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This is fun activity to reinforce counting.
Make a bunch of penguins (I found a clipart pattern I liked on-line and printed it off). Put a number on each of the penguin’s tummies.
Provide a bowl of goldfish. Your child’s job is to “feed” the penguins by counting out the corresponding number of goldfish. When completed, they can help the penguins eat the fish! My children LOVE this!
I didn’t have goldfish in my cupboard last year, but the balls worked great, too. Also, I like the penguins colored. Just another version of the same idea: | <urn:uuid:0e3455bb-4e14-4c14-ac2b-6b31bb42e3ae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dressesandmesses.wordpress.com/2010/01/12/feed-the-penguins-or-penguin-counting/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936737 | 142 | 3.265625 | 3 |
Reforming the Civil Justice system
The Government has recently announced plans to change the ways in which the civil justice system works. These are the outcome of the Consultation exercise launched in 2011. The principal changes are:
1. Expanding mediation by building on the mediation service for those who have small claims. This service has received very high levels of customer satisfaction, and has been used to resolve almost 15,000 disputes over the past two years. And, since it is primarily a telephone-based service, that means up to 30,000 parties that have been able to resolve their disputes without ever having to travel to court. With the introduction of automatic referral to the small claims mediation service, the Government wants to see this service expand to offer mediation to all 80,000 disputes that are currently allocated to the small claims track (i.e. those under £5,000).
2. Expanding the small claims track, initially to £10,000. Many of the cases that fell into the small claims track back in 1999, when Lord Woolf’s reforms were introduced, are now routinely treated as fast track cases with associated costs. The Government may consider a further increase to £15,000 in due course. The current lower limits for housing and personal injury cases will be unchanged. In addition, judges will have power to transfer suitable business to business cases with a dispute value over £10,000 to the small claims track without requiring the consent of the parties. The judiciary will also have the option of referring more complex cases with a case value below £10,000 to the fast track if that is considered appropriate.
3 Introducing a fixed-cost simplified claims procedure for more types of personal injury claims, similar to that which was introduced in 2010 for road traffic accidents under £10,000.
4. Going ahead, as soon as is feasible with proposals for streamlining enforcement processes, implementing some of the Courts, Tribunals and Enforcement Act provisions and to introduce a minimum threshold for Orders for Sale.
5. Making structural reforms This will include introducing a single county court jurisdiction for England and Wales, which will facilitate greater flexibility in the use of courts around the country and enable more proceedings to be issues from centralised processing centres. A number of specialist areas of work will be removed from the county court and transferred to the High Court. The Government will increase the financial limit below which equity claims may be commenced in the county courts from £30,000 to £350,000. And the financial limit below which non-PI claims may not be commenced in the High Court will be increased from £25,000 to £100,000.
Many of the more potentially interesting changes floated in the original consultation paper, e.g. greater use of telephone hearings, more cases determined on the papers alone, have been left on the back-burner at least for the time being.
The Response paper does not set out a timetable for the implementation of these changes; but since none of them seems to require legislation, it is presumed that they will come about by administrative decision in the coming months.
It is notable that, with the honourable exception of the Guardian, none of these important reforms appear to have been thought worth a mention in the mass news media; but these are exactly the sort of changes that are relevant to the wider public, not just to lawyers.
The press release is at http://www.justice.gov.uk/news/press-releases/moj/pressrelease090212a.htm
The full response is at http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/consultations/solving-disputes-in-cc-response.pdf | <urn:uuid:25bc998f-a3ec-413d-bc1d-a5eaa18180f0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://martinpartington.com/2012/02/12/reforming-the-civil-justice-system/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953671 | 755 | 1.578125 | 2 |
OneAvatar connects your body to your Avatar in virtual worlds.
You and your Avatar will be finally one, sharing the same experiences even at physical level.
You get hurt, you Avatar gets hurt.
Your Avatar dies, you die.
Virtual Worlds such as Second Life and World of Warcraft address people’s perceptions and sensorial domains in specific ways. By using (living) these worlds users experience emotions, sensations and perceptions to which they are used to or of completely new kind. Both types are “new” in the fact that they are created in the users by means of technological devices and digital communications related practices. This is a major trend of contemporary technology. Bridges across information, architectures, prcesses and the body are constantly being created at sensorial or even physical levels. Interactive systems, wearable technologies, prosthetics, technologies that are embedded into objects and locations, domotics, robots, artificial intelligences. All of these things go towards eliminating the possible dualities intercurring between what is organic and inorganic, of what is body and what is architecture, what is thought or memory and what is external information flow, what is a physical product and what is an immaterial service.
This is a very complex subject for discussion, and it represents the full 360 degrees of background that sits behind and at the base of “OneAvatar”.
The project starts off from taking into account these new sensorialities and then brings them to an extreme to highlight frictions, possibilities and, most of all, new spaces for dialogue.
We are all, more or less, influenced by the emotional and processual practices connected to the use of networks and, specifically, by virtual worlds. Checking for new emails every 10 seconds; clicking on the “StumbleUpon” button to randomly see a new website for 3 seconds, then passing to the next one; the way in which we scan texts instead of reading them; the use of search engines; the ways in which we identify people on the internet; the way in which we read news and blogs and information. These are all things that are similar to other things that we experienced in “life_without_the_internet”, but this resemblance is truly a partial one, as they can be characterized in ways that are dramatically different, and studied specifically. So much that they are being called “new tactilities”, “digital senses”, “augmented sensoriality” etcetera.
This is obviously true with regards to Virtual Worlds like Second Life and World of Warcraft. When we go to places, chat, interact, buy, visit, dance, have sex in these worlds we have experiences that we define by using names that are pertinent to the analog world, but that are totally different.
Two clear differences lay in the areas of the perception of the physical body and on the notion of identity.
We cannot get physically hurt in Second Life or on World of Warcraft, nor can we physically feel the sensations that we feel when we touch something/someone, when we lift things, move things, when we are hit, caressed, when there is wind or direct sunlight, when we dive int the water or when we fall down from the skateboard or get a papercut. These missing degrees of sensoriality are one of the main distinctive characteristics of the way we experience Virtual Worlds and centrally define such experiences and the ways in which we perceive them. The fact that it is not possible to get hurt and, eventually, die in a Virtual World creates a physical and perceptive distance from that experience, shaping social relations, interactions, world use, economics. This missing body, this sense of being freed from the responsibility of having a body that can get hurt, fall sick, break, die, suffer from pollution, bring a whole plethora of concepts to low levels of attention.
The ways in whch we define our identities in digital and virtual worlds enhances this scenario. To be able to freely define our identity represents a form of freedom, that is for sure, but it also “disconnects” us from the Avatar that we impersonate. Experience becomes real (as it can bear real efefcts that are relational, economic, political…) but theatrical, fictional. It is narrative, more than it is real.
OneAvatar doesn’t have a moral/ethical approach to these issues. The project is aimed at establishing real connections running between the virtual worlds and the physical body, to examine the possibilities arising from these practices.
In the first production of OneAvatar, part of the NeRVi (Neo Realismo Virtuale) theories, a video shows a person during a session in the Second Life virtual world. The person wears a set of electrodes that are connected to the USB port of hs laptop. The device is controlled by a software that uses the libsecondlife software libraries to intercept and interpret the status of his avatar’s virtual body, trasforming it into stimulations of the physical body.
When the user jumps off with his avatar beyond the edge of a tall building in the virtual world without turning on the “fly” mode, the software interprets this great fall as a traumatic event, and sends a high voltage shock to the player, that is, to all effects, electrocuted.
While this is a fictional setup, as the actual device only uses low voltage stimulations, such as the ones found in sport-related appliances and massage machinery, it creates a shocking representation of what could easily become reality: a deep connection running between analog and virtual bodies. With all of its positive and negative sides. | <urn:uuid:f034021e-d784-45e0-ae60-bcaf02f6ea8c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.neorealismovirtuale.com/2008/08/oneavatar/?iframe=true&width=600&height=380 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932696 | 1,164 | 2.15625 | 2 |
CHI 1996 John Muir Conference
"The Canadian Spirit of John Muir"
The Influence of the Canadian Wilderness upon John Muir, and the influence of Muir's philosophy upon the beginnings of the Canadian Conservation Movement.
During his life, John Muir spent two uniquely different periods of time in Canada. Although he traveled in Canada on more than two occasions, the most profound experiences in the Canadian wilderness occurred during his two year sojourn in Ontario from March 1864 to March 1866 and during his two trips up the Stikine River into northwestern British Columbia in 1879.
This paper will address Muir's stay in Ontario and his adventures up the Stikine River from a Canadian historical perspective. Further, the paper will discuss how these uniquely Canadian experiences influenced Muir in the direction and nature of his life's work.
Within a Canadian historical perspective, this paper will discuss the characteristics of the people, the lifestyle, and the land of the Bruce Peninsula in Upper Canada, and the raw physical beauty and frontier mentality of the Stikine River region during the waning days of the Cassiar Gold Rush. The Muir who sailed aboard the "Cassiar" to the Gold Rush town of Glenora B.C. In 1879 was a profoundly different individual in many ways than the young man who resided in Meaford, Ontario. Included in this paper will be a discussion of these differences and how Canadian wilderness experience had a part in Muir's expanded focus.
The paper will also address the profound influence that the ideology and writings of Muir had upon the conservation philosophy of James Bernard Harkin, credited as the Father of Canadian National Parks. Harkin played a critical and primary role in the formation, organization and vision of national parks in Canada, and paid tribute to Muir by quoting directly from Muir's writings in his departmental correspondence. The strength of Harkin's philosophy has been instrumental in shaping National Parks of Canada policy to the present. This is testimony to both Muir and Harkin's vision, and an indicator that an appropriate environmental philosophy for a world heading for ecological crisis may well be the greatest gift from Muir.
1996 John Muir Conference
Home | Alphabetical Index | What's New | Message Board | <urn:uuid:579a805b-bbf1-4ea0-bf87-dfb167017de8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/uop_conference_1996/bresnahan.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951239 | 457 | 2.96875 | 3 |
History of the Tenor
The information contained within is the conversion to digital of more than 42 hours of narration and sound bites from analog tape as recorded by my father Sydney Barker.
Covering an 80 year period from the very first gramophone recordings these tapes provide not only a comprehensive journey covering the great tenors, their careers and the impact they made in opera music but also a history of the gramophone and how it pertains to the music itself.
Journey through the History of the Operatic Tenor as narrated by Sydney Barker either by selective acts or start from the beginning and enjoy the history as it progresses through a 80 year history captured by one man and his love of this great subject.
|Foreword - Sydney Barker 1.14|
|Introduction - The History of the Tenor 26.12| | <urn:uuid:ad31e100-8915-4690-9db7-2d3b36989035> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://historyofthetenor.com/page.php?4 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939893 | 167 | 2.40625 | 2 |
The first motorcycle invented by German engineer Gottlieb Daimler in 1885 when he posted a perfect combustion engine with a wooden bicycle that he designs himself. The bike has four wheels, including two additional wheels (like a bicycle wheel on the children).
Daimler’s son became the first to ride a motorcycle when he tried his creations on the date 10 November 1885 at speeds approaching 10Kpj. Some models of motorcycles later on introduced in Germany, France and the UK with a focus on the development of its practicality as a means of transportation.
In 1903, brothers Arthur and Walter Davidson along with his neighbor William Harley Harley-Davidson made the first. A year later they began producing motorcycles for sale. In 1909 Harley-Davidson V-Twin engine introduces the first, which has two cylinders with a configuration like the letter V. The machine has a great sound, rumble and impress the males, the machine soon became a classic American machines. | <urn:uuid:956dd906-e71d-4cb9-8b65-d0f63c2b00ac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.borderlessbikers.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972477 | 199 | 2.96875 | 3 |
The parents of Léna Bernstein are of origin Russian, they emigrated in Germany, then in France.
Léna obtains its pilot's license at the civil school of Aulnat, close to Clermont-Ferrand, under the protection of the aces of 14-18 Gilbert Sardier and Louis Chartoire. It “goes up” to Paris with the intention to beat records. It flies on a Potez VIII, then secures the loan of the Caudron C-109 n° 2 of Maurice Finat, ace of the stunt-flying.
First record of distance in straight line
In 1929, it tries the record of distance in straight line, while crossing the Mediterranean. The authorities only authorize it to try its test towards the north, which is impossible for him because its small apparatus, overloaded of fuel, will spend time to reach a sufficient altitude: its only solution is to make pretense of obtempérer, but to leave towards the south and to fly over the Mediterranean.
Le first test stops above the Mediterranean: shaken by a violent mistral, the aviatrice must be solved to empty its fuel and to make half-turn. Asphyxiated by the gasoline fumes, it loses consciousness but it succeeds in posing its plane at the last minute. It sets out again the following day, under better conditions. Above Corsica, she realizes that its tank is almost empty: the tap of the open “fuel dump valve” the day before, was badly closed again. It must be posed urgently on the Italian aerodrome of Pisa, then under the command of the air force of Mussolini. One reproaches him for not having not an authorization of overflight of Italy and the plane is confiscated. The following day, with the pretext of show with a mechanic engineering problems, Léna settles with the orders and succeeds in taking off, giving up on the spot its flight suit, its helmet, its charts… Finally with its third attempt, it crosses of a blow of wing, Istres in Sidi-el-Barani, in Egypt, the distance of 2268 km.
Record of duration in closed circuit
In 1930, it attacks the record of duration which Maryse Bastié holds (26. 47). On May 1st, th and 2nd, it flies during 35. 45, beating the record of duration of pilot alone on board held until there by Lindbergh. Maryse Bastié will take again this record in September to him, on a more powerful apparatus.
In 1931, Léna Bernstein tries a raid on Saigon which stops by an emergency landing in India. It must fight to obtain a new plane, succeeds in having a plane Farman to take again its project of raid. But the fuel small apparatus, overloaded, is reversed by a gust of wind during a takeoff of night, on a track in repair with Istres. Léna Bernstein, seriously wounded, is transported in a hospital of Marseilles. A Marseilles industrialist provides him a new apparatus. Still badly given, Léna leaves the hospital without paying the soins.
It obtains French nationality in 1932. Prohibited flight by the administration, continued by the ushers, it succeeds in in June rejoining Algiers, then the aerodrome of Biskra, where small Farman is reversed by a storm. The damage is tiny. The aviatrice is accommodated by many friends: the mayor of Biskra and his wife, the general of Jonchay, colonel Pierre Weiss, Lucien Schmidt, president of the Committee of Aviation of Tourism of Biskra… But it is exhausted, physically and morally. June 3rd, it is made lead in the taxi in the desert, then returns the driver. One will find his body later two days, near a bottle of champagne and of a tube of empty drugs. Commits suicide or accident? Léna Bernstein is buried with the cemetery of Biskra.
- Pierre Jarrige, light Aviation in Algeria (1909-1939), Revel, 1992, ISBN 2-9506620-0-5>
- Roland Tessier, Women of the Air , Corréa, sd.
|Random links:||Emppu Vuorinen | Louis Koo | Draževići | Ivo Minář | Jutland-exchange | Chambre_de_Sager| | <urn:uuid:2547f3ac-4715-4828-8f9a-03407933fc70> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.speedylook.com/L%C3%A9na_Bernstein.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939186 | 929 | 1.726563 | 2 |
May 20, 2013
Contact Title: Contact Name
5 Chelsea Place, Clifton Park, NY 12065 • 518-881-0600
In an effort to be more transparent and make information more accessible, Shenendehowa has compiled the most recent statistics from the N.Y.S. Education Department and other sources into one document referred to as the "Dashboard."
• Click here (PDF) to view the Dashboard information.
For more information, contact Robert W. Melia, Assistant Superintendent for Data Management, and Quality Control at (518)881-0665.
The NYS Education Department releases School Report Cards on every public school and district in the state. Based on some key assessments taken by students in New York public schools, the report cards provide achievement data on districts and schools, as compared to their past years' performances and to other similar schools.
• Click here for Shenendehowa's most current NYS Report Card.
To provide schools, teachers, and parents with an assessment of student achievement, New York State has developed the New York State Testing Program. These standardized tests will be given each year at the same time and will challenge students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills in the core subjects.
The New York State Education Department mandates that all public school districts give state tests in English language arts and math to all students in grades 3-8. In addition, all fifth- and eighth-graders must take a state social studies test and all fourth- and eighth graders must take a science test.
The NYS testing program guide for parents contains information that answers the questions parents frequently ask about the New York State Testing Program. It explains the standards set for English language arts and mathematics and describes the tests that will measure student achievement. This guide also has suggestions for how you can help your children meet the New York State Learning Standards and prepare to take these tests.
High School students in New York State are required to pass five Regents exams in order to graduate -- in English, Math A, U.S. History & Government, Global History, and one science subject area. | <urn:uuid:0aed2364-7353-41c9-85a7-560aa077ebd9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://shenet.org/DL_CurriculumLearning/DL_StudentAssessment.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929895 | 436 | 2.375 | 2 |
News Release 304
"Wednesdays @ 1" programs featured at the Missouri State Museum
Volume 39-304 (For Immediate Release)
For more information: 573-751-1010
Jefferson City, MO., SEPT. 8, 2011- Join staff of the Missouri State Museum in the state Capitol each Wednesday at 1 p.m. for a continuing series of interactive programs exploring various aspects of Missouri’s cultural and natural history. The “Wednesdays @ 1” programs continue through September and October. Although the main audience is children age 6-12 years, the programs will appeal to all ages.
· Sept. 14- Birds of prey
Totally different from songbirds, hawks and owls have the tools to be natural hunters.
· Sept. 21- Meet a Frontiersman
Discover how a “real” frontiersman lived using the resources he found around him.
· Sept. 28 - Drums of the Civil War
There are many stories about the young drummer boys of the Civil War but the real story is the drum itself.
· Oct. 5 - Bear Aware
Black bears are a historic part of Missouri’s landscape with healthy populations of bears in some of the state’s wild areas. Should we really fear them?
· Oct. 12 - Songs of the Civil War
Songs and music were very important to Civil War soldiers. Learn some new songs and how to play some musical instruments of the time.
· Oct. 19 - Bats of Missouri
Myths and stories surround bats but the truth about these tiny mammals can be even stranger!
· Oct. 26- Fossils
Find out about fossils and how they can be identified.
The Missouri State Museum is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is located inside the Missouri State Capitol at 201 W. Capitol Avenue. Programs will take place in the Education Room of the History Hall on the first floor.
For more information, contact the museum at 573-751-2854 or the Missouri Department of Natural Resources toll free at 800-334-6946 (voice) or 800-379-2419 (Telecommunications Device for the Deaf). For more information about state parks and historic sites, visit mostateparks.com. | <urn:uuid:18b10eec-9ef8-4a64-96db-402983f41a99> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dnr.mo.gov/newsrel/data-2011.asp?param=304 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915455 | 479 | 2.265625 | 2 |
Since 2006, Prime Stage and Tickets for Kids® Charities have partnered to present Performance 360: Celebration of Reading, a one-of-a-kind program that integrates literature, theater and visual arts. Each year, more than 300 young people who are served by Tickets for Kids prepare for the performance by reading the source material and creating an original work of art. On performance night, students have the opportunity to discuss the play with the cast and share their creative work, which is displayed in the theatre lobby.
Past performances include The Giver, The Westing Game, Romeo and Juliet, and A Wrinkle in Time.
This year’s program takes place on Thursday, May 16th and features the regional premiere of Walk Two Moons, based on the Newbery Award-winning novel by Sharon Creech. Tickets for Kids® Charities is generously sponsored for Performance 360: Celebration of Reading by PNC Foundation. | <urn:uuid:93bc3be9-c4f7-4108-b4b5-182cc50bcf00> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://primestage.com/shows_and_tickets/previews_special_events.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949201 | 186 | 1.671875 | 2 |
This is the proposal I put in with my application for my Master in Modern Languages Education. Subjects to complete this year, and then thesis next year. Feedback more than welcome, as it is only ideas at this stage…
Realising the potential of social networking in the Chinese language classroom.
“If you’re not using technology to teach, you should be! But then again, you already knew that…And your students did too!”
For the past twenty years, the internet and world wide web (WWW) has become an increasingly integral part of our daily work and social lives. Ease of access and use has led to a revolution in the way we search for information, contribute information and communicate with each other. Web based information and communication technologies (ICTs) such as Web 2.0 applications (For eg. YouTube for uploading and sharing videos, Facebook for social networking) enjoyed a vastly increased user base over the past 5 years as more and more people adapt them to suit their daily lives and tasks.
These developments have presented new challenges to educators and increasingly more emphasis has been placed on integration of various technologies into school curricula so that Australia’s students become “confident, creative and productive users of new technologies, particularly information and communication technologies.” The Digital Education Revolution is a Federal government initiative, created in recognition of the importance of these new technologies in the school environment is ” a five year $1.2 billion Federal election commitment that will enable schools to better access the benefits of technology for their students.” One of the four key strands as outlined in the DER Strategic Plan is Teacher Capability, which states that teachers should have the skills and tools to design and deliver programs that meet students needs and harness the benefits and resources of the digital revolution.”
In the Chinese language learning classroom specifically, the use of ICTs could be extremely valuable. In general, language classes suffer from lack of classtime which limits the progress possible. By providing access to a virtual Chinese language world and encouraging students to interact with the Chinese language outside of the classroom, ICTs could be an excellent way of engaging and motivating students to participate more readily in class and spend more time on task, which would mean they enjoy more success, which in turn may then encourage them to continue their language studies. ICTs also provide opportunities for language teachers (and students) to create resources that allow for differentiated development. For example, lessons recorded and available to each student to listen to indivdually allow students to work through them at their own pace and without having to perform under pressure in front of their peers
Within the field of ICT, social networking seems to have strong potential for language learning, however may pose problems for teachers who are not used to teaching with a technology that allows for more student input in to each others work, access to an online community, and possibly high levels on engagment and interaction outside the classroom. Social networks such as the popular Facebook allow users to create a personal profile and then add friends (other network members) to their page. Members can publish their own photos and videos, as well as comment on those of their friends. In the case of Facebook, members can also post ‘status updates,’ a short message about what they are doing or thinking at any given time. Their friends on the network are able to then comment on this and a conversation between two or more people often follows. Facebook is the world’s most influential social networking platform, and now has over 300 million active users.
Teenagers in particular are avid contemporary users of social media technologies, participating in social networks such as Facebook and other very similar networks that have the same funcitonalities, such as MySpace and Bebo, to stay in touch with their friends, share their life events, join interest groups, contribute to discussions and comment on each others content. Many spend much of their after-school time engaged with these networks. In a language learning environment, these sort of social networks and games could be especially useful in providing students with and engaging way to spend time on tasks outside the classroom mediated by their second language. For example, the network students use could be set up in the target language so all orientation points such as ‘My Page,’ ‘Home,’ ‘My Friends,’ ‘Send a Message,’ were in the target language. A social network designed around connecting with friends, sending messages , contributing to discussion groups and posting work for others to comment on could provide ‘content-oriented, culture- and task based foreign language curricula.’ Students from a country that speaks the target language could also be invited to join the network and interact with the L2 students.
Such networks would appear to offer considerable potential for assisting langauge teachers and learners, but questions arise: can the potential benefits of social networks be realised for language learners within the normal constraints of the school classroom? Would such activities be feasible in Chinese with its particular writing system? Can a teacher who is not yet familiar with this technology be taught to use it effectively? Could teachers educated in a very different system learn to appreciate the freedoms and flexibility such a program would offer?
In looking at these issues, the first part of my Masters work will comprise researching and presenting an in depth analysis of social networking for the teaching and learning of language, specifically Chinese, leading to guidelines for the design and implementation of one such social network in a classroom, I will then undertake an action research project working with a set of 4 teachers to implement the social network (possibly created using Ning.com – a platform for building social networks) in the classroom, documenting their understandings and processes of learning to become familiar and comfortable with the resource. The effects on students’ learning will also be recorded.
Keeping in line with the Digital Education Revolution’s emphasis on teacher capability and new technologies, the outcome for schools will be further knowledge of the potential for social networking in language education, specifically Chinese, as well as the issues involved in its implementation with respect to teacher education.
T4 Jordan School District, 2007, ‘Pay Attention’, http://www.teachertube.com/members/viewVideo.php?video_id=448&title=Pay_Attention, accessed 21/02/10
Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR), 2008. Success through partnership – Achieving a national vision for ICT in schools: Strategic Plan to guide the implementation of the Digital Education Revolution initiative and related initiatives, p. 4
Ibid., p. 3
Ibid., p. 6
Chatfield, T, 2010, ‘Serious Fun,’ Australian Financial Review, http://www.afr.com/p/lifestyle/review/serious_fun_zSAfApEmobSMviHs8YJwxN, accessed 30/01/10
Neville, David, 2009. ‘Digital Game-Based Learning in Second Language Acquisition,’ The Language Educator, Vol. 4, Issue 6, p. 47.
This work, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Australia License. | <urn:uuid:90ebbe3d-5e51-4f2a-802d-fcc4e8f294fd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.technolote.com/?p=598 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94644 | 1,496 | 2.109375 | 2 |
The average lifespan of these birds is - when allowed to live, that is - one-two years. They have been bred for obesity and, like in humans, they suffer from its health consequences. Heart attacks and strokes are not uncommon. At Animal Place, the oldest peepers are an amazing 5-yrs-old.
On a cold, rainy afternoon, ten 6-week-old chicks arrived at Animal Place's Rescue Ranch. For hours, they languished in the rain at an auction-yard. Covered in feces, several unable to stand, no one wanted the birds.
Two animal lovers pleaded for the birds and, by afternoon's end, all ten were loaded safely and transported to their new home - Animal Place's Rescue Ranch!
The birds are Cornish crosses (or broilers), bred solely for meat production. Around 9 billion of these birds are slaughtered each year in the United States. They are killed at the young age of 6-weeks-old...mere babies, yet they weigh 5-7 lbs, the size of most adult birds.
At Animal Place, we call the birds "peepers", an endearing term referring to their juvenile peeps. After all, they are just babies!
All ten birds are ill and require daily medications to fight off respiratory infections from exposure to the inclement weather. At least one has trouble standing, and we will monitor her closely for signs of improvement.
The average lifespan - when allowed to live, that is - of these birds is 1-2 years. They have been bred for obesity and, like in humans, they suffer from its health consequences. Heart attacks and strokes are not uncommon. At Animal Place, the oldest peepers are an amazing 5-yrs-old.
Through it all these birds never let adversity get them down. They are by far the friendliest chickens and when they are older, they will be the first to greet visitors. In fact, they are the only chickens at the sanctuary who seem to really like being touched and scratched! We hope to watch these chicks grow into old-age! | <urn:uuid:9e70a8ff-3986-425b-9f90-0e11bfb38991> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.all-creatures.org/articles/ar-saved.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970406 | 429 | 2.671875 | 3 |
-Creating healthy eating habits begins at home. Introducing kids to a variety of great-tasting nutritious foods laced the foundation for a lifetime of making healthy eating choices. Kids explore different tastes. They can be creative and they build confidence. The goal of the Junior Leagues International Kids in the Kitchen Program is to help fight childhood obesity. Now joined by eating well which provides its readers with the information and inspiration they need to make healthy eating a way of life. This goal moves closer to reality. You know packaged snack foods tempt us everywhere. It's all too easy to reach for a bag of chips, a candy bar or a box of cookies but at eating well we've created delicious healthy snacks that can be prepared in no time especially with the help of my two chefs Jack and Rissa. We begin with fruity kebabs, skewers of fresh fruit served with a yogurt dipping sauce. All you need is a selection of your favorite fresh fruit, some wooden skewers and a low-fat, low-sugar yogurt. Hi guys. Tell me what we got here. We got some great-looking fruit. -We got oranges. -We have strawberries. -Hey who put the cucumbers in there? -I like cucumbers. -Alright. We got cucumbers in our fruit kebabs. What's this? -Pineapple and grapes. -And we got green and purple grapes. Alright. We've washed our hands, right? We're all ready to go. -Yes. -You got a favorite? What's your favorite fruit? -Mine is grapes. -Grapes. Okay. And yours? -Strawberries. -Okay, guys. Go for it. Let's start skewering. Choose fruit when it's in season and at its best and when it's least expensive, but most importantly let children choose their favorite fruits. Also choose low-fat dairy options over whole milk and full fat varieties because yogurts can be high in added sugar so be sure to read the label and pick those with very little added sugar. You did so great. Skewers here are wonderful kebabs. You're ready to taste them? Now I do like vanilla or lemon yogurt? -Vanilla. -Vanilla. Okay. You know you can mix them too. Alright. Let's give it a try. I'm gonna start with this one. Is it good? Yes. Alright. My turn. Good job, guys. Well those are lovely. Now if you wanna try this at home, you can find a recipe at the Junior Leagues Kids in the Kitchen website and at eatingwell.com. These snacks never tasted so good and so much fun to prepare. You'll like them. They're good. Trail mix has gained popularity over the years as a healthy snack but many of the combinations on the market contain more sugar, sodium, and fat than is necessary. To be sure you're providing your family with a delicious and nutritious mix, it is best to make your won. At Eating Well we've created an irresistibly tasty trail mix using only 3 ingredients, popcorn, unsweetened whole-grain cereal, and orange-flavored dry cranberries. Now this trail mix is a snack to put together and can be stored in an airtight container so that you'll always have a batch on hand. All you need is a box of low-fat air-popped popcorn, a box of unsweetened cereal, and a bag of dried orange-flavored cranberries. And my 2 young chefs today are Danielle and Nicholas. We got nice clean hands? Ready to start scooping? Alright. What size of scooper you got? -1 cup. -1 cup. What size of scooper do you have, Danielle? -Half a cup. -Half a cup. We're gonna do 2 cups of popcorn and 2 cups of the cereal. So let's start scooping. How many scoops is that for you, Danielle? -One. -You got it. How many scoops for you? -Two. -Let's go. And it's nice and level if you pile it up it's more than a cup, right? Okay. Go ahead. Put your 1 cup in. Now you're gonna do another cup. You like cranberries? -Yes. -Alright. I do too. These are gorgeous. Be sure to look for whole-grain cereals that are high in fiber, 5 grams or more, and for cereals that have less than 9 grams of sugar per serving and be sure to read those popcorn labels carefully. Choose low-fat or healthy varieties and be diligent about portion size. Wow. That looks good. Can we try some? -Yes. -What do you think? -Good. -Good job, guys. Here is some other areas for quick and easy healthy snacks. How about 1 ounce peanuts or almonds or a small can of vegetable juice? Go for the low sodium kind or small box of raisins or how about reduced fat string cheese. So the next time you have a snack attack, reach for one of these delicious and nutritious treats. And if you wanna try this at home, you can find the recipe at Junior Leagues Kids in the Kitchen website and at eatingwell.com. Oh, that's yummy. Studies show that if you equip your children with healthy food to eat at school, they will be better prepared to study and learn. Now fruits and vegetables add color and crunch while providing beneficial vitamins and minerals. At Eating Well, we realize that lunch box foods should be fun to eat and so we have created a number of whimsical recipes like these. How about ham sushi? That's ham slices spread with reduced fat cream cheese and sprinkled with shredded carrot. It's rolled up and it's sliced to resemble sushi. Now all you need is some sliced ham, some reduced fat cream cheese and shredded carrot. And here assisting me in the kitchen today is Rissa and Jack. Ready to go? -Yes. -Yes. -We got washed hands and now we're gonna start making some ham sushi. Let's go. Oh this looks great, lots of cream cheese. That will help the whole thing stay together. Alright. I'm ready for some carrot put right on top. We're gonna spread this out a little bit. Looks like Rissa is ready for some carrot. The way that you do this is you fold it over and make really a tight little roll, right, and keep rolling until the seam is on the bottom of the cutting board. Nice and tight. Nice looking. Yes. You see how it's holding together. Perfect. Your turn. You guys are sushi chefs. Very nice. It's that cream cheese that's holding it together. Perfect. You guys ready to cut? -Yes. -Yes. -Let's do it. Okay. This is how you cut. I want you to hold the knife and then I want you to take the tips of your fingers and roll them over like this because if you cut like this, you could knick your fingers, right? Alright. So we're gonna roll our fingers over and keep your fingers away from the knife. And for sushi let's cut it at the diagonal. Hold it down and make slices. There we go. There's our sushi. These look great. Would you like to cut one? -Yes, please. -Okay. Here you go. Remember how I told you to hold the knife. That's right. You got your fingertips curled under. Go ahead and slice through. Beautiful. Now you move your hand down. Look at that. A pro, a chef in the making. These look great. You guys are good sushi chefs. Should we make some more? -Yes. -Yes. -Alright. She's got it. Beautiful. Now they can be premade, wrapped in plastic, and kept in the fridge for a nutritious and fun after-school snack. Now if you wanna try this at home, you can find the recipe at the Junior Leagues Kids in the Kitchen website and at eatingwell.com. Oh, I've been dying to try this. -Yes. -I like this. Although there are lots of convenience products available to make packing your kid's lunch box a snap, those products are often loaded with saturated fat, calories, and sodium. Eating Well's collection of kid-friendly lunch ideas take little time to prepare and will give your kids something to look forward to at lunch every day with a variety of options they won't trade away. These do-it-yourself mini stacks are made with whole-grain crackers, sliced roast turkey and cucumber rounds and are fun to put together, taste great and will give your kids the energy they need to make it through the day. All you need are some whole-grain crackers, some sliced roast turkey, and cucumber rounds. And of course a low-fat cream cheese. And helping me in the kitchen today are my 2 young chefs, Danielle and Nicholas. Now we've washed our hands, ready to start making some snacks? -Yes. -Let's go for it. Now what other kind of vegetables could we put in these? -Carrots? -Carrots would be good. -Tomatoes. -Tomatoes would be great and I'm telling you the kids will not wanna trade these away. These are good. So they can have so much fun deciding what they wanna put in them because guess what? If they decide what goes in them, they're gonna eat them and they're not gonna wanna trade them away. Now along with the stackers, go ahead and add other vegetables. You can also do red peppers, think color, think texture, think fun. Alright. Are we ready to try these? -Yes. -Let's go for it. -I'll make this tomorrow. -You are gonna make it tomorrow. Good for you. Can I have one? Good job, guys. They are good. If you wanna try this at home you can find the recipe at the Junior Leagues Kids in the Kitchen website and at eatingwell.com. I'm gonna make these tomorrow. Yes.
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This article covers Richard Branson’s rebuffed attempts to buy at least one of BA’s soon-to-be-retired Concordes, the idea being to continue operating it in passenger service on long-distance routes. Branson argues that he can do so profitably, but the airline (and the heritage manufacturer, Airbus) argue that the Concordes are too old to continue flying as passenger aircraft.
But what about an alternative?
The market for overnight and second-day delivery is large and healthy. But what about going one better, by exploiting the same-day delivery niche via refurbished cargo Concordes? Purchase the entire BA fleet, set aside two or three planes for cannibalization, and strip the interiors from the remaining planes and fit them out to carry mail and small parcels. Granted, it would be difficult to work out a profitable business plan within the limitations imposed by the number of planes available, the cost per flight, and the ability (or lack thereof) to fly over or near land at supersonic speeds.
However, if it could be done — even on an experimental basis — it could have a profound effect on space commercialization. Whether or not the Concorde-based venture turns a profit, it would likely whet the appetites of those who could use such a service, and thereby open a market the various suborbital startups could exploit. | <urn:uuid:830cccba-726c-4f8c-8f11-a0afa7dfe835> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://marsblog.net/wp/2003/05/30/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9459 | 285 | 2.40625 | 2 |
Australian Perspective on Goal-Free Careers
This was sent to me by a reader in Australia.
Job Myth: Setting career goals and sticking to them is the best way of having a successful career.
Dr Jim Bright: “The evidence in favor of goal setting is not great. Most diets use goal setting as a motivational technique but the failure rate for most diets is more than 50 per cent. That great careers adviser, John Lennon, said, ‘Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans.’ Being flexible, open to opportunity, persistent and optimistic are probably more important qualities. Goals can be useful, but mostly in the short-term.”
Source: Sydney Morning Herald, November 25-26 2006. | <urn:uuid:9a3c73ff-869c-4ca2-99da-4157d707791f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.steveshapiro.com/2006/11/29/australian-perspective-on-goal-free-careers/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951035 | 154 | 1.898438 | 2 |
- Viewers Come From all Over the Globe
- Like a needle in a hay stack
- Events will commemorate fifty years
- Willie Smith tells story and makes “Old Soldier” proud
- First Sergeant Bodung tells a dramatic story . . .
- Sitting in the right seat at the right time?
- Oshkosh trooper safe on Canadian air craft carrier
- Just trying to do the right thing…
- A photo of Super Connie #N6923C — RIP
- Thank God I’m alive!
- 28,304 views
News reporters were gathered on the tarmac of the new Cork Airport, each one of them wanting to snatch a survivor for an interview before medical personnel could get to them. Two Royal Air Force helicopters were alternately landing with one or two survivors with each delivery. They were collecting survivors from the deck of the Swiss ship MS Celerina as it waited 8 miles off Galley Head point, a distance of 22 miles from the airport.
One of the newsmen was Stars and Stripes London Bureau reporter John Krueger. He was to catch two survivors in one attempt. They were Pvt. Willie Smith Jr, 18, of Atlanta, Georgia, and Capt. Robert C. Eldred (retired), 47, of East Dennis, Mississippi.
Krueger snared an interview with Eldred before both were whisked away by medics. Continue reading
It might have been a matter of luck, just sitting in the right seat at the right time. Private John Toole of Montgomery, Alabama, says he was very lucky and escaped from the crash of the Flying Tiger with no injuries at all and relatively little trauma.
