on the US Copyright Office for advice about copyright law. The Copyright Office is housed within the Library of Congress, which itself is managed by Congress rather than the President. Thus the US Copyright Office does not officially represent the Administration or shape Administration policy. This is an odd setup — especially with the rising and overlapping market role for intellectual property rights. From a theoretical standpoint, it is unclear whether the fractured administrative structure leads to rights that are either too strong or too weak. What we can tell is that the structure leads to a lack of coordination in administration of the various IP systems within the US.
In his 1995 Congressional testimony on the topic, Bill Patry identified the fractured structure as "an historical anomaly."
It is not the result of a judgment that the legislative branch is where the Copyright Office belongs. It occurred solely because there was a very clever, ambitious Librarian of Congress who figured out that rather than relying upon appropriated funds, which is not a great way for agencies to fund themselves, he would get free books. He got free books by convincing Congress to require publishers and authors to give the Library free books. That is how the Copyright Office got into the Library of Congress.
The answer: In 1995, the Senate proposed a solution – a United States Intellectual Property Organization (USIPO). (S. 1961). Although the Bill did not emerge from committee at the time, the newly proposed organization would fall in line with many of our trading partners, including the UK IPO, the Canadian IPO, and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
Back in 1995, then Register of Copyrights Marybeth Peters commented that such a move may unduly politicize the Copyright Office. Peters was also concerned that the historic and humanist value of the copyright registry would be soiled if joined with the commerce-focused patent and trademark administrators.
Bill Patry testified before the Senate in support of the concept of the USIPO and argued that the Copyright Office functions are executive not legislative:
Well, the Office doesn't perform any legislative functions. Why should it remain in the legislative branch? The answer that you are given is essentially that is the way it has always been and we like it that way. But if you have go the two other forms of intellectual property … why should the third one be over here and on the other side of the Potomac? It is really a quaint sort of nostalgia for the past. It is an obstacle for the future.
Members of Congress also expressed reticence about giving up direct control of the office. At the time, the Intellectual Property Owners Association and AIPLA suggested "further study."
In the years since 1995, we have seen a great convergence in the marketplace role of the various intellectual property schemes. It seems to me that the time is ripe to consider the issue once again. | <urn:uuid:46b346c9-7f6a-497c-9abe-0578d4fb7812> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2012/01/united-states-intellectual-property-organization.html | 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 | 0.952963 | 807 | 2.359375 | 2 |
In this advance clip from next Monday's edition of "Anderson Live," AIDS and gay rights activist Peter Staley and host Anderson Cooper discuss David France's Oscar-nominated documentary How to Survive a Plague as an invaluable educational tool for young LGBT people, as well as an inspiring model for activism and motivating any sort of positive change. The episode will air Monday at 12:00pm EST / 1:00pm PST. Check it out below!
Peter Staley has been a long-term AIDS and gay rights activist, first as a member ofACT UP New York, then as the founding director of TAG, the Treatment Action Group. He served on the board of the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) for 13 years and then founded AIDSmeds.com, an educational website for people living with HIV. Staley is a leading subject in the Oscar-nominated documentary How to Survive a Plague. HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE is the story of two coalitions-ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group)-whose activism and innovation turned AIDS from a death sentence into a manageable condition. Despite having no scientific training, these self-made activists infiltrated the pharmaceutical industry and helped identify promising new drugs, moving them from experimental trials to patients in record time. With unfettered access to a treasure trove of never-before-seen archival footage from the 1980s and '90s, filmmaker David France puts the viewer smack in The Middle of the controversial actions, the heated meetings, the heartbreaking failures, and the exultant breakthroughs of heroes in the making.
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VIDEO: Must Watch - Mel Brooks AMERICAN MASTERS on PBS May 20! | <urn:uuid:d8c199a0-2474-467d-a563-40219f09e119> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://movies.broadwayworld.com/article/VIDEO-Peter-Staley-Talks-HOW-TO-SURVIVE-A-PLAGUE-on-ANDERSON-LIVE-20130208 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911645 | 444 | 1.671875 | 2 |
TAR SANDS BLOCKADE: THE DANGERS OF THE TRANSCANADA KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE
Sunlight shines through faulty welds in the pipe of Keystone XL’s Gulf Coast pipeline leg, according to members of the Tar Sands Blockade, who are offering, as proof, photographs they say they took from inside the pipe on December 3.
Ramsey Sprague, a young Texan with the Blockade, dramatically made this claim at a pipeline industry conference in Houston, shortly after it got under way at the Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel in Houston Thursday morning. He also promised that whistleblowers inside TransCanada would be coming forward with further evidence of flaws in the pipeline.
Tom Hamilton of TransCanada is the Manager of quality and compliance for the Keystone Oil Pipeline this currently under construction in East Texas. He had gotten a few minutes into his presentation, a case study titled “Building an ISO 9001 Pipeline System: TransCanada’s Gulf Coast Project” when he was interrupted by Sprague, who had managed to chain himself to the conference loudspeaker towers.
Wearing a suit and tie and a cowboy hat, Sprague had not drawn attention while he sat through the first part of the program. As described on the Tar Sands Blockade web page, as described by the cameraman who documented the event:
“Ten minutes into Hamilton’s time at the podium, Ramsey stood up and chained himself to the sound equipment positioned next to the projection screen, quickly delving into an impassioned speech on the irony of TransCanada lecturing others on safety and compliance. The audience sat silent, cameras aimed at this impromptu act, as security officials attempted to address the situation without having to clear the room.
“ As Ramsey spoke against TransCanada’s horrific safety record, as well as its treatment of indigenous communities and others whose land and lives are being adversely affected by tar sands extraction, authorities escorted him out of the assembly and into police custody. After being detained by three Montgomery County sheriffs for documenting the act (and subsequent arrest), I was given a trespass warning and told to leave the property immediately.”
No Public Comment Yet from TransCanada
TransCanada has not yet publicly responded to questions about the charge that their pipeline in Texas has faulty welds which would make it likely to leak as soon as it’s put into service.
Tom Hamilton’s scheduled case study of the Gulf Coast pipeline project was expected to focus on pipeline safety. As billed in the conference program,
“Mr. Hamilton has supplied technical consulting services to a wide range of pipeline clients in the fields of quality management systems, welding and NDE, above and below ground protective coatings, cathodic protection system design, specifications, system installation and performance affirmation, corrosion control troubleshooting, and pipeline system integrity management.”
The bullet points of his talk included:
· Reviewing the current progress of Keystone’s Gulf Coast segment
· How have ISO 9001 requirements impacted pipeline design, construction, and delivery?
· Overcoming the challenges associated with bringing new processes into large diameter pipeline projects built by third-party contractors
· Right the first time – Highlighting best practices that have seen safety, quality and environmental stewardship improve while remaining on time and on budget
· Discussing how ISO 9001 quality management systems aid in managing expectations when engaging and educating stakeholders
Sprague’s Critique Was Underscored by Dave Brubeck
While he was chained to the speakers, Sprague shouted warnings to the audience about the dangers the pipeline represents, but there was little or no response from the crowd. He also spoke quietly and politely to a few people who approached him. The interruption of the conference lasted only a little longer than the eight minutes that were recorded.
While he was talking, Sprague described the events of December 3, 2012, when pipeline opponents blockades themselves inside the pipeline for about a day before they were forced out. During that time they took pictures from the inside showing light coming through the pipe welds. According to the Tar Sands Blockade: “That mile-long section of the pipe was laid in the ground on the same day; no additional welding or inspection occurred after the photos were taken.”
For several minutes Sprague had to shout loudly to project his voice over loud music played by the conference, selections by the Dave Brubeck Quartet. Once organizers brought bolt cutters and cut Sprague loose, he was escorted from the room as he told people in the hallways, “TransCanada should not be lecturing about pipeline safety.” | <urn:uuid:9355585d-8592-4530-a3d3-0bf0f886abd2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fourwinds10.net/siterun_data/business/corporate_fraud/news.php?q=1359732401 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966255 | 955 | 1.976563 | 2 |
Credit is also due a work I learned of through a throwaway comment of Melvyn Bragg in a 1999 (30 min!) program on Utopias (Anthony Grayling, John Carey). Lord Bragg mentioned a 1921 novel by Yevgeny Zamyatin called "We". The novel is described in an Amazon review by Leonard Fleisig ...
... WE takes place in the twenty-sixth century where a totalitarian regime has created an extremely regimented society where individual expression simply does not exist. All remnants of individuality have been stripped from its inhabitants including their names. Their names have been replaced with an alpha-numeric system. People are not coupled. Rather, each individual is assigned three friends with whom they can have intimate relations on a rigid schedule established by the state. Those scheduled assignations are the only times the shades in a citizen's glass houses can be closed. Apart from those hourly intervals everyone's life is monitored by the state. As in Orwell's 1984, language has been turned on its head. Freedom means unhappiness and conformity and the submission of individual will to the state means happiness...Yes, rather like Huxley or Clockwork Orange or 1984. Orwell was a fan but Huxley denied having read We.
We certainly belongs in a "panopticon" reading list. Glass houses are the ultimate transparent society. | <urn:uuid:d2024584-7216-44cf-9577-aa238da35f8a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://notes.kateva.org/2010/09/transparent-society-1920-edition_09.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961875 | 274 | 1.929688 | 2 |
WASHINGTON – The federal government reported a rare surplus for January and is on track to run its smallest annual budget deficit since President Obama took office.
The Treasury Department said Tuesday that the government took in a surplus of $2.9 billion in January. That’s the first monthly surplus since April, a month that benefited from income tax payments.
January’s budget figure benefited from an estimated $9 billion in extra revenue from higher Social Security taxes. That helped lower the deficit through the first four months of the budget year to $290.4 billion – nearly $60 billion lower than the same period a year ago.
The federal fiscal year began Oct. 1.
For the entire year, the Congressional Budget Office, or CBO, is forecasting that the deficit will total $845 billion. If correct, that would be first time government hasn’t run an annual deficit in excess of $1 trillion since 2008, the last year of George W. Bush’s presidency.
The deficit is the amount the government must borrow when its expenses exceed its revenues. Each month’s deficit is volatile and can be affected by calendar quirks that shift government spending or revenue from one month to another.
The annual deficit is projected to be smaller this year because the government is collecting more revenue, mainly because of faster job growth and higher taxes.
At the same time, the government is spending less on some programs. That’s in part because of spending cuts that were enacted under a 2011 agreement to raise the federal borrowing limit. Also, the improved economy has reduced demand for unemployment benefits and some other government programs.
Last year, the U.S. economy grew at a modest 2.2 percent and generated an average of about 180,000 jobs a month. Stronger job growth is forecast for this year – an average of more than 200,000 a month, some economists say. More jobs mean more income, which generates more tax revenue for the government.
Another factor in what’s expected to be a smaller deficit for the year is higher taxes for some Americans. When Congress and the White House reached a deal in January to avert the “fiscal cliff,” they allowed taxes to rise on individuals earning at least $400,000 a year and couples earning $450,000. And the agreement allowed a cut of 2 percentage points in the Social Security tax to expire, thereby raising taxes on nearly everyone who earns a paycheck. This year’s higher Social Security tax is projected to raise about $10 billion more a month in revenue.
The additional revenue is likely to slow the deficit’s growth for the rest of the budget year, which will end Sept. 30. The deficit will also likely shrink in April, when the government collects much of its income tax revenue. Last year, the government reported a surplus of $59 billion for April. A stronger economy could make this year's April surplus even larger.
The CBO is projecting even smaller annual deficits of $616 billion in 2014 and $459 billion in 2015. But as more baby boomers retire and claim benefits from Medicare and Social Security, deficits would likely rise again. The implementation of the 2010 health care law would also widen deficits. The CBO forecasts that deficits could near $1 trillion again by 2023.
Republicans and the president agree on the need for a plan to contain the deficits, but they are at odds over the details. Republicans want to trim growth in Social Security and Medicare spending but oppose any further tax increases.
Obama has said he is willing to consider cuts in the growth of entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security, but he argues that a balanced approach will require further tax increases on the highest earners.
The government has run annual deficits for more than a decade. Obama’s presidency, which began in the aftermath of the financial meltdown, has coincided with four straight $1 trillion-plus deficits.
