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Located across Truman Annex is the important and popular tourist attraction Harry S. Truman Little White House. This former ... More
Harry S. Truman Little White House
Located across Truman Annex is the important and popular tourist attraction Harry S. Truman Little White House. This former naval base served as the White House of America for the winter session until 1952. Though the landmark is historic in nature, it is more like a living museum and till date official functions and meetings are held here. A tour of this house will give you an insight into the Truman Presidency and details about the Cold War tactics used against war with Russia. The documents, furniture, rooms including the dining section explore the different aspects of life of the President Harry S. Truman. While you are in Florida, do visit this historic structure that is a part of the elite list of U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
This hotel consists of three buildings, each with its own distinctive style. The Island City House features antique furniture, wooden
floors, and rooms with queen size beds some rooms here also feature full size kitchens. The Cigar House features ...
This gallery is a well known landmark in Key West. It displays works of Lucie Bilodeau, Jim Trippe, Thomas M.
Easley and many others. In addition, it caters chiefly, to local and international artists. The artworks are reasonably priced. ...
*Terms & Conditions: Savings calculation is based on Flight + Hotel vacation package bookings for a 3 month period for 2 adults with a 2+ night length of stay compared to price of the same components if booked separately during same period. Savings will vary based on origin/destination, length of trip, travel dates and selected travel supplier(s). Savings not available on all packages. | <urn:uuid:00296364-0aa8-4623-86e8-4e7ea0c813ee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-2819095-harry_s_truman_little_white_house_key_west-i?mid=7&found=1&totalhelpful=1&guid=NYVJNZOPEGUAR3UXAYVULKMLG4&helpful=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92091 | 362 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Blaine Harden is an author and journalist who reports for PBS Frontline and contributes to The Economist. He worked for The Washington Post as a bureau chief and correspondent in Africa, Eastern Europe, and Asia, as well as in New York and Seattle. He was also a national correspondent for The New York Times and writer for the Times Magazine.
His most recent book is Escape From Camp 14, which the Christian Science Monitor calls a “book without parallel” and which The Seattle Times compares to The Diary of Anne Frank as a work that should be read in every high school civics class. Escape From Camp 14 is the harrowing story of Shin Dong-hyuk, the only person to have been born and raised in a North Korean prison camp and to have escaped to the West. Shin fled a hell on earth where 200,000 remain under conditions rivaled only by the Holocaust and the Gulag.
Blaine is also the author of A River Lost, a book about well-intentioned Americans (including Blaine's father) who dammed and degraded the West’s greatest river, the Columbia. An updated and revised edition of A River Lost will be published by Norton in April, 2012, to coincide with a PBS American Experience program about Grand Coulee Dam and the Columbia River.
Blaine’s first book, Africa: Dispatches from a Fragile Continent, was described by The Independent as the “best contemporary book on Africa.”
Blaine's journalism awards include the Ernie Pyle Award for coverage of the siege of Sarajevo during the Bosnian War, the American Society of Newspaper Editors Award for Nondeadline Writing, and the Livingston Award for International Reporting (both for his stories about Africa).
Blaine lives in Seattle with his wife Jessica and their two children, Lucinda and Arno. | <urn:uuid:7bf4914d-7bf1-4192-9762-df71adb71929> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.penguinspeakersbureau.com/speakers/page/blaine_harden | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960792 | 378 | 1.828125 | 2 |
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What is a CASA Volunteer?
A Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA)
volunteer is a specially-trained citizen
appointed by the judge to represent a child
victim in cases of abuse and neglect.
What Does a CASA Volunteer Do?
Advocating for the best interest of a child, a
trained CASA provides a judge with carefully
researched details about the child to help the
court make a sound decision about that child's
future. He or she recommends to the Judge what
the child needs to be safe and what is in the
best interest for a permanent home. The CASA
makes recommendations to the judge in the form
of a report, attends the child’s hearings and
follows through on the case until it is
What Training Does a CASA Volunteer
CASA volunteer advocates receive 30 hours of
classroom instruction from program staff, and
other professionals in our community. After the
classroom instruction is complete the volunteer
is sworn in by the family court Judge and then
concludes the training with a 3-hour courtroom
observation that is required before CASA
volunteers can take a case. Thereafter,
volunteers are required to fulfill 12 hours of
in-service training per year.
What is the CASA Philosophy?
The CASA concept is based on the commitment that
every child has the right to a safe, permanent
home. The juvenile court judge appoints a
volunteer to the child’s case. The volunteer
then becomes an official part of the judicial
proceedings, working alongside attorneys and
social workers as an appointed officer of the
court. Unlike attorneys and social workers,
however, the CASA volunteer speaks exclusively
for the child’s best interests. By handling only
one or two cases at a time the CASA volunteer
has time to thoroughly explore the history of
each assigned case. CASA is the only program
where volunteers are appointed by the court to
represent a child’s best interests.
How Does a CASA Volunteer Investigate a
To prepare a recommendation, the CASA volunteer
talks with the child, parents, family members,
case managers, school officials, health
providers, and others who are knowledgeable
about the child's history. The CASA volunteer
also reviews all records pertaining to the child
- school, medical, case manager reports, and
other pertinent documents.
How Does a CASA Volunteer Differ from a
Social Service Case Worker?
Case workers generally are employed by state
governments. They sometimes work on over 20
cases at a time while CASA volunteers are able
to provide their full attention to just one
family at a time. No state agency could ever
afford to provide the kind of one-on-one
assistance that CASA makes available to children
and families. The CASA volunteer does not
replace the case worker; he or she is an
independent appointee of the court. The CASA
volunteer can thoroughly examine a child's case,
has knowledge of community resources, and can
make a recommendation to the court independent
of state agency restrictions.
How Long Does a CASA Volunteer Remain
Involved with a Case?
Our CASA program requires a minimum one-year
commitment with the ultimate goal of the
volunteer continuing until the case is
permanently resolved and permanency has been
achieved. That is because one of the primary
benefits of the CASA program is that, unlike
other court principals who often rotate cases,
the CASA volunteer is a consistent figure in the
proceedings and provides continuity for a child.
Is There a "Typical” CASA Advocate?
CASA volunteers come from all walks of life with
a variety of professional, educational and
ethnic backgrounds. In FY09, there were more
than 1,237 CASA volunteers assigned to cases
How Much Time Does It Require?
Each case is different. A CASA volunteer usually
spends about 15 hours a month doing research and
conducting interviews prior to the first court
appearance. More complicated cases take longer.
Once initiated into the system, volunteer
advocates work anywhere from 4-20 hours per
month depending on the complexity of the case to
which they are assigned.
How Are CASA Programs Funded?
CASA programs depend on their communities to
support the service. Foundations, corporations,
fundraising events, annual giving and grants are
just some examples of the ongoing support
received by local CASA programs.
How Effective Have CASA Programs Been?
Research suggests that children who have been
assigned CASA volunteers tend to spend less time
within the foster care system than those who do
not have a CASA volunteer. Judges have also
observed that children assigned to a CASA also
have better chances of finding permanent homes
than children not assigned to a CASA.
How many CASA programs are there in the
State of NJ?
There are 16 independent CASA programs serving
each of the NJ court vicinages.
How can I Donate to CASA?
There are many ways you can donate
How can I get more information about CASA of
Ocean County, Inc.?
We would be happy to talk with you or forward
any information you may need. Please contact us
here. Feel free to call (732)-270-6803 to speak
with Vicki Ackley our Executive Director.
What Are Some of the Things a CASA Might Do:
· Locate relatives who may be interested in
· Locate and facilitate camp placements
· Attend Court & CPR hearings
· Assist caseworker with preparation of searches
· Attend Case Planning, ISP, IEP and Annual
· Act as a sounding board for birth and foster
· Visit foster homes, birth parents, etc. on a
regular basis and share impressions with
· Support foster parents with information and
resources for special needs children
· Pick up reports from schools, therapists, etc.
and deliver to DYFS
· Assist in finding and arranging means of
transportation to therapy and visitation (CASA’s
can’t provide transportation)
· Make referrals to community resources such as
Salvation Army, Jewish Family Services, Big
· Assist with obtaining equipment and/or
facilities for children’s extracurricular | <urn:uuid:7fdb8b8a-2ef5-4601-9ad4-1e2e78d2a020> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.casaofoceancounty.org/faq.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919947 | 1,384 | 2.40625 | 2 |
Greg Sargent highlights a post by Brendan Nyhan about the myth that Reagan turned the American people against government and adds:
The key takeaway here is that public attitudes towards government are not fixed in stone, and if there’s one thing that can get folks to rethink their supposed anti-government bias, it’s actual cuts to government. Nyhan worries that Obama has internalized the “phony narrative of Reagan’s presidency,” and says this “is likely to lead him astray.” But I think it’s becoming clearer that Obama has not internalized this narrative.
Rather, as I noted below, it seems more and more obvious that Obama and Dems are placing a heavy bet on the very phenomenon Nyhan pinpoints here: People suddenly start to like government once officials start talking specifics about how to downsize it in the real world. Not even Saint Ronald Reagan could talk them out of this apostasy.
I think this is correct as far as it goes. Most people actually like government programs that benefit them and are usually hostile only to those they think benefit the “undeserving.” But there is no doubt in my mind that Reagan and his progeny have made anti-government sentiment in general a baseline value among a large number of Americans, which has led to an ongoing, incremental degradation of the relationship of people to their government. People may not want their government services cut in the abstract, but with every vote for a Republican or Democrat who rails against taxes, they make it that much more difficult to deliver them. And being unable to deliver adequate services leads more and more people to vote for people who promise to lower taxes and spending.
This “starve the beast” approach has always been to rail against government and force tax cuts — thus driving up debt. The cuts in programs are what follows. And they are quite successful at the first two elements. We know their anti-government rhetoric is nearly universal. It’s almost impossible to find someone who says “I think the government does a pretty good job” even though they may personally have positive dealings with it. It just isn’t socially acceptable. That’s a huge political advantage for those of both parties who are most concerned with weakening the safety net, deregulation and low taxes.
But this is an astonishing accomplishment:
Amid complaints about high taxes and calls for a smaller government, Americans paid their lowest level of taxes last year since Harry Truman’s presidency, a USA TODAY analysis of federal data found.
Some conservative political movements such as the “Tea Party” have criticized federal spending as being out of control. While spending is up, taxes have fallen to exceptionally low levels.
Federal, state and local income taxes consumed 9.2% of all personal income in 2009, the lowest rate since 1950, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reports. That rate is far below the historic average of 12% for the last half-century.
Despite that, the extension of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, even in light of their great comeback from the recession, is considered a model of future bipartisan behavior. I’d call that a big win for the Reaganites.
As Greg notes, we don’t know how the administration and the Democrats in the congress will behave on “entitlements.” (So it’s probably a good idea to err on the side of caution and exert pressure wherever possible.) But I would just point out that the very argument Greg says the administration is putting forth is very, very close to the argument he used in the campaign to explain why Reagan was a transitional figure.
Greg writes this:
But it seems clear that Obama’s gestures in the direction of austerity are more about creating a larger vision, a blend of fiscal discipline and sensible government spending, that the public will ultimately judge as preferable to the all-government-is-bad GOP approach.
Here’s Obama on Reagan:
“I think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not. He put us on a fundamentally different path because the country was ready for it. I think they felt like with all the excesses of the 1960s and 1970s and government had grown and grown but there wasn’t much sense of accountability in terms of how it was operating. I think people, he just tapped into what people were already feeling, which was we want clarity we want optimism, we want a return to that sense of dynamism and entrepreneurship that had been missing.”
At the time he said that virtually everyone was adamant that he didn’t mean this in terms of policy, but rather as an illustration of how a president seizes the day to enact fundamental change. It was assumed that he saw his moment as a chance to do something similar in the liberal direction. But since it’s impossible to argue that Obama’s “larger vision of fiscal discipline and sensible spending” is some sort of progressive transformation (since that’s been the mantra of most politicians of both parties for the past 30 years) it may be fair to assume that he really was endorsing Ronald Reagan’s policy trajectory. (If you want to know how he felt about social security, click here.)
It’s true that Ronald Reagan didn’t end Big Government. Neither did Bush, Clinton or Bush II. But they all did their part in making it impossible to do anything that requires people to pay for it. That bill is coming due. It remains to be seen if Obama will be the one who finally picks up the tab. | <urn:uuid:03f96b9c-6cd0-4339-b9e3-c7febb01531d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.ourfuture.org/20110201/Reagans_Trajectory | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973449 | 1,173 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Answers about Cashing Checks
I wrote a check and post-dated it. However, the bank cashed it prior to the date written on the check. Can the bank do this?
Yes. National banks are permitted to pay checks even though payment occurs prior to the date of the check. A check is a negotiable instrument—the payee, the person to whom the check is written, may negotiate it through the banking system at any time.
If you have incurred damages because a check has been negotiated before its date, you should directly pursue the payee for restitution. | <urn:uuid:1b64bb80-43aa-42e8-85ae-f3d1e52c087f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.helpwithmybank.gov/get-answers/bank-accounts/checks-cashing/faq-banking-check-cashing-02.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971092 | 120 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Juvenile Justice System Must Be Overhauled, Says Report Led by UVA Law Professor
University of Virginia law professor Richard Bonnie was the principal author of "Reforming Juvenile Justice: A Developmental Approach," a new report from the National Research Council that was published today.
A new federally commissioned report led by University of Virginia law professor Richard Bonnie lays out a blueprint to reform the nation's juvenile justice system to better hold youth offenders accountable, prevent recidivism and ensure adolescent offenders are treated fairly.
The report, "Reforming Juvenile Justice: A Developmental Approach," was commissioned by the National Research Council at the request of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, an agency of the U.S. Department of Justice. The report's authors argue that the juvenile justice system must be overhauled to incorporate an emerging body of knowledge about adolescent development and effective interventions, which should improve outcomes for young offenders and society as a whole.
"What we're trying to come up with is a juvenile-justice system that has accountability without criminalization," said Bonnie, vice chairman of the Committee on Assessing Juvenile Justice Reform, which produced the report. "It's important that kids be held accountable. But the same tools of accountability that are used for adults are not a good fit for adolescents because they interfere with successful development rather than promoting it."
Along with Bonnie, director of UVA's Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy, the committee consists of leading experts in neuroscience, criminology, mental health, economics, developmental psychology and more.
The report outlines a number of guiding principles that it says should be incorporated in juvenile justice reform. Among these are:
- Use restitution and community service as ways to hold offenders accountable to victims and the community.
- Confine juveniles sparingly and only when necessary to respond to and prevent serious reoffending.
- Avoid collateral consequences of being in the juvenile justice system, such as the public release of juvenile justice records that could reduce the offender's opportunities for a successful transition to adult life.
- Engage the adolescent offender's family as much as possible and draw on neighborhood resources to encourage pro-social development and law-abiding behavior.
Currently, the report says, the juvenile justice system relies too heavily on jailing and punishing, as it removes youths from their families, peer groups and neighborhoods and deprives them of the opportunity to properly learn how to deal with life's difficulties.
The latest behavioral and neuroscience research, the report says, indicates that adolescence is a "period of development between childhood and adulthood characterized by increased experimentation and risk-taking, a tendency to discount long-term consequences, and heightened sensitivity to peers and other social influences."
Adolescents differ from adults and children in three key ways, the report explains. Adolescents lack the maturity to control themselves in emotionally charged contexts. They have a heightened sensitivity to outside influences, such as peer pressure. And they have less ability than adults to make judgments and decisions that involve an understanding of how the outcome might affect their future.
The research suggests that the juvenile justice system would promote healthy psychological development in adolescents if it emphasized the involvement of a parent or parental figure who is concerned with the adolescent's development, included a positive peer group that values good behavior and academic success, and offered activities that contribute to autonomous decision-making and critical thinking.
"You want to optimize the positive peer influences and minimize the negative peer influences," Bonnie said. "So one thing you do not want to do is puts kids in confinement with other kids who teach them to be deviant."
The report also contends that being fair to youth who become involved in the juvenile justice system helps promote respect for authority.
"Adolescents have a heightened sensitivity to perceived injustice, and negative experiences with police officers, lawyers and judges can have lasting effects," Bonnie said. "Holding kids accountable is good for them and good for society, but, by the same token, making sure that they feel that they have been fairly treated is also good for them and good for us."
The report recommends that each state — supported by the Justice Department's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention — should launch a sustained and comprehensive process to begin implementing juvenile reforms that are guided by "developmentally informed principles."
"What we're trying to do is consolidate and build on reforms that are already underway in various states and to provide guidance to others," Bonnie said. "Although the leadership and locus of juvenile justice reform have to be nurtured at the state and local levels, we also think the federal government has a crucial supportive role."
On the federal level, Bonnie added, the report urges Congress to strengthen the mandate of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to help the states make evidence-based reforms.
"This is not a partisan issue," he said. "But you need a commitment from the policymakers. Having some cross-branch, bipartisan entity that is created to spearhead, design, monitor and modify the reforms in each state is going to be important."
Bonnie will teach a January term course at UVA Law School on juvenile justice reform, focusing on the study's findings, and will address the purposes and current practices of juvenile justice, racial disparities in the juvenile justice system, the meaning of holding juveniles accountable for wrongdoing, and recent federal and state initiatives to reform the system. | <urn:uuid:95a9639a-69ca-4fea-b8db-ee4e695a36d4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.law.virginia.edu/html/news/2012_fall/juvenile_justice_bonnie.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954155 | 1,103 | 2.25 | 2 |
Make some beautiful heart ornaments from homemade red and white clay, ready for Valentine’s day or as a lovely gift or decoration for a loved one!
Before Christmas we made some beautiful sparkly reindeer ornaments
using homemade white clay mixed with glitter. They were surprisingly easy to make and the recipe was very inexpensive, using just a few ingredients from the kitchen cupboards. So we made some more clay to have go at making some hearts for Valentine’s day! This time I wanted to experiment with colouring the dough during the cooking stage and it worked really well. You could be really creative with this and try any combinations of colours and glitter to see what lovely effect you could make.
1 cup bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1/2 cup corn flour (corn starch)
3/4 cup of warm water
red food colouring
To make the two separate colours I halved the ingredients first, then did the following steps twice. First I made the white dough, then I popped the next set of ingredients in the pan and made the coloured dough.
Mix the dry ingredients in a pan then stir through the warm water. If you are adding colour, now is the time to do that. Otherwise skip this next step and read on.
Add red food colouring (either half a bottle of liquid or a teaspoon of gel colouring) then mix over a medium heat, stirring as it starts to bubble and come away from the sides of the pan.
When it has started to dry and resemble a soft play dough consistency, take it off the heat and leave it to cool for a few minutes.
Turn it out onto the counter and knead it for a couple of minutes to make it super soft and pliable. It should resemble play dough and be easy to roll out and work with.
When the doughs were cool enough we rolled them out and used different sized heart cookie cutters to make some heart shapes. To make the outline heart we cut an insert heart out of a large heart, using a smaller cutter. Those turned out particularly delicately and pretty!
Using the white dough for contrast we added spots. stripes, smaller hearts as inserts and I made a set of initials so that each child could have one to represent her own name. The doughs just stuck together without any need for glue, but you do need to work quickly as this type of dough dries quite fast and can become crumbly at the edges or crack slightly.
If you want to hang them you will need to poke through a straw at the top before letting them harden.
When finished we put them on a being tray and into the oven for one hour at 100 degrees C (200 F) but they also air dry perfectly without the need for heating. If you have a particularly hot oven you may find it better to turn the oven onto the said temperature, then switch off when you put the ornaments in for the hour. If you try either of those alternatives please tell me how long it takes for them to harden! Thanks!
When cool they can be coated in mod podge or varnish and hung up by threading ribbon through the holes.
Here’s what they are learning while they play:
motor skills: mixing, kneading, rolling, cutting, squeezing the dough; threading the twine; hanging carefully by the loops
maths: measuring quantities
science: observing change in state of materials from dry to malleable to hard
literacy: following instructions, reading recipes
Bean: 11 mos
See our other ornaments too!
Handprint and Footprint Keepsakes
Easy Salt Dough Ornaments
Salt Dough Initials
Sparkly Reindeer Ornaments from White Clay
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Delivered by FeedBurner | <urn:uuid:3e320f63-3c3b-41d6-8f64-0ff0fb7955d9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://theimaginationtree.com/2013/01/red-and-white-clay-heart-ornaments.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939147 | 814 | 1.976563 | 2 |
updated 08:30 am EST, Fri December 30, 2011
Google lets dummy Siri apps slip through
Google has let through a pair of fake Siri apps. Both Siri for Android (Android Market) and Speerit (Android Market) both steal Apple's icon and, in the case of Speerit, try to clone Siri's interface. The currently Korean-only app claims to have "real" Siri, although the differing results on the weather widget suggest it's not actually asking Apple's servers.
Siri for Android, meanwhile, is blunt in the description and reveals that it's just a shortcut for Google's Voice Actions, with the same much more constrained syntax. At least some have been taken by the app, however, including one who unintentionally commented on the limited state of Google's voice commands on the assumption the 'app' was an unfinished Siri port.
"Surprisingly decent," said the reviewer, Cody. "Needs some work but a awesome [sic] start!"
The presences both emphasize a mounting problem with Google's attitude towards app approvals. Its policy has usually been to apply very few if any checks to apps before they go live, allowing apps that clearly copy someone else's work. Android Market has recently been home to scam game developers and occasional malware apps that stayed active for days before Google took them down, possibly leading to thousands of frauds and infections.
Apple so far has no intention of officially porting Siri to other platforms and itself has a much more active approval process that so far has kept out clearly imitative material. Its policies are sometimes considered over-aggressive but have kept app risks mostly to those using jailbreaks and bypassing Apple's usual security. [via The Next Web]
Siri for Android | <urn:uuid:8d89d050-9c37-4733-9d33-3f9843913032> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.electronista.com/articles/11/12/30/google.lets.dummy.siri.apps.slip.through/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967146 | 355 | 1.609375 | 2 |
As China tops US as #1 goods-trading nation....
CBO's latest budget projections are scary....
But do not believe CBO's projections are likely to be correct; they are rosy scenarios, given that the past five years have been America's worst 5-year period since the Great Depression. They assume 1.4 percent GDP growth in 2013 (possible), followed by an average of 3.6 percent for the next 9 years (a pipe dream, barring a miracle). This assumes, the WSJ editors note, that tax revenues will rise more rapidly than historical levels over the past four decades:
The budget shop does say the revenues will be rolling in. CBO predicts that tax receipts will soar by roughly 25% over the next three years with higher tax rates. As a share of the economy, revenue will increase from 15.8% last year to nearly 17% in fiscal 2013 to 18% in 2014 and 19.1% in 2015 and then stay near that level—which is more than a percentage point higher than the four-decade average of 17.9%.
All of this is based on CBO's typically static analysis that tax rates won't change investor behavior or economic growth, which is almost certainly false. The budget gnomes say the economy will expand by 1.4% in 2013 and 3.6% on average after that. But every year since 2009 CBO has predicted that a new burst of growth is just a year or two away. Perhaps the Panglosses should revisit their optimism as the new taxes corrode work and investment incentives.
SO: Do YOU believe in the Tooth Fairy?
To be fair, CBO is an honest agency that tries to split things down the middle. But CBO personnel are--surprise!--fallible human beings. And they must make policy assumptions dictated by their Congressional overseers--which are driven by felt political necessities, not economic realism. Thus no budget projection more than a year out is worth a bet with coin of the realm (however depreciated).
The numbers could easily be far worse, and could then add several trillion to the national debt. Also germane is the huge concentration of assets in troubled megabanks, which, George Will argues, should be broken up so that there are no "too big to fail" (TBTF) banks:
In a sense, TBTF began under Ronald Reagan with the 1984 rescue of Continental Illinois, then the seventh-largest bank. In 2011, the four biggest U.S. banks (JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo) had 40 percent of all federally insured deposits. Today, the 5,500 community banks have 12 percent of the banking industry’s assets. The 12 banks with $250 billion to $2.3 trillion in assets total 69 percent. The 20 largest banks’ assets total 84.5 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product.
Such banks have become bigger, relative to the economy, since the financial crisis began, and they are not the only economic entities to do so. Last year, the Economist reported that in the past 15 years the combined assets of the 50 largest U.S. companies had risen from around 70 percent of GDP to around 130 percent. And banks are not the only entities designated TBTF because they are “systemically important.” General Motors supposedly required a bailout because a chain of parts suppliers might have failed with it.
But this just means that the pernicious practice of socializing losses while keeping profits private is not quarantined in the financial sector.
As banks metastasize, whatever scale economies arise can be more than offset by managerial scale diseconomies--in lay terms, the enterprises become too complex to manage well. The result is that unsound practices escape scrutiny and decisions are made poorly. Put simly, in Will's view (mine also), TBTF is TBTM--too big to manage. And thus such banks are too big to exist.
Which is why the GOP is well-advised to take Charles Krauthammer's sage advice: call the president's "sequester" bluff. CK notes that the president himself proposed the $1.2 TR sequester in July 2011 during the debt ceiling negotiations: $600B each to be cut from domestic & defense spending; (b) the president already got his tax hike--$600B; (c) the president wants not tax reform--trading lower rates for closing loopholes--but closing loopholes alone, which is another tax hike; (4) at $16 TR national debt (actually, already at $16.5 TR) spending cuts are essential. Trading lower tax rates for fewer loopholes is (h/t CK) exactly what the White House once called for. Now, the president threatens to use the "Washington Monument ploy"--cutting federal spending where voters will feel the most pain, to enrage them & generate voter backlash.
CK notes that the lever of "automaticity" gave Obama the decisive edge in the end-2012 fiscal cliff negotiations, because taxes would have gone up far more had the Bush tax cuts not been renewed. This time, CK writes, "automaticity" gives the GOP the edge, as spending cuts go into effect if nothing is done. It is the only way to make Obama accept domestic spending cuts. Yes, CK adds, the defense spending cuts are awful. But there is no way to get us on the road to fiscal sanity without accepting them.
To which I would add the president, after all, has (incredibly) stated that we do not have a spending problem. In his view government only has revenue problems. Re defense sequestration cuts, he will force America to retreat anyway, and absent a sequester will likely exact bigger cuts from defense to preserve the domestic welfare state he is assiduously expanding even as Uncle Sam sinks deeper into the red ink.
Another anti-Obama policy weapon is newly unsheathed: state governments evading ObamaCare rules. They are turning full-time employees into part-timers, or simply cutting staff, to get below ObamaCare's 30-full-time employee trigger.
Nor does the president share the public's concern with unemployment, as he focuses on guns & immigration, whilst letting his jobs council go out of business after 4 meetings its first year & none the second. In the linked article, Byron York cites the results of a major study on the social impact of protracted unemployment:
In "Diminished Lives and Futures: A Portrait of America in the Great Recession Era," the Rutgers researchers found the impact of unemployment reaches far beyond today's jobless rate of 7.9 percent. A much larger number -- 23 percent of those surveyed -- have lost a full- or part-time job in the last four years. An additional 11 percent who have not lost a job said someone in their immediate family had. "Together, the data indicate one-third of American households -- approximately 39 million -- lost work as a result of the recession during the past four years," the report concludes.
The researchers found that an additional 26 percent had an extended-family member -- parent, cousin, aunt or uncle -- who had lost a job in the last four years. Still others reported having an unemployed close friend. Add them all together, and nearly everyone has been affected. "What we showed is that unemployment and what happened in the recession are society-wide experiences," says Rutgers professor Carl Van Horn, a co-author of the report.
Put simply, President Obama's core agenda is, after all, not solvency but transformation of America into: (a) a paradise of corporatist partnership with private business in which government is the senior partner in deciding allocation of capital; & (b) socialist redistribution of private wealth in which the government allocates benefits among competing societal groups.
Thus the GOP must continue to insist that future budget decisions be made via the normal budget process--which last was done, CK drily notes, before Apple's first iPad. Make the Democrats go on public record for any tax increases they desire, with the GOP declining to follow suit. Let Democrats own them. The GOP should instead press for tax reform, and pass same in the House--knowing full well that Harry Reid's Senate will bury them. The party lines would be clearly drawn for voters come 2014.
Bottom Line. Place not your faith in budget seers, however sincere. Nor place any faith in the president's promise of domestic spending cuts. They will be made, if at all, through the sequester.
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Word of Mouth
Tue April 17, 2012
These streets aren't made for walking
On the streets of most American neighborhoods, walking to a grocery store, park, or school is not an option. Kaid Benfield is Director of Sustainable Communities at the National Resources Defense Council, and a frequent contributor to the Atlantic Cities website, where he argues that the car-centric built environment is detrimental to our health and quality of life. | <urn:uuid:033fc62c-1909-412d-8e66-3b88fc7294d0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nhpr.org/post/these-streets-arent-made-walking | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925325 | 87 | 1.9375 | 2 |
Is Indrema Just a Dream?by David Sims
Listen to this interview
John Gildred dreamed of a way to lower the barrier for game developers to create entertainment that would run not just on PCs, but in the much wider universe of gaming consoles. The idea: build a Linux-based gaming console that open source hackers can develop for. But can a startup get a foothold on a market dominated by Nintendo, Sony, and (soon) Microsoft? Indrema's chances for survival have sagged in recent months, and on Friday, April 6, Red Herring published this article quoting Gildred saying the project has about 30 days to make it or break it. We talked to Gildred and asked him to describe the Indrema game console for us.
Sims: First off, can you tell us a little bit about what Indrema is?
Gildred: Indrema is releasing a video game console platform in 2001, which essentially makes it extremely easy for anyone to become a developer of a very high-performance video game platform. It will also offer additional high-end video-audio capabilities. It essentially is a digital home entertainment platform.
Sims: I was thinking of it as something of a set-top box with wings. It's a Linux-based system focusing primarily on gaming, but it includes multimedia capabilities such as DVD playback.
Gildred: Yes, actually it's a video game console at heart, but it has a lot of functionality that no one has ever really put in that definition. The multimedia features are personal TV, music library management such as MP3 music, and other secure music formats. It interfaces with the Internet with the capability for broadband connectivity. There is so much that this device does, it really becomes the center of your home entertainment center.
Indrema Informer, a news site on Indrema development
Sims: Why did you choose the Linux platform or what competitive advantage does that offer?
Gildred: Well, Linux was a decision made after our first decision, which was that we wanted to leverage an open source development environment. The reason for that is that one of our primary concerns was barrier to entry for developers. So open source allowed us to establish a set of tools for developing games that were free and still very, very powerful. With that we then went out and investigated different open source kernels that would be suitable for a video game console platform, and by far Linux was the best choice. It has a very powerful core that you can really shrink down to the bare essentials and then pile on the great gaming engine that we have today.
Sims: And then above the kernel level, between that and the interface, you have Open GL and Open AL, the open libraries in that?
Gildred: Open GL is our 3D graphics API, which is a very industry-standard API that has been used extensively in video gaming, and has been used for a very long time in the workstation and PC environments.
Sims: And then you're supplementing that with a proprietary video API, Open Stream -- is that right?
Gildred: Actually, Open Stream is completely open. We really like to use the word "open" correctly, so we are trying to make sure that anything that has the word "open" on our platform actually is. The Open Stream API is something that we are developing, but we will give away the source code of the implementation, and we will publish the spec of the API in such a way that eventually a consortium will govern its evolution.
Sims: How do you get into a market like this with today's huge players? We've got the momentum of PS2 right now, and we've got X-Box on the horizon. It seems like you're targeting a window of opportunity between the two. How do you walk into that game?
Gildred: Well, I think that the game is totally being rewritten right now, and it's funny, because one of our internal sort of mottos or things that we believe is that there are the new rules of the game, and it's changing, the market is changing. I think the new rules of the game are that the devices are becoming multifunctional, and this sort of never-ending promise of conversions, that has never been delivered, I think will actually become realized, in terms of interactive TV, on the video gaming side. I think that as an engine, you need to have a device that can render very rich graphics and very compelling content. That rendering engine has to be much more sophisticated than what you see in cable boxes today or in any of the other set-top boxes, and I think that's part of the reason why you don't see a compelling development environment for content for interactive TV or for that type of a thing. When you think of the video game platform on the console side, it's traditionally been a great consumer electronics-oriented development platform but one now that is becoming connected to the Internet and connected to television that may be interactive very soon.
Sims: And it seems like one of the ways you're really changing the roles is that you're giving your developer kit away for free.
Gildred: That's right, and because this whole sort of revolution in technology is happening and it's now becoming a big deal in the living room more so than the desktop, as we move ahead we want to enable that by allowing it to get in anyone's hands. So essentially any user, any game player, can become a game maker. We think with the free tools that we make available in our open source software development kit, you really can download everything that you need to get started and you can let your imagination run wild. There is a learning curve there, but we think that, with the tools being free, it'll be interesting to see the amount of talent that is now able to come to market, whereas before they weren't.
Sims: So it's a low barrier of entry as opposed to the other console gaming development programs, which require a lot of money. If there's no barrier to entry, those wind up as PC games.
Gildred: Exactly. If I'm making a game in today's market and I want to get it to market and I don't have the reputation in selling games already or I haven't worked for another company and successfully built a large blockbuster game, I don't have much of a chance of cutting a deal with a large game publisher or a game console manufacturer. So there's very little chance I can sell to the video game consumer electronics space, and the majority of the video game market is the console side, not the PC game side. So you kind of see this duality, sort of this teeter-totter effect, where the size of the market on the PC side is much smaller because the barrier to entry for developers is low, but the barrier to entry for consumers to use the platform is high. It's very difficult to configure a high-end game for a PC. On the console side, it's the opposite, where the barrier to entry for consumers is low because they're easy to buy, plug in, and use. The barrier to entry for developers is almost prohibitive for independent developers, and that teeter-totter effect is something that has made it difficult for a lot of the talent in one side to move over to a much larger market, and we want to change that rule. We want to make it so that any independent developer or any large publisher can bring a game onto our platform and get to the mass consumer.
Pages: 1, 2 | <urn:uuid:80017e1f-503b-4789-9333-7906bd584a78> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.onjava.com/pub/a/linux/2001/04/06/indrema.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975029 | 1,572 | 2.109375 | 2 |
There are only 2 days left until our PeaceMeal online course starts with National Peace Academy!
As part of our countdown challenge, today, we offer you Sovereignty Saturday: What is food sovereignty?
From the Via Campesina web site:
“Via Campesina launched the idea of “Food Sovereignty” at the World Food Summit in 1996. This idea has now grown into a global people’s movement carried by a large diversity of social sectors such as the urban poor, environmental and consumer groups, women associations, fisher-folks, pastoralists and many others. It is also recognized by several institutions and governments.
Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through sustainable methods and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems. It develops a model of small scale sustainable production benefiting communities and their environment. It puts the aspirations, needs and livelihoods of those who produce, distribute and consume food at the heart of food systems and policies rather than the demands of markets and corporations.
Food sovereignty prioritizes local food production and consumption. It gives a country the right to protect its local producers from cheap imports and to control production. It ensures that the rights to use and manage lands, territories, water, seeds, livestock and biodiversity are in the hands of those who produce food and not of the corporate sector. Therefore the implementation of genuine agrarian reform is one of the top priorities of the farmer’s movement.
Food sovereignty now appears as one of the most powerful response to the current food, poverty and climate crises.”
We will be looking at food sovereignty and other issues during Week 3 on Political, Institutional and Economic Peace and Food.
What are some ways that you can promote food sovereignty? Put your ideas below in the comments! | <urn:uuid:4548b408-3e0e-4739-9317-b454abf6ddcc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://peacemealproject.com/2012/08/18/2-day-countdown-peacemeal-challenge-sovereignty-saturday/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929643 | 372 | 3.15625 | 3 |
ChristianAnswers.Net WebBible Encyclopedia
… and plural Asherim in Revised Version, instead of “grove” and “groves” of the King James Version
Its symbol was the stem of a tree deprived of its boughs, and rudely shaped into an image, and planted in the ground. Such religious symbols (“groves”) are frequently alluded to in Scripture (Ex. 34:13; Judg. 6:25; 2 Kings 23:6; 1 Kings 16:33, etc.). These images were also sometimes made of silver or of carved stone (2 Kings 21:7; “the graven image of Asherah,” Revised Version). | <urn:uuid:6c80541a-b842-46e7-ba6d-f318f1946293> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.christiananswers.net/dictionary/asherah.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934352 | 150 | 2.78125 | 3 |
The embarrassment and alienation we often feel when the word 'vagina' comes up in conversation is fairly new. Slang terms for the vagina right up until the end of the nineteenth century were affectionate, often downright cuddly and usually positive. It was only in the last hundred and twenty years that the hostile note attending the vagina became a slur rather than an endearment.
The vagina deserves an understanding of its own cultural lineage and ancestry because what is true of the female body in general is more true of the vagina than of any other aspect of the feminine. And the way we understand and envision the vagina at certain moments in history is a metaphor for how we are willing to see women in general and how women are encouraged to see themselves.
From the Greeks and the Romans to Freud, from pornography and health to goddesses, from worship to denigration and even mutilation, here is a history of this wonderful organ, the 'dark continent' of female sexuality, well deserving of its own story.