Toole was sitting several rows behind the window exits over the wing. After impact, he had to get out of his center seat to get to the aisle. That went without incident while many seats around him had broken off. From the aisle, he saw troopers trying to release the emergency window on the left side of the plan and he moved quickly to help. Continue reading
September 25, 1962 — Oshkosh, Wisconsin Daily Northwesterner news:
“Oshkosh Man on Airliner is Safe”
“A long and dreary day ended in joyous relief about 5 pm. Monday for Mr. And Mrs. George Brown when they got the news. Their son, George C. Brown Jr., 19, was among those rescued from the North Atlantic after the ditching of Flying Tiger Lines Flight 923, Sunday night.”
The Browns had given up hope. A policeman brought a telegram early in the morning notifying them that their son was missing, but no other information. Later that day, at about 5 p.m., a news wire reporter called them by phone to say George had been confirm as a survivor. Continue reading | <urn:uuid:6b21e527-68b1-4200-abc9-948d207620b3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://flyingtiger923.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968038 | 586 | 1.515625 | 2 |
How Do Lungs Work
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Personal trainer for over 30 years. In Home Personal Fitness training is a great way to train. No need to drive to the gym and have to be in a crowded atmosphere. The majority of my in home training is in the Bellevue, Issaquah, Kirkland, Sammamish areas. My expertise is in weight loss, post knee,shoulder, and hip replacement rehab, as well as general conditioning. I have over 12,000 hours of behavioral weight loss modification counseling hours, and have trained CEO's, athletes, and celebrities.
Dr. Debra A Kowalski, MD is a child psychiatrist who collaborates with Sharon Cook on parenting. | <urn:uuid:256a0af3-77a2-41ad-9449-f8038a4559a3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.organizedwisdom.com/How-Do-Lungs-Work/wt/med | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958929 | 761 | 1.664063 | 2 |
I did two things on my seventy-fifth birthday. I visited my wife’s grave. Then I joined the army.
The horror of war is what it does to civilians. The pity of war is what it does to soldiers: the young lives lost and young bodies maimed. What might it be like to grow old, to have had your life, and then to be given a second life, and a second youth, as a soldier? Even without the offer of a third life as a civilian colonist if you—improbably—survive your stint, it’s a deal many would take.
This is one of several intriguing premises of Old Man’s War. Two hundred years from now, humanity has had the FTL “skip drive” for over a century, and spread far. Extraterrestrial humanity’s government is the Colonial Union. The universe is crawling with likewise expanding intelligent species, many of which covet the same real estate. A few are allies, or neutral. Some of the others quite like humans, for the taste.
Hence, the Colonial Defense Force, stomping the bugs and ensuring humanity’s continued existence. The Colonial Union monopolises access to space, and its Quarantine Laws mean that becoming a colonist or a soldier is a one-way ticket. People from overpopulated countries can leave Earth on easy terms. For U.S. citizens, the only way out is to sign up for the CDF. The one qualification is reaching the minimum age: seventy-five.
John Perry is one of a batch of a thousand or so doddery elders who go up the space elevator from Nairobi to Colonial Station. He makes friends, becomes a citizen, and ships out. On the starship he learns just what his new life involves. It’s not all bad. Then comes boot camp, combat, disillusion, more combat, startling revelations, harrowing reversals, victory, promotion—and the small but glowing prospect of an unexpected happy ending, in the next life.
The story’s footwork is smooth and fast, like the skip drive. It’s only when we fall out of it that we notice how many questions are unanswered. The narrator is telling the truth as he sees it—but casually dropped clues may make us query the CDF’s version of it. How odd, after all, that all those rampaging aliens didn’t show up long before humanity skipped out to meet them....
Well-versed science fiction readers will, of course, recognise where the book’s DNA comes from (and for other readers, there’s Scalzi’s acknowledgement of his debts to Heinlein at the back). But it’s more than just a clone of Starship Troopers, with the odd plasmid of recombinant material from Gordon Dickson’s Naked to the Stars and Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War. It’s been genetically enhanced, and there’s a computer running in its head.
Unlike these books, however, it’s not fundamentally about war, or even the ethics of interspecies competition. Not is it about current politics. There are no harangues, and no obvious parallels to the present. (Scalzi tosses a couple of chunks of red meat to his right, but the tone throughout is liberal.) It’s about youth and age, love and loss, and it makes you feel the sting of these even as you wonder if the quickness of Scalzi’s hand deceives your eye.
One more thing, and not the least: Old Man’s War also differs from its predecessors in having some good, dirty laughs.
Ken MacLeod is the author of the recent science fiction novel The Restoration Game, as well as the Fall Revolution series and numerous other works. He has received the Prometheus award, British Science Fiction Association award, and been twice nomianted for the Arthur C. Clarke award. | <urn:uuid:b255401f-67ca-4d76-af06-284294669f8c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tor.com/blogs/2011/03/best-sff-novels-of-the-decade-an-appreciation-of-old-mans-war | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952465 | 834 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Reprinted from Freedom Toast (April 2003)
“There are no revolutionary thoughts, only revolutionary actions” (1, 2)
As university students, especially students in the humanities, much of our education consists of the study of various theories and theory has become one of the major topics of study at the university, transcending lines separating the disciplines to the point where it is not common to see Foucault’s discussions cited in anthropological studies, historical studies, in literary criticism, and in sociological studies. The use of theory in academic studies outside of the disciplines traditionally associated with theory has certainly contributed different perspectives and allowing for new insights; however, theory has simultaneously been reduced from its previous position as a catalyst for revolutionary change in society, instead becoming an easy way for intellectuals to satisfy their academic ego without affecting the world. Theory, which once enjoyed a close relationship with revolutionary movements, has become little more than an intellectual pursuit of what remains, for the majority of people, an abstract discourse with little bearing on the reality experienced by most people. Within this context, it is not unsurprising that students who have been exposed to various revolutionary theories have completely neglected the very essence of the theories they purport to study–the desire to transform society. In recent years, the reduction of theory has paralleled a decline in student activism, where students have become content to “study” conditions in society without doing anything to change society. They “study” growing poverty which comes during a time of unprecedented concentration of wealth in the hands of the few, the destruction of the natural environment, and the continued perfection of forms of domination and social control–all of which seem to exist on an abstract level for many. Increasingly, students are content to identify these problems and ignore solutionsthe sociology major identifies the causes of poverty and does nothing to combat them, the psychology major examines the mental conditions in society which come as a result of the insanity of capitalism and hierarchy without trying to address the core problems, the history major identifies the historical origins of these problems and does nothing about them, the biology major does not work to alter the systemic causes of environmental degradation, and the political science major studies how to perfect forms of control rather than working towards genuine democracy. Just as academic study has become completely separated from society, casting aside any type of serious effort at affecting society, theory has experienced a similar decline–becoming something that is confined to academic books and discourse, rather than being a catalyst for social change.
Now that theory has largely become the province of academics and students, existing only within the context of the university, theory has become increasingly useless. Theory’s existence is meaningful only if it becomes a catalyst for change, if it is simply a subject of study, effectively breaking off any hope of “praxis,” theory must be abolished (3). In the late 19th century, revolutionary theory was closely linked with movements to transform society, including theories such as socialism and communism (4). The same was true of anarchism, in that the theory existed both in theoretical discourse and among a movement of people that sought to transform society, not simply writing about and discussing problems without attempting to change them. In the 1960s, after decades of revolutionary theory becoming increasingly separated from any attempt to change society, especially within the Marxist canon, the theorists of the Situationist International, based in France, made it their project to create a revolutionary theory which would not exist simply for academics, but rather to be a catalyst for action. For the situationists, theory was not just for academics, but rather it existed to “transform the world and change life” in a revolutionary manner (5). Situationist writings were a call to Marxists, anarchists, and other “revolutionaries” to be revolutionary–a challenge to rediscover what was truly revolutionary about those theories–the desire to change society. While it is beyond the scope of this essay to evaluate the extent to which the situationists call for a unity between theory and praxis was heeded by revolutionaries, the situationists were elaborating on a critique set forth by other marxists, who had become fed up with the absorption of Marxism by academia and parliamentary parties (6). However, in the post-May 1968 intellectual milieu, theory in France has once again reverted to inconsequential ramblings with little bearing on the world outside of academia.
Perhaps the most prominent example of the deterioration of theory is the whole “postmodern” project, a theoretical body that claims to be revolutionary, yet functions as little more than a testament to the present poverty of theory. Postmodernism makes no attempt to be accessible to the general population; instead, it is steeped in rhetorical blabbering and exists almost exclusively within the confines of academia. Where postmodernism has any influence beyond academia, it tends to be found within pseudo-intellectuals and nihilists who have little interest in any unity between theory and practice. Moreover, postmodernism is often described as a form of Marxist theory, citing its roots in Marxism, and it very well may–but in reality, it provides little more than cover for intellectuals who do not want to change society in any concrete manner, yet want to be associated with Marxism. This lack of enthusiasm for changing society is most certainly not a legitimate legacy of Marxism, and instead of cultivating a revolutionary theory derived from Marxism–which would entail working towards revolutionary change, postmodernism makes no effort to create a better world. Instead, postmodernism promotes a type of intellectual fatalism in which there is a fascination with the absolute power of television, consumerism, capitalism, and hierarchy, yet there is no genuine attempt to abolish the aforementioned forms of domination. This follows from the fact that postmodernism’s rejection of any type of “absolute truth” can be used as a convenient way to dismiss revolutionary movements, as revolutionary movements that proclaim a better way to live are really little more than false proclamations of truth. Postmodernism represents the most perfected form of a theory made entirely irrelevant to revolutionary struggles.
While postmodernism may be the heir of Marxism (7), Marxism still exists as a somewhat popular form of theory within academic and “activist” circles. In its present state, Marxism is a theory that has outlived its usefulness, as it has become so diluted that there is little point in dragging its dead corpse along. Marxism, once explicitly linked with class struggle and movements for a revolutionary reconstruction of society, has become a philosophy of inaction. Marxism has become “safe” for academics and “activists,” as it has been completely confined to books that do little more than gather dust on bookshelves, while to be a Marxist one need not make a serious effort to change society, as such an effort would certainly be seen as abnormal by one’s comrades. Moreover, Marxism has become a theory to which elitist intellectuals and “activists” can cling, as much of the twentieth century development of Marxism has centered around the idea of “vanguard” groups and the “dictatorship of the proletariat,” under the absurd claim that “professional” revolutionaries must lead the masses in the revolution and in any post-revolutionary period–assertions which are a complete bastardization of the democratic and libertarian tendencies within Marxism (8). Marxism has become a cult-like religion devoted to the study of Marxist texts, which have become akin to the dogma of the Christian church. This cult-like reading of Marxist texts and the ensuing arguments over minute details of theoretical writings nearly 150 years old, run contrary to Marx’s intentions. Marxists would do well to remember Marx’s rejection of “personality cults (9),” as well as his statement, “Je ne suis pas Marxiste” and instead of focusing on his words as dogma, they should focus on revolutionary movements (10). Indeed, it is also true that much of the problem with Marxism, especially in the United States, is that Marxists have allowed its legacy to be shaped by critics from the right and academics, both of whom have rendered Marxism a theory that exists only within a specific historical context. Moreover, the conditions that led to the development of Marxism, the intensified production and exploitation of the industrial revolution, has been removed as capitalism has become rationalized, which is of course not true, but such an interpretation have nonetheless become quite common (11). Marxism has lost its revolutionary potential–it has been reduced to a “theoretical lens” which can be applied to history or literature, in order to construct “Marxist Interpretations” of history and literature or a “badge” which one can wear–completely eliminating its previous relationship with class struggle and revolutionary movements (12).
Anarchism, historically the “alternative” to Marxism, although few ever saw it as such due both to the misunderstanding of those on the “left” as well as outright distortions by mainstream society and history, has experienced a decline similar to Marxism. Anarchism no longer has any ties to revolutionary struggles, beyond the participation of anarchists within larger movements. The lasting legacy of anarchism is bomb throwing and violence–the involvement of anarchists in the struggle for the 8-hour day, the involvement of anarchists such as Emma Goldman and Voltairine De Cleyre in the development of feminism in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the development of militant trade unions in Europe during the same period, and the struggle of anarchists in Spain against the fascism of Franco and the collectivization and organization of Spanish industry along libertarian lines in the 1930s, have all been ignored by history books. Anarchism, unlike Marxism, has been almost completely neglected by academics and instead it has been made irrelevant to the majority of people by the actions of people on the “left” who have dismissed anarchism as being an absurd quest for utopia, by historians and governments who have dismissed it as violence, and by anarchists themselves who have made little more than token attempts at outreach outside traditional “left” circles. Indeed, if people have any knowledge of contemporary anarchist activity, it is only in relationship to the use of the black bloc tactic at protests, which effectively replaces the legacy of bomb throwing with that of window smashing. There have been few serious attempts to make anarchism revolutionary; instead, most anarchists have remained within the ghettos of the punk scene, the middle-class, and the so-called “dropout” culture (13). While there have been interesting projects coming out of the anarchist milieu in the past ten years, including the development of infoshops to share information across the world, the development of the Independent Media Centers on the internet, the non-hierarchical forms of organization that have been used in the movement against capitalist globalization, and numerous theoretical journals–anarchism, like Marxism, is not currently a revolutionary movement.
Both Marxism and anarchism, as they currently exist, are not revolutionary–just as there is no theory that is innately revolutionary. Theory is kept within the small ghettos of academia, published in journals nobody reads, and dominated by people who are not serious about bringing about the revolutionary changes that must be at the core of all theory. As university students, we play a key role in the system that reproduces theory as a means of intellectual masturbation while removing its revolutionary potential. If we recognize this role, we can confront and abolish theory as theory, instead making theory something revolutionaryby making it a catalyst and component of action. Theory can no longer afford to be an irrelevant academic sideshow to reality; instead, it must intertwined with genuine and serious efforts aimed at the revolutionary transformation of society. Let us take theory out of the books and reclaim it from the intellectuals, let us bring theory into our hearts and minds as inspiration for revolutionary action–let us abolish theory!
(1) By theory I mean the revolutionary theories found on the “left”, the most common of which is Marxism.
(2) Graffiti painted on the walls of Nanterre University during the events leading up to the revolt/insurrection during May and June of
1968 in Francecited in Angelo Quattrocchi and Tom Narin, The Beginning of the End, (Verso, 1998), 49.
(2) “Praxis” is a word that seems to have been forgotten by the majority of people who consider themselves theorists or proponents of theory, an increasingly fatalistic tone taken by many “theorists” who argue that any attempts to radically change the world are destined to fail because of complete and total domination of power. Many theorists have, rather than confronting power, been increasingly interested in simply observing the complexity of power without making any substantive effort at challenging it.
(4) This was of course before they were bastardized by the authoritarians, and later, by a dogmatic adherence to the writings of Marx, along with an almost cult-like fascination with everything Marx ever did, where once directly linked to mass movements designed to transform society.
(5) “On the Poverty of Student Life” in Situationist International Anthology, ed. and trans. Ken Knabb, (Bureau of Public Secrets, 1995), 337.
(6) I am thinking specifically of the critiques of Stalinism and the calls for a more democratic marxism in journals such as Socialisme ou Barbarie, journals that had much wider circulations than the writings of the situationists. These journals were more interested in the spread of revolutionary Marxism than inconsequential academic debates. Furthermore, the use of “marxist” with a lowercase “m” is to show that these theorists were more interested in marxism as a way of transforming society than the cult-like worship of Marx that is common among “Marxists.”
(7) According to some academics postmodernism is the heir to Marxism, although postmodernism really has little in common with Marx. See Arthur Marwick, The New Nature of History: Knowledge, Evidence, Language, (Lyceum, 2001), 241. This association of postmodernism with Marxism is quite common among critics of postmodernism coming from a “right-wing” perspective while many on the “left-wing” find that postmodernism offers a convenient tie to Marxism without requiring one to actually do anything to change the world.
(8) See: V.I. Lenin, State and Revolution, (International Publishers, 1943) for a development of the idea that revolutions can be led by the few and that “dictatorships” can be instituted in the post-revolutionary period. Also see, Friedrich Engels, “On Authority,” in The Marx-Engels Reader 2nd Edition, ed. Robert C. Tucker (W.W. Norton, 1978), 730-733, for an early defense of consolidating power in the hands of the few.
(9) Karl Marx, “Against Personality Cults,” in The Marx-Engels Reader 2nd Edition, ed. Robert C. Tucker (W.W. Norton, 1978), 521.
(10) “Engels to Eduard Bernstein in Zurich,” 1882, http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1882/letters/82_11_02.htm
(11) Of course, anyone who opens their eyes can see that such assertions are absolute rubbish. Exploitation is still, and will always be, an essential component of capitalist production. Moreover, the absurd notion that we live in a “classless” society, therefore rendering Marx’s class analysis useless, is ridiculous.
(12) This is not to say that there are not many “activists” and groups around the world that call themselves Marxist. However, the majority of these “activists” and groups make no serious attempt to make Marxism a theory for revolutionary change. There is more to being a Marxist than being able to provide citations for his famous quotes or using his writings to simply interpret the world or works of literature. Most “Marxists” would do well to remember the following: “The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point, however, is to change it,” something which most “Marxists” are all to eager to forget. Karl Marx, “Theses on Feuerbach” in The Marx-Engels Reader 2nd Edition, ed. Robert C. Tucker (W.W. Norton, 1978), 145.
(13) This is not to say that anarchism has not been growing in popularity in the past few years, and indeed it has, but there has not been a large-scale movement to appeal to people outside of circles traditionally sympathetic to anarchism. | <urn:uuid:a171e942-7f36-4ecb-b171-cc431cf8c76a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mediamouse.org/underground/2003/01/making-theory-meaningful-abolishing-theory.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960303 | 3,498 | 2.171875 | 2 |
Reporting online terrorist content
The internet is used by some people to promote, glorify or help carry out acts of terrorism and violent extremism.
The public can now report online content they suspect may be of a violent extremist or terrorist nature direct to a specialist police unit.
Members of the public who come across suspicious internet sites, chat rooms or other web-based forums can now report their concerns online at Directgov's terrorism page, the link to which can be found in the related links section of this page.
Some examples of illegal terrorist or extremist content include:
- Speeches or essays calling for racial or religious violence.
- Videos of violence with messages of ‘glorification’ or praise for terrorists.
- Postings inciting people to commit acts of terrorism or violent extremism.
- Messages intended to stir up hatred against any religious or ethnic group.
- Bomb-making instructions.
Specialist officers will asses the information, and where appropriate investigate the website or work with partners to remove it.
If you come across terrorist or violent extremist content online that you think might be illegal, let the police know. All reports are anonymous, and should only take a few minutes to complete. All you need is the web address (also called the ‘URL’) of the website.
In an emergency, you should always call 999.
You can also call the confidential Anti-Terrorist Hotline 0800 789 321.
Directgov has a dedicated webpage where you can report online terrorist content you think might be illegal, or which you find offensive, to a specialist police department. The link can be found in the related links section. | <urn:uuid:a2503ddf-7f74-4d7b-909e-6988fa47372d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://content.met.police.uk/Article/Reporting-online-terrorist-content/1400006268056/1400006268056 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910968 | 339 | 2.21875 | 2 |
Diamond dog food salmonella recall expands
(CBS News) The Diamond Pet Foods voluntary recall on some of their pet food brands has been expanded after a salmonella outbreak in one of their plants left 14 people sick in nine states.
The dog food in question was was manufactured in Gaston, S.C. plant. At least five people were hospitalized from handling the food, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told the Associated Press.
On the official website for the recall, Diamond Pet Foods added dog food under the Country Value, Diamond, Premium Edge, Professional, 4Health and Taste of the Wild brands with a 2 or 3 in the 9th position of the production code and an X in the 10th or 11th position. The "best before" dates are between December 9, 2012 and April 7, 2013. They were distributed in a variety of eastern, southern, central and Midwest states, as well as parts of Canada, but may appear in other states.
Diamond Naturals (particularly the Lamb & Rice dry dog formula), Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul Adult Light Formula and Diamond Puppy Formula had already been recalled in April 2011 after a random sampling showed that some of their food tested positive for Salmonella.
Some companies that co-manufacture with Diamond Pet Foods have also pulled their products, including Natural Balance, Kirkland Signature/Kirkland Signature Nature's Domain, Apex Pet Foods, Canidae Pet Foods and one type of Wellness Complete Health puppy food. The companies claim it is a precaution because no pet or human illnesses have been reported in association with these brands nor has sample testing shown that any of their bags have Salmonella.
Reuters reported that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are investigating the outbreak. The infection is possibly from people touching the dog food and then touching their own food, cross-contamination with products that touched the tainted pet food or from direct contact from a dog that had a Salmonella infection.
According to Cornell University, salmonella poisoning in humans can cause nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain/colic or cramps and diarrhea. People may experience moderate fevers and chills. The elderly and young, those with decreased gastric acidity, those with altered gastrointestinal bacteria, those who are immunosuppressed HIV patients and those whose bowel movements are decreased are at higher risk.
Pets with salmonella infections can also experience similar symptoms to infected humans, according to the Diamond Pet Foods press release. They may be lethargic or not want to eat. There is a danger with pets who are infected by do not display symptoms, however, because they may spread the disease to other humans or animals.
If symptoms are noticed, people are urged to call their healthcare providers or veterinarians for their pets. | <urn:uuid:4f20d91a-edeb-4e29-a312-6b8f2d3836ce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cbsnews.com/2102-504763_162-57429961.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964355 | 573 | 1.609375 | 2 |
|Needless Hunger - Voices from a Bangladesh Village (FF, 1982, 74 p.)|
|Hunger in a fertile land|
In U.S. news media Bangladesh is usually portrayed as an "international basketcase," a bleak, desolate scene of hunger and despair. But when we arrived in Bangladesh in August 1974 we found a lush, green, fertile land. From the windows of buses and the decks of ferry boats, we looked over a landscape of natural abundance, everywhere shaped by the hands of men. Rice paddies carpeted the earth, and gigantic squash vines climbed over the roofs of the bamboo village houses. The rich soil, plentiful water and hot, humid climate made us feel as if we had entered a natural greenhouse.
As the autumn days grew clear and cool and the rice ripened in the fields, we saw why the Bengalis in song and verse call their land "golden Bengal." But that autumn we also came face to face with the extreme poverty for which Bangladesh has become so famous. When the price of rice soared in the lean season before the harvest, we witnessed the terrible spectacle of people dying in the streets of Dacca, the capital. Famine claimed thousands of lives throughout the country. The victims were Bangladesh's poorest people who could not afford to buy rice and had nothing left to sell.
As we tried to comprehend the contrast between the lush beauty of the land and the destitution of so many people, we sensed that we had entered a strange battleground. All around us silent struggles were being waged, struggles in which the losers met slow, bloodless deaths. In 1975 we spent nine months in the village of Katni, collecting material for a book on life in the Third World. There we learned more about the quiet violence which rages in Bangladesh.
Katni is a typical village. The majority of its 350 people are poor: most families own less than two acres of land, and a quarter of the households are completely landless. The poorest often work for landlords in neighboring villages who own over 40 acres apiece. Four-fifths of the villagers are Muslims and one-fifth are Hindus. Except for two rickshaw pullers, all make their livings from agriculture.
Bangladesh is rich enough in fertile land, water and natural gas for fertilizer not only to be self-sufficient in food, but a food exporter, even with its rapidly increasing population size.
To minimize the differences between ourselves and the villagers, we lived in a small bamboo house, spoke Bengali and wore local clothing. By approaching the villagers as equals we were eventually able to win their trust. Jim spent most of his time talking with the men as they worked in the fields or went to the market, while Betsy spent most of her time talking with the women as they worked in and around their houses. The villagers taught us what it means to be hungry in a fertile land.
Bangladesh lies in the delta of three great rivers-the Brahmaputra, the Ganges and Meghna-which flow through it to empty into the Bay of Bengal (see map). The rivers and their countless tributaries meander over the flat land, constantly changing course, since most of the country lies less than 100 feet above sea level. The waters not only wash the land, they create it; their sediments have built the delta over the centuries. The alluvial soil deposited by the rivers is among the most fertile in the world.
Abundant rainfall and warm temperatures give Bangladesh an ideal climate for agriculture. Crops can be grown 12 months a year. The surface waters and vast underground aquifers give the country a tremendous potential for irrigation in the dry winter season. The rivers, ponds and rice paddies are alive with fish; according to a report of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), "Bangladesh is possibly the richest country in the world as far as inland fishery resources are concerned."1
The country's dense human population bears testament to the land's fertility; historically the thick settlement of the delta, like that along the Nile River, was made possible by agricultural abundance. Today, with more than 80 million people, Bangladesh is the world's eighth most populous nation. Its population density is the highest of any country in the world except for Singapore and Hong Kong,2 a fact which is all the more remarkable in light of the country's low level of urbanization. Nine out of 10 Bangladeshis live in villages, where most make their living from the land.
Bangladesh's soil may be rich, but its people are poor. The average annual income is less than $100 per person, the life expectancy only 47 years, and like all averages these overstate the wellbeing of the poorest.3 A quarter of Bangladesh's children die before reaching the age of five4 .Malnutrition claims many. Over half of Bangladesh's families consume less than the minimal calorie requirement, and 60 percent suffer from protein deficiencies.5 Health care is poorly developed and concentrated in the urban areas. Less than a quarter of the population is literate.6
A United States Senate study notes that Bangladesh "is rich enough in fertile land, water, manpower and natural gas for fertilizer not only to be self-sufficient in food, but a food exporter, even with rapidly increasing population size."7 But despite rich soil, ideal growing conditions and an abundant supply of labor, Bangladesh's agricultural yields are today among the lowest in the world. According to a World Bank document, "Present average yields of rice are about 1.2 metric tons per hectare, compared with 2.5 tons in Sri Lanka or 2.7 in Malaysia, which are climatically similar, or over 4 tons in Taiwan where labor inputs are greater."8 Production has stagnated; today's yields are similar to those recorded 50 years ago.9
Why is a country with some of the world's most fertile land also the home of some of the world's hungriest people? A look at Bangladesh's history sheds some light on this paradox. The first Europeans to visit eastern Bengal, the region which is now Bangladesh, found a thriving industry and a prosperous agriculture. It was, in the optimistic words of one Englishman, "a wonderful land, whose richness and abundance neither war, pestilence nor oppression could destroy."10 But by 1947, when the sun finally set on the British Empire in India, eastern Bengal had been reduced to an impoverished agricultural hinterland.
Many who read Food First: ; Beyond the Myth of Scarcity find among its most shocking revelations the fact that Bangladesh isn't a hopeless basketcase: there are indeed enough resources in that country to provide for all. The media-generated image of an entire people condemned to perpetual hunger is now being challenged. The truth is more hopeful, if paradoxical: despite its current low productivity, Bangladesh may already produce enough grain for all its people. Moreover, it has barely tapped its agricultural potential-among the greatest in the world.
Many people want to learn more about Bangladesh, for they sense, as we do, that Bangladesh provides lessons with implications well beyond its national scope. If hunger is needless in this foremost "basketcase," it is indeed needless in every other country in the world.
Here in Needless Hunger, Betsy Hartmann and James Boyce share their own direct experiences and lessons drawn from the villages of Bangladesh. Hartmann and Boyce, Bengali-speaking Americans and Fellows of the Institute for Food and Development Policy, spent two years (1974-1976) living in Bangladesh and nine months in one typical rural village. Their growing familiarity with the daily struggles and conflicts within the village allowed them to cut through the seeming irrationality of hunger to find its political and economic roots. The authors describe how the few have gained effective control over productive resources, leading to both the underuse and misuse of these resources. We learn of the perceptions, fears and frustrations of those who strain to survive in rural Bangladesh against the weight of unjust social and economic structure.
But the authors do not only present us with a microscopic view of Bangladesh society. They describe in concise terms how the local hierarchy is supported at the national level. Indeed, Hartmann and Boyce demonstrate how we in the West are directly linked to the very forces that generate hunger in Bangladesh. The United States, Canada, Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, Holland, Saudi Arabia, Japan, France, Germany, etc., all have large "development assistance" programs in Bangladesh. These programs-together with those of the multilateral agencies like the U. N.'s World Food Program and the World Bank-now total well over $1 billion a year. Hartmann and Boyce show from their own on-site investigations that such aid often undermines the very people with whom we would most wish to ally ourselves - the hungry and impoverished. Similarly, the authors help us understand that no matter how good our government's intentions, the massive food aid we are told is for the hungry in fact ends up feeding and enriching a privileged minority.
But Needless Hunger is not a story without hope. Hartmann and Boyce reveal the strength and potential of the Bangladesh people. They argue that social reconstruction could bring genuine economic progress for all. And they show that there is a way that we in the West can help: we can work to remove the obstacles to social change being built by forces of intervention which shore up the hunger status-quo.
The global analysis of our book Food First is vividly captured here in a single country-in a single village.
Frances Moore LappR>Joseph Collins | <urn:uuid:9319d94d-afc3-4c9f-80cd-0f316c8a53f5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nzdl.org/gsdlmod?e=d-00000-00---off-0cdl--00-0----0-10-0---0---0direct-10---4-------0-1l--11-en-50---20-about---00-0-1-00-0--4----0-0-11-10-0utfZz-8-00&cl=CL1.79&d=HASH690cf679798b33a2a94540.2.1&hl=0&gc=0>=0 | 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 | 0.952494 | 1,956 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Classes and Coaching
and Parenting Teens
Welcome to our site. I am Rick Concoff, M.A., and have been an educator and mentor for children of all ages including grade school, pre-teen and teen for over 35 years. I have directed camps, taught all kinds of classes in many kinds of schools, worked as a Guidance Counselor, a Waldorf Teacher, a music teacher, parenting educator, teacher mentor and educator, consultant and Jewish Educator as well.
Teaching Teens about Healthy Relationships
I have taught, mentored and graduated thousands of students. Sadly, I have attended memorial services of 12 of my students, between the ages of 9 and 32. The circumstances included car accidents, outdoors accidents, alcohol poisoning, suicide, illness and drug overdose. The cause in most cases was “one bad or unfortunate decision.”
That is why I created this site, Parenting Panic Button!
My mission is to keep young people
challenged, happy, safe, growing and alive!
If you or someone you are with are in crisis or this is an emergency, immediately call 911 and follow the advice.. A parent of a child, teen or young adult should always bring physical, mental, social and other concerns to a professional as such a doctor, therapist or psychologist . Hotlines and emergency advice lines are sometimes listed on this site and can help as well. If this is not an emergency, read on…
I have created and taught a curriculum called “Values and Virtues” to teens and pre-teens for a number of years. The success of this curriculum is based in the process of co-creating with the students, the sacred and safe space of a sharing circle within which we discuss, role-play and experience good and healthy decision making on all levels. The issues we discuss include honesty, truth, lying, cheating, stealing, shoplifting, drug and alcohol use, self-harm, gossiping, risk-taking, internet use, cyber bullying, texting, “sexting”, relationships, privacy and secrecy as well as many other issues.
We embrace the “power of yes and no” as we realize that almost everything we do in life is contingent on saying yes and no at the right time.
Values and Virtues, Teen Class
This website and all the information within provides ideas, opinions and possible strategies for parents and adults in working with children and teens. The opinions on this site are intended to inspire healthy parenting and is not intended to replace professional and or clinical attention, diagnosis and treatment. We recommend you seek out an appropriate qualified professional when you have any parenting concerns. This site also includes information, opinions and strategies for children and teens in dealing with various issues. It is not intended to be or replace professional or clinical advice. Any suggested websites, books, resources or referral lists are to be investigated and used at the discretion of the user, and the the user is recommended to research validity, appropriateness and credibility of all such suggested material and services. Opinions expressed by linked and featured authors do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the author(s) of the site. The material on this website is not intended to be prescriptive OR REPLACE clinical inquiry, counseling, or therapeutic purposes, and is for coaching and informational purposes only and used at the users own risk and discretion. All original material is copy-written and may be forwarded or shared with proper credit given, and only used or copied with permission from the authors. | <urn:uuid:b76b7ee6-ff3b-4b05-8dfe-d652f07a98a3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rickconcoff.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95384 | 729 | 1.914063 | 2 |
|St. John the Baptist,
Prophet and Martyr
Most images of St. John the Baptist draw on scriptural rather than hagiographical sources: his surprising birth as recounted in Luke 1:5-25 (cached) and 57-66 (cached) and his beheading in Matthew 14:3-12 (cached) and Mark 6:17-29 (cached).
St. John the Baptist's portrait is found in a remarkable number of images of St. Catherine of Alexandria, either as an adult (example) or as a child bystander at St. Catherine's betrothal to the child Jesus (example). The child John the Baptist also figures in other Madonna and Child images, sometimes accompanied by adults such as his mother (example), and indeed even in solo portraits (example) and statues (example).
An important attribute that distinguishes St. John the Baptist in portraits is the lamb (example), often lying or standing on a book (example), referring to John's words regarding Jesus: "Behold the lamb of God" John 1:29 (cached). Another common attribute is a cross held like a military standard (example), sometimes with a banner attached (example). Portraits normally show St. John the Baptist clad in camel's skin as described in Matthew 3:4 (cached) and Mark 1:6 (cached). If Christ is also in the image, John will sometimes be shown pointing to him (example).
The lurid story of the Baptist's death is also a popular subject in the art, especially the dance of Salome (example) and the beheading (examples from 14th and 16th centuries). Even the severed head may be represented, as in this example from Mexico or this odd use of the head as an attribute.
June 24 (Birth of St. John the Baptist)
August 29 (Beheading of St. John the Baptist)
At left, "St. John the Baptist" panel from a van der Weyden Nativity
Among other saints:
In the Ugljan Polyptych, 1450Incidental Images:
With St. Anthony of Padua in a 16th-century Crucifixion Triptych
Golden Legend #86 (Birth of St. John the Baptist): html or pdf
Golden Legend #125 (Beheading of St. John the Baptist) html or pdf | <urn:uuid:2a4556e0-522a-4066-9a4e-818c26574023> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aug.edu/augusta/iconography/johnBaptist.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916911 | 492 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Although it is alternately misunderstood, revered, tolerated and adored, the Yale System is alive and well, Robert H. Gifford, M.D., deputy dean for education, told alumni gathered in the Hope Building during reunion weekend. Dr. Gifford noted that “the wheel has simply come ’round again” and cited F.P. Underhill, who chaired the school’s curriculum committee in 1922. “The student,” Dr. Underhill complained at the time, “has become the defenseless recipient of an overwhelming mass of facts.”
Reaffirming the goals of Milton C. Winternitz, M.D., who served as dean of the medical school from 1920 to 1935, Dr. Gifford said, “Memorization of a ‘mass of facts’ was far less important than a well-rounded education in fundamental principles, training in methods of investigation and acquisition of the scientific habit of mind.” Burdening the students with a heavy curriculum discourages independence and initiative and leaves little time for electives, independent thought or reading in the library, Dr. Gifford said.
Underlying the Yale System is the presumption that graduate students are mature individuals with a strong motivation to learn. As a result, attendance is not taken at lectures, small group teaching is emphasized and there are no grades or class rankings. Although examinations remain anonymous, a qualifying exam must be passed in every course and all students must write a thesis based on original research in order to graduate. According to Dr. Gifford, the school still adheres to these principles, but the number of lectures has gradually increased. And honor societies such as Alpha Omega Alpha, which recognizes only the top students in each class, have somewhat undermined the Yale System’s traditional opposition to class rankings, he said.
The freedom accorded to students brings with it a responsibility that is at times ignored, Dr. Gifford said. He took students to task for what he described as a “cavalier” attitude towards small group seminars which depend on student to student interaction. Attendance, he said, tends to drop, particularly around the time of the second year show in February and national board examinations in the spring.
While most of the faculty support the system, he said, a minority “look at it with some derision as a way for students to slip by without academic rigor, to be self-indulgent, spoiled, entitled to do anything they want.”
Dr. Gifford also took on the issue of payment of faculty who assume major teaching burdens. Most faculty, those who give lectures or moderate seminars, receive no remuneration, and that is appropriate. “But asking someone to be a course coordinator, to organize a new course, to chair a curriculum committee, to organize and run a new course is a very different matter,” Dr. Gifford said, “and, in my judgment, should be accompanied by partial salary support.” He proposed enlarging an educational fund so that those who shoulder unusual time commitments to teaching can receive a portion of their salary for their efforts.
Noting the curriculum requires attendance at too many lectures, Dr. Gifford called for more case-based conferences as an alternative. | <urn:uuid:a5c7a53e-87f9-4779-98b1-869b6f5bfd60> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://medicine.yale.edu/publications/yalemedicine/fall1998/people/reunion/54958 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967579 | 686 | 1.84375 | 2 |
ODD how a surprise gift from the past—in this case, a medium-format camera inherited from a deceased relative—can rekindle an interest left dormant by advancing time and technology. According to a faded receipt, the camera in question, an early Rolleiflex Automat, was bought in 1937 by an uncle and taken back to Africa, where he was a missionary doctor. On his return to Britain many years later, the camera was put into storage where, for some unfathomable reason, it remained untouched for the better part of half a century.
Your correspondent wrote late last year about the pleasure he gets on all-too rare occasions from firing up his ancient Hasselblad SLR (single-lens reflex) camera and shooting off a roll or two of 120 colour-reversal film (see “Point, shot, discard”, December 31st 2011). The sudden acquisition of the Rollei TLR (twin-lens reflex) has renewed his passion for medium-format cameras with their attractive 6cm-by-6cm picture frame.
But before loading one of the rolls of 120 film he keeps stashed in the fridge, he considered it best first to have the old Rollei cleaned, lubed and adjusted. Leaving the 75-year-old antique with a local camera shop was out of the question. Clearly, the work would have to be done by a technician who understood the foibles of this legendary piece of equipment. But who?
Rolleiflex cameras were made by Franke & Heidecke in Braunschweig, Germany, from 1929 until the firm went bust in 2009—a victim of rising costs, the recession and changes in the marketplace. DHW Fototechnik, a firm resurrected from the ashes of Franke & Heidecke by former employees, continues the good work, albeit on a reduced scale.