The gaps reached a record $1.41 trillion in fiscal 2009, which began nearly four months before Obama took office. That deficit was due largely to the worst recession since the Great Depression. The budget gaps in 2010 and 2011 were slightly lower than the 2009 deficit.
Bush ran annual deficits through most of his two terms in office after he won approval for broad tax cuts and launched wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The last time the government ran an annual surplus was in 2001. | <urn:uuid:4a3eed45-1e8f-41d1-8fec-2b762ee27fc4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130213/BUSINESS/130219680/1012 | 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 | 0.964816 | 894 | 2.453125 | 2 |
French Dining Glossary- Is it a Brasserie, Bistro, Café, or Salon de Thé… definitions s’il vous plaît
Whether in Paris or stateside, sometimes the name of French restaurant is more than simply, "restaurant." In a country where food is supreme, Richard Nahem provides the what's up on the types of French restaurants. –S.H.
I was asked to explain the different distinctions of French eating establishments by a client last month, and I thought it would make an informative blog post. Below are four categories: Brasserie, bistro, café, and salon de thé.
A brasserie is a restaurant that serves the same menu all day, sometimes with a few specials/plat du Jour. The cuisine is classic French with dishes like charcuterie, plats de mer, steak tartare, onion soup, and confit de canard.
Brasserie also means brewery and many of them serve a good selection of beer on tap.
Some well known Parisian brasseries include Brasserie Lipp, Bofinger, Vaudeville, and La Coupole.
A bistro is a small, informal, neighborhood restaurant with simple food, usually with a single owner or chef-owned. They are open at set times, approximately from 12PM to 2 or 2:30PM for lunch and 7:30PM to 10:30 or 11PM for dinner and most of the time closed either Sunday or Monday, or both. Legend has it that how the name bistro came about is when Russian soldiers were at a restaurant in Montmartre on Place du Tertre in 1812, their food was too slow in coming, so they yelled "Bistrot! Bistrot!", which means quickly in Russian.
Some of my favorite bistros are Le Reminet, Chez Janou, L' Atelier d'Antan, and Chez Dumonet.
The most common eating establishment, the café, focuses more on beverages including coffee, tea, wine, and beer, and many now have cocktails and Happy Hour. Cafe's are open all day and night serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner and the same menu is served throughout the day, with more casual fare of sandwiches, croques, omelets, and salads. Most cafes have outdoor terraces which open all year round with heat lamps in winter.
Some classic cafes include Cafe de Flore,Cafe de la Paix, Les Deux Magots, and Le Fouquet's.
Salon de Thé
More informal than a café, a salon de thé specializes in cakes and pastries along with tea and and coffee. They are usually open from morning to early evening and sometimes serve light lunches and small dishes.
Popular salon de thé's include Ladurée, Carette, Angelinas, and Mariage Freres, and one of my personal favorites is Comme a la Maison. –Richard Nahem
Richard, The Paris Insider - Expat New Yorker and good time bon vivant, Richard Nahem is a fashion and trend insider reporting on what's nouveau in Paris. Richard is the founder of the wildly popular blog, Eye Prefer Paris and leads private shopping tours of Paris via Eye Prefer Paris Tours. He is a chocolate truffle hound who knows how to get to the front of the line. www.eyepreferparis.com / www.eyepreferparistours.com | <urn:uuid:e09fb4f6-abf0-4c79-9d16-db75e71c87a3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.focusonstyle.com/style/french-dining-glossary-is-it-a-brasserie-bistro-cafe-or-salon-de-the-definitions-sil-vous-plait/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922557 | 735 | 1.953125 | 2 |
As we continue our daily updates on the state of the ground game, we want to turn attention to the African American vote. The African American community is solidly and overwhelmingly behind President Obama, because they know he is fighting for all of us, not just some of us.
Our campaign has been committed to organizing in the African American community for years, with our Barbershop and Beauty Salon program, congregation captains, and HBCU summits (Historically Black Colleges and Universities). Over the last four years we have built deep roots and recruited and trained members of the community to own and run the campaign in their neighborhoods. As a result, African American volunteers are a strong foundation of our team-based grassroots program.
We’ve seen the community’s strong support in the public polls all year, with President Obama registering leads of 98-2 in key states like Ohio and Pennsylvania. Now that voting has begun, we’re seeing it at polling places across the country. The pictures and the numbers tell the same story: African Americans are committed to doing everything they can to re-elect the President.
In the first two days of early voting in Florida, nearly a quarter (23.7 percent) of the electorate was African American. We’ve seen consistently strong turnout in predominately African American areas of Broward and Dade counties, with big crowds patiently waiting hours to cast their votes. Yesterday 1,200 people marched from Bethune Cookman University, an HBCU in Daytona Beach, to vote early.
The historically high turnout among African Americans in North Carolina four years ago was one of the reasons President Obama carried the state by just 14,000 votes. But what’s even more impressive is what’s happening this year: 83,155 more African Americans have already voted this year than had at this point in 2008. More African Americans age 24 and younger are voting this time than in 2008, and the same is true among African America voters between the ages of 25 and 34. In both cases, their share of votes is outpacing their share of the voting population.
We’re seeing these promising trends across the country. Here are a few facts:
- Registration: African-American voter registration is up dramatically since 2008 in every battleground state. It’s especially high in places like Colorado, where it’s up 20 percent, Iowa (13 percent), Nevada (12 percent) and Florida (10 percent).
- Early voting: Early voting among African Americans is up dramatically in battleground states. It’s up 17 percent or more in Ohio, Virginia, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, Colorado and North Carolina.
- Enthusiasm: African Americans are most enthusiastic about voting in this election—nearly 20 percentage points higher than all voters.
- Vote likelihood: 85 percent of registered African American voters say they will “definitely” vote—higher than all other registered voters.
Every election, more and more African Americans come out to vote. Since 1992, African Americans have increased their share of the electorate nearly every single time—from just 8 percent in 1992 to 13 percent four years ago. Between 2004 and 2008, participation among African Americans grew more than any other group. In 2012, we’re going to see these records break once again en route to re-electing President Obama. | <urn:uuid:9fc1d2a3-f487-41eb-8fee-cf9a259f12c9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://politic365.com/2012/10/31/inside-the-early-vote-numbers-african-americans/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949365 | 687 | 2.109375 | 2 |
CAVOUR, COUNT CAMILLO (1810-1861) Italian
His crowning achievement in melding different Italian states was equally important as giving it a constitutional structure. Camillo, born into an aristocratic Piedmontese family, was earmarked for a career in the army, even though his interests were more political than military.
When Charles Albert, the king of Piedmont (1831-1849), opened the first war of independence against Austria. Camillo retired to manage the family estate at Grinzane. He also served as mayor there from 1832 to the revolutionary upheaval of 1848.
This year was a turning point in his political career.
On March 23, 1848, in an article in the Risorgimento, Cavour called upon his king to join the national crusade and the king agreed. His country’s defeat at Custozza in July prompted Cavour to court France in order to oust the Austrians from Piedmont. Following year another war and defeat led to the abdication of the king in favor of his son, Vittorio Emanuele. Suspicious of the Pope XI and cashing in on the anti-Papal sentiment in Italy he came into national prominence. He did not support the Neo-Guelph program which dreamed that the pope would play a leading role in the unification movement. He became prime minister at the end of 1852.
During the course of the Crimean War, he ranged Piedmont alongside England and France, and in 1856 presented the Italian case before the Congress of Paris and the tribunal of world opinion. In Paris the Count through the support of Napoleon III, could garner popular support for his anti-Austrian, national campaign in 1859-1860.
The Second War of Italian Independence opened in April 1859. In July Napoleon signed an armistice at Villafranca with Franz-Josef, without consulting his Piedmont allies. Cavour, unwilling to accept the terms that left Venetia in Austrian hands, resigned.
Cavour returned to power in January 1860, and in March signed another secret agreement with Napoleon. On March 17, Cavour had the Piedmontese parliament proclaim Victor Emanuel II, king of Italy. Cavour also persuaded the parliament to proclaim the city of Rome the future capital of the kingdom, hoping to resolve the Roman question on the basis of an agreement with the church. He died shortly thereafter, and did not live to see the Italian occupation of Rome in 1870.
Born in Turin when it was under French control, Cavour was sponsored in baptism by Napoleon’s sister Pauline, and her husband, Prince Camille Borghese, after whom Camillo was named.(Ack:Frank J. Coppa) | <urn:uuid:fedc5ded-8487-48b5-8d6b-80d4b7ab3192> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bennythomas.wordpress.com/tag/victor-emmanuel-ii/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975721 | 579 | 3.59375 | 4 |
Posted in Texas
An All Female Texas Supreme Court in 1925?
It happened. Legal History Blog plucks out a gem from John Frank’s article on judicial disqualification.
With a little ingenuity, a situation of “necessity” can occasionally be avoided. Thus in a case in which all the members of the Teas Supreme Court were Woodmen of the World and hence the entire court vas disqualified in a case involving that group, the Governor appointed a special court of three women. For the resultant three opinions see Johnson v. Darr, 144 Tex. 516, 272 S. W. 1098 (1925). | <urn:uuid:fa7beced-b944-4e53-b44a-68b37d72ac24> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://joshblackman.com/blog/2012/07/31/an-all-female-texas-supreme-court-in-1925/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915309 | 131 | 2.203125 | 2 |
I reckon that every scientist should be able to explain his or her work to any audience, in any situation. Whether it is a 30 second conversation with a six year old with the aid of a pencil and paper, an oral presentation to the general public (a la cafe scientifique), or a detailed effort using all the functionality of Microsoft Powerpoint at a specialist conference, it should be possible to convey meaning to your audience. In fact, if I'm feeling brave, I would go as far as to suggest that if a scientist is unable to do this, it is an indication that he or she does not understand the topic him- or herself.
In the last week or so, I've been enthralled by the competition 'The3is in Three' that the university is running. Rules are simple: It is open to students undertaking a PhD (any subject at all), and the student has to explain his or her research in three minutes with the aid of one powerpoint slide. Don't think it can be done? Well, from what I've seen, yes it can, and very well too. Heats have been running in the last couple of weeks, with the final being a grand affair on the evening of the 28 October. It promises to be a first-rate evening. Five thousand dollars for the winner is enough to get almost every student motivated. | <urn:uuid:e6a7609f-d853-4c68-a7a8-70380d6b2773> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sci.waikato.ac.nz/physicsstop/2009/10/the3is-in-three.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974596 | 278 | 2.0625 | 2 |
Column: Promoting service, success and more at Nobles County Integration CollaborativeWORTHINGTON — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve.” In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Nobles County Integration (NCIC) is working hard during the month of January to promote service, student success and cultural integration.
By: Lakeyta Potter, District 518, Worthington Daily Globe
WORTHINGTON — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve.” In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Nobles County Integration (NCIC) is working hard during the month of January to promote service, student success and cultural integration.
The month of January is very significant because Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Day of Service is on Jan. 21. NCIC utilizes this day by encouraging students to show acts of kindness through service. MLK Day is also a time to put into action Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s philosophy of empowering individuals to break social boundaries through service projects that help build bridges and strengthen communities. NCIC has planned many events in order to allow students to help their communities, increase leadership skills and student success.
On MLK Day of Service (Jan. 21), high school students who participate in NCIC out-of-school time programs and student volunteers from Southwest Star Concept high school will work together to facilitate the Color Project at Heron Lake Elementary School. The elementary students will talk about how skin color is not just black and white, but that there are many different shades of skin color. The elementary students will be able to mix different shades of paint to match their skin color and then paint a self-portrait. In addition, the students will learn about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his teachings by doing various craft activities.
This is a great leadership opportunity that also increases cultural integration among the students. This event is funded through the Southwest Initiatives Foundation Impact Grant.
Eighth-grade students that participate in Odyssey will be serving a meal to those less fortunate at the Banquet in Sioux Falls, S.D., on Jan. 25. Students will be giving back by feeding impoverished children and adults. This will also be a humbling experience for the eighth-grade students who may not experience hardships on an everyday basis. In addition, the eighth-grade Odyssey students will facilitate Martin Luther King Jr. activities with students in the after school program at Prairie Elementary on Jan. 23.
At the end of January, students who participate in Youth Making Changes, Dynamic 507 and FCCLA will be collaborating to host a Mix It Up Day at the Worthington High School. Mix It Up Day encourages students during lunch to move out of their comfort zone and get to know someone new. This fosters inclusivity and a positive school environment.
