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Woodturning/Cutting logs for bowl turning
WARNING - Chainsaws are extremely dangerous. Be sure to read, understand and carry out the safety instructions that come with your saw.
Most large bowls are made from logs. The pith will almost certainly crack as the wood dries, so it is usually not included in bowls that are intended for functional use. This article suggests ways to cut large logs into bowl blanks ready to go on the lathe.
Approach 1
In this method, two bowl blanks are cut from one short section of a log.
Marking two parallel planes.
Cuts made along the lines with a chainsaw.
Cardboard circle templates.
Trimmed and ready to go on the lathe.
A flat is cut either side of the log to show mark lines better and to stabilize the block during sawing. The lines are laid out carefully to ensure that blocks of uniform thickness are made from the center section. A piece of card is used to mark the lines parallel to the floor. If the log is tapered, consider wedging-up the narrow end to keep the pith in the center of the waste block and away from the bowl blanks.
A chainsaw is used to cut the block. First, shallow cuts are made straight along the marked lines. These then help guide the saw as deeper diagonal cuts are made. [note 1]
The piece of wood in the middle that contains the pith will be cut up and used for smaller projects. The pith will be cut out and discarded, since it is certain to split, leaving two blocks that will make small bowls or be cut up further for spindle turning.
The cardboard templates are used to mark the circumference of the bowls on the log halves. The chainsaw is used to cut off the corners and excess material before the blank is mounted on the lathe. This makes the block of wood more balanced so the lathe can run faster, which can save a lot of time.
Approach 2
A bandsaw mill is used to cut whole logs into big thick slabs. Again, the wood containing the pith is cut up into boards a couple of inches thick, and the pith discarded.
Bandsaw mill in operation
Some of the large pieces for bowl turning
The advantage of this technique is that it saves having to make ripping cuts with the chainsaw, which is hard work for both the saw and the operator.
- Most chainsaws are sharpened for cutting across the grain, i.e. straight through the trunk. Cuts across endgrain produce nothing but dust and the saw tends to kick and buck. Cuts along the grain produce big long shaving that tend to clog the saw. To slab-up a log as shown here, it is best to cut on a diagonal whenever possible, somewhere between these two extremes. | <urn:uuid:5e2c447f-fc31-4feb-8c8e-2a8eb53dd317> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Woodturning/Cutting_logs_for_bowl_turning | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937549 | 593 | 2.734375 | 3 |
The TOC-search (Terrorist and Organized Criminal Search) is a dynamic data base which offers comprehensive information on global terrorist network and help researchers, analysts, students and others working to prevent terrorism. It is result of a common project realized by the Faculty of Security Studies and Faculty of Mathematics, University of Belgrade, which had started in December 2007.
The scope of the TOC-search data base is to provide in-depth research and analysis on terrorist incidents, terrorist groups, organizations, their members, leaders and also links and relations between the individuals and groups. The idea is to integrate data from variety of sources, including foreign and domestic news, professional security journals, reports and databases, academic works.
The starting point in the TOC-search project was the data presented on the map Al-Qaeda Network: Principals, Supporters, Selected Cells and Significant Activities (1992-2004). The map was prepared by J. L. Boesen, Raytheon Genesis Facility Institute Reston (2004), using the data derived from open sources. The data presented in the map were classified and stored in order to create backbone of the base.
The data in the base are classified in seven entities: individuals, groups, organizations, supporter, actions, links and GMC reports. The simple and advanced search features are implemented in the TOC-s. The simple search enables the researcher to explore the chosen entity by given keyword or part of an entity name. The advances search feature is implemented for each entity. It is performed by using different properties: alias, belongs to organization, belongs to group, leader, religion, in relation with, type or actors of the attack, etc. All search results are presented together with the basic information on the found subjects, enabling in-depth search to be performed as well. An important feature of the TOCs is the fact that links between the mentioned terrorist-related categories are stored and classified in the data base. The results of both simple and advance search provide information whether there is a link (active or inactive) from a particular item. The in-depth search feature gives more information on the found link. This is a unique feature of the TOC-s which no other terrorist database has had up to this point.
One of the key advantages of the TOC-s is the fact that its basic data source is verified information from the reports prepared and provided by George C Marshall European Center for Security Studies http://www.marshallcenter.org. The PTSS Reports are produced by special newsletter service supporting the counterterrorism course at The George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, and it is created for educational purposes only. The newsletter is produced from the open-source media reports by GMC postgraduate students and verified by senior experts and counter terrorism officers. This is the main reason why PTSS has been chosen as the main data source for TOC-s. Besides PTSS Reports, GMC also publishes several other reports based on different open source data, such as: Department of Homeland Security Report (DHS), Terrorism Open Source Intelligence Report (TOSIR), Insurgency Literature Review (ILR) and Terrorism Literature Report (TLR).
The incoming reports are sorted and stored by date in GMC section of the TOC-s database. The George Marshall Center provided us with their GMC reports archive and they keep sending us the daily PTSS and other GMC reports In this way, a constant refreshment of the base with up-to-date information has been provided. The TOC-s simple search feature through GMC reports is implemented, which enables the exploration of GMC section by using keywords.
At each moment of using TOC-s, one can immediately start a new search or switch to advanced search tool. While exploring the data base, a researcher usually performs multiple search. In order to help the user of the TOC-s, we have implemented the “select tool”. This tool enables the user to put all the important results obtained from different search. In this way, all the data that are essential in the research are available during the further TOC-s exploration. The data in the “selection” tool are easily added or removed. By using option “Feedback” the user may send a message on TOC-s administrator on different topics (site bugs, error data, comments, suggestions, etc. )
The information in the TOC-s database has been constantly updated from the GMC reports and other publicly available, open-source materials. These include electronic news archives, existing data sets, secondary source materials such as books and journals, and legal documents. TOCs team performs constant verification of the data by comparing it with other sources and by internal checking of the data and related records.
It is also important to provide the protection of data stored in the base. In this scope, two levels of data access are implemented in the TOC-s. The first level is named “blue key” and it is available for students and researchers in academic institutions and research centers. The “blue key” enables the access to all open-source data stored in the base. The second level of data access, named “red key” is reserved for legal authorities, state institutions, and state government. The “red key” opens the part of the TOC-s with confidential data. The owner of the “red key” also has access to the open source data, as the “blue key” owner. Only state institutions and agencies which have a contract with TOC-s have an access to the red key data and they are red key members.
In the next phase of the TOC-s project, several analytical features are to be incorporated in the database. Analytical tools will provide statistical information analysis of the global terrorist network. The researcher will be able to analyze terrorism trends over time and to compare different aspects of terrorism between countries, regions and terrorist groups (for example: type of terrorist attacks, level of organization, tactics, communication level, size of a terrorist group, age or race of its members, and many others). The results of statistical analysis will be presented graphically in various charts, showing the dependencies and/or the comparisons of the chosen aspects. The chart type can also be chosen by the user.