A trawl of the internet netted just two sources of technical expertise with the requisite reputations. In Frankfurt, there was Jürgen Kushnik, who had learned the trade at RolleiWerke in Braunschweig, and had risen through the ranks to become branch manager of Rollei of America, before returning to his native Germany.
The other was Harry Fleenor, who had spent over 45 years repairing Rolleis at factory service centres in the United States. When the company went out of business, Mr Fleenor bought all the test gear from Rollei of America and set up shop in Manhattan Beach, California—just 15 miles down the coast from where your correspondent resides. With camera in hand, he was round at Mr Fleenor’s repair shop in a trice.
No question that Oceanside Camera Repair in Manhattan Beach has a global reputation among Rolleiholics. Endorsements from around the world cover the walls of Mr Fleenor’s store. The business has so much work on hand that your correspondent will be lucky to get his refurbished Rollei—complete with a new Maxwell screen—back before Christmas. That alone speaks volumes about the resurgent interest in the brand.
In fact, analogue cameras generally are enjoying something of a revival. In part, this is due to the plethora of old film cameras that can now be had for a song on eBay and elsewhere. Over the past decade, professional as well as amateur photographers have flooded the second-hand market with analogue cameras in excellent condition as they traded up to ever-more exotic digital models.
But something more fundamental is at work as well. Tales abound in photographic circles about an irreverent band of shutterbugs who have become disillusioned with digital. Your correspondent can understand why.
On the one hand, he appreciates the way digital cameras let him experiment endlessly by taking numerous shots of a scene, each time with a different exposure setting, and then deleting or editing the less successful ones until an all-but perfect image remains. On the other hand, he enjoys the challenge and forethought involved in setting up a shot with an analogue camera. The discipline of having only a dozen shots on a roll of 120 film concentrates the mind no end. Making every image count heightens the sense of achievement.
While modern digital cameras are marvels of automation, they have become almost too efficient at doing their job. Lost in the process is a sense of personal satisfaction that comes from solving the exposure equation oneself. It is hardly surprising that a growing number of people find them more than a little sterile.
What is surprising, though, is that—despite all the wonderful old cameras and lenses on the secondhand market that are capable of taking pin-sharp pictures—today’s analogue renaissance is being invigorated largely by a movement that preaches “low-fidelity” photography. The movement, known as lomography, gets its name from a toy camera made by the LOMO optics company in the former Soviet Union. The Lomography Society, founded in Austria in the early 1990s, comprises both a world-wide community of users and a company that produces a line of cheap analogue cameras and film for enthusiasts.
Lomographers advocate spontaneity and favour optical distortion and intense colour saturation in their pictures. Cheap cameras with plastic lenses help create the distortion, while any leakage of light into a camera body is accepted as part of the creative process. In rejecting the values of classical composition and processing, lomography is closer to abstract art than analogue photography.
One particular trick lomographers use widely is cross-processing. This involves processing colour positive film for slides (normally developed using the so-called E-6 process) using the chemistry for developing colour negative film for prints (the C-41 process). This produces images with the intense saturation and high contrast that are prized by the community.
Occasionally, the technique is reversed, with colour negative film being developed as if it were slide film. This muddies the colours and flattens the contrast. Yet another technique, called redscale processing, is employed when colour print film is deliberately loaded into the camera back-to-front, allowing the film to be exposed from the wrong side. The resulting images have a strong red cast.
The best thing about the global lomography movement, though, is not so much the abstract images it celebrates, but the way it has helped revive the dying business of film processing. For that, analogue photographers everywhere can rejoice. And thanks especially to the lomography movement’s enthusiasm for the Lubitel, a simple medium-format TLR made in Russia by LOMO, online services have sprung up to process 120 roll film properly, quickly and at reasonable prices. Two of the most successful online labs today are 120processing.com and oldschoolphotolab.com.
With his recently acquired Rolleiflex, your correspondent is looking forward to becoming more knowledgeable about TLR photography. Having, until recently, taken most of his pictures with either an analogue SLR or a rangefinder camera, he has evidently much to learn about "waist-level" imaging.
In certain ways, TLRs are simpler than SLRs. Because they use two separate objective lenses riding on the same focusing carrier—one for the viewfinder, the other for taking the actual picture—no mechanism is needed to prevent light from reaching the film while the image is being focused. To block the light, a traditional SLR needs either a noisy focal-plane shutter, or the reflex mirror itself is made to do the job. In either case, the mirror has to be flipped out of the way when the shutter is depressed, so light can pass from the lens to the film.
By contrast, the reflex mirror used in a TLR (for turning the light through 90º so the image can be seen on the big ground-glass viewfinder on the top of the camera) is fixed. Not having to be flipped out of the way, there is therefore no shutter lag. Like a rangefinder camera, a TLR takes its picture the instant the shutter is released.
That comes in handy in street scenes and other situations involving sudden movement. No wonder the Rolleiflex was used so widely on the battlefield by photographers on both sides during the second world war. Your correspondent feels privileged to follow in their footsteps. | <urn:uuid:93d3fd21-b6fd-44b0-a737-9795be505c47> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2012/10/photography?zid=307&ah=5e80419d1bc9821ebe173f4f0f060a07 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95597 | 1,731 | 1.632813 | 2 |
HOME | LAWS | ORGANIZATIONS | CASES | LEGISLATION | HEADLINES
Senate Bill 116: A Bill Changing the Definition of a School
Senator Gerald J. Theunissen
This bill would change the definition of a private school so that, if the private school were in a private residence, it would have to be an approved home school program.
This bill was withdrawn on March 26, 2001, the earliest date for this action.
This bill is dangerous and should be vigorously opposed.
| Other Resources| | <urn:uuid:aaa07b14-c1dc-490c-b2cb-c8d5156754d9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hslda.org/legislation/state/la/2001/LASB116/default.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94556 | 112 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Representative Ernest Istook (R-Okla.) has discovered a mortal threat to the republic. The threat is a display ad placed by a pro-drug legalization group, Change the Climate, Inc., on Washington D.C.’s bus and subway system. The ad showed a young couple, with the caption: “Enjoy Better Sex! Legalize and Tax Marijuana.”
And to deal with this outrage, Istook has introduced a measure to financially penalize Washington’s Metro transit authority for running the ad. Moreover, Istook’s bill would prohibit any transit system that receives federal funds from running advertising from a group that advocates decriminalizing or legalizing marijuana.
This is hardly the first time that the blackjack of withholding federal funds has been used to coerce recipients into embracing pet policies of politicians, but it has to be one of the more odious. Istook’s bill shows utter contempt for the First Amendment, and indeed for the entire concept of political debate.
But drug warriors have repeatedly showed their intolerance of opposing views — and their eagerness to use the power of government to suppress critics. For example, in the mid-1990s, the late Rep. Gerald Solomon (R-NY) attempted to have the tax-exempt status of the Cato Institute revoked because it had the temerity to sponsor discussions of the legalization option.
The most ominous proposal for repressing pro-drug reform speech comes (not surprisingly) from the United Nations. The UN’s International Narcotics Control Board has issued a report implicitly calling on member states to criminalize opposition to the war on drugs. Citing the 1988 UN Convention Against Illicit Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, the INCB asserts that all governments are obligated to enact laws that prohibit “inciting” or “inducing” people to use illegal drugs and to punish such violations as criminal offenses.
If such a vague and chilling restriction on freedom of expression were not odious enough, the UN board contends that any portrayal that shows illicit drug use “in a favourable light” constitutes incitement and therefore should be banned as well. Since the report also repeatedly denounces medical marijuana initiatives as well as decriminalization or legalization proposals, even the most sedate advocacy of changing prohibitionist drug laws might run afoul of the censorship regime being pushed by the United Nations.
It is not reassuring that the U.S. government has pledged to cooperate with the UN group’s global anti-drug efforts. Although Washington has not explicitly endorsed the censorship recommendations, neither has it stated that the United States rejects such proposals — even though it certainly could have added that caveat. Indeed, one official pledged “absolute cooperation” with the UN’s drug control programs.
Those who might be tempted to dismiss the significance of efforts to gag proponents of drug legalization should know that government officials have already sought to implement censorship measures (albeit more limited ones than the comprehensive bans suggested by some drug warriors). For example, authorities in Maryland prosecuted an individual for publicly divulging the identity of two undercover narcotics officers. Attempting to prohibit such disclosures by charging the defendant with “obstructing and hindering a police officer,” Maryland officials endeavored to give undercover narcotics officers the same protection that Congress afforded to the CIA and other intelligence agents to wage the Cold War and the subsequent war on terror.
Although the Maryland Court of special appeals eventually overturned the conviction on the grounds that it violated the defendant’s state and federal constitutional rights to freedom of speech, several aspects of the case remain troubling. First, the fact that Maryland authorities sought to impose such censorship in the first place; second, that the defendant was convicted in a trial court; and third, that the Court of Appeals overturning the conviction on a divided vote. It is hardly reassuring that a minority of the justices were willing to allow such a violation of the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech to pass muster.
Such examples suggest that some advocates of drug prohibition regard the “war” on drugs as more than a metaphor. Pervasive intolerance is also all too typical of a wartime mindset in which opponents are seen, not merely as people who hold a different point of view, but as traitors to a noble cause.
Regardless of one’s position on drug legalization, Americans who believe in freedom of expression and in the importance of political debate ought to condemn Istook’s measure and all other attempts to stifle the pro-legalization case. Otherwise, the First Amendment might become the most prominent example of “collateral damage” in the war on drugs. | <urn:uuid:5fa2f14a-6018-469c-8fd7-7dfed06fbed5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/drug-warriors-try-censor-their-opponents | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952538 | 960 | 1.59375 | 2 |
How air and water cooling may affect which equipment you purchase
January 10, 2006
Torches, cables, and cooling are three integral components in gas metal arc welding (GMAW) and gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) equipment, and two cooling methods – air and water – are used in their cooling systems. Although GMAW and GTAW are different processes, the advantages and disadvantages of water- and air-cooled systems are the same. For that reason, you should consider similar factors when choosing a GMAW or GTAW system.
You may know that air and water are two of the four astrological elements, but you may not know just how much they can affect your welding performance.
Torches, cables, and cooling are three integral components in gas metal arc welding (GMAW) and gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) equipment, and two cooling methods—air and water—are used in their cooling systems. Cooling prevents the power cable, torch or gun, and consumables from overheating and protects the welding operator from injury.
Although GMAW and GTAW are different processes, the advantages and disadvantages of water- and air-cooled systems are the same for both of them. For that reason, you should consider the same factors when choosing a GMAW or GTAW system:
Air-cooled guns and torches use ambient air and shielding gas to dissipate excess heat. The power cable on an air-cooled torch contains more copper than the cable on a water-cooled torch to help prevent the cable insulation from melting or possibly burning. Less copper in a water-cooled system results in a greater resistance and welding voltage drop in the cable. Air-cooled systems don't require an independent radiator cooling system or extra hoses associated with water-cooled systems.
Water-cooled systems require a radiator cooling system, which circulates water, ambient air, and shielding gas to dissipate heat from the torch or gun.
Cost. Water-cooled torches and guns require a higher initial investment because they require a separate radiator cooling system in addition to the power source. Water-cooled torches and guns also have higher operating and maintenance costs. Specially treated coolant solution, rather than tap water, is necessary for a radiator cooling system because tap water can cause algae growth or scale (mineral buildup) on the internal torch surfaces and cable assembly. In addition, water leaks from hoses and the torch neck or heads may occur, requiring immediate repair to prevent weld discontinuities.
Depending on your needs, the higher cost of a water-cooled gun or torch may be a viable investment. The flexible cable, lighter weight, and smaller size of a water-cooled system can provide more operator comfort when compared to the similar-amperage air-cooled gun or torch, which contains more copper in its power cable to help protect the cable insulation. For example, the average 250-amp, water-cooled GTAW torch weighs approximately 3 ounces and is about 6.5 inches long, while a 150-amp, air-cooled GTAW torch weighs around 6 oz. and is about 7.75 in. long. If you're welding for an extended period of time, a heavier air-cooled torch may increase your fatigue and cause downtime for cooling.
Lower consumables cost is an advantage of a water-cooled torch. The radiator cooling system allows the tip, nozzle, and/or diffusers to run cooler than with an air-cooled torch, so consumables typically will last longer on water-cooled guns and torches, helping reduce downtime associated with consumable changeovers.
But an air-cooled gun or torch also provides several advantages. For example, it works well on lower-amperage applications and, in many cases, can meet the demands of most industrial applications while still providing the same performance at a fraction of the operating and maintenance costs.
Work Site Location. When choosing between air- and water-cooled guns or torches, also consider the location of the work site. Will you be welding in a shop or in the field? Air-cooled guns and torches are more practical for outdoor work sites because they require fewer parts. This simplifies transport, setup procedures, and parts management.
Water-cooled guns and torches generally are better-suited for shop use. They're available in high- and low-amp options but require a separate cooling system. The water-cooling system and extra hoses make these torches and guns less portable.
Duty Cycle. Duty cycle (the percentage of time in a 10-minute period that the torch can be operated at a specific output without overloading) is another consideration. For example, to gas metal arc-weld 16-gauge mild steel, you need at least 160 amps with 100 percent CO2 shielding gas. If your torch is rated at 150 amps and you operate it above this amperage, duty cycle and welding efficiency will decline. Operating a torch beyond the manufacturer's rated capacity has a detrimental effect on consumables and decreases the torch life. As a result, downtime will increase because consumables changeovers will be more frequent.
Amperage Requirements. Both air-cooled GMAW guns and GTAW torches come in a variety of amperages for different applications. Air-cooled GTAW torches generally are suitable for applications equal to or less than 200 amps, but you also can find air-cooled GTAW torches in 50- and 300- amp models. Air-cooled GMAW guns come in a range of amperages between 150 and 600.
Water-cooled GMAW guns generally come in 300- to 600-amp models, while water-cooled GTAW torches usually are rated between 250 and 500 amps.
If your welding application requires amperages higher than what the gun or torch is rated, you should buy a higher-amperage gun or torch that can operate at a higher duty cycle. Both air- and water-cooled torches and guns are available up to 600 amps. On high-amperage GMAW applications (450 to 600 amps), choosing between a water- and air-cooled torch or gun depends on operator preference and cost. As a rule of thumb, for GTAW, use a water-cooled torch for jobs that are 300 amps or more in the shop. Some manufacturers also offer 300-amp, air-cooled GTAW torches for field welding.
Choosing between water- and air-cooled equipment comes down to your requirements for cost, location, duty cycle, amps, and operator comfort. Both air- and water-cooled torches and guns perform similarly when used correctly. Weighing identical variables when investigating these systems will help you determine which equipment will help you optimize your welding performance.
Mike Sammons is business development manager for Weldcraft, 2741 N. Roemer Road, Appleton, WI 54911, 800-752-7620 or 818-846-8181, fax 818-845-1542, www.weldcraft.com.
Bill Giese is product and engineering manager for Bernard, 449 W. Corning Road, P.O. Box 667, Beecher, IL 60401, 708-946-2281, fax 708-946-6726, www.bernardwelds.com. | <urn:uuid:0a58cbc7-9dc8-42dd-be00-6fbbde413e4e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thefabricator.com/article/arcwelding/elements-of-success | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924937 | 1,550 | 2.859375 | 3 |
|Plaintiff:||UNITED STATES OF AMERICA|
|Defendant:||Hebrew Academy Community School, Inc. and Joseph Denberg|
|Filed:||October 18, 2007|
|Court:||Florida Southern District Court|
|Office:||Fort Lauderdale Office|
|Presiding Judge:||Judge Paul C. Huck|
|Referring Judge:||Magistrate Judge Andrea M. Simonton|
|Nature of Suit:||Federal Tax Suits - Taxes (US Plaintiff or Defendant)|
|Cause:||26:7402 IRS: Petition to Enforce IRS Summons|
|Jurisdiction:||U.S. Government Plaintiff|
Some quotes from this case:
"This action is brought by the United States of America to enjoin Hebrew Academy
Community School, Inc. ("Hebrew Academy") and Joseph Denberg ("Denberg") from
violating and interfering with the administration of the internal revenue laws."
"As an employer, Hebrew Academy is obligated to withhold from its employees' wages
federal income and Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) taxes, and to pay
over those withholdings to the IRS, along with its own employer's share of FICA
taxes and Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) taxes."
"Since 1997, Hebrew Academy, formerly known as Hebrew Academy Lubavitch, has deliberately
failed to make current employment tax deposits and has, instead, used these trust funds
as working capital, a practice referred to as 'pyramiding.'"
"Based on prior conduct, Denberg and Hebrew Academy will likely continue to pyramid
additional employment taxes at the rate of $82,000 per quarter. Hebrew Academy's
assets are insufficient to satisfy the current obligation in excess of
$2.3 Million Dollars."
So why and how is this employment tax fraud case related to the abduction case of
Yehezkel Hanan, Israel Haim, and Yoshua Itai Bordaty? The fact is that the only logical
explanation for the assistance and encouragement given to Smadar Hameiry to abduct
the 3 children to Brazil is the fact that Yossi and Rivka Denburg wanted to hide
the fact that Smadar Hameiry was working at the Hebrew Academy Community School
in order for them to hide the fact that employment taxes were not being paid.
But if this tax fraud is already being investigated by the IRS, why did Yossi Denburg
and his wife Rivka Denburg wanted to hide Smadar Hameiry's employment at the Hebrew
Academy Community School? Because Smadar Hameiry, just like many other employees
at the school, was never registered as an employee of the school in order to avoid
paying her employment related taxes. And if this fact would come out to the public,
it could be discovered that Yossi Denburg and the Hebrew Academy Community School
owed much more than $2.3 Million. This amount could double, triple, or much more.
What about the 2 lawyers who advised and assisted Smadar Hameiry in leaving the country
with the 3 children, were they also aware of this tax fraud? Maybe. The 2 lawyers
who advised and assisted Smadar Hameiry in leaving the country, Howard Poznansky and
Diana Levy, are both members of the Chabad Lubavitch organization and have a direct
connection to the Hebrew Academy Community School and to their owners, Yossi Denburg
and Rivka Denburg. Members of the Chabad Lubavitch organization are known to assist
each other in this type of situations, and maybe the lawyers, Howard Poznansky and
Diana Levy, knew and understood that the reason the Denburgs wanted to get rid of
Smadar Hameiry was to hide this additional tax fraud from the eyes of the law.
Was this abduction the result of a Chabad Lubavitch conspiracy in order to protect
and assist Yossi Denburg in his tax fraud scheme? Apparently so. Not only were the
2 Chabad Lubavitch lawyers involved in this abduction, but it was also discovered
that additional Chabad Lubavitch "Rabbis" including Shaya Pasternak, Yaacov Begun
and Moti Begun, among others, assisted Smadar Hameiry after her arrival in Brazil.
These Chabad "Rabbis" convinced Smadar Hameiry to put her children in the local
Chabad school in Sao Paulo, Brazil, by offering her free tuition for the children.
This information was published after months of research and investigations in regards
to the abduction of the 3 children. The children's father is a religious Jew who in the
past has given significant donations to the Chabad Lubavitch organization, and who used
to love this organization until he discovered that they are directly involved in the
abduction of his 3 children. At the time they registered their children at the Hebrew
Academy Community School, the childrens' parents were completely unaware that the
Hebrew Academy Community School was owned and operated by criminals.
It is believed that, if the children would have not been students at the Hebrew Academy
Community School, they would have not been abducted to Brazil by Smadar Hameiry. While
the marriage would have eventually ended in divorce, divorce is normal, abduction is a
crime. As of this date, Yossi Denburg and Rivka Denburg have refused to talk to the
children's father or to provide any information to anybody, including to another South
Florida Rabbi who tried to talk to Yossi Denburg about this issue.
Sadly, we have a moral obligation to inform the public about some of the quotes
obtained from Rabbis, educators, and other members of the South Florida
Jewish Community while investigating this case: "Everybody knows that the Hebrew
Academy does everything illegal", "Chabad is good at 2 things: They know how to
manipulate people, and they know how to take money from people", "Yossi Denburg
is a criminal", "Chabad is a religious cult", "Chabad is a different religion",
"Chabad Kashrut is not Kosher", "Chabad Rabbis are not real Rabbis".
Someone who grew up and was educated in the Chabad Lubavitch organization was asked:
"Do you believe that it is possible that in order to hide their employment tax fraud the
Hebrew Academy decided to encourage and assist Smadar Hameiry in leaving the country?"
His answer: "YES! Definitely YES!!!"
"Furthermore, it is very likely that the employment contract that Smadar Hameiry was
forced to sign when starting to work at the Hebrew Academy Community School was later
used to convince her to leave the country as she was probably told that she had done
something illegal and therefore she could not file for divorce in Florida and had to leave
the country immediately and without telling her husband. She was probably told that
her husband could use this contract against her during a divorce proceeding in Florida."
"This is exactly how Chabad operates!!!"
The person who gave us this answer left the Chabad organization at age 30,
after he understood that the Chabad ideology is significantly
different from mainstream Jewish ideology.
Anyone who intentionally participates in a crime or helps a criminal before,
during, or after the crime may be held responsible for it. An accomplice is one
who intentionally helps another to commit a crime. Even if an accomplice does not
carry out the crime, in the eyes of the law the accomplice's crime assistance
makes him or her just as guilty as the person who commits the crime itself.
All children have the right to a good education. Education is not just as an acquisition of
knowledge and skills, but an inculcation of ethics and morals to help children grow up to be
decent and productive citizens. The Hebrew Academy Community School has broken all the
basic principles established by a decent society. The Hebrew Academy Community School
has commited a crime against the children that they were supposed to protect and educate.
Please help us pray for the safety and good health of these children !!!
Please help us save these young innocent and beautiful children !!!
Please help us bring these children back home !!!
Please email us at email@example.com if you have any helpful information.
Thank you !!!
Hatufim.org is constantly being updated with new information and developments.
For additional pictures & info please click the links below:
| Yehezkel Hanan | Israel Haim | Yoshua Itai | Love |
| Divorce | GET | UCCJEA | Orders | Laws | Torah |
| Smadar Hameiry | Trauma | Abusive | Crazy |
| Psychological | Partners | Brazil | Disclaimer |
| Lawyer | Excuse | School | Justice | Cult |
| Hague | UNCRC | Stats | Video | FBI |
| Help Smadar Hameiry return to Israel |
| Summary | Documentary |
Ignorance is Our Worst Enemy...
In accordance to Jewish Law,
this website will stay online
until the abducted children are returned to Israel...
As soon as the children are returned to Israel, this website will be deleted... | <urn:uuid:03c31e92-3429-47da-9ccd-2d0ce3a610d5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hatufim.org/justice.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96229 | 1,967 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Policy 206 - Employment of Minors
Santa Clara University abides by legal requirements under federal and state law concerning the employment of individuals under age 18 in California. The guidelines do not apply to Santa Clara University student employees but to other minors under 18 years of age. The law prohibits employment of minors under age 14.
The University will adhere to applicable laws concerning employment of minors. Supervisors will ensure that:
A minor is any person under the age of 18 years who is required to attend school under the provisions of the Education Code. Non-residents of the state who would be subject to California’s compulsory education laws if they were residents also are considered minors and are subject to all the requirements, work hour restrictions and all occupational prohibitions.
Under no circumstances shall a minor under the age of 14 be employed, regardless of permit status (Federal Fair Labor Standards Act). Employers wishing to employ minors over the age of 14 must submit a "Request for Work Permit and Statement of Intent to Employ Minor" (Form B1-1) obtained from the school district of attendance of the minor. Both the employer and employee must sign Form B1-1. In return the employee must submit a "Permit to Employ and Work" (Form B1-4) to Human Resources.
Hours of Work
The number of hours a minor may work, as well as the permitted spread of hours, varies depending on the age of the minor, and the time of year in which the work is performed. Assuming proper work permits are submitted, see the following chart for permitted work hours.
Santa Clara University will not employ minors to perform certain job tasks. Examples of prohibited tasks include, but are not limited to:
Supervisors are responsible for complying with this policy, and with federal and state regulations when employing minors.
For more information concerning employment of minors, and for additional details concerning occupational restrictions, contact Human Resources.
Policy Approved: October 23, 1998
Last Updated: October 28, 1998 | <urn:uuid:3dd2d8a6-1d11-4b66-a510-284b3e1fcc90> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scu.edu/hr/policy/206.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92742 | 407 | 1.867188 | 2 |
Pearl Fryar embodies love as a master topiary artist with no formal training. He’s become a local celebrity who has put Bishopville, South Carolina on the map.
Pearl is also a husband, father and neighbor. He’s a speaker, youth mentor and churchgoer who gives back to his community.
Simple, homespun and true, this inspiring and profound documentary shows Pearl transcend racism with passion, commitment and hard work. Scott Galloway and Brent Pierson direct. J. Steven Anderson is director of photography.
Pearl was once turned away from buying a home in a white neighborhood. Neighbors feared he wouldn’t keep up his yard. He moved on.
Three acres and big dreams
Pearl bought a home surrounded by three acres of hardscrabble. His imagination soared.
Returning home from his job at a soda can factory, Pearl would set to work. He salvaged bushes from a local nursery refuse heap. Ideas and shapes took root.
Pearl mowed, clipped, and shaped until late at night. Neighbors thought he was crazy. His wife Metra finally accepted it. The son of a sharecropper was proving himself. He was feeding his soul.
Yard of the Month
Pearl’s knack for mathematics helps him craft planes, angles and lines. Creating free form, organic shapes, he’s a perfectionist. He does not use chemicals, he says. He talks with his plants.
Pearl plans and waits. It takes four to five years to achieve each shape. His creations range from grand to whimsical. Some sculptures soar over 20 feet tall.
When the Iris Garden Club bestowed “Yard of the Month” honors, Pearl’s handiwork became a boon for economically depressed Lee County.
Love, Peace and Goodwill
About 10,000 tourists visit Pearl’s garden each year. Now retired, he often leads tours himself. Admission is open to all by donation. Fame has not changed Pearl, say the locals. He remains a humanitarian at heart.
When you first arrive, you’ll see the words “Love, Peace & Goodwill” etched into his lawn. “You can feel some kind of spirit in it,” says a visitor. “He’s not just doing it for show.”
Edward Scissorhands visits
Even the crew of the hit movie Edward Scissorhands visited Pearl’s garden for inspiration. He has proven that “you can do something with practically nothing,” says Ennis Brant, a childhood friend.
Jackie Robinson instills hope
In childhood, Pearl revered baseball player Jackie Robinson, who helped him realize that racism would fade someday. Now in his 70s, Pearl loves speaking to at-risk youth and college students alike. “Do something with your creativity,” he urges.
Efforts are underway to buy the property from Pearl and preserve it for future generations.
“You can be somebody,” he says. He’s moved to tears when neighbors follow his lead. On his street you’ll see lush lawns dotted with topiary sculptures.
Pearl’s golden rules are simple: Word hard. Stay positive. Provide for your family. Make a difference in your community. (5 out of 5 stars)
A Man Named Pearl 2006 / G / 1 hour, 18 min
Cast Overview: Pearl Fryar
Director: Scott Galloway and Brent Pierson
Genre: Documentary, Gardening, Enterprise | <urn:uuid:8324b072-f857-4072-b5a4-28d61a6e3b89> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.moviespirit.com/tag/topiary/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963626 | 749 | 1.765625 | 2 |
3 entries found for mercy.
To select an entry, click on it.
Main Entry: mer·cy
Inflected Form(s): plural mercies
Etymology: Middle English merci, mercy "mercy," from early French merci, mercit (same meaning), from Latin merces "price paid for something, wages, reward" 1 a: kind and gentle treatment of someone (as a wrongdoer or opponent) having no right to it b: a disposition to show mercy 2 a: a blessing as an act of divine love <the mercies of God> b: a fortunate happening <it's a mercy the weather cooled off> 3: kindness shown to victims of misfortune <works of mercy among the poor> - at the mercy of: wholly in the power of : with no way to protect oneself against <was at the mercy of the weather> Word History To the ancient Romans, the Latin word merces meant "price paid for something, wages, reward." The early Christians of Rome used the word in a slightly different way. For them it meant the spiritual reward one receives for doing a kindness in response to an unkindness. The word came into early French as mercit or merci with much the same meaning as was later passed on to our Modern English word mercy. But while mercy in English now has the meaning "kindness or pity shown to someone," the word merci in French has lost much of that meaning and is chiefly used today to mean "thank you." synonymsMERCY, CLEMENCY, LENIENCY mean the disposition not to be harsh in one's dealings with others. MERCY suggests feeling pity and withholding punishment even when justice demands it <pleaded guilty and asked for mercy from the court>. CLEMENCY suggests a mild or merciful disposition in the person having the power to punish <the judge refused to show clemency>. LENIENCY suggests the repeated overlooking of mistakes by one not inclined to be severe <their parents' leniency was well-known among the children>. | <urn:uuid:9f581171-158a-45fa-942d-036465c4538d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wordcentral.com/cgi-bin/student?book=Student&va=mercy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945842 | 421 | 3.28125 | 3 |
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has signed agreements with the City of Portland on two Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) Loans for projects that reduce pollution to rivers and creeks in city watersheds.
A $5.5 million loan is for storm water piping for Tanner Creek. The Tanner Sewer Separation Project Phase 3 extends a new storm water pipe from S.W. Jefferson and Canyon Road to the Washington Park Zoo. Phase 3 will connect to, and receive water from, some existing storm water pipes and will also receive water from new field inlets constructed as part of this project. This project is part of the City’s Combined Sewer Overflow Control Program.
A $1 million loan is for planting and maintenance of native plants to help reduce polluted runoff on 230 acres in the Willamette River, Johnson Creek, Tryon Creek and Columbia Slough Watersheds.
Interest rates on these loans have been reduced through the loan program’s sponsorship incentive for public agencies that agree to match projects that reduce nonpoint source pollution with a wastewater facility project.
The DEQ Clean Water State Revolving Fund Program loans money to public entities across the state, helping communities complete a variety of water quality improvement projects. Loans have ranged from $7,000 to $35 million. DEQ administers the program, which is supported from annual grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). | <urn:uuid:82d1d75a-8ef1-4baf-b918-9764eb396830> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bendweekly.com/Statewide-News/2882.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934784 | 296 | 1.59375 | 2 |
With $100 million Soros gift, Human Rights Watch looks to expand global reach
Sunday, September 12, 2010; 4:12 AM
NEW YORK - The $100 million gift to Human Rights Watch from billionaire George Soros announced last week will extend the overseas presence of the influential American rights champion and ensure its financial health for years to come.
But the goal of the gift is more ambitious still: to alter the way human rights are promoted in the 21st century, making rights advocacy less of an exclusively American and European cause.
The donation, the largest single gift ever from the Hungarian-born investor and philanthropist, is premised on the belief that U.S. leadership on human rights has been diminished by a decade of harsh policies in the war on terrorism. Soros said he hopes the money will cultivate a much broader constituency of foreign policymakers and philanthropists who embrace the notion that human rights should be observed universally.
"Unfortunately, we lost the moral high ground during the Bush administration and the Obama administration has not done enough to regain it," Soros said in an interview. "Therefore human rights as an American cause is often resisted because it comes from America.
"Yet the principal of human rights is a universal principal, and people in other parts of the world believe it is as strongly as we do, even more strongly," he said. "To be more efficient, Human Rights Watch has to become a truly international organization."
The rights group, which covers more than 90 countries from 45 locations, will build its research capacity, adding more than 120 employees to an organization of 300. The group will also set up regional headquarters in the capitals of emerging political and economic powers, where leaders have frequently criticized human rights advocacy as a Western tool to impose their will on small countries.
"We need to be able to shape the foreign policies of these emerging powers, much as we have traditionally done with Western powers," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "Our aim is to enlist places like Brazil, South Africa, India and Japan, all governments that are democracies."
"American organizations, including HRW, have no credibility," a Syrian minister told the Washington Post last year after the rights group issued a critical report on the government. "Let them go check the violations undertaken by the previous administration from Guantanamo to the flying prisons to the violations of human rights in Gaza before they talk about other countries."
Human Rights Watch notes that it has conducted extensive inquiries into allegations of abuses in Gaza and at Guantanamo.
Soros, 80, has stepped up his philanthropy, spending more than $700 million over the past year on causes ranging from supplies for New York City schoolchildren to Pakistan flood relief efforts.
A shrewd hedge fund investor who famously helped force the devaluation of the British pound in 1990s by betting heavily against it, he has long been a stalwart supporter of Democratic causes. In 2004, he spent tens of millions of dollars on political groups including MoveOn.org in an effort to defeat President George W. Bush's reelection campaign. He also provided financial support for Barack Obama's election bid. | <urn:uuid:d6cd9eb7-5c54-4ba1-b45c-aeb19947831a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/11/AR2010091105057.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962891 | 630 | 1.703125 | 2 |
When registering for the ACT, your student will be asked whether he or she would like to receive information from colleges and scholarship agencies about educational, scholarship, career, and financial aid opportunities. Checking the box for this Educational Opportunity Service (EOS) is optional, but the majority of students choose to take part. In fact, 88% of the 2011 high school graduates participated in EOS on at least one test date.
If your student checks the box, he or she authorizes ACT to send information (name, address, gender, high school, email address, date of birth, year of high school graduation, racial/ethnic background, and intended college major) to colleges, scholarship organizations, ACT, and other organizations so they may contact your student about programs that he or she may be interested in exploring. A student's test scores and Social Security number are not reported. All organizations that receive this information have agreed to use it only for this purpose.
While checking the box for the EOS option can inform your student of potentially worthwhile opportunities, just be sure that you understand that your child's contact information will be distributed to many different organizations.
For more information about Educational Opportunity Service (EOS), please visit www.act.org/eos/.
Source: ACT Parent | <urn:uuid:27f77126-94cc-47cf-bebc-3bcef4e2abe2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ecampustours.com/forparents/collegeplanning/educationalopportunityservice | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938889 | 259 | 2.171875 | 2 |
In building the case for mandatory health insurance, President Obama and congressional Democrats are comparing a proposed requirement to buy health coverage to the need for all car owners to buy auto insurance.
"Unless everybody does their part, many of the insurance reforms we seek, especially requiring insurance companies to cover preexisting conditions, just can't be achieved," Obama said in his address last week to Congress. "That's why under my plan, individuals will be required to carry basic health insurance -- just as most states require you to carry auto insurance."
But this analogy is becoming a liability, so to speak.
It's true that most states require drivers to carry auto insurance. And it's equally true that the administration wants a federal law that will require individuals and employers to buy health insurance.
But the similarities end there.
Now critics are starting to urge the administration to use a different, more representative comparison to justify a virtually unprecedented federal mandate.
"It doesn't make sense," Robert Gordon, senior vice president for policy development and research at The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, said of the analogy, noting several inconsistencies in the comparison.
First, the auto insurance mandate is easily avoidable. If you don't want to pay, don't drive a car.
Don't want to pay for health insurance? Drop dead.
"You can avoid the auto insurance mandate by divesting yourself of a car. The only way to avoid a health insurance mandate is by divesting yourself of a body," said Michael Cannon, director of health policy studies at the Cato Institute.
Second, auto insurance is mandated in large part so that drivers carry liability insurance to cover other people and other cars they may damage. Covering damage to their own cars is of secondary importance.
Many drivers can go without collision insurance if they like. If a hood is dented on the car of someone without the coverage, that person can drive around with a dented hood. But the only kind of health insurance Obama is talking about is collision insurance. If someone's body is a jalopy, he or she still has to get covered.
Former Department of Health and Human Services officials Peter Urbanowicz and Dennis Smith noted this difference in a paper examining the constitutional implications of an individual mandate for The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies.
"The primary purpose of the auto insurance mandate was to provide financial protection for people that a driver may harm, and not necessarily for the driver himself," they wrote. They also noted that the auto insurance mandate acts as a "quid pro quo" for the states to issue a driver's license.
Nevermind that Obama explicitly opposed such a provision during the Democratic presidential primaries. It was one of the few policy differences between him and then-Sen. Hillary Clinton.
"My belief is, the reason that people don't have it is not because they don't want it but because they can't afford it. And so I emphasize reducing costs," Obama explained at a February 2008 debate in Austin, Texas.
Fast forward to last week, before a joint session of Congress, when the president wholeheartedly embraced the concept.
Obama does want to ease the burden by offering some kind of alternative to private insurance, possibly a government-run option, and providing for exemptions. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus' plan includes tax credits for those who might have trouble affording coverage. But it also imposes hefty fines on those who don't comply.
Auto insurance mandates have not eliminated the problem, though.
Donald Griffin, also with The Property Casualty Insurers Association, said anywhere from 8 to 14 percent of motorists are uninsured in most states despite the requirement.
"Still, we have this problem, so those requirements don't seem to do much to solve the uninsured motorist problem," he said.
There are, of course, other differences between health care reform as Obama proposes it and the auto insurance industry. The kind of payout caps Obama wants to restrict and other limitations on coverage are standard practice in the auto insurance industry. Plus, the regulation of that industry is decided at the state level. Not the federal level.
The truth is, there is not really a comparison out there.
The Congressional Budget Office said as much in 1994 when it issued a paper on the Clinton-era call for a health insurance mandate.
"A mandate requiring all individuals to purchase health insurance would be an unprecedented form of federal action," the CBO said.
Interestingly, the closest thing the CBO could find to mandatory health insurance was the draft.
"Federal mandates that apply to individuals as members of society are extremely rare. One example is the requirement that draft-age men register with the Selective Service System. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is not aware of any others imposed by current federal law," the report said.
In light of the 1994 report, Cannon amended his earlier comment. There is one way to avoid a health insurance mandate, he said: "Fleeing to Canada." | <urn:uuid:16bb5a0f-f988-43ba-ab9d-eb4614f21779> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/14/health-insurance-mandate-works-like-auto-insurance-think/?intcmp=related | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964578 | 1,017 | 2 | 2 |
I’m going to be brief here because I believe getting a sense of dialogue best comes from taking a screenwriting class or reading a book on screenwriting if that fails. (I also make some these points elsewhere)
In a movie, dialogue needs to further the plot, reveal character, create conflict and illicit emotion with every sentence. You need to learn to apply as much as that as possible to what your characters sound like.