To promote student success and inform students and parents about the importance of planning for the future, NCIC will be hosting a College Preparation Event. This event will be on Sunday, Jan. 27 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the West Learning Center, 117 11th Ave, Worthington. Sessions will be in English (room 126) and Spanish (room 124). This is free and open to students in grades 9-12. To register please contact NCIC, 376-3300.
For updates on upcoming events please visit our website at www.isd518.net/ncic. | <urn:uuid:bcf13388-d522-4ff6-be3a-523b5601070d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dglobe.com/event/article/id/62236/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936683 | 726 | 2.15625 | 2 |
Students and others looking for a place to start often ask, "If I could read just one book about xxxx, which would you suggest?" When it comes to cities, I have a new favorite. It is Shlomo Angel's Planet of Cities. The author studies an amazing amount of data covering the world's 3,646 cities (usually, metropolitan areas) with population of 100,000 or more in 2000. This is one amazing data base and Angel makes the best of it, addressing the interesting questions surrounding growth, spread, "sustainability", etc. Yes, cities spread out everywhere and "containing" them is undesirable as well as implausible.
Angel evokes the "Goldilocks Principle" more than once and wonders if there is a population density which is not too low and not too high. As I have often mentioned, the question obscures the real story. Metropolitan areas are very big and diverse. The Los Angeles-Orange area covers more than 3,250 square miles. In 2000, the population residing in that area was 12,366,000 and the number of jobs was 5,292,000. Annual sub-metropolitan data are available for Public Use Microsample Areas (PUMAs) of which there are 84 in LA-Orange with an average size of about 40 square miles. The average PUMA density was 8,748 per square mile but the standard deviation of the PUMA densities was almost as large, 8,456.
Angel argues (as have many others) that there is no "optimal" urban size. There is, likewise, no "optimal" urban density. There are complex density distributions in all of the metropolitan areas. These are endogenous and it takes flexible land markets to hone in on the most suitable (congenial to growth) ones in each case. | <urn:uuid:ea4877e0-cd59-4604-99df-42d1920b7f5a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.petergordonsblog.com/2012/10/no-goldilocks.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953956 | 372 | 2.078125 | 2 |
When you replace sugar with SPLENDA® Granulated Sweetener, it's important to understand the many roles sugar or other sweeteners, such as honey, have in cooking and baking. This knowledge will help you determine which of your favourite recipes can be easily adapted for use with SPLENDA®.
We all know that sugar and other caloric sweeteners, such as honey, brown sugar, and maple syrup add sweetness in recipes, but they can also:
- Give structure, texture and volume.
- Caramelise and add browning.
- Help retain moistness in baked goods.
- Act as a preservative, keeping foods fresh for a longer time.
In general, SPLENDA® works best in recipes where the main role is to provide a sweet taste. For example, SPLENDA® works well in fruit pie fillings, cheesecakes, sweet sauces and glazes.
In recipes where the amount of sugar is quite high or where browning is a vital element, such as crème brulée, we would not recommend complete substitution of sugar with SPLENDA®.
Please click here to see our tips for cooking and baking with SPLENDA® Granulated. | <urn:uuid:08fb676c-c324-49d5-9739-5957e0aee848> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://splenda.co.uk/recipes/splenda-baking | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91039 | 249 | 1.898438 | 2 |
Australian Bureau of Statistics
5249.0 - Australian National Accounts: Tourism Satellite Account, 2006-07
Previous ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 17/04/2008
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Tourism's gross value added increased by 7.9% to $32,306m in 2006-07, which was the highest growth rate since 1998-99 and a similar rate of growth to the economy as a whole, according to statistics released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Growth in tourism was driven by both strong domestic tourism consumption (up by 6.8% to $63 billion) as well as by very strong international tourism consumption (up by 9.8% to $22 billion).
As a proportion of Australia's gross domestic product (GDP), tourism remained unchanged from last year at 3.7%, reflecting a similar rate of growth to the economy as a whole.
The release of the Tourism Satellite Account,measures the direct contribution of the tourism industry to the Australian economy by measuring the demand generated by domestic and foreign business and leisure visitors, and the supply of tourism products by domestic producers.
The tourism industry employed 482,800 people in 2006-07, an increase of 1.1% on 2005-06.
More information can be found in Tourism Satellite Account (cat. no. 5249.0).
These documents will be presented in a new window.
This page last updated 15 April 2009 | <urn:uuid:9d64458a-9914-461e-b3f5-9de935191a28> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/mediareleasesbyReleaseDate/2F7693919CB62981CA25742D0078FD8E?OpenDocument | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933038 | 313 | 1.929688 | 2 |
Purdue research assistant launches Twitter site to monitor unrest in Madagascar
March 19, 2009
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A Purdue University research assistant in Discovery Park has launched a site on the online short-messaging service Twitter to monitor and disseminate news about the current political unrest in his homeland of Madagascar.
Lova Rakotomalala, who works in the cytometry laboratory at the Bindley Bioscience Center, created his Twitter page (http://twitter.com/lrakoto) for translating reports from several dozen people on the island into English from French and Malagasy.
He also contributed content for the launch of "Madagascar Tweet," which was created by colleague Thierry Andriamirado, who lives in Madagascar's capital city of Antananarivo. That site is available online at http://twitter.com/MadagascarTweet
Rakotomalala, 31, who emigrated from Madagascar 10 years ago, started noticing a flow of reports in February on the developments in Madagascar on Twitter, which transmits messages limited to 140 characters. He also monitored several blogs that were updated by eyewitnesses. He then made contact with those who had posted reports from the ground, essentially launching an informal news bureau, via Twitter, to monitor the turmoil that is now making international headlines.
"The political unrest in Madagascar has claimed an estimated 120 lives since January," said Rakotomalala, whose Twitter site has received news coverage this week from CNN International, the Wall Street Journal and French cable television network France 24. "But very few reporters from the English-language media are on Madagascar, and the two sides battling for political power control the nation's major television and radio stations."
Madagascar, best known for its lemurs and other exotic wildlife, is a largely impoverished African island of 20 million people located on the Indian Ocean just west of Mozambique.
At the heart of the crisis are Madagascar President Marc Ravalomanana, 59, and Antananarivo Mayor Andry Rajoelina, 34, a former disc jockey.
Purdue's Rakotomalal said Rajoelina has complained of high food prices, corruption and what he calls growing signs of dictatorship, while Ravalomanana has called it a power grab.
Reports circulated Wednesday (March 18) that President Ravalomanana is resigning and that Andry Rajoelina has assumed political control of the country.
Writer: Phillip Fiorini, 765-496-3133, 765-427-3009 (cell), email@example.com
Source: Lova Rakotomalala, 765- 434-1634, firstname.lastname@example.org
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; email@example.com
To the News Service home page
March 27, 2013
Purdue University is known for its cutting edge research, but as scientists study in labs in every corner of campus, there is one place where their theories can be realized. Purdue's Discovery Park and the Bindley Bioscience Center held "DiscoverRead Full Story
March 13, 2013
When the National Institutes of Health created the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, which houses the Clinical and Translational Sciences Award program that supports the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, NIH DRead Full Story
March 4, 2013
Discover with us! Tuesday, March 26, 2013 9am-1:30pm Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship, room 121Read Full Story | <urn:uuid:f6f1551b-8806-451b-a148-354c44ce4438> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.purdue.edu/discoverypark/bioscience/news/view.php?id=459 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936157 | 743 | 2 | 2 |
The Cybernetics reading group is dedicated to reading and discussing the core texts of the 'cyberneticians' of the late 1940s and through the 1950s, centered around the ten Macy Conferences that ran from 1946-1953.
The cyberneticians pioneered many of the core concepts central to todays understanding of both culture and science: information, feedback, control and communication.
The group aims at reading primary texts of the original cyberneticists and their heirs, discussing and interrogating some of the ideas we today take for granted.
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Add a Comment | <urn:uuid:487c58cb-5a36-452f-a66a-d755e283ad3d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dandelionnetwork.org/group/cybernetics | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925345 | 131 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Software that speeds up number crunching
BUSINESS intelligence is one of the buzz phrases among top executives with good reason - it allows them to cut down on the time is takes to make critical decisions. Most important of all, business intelligence lets them create future scenarios based on manipulation of company figures.
Business intelligence is derived from the turning masses of raw data that exists on computers within an organisation into information that can be acted on. Sounds simple, but the software tools needed to extract, organise and present information are incredibly sophisticated.
Getting month-end figures for large organisations is a good example of how long it can take to collate data and juggle it into a useful format. A large SA mining house takes 40 days to do its month-end closing. It is an extreme example, but illustrates how out of date the company's information is by the time it is ready.
The average in SA is around 10 days, with five days being considered good. The current optimum worldwide is technology company Motorola, which can do its month-end closing across the globe in two days.
Hyperion, a division of Global Technology Business Intelligence, produces software that is focused on the closing of books, whether it be by month, quarter or year-end, across multiple currencies. The software also analyses finances and budgeting processes.
Internationally, Hyperion Software was recently merged with Arbor Software, a world leader in Olap (online analytical processing) software, which business can use to analyse data on their systems.
Johan Cloete, divisional head of Hyperion, says: "These days it is possible to do a little forward planning using software that models a company's business processes. Historically, businesses have only been able to analyse business results retrospectively - now software can help them think ahead."
Mark Williams, head of Global Technology Business Intelligence, says: "Analytical software helps business decision makers think ahead. It gathers data from a variety of computer-based sources and shows results.
"For example, if a shoe manufacturer wants to analyse his business across a number of dimensions, this could be done at the speed of thought using this technology."
That is a simple example but the same principle can be applied to any facet of a company's operations. Virtual soothsayers allow executives to test scenarios without having to live with the results.
"There are productivity gains, too," says Williams. "Instead of having an army of accountants wading through sets of figures to generate a report, the software can do it automatically. Accountants can put their time to better use."
Williams says technology gives companies options.
"By having all the details of operations at their fingertips, executives are able to act quickly. At an instant they can tell, for example, which of their shops have stock of a particular item and then balance stocks between stores. All of this happens, literally at the click of a mouse.
"People used to run their businesses on gut feel and thumb-sucks. Then they used computers but got bogged down with analysis paralysis - over-analysing the numbers.
"These days software pulls out the numbers that matter automatically and present them in a format that's easy to act upon quickly. It's a huge growth area," he says. | <urn:uuid:a44dc1e2-3e20-4732-8ead-c6964757cb8f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.btimes.co.za/98/1018/survey/survey16.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944567 | 666 | 1.984375 | 2 |
Published on July 11th, 2012 | by Christopher Moriarty0
On a sting and a prayer – The Clovermead Annual Bee Beard Competition
If you like your competitions with a sting in the tail (sorry), then you’ll get a real buzz (sorry again) out of this one. Ok, enough of the bee-related puns, let’s get down to buzz-ness (last one, honestly). The reason? Why, it’s only the Clovermead Annual Bee Beard Festival.
The clue is in the name, but it basically involves people, beekeepers to be more precise, encouraging the stinging insects to cover their faces while they strut their stuff on a catwalk.
This must be an age old tradition that the people of Clovermead have fought hard to keep alive over the centuries, despite the obvious risks it poses to their very own faces, right? Well, not quite. All traditions must start somewhere, but this month sees the return of the 8th Annual Bee Beard Competition, which basic maths suggests was first started in the 21st century.
In a way it’s refreshing that in the digital age, the most technologically advanced point in human history, when kids are lambasted for spending too much time on their computers and not enough time outdoors enjoying nature, that some bright sparks decided that covering their faces with bees was more fun that an Xbox. In truth, it’s something that beekeepers have done for generations to attract attention and it is believed to go back as far as the 17th century – but adding a competitive element seems to sweeten the deal (ok, that was a honey pun).
It is all in the name of celebrating bees and the honey they produce on a farm named Clovermead in the town of Aylmer in Ontario, Canada (be honest, you thought it would be in the deep south of the USA, didn’t you?). Despite it’s rustic appearance and name, Clovermead was founded in 1975. Originally a few beehives behind a family garage, the operation was moved to a restored log cabin and has since grown to include a bee-themed Adventure Farm, Discovery Centre and Gift Shop. And of course the annual bee events.
