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WCC’s 2013 Assembly theme focuses on justice and peace
10th Assembly in South Korea reflects key issues in Asia
February 28, 2011
After several hours of what Moderator Walter Altmann called “intense dialogue,” the World Council of Churches Central Committee decided Feb. 22 on a theme for the WCC’s 10th Assembly: “God of Life, Lead Us to Justice and Peace.”
Before arriving at its consensus decision, Central Committee members had been somewhat divided between peace and justice and Christian unity as themes for the October 2013 Assembly in Busan, South Korea.
The group’s Assembly Planning Committee (APC), apparently equally undecided on a single focus for the Assembly, suggested two options, the other being “In God’s World, Called To Be One.”
In an earlier session of its Feb. 16-22 meeting, the Central Committee asked its Policy Reference Committee to attempt to blend the two into a single theme. But the PRC’s suggestion, “God of Life, Lead us to Unity, Justice and Peace,” was quickly discarded, as were several variations.
“In Asia we have had many meetings seriously considering themes,” said Carmencita Karagdag of the Philippines Independent Church. “We also looked at integrating the two theme suggestions but concluded we wanted to highlight justice and peace, particularly considering the Asian context [of the Assembly site].”
Bishop Isaac Mar Philoxenos of the Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar (India) supported the decision to choose peace and justice over either unity or a blended theme.
“The context needs to be understood when we select a theme. ‘Unity’ causes us to lose our focus. We are always for unity, but we need the wider context of justice and peace, especially in Asia.”
Though supporting the final decision, the Rev. Will Ingram of the Presbyterian Church in Canada noted that “what is distinctive about the WCC is our search for Christian unity. The world too often dismisses us as being only concerned with justice and peace.”
WCC General Secretary Olav Fykse Tveit said the unity theme can be incorporated into the life of the 10th Assembly through the three sub-themes also adopted by the Central Committee: 1) Life together in Faith: unity and mission, 2) Life together in Hope: for justice, peace and reconciliation in the world, 3) Life together in Love: for a common future.
The Central Committee also suggested the APC consider adding a fourth sub-theme, “Life together in interreligious community life,” as interfaith relations have been a prominent part of the body’s deliberations during this meeting. | <urn:uuid:582150ec-c68b-4966-8426-64c12c40cf6a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pcusa.org/news/2011/2/28/wccs-2013-assembly-theme-focuses-justice-and-peace/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955388 | 578 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Shortly before 7 p.m. Pack 307 was gathering upstairs at the American Legion on West Manlius Street when they smelled something that wasn't quite right, said Assistant Cubmaster Michael Olivadoti.
The odor grew stronger, Olivadoti said. "I realized this isn't right."
So the Cub Scouts, ranging in age from 6 to 11, filed out the front stairs of the building while Olivadoti checked doors to see if he could find the source of the smell. He found one was hot.
He opened it and spotted a fire just as flames leapt up more than four feet, feeding on the fresh air he brought in when he opened the door. "There was a lot of smoke," he said.
Olivadoti said he fell straight to floor. "You know," he said, "the whole stop, drop and roll." He found a nearby fire extinguisher and without rising, used the chemical extinguisher to douse the flames.
Olivadoti said he wasn't being a hero. "I just wanted to keep everybody safe."
No one was hurt in the blaze, which apparently started in a back office. In fact, said East Syracuse Fire Chief Thomas Brewster, "there was very little damage."
Brewster was impressed by Olivadoti's firefighting. "He did a very good job," he said. The fire was put out so quickly, there wasn't even water damage, Brewster said.
Brewster said Onondaga County fire investigators had been called in to determine the cause of the fire.
Contact Charles McChesney at email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:ac39cf89-a2c3-438d-8382-78014f7ecea6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/02/cub_scouts_flee_fire_in_east_s.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986367 | 339 | 1.6875 | 2 |
An analysis of population trends and wildfire risk shows that local residents should find it no surprise that dangerous wildfires such as the recent State Line and Weber fires are nipping at their heels.
Across the state, the number of people living in high-risk fire zones has exploded. And public policies for dealing with both actually risk making the state’s fire danger even worse, an I-News Network investigation found.
In La Plata County, 74 percent of the population lives in a “red zone” – the parts of the state at risk for the most dangerous wildfires. This represents a nearly 20 percent increase from just 10 years ago, when the devastating Missionary Ridge Fire consumed 72,962 acres of surrounding forest.
Statewide, a quarter million people have moved into red zones in the last two decades.
As the number of people in red zones has ballooned, so has the number of fires – and the damage each did.
In the 1960s, Colorado averaged about 460 fires each year that burned about 8,000 acres annually, according to Colorado State Forest Service records. In the last decade, Colorado saw an average of about 2,500 fires a year burning nearly 100,000 acres.
Some of the explosion in fires is explainable by climate change. In some areas of the Rocky Mountains, the fire season is almost two months longer than it used to be. Colorado’s fire season has consistently extended into the spring as the drying and warming climate thins snowpacks and desiccates fuels earlier in the spring.
“Looking back historically, spring was not considered part of fire season in Colorado until the very recent past,” says Elk Creek Fire Chief Bill McLaughlin, one of the chiefs who led the fight against the Lower North Fork Fire, which killed three people in March.
But climate change is not the only problem.
Public policies regarding both population growth and forest management are adding to the wildfire problem:
It costs millions to protect homes in the red zone from wildfires, but homeowners don’t foot that bill. Taxpayers do. That creates a perverse incentive to build there despite risks.
A continued population boom in the red zones is pushing homebuilders to higher elevations, where forest conditions increase the chances of more intense fires.
The Rocky Mountain forests have become overgrown and, in many cases, unhealthy. State and federal forest-management policies call for cutting down excess trees and doing prescribed burns. But the population boom puts pressure on both these strategies – people often don’t want to see trees cut or landscapes burned near their homes. That leaves the forests full of highly flammable fuel, waiting for the next fire.
In the wake of the Hayman Fire, federal and state foresters increased the area of the forest treated with mechanical thinning and prescribed burning projects, but say they have hardly scratched the surface of millions of acres of Rocky Mountain forests that need restoration. In the meantime, the increasing population in the woods requires greater protection from wildfires.
In 2006, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of Inspector General estimated that between 1998 and 2005, forest managers let only 2 percent of wildfires that started naturally burn. The rest were fought, largely to protect homes in high-risk fire areas – places the federal government calls Wildland Urban Interface. But snuffing natural fires allows biomass buildup that can fuel more catastrophic fires.
And the fact that the bill for protecting private homes is borne by taxpayers removes the incentives for landowners to reduce their risks, the OIG reported.
But efforts to get residents of high-risk fire zones to pay for their own wildfire protection has proved nearly impossible. Last year, California passed a fee of up to $150 per structure on residents in high-risk fire zones. California Gov. Jerry Brown hoped it could raise up to $200 million from the state’s 846,000 residents of rural lands in which Cal Fire was responsible for protecting homes. This year, California Republicans put forth a bill to repeal that levy, saying it amounted to an unfair tax on rural residents already paying for county fire protection.
Texas, which experienced its most destructive wildfires in history last year, had cut $34 million from its Forest Service’s budget over the last two years, forcing it to plead for federal aid to deal with the fires that destroyed thousands of homes.
There are federal efforts to make communities more resilient to wildfires through Community Wildfire Protection Plans and programs like Firewise, which has worked closely with local subdivisions including Forest Lakes and Falls Creek to reduce their fire danger.
In general, these programs have proved effective, but they’re slow to catch on because of their cost, visual impacts on the landscape, and residents’ resistance to being told how to care for their property.
The question of whether homes can resist more intense wildfires is significant, says Tania Schoennagel, a Colorado University geography professor and a researcher at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research.
Schoennagel recently studied how current development trends are affecting wildfire risk. She found areas zoned for future development are at even greater wildfire risk.
Earlier housing developments in the Colorado’s red zones were generally at lower elevation with more widely spaced trees and less steep terrain. Forests there, if excess fire suppression didn’t let them grow unnaturally thick, tend to burn along the ground with low intensity. If those forests are restored to their historic density and health, homeowners would likely confront less-intense fires.
But new developments in the red zone are increasingly at elevations above 8,000 feet in forests often dominated by lodgepole pine, which tend to burn in large, intense crown fires that destroy entire stands of trees. Steep slopes and chimney-like canyons in the high country magnify the intensity of those fires. Topographic maps show that all of the homes destroyed in the deadly Lower North Fork Fire last March were at elevations between 8,000 and 8,500 feet. | <urn:uuid:e7d24ae0-e7b0-4071-9bfe-f0a7aebb39d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.durangoherald.com/article/20120627/NEWS01/706279892/0/Merchandise/Most-of-county-in-danger-zone-for-wildfire | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95008 | 1,232 | 3.328125 | 3 |
The revolution at Le Monde
A battle looms between an iconic paper and a powerful print union
WHEN the managers of Le Monde introduced computers to the paper's print works in the early 1990s, they hoped for greater efficiency and lower costs. But this was not the priority of the Syndicat Général du Livre et de la Communication Ecrite, a trade union which controls the printing of French national newspapers. It demanded that for each new computer, Le Monde should pay for one print worker to type on the keyboard and another simultaneously to watch the screen. It got its way.
French papers are as badly bullied by print unions as British papers were until Rupert Murdoch, a media baron who has recently had other troubles, helped to break their power in the 1980s. France's Syndicat du Livre has controlled the printing and distribution of national daily newspapers since 1947. Like the old British unions, it is a closed shop; only its workers are allowed to print and distribute national titles. When it goes on strike, newspapers don't appear. With circulation and ad revenue halted, they lose money like a man with a vacuum cleaner in his wallet.
Le Monde is a highbrow centre-left paper before which mere politicians tremble. (John Elkann, one of its directors, is also a director of The Economist.) Last year Le Monde faced bankruptcy, until three businessmen, Xavier Niel, an internet billionaire, Matthieu Pigasse, an investment banker, and Pierre Bergé, the former business partner of Yves Saint Laurent, rescued it. Now Mr Niel, the wealthiest of the three and the most closely involved with the business, is tackling the union head on.
“The difficulties of the printing works are a cancer eating away at Le Monde,” he says. The new owners have cut editorial and business costs (by addressing, for instance, the fact that some journalists write only one story a year). Overall, excluding the print business, the group will make €5m-10m ($7.2m-14.4m) in 2011, a big improvement after years of losses. The print plant, which loses €3m a year, will wipe out much of the profit. It has some contracts to print papers other than Le Monde itself. But these are all leaving, meaning that losses will soon leap to €10m a year.
Mr Niel plans to lay off up to 220 of the 260 workers at the plant. That is nearly a quarter of all the members of the Syndicat du Livre. Because Le Monde, an afternoon paper, is obliged to print chiefly at its own plant near Paris, readers in the regions get it a day late. The firm plans to shut two out of its three Parisian presses and start using regional plants to reach readers on time.
When Mr Murdoch (and a fellow tycoon, Eddie Shah) humbled Britain's print unions by setting up presses that shut them out, they revived the entire British newspaper industry. Papers suddenly found they could cut the cost of production, improve quality and launch new products. Mr Niel, too, could lead France's industry out of bondage.
The Syndicat du Livre has used its power to demand ever higher staffing levels and pay. Louis Dreyfus, chief executive of Le Monde Group, compares staffing levels at Le Temps, a Swiss daily, which employs 24 print workers to produce the paper, to 110 print workers for Le Figaro, France's leading right-of-centre paper, and 260 workers for Le Monde. French papers cost on average 40% more to print than those elsewhere in Europe, says Arnaud de Puyfontaine, who in 2009 took part in an inquiry launched by Nicolas Sarkozy, France's president, into why the country's newspapers are so weak. Titles must charge high cover prices to compensate. That leads to low circulation (see chart). Many rely on subsidies to survive.
The battle has started: in June, alongside strike action, 200 union workers stormed the headquarters of Iliad, the company founded by Mr Niel, demanding to see him. Le Monde expects the union to start a long strike in September when ad revenue returns after the summer break, just when the paper has the most to lose.
The stakes are high. The union is finished as a political force if it accepts an 85% job cut. Other newspaper bosses would then demand big layoffs. And Le Monde risks destroying its business, even if it wins the fight. Mr Niel is not ready to use tactics as drastic as those employed by Mr Murdoch. Mr Niel and his co-investors will not shut down existing printing plants and open new ones as a way to bypass the print union. The last time a paper tried to fire large numbers of Syndicat du Livre workers was in 1975, when Le Parisien Libéré, a morning daily, announced 200 layoffs. During a violent, months-long strike, Le Parisien lost half of its circulation and never got it back.
As France's eighth-richest man, Mr Niel should be able to endure months of strikes, even at an estimated cost to the company of at least €200,000 a day. Another weapon is his status as an internet entrepreneur. All of his other journalism investments are online. He has part-funded several influential French news websites such as Mediapart, Electron Libre and Bakchich. Le Monde's new managers intend to integrate the paper's print operation with its website—for now the two are mostly separate. When the Syndicat du Livre goes on strike, Le Monde puts the full print version online. “The union is aware that there's a risk that a long strike could accelerate the process of going fully digital,” says Mr Dreyfus.
On the other hand, Mr Niel may lack one of Mr Murdoch's key advantages. Margaret Thatcher, Britain's prime minister, made sure that the police protected “scab” workers at his new plant in Wapping from union violence. Mr Sarkozy, by contrast, is wary of Mr Niel and will not welcome a dust-up with a powerful union in the run-up to an election. But he knows that France's national newspapers are in even worse shape than titles elsewhere. Making the industry viable again would strike a blow for freedom of expression. For that, a temporary stopping of the presses seems a price worth paying. | <urn:uuid:020c2710-7441-4267-a8a5-70d7fc630e9c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.economist.com/node/21524883 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957528 | 1,342 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Roget's Int'l Thesaurus
Fowler's King's English
The King James Bible
Brewer's Phrase & Fable
Frazer's Golden Bough
Shelf of Fiction
The Age of Johnson
> Characteristics of the
An Elegy in a Country Churchyard
The Progress of Poesy; Vicissitude
INDEX OF ALL CHAPTERS
The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes
Volume X. The Age of Johnson.
§ 10. Characteristics of the
The quatrain of ten syllables in which the
was written had been used before, but never, perhaps, with conspicuous success, except in Drydens
In Grays hands, it acquired a new beauty, and a music of its own. It does not appear that either the form or the diction of the poem struck the general reader as novel. The prevalent taste was for a sort of gentle melancholy and the mild and tranquil surroundings which minister to the reflective spirit. There is a little truth under the gross exaggeration with which the poet declared that he would have been just as successful if he had written in the prose of Herveys
Meditations among the tombs.
Certain it is that Youngs
completed five years before the
was, for the time being, almost as popular. In Youngs work, the sentiment is everything; hence, perhaps, its vogue on the continent, where discriminating judgments on our literature were few and far between.
seems to us simple in expression, and by no means abstruse, and we have said that there was in it nothing that struck even Grays contemporaries as revolutionary. Perhaps it was Johnson who first scented the battle from afar. He parodied, in a version of a chorus of
the style, as he conceived it, of the
in which adjectives follow their substantives, old words are revived, epithets are doubled and hyphenated, while subject and object are inverted. Contrasted with this was Johnsons own serious rendering of the same passage, in which the language was the current language of the day, with scarcely a word in it that was distinctly poetical.
The eccentricities which he noted still remain pitfalls. In the line And all the air a solemn stillness holds, stillness, in spite of commentators, is the nominative, and we almost invariably quote, with so careful a reader as Conington,
Await alike the inevitable hour,
although Gray wrote Awaits, and hour is subject not object. (The thought is that of Horace, One night awaits us all; we should be less absorbed in our ambitions if we kept death in mind.) Again, Gray wrote The lowing herd wind slowly oer the lea, where not only is the plural suggestive of a line of cattle, but some of these are pictured as returning from the pasture and others from the plough. Once more, he wrote
The paths of glory lead but to the grave
meaning that whatever the path chosen, the terminus is the same.
may be looked upon as the climax of a whole series of poems, dating from 1745, which had evening for their theme. In his 17th year, Thomas Warton, in his
Pleasures of Melancholy,
had all the accessories of the scene which Gray describes; there is a sacred silence, as in a rejected but very beautiful stanza of the
there was a sacred calm; there is the owl, and the ivy that with mantle green Invests some wasted tower. But the young poet, in his character of devotee of melancholy, takes us too far, when, with that gruesome enjoyment of horrors which is the prerogative of youth, he leads us at midnight to the hollow charnel to watch the flame of taper dim shedding a livid glare. We are at once conscious of the artificial and ambitious character of the effort, precocious as an essay in literature, but without genuine feeling, without the correspondence between man and nature, which alone can create a mood. And it was the power to create a mood which was the distinctive merit of the best poems of this class and at this date.
Joseph Warton, with the same environment, and, still more, Collins, in his magical
Ode to Evening,
achieved this success. Contrast these with the conventional beings of
and we become aware that we are nearing an epoch where description is subordinated to the real emotions of humanity, and the country bumpkin no longer chases the rainbow, or unfolds, with Akenside, the form of beauty smiling at his heart.
in its MS forms brings another noteworthy fact into prominence. These show how pitilessly the poet excised every stanza which did not minister to the congruity of his masterpiece. We feel for instance that Wordsworth, apt to believe that his most trivial fancies were inspirations, would never have parted, for any considerations of structure, with such lines as
Hark how the sacred Calm, that broods around
Bids evry fierce tumultuous Passion cease,
In still small accents whispring from the Ground
A grateful Earnest of eternal Peace.
Gray himself seems in one instance to have repented of his infanticide, and writes in the Pembroke MS the marginal note insert over the stanza (evidently adapted but compressed from Collinss
Dirge in Cymbeline
) about the violets scattered on the tomb and the little footsteps of the redbreast which lightly print the ground there. Memory and affection have something to do with the epitaph, which sounds the personal note of which Gray was fond, but is, unquestionably, the weak est part of the poem, and was, perhaps, written about 1742, and inserted in the
by afterthought. In general, no poet better understood, or more strictly followed, the Popian maxim survey the whole, that golden rule which a later generation seldom remembers or practises.
had a curious sequel in
A Long Story.
After her husbands death, in 1749, Lady Cobham must have left the famous Stowe for the mansion house at Stoke Pogis; she had seen the
when Walpole was circulating it in MS, and learnt that the author was in her neighbourhood. Accordingly, she caused her niece, Miss Speed, and Lady Schaub, the wife of Sir Luke Schaub, to visit him, at the house of Mrs. Rogers, ostensibly to tell him that a Lady Brown, one of his friends, who kept open house in town for travellers young and old, was quite well. Gray was not at home, and this visit of fine ladies may have caused, as Gray pretends, some perturbation to his quiet aunt and mother. A graceful intimacy (nothing more) grew up between the poet and Miss Speed, though gossip declared they were to be married.
A Long Story,
written with facile pen, goes far to bear out Walpoles statement that Gray never wrote anything easily except things of humour. His serious efforts are always the fruit of long delay and much labour. Next followed (1752) what remains a fragment, only because Mason found a corner of the sole MS copy torn, supplying,
words of his own to complete it. It was entitled
Stanzas to Richard Bentley,
Designs for six Poems by Mr. T. Gray.
We cannot feel sure that Mason has given us the unmutilated part of the poem correctly. Gray knew Pope and Dryden too well to write.
The energy of Pope they might efface
And Drydens harmony submit to mine.
It may be suspected that Mason has clumsily transposed these epithets. As evidence how Gray nursed his thoughts we may note that the line
And dazzle with a luxury of light
is a reminiscence of a version which he made in 1737 from Tassos
One other line in this brief poem lives in the memorythat in which he attributes to Shakespeare and Milton in contrast to this benighted age, a diviner inspiration,
The pomp and prodigality of heaven.
He is, later, in February, 1753, in a great fret about the title of the six poems, and, in his desire to seem unaffected, displays a great deal of affectation. It was quite absurd to imagine that the poems, including the
could be regarded as secondary to the designs. It was his foible to pose; but he indulged it with scanty success. In March, 1753 died Grays careful tender mother, as he calls her in the inscription for the vault in which she was laid by the side of her sister Mary Antrobus. In July of the same year, he went to see his friend Wharton, who was living in Durham. Here, the author of the
was made much of; but the visit was important in another way. It coincides with a change in Grays poetic tendencies, and helped to encourage them. He now reverted to that love of the bold and majestic which appears in the alcaics on the Grande Chartreuse. In the neighbourhood of Durham, he found a faint image of those more august scenes.
I have (he writes) one of the most beautiful vales here in England to walk in, with prospects that change every ten steps, and open something new wherever I turn me,
all rude and romantic;
in short the sweetest spot
to break your neck or drown yourself in
that ever was beheld.
. Cf. Gray to West, April, 1742, quoted
. The true readings were all recognised and translated by the late H. A. J. Munro, who, in his striking Latin version of the poem, is often its best interpreter.
. Friendship and compassion did not reconcile Johnson to the poetry of Collins, who is nearest to Gray in the diction which their critic loathed. See Johnsons
Life of Collins, ad fin.
. The lady died as comtesse de Viry in 1783.
INDEX OF ALL CHAPTERS
An Elegy in a Country Churchyard
The Progress of Poesy; Vicissitude
to shop the | <urn:uuid:c45fea91-d70c-4be5-b0a5-390ae30ccf14> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bartelby.net/220/0610.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959806 | 2,120 | 3.109375 | 3 |
Harvard Sound Directions Toolkit Available for Download
HCL Audio Engineer David Ackerman, who helped develop the Harvard Sound Directions Toolkit, a suite of 46 software tools for audio preservationists. The Toolkit was recently made available for download.
November 14, 2008 - The Harvard Sound Directions Toolkit, a suite of nearly 50 software tools with the potential to revolutionize the work of audio preservationists by automating their most time consuming and repetitive tasks is now available for download.
Created by Loeb Music Library's Audio Preservation Services at Harvard University, the toolkit was developed as part of Sound Directions, a joint project undertaken by Harvard and Indiana University with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Toolkit follows the publication of "Sound Directions: Best Practices for Audio Preservation," an internationally acclaimed report on audio preservation techniques.
Most of the work automated by the Toolkit "would normally be done by hand," HCL Audio Engineer David Ackerman said. "You can spend 15-20 minutes manually interleaving two channels of a large sound file into a new file. With the toolkit the function is performed in the background and you can continue to work on other things, which is great for productivity."
Ackerman developed the Toolkit with programmer Robert La Ferla. The program they produced works through a command line interface, in which users enter specific commands. The Toolkit also allows users to write scripts - essentially small programs - that string several commands together, freeing up engineers to perform other tasks.
"While the idea of automating repetitive tasks is not new, the ability to have some concise, targeted command line applications that can easily be scripted was something that seemed pretty fresh," Ackerman said, of the Toolkit. The ability to write programs that mix and match the various tools, he added, gives users the ability to configure the software in thousands of possible ways.
Ackerman uses the tools himself, and said they've had a dramatic impact on his group's work.
"I'd say it's probably doubled our throughput," he said. As an example, he pulled up an audio file which had earlier been transferred from audio tape into digital format. In total, 86 processes had been run on the tape, but just four were carried out manually. The rest were completely automated by the Toolkit.
While Harvard engineers created the Toolkit, Indiana staff produced the Field Audio Collection and Evaluation Tool, or FACET, a software package which ranks audio field collections based on preservation condition and level of deterioration. | <urn:uuid:b608f4dc-a629-4714-91da-ca0ac9f60484> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hcl.harvard.edu/news/articles/2008/sound_directions_software.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962205 | 517 | 2.140625 | 2 |
By Consumer Reports
Consumer Reports’ recent tests of a new generation of fuel-efficient tires found that they not only save gas but are also good all-around performers. Two models it looked at — the Michelin Energy Saver A/S and the Cooper GFE — have low rolling resistance, a quality that can help a car get more miles per gallon.
Rolling resistance, or the force a tire needs to keep it moving down the road, accounts for about 4 percent of a vehicle’s fuel use in city driving and about 7 percent on the highway, according to the Department of Transportation. Replacing high-rolling-resistance tires can result in more than $100 in annual fuel savings.
Automakers often specify fuel-saving tires as original equipment to help a vehicle’s fuel economy numbers. But replacement tires aren’t limited to an automaker’s requirements, and attributes such as all-season grip and tread life are big selling points. In the past, consumers had to weigh a trade-off between low rolling resistance and other performance properties. In recent years, tire manufacturers have been achieving a better balance of rolling resistance and all-weather grip. And now they’re marketing tires specifically for their claimed fuel efficiency.
In CR’s tests of the Michelin Energy Saver A/S and Cooper GFE, the new formulations seem to be working. Both new tire models fared well, and the Michelin was exceptional. It not only had the lowest rolling resistance of any all-season tire CR has tested but also scored Very Good in dry and wet braking. It ranks second among all T-rated all-season tires.
The Cooper finished midpack in the group. Its rolling resistance was not as low as the Michelin’s, but it performed well in all-weather grip, hydroplaning resistance, and emergency handling.
By comparison, the Goodyear Assurance Fuel Max, the model that had the lowest rolling resistance in CR’s November 2009 test, rated somewhat lower among the highly competitive performance H-rated tires, though it performed well in most respects and displayed decent all-weather grip.
For comparison purposes, CR examined how the two newly-tested tires stacked up against 23 other models of T-rated tires it previously rated. In that ratings chart, the Michelin Energy Saver A/S ranked second overall behind the Michelin HydroEdge. The Cooper GFE ranked 11th overall.
CR’s overall score for tires emphasizes safety-related tests including braking, handling, and resistance to hydroplaning. CR also evaluates rolling resistance, ride comfort, noise, snow traction, ice braking and tread life.
Making a well-rounded choice
Don’t discount safety advantages or other performance attributes for the sake of fuel savings when selecting a set of tires. CR recommends you choose tires based on your driving style and the road conditions you commonly encounter. Use rolling resistance as a tie-braker.
Fuel savings from those tires might be appealing, but proper inflation pressure can have a bigger impact on fuel economy, no matter what tires you’re rolling on.
Efficiency labels for tires
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, and California are trying to make tire fuel-economy ratings available to consumers. NHTSA has proposed a label that would assign a rating for fuel efficiency, wet traction, and tread wear based on a 100-point scale. California is considering options including a ratings system that would give the top 15 percent a fuel-efficiency rating.
But NHTSA hasn’t determined a method to present consumer information and will issue a rule at a later date. California is waiting for the federal government to take the lead.
CR notes that consumers should be aware that rolling-resistance scores, as proposed, apply to new tires. And if they are not inflated and maintained properly, their fuel-economy benefit disappears.
Filed Under: Consumer Reports | <urn:uuid:4c1ef7da-5fa8-481a-8319-a806a77bcb77> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thecoastnews.com/2010/06/low-rolling-resistance-tires-prove-good-value/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944493 | 818 | 1.882813 | 2 |
Tuesday, November 1, 2005
Technology Boosts Training Devices
New visual and actuator systems are blurring the line between up there and down here while keeping costs down to earth.
AL PALMER, DIRECTOR OF FLIGHT operations for the University of North Dakota, is so impressed with his new Frasca 342 flight training device (FTD) that he's requesting a big concession from the FAA--a quantum increase in the amount of time that the device can be used toward a helicopter pilot's instrument instructor ticket.
Currently a pilot can use the device for 20 percent of the hours needed for the ticket. Palmer is asking for 50-50 split between actual and synthetic flight. "Those rules were written years ago," he said. "Now, FTDs are extremely realistic. Why shouldn't we do more in FTDs than in the real aircraft?"
North Dakota leased the $750,000 Frasca 342, which emulates the Bell 206 or Schweizer 300 and comes complete with all visual and auditory effects but no base motion--on Aug. 18, and had already logged 50 hr. as of Sept. 18. "It's really a step ahead of anything we've ever had for helicopters," he said.
What Palmer is experiencing is the leading edge of a new breed of flight training devices and simulators (full-motion devices) infused with of a wide array of technology upgrades. The overall effect has been to increase the fidelity of the training experience while decreasing the cost of owning and operating the equipment. FTDs in particular could spawn safety gains in the civil helicopter industry by allowing a larger percentage of the pilot population to have access to lower-cost ground based training in emergency procedures.
North Dakota had been using FTDs for its fixed-wing program for years, but the devices were not available for rotorcraft until recently. Instead, the school was using cockpit procedures trainers for some of the instrument work and live aircraft for the bulk of it. The flight school trains Army ROTC cadets (allowing them to bypass 20 weeks of basic helicopter training at Fort Rucker and go directly to advanced training), as well as fixed-wing and helicopter pilots for the Saudi oil company Aramco and "walk-ins", students who come to the school and pay their way to learn to fly helicopters. Palmer said he wanted to get a simulator to do more than teach procedures. "We wanted a fairly sophisticated device with a specific cockpit, high visual quality and modern avionics," he said. Palmer began working with Frasca last summer to come up with such a system.
It turns out that Frasca was in a good position to offer a solution. A few years earlier, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University had come to Illinois-based company with a "pretty demanding requirement" of its owns, said Frasca vice president, John Frasca. Embry-Riddle wanted to "revolutionize" how they were training fixed wing ab initio students. As such, they wanted a cockpit that looked like the actual aircraft and they wanted a horizontal visual field of 220 deg. Simulators at the time had 120-to-150-deg. visual systems with 30 deg. in the vertical. While Embry-Riddle did not specify its vertical requirement, Frasca decided 60 deg. was needed to be able to "see" the runway while flying in the traffic pattern. From a technology standpoint, the key problems that had to be worked out involved image warping and image blending from three image generators (from three separate channels) and three screens mounted to the wraparound dome over the cockpit.
Frasca's helicopter clients saw the product and liked it, but asked for more visual in the vertical to be able to simulate emergency maneuvers and long-line work. Frasca came up with a fourth channel below the helicopter that opened the visual field to 110 deg. "You can stick your head out of the cockpit and look below," said Frasca. The idea took hold with offshore oil transport companies like Petroleum Helicopters and Air Logistics, and for training operations like Bell Helicopter's Customer Training Academy. Among other uses, the companies could accurately perform emergency procedures like autorotations to the ground or simulate approaches to oil platforms in any kind of weather on a device costing about 30 times less than the Level D simulators previously needed to do such training.