About the Author
Naomi Wolf is at the forefront of contemporary feminist thought. Through her four groundbreaking books she has given voice to women of all ages, helping reveal the social myths that conspire to keep women struggling against inequality.
Reviewed by 1 customer
Displaying review 1
Comments about Vagina : A New Biography:
I found this book very hard to understand... Lot's of long scientific works. I found myself looking up every fifth word in the dictionary !
A smart, angry, insightful book, and a clarion call to freedom. Every woman should read it. [Gloria Steinem on The Beauty Myth]
Number Of Pages: 416
Published: 6th September 2012
Dimensions (cm): 23.4 x 15.3 x 3.0
Weight (kg): 0.542 | <urn:uuid:33f8770b-9ca6-45d6-829b-d3b8497b4cf6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.booktopia.com.au/vagina-a-new-biography-naomi-wolf/prod9781844086887.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927599 | 374 | 2.59375 | 3 |
I put myself in the category of a motivational speaker, but I consider myself nothing more than a storyteller. And I don't think anything more is needed. Because if you have the ability to tell a powerful value-filled story, then it will serve you well in life and in business. Most of us have something we want to "sell" – a truth we want to share – information we want to transfer – an impact we want to make. This information, while it may be interesting, has no impact until you wrap it in a way that speaks beyond their mind, to their heart. Information does not convince. The story does that. Stories do what information can't. They take your information and make it real to the receiver. Delivering information has a pushing action – telling a story has a pulling action. When I tell a story people don't move. They don't text. They don't chat. They don't poke their neighbor. While I'd love to think it's because I'm a good storyteller, I give more credit to the vehicle - story – and its power to do what I can not.
In case you are not convinced, think about American Idol and how we get so involved in the stories of the characters. Sometimes (think Susan Boyle) we fall in love with the story more than the singing. Think about Taylor Swift. There are many who don't understand her fame – many who think her talent just does not match it. I understand completely. But I know what they love about her. She's not just singing – she's telling stories. Not hers – theirs. In fact, wouldn't you say that the music you love is the music that tells your story and speaks to your heart? Songs are just stories set to music. And last time I checked, music was still going strong. Same thing with movies. We buy into the story that speaks to us – and for two hours we are lost in it. I would challenge you to watch people in positions of impact (leaders, politicians, bosses, preachers, changers of the world) and see if and how they use stories. Watch good television commercials for the same thing. Are they focusing on the product, or are they telling the story of you using this product? Watch the storytellers in life around you.
And here's the ultimate test: Try telling your eight-year-old what to do versus telling him a story that teaches that principle. See which one works better. The story will get his attention. And he will remember it. He still may not do it – but at least you got his attention. I didn't say storytelling would work miracles.
And so today, as we embark on the end of one year and look towards another, I ask that you take a serious look at storytelling and its power to help you impact others. How are you using stories? What are the many areas of your life where a story would fit? Where are the many facets of your business where storytelling would help you connect with your customers or employees? (Think sales calls, web, blogs, facebook page, even phone conversations!) What are the stories that make up your portfolio? What is YOUR story?
(PS I should have followed my own advice. This whole article is filled with information - things you should do. I broke my own rule. I'm not walking my talk. I could have told one story proving the power of stories, and it would have been highly more effective. I could have SHOWN you instead of TOLD you. Oh well. Maybe next time.) | <urn:uuid:a32d3816-b29d-4e4c-8160-645c28f5b6ee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://motivational-speakers-review.com/2012/11/21/storytelling-2/the-value-of-storytelling-in-life-and-in-business | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980456 | 730 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Year Released: 2007
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Running Time: 90 minutes
Click to Expand Credits:
“Staggering” is really the best way to describe Jennifer Baichwal’s documentary, “Manufactured Landscapes.” For the first five minutes or so there’s no dialogue at all, just a steady pan through a huge Chinese factory, yellow uniformed workers clustered around assembly lines. Then photographer Edward Burtynsky’s voiceover kicks in, describing his attempts to catalog “the landscape of industry.” All the while, the same camera continues relentlessly on, capturing the seeming unending immensity of the “Factory of the World The Channel of the World” (hey, that’s what the sign says), where workers sometimes fall asleep, literally, at the switch.
“Manufactured Landscapes” follows Burtynsky on his quest to capture the changes wrought by mankind’s “extraction industries” (mining, quarrying, and the like) on his surroundings. His focus in the film is China, at the epicenter of such topics as global warming and peak oil thanks to their rapid industrialization. His pictures, brought to life in the film, capture the immense scale of things like the construction of the Three Gorges Dam, the largest structure of its type ever to be built.
A large part of the film is also given over to the inner workings of the factory: the sheer monotony of doing piecemeal work day in, day out. The same small muscle movements repeated ad infinitum. Supervisors lambasting them for being lazy, even though hey put in 12-14 hour days, and constantly belittling their efforts. We see the micro and macro efforts behind the Chinese juggernaut.
A central theme Burtynsky pursues is the effect of all this activity on China’s environment. He photographs, among other things, the huge mounds of recycled materials sent to China for reprocessing, also documenting how the toxic materials released from improperly destroying electronic waste has contaminated the area’s water supply.
The sheer volume of change is what makes what we see so overwhelming. Baichwal tries to accentuate this with long, unbroken takes of the factory as well as Burtynsky’s depressing photographs (those juxtaposing old and new areas of Shanghai, for example). The end result threatens to overwhelm the audience at times, but that’s probably the idea. Whether it’s legions of dull-eyed workers, huge lots filled with freight containers, or massive ships still under construction (watch out, Taiwan), the effect is impressive.
The government-mandated urbanization of China will have dramatic effects far beyond the country’s borders. Flipping the country’s production capabilities from agrarian to urban has already had a remarkable impact. What Burtynsky and Baichwal have done of capture a mere fraction of this on film, barely touching upon the issues at play but even that is enough to leave a sobering impression. “Manufactured Landscapes” is slow in places, but the feeling of foreboding you’ll take away from it is undeniable.
Posted on January 24, 2007 in Reviews by Pete Vonder Haar
If you liked this article then you may also like the following Film Threat articles:
- MARDI GRAS: MADE IN CHINA
- THE LAST TRUCK: THE CLOSING OF A GM PLANT
- THE TAKE
- MARDI GRAS: MADE IN CHINA
Popular Stories from Around the Web | <urn:uuid:a431f99e-5064-4727-b89a-0030c578c1d7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.filmthreat.com/reviews/9683/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935386 | 766 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Bariatric Surgical Procedures
Millions of Americans turn to diet, fitness and medication to treat their obesity. However, these methods often fail to help them achieve long-term weight loss. Those who are morbidly obese face an even greater challenge. Surgery may be the best hope for these individuals to sustain weight loss and resolve health conditions.
Benefits of Bariatric Surgery
The benefits of bariatric surgery are more than just skin-deep. It will not only help you look better, but more importantly, with proper post-surgical care you will feel better and be healthier. With bariatric surgery:
- 90% of patients lose at least 50% of excess body weight.
- Most people with hypertension and/or diabetes no longed need medication.
- Young women with abnormal or absent menses may see a return of normal periods and an improvement in fertility.
- Many males will experience improved sexual function.
- There is a reduction in sleep apnea.
- The disabling effects of arthritis are eliminated or slowed.
- You will experience improved self-esteem and more energy.
How Bariatric Surgery Works
Bariatric surgery alters the digestive process. There are two basic types of bariatric surgery that are commonly performed: restrictive and combined. Restrictive are those that limit food intake by narrowing the passage from the upper part of the stomach to the lower part (Lap Band surgery, also known as Lap Banding, Lapband Surgery and Gastric Banding). Combined are those that use stomach restriction and a partial bypass of the small intestine (open Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass)*.
Restrictive operations limit food intake but do not interfere with normal digestion. A small pouch is created at the top of the stomach where food enters from the esophagus. Immediately following the operation, the pouch holds about 1 ounce of food and later may stretch to hold 2-3 ounces. The pouch outlets into the lower part of the stomach is about a half inch in diameter or smaller and delays the emptying of food from the pouch into the larger part of the stomach, causing a feeling of fullness.
Combined operations are the most common bariatric procedures. They restrict both food intake and the amount of calories and nutrients the body absorbs.
* A fourth procedure, the Duodenal Switch is also available through Staten Island University Hospital. | <urn:uuid:f0d8d29b-eb11-46c1-a6c6-44d451ed1e82> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.northshorelij.com/cs/Satellite?c=eHA_Content_C&cid=1228242761719&pagename=NSLIJ%2FCentral_Template | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930448 | 498 | 2.15625 | 2 |
Over the course of 20 years, MKIM has offered educational group tours to over 105,000 children. Education is the core of our mission and we look forward to welcoming your group on a memorable journey encompassing the amazing diversity of North American Indian cultures and reverence for nature.
In addition to school tours, MKIM offers tours for homeschoolers, scout tours, senior tours, and special interest tours for groups such as cultural awareness, gardening, craft, Native studies, and museum studies groups.
Groups begin their visit by viewing a 10-minute DVD that orients them to the museum. Museum Educators introduce themselves and lay out the framework and rules for the tour. Then the journey begins!
Enter the Northeastern Woodlands with its birch bark containers, moose hair embroidery and split ash baskets, into the Southeast with artifacts from the Seminole and Cherokee cultures. Around a corner, enter the Southwest with a fascinating discussion about corn, pueblo pottery, Navajo weaving and basketry from the western part of the country.
Next, step into the Plains Galleries. This work, completed under the direction of Chris Bullock, Wampanoag, brings a full-scale furnished tipi into the galleries! Children and adults alike will marvel at this glimpse into Plains life with discussions of the American bison, beadwork and feather headdresses. The Northwest Coast is represented by artifacts such as harpoon heads, fur lined moccasins, model kayaks and more recent stone sculptures.
Finally, our Ceremonial Room focuses on the pipes, the musical instruments and the regalia that have been used in ceremonies of all kinds by Native Americans. Connect the Circle Tours also include a guided walk through of the Medicine Woods Nature Trail, where we have over 100 plants native to our area that have been used by Native peoples for tools, medicines, foods, dyes, transportation, shelter, and more. Click here to download a Group Reservation Form.
MKIM is a natural resource for classroom teachers, home school parents, youth group leaders and enrichment coordinators. In addition to offering group tours of the museum the museum offers Educator Resource Kits, Outreach Programs and specifics on how MKIM aligns with the New Hampshire Department of Education’s State Curriculum Frameworks for Teaching Social Studies.
Plains-style tipi. Photo by Richard Senor. 2008. | <urn:uuid:573d30cf-9c59-4475-a1ef-3b9c5c2d3cea> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.indianmuseum.com/education/edu_tours.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924906 | 491 | 2.328125 | 2 |
|back to image processing|
Wireless Webcam as a Test Case for Image Enhancement Techniques
Wireless Webcam Kit
I got my wireless webcams from www.x10.com. The website offers various super saver packages. The set Ive got included 3 wireless webcams with addressable power supply, video receiver, firecracker power switch and some other stuff.
The wireless webcam kit works as follows. The user sets up cameras at different locations inside the house and powers them up via addressable power supply. The video receiver connects to the computer via USB converter. Also you need to plug in firecracker in one of the power outlets and attach firecracker transmitter to COM port of your PC.
The package comes with software called XRay Vision. It consists of two components. The first one switches cameras by talking to the device in the back of your computer making it send radio signals to the firecracker switch. The switch sends signals via the electric wiring of the house to the addressable power supplies of cameras making them go on and off. When one of the cameras is active it sends its video signal to the receiver. The receiver is connected to you PC via video-to-USB converter and the video signal is delivered as usual webcam feed.
Some Related Freeware
Since both firecracker and USB input follow standard protocols it is possible to develop your own custom applications to control cameras and process incoming images. Scripting in Python is probably one of the best alternatives.
Firecracker software is readily available from HomeSeer LLC as CM17 ActiveX control at no charge. You can call ActiveX control from Python using Python Win32 extensions. See Appendix 1 for the full source code of simple wrapper class for firecracker. It seems to work fine except for couple of idiosyncrasies. One of them is occasional power switch malfunction. I think that is coming from camera power supply overheating. When it is happening the camera does not want to switch off, it keeps sending the signal regardless and messes up video input. Physically unplugging problematic camera for a while helps. The other problem is occasional hanging up of the ActiveX control when it resets firecracker interface. I didnt track down this problem yet.
Its easy to capture video in Python with vidcap module for win32 by Markus Gritsch. The interface is very simple; see example in Appendix 2.
The image coming from video capture module is PIL object (PIL is Python Image Library). This object is all you need to start messing up with video input.
The Raw Image
The video signal from X10 wireless cameras is quite noisy. Even if the camera is close to the receiver still there is a lot of interference. If the camera is on the other floor or is not pointing at the receiver, the signal gets even worse.
|Besides video noise low light
sensitivity affects performance of the regular XCam2
cameras quite a bit. With only scattered electric light
in the room the picture is marginal.
The image on the left is very dark and you can see a strip introduced by noisy video signal. In addition to spurious strips there is some rippling noise. It is more apparent on brighter images.
|Pulling out anything useful from the
imput like that is a good excersise in image enhancement.
While doing that I wrote a simple Python module. The
original version version was all-Ptyhon, but to imporve
perfomrmance I ported the most calculation intense parts
Collecting a number of raw frames then stacking them allows to improve signal/noise ratio.
be the pixel (gray scale value) recorded in frame i
at the image coordinates (x,y). Then stacked
image consists of pixels averaged at the same coordinates
over all images in the stack of N images:
For RGB images the same procedure should be run on all RGB components.
|The raw frames in my case are 8 bit RGB
images. Stacking them in 8-bit color space does not quite
work because the result would still suffer from
quantization artifacts. To address that I used matrix of
floating point numbers to accumulate 128 raw frames.
While straightforward stacking was reducing noise
considerably, the result was still degraded by random
strips of bad video signal.
Fortunately bad signal strips can be easily detected and excluded from stack. The first version was rejecting complete frame if it would detect a bad strip in the image. Because of that up to 40 precent of frames would be rejected. To improve percent of used captured data I switched to stacking on per-strip basis. The usual stacking algorithm worked independently on each horizontal strip so the amount of rejected data was minimized more than twice.
Dark Frame Subtraction
Because of the thermal noise in CCD the image is not completely black even if the objective lens is covered. An image recorded with no incoming light is called dark frame. Subtracting dark frame from the images allows to remove or reduce significanlty the level of intrinsic noise of the camera.
In the case of wireless cameras dark frames were affected by video signal interference. By stacking dark frames in the same fashion as normal frames I obtained some good approxmation to the dark frames for each of my cameras.
|A dark frame
appears to be perfectly black. However Autolevels filter
in Photoshop reveals that it is not. Only the half of the
dark frame to the right was "autolevelled" for
comaprison. Below is a histogram of the dark frame.
After stacking and extracting dark frame the image was still far from been usable. An apparently useful step in the following image enhancement could be full-scale histogram stretch (FSHS, aka Autolevels in Photoshop terminology). Yet the problem remained with too many dark areas and low contrast, even after some gamma correction.
Histogram equalization allows to address that problem. The method goal is to equalize the number of pixels for each intensity range and produce a new image with the resulting histogram as close to the straigh horizontal tline as possible (the so called flat histogram).
we have a gray scale NxM image with FSHS
(Autolevels) already applied. Let's assume also that the
pixel values are floating point numbers normaized to
[0...1]. Consider K equal length segments [hi,hi+1],
i = 0,..., K-1, where h0=0
and hK=1, covering
the entire range [0...1]. Let Pi
be the number of pixels with values v in the
range hi < v < hi+1
and let n = NxM be the total number
of pixels in the image. When we randomly pick a pixel
from the image the number Pi
/n represents the probability that we will select a
pixel from the i-th segement. In the image with
the equalized histogram this probability must be the same
for all segements. To equalize this probabiliy we should
transform pixels in each of the original segements to
spread them more uniformly. The more pixels are in the
original segement the more we should stretch the segment
to reduce chances of picking a pixel from it. The
segements with smaller Pi should
be compressed for the same reason. Overall the sum of all
probabilities has to be equal 1. That leads to the
following iterative formula for the new segment
boundaries qi :
q0 = 0,
q1 = P1/n,
It is easy to see that indeed qK=1, so the sum of probabilities is equal 1. Also, evidently the number of pixels in each of the new segments divided by the length of the segment is constant.
The remaining step in equalization is to map pixels with values in the range hi...hi+1 to the range qi...qi+1 for all segements, which is an easy excercise.
|I used 512 segments in the histogram equalization. It is twice more than 255 levels in the final 8-bit image, so using floating point numbers was essential. Since the floating point image was obtained from stacking of many 8-bit images, there was plenty information hidden in low brightness pixels. Usng 512 (or even more) segments helped to pulled that information and convert it into more useful range without false contouring. As always, a larger pixel depth (number of levels per color component) prevents from false contouring during histogram equalization.|
|This fully processed image is the result of stacking of 128 images like the first one presented in this article. The dark frame was subtracted and histogram equalized.|
|On the image above the histogram equalization, besides enhancing useful details, also enhanced the residual noise. For aesthetic reasons the result of equalization was mixed 50-50 with the original image. The same trick was used when subtracting dark frame (the dark frame was quite imprecise anyway).|
|Appendix 1. Firecracker class in Python. (under construction)|
|Appendix 2. Sample Python code that captures n frames with vidcap. (under construction)|
|Appendix 3. Example of calling x10stack module. (under construction)|
|Appendix 4. Download x10stacker.dll, an extension module for Python. (under contsurction)|
Handbook of CCD Astronomy, Steve B. Howell,
Cambridge University Press, 2000, 164 pages.
|back to image processing| | <urn:uuid:abc7fcdf-3bb1-47c5-823e-68e7b77568c3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.arkab.net/ImageProc/x10.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.902135 | 2,002 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Facing disastrous consequences from the economic slowdown in Europe, Sir Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, set out new plans to aid British financial institutions in the hope that the actions will preserve the already battered economy.
He said at a dinner in London:
What I can say tonight is that the Bank and the Treasury are working together on a “funding for lending” scheme that would provide funding to banks for an extended period of several years, at rates below current market rates and linked to the performance of banks in sustaining or expanding their lending to the UK non-financial sector during the present period of heightened uncertainty. The Bank would lend, as in its existing facilities, against a much greater value of collateral comprising loans to the real economy to protect taxpayers. But the long term nature of the lending and its pricing mean that the Bank could conduct such an operation only with the approval of the Government, as offered by the Chancellor earlier. So such a scheme would be a joint effort between Bank and Treasury. It would complement the Government’s existing schemes, and tackle the high level of funding costs directly. It could, I hope, be in place within a few weeks.
The action was taken specifically because,
The crisis in the euro area is affecting our own economy in two ways over and above the direct effect of a dampening in the demand for our exports. The first is via bank funding costs, which have risen since the middle of 2011 as the crisis has intensified. In turn, that has led to higher borrowing rates on mortgages and loans to SMEs. This rise in bank funding costs reflects in part the exposure of our major banks to the periphery economies. Any significant re-denomination of their currencies, or a default on domestic debts, would, both directly and as a result of the consequences for all our economies, put a dent in the capital position of our banks. As a result, investors demand a higher risk premium on loans to banks, pushing up the cost of borrowing for home-owners and businesses.
The other effect of the euro-area crisis has been to create a large black cloud of uncertainty hanging over not only the euro area but our economy too, and indeed the world economy as a whole. Complete uncertainty means that the risks to prospective investments that will yield returns in five or ten years’ time are simply impossible to quantify. The black cloud has dampened animal spirits so that businesses and households are battening down the hatches to prepare for the storms ahead. The result is that lower spending leads to lower incomes and a self-reinforcing weaker picture for growth.
The move is bold and unexpected. Therefore, it may bring some real sense of relief to UK banks and businesses. It may also serve as a model for the US if the EU economic catastrophe spreads
Douglas A. McIntyre | <urn:uuid:1e1f1897-809e-4184-bd6f-f2c58c095e90> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://247wallst.com/2012/06/14/bank-of-england-pledges-huge-liquidity-facility/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959812 | 578 | 2.359375 | 2 |
Lubos has a memo where he discusses how physicists make (finite) sense of divergent sums like 1+10+100+1000+... or 1+2+3+4+5+... . The last is, as string theorists know, of course -1/12 as for example explained in GSW. Their trick is to read that sum as the value at s=-1 of and define that value via the analytic continuation of the given expression which is well defined only for real part of s>1.
Alternatively, he regularises as . Then, in an obscure analogy with minimal subtraction throws away the divergent term and takes the finite remainder as the physical value.
He justifies this by claiming agreement with experiment (here in the case of a Casimir force). This, I think, however, is a bit too weak. If you rely on arguments like this it is unclear how far they take you when you want to apply them to new problems where you do not yet know the answer. Of course, it is good practice for physicists to take calculational short-cuts. But you should always be aware that you are doing this and it feels much better if you can say "This is a bit dodgy, I know, and if you really insist we could actually come up with a rigorous argument that gives the same result.", i.e. if you have a justification in your sleeve for what you are doing.
Most of the time, when in a physics calculation you encounter an infinity that should not be there (of course, often "infinity" is just the correct result, questions like how much energy I have to put into the acceleration of an electron to bring it up to the speed of light? come to my mind), you are actually asking the wrong question. This could for example be because you made an idealisation that is not physically justified.
Some examples come to my mind: The 1+2+3+... sum arises when you try to naively compute the commutator of two Virasoro generators L_n for the free boson (the X fields on the string world sheet). There, L_n is given as an infinite sum over bilinears in a_k's, the modes of X. In the commutator, each summand gives a constant from operator ordering and when you sum up these constants you face the sum 1+2+3+...
Once you have such an expression, you can of course regularise it. But you should be suspicious that it is actually meaningful what you do. For example, it could be that you can come up with two regularisations that give different finite results. In that case you should better have an argument to decide which is the better one.
Such an argument could be a way to realise that the infinity is unphysical in the first place: In the Virasoro example, one should remember that the L_n stand for transformations of the states rather than observables themselves (outer vs. inner transformations of the observable algebra). Thus you should always apply them to states. But for a state that is a finite linear combination of excitations of the Fock vacuum there are always only a finite number of terms in the sum for the L_n that do not annihilate the state. Thus, for each such state the sum is actually finite. Thus the infinite sum is an illusion and if you take a bit more care about which terms actually contribute you find a result equivalent to the -1/12 value. This calculation is the one you should have actually done but the zeta function version is of course much faster.
My problem with the zeta function version is that to me (and to all people I have asked so far) it looks accidental: I have no expansion of the argument that connects it to the rigorous calculation. From the Virasoro algebra perspective it is very unnatural to introduce s as at least I know of no way to do the calculation with L_n and a_k with a free parameter s.
Another example are the infinities that arise in Feynman diagrams. Those arise when you do integrals over all momenta p. There are of course the usual tricks to avoid these infinities. But the reason they work is that the integral over all p is unphysical: For very large p, your quantum field theory is no longer the correct description and you should include quantum gravity effects or similar things. You should only integrate p up the scale where these other effects kick in and then do a proper computation that includes those effects. Again, the infinity disappears.
If you have a renormalisable theory you are especially lucky: There you don't really have to know the details of that high energy theory, you can subsume them into a proper redefinition of your coupling constants.
A similar thing can be seen in fluid dynamics: The Navier-Stokes equation has singular solutions much like Einstein's equations lead to singularities. So what shall we do with for example infinite pressure? Well, the answer is simple: The Navier-Stokes equation applies to a fluid. But the fluid equations are only an approximation valid at macroscopic scales. If you look at small scales you find individual water molecules and this discreteness is what saves you actually encountering infinite values.
There is an approach to perturbative QFT developed by Epstein and Glaser and explained for example in this book that demonstrates that the usual infinities arise only because you have not been careful enough earlier in your calculation.
There, the idea is that your field operators are actually operator valued distributions and that you cannot always multiply distributions. Sometimes you can, if their singularities (the places where they are not a function but really a distribution) are in different places or in different directions (in a precise sense) but in general you cannot.
The typical situation is that what you want to define (for example delta(x)^2) is still defined for a subset of your test functions. For example delta(x)^2 is well defined for test functions that vanish in a neighbourhood of 0. So you start with a distribution defined only for those test functions. Then, you want to extend that definition to all test-functions, even those that are finite around 0. It turns out that if you restrict the degree of divergence (the maximum number of derivatives acting on delta, this will later turn out to be related to the superficial scaling dimension) to be below some value, there is a finite dimensional solution space to this extension problem. In the case of phi^4 theory for example the two point distribution is fixed up to a multiple of delta(x) and a multiple of the d'Alambertian of delta(x), the solution space is two dimensional (if Lorentz invariance is taken into account). The two coefficients have to be fixed experimentally and of course are nothing but mass and wave function renormalisation. In this approach the counter terms are nothing but ambiguities of an extension problem of distributions.
I has been shown in highly technical papers, that this procedure is equivalent to BPHZ regularization and dimensional regularisation and thus it's save to use the physicist's short-cuts. But it's good to know that the infinities that one cures could have been avoided in the first place.
My last example is of slightly different flavour: Recently, I have met a number of mathematical physicists (i.e. mathematicians) that work on very complicated theorems about what they call stability of matter. What they are looking at is the quantum mechanics of molecules in terms of a Hamiltonian that includes a kinetic term for electrons and Coulomb potentials for electron-electron and electron-nucleus interactions. The position of the nuclei are external (classical) parameters and usually you minimise them with respect to the energy. What you want to show is that the spectrum of this Hamiltonian is bounded from below. This is highly non-trivial as the Coulomb potential itself alone is not bounded from below (-1/r becomes arbitrarily negative) and you have to balance it with the kinetic term. Physically, you want to show that you cannot gain an infinite amount of energy by throwing an electron into the nucleus.
Mathematically, this is a problem about complicated PDE's and people have made progress using very sophisticated tools. What is not clear to me is if this question is really physical: It could well be that it arises from an over-simplification: The nuclei are not point-like and thus the true charge distribution is not singular. Thus the physical potential is not unbounded from below. In addition, if you are worried about high energies (as would be around if the electron fell into a nucleus) the Schrödinger equation would no longer be valid and would have to be replaced with a Dirac equation and then of course the electro-magnetic interaction should no longer be treated classically and a proper QED calculation should be done. Thus if you are worried about what happens to the electron close to the nucleus in Schrödinger theory, you are asking an unphysical question. What still could be a valid result is that you show (and that might look very similar to a stability result) is that you don't really get out of the area of applicability of your theory as the kinetic term prevents the electrons from spending too much time very close to the nucleus (classically speaking).
What is shared by all these examples, is that some calculation of a physically finite property encounters infinities that have to be treated and I tried to show that those typically arise because earlier in your calculation you have not been careful and stretched an approximation beyond its validity. If you would have taken that into account there wouldn't have been an infinity but possible a much more complicated calculation. And in lucky cases (similar to the renormalisable situation) you can get away with ignoring these complications. However you can sleep much better if you know that there would have been another calculation without infinities.
Update: I have just found a very nice text by Terry Tao on a similar subject to "knowing there is a rigorous version somewhere". | <urn:uuid:c19cb520-e348-489b-8d46-e3235b8ba156> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://atdotde.blogspot.com/2007/09/not-quite-infinite.html?showComment=1190195820000 | 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 | 0.949034 | 2,089 | 1.804688 | 2 |
You are viewing blog items for June 2008.
posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Saturday, 28 June 2008, 07:30
I'd like to say a big well done to Blackpool TUC and the good voters of Park ward who soundly defeated the BNP in a council by-election on Thursday. The BNP polled 218 (12.3%), which was considerably lower than the 339 (17.1%) they gained in May 2007, despite the personal involvement in the campaign of BNP leader Nick Griffin.
Blackpool TUC went out on a number of occasions distributing Searchlight anti-BNP leaflets.
Posted: 28 Jun 2008 | There are 0 comments | make a comment/view comments
posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Friday, 27 June 2008, 10:22
There seems a real eagerness to discuss the future direction of the anti-fascist movement. Much of it is supportive of the Searchlight approach, some of it is not. What is important however is that we have a real debate.
However, at some stage the debate must stop and the work must begin. Searchlight believes that we should use the next two months to have this debate and then it is time to move on.
To join in the debate please go to the Where Now section on our website http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/Where_now
Posted: 27 Jun 2008 | There are 0 comments | make a comment/view comments
posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Friday, 6 June 2008, 05:42
Barack Obama’s victory in the Democratic Party Presidential nomination is a truly historic event. Whatever the outcome in November the fact that an African American can today be in this position would have been unimaginable in the 1960s. Back then, black Americans were still being systematically murdered because of the colour of their skin, forced segregation still existed in many southern states and, until the Voting Rights Act in 1965, there was widespread institutional disenfranchisement of the black community through literacy tests.
A poll conducted this week found that 68% of Americans thought their country was ready for a black President, up from just 38% eight years ago. (Click here)
However, while times have moved on racism is still widespread within American society and is sure to play a significant role in the Autumn election. In the same poll a quarter of respondents said “most of the people they know” would not vote for a black President.
This week we are also remembering the fortieth anniversary of the assassination of Robert Kennedy. I have to admit that I am mystified with the almost saintly status for his brother John F Kennedy, who himself had been killed back in 1963. Robert, I do believe, was far more committed to ending racial divisions in the country.
Delivering the news to the nation that Martin Luther King had been assassinated, an emotional Robert Kennedy said in a speech on 4 April 1968:
“What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.
“… the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings that abide in our land.” (Click here.)
My question to you is can you imagine Britain having a non-white Prime Minister?
posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Friday, 6 June 2008, 05:40
Hi there, apologies for my long silence I guess I was suffering from bloggers block - if such a thing exists!
Anyway, I'm back, I feel refreshed and will pen my thoughts as often as possible. | <urn:uuid:c77f94cf-88f7-4563-9e07-0811621dd94f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/blog/archive/6/2008 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969742 | 816 | 1.585938 | 2 |
American snipers are already centre-of-the-bullseye accurate – just look at the three shots that ended the Somali pirate standoff in the Indian Ocean – but tomorrow's sharpshooters could be even sharper still, if a slew of Pentagon research projects work out as planned.
The Navy SEAL snipers took out three pirates with three pulls of the trigger, despite uneven seas and bobbing ships. Imagine how much easier their jobs would have been if they had rounds that could change course in mid-air to account for crosswinds, air density and moving targets. Darpa, the US Defence Department's way-out research arm, launched a $22 million effort in November to do just that. By countering these "fundamental limitation[s] of accuracy," Darpa thinks it can dramatically improve American snipers' range – and "provide a dramatic new capability to the US military."
And if this EXACTO ("EXtreme Accuracy Tasked Ordnance") project doesn't work out, Darpa has other guided-bullet programs – like a $7.5 million effort to use lasers to steer rounds to their targets. Laser guidance systems are what made the some of the early "smart bombs" so much more accurate than their predecessors, changing the way in which war was waged from the sky. "Smart bullets" could eventually make a similar impact.
The agency is also working on ways to upgrade snipers' scopes and spotting gear. Researchers in the "One Shot" program are trying to build an optical system that'll compensate for hiccups in the local atmosphere. By using thousands of laser pulses, agency-funded investigators are hoping to create a profile of the "eddies" in the air, as the light bounces back. The scope, through a series of algorithms, can take those eddies into account, as the sniper team aims. Darpa hopes the new scope will give snipers lethal precision at a range of up to 2,000 meters, in winds up to 40 miles per hour. If it happens, Defense Department researchers say, it'll boost a sniper's kill-rate by ten-fold or more, and let snipers "engage and pull the trigger" in "less than one second."
A companion project, Super-Resolution Vision System (SRVS), wouldn't just make snipers more accurate. It would make them functionally invisible, as well. The system is trying to use "heat haze", the shimmer you see on summer days, to help snipers instead of inhibiting them. In any given instant, the heated air acts as a series of lenses, meaning that you may be able to look right through them and see a magnified view of the scene beyond. The trick is to use digital technology to identify the "lucky regions" or "lucky frames" when a clear view appears and assemble them into a complete picture. SRVS researchers are aiming to do just that.
If scope works out, it'll be a particular spooky tool. Even if the target is looking right at you, they won’t see a thing because of the heat haze. A sniper using one of these will be a truly invisible assassin, with the ideal technology for picking off high-value targets.
The prototype is supposed to be ready this year. Finished units could be delivered to Special Operations units as early as 2011. As if pirates didn't have enough to worry about. | <urn:uuid:2ce19bbf-d4e3-4089-82a5-afc8f4ee83a5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2009-04/14/smart-bullets-could-change-direction-in-mid-air | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960642 | 697 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Because of the intense scrutiny and criticism of the pardons of Marc Rich and his partner Pincus Green and because legitimate concerns have been raised, I want to explain what I did and why.
First, I want to make some general comments about pardons and commutations of sentences. Article II of the Constitution gives the president broad and unreviewable power to grant ''Reprieves and Pardons'' for all offenses against the United States. The Supreme Court has ruled that the pardon power is granted ''[t]o the [president] . . ., and it is granted without limit'' (United States v. Klein). Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes declared that ''[a] pardon . . . is . . . the determination of the ultimate authority that the public welfare will be better served by [the pardon] . . .'' (Biddle v. Perovich). A president may conclude a pardon or commutation is warranted for several reasons: the desire to restore full citizenship rights, including voting, to people who have served their sentences and lived within the law since; a belief that a sentence was excessive or unjust; personal circumstances that warrant compassion; or other unique circumstances.
The exercise of executive clemency is inherently controversial. The reason the framers of our Constitution vested this broad power in the Executive Branch was to assure that the president would have the freedom to do what he deemed to be the right thing, regardless of how unpopular a decision might be. Some of the uses of the power have been extremely controversial, such as President Washington's pardons of leaders of the Whiskey Rebellion, President Harding's commutation of the sentence of Eugene Debs, President Nixon's commutation of the sentence of James Hoffa, President Ford's pardon of former President Nixon, President Carter's pardon of Vietnam War draft resisters, and President Bush's 1992 pardon of six Iran-contra defendants, including former Defense Secretary Weinberger, which assured the end of that investigation.
On Jan. 20, 2001, I granted 140 pardons and issued 36 commutations. During my presidency, I issued a total of approximately 450 pardons and commutations, compared to 406 issued by President Reagan during his two terms. During his four years, President Carter issued 566 pardons and commutations, while in the same length of time President Bush granted 77. President Ford issued 409 during the slightly more than two years he was president.
The vast majority of my Jan. 20 pardons and reprieves went to people who are not well known. Some had been sentenced pursuant to mandatory-sentencing drug laws, and I felt that they had served long enough, given the particular circumstances of the individual cases. Many of these were first-time nonviolent offenders with no previous criminal records; in some cases, codefendants had received significantly shorter sentences. At the attorney general's request, I commuted one death sentence because the defendant's principal accuser later changed his testimony, casting doubt on the defendant's guilt. In some cases, I granted pardons because I felt the individuals had been unfairly treated and punished pursuant to the Independent Counsel statute then in existence. The remainder of the pardons and commutations were granted for a wide variety of fact-based reasons, but the common denominator was that the cases, like that of Patricia Hearst, seemed to me deserving of executive clemency. Overwhelmingly, the pardons went to people who had been convicted and served their time, so the impact of the pardon was principally to restore the person's civil rights. Many of these, including some of the more controversial, had vigorous bipartisan support.
Editors' Note: February 19, 2001, Monday An Op-Ed article by former President Bill Clinton yesterday about the pardons of Marc Rich and Pincus Green stated erroneously in some editions that ''the applications were reviewed and advocated'' by three prominent lawyers, Leonard Garment, William Bradford Reynolds and Lewis Libby. Mr. Clinton's office and the lawyers are in agreement that none of the three men, former lawyers for Mr. Rich, reviewed the pardon applications or advocated for the pardons. During the press run, Mr. Clinton's office asked that the reference to ''applications'' be changed to ''the case for the pardons'' to try to clarify Mr. Clinton's point. Even the revised wording, however, could be read as leaving the impression that the lawyers were involved in the pardon process, which Mr. Clinton's spokesmen said was not the intended meaning. The revised wording, according to those spokesmen, was meant to refer to the underlying legal case developed by Mr. Garment, Mr. Reynolds and Mr. Libby, among others, in past years that argued that the criminal indictment of Mr. Rich was flawed. That legal analysis, according to Mr. Clinton's spokesmen, formed part of the argument that Mr. Rich's lawyer, Jack Quinn, adopted in applying to Mr. Clinton for the pardon.
William Jefferson Clinton was the 42nd president of the United States. | <urn:uuid:ba205522-f883-44fe-8c68-f3627c74f24f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/18/opinion/18CLIN.html?ex=1180238400&en=ddafe39be7a1b417&ei=5070 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9779 | 1,024 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Tech Companies: The Thin Line Between Love and Hate
Valentine's Day is upon us, a time to celebrate romance, love, and even friendship. Even the tech industry has its share of partnerships, such as the media companies that forged a bond to build Hulu. And there is always a push for harmony among manufacturers (via consortiums) to build standards. Business relationships are integral to the success of any tech company because virtually no one company makes every component of a consumer product.