The highlight sees crowds flocking to see teams of beekeepers parading their beards of crawling honeybees in front of the judges, while more family entertainment and brave bee-related demonstrations take place around the farm. The bees rarely confine themselves to forming a neat goatee, often sprawling to cover the entire chin, cheeks, neck and shoulders and even seemingly devouring some brave souls’ entire faces. Competitors always live to tell the tale however, with organisers reassuring us that “bees eat pollen and collect nectar, they do not eat people.”
But how do they do it? It’s essentially one extravagant game of follow the leader. The beekeeper plucks out the queen bee, ties her to his or her face in a small cage and then the worker bees just huddle around her, clinging doggedly onto the beekeeper’s skin.
Those who want to make it a bit more shapely apply clever diversions such as Vaseline to stop the bees crawling into unwanted areas, with the winner the one who manages to hold the most bees in their beard. Luckily this isn’t judged through a painstaking counting process, but by weighing the contestants before and after they don their insect face wig.
Clovermead's 8th Annual Bee Beard Competition takes place on July 28, 2012, in Aylmer, Ontario, Canada. Un-bee-lievable (couldn’t resist). | <urn:uuid:e00e6ff7-fa16-40f2-9664-cbb608528c3a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.chillisauce.co.uk/on-a-sting-and-a-prayer-the-clovermead-annual-bee-beard-competition/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962619 | 763 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Russian officials are not pleased that Kazakhstan has approved the launch of 12 Proton rockets from Baikonur in 2013 instead of the requested 17. Kazakhstan has cited environmental reasons for the restriction, saying that Proton uses a toxic fuel.
Moscow may demand to review the cosmodrome lease agreement conditions, Iterfax-Kazakhstan reports, citing Interfax Division for Military News as quoting a source in the Russia’s space industry.
“A possible scenario is to initiate talks to have the rent payments tied to the extent to which the Baikonur satisfies Russia’s needs”, the source said.
“Russia is meeting Kazakhstan’s requirements to stagedly decrease harmful emissions of the carrier rockets”, the source said, reminding that Kazakhstan cited environment concerns when restricting the number of launches.
“In particular, Russia has implemented a costly program to modernize Proton carrier rockets to Proton-M. Heptyl-run Cyclon-2 and RS-20 are no longer used”, the source said, adding that “hardly will the sides come to terms within a short time”.
A total of 30 launches are planned from Baikonur this year.
This is the latest dispute over the Kazakh spaceport, which Russia leases at a cost of $115 million per year. Kazakhstan has said it wants to renegotiate the lease and assume greater control over the Soviet-era facility.
Russia will be moving many — but not all — of the launch operations currently performed at Baikonur to a new launch complex at Vostochny in the Russian Far East beginning in 2015.
Read the full story. | <urn:uuid:6fe67cb9-1123-4e94-a252-e798065e9e13> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.parabolicarc.com/2013/01/18/kazakhstan-limits-russian-rocket-launches-from-baikonur/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92401 | 348 | 2.09375 | 2 |
An asteroid expected to hurtle past Earth next week will fly within range of communication satellites but will not hit the planet, experts said today.
Known as 2012 DA14, the asteroid is around 45 metres in diameter and is on track to whiz within 27,700km above Earth’s surface next Friday at around 9.24am AEDT, a record close call for an asteroid of this size.
The US space agency NASA said “there is no chance that the asteroid might be on a collision course with Earth. Nevertheless, the flyby will provide a unique opportunity for researchers to study a near-Earth object up close.”
Professor Phil Bland, an asteroid expert and ARC Laureate Fellow at Curtin University said such a close visit would help scientists better prepare for an asteroid that was actually on track to hit Earth.
“One of the things we are interested in is if we saw something coming that we thought might be a problem, would we be able to track it accurately enough to know whether we should try to deflect it or do something about it?” he said, adding that even at 45m across, 2012 DA14 was still considered a smallish asteroid.
“In terms of its effect on Earth, if it hit us it would still make a reasonable mess. That’s a bit bigger than the one that blew up over part of Siberia in the beginning of the 20th century, called Tunguska,” he said.
“No one saw that one coming. It was a huge fireball that came in and blew up around 10km in altitude over part of Siberia and really devastated a huge area. It’s the same sort of energy as a big nuclear blast.”
That blast created shock waves powerful enough to flatten trees and houses, he said.
“If this one next week did hit us, it’d do something like that, it would be more likely to blow up in the atmosphere than on the ground. But we are safe and sound, they know where it’s going to be. This one is not going to hit us, we will not have any trouble at all.”
Professor Trevor Ireland from the Australian National University’s Research School of Earth Sciences said between two and 40 tonnes of extraterrestrial material entered Earth’s atmosphere a day.
“Most of the meteorites or shooting stars you see are the size of grains of sand or a match head but they come into the Earth’s atmosphere fast, at about 16km per second,” he said.
“The solar system is rather active. Even though we look up in the night sky and see not much happening, there’s certainly a lot of activity in the asteroid belt.”
Next week’s asteroid follows the release of a new scientific paper, published in the journal Science, that presented new evidence linking a giant asteroid impact in Mexico with the disappearance of the dinosaurs.
“These researchers have been able to find something dating the end of the dinosaurs as well as the impact and it’s getting close. It’s removing any doubt that dinosaurs were wiped out following that incident,” Professor Ireland said, adding that the impact, which caused the Chicxulub crater, may have coincided with a period of high volcanic activity.
“[The asteroid] was potentially ejecting sulfates and carbonates which put nasty chemicals into the air and block out the sunlight. You put that on top of the volcanoes at the time and you have something that could be quite toxic to the lungs of larger animals.”
Professor Ireland said the new evidence showed that “something really nasty happened there for the dinosaurs.”
“The good news is their departure allowed for the rise of mammals like us. So it’s swings and roundabouts.” | <urn:uuid:74274dab-af58-41be-9e0c-3b70bdbc617f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2013/02/should-you-be-scared-of-the-incoming-asteroid/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962082 | 805 | 3.28125 | 3 |
Name of State
Kypriaki Demokratia (Greek), Kibris Cumhuriyeti (Turkish) (Republic of Cyprus)
1st October 1960
The Cyprus Flag
The Cyprus flag was defined in 1960 after independence.
Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean, after Sicily and Sardinia, with an area of 9,251 sq. kilometers, of which 1,733 are forested. It has a maximum length of 240 kms from east to west and a maximum width of 100 kms from north to south.
It is situated at the north-eastern end of the East Mediterranean basin at a distance of 380 kms north of Egypt, 105 kms west of Syria and 75kms south of Turkey. The Greek mainland is some 800 kms to the west. The nearest Greek islands are Rhodes and Carpathos, 380 kms to the west. The latitude of Cyprus is 34 33’ - 35 34’ north and its longitude 32 16’ - 34 37’ east.
Cyprus has an intense Mediterranean climate with the typical seasonal rhythm strongly marked in respect of temperature, rainfall and weather generally. Hot, dry summers from mid-May to mid-September and rainy, rather changeable winters from November to mid-March are separated by short autumn and spring seasons.
In summer the island is mainly under the influence of a shallow trough of low pressure extending from the great continental depression centred over southwest Asia. It is a season of high temperatures with almost cloudless skies.
In winter Cyprus is near the track of fairly frequent small depressions which cross the Mediterranean Sea from west to east between the continental anticyclone of Eurasia and the generally low pressure belt of North Africa. These depressions give periods of disturbed weather usually lasting for a day or so and produce most of the annual precipitation, the average rainfall from December to February being about 60% of the average annual total precipitation for the island as a whole, which is 500 mm.
Flora and Fauna
Seventeen per cent of the island is covered by woodland. The natural vegetation includes forests of evergreen and deciduous trees, shrubs and flowers. The flora comprises about 1,800 indigenous species, sub–species and varieties. About 140 or 7% of these are endemics.
There are also 365 species of birds but only 115 bred on the island. Two species and five sub–species have been classed as endemic.
Among the animals, the moufflon is the most noteworthy since it is found only in Cyprus.
Towns and Population
The population of Cyprus is 793.100 of whom 80,7% are Greek Cypriots (including Armenians, Maronites and Latins), 87,600 (11,0%) are Turkish Cypriots and 66,000 (8,3%) foreigners residing in Cyprus. The density of the population is 86 persons / sq km.
The population does not include over 115.000 Turkish settlers illegally residing in the Turkish-occupied part of Cyprus.
The figure of the Greek Cypriot population includes about 9.000 Maronites, Armenians and Latins who, under the 1960 Constitution were asked to choose between the two communities and opted to join the Greek Cypriot community.
The language of the Greek Cypriot community is Greek and the community adheres to the Autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus. The language of the Turkish Cypriot community is Turkish and the community adheres to Islam. The religious groups of Armenians, Maronites and Latins, in accordance with 1960 constitution, opted to belong to the Greek Cypriot community.
The capital of the island is Nicosia with a population of 206.200 (end of 2001) in the sector controlled by the government of the Republic of Cyprus. It is situated roughly in the centre of the island and is the seat of government as well as the main business centre. The 1974 Turkish invasion and occupation of 36 % of the island's territory literally cut the capital in half. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Nicosia remains the only militarily divided capital in Europe.
The second largest town is Limassol in the south, which has around 161.200 (end of 2001) inhabitants. It is Cyprus' main commercial port and an important tourist resort. Larnaca, in the south-east of the island, has a population of 72.000 (end of 2001) and is the island's second commercial port and an important tourist resort. Paphos in the south-west with a population of about 47.300 (end of 2001) is a fast developing tourist resort, home to the island's second International Airport and an attractive fishing harbour.
In the Turkish occupied area, the town of Ammochostos (Famagusta), the hub of the pre-1974 tourist industry, is now a ghost town, deserted since 1974 when its inhabitants fled from advancing Turkish troops. The towns of Keryneia (Kyrenia), another important tourist resort on the north coast, and Morphou, situated in the important agricultural area of western Messaoria, are now inhabited almost exclusively by Turkish Cypriots and Turkish settlers as the Greek Cypriots were forced in 1974 to abandon their homes and properties and move to the south under the threat of guns and armament of the Turkish occupation army (for information on the Cyprus Question please visit the specialized section of this site).
To visit the Website of the Union of Municipalities click here.
Cyprus is a Republic with a presidential system of government. Under the 1960 Constitution, executive power is vested in the President of the Republic, elected by universal suffrage for a five-year term of office. The President exercises executive power through the Council of Ministers and the Government Spokesman appointed by him. Each Minister is the head of his Ministry and exercises executive power of all subjects within that Ministry's domain. (more information can be found on the Government's homepage).
Independent Officers and Bodies
A number of officers and bodies are independent and do not come under the jurisdiction of any Ministry. The independent officers of the Republic under the Constitution are the Attorney–General and the Auditor–General, who head the Law Office and the Audit Office respectively, and the Governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus. The Ombudsman is also an independent officer of the Republic whose position, however, was created much later, in 1991. The bodies with independent functions include the Public Service Commission, the Educational Service Commission and the Planning Bureau.
The Central Bank of Cyprus
The Central Bank was established in 1963. It is responsible for formulating and implementing monetary and credit policy. It also administers the foreign exchange reserves of the Republic, supervises banks and acts as banker and financial agent of the Government.
The freedom of religion is safeguarded in the Cyprus constitution. Article 18 states that “every person has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion” and that “all religions are equal before the law”. Furthermore Article 28 says that no one shall be discriminated against because of his religion.
The majority of the population of Cyprus (84,1%) is Greek Cypriot and Christian Orthodox. Turkish Cypriots, who make up 11,7% of the population, are Sunnite Moslems. Armenians, Maronites and Latins make up 1% of the population, while 3,2% are foreign nationals.
Throughout the post-Independence period, Cyprus has had a record of successful economic performance, reflected in rapid growth, full employment conditions and external and internal stability. The underdeveloped economy, inherited from Colonial Rule in 1960, has been transformed into a modern economy, with dynamic services, industrial and agricultural sectors and advanced physical and social infrastructure.
Cyprus is classified among the high-income countries, with a per capita income of CY£9,477 in 2004 (approx. US$20.000). The performance of its economy compares favourably with that of most EU countries. Cyprus holds 16th place worldwide in terms of per capita income. The average annual rate of growth in the past five years was about 3,8%, while inflation stood at 2,9% and unemployment at 3,4% over that period.