An analytical-purpose system will be used to understand the structure of different terrorist organizations with respect to particular attack types or regions of their activity. By using this system, the intelligence analysts will be able to develop hypotheses and then validate them (or not) against the data in the TOC-s information space. In this way, it will be possible to provide certain predictions of international terrorism trends, seasonality, and periodicity of terrorist events.
In the future phase of the TOC-search project, we also plan to implement the image search feature. This tool will enable to search the image data base for related photographs of individuals or terrorist attacks by using keywords (individual’s name, group/organization name, or the part of the name, specific terrorist incident, date, etc.).
Regarding the practical aspects of the TOC-s database, we emphasize the fact that the TOC-s data were primarily collected by academic groups. This means that TOC-s team was under no political or government pressure in terms of how to collect the data or how to classify them. Although the TOC-s is still in its construction phase, it has already been used in the purpose of Security of the Olympic Games in Beijing 2008, and it is currently being used in the purpose of Security of the World Championship in Football 2010 and World Expo in China 2010.Disclaimer
All information stored in the TOC-search Database is re-taken from different sources. Despite of the fact that every reasonable effort has been made to verify data, TOC Search team cannot guarantee that all information in the database is accurate. TOC-search Team does not hold any Ethical or Legal responsibility for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions or resulting from any use, misuse, or alteration of TOC-Search data by the user.
(Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License) | <urn:uuid:47e6ffd3-fc86-4a62-8235-d624b41297f9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tocsearch.com/index.php?action=about | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92644 | 1,695 | 2.359375 | 2 |
The sexual revolution of the '60s encouraged us to liberate ourselves from old sexual taboos. Millions did. What have we learned?
Of all the gifts God has given mankind, one of the most beautiful and meaningful is the gift of sexuality. Yet it's also one of the most abused.
Sex plays a vital part in God's plan for human beings. The first command recorded in the Bible that God gave to Adam and Eve was to have sexual relations (Genesis 1:28). He essentially repeated the command in Genesis 2:24-25: "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed."
One aspect that should leap out at us from verse 24 is that God created sex for marriage. But the 20th century brought dramatic changes in attitudes toward what is considered to be proper sexual behavior.
The sexual revolution of the '60s resulted in a drastic relaxation of sexual mores and—aided by easy availability of birth-control pills—created the notion that freewheeling sex had practically no consequences. The idea of sex with no repercussions led to slogans such as "If it feels good, do it!"
Advocates of sexual freedom said that, since sex is enjoyable, we should shed our inhibitions and jump in. What they didn't say, however, is that sex is never consequence-free, and sex outside of marriage is heavily laden with negative repercussions, especially for girls and women.
The audible furor that accompanied the sexual experimentation of the '60s is no longer as loud, but the revolution was successful in that to a considerable extent the extreme behaviors of that time are now commonplace.
The results have been monumental—and devastating in many countries. As former Harvard University professor Pitirim Sorokin observed about changes in sexual standards: "Any considerable change in marriage behavior, any increase in sexual promiscuity, and illicit relations, is pregnant with momentous consequences. A sex revolution drastically affects the lives of millions, deeply disturbs the community, and decisively influences the future of society" ( The American Sex Revolution, 1956, p. 7).
The sexual revolution was not just an American phenomenon. Europe experienced its own upheaval. In fact, much of the world joined in throwing off sexual restraint. Why are millions of Africans infected with the AIDS virus? "The sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s in the West spread globally and penetrated Africa ... We know of many cases where young people, children really, are already sexually active" ( Christianity Today, Feb. 7, 2000).
The shocking numbers
The level of premarital sexual activity in Western nations is extraordinary. Establishing exact data can be elusive, but one report states that the "median age of first intercourse for American boys [is] 15.5" and "for American girls [it is] 16" (S.I. McMillen, M.D., and David Stern, M.D., None of These Diseases, 2000, p. 141).
Circumstances are similar in Britain, where "the average age for both sexes to lose their virginity is 16" ( The Observer, Dec. 2, 2001).
Premarital sexual activity among French girls is also extremely high. "Whereas it used to be the case that for 50 per cent of French women their first sexual partner would be the man they would marry, by the 1990s it was only true for 10 per cent" (Angus McLaren, Twentieth-Century Sexuality: A History, 1999, p. 212).
Although these figures are bad enough, even more shocking is the rampant promiscuity among so many. For example, among Britain's 16- to 24-year-olds, "19.7 percent of men and 14.6 percent of women have already had 10 or more partners" ( The Guardian, Nov. 30, 2001).
The telling consequences
The consequences of premarital sexual involvement are damaging on many levels. On an emotional level they often include a profound sense of guilt, shame and regret.
During the '60s and '70s many young people were "liberated" to believe that one-night stands were not only acceptable but desirable. This dogma was badly flawed. Wendy Shalit describes how such an encounter can affect many a young woman: "A young girl spends 'the rest of the night crying and bleeding' after she loses her virginity to a guy she barely knew" ( A Return to Modesty: Discovering the Lost Virtue, 1999, p. 57).
In recent years a new term, "hooking up," has sprouted on American college campuses for what used to be called "quickie" sexual interaction. A hookup may involve a range of intimate activities from kissing to forms of sex and usually involves alcohol. It is sex without commitment or emotional involvement, usually between people who know little if anything about each other and expect nothing more from each other than the gratification of that lone encounter.
According to a survey by the Institute for American Values, "40 percent of college women have hooked up at least once, and 10 percent more than six times" ( Christian Century, Aug. 15, 2001). The empty ritual leaves many young women feeling used, disillusioned and burdened with emotional confusion.
Different motivations for sex
Whether the setting is a one-night stand or sex within a relationship, the pressure on young women to engage in illicit sex relations is intense. Premarital sexual involvement is perhaps most apt to occur when a couple begins dating steadily. Couples use various rationales to justify sex, such as "It's okay if you're in love," "Everybody's doing it" or "We need to sleep together before we get married so we can know if we are sexually compatible."
None of these rationalizations is realistic. It's important for young women to realize that their motives for having sex are often quite different from those of a man. Women often consider that intercourse will solidify a relationship with their partner, but to a young man it often represents something different—a coming of age or, in too many cases, simply another conquest. Males are constructed differently emotionally and psychologically and often pursue sex purely for pleasure's sake, with no thought to a relationship.
When a woman has a casual sexual relationship, later she will often regret it, especially when hopes for an enduring relationship are dashed. Her male partner may feel like a victor, but she often feels like a victim.
And indeed she is. If a girl dates someone whom she thinks is "the one," she usually does not enhance her chances of maintaining a relationship by giving in sexually.