Any company that wants to make a phone for the Verizon network needs to have a working relationship with Qualcomm since it owns several crucial cellular technology patents. The ARM architecture that is found in lots of phones and tablets is licensable, so companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Samsung must get along with ARM. Also, let's not forget about all the cross-licensing of patents between companies.
Not surprisingly, some of these relationships start off as bitter lawsuits, as companies attempt to establish their ground. Competition, after all, can become extreme. Inevitably, the tech industry experiences its share of breakups; some conflicts are actually the result of partnerships that have drifted apart over time. As we all know, there is a thin line between love and hate.
So what are the biggest tech rivalries in the business? It should not surprise you that Apple appears on this list several times, given its past and present "relationships." Could it be the Cupertino company is difficult to work with? We'll let you decide. Don't fear; there are plenty of other companies locked in an epic battle for supremacy. Find out which companies seem to love to hate each other in our slideshow.
blog comments powered by Disqus | <urn:uuid:8d06f2e5-e76a-4a50-8477-5219e585030a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2380284,00.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971177 | 348 | 1.742188 | 2 |
If your authentication protocol is about sending to the server a password, or a hash of the password, with plain HTTP, then this is inherently very weak, for two reasons:
Someone spying on the line could record what the client sends. If just sending these bytes grants access, then the attacker could simply send them again. That's a replay attack. This issue is what @AviD alludes to in his answer. No amount of hashing will fix that. Some protocols try to correct this issue by including a "challenge" from the server (a random value, created anew for each connection), to be hashed together with the password on the client; that's what HTTP Digest authentication is about.
Even if the authentication worked, this is still plain HTTP, so whatever data will be sent afterwards will be vulnerable to eavesdropping and alterations by attackers. If the transport medium is unprotected, then the authentication will deter only the most unsophisticated of attackers. This is where HTTP Digest fails.
Therefore, you really need SSL (aka HTTPS), not only to convey the password or hash thereof, but also the remainder of the conversation between client and server.
I hereafter assume that the protocol is run within a SSL tunnel. You are right to want to use a slow hash like bcrypt or PBKDF2; note that a salt is also needed to prevent cost sharing (e.g. precomputed tables). Slow, salted hashing is used to cope with the intrinsic weakness of passwords. Now, you might want to offload some of the hashing effort on the client. This may work, but it raises some practical issues:
Since the password processing must include a salt, a new one for each password instance, then the salt must be conveyed to the client, so that the client may include it in the hashing it performs. This increases the protocol complexity: the client must first send the user name to the server, then the server must send back the salt, and (only then) can the client begin to hash the password. This is one more network roundtrip than with the usual "send user name and password as one POST request".
Therefore usual wisdom is that making part of the password hashing on the client is not worth the effort. | <urn:uuid:3c3eb16b-78b1-4fe8-bbee-6955e4c01ca8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://security.stackexchange.com/questions/4936/what-to-transfer-password-or-its-hash?answertab=votes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952129 | 459 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Great Horned Owl
Written by Wayne Irvin
Contributions to original by Mark E. Johns
North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission .
Creative Commons, some rights reserved.
Length: 18 to 25 in. Males are smaller than females.
Wingspan: 54 in.
Weight: 53 oz.
Mammals up to the size of a woodchuck or skunk; birds up to the size of a Canada goose ; any insects; any reptiles or amphibians.
Great horned owls are monogamous. They usually choose an old hawk nest in which to lay 2 large, white eggs. Actual breeding is preceded by an interlude of hooting and visual displays between the two owls.
Newly hatched owls are covered with a coat of thick down and are quite weak and helpless for several days. Their eyes open in 7 to 8 days. Both parents feed the young, with one of them constantly at the nest for warmth and defense. Cottontail rabbits are often preferred, but food type depends on hunting habitat. Nestlings require 4 to 6 weeks to achieve maximum size. Plumage development is slower, and the nestlings are approximately 8 to 9 weeks old before they begin to fly.
Range and Distribution
The great horned owl inhabits most of the land mass in the Western Hemisphere. It is found from northern Canada to Tierra del Fuego, an archipelago on the southern tip of South America, and in all 100 counties of North Carolina. This bird can be found in just about any type of woodland habitat. It is also found hunting (and even nesting) in city and town limits, farmlands, and suburban areas with scattered trees.
The great horned owl is the largest owl species in North Carolina. It is found in woodland habitats statewide, including suburbia. The barred owl is also found statewide, but is more typical of swamps, floodplains and moist woodlands. The great horned owl’s closest relative is the eagle owl (Bubo bubo) of Eurasia.
In Birds of North Carolina, T. Gilbert Pearson states that “the great horned owl is the feathered tiger of the air. Like the striped terror of the jungle, it usually hunts by night; among birds and small mammals, it is all powerful and its work of destruction is swift and sure.” This accurately summarizes one of North Car olina’s most efficient avian predators.
The two prominent ear tufts of feathers, resembling horns, give this owl its common name. In North Carolina, the plumage is generally dark reddish brown, heavily streaked or striped over its entire plumage. The wing has feathered edges (especially along the primary feather wind-trailing edges), which dampen sound as the bird flies or glides. Subspecies in the western and northern parts of North America have much grayer plumage. Characteristic of this raptor group, the females of the species are 25 to 30% bigger than the males.
These owls have large glaring eyes that are brilliant yellow, giving the animal a cat-like appearance. Like other members of this family, the horned owl’s vision (particularly at night), is exceptional. The huge eyes face forward, giving the animal binocular vision and enabling it to pinpoint prey with deadly accuracy.
Horned owls have an especially keen auditory sense, and the unique construction of owl feathers also enables owls to fly with virtually no sound. This advantage permits owls to approach sharp-eared prey such as rodents and birds, and even small owl species, undetected. It is a myth that owls can turn their heads all the way around but they can turn their heads 180 degrees.
History and Status
The great horned owl is a fairly common species in North Carolina. Mainly nocturnal, great horned owls can occasionally be seen during the day roosting in tall trees. Many people may never have seen a horned owl; however, most have heard their staccato, morse-code hooting: “hoo-hoo, hoo-hoo, hoo-hoo” on cold nights. Most calling occurs when courtship begins in October, with peak calling in November and December, often at dusk and after dark. Calls slow a bit after eggs are in the nest and even more after young have hatched. This is generally the upland counterpart of the barred owl, which is found mostly in bottomland forests.
Despised by rural residents because of their ability to prey successfully on domestic poultry and gamebirds, great horned owls are fully protected by law as are all birds of prey. There are almost no predators of adults, but they may be killed in confrontations with eagles, other great horned owls and the larger snowy owl. (In Harry Potter books, Hedwig is a snowy owl.)
Habitat and Habits
Usually horned owls prefer habitat consisting of wooded ridges with pine, oak and hickory trees, but these birds can be found anyplace where food supplies are plentiful. They are often seen perched on large signs in urban and suburban areas like neighborhoods, college campuses and along roadways. One owl was observed perched on one of the taller office buildings in downtown Raleigh, N.C. during the 1994 Christmas Bird Count! It was probably taking advantage of the abundant domestic pigeons and park squirrels in this concrete-and-asphalt ecosystem. There is no proof great horned owls are declining in number. Although habitat destruction is certainly bad for any species of wildlife, these owls seem to be quite adaptable.
Horned owls are opportunists. They eat almost any protein source they are capable of killing—beetles, as well as waterfowl, small rodents and skunks, porcupines and domestic cats.
These owls rarely construct their own nests. Rather they use old hawk, crow or osprey nests. They will also nest in old gray squirrel leaf nests and on top of a broken-off large tree. Occasionally they even use part of a bald eagle nest while the eagle is still using the nest!
On average, great horned owls lay 2 (sometimes 3) large and oval white eggs, with the female assuming responsibility for the month-long incubation. In North Carolina, owls may lay eggs as early as December; however the average is December-March. Opossums and raccoons eat eggs and young owlets, and both parents vigorously defend the nest. The young are fed small mammals and birds, with cottontail rabbits preferred as food for the young.
When first hatched, the baby owls are covered in gray-white down. The low temperatures make constant brooding by one of the parents necessary. As the young owls reach maturity, the parents cut back on feeding to encourage the adolescents to venture forth and hunt. Only one brood is reared each year.
Owls are quite adaptable and are often attracted to roadside trash near towns and cities . They also hunt for rodents along busy roadsides and may end up being hit and killed by cars. These owls have finally been recognized and appreciated as a control on rodent populations.
NCWRC Interaction: How You Can Help
Under federal and state law, it is illegal for anyone to injure, harass, kill or possess a bird of prey or any parts of a bird of prey. This includes harming or removing a nest. If you find an injured owl, contact a licensed wildlife rehabilitator.
Great horned owls play an important role in nature as predators of native small animals like rodents. Keep small animals like rabbits, in a pen. Cover chicken pens with wire, and keep small pets inside if an owl has included your property in its night-time hunting range.
Owls may suffer from improper pesticide use when they feed on prey that has been exposed to pesticides or feed on other animals that have ingested pesticides. Limit the use of pesticides when possible and always use according to directions on the label.
Do not litter along roadways. This draws rodents, and owls can be struck by vehicles as they hunt this common prey.
To see a video on the great horned owl, go to http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/animals/ and enter
great horned owl in the search bar.
Bent, Arthur Cleveland “Great Horned Owl,” in Life Histories of North American Birds of Prey, Part 2 (Dover Publications, 1961), pp. 295-322.
Eckert, Allan and Karl E. Karalus The Owls of North America (Weathervane Books, 1987.)
Potter, Eloise, James F. Parnell and Robert Teulings Birds of the Carolinas (University of North Carolina Press, l980).
Karalus, Karl E. The Owls of North America (Doubleday and Co., 1974).
Illustrated by J.T. Newman. Photos by North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.
Produced by the Division of Conservation Education, Cay Cross–Editor.
11 June 2010 | Irvin, Wayne; Johns, Mark E. | <urn:uuid:a96a5bbe-a4ba-4e52-a7ed-be39d05a1534> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ncpedia.org/print/464 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950525 | 1,911 | 3.140625 | 3 |
I only fill in up to 70 or 80 m & m's so they can estimate and count smaller amounts.
Working in small groups or partners, the students start out by making a guess on how many m&m's are in their cup and write it in the top jar. Then they count them using the tens and ones mat. After they count how many are really in their cup, they fill in the number in the bottom jar. Last they sort them by colors and fill in the color graph.
The students have been learning place value so this is a great mat to use when counting. They start by filling in the tens and then fill in the ones with the left overs. They count them by 10's and 1's when finished.
Click the Heart to download | <urn:uuid:d6390cf1-a37a-49c7-8eb5-edef9a13e2f1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mrsjohnsonsfirstgrade.blogspot.com/2012/02/free-last-minute-valentine-activity.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963723 | 157 | 3.109375 | 3 |
Too quick, and too much.
The allegations against Lord McAlpine have been published in print and on the internet since at least October 15th, 1997. And yet Lord McAlpine did not sue for libel. Why not? The BBC lawyers could have used this in their defence.
Given the above it follows that settling for £185,000 was a waste of taxpayer's money.
If something has been in the public domain for some time and no action has been taken then that means it becomes much harder for anyone to claim defamation. If Mr Smith turns round in court and says, 'but two years ago this was published in Magazine Y and you didn't protest then, only when I put it in Magazine X,' it is a strong line of defence.
A man who bears the same surname as a prominent Conservative supporter. Two witnesses have told the tribunal of a rich and powerful man who belonged to the alleged ring.McAlpine and McAlpine.
At the Waterhouse Tribunal:
Gerard Elias QC: “Does the name McAlpine mean anything to you.”
Steven Messham: “Yes, sir.”
Elias: “In what context?”
Messham: “I was also abused by him sexually.”
Sir Ronald Waterhouse: “Is the person you referred to alive or dead?”
Messham: “I believe he is dead.”
Jimmie McAlpine and Alastair (Lord) McAlpine | <urn:uuid:18e51616-4792-4e49-89d0-4121e57cdddc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jailhouselawyersblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/two-things-are-wrong-with-bbc-payout-to.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974648 | 317 | 1.828125 | 2 |
(ARA) - Whether hair is wavy or straight, dry or fine, one thing most women have in common is the desire for strong, beautiful hair. In fact, 80 percent of women say they feel more confident when they have a good hair day, according to a recent survey from KRC Research.
What many women may not know, however, is that they've been treating the wrong end of their hair instead of focusing on the source - the scalp. Research conducted on behalf of Unilever suggests that 99 percent of hair's natural strength and beauty comes from the scalp, and a well-nourished scalp is the right foundation for strong, beautiful hair. Top celebrity hair and skin experts from the Clear Scalp & Hair Therapy team discuss the importance of caring for the scalp and what it takes to get gorgeous hair.
Feed scalp, feed beauty: Nationally renowned dermatologist Dr. Francesca Fusco advises her clients to nourish the scalp. "It is essential to give our scalp as much TLC as we give to our skin because after all, scalp is skin," she says. Foods high in omega-3 fatty acids, like salmon, also have a beneficial effect on skin and scalp. Fusco also suggests using nourishing shampoos and conditioners such as new Clear Scalp & Hair Beauty Therapy which restore the scalp's natural moisture balance. The line is infused with Nutrium 10, a rich blend of vitamins and nutrients including vitamins B5, C and E designed to nourish the scalp and hair deeply.
Drink up: There's a new reason to refill your water bottle. Along with a healthy diet and reducing stress, staying hydrated can impact the overall health of your skin (and scalp) and also plays a part in keeping hair looking beautiful. "I recommend drinking at least two liters of water daily to keep skin hydrated," says Dr. Fusco. Not only does hydration help with skin health but it can also help reduce frizz.
Nourish the foundation: Celebrity stylist Oscar James cautions against sacrificing scalp nourishment for style. "African American women tend to have dryer scalps and many use chemical treatments and relaxers that can dry out the scalp," says James. "That's why I like the Clear Scalp & Hair Beauty Therapy Ultra Shea line because it includes shampoo, conditioner, oil and balm that work together to quench dryness and lock in moisture for long-lasting nourishment."
Take a break: Jen Atkin, stylist to some of Hollywood's leading ladies, advises giving your hair a break from heat styling and lots of products to help improve overall scalp and hair health. "A great cut that works with your hair's natural texture makes a huge difference and can reduce styling time," she says. Letting hair dry naturally can save time and is easier on your strands.
For more tips on caring for your scalp and hair visit www.facebook.com/clearhaircare or www.facebook.com/clearultrashea. | <urn:uuid:d14f6862-8eb2-4b90-a0e4-69632eaeefce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.heraldindependent.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Experts+say+the+scalp+is+the+foundation+for+strong-+beautiful+hair%20&id=18964704&instance=all | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955283 | 621 | 1.59375 | 2 |
It takes two to tango. Normal female and male reproductive functions are necessary for a couple to conceive.
Becoming pregnant will be difficult for 1 in 6 couples.
This number is expected to rise with increasing cultural, mental, and environmental stressors.
Contrary to popular belief, infertility is rarely only a female or a male problem. Nearly 20% of couples have both a sperm factor and a female factor.
At the Toronto Centre for Advanced Reproductive Technology, we will do a complete evaluation of both you and your partner so that we may diagnose your fertility issues and offer individualized treatment.
TCART has worked through the process for diagnosing infertility to help couples better understand their condition and the best treatment options. In general, our tests reveal either the source of a problem, or a treatment option becomes clear within a few weeks.
Each of these tests can be performed quickly, by appointment at TCART or diagnostic affiliate in the Toronto area.
Our standard tests for diagnosing infertility include the following: | <urn:uuid:5698d957-8989-4ae0-ac21-5ba7f73f022f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tcartonline.com/diagnosis/our-approach.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938253 | 206 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Soon, the country’s estimated 40 million people with disabilities will be able to track job opportunities at the click of a mouse.
www.jobability.org will be launched tomorrow at a national conference on livelihood for persons with disability held by business chamber Ficci. The site is designed to be friendly for the disabled and will be exclusively for use by such people. The portal, the first such initiative in South Asia that will see top companies sign up to offer jobs, will have resumes of people from across the country who suffer from any disabilities.
“The idea of the portal is to encourage corporates to sign up and offer jobs to people with disabilities. It will be a live portal where big companies can identify people with skills who can be employed for specific services. The disabled can upload their CVs online and they will be screened by officials before they are connected with the jobs available. The plan is to give an equal opportunity to people with disabilities,” said Aqueel Merchant, senior vice-president of Accenture, which is launching the portal in collaboration with the UK-based Leonard Cheshire Disability International.
Leonard is working in India for inclusive workplace and livelihood options for people with disabilities.
A 2008 report of the World Bank found that in India, 85 per cent of the women with disabilities are unemployed; it was 44 per cent for men. At present, there is a 3 per cent reservation for the disabled in government jobs, which many have said is not enough.
“The problem is that government posts have been identified for the disabled quota. This doesn’t mean that they cannot be hired on merit in posts that haven’t been reserved. People need to be made aware that the disabled can compete for any job long as they meet the criteria for that particular job. This reservation doesn’t mean that the disabled can only apply and qualify for only those posts,” said Prasanna Kumar Pincha, chief commissioner for persons with disabilities in the ministry of social justice and empowerment.
The World Bank report, which prodded activists to push for the formation of the portal along with Accenture as part of the firm’s corporate social responsibility, has found that people with disabilities were among the most excluded in Indian society. Low literacy and employment rates and widespread social stigma have left the disabled behind.
“Employment of people with disabilities fell from 43 per cent in 1991 to 38 per cent in 2002, despite the country’s economic growth. In the public sector, despite 3 percent reservation since 2003, only 10 per cent of the posts have been identified as suitable. Also, the quota policy covers just three types of disabilities — loco motor (movement), hearing and visual,” said Mahesh Chandrashekhar, international policy and campaign manager at Leonard.
“The situation is far worse in the private sector. In the late 1990s, the employment of people with disabilities in large private firms was only 0.3 per cent of the workforce,” he said, adding that it was imperative that a big corporate take up the reigns of the portal as it will be more accountable.
The World Bank data also said that among multinational companies, employment of the disabled was a mere 0.05 per cent. | <urn:uuid:63b98c7d-2bc2-4cc2-b8d2-869e7885438a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.im4change.org/success-stories/job-portal-for-disabled-ananya-sengupta-15294.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965473 | 674 | 2.3125 | 2 |
The Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) is a separate but affiliated branch of the national Democratic Party that uniquely operates in Minnesota. It was formed on April 15, 1944, when the state's Democratic and Farmer-Labor parties merged. For many years, the DFL has championed the causes of farmers and skilled union workers, though in recent years, the former has taken a distant backseat to the latter as well as to the interests and goals of the national Democratic Party. All Democratic politicians in and from Minnesota work under the DFL header, though this has become more of a matter of tradition than of any substantive meaning. Outside the state, DFLers are typically referred to by their colleagues in the United States Congress and by the mainstream media simply as "Democrats." | <urn:uuid:dcaf3944-0c42-49f3-91ff-2d2ce2c5ed22> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://conservapedia.com/Democratic-Farmer-Labor_Party | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979406 | 157 | 2.4375 | 2 |
Here is a method I have used before in the past. Some people might say that CLOCKS_PER_SEC is not accurate, but unless you are timing something down the nanosecond, I don't think this will affect your results greatly.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
double checkTime = 0;
clock_t NewTime = clock();
clock_t PrevTime = NewTime;
NewTime = clock();
checkTime += (double)(NewTime - PrevTime);
PrevTime = NewTime;
if (checkTime > (double)(CLOCKS_PER_SEC))//Multiply CLOCK_PER_SEC by how often you want race to update
//Code you want to run in here
checkTime -= (double)(CLOCKS_PER_SEC);
multi threading in the most basic terms is like having more than one main function running at once - parallel programming. Trust me, you don't wanna go there because the problem you are trying to solve is not that complicated as to start threading it.
A technique by which a single set of code can be used by several processors at different stages of execution. | <urn:uuid:cf18355e-99c4-4a20-a182-32d4734e4620> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cplusplus.com/forum/general/91532/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910168 | 255 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Feeding the dog(s)… Part 3
Look for local game butchers and get to know them – chat – buy some of your meat from them and get them to save anything and everything – you can sort it out once home.
Contact local shoots – see if any off them sell the excess of rabbits etc
Supermarkets like Lidl, Aldi, Netto sell human graded cheap meats and cuts and frozen free flow mince at a good price – get to know their sell off days – usually Thursday and Monday. …They also sell good quality sardines in oil for around 30p a tin.
If you have a local market – get to know the stall holders – go when near closing time and buy the bruised fruit and veggies…our market man now keeps us stuff like bananas and apples and we get them really cheap – if there is a fish man ask him to save things like fish heads and roes and the bruised unsold fish – they would rather sell it for something than dump it.
The larger supermarkets have a huge sell by date turn around – we know that Monday mornings is our Sainsbury’s day for the cheap shelf and that Tesco’s clear out there’s on a Friday morning ready for the weekend – Asda have stuff daily – Morrisons not so much but they do sell packs of bones on their fresh meat section for about 30p… don’t forget to also check out the dried goods sell off shelf for dried peas, lentils, rice etc
Find farm shops that are selling local produce – try and talk to their suppliers and ask them for the bones, vegetable trimmings etc
Try and use only human grade foods – these wont have any of the more nasty preservatives in (like vit K3 for example) that dog food manufactures can use without labelling.
With things like supplements watch out for Holland and Barrets 2 for one offers – things like oil capsules, honey, sea kelp etc don’t need a use by date so stock up
We only spend on average (excluding the pups of course) 30p per dog per day and we have big dogs with the girls weighing in at 33K and the boys at 40K
Once you up and running it easy…honest! | <urn:uuid:974aa9c1-a741-4d4b-870f-ced60a3a88ff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bdws.co.uk/2012/01/12/feeding-the-dogs-part-3/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939582 | 470 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Smartphone app botnet experiment blows up a storm
WeatherFist shows phone vulnerability, devs claim
Security researchers fooled nearly 8,000 iPhone and Android users into joining a mobile smartphone "botnet" under the guise of installing an apparently innocuous weather app.
Derek Brown and Daniel Tijerina of TippingPoint's Digital Vaccine Group carried out the exercise in the run-up to a presentation at last week's RSA Conference as an illustration of how easily social engineering tricks developed on the web and with PCs might be applied to internet-enabled smartphones. The duo's WeatherFist app obtained users' GPS coordinates and telephone numbers before providing local weather forecasts.
The application was not published on either the official iPhone or Android application stores, but still attracted hundreds of takers of (presumably jailbroken) iPhones and other smartphones via third party app marketplaces, such as Cydia and SlideME (app T&Cs via Google cache here).
The researchers said they have created - but not distributed - a malicious version of the app capable of harvesting data, posting fake updates on social networking sites and sending spam.
The experiment received positive write-ups by New Scientist and Dark Reading. However other security firms have questioned the value of the exercise. Sophos, for example, argues that the faux malware created by the ethical hackers does nothing not already attempted by the real-life cybercrooks behind the Duh worm, which spread on jailbroken iPhones in the Netherlands last November. ® | <urn:uuid:870bf2f5-fe65-4092-bbfd-ed70a95d8388> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/03/09/smartphone_botnet_poc/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.905075 | 302 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Personable robots, advanced prosthetics and entrepreneurship figure prominently in campus visit.
Dr. Carl Djerassi, a writer and professor of chemistry at Stanford who first synthesized the chemical used in the birth-control pill, will give a talk entitled "Noble Science/Nobel Lust: Revealing Tribal Secrets" on Tuesday, Oct. 29 at 7:30pm in Rm 10-250. The event is co-sponsored by the Technology and Culture Forum, the Graduate Student Council and the Office of Graduate Education.
Professor Djerassi is the author of many publications on the chemistry of natural products (steroids, alkaloids, antibiotics, lipids, and terpenoids), and on applications of physical measurements and computer artificial intelligence techniques to organic chemical problems. He has also written several short stories and novels (Cantor's Dilemma, The Bourbaki Gambit) and two autobiographies. His honors include the National Medal of Science, 15 honorary doctorates and other awards for the first synthesis of a steroid oral contraceptive.
Respondents will be Albert Meyer, Hitachi American Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, and Professor Jonathan King of biology. Professor Isaac Colbert, senior associate dean of the Graduate School, will deliver introductory remarks, while Senior Lecturer Caroline Whitbeck of mechanical engineering will be moderator.
The first 250 students with an ID will receive a free copy of one of Dr. Djerassi's books. A reception will follow. For more information on this and other TCF-sponsored talks, see the Web page at
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on October 23, 1996. | <urn:uuid:17489125-0a04-4141-b55e-86c5603f62dd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/1996/djerassi-1023.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926848 | 334 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Rating agency Moody’s Investors Service is reviewing the long-term ratings of six Canadian banks and cautioning the public that the financial institutions could be downgraded.
The six affected institutions are Bank of Montreal, Bank of Nova Scotia, Caisse Centrale Desjardins, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, National Bank of Canada and Toronto-Dominion Bank.
Royal Bank of Canada is noticeably absent from the list; however, Moody’s already downgraded the bank two notches earlier this year.
The rating agency is now reviewing the other banks because they “face challenges not fully captured in their current ratings,” including concerns about consumer debt levels, housing prices, macro-economic risks and the weight of their capital markets divisions within their business mix.
Even if some of the banks are downgraded, Moody’s said the change is “expected to generally be no more than one notch lower than today.”
Earlier this year Moody’s downgraded a slew of global financial institutions, and RBC was the only Canadian bank affected. At that time, its debt rating fell to Aa3 from Aa1.
“Moody’s recognizes the strong domestic franchises and solid earnings capacity of these large Canadian banks, and they will continue to rank among the highest-rated banks globally following this review,” said David Beattie, a senior credit officer at Moody’s.
A downgrade by a credit rating agency usually means investors will demand a higher interest rate when a bank goes to raise cash by issuing bonds or other debt.
Both Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty have repeatedly warned Canadians about taking on too much debt.
Earlier this month, Statistics Canada released revised data showing that household market debt has risen to 163 per cent of disposable income, well above the 152 per cent previously reported using a less focused measure.
The housing market in Canada has also shown signs of cooling.
The Canadian Real Estate Association reported last week that despite a slight recovery from August, home sales in September fell 15.1 per cent from a year ago due to tighter mortgage lending rules and an uncertain economy.
Moody’s noted that its central scenario for Canada’s economy is for growth between 2 per cent and 3per cent next year, but the downside risks have increased.
The agency noted that a weak U.S. economic recovery, the ongoing crisis in Europe and a slowdown in emerging markets all weigh on commodity prices.
“Should these risks materialize, they would have significant ramifications for the Canadian economy that would be transmitted into the banking system,” Moody’s said.
In addition, the agency said National Bank, Bank of Montreal, Bank of Nova Scotia and CIBC have sizable exposure to the volatile capital markets businesses.
Moody’s said TD is also exposed to the U.S. market, while Caisse Centrale Desjardins’ concentrated franchise structure reduces its flexibility.
While Moody’s said it was reviewing the long-term ratings, the agency affirmed its short term Prime-1 ratings on the six banks.
In July, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services revised its outlook from stable to negative on seven Canadian banks over concerns about unsustainably high home prices and consumer debt levels.
The debt-rating firm revised its outlook downward on Royal Bank, TD, Scotiabank , National Bank, Laurentian Bank, Home Capital Group Inc. and Central 1 Credit Union.
The credit rater, however, reaffirmed the credit ratings on all seven banks.
S&P also affirmed its ratings and maintained stable outlooks on five other Canadian banks including CIBC and Bank of Montreal.
With files from The Canadian Press | <urn:uuid:de58abeb-ec77-415a-91d5-6c00121e575b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/moodys-reviews-six-canadian-banks-could-downgrade/article4687294/?cmpid=rss1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947469 | 780 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Nanotechnology: Novel Coatings Show Great Promise as Flame Retardants in Polyurethane Foam
Gram for gram, novel carbon nanofiber-filled coatings devised by researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Texas A&M University outperformed conventional flame retardants used in the polyurethane foam of upholstered furniture and mattresses by at least 160 percent and perhaps by as much as 1,130 percent.
The impressive test results, reported in the journal Polymer,* suggest that significant fire-safety advantages can be gained by coating polyurethane foam (PUF) with a club-sandwich-like arrangement of thin layers containing carbon nanofibers and polymers. The upshot, says NIST researcher Rick Davis, is that the experimental coating seems to create the equivalent of a "fire-resistant armor" on the porous foam.
Ignition of soft furnishings account for about 5 percent of residential fires, and the consequences are disproportionately high. These fires are responsible for a third of fire-caused deaths of civilians and 11 percent of property losses due to fires in homes.
The flammability of mattresses is regulated by federal law. A complementary rule to regulate the flammability of upholstered furniture has been proposed recently.
Several organizations, however, have challenged the health and safety of some flame retardants designed to protect against soft furnishing fires. And, a bill pending in California would ban the use of certain halogenated flame retardants in that state.
Today, recipes for making PUFs result in foams in which fire retardants are embedded in the interior. In contrast, the experimental technology uses the carbon nanofiber fire retardant as a coating that covers all the nooks and crannies on the sponge-like PUF surface. The new approach, says Davis, should be attractive to PUF manufacturers because the surface treatment has the potential to deliver a low flammability PUF without major change to the foam manufacturing process, thus saving time and money.
The NIST-Texas A&M team coated square samples of commercially available PUF with four bilayers of a carbon nanofiber-polymer combination.** The average thickness of the coating was about 360 nanometers, increasing the mass of the foam by only 3 percent. By themselves, the carbon nanofibers accounted for 1.6 percent of the foam mass. Since the carbon nanofibers are only in the coating, all the carbon nanofibers are clumped like matted whiskers within the top 360 nanometers of the surface—assembled into the fire-blocking armor.
The team used a standard benchtop fire test to measure the fire performance of coated and uncoated PUF. The carbon nanofiber coatings reduced PUF flammability (measured as the peak heat release rate from an ignited specimen) by 40 percent. That result was more than 3 times better than achieved by putting the same carbon nanofibers in the foam (part of the foam recipe).
When compared at the same concentrations, the carbon nanofiber coating significantly outperforms three classes of commercially available flame retardants commonly used in PUF. Reductions in flammability achieved with the coating, according to the researchers, were 158 percent better than the reduction calculated for nonhalogens, 288 percent better than halogens, and 1,138 percent better than halogen-phosphorous flame retardants.
Additionally, the experimental coating "prevents the formation of a melt pool of burning foam, which in a real fire scenario, may further reduce the resulting fire threat of burning soft furnishings," the authors write.
Source: NIST – 02.08.2011.
* Y.S. Kim, R. Davis, A.A. Cain and J.C. Grunlan, Development of layer-by-layer assembled carbon nanofiber-filled coatings to reduce polyurethane foam flammability. Polymer. Vol. 52, Issue 13, June 8, 2011.
Investigated and edited by:Dr.-Ing. Christoph Konetschny, Materials Consultant, Owner of Materialsgate
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Feel free to use our established consulting services | <urn:uuid:cb88c75b-e67a-40b0-9eaa-0e427ae4f258> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.materialsgate.de/en/mnews/18414/Nanotechnology+Novel+Coatings+Show+Great+Promise+as+Flame+Retardants+in+Polyurethane+Foam.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929118 | 954 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Guy-Sheftall to speak at MLK 'Beloved' Dinner
Posted: January 08, 2009
LEWISBURG, Pa. — Beverly Guy-Sheftall will give the keynote talk, "Women in the Civil Rights Movement, Including the Progressive Politics of Coretta Scott King," on Tuesday, Jan. 20, at Bucknell University.
The talk is part of Bucknell's annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration "Beloved" dinner, which begins at 6 p.m. in the Terrace Room of the Elaine Langone Center.
Dinner tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for children ages 7-12, available in the Elaine Langone Center ground-floor mall beginning Jan. 12, or via e-mail at MSS@bucknell.edu.
Cooper Professor of Women's Studies at Spelman College, Guy-Sheftall also is the founding director of the Women's Research and Resource Center at Spelman. The Center, founded in 1981, is the first women's research center at a historically black college. It has facilitated faculty and student leadership development, created new courses that address issues of gender and race, and hosted numerous conferences exploring the lives of African and African-descended women.
She is a co-editor of two seminal books on black women's literature: Sturdy Black Bridges: Visions of Black Women in Literature and Words of Fire: An Anthology of African American Feminist Thought. Her most recent book is Gender Talk: The Struggle for Women's Equality in African American Communities.
King's Beloved Community
The Beloved Community is a term used by Dr. King to describe a global vision in which all people can share in the wealth of the earth, with racism and all forms of discrimination, bigotry and prejudice replaced by an all-inclusive spirit of sisterhood and brotherhood.
"The Beloved Dinner is always a special event that brings together many people from different backgrounds," said Jessica Hess, director of the Office of Multicultural Student Services at Bucknell.
"I hope that our friends and neighbors in the greater community will attend this event as we are all a part of what Dr. King would have envisioned in 'The Beloved Community, '" she said.
MLK Community Service week
The keynote talk, which is part of the University's celebration of 125 years of co-education, is held in conjunction with Bucknell's MLK Community Service Week. Beginning Jan. 18, more than 200 Bucknell University students, faculty and staff will assist with community services projects ranging from after-school tutoring at Milton Middle School to playing board games and planting tulip bulbs with residents of the Riverwoods community in Lewisburg.
Other events during MLK Community Service Week will include an Afro-Semitic Jazz Experience Ensemble performance at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 19 in Bucknell Hall, open to the public without charge; a community service fair from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 21 in the Terrace Room of the Elaine Langone Center; and a closing ceremony on Jan. 23 from 5 to 7 p.m. in Larison Dining Hall. The event will include a performance by the Blue Sky Mission Club band.
Contact: Division of Communications | <urn:uuid:12f0bbf3-1635-44ed-8c36-fbc5f60f26a1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bucknell.edu/x47331.xml | 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 | 0.944021 | 677 | 1.84375 | 2 |
How Global Capitalism Always Finds Fresh Green Pastures to Exploit and Demolish
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The news of capitalism's demise is (to borrow from Mark Twain) somewhat exaggerated. Capitalism has an inbuilt wondrous capacity of resurrection and regeneration; though this is capacity of a kind shared with parasites – organisms that feed on other organisms, belonging to other species. After a complete or near-complete exhaustion of one host organism, a parasite tends and manages to find another, that would supply it with life juices for a successive, albeit also limited, stretch of time.
A hundred years ago Rosa Luxemburg grasped that secret of the eerie, phoenix-like ability of capitalism to rise, repeatedly, from the ashes; an ability that leaves behind a track of devastation – the history of capitalism is marked by the graves of living organisms sucked of their life juices to exhaustion. Luxemburg, however, confined the set of organisms, lined up for the outstanding visits of the parasite, to "pre-capitalist economies" – whose number was limited and steadily shrinking under the impact of the ongoing imperialist expansion.
With each successive visit, another one of those remaining "virgin lands" was converted into a grazing field for capitalist exploitation, and therefore sooner rather than later made unfit for the needs of capitalist "extended reproduction" since no longer promising profits such an expansion required. Thinking along these lines (a fully understandable inclination, given the mostly territorial, extensive rather than intensive, lateral rather than vertical, nature of that expansion 100 years ago), Luxemburg could not but anticipate the natural limits to the conceivable duration of the capitalist system: once all "virgin lands" of the globe are conquered and drawn into the treadmill of capitalist recycling, the absence of new lands for exploitation will portend and eventually enforce the collapse of the system. The parasite will die because of the absence of not-yet-exhausted organisms to feed on.
Today capitalism has already reached the global dimension, or at any rate has come very close to reaching it – a feat that for Luxemburg was still a somewhat distant prospect. Is therefore Luxemburg's prediction close to fulfilment? I do not think it is. What has happened in the last half a century or so is capitalism learning the previously unknown and unimagined art of producing ever new "virgin lands", instead of limiting its rapacity to the set of the already existing ones. That new art – made possible by the shift from the "society of producers" to the "society of consumers", and from the meeting of capital and labour to the meeting of commodity and client as the principal source of "added value" – profit and accumulation consists mostly of the progressive commodification of life functions, market mediation in successive needs' satisfaction and substituting desire for need in the role of the fly-wheel of the profit-aimed economy.
The current crisis derives from the exhaustion of an artificially created "virgin land"; one built out of the millions stuck in the "culture of saving books" instead of "culture of credit cards"; in other words, out of the millions of people too shy to spend the yet-unearned money, living on credit, taking loans and paying interest. Exploitation of that particular "virgin land" is now by and large over and it has been left now to the politicians to clean up the debris left by the bankers' feast; that task has been removed from the realm of bankers' responsibility into the dustbin of "political problems" and recast belatedly from an economic issue into the question of (to quote the German chancellor, Angela Merkel) "political will". But one is entitled to surmise that in the offices of capitalism hard labour is focused on constructing new "virgin lands" – though also burdened with the curse of fairly limited life expectancy, given the parasitic nature of capitalism. | <urn:uuid:8f8c3788-f7f3-4237-beaf-9914499aee08> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.alternet.org/story/152808/how_global_capitalism_always_finds_fresh_green_pastures_to_exploit_and_demolish?qt-best_of_the_week=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941966 | 793 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Job Title / Job Description
International Project Mgmt. & Researcher
Currently I am serving as a Fellow for a US non-profit organization that works with rural farmers in Tanzania (located in East Africa). We help farmers by teaching them agricultural methods so they may better understand how to use their farmland. We teach them how to make their own fertalizers, how to plant crops and make use to the land so that more vegetables can be grown, healthy and without using chemical pesticides. We also share with farmers knoweldge on eating healthy and also talk to them about the disease HIV and AIDS.
