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‘Ambient assisted living forum’, Eindhoven, the Netherlands
2012-09-24 The ‘Ambient assisted living forum’ will take place from 24 to 27 September 2012 in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
Europe’s population is ageing rapidly. Between 2010 and 2030, the number of people aged from 65 to 80 will rise by nearly 40%, posing challenges to Europe’s society and economy. Information and communication technologies (ICT) can help older people to improve their quality of life, stay healthier, live independently for longer and remain active at work or in their community.
The event is being organised by the Ambient Assisted Living Joint Programme (AAL JP). The AAL JP is jointly funded by the European Union Member States and private organizations. The aim of the joint programme is to not only meet the challenges, but also make use of opportunities, that demographic change means for EU citizens, social and healthcare systems, industry and the European market.
Quality validation date:
Go to Source | <urn:uuid:870d6c64-3a1d-4def-a5b1-c58b35e3e549> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.albionalliance.org.uk/2012/09/ambient-assisted-living-forum-eindhoven-the-netherlands-5/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933115 | 213 | 1.570313 | 2 |
The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University recently conducted a fascinating study that found that teens who use social networking websites are more likely to drink, smoke and do drugs. The researchers discovered that when compared to teens who spent no time at all on social media sites, teens who spent any time during the day on such sites were fives times likelier to use tobacco, three times likelier to use alcohol, and twice as likely to use marijuana.
I emailed Patrick Winters, a top adolescent addiction counselor at the drug and alcohol treatment center I run, and asked him comment on the study. He responded:
"It’s astounding to read some of the statistics, with 89% of parents reporting that viewing social media or social networking sites would not make their child more likely to use drugs. The figures are a little frightening, when we consider that almost 17 million adolescents are online, sharing information on social networking sites. One of the main points we would like to get across to parents is to be more aware of what other social media or social networking sites their children are using. Facebook is typically a social networking site that teens use as intended, since parents and other family members can view status updates, photos and so on. But MySpace, with the thousands of applications, is a little different. It allows teens to be creative and make profiles that say more about who they really are. Teens typically post images and status updates on MySpace that they wouldn’t share on Facebook.
Adolescents are good at showing adults what they would like them to see, and hiding what they don’t want them to see. The well known social networking sites appear to be used as a front to keep parents and friends of the family seeing one thing – but teens have other websites that they use to hide what they don’t want the adults to know about. The stats are interesting on this report, but I think if research were carried out on some of these other social media sites, it would heighten parental awareness. The message is clear: The Internet can promote and allow adolescents access to other social networking and social media sites that are far more harmful to adolescents than Facebook or MySpace, and we urge parents and adults to be aware of this.
On some of these other social networking sites, teens openly talk about buying, selling and using drugs. They post photos of themselves using, and they talk about different types of parties (pill or “skittle” parties, shot or alcohol parties) that are going on locally. They talk about what drugs to bring and what will be available. In these chat rooms or live feeds, users are able to make up a screen name and post what they have for sale, what they have for trade, or what they are willing to do for drugs and tattoos. When teens find someone who is looking to buy, sell or trade drugs, they then go to private messages (inbox or IM) and trade contact information.
Many parents tell us they are planning to move to a new town or city to help their adolescent break away from old friends. What these parents sometimes fail to understand is that teens can get online and within hours have connected with new substance-using friends, and can be planning to buy or trade for controlled substances on what can only be described as open marketplaces on some of these other social networking sites.
We encourage parents to be vigilant when considering just how much access a teen has to the Internet; many parents are unaware of how easy it is for a teen to access the Web via an MP3 player, a game console or even a friend’s cell phone at school. We try to educate parents and make them more aware of the availability of Internet. We encourage passwords to be used at all times on home wireless systems.
For better or worse, we live in a world of amazing technology. For adolescents who typically are technologically savvier than most of us, the social media and Internet can be a curse if not used properly. Parents must do a better job of monitoring their kids’ usage at home and on smartphones. The fear of accountability is still the best way to help influence kids to make positive choices, and the earlier in life this structure and accountability is started, the better. If a parent waits until late in the game to press for rules, she may find a heightened level of volatility and pushback coming from her child. The bottom line is that parents need to be alert to what their child is seeing and doing on the computer – and on smartphones, tablets, MP3 players and all other technologies." | <urn:uuid:63e7475f-368a-428b-84af-2a9c14c14b0f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.doctoroz.com/blog/george-joseph-lcdc/social-media-s-effect-adolescents | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959581 | 934 | 2.359375 | 2 |
One Tiny Pill Takes on Heart Attack, Stroke, and Diabetes
The latest reports are based on analysis of data from three large trials of pravastatin that included a combined total of almost 20,000 patients.
Gaw tells WebMD that the 5,974 men enrolled in his trial, called WOSCOPS, "were relatively healthy middle-aged men. If we were to look at the drug in an older group of patients or in African-Americans or Asians -- both of which tend to have a higher rate of diabetes -- the effect might be even greater."
According to Levy, the finding about diabetes is especially welcome because diabetes is a well-established risk factor for heart disease, and "heart disease is the leading cause of death among diabetics," he points out. While he says that the WOSCOPS analysis reports a "degree of reduction that is fairly considerable and not likely due to chance," he still feels that this is something that deserves further research.
Gaw says the finding is especially compelling because earlier studies showed that simply reducing cholesterol by either diet or with other medical therapies "did not reduce the risk of diabetes." He adds that other drugs that lower lipids have not been shown to protect against diabetes just by lowering the cholesterol levels in the blood. That suggests, he says, that something about the way statins work is exerting this protective effect. A likely explanation, according to Gaw, is that statins affect the blood vessels, and so does diabetes. So this is where the statins may be exerting their protective effect. The drugs may also counter inflammation, which some experts say may lead to diabetes.
In the second study, Robert P. Byington, PhD, and colleagues found that pravastatin use was associated with a 22% reduction in total strokes and a 25% reduction in nonfatal strokes. Byington, a professor of epidemiology at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C., tells WebMD, "I feel pretty comfortable hanging my hat on the finding that pravastatin does reduce the risk for both fatal and nonfatal stroke. Since the drug has already been shown to reduce the risk of first heart attack and second heart attack, it does appear to offer a survival benefit."
While the Byington study is reassuring, Levy points out that the protective effect of statins for stroke has been discussed previously at various scientific meetings and is not 'news' per se. The publication of the paper is nonetheless welcome, he says.
The only downside to the statin story, says Levy, is that statins are known to be so effective that many physicians may be reaching for the prescription pad before trying other ways to lower their patients' cholesterol levels, such as diet and exercise. This is an important consideration, he says, because daily statin therapy can be expensive, costing hundreds of dollars a year. | <urn:uuid:3e29bafd-ef84-4b2f-9a12-4f3404ba207a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://diabetes.webmd.com/news/20010122/one-tiny-pill-takes-on-heart-attack-stroke-diabetes?page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966321 | 596 | 2.453125 | 2 |
November 21, 2002
Religious Voices in Foreign Policy
-- Edward LeRoy Long, Jr.
Martin Marty's report of PBS's "America in the World" and the
conversations at the Wye Plantation
During and right after the Second World War, leading theologian Reinhold Niebuhr addressed the role of the United States in world affairs in such works as Christianity and Crisis. Although he dealt with these issues broadly, his thinking on U.S. foreign policy may have been the major -- or certainly a major -- aspect of his contribution. Several church bodies produced documents with titles such as "A Just and Durable Peace." There was strong religious support for the development of international cooperation and for organizations such as the United Nations. Many churches took the lead in suggesting the importance of establishing diplomatic relationships with Communist China. The National Council of Churches had a department devoted to concerns of international order, as did many individual denominations. Several religious groups established offices near the United Nations to maintain witness and contact with the various delegations forming that body. A number of seminaries offered courses directly or significantly relevant to these concerns. The topic, though not without controversy, was "front burner."
During the Vietnam War, religious groups were highly visible in confronting the issues raised by that conflict. Considerable attention was devoted to developing more astute and articulate awareness of the morality of conflict and the principles -- primarily appearing as a refurbishment of just war theory -- by which to judge whether or not that conflict was legitimate. Religiously grounded opposition to that conflict was hard to ignore or discount.
What is the current situation? The issues have changed, of course. Instead of dealing with aggression by armies under the direct control of national sovereignties, we must now deal with terrorism that may or may not be sponsored by sovereign states and which is not likely to cease on the basis of any duly signed armistice. Instead of confronting a world in which discrete logistical (economic and geographical) parameters separate parts of the world from each other, we are engaged in technologically-enhanced interchanges that are less and less responsive to discrete political guidance. We no longer debate whether or not the United States should become involved in world affairs, but rather whether or not that involvement has become so massive, so widespread, and even so unilateral as to be more dangerous than helpful. Are churches and religious groups in general addressing these issues with the vigor or thoroughness with which they addressed corresponding issues in earlier times? If they are, are those efforts as visible as prior efforts? Unless they are or can become so, the role which the Wye Plantation conference seems to have envisioned for religious bodies will not be realized.
Edward LeRoy Long, Jr. is the James W. Pearsall Professor Emeritus of Christian Ethics and Theology of Culture at Drew University. | <urn:uuid:851111bf-badc-4780-ba95-3ebbe44b5288> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/publications/sightings/archive_2002/1121.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00076-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970265 | 578 | 2.3125 | 2 |
by Gary North
The rich, the owners of the already operating plants, have no particular class interest in the maintenance of free competition. They are opposed to confiscation and expropriation of their fortunes, but their vested interests are rather in favor of measures preventing newcomers from challenging their position. Those fighting for free enterprise and free competition do not defend the interests of those rich today. They want a free hand left to unknown men who will be the entrepreneurs of tomorrow and whose ingenuity will make the life of coming generations more agreeable. They want the way left open to further economic improvements. They are the spokesmen of material progress.
~ Ludwig von Mises
People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.
~ Adam Smith
Central banks are tools of the very rich to protect their capital. The central banks' primary function is to protect large commercial banks. This reduces risk for the owners of those banks and their senior managers. But the cost of this risk reduction is transferred to the general public.
The public is told otherwise. We are told that the Federal Reserve Bank and FDIC deposit insurance protect our wealth. What these government-imposed systems do is to protect the public from one kind of loss — closed banks — at the expense of another kind of loss: depreciating money. The second form of loss gets little attention. It doesn't hurt much. It's more like a low-intensity headache — a headache that is caused by a malignant brain tumor.
The system reminds me of New York City, as well it should, since the heart of the system is in New York City, not Washington.
Below the streets of New York are the water pipes.
The system was built around the time of the Civil War. Maybe the city could replace them, if it had any money, but it doesn't. Maybe the city could get the money somehow, but unfortunately, there is no map available which shows the pipe system, subway system, and electrical system in an overlay. So the pipes burst and short out the subway from time to time. The capital base of the city is literally disintegrating under their feet. The twin towers got a lot of publicity, but the water system is the accident waiting to happen.
Every once in a while, part of the water system breaks. The water leaks into the subway system, which has to be shut down on that line. This is like big bankruptcies, such as Long Term Capital Management. They can be covered up. The problem is the system of debt that undergirds the financial system.
There is no map.
Immigrants are everywhere in New York City, the very rich and the very poor. There are Indian diplomats in full dress, African diplomats in full dress, and Arabs in full dress. To cater to their demands (and lots of other people's demands), there are lots of odd-looking ladies who are barely dressed at all.
The city is being sustained by hundreds of thousands of people who don't speak much English, some of whom come to buy $10 million townhouses, and others who come to sell their services as cooks and janitors, or sell hot dogs. Most of the poor ones come here to work. The Puerto Ricans don't; they've been corrupted by the welfare system (and forced out of Puerto Rico by U.S. minimum wage laws), but the others are here to work, and work hard. The Puerto Ricans are here legally; I suspect that most of the others aren't. The illegals are the productive ones.
The non-Puerto Rican immigrants are all in New York for the same reason: freedom. Some are here because the level of envy is less in our nation than elsewhere. All are here because the opportunities are greater, both for private good and private evil.
It is this mix that astounds me.
The super rich, especially the captains of the fractional reserve banking system, who gather together, as Adam Smith described, to conspire against the public welfare.
The normal rich, who broadcast the news the first group are willing to have broadcast, or who run the executive suites of the corporations the first group control by their control of large blocks of corporate stock.
The middle class, who run into the city on Sunday once a year in the marathon.
Most of all, the poor, who sell the hot dogs, or mug passers-by in Central Park, or play the steel drums on 5th Avenue, or who live underground in the pipes and caverns near 42nd street. (This literally exists: a "community" of troglodyte derelicts who live beneath the streets.) Rome must have been like this in the second century.
You and I don't rub shoulders with troglodytes, just as Council on Foreign Relations members don't rub shoulders with us. What I'm trying to get at is this: there are several layers of New York City: the below-ground, the ground floor, and the upper story. These groups are totally separate culturally from each other. Only the free market fits them together productively.
The problem is, an alien ideology opposed to the free market is eroding the potential zones of co-operation among the groups. What keeps peace in such a society are window bars, alarm systems, and guards who walk up and down in front of the fortresses. It is not the illegal aliens who are the threat; it is the alien ideology which is dominant in the lands from which they have fled.
It is this same ideology which dominates the thinking of the upper-story people of New York City. And in the eyes of those who hold it and use it to their own benefit, you and I are not much different from those illegal aliens, or even much different from the troglodytes.
THE ULTIMATE "PROTECTION" RACKET
In 1907 there was a depression, sometimes called the Panic of 1907, and also called the "bankers' panic." It created the conditions for a highly orchestrated hue and cry for government protection from recessions. The response of the bankers — the very biggest of the banks — was the preliminary designing of what was to become the Federal Reserve System. Nelson Rockefeller's grandfather, Senator Nelson Aldrich (after whom Rockefeller was named), was its prime political promoter. Its designer was European banker Paul Warburg, whose two-volume history of the FED, The Federal Reserve System (Macmillan, 1930), conceals more than it reveals. Its dedication, however, is very revealing:
FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE
The FED has done its work well. Yes, thousands of small banks went bankrupt in the 1930's. But why should we imagine that this implies that the FED didn't do its work well? Milton Friedman has argued endlessly that the FED made a mistake. Why not conclude that the FED did what was necessary to consolidate its own power? The FED was not entirely to blame for the magnitude of the depression; the politicians who passed high tariffs in 1930 are also blameworthy. But the FED's loose money policies of 1924—29 created the boom, and its tight money policies led to the depression's early stages. (See Murray Rothbard's book, America's Great Depression).
The boom is politically desirable. It gets people to go into debt and buy. It gets businessmen to go into debt and expand their businesses. The fiat money artificially reduces short-term interest rates and lures people to the loan windows of the banks. In short, the boom creates a demand for personal and corporate indebtedness. The bust creates the bargain sales for those with cash to pick up.
From 1965 until late 1979, the FED was expansionist. Not in a straight line, of course; there were three major booms (1967—69, 1971—74, 1977—79) and two busts (1969—70, 1975—76). The third bust, 1980—82, was engineered by the FED's tight money policies beginning in October of 1979. In mid-1982, the FED started expanding again.
When the FED is expansionist, people go deeper into debt. They try to take advantage of the "buy now, pay later — in cheap money." This is the familiar strategy of "get rich quick." It is the strategy of using other people's money while it is valuable and paying off with your own money when it isn't.
It is an exceedingly dangerous strategy. It is dangerous because it lures people into markets that they never seem to be able to leave voluntarily because of the psychological thrill of making quick and easy money at the tail end of the panic boom. This is why I am not a promoter of debt, even in mass inflations.
From time to time I receive letters from people who ask me, "If you believe that inflation is coming, why don't you recommend debt?" Because of 1969—70, 1975—76, and 1980—82. Price inflation has never left. We are still in the age of price inflation. Central banks are still expanding money. Prices are still rising, although slowly. Price inflation will continue.
The debt whipsaw is a killer. It creates too many pitfalls for the unsuspecting. Thus, people get lured into debt positions when real interest rates are low during the boom (that is, when they are just barely above, or even below, the rate of price inflation), and they go bankrupt when real interest rates turn positive in the recession phase (like today). The risk is too great. The best rule is cash and carry of the item that is likely to go up later.
HOW SMART ARE THE INSIDERS?
The major form of "insiding" is high-level fractional reserve banking. It always has been. At first the insiders win, but they eventually lose. In 1494, the mighty Medici bank went under. Why? Because it had made too many loans to princes. It was in the 15th and 16th centuries that the German banking family, the Fuggers, dominated Europe. They were the Rothschilds of their day. But they also made the mistake that large-scale bankers always seem to make: they loaned huge sums to kings. In 1525, it was the wealthiest firm in Europe. In 1557, France and Spain defaulted. They couldn't get the loans repaid. They went bankrupt in 1607.
Why do the bankers do it? Because governments grant them their fractional reserve monopoly, and then demand loans. Because the banks assemble (create) such large sums of lendable money that their loan officers can't decide what to do with all of it. Because governments guarantee easy profits. Because the huge loans to governments offer "economies of scale." It's cheaper to get a single billion-dollar loan placed than a thousand million-dollar loans. But who can borrow a billion dollars? More to the point, who can offer comparable security for such a loan?
Actually, this security is really a lot of smoke. The bankers have been making bad loans to Latin America for over 190 years. Nations default, and then bankers make more loans. Howard Ruff's law of government is: "Government is dumb." My corollary is: "So are its bankers."
But they are only intermittently dumb. For a long time, they look very, very smart. The Fuggers looked like geniuses in 1525. The Medicis looked like geniuses in 1400.
The banks have buried themselves in government debt certificates. They have bought government bonds. They have bought what economist Franz Pick called "certificates of guaranteed confiscation." Eventually, the debt will be repudiated. There is a universal long-run law of all government debt: creditors eventually get skinned.
All of your long-run financial strategies should be based on the assumption that the world's bankers will eventually make a mistake. A Big Mistake. They aren't supermen. The system is vulnerable.
The trouble is, we have to invest for both worlds: the one in which multinational banks are doing fine, and the one in which they will make the Big Mistake. My view is that the mistake will take place over time. It will not be a one-shot shock. We will have warnings. But in the meantime, we should not assume that the dollar will always stay high in relation to everything.
In recent months, investors have begun to sense this. Foreign investors who bought dollar-denominated assets have suffered substantial losses. American investors don't feel the pain, because they were not tempted to buy foreign currencies in 2002. But they could have. So, in terms of opportunities foregone, they have suffered losses. Maybe they made money in stocks, but if they did, they're basically even with the market, compared to what an investment in the euro would have produced.
The dollar is doomed in the long run, because U.S. government debt, including unfunded Social Security and Medicare debt, cannot be repaid except with fiat money. Default will come, but it will be disguised by monetary inflation.
In order to transfer commercial bankers' risks to the victims — depositors and voters — central banks must inflate. Otherwise, commercial bankers would suffer. The present system was set up to prevent this.
February 4, 2004
Copyright © 2004 LewRockwell.com | <urn:uuid:44fc7563-f285-4971-b25f-ca9fc35787c1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north245.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967558 | 2,782 | 1.8125 | 2 |
DUBAI // A new initiative that promotes safe driving habits among youth will focus on cautious driving skills over speed.
The campaign, launched on Sunday by FedEx Express and supported by Dubai Police and the Emirates Motor Sports Federation, will run until March 25.
More than 2,000 students at five Dubai-based universities will attend interactive lectures and participate in a simulator experience.
About 375 students turned up for the opening at the Indian university, Bits Pilani.
The four other participating universities include Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) Dubai Women’s Campus, the American University in Dubai, Manipal University and HCT Dubai Men’s Campus.
“Most young drivers think they are confident but don’t have the awareness and anticipation,” said Roshanara Sait, a road safety expert and director of Ciel Marketing and Events, which organised the campaign. “There’s no point in being confident when you don’t have the other two.”
The programme includes theory, visuals and a driving challenge.
Topics include common causes of accidents, road fatalities, the psychology of driving, and a technical discussion on the correct sitting position, how to brake, the use of seat belts. It also covers stopping distances and the three-second rule – a simple way to check you are at a safe distance from the car in front.
A simulated roll-over accident will help students see the advantages of seat belts. There will also be graphic videos showing the benefits of seat belts for front and rear passengers, and the dangers of texting and driving, along with a “shocking” video on driving standards.
Talks also include scanning the environment, identifying potential hazards and distraction, such as the use of mobile phones and loud music, mirror adjustments, blind spots and shoulder check.
The 45-minute presentation provides an overview on aggression on the roads. The programme will culminate with a FedEx driving skills challenge competition on March 25 at the HCT Dubai Men’s Campus, with each university nominating a team of 16 members.
The students will experience manoeuvres to improve their car handling abilities, work towards improving their driving techniques and understand the concept of using skill over speed. Six winners – three male and three female – will be appointed as “road safety ambassadors”. | <urn:uuid:44f1a3d5-5f51-4f94-8d12-ced8ff3459b5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/simulated-roll-overs-give-dubai-students-first-hand-lessons-on-road-safety | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944985 | 479 | 1.828125 | 2 |
There is more than enough justification for Pennsylvanians to expect the worst from their highest state court.
Often, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has performed atrociously — from giving state lawyers carte blanche to engage in unethical conduct, to giving its blessings to the clearly unconstitutional measure that allowed gambling casinos, to winking at the obvious corruption of two Luzerne County judges.
I am forced to admit, however, that the Supremes did the right thing last month when they decided to force a Commonwealth Court judge to put the kibosh, temporarily, on the state's new law requiring voters to present valid identification before casting a ballot.
Generally, I strongly favor such a requirement. I do not believe for one minute in the claims of the Democratic Party — that widespread voter fraud no longer exists, just because it is rarely prosecuted.
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"Vote early and often," the motto of that party's Tammany Hall in years past, is still facilitated by a system that lets voters go from polling place to polling place without actually having to prove who they are, or whether they actually live in that voting district. Keep in mind there are 9,110 polling places in Pennsylvania.
In the debate over the law requiring voters to present a photo ID, such as a driver's license, virtually all of the support for such a measure came from the GOP and the opposition came from Democrats, cheered on by their constituency of union bosses and defenders of the downtrodden.
In one court hearing, ID foes wheeled a poor and elderly woman into a courtroom and gave a sob story about how she was unable to get any photo identification. (For people without driver's licenses, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation was supposed to provide free ID cards.) Then, just one day after the court upheld the voter ID law, she suddenly discovered she was able to get to a PennDOT office, after all, and received her ID card with no problem.
Then along comes the Supreme Court, with perhaps the worst reputation of any state appellate court in America, and all its Republicans side with the Democrats — telling a judge in the subordinate Commonwealth Court to rethink his previous ruling that the voter ID law was constitutional.
If allowed to stand, that earlier ruling, by former Northampton County Judge Robert Simpson, would have meant voters in next month's elections had to present photo IDs.
The Supreme Court's decision to bounce back Simpson's ruling, advising him to issue a preliminary injunction against implementation of the voter ID requirement, also bucked individual party affiliations (to its everlasting credit). It went this way.
In favor of the injunction: Chief Justice Ron Castille and associates Thomas Saylor and J. Thomas Eakin, all Republicans, plus Democrat Max Baer. Opposed to the injunction: Justices Seamus McCaffery and Debra McCloskey Todd, both Democrats.
To the delight of other top Democrats, Simpson issued the injunction against the photo ID requirement on Tuesday.
The most recent decisions by both Simpson and the Supremes were based on arguments that PennDOT and the Pennsylvania Department of State, which oversees electoral matters, could not guarantee that every qualified voter without a driver's license would be able to get another form of ID by the Nov. 6 election.
"Both state agencies involved appreciate that some registered voters ... will be unable to comply with the requirements," said the Supreme Court ruling on Sept. 18. It told Simpson to assess whether IDs may be unavailable for some voters, and if so he "is obliged to enter a preliminary injunction."
The Supremes did not scuttle voter ID, but agreed with those challenging the new law that there was not "reasonable time" to accommodate every person affected by it. "The gravamen [lawyer talk for the most significant part] of their challenge at this juncture lies solely in the implementation."
It's a problem of logistics, not principle.
On principle, and in general, let's think about what the opponents of meaningful voter identification are saying.
They feel we should let people vote who have no way of proving who they are or where they live. What, then, is there to keep them from going from polling place to polling place — as many of the 9,110 they can fit into their schedule — to cast multiple votes? That is what Tammany Hall did in the 1800s, mobilizing the underprivileged to stuff ballot boxes, especially in big cities.
I've been around politicians long enough to know that if it's possible to cheat, many will, and that certainly was the case when I worked in Philadelphia in the 1970s. The only reason I suspect Democrats more than Republicans is that the latter have fewer underprivileged flunkies to mobilize.
That brings up the other most popular ploy to corrupt the electoral process, and this one benefits mainly the GOP. Millionaires can shovel enough money into television commercials to mislead voters with the most outrageous of lies, as happened in the 2004 "Swift Boat" campaign against presidential candidate John Kerry.
That form of corruption — elections bought by whoever has the most money — needs to be curtailed, even if it takes a constitutional convention.
Paul Carpenter's commentary appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. | <urn:uuid:dce40b6a-d7e8-4d69-9e41-9c6b290ec169> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mcall.com/news/local/carpenter/mc-pc-pa-voter-id-rulings-a-departure-from-partisa-20121004,0,6810422.column?track=rss | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970724 | 1,095 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Teach-to-the-child approach scores big in Willowbrook
STATEN ISLAND, NY – WILLOWBROOK — Six representatives from a well-respected, 111-year old Singapore educational institution wrapped up an eight-day visit to the Northeast yesterday.
The group toured Ivy League campuses and classrooms at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., and Columbia University in Manhattan.
They visited the Boston Arts Academy and then ventured to LaGuardia High School of Music & Arts and Performing Arts and The Spence School.
As part of this demanding look-see, laden with trips to some of the most highly-regarded schools in the region, the contingent came to the West Shore of Staten Island on Monday.
Administrators and educators from the prestigious Singapore Chinese Girls’ School (SCGS) spent a full day, observing classes and asking questions about the implementation of certain teaching practices at PS 54 in Willowbrook.
Vice Principal Wee Koon Koh, English Department chair Siew Bee Choo, Mathematics Department chair Sock Har Chan, Physics teacher Siew Li Yeo, English teacher Tracy Goh and Primary teacher Ai Ling Goh spent more than a week learning new methodologies and watching them incorporated into actual lesson plans.
“There has been a great deal of changes globally, what with all the advances in technology,” said Ms. Koh. “The approach to learning is different now. We are one of the top schools in Singapore, and it is very important to us to keep up with the changes.”
Their venture to the United States began at Harvard on March 9, where the teachers learned about and discussed Project Zero. The initiative, originated in 1967, studies ever-shifting human cognitive development, then bases new teaching techniques on the data.
Once the theoretical portion of the visit was completed, the SCGS group singled out several schools in the area where those tactics were being utilized and journeyed there for observations.
Hoping to visit with one of the finer city public schools offering such programming, Ms. Choo wrote to the Department of Education, which promptly set up a date with one of its premiere Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM) sites – PS 54.
“We launched the SEM program here six years ago,” said Principal Anna Castley, a Silver Lake resident in her seventh year at the school’s helm. “It’s been a slow and steady process implementing it, but it has been extremely successful.”
SEM offers a detailed blueprint for educational enhancements at a school by allowing each institution to create its own specific programming, based on student demographics, regional influences, faculty strengths and a host of other conditions.
For the visitors from Singapore, the trip to PS 54 was extremely rewarding, considering the girls studying at SCGS range from age 6 to 16.
“We have seen a lot of emphasis on students learning rather than just teachers teaching,” said Ms. Koh. “The teachers are facilitative in the process, but with group work (and other techniques) the students are also learning from each other.”
Her colleagues echoed those sentiments.
“This seems to be a very powerful way of learning,” said Ms. Choo. “It’s very process-driven in some ways, but there is freedom within the structure. It isn’t one-size fits all. There are different ways to engage the children, while working toward the same common goal.”
Particularly impressing the visitors were the “talent pool” portions of the day’s programming, where students are allowed the opportunity to select particular areas of interest that they would like to delve further into.
The Singapore educators, along with Ms. Castley, and school coordinator Vivian Barone, watched as a dozen members of the ballroom dance talent pool practiced their routine for an upcoming competition.
They toured classrooms as children studied about the history of Mexico, learned the basics of journalism and photography, and received a first-hand culinary demonstration from a local chef.
“We too have a talent program,” said Ms. Koh. “And I feel that our goals (and the goals of PS 54) and beliefs are very aligned. We need to continue to adopt more interactive strategies and offer the students customization. Every student is talented. No two are alike.”
The group left impressed, both with the opportunity it was given, the programming of the school and the administration in charge of managing it.
“We were so grateful to see as much as possible in our one-day visit,” said Ms. Koh. “But I think a lot of the success is because of the leadership. There are many similarities between my principal (Mrs. Ay Nar Low) and Ms. Castley. They are both very strong leaders, and that is what a school like this needs.”
Jamie Lee is a reporter for the Staten Island Advance. He covers the West and South Shores and may be reached at email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:2499725c-f378-4250-a463-d311d2239e10> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.silive.com/westshore/index.ssf/2010/03/ps_54s_classroom_methods_impre.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959947 | 1,056 | 1.726563 | 2 |
When Evita Bezuidenhout, South Africa's first lady of satire and sequins, decided to buy the old train station in the Afrikaner town of Darling and transform it into a dinner theater to perform her political cabarets, the residents were a little concerned. Since 1981 Evita Bezuidenhout (pronounced Bezaydenhote) had kept the nation crying with laughter as she used her sharp tongue to rip to shreds the apartheid government and all those who stood by it on TV, in South African theaters and on the London stage. Ten years on, however, Evita se Perron (Evita's Platform in Afrikaans) is the cornerstone of the Darling community, serving up "the best boerewors [sausage] this side of apartheid."
"I live next to the Dutch Reformed Church dominee [minister]," says Evita's alter ego and creator, Pieter-Dirk Uys (pronounced ace). "He always warmly embraces Evita whenever she meets him. We respect each other's theaters." And the clergyman isn't Evita's only admirer. The walls of the foyer are plastered with thank-you letters penned by the apartheid era's superstars. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a regular visitor to Darling (he takes his wife there for their anniversary), writes: "We need you to continue to hold a mirror to our human condition." Alongside are affectionate faxes from the debonair '80s Foreign Affairs Minister Pik Botha, and photos of "the couple" going hunting. "During the '80s, I started a rumor that he and Evita were having an affair, and even he started believing it," says Uys.
But the theater's highlight outside of showtime is Uys' collection of apartheid kitsch. "My idea was to create a Disneyland of bad political taste for Evita to preside over," he explains. Atop her piano on her small stage is a bust of former Prime Minister and apartheid architect H.F. Verwoerd that's been made into a lamp. "It used to have a plaque on it that said, 'Let he who gave us darkness, now give us light,' but it fell off," admits Uys. Next door, in the Museum Nauseum, an intimate 80-seat theater, old political posters advise voters to bly blank my volk (Stay White My People), and there's an official portrait of the 1983 Cabinet Ministers' wives "Where they all look like drag queens" which Uys confesses was stolen by an M.P. from Parliament for Evita. But it's not all about the past. For up-to-the-minute satire, head outside to her Boerassic Park, where the garden gnomes include President Thabo Mbeki driving a "gravy train."
It's just an hour north of Cape Town, so you can make a day visit. "Some people go to Robben Island in the morning and then come to us. From the sublime to the ridiculous," says Uys. Evita is on stage every weekend from February through August. tel: (27-22) 492 2851/31; www.evita.co.za | <urn:uuid:1f1c738f-9904-4c1a-9c38-f29ab2a36108> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1592103,00.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965269 | 676 | 1.523438 | 2 |
June 2, 2008
Plurk. Yuck. Sounds so muck like pork. or bork. We understand there’s sort of a love-hate thing going on with our name. It’s understandable but we’d like to give you some colour on what’s behind the name so you are not as quick to brush it off.
- Plurk as stalkerati central: People + Lurk = Plurk
- Plurk as an amalgam of Play + Work: Play-Work. Plurk is what scientists do. It is the enthusiastic, energetic application of oneself to the task at hand as a child excitedly plays; it is the intense arduous, meticulous work of an artist on their life-long masterpiece; it is joyful work. (credit)
- Plurk as acronym: Peace, Love, Unity, Respect, Karma
- Verb potential: “Oh I googled this –> Oh I plurked it” Easy enough to wrap around in any form. Plurked, plurking, plurkers, plurks. Little p, big P, it’s catchy, snippy and sweet.
So next time you say Plurk, don’t say ewww, but chew on it for a little longer and have a happy day (at work, plurking the day away!). | <urn:uuid:531e0392-c497-4aaf-9fa6-9d34943f2cdd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://en.blog.plurk.com/2008/06/02/why-plurk-an-etymological-deconstruction-of-the-word-you-love-to-hate/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933388 | 289 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Last week Web-calling giant Skype announced a new record as it saw 32 million people using it at the same time. That record has already been surpassed after the Microsoft-owned service recorded 34 million users online concurrently at peak on Monday.
Though the figure is some way short of the active user bases of Twitter (100 million per month, as of last year) and Facebook (766 million per month and 60 million to mobile apps) Skype’s number is impressive as it is represents real-time usage.
In a post on the Skype blog, social media director and blogger-in-chief Jennifer Caukin speculates what might have seen last week’s record surpassed so quickly:
It’s a quick jump and speaks to the volume of people who rely on Skype everyday around the world to stay in touch. Perhaps it’s driven by all the buzz of people talking about the Oscars, NASCAR Daytona 500, or maybe it can be attributed to our announcement today at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona for our new Skype for Windows Phone Beta app.
Following widespread rumors this month, Skype launched a beta version of its Windows Phone app. The company will be aiming to make the new app is as popular as its others as it looks to broaden its appeal and usage. Skype for iOS has likely passed 60 million downloads and the Android app has clocked up more than 10 million users.
Skype for Windows Phone has been a long time coming, and it follows comments made in 2010 in which the company revealed that it had no plans to develop a native app for the platform. However, that all changed with the growth of the Windows Phone platform, but mainly also because the Redmond-based software giant acquired Skype for $8.5 billion in May 2011. | <urn:uuid:15907b4b-6030-45c9-8ece-d0b6e85d8670> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/02/28/another-week-another-record-as-skype-sees-34-million-users-online-at-the-same-time/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967149 | 359 | 1.59375 | 2 |
The online "Energy Estimator for Irrigation" released by USDA is an excellent tool to help producers make decisions about irrigation, says Irrigation Association Executive Director Tom Kimmell.
"The energy estimator simplifies a complex process. It’s a common sense tool that can help farmers weigh numerous variables to make decisions about irrigation upgrades. Upgrades that reduce energy usage often result in substantial water savings as well," Kimmell says.
The "Energy Estimator for Irrigation," available online, evaluates opportunities to improve irrigation energy and water efficiency. Growers can visit the website, enter information about their irrigation system and receive an analysis of potential changes that can result in energy and/or water savings. The program requires data about the type of irrigation system, irrigated crops, power source, well lift, pressure, price per unit of energy and whether the producer uses a flow meter, irrigation scheduling or a maintenance program.USDA estimates that improving irrigation efficiency by 10 percent could reduce diesel consumption by 27 million gallons and save farmers $55 million a year. The estimator is available at http:// www.nrcs.usda.gov/energy. Learn more about the Irrigation Association at http:// www.irrigation.org. | <urn:uuid:cd09cdbc-64cb-4a33-ac42-565cdbe872a6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cornandsoybeandigest.com/usda-estimator-new-tool-evaluating-irrigation-efficiency | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906544 | 260 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Aung San Suu Kyi's Improbable Campaign
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin.