Dialogue should never be written to echo how we really talk. Too many ums, ahs, “you know”s, junky slang words, run on sentences and tangents would ruin a movie and they will ruin your book.
Tangents can be good, like using them as a hint of exposition, but they need to be short and flow so smoothly into the conversation the reader doesn’t notice the shift. You are bending a rule when you use them.
For the most, part conversations should be crisp, clean and do almost everything you see in the movies. Novels can get away with dialogue that does not create conflict so long as it reveals character. It’s a good way to have occasional down time.
You can have dialogue that simply builds tension or a relationship. And you can use dialogue as a transition. And you will see such concepts used in TV shows as well. But the general theory is the same. Keep it meaningful.
The only other advice I consider important to impart is the need for your characters to all have their own voices. Each character will have a style of speaking that is unique to him, learn it, use it, and be consistent.
Now if a character is being deceptive that vocal style can change. It’s a good nuance to work in and I highly recommend poking around some communication books to see what kind of linguistic patterns people in different situations have.
If you are struggling with the words the character says, try watching movies, listening to radio plays, and watching quality TV. (I recommend supernatural) It is important to hear language used when trying to figure out that aspect of a book. Reading about it won’t get you are far as you can get with audio stimuli.
If you have the opportunity to talk to people from many walks of life that is also a great way to pick up on how certain kinds of people say what they say. But that approach has its limits and its downsides as you can imagine.
Once you have internalized the process, (usually after a garbage phase) the characters will become much more clear. Who knows, maybe the book will be easier to write. I doubt it, but anything is possible. | <urn:uuid:595e8707-242d-4c98-a278-f843b315581f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.melissadevlin.com/dialogue.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96857 | 545 | 1.90625 | 2 |
Gitwangak Battle Hill National Historic Site of Canada
History of Gitwangak Battle Hill
Gitwangak elders tell the story of the fierce warrior chief, 'Nekt, who used Battle Hill as a base to make raids against Nass River and coastal peoples for food, slaves, and control of lucrative trade routes. The Kitwankul Grease Trail, named for the candlefish (eulachon) oil that people packed along the Nass to the Skeena River, passed within sight of Battle Hill.
To defend the Battle Hill's refuge of houses, 'Nekt and his warriors hoisted huge spiked logs up the palisade walls and fastened them with cedar ropes. When the war horn signaled an enemy attack, the logs were rolled down to crush the invaders.
Artist's impression of fortified village on Battle Hill© Parks Canada
'Nekt wore armour made of a grizzly hide with pieces of slate glued to the inside, and carried a magical club called k'i'laa, "Strike-Only-Once."
Oral history related by the late Fred Johnson, chief Lelt, says 'Nekt was finally defeated when an arrow struck him in the back of his leg. When he fell to the ground, a Nisga'a warrior beheaded him. After 'Nekt's death, peace returned to the area. The Gitwangak people moved to Gitwangak Village, located 6 km to the south on the banks of the Skeena River. At some point the fort burned to the ground.
The totems of Gitwangak, located in this newer village, display crests relating 'Nekt's original flight from Haida Gwaii (the Queen Charlotte Islands), his exploits as a warrior, and his occupation of Battle Hill.
This pole depicts 'Nekt as an infant escaping from Haida Gwaii in a canoe with his mother and the severed head of his father.
© Parks Canada/Richard Inglis | <urn:uuid:969700b5-8724-4bf3-865b-5c722ae4d62f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/lhn-nhs/bc/gitwangak/natcul.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961511 | 413 | 3.578125 | 4 |
Sometimes emulators just don’t cut it when you want to play a vintage game. Like it or not, some people enjoy the nostalgia of playing old games on the actual hardware for which it was designed.
[Callan] wrote in to share a method he has been using to make some of his own NES game cartridges from ROM dumps in order to play them on an honest to goodness NES console.
He starts out with a 190 in 1 game cartridge, where he found a neat Famicom game never released in the US. He decided he would patch the ROM he found on the multicart in order to have an English menu, and then create his very own cartridge from the image. He discusses how to identify which EPROM chips you will need in order to construct your cartridge, as well as some helpful ways of finding a donor cart that has a similar enough board to house your components.
[Callan] also provides a quick walkthrough of erasing and burning your new EPROM chips, before discussing some post-soldering troubleshooting steps you might need to take before your game will work properly.
While we can’t comment on the legality of these game clones, we still think it’s pretty awesome.
Be sure to check out his site for a far more in-depth discussion of the process if this is something that interests you. | <urn:uuid:02c57563-09a3-4ded-a24d-73a68bf5e39f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hackaday.com/2011/04/16/creating-nes-cartridge-clones-from-rom-dumps/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968885 | 282 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Background: Vertebroplasty with use of polymethylmethacrylate cement
is gaining popularity in the treatment of some specific painful lesions of the
spine. It remains unclear, however, what possible side effects this type of
cement might have upon the vertebral body. We performed a histologic and
radiographic analysis of the end plate and disc to determine whether there was
a difference between vertebroplasty with polymethylmethacrylate cement and
vertebroplasty with calcium phosphate cement in the surrounding tissue of the
goat spine. Furthermore, we assessed whether a defect in the end plate,
simulating end-plate fracture and allowing for direct contact of cement with
disc tissue, had any effect on end-plate or disc degeneration.
Methods: Twenty-four mature goats were divided between two follow-up
periods (six weeks and six months). All animals underwent a bilateral
transpedicular vertebroplasty at two lumbar levels, where one of the following
treatments was applied: vertebroplasty with calcium phosphate cement with or
without an end-plate defect, and vertebroplasty with polymethylmethacrylate
cement with or without an end-plate defect. The effect of the various
treatments on the integrity of the intervertebral disc, end plate, and
surrounding tissue was examined with semiquantitative histologic analysis and
Results: No sign of disc or end-plate degeneration was seen in any
of the analyzed sections. The mean disc height did not decrease from the
postoperative period to the time that the animals were killed in any group,
thereby supporting the histologic findings. A mild inflammatory reaction was
found in four vertebral bodies in the polymethylmethacrylate groups only.
Conclusions: Calcium phosphate cement and polymethylmethacrylate
cement both seem to be adequate bone-void fillers in terms of biological
behavior in the vertebral body.
Clinical Relevance: The results of this animal study suggest that
vertebroplasty with either of these cements can be performed without an
increased risk for disc or end-plate degeneration even when end-plate
discontinuity is present. | <urn:uuid:e03e3f80-40c2-4a0a-93dd-5f97c92dbdd6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jbjs.org/article.aspx?articleid=26534 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916255 | 483 | 2.171875 | 2 |
Fluxus and the Essential Questions of Life
Fluxus—from the Latin, meaning “to flow”—was a radical, international network of artists, composers, and designers in the 1960s and 1970s noted for blurring the boundaries between what we term “art” and what makes up everyday life. Following the work of American Fluxus founder George Maciunus, Fluxus and the Essential Questions of Life presents a variety of objects that express the Fluxus mission, while empowering readers to challenge the presumptions we bring to the concept and practice of art making.
Based on a large-scale traveling exhibition first organized at Dartmouth College’s Hood Museum of Art, this book chronicles the movement in the form of an art self-help book, playfully providing answers to fourteen key questions such as “Art—what is it good for?” and “What am I?” via Fluxus works. Featuring over eighty color and black-and-white illustrations, accompanied by essays from curator Jacquelynn Baas, Fluxus scholars Hannah Higgins and Jacob Proctor, and Fluxus artist Ken Friedman, this book will make an original contribution to our understanding of this provocative moment in modern art.
"Best Show in a University Gallery" by the U. S. Art Critics Association | <urn:uuid:9c4a1267-27cd-48f7-a215-70216c6b7e02> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/F/bo11736660.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916803 | 279 | 2.3125 | 2 |
Same-Sex Marriage - This past week the Supreme Court heard arguments on the constitutionality of California's Proposition 8 same-sex marriage restrictions and the Defense of Marriage Act. Religious groups filed briefs on both sides of the disputes. Tim O'Brien reports on the arguments and the justices' responses to the lawyers as they presented the cases. Nick Vujicic - Nick Vujicic is an evangelist and motivational speaker who, in the last ten years, has traveled to 44 countries and spoken to five million people----despite having no arms or legs due to a rare disease he was born with. He has had to deal with his anger and sometimes depression, but he tells Lucky Severson "if God can do something beautiful with my broken pieces, then God truly has a plan for each and every one of us. Holy Week - The three days leading up to Easter comprise the holiest time of the year for Christians. Filled with worship, prayer and pilgrimages, they commemorate Jesus' crucifixion on Good Friday and resurrection on Easter. Father Kenneth Semon of The Church of the Holy Faith in Santa Fe, New Mexico says "To go through the experience of the three days is really to go through what changes life for people."
Visit the Website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/
Episode #1630 / Length: 26 minutes | <urn:uuid:7899b976-45a0-41e5-90ba-b1b9ac41b7f8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.klru.org/schedule/episode/236231/?M=support | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952678 | 281 | 1.5625 | 2 |
In the past year, Microsoft has increased its efforts to dethrone Google as the world’s top search engine. To accomplish this, the company has launched a “Scroogled” advertising campaign that looks to shine a light on Google and its sometimes questionable privacy practices. The company has previously attacked Google’s search engine and Gmail service, and is now taking aim at its Chrome Web browser. iCosmoGeek obtained an internal video that is believed to be created by Microsoft that mocks Google’s latest Chrome commercial. Google recently created an advertisement touting Chrome’s ability to sync addresses and passwords across smartphones, tablets and desktop computers. Microsoft’s video attacks the company, meanwhile, for tracking customers and monetizing their personal information with targeted advertisements across smartphones, tablets and desktops. Google’s original video and Microsoft’s parody follow below. More →
Last week rumors began to circulate that Facebook was interested in acquiring Opera Software, the makers of the Opera Web browser. The social networking giant recently removed Google’s Chrome Web browser, which is the most popular in the world, from its recommendation list and replaced it with Opera, further fueling the speculation of a potential buyout. While both Chrome and Apple’s Safari Web browsers are supported by Facebook, the Menlo Park-based company is recommending users to use Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Mozilla’s Firefox and Opera for a better experience. More →
On Wednesday, a Russian hacker discovered a vulnerability in Google’s Chrome web browser during CanSecWest’s Pwnium hacker contest. It was the first time in four years at the competition that Chrome was hacked, and for his efforts, Sergey Glazunov was rewarded with $60,000. Less than 24 hours after the exploit was brought to Google’s attention, the search giant released an update fixing the vulnerability. “The Chrome Stable channel has been updated to 17.0.963.78 on Windows, Mac, Linux and Chrome Frame,” Google wrote on its Chrome update blog. “This release fixes issues with Flash games and videos, along with the security fix listed below.” Glazunov’s vulnerability is described as an “UXSS and bad history navigation” issue, however no other details were given. More →
Research firm Net Applications released its most recent browser share trend report on Monday. The latest information suggests that adoption of the Chrome web browser slowed slightly, possibly due to an increase in Safari’s popularity. Chrome had a 13.45% market share during the month of July, up .34 percentage points from the 13.11% share it had in June. Between May and June, however, Chrome’s market share increased .59 percentage points. Apple’s Safari web browser had a 8.05% share of the web browser market during July, up .57 percentage points from June. Despite declines in market share, Internet Explorer and Firefox remain the two most popular browser options with a 52.81% and 21.48% share of the market, respectively. Opera has a 1.65% grip on the market and other browser options are responsible for 2.56% collectively. More →
Mac users have long felt shafted when it comes to Google’s increasingly popular web browser. Sure, Google made it known that Chrome would be arriving on Macs at some point but the time frame is a bit of a mystery. While the when is still anyone’s guess, Google has at least provided confirmation that it is actively working on bringing the Chrome browser to OS X in the form of the first official screen shot, pictured above. Posted last night by Googler Avi Dressman under the heading “Now we can call it Chrome!”, little can be ascertained from the image other than the fact that, well, it looks like Chrome. As cute as the error message is, we’ll presume it is an indication that things are still early going and we still have a bit of a wait before any kind of alpha or beta release finds its way out to testers. In the meantime, if Safari and FireFox simply don’t get the job done for you – at least you can rest assured that Chrome is still on its way.
[Via Silicon Alley Insider]
UPDATE: It’s available today. | <urn:uuid:0efd78b8-d2fa-4bc3-94d2-b77319d42e2b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bgr.com/tag/google-chrome/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949133 | 908 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Speech Communication Discipline Assessment 2006-2007
Scope of assessment activities
_______ Pre- and post-testing
______ Outside the classroom
___√__ Across the discipline
Direct measures of student learning
___√__ Capstone experience
___√__ Portfolio assessment
______ Standardized tests
______ Performance on national licensure, certification or
______ Qualitative internal and external juried review of
of comprehensive senior projects
______ Externally reviewed exhibitions and performances in
______ External evaluation of performance during internships
Discussion and Description
Discipline goals, direct measures, and improved student learning
1. Speech communication discipline objectives. Students
i. develop a historical and theoretical understanding of the three areas of speech communication: rhetoric, communication studies, and mass media
ii. use a variety of assigned theoretical approaches appropriate to these three areas to describe and evaluate assigned or chosen discourse
iii. participate in a variety of oral communication assignments using informative and persuasive speaking techniques effectively.
The summaries below draw primarily on the report for the 2006-2007 academic year. Discipline objectives have been assessed annually. The corresponding reports, similar to the 2006-2007 report, dating from the 2002-2003 academic year, are at UMM’s discipline assessment web-site.
2. Rhetorical studies
Discipline objectives i) and ii) were assessed for rhetoric. For the first objective, two expected outcomes were identified. Students will
Š be able to compare and evaluate various theoretical approaches
Š demonstrate a sensitivity to the historical dimensions of theory building.
Data was drawn from student papers, which were evaluated with respect to three criteria. The data set for the first objective was deemed too small to be of value.
For the second objective, an expected outcome was identified.
Š The students will be able to choose from a variety of methods to describe and evaluate a specific act or artifact.
Seven papers were assessed according to the same three criteria as for objective one. Students were ranked on a scale of 0-5 on their ability to cite and paraphrase sources, and to analyze discourse. The scores were averaged and recommendations made for program adjustments.
3. Communication studies
Discipline objectives i) and ii) were assessed with the same expected outcomes as for rhetorical studies. Papers from two courses were reviewed but this time with respect to five criteria, the criteria reflecting crucial abilities and skills in communication studies. Once again, the students were rated on a 0-5 scale for each criterion, results averaged, and compared to performances from the previous year. Based on this assessment, recommendations were made for program adjustments.
4. Media studies and technology
Since the professor in this area was on sabbatical, this objective was not assessed in 2006-2007. The following describes the assessment in 2005-2006. Objective number ii) was assessed for electronic mass media. The expected outcome was the same as for the second objective under rhetorical and communication studies. Papers were evaluated with respect to five criteria that once again measured crucial abilities and skills of students of electronic mass media. All relevant papers in the students’ portfolios (vide infra) were reviewed. Once again, each criterion was evaluated on a five-point scale, results averaged, and compared to averages from previous years. The significance of the comparisons was discussed and recommendations made.
5. Personal portfolios
Students create personal portfolios which are evaluated collectively during the senior year.
6. Speech communication senior seminar presentations
Speech communication seminar in 2006-2007 provided the vehicle for assessing learning objective number iii) for the first time. There is an expected outcome.
Š The students will be able to design and deliver effective messages through the oral communication channel.
The effectiveness of each of eight student speakers was assessed with respect to ten criteria on a 0-4 numerical scale. The averaged results will be a benchmark against which future assessments can be measured. The results indicate four areas where the student performance was particularly strong and two where improvement is needed. Overall, “the results do indicate that in the aggregate students in Speech Communication meet Learning Objective #3.”
General education categories spanned by the discipline
Almost all speech communication courses carry one of the following general education designators: E/CR, ethical and civic responsibility; Hum, communication, language, literature, and philosophy; IP, international perspective; SS, human behavior, social processes, and institutions; or HDiv, human diversity. Exceptions are directed study, directed experience in teaching speech communication, and speech communication seminar I, which have no general education designator. | <urn:uuid:7ccaf93e-8e5c-4410-a122-e262de5fc013> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.morris.umn.edu/committees/asl/results/Spch2007.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949945 | 930 | 2.34375 | 2 |
Study looks to nuclear energy as micro-scale fuel
A trio of UW-Madison engineers have a new scale in mind for nuclear energy: Rather than huge plants powering entire cities, they envision tiny batteries turning a single microscopic gear.
Extremely small amounts of radioactive material already perform functions in smoke detectors, photocopiers, pacemakers and other devices. But the researchers are studying whether even tinier amounts might provide a power source for the tiny experimental machines being built in laboratories worldwide.
Nuclear engineering professors James P. Blanchard and Douglass L. Henderson, along with electrical engineering professor Amit Lal, are leading the three-year, $450,000 project. The U.S. Department of Energy, which looks at potential new uses for nuclear energy, supports the research.
Known as micro-electromechanical structures, of MEMS devices, they tend to be smaller than a width of human hair, about 60 to 70 microns, Blanchard said. Because of their small size, they can perform extremely precise functions in applications such as medical equipment, environmental management and automobiles.
The most common MEMS device is the tiny sensor that tells auto air bags when to deploy. But MEMS technology is limited by the lack of a reasonable power source that is lightweight and intense enough to run such a small device.
"There's nothing being studied like this on this scale," Blanchard said. "The key issue for us is the size of the radiation source."
Using extremely small amounts of radioactive material in products is not new, Blanchard said. For example, smoke detectors function with the aid of a radioactive substance that electrically charges the air. Some photocopiers use a of radioactive material to eliminate the static charge in sheets of paper.
Exposure to radioactive materials is by nature hazardous and their use is closely regulated. But the amount of material required for these applications is so minuscule it would not pose safety risks or require regulation, he said. The traces of radioactive material are encapsulated so no one is exposed to the radiation.
The idea is to harness the natural decay of radioactive material and convert it into a power source, without use of a reaction such as fission or fusion, Blanchard said. By keeping the material securely contained within the device, he said, the majority would decay before it leaves the product.
"We would capture the energy from that decay, and convert it into a power source that could run a sensor or tiny moving part," Blanchard said.
The energy could either be in the form of heat or charged particles, both of which could be generated in sufficient amounts to be useful on a tiny scale. Blanchard said alpha and beta particles generate high voltages.
Lal, who builds MEMS devices, said micro-machines could see many more applications once the power issue is solved. The technology has been stalled by a near-absence of power sources that can efficiently fuel something so tiny. "You would be creating a set of applications that have never been possible," he said.
For example, MEMS batteries could be used as power sources for small hand-held computing devices or micro-laboratories. Sensors could be developed to recognize "signatures" of gases from chemical plants or oil pipelines, to give early warning of leaks. It could also be used in a network of self-powered sensors to guard against chemical warfare. The tiny sensors could also be mixed right into the grease of heavy machinery to detect when maintenance is required.
"The biggest impact could be in making everyday systems more reliable, safer and smarter by integrating these sensor systems," Lal said.
The project is part of Nuclear Engineering Education Research (NEER) at the Energy Department, which primarily funds university-based projects in fission and other applications of radiation. This is part of a small category of funding that encourages potential alternative uses for nuclear energy. | <urn:uuid:16cc7273-8757-4e7c-9a84-41a73b28d140> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.engr.wisc.edu/news/archive/1999/Jul26.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946917 | 801 | 3.453125 | 3 |
Politics & Government
Wed January 16, 2013
Legislator wants tighter laws for synthetic drugs
A state senator is proposing new legislation that would tighten the state’s ban on synthetic drugs. Many synthetic substances were banned last year, but law enforcement officials have had a hard time enforcing the measure.
Current law defines synthetic drugs based on a substance’s chemical makeup. State Sen. Jim Merritt’s bill would significantly expand that definition to include: 1) a substance a reasonable person would believe is a synthetic drug, or 2) a substance that is intended to cause or simulate intoxication.
Merritt says the bill would also expand the definition of “intoxication” to include impairment by any substance, excluding food, tobacco or a dietary supplement.
“It’s kind of a full court press. I like this approach a lot better,” Merritt said. “Now it might be challengeable but I think the bottom line is right now, without this law, these synthetic drugs have kind of a bubble around them. It’s almost like a shield. It’s almost like they call the corporate veil. It’s not pierceable and what we need to do is pierce the bubble, pierce the veil that is surrounding these.”
Bloomington Police Captain Joseph Qualters said in an email “law enforcement should be in favor of any legislation that would prohibit synthetics and make it easier to take action more quickly.”
Qualters says since the ban was passed last year, his department has seen manufacturers slightly changing product ingredients so that they cannot be charged, making it difficult to enforce the law.
But Indiana University Maurer School of Law Professor Craig Bradley says the language in the bill should be more specific.
“I was concerned that it didn’t specify non-prescription because all drugs are synthetic and so all prescription drugs would fall under this statute,” Bradley said.
At the same time, Bradley says he thinks it’s unlikely a judge would uphold the conviction of someone who was prosecuted for having prescription drugs. | <urn:uuid:4daf3e13-e0c5-435f-af7d-dcd5298bbd03> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nipr.fm/post/legislator-wants-tighter-laws-synthetic-drugs | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962419 | 443 | 1.898438 | 2 |
In the past we've reviewed several Prime Cooler products ranging from their notebook coolers to passive GPU heatsinks, however, they haven't managed to make any significant impact on the United States markets due to a lack of distributors even though they have been in business since 1998 and have gained support across Europe. Today, however, we're pleased to be able to share with our readers a preview of Prime Cooler's latest endeavor - water cooling. Unlike Corsair with their COOL Water Cooling Kit, or the various other manufacturers who offer an entire kit with everything needed to establish your water cooling presence from the fluid additives to water blocks, Prime Coolers opts to sell all of their components individually. Comprising of their water cooling line-up are two CPU water-blocks (K8 & LGA-775), water additive, water cooling pump, and three unique radiators each with a different fan assembly for up to three 120mm fans! Unfortunately, as of the time of writing, Prime Cooler has yet to venture into any Chipset or GPU water-blocks. This article today is simply a prelude of what’s to come from Prime Cooler's latest products and will be complemented later by a radiator roundup and additional performance numbers. With that covered, let's plunge into the frigid waters of Prime Cooler's water cooling.
To start off, we have three radiators from Prime Cooler, all of which parts support a different number of 120mm fans. The three models are PC-AQRAD1, PC-AQRAD2, and PC-AQRAD3, which support one, two, and three fans respectively. These radiators consist of all metal construction for superior build quality and aluminum fins to radiate the heat away from the water. These fans are attached using screws directly to the radiator frame, thus no fan shrouds are needed. One of the disappointing points with the Prime Cooler radiators, and any water cooling product for that matter, is the lack of any included accessories or documentation. No fan screws or tubing connectors are included with the radiators so you'll need to purchase these components separately. The connectors for all of Prime Cooler's water cooling parts are NTP 1/4 connectors for OD 3/8" or OD 1/2" tubing.
Differing from normal PC water cooling pumps, the Prime Cooler PC-AQPUMP1 is a lift pump with water tank meaning a reservoir isn't entirely necessary for proper usage. This water tank is able to hold a few ounces of water and is certainly not large but should be suffice for most purposes and atop the tank is a screw-on cap to allow easy access at filling the system. On the side of the unit are the in and out connections for the water pump. Providing the power needs for the pump is a 3-pin connector, which is actually what you will find on most cooling fans, but Prime Cooler has adapted it to the needs of their pump. Included with the PC-AQPUMP1 is a 4-pin molex power connector that adapts to the 3-pin layout and allows for RPM monitoring of the pump's motor, if you so desire. With the exception of the plastic water tank, the motor housing is composed of aluminum. Unfortunately, the cylindrical design of the Prime Cooler PC-AQPUMP1, and lack of mounting brackets, doesn't make the water pump and tank ideal for a desktop system that is frequently transported. As with the radiators, the pump doesn't include any of the water tubing connectors or additional accessories. This pump is able to push 600 liters per hour of water with 10mm diameter tubing and 9.4W rated power.
Another one of Prime Cooler's water cooling products is their PC-AQCW1 cooling water. Unfortunately, Prime Cooler doesn't state much information in regards to their water additive such as if its anti-corrosive, non-conductive, or heat transfer enhancer. The liquid does claim to be anti-rusted and anti-frozen, but doesn't list the specifics of the liquid. In our tests, we hadn't found much benefit from using the included 500ml liquid.
Onto the water blocks, at this time Prime Cooler limits their selection to two water blocks both of which are for CPUs. One of these water cooling blocks is designed for Intel's LGA775 processor while the other is designed for AMD's K8 Socket 939 solutions. Both of these heatsinks are quite similar, except for the fact that the mounting holes are different between sockets. The base on both of these water blocks are composed entirely of copper, and was quite flat and scratch-free. Overall, the PC-AQCPU1 775 and PC-AQCPU1 K8 were quite normal when compared against other water blocks on the market and its usability will be determined upon completion of our in-house testing. Although the other water cooling components hadn't included any connectors, the water blocks do include both NTP 1/4 connectors for OD 3/8" and OD 1/2" tubing. Also included with the water blocks were the mounting bolts and some generic thermal paste.
Although the Prime Cooler build quality of the three radiators, water pump and tank, and water blocks may look nice as far as the build quality and design goes, the true test comes to the actual performance. As this is simply a preview and our in-house hasn't yet been completed, we will be reporting our complete Prime Cooler water cooling results in the very near future. However, it's unfortunate to report at this time for our United States readers, that the Prime Cooler products can be fairly hard to find due to a lack of Western distributors, nevertheless we hope this will change in the future as their interests grow. Our major grief from these Prime Cooler water cooling products so far is simply the lack of included accessories such as connectors and any documentation.
Discuss this article in our forums, IRC channel, or email the author. You can also follow our content via RSS and on social networks like Facebook, Identi.ca, and Twitter (@Phoronix and @MichaelLarabel). Subscribe to Phoronix Premium to view our content without advertisements, view entire articles on a single page, and experience other benefits. | <urn:uuid:1107ca46-ea2c-4120-86d8-5bfa84d8c1e1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=294&num=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963316 | 1,304 | 1.609375 | 2 |
There has been alot of talk recently about VOIP and its benefits to companies who need to reduce their call costs. VOIP is obviously a great solution but when everyone is forging ahead with the latest and greatest, lets take a step back and consider an alternative solution that can be setup and deployed quickly and will integrate well in almost any network.
Let me introduce “Jabber”, an open source fast and secure chat program that you can deploy within your network and be in control of authourisation and security. Users cannot access other chat networks (unless you specifically allow them) and the server also resides within your network.
Jabber runs on the XML protocol and supports file transfers and excellent levels of sercurity. While Jabber does well within the same building, it really excells at the WAN level. Deploying a server in one country then allowing all users in various locations around the globe (or in the next suburb) to login will reduce business call costs by a decent percent.
Many of us prefer to use mobile phone TEXT messages to communicate short messages rather than a phone call as it is quicker and provides a nice little audit trail for both the sender and the reciever. Thinking along these lines when installing a Jabber server will allow staff to send and recieve short text messages across the Jabber server instead of making a potentially more expensive telephone call. Multiply this method out by many staff and the potential for saving become very clear.
Core Networks can install a Jabber server on your network. Please visit the “contact” link at the top of the page. | <urn:uuid:8cfbc374-1c0a-40a8-9950-5f75f359178e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.corenetworks.com.au/?p=23 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946773 | 328 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Managing Editor & Staff Writer
The Fred J. Taylor Library will begin their latest feature, the Library Book Exchange Oct. 2. The Library Book Exchange will supply patrons with leisure reading material and offer a way to recycle used books.
Committee member Kay Crook said, “The students and other patrons have requested leisure reading material for some time. Sometimes students come in looking for something to read before the semester begins and they are unable to check out books. This will give them a chance to access reading material in between semesters.”
The books for the exchange are not a part of the library’s main collection. Patrons wishing to use the books, simply take a few to read and return them later. The exchange depends on patrons donating books and returning used books.
“We hope people will be encouraged to donate, so others can enjoy a large variety of material in the future,” Crook said.
Patrons can find the Library Book Exchange section in the library next to the current newspaper section. They can donate books or return used books by dropping the books in the plastic tub located in the entrance to the library.
According Crook, this idea was brought about by the students and
faculty themselves who were unable to check out any books in between
semesters because their I.Ds wouldn’t allow them to do anything.
“We’re not going to be too strict with it,” Crook stated, “If someone wants to take a book, we’re not going to tell them no, you didn’t bring one to exchange.”
If anyone would like to take their books back, they will
be allowed to, but keep in mind that if a person brings books, they will
just have to catch it on the shelves and get it back as the Leisure
Reading Program isn’t going to be checked through the library’s system.
ŠThe Voice 2006
Revised 01/13/2008 03:26:55 PM — http://www.uamont.edu/Organizations/TheVoice/4_4/books.htm | <urn:uuid:a78d9a9b-3c2a-4657-a806-5df82fa8622c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uamont.edu/Organizations/TheVoice/4_4/books.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953538 | 449 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Ford Field stadium is working with Detroit Thermal, an energy generation and distribution company, to change the home of the Detroit Lions’ natural gas hot water heaters to steam heating exchangers, which are a more reliable, cost-effective and environmentally friendly way to heat and cool the 65,000-seat sports and entertainment complex.
Detroit Thermal steam is produced with renewable energy sources, making it one of the cleanest solutions available. The primary of them comes from municipal solid waste, and the resulting steam from the combustion of this fuel is used to generate up to 68 megawatts of electricity and is available for export at a peak rate of up to 550,000 pounds per hour. The electricity is sold to the Detroit Edison Electric Company and the steam is delivered to Detroit Thermal.
The new system was up and running at the Lion’s game against the Minnesota Vikings on September 30th, and according to the Stadium management, the conversion away from natural gas will result in a 32 percent reduction in carbon emissions.
Sempra & CFE sign 25- year contract to construct $ 1 billion gas network in Northwestern Mexico
Sempra Mexico won the international offer by Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE), Mexico’s state-owned electric utility, to construct, own and operate an approximately 500-mile (820-kilometers), $1 billion pipeline network connecting the Northwestern states of Sonora and Sinaloa.
The network will be comprised of two segments that will interconnect to the U.S. interstate pipeline system in Arizona and will provide natural gas to new and existing CFE power plants that currently use fuel oil. The capacity for each segment is fully contracted by CFE under two 25-year firm capacity contracts denominated in U.S. dollars.
The deal represents an opportunity to strengthen the gas transportation system in northern Mexico and to improve the local economy. Sempra International distributes natural gas in Mexico and electricity to customers in Chile and Peru.
10 million work hours milestone achieved in building nuclear energy facility in Georgia
Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle a $14 billion project is progressing successfully. It has reached the 10 million work hours. The project began in 2009 and so far significant work has been done on turbine islands, cooling towers and nuclear islands. The units are scheduled to go online in 2016.
Georgia Power, one of the nation’s largest generators of electricity, has approximately 2,300 people on site at Vogtle units 3 and 4 near Waynesboro. At peak construction, the project is expected to create 5,000 onsite jobs, making it the largest job-producing project in Georgia. There will be 800 permanent jobs when the facility is operational.
Once complete, the new units will produce enough electricity to power 500,000 Georgia homes and businesses. The facility provides at least $2.2 billion more value to customers than the next best available technology, including natural gas generation, according to PSC staff.
Energy Consulting Industry growing in Germany
A new professional activity is growing in Germany: Energy Consultant, and is showing great potential in helping consumers to learn about their energy savings options. The backgrounds of these professionals are diverse and energy consultants can be hired through the internet or through Germany’s Federation of German Consumer Organizations (VZBV), which subsidizes the costs of the service. After an initial consultation at the local consumer center (Verbraucherzentrale) office, the consultant visits your house or apartment, surveys your living space, and makes recommendations on how to save on your energy bills.
Germany just announced new measures to help out even further with the costs, both for the consulting–making it free — and paying for the recommended measures. | <urn:uuid:94eedeee-05d0-4bca-af12-15c062ebb8f2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailyenergyreport.com/detroit-thermal-participating-with-ford-field-stadiums-energy-efficiency-initiatives/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929836 | 761 | 1.976563 | 2 |
Mar. 26, 2009 Helsinki/Leipzig. Specific measures to tackle climate change, such as emissions trading, will only be successful if they are coherently supported by other government policies addressing economic and social issues, says a report published March 26 by the Partnership for European Environmental Research (PEER). PEER membership is formed from seven of the biggest European environmental research institutes.
The report explains that, in order to create an effective, Europe wide climate policy, climate change issues must be better integrated into both general and sector-specific policies such as taxation, transportation, and land use planning. By doing this the necessary changes in production processes and consumption patterns to tackle climate change will be achieved.
Lead author, Dr. Per Mickwitz, from the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), said, "Although the inclusion of climate change mitigation and adaptation in general governmental programmes and strategies has substantially increased in recent years, much more is needed in terms of integrating climate issues into specific policy measures. Annual budgets, environmental impact assessments and spatial planning procedures are three examples of existing measures which we believe have significant potential to be climate policy instruments."
The new report assesses the degree of climate policy integration in six different European countries, at national and local levels, as well as within key policy sectors such as energy and transport. It analyses measures and means to enhance climate policy integration and improve policy coherence.
The report shows that when climate policy is integrated into an increasing number of policy sectors such as energy, transport and land use, many latent conflicts are reopened. These include conflicts over nuclear power, taxation, hydro power, mobility and other issues involving values and ideology. If such conflicts are not recognised early they provide a barrier to effective climate policy integration.
Professor Pat Nuttall, Director, Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, UK, said, "As PEER chair, I know how important it is to work together within Europe to ensure that future decisions will be based on the best information available, minimizing risks and, in some cases, turning threats into opportunities. There is a huge need for increased policy and programme evaluation from a climate change perspective, and this report is a first step towards achieving this goal."
Over recent decades, climate change research has focused primarily on the climate system impacts in general terms, and on mitigation. In the future, new challenges will be posed by the emergence of climate change adaptation policies across Europe. Climate policy integration and coherence will be essential in order to bring together the environmental, economic and social impacts of both adaptation and mitigation policies.
A second report from PEER, comparing National Adaptation Strategies to climate change across Europe, will be published in May 2009.
This full reference for the report is: Per Mickwitz, Francisco Aix, Silke Beck, David Carss, Nils Ferrand, Christoph Görg, Anne Jensen, Paula Kivimaa, Christian Kuhlicke, Wiebren Kuindersma, María Máñez, Matti Melanen, Suvi Monni, Anders Branth Pedersen, Hugo Reinert and Séverine van Bommel 2009. Climate Policy Integration, Coherence and Governance. PEER-Report No 2. Helsinki: Partnership for European Environmental Research. 92pp.
The report will be available from the PEER website: http://peer-initiative.org/media/m235_PEER_Report2.pdf
Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead. | <urn:uuid:989e12d8-9cc7-4948-add6-6bcca1162114> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090326100716.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912212 | 744 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Planetary Resources Inc. will today release official details of its plan to send an army of robots into space to harvest precious commodities from orbiting asteroids.
The company was set up by Eric C. Anderson, founder of commercial space tourism company Space Adventures and Peter Diamandis, creator of the X-Prize Foundation offering financial incentives for various areas of scientific exploration and development. Planetary Resources Inc. has also received financial backing from Google’s Larry Page and Eric Schmidt. The high profile team of collaborators is also includes former astronaut Tom Jones and film director and deep-sea explorer James Cameron.
So what’s the idea behind this ambitious project? By mining precious metals and bringing them back to Earth, the process would increase the world’s GDP and natural resources massively. In addition, the possibility of accessing water supplies would also greatly increase the likelihood of human settlement.
Regarding the projects mining intentions, it is the platinum-group metals that present the most lucrative prospect. These metals are currently widely used in medical instruments, renewable energy products and potentially in fueling future vehicles. It is thought that mining the top layer of a half-mile-diameter asteroid could realistically produce a staggering return of approximately $6 billion worth of platinum.
One outcome of this increase in platinum would be a significant reduction in its price, a desirable consequence according to founder Anderson: “I would be overjoyed as a company if we brought back so much platinum that the price fell by a factor of 20 or 50,” A drop in price would mean that, a lot like the fall in price of aluminium, it would be more readily available for its multiple applications.
The ability to access water in space is potentially key to the possibility of human settlement in space due to its importance is so many aspects. Not only could it provide drinking water, but it can also be used elsewhere when broken into its constituent parts: hydrogen and oxygen. Oxygen is clearly useful in terms of providing a means to live, whereas the liquid forms of both substances are used in rocket fuel production. This means that the expensive task of transporting water from Earth could be avoided and could provide essential refuelling stations for missions to currently unexplored planets.
There are however many hurdles to overcome regarding the project. Issues involving legal rights to mining in space must be considered, as well as the viability of such an ambitious task. It has been suggested that the process might be of more value once humans have actually settled in space. Wired’s David S. Portree said: “Right now it would be like a big oil tanker dropping anchor off the coast of medieval England…The medieval English might identify the oil as a useful commodity, but wouldn’t be able use enough to profit the tanker crew. Heck, they wouldn’t know how to get it off the tanker, except in wooden pails and rowboats.” | <urn:uuid:ac6c55b0-30ab-45cc-9fa0-c427d1d749d3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://en.paperblog.com/science-non-fiction-billionaire-dream-team-to-announce-plan-to-mine-asteroids-189148/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959773 | 590 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Dr. Conrad Miller appeared on worldwide internet radio on April 1, 2010 at 6:35 PM Eastern Time; 3:35 PM Pacific Time, with the Puffman, Jerry Puffer on KSEN-AM 1150 Radio in Shelby, Montana. The show was hearable at http://www.ksenam.com/onair_page.php?id=5 but is not stored, regrettably. However:
You CAN hear the following podcast anytime you wish from the ‘Dresser After Dark’ Interview of March 22, 2010 Click here to listen: Conrad Miller3-22-2010
Both the Puffman and the Dresser interviews were listenable via the miracle of the internet anywhere on Earth with internet access. Generation of electricity and the promising non-toxic alternatives esp wind and solar were discussed, vs the dangerous nuclear push being engineered by President Obama.