Often, after he has had his way, he will simply discard her. Such an action demonstrates that he was not the one after all. If a man jilts a woman because she will not surrender sexually, she is not losing much. Such men are interested in using a woman's body for their own gratification rather than being interested in her as a person or pursuing a lifelong relationship.
Girls who take a stand and refuse to consent to sexual relations before marriage are wise. When they surrender their bodies in premarital sex, they lose a precious part of themselves that they can never regain.
By holding fast to her virginity, a girl will, in the long run, win the respect of many males. As a university student explained, "... In the real world, the more casual that women allow their physical relationships with men to become, the less respect they earn" (Danielle Crittenden, What Our Mothers Didn't Tell Us, 2000, p. 33).
Though in some respects a girl who experiments with premarital or extramarital sex may suffer more severely than a male who does so, men are also damaged by illicit sex. In addition to their own later feelings of guilt for having used young women, they often find it hard to build and maintain a long-term relationship with one other person.
Any sexual experimentation outside of marriage is a mistake. A man will never be the same in the sense that he has surrendered a part of himself that he should have reserved for his bride. Premarital sex may provide momentary gratification, but the result is a loss of the purity that God intended. Each conquest robs him of some of the care and tenderness he should be cultivating for just the right girl.
Much of the attraction of sex outside of marriage is based on its illicit nature. The attitude that "stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant" (Proverbs 9:17) has been around for a long time.
Sometimes couples find sex to be intense and gratifying before they marry but after marriage discover it is not as exciting to them. Once they have devalued their respect for each other through premarital sex before marriage, rarely can they find the same attraction and respect shared by couples who marry without premarital sex.
Many couples who have sex before marriage find that it actually dampens the feelings they have for each other and, as a result, dampens their long-term sexual enjoyment. Their violation of God's law in succumbing to premarital sexual activity removes some of the beauty and splendor their married sexual relations could have had.
There is another danger in succumbing to sexual temptation, even if getting married is your intent. The possibility always exists that you may for some reason decide against marrying this person. When this happens you have, through sexual involvement, given a part of yourself to someone other than your spouse, a part you should have saved for your future wife or husband.
When two people become "one flesh" in a sexual relationship (see 1 Corinthians 6:16), a bonding occurs between them. If, after they become sexually involved, one partner severs the relationship against the wishes of the other, the separation has a wrenching effect, especially for the jilted person, who is left feeling mentally and emotionally burned.
Sex counselors and schools push contraceptive devices as a means of assuring "safe sex," but no device can protect a person's heart. When the heart is assaulted, defensive patterns develop that will affect any future relationship.
The hazards and negative consequences of adultery are numerous. Extramarital affairs also generally bring intense feelings of guilt and shame. When discovered—as affairs often are—the result is often permanent injury or destruction of the marriage, with severe damage to relationships between other family members and friends.
Some couples can put their marriages back together when one mate has had an affair, yet the infidelity inflicts a wound that is difficult if not impossible to heal. The betrayed wife or husband will likely never feel completely secure again. The quality of the marriage will suffer because trust has been violated. Even if the wound can heal, the scars remain.
Divorce proceedings are rarely cordial, but those that occur because of marital infidelity are among the most hostile. When sexual betrayal from one whose love was expected to last for life occurs, it creates bitterness and resentment that may never heal.
When children are involved, the two parties' lives generally remain interlocked because of visitation rights. In such cases there is no escaping the continuing hard feelings. When children sense the tensions and animosities, they are often emotionally scarred as a result (see "Divorce's Devastating Impact on Children," page 10).
The Bible states that premarital and extramarital sex are sin and therefore to be avoided completely. Why is God so adamant on this point? To protect us from the inevitable harmful consequences. Notice Paul's warning to Christians in the sex-saturated city of Corinth: "Run away from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body" (1 Corinthians 6:18, New Living Translation).
God created sex to be a blessing and benefit of a committed marriage. When you cheapen your body by giving it freely outside of marriage, you treat your body with disrespect.
In the King James and New King James versions of the Bible, sexual intercourse in the Old Testament is referred to as "knowing." Sexual relations within the context of a loving, committed marriage enable two people to know each other in the most intimate and personal way.
Loving sex in this context is deeply satisfying and creates a unifying of two lives. It is much more than simply the coupling of two bodies. The couple becomes one flesh as God intended (Genesis 2:24). The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia describes this kind of knowledge as "not just cognitive, but always experiential and deeply personal; and sexual intercourse is never just physiological, but always involves mystery and touches the whole person" (1988, Vol. 4, "Sex," p. 433).
It is partially the mystery about the opposite sex that makes relating to one another so special. That mystery is destroyed and lost forever when human beings hook up as casually as many species of animals do. Our sexuality is a gift God gave us. It is so special that it should be protected and saved for marriage as God intended. GN | <urn:uuid:9170fadc-c242-4d4a-aeac-60183282b01c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ucg.org/christian-living/sex-outside-marriage-whats-big-deal/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963958 | 2,714 | 2.375 | 2 |
Brianna Moore’s pink hair got her suspended from school last week. But now the sixth-grader is back in class, after the American Civil Liberties Union stepped in to teach school administrators a lesson about the law.
Officials at Shue-Medill Middle School in Newark, Del., suspended Moore because the 12-year-old’s pink-dyed hair clashed with a school policy that requires students’ hair to be a “natural color,” Reuters reports.
But when attorneys with Delaware’s ACLU heard what happened, they sprang to action. “Don’t you think this is unconstitutional?” the ACLU lawyers asked the school’s attorneys, according to Reuters.
Days later, the school reversed its decision and allowed Brianna Moore to return to class with her pink hair intact. Moore will not face any punishment for violating the school’s hair policy, a school district spokeswoman told USA Today.
“It’s likely we’ll be reviewing those policies,” the spokeswoman said. Moore’s school was the only one in the district with a “natural hair color” policy in place.
Brianna Moore’s pink-hair suspension is the latest in a series of student hair-dying cases in which ACLU lawyers have gotten involved.
In one notable case in 1999, a federal court ordered a Virginia high school to reinstate a student and pay $25,000 in legal fees after the student was suspended for dying his hair blue, according to the ACLU.
In that case, the court cited a 1972 Fourth Circuit ruling that held students have a “right to wear their hair as they wish as an aspect of the right to be secure in one’s person guaranteed by the due process clause.”
Hair color policies are generally intended to prevent disruptions in school, the ACLU says. But students have a constitutional right to color and style their hair as they see fit.
Not only has Brianna Moore’s school now learned that lesson, but the sixth-grader says she also learned something from her pink hair ordeal. “I need to stand up for myself when it’s right,” Moore told USA Today.