Just over a year ago, Nobel laureate and pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi was under house arrest in Myanmar, also known as Burma. Now, she's on the campaign trail in that country, as Burma gears up for highly-anticipated parliamentary elections on April 1st. Suu Kyi is drawing huge crowds to her campaign rallies.
And NPR's Anthony Kuhn joins us from Burma's largest city, Yangon, to discuss the scene there.
Anthony, I understand Suu Kyi just visited the constituency that she plans to represent, if she's elected into parliament. What was that visit like?
ANTHONY KUHN, BYLINE: Well, the place she's picked to represent in parliament is this tiny, little township called Kamu, four hours down tiny, rutted, dusty roads in the countryside. And yesterday, those roads were filled with honking, flag-waving supporters. Seemed like just about every villager was lining the road side carrying pictures of her and her father General Aung San, who negotiated Myanmar's independence from the British in 1947.
If you've never seen her in action, it's really quite convincing. And you just have to think, the military and the ruling party may have a lock on political party but The Lady, everybody calls her The Lady, really seems just unbeatable.
MARTIN: How is the government responding to all this, Anthony? Does the fact that she is drawing such big crowds is this making the government nervous?
KUHN: Well, first of all, really that Suu Kyi is not his campaigning for own parliamentary seat. She is campaigning for 48 members of her party, the National League for Democracy, who will be contesting in the elections. And it appears that sometimes her crowd-drawing power is making the government a bit nervous. She was supposed to travel to Mandalay, which is Myanmar's second city, but she was told that the stadium that she was going to use for her rally was not available on that day.
In fact, local media have reported that the government was nervous about her drawing huge crowds into the street. And in particular, Mandalay has a huge population of Buddhist monks. And they were afraid of, I think, scenes reminiscent of 2007's Saffron Revolution, when these Buddhist monks took the street in an anti-government uprising.
MARTIN: Suu Kyi's party actually boycotted the 2010 elections. The party said that those elections were unfair. Why does Suu Kyi want to run for elected office now? What's changed?
KUHN: Well, she herself says that she is taking a serious gamble. It won't necessarily succeed. But what she wants to do is get into the system and within the system, promote democracy and the rule of law, and repeal the unfair laws on the books, and revise the constitution. And she's trying to cooperate with the political liberals in the system, who themselves are gambling that if they work with Suu Kyi, that this will get foreign government sanctions on Myanmar lifted and jumpstart the country's economy, which is clearly lagging and far behind others in the region.
MARTIN: Anthony, from your reporting, do you think people in Burma see these as legitimate elections? Have enough reforms been made to give people a sense of faith that these will actually be free and fair?
KUHN: Well, a lot of reforms have taken place. We've seen, you know, an easing of media censorship, which has had a big impact on public opinion. We've seen the release of hundreds of political prisoners. And people also know that Suu Kyi's participation in the election could do a lot to give credibility to the elections and to the political reforms going on.
At the same time, people remember very clearly 1990, when Suu Kyi and her party won a landslide electoral victory but the ruling junta at the time refused to recognize the results and put her under house arrest.
MARTIN: That was NPR's Anthony Kuhn in Yangon, Myanmar.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio. | <urn:uuid:c48a8895-cac6-4c90-9da6-d1efd254773c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.npr.org/2012/02/12/146769131/aung-san-suu-kyis-improbable-campaign | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97403 | 944 | 2.015625 | 2 |
The graphics processor G71 announced by Nvidia some time ago proved to be good in terms of core area (it incorporates fewer transistors than the G70) and frequency potential. Although its technical characteristics are the same as the G70’s, the G71 can readily work at frequencies of 650MHz and higher as it actually does in some pre-overclocked versions of GeForce 7900 GTX.
But as we wrote in our article called Quadtet: Nvidia GeForce 7900 Quad SLI Performance Unveiled, there are but very few PC enthusiasts who purchase expensive top-end graphics hardware. Most of them seek for their graphics card in a price range of $299-399. This money can buy you the performance necessary to play modern games if you don’t turn on extreme full-screen antialiasing modes or display resolutions higher than 1600x1200. From this point of view, GeForce 7900 GT, the junior model in the GeForce 7900 series, looks more interesting than the flagship GeForce 7900 GTX because it comes at an official price of only $299. What’s curious, it has better parameters than the GeForce 7800 GTX which came at an impressive $599 at the time of its last-year release!
The standard GeForce 7900 GT is equipped with 256 megabytes of graphics memory clocked at 660 (1320) MHz and its graphics core is clocked at 450MHz (470MHz for the vertex processors). Although this card is made out of chips that hadn’t passed a frequency check to be installed on GeForce 7900 GTX, it can often work at much higher clock rates than the mentioned 450/470MHz. That’s why a release of pre-overclocked versions of GeForce 7900 GT was inevitable. This method of distinguishing a product from the competitors’ solutions is as popular among the graphics card manufacturers today as installing an original cooling system. Well, these are actually the only opportunities for creativity when it comes to top-end graphics cards. Developing an original PCB design is too difficult and costly a business and is actually not permitted by ATI and Nvidia (the latter sometimes leaves its closest partners, like ASUS, the choice of the color of the card’s PCB, too).
So, the first pre-overclocked GeForce 7900 GT that we could get into our hands is e-GeForce 7900 GT SO SuperClocked from EVGA. The frequencies of this card are much higher than the standard ones at 550MHz GPU and 790 (1580) MHz memory. It looks like a promise of a nice performance boost to us. You’ll see how the card performs in gaming tests shortly. Right now let’s have a closer look at its package and design. | <urn:uuid:849394fd-3e8a-4626-8a82-7eadd3d886fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/graphics/display/evga-7900gt.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946753 | 564 | 1.9375 | 2 |
Dec Jan 2004/2005 - The Logging and Sawmilling Journal
Winning them over
Tembec’s Private Land Forest Management Service—certified by the FSC—is winning over private landowners smack in the middle of Southern Ontario’s Cottage Country.
By Ray Ford
Claude Perreault never really finishes a logging job, but that’s not for lack of trying. For Perreault, each job is part of a long-term process of forest improvement—an effort he expects to be involved in well into the future. “I’ll be back here in 15 years,” he says, taking a break from the cab of his John Deere 640 cable skidder and surveying the hard maple bush near Huntsville, Ontario. “And when I’m back, I’ll see that the trees have grown faster because of the kind of management we’re doing today.” As one of the contractors working for Tembec’s Private Land Forest Management Service, Perreault and his colleagues are on the cutting edge of sustainable forestry.
Certified by the Forest Stewardship Council as forest resource managers, the service works to restore vigour and quality to central Ontario’s private hardwood forests—reversing a decline triggered by generations of loggers who cut the best and left the rest. “Parry Sound-Muskoka has experienced high-grading for 100 years, so we’re doing the first part of forest management, removing poor-quality trees that have been left for many years,” says Peter McElwain, private lands superintendent for the central Ontario division of Tembec Forest Resource Management Group. “If we can ensure there’s a sustainable forest out there on private land, that will give us access to better products in the future. The saw logs we bring into our mill in the future will produce a better yield and bring in more money. Right now, veneer percentages on private land are very low, currently less than one per cent. “It’s a long-term thing,” McElwain adds. “The financial gain for everybody—the contractor, Tembec, and the landowner—will be in the next rotation.”
The area seems ideally suited to a sustainable forestry program. About half the forest in Ontario’s Muskoka District is privately owned, and many of those owners are keen to preserve their land’s wildlife and recreational potential while improving the quality of the wood with low-impact, selective cuts on a 15 to 20-year rotation. “I don’t want my forest ruined. I think it should last for future generations,” says Cheryl Raymond, a landowner whose 200-hectare forest is managed by the Tembec program. “At the same time, I think the forest would decline without some management.” Raymond’s land is part of more than 3,200 hectares managed under the program in Muskoka, Parry Sound, Nipissing and Haliburton Districts.
Land managed under the program should yield about 45,000 tonnes of FSC-certified veneer and sawlogs, chips, pulp, and there’s even a demand for sawdust, this year, all of it marked, stored, and processed separately according to the FSC’s requirement that certified wood follow a documented “chain of custody” from the landing to the customer. “It can be a more expensive way of doing business, but that’s reflected in the contract with the landowner,” says McElwain, who manages parcels from eight hectares on up. “A lot of landowners say fine, I want a healthy and productive forest. They’re prepared to give up some profit now in exchange for benefits down the road.” Each site is harvested according to an individual prescription based on FSC principles and tailored to the needs of the landowner. “I prefer to do a site visit with the owner,” McElwain says. “You talk about the values they have: timber, wildlife, the health, vigour and regeneration of the forest. Most landowners really enjoy talking about their property and learning more about it.”
During the next step, McElwain and Tembec silvicultural technician Brian Bjorkquist prepare a forest management proposal approved by Tembec registered professional forester Brad Mitchell. The proposal offers a prescription for managing species, promoting forest diversity, preserving wildlife habitat, and protecting cultural heritage “values.” It also estimates the volume of wood to be removed and at what price. If the landowner accepts the proposal, McElwain follows up with a Timber Sales Agreement. Most parcels are logged with selective cuts designed to open up about a third of the canopy, with individual operating plans drawn up for each site. Wet areas, for example, are better logged in the winter, when machinery has less impact on sensitive sites.
Areas around blue heron rookeries or active hawk nests are cut during restricted times, when the harvesting operations won’t disturb nesting cycles. Landing areas are kept as small as possible, or nearby fields are used for landings. “Some people don’t want roads, so we use forwarding systems to forward out to a landing area in a field or on a main road,” McElwain says. “Thirty years ago forest access followed watercourses with roads and trails. Now we do the opposite, following hills and ridgelines to reduce the impact on water quality and avoid water crossings. “It’s a more intensive management program. Every property is different, and you have to approach each one in a different way,” he adds, noting he also works with municipalities, cottagers’ associations, snowmobile clubs, and aboriginal communities. “You have to notify adjacent landowners. They don’t appreciate hearing or seeing machinery next door without knowing what’s going on.”
Harvesting is followed up with a post-cut cruise to check for stand damage, residual basal areas and to document the outcome of the prescription. “Planning is the big key. Under selective harvest in a 20-year rotation, the planning has to be very thorough to protect all environmental values.” McElwain argues FSC certification is also a crucial part of the process. “Tembec’s corporate statement includes producing as much FSC-certified product in the near future as possible. We’re audited for what we’re doing, and that gives us credibility. We don’t just do what we want. We have to answer to somebody.” Answering to the FSC means following an extensive set of principles and guidelines covering everything from working with aboriginal people and local communities to controlling erosion and protecting endangered species.
It also means submitting the entire process, from timber cruising to milling and storage, to a rigorous audit by consultants acting on the FSC’s behalf. “We’ve been happy with FSC. Most of our auditors come from the US, and we like that, because they’ll tell us what else is going on in the world,” McElwain adds. “It’s good to get feedback, advice and perform networking with independent consultants coming in. It helps you find the flaws in your own system and make the industry better at what we do.” “Careful logging” is a key phrase at the logging site, one you hear not just from Tembec staffers but from their contractors, too. It means limiting stand damage to less than 10 per cent, and avoiding harm to prime regeneration sites. “When we go into forests right now a lot of the trees we’re removing were damaged during the last harvest, 20 or 25 years ago,” McElwain says, gesturing to a sugar maple with a gnarled, cankered trunk in a bush near Huntsville. “You can see this site is growing very good quality maple, but this scar is the result of previous logging activities, and that’s why this tree is marked for removal.”
McElwain uses a core group of three or four contractors on the FSC-certified private land sites, and will bring in others, including a horse logger, for those unique sensitive sites, as needed. Most of the prescriptions consist of selection harvests for management of maple and beech or Group Selection to manage the mid-shade tolerant species like red oak, yellow birch, white ash and black cherry. The standard approach is felling with a chainsaw and then skidding to a landing or forwarder. The operational plans place a premium on skilled directional felling, and careful skidding. Contractors are also working to boost productivity and limit stand damage with the addition of new equipment, including the Winch Chief remote-controlled winches used by Whitney, Ontario-based Dan Mastine. “My father always told me not to be afraid to try new things, so I read the information on the winches and thought it was a good idea, and I was willing to give it a shot,” says Mastine, who works regularly on Tembec’s FSC-certified projects. “At the same time, you’ve got to be careful and get the right equipment. Working with new ideas can also cost you a lot of money.”
The German-built Winch Chief, available from G F Preston Sales and Service Ltd in Sundridge, Ontario, is a common feature in European selective cuts but remains a rare item in Canada. With the use of a wireless keypad, it allows the operator to choke logs and winch them back to the skidder from the ground, without clambering in and out of the cab all day. “I’ve had it since June of last year. It increases productivity, but it also helps to avoid stand damage, because you can do a better job of navigating around rocks, stumps and valuable regeneration,” says Mastine, who has the $8,500 Winch Chiefs mounted in two new Timberjack 460 dual-function skidders and an older Clark 666 unit. “Before, we used to try to grab five trees and haul them together. Now I call this a tag-and-go system. Usually your faller is a few trees ahead, so you pick a location where you can get two or three logs together. You walk one log up and keep coming back with the end choker.”
The payback comes in better productivity and safety for the operator, who isn’t constantly climbing in and out of the skidder and running the risk of slips, falls, and bruised shins. Equally important, there’s less wear-and-tear on the forest. Research on remote winches indicates productivity was boosted by up to 20 per cent after six months of working with the winch. Another project using remote dual-drum winches found ground disturbance was decreased by 40 per cent. Mastine slashes the logs at the landing with a Serco 270 slasher/log-loader, equipped with a 54-inch carbide-toothed blade, but the skidders are the heart of the operation. The new Timberjacks are equipped with air conditioning, heat, and a stereo in the cab. “You’ve got to have good equipment to attract young men to the field,” he says. “I run the old Clark. They can bury me in that one when I go. “Even though I have big equipment, I think you can still do a good job and limit stand damage,”
Mastine says, adding the crew kept stand damage to seven and eight per cent during a summer cut in Haliburton. “The good timber is often in the bad places, so you’ve got to have the equipment to get in and get out. If you’ve got enough power, you can do a better job than a smaller machine, and you’re not bouncing around so much, and it’s easier on the operator.” While cable skidders dominate selective cuts in the area, McElwain says Tembec has been experimenting with feller bunchers in selective harvests, and have been very successful in achieving acceptable standards. “But personally I’d select landowners where we’d allow that to happen,” so the harvest technique is tailored to the site and the interests of its landowner. The use of forwarders may be another way to boost productivity in selective cuts. One contractor who works on the program, Troy Barry, uses a John Deere 640 forwarder with a Hultdins Superchisel hydraulic saw to process and forward forest products on site.
Claude Perreault is also considering adding a Timberjack 230 forwarder to his equipment kit, which now includes a 640 John Deere cable skidder and a 544A Deere front end loader. Perreault, who works with faller James Wesseling, has also made major investments in training, earning both a Class 1 provincial tree marker’s licence and Tembec’s own Professional Forest Worker Certification. Thanks to his certification, “I can also make my own management decisions. If I have to take one tree here, I can leave another one over there,” he says. He’s only too happy to discuss his approach with the landowner or neighbours, and his enthusiasm can be infectious. He once converted a neighbour from a logging opponent to a supporter by touring her through the site in his skidder. “It’s an awesome relationship between the landowner and the program,” McElwain says. “Claude could be making more money doing other things, but his heart and soul is in sustainable forestry.” Sustainable logging requires a little more organization and pre-planning from the contractor, Perreault says.
Since rutting, site disturbance and soil compaction are frowned on, he has to be flexible, shifting work to dry areas when the ground is soft, and then back to the wet zones when it’s dry or frozen. “I have to manage the forest and be careful about what I do. But I don’t like what I do—I love it,” he adds with a grin. “I like working with the private landowner, and explaining what I’m doing and why I’m doing it this way.” The professionalism and care of the contractors, the reputation of Tembec, and the Resource Management Certification all work to build a long-term, trusting relationship with landowners, says Cheryl Raymond. “I’ve been very impressed,” she says, adding she’s been making regular trips from her Toronto home to watch Dan Mastine’s crew harvest her land. “I keep coming up to see what’s going on because I really find it exciting.”
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English Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary
Core Tasks Include:
- Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions.
- Evaluate and grade students' class work, assignments, and papers.
- Prepare course materials such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.
- Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as poetry, novel structure, and translation and adaptation.
- Teach writing classes.
- Maintain student attendance records, grades, and other required records.
- Plan, evaluate, and revise curricula, course content, course materials, and methods of instruction.
- Keep abreast of developments in the field by reading current literature, talking with colleagues, and participating in professional conferences.
- Assist students who need extra help with their coursework outside of class.
- Maintain regularly scheduled office hours to advise and assist students.
- Conduct research in a particular field of knowledge and publish findings in professional journals, books, or electronic media.
- Compile, administer, and grade examinations, or assign this work to others.
- Select and obtain materials and supplies such as textbooks.
- Advise students on academic and vocational curricula and on career issues.
- Collaborate with colleagues to address teaching and research issues.
- Serve on academic or administrative committees that deal with institutional policies, departmental matters, and academic issues.
- Participate in cultural and literary activities, such as traveling abroad and attending performing arts events.
- Participate in campus and community events.
Supplemental Tasks Include:
- Supervise undergraduate or graduate teaching, internship, and research work.
- Write original literary pieces.
- Recruit, train, and supervise department personnel, such as faculty and student writing instructors.
- Provide assistance to students in college writing centers.
- Perform administrative duties such as serving as department head.
- Participate in student recruitment, registration, and placement activities.
- Compile bibliographies of specialized materials for outside reading assignments.
- Conduct staff performance evaluations.
- Teach classes using online technology.
- Act as advisers to student organizations.
- Write grant proposals to procure external research funding.
- Provide professional consulting services to government or industry.
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Why "Buffalo Soldiers"?
by B.B. Robinson, Ph.D.
A New Visions Commentary
paper published August 2003 by The National Center for Public
Policy Research, 501 Capitol Ct., N.E., Washington, DC 20002,
202/543-4110, Fax 202-543-5975, E-Mail [email protected],
Reprints permitted provided source is credited.
I was invited to review a recently released
movie titled "Buffalo Soldiers," a movie previously
released in Europe under the title "Army Go Home."
It's about corrupt and incompetent American servicemen in Germany
in the late 1980s.
My invitation to review "Buffalo
Soldiers" was prompted by a controversy over the mistitling
of the movie. Buffalo Soldiers is a well-known label given to
the African-American soldiers who defended the southwestern frontier
of the United States after the Civil War. Native Americans likened
the African-Americans to buffaloes because of the color and texture
of their hair and their tenacious, never-die spirit in battle.
Because movie titles normally signal
movie content, many Americans were concerned about the use of
the movie's title because the title and content were completely
discordant. Consequently, a key question surfaced: Why "Buffalo
Why would Miramax Film Corporation and
its parent company, the Walt Disney Company, use the highly-respected
label for African-American soldiers as the title for a movie
that has absolutely nothing to do with the Buffalo Soldiers with
whom we are all so familiar? Was it: (1) because the book on
which the movie is based is titled Buffalo Soldiers? (2) just
an eye-catching title? (3) intended to prompt prospective viewers
to purchase tickets as a result of the subliminal link to their
good feelings about the real Buffalo Soldiers? (4) a more dastardly
attempt to de-link another African-American iconic symbol from
its lofty and well-deserved place in history?
On the first question, a "yes"
answer is unacceptable because it questions the rationale for
adopting another title in Europe. By the way, a good African-American
media watchdog organization would have protested the use of this
title when the book was originally released.
Concerning question two, you may recall
that Turner Network Television (TNT) used the "Buffalo Soldiers"
name in 1997 for a television movie starring Danny Glover about
these outstanding historical American icons. It didn't, however,
attract an overwhelmingly large audience. It does not appear
logical that Miramax and Disney would expect this same title
would attract a massive audience since the movie's content was
virtually unrelated to the symbols embodied in the title.
On the third question, to think that
viewers are persuaded to purchase tickets based on some subliminal
connection also seems illogical. Did Miramax and Disney believe
moviegoers only read titles before purchasing tickets? Because
Buffalo Soldiers have the closest connection to African-Americans,
such a belief implies that African-Americans don't read before
Finally, while not being a believer in
conspiracy theories, I find it hard to believe Miramax and Disney
wanted to destroy the pristine nature of an African-American
iconic symbol like the Buffalo Soldiers by supplanting it with
an image that reportedly reeks of corruption and criminality.
What is crystal clear is that using the
Buffalo Soldier symbol as the title of this movie is the moral
equivalent of using "Rough Riders" as the title of
a movie featuring the exploits of Osama bin Laden's soldiers
of terrorism who were responsible for the events of 9/11.
As you can see, this isn't a movie review
at all. As one who attempts to make sense of this often senseless
world around us, I am unwilling to expend 98 minutes of my valuable
time nor any financial resources to screen a movie whose title
and apparent content are totally disconnected - almost schizophrenically
so. I may after Miramax and Disney provide an acceptable rationale
for their decision to title the movie "Buffalo Soldiers."
In the meantime, we should be vigilant
about preserving those historical symbols that are good and right
and deserve to be protected. Likewise, we should oppose those
who seek to tarnish such symbols with the tenacity of the Buffalo
(B.B. Robinson, Ph.D. is a
member of the National Advisory Council of the African-American
leadership network Project 21.Comments may be sent to [email protected].)
Note: New Visions Commentaries reflect the views of their author,
and not necessarily those of Project 21.
| Search | About
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Richard C. Liebich, who helped use the wealth created by his family's food service business to pursue some of the region's most generous and forward-thinking humanitarian efforts, died last week at 68 after what his family said was a brief illness.
In addition to being a successful businessman, Liebich ran several private foundations and nonprofits for his family that supported everything from low-income housing and drug court programs for veterans to high school science programs.
But perhaps his most ambitious philanthropic endeavor was the establishment of the Ordway Research Institute, a top-flight cancer and infectious disease lab founded in 2002 that attracted some of the world's brightest scientists, helping to establish the Capital Region as a growing hub for biotechnology and medical research. The project also included the construction of the Center for Medical Science, a gleaming $60 million research building that housed Ordway and the state's prestigious Wadsworth Center.
But the promise of Ordway began to crumble in 2010 amid the credit crunch and financial woes that beset many nonprofits following the global 2008 banking crisis. Ordway's board subsequently filed for bankruptcy protection in the spring of 2011 and the lab's scientists fled for other jobs.
Ordway's bankruptcy — which Liebich had opposed — set off a chain reaction that eventually engulfed the Center for Medical Science, which went into foreclosure, as well as two Liebich family foundations based in Clifton Park, including the Charitable Leadership Foundation, which was eventually forced to shut its operations roughly nine months ago.
With his hands tied by his creditors, Liebich was unable to fulfill commitments that the family foundations had made to local service and educational groups. He was also forced to lay off longtime and loyal employees.
Liebich said he regretted what had happened, but that the organizations were just the victim of cruel circumstances out of his control.
"Ordway never needed to go bankrupt," Liebich told the Times Union a year ago. "We presented a plan that we thought would allow Ordway to go on and it would have been fine. I am really sad to see it go because it was a huge success in many ways."
Despite losing out on grant money they had been promised, local social service groups said Liebich's passing is a huge loss for the community.
"We will miss Richard's heartfelt concern for veterans in need who are willing to move forward with their lives," said Joe Sluszka, executive director of the Albany Housing Coalition. "Our condolences go out to his family — especially his son, Adam Scavone, who has spent many hours of his time working with our veterans."
Liebich was the son of Herbert Liebich, who founded what later became Albany Frosted Foods in the 1930s. The business, which started as a modest grocery store on Delaware Avenue, eventually grew into one of the largest distribution companies on the East Coast. In 1969, the company merged with several others across the country to create Sysco, the Houston-based food service giant.
Robert Gralke, who is president of North American Carbide and worked with Liebich for 30 years, was saddened by the news and said Liebich was extremely generous not only with his money but also with his empathy for others.
"He was my boss and my business partner and my friend," Gralke said. "He was a wonderful individual. For me and my wife and my family, he was always a wonderful person. He was always doing things to help people."
email@example.com • 518-454-5504 • @larryrulison | <urn:uuid:1691f904-2bbd-47df-868f-97f9ac3e0847> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.timesunion.com/business/article/Charitable-giant-made-indelible-mark-3817864.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987337 | 742 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Emphysema is a chronic lung condition in which the lungs' natural airspaces, called alveoli, become larger but decrease in number. The tissue surrounding the alveoli loses elasticity so that the airspaces can no longer expand and shrink as usual. This reduces the amount of oxygen transferred by the lungs to the bloodstream, making it more difficult for you to breathe.
Emphysema usually results from exposure to toxins like cigarettes as well as air pollution, dust, chemical fumes, and irritants. Older adults are more likely to be affected and many people who have emphysema are not aware that they have it.
Cigarette smoking is the number one cause of emphysema. Although smoking has decreased in North America since 1964, it's still a major concern among young people. 1 in 5 people who have smoked a pack of cigarettes a day for 20 years have lung disease, and 5 out of every 6 lung cancer victims are smokers. A huge majority of emphysema sufferers have smoked heavily in the past. A burning cigarette emits over 4,000 different chemicals, many of which are carcinogenic (cancer-causing) or otherwise toxic to living tissue.
Infections of the respiratory tract can also destroy lung tissue and thus contribute to the development or worsening of emphysema. Likewise, having emphysema increases the likelihood of infection.
Heredity is occasionally a factor in emphysema. Carriers of a specific genetic abnormality called homozygous alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency are at high risk of developing emphysema. However, it is relatively rare and accounts for less than 1% of cases. If you have alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency, it's vital not to smoke.
Aging naturally brings changes to the lungs and air sacs even in non-smokers. The loss of elasticity can eventually become severe enough to be classified as emphysema. Air pollution can also irritate the lungs and cause emphysema, although pollution alone is rarely the cause.
There may be few symptoms at the beginning of the disease. As the air sacs become damaged, shortness of breath with physical activity is usually the first symptom. As emphysema progresses, you may experience shortness of breath even when you're resting. This can make normal activities such as eating difficult, which can lead to a reduced appetite and weight loss. Other symptoms include chest tightness, fatigue, and chronic cough.
As the air sacs become more stretched, air gets trapped in pockets called bullae that form in the lungs. This can produce a characteristic "barrel chest," which is the shape of the hyper-expanded chest.
Chronic lung damage prevents the heart from circulating blood normally. Lung damage can cause pressure elevations in the part of the heart that moves blood through the lungs. This is called pulmonary hypertension and is suspected when people with emphysema develop leg swelling, abdominal bloating, or prominent pulsations in the veins in the neck.
Bullae can rupture outside the lung into the pleural space (the space that surrounds the lung). As the air accumulates outside the lung, it may result in a life-threatening condition called pneumothorax. The body will also attempt to compensate for the low oxygen level by increasing the number of red blood cells (secondary polycythemia). Sometimes, the increase in red blood cells can be so severe that it causes blood clots.
Did you find what you were looking for on our website? Please let us know. | <urn:uuid:f7aa5d66-52b1-45eb-8296-a49643585d5d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bodyandhealth.canada.com/condition_info_details.asp?disease_id=51 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949765 | 743 | 3.796875 | 4 |
|This early model of Neanderthal, created for the Panama-California |
Exposition in 1915 probably more closely resembles the humans
who first settled Britain 950,000 years ago than Neanderthals
who are thought to have appeared in Europe as early as
600,000–350,000 years ago. Photographed at the Museum of
Man in San Diego, California by Mary Harrsch.
British Museum archaeologist Dr Nick Ashton said: "The new flint artefacts are incredibly important because, not only are they much earlier than other finds, but they are associated with a unique array of environmental data that gives a clear picture of the vegetation and climate".
"This demonstrates early humans surviving in a cooler climate than that of the present day," he said.
The climate was similar to that of modern-day southern Scandinavia. Summer temperatures were like those of modern Britain — but winters were long and harsh, with average temperatures of between 0C and minus 3C.
Fossilised remains of "Norfolk Man" have yet to be unearthed. But scientists said it was likely he was related to Pioneer Man — hailed as Europe's oldest inhabitant when his remains were uncovered in northern Spain in 1994. - More: Gulf News.com | <urn:uuid:398d6a10-4e47-469f-a168-1dea21b8614e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://passionateabouthistory.blogspot.com/2010/07/norfolk-cannibals-first-uk-settlers.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979162 | 256 | 3.796875 | 4 |
Virgin Media suffered a DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack on its website at the hands of The Pirate Bay supporters yesterday.
The Virgin Media website was taken down during the DDoS attack, which lasted one hour from 5pm last night.
It is believed that the attack occurred as a protest against the internet service provider (ISP) blocking users’ access to the file-sharing website since 2 May, following a High Court order.
A Virgin Media spokesperson said: “Our website, virginmedia.com, has been the subject of denial of service attacks so we took the site offline for a short period of time.
“We’re aware some groups are claiming the attacks are a result of the recent High Court order which requires ISPs to prevent access to the Pirate Bay.”
It added: “As a responsible ISP, Virgin Media complies with court orders, but we strongly believe that tackling the issue of copyright infringement needs compelling legal alternatives, giving consumers access to great content at the right price, to help change consumer behaviour.”
On its Facebook page, The Pirate Bay has released a statement condemning the Virgin Media hack.
“Seems like some random Anonymous groups have run a DDoS campaign against Virgin Media and some other sites,” it said.
“We do NOT encourage these actions. We believe in the open and free internets, where anyone can express their views. Even if we strongly disagree with them and even if they hate us.
“So don’t fight them using ugly methods. DDoS and blocks are both forms of censorship.”
Instead, it suggested, fans of The Pirate Bay should protest by starting a tracker, arranging a manifestation or “teaching friends the art of bittorent”.
British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the music industry trade association, asked a group of UK ISPs including Sky, O2, Virgin Media, Everything Everywhere and TalkTalk, to voluntarily block access to The Pirate Bay in November 2011, but the ISPs said they would not comply unless a court order was issued.
The High Court issued the order at the end of last month, requiring all UK ISPs to block access to The Pirate Bay by 11 May.
BT, which was ordered to block access to Newzbin 2 in July 2011 following legal action by the Motion Picture Association (MPA), has requested for more time to deal with the original complaint made by the BPI. | <urn:uuid:ba390941-c6a5-42af-8c0a-3d5d862a6c57> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.computerworlduk.com/news/security/3356542/pirate-bay-supporters-hack-virgin-media/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953909 | 512 | 1.523438 | 2 |
The law for animal protection in effect since January 2008 bans the euthanasia of healthy animals.
Yet the stray dogs management is to be regulated by a contradictory law, a huge step back by which the sanitary veterinarian authority ANSVSA reintroduces the killing of stray animals.
The project that passed the Senate is backed by all animal organizations.
The decision-making body in this respect is the Chamber of Deputies.
The decision is due after March 15th, the fate of animals depending on the result of debates in the Committee for Public Administration Territorial Planning, and Ecological Balance, and the final vote by the Chamber of Deputies.
The project approved by the Senate provides that the stray dogs and cats shall be neutered and put up for adoption before they are let back on the streets.
It also stipulates that the puppies and kittens by 5 months of age that cannot survive in the community will remain in the public shelters.
The national sanitary veterinarian authority opposes the project, asking that
- the dogs under 1 month of age and those that are not claimed, adopted or returned under protectors' responsibility to be euthanized after 5 days of impounding.
- the large size animals: horses, other equines abandoned or seized to be slaughtered if not adopted or claimed 5 days after their confinement into boarding stables /shelters.
The sanitary veterinarian authority solely agrees on releasing the dogs back on street if a so called 'protector of zone' takes the responsibility in writing to ensure the dogs food, water, medical care. Until sterilization the animals live on the streets on their own, in nobody's official care; why should that be imposed or conditioned afterwards? The experience proves that this provision, far from helping the animals, is a door open to abuses on animals and their 'protectors'.
The sole positive provision of the sanitary veterinarian authority: the mandatory sterilization of pets, had to be eliminated, since the opposition of public and majority of parliament may have compromitted the approval of law.
Since 2001, the killing dogpounds of Romania, the atrocities and continuous abuses on stray animals by dogcatchers and authorities have become public knowledge and gained a bad notoriety.
In October 2007, Roberto Bennati, vice-president of the Italian anti-vivisection league called Romania the "black sheep of Europe as regards the animal protection": 'Since eastern countries like Romania entered the European Union, illegal puppy trade has been reaching France, Italy and Germany. It's a phenomenon which is difficult to assess. Some data indicates that more than 10 millions of euros were made in traffic in 2006 alone. The puppy business has a steep growth in some parts of the year. Romania heads the ranks in this field, as well as having the lowest rate in animal protection.' Cafebabel.com, October 2007
1990 - WHO EXPERT CONSULTATION ON RABIES: "There is no evidence that removal of dogs alone has ever had a significant impact on dog population densities or the spread of rabies. The population turnover of dogs may be so high that even the highest recorded removal rates (about 15% of the dog population) are easily compensated for by increased survival rates. In addition, dog removal may be unacceptable to local communities".
"Alternative approaches, such as the implementation of "soft" population control projects (such as animal birth control) and education on proper health behaviour, responsible dog ownership and proper rubbish disposal, should be studied and, where feasible, their implementation promoted".
The stray killing as it happens in the real life, not in the official reports, is a brutal method: killing the dogs by poison, shooting, beating, starving, diseases, with acid, tar, by neck hanging are rather frequent occurence - and the atrocities seem to have no limits.
By maintaining the stray dogs killing the authorities actually acknowledge the incapacity to enforce a policy toward the responsible pet dog ownership, and dog population management. This is just another experiment by ANSVSA at the expense of animal lives that will induce cruelty on animals and destruction, with high costs for taxpayers, and will fail to solve the stray dogs problem. The black sheep of Europe wants to remain black forever.
THEREFORE WE URGE THE ANSVSA, THE COMMITTEE FOR PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, TERRITORIAL PLANNING AND ECOLOGICAL BALANCE, AND THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES TO PASS THE LAW FOR STRAYS MANAGEMENT IN THE FORM ADOPTED BY THE SENATE OF ROMANIA, THE ONLY ACCEPTABLE AMENDMENTS BEING THOSE IN FAVOUR OF ANIMALS* NOT AGAINST THEM, AND IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAW FOR ANIMAL PROTECTION No 9/2008 THAT FORBIDS THE EUTHANASIA OF ANIMALS.
*The amendments proposed by animal organizations are: the large size animals to remain in shelters until adoption, free of costs adoption of animals, neutering of cats, pet registration, free of costs pet registration for people on low income and animal organizations, tough regulations against pet abandonment, and the control of rabies by vaccination and monitoring, not by abusive/illegal methods etc.
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About this Book:
Some of the most important stories we'll tell our children are the stories found in the Gospel about Jesus: stories of hope, healing, trust, and the way Jesus will be with us always. Use this search and find book to spend time with your favorite children telling these stories. While you look for the hidden pictures you can talk with them about the story that is depicted in the illustration. Citations make it easy to find the story in any Bible. Miracles and Parables of Jesus doubles as a coloring book when the hidden pictures have been found. Includes information on how to locate Scripture passages. Covers miracles of Jesus as well as the most important messages Jesus gave us as found in the Gospel: building our house on rock, every person is our neighbor, the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, God always looks for us, we shouldn't think of ourselves as the most important, and more. | <urn:uuid:7491db52-4ea5-450a-90ac-a6d19df9096c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://store.pauline.org/English/Kids/tabid/128/List/0/ProductID/2594/Default.aspx?SortField=ProductName%2CProductName | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961725 | 187 | 2.421875 | 2 |
Jump to:Page Content
1. The search for a new funding model for the world's entrepreneurs SmartCompany
2. Harvard's Latino Problem Harvard Crimson
The search for a new funding model for the world's entrepreneurs
Mentioned: Research at CID’s Entrepreneurial Finance Lab
Entrepreneurship seems to have become the silver bullet for a job-scarce, unemployment-saddled global economy still struggling to shake off a severe recession. Around the world, leaders talk about how startups can create new jobs and lift regions out of poverty. But many entrepreneurs – particularly those in the world’s toughest economies – are still battling to secure the cash they need to launch and run their own businesses. …
And at Harvard, the Kennedy School of Government’s Entrepreneurial Finance Lab is examining whether “psychometric screening tools” that judge for “entrepreneurial ability” and “honesty” could, when paired with sales contracts, convince more banks to lend to entrepreneurs. Further research is under way now.