What I like best about my work is being able to share with people the knowledge that will help them improve their daily lives, help them save money, and improve their family‘s health. I also like learning about different culture and people. It is very interesting.
What are some related career opportunities and job titles in your company or in your career area?
People who work in international development may work in many different sectors such as health, agriculture, emergency relief (such as helping the people who where effected in the the earthquake in Southeast Asia), etc. There are many opportunities to work abroad, help people who are poorer than you, and learn about other cultures and people.
What new technology will be important?
The role of the computer and the Internet has dramatically transformed the speed and communication capability in international development work. The computer and Internet allows those working in the field (such as me working w/the farmers in rural Tanzania) to be able to send reports and update in a quick, timely manner to my organization‘s main office in the US (San Franscico California). The continuing upgrade of websites and the use of the Internet will allow people from all over the world to be able to connect to one another and share ideas and documents for improving their works.
And since many people working in developing countries travel a lot and are away from their family and friends, sending emails and digital pictures is a way to share experiences and keep in touch.
What education or training did you have to prepare for this career?
To prepare myself for a career in international work, it is important that I have experiences overseas in a developing country. I have work experience in Cambodia with a human rights non-profit and here in Tanzania with an educational organization that works with rural farmers. To better understand the challenges with government and with social issues, an advance degree in international development is very helpful--and strongly recommended.
What education or training do you recommend for students today who want to enter this field?
For anyone wishing to work in international development, it is recommended that you have lots of field work experiences in a developing country so you may better understand the situation, challenges and culture of the local people you wish to help. An advance degree (master‘s degree) in international development, public adminstration, is strongly recommended.
When you were in high school, did you know that you would enter this field?
No. Growing up I was very interested in other cultures and helping other people in poorer countries. I knew I wanted to work on social issues but did not think I‘d ever come to Africa. And here I am. | <urn:uuid:38808883-7a38-4044-8da4-c72af4873be8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://skillslibrary.ws/cdir/showworksheet.asp?cchoice=114 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970556 | 663 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Crigler-Najjar syndrome is a very rare inherited disorder in which bilirubin (a substance made by the liver) cannot be broken down.
Glucuronyl transferase deficiency (type I Crigler-Najjar); Arias syndrome (type II Crigler-Najjar)
Causes, incidence, and risk factors
Crigler-Najjar syndrome occurs when the enzyme that normally converts bilirubin into a form that can easily be removed from the body does not work correctly. Without this enzyme, bilirubin can build up in the body and lead to jaundice (yellow discoloration of skin and eyes) and damage to the brain, muscles, and nerves.
Crigler-Najjar (type 1) is the form of the disease that starts early in life. Arias syndrome (type 2) starts later in life.
The syndrome runs in families (inherited). A child must receive a copy of the defective gene from both parents to develop the severe form of the condition. Parents who are carriers (with just one defective gene) have about half the enzyme activity of a normal adult, but do not have symptoms.
Light treatment (phototherapy) is needed throughout a person's life. In infants, this is done using bilirubin lights (bili or 'blue' lights). Phototherapy does not work as well after age 4, because thickened skin blocks the light.
A liver transplant can be done in some people with type 1 disease.
Blood transfusions may help control the amount of bilirubin in blood. Calcium compounds are sometimes used to remove bilirubin in the gut.
The drug phenobarbitol is sometimes used to treat Arias syndrome (type 2).
Milder forms of the disease (type 2) do not cause liver damage or changes in thinking during childhood. People who are affected with a mild form still have jaundice, but they have fewer symptoms and less organ damage.
Infants with the severe form of the disease (type 1) may continue to have jaundice into adulthood, and may need daily treatment. If left untreated, this severe form of the disease will lead to death in childhood.
People with this condition who reach adulthood will develop brain damage due to jaundice (kernicterus), even with regular treatment. The life expectancy for type 1 disease is 30 years.
Possible complications include:
A form of brain damage caused by jaundice (kernicterus)
Chronic yellow skin/eyes
Calling your health care provider
Seek genetic counseling if you are planning to have children and have a family history of Crigler-Najjar.
Call your health care provider if you or your newborn infant has jaundice that does not go away.
Genetic counseling is recommended for people with a family history of Crigler-Najjar syndrome who want to have children. Blood tests can identify people who carry the gene.
Carey RG, Balistreri WF. Metabolic Diseases of the Liver. In: Kliegman RM, Stanton BF, St. Geme J, Schor N, Behrman RE, eds. Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 19th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2011: chap 349.
Chad Haldeman-Englert, MD, FACMG, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Section on Medical Genetics, Winston-Salem, NC. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M. Health Solutions, Ebix, Inc. | <urn:uuid:8b9915f1-12fc-4a2e-842b-ed4cf2aeb016> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sjmed.com/body.cfm?id=41&action=detail&AEArticleID=001127&AEProductID=Adam2004_5117&AEProjectTypeIDURL=APT_1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911325 | 776 | 3.609375 | 4 |
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Stanford's student startup accelerator, StartX, just hosted its eighth demo day. Out of the 11 companies that presented, Kidaptive is one that stands out.
Stanford's student startup accelerator StartX just hosted its eighth demo day.
Kidaptive aims to help parents support their child's learning development through educational games on the iPad called "appisodes." The appisodes teach reading, colors and shapes, spatial reasoning, number sense and social development. Its technology adapts to each child to customize learning and provide tips to parents to help further their child's education.
Kidaptive co-founders Dylan Arena and P.J. Gunsagar, who presented for the second time at a StartX demo day, have already attracted seed funding from the likes of Patrick Gallagher, co-founder of CrunchFund, Menlo Ventures and Veddis Ventures.
Arena and Gunsagar first presented at StartX's spring 2012 demo day, but returned to the winter 2013 demo day seeking further investment.
More from our partners at Business Insider:
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Business Insider: Japan finance minister: 'The Yen weakened more than we intended'
Business Insider: Morgan Stanley: It's time to buy the 'currency war' basket
Business Insider: China's trade numbers crush expectations | <urn:uuid:f5fd7c48-9ee5-4d6e-a28e-48c4aacccc46> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/business/companies/130208/Stanford-StartX-startup-accelerator-US-companies-innovation-technology | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.913483 | 280 | 1.742188 | 2 |
George P. Landow created this formatted version of The Book of Wonder, which was first oublished in 1915, using the Project Gutenberg text produced by Anne Reshnyk, Suzanne L. Shell, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
Charon leaned forward and rowed. All things were one with his weariness.
It was not with him a matter of years or of centuries, but of wide floods of time, and an old heaviness and a pain in the arms that had become for him part of the scheme that the gods had made and was of a piece with Eternity.
If the gods had even sent him a contrary wind it would have divided all time in his memory into two equal slabs.
So grey were all things always where he was that if any radiance lingered a moment among the dead, on the face of such a queen perhaps as Cleopatra, his eyes could not have perceived it.
It was strange that the dead nowadays were coming in such numbers. They were coming in thousands where they used to come in fifties. It was neither Charon's duty nor his wont to ponder in his grey soul why these things might be. Charon leaned forward and rowed.
Then no one came for a while. It was not usual for the gods to send no one down from Earth for such a space. But the gods knew best.
Then one man came alone. And the little shade sat shivering on a lonely bench and the great boat pushed off. Only one passenger: the gods knew best. And great and weary Charon rowed on and on beside the little, silent, shivering ghost.
And the sound of the river was like a mighty sigh that Grief in the beginning had sighed among her sisters, and that could not die like the echoes of human sorrow failing on earthly hills, but was as old as time and the pain in Charon's arms.
Then the boat from the slow, grey river loomed up to the coast of Dis and the little, silent shade still shivering stepped ashore, and Charon turned the boat to go wearily back to the world. Then the little shadow spoke, that had been a man.
"I am the last," he said.
No one had ever made Charon smile before, no one before had ever made him weep.
Last modified 15 May 2008 | <urn:uuid:c384cf19-091a-449c-8e9c-e7b2f7f83f27> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/dunsany/51tales/2.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.990827 | 490 | 2.265625 | 2 |
Observations from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope reveal several galaxies containing feeding black holes, called quasars, which are distorting the appearance of galaxies behind them.
Sixty-six high school teams will take their robots to the courts this weekend to compete in the 21st season of the Los Angeles regional FIRST Robotics Competition.
NASA's Cassini mission to Saturn, managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., has received the top group honor from the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum - the Trophy for Current Achievement. Representatives for Cassini will receive the trophy on March 21 at a black-tie dinner in Washington, D.C.
NASA unveiled a new atlas and catalog of the entire infrared sky today showing more than a half billion stars, galaxies and other objects captured by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission.
New movies of Jupiter are the first to catch an invisible wave shaking up one of the giant planet's jet streams, an interaction that also takes place in Earth's atmosphere.
Saturn's moon Rhea appears in glorious detail in new images obtained by NASA's Cassini spacecraft
The Tuesday, March 13, media briefing to discuss the upcoming launch of the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) has been postponed.
NASA will hold a media briefing at 9 a.m. PDT (12 p.m. EDT) on Tuesday, March 13, to discuss the upcoming launch of an innovative X-ray telescope called NuSTAR.
NASA's Kepler mission has been named the winner of the 2012 Aviation Week Laureate Award in the Space category.
In honor of Women's History Month, JPL is hosting an event on March 8 to recognize the success of women in science and engineering.
A towering dust devil casts a serpentine shadow over the Martian surface in a new image from the high-resolution camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
NASA's GRAIL twins have begun their science collection phase in lunar orbit.
For the second straight year, Santa Monica High School beat longtime rival Arcadia High School to retain its title of Regional Ocean Sciences Bowl champions.
Community college students team up with NASA for a chance to design robotic rovers through the National Community College Aerospace Scholars program.
NuSTAR is being encapsulated in its rocket nose cone, or fairing, that will protect it during launch, scheduled for no earlier than March 21.
NASA's Cassini spacecraft has "sniffed" molecular oxygen ions around Saturn's icy moon Dione, confirming the presence of a tenuous atmosphere.
NASA's Mars Odyssey, the longest-working spacecraft ever sent to Mars, has now been sending home images for 10 years.
A NASA-led study finds Arctic sea ice loss may be intensifying release of bromine into the atmosphere, depleting ground-level ozone and depositing toxic mercury in the Arctic.
Asteroid 2011 AG5 has been receiving a lot of attention lately because of a very unlikely scenario which would place it on an Earth-interception course 28 years from now.
Astronomers have spotted young stars in the Orion nebula changing right before their eyes, thanks to the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory and NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. | <urn:uuid:41f05963-8b24-41d0-b14f-b7779b938702> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nasa.gov/centers/jpl/news/jpl-news_archive_15.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 | 0.909959 | 668 | 2.53125 | 3 |
The Gastonia Police Department has received $116,200 in state grants and equipment for traffic enforcement efforts to help to make roads safer in Gaston County, according to Gastonia Traffic Enforcement Sgt. Chad Hawkins.
Grants and equipment obtained through the North Carolina Governor’s Highway Safety Program include a $71,800 non-matching BikeSafe NC grant, said Sgt. Hawkins, who also serves as Gaston County’s NCGHSP coordinator.
The BikeSafe grant allows the Gastonia Police Department to join the state’s motorcycle safety program and pays for two fully equipped BMW police motorcycles, riding gear for two officers, and a motorcycle trailer. The grant includes funding for training at the NC State Highway Patrol motor officer school as well as in-state travel for BikeSafe .
The department has five certified BikeSafe assessors: Sgt. Chad Hawkins, Officers Keith Quinn, Mark Tilley and Ben Roper, and Detective Aaron Wurster .
Gastonia will also receive approximately $17,000 in equipment for points earned by the department for local enforcement and educational initiatives in conjunction with the highway safety program, Sgt. Hawkins said. Points are earned by law enforcement agencies for initiatives such as child seat safety events and DWI check points to help make roadways safer. Points are cashed in for equipment at the end of each year and this year equipment to be received includes 17 alco-sensors, six tint meters, and one LiDAR or speed gun, he said.
In addition, the department received 65 mobile printers and paper with a value of about $27,400 through a highway safety program/Administrative Offices of the Court grant in 2012. The mobile printers allow city officers to be more efficient by using electronic systems known as eCrash and eCITATION ® to print traffic crash information and citations in their patrol cars and electronically submit them to Raleigh, Sgt. Hawkins said. | <urn:uuid:2f2dddd1-5eee-4bbc-8652-17d753b105ef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gastongazette.com/lifestyles/community-spotlight/gastonia-police-receive-116-200-in-grants-new-equipment-1.87131 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9628 | 393 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Paulson Said to Explore Puerto Rico as Home With Low Tax
John Paulson, a lifelong New Yorker, is exploring a move to Puerto Rico, where a new law would eliminate taxes on gains from the $9.5 billion he has invested in his own hedge funds, according to four people who have spoken to him about a possible relocation.
But capital flight is not just for meat & bone people, it's also for corporate persons. And their tax-avoidance actions tends to keep a lot more money out-of-country than the actions of mere individuals, even billionaires.
GE, Pfizer, Microsoft, Apple And Other Major US Corporations Are Parking More Cash Abroad To Avoid Paying Taxes
Some of the largest companies in the U.S. greatly boosted their tax-avoiding cash stockpiles abroad last year, according to recent surveys of company filings from the Securities and Exchange Commission
For example, the Jedi master of avoiding U.S. taxation, General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), increased its tax-free cash accumulation to $108 billion, up from an estimated $94 billion in 2010. Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq:MSFT) increased its stockpile to $61 billion, up 36 percent from 2011 and up from $30 billion in 2010. Apple Inc. (Nasdaq:AAPL) raised its ante to $40 billion, up 73 percent from 2011.The obvious: All of the above are doing this to avoid paying what they perceive as overly-high tax rates. They are parking their asses and assets in jurisdictions that offer more competitive rates. | <urn:uuid:ef316c9d-5231-4a6d-b3d1-11fb2990f1dd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://flyovernotes.blogspot.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954264 | 324 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Old State Capitol Building Ruins Austin, TX
Congress Avenue at 11th Street
Austin, TX 78701
+1 512 475 3366No
Originally housing the first classes ever held by the University of Texas at Austin in 1894, the remains of Austin's first state house is directly across from the current State Capitol Building. Once serving as a temporary capitol building after a fire destroyed the original, the only remains are the foundation and cistern. Take a moment and consider the great achievements, trials and tribulations that have molded Texas into the state it is today.
Copyright © 1999-2009 wcities.com All rights Reserved - Contact wcities to report incorrect information | <urn:uuid:807234d1-e611-47b1-8107-8198a7a0eba7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.travelmuse.com/pois/US/TX/453/attractions/old-state-capitol-building-ruins | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925305 | 139 | 1.804688 | 2 |
WASHINGTON – Cheered by conservative supporters, President Bush yesterday gave a push to a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage as the Senate opened debate on an emotional, election-year measure that has little chance of passing.
“Our policies should aim to strengthen families, not undermine them. And changing the definition of marriage would undermine the family structure,” Bush said in a speech to a group that included James Dobson, head of the conservative Focus on the Family organization and a major force in evangelical Christian politics.
All Senate Democrats, except Ben Nelson of Nebraska, oppose the amendment. Critics say Bush is trying to energize conservative voters for the mid-term elections.
The amendment would prohibit states from recognizing same-sex marriages. To become law, the measure would need two-thirds support in the Senate and House, and then would have to be ratified by at least 38 state legislatures.
Congressional leaders acknowledge the measure lacks the votes to pass. Moderate Republicans and the Democrats are expected to block a yes-or-no vote in the Senate, killing the measure for the year.
Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., who sponsored the measure, acknowledged that politics had played a part in the timing of the debate. He said it would force senators to take a stand and answer for their votes on the campaign trail.
Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., said the discussion of gay marriage in Congress this week might be a priority for the White House and the Republican majority but not for her constituents.
Most people “worry about everything from terrorism to gas prices to the cost of health care to energy independence,” Clinton said yesterday at a fundraising luncheon.
Bush advisers played down the significance of yesterday's 10-minute White House event, saying Bush, who has been largely silent on the issue since the 2004 presidential campaign, was simply speaking out on an issue being debated on Capitol Hill. Press Secretary Tony Snow said the president was not personally lobbying senators to pass the amendment.
Bush also pressed for it in his radio address on Saturday.
“I'm not sure this is a big driver among voters,” Snow said.
Bush said a constitutional amendment was needed because laws that state legislatures had passed defining marriage as being between a man and a woman were being overturned by a few judges.
“When judges insist on imposing their arbitrary will on the people, the only alternative left to the people is an amendment to the Constitution – the only law a court cannot overturn,” the president said.
Bush also rebuffed critics who argued that the amendment was in conflict with a traditional GOP support for states' rights. “A constitutional amendment would not take this issue away from the states, as some have argued,” Bush said. “It would take the issue away from the courts and put it directly before the American people.”
Vice President Dick Cheney, whose daughter, Mary Cheney, is a lesbian, disagrees with Bush on the issue. Cheney has said there should not necessarily be a federal policy in this area. | <urn:uuid:92188432-0bfa-4a1c-acd0-35612c646dc7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.utsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060606/news_1n6marry.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978316 | 630 | 1.726563 | 2 |
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Autumn Delight Stonecrop
Sedum "Autumn Delight"
Sedum "Autumn Delight" flowers
(Photo courtesy of Northscaping.com)
Height: 18 inches
Spread: 24 inches
Hardiness Zone: 2
Other Names: Autumn Stonecrop, Showy Stonecrop
A highly desirable and popular groundcover, forming a dense mound completely covered in broccoli-like shell pink flowers which fade to red in early fall, variegated chartreuse and blue-green foliage is prominent all season; needs a dry and sunny location
Autumn Delight Stonecrop features beautiful clusters of shell pink flowers at the ends of the stems from late summer to late fall, which emerge from distinctive creamy white flower buds, and which are most effective when planted in groupings. The flowers are excellent for cutting. It's attractive large succulent oval leaves remain chartreuse in color with showy bluish-green variegation throughout the season. The fruit is not ornamentally significant.
Autumn Delight Stonecrop is a dense herbaceous perennial with an upright spreading habit of growth. Its relatively coarse texture can be used to stand it apart from other garden plants with finer foliage.
This is a relatively low maintenance perennial, and is best cleaned up in early spring before it resumes active growth for the season. It is a good choice for attracting butterflies to your yard, but is not particularly attractive to deer who tend to leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. It has no significant negative characteristics.
Autumn Delight Stonecrop is recommended for the following landscape applications;
Autumn Delight Stonecrop will grow to be about 14 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 24 inches. It grows at a fast rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 15 years.
This perennial does best in full sun to partial shade. It is very adaptable to both dry and moist growing conditions, but will not tolerate any standing water. It is considered to be drought-tolerant, and thus makes an ideal choice for a low-water garden or xeriscape application. It is not particular as to soil pH, but grows best in poor soils, and is able to handle environmental salt. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments. This plant can be propagated by division.
This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid. | <urn:uuid:cc018f0e-4f0b-4e87-b495-a31d9bcfe607> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://search.linders.com/12070003/Plant/8120 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915573 | 501 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Aug 12 2006
Acentury and more ago, farmers and the other people of rural communities were in an almost riotous protest. They were being abused by powerful interests and social forces, these things could be addressed by p0litics, and they knew it, and they acted accordingly. They formed political parties, they did battle within political parties, they got leaders of major political parties (William Jennings Bryan, for one) to pay attention and take up their cause. They got radical and they got uppity. And partly as a result, their lot gradually improved in the early 20th century.
Much of rural America in a condition no less dire today, and a good many of the reasons are external and attributable to decisions made by politicians and leaders of various powerful interests. And where is the protest today in rural America?
You could argue that much of rural America is depopulating; compared to a century and more ago, there is simply a lot less electoral clout there. But that’s not equally true everywhere; in some parts of the country, farm towns still have a lot of impact. One of the best places to consider this, and it the impact a rural revolt could prospectively have, is in Washington’s 5th congressional district.
The Washington 5th includes a large city, Spokane, and its surrounding area, and Spokane County accounts for almost two-thirds of the district’s population. Spokane’s Republican-ness isn’t what makes the 5th as a whole so strongly Republican, though. It is the only part of Washington state east of the Cascades with enough of a Democratic base to routinely send Democrats to the legislature in one district, and challenge more than just credibly in another. It did give 55% of its votes to George W. Bush in 2004, but that’s a lot less than in the 5th overall; and in the Senate race, homeboy Republican George Nethercutt managed only 51% against Democrat Patty Murray. Spokane County is a clear Republican lean but not a Republican lock; that comes from the rural counties.
These rural counties – Adams, Asotin, Columbia, Garfield, Okanogan, Ferry, Stevens, Pend Oreille, Lincoln, Spokane, Whitman, Walla Walla – are as a whole much more Republican than Spokane. A Democratic win in the 5th usually has been predicated on the idea of winnig strongly enough in Spokane to overcome the rest. But if – if – a populist revolt were to start out in the farm country and turn to a Democratic voting pattern, as has happened well back in our history, that calculus could be upended.
That is the proposition posed in the latest Inlander alternative weekly at Spokane, in “Amber Waves of Pain,” by Kevin Taylor, about the candidacy of Democrat Peter Goldmark, who is challenging first-term Republican Representative Cathy McMorris.
Conventional measures will suggest this is not a close-call contest, and probably it isn’t. All recent records – every election since 1992, when the 5th last elected A Democrat in the person of Tom Foley – has shown a steady conservative Republican tendency. Nethercutt’s re-elections from 1996 on were in the comfortable range here. Spokane aside, there’s no large Democratic base anywhere else in the area (though a few nascent groups are forming). There’s not much Democratic infrastructure to help a candidate, and the Republican infrastructure is strong. Inthis race, McMorris is reasonably well known and not disliked, while Goldmark is only marginally known. He didn’t get into serious campaigning until this spring. He is overmatched in the usual money and organizational measures. He’s out and about campaigning, and seems to have made a good impression, but he’s still not terribly well know. Most local news media have had little to say about the race; the Inlander’s article may be the most substantial piece on it yet; and that lack of buzz tends to help incumbents.
The wild card could be what the Inlander article suggests: A rural revolt.
Nationally, this looks like a year of revolt, but most of that activism seems centered in cities and suburbs rather than rural places. But rural places have been hit hard by a sequence of events, not of especially recent making but certainly of recent exacerbation. In the Inlander:
Scarily real, agrees Read Smith, a Whitman County wheat farmer near St. John.
“We’re in a desperate cost/price squeeze right now. The fertilizers we use are petroleum-based, and the fuel we need to run everything is up and we’re being squeezed bad. The price we get for almost everything we produce is flat and has been for 30 years,” Smith says.
“So we’re living off equity, and Main Street is suffering. In Endicott there’s no café, no tavern, no drug store. There’s a food center and a bank and a post office and that’s it,” Smith says. “Go to many small communities in the 5th District and Main Street is empty. People are gone, the shops are closed, the schools are shrinking and the churches are suffering — and there doesn’t seem to be a real grasp that this is happening.”
So far, they’ve mostly been sitting there and taking it. But not entirely. The Inlander noted that last fall, “Democratic Sen. Patty Murray swung by the Harvester Restaurant in Spangle and found a standing-room-only crowd packing the place to discuss troubles in farm country. A couple of weeks later, Murray flew a half dozen ag leaders to her office for a face-to-face sit-down meeting with a couple of senior officials from the Department of Agriculture.” Only after that did McMorris, who (as is noted) not on the House agriculture committee, hold a rural assist event of her own. (McMorris actually comes from one of the small towns in the district, Colville, which should give her some useful insight into the problem.)
Goldmark is hoping to jump on top of that unrest. As a farmer and a credible figure within that world, he would seem to be a reasonabl enough figure for some of those farmers to hold on to if they decide they want to roll up the barricades.
But do they? Actual evidence that this generation of rural people, in contrastr to those of a century-plus ago, are willing to do more than complain isn’t yet very apparent. But there is a national revolt underway, and if some of that spirit jumps to some of the rural communities in places like the 5th, who knows what kind of explosion that spark might bring about?Share on Facebook
One Response to “A protest, like the old days?” | <urn:uuid:5fc7cd93-6d00-4c90-a92a-8c215989987a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2006/08/12/a-protest-like-the-old-days/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969543 | 1,437 | 1.921875 | 2 |
Pennsylvania Driver Licensing Law & Teen Driver Law
Obtaining a Pennsylvania Junior Learner’s Permit
You must be at least 16 years old to apply for a learner’s permit. Also, before applying, you must have a medical professional conduct a physical examination and complete the “Medical Qualification Certificate” section of Form DL-180 to verify that you’re medically capable of operating a vehicle.
Then you can visit a licensing center with the following items:
- Completed Non-Commercial Learner’s Permit Application (Form DL-180)
- Completed Parent or Guardian Consent Form (DL-180TD) if you’re under 18
- Proof of your date of birth and identification (acceptable forms of identification can be found on the reverse side of Form DL-180)
- Your Social Security card
- A check or money order, payable to PennDOT, in the appropriate amount
An eye screening and knowledge test are given, and once they’re passed, a learner’s permit is issued. The permit is valid for one year. When gaining driving experience you must be accompanied by an adult 21 years or older.
Obtaining a Junior Driver’s License
For those under age 18, a six-month waiting period and at least 65 hours behind the wheel with a learner’s permit is required prior to taking the skills test for a junior license. The 65 hours must include 10 hours of driving at night and 5 hours of bad-weather driving. Those 18 or older can take the test and receive a license at any time.
For drivers 18 and under who plan to obtain their graduated license before turning 18, a PennDOT approved driver’s education course must be completed. If not, a junior license automatically becomes a graduated license upon turning 18.
The following restrictions must be followed by drivers using a junior license:
- No driving between the hours of 11PM and 5AM is allowed unless a parent, guardian, or spouse over 17 years of age accompanies you in the vehicle. You may drive alone from 11PM to 5AM if you’re involved with a public service, volunteer fire company, or employed during those hours. As proof, you must carry a notarized affidavit from your employer, supervisor, or fire chief confirming your schedule.
- If an accident occurs for which you are partially or fully responsible, or if you commit certain moving violations, your license may be suspended until you are 18 years old or for a period of time not exceeding 90 days.
- Drivers under 18 will be suspended if they accumulate six or more points or are convicted of driving 26 mph or more over the posted speed limit. The first suspension will be for a period of 90 days. Any subsequent occurrences will result in 120 days of suspension.
Obtaining a Graduated Driver’s License
It’s possible to obtain a regular license one year after receiving your junior license and still be under 18. To do so, you must have passed a PennDOT approved driver training program, have no violations or accidents on your record, and have the consent of your parents, guardian, or spouse. If you meet these criteria, you can graduate to a full license as young as 17 and a half.
To apply for your regular license before turning 18 you must fill out the application form (DL-59) and mail it to PennDOT. If your application is approved, you will receive an update card to carry with your Junior Driver’s License. If you do not meet the requirements to graduate to a regular license before turning 18, you must wait to have the junior license restrictions lifted automatically when you do turn 18.
Pennsylvania’s Zero Tolerance Law
Pennsylvania´s Zero Tolerance Law carries serious consequences for those under 21 who are convicted of driving with any amount of alcohol in their blood. Those under 21 who are convicted of driving under the influence with a .02 blood alcohol content or greater face severe penalties, including a 12-to-18-month license suspension, 48 hours to six months in jail, and fines from $500 to $5,000.
A vehicle does not have to be involved in order for those under 21 to lose their driving privileges. It is against the law for an individual under the age of 21 to consume, possesses or transport alcohol, or lie about their age to obtain alcohol and carry a fake identification card. If convicted, the minimum penalties are a fine of up to $500, plus court costs; a 90-day license suspension for the first offense; a 1-year suspension for the second offense; and a 2-year suspension for the third and subsequent offenses. The courts may require offenders to be evaluated to determine the extent of the involvement with alcohol and may also require successful completion of a program of alcohol education, intervention or counseling.
Additional Impacts on Your Driver´s License: If you do not have a driver´s license, you will be ineligible to apply for a learner´s permit for the time period of the suspension. If you are under 16 years of age, your suspension will not begin until your 16th birthday, provided you acknowledge your suspension, and it is received any time prior to your 16th birthday. In addition to serving a suspension, a restoration fee must be paid before your driverʼs license will be returned or your application for a Non-Commercial Learner´s Permit (DL-180) considered for processing.
Need more information on state laws? Learn more about the laws where you live. | <urn:uuid:2cb1aea3-1900-4f0f-b0a1-b16599ebef3f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.edgarsnyder.com/car-accident/licensing-laws/licensing-laws-pennsylvania.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92246 | 1,149 | 1.84375 | 2 |
First, it should perhaps be obvious that the changes noted would be proportional to how incorrect the crank length was before. If the rider had been using a 170mm crankset and the formula calls for a 175mm, the effects of the change are likely to be minor -- positive, but minor. On the other hand, if the rider has a 36-inch inseam, the formula calls for a 198mm crank. This would be a major change for this rider, and may take him some considerable retraining to become accustomed to. The same is true for very short riders. Experience with such changes has shown that highly trained cyclists usually require several training rides with the new crank length before they surpass their previous performance, while the more casual rider takes to the correct length crank like a fish takes to water.
The biggest result to be noticed from correcting the crank length will be comfort. Tall riders, switching from a 170mm to something more their size, will immediately feel like they are turning a serious crank rather than spinning a child's bike. Short riders getting a shorter crank will be able to spin comfortably for a change, especially on the low bars. And the incidence of knee problems -- for both tall and short riders -- will be greatly reduced.
It must also be pointed out that changing the crank length affects a few other things. For example, installing a longer crank may require lowering the seat, depending on where the seat was before (when the crank is too short, riders have arrived at different conclusions about what extension should be aimed for). With the correct crank length fitted, the proper extension will be readily apparent on the first ride, since it is more critical than with a crank that's too short. Usually the seat will have to be lowered, often by nearly the same amount as the increase in crank length. In cases of considerable crank length change, this can affect the selection of frame size!
Another issue is cornering clearance, a concern when changing to a longer crankset. The pedal gets closer to the ground, and that can be a problem with the length cranks needed for very tall riders. If this crank length formula were commonly accepted, modern frame designs could easily compensate by locating the bottom bracket higher off the ground on taller frames. Many of the better framemakers do this now, but the differences are minor, only a few mm at most. Ideally, a 185mm crankset should be mounted in a BB that is 15mm higher off the ground than a 170mm -- perhaps even 16 or 17mm higher, since the taller rider is also likely to have wider feet and wider pedals. A quick review of the market will clearly indicate that frameset lines with BB heights varying adequately with frame size simply don't exist.
The value to look at in frameset geometry is called the "hanger drop", and it is the distance the BB is below the centerline of the wheels. Hence, the smaller the hanger drop, the higher the BB is.
Even if no single line of framesets offers adequate variation in hanger drop, there lies more promise in the differences between one make and another. The assortment of framesets available on the market includes a great many geometry layouts, including a wide variety of hanger drops. Therefore, it is advisable for a very tall rider to shop for the highest BB (smallest hanger drop) he can find, regardless of what that maker does with the other sizes. It is possible to find makers whose entire lines have high BB's, apparently because their designers like them.
Short riders may want to seek framesets with a lot of
drop, even though the concerns associated with using an average
height BB -- more ground clearance than necessary -- are not as
worrisome as the pedal-banging issue facing the tall
You'll get more stability and smaller frontal area, as well
as lower frontal area -- you can draft tall people, but they
little benefit from drafting you!
If you take the above considerations together, you realize that the proper frame needed for a tall rider getting a longer crank would generally have the top tube and the seat in the same place as before, but the bottom bracket higher. This would result in the frameset being called a shorter size, since frameset sizes are measured from the BB up.
According to Edward C. Zimmermann's Competition Road Racing Bicycle Size/ Proportions Analysis site, "In Article 49, the paragraph on Technical Specifications, of the UCI regulations the height of the "bottom bracket" is limited to the range of 24 cm minimum and 30 cm maximum." It doesn't mention why the rulemakers would concoct such nonsense, but anyone familiar with rulemaking will not be surprised by anything. These limits actually should not be terribly restrictive unless one is very tall or very short indeed, in which case I suggest complaining loud and long to the UCI. You certainly cannot hold the crank length formula at fault for such idiocy.
Bill Pachoud (who is very tall indeed) points out that another implication of long cranks is that the chainstays will need to be narrow enough for the crank to clear them farther rearward than before. A simple solution would be to use a longer BB axle to position the crank arms farther outward, but this is not a pleasant alternative and may cause chain alignment and cornering clearance problems; it would be better for the framemaker to design the chainstays properly for the length crank used. On the other hand, if it can be assumed that the ideal side-to-side spacing of the pedals should be wider for a larger rider than for an average rider, maybe the longer axle is the way to go. I personally doubt this, and suspect that narrower is better for almost anyone.
The chainstays should also be long enough that the rider's right heel doesn't hit the rear derailleur. In the case of very tall riders, this may call for lengthening the wheelbase to move the rear wheel and derailleur farther away from the BB. That's not really a bad option; the very short wheelbase bicycle is overrated, especially for tall riders.
You need to watch the clearance in the other direction, too. On most bicycles, the tip of the rider's toe cannot touch the front wheel no matter what. But a longer crank combined with big feet and a short wheelbase may allow the rider's toe to foul the front wheel when the steering is turned and the pedal is forward. This is not normally a serious problem since the steering is not commonly turned that far, but it may startle a rider who isn't prepared for it during tight maneuvering. The correction, of course, is a longer top tube and longer wheelbase -- which a rider of this size probably should have anyway.
Another frame geometry issue I am often asked about is seat tube angle. This is sort of a non-implication, really. If a tall rider is using a crankset proportional to his size, then the proper seat tube angle for him is exactly the same angle as used by average size people using a 170mm crank. The problem is that, up to now, tall riders haven't been using properly-sized cranksets, they've been using the same 170's that their shorter compatriots are using. This screws up everything, since the downward pedal isn't as far forward as it should be, the ankling motion is forced rather than natural, the rider is having to maintain high cadences to avoid knee pain, etc., etc. The result is that framemakers have been varying the seat tube angle on tall frames in an attempt to correct for these problems. Once the use of properly-sized cranksets becomes accepted practice, this will no longer be necessary and the seat tube angle can be optimized for one and all using the same criteria -- namely, varying only according to intended application, which is generally steeper for competition and shallower for casual riding or touring.
It should also be noted that changing crank length will usually affect the gear ratios needed. When a longer crank is installed, most riders (after becoming accustomed to the new length) will either maintain the same cadence or drop it only slightly; a large drop in cadence usually indicates the new crank is too long. However, they may put out somewhat more power, allowing them to maintain that cadence in taller gears. Of more significance, however, is the off-peak performance; a tall rider using a short crank will need to maintain a high cadence even when taking it easy, or his knees will suffer. Once the correct length crank is installed, he will find it much better to shift into a tall gear and pedal slowly when goofing off. Hence, he will normally want to have a taller selection of ratios than before.
The shorter rider will find it much easier to spin with the correct length crank than with a 170, because his knees are no longer hitting his chest. Once he finds that spinning actually works the way it should, he will usually opt for slightly lower ratios than before.
One other concern may involve frame stiffness. When a frame is too flexible or "whippy" for the rider, it can effectively defeat efforts toward more power; when the rider applies more force to the pedals, the result is a lot more frame flex and little more speed. When riding such a frame, the only way to get more speed is to spin faster -- and hence the installation of long cranks may appear to hurt performance when they otherwise would help. The best idea in this case is always to replace that frame with something stiffer, regardless of crank length concerns; sell that frame to someone lighter or less powerful.
As far as performance implications go, they are probably not what one might expect. For example, in time trialing, it is likely that correcting the crank length will not make much difference. The determining factor in a TT is the cardiovascular system, and changing the crank length will usually not have enough effect on efficiency to change TT performance much. The exception, of course, is the case where the crank was wrong by so much before as to inhibit pedalling motion or cause knee pain, in which cases the TT performance may improve considerably.
In road racing, many riders are concerned that having a long crank will adversely affect their finishing sprint. This is hogwash, plain and simple. If the crank is the right length for their legs and they have the proper gearing on the bike, their sprint will be the best it can be. More importantly, if that sprint comes after pedalling 100 miles, having the correct crank length will leave them in far better shape for that sprint.
In hill climbing, it is of utmost importance that the crankset be long enough, and too long may even have some benefit. The fact that most tall riders have always used cranks far too short for them may help explain why large riders are never expected to do well in hillclimbs. There is another reason, though: a larger organism has more trouble dissipating excess body heat than a smaller organism, and for this reason the smaller riders are always likely to excel at hillclimbs. But once the taller riders get the right cranks fitted, they certainly won't be as far behind!