These achievements appear all the more striking, bearing in mind the severe economic and social dislocation created by the Turkish invasion of 1974 and the continuing occupation of the northern part of the island by Turkey. The Turkish invasion inflicted a serious blow to the Cyprus economy and in particular to agriculture, tourism, mining and quarrying: 70 percent of the island’s rich producing resources were lost, the tourist industry lost 65 percent of its hotels and tourist accommodation, the industrial sector lost 46 percent, and mining and quarrying lost 56 percent of production. The loss of the Port of Famagusta, which handled 83 percent of the general cargo, and the closure of the Nicosia International Airport, in the buffer zone, were additional blows.
The success of Cyprus in the economic sphere is attributed, inter alia, to the adoption of a market oriented economic system, the pursuance of sound macroeconomic policies by the government as well as the existence of a dynamic and flexible entrepreneurship and a highly educated labour force. Moreover, the economy benefited from the close cooperation between the public sector and the social partners.
During the last decade, Cyprus has intensified its relations with the European Union, its largest trading partner. On May 1st 2004, Cyprus became a full member of the EU. The economic benefits of EU accession to Cyprus, as a whole, are quite substantial. Cyprus goods and services will have access to a huge single market consisting of some of the most advanced countries in Europe. Cyprus’ participation in the Union’s internal market, an area where free movement of goods, services, persons and goods is ensured, will lead in the long term to a more efficient allocation of factors of production towards activities in which Cyprus possesses comparative advantages. This will have positive repercussions on growth and employment.
(For more detailed information on the economy you may visit the homepage of the Ministry of Finance).
Health and Social Welfare
Free medical care in government hospitals and health centers is available for low–income families, civil servants and refugees. There are also private clinics and a large number of practices offering a wide range of medical services. The ratio of persons per doctor was 381:1 in 2001.
A comprehensive social insurance scheme covers every working person and their dependants. Benefits and pensions from the scheme cover unemployment, illness, maternity, widows, injury at work, old age and death.
There is also a broad range of welfare services provided by the Government, including children's day care centres, old people's homes, facilities for the disabled, free housing for refugees, rent subsidies for low income families and financial assistance to community organizations.
Education is compulsory up to the age of 15. Primary and secondary education is free. Cyprus has one university and 30 colleges and institutions of further education.
Cyprus ranks high in terms of third level education with 63% of secondary school leavers in 2001 continuing their studies. More than half the students study abroad, mainly in Greece (55%), the UK (22%) and the USA (13%). In 2000/01 55% of students studying abroad and 58% enrolled on third level education courses in Cyprus were women.
Freedom of expression and media pluralism are safeguarded by the Constitution and the relevant press and radio and television station laws.
Currently there are:
- 7 dailies and a large number of weeklies and periodicals in circulation
- 7 island–wide and 6 local TV channels
- 10 island–wide and 38 local radio stations
- 1 news agency (Cyprus News Agency – CNA)
British Sovereign Base Areas
There are British military bases at Akrotiri/Episkopi and Dhekelia covering 3 % of the country's territory.
The bases were retained by Britain under the 1960 Treaty of Establishment between Britain, Greece, Turkey and the Republic of Cyprus.
Cyprus is a member of many international organizations including:
- The United Nations (UN) (1960) and its specialized agencies
- Council of Europe (CoE) (1961)
- The Commonwealth (1961)
- Organization for Security and Co–operation in Europe (OSCE) (1975)
- Non–Aligned Movement (NAM) (1960)
- World Trade Organization (WTO) (1955)
- European Union (2004)
Vital Statistics (2002)
- Birth rate 11.1 per thousand
- Death rate 7.3 per thousand
- Growth rate 1.2%
- Life expectancy (males) 76.1 (2001)
- Life expectancy (females) 81.0 (2001)
According to archaeological evidence, Cyprus' history goes back 11,000 years to the 9th millennium BC (early Neolithic Period or Stone Age).
The island acquired its Greek character after it was colonized by the Mycenaean and Achaean Greeks between the 13th and 11th century BC. It subsequently came under Assyrian, Egyptian and Persian domination (8th – 4th century BC). It became part of the Roman Empire between 30 BC and 330 AD.
However, it retained its Greek identity and, as part of the Hellenistic state of the Ptolemies (310–30 BC) and of the Greek–speaking world of Byzantium (330 AD–1191), its ethnic heritage was reinforced. The Greek language and culture also prevailed throughout the centuries that followed even though Cyprus came under the rule of successive colonial powers, including the Franks (Lusignans) (1192–1489), the Venetians (1489–1571), the Ottomans (1571–1878) and the British (1878–1960).
The Greek Cypriots mounted a liberation struggle against British rule from 1955 to 1959 and in 1960 Cyprus gained its independence. Greece, Turkey and Britain were to stand as guarantors of the country's independence under the Zurich–London agreements and Britain would have two sovereign base areas.
According to the 1960 Constitution, power would be shared between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots on a 7:3 ratio, while the Turkish Cypriots, who comprised 18% of the population of the island, were also granted veto rights.
Relations between the two communities had for centuries been peaceful and amicable. But a conflict of aims after independence led to brief intercommunal clashes in 1963, 1964 and 1967 and the withdrawal in December 1963 of the Turkish Cypriots from the administration and legislature. | <urn:uuid:fb48e61d-8616-4ccc-87bc-d998a850ccf4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mfa.gov.cy/mfa/Embassies/Embassy_Doha.nsf/DMLcy_en/DMLcy_en?OpenDocument | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953081 | 3,029 | 3.3125 | 3 |
Newspapers and magazines have been dying slowly since the invention of the internet, and each day they struggle to regain their glory days of a few years past. Now it seems they’ve found their saviors in the land of e-paper, with different forms of e-reader technology allowing them to get new subscribers electronically. Can this really save the flagging profit margins for the market? Or will it just slow down the death, stop the bleeding for a little bit?
We think that e-paper (and e-readers in general) really can save print publishing’s newspapers and magazines, and that this year will be the year when the technology starts to ramp up and make the transition from paid print services to paid electronic services. Sure, in the last year we’ve seen both the Kindle and the Nook allow for subscriptions to a few magazines (and a handful of blogs), but in 2010 we will be seeing e-readers built with magazines and newspapers in mind from the ground up.
One of the key enhancements to the current e-readers and their screens is the size of the screens. Magazines and newspapers are much larger than books, mostly because of their layouts and use photography to enhance their content. Add in a large amount of content shoved into as few pages as possible, and you have the need for a wider page size. So far, devices like the Nook or the Kindle are perfect for paperback sized book reading, allowing you the portability and size of small book. These displays become cramped and impossible to read easily when trying to view newspapers or magazines.
A larger screen is then a must. And a lot of different e-readers coming out in the next year mimic the Kindle DX, giving them newspaper or magazine size layouts on an e-paper screen. Hearst’s e-reader for it’s Skiff platform is rumored to be about the size of a magazine, as is Plastic Logic’s up and coming e-reader platform. Bridgestone recently released a video of it’s own newspaper sized e-reader, although the speed in which it refreshes is painfully slow, even for an e-paper platform.
Portability is Preferable
The main problem with larger e-paper screens is the lack of portability. What makes newspapers and magazines so enjoyable is the ability to roll them up and take them with you. You can read them on the bus, on your lunch break or even while sitting on the bench in the park. The current technology for e-readers makes this nearly impossible. You can’t fold or spindle your e-reader without probably breaking it first.
The next generation of e-readers will have ways around this. We’ve already seen reports of Flexible, bi-stable LCD’s that allow you to roll up your device and take it with you. This method mimics the portability of newspapers and magazines manufactured the old fashioned way, and allows for cold manufacturing, which is better on the whole for the environment.
Color is Key
For magazines (and a few newspapers, like USA Today and Newsweek) color is an important aspect of getting the look and feel down just right. A lot of new technologies are promising color e-paper in the next year, giving people exactly what they need in a portable e-magazine. Some companies are skipping over the e-paper aspect and just creating single-purpose tablets (like Sports Illustrated’s new device). These seem to be missing the point. If people wanted to read a magazine on a tablet PC, they would.
Others, like Mirasol or PixelQi are bringing in some interesting new ways in displaying full color e-paper, and keeping the benefits of e-paper that people enjoy, like low-battery consumption and easy reading without glare or eye-strain. They also seem to be leaping beyond the low frame rate problem, and even enabling video on their devices.
Is it Necessary?
The real question is, is this even necessary? Do we really need a single purpose device for displaying magazines and newspapers? Since e-readers are currently between 200$ to 300$ a piece, it makes it difficult to think we need two devices, one for books and one for magazines. Should magazines and newspapers evolve by creating their own e-reader like the Kindle DX or Plastic Logic’s up and coming device? Or should they resize and reformat for the Kindle or the Nook?
Either way, the future for these two print technologies is going electronic and fast. The old methods of subscription and distribution are slowly falling behind, each of them losing more and more subscribers as time wears on.
color, e-paper, magazine, newspaper | <urn:uuid:699789d8-cd14-409a-9594-7ad87883d83a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.epapercentral.com/newspapers-and-magazines-epaper-or-bust-in-2010.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956565 | 981 | 1.695313 | 2 |
A mayor of a Lithuanian city this week took to driving an armored personnel carrier over a Mercedes-Benz that was parked in the bike lane. “I’ve had enough of these drivers parking their luxury cars on bike lanes and pedestrian crossings. This tank is a good tool to solve the problem of parking in the wrong place,” Mayor Zuokas told the assembled reporters.
See, In the beautiful city of Vilnius, Lithuania, there’s a big problem with people who drive fancy cars like Mercedes-Benzes and Ferraris parking them in the bike lanes. Citizens so far have been posting pictures of the jerks on social media so everyone can shake their collective fists. However, the type of people who drive these cars and park them in bike lanes don’t seem to care much about what people say about them on Twitter as their behavior hasn’t changed. That’s what pushed Mayor Zoukas into action and into the tank. After it was over, he rode away on his cute little bike.
Sadly, the entire event was staged and the parked car was one that had been junked. But I bet a few drivers whose butlers mention the story to them will think twice next time before parking their hot ride in a bike lane.
What municipal laws would you like to see enforced in your town via tank?Vilniaus meras A.Zuokas miesto centre Å¡arvuoÄiu pervažiavo automobilį „Mercedes” (nuotraukos) [lyrtas.lt via cyclelicious] | <urn:uuid:6a097320-a843-42e1-9305-3519dd2a3fa4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://consumerist.com/2011/08/02/mayor-crushes-cars-that-park-in-bike-lane-with-tank/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971283 | 347 | 1.507813 | 2 |
The number one and number two ranked smartphone operating systems worldwide, Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android, reportedly combined make up 91.1% of all smartphone shipments during the end of 2012.
According to The International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, the fourth quarter of 2012 saw Android smartphone vendors and Apple ship a total of 207.6 million units worldwide.
This was a 70.2% spike from the 122.0 million units shipped during the year-ago quarter, reports
iOS and Android accounted for 87.6% of the 722.4 million smartphones shipped worldwide in 2012, a 68.1% increase from 2011.
According to Ramon Llamas, research manager with IDC's Mobile Phone team, “demand for Apple's iPhone 5 kept iOS out in front and in the hands of many smartphone users.”
“At the same time, lower prices on the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 4S brought iOS within reach of more users and sustained volume success of older models. Even with the Apple Maps debacle, iPhone owners were not deterred from purchasing new iPhones,” said Llamas.
In other words, Apple is doing just fine with no “cheap” iPhones in its portfolio. | <urn:uuid:a1c5f89b-0337-414d-a5bf-85db0c5e3ad7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.softpedia.com/news/Apple-Already-Has-Cheap-iPhones-on-Sale-329621.shtml | 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 | 0.927299 | 263 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Review: 'Chasing Ice'
Plot: Documentary chronicling proof of global climate change.
Bottom line: Powerful look at a very real phenomenon.
'Chasing Ice' review: Real climate change
"It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness" was a favorite Chinese proverb of the late "Peanuts" cartoonist Charles Schulz. Photographer James Balog must have taken that to heart as he noticed changes to the wild world he documents, and heard all the cursing dominating the discussion of global climate change.