- Pink-haired 6th-grader allowed back in class (The News Journal)
- Due Process (FindLaw)
- MN Students Sue School District Over Gay Policy (FindLaw’s Law and Daily Life)
- Murder Defendant Marni Yang Not Allowed to Have Hair Done for Trial (FindLaw’s Legally Weird) | <urn:uuid:213b8967-5e5c-4918-a0ec-745221fd114d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.findlaw.com/law_and_life/2012/03/pink-haired-student-invited-back-to-del-school.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958207 | 544 | 2.0625 | 2 |
Hello there! I'm Dr. Vinifera, or "Vinny" for short. Ask me your toughest wine questions, from the technical aspects of winemaking to the fine points of etiquette. I hope you find my answers educational and even amusing. Looking for a particular answer? Check my archive and my FAQs.
Dear Dr. Vinny,
I was wondering if you could shed some light on what the term "reduced" means when describing a wine—both in flavor and aroma. I often taste with winemakers who use this term, and I can't seem to come up with a consistent definition based on my own observations.
—Pete, Sonoma, Calif.
"Reduced" is a term used to describe a wine that has not been exposed to air. I know that sounds weird, because, air? It's everywhere. But keep in mind that throughout the winemaking process, oxygen is very controlled. Too much oxygen and a wine can become "oxidized" (which in a way is the opposite of reduced), where it takes on nutty, Sherry-like characteristics. The ideal state for a wine is to be somewhere between these extremes.
When a wine is reduced, it doesn't have enough oxygen to polymerize (that is, to have its molecules combine), and while the wine gasps for air, the result is usually skunky, stinky, sulfurous smells that remind you of eggs, burnt matchheads, or stink bombs and swamp gas. Certain wines, like Syrah, are more susceptible to reduction. Sometimes aeration—either by racking during winemaking or decanting after it's bottled—can help, but sometimes not.
Do you have a question for Dr. Vinny? Ask it here...
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Video Theater | Collecting & Auctions | <urn:uuid:c10bced3-209a-4a6c-9eb1-9623b80d3fb9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.winespectator.com/drvinny/show/id/5480 | 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 | 0.958713 | 473 | 1.929688 | 2 |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia's new agriculture commissioner has an ambitious plan to more than double the output of state farms within five years by growing the poultry and beef industries, and by encouraging school boards, correctional institutions and other government agencies to buy from local producers.
No single strategy can work, but a comprehensive approach can, Commissioner Walt Helmick said Friday. That includes trying to lure producers and processors to southern West Virginia — a virtually barren agricultural region — and persuading young people that they can make money farming.
Helmick told The Associated Press ahead of an evening address at the West Virginia Small Farm Conference that an entrepreneurial spirit will be critical to his plan for reversing a declining trend in production.
"We just want to help diversify the industry in West Virginia," he said. "We know that we have coal that's good to us, timber that's good to us. Chemicals and gas. Those have been solid industries. But we believe there's an opportunity to move agriculture to a level that is much more than it is today.
"We will employ people, we'll create quality jobs and we will grow a quality product for West Virginians," he said.
Helmick, a former state senator from Pocahontas County, was elected last fall to replace Gus Douglass, the nation's longest-serving agriculture chief. Douglass was elected to 11 terms since 1964 but decided not to seek re-election.
The conference in Morgantown was Helmick's first major speech to the state's farmers since his election.
At its peak in 1935, West Virginia had 135,000 farms but today has only 23,500. That's in line with national trends, but Helmick said West Virginia still has the nation's highest percentage of family-owned farms.
Though the economics of small farms are different, Helmick said there's tremendous opportunity for growth: West Virginians consume $7.1 billion worth of food every year, yet only $460 million of that is locally produced. And 53 percent that comes from the poultry industry.
Helmick wants to see West Virginia lure a poultry operation, which would also bring much-needed jobs, to the southern part of the state, and expand the beef industry beyond Greenbrier County, where it's now centered.
The state once produced 677,000 beef cattle a year, he said, but now produces just 365,000. Rebuilding that industry will require land and more processing centers, but it can be done, Helmick said.
Preston County High School, for example, now has the only school-based processing facility, he said. West Virginia could create more, involving young people earlier on and showing them sound business plans that might encourage them to continue family traditions.
"It's hard work," he said, "so there's got to be a monetary reward. That must be part of it."
Farm-to-table initiatives that connect growers directly with consumers are also vital parts of the formula for success, Helmick said.
Connecting growers with 55 county school districts, regional jails and state prisons, and colleges and universities could benefit both the farmer and the consumers, who will be eating fresh, healthy food from sources they can trust.
Regional supply systems, with cooling and storage facilities that serve several counties, would help build such relationships, Helmick said.
Like all state agencies, the Department of Agriculture faces a 7.5 percent budget cut in July, but Helmick said he won't be following through on an earlier proposal to eliminate pest-control programs for black flies and gypsy moths.
"That will not happen," he said. "We can't sacrifice our timber and tourism industries."
Rather, he said, there will be smaller, across-the-board cuts and the elimination or consolidation of positions through attrition.
Though he didn't offer details, Helmick also said budget cuts won't derail his plans for a bond issue that would fund construction of a new agricultural headquarters "in Kanawha County somewhere," closer to the seat of government in Charleston.
The department is now housed at a 1950s-era, former Air Force radar station in Guthrie, about 5 miles outside the capital.
"It gives the impression, which has really become a reality now, that farming is secondary to anybody's thoughts," Helmick said.
"It's a pretty good way of life. And it's great for our state," he added. "West Virginia will be improved ... if we indeed improve agriculture." | <urn:uuid:1a67f9f7-c275-42e5-9b39-aa195c08215f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lancasterfarming.com/news/ap/Helmick-wants-to-double-W-Va--farm-production | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97183 | 938 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Some time ago there was a big fuzz over Firesheep: by listening to wifi traffic your login session can be stolen which is very bad because now somebody can e.g. send emails on your behalf. Some people said that using SSL for the whole site was the only solution. But I didn't think this was true: if you can keep the password or equivalent stored on the client side, and you never send this to the server but rather authenticate every request you do with this password, then nobody can impersonate you (unless they know your password). For example when you do a HTTP request
req, you instead do the request
r + "?hmac=HMAC(password, req)" to prove that you know the password.
Then I came across a paper on a protocol called SessionLock, which is targeted at solving the same problem. It is a bit different than what I described above, and I have some questions about it.
First, why do they establish a shared secret over SSL or using the Diffie-Hellman protocol, when there already is a shared secret available (the password or a hashed version of the password)?
Second, about the version that uses Diffie-Hellman they say:
If the browser loses its secret, it can re-perform a Diffie-Hellman key exchange with the server, using a number of XMLHttpRequest calls.