Although the current President is now telling the world that nuclear power is ‘safe and clean,’ there are stirrings in America, and many facts showing
adverse health effects from nuclear power plants to contradict such a claim.
Americans should know that our country has been called ‘The Persian Gulf Of Wind.’ In fact, by installing 10,000 new megawatts of windpower in 2009 [an average nuclear plant generates about 1000 megawatts], we are ahead of former #1 wind power nation Germany, that country installing about 1500 new megawatts of wind power annually. China has quickly become number 3, with 25,104 total megawatts of wind installed.
But who is publicizing this?? Plus the overwhelming relative safety of wind
A new nuclear plant may take 6-8 years to come online, at an estimated real cost of $10-$12 billion. Then there is the unsolveable problem of where to store the most toxic waste on Earth, radioactive waste. Just think, in say seven years, even if we stayed at the current rate of installation, we should have `70,000 new megawatts of safe wind power – installing 10,000 megawatts per year.
With 33% calculated average ‘capacity’ for wind, that would equal the output of 24 nuclear plants before any one nuclear plant would even come online.
Dr. Miller. 6:35 EST April 1, 2010 on the Shelby, Montana station KSEN-AM 1150, for about 25 minutes discussed nuclear power vs alternative safe power at a time when studies are coming out showing increased cancer rates surrounding nuclear plants. Americans should also know that 30 of our 104 nuclear plants have leaked. A few weeks ago, the Vermont Senate voted 26-4 to close the Vermont Yankee reactor when its license expires in 2012. Why? Because Entergy, the corporation that owns the plant had been lying about a most recent tritium water leak occurring, and also lying about the existence of any possible pipes where the leaks could have originated from.
However, when the truth unavoidably emerged, Entergy did admit there were indeed pipes and they were leaking, which enraged Vermont citizens. In addition, another leak that evaded publicity, was denied ever occurring, also was revealed to have occurred starting back in 2005.
Same type of story in the town of Godley, Illinois. There for nine years the Braidwood nuclear reactor, it was finally revealed, had leaked 6 MILLION gallons of tritium tainted water radioactively polluting the town’s salty wells. After finally admitting that they had lied, Exelon, now the biggest nuclear power corporation in America with 17 reactors in our country, started delivering bottled water to local residents. Here is a brief statement about tritium so you can get the picture:
Tritium is an ‘activation product’ resulting from fissioning of uranium in
what was supposed to be Godley’s “cream of the crop”[i] nuclear reactor.
Tritium can pass through our skin while we are showering or even washing our dishes. According to the Grandfather of Health Physics, the late Karl Z. Morgan, tritium “is the only radionuclide for which we assume as much is taken into the body via skin penetration as by inhalation. It is the MOST invasive of all radionuclides and distributes itself rather uniformly to all organs and all body tissues on a microCurie per gram basis. It presents a somatic, genetic and teratogenic [cancerous] risk. It cannot be separated from liquid waste by evaporation, a process used to concentrate most radionuclides [especially in nuclear reactors].”[ii]
[i] Joe Cosgrove, Director, Parks Department, for Godley, Illinois;
telephone conversation June 19, 2006.
[ii] ‘Why EPA’s Tritium Standard For Drinking Water
[20,000 picocuries per liter] Is Undoubtedly Way Too Lax, & A Suggested
New Standard,” Jan 17, 2006 by Russell Ace Hoffman.
The latest from Joe Cosgrove down in Will County, south of Chicago, from
President Obama’s home state is:
“In November of 2008, Exelon – Braidwood Nuclear Station
donated $11,500,000.00 dollars to the Godley Public Water
District to install a municipal water system for 225 households.
The donation was a gift, while they clearly stated that it had nothing
to do with the releases of radionuclides to the ground water, but
just wanted to be a “good neighbor”.
Bottled water is still be supplied to residents until such time
that the system goes on line.
In 2006, The Illinois Attorney General, Illinois EPA and the Will County
States Attorney filed a lawsuit for numerous violations by Exelon,
namely the discharge of contaminants to the groundwater, without permit.
This case has been on going and is now set for trial in May. So far,
besides the injunction to clean up the contamination, no Consent
decree has been entered.
We still look forward to updating the Federal study concerning
health statistics in proximity to nuclear plants. There is movement
by the NRC to do this and to have the same opened for peer review.”
Of course, there have been numerous studies in other countries showing
increased cancer rates surrounding nuclear plants.
Also, we should be aware that over 500 radionuclides are produced
by fissioning uranium to make heat and then steam to turn a turbine
and produce electricity, which can be done infinitely more safely
with a wind turbine or solar/photovoltaics. Each of these dangerous
radionuclides can emit radioactive rays or electrons that can
strike our DNA to cause mutations and cancer. Plus many are very
long-lived: Cesium has a half life of ~30 years and a hazardous life
during which we have to worry about it, lasting 300-600 years.
Plutonium-239 has a 24,000 year half life and thus a 240,000 – 480,000
year hazardous life.
Just a microgram of plutonium can cause lung cancer. That means,
if vaporized in an accident (e.g., like Chernboyl) just 20 pounds
of plutonium could be dispersed around the world and theoretically
possibly cause lung cancer in every human being on Earth (454 grams
in one pound; 454 MILLION micrograms in one pound). Remember,
not 31, but more than 300,000 people have died prematurely with
cancer from Chernobyl’s radioactive contamination, as stated by
biologist Dr. Alexey Yablokov, president of the Center for Russian
Environmental Policy in his 2007 book.
In addition, the Westinghouse AP-1000 new wonder nuclear plants that
President Obama is pushing to be built in Georgia have been
rejected as unsafe by the NRC [Nuclear Regulatory Commission] already!!
Meanwhile, the utilities in Georgia and Florida are sucking up
their ratepayers by increasing their rates NOW to ratchet up moneys
to pay for these new nuclear plants in advance. AND, the Congressional
Budget Office has stated that ~50% of the nuclear loan guarantees will go
into default, so the US taxpayer will end up picking up the bills on
the bad loans.
Also, concerning the $8.3 Billion nuclear loan guarantees, the
Department of Energy has not been able to spend its existing
loan guarantee authority, and since actual guarantees can’t be
granted until a reactor receives a license from the NRC, it will
be years more before any actual guarantee can be issued.
‘Every one of the proposed new reactors in the U.S. already has
experienced delays, and every one has a combination of design,
safety, economics and radioactive waste problems that make them
highly speculative at best’ >> according to the Nuclear Information
and Resource Service [NIRS] in Washington D.C..
The Clipper 2.5 megawatt wind turbine can supply 675 homes with
electricity. 112,000 of these can supply all of America’s homes
with electricity. This would create a vast amount of jobs,
and a vital future industry that will be sustainable to aid
a rapidly growing population on this Earth. And then there’s solar
power, which Dr. David Goodstein of CalTech states can power
all of America’s homes within a decade, utilizing an area equivalent
to 80 square miles in one of our southwestern deserts.
OTHER HOT NUCLEAR POWER NEWS:
A few weeks ago in West Virginia, a bill to repeal that state’s
ban on new nuclear construction was defeated in the state legislature.
See more at
In Arizona, a bill to classify nuclear power as renewable energy was
withdrawn [ http://bit.ly/93YHyf ] following heavy lobbying from the
solar power industry and environmental community.
So, although the bully pulpit is being occupied by Obama and his push
for nuclear power, the American people are having their say contrary
to his audacious advocacy.
One last vision of where this is all coming from: Karl Grossman in
his Nuclear Obama Counterpunch article available on the internet:
Steven Chu, Obama’s ‘Department of Energy secretary typifies the
religious-like zeal for nuclear power emanating for decades from
scientists in the U.S. government’s string of national nuclear
laboratories. Chu was director of one of these, Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory, before becoming head of DOE.
First established during World War II’s Manhattan Project to
build atomic weapons, the laboratories after the war began
promoting civilian nuclear technology—and have been pushing it
unceasingly ever since. It has been a way to perpetuate the
vested interest created during World War II. The number of
nuclear weapons that could be built was limited because atomic
bombs don’t lend themselves to commercial distribution, but
in pushing food irradiation, nuclear-powered airplanes and
rockets, atomic devices for excavation and, of course, nuclear
power, the budgets and staffs of the national nuclear laboratories
could be maintained, indeed increase.
That was the analysis of David Lilienthal, first chairman of the
U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, which preceded the Department of
Energy. Lilienthal in his 1963 book Change, Hope, and the Bomb
wrote: “The classic picture of the scientist as a creative
individual, a man obsessed, working alone through the night,
a man in a laboratory pushing an idea—this has changed.
Now scientists are ranked in platoons. They are organization men.
In many cases the independent and humble search for new truths about
nature has been confused with the bureaucratic impulse to justify
expenditure and see that next year’s budget is bigger than last’s.”
Lilienthal wrote about the “elaborate and even luxurious [national nuclear]
laboratories that have grown up at Oak Ridge, Argonne, Brookhaven”
and the push to use nuclear devices for “blowing out harbors, making
explosions underground to produce steam, and so on” which show “how
far scientists and administrators will go to try to establish a nonmilitary
use” for nuclear technology.
Chu, like so many of the national nuclear laboratory scientists and
administrators, minimizes the dangers of radioactivity. If they didn’t,
if they acknowledged how life-threatening the radiation produced by
nuclear technology is, their favorite technology would crumble.
A major theme of Chu, too, is a return to the notion promoted by
the national nuclear laboratories in the 1950s and 60s of “recycling”
and “reusing” nuclear waste. This way, they have hoped, it might not
be seen as waste at all. The concept was to use radioactive Cesium-137
(the main poison discharged in the Chernobyl disaster) to irradiate
food, to use depleted uranium to harden bullets and shells, and so on.
In recent weeks, with Obama carrying out his pledge not to allow Yucca
Mountain to become a nuclear waste dump, Chu set up a “blue-ribbon” panel
on radioactive waste—stacked with nuclear power advocates including Exelon’s
John Rowe—that is expected to stress the “recycling” theory.
“We are aggressively pursuing nuclear energy,” declared Chu in
January as he announced DOE’s budget plan—which included an increase
in the 2011 federal budget in monies for nuclear loan guarantees to
build new nuclear plants cited by Obama Tuesday. “We are, as we have
repeatedly said, working hard to restart the American nuclear power industry.”
The $8.3 billion in loan guarantees Obama announced Tuesday is to come
from $18.5 billion in guarantees proposed by the George W. Bush administration
and authorized by Congress in 2005. “My budget proposes tripling the loan
guarantees we provide to help finance safe, clean nuclear facilities,”
said Obama Tuesday, referring to the DOE plan which would add $36 billion
and bring the loan guarantee fund to $54.5. And this despite candidate
Obama warning about “enormous subsidies from the U.S. government” to the
See more at:
Lots going on here. Lots of money at stake. While kids get cancer living
around nuclear plants. And John Rowe and Steven Chu attempt to further
nuclearize our world, when we have the means with truly safe wind and sun
to provide the electricity for all USA homes within a decade.
Listen in….6:35 PM Thursday April 1, 2010 East Coast Time
C March 31, 2010 Conrad Miller MD | <urn:uuid:5cbee339-86c0-4154-a8f3-edb763dad199> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.crestofthewave.com/tag/denmark/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929627 | 3,136 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Prior to last month’s slaying of Plymouth police officer and Bucks County native Brad Fox, the last Montgomery County police officer to be killed in the line of duty was Norristown police Officer Thomas Barone.
Barone, 32, was shot and killed while responding to a domestic disturbance call.
And on Tuesday, exactly 20 years after Barone’s death, the fallen officer who made the ultimate sacrifice was honored by some 300 people including his parents, brother, other family members, fellow members of the law enforcement community and school children.
What brought these members of the community together was the Montgomery County Hero Cop plaque program.
A plaque, memorializing Barone’s sacrifice of his life, was installed at the Marshall Street Elementary School Barone attended while growing up in the Norristown area.
This is the 19th plaque ceremony since Bruce L. Castor Jr., the former district attorney initiated it and which has then been carried on by District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman.
“I think this program is important because it honors those who have made the ultimate sacrifice while also recognizing the sacrifices made every day by those protecting our communities,” said Ferman.
A total of 27 county police officers have either been killed or died in the line of duty.
Margaret Gibbons: 610-279-6153; firstname.lastname@example.org; Twitter, @peggibbons | <urn:uuid:7bfa2fa6-f06c-4d6e-930f-5606633dac83> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/crime/fallen-norristown-cop-honored-with-plaque/article_5dc784c9-1fa2-52b8-80b7-96c99d16043e.html?mode=story | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970991 | 296 | 1.820313 | 2 |
|Christian Aid Organizations
The Religion eZine - Christians
By Alexandra Weaver - 2007.
"We’re here to demonstrate the love of Christ to those in need." - 'Acts of God', disaster relief Organization.
Religious organizations have been important to international aid for decades. Church groups, organizations with religious objectives, and religiously motivated individuals have participated in such things as disaster relief, feeding the hungry, as well as building schools and health clinics.
However, when do religion-run organizations or groups go from helping the disadvantaged to taking advantage of those they want to help?
I discuss Christianity and Christian-run organizations in this article due to their existence at the forefront of many international aid organizations, although several other religions can and do hold charity based organizations as well. Many religions hold similar beliefs concerning helping others and what is required or expected as an individual of that particular religion. Treatment of the poor, for instance, is identified in on of the pillars of the Islamic faith. The question and debate is whether or not religion should be imbedded in practices and institutions of aid, rather than strictly giving personal guidance and purpose to those delivering the aid itself.
World Vision, the primary source of such debate due to its immense popularity, states that it aids children from any ethnic, racial, or religious background. Yet part of the money from sponsorships offered by World Vision goes to the education of children giving them “the chance to learn about Jesus and his love.” It is not necessary that religion and education be correlated, nonetheless World Vision has chosen this path.
It is possible that they feel their religion could be beneficial to the children, but did the children ask for it? If the objectives of World Vision aren’t to aid and educate only Christian children and Christian families, perhaps they should not implement Christian teachings in their programs.
It can be argued that if the child, or families, in impoverished situations accept such aid, then World Vision is doing nothing wrong. Conversely, World Vision could be seen as taking advantage of the situations of the children and families in order to spread their faith and beliefs, albeit perhaps not intentionally. If a family is in need of money, food, and opportunities for their children, and an organization, possibly the only one that is visible in the area, offered to help, would the family question their intentions? One would hope the intentions of the organization were to help the individuals and communities at hand, as they have seemingly offered, instead of satisfying their own needs and their own goals.
I wish not to anger, but only to question the objectives and goals of religious-run organizations and their donors. Although religion has been seen as a good way to get people together who share similar beliefs and feel the desire to help those less fortunate than themselves, I question the need for religious practice and preaching in such organizations as World Vision.
There are many religion-run organizations that may act in the same manner as World Vision, aiding others and spreading their faith at the same time. However, I do not want to imply that all organizations with religious backgrounds are the same. Many Christians and Christian-run organizations look upon the act of giving as part of their calling. Church groups that travel to Haiti and Ghana have been appreciated in their work on development projects, water wells, and birthing kits. These groups have similar projects to those of World Vision, but are unlike World Vision in their delivery of such projects.
Across the world, especially in developing areas, individuals and communities lack resources, access to health institutions or doctors, and schools. When international organizations from developed nations enter the communities in need to help build, create, and teach, they must not assume that what works at home, and what is common at home, is necessary for a community to function. We have all grown up with different backgrounds, different lifestyles, and different beliefs, but we are all able to come together, if we wish, in order to come up with ways to build institutions, wells, etc., that the community desires. Religion and religious beliefs vary across borders. It cannot be assumed or acted upon that everyone shares, or that all could or should share, the same beliefs.
Worldwide, religious organizations, groups, and individuals have done ample work to help those who ask and/or require it, often when other organizations would or could not. Many of these organizations, even if run by religious intent or are titled as religious, do not put their beliefs on others because they feel their choice in giving is their own and not a choice that is obligatory by faith. | <urn:uuid:8170e51e-587c-4c0b-94ce-5610bcc35413> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://religion.lilithezine.com/Christian-Aid-Organizations.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972953 | 931 | 2.28125 | 2 |
ASTRONAUTS attempt to extend our knowledge of space and our adaptation to it, both physiologically and psychologically, by conducting operations and experimental investigations in space. Pilot astronauts serve as both space commanders and pilots. During flight, the commander has onboard responsibility for the vehicle, crew, mission success, and safety of the flight. The pilot assists the commander in controlling and operating the vehicle and may assist in the deployment and retrieval of satellites using the Remote Manipulator System (RMS), referred to as the robot arm or mechanical arm.
Salary, Size & Growth
- $70,500 average per year ($34.00 per hour)
- A medium occupation (29,900 workers in 2010)
- Expected to grow moderately (1.9% per year)
NASA accepts applications for the Astronaut Candidate Program on a continuous basis, as needed, for pilot and mission specialists. Pilot astronaut candidates must have a bachelor's degree in engineering, physical science, biological science, or mathematics and a minimum of 1,000 hours as jet pilot-in-command; flight test experience is highly desirable. Mission specialist astronaut candidates must have a bachelor's degree in engineering, physical science, biological science, or mathematics, and a minimum of 3 years of related, professional experience with progressive responsibilities. | <urn:uuid:6c8f5b58-7d89-4005-bbf6-a97cfa57f290> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.act.org/world/occs/occ023.html?TB_iframe=true | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927899 | 262 | 2.84375 | 3 |
A nicotinic acid derivative - It is used for the prevention or treatment of tuberculosis (TB) infections
What is this medicine?PYRAZINAMIDE (peer a ZIN a mide) is used for the prevention or treatment of tuberculosis (TB) infections. This medicine is usually used in combination with at least one other agent.
This medicine may be used for other purposes; ask your health care provider or pharmacist if you have questions.
What should I tell my health care provider before I take this medicine?They need to know if you have any of these conditions:
How should I use this medicine?Take this medicine by mouth with a glass of water. Follow the directions on the prescription label. Take your medicine at regular intervals. Do not take your medicine more often than directed. For your therapy to work as well as possible, take each dose exactly as prescribed. Do not skip doses or stop your medicine even if you feel better. Skipping doses may make the TB resistant to this medicine and other medicines. Do not stop taking except on your doctor's advice.
Talk to your pediatrician regarding the use of this medicine in children. Special care may be needed.
Overdosage: If you think you have taken too much of this medicine contact a poison control center or emergency room at once.
NOTE: This medicine is only for you. Do not share this medicine with others.
What if I miss a dose?If you miss a dose, take it as soon as you can. If it is almost time for your next dose, take only that dose. Do not take double or extra doses. | <urn:uuid:0af382ce-8473-40d8-ab6b-af52e11aef79> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.healthline.com/drugcompare?drug1=pyrazinamide | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918058 | 333 | 2.34375 | 2 |
HOUSTON - President Obama is dismantling the U.S. Space Program, but NASA is in desperate need of astronauts.
NASA is now accepting applications for the next class, which will be the 21st group of spaceflyers in its history, through Jan. 27, 2012, then begin a screening process. Sources say that it the standards have been lowered and “pretty much anybody who can stand on his head for three hours can make it,” according to a NASA insider.
NASA expects to announce its final selections in March 201, and the newly minted spaceflyers will report to Johnson Space Center in Houston for training.
Can you do this?
Of course, the Obama Administration has dismantled the space program, but NASA is in talks with Russia and China to hire the astronauts they train.
“There will be plenty of opportunities to get to the International Space Station — and perhaps destinations in deeper space,” officials said.
“Some of the astronauts we’re recruiting today will be pioneers in our missions to make the first footprints on the surface of Mars,” NASA chief Hank Wormland said during a briefing today. “And we want to get as many regular people up in space as possible.”
NASA has lowered its standards considerably – both in the physical portion of the tests and the academic portion. “If you got a 1200 on your SATs, you should be able to pass the astronaut test,” said Wormland. “And if you are 10-20 pounds overweight, but you can run-up-and-down a flight of stairs in two minutes, you probably can pass the physical portion.”
NASA tends to recruit a new astronaut class every two to four years, to maintain a deep enough pool of spaceflyers, officials said.
That pool has been getting more and more shallow recently.
NASA counted 150 active spaceflyers in its ranks in 1999. Many astronauts have retired or left the agency for jobs elesewhere since then, and as a result that number has fallen to 61 in 2011, according to a recent report by the U.S. National Research Council.
Are you unemployed? Have you always wanted to be an astronaut? Can you lift 50 pounds of weight? Can you count to 100 backwards? Great! You can be one of the first humans on Mars. | <urn:uuid:0c8062fc-1865-4318-8c4f-1aaa1e8c4255> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://weeklyworldnews.com/headlines/40515/help-wanted-nasa-needs-astronauts/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=1a35c759c1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960549 | 487 | 2.25 | 2 |
The plan for the "voter-only" cards was announced this summer after it became clear that some voters, particularly elderly people born in other states, were running into an array of difficulties obtaining their birth certificates or Social Security cards.
Unlike the nondriver's ID, which requires a raised-seal birth certificate and Social Security card, the new ID requires applicants to provide just their name, address, Social Security number, proof of residency, and previous name and/or address if either changed in the preceding 12 months.
The applicant must also be registered to vote.
Opponents of the new voting law, signed by Gov. Corbett in March, argue that getting the new ID is still complicated - particularly for those without transportation, non-English speakers, the elderly, the disabled, and the poor.
Stephanie Singer, who as chairwoman of the Board of City Commissioners is Philadelphia's top elections officer, said the new cards may help some voters. But she worried that problems may remain for Spanish-speakers and people who are deaf or have other disabilities. "I know of no accommodations by PennDot," she said. "That doesn't mean they don't exist. I just haven't seen them."
Individuals needing ID will still likely have to make more than one trip to a PennDot office, critics pointed out.
Witold "Vic" Walczak, legal director for the ACLU of Pennsylvania, which sued the state on behalf of clients it said were being denied voting rights by the new law, said, "If the state were truly committed to making sure all voters have ID, they would simply issue the new nonsecure ID right away instead of making voters jump through multiple hoops and take several trips to the DMV."
A Commonwealth Court judge denied the ACLU's request to block the law. An appeal is scheduled for arguments in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Sept. 13.
The new ID card is valid only for voting. Other acceptable forms of ID at the polls include valid driver's licenses, PennDot nondriver photo ID, and U.S. passports, as well as military, government employee or college student IDs with expiration dates.
The state's Monday rollout of the new card occurred only in Pittsburgh because most other motor vehicle centers around the state, including those in Philadelphia, are either closed or offering limited services on Mondays.
Most PennDot offices are open Tuesday through Saturday. Some counties have no motor vehicle centers, and in some areas those that do are only open one day a week.
On Monday at the PennDot office at Eighth and Arch Streets in Philadelphia, for instance, several small posters pointed to voter ID card applications available in English and Spanish. Anyone seeking a voter ID card or information about it would have to come back during regular hours - Tuesday through Saturday between 8 a.m. and 4:15 p.m.
Department of State spokesman Ron Ruman said PennDot has issued 5,510 free nondriver photo IDs for voting since the new law took effect.
Leslie Richards, a Montgomery County commissioner and chairwoman of the Board of Elections, said the county is working to ensure that every voter who needs the free ID gets one, and is helping applicants get transportation to PennDot centers.
"I am fearful so many people don't know anything about this and have voted for decades," Richards said. "It won't be apparent until they get to the polls."
Contact Amy Worden at 717-783-2584 or email@example.com or follow @inkyamy on Twitter. | <urn:uuid:d074c87f-77be-4579-968b-8262f660c73e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.philly.com/2012-08-29/news/33451680_1_id-card-new-voter-id-law-nondriver-photo | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973998 | 738 | 1.851563 | 2 |
A study by ComScore , focusing on the US, has shown an increase of over 40% in the number of users performing local searches online in the last year.
According to the research, 63% of US internet users (around 109 million people) performed a local search during July, a 43% increase over the same month in 2005.
Google (30%) and Yahoo! (29%) had the largest share of searches, followed by Microsoft with 12% and the Time Warner Network with 7%.
The study defined local searches as those conducted by consumers on the local or directory sections of leading search sites, and other searches identified as having local intent.
The analyst group said 41% of users performing a local search were searching for something in their home area, as opposed to information on locations they intended to visit.
Among those, 59% said they were searching for a restaurant or something entertainment-related, such as a cinema, theme park or tourist attraction.
Fifty two percent said they were searching specifically for a business phone number or address, while 41% were looking for information on a local service in their home area, including car rental office, dry cleaner or lawyer.
The study also found that performing a local search can drive consumers to take action.
During Q2 2006, 47% of local searchers visited a local merchant as a result of their search behaviour, while 41% made contact offline. Thirty seven percent made contact online as a result of conducting a local area search.
“Local search is experiencing strong growth as more consumers adapt to the ‘always on’ nature of their broadband connection, which enables them to quickly find information on local businesses,” said Jack Flanagan, EVP of comScore Media Metrix.
“With approximately 849 million local searches conducted by Americans in July, local advertisers have a sizeable market that can be reached through leading search sites.” | <urn:uuid:2cb89ba2-eb2a-49a6-9989-1e0d40907d6a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/287-local-search-gains-momentum-says-study | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962421 | 390 | 1.921875 | 2 |
UK court upholds right of return for Indian Ocean islanders Gabriel Haboubi at 12:36 PM ET
[JURIST] The UK Court of Appeals Wednesday upheld [judgment text] a 2006 lower court ruling that a group of Indian Ocean islanders known as the Chagossians [advoacy website; Wikipedia backgrounder] must be allowed to return [JURIST report] to the group of islands comprising their homeland. In dismissing the British government's appeal, the court said that the government had negated "one of the most fundamental liberties known to human beings, the freedom to return to one's homeland." Although this is the third time the government has lost in court, an appeal may still be filed with the House of Lords [official website].
Approximately 2000 Chagossians were exiled in the 1960s to make way for the Diego Garcia naval base [official website]. The islanders will be allowed to resettle 65 islands in the Chagos Archipelago, but not Diego Garcia itself, which under lease to the US government has been developed into a strategic staging area for bombing missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. The UK Press Association has more. Reuters has additional coverage. BBC News has additional coverage.
Paper Chase is JURIST's real-time legal news service, powered by a team of 30 law student reporters and editors led by law professor Bernard Hibbitts at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. As an educational service, Paper Chase is dedicated to presenting important legal news and materials rapidly, objectively and intelligibly in an accessible, ad-free format. | <urn:uuid:0692ec1a-6f2a-472d-8a93-9162361ff0ff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jurist.org/paperchase/2007/05/uk-court-upholds-right-of-return-for.php | 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 | 0.947148 | 325 | 1.875 | 2 |
The Carbon Capture Report builds on more than a decade of work at the University of Illinois and National Center for Supercomputing Applications (the birthplace of the modern web) leveraging some of the most powerful supercomputers in the world to synthesize the global news media and extract new meaning from it on behalf of industry and government.
There are over 10,000 news clipping services in existence today. Yet, the vast majority of these are technologists applying trendy software techniques without an understanding of how news functions or media services overhyping simplistic approaches.
As electronic news archives become more accessible, technologists are increasingly applying new software techniques, yet lack an understanding in how news functions in order to properly vet their work. In 2009 computer scientists at a top university published a study examining the interaction between the mainstream media and blogosphere. From a computational perspective, the project was extremely novel, using genetic typing algorithms to compute story signatures across a news datastore of tens of millions of articles, requiring algorithmic advances to make computation feasible, and using diffusion modeling to estimate the lead/lag interaction of blogs and mainstream press. Once communications and journalism scholars began exploring the study, however, they recognized a fundamental flaw in its logic: it relied on identifying and tracking the diffusion of "soundbites" across news coverage, making the assumption that every article about a story would use the same soundbite. Yet, journalists are trained to find their own unique angle on each story and to avoid using the same text and soundbites that others have already used, while soundbites are also shortened and permuted over time. Thus, while groundbreaking from a computational standpoint, the study's media findings are limited due to a poor understanding by its authors of how the news ecosystem functions.
Google News, one of the best-known news aggregators, offers basic clustering, organizing news articles from multiple outlets about the same story together. Yet, Google's approach is designed for coarse-scale clustering over the corpus of all news topics on the entire Internet in a given day. All stories about a company's revised efforts to clean up an environmental spill might be grouped together, preventing an analyst from exploring the distinct lineage and trajectory of the myriad substories involved. From the standpoint of all Internet news coverage, Google News' approach is ideal, since it groups content by core themes, but within a more constrained topic such as CCS or nuclear power, those trying to sort through the complexities of a large "metaevent" need the ability to filter coverage at a very fine resolution. Instead of traditional coarse statistical clustering, the Carbon Capture Report relies on sophisticated language models that describe the coverage of each day and use those to identify core "storylines" at very high precision, separating out coverage of a proposed CCS bill in Canada's Senate from one occurring at the same time in the US Senate.
Similarly, seemingly advanced capabilities like "geographic insights" are often far more limited than marketing hype suggests. For example, the "blogosphere geocoding" service offered by one major media monitoring company only involves extracting the author's self-listed location, relying on the standardized author profile formats used on the major blogging platforms and recognizes only major capital city and country references. A random sample of 100 blogs covering the energy sectors that were hosted by the platforms supported by the company's product found that not a single one included geographic information. More importantly, more than 80% of the blogs discussing key energy sectors are not hosted on the core blogging platforms that provide a common geographic format. Thus, applying this company's technology to energy coverage would result in almost no usable geographic information. The Carbon Capture Report, on the other hand, uses a multi-layered approach to geographic information. In addition to using domain records and intelligent machine-learning approaches to automatically examine an outlet or Twitter account for geographic assignment information, it examines the full text of the article or post and uses a hyperlocal global geocoding system (capable of resolving the small city and landmark names often used in local news outlets and blogs) to identify, contextually disambiguate (is it Cairo Egypt or Cairo Illinois), and resolve to geographic lat/long coordinates every locative reference in the text. This uniquely permits the Carbon Capture Report to offer insights into both where coverage is originating and where it is focusing on.
Insights, Not Ad Buys
Finally, even the largest vendors rely primarily on the overall volume of coverage for their core metrics. For example, a typical "influencer" report is based on a rank ordering of the number of stories from each outlet that have gone on to be picked up by other outlets. Such a domain histogram will show that only 24% of New York Times coverage of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) over the past 12 months has been covered elsewhere, while 69% of Oil Week's have. The same story covered in a British paper is far more likely to be picked up in social media than the equivalent story in a United States paper. Such patterns are all that customers of these tools are looking for: they want to know which papers to target with advertising campaigns to help sell their brands.
Few CCS practitioners, climate scientists, or wind power companies are in the market for large advertising campaigns: they are trying to understand the popular perception of their industry at large and predict how coverage will impact them. A simple domain-level histogram, even with a few formulaic twists, may yield insight into the top 10 outlets that tend to have more of their stories go viral (and help guide advertising expenditures), but does little to help understand the broader industry: the average mainstream outlet in CCS accounts for less than five hundredths of a percent of overall coverage, while 84% of CCS coverage comes from outlets that have published less than two articles a month on the subject. To model the news environment in such a field requires far more advanced methodologies. The Carbon Capture Report is leveraging new advances at the University of Illinois on language modeling to develop a model capable in early tests of correctly identifying nearly a third of all coverage each day as having no chance of going viral: helping to filter those articles that won't have a further impact on the media sphere. Network diffusion models being built to understand how news exchange across national borders has changed over the last half-century is being leveraged to model news interchange among energy sector outlets. Finally, actor-based interaction models, developed for business intelligence applications, are being applied to news to extract both structural and semantic (hidden) connections among the people and firms in the field.
By definition, as a research platform used for more than a decade to continually prototype future capabilities for government and industry not available today, there simply aren't commercial toolkits available that provide the same level of capability as the systems in the Carbon Capture Report. Each component of the Carbon Capture Report relies on unique software libraries, methods, and algorithms developed at the University of Illinois.
The Carbon Capture Report uses software algorithms to read through each news article, blog posting, and tweet, and identify mentions of people or organizations. Within the realm of Computer Science, this is known as Information Extraction (IE), or, more specifically, Named Entity Recognition (NER). All current systems use one of two techniques: Lexicons or Statistical Context Models.
Lexicon systems simply use a huge database of all common given names and surnames and search for every capitalized phrase that contains one of these words. Their lexicons are usually built on readily-available databases like the US Census reports and tend to perform adequately on American and Western European names, but fail miserably on African, Asian, and Middle Eastern names. Non-English names are often transliterated when appearing in English text, while lexicons usually include only minimal alternative spellings and so miss most of these. Some augment their lexicons by downloading from Wikipedia or other encyclopedias a list of all people with biography pages, but this only helps with world figures and celebrities.
Statistical Context Models involve rooms full of trained analysts reading through tens of thousands of news articles and highlighting all of the people and companies referenced in the collection. This is then passed to a computer modeling system that builds up statistical tables of which words appear most frequently before and after person names that don't appear as frequently next to other words. For example, "Mr." or "President" tend to appear more commonly in front of a person's name than in front of other words, while "said" or "announced" appear before or after person or company names. Such models can perform well on the material they were originally trained on, but perform less accurately on other material. This is because they often tune more towards the distinct stylisms of the material they were trained with than on language itself: a system trained using New York Times newspaper material will heavily tune itself to the style guidelines of the New York Times and work well for that paper, but more poorly for other papers. Nearly all statistical systems in production today were trained using formal news articles and require sentences with perfect grammatical construction: blogs and Twitter posts, with their more informal writing, tend to fail under such systems.
The Carbon Capture Report uses highly specialized technology developed over 15 years of working with informal material such as emails, newsgroups, social media, and translated news material from across the world. Rather than limited dictionaries or source-specific statistical tables, the Carbon Capture Report system actually "reads" a document the way a human does, using the same cues that people rely on to identify names in text. Incorporating approaches from linguistics, psychology, and neuroscience it actually models the multichannel information transference coding process the brain's language centers undergo when comprehending a document. This information is then used to resolve references to names even in semantically ambiguous cases, much as a human reader does.
Some news services display a map beside each article with a pinpoint using the article's "Byline", which is the city the article originated in. For example, a newswire article filed in Washington DC about Texas energy regulations would have a byline of DC, not Texas. Bylines often don't capture the actual geographic focus of articles and can't reflect articles that discuss several geographic regions (for example, a partnership between Texas and Illinois would only be able to feature one of the states in its byline): such detail is not very informative. To offer true insight into the whole geographic range of an article, the Carbon Capture Report reads the entire article, using machine learning models to automatically identify references to every known city and geographic landmark on planet earth, resolve them down to precise points on a map, and cross-link them to the contents of the article. The Carbon Capture Report is the only news intelligence platform in the world that offers this level of deep geographic insight.
Search engines use a complex formula called a "ranking algorithm" to sort and deliver the most relevant results first. While these algorithms can incorporate thousands of measures of a given page, a key factor in nearly every modern search engine is some form of "score" assigned to each web site that determines how "authoritative" content from that site is considered overall. In Google's PageRank model, sites that are more heavily linked-to are considered more authoritative.
Yet, under all of these systems, each website has only a single score: its relevance to the entire web at large with its billions and billions of web pages and topics. A niche website, no matter how heavily-followed within its topical community, will receive a very low overall score and will be ranked below general-purpose sites when searching.
The Carbon Capture Report introduces the concept of "industry specific site ranks." Instead of a global ranking that attempts to score a site based on its attention within the billions of topics on the web, the Carbon Capture Report ranks each site on its standing within a single industry. Advanced machine learning algorithms continually "learn" about the people, organizations, places, and outlets in each monitored industry and uses this information to map out and model how news flows amongst all of these entities. Constructing massive network models of global news flow, the Carbon Capture Report platform predicts which stories and news outlets are likely to receive further attention and those that have already "resonated" with the industry and develop rankings of news outlets based on their importance within a specific industry, helping users to understand the media landscape and prioritizing the news that is most likely to have an impact. | <urn:uuid:bd444f82-b53c-473d-b153-8bcc1210d8d3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nuclear.carboncapturereport.org/about-technology.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936549 | 2,526 | 2.75 | 3 |
Explanation of Nuclear Reactor Decay Heat
Nuclear reactors produce electricity in a similar way to conventional coal plants in that they heat steam to drive a turbine that spins an electric generator. However, they differ on how that heat is produced. Coal plants burn coal to heat a boiler that produces the steam while nuclear reactors use nuclear fission to create the heat. The Fukushima reactors are boiling water reactors (BWRs) that produce the steam directly in the reactor core, which then drives the turbines.
The heat in an operating reactor is produced mainly by the fission of fissile isotopes such as uranium-235 and plutonium-239. When a neutron causes one of these isotopes to split, a large amount of energy is released, which is then deposited in the fuel, cladding, coolant, and structures. On average, approximately 80% of the energy released in a fission reaction is imparted to the two or more fission products and these deposit their energy in the fuel since they have a very short range. The rest of the energy is released in the form of neutrons, and other forms of radiation.
When there is a SCRAM, where all the control rods are inserted and the reactor is shutdown, the fission reactions essentially stop and the power drops drastically to about 7% of full power in 1 second. The power does not drop to zero because of the radioactive isotopes that remain from the prior fissioning of the fuel. These radioactive isotopes, also called fission products, continue to produce various types of radiation as they decay, such as gamma rays, beta particles, and alpha particles. The decay radiation then deposits most of its energy in the fuel, and this is what is referred to as decay heat. As these radioactive isotopes continue to decay, more and more of them reach a stable state and stop emitting radiation, and thus no longer contribute to the decay heat.