So Balog took a candle -- actually, cameras, 25 of them -- set up time-lapse gear and mounted them in front of several glaciers for three years. And in starkly beautiful, simple and damning images, he showed us climate change -- glaciers disappearing so fast he had to re-aim his cameras just to follow their rapid decline.
"Chasing Ice" is a beautiful documentary that follows Balog, who often works for National Geographic, in his dogged quest to silence the blizzard of denial which the film sums up in montages of TV footage.
Filmmaker Jeff Orlowski rides along as Balog visits scientists who have the ice core samples that give testimony to the rising levels of carbon in the atmosphere. Film cameras sit in as Balog meets other scientists who link the longer droughts, harsher fire and tropical storm seasons to the warming planet.
Balog, a photographer who trained in the field of geomorphology, realized "a powerful piece of history is unfolding," and focused on "the most visible evidence of climate change" -- glaciers, which are both retreating and "deflating," thinning out as they melt. That's where he and a small crew scrambled to set their cameras.
Balog comes off as a man with a mission -- sharing his footage with TV newscasts, giving talks to climate change conferences and other interested groups, lighting that single candle rather than cursing.
PLOT Documentary chronicling proof of global climate change
RATING Not rated
BOTTOM LINE Powerful look at a very real phenomenon. | <urn:uuid:2437d4c7-994c-434d-b657-751a1f503ddc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/movies/chasing-ice-review-real-climate-change-1.4222289 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953663 | 432 | 2.046875 | 2 |
New transistor tech could beat silicon and save Moore's Law
Indium gallium arsenide tapped for smaller, faster chips
IEDM Boffins at MIT's Microsystems Technology Laboratories have developed the world's smallest transistor made of indium gallium arsenide, a substance they say could replace silicon as the go-to material for building tomorrow's ultra-fast, ultra-small microchips.
The tiny transistor is just 22nm in length, according to a report by MIT's in-house news agency, but it offers good logic performance.
That may not sound so impressive on first take, considering that Intel already uses a 22nm process to fabricate its newest-generation Core processors, with 14nm on the way .
But etching transistors much smaller than that using today's silicon-wafer processes will be tricky, because the smaller the transistors get, more difficult it is for them to handle current efficiently. Researchers believe we are fast approaching a "brick wall," after which point shrinking silicon transistors any further will be infeasible.
It should come as no surprise, then, that chip boffins have been searching high and low for practical alternatives to silicon. Graphene, gallium nitride, molybdenite, even carbon nanotubes – they're trying everything.
Indium gallium arsenide has long been a promising candidate, however, because its ability to conduct electrons is superior to silicon's at the nanometer scale – about five times better, in fact.
The material is already widely used in fiber-optic applications and in radar systems. The trick, however, has been figuring out how to create transistors with it that are small enough to be usable in microprocessors.
Jesús del Alamo and his team at MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science think they have found that method.
First, they used molecular beam epitaxy (MBE ) to grow a thin layer of indium gallium arsenide. They then used a combination of electron beam lithography and a technique whereby evaporated molybdenum is fired at the wafer to create the three electrodes that make up the transistor: the gate, the source, and the drain.
Del Alamo says that although none of these techniques is really novel in the semiconductor industry, their use with non-silicon compounds has not been explored much so far, mainly because traditional applications of indium gallium arsenide don't require the tiny components that microchips call for.
"But when you are talking about integrating billions of tiny transistors onto a chip, then we need to completely reformulate the fabrication technology of compound semiconductor transistors to look much more like that of silicon transistors," he says.
According to del Alamo, the group's next step will be to try to shrink the size of the transistors it can produce even smaller than 22nm, with the ultimate goal of reducing them to below 10nm.
Should they succeed, however, there's still one hitch to overcome before chips based on the new material go mainstream; namely, that indium gallium arsenide – which is composed of the elements indium, gallium, and arsenic – is currently as much as 10 times as expensive as the equivalent amount of silicon. Those chips may be small, all right. But they'll cost you.
Del Alamo and his group will present their findings at the International Electron Devices Meeting, taking place this week in San Francisco. ® | <urn:uuid:bf915d90-bba9-4fb3-a3f7-f181b0df4c2e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/12/11/mit_non_silicon_transistor_tech/print.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945324 | 721 | 3.390625 | 3 |
There are multiple project management lessons to be learned from old St. Nick, so here are a few to consider:
1. Time boxing works – a lot has been written about the evils of pre-determining project end dates before sufficient information is available to properly plan, but there are benefits to having a deadline that can’t be moved. If nothing else, it provides focus and removes one variable from the inevitable triple or quadruple constraint negotiations. By having December 25, 12:01 AM as an immovable deadline, it helps Santa focus scope and resources.
2. Projects are about integrating different skills together in alignment – they might not be the Seven Dwarfs, but the nine reindeer likely all have their own personalities, strengths and weaknesses. Santa’s team building abilities are evident in that the reindeer team is at a high-performing level but we are all aware of the initial “storming” challenges Santa faced with poor Rudolph.
3. Scope definition is crucial – what Santa would call his “Naughty or Nice” list is analogous to our scope exclusions & inclusions list. Without this, there’s too much room for mis-interpretation and scope leap.
4. Delegate what should be delegated and then get out of the way – with his magical capabilities, it would be easy for Santa to meddle or take over the elves gift creation work, but he doesn’t. But, for what’s really important – defining scope and being the face to the customer, Santa is highly visible. It would have been equally easy for Santa to have delegated gift distribution to his hundreds of elves, but as should any good PM, Santa knows that accountability for a merry Christmas falls on his shoulders, so he is the “face to the customer”.
5. Be predictable – imagine the dismay that would be felt by Santa’s customers if they had no certainty about when he would deliver his scope, or whether or not they would even receive anything. Cookies and milk will spoil if left out too long, but people leave them out feeling comfortable that Santa will not let them down. I’ve often heard executives say that they don’t like surprises, and Santa’s epic reliability is something that PMs should take too heart.
6. Greet the day and everyone you meet with a smile (or a Ho Ho Ho!). It would have been easy for Santa to throw up his arms in despair at the “Death March” nature of his project, but he knows that good cheer is infectious (“And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself”) and this positive attitude motivates his team.
On the other hand, if you wish to be cynical, you could quote Victor Borge: “Santa Claus has the right idea: visit people once a year” | <urn:uuid:fc4953a2-17c8-4f0d-a233-f1a46667abf0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kbondale.wordpress.com/2011/12/25/santa-claus-pmp/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968442 | 597 | 1.5625 | 2 |
After posting DVDs and TPMs: how often is CSS used?, I asked Tony Clement if he could clarify how Bill C-32 affects DVDs (for a background on DVDs and CSS, see DVDs and TPMs…). His office replied with the following:
- Do you know if CSS would be a TPM?
Bill C-32 implements the international standards set out in the 1996 World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Internet treaties, which require protection of “effective technological measures” used by copyright owners to prevent unauthorized use of their work.
Accordingly, whether CSS, or any technology, would be captured by the TPM provisions would depend on whether it meets the definition of TPM in the bill, specifically whether it effectively protects a work. It is worth noting that courts in other countries have already examined this question (including the US, which found that CSS was an effective TPM). It would be up to Canadian courts to interpret whether CSS is a protected TPM in Canada.
- Do you know if libdvdcss would be illegal under C-32?
Under C-32 it would be illegal to sell or distribute devices that are designed primarily to circumvent a TPM. To determine if libdvdcss falls under this provision, a court would need to determine (i) that CSS is an effective TPM (as discussed in question 1) and (ii) whether libdvdcss is designed primarily to circumvent the CSS TPM.
Director of Communications
Office of the Honourable Tony Clement
While the response doesn’t clear up the issue definitively, I think it’s safe to say that Canadian courts would interpret the TPM provisions as the US courts have. This means that backing up or engaging in fair dealing would be prohibited for 98% of DVDs (see DVDs and TPMs… for how I arrived at this number) under Bill C-32.
I hope that the government will fix Bill C-32 before it is passed by tying the anti-circumvention laws directly to infringement (instead of having a blanket ban with a handful of exceptions like it does now) and removing the distribution restrictions on all circumvention devices as I recommended in my copyright consultation submission. With these changes, Bill C-32 would retain the fair dealing rights Canadians have today for engaging with digital content on DVDs and similarly-encumbered formats, yet it would still provide “adequate legal protection and effective legal remedies against the circumvention of effective technological measures” as required by the WIPO Copyright Treaty that the government wishes to ratify with the bill. | <urn:uuid:0e4e06f3-0bee-4f5e-b37a-294d9eecfb6b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ossguy.com/?p=662 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942326 | 534 | 2.3125 | 2 |
By LISA FLEISHER and JENNIFER WEISS
Jessica Polonsky, a 17-year-old high school senior, stood in what used to be her family's living room in Union Beach, N.J. Instead of fielding typical questions about applying to college, she's getting used to answering another query: How did you fare during Sandy?
She isn't always sure how to tell people that her house was destroyed and she, like thousands of others in the New York area, is now homeless.
"It's a little awkward," she said. "But knowing that everybody's trying to help, it's a good enough feeling. There aren't many good feelings with what's happened, so it's nice to know that people care."
Three weeks after superstorm Sandy leveled swaths of towns across the region, students whose families were displaced find themselves struggling to settle into an unfamiliar routine. Not only are they grappling with sudden homelessness, some are surrounded by strangers at a new school, while others are sitting among former classmates in a different building.
It is unclear just how many students were left homeless by the storm. Over time, families have been moving out of shelters and into hotels or other temporary housing.
There were only 126 children between the ages of 3 and 18 still in New York City shelters as of Wednesday, officials said, though it wasn't clear how many of them were students. And the city recorded more than 1,500 Sandy-related transfers, though it wasn't clear whether students were transferring multiple times or which ones had damage to their homes.
Simply tracking down students has been a challenge. Families have picked up and left town. Other parents have kept their children home, unsure of where to go without power for communications. In some places, teachers had gone door to door, searching for their students.
"We don't know where all the kids are," United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew said last week. "So many of them have had to relocate and don't have houses."
Municipalities have had different responses to the crisis. All schools must accept students dislocated by storms. New Jersey's Department of Education opened a hotline for families to answer questions about where to send their children. New York City's Department of Education has ordered schools to accept any transferring students, without questions, and many have.
A city Department of Education spokeswoman said staff members have been dispatched both to shelters and city schools to help parents and school staff members meet children's needs.
Still, it hasn't been a smooth transition in all cases.
Roni Anderson, whose apartment in Far Rockaway no longer has walls, tried to enroll her children at first in schools close to the Queens College shelter where she was staying. But the schools turned them away, saying they weren't taking "hurricane children," she said.
So instead of trying to find another school for her 6-year-old daughter, who has special needs, she kept her home.
Ms. Anderson's sons, who are 16 and 17, have endured long commutes to make it to school. "I would have rather they had 12 teachers come to the [shelter] site and teach," she said.
Pamela Cantor, founder of Turnaround for Children, which works in high-poverty schools, said students most at risk for long-term problems from the storm are those who have already experienced trauma.
"It's sitting on top of a lot of other, very, very stressful events and memories in their lives," said Ms. Cantor, a child psychiatrist.
Keeara Milliner, a shy, 14-year-old eighth-grader, transferred to a school near the Queens shelter where her family was staying until Friday. She said she'd rather stay there than go back to her old school, even though the work is harder.
Her father, Barry Milliner, 49, of Far Rockaway, said on top of everything else, he was told by someone at the shelter that if he didn't send his children to school, a social-services worker would open a case into his parenting. "I wanted them to learn, I want them to go to school, but they didn't have to come at me like that," he said. "It's bad enough I'm living in a hostile environment with people I don't know."The family moved to another shelter Friday, and Mr. Milliner isn't sure what will happen to the children. Like many others, the family is still figuring it out as they go.
Across the region, there are stories of parents sacrificing for their children's education. In Oceanside, N.Y., a Long Island town where floodwaters made many houses uninhabitable, school attendance has topped 95% since the district reopened Tuesday, Superintendent Herb Brown said.
"Parents have just made a herculean effort," he said. "They're determined."