Harvard's Latino Problem
Mentioned: Center for Public Leadership
Topic: Latino studies at Harvard
This weekend’s 15th Annual Latino Law Policy and Business Conference celebrated the rise of Latinos in the U.S. and Latin America, but also revealed Harvard’s most glaring weakness: After forty years, a Latino Studies Center is still missing on campus. …
Since 1994, the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies has been a great resource to students on campus. But the Center’s leadership also recognizes that their charter, focused on Latin America, cannot provide adequate coverage of the “U.S.” part of the Latino identity. In fact, in our Spring 2011 efforts to establish HLSA, the Rockefeller Center was unable to serve as our sponsoring entity because of this very issue. Fortunately, our application to become a university-wide organization received the support of Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership, which has been an incredible resource and partner and is a key reason why HLSA exists today.
This selection of media appearances is compiled by the Office of Communications and Public Affairs.
To submit an item please email Jane Finn-Foley | <urn:uuid:b2b62fb4-81b4-4e62-8e40-24bcc1d03990> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hks.harvard.edu/news-events/news/news-archive/hks-itn-4.18.12 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921131 | 462 | 1.90625 | 2 |
Calling in cheaper rates
The UAE has just approved the license for its third telecoms operator, Yahsat. Will this lead to a greater variety of services and lower prices for consumers?
March 1, 2010 1:52 by Aarti Nagraj
The ‘duopoly’ in the UAE telecoms sector is about to be broken. The local regulator has just awarded a ten-year license to the Al Yah Satellite Communications Company (Yahsat) to operate alongside existing operators Etisalat and du. Yahsat will be allowed to install, operate and manage a public telecoms network through satellites, and provide voice, data, video and internet services.
“The licensing of Yahsat comes as confirmation of the role of the TRA [Telecommunications Regulatory Authority] in driving the telecommunications market in the country to compete globally, and through this license Yahsat will provide the region’s first multi-purpose satellite telecommunications system,” Mohammed Nasser al-Ghanim, director general of TRA, said during a press conference announcing the launch on Sunday.
Yahsat’s satellites will extend telecom facilities to 81 countries across the Middle East, Africa and South-West Asia, according to the company’s chairman Waleed al-Muhairi. The first satellite, Yahsat 1A, is expected to be launched during the first quarter of 2011 and it will start offering services from the second half of the year. Yahstat 1B is scheduled to be launched during the second half of 2011.
The move will help in “ensuring adequacy of telecommunications services throughout the UAE; achieving enhancement of services, both in terms of quality and variety; resolving any disputes between the licensed operators; promoting new technologies; and ensuring that the UAE becomes the regional ICT hub,” the TRA said in a statement. | <urn:uuid:693dae2c-4956-4b4b-b7e7-397bf3c5b14f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kippreport.com/fcs/calling-in-cheaper-rates/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934557 | 379 | 1.773438 | 2 |
on October 29, 2008
The new museum and visitor center at Gettysburg National Military Park opened in the spring of 2008. Through film, artifacts, and interactive displays visitors will better understand the importance of what happened here in 1863. The large lobby is very accommodating for the many large groups, families and bus tours that visit each year. There are a refreshment area, bookstore and museum shop, and the essential restrooms. Information desks and ticket counters complete the area - maps, tickets for the museum and Eisenhower home, and booking a battlefield guide can be done here.In the busy season, it is good to arrive early in the day, or purchase your museum tickets the previous day, to avoid long lines and possible sell outs. You must purchase timed tickets for the film and cyclorama.The new feature film narrated by Morgan Freeman is a powerful statement about the events leading up to the conflict, the battle itself, the aftermath and the effects on our country. Following the video, visitors take the escalator up to the viewing area of the Gettysburg cyclorama painting. Originally painted by Paul Philippoteaux in 1884, this massive circular artwork was just restored and reassembled. Using sound effects and lighting, the 3-D diorama comes to life depicting Picket's Charge.Upon leaving the cyclorama, visitors enter the museum - 11 galleries explaining the Civil War and Gettysburg battle, Lincoln's famous address, and the overall effects on the north and south. There is a good mixture of audio, video, and artifacts to appeal to all ages and level of interest. Following the museum visit, we toured the battlefield. There are many options for this - licensed guide who drives your car, bus tour, audio tour, self-guided maps/signs, or walking. We opted for the CD audio in our car; it comes with a comprehensive guide book. It took at least 3 hours to do this tour due to the many tourists and stopping to view monuments and other areas. Personally, the CD provided more information than I wanted to know, but for a Civil War enthusiast it was perfect. Using the map, CD, numbered signs and stops, the tour describes the significant action in the 3 days of the battle. One of the most interesting areas was Devil's Den and Little Round Top.At the end of our tour, we visited the Soldiers' National Cemetery. There is a monument at the site of Lincoln's Gettysburg address.
©Travelocity.com LP 2000-2009 | <urn:uuid:6464ce12-d2b1-44b0-bc54-f0397f3254dd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.igougo.com/print.aspx?ReviewID=1354971 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929095 | 502 | 1.867188 | 2 |
Women’s Studies Program
Women’s studies is an interdisciplinary field of study which questions the traditional attitudes towards women and offers a new understanding of and perspectives on women. The primary objectives of women’s studies are:
- to address past scholarly neglect of material by, for, and about women;
- to increase and disseminate knowledge of the behaviors, experiences, and contributions of women in society;
- to examine critically and evaluate the assumptions and theories held about women in society in the traditional disciplines, as well as current interdisciplinary approaches to the study of women;
- to provide an expanded vision of women’s future roles and opportunities and foster an awareness of women’s existing abilities and potentials
Dr. Toxqui Spring Wedding
Dr. Aurea Toxqui and Greg Newcomb will be wed this May 25th.
Women's Studies Celebrates the WMS Senior Minors
May 7th was the night for celebration in Women's Studies.
Dr. Toxqui Speaks at Events
Dr. Aurea Toxqui recently gave a talk at the Peoria Friendship House of Christian Service on April 5th.
Summer Session II Begins
Fall Semester Classes Begin | <urn:uuid:24de11c0-2183-4868-881a-2b229f848e7a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bradley.edu/las/wms/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932833 | 255 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Happy Birthday Carnival of Space! April is also 40th birthday of the greatest movie of all time, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. Friday saw the anniversary screening at the Motion Picture Academy's Samuel Goldwyn theatre in Beverly Hills. The host was none other than TOM HANKS, who loves Space and 2001! He has seen the movie over a dozen times in theatres, which explains his success in the movies. Also attending were Keir Dullea (Bowman) and special effects artist Douglas Trumbull.
This writer had a long talk with Dullea, who looks great after 40 years. He spent many uncomfortable hours high over the set on wires, something he would only do for Stanley Kubrick. In one scene where he enters the centrifuge on one side, then walks around the circumference to join Poole for breakfast. Gary Lockwood was chained upside down on the set while acting like he was sitting. The life of an actor is never easy.
Many of us were inspired by the vision of humans in Space. Men walked on the Moon the following year. The winged Space Shuttle came early, but was not all we dreamed it to be. Today we have a large Space Station under construction, with a commercial habitat planned by Bigelow. Many companies are competing to take passengers into Space. The COTS programme will result in commercial flights bringing cargo and hopefully people to ISS. Though Pan American is no longer with us, the dream of routine commercial travel is finally coming true.
Sometimes life improves on the movies. The Earth described in Clarke's novel was a place of continuing Cold War and 26 nuclear powers. The women we saw were flight attendants and receptionists. In today's reality there are many women in the Space business, from astronauts to scientists. This time it will not just be men on the Moon. | <urn:uuid:6cb1cd44-a4cf-4b8f-bed4-284bb825ebf7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://riofriospacetime.blogspot.jp/2008/04/odyssey.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972256 | 374 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Presenter, Robert Barnes, History Instructor
Have you ever wondered why Black History Month is inrn February? Where did the idea originate? Why is it called Black rnHistory Month? Why do we celebrate Black History Month?These topics rn(and many others) will be discussed in our celebration of Black History rnMonth. This presentation will cover the origination of Black History rnMonth as well as topics relevant to the study of African American rnHistory. Please join us this February! | <urn:uuid:d5d44fd2-da29-49cf-9488-a3d14c8eae76> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cccc.edu/calendar/day/index.php?setDate=1361250000 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915491 | 102 | 2.65625 | 3 |
On Thursday, 26 August 2010, the art galleries to the left of the river Limmat celebrate the opening of the season with big names and big works. Fabian & Claude Walter Galerie
start off with the American artist Richard Serra (b. 1939 San Francisco). In the rooms of g27, six large-format prints from a rarely available edition will be presented to a Zurich audience for the first time.
Though his prints are less well known than his steel sculptures, Richard Serra manages to translate the weight and monumentality of his three-dimensional work onto paper. The powerful interplay of statics and dynamics, of balance and proportion that characterises Serra's steel plate objects, determines also the artist's graphic work, albeit in a reduced and compacted form that reaches beyond the confines of the paper.
Determined by their sheer size, the prints tower above the viewer. Also in two dimensions, Serra's works appear monumental, thereby encouraging a personal contemplation on perception. The exhibited work 'Back to Black', for instance, reveals traceable signs of its creation. Richard Serra reflects lightness in weight and weight in lightness.
Printing enables the artist to analyse the relation between his massive sculptures and the space they claim. The resulting works represent studies frequently made after the completion of the respective three-dimensional object and form an enquiry into its individual nature and the questions that arose during its creation. The artist's interest lies in the process underlying the actual making of a print, the technique and the qualities of the materials, rather than in the actual possibility of reproduction. Richard Serra compares printing with 'alchemy'.
The link between Serra's prints and his sculptural work is undeniable. Far from being merely of marginal importance, as frequently assumed, they constitute an integral part within his artistic work.
The first viewing of these special prints in Zurich finally closes a gap for collectors, connoisseurs and art lovers. This presentation enables a new approach to the work of one of the most well-known sculptors in steel - a true discovery.
Biography: Richard Serra (*1939, in San Francisco, USA) studied at the University of California in Berkeley. In 1961 he graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara with a BA in English literature. Three years later he graduated from Yale University with both a BFA and a MFA. For his artistic works he has been awarded the Skowhegan Medal for Sculpture (1975), the Praemium Imperiale by the Japan Art Association (1994), and Order Pour le mérite für Wissenschaften und Künste (2002). The Museum of Modern Art, New York, has shown two career retrospectives, in 1986 and 2007. Serras works has been presented in numerous solo exhibitions in museums like the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris, the Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, among many others. Richard Serra lives today in New York and Nova Scotia. | <urn:uuid:445416b1-7217-44cc-acc1-dfcdf726778f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=40181&int_modo=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93238 | 627 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Last week musician Kate Nash launched an interactive musical educational tour as part of the British Music Experience to inspire young people across the U.K. to engage with music. Nash, who won Best Female Artist at the 2008 Brit Awards, will tour the country in a 1968 Routemaster London bus, which has been transformed to replicate the London-based music museum.
Inside the BME bus, young people will be able to interact with state-of-the-art music technology, provided by founding brand partner Gibson Guitar, as well as Sennheiser. Students will also be able to record tracks in a fully equipped studio, which can be uploaded online to share with family and friends. As part of the tour, school children will also participate in a behind the scenes “Master Class” led by the British Music Experience education team, offering insight into working in the music industry, demonstrating the different roles and skills needed to succeed.
The bus captures British music of the past 60 years, featuring original pieces of music memorabilia, including a genuine cell used to make The Beatles’ animated film, Yellow Submarine, Leona Lewis’ Roberto Cavalli dress worn during a performance in 2008 for Nelson Mandela, and Florence and the Machine’s 22-carat, gold-plated microphone used by Florence during her 2010 tour.
Speaking from the launch at London’s Trafalgar Square earlier, Nash said, “It’s such an honor to be involved in this project, as inspiring young people to get into the music industry is something that is really close to my heart. I think that, in the U.K., we often dismiss the music industry as an unrealistic career path and discourage young people from getting involved, but we need to challenge these attitudes and nurture the talent that is evident in so many teenagers and young adults across the country.”
To follow the BME bus on tour, visit BMETour.com(http://www.bmetour.com). | <urn:uuid:5e4c5764-4e43-4e5e-bc5f-5b547681a734> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www2.gibson.com/news-lifestyle/events/en-us/kate-nash-0315-2011.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954014 | 410 | 2.34375 | 2 |
Document Number: 8080Food for Thought: Building a High-Quality School Choice Market - The argument for school choice hinges on both having high-quality options and building demand for academic quality. In order to pressure all public schools to improve and to raise student achievement overall, school choice reforms need to not just increase the supply of any schools. They need to increase the supply of good schools, and parents who know how to find them. As the district and community leaders approach the prospect of an expanded marketplace of schools they would be well-served by examining the experiences of industries already operating in inner-city communities. (Erin Dillon, Education Sector, May 2009)...
Related IssuesChoice of Schools | <urn:uuid:b8687f2b-a550-49cb-b65d-40dbe0e2ca90> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ecs.org/html/Document.asp?chouseid=8080 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958558 | 139 | 2.265625 | 2 |
Does it seem that the price of your prescription goes up every time you refill it? For those who pay for prescriptions out-of-pocket or have capped prescription coverage, the rising cost of necessary medicine is troubling.
However, people who take some of the most commonly prescribed drugs may be able to reduce costs. A study in the
American Journal of Managed Care
explored the practice of pill splitting. Pill splitting saves money because the per-pill price usually does not vary significantly according to dosage. This is how it works: your doctor writes a prescription for a dosage level twice that of what you need. Then you split the pills in half and you end up with twice as many pills for the same price.
But be wary. Pill splitting may not be a good choice even if it means saving money. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advises against pill splitting, unless the drug label states that it is okay. Some concerns over pill splitting include:
- Forgetting to split a tablet or being confused by the correct dose, which can lead to accidental overdose
- Not splitting the pill evenly
- Pills with unusual shapes or sizes may be difficult to split
Here are other concerns you should be aware of regarding pill splitting.
In a 2002 study in American Journal of Managed Care, researchers studied if pill splitting can reduce the cost of drugs without compromising their safety and effectiveness. They also set out to identify the drugs that are most appropriate for splitting. These researchers examined the pharmacy records of a managed care plan at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
The study determined the 265 drugs most frequently prescribed at the study hospital and nationally. About half of these drugs cannot be split. These include drugs with the following characteristics:
- Those manufactured as capsules
- Drugs available in only one dose
Medicines that are not taken orally, such as
drugs administered by inhaler
- Prepackaged pills, such as birth control pills
- Those that cannot easily be broken
- Pills with an enteric coating, which allows the drug to remain whole until it passes through the stomach to the intestine
- Any medicines that are extended release
Do not split pills without first discussing the safety of the practice for each of your medications with your doctor. For some patients, pill splitting is unwise, resulting in uneven dosing and ineffective treatment. Patients who have the following issues may want to avoid pill splitting:
- Cognitive impairment
- Poor dexterity or eyesight
- Recurring tremors
If you are going to split pills regularly, invest in a pill-splitting device. They are easy to use and allow you to split pills quite accurately. Your pharmacist can show you how to use it.
The United States Food and Drug Administration does not recommend splitting the entire supply of pills at once. Only split one at a time.
Also, if you switch from one brand of medicine to another, you need to make sure that it is still safe to split the pills. Make sure to check the package to make sure that the pill is FDA approved to be split.
If you and your doctor decide that pill splitting is a good strategy for you, you may be able to save a good portion of the money you are now spending on medication.
Best Practices for Tablet Splitting. United States Food and Drug Administration website. Available at:
. Updated October 21, 2009, Accessed April 10, 2013
Choe HM, Stevenson JG, Streetman DS, Heisler M, Sandiford CJ, Piette JD. Impact of patient financial incentives on participation and outcomes in a statin pill-splitting program. Am J Manag Care. 2007 Jun;13(6 Part 1):298-304.
Cohen CI, Cohen SI. Potential cost savings from pill-splitting of newer psychotropic medications. Psychiatr Serv. 2000 Apr;51(4):527-9.
Cross M. Two for the price of one beauty of pill-splitting catches on. Manag Care. 2003 Feb;12(2):36-8. No abstract available.
Miller DP, Furberg CD, Small RH, Millman FM, Ambrosius WT, Harshbarger JS, Ohl CA. Controlling prescription drug expenditures: a report of success. Am J Manag Care. 2007 Aug;13(8):473-80.
Physicians Desk Reference.
56th ed. Montvale, NJ: Medical Economics Company, Inc; 2002.
Stafford RS, Radley DC. The potential of pill splitting to achieve cost savings.
The Am J Managed Care.
Tablet splitting: a risky practice.
United States Food and Drug Administration website. Available at: . Updated July 21, 2009. Accessed April 10, 2013.
Winslow R. Study finds splitting pills usually safe, saves money.
The Wall Street Journal Online.
Accessed August 30, 2002.
Last reviewed April 2013 by Brian Randall, MD
Please be aware that this information is provided to supplement the care provided by your physician. It is neither intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. CALL YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER IMMEDIATELY IF YOU THINK YOU MAY HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider prior to starting any new treatment or with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
Copyright © EBSCO Publishing. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:89096c9d-d97e-47f4-aa5d-ae9336070633> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.abrazohealth.com/services/rehabilitation/treatments/resources.aspx?chunkiid=28256 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919383 | 1,122 | 2.46875 | 2 |
Mary is a scientist living in a distant galaxy. She and her fellow humanoids are just like us, but their knowledge is highly advanced. It's so advanced, they've solved the most daunting problem in science—understanding the brain and mind. They know everything scientifically possible to know about the brain's neurons, its architecture, and how consciousness, ideas, feelings, and memories occur. Perception and sensation are understood, too. Mary knows exactly how light and sound waves become colorful visions and beautiful melodies. On her planet, aspiring neurobiologists are out of luck. There's nothing more to aspire to.
Two scientists are racing for the good of all mankind—both of them working side by side, so determined, locked in heated battle for the cure that is the prize. It's so dangerous, but they're driven—theirs is to win, if it kills them. They're just human, with wives and children.
"Digital is superior," proclaims Mr. Alberto Arebalos in February's "Letters." I'm glad that's settled. Still, I'm typing this ten feet from a wall lined with LPs, Don Patterson's Satisfaction! is spinning on the old Systemdek turntable, and my usually cold, drafty Chicago apartment seems like a summer night at the Green Mill Jazz Club. But I agree: digital is superior. What's wrong with me?
For all its excesses, high-quality audio is filled with purists. Some are committed to single-ended amplifiers, some to all-analog circuitry, to crossoverless speakers, or to recordings made with only two microphones. Purists seek simplicity in their quest for good sound. But how simple is it to scrub contacts, adjust tonearms, or meticulously clean discs before nearly every listening session? Maybe committed purists should just be committed.
John Atkinson, you were right the first time ("Letters," Stereophile, December 1997, p.17, footnote 1): Jeremy Bentham is, indeed, the famous English philosopher and legal theorist whose mummified remains are preserved at the University of London. Sitting in a large glass display case, Bentham has been holding court since his death in 1832. As you noted, Bentham looks deceptively like a waxwork. But this is because his head, in fact, is made of wax. The original, rumor has it, suffered through one very macabre rugby game played long ago by mischievous students.
Mojo Nixon sings, "Elvis is everywhere." My version is "Darwin is everywhere." Last Thanksgiving, as my extended family was gathered around the dinner table, my 11-year-old nephew abruptly reminded us that Darwin was there, too. Out of the blue, he broadcast the $64,000 question:
Everyone knows the story: Isaac Newton got hit on the head by an apple and suddenly discovered the physics of gravitation. Like the one about Archimedes discovering the basics of hydrostatics while taking a bath, this story turns up everywhere. Even Michael Stipe, in R.E.M.'s "Man in the Moon," sings "Newton got beaned by the apple good."
Here in Chicago the other day, I was on my way to an appliance store, so audio was the last thing on my mind. But, as if by some miraculous intervention (or just stupidity), I parked and went in the wrong store: "Why does this appliance store have bins and bins of CDs in it?" Realizing my mistake, I found the stoves and ranges I was looking for next door—but not before noticing bins and bins of used LPs behind all those CDs. | <urn:uuid:0d5e3907-5a9d-4c5c-ade4-c14832485aaa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.stereophile.com/writer/121 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965975 | 755 | 1.625 | 2 |
Cinnamon is a versatile spice that gets special treatment around the globe. In Mexico, it is widely used in the preparation of chocolate. In many parts of the Middle East, it is used with lamb or other meat dishes. These recipes celebrate the multi-tasking skills of the potent cinnamon stick.
Want to incorporate more spices into your daily cooking routine? Check out these wonderful tips on how to use spices. | <urn:uuid:97726a05-77bb-481b-892c-b466b2107b0d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.delish.com/recipes/cooking-recipes/raisin-pound-cake-basic-glaze-cinnamon-recipes?src=shelter_footer | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910356 | 83 | 1.859375 | 2 |
Immigrant days filled with fear, uncertainty
Obama to deliver immigration reform speech in Nevada
Every day, millions of people like 16-year-old Celeste live their lives shouldering a huge emotional weight forged by fear, uncertainty and separation.
She was only 10 years old when the reality of her family's desperate situation hit her in the face.
Rolando Zenteno has lived more than half his 18 years in the United States, yet he still feels like an outsider.
Another undocumented immigrant -- Prerna Lal -- is fighting to stay in her adopted homeland and dreaming of becoming an immigration lawyer.
As Washington lawmakers try to hammer out an immigration reform plan while avoiding political gridlock, millions of people find themselves caught in the middle -- suspended between two worlds -- while not really belonging to either.
Some immigrants spoke to CNN, giving permission to use their full names. Others chose to withhold their last names, fearing it would affect their legal status. Here are their stories.
Celeste, 16: She's carrying a 'big old rock'
Celeste was 10 years old when police pulled over her dad while he was driving near their south Georgia home. She recalls crying as she frantically translated the officer's words from English into Spanish for her father. She feared her family would be deported back to Mexico, but the officer let them go.
The family got a second chance, but Celeste never shook the dread that filled her that day -- the fear that she could be sent back to a country she barely remembers, or get separated from the family that she loves. That's why immigration reform must happen now, she says.
"It would be a big old rock that would be lifted from our shoulders," she says.
She says any policy changes should create a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants like her parents, who are agricultural workers. Celeste says they came to the United States from Mexico to give their children a better life.
Last year, the Obama administration's deferred action program gave her the hope of a reprieve. But that isn't enough, she says.
"It's like being out in the cold and me having the only blanket in the family."
Rolando Zenteno, 18: 'In limbo'
Zenteno has lived in the United States since he was 7, and says he identifies more with American culture than his native Mexico.
But he feels like he's in limbo, and it's a constant struggle.
"I identify myself with the American culture," he says, "but at the same time the American society is like 'No, you're not part of us.'"
Zenteno says talk of immigration reform is encouraging, even though it's a problem the president has pledged before to tackle -- and then failed to solve.
Actions speak louder than words, says Zenteno, a freshman who is studying journalism at Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, Ga.
"At the end of the day, the political parties will do what they can" for votes, he says.
And with what he's seen so far when it comes to immigration reform, Zenteno says if he ever had a chance to vote in the United States, he wouldn't cast a ballot for Democrats or Republicans.
Ana, 20: 'Everything is complicated'
Ana was 10 when her mother decided she'd had enough of Michoacan, Mexico, packed up the family and moved to the United States.
"When you first get here, you think like you're like everyone else," Ana says.
Sometime around the eighth grade, though, she began to realize she was different. While friends were starting to think about their futures, where they might move to or go to school, Ana "hit the wall."
She feels stuck. Everything is complicated because she is undocumented -- finding an apartment, a good job, securing loans for school.
Ana currently works at a jewelry kiosk in Atlanta.
If immigration reform were to become a reality, she says she'd like to study psychology and find a better paying job so as not to be a burden to her parents. She'd also like to go to Mexico to visit relatives she hasn't seen since she was a little girl.
"If they want to make it a little strict, that's OK ... so they don't think they're giving it to us," Ana says.
Prerna Lal, 28: It's not just Latinos
Many Americans connect the immigration issue to Latinos, but it's broader than that, says Lal. She came to the United States from the Pacific island of Fiji when she was just 14. Now, she's fighting a legal battle in court to avoid deportation.
"I don't think it's a bad thing to really focus on this amazingly powerful voting bloc," she says. "I do think that people need to look at immigration from a lens that shifts from just 'those Mexicans just coming across the border' to the many people from Asia and from Europe who are still stuck in the system."
The government should stop deporting people, she says, and focus on fixing a broken system that leaves many people in limbo even when they follow the rules.
"Everyone talks about going to the back of the line being the number one thing that undocumented immigrants should do. I have been in several different lines. ... The issue is there are so many undocumented immigrants that are caught up in lines that never really go anywhere," she says.
Lal is a third-year law student at George Washington University. No matter what happens with the latest reform efforts, she plans to become an immigration lawyer.
Tania, 43: Citizenship means everything
Tania's family is a hodgepodge of legal statuses. She and her husband are undocumented, as are their two oldest children. Their younger four were born in the United States and are citizens.
"For my family, it would be the best," she says about immigration reform. She wants a change that would lead to citizenship.
"For my husband, it would mean a good job where he wouldn't be abused by bosses. And for my children, it would mean they could continue their studies," she says.
Her husband works at a recycling plant. She is from Ecuador. Tania spoke at an immigrant rights organization in Queens, N.Y.
Vasant Shetty, 59: Hope and hard work
In India, Shetty says he never could have imagined starting his own business or sending his two children to college. In the United States, he has done both of those things. On Monday, Shetty was answering phones at the front desk of his motel in central Arizona. When he bought it, he said the property was in shambles. He then renovated it into a place he's proud to own.
"I came to this country with lots of hope, almost 15 years ago. It was very hard," he says. "Today I have two motels. I never used any shortcuts. It was all hard work, all the time."
As President Barack Obama prepared to deliver an immigration reform speech in Nevada on Tuesday, Shetty braced himself to appear in an Arizona immigration court. There, a judge may decide whether he should be deported.
Immigrant rights activists have asked federal officials to drop their case against him, arguing that deporting him would unjustly separate his family and unfairly punish someone with no criminal history.
Despite his personal battles with the U.S. immigration system, talk about immigration reform makes Shetty feel optimistic. Time and time again, he says, America has shown him kindness and opportunity.
"I believe this country has a lot of good people," he says. "There is a way. They will do something good."
Mario, 33: Faith and fear
Mario lives in constant fear of being picked up by the police.
"Just to come here, I have to think," he says, weighing whether the trip was worth the risk.
"Here" in his case is Plaza Fiesta, a mall in Atlanta that caters to immigrants. As he spoke Monday, TVs showed senators announcing their plan for reform. No one paid attention to the screens, which could barely be heard over the noise of the food court and nearby arcade games.
Mario has lived in the United States for 13 years. He moved from the capital of Mexico. He cleans offices for a living and says he would like to see some sort of change so that he could find better work, maybe buy a car or a house.
Mostly though, he wants reform so he could feel free, free of fear.
"I still have faith," he says. "Who knows when? Maybe it won't happen tomorrow or the day after, but sometime ... Faith never dies."
Copyright 2013 by CNN NewSource. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:2a4967fd-6cca-4b70-b0e4-efcdfc72e809> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wapt.com/news/national/Immigrant-days-filled-with-fear-uncertainty/-/9157010/18320528/-/view/print/-/94vaur/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986933 | 1,830 | 2.234375 | 2 |
Security researchers have uncovered some unexpected behaviors in a piece of malware called Stuxnet. The worm exploits a number of zero-day vulnerabilities in order to propagate itself over Windows networks, but it also targets embedded software developed by Siemens that runs in industrial equipment. The worm could be used to disrupt factories and other industrial environments.
Researchers have found that the highest concentration of Stuxnet infections is located in Iran. That discovery, coupled with the very high level of sophistication exhibited by the malware, has led some researchers to speculate that it was crafted by a major government body with the aim of disabling Iran's nuclear power plant.
Reports indicate that the worm can exploit four separate zero-day vulnerabilities in Windows, giving it substantial spreading power compared to average malware. According to Symantec researcher Liam O. Murchu, who has been analyzing the worm, it relied on command and control severs located in Malaysia and Denmark. Those servers have been disabled, but the worm has a peer-to-peer update mechanism that allows the attacker to propagate changes and new control server addresses. The update feature will make it more difficult to centrally disable the malware.
Symantec believes that Stuxnet has been under development since June 2009, but that it has been updated periodically as the developers rolled out new capabilities and exploits. One of the vulnerabilities that it exploits in order to propagate itself is a flaw in Windows that allows a specially crafted shortcut (LNK file) on a removable storage device to automatically launch arbitrary code when the device is connected to a computer. Exploiting that vulnerability makes it possible for the worm to infect USB thumb drives, for example, and then infect Windows computers where that thumb drive is subsequently used.
In an analysis of the worm, independent security researcher Ralph Langner contends that the design of the malware leaves no doubt that its function is sabotage and that it is a highly targeted attack developed with insider knowledge by a skilled group of attackers. Because of the manner in which it targets programmable logic controllers in industrial equipment, he says, it's unlikely that the equipment itself can be modified to deflect such an attack. | <urn:uuid:1ada727d-64d6-4d9d-aab4-13de9fdd83d2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://arstechnica.com/security/2010/09/stuxnet-worm-attacks-industrial-targets-could-be-aimed-at-iran/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949672 | 428 | 2.75 | 3 |
New Study Finds Lung Cancers Detected by CT Screening Grow at Same Rate as Those Found Through Traditional Methods
Claudia I. Henschke, PhD, MD, Professor of Radiology, led the research with her team at Mount Sinai.
A new study led by researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine indicates that CT scans are more effective than traditional lung cancer detection methods at identifying aggressive lung cancers in their most treatable stages. The data, published online March 27 in the journal Radiology, demonstrate that lung cancers found through annual CT screening are similar to those found in routine practice, both in terms of tumor growth rates and cell-type distribution. In fact, the report showed that 79 percent of the cases diagnosed through annual repeat CT scans were detected at clinical Stage I, the earliest and most treatable stage, compared to only 15 percent detected through traditional methods.
The study, which is the latest report from the International Early Lung Cancer Action Program (I-ELCAP), counters concerns that lung cancers diagnosed through annual repeat rounds of computed tomography (CT) screening may be of less serious varieties than those diagnosed in traditional clinical settings when symptoms are already present.
"We’ve previously shown that, similar to common screening methods such as mammography for breast cancer, annual CT scans are effective in early detection of lung cancer. However, there were concerns that the cancer found in these screenings were less serious than those found in routine practice in the clinical setting, and often resulted in excessive treatment," said Claudia I. Henschke, PhD, MD, Professor of Radiology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and I-ELCAP principal investigator. "However, the data show that lung cancers detected with annual repeat rounds of CT scans are just as lethal and require equally aggressive treatment."
I-ELCAP is an international collaborative group of more than 60 participating institutes consisting of experts on lung cancer related diseases. Previous research from the group found that lung cancers detected through CT screening have an 80 percent cure rate compared to a 10 percent cure rate for lung cancers detected in the clinical setting.
"Lung cancer is by far the leading cause of cancer death among both men and women. However, when lung cancer is caught in an early, treatable stage, the cure rates are significantly higher," said Dr. Henschke. "It is recommended that people at high risk for lung cancer speak with their health care provider to discuss the benefits and risks of screening in order to make an informed decision about enrolling in a screening program."
Lung cancer accounts for more annual deaths than colon, breast, and prostate cancers combined. The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2012, approximately 226,160 new cases of lung cancer will be diagnosed in the United States and 160,340 Americans will die from the disease.
For this study, the researchers reviewed pooled results from the I-ELCAP database for 1993 to 2009, consisting of men and women at risk for lung cancer who underwent annual repeat rounds of CT screening. Researchers found 111 cases of lung cancer, 90 of which were non-small-cell cancers. Out of the 111 cases, 79 percent were clinical Stage I, the earliest and most treatable stage. Non-small-cell lung cancer is the most common form of lung cancer.
The researchers then compared their findings to a 2008 study published in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology analyzing the growth rates of non-small-cell lung cancers detected through traditional methods. The 2008 study found that only about 15 percent of those cancers were discovered in Stage I.
The researchers also found that while the first round of CT screening detected a higher proportion of slower-growing cancers than those detected in clinical practice, the subsequent annual repeat rounds of screening reflected what is found in clinical practice.
The investigators then analyzed volume doubling time – or growth rate – and cell-type distribution of the cancers. The mean volume doubling time for all cases was 136 days. Volume doubling times for lung cancers diagnosed in clinical practice ranged from 20 to 360 days. For the 90 non-small-cell cancers, mean volume doubling time was 154 days compared to 135 days in the 2008 study.
When researchers evaluated the cell-types of the cancers, they found the frequencies of small-cell carcinoma, which usually develops in the central areas of the lung, and adenocarcinoma, usually located on the outer surface of the lungs, to be approximately 19 percent and 50 percent, respectively. In the 2008 study these frequencies were nearly identical, at 20 percent and 50 percent.
In addition, the researchers found that 89 percent of the cancers that manifested as solid nodules had significantly faster volume doubling times than the sub-solid nodule cancers and may need a less aggressive diagnosis and treatment approach. The researchers defined cancerous nodules as solid if they obscured all of the lung tissue and sub-solid if they did not.
About The Mount Sinai Medical Center
The Mount Sinai Medical Center encompasses both The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Established in 1968, Mount Sinai School of Medicine is one of the leading medical schools in the United States. The Medical School is noted for innovation in education, biomedical research, clinical care delivery, and local and global community service. It has more than 3,400 faculty in 32 departments and 14 research institutes, and ranks among the top 20 medical schools both in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding and by US News and World Report.
The Mount Sinai Hospital, founded in 1852, is a 1,171-bed tertiary- and quaternary-care teaching facility and one of the nation’s oldest, largest and most-respected voluntary hospitals. In 2011, US News and World Report ranked The Mount Sinai Hospital 16th on its elite Honor Roll of the nation’s top hospitals based on reputation, safety, and other patient-care factors. Of the top 20 hospitals in the United States, Mount Sinai is one of 12 integrated academic medical centers whose medical school ranks among the top 20 in NIH funding and US News and World Report and whose hospital is on the US News and World Report Honor Roll. Nearly 60,000 people were treated at Mount Sinai as inpatients last year, and approximately 560,000 outpatient visits took place.
For more information, visit http://www.mountsinai.org/.
"Identifying the varying growth rates for specific lesion types should allow us to create a more tailored treatment for the patient," said Dr. Henschke. | <urn:uuid:298b75ed-71ef-44f1-add1-e8c4688b48f9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://icahn.mssm.edu/about-us/news-and-events/new-study-finds-lung-cancers-detected-by-ct-screening-grow-at-same-rate-as-those-found-through-traditional-methods | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959311 | 1,328 | 2.578125 | 3 |
By Denise Wright
THERE was high agreement across speakers at the recent SIM Professional Development's 'Aspiring Women. Inspiring Leaders' conference (Nov 23-24), on the core challenges women leaders face today. In addition to the usual stressors that plague most adults - problems and worries related to relationships, health, family, career, and finances - women leaders experience some unique challenges based on overusing certain core strengths such as confidence and self-sufficiency.