The decay heat must be removed at the same rate it is produced or the reactor core will begin to heat up. The removal of this heat is the function of the various reactor core cooling systems that provide water flow through the reactor core and then reject the heat elsewhere. However, at the Fukushima site the integrity of these systems were compromised by the large tsunami that resulted from the earthquake, and made it difficult for the operators to keep up with removing the decay heat.
The amount of the decay heat expected at various times after shutdown is well known. Below is a figure and a table that show an estimate of the decay heat of Fukushima Units 1-3 in MW as time has progressed since the earthquake. This data is not produced from measured data on the actual reactors at Fukushima, but from using a simplified model that estimates the behavior relatively well. The data is likely to be somewhat conservative, so a more accurate model (i.e. 2005 ANS Standard or ORIGEN simulation) would correctly estimate lower powers.
Approximate reactor decay heat vs. time. The curves begin after the SCRAM of the reactors (complete and rapid control rod insertion) that occurred immediately after the earthquake.
Tabulation of approximate decay heat for the Fukushima reactors from 1 second after the scram caused by the earthquake until 1 year after the event.
|Date/Time (Fukushima Time)||Fukushima Daiichi-1 Decay Heat (MW)||Fukushima Daiichi-2 & 3 Decay Heat (MW)||Percent of Full Reactor Power|
|3/11/11 2:46 PM||89.8||153.1||6.45%|
|3/11/11 2:47 PM||42.5||72.5||3.05%|
|3/11/11 2:48 PM||34.7||59.1||2.49%|
|3/11/11 2:50 PM||29.2||49.8||2.10%|
|3/11/11 3:00 PM||21.9||37.3||1.57%|
|3/11/11 3:30 PM||16.9||28.8||1.21%|
|3/11/11 8:00 PM||10.7||18.2||0.77%|
|3/12/11 8:00 AM||8.0||13.6||0.57%|
|3/12/11 8:00 PM||7.0||11.8||0.50%|
Fukushima unit 1 has an electrical rating of 460 MWe and units 2 and 3 have an electrical rating of 784 MWe. However, due to various thermodynamic and practical constraints, the efficiency of the plants is only about 33%. Therefore, they have thermal ratings (MWth) about 3 times that of the electrical ratings and this thermal energy is the energy that must be removed, and is what is shown in the figure and table above. The decay heat drops off very slowly after about 1 day where the decay power is already below 1% of the operating power of the reactor. After a year the decay power is about 0.06% of the operating power of the reactor.
If the decay heat is not removed then the reactor fuel begins to heat up and undesirable consequences begin as the temperature rises such as rapid oxidation of the zircaloy cladding (~1200C), melting of the cladding (~1850C), and then the fuel (~2400-2860C). | <urn:uuid:7a47f4ca-1bd3-4e52-8bbb-4e26c694d5ac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mitnse.com/2011/03/16/what-is-decay-heat/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=a21ac6eb7c | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927128 | 1,130 | 4.34375 | 4 |
1953: DNA Double Helix
Francis Crick and James Watson described the double helix structure of DNA. By the time Watson and Crick turned their attention to solving the chemical structure of DNA, DNA was known to have the following attributes:
- DNA is made of nucleotides, chemical building blocks made of three parts: a phosphate group that is linked to a deoxyribose sugar, which is in turn linked to one of four nitrogenous bases - adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), or thymine (T). Nucleotides are linked in series into a chain, with phosphate and sugar groups alternating. Phoebus Levene had determined these chemical characteristics.
- In the DNA of any given type of cell, the amount of adenine approximately equals the amount of thymine, while the amount of cytosine approximately equals the amount of guanine. Erwin Chargaff had shown this in 1949.
- X-ray diffraction patterns, obtained by Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins, revealed great symmetry and consistency in the structure of DNA and gave important clues about its dimensions.
Watson and Crick raced to find the structure before anyone else. They were competing with Linus Pauling, who had earlier discovered the alpha-helical structure of some protein molecules. While Watson and Crick were still working on their model, Pauling published a paper suggesting a triple-helical structure for DNA. Others quickly realized that the model was chemically flawed. Watson and Crick used paper cutouts of the bases and metal scraps from a machine shop to come up with their own model.
Their model revealed the following important properties:
- DNA is a double helix, with the sugar and phosphate parts of nucleotides forming the two strands of the helix, and the nucleotide bases pointing into the helix and stacking on top of each other.
- The nucleotide bases use hydrogen bonds to pair specifically, with an A always opposing a T, and a C always opposing a G.
- The two strands of the double helix run in opposite directions.
Their 900-word paper, published in Nature, concluded, famously, "It has not escaped our notice that the specific pairing we have postulated immediately suggests a possible copying mechanism for the genetic material."
Published in Nature
April 25, 1953
Watson, Crick and Wilkins received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1962.
James Watson wrote a personal account of his famous discovery and the people involved: James D. Watson, "The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA". The book, originally published in 1968, has been republished several times.
Last Updated: April 23, 2013 | <urn:uuid:c75d053e-45c7-48d1-91c2-5231bd7f2f1b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.genome.gov/25520255 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956645 | 575 | 4.125 | 4 |
Long Term Effects of Opioids : Chronic Constipation
Severe constipation is one of the long term effects of opioids. This is a issue for the many of opioid users. It can be quite severe. It varies from person to person, and usually dose dependent. More drug=more constipation.
Severe constipation can cause multiple problems. Hemorrhoids can bleed and may require painful surgery. Narcotics slow the gut and food can gather and cause a blocking in the abdomen that requires medical treatment. The possibility of tearing of the bowel from accumulation of feces is present and can be fatal. Severe constipation is very uncomfortable. It may need more medications for its treatment.
Problems with the bladder and urination is another issue. This results in pain and discomfort. Also, severe problems with urination can cause as kidney problems from not going to the restroom and ridding the body of the urine.
Long Term Effects of Opioids : Physical Dependence
What is the difference between physical dependence and addiction? Many drugs cause physical dependence if taken in high enough amount over a period of time. Physical dependence can occur in just a few weeks. A person dependent to a medication does not usually have an addiction to the medication. Physical dependence is the body adjusting to the drug. Once the body makes changes to itself as a result of taking certain drugs, the drug cannot be abruptly stopped or there will be withdrawal symptoms. The medication need slow reduction for a person to get off.
Long Term Effects of Narcotics : Addiction
Falling into addiction is one of the long term effects of opioid use. Despite the publicity, opioid addiction is a problem for a small, but significant minority (around 5% of opioid users). However, when it happens, it is causes a lot of proglems. The person starts using too much of the drug, then they lose their job, and then their families get fed up with the addiction. Over 95% of opioid addicted individuals relapse. It is very difficult to quit once truly addicted.
Once addicted to narcotics, many consider it a long term problems. Some people can recover through detox and therapy. Others will use drugs such a methadone or suboxone to avoid the long term effects of opioid abuse. These medications help people from having to go out and steal the medication or to steal to get money for the medication. One becomes dependent on these opioids under the supervision of a doctor. Patients in these clinic improve greatly with work and the are able to get their family lives together. However, they require long term medication.
For those who uses opioids to get high, stopping breathing in the main fear. This usually happens from opioid overdose. Withdrawal symptoms are short term and can worsen severe medical conditions in unhealthy individuals.
Patients on long term opioid treatment for pain are usually not “addicted.” Most can get off the opioid and won’t steal or find illegal ways to get the opioid once their pain is improved. They will slowly get off the drug under the supervision of their doctor and stop the drug slowly. Those who are addicted to opioids will continue to use. They will use even where there are severe consequences when continuting.
Long Term Effects of Opioids : Hormones
There are other long term effects of opiod abuse on the hormones. A decrease in estrogen, testosterone,, cortisol, leutenizing hormone, and gonadotropin releasing hormone have been found. These decreases can lead to lack of a menstral cycle and osteoporosis for women. In males, one can have erectile dysfunction, decreased sex drive, and lower energy.
More Long Term Effects of Opioids
-Opioids can prolong the Qt interval of the heart. This can cause to irregular rhythms and death. This effect is rare and is usually dose dependent.
-Narcotics can suppress the immune system. This varies among the different opioids. Heroin addicts had been show to have an increase in bacterial infections.
-Opioids cause one sedated and tired. Sedative drugs can impair one’s ability to drive a car and perform certain function the require a lot of coordination. It can interfere with the normal sleep from people falling asleep during the day and different times. Sedative drugs can affect memory and recall.
Hyperalgesia: Patients will start opioids because they are in pain. But chronic use of opioids can actually sensitize the body to feel more pain as one of the long term effects of opioids. This also happens in patients who use the medication as prescrbed. This increased sensitivity to pain make people feel they continue to need the narcotic.
Summary of Long Term Effects of Opioids
There are a number of long term effects of opioids. These are from continuing opiod use. Although constipation is the main side effect, there are other side effects of concern. Opioids can cause hyperalgesia, tiredness, cognitive changes, immune suppression, and cause hormonal alterations. Physical dependence and addiction are also problems. Because of these problems, it is important to use this medication under proper medical supervision.
Suboxone Treatment Directory For Help With The Long Term Effects of Opioids
Dr. Rich is a Board Certified Psychiatrist with licenses in Texas and Hawaii. He specializes in the treatment of opioid addiction with buprenorphine and runs a FREE locator service to find Oxycontin Treament including Suboxone treatment of oxycontin addiction. Suboxone Treatment Center in your area.
Dr. Rich has written more articles on the cost of oxycontin, buprenorphine (Suboxone) including frequently asked questions and a recent post : How Do I Find A Buprenorphine Doctor?
Other related articles to longterm effects of oxyContin abuse:
1. Opioid Complications This pdf discussed complications and side effects of opioids
2. Oxycodone is associated with dose-dependent QTc prolongation : Another technical paper on the hear effects of oxycodone.
3. Long-Term Effects of Opiate Use : From Livestrong | <urn:uuid:a37a6afd-d71c-4d43-af06-9e57836fdbf9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://allaboutsuboxone.com/long-term-effects-of-opioids/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925682 | 1,251 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Physical Therapists (PTs) at Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush work closely with our physicians to help restore a patient's function, improve mobility, and relieve pain. Physical Therapists examine the patient's medical history and then test and measure the patient's strength, range of motion, balance and coordination, posture, muscle performance, respiration, and motor function. They work to develop a treatment plan describing a treatment strategy, its purpose, and its anticipated outcome. The goal is to improve how an individual functions at work and at home.
Treatment often includes exercise for patients who have been immobilized and lack flexibility, strength, or endurance. Our Physical Therapists encourage patients to use their own muscles to increase their flexibility and range of motion before finally advancing to other exercises that improve strength, balance, coordination, and endurance. Physical Therapists also use electrical stimulation, hot packs or cold compresses, and ultrasound to relieve pain and reduce swelling. They may use traction or deep-tissue massage to relieve pain. They also may show patients exercises to do at home to expedite their recovery.
During the course of treatment, Physical Therapists document the patient's progress, conduct periodic examinations, and modify treatments when necessary. Physical Therapists are in constant communication with Midwest physicians to identify areas requiring more or less attention. Physical Therapists are licensed by the state of Illinois. Many also are certified in the specialty of orthopedics.
To learn more about Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush Physical Therapists, click on any of the bio links below, or visit our physical therapy specialty page. | <urn:uuid:9cb6ce14-6e38-4719-8d83-63e606b06046> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rushortho.com/physical_therapists.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937171 | 330 | 1.921875 | 2 |
Open: Open all year Number of Sites with Electric and Water: 30
About: for its pristine condition, this tranquil park borders Pellicer Creek as it winds along Florida's east coast highways down to the Matanzas River. Pellicer Creek is a popular site for birding with more than one hundred bird species seen during spring and fall migrations. Songbirds, including the colorful wood warblers, along with eagles and falcons, return to nest at the park each year. Wading birds, such as egrets, wood storks, white ibis, and herons, feed in the tidal marshes and creeks. This peaceful park is also home to deer, turkeys, hawks, bobcats, and river otters. Fishing, picnicking, and nature walks are popular activities. Pellicer Creek is a designated state canoe trail and visitors can rent canoes at the park. A full-facility campground is available for overnight stays. Located 15 miles south of St. Augustine near the intersection of I-95 and U.S. 1.
The park has 30 campsites located in a shady hardwood hammock with natural vegetation buffers located between most of the sites. Each campsite has water, electricity, an in-ground fire circle with a grill and a picnic table. Hot showers and restrooms with ADA accessible amenities are available. A dump station is located at the campground. Well behaved pets are allowed in the campground.
Maximum RV length = 30 ft.
Reservations: Reservations may be made up to 11 months in advance through ReserveAmerica.
Currently there are no reviews of this campground. | <urn:uuid:5d3bce6f-7efe-4b25-a5e0-75ac49d7e043> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.camping-usa.com/campdetails/15590/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959356 | 338 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Quickbeam, or in Sindarin Bregalad, was one of the younger Ents of Fangorn Forest belonging to the people of Skinbark. His name was given because of uncharacteristic hastiness. He was the first ent to make his mind up at the Entmoot. He sheltered, in his home, the two hobbits, Merry, and Pippin while the other ents made up their minds at the entmoot. The rowan-trees in his keeping (among them Carnimírië, Lassemista, and Orofarnë) suffered greatly at the hands of Saruman's Orcs, and he played a great part in the Ents' resulting attack on Isengard.
The name Quickbeam was given to him because he was hasty for an Ent. His Sindarin name, Bregalad, means "quick (lively) tree", derived from *breg- having to do with "violence, suddenness" and galadh, "tree".
Portrayal in adaptations
2007: The Lord of the Rings Online:
- Quickbeam can be found in a grove in the far eastern side of Nan Curunír.
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, "Treebeard"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "Words, Phrases and Passages in Various Tongues in The Lord of the Rings", in Parma Eldalamberon XVII (edited by Christopher Gilson), p. 82
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "Nomenclature of The Lord of the Rings" in Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (eds), The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, p. 762 | <urn:uuid:9ed2ae30-6289-464d-8a2f-603c8414042d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Quickbeam&oldid=218302 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925058 | 375 | 1.992188 | 2 |
||This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2011)|
Postmodern Christianity is any form of Christianity which has been influenced by postmodern philosophy. Although it is a relatively recent development within Christianity, some Christian postmodernists assert that their style of thought has an affinity with foundational Christian thinkers such as Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas, and famed Christian mystics such as Meister Eckhart and Angelus Silesius.
In addition to Christian theology, postmodern Christianity has its roots in post-Heideggerian continental philosophy, developed ca. 1960s to present. Some people eschew the label "postmodern Christianity" because the meaning of the term "postmodern" is frequently debated, even between those who use the label. Therefore some say it has almost no determinate meaning and, in the United States, serves largely to symbolize an emotionally charged battle of ideologies. Moreover, such alleged postmodern heavyweights as Jacques Derrida and Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe have refused to operate under a so-called postmodern rubric, preferring instead to specifically embrace a single project stemming from the European Enlightenment and its precursors. Nevertheless, postmodern Christianity and its constituent schools of thought continue to be relevant.
Liberal Christianity
Liberal Christianity, sometimes called liberal theology, has an affinity with certain current forms of postmodern Christianity, although postmodern thought was originally a reaction against mainstream Protestant liberalism. Liberal Christianity is an umbrella term covering diverse, philosophically informed movements and moods within 19th and 20th century Christianity.
Despite its name, liberal Christianity has always been thoroughly protean. The word "liberal" in liberal Christianity does not necessarily refer to a leftist political agenda but rather to insights developed during the Enlightenment. Generally speaking, Enlightenment-era liberalism held that humans are political creatures and that liberty of thought and expression should be among the highest human values. The development of liberal Christianity owes much to the works of philosophers Immanuel Kant and Friedrich Schleiermacher. Overall, liberal Christianity is a product of a continuing philosophical dialogue.
In the 19th century, self-identified liberal Christians sought to elevate Jesus' humane teachings as a standard for a world civilization freed from cultic traditions and traces of "pagan" belief in the supernatural. As a result, liberal Christians placed less emphasis on miraculous events associated with the life of Jesus than on his teachings. The effort to remove "superstitious" elements from Christian faith dates to intellectual reformist Christians such as Erasmus and the Deists in the 15th–17th centuries. The debate over whether a belief in miracles was mere superstition or essential to accepting the divinity of Christ constituted a crisis within the 19th-century church, for which theological compromises were sought.
The Jefferson Bible, or The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth as it is formally titled, was Thomas Jefferson's effort to extract the doctrine of Jesus by removing sections of the New Testament containing supernatural aspects as well as perceived misinterpretations he believed had been added by the Four Evangelists.
Many 20th century liberal Christians have been influenced by philosophers Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger. Examples of important liberal Christian thinkers are Rudolf Bultmann and John A.T. Robinson.
Christian existentialism
Christian existentialism is a form of Christianity that draws extensively from the writings of Søren Kierkegaard. Kierkegaard initiated the school of thought when he reacted against Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's claims of universal knowledge and what he deemed to be the empty formalities of the 19th century church. Christian existentialism places an emphasis on the undecidability of faith, individual passion, and the subjectivity of knowledge.
Although Kierkegaard's writings weren't initially embraced, they became widely known at the beginning of the 20th century. Later Christian existentialists synthesized Kierkegaardian themes with the works of thinkers such as Friedrich Nietzsche, Walter Benjamin, and Martin Buber.
Paul Tillich, Lincoln Swain, Gabriel Marcel, and John Macquarrie are examples of leading Christian existentialist writers, building upon a legacy of neo-orthodox thinkers like Karl Barth and Emil Brunner, who similarly disdained the propositionalism of traditionalist Protestantism.
Continental philosophical theology
|This section does not cite any references or sources. (January 2011)|
Continental philosophical theology is the most recent form of postmodern Christianity. The movement was fueled heavily by the slew of notable post-Heideggerian philosophers that appeared on the continent in the 1970s and 1980s. Groundbreaking works such as Jean-Luc Marion's God Without Being and John D. Caputo's The Prayers and Tears of Jacques Derrida ushered in the era of continental philosophical theology.
Radical orthodoxy
Radical orthodoxy is a style of theology that seeks to examine classic Christian writings and related Neoplatonic texts from a contemporary, philosophically continental perspective. The movement finds in writers such as Augustine of Hippo and Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite valuable sources of insight and meaning relevant to modern society and Christianity at large.
Hermeneutics of religion
The hermeneutics of religion is another form of continental philosophical theology. The system of hermeneutic interpretation developed by Paul Ricœur has heavily influenced the school of thought. A central theme in the hermeneutics of religion is that God exists outside the confines of the human imagination. Richard Kearney is a prominent advocate of the movement.
Non-dogmatic theology (weak theology)
Weak theology is a manner of thinking about theology from a deconstructive point of view. The style of thought owes a debt to Jacques Derrida, especially in light of his idea of a "weak force." Weak theology is weak because it takes a non-dogmatic, perspectival approach to theology. Proponents of weak theology believe that dominant contemporary explications of theology are inherently ideological, totalizing, and militant. In response, weak theology expresses itself through acts of interpretation.
According to Caputo, the distinctive reinterpretive act of weak theology has resulted in the notion of the weakness of God. In the body of thought, the paradigm of God as an overwhelming physical or metaphysical force is regarded as mistaken. The old God-of-power is displaced with the idea of God as an unconditional claim without force. As a claim without force, the God of weak theology does not physically or metaphysically intervene in nature. Weak theology emphasizes the responsibility of humans to act in this world here and now. Because God is thought of as weak and as a call, weak theology places an emphasis on the "weak" human virtues of forgiveness, hospitality, openness, and receptivity. In each of these virtues, a metaphoric "power of powerlessness" is at work.
John D. Caputo and Gianni Vattimo have recently completed works that further develop the idea of a weak theology. Earlier, liberation theologians such as Jurgen Moltmann also dealt with concepts such as the kenotic, or self-emptying nature of God in Christ.
Leading thinkers
|This section does not cite any references or sources. (April 2012)|
Important influences
See also
- Burton L. Mack, The Lost Gospel: The Book of Q and Christian Origins (HarperCollins, 1993), p. 29 online.
- Linda Woodhead, "Christianity," in Religions in the Modern World (Routledge, 2002), pp. 186 online and 193.
- The Making of American Liberal Theology: Imagining Progressive Religion 1805–1900, edited by Gary J. Dorrien (Westminster John Knox Press, 2001), passim, search miracles.
||This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. (January 2011)|
- Riggs, John W. Postmodern Christianity: Doing Theology in the Contemporary World. Trinity Press International, 2003. ISBN 978-1-56338-364-9
Further reading
- Caputo, John D. (2004). "Jacques Derrida (1930–2004)", Journal of Cultural and Religious Theory, Vol. 6, No. 1, December 2004.
- Caputo, John D. The Weakness of God: A Theology of the Event. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-253-34704-1
- Caputo, John D. What Would Jesus Deconstruct?: The Good News of Postmodernity for the Church. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007.
- Engel, Ulrich (2001). "Religion and Violence: Plea for a 'weak' theology in tempore belli", New Blackfriars, Vol. 82, No. 970, pp. 558–560, December 2001.
- Heltzel, Peter G. (2006). "The Weakness of God: A Review of John D. Caputo's The Weakness of God: A Theology of the Event", Journal of Cultural and Religious Theory, Vol. 7, No. 2, Spring/Summer 2006.
- Raschke, Carl (2006). "The Weakness of God... and of Theological Thought for that Matter", Journal of Cultural and Religious Theory, Vol. 8, No. 1, Winter 2006.
- Smith, James K.A. Who's Afraid of Postmodernism?: Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to Church. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006.
- Swain, Lincoln The Why People: Faith, False Prophets and End Times Detroit: Atomic Quill Press, 2011. | <urn:uuid:d3e5b514-5c55-42ea-bc09-ade4e3243bb0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodern_theology | 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 | 0.907123 | 2,000 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Sun February 17, 2013
Happy Birthday To Income Taxes
JACKI LYDEN, HOST:
Well, it may not be the happiest of anniversaries, but get out the candles anyway. This month marks the 100th anniversary of the American income tax.
Joining us to talk about a century of the tax we all love to hate is Joe Thorndike. He has a pretty exotic job: tax historian. He's just written a book called "Their Fair Share: Taking the Rich in the Age of FDR." He's also the director of the Tax History Project. Joe, thanks for joining us.
JOE THORNDIKE: Thanks for having me.
LYDEN: Are you the guy that everyone wants to sit next to at a dinner party?
THORNDIKE: You know, that's very funny because I tell people it's the worst career to have for a dinner party.
THORNDIKE: It's the worst combination of that high school class that you really hated and April 15th. You know, it's just not good.
LYDEN: You know, it's been said that some of what we think about in terms of the income tax today, even at the inception of the income tax back in 1861 that it was born of war and inequality.
THORNDIKE: What's driving the income tax when it first appears in the U.S. is a quest for two things, for money. Wars have a way of making that pressing. But it's also born of a desire to make the tax system more fair.
LYDEN: Then, of course, taxes were considered to be temporary, and it wasn't until 1913 the 16th Amendment is passed and the income tax is permanent.
THORNDIKE: Right. The one that they enact during the Civil War only lasts about 10 years and then they let it expire. And they go back to this revenue system that's all based on import taxes and then on a couple of taxes on, you know, sin products, on alcohol and tobacco and that sort of thing. And that's the only way they really raised money up until 1913.
LYDEN: So in 1913, what was the tax law? It wasn't necessarily to bring in a ton of money, I guess.
THORNDIKE: It was really driven by this existing tax structure with all of these taxes on consumption, that this was unfair, that these were regressive and they fell most heavily on poor people. And there was a growing movement that said we've got to find a new tax that'll sort of balance the scales a little more effectively. That was the income tax.
LYDEN: The high tax rate for most of the 1950s after World War II was over 90 percent. Who was paying this very high tax?
THORNDIKE: The history of the top rate is really very interesting. You know, the first top rate in 1913 is 7 percent. But only five years later, the top rate was 77 percent, thanks to World War I. Well, much the same thing happens again. During the war, it tops at 94 percent. And I think what I think was really surprising about that number, not just that it's so high, but it's so durable.
So you think, OK, that's the Democrats. But what's amazing is that, you know, numbers over 90 percent lasts all the way through the 1950s, all the way through Eisenhower's presidency, all the way through a Republican Congress in the 1950s for a couple of years.
LYDEN: Why were the taxes so high, by the way?
THORNDIKE: They're high during World War II because they need a lot of money quickly. They stay high in the 1950s because Dwight Eisenhower really is a fiscal conservative, really does want to limit deficits and then even retire debt. And so he's unwilling to compromise too much. But at the same time, you had the Democrats who have a fondness for high rates, then as now. And those two things combined kept the rates pretty high.
What's interesting again in a sort of surprising turn of events is it takes a Democrat to actually lower the rates, and that happens in the 1960s under John Kennedy who comes in and says, wow, you know, these rates, they really are ridiculous. We got to bring them down. And that'll encourage growth and make for a healthy economy. And so in the early '60s, they do bring them down to, you know, about 70 percent.
LYDEN: At its onset, were Americans tolerant to the notion of income tax? Has our mentality about the tax changed?
THORNDIKE: We say we don't like it now and we say we don't like it for all the same reasons they didn't like it in 1913 either. Very quickly, the tax got the bad rap that it has today of being complicated and intrusive and unfair. Those same complaints were being made in the 19 teens. So I think the real puzzle here is, well, we hate it now theoretically, we hated it then. Why do we still have it 100 years later?
The tax does two things really quite well. It does the most important thing that a tax has to do. It raises money. It raises money pretty efficiently and pretty quickly. The second thing it does well is that it comports with our notion of what's fair. You look at what people say about the income tax. They're not thrilled with it, but they do believe that progressive income taxes are reasonably fair. The fairness of this tax combined with its productivity as a revenue device, those two things really make for a tax that lasts 100 years.
LYDEN: At the risk of being characterized as a Washington (unintelligible), I think you would be a fascinating dinner party companion.
THORNDIKE: Well, I'm glad you think so.
LYDEN: Joe Thorndike is the director of the Tax History Project and the author of "Their Fair Share: Taxing the Rich in the Age of FDR." We're talking about the 100th anniversary of the American income tax. Joe Thorndike, thank you.
THORNDIKE: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR. | <urn:uuid:ea313e9f-c1d1-4c22-b735-22afe0c95983> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wkyufm.org/post/happy-birthday-income-taxes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982028 | 1,308 | 2.125 | 2 |
Andre Carson, Representative (D) from Indiana and member of the Congressional Black Caucus, must think that the call for less incendiary rhetoric was for ye and not for he:
[Carson] said at a CBC event in Miami that some in Congress would “love to see us as second-class citizens” and “some of them in Congress right now of this tea party movement would love to see you and me … hanging on a tree.”
Note that Carson is not just accusing Tea Party members of wanting to lynch black people. He’s accusing some of his (unnamed) Congressional colleagues of wanting to lynch black people.
One might think such remarks would result in a call for Congressional censure, but I wouldn’t sit on a hot stove till that happened. Nor am I expecting Carson to apologize or take back his remarks in any way; so far his office says he stands by them.
An interesting background item on Carson is that he was one of the legislators who claimed in March of 2010 that he and other black members of Congress were called the n-word by some Tea Party demonstrators, an allegation that remains unsubstantiated by the many videos taken of the incident. Nevertheless, the accusation was highly effective in branding Tea Party activists as racists. But perhaps not effective enough for Carson. | <urn:uuid:05b72019-c881-4855-b72c-e8cc9b5751bb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://neoneocon.com/2011/08/31/andre-carson-plays-the-mega-race-card/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98501 | 272 | 1.539063 | 2 |
The Illinois State Board of Education has partnered with ACT to provide access to ACT Online Prep™ to public high schools in Illinois at no cost to the school or district.
What this means for District 201 is that our students have free access to this Web-based application that helps them prepare for taking the ACT. Here's what you will find in the ACT Online Prep™ program:
• Practice tests with real ACT test questions
• Practice essays for the new optional ACT Writing Test, with real-time scoring
• Comprehensive content review for each of the ACT's four required tests—English, Math, Reading, and Science
• Diagnostic test and personalized Study Path
• Anywhere, anytime access via the Internet
Instructions for using the ACT Online Prep™ program have been e-mailed to students and are also available by following the Resources, Students, Instructions & Tutorials link on the school website and opening the How to Access ACT Online Prep document. | <urn:uuid:424ec3f0-d4d5-4db3-9583-c9820d793a67> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bths201.org/index.php/benews/991-beactonlineprep | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92609 | 194 | 1.796875 | 2 |
FOURTH in the series "Strong warnings about climate change."
Americans heard a lot about extreme weather last year. By a wide margin, 2012 was the hottest year on record throughout the United States.
Multimillions of us lived through a succession of natural disasters. The weather made big news all over the world's media. But although much of the extreme weather of 2012 implicated climate change in some way, the underlying climate story rarely accompanied the bad weather story in the United States. Finally, near the end of the year, Americans began to shake off the lethargy of previous decades. The majority began to demand serious answers.
"Let's talk about the weather..."
The havoc of 2012 began with the pleasant diversion of an early warm spring. It thrilled joggers in Chicago and the Twin Cities but greatly disrupted flowering and fruiting schedules throughout the nation. "Derecho" became a household word in July as one huge swath of violent thunderstorms ravaged seven hundred miles from the midwest to the mid-Atlantic states.
Record summertime heat led to widespread drought and crop failure throughout the plains and to punishing wildfires, especially in the tinder-dry west. Damaging hurricanes paved the way for Superstorm Sandy--seemingly the last straw--in the fall. To date, the drought and Sandy are vying for the title of America's most costly weather damage in 2012, each well over $50 billion, conceivably more.
2012's weather dismayed everyone else on the planet as well. The World Meteorological Organization noted unprecedented high temperatures, melting at both poles, and a record loss of Arctic sea ice. Typhoons, tsunamis, floods, and large earthquakes dominated world weather news all year.
Paradoxically, during the two-week international summit in Qatar about climate change, the forceful typhoon Bopha hit the Philippines, causing widespread flooding, and Japan had a powerful earthquake near Fukushima that led to another tsunami alert.
This January, Australia is continuing to suffer its hottest-ever meteorological summer, with temperatures in the worst-hit areas too high for gasoline pumps to work. Parts of China, meanwhile, are breaking records for cold.
Media inattention and limits on national awareness
Until recently, we have heard very little detail about the ongoing crises of climate change from the print or broadcast media. Only within the past few months have many journalists begun to link underlying climate change with early symptoms that may be observed in bad weather.
In 2000, Max Boykoff and Maria Mansfield, his colleague at Oxford University, began tracking coverage of climate change in world newspapers month by month. Dr. Boykoff continues his work with Ami Nacu-Schmidt at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, where he is now a Fellow and affiliated with the University of Colorado, Boulder. (See adaptation of Boykoff's seminal graph in earlier article.)
Boykoff's conclusion about the past 12 years: coverage of climate change has been low, considering its importance, spiking only in 2001, 2006-7, 2009, and 2012. The first peak marked environmentalist and popular vote winner Vice President Al Gore's concession to George W. Bush for the U.S. presidency. Gore's defeat, the Bush camp's preference of industrial over environmental goals, and growing anti-science sentiment and climate change denialism sparked by politicians like Senator Jim Inhofe began a five-year-long drop in Boykoff's media index.
By 2006, when popular opinion and media attention had flagged, 68% of world scientists believed in the threat of global warming. The more evidence accumulated over the years, the more researchers agreed. At that time, the discoveries that convinced two-thirds of the scientific community about human-caused climate change came from long-term ground-level temperature measurements, reanalysis of tropospheric temperatures, measurements of ocean temperatures over time at different depths, and global atmospheric and ocean circulation models, all tough subjects for media and popular comprehension.
Al Gore's New York Times #1 bestseller and film, An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It, briefly reignited interest in the topic in 2006-7. However, Gore's earnest, dogged pursuit of the issue and its intense popularity with the untried younger generation allowed the climate change deniers, by this time solidly established in American politics, to add derision of the "failed" politician to their negative portrayals of climate science.
Americans worried about the severity of Hurricane Katrina, but few made the leap to changes in climate as a contributor to the worst hurricane ever. Neither did politicians, into their sixth year of the Bush administration and perceiving the fierceness of climate change denial. Their mouths shut tight on a vital issue of the day.
Media interest in climate change appeared to peak highest in 2009, the year when the Environmental Protection Agency released its monumental finding that greenhouse gases from power generation, among other major industrial sources, are a major air pollutant that can endanger health and the environment. EPA's mission did not include popularizing the discovery, however. Rather, the agency immediately had to address the failures of industry to comply with the requirements of the Clean Air Act.
Though the consequences of the announcement had enormous potential impact on EPA and industry, the subject of climate change still did not resonate with the American public. Washington had just fingered anthropogenesis as a major cause of global warming. The EPA investigation and finding should have given new vigor to U.S. efforts to understand and limit climate change.
Instead, EPA itself became a target for denialist politicians and copycat journalists. "Climategate" made the headlines, with anti-scientists ridiculing rising scholars like Michael E. Mann and even frustrating their productivity in time-consuming and ultimately fruitless investigations.
Interest in the subject waned again, even further, after the disappointing stalemate at the 2009 UN climate talks in Copenhagen. Boykoff's media index sank back to levels experienced three years earlier, in 2006. There it stayed, despite increasing protestations from the scientific community, until 2012's wildfires, monsoons, floods, hurricanes, and Superstorm Sandy became difficult to ignore and started pushing it back up toward the end of the year.
Problems inherent within American media coverage
Journalists have not been deterred only by twists of history, sporadic public attention, and political obfuscation from covering climate change. Other causes peculiar to modern reporting--in newspapers, television, and social media--have greatly influenced the American perception of climate change. These range from pressure on correspondents, complacency, incomplete understanding, shoddy research and presentation, incomprehensible ivory tower sources, and distorted notions of "fair balance," to the very nature of science and journalism.
NEXT: Climate change coverage in the print media
RELATED CLIMATE REPORTS by this author:
- Climate change: No longer "for geeks only"
- "Climategate" and assorted dirty tricks, 2009-2013
- Two decades, no progress with Reagan's climate change plans
- Strong warnings about climate change
- Climate change: One important thrust of the Inaugural Address
- Energy in America: Whither 2013?
- "Small is beautiful" best outcome for UN climate change talks?
- International climate summit today: Warming higher than expected
- Obama speaks on natural disaster, climate change, and energy policy
- Presidential election outcomes for energy and the environment
- Election 2012: Who wins on energy issues?
- The major election issue is NOT the economy, immigration, or jobs
Award-winning science writer Sandy Dechert recently covered environmental and energy issues raised during and since the 2012 presidential election. She also reported events at the recently concluded 18th UN climate change summit meeting in Doha, Qatar. Other work has included investigations into solar, wind, biomass, large and small hydroelectric, geothermal, and conventional energy forms and a focus on extreme weather disasters over the past few years.
If this article interests you, please "like" it, share or tweet, and/or send me a question or comment! To keep up with the most current news from science writer Sandy Dechert, "like" my facebook page, or click "Subscribe" here and Examiner will email you when I publish new articles. All pictures and quotations here remain the property of their respective owners. To repost this report in part or completely, contact the author for a swift response at email@example.com. Tweet @sandydec for updates. Thanks for reading! | <urn:uuid:ee39247e-0745-4478-a530-2aca38a1f20a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.examiner.com/article/the-barely-spoken-state-of-world-climate-after-year-2000?cid=rss | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941131 | 1,767 | 3.265625 | 3 |
Nancy is a good country girl. Like her sister (see Priscilla's "Character Analysis"), she's been brought up to be useful. The citified Miss Gunns sneer at her hands, which "bore the traces of butter-making, cheese-crushing, and even still coarser work" (1.11.9), but Nancy is not ashamed of her competence or her country speech. She lives by an "unalterable little code" (2.17.26), which governs her moralistic but just approach toward life. She has high expectations of herself, and she expects equally upright behavior from her surroundings.
When we first meet Nancy, she's worried about her upcoming run-in with Godfrey:
It was very painful, when you had made it quite clear to a young man that you were determined not to marry him, however much he might wish it, that he would still continue to pay you marked attentions; besides, why didn't he always show the same attentions, if he meant them sincerely, instead of being so strange as Mr Godfrey Cass was, sometimes behaving as if he didn't want to speak to her, and taking no notice of her for weeks and weeks, and then, all on a sudden, almost making love again? (1.11.1)
This little interior monologue actually tells us a lot about Nancy. First of all, she's not quite honest with herself. She says that she's "determined not to marry" Godfrey, which might suggest that she doesn't like him. Except she goes on to wonder why he pays attention to her sometimes and then totally ignores her the next day—exactly as if she is in love with him, after all.
If she's in love with him, then, why won't she marry him? He lives "a bad life" (1.11.2) that doesn't stand up to her expectations. When Godfrey seems to be heading down the wrong path, she holds herself away from him, hinting as directly as she can that she doesn't want to marry a man whose behavior can't be trusted or relied upon: "it 'ud be better," she says, "if no change was wanted" to his behavior (1.11.87).
That's a reasonable expectation, but Nancy has some funny ideas. She believes, for example, that sisters should be dressed alike (actually fairly common in the 19th-century), and she promises that she'd say the same even if Priscilla insisted on something hideous, for "who shouldn't dress alike if it isn't sisters? Would you have us go about looking as if we were no kin to one another—us that have got no mother and not another sister in the world" (1.11.22). The problem is that, while Nancy looks pretty in anything, Priscilla is, in her own words, "ugly" (1.11.13). It would be easy to suspect Nancy of being a little mean—or, as the narrator says, of having a little "malicious contrivance" (1.1..26)—but she's not at all. She really does want to dress the same as Priscilla, because that's what she believes sisters should do.
This same code means that she devotes herself to Godfrey exactly as a wife should, but it also means that she can't even allow him to adopt Eppie. As she thinks to herself, she had been "forced to vex him" by refusing to adopt Eppie. It's weird to use the word "forced," because of course she wasn't really forced—she simply refused.