There is one special case worth mentioning. The Junior and
classes have gearing limits intended to protect the knees of young
These limits are a really good idea, but unfortunately they do not
in crank length. The limit is so many inches of forward travel per turn
of the crank, regardless of the length of that crank. Now, since use of
a longer crank may lower cadence a little and therefore call for taller
gears, tall Juniors are in something of a dilemma. If the race in
doesn't call for winding out the top gear, then applying this formula
sound. However, in any event where the competitor's pedal speed in top
gear is a problem, the guys fitting the shorter cranksets are gonna do
better. This is true beyond the 170mm; if the race calls for
that top gear, going to a 165mm or even shorter may be a secret weapon!
Of course, it may also screw up some knees. Hopefully, if properly
cranks for different size riders ever catches on, the various racing
will see fit to alter the gearing limits for Juniors and Midgets to
Return to Kirby Palm's home page.
Of course, if you have questions or comments, you are welcome to send e-mail to me at firstname.lastname@example.org. | <urn:uuid:23ad443d-747b-4cdc-b83d-56d92dab13ee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nettally.com/palmk/Crimplic.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951154 | 2,565 | 2.125 | 2 |
Facebook's Graph Search, explained by the angry and amused
Facebook's new "Graph Search" promises to let users sift through the network's vast trove of posts and photos to produce more helpful results. But not everyone on social media was excited about the new search tool, which (again!) raises privacy concerns. Here's a sampling of the conversation:
- 1.) Which of my employees has life threatening illness, such as cancer or HIV ? 2.) Which of my employees has been arrested on drug or alcohol related charges ? 3.) Which of my employees has sexual orientations I do not like or approve of ? 4.) Which of my employees has been involved in a lawsuit ? 5.) Etc., etc., etc, .....
- Ok, Mr. Zuckerberg, hope this new GRAPH SEARCH application is going to be easy to use and less tedious; I have so little patience and tolerance for these constant changes to FB....just make it easy and fast please for older Americans like myself, well I am not that old, but older than you are! Ok, now I am done venting! Take care people!
Did you find this story interesting? Be the first to like or comment. | <urn:uuid:ac331263-f09b-46b6-b16d-297ee435fea1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://storify.com/assignmentdesk1/facebooksearchideas/elements/50f6ce7f439bd7690d047eed | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940407 | 244 | 1.710938 | 2 |
It's been assumed for several years now that Marvel Studios ensemble film The Avengers will follow the continuity of the original comics run; where Loki gains control over the Hulk to unleash his fury on Earth, which causes the superhero team to assemble for the first time. Last night I learned that this may not be the case, and apparently I'm not the only one who's privy to this information. Two fellow entertainment journalists, one being our own DCMarvel_Freshman, were tipped to this information around the same time as I was; and by two other sources close to the production.
The highlight of this insider scoop (DISCLAIMER: which has not been confirmed by the studio itself) is that the shape-changing alien race the Skrulls are being used as the main antagonists for The Avengers. Not only that, but the Skrulls will 'brainwash' and use the Hulk in a similar fashion Loki did in the comics. Don't expect a full on alien invasion, though; that will have to wait for a sequel. The Skrulls' role will be largely clandestine, similar to the way S.H.I.E.L.D. operates.
For those of you wondering who the Skrulls are, here's a brief synopsis courtesy of Marvel: 'The Skrulls are an extraterrestrial humanoid race who have created a vast interstellar empire, the oldest known empire still in existence, within the Andromeda Galaxy.. A Skrull can mentally cause the unstable molecules that comprise his or her body to become pliant, enabling him or her to assume other forms through muscular expansion and contraction. Once a new shape has been assumed (human, animal, alien), it takes a conscious act of will to assume another form or revert to natural.. Although the Skrulls became aware of Earth (due to its nearness to a natural warp-space access point) eons ago, it was not until recent times that they considered Earth’s threat. Their first regular surveillances of Earth began in the 1930s.
To date most of the Skrulls’ excursions to Earth have been extremely small-scale, with no more than a handful of soldier-infiltrators being dispatched at any given time. It is not yet known how the death of the current ruling family will affect official policy toward Earth or the government of the empire in general. '
Apparently, the Skrulls won't be the only alien race to be introduced in The Avengers; their enemy, the Kree, will also have a presence as Earthly allies. This isn't surprising information, considering a young actor by the name of Kevin Pennington has been rumored to portray a character by the name of Noh-Varr; who just so happens to be a Kree. Though I couldn't get confirmation that Noh-Varr is Pennington's role, at his point, all signs are pointing to 'yes.'
That's not all, True Believers, the last bit of information I managed to talk to this source about was regarding comic character film rights, and how Marvel Studios is planning on bringing fan-favorites like Spider-Man, Wolverine and the Fantastic Four back under their umbrella. It seems like the opposite it true. Marvel has no intention of working out deals with neither Fox nor Sony in an effort to use the characters (including the ones mentioned above) in future Marvel Studios projects. Instead, they will simply, "pretend they don't exist in the Marvel Cinema Universe until those companies inevitably grow tired of them."
How on Earth will those studios grow tired of characters that offer them tent pole film franchise opportunities? It may not take as long as expected; after all, there are only so many times you can 'reboot' a character before the general movie going public looses interest. Though it may take another decade or so, that seems to be an acceptable wait for Marvel to bring their heroes home. | <urn:uuid:8c8c9251-5b4b-42da-894c-8dfa39fa908c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.merlyns.biz/index.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=6747 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956392 | 812 | 1.835938 | 2 |
In Summer 2011 Visa announced plans to accelerate the acceptance and use of EMV cards throughout the U.S. EMV cards are also known as IC or Chip cards. This announcement was no surprise as EMV has been a long accepted standard through Europe and Asia. However, to make the entire network EMV ready requires all the participants in the market to adapt their systems. Chip cards will need to be issued, the acquirer/processors must adapt their host systems and the terminals at the POS will need to be replaced.
Accompanying the announcement Visa published a road map stating the following:
- Visas Technology Innovation Program (TIP) will be expanded into the U.S., effective October 2012.
This means Visa will waive the annual validation of a merchant’s PCI/DSS compliance, as long as at least 75% of the merchant’s transactions originate from dual-interface EMV terminals. Dual-interface terminals are terminals that can process contact and contactless EMV transactions.
- All participating acquirer/processors have to make their systems EMV ready by April 2013.
- Visas global POS Counterfeit Liability Shift Program will be extended into the U.S., effective October 2015 (two years later for petrol merchants).
This program will transfer the liability for fraud originating from non-EMV transactions to the acquirer/processor, and as a result to the merchant as seen in other countries.
This plan clearly focuses on two goals:
- Reducing fraud.
- Setting the benchmark for NFC based card acceptance (for example; contactless payment by card or mobile phone).
In recent years the U.S. has been an easy target for fraud. In 2008, fraudulent transactions made up 0.04% or USD 8 billion of the complete U.S. turnover of credit card transactions. Card numbers are being stolen all across the world and used in the U.S. to commit fraud. The predominant number of magstripe POS terminals makes this a relatively easy way to commit fraud. With the adoption of the liability shift program one large fraudulent region will be eliminated, as seen in other countries that already run the program. Once this has been achieved, the question remains: Where will the fraud move next? Until chip cards are used worldwide, magstripe fraud will remain a global problem.
Interestingly, the liability shift program is a sweet deal for Visa as it will instantly and largely increase the points of acceptance for NFC based cards. Conversely, it will be a cost intensive change for the merchants as it forces them into changing their POS infrastructure into dual-interface EMV terminals. This sets the ground for Visas contactless program Pay Wave and for mobile payment. Google already provides a nice solution with its wallet, where the phone emulates an NFC payment card.
This is where we believe it gets really interesting. In contrast to Europe where cardholder authentication through PIN is usually required, Visa aims for an online / non-PIN model in the U.S. which will pave the way for contactless transactions. Wave the card and that’s it, no PIN entry required. Issuers and acquirer/processors will be happy with this, as it lessens the costs and complexity on the card and the terminal.
In contrast to all of this, one can see an increasing market for “easy” magstripe transactions. Square, amongst others, provides an easy way for merchants to accept magstripe cards. Up to April 2011 Square has seen USD137M total flow. These payment solutions target small businesses and make it very easy to accept credit cards as a merchant. Common to all these solutions are high transaction fees for the merchant and the full risk of chargebacks. What some people might not know is that Visa invested in Square. There seems to be a two way strategy in pushing the mid and large size businesses into accepting contactless EMV cards and enabling small businesses to accept credit cards on their full risk. Clearly a winner for Visa! But what do they actually do for it?
In the longer term magstripe transactions will disappear. Issuers will simply stop issuing magstripe cards. This has already started in some Eastern European countries. The main reason is fraud, but also because there is new technology that makes cards obsolete. The “card” itself might not be a “card” anymore, but a mobile phone, key fob or all sorts of mediums carrying the chip. While it may take several years to fully implement, it is interesting to wonder how small businesses will be targeted. | <urn:uuid:f1d3e091-d957-48f1-b6d5-13f244502891> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.abrantix.com/2012/02/08/visa-plans-to-accelerate-acceptanceuse-of-emv-cards-in-u-s/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950445 | 939 | 1.75 | 2 |
The pond just east of Doug and Nancy Rupp’s brick home sparkles like a bright blue sapphire. The beauty of the pond is sweeter still, Doug says, because they were able to build it at a fraction of the bids received from local contractors, thanks to employee Kelsey Stamm.
“Kelsey said, ‘I can do that; we’ll just rent an excavator,’” recalls Rupp, who farms near Stryker, Ohio. Six days later, the new 19'-deep pond was finished.
The Rupps are participating in the Farm Journal Ultimate Farm Quest, a program to help them raise the bar of excellence for their operation.
Stamm’s intelligence, especially in regard to technology, can-do attitude and work ethic are traits that drew Rupp to the 37-year-old nearly six years ago. While Stamm’s farm equipment job at the time was stable, he needed flexibility to invest more time in his growing family.
Both Stamm and Rupp saw how the opportunity to work together could help each other.
“I told Kelsey he could work for me in the spring and fall and have the flexibility to do whatever he needed,” Rupp recalls. “He’s an adept mechanic and understands the technology of farm equipment. That’s something I’m not as knowledgeable about.”
Rupp’s ability to understand the type of help he needed to supplement his skill base is key, according to Robert W. Taylor, Purdue University ag economist. Prior to hiring a new employee, Taylor says, farmers should develop a list of skills needed and then actively look for and hire the person who can best fulfill them.
Personal interaction and hands-on tests are the best indicators of whether an applicant will successfully fill a position, says Gregorio Billikopf, an ag labor management farm adviser with the University of California Cooperative Extension.
“Whatever the duties that need to be filled are, they need to be demonstrated,” Billikopf says. On the flip side, Rupp says, employers need to understand what the employee values and provide that benefit.
Along with understanding Stamm’s need for flexibility, Rupp pays him well above minimum wage. Stamm says he has also benefited from Rupp’s mentoring and the opportunity to operate new farm equipment.
“In any relationship, it has to be a win-win situation for both parties,” Rupp notes.
Stamm agrees: “I have good days and bad days, and so does Doug. We just try to be businesslike and work through them.”
Top Producer, December 2010
- December 2010 | <urn:uuid:90f0c347-bbe7-4186-aa89-8a77f9f275ce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.agweb.com/mymachinery/article/employ_excellence/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954292 | 576 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Welcome to the ANVIL website!
ANVIL is an EU co-funded research project that looks at how civil security systems function in different countries and regions. ANVIL study countries are shown in red in the map image above. Civil security systems are the (non-military) processes and organizations in place to prevent, respond to and recover from crises and disasters. The main goals of ANVIL are to try to reveal what works and what doesn’t work for civil security systems across Europe, to give advice to policy makers about this, and to identify emerging research needs for future EU research programmes.
ANVIL is a 24 month project. It has a 2.2 M€ budget and was launched in March 2012. The project brings together 12 organisations from 11 different countries in Europe.
To pinpoint essential similarities and differences between civil security systems across Europe, through mapping and comparing, especially with regard to relevant cultural phenomena and legal determinations.
ANVIL Original Call Text
The objective is to explore and compare relevant cultural phenomenon and legal determinations of civil security across Europe, taking into account the existing significant differences between countries and regions.
ANVIL Glossary of Terms
Civil security system: This is broadly defined as any non-military system that is responsible for preparedness, prevention and recovery from a security incident in a community, state or region. | <urn:uuid:aa1551b7-ebba-497f-8101-148451f8b0de> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://anvil-project.net/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935396 | 280 | 2.328125 | 2 |
Last week I had the honor and pleasure of volunteering at both West Windsor Plainsboro School District Community Forums. Unfortunately for me, I was not allowed to participate in the event. But I did get to listen in on some of the discussions among the adults, and I was not happy with what I heard. Because I was not allowed to voice my opinion during the discussion, I have decided to write a piece in the local newspaper.
On the discussion packet, there was a question regarding foreign languages. I am not sure what the exact words were, but it asked the participants how strongly they felt about keeping world languages. Of course, the participants then discussed which languages to keep and which ones to eliminate. The number one language chosen to eliminate from the WW-P curriculum? German.
The German program at WW-P starts in middle school, and goes up to AP German in high school. Most students who are taking German in high school have been taking it since the sixth grade because there is no beginner level German class available at the high schools. Because of this, the German program has shrunk significantly in the past couple of years, and classes are becoming smaller and more condensed. For example, I currently take German 4 Honors in a combined classroom with German AP students. I have had the same kids in my German classes all throughout my WW-P school career, and I would not have it any other way. The WW-P German program is a small one, but it is a great one.
One of the major complaints about the German program is that learning German is not as useful as learning Spanish or Chinese. But Germany is a nation filled with rich history and culture. It is the country that produced Einstein, Beethoven, Goethe, Martin Luther, and Bach. It is where the Protestant religion was built, and where the Berlin Wall was knocked down. It is the home of Europe’s largest economy. It is the world’s second largest exporter, even ahead of the United States. Unlike Spain, Germany has a strong economy. Unlike Mexico and China, its government is not corrupted by drug cartels and dirty politics. It is a nation that is helping to lead the fight against global warming. It is a nation led by a woman. And what language does this influential country speak? German.
When I first decided to take German in the fifth grade, I knew nothing about Germany’s history. All I knew was that Germany was where the Nazis came from and that Nazis are bad. This is probably how many Americans still view Germans today. But after learning from Frau Waidelich and Frau Dine, I have discovered much more about German culture than I could have ever expected.
German has taught me more about the horrors of Jewish death camps than any of my history classes combined. Even from the beginning of middle school, we were taught to “learn about history, so that it does not repeat itself.” What country’s history does this cliche statement apply to more than Germany? If WW-P wants to create “globally aware citizens,” how can it do so without providing students access to learning German? How can we promote diversity and acceptance when half of our school’s Chinese population is taking Chinese? We can’t.
I overheard one person at the meeting say, “If kids really want to learn German that bad, than they can take it outside of school.” That is an unfair statement. The closest German language school from my house is 50 minutes away. The closest Chinese school? High School North. It is unfair to tell a student that he/she needs to pay a separate fee to learn German, especially when his/her friends are taking Chinese classes in school, on the weekends at North, and learning from their parents at home.
Eliminating the German program at West Windsor-Plainsboro schools would be a step backwards in fulfilling the mission statement. By immersing our students in only Spanish and Chinese, we are not creating students who can “thoughtfully contribute to a diverse and changing world.” We are limiting our students to only a narrow path of experiences. We value diversity. We need it. At the community forum, they diversified each table to increase discussion from all sides of an issue. Imagine if only two sides were presented at the table. Would it be a diverse table? Or would it look more like our House of Representatives?
Do not cut the German program at the West Windsor Plainsboro District Schools. Sign your kids up for it. Support cultural diversity. Support the German program.
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So much for the “Let Detroit go bankrupt…” meme in 2008. Oh, and add another gold star to the Obama greatest hits list…
Ford Motor Co.’s record North American profit in 2012 will have a ripple effect on auto communities across the country and especially here in Southeast Michigan.
Roughly 45,800 hourly United Auto Workers members who work at Ford plants in the United States will receive record profit-sharing checks of $8,300 on average in March.
“The expected increase in profit-sharing checks for autoworkers this March is good news for Michigan’s economy,” said Robert Dye, chief economist at Comerica Bank. “It will help to buffer households from the drag of higher payroll taxes,” which increased 2 percent for all working Americans on Jan. 1.
On average, the $8,300 profit-sharing check will have an economic impact of $20,750 per worker, when factoring a multiplying ripple effect, said David Sowerby, portfolio manager for Loomis Sayles in Bloomfield Hills.
“While we encourage savings for the long term, spending it locally, especially on made-in-Michigan products, is a bigger economic multiplier,” Sowerby said. “It gives us a decent boost.”
Dianne Reichel, a group manager with GreenPath Debt Solutions in Farmington Hills, said her clients are committed to paying down their debt and will use their checks to pay it down more quickly. But people who aren’t on a debt-reduction program will be tempted to spend it immediately.
“We all like that windfall. Because they’ve been struggling so long, and now they have the money at hand to get things, they don’t necessarily think through where the best place is to put that money,” she said.
The $8,300 profit-sharing check is a result of Ford’s profits and the most recent contract between the automaker and the UAW that was signed in 2011.
That dollar figure shatters the previous record for Ford UAW workers, which was $8,000 in 1999. It also breaks the all-time UAW profit-sharing record of $8,100 that Chrysler workers received in 1999, though adjusted for inflation that total would be worth nearly $11,000 today.
Individual profit sharing payments may be higher or lower based on the employee compensated hours.
In the past three years, Ford has doled out an average of $19,500 per worker in profit-sharing checks, rivaling a similar four-year run in the late 1990s, when Ford paid out an average of $25,200 per worker, according to the UAW.
The profit-sharing checks will also mark the fourth consecutive year of profit-sharing checks for Ford workers since the automaker staved off bankruptcy. Prior to that, profit sharing was suspended for four years.
“Fewer autoworkers may mean fewer total profit sharing dollars circulating in the Michigan economy compared to a decade ago,” Dye said. “But it is still good news to see an increase in the size of checks this year.”
- Record Profit-Sharing Checks for 45,800 Ford United Auto Workers (crooksandliars.com)
- Ford: UAW members to receive average profit sharing payments of $8,300 (mlive.com)
- Auto Workers Set for Big Profit Sharing at Ford and GM This Year (democraticunderground.com)
- UAW Chief: Right-To-Work Will Be Overturned (detroit.cbslocal.com)
- UAW, salaried Chrysler workers receiving bonuses or profit sharing checks (mlive.com) | <urn:uuid:061ca373-2649-45fa-b100-e7f1a49bf8b9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kstreet607.com/tag/ford/ | 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 | 0.934115 | 793 | 1.664063 | 2 |
The power of repentance
God’s hands are stretched out to receive penitents, but each and every day
that Israel do not repent, the measure of justice, waxing stronger and stronger,
hurls charges that Israel are guilty of swearing falsely, coveting their neighbors’
wives, and slandering their fellows. God responds by speaking in praise of
those in Israel who rise early to go to synagogues and academies and live in
full obedience to precepts of Torah. So, He concludes, there is ample reason
for His favoring Israel.
Repentance is even greater than prayer and greater than charity. Moses’
prayers did not help him enter the Land, but God accepted the harlot Rahab
because of her repentance (S, 37).
The respite from judgment during the ten days between New Year’s Day
and the Day of Atonement is given to Israel, so that they can resolve upon
The summons Lift up thy voice like a horn (Isa. 58:1) is meant as commendatory,
for the horn was created solely for the purpose of conveying good news,
as evident from the horn sounded at the giving of Torah and at the fall of the
walls of Jericho, and will be evident from the horn to be sounded at the gathering
of the dispersed of Israel (S, 38).
The disciples of the wise who are the teachers of Israel are exhorted to
forswear transgression lest they be punished in Gehenna, and Israel are exhorted
to avoid sin. By way of example, a story is told of one of R. ‘Akiba’s
most prominent disciples who fell in love with a harlot. She, however, conscience-
stricken, refused to yield herself to him and prevailed on him to desist.
Both, according to a Divine Voice, were destined for life in the world-tocome
Chapter 4 (EZ, Chapter 22)
R. Eliezer asked his disciples: Are you able to accept reasoned reprimands?
They replied: Please explain . I will,
he said: I shall Cry aloud, spare not (Isa. 58:1). He then went on: These
words of the prophet are to be considered in the light of what he was
earlier inspired by the holy spirit to say: Come now, and let us reason
together, saith the Lord (Isa. 1:18). Whom did Isaiah suppose God to
be addressing in this verse? Penitents, none other. For the hands
of the Holy One are stretched out to receive penitents as He asks,
When will they yearn for repentance so as to be received into
My presence as though they came in actual repentance? As the verse
They had the hands of the Man under their wings (Ezek. 1:8) intimates,
the Holy One sits on His throne of glory, the wings of the chariot’s
creatures [shielding all of Him from view except for] His hands which
are extended from under the wings toward ,
as He asks, When will Israel resolve upon repentance
? Each and every day, the measure of justice, waxing
stronger and stronger, stands before the Holy One and says in His
presence: Master of the universe, in the Torah it is written, Ye shall not
swear by My name falsely (Lev. 19:12). Yet Israel rise early and go to
marketplaces where they swear falsely; moreover, they covet their
neighbors’ wives and slander their fellowmen. [Since You do not exercise
the measure of justice against them], is it conceivable that there is
bias on Your part in favor of Israel? [The Holy One responds]: But
there are other Jews who rise early to go to synagogues and academies, , and young children who
go to schools. All these are circumcised . Nay more! I created in them the capacity to repent,
a blessing which is equal to that of the Torah. [They do these
good things of their own free will], yet you say that there is bias on My
part in favor of Israel!
In further comment, [R. Eliezer said]: Repentance is even greater
than prayer. God was unwilling to accept all the prayers our teacher
Moses uttered for permission to enter the Land of Israel, but through
her repentance the harlot Rahab was received. Indeed, she was called
Rahab—so R. Eliezer ben Jacob suggested—because her merit in repentance
was so substantial (rèhobah). seven kings and
eight Prophets from her.
In further comment, [R. Eliezer said]: Repentance is greater than
charity. Charity | requires expenditure of money, but repentance requires
no such expenditure: still the Holy One asks no more from
Israel than repentance by way of words, has when He says: Take with
you words, and return unto the Lord (Hos. 14:3).
S, p. 38
In still further comment, [R. Eliezer said]: Great is repentance, for
it heals Israel of their iniquities, as is said, Because of their penitence I
will heal them, and love them freely (Hos. 14:5). | <urn:uuid:9329613b-b7b4-4ae3-b935-2e934e098a81> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.publishersrow.com/Tanna_Debe_Eliyyahu_The_Lore_o/AboutBookPreview/shid1_bid383_fid31_pid1_clpg1_pg554_.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948628 | 1,132 | 2.359375 | 2 |
The manliest man on the planet. Not a single being in the universe can defeat this man's strength and manliness. If one were to try, they would fail miserably. Bang Shishigami is so manly, he has not one theme song, but two; The second one is sung by the Japanese Vocalist who sung the Dragonball Z theme song (introduction.)
They say Bang Shishigami is not a descendant of Chuck Norris, but an Ancestor, proving not only is he stronger than Chuck, but Chuck learned from Bang as well.
There are no faults to Bang Shishigami. His Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan is more powerful than a roundhouse kick to the face from Chuck Norris, or a Falcon Punch from the one and only Captain Falcon.
Bully: Why are you so weak? *beats weak kid up*
*Weak kid follows the teachings of Bang Shishigami when he gets home*
*The next day, the Bully is nowhere to be found after a run in with the weak kid. He is no longer weak.* | <urn:uuid:6f487924-9d80-4448-a5e0-d07f2840e3a0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Bang%20Shishigami&defid=4358324 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948914 | 231 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Lady B: Who is hosting the ball today? Let me consult my diary. Hmm. Miss Neville. If she doesn’t arrive in five minutes I shall send a footman round to Lady Sarah MacLean for an emergency appearance. She is never late.
<squawk> No lobster patties for Miranda <squawk>
[Miranda rushes in, sticking pins into her hair]. I’m here, I’m here. So sorry Lady B. I’ve been busy with revisions.
Lady B: The other ladies manage to perform their hostess duties and finish their books. Look at Lady Sarah. She has four books to write but she’s always on time. I have a mind to give her all your dates. I suppose you’ve been wasting time reading indecent novels again.
Miranda: No, really, I haven’t. I’ve been working hard. [Lady B raises an eyebrow] All right, I admit it. I was catching up with Project Runway on television.
Lady B: Television? Project Runway? Pray, explain yourself.
Miranda: Err… [considers, and discards, the notion of explaining television to Lady B] Project Runway is a competition for fashion designers.
Lady B: Do you mean seamstresses?
Miranda: I suppose so, though many of them are men.
Lady B: Male seamstresses! How very novel. What form does this competition take?
Miranda: Each week, the seamstresses have to make a look – er create an ensemble – according to certain rules. For example, they might have to design a bathing costume, or a uniform for an airline stewardess.
Lady B: What’s that?
Miranda: [Muttters] This is harder than I thought. [to Lady B] A sort of female footman.
Lady B: Female servants could wear livery, but they wouldn’t be able to show their legs.
Miranda: You’d be surprised.
Lady B: And do these seamstresses have access to the best silk warehouses?
Miranda: When they are lucky they get to go to Mood, an excellent establishment. But sometimes they have to make the clothing out of very odd materials, such as they might find at a greengrocer or a stationer’s, or, most recently, a shop for pet supplies.
It’s all right Albert. They weren’t allowed to touch the animals.
Lady B: How are these gowns displayed?
Miranda: The designers fit them on models – very beautiful girls.
Lady B: You shock me, Miranda. Since many of these “designers” are men, it sounds most improper.
Miranda: It’s all right, Lady B. The majority of them are not interested in women that way, if you know what I mean.
Lady B: I do. My cousin’s sister-in-law’s niece married William Beckford, but we don’t talk about it.
Miranda: Besides, most of the models are much taller than the male designers, well over six feet tall.
Lady B: Good heavens! Giantesses. It must take a good deal of cloth to cover them.
Miranda: No, they are all very thin.
Lady B: Emaciated giantesses. Poor dears, we must invite them here and feed them some supper.
<squawk> Not the lobster patties <squawk>
Miranda: Once the designers have completed their looks, the models display them in front of the judges. The best gown is named the winner. The one deemed the worst dressed is sent home.
Lady B: Sounds like rather like Almack’s. Who are these judges?
Miranda: You’ve got something there, Lady B. The judge bear a distinct resemblance to the Patronesses. Fraulein Heidi Klum could be Princess Esterhazy. Señora Nina Garcia has much in common with Mrs. Drummond-Burrell, and Mr. Michael Kors is a dead wringer for Lady Jersey, if she were male and had a suntan.
Lady B: Almack’s! No wonder the poor dears are starving! There’s never anything worth eating there.
Miranda: [Aside] Almack’s refreshments, the Regency equivalent of Diet Coke and cigarettes.
Lady B: Do the seamstresses have any assistants? It’s quite difficult to make a gown in one day.
Miranda: They do it alone, but they have advice from Mr. Tim Gunn, who’s a bit like Mr. Brummell, only much nicer.
Lady B: Miranda! You’re blushing.
Miranda: I must confess, Lady B, I have quite the tendre for Mr. Gunn. Unfortunately he isn’t interested in ladies, either.
Lady B: It all sounds very interesting. I’d like to be a judge myself.
Miranda: They have a guest judge every week. Sometimes an established seamstress, sometimes an actress, and sometimes a socialite … er a member of the ton.
Lady B: Splendid. Arrange it for me Miranda. I wish to be a judge on Project Runway. And darling Albert shall help me. He has exquisite taste and always knows what goes best with my peacock gloves.
And so, ladies and gentlemen, I bring you Regency Project Runway. Candice Hern (check out her wonderful traditional Regencies, now reissued as ebooks), whose website is a fabulous resource for Regency history and artifacts, was kind enough to scan some particular outrageous examples from her collection of fashion plates. For non PR watchers, the judges on the show usually chose a top three and a bottom three. If you can pick a worthy winner from this lot, good luck. I invite you to nominate the three worst, and your candidate for being Aufed (For the uninitiated, a reference to Heidi Klum’s traditional Auf Wiedersehn to the loser). Scathing comments, another Project Runway tradition, are encouraged. (Also, I’m dying to hear who you think is going to win this year’s competition. Anya? Anthony? Oliver?)
Lady B, with the help of our commenters, will deliver the Auf on Wednesday. | <urn:uuid:13b2cc9f-afed-48db-a7bb-c89f7a02456e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theballroomblog.com/2011/08/regency-project-runway/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93997 | 1,378 | 1.929688 | 2 |
Unesco heritage distinction award for Ganish-Hunza - 2003-04-08
Hunza has once again achieved Unesco's Asia-Pacific Heritage Award for Culture Heritage Conservation, a statement issued here on Monday said.The award of distinction for the year 2002 has been given to Ganish, a small settlement in central Hunza in the Northern Areas, for preserving four historical mosques.
In all, 142 entries from 37 Asia-Pacific countries competed for the Award, bringing to world attention the high quality of conservation work being done around the region.
Richard Engelhardt, the Unesco regional adviser on culture for Asia-Pacific, presented the award to the community at a ceremony at Ganish, some 110 kilometres off Gilgit, on Saturday last.
The ceremony was attended by Unesco country director Ingeborg Breines, federal secretary for culture Ismail Niazi, representatives of AKCSP and the Karakoram Area Development Organization (KADO), besides all the community members as well as many people from the surrounding villages of Altit and Karimabad,
The award, established in 2000, is given in recognition of the efforts and contributions of individuals and organizations that have successfully restored and conserved structures and buildings of heritage value in the Asia-Pacific region.
The programme aims at promoting conservation of the region's architectural heritage, which is threatened by unchecked development, neglect, or inappropriate reuse.
The living historic village, popularly known as Ganish Khun, is about one thousand years old, with a small community working towards improving its quality of life. With the spread of Islam, the Yarikutz, the Rupikutz, the Kuyokutz and the Mamorokutz - the then leading families of the area - constructed four mosques and watch towers dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries. These unique structures, which were decaying owing to the ravages of time and lack of financial and technical resources, have been restored to some of their old glory with the assistance from Norway and Spain, through the Aga Khan Cultural Services Programme (AKCSP).
Encouraged by this support, the local community began to pave their streets, restore the old unstable houses, improve the sanitation system, and is now in the process of building a water filtration plant.
Ganish Khun is now seen as a model village, inspiring other settlements of the area to follow suit, thus substantiating Unesco's belief that recognizing successful preservation efforts helps spur additional projects within the same community, advocating the culture of preservation and conservation through the use of appropriate conservation techniques and approaches.
In awarding the prize to the Ganish project, the panel of judges cited: 'The restoration of four 300-year old wooden mosques in Pakistan's Hunza Valley has successfully revitalized the village 'chataq', the traditional public heart of the Ganish historic settlement. Initiated and undertaken by the villagers, with professional guidance, the project has rebuilt community spirit in a rural village which has undergone major socio-economic change and natural disasters over the years.
'The restrained conservation approach has stabilized the buildings which were in danger of collapse, while retaining the rich historic patina and showcasing the intricate detailing of the structures. Modern materials were selectively incorporated alongside the use of traditional materials and techniques. The preservation of the surrounding buildings and infrastructural improvements was sensitively executed, consequently strengthening the traditional town fabric while upgrading the quality of life of the residents. The project presents an outstanding example of a community-led initiative strategically facilitated by outside support'.
This is the second time that Hunza has been honoured with the Unesco award. Earlier, the 700 years old historic Baltit Fort, which was preserved and renovated by the AKCSP, was the first project which bagged the Unesco Cultural Heritage Award in 1999. | <urn:uuid:e3b59e0b-ea7d-4779-8c4c-2624cbebdde6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ismaili.net/heritage/node/26452 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951194 | 785 | 1.984375 | 2 |
During the Introduction, personnel will learn the missions and intent of the inter-agency training. It will include highlights on administrative and operational application and how personnel can use it to advance their programs. The mini-workshops will include a fundamental description of and hands-on supervised trial and error of power lifting basics, as well as an interactive classroom workshop on understanding heart rate theory and its validity in fire service conditioning. The main event is a hands on instructional exercise course. The purpose is to expose firefighting trainers to alternative exercises, work-rest variations, and unconventional equipment simplification. | <urn:uuid:ff993e52-4c7f-412f-85b2-20233689aad7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.acefitness.org/continuingeducation/courseapproved/4a528wyv/firefighter-wellness-mutual-aid-interagency-training-4th-quarter | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943493 | 116 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Morocco Clamps Down on Owners of 'Dangerous' Dogs
A new law in Morocco seeks to clamp down on dangerous dogs and their owners who now face up to five years in jail in a country where more than 50,000 dog bite cases are recorded every year.
The text aiming to "protect people against the danger of dogs" was passed unanimously late on Wednesday by a parliamentary committee, and now becomes Morocco's first legislation aimed at tackling the problem.
A penalty of a maximum five years in prison and fines up to 50,000 dirhams (about 4,500 euros, $5,900) now await any dog owner convicted of breaking the law.
"A dangerous dog is one which displays, by nature of its breed or morphological characteristics, aggression deemed to be dangerous to man," the new law reads, adding that a list of dangerous dogs will be drawn up.
Interior Minister Mohand Laenser told members of parliament that the new law mainly concerned the owners of pitbull terriers because of the danger these animals represent "to the security and peace of mind of citizens."
He also referred to the use of the breed "for criminal purposes."
"More than 50,000 cases of people being bitten by dogs" are registered each year, also increasing the number of deaths because of rabies, the minister added. | <urn:uuid:ccfdb102-2e9c-4063-a51d-37680680a322> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/67003-morocco-clamps-down-on-owners-of-dangerous-dogs | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954241 | 276 | 1.867188 | 2 |
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If you've watched my show or read this blog over the years, you know I think there are too many taxis on the streets of Manhattan. During rush hour, every third car is yellow. I've given up thinking the Taxi and Limousine Commission would reduce the number of medallions to reduce traffic. Medallions bring in too much revenue to fall victim to the "carbon footprint" politicians love to talk about. So, to reach my goal, I support raising fares. In fact, quadruple them. More people may walk or take mass transit, and supply and demand will bring yellow taxis to a reasonable level.
Yellow taxi drivers want a raise. Cabbies and medallion owners are asking the Taxi and Limousine Commission to raise fares in July by as much as 20%. The current base fare of $2.50 hasn't changed since 2006. Drivers cite higher gas prices, credit card fees, and competition from the new five-borough livery fleet as reasons why the increase is justified.
It costs about $12 to travel nearly three miles with the current fare structure. A 20% hike would make that trip more than $14. On May 31st, the TLC will begin a series of public hearings on the proposal. What do you say?
Should the TLC approve a fare hike of 20%? After six years, do taxi drivers and medallion owners deserve a raise? If the fare hike goes through, would you change your travel routine as a result? What suggestions do you have to improve the taxi industry?
Send your thoughts using the link above.
From an economic viewpoint I understand about rising gas prices but regular people are hurting too and this would be a burden for the average person. Added to the fact that they won't take passengers to the outer boroughs or pick up certain citizens and I'd never take one of those cabs.
Good, I think the fare should go up 50% that would eliminate a lot of the congestion and energy cost that the yellow cabs generate, let's all walk more, or hop on a train.
Is a fairer fare fair to everyone? First do the math.
There's no question that the cost of operating a taxi cab has increased along with the costs that we all have to bear, but should taxi fares be increased at a time when so many taxi riders are being hit with pay cuts, job loses, rent hikes, and other erosions of their financial security? And how many other occupational groups have not seen an income increase since 2006? Does the fact that cab fares in several other U.S. cities are higher entitle NYC cabbies to parity, and can the market sustain this without a concomitant falloff in ridership?
Add to this the fact that the flood of new wheelchair accessible cabs will likely increase the number of disabled riders, many of whom are on reduced or fixed incomes, and we are confronted with a conundrum in which the economic impact of a fare increase may be a double-edged sword.
Yes, cabbies do deserve a fairer fare, but it's important that everyone does the math before rushing to judgment on this question.
Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn
As a frugal person who knows the price and value of everything, I never take cabs, although I hacked my way through college in the suburbs. Unless youre pretentious, cant ride a bike, walk, drive or take mass transit, theres no need. Ill take cabs when bloomberg has gondolas on both rivers like in Venice.
If the cost of living goes up, the price of gas, maintenance of the vehicle, then they need a raise... Why is it when the poor or a small business needs an increase in wages we read of the complaints? You do not have to take a taxi... There are alternatives...
What about a fuel-buyers-group for cabbies? Bring gas prices down to a fixed or discounted price?