The first common mistake women leaders make is to assume that they are always right. This not only hurts relationships, when we are triggered by perceived disagreement, our body moves into 'fight-response' mode, and physical stress is triggered.
We can insure against this by consciously seeking out diverse perspectives, curiously exploring upfront around an issue and also by staying mindful of the person or persons we find most challenging to accept and appreciate.
A second very common challenge women leaders face are the attitudes that 'only I can do this right' and 'I don't need help'. This leads to overwork, a reluctance to share, collaborate or delegate, and can lead to resentment and exhaustion in addition to physical stress.
I recently conducted a Life/Career Visioning workshop for women. Several of the vision boards created had 'sleep' in big letters or visuals of comfy beds on them. Women leaders are often sleep deprived which is a major cause for concern given recent research indicating the link between lack of sleep and premature death or illness.
Marcia Reynolds in her book Wander Woman: How High-Achieving Women Find Contentment and Direction says: 'On the road of perfection, feeling happy and having fun are elusive concepts. You probably feel numb more than any specific emotion because this is how the mind copes with incessant stress.'
Repressing the expression of our emotions has a negative effect on our emotional and bodily functions so it is important that we tune in to how we are feeling regularly and question our negative thoughts and feelings before acting on them.
We need to let go of control. We need to trust and support others to take the lead at times, experiment and take risks, and we need to make it safe for others to fail and learn from their mistakes, just as we have learnt from our own.
So, the next time you start to raise your hand, perhaps you can pause. Perhaps you can question: does this piece of work I am saying 'yes' to align with my values, my vision for myself, to what gives me meaning, passion, and joy now?
This links to another popular trend among women leaders - that is believing 'I have to be great at everything I do' or 'I have to do great things'.
Laura Berman Fortgang asks in The Little Book of Meaning: 'If our goal was to feel bliss, reverence, or love versus to achieve this or that marker of worldly success . . . how would that feel? How would the journey change?' | <urn:uuid:8defcbb7-6995-4ffe-8abb-07c2e0fff753> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.asiaone.com/Business/Office/Learn/Career%2BBuilding/Story/A1Story20101220-253673.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963912 | 603 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Literacy of Northern New York Executive Director M. Cecilia Brock said an additional $8,000 or more in state funds will help many north country adults become literate.
Assemblywoman Addie J. Russell announced Wednesday that the agency will be granted more than $40,000 in funding she helped secure in the 2012-13 state budget for one-on-one reading and writing tutoring for adults who need help.
Teaching someone how to read is one of the best ways to help them empower their lives and continue making positive changes, Mrs. Russell, D-Theresa, said in a news release. This funding is critical to provide individuals in our community with the skills they need to succeed.
Mrs. Brock said the agency, which serves adults in Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties, typically receives the adult literacy education state grant each year, but for the past few years the amount had been decreasing steadily.
ALEs been cut, and its been chopped and chopped statewide, Mrs. Brock said Wednesday. We used to get $52,000 a couple of years ago, but the current year we got around $32,000.
The extra funds this year will help the agency significantly, she said, because there is a constant stream of tutoring inquiries and a growing waiting list of people to be tutored.
As of Wednesday, she said, the agency had 270 adults who have asked for literacy help. Literacy of Northern New Yorks fiscal year ends June 30, so a few more may be added to that total. Last fiscal year, the agency helped 235 people.
Mrs. Brock said the state was able to award some literacy agencies more money since the ALE program received $1 million more statewide. ALE funds represent nearly half of Literacy of Northern New Yorks annual operating budget of about $100,000.
To learn more about the agency or become a volunteer one-on-one literacy tutor, call the agency at 782-4270 in Watertown, 265-0194 in Potsdam or 376-8188 in Lowville. | <urn:uuid:88f1a2fa-3815-4b98-8d33-8df7b771f2d3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wdt.net/article/20120625/NEWS03/706259946/0/news | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960908 | 425 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Last Updated on Monday, 13 August 2012 10:27
Everyone has a birthday, even fictional characters. Phillip J. Fry, from the show Futurama celebrates his birthday today, August 9! To celebrate Fry's birthday here are some titles from another, well known Matt Groening show, The Simpsons. If you like reading graphic novels, you might enjoy creating your own! Here are some books to get you started.
The Big Brilliant Book of Bart Simpson by Matt Groening
Another installment in the continuing adventures of Bart Simpson and his Springfield family.
Simpsons Comics: Dollars to Donuts by Matt Groening
Follow the plight and the flight of a lone five-dollar bill through the hands of several Springfield residents in Groening's latest collection.
The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to our Favorite Family by Matt Groening
The Simpsons Complete Guide to your Favourite Show is a celebration of this family's phenomenal decade. Arranged by season, the book covers each episode of the television show, with the special episodes (the annual Halloween show, "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" and "Krusty Gets Kancelled") receiving eyeball-busting two-page spreads.
The Simpsons Comics: Jam Packed Jamboree by Matt Groening
The latest in the series of Simpsons Comics Compilations, brought to you by Matt Groening, the creator of "The Simpsons."
Draw Comics with Dick Giordano by Dick Giordano
When it comes to drawing comics in classic American style, Dick Giordano is a superhero. He shares his talents with fans--and budding artists--in this quintessential guide.
Drawing Action in Your Graphic Novel by Frank Lee
Young artists are encouraged to start with basic forms and then define their subjects, gradually adding details until the picture is complete. As he demonstrates the drawings, the author explains how to use posing, angle of perspective, and careful composition to make illustrations have more impact.
How to Draw Comic Book Bad Guys and Gals by Christopher Hart
Provides illustrated, step-by-step instructions on how to draw evil cartoon characters, discussing expression, action, light and shadow, and other topics.
|< Prev||Next >| | <urn:uuid:f7ba506f-52de-4515-864d-f258d44d1586> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pls.lib.ok.us/pls/123-picks/3563-its-frys-birthday | 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 | 0.919702 | 454 | 2.125 | 2 |
This past Sunday, the Old South Church in Boston made a decision that cuts to the heart of not only the congregation's history, but to the very beginning of this country's founding.
With an overwhelming 271 to 34 vote, the church decided to give its board the power to sell one copy of the Bay Psalm Book, the first book ever printed in British North America.
Only 11 of the original 1,600 copies of the book printed in Cambridge in 1640 remain. And of those, the church owns two.
"We will take this wonderful old hymn book, from which our ancestors literally sang their praises to God, and convert it into doing God's ministry in the world today," Senior Minister Nancy S. Taylor said in a press release.
All Things Considered's Melissa Block spoke to Jeff Makholm, the church's historian and one of those vehemently opposed to the sale.
Makholm said Puritans snuck in a press from Britain and paper from France "and they made a few hundred new translations of the psalms that could be sung to songs that congregants knew."
The book has belonged to the church since 1758.
"It was there when the British troops used the meeting house as a riding stable during the revolution, it was there George Washington came to the meeting house," Makholm said. The church handed it over to the City of Boston for safe keeping in 1866.
Makholm admitted that the vote was an important and beautiful display of democracy, but he also flashed a bit of disappointment, saying the sale the items was "fiscally irresponsible" for a church whose endowment is about 10 times what it spends on any given year.
NPR member station WBUR spoke to some members of the congregation who thought the items should be used to help keep the church open seven days a week, as well as help in making repairs to the heating and cooling systems.
"We are about being a church, not about holding on to things that are in a vault somewhere," Emily Click told WBUR.
Her husband agreed.
"We're not a museum, we're not a library. We're a church and we need to keep this building open and keep it up to date and make it safe," Rodney Click said.
Makholm, however, said the books meant a lot to his fore-bearers and he wants the church to keep them for his successors.
The psalm books and the silver, he said, "are unique representations of those who joined and formed and became members of our church from 1669 all the way up to 1984 when our last piece of silver was given."
What's more, he said, when the book finally hits the auction block, where it is expected to fetch anywhere from $10 million to $20 million, it'll be a sad day for the history of the city.
"It'll be a really sad day for Boston, because this book has never been outside of walking distance from the place that it was published in 1640 ... before Boston even had a brick at all," he said. "The idea that that piece of Puritan history will leave the commonwealth for parts unknown, I think that will be a very sad day for Boston."
Much more of Melissa's interview with Makholm is on tonight's All Things Considered. Click here for a local NPR member station that carries the program. We'll post the as-aired interview on this post later on tonight.
Correction at 11:29 a.m. ET. First Printed Book In North America:
An earlier version of this post said the Bay Psalm Book was the first book printed in North America; that should be British North America, because an Italian printer Giovanni Paoli printed a catechism in Vera Cruz in 1539, according to The Early Printers of Spain and Portugal.
Two-Way reader Peter Tafuri adds: "The book was 'Breve y Mas Compendiosa Doctrina Cristiana' (Short and Most Compendious Christian Doctrine). He was also the first to publish books in the colonies in Native American languages." | <urn:uuid:f644afc0-7456-45a3-b853-44472d983612> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://minnesota.publicradio.org/features/npr.php?id=166514231 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977233 | 845 | 2.140625 | 2 |
What is the Big Idea?
Dominique Moisi, a special advisor at the French Institute of International Relations, published a few words of advice for president-elect François Hollande in Los Echos.
His first plea: Let's not waste the next five years.
It has been a tough ride, but you've won, thanks in part to your energy, tenacity and confidence. These qualities are essential for winning power -- and even more so, for exercising it.
Your responsibility is huge and can be summed up by a slightly provocative plea: “Please don’t let us waste the next five years.” Neither France nor Europe can afford it. France because it lacks self-confidence, which is feeding populist shifts and protectionist fantasies; Europe because, today more than ever, the European Union is not the problem but the solution. It needs an open, inventive, creative and modern France -- a France that, instead of being a source of worry, is one of hope and recovery.
So please do not set the wrong goals, means and methods in the first weeks of your presidency. France cannot afford the luxury to take the wrong track for two years before pulling itself together. Like the vast majority of the Western world, our country has been living far beyond its means for decades. It has to start over, a clean slate.
The challenge is as much an ethical one, as it is political, economical and social. Without extending social justice, dramatically changing our lifestyles would be simply unacceptable. Fairness and realism go hand in hand. Alas, justice cannot be the sole objective in our globalized, competitive real world. In northern Europe, where countries today serve as our role models, there is no contradiction between social justice and economic liberalism.
What is the Significance?
Moisi brings up some hard lessons the new president needs to absorb about the state of the national and global economy. "France needs dynamic, innovative companies that are able to conquer global markets," writes Moisi. "The state cannot act as a proxy for them."
Both Greece and France showed austerity the door by electing new leadership that rejects government spending cuts, which means Europe might be at the dawn of a new economic agenda. What France needs most right now is creativity, competitiveness and excellence, says Moisi, and government intervention and border control is going to hinder that.
And here is where the next U.S. president needs to pay attention.
Europe and the U.S. needs to invest in its infrastructure and ramp up its innovation efforts in order to stay competitive with Asia. But when we take into account "the state of our finances and the reasonable and necessary constraints of the European Union, dreaming of simply implementing a big French or European “New Deal” is simply not realistic."
China was not mentioned once during the debates last week. "It was as if the fear of Islam, or the denunciation of how this fear is exaggerated, was the only thing that mattered, instead of having a meaningful discussion about today’s world, of which neither Europe nor the United States is the center," writes Moisi. | <urn:uuid:b8f1b911-2200-445e-bf7d-22942fcfea8d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bigthink.com/think-tank/dear-monsieur-president-dont-screw-this-up | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959097 | 641 | 1.851563 | 2 |
Despite the fact that some regional Indians lived in settled villages and had done so for millennia, all current Oregon towns date from the pioneer period of our history when we were invaded by waves of Americans, Europeans, and Asians. This was a relatively short period of time, roughly from, say, 1840-1890. The towns that were prominent in that era are not necessarily the same that are of importance today. This, of course, could change again in the future, though I suspect Portland’s preeminence will continue for the foreseeable future.
Our first “official” town was Astoria, named for John Jacob Astor, the fur baron; whereas The Dalles is located at the site of a forever trading rendezvous location at the high desert entrance to the Columbia River Gorge. The Dalles will rise again, simply because of its location. Google, for example, has recently moved a plant there.
During the early years, the major community in southern Oregon was Jacksonville. Once eclipsed, Jacksonville fell into a Rip Van Winkle slumber where nothing changed for a hundred years only to reawaken a couple decades ago to discover itself a stunningly preserved gem on the edge of a burgeoning agricultural/arts-cultural valley. The cemetery is a high point, literally and figuratively, for the town. It’s one of the reasons to go there. They know it and they display it prominently.
What follows is the introduction to the Jacksonville Cemetery set on Flickr, which includes some 120 photos. They’ve added a lot to the cemetery since I first visited, some 35 years or so ago; and the place is still in active use.
There’s one photo in this post from Keno, a Rock Hudson-Doris Day kind of spot on the Klamath River. It has just been announced that six damns on the Klamath will be removed to restore salmon runs to the upper Klamath Basin.
There are, I would contend, three iconic, non-Native American cemeteries in the state of Oregon: Lone Fir (Portland), Camp Polk (Sisters), and Jacksonville. There are numerous other delightful, rustic graveyards scattered throughout the state—we are blessed—many of which excel in one manner or another, but those three are unmatched for size and variety of monuments. These three say “Oregon” loud and clear. Not big. Not showy. Not elaborate. Just ours, thank you, ours. A little off-center. A little left foot. The box has yet to show up that we’re suppose to think outside of. We don’t march to our own drummer. We have no drum.
But enough about me.
Jacksonville goes out of its way to get you to visit their cemetery, beginning with a spiffy, black and white sign out on the main drag, and a wrought iron entrance arch visible from the drag, as well. Their cemetery is the town’s crown jewell, and other than the Britt Festival, it’s arguably the best reason to visit this preserved town. Certainly, the community thinks highly of it and a stroll around the grounds offers ample testimony to their involvement, not the least of which being an “interpretive center” established there in 1991, amplified by several other interpretive signs located throughout the cemetery. There’s a lot of story here to tell and a lot of it is told through the cemetery. Its unusual size and complexity for what became a forgotten by-place, alert one right off the bat that this community had its greater glory days. Notably, the cemetery is an amalgam of six separate cemeteries: city; Catholic; Masonic; Odd Fellows; and Red Men, both Improved and Independent Orders; and Jewish. Combining cemeteries is common, but to have so many sections for such a tiny town attests to its erstwhile luster. The Masons and Odd Fellows and Catholics sprinkled cemeteries all through the state; their appearance here along with a municipal plot would attest to a certain stature Jacksonville had in the past; while the rare appearance of the Orders of Red Men boosts that claim considerably; but the clincher is the Jewish section. You don’t find Jewish cemeteries unless there’s money. I’m sorry if saying that offends anyone and I don’t mean it in a crass or derogatory way; I’m only pointing out that Jews only show up where there is significant commerce, and the existence of a Jewish cemetery is a guarantee that, at one time at least, wherever place you’re at once had clout. Albany, Oregon, once had clout. So did Jacksonville. (Portland has seven Jewish cemeteries; Portland still has clout.)
But the Jacksonville Cemetery, it’s important to note, is not a cemetery frozen in time as, say, is that of Myrtle Creek; and while the proliferation of relatively old stones (for the West Coast) is the advertised draw here, in my mind it’s largely the active new stuff that merits attention. Admittedly, this place doesn’t have quite the exuberant insouciance of Camp Polk, but it’s a close second; and don’t come here without expecting to spend a lot of time. I advise sandwiches, something to drink. The six sections must cover at least fifteen acres crawling up a madrone covered ridge. The newer stuff tends to be lower on the hill, but not necessarily. The Jewish section has considerably more activity than either than fraternal orders or the Catholics.
The 1972 movie The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid, which stared, among others, Robert Duvall as Jessie James, was filmed in Jacksonville, thanks to its period architecture. I must say that the mountains of Northfield never looked better. Or bigger.
For some inexplicable reason, the USGS, and hence ePodunk, don’t list this cemetery. They do list a Jacksonville Cemetery in Jackson County, but it’s considerably north of here and I haven’t tracked it down yet.
There are a lot of reasons to detour to Jacksonville, should you ever find yourself drifting up this way, even were there no cemetery; but this is a must-see. You’re gonna love it. | <urn:uuid:9f1b66a1-b1fa-4f02-a8b1-eada6e18527b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bloggingadeadhorse-dmt.blogspot.com/2009/10/great-jacksonville-cemetery-raid.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959259 | 1,325 | 2.265625 | 2 |
With health concerns arising before the onset of hay fever season, the Forestry Agency said on Dec. 27 that the impact of cedar pollen being contaminated with radioactive cesium on humans will be "small."
The agency's conclusion is based on the findings of its survey conducted at 87 sites in Fukushima Prefecture, home to the damaged Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
The level of cesium a person inhales was estimated at 0.000192 microsievert per hour on the assumption that the amount of airborne pollen was 2,207 per cubic meter, the highest level observed in the Kanto region, including the Tokyo metropolitan area, in the past nine years.
The agency is also conducting the survey in 14 additional prefectures.
Meanwhile, the amount of airborne cedar and cypress pollen this spring will be lower than in an average year nationwide due to shorter sunshine hours in August, according to a forecast by the Environment Ministry.
The ministry said Dec. 27 that compared with an average year, the amount of pollen dispersal will be down by 30-40 percent in northeastern Japan except for some areas, while the regions of Chugoku, Shikoku and Kyushu will have 20-30 percent less.
In eastern Japan, that will translate into 20 percent to 40 percent of the levels observed last spring, in which airborne pollen amounts were larger than an average year. In western Japan, it will be 20 percent to 70 percent of the levels of last spring.
- « Prev
- Next » | <urn:uuid:cf807347-3d8a-404b-9815-09a4d8b47da3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201112290014 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939822 | 312 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Otaku are struggling to come to terms with their enforced celibacy after recent surveys revealed that half of all third year high schoolers were no longer virgins, marking them as even more abnormal than they thought.
The surveys conducted by Japan’s Family Planning Association revealed that 47.3% of boys and 46.5% of girls had some experience of sex by their third year of high school, which coupled with results from other age groups shows a general trend towards sex at earlier ages.
However, observers were puzzled by the 40% decrease in sexual aspirations amongst younger children since the last time the survey was conducted in 1999; now it seems 31% of boys and 14% of girls in their third year of middle school “would like to try” sex, which could either mean their sexual ambitions have decreased, or possibly that they have already tried…
In spite of all this, a disturbing 15% of boys and 18% of girls agreed with the propositions that “it’s best not to have sex” (which bodes ill for the Japanese race) and “sex is best left until marriage” (which in Japan will usually mean waiting until their thirties).
Online reactions range from “I won’t accept it!” to “It seems healthy that there is no great gap between the sexes here”, and of course the blustering “We should be proud that we made it this far as virgins!”
Some would say Japan of all nations could use a teenage pregnancy crisis, as it is the only way short of ten or fifteen million immigrants that the nation’s aging populace can be supported with the extravagant pensions they have voted themselves… | <urn:uuid:832f9b32-c731-4af1-979a-f9ec5d968a6d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2009/06/29/virgins-rare-in-japans-lusty-schools/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982424 | 357 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Bismuth Subsalicylate, Metronidazole, and Tetracycline (Oral Route)
Original Article: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/drug-information/DR600035
US Brand Names
Bismuth subsalicylate, metronidazole, and tetracycline combination is used together with an H2-receptor antagonist to treat duodenal ulcers caused by H. pylori bacteria.
This package contains a combination of 3 different medicines. The individual medicines contained in this package should not be used alone or for other purposes than to treat duodenal ulcers caused by H. pylori.
This combination of medicines is available only with your doctor's prescription.
This product is available in the following dosage forms:
- Tablet, Chewable
In deciding to use a medicine, the risks of taking the medicine must be weighed against the good it will do. This is a decision you and your doctor will make. For this medicine, the following should be considered:
Tell your doctor if you have ever had any unusual or allergic reaction to this medicine or any other medicines. Also tell your health care professional if you have any other types of allergies, such as to foods, dyes, preservatives, or animals. For non-prescription products, read the label or package ingredients carefully.
Appropriate studies have not been performed on the relationship of age to the effects of Helidac® in the pediatric population. Safety and efficacy have not been established.
Tetracycline may cause permanent discoloration of the teeth and slow down the growth of bones. This medicine should not be given to children 8 years of age and younger unless directed by the child's doctor.
Although appropriate studies on the relationship of age to the effects of Helidac® therapy have not been performed in the geriatric population, no geriatric-specific problems have been documented to date. However, elderly patients are more likely to have age-related kidney, liver, or heart problems, which may require caution and an adjustment in the dose for patients receiving Helidac®.
|All Trimesters||D||Studies in pregnant women have demonstrated a risk to the fetus. However, the benefits of therapy in a life threatening situation or a serious disease, may outweigh the potential risk.|
There are no adequate studies in women for determining infant risk when using this medication during breastfeeding. Weigh the potential benefits against the potential risks before taking this medication while breastfeeding.
Although certain medicines should not be used together at all, in other cases two different medicines may be used together even if an interaction might occur. In these cases, your doctor may want to change the dose, or other precautions may be necessary. When you are taking this medicine, it is especially important that your healthcare professional know if you are taking any of the medicines listed below. The following interactions have been selected on the basis of their potential significance and are not necessarily all-inclusive.
Using this medicine with any of the following medicines is not recommended. Your doctor may decide not to treat you with this medication or change some of the other medicines you take.
Using this medicine with any of the following medicines is usually not recommended, but may be required in some cases. If both medicines are prescribed together, your doctor may change the dose or how often you use one or both of the medicines.
- Mycophenolate Mofetil
Using this medicine with any of the following medicines may cause an increased risk of certain side effects, but using both drugs may be the best treatment for you. If both medicines are prescribed together, your doctor may change the dose or how often you use one or both of the medicines.
- Aluminum Carbonate, Basic
- Aluminum Hydroxide
- Aluminum Phosphate
- Dihydroxyaluminum Aminoacetate
- Dihydroxyaluminum Sodium Carbonate
- Magnesium Carbonate
- Magnesium Hydroxide
- Magnesium Oxide
- Magnesium Trisilicate
- Milk Thistle
- Penicillin G
- Penicillin G Procaine
- Penicillin V
Certain medicines should not be used at or around the time of eating food or eating certain types of food since interactions may occur. Using alcohol or tobacco with certain medicines may also cause interactions to occur. The following interactions have been selected on the basis of their potential significance and are not necessarily all-inclusive.
Using this medicine with any of the following is not recommended. Your doctor may decide not to treat you with this medication, change some of the other medicines you take, or give you special instructions about the use of food, alcohol, or tobacco.
Using this medicine with any of the following may cause an increased risk of certain side effects but may be unavoidable in some cases. If used together, your doctor may change the dose or how often you use this medicine, or give you special instructions about the use of food, alcohol, or tobacco.
- Dairy Food
Other Medical Problems
The presence of other medical problems may affect the use of this medicine. Make sure you tell your doctor if you have any other medical problems, especially:
- Allergy to aspirin or other salicylates or
- Kidney disease, severe—Should not be used in patients with this condition.
- Blood disorder (e.g., leukopenia, neutropenia), or history of or
- Brain disease or
- Central nervous system disease or—Use with caution. May make these conditions worse.
- Kidney disease or
- Liver disease—Use with caution. The effects may be increased because of slower removal of metronidazole and tetracycline from the body.
Take this medicine exactly as directed by your doctor. Do not take more of it, do not take it more often, and do not take it for a longer time than your doctor ordered. To do so may increase the chance of side effects.
Helidac® comes with patient instructions. Read and follow these instructions carefully. Ask your doctor if you have any questions.
Each day's therapy is packaged in a blister card that contains 8 chewable tablets of bismuth subsalicylate, 4 tablets of metronidazole, and 4 capsules of tetracycline.
Pay attention to how to take each medicine. Completely chew and swallow 2 bismuth tablets. Swallow the metronidazole tablets and tetracycline capsules with a full glass of water. This will help prevent irritation of the esophagus (tube between the throat and stomach). Do not chew, crush, or break the metronidazole tablets and tetracycline capsules.
Your doctor will also prescribe another medicine, a histamine H2 receptor antagonist, which will come with its own directions and must be taken along with this combination of medicines.
Avoid taking milk, dairy products, antacids containing aluminum, calcium, or magnesium (e.g., Maalox®, Tums®), or supplements containing iron, zinc, or sodium bicarbonate. This may keep tetracycline from working properly.
To help clear up your infection completely, keep using this medicine for the full time of treatment, even if you begin to feel better after a few days. If you stop taking this medicine too soon, your symptoms may return.
The dose of this medicine will be different for different patients. Follow your doctor's orders or the directions on the label. The following information includes only the average doses of this medicine. If your dose is different, do not change it unless your doctor tells you to do so.
The amount of medicine that you take depends on the strength of the medicine. Also, the number of doses you take each day, the time allowed between doses, and the length of time you take the medicine depend on the medical problem for which you are using the medicine.
- For oral dosage forms (blister card containing chewable tablets, tablets, and capsules):
- For treatment of duodenal ulcers caused by H. pylori infection:
- Adults—One dose (525 milligrams [mg] of bismuth subsalicylate, 250 mg of metronidazole, and 500 mg of tetracycline) four times a day, taken with meals and at bedtime, for 14 days.
- Children—Use and dose must be determined by your doctor.
- For treatment of duodenal ulcers caused by H. pylori infection:
If you miss a dose of this medicine, take it as soon as possible. However, if it is almost time for your next dose, skip the missed dose and go back to your regular dosing schedule. Do not double doses.
If you miss more than four doses of this combination of medicines, check with your doctor.
Store the medicine in a closed container at room temperature, away from heat, moisture, and direct light. Keep from freezing.
Keep out of the reach of children.
Do not keep outdated medicine or medicine no longer needed.
Ask your healthcare professional how you should dispose of any medicine you do not use.
If your condition does not improve or if it becomes worse, check with your doctor.
Using this medicine while you are pregnant can harm your unborn baby. Use an effective form of birth control to keep from getting pregnant. Your birth control pills may not work as well while you are using this medicine. If you think you have become pregnant while using this medicine, tell your doctor right away.
Do not take this medicine if you are also using disulfiram (Antabuse®) or methoxyflurane (Penthrane®).
Drinking alcoholic beverages while taking metronidazole may cause stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, headache, or flushing or redness of the face. Other alcohol-containing preparations (e.g., elixirs, cough syrups, tonics) may also cause problems. Do not drink alcoholic beverages or take other products containing propylene glycol while you are taking Helidac® and for at least 3 days after stopping it.
Metronidazole may cause some people to become dizzy, clumsy, or trouble seeing clearly.
Children or teenagers who have or who are recovering from chickenpox or influenza should not use this combination of medicines unless directed by the child's doctor. If nausea or vomiting occurs after taking this combination of medicines, check with the child's doctor.
Tetracycline may cause your skin to be more sensitive to sunlight than it is normally. Exposure to sunlight, even for brief periods of time, may cause a skin rash, itching, redness or other discoloration of the skin, or a severe sunburn. When you begin taking tetracycline:
- Stay out of direct sunlight, especially between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., if possible.
- Wear protective clothing, including a hat. Also, wear sunglasses.
- Apply a sunblock product that has a skin protection factor (SPF) of at least 15. Some patients may require a product with a higher SPF, especially if they have a fair complexion. If you have any questions about this, check with your doctor.
- Apply a sunblock lipstick that has an SPF of at least 15 to protect your lips.
- Do not use a sunlamp or tanning bed or booth.
You may still be more sensitive to sunlight or sunlamps for 2 weeks to several months or more after stopping tetracycline. If you have a severe reaction, check with your doctor.
Bismuth subsalicylate may cause dark tongue and/or black stools. This is only temporary and will go away after you stop taking this medicine.
This medicine lowers the number of some types of blood cells in your body. Because of this, you may bleed or get infections more easily. Avoid people who are sick. Wash your hands often. Stay away from rough sports or other situations where you could be bruised, cut, or injured. Brush and floss your teeth gently. Be careful when using sharp objects, including razors and fingernail clippers.
If you develop a skin rash, hives, or any allergic reaction to this medicine, stop taking the medicine and check with your doctor as soon as possible.
Before having surgery (including dental surgery) with a general anesthetic, tell the medical doctor or dentist in charge that you are taking tetracycline in this combination of medicines.
Make sure any doctor or dentist who treats you knows that you are using this medicine. This medicine may affect the results of certain medical tests.
Do not take other medicines unless they have been discussed with your doctor. This includes prescription or nonprescription (over-the-counter [OTC]) medicines and herbal or vitamin supplements.
Along with its needed effects, a medicine may cause some unwanted effects. Although not all of these side effects may occur, if they do occur they may need medical attention.
Check with your doctor immediately if any of the following side effects occur:More common
- Abdominal or stomach pain
- Bloody or black, tarry stools
- Burning, prickling, or tingling sensations
- Bloody vomit
- Convulsions (seizures)
- Heart attack
- Irritation of the mouth or tongue
- Joint pain and swelling
- Sensitivity of the skin to sunlight
- Skin rash
- Trouble with swallowing
Get emergency help immediately if any of the following symptoms of overdose occur:Symptoms of overdose
- Clumsiness or unsteadiness
- Continuing ringing or buzzing in ears
- Fast heartbeat
- Fast or deep breathing
- Pain, numbness, or tingling in the arms, legs, hands, or feet
- Unusual tiredness
Some side effects may occur that usually do not need medical attention. These side effects may go away during treatment as your body adjusts to the medicine. Also, your health care professional may be able to tell you about ways to prevent or reduce some of these side effects. Check with your health care professional if any of the following side effects continue or are bothersome or if you have any questions about them:Less common or rare
- Burning or itching around the anus
- General feeling of discomfort or illness
- Loss of appetite
- Trouble sleeping
Other side effects not listed may also occur in some patients. If you notice any other effects, check with your healthcare professional.
Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to the FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088. | <urn:uuid:c700453f-265b-47fd-87e5-4280bbe12bfd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/drug-information/DR600035/METHOD=print&DSECTION=all | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.900702 | 3,072 | 2.09375 | 2 |
From Rigpa Wiki
Sollo Chenmo (Tib. གསོལ་ལོ་ཆེན་མོ་, Wyl. gsol lo chen mo) — a practice of invocation and offering to Gesar composed between 1877 and 1880 by Mipham Rinpoche. Its full title is 'The Swift Accomplishment of Enlightened Activity Through Invocation and Offering' (Tib. གསོལ་མཆོད་ཕྲིན་ལས་མྱུར་འགྲུབ་, gsol mchod phrin las myur 'grub). In the practice Gesar is invoked, together with his retinue of dralas and wermas in various forms corresponding to the four kinds of activity and he is requested to carry out his activity and assist the practitioners. Note that the practice should only be recited on important occasions and not too frequently, because it is very powerful.
Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche says:
- "The practice of Sollo Chenmo was revealed as a gong ter, a ‘treasure of enlightened intent’, by Mipham Rinpoche. According to Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche all of Mipham Rinpoche’s writings are gong ter. Sollo Chenmo is basically a practice of ‘entrusting activity’.
- ↑ The term sol (གསོལ་, gsol) in Sollo Chenmo is very difficult to translate into English. When it occurs in practice texts it has at least three separate meanings: to encourage, to offer, and to tell or command. Here, it has the latter meaning in the Tibetan word གསོལ་ཀ་, gsol ka, which is the equivalent of our ‘protectors’ practice’, but here it mainly has the sense of offering. This type of practice is called gsol mchod (translated here as invocation and offering), and it is the best known of all such practices related to Gesar, although the Fifth Dzogchen Rinpoche Thupten Chökyi Dorje (1872-1935) also composed a similar (and even longer) practice. | <urn:uuid:c83fc79d-a746-4273-9679-9a6dd202e20b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=S%C3%B6llo_Chenmo | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911688 | 574 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Did You Know...
An estimated 75% of all private sector tenancies require the tenant to pay a deposit.
Source: 2008/09 Survey of English Housing
What is it?
As part of the Housing Act 2004 the Government introduced tenancy deposit protection for all assured shorthold tenancies (ASTs) in England and Wales where a deposit is taken. From April 6th 2007, all deposits paid under an AST should have been protected within 14 calendar days of receipt by the landlord. From 6th April 2012, deposits for all assured shorthold tenancies (ASTs) in England and Wales must now be protected within 30 calendar days of receipt by the landlord, this change is as a result of the Localism Bill 2011.
The legislation aims to ensure that tenants who have paid a deposit to a landlord or letting agent and are entitled to receive all or part of it back at the end of that tenancy, actually get it.
Who is affected?
The legislation covers virtually all new AST contracts through which private landlords let property in England and Wales.However, the following will not need to be registered with a tenancy deposit protection scheme:
- resident landlords (those living in the property)
- landlords of tenancies with rent of over £100,000 a year
- company lets
- student accommodation let directly by universities or colleges.
Deposits taken before 6 April 2007 do not need to be protected by a scheme such as The DPS. However, as an existing tenancy is renewed and a landlord agrees a new fixed-term tenancy, the initial deposit taken must then be lodged with a tenancy deposit protection scheme.
Why is legislation needed?The return of a deposit at the end of a tenancy is by no means guaranteed. For example, in 2008/9:
- 70% were returned in full
- 17% were returned in part
- 13% were not returned at all
- damage to the property (23%)
- cleaning the property (38%)
- unpaid rent or bills (8%)
- other reasons (28%)
Nearly one in five (17%) of tenants who had some or all of their deposit withheld felt that it had been withheld unjustifiably. The new tenancy deposit protection schemes will ensure all landlords safeguard the deposits they take, which is in every landlord and tenant's interests.
Please see FAQs for more information. | <urn:uuid:54bf2622-58fa-4e2f-9e75-6f4b762b76c6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.depositprotection.com/legislation | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9557 | 483 | 2.015625 | 2 |
HARTFORD—It's the kind of historic discovery that happens maybe twice a century.
A Civil War-era relic, in this case a flag that decorated Abraham Lincoln's theater box the night he was assassinated, turns up on a forgotten shelf in the bowels of a local museum.
Connecticut Historical Society forget about such an artifact - one that had been sitting in the basement since 1922?
"We have more than 265,000 artifacts and we display less than 1 percent,'' said Susan P. Schoelwer, the society's director of museum collections. "No one knows the details of every one.''
The Treasury Guard national flag - with 36 stars, one for each state - was rediscovered in 1998, but only recently authenticated after a painstaking process. Its unveiling Thursday in Hartford drew attention from around the country and from Europe.
The customized flag was typical of its time, when no official design had been established and the banners commonly displayed inscriptions identifying the military units that carried them.
Historians are particularly impressed, they say, by the society's scholarship, which leaves virtually no doubt the flag was one of the five placed in the box at Ford's Theatre the night Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth in 1865.
"I'm very convinced by it," said Thomas Turner, a Lincoln assassination scholar at Bridgewater State College in Bridgewater, Mass. "You can sometimes have a couple of claims on items, or you can have an item that not everybody is agreed to.''
In this case there is no dispute as to the flag's authenticity. "That's what's impressive about [this one],'' Turner said.
Just as interesting as the discovery and restoration of a flag that had dissolved into a pile of brittle silk rags is how it ended up in a museum on Hartford's west side, only to get lost for nearly 80 years.