Russell James said his son, Jason, 14, of Massapequa, stayed home from school last week to help his family repair their home. When Jason returned, he was told he'd be tested on material he had missed and wouldn't be excused from homework. It was tough, given that they have essentially been "camping" in their home, the first floor of which is set to be demolished next week, the father said.
The Polonsky family considered living out of their car before learning the Federal Emergency Management Agency would cover their stay at the Holiday Inn in Hazlet, N.J., until they move into a rental in December.
Robert Polonsky said Jessica has been worried about whether the experience will pull down her grades. Her SAT was canceled, and she was up until 11:30 p.m. Thursday doing homework. "My back was hurting just sitting there watching her do it," he said.
Rebecca Polonsky, 14, said one of her worst moments was when she told her teacher she didn't have her schoolbooks. Another classmate piped up that her books were the first things she packed.
"I almost cried just because she said that," Rebecca said. "I was like really? Don't need it."—Will James
contributed to this article. | <urn:uuid:8aadbaa1-fc5d-48f5-8a87-5018ebd9d79c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323551004578123393466220544.html?mod=WSJ_article_NewYorkRealEstateHeadlines | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.992059 | 1,280 | 1.945313 | 2 |
Caretaker God ISOs are known to replicate quasi-neumann fashion. This is perhaps the reason why seemingly unconnected Caretakers have been able to appear across wide swathes of space, often in time to fortuitously snatch a unique world or solar system from the grasp of a local development polity or corporation. Here we see a Caretaker colonization "seed" with drive sail observed near the Triangulum Expanse. The seed, housed in a protective housing, is approximately 4 meters long, the sail 20 meters in diameter. The Penrose rhomboid patterning is a common identifier among Caretakers, with different Caretakers using subtly different patterns. This form of identification has spread to the Zoeific Biopolity and other bioist clades. | <urn:uuid:957efb14-4b73-47c0-ba52-728121143009> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/4603283944951 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944944 | 157 | 2.265625 | 2 |
The First National Plaza day office in Illinois is located in a distinctive building reflecting the style of the Chicago School of architecture. The most striking feature of the Three First National Plaza building is its 57 story, faceted tower - clad in Carnelian granite and tinted glass and featuring a world-class sculpture by Henry Moore in its atrium-roofed lobby. Conveniently situated in the heart of The Loop, the city's famous business and financial district, there is also pedway access to government offices and the county courthouse. Chicago offers an advantage over many global cities in business costs. In KPMG's 2010 Guide to Competitive Alternatives, Chicago was ranked one of the most cost-effective cities in the world for doing business - ahead of London, New York, and Boston. | <urn:uuid:1e0b139e-72de-4101-a266-c2f8c97172fe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.regus.com.au/locations/day-office/illinois-chicago-first-national-plaza | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95779 | 160 | 1.625 | 2 |
I recently became interested in my Jordan line. This line starts with my second great grandmother, Louisa Ellen Jordan (1827-1876), who married Joseph David Hurt (1822-1864) of Tennessee. Ellen’s parents were William Jordan (1792-1863) and Medy Boyd (1795-bef.1833). William’s parents were William Jordan (1748-1822) and Sarah “Sallie” Wood (1753-1843). This William was born in Virginia and served as a corporal in the Revolutionary War. After the war, he moved to Tennessee. William’s parents were Edward Jordan (1720-1791) and Elizabeth Washington (1720-1794) of Halifax and Lunenburg Counties, Virginia. Edward’s parents were William Jordan (?-1779) and Mary Stokes (1678-1789). William’s parents were Colonel Samuel Jordan (1679-1718) and Elizabeth Fleming (1687-1763). (This Fleming line supposedly goes back to the Kings of Scotland and on to Charlemagne. I have followed it back but don’t have much documentation for it.) Samuel’s parents were Thomas Jordan (1634-1699) and Margaret Brassieur (1642-1708). Thomas is the son of Major Thomas Jordan (1600-1685) and Lucy Corker (1604-1700). Thomas is supposed by many to be the son of Samuel Jordan (1578-1632), an early Jamestown settler.
The information here was given to me by a distant cousin and I don’t have any sources for anything beyond William Jordan and Medy Boyd. Because the idea that I had an ancestor at Jamestown intrigued me, I decided to ignore all the rules of genealogy (i.e., start with the known and work back) and jump straight in to some research on Samuel Jordan. I discovered that he has an exciting story. He sailed from England in 1609 on the Sea Venture but was shipwrecked on Bermuda. The survivors remained on the island through the winter, building two smaller ships and then sailing to Jamestown in spring of 1610. Samuel survived the disease and Indian attacks prevalent in the new colony and established a plantation along the James River called “Jordan’s Journey.” He died before 1623. Much more biographical information about him can be found on the web – just search for his name and pages and bios will come up. Unfortunately, they seem to repeat the same facts without providing much in the way of source material.
One of the most important questions to genealogists is how many children did Samuel have. Any number of children have been attributed to him, including my Thomas, above. However, there doesn’t seem to be any evidence of any children other than those by his second wife, Cicely. Samuel was married in England to a first wife whose name is unknown. She evidently died around 1609, just before he sailed. No children have been found from this marriage. Samuel married Cicely in 1620 and they had two daughters: Mary and Margery.
I hope to do some more work on this line and would like to start gathering primary source documents so I can make my own determination about the parentage of Thomas. | <urn:uuid:cfb12f8d-a55b-4a34-8546-8686277b92f4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.karenfurst.com/blog/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968101 | 698 | 2.109375 | 2 |
In Shulchan Orach Siman 124 Sif 7 the machaber speaks about how bad it is to speak during Chazaras HaShatz (when the Shliach Tzibbur is repeating Shomeneh Esrei out loud.) The Shulchan Aruch HaRav over there in Siman 124 in Sif 10 writes that someone who talks in a shul when the time the tzibbur is "oskin b'shivcho shel makom" (involved in the praises of HaShem) that he makes himself as if he doesn't have "chelek" (portion) in Elokei Yisrael (The G-D of Israel.) His makor is from the Zohar in Parshas Trumah (Daf 131b.) As well the Shulchan Aurch in Orach Chaim Siman 151 Sif 1 writes that "sicha butteleh" (idle speeach) is ossur to speak in a Beis HaKeneses or Beis HaMedresh. This is talking about in general, how much more so when the Tzibbur is davening from what we see above. See too what the M"B writes there in Sif-Katan 2.
With this small introduction my question is as follows. Does it say any where b'farush that it's "ossur" to speak in the middle of Kaddish. Let's say it's a person who is not davening with the tzibbur at all who comes into the shul for a different reason. Or someone who plans on davening with the tzibbur but hasn't started yet and is l'maseh able to speak still but is speaking now during Kaddish. Where does it say that this is ossur or where do the poskim learn it out from? The makoros that I provided above would seemingly suffice I think but I'm looking to see where there is more. | <urn:uuid:c6ec123c-5ae2-4b4b-bba4-06c0ba45a08a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/21859/speaking-in-the-middle-of-kaddish/21870 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966729 | 422 | 1.867188 | 2 |
Jesus Christ heals, by Charles Fillmore, , at sacred-texts.com
I REJOICE and am glad because Thy harmonizing love makes me every whit whole. All healing systems recognize joy as a beneficent factor in the restoration of health to the sick. "The joy of Jehovah is your strength." This statement is based on a principle recognized by all who help to bring about strength of mind and health of body. An old country doctor used to tell how he healed a woman of a large cyst by telling her a funny story: at which she laughed so heartily that the fluid broke loose and passed away.
The mind puts kinks in the nerves in ways beyond description. A thought of fear will stop the even flow of life in some nerve center deep down in the body, forming a nucleus where other fears may accumulate and finally congest the blood concerned in some important function. The impast of energy of some kind is necessary to break the dam. Physical exercise will sometimes do it, or massage, or electricity; but these are temporary remedies. None of them has touched the cause, which is mental: fear.
There are various methods of erasing fear from the mind and preventing its congestions in the body. One of the most direct and effective shatterers of fear is laughter. Laugh your fears away. See how ridiculous they are when traced to their source.
Nearly all persons have some pet fear, and they give up to it without trying to find its source.
The nerves surrounding the heart are most sensitive to thoughts of fear, and when mind and body are strenuously excited the fearfully charged nerve cells grab the heart and hold it like a vise. Businessmen who live in a world of sharp competition and constant risk of loss with few exceptions are subject to this kind of fear.
Christian metaphysicians of course know that the only permanent cure for the ailment is a heartfelt trust in God as the one and only source of good to man. A daily prayer for wisdom and divine guidance in the conduct of one's affairs will restore peace and harmony to mind and body, and health must of necessity follow.
I will sing unto the Lord a new song of harmony and health.
That there is an intimate relation between happiness and health goes without question. When you feel good you sing either audibly or silently. Singing promotes health because it increases the circulation, and a good circulation is a sign and promoter of health. If the blood stream were never congested and all the nerves and pores were open and free and were swiftly carrying forward their appointed work, there would never be an abnormal or false growth in the body. It follows logically then that we should cultivate those mind activities which stimulate naturally the currents of life in the body. One of these, and a very important one, is joy.
No one likes to take medicine even when sugar-coated, because there is an instinctive feeling that it will do no good. Besides it usually tastes bad. But nearly anyone can sing a little song, and those who have tried it right in the face of suffering will tell you that it is a marvelous health restorer.
The reason that singing restores harmony to tense nerves is that its vibrations stir them to action, thus making it possible for the ever-waiting healing Spirit to get in. The organ of the human voice is located right between the thyroid glands, the accelerators of certain important body functions. To a greater or less degree every word you speak vibrates the cells up and down the body, from front brain to abdomen.
The Spirit of health, or as the doctors call it, the restorative power of nature, is always right at hand awaiting an opportunity to enter in to make whole and to harmonize all discords in the body. Back of every true song is a thought of joy. It is the thought that counts in the end, because it is the thought that invites the healing Spirit. Consequently we should sing with the thought that the Lord is right with us and that His joy is giving our words the healing unction; as Jesus said, "that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full."
When men think a great deal about spiritual things and especially about God as an indwelling spiritual presence, both mind and body are thrilled with joy, a feeling of satisfaction, and a tendency to break out in songs of gladness. This is not confined to Christians; persons everywhere, in every age, have
told of an inner glory and happiness when they got into the habit of concentrating their mind on God. The great philosopher Spinoza wrote so much about God that he was known as the "God-intoxicated man."
Pythagoras taught that the universe is God's symphony and that all the suns and planets sing as they swing their way through the heavens. All nature has a language and a song for those who listen. Shakespeare says:
Shakespeare often quoted from the Bible, and he may have got his idea that trees have tongues from I Chronicles 16:33: "Then shall the trees of the wood sing for joy before Jehovah."
Some people think it almost a sacrilege to sing when they feel bad. They think that that is the time to groan, and they usually do. That is the way the mortal looks at it, and that is the way you may happen to feel, but you can quickly be released from the prison of pain or grief if you will sing and praise and pray.
First sing in your soul--you can sing 'way down inside of yourself--then you will soon be singing with your voice. So we lay down the metaphysical
law that everybody should know how to sing. Everybody can sing. It does not make any difference what your previous thoughts have been about your ability to sing, it does not make any difference what you think about it at present, and it does not make any difference whether you can sing or not; cultivate the singing soul and you will some day break forth into a singing voice.
This is a creative law, and it is a law that everyone should know and use, because through the vibrations of the voice joined with high thinking every cell in the body is set into action, and not only in the body but out into the environing thought atmosphere the vibrations go and break up all crystallized conditions.
The whole universe is in vibration, and that vibration is under law. Chaos would result if the law were not supreme. Each particular thing has its rate of vibration. Heat, light, and color are different rates of vibration in one field of primal energy. Different colors are caused by the different frequencies of the vibrations as they strike the eye. But what causes vibration? We answer Mind.
The cells of the body are centers of force in a field of universal energy. There are no solids. That which appears solid is in reality the scene of constant activity. The eye is not keyed to the pulsations of this universal energy and is therefore deceived into believing that things are solid. All energy and life are governed by laws of spiritual harmony. If the mind that receives sound vibrations is in spiritual
consciousness, the body responds to the higher activity. If our mind were trained to think thoughts that harmonized with Divine Mind, we could hear the music of the spheres.