Here we go again with yet another public hearing so that they can insult everyone once again. I do believe that by allowing the cabs to go into the outer borough it will cut into their profits. NOW THE PROBLEM WITH THIS PROBLEM ALWAYS BOILS DOWN TO ONE PERSON AND ONE PERSON ONLY AND THAT'S BLOOMBERG. HE SHOULD GO AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE AND TAKE ALL OF HIS CRONIES WITH HIM. HE IS LOOKING SO HARD TO LEAVE A LEGACY WHICH IS NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN ANYWAY. AND SHOULD DO US ALL A FAVOR AND STAY OUT OF OUR BUSINESS AND CONCENTRATE ON WHAT REALLY MATTERS TO US IN THE OUTER BOROUGHS.
SOMEONE IN CHARGE THE LAST TIME WAS ALL FOR THIS TAXI SQUARE DANCE AND MENTIONED THAT IT WILL BE PART OF BLOOMBERG'S LEGACY. IT’S JUST SO JUVENILE. I ASK ANYONE THAT GIVE ME AN ANSWER AS TO WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO OUR DOOR TO DOOR PRIVATE CAB SERVICE THAT WE HAD FOR YEARS AND YEARS.
Thank you John,
I absolutely feel that cab drivers deserve to make a fair living wage, and I'm sure that 20% is more than reasonable. Unfortunately I, like many others, hardly make a fair living wage, and with such a large increase I'd have to stick strictly to livery cabs, which are already much cheaper for time and distance. I wish the MTA fee could be taken away and that money could go to the drivers. I'm sure the drivers and customers could better utilize it.
Sara F, Brooklyn
20% fair hike is just too steep for one hike. They should spend that 20% on re-teaching these cab workers how to drive because they are the cause of so many accidents around the city, they are dangerous drivers and refuse to take them.
[THE FOLLOWING EMAIL CAME IN DURING THE SHOW]
Can you talk about what could be done to provide more child friendly programming on Taxi TV?
Jon in TriBeCa
[THE TLC COMMISSIONER WAS WATCHING AND RESPONDED BELOW]
The programming is chosen by 2 private companies - each has half of the cabs. When we see something that is clearly inappropriate, we intervene - but otherwise we aren't involved. We are trying (on a pilot basis) using Ipads for credit card processing - that might allow more customer choice in programming.
David Yassky, TLC Commissioner
All I can say is O My God - Taxi drivers work hard and deserve a raise, but 10 percent is more in line. Also, there is a $1.50 surcharge on top of the fare already.
allow for a fare hike to those owners of electric cars only. impose a city surcharge on all gas using cars. too many taxi/limo cars in the city.
TAXI FARES GOING UP, SUBWAY FARE GOING UP, GAS GOING UP EXACTLY WHO IS GOING TO LEAVE THE CITY IF THE MINIMUM WAGE RAISED MR BLOOMBERG.
The Fleet Owners Know They Have A Monopoly..The TLC should be investigated. I Whole- Heartely agree with advocates such as Ms.D....It's A Lend-Lease Issue
DMD in Wash. Hgts
I have a feeling this is a result of the deal made by Bloomberg's admin and yellow cab union as a balancing act for allowing the limousines to act as yellow cabs. It's most likely part of the political theater where everyone wins but the strap-hanger.
Zoran from Williamsburg, Brooklyn
I wouldn't mind paying more if I got more. New York cabs are an embarrassment. Half the drivers don't speak English and have no idea where they are going. Every cab is different. Some you can't even sit in if you are over 5 feet tall. Go to London to see how a cab service should be run.
I'm all for the working class and for a living wage, but this is personal. I am a lifelong New Yorker - and am appalled at the abhorrent behavior of cab drivers. How about they stop menacing the streets of NY and THEN we'll think about it?
My father was a cab driver in the 1950's. He told me that, at that time, taxis were the "knights of the road" who considered themselves ambassadors for NYC. They were courteous, followed the rules of the road and didn't, say, cut across 4 lanes of traffic and stop short to get a fair. I was recently HIT while riding my bike by a cab driver who was speeding and making an illegal turn. Any New Yorker can tell you that they don't have positive a view of taxi drivers - with good reason.
They want a raise? I'm all for it if they learn act like human beings on the road. I would like a raise too... but if I acted like them, I would be FIRED... not rewarded for bad behavior.
Tara from Queens.
Hi my name is Rishi and I don't want to see any price increase because there is no justice for the passengers or for the cab drivers. The organizations will just take advantage of the cabbys it's the same thing they do to university tuition.
TLC drivers deserve an increase and have so for years. They and they alone run this city and collectively can bring it to a grinding halt. TLC and DMV fines are ridiculous. Ask Commissioner Yaasky what he thinks about these. Dos the public even know how much TLC collects each year for NYC? Does anyone ever question these? Give them this modest 20% increase and they will give you the world.
The yellow cabs dont deserve an increase most of the time they won't pick up minorities.
Many of your callers are a bunch of cry babies. If the MTA and landlords can raise their rates so can cab drivers. No one is holding a gun to your head and making you take a cab. You can always grow a beard waiting for a bus like the rest of us. Give the cabbies a break
Upper West side
Hello ... I am for a 20 percent increase in taxi base fare. How about at least 70percent from owner givebacks and the rest from actual fare hike. Why? Is it not obvious? LIVABLE WAGES! Such wages can increase morale and promote good/civil behavior.
As a 40 year resident of the upper west side, I have to say that I have always tried to use public transportation , especially if I am traveling more than 2 miles from home. I also own a car, Which I hate to use in the city for all the right reasons... Therefore, in the past few years , if necessary, I will take a cab , if time is short, the walk to the subway is long, or I'm needing that "quiet time" a taxi provides . However , the expense of a taxi is quite high enough , especially in the afternoons, or early evening, when additional charges are in effect...
I honestly feel that taxis are a very expensive luxury , as it is. Obviously , I will defiantly stop Using them for " that little bit of personal time" , between appointments. Instead , I will use more subways , busses, or walk . MORE ! And be that much more Exausted
Catherine, Upper West Side , Manhatten
I haven’t taken a cab since the late 1950s when I discovered that they were cheating all of their customers: the amount of the fare that was painted on the cab’s doors stated something like 25¢ per mile, but when stopped at a light or in a traffic jam, the meter kept increasing the fare amount. The only way I would ever take a cab again is knowing in advance EXACTLY how much the fare will be (zoned fares), like when you call a neighborhood car service. Additionally, you also know in advance that a car service will take you where you want to go, not like people I see hailing cabs and getting turned down over and over. With all the fixed-price car sharing apps that use GPS coming out on smart phones, the yellow cab is a dinosaur just waiting to die.
PS: Since when is driving a car all day considered “back-breaking” work as some viewers have stated, if cabbies ever got a real job with a boss hanging over their shoulder all day yelling work harder, they’d really appreciate how easy they have it.
Don't ask me when the last time I took a cab, and it is not for lack of trying. You try to hail a cab, they slow down crack their window and ask where you are going, then they keep driving. I get so pissed I just walk to the subway. Maybe if they would pick up fares they may make some money, and we would not need black cars in manhattan.
The commission knows 20% is too high but they are good negotiators who are asking for more than they really want. They'll look like saints when they drop the increase to 12%. Real problem is that this will lead to more overcrowding and make bad subway service even worse. Colorado here I come!
Jeff in the LES
I used to take cabs, but no longer because it is way too expensive. If the drivers need more money (and I am sure they do), it should come from the companies and owners. Not the hard working middle to lower class who already are suffering from this poor economy. Price of everything is going up and employers are not paying anyone; we are over worked and under paid. The pay increases should come directly from the companies. If anything, the fares for the public should come down!
My vote is that fares drop 20% and the employers should increase the wages for their drivers.
Cab drivers are among the rudest new Yorkers. Additionally they are dangerous drivers. They should have more incentives for being safe and courteous. If they were not so rude, they would make up for low wages in tips. I always try to use my bike or walk. Unfortunately the cabs try to run you over when you ride your bike.
Lucia in Tribeca
i can assure you that if the increase goes up to 20% i will always pay with my credit card. I pay cash now, don't even know how to use the credit card, but it already costs me $13-$15 a day to get to work and if it goes up to $15-$18, i won't always have that. the thing that really annoys me they keep talking about the credit card fees, but i haven't used one so why should i subsidize those that do? And I still haven't figured out why I have to subsidize the subway with 50 cents of my ride. If I wanted to, or could take the subway, I would. A small raise, okay, gas has gone up, but 20 percent?
Nancy in the west village
The cab drivers struggle just like any other New Yorker, but I don't believe that they deserve a fire hike. If they took everyone that needed a cab instead of turning them away due to color or where they live they could actually make a larger profit. They are menaces... ask anyone who drives around the city. They cut people off and cause accidents, the ride is uncomfortable and the drivers are rude majority of the time. If they do raise the fare, they should spend some of it on re-training their employees because they put everyone in peril.
Taking a cab in the city is a luxury and you pay for the luxuries you want. End of story . I take a taxi for emergencies only
As a poorly-paid musician that has to haul my equipment around NYC in cabs, I am sorry to say that this fare hike will definitely be affecting some tips in the future. The minority of drivers who occasionally help me load and unload the car will still get great tips though!
South Slope Brooklyn
As far as the cab ride I think overall the drivers deserve a raise but the fare increase won't give the drivers more money. The drivers generally work very hard but a lot of them complain about where they take you and they complain about using a credit/debit card. Despite the fact NYC is pretty safe it doesn't make sense to carry a lot of cash or pay an ATM fee. Better service and less complaints would make things better
I think most of the folks who say they won't take cabs if the fares are raised are being disingenous. Anyone who thinks that obviously has much better luck than I do trying to hail a cab in midtown during rush hour or downtown during the weekend. This is much ado about nothing.
Joe from the financial district
how about a variable rate? normal drivers spend a different amount on their trips depending on variables like gas, why not do the same thing with taxis? How about we finally put a toll on the bridges and stop this ridiculousness.
Drivers do not deserve any kind of increase. They're rude, racist, and lie so they won't pick up fares that head to the outer boroughs. Maybe if they off their cell phones, it might be a consideration.
It might go along way in solving the problem 10 cabdrivers per one-bedroom apartment in New York City.
The problem is that a taxi medallion is now selling for $750,000 (I asked a driver today). If they are foolish enough to pay $750,000 then they shouldn't be able to raise their rates so that the public can finance their bad business decision. If a hot dog vendor chose to pay $1,000,000 for his license should the public be forced to pay $100 for a hot dog?
The financers are making the money. If the drivers can't make enough money with the current rates, then they are overpaying for the medallion. It's a simple business principle.
They might just price themselves out of business. I am a taxi user and have cut back a lot. I also group errands and appointments by location much more than ever before to decrease the amount of trips I take to any one area. | <urn:uuid:0779add3-533c-4bc2-9bc4-739b31f0ce63> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://manhattan.ny1.com/content/the_call/the_call_blog/161712/the-call-blog--tlc-to-consider-20--taxi-fare-hike | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964553 | 3,841 | 1.53125 | 2 |
From Uncyclopedia, the content-free encyclopedia
“Leibniz's GONADS mirror reality.”
“You can solve my equations any day!”
“I need his essence in my being!!!”
“It's over 9,000!”
Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (pr. monad) (July 1, 1646 – November 14, 1716) was a German mathematician and philosopher who possessed all possible human knowledge already at the time of his birth. In pre-school he wrote down the principles of calculus. At the age of six he wrote his doctorate dissertation at the University of Leipzig, which was titled: 'I'm sweating and I can't open the window!'. This dissertation explained all of reality in one page, and nobody understood it. He is noted for being the best friend of Baruch Spinoza, and being an activist and proponent of Spinozism. He was born with extremely long and poofy hair, which he wore to bed every night and named 'Poof'. The mathematician Isaac Newton fell in love with Leibniz when he discovered this divine hair, nicknaming him 'Gotthair'. Newton would constantly stalk Leibniz when he was trying to write texts of knowledge beyond the intelligence of all humans on earth combined multiplied by π.
edit Early Life
Leibniz was born on the first of July of a virgin, named Aphrodite, or so the gospel says so. His father, Odin, died when he saw Leibniz's birth, most likely because he saw Leibniz's hair, Poof, who possesses divine power. Leibniz needed no education since he possessed all knowledge, but was put in pre-school after throwing tempter tantrums at home because he ran out of books in the world to read. Leibniz first found out that he was an erotomaniac at the age of five, and would seduce the females in his pre-school by solving calculus equations. This method proved to be so irresistible that no mortal was immune to Leibniz's seduction, especially when he wore tights. The succes of his sexual life, however, may be attributed to Poof's divine power. He enjoyed sex, tapdancing, walking his headdress, keeping frogs in his pocket, drinking, and keeping frogs in his headdress. The following year, he enrolled in the philosophy program at the University of Leipzig, to write his famous one-page dissertation, 'I'm sweating and I can't open the window!', that explained all of reality. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, it cannot be understood by mortals.
edit Struggles with Newton
After realizing that no human can understand his one-page revelation of the truth, he began to build a super computer that would translate his revelation into the language of mortals. However, only trouble would result from this goal, as the mathematician Isaac Newton became aware of Leibniz's superior calculus system, and of the divinity of Poof. Newton fell desperately in love with Leibniz, and ferociously stalked him. Leibniz, however, was not interested in Newton's inferior and less poofy hair. For the rest of his life, Leibniz attempted to compose a text explaining everything to humans, but the best he managed to put into writing was 90 short points which he began at the age of six and gave up near his death at seventy. Leibniz's troubles of giving us this divine truth was due to the threat of Netwon's sex drive. Leibniz was never able to sit down long enough to write more than a couple of pages before Newton found him again. This process continued as Leibniz wrote over 1,000,000 works all under 5 pages. Leibniz and Poof relentlessly attempted to avoid Newton's calculus seduction, which began the series of violent battles known as the Calculus Wars. Leibniz narrowly escaped the Battle of Differentiation, and after the narrow victory at the Battle of Inverse Function Leibniz fled to China, where he found temporary security, having been born with the ability to speak Chinese and know everything about Chinese culture. When Leibniz was finally able to get back to writing what mortals call Monadology, Newton had already tracked him down and was banging on his window, which is accounted for in the scriptures. (Monad 1:7) Leibniz had a nervous break down and became convinced that he had no doors or windows of which Newton could enter. Leibniz quickly jotted down the remaining 83 points and died. Once Newton got through the window, he was destroyed by Poof via Laser Cannons. The high hopes of these final moments in Leibniz's life would lead Arthur Schopenhauer to found the school of Optimism, believing that this is the best possible world and that the ultimate goal of life is to be happy, to smile, to always hope for the best, and always to help old ladies up the stairs and carry their groceries.
edit Death and Second Coming
During the Calculus Wars Leibniz wrote an unnamed manuscript. All that remains is a fragment where Leibniz predicts his own resurrection from the dead. This text is now known as the missing Gospel of Leibniz. With Newton eliminated after the Battle of Poof, Leibniz returned from the dead and helped develop zombie science, explaining bodily resurrection through mathematical equations. This effort led to the first (and only) calculus seductions of females by a zombie, though the English claim that Newton had already developed the mathematics and science of the undead. Leibniz now lives in some dark cave, where he is still working on his super computer, and living in fear of Newton's return. It has been theorized that Leibniz's unique ability to rise from the dead is attributable to Poof's power level being over 9,000! | <urn:uuid:bcb8e7b7-387c-48e7-808b-03676d96a5d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Gottfried_Leibniz?oldid=5401987 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980091 | 1,256 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Last month, the X-Prize Foundation announced the winners of the Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup Challenge. The challenge was created to spur the development of more effective oil spill cleanup methods. Specifically, the challenge offered $1.4 million in prizes for the development of removing oil from the ocean’s surface. The aim was to double the industry’s best oil recovery rate in controlled conditions. The winning team, Elastec/American Marine, demonstrated an oil recovery rate more than three times the industry’s previous best and was awarded the top prize of $1 million.
This is another example of how technology inducement prizes can spur the development of valuable technologies, and further evidence that such prizes are far more cost-effective than ex ante R&D grants or government investments in speculative ventures like Solyndra. The latter may be more politically popular, but prizes would be a better use of taxpayer dollars. As I’ve argued at length, if we’re serious about problems like global climate change, we should invest more in prizes and less in conventional approaches to government-sponsored R&D.
(Thanks to Roger Meiners for the pointer.)
Originally posted at The Volokh Conspiracy. | <urn:uuid:9755c040-b167-4cb2-bad2-18f5f58eb9a9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://perc.org/blog/prize-ocean-cleanup | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93742 | 249 | 2.40625 | 2 |
(Philadelphia, Pa., USA – December 6, 2011) New research on the bed bug's ability to withstand the genetic bottleneck of inbreeding, announced today at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) annual meeting, provides new clues to explain the rapidly growing problem of bed bugs across the United States and globally. After mostly disappearing in the US in the 1950s, the common bed bug (Cimex lectularius) has reappeared with a vengeance over the past decade. These stubborn pests have developed a resistance to the insecticides, known as pyrethroids, commonly used against them.
Scientists at ASTMH also offered new insights into infestations in apartment buildings and homes; a novel approach for preventing insecticide resistance; and new information about chemical compounds involved in attracting and repelling bed bugs.
While these blood-sucking parasites don't transmit disease, their bites provoke allergic reactions—including inflamed welts and severe itching—and they pose both a social and economic threat to owners and residents of apartment buildings, hotels and public buildings. The financial impact has been substantial.
"New York City alone spends between $10 million and $40 million per year on bed bug control, and these numbers are repeated in other major cities across the US," noted Rajeev Vaidyanathan, PhD, associate director of Vector Biology and Zoonotic Disease at SRI International. "Over 95 percent of pest control agencies reported bed bugs as a priority in 2010, thus superseding termites as the number one urban pest." The number of reported bed bug infestations in single family homes, hotel rooms and multi-unit housing has increased 10- to 100-fold since those recorded in 1990. Many reasons behind the increases are poorly understood.
One of the newly discovered factors that appears to be contributing to the bed bugs' effective infestation is their ability to establish new infestations through inbreeding. Coby Schal, PhD, and Ed Vargo, PhD, both entomologists at North Carolina State University (NCSU), and colleagues carried out two studies now under peer-review examining the genetics of bed bugs from three multi-story apartment buildings in North Carolina and New Jersey, and determined that there were high levels of relatedness within each apartment and very low genetic diversity within each building, indicating that infestations start from just one or two introductions of the insect. Being able to withstand a very high level of inbreeding—i.e., still produce healthy offspring—allows the bed bug infestation to expand to other apartments within the building.
Another study by this team confirmed this same conclusion based on a study of 21 bed bug infestations from Maine to Florida in the US, nearly all of which came from single rooms within homes. "Inbreeding gives bed bugs an advantage in being able to colonize," said Schal. "A single female that has been mated is able to colonize and start a new infestation. Her progeny and brothers and sisters can then mate with each other, exponentially expanding the population. With many organisms, extensive inbreeding would cause serious mutations that would eventually bring about an end to the population." He also noted that cockroach populations are also able to survive inbreeding.
Overcoming Insecticide Resistance
Further evidence of such resilience has been observed in the bed bugs' resistance to previously successful insecticide strategies. However, new research has revealed that it is possible to "shut down" the mechanism that is linked to breaking down the insecticide and making the bed bug resistant to pyrethroid insecticides.
For the last five years, entomologist Ken Haynes, PhD, and colleagues at the University of Kentucky have been focused on insecticide resistance in bed bugs. He and his colleagues, Subba Reddy Palli and Fang Zhu, looked at a way to eliminate this resistance by targeting specific enzymes inside bed bugs associated with the P450 detoxification system that destroy the insecticides before they reach their molecular target. Rather than attempting to knock out all of the enzymes in the system, the scientists used RNA interference against an enzymatic partner of the P450 family to selectively turn off the system inside bed bugs and preserve the utility of the insecticide—in this case deltamethrin.
Building Better Detectors and Traps
Other potential options for controlling bed bug populations may lie in identifying and understanding the function of chemical compounds secreted by the pests. The researchers revealed that they are still finding new compounds that influence bed bug behavior. Vaidyanathan's group recently isolated seven new compounds that had never been identified from bed bugs that might serve as bed bug attractants. The researchers noted that it might be possible to develop a trap with a "cocktail" of these bed bug compounds to attract the pests.
Mark Feldlaufer, PhD, an entomologist with the US Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service, is working to better understand the underlying mechanisms of the chemical factors, or pheromones that affect bed bug behavior. He has examined the chemical blueprint of "alarm compounds," which warn animals of the same species that there is danger present. These alarm compounds could be used as "dispersants" during a chemical treatment, thereby exposing more bugs to the treatment.
Feldlaufer's research has also recently identified the chemicals associated with the bed bugs' outer skeleton. His focus is now on the role, if any, of these chemicals in the ability of dogs to sniff out bed bugs. When properly trained and handled, canines are used by pest management professionals to find bed bugs just as canines are used to find explosives, drugs or lost people.
Bed Bugs and Human Society
According to Vaidyanathan, "Bed bugs are our oldest roommates. There is even evidence of bed bugs in Pharaonic Egypt."
Researchers say the most recent US resurgence of bed bugs has been caused by a number of factors. "The problems we are seeing with bed bugs in North America did not happen overnight," said Vaidyanathan. "They are the consequence of multiple repeated introductions from all over the world. We have the highest concentration in the history of our species of humans living in cities. For as long as we've been standing on two legs, we've lived in rural areas. Over the last ten years, the majority of humans have moved to urban areas. This is the perfect setting for creating a high density of mammal nests for bed bugs. Bed bugs do not have wings; they are nest parasites, so our own population density has helped them to thrive."
While there is limited genetic diversity within individual infestations, the NCSU team found that there is high genetic diversity across infestations along the East Coast; the bed bugs are coming from many different places, either from within the US or, more likely, from abroad. Previous studies confirm that turnover of residents is one of the biggest indicators for the presence of bed bugs and that increased domestic and international travel is one of the main factors driving bed bug infestations. Bed bugs also feed on chickens, and industrial production of poultry is providing the perfect breeding grounds for bed bug populations, according to Vaidyanathan. But researchers also attribute the spread to the increased introduction of used furniture and household items into homes.
Right now, either insecticides or heat treatment is used to deal with these infestations. The researchers noted that insecticides readily available to the consumer have generally not been tested against bed bugs. Applying heat treatment involves heating the whole home, or packing all furniture and belongings in a box and heating the objects at a high temperature for one hour, but both are expensive options and not ideal for chronic infestations. The researchers called for better education about bed bugs, improving existing detection methods, and safe and more effective control methods.
"Just as with other global diseases once thought under control and then neglected, bed bugs have shown the ability to resurge in great numbers once our vigilance wanes," said Peter J. Hotez, MD, PhD, president of ASTMH. "To stay one step ahead of bed bugs and other parasitic organisms, we need to sustain investment in research for new tools."
American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, founded in 1903, is a worldwide organization of scientists, clinicians and program professionals whose mission is to promote global health through the prevention and control of infectious and other diseases that disproportionately afflict the global poor.
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system. | <urn:uuid:bd272e9b-d91a-4961-8fc2-65f81fea7c8b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-12/bc-iib120111.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953703 | 1,763 | 3.53125 | 4 |
One of the most iconic Christmas songs, Silent Night made its world premier on Christmas Eve 1818 in the small Austrian town of Oberndorf bei Salzburg. The performance, which was given during Christmas mass in the town's quaint little church, was quite a success, but no one had any idea that the piece would eventually become hugely popular around the globe.
Joseph Mohr - Lyrics
The lyrics for the song, which is called “Stille Nacht” in the original German version were written in 1816 by Joseph Mohr. Born out of wedlock in Salzburg on December 11, 1792 Mohr was able to attend the prestigious Akademisches Gymnasium (private high school) in Salzburg with the help of dome vicar Johann Nepomuk Hiernle. The vicar recognized the young Mohr's musical talent and Mohr became a member of the choirs of the University of Salzburg and the Benedictine monastery, where he sang and played the violin. From 1808 to 1810 he studied philosophy at the lyceum of the famous Benedictine monastery in Kremsmünster, Upper Austria, and eventually returned to Salzburg where he continued his studies at the lyceum.
In 1811 Joseph Mohr entered the seminary after being granted a special permission, which he had to obtain given his status as an illegitimate child. He successfully finished the seminary four years later and was ordained as a Catholic priest on August 21, 1815. Following his ordination, Mohr worked as an assistant priest in various communities across the province of Salzburg, including Mariapfarr, where he wrote the lyrics in 1816. In 1818, while serving as an assistant priest in Oberndorf, he met Franz Xaver Gruber whom he asked to compose the music to accompany the lyrics. Specifically, Mohr asked Gruber to compose a melody for choir, two solo voices, and guitar.
It was not until 1827 that Mohr was responsible for the administration of his own parish. Despite his popularity with his parishioners, who adored him for his outgoing personality and peace loving attitude, the church made a failed attempt to “reign him in” by accusing him of neglecting his job. The accusations turned out to be baseless and the official investigation was recalled. Mohr eventually found himself in Wagrain (Austria) where he focused his efforts on social reforms and dedicated the last ten years of his life to fighting poverty and helping those in need. Among other things, he initiated the building of a school in Wagrain, which was officially opened in 1838. Joseph Mohr died on December 4, 1848 in Wagrain where he found his final resting place.
Franz Xaver Gruber - Music
Joseph Mohr's stirring poem about the birth of Jesus would have been all but forgotten had it not been for Franz Xaver Gruber. Gruber, who was born Conrad Xavier Gruber on November 25, 1787 in Hochburg, Upper Austria later changed his name to Franz Xaver Gruber. He was the fifth of six children in a poor family, with both of his parents making a living as linen weavers, and was supposed to follow in their footsteps. However, Gruber displayed a love for music from an early age on, which was fostered and encouraged by his elementary school teacher, Andreas Peterlechner, who gave the young boy music lessons. Gruber worked as a weaver until the age of eighteen, at which point he finally received his father's permission to become a teacher. It was also from Peterlechner that Gruber learned the basics for becoming a teacher, which enabled him to successfully pass the public teacher's exam in Ried im Innkreis (Upper Austria) in 1806.
The following year was marked by two important events in Gruber's life. He started his first job as an elementary teacher at the public school in Arsndorf (Salzburg), and he married Maria Elisabeth Engelsberger, the widowed wife of his predecessor, with whom he had two children. Both of them died at an early age. In 1816 he became the organist of the newly formed parish of Oberndorf, where he also wanted to work as a teacher. Unfortunately, that wish was never granted. His life was filled with his duties as a teacher and organist, and even though school attendance was very low in those days as most farmers kept their children at home as extra work hands, in a report dated 1821 his school was named the best in the district.
The highlight, however, of his time in Arnsdorf was no doubt when Joseph Mohr asked him on Christmas Eve of 1818 to compose the music for his poem “Silent Night”. Gruber called it a “simple composition” and did not seem to have thought much of it. Of course, that was all to change in the years to come. For Gruber himself, the real highlight of his career were the celebrations surrounding the 300th anniversary of Arnsdorf's pilgrimage church “Maria im Mösl” in 1820. The festivities attracted 20,000 visitors who, along with the abbots of the Michaelbeuern monastery and the monastery of St. Peter enjoyed the musical performances of the church orchestra, which Gruber conducted.
Following the death of his first wife, Gruber married one of his students, Maria Breitfuß in 1825. They had ten children, six of whom died during childhood. Frustrated by his failed attempts to find a job as a teacher in Oberndorf, Gruber and his family left for Berndorf bei Salzburg in 1829. His desire to dedicate his life to music was finally fulfilled in 1835 when he was assigned as choir director and organist of Hallein (Salzburg). His happiness was cut short though when in 1841 his wife and their last child both died during labor. But life had to go on, and only a year later Gruber married his third wife, Katharina Wimmer, a friend of his second wife.
Throughout his lifetime, Gruber created a substantial musical oeuvre, and his love of music had a lasting impact on his family, including two of his sons who followed in his footsteps. Franz Xaver Gruber died in 1863 at the age of 76 in Hallein.
When Joseph Mohr wrote the song in 1816, Europe was going through a time of transition. The Napoleonic Wars had ended in the Congress of Vienna, resulting in a complete restructuring of Europe's borders. Among the many changes that took place, the Principality of Salzburg which had until then been under the auspices of the church lost its independence and was divided and secularized, with one part of Salzburg now belonging to Bavaria, and the bigger portion belonging to Austria. Oberndorf bei Salzburg, where the premier took place in 1818, became a divided town with the river Salzach forming the border between Austria and Germany. Over the centuries, the Salzach had served as a main artery for the transportation of salt, and provided the basis for the town's wealth. However, with the newly formed border running right through the town, the future seemed very uncertain. It was during this time that Mohr lived in Oberndorf. Before moving to Oberndorf, Mohr had lived in Mariapfarr for two years, which had greatly suffered under the occupation of the Bavarian troops. It is thought that this historical framework most likely informed Mohr's beautifully expressed longing for peace in the fourth stanza.
From Oberndorf To The World
After the premier of Silent Night in 1818 in Oberndorf, the first copies seemed to have appeared in the geographical vicinity of the two creators, Joseph Mohr and Franz Xaver Gruber. According to historical documents, the earliest copies belonged to vicars, singers, choir directors, organists, and school teachers in various towns and villages in Salzburg. However, the names of Gruber and Mohr were soon forgotten, and in 1854 and inquiry was made by the Royal Prussian Court Chapel with the Benedictine monastery of St. Peter in Salzburg as to the author(s). This incident prompted Gruber to write an “Authentic Account” about the origins and its authors, which has survived to this day and has provided most of the historical facts surrounding the creation of the song. It took until 1866 when it was first published in a book of church songs to finally become well known in Salzburg.
As early as 1819 it seems to have made its debut outside of Salzburg, in the Zillertal in Tyrol, where it was supposedly performed on Christmas Eve 1819 in the village of Fügen. Gruber himself mentioned in his “Authentic Account” that it was brought to Tyrol by a “well known man from Zillerthal”. This man was none other than Carl Mauracher, who in 1821 was employed by Gruber to repair the church organ in Arnsdorf, and who built a new organ for the church in Oberndorf in 1825. It is not known but quite possible that Mauracher knew Gruber as early as 1819.
Two “singing” families from Zillertal, Rainer and Strasser, were eventually responsible for spreading it beyond the borders of Austria. Both families undertook extensive travels throughout Europe performing various songs in Germany and England as early as the 1820's. The first documented recital outside of Austria occurred on December 1832 in Leipzig (Germany), where it was received with much applause. The following year, it was first published by A.R. Friese in Dresden and Leipzig (Germany) in a book called, “Eight Original Tyrolean Songs”. However, no mention was made of the songs' authors and it differed considerably from its original version.
Silent Night started its final spread to all corners of the globe on Christmas Day 1839 when the Rainer family was on tour in the US for four years and gave a recital in New York in front of the Alexander Hamilton Memorial at Trinity Church's cemetery at the end of Wall Street. By the mid-19th century it had been translated into English, and it popped up as “Choral of Salzburg” at an American booth at the World Fair in Vienna in 1873. Catholic and protestant missionaries further helped spread the song, which by the turn of the 19th century had reached all five continents. Today, Stille Nacht is known in 300 languages and dialects around the world. | <urn:uuid:9b85f35d-0a76-4fa4-a686-79749668bff6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.christmassongs.net/silent-night | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.990036 | 2,231 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Psychotherapy: It Works
Full-disclosure: I work closely with the American Psychological Association (APA) as the Public Education Coordinator for Colorado, and in other capacities. I think they are generally a great organization which does important work for psychologists AND the public. APA works for mental health treatment, and stands up for the rights of psychologists in the US (and Canada, actually). As awesome as I think the organization is, it rarely has a sense of humor. So imagine my delight when I watched this new video. Funny, a bit irreverent, and right on the money in terms of psychotherapy vs. meds – it is worth a minute of your time.
Tags: american psychological association, counselor erie, dr stephanie smith, psychologist colorado, psychologist erie, Psychotherapy Works, seeing a psychologist, therapist erie, what do psychologists do, what is therapy | <urn:uuid:82359c99-4cfb-4fa9-9cec-7505dbd66dcf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.drstephaniesmith.com/?p=824 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929591 | 186 | 1.898438 | 2 |
Now, this sparse gallery offers a flaccid spring-board from which to jump into a major novel of the thirties. But Mary McCarthy is too much of an old pro not to see the odds. Her characters will come from one class and make no heroic journeys to other classes, they will not look to participate in the center of the history which is being made, and they will be the victim of no outsize passion. Nor will they be made sufficiently eccentric to separate clearly from one another. They will be called Lakey and Kay, Pokey and Polly, Dottie, Helena, Norine, and Priss. (And Duncey.) Nor will there be an attempt to avoid the proportions which are consequent. She will take these women, nearly all finally dull, because they have neither the interest to break out of the cage of their character, nor even the necessity—the cage is not that cruel, the girls are merely premature suburbanites—and she will obey the logic of the intricately educated and dull, she will follow them through their furniture and their recipes, she will give us lists of categories that no sociologist would ever dare. This is the most dangerous hurdle of them all, this is the one any professional knows to avoid unless he is willing to dare a real fall. Because lists and categories in novels must be consummately perfect, each detail quivering with the illumination of a touch of true love, or a hint of the deep, or indeed you are dead. Lists and categories are always the predictable refuge of the passionless, the mediocre, the timid, and the bowel-bound who will not make another move until they have exhausted the last.
These are real odds, what! These pissout characters with their cultivated banalities, their lack of variety or ambition, perversion, simple greed or depth of feeling, their indifference to the bedrock of a collective novel—the large social events of the season or decade which gave impetus to conceiving the book in such a way. Yes, our Mary’s a sneak. Like any First Lady she disapproves of unseemly ambition, and yet she is trying a novel which is all but impossible to bring off in a big way. No ordinary ambition here. Megalomania indeed. Her little boutique on the Avenue is going to open in competition to Proust’s Tiffany.
Well, the Court would not certify her as mad. The odds are a hundred to one or a thousand to one against bringing off the book, but it is possible. At least it is existentially possible. For until some great new realist arises, some modern Zola, we will not know. The work of realism was done for the nineteenth century, but whether it can be done for the middle of the twentieth century we shall indeed not know unless the attempt is made. So may have reasoned McCarthy. If one takes a little still-water of society and captures it in its proportions, its style, its affairs, its moods, its very relation to reality (which is to say the mode by which it attempts to perceive reality), if one brings it to life in such a way as to transcend the journeyman novelist’s little spill of life (his versimilitude and occasional good moments), and instead creates a work which is true in its very relation to the perception of reality (one repeats the notion) then a magic is worked. The little book of realistic details has of a sudden its resonance, it has come to life, it is a Being, a psychological reality which lives afterward in our brain, touches our motives, affects the history we in turn will make. Any book can do this if it is pure enough and true enough to create a turn of being in the mind of the reader. So goes the existential premise.
Say, then, did Lady M. bring it off? And the answer is that she came just far enough to irritate the life out of us, because it was just far enough to reinvigorate the premise—it is the grand premise of the novel—but she did not climb high enough nor cleanly enough in the deep councils of her sleep to get up over the first ridge and start a base camp from which one could decide if the mountain is to be negotiated from this direction. She got just so far symbolically as the episode in one of her scenes where the butler comes in to whisper to his mistress that the child of the visiting lady has had an unfortunate accident in his pants. Yes, Mary deposited a load on the premise, and it has to be washed all over again, this little long-lived existential premise.
All right, but why did she fail? Where did she fink the job? And this is how ten thousand more words are demanded and one thousand must suffice. But first let credit be given to her formal virtues. Because her sense of detail, while suffering from a fatal if tiny taint of the monotonous and overindulgent, is still her single most impressive achievement. Her book fails as a novel by being good but not nearly good enough, it fails for a variety of temperamental and characterological reasons soon to be listed, but it is enormously successful as sociology. It will continue to exist as a classic in sociology long after it is dim and dull as a novel, it will survive in Soc Sci I at every university and junior college: the specific details are to be mined by the next twenty-five classes of PhD.
And at its best, The Group is far better than that. It is skillful, intricately knitted as a novel, its characters while not always distinguishable from one another are true in their reactions, or at least are true in the severe field of limitation she puts on their comings and goings, their paltry passions, their lack of grasp, their lack of a desire to grasp. It is all true what she does, it is just not true enough. Her eye sees with a knife’s edge, but her hand, overwary of drama and surprise, blunts the stroke. The book like a person in depression is dull in its basic condition—it comes to life only by a stirring, a moment of inspiration, then it lapses into dullness again. And details sweep in and sweep away the possibilities for each little scene to become sufficiently alive to wake up the others. She is to be given respect for conceiving a novel such as this and laying out the ground plan, she is an engineer manqué in literature, but her failure diverts judgment away from her technique and over to her character. She is simply not a good enough woman to write a major novel; not yet; she has failed, she has failed from the center out, she failed out of vanity, the accumulated vanity of being over-praised through the years for too little and so being pleased with herself for too little; she failed out of profound timidity—like any good Catholic-born she is afraid to unloose the demons; she failed out of snobbery—if compassion for her characters is beginning to stir at last in this book, she can still not approve of anyone who is incapable of performing the small act exquisitely well; she failed by an act of the imagination; she is, when all is said, a bit of a duncey broad herself, there is something cockeyed in her vision and self-satisfied in her demands and this contributes to the failure of her style. The long unbroken paragraphs settle in like bricks. They are all too equal to one another—it is the wrong book in which to lose one’s place; there is even mild physical boredom in the act of reading as if one were watching a wall being stacked up rather than seeing the metamorphosis of a creature.