Confluence of Technologies
Frasca said the confluence of technologies paved the way for the new systems. While previous flight training devices could computationally handle highly dynamic situations like autorotations, the visual cues weren't adequate to fly to the ground. Because the visual technology wasn't ready, there was no need to push for higher fidelity aerodynamic models and landscape databases. "There's no sense having $1,000 speakers in your stereo if you have a hundred-dollar amplifier," said Frasca. With the arrival of higher accuracy projectors however, it made sense to increase the fidelity of aerodynamic models and the resolution of the terrain database. Frasca said the company generally maps the terrain to 1 m. in a 1-km. region around airports of interest while the enroute portion might be 10-15 m. "We're finding customers want to fly lower and get 5-m., 2-m. or 1-m. data," he said, adding, "Data is available in most cases, but someone has to pay for it." Audio systems have also made large strides through digital sampling and computer-controlled playback of real aircraft sounds. Frasca said the method is far superior to the audio solution of the past - synthesized sounds.
FlightSafety International is also advancing its military and civilian Level D simulators by cutting down production time with increased modularity while boosting fidelity and lowering operating expenses with electric actuators. The improvements are featured on 35 new TH67 and Blackhawk Level D-equivalent simulators on tap for the U.S. Army's Flight School XXI program at Fort Rucker. John Slish, manager of product information for FlightSafety, said the company has delivered 20 simulators so far.
While FlightSafety's legacy units were built in piece-card fashion - assemblies built up from "bits and pieces" - Slish said the new systems are of a "very deep modular design." Enhancing the clean design are FlightSafety`selectric actuators, used for the control loading and motion systems. "There are no accumulators, no plumbing. There are six big cables and six little cables - the big cables are power, the little cables are signal," he said.
While FlightSafety has been using electric actuators for control loading for 10 years, the challenge was in moving to electrical actuators, as opposed to the tried and true hydraulics, for the base. Due to the range of motion, the each actuator had to be capable of supporting the 16-ton simulator on its own yet had to have the fidelity to precisely control the motion. FlightSafety teamed with Moog to build the new actuators, which are now offered on military C17 and Flight School XXI simulators but not yet on civilian units.
Slish said that in addition to being "exceptionally quiet" and less costly than their hydraulic counterparts, the electric base actuators use 40 percent less electricity. The upgrade is not exclusive to new simulators either: Slish said FlightSafety can retrofit the electric actuators into any FlightSafety hydraulic base system in just 8 hr. | <urn:uuid:f2b2c26f-533a-4783-911c-c04b74cec925> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aviationtoday.com/rw/training/simulators/Technology-Boosts-Training-Devices_1834.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960072 | 1,521 | 2.03125 | 2 |
In a school with a large population of special needs and non-native English speaking students, frustration and surrender are major challenges for the staff. Turns out an animated penguin can make life easier for everyone involved.
"Some kids go into a tizzy when they get something wrong and lots of kids quit when they do poorly," said Gary Schadow, principal of Dream Lake Elementary school in Apopka, Fla., a pre-K through fifth grade school that serves all of the region's special needs students. "Our kids now understand if you don't get it right, that's OK. Just keep trying. JiJi doesn't care."
JiJi, the mascot of MIND Research Institute's ST Math program, is the escort for students through computerized math lessons, leading them through various scenarios, games and puzzles. The character crosses a bridge to the next challenge after students provide correct answers, and turns around if they give incorrect ones. This gentle approach seems to inspire rather than discourage the students.
"With JiJi, our kids get more confident," said Schadow, whose school serves 820 students, 19 percent of whom require special needs instruction and 27 percent of whom come from homes where English is not the primary language.
First attracted to ST Math because it didn't push rote math facts or require strong verbal skills, Schadow said he thought he'd have to sell the students on the new way of learning. He was happily wrong about that.
"We have to be careful they don't log onto JiJi when they're supposed to be doing language arts," he said.
Dream Lake teachers have reported that students now understand lessons more quickly and are learning concepts such as fractions from JiJi before teachers address the topics in class.
"They learn the concept without knowing the name for it," Schadow said. And when the teachers get to those lessons, "they can teach the curriculum faster than they ever have before".
Besides helping mid-level and special needs kids, ST Math has positively impacted the highest-achieving students, whose needs were not always being met.
"My teachers like it because now we're challenging our top end," Schadow said.
Dream Lake began using ST Math for grades three and four a year ago and for grades two and five this year. Next year, kindergarten and first grade students will get the chance to learn with JiJi. All the students spend time in the computer lab an average of three times a week. Proof that it's time well-spent has come from greatly improved standardized tests.
On the FCAT, Florida's standardized exam, Dream Lake's students scored "better than the other schools around us" and "showed us challenging our top-end kids," Schadow said.
"We received the second highest gains in mathematics in Orange County—only one point lower than the first," he said.
Increases included a jump in percentage of students completing a year's curriculum during a school year, and in the percentage of students scoring at grade level, which was the school's first increase after a five-year plateau.
Schadow noted that all of the recent scores are "the highest they've ever been for Dream Lake."
While his staff is certainly to be congratulated, kudos go in large part to JiJi.
"We believe the biggest significant change for us was in using ST Math," Schadow said. | <urn:uuid:b0242108-b8fe-4c2c-b509-38b259fba79f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://districtadministration.com/article/st-math-higher-scores-and-lower-frustration-levels | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976309 | 699 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Mexico has recently become the country of choice for the growing number of people from the US, Canada and Europe seeking affordable health care abroad. One of the main questions asked is… “how is the medical care in Mexico?”
Most people are surprised at the quality of health care in Mexico. The climate, diet and openness to alternative therapies all contribute to healthy living. In addition, Mexico is recognized throughout Latin America as a leader in cutting edge medicine, with world class hospitals and health care professionals.
Mexico’s warm climate makes it easy to get outside and exercise almost every day. In addition, the abundant fresh fruits and vegetables are a wonderful substitute for processed foods for those needing to make healthy choices.
Hospitals in Mexico range from small town clinics to top level government hospitals with prestigious research departments and state of the art technology. The same can be said for private hospitals. In general, we have found care here to be excellent and, in many ways, more personalized than the “revolving door health care” north of the border.
Medical tourism in Mexico is growing in popularity, and procedures performed by highly skilled professionals here can cost less than half what it does in other countries. Cosmetic surgery, operations to correct obesity, hip and knee replacements, and laser eye surgery are only a few of the procedures opted for in Mexico.
While it is still very much a buyer’s market, now is the perfect time to take advantage of the opportunity and invest in a healthier lifestyle for you and your family. At Trans Caribbean we pride ourselves in providing affordable beach front property of the highest standard, and endeavor to help clients find that perfect slice of paradise for a lower stress healthier lifestyle. | <urn:uuid:72293a43-afe2-47c5-9489-0088d2e49d63> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.transcaribbeantrust.com/times/2012/07/vol-12-issue-7-looking-for-more-affordable-healthcare/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960231 | 348 | 1.59375 | 2 |
For all those who woke up to the sad news that Washington’s loveable giant panda cub would be heading back to China, here’s a bright spot for your Friday:
Job cuts in November were much lower than had been expected and the unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped to 10 percent from 10.2 percent.
The stronger-than-expected numbers helped boost the U.S. dollar and global stock prices on hopes for a strong economic recovery.
The jobs figures came one day after President Barack Obama held a jobs summit at the White House and asked the corporate sector to help the administration with its job-creation efforts.
Now on to the sad news. Tai Shan, the first surviving giant panda cub born at Smithsonian’s National Zoo, will be packing his bags soon. He will return to China early next year as promised in an agreement between the zoo and the Chinese government. | <urn:uuid:d5842d01-28d7-429a-a86f-6731bb47b975> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.reuters.com/talesfromthetrail/tag/tai-shan/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96166 | 184 | 1.625 | 2 |
It goes by several names, officially and unofficially, but for the Government Model Primary School in Gavipuram, that doesn’t really matter — the name that counts is the one that everyone knows: the Rajinikanth School. Here, the legacy of the man who once attended it is far bigger than its name on paper.
He’s the main reason people know of the school. They know where it is, what has happened to it over the last few months; they know where the children are and they keep track of them.
Venkatesh, a postman, helpfully and enthusiastically tells me where and when he sees the students, and exactly where to find them.
The people of the locality are fiercely proud of their link to Rajinikanth, and they cling to it.
But there are other things that go unnoticed about this school and its students, as the local corporator K. Chandrashekhar patiently and matter-of-factly details.
Like the fact that the building was almost 70 years old, crumbling, single-floored and housing around 250 students in two to three rooms.
Or that once the government finally agreed to fund a new building, it took six years to get past a land dispute with a private landowner and actually begin construction. The uprooted students are now temporarily in the girls’ high school (having lost almost 100 students in the process of moving because not all children can travel so far) in the next ward — in basement classrooms. The children at this school play on the field with no coach or teams.
They sing and dance, without teachers. They study. They get good marks. They, too, are proud to go to the Rajnikanth School. The boys’ high school is much better off than the primary school.
They have a beautiful and fairly large green campus, a small courtyard, a P.T. coach and lots of sports teams, after-school training programs and a pass rate of 80 per cent. The headmistress, S. Malini, and the P.T. coach, K. Subbaiah, remind me several times that Rajnikanth went here, too (before he dropped out after Class 8), and even now children in the area want to study there for just that reason.
Inevitably, Rajnikanth resonates throughout this locality, through all its wards: in the conversations at the tea stall where I stopped to ask for directions, among the vegetable sellers. The locals see him not just on screen, but in the register in which his name is on the school records, and in the neighbourhood streets on which he once played.
They believe he still loves and remembers his hometown.
Many seem to mistakenly attribute the generous funding for the reconstruction of the primary school to him, though it’s all government money. And even C. Gurappa, the headmaster of the primary school, who clarifies that this not the case, shrugs and says with a degree of faith, “He is also supposed to give some money.” Shoulders droop slightly when I ask if Rajinikanth has ever visited since leaving. “No, but he might!”
The shadow of Rajinikanth is evident in Gavipuram, particularly in ‘the Rajinikanth School’ | <urn:uuid:3ef35cb9-3dc0-41cd-99e6-111004ac9a0d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-neighbourhood/going-to-the-same-school-as-the-boss/article4437034.ece?ref=sliderNews | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974926 | 698 | 1.726563 | 2 |
We here at Fine Art like to encourage you to follow your dreams.
The beginning of a new year is a good time to set goals, like learning different skills or updating what you already know. For those of you working in the fine arts, there is a wide variety of online courses to help you become better at what you do.
Many of these courses are free, and only require registration.
For the visual arts, since it is a visual practice, most education is conducted on site, either in a lab, studio or lecture hall. But surprisingly enough, there are several virtual courses geared for the arts professionals, ranging from business courses to the philosophy of aesthetics.
If you want to open an art gallery, there are numerous business courses to help you learn how to set up your own small business.Entrepreneurship & Business Course by Mark Juliano is similar to a class he teaches at Carnegie Mellon University. The course teaches how to start a company, write a business plan, make a presentation to investors, etc.
The About Guide to Business Majors has a comprehensive listing of business courses.
NatWest Bank has a free Business Start Up Course which explains how to start or grow a business.
Art Historians and Art Critics
Art historians and art critics benefit from having a strong knowledge in philosophy and aesthetics. University of Oxford lecture series Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art is conducted by James Grant. He discusses the ideas of western philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, David Hume, and Immanuel Kant.
There are plenty of curatorial schools and programs available for the aspiring art curator. However, no one has yet developed an online curator course.
Art Museum and Art Auction Professionals
The online courses available for those who work in museums or art auction houses fall into two distinct categories: Business and Art History (see the above links). To go into this field, it is recommended to enroll in Museum Studies at a university.
Working with art directly such as when appraising a painting, or researching its chemical composition for conservation purposes, then you’ll need to be in the gallery or the lab with the specific artwork. However, there are still a few online courses available for both appraisers and conservators to help learn the tools of the trade.
The Appraisers Association of America works with New York University's School of Continuing and Professional Studies (SCPS) and offers a Certificate in Appraisal Studies in Fine and Decorative Arts.
Art conservators can learn Organic Spectroscopy which is offered by UC Irvine. Students will learn about how to examine organic molecules with mass spectrometry and other tools.
Artists can always develop their skills. Here is a good tutorial from Drawing at About.com. | <urn:uuid:623afd15-f12f-4863-b3a9-b8882f3677e2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fineart.about.com/od/Art_Schools/a/Arts-Online-Educational-Courses-2013.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939477 | 559 | 2.234375 | 2 |
BeOS: the Mac OS X might-have-been
The multimedia OS that debuted years before Vista
Forgotten Tech As World+Dog gets its head around Windows Vista, lets look back at an operating system that might have been a contender, very nearly becoming Apple's next-generation OS and, but for Linux, almost certainly the key alternative to Windows in the x86 world. Ladies and gentlemen, who remembers the Be OS?
BeOS development stretches back to the early 1990s, driven by erstwhile Apple executive Jean-Louis Gassée who founded the company after quitting the Mac maker. Just as Steve Jobs had in the previous decade tried to out-Mac the Mac - that time with the NeXT box and NeXTStep OS - so Gassée tried to pull off the same trick, this time focusing on a media-friendly hardware and OS combo that would appeal to Apple's customer base of content creators.
BeOS' pitch was full pre-emptive multi-tasking, allowing it truly to run multiple applications simultaneously rather than kludge it the way the inferior co-operative multitasking, pioneered by the Mac OS, did. BeOS was also ready for multi-processor systems and had adopted multi-threading and even a journaled file system. It was object-oriented, with the API coded in C++.
Wikipedia notes that the first versions of BeOS ran on AT&T's Hobbit processor, but the operating system really kicked off when it was ported to the PowerPC in the Developer Release (DR) 6 form in January 1996 running on the PowerPC-based BeBox. By the end of the year, however, Gassée had abandoned hardware - another move Be shared with NeXT - and was trying to persuade Apple to buy the company.
Apple's motivation for doing so was the need to jump-start the development of a next-generation incarnation of the Mac OS, its own project, 'Copland', having come undone. In the end, Apple bought NeXT, now promoting NeXTStep and OpenStep on Intel-based systems. Jobs returned to his old firm; Gassée didn't. | <urn:uuid:9f516490-6768-47fc-bfbf-bac3d3208278> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/30/forgotten_tech_beos/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95849 | 442 | 2.03125 | 2 |
There are 14 school districts in Lorain County and nine are considered excellent or better as ranked by the Ohio Department of Education, which Wednesday released more data from this year’s state report cards.
Last year, just seven school districts reached the top of the academic ladder as defined by the state, and 10 years ago that number was just two districts. Over the years, public school districts have done a much better job of measuring up to state standards, and local officials attribute it to increased awareness of what is expected of them.
“We are elated with our excellent rating,” Clearview Superintendent Stanley Mounts said.
This is the first time the district has reached the top ranking.
“We started out several years ago in continuous improvement and each year we are getting better and better,” he said. “Obviously, we don’t have the financial backing of a lot of schools in the county, but I am blessed with a staff that believes in kids and aims to make sure everyone reaches their potential.”
It’s easy to say the increase in good districts is related to emphasizing test data in classrooms. But Mounts said teachers are teaching the state standards.
“The state Board of Education provides the state standards and benchmarks they want us to hit. We are just striving for toward those standards,” he said.
Although Elyria is still working up to the excellent level, Elyria Schools Director of Academic Services Ann Schloss said the gains the district is making are easily some of the best in years.
“If you look at our growth — our sustainable growth — you will see that each year we are meeting indicators,” she said. “We are meeting the needs of kids with sustainable growth. That is telling everyone that what Elyria is doing is working. Sustainable growth is very important.”
Statewide, the number of schools at the top has also increased over the years.
This year, more than half of the state’s districts are considered excellent or better, according to the preliminary data. This includes 138 districts ranked excellent with distinction and 249 ranked excellent.
Just two districts in the state — Cleveland and Lorain — were declared in academic emergency.
John Charlton, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Education, said a new assessment and rating systems is in the works because the standards seem to be too easy to obtain.
“In essence, Ohio has become good at meeting a very low set of standards,” he said. “We want to certainly commend those districts doing well, but we want to also increase the standards in the state.”
When placed in state-by-state comparisons, Ohio students are somewhat in the middle of the pack depending on who is doing the grading.
The American Legislative Exchange Council ranks the state as the 21st best in the nation while the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s National Kids Count Survey places Ohio as the 18th best state for educating kids.
It’s difficult to find a true apple-to-apples comparison because some states rank their schools and publish the results but others do not, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. In an effort to achieve some sort of mechanism for comparison, the NCES does look at and link a number of studies.
Charlton said in the coming years such a comparison will be much easier as districts move to teaching the common core curriculum, which is a set of nationwide standards that provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn. So far, 45 states have formally adopted common core state standards.
“As such, new assessment testing is coming in the next couple of years,” Charlton said. “The main thing will be it will be a little more stringent and will set a higher bar for students to reach. It’s in the works now so I can’t give an exact timetable but the goal with the assessment testing will be to more align with the curriculum.”
For the past two years, Elyria has strived to do better because its leaders know a more stringent grading system is on the horizon.
“We are working on best practices in teaching,” Schloss said. “We are working on meeting the needs of individual students through guided instruction. We are working on intervening as needed. We are digging into the content because we know the common core state standards are coming.”
When that time comes, Mounts said he anticipates declines in a lot of districts before advances. Most of the nine districts rated excellent in Lorain County now will likely not be rated as high once the changes are implemented.
“I have been around a long time so I know how these things go,” he said. “I remember in 1994 when the state first put out the ninth-grade proficiency test. There were a lot of schools in the state that did not do very well and it took the schools bucking down and learning what the state wanted. They raise the bar as they should and we will figure out a way to reach it.”
Lorain County schools
- Amherst: excellent
- Avon Lake: excellent with distinction
- Avon: excellent
- Clearview: excellent
- Columbia: excellent with distinction
- Elyria: continuous improvement
- Firelands: excellent with distinction
- Keystone: excellent with distinction
- Lorain: academic emergency
- Midview: effective
- North Ridgeville: excellent
- Oberlin: effective
- Sheffield/Sheffield Lake: excellent
- Wellington: effective
These are the rankings, in order, that school districts can achieve: excellent with distinction, excellent, effective, continuous improvement, academic watch, academic emergency.
Contact Lisa Roberson at 329-7121 or email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:cdc1714e-05be-450e-bc56-22ef9a76d402> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/2012/10/18/state-report-card-9-county-districts-ranked-as-excellent-or-better/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964673 | 1,213 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Defining Hanukkah: Pluralism
Hanukkah represents the struggle to follow one's values and religion in a pluralistic world that often demands uniformity.
The Chasidim (pious ones) referred to in this article comprised a group of Jews known for their loyalty to traditional non-Hellenistic Judaism around the time of the Maccabees. There is no relationship between these Chasidim and the much later Eastern European movement that developed in the second half of the eighteenth century.
Reprinted with permission of the author from The Jewish Way: Living the Holidays.
The question is: What model of Hanukkah can speak to this generation? Several important issues in Hanukkah's origins remain central in contemporary culture.
One theme is the clash of the universal with the particular. Hellenism saw itself as the universal human culture, open to all. But Mattathias, Judah Maccabee, and the brave people who saved Judaism were not fighting for a pluralist Judea. They were fighting against the state's enforcement of Hellenist worship because they believed it was a betrayal of Israel's covenant with God. When, after decades of fighting, they liberated Jerusalem and purified the Temple, they established a state in which Jews could worship God in the right way- not in just any way. Hanukkah is not a model for total separation of church and state.
On the other hand, the Maccabee victory saved particularist Judaism. It preserved the stubborn Jewish insistence on "doing their own thing" religiously; never mind the claims of universalism that only if all are citizens of one world and one faith will there truly be one humanity. By not disappearing, Jews have continued to force the world --down to this day--to accept the limits of centralization. Jewish existence has been a continued stumbling block to whatever political philosophy, religion, or economic system has claimed the right to abolish all distinctions for "the higher good of humanity." Since the centralizing forces often turned oppressive or obliterated local cultures and dignity, this Jewish resistance to homogenization has been a blessing to humanity and a continuing source of religious pluralism for everybody, not just the Jews.
In this time, too, many universal cultures--Marxism and Communism, triumphalist Christianity, certain forms of liberalism and radicalism, fascism, even monolithic Americanism--have demanded that Jews dissolve and become part of humankind. All these philosophies have claimed that Jews can depend on their principles and structures to provide for Jewish rights. The Maccabee revolution made clear that a universalism that denies the rights of the particular to exist is inherently totalitarian and will end up oppressing people in the name of one humanity.
Universalism must surrender its overweening demands and accept the universalism of pluralism. Only when the world admits that oneness comes out of particular existences, linked through over-arching unities, will it escape the inner dynamics of conformity that add to repression and cruelty. | <urn:uuid:8e147458-7ebe-4547-b3ce-c916709ee5a6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Jewish_Holidays/Hanukkah/Themes_and_Theology/Pluralism.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943204 | 616 | 3.671875 | 4 |
Albuquerque’s most distinctive building is the KiMo Theater (423 Central Ave. NW, 505/768-3522 or 505/768-3544 event info, www.cabq.gov/kimo).
In 1927, local businessman and Italian immigrant Oreste Bachechi hired Carl Boller, an architect specializing in movie palaces, to design this marvelously ornate building. Boller was inspired by the local adobe and native culture to create a unique style dubbed “pueblo deco”—a flamboyant treatment of Southwestern motifs, in the same vein as Moorish- and Chinese-look cinemas of the same era. The tripartite stucco facade is encrusted with ceramic tiles and Native American iconography (including a traditional Navajo symbol that had not yet been completely appropriated by the Nazi party when the KiMo was built).
To get the full effect, you must tour the interior to see the cow-skull sconces and murals of pueblo life; enter through the business office just west of the ticket booth, between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on weekdays, or 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Saturdays.
© Zora O'Neill from Moon Santa Fe, Taos & Albuquerque, 2nd edition | <urn:uuid:7a2ef15a-714f-4936-97b0-a0002c2cfbd9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.moon.com/destinations/santa-fe-taos-albuquerque/albuquerque/sights/downtown/kimo-theater | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933446 | 284 | 1.789063 | 2 |
5:30 pm to 7:00 pm
Scholl Center Seminar papers are pre-circulated electronically. For a copy of the paper, e-mail the Scholl Center at firstname.lastname@example.org. Please do not request a paper unless you plan to attend.
“Healing, Humors, and Medical Encounters in Colonial New England Promotional Writing”
Kelly Wisecup, University of North Texas
This paper examines encounters between Native American and English medical knowledge in Edward Winslow’s 1624 Good News from New England, an early promotional report of the Pilgrims’ first four years in New England. Winslow described his cure of the Wampanoag sachem Massasoit, in which Winslow both employed medicine from Plymouth and imitated the actions of Native medical practitioners. While Winslow’s text has been read as creating negative descriptions of New England Algonquians, this paper reconsiders Winslow’s account of Native medical knowledge in order to investigate the relations between encounters and writing in New England. | <urn:uuid:bcfc5fa7-dcc8-4cc7-8995-215d8725fbaa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://newberry.org/09232010-early-american-history-seminar-kelly-wisecup-university-north-texas | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915761 | 221 | 1.945313 | 2 |
F.U.E.L. is a ministry based on anonymous servant hood for Jesus Christ and unconditional love for children and families of our community. F.U.E.L. was adopted to help feed school children that have little or no food on weekends. For some children, their only food source may be the school lunch program. There are approximately 25% of children enrolled in the Federal Free Lunch Program in our community. We estimate that these children go 67 hours with little or no food from lunch at school on Friday until breakfast at school on Monday morning. But we have found a way to help. The F.U.E.L. program is a food subsidization program that places food directly in the back packs of these children every Friday afternoon at school so that every weekend they have something to eat. The F.U.E.L. program at Hermitage UMC currently sponsors about 30 children at 4 area elementary schools. Children are selected by the schools, not based on income, but on signs of hunger. Their parents sign permission slips to receive our food bags. We don’t know their names, the schools keep them anonymous so that we can focus on sharing love and food. We gather specific foods that meet nutrition requirements of growing children, and on Tuesday evenings, volunteers prepare the food packages by packing enough food for the weekend in grocery style bags, and we pray over them. On Fridays, the bags are delivered by volunteers to the participating schools, who place them directly in the backpacks of children for them to enjoy over the weekend. We do this every week during the school year.
Success of the F.U.E.L. Ministry: The following are stories of success that have been shared by the school counselors about children participating in our F.U.E.L. program:
- Children have improved behavior;
- Children have more self esteem;
- Children are more alert and have energy to participate in class;
- Children have better attendance;
- F.U.E.L. is the only gift some children receive all year long.
How to Help:
- Help pack food bags on Tuesday nights from 6:30pm to 7:00pm in Room 205. Individuals, families, and groups are welcome to help.
- Your Sunday School class or church-affiliated group could sign up to volunteer each Tuesday for a month! Contact us for more information.
- Look and shop for current food needs that we post in our church newsletter, emails, or website. This can be delivered to the church office.
- If you would like more information on becoming a F.U.E.L. coordinator for your church, club, organization or community and would like for someone to come and share more information with you, contact us.
- Donations can be made to assist the F.U.E.L. program. It costs approximately $20 per month to feed one child for a school year. This breaks down to $4.80 for one weekend per child. Checks should be made payable to Hermitage UMC and specify that your donation is for the F.U.E.L. program. Deliver it to the church office or place it in the collection basket.
HUMC Coordinator: Jondra Settle, F.U.E.L. Program Director, (615) 425-8235 or email email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:d8ae39ce-7695-4832-86e2-242134e9ba9a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.humc.org/ministries/adult/love-and-justice/f-u-e-l/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956869 | 706 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Before EPA administrator Stephen L. Johnson “answered the pleas of industry executives” by announcing his “decision to deny California the right to regulate greenhouse gases from vehicles,” auto executives directly appealed to Vice President Cheney. EPA staffers told the LA Times that Johnson “made his decision” only after Cheney met with the executives.
On multiple occasions in October and November, Cheney and White House staff members met with industry executives, including the CEOs of Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler. At the meetings, the executives objected to California’s proposed fuel economy standards:
In meetings in October with Mr. Cheney and sessions with White House staff members, auto executives made clear that they were concerned not just about the fuel economy measures in the bill but also about the California proposal for stricter emissions standards.
Johnson explained his decision to thwart California by saying that the new energy bill, which the auto industry supported and President Bush signed into law on Wednesday, “made the proposed California standards unnecessary.” One EPA staffer says Johnson’s decision was part of Cheney’s deal with the industry execs brokered at the meetings:
“Clearly the White House said, ‘We’re going to get EPA out of the way and get California out of the way. If you give us this energy bill, then we’re done, the deal is done,’” said one staffer.