You can drive away the gloom of disappointment by resolutely singing a sunshine song. I believe that we could cultivate the power of music in connection with the understanding of Truth and thus rend all the bonds of sin, sickness, and death. The world needs a new hymnal, with words of Truth only and music so strong and powerful that it will penetrate to the very center of the soul.
Our body is now tuned to the divine harmony; we shall find the keynote by listening in the silence to the singing soul.
The new life in Christ fills me with zeal to live, and I am healed.
In putting on Christ--that is, developing the supermind--every faculty has to be raised to supermind proportions. The exact mathematical degree of power necessary to "synchronize" oneself with the "kingdom of the heavens" in which the supermind functions has not been revealed to human consciousness, if indeed it can be. An eminent British astronomer says that he has discovered that God is a great mathematician, and the logical conclusion of all wise philosophers is that everything in the universe both seen and unseen is under mathematical law. "The very hairs of your head are all numbered," said Jesus.
Jesus also said that He came to bring more life
to slow-moving humanity. More vital force now is and always has been the crying need of people everywhere. Disease germs run riot in anemic persons. The cause of such conditions is mental: there is a lack of vital interest in life and a disinclination to assume its responsibilities.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said that no great work was ever accomplished without enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is another word for zeal, and zeal is a great stimulator of man. You cannot think of or repeat the word zeal without evoking a certain mental thrill that spurs you to action in some direction if you repeat it over and over. This brings us back to the point we mentioned about everything having a mathematical infusion; that is, everything is impregnated with mathematics. Every word we speak goes forth from our mouth charged with atomic energies that vibrate at a definite numerical rate. According to science every atom is composed of protons and electrons, the number of electronic elements in an atom determining the character of the substance. Now we see that modern science is proving the truth of Jesus' statement that we shall be held accountable for every word we speak. Our minds determine the character of our words and what the mind determines the mouth obediently utters, its words loaded with constructive or destructive electrons all mathematically arranged to build up or blow up both ourselves and our aims and ideals. We are perfectly aware that some persons are overzealous, that they consume their vitality by talking and acting without
wisdom: "The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up." Such persons are so enthusiastic in externals that they lose contact with the source of things, the inner mind, and they destroy the body, the temple of the living God. However these are the minority. The great majority lack zeal in doing even the most ordinary things, and even the overzealous would find a much-coveted and needed poise by linking their minds with the Christ.
The beginning of the culture of the mind that enables it to make contact with the realm of creative ideas is faith, and faith is superenthusiasm. You must have such confidence in your ability to make union with creative Mind that you fuse the two and the invisible elements melt and fall into the mold you have made for them.
When we know that every word is mathematically linked with certain creative ideas and that Divine Mind has made it possible for every one of us to draw upon these ideas mentally, we have the key to all creative processes. "Whosoever . . . shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that what he saith cometh to pass; he shall have it." Here in a nutshell Jesus has stated the law and its fulfillment. The one and only reason that we do not always succeed in our demonstrations is that we do not persist in our mental work. If we have never tested our faith in God and His mathematical laws, we must begin to discipline our minds and raise our thoughts to the point where they abandon the slow inertia of the natural man for the speed and spring
of the spiritual man. This is accomplished by prayer, meditation, and the repetition of true words. It is not the vain repetition of words over and over, parrotlike, but the quiet realization that there is a listening Mind and a ready host of great ideas at all
times waiting for us.
I am at peace because I trust divine justice to regulate my mind, body, and affairs.
The mind may be compared to the sea, which is calm or stormy according to the wind that moves it. Thought utilizes the substance of the mind and forms that which man ideates.
A restful state of mind is greatly to be desired because of its constructive character. When the mind is lashed by a brain storm the cells of the whole organism are shattered and exhaustion ensues. Nervous prostration is the result of exhausted nerve force.
Man's whole character is determined by the thoughts for which he allows a place in his mind. A strong man or a weak man is what he is because of repeated thoughts of strength or weakness. Steadfast affirmations of peace will harmonize the whole body structure and open the way to attainment of healthy conditions in mind and body. The reason that prayers and treatments for health are not more successful is that the mind has not been put in a receptive state by affirmations of peace.
The Mind of Spirit is harmonious and peaceful, and it must have a like manner of expression in man's consciousness. When a body of water is choppy with fitful currents of air it cannot reflect objects
clearly. Neither can man reflect the steady strong glow of Omnipotence when his mind is disturbed by anxious thoughts, fearful thoughts, or angry thoughts.
Be at peace and your unity with God-Mind will bring you health and happiness.
We all should practice delightful, happy, joyous states of mind. It is such thoughts that open the way for the ever-present Father-Mind to pour out its splendid resources into our mind and through us into all our affairs.
Thou art my life unfailing, and I rejoice in Thy abundant, buoyant health.
No one can understand the real character of God without a metaphysical study and analysis of mind and its properties. To think of God as an enormously enlarged man, as most persons do, entangles one in a maze of wrong conclusions concerning the nature and creative processes of Being.
Think of Being as an aggregation of ideas with potential creative capacity but governed in its creative processes by unalterable laws. Mentally see those ideas projected into action in a universe evolving a self-conscious creature possessed of free will called man. As man develops through the combination of those original ideas, behold him arriving at a place in his evolution where he realizes his power of self-determination and consciously begins to choose as his own field of action the many pleasant activities of the universe and to combine them in his own way.
This phase of man's development is symbolized
in the Edenic allegory as Adam and Eve eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree that bears the fruit of pleasure in the midst of man's body garden is the sympathetic nervous system. Satan, sensation, tempts Adam and Eve--man--to appropriate or eat of this tree without listening to the voice of wisdom, Jehovah God. The result is unbridled and unlawful development of the sympathetic nervous system with excess of pleasure (good) followed by a corresponding reaction of pain (evil).
Jesus regained this lost Eden and showed us how to regain it by likewise identifying our minds with God-Mind. His prayer was "Not my will, but thine, be done."
Christ is the name of the God-Mind imaged in everyone. When we identify ourselves with that image, we rise superior to the Adamic man and become unified with the spiritual man. It is in the strength of this supermind that we can say to the man of flesh, "I will; be thou made clean." This is the decree of the Christ in you to your conscious mind and its visible body; it is the exercise of the authority given to every child of God. "Decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee."
And manifest substance flows from a realm of light, according to the most modern conclusions of physical science. James says, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights." God ideas are the source of all that appears. Accept this mighty and all-productive
truth and consciously connect your mind with the Father-Mind, and you will realize abundant health and true joy.
The Holy Spirit life heals me, and I radiate health to everybody and everything.
Some persons think that when they quit lying they are demonstrating Truth. To quit lying is commendable but falls short of fulfilling the complete reformation of the Spirit of truth. In chapter after chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus repeats the promise that He will send a Comforter, whom He names "the Spirit of truth," to those who believe on Him. In the 15th chapter we read, "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall bear witness of me." In the 16th chapter we find these words: "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you into all the truth." "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth . . . for he abideth with you, and shall be in you."
The Spirit of truth is the mind of God in its executive capacity: it carries out the divine plan of the originating Spirit. It proceeds from the Father and bears witness of the Son. We have in the operation of our own minds an illustration of how Divine Mind works. When an idea is fully formulated in our minds and we decide to carry it out, our thoughts
change their character from contemplative to executive. We no longer plan but proceed to execute what we have already planned. So God-Mind sends forth its Spirit to carry out in man the divine idea imaged in the Son.
It is very comforting to know that Spirit is cooperating with us in our efforts to manifest God's law. God in His divine perfection has seemed so far removed from our human frailties that we have lost heart. But now we see that Jesus taught that God is intimately associated with us in all our life's problems and that we need only ask in His name in order to have all needs fulfilled.
The Spirit of truth is God's thought projecting into our minds ideas that will build a spiritual consciousness like that of Jesus. The Spirit of truth watches every detail of our lives, and when we ask and by affirmation proclaim its presence, it brings new life into our bodies.
Again the Spirit of truth opens our minds to God's law of supply and support, to the existence of a universal etheric thought substance prepared for man's body sustenance by infinite Mind. We have thought that in answer to our prayers God in some mysterious manner brought about the marvelous demonstrations that we had. Now we see that there has been prepared from the beginning an interpenetrating substance that, like a tenuous bread of heaven, showers us with its abundance.
But we must not only ask but bring the Spirit into our consciousness by affirming its abundance to
be the source of all our good. Then perfection will begin to be manifested right in the face of apparent negation. Remember the invitation of the Master "Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be made full." | <urn:uuid:acb34001-4d83-4081-a6a7-fa18e86a0122> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sacred-texts.com/nth/unity/jch/jch13.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958723 | 3,991 | 1.914063 | 2 |
March 4, 1797
From 1797 until 1933, March 4 has been an important day in the life of our nation. With few exceptions, March 4 had been the day the new President of the United States was sworn in. That changed in January 1933 when the 20th Amendment was ratified. In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first President to be inaugurated on January 20. | <urn:uuid:c2e3bef3-ec22-41f6-b0c5-a8e5bc8d5cf5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.waynesvilledailyguide.com/article/20130304/blogs/130309754/0/Home | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.992079 | 80 | 3.25 | 3 |
State election officials attribute the situation in large part to Hurricane Katrina’s 2005 displacement of people from Orleans Parish, which is heavily Democratic and black.
Typically, the percentages of canceled black, white, Democratic and Republican voters end up being “a mirror image” of the pre-purge statewide voter registration percentages, secretary of state spokesman Jacques Berry said.
“But that is not the case this go-round because of so many people coming off the rolls in Orleans,” Berry said.
Pre-purge black voters represented 30.6 percent of the state’s 2.94 million voters.
Read more High number of black voters taken off rolls | <urn:uuid:1bb94d98-41cd-4f02-9d4b-ca516a2499fb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://aareports.com/2010/12/louisiana-high-number-of-black-voters.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912867 | 139 | 1.882813 | 2 |
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significance to line
With the aid of this modest basic vocabulary, one can distill comprehensible images from a variety of linear phenomena. The simple outline sketch—Greek legend has it that the first “picture” originated from copying the shadows on the sand—represents one of the oldest and most popular possibilities of graphic rendition. After decisively characterizing the form of Egyptian...
...drawings was widespread with the Biblia Pauperum (“Poor People’s Bibles,” biblical picture books used to instruct large numbers of people in the Christian faith). The thin-lined outline sketch is also characteristic of the earliest individual drawings of the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance. Sketches after ancient sculptures or after nature as well as compositions...
What made you want to look up "outline drawing"? Please share what surprised you most... | <urn:uuid:4a5af72b-b50e-4e3f-b743-493bbcfa1b48> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/435632/outline-drawing | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912436 | 213 | 3.4375 | 3 |
This headline from The Chicago Tribune, “The New College-Admission Essay, Short as a Tweet” and a discussion of this article in the NY Times “The Choice” blog, “Aiming for Brevity: Quirky Application Prompts” discuss some short answers that a few colleges have asked for.
As I have talked about in a previous blog (Sept. 14), the Common Application isn’t so common these days. Yes, the main body of the application, including an essay, goes to all common app colleges that the student applies to. However, many colleges also ask for additional essays and/or short answers as part of their supplements to the common app. Some of these match the description in these articles. Some are questions that students need to answer without exceeding a very small character count and some ask students to complete the partial sentence they have provided.
Why are colleges asking these questions? In my opinion, it is to get to know the student. Although the student has probably already submitted at least one essay before they get to these short answers, I believe that the colleges want candid responses and think this is the way to get them. The application essay is a very important part of the application and as such, many students are so concerned about how it will be interpreted, that the student may be too cautious when writing and not reveal enough about himself. Or, and this is a real concern for the colleges, the essays may have started out in the student’s voice but may have been edited heavily by parents, teachers and other adults and that voice sometimes becomesmore faint with each edit.
When I work with students on the essay process, the hardest thing for many of them to do is to relax and write. Some have asked me, “What does College X look for in the essay?” hoping to write something that admissions office is sure to like. The answer is always the same—they want to hear about you in your own voice. That is much easier when students can relax and be themselves.
With these very short answers and fill in the blank types of questions, there are no right and wrong response and students can relax and answer. | <urn:uuid:64fe3825-581a-4d06-b4df-b4c9d6428bfe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.ctnews.com/rosier/page/6/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978032 | 450 | 2.265625 | 2 |