It's hard to figure out exactly what the narrator thinks of Nancy. When Part 2 opens, we learn that Nancy has held up pretty well over the years:
The firm yet placid mouth, the clear veracious glance of the brown eyes, speak now of a nature that has been tested and has kept its highest qualities; and even the consume, with its dainty neatness and purity, has more significance now the coquetries of youth can have nothing to do with it. (2.16.2)
At the same time, Nancy's rigidity is almost OCD: "the very pins on her pincushion were stuck in after a pattern from which she was careful to allow no aberration" (1.11.9). And she's definitely superstitious, so much so that that she'll give up an errand "if, on three successive times, rain, or some other cause of Heaven's sending, had formed an obstacle" (2.17.27).
Although she's a little more sophisticated, Nancy is as superstitious and, in her own way, as resistant to change as Silas. In fact, like Silas, she doesn't change much over the course of the novel. Godfrey grows up, but Nancy just gets older. | <urn:uuid:afaca6bb-6657-4a8f-9dac-6be4f28edcad> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.shmoop.com/silas-marner/nancy-lammeter.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987931 | 1,025 | 1.84375 | 2 |
This past Friday, Myles Bakke led the Arb Naturalists and members of Dan O’Brien’s “Writing the Great Plains” class on a sort of murder mystery tour of the Arb. In the prairie near the flood-plain forest we found the femur (hip ball and socket joint) and lower leg bones of a deer. It was most likely hit by a car, and then stumbled into the Arb. But that was not the end of the story. The approximate age of the deer could be determined; Myles held up the femur bone and lifted the rounded cap off, demonstrating that this had been a young deer because the bone had not been fully fused. Yet there was still more to be discovered: the cap of the back leg was covered in jagged bone growths caused by a broken leg that never fully healed. Unfortunately, it appeared that the deer had been limping around for several months before being hit. At this point, Myles said he wished there were wolves or larger predators in the arb- although “nothing out here dies with a quilt tucked up under its chin”, at least a wolf would take out a sick or injured animal. Although it was a sad sight, it was fascinating to realize how much could be determined by the deer’s bones, which until recently had been covered by plants and snow.
Another mystery was uncovered near the big burr oak along the opposite edge of the prairie. Beneath the edge of a long limb, Miles pointed out a flat, wide bone, that almost resembled a turtle shell. It was part of a carp skeleton which suggested that the bird that ate it must have been fairly large. The estimate about the predator’s size was further corroborated by a funny-looking hooked bone: the wishbone of a duck! Based on the size of this prey, and the fact that it perched far away from the trunk, Miles suspected that it was the favorite perch of a Bald Eagle! So next time you’re headed into the Arb, keep your eye on those burr oaks! And, if you’re feeling adventurous, or ready to uncover some mysteries, maybe take a meander through some of the burned areas.
-Jasmine Cutter (and Emma Rapperport), '13 Cole Student Naturalists | <urn:uuid:78cf4782-eb6d-4cfc-afcf-9f64f340a86c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://apps.carleton.edu/campus/arb/programs/student_naturalists/arbtalk/?story_id=737075 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979228 | 484 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Disaccharides do not cross intact gastrointestinal mucosa to any appreciable extent unless there is damage to the epithelium. Furthermore, since sucrose is rapidly broken down in the small intestine, the absorption of intact sucrose implies damage to proximal epithelium. We have reported that measurement of sucrose permeability detects gastric damage in animals. Whilst such a non-specific test could not replace endoscopy, it might represent a clinically useful technique to identify patients who would benefit from endoscopy. 189 patients underwent endoscopy and assessment of sucrose permeability to evaluate the effectiveness of increased sucrose permeability in the prediction of endoscopic findings. The endoscopist was blinded to results of the sucrose assay. Gastric damage, particularly ulcers and severe gastritis, was successfully detected with this technique. Increased sucrose permeability, however, did not reliably detect mild gastritis, oesophagitis, or duodenal disease. The sensitivity of the test for gastric ulceration was 84% and specificity in predicting an abnormal endoscopy was 96%. Measurement of sucrose permeability is a simple way of screening for gastric damage. It has a sensitivity similar to that for upper gastrointestinal radiology and provides a new way to effectively screen large populations at risk of gastric damage.
GI Research Group, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Correspondence to: Dr Jon B Meddings, 1705 Health Sciences Centre, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta T2N 4N1, Canada | <urn:uuid:8a6e3355-18fb-4293-a538-286df698466a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(94)90125-2/abstract | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917544 | 325 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr. and Boston College
virtual exhibit spring 2002 - burns library
Education was important to the O'Neill family. His brother William O'Neill attended Holy Cross College and later went to Harvard Law School on a scholarship. He would later enjoy a career as a lawyer, a judge and assistant attorney general. Tip's sister Mary (O'Neill) Mulcahy started teaching at the young age of seventeen. Ultimately, she would become the first female principal of the Cambridge Public School System.
After graduating from St. John's High School in 1931, O'Neill did not immediately set his sights on college. He got a job driving a truck for a construction company. Three dollars a day seemed like good money for a young man during the Great Depression. He worked six days a week and socialized with friends at Barry's Corner at night. In his autobiography, O'Neill credits Sister Agatha, one of the nuns at St. John's, for giving him the encouragement needed to go to college. She saw him driving the truck and could not believe it. Sister Agatha said "Thomas, you should be going to college to make something of yourself." She knew that he was not a star pupil but thought that he had potential for more than truck driving and loafing around with his friends at Barry's Corner. After some makeup courses at Boston College High School (Latin courses), O'Neill entered Boston College in the Fall of 1932. Pictured here is O'Neill's photograph from the 1936 Sub Turri yearbook.
Pictured to the right is an aerial photograph of Boston College from the 1930s. Boston College was founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus and its students were primarily the children of immigrants (mostly, but not exclusively, young men of Irish-Catholic descent) excluded from the Brahmin-dominated private colleges and universities. In 1913, the institution moved from Boston's South End to Chestnut Hill in Newton, Massachusetts (near the Boston city line). It was a commuter school and most students came to school by public transportation. The college was much smaller than today; there were only 2649 full and part-time students enrolled in 1935-1936 school year. In a 1991 interview, O'Neill recalled that "the school was small, and everybody knew each other...Everything was walk-on, you know, there were no dorms. Actually, we were only in three buildings. St. Mary's Hall was the chapel...Everyone loved it-it was small, it was intimate, it was chummy."
O'Neill faced a challenging and rigorous education (a classical curriculum with required coursework in Greek, Latin, mathematics, history, English, and theology that left little room for electives). However, he found time for extracurricular activities and was a member of the Sodality, Von Pastor Historical Society, and the Law Academy. During his senior year, O'Neill was elected Sergeant at Arms of this organization. He also rowed and captained the crew team and was a member of the fencing team. O'Neill's most significant extracurricular activity took place outside of the classroom: he ran for a seat on the Cambridge City Council. Of the forty-eight candidates running for eight seats, O'Neill finished ninth, not bad for a college senior. It was the only election that he ever lost.
Football was a big part of Boston College life during the thirties and Fordham University was the team to beat. In 1933 and 1935, O'Neill's sophomore and senior years, Boston College students traveled to New York in great numbers to watch the contest. O'Neill and his buddies drove to New York in his old Ford convertible. Alas, Boston College lost 32 to 6. However, the boys had fun throwing water bags out of their hotel in Times Square until the hotel detective ordered them to stop or be kicked out. His senior yearbook reported that the 1933 Fordham trip was the "most memorable incident in O'Neill's college career" and "he was one of the most prominent (vociferously) members of the Boston College Club of Cambridge." In 1935, O'Neill and his friends again journeyed to New York City. The excitement of the game is captured in a detail of the Heights (the Boston College student paper) to the left. Alas, Boston College lost again; this time the score was 19 to 0. The postgame hi-jinks of 1933 graduated to the more sophisticated activity of listening to the Eddy Duchin Orchestra at the Plaza Hotel.
Thomas O'Neill and two hundred forty-eight other undergraduates finished the necessary requirements and graduated on Wednesday, June 10, 1936 at four o'clock in the afternoon. The cover of his commencement program is reproduced to the left. The Hon. Michael MacWhite, Ireland's "Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary" gave the keynote address and was awarded a honorary Doctor of Laws. His senior class voted O'Neill "Class Politician" and "Class Caveman." The yearbook reported that he planned to "keep active in politics until he is mayor of Cambridge." The editors also noted that O'Neill was barely defeated in his election and he was "more confident of success in the next." Little did they know, the next election was just around the corner.
Photo Credits: University Archives, Burns Library, Boston College | <urn:uuid:2220b923-d019-4dd3-af26-f111804fa47f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bc.edu/content/bc/libraries/about/exhibits/burnsvirtual/oneill/3.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985657 | 1,107 | 3.0625 | 3 |
Despite steady progress on achievement and graduation rates, big gaps remain.
Earlier this month Ted Kolderie, Education Evolving, addressed state charter school leaders. He made six important points:
1. The need for innovation. Ted notes that “Today’s dominant strategy –theory of action–has accepted the givens of traditional school; bets the nation can reach its goals by adding accountability, standards, measurement and consequences.” The dominant mindset is improvement—just do it better.
“Chartering started out to create an R&D sector, but then turned to a similar effort to do traditional school better.” He points to scaling of ‘no-excuses’ charters in 2003 as the end of innovation in the charter sector.
2. Our difficulty in getting innovation. Ted points to Clayton Christensen’s distinction between sustaining innovation that improves an existing model and disruptive innovation that departs from the givens of the existing model.
Ted argues that innovation is being suppressed by the notion that ‘reform’ has to be a comprehensive transformation politically engineered and a “reverence for research.” Insisting that all change be “evidence-based,” while it helps with improvement, blocks off the innovation that introduces the truly different.
3. The danger in failing to innovate. “The current debate is just not commensurate to the scale of the challenge we face. Almost all the ideas currently on the mainstream table leave the basic structure of American schooling fundamentally unchanged,” Ted quotes The Futures of School Reform (Meta, Schwartz, Hess). “Given the scope of the problem these incremental reforms will not bring about the better schools we want. If we keep doing what we’re doing, we’re never going to get there.”
“A one-bet strategy is a risk,” said Kolderie. “It is not a necessary risk to be taking, since we could at the same time be running multiple strategies. And since it is not a necessary risk to be taking it is not an acceptable risk to be taking, with the nation’s future and with other people’s children.”
4. A new theory of action: innovation-based systemic reform. Ted proposes a ‘split-screen’ approach of allowing new models of education to emerge. “Early-adopters pick up the new, however primitive. Those who prefer the traditional may stay with the traditional, but may not suppress the innovative for those who do want that. Over time, as the new models improve, more people switch. At some point the curves cross; a transition is completed.”
5. So: what do the states and the national government do? “It is time now for the states to create an innovation sector that will ask schools to design and test alternatives to the givens of traditional school.” Ted suggests experimentation in six areas:
- Age-grading: students progressing at their own pace.
- Whole-class instruction: the personalization that digital learning provides.
- The role of teachers: diverse roles including teacher led schools.
- The definition of achievement: an analysis that tests the full range of knowledge and skills.
- Instruction, as the way students learn: free to test other approaches to learning and other sites for learning.
- The ‘boundaries’ of school: start at age three and move those college-ready students at 16 into college.
6. What role does the charter sector play? When Ted helped write the nation’s first charter bill in 1991 it created a window for innovation, but Ted argues “Chartering has drafted away from innovation.” He thinks a focus on innovation could change that and urges an inventory of innovative school models (using the six categories above) to start. He sees teachers increasingly demanding professional roles and innovation in digital learning resisting centralization.
States could add an application and authorization pathway for innovation schools. They could use a request for proposal and grant program (like NGLC) to encourage applications in Ted’s six categories. An innovation charter could have a shorter contract (e.g., 3 years rather than 5 years), could incorporate alternative measures, and could involve more oversight.
I appreciate Kolderie’s “can’t get there from here” observations and his advocacy for innovation. He makes a good case that we can and should focus on improvement and innovation. | <urn:uuid:aadace69-071f-4f06-9863-46c662c37c24> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gettingsmart.com/2013/02/making-room-for-innovation/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937085 | 936 | 2.25 | 2 |
The AOI inspection library names are an important part of AOI programming as the reuse of these inspection templates can speed up the debug programming time, which can in turn improve line utilization time. Within Valor MSS Process Preparation the Master Part Library can store custom attributes that provide the ability to map each part number to an inspection template name. This could be a single attribute that is used across all AOI platforms or more than one attribute that is machine vendor specific. Either way it provides a means of being independent of the CAD package name which can vary from design to design to the much more reliable Bill Of Material part number.
See the link below for further information on Valor MSS and in particular Process Preparation. | <urn:uuid:032cecd8-d65d-4689-9243-5139cde08e8f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mentor.com/pcb-manufacturing-assembly/blog/post/improving-aoi-programming-time-with-better-management-of-inspection-template-names-7bc054f5-ea16-40a9-b77d-859d393c452a | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.905727 | 149 | 1.515625 | 2 |
DEAR DOCTOR K: My husband's doctor said that he had a ministroke. What does this mean?
DEAR READER: Most strokes occur when blood flow to a part of the brain is blocked. These are called ischemic strokes. When the flow of blood is blocked badly enough, for a long enough time, brain cells die.
Not all blockages of the brain's blood vessels are bad enough, or last long enough, to cause death of brain cells. Instead, the part of the brain that isn't getting enough blood temporarily malfunctions. Such temporary blockages that do not lead to brain-cell death are called ministrokes, the technical term for which is "transient ischemic attack," or TIA.
TIAs usually last several minutes to hours. Below I list the symptoms of both a full stroke and a ministroke. The main difference is that the symptoms of ministrokes are temporary.
If the blockage and the symptoms are temporary, why is it important for you to know about TIAs? Because they greatly raise the risk that a bigger, permanent stroke may be on the way. And also because medical care can reduce your risk of having that stroke.
For that reason, a TIA should be regarded and treated every bit as seriously as a full-blown stroke. It's a warning sign, and unfortunately many people don't get a warning sign before a stroke: They just suddenly have a stroke and suffer permanent brain damage. So if a person is lucky enough to get a warning sign, he or she needs to act on it.
Now that your husband has had a TIA, he might well need drugs to prevent clotting and to lower blood pressure and cholesterol. These help prevent a full-blown stroke.
If he hasn't already, your husband also may need a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study. If he is found to be at high risk for an impending stroke, he should be hospitalized right away.
Because of his increased risk, you should be on the lookout for the warning signs and symptoms of another ministroke or of a full-blown stroke. If you observe any of the following, immediately dial 911 or take him to an emergency room:
- weakness in an arm, hand or leg;
- numbness on one side of the body;
- sudden dimness or loss of vision, particularly in one eye;
- sudden difficulty speaking;
- inability to understand what someone is saying;
- dizziness or loss of balance;
- sudden, lasting, excruciating headache.
We have a lot more information on stroke in our Special Health Report, "Stroke: Preventing and Treating 'Brain Attack.'" You can find out more about it at my website, www.AskDoctorK.com.
It's impossible to overstate the importance of acting quickly to prevent a full stroke, if a person has a ministroke. We don't get a lot of second chances in life, but having a TIA and doing something about it is one example where we do.
Dr. Komaroff is a physician and professor at Harvard Medical School. Go to his website to send questions and get additional information: www.AskDoctorK.com.
Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS. | <urn:uuid:6a406428-430b-45a6-9a8d-8b522a02e9a4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pressrepublican.com/dr_gott/x1774443895/Treating-ministroke-quickly-may-prevent-full-stroke-later | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961598 | 686 | 3.03125 | 3 |
It’s National One Cent Day
In addition to today being April Fools’ Day, I was doing some searching and discovered that it’s also National One Cent Day. So, I guess in celebration, give someone a penny. Other than that, there’s not much more information on National One Cent Day, or how to celebrate. Although, I did find some interesting facts about pennies.
According to Wikipedia,
“When the Lincoln one-cent coin made its initial appearance in 1909, it marked a radical departure from the accepted styling of United States coinage, as it was the first regular coin to bear a portrait other than the mythical Liberty, which appeared on most pre-1909 regular coins.”
So, how much does it cost to make a penny? Again, according to Wikipedia,
“The US Mint reported that in fiscal year 2010 the cost of producing and shipping one-cent coins was $0.0179 – more than the face value of the coin. By 2012, this figure increased to $0.0241 because of the cost of materials and production. This is partly due to the significant rise in global metal demand and prices.”
And, last, but not least, once again according to Wikipedia,
“The U.S. Mint‘s official name for a penny is “cent“ and the U.S. Treasury’s official name is “one cent piece”. The colloquial term penny derives from the British coin of the same name, the pre-decimal verison of which had a similar value. In American English, pennies is the plural form, other plural forms pence and pee (standard use in British English) are rarely, if ever, used.” | <urn:uuid:0d5331a7-7f2a-4986-93f0-01174f818d35> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bigfrog104.com/its-national-one-cent-day/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962395 | 372 | 2.484375 | 2 |
The Robin Hood Foundation, which has targeted poverty in New York City since 1988, offers a telling example. The group evaluates the return on investments it makes in various programs around the city. It doesn’t make funding decisions based solely on metrics, however. It also relies on the experience of managers in the field and makes qualitative judgments based on comparing benefits with costs.
Robin Hood deals only with an impoverished population, but its principle of being businesslike has served both its clients and its investor donors quite well.
You can do something about it. Learn more.
After last night’s cancellation of the Concert 4 NYC, the Black Eyed Peas were truly heartbroken. A devastated Fergie called in to Z100 New York this morning to share her feelings with fans. “I hope that people really focus on what this is about—it was for poverty in New York and making New York City a better place.” Listen to the call. | <urn:uuid:f5712951-5dbf-4ed6-96e2-2267610f9605> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://robinhoodnyc.tumblr.com/tagged/Poverty | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976524 | 197 | 1.765625 | 2 |
|Weymouth New Testament (WNT)
||New International Version (NIV)
2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, called in Hebrew `Bethesda.' It has five arcades.
2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades.
|The Weymouth New Testament is in the public domain. (Weymouth New Testament - Holy Bible )
||Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide. (New International Version Bible Online) | <urn:uuid:16fa2464-a8f5-460a-b3aa-55e2cc85044c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.biblestudytools.com/parallel-bible/passage.aspx?q=john+5:2&t=wnt&t2=niv | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9261 | 162 | 1.640625 | 2 |
WebMD Medical News
Daniel J. DeNoon
Laura J. Martin, MD
March 17, 2011 -- Decade-old heart attack scars healed after being injected with stem cells from a patients' own bone marrow.
So far, eight patients have received the experimental treatment in an ongoing clinical trial. All eight had suffered heart attacks an average of 5 1/2 years prior; one of the patients had his heart attack 11 years earlier.
"These are chronic heart failure patients ... with really bad [heart attack damage] and big [heart attack] scars," study leader Joshua Hare, MD, tells WebMD. "We wanted to see if the cells would heal the scarred area and allow it to start working again."
They do, at least according to early results from a study under way at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
Hare's team enrolled eight men at an average age of 57 who had heart attacks four months to 11 years earlier. All had dangerously enlarged hearts, with areas of scar tissue from their heart attacks.
The researchers harvested bone marrow progenitor cells from four patients and adult stem cells from another four patients. Using a catheter, they then injected the cells into the walls of the patients' hearts.
Within three months, the scarred areas of the patients' hearts began to work again. About six months after treatment, and for a year later -- the length of the study so far -- all eight hearts regained a more normal size. They shrank 15% to 20%, three times more than current treatments can achieve.
"If these bone marrow-derived cells did not have the capacity for regeneration, you would not expect them to make a dead scar start to function again," Hare says. "That is really the big deal here. We took two types of cells, whether just plain old bone marrow or [adult stem] cells, injected them right into the scar, and we were amazed. Three months later, the area that was completely dead started to contract again."
Heart stem cell expert Arshed Quyyumi, MD, professor of medicine and cardiology at Atlanta's Emory University, notes that stem cells are being explored in the treatment of people with recent heart attack damage -- but the "landmark area" of the Hare study is the use of stem cells to treat end-stage heart failure.
"The excitement here is that for these dangerously enlarged hearts, in spite of the [heart attack damage] being old, there is something that actually reverses the enlargement and their propensity to get worse," Quyyumi tells WebMD.
Quyyumi, who was not involved in the Hare study, notes that much more work must be done to confirm the findings, to find out exactly which bone marrow cells can heal hearts, and to find out how many of these cells are needed.
The Hare study continues to enroll patients, and a larger clinical trial is under way. Hare hopes that further studies will confirm his early results. If so, the treatment could be available to patients well before the end of the decade.
"This is on the horizon for people who need it," Hare says.
The Hare study appears in the March 17 online edition of the journal Circulation Research.
SOURCES:Williams, A.R. Circulation Research, published online March 17, 2011.Arshed Quyyumi, MD, professor of medicine and cardiology, Emory University, Atlanta.Joshua M. Hare, MD, director, interdisciplinary stem cell institute and professor of medicine, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
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The Health News section does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See additional information. | <urn:uuid:298ef386-1027-4b91-8823-c980f2369aee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cbs47.tv/webmd/heartfailure/story/Failing-Hearts-Healed-With-Stem-Cells/oDi4Po6OuUSfUZ1Qz5B3pg.cspx | 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 | 0.959652 | 780 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Published: Aug. 25, 2011
Updated: Aug. 25, 2011
Reporters & producers can visit Duke Medicine News and Communications for contact information.
By Duke Medicine News and Communications
Aerobic exercise is your best bet when it comes to losing that dreaded belly fat, a new study finds.
When Duke University Medical Center researchers conducted a head-to-head comparison of aerobic exercise, resistance training, and a combination of the two, they found aerobic exercise to be the most efficient and most effective way to lose the belly fat that’s most damaging to your health.
This isn’t the fat that lies just under your skin and causes the dreaded muffin top. Belly or abdominal fat -- known in scientific communities as visceral fat and liver fat -- is located deep within the abdominal cavity and fills the spaces between internal organs. It’s been associated with increased risk for heart disease, diabetes, and certain kinds of cancer.
“When it comes to increased health risks, where fat is deposited in the body is more important than how much fat you have,” says Duke exercise physiologist Cris Slentz, PhD, lead author of the study published today in the American Journal of Physiology.
“Our study sought to identify the most effective form of exercise to get rid of that unhealthy fat.”
The Duke study showed aerobic training significantly reduced visceral fat and liver fat, the culprit in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Aerobic exercise also did a better job than resistance training at improving fasting insulin resistance, and reducing liver enzymes and fasting triglyceride levels. All are known risk factors for diabetes and heart disease.
Resistance training achieved no significant reductions in visceral fat, liver fat, liver enzyme levels or improvements in insulin resistance. The combination of aerobic with resistance training achieved results similar to aerobic training alone.
“Resistance training is great for improving strength and increasing lean body mass,” says Slentz. “But if you are overweight, which two-thirds of the population is, and you want to lose belly fat, aerobic exercise is the better choice because it burns more calories.”
Aerobic training burned 67 percent more calories in the study when compared to resistance training.
The eight-month study followed 196 overweight, sedentary adults (ages 18 to 70) who were randomized to one of three groups: aerobic training; resistance training or a combination of the two.
The aerobic group performed exercises equivalent to 12 miles of jogging per week at 80-percent maximum heart rate. The resistance group performed three sets of 8 to 12 repetitions three times per week.
All programs were closely supervised and monitored to ensure maximum effort in participation.
While the training programs were rigorous and substantial, Slentz says their previous research leads him to believe similar results could be achieved with a more moderate aerobic exercise program.
“What really counts is how much exercise you do, how many miles you walk, and how many calories you burn,” he says. “If you choose to work at a lower aerobic intensity, it will simply take longer to burn the same amount of unhealthy fat.” | <urn:uuid:84762b2a-1b2f-42c5-8a6a-8e9d81b380aa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dukehealth.org/health_library/news/aerobic-exercise-bests-resistance-training-at-burning-belly-fat | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946013 | 648 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Elysia as seen from space.
|Location||Federation Solar System|
|Discovery date||15 Years before Metroid Prime 3|
|Class||Possibly gas giant, would have become Class XIII wasteland if not for Samus Aran.|
|Atmosphere||Harsh for humans, but breathable.|
|Distinct features||SkyTown, Elysia|
Elysia is a planet featured in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. Its most notable characteristic is that the planet seems to be covered in a perpetual cloud of unknown gases. As a result, the only known inhabitants of Elysia have been the Chozo and the robotic Elysians who lived in and maintained a large outpost named SkyTown high above the clouds of the planet, where the atmosphere is habitable (as Samus is able to survive there in her Zero Suit in the game's secret ending).
Although it has not been proven, the planet may be a Gas Giant, as it is referenced that the crash of the Leviathan into the planet has struck its core, not its surface, which is consistent with gas giants being theorized to only possess a solid core. Additionally, the planet's large size in comparison to other planets on the map and the violent lower atmosphere match characteristics of gas giants. Another possiblity is that Elysia may be a rock planet with a dense, violent and toxic atmosphere, as AU 242 mentions how Skytown floats high above the surface, and shows a three-dimensional representation of the planet, with the Leviathan sitting far away from the core. The large size of Elysia compared to the others in the Galaxy Map may be due to the interface of the map featuring depth, with that planet being the closest one to the screen. Complete Map of SkyTown:
The Birth of SkyTownEdit
1500 years before the events of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption the Chozo built the outpost known as SkyTown, high in the skies of Elysia. The purpose for this outpost was to be an interstellar observatory, designed to launch many observation satellites toward distant worlds for the Chozo to study them. However, the constant winds and storms of the planet began to take their toll on the station. This took up much of the Chozo's time, and seeing the need for assistance in maintaining the station, the Chozo created the robotic Elysian race 50 years after the outpost's creation. The Elysians were given the gift of self-awareness to better assist the Chozo in this task.
The Discovery & DepartureEdit
The Chozo continued their observation of the cosmos, until one day, a Chozo Searcher came across a stellar object that was in many ways a planet, yet also apparently sentient. This chance event was brief, and contact with the satellite was lost before more information could be gleaned from it. Eventually, the Chozo departed the station, 400 years after the creation of the Elysians. With their departure, the Chozo requested that they watch over the station until others who came seeking knowledge and enlightenment arrived, as well as the request from the Chozo Searcher to continue exploring the skies for the answers to the mysterious sentient planet.
The Elysians continued the tasks entrusted to them, maintaining the station and continuing to search for the elusive planet. However, 200 years after the Chozo's departure, the Elysians were low on critical supplies and their attempts to produce fuel from Elysia's atmosphere was unable to produce a sufficient supply. As a result, the Elysians opted to enter a state of hibernation and have the data collected by the station fed into them by dreams.
Through these observations, many great events came to the Elysians, including the knowledge of the Chozo's new home on Tallon IV. The last of these dreams foretold of a meteor impacting upon the surface of Tallon IV, which brought an end to the Chozo civilization that was built there (setting in motion the events of Metroid Prime).
1435 years after the Elysians' creation, the Galactic Federation made contact with the Elysians, when Federation forces activated SkyTown's automated defense systems. This revived the Elysians from their hibernation, which led to first contact with the Federation, and later the "Treaty of Elysia". The terms for the treaty were simple: the Federation would provide supplies, fuel and parts to the Elysians, and in return, the Federation would be allowed to use SkyTown as they saw fit. This led to the installation of Aurora Unit 217 into SkyTown. This partnership benefitted both sides as they both worked together, assisting each other in valuable research that would prevent many disasters throughout the universe.
Five months before the events of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, the Elysians detected a meteor-like object colliding into a planet in a nearby system. This planet may have been the Pirate Homeworld, although this cannot be confirmed. It is known that it was not planet Aether (whose impact was five decades ago, according to GF data entries) or planet Bryyo (whose impact was at the same time as Elysia and the attempt on Norion).
Regardless, several months passed before the Elysians discovered that this meteor had come through a wormhole from an incredibly distant planet (which would later be revealed to be the planet Phaaze). It became clear that this was the sentient planet that the Chozo Searcher had been looking for. The Elysians attempted to transmit this information to the Federation, but were unsuccessful, as Aurora Unit 217 had become infected with a virus and thus communication with the Federation was disabled.
One week after the infection, the Elysians detected a Leviathan en route to their planet, destroying a large portion of SkyTown and ultimately striking the surface of Elysia. This was then followed by an attack by Space Pirate forces, who proceeded to infect the Elysians with the same virus that had corrupted the Aurora Unit.
In response to this, the Galactic Federation dispatched the bounty hunter Ghor to SkyTown. However, Ghor too succumbed to Phazon corruption and as a result, took control of the Space Pirate forces, bringing an end to the Elysian resistance. This in turn prompted the Federation to dispatch Samus Aran to the planet, where she proceeded to defeat Ghor and the Space Pirates and destroy the Leviathan.
The only known organic life native to Elysia is the Sky Puffer, small airborne creatures who survive on the planet's abundant toxic gases. This is likely due to much of the lower atmosphere of the planet being inhospitable to life. The only known biological lifeforms who have lived upon Elysia for any extended period of time were the ancient Chozo and Aurora Unit 217, both with the aid of advanced technology. It should also be noted, however, that Federation and Space Pirate forces have had operations in SkyTown and some foreign species such as the Phazon Metroid have been able to survive within the confines of SkyTown.
Biological inhabitants aside, many robotic inhabitants have lived within SkyTown. For decades, the robotic Elysians who were made by Chozo have lived here with many other forms of robotic "life", manufactured by their Chozo progenitors or by the Elysians themselves. While there is no shortage of drone robots in SkyTown, it is presumed that the Tinbots, Steambots, Steamspiders, Steamlords, Defense Drones and even the machine Helios may represent the remaining, formerly self-aware members of the Elysian race. However this cannot be proven definitively, as during the course of the game they have been infected with a Phazon-based virus and cannot be reasoned with, even if these mechanoids were even sentient to begin with and not merely advanced drones. Indeed, the robotic Elysians who inhabited SkyTown for hundreds of years may have been wiped from the cosmos entirely, as the first and last Elysian lore entries imply.
Below is a full list of mechanoids and species that inhabit Elysia:
- "Dragoon" Battle Drone
- Advanced Aerotrooper (Space Pirate)
- Aerial Repair Drone
- Aeromine (Space Pirate)
- Armored Pirate (Space Pirate)
- Aurora Unit 217
- Berserker Lord (Space Pirate)
- Crawltank (Space Pirate)
- Cyrlic tree
- Dark Samus (Brief apparition after fighting Ghor)
- Defense Drone
- Elysian Shriekbat
- "Jolly Roger" Drone (Space Pirate, formerly Galactic Federation)
- Jumpmine (Space Pirate)
- Parasite Queen (Space Pirate, deceased)
- Parasitic fungus
- Phazon Metroid (Space Pirate)
- Phazon Vine
- Pirate Aerotrooper (Space Pirate)
- Pirate Militia (Space Pirate)
- Pirate Trooper (Space Pirate)
- Red Phaazoid
- Remorse-Class Turret (Space Pirate)
- Repair Drone
- Sky Puffer
- Space Pirate ATC (Space Pirate)
- Space Pirate Assault Skiff (Space Pirate)
- Transportation Drone
- UAM 4
- UAM 5
- UAM 6
- ULF 12
- ULF 14
Unused Logbook entryEdit
- Although it is said that Elysia's atmosphere is inhospitable to humans, Samus is able to survive without her helmet and Power Suit as seen in the ending. This may be due to her Chozo infused blood that allowed her to survive on Zebes. This may imply that the Chozo (and Samus) can survive in environments that are too dangerous for normal humans, or possibly that higher altitudes might simply be more hospitable to organic life.
- In Greek mythology, Elysium (Greek: Ἠλύσια πεδία) was a section of the Underworld (the spelling Elysium is a Latinization of the Greek word Elysion). The Elysian Fields, or the Elysian Plains, were supposed to be a Paradise that was the final resting place of the souls of the heroic and the virtuous.
- This planet may be inspired by Bespin, a gas giant in Star Wars that features a floating city.
- In Corruption, this is the planet with the most boss fights.
- There is a slight inconsistency in the SkyTown Data and Space Pirate Data entries. The former states that "a large portion of their home" had been destroyed by the Leviathan, but the latter states that "it missed the spy base". However, the Pirate lore may have meant that it missed the portion of Skytown that is specifically used for observing and collecting data from space for the Galactic Federation, while still having successfully hit the city, as mentioned in the Skytown lore; it can be assumed that the Elysians consider the entirety of Skytown as their home.
- Since Elysia is a gas giant, and was plagued with the threat of becoming a Class XIII wasteland, the theorized eventual impact might have been more devastating than it was on other Leviathan-affected planets.
- ^ Metroid Prime 3: Corruption - Elysian lore article "Gift" marks 1450 years ago as Elysians year 1. Elysian lore article "Federation" states in year 1435 they came into contact with the Federation, making first contact 15 years ago.
- ^ Metroid Prime 3: Corruption - See logbook entry "Phazon" in the Elysian lore section
- ^ Metroid Prime 3: Corruption - See logbook entry "Anhur Incident" in the GF lore section
- ^ Metroid Prime 3: Corruption - The history of Elysia is laid out throughout the various Elysian lore entries.
- ^ Metroid Prime 3: Corruption - These events occur during the course of the game.
- ^ Metroid Prime 3: Corruption - See logbook entry "Sky Puffer" in the Elysian creature section.
- ^ http://tcrf.net/Metroid_Prime_3:_Corruption
|Areas in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption|
(Cliffside • Thorn Jungle • Fire • Ice • Seed)
(SkyTown • East SkyTown • Seed)
(Command • Research • Mines • Seed)
|Planets visited in the Metroid Series|
|Other locations visited in the Metroid Series|
|Planets in the Metroid Series|
|Note: Italicized locations were visited by Samus Aran.|
Underlined planets were destroyed.
|Bilium | Oormine II | Tallon IV | Twin Tabula | Zebes|
|Alinos | Arcterra|
|Aether | Dark Aether|
|Federation Solar System|
|Bryyo | Elysia | Norion|
|Unknown Solar System|
a.k.a. Planet SN-883 or Urtraghus ("large booty")
|SR388 | Unnamed planet|
|Earth | Jupiter|
|Charybdis | Inteira | Scylla|
| 2466 URSA | Bes III | Daiban | Degrade | Jamoru |
Jatsuk | Jigrad | K-2L | Kankeh | Liberty
Naishii | Nest | RX 338 | Solairon 12 | Vho | <urn:uuid:3a6f26c5-a50e-4dd4-b357-3812e7efedac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://metroid.wikia.com/wiki/Elysia | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949736 | 2,721 | 2.390625 | 2 |
Jeffrey Sahli, a student at Evergreen Middle School, loves his country, and he loves his country’s flag.
The 14-year-old eighth-grader decided at the beginning of the school year that the American flag outside his school should be treated with more respect, and he’s been raising and lowering Old Glory every school day since, with the enthusiastic permission of principal Jane Sutera.
Jeffrey’s desire to “serve his country” is a quiet commitment, not a way to seek recognition.
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If you are new to the award winning Canyon Courier and wish to get a subscription or simply gain access to our online content then please enter your ZIP code below and continue to setup your account. | <urn:uuid:05f27714-5e22-4146-8acf-42cefeb763ba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.canyoncourier.com/content/ems-student-fuels-wave-patriotism | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950484 | 202 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Journal of the New Zealand Medical Association, 13-September-2002, Vol 115 No 1161
Privacy or life: how do women find out about screening mammography services?
Margaret Brunton and David R Thomas
The incidence of breast cancer has been increasing throughout the industrialised world, ‘even when earlier diagnosis and better cancer registration are discounted’.1 New Zealand is no exception, and past trends indicate that rates of breast cancer may continue to increase.2 Randomised controlled studies in other countries, such as that undertaken in 1963 by the New York Health Insurance Plan3 and the 1977 two-county trial in Sweden,4 have shown that screening mammography significantly reduces mortality from breast cancer in women aged 50 and older.
It has been estimated that at least 70% of the eligible population need to attend screening mammography programmes for the cost and mortality savings to be worthwhile.5–7 In order to attain the desired criteria of accessibility, acceptability and efficiency, women need to be made aware of, and participate in, the programme. However, if women do not know about the screening programme they cannot present for screening, and thus breast cancer is unlikely to be detected early. The more effective and efficient means a programme has at its disposal to communicate its
presence to eligible women, the better. To determine how women found out about the breast screening programme and what influenced them to participate, women who had attended the third round of the Waikato pilot breast cancer screening programme were identified, and a stratified sample selected for a self-completion questionnaire survey.
Following approval from the Waikato Ethics Committee, the research commenced with a survey in Phase 1, designed to explore various influences on the communication process related to screening mammography. The questionnaire included both closed and open-ended questions to allow women to contribute feedback about their experience of the programme. Following pre-testing among 60 women, the survey questionnaire was distributed to 1085 women in October 1999. Completed questionnaires were received from 599 women. In Phase 2, the issues arising from the survey were explored in five focus groups (with 41 women in total) and with three women in individual interviews.
The sampling frame was the database of women who had participated in the third round of the Waikato pilot programme. As part of a national pilot, participants had given consent to participate in a survey evaluating the programme. However, this source also eliminated those eligible women who had not attended the pilot programme from the study. There were 14 392 women between 50 and 64 years old in the Waikato breast screening database in August 1999 who could have been selected to participate in this research. To protect the anonymity of the women on the database, the researcher was not given access to names and addresses of participants. Accordingly, the sample selection was obtained by request from the information technology staff of the breast screening programme.
To obtain data that included known groups within the population, a sample of 1100 women stratified by region, age and ethnic group, was selected from the database. Maori were oversampled to ensure adequate numbers, so specific ethnic samples were drawn to represent 35% of Maori and 4% of the NZ European groups respectively on the database. All women of ethnic groups other than NZ European and Maori were selected. Next, programme staff eliminated names without a current address, and a total of 1085 questionnaires were distributed in October 1999. A reminder letter was sent to those who did not respond within five weeks. The numbers of women sent questionnaires for each of the ethnic groups was: Maori 370, NZ European 505, Pacific 71, Asian 64, Indian 64 and Other 11. Due to the limited number of Pacific women on the programme database, questionnaires were hand delivered to them by the health workers where possible, and collected on completion.