Since taking office, Cheney has taken “a decisive role to undercut long-standing environmental regulations for the benefit of business” while undermining any real action to combat climate change. For example, he stacked the Committee on Environmental Quality with industry heavyweights, killing Bush’s 2000 campaign promise to place caps on carbon emissions. In 2001, his infamous energy task force also ordered the EPA to “reconsider” a rule requiring stricter pollution controls on power and oil refinery plants. | <urn:uuid:b7a7db57-7c5c-4343-bea4-0c37cfe82eea> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2007/12/21/18467/cheney-epa-califronia/?mobile=nc | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950917 | 391 | 1.742188 | 2 |
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Intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text on the opening pages of each chapter. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
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Minorities in the Chemical Workforce: Diversity Models that Work - A Workshop Report to the Chemical Sciences Roundtable B Biographical Sketches of Workshop Speakers Clifton A. Poodry is the Director of the Minority Opportunities in Research (MORE) Division at the National Institute for General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) at the National Institutes of Health. He is responsible for developing and implementing NIGMS policies and plans for minority research and research training programs. Prior to assuming this position in 1994, he was a Professor of Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Dr. Poodry is a native of Tonawanda Seneca Indian Reservation in Western New York. He earned both a B.A. and an M.A. in Biology at the State University of New York at Buffalo, and received a Ph.D. in Biology from Case Western Reserve University. He was the 1995 recipient of the Ely S. Parker Award from the American Indian Science and Engineering Society for contributions in science and service to the American Indian community. Sylvia Hurtado, Associate Professor and Director of the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education, conducts research on understanding diverse college contexts for the success of diverse college students. Her roles include research and teaching at University of Michigan’s Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education (since 1992). She was a University of California Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow for the Sociology Department and Research Analyst for the Higher Education Research Institute and the Center for the Study of Evaluation at University of California, Los Angeles. Other administrative experience includes Assistant to the Dean, Division of Graduate Studies and Research at the University of California, Santa Cruz (1983-1986); Special Assistant to the Director of Admissions at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1982-1983); and Assistant Regional Director of Admissions at Princeton University (1980-1982). She obtained a Ph.D. in education from the University of California, Los Angeles (1990), an A.B. in sociology from Princeton University (1980), and an Ed.M. from Harvard Graduate School of Education (1983). She has served on the Board for the American Association of Higher Education, the Midwest Consortium for Latino Research, the Association for the Study of Higher Education, and the Council of
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Minorities in the Chemical Workforce: Diversity Models that Work - A Workshop Report to the Chemical Sciences Roundtable Division J (Postsecondary Education) of the American Educational Research Association. She was recently named among the top 15 influential faculty whose work has had an impact in the field by Black Issues in Higher Education. Dr. Hurtado has published articles and research reports related to her primary interest in student educational outcomes, campus climates, and diverse students in higher education. Her recent books are entitled Enacting Diverse Learning Environments (Jossey-Bass, 1999), and a coauthored book Intergroup Dialogue (University of Michigan Press, 2001). She has written numerous articles on student transition to college, access, and on creating campus climates for learning among diverse peers. She also serves on the editorial boards of the American Educational Research Journal, Journal of Higher Education, Sociology of Education, and was associate editor of the Review of Higher Education. Dr. Hurtado has coordinated several national research projects, including a federally sponsored project on how colleges are preparing college students to achieve the cognitive, social, and democratic skills to participate in a diverse democracy. She is also studying assessment, reform, and innovation in undergraduate education on a project through the National Center for Postsecondary Improvement; she also conducted the National Study of Hispanic College Students, in which she studied several longitudinal cohorts of Latino students entering college in the 1990s. Cornelia D. Gillyard is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at Spelman College and is currently serving as the Chair of the Department of Chemistry. She earned a B.A. in chemistry from Talladega College and M.S. and D.A. degrees in organic chemistry from Atlanta University. Prior to coming to Spelman, Professor Gillyard worked as a research chemist at Battelle Labs in Columbus, Ohio, and in the Nuclear Medicine Laboratory at Ohio State University. At Spelman, Professor Gillyard is involved with students in classroom teaching, mentoring, academic advising, and in directed research. Her current research activities and interests include the study of organoarsenicals (synthesis and characterization) and the use of spectroscopic analytical procedures for monitoring environmental pollutants and toxins. She has received research and training grants from several agencies, including NASA, the U.S. Department of Energy, Kellogg Foundation, Bureau of Mines, National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Professor Gillyard’s mentoring activities include service as the Director of the NASA Women in Science and Engineering Scholars Program, Co-Project Director of the NSF Research Careers for Minority Students-scholars in chemistry program and Director of the Spelman College Summer Science Program and participates on local and national panels and programs directed toward encouraging young women to pursue advanced degrees in science. Her professional involvement includes service and membership in the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE) and the American Chemical Society (ACS) (Women Chemists Committee, ACS Scholars Selection Committee, Blue-Ribbon Advisory Panel for Ministry Affairs, Student Affiliates Task Force, and Committee on Professional Training). Michael F. Summers is Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and Adjunct Professor of Biological Chemistry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore. He received his B.S. degree in chemistry from the University of West Florida, his Ph.D. degree from Emory University, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Summers’ research in the area of nuclear magnetic resonance studies of complex biosystems is at the forefront of biomedical research. Each summer approximately 20 undergraduates work in his laboratory. They are given the same responsibilities as graduate students, completing their own projects
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Minorities in the Chemical Workforce: Diversity Models that Work - A Workshop Report to the Chemical Sciences Roundtable and becoming coauthors and first authors in major scientific journals. Dr. Summers also directs the Meyerhoff graduate program for high-achieving minority graduate students. The program now includes 26 minority students. To date, more than 100 graduate and undergraduate students’ articles have been published by Dr. Summers’ mentees. In 1999, nine of Dr. Summers’ students, including seven African Americans, graduated and were admitted to Ph.D. or M.D./Ph.D. programs at leading universities. The research facility under the direction of Dr. Summers is a national model for producing large numbers of high-achieving African American students in areas of vital importance to the nation. Steven F. Watkins is Associate Professor of Chemistry at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. He received his B.A. degree from Pomona College and his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin (Madison). His research specialty is in structural/materials chemistry using x-ray diffraction, and he has published more than 80 papers. From 1990 to 2000, he was Director of Graduate Studies in the Louisiana State University Chemistry Department. Freeman A. Hrabowski III has served as President of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County since May 1992. His research and publications focus on science and math education, with special emphasis on minority participation and performance. Born in 1950 in Birmingham, Alabama, Dr. Hrabowski graduated at age 19 from Hampton Institute with highest honors in mathematics, and he received his M.A. (mathematics) and Ph.D. (higher education administration/statistics) at age 24 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He serves as a consultant to the NSF, the U.S. Department of Education, and universities and school systems nationally, and he sits on numerous corporate and civic boards. Dr. Hrabowski serves as a consultant to the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the National Academy of Sciences, the U.S. Department of Education, and universities and school systems nationally. He is a member of numerous boards, including the American Council on Education, Baltimore Community Foundation, Maryland High-Technology Council, and the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. He is past president of the Maryland Humanities Council. D. Ronald Webb received his B.Ed. in biological sciences from Miami University in 1971. Following eight years of biological research at Procter & Gamble (P&G) on insecticides, herbicides, plant growth regulators, and antimicrobials, he entered graduate school and obtained a Ph.D. in toxicology from the University of Arizona in 1984. He returned to P&G at that time and assumed positions of increasing responsibility as a toxicologist, product development scientist, and Section Head in Regulatory & Clinical Development. From 1988 to 1998, Dr. Webb had primary responsibility for obtaining national and international regulatory approval for the use of new food additives and food ingredients. During this time period, he also served as a scientific outreach representative for academic institutions, professional societies, the media, and state and local government affairs. In 1999, Dr. Webb was appointed Senior Manager of Doctoral Recruiting, with direct responsibility for recruiting Ph.D., Pharm.D., D.D.S., D.V.M, and M.D. candidates for all of P&G’s U.S. R&D organizations and coordination responsibilities for doctoral recruiting worldwide. In 2001 he was appointed Manager, Doctoral Recruiting and University Relations, in recognition of his increasing level of responsibility in P&G’s external relations organization. Dr.Webb also serves as a company representative for national industry associations and as a P&G spokesperson with a number of professional societies.
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Minorities in the Chemical Workforce: Diversity Models that Work - A Workshop Report to the Chemical Sciences Roundtable James D. Burke retired in 2001 from Rohm and Haas Company, where he was Manager of Technical Recruiting and University Relations, with responsibility for scientific and engineering recruiting for his company’s U.S. locations and for managing university relations programs. In addition to working in synthesis and product development research for seven years, Dr. Burke accumulated 25 years of experience in recruiting and career development programs. He has frequently lectured on these and related topics at various campuses, college placement conferences, and ACS meetings. A past chair of the Philadelphia Section ACS, Dr. Burke has been an ACS councilor, an ACS career consultant, and is active in his local section. He was Chair of the ACS Committee on Economic and Professional Affairs and the ACS Committee on Local Section Activities. He currently serves on the ACS Board of Directors and is a member of its Executive Committee, Planning Committee and Strategic Alliances Subcommittee, and Professional & Member Relations Committee. He also chairs the Society Committee on Budget and Finance. Dr. Burke received his B.S. degree in chemistry at Spring Hill College in 1961 and his Ph.D. in organic chemistry in 1965 at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was an NSF Predoctoral Fellow. Before joining Rohm and Haas as a Senior Research Scientist, he was a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellow at Columbia University. Dr. Burke’s awards include the ACS Division of Professional Relations Henry Hill Award, the Philadelphia Section ACS Ullyot Award, the National Association of Colleges and Employers Employer of the Year Award, Midwest Association of Colleges and Employers Honorary Life Member, and the Big Brother Big Sister Association of Philadelphia’s Charles Edwin Fox Award.
Representative terms from entire chapter: | <urn:uuid:ca813853-8ed2-4328-94d7-5fc13026121c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=10653&page=156 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949856 | 2,542 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Teleservices Legislation Front and Center in 2005After three years of a seemingly endless stream of new rules and regulations, many in teleservices were looking forward to a détente of sorts this year. Problem is, no one told the state legislators.
The introduction of bills in 2005 affecting the industry continues at about the same pace as in 2004. The types of bills, however, have changed. There are still many bills aimed at reducing overseas outsourcing, but many have additional, and more costly, provisions.
Disclosures appear to be at the forefront of issues for many legislators while "traditional" areas of interest, like existing business relationships and calling time restrictions, remain the subject of much activity. This year also has seen a spate of regulations to restrict charitable and political calls, areas previously considered off-limits.
No fewer than 27 bills in 19 states were introduced in 2004 seeking "location disclosures" and financial data privacy protection in the context of offshore call centers. Though none of these bills passed in 2004, legislative activity on these issues has stayed high. These bills typically require call center representatives to disclose where they are physically located and also require specific permission from a consumer before that consumer's private financial information is shared with an overseas entity.
Of the many location-disclosure bills introduced in 2005, two (Florida Senate Bill 614 and Oregon House Bill 3320) also require re-routing of calls from foreign call centers to domestic agents at the request of the consumer. Other than doubling the costs associated with handling such a call, it is hard to determine the specific benefits sought by such a rule. However, it seems clear that such a rule would have a chilling effect on the use of overseas operators.
Another trend in disclosures would let consumers "pierce the veil" of the call center and require it to provide specific information about the center itself, its employees and the seller that hired it. Connecticut House Bill 5202 requires any paid call center telephone sales rep to provide upon request the name, business address and telephone number of the supervisor in charge of the caller. Minnesota House Bill 471 and West Virginia House Bill 2207 require a call center sales rep to provide, upon the request of the consumer, the name and location of the employer of the person with whom the consumer is speaking. These bills also give the calling (or called) consumer the right to speak to a "qualified employee" of the "company or government agency with whom the person is doing business" (i.e., the entity that hired the call center).
On the do-not-call front, many states seek new ways to further restrict the activities of telemarketers. Florida House Bill 833 and Missouri House Bill 89 aim to let businesses add their numbers to the state DNC list. Iowa and Rhode Island have bills pending to create state-run DNC lists, with each bill seeking to restrict the existing business relationship exemption well beyond the current federal standard. New York, which adopted the federal DNC registry, nonetheless also seeks to make its EBR restrictions more onerous than the federal rules (see Assembly Bill 3581).
Legislators have been particularly active in New York, where Assembly Bill 581 and Senate Bill 2423 would require that any call made by a predictive dialer "immediately" connect to a live sales agent. Such "immediate" connection, of course, would render the use of predictive dialers impossible. New York Senate Bill 2244 seeks to create a "dinner time" rule, restricting any calls into New York from 5 to 7 p.m. New York also has proposed making it mandatory for telemarketers to proactively inquire whether the called consumer wishes to join the company's in-house DNC list (Assembly Bill 636 and Senate Bill 248).
One of the most popular topics for legislators is the regulation of political calls, focusing mainly on those delivered as prerecorded messages (16 bills introduced in 2005). This fit of political self-flagellation is in response to the wave of complaints generated from the last election cycle. Despite the sheer number of such bills, however, it is doubtful that any will make their way out of their initial committee assignments.
Another area drawing attention (eight bills introduced) is the regulation of charities. These bills aim to combat the perception that nonprofit telemarketing fundraisers keep an unacceptably high percentage of contributions, with little left over for the charitable organization. Iowa Senate Bill 31 and House Bill 110 would make calls by third-party entities hired by nonprofits subject to a state-run DNC registry, a requirement that goes beyond similar federal rules.
Despite the continued attention of legislators, the good news for teleservices is that the industry has proved remarkably resilient even amid the onslaught of new rules and regulations. The most important factor is the growing sophistication of teleservices companies in quickly and increasingly proactively addressing new regulatory issues. With DNC compliance technologies, centralized compliance procedures, better sources of regulatory information and third-party compliance audits, the industry is better equipped than ever at recognizing new issues and implementing new procedures. Perhaps more importantly, though legislators never seem to run out of ways to regulate teleservices, the industry is more prepared and motivated than ever to mobilize to protect its interests. | <urn:uuid:3c44e1d3-2740-4fed-99dd-e9d87b76239d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dmnews.com/teleservices-legislation-front-and-center-in-2005/article/87375/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949786 | 1,066 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Gov. Jay Nixon wants Missouri school children to spend more time in the classroom.
Nixon said Friday that he wants to extend Missouri's minimum school year from 174 days to 180 days. He says keeping Missouri children in the classroom longer will help the state remain economically competitive.
The Democratic governor also called for increased funding for preschool education programs. And he says his proposed budget will call for additional funding for the A+ scholarship program.
Nixon is traveling to schools in Nixa in southwestern Missouri and Orrick east of Kansas City. | <urn:uuid:507cc248-7837-43b8-9423-144bd7c4736f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.waynesvilledailyguide.com/article/20130111/NEWS/130119653/0/boomers | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975749 | 109 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Tower sights in Kathmandu
- Sort by:
Towering like a lighthouse over the labyrinthine old town, this white, minaretlike tower is a useful landmark near the post office. The views from 61.88m up – 213 steps above the city – are the best you can get. There is a small Shiva shrine right at the very top.
King Prithvi Narayan Shah was involved in the construction of the four red-coloured towers around the Lohan Chowk. The towers represent the four ancient cities of the valley, the towers include the Kathmandu or Basantapur Tower; the Kirtipur Tower; the Bhaktapur Tower or Lakshmi Bilas; and the Patan or Lalitpur Tower.
The nine-storey Basantapur Tower, which was extensively restored prior to King Birendra's coronation is inside the Tribhuvan Museum. There are superb views over the palace and the city from the top. The struts along the facade of the Basantapur Tower, particularly those facing out to Basantapur Sq, are decorated with erotic carvings. | <urn:uuid:531c95ba-928a-48e9-95da-85efe01601f2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lonelyplanet.com/nepal/kathmandu/sights/tower?sort_dir=asc&sort_order=popular | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926865 | 239 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Selecting an Archiving Product: Buying Guide
have become a core element of the storage infrastructure. Archives today
have two purposes: They hold a vast spectrum of data that does not require
frequent access, and they ensure that more relevant data is retained (and
then deleted) to meet regulatory compliance needs.
storage area network (SAN) storage
emphasizes performance, archival storage relies on low-cost,
high-capacity SATA drives and employs a
RAID and traditional backups to guard disks
against failure. Some archives are little more than "dumb" disk arrays, but
the more sophisticated archives provide data deduplication for
single-instance storage, robust power conservation features and immutability
for data that may be needed as evidence in litigation.
The hardware used for
archival storage is only part of the challenge. Software plays a central
role in a wide variety of archiving tasks, from optimizing and organizing
access to email records to supporting data indexing and searching across
millions of files to setting policies for file handling, which sets the
stage for data migration and retention in an archive.
Let's first look at the eight
criteria for evaluating products associated with data archiving initiatives.
Which data requires
archiving? Not all data belongs in an archive. Before purchasing any
archiving product, you should perform data classification, which will tell you
what data exists in your organization and which data types should be protected
in an archive for regulatory compliance, as well as everyday business needs.
Data classification should not be shouldered by IT alone. Human resources,
legal, accounting and other key departments should be asked to identify the
important applications and file types. Exchange server records, patient records
or medical imaging files may be appropriate for an archive, but marketing
presentations or user MP3 files are probably not. Another issue is how long to
retain each data type. Knowing what you need to keep and how long to keep it
will help you determine storage requirements and establish scalability
requirements for archive management tools.
Does the archiving product
accommodate retention and deletion requirements? You cannot evaluate an
archiving product without reviewing its data retention and deletion
activities. The archiving tool, as well as the software tools supporting the
archive, must be able to operate within the necessary retention period. Data
retention periods are often the same as those for similar paper-based
records and documents. For example, if paper-based employment records must
be kept for seven years, their electronic equivalent is often retained for
the same period. Four caveats related to retention:
Be sure to identify an
appropriate means of deleting data.
Do not keep data past its
accepted deletion date (unless it is being held for litigation
Ensure that you can
confirm deletion in a manner acceptable to your compliance environment.
Changes to retention
periods will impact data that has already been archived.
What is the level of
integration and automation? Storage administrators cannot migrate, track and
delete every file manually. Any archiving product must provide automated
features. Indexing tools should be able to add meaningful metadata to each file
automatically, then integrated with search tools that can wade through metadata
to locate files requested by users. Policy manager tools should be able to apply
migration and retention data across file types while restricting data types to
certain tiers. Since this allows the tools that move the data to migrate aging
data between storage tiers, as well as guide retention and deletion activity,
this requires tight integration with other tools.
What is the level of
interoperability and heterogeneity? New archive storage systems must
interoperate with tools, such as policy managers and data movers, and new
software tools should offer the heterogeneity needed to support the current
archive hardware. The automated features of the archiving hardware and software
must work together seamlessly. Lab testing is important here.
Longevity of the archive
technology, media and tools. Archiving poses problems of long-term
standardization and natural media degradation. The media may only retain data
reliably for 10 years, and tapes written today will probably not be readable on
standard tape drives available 20 years from now. A similar problem exists with
optical discs (CDs and DVDs) and all types of hard drives. Organizations face a
dilemma: either retain old equipment in order to read old media, or periodically
refresh the data (e.g., rewrite optical discs or hard drives) to whatever new
media standard is in use. While it's easier to maintain backward compatibility
with software, changes to the tools can also render older archive media
unreadable. A version of email archiving software released in 2028 may not be
able to read Exchange archives produced today.
Archives are not backups. The files located on a disk-based archive may be the
only working copies of that data in the enterprise. While disk-based archives
rely on RAID for general data protection, archive platforms are typically
included in the backup process. An established archive may be completely
backed up to tape every few months, then use
delta differencing to protect changes to the archive on a daily or weekly basis.
Data reduction techniques, such as data deduplication can reduce the total size
of the archive and speed the backup process. Bottom line: Find the most
effective means of protecting your archival data.
Tracking and reporting
features. It's critical to track any activity that occurs with a file and
report that activity to the storage administrator. In some cases, tracking and
reporting merely help an administrator follow normal changes to the hundreds of
millions of files retained in the archive. In other cases, tracking and
reporting are essential elements of storage compliance. This may include
tracking data migration between tiers, flagging search and access attempts to
learn which users are attempting to find data, alerting IT when archived data is
changed, and reporting on deletions to document the appropriate disposition of
Maintenance and TCO.
Ultimately, any archiving platform or tool will cost more than the initial
purchase price. Hardware platforms carry the additional expense of routine
maintenance and potential upgrades. Software tools entail recurring costs such
as annual licensing, patching and updates. By estimating total cost of ownership
(TCO), storage managers can compare the pricing of archiving products more | <urn:uuid:d76e4046-d041-4135-a176-7fd56c214754> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.backupworks.com/selectinganarchivingproduct.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.901334 | 1,345 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Pauline Segaar is cancer survivor of strong hope, courage and zest for life
By JENNIE ZEITLER
Six years ago this month, Pauline Segaar was told she had, at most, two years to live. Her motto is, “Courage is fear that has said its prayers,” a saying by Dorothy Bernard.
After two years of testing, trying to find out what was causing pain in her left shoulder and back, a scan in March 2006 showed a mass growing in her chest. Surgery soon followed, and the surgeon found Segaar’s thymus gland engulfed by the mass, which was also around her aorta and the phrenic nerve which operates her diaphragm.
The first miracle happened when, during the surgery, the surgeon phoned an oncologist for advice on how to proceed.
That oncologist was Dr. Bill Schimp. What he advised was, if the surgeon felt he had the skill, to remove as much of the mass as he possibly could. Segaar’s thymus and part of a lung were removed, and the mass cut away from her heart and phrenic nerve. If the nerve were damaged, Segaar would be on a ventilator for the rest of her life.
When she woke up, Segaar’s husband told her it was cancer. “I just never thought I would be someone who would get cancer. It just knocked the socks off me,” Segaar said.
But that feeling didn’t last long. “Within hours I found out there were people all over the place praying for me — even in Australia,” she said. “Response from family and friends was overwhelming.”
But the surgeon told her she had as short as two months, or if things went really well, up to two years to live. Segaar had so many questions, the first of which was, “What is going to happen to my kids?” Her sons were 19 and 12, and her daughter, 10.
After recovering from the surgery, she began six cycles of chemotherapy. That treatment kept the cancer at bay for nearly two years.
Another miracle was the location of the oncologist her surgeon had called: just 35 miles from her home in Brooten.
Segaar never let the chemo schedule rule her life or interfere with her living. Chemo was scheduled around important events.
A routine scan in 2008 found that the cancer had started to grow again in her upper left chest. Another round of chemo knocked the cancer out for 18 months. But in early 2010, a routine scan found more tumors.
Dr. Schimp had retired and Dr. Duane was then her oncologist. When Dr. Duane moved to another hospital doing hospice care, Segaar made sure he knew, “I was not going with him to hospice care.”
Now her doctor is in Alexandria. There have been many rounds of chemo in the past two years, using different drug “cocktails.” Following a scan earlier this month which showed the tumors had shrunk way back, Segaar is celebrating a two-month chemo break. This will allow her to prepare for her daughter’s high school graduation in May.
There are four main things that have strengthened Segaar the past six years. Keeping a sense of humor is very important. Her faith has given her hope, as well as the support and encouragement of friends and family. And she has had excellent medical care.
“When you get cancer, there are people who you would have thought would be there for you who aren’t, and there are people you would never have thought would be there who surprise you,” Segaar said.
Segaar ran into a woman at the grocery store, who years earlier she had thought had been aggressive, even mean. They had not had any contact for several years. The woman gave Segaar a big hug as tears fell down her face. She told Segaar, “I pray for you every single day. It’s just awful that something like this would happen to you.”
“I was extremely humbled,” Segaar said. “There are a lot of people out there who are for you, and you don’t even know it.”
When Segaar was diagnosed, she was close to her son’s Boy Scout troop. The Scouts did not really know how to react. One day, one of them called Segaar “Chemo”-sabe, referring to Tonto’s nickname for the Lone Ranger, Kemosabe. “Then we knew we were going to be fine,” she said.
Segaar always had a strong faith. “I always knew I was in God’s hands and that whatever happened would be for a reason. The whole cancer journey has reinforced that. I have learned to have faith in a faithful God and not in a particular outcome or test result,” she said. “God is still using me. If someone reading this can take hope from my story, then it’s worth it.” | <urn:uuid:91049ed4-4c96-4686-b24a-238731163fbc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dairylandpeach.com/2012/03/pauline-segaar-is-cancer-survivor-of-strong-hope-courage-and-zest-for-life/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.99055 | 1,095 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Jan 16, 2009 — We're all shivering from the arctic cold, but village of Potsdam officials aren't complaining. Half of the Raquette River is being diverted as workers build a second hydroelectric plant in the village. The four megawatt project will bring the village new revenue and green energy when it goes online next summer. But officials worry another thaw could interfere with the project. David Sommerstein reports. | <urn:uuid:eb254f32-ca5c-489d-9100-6965f8164ab4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/12797/20090116/fingers-crossed-potsdam-harnesses-raquette-s-power | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946074 | 89 | 1.757813 | 2 |
CAMP 18 LOGGING MUSUEM & RESTAURANT HISTORY
This building is Gordon Smith’s dream. In the early ‘70s he began with a few rusty pieces of equipment, some of which were donated, others on loan and most of them purchased; which all led to the construction of the log cabin.
In the early days on construction Maurie Clark joined Smith. Because of his knowledge of the logging industry he was made “Riggin’ Boss.” Together they located and restored several pieces of the old equipment. All of the timber used in the building has come from the general area and logged by Smith. It has been hauled in, hand peeled and draw knifed with the help of his family and friends.
Most dominating is the huge 85 foot ridge pole in the main room, the largest such structural member known in the United States. It weighed approximately 25 tons when cut and has 5,600 board feet of lumber in it.
Another spectacular feature of the building are the hand-carved main doors. They are cut from an old growth Fir log. Each door is 4-1/2 inches thick and weighs 500 pounds.
The two fireplaces are built with approximately 50 tons of rock found locally. The mantle of the fireplace in the main dining room is solid black walnut.
Virtually all the lumber used in the building has been cut in Smith’s mill which is set up on the property across Humbug Creek. Smith is still doing some logging in the area, but his oldest son Mark has been helping him run things so he could stay with the construction of the building. His youngest son Clay is a faller and lives and works in the area.
In the 20s and 30s the large logging operations such as Clark & Wilson, Big Creek Timber Company and others numbered all their camps. Therefore, the restaurant and logging museum is called Camp 18 because it’s located at mile post 18 on Highway 26.
In the spring of 1986 an 80 foot addition was constructed on the main building to house the kitchen and gift shop.
The restaurant and museum are owned and operated by Gordon and Roberta Smith.
The Smith and Clark families welcome you to Camp 18. | <urn:uuid:affdf12f-02bf-4138-88e1-35d23ff48b0e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://camp18restaurant.com/history.html | 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 | 0.980237 | 463 | 2.265625 | 2 |
Lista delle dichiarazioni formulate in relazione al trattato no. 044
Situazione in data del : 21/5/2013
Declaration made at the time of deposit of the instrument of ratification, on 8 January 1975 - Or. Fr.
In depositing this instrument of ratification, the Permanent Representative stated that Protocols Nos 2, 3 and 5 shall enter into force in respect of Greece with effect from 28 November 1974, date of the deposit of the instrument of ratification of the Convention of 4 November 1950 and of the Protocol of 20 March 1952. He recalled the declaration made by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Greece on 28 November 1974, at the time of deposit of the instrument of ratification of the Convention and the said Protocol and at the occasion of signature of Protocol No. 5 of 20 January 1966, according to which Greece should complete with a minimum of delay the whole set of instruments relating to the Convention with effect from 28 November 1974.
Periodo di efficacia : 8/1/1975 -
Declaration contained in the instrument of ratification, deposited on 11 October 1966 - Or. Fr.
We approve herewith, for the Kingdom of Europe, Surinam and the Dutch West Indies, in respect of all the provisions contained therein, the Protocol reproduced above.
Periodo di efficacia : 21/9/1970 -
Declaration contained in a letter from the Permanent Representative of the Netherlands, dated 24 December 1985, registered at the Secretariat General on 3 January 1986 - Or. Engl.
The island of Aruba, which is at present still part of the Netherlands Antilles, will obtain internal autonomy as a country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands as of 1 January 1986. Consequently the Kingdom will from then on no longer consist of two countries, namely the Netherlands (the Kingdom in Europe) and the Netherlands Antilles (situated in the Caribbean region), but will consist of three countries, namely the said two countries and the country Aruba.
As the changes being made on 1 January 1986 concern a shift only in the internal constitutional relations within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and as the Kingdom as such will remain the subject under international law with which treaties are concluded, the said changes will have no consequences in international law regarding to treaties concluded by the Kingdom which already apply to the Netherlands Antilles, including Aruba. These treaties will remain in force for Aruba in its new capacity of country within the Kingdom. Therefore these treaties will as of 1 January 1986, as concerns the Kingdom of the Netherlands, apply to the Netherlands Antilles (without Aruba) and Aruba.
Consequently the treaties referred to in the annex, to which the Kingdom of the Netherlands is a Party and which apply to the Netherlands Antilles, will as of 1 January 1986 as concerns the Kingdom of the Netherlands apply to the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba.
List of Conventions referred to by the Declaration
44 Protocol No. 2 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, conferring upon the European Court of Human Rights competence to give advisory opinions (1963).
Periodo di efficacia : 1/1/1986 -
Fonte: Ufficio dei Trattati, http://conventions.coe.int | <urn:uuid:cb9efe81-8d73-48a1-82d5-9da83c2c70ad> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/Commun/print/ListeDeclarations.asp?NT=044&CM=8&DF=04/05/2012&CL=ITA&VL=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935873 | 674 | 1.53125 | 2 |
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100 Teacher Interview Questions116 Comments
From Teaching Editor: Interviewing for a teaching job can be the most important step in getting an offer and getting hired. In addition to these 100 questions, don’t forget to check The Ultimate Interview Guide, free for members of Teaching.
To continue reading, please sign in. | <urn:uuid:545aaa7e-d5b3-4b99-9f3e-57891fec312b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://teaching.monster.com/careers/articles/3368-100-teacher-interview-questions | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.904823 | 96 | 1.710938 | 2 |
A round of discussions was held in Brussels earlier this week and EU capitals raised no objections to banning Syrian crude imports, in a move similar to a decision by the US earlier this month
If approved, however, the new measures are unlikely to prevent European oil companies such as Royal Dutch Shell or Total from continuing to produce crude in Syria through joint ventures.
The EU's 27 governments agreed last Friday to explore new sanctions against Assad in response to his five-month crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators, in which the United Nations says 2,200 civilians have been killed.
Gaddafi's defeat in Libya may encourage Western nations to step up moves against Assad, who has pursued parallel policies of strengthening ties with Iran and Shi'ite Lebanese guerrillas while seeking peace talks with Israel and accepting European and US overtures that were key to his rehabilitation him on the international stage.
A senior diplomat based in the Middle East said an oil embargo could rattle business alliances between the ruling family, who are from Syria's minority Alawite sect, and a Sunni merchant class influential in Damascus and the commercial hub of Aleppo that has generally not supported the uprising.
Syria exports over a third of its 385,000 barrels of daily crude oil output to Europe, mainly the Netherlands, Italy, France and Spain. Eastern Syria, including the Kurdish northeast, produces the entire nation's oil.
A disruption would cut off a major source of foreign currency that helps to finance the security apparatus, and restrict funds at Assad's disposal to reward loyalists and continue a crackdown in which the United Nations says 2,200 people have been killed.
The official state news agency quoted Assad as telling loyalist clerics during a Ramadan iftar meal that the West was pressuring Syria "to sell out, which will not happen because the Syrian people have chosen to have an independent will".
In an interview with state TV this week, Assad said the unrest "has shifted toward armed acts". Authorities blame the violence on "armed terrorist groups," who they say have killed an unspecified number of civilians and 500 soldiers and police.
Human Rights Watch said in a new report that civilian deaths documented by Syrian human rights groups "have occurred in circumstances in which there was no threat to Syrian forces".
The Arab League said it would hold an urgent meeting on Saturday (27 August) to discuss Syria, but no Arab states have indicated willingness to impose regional sanctions on Syria's ruling hierarchy.
EurActiv with Reuters | <urn:uuid:0cf331ad-f105-4b77-9ca7-c0f5694c93d8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.euractiv.com/global-europe/eu-weighs-oil-embargo-syria-pres-news-507107 | 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 | 0.966109 | 494 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Asthma is a chronic respiratory condition that is not curable but very controllable. Current asthma treatment is varied depending upon the severity of the condition and the living conditions of the sufferer. For instance if the asthmatic is allergic to dust mites but the carpet and draperies cant be removed then controlling drugs must be stronger than if all preventative measures can be taken.
Current asthma treatment of mild persistent asthma has had the most flexibility in the treatment options open to the asthma sufferer. In two new studies the researchers found that sufferers may benefit from inhaled corticosteroids and a bronchodilator twice daily as opposed to steroids taken in pill form.