Forgotten, But Not Gone When Dr. Robert M. Yergason donated the flag in 1922, it made the society's annual report for that year. Yergason had received it from his father, Civil War veteran and Hartford resident Edgar S. Yergason, who had received it in 1907 from an official at the U.S. Treasury Department.
But the flag, folded in a small wooden box with a glass cover, wasn't even 60 years old at the time, and museums then were more interested in 18th-century relics, experts said. So over the years the box got pushed deeper into back rooms as curators came and went and more relics piled up during an era of unsophisticated record keeping.
The flag briefly resurfaced about 20 years ago when Don Troiani, a Civil War collectibles expert, found it while looking for another item. Troiani said he can't remember whether he informed anyone at the society.
"The only thing I can say for sure is it was there,'' Troiani said Thursday from his Southbury home. "Flags weren't a priority for me.''
By the time Kelly Nolin, the society's former acting head librarian, started sifting through the archives in 1998 to prepare for a Civil War lecture, the flag had vanished from the historical radar screen and could have remained there for decades.
Nolin said she was puzzled when she first spotted the box on a shelf in a dim basement corner. She could read the words on the blue canton visible through the glass: "Presented to Treasury Guard Regt. by the Ladies of the Treasury Dept. 1864." But Nolin knew that a Treasury Guard flag, one that Booth had caught his spur on while fleeing, was already on display at Ford's Theatre.
She soon learned there was another, but the flag's authenticity didn't become known until months later when restoration workers at Textile Conservation Workshop in South Salem, N.Y., had begun piecing it together.
"It's almost like you feel when you go up into the attic and open an old trunk," said Mary Kaldany, who worked to restore the flag. "You know no one has unfolded it for 75 years, so there's that kind of thrill. But there's also trepidation."
The Jigsaw Puzzle Slowly, gently, carefully, Kaldany pulled open the flag, which measured more than 6 feet square. She laid it flat on a wash table and surveyed the damage. The dyed stripes had separated into strips; the canton remained attached only along the edges of the flag, its oil-painted center broken into cracked and curled shards. | <urn:uuid:0e0dc438-288b-4956-8cda-747ea77a8078> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.courant.com/topic/hc-attractions-lincolnflag0706,0,4317622.story | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977405 | 925 | 2.265625 | 2 |
When Singapore citizens want to wait no more than two minutes at a train station, their Land Transport Authority (LTA) makes it happen. Hopefully, in the near future, this will be a reality for us Chennaites too. The Tamil Nadu government created the Unified Metropolitan Transportation Authority (UMTA) in 2008 and is in the process of equipping it with statutory powers. Once UMTA is fully functional, all modes of public transport, such as Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC), the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) and the upcoming Chennai Metro Rail, will be under its purview.
While sceptics may doubt the need for another authority, it can be argued that without a UMTA, the vision of a worldclass transportation system would crumble under the daunting tasks of creation of common objectives, planning, co-ordination and execution across agencies.
Today, each component of a road is managed by different departments of the Chennai corporation or state highways, without any unifying standards or processes, resulting in underutilisation. These, in turn, have adverse impact on components of public transportation such as bus bays, bus stands, and MRTS and Metro stations, which are controlled by MTC, Railways and Metro respectively. Who or what will unify them?
Take the simple idea of giving priority to buses at traffic signals. To implement this, would the traffic police, who own the signals, re-calibrate them at each junction to suit MTC's objectives? If MTC wants priority bus lanes, let alone a full fledged Bus Rapid Transit System, would the corporation or highways re-engineer all bus routes in co-ordination with all other agencies concerned? Who would initiate the micro-detailed studies and co-ordinate the execution as per plans to ensure this exercise is not a flop?
A prospering Chennai means increasing number of private vehicles. But good quality of transportation life requires sophisticated parking policy; mechanisms to finance parking structures; systems to monitor and enforce rules; foolproof licensing of drivers; and
encouraging para-transit like share autos. Success of these seemingly disparate objectives depends on a number of agencies working in tandem.
Also, who will undertake the task of upgrading local bodies and ensuring well integrated, top quality transport system across the metropolis?
These are just a fraction of the issues UMTA will address. But it will require a UMTA with teeth. Integration of buses, metro/MRTS/trains will require the much discussed common ticketing system. More importantly, it will need to develop win-win models to tackle the politically sensitive issue of revenue sharing between the different departments. Creation of UMTA is a bold step in the right direction, but only the first. A look at the LTA website is enough to show the scope of their planning, co-ordination and execution. Such near flawless delivery requires a robust institution with appropriate tools and resources, and a skilled professional team.
While Chennai, like all cities, is unique, much of the transportation know-how can be learnt from world-class practitioners like LTA. The TN government could probably initiate a partnership with LTA. Let us learn from them.
(The writer is co-ordinator, Chennai City Connect, an NGO working on urban development | <urn:uuid:4409dc9f-8b45-4fc9-a7db-2ff43baf49f9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-04-13/chennai/28117901_1_mtc-mrts-bus-routes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94362 | 671 | 2.0625 | 2 |
Of Special Interest to Laboratorians/LabNet
MedSun: Newsletter #18, November 2007
CLIA Waiver Granted by FDA for i-STAT® CHEM8+ Test Cartridge
The Office of In Vitro Diagnostics (OIVD) of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA)-waived status to the Abbott Point of Care i-STAT CHEM8+ test cartridge. The CHEM8+ test cartridge is a single-use, in vitro diagnostic test cartridge that measures sodium, potassium, chloride, total carbon dioxide, glucose, urea, creatinine, ionized calcium, and hematocrit in arterial, venous, and capillary whole blood samples. The CLIA waiver makes the handheld test cartridge more widely available for use to health care providers when a faster turnaround in results may be needed, such as in physicians’ offices, emergency departments, intensive care units, operating rooms, and outpatient clinics. The CHEM8+ test cartridge is the first i-STAT cartridge to receive a CLIA waiver.
FDA Clears Genetic Lab Test for Warfarin Sensitivity
On September 17, 2007, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared for marketing a new genetic test that will help physicians assess whether a patient may be especially sensitive to the blood-thinning drug warfarin (Coumadin), which is used to prevent potentially fatal clots in blood vessels.
One-third of patients receiving warfarin metabolize it quite differently than expected and experience a higher risk of bleeding. Research has shown that some of the unexpected response to warfarin depends on variants of two genes, CYP2C9 and VKORC1. The Nanosphere Verigene Warfarin Metabolism Nucleic Acid Test detects some variants of both genes.
"Today’s action offers physicians the first FDA-cleared genetic test for warfarin sensitivity, which is another step in our commitment to personalized medicine,” said Daniel Schultz, M.D., director, FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. “With this test, physicians may be able to use genetic information along with other clinical information to treat their patients.”
Warfarin can be a difficult drug to use because the optimal dose varies depending on many risk factors, including a patient's diet, age, and the use of other medications. Rapidly achieving the correct dose is important. Patients who receive doses that are higher than needed to correctly thin the blood are at risk of life-threatening bleeding. Those who receive doses that are too low may remain at risk of life-threatening blood clots.
Warfarin is the second most common drug, after insulin, implicated in emergency room visits for adverse drug events.
In August, FDA approved updated labeling for Coumadin, the brand name version of warfarin, explaining that people with variations of the genes CYP2C9 and VKORC1 may respond differently to the drug. Manufacturers of generic warfarin are adding similar information to their products' labeling.
Physicians and other health care professionals who prescribe warfarin regularly check to see if the drug is working properly by ordering a test called the PT or prothrombin time that evaluates the blood's ability to clot properly. The results are measured in seconds and compared with the expected value in healthy people, known as the International Normalized Ratio or INR.
The Nanosphere test is not intended to be a stand-alone tool to determine optimum drug dosage, but should be used along with clinical evaluation and other tools, including INR, to determine the best treatment for patients.
FDA cleared the test based on results of a study conducted by the manufacturer of hundreds of DNA samples as well as on a broad range of published literature. In a three site study, the test was accurate in all cases where the test yielded a result; 8 percent of the tests could not identify which genetic variants were present.
The new test was cleared for use on the Verigene System, a clinical laboratory test system. Both products are manufactured by Nanosphere Inc., Northbrook, Ill.
FDA Licenses 15 New Blood Typing Tests
Tests help ensure safe blood transfusions for patients
On September 14, 2007, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration licensed 15 new blood typing tests that were previously unavailable in the United States.
These tests, known as blood grouping reagents, are used to determine the blood type of blood donors, an essential step in ensuring safe blood transfusion for patients. If mismatched blood is administered to a patient, it may cause a serious and potentially fatal reaction. To prevent such problems, people must receive compatible blood based on the results of blood typing tests.
The newly approved ALBAclone Blood Grouping Reagents include the common ABO and Rh tests, plus tests for rare blood types. The reagents are monoclonal antibodies, highly specific antibodies that ensure product uniformity and availability.
"The licensing of these reagents will provide more choice for blood establishments and transfusion services and may facilitate testing for rare blood groups," said Jesse L. Goodman, M.D., M.P.H., director of FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. "Licensure of these additional blood grouping reagents will help ensure a more stable supply of these tests, especially important in the event of a product shortage."
The reagents are manufactured by Alba Bioscience, Inc. of Durham, North Carolina.
FDA Approves Second West Nile Virus Screening Test for Donated Blood and Organs
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced on August 28, 2007, approval of a second test for the detection of West Nile virus (WNV) in blood and organs.
The cobas TaqScreen WNV test is an automated test that's able to detect the genetic material of the virus itself early in the infection. Such nucleic acid testing improves blood and organ safety, detecting whether donated blood and organs have been infected even before the donor's body has begun to produce antibodies against the virus.
Most often, WNV is transmitted to humans by mosquitoes. But WNV can also be transmitted by blood transfusion or organ transplantation from infected donors. While WNV infection is common in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, it did not appear in the United States until 1999. Since then, WNV has become endemic in most of this country, with from 1 million to 3 million cases between 1999 and 2006, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
"This action is the culmination of the dedicated efforts of FDA, our sister agencies, blood establishments, and manufacturers to bring donor screening tests to market for this increasingly common virus," said Jesse L. Goodman, M.D., M.P.H., director of FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. "As a result, blood centers and hospitals now have a choice of two FDA approved tests to screen for West Nile Virus in donated blood and organs."
Most people infected with WNV show no signs of the disease but about 1 in 150 to 1 in 350 infected people will develop serious symptoms, including encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain. Since the introduction of the virus, the reported number of human cases of serious WNV in the United States has grown steadily from 62 in 1999 to 4,269 in 2006.
WNV has been especially virulent this year. Although it is still early in the WNV season, 58 blood donors who are possibly positive for the virus have been reported to the CDC as of August 21, 2007.
The cobas TaqScreen WNV test is approved for the detection of the virus in plasma specimens from human donors of whole blood and blood components (plasma, red or white cells, platelets) and living donors of cells, reproductive cells and other tissues. It is also intended for use in testing plasma specimens of organ donors when specimens are obtained while the donor's heart is still beating. The test is not intended for use on samples of cord blood or as an aid in the diagnosis of WNV infection.
Approval comes as FDA is preparing guidance on the use of licensed WNV screening tests for blood donors.
The test is manufactured by Roche Molecular Systems Inc. of Pleasanton, California.
For further details, refer to the Abbott Point of Care October 2, 2007, press release at | <urn:uuid:06d5f097-ed16-4c76-b112-e6d84cb88fa1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/medsun/news/printer.cfm?id=677 | 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 | 0.926661 | 1,751 | 1.625 | 2 |
It is believed that all animals may have evolved from the same group of protistans. They then evolved into distinct branches, one of which produced the sponges. Since no other animals are believed to have evolved from the sponges, they are considered to be an evolutionary dead end. Members of the phylum Porifera are among the simplest animals. They are little more than loose aggregations of cells with little or no tissue organization. There is some division of labor amongst the cells, but there are no organs.
The basic body form of all sponges is a sac-like structure consisting of three layers - an outer layer of epidermal cells; an inner layer of cells, many of which are flagellated cells called choanocytes; and a middle layer of amoeboid cells that form skeletal structures of various sorts. These layers are perforated by a large number of small pores (thus the name Porifera). The cavity of this sac is called the spongocoel and has at least one opening to the outside, called an osculum.
The sponges are taxonomically classified based on the type of skeletal materials produced calcareous spicules, siliceous spicules, or proteinaceous spongin fibers. Within each class, the sponges can be further differentiated by body type. In asconoid sponges the body wall is not folded; in syconoid sponges the body wall is folded into canals; and in leuconoids sponges the canals formed by the folded body wall are extensively branched. The term ostia is used to mean the openings into the pores of asconoid sponges, and the openings into the canals of syconoid and leuconoid sponges.
In all sponge types, the body is designed to facilitate feeding. Water is pulled into the pores and canals by the beating of the choanocytes' flagella. The water moves into the spongocoel and is eventually forced out through the osculum. As the water passes across the choanocytes, food particles (microscopic algae, bacteria, and organic debris) adhere to the cells and are eventually taken into food vacuoles for intracellular digestion.
In this lab, we will examine examples of each of the three body types characteristic of sponges.
The Asconoid Sponges
example: Leucoselenia (Class Calcispongiae)
Asconoid sponges have the simplest organization. Choanocytes line the spongocoel, drawing water through small ostia and expelling it through the osculum.
1. Examine a preserved specimen of this organism using a dissecting microscope. Draw the specimen, labeling the osculum, and the spicules protruding from the body wall.
The Syconoid Sponges
example: Scypha (Class Calcispongiae)
Syconoid sponges have a tubular design similar to the ascon sponge, but the body wall is folded. The "folds" form radial canals. Choanocytes line the radial canals rather than the spongocoel.
2. Examine a cross section of Scypha (Grantia) using a compound microscope at low power. Draw the cross section, labeling the spongocoel; the radial canals that radiate from the spongocoel and the apopyles (the openings into the radial canals); the ostia and the incurrent canals they open into; and the prosypyles (the small openings connecting the radial canals to the incurrent canals). You may need to use high power to see the prosopyles.
The Leuconoid Sponges
example: the "bath sponge" (Class Demospongiae)
Leuconoid sponges represent the most complex body form. The canal system is extensively branched. Small incurrent canals lead to flagellated chambers lined by choanocytes. Flagellated chambers discharge water into excurrent canals that eventually lead to an osculum. Usually there are many oscula in each sponge. The "bath sponge" is an example of a leuconoid sponge. The skeleton of this sponge is made of a soft protein, called spongin, rather than calcium carbonate or silica.
3. Examine demonstration materials showing the leuconoid body form.
Return to Biol II Lab Syllabus | Proceed to the Cnidaria Lab | <urn:uuid:3ddad8c1-405d-4b8d-a502-e40660c81940> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.esu.edu/~milewski/intro_biol_two/lab_9_porifera_cnidaria/Porifera.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920451 | 954 | 4.21875 | 4 |
The go-to media narrative of the fall of Bo Xilai declares that it’s the most important political event to occur China since the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. That may well be true, but there is more to be gleaned from the story than one man’s fall from grace.
There is no shortage of information on the life and times of Bo Xilai, so in the interest of brevity this article will try to convey the essence of the man in just one anecdote. Back when Bo was the mayor of Dalian, the city hosted an official visit from then-president Jiang Zemin. On top of the usual sidewalk sweeping and screw tightening that one would expect, Bo decided to go the extra mile and imported a set of highly sophisticated eavesdropping equipment from Germany. That way, he could listen in on the president’s conversations while in the presumed privacy of his car or hotel room. The reason behind this surveillance? To monitor President Jiang’s complaints and observations as to ensure that his visit went smoothly. In the end, Bo’s obsessive paranoia carried the day, as he was promoted over one of his adversaries almost immediately after President Jiang left.
This is the man who would have surely ascended to the Politburo Standing Committee had it not been for a finely tuned sense of self-preservation in his Police Chief Wang Lijun. That he would have done so despite ongoing corruption investigations surrounding his wife and said police chief is a testament to the power and influence that he wielded only five short months ago.
But now Bo Xilai has been purged, and CCP leaders are scrambling to dirty him with something that will stick. This is the first lesson of Bo Xilai’s downfall: keeping him down may prove easier said than done. While it is true that Bo has no shortage of enemies, he is also well liked by certain segments of the population, particularly in Chongqing. One would expect the CCP leadership to be aware of this and respond by going for the jugular. But so far the best they’ve been able to do is make vague allusions that Bo sought a return to the days of the Cultural Revolution and paint him as a politician bent on rolling back market reforms, neither of which are entirely true. What’s more, even if there is a wealth of evidence pointing to graft, the CCP will think twice before going down that road out of fear it would lay bare the Party’s own shortcomings.
The lack of workable dirt on Bo Xilai is definitely a headache for the CCP. But maybe, just maybe, this is about to change. A French architect named Patrick Devillers has recently emerged as a central figure in the Bo Xilai saga. According to the Financial Times, Devillers was a former business associate of Gu Kailai, Bo Xilai’s wife, and the very man that Neil Heywood ended up replacing after Devillers had a falling out with Gu. Devillers was arrested in Cambodia last month, and he flew to China last week in order to give evidence in the Gu Kailai case, presumably in exchange for immunity. It’s possible that Beijing leaned on Phnom Penh for a favor (the second in as many months) and asked them to pressure Devillers in order to get him back to China. Perhaps Devillers is the one person who can smear Bo Xilai with the same disgrace that adorns his wife.
The second lesson of the Bo Xilai affair is that the myth of a smooth CCP succession mechanism has been shattered. Since the death of Mao Zedong, the CCP has gradually dropped socialism as its primary source of legitimacy in favor of a more practical, result-driven dogma: CCP as the vehicle by which China will rise to global prominence as an economic and military superpower. This is used as a legitimizing rationale for one party rule, and an intrinsic part of this rationale is that the party has processes in place that preclude the factional warfare that characterized internal CCP politics during the Cultural Revolution.
The Bo Xilai saga has shattered the idea that factional succession struggles are a thing of the past. And if any doubt remains, consider the fact that Bo visited the 14th Group Army in Kunming immediately after news broke that Wang Lijun had sought asylum in the US consulate in Chengdu. This was the regiment that had historical links to his celebrated father, Bo Yibo, and Bo Xilai’s decision to head there as soon as Beijing learned of the breadth of his activities gives the impression of a desperate man trying to precipitate some sort of last minute military coup.
But alas, as he are all now aware, his visit to the 14th Group Army came to nothing and now Bo Xilai and his wife are being interrogated at undisclosed locations somewhere in northern China. Although it’s always possible that things may change once a new standing committee is sworn in, the legal proceedings of the case, or rather the lack thereof, are illustrative of the rule of law deficit that continues to plague Chinese institutions. Bo Xilai may pop up again for a show trial, or maybe not, and the same goes for his disgraced wife and police chief. The hamster wheel of the Chinese legal system will continue to spin until someone in Beijing decrees it to stop. This rather arbitrary state of affairs has elicited sympathy from such unexpected corners as dissident artist Ai Weiwei, who himself got caught up in the hamster wheel for 81 days last year and is still fighting a substantial tax evasion lawsuit. Though Ai disagrees with Bo’s politics, he laments the fact that both of them are caught up in the same machine; one that doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon.
And finally, there is the lesson of Bo Xilai’s popularity. Some see it as the result of his faux neo-Maoism message resonating with the people, the ‘singing red’ and Mao Zedong SMS text messages. But in reality, this kind of political gimmickry won’t get you very far with a population not far removed from the chaos of the Cultural Revolution. Rather, Bo Xilai was popular because he was viewed as sympathetic to the rural poor. And, if anything, the neo-Maoist streak was simply a byproduct of this. While in control of Chongqing, he promoted a rural-urban dipiao system whereby rural landowners could auction land in exchange for the legal right to move into the city. In a country that abides by a hukou system preventing the free internal movement of citizens, this kind of program stands out as an innovative way of achieving a wider distribution of urban opportunity. In the end, opponents to the program succeeded in having it shut down permanently in 2010.
Thus perhaps the most important subtext of the scandal is the ongoing political alienation of the rural class, a niche that Bo Xilai was able to fill. And what these supporters will choose to do when they see their former patron raked over the coals is anyone’s guess.
Zachary Fillingham is a contributor to Geopoliticalmonitor.com | <urn:uuid:9f4fad26-1eda-4f92-bc65-c220ee8372bd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/lessons-from-the-fall-of-bo-xilai-4705 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973868 | 1,490 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Equitable Right of Redemption
In most states, the debtor may redeem (save) the property from foreclosure beginning at the time the foreclosure action is brought until the final foreclosure sale by making full payment to the court of the amount owed, including court costs and fees. In other states, this right of redemption is restricted to a specified time frame, depending on the type of instrument used and whether it uses non-judicial or judicial foreclosure.
This right is especially important in light of life events that are outside the control of the debtor. Often a debtor may overcome the life event and be able to once again establish a mortgage with the current lender or another lender, including private lenders.
Many times the original lender will try to avoid taking back the property through loan workout solutions prior to starting the foreclosure process.
Loan Workout Solutions
Let’s take a look at each one.
The restoration of a mortgage or deed of trust to good standing after payments are made to remedy the default
Under reinstatement the lender will accept full payment of the amount owed as of a specified date. In some cases the debtor may be able to bring current the amount due. If this occurs, the lender is willing to “reinstate” the mortgage under the original terms.
Often it is a friend or family member who assists the debtor by virtue of a loan. In many cases this allows for the debtor to resume normal payments and remain current. Other times this will simply forestall foreclosure.
A property may fall into and out of default multiple times before finally going into foreclosure and being sold at auction.
Refraining from taking legal action on a mortgage that is in arrears; usually granted when the mortgagor makes a satisfactory arrangement to pay the arrears at a future date
The lender agrees to take no action until a future date. This may be due to a future planned sale or some other reasonable action taken by the debtor to bring the loan current or to pay off the entire loan.
Forbearance and reinstatement tend to go hand-in-hand. The lender is willing to reinstate the loan, but must have reasonable assurance of the time frame. Often either or both of these will have an accompanying appraisal, since the lender is taking an increased risk.
Under a repayment plan, the debtor resumes normal payments with the addition of partial payments of the past due amount until the debtor comes current. This type of plan is often used when just a few payments are missed due to a life event. This type of plan must be agreed to by all parties in the transaction.
The lender may be willing to change one or more of the terms of the loan. This could include:
- Reduced interest rate
- Conversion of a variable to a fixed rate
- Extending the term of the loan and adding the payments to the back of the loan
- Change in terms (time and interest)
If the loan is insured, the insured (debtor) may qualify for an interest-free loan in order to bring the loan current.
Repayment of this loan may be delayed several years or not occur at all until after a subsequent sale of the property.
Pre-Foreclosure or Short Sale
In a short sale, the lender may accept less than the full amount owed if the sale price of the property does not cover the amount owed.
Most often this will require the services of a professional appraiser and a professional broker/agent or auctioneer.
There must be clear evidence that the property at sale will not yield enough to cover the amount owed. Often this is done in areas where market conditions have changed dramatically (e.g., a plant closing). Usually it would require a solid contract after exposure to the open market that clearly indicates that the property will bring no higher value regardless of any action by any party.
The lender will normally agree to a specific amount of time to sell the property for the full amount owed or more. Most lenders would require a professional broker/agent or auctioneer to conduct the sale. Normally, this would require an appraisal prior to, or in conjunction with, the listing. It may also include Forbearance as part of the sale timeline.
The lender may agree to having a qualified new borrower assume the existing loan, regardless of whether the original loan allowed for this provision or not. The terms may require the new borrower to bring the existing loan current and most often will require a professional appraiser.
The lender may agree to the voluntary “give back” of the property and forgive the debt. Normally, this would require an aggressive attempt to sell the property for a specified time and will usually require the services of a professional appraiser.
This option is not available if there are:
- Other lien holders
- Judgments by other creditors
- Other second mortgages
- Tax liens
United States foreclosure laws.
Select a state from the map or the list below for complete state foreclosure information. Each state foreclosure page includes a summary of your state foreclosure law as well as links to other foreclosure law resources.
Two Types of Foreclosure: Judicial and Non-Judicial
The basic difference between the two types of foreclosure is a lawsuit called a foreclosure action. We will look at the non-judicial process first, and then the more complex and more common, judicial foreclosure process.
In some states both the judicial and non-judicial foreclosure processes are in place. Which type is used is dependent on the instrument that was used to create the mortgage.
Non-Judicial (no court action required)
The non-judicial process of foreclosure is used when a power of sale clause exists in a mortgage or deed of trust. A "power of sale" clause is the clause in a deed of trust or mortgage, in which the borrower pre-authorizes the sale of property to pay off the balance on a loan in the event of their default.
This form of foreclosure is usually found in trust deeds.
A legal instrument similar to a mortgage which, when executed and delivered, conveys or transfers property title to a trustee.
A three party security instrument conveying the legal title to real property as security for the repayment of a loan. The three parties included in a deed of trust are the borrower, lender, and trustee.
In deeds of trust or mortgages where a power of sale exists, the power given to the lender to sell the property may be executed by the lender or the lender's representative, typically referred to as the trustee. Regulations for this type of foreclosure process are outlined in the "Power of Sale Foreclosure Guidelines” established by state laws.
The following is from California State law regarding non- judicial foreclosure from www.foreclosurelaw.org:
Power of Sale Foreclosure Guidelines
If the deed of trust or mortgage contains a power of sale clause and specifies the time, place, and terms of sale, then the specified procedure must be followed. Otherwise, the non-judicial power of sale foreclosure is carried out as follows:
A notice of sale must be: 1) recorded in the county where the property is located at least fourteen (14) days prior to the sale; 2) mailed by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the borrower at least twenty (20) days before the sale; 3) posted on the property itself at least twenty (20) days before the sale; and 4) posted in one (1) public place in the county where the property is to be sold.
The notice of sale must contain the time and location of the foreclosure sale, as well as the property address; the trustee's name, address, and phone number; and a statement that the property will be sold at auction.
The borrower has until five (5) days before the foreclosure sale to cure the default and stop the process.
The sale may be held on any business day between the hours of 9:00 am and 5:00 pm and must take place at the location specified in the notice of sale. The trustee may require proof of the bidders ability to pay their full bid amount. Anyone may bid at the sale, which must be made at public auction to the highest bidder. If necessary, the sale may be postponed by announcement at the time and location of the original foreclosure sale.
Lenders may not seek a deficiency judgment after a non-judicial foreclosure sale and the borrower has no rights of redemption.
In California, there is no right of redemption in this type of foreclosure. However, each state has specific rules governing these types of action. Appraisers are advised to understand what is possible in their state.
The implied advantage of the non-judicial foreclosure is that it does not require the cost of time, effort, and money to file a lawsuit. It is usually true that the process takes much less time than a judicial foreclosure.
In Judicial foreclosure the instrument that creates a lien against the property is the mortgage. The lien is used as security against the property for payment of the loan. The borrower pledges the property to the lender as collateral for the debt. Under this form of foreclosure, a court must order the sale of the property after a lawsuit called a foreclosure action is filed and the court determines that the lender is rightfully owed the debt. If it is determined that the debt is owed, the court will issue an order of execution and direct the proper office of the court to seize and sell the property. The sale occurs after several appraisals are ordered, for a specified percentage of that appraised value, usually at auction, on a specified date, at a specified place, to the highest bidder.
The minimum bid is established by the appraisals to protect the borrower from the loss of any equity buildup by preventing the lender from simply bidding the amount of the mortgage balance.
Acceleration Clause activated
Acceleration Notice issued
Foreclosure Action (lawsuit in judicial action states)
Order of Execution
Appraisals set value
Public Auction at a percentage of the appraised value
Confirmation of Sale
Sheriff’s Deed issued
Ohio Judicial Foreclosure (from www.foreclosurelaw.org )
Generally, in judicial foreclosure, a court decrees the amount of the borrower’s debt and gives him or her a short time to pay. If the borrower fails to pay within that time, the clerk of the court then advertises the property for sale.
At some point prior to the scheduled date of foreclosure, three disinterested freeholders of the county must make an appraisal of the property. A copy of the appraised value must be filed with the court clerk and the property must be offered for sale at a price of not less than two-thirds of said value.
The sale may not take place until the notice of sale has been published once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the property is located. The sheriff will conduct the sale at the courthouse and the property will be sold to the highest bidder.
Lenders may obtain a deficiency judgment and the borrower may redeem the property at any time before the court confirms the foreclosure sale by paying the amount of the judgment, plus costs and interest.
A deficiency judgment is a separate legal action used if the sale of the property does not cover the amount of the debt. This is a judgment whereby the borrower is still liable for the balance due after the foreclosure sale. It is not often used, since it may require a separate legal action and often there is nothing to attach because the borrower has lost everything.
Again, this is different in various states. Some states may allow a separate court action, while others may include it in the original court proceedings.
The property is sold at auction to the highest bidder. Normally the lender will bid up to the amount of the mortgage, including other costs incurred. Normally the highest bidder is the lender. This is done to protect their interest. If a bid received is higher than the amount owed the lender, the lender may let the sale go forward.
After the sale, the proceeds are used to pay all liens, taxes, expenses, and other related costs. Any proceeds left over are paid to the borrower.
After the sale, a document called a confirmation of sale is filed and normally a sheriff’s deed is issued. | <urn:uuid:0c47a36c-aa04-4a0c-bb67-188410a5be01> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jkemery.com/Foreclosure/REOAppraisal | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944926 | 2,520 | 1.703125 | 2 |
- Written by Cynthia Strathmann
02 Oct 2012
PERSPECTIVE-We all learn many important lessons from our parents. One lesson that I learned from my father was this: If you cut through a pipeline that’s carrying raw sewage you should be really, really sure that it’s not under pressure before you start. Unfortunately, this was something I discovered through actual observation when my father tried to fix our septic system and was sprayed down with a putrid stream of human waste as a reward for his efforts.
This is the type of home repair that I, now an Angeleno, never need to make on my own. Because I am currently a fancy city-dweller, I no longer have to take my trash to the dump, fix potholes in the road or do all of the other chores that are part of everyday country life but are magically taken care of when one lives in the city.
Not only do I get to avoid these day-to-day chores, I can rest secure in the knowledge that if something goes horribly awry, it’s highly likely that someone else will be responsible for dealing with it. For example, last winter when there was a big windstorm and a lot of trees blew down, I wasn’t stuck at home waiting for a neighbor to loan me a chainsaw so I could cut my way out to a main road.
In fact, most of the time I can count on nothing going wrong at all. We Angelenos get to carry on with the delightful assumption that everything around us will work all the time – like magic. Not once since I moved to Los Angeles has anyone commented on how great it is that we’ve had power for most of the winter, or how fantastic it is that this summer we didn’t have to use the neighbor’s outhouse for a month because the well ran dry. Ta-da! Flip the switch and the lights turn on, flush the toilet and away goes the mess.
Where does the magic come from? When I was growing up I had a better sense of where our water came from and where our sewage went, just as I knew who grew a lot of our food. But while many people have become very interested in where their food comes from, most of us still don’t think much about our power and water.
Perhaps that’s because the systems that bring us these things are so monumental, so overwhelmingly vast, that they are just harder to think about. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power draws in electricity from all over the American West. Pylons march towards us from Washington State and Utah — massive metal structures crossing deserts and forests, the first branches in a network made of thousands of miles of wires (link).
The power that flows into our glittering megalopolis must be matched by a steady rush of water from far away, water brought to us through an astonishing assemblage of dams, aqueducts and wells whose construction made history and whose existence has allowed humans to enjoy the charming climate of a place that could never otherwise support them. Angelenos purchase . When that’s turned into wastewater, it becomes the Bureau of Sanitation’s problem and is disposed of through more than 6,500 miles of sewer lines to plants that process of wastewater every day.
It is an amazing endeavor to keep this many people in electricity and water (and out of their own waste) and, of course, it comes at a cost. But this cost is relatively easy to bear, at least from the perspective of someone who grew up in place where that cost included a lot of time and effort and some pretty unpleasant experiences. I know this is not the case for other people, and I’m sure that for some it is because they are so financially strapped, but I think many people who are born and raised in cities just don’t understand how much money and work is required to take care of them.
They seem oblivious to the complex, enormously expensive infrastructure supporting every single thing they do during the course of the day. And given the scope of the systems supporting all of us the bills aren’t that high; my sewer charge for the last two months was $32. My parents – no longer attempting to repair their septic system – put in a brand new one last year. The price tag for them? $25,000.
There are a lot of great things about being a kid in the country, but there are a lot of great things about being an adult in the city. Especially at night, when I look out over Los Angeles and see all those twinkling lights and know that there are millions of people out there going about their business, day and night, never needing to stop — it feels like a place where anything is possible, a place run on light and magic.
But when I stop to think about the miles and miles and miles of pipes and wires and towers that make this happen, and try to imagine the cost and work that must be behind it, I’m reminded that this is an enormous human feat and that there is nothing magic about it at all.
(Cynthia Strathmann is a LAANE research/policy analyst with its Green Buildings, Good Jobs project. She holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from UCLA. This piece was posted first at fryingpannews.com)
Vol 10 Issue 79
Pub: Oct 2, 2012 | <urn:uuid:bced89e8-b902-4ede-8586-febdff6d280b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://citywatchla.com/8box-left/3856-this-magic-city-cynthia-strathmann-perspective-we-all-learn-many-important-lessons-from-our-parents-one-lesson-that-i-learned-from-my-father-was-this-if-you-cut-through-a-pipeline-thats-carrying-raw-sewage-you-should-be-really-really-sure-that-its-n | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973571 | 1,125 | 1.921875 | 2 |
An Overlooked 19th-Century Legend: Harry Stovey
Editor's note: At this year's SABR convention in Long Beach, Harry Stovey was selected by SABR's Nineteenth Century Research Committee as its Overlooked 19th Century Baseball Legend for 2011. The announcement was made during the committee's annual business meeting.
Harry Duffield Stowe was born December 20, 1856 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Stowe (or Stow by other accounts) supposedly changed his name to Stovey so his mother wouldn’t read his name in newspapers since she didn’t like him playing ball. He began his ballplaying career as a pitcher with the Defiance Club of Philadelphia in 1877 before playing with the Philadelphia Athletics later that same year (both teams played in the League Alliance). He spent the next two seasons playing minor league ball for the New Bedford Clam-Eaters under the managing vagabond, Frank Bancroft. Stovey took a liking to New Bedford and a young lady named Mary Walker that he would marry in 1879.
In 1880, Bancroft joined the National League as manager of the Worcester Ruby Legs and took Stovey along with him. Stovey made his major league debut on May 1, 1880, and played with the Worcester club during the rest of its existence through the 1882 season. The Ruby Legs were not a very good team, winning only 36 percent of their games in three NL seasons. Despite playing for poor teams, Stovey developed into one of the most exciting players in the game. Now a first baseman and outfielder, he led the NL in triples (14), home runs (6) and extra-base hits (41), and finished second in runs (76) and total bases (161) as a rookie.
After Worcester disbanded, Stovey joined the Philadelphia-based Athletics of the American Association and became the game’s premier base runner and power hitter. The 26-year-old Stovey led the team to the AA championship in 1883, while leading the league in multiple offensive categories, including runs, home runs, slugging percentage and total bases. According to his obituary in The Sporting News, he single-handedly sealed the championship for the Athletics when he took control of the final game of the season against Louisville when, in the 10th inning, he singled, stole second, went to third on an infield out and scored on a wild pitch thrown by pitcher Guy Hecker.
Stovey, who set the single-season home run record with 14 during that championship season in 1883, was considered the best base-stealer in the game. It is said that he was the first to make feet-first sliding popular and invented sliding pads to protect an often bruised left hip. As a fielder, he was said to have had sure hands and a strong accurate arm with great range. Today, Stovey would be called a five-tool player for his all-around game.