In the initial mailing group of 1085, 13 people were found to be not available/suitable and were removed from the list (eight deceased, four living overseas, one male). Forty eight letters returned with the addressee listed as ‘gone, no address’ (GNA) and were replaced with 48 names randomly selected from the database. Subsequently, another 21 GNA letters were returned. Excluding the 21 GNA addressees and the 13 not available, the net number of questionnaires distributed was 1051. A total of 611 completed questionnaires were received (response rate 58%, 611/1051). Of these 611 women, 599 were in the sample frame, aged between 50 and 64 years. Twelve of the completed questionnaires were answered by telephone, as some women were not confident with written responses and requested assistance.
The sample of 599 included women across three specific age groups (50–54 = 38%, 55–59 = 35%, 60–64 = 27%) and area of residence (city = 32%, rural town = 53%, country = 15%). Many of the women attended the Waikato Hospital clinic (52%); the mobile van was used by 48%. Most had attended secondary school (62%) and a smaller proportion had attended university (12%) or a polytechnic (7%). Ethnic groups represented were: NZ European 348 (57%), Maori 155 (25%), Pacific 51 (8.5%), Asian 42 (7%) and Other 15 (2.5%). The Maori group included those who identified themselves as both Maori and another ethnic group.
The data were analysed using SPSS (Release 8, 1997). Chi square was used to test the significance of associations between demographic characteristics and other variables. The 15 women categorised as ‘Other’ were not included in the analyses examining differences among ethnic groups because of their small number.
To provide some indication of the ‘visibility’ of the various approaches used to communicate screening mammography to the eligible population, the questionnaire asked respondents how they obtained information about the screening programme. Their responses are shown in Figure 1. Most women reported multiple sources of information, so the frequencies for the categories shown in Figure 1 are not mutually exclusive.
Figure 1. How respondents obtained information about the programme.
(Numbers exceed 599 as respondents could nominate more than one category)
Letters of invitation from the programme and family doctors were the most common sources of information. When women registered on the Waikato database, they were sent a letter of invitation to participate in the screening programme. Ideally, this invitation was coordinated with a letter from their family doctors. Forty two per cent of women (251) heard about the programme through letters of invitation and 42% (249) from their doctors. The next most common sources of information were television (33%, 198) and newspapers (27%, 165). A higher proportion of older women (52% of women aged between 60 and 64 years) obtained information about the programme from the letter of invitation, than younger women (36% of those aged 50–54 years). The differences in sources of information by age (shown in Table 1) were significant (p = 0.003).
Table 1. Sources of information and influence by age
Influence of ethnicity
All groups reported receiving information about screening mammography from their doctors (Maori = 41%, NZ European =39%, Pacific = 45%, Asian = 27%). Pacific women (59%) and Maori women (21%) were more likely to find out about screening from health workers (those people involved in health promotion other than doctors) than Asian women (9%) or NZ European women (3%) (p < 0.0005, see Table 2). Pacific women were more likely to report personal contact sources of information, such as family (35%), friends (22%), church (20%) and health days (16%), compared with other ethnic groups. Pacific women were also more likely to have obtained information from the radio (33%).
Table 2. Sources of information and influence by ethnicity
* Excluding ‘Other’ ethnic group (15 respondents)
Maori women reported that, in addition to the letter of invitation (38%) and health workers (21%), they also relied on family (20%) and friends (17%) as sources of information. For Asian and NZ European women, common sources of information besides the letter of invitation were newspapers (Asian = 33%, NZ European = 30%) and magazines (Asian 14%).
Although the above methods demonstrated levels of programme visibility to women in the community, it was also important to identify the sources of communication women perceived to be influential in helping them to make a decision about participating in screening mammography. The most common influences reported are shown in Figure 2. During the pre-test phase of the questionnaire development, most women wished to nominate more than one source of influence. Accordingly, in the main survey they were invited to nominate more than one source of influence.
Figure 2. Sources of influence that encouraged participation in programme.
(Numbers exceed 599 as respondents could nominate more than one category)
Two hundred women (33%) believed they had made their own decision to attend screening irrespective of external influences. Of these, 115 reported this as a sole category of influence on their decision to participate in the breast screening programme. A further 85 respondents nominated between one and seven other influences as well as making their “own decision”. The most commonly nominated other category of influence was “know someone with breast cancer” (6%, 37). NZ European women (38%) were more likely (p = 0.009) to report making their own decision about having a mammogram than other ethnic groups (see Table 2). Letters of invitation (29%, 174) were the most common external source of influence in the programme. These letters were more than twice as influential as letters from family doctors (12%) and information on television (7%). There was significant variation between age groups, with women between 60 and 64 years of age more likely to respond to letters (36%) than women aged 50–54 years (21%, p = 0.006, see Table 1). Responses to the letter of invitation also varied among ethnic groups, with 32% of NZ European women responding to the letter, compared with 6% of Pacific women (p = 0.002, see Table 2). Twenty eight per cent of respondents reported that knowing someone with breast cancer had encouraged them to undergo screening mammography.
Although health workers influenced only 12% of all women to participate in screening mammography, health workers were significantly more influential (p < 0.0005) for Pacific (61%) and Maori women (22%), compared with Asian (7%) and NZ European women (2%). The pilot programme employed two Maori health workers through Tainui to promote the breast and cervical screening programmes. Mammography staff were responsible for promoting breast cancer screening to NZ European, Pacific and Asian women during this period. Twenty two per cent of Maori and Pacific women commented in the survey about their reliance on the input of health workers for decision making as well as for support through the process. The influence of health workers was also higher among younger women (17% among those aged 50–54 years) compared with older women (8% among those aged 60–64 years, p = 0.019).
Women must participate in regular screening mammography if they are to benefit.8 Given that 70% of the eligible population need to participate to ensure benefits in both cost and mortality are achieved, the programme must be able to communicate its presence to the target audience in the most efficient and effective way possible. This study provides information about the women who have chosen to participate in the pilot programme only. Obtaining a random sample of women who had participated in the third round of screening (between 1 November 1995 and 23 April 1998) from the breast screening database provided a sample of women who had been exposed to the communication from the breast screening programme. It did not include those who had not attended. As only those women registered on the database were included, the results may not be generalisable to Waikato women in general. However, a comparative analysis of ‘early’ and ‘late’ responders (pre- and post-reminder letter) in this study indicated a lack of significant differences. There are a number of eligible women in the Waikato who have not been identified, who have been identified but not invited to the programme, or who have been identified and have declined screening. Currently, BreastScreen Aotearoa has 54% coverage in the first round of screening. Of the 46% of eligible women who have not attended, there is no way of knowing whether they have not been identified, have been identified and not invited, or have declined screening or decided to undergo mammography in the private sector. One of the key criteria for the success of any population-based screening mammography programme is its ability to communicate its presence to eligible women. If a significant number of the target audience are not aware of a screening programme, they are unlikely to participate.
The health reforms introduced in 1991 encouraged primary health care services such as screening mammography. The breast screening programme presents the option of regular screening mammography to eligible women in the community, and encourages them to register in addition to those women being directed towards the services by their doctors. In the present study, 64% of all women indicated that they wished to confer with their doctors about future health care decisions, and 50% consulted with their family doctor about the programme. However, the willingness of the remaining 50% to make that decision independently of their family doctors emphasised the importance of effectively communicating the presence of the programme.
Research in several countries (such as New Zealand,9,10 Britain,11 Australia,12 Israel13 and America14–16) has identified general practitioners as an important source of information for women who participate in screening mammography. The fact that half of the women who responded to this survey entered the screening programme without encouragement from their general practitioner, gave rise to the question of whether non attenders either did not receive information or encouragement from their family doctor, or received information, encouragement, or both, and chose not to respond. In New Zealand, GPs’ letters ideally coordinate with those of the breast cancer screening programme. In this research, a review of coded registration forms distributed to GPs in the South Waikato towns of Mangakino, Tokoroa and Rotorua by the breast screening programme in late 1999 revealed a 7% response rate, assuming that all were distributed. However, due to the inadequacies of the information support system, it is not possible to identify how many women in the designated areas chose to respond by telephone. Because of this, the outcomes were inconclusive. In previous research, letters from a screening mammography programme were just as effective as letters from doctors in encouraging women to take part.17 In the present study, 42% of respondents received letters about breast screening from their doctor. However, letters of recommendation from doctors were less influential (12%) than letters of invitation from the programme (29%), which is consistent with the results of an earlier Australian study.18
With the increasing visibility of the national programme in the media, it could be argued that women can obtain information from sources such as television or magazines and do not require direct targetting. In this study, although 64% of respondents reported they had seen breast screening advertisements on television recently, only 33% nominated television as a source of information, and only 7% of respondents had been influenced by television promotion to participate. Although exposure to sources of information may provide information about breast screening, it does not necessarily encourage participation. Furthermore, a British study argued that breast cancer is such a ‘highly emotive, deeply threatening topic’ that using mass media channels to promote screening mammography may heighten anxiety in some women unless it is combined with other more personal methods of communication.19 Another recent British study has revealed that this anxiety can be so acute that some women avoid media information altogether.20
While sources of information such as television have some influence, letters of invitation from screening programmes have been consistently demonstrated as an efficient means of recruitment. An Australian study found that, in contrast to community promotional strategies, letters of invitation from the programme provided the most effective and efficient means of recruitment to screening mammography programmes.21
Regular, ongoing screening is required if mammography is to be an effective means of lowering mortality from breast cancer. Thus reminders are an important part of the programme. Over half of the study participants were working. It was commonly reported that they were “busy and relied on prompting” for health checks, especially as they occurred only once every two years. Reliance on an effective system of recall was shown in one study, which demonstrated that reminder letters from a screening programme can double the likelihood of participation.18 It has also been reported that reminder telephone calls,22 or a combination of both letters and telephone calls,23 are likely to encourage participation.
Women in this study relied on the programme to let them know when they were due for re-screening. Without access to current contact details, staff were frequently unable to provide timely, appropriate information for women. Respondents often wrote of their reliance on local papers (27%) and radio (18%) as a source of information about the timing of the mobile van visits to their areas. They expressed their “disappointment” that they did not receive reminders, and perceived that the reminder service was “unreliable”, and sometimes reported feeling “lost in the system”. The difficulty in achieving ongoing participation through lack of current, accurate records was shown by 69 (12%) letters returned as ‘gone, no address’ during this survey. This indicates that at least 12% of women sent recall notices are not likely to receive them. Access to a current, population-based database to ensure that contact details for women are as accurate as possible is necessary if the national screening mammography programme is to achieve cost and mortality savings. Currently, the BreastScreen Aotearoa programme has no population database from which to send invitations. The three potential databases of the electoral roll, GP records and NHI figures, are inaccessible because of privacy issues. Only some of the GP databases are available. Thus, there is no way of knowing how many eligible women were not reached, not asked, declined, and for what reasons.
The effectiveness of a national database has been demonstrated in other countries. In Sweden, where a national population register is used to identify eligible women, a participation rate of between 83% and 89% has been reported.24 Although identification of the eligible population for the Waikato pilot was achieved primarily through access to electoral rolls, the Privacy Act of 1993 precluded this source of identification for the national BreastScreen Aotearoa programme. The result is an anomaly in a government policy that provides a population-based screening programme designed to be as barrier-free as possible for women, but then creates a barrier for that programme (through the 1993 Privacy Act), preventing use of the most effective means of identifying the target population. Government has a responsibility to ensure that legislation does not directly contravene the successful attainment of goals it has put in place for population-based screening programmes.
Author information: Margaret Brunton, School of Communication Studies, Auckland University of Technology; David R Thomas, Professor, Division of Community Health, University of Auckland
Correspondence: Professor DR Thomas, Division of Community Health, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland. Fax: (09) 373 7624; email: firstname.lastname@example.org
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Subscribe | Contribute | Advertise | Contact Us | Copyright | Other Journals | <urn:uuid:bb4be925-a99f-4a1b-b75d-305589714e35> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://journal.nzma.org.nz/journal/115-1161/168/ | 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 | 0.968885 | 4,027 | 2.015625 | 2 |
1 -a After exiting this window, press the 'Alt' and Print 'Scrn/SysRq' keys on your keyboard at the same time. This places the image on you clipboard.
1 - b Open Windows Paint program
1 - c Create a new file (File > New)
1 - d Within the newly created file blank screen, press the Ctrl + V keys concomitantly on your keyboard or select Edit > Paste from the Paint menu.
1 - e The screen shot appears as it is pasted from the clipboard
1 - f Select Image > stretch/Skew...
1 - g Set the skew size to 35%
1 - h Select File > Print to print your screen shot.
It is possible to print a screen or even an entire page using independent software packages such as Adobe Acrobat 8 or Snagit, among many others. Please refer to your software manual or contact your Information Technology Services for more ample information.
If a graphic software other than Paint is used to print the screen shot, please make certain to set the image width to 560px, which will guaranty its printability. Of courses, when setting the image width, be mindful that the image height has to correspondingly be reduced by the software.
Note that is is important for cost and environmental concerns to abstain from printing Web pages unless it is absolutely necessary. The cost of energy, ink and paper and the environmental impact should drive our processes in this matter.
If your content graphics are printing, try one of the following remedies: | <urn:uuid:00ec683a-025e-4372-b102-201f73d8d94e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.teerm.nasa.gov/nwd/css/beyond/usability.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908348 | 319 | 2.21875 | 2 |
PITTSBURGH—Carnegie Mellon University's Roberto R. Gil and Rongchao Jin have successfully used NMR to analyze the structure of infinitesimal gold nanoparticles, which could advance the development and use of the tiny particles in drug development.
Their approach offers a significant advantage over routine methods for analyzing gold nanoparticles because it can determine whether the nanoparticles exist in a both right-handed and left-handed configuration, a phenomenon called chirality. Determining a nanoparticle's chirality is an important step toward developing them as chiral catalysts — tools that are highly sought-after by the pharmaceutical industry. Their results are published online at ACS Nano.
Many drugs on the market today contain at least one molecule that is chiral. Often only one of the configurations, or isomers, is effective in the body. In some cases, the other isomer may even be harmful. A striking example is the drug thalidomide, which consisted of two isomers: one of which helped pregnant women control nausea while the other caused damage to the developing fetus. In an effort to create safer, more effective drugs, drug manufacturers are looking for ways to produce purer substances that contain only the left- or right-handed isomer.
Huifeng Qian, a fourth-year graduate student working with Jin, created a gold nanoparticle that has the potential to catalyze chemical reactions that will produce one isomer rather than the other. The nanoparticle is comprised of precisely 38 gold atoms and measures a mere 1.4 nanometers. Qian worked diligently for nearly a year to grow the nanoparticles into high-quality crystals so that he could study their structure using x-ray crystallography.
"Growing a pure crystal from nanoparticles is very challenging, and you may not even be able to get a crystal at all," said Jin, an assistant professor of chemistry in CMU's Mellon College of Science. "In the nanoparticle community, the crystal structures of only three nanoparticles have been reported."
In Jin's case, x-ray crystallography revealed that the gold nanoparticle is chiral. Chemists typically probe the internal chiral structure of gold nanoparticles using a technique called circular dichoism spectroscopy. When pure chiral molecules are exposed to circularly polarized light, each isomer absorbs the light differently, resulting in a unique — and of opposite sign — spectrum for each isomer. The process of creating the gold nanoparticles, however, often results in a 50/50 mix of each isomer, known as racemates.
"Because the spectrum is of opposite sign for each isomer, they cancel each other out and the net optical response is zero. This makes circular dichoism (CD) spectroscopy useless when it comes to determining the chirality of gold nanoparticles in 50/50 mixtures," said Gil, associate research professor of chemistry and director of the Department of Chemistry's NMR Facility.
Since Jin couldn't use circular dichoism spectroscopy, Gil was able to use NMR to help Jin distinguish between his gold nanoparticles' left- and right-handed isomers.
NMR spectroscopy takes advantage of the physical phenomenon wherein some nuclei wobble and spin like tops, emitting and absorbing a radio frequency signal in a magnetic field. By observing the behavior of these spinning nuclei, scientists can piece together the chemical structure of the compound.
In 1957, scientists observed that the hydrogen atoms of a freely rotating methylene (CH2) group produced two different frequencies if they were close to a chiral center. Jin's gold nanoparticles, which have a chiral core, are cushioned by several chemical groups, including freely rotating methylene groups. Gil reasoned that the nanoparticles' chiral core should induce the methylene group's two hydrogen atoms to give off different frequencies, a phenomenon known as diastereotopicity.
Gil and Jin compared the NMR signal from the hydrogen atoms in a non-chiral gold nanoparticle with the NMR signal from the hydrogen atoms in chiral gold nanoparticle. The non-chiral nanoparticle's NMR spectrum did not reveal any differences, but the chiral nanoparticle's NMR spectrum revealed two different hydrogen signals, providing a simple and efficient way of telling whether the particle is chiral or not, even for a 50/50 mixture of isomers.
"NMR is an alternative — and very efficient — method for providing useful information about how the atoms in nanoparticles form the molecular structure. Because NMR can determine chirality in some cases, it can readily be used to determine the purity of a nanoparticle mixture," Jin said.
In current work, Jin and Qian are striving to turn their 50/50 mixture of right- and left-handed isomers into a pure solution of one or the other.
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system. | <urn:uuid:3431d96a-b714-4acb-919f-f56e9fa42cdc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-12/cmu-cmr120811.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924869 | 1,041 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Conventional wisdom says that young people are less interested in showing up to vote than older generations.
If there’s any truth to that, Penn students aren’t buying it.
In 2008, Penn undergraduates achieved more than an 89 percent turnout at the polls. This year, students in the Penn Leads the Vote (PLTV) network have already registered more than 840 students on campus, and other groups have registered 400 to 500 more.
The Penn Leads the Vote effort started in the classroom. Specifically, it was a 2004 book released by the Brookings Institution, titled “Get Out the Vote,” that caught the eye of John DiIulio, the Frederic Fox Leadership Professor of Politics, Religion, and Civil Society, and professor of political science. This book, he explains, examined all of the evidence about low voter turnout and assessed which get-out-the-vote efforts were most effective. The conclusion was that door-to-door canvassing had the biggest impact on voter turnout.
DiIulio wondered if the theory would hold true on Penn’s campus, so he built that into his fall 2004 “Introduction to American Politics” class, a general course that covers the philosophical foundations of the United States, the Constitution and campaign and political participation. Students in the class were eligible to be trained as poll watchers and poll workers, and they worked as a student committee to do an on-campus registration drive.
“We were not going to try to do this as a piece of research,” says DiIulio, also the director of Penn’s Robert A. Fox Leadership Program and Program for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society. “This was a piece of student service-learning and civic action.”
That first year, in 2004, PLTV was powered by 20 to 30 students who registered several hundred of their Penn peers. What the students noticed, says DiIulio, was that many young people on campus hadn’t voted in 2000 not because they weren’t interested, but because they didn’t know where to go to cast their ballots. Following that, students read up on election law and by 2006, had successfully arranged for voting machines on campus to be moved to sites that are more easily accessible to Penn students.
In 2008, DiIulio says 60 students in his political science class worked on the PLTV effort. This year, 196 students applied and 75 were accepted by lottery to register students and work and watch the polls on Nov. 2.
Jared Fries, a College senior and executive co-director of PLTV, says the group wants students of all political stripes to show up at the polls. “It matters that you have an opinion and we want to make sure that your opinion is heard,” he says.
On Election Day, PLTV will hold a march down Locust Walk, leading to a rally on College Green with Penn President Amy Gutmann. Fries says PLTV hopes turnout on Election Day will reach at least 1,522 voters, which would top the voter turnout number from 2006. “I think Penn students as a whole think that it’s their civic duty to vote, even if it’s not a national election,” he notes.
While PLTV may have started as part of DiIulio’s course, it now operates independently, and includes Fox Leadership Program interns who work during the summer to lay the groundwork for the registration and get-out-the-vote work in the fall.
DiIulio says the success of the PLTV effort may be attributed to what he calls the Penn students who are “smart with heart.”
“The millennial generation is truly the next greatest generation,” he says. “They care a lot about the common good. They care a lot about the common interest.”
Originally published on October 28, 2010 | <urn:uuid:40e2d6db-b2b9-4bcc-ae35-71fc01b73c54> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/current/node/3199 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976579 | 821 | 2.421875 | 2 |
Income protection insurance is meant to protect customers by providing a tax-free income in the event that you are unable to work (because you have suffered an injury/illness). On paper, it therefore seems like a great way to protect your income in the event of any unfortunate, unforeseen circumstances in the future. The problem lies in the fact that many who have taken out this income insurance, and then find themselves unable to work, have found it virtually impossible to then make a claim.
One of the main reasons which make it so hard to successfully claim with this type of insurance is the method in which insurers assess policyholder’s ability to work. Those that took out this type of insurance on a ‘work-task’ basis means that before they will be able to make a claim, they will need to perform a series of tasks, to demonstrate to the insurance company that they really are unable to work.
The types of tasks insurance companies ask their policyholders to perform can involve using a pen/keyboard with either of their hands or with an aid, walking 200 metres on a level surface with an aid without stopping or suffering pain, or having sufficient eyesight (with aids) to read 16 point print. Many have criticised these tests, as only those are severely incapacitated would struggle to pass them. Additionally, these tests do not take into consideration an individual’s mental health, and whether they are emotionally and psychologically fit to work.
Situations therefore arise where individuals who are suffering from psychological illness/stress are unable to work, and deemed so by their GPs, and yet are unable to claim on their income insurance policies as they are still able to perform the basic, technical tasks these policies lay down. Many critics have claimed that these basic tasks should be abolished, in favour of more realistic indicators of a person’s health. Furthermore, it should be highlighted that physical and psychological illness are two very different types of health concerns, and should not just be lumped together using a test for both. Psychological illness requires a much more delicate, emotionally focused type of testing, and the nature of the tasks asked by insurance companies to policy holders should reflect that.
At the moment, insurance companies may attempt to justify their work task based method by claiming that it prevents a number of fraudulent claims, preventing a misuse of the system. Instead, this seems to be a thin smoke screen by which companies can ensure they pay out only minimal claims to the few that cannot pass the basic tests. For those policyholders that have been regularly paying their premiums in an attempt to be risk averse and secure their futures, this seems like a kick in the teeth when they are prevented from claiming because they can pass a test which requires them to read 16 point writing.
It is therefore advisable that people with income protection insurance review their policies to find out on what grounds they can make a claim should they need to. If they discover that their policies are on a work-task basis, they should consider switching policies where they will be getting a fairer policy for their money. | <urn:uuid:c86c810d-a825-4a6a-8146-8acc69505c71> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.avalonlaw.co.uk/income-protection-insurance-sounds-good-in-theory/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972318 | 623 | 1.914063 | 2 |
||Tim O'Reilly Responds to "Freedom or Power?"|
|Subject:||Copyrights are not really rights|
Response to: Copyrights are not really rights
Clarification: The word "right" has at least two meanings that are quite distinct: one is narrow and limited, prescribed, for example, by a contract, or set forth in a law applying for a limited time to certain named parties. An entirely different kind of right is a "natural right," such as the rights set forth in the US Bill of Rights, or the UN's Universal Declaration.
Hear us Roar | <urn:uuid:f5c2521f-5c56-423f-a23c-3d003a7be5cd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oreillynet.com/cs/user/view/cs_msg/4271 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936221 | 124 | 2.09375 | 2 |
I encountered someone who erroneously thinks there is a dilemma between Direct Democracy and Participatory Polity (parpolity). I found this person to reflexively get defensive to any critique, not matter how constructive or diplomatically presented, and predictably and somewhat intentionally unfamiliar with Parpolity (I constantly asked the person to take the time to consider the arguments but got rapid and dismissive responses - since I occassionally catch myself doing the same thing I thought to myself: go figure!).
True, they are not the same, but the latter does draw the benefits from the former while including methods to counter the costs.
Here are some highlights of our encounter.
"You must have missed Obama's pre-election suggestion forum where people's suggestions were voted on and the most popular rose to the top. People were able to choose from thousands of proposals instead of whichever a few people favored. Your argument ignores the fact that we deliberated from vastly more choices and we got to make our own proposals."
[For the sake of the topic I never bothered to ask (rhetorically) whether those proposals voted on in a meaningless forum have any bearing on policies being implemented post-election!]
That's not the same thing as 300 million Americans deliberating and legislating everything that affects them. Having every American deliberate, formulate and legislate on healthcare or living wages is not practical. How can you become acquainted with and considerate of 300 million other peoples views on an issue?
"Granted [ParPolity] may be more representative than what we have now if only because there are more representatives."
The benefit doesn’t come from having more representatives/delegates, but from how and where the process comes from, which you are glossing over.
And comparing representatives in a Representative Democracy to delegates in a Particiaptory Planning is like comparing apples to oranges simply because they share the title of being a "fruit."
"In the ideal form of democracy, anyone can make the laws, not representative councils. They do so by proposing laws and having them voted up or down. The best proposals rise to the top and become law. It is completely decentralized and we socialize online, which makes it easier to deliberate on an ongoing basis."
Direct Democracy is decentralized and people can propose things and vote up or down, but that doesn’t really build social bonds without an adequate way to do two things: 1) provide an outlet for deliberation on 2) that which affects those involved in deliberation.
If federated councils bother you then technically everyone can be a party to innumerous councils depending on the scope of who is affected, but the problem with that is one of practicality. It would be nice if there were enough time in the day to accommodate this but since there is only so much time and some people value leisure, there needs to be a trade off. Participatory Polity is designed to do just that. Power ultimately comes from the lowest councils since anyone in a higher council must be a member of a lower council who has been chosen to represent that council in higher councils; and councils are broken up into two categories: 1) size to accommodate face-to-face deliberation and 2) areas to separate who is affected by decisions and who is not.
A county council would be made of community council delegates who were chosen to represent them in city councils as well as being chosen by city councils to represent them in county councils. This allows de facto say by those in the county without millions having to deliberate by excluding counties who are not affected. If something only affects Tarrant County then Johnson or Dallas or Denton County shouldn't have a say, and neither should those counties residents have to sort out what they do and don't want to have a say on. When something affects more than those in that county the issue may be taken up in a regional or state or national or international arena between those affected and accountable to the lower councils by more than just voting, but by popularity due to effective participation and understanding of the views of their councils.
Let me put it this way. You are not a politician. You are a member of your community council and you deliberate with others in your community to legislate what affects you. Unless you have an effective understanding of your council’s views they would not have chosen you to represent them in higher councils. This is dramatically different from representatives in Representative Democracy where a US Representative who allegedly represents 600,000 people knows virtually nothing about his electoral constituents and who can operate without their explicit approval so long as he gets enough campaign funds to stage an elaborate and extensive campaign to dupe them into voting for him/her. It's also an improvement upon Direct Democracy since it gives wider room for deliberation, popular participation, grassroots control and respect for personal leisure time. | <urn:uuid:b180ebbe-e4ec-4d7a-9b01-1a3941fc0e8a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.zcommunications.org/direct-democracy-vs-participatory-polity-a-false-dichotomy-by-michael-mcgehee | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97506 | 978 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Triple Crown is the only triple heroic crown of sonnets in the English language. I believe it is the only such poetic work in any language.
A crown of sonnets is a series of sonnets linked one to another, such that the last line of one poem is repeated as the first line of the subsequent poem. This process continues until the loop is closed by the last line of the last poem’s being repeated as the first line of the first poem. A classic example of this is the exquisite seven poem crown of sonnets by John Donne entitled, aptly enough, La Corona.
A heroic crown of sonnets is a sonnet crown consisting of fourteen poems linked as described above. The added feature which makes the heroic crown more than simply a longer collection of poems is that the linking (repeated) lines of poetry themselves comprise another sonnet. Thus, a fifteenth sonnet is implicit in the fourteen sonnets explicitly stated in the heroic crown. This fifteenth sonnet is called the magistral sonnet. As an added feature, the magistral sonnet is often an acrostic, with the acronym embedded within it pithily summarizing the theme of the entire set.
One can represent a heroic crown of sonnets, then, as a series of small filled circles linked together by a larger circle, something like beads on a necklace. It will be readily apparent that one could have three such circles, with each circle intersecting the other two at two places. One of the sites of intersection is common to all three circles. (See figure on book cover.) Each cycle of poetry, therefore, will contain three poems whose first lines also serve as first lines in poems of the other two cycles. This is the fundamental structure of Triple Crown.
Triple Crown tells three interlocking stories. Creation is described, admixing Biblical description, kabbalistic mysticism, and modern physics. The history of the conflicts of the three great kings of Israel—Saul, David, and Solomon—is told in their voices. Finally, the story of Job and his suffering is reviewed from the viewpoint of Job himself. The introduction to the book gives a more extensive description of the book, and I recommend to the reader that he read the introduction before he reads the poems.
Opposite each poem in the book is a diagram indicating where, in the total structure, the poem lies. This should help keep the reader apprised as to his location within the entire work.
Triple Crown is not a collection of poems. It is a unified work. It is intended to be read in the order presented. It merits re-reading. | <urn:uuid:99f1aa8c-496b-41b8-8c5d-46acd6f86963> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://la.blurb.com/b/1391041-triple-crown?alt=Triple+Crown%2C+as+listed+under+Poetry | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963784 | 544 | 3.375 | 3 |
Back to Budget 2011 Page
The Hon’ble Union Finance Minister in his Budget for the financial year 2011-12 has proposed the basic exemption limit for Male assessees to be Rs. 1, 80,000/- and for Senior citizens to be at Rs. 2,50,000/-. There is a new category, ‘Very Senior Citizen’ who are aged 80 years or above and the exemption limit is Rs. 5,00,000/-. However, there has been no change in the basic exemption limit in the case of Female assessees.
These changes would amount to a small reduction in Tax Amount, compared to last year. Relyon provides an online utility to check the Tax difference for last year to this year.
|Tax Difference Calculator 2010-11 & 2011-12
- Senior Citizen means the individual aged between 60 to 79 years.
- Very Senior Citizen means the individual aged 80 years and above.
- The age has been assumed as of current year, as Senior citizen age has been reduced from 65 to 60 years. (This may amount to marginal difference, if assessee is between 60 and 65 during last year. This is not taken care above.)
Source: Relyon | Back to Budget 2010 Page | <urn:uuid:38367a44-2ea0-4314-9600-c892a6d001c9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://saraltaxoffice.com/articles/budget1112-tax-difference.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956156 | 257 | 2.203125 | 2 |
5 Virtual Machines
Note: we refer to pharo, but this applies also to squeak, because the mechanisms are the same. Even their VMs are 100% compatible when not exactly the same.
When you run an instance of pharo, you are actually running a virtual machine, with the specified image passed as an argument. Pharo is made of a VM in the sense that its executable consists of an interpreter, which contains its own instruction set (called its bytecode) to which all smalltalk methods are compiled. When a smalltalk method needs to be executed, the virtual machine looks up the method's bytecodes and interpret them one by one. You can see the bytecodes within the image, try exploring
SmallInteger >> #timesRepeat:
this will show you the instance of CompiledMethod that gets executed when you do something like 20 timesRepeat: aBlock. You can even see the bytecodes there. The term Virtual Machine has been given diverse meanings, as you can see here, so when talking about pharo's virtual machine we may use a term taken from A Tour of the Squeak Object Engine, which is Object Engine (OE) that fits much better and is more appropriate.
The OE you execute each time you run Pharo is programmed half in Smalltalk and half in C. It would be nice to have all of it written in Smalltalk, but for many reasons that's not possible nor desirable today. A not so small amount of the code consists of platform specific support files, so it's easier/better to have them written directly in C. We call this code the handwritten C part (HC). The not-C part of the OE is all written in Smalltalk, and to be more precise it is written in Slang, which is a subset of Smalltalk that can be easily translated to C. We call this the Slang code (SC). This SC is later translated to C by VMMaker and used in conjuntion with HC to make the OE. We call it the automatically generated C code (GenC).
The Slang code is inside VMMaker package, which is explained in the next section. The HC code is hosted at www.squeakvm.org, where you can also get a copy of specific versions of the GenC, in case you don't want to mess with VMMaker.
This compilation generates a native executable file and many libraries (one for each external plugin). This files contain the native executable bits of the primitive parts of the OE. That includes:
- Bytecode interpretation
- Numbered and named primitives
- Plugin primitives
As we said, methods are compiled into CompiledMethod instances in the image which have -among other things- a list of bytecodes. Thus, when a method is activated, its bytecodes have to be interpreted; that's the base of the execution model.
Inside the OE native executable code, this bytecode interpretation consists mainly of managing the OE state, like pushing and poping arguments to and from the stack, and sending messages. If you read carefully, you'll notice that there is an important group of things that is not implemented as bytecodes: primitives. There isn't any bytecode for things like adding two integers, but there is one to send a message, which determines if the method to be activated is a Smalltalk one or if it calls a numbered primitive, a named primitive or even a plugin primitive. Then you also have the actual executable code that got compiled with these groups of primitives. That would roughly make all the executable code you get when you compile.
But then, for all this native code you need to get support from the image. That is, you need methods that make the interpreter call the primitives and objects on which to perform them. For example, for SmallIntegers, you are going to have a lot of methods whicho don't have any Smalltalk code but a reference to the primitive that will do what the method's name says.
^ super + aNumber
Note: code after the <primitive: *> is a kind of fallback code that will be executed if and only if the primitive fails.
The idea is that for each group of primitives you'll have an object model onto which to apply them by sending messages that call primitive code. You may also notice that after compiling the OE you don't need Interpreter and Plugin classes anymore (unless you want to change the primitives and recompile), the only thing you need are the classes that make use of the primitives, and that's the reason why VMMaker isn't included with in the image by default.
Some time ago, Eliot Miranda started to work on a new VM for Squeak (and all its fork, like Pharo). This VM is called CogVM and it has been already released. In fact, is the default VM included in the PharoOneClick 1.1.1 and beyond. Cog VM includes a lot of new features, but in a glance:
- Real and optimized block closure implementation. This is why from the image side blocks are now instances of BlockClosure instead of BlockContext.
- Context-to-stack mapping.
- JIT (just in time compiler) that compiles methods to machine code.
- PIC (polymorphic inline caching).
If you are a little arround Smalltalk you may have heard about Cog VM and Stack VM. What is the big difference? Stack VM implements 1) and 2). And Cog VM is on top of the Stack VM and adds 3) and 4). Finally, there is CogMT VM which is on top of Cog VM and adds multi-threading support for external calls (like FFI for example).
Cog VMs have increased performance arround 4x-10x. In addition, it has improved VMMaker quite a lot.
Useful links for CogVM: | <urn:uuid:1f4e6576-4829-49b7-86a9-0ad2cf72469b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://book.pharo-project.org/book/Virtual-Machine/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942043 | 1,235 | 2.6875 | 3 |
KALAMAZOO (WKZO) -- Congressman Fred Upton told the Trifecta that he doesn’t see the need for Drones in the U.S.
The issue is heating up because of a presidential memo that spells out when drones can be used to take out U.S. Citizens working for al-Qaida.
Over 80 police agencies, university researchers and other organizations have filed for permits to use drones in the U.S.
Apparently the U.S. Customs Service has been using drones to gaurd the southern border with Mexico for the last 7 years.
Police agencies say they can be used to trail escaping criminals or equipped with infra-red to find lost children or Alzheimer’s patients, and do it a lot less expensively than a manned aircraft.
Civil Rights groups say they would be used to invade privacy, but supporters say if you aren’t doing anything wrong, than you shouldn’t have anything to fear. | <urn:uuid:7fbca59e-0b2e-4a26-b3a4-1a28dc6947a6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wkzo.com/news/articles/2013/feb/09/fred-upton-says-drones-not-needed-in-the-us/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918862 | 203 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Equality, Diversity and Cohesion
This section of the website explains the Council's approach to equality, diversity and cohesion in local communities.
Wirral Council is committed to ensuring that it delivers all of its services in fair and appropriate ways. It also pledges to develop an inclusive recruitment and selection process aimed at creating a strong and diverse workforce. This approach ensures that we work towards removing any barriers which may exist within our services and employment practices.
What do we mean by ‘equality’?
Equality is based on two principles - equal treatment and equal opportunity. This means building a society where no one is held back because of who they are, or where they come from.
The Council will ensure it meets it’s legal requirements under the Equality Duty 2010.
What do we mean by ‘diversity’?
The Council recognises how diverse Wirral’s communities are. The wealth of cultures, lifestyles, experiences, beliefs and perspectives. This will be recognised in the Council’s role as an employer, service provider, commissioner, partner agency and within its community leadership role.
What do we mean by ‘Cohesion’?
Community Cohesion is what must happen to all communities to enable different groups of people to get on well together and what must happen to enable new residents and existing residents to adjust to one another.
The Council will ensure that the community activities it supports encourage further integration to improve community cohesion.
The Equality Watch Single Equality Scheme 2009-2012 is the Council’s equality and diversity action plan for the period April 2009 to March 2012.
The Equality Watch Scheme details the actions that will be taken across the whole council to eliminate any discriminatory practices and to promote equality and recognise diversity within employment and service delivery. The scheme also provides a framework for the Council to achieve ‘Excellent’ status within the Equality Framework for Local Government.
The scheme is currently under review, this will be extended to include all ‘protected groups’ under the Public Sector Equality Duty 2011.
As the biggest employer and provider of services in the borough the Council will work towards building a culture that values diversity and equality, by recognising and appreciating individual needs and differences.
The Council is subject to a wide range of inspection regimes and service-led equality objectives which are contained within the action plan for the Equality Watch Single Equality Scheme 2009-2012.
The council also has a Corporate Equality and Cohesion Strategy and a Corporate Equality and Cohesion Policy which will be reviewed annually and adapted each time government legislation, best practice and local communities develop and change.
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