Can somebody explain how this works? Supposedly the client side didn't save the password, and it also lost the shared secret. So as far as I can see the client side knows nothing, yet he is able to re-establish a shared secret that can be used to do authenticated stuff. Wouldn't an attacker be able to do exactly the same? What am I missing? | <urn:uuid:f78aad7f-ab6f-4534-b37a-0a483f635c9c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://security.stackexchange.com/questions/3150/question-about-the-sessionlock-paper/3331 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955243 | 365 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Company Christmas cards undoubtedly are a long position tradition and can be tracked to a 1800s. With England, a guy named Sir Henry Cole is actually credited with the invention in the Xmas card. Mister Henry was this founder together with director of what exactly is now labeled as the Victoria and Albert Public in The united kingdom, the worlds largest museum of decorating art together with design. Yearly Sir Henry would write annual Holiday season letters to everyone of their friends along with business associates. In 1843 he or she found this impossible to maintain to this tradition along with called in the designer given the name John Callcott Horsley to get assistance. Mr. Horsley designed the initial Christmas credit card, in which unfortunately color was included in each physically.
The image was on the family toasting some sort of Merry Christmas together with a Happy Cutting edge Year. Debatable, a child included in the scene is actually shown sipping a wineglass of wines. Around 1873, Louis Prang, a German immigrant so that you can America commenced commercially creating cards for sale to The united kingdomt. The pursuing year, this Christmas card account made the countrys debut the united states. Business cards featured images associated with flowers and additionally fairies had been more tuned on the coming involving spring than the snow action and spiritual illustrations commonly seen today. The creating of Seasonal cards was known as an art form and illustrations became increasingly more intricate. The modern world Wars experienced the improvement of patriotic cards with humorous business cards making some sort of appearance within the 1950s. In 1953, Leader Dwight N. Eisenhower issued the main official White-colored House Seasonal card, some sort of custom of which continues today.
The 2007 card sent by President George Bush sparked controversy for the message in was to a religious character. Consumers distribute greetings this often include pictures of family members, particularly young children. Often a good Christmas letter is included that informs of events in the past year, a few interesting and many youd certainly rather dont you have known on the subject of! Charitable organizations use Holiday season cards as possibility to thank anyone who has helped them throughout the year and to get fundraising results. Today, businesses good sized and smallish send corporate Christmas cards so as to thank their customers with regard to business so to get loyalty. A cards nurture relationships and convey psychological and mental messages that serve to help you strengthen business partnerships. Even more appreciated when compared to an mailed Christmas desire, the management and business Christmas card can be a marketing tool and a gesture involving appreciation and additionally warmth that clearly says that you are special.
Aussies Ditch Credit Cards this Christmas - Industry experts are signalling a new era of conservatism as shoppers live within their means and spend their own cash this Christmas, according to just released Reserve Bank data that reveals a 2.9 p .. (168 Views)
Holiday Cards- Jesus Christ in Photo Christmas Cards - Dallas, Texas ( PressReleasePublic ) November 23, 2010 - This is the first time they have seen Him unexpectedly in Christmas Photo Cards ( http://invitingsmiles.com/holiday-cards.html ). They have see .. (130 Views) | <urn:uuid:0f2299ef-b851-48bd-9c01-a19bfb62bdce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pressreleasepublic.com/feed76220.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9673 | 639 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Principles of Environmental Science and TechnologyBy
- S.E. Jørgensen, Vaerløse, Copenhagen, Denmark
- I. Johnsen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Since the publication of the first edition of this book in 1981, it has been widely used as a textbook at university level for graduate courses in environmental management, environmental science and environmental technology (for non-engineers). As this second edition is significantly improved, it should find an even wider application than the first.In the second edition, the section on ecotoxicology and effects on pollutants has been expanded considerably, as has Chapter 4 on ecological principles and concepts. Further improvement has been made by the addition of a section on ecological engineering - the application of ecologically sound technology in ecosystems - and an appendix on environmental examination of chemicals. The problems of agricultural waste have been included in Part B, and in Chapter 6 on waste water treatment, several pages have been added about non-point sources and the application of ``soft'' technology. Throughout the book, more examples, questions and problems have been included, and several figures and tables have been added to better illustrate the text.
Studies in Environmental Science
Published: January 1989
This very interesting book ... is well written and nicely presented and should be recommended to all research workers in environmental science.
- Chapter 1. Introduction. Part A.- Principles of Environmental Science. 2. Mass Conservation. 3. Principles of Energy Behaviour Applied to Environmental Issues. 4. Ecological Principles and Concepts. 5. An Overview of the Major Environmental Problems of Today. Part B. Principles of Environmental Technology. 6. Water and Waste Water Problems. 7. The Solid Waste Problems. 8. Air Pollution Problems. 9. Examination of Pollution. Appendices. References. Index. | <urn:uuid:2ef08005-86fe-4c8f-b28a-8d3e68235a03> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.elsevier.com/books/principles-of-environmental-science-and-technology/jandamposlashrgensen/978-0-444-43024-3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930372 | 365 | 2.765625 | 3 |
The culture of oysters and abalone are two of the most important components of mariculture in South Africa. Both animals are, however, prone to infestation by shell-boring polychaetes, particularly members of the Polydora-group (Polychaeta: Spionidae). Infestation by these worms may pose a health risk to their hosts and an economic risk to the farmers. They may, however, also pose an environmental risk if worms are inadvertently carried beyond their natural distribution ranges through the movement, local or international, of the hosts. My research therefore focuses on aspects of polychaete taxonomy, reproduction and population structure, all of which may have implications for the infestation and spread of shell-infesting worms.
Over the last few years my research group has been identifying the worms associated primarily with abalone and a range of wild molluscs, including abalone. We found that farmed abalone are infested by a small percentage of the species that infest wild molluscs and that the most problematic worm is not indigenous and still absent from wild molluscs. More recently we have expanded our focus to include farmed oysters. Oysters and abalone are cultured differently; abalone are farmed on-shore and can spend up to four years in production while most oysters are grown off-shore for approximately one year before harvesting. These differences can have a significant impact on the composition of the species infesting the molluscs.
Of significant concern to us are the consequences of moving molluscs and their worms. Should a non-indigenous worm become established on a farm, it could escape and infest wild molluscs. They can also be spread within the destination country through the local movement of infesting hosts accelerating the spread in the natural environment. This is particularly important in South Africa where abalone and oyster farms occur in three biogeographical zones, meaning that worms can be transported across natural barriers to dispersal. Knowledge of the larval developmental modes of the worms will make an important contribution to our understanding of if and how far non-indigenous worms can spread, should they become established in the wild.
Understanding and cataloguing shell-infesting spionid polychaetes is complicated by the presence of many cryptic species – species that are morphologically similar but genetically and reproductively distinct. This may have exaggerated the current accepted global distribution of many of these species. Clarifying the taxonomic status, both morphologically and molecularly, forms the final aspect of my research. | <urn:uuid:c3bd86fd-03fc-403d-a9cc-4469d19dc855> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://academic.sun.ac.za/botzoo/csimon/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943409 | 524 | 3.140625 | 3 |
WebMD Medical News
Brenda Goodman, MA
Laura J. Martin, MD
May 2, 2011 -- The first study to look at the use of herbal supplements or medicinal teas in babies finds that about 9% of moms report using these remedies in infants under a year old.