When corticosteroids are taken in pill form the medication becomes systemic, or rather it affects the whole body, as opposed to just the lungs when administered by an inhaler. Although some of the steroids are metabolized systemically when it is taken by an inhaler the amount is significantly less and many people show little to none of the steroid side effects.
Current asthma treatment includes inhaled corticosteroids as the mainstay of anti-inflammatory therapy. This is good news for asthmatics since long term use of corticosteroids has been linked with other severe side effects. Patients who have been taking corticosteroids for long term have a higher risk of obstructive sleep apnea, kidney and liver disorders, and decreased ability to fight infection.
Sufferers with mild persistent asthma can back their medications down to the least needed to support their body without rescue medications daily while using daily inhaled corticosteroids that have minimal systemic affects. In one study released from the American Lung Association 500 people who used the inhaled treatment regimen had a 20% failure rate (needed urgent medical attention) vs. medications such as Singulair, which had a 30% failure rate.
Another current asthma treatment is the use of anti-leukotrienes. Leukotrienes are substances in the body that have been shown to be prominent in many inflammatory conditions. They cause bronchocontriction. Anti-leukotrienes have shown to have a positive effect on control of asthma once the current episode has subsided and the sufferer is no longer using corticosteroids. Studies show that using anti-leukotrienes with corticosteroids does not decrease the time used of the steroids.
Many people with asthma will try to down play their symptoms and they often become very tolerant of the limited physical activity they experience. Doctors will often use history as well as peak flow values to assess the effect of the current asthma treatment.
Questions they may ask include:
How often do you use a rescue inhaler?
How often do you awaken at night coughing?
Are your physical activities limited because of breathing issues?
How much have you been out of work/school with chest problems?
How many times admitted into the hospital in the past 12 months?
How many times you have taken oral steroids?
What are the peak flow values – do you graph them?
Asthma sufferers who require a rescue inhaler for actual problems, and not as a preventative prior to exercise, more than 3 times per week can probably be managed better.
Asthma sufferers are not always compliant with the medication regimens of current asthma treatments (including parents for their children) because they don’t fully understand the medications, uses and side effects nor appreciate the side effects of even mild asthma left untreated. It is essential that the sufferer address their concerns with their doctor or nurse practitioner so they are fully aware of the need for regular medication, that it isn’t habit forming and that without the medication the sufferer can experience dire consequences.
Current asthma treatment includes medication, a written asthma management plan, preventative measures and education so that the asthma sufferer and their family are fully aware of the asthma signs and symptoms and are able to react appropriately.
BioVent is a natural, safe and proven remedy that is a unique combination of herbal and homeopathic ingredients to assist with the management of chronic asthma, support of bronchial and respiratory health for easy breathing, and the control and prevention of asthma attacks.
Used daily, it can improve respiratory functioning and health, reduce the incidence and severity of asthma attacks and strengthen the immune system. May be combined with BronchoSoothe. BioVent was formulated by a clinical psychologist and is pharmaceutically manufactured to the highest standards.Free PDF Health Ebook... | <urn:uuid:e56f1bd9-fd94-4c15-bab7-a91f27a70f95> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.natural-holistic-health.com/current-asthma-treatment-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9542 | 928 | 2.8125 | 3 |
A photo of World War II veteran Frank Tanabe casting what will likely be his final ballot in a presidential election has gone viral --and captured the hearts of thousands.
Tanabe, 93, is in the final stages of inoperable liver cancer and is currently at home receiving hospice care, surrounded by his wife and children in Honolulu.
He has always been a true patriot, his daughters said. In 2010 he was among a group of Japanese-Americans who were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal as part of the Military Intelligence Service Unit during World War II.
Originally from the Seattle area, Tanabe enrolled at the University of Washington during World War II but was forced to drop out when he and the rest of his family were placed in internment camps for the Japanese in the U.S. From there, Tanabe volunteered for the U.S. Army, knowing that Japanese-English translators were in need. His family members remained in the camp while he served.
According to his daughters, Frank has never missed a presidential election, and wasn't about to let his illness deter him from voting this time around.
When his absentee ballot arrived on Wednesday, his daughter, Barbara, sat at his bedside and read aloud the candidates and issues.
"I helped him. He either nodded 'yes' or shook his head 'no'," Barbara said. "He didn't always vote for my candidate."
Nonetheless, she followed his directions and mailed in the completed form. He hasn't been able to speak since.
Irene, Frank's other daughter, knew that she was witnessing a rare moment and snapped a picture of the event. She first posted it on Facebook, then her 26-year-old son, Noah, lifted it and posted it on the link sharing site "Reddit." From there, it went viral. Irene said news organizations in the U.S. and other countries have picked up interest in the photo and their story.
Barbara said that she has been telling her dad about all of the internet "buzz" and is sure he is "thrilled about it"
"He is very patriotic, very proud," she said, adding that her father instilled a similar sense of appreciation to his children.
"He always told us it was very important to vote, because he saw his comrades in arms fight and die for American rights," she said.
Among those, she added, was the right to vote. | <urn:uuid:65263065-efb3-4141-857c-97b363bafe71> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kesq.com/news/politics/Dying-man-casts-final-vote/-/387816/17088716/-/prgp73z/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.992441 | 500 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Preparing for College
- Four Things to Do in the Four Years Before College
For your child, high school means football games, a driver's license, SATs, and the prom. For you, it means college is right around the corner. Before your child starts touring college campuses, here are four things you can do to get ready.
- Talking to Your Child about College Expectations
If you're the parent of a high school student who's looking ahead to college, it's important to have a grown-up conversation with your child about college expectations. A frank discussion can help everyone get on the same page. Here are some talking points. | <urn:uuid:a2eed4c7-1fe3-4d9e-8adb-c1d6c74e55fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.360financialliteracy.org/index.php/Topics/Paying-for-Education/Preparing-for-College?life_stage=112 | 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 | 0.944412 | 133 | 2.203125 | 2 |
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Every year, on December 25th, the people of Larry's town celebrate Axemas Day. It is a holiday of celebration, gifts, and battling for your life.
As the story goes, nearly a century back, the town had suffered a terrible snow storm. The freezing blizzard was so powerful, the town had quickly consumed all the wood they'd gathered for the Winter in order to keep from freezing. But as the townsfolk began to fear a frigid doom, an old lumberjack named Nicholautz took up his axe and ventured out into the forest. The trees were so encased in ice, that Nicholautz had to work ten times harder to cut through them. His hands bloody, his body aching, and his skin black with frostbite, Nicholautz brought sleighfuls of wood back to the town. That Winter, the townsfolk all but barely survived.
Old Nicholautz had also survived... though, he had lost his legs and arms to the frost bite. To celebrate the heroism of the amputated lumberjack, the town would celebrate December 25th as Axemas day: the day when Old Nick's axe saved an entire town. It quickly became tradition to offer axes as gifts (in case another terrible Winter were to befall the town, and some other brave soul would have to aid in providing wood). Buuuuutttt..... it didn't take long before everyone in town had half a dozen axes just lying around. So the townsfolk decided to offer up other gifts on Axemas day.
As the decades passed, Axemas day became more and more about receiving gifts, than commemorating the ideal of bravery in the face of dire straits or recalling the importance of spending ones resources wisely. And the young children began to grow self-righteous in their want of presents... so much so, that the entire essence of Axemas day was consumed by greed and desire.
One cold night, before the eve of Axemas day, the town marketplace was buzzing with spirited and festive folk, vendors boasting of their goods, parents drunk on hot cider, and children ... whining about what toys they wanted that holiday. And from the crowd, a fury-filled rage erupted! "Shut your stupid yapping little brats UP!"
The crowd cleared a circle with Old Nicholautz at it's center. There he "stood" on his amputated leg stumps, his eyes red with tears. "Have you all forgotten? Not 40 years ago this entire town was nearly destroyed by frivolous consumption. Has that dark day not instilled in us the need to be thrifty, to SAVE our resources in case such another disaster befall us?!" And with that ironic statement, he "fell". On his bearded face.
Children don't know better ... they couldn't help it. The sight of the old man with no arms or legs, falling face first into the snow, wriggling around in an attempt to get back up ... well, it made them all laugh.
"Look! The very man who used to chop down trees, just fell himself!" shouted a young man.
"Timmberrr!" roared a small group of young girls.
"Maybe this be the revenge of the trees, for you cuttin' off THEIR limbs!"
Even those who felt terrible to see such a sad sight couldn't help but let out some kind of sound.
In that moment of pure hatred, fueled by the laughter of the very people he saved, he spoke a dark prayer, forfeiting his soul to the darkest demons if only he could teach these townsfolk the true meaning of Axemas. His wish did not go unanswered, and in a burst of blinding light, Nicholautz was gone.
The very next day, on Axemas Day ... the townsfolk awoke to a shocking discovery: all the gifts ... were gone. The whole day was spent pondering and prodding for answers.
That night, as the people of town sat huddled in their homes, saddened by the disappearance of their gifts, a cavernous voice echoed out into the night. "Children! It is I, Old Nicholautz! And I have brought you your presents! But IF you greedy little cretins want them so, so badly ... you'll have to come and get them!"
And so it is, that every Axemas day, if the children desire to receive their gifts, they must battle the undead demonized soul of Old Nicholautz.
This Axemas, Larry wants his presents. Like, bad. | <urn:uuid:3b1f7a6b-1642-4718-8c72-e0ddf41b1737> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/ricepirate/merry-axemas-larry?context=ratings:etm.user:3379287.scouted:.offset:11 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974567 | 1,013 | 1.882813 | 2 |
Toronto, Ontario, Canada — Ontario’s tobacco farmers won’t be sowing their fields with marijuana seed anytime soon.
Agriculture Minister Steve Peters says the government is looking at alternative crops to replace tobacco.
But he says that won’t include medical marijuana.
He says that’s an issue for the federal government to tackle.
Ottawa allows for the use of medical marijuana and is working toward decriminalizing pot.
While Ontario’s anti-smoking campaign is taking a toll on tobacco farmers, Peters says fruits and vegetables are among the alternative crops being looking at.
He says industrial hemp — the kind you can’t smoke — could also replace tobacco down the road.
Hemp can be harvested to produce paper, clothing fibre and certain oils.
Copyright © 2005, National Post. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:29d1ee6f-d707-430d-a673-b8e99d4e7282> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.globalhemp.com/2005/03/tobacco-farmers-wont-grow-marijuana.html | 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 | 0.917636 | 176 | 1.992188 | 2 |
| American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
The Power of Political Voice: Women's Political Representation and Crime in India
Using state-level variation in the timing of political reforms, we find that an increase in female representation in local government induces a large and significant rise in documented crimes against women in India. Our evidence suggests that this increase is good news, driven primarily by greater reporting rather than greater incidence of such crimes. In contrast, we find no increase in crimes against men or gender-neutral crimes. We also examine the effectiveness of alternative forms of political representation: large-scale membership of women in local councils affects crime against them more than their presence in higher level leadership positions.
Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms;
Government and Politics;
Crime and Corruption;
Rank and Position;
Iyer, Lakshmi, Anandi Mani, Prachi Mishra, and Petia Topalova. "The Power of Political Voice: Women's Political Representation and Crime in India." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 4, no. 4 (October, 2012): 165–193. | <urn:uuid:252c2855-b59d-4773-86d8-e74a30141023> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=42331 | 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 | 0.909542 | 226 | 1.796875 | 2 |
I am working on a circular sweater pattern from www.morehousefarm.com
it is a tunic and it is my first sweater. I am a little confused by the directions. This is the part I am confused
Divide for armhole: knit 60 (66/72/81) stitches—half the number of stitches of tunic—then turn and purl back (on wrong side) to beginning of round. Continue working back and forth on front half for 44 (46/50/54) rows. Always knit first and last stitch, even on purl rows—it will make picking up stitches easier around sleeve opening later. Measure about 2 1/2 yards of yarn for binding off shoulder and front neckline (you'll be binding off shoulders from front and back together), then break off yarn. Work second half of stitches for back of tunic to same length as front. Now bind off shoulders using three-needle bind off. Bind off 20 (22/25/29) stitches from left shoulder toward neck, then bind off same number of stitches from right shoulder toward neck. Then bind oft stitches around neckline—pick up (and bind off) one extra stitch at each shoulder where front and back shoulders join. Bind off stitches around neckline loosely so that head fits through neck opening comfortably.
I understand how to knit the first part of the stitches, knit and purl then cut my yarn. But how do you attach my yarn to work the back? Also, when I do my three-needles bind-off where is the third needle coming from?
Thanks in advance for your help!
-Rae Ann :D | <urn:uuid:fdcdb741-8745-42a7-b894-49be2bc48c0a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.knittinghelp.com/forum/showthread.php?t=36319 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915951 | 339 | 2.234375 | 2 |
There are several key ways in which people respond differently to women and men who are leaders. I’ll outline these differences, identify the ways in which such responses affect women’s leadership, and propose some solutions to smooth the way for women leaders.
The United States recently traveled quite a way down the road toward electing its first woman president.
Yet, incongruously, as the Hillary Clinton campaign picked up speed, an inordinate amount of attention was paid to a frivolous observation about the “low-cut” neckline of an outfit worn during a speech she gave on the Senate floor.As the first primaries approached, her campaign scrambled to embark on a blitz to present her as “likable and heartwarming,” to balance the “strength and experience” theme that had seemed especially necessary for a female candidate.
It appears that the acceptable scripts for women in powerful public political roles are still rigidly defined and easy to violate—by being too “pushy” or too “soft,” too “strident” or too accommodating, too sexless or too sexual. It seems all too easy for women leaders to run afoul of their constituents or their colleagues by deviating from the narrowly-defined set of behaviors in which cultural femininity overlaps with leadership.
With the necessity to conform to two, often conflicting, sets of expectations, high-profile women leaders in the United States are relentlessly held to a higher standard than their male counterparts. If women are to claim their share of leadership positions, and to operate effectively within such positions, women and men must be aware of these differential expectations, know how they affect both leaders and constituents, and understand what responses may be useful.
Women in leadership roles elicit different responses than do men.
Power operates as a social structure, made up of numerous practices that maintain a cultural system of dominance. The practices that maintain a power system include patterns of discourse, shared understandings about and participation in a set of values, expectations, norms and roles. This social structure transcends, in some respects, the wishes or behavior of any particular individual and has a tendency to shape decisions, interactions, and social relations to fit it. Responses to women and men in leadership roles are conditioned by a social structure traditionally dominated by men.
Researchers have identified four key ways in which female and male leaders elicit different responses from those around them. These different responses appear to be due, not so much to different leadership behaviors by women and men, as to the stimulus value of women or men in these roles. A woman leader stimulates a different reaction than a male leader because of learned expectations, shaped and supported by the surrounding social structure, that invalidate and undercut women’s attempts to be effective, influential, powerful.
Women are expected to combine leadership with compassion.
Researchers have long found that people think “male” when they think “leader,” and that this result transcends many cultural differences. Because of perceived incompatibility between the requirements of femininity and those of leadership, women are often required to “soften” their leadership styles to gain the approval of their constituents. Women who do not temper their agency and competence with warmth and friendliness risk being disliked and less influential; men face no such necessity to be agreeable while exercising power. Women who lead with an autocratic style are the targets of more disapproval than those who enact a more democratic style; men may choose the autocratic style with relative impunity, if they are effective leaders. When women demonstrate competent leadership within an explicitly masculine arena—something that often requires the application of a “harder” leadership style, they are disliked and disparaged.
People do not listen to or take direction from women as comfortably as from men.
The stereotype that women are more talkative than men is unsupported by evidence. Yet it often appears that people use women’s supposed loquaciousness as a justification for “tuning out” much of what women say. Women report that they do not feel listened to, that when they speak in meetings their comments and suggestions are ignored or belittled—and that the same comments or suggestions from men have more impact. They are not imagining this reaction. One pair of researchers trained women and men to try to take leadership of mixed-sex groups by making the same suggestions, using the same words. Group members responded to the male would-be leaders’ comments with attention, nods, and smiles; they responded to the women by looking away and frowning. Furthermore, these group members were not aware that they were treating would-be female and male leaders differently. This pattern occurs not only in the lab, but in the real world: Field studies of small group meetings in organizations show that women leaders are targets of more displays of negative emotion than men leaders, even when both sets of leaders are viewed as equally competent.
Women who promote themselves and their abilities reap disapproval.
Because they are stereotyped as less competent than men, women would-be leaders are sometimes advised to eschew feminine modesty and promote their own abilities, strengths and accomplishments. However, self-promotion can be dangerous for women. As noted above, women who act more confident and assertive than is normative for women run the risk of disapproval. Research demonstrates that when women promote their own accomplishments it can cause their audience to view them as more competent—but at the cost of viewing them as less likeable. Men who promote their own accomplishments do not reap the same mixed outcomes: as long as they do not overdo it, self-promotion brings them both higher evaluations of competence and likeability.
Women require more external validation than do men in some contexts.
Given the issues raised so far, it is not surprising to learn that, in order for women to be accepted in leadership roles, they must often have external endorsements. Particularly in competitive, highly-masculinized contexts, simply having leadership training or task-related expertise does not guarantee a woman’s success unless accompanied by legitimation by another established leader.Gender stereotypes interfere with observers’ ability to see women’s competence; it is sometimes necessary to for a high-status other to provide them with credibility.
Reacting to the reactions: How does leadership feel to women?
There is evidence that women may be more aware than men of the potential costs of leadership.Women do worry about the contradictions between acceptable feminine behavior and the requirements of powerful positions. Young women asked to imagine themselves in powerful positions rate such positions as be less positive than young men do. Furthermore, the women betray awareness of the possibility that relationship problems could ensue if they were to hold such positions. Some describe themselves as potentially very unlikable in such roles, using words such as “dominating, aggressive,” “opinionated,” “power hungry, ... mean,” “bossy, direct and aggressive.”Clearly, they recognize the near-impossibility of “softening” one’s image while yet maintaining the air of authority, determination and competence necessary to convince others that one can exercise strong leadership.
Women already in leadership positions—even those in male-dominated contexts—while acutely aware of the narrow path they must tread, find rewards in these roles: a sense of competence and of positive impactand the opportunity to empower others.These rewards, they say, help compensate for the heavy demands and the caution demanded by the contradictory expectations associated with their leadership roles. However, there is no telling how many women never get to this point—turned away from aspirations to leadership because of the difficulties and costs they anticipate.
A changed social structure changes the reactions.
An interview study of women leaders in France and Norway illustrated years ago that context could make all the difference to these leaders’ experience. The Norwegian women expressed joy and a sense of efficacy in their leadership roles; the French women, on the other hand, spoke of difficulties, conflicts, loneliness, and marginality.These differing experiences appeared linked to sharp contrasts in these women’s perceptions of their acceptance as leaders. In Norway, with its long and deeply-rooted history of women’s involvement in political leadership, women in such positions felt a strong sense of legitimacy in their leadership roles. In France, where women’s leadership was relatively new and rare, that sense of legitimacy was absent, and women were called upon to prove themselves repeatedly.
Research has since made it abundantly clear that context makes a critical difference in the ease with which women can access leadership positions, their perceived effectiveness in these positions, and the difficulties they encounter. Women face the most resistance to their leadership and influence in roles that are male-dominated and characterized as masculine.As social attitudes have shifted to define fewer arenas as masculine, acceptance of women as leaders in the other arenas has grown.
In the United States, it is no longer surprising or incongruous to see a woman as principal of a public high school, manager of a corporate department, dean of a university college, or anchor on a local newscast. Women have breeched the barriers to such positions in concert with a general relaxation in traditional gender-role attitudes as well as changes in public perceptions of what leadership entails. Yet in contexts (such as military command, high corporate office, the presidency) still defined in the public mind as requiring masculine qualities, women face tough barriers stemming from the difficulty of simultaneously transcending and accommodating to gender stereotypes. Our intellectual understanding of these barriers notwithstanding, the only way to break them down is for the first few clever, determined and thick-skinned women to dance, tip-toe, and kick their way through them.
There are ways for both organizations and individuals to support these women, and thus support progress toward a social structure in which women’s leadership is commonplace even in contexts currently defined as masculine. Organizations can strive to avoid isolating women as tokens in male-dominated departments, where their gender becomes the defacto explanation for any perceived misstep. Established leaders can endorse and legitimate women who seek or attain leadership roles. Opinion leaders such as journalists can cultivate sensitivity to the possibility that they are setting different standards of likeability and other interpersonal qualities when they publicly critique male and female leaders. As individuals, we can examine our own criticisms of women leaders for telltale signs that we are expecting the impossible—imposing the double-bind of contradictory expectations.
As first one, then a trickle of women overcome the barriers, it should finally become normal to see women holding leadership roles in contexts currently considered masculine. That very “normalcy” will moderate public perceptions of gender and of leadership, gently re-shaping the social structure that has conditioned these perceptions. The significant changes in women’s access to leadership roles over the past few decades are a necessary, but still insufficient, prelude to a society in which women and men can claim a fair share of the challenges and opportunities associated with leadership.
About the Author
Hilary M. Lips is a professor of psychology, chair of the Psychology Department, and director of the Center for Gender Studies at Radford University. She holds a Ph.D. from Northwestern University.
Lips is the author of A New Psychology of Women: Gender, Culture and Ethnicity and of Sex and Gender: An Introduction, as well as the award-winning Women, Men and Power. Her work has been published in a number of professional journals, and she is a frequent speaker on topics related to women, power, and achievement. To learn more about the gender wage gap, visit this section of the Center for Gender Studies website. | <urn:uuid:deca4fca-40f8-483b-a745-cc3e9019c09a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.womensmedia.com/lead/88-women-and-leadershi-delicate-balancing-act | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969413 | 2,391 | 2.25 | 2 |
By a 5-4 decision, announced this morning, the Supreme Court has upheld President’ Obama heath care law. Numerous local and state officials and candidates are now weighing in on the high court’s ruling.
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) called the decision a “blow to freedom.”
Today’s Supreme Court ruling is extremely disappointing for Virginia and for America. The PPACA will create a costly and cumbersome system that will impair our country’s ability to recover from these challenging economic times, infringes on our citizen’s liberties, will harm small businesses, and will impose dramatic unfunded mandates on Virginia and all states. Simply put, this is a blow to freedom. America needs market-based solutions that give patients more choice, not less.
Virginia will evaluate the steps necessary to comply with the law. While we have awaited this decision, planners have been working to identify necessary resources and issues to be addressed to ensure Virginia implements this flawed law in the most effective and least costly and burdensome way possible. In coming months, Virginia’s healthcare leaders will work to develop the best possible system to meet the healthcare needs of our citizens. It remains my hope that we will elect a new President and Senate so that the existing law will be repealed and states will be given the freedom they need to implement healthcare solutions that work best for their citizens. We will evaluate the opinion in detail in the days ahead and determine what policies are proper for the people of Virginia.
Rep. Jim Moran (D) applauded the ruling, saying the Affordable Care Act will result in “life-saving reforms.”
Today the Supreme Court reaffirmed what Democrats and President Obama have known for two years; the Affordable Care Act stands on firm constitutional grounds.
People across the country are already benefiting from reforms in the Affordable Care Act, including 6.6 million young people who can stay on their parents’ insurance, 105 million Americans who no longer have a lifetime limit on their coverage, and 5.3 million seniors in the ‘donut hole’ who have saved $3.7 billion on their prescription drugs.
Though today’s ruling provides assurance as the Administration phases in life-saving reforms including a ban on insurance companies denying coverage to individuals with pre-existing conditions, Republicans in Congress will undoubtedly continue their efforts to dismantle critical provisions of the Affordable Care Act. We must continue fighting these efforts in the House of Representatives to repeal ACA.
Passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2009 represented a giant leap forward to not only make our health care system work better for Americans of any age, race, gender, or income level, but to rescue our economy from the suffocating grip of spiraling health care costs. We spend nearly 18 percent of our entire economy on health care – twice what every other industrialized nation pays. The Affordable Care Act will reduce our deficit while improving access to, and the quality of, care for all Americans.
Washington has been struggling to deliver meaningful health care reform for more than six decades. Today’s ruling means the United States can finally see its way closer to delivering on that promise for all Americans.
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R), a leading opponent of the health care law, said today is “a dark day for American liberty.” He is planning to hold a press conference at noon today in Richmond to discuss the decision.
This is a dark day for the American people, the Constitution, and the rule of law. This is a dark day for American liberty.
This decision goes against the very principle that America has a federal government of limited powers; a principle that the Founding Fathers clearly wrote into the Constitution, the supreme law of the land. The Constitution was meant to restrict the power of government precisely for the purpose of protecting your liberty and mine from the overreaching hand of the federal government.
This unprecedented decision says that Congress has the authority to force citizens to buy private goods or face fines – a power it has never had in American history, and a power King George III and Parliament didn’t have over us when we were mere subjects of Great Britain. Since the federal government itself could never articulate to the court a constitutional limit to this power, Congress has gained an unlimited power to force citizens to buy anything.
I am disappointed with the court’s ruling and with the unprecedented attack on American liberty the president and the previous Congress have created with this law.
Del. Patrick Hope (D) said today is a “historic day for over 30 million uninsured Americans.”
The United States Supreme Court today issued a historic decision sending shockwaves throughout our country that will affect every American. The decision involves a challenge by opponents of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act which seeks to expand access, coverage, and improve the quality of care to nearly every American.
Delegate Patrick A. Hope (D-Arlington) reacted, “This is a historic day for over 30 million uninsured Americans. Never again will the sickest and neediest consumers have to put up with lifetime caps on coverage, or will women have to pay more for health insurance than men, or will insurance companies be allowed to discriminate against anyone with a pre-existing condition.” Delegate Hope continued, “Thanks to Obamacare, the new norm will be allowing young people to stay on their parents’ plans until age 26, free preventive benefits for seniors, and the opportunity for over 30 million uninsured Americans to access high quality, affordable health insurance.”
Since the law went into effect, Virginians have felt the benefits of the Affordable Care Act:
- 1,498 Virginians have gained coverage through the pre-existing condition insurance plan;
- 66,000 young adults in Virginia have gained health insurance through their parent’s plan;
- 2,974,000 Virginians no longer have a lifetime limit on their health insurance plan;
- 1,519,000 Virginians’ private insurance has added coverage of preventive services without cost sharing;
- 837,645 Virginians with Medicare have received free preventive services; and
- 84,977 Virginians with Medicare saved money on prescription drugs.
Delegate Patrick Hope concluded, “Now that the courts have finally ruled, it’s time Virginia got to work to fully implement the law. I call on Governor Bob McDonnell to bring the General Assembly back into session this year to make the provisions contained in the Affordable Care Act law in Virginia. Specifically, priority number one is to enact legislation giving Virginia the legal authority to implement health insurance exchanges so that small businesses and individual consumers can access high-quality, affordable health insurance. I can think of nothing better we can do to help prop up our economy than to make health insurance affordable for all Virginians.
Congressional candidate Patrick Murray (R), who will be facing off against Moran in November, said “America is on the brink” as a result of the health care law being upheld. Murray promised to work to “defund and dismantle” the law if elected to Congress.
Minutes ago the Supreme Court of the United States issued a monumental opinion, upholding Obamacare.
Unfortunately for freedom-lovers like you and me, the Supreme Court found Obamacare to be legal and constitutional. The Court said that the individual mandate is essentially another Federal tax that the government can impose on all of us. You know that I vigorously disagree with this opinion (not to mention tax increases), and that’s why this election has suddenly become even more important.
Now, more than ever we need strong leaders in Congress who will stop voting to trample on our liberties. We are not a cradle-to-grave Social Welfare State, or at least that’s not what our Founders intended! But with this ruling, America is on the brink.
Here’s my pledge to you – when I get elected to Congress, on DAY ONE I will vote to defund and dismantle Obamacare.
On top of this massive increase in the form of an individual mandate, this travesty increases numerous other taxes, increases our debt, hurts small businesses and cuts $500 billion from Medicare. | <urn:uuid:11c36e14-22e2-4d3d-874c-599d3751a6d8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.arlnow.com/2012/06/28/local-state-reaction-to-health-care-ruling/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947054 | 1,678 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Inspiring wonder and appreciation for the natural world is what we do every day.
Each year the Tennessee Aquarium’s award-winning education staff reaches nearly 200,000 individuals with inspiring programs delivered both on the Aquarium campus and throughout the tri-state area. Every fun-filled program exceeds the national and state science standards for AL, GA & TN. Whether its home room or home school, Tennessee Aquarium educators offer a variety of age-appropriate education programs to help your children achieve their goals.
Recent studies have proven that students need learning experiences outside the classroom. Empower them to be enlightened by nature while exploring River Journey and Ocean Journey, viewing educational IMAX 3D films or connecting with nature and local history aboard the River Gorge Explorer. You’ll know they’re receiving a well-balanced lesson from the only aquarium in the United States that’s accredited as a supplementary education school by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS
), also known as AdvancED
. They’ll thank you for a great day of adventure-filled learning with amazing animals from around the world.
Tomorrow’s environmental stewards are learning how to care for our natural resources today at the Tennessee Aquarium. | <urn:uuid:13c8fa1e-749f-40ca-8e72-147cf5265347> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tennis.org/Education/Education.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932215 | 254 | 2.375 | 2 |
Dell pricks up its ears
Pre-installed Linux soon coming to a desktop near you
Hot on the heels of our Dell story yesterday, the computer maker has announced plans to release PCs and laptops that ship with the Linux operating system.
Desktoplinux.com was given the nod by Dell yesterday, which indicated its intention to provide home users with pre-installed Linux on a select range of its PCs and laptops, which could include both the Inspiron and Dimension models.
What this means for its partnership with Microsoft is not yet known, but given the concerns expressed on various forums since the release of Vista, it seems Dell has finally decided to sit-up and listen to its customers.
Hardware support is expected to be the same as Windows-based systems, but Dell said users will have to rely on the Linux community for software support, according to Desktoplinux.com.