Called “Gentleman Harry” for his clean play, the 5-11, 175-pound star would play with the Athletics through the 1889 season. He ended up being the AA’s career leader with 76 homers and 883 runs scored, while placing in the top ten for games, hits, batting average, slugging and total bases. In 1890, he joined the Boston Reds of the Players League. The Reds went on to win the league championship and Stovey led the one-year major league in stolen bases with 97.
In 1891, he returned to the NL to play for the Boston Beaneaters and Hall of Fame manager Frank Selee. The Beaneaters were NL champs that year and Stovey once again played a key role, leading the league in triples, homers, slugging and total bases. His major league career began to wind down the following season, being released by Boston in June 1892. He signed with the Baltimore Orioles for the remainder of the season and played the 1893 season with the Brooklyn Grooms, appearing in his last major league game on July 29, 1893.
When he retired in 1893, he was the all-time major league leader in home runs with 122 and was third on the list as late as 1920. He finished in the top four in home runs ten times, leading the league in five of those seasons. Stovey’s other offensive numbers include 347 doubles, 174 triples, 908 RBI, more than 500 stolen bases (records are not available for six of his seasons, so he may have stolen up to 800 bases) and 1,492 runs in 1,486 games, including nine seasons of 100 or more runs. Besides home runs, he led the league in more than twenty other offensive categories, including extra-base hits five times, runs scored and triples four times, slugging percentage and total bases three times, stolen bases twice and RBI once.
After his time in the majors, Stovey played briefly in the Pennsylvania State League for Allentown under manager Mike “King” Kelly before becoming player-manager for New Bedford of the New England League. In 1895, he joined the New Bedford police force, becoming captain in 1915. He retired in 1923.
Stovey died at his daughter’s house on September 20, 1937, in New Bedford, Massachusetts, at the age of 80 and is buried in the town’s Oak Grove Cemetery. The man who could do it all has been overlooked by the National Baseball Hall of Fame despite calls for his election from many who are familiar with the history of our national pastime. Perhaps one day, he will get his due and be honored by the game’s ultimate shrine.
This article first appeared in the SABR Nineteenth Century Research Committee's October 2011 newsletter. | <urn:uuid:d3bda46d-c4c5-43ce-8102-f0afd3963b4b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sabr.org/research/overlooked-19th-century-legend-harry-stovey | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984873 | 1,212 | 2.21875 | 2 |
“What is truly radical…is not that God rewards those who help the poor; what is truly radical is that Jesus identifies himself with the poor. The pain of the hungry person is the pain of Christ, and it is thus also the pain of anyone who is a member of the body of Christ. If we are identified with Christ, who identifies himself with the suffering of all, then what is called for is more than just charity. The very distinction between what is mine and what is yours breaks down in the body of Christ. We are not to consider ourselves as absolute owners of our stuff, who then occasionally graciously bestow charity on the less fortunate. In the body of Christ, your pain is my pain, and my stuff is available to be communicated to you in your need… In the consumption of the Eucharist, we cease to be merely ‘the other’ to each other. In the Eucharist, Christ is gift, giver, and recipient; we are simultaneously fed and become food for others.”
–William T. Cavanaugh, Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008), 56. | <urn:uuid:e385dfbd-e190-4c72-acda-b1b614926351> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.inhabitatiodei.com/2008/05/06/true-radicality/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971759 | 240 | 1.96875 | 2 |
"I BECAME an American citizen last year. My husband is also American. My sister in Ireland would dearly love to come to the U.S. She has the equivalent of a high school education, is a hard worker (right now she does clerical work), and would really benefit by coming to live with us here. She is 22. She has been here a few times and always left before her 90 days were up. It annoys me when I see how long it takes siblings to sponsor siblings, yet I don't know of any other options. What can we do for her?"
THERE'S no doubt that the family-based fourth preference categories reserved for siblings of U.S. citizens aged over 21 is impractical.
The category allocates 65,000 green cards on an annual basis, which is not nearly enough to meet demand. It takes roughly 12-15 years for a fourth preference green card to be issued, which means it's impossible to make any kind of immediate plans around the category.
There's a backlog there that's crying out for some serious attention, as are many other areas of U.S. immigration law - matters that will hopefully be tackled by Congress sooner rather than later.
From what you've outlined your sister isn't eligible to be sponsored for permanent residence here. Most of the employment-based green card categories require a university degree at a minimum, except for the "other workers" category that, unfortunately, is oversubscribed just like the family fourth preference.
Perhaps your sister may be eligible for a J visa as part of an exchange program. Or maybe she'd like to continue her education here and apply for a student visa.
You should speak with a qualified immigration professional to explore possible options along those ends. Also, she likely applies for the annual DV-1 diversity visa lottery, and she should continue to do so, even though the odds of success aren't very good. | <urn:uuid:43179671-7a47-4966-865a-a48ea14f05cb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.irishcentral.com/advice/immigration/Sibling-Assistance-2403-41042052.html?mob-ua=mobile | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978628 | 394 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Malaysia has many kinds of restaurants almost everywhere in the cities and towns. There are Malay Restaurants, Chinese restaurants, Indian Restaurants, Thai Restaurants and more. Eating out in Malaysia is a real gastronomic adventure. There is such a great variety; spicy Malay Food, a seemingly endless variety of Chinese food, exotic cuisine from North and South India, as well as Nyonya and Portuguese Food. Popular Malaysian dishes include satay, nasi lemak, rendang, roti canai, murtabak, laksa, chicken rice, and fried noodles. Western cuisine is also easily available. In addition, international fast food chains operate in major towns side by side with thousands of road side stalls and food bazaars. | <urn:uuid:fa7f009c-9db3-4bbf-afb3-36b9295e3db1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.matic.gov.my/en/tourism/about-malaysia/gastronomy.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942102 | 156 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Salvia Divinorum is a perennial herb from Mexico which belongs to the labiate (mint) family. People consume the herb as they are unaware of the side effects of Salvia Divinorum. It is generally consumed for smoking or chewing. The side effect of Salvia Divinorum largely depends on the size of the dose.
Increased insight, better mood and greater empathy along with boosted self confidence are some of the side effects of Salvia Divinorum. It also alters behavior and perception. This can be dangerous as times as the person may injure himself or others by running over things around him. According to the users of Salvia, they experience a pleasant mood followed by weird thoughts. These effects are generally short term in nature.
Some scientists claim that the long term side effects are Salvia Divinorum are quiet harmful for a human body and mind. According to reports and study by William A. Carlezon et al using ‘Forced-Swim tests’, the herb may have ‘Depressive like effects’. According to another research, if Salvia is used for a long frame of time then the herb may have strong physiological effects. However, the herb – Salvia Divinorum has very low potential as an addictive drug.
It is said that there are some short term side effects of Salvia Divinorum on a human body but there is no evidence of long term side effects. The research on this subject has been very limited and thereby the knowledge about the side effects of Salvia Divinorum is also very minimal. | <urn:uuid:62433099-19be-4824-b1ae-ce37abda45c1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://salviamonster.com/wpmu/archives/date/2008/11/page/2 | 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 | 0.958984 | 320 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Another national crisis is floating into view: The United States is running out of helium. Thanks to a 1996 law that has forced the government to sell off its helium reserves at bargain-bin prices, the country’s stockpile of the relatively rare and nonrenewable gas could soon vanish.
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Contact us for help | <urn:uuid:179fe5e1-cc87-442d-9c7f-9a6edd192852> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2012/05/19/dwindling-stockpile-helium-causes-concerns/ugqQQPcqFKjWlbdakkMfkJ/discuss.html?sort=recommendation | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918533 | 106 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Morsi, 60, is a USC-educated engineer who has taught at universities in the U.S. and Egypt and previously served in Egypt’s parliament. Backed by Egypt’s strongest political group, the Muslim Brotherhood candidate has promised a stronger application of Islamic law if elected.
A retired general who served as the last prime minister under Mubarak. Shafiq, 70, has run as a secular candidate with a strong law-and-order message, promising to restore order and stability to Egypt and warning that a victory by Morsi could send Egypt spiraling into religious conflict. Backed by many of Mubarak’s former supporters, Shafiq finished second in the initial round of voting last month.
In the hours before Egyptians head to the polls in a runoff presidential election, the revolutionaries whose movement prompted the vote were in disarray. With no candidate, and following a judicial ruling that dissolved the parliament elected last fall, some revolutionaries conceded Friday their failure to win real reforms has exposed a lack of organization and strategy.
With two days of voting beginning today, they acknowledged their only plan is to stop Ahmed Shafiq, a holdover from the regime of deposed President Hosni Mubarak, from winning the election and taking back the state through the ballot box. Although Shafiq appears to be the front-runner, rebels spent Friday grudgingly urging allies to vote for his rival, Muslim Brotherhood member Mohammed Morsi, hours after some had called on him to withdraw.
“The revolution was hijacked by a military that wanted to carry out a coup. And the Brotherhood is killing the revolution,” said Mohammed Hasan, 21, an education student and member of the April 6 revolutionary group, as he marched to Cairo’s Tahrir Square. “But I have no choice. I must vote for Morsi or die.”
Egypt on Friday in many ways resembled the state before Mubarak stepped down 16 months ago in what was originally called a revolution. Mubarak’s vast, opaque system of government remained intact, still guided by the ruling council of military generals and backed by a Mubarak-created judiciary. The revolutionaries who called for major change were a fractured group, too weak to go head-to-head against that system. Egypt’s most organized political force, the Brotherhood, reached for power even as other anti-regime elements feared what kind of Egypt they might create.
At least two parliament members who ran under the banner of revolution announced they’d support Shafiq, Mubarak’s former prime minister, in what seemed to be a political calculation.
“I was the happiest person when the ruling” dissolved parliament, said one of the lawmakers, Mohammed Abu Hamed. “I saw the way the Brotherhood worked in parliament. The way they pushed their views and opinions was frightening. Shafiq is the most capable of fulfilling the demands of the revolution.”
Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court ruled Thursday one-third of the parliament had been elected illegally during last fall’s elections. State-backed judges said afterward the entire legislative body — composed largely of Muslim Brotherhood members — must be dissolved, leaving the ruling military council as the only political entity that could draft laws and craft a new constitution. | <urn:uuid:52ad304b-ccd7-484f-b0e3-213733fa6c63> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/jun/16/tp-egypts-revolution-in-disarray/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974163 | 668 | 1.648438 | 2 |
[music-dsp] Sound compression patents
meroveus at iprimus.com.au
Tue Oct 21 22:59:00 EDT 2003
In theory, algorithms cannot be patented.
</RANT>However, in this crazy f*cked up modern world, the patent offices are
awarding patents for almost anything.
However, I believe there is some distinction between mathematical algorithms
and "nonmathematical" algorithms, in which nonmathematical algorithms can be
More than one person including I, believes that ALL algorithms are
mathematical in nature, and thus are unpatentable.
But try to tell those overpaid fools running the courts that! </RANT>
There are _many_ patents relating to sound compression - it is a veritable
The least of your worries is finding out what they are.
If a company believes you have transgressed one of their patents, they can
tie you up for years with summons and legal expenses, even if you are in the
This is an extremely complex area, thus I believe you should seek the
services of a qualified patent attorney, who specializes in software
I honestly believe the best way to benefit from your discoveries is to use
them and keep their knowledge to yourself.
If you want to make money from them, you will have to tempt a big company
into buying them from you.
More information about the music-dsp | <urn:uuid:2968306d-95d5-4e37-9da0-a41ac7c396b8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://music.columbia.edu/pipermail/music-dsp/2003-October/058193.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929711 | 296 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Comparison between Egyptian viziers and French Dauphins
|Criteria||Egyptian Vizier||Dauphin of France|
|Access to Power||- The vizier was appointed by the Pharaoh,
- - He was not a heir to the throne, or a relative of the Pharaoh
|- The title of Dauphin was automatically conferred to heir of the French throne|
|Blood Line||- Throughout Egyptian history, the viziers were the Pharaoh's most trusted allies and consultants, but were not of Royal blood,
- Royal family members, particularly those who might hold a claim to kingship, could often not be trusted. But viziers where trusted by the Pharaoh to carry out his will without the fear of revolt.
|- Royal blood - The son of the French King|
|Duration of office||- Viziers often held their office according to the will of the Pharaoh
- Sometimes the remained in office during the reign of more then one Pharaoh, particularly within a single Dynasty
- In few occasions they were elevated to Pharaohs, such as Ay, who succeeded Tutankhamen
|- Dauphins held their title until the accession to the throne of France, upon the death of a king.|
- The position became very important in the Middle Kingdom, while Nobility lost it's influence
- In the New Kingdom there were two viziers - one for Upper Egypt and one for Lower Egypt.
- The position lost much importance in the Late Kingdom
|- The first French prince called le Dauphin was Charles 5, upon his father's succession to the throne in 1350
- In 1461, Louis 11 united the Dauphine with France, bringing it permanently as a French province.
- The title was abolished by the Constitution of 1791, which made France a constitutional monarchy
|Responsibilities||- The Egyptian Vizier was a very important position with a full range of powers
- He was the chief minister of Egypt answerable only to the Pharaoh
- They held the fabric of Egypt's administration system together
- At various times, the vizier was also the High Priest
- All government documents used in Egypt had to have the seal of the vizier in order to be considered authentic and binding
- Viziers resolved all domestic territorial disputes, controlled the reservoirs, food supply and supervised industries .
- Overseeing the daily functioning of Pharaoh's palace and the protection of Pharaohs
- Young members of the royal family often served under the vizier to receive training in government affairs.
|- the Dauphin was personally responsible for the rule of the Dauphine province, which was originally a part of the Holy Roman Empire
- The Dauphine frequently suffered from anarchy, since the Dauphins were in many cases minors
|Clothing||- In Egyptian art, viziers are usually depicted wearing a long robe which came up to the armpits. The garment of pure white material symbolized impartiality.||- A Dauphin of France would unite the coat of arms of the Dauphine, which featured Dolphins, with the French fleurs-de-lis.| | <urn:uuid:10dabd80-2a6b-44f7-9ed8-bddb0d4b09d3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aldokkan.com/society/vizier.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971712 | 660 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Anthony Graves Exonerated: Blatant Prosecutorial Misconduct of D.A. Charles Sebesta Sent Innocent Man to Death Row for 18 Years
By: Houston Criminal Lawyer John Floyd and Paralegal Billy Sinclair
A recent Iowa State University study, conducted by sociology professor Matt DeLisi, found that the total cost to society for a single murder in the United States is $17.25 million. Professor DeLisi led a team of five Iowa State graduate students in a study of 654 convicted and incarcerated murderers. This enormous price tag is measured in terms of costs to the victims, the criminal justice system, loss of productivity to both the victim and offender, and estimated costs to society to prevent future violence.
DeLisi’s study, titled Murder by the Numbers: Monetary Costs Imposed By A Sample of Offenders, was published in the February 2010 edition of the Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology. This latest study by Professor DeLisi, and his student colleagues, draws heavily from a 2003 study based on the 654 convicted and incarcerated murder offenders housed in eight states: Texas, Ohio, New Jersey, Florida, Arkansas, Georgia, North Carolina, and Oklahoma. Using these 654 offenders, DeLisi’ latest study concluded that each murder they committed cost $17,252,656 with the most violent offender individually racking “costs greater than $150 million.” The study added:
“That each murder costs more than $17.25 million does not convey the true costs imposed by homicide offenders in the current sample. Since the mean homicide conviction was more than one, the average murderer in these analyses actually imposed costs approaching $24 million. For the offender who murdered nine victims, the total murder-specified costs were $155,457,083!”
But what about the price tag associated with wrongfully convicting an innocent man for multiple murders. The banner headline of the Houston Chronicle(10-28-10) informed its readers thatAnthony Graves, who had been incarcerated 18 years (most of which was spent on death row) for six murders committed in 1992 in Burleson County, was released from jail after District Attorney Bill Parham filed a motion to dismiss all charges against the condemned inmate. The Graves case has a tortured history: Graves’ youngest brother, Author Curry, told the police, and eventually the jury that convicted and condemned Graves to death, that Graves had been at home sleeping on the night of the massacre of Bobbie Davis, her 16-year-old daughter, and four grandchildren, ages 4 to 9.
No physical or forensic evidence linked Graves to the mass murder. The only evidence came from Robert Earl Carter, who was executed in 2000 for his role in the murders and who implicated Graves in them, and inculpatory jailhouse statements jailers reportedly overheard Graves make.
Students from the University of St. Thomas, working with the Innocence Project at the University of Houston, got interested in the case and gradually developed evidence supporting Graves’ longstanding claims of innocence. That new evidence included an affidavit by Carter recanting his sworn trial testimony and saying Graves had nothing to do with the six murders. On the death gurney Carter again vigorously maintained that Graves was innocent and not involved in the murders.
In 2006 the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a new trial in the Graves case. Former Burleson County District Attorney Charles Sebesta, who originally prosecuted the Graves case, was furious at the new trial order. In fact, in 2009 Sebesta took out two full page ads in local newspapers re-stating his case against Graves. This prosecutorial attitude cost Burleson County taxpayers severely: it cost taxpayers nearly $100,000 in 2007 and another $172,000 in 2008 just to prepare for Graves’ retrial.
Faced with these mounting costs and the increasing likelihood that Graves was in fact innocent, DA Parham ordered an in-depth investigation in the case: an investigation led by former Harris County Assistant District Attorney Kelly Siegler who ultimately concluded Graves was innocent.
“After months of investigation and talking to every witness who’s ever been involved in this case, and people who’ve never been talked to before, after looking under every rock we could find,” Special Prosecutor Siegler told the Chronicle, “we found not one piece of credible evidence that links Anthony Graves to the commission of this capital murder. This is not a case where the evidence went south with time or witnesses passed away or we just couldn’t make the case anymore. He’s an innocent man.”
Based on the DeLisi equation, $24 million for each murder, the six murders in the Graves case cost approximately $144 million—and this figure does not include the costs spent between 2006 when a new trial was ordered and 2010 when the case was formally dismissed based on “actual innocence.” The cost to taxpayers will only increase as inevitable civil damages are awarded for the 18 years Graves was wrongfully incarcerated. In a recent blog, we pointed out how a jury in Louisiana awarded a former condemned inmate named John Thompson $24 million for the 18 years he also wrongfully spent on death row. A comparable award in the Graves case could push the total costs in his case to nearly $170,000 million—not to the mention the total costs associated with the real murderer’s case, Robert Earl Carter.
But there are costs associated with a wrongful conviction and a subsequent 18-year incarceration under the ugly specter of death which cannot be measured in monetary terms: the mental and psychological damages done to Graves himself, the suffering endured by his family, and the stigma of a criminal conviction, no matter how wrongful, that will forever haunt Graves’ life. Money cannot compensate for these harms. Anthony Graves will never be a whole person again—ever.
But there is a lesson in this terrible tragedy: our society is willing to expend a great deal of resources and money to hold murderers accountable for their actions, as evidenced by the DeLisi study, but we are not prepared to hold accountable those people responsible for wrongfully convicting innocent people at horrific cost to our society. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2006 ruled that DA Sebesta had illegally withheld favorable evidence which led to Graves’ wrongful conviction. A comprehensive and thorough investigation by DA Parham has since fully and completely, without any factual or legal reservations, exonerated Graves. In fact, the day after Graves’ release Siegler called Sebesta’s conduct in the case the “worst case” prosecutorial misconduct she had ever seen.
But can anything be done to hold former DA Sebesta accountable for his unlawful conduct in the Graves case? Siegler pointed out that the statute of limitations has run on any possible criminal charges against the former district attorney, and, as we have reported, the U.S. Supreme Courthas cloaked him with personal immunity from any civil consequences for his lawless conduct. Thus, in terms of personal liability from either criminal or civil charges, he will most likely walk away scott free, only having to explain why as late as last year he felt so bold as to publicly try to justify his conduct in the case with newspaper ads.
But what about disciplinary action from the State Bar of Texas? That’s not likely. Houston criminal defense attorney Robert Bennett in 2007 filed a complaint against Sebesta with the State Bar only to see it dismissed. And that’s unfortunate. Criminal defense attorneys who violate the interests of their clients are subject to disciplinary action, including disbarment, by the State Bar. Perhaps the State Bar will now investigate Sebesta’s conduct in the Graves case after DA Parham and Special Prosecutor Siegler publicly described his conduct as blatant “prosecutorial misconduct.”
We don’t know. We have no way to gauge the State Bar’s view of this particular case, but based on the Fifth Circuit’s ruling, the exonerating Parham investigation, and the conclusions drawn by Parham and Siegler that Sebesta engaged in prosecutorial misconduct, we certainly feel there are more than adequate grounds for an ethical inquiry. Society and Graves should not be the only ones who bear the costs of justice gone awry in the case.
By: Houston Criminal Defense Attorney John Floyd and Paralegal Billy Sinclair | <urn:uuid:f74178bd-4378-48b3-b5d6-5a8bce95d0fb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/2010/10/the-cost-of-murder-the-price-of-innocence/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963795 | 1,721 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Social work is a professional qualification best suited for those with a keen sense of human services. This academic and professional discipline is devoted to the research, practices and policies to help individuals and communities to cope up with stresses of poverty, racism, sexism, mental illness, psychological disturbance or any other social injustices. A BA in social work online helps students enter this inspiring field, and can be used to enroll for advanced degree programs, too.
Legal studies enable individuals with a strong sense of justice to pursue a career where they can integrate that sense with practicalities of society, culture, politics and citizenship. It is a complex profession and demands hard work. People willing to join this profession must be totally committed with it to enjoy a successful and enriching career. The first step towards this profession starts with a bachelor degree programs in legal studies online; you can also opt for more traditional educational modes, if a conventional setting is what you like.
A professional youth ministry qualification enables individuals to pursue a career where they can integrate their love for youth development with their faith playing a crucial role in it. These individuals study religion in the framework of how it can help youth counter day to day issues that they come across to in their daily lives. To provide a solid setting, a ground work for character development, and an ability to handle issues more maturely are few of the objectives of a youth ministry degree. If any of it excites you enough to make it a lifelong career, a BA in youth ministry online can be your first step towards that worthy goal.
Online bachelor’s degree offers you a bachelor in the desired industry with a special mixture of you own selection, scheduling flexibleness and affordability for both full-time college students and working adults. Earning an online bachelor’s higher education degree opens up the door to exciting profession opportunities, and presents you an option to receiving a Masters higher education degree, MBA or Doctoral degree through the positive aspects of distance learning. | <urn:uuid:53823c2d-1b34-455b-a864-4ceabf30e02a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nhpw.com/tag/bachelors/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936543 | 397 | 2.078125 | 2 |
The Sun may not realise it, but when it described Aston Villa as a team which 'refused to give up the ghost', it was using a phrase from King James Bible. Likewise the Daily Mirror and its description of the actress Tilda Swinton as 'a law unto herself'.
These days most of us do not read the Bible on a regular basis, and a 2009 survey found that only a little over a third of the population knew the parable of the prodigal son. In past times, however, people of all ages and socio-economic groups read the Bible regularly - or at least heard it in church, so absorbed the language of it.
An article on the BBC website looks at the language of the King James Bible and how it has influenced modern English. It says that the Bible is more or less a literal translation, so the Hebrew expressions are translated word for word, giving us the vivid idioms that we wouldn't expect in English, such as 'by the skin of one's teeth' and 'the land of the living'.
David Crystal found 257 expressions in the King James Bible that are used in modern English, and only a small minority of those expressions made their debut in the Bible, most having been copied from earlier translators. Crystal also found that there are relatively few coined words in the Bible -- two examples are battering ram and backsliding.
For the full article see here. | <urn:uuid:fed5fc72-a292-4590-9e45-91fbf3e991a6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://virtuallinguist.typepad.com/the_virtual_linguist/2011/01/impact-of-king-james-bible.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959691 | 289 | 2.484375 | 2 |
Between Days is a short film by Nizar Pasalic:
After leaving their home in Bosnia because of the Yugoslavian war in the beginning of the 90’s, Abdulah Kadenic and his wife Sehaveta ended up in Norway. They lived there for 12 years until Sehavata got ill. Due to not understanding the language very well and because they never really felt at home in Norway they decided to move back to Bosnia. Abdulah now lives in Sarajevo while Sehaveta stays at a nursing home 90 kilometers from there in the city of Travnik. Every week he visits her.
After his visit to Sehaveta, Abdulah writes his diary, and looks at the photos he has of him and his wife, their children and grandchildren. He says:
“When I am all alone and by myself. In my apartment. I look at the pictures of my children and grandchildren. Happily, I talk to them. And I tell myself that life is filled with something beautiful. But everything is connected to my wife, who is not here with me. The one who reminds me of all the beautiful things in life. Love, children and grandchildren.” | <urn:uuid:7a9c9690-246e-41d8-94ae-f80b1707f8f9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sharpieal.com/post/15944325800/betweendays | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00076-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984285 | 247 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Roger David Kornberg
Kornberg, Roger David, 1947–, American biochemist, b. St. Louis, Mo., Ph.D. Stanford, 1972; son of Arthur Kornberg. Kornberg held academic posts at Cambridge (1972–76) and Harvard (1976–78) before he became a professor at the Stanford School of Medicine in 1978. Kornberg was awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his studies of the molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription. He described the process of transcription, which transfers genetic information from DNA to messenger RNA and makes it available for use by the body, and created crystallographic pictures that showed the process in detail. Problems in the transcription process are at the root of many illnesses including cancer, heart disease, and various inflammatory disorders.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Biochemistry: Biographies | <urn:uuid:ed581be8-4710-4dbb-819d-51dd9f28c1ee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.factmonster.com/encyclopedia/people/kornberg-roger-david.html | 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 | 0.904957 | 198 | 2.5 | 2 |
Product Registration Classifications
A pesticide that when applied in accordance with its directions for use, warnings and cautions, and for the uses for which it is registered, or for one or more such uses or in accordance with a widespread and commonly recognized practice, will not generally cause unreasonable adverse effects to humans or the environment.
A pesticide that when applied in accordance with its directions for use, warnings and cautions, and for the uses for which it is registered, or for one or more such uses or in accordance with a widespread and commonly recognized practice, may generally cause, without additional regulatory restrictions, unreasonable adverse effects on the environment. Such designations may be made by the U.S. EPA or the Massachusetts Pesticide Board Subcommittee.
A pesticide product that is classified for Restricted Use can be sold only by a Licensed Dealers to Certified Applicators because of the inherent hazards posed by the pesticide to humans and/or the environment.
State Limited Use
A pesticide product or particular use of a pesticide product for which the Massachusetts Pesticide Board Subcommittee has determined the following:
- That the product or particular use of the product is restricted to certain individuals; and
- That such product or uses of the product require written permission from the Department prior to each use; or
- That the Pesticide Board Subcommittee has determined that the product should be restricted in some other manner.
Product Registration Types
A pesticide for which a temporary permit for use is granted for the purpose of testing under specified conditions consistent with and no less stringent than the applicable Federal requirements.
Special Local Needs
A special State registration of a U.S. EPA registered pesticide product that permits specific and limited additional uses within the State and is distributed with approved supplemental labeling to cover such additional uses within the state to meet a specific special local need. | <urn:uuid:2d0948d7-d4ef-4fae-9a7a-a2dbef3d243e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/agr/pesticides/pesticide-product-registration-classifications-and-type.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932241 | 369 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Wednesday 15 May
Rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta)
Rhesus macaque fact file
- Find out more
- Print factsheet
Rhesus macaque description
With an expressive face and active lifestyle, the rhesus macaque is a charismatic species. Its coat is pale brown above and fades on the underside, but the naked face and rump are bright red in adults (2). It has large cheek pouches which it uses to store food when foraging (4). Audebert, who named the rhesus macaque, did so after the Greek King of Thrace, Rhesos, but emphasized that it had no special relevance. Since, the name rhesus has been extended to the hereditary blood antigen ‘Rh-factor’ which was discovered on the red blood cells of rhesus macaques and was also found to be present in humans (5).
- Also known as
- Rhesus monkey.
- Macaque Rhésus.
- Mono Resus.
- Head-body length: 47 – 64 cm (2)
- Tail length: 19 – 30 cm (2)
- Weight of females: 5.4 kg (2)
- Weight of males: 7.7 kg (2)
- The time of ovulation (release of an egg from the ovary) in female mammals, when the female becomes receptive to males, also known as ‘heat’.
- An organism that feeds on both plants and animals.
- IUCN Red List (June, 2009)
- Macdonald, D. (2001) The New Encyclopedia of Mammals. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
- CITES (March, 2005)
- Primate Behaviour (March, 2005)
- Animal Diversity Web (March, 2005)
- The Brain Museum (March, 2005)
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Rhesus macaque biology
This adaptable species is highly promiscuous and both males and females mate with as many members of the opposite sex as possible. They travel in groups of between 8 and 180 individuals, usually with two to four times as many females as males. Breeding takes place whenever the seasons permit, with no defined period in non-seasonal areas. Females undergo a regular oestrus cycle of 26 – 29 days, but unlike many other macaques, the genital region swells and darkens in colour only slightly during the fertile period, and only in younger adult females (5). Gestation lasts around 165 days, and females give birth to a single young or, rarely, twins. The young is fed milk for a year, first clinging to the mother’s belly, but riding on her back when older. After weaning, female juveniles may remain with the same group whereas males often disperse to another. Females become sexually mature between 2.5 and 4 years and males between 4.5 and 7 years. Females who reach ages of more than 25 years go through the menopause, eventually becoming infertile (6).
The rhesus macaque shows dominance hierarchies in both sexes, but more so in males. The status of each individual is inherited from its mother. There may be confrontations between groups, but these are rare as weaker groups actively avoid stronger groups. Females within groups can be very loud, but rarely fight as they are usually closely related (5). All members of the group practise social grooming for pleasure, health and as a form of submission and appeasement. Appeasement is also shown by the fear grimace in which the lips are retracted to reveal the clenched teeth. Staring with the mouth open signifies threat and putting the tail vertically upwards indicates aggressive confidence. Infants attract their mother’s attention by cooing, and adult females will also coo to attract a male. Males respond by lip-smacking as an invitation to mate (4).
The diet of the rhesus macaque varies by region. They are omnivorous opportunists, feeding mainly on roots, herbs, insects, crop plants and small animals. They are good swimmers and will cross water to find food (5).Top
Rhesus macaque range
Still widespread across southern Asia, the rhesus macaque has nevertheless become locally extinct in some of its former range. It has been introduced into Florida, USA as well as to Cayo Santiago Island near Puerto Rico, and is kept in captivity in large numbers worldwide due to its common use in research (5). This species has even been a participant in space travel (5).Top
Rhesus macaque habitat
The rhesus macaque occupies an enormous range of habitats and climates, ranging from snow-covered mountains through dense forests to semi-desert and urban areas (1).Top
Rhesus macaque statusTop
Rhesus macaque threats
Whilst the rhesus macaque is threatened in the wild, a large captive population is maintained around the world for use in biological, psychological and medicinal research, especially for studies into perception, learning and behaviour. In the wild, the rhesus macaque is a generalist with great adaptability, allowing it to make the most of changes in land use. In India they are known for crop-raiding but their status as sacred animals in the Hindu religion prevents persecution by humans (5). Interspecies breeding is known to occur but appears to have no effect on the offspring’s fertility, as other interspecies crosses usually do (6).Top
Rhesus macaque conservation
Continued research and monitoring of this species’ behaviour, population status and range is necessary to foresee declines as a result of land use change across southern and Southeast Asia (1).Top
Find out more
For further information on this species see Animal Diversity Web:
Authenticated (02/04/05) by Matt Richardson, zoologist and author.Top
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Please contact the copyright owners directly (copyright and contact details are shown for each media item) to negotiate terms and conditions for any use of Material other than those expressly permitted above. Please note that many of the contributors to ARKive are commercial operators and may request a fee for such use.
Save as permitted above, no person or organisation is permitted to incorporate any copyright material from this website into any other work or publication in any format (this includes but is not limited to: websites, Apps, CDs, DVDs, intranets, extranets, signage, digital communications or on printed materials for external or other distribution). Use of the Material for promotional, administrative or for-profit purposes is not permitted. | <urn:uuid:8a2c8c9a-3a6b-4da8-807e-e3261d2c653a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.arkive.org/rhesus-macaque/macaca-mulatta/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912841 | 1,794 | 2.90625 | 3 |
The concept of project windows is derived from the idea of traditional Iranian windows (Orosi). These windows consist of small colourful modules of glass that control the intensity of light penetrating inside and create a colourful light and shadow on the inner surfaces.
As the building is narrow in width in comparison to its height, the whole complex is divided into several parts in width and height to gain a balanced proportion. Therefore an initially gained rectangular module is composing the whole form on the main façade. These modules are conveying functions such as the entrance, office and commercial units. Our next task was to design a texture on this transparent façade and the containing modules based on the concept of expanding geometry; an Iranian architectural concept in which one module becomes a base for the formation of a whole complex.
The Idea of Dynamic Urban façade
Light is a significant variable in the facade design of this building. By using the transparent and semi-transparent textures on the glass facade we were able to create different qualities of light with various reflection and angles in the night and day. The night light was also modified through using the artificial lighting system that is in harmony with the form of the building and magnifies the dynamic urban views.
Through using this modulation system and the facade design we tried to bring an Iranian theme in interior space with the effect of shadows and turquoise reflection of the modules installed on façade. This effect is always being felt even when the semi-transparent blinds are closed.
Exterior Material Combination
The north and south façade of the building contains two transparent layers of material. The first one includes the same size rectangular modules that are installed with small steel rods and includes the main windows. The outer shell is a 30 by 30 glass module that is covered with sky blue colour inspired by Iranian architectural theme. This outer layer not only brings a colourful effect of shadows and lights inside, but also creates a thermal and light shield for the sharp sunlight of the southern façade. The inner layer of the facade in some parts transforms to a semi-transparent layer that is textured by double glazed windows with sand blast modular patterns on inside.
Overall, the main goal of this material combination was to reduce the temperature gained by sunlight about 40%. This climatic need is also modified by using the Sun Energy type of glass windows.
Site is a 13.5 m by 20 m rectangle in total 16 stories. In this project building two underground floors are allocated to mechanical and service rooms. Ground and first floors are dedicated to commercial units and the upper 12 floors are the official units.
The client was eager to have different types of office units with the areas ranged from 50 m2 to 120 m2 .This requirement divides each floor into 2 up to 4 units designed with different areas and facilities but regardless of interior quality of space.
Interior Design Strategy
Natural light in the interiors are absorbed from the main facade windows and series of linear transparent and semi-transparent partitions of glass bricks are installed aligned with the transparent facade windows. This strategy not only creates a unity between the interior and exterior but also transfers the natural light in to the deeper interior spaces. | <urn:uuid:a1f8bf07-3084-4f52-956d-785da49f0249> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.archdaily.com/100758/shahkaram-office-building-hooman-balazadeh/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937916 | 646 | 1.84375 | 2 |
As a young manager I remember the pressure of feeling like I always had to have the answer when employees came to me for advice. As I matured as a manager, I realized that I could have a more lasting impact on staff development by encouraging their input.
Instead of responding with the answer, I learned to ask “What do YOU think we should do?” Then the key was to give them enough time to think about it and respond. After listening to their ideas, I realized that most of the time they really did know what to do. They just needed my approval and support as their manager.
Occasionally their ideas weren’t perfect, and in those instances I would offer more questions to help them think of more appropriate options.
Sometimes the best motivation a manager can give is offering an opportunity for your staff to be heard and then reinforcing their judgment.