The study, which is based on a nationwide survey of new mothers conducted by the CDC and the FDA, found that moms who used herbal supplements themselves were nearly four times more likely to give them to their babies than moms who didn’t use them previously.
Hispanic women were more likely than African-Americans or whites to give herbal supplements to their babies.
And the more weeks a mom breastfed her infant, the more likely she was to give the infant an herbal supplement or tea, the study found.
Study researchers think the connection to breastfeeding may offer a window into beliefs about these kinds of preparations.
“It may be because many people think of herbal supplements as more natural, and breastfeeding may be something people think of as more natural, so they kind of go together for that reason,” says Sara B. Fein, PhD, a consumer science specialist with the FDA.
The jury is still out, however, on whether the use of herbal supplements in infants is a cause for concern.
Guidelines recommend that babies get nothing but breast milk or formula for at least the first six months of life, with vitamins and medicines as needed.
Experts point out that there are few studies on the safety or effectiveness of dietary supplements in children, and even fewer in infants.
“Infants are not just small adults,” says Fein. “They have a different metabolism. They have organs that are growing rapidly, and there are special concerns with almost anything with infants.”
Supplements and teas are less stringently regulated by the FDA than drugs. They have been found in some cases to have been contaminated with heavy metals, bacteria, or other pathogens.
But, says pediatrician Kathi J. Kemper, MD, “We don’t see babies flooding emergency rooms because they’ve gotten toxic amounts of some herbal tea.” Kemper is a chair of the Center for Integrative Medicine at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
Overall, Kemper thinks the study is significant simply because it takes stock of how often and for what ailments people use herbals in babies.
“I think it’s a really important contribution because it tells us a lot more than we knew before about the prevalence of using herbals and teas in babies,” says Kemper, who was not involved in the study.
For the study, researchers surveyed around 3,000 pregnant women before their babies were born and then at regular intervals during the baby’s first year.
All the women were at least 18 years old. The study over-represented women who were older, white, middle-class, and well educated.
The mothers were asked if their babies were given any herbal or botanical preparation or tea within the last two weeks. Moms were instructed not to count skin creams or any kind of supplement they were taking that might have been passed through breast milk.
Moms were also asked about their own herbal supplement use, as well as socioeconomic and lifestyle factors.
Overall, one out of 11 moms reported giving supplements and teas to their infants. Compared to women who didn’t use herbs, mothers were more likely to turn to botanicals if they only had one child, were older, had more education, higher incomes, or were married.
The four most common reasons mothers reported giving herbal supplements or teas to their babies were fussiness, digestive problems, colic, and to help with sleep.
The most frequently used preparations were gripe water (which may contain ginger and fennel), teething tablets, chamomile, and unspecified teas.
Less commonly, but significantly, Fein says, were the wide variety of supplements reported in the “other” category: chrysanthemum tea, clove oil, astragalus, comfrey, elderberry tea, flaxseed oil, garlic oil, goldenseal extract, grape extract, horehound tea, lemon tea, orange oil, orange tea, red raspberry tea, rosemary leaf tea, sambucol, slippery elm, and white oak bark.
“There’s just this huge variety of things that were being given to infants,” Fein says. “This is one reason that we recommend that pediatricians be aware that possibly a larger percentage of their patients than they might think might be receiving these substances.”
“They might interact with medicines or have an effect on the body,” she says.
The study is published in Pediatrics.
SOURCES:Zhang, Y. Pediatrics, May 2, 2011.Sara B. Fein, PhD, consumer science specialist, FDA,Kathi J. Kemper, MD, pediatrician; chair, Center for Integrative Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, N.C.Gardiner, P. American Family Physician, March 15, 2005.
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The Health News section does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See additional information. | <urn:uuid:c836ade9-5636-4dfa-b8ba-93c71ac19f9e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.abc24.com/webmd/parenting/newborn/story/Moms-Are-Giving-Babies-Herbal-Supplements-Teas/5qhwgrey2ki_ZcG7eVWNkA.cspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974472 | 1,127 | 2.8125 | 3 |
July 30, 2010: Manufacturer Gets DOE Loan Guarantee to Produce New Solar Technology
July 30, 2010
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced a $400 million conditional loan guarantee to Abound Solar Manufacturing for the assembly of state-of-the-art thin-film, cadmium-telluride solar panels. With this project, this new manufacturing technology will be commercially deployed for the first time ever, said DOE. The project will include facilities in Longmont, Colo., and Tipton, Ind. The company anticipates the project will create approximately 2,000 jobs during construction, as well as 1,500 permanent jobs. In Indiana, Abound will occupy a new, unused factory originally constructed for a Chrysler auto parts supplier.
Using proprietary manufacturing technology developed jointly by DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Colorado State University, and the National Science Foundation, Abound will produce solar panels using an innovative process in which thin films of cadmium-telluride are deposited onto glass panels. The technology is said to reduce overall product costs while yielding enhanced film quality and device efficiency and stability. When the facilities reach their expected full capacity in 2013, the company will be able to produce millions of solar panels annually for less than crystalline silicon modules cost. Upon completion, the facilities will be able to manufacture enough panels each year to support up to 840 megawatts of new solar power.
Publication date: 07/26/2010 | <urn:uuid:e2b7e7a2-6fce-4fc5-8d66-a64841436d17> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.achrnews.com/articles/print/july-30-2010-manufacturer-gets-doe-loan-guarantee-to-produce-new-solar-technology | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931662 | 305 | 2.0625 | 2 |
|Poems by Women|
"LOVE HATH A LANGUAGE"
From "To My Son"
Love hath a language for all years -
Fond hieroglyphs, obscure and old -
Wherein the heart reads, writ in tears,
The tale which never yet was told.
Love hath his meter too, to trace
Those bounds which never yet were given, -
To measure that which mocks at space,
Is deep as death, and high as heaven.
Love hath his treasure hoards, to pay
True faith, or goodly service done, -
Dear priceless nothings, which outweigh
All riches that the sun shines on.
Helen Selina Sheridan [1807-1867]
From: Stevenson, Burton Egbert.
The Home Book of Verse.
This collection assembled by Jone Johnson Lewis.
Collection © 1999-2002 Jone Johnson Lewis.
Citing poems from these pages:
|Author. "Poem Title." Women's History: Poems by Women. Jone Johnson Lewis, editor. URL: (date of logon)| | <urn:uuid:adf5ccbd-19a1-4ed0-b84d-c499b7652f37> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://womenshistory.about.com/library/etext/poem1/blp2_sheridan_love_language.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915093 | 236 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Naval EOD school to expand at Eglin
EGLIN AFB — As the military’s demand for technicians specialized in locating and defusing improvised bombs has increased since 9/11, so have the demands on the country’s only schoolhouse for training them.