Dell carried out a survey earlier this month to find out if it was worth getting on board the Linux ship. The results garnered from over 100,000 people were positive, with more than 70 per cent in favour of the operating system for use both at home and in the office.
A Dell statement on its Ideas in Action website reads: "Dell has heard you and we will expand our Linux support beyond our existing servers and Precision workstation line. Our first step in this effort is offering Linux pre-installed on select desktop and notebook systems. We will provide an update in the coming weeks that includes detailed information on which systems we will offer, our testing and certification efforts, and the Linux distribution(s) that will be available. The countdown begins today."
Dell's Linux software architect, Matt Domsch, said on his blog that the company plans to focus on an open source driver strategy to give users a wide choice of Linux distributions.
He said: "We will work with our hardware partners to develop, test, and maintain free drivers and continue to make progress towards that goal for all drivers," but added: "There's no way to please everyone." Indeed. ® | <urn:uuid:188a738e-018f-4d0f-a6a1-29f777ed9e68> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/29/dell_linux_systems/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967949 | 420 | 1.75 | 2 |
Athens, Ohio A mango-like fruit that grows in the eastern United States and Canada could make low-fat baked goods more palatable to the health-conscious consumer, according to a new study published this week.
Researchers asked 114 people to taste test three types of muffins a higher-fat recipe that used vegetable oil and two low-fat alternatives, one made with applesauce and the other with pawpaw, a fruit that tastes similar to mango or banana. Study participants rated the muffins made with pawpaw as highly as those made with oil and more desirable than those made with applesauce, said Ohio University nutritionist Melani Duffrin.
"A diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol can help reduce the risk of heart disease. Consumers might choose a low-fat food product if they think it tastes as good as the full-fat product," said Duffrin, an assistant professor of human and consumer sciences in the College of Health and Human Services and lead author of the study, published in the spring issue of Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal.
Participants ate the muffins in random order and ranked their appearance, tenderness, flavor, texture, aftertaste and overall acceptability on a scale from 1 to 9, with one being the most favorable response. Overall, the pawpaw muffins were rated between 1.7 and 3.5, or about the same as the higher-fat muffins.
Both the applesauce and pawpaw recipes use less oil (one tablespoon) than the other muffin recipe, which called for one-quarter cup of oil. But participants expressed some dissatisfaction with the texture of the foods made with applesauce. The pawpaw muffins scored higher marks in this area.
Duffrin used a puree of the pawpaw fruit in the study to determine if it would be a better fat substitute than applesauce. Pawpaw has a higher fat content than apples about 13.5 percent fat compared to 5.5 percent fat in an apple but the study suggests its taste and texture may make it a
Contact: Andrea Gibson | <urn:uuid:b34e3323-d580-4f2f-b0c8-a927c8e28c14> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.bio-medicine.org/biology-news-2/Study-finds-pawpaw-a-tasty-fat-substitute-in-baked-goods-10262-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957748 | 434 | 2.109375 | 2 |
CLEARWATER TRIBUNE HOME
JUNE 24, 2010
Summer interpretive programs at Dworshak
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers invites the public to attend a variety of ranger and guest speaker interpretive programs throughout the summer, Dworshak Dam and Reservoir staff recently announced.
The following programs are scheduled:
Saturday, June 26, starting at 7 p.m.— water safety cartoons for children, including a sequence of “Bobber the Water Safety Dog” cartoons produced by the Corps of Engineers, and Disney’s “Wild About Safety with Timon and Pumbaa: Safety Smart in the Water!” at the Dent Acres Campground group shelter.
Saturday, July 3, starting at
— a Nimiipuu (Nez Perce people) cultural program about traditional fishing,
Tuesday, July 13, — “Let’s Make Electricity!” and create a hexaflexagon (child-oriented activity) at Orofino City Park Farmer’s Market.
Friday, July 16, 3-4:30 p.m. — “Man Overboard!” water rescue, one of five child-oriented water safety education stations, hosted by the Clearwater Memorial Public Library, located in Orofino, Idaho.
Saturday, July 17, starting
— Mike Tylznski will demonstrate the Native American ancient art of flint
knapping by creating historically accurate stone knives, tools and blades,
Tuesday, August 10, — “What’s in This Rock?” is a child-oriented program about rocks and minerals, taking place at Orofino City Park Farmer’s Market.
Saturday, August 21, starting at — “The Mastermind Dam Builders,” a natural history program about the dam building expertise of beavers, hosted at Dent Acres Campground group shelter.
For more information about
programs, facilities access, recreation information or historic films available | <urn:uuid:0409ba84-02ae-4e4b-b211-391a6af9b7f9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.clearwatertribune.com/Weekly%20Pages/06-24-10/June2410Dworshak.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923625 | 417 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Maybe there's some variety of Cree that mixes and matches from the two orthographies?
it's western cree
When I put up the picture on a Facebook Cree language group, someone said the ‹ši› syllabogram (the ʃ-like shape) was "not Cree". It was confusing to people because the contrast between /ʃ/ and /s/ exists only in the Cree dialects southwest of James Bay in North Ontario (Swampy Cree) and southern Quebec. To the east, the two sounds merge into a single phoneme, /s/, /ʃ/ or /h/, depending on dialect (with positional allophony in the Montagnais/Innu/Ilnu dialects of eastern Quebec and Labrador), and to /s/ in northwestern Ontario and all dialects further west.
So since it has this contrastive /ʃ/ phoneme, it can't be western Cree. | <urn:uuid:f92ef01d-827f-446b-b38f-23720f9f0c02> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.omniglot.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=873&p=10462 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963907 | 195 | 1.921875 | 2 |
Can you draw a straight line? I am extremely challenged when it comes to drawing a straight line. And even more so when trying to draw a circle that is actually round. Invariably mine come out all lopsided and very non-circle-ish. I do sometimes use a straight edge or a circle template when I want my work to look a little more refined than I can manage on my own. However, mostly I just let my lines be crooked and my circles all caddywompus. So much more often I enjoy the whimsical touches and the non-exact look of hand drawn repeat pattern art!
Drobbles is one of those patterns that I would never be able to draw free-hand if I were shooting for perfection. Lucky for my stress levels – I absolutely NEVER set my goals on perfect lines. Such a goal would have me tossing my hands up is frustration if I did. And just think of all the fun drawing and coloring I’d miss out on if I gave up. So even though I can’t draw a truly round circle worth a hoot – Drobbles is one of the patterns that I enjoy so very much because of the way it feels under the tip of my pen. It seems I’m always attracted to the patterns that can be accomplished in a single stroke, when it looks like it takes a bit more. I even have an entire drawing process that I call “Single Stroke Abstracts.” One of these days I’ll share that with you as it is the one I use most often as a pain-management therapy.
Today however, I’m posting to share with you my simple little “round-ish” pattern called Drobbles. Unless you are one of those talented people who can truly draw a round circle – I encourage you not to get hung up on shooting for perfect roundness when playing with this pattern. Now if you REALLY just have to get a smooth line on your paper to feel good about your art – then pull out that circle stencil and have fun with it. ;) I do that myself every once in a while. I know it’s not the Zentangle way of creating repeat pattern art, but then again neither is anything else I put to paper. One of these days I’m going to sit down and do a real Zentangle just so’s I can say I did it. LOL
Whatever your method – be sure to enjoy the drawing process. Relax. Have fun with it! That’s what I did in this quick little how-to video of Drobbles. I think it might just be the quickest video I’ve ever done at just a wee bit over 1 minutes:
Here’s the free pattern worksheet for you:
I’m sure you’ve seen my Repeat Pattern Art Stacker info page. Here’s a little stack I did using Drobbles. It’s a perfect pattern to use in a stack because it’s so simplistic! Don’t believe me? Play with it in a stack and see what you think!
I’ll share some of my not-so-round circles in the gallery at LineWeaving.com. Will you? I’d love to see yours too! | <urn:uuid:50316067-4556-4e4b-9733-5cdb10f4379d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rainbowelephant.com/i-draw-things-crooked/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948876 | 691 | 1.9375 | 2 |
Sanzen-in is located in Ohara in Sakyo-ku, Kyoto. The temple is in a prominent scenic location among the many other temples in the Ohara area. The first Sanzen-in was built when the great priest Saicho founded Enryaku-ji on Hiei-zan in the 8th century after returning from China where he studied Buddhism. The temple was moved to the present site in the latter half of the 15th century, when Kyoto had been devastated by wars. Historically, members of the Imperial family served for many generations as the heads of the temple. The Amida-Nyorai Sanzon Buddhist statue housed in the temple has been designated an Important Cultural Property by the Japanese government. The temple is widely known for its lovely display of hydrangeas in early summer and maples in autumn.
Address: 540 Ohara-Raigoin-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto
Admission Fee: 700 yen (regular fee)
Closed: Open throughout the year
[Bus]JR Kyoto Stn./Bus/45-min. ride/Ohara Stop/15-min. walk | <urn:uuid:d8728375-4a04-47e3-b958-8f2258642c3f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/location/spot/shritemp/sanzenin.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959751 | 239 | 1.8125 | 2 |
UCI MIND seeks to conduct research to enhance the quality of life for the elderly by identifying factors and life-style approaches that promote successful brain aging.
Home > Drug Information
At Health Mental Health Medicine Cabinet has listed many of the different mental health medications.
MediGuard is a free medication monitoring service designed specifically for patients – allowing them to take a more active role in their treatment.
A resource for people who use drugs, people who are considering using drugs, and people who care about people who use drugs. Includes over 70 defined addictions.
This site provides useful general references for both professionals and the general public. It is not intended as a substitute for individualized professional evaluation or treatment. There are many good resources here, including information, support groups, and clinical treatment providers.
Current Psychiatry.com provides psychiatrists with peer-reviewed, practical advice by leading authorities, emphasizing up-to-date solutions to common clinical problems.
Internet Mental Health is for anyone who has an interest in mental health.
This site contains discussion about Adjustment Disorders, Alcohol-Related Disorders, Anxiety, Drug, Eating Disorders, Childhood and Mood Disorders and more.
Caregiving.com features the blogs of family caregivers, weekly words of comfort, free webinars and online support groups. | <urn:uuid:2c08f491-a3af-4dcb-b22e-b6d850ce1cb9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.psychsplash.com/category/features/drug-information/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929039 | 261 | 2.1875 | 2 |
Editor's note: John Prendergast co-founded Enough, a project to end genocide and crimes against humanity, at the Center for American Progress, a think tank that says it is dedicated to "progressive" policy. Prendergast was director of African affairs at the National Security Council and special adviser at the State Department during the second Clinton term. He is co-author with actor Don Cheadle of the bestseller, "Not on Our Watch."
John Prendergast says leadership by the administration can help protect civilians in Central Africa.
(CNN) -- In addition to Iraq and Afghanistan, President Obama has inherited another military challenge started by his predecessor. This off-the-radar drama is unfolding under the forest canopy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Its consequences could end up becoming deadlier than the two better-known cases, unless the Obama administration demonstrates the leadership of which it is capable.
With U.S. planning and logistical support, central African governments have recently joined forces to hit two very large hornet's nests. These military offensives have not achieved their purported objectives, but they have already had severe impacts on the civilians caught in the crossfire.
The two hornet's nests are two central African militias that most Americans have never heard of: the Lord's Resistance Army, or LRA, and the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, known as the FDLR.
For over 15 years, these militias have committed some of the world's worst human rights abuses with near total impunity for their actions. The LRA is a Ugandan militia specializing in the abduction of children to be used as soldiers and sex slaves. The FDLR, whose leadership contains some of those responsible for Rwanda's genocide in 1994, uses mass rape as its war tactic of choice.
Political deals among central African governments, which the U.S. helped broker, led to the joint U.S.-supported military operations against both of these groups, which are now coming to an end despite having perhaps only made matters worse. In the case of the LRA, regional governments cooperated in planning an attack on the LRA's headquarters in a Congolese game park late in 2008. However, advance warning and poor execution gave the LRA leadership time to escape.
The LRA has since proceeded to carry out a trademark killing and abduction spree. In the absence of any plan to protect civilians, and now that the military operations are ending, the LRA has brutally murdered nearly 1,000 people since December and driven perhaps 200,000 people from their homes in both Congo and southern Sudan.
In the FDLR's case, the Rwandan and Congolese governments struck a deal in January that allowed Rwanda's forces to enter Congo and undertake operations with Congolese soldiers against the FDLR.
Again, no provisions were made for the protection of civilians, despite the FDLR's long and brutal track record of attacking defenseless communities when provoked. The United Nations peacekeeping force in Congo was not involved in the operation.
Now that Rwandan forces have withdrawn, the FDLR is systematically raping women and girls. About 160,000 people have been displaced so far by the FDLR's reprisals, but that is the tip of the iceberg.
Although it is encouraging that regional governments have taken responsibility to challenge these insidious forces, the strategies employed to date have made the human rights and humanitarian crises even worse.
Military force should be only one component of more comprehensive strategies to deal with the militias. First, strong U.S. diplomatic engagement is essential in shaping a larger peace strategy for central Africa. Naming a special envoy for the Great Lakes region of Africa, to deal multilaterally with these overlapping issues, would be a step forward.
Second, the U.S. must help finish the job it started and support the apprehension of the leadership of the LRA and FDLR. A Congolese bishop pleaded that the world should not leave, now that a wounded lion has been unleashed. He is right. If the U.S. washes its hands of these efforts now, the threats to civilians will be higher than before.
Third, the U.S. should work with regional governments and U.N. forces to better protect civilians. It is a major challenge to deploy regional government and U.N. forces in ways that maximize civilian protection in the forests of the Congo, but it is not impossible.
Many more things have to occur, such as building the capacity of the Congolese state, undertaking army reform, pressuring international supporters of the FDLR and LRA, supporting International Criminal Court efforts to introduce accountability, and dealing with the "conflict minerals" that fuel violence in Congo and power our cell phones and laptops.
Certainly, the LRA and FDLR are incorrigible militias responsible for some of the worst human rights atrocities of the last half century, and the responsible use of international military force is a required part of their neutralization. But a comprehensive peace strategy is needed for central Africa, of which military tools are only one component. The new Obama administration has a real opportunity to help end the reign of terror of two of the biggest human rights offenders of our time.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of John Prendergast.
|Most Viewed||Most Emailed||Top Searches| | <urn:uuid:b592e048-13a1-4e81-91d1-0c1d60787222> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/04/09/prendergast.congo/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964443 | 1,109 | 1.84375 | 2 |
(MENAFN - Arab News) GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) region witnessed a significant turnaround in 2010 as capital markets and oil prices increased and were accompanied by strong domestic demand and prudent fiscal and monetary policies.
Oman's economy, the fifth largest economy in the GCC region witnessed a 4.1 percent increase in real GDP in 2010. Real GDP reached OMR11.6 billion as compared to OMR11.2 billion in 2009. On a CAGR basis, real GDP increased by 6.0 percent during the period 2005-10 with the increase accompanied with higher oil prices, better manufacturing output and growing industrial sector. On a nominal basis, GDP bounced back and jump 23.4 percent in 2010 to reach OMR22.2 billion as compared to OMR18.0 billion enjoyed in 2009. On a CAGR basis nominal GDP increased 13.4 percent during the period 2005-10, according to a report by Global Investment House (Global).
In 2010, economic factors improved strongly and Oman registered a 23.4 percent increase in nominal GDP in 2010, accompanied by oil prices. In 2010, labor sector increased creating 105,124 new jobs, foreign direct investment inflows were positive and domestic demand picked up. Oman produced a strong fiscal policy to beat the crisis which sustained domestic demand in addition to the monetary policy which made liquidity available enabling banks to meet credit demand.
The increase in nominal GDP in 2010 was driven by the petroleum activities. Petroleum activities witnessed an increase in its share of the GDP, reaching 46.4 percent in 2010 as compared to 40.6 percent the previous year. Extraction of crude petroleum jumped 42.5 percent to OMR9.4 billion in 2010 as compared to a 39.1 percent decrease reported in 2009, while natural gas extraction saw a 29 percent increase in GDP in 2010 to OMR912 million. Overall, petroleum activities reached OMR10.3 billion in 2010. The increase in petroleum activities is due to oil prices bouncing back in international markets during 2010. Omani oil prices averaged 76.6 a barrel in 2010 as compared to 56.7 a barrel recorded in 2009.
Unlike other oil producing countries, Oman petroleum activities share of total GDP doesn't exceed 50 percent mark which proves a better diversified economy as compared to other oil producing economies. Petroleum activities reached 46 percent share as compared to 54 percent for non petroleum activities. The share on petroleum activities has been decreasing since 2005 when it was measured at 48.3 percent.
On the other hand, non-petroleum activities which include industry, services and agricultural activities grew its share in total GDP from 50.6 percent in 2005 to 53.6 percent in 2010. Non petroleum activities reached OMR12.3 billion in 2010 as compared to OMR11.1 billion in 2009. Service activities is considered the second largest sector in Oman economy in 2010, its contribution to the GDP reached 37.5 percent and valued at OMR8.3 billion. Services activities increased 11 percent in 2010 due to the increase in its largest segment of whole sale and retail trade, the Global report said.
Wholesale and retail trade is considered the largest sector within the services activities, its share to GDP reached 8.7 percent and 23.3 percent of the services sector. Wholesale and retail trade increased by 12.3 percent in 2010 to reach OMR1.9 billion. On the other hand wholesale and retail trade increased on a CAGR basis of 17.7 percent during the period 2005-10.
Industrial activities make up 30.2 percent of the non-petroleum activities and 16.7 percent of the total GDP. Industrial activities reached OMR3.7 billion in 2010, a 11.9 percent increase from the previous year. Manufacturing sector is considered the largest within industrial activities; it reached OMR2.2 billion in 2010, a 59.2 percent share of the industrial activities and 16.7 percent of the total GDP during the same period. Manufacturing sector increased 18.8 percent in 2010 from previously recorded OMR1.9 billion in 2009. As per the Vision 2020, Oman is planning to increase the manufacturing output of total GDP to 15 percent.
Real estate and construction sectors were the other two main important contributors to GDP in Oman in 2010. They accounted for 4.6 percent and 5.4 percent of GDP over the period respectively.
Agriculture and fishing sector increased by 4.5 percent to reach OMR270 million in 2010. On average, agriculture and fishing contributed for 1.2 percent of total GDP over the period 2005-10 and reported a CAGR of 8.1 percent during the same period.
As per latest data, Omani GDP increased 15.3 percent in Q1, 2011 as compared to the same period a year ago, the Global report said. | <urn:uuid:12ead1b9-7297-49dd-bf1f-f0159e58a982> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.menafn.com/menafn/qn_news_story_s.aspx?storyid=1093478316 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953801 | 986 | 1.890625 | 2 |
Our First Week in Room 22
Room 22 have had the best time getting to know each other this week. They have had team building opportunities where they have been given many problems to solve together. In these photos you can see that they are working together by leading their buddies around the school blind folded, with care and precise communication, a great way to build trust.
They have also been to the art room where they have learnt different sketching techniques. You can see here they are looking at 3D perspectives and how to draw spheres. They have learnt how to use a range of line techniques and shading, one you can see they are doing here is called the hatch. This is our focus this term and room 22 will be continuing to develop the skill of close observation and perspectives of different shapes and objects throughout the term.
These are only a few examples of the fun time we have had together in the first 2 days of school. I look forward to so many more. | <urn:uuid:e0285714-896b-4a62-a80b-57684ddebc24> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.summerland.school.nz/Site/Archive/2012/Room_22_Jennie_Campbell/Our_First_Week_in_Room_22.ashx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984666 | 196 | 2.234375 | 2 |
If the weather outside isn't cooperating with your idea to go for a run, hike, or bike ride, then you can still get in a good workout indoors. Believe it or not, you have something in your home that's just as good as a treadmill and weight room — the stairs. Crank up your favorite workout playlist and keep an eye on the clock, repeating this six-minute circuit five times through:
- One minute of running up and down the stairs
- One minute of triceps dips, resting your hands on the second or third step
- One minute of forward lunges, alternating between stepping the right foot on the first step, and then the left; make it harder by doing bicep curls with a set of dumbbells
- One minute of double leg jumps, starting on the floor, jumping both feet onto the first step, and then jumping back to the floor
- One minute of push-ups, elevating your feet on the first, second, or third step; if this is too difficult, then elevate your hands instead
- One minute of side squats, elevating your right foot on the first step for 30 seconds, then repeating on the left side for 30 seconds; make it more challenging by doing overhead shoulder presses with a set of dumbbells
Repeat this six-minute circuit four more times for a 30-minute workout. | <urn:uuid:700bc746-4ea7-45cf-9514-b8320be61540> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fitsugar.com/Indoor-Stair-Workout-23753179 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920059 | 281 | 1.5625 | 2 |
News & Events
Solve Problems Through Land Planning? Yes, Say Fanshawe Degree Students
Daniel Bryson, a fourth-year ILPT student, has been short-listed in the SLANT International Competition for Students of Landscape Architecture. Currently completing an eight month co-op placement as part of his applied degree at Fanshawe, Bryson entered the competition with a design titled "Bamboo Boardwalk."
The SLANT competition invited students to create a concept design for a public park at a riverside site, with a focus on urban renewal. Bryson is one of three Canadians to make the 30-person shortlist of finalists vying for a first prize of 3000 Euro (just over $4200 CAD).
"The Integrated Land Planning Technologies (ILPT) students take eight 'design studio' courses in the program," said Program Coordinator Andrew Wilson. "We try to incorporate design competitions or community outreach projects in the design studios."
Last year, ILPT students entered the Ontario Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (OSSGA) Student Competition, which focuses on landscape rehabilitation during and after a mining operation. Alex Waffle, Bryson's classmate, placed fifth in that competition while Bryson along with Tracey Tucker and James Scott received honourable mentions.
This past winter, fourth-year students completed a Greenprint for Thamesford. A greenprint is a planning and design document outlining ideas, plans and projects related to sustainability and the greening of a community. The student plan, including revitalization of the main street, received praise from Zorra Township Councillor Marie Keasey, who provided copies to her colleagues, planning staff at Oxford County, and consultants working on urban design guidelines for both Thamesford and Embro.
Currently, graduating ILPT students are completing eight Capstone projects to solve urban trouble spots through planning and design. The projects rely heavily on industry research and GIS analysis examining ways to improve quality of life and increase responsible, sustainable living. They include the following:
- Plans and designs for two urban villages: (1) Bronte Creek Village in Oakville; (2) Hyde Park Village in
- Improving participation in recreational activities for rural residents in Huron County;
- Supporting agriculture and community development in Middlesex County, including a new Farmer's Market;
- Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) in relation to neighbourhoods near Fanshawe College;
- Revitalization of a London social housing development to improve residents' quality of life;
- Exploring where a CFL-level football stadium could be built in London;
- Convenience, accessibility and aesthetics of pedestrian facilities in Milton.
The students presented their work on August 19, 2011, at Fanshawe's London Campus. | <urn:uuid:0f946dda-5d55-41fb-b950-8bcc85e5b6be> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fanshawec.ca/news-events/solve-problems-through-land-planning-yes-say-fanshawe-degree-students | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93335 | 564 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Make-A-Wish Georgia seeks Columbus-area volunteers | News
COLUMBUS, GA (WTVM)- The Georgia chapter of Make-A-Wish is recruiting wish-granting volunteers in Columbus, GA, and the surrounding areas to help local children with life-threatening illnesses have their wishes come true.
Make-A-Wish will host Volunteer Training in at the Hilton Garden Inn in Columbus Friday Oct. 12 and Saturday Oct. 13 from 9 a.m. until 12 p.m. Volunteers must be 21 years of age or older and complete a background check prior to beginning volunteering.
At the trainings, interested parties will learn about Make-A-Wish and how the organization grants wishes. Once trained, volunteers have the opportunity to make a special wish, such as a trip to Disney World, a shopping spree or an opportunity to become a police officer come true.
Since 1995, Make-A-Wish Georgia has been granting the wishes of local children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength, and joy.
There are currently more than 600 children in Georgia waiting for their wish to be granted, and volunteers are needed to create, design, and implement these wish experiences alongside our staff members serving as their coaches.
Pre-registration is required in order to attend the training programs. You may register until 12:00 noon on Thursday, October 11, 2012 by contacting Deirdre Trevett, Volunteer Manager at email@example.com or 770.916.9474 x14.
Those interested are encouraged to register as soon as possible. For more information about the organization, please visit the official website.
Copyright 2012 WTVM. All rights reserved.
Most popular stories from nearby communities
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- Sgt. 1st Class Donald Wilson laid to rest | <urn:uuid:61205134-d2fe-4887-93da-108ba425bc3f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://columbus.wtvm.com/news/news/58125-make-wish-georgia-seeks-columbus-area-volunteers | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934991 | 440 | 1.546875 | 2 |
the World One T-Shirt at a Time
’08 wants to see a woman elected president of the United
States in the next election, during the year she graduates
from Smith. And she’s doing something about it.
Lane last summer
began Grit & Wit, a company that prints and sells fashionably
designed t-shirts adorned with slogans supporting her mission.
“Our next president,” says one slogan beneath
a generic female figure. “Sink Patriarchy,” says
another with a picture of a sinking ship. Another shows a
woman stuffing the word “patriarchy” in a garbage
people think feminism is just a movement from the past or
a cause fought only by masculine lesbians who burn their bras,"
says Lane. "I want to abolish the stereotype; feminism
shouldn't be taboo."
The t-shirts and
Lane’s company are her way of combining her interests
in art, government and business while supporting a greater
Since 1945, the
rest of the world has had 35 female presidents and 38 female
prime ministers, says Lane, a studio art major with a minor
in government. “It’s
astonishing how controversial the possibility of a woman U.S.
president still is. Grit & Wit shirts bring a woman-positive
message to the public.”
Grit & Wit from her home in Missoula, Montana, working
out of a space in her mother’s downtown art studio,
after becoming frustrated with the dearth of quality feminist
apparel available. She chose a name for her company that reflects
her business outlook. “I think that individuals who
wear these shirts have to have a strong backbone and a sense
of humor,” she says, “just like our shirts.”
Grit & Wit
is a one-woman operation: Lane designs her shirts and illustrates
the prints, purchases her own materials and contracts with
printers, manages ordering and deliveries, and generates her
own publicity, including her .
the company while attending school in the fall, she took a
break from college to give needed attention to the business.
She received a grant from the Harold Grinspoon Charitable
Foundation, a Smith program that gives cash awards to students
to help develop entrepreneurial endeavors.
So far, Grit &
Wit is off to a strong start, says Lane. She’s selling
her shirts at three stores in Missoula and seeking a national
distributor. She’s also adjusting her Web site to handle
online sales. Last month, Lane won a Most Likely to Succeed
business award at the New England Undergraduate Women’s
Innovation and Entrepreneurship Conference at Mount Holyoke
Perhaps the strongest
testimony to the power of her shirts comes from her teenage
“My 13 year-old
sister has given me reason to believe that even young girls
in middle school will receive the shirts well,” says
Lane. “I gave a group of girls at her conservative school
my ‘Our Next President’ shirts and they have all
worn them proudly to school. They always get comments that
turn into conversations. These shirts are successful if they
get anyone to talk.”
Lane says launching
her own company has been an invaluable learning experience.
And as a
side benefit, she’ll never run out of fashionable t-shirts.
“I love wearing Grit & Wit shirts,” she says.
“It’s the most straightforward and honest way
for me to receive feedback and get reactions. Plus, the designs
aren’t too bad.” | <urn:uuid:736b9e24-f212-49f6-b6a9-566209f34c87> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.smith.edu/news/2005-06/Grit&Wit.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937202 | 801 | 1.773438 | 2 |
In Defense of Pluralism
Katerina rightly rejects a pluralism that leaves “everybody to believe in whatever they believe is true,” that levels all beliefs and erases any real difference between truth and falsehood. Such a pluralism reduces every belief to the same, closes the door on difference, and makes persuasive dialogue rather pointless. There’s nothing really plural about this pluralism. It’s quite boring, actually.
The pluralism I would defend might be defined as the acknowledgement and celebration that while truth may ultimately be one, the pursuit of it in this life never reaches the possession of it in a unified, totalizing whole. Therefore, there may be many true philosophies, true histories, true interpretations, true paradigms, true scientific theories, true ethics or true theologies. According to this pluralism, the sum of our collective knowledge cannot be made into a coherent body in which all the pieces perfectly fit.
Why is it that our various expressions of truth cannot be made into one whole and coherent body? Is truth not the correspondence of our ideas to reality? And isn’t reality one thing? It would seem that the truth is one, not many. The reality is not quite that simple.
We are subjects situated in time and place. Our pursuit of truth cannot escape that situation. We construct all of our philosophies, histories, interpretations, ethics, and other bodies of knowledge in a particular time and place; these multiple constructs of ours are comprised of temporal building blocks. We use language to express the truth, for example, and language is wedded to time and place, to culture and history. We may use language to express timeless truths, but no language of ours is timeless. We may speak of universals, but our statements are particular things. We might walk upon the road to truth, but we also build the road on which we walk, selecting and incorporating earthly materials into our construction.
We can no more harmoniously synthesize the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle than we can neatly combine the worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien and J.K. Rowling. I may be informed by both the spiritualities of St. Francis of Assisi and St. Teresa of Avila, but each one’s spiritual literature guides me in unique ways, using different images. The history of Thucydides doesn’t stack nicely on the history of Herodotus, as if each were like my son’s Lego blocks. Every speaker and writer has a unique voice, a voice that is her own, that composes words in ways unlike any other. Many may speak the truth, but each speaks it in a special way. What each says cannot, in the end, be divorced from the person who says it. What each person says comes from who he is and is informed by his experiences.