This article written by Ruby Newell-Legner, a nationally recognized training expert and a friend of Baudville. Learn more about Ruby at www.RubySpeaks.com. | <urn:uuid:3dd2855d-12d3-4f71-90b0-d202f8201170> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.baudville.com/Manager-Without-All-the-Answers/article-view/144 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983933 | 215 | 1.65625 | 2 |
- Special Sections
- Public Notices
To the editor:
I was dismayed to read about the deplorable conditions of the Oldham County Jail — and, while I think that topic begs the question of how things were let to become so bad in the first place, the bigger question still exists of how to proceed.
The current Oldham County jail has 115 beds, and yet it houses an average of only 30-35 Oldham County inmates.
We cannot fill the existing space to capacity with just the local offenders, so why are we trying to recruit more alleged lawbreakers into our county?
Does Oldham County really want to be in the “inmate” housing business?
The article outlines various options for the jail, including building a new space, with capacity for 250 inmates, and even includes cost estimates over a multi-year period.
What jail capacity are these numbers based on?
There is nothing in writing, no official commitment from the feds or any other agency that guarantees any minimum number of inmates — the paltry $38-a-day fee paid to Oldham County per federal inmate could go away at any time.
Can we really pin our financial hopes on nothing more than a gentleman’s agreement?
We need to either renovate the current space, which is obviously long overdue and a much less costly scenario for taxpayers, or we need to investigate the cost of hiring a private firm to handle county inmates.
It’s a very risky prospect to go with the “Field of Dreams” philosophy — that if we build it, they will come.
If the feds and other counties don’t end up bringing in inmates to fill the new jail to capacity, taxpayers are left responsible for the cost of powering and staffing a half-full building.
Mayor, Pewee Valley | <urn:uuid:19da1cc2-7a28-42b7-b13e-fe123181e3ac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oldhamera.com/content/letter-%E2%80%98gentlemen%E2%80%99s-agreement%E2%80%99-shouldn%E2%80%99t-decide-county-jail%E2%80%99s-future?mini=calendar-date%2F2012-12 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934374 | 378 | 1.53125 | 2 |
The Manti Te'o girlfriend hoax is all over the news. And for good reason, being one of the most bizarre sports stories ever.
But is lying about an imaginary girlfriend named Lennay Kekua (which is what many believe Te'o did) or falling for a hoax (which is what Notre Dame supporters believe) a crime?
To add another crazy layer to this crazy story, some laws may actually have been broken -- depending on whose side of the story you believe, that is.
Here are two possible explanations to the Manti Te'o girlfriend hoax story:
Explanation No. 1: Te'o is an innocent victim and basically admits being a sap for the past three years. He claimed he met this girl following a Stanford football game and then exchanged numbers with her. They maintained their relationship over social media and somehow the girl stopped really existing and became a hoax (this is where the story becomes hard to follow). The girl (or whoever it was) then duped Te'o for several more years before supposedly dying a day after his grandmother died.
Explanation No. 2: Te'o was a glory hound and was simply seeking attention. So he allegedly invented the story to raise his profile. And kept going with it and going with it.
There is a third possible explanation to this story too (arguably the most believable). But you'll have to go to gossipy websites like HyperVocal to read about it.
So where does this story possibly cross the line into unlawful activity? Let's go back to Explanation No. 1.
In some states like California, it is illegal to impersonate another online. However, even with this new law, it's debatable whether impersonating a made-up person qualifies as impersonating "another." The law is meant to protect the party being impersonated. And in this case, since Manti Te'o's girlfriend does not exist, there is technically no "person" being impersonated.
Manti Te'o likely just wants to bury this story, so the potential legal angle is one that will probably never see the light of day. According to Notre Dame's statement, posted on Facebook, "the proper authorities will continue to investigate this troubling matter."
- Manti Te'o's Dead Girlfriend, The Most Heartbreaking And Inspirational Story Of The College Football Season, Is A Hoax (Deadspin)
- Lance Armstrong Gears Up for Oprah Confession, Legal Obstacles (FindLaw's Tarnished Twenty)
- Oakland Raider Rolando McClain Arrested Over Profane Signature (FindLaw's Tarnished Twenty) | <urn:uuid:7e050583-3d82-456e-86d2-e2e4c4c839de> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.findlaw.com/tarnished_twenty/2013/01/manti-teo-girlfriend-hoax-bizarre-but-is-it-illegal.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948651 | 545 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Life without Life Insurance
What if you were no longer here to provide for your family and loved ones? What if you couldn't watch your children grow, graduate from college, and begin their own families? What if your spouse couldn't afford the home, car, college tuition, or unanticipated medical expenses, all because you hadn't planned for the unexpected? Life is full of "what ifs," and we don't always have the answers to every question. That's why it's important to put a plan in place that will protect your family if you're not here. Life insurance can be an essential part of that plan.
How much do you need?
Life insurance can provide financial resources at your death for your family or business, or for charities and other interests. The amount of life insurance you need depends on a number of factors, including the size of your family, the nature of your financial obligations, your career stage, and your goals. The answers to these questions may help you determine how much life insurance you should consider:
- What immediate financial expenses (e.g., debt repayment, funeral expenses) would your family face upon your death?
- How much of your salary is devoted to current expenses and future needs?
- How long would your dependents need support if you were to die tomorrow?
- How much money would you want to leave for special situations, such as funding your children's education or gifts to charities?
- What other assets, including existing life insurance, do you have?
What if your spouse dies first?
If you're the primary breadwinner in your marriage, it's easy to overlook the financial and emotional strain your family will face if your spouse should die before you. Your income might be diminished if you have to work less in order to spend more time with your children. Or, you may have to work longer hours to cover unanticipated expenses for daycare, house cleaning, meals, etc. To your young children, losing one parent may seem like losing both. If your spouse should die before you, insurance on his or her life can offer financial security for your family, allowing you to spend more time providing emotional support for your children.
Even if you're single
Just because you're single doesn't mean you don't need life insurance. If you died tomorrow, what financial obligations would remain? Do your parents or other relatives depend on you for support? Do you want to leave something to people close to you such as siblings, other relatives, or close friends? How will you provide for your favorite charities? Do you have pets that will need care in your absence? Life insurance is an important part of any financial plan, even if you're not married.
Don't let hard times be an excuse to cancel your insurance
During tough economic times, you might be tempted to stop paying your life insurance premium. However, a recent study reveals that 4 in 10 households with children under age 18 would have trouble meeting their everyday living expenses if the primary breadwinner died. Yet 30% of U.S. households have no life insurance, and of those that do, over half (58 million) say they need more life insurance (Life Insurance and Market Research Association 2010 Trends in Life Insurance Ownership). Cancelling your life insurance to save a few dollars when money is tight may jeopardize your family's financial future.
Review your plan
Whether you have life insurance through your employer or purchased privately, have you reviewed your coverage recently, especially in relation to your current circumstances? Do you have enough coverage to meet your changing needs and goals? If you change jobs, can you take your insurance with you? Lives change over time and your financial needs may change as well. Review your present coverage with your insurance professional to ensure it's keeping up with your changing financial needs and goals. | <urn:uuid:ab85fb1b-12ea-423d-ba4d-b16dc85e5985> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.360financialliteracy.org/Topics/Insurance/Life-Insurance/Life-without-Life-Insurance?fpath=99 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973273 | 777 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Invited by David Chipperfield, director of the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale, FAT has contributed an exhibition to the Arsenale titled The Museum of Copying. Responding to the curator’s theme of “Common Ground”, The Museum of Copying explores the idea of the copy in architecture as an important, positive and often surreal phenomenon. The exhibit will be centered around FAT’s installation, “The Villa Rotunda Redux” – a five meter high facsimile of Palladio’s Villa Rotunda that explores the Villa as both a subject and object of architectural copying.
Sam Jacob, a director of FAT said: “There is a history of copies of the Villa Rotunda that have been important staging posts for architectural culture. We hope to extend this history and explore how copying something is, strangely, a way of inventing new forms of architecture. It also seems sweet to return a bastardised form of the Villa to its original home in the Venito.”
Alongside this, the London-based practice will also present San Rocco’s “The Book of Copies”, an investigative look into four architectural doppelgängers (remember this fake Austrian village in China?) , and Ines Weizman’s “Repeat Yourself”. Continue after the break to learn more.
The Museum of Copying / FAT
Text provided by FAT
For some time FAT has been interested in the idea of the copy in architecture. The copy is a foundation of architectural culture, evidenced for example by the influence of the Grand Tour on the creation of the English Baroque. Copying are repetition is also embedded in the way architecture is produced, in modularity of components and the keystrokes of digital drawing. Yet the copy also threatens fundamental disciplinary concerns of originality, authorship and authenticity. It’s the schizophrenic nature of the copy as the discipline’s perfect and evil twin at once fundamental to architecture and its nemesis that fascinates us.
Titled The Museum of Copying, our project presents a series of projects that investigate the complicated relationship between architecture and copying.
Centrally placed in the Arsenale is FATs large scale facsimile of Palladio’s Villa Rotunda titled “Villa Rotunda Redux”. The Villa Rotunda is perhaps the Ur example of the architectural copy. It is a building composed out of copies – an assemblage of temple and Pantheon, arranged to produce a radically new architectural typology. It has been the subject of multiple exercises in replication across time and space, from Chiswick House (London), through Monticello (Charlottesville) to contemporary examples including Beit Falasteen in the Palestinian Territories. As both subject and object, the Villa Rotunda presents us with an unfolding narrative of architectural copying. On the occasion of the Venice Biennale, we feel it appropriate to return a version of the Rotunda back to Venice in a state resonant with the condition of the copy that Palladio helped to propagate.
The facsimile is fabricated by a process that places reproduction and repetition at its core. A quarter section of the Villa was produced by CNCing a large scale mould. From this, a cast was taken by spraying into the mould with polyurethane foam. The cast and mould are arranged as an installation, displaying the process of fabrication as well as the qualities of positive and negative, of interior and exterior and the abstractions and fidelities of the original Villa, set one against the other.
Alongside this, FAT have curated four parallel projects. Architectural Doppelgängers explores examples of buildings that might otherwise be described as copies, fakes or replicas. Here, the original and double are presented side by side and the unusual stories that motivate the copy are drawn out.
Ines Weizman explores the relationship of copyright to architecture in “Repeat Yourself”: Loos, Law and the Culture of the Copy. As Loos’ copyright passed into public domain 75 years after his death. Weizman recalls his architectural imperative to “repeat yourself”. The installation examines the place of copyright in architecture by proposing the construction of a facsimile of Loos’ unbuilt House Baker (1928) together with a reconstruction of the legal disputes around the ownership of Loos’ archive and work.
Italian group, San Rocco present The Book of Copies that addresses the idea of influence and recalls 18th century pattern books. The project comprises a library of volumes prepared by invited architects each of whom have assembled photocopies relating to a thematic building typology laid out as loose leaf fiches. Readers assemble their own version of the Book of Copies by selecting pages from this library and photocopying these photocopies.
FAT’s Museum of Copying explores the idea of the copy in relation to the Biennale theme of Common Ground, arguing that copying is a force that creates common architectural language and is simultaneously the site within which radical reinvention occurs. | <urn:uuid:4faccc38-fc2e-4e3b-9923-291c8a5918e6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.archdaily.com/266893/venice-biennale-2012-fat-presents-the-museum-of-copying/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934387 | 1,059 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Peaches are a delicious, versatile stone fruit that are in season (depending on US location) anywhere from May to September- that means these are the times that you can find them selling in the grocery stores for the best prices Whether you are buying peaches at a Farmer’s market or a grocery, here are a few tips that will help you pick out the perfect peach!
- Pick peaches with a little “give” when you gently press on them.
- Smell them! Ripened peaches will have a strong, sweet “peachy” smell to them.
- A green or mostly yellow color means the peach is not yet ripe. Look for a reddish-blush color.
- 2 lbs peaches (approx 8 peaches)
- 2¼ C sugar
- 5¼ C water
- 1 packet Fruit Fresh (fruit protector)
- Wash can lids and rims in hot soapy water
- Place jars (without lids and rims) in a pot of boiling water (fully submerged)
- Turn off heat and let jars sit for 10 minutes. In the meantime, boil a separate pot of water and prepare the peaches
- Wash peaches with skin on
- Dip peaches in boiling water for 30 seconds, then remove and drop them into ice water (this will loosen the skin)
- Remove skins (should peel easily)
- Cut peaches in half and remove pits. Scrape away red fibers around the pit
- Place peaches in prepared fruit protector (according to package directions)
- Combine sugar and water in saucepan and bring to a boil until sugar dissolves
- Keep syrup hot (not boiling) and pack peach halves, cut-side down, into hot jars (approx 4 peaches per pint-sized jar).
- Pour syrup into jars (push down on peaches with a spoon to get rid of air pockets)
- Wipe jar rims and threads of any syrup with clean rag
- Place lids and rims on jars
- Place jars back in the original pot of hot water. Cover and bring water back to a boil
- Boil jars for 25 minutes
- Remove jars and place on a dish towel on the counter (do not allow jars to touch)
- Cool over night and test the lids in the morning (if seal does not stay down when pressed, place jar in refrigerator and eat within a few days)
If you are freezing your fresh peaches instead, follow these simple steps:
- Remove the skin from the peaches as explained above
- Slice peaches in half and remove the pit
- Squeeze a whole lemon on the peaches, over a strainer to avoid adding lemon seeds and pulp
- Add 1 cup of sugar to each 4 cups of peaches, stir to combine
- Place peaches in freezer bags
- Press air out of bags and seal them
- Lie bags flat in a freezer
If you would prefer to not have the added sugar, you can use a little bit of fruit juice (like white grape juice or even peach juice) to fill in the air. Just keep in mind that unless you vacuum seal your peaches, they likely will not last quite as long as the ones prepared with a sugar solution.
These peaches are delicious by themselves, on the grill, or substituted for store-bought canned peaches in dessert recipes such as these:
- Peach Cobbler (recipe from Lynn’s Kitchen Adventures)
- Stuffed French Toast Casserole with Fruit (recipe from Balancing Beauty and Bedlam)
- Miniature Peach Crisps (recipe from Willow Bird Baking)
Do you have any favorite peach recipe? Please share!
|Tabitha is a registered nurse, wife, and frugal mother of 2 young boys in Suburban Chicago. With picky eaters at home, she has made it a hobby to experiment with new ways to incorporate healthy foods into her family’s diet. She has learned most of her fruit and veggie secrets from her mother, grandmother, and…her husband!| | <urn:uuid:8ea667d4-9409-473b-8d25-a4b2c1298f45> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.survivingthestores.com/how-to-can-and-freeze-peaches.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923582 | 862 | 1.859375 | 2 |
Han Young - A Catastrophe Waiting to Happen
by David Bacon
TIJUANA (3/2/98) -- Garrett Brown calls the working conditions at Han Young "a catastrophe waiting to happen."
He should know. In his day job, Brown is a health and safety inspector for the California Occupational Health and Safety Administration.
For the last four years, in his private life, this soft-spoken industrial hygienist has traveled the border, from Tijuana to Brownsville, holding classes for Mexican workers, teaching them how to recognize health and safety dangers at work. In the wake of highly-publicized exposures of bad working conditions in the border plants, other health and safety activists have joined him to form the Maquiladora Health and Safety Support Network.
As industrial turmoil boiled over at Han Young last fall, Brown began surveying conditions in the plant, through interviews with dozens of its workers. That survey became the basis of the first health-and-safety complaint under NAFTA's labor side agreement. All the previous NAO complaints alleged that Mexico was not enforcing its laws protecting workers' rights to form unions. The Han Young complaint says it doesn't enforce health and safety laws either.
That could become a very expensive failure. While there is essentially no punishment for governments which don't protect union rights, there is one, at least on the books, for failing to enforce workplace safety. The potential fine is the equivalent of .007% of the value of Mexico's trade with the U.S., or about $50 million.
When two dozen workers testified in San Diego in February in support of the complaint, they opened a window, illuminating a scene of horrifying and grotesque working conditions in the maquiladoras.
Han Young plant manager Pablo Kang says that "a lot of liars" testified in San Diego. He pointed to the corner store near the plant, saying that "even they've been robbed once or twice. So every company has its own set of problems."
At the hearing, the company showed off a table piled high with health and safety equipment they said was used in the factory. Brown says it all looked new, as though it had never been used.
While the conditions workers describe paint a terrible picture, they're not illegal under NAFTA. What made the complaint possible was that the plant had been inspected eleven times in five years. Each time, inspectors from the federal government's Secretariat for Labor and Social Benefits (STPS) compiled long lists of illegal conditions. In July, for instance, just weeks after workers struck two days to win an independent union, an inspection detailed 44 illegal conditions. Han Young was given 20 days to remedy 22 of them.
STPS waited until September to send inspectors back in. They found that most of the conditions hadn't been fixed at all.
The company got more time.
Although workers had won a company health and safety committee, mandated by Mexican law, in the June strike, by October its three members had been fired.
No one came back from STPS to check at all until workers struck again in January, after the crane incident. Once again, inspectors found that the company had failed to remedy the most serious conditions, many of which they were cited for back in June. They included the lack of ventilation, leaking roofs, poor maintenence on the cranes, a malfunctioning crane, and no written health and safety program, among many others.
Mexican law requires fines for almost all of these conditions, especially for repeat violations. No fine was ever assessed against Han Young until the day after the San Diego hearing, when the Secretary of the STPS fined the company $9,000.
"It's clear that the inspectors tried to document the violations," Brown says. "But the government failed to actually enforce the law and protect the health and safety of Mexican workers."
Brown believes that efforts by the Mexican government to encourage foreign investment, and maintain an economic austerity policy to please the International Monetary Fund, "undermine its political will to enforce regulations against transnational corporations generating hard currency desperately needed to pay off foreign bankers."
In his travels along the border, workers have described the same conditions over and over again. "There are 3800 maquiladoras in Mexico, employing a million workers," he says. "Han Young is far from being an exception."
PEACE & JUSTICE
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Special Project: TRANSNATIONAL WORKING COMMUNITIES
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photographs and stories by David Bacon © 1990-1999
website by DigIt Designs © 1999 | <urn:uuid:848798ab-7208-4201-89d7-ea18d3b0c4c2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dbacon.igc.org/Mexico/05HanYng.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968407 | 971 | 1.539063 | 2 |
A lot of girls tell me their goal is to lose weight.
The thing is, I assume most of you girls want to lose FAT, not just weight in general. Losing weight in general would mean also losing muscle. The reason I think you wouldn’t want to do that, is because if you lose muscle, you will wind up ‘skinny fat’ with little to no ‘tone’ and slow your metabolism so that it becomes FAR more likely you will gain back the weight PLUS more.
If you have ever met someone who has yo-yo dieted I’m sure they can vouch for this. Sure the weight comes off fast at first, but the reason for that is because these crash/yoyo/fad/starvation type diets cause a significant loss of water and muscle weight. Then once normal eating is resumed (as it is difficult to stay on those types of diets for a lifetime), the weight comes back.
Less muscle = slower metabolism = less calories burned in a day
More muscle = faster metabolism = more calories burned just by being ALIVE
If you want to lose FAT, not just WEIGHT, the foods you choose are crucial. You can’t just eat chips and candy all day or you will just lose WEIGHT. Your body does not give up it’s fat stores so easily as they are your body’s safety blanket against starvation. You have to, in essence, TRICK your body into giving up the fat by feeding it the RIGHT foods. If you have noticed yourself losing weight, but that you are not ‘toning up’ this is probably partially the reason. These foods include lean proteins, complex carbs and healthy fats.
Try to get a serving of lean protein at every meal. Complex carbs digest slowly, keeping insulin stable and giving you energy over a longer period of time. Healthy fats help you LOSE fat. Check out the grocery list and meal plan on my page for an example of these foods!
In addition to clean eating, it’s crucial that you start weight training if you haven’t already. Running will not make you ‘toned’, weight training WILL. And I’m not talking the baby beauty bells… I’m talking real weight that challenges you! =) | <urn:uuid:5e6159f9-2b4c-4fe4-b317-b84659eeb451> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://seecrystalrun.tumblr.com/tagged/fat | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954875 | 481 | 1.851563 | 2 |
The Connectivity Analysis Toolkit is a software interface that provides conservation planners with newly-developed tools for both linkage mapping and landscape-level ‘centrality’ analysis. Centrality refers to a group of landscape metrics that rank the importance of sites as gatekeepers for flow across a landscape network. The Toolkit allows users to develop and compare three contrasting centrality metrics based on input data representing habitat suitability or permeability, in order to determine which areas, across the landscape as a whole, would be priorities for conservation measures that might facilitate connectivity and dispersal. The Toolkit also allows application of these approaches to the more common question of mapping the best habitat linkages between a source and a target patch. The software is freely available at www.connectivitytools.org (a link is also posted on this blog site). A detailed manual included in the download gives more background on the methods, and may also be useful to those who are not GIS modelers but are interested in conservation planning. Although this blog has a purposely limited audience, we plan to make the software broadly available, so please feel free to distribute this information and the location of the download website to anyone who may be interested.
The Conservation Science Blog is intended to bring new and relevant research to the attention of conservation scientists, and facilitate discussion on how to apply this science to further conservation goals in western North America. | <urn:uuid:3d4f3c11-70e0-47af-a582-5833315052f5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.klamathconservation.org/science_blog/conservation?date=201008 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921325 | 280 | 2.46875 | 2 |
West Midlands Police treats all instances of rape and sexual assault very seriously.
Sexual assault and sexual abuse are serious crimes. It is important that you report your assault to us so that we can find who is responsible for attacking you and help prevent someone else from being attacked. If you know the person we want to ensure they are held responsible for their actions.
If you or someone you know has been raped, sexually assaulted or sexually abused, then you will find the information in this section very helpful. It explains what the police and others will do to help you.
Specially trained officers (STO) will deal with all cases in a discreet and professional manner. We take every report of rape and sexual assault seriously, and will investigate each instance thoroughly.
Everybody who reports a sexual assault to the police will be taken to a Rowan Centre, where they will be able to talk to the police in a comfortable environment, receive medical treatment, support from Independent Sexual Violence Advisors, and will be offered advice around the support available.
If you or anybody you know has been raped or sexually assaulted, please contact West Midlands Police on 101 to receive help and support. In an emergency always contact 999.
For further information please visit West Midlands Police website. | <urn:uuid:6805ef5e-63fb-458b-9ec9-fdf75eb48616> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.west-midlands.police.uk/saferstudents/sexual-assault.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958147 | 253 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Parliamentary committees may invite ministers to provide testimony or answer questions. Outright refusal to answer such a request occurs only rarely. In such instances of refusal, the parliament can exert moral pressure, and the relationship between the minister refusing an invitation and parliament might suffer. Ministers will usually accept invitations to avoid this. Nevertheless, ministers often do not answer the questions in a forthright manner, as parliamentarians might wish. If a minister happens to be abroad at the time he or she is invited to appear, a substitute might appear instead. In the Netherlands, parliamentarians have every week the opportunity to summon ministers and pose a seemingly unlimited number of questions. In the period under investigation, the government has been confronted with an increasing number of motions to appear before parliament or respond to questions. For instance, the number of motions submitted by parliament members increased from 1,968 in 2007 to 2,543 in 2008. And the number of written questions increased from 2,671 in 2007 to 3,002 in 2008. Strikingly, the parliament member who raised the most questions was the leader of the one-issue party for animal rights. | <urn:uuid:7fe3cff8-765c-4435-b092-2f3fa921cd7a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sgi-network.org/index.php?page=indicator_quali&indicator=M11_3&pointer=CZE | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953034 | 227 | 2.078125 | 2 |
The expansion and development of the industrial park, which will bring revenue and jobs to the city, will also increase the water demand. The Amtex expansion, announced in August, is expected to be complete in March 2013.
The increased demand necessitated the larger water pipes in order to improve water pressure and capacity for customers in southeastern Jasper, according to Joe Matthews, Jasper’s Public Works Director. This will also ensure that residential and business customers in the area will not experience a service letdown.
Matthews expects the new, 15-inch water lines to be in place in a few weeks.
A second project will add a new water tank in that area. The water tank will be funded, in part, by a Community Development Block Grant.
That project has not yet begun, and will take a few months to complete once started. Matthews said that customers along Old Birmingham Highway and Whitehouse Road will see improved water service once both the projects are complete.
Matthews said that drivers in the area should not be impacted or impeded by the construction, since the crews are boring holes on the side that will travel under the road, rather than digging up or removing portions of the road. | <urn:uuid:a80f8ae8-86a4-4d00-90dd-652d9957a759> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mountaineagle.com/view/full_story/21268709/article-Work-to-improve-water-lines-under-way | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952017 | 243 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Intense and warming, this indulgent lager is brewed with over a half-pound of malt in each bottle, almost enough for a loaf of bread. Brewed by monks since the 13th century, double bocks are one of the original “big beers”. The bold malts create a deep mahogany color, rich caramel sweetness and smooth body that’s balanced by the subtle citrus of German Noble hops.
Every Craft Beer
Has a Story
Double Bock was our first “big beer” and still remains a favorite. Its rich, smooth flavor comes from the enormous amount of malt we use. Brewed with over a half a pound of malt per bottle, almost as much as a loaf of bread, the malt creates a deep mahogany color and velvety smooth flavor. Its intense malt character is balanced by the subtle citrus of the German Noble hops.
Double Bock is brewed using only the “first wort” (wort that has not been sparged in the lauter tun) to obtain a liquid that is very high in gravity. This high gravity allows for a fuller body and higher alcohol content in the final beer. We age this beer for over four weeks to allow all of those intense flavors to develop and mature.
The history surrounding Double Bocks is almost as rich and intriguing as the beers themselves. Bock is the German word for "billy goat" but the lore behind the animal and the beer has many variations. Brewed by monks since the 13th century, these rich lagers are still some of the biggest and most sophisticated beers around. Monks brewed these strong beers because they were full of nutrients and provided sustenance during fasting. Thus, these beers became closely associated with the holidays, from Christmas to Lent and Easter. | <urn:uuid:0985c2c8-75a9-47bf-8282-2e9e400d910d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.samueladams.com/craft-beers/double-bock | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967967 | 372 | 2.1875 | 2 |
Fort Bragg knows well the cost of war.
All told, 202 troops from the Army post near Fayetteville, N.C., were killed while serving in Iraq, and at least another 200 died in Afghanistan. Tens of thousands of forces stationed at Fort Bragg have served in the two conflicts.
On Wednesday, President Obama and wife Michelle will appear at the post to thank American troops for their service in Iraq as the United States prepares to withdraw all forces from the country by the end of the month. The president is scheduled to deliver remarks at 11:55 a.m. at the 440th Structural Maintenance Hangar.
Though the end of the war meets a timeline that was negotiated by Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush, the White House has portrayed the milestone as a promise kept by the president as he begins to ramp up his 2012 reelection effort.
On March 19, 2008 — the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war — then-Senator Obama (D-Ill.) traveled to Fayetteville to give a campaign speech promising to end the conflict.
“The war in Iraq has done more to embolden America’s enemies than any strategic choice that we have made in decades,” Obama said then. “I will offer a clean break from the failed policies and politics of the past.”
Yet Obama has been criticized by his political opponents for his decision to remove the troops, which came after he and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki failed to come to an agreement on a pact to leave some U.S. forces in the country for training and security.
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination, suggested in October that pulling out U.S. forces would increase the likelihood of chaos engulfing the fledgling government.
Obama’s “astonishing failure to secure an orderly transition in Iraq has unnecessarily put at risk the victories that were won through the blood and sacrifice of thousands of American men and women,” Romney said.
Obama’s appearance Wednesday will cap several days of Iraq-related events for the president, who played host to Maliki on Monday at the White House. The two discussed their agenda for postwar cooperation, which Obama said includes “military-to-military ties that are no different from the ties that we have with countries throughout the region and around the world.”
On Tuesday, the president granted a series of interviews to local television stations in cities and towns with large military bases — Norfolk, Pensacola, Fla., Colorado Springs and Seattle — to talk about the end of the war.
In an interview with David Alan, an anchor with WVEC Ch. 13, an ABC affiliate, Obama was asked how the Iraq war changed him.
Referring to his visits to wounded troops at Bethesda Naval Hospital and Walter Reed Medical Center, Obama said “it’s the most sobering aspect of being president.”
But, he added, “it’s also the one thing that gives you the most pride. These young men and women make such extraordinary sacrifices, such dedication, with so much skill and so much determination. It just reminds you they’re the best we have to offer.”
At Fort Bragg, Obama is expected also to talk about the transition out of the military for tens of thousands of troops over the coming year and the need to help them find jobs.
The unemployment rate for military veterans is higher than the overall rate, and the Obama administration has made veteran hiring a key element of its jobs plan. The only piece of Obama’s $450 billion American Jobs Act that Congress has approved was a tax cut for businesses which hire veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.
“We have an obligation, here back home, to make sure that when they come home, they’re getting the support that they need,” Obama said in the WVEC interview. | <urn:uuid:f065f64c-44f0-47c3-a26d-4008c399c844> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/44/post/obamas-fort-bragg-speech-will-mark-end-of-iraq-war-and-thank-troops/2011/12/13/gIQAHtrctO_blog.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974499 | 812 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Asbestos is one of the materials that can cause a lot of health problems. There are many people who live in houses that have this material as the roof. In spite of the health problems that are associated with the asbestos, many people still use this as a main source of their protection or as a roof. The reason for the high usage of this material is that the material is cheaper than many other building materials. The asbestos is also much more durable than the other things that are used for the buildings.
The health problems that are caused by asbestos may vary and the most common health problems that can be seen is the breathing difficulty. The asbestos that is produced can cause the problem in the industries that are producing the sheets of asbestos. On the other hand there are also people who live in the houses with asbestos as roof, who are affected. The asbestos can have minute particles that fly around and these particles can enter the respiratory or the breathing system of the person. When the breathing system is affected, then the person who is affected by this condition, also called as asbestosis, will have breathlessness and find it very difficult to breathe.
Immediate treatment with various medications will help the person to overcome acute problems that are caused by asbestosis. There is also another problem that is associated with asbestosis. The asbestos is also a carcinogen. There are many people who are affected by mesothelioma cancer that is caused by exposure to asbestos. This mainly occurs because of the industrial exposure. Avoiding exposure to the asbestos is the only method that will help the person to overcome and prevent the risk of this kind of cancer. This is because treating this kind of cancer is very difficult. | <urn:uuid:77eeaadf-088a-41af-affd-cd5fa228dfc4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.safehometowns.org/health-problems-caused-by-asbestos.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980724 | 343 | 3.140625 | 3 |
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Another major storm moving into Northern California was expected to bring more pouring rain, flooding and additional problems to an area already soaked after two major storms, forecasters said Saturday.
Residents of Northern California enjoyed just a bit of a respite, but the next storm — the third in a string of powerful weather systems to hit the region since Wednesday — is expected arrive Saturday night and force several rivers over their banks, National Weather Service forecasters said.
With rivers and streams already running high and the ground saturated from the previous storms, the National Weather Service issued flood warnings for both the Napa and Russian rivers, two rivers north of San Francisco with a history of flooding, National Weather Service hydrologist Mark Strudley said.
"Some roads will become inundated and some of the agricultural areas will take on some water," Strudley said.
The Napa River was expected to flood near St. Helena and Napa around noon on Sunday, while the Russian River was expected to flood near Guerneville early Monday morning, Strudley said.
The Napa River overwhelmed downtown Napa in 2005, flooding or destroying about 1,000 homes and forcing thousands of residents to leave the area.
With that in mind, residents worked to fill 700 bags with 10 tons of sand Saturday morning, city official Danny Lerma said.
"When you see it happen, you always remember, and you say, 'I'm going to be better prepared,'" Lerma told KGO-TV. "And that's what they're doing right now."
Forecasters said the Truckee River near Lake Tahoe is expected to crest above flood level by Sunday morning. The threat of flooding prompted officials in Truckee, a small town of about 16,000, to set up an evacuation center Saturday night.
A flash flood watch was also in effect for a wide area of Northern California through Sunday evening.
Just across the border in Nevada, a state of emergency was declared in Reno, Sparks and Washoe County due to the expected flooding.
Reno city spokeswoman Michele Anderson said public servants would be working overtime through the weekend to control what's expected to be the worst flooding there since 2005.
The weather also prompted cancellations of Christmas parades and tree lightings in Sparks and Truckee.
At the peak of Friday's storm, thousands of people in Northern California were without power, but by Saturday Pacific Gas & Electric was reporting only scattered outages, spokesman J.D. Guidi said.
The utility had extra crews standing by in anticipation of new outages caused by falling branches and strong winds, Guidi said.
The stormy weather may be behind a crash that involved several cars on Interstate 280 outside of San Francisco on Saturday morning, as well as the death of a Pacific Gas & Electric worker in West Sacramento who was killed after his truck crashed into a traffic signal pole during the stormy weather Friday.
With the ground saturated with water, increasing the possibility of trees and branches falling onto roadways, and the roads expected to be slick, California Highway Patrol officials urged drivers to be extra cautious.
Officials were also warning people to be careful along beaches.
A high surf advisory was issued by the weather service, with swells expected to be 14 to 16 feet along the Northern California coast. In Southern California, high surf was predicted in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties.
In San Diego, the Ocean Beach Municipal Pier was closed because of big waves and high tides. | <urn:uuid:23153130-a565-49ab-a713-3ba9dac4b7f3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://washingtonexaminer.com/third-major-storm-moving-into-northern-california/article/feed/2052557 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969413 | 721 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Energy production in this house is provided in several ways. Passive solar heat gained and stored is just the start. A translucent tube-under-glass solar hot water heater is in the wall directly in front of the spiral staircase. In addition, the entire metal roof has tubing under it. Almost all of the exterior of the house will heat water which will be stored in a large insulated reservoir.
Then photovoltaic panels will generate electricity to be stored in batteries or to run the meter backwards. These panels are plug-and-play and more can easily be aded. Electricity will also be generated by a small wind turbine. These energy-producing features plus the energy conserving nature of the house will bring the cost of utilities from $400-$500 per month to almost nothing and have a pay-back period of about ten years.
Super insulated exterior walls and roof are formed with with solid poystyrene white foam. Metal studs are embedded 3/4” into foam which eliminates thermal bridging. There is no plywood in the entire house, saving wood and any possible mold or rot and eliminating formaldehyde. The R-value of 4 per inch makes the wall R-22 and the roof R-30. This is enhanced with Pro-dex foam foil wrap to R-36 and R-46. Air infiltration is tightly controlled with all doubled windows and doors. This not only doubles theR-value of the glass openings to R-8, but doubles the weather stripping. Then, exterior roll-down insulated metal garage doors triple the weather stripping and increase the R-value to 16. Once passive solar energy gets into this house in the heating season, it will be held tightly.
The exterior shutters can have DC openers which can be controlled manually or automatically by smart-home technologies. The aluminum and steel decks will supply maximum shading on the south to block unwanted solar heat in the summer and will fold up against the house when added protection is desired. The 3,000 gallons of water stored in the reservoirs and the radiant floor provides more than enough thermal mass to store energy and provide comfort for weeks.
In the cooling season, this large amount of south-facing glass makes the interior bright and open, saving lighting costs.
Fresh air will enter through a buried 12” pipe 40’ long that will be tempered geothermally. The house will be naturally vented through upper
windows enhanced by a fan on this geo-tube. The central vac will also double as an exhaust fan. Outgoing air will transfer thermal energy to the incoming air. In addition, a geo-thermally linked, ductless air conditioner will provide cooling and dehumidification when needed. | <urn:uuid:5c5eb6d8-582c-4942-b91c-f254a7dcd63d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eco-mod-structure.com/airflowenergy.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918119 | 554 | 2.328125 | 2 |
Public Papers - 1989
Written Responses to Questions Submitted by Xinhua News Agency of China
Q. What is the general assessment on the current world situation? Since there exists a wide disagreement on whether the process of detente is irreversible, I would like to know your views on this question.