The Naval School Explosive Ordnance Disposal has long outgrown its three main buildings at Eglin Air Force Base.
In 2001, the school trained about 600 students a year. That number increased steadily until 2009, when the use of improvised explosives against the United States spiked.
Touch, sound and light help heal inner wounds
Master Sgt. Christopher Stowe knows the smell of death, and he knows what it feels like to have the weight of a fellow Marine’s severed limb in his hands.
The explosive ordnance disposal technician, attached to EOD Company, 8th Engineer Support Battalion, at Camp Lejeune, N.C., said he began to struggle with the realities of war after a particularly difficult deployment to Iraq in 2006. | <urn:uuid:f1cbf557-fa3c-4044-98f8-4ed33aefdc7b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.marineeod.com/News/Page-3.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96055 | 209 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Young Australians to be paid $10 to take chlamydia test as sexual disease rate surges
- From: AAP
- February 01, 2011
YOUNGER Australians will be paid to get tested for chlamydia, as health experts look for new ways to combat rising rates of the sexually transmitted infection.
Young people aged 16 to 30 who are sexually active will be paid $10 if they accept an offer at a participating pharmacy to undergo a chlamydia test.
The initiative is a pilot program running solely in the ACT but if it proves a success, Associate Professor Rhian Parker said it could be rolled out nationally.
Another $10 is given to the pharmacy for each test they perform, and Dr Parker said if it curtailed transmission of the infection then it would be money well spent.
"Absolutely ... chlamydia has a significant cost to the community," said Dr Parker from the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute at the Australian National University.
"Treating infertility when women are in their 30s, for example, is a very expensive process.
"What we are trying to do is raise awareness, provide access to young people to testing but also to show that chlamydia is something that anyone can get that is sexually active."
A chlamydia infection is usually easy to resolve with antibiotics but because it has no symptoms it can go unnoticed, and so untreated, for years.
The longer-term effect can be devastating, Dr Parker said, with two-thirds tubal infertility and a third of all cases of ectopic pregnancy attributed to the infection.
She said chlamydia transmission rates had "risen significantly" in the ACT over the past decade, as part of a trend seen across the country.
The pilot study is aiming to test 300 to 400 young people, meaning a total outlay of $6000 to $8000 in payment to those tested and also the pharmacies.
"When you have got something and you don't know about it, why don't we help you to make a good decisions about your health," Dr Parker said of the rationale behind the Australian-first initiative.
"We are looking at what impact it has and it could be rolled out nationally if it is successful."
There were almost 63,000 notifications for a new chlamydia infection nationwide during 2009. | <urn:uuid:29acc9ef-be6e-4242-8c82-6bc0ab86e95e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.couriermail.com.au/lifestyle/health/young-australians-to-be-paid-10-to-take-chlamydia-test-as-sexual-disease-rate-surges/story-e6frer7f-1225997677562 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969216 | 472 | 1.671875 | 2 |
You laughed listening to the very name of the sutra, The Bathhouse Sutra, because you don’t know that there have been two rebellious religions against Hinduism in India – Jainism and Buddhism. The Jaina monk never takes a bath; he does not even brush his teeth. He stinks and it is thought to be a great discipline that you are not at all concerned with your body which is ephemeral, which is going to die anyway. Why go on cleaning it and wasting your time? It will become unclean again tomorrow.
Buddhism is almost a parallel religion to Jainism. They agree on all the essential points, but Buddha seems to be more sensible than Mahavira. He wanted his monks to take a bath every day so that they would remain clean, so that their bodies would not be condemned but respected as a temple of their divine nature. But there were so many monks: to feed them, to give them use of your bathhouses, to give them clothes, to give them medicines when they were sick, was becoming more and more of a burden to the society.
Just a few years ago in Thailand, the situation became so bad that almost one-fourth of the population of the country were monks. The government had to pass a law saying unless you had the permission of the government, you could not become a monk.
This is the first time in history that any government had taken such a step but it was absolutely necessary in a poor country. If out of four persons, one person does not work, does not create and yet needs all kinds of things which are absolutely necessary, he is going to become a burden.
It is an ugly situation where half the population is starving, where half of the country sleeps only with one daily meal, where people not only eat fruits but dig out the roots of trees, boil them and eat them, hoping that they must have nourishing power. Because they are nourishing the whole tree – they are nourishing the flowers and the fruits – naturally the roots must have great nourishment.
Gautam Buddha has to talk about such trivia because if it is not talked about, then people start taking decisions on their own. And Buddha wanted his disciples to be integrated individuals – clean, pure, alert in every possible way both outwardly and inwardly. His concern and compassion were so great that there are thirty-three thousand rules for a Buddhist monk. It is mind-boggling; thirty-three thousand rules! Even to remember them is difficult.
But Buddha has taken care of every detail: when to wake up, when to go to beg for your food, not to take all your food from one house but from five houses so nobody is burdened. Five houses can give you small bits and that will be enough for you. On one house, you might be a little heavy…and not to stay in one city more than three days so you don’t create any kind of burden for anybody. Eat only one time a day because millions of people eat only once a day. You should not ask for two meals.
Don’t have more than three pieces of clothing; two to use, one for emergency situations. For example: you suddenly find yourself coming back to the place where all the other monks are staying and it starts raining. Both your pieces of clothing, upper and lower, are wet. At least you still have one cloth to cover yourself – this third is for an emergency. Two are for your essential needs but you should not have more than three. | <urn:uuid:bc59e0a6-5e58-4d2c-9a8a-c9efb746571d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://osho.com/library/online-library-nourishing-burden-three-8916b1b1-8ad.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983634 | 730 | 2.234375 | 2 |
It's bad enough that many airlines charge extra to sit in the emergency row seats in economy. But now Irish budget airline Ryanair is taking it one step further, charging 10 GBP (about $15; see XE.com for current conversion rates) to sit in the exit row ... and if no one shells out, then no one can sit there.
That's right: The emergency exits remain vacant.
In the event of an emergency, passengers sitting in the rows ahead and behind the exit will be asked to step in and open the door, potentially wasting precious time. Those same passengers won't have had time to study the door and instructions on how to open it. Furthermore, passengers who sit by the emergency exit row are required to be physically able and willing to assist in an emergency; no such rules apply to passengers sitting "near" the exits.
The Daily Mail spoke with a Ryanair passenger who said, "[I] wasn't allowed to sit in the emergency exit row, so I sat in the window seat in the row in front. Before take-off, one of the cabin crew spoke to me and another passenger who was in the aisle seat. Basically she was saying that, since we were the closest to the emergency exit, we'd have to make sure we'd read and understood the instructions for opening the doors in the middle of the plane in an emergency. I said I couldn't even see the door because it was directly behind my back and suggested it would be a lot easier for the people expected to man the doors if they were allowed to sit in the same row as the doors. She said those seats could only be used by people who had paid extra."