I defend this pluralism because I want there to be many roads, made of many different materials, coming from and going in many different directions. I want there to be many travelers, many voices, each with a new story to tell. Not all roads lead to where they seek, of course, and some may lead to false destinations. Not all travelers seek the same place. Not all of them even seek a good place. Some roads may lead to ruin, a fact which should motivate debate, and sometimes the use of corrective tools. What I oppose is taking the sledgehammer to every road that differs from one’s own, or worse, taking a sledgehammer to other travelers who speak differently or of different things. The plurality of roads and wayfarers calls for hospitality. We may have something to contribute to another’s journey, and she may have much to contribute to ours. | <urn:uuid:35b794d7-cefd-4be5-b96a-e5490ad0722e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://evangelicalcatholicism.wordpress.com/2009/07/20/in-defense-of-pluralism/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955285 | 769 | 2.359375 | 2 |
TUESDAY, July 14 (HealthDay News) -- Beware of the dangers that lurk in sand castles, researchers warn.
Scientists at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have found that beachgoers who build sand castles and play in the sand are at higher risk of developing diarrhea and gastrointestinal diseases than folks who avoid digging in the sand.
And if you bury yourself in sand, you're at even higher risk, according to the study, which was recently published online in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
"Beach sand can contain indicators of fecal contamination," said Chris Heaney, lead study author and a postdoctoral student of epidemiology at the University of North Carolina. "This is one of the first studies to show an association between specific sand contact activities and illnesses," he explained in a news release from the university.
Heaney and the other researchers used data from more than 27,000 people who participated in the National Epidemiological and Environmental Assessment of Recreational Water Study. The beachgoers were interviewed at seven marine and freshwater sites, all of them within a few miles of sewage plant discharges. The actual source of the infectious sand, however, was not known and may have included local runoff and animal contamination.
The survey asked people how much and what kind of contact they had with sand during a recent beach visit. Two weeks later, the researchers interviewed them again to see if they experienced any disease symptoms.
About 13 percent of the respondents who dug in the sand, built sand castles and the like reported gastrointestinal troubles. But the number rose to 23 percent for people who reported covering themselves in sand. The researchers also found evidence of rashes, earaches, infected cuts, eye ailments and upper respiratory illnesses.
The study authors cautioned the public not to be too concerned about the study findings; after all, millions of Americans visit beaches every summer, and the amount of actual infection was less than 10 percent in any age group, said Heaney.
Still, beachgoers can take some precautions after playing in the sand. Wash your hands or use hand sanitizer, said Tim Wade, an EPA epidemiologist and the study's senior author.
Wade added: "People should not be discouraged from enjoying sand at the beach."
Read more about some of the types of bacteria found in beach sand at the Surfrider Foundation.
SOURCE: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, news release, July 9, 2009
Copyright © 2009 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.
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INTRO: A bus from Washington D.C. is driving around the country. The bus is covered by photos and words like “Stop the Koch Brothers Greed Agenda.” The bus stopped in Detroit Tuesday and just one reporter from a website showed up. It drove on to the state capitol in Lansing and only one reporter showed up there. That was Michigan Now’s Chris McCarus.
The bus trip is being paid for by a group called Patriot Majority. They’re a non-profit 501-c-4, legal lobbyists, based in Washington. Their shiny blue bus parked between the capitol and the governor’s office. They contacted Michigan State University professor Jim Anderson. He stood next to the bus and read a letter. He had an audience of ten.
“Dear Governor Snyder,”
Anderson grew up on a farm on the fruit ridge north of Grand Rapids. Other than five years at Yale University, he’s lived in Michigan all his life.
“We write to you as Americans who want to stop the billionaire Koch Brothers and other special interests from destroying the American dream. Charles and David Koch have pledged to spend nearly $400 million alone to pursue their radical agenda which includes restricting voting rights, privatizing our schools and fire departments, privatizing social security and medicare and eliminating benefits for veterans and the military. Meanwhile, they support policies that give enormous tax breaks to mega billionaires like themselves.”
The Koch Brothers are each worth about $50 billion dollars. They’re from Kansas. They make Angel Soft toilet paper, Brawny paper towels and Dixie Cups. Their main business is oil and gas. They paid a $30 million federal penalty for pollution in six states. In June, they raised millions at a fundraiser for Mitt Romney.
Professor Anderson and two people from the Patriot Majority bus walked to the lobby of the Romney Building, named for Mitt Romney’s dad. It’s the current governor’s office.
But Snyder’s top two communications people walked past them out the door. Two junior staffers emerged to accept the letter. They’ve given no response since then.
‘Happy Days’ was a popular ABC TV series. It showed nostalgia for the 1950′s. The show might be considered fluff. But prosperity 60 years ago was real.
“Some of the best years of the American economy, we were operating with corporate taxes up over 50%, with tax rates on the very wealthy as high as 90%. We survived and the wealthy survived..”
Back out on the lawn of the state capitol, professor Anderson continued his lecture. He teaches economic history at MSU.
“One of the myths of taxation is that higher taxes weaken the economy.”
The Koch Brothers and Mitt Romney want to cut student loans. Professor Anderson says THAT will hurt the economy.
“If the GI bill of rights had been a loan program the U.S. economy probably would have gone back into a long term stagnation or even depression by 10-15 years after the end of the war. I believe that we should eliminate all student loans and replace them with outright grants and scholarships. That would mean doubling the Pell grants.”
The Kochs have funded the Heritage Foundation, the Cato Institute and the Tea Party. On the capitol lawn last year, country star Lee Greenwood sang. Another Koch brothers group called Americans for Prosperity, held a rally. A Lansing car mechanic named Gene was there.
“Yeah I work here in town. Make less than $40,000 a year. I’m just a hard working blue blooded American that wants good moral responsibility, good fiscal responsibility and good leadership to do it.”
Thomas Frank, a native Kansan, wrote a book in 2004 called ‘What’s the Matter with Kansas.’ It argues that wealthy republicans pretend to want school prayer and fight abortion and immigration. This distracts poor republicans from tax cuts that help the wealthy and hurt the poor. I asked Eugene the Lansing mechanic about this concept. And I asked why his personal responsibility code didn’t apply to the Wall Street bail outs.
“It does. But there’s nothing I can do about their greed. I’d rather have a system where we have a system to be generous or greedy than have a system where you don’t have a choice. The government is able to crack down on everyone and you have no freedom to do anything. So those guys laugh all the way to the bank. They do it on the backs of people who work really hard. And they jet set around the world. They have their fine wine dining clubs and it makes us all sick.”
So Eugene and other folks with Americans for Prosperity, will be voting for Romney. | <urn:uuid:5ac10280-b172-41b2-b7e8-a580e62d9618> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.michigannow.org/2012/10/11/bus-tour-fighting-koch-brothers/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962361 | 1,007 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Located at a distance of 10 kilometers from Kochi, Hill Palace, the
official residence of the Kochi royal family was built in 1865.
Consisting of 49 buildings, the palace is built in the Traditional
Architectural Style of Kerala and is surrounded by 52 acres of terraced
sorts of flora of Kerala including rare medicinal plants are found here.
A full-fledged ethno-archaeological Museum and Kerala's first ever
Heritage Museum are the major attractions.
Antiquities on Display:
Exhibited inside the thirteen galleries are oil paintings, 19th century
paintings, murals, sculptures in stone and plaster of Paris,
manuscripts, inscriptions, coins, belongings of the Kochi royal family,
Paliathachan's gallery and royal furniture including the 'simhasana'
(the throne or the king's chair).
There are on display 200 antique pieces of pottery and ceramic vases
from China and Japan, Kudalkall, tomb stone 'thoppikkallu', hood stone
'menhirs' in granite and Literate memorials, rock cut caves belonging to
the early iron, age wooden temple models.
There is an amazing array of plaster cast models of objects from
Mohanjodaro and Harappa of the Indus Valley civilization of North India.
The upper story houses a gallery of contemporary art.
The huge area over which the museum is spread provides the facilities
for other recreation activities as well. The huge expanse of land that
surrounds the royal palace has a Deer Park and has facilities for horse
The museum is open from 9:00 am
to 5:00 pm on all days except Mondays.
10 kms From Kochi (Kerala)
Kerala's First Heritage
Prime Attractions of Cochin (Kochi)
A Scenic island near the city of Ernakulam, Bolghatty
is famous for the Bolghatty Palace built by the Dutch in 1744 AD.
Originally built by the Portuguese in the mid-16th
century, the Dutch Palace or Mattancherry Palace is located at
Mattancherry. It was presented to the Kochi Maharaja in 1555 AD and
later taken over by the Dutch who carried out repairs and extended it
A leisurely walk through the lanes of the city is
the best way to discover historic Fort Kochi. An obscure fishing village
that became the first European township in India, Kochi has an eventful
and colourful history. more..
The oldest synagogue in India, it was built in 1586
AD by the prosperous Jewish community whose links with Kerala began in
Kodungalloor in northern Kerala. more.. | <urn:uuid:9803da52-3839-4a73-aa05-99bbd40026dd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kerala-travel-tours.com/kerala_monuments/hill_palace.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927266 | 570 | 2.40625 | 2 |
Harvard study highlights the Family Van
The Family Van, Harvard Medical School's local health clinic co-founded by Echoing Green’s President Cheryl Dorsey, has offered free counseling and tests for seventeen years to residents in Boston's low-income neighborhoods. According to the journal, BMC Medicine, a team of researchers at Harvard University studying the Family Van have found that preventive care offers an astounding economic return on investment.
Their study posits that the Family Van returns $36 for every $1 invested, saving the healthcare system nearly $20 million last year alone. Had it not been for the presence of The Family Van, researchers concluded that approximately 80 percent of the 5,000 patients would have been forced to seek treatment at a hospital emergency room. Despite being free to patients, a visit to The Family Van costs the program $117, which is far less expensive than the costs of a visit to the emergency room—which can cost up to $900 for a non-emergency visit. By eliminating these unnecessary expenses, The Family Van saves an additional $3 million in ER visits.
The most revealing finding is that treating serious illnesses including high cholesterol, obesity, and depression, The Family Van saved 17.7 million dollars in “life years,” and 245 years of actual quality of life.
Check out this video from Boston.com to see The Family Van in action.
Echoing Green Live
May 22, 2013 at 10:06 AM
Fellows in Brief, May 2013
May 23, 2013 at 10:04 PM
echoinggreen: thx! RT @modelcitizen: @echoinggreen leading the charge in funding #socent. My kind of people. :) #openco http://t.co/3eUTPkvmLv
May 18, 2013 at 02:33 PM
How do I apply for a grant?
May 22, 2013 at 04:00 PM
From The New York Times to President Barack Obama to the World Economic Forum, s... | <urn:uuid:7cc665df-35cb-4777-8330-21e2cec48c72> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.echoinggreen.org/blog/harvard-study-highlights-family-van | 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 | 0.934324 | 413 | 2.09375 | 2 |
The present article takes a critical look at the new humanitarian ideal and attempts to outline some of the predicaments the ‘new humanitarianism’ rhetoric is facing today. The first part of this paper gives a brief overview of classic and new humanitarianism, humanitarian practice and theory. The second part of the article takes Rwanda as a case study and examines some possible reasons for non-intervention by the international community during the unfolding tragedy in Rwanda in the spring and early summer of 1994. More precisely, it will explore three main views: indifference to what was happening in Rwanda; the psychological phenomenon of diffusion of responsibility and the slippery slope argument. The aim of this paper is to illustrate the pitfalls of humanitarianism, in a changing world, as well as encourage a re-conceptualization of humanitarianism, and of some of those indeterminate rules and ‘slippery’ concepts it is working with. | <urn:uuid:8277b42e-3cb5-4180-a938-593a06e33ad4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sites.tufts.edu/jha/archives/category/madalina-elena-nan | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931944 | 183 | 1.898438 | 2 |
General Signal Power Systems, Inc., has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that claims in advertisements about the effectiveness of its "Uninterruptible Power Supplies" (UPS) -- devices that protect computers or other consumer appliances from damage resulting from power outages -- were false and misleading. Further, the FTC charged that the company misrepresented the results of a "power quality study," widely touted in ads for its UPSs. The proposed settlement would prohibit the company from making any representations regarding the ability of its UPS, or any similar product, to reduce computer or network downtime, or regarding the extent to which any such product reduces the number of calls for service, without competent and reliable evidence to support the claims.
General Signal Power Systems, Inc. (GSPS), is based in Necedah, Wisconsin. Through its Best Power division, the company manufacturers, advertises and sells computer products, including the "Patriot" and "Fortress" UPS. According to the FTC's complaint detailing the charges, advertisements for the "Patriot" and "Fortress" UPS contained claims such as:
"80% of your downtime isn't hardware or software related. It just looks that way."
"It's actually power problems masquerading as hardware or software problems. ...."
"Best Power products are your answer. If you have a blackout, they give you enough power to shutdown everything correctly. They also clean up dirty power before it reaches your equipment, which can reduce your computer problems by up to 80%.*"
"*A five-year power quality study conducted by Best Power's National Power Laboratory showed that the number of calls for computer service dropped 82% after installation of a UPS."
The FTC's complaint charges however, that a five-year power quality study by Best Power's National Power Laboratory did not show that the number of calls for computer service dropped 82 percent after installation of a UPS. According to the complaint, the 82 percent figure cited in the ads actually was taken from a one-time customer survey. In addition, the complaint charges that competent and reliable surveys do not show that the number of calls for computer service dropped 82 percent after installation of a UPS. Instead, according to the complaint, the consumer survey from which the 82 percent figure was taken only considered purchasers of UPSs that feature a "ferroresonant transformer" which provides a much higher degree of protection from power disturbances than do the Fortress or Patriot model featured in the advertisements. The complaint alleges that GSPS did not possess and rely upon a reasonable basis to substantiate the claims and that they were false and misleading.
The proposed settlement to the charges, announced today for public comment, would prohibit GSPS from making any representations for UPSs, or any substantially similar product, regarding their ability to reduce computer or network downtime, or the extent to which any such product reduces the number of calls for computer service, unless the company possesses and relies upon competent and reliable scientific evidence to substantiate the claims. In addition, the proposed settlement would prohibit GSPS from misrepresenting the existence, results, validity or contents of any test, study or research of any product. Further, the proposed settlement would require the company to possess and rely upon competent and reliable evidence to substantiate any claims about the performance, benefits, or efficacy of any computer-related product.
The proposed settlement also contains a number of recordkeeping and reporting requirements designed to assist the FTC with monitoring compliance with the terms of the order.
An announcement regarding the proposed consent agreement will be published in the Federal Register shortly. The agreement will be subject to public comment for 60 days, after which the Commission will decide whether to make it final. Comments should be addressed to the FTC, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580. The Commission vote to accept the proposed settlement for comment was 4-0.
NOTE: A consent agreement is for settlement purposes only and does not constitute an admission of a law violation. When the Commission issues a consent order on a final basis, it carries the force of law with respect to future actions. Each violation of such an order may result in a civil penalty of $11,000.
Copies of the complaint, the proposed settlement, and an analysis of the agreement to assist in public comment, are available from the FTC's web site at http://www.ftc.gov and also from the FTC's Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20580; 202-FTC-HELP (202-382-4357); TDD for the hearing impaired 1-866-653-4261. Consent agreements subject to public comment also are available by calling 202-326-3627. To find out the latest news as it is announced, call the FTC NewsPhone recording at 202-326-2710.
(FTC File No.: 972 3063) | <urn:uuid:c2667e3c-fd8e-4ee1-8775-1fed6301d809> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ftc.gov/opa/1998/12/gsps.shtm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95356 | 1,012 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Photo: © 2009 Jupiterimages Corporation
Stop—don't pull out that credit card until you take our experts' good-buy test! If you can answer yes to most of these questions, go ahead and make a guilt-free purchase.
Beth Kobliner is the author of Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties and is featured in the upcoming PBS special Your Life, Your Money.
"Can I Afford It?"
WHAT TO ASK YOURSELF:
Have I covered my basic monthly expenses?
"Fixed costs must be paid before there is any discretionary spending," Kobliner says. She lists mortgage or rent, gas, basic groceries, utilities, insurance premiums, debt payments—and, preferably, savings: 10 percent of your take-home to a 401(k) and another 5 percent to an emergency savings account.
Are my credit cards fully paid off?
"I'm sorry, but if you don't have the money now, you can't buy it," Kobliner says, pointing out that it can cost twice the original price to purchase something with a credit card if you make minimum payments (and beware of store cards, which often charge more than 20 percent interest as opposed to the 14 percent average rate on bank cards).
Do I have the cash?
If so, use it. "Counting out bills at the cashier is a great way to spend less," says Kobliner, citing an MIT study that found that people spend up to twice as much when paying with a credit card instead of cash.
Is it within my clothing budget?
There's no "right" amount to spend on clothing, but there is an average (courtesy of the U.S. Census Bureau): 3 percent of a household's pretax income. "It's a surprisingly good guideline for most income levels," Kobliner says.
Is the price tag reasonable?
Try Kobliner's cost-per-wear formula—price divided by the estimated number of times you'll wear it in the first two years. Anything below $3 per wear is a smart purchase.
Am I getting the best price?
Comparison shopping is key: Use Web sites like PriceGrabber.com and Nextag.com. iPhone applications such as RedLaser allow you to scan bar codes while you're in a store and search Internet prices for the same item.
Will I still want it tomorrow?
Give yourself a cooling-off period—call a friend, go home—before you buy. A short delay can encourage the part of your brain that makes rational decisions to get control of your wallet, Kobliner says.
Next: How to find out if it's worth it
We Hear You! | <urn:uuid:f0b5bba5-6210-4f76-8dfb-3e4f2587614c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oprah.com/style/Fall-Shopping-Guide_1?SiteID=ys_20110705_what_to_ask_before_you_buy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944867 | 563 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Clark J. Gantzer
Southeast Regional Director
Professor of Soil Science
University of Missouri-Columbia
Clark J. Gantzer is a professor of soil science at the University of Missouri at Columbia. He earned B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in soil science at the University of Minnesota. His research interests involve soil and water conservation and management and applied soil physics. His work includes measurement and prediction of soil erosion, measurement of soil structure and its relationship to soil productivity and soil quality, and improvement of soil and water conservation and management methods. He has taught ecology and renewable resource management, introduction to environmental science, soil and water management and conservation and land use management. Gantzer is active in the Soil Science Society of America and has served on the board of the Soil and Water Conservation Society of America (SWCS). His honors include the SWCS-Missouri Chapter Award of Merit and Senior Researcher of the Year Award from the Missouri Chapter of Gamma Sigma Delta. A Sigma Xi member since 1987, Gantzer has been active in the Society at the local and national levels. He is a past president of the University of Missouri at Columbia Chapter, which he currently serves as vice president. He has also served as a Southeast representative on Sigma Xi's Committee on Nominations. | <urn:uuid:a397454c-beb0-43fe-a0c5-9112d5eb5c60> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sigmaxi.org/about/leadership/board.gantzer.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955067 | 272 | 1.671875 | 2 |
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Booker Wright was an African-American restaurant owner who also served double-duty as a waiter in a "whites-only" restaurant in Mississippi in the 1960s. He became an unlikely activist for the Civil Rights movement when he appeared on a network TV documentary reporting on the changing times in his small town. Exploding the myth of who he was and his experience serving the white community, Booker's appearance set off a chain of events that eventually led to his untimely murder.
BOOKER'S PLACE: A MISSISSIPPI STORY follows director Raymond De Felitta (CITY ISLAND), whose father directed the original 1966 documentary, as he journeys through past and present-day Mississippi with Booker's granddaughter, searching for details around Booker's courageous life and shocking murder, while also exploring the impact the film had not only on the local community but also on Raymond's father.
Starring Hodding Carter III, Frank De Felitta, Yvette Johnson, Leroy Jones, Senator David Jordan
Directed by Raymond De Felitta
Running Time - 1:30
Genre - Documentary
Opened in Theaters - Wednesday, April 25th, 2012
This movie is not currently playing in theaters.
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The Biology of Sharks and Raysis a comprehensive resource on the biological and physiological characteristics of the cartilaginous fishes: sharks, rays, and chimaeras. In sixteen chapters, organized by theme, A. Peter Klimley covers a broad spectrum of topics, including taxonomy, morphology, ecology, and physiology. For example, he explains the body design of sharks and why the ridged, toothlike denticles that cover their entire bodies are present on only part of the rays' bodies and are absent from those of chimaeras. Another chapter explores the anatomy of the jaws and the role of the muscles and teeth in jaw extension, seizure, and handling of prey. The chapters are richly illustrated with pictures of sharks, diagrams of sensory organs, drawings of the body postures of sharks during threat and reproductive displays, and maps showing the extent of the species' foraging range and long-distance migrations. Each chapter commences with an anecdote from the author about his own personal experience with the topic, followed by thought-provoking questions and a list of recommended readings in the scientific literature. The book will be a useful textbook for advanced ichthyology students as well as an encyclopedic source for those seeking a greater understanding of these fascinating creatures. | <urn:uuid:e2e27703-63a6-4f34-b45e-2f4d89e28be0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ecampus.com/biology-sharks-rays-klimley-peter-oerding/bk/9780226442495 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918254 | 536 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Nothing rivals more for my attention than when parents want some advice on sibling rivalry. So this week let me try to bring some peace to the situation by providing some info on the topic.
Believe it or not, siblings who fight with each other may, in the long run, benefit by learning some very important skills, such as valuing another’s perspective, how to compromise and negotiate and how to control aggressive impulses before they have to disagree with someone outside of the family.
Yet, that doesn’t mean that lots of conflict is a good thing, so we still need to offer some alternatives to verbal or physical fighting between sibs.
Here are five tips to keep in mind if you want to keep the peace between siblings:
1. Siblings will fight when they are cranky, tense, easily frustrated, bored or seeking a parent’s attention. If a conflict does occur, try not to react unless there is a danger of physical harm to one or both of the children.
2. Don’t take sides or try to figure out who did what to whom, since it takes two to tango, and both children, in some way, are partially responsible for the flare-up.
3. If you must intervene, try to resolve the problem with your children, not for them, by encouraging them to find an alternative solution.
4. If the fight is about using something, such as a video game, have them make a schedule so they use the game for equal amounts of time. If it’s about who gets the last cookie, have one sibling cut it in half, and the other choose the half he or she wants first.
5. If your children do resolve a squabble without getting vocal or physical, praise them and celebrate the occasion.
Hopefully tips like this will knock out most sibling fights and make everyone in your family feel like a winner when it comes to dealing with sibling rivalry.
Dr. Lewis First is chief of Pediatrics at Vermont Children’s Hospital at Fletcher Allen Health Care and chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. | <urn:uuid:a50155bc-ff03-402a-b860-5506a94cf8a0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pressrepublican.com/0214_guest-column/x318864566/Ways-to-sooth-sibling-squabbles | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958243 | 439 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Episode 7: Critics and Scholars on Video
The online video essay format opened a new playing field for critical and scholarly analysis of movies, providing opportunities for innovative explorations of films while also challenging the established conventions and limitations of text-based film criticism and scholarship. In its early stages, the video essay format was legitimized by the involvement of such prominent critics as Jonathan Rosenbaum and Matt Zoller Seitz and scholars such as Nicole Brenez and Kristin Thompson. One characteristic of these early videos is that they often resembled narrations of written texts with the video serving a secondary role as illustration. Over time, the relationship between text and media has evolved into more sophisticated works that seek to fully utilize the potential of the medium to illuminate itself. As more people continue to adopt the medium to advance their scholarship, the creative and analytical possibilities of this emerging genre will continue to evolve. | <urn:uuid:fa3e183c-006c-4056-aee6-48c443535a0d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.indiewire.com/pressplay/e2060c90-938b-11e1-bcc4-123138165f92 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955829 | 176 | 1.984375 | 2 |
Derived from Scott B. Rae’s widely adopted textbook, Moral Choices, this digital short looks carefully at economic life in the Bible and at a range of economic and business issues including wealth, materialism, work, calling, capitalism, human resources management, product safety, and more. Rae covers moral and theological principles for a biblically ordered economic life, and also includes cases and questions for further discussion. The Ethics of Business thus provides a wise and well-grounded introduction to an everyday ethical question for Christians, namely, “How can I best serve God in my work and finances?”
Format: ePub, Tier 1
ISBN 13: 9780310496465
Weight: 0.1 lb
Length: 80 Pages
Visit the author's profile page for a list of published titles along with ways to stay connected. | <urn:uuid:adbce920-3f67-4c85-abe5-46b140b43cb9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://zondervan.com/9780310496465 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906663 | 177 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Weekend video: Cleaning up Rock Creek
Hundreds of volunteers of all ages got wet and dirty on Saturday, April 9, for the annual Rock Creek Extreme Cleanup. The amount and variety of litter that still makes its way into our region's streams is eye-opening, especially in this age of increased environmental awareness.
Each cleanup crew, stationed at one of 57 sites along Rock Creek from Georgetown to upper Montgomery County, collected many bags full of litter that was then collected by either National Park Service or Montgomery County Parks crews. Along with the usual plastic bags, bottles and wrappers, items found included golf balls, a toilet seat, a knife, and several rubber tires.
The event was sponsored by Friends of Rock Creek's Environment (FORCE), a 6-year-old nonprofit that works to protect water quality in the Rock Creek watershed (area in which all rain that falls flows into Rock Creek and its tributaries), which covers much of the District and Montgomery County and is part of the greater Chesapeake Bay watershed.
Along with coordinating hands-on cleaning and maintenance of the creek and its surroundings, including the removal of invasive plant species, FORCE works in the political arena for policies to curb the less visible forms of water pollution caused by a variety of human activities, and encourage "river smart" home and landscape designs that minimize stormwater runoff.
FORCE is one of several water quality protection organizations serving greater Washington. Others are the Anacostia Watershed Society, Potomac Riverkeeper, Friends of Sligo Creek, and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. All are deserving of your support, as polluted local waters come back to bite us in many ways.
- Metro policy for refunds after delays falls short, riders say
- Judge denies injunction against closing schools
- M Street cycle track keeps improving, draws church anger
- Cyclists are special and do have their own rules
- Long-term closures: A solution to single-tracking?
- O'Malley announces first projects using new gas tax money
- ICC losing bus service in classic bait and switch | <urn:uuid:7d431c98-0786-4930-9d9c-eec2401dc267> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/10345/weekend-video-cleaning-up-rock-creek/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953797 | 424 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Surfing the Salad Bowl Menu
What IS a Salad Bowl, Anyway?!
The Multi-cultural Salad Bowl is different things to different people. Here you will find a virtual rainbow of stories stories from cities that span the globe. Get ready for a unique experience as you learn about traditions and cultures directly from the source: kids who actually lived there..or who are living there NOW! Come back soon, because this is only the beginning...
The Salad Ingredients:
De La Salle Holy Cross College, Johannesburg, South Africa
Global Skylines: Skylines of the world created by the kids who live there. This section has been around since MidLink's first issue in September, 1994. Shouldn't your skyline be here??
Grodno, Belarus, School #30
Ligon Middle School, Raleigh, North Carolina:
Lunar Greenhouse You'll find a greenhouse full of foods at Immaculate Conception School, Sommerville, New Jersey
Passports to the World!: Take a virtual field trip to your favorite country.
Our Cultural Heritage Menu: Take an electronic field trip to places selected by MidLink Magazine editors. These are the greatest. You can visit Ellis Island and read about famous Black Americans.
Electronic Elementary Surfs the Salad Bowl
Electronic Elementary's Salad Bowl!
Electronic Elementary's Multicultural WWW Picnic Games! Foods!
Now we need YOU! Would you like to see your personal story here? Are there links to the countries and cultures that should be included here? Tell us your story and contribute to the flavor of the salad bowl! We will add you to our growing menu.
Back to MidLink Magazine | <urn:uuid:f9817668-5886-40b6-8f68-70e47ef471ec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cs.ucf.edu/~MidLink/salads/salad.menu.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90202 | 343 | 1.648438 | 2 |
MONUMENT TO 1600 SARAJEVO CHILDREN KILLED BY SERBIAN TERRORISTS
PHOTO: Bosnian girls lay flowers at a newly inaugurated memorial to children of Sarajevo, Saturday, May 9, 2009. The memorial is dedicated to the children of Sarajevo who were killed by the Bosnian Serb troops during the 43-months siege of Bosnia's capital during which more than 12,000 people, including more than 1,600 children, were killed.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) convicted two Serb generals of numerous crimes against humanity, including on terror charges, in their conduct of the siege. Serb Gen. Stanislav Galic and Gen. Dragomir Milosevic were found guilty on terrorist charges and sentenced to life imprisonment and 33 years imprisonment, respectively.
The monument consists of a glass unfinished sand castle in the shape of a pyramid. It symbolises the play of children being cut short by death. The pyramid has partially been made from the spent cartridges that were found in the city after the war.
The Siege of Sarajevo is the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare. Serb forces of the self-proclaimed Republika Srpska and the Yugoslav People's Army (later to become the Army of Serbia and Montenegro) besieged Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, from April 5, 1992 to February 29, 1996 during the Bosnian War.
PHOTO: Bosnian children throw flowers into the Miljacka river from a bridge where the first civilian victim of Sarajevo's 1992-1995 siege was killed April 6, 2009. The Bosnian capital marks each April 6 as the anniversary date of the beginning of its devastating siege.After Bosnia and Herzegovina had declared independence from Yugoslavia the Serbs - whose strategic goal was to create a new Serbian State of Republika Srpska (RS) that would include the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina - encircled Sarajevo with a siege force of 18,000 stationed in the surrounding hills, from which they assaulted the city with weapons that included artillery, mortars, tanks, anti-aircraft guns, heavy machine-guns, multiple rocket launchers, rocket-launched aircraft bombs, and sniper rifles. From May 2, 1992, the Serbs blockaded the city.
The Bosnian government defence forces were poorly equipped and unable to break the siege. More than 12,000 civilians were killed during the Sarajevo siege. The three-and-a-half year war claimed at least 100,000 lives, and 2.2 million people were forced to flee.