The President. I am cautiously optimistic. The one constant in today's world is change. For the most part, the direction of change is positive from the standpoint of America's values and interests. Around the globe, I see increased respect for and interest in democratic values of openness, human dignity, pluralism, democracy, individual initiative, and entrepreneurship. I see a worldwide trend toward greater recognition of the need for cooperative solutions to worldwide concerns, such as peaceful resolution of conflicts, environmental issues, and ensuring global economic growth. Balance has been restored in the international system by a Western policy of strength and realism.
Important differences based on fundamental values and interests continue to guide the policies of nations, both toward their own citizens and toward other members of the international community. Being fundamental, these differences must not be minimized, nor do they lend themselves to easy resolution. In addition, our world still is a tumultuous, dangerous place. Just as we appear to be making headway in reducing the threat of nuclear war through the arms reduction process, we must grapple with the proliferating dangers to civilized society from terrorism, the use and spread of chemical and biological weapons, together with sophisticated delivery systems, ballistic missiles, and international drug trafficking.
Yet I would argue that the world is significantly less turbulent and less dangerous today than it would otherwise be, thanks to the farsighted statesmen in recent decades. China's leaders were some of the first to contribute to this effort, and as chief of the U.S. Liaison Office in Beijing in the 1970's, I was privileged to have been part of this historic process. Today we find ever-broader acceptance of the proposition that in our increasingly interrelated world, national security cannot be achieved through military means alone. Moreover, through their own experience, more and more nations are realizing that the freeing of market forces and human creativity is the true basis for sustained prosperity and national success.
Nothing in this world is irreversible from a political, military, economic, or social perspective. That is why America's foreign policy is grounded on values that abide and a realistic determination to safeguard our interests and those of our allies and friends. Finally, I would say that any man with 11 grandchildren is a cautious optimist by definition. He has a big stake in the future.
Q. With regard to disarmament, in which area do you think breakthrough will be most feasible, the nuclear, conventional, or biochemical? And it is widely reported here that your administration might slow down the SDI program. If that is the case, doesn't it mean the U.S.-Soviet talks on concluding a START agreement will be accelerated? What is the prospect of an early START agreement?
The President. The United States is committed to progress in all aspects of arms control -- nuclear, conventional, and chemical. Our goals include a strategic arms agreement which will enhance strategic stability and security; conventional arms reductions in Europe which will result in stability at lower levels of conventional forces; and a comprehensive, truly global and effectively verifiable chemical weapons ban. One cannot predict which arms control negotiations will meet with the earliest success, but I hope for significant progress in all fields. My administration is reviewing the current status of negotiations in each of these areas even as I visit your country.
Chemical weapons have been much in the news recently. Unfortunately, over the past decade, the world has witnessed an accelerated erosion of respect for international norms against the use of chemical weapons. The United States seeks to reverse this trend. Our first objective is the negotiation of a comprehensive, truly global, and effectively verifiable CW ban. In this connection, I am proud to have presented to the Geneva Conference on Disarmament (CD), in 1984, a U.S. draft treaty to ban chemical weapons, which remains the basis of the CD negotiations for such a ban. The United States is also working to stem the proliferation of CW and to restore respect for and strengthen the norms against illegal CW use. The Paris conference on chemical weapons use, held in January, was a helpful step in this regard.
In the conventional area, new negotiations on conventional armed forces in Europe will begin in Vienna in March. At present, the Warsaw Pact has a more than 2-to-1 advantage in tanks and artillery over NATO. While I welcome the recently announced Soviet conventional reductions as a step in the right direction, even with these cuts, Warsaw Pact forces will still retain substantial conventional superiority over NATO. Redressing this military imbalance in forces will be a prime objective of NATO at the upcoming talks.
In the START talks, U.S. and Soviet negotiations have made solid progress, including the development of the outline of an effective verification regime, an absolute necessity for a successful START agreement. While the strategic arms reduction process will be a major focus of my administration's review of U.S. arms control positions, the United States is committed to working toward a START agreement which will improve strategic stability and reduce the risk of war.
As to the Strategic Defense Initiative, it is an important program which is designed to contribute to stability. We will continue our research in this area to help us understand how and when we might move in the direction of a greater reliance on defenses.
Q. As the two parts of Korea are prepared to hold high-level talks, the protracted tensions on the peninsula seem somewhat relaxed. So, do you think the time is coming for the United States to respond positively to the DPRK's demand for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from South Korea?
The President. I am encouraged by regional trends affecting Korea, particularly China's positive role in seeking reduced tensions on the peninsula. While the atmosphere has improved somewhat, hard realities remain. North Korea has a very large standing army stationed well forward. It would be far too optimistic at this time to suggest that tensions have been reduced to the point where the deterrence provided by U.S. forces in Korea is no longer needed. At the request of the Republic of Korea, our forces are in Korea to deter aggression from the North. They will remain as long as the Government and the people of South Korea want us to remain and as long as we believe it is in the interest of peace to keep them there.
Q. Thanks to the efforts made by the parties concerned, some hot spots in the world are cooling off. As a result, the world public opinion is focusing its attention on the Middle East and Central America, where the United States has remarkable influence. Do you intend to make some readjustment to the U.S. policies toward these two regions and more actively make use of your influence to help promote early and just solutions to the problems there?
The President. The United States continues to seek a just solution to conflicts in Central America, based on democracy, respect for human rights, and security. In El Salvador, the popularly elected government of President Duarte has worked, with our support, to institutionalize democracy, despite an organized military assault by Communist forces. There has been considerable success in curbing human rights abuses from the far right and within the military. We will continue to support the Government of El Salvador in its efforts.
In Nicaragua, the Sandinistas still seek to consolidate their totalitarian control and regional hegemony. The press and church remain harassed. Political opponents are jailed. And the economy continues in a downward spiral while the Sandinistas maintain by far the largest army in Central America. A just peace can come to Nicaragua only when the Sandinistas negotiate in good faith with the democratic resistance and the civic opposition and cease to threaten the neighboring Central America democracies.
In Central America, the United States Government continues to support the Esquipulas II agreement in all of its provisions, which include provisions calling for democratic freedom of the press; labor rights; freedom for opposition groups to organize, hold meetings, demonstrations, etc. We believe that all the commitments, including those to democracy, must be complied with if there is to be lasting peace in the region. In verifying compliance with all the principles of Esquipulas II, there also needs to be an enforcement mechanism to promote adherence to its provisions, particularly concerning democracy and cessation of support for subversive groups in the region. In this regard, economic aid to Nicaragua should be conditioned on actual performance, not just on words but deeds.
The Arab-Israeli conflict is among the most difficult of regional conflicts. The United States has long been committed to a just settlement of this dispute based on the principles embodied in UNSC Resolutions 242 and 338. Our commitment to a negotiated settlement will not waver; we will continue to work closely with the parties to forge a common basis that will facilitate negotiations among them and a durable settlement.
There are also a number of difficult and dangerous problems in the Middle East. We must find a way to deal with the missile proliferation, chemical and biological weapons, the conventional arms race, as well as other conflicts, such as Lebanon and the Gulf. These are problems in which the international community can play a leading role.
Free and Fair Trade
Q. Your country is still playing a leading role in the fields of economy and technology, but the challenges from Japan and Western Europe are getting serious. How do you evaluate the challenges, and what would you do to handle them during your tenure?
The President. The Japanese and European economies are indeed growing strongly, as are the newly industrialized economies which follow free market practices. We regard this growth as a highly positive development. It has been a priority of our foreign policy since World War II to encourage the economic development of friendly countries. We take some justified satisfaction, I think, in the current success of free and open world trading and financial systems. The vigorous competition in world markets has been, and will continue to be, a driving force for the improvement of world living standards. By keeping world markets open, we will reward those entrepreneurs and managers and workers who can adapt most quickly to changing markets. I have every confidence in American business and American labor. They will handle the challenges, and we expect to continue to be the world's leading economy.
Q. What do you think should be and could be done to make the current Sino-U.S. relationship, which is healthy, even better and more solid?
The President. First let me say that I certainly agree that the current state of our relationship is healthy. Both countries have come so far since my stay in China 13 years ago. We now cooperate in many areas -- political, economic, scientific, cultural, educational, and military. U.S.-China trade is booming, and U.S. companies are making a strong and growing contribution in China. Thousands of Chinese and American students and professors are involved in educational exchanges with some of the finest institutes and universities in both our countries. American tourists are visiting China by the hundreds of thousands. And perhaps most importantly, our two governments maintain a serious and cooperative dialog on a wide range of bilateral and international issues, finding that we have many interests in common.
To improve relations further and make them more solid, I think we should build on what we have already accomplished. We need to keep up the dialog between our two governments on political issues of mutual concern: global peace, regional conflicts in Asia and elsewhere, arms control, how to combat the scourges of terrorism and drugs, and the multiple threats to the global environment. We see eye-to-eye on many of these. We also need to encourage more people-to-people contacts, which have grown so dramatically in the last decade. These promote understanding and trust.
We should also seek to expand our economic relationship. The opportunities for trade and investment between our countries are enormous. We have to find ways of taking advantage of them. To do this will require efforts on both sides. Continued steps by China to make its trade practices compatible with those of its major trading partners and remove barriers to trade and investment are important if China is to expand commerce and attract capital for its modernization. For example, improvements in intellectual property protection, a less regulated trading system, and more effective legal protections for investors could have a very favorable effect. The United States, for its part, must keep its markets open to Chinese exports and continue to give China access to advanced technology needed for modernization.
Science and technology cooperation should also expand. We have developed a unique relationship in this field. Cooperation involves some of our best scientists and most advanced technical facilities and covers a wide range of important endeavors in such fields as fusion energy, public health, and the environment. Both countries have a lot to gain from these joint activities.
Cultural and educational exchanges in other fields should grow as well. A good example of successful bilateral cooperation in education is the Management Training Center at Dalian. Since the U.S. and the Chinese Governments established the center in 1980, with the help of U.S. corporations and universities, it has produced over 2,300 graduates trained in modern business and management practices. The Dalian center has become a model for other management centers in China. It can also serve as a model for bilateral cooperation in other fields.
In addition to the positive developments in our political and economic relations, I think it is especially noteworthy that friendly cooperation is also taking place between our defense forces. We are looking forward to continuing and expanding these activities in the future.
The United States recognizes that Taiwan is an important issue for the Chinese Government and people. We are pleased to see that the growing opportunities for trade and travel between both sides of the Taiwan Strait have contributed to a climate of relaxed tensions, and hope these trends will continue. The United States is committed to abide by the three communiques of 1972, 1979, and 1982, which provide a firm basis for the further development of our relations.
One final point on building relations for the future: When differences arise between us, as they inevitably will, we need to continue to approach them in a constructive spirit. If we do, I think we will build a strong foundation for bilateral ties and see expanding cooperation in new fields that will benefit both our peoples.
Note: The questions and answers were released by the Office of the Press Secretary on February 25. | <urn:uuid:70444426-ab55-444d-a587-81f9a96fe9dc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu/research/public_papers.php?id=66&year=1989&month=all | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956542 | 2,936 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Did you miss our live sessions?
Check out archived recordings and materials at the self-guided training page.
Not often do you get the chance to learn new search skills from the scientist at Google whose job is to understand users’ search satisfaction.
In this free, hourlong, online training, Google senior research scientist Daniel M. Russell will offer his tips, techniques and strategies for using Google to find what might seem to be impossible.
As he says on his home page:
“Most recently, I’ve been focusing on what skills searchers need to have in order to be effective searchers. Not surprisingly, just a few key skills can make your searching MUCH better.”
In addition to his research credentials, Russell is a much sought-after presenter for journalists, librarians, teachers, researchers, investigators and others for whom search is a critical part of their jobs.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN?
- What’s out there to be found on the Internet? Where’s content located? How’s it organized?
- How to use advanced searching techniques, such as define:, filetype:, site:, Control-F, antireading, and search-by-image.
- How to use search strategies, such as how to frame the question and when to switch approaches.
- How to quickly come up to speed on a topic.
IS THIS TRAINING FOR YOU?
Any journalist who would like to improve his or her search techniques and strategies on Google will benefit from this training.
“Daniel Russell is a research scientist at Google, where he has been working in the area of search quality, with a focus on understanding what makes Google users happy, skilled and competent in their use of Web search. He is sometimes called a search anthropologist because of his focus on understanding how people use the tools of technology to amplify their intelligence. But his research methods draw equally on ethnography and field work, lab studies, classical usability analysis, eyetracking experiments and large-scale logs analysis….Russell received his B.S. in Information and Computer Science from U.C. Irvine, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from the University of Rochester.” — from Russell’s website
He blogs at SearchReSearch.
OTHER TRAINING BY RUSSELL
- Advanced Google Search Methods presentation at Investigative Reporter and Editors Conference in June 2012.
- Report on Russell’s IRE presentation: “How to solve impossible problems: Daniel Russell’s awesome Google search techniques” by San Antonio Express-News reporter John Tedesco.
- Power Searching with Google archive of six online classes that Russell conducted in July 2012.
- 20 Things You Probably Don’t Know about Search…But Really Should presentation in June 2010.
- A Google A Day offers a search query a day to keep your search skills sharp.
WHAT IS GOOGLE+ HANGOUT ON AIR?
A Google+ Hangout on Air live-streams video of Russell and his presentation. Registrants for this training will receive an email with the URL at which they can attend the training. To submit a question before the training session, log into your Google account and contribute a question here. You can also vote for your favorite questions to be answered. During the class, attendees can submit questions as comments under the embedded video. We will archive a recording of the session at http://bit.ly/self-guided-training.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
This online training is presented by the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism.
Those who attend three of the Reynolds Center’s training events are eligible to receive a Circle of Achievement certificate.
If you have any questions about the center’s training, please email Executive Director Linda Austin or call 602-496-9187. | <urn:uuid:59ad920d-6ff5-4123-959f-60fdca83c698> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://businessjournalism.org/2012/09/06/power-searching-for-business-journalists-online-march-19/ | 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 | 0.937559 | 808 | 2.21875 | 2 |
Information contained on this page is provided by companies via press release distributed through PR Newswire, an independent third-party content provider. PR Newswire, WorldNow and this Station make no warranties or representations in connection therewith.
SOURCE Pennsylvania Statewide Afterschool/Youth Development Network
Pennsylvania Statewide Afterschool/Youth Development Network (PSAYDN) recognizes Pennsylvanians and agencies for innovation and excellence in afterschool programs that
keep kids safe, inspire learning and help working families.
HARRISBURG, Pa., March 11, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Pennsylvania Statewide Afterschool/Youth Development Network (PSAYDN) honored 11 individuals and two organizations as Afterschool Champions for outstanding work in developing, supporting and promoting meaningful high-quality afterschool/out-of-school time programs to benefit children, youth and families across Pennsylvania. The awards took place Wednesday during PSAYDN's annual reception, which brought together elected officials, program providers, youth, faith-based leaders, parents and business leaders from across the commonwealth to emphasize the importance of afterschool programs in the state.
Afterschool programs pick up where the school day leaves off. In addition to offering kids a safe, supervised place to go before and after school, on weekends and during summers to get academic help, programs provide a variety of activities-art, music, dance, sports, science, service learning, career exploration and much more-that help kids develop new interests and skills. The Afterschool Champion Awards honor programs and individuals for excellence in the service of children, schools and communities.
"Afterschool Champion lead through example," said PSAYDN director Kacy Conley. The peers, leaders and community members who nominated the individuals and agencies recognized their outstanding commitment. We are thrilled to shine the light on these inspiring accomplishments."
According to the landmark America After 3PM study conducted for the Afterschool Alliance, more than half a million Pennsylvania children need – but don't have – afterschool programs, even as statewide demand for afterschool programs has increased.
"Formative, out-of-school hours can be filled with quality youth development programs that not only promote the well-being of our children and youth, but also families," Conley said. "Increased academic achievement, reduced criminal activity, and positive social development are the results of high-quality afterschool activities."
"Too many Pennsylvania children who need afterschool programs don't have them, and families are carrying a heavier burden as a result," Conley said. "Afterschool Champions are critical for building support from all sectors – from the business and philanthropic communities, as well as from the government at all levels."
The 2013 Pennsylvania Afterschool Champions are: Renee Abrams of Pittsburgh Youth Golf Foundation; Susan Diegert of Williams Valley School District Afterschool Program in Tower City; Eileen Flannery of Children's Village in Philadelphia; Dr. Terri Henderson of Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Pa.; Rebekah Lang of Norristown Area School District; Heather Oxenford of LifeSpan School and Day Care in Quakertown; Dr. Nancy Peter of the Out-of-School Time Resource Center (OSTRC) University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia; David Reinbold of Carbon County Technical Institute in Jim Thorpe; Wendy Roush of Hildebrandt Learning Centers in Lancaster; Carla Smith of Women's Care Center in Erie; the Chester Youth Collaborative; and the York County Alliance for Learning
Pennsylvania Statewide Afterschool/Youth Development Network (PSAYDN) promotes sustainable, high-quality out-of-school time youth development programs through advocacy and capacity building to enhance the welfare of Pennsylvania's children, youth and families. More information is available at www.PSAYDN.org.
Contact: Aylissa Kiely Tyndale
©2012 PR Newswire. All Rights Reserved. | <urn:uuid:522123a5-d5b3-4502-83ff-897b35af8d1f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.woi-tv.com/story/21576574/pennsylvania-innovators-honored-as-2013-afterschool-champion | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932954 | 806 | 1.59375 | 2 |
The Bible has inflamed the hearts of poets and martyrs, spawned revolutions and reformations, and influenced cultures and personal lives in sometimes small, sometimes dramatic ways. With a teacher's wit and knowledge, bestsellling author J. Stephen Lang again turns to the Bible and navigates more of its immense treasures in his easily accessible and informative style in 1,001 More Things You Always Wanted to Know About the Bible.
You will discover answers to the questions and curiosities you have always harbored about the Bible and its influence but perhaps felt you should already know. A joy to browse and reference, this fascinating book is sure to satisfy an inquirer's mind and spark further study of the Bible.
Test your knowledge of Bible trivia:
- In a famous folk legend, who found the "true cross" of Christ on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem?
- In 1952, what new Bible translation caused heated opposition?
- Who established Sunday as "The Lord's Day"?
- Who wore girdles in Bible times?
- What favorite children's song did Anna Bartlett Warner write?
- What is the "mercy seat"?
|Publication Date||February 13, 2001| | <urn:uuid:d02d11fa-1760-4869-9e4a-7692c08ee405> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thomasnelson.com/nonfiction/culture-general-interest/1-001-more-things-you-always-wanted-to-know-about-the-bible.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908461 | 244 | 2.109375 | 2 |
Oil development in the Gulf of St. Lawrence is a growing concern for environmentalists as well as some business sectors, especially tourism, and in fact the Island East Tourism Group is following the issue closely because an oil spill could have disastrous impact on tourism.
Doug Deacon, chair of the group, says the group has discussed the issue at a recent board meeting and one member has been closely following the file.
"One of the issues for the board of directors is the liability for the tourism industry that an oil spill might represent ... and it is a valid concern to be addressed as an industry.''
He said the board is worried that many operators do not have liability insurance in case of a spill or some other issue associated with offshore drilling.
The Island East Tourism Group manages the Points East Coastal Drive from Stratford to Souris.
A petition is being circulated by Save our Seas and Shores Coalition P.E.I. Chapter opposing offshore oil and gas drilling in the gulf which will be presented to the P.E.I. legislature. It has been in circulation since January and has about 600 signatures.
"Because what they are doing is offshore oil development, but in the gulf which is not really an offshore area and the ecosystem is so sensitive and the tourism industry is so dependent upon the gulf being clean and the contingencies they are putting in place for an oil spill are so inadequate...it is just a case of money and oil pushing through against all other concerns," said Andrew Lush, a member of the coalition.
He said Prince Edward Island will not receive any benefit from the drilling because it is being managed out of Newfoundland.
Lush said that if development is allowed to go ahead the large number of leases in the gulf mean it will be a matter of when, and not if, a spill occurs.
"It (the oil spill) will just swirl around because it takes eight months to flush out the gulf and it will pollute our beaches and estuaries and it (is) just an unacceptable risk."
Having said that, he clarified that his group is not against offshore development.
"It's just that the gulf is not an offshore region and it is so important for tourism, fisheries and for the ecosystem there should not be oil development there."
Save our Seas and Shores is a group consisting of people from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Quebec. He said opposition is particularly strong in the Iles de la Madeleine which is close to the proposed Old Harry development.
Lush said there has been no environmental assessment carried out, but there has been a strategic environmental review done, which he said was basically a farce.
"It was just a show of what they were doing and they were not taking any serious feedback nor doing any presentations so we are extremely concerned this is going to go ahead. As you know the federal government is weakening the environmental assessment process so unfortunately they have put money and oil above the health of the environment." | <urn:uuid:36baaf9b-868b-4cb9-915d-bb4588951e44> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/News/Local/2013-03-20/article-3203991/Gulf-oil-development-big-concern-for-group-fearing-damage-to-ecosystem,-P.E.I.-economy/1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977802 | 606 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Many are familiar with their iconic mid-century modern chairs, and perhaps even their short 1968 educational film, Powers of Ten. But there is a deeper story behind the influential duo design team of Charles and Ray Eames. The Columbus Society of Communicating Arts (CSCA) invited filmmaker Bill Jersey to present his recent documentary, Eames: The Painter and the Architect, this past Thursday night at Columbus’ Gateway Film Center.
A small group from the CG office was part of the 170+ audience composed of creatives from the local community who viewed the screening. Afterwards, many attendees participated in a Q&A with the producer. The film not only takes a deep journey inside the studio walls of the Eames office, but also looks at the lesser-known personal lives of Charles and Ray. The film includes insightful interviews from some of the individuals who worked directly with the Eames. Additionally, behind-the-scene clips show the extent of the their extraordinary genius and influence.
If you have not had the fortune of catching a screening in your area, you can purchase your own copy on DVD. | <urn:uuid:345d8f4b-dfd4-4e2e-a475-e0627e2e427f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gerdeblog.com/page/10/ | 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 | 0.964309 | 224 | 1.765625 | 2 |
On September 13, Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp announced that due to budget cuts the Georgia State Archives would be closing on November 1. After that date, the public will only be allowed to access the building by appointment; however, the number of appointments could be limited based on the schedule of the remaining employees. Georgia will become the only state without a fully accessible state archives.
Kemp, whose office oversees the archives, said an order by Governor Nathan Deal to reduce state agency budgets by an additional 3 percent necessitated his action. The edict forced Kemp to come up with an additional $733,000 cut in his agency’s budget. Kemp refused to speculate how many of the agency’s employees would be laid off.
Kemp said he would seek to restore funding for the archives when the Georgia state legislature convenes in January. “I will fight during this legislative session to have this cut restored so the people will have a place to meet, research, and review the historical records of Georgia.”
The National Coalition for History will be working with historians, archivists and other affected stakeholders to have the decision reversed.
Official statement from the Georgia Secretary of State:
“The Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget has instructed the Office of the Secretary of State to further reduce its budget for AFY13 and FY14 by 3% ($732,626). As it has been for the past two years, these cuts do not eliminate excess in the agency, but require the agency to further reduce services to the citizens of Georgia. As an agency that returns over three times what is appropriated back to the general fund, budget cuts present very challenging decisions. We have tried to protect the services that the agency provides in support of putting people to work, starting small businesses, and providing public safety.
To meet the required cuts, it is with great remorse that I have to announce, effective November 1, 2012, the Georgia State Archives located in Morrow, GA will be closed to the public. The decision to reduce public access to the historical records of this state was not arrived at without great consternation. To my knowledge, Georgia will be the only state in the country that will not have a central location in which the public can visit to research and review the historical records of their government and state. The staff that currently works to catalog, restore, and provide reference to the state of Georgia’s permanent historical records will be reduced. The employees that will be let go through this process are assets to the state of Georgia and will be missed. After November 1st, the public will only be allowed to access the building by appointment; however, the number of appointments could be limited based on the schedule of the remaining employees.
Since FY08, the Office of the Secretary of State has been required to absorb many budget reductions, often above the minimum, while being responsible for more work. I believe that transparency and open access to records are necessary for the public to educate themselves on the issues of our government. I will fight during this legislative session to have this cut restored so the people will have a place to meet, research, and review the historical records of Georgia.” | <urn:uuid:dd9465e0-816a-4694-abd8-886208071268> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://historycoalition.org/2012/09/14/georgia-to-close-state-archives-due-to-budget-cuts/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971601 | 651 | 2.078125 | 2 |
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What is a Value Card?
Value Cards are the cards used to pay for copies from photocopiers and printouts from computers at the downtown (Main) library.
Value Cards can be purchased from vending machines on the 2nd and 4th floors of the Main Library and from the following branch locations: Herndon, North Orange, South Creek, Southeast, Alafaya, South Trail, Hiawassee, West Oaks, Edgewater, Winter Garden, Washington Park, and Southwest. A new Value Card can be purchased for $1.00; the card will be dispensed with $0.50 value on it.
Additional value can be added to Value Cards or OCLS cards at the vending stations in increments of $1.00.
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Last Updated October 2, 2008 | <urn:uuid:2a56108a-9a72-453d-a6fe-308b29c12c01> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ocls.info/Confused/question.asp?ConfusedID=212 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936256 | 192 | 1.898438 | 2 |
Prefacing his comment supporting the Ground Zero mosque with one of his signature verbal tics indicating that he really, really means what he was about to to say (“But let me be clear”), President Obama recently announced:
But let me be clear. As a citizen, and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country. And that includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in Lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. This is America. And our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakeable. The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country and that they will not be treated differently by their government is essential to who we are. The writ of the Founders must endure.
Now, let me be clear. What I find most interesting about Obama’s comment is neither the hint of a hitherto unseen respect for “private property” nor even the startling evidence, also never seen before, of fealty to an originalist interpretation of a Constitution written in stone. If “[t]he writ of the Founders must endure,” it must be because the document that resulted from “the wisdom of our Founders” (which he had mentioned two paragraphs earlier) requires us to honor principles that don’t ebb and flow with the changing tides of public opinion. Elsewhere the Constitution may be “living,” adapting to newer conceptions of liberty, but not at the “hallowed ground” of Ground Zero. There at least, it means what it always meant.
What is interesting here is not this nod to originalism — a nod that is sure to be as temporary as it is insincere — but rather how the president chooses to defend the principle of religious liberty. “[O]ver the course of our history, he explains,
religion has flourished within our borders precisely because Americans have had the right to worship as they choose — including the right to believe in no religion at all. And it is a testament to the wisdom of our Founders that America remains deeply religious — a nation where the ability of peoples of different faiths to coexist peacefully and with mutual respect for one another stands in stark contrast to the religious conflict that persists elsewhere around the globe.
Yesterday, however, Obama backtracked and clarified what he had taken such pains to “be clear” about the day before: “Obama narrows mosque comments” (Politico) or “expands on mosque comments” (The Hill) by insisting that he was not commenting “on the wisdom” of putting a mosque at Ground Zero but rather only “very specifically on the right” to put it there.
Never mind that few critics of that decision deny the right. What is fascinating here is how Obama defines the right that he defends: “In this country we treat everybody equally and in accordance with the law, regardless of race, regardless of religion.” [Emphasis mine]
Let’s ignore for now both the fact that this assertion is clearly not true — it is official government policy in this country to treat some people better and others worse because of their race — and even the fact that Obama himself supports preferential treatment based on race and opposes all efforts to prohibit it. What is noteworthy is that he is now on record as recognizing that both religious freedom and racial equality require governmental neutrality, a principle embedded in the Constitution by the “writ of the Founders” whose wisdom has been confirmed over “the course of our history.”
As it happens, I’ve written about the relationship between religious liberty and racial equality before, and I hope you will indulge me in quoting a long excerpt from this 2002 post (occasioned by the then-recent Cleveland school voucher case) where I argued that “the principle of neutrality … derives not so much from the text of the Constitution as from something deeper in the very structure of our society,” the very thing identified by Obama in his recent comment:
That something is the overriding fact of religious pluralism, a pluralism that in the absence of official neutrality would lead to constant strife and conflict. The dissenters, in short, recognize that the small “c” constitution of American society of necessity dictates the meaning of the large “C” Constitution.
And now the long excerpt:
Race and Sects in American History
…. One of the most cherished myths of American history is that our foremothers and forefathers fled the Old World for the New to escape religious bigotry and build a new society based on religious freedom. In fact, the Puritans’ strongest complaint against the Old World was that it was too tolerant, that it was swimming in a sea of such moral sloth and corruption that it had lost all interest in purifying the church. The New World appealed to them because it was empty (except for the “heathens” ripe for conversion), and they could establish Godly communities the way they were quite certain God intended.
And yet within several generations religious toleration had broken out all over. Despite the best efforts of the Puritan divines, diversity could not be denied. The Baptists and Quakers proved irrepressible. Mennonites appeared, and Methodists sprouted like weeds in the wake of itinerant ministers. Even many Congregational churches split asunder as revivalist “New Lights” walked out and founded competing congregations.
What happened? Unintended and unplanned, America began to happen. What Voltaire said cynically about England came to be celebrated here: “If there were one religion . . . , its despotism would be terrible; if there were only two, they would destroy each other; but there are 30, and therefore they live in peace and happiness.”
Toleration developed not because it was valued but because it was necessary. “Freedom came to the Western world,” wrote Reinhold Niebuhr, one of our greatest theologians, “by the inadvertence of history. Toleration was an absolute necessity for a community which had lost its religio-cultural unity and could find peace only if toleration and freedom were accepted.”
America discovered, however, that toleration alone was not sufficient. Strict neutrality was also required, a prohibition against the state favoring any of the contending sects. As Justice Hugo Black wrote in Zorach v. Clauson (1952), “it is only by isolating the state from the religious sphere and compelling it to be completely neutral that the freedom of each and every denomination and of all nonbelievers can be maintained.” Or as the Court held in Abingdon School District v. Schempp (1963), “the government is neutral, and, while protecting all, it prefers none.”
But if the very structure of American society requires a principle of neutrality that in turn requires a separation of church and state (as the dissenters and I believe it does), should it not also compel a separation of race and state? After all, as the eminent Berkeley historian David Hollinger has written, in our time “ethno-racial affiliations have come to play a role similar to that played by religious affiliations at the time of the founding of the republic and throughout most of American history.” (POST-ETHNIC AMERICA, Basic Books, 1995, p. 123). Surely racial and ethnic preferences are at least as “divisive” today as debates over school vouchers, which seem to have bothered a few litigants and the courts much more than the society as a whole.
As a perceptive if fickle critic of affirmative action has written, racial and ethnic preferences predictably lead (and in fact have led) to
a real Balkanization, in which group after group struggles for the benefits of special treatment…. The demand for special treatment will lead to animus against other groups that already have it, by those who think they should have it and don’t….
The rising emphasis on group difference which government is called upon to correct might mean the destruction of any hope for the larger fraternity of all Americans.
That was Nathan Glazer, in AFFIRMATIVE DISCRIMINATION (Basic Books, 1975), and if anything he underestimated the divisiveness of bestowing governmental favors on the basis of race and ethnicity. Now that liberals have abandoned the formerly core value holding that every individual is entitled to be treated without regard to race, creed, or color in favor of multiculturalism and group rights, the very idea of “the larger fraternity of all Americans” is regarded by many as nothing more than right-wing cant.
Or consider the current mantra of “diversity.” Harvard law professor Christopher Edley — former White House aide, co-author of President Clinton’s “mend it, don’t end it” review of affirmative action policies, advisor to Clinton’s race commission, fervent advocate of racial preferences (he described Stephan and Abigail Thernstrom’s AMERICA IN BLACK AND WHITE as “a crime against humanity”), and advisor to the 2000 Gore campaign — has written that “our rich religious diversity” provides a model for racial diversity. “We are fairly united as one of the most religious nations on earth,” Edley wrote, “but we worship differently, celebrate that fact, and recognize that religious differences should play only a limited role in our social and economic lives. Perhaps a model along these lines is what is needed in race.” (Edley, “Why Talk About Race?” Washington Post OpEd, 7 December 1997, p. C1.)
Indeed it is, but this “model” suggests a conclusion that Edley and other preferentialists will not like. If ethnic and racial groups are now analogous to religious sects, why should it be permissible for the state to grant preferences to the former when it is clearly prohibited from doing so to the latter?
Perhaps Justice Breyer and his like-minded brethren, on and off the Court, can be called on to explain why they fear “the risk” of “potential” divisiveness in what they see as religious preferences but not the clear and present divisiveness of racial and ethnic preferences. Or, in the alternative, they could explain why a principle that they believe justifies racial preferences does not also justify religious preference, for certainly they recognize that religion provides as good or better basis for “diversity” as race. Would they look on religious preferences in admissions and hiring with the same favor they bestow on racial and ethnic preferences? What is it precisely that would make a preference for Arabs acceptable but for Muslims unacceptable? Are not evangelical Christians “underrepresented” among the students and on the faculties of our elite, selective universities? Why must the Michigan law school have a “critical mass” of blacks and Hispanics but not of Missouri Synod Lutherans? Why was the old quota system that restricted the number of Jews in the Ivy League (presumably) wrong, but the de facto quota system that restricted the number of Asians admitted to Berkeley and UCLA under the reign of preferences not wrong?
In short, perhaps it is time to insist on a separation of race and state, to insist in the ethnic and racial sphere, as well as the religious, that government must be neutral, that it protect all of its constituent groups but prefer none — not because the First Amendment compels neutrality in this sphere, but because of the same social reality that led to the First Amendment in the first place.
“This is America,” someone should remind the president. If “[t]he principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country and that they will not be treated differently by their government is essential to who we are,” as I believe it is, then for the “writ of the Founders” to “endure” it is also and equally necessary that people of all races and ethnicities must “not be treated differently by their government” because of who they are.
President Obama seems, at least on this occasion, to understand the principle. Now let him practice it. | <urn:uuid:e9e7ea9c-47c8-4c36-8796-06f6889f3f87> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.discriminations.us/2010/08/the-separation-of-race-and-state-ii-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969185 | 2,565 | 1.921875 | 2 |
Benjamin Walton and Ellen Carlton
Posted by mikegen48 on June 22, 2009
Benjamin Walton was born in 1799 in Vermont. He died circa 1853 in Marion County, Iowa.
Benjamin married Ellen Carlton about 1823 in Vermont. Ellen was born during 1803 in Vermont. She died in 1879 in Marion County, Iowa.
They had the following children:
Hannah Walton was born in 1826 in Vermont. She died on 13 Apr 1883 in Maryland.
Susan Walton was born in 1826 in Vermont.
Caroline Walton was born circa 1829 in Orleans County, Vermont. She died on 5 May 1895 in Dorchester County, Maryland.
Sophia B. Walton was born in 1832 in Marion County, Iowa.
Jacob Dennis Walton was born about 1834 in Iowa. He died in 1898 in Maryland.
Leonard C. Walton was born in 1837 in Iowa. He died in 1904 in Maryland.
Christina Lucy Walton was born circa 1840 in Iowa. She died in 1909 in Arkansas.
Sarah Rachel Walton was born on 3 Mar 1843 in Iowa. She died in 1925 in Dorchester County, Maryland.
Margaret Cora Walton was born on 30 Jan 1846 in Iowa. | <urn:uuid:e11ffa00-a9b8-4cbb-acd7-88157d13e0ab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mikegen48.wordpress.com/2009/06/22/benjamin-walton-and-ellen-carlton/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=e94a57fbb5 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.994276 | 259 | 1.875 | 2 |