Finally she suffers from a lack of reach. She chooses to be not close enough to the horror in the closet. Her nice girls are refugees from the schisms, the wrinklings, and the crater mold of the Upper Middle Class, that radiation belt of well-to-do Protestants full of Church, rectitude, exclusion, guilt, and insanity. Is there a nice rich Episcopalian family or fine Presbyterian clan in our American world which does not have its important secret member raving mad? Nice girls live on the thin juiceless crust of the horror beneath, the screaming incest, the buried diabolisms of the grand and the would-be-grand. One does not have to have that in one’s novel, but one has to have a sense of that madness if the book is to be resonant. Yet Mary is too weak to push through the crust and so cannot achieve a view of the world which has root.
Ultimately novelists must believe that the people who run the world are essentially good, are an expression of God’s work (a Conservative view), or in antithesis must decide that the Devil is at the shoulder of every ruler (which is where the Bolsheviks and the Black Muslims come together). One can presumably write a great novel from either point of view or some conciliation of the two (Proust, Henry James, James Joyce, André Malraux come to mind) but one cannot make a Being of a realistic novel if it has no root. Then there are merely sniffings, snippings and clippings, codicils of taste, and quick exits for bad taste. Mary’s vice is her terror of being ridiculous, and so she is in danger of ending up absurd, an old-maid collector of Manx cats, no tails and six toes, an anomaly of God. It even invades her vision. One called her cockeyed for a cause. There is an atrocious anachronism in the book. Her characters while engaged in the activities of the thirties have a consciousness whose style derives directly from the fifties. One has to keep reminding oneself that these events did not take place ten years ago, but thirty years ago, and this is unforgivable. It is like wrapping a tuning fork in velvet. Her little book so full of promise and quiver ends up soggy and damp. What rings true does not please the ear, what pleases is not quite true. So the book seems stuffed with cotton and catalogues as Podhoretz was quick to accuse.
Yet when all is said, The Group has one fresh virtue. It has something new in it; it has a conception of the novel which is Mary’s own, a tool by which to cut an ascent into some of the sheer ice faces of the social world. And that is her method. Her Method. For she has divined the first law of our social world, which is that we learn by what we can glean from a hundred alienations of context, from a thousand suffocations of our emotions. So we are deep in an affair, close to growing nearer or being spoiled for love another year, and then our context is ripped. A commercial is on the air. A recipe is to be discussed at dinner. Ten years later we hear of the beloved at a cocktail party. Was it this girl or that? The names have slid around into one another or have divided. Memory is in mitosis. Mary may be the first American to try this in a thoroughgoing way. Everything in the profound materiality of women is given its full stop until the Eggs Benedict and the dress with the white fichu, the pessary and the whatnot, sit on the line of the narrative like commas and periods, semi-colons, italics, and accents. The real interplay of the novel exists between the characters and the objects which surround them until the faces are swimming in a cold lava of anality, which becomes the truest part of her group, her glop, her impacted mass.
If, at the highest level, she has failed and even failed miserably to do more than write the best novel the editors of the women’s magazines ever conceived in their secret ambitions, it is nonetheless possible now to conceive that McCarthy may finally get tough enough to go with the boys. She has been a very bad girl these years, mean and silly, postured and over-petted, petty in the extreme, but now there’s a hint she may be capable some day of taking a real step, a suggestion that the Saints will preserve our Mary-Joan and bless her with a book which can comprehend a man. Does anyone know where society will end if the heroine of The Company She Keeps should encounter Julien Sorel?
But that drama of conjecture is moot. For the present, a decision: Mary McCarthy is judged Guilty of Meretriciousness and equally: Guilty of conspiring not to give the goose away, which means thus, Guilty of refusing to reveal that the genteel lords and ladies who manage America are the psychic descendants of Conrad’s Kurtz. “Ah, the horror, the horror,” and she will not take a burning look. | <urn:uuid:8af59383-385f-4a59-9d64-66a29e8f6e45> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1963/oct/17/the-mary-mccarthy-case/?page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969625 | 2,685 | 1.585938 | 2 |
A Veggie Derby in Polomolok
The good news for vegetable growers is that more and more new varieties are being developed by the local seed companies. One hope is that there will be less imported seeds in the coming years. Many of them will be developed right in the Philippines. After all, there are capable plant breeders who can produce seeds that are more adapted to Philippine conditions.
One company that is doing its share in promoting locally produced improved varieties is Ramgo International Corporation which established last year its own breeding and research center in Polomolok, South Cotabato. One year later, last November 25, the company invited more than 40 local government agriculturists, farmers and officials of the Department of Agriculture to see what has been going on in the company’s research station. The invitees came from as far north as the Ilocos and Cagayan Valley down to the Visayas and Mindanao. There were also a few media people like us.
And what did we see? Aside from the current bestsellers of the company, there are a number of promising varieties under trial. One that caught our attention early is a new variety of squash that is only identified by its code number Squash 11-1103. It was planted on 50 square meters side by side with another variety of Ramgo and that of another company. They were all planted on 50 square meters.
Dr. Romeo Opeña, a veteran plant breeder who spent much of his time at the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center in Taiwan, explained that the plant is not as bushy as the other varieties but it is very much more fruitful. For instance, there were more than 40 medium-size fruits produced by 11-1103 in that 50 square meters compared to only 17 in the other Ramgo variety, and 7 fruits in the variety from another seed company.
The new variety is expected to be released sometime in 2013. Dr. Opeña explained that it will have to be further tested in other areas in the Philippines. It will be observed not only for its prolificacy but also for its resistance to common pests and diseases of squash. The eating quality will have to be evaluated. The fruits are not as big as the other varieties (about 3 to 4 kilos each) but being relatively small has its advantages. It could be easier to market than the big varieties.
Right from the entrance of the experimental station, beautiful plots of string beans (sitao) greeted us. The pods are so long and straight, and the plants are so vigorous. We saw the Mega Green, the Super Green and some other new varieties. The Super Green has an open growth habit, it has smaller leaves than others so that sunlight penetrates better. In effect, it produces more fruits.
The sitao pods come in dark green color, light green and in between. Alvin Aquino, the chief plant breeder, explained that different regions of the country have different color preferences for their sitao. That is why they have to produce the preferred varieties for each region.
Pamela Ong Chan, the lady boss of the company, explained that their company used to focus mostly on highland vegetable varieties. Now, with their research station in Polomolok, they are also focusing on the lowland “pinakbet” type varieties.
One of their major targets is eggplant. Their current bestseller is called Sikat which produces uniform, glossy purple fruits. They are also undertaking trials of other varieties. One of them has clustering fruiting habit. Another new variety that we saw has round fat fruits with pinkish skin that is striped.
They have several cucumber varieties. One of the new ones is Hermes which is very early maturing. The first fruits can be harvested in just 32 days from planting. It is also very prolific, one plant can yield 15 to 18 kilos. Harvesting can be done everyday so that the grower has a continuous cash flow.
Of course, the company also keeps old and tested varieties. Just like the Amazones cucumber which was introduced many years ago yet it is still a favorite of growers.
Pepper, both the pangsigang type and the labuyo type are among the priority crops of Ramgo. These are hot money-makers, especially when they are grown off season. The pangsigang type, for instance, fetched P200 per kilo last October. The labuyo type can fetch as much as P400 to P500 per kilo when it is off-season.
Other crops being given attention are sweet corn, watermelon, tomato, okra, ampalaya and others.
The company took the initiative to invite the local government agriculturists and farmers so they can show them what are the latest developments in the seed industry. Hopefully, they will be able to disseminate what they have observed to their constituents in the provinces.
By Zac B. Sarian | <urn:uuid:1d3e1ac8-6044-4fc3-ba4c-1e1d229edf94> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.agribusinessweek.com/a-veggie-derby-in-polomolok/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972193 | 1,024 | 1.84375 | 2 |
About this CRS report
This document was obtained by Wikileaks from the
United States Congressional Research Service.
The CRS is a Congressional "think tank" with a staff of around 700. Reports are commissioned by members of Congress on topics relevant to current political events. Despite CRS costs to the tax payer of over $100M a year, its electronic archives are, as a matter of policy, not made available to the public.
Individual members of Congress will release specific CRS reports if they believe it to assist them politically, but CRS archives as a whole are firewalled from public access.
This report was obtained by Wikileaks staff from CRS computers accessible only from Congressional offices.
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Wikileaks release: February 2, 2009
Publisher: United States Congressional Research Service
Title: Bankruptcy Reform: A Recap
CRS report number: RL31706
Author(s): Robin Jeweler, American Law Division
Date: January 13, 2003
- This report reviews many of the core consumer bankruptcy features that have been common to most versions of bankruptcy reform legislation. It is based upon the most recent legislative version, the conference report to H.R. 333, H.Rept. 107-617, 107th Congress, 2nd Sess. (2002), which is likely to be the basis for legislation considered in the 108th Congress. It also provides, in chart form, a survey of selected provisions. | <urn:uuid:32758007-dacb-4014-9ebc-f31501b6fcb3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wikileaks.org/w/index.php?title=CRS:_Bankruptcy_Reform:_A_Recap,_January_13,_2003&oldid=46397 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942479 | 339 | 1.625 | 2 |
What is Rosacea?
Rosacea is common chronic inflammatory skin disorder that causes redness, dilation of blood vessels, and pimples on the nose, cheeks, chin and forehead. It is mostly a disorder of middle age and older adults, as the age of onset is between 30 and 50 years. It is relatively common among individuals with fair skin, light hair and eye color, and among those who experience frequent blushing or flushing. It is a chronic disorder and there is not a cure so many patients experience recurrences and the treatment goal is control.
What causes Rosacea?
The cause of the vascular dilatation leading to the clinical picture of rosacea is unknown. There are several things which have been found to cause exacerbations of rosacea including: sun exposure, spicy foods, hot liquids, and alcohol consumption.
What is the treatment for Rosacea?
Prevention of an exacerbation of rosacea is often achieved by avoiding personal trigger factors, whether it is sunlight, alcohol, or hot spicy foods. There are both topical and systemic therapies used to treat rosacea. Topical antibiotics, tretinoin cream and benzoyl peroxide are used to treat the inflammatory lesions. Systemic therapy consists of oral antibiotics.
Wolff K, Johnson, RA. Fitzpatrick’s Color Atlas and Synopsis of Clinical Dermatology. Sixth Edition. 2009. | <urn:uuid:a0500c15-798b-4ef9-baba-a8e878b34278> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.webmedlit.com/conditions/rosacea | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931194 | 289 | 3.171875 | 3 |
The most popular president in the world
I've just been on an extraordinary march. Millions of Colombians have taken to the streets to demonstrate against the Marxist narco-terror group, FARC. The whole of Bogotá was taken over by white-clad mobs waving flags and carnations, and carolling their support for the conservative government. We sang the national anthem. We shouted "Freedom" and "No more FARC" and, in the rhythmic chant favoured all over the Hispanic world, "¡Colombia unida jamás sera vencida!".
Colombians protests against FARC
Two things made the demonstration unusual. First, in a sign of the times, it was not organised by any political party or NGO. Rather, it was planned through Facebook.
But the even more extraordinary thing is that it should have taken place at all in contemporary South America. You just don't expect to see Right-wing crowds here these days. When I told my fellow marchers that I was a British Tory, they pounded my back and pumped my hand and, on two occasions, tried to hoist me to their shoulders.
Setting out for an anti-terrorist march
Not for the first time, I was struck by Colombian particularism. I have written here before about the Red wave crashing across Latin America. I have blogged from three countries which have dissolved their parliaments and "refounded" themselves with socialist constitutions:
Except in Colombia, the last untoppled domino. President Ãlvaro Uribe is everything that his neighbours are not. He is pro-American (the only leader in the region who backed the Iraq war). He is a free trader and a privatiser. In a continent led by demagogues, he is calm, even uncharismatic. And, where every neighbouring state has seen a revolt against the "oligarchs", he is a scion of an old Colombian family. Yet his approval ratings have now touched an almost unbelievable 80 per cent.Â
How has he done it? The answer deserves more space than I can give it in a blog but, essentially, he perceived the chief failing of Latin American statecraft, viz that governments at once do too little and too much. Too little in that they fail to guarantee order. Too much in the sense that they seek to control huge swathes of the economy, creating colossal opportunities for corruption and cronyism. Across much of the continent, the law is not open to an individual seeking redress. If you have a complaint against your neighbour, you don't take it to the courts; you phone your friend who knows a general.
President Uribe has tackled the problem with spectacular success. First, he has restored order, bringing swathes of countryside back under government control. Across most of Colombia, something approximating an impartial rule of law now pertains. Those who had lived with the alternatives militias, extortion rackets, shootings and kidnappings are fervent in their gratitude. At the same time, he has pursued an agenda of free-market reform, reducing the opportunities for the nepotism that had turned every other regional electorate against its political class.
In consequence, he is the most successful leader in Latin America, with a measure of support that his authoritarian neighbours can only dream of. They may be the more populist; he is the most popular.
The EU talks of limiting tax avoidance, but its true agenda is tax harmonisation
May 22nd, 2013 6:49
The pro-EU campaign is reduced to dressing up Eurocrats as businessmen
May 20th, 2013 16:52
If you're worried about swivel-eyed loons, try open primaries
May 19th, 2013 17:49
This is the closest we have been to leaving the EU
May 17th, 2013 7:08
A small reminder of why we need to quit the Euro-racket
May 16th, 2013 7:07 | <urn:uuid:b1b9fb05-c356-494e-b5f9-f142d9f8cb0c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/3676591/The_most_popular_president_in_the_world/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970062 | 820 | 1.578125 | 2 |
A light dimmer could be your perfect solution. Dimmers can create ambiance and elegance in your home. They can also help cut costs. With a dimmer, light bulbs can last twenty times longer. They also use forty percent less electricity on average.
Installing a Dimmer
1. You can install a dimmer yourself. All it takes is a screwdriver, a dimmer switch, and a few minutes.
2. Firstly, make sure that the power is off to the circuit you’ll be working with. Be sure to tell others what you’re doing so that the power isn’t accidentally switched on.
3. Next, use the screwdriver to remove the switch cover, and then remove the switch screws.
4. Pull the switch from the wall, and disconnect the wires.
5. Next, safely connect the wires to the dimmer by following the manufacturer’s instructions.
6. Screw the switch into the wall, attach the switch cover, turn the power back on, and you’re ready to dim the lights and the cost of your electric bill. | <urn:uuid:971025c6-6106-4e94-8ee8-60d0cfa03c2c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bigcountryhomepage.com/fulltext?nxd_id=505&d=1&nxd_237113_start=95 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.905567 | 231 | 1.75 | 2 |
Hi Cindy - Hope your summer is going well! I wanted to update you on our free webinars and hope you can join us for one of them soon.
We've had three Tech Talks so far - one on Interactive Notebooks (were you able to participate?), Moodle, and Digital Storytelling. You can get to the recordings of those by clicking on the Web Archive link.
You can see all our upcoming events by clicking on the Events tab. The next TechTalk topic is Using Wikis. We've got lots more topics to cover in the next few months - technology, pedagogy, content knowledge, all sorts of fun stuff! Any ideas on additional topics or feedback you have would be greatly appreciated! Kim
How cute! Well, you know your way around Ning. So, what other hidden expertise do you have? Do you teach math? Science? Do you work in education in another capacity?
I would like to encourage you to explore the site, join groups, and add to discussions. The site is growing and as we get more members, we have more to share.
If you need any help or would like to see something added, just let us know. We are here to help you.
Welcome, Cindy! With 32 year of experience, you have a wealth of knowledge to share with this community. I hope you'll be willing to do so! I also hope that you'll find support, ideas, new professional friends to assist you in your work.
I'd be curious as to what prompted you to join MSP2. Echoing Jessica's welcome, please feel free to jump in, contribute, post, comment, share, ask questions.
Hi Cindy - Thanks for joining MSP2 and welcome to the community! We've got lots of resources for middle school science teachers - look at the left side of the Main page - Science Publications, Diigo lists, and two project blogs - Connecting News to the National Science Education Standards and Exemplary Resources for Middle School Math and Science.
Right now there are three groups - Science, Math, and Integrating Technology - I would encourage you to join one or more and start a conversation. Are there any specific topics or issues you would like to see addressed? What do you teach besides science?
No comments yet!
This Ning App is not visible to members on the Main page. | <urn:uuid:253a0a9b-45bd-4e88-a753-ff826b9233b9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.msteacher2.org/profile/CindyMelcher | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947571 | 486 | 1.554688 | 2 |
29 5 / 2012
"If you’re unhappy at the amount of sexual opportunity in your life, don’t blame the women. Instead, make sure they have equal access to power, wealth, and status. Then watch what happens."
23 5 / 2012
"Love and lust are as different from each other as red wine and blue cheese, but because they can also complement one another splendidly, they get conflated with amazing, dumbfounding regularity."
23 5 / 2012
Self-sublimating Obsessive Interdependence Syndrome (SOIS)
A disorder characterized by a group of symptoms that present themselves in the subject after coming in close contact with a person they perceive as emotionally stimulating and/or physically attractive. Symptoms include:
- Almost continuous ruminating and obsessive thoughts focused on the well-being and perceived reciprocated favor of one other person.
- Self-sacrificing ideation focused on one other person. This includes expressing a willingness to allow ones own death in order to preserve the life of another.
- Dissociation from the self as a singular entity, signified by increased usage of the pronoun ‘We.’
- Overwhelming sense of safety and security that causes the patient to have low reactivity to stressors.
- Extreme and long lasting emotional distress in reaction to actual or threatened separation.
23 5 / 2012
Actually seen and been on both sides of a relationship? Its crazy. Its like in movies when the audience knows what one character doesn’t know. Its called dramatic irony. Relationships aren’t meant to be easy and all fun. They are meant so you have one person to go through all of your problems with. Its meant to be a struggle and in between those is when you get the happiness together, knowing that you made it through something. Seeing both sides of a relationship is scary. Cause you know what can fix it. Its almost like you just wanna make them puppets and fix it yourself. Being too comfortable is not always a good thing. When you get too comfortable you think its okay to always take and you start expecting things and thinking that’s its always gotta be in your favor, but its not. The other person needs love and attention too. Communication. Thats a Bitch. Its too hard to communicate when one person is stuck in one mindset and not trying to understand how the other feels. The other gives up cause why try when you get everything turned at you. I just wish people would let love over rule all. Not everybody gets that chance to have love, to feel love so when you get it, don’t take it for granted. Its too powerful to just let it slip away because of some stupid non communication or not being able to change your ways. Thats just my opinion, but what do I know? I’ve never been in a relationship.
16 5 / 2012
"I really hoped to keep this an open group, but as expected, the men are quickly outnumbering the women. For now, invites are only available to the ladies!"
04 5 / 2012
“It’s often said that every song, every poem, every novel, every painting ever created is in some way “about” love. What this really means is that love is a central theme, an underlying preoccupation, in humanity’s greatest works.” | <urn:uuid:281816f6-fce8-4064-abb9-c47ce77cb4d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thelovesurvey.tumblr.com/tagged/love | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959002 | 705 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Earlier this year, the California Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage and said it was unconstitutional to deny anyone the right to marry.
This pissed many people off, and hence was drafted: Proposition 8. If passed, the proposition would change the California Constitution to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry in California, and new section would be added stating “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”
Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, issued the following statement concerning California’s anti-gay marriage Proposition 8:
As an Internet company, Google is an active participant in policy debates surrounding information access, technology and energy. Because our company has a great diversity of people and opinions — Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals, all religions and no religion, straight and gay — we do not generally take a position on issues outside of our field, especially not social issues. So when Proposition 8 appeared on the California ballot, it was an unlikely question for Google to take an official company position on.
However, while there are many objections to this proposition — further government encroachment on personal lives, ambiguously written text — it is the chilling and discriminatory effect of the proposition on many of our employees that brings Google to publicly oppose Proposition 8. While we respect the strongly-held beliefs that people have on both sides of this argument, we see this fundamentally as an issue of equality. We hope that California voters will vote no on Proposition 8 — we should not eliminate anyone’s fundamental rights, whatever their sexuality, to marry the person they love.
Go Google. Tell ‘em.
If you are in California (or just curious), you should check out more info about Proposition 8 on wikipedia.
I was 14, he was 16. We grew up together, and since puberty he had been trying to get me in bed. I was at his house one day after school when he got a “brilliant idea” look on his face and bolted into the kitchen. I followed behind, and saw him grab a carton of eggs out of the fridge.
He held up an egg and asked, “Wanna put this up your ass?”.
I laughed and said no.
He tried to convince me a few more times before telling me that he would just have to do it himself then.
My buddy pulled down his shorts, squatted, and sucked an egg right up into his asshole.
He then did an awkward crab-walk over to the bathroom and hovered over the toilet.
“Look! I’m a chicken!” he said and he grunted down a bit and released the egg into the toilet with a plop.
He explained that “he just wanted to do it”, and we never really talked about the “I’m a chicken!” incident again. But, this is one of my favorite stories and thought my readers may enjoy it (the story, not an egg in the ass).
Also check out the rest of our Masturbation Survey Questions and results here.
Sex In the news recently:
Swinger Club Shut Down from Neighbor Complaints – “Once in a while it sounds like a raccoon dying,”
Verizon Tech Accused Of Making $220K In Sex Calls – Former employee said to have tapped into landlines Of 950 Customers.
I stumbled upon an interesting research paper titled “Pornography, Rape and Sex Crimes in Japan” — If you aren’t familiar with the scope of strange porn that comes out of Japan, check out this wikipedia link.
Then ponder that in Japan, Playboy Magazine was banned (for showing pubic hair) until 1975 and pornography only became commonplace in the 90s. Now rape fantasy figurines are sold publicly next to similar machines selling Pokemon figurines. The rapid changes make for an interesting study on how pornography and rape are related.
Don’t be tricked into paying a membership fee for a dating site only to find out it’s mostly empty. Here we review the top dating /personals sites catering to gay men:
Exclusively Gay Personals / Dating Sites:
Gay.com Personals – The world’s largest gay and lesbian online dating site with over 3.5 million active members (omg!). Member benefits include chat rooms, free adult videos & pics (free pr0n!!!), plus free subscriptions to Out and Advocate magazines.
Gay.Date.com – is another huge online gay personals community. With nifty member features including live chat.
Check out Gay.Date.com
GayFriendFinder boasts a large community offering dating, chat and friendship for gay men.
You can get a basic membership for free, which is worth it… but to get all the features you’ll want to upgrade to a paid membership (which is fairly cheap).
Other Dating Sites with Gay Memberships:
If you’re a switch hitter, or like to mingle with breeders you might also be interested in the following dating sites that aren’t exclusively gay, but do have a large gay membership base:
Lavalife.com connects singles locally through the phone (and also their website, IM, etc…).
They have memberships that cater to gay men, and (I’m guessing) have probably brought more booty calls together than any other online service.
Join Lavalife.com: Get 7 Days FREE
Alt.com If you are looking for a kinky boyfriend, Alt.com might be your answer.
The site is a mixed lot of gay, straight, and everything-in-between… probably the largest selection of bi-curious men I’ve ever seen. Woot!
Plenty of Fish.com – is a completely free dating site. No credit card required. Unfortunatly the site doesn’t also require shirts, shoes or class either, but it’s free.
I can fix computers…shhhh, don’t tell anyone. My friends, their moms, and second-cousins are already lined up out my door. It’s not my job, but have doctored enough PCs to see a pattern.
Internet sex is to computer viruses as real sex is to venereal infections. Rinse and Repeat…or don’t. But, remember this: viewing & downloading random porn on the interweb is like sleeping with random dirty hookers — you never know what you are going to get.
Finding porn on the internet is easy, but finding free sites that aren’t infested with popups, spyware, and viruses is a bit tougher.
Best Free Porn Sites
Here is my list of top places online to safely get your porn fix:
YouPorn.com – It’s the YouTube of porn. ’nuff said. Very easy to navigate, tons of straight, lesbian & gay content. This is my top pic, and personal choice.
PornoTube.com – Much like YouPorn, this site works very similar to youtube.com.
PornHub.com – Another youtubish-clone except it makes dicks bigger.
Fleshbot – x-rated blog with all kinds of sex news, videos, pics and more.
Xtube – Large member-base, tons of gay & straight free vids to watch. Lots of amateur stuff.
MyFreePaySite.com – Tons of free content when you sign up for a free membership. Remember to use a disposable email address when signing up to avoid spam. Personally, I like the other sites on this list because they don’t require you to sign up just to view videos. However, I have a few friends that totally vouch that MyFreePaySite is worth the trouble.
These sites should keep you busy. Dawn, I am speaking to you specifically.
One of my first lovers was a 6’3 Chinese native who visiting the US looking for a graduate college. I remember how nervous he was before getting undressed in front of me the first time, and admitted his anxiety concerned his penis size.
He said that Asians were known to have smaller penises on average compared to the Caucasian and black cock I must have been accustomed to being an American. (this is mostly considered a myth, btw) Anyhow, after convincing my new friend to get naked he revealed an 8 inch wang (we measured it). I told him it was the biggest one I’d ever seen up close (which was true).
This guy had a grand specimen in both length and girth, but still thought he was smaller than average. It turns out average erect penis length (across numerous studies and ethnicities) is between 5 to 6 inches, and average flaccid penis length from 1 to 4 inches.
Penis Length & Girth Data:
A study by the LifeStyles Condom Co. shows that the average length of an erect penis is 5.877 inches with the average girth (circumference) being 4.972 inches. The study involved 300 college-age men vacationing in Mexico over spring break. (I hope they gave away free condoms)
The following graphs illustrate average penis length based on the LifeStyles Survey:
And the data for penis thickness (circumference) from the LifeStyles Survey — showing the average penis girth to be 4.972 inches:
I wonder now if he realizes he is actually in the 90th+ percentile…
How do you measure up? Base to tip, your taint doesn’t count.
What is the average penis size, and do women care? Who has the most sex? How often? What’s the horniest and least horniest countries? Can men give themselves blowjobs? …
We find answers to all these questions and more interesting sexual statistics and facts:
Penis Size – Recent data indicates an average erect penis length is between 5 – 6 inches, with average flaccid penis length ranging from 1 and 4 inches and according to the Kinsey Institute, the biggest erect penis on record measures 13 inches.
Frequency of Sex – 18-29 year olds have sex an average of 112 times per year, 30-39 year olds an average of 86 times per year, and 40-49 year olds an average of 69 times per year.
The French, Greeks, Hungarians were having the most sex, while those in Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore were the least sexually active according to a Durex Survey in 2004.
In the 2008 Durex survey Greece, Brazil, and Russia topped the list in percentage of respondents claiming to have sex at least weekly, whereas Japan, the US, and Nigera were the at the bottom of the list.
So, although there are some movers and shakers among countries, it appears that Greece is consistently a horny & productive country and the average Japanese citizen not getting much action.
Orgasm Frequency – More experienced lovers are most likely to have an orgasm every time they have sex, with 48% of those in the 35-plus age group claiming to do so, compared to 32% of 16-20 year olds. (Durex Survey 2004)
Sexual Fantasies – How often do men fantasize about sex? Not every 7 seconds like the old wives’s tale suggests. The Kinsey Institute reports that 54% of men think about sex at least every day, 43% think about it a few times a week or month, and 4% once a month or less.
Gay Population – The gay and lesbian communities have long adopted 10% as the portion of the population that is homosexual. However, a series of recent national studies indicate that only about 2-3% of sexually-active men and 1-2% of sexually-active women are currently engaging in same-gender sex. With the largest concentrations of homosexuals located in the large cities (close to 10%).
Masturbation – In a study of undergraduate college students, 98% of men and 44% of women reported having ever masturbated. Are there really that many adult women who have never masturbated? According to the Kinsey Institute, masturbation is more common among white-collar workers than blue-collar workers.
Bonus Stat: Three out of a thousand men (0.3%) are well-hung enough for self-fellatio.
References and More Info:
Frequently Asked Sexuality Questions to The Kinsey Institute Information compiled from various research reports.
Durex Global Sex Surveys – All sorts of interesting sex survey results here.
Tom W. Smith – American Sexual Behavior: Trends, Socio-Demographic Differences and Risk Behavior – PDF 2006, lots of interesting topics.
I was reading this issue of sex advice column Savage Love in which a gay reader asks how to go about finding a women willing to stay dressed and watch him masturbate and/or watch him have sex with his partner.
The author, Dan Savage, replies:
Make some lesbian friends…
Lots of dykes watch gay male porn, a phenomenon I would unpack in this space if, um, I had the faintest idea what was up with that. (Ladies? What is up with that?)
Why would dykes like gay porn?
My girlfriend remarked recently that gay porn was hot because they often show a struggle for dominance.
Personally, I watch masturbation & gay porn for the dick. Plus gay men seem to better at screwing, better looking, and shave their bums more than their hetero porn star brothers. Also I don’t have to see boobs or long fingernails (fingernails creep me out). I know, I am such a bad lesbian. Thank goodness for the Kinsey Scale.
I’m not saying all dykes like watching gay porn, but I know a lot of us that do. Some straight women, too. If you have your own reason why you like gay pornography please leave a comment below.
A few links of interest I stumbled upon recently:
A foot that grew a nipple – Wow. Check out this medical paper (with photos) about pseudomamma on the foot. I love saying pseudomamma!
I found the link to this on The Beautiful Kind.com – which is a terrific blog about:
sexuality, kinks, fetishes, BDSM, swinging, polyamory and perversion.
…a 30-something bisexual atheist vegetarian mom located in St. Louis, MO.
Sounds like a fun girl — check out her site: The Beautiful Kind.com | <urn:uuid:b96bac65-4d77-4041-8b2d-ef4a7f0b9da8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.smallnothings.com/page/2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94673 | 3,049 | 2.328125 | 2 |
Use of design in early stages
It may prove highly beneficial to include the design dimension at an early stage in a development process. This is the case even if the product is highly technological and the challenges consist mainly of achieving technical performance.
If included, stakeholders - e.g. users, buyers, service technicians or others - may be able to offer valuable input for use in the development process. To many of these stakeholders, product imaging and simple explanations of how the product functions is much more valuable information than complex descriptions of the product structure and technical descriptions.
Having an industrial designer help create early suggestions for the product’s form and use may help ease what is often a difficult communication task. Laboratory models, functional models or prototypes are often influenced by an attempt to overcome all the technical barriers and achieve a satisfactory performance level. As important as this may be, many decision-makers are interested in seeing how the product is going to look, or perhaps merely how it could look, how it will work in practise, how it is maintained, etc.
In the case of technology or knowledge-developing start-up companies, visualisation of a potential future product or potential use of a future product may help describe the product to those stakeholders who, e.g. do not have particular knowledge about product development, or do not possess adequate powers of imagination. | <urn:uuid:3f56d26d-1bda-49dd-bda9-2546e7b8e330> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ipu.dk/English/IPU-Product-Development/Industrial-design/Use-of-design-in-early-stages.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942589 | 274 | 2.46875 | 2 |
The number of households owning homes reached 75,076,000 in the third quarter, increasing from 74,832,000 in the second, but down from 75,251,000 a year ago, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday.
However, the homeownership rate is still near historic lows. The rate in the first quarter of 2012 was 65.4 percent, the lowest since the first quarter of 1997, when the rate was also 65.4 percent. The homeownership rate peaked at 69.2 percent in the second quarter of 2004.
While the homeownership rate may have hit bottom, it may not rise very quickly in the near future if there are no houses for potential homeowners to buy. Tight inventories have plagued sales and Census confirmed that the number of housing units for sale in the third quarter was 1,476,000, down from 1,595,000 in the second quarter and 1,862,000 in third-quarter 2011-a 20 percent decline in one year. The number of housing units held off the market was 7,190,000, down from 7,612,000 in second quarter but up from 7,190,000 a year ago.
The homeownership rate for older Americans-defined as 65 and over-fell in the third quarter to 81.4 percent from 81.6 percent in the second. The homeownership rate for Americans younger than 35 fell to 36.3 percent. The 45-64 age bracket was the only group to see an increase in homeownership; the rate for that group increased 0.6 percentage points to 72 percent.
Homeownership among non-Hispanic whites rose slightly from 73.5 to 73.6 percent in the third quarter. Among blacks, homeownership rose even more, from 43.8 to 44.1 percent but was significantly lower than a year ago when the rate was 45.6 percent and was the lowest of all racial groups. Hispanics rose from 46.5 to 46.7 percent but was also lower than the third quarter of 2011, when 47.6 percent. The rate for all other races fell, from 55.0 percent in the second quarter to 54.5 percent in the third.
Homeownership fell slightly among wealthier Americans. The homeownership rate for households with family incomes greater than or equal to the median family income fell from 80.5 percent in the second quarter to 80.3 percent in the third and was lower than the third quarter 2011 rate (81.3 percent). The rate for those households with family incomes less than the median family income was also lower than the third quarter 2011 rate (51.3 percent)
The highest homeownership rate in the third quarter was in the Midwest-69.6 percent, unchanged from the second quarter. Homeownership also increased in the West (to 60.1 percent) and the Northeast (to 63.9 percent), making the South the only region to experience a decline (to 66.9 percent). The homeownership rate measures the proportion of households owning their primary residence, computed by dividing the number of households that are occupied by owners by the total number of occupied homes. | <urn:uuid:93bb18d4-6040-4c63-94b7-7bf0b12fe600> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Real-Estate/2012/11/02/Has-the-homeownership-rate-bottomed-out/8941351889407/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978833 | 638 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Here's an IR theory puzzle: Why do some seemingly powerful states exert relatively little influence on world politics, while other states with more modest capabilities cast a bigger shadow than one would expect? Although there is no consensus on how national power should be defined or measured, most IR scholars would probably agree that there is a substantial but not perfect correlation between national power and international influence. Indeed, one could imagine a simple regression, with "power" on the X-axis and "influence" on the Y-axis, and a diagonal line bisecting that space. I'd expect most states to array themselves pretty close to that line: as their power increased (measured in terms of GDP, population, military capability, resource endowments, etc.) one would expect to see a corresponding increase in their global influence.
But what about the outliers -- either the "overachievers" who swing a bigger bat than one would expect or the "underachievers" who wield less influence than their overall capabilities might provide? Here's my personal, decidedly un-scientific top five list in each category, followed by some thoughts on what might explain why some states punch above their weight and some potentially major powers cast a comparatively small shadow.
"OVER-ACHIEVERS" (in no particular order)
With a population of only 9 million, one wouldn’t expect Sweden to cast much of a shadow, despite its advanced industrial economy. Yet for its size and population, Sweden has been a significant international player. Its welfare state and other social policies have been widely-studied and a model for others, and diplomats such as Dag Hammarskjold, Folke Bernadotte, and Olof Palme were all important international voices. Sweden still devotes a higher percentage of its GDP to foreign aid than any other country, and institutions such as the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute have amplified Sweden's visibility on major issues of arms control and disarmament. Awarding the Nobel Prizes probably doesn't hurt either.
2. North Korea.
With a small population (22 million), an obsolete military machine, a bankrupt ideology, and an economy that exposes its citizens to periodic famine, one wouldn’t expect North Korea to get much attention at all. Indeed, on most measures North Korea is an under-achiever (especially when compared with its neighbor to the south). But Pyongyang's leaders are past masters at commanding international attention, usually by threatening to do something undesirable (and then sometimes going ahead and doing it). North Korea is hardly an inspiring model for anyone, but it shows how sheer cussedness can enable a country to punch well above their weight.
America’s northern neighbor has the world's second largest land mass but a relatively small population (only 32 million) and only modest military assets. Yet Canada has been a consistent proponent of multilateralism, ranks ninth in the world as a provider of foreign aid, and has been an enthusiastic participant in international peacekeeping missions. Indeed, Canada has lost 117 soldiers fighting in Afghanistan, the highest per capita figure of any ISAF participant.
For a country whose total population is less than that of New York City, Israel generates a lot more attention than one would expect. To be sure, some of this reflects Israel’s economic success (which includes advanced hi-tech sector and a significant arms industry) not to mention its nuclear arsenal and overall military power. And then there's the occupation and the violence that it has produced over the years. Regardless of one's views on that thorny subject, it's hard to argue that Israel doesn't exert a lot of influence on the global agenda, especially given its very modest size.
For a city-state with a population of only 4.4 million, which gained independence only in 1965, Singapore's international prominence marks it as an obvious outlier, even when one allows for its advanced economy and high per capita income. In addition to its economic achievements, Singapore has been a major force behind regional cooperation in Southeast Asia, an energetic promoter of institutions such as ASEAN, and its leaders have rarely been bashful about offering their views on major international issues.
"UNDERACHIEVERS" (also in no particular order)
Despite having the world's 2nd largest economy and the world's sixth largest defense budget, Japan performs a remarkably modest international role. As Richard Samuels of MIT recently pointed out in Newsweek, Japan sent warships to help defend against tSomali pirates only after China announced it was going to do so, and it has only 38 soldiers participating in UN peacekeeping missions. Increasingly, its leadership both at home and abroad seems paralyzed. Moreover, with a declining and rapidly aging population, Japan seems likely to become even less influential over time, despite its economic size and considerable national wealth.