DON'T MISS - Editor's Picks:
(1.) General Lewis MacKenzie: Sarajevo Concentration Camp Rapist with Diplomatic Immunity
(2.) Translated Transcript of Genocide Prevention Ceremony in Sarajevo (2009)
(3.) VIDEO: Genocide Prevention Month in Sarajevo (2009)
(4.) United Nations Report: Serbs Responsible for 1995 Sarajevo Markale Market Massacre
(5.) VIDEO: Upcoming Genocide Conference in Sarajevo, Kathleen Young (2007)
(6. Serb Gen Stanislav Galic guilty of Sarajevo terrorism & markale massacre
(7.) U.N. Court rules Serbs responsible for 1994 Sarajevo's markale massacre
(8.) U.N. Conclussions: Serbs responsible for 1995 Sarajevo's markale massacre
(9.) Life Imprisonment for Sarajevo Terror: Serb Gen. Stanislav Galic Transfered to Germany
(10.) Milorad Trbic transfered to Sarajevo to stand Genocide Trial
(11.) Rupert Smith Markale Massacre Testimony in Front of the U.N Court: "No evidence Muslims shelled themselves"
(12.) David Harland Markale Massacre Testimony in Front of the U.N. Court: Witness Admits Responsibility for Neutral Statement Leading to Serbian Myths and Propaganda About Markale Massacre in Sarajevo
(13.) VIDEO: Christmas Eve in Sarajevo (2007)
(14.) Pictures of Beautiful Sarajevo, photo tour (2005)
(15.) Use Search Box in the left-hand top corner to find more in-depth research by Srebrenica Genocide Blog Team. | <urn:uuid:9830baaa-fa32-4f6d-a686-893f17311bc2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://srebrenica-genocide.blogspot.com/2009/05/monument-to-1600-sarajevo-children.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931437 | 938 | 2.875 | 3 |
C2DM Unregister Issues
It turns out when you follow the client-side C2DM unregistration process, this does not guarantee that those registration tokens are permanently unregistered for that device.
If we unregister as specified above and then send a push notification to that
registration_id, the server receives an
Error=NotRegistered as expected.
But, unexpectedly, when that device re-register with C2DM (and getting a new
registration_id), the old
registration_id is reactivated as well and can receive push notifications and does not result in a server-side
The end result: we implemented our server-side API to take both the new and old
registration_ids when the Android client successfully registers with C2DM, allowing us to manually delete the old
Drawable XML Files
Prefixing the name of a drawable xml file with “active_” seems to prevent android from using that drawable at all.
One of our projects just started implementing the Android Cloud to Device Messaging (C2DM) framework. We’ll keep you posted as we progress through the many pieces of this implementation. Various resources include:
- Official Google code page: Google Projects for Android: C2DM
- Sign up for the service — you’ll need a Google account, like GMail or a hosted Google account.
- There is no official Android client library for handling these messages. There is a de-facto standard set of classes, as used in JumpNote and Google Chrome to Phone Extension. Most blog and forum posts say something like “Download those classes and tweak as needed.”
- Wei Huang from Google posted an article about implementing C2DM.
- Now for the Ruby part — wait, Ruby? Yes, there is a big server-side component to C2DM. Your message-pushing server must not obtain an authorization token from Google to communicate with the service, but also keep track of the authorization tokens from each device that needs to receive push notifications. We are implementing a server-side API for our devices to register their C2DM tokens. Also, the awesome folks at GroupMe have open sourced a c2dm gem for Ruby servers to both authorize with Google and post notifications. | <urn:uuid:4c7d7edb-ae9d-4d42-9f21-e3dd3410a4c5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pivotallabs.com/tag/c2dm/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.904383 | 475 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Here beginneth the chronicle of those memorable circumstances of the year 1620, as recorded by Nathaniel Morton, keeper of the records of Plymouth Colony, based on the account of William Bradford, sometime governor thereof:
So they left that goodly and pleasant city of Leyden, which had been their resting-place for above eleven years, but they knew that they were pilgrims and strangers here below, and looked not much on these things, but lifted up their eyes to Heaven, their dearest country, where God hath prepared for them a city (Heb. XI, 16), and therein quieted their spirits.
When they came to Delfs-Haven they found the ship and all things ready, and such of their friends as could not come with them followed after them, and sundry came from Amsterdam to see them shipt, and to take their leaves of them. One night was spent with little sleep with the most, but with friendly entertainment and Christian discourse, and other real expressions of true Christian love.
The next day they went on board, and their friends with them, where truly doleful was the sight of that sad and mournful parting, to hear what sighs and sobs and prayers did sound amongst them; what tears did gush from every eye, and pithy speeches pierced each other's heart, that sundry of the Dutch strangers that stood on the Key as spectators could not refrain from tears. But the tide (which stays for no man) calling them away, that were thus loath to depart, their Reverend Pastor, falling down on his knees, and they all with him, with watery cheeks commended them with the most fervent prayers unto the Lord and His blessing; and then with mutual embraces and many tears they took their leaves one of another, which proved to be the last leave to many of them.
In today's Opinion Journal
REVIEW & OUTLOOK
- Business World: A Car Wreck Made in Washington
– Holman W. Jenkins Jr.
- The Tilting Yard: Government by Contractor Is a Disgrace
– Thomas Frank
Being now passed the vast ocean, and a sea of troubles before them in expectations, they had now no friends to welcome them, no inns to entertain or refresh them, no houses, or much less towns, to repair unto to seek for succour; and for the season it was winter, and they that know the winters of the country know them to be sharp and violent, subject to cruel and fierce storms, dangerous to travel to known places, much more to search unknown coasts.
Besides, what could they see but a hideous and desolate wilderness, full of wilde beasts and wilde men? and what multitudes of them there were, they then knew not: for which way soever they turned their eyes (save upward to Heaven) they could have but little solace or content in respect of any outward object; for summer being ended, all things stand in appearance with a weatherbeaten face, and the whole country, full of woods and thickets, represented a wild and savage hew.
If they looked behind them, there was a mighty ocean which they had passed, and was now as a main bar or gulph to separate them from all the civil parts of the world.
This editorial has appeared annually since 1961.Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A14 | <urn:uuid:fe72a97d-835d-4d6f-afe8-8a9132c4abed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122765706006858171.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975915 | 697 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Access to medicines
WHO considers equitable access to safe and affordable medicines as vital to the attainment of the highest possible standard of health by all. WHO Member States reaffirmed their commitment to these principles in May 2008, with the adoption of a resolution on the "Global strategy and plan of action on public health, innovation and intellectual property" (WHA61.21). Among other important objectives, the resolution expressed Member States' commitment to improving the delivery of and access to all health products and medical devices by effectively overcoming barriers to access.
In this context, the recent events related to the handling of medicines in transit and the potential consequences for the supply of medicines in developing countries are of major concern to the organization. This issue has been raised in the meeting of the WHO Executive Board in January 2009 and was a subject of discussion in the recent WTO TRIPS Council.
In relation to this issue, WHO is continuing to follow developments and consulting with Member States and relevant international intergovernmental organizations. WHO also understands that there is ongoing dialogue among the parties concerned to resolve the matter. Given the public health impact of this issue, WHO remains ready to provide, upon request, technical and policy support to Member States.
Ensuring that the interests of trade and health are appropriately managed, also means that the flow of legitimate medicines, including generic medicines, is not impeded. | <urn:uuid:d97b8114-c6ae-4c5c-8851-52abed7c044b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2009/access-medicines-20090313/en/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955424 | 273 | 2.703125 | 3 |
A thread on TMP (http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=263114) started with an excellent tutorial helped me decide to try this method to make a cloth for my upcoming Little Wars game.
The method is to spread flexible caulk over a canvas sheet, and then color with flock. The Lion of the North's tutorial on the method is here (http://www.flickr.com/photos/76935015@N03/sets/72157629346115756/with/6886926400/), and I recommend it. Elliot's tutorial is also useful (http://www.flickr.com/photos/36331979@N00/sets/72157610259987470/). Finally, Jeff's games can be seen here (http://www.flickr.com/photos/war_artisan/collections/72157606732184920/).
My cloth was a learning experience, but I am pleased with it. I made a 6' by 9' peice, with a river along the portion of one edge. There is a road intersection, with clearly cultivated areas then other areas. It was a weekend project.
|Working on the first section in -- you can see a line of lose flocking in the foreground|
|In the process of removing all the lose flocking before moving on to the next strip.|
|Same section, with all the lose flocking removed.|
|Overview of the table, set up for the Viking - Irish game.|
|Close up of part of the battle.|
What I like about it is the clarity of the ground -- terrain features are clearly delineated with a minimum of effort, and the way my bases go with it. Since I used flock on both the game matt and my figures bases they are better integrated than with my standard green gaming matt.
I am looking forward to using it in convention games, and comparing it to other matts used. | <urn:uuid:a0c8246d-397e-4c1c-94bb-8875004493b7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ofmetalmen.blogspot.com/2012/04/terrain-cloth-for-28mm.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928662 | 421 | 1.703125 | 2 |
If you’re fairly well-informed when it comes to science, you may often feel, and sometimes express, skepticism about someone else’s supposedly scientific claims.
For example, if you were to see Suzanne Somers on Oprah telling women that injecting estrogen directly into their vaginas (don’t worry, that link does not go to a photo) will make them look and feel younger, you may think, “that’s crazy,” and you may even feel compelled to remark to someone near you that you believe “that woman is freaking nuts”.
When you criticize an apparently ridiculous person or idea, however, you open yourself up to a common line of attack, which is to point out that history’s revolutionary thinkers and inventors were usually mocked when they announced their discoveries.
I’m slogging my way through Steven Pinker’s The Stuff of Thought right now and I came across a brilliant counter-argument to that. In this paragraph, Pinker is discussing the radical linguistic theories of philosopher and psychologist Jerry Fodor:
Fodor correctly notes that history has often vindicated unconventional ideas – after all, they all laughed at Christopher Columbus and Thomas Edison. The problem is that they all laughed at Manny Schwartz, too. What, you’ve never heard of Manny Schwartz? He was the originator and chief defender of the theory of Continental Drip: that the southern continents are pointy at the bottom because they dribbled downward as they cooled from a molten state. The point is that they were right to laugh at Manny Schwartz. Extraordinary claims [...] deserve extraordinary evidence.
So the next time someone pulls this one on you when you express skepticism about an extraordinary claim, just ask, “What, you’ve never heard of Manny Schwartz?” | <urn:uuid:8c2eaa6d-f188-4298-b3fa-456db3ed2b76> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://socialtech.ca/ade/index.php/2009/06/manny-schwartz/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952107 | 374 | 2.3125 | 2 |
We came across this interesting post from Pingdom who have put together some high level statistics around the internet in 2012 - some of the numbers are mind blowing!
We’ve brought together a few highlights of the list. In some cases, we’ve also put in comments for some of the highlights for comparison.
A few highlights;
- There are 2.2 billion email users (31% of the world population)
- 144 billion emails sent each day (an average of 65 emails per email user, per day)
- There are 634 million websites
- There were 191 million visitors to Google sites (includes google search, youtube etc)
- There are 246 million domain names
- There are 2.4 billion internet users (34% of the world population)
- Australian has an internet penetration of 67%, with Asia at 27.5% and North America 78% (we suspect Asia being so low has to do something with the large population numbers in Asia)
- There are 1 billion active Facebook users, and 2.7 billion likes on facebook each day
- The most popular web browser is not Internet Explorer, instead its Google Chrome.
- There were 1.2 trillion searches on Google in 2012, and
- There are 1.1 billion smartphone users
The list is quite comprehensive, so surf over to pingdom’s artice; Internet 2012 in numbers and check out the rest of the article. | <urn:uuid:b3b00c00-fbd1-43b4-aff3-62424395b481> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.web3k.com.au/blog/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931325 | 296 | 1.992188 | 2 |
Update: The U.S. bishops failed to pass a proposed statement on the economy, titled "The Hope of the Gospel in Difficult Economic Times." The document failed to get the required two-thirds needed for passage. The vote was 134, yes, 84 no, with nine abstentions.
Portents of a major social justice conflict among the U.S. bishops rose on the first day of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' annual fall meeting Monday when retired Archbishop Joseph Fiorenza of Galveston-Houston, Texas, denounced a proposed pastoral statement on workers, poverty and the economy as a betrayal of Catholic social teaching.
If approved in its draft form, the statement would be "lampooned" in the Catholic academic world, he said.
Fiorenza, a former USCCB president, said the proposed statement devotes only one short sentence to the long history of Catholic social teaching on workers' rights to organize in unions, to bargain collectively with their employers and to go on strike if their demands for just wages and working conditions are not met.
He noted that the proposed statement, "The Hope of the Gospel in Difficult Economic Times: A pastoral message on work, poverty and the economy," did not have a single reference, even in a footnote, to the bishops' landmark 1986 pastoral letter, "Economic Justice for All," which the bishops developed after years of consultation with economists and other experts. The letter addressed a full range of applications of Catholic social teaching to economic policy and practice in the United States.
"Where's the continuity?" Fiorenza asked.
"I am very disappointed, and I fear that this draft, if not changed in a major way," will harm the U.S. bishops' record on Catholic social teaching, he said.
"The title of this document is about work, and it seems you only gave one sentence to our social teaching ... on the right of workers to unionize," he said.
"One sentence," he added. "It's almost like it was an afterthought. But when you look at the compendium of the social teachings of the church, there are three long paragraphs on the right to organize, the right to collective bargaining, and the right to strike."
Those kinds of rights are "at the heart of our social teaching" on the rights and dignity of workers, he said.
He added that some conservative Catholic institutions, like the Acton Institute in Michigan, have tried to argue that Pope Leo XIII's landmark 1891 encyclical, Rerum Novarum, which spelled out workers' and private property rights and marks the start of modern Catholic social teaching, is a dated document that is "no longer applicable today."
"Every pope from Leo XIII to Benedict XVI has insisted upon the right to unionize," he said, but the proposed pastoral statement facing the bishops "gives short shrift" to that teaching.
Fiorenza said the proposed document fails to address adequately several other current issues of poverty and human dignity in U.S. economic policy by not giving adequate treatment to the issue of political prudential judgment as a criterion for church assessments of the morality of political policies or decisions.
"Sometimes prudential judgments can be neither prudent nor moral," especially when such judgments attack the poor and the common good, he said. He said he thought Bishop Stephen Blaire of Stockton, Calif., head of the bishops' domestic policy committee, and Bishop Richard Pates of Des Moines, Iowa, head of international policy for the bishops, "got it right" earlier this year when they publicly opposed Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan's budget proposals as not in keeping with Catholic social teaching.
"Why don't we address [in the proposed statement] the growing gulf between the haves and the have-nots, beginning with Paul VI in Populorum Progressio [his 1967 encyclical letter, "On the Progress of Peoples"] and John Paul II, Benedict XVI: They speak about the growing gap between the haves and have-nots and the right to a redistribution -- redistribution has become a dirty word, yet the [recent popes] have said that this must take place," he said.
"There's not a word about this" in the proposed new statement on the economy, he said.
"I fear that this will not be an effective instrument" for the bishops to address the current woes in the U.S. economy or the people suffering from those problems, Fiorenza said.
The statement, written by a special drafting committee headed by Archbishop Allen Vigneron of Detroit, was due for a vote Tuesday at the bishops' meeting in Baltimore, which runs through Thursday.
Vigneron said some of Fiorenza's points and those raised by other bishops might be addressed through the amendment process.
Retired Auxiliary Bishop Peter A. Rosazza of Hartford, Conn., asked whether the drafting committee had consulted with an economist, which he said was one of the recommendations of the bishops in June.
Vigneron answered that they had not.
Retired Bishop Joseph M. Sullivan of Brooklyn, N.Y., said the document "doesn't address in any way the major shift in the American economy." He also said it ought to reference the 1986 document "to show the continuity of what we said then."
[Jerry Filteau is NCR’s Washington correspondent. His email is email@example.com. Catholic News Service contributed to this report.]
Editor's Note: This article was revised to correct the date of Rerum Novarum. | <urn:uuid:8b25fc6a-9f9a-40a4-88b7-d206905e44ac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ncronline.org/node/39201 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964363 | 1,160 | 1.84375 | 2 |
LONDON: WikiLeaks has announced a new path for donations through a French credit card system Carte Bleue to find a way out of the US-backed financial blockade slapped by leading financial institutions.
Western financial institutions, including VISA, MasterCard and Western Union have choked the revenues of the world's leading whistle-blowing organisation.
In a statement yesterday on the WikiLeaks website, founder Julian Assange said: "We beat them in Iceland and, by God, we'll beat them in France as well. Let them shut it down. Let them demonstrate to the world once again their corrupt pandering to Washington. We're waiting. Our lawyers are waiting. The whole world is waiting. Do it."
WikiLeaks appealed "all global supporters to make use of this avenue immediately before VISA/MasterCard attempts to shut it down."
The statement said that after WikiLeaks published US diplomatic correspondence, US financial institutions "erected a banking blockade against WikiLeaks wholly outside of any judicial or administrative process."
The blockade resulted in 95 per cent donations being chocked, with the whistle-blowing website's income dropped to 21 per cent of its operating costs.
"The French credit card system, Carte Bleue, is coupled with the VISA/MasterCard system globally. VISA and MasterCard are contractually barred from directly cutting off merchants through the Carte Bleue system. The French non-profit FDNN (Fund for the Defense of Net Neutrality- Fonds de Defense de la Net Neutralite) has set up a Carte Bleue fund for WikiLeaks," the statement said. | <urn:uuid:07f826c7-be44-4efc-8478-f459dd6d30fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-07-19/uk/32745981_1_wikileaks-website-julian-assange-financial-blockade | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92985 | 324 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Thursday, February 24, 2011
In this Smart Heart report, we're teaming up with University Hospital to remind you about the importance of heart and vascular screenings.
There are 3 types of screenings the hospital does, including:
- Carotid Intima Media Thickness
- Abdominal Aortic Aneurysim
- Peripheral Arterial Disease
CIMA looks at how thick the arteries in your neck are, along with your family history and other risk factors that can cause inflammation and lead to artherosclerosis.
AAA screens your aorta, which is the largest artery in the body, for a build up of plaque there. Too much plaque can cause an aneurysm, which can be deadly.
PAD screens arteries going to the arms, fingers, legs and toes. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute says one in 20 americans over the age of 50 has PAD.
University Hospital is putting together a new program to screen people and prevent problems.
"the purpose of the program is to really educate the community. We want to look for risk factors in young people, a lot younger than they're being caught. We would like to stop the progression of heart disease. We know you can prevent heart attacks and strokes if you catch it early and are aggressive with it," said Allison Hillman, a Heart Attack and Stroke Prevention Educator at University Hospital.
In the United States someone dies from cardiovascular disease every 40 seconds. Talk with your doctor about your risk factors and if you need to set up a screening of your own.
Have information or an opinion about this story? Click here to contact the newsroom.
Copyright WRDW-TV News 12. All rights reserved. This material may not be republished without express written permission.
Designed by Gray Digital Media | <urn:uuid:8c429adf-36b6-4154-b199-cab6f4403eff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wrdw.com/smartheart/headlines/Screenings_to_prevent_cardiovascular_problems_116873178.html?site=mobile | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94916 | 378 | 2.75 | 3 |
Sarah Kerns is a postdoctoral fellow in genetic epidemiology. She is interested in combining population-based research with molecular biology and genetics to improve our understanding of the basis for disease and develop tools to improve population health.
The aim of her primary project is to identify predictors of response to radiation therapy among men treated for prostate cancer. This is being accomplished through a two-stage genome-wide association study among approximately 1,000 men treated with brachytherapy in New York, as well as additional validation cohorts from Spain and the Netherlands. Outcomes of interest include damage to surrounding normal tissues as well as prostate tissue response. The long-term goal of this project is to develop a clinically useful predictive model, incorporating genetic, clinical and demographic risk factors, which can be used to guide clinicians and patients in making treatment decisions such that optimal tumor control can be attained while minimizing adverse effects on long-term quality of life. With over 2 million prostate cancer survivors in the United States alone, a clinical tool that can improve the therapeutic index of radiation therapy could have a large impact on the long-term quality of life for many cancer survivors.
Sarah is also investigating the genetic basis of a familial disorder that was identified in a small community in Ecuador and is characterized by intrauterine growth retardation, severe short stature, and early onset diabetes mellitus. She is using a combination of methods including classical linkage analysis and autozygosity mapping, as well as new technology like whole-exome sequencing. An understanding of the genetic basis for this disorder could lead to a broader understanding of the molecular basis for these phenotypes as well as development of improved therapeutics. | <urn:uuid:16002d3c-48ea-4c0c-af5d-2ed8f59c96fd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.einstein.yu.edu/labs/harry-ostrer/harry-ostrer.aspx?id=34858 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954335 | 334 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Home > Artists > Neville Brothers
The group dates back to 1976, when the four brothers of the Neville family, Art (born 1937), Charles (b. 1938), Aaron (b. 1941), and Cyril (b. 1948) got together to take part in the recording session of The Wild Tchoupitoulas, a Mardi Gras Indian group led by their uncle Big Chief Jolly. | <urn:uuid:a9948d5f-a4c2-4b29-a01b-127f8c56b525> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.schecterguitars.com/Artist/33/Neville-Brothers.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966401 | 82 | 1.75 | 2 |
A Department of Homeland Security program intended to give "trusted traveler" status to low-risk airline passengers soon will be extended to Saudi travelers, opening the program to criticism for accommodating the country that produced 15 of the 19 hijackers behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Sources voiced concern about the decision to the Investigative Project on Terrorism, which issued a report Wednesday on the under-the-radar announcement -- which was first made by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano after meeting in January with her Saudi counterpart. According to the IPT, this would be the first time the Saudi government has been given such a direct role in fast-tracking people for entry into the United States.
"I think you have radical Wahhabism in certain elements in Saudi Arabia, and I think to be more lenient there than in other places would be a mistake," Rep. Frank Wolf told the Investigative Project on Terrorism. "There were 15 [hijackers] from that country, and there is a lot taking place in that region."
Only an exclusive handful of countries enjoy inclusion in the Global Entry program -- Canada, Mexico, South Korea and the Netherlands. According to the IPT, some officials are questioning why Saudi Arabia gets to reap the benefits of the program, when key U.S. allies like Germany and France are not enrolled; Israel has reached a deal with the U.S., but that partnership has not yet been implemented.
Any Saudi travelers cleared through the program will be able to bypass the normal customs line after providing passports and fingerprints. The status lasts for five years.
The decision is a turnaround, the IPT notes, from when Saudi Arabia was briefly placed on a list of countries whose U.S.-bound travelers would face higher scrutiny, in the wake of the failed Christmas Day bombing attempt in 2009.
But Napolitano spoke highly of "the bond between the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia" when she announced the change in January.
"By enhancing collaboration with the government of Saudi Arabia, we reaffirm our commitment to more effectively secure our two countries against evolving threats while facilitating legitimate trade and travel," Napolitano said.
The Global Entry program was launched in 2008 to expedite pre-approved passengers through the airport customs and security process when they arrive in the U.S. The program is designed to weed out low-risk passengers and enable authorities to zero in on those who may be more likely to pose a threat.
But the program has sparked controversy in the past. Critics objected in late 2010 when Mexican citizens were included in the program, raising concerns that drug cartels would quickly learn how to exploit loopholes in the plan. DHS officials, however, insisted at the time that people who attain trusted traveler status don't get a free pass and are still subject to random searches.
The program allows travelers who have undergone a thorough vetting process -- fingerprinting, background checks, interviews with customs agents, etc.-- to attain a low-risk status that allows them to skip the line at customs and complete their entry process at an automatic kiosk. | <urn:uuid:e93515d5-bad7-499f-b1f0-831715a79d1e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/03/20/decision-to-extend-trusted-traveler-program-to-saudi-scrutinized/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foxnews%2Fpolitics+%28Internal+-+Politics+-+Text%29 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961859 | 626 | 1.882813 | 2 |
PROSPERITY — Like clay in the hands of the potter, hearts and minds were molded for four weeks during the 19th annual Heartland Conference School of Religion.
Hosted at Grace Lutheran Church, the event brought together a professor emeritus from Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, a Newberry College professor, a pastor who also works as a potter, and an associate in ministry as well as Mid-Carolina’s chorus teacher for a youth class. Around 80 people attended per night, a mix of laypersons and clergy. This was an increase in attendance from last year.
Twelve-year-old Alana Eargle attended the pottery class with her mother, Sarah.
“It looks like magic almost how he shapes (the clay),” she said. “It is interesting how he makes it relate and is pretty cool.”
Eargle is considering taking up pottery after attending each of the four classes. Gloria Danielowski, a former elementary school music teacher, enjoyed watching the potter at his wheel as the pastor spoke of Jeremiah and how human lives are like clay in the potter’s hand.
The Rev. Roger Clark spent 38 years in ministry. He used the bowl he was making as a vessel to get his audience to become open like a bowl and let the presence of the Holy Spirit come into their hearts.
“The common person needs genuine satisfaction and an encounter with God. It makes a difference who is in your house more (i.e. God) than it does who is in the White House,” said Clark.
Dr. Mike Beggs, chairman of the Religion and Philosophy Department at Newberry College, gave lectures on the Conservative/Liberal divide in American Religious History. This followed up his course a year before on Islam. He raised thought provoking questions about the places where the rubber hits the proverbial road as theological “conservatives” and “liberals” wrestle with one another to attempt to lead the Christian community.
The challenges modern society poses to religion was something Clark touched on in his pottery class and a theme taken up by Beggs as well.
For those who really wanted to wrestle with faith and existential questions, there was a course taught by the Rev. Dr. Charles P. Sigel, professor emeritus of New Testament, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary. Sigel gave lectures on the hard sayings of Jesus, such as “I don’t know,” “No divorce,” “Hate your parents,” “Castrate yourself.” Several of his former students from LTSS were in the class but there were a large number of laypeople there as well, as Sigel proves a popular draw year after year at the event.
This year a new kind of youth Bible study was held that included music.
Led by Mid-Carolina High School chorus teacher Lynn Grimsley and youth ministry coordinator Stephanie Stoudemayer the course was for youth seventh grade and up. They sang praise and worship songs and explored the stories behind favorite hymns.
Bible study was relevant to issues they face today. The youth learned the American Sign Language to “You are My All in All” and they presented that to the entire assembly during the closing worship. They also sang “Blest are They,” among other works.
The youth were energetic and really got into doing the motions and sharing their vocal talents. They hope that more of their friends will be able to attend next year and that the class will continue to grow. Doubtless seeds of faith were planted as Christians of any denomination gathered for the four Tuesday evening class sessions with fellowship and refreshments in between.
The Heartland Conference School of Religion will be held each Tuesday in January 2014. | <urn:uuid:924031aa-c980-4c58-a18b-c095092daa58> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newberryobserver.com/view/full_story/21606632/article-Heartland-Conference-School-of-Religion-molds-hearts--minds | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983609 | 796 | 1.546875 | 2 |
In 2006, Uruguay employed roughly 400 fte researchers and spent 848 million Uruguayan pesos (in current prices) on agricultural research. INIA’s funding structure is unique in Latin America in that it receives the proceeds of a commodity tax levied on the total sales value of agricultural commodities in Uruguay and an equal contribution from the national government as counterpart funding. In light of this, INIA is highly dependent on the total production value of Uruguay’s agricultural sector. During 1999–2003, the country underwent the worst economic crisis in its recent history, which in turn led to a contraction of agricultural output and, as a result, overall funding to INIA. In 2004, Uruguay’s economy began to recover, resulting in rapidly rising agricultural R&D spending.
Uruguay compares favorably with many of its Latin American counterparts in a number of key agricultural S&T indicators. For example, its agricultural research expenditures as a share of AgGDP (at close to 2.0 percent) are much higher than in other Latin American countries. It is important to note, however, that in order to make a proper assessment of the importance of agriculture to Uruguay’s economy, it is necessary to take agribusiness linkages into account. The resulting indirect role of the agricultural sector in the overall economy is therefore much larger than official AgGDP data indicate, so the country’s high agricultural research intensity ratio should be assessed from this perspective. | <urn:uuid:02887b69-2f02-4ef9-9979-538fde0c8af3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ifpri.org/publication/uruguay | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938218 | 299 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Glen Canyon Dam Long-Term Experimental and Management Plan EIShttp://ltempeis.anl.gov/involve/index.cfm
Getting Involved in the LTEMP EIS
The public scoping period ended on January 31, 2012. Members of the public will be given the opportunity to comment on the Draft EIS when it is published, attend public meetings, read the EIS and related documents, and learn about the EIS on this Web site.
Preliminary Alternative Concepts
Preliminary alternative concepts for the LTEMP EIS were presented and discussed at a two-day meeting that the public was invited to participate in. The meeting was held on April 4 and 5, 2012 in Flagstaff, Arizona. For more information about this meeting, see the Public Meetings page.
Public scoping is a phase of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis process intended to give the public the chance to comment on a proposed action, recommend alternatives, and identify and prioritize the resources and issues to be considered in the EIS analyses. Scoping is the earliest, but not the last, opportunity for people to provide input on the LTEMP EIS.
The scoping process is intended to involve all interested agencies (federal, state, county, and local), tribal governments, public interest groups, businesses, and members of the public. The public scoping period started with the publication of the Notice of Intent in the Federal Register on July 6, 2011, and ended January 31, 2012.
Reclamation and the NPS reviewed and evaluated the comments received during the public scoping period for the LTEMP EIS and developed the "Summary of Public Scoping Comments on the Glen Canyon Dam Long-Term Experimental and Management Plan Environmental Impact Statement" (Scoping Report), which is available on the Documents page.
Two Web-based public meetings were held on March 27, 2012 to provide a summary of public comments on the scope of the LTEMP EIS. The public was able to watch a live overview of the Scoping Report and ask questions of technical experts and managers involved in the EIS. For more information, see the Public Meetings page.
Public Scoping Meetings
Public scoping meetings for the LTEMP EIS were held in six cities in Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and Colorado in November 2011. At these meetings, the public had the opportunity to hear about the proposed action, meet with technical experts and agency representatives, and ask questions. In addition, a web-based meeting was held to present information and gather public input. Dates and locations for the public scoping meetings are presented on the Public Meetings page.