It is the world's most populous democracy, the dominant state in south Asia, the home country of a sizeable and successful global diaspora, and a nuclear power. Past Indian leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Indira Gandhi were major international figures. While far from being inconsequential, India has yet to exercise a global leadership role, or even to exert far-sighted and constructive influence over its immediate neighborhood. Moreover, a recent article in The Hindu deplores the deteriorating state of international studies in India, at precisely the same period when a rising China is taking the study of international relations very seriously.
Now reunified, with the world's 14th largest population and either the 3rd or fifth largest economy (depending on whether one uses straight GDP figures or purchasing power parity estimates). Germany is also the world's third largest exporter. While not entirely absent on the world stage, it is hardly exercising an influence commensurate with its latent capabilities. Even when Germany does get more actively involved (as they have in Afghanistan), they operate under highly restrictive rules of engagement that substantially undercut their effectiveness. A far cry from the Germany of Otto von Bismarck, or even the creative leadership of Konrad Adenauer and Willy Brandt.
At first, I thought about putting Russia in the other category -- a large but relatively weak state that managed to exert more influence than its overall capabilities might suggest. But on reflection, I think Russia belongs here. Despite its geographic size, oil and gas resources, and relatively well-educated work force, as well as the inherited assets of permanent Security Council membership and a large nuclear arsenal, Russia today exerts less influence on the agenda of world politics than its overall capabilities might provide. Its political system is not a model for anyone; its culture is not a magnet, and its leaders are either unable or unwilling to play a constructive role in addressing the major problems that confront the world today. Instead, Moscow mostly plays a spoiler role, which is what former great power do when they cannot find a way to lead.
Yes, I've read about the BRICS, and how countries like Brazil are going to reshape the global balance of power in the 21st century. But the world's tenth largest economy (and fifth largest population) has yet to achieve an international role of similar stature. Brazil clearly wants a more prominent international position, as exemplified by its current efforts to win a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, its extensive diplomatic presence and active participation in existing international organizations. President Lula da Silva has very high approval ratings (including the highest ratings in all of Latin America). But so far, these ambitions and capabilities have not been translated into as much direct influence as I'd expect.
So what explains why some states punch above their weight and others punch below it? This would be a great topic for a dissertation, but here are a few tentative thoughts. First, individual leadership matters. A leader like Charles De Gaulle, Lester Pearson, or Lee Kwan Yew can elevate a country's profile above its "natural" place, and a series of weak leaders can keep a country from reaching its true potential. Second, history can have a long-term impact on a country's overall influence: Britain and France occupy somewhat enhanced roles today because they were once great powers with extensive global empires and Sweden's tradition of international activism may even be a legacy of its former role as a great power several centuries ago. Third, the examples of Germany and Japan suggest that extreme misconduct in the past can suppress a state's willingness or ability to play a large international role for a very long time. And in these two cases, the legacy of World War II has been reinforced by decades of Cold War free-riding. Fourth, small states can leverage a relationship with a major power like the United States (as both Israel and Singapore have done) in order to maintain positions that would be harder to sustain on their own. Lastly, relatively weak states may enhance their overall influence by occupying a specialized "niche" in the international environment, as neutral powers like Sweden or Switzerland have done.
I'm sure I missed some other good examples and possible explanations, so I hope readers will contribute suggestions or critiques of their own.
Ryan Pierse/Getty Images for DAGOC
Stephen M. Walt is the Robert and Renée Belfer professor of international relations at Harvard University. | <urn:uuid:67de61b3-377a-492c-a3df-8b759b6f06aa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/04/21/over_achievers_and_under_achievers | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956122 | 1,880 | 2.28125 | 2 |
Top story at North Lido was once on lack of tops
Published: Sunday, March 17, 2013 at 6:26 p.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, March 17, 2013 at 6:26 p.m.
SARASOTA - One of the most popular and controversial beaches in Sarasota from 1977 to 1985 was North Lido Beach, boasting a relatively isolated pristine stretch of sugar white sand perfect for basking in the sun and flanked by the clear and inviting azure water of the Gulf of Mexico in which to swim.
The city of Sarasota had bought this stretch of sand from the Arvida Corp. to protect it from development. And as it was away from the flocks of beach-goers who mostly gathered near the pavilion further south — and protected by dunes and trees and lack of vehicular traffic — it soon attracted nude sunbathers. That included unsavory men looking for action, and also sunbathing topless females, who gave North Lido a European flair.
Naked men were verboten by law, but the topless women were not. As Police Chief Earl Parker explained to those who thought our very moral fiber was at stake and we were on a jet to Hades, "Since the Supreme Court ruled that breasts were not sex organs, a topless woman is as legal as a topless man."
And that, for a time, was that.
So North Lido continued to draw sun worshipers: men in G-strings; topless women throwing Frisbees, relaxing on towels, sauntering alongside the water's edge; walking past surprised tourists averting their children's eyes, and (occasionally) their own, and local voyeurs and spring-breakers of all ages.
Many locals anchored their boats near the shore and between dips in the gulf and swigs of beer, gazed at nature's bounty. For many it was all great and harmless fun.
For many it was not.
'See what happens'
The standard bearer for the pro-topless contingent was 35-year-old Genie O'Brien, president of the North Lido Sunbathers Association, and self-described "pest or thorn or adversary, or worse to the City." She had never before battled city hall, but felt strong enough about the issue to take on City Manager Ken Thompson, the city commission, the city attorney and the city police department.
After complaints from nearby condominium owners, who were scouring the area with high power binoculars, and concerned citizens, the city proposed a ban which called for a fine of $500 and up to 60 days in jail.
As the day of reckoning drew near, what was being billed as "one of the world's largest topless beach parties" was organized, and joined by locals and out-of-towners. Hundreds of free-spirits were expected to attend in a last hurrah.
When the city ordinance prohibiting topless bathing passed on Feb. 19, 1985, O'Brien and her group wanted to take the issue to court and have it declared unconstitutional. She was quoted the next day promising "to go to the beach, take off my top and see what happens." Nothing happened, but friends raised $800 just in case O'Brien needed to be bailed out of jail.
She and her group sought a temporary injunction against the ban on public nudity, but it was turned down by Sarasota Circuit Court Judge Stephen Dakan for failing to meet the legal burden.
In O'Brien's view, as she recalled those days, many in the Sarasota Police Department wanted to see the ordinance challenged and struck down. She believes that Thompson advised the police not to arrest her to avoid a showdown in court.
To bolster this notion O'Brien noted that it took her four straight days of trying to be arrested by going topless before an officer finally put her in the back of a squad car. She said after phone calls between Thompson, Chief Parker, the city attorney and the arresting officer, she was "quickly un-arrested" and given a ticket instead.
All of this was making national news. Even the Playboy Channel sent a representative down for a look-see and conduct interviews for a documentary about North Lido — all and all an embarrassment for the rather staid city government wishing nothing so much as that it would all just go away.
On July 18, 1985, O'Brien finally had her day in court before Sarasota County Judge Alan Dakan (Stephen Dakan's brother), who overturned the ban, calling it so vaguely worded that the general public would have difficulty understanding what constitutes indecent exposure. Represented pro bono by Joe Cardoza, whom O'Brien described as a wonderful human being, she and her group were "relieved and excited."
In October, a couple who had met at the "nude beach" thought it would appropriate to wed there. According to the Lakeland Ledger, the bride, the groom and the attorney who performed the ceremony were attired in G-strings. It was not reported what the family of the bride wore, but 40 friends and onlookers were in attendance. After the ceremony, the bride was arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct.
O'Brien says the end for topless sunbathing in Sarasota came when the John D. MacArthur Beach State Park on the east coast at North Palm Beach was put off limits to nude sunbathing in an ordinance that was upheld by the Supreme Court. Wording for that ordinance was incorporated into the Sarasota measure, and that was the end of the line.
As for the rest of the story, O'Brien, Thompson and his wife, Barbara, became great friends. O'Brien called him her mentor and it was he who suggested that she get in the business of selling seashells. Thompson loaned O'Brien the money to open a business in shelling that she carries on to this day.
North Lido Beach remains the undeveloped and pristine haven for beach goers from around the world envisioned by the city commission.
Its reputation as a place to go to let it all hang out?
A distant memory.
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged. | <urn:uuid:34aa21ee-c944-4d4a-930b-9693b9c045d2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20130317/ARTICLE/130319642/0/PHOTOS02 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981818 | 1,312 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Ksach Puoy village south of Battambang on the road to Phnom Banan is worth stopping off at.
It is a delightful area on the banks of the Sangker River famed for its variety of naturally grown tropical fruits. After the rainy season farmers plant all kinds of vegetables along the fertile river banks, here you can enjoy a walk along the banks learning about traditional agriculture.
There is a weekly fruit market near the rickety wooden and rope suspension bridge spanning the river, here the local farmers offer fresh seasonal fruits – a great opportunity to taste juicy oranges, sweet pineapples, and other fruit…
The village pagoda is beautiful, according to local monks it is over 100 years old constructed when Battambang was under Thai rule. The cooing of the many pigeons, the lily ponds, the teak trees lining the river, and the surrounding banana plantations make for a peaceful setting. Ksach Puoy is also home to two local charities. Friends Economic Development Association (FEDA) have established a community / youth centre catering to local poor children who have little other opportunity to advance in life. SABORAS also helps the poor, especially women, children and the handicapped, gain sustainable livelihoods through community development work. Amongst other projects in and around the Battambang area SABORAS has a Handicraft Centre at Ksach Puoy which produces local crafts such as kramers (traditional Khmer scarf) and silk shirts. This project provides income opportunities for poor widows and preserves traditional weaving methods. The income generated from the center’s activities provides additional funding for the organisation’s other projects. | <urn:uuid:b5ef40f6-3427-4c27-a981-e42e85668219> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.battambang-hotels.com/travel-guides/Attractions/Ksach_Puoy_Village.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93793 | 342 | 2.046875 | 2 |
The recent bomb attack on a passenger van near Gilgit city has exposed the administration’s inability to learn from the past, put its act together and control the agents of terror and death. That the incident happened despite warnings referred to the federal interior ministry, which were also published in regional newspapers, speaks volumes about the incapability of the Gilgit-Baltistan government and the administration to act in time to avert such disasters. It appears that the people’s lives are now at the mercy of terrorists who can escape from prisons, attack vehicles, plant bombs and detonate them, leaving no trace, and get away with all this. The major responsibility for the poor law and order in the region lies with Chief Minister Gilgit-Baltistan Syed Mehdi Shah, who also functions as the interior minister. His responsibilities are doubled by the fact that he is also the ruling party’s provincial head.
While the government and the administration sit idle and take refuge behind lame excuses, the unscrupulous elements are getting bolder. If the situation is not controlled soon, there is a threat that more such attacks will occur in the future. It is the government’s duty to use the administration for ensuring peace in the region. And it is the administration’s duty to keep the government apprised of the situation on ground. The people of GB, save for a handful of criminals, seek unity, peace and prosperity but the government has failed to facilitate the region’s populace in fulfilment of this common dream. | <urn:uuid:78c52061-b520-426b-b63d-d39ae65a820b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=125266&Cat=8 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961904 | 311 | 1.726563 | 2 |
||CF. IA 04897
||Negative, Film; B&W; aerial rear broadside view of the launching of the liberty ship ZEBULON B. VANCE completely off the ways; 3 Stone Towing tugboats are visible in the loewr foreground; shipbuilding ways visible in upper right corner; "Launching of the Zebulon B. Vance/by/Pennington's Flying Service/December 6, 1941" written on the back of the original photo.
||Pennington, James C. ("Skinny")\photographer
Launching of USS Zebulon B. Vance, December 6, 1941
The Zebulon B. Vance was the first vessel completed at the Wilmington shipyards. It was launched on December 6, 1941, one day before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. These photographs were taken by James "Skinny" Pennington, a local pilot who later served in China and India while in the Army. | <urn:uuid:76d44ac5-da3b-4254-a0a4-241c1958d025> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://library.uncw.edu/capefearww2/veWebDailyLife/exhibit5/e50004a.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909723 | 201 | 2.0625 | 2 |
AstroGrav (Mac) 2.0.2
AstroGrav is an astronomy software program that allows you to simulate how astronomical objects move and interact under the force of gravity. It features superb interactive 3D graphics which allow you to move around within a many-body astronomical system, while watching how it evolves with...
Free to try (79.00 $ to buy)
LangOver 5.0 - is a freeware that helps when you tried to type in one language but the result was in another... Annoying, eh?! That s because the keyboard layout was in a wrong language, and you forgot to use 'ALT+SHIFT'... NO MORE! With LangOver 5.0 you ll be able to convert your text qui...
TLN Children Songs 2013
TLN Children Songs is a children s songs and stories box for 1-6 years old children, including more than 300 children s songs, stories, and games, It special design for 1-6 years old children, It can help children to improve intelligence and learn the english language.
Free to try (19.00 $ to buy)
Five Cellular Automata 8.09
A cellular automaton consists of:
(a) A structure of cells, such as the squares on a chess board.
(b) A set of values or 'states' such that each cell is associated with a particular state.
(c) A set of rules describing how one state of the system (a particular configuration of cells in sp...
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CoronelDP s Prospecting For Success 2012.2
Unfortunately, most people never reach their goals in life due to obstacles or distractions they encounter along the way. Many of these obstacles and distractions can be avoided or circumvented by implementing some simple practices and by tracking one s results along the way.
As computer ...
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MB Minor Expression Number 1.0
MB Minor Expression Number is an extraordinary numerology software that finds your minor expression number and, in addition, lets you know the attributes of your minor expression numbers that is also often referred to as just expression number. The significance of your minor expression num...
IBM SPS-100 Exam Questions 2012
One of the best and most rewarding features of the SPS-100 training materials are that they are guaranteed to bring you success in the testing room. Pass with total confidence and say farewell to the IBMSPSSSTATL1P - IBM SPSS Statistics Level 1 blues.
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Woodstar FieldDiary 1.0
Electronic diary for storing of sightings and linked photos. You have templates for species, nest, sign and track and geographic objects such as locations, areas, routes and points. Also you can create your own templates for various data: text, number, date/time, true/false and your own li...
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MB Cornerstone Number 1.0
MB Cornerstone Number Software finds your cornerstone number or the cornerstone letter and also lets you know the significance of your cornerstone number or your cornerstone letter. The explanation, rather the interpretation of your cornerstone letter also gives you an insight into the kin...
iReador eBook Converter 2.1.0
iReador eBook Converter is a One-Click, All-In-One solution to convert PDF to ePUB, PDF to Mobi, ePUB to PDF, ePUB to Mobi, Mobi to PDF, Mobi to ePUB, PDF to TXT, TXT to PDF, etc. ...
Free to try (39.95 $ to buy) | <urn:uuid:41771114-0e73-4e59-a03d-f5da230e922a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mydownloadplanet.com/c/education/?page=8 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.902614 | 789 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Bordeaux insight: Sweet tooth heaven & between the rivers
More From: Curious Facts & Fun
Posted August 30th, 2012 by Matt Kane
To view the previous four posts in this series, click here and scroll down to view.
Entre-Deux-Mers is a 50 mile wedge of land plonked between the Garonne and Dordogne rivers in south-eastern Bordeaux. Wines produced here are bottled under the basic AC Bordeaux appellation. It’s not a region that gains much notoriety, and it shouldn’t either apart from a handful of producers.
In the 1960s the wines of Entre-Deux-Mers were labelled ‘vin de table’, or table wine. They used to produce vast amounts of cheap, sweetish wine white and ship it off to whoever could drink the stuff. When that fashion went by the wayside, Cabernet Sauvignon became trendy, so they tore up their vines and planted Cabernet. The problem with Cabernet is, as discussed in the previous posts, it needs warm soils to ripen fully. Most of the region is loam, a cold soil, so it was difficult while consumers were demanding ripe reds.
Merlot had more success in the 1990s. It can tolerate cold soils and ripens earlier. Some of it wasn’t bad, however, the problem was the producers weren’t making anything on it. One way of achieving ripeness is to cut grapes off the vine to allow the remaining fruit to ripen sufficiently. This required labour which couldn’t be afforded at such a low sell on price.
Today, much of the region seems to have got to grips with reality. If they’re not planting potatoes, the giant co-operatives are still making cheap wine, which is nothing to write home about, but much of the dry whites labelled AC Bordeaux are commendable for the low price. Conglomerates aside, some producers have, and are, making a name for themselves, particularly those who have found better soils and micro-climates (there are some fantastic patches of land scattered throughout the region), and invest properly in good winemaking equipment, barrels and personnel.
Chateau de Sours is well known for its rosé, of which it sells en primeur, by the case. It’s pricey stuff, but Merlot can make for some excellent rosé around here. Chateau de Reignac on the northern borders is churning out wine good enough for top Classed Growth, and just look at what Gavin Quinney is achieving at Chateau Bauduc. If it’s good enough for top chefs like Gordon Ramsay and Rick Stein, it’s good enough for most.
Sweet White Wines
The appellations of Sauternes and Barsac, just to the south of Graves, are known for their sweet wines made from grapes affected by noble rot. This occurs when the Botrytis fungus infects the grape, concentrating its natural sugars, and only happens in small pockets around the world where the moist conditions are just right. The likes of the Cérons appellation, north of Barsac, produces wines that are lighter and not quite as luscious and sweet. They are perhaps preferred by some for being less sweet.
Sémillon is the grape variety most susceptible to rot and so is common in these parts, along with some Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle. Sémillon brings body, richness and honeyed, citrus flavours, with Sauvignon Blanc bringing a racy freshness. Peach, apricot, pineapple and a creamy nuttiness ensues in what are some of the world’s greatest dessert wine, particularly those of the famous Chateau d’Yquem (pictured). | <urn:uuid:8387cda6-1a20-489c-b6ed-9ae9914089e0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.curiouswines.ie/blog/2012/08/bordeaux-insight-sweet-tooth-heaven-between-the-rivers/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953945 | 811 | 1.882813 | 2 |
Dr. Arnaldo Mazzei, professor of Mechanical Engineering
Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in Mechanical Engineering, with expertise in dynamics and vibrations of mechanical systems and computer aided engineering.
Mazzei has spent the last eight years at Kettering and finds that the University's cooperative education program is the distinguishing feature between Kettering students and those at other schools. Because students at Kettering achieve a degree of practical knowledge based on their co-op work terms, this makes it easier to direct them toward practical applications of what they have learned.
He describes Kettering students as practical, interested and enthusiastic about learning as much as they can. His favorite aspect of teaching at Kettering is the opportunity to link theory to practical applications. He also enjoys working with students in one-on-one situations and decided to come to Kettering based on the school's focus on education.
Hot tip for prospective students: "Although most engineers like the practical aspects of the field, it is important to focus on basic concepts. These concepts allow us to think like engineers and to understand how our 'mechanical world' operates."
Hidden talents and outside interests: When he's not in the classroom or on campus, Mazzei loves to scuba dive.
Finite element analysis
Noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH)
Mazzei, A. and Scott, R. A.; 2011, ASME - Journal of Vibration and Acoustics, (Published online: 12 October 2011,Vol.133, Iss.6: DOI: 10.1115/1.4004605), Effect of Functionally Graded Materials on Resonances of Bending Shafts Under Time-Dependent Axial Loading.
Mazzei, A.; 2011, Journal of Vibration and Control vol. 17 no. 5 667-677 (Published online: November 22, 2010), Passage through Resonance in a Universal Joint Driveline System (http://jvc.sagepub.com/content/17/5/667).
Mazzei, A. and Scott, R. A.; 2011, Proceedings of the XXIX International Modal Analysis Conference, Jacksonville, FL; paper # 23, Transverse Vibrations of Tapered Materially Inhomogeneous Axially Loaded Shafts (http://www.springerlink.com/content/h145m6707j7m51x6/).
Mazzei, A., Scott, R. A.; 2011, Proceedings of the 2011 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Vancouver, Canada; Assessing the Reliability of some Classical Mechanical Vibration Designs via Simulation Software. (ASEE link) | <urn:uuid:1e40d254-7b25-4e26-ad20-820a13bfe25e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kettering.edu/me/faculty-and-staff?page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.903884 | 562 | 1.75 | 2 |
SAN JOSE, Calif. – The technical horizon in networking as not as bright as it is for semiconductors, but it’s pretty darned good, according to network guru Andreas von Bechtolsheim.
Andy should know. He's a co-founder of Sun Microsystems, served as its chief hardware designer and has been designing high-end network switches since he founded Granite Systems in the go-go days of 1995. Cisco Systems bought the company for a cool $220 million, bankrolling this engineer’s engineer who passed on the favor when Google’s founders’ came calling. He wrote their first check for $100,000.[Get a 10% discount on ARM TechCon 2012 conference passes by using promo code EDIT. Click here to learn about the show and register.]
The bad news is networking is not keeping up with the heady pace of Moore’s Law because of I/O bandwidth bottlenecks. Instead of doubling as chips do in transistor density every two years, networking bandwidths double about every four years (see below).
Click on image to enlarge.
Bechtolsheim gathered his thoughts in a keynote at the Linley Tech Processor Conference
“Moore’s Law is alive and well, and there has been nothing like it in the history of mankind,” he said. Thanks to solid work on serdes and merchant chips, networking is set to continue its traditional bandwidth “doubling every four years or so--it’s a nice improvement, but not at the rate of Moore’s Law,” said Bechtolsheim who briefly worked for Intel when he first arrived in Silicon Valley in 1977.
Bechtolsheim gets deeply technical at the drop of a slide rule. Discussing the impacts of data centers on network design, he quickly dropped down two levels to note a new DCTCP protocol can reduce by ten percent or so the need for mega-buffers on aggregation switches—an interesting detail.
But his bigger point was there is another wave yet to come. Network protocols and apps need to be tuned to better understand the underlying networks capacity. That’s heavy lifting, so in the meantime network switch design is all about right sizing buffers, he said.
Again without a breath he jumps down two levels in the technology to compute the requirements. “That’s [a buffer of] 100 Kbytes per flow and 10 flows per server, so a Mbyte per server and 10 Gbytes be switch,” he said. | <urn:uuid:66385d51-f17d-431e-9248-ab6da5d70825> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4398479/The--net--world-according-to-Bechtolsheim | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942935 | 533 | 2.1875 | 2 |
North American B-25 Mitchell
Images by Peter Hartup
Text by Raka
Here is a series of pictures of a B-25 Mitchell that I took on a wharf at White Bay in Sydney, Australia, the day before the aircraft was loaded for export to the United States.
A group of 4 QANTAS pilots imported the plane from the U.S.A.
It was restored to flying condition at Stockton California and was flown back here by the QANTAS pilots. It was also in a Documentary about the restoration of the plane and was shown on Cable in the USA. The documentary was narrated by Glenn Ford.
I flew in this aircraft at Mount Gambier in the early Eighties when it went down there for an Airshow.
From what I was told the B-25 was to be flown around on the Australian Airshow circuit for a few years and then it went to the Canberra War Museum. It was dismantled and put in storage and that's where the story ends as it was sold to the States.
The deal with the Canberra War Museum was done before it even arrived here in Australia as I think they put the money up to get it from the States in the first place.
on the Thumbnails to enlarge images.
Images Copyright © 2000 by Peter | <urn:uuid:2a2fcf7b-65a8-4d8f-81bc-0469f74cb90b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/mitchellph_1.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984758 | 265 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Eryn Newman and her colleagues, uninformative photographs "inflate truthiness".
Ninety-two students in New Zealand and a further 48 in Canada looked at dozens of "true or alive statements" about celebrities, some of whom they'd heard of and some they hadn't, such as "John Key is alive". As fast as they could, without compromising their accuracy, the students had to say whether each statement was true or not. Crucially, half the statements were accompanied by a photo of the relevant celebrity and half weren't. The take-home finding: the participants were more likely to say a statement was true if it was accompanied by a photo. This was the case for claims about celebrities being alive or dead, but the effect was stronger for unfamiliar celebrities.
Another study with 70 New Zealand undergrads was similar but this time uninformative photos accompanied obscure general knowledge facts. For example, "Macademia nuts are in the same evolutionary family as peaches" was presented alongside a photo of macadamia nuts that provided no clues as to the veracity of the statement. The same effect was found - the students were more likely to wager that a fact was true when it was accompanied by an uninformative photo.
Why do photos have this truthiness effect? One possibility is that it's something specifically to do with pictures. To check this, another, similar study was conducted but sometimes celebrity "dead or alive" statements were accompanied by simple verbal descriptions of the celebrities that weren't helpful for judging the dead-or-alive claim. These verbal descriptions also had a "truthiness" effect, which suggests the truthy effect of photos isn't unique to them, but must instead have to do with some kind of non-specific process that makes it easier for the mind to seek out confirmatory evidence for the claim that's being judged. Or, perhaps some feature of the verbal descriptions or photos is being taken as evidence for the attached claim. The researchers can't be sure: "We speculate that nonprobative photos and verbal information help people generate pseudo evidence," they said.
Newman EJ, Garry M, Bernstein DM, Kantner J, and Lindsay DS (2012). Nonprobative photographs (or words) inflate truthiness. Psychonomic bulletin and review PMID: 22869334
Post written by Christian Jarrett for the BPS Research Digest. | <urn:uuid:02f2e91a-a7db-4c4e-8d04-1a03764c8cc3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-presence-of-irrelevant-photo-makes.html?showComment=1349100535645 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974493 | 490 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Aleppo's winter of discontent
As the conflict in Syria enters a second winter, the BBC's Ian Pannell reports from the Syrian city of Aleppo on the struggle for survival of ordinary people.
Adnan Abu Hassan works over a small wood fire, spreading patties of dough over the back of a hot pan that rests on the charcoals until they become crisp flatbreads.
Adnan is not a baker; he is a painter but these are desperate times in Aleppo's sprawling al-Sukkari neighbourhood.
"There's no work at the moment," he says. "Life is very hard. I earn 100 Syrian pounds a day and I have to feed four children and pay the rent."
That is less than $1.50 or about 90 pence a day. In an economy ravaged by war, the value of the Syrian pound has fallen almost as rapidly as prices for basic goods have risen.
Inflation is rampant and unemployment is endemic. What Adnan earns from bread is simply not enough to survive and like most of his neighbours, he struggles to get by on handouts, donations and loans.Restless crowds
The battle for Aleppo appears to have eased over the last few weeks but the suffering of those who live in this ancient city has not. Aleppo is facing a winter of misery and of dearth.
Arab Uprisings week on the BBC
- Two years since a young Tunisian street trader's death prompted a wave of rebellion across the Arab world
- A special week of coverage across BBC TV, Radio and Online
- Correspondents reporting from key locations
When the sun sets at 4:30, the streets are empty. The electricity supply was cut off days ago, in some areas weeks ago, and darkness seems to consume the city.
It is a cue for most to head home, cold and hungry. The few who do remain outdoors are to be found queuing in the dark for bread that has become a rare and precious commodity.
For most Syrians, the large flat loaves are the staple part of their diet, but shortages of fuel and flour have left many bakeries closed and others open only for a few hours.
The lines are long and people wait for hours to buy a pack of bread that cost 20 Syrian pounds before the revolution and now costs 200.
Abu Fadi had been waiting for three hours in the rain and still seemed far from the front of a queue that stretched around the corner.
"There is no bread, no water, no electricity, no work," he said. "It takes more than 24 hours to get bread and it's been five days since I was even able to take a shower."
The crowd is restless and fatigue and hunger are taking their toll. Arguments break out quickly as people push and shove each other to get closer to the bakery's door.
The rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) tries to keep calm but increasingly it is the target of people's anger.
"I blame the FSA because it's in charge. The one in charge should provide water, food, everything," complained Abu Walid with righteous indignation. "Who's in charge? Aren't they in charge of us?"Consumed by loss
The rebels now seem to control a large portion of Aleppo's neighbourhoods.
They have fought hard and blocked several advances by government forces. Their apparent acquisition of surface-to-air missiles has at least given President Bashar al-Assad's air force pause for thought.
The skies over Aleppo that used to buzz to the sound of attack helicopters and the roar of fighter jets are largely clear, at least for now. Those jets that do make bombing runs now deploy chaff for protection.
As the fighting has intensified in the south near Damascus and military bases have come under attack by the rebels, loyalist forces are facing unprecedented pressure.
The FSA's success has been hard won but it now faces the challenge of providing for the people who are in effect under its jurisdiction. Many believe President Assad's men have deliberately cut the electricity and turned off the water supply in Aleppo.
There is no proof of that and, whatever the explanation, the rebels now have to cope with the consequences. The residents inevitably turn to their new masters but the FSA has neither the money nor the organisation to meet the most basic of needs and services.
Vast mounds of rubbish fester on the city's streets where the truly destitute sift for scraps of aluminium or plastic to sell in a hand-to-mouth struggle to survive.
Ahmed is one of them. Each day he slings a brown sack over his back and trudges through the filth and stench to feed his family who have been living in a primary school since their home was destroyed by artillery fire.
"Those who did not leave were buried under the rubble of their own homes," he says.
Ahmed is a man consumed by loss. "My best friends are gone, dead. My eleven brothers are now dispersed all over Syria.
"If you manage to leave your house and come back, then that's great but you never know if you will ever return."
His life savings have been spent, he has lost his home and his job and now he spends each day trawling through rubbish. Syria's war arrived late to Aleppo but when it finally came it unleashed a whirlwind of death and destruction.
For now, the bombardment has slowed and the fighting has ebbed. The menace of fear has receded, but in its place are anger, suffering and simmering discontent.
One resident approached us and pointed at the destruction and rubbish piles, with heavy sarcasm he said, "Welcome to Free Syria". | <urn:uuid:8709a5e7-eaff-4731-80ec-d8f7b1dc792b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20692697 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979128 | 1,167 | 2.140625 | 2 |
FIR Model Powered Alarm Advisor!
Cutler Technology Corporation’s new Alarm Adviser (AA) software will revolutionize Alarm Management. An open loop (all valve) Finite Impulse Response (FIR) model of the process will be used to predict the path the process will follow in reaching steady state. The prediction is based on all the changes that have occurred up until the present time in the independent variables for a time equal to steady state in the past and upon the current state of the process variables. A long the path, the limits will be checked against the predicted values of the dependent variables and an alarm indicated at the time of the occurrence in the future. The speed of the FIR model makes it possible to predict in a few minutes the path the process will follow in reaching steady state. For a typical process, the FIR model runs 100 to 150 times real time. A first principle dynamic model of the same process will run 1 to 5 times real time with the same fidelity. Read More | <urn:uuid:2c86a432-9585-43f1-bd0b-ee424343ae9b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cutler-tech.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.900298 | 203 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Take control of your health. Subscribe to MediResource’s
An electrocardiogram (ECG) detects abnormal electrical cardiac charges. In someone who has had heart damage, the electrical signals that keep the heart beating change as they pass through damaged tissue. This can be detected and measured on an ECG.
An exercise electrocardiogram (or stress test) checks your heart for changes during periods of activity, and it can also show if the coronary arteries are too narrow. An exercise stress test is performed on a treadmill or a stationary bicycle while hooked up to an ECG. A thallium scan allows imaging of blood flow in the heart during exercise. This involves injecting a very small dose of radioactive substance into the bloodstream, which is followed through the heart by a special camera.
With angina, abnormalities in the ECG may only occur while the person is having an angina attack. Some people have "silent angina," where even an attack brings no symptoms. To detect this, you may be asked to wear a monitor for 24 hours. The ECG tape is analysed for irregularities, and then compared with a detailed diary, in which you record your daily activities and any unusual symptoms.
Coronary angiography (or arteriography) is a test used to explore the coronary arteries. A fine tube (catheter) is put into an artery of an arm or leg and passed through the tube into the arteries of the heart. The heart and blood vessels are injected with contrast dye, which is then filmed with an X-ray while the heart pumps. The picture that is seen, called an angiogram or arteriogram, will show problems such as a narrowing or blockage caused by atherosclerosis.
Your doctor may prescribe any of these medication treatments:
When aggressive treatment is required, your doctor may recommend a procedure to help improve blood flow. Some options include:
Getting medication treatment isn't the only way to combat coronary artery disease. Here are a few heart-healthy tips to help prevent CAD:
*All medications have both common (generic) and brand names. The brand name is what a specific manufacturer calls the product (e.g., Tylenol®). The common name is the medical name for the medication (e.g., acetaminophen). A medication may have many brand names, but only one common name. This article lists medications by their common names. For more information on brand names, speak with your doctor or pharmacist. | <urn:uuid:b386b749-8dca-4585-bd4b-a490deb07221> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bodyandhealth.canada.com/channel_condition_info_details.asp?channel_id=2111&relation_id=84867&disease_id=39&page_no=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94501 | 511 | 3.046875 | 3 |
The province of Krabi is an interesting place in terms of geological characteristics. It boasts many spectacular landscapes and ecological treasures that make tourists and local visitors flock to it. With its crystal white beaches, cascading limestone formations and rich islands, it is one true paradise that everyone should witness. However, to fully enjoy your vacation, you need to consider the weather in Krabi so you won’t end up with a messed-up vacation due to constant and heavy rains.
Situated just 8 degrees above the equator, it is expected that the general climate of Krabi and nearly the entirety of Thailand will be a tropical climate, having two seasons: the dry and wet season. With these changes in climate, it is recommended that you schedule your vacation during months where the weather in Krabi is almost in perfect condition. When we say, almost in perfect condition, this means clear skies, fair temperature, calm and smooth seas and absence of strong winds that may cause sea roughness.
In terms of weather, you can visit Krabi during the first quarter of the year, particularly end of January or February when the weather is in top condition. This is also ideal to avoid peak season during December where hotels and resorts charge hefty rates due to the high density of tourists. It is also tremendously busy during this time: you may find hotels full. Others opt to travel in Krabi during wet season and because of the rain showers and cooler temperature, hotel rates are cheaper and beaches are less crowded.
During May to October, the weather in Krabi shows rainy season, with a pattern of sunny periods interrupted by short rainfall in afternoons. There are even times of straight rainfall for several days. The best season to book for hotel accommodation in Krabi is during November to April where the weather is hotter and drier. This is the peak season where majority of the people visit the place. However, the monsoon that primarily manipulates the Krabi weather doesn’t change direction promptly each year. There are times when rainy season starts in June instead of May and ends for two months then continues on January. Because of this unpredictable movement of monsoon winds, there’s no exact month when dry season starts since there are chances of rainy spells during this season. Perhaps, the most guaranteed months of sunny weather are during March to April, which are also the hottest months in a year.
The annual average temperature in Krabi is around 28 – 32 degrees Celsius, with the hottest temperature of 36 degrees during March to April and the lowest of 20 degrees during heavy rainstorms. At night, the temperature falls 5 -10 degrees, so make sure you bring sweater or jacket for cold evenings. The entire year, sea temperature remains constant at 28 -30 degrees while humidity levels are dense all year round, ranging from 75 – 100 percent. If the humid climate is an issue, better avoid jungle trekking in Krabi national parks where the environment makes the humidity even worse. Because the weather in Krabi can be unpredictable, it is recommended to take a look at reliable Krabi weather forecasts to guide you when planning your vacation. | <urn:uuid:be57c67f-6117-41e7-8f99-4a6962a657e0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mykrabihotels.com/information/weather-in-krabi-tips-on-how-to-choose-the-best-time-to-visit-krabi | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963681 | 632 | 1.882813 | 2 |
PHP is one of the most sought server side programming language. PHP is a scripting language where you can build and deploy php for better web components. WordPress is one of the best softwares which makes use of PHP. By the way WordPress is a CMS(Content Management Software) mainly used by many for creating and developing blogs.
If you would like to install one for yourself then learn how to install wordpress and also check out how you can earn from blogging here.
Now lets move on with the topic and here are 5 sites ti learn PHP scripting language online.
W3schools has been one of my favourite sites to learn web development languages. Although it is quite familiar and popular for learning HTML but it is also one of the best places to learn PHP language as well. W3 Schools have always been known for their friendly interfaces and tutorials. Starting from basics of PHP like syntax to connecting with Database all the tutorials are put up in such a manner that it can be understood by one who is coming from a different field all together. Examples play a crucial part in the learning process and they know it very well.
Goto W3Schools here
This is the official site of php. The site has everything which you need to know about php. If you are on geek interested in developing sites using php then you should probably start learning now itself.
Go to PHP.NET here
LearnPHPOnline is another site which serves you with tutorials for learning php. You can find the difference between functions and find examples which makes you knowledgeable in php.
Go to PHP Online here
If you are not satisfied with the contents from the sites above and need some more tutorials then Tizag php tutorials will help you learn again from the basics. Covers everything in PHP and tutorials on how to use POST and GET commands, how to use strings, sessions and cookies which can be really helpful to learn php.
Go to Tizag here
PHPBuddy contains articles and tutorials on how to do basic PHP actions such as how to work with Sessions,encryption and protecting your PHP code. This is the best site if you want to learn how to make php secure as it provides more tutorials on securing your php code.
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