The following agencies will participate in the LTEMP EIS as cooperating agencies: Arizona Game and Fish Department, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Colorado River Commission of Nevada, The Havasupai Tribe, The Hopi Tribe, The Hualapai Tribe, Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians, The Navajo Nation, The Pueblo of Zuni, Salt River Project, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Upper Colorado River Commission, Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems, and Western Area Power Administration.
Future Public Involvement Opportunities
Scoping is one phase of the NEPA process. It is intended to give the public the chance to comment on a proposed action and to offer suggestions about the issues to be considered in the EIS analyses. Scoping is the earliest, but not the last, opportunity for the public to provide input on the LTEMP EIS. The public will be invited to provide comments on the Draft EIS when it is published.
For More Information
For more information on public participation in the NEPA process, please consult the following publication:
For general questions about the LTEMP EIS Web site or the EIS contact the Webmaster at: email@example.com.
For further information on the LTEMP EIS, see the Contact Us page. | <urn:uuid:96bd4ba2-9c78-4650-8a73-6d6fab4b1dec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ltempeis.anl.gov/involve/index.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925607 | 817 | 2.46875 | 2 |
As America’s most self-conscious section, the South has exercised an important and often decisive influence on U.S. foreign relations, but the extent of this influence has been largely unexplored by historians. In this groundbreaking study, Joseph A. Fry provides a comprehensive overview of the South’s role in U.S. international involvement from 1789 to 1973, revealing the enormous impact of southern pressure on broader national interests.
In a gracefully written and engaging narrative, Fry chronicles the South’s numerous foreign policy opinions over time, including its opposition to closer relations with Great Britain and war with France in the 1790s, its leadership in the War of 1812, its flawed diplomatic attempts during the years of the Confederacy, and its fifty-year protest against the increasingly assertive Republican-dominated political agenda following the Civil War. With the election of Woodrow Wilson, Fry shows, the South reversed its tendency toward isolationism and consistently supported Wilson’s activist foreign policies. The South sustained this interventionist mind-set into the 1970s, ardently supporting cold war containment policy.
Fry is careful to note that southerners seldom presented a completely united front on foreign affairs. Yet even while disagreeing among themselves, he argues, they consistently viewed the world through a distinctly southern lens and acted on a variety of perceived common interests, including a dedication to honor and patriotism, a determination to protect slavery, a proclivity for personal violence, a commitment to partisan politics, a concern for economics, and a preoccupation with race.
Though the South’s foreign policy opinions varied widely through the years, Fry’s extraordinary work affirms that Dixie has always held considerable clout on the world stage.
Found an Error? Tell us about it. | <urn:uuid:84ce5e47-42f9-434c-af5f-52f369393b9d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lsupress.org/books/detail/dixie-looks-abroad/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949923 | 365 | 3.28125 | 3 |
If you’re reading this blog, you’ve probably already realized that free, online blogs are probably one of the most interesting and timely sources of information. Certainly some are better than others, that goes without saying, but I have found some really stellar blogs that have taught me some very useful and interesting things of all subjects. And most recently, for me, it’s been recipes.
I learned how to make Green Monsters from Angela.
I learned how to make breakfast cookies from Teri.
I learned how to make roasted chickpeas from Mama Pea herself.
I plan to make everything Jenna has ever created because everything looks like it belongs in a magazine.
And my biggest success so far, I made Emily’s kale and roasted vegetable soup for Thanksgiving dinner to rave reviews.
Here’s why you never need to buy another cookbook ever:
1) If it was printed, your local library probably has it. Get the cookbooks you like, photocopy or transcribe the recipes that look good and return the book to the library. You may need to put it on hold or have it transferred from another library if your branch doesn’t have it, but it’s worth the wait.
2) So many magazines have great recipes. Just like the cookbooks, borrow them from the library, photocopy or transcribe, and return. I do subscribe to certain magazines for more than the recipes, such as Real Simple, so I tear out the recipes that look good and when I’m done with the issue, off to the gym it goes for the next person toiling on the stairmaster. (Safety tip! Cut or tear off your name and address label first)
3) Blogs – so many blogs, like Oh She Glows, Eat, Live, Run and Daily Garnish have “print recipe” features. They’re asking to be printed! Daily Garnish even has “text recipe” feature! I tried it out last night just for the heck of it. Now I will always have kalamata olive hummus in my phone. Figuratively, not literally.
4) Half of what you find in a cookbook you won’t like, so don’t bother buying recipes you’ll never make. Me personally? Can’t stand bell peppers, so anything with bell peppers as a main feature automatically gets the axe.
So, that’s why you never need to buy another cookbook. Notice I said “need” not want. Me personally, I think they make nice décor for the kitchen =)
Share with me some of your favorite recipes! Links included would be great!
P.S. Thanks for everyone who chimed in on yesterday’s post as to what to do with my training schedule. Still taking input and suggestions!
P.P.S. I hit my 10 lbs lost goal at Weight Watchers last night, woo hoo! Back in the 140′s. Yessssss. | <urn:uuid:aee10855-6f56-40db-b571-30de7466a5cc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thechaseproject.com/2011/02/babe-on-a-budget-cookbooks/ | 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 | 0.946588 | 637 | 1.546875 | 2 |
This came about from a thread on knittinghelp.com. I mentioned how I create a center pull ball of yarn without using a store-bought yarn winder, so I thought I would put together a photo tutorial for those who wanted to see how. Here goes:
Start off by putting 6 inches of your yarn into the center of a paper towel tube. I prefer a paper towel tube over a toilet paper tube because the length gives you something substantial to hold on to.
Next, hold the yarn against the tube with your thumb.
Begin winding the yarn perpendicularly around the tube. Go slowly with the first few wraps, these will lock in the yarn tail that you were holding down with your thumb.
Once you have a few wraps established so the yarn is secure on the tube (about 10 wraps) begin winding the yarn around the tube at an angle.
Once you have another 10 wraps at an angle, turn the tube 1/4 turn and begin wrapping again at the same angle.
After you have these two sets of wraps done, you can begin to slowly turn the tube while you continue to wrap. This will form a more uniform ball than if you continue to wrap multiple times in the same place.
As your ball begins to grow, you can shape it by changing where you place your wraps. If you wrap the yarn slightly away from the tube, a "corner" will form and the ball will begin to take on a cylindrical shape. Keep wrapping the yarn near the "corner" to keep that shape. If you move the yarn closer to the tube, your ball will end up rounder and be less likely to stay put as you pull the yarn from the center.
When your ball is a big as you want it or your yarn is gone, fish the yarn tail out of the tube and lay it on the outside of the ball. I find this helps to keep the tail in order; if you leave it in the tube as you pull the ball off, it falls into the center of the ball and you have to fish it out of the yarn instead of a nice smooth paper tube.
All that's left is to slide the ball off the tube and you're ready to go! | <urn:uuid:f6329808-9c91-41c0-99a4-077869dc79d4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://knitswithballs.blogspot.com/2007/07/how-to-make-center-pull-ball.html?showComment=1186161420000 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944792 | 455 | 1.820313 | 2 |
In the early twentieth century a movement flourished in the Midwestern states bordering the Great Lakes to champion the St. Lawrence route as the answer to easily transporting goods in and out of the centre of the continent. Internal rivalries in the United States and Canada held back the project for fifty years until Canada suddenly decided to build a seaway alone, pressuring the American Congress to co-operate. The building of the Seaway and its completion in 1959, involved engineering on an unprecedented scale and significant human dislocation. During construction, communities along the Great Lakes planned for increased prosperity, but changes in transportation, aging infrastructure, and environmental problems have mean that "the Golden Dream" has not been fully realized, even today.
This popular history chronicles the rise of one of the great engineering projects in Canadian history and its controversial impact on the people living along the St. Lawrence River.close this panel
Ronald Stagg has taught at Ryerson University for over thirty years, specializing in Canadian history. He has written on subjects ranging from the eighteenth to the early twentieth century and served ten years as chair of Ryerson's history department. He lives in Toronto.close this panel
The Golden Dream is an enjoyable read
"Its a solid political history account, emphasizing trade and commerce, defence and nation building as key drivers behind the seaways construction and growth." | <urn:uuid:3cdbed8f-098d-478d-8b1f-de166b342109> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://49thshelf.com/Books/T/The-Golden-Dream | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947359 | 272 | 3.5 | 4 |
You are herecontent / Cheney Was Key in Clearing CIA Interrogation Tactics
Cheney Was Key in Clearing CIA Interrogation Tactics
Cheney was key in clearing CIA interrogation tactics
By Greg Miller | LATimes.com
The vice president says the use of waterboarding was appropriate and that the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba should stay open until 'the end of the war on terror.'
Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday that he was directly involved in approving severe interrogation methods used by the CIA, and that the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba should remain open indefinitely.
Cheney's remarks on Guantanamo appear to put him at odds with President Bush, who has expressed a desire to close the prison, although the decision is expected to be left to the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama.
Cheney's comments also mark the first time that he has acknowledged playing a central role in clearing the CIA's use of an array of controversial interrogation tactics, including a simulated drowning method known as "waterboarding."
"I was aware of the program, certainly, and involved in helping get the process cleared," Cheney said in an interview on ABC News.
Asked whether he still believes it was appropriate to use the waterboarding method on terrorism suspects, Cheney said: "I do."
His comments come on the heels of disclosures by a Senate committee showing that high-level officials in the Bush administration were intimately involved in reviewing and approving interrogation methods that have since been explicitly outlawed and that have been condemned internationally as torture.
Soon after the Sept. 11 attacks, Cheney said, the CIA "in effect came in and wanted to know what they could and couldn't do. And they talked to me, as well as others, to explain what they wanted to do. And I supported it."
Waterboarding involves strapping a prisoner to a tilted surface, covering his face with a towel and dousing it with water to simulate the sensation of drowning.
CIA Director Michael V. Hayden has said that the agency used the technique on three Al Qaeda suspects in 2002 and 2003. But the practice was discontinued when lawyers from the Department of Justice and other agencies began backing away from their opinions endorsing its legality.
Cheney has long defended the technique. But he has not previously disclosed his role in pushing to give the CIA such authority.
Cheney's office is regarded as the most hawkish presence in the Bush administration, pushing the White House toward aggressive stances on everything from the invasion of Iraq to the wiretapping of U.S. citizens.
Asked when Guantanamo Bay would be shut down, Cheney said, "I think that that would come with the end of the war on terror." He went on to say that "nobody can specify" when that might occur, and likened the use of the detention facility to the imprisonment of Germans during World War II.
"We've always exercised the right to capture the enemy and hold them till the end of the conflict," Cheney said.
The administration's legal case for holding detainees indefinitely has been eroded by a series of court rulings. Obama has pledged to close the facility, which still holds 250 prisoners.
Cheney's remarks are the latest in a series of interviews granted by President Bush and senior officials defending their decisions as they prepare to leave office. Bush recently said that his main regret was that U.S. spy agencies had been so mistaken about Iraq's alleged weapons programs. Cheney and the Bush administration have been accused of "cherry-picking" intelligence to support going to war with Iraq.
Cheney said those mistakes didn't matter, and that the U.S. invasion was justified by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's ability to reestablish destructive weapons programs. The vice president brushed off a series of findings questioning that view, including a 2006 Senate report concluding that Hussein lacked a "coherent effort" to develop nuclear weapons and had only a "limited capability" for chemical weapons.
"This was a bad actor and the country's better off, the world's better off, with Saddam gone and I think we made the right decision in spite of the fact that the original [intelligence] was off in some of its major judgments," Cheney said. | <urn:uuid:615bab99-ca36-423a-995c-1c46ad9d0592> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://warisacrime.org/node/38267 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978441 | 850 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Groups protest state engineer's decision on water rights for nuclear plant
A Jan. 20 decision by the Utah State Engineer has removed a major state barrier to a proposal to build Utah's first nuclear power plant. But watchdog and environmental groups in Moab and Salt Lake City say they will formally petition State Engineer Kent Jones to reconsider his ruling that allows Blue Castle Holdings Inc., the company proposing the nuclear plant, to use water from the Green River to cool the project's two proposed nuclear reactors.
"The basis of our request for reconsideration is that the State Engineer ignored much of the information that was presented to him and drew conclusions that were not supported by any evidence that was placed on the record," said Sarah Fields, program director for Uranium Watch, a watchdog group based in Moab. "Obviously, it was partially a political decision. I feel that the State Engineer did a very poor job."
Fields said Tuesday that she is writing the request for reconsideration on behalf of Uranium Watch, Living Rivers, the Center for Water Advocacy and several Moab residents. The request must be submitted by Feb. 9 in order to be considered by the state.
In issuing the decision last month, Jones said the Utah Division of Water Rights, part of the state Department of Natural Resources, weighed concerns raised by local community members, environmental groups and others, but ultimately determined that the 53,600 acre-feet of water allocated to the project, "will not be detrimental to the public welfare." The decision further finds that the plan for the nuclear plant submitted by Blue Castle is not speculative.
Jones said he carefully reviewed state law and the more than 200 protests his agency received in considering the requests from water districts in Kane and San Juan counties to lease their unused water rights to Blue Castle for the project.
"We have listened to and very much appreciate the concerns raised by those in the local community and others," Jones said in a statement. "Those concerns helped us look carefully and critically at the proposal as we considered the appropriate action on these applications."
Fields and representatives from other citizens groups said state officials failed to consider how drawing water from the Green River for nuclear power will potentially negatively impact the tourism and recreation industries as well as endangered fish.
"The Green and Colorado Rivers are critical for the survival of the Colorado pikeminnow, humpback chub, bonytail and razorback sucker, all listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act," Rob Mrowka, an ecologist and conservation advocate with the Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity, said in a news release. "Adding this massive water withdrawal... will result in severe impairment of the rivers' abilities to sustain their part of Utah's natural heritage."
Matt Pacenza, policy director of HEAL Utah, a Salt Lake City group, also criticized the state's decision.
"This was the only opportunity for a Utah official to reject this terrible plan," Pacenza said. "Now all that stands between us and reactors at the gateway to southern Utah is a federal agency notorious for cozying up to the nuclear industry."
But Aaron Tilton, president and CEO of Blue Castle Holdings, said the State Engineer's decision makes clear that the proposed plant's use of Green River water will "not interfere with other water users," and that the project is economically viable.
Tilton on Tuesday called the decision "significant" to moving the project forward. Final approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is still at least four years away, and Blue Castle is collecting data and completing site analyses and engineering studies required under the application process for a federal permit. Tilton said Blue Castle expects that application process to cost the company about $100 million.
He said that if the nuclear plant becomes a reality it will have positive economic impacts for Emery, Grand and Carbon counties in Utah and also Mesa County in neighboring Colorado. Blue Castle has said that it will employ up to 3,000 construction workers during the building phases and about 1,000 full-time employees to operate the plant.
Mike McCandless, economic development director for Emery County, agreed.
"Assuming that it gets built, the impacts, well, the word immense probably isn't big enough to describe them," McCandless said. "We estimate that 40 to 50 percent of the employees will probably live in Grand County because Moab already has the infrastructure there in terms of housing and other amenities."
He said the increased tax revenues from the plant and employees who will move to the area could potentially double the tax base in Emery County and will also help Grand County.
But McCandless said the project could also have several negative impacts, at least initially.
"Especially during the construction phase it could, potentially, negatively impact tourism because the motels will likely fill up and the prices may rise," McCandless said. "There's a lot of planning we need to do ahead of time to make sure we don't screw this up. We have to really be careful and plan ahead." | <urn:uuid:50d82d74-8b56-40b0-8f71-cd61534b74d3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sunadvocate.com/index.php?tier=1&article_id=24208&poll=271&vote=results | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96907 | 1,019 | 2.1875 | 2 |
I always wanted to try this salt and glue technique from
MaryAnn Kohl's book, Scribble Art.
When I saw it on Jean's blog, the Artful Parent it was so pretty
I knew we needed to give it a whirl.
You will need:
white school glue (we use Elmer's)
cardboard scraps or pieces of heavy watercolor paper
brushes, pipettes, or eye droppers to apply the watercolors
Start by "drawing" your picture with glue on a piece of
stiff watercolor paper or cardboard.
Use something that can handle the weight because it will be heavy!
When the glue drawing is finished, cover it with a generous amount of salt.
Just like applying glitter,
tap off the excess and re-use it for another art project (don't eat it!).
The nifty part is that you don't have to wait for the salt and glue to dry
before you start painting!
The girls painted their pictures with liquid watercolors.
You tap or touch the salt lightly with the brush and watch the color spread.
Don't drag your brush through the salt and wet paint or it will make a big mess.
I order our liquid watercolors from Discount School Supply.
The colors will be very bright and vivid while they're wet.
They'll fade a bit as it dries.
Then we tried making a RAINBOW
with our homemade colored Elmer's glue
Alternating stripes of colored glue and plain white school glue.
The salty rainbow with wet watercolors...
The next day, after the paint and glue dried.
"E" working on her self portrait profile
on a scrap of cardboard.
I LOVE all the colors on this one!
Sometimes it's easier to draw/sketch your picture first,
then outline it in glue.
This is "C"s portrait of Arthur (from PBS) on a scrap of
cardboard from the recycling bin.
Close up of his glasses.
Happy Salty Glue Painting Making!
pink and green mama | <urn:uuid:11dc2ec5-e938-4dc1-850f-6de45c61b753> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pinkandgreenmama.blogspot.com/2011/09/salt-and-glue-watercolor-paintings.html?showComment=1314983869409 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920984 | 442 | 2.546875 | 3 |
A lot of reading group guides are worthless not because they’re unintelligent but because they’re irrelevant. They urge you to talk about everything except what a book is says and how well it says it. Some of their discussion questions aren’t questions but directions that might make you feel as though you’re taking an oral essay exam.
The new paperback edition of Tom Perrotta’s The Abstinence Teacher (Griffin, 384 pp., $13.95), a novel about a high school teacher forced to use a curriculum she doesn’t support, comes with a guide that has as question No. 5 on a list of 14: “Discuss a time when you felt you had to sacrifice your beliefs or principles.” That might be an interesting topic. But to raise it before you’ve talked about other aspects of the novel – as this guide urges you do to – could only drag the conversation far away from the book at hand.
Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren offer better advice in their classic How to Read a Book (Touchstone, 426 pp., $16.99, paperback), still in print more than 60 years it first won fame as the best all-around guide to reading comprehension. The authors argue there are four main questions to ask about any book.
“1. WHAT IS THE BOOK ABOUT AS A WHOLE? You must try to discover the leading theme of the book, and how the author develops this theme in an orderly way by subdividing it into its essential or subordinate themes or topics.
“2. WHAT IS BEING SAID IN DETAIL, AND HOW? You must try to discover the main ideas, assertions, and arguments that constitute the author’s particular message.
“3. IS THE BOOK TRUE, IN WHOLE OR IN PART? You cannot answer this question until you have answered the first two. You have to know what is being said before you can decide whether it is true or not. When you understand a book, however, you are obligated , if you are reading seriously, to make up your own mind. Knowing the author’s mind is not enough.”
“4. WHAT OF IT? If the book has given you information, you must ask about its significance. Why does the author think it is important that you know these things? Is it important to you to know them? And if the book has not only informed you, but also enlightened you, it is necessary to seek further enlightenment by asking what else follows, or what is further implied or suggested.”
The tone of this passage is didactic by today’s standards. But the advice is as good as ever (and developed at length it in later chapters, which deal with topics such as how to understand what a book is “about”). And although the authors focus on nonfiction, their questions apply also to (or can be adapted for) fiction. Among their greatest strengths is that they keep their focus on asking thoughtful questions – the kind that will help you make a book your own – instead of buying into a publisher’s point of view.
Other quotes from How to Read a Book appear in the Nov. 2007 post on this site, “How Are Reading and Writing Related?,” which dealt with the reciprocal relationship between reading and writing. An excerpt appears on the Touchstone site.
You can also follow Jan Harayda (@janiceharayda) on Twitter at www.twitter.com/janiceharayda.
© 2009 Janice Harayda. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:0a2e4dcd-5ba9-4d6f-baba-97e1c2528567> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/2009/01/08/the-four-most-important-questions-to-ask-about-every-book-%E2%80%93-the-only-readers-guide-you-or-your-book-club-will-ever-need/?like=1&_wpnonce=e775df7899 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957144 | 755 | 2.21875 | 2 |
If you would like to donate to any of our projects or give a special donation to support the care of Betsy, the only successfully hand-reared Colobus angolensis palliatus, please continue.
Please support any of our projects:
$30 supplies transportation for a local school to visit us and spend the day learning about environmental conservation.
$50 supplies our veterinary clinic with basic drugs for one month.
$10 allows one monkey orphan to drink baby milk formula for one month.
$200 gives one monkey enough fruit and vegetables for one year, almost enough time until he/she is ready for release.
$100 allows our team, for one year, to repair an ariel bridge that crosses the road, reducing the risk of a monkey getting hit by a vehicle.
$300 puts up one new ariel bridge and keeps that bridge maintained for two years.
$1 will insulate one meter of power line, stopping monkeys from getting electrocuted.
$10 plants an indigenous tree, ensuring that the future of Diani's monkeys is secured!
Or see our work first hand by visiting us in Diani. Monday - Saturday, 8am - 1pm and 2pm - 4:30pm. | <urn:uuid:22316e32-a1f8-4af3-87fb-140067c8fd83> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.colobusconservation.org/index.php/donate | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919558 | 252 | 1.554688 | 2 |
compiled by Columbian staff in 1989
When members of the John B. Higdon family came to town, they were able to fill a wagon to capacity.
Higdon, who was called "the head of the Higdon clan" when he died in 1941 in California, was the father of 17, probably one of Clark County's largest families. A photo shows the family in their best outfits in a decorated wagon, during a lull in a Vancouver celebration.
Higdon's wife was the former Nettie Wood, who had resided in the Pleasant Valley area of Clark County.
His parents, Joseph B. and Elizabeth Higdon, had somewhat fewer children - 12 or 13. John was the oldest son.
The Joseph B. Higdon family arrived in the Pacific Northwest in 1876 from Kansas by boat; they had traveled from San Francisco.
Measles broke out on the ship and two of the daughters died.
The Higdons moved by ox team to the Manor district, which John B. Higdon described as "a veritable jungle of brush and trees."
At the time Manor and Glenwood areas were known as Big Muddy, but later called Flatwood.
John Higdon farmed 80 acres given to him by his father as a wedding present. He recalled that bears "used to wallow in the water hole" nearby, and a deer path passed close to the farmhouse. Gradually, John Higdon added to his property until he had 360 acres.
"What a happy time Nettie and I had here with the children," Higdon reminisced in later years.
His father operated what was described as a "large and thriving dairy." In the 1890s much of the milk was transported to Portland. | <urn:uuid:3d55a002-31a6-4dda-8d1e-2c23dcb2e0f3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.columbian.com/history/profiles/higdon/ | 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 | 0.992593 | 359 | 2.203125 | 2 |
News tagged with scientific theory
In the sciences generally, a scientific theory (the same as an empirical theory) is constructed from elementary theorems that consist in empirical data about observable phenomena. A scientific theory is used as a plausible general principle or body of principles offered to explain a phenomenon.
A scientific theory is a deductive theory, in that, its content is based on some formal system of logic and that some of its elementary theorems are taken as axioms. In a deductive theory, any sentence which is a logical consequence of one or more of the axioms is also a sentence of that theory.
A major concern in construction of scientific theories is the problem of demarcation, i.e., distinguishing those ideas that are properly studied by the sciences and those that are not.
Theories whose subject matter consists not in empirical data, but rather in ideas are in the realm of philosophical theories as contrasted with scientific theories. At least some of the elementary theorems of a philosophical theory are statements whose truth cannot necessarily be scientifically tested through empirical observation.
Theories are intended to be an accurate, predictive description of the natural world. However, it is sometimes not clear whether the conclusions derived from the theory inform us about the nature of the world, or the nature of the theory.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
When Charles Darwin first sketched how species evolved by natural selection, he drew what looked like a tree. The diagram started at a central point with a common ancestor, then the lines spread apart as ...
Genetics Jan 09, 2013 | 4 / 5 (6) | 1 |
(Medical Xpress) -- A new scientific theory on what we learn to pay attention to and what we learn to ignore could turn 30 years of research on its head.
Psychology & Psychiatry Jun 08, 2011 | 2.2 / 5 (5) | 10 | | <urn:uuid:6e4ddf67-0629-4623-aef8-e1865f66a059> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://medicalxpress.com/tags/scientific+theory/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942398 | 397 | 3.1875 | 3 |
This tracking method require the installation of third-party software on the phone. These programs can use one of two methods to track a cell phone: Using the cellular ID or using GPS satellite tracking. Some can use a combination of the two methods for more precise tracking.
The methodology used for handset-based cell-phone tracking depends in large part on the capabilities of the phone. Some cell phones may have limited functionality, or some may experience decreased performance if a handset-based tracker is installed.
If a handset-based tracker is installed without the user's knowledge, decreased performance or features not working may tip off the unauthorized software.
In general, handset-based cell-phone trackers are more precise than network-based trackers. They can find a location faster and with a smaller margin of error.
However, you have to install the software in order to use handset-based trackers, and not everyone wants to install third-party software on their phones. You also likely have to pay a monthly service fee for these trackers.
This is one of the most popular types of cell-phone trackers, and many companies offer these products. Here are a few of the more popular handset-based cell-phone trackers:
Spy Bubble (http://www.spybubble.com/cell-phone-spy.php)
GPS Mapper: http://sourceforge.net/projects/gpsmapper/
Mobile Spy (http://getmobilesoftware.com/)
Be sure to investigate the reputation of any software you install on your phone. There have been reports of some tracking software being used to collect personal data from your phone. If you download from a trusted source, you can be sure that the software is only tracking the data you authorize. | <urn:uuid:9dd25d99-146f-4970-834d-f70e28579b38> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mp3beamer.com/providers/t-mobile.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91791 | 367 | 2.125 | 2 |
Editor's note: Aaron David Miller is a distinguished scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and served as a Middle East negotiator in Democratic and Republican administrations. He is the author of the forthcoming book "Can America Have Another Great President?" Follow him on Twitter.
(CNN) -- Is Syria Barack Obama's Rwanda? The Stanford University scholar, Fouad Ajami, usually an astute and wise observer on matters Middle Eastern, raised this question (and false analogy) with CNN's Anderson Cooper several weeks ago.
Comparing atrocities is a profitless and cruel but still -- at times -- an important exercise, at least for some perspective. Rwanda was a comprehensive and directed genocide in which Hutus killed 10,000 Tutsis a day during three months in 1994. It wasn't a regime against rebels or a civil war; it was a systematic extermination.
No, Syria isn't Rwanda; and it's certainly not Barack Obama's primary responsibility. But does that mean the need to stop the killing -- 12,000 dead and counting -- is any less urgent and acute?
The issue, as always, is what to do. In policy matters -- as in life, people (and governments) -- are more frequently presented with imperfect options. Those abound in the case of Syria. Here is why they are imperfect:
Sanctions and political isolation won't work quickly enough. A year in, the Assad regime has demonstrated that it can "manage," even as it faces a deteriorating economy and a pariah status. Aid from Iran helps it get by. As long as the regime keeps its military and security services happy, it might survive for quite some time.
Diplomacy has failed. The six-point peace plan brokered by United Nations envoy Kofi Annan — it called for a ceasefire and dialogue with the opposition, among other things -- can't succeed because it has no agreed-upon end state acceptable to the regime and the opposition. It's worth trying to get the Russians to walk away from the Assads, but this will not be easy.
After all, the Russians have seen their former clients drop like pins in a bowling alley, all under American pressure -- Saddam Hussein, Moammar Gadhafi, now, perhaps, Bashar al-Assad-- and the United States is now asking them to press their Iranian friends on the nuclear issue, too. You'd have to satisfy Moscow that some regime elements would remain as part of any solution and give al-Assad immunity -- both tough to do.
Half measures don't answer the mail. These seem compelling and logical on paper. But in practice, half measures, such as arming the opposition and establishing safe zones, will not bring the desired result -- the toppling of the regime. The first is being done already -- quietly -- apparently with American support. But against the al-Assad regime you could never supply the kind and quantity of weapons necessary to turn the tide decisively against the regime's superior firepower; nor can we control to whom these arms are actually going. The proliferation of weapons and militias in post-Gadhafi Libya also points up the problem of unregulated,unsupervised arms flows.
Safe zones, secure areas along the Turkish border that could provide sanctuary for refugees and a base from which to equip and terrain rebel military forces, would require full buy-in by Turkey, which so far has been reluctant to intervene. They'd also have to be defended, lest we repeat the tragedy of Bosnia in 1995, where UN peacekeepers couldn't or wouldn't prevent Serbian massacres of Bosnian Muslims. The Russians and the Chinese would likely oppose them, too. And in the end, it's not at all clear how they would prevent the regime from continuing its repression and killing.
Military intervention: We need to be honest with ourselves. Unless we get lucky -- perhaps if there's an internal coup that takes out al-Assad or the Russians help pressure him -- only military intervention that directly weakens the regime and changes the balance of power on the ground will bring them down.
We need to be clear about what this might cost. There is no international mandate to sanction a military intervention (and there likely won't be given Russian/Chinese opposition). Syria isn't Libya; it has a sophisticated air defense system and stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, and it's much more likely than in Libya that airstrikes and precision guided munitions alone won't do the job. Boots on the ground may be required, too.
If the president of the United States determines that toppling al-Assad is in the vital national interest of the United States, then he should craft a strategy to do it. My take is that it isn't, certainly not enough to justify a unilateral military intervention that could have the United States "owning" the country (see Afghanistan and Iraq).
It won't be on the cheap.
Indeed, the president also has to accept the possibility that what we break during a military campaign, we'll own and have responsibility for fixing. If al-Assad falls, the process of putting the Syrian Humpty-Dumpty together will make the Libyan experience look like Switzerland. And we could be right in the middle of the muddle.
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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Aaron David Miller. | <urn:uuid:8d986a3c-85bb-42bb-a2ff-3066b76bb64e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://us.cnn.com/2012/06/01/opinion/miller-syria/index.html?hpt=op_bn3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965497 | 1,094 | 2.09375 | 2 |