Ryanair's legal team must be extra busy these days—the airline is also being investigated by the European Commission over financial arrangements with certain airports.
Readers, do you think Ryanair should let people sit in the exit row for free? Tell us in the comments.
You Might Also Like: | <urn:uuid:55ce10c6-f0f3-4a1b-b0be-8014e1a9a4e2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.smartertravel.com/blogs/today-in-travel/airline-bans-passengers-from-exit-rows-if-they-won-pay-extra.html?id=10848417 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979774 | 404 | 1.640625 | 2 |
MGH Hotline 5.15.09 Exactly 100 flowers were planted in the Howard Ufelder, MD, Healing Garden April 28 to recognize the newly announced members of the one hundred – 100 groups and individuals who are making a difference in cancer care.
The one hundred announced
Planting hope: With the help of a pediatric patient, Faherty plants a flower to commemorate the one hundred.
Exactly 100 flowers were planted in the Howard Ufelder, MD, Healing Garden April 28 to recognize the newly announced members of the one hundred – 100 groups and individuals who are making a difference in cancer care. Now in its second year, the one hundred celebration recognizes researchers, donors, volunteers, advocates and philanthropists, including members of the MGH Cancer Center. Honorees are nominated by peers, colleagues, patients and family members, and are selected by a committee.
The April 28 event marked the official release of the names of this year’s honorees. Daniel Haber, MD, PhD, director of the MGH Cancer Center, welcomed attendees and introduced the day’s special guests. “The very concept of the one hundred exemplifies the fact that it takes a team to find cures and improve the lives of patients with cancer,” said Haber.
Kelley Tuthill, a WCVB-TV news anchor and one of this year’s one hundred inductees spoke at the event. A breast cancer survivor and former Cancer Center patient, Tuthill had shared her journey from diagnosis to recovery as it was happening through an online diary and video segments. Her story helped raise awareness and brought hope to many others like her.
“I am proud to be associated with the MGH Cancer Center,” she said. She recalled arriving at the Cancer Center to meet with a surgeon, feeling scared and anxious. A staff member warmly greeted her in the waiting room and said she had heard Tuthill had children. The MGHer offered Tuthill reading material on parenting during such a difficult time. “It’s those little special touches that make a difference and mark the MGH Cancer Center as the amazing institution that it is,” Tuthill said.
Robert Faherty, former Boston Police Department (BPD) superintendent-in-chief and chairman of Cops for Kids with Cancer (CFKWC), also spoke. Founded by retired BPD captain John Dow, CFKWC raises funds for and offers support to families with children affected by cancer. Last year, the organization donated $50,000 to ten families. The group’s contributions to patients and their families have earned it a place among this year’s one hundred. “We are honored to be here and be part of the one hundred,” said Faherty.
Following his remarks, Faherty planted a flower in the Healing Garden with the help of pediatric patient Nicholas DeFilice.
“The one hundred represents those who have inspired and moved us and whose efforts have had a real impact on the lives of patients with cancer,” said Haber. “And next year, they will be followed by another one hundred, and so on every year, until cancer is no longer the threat that it is today.”
The one hundred will be honored at a reception and dinner June 3. Honoree Elizabeth Edwards – breast cancer survivor, author, attorney and wife of former U.S. Senator John Edwards – will be the featured speaker.
U.S. News & World Report ranks Mass General the #1 hospital in America based on our quality of care, patient safety and reputation in 16 different specialties. Learn more about why we're #1.
Search the archive for previously published news articles, press releases and publications.
Departments and Centers at Mass General have a reputation for excellence in patient care. View a list of all departments. | <urn:uuid:2209be55-4d56-4731-bff8-14851038b3e7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.massgeneral.org/cancer/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=1700 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967168 | 803 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Don't Ignore India
by Marc Faber
by Marc Faber
Recently by Marc Faber: The Frame of Mind of American Economic Policymakers
I found it remarkable that at a recent Barron's roundtable discussion in New York where a number of prominent strategists and portfolio managers had gathered, India — the world's second-most populous country, with more than a billion people and an economy that is growing at around 8% per annum — wasn't mentioned once.
In the year to March 2009, India added 125 million mobile phone subscribers! And whereas Indian auto sales are tiny compared to China's vehicle sales (running currently at an annual rate of over 12 million units and up over 90% year on year), they are nevertheless up 39% year on year, with an annual rate of 1.6 million sales.
India's middle class is estimated at 170 million (half the population of the US), and the country has one of the lowest vehicle-penetration rates in the world. Given that India also has one of the youngest populations — half of its 1.1 billion-plus people are less than 25 years old, compared to 42% in Brazil, 36% in China, and less than 30% in the developed nations — car sales will undoubtedly continue to soar in the next few years. In this respect, we should also take into account that India's population will continue to grow rapidly and will exceed China's population before 2030.
McKinsey estimates that by 2025, India's middle class (households with disposable incomes of from 200,000 to one million Rupees a year) will increase to close to 600 million people, or more than 40% of the population.
This is not to say that India is free of problems. Its rapid population growth will be challenging. India's land mass is only a third that of China or the United States, yet its population will exceed 1.4 billion in 20 years' time. With close to 20% of the world's population, India has just 4% of the world's water resources and is likely to suffer in future from water scarcity.
Tensions between India and China [could increase over disputed Himalayan territory and] also in the Indian Ocean, where China has been involved in a number of port development projects.
Individual investors may wish to invest in New York-listed Morgan Stanley India Investment Fund or individual companies such as Infosys and ICICI Bank, a very well-managed bank.
I should stress that I am far from certain about current stock prices providing an ideal entry point; however, given the country's size and economic potential, investors who either have no exposure to India's economy and vibrant corporate sector or are massively underweight Indian stocks should gradually become more involved in this promising country.
February 17, 2010
Copyright © 2010 Gloom Boom & Doom Report | <urn:uuid:69ec2437-19b3-4518-96ac-b5d45258459e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lewrockwell.com/faber/faber49.1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955338 | 581 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Updated: Friday, 22 Mar 2013, 3:35 AM CDT
Published : Friday, 22 Mar 2013, 3:35 AM CDT
Weather Underground Forecast for Friday, March 22, 2013.
Snow showers persist for the Northwest and Rockies on Friday, while showers and thunderstorms move through the Lower Mississippi River Valley. As a low pressure system moves off the Rockies and through the Plains, it will pull moisture in from the Gulf of Mexico. This will allow for scattered showers and thunderstorms to develop over the Southern Plains and move over Lower Mississippi River Valley, into the Southeast. There is a slight chance that these storms will turn severe, with main threats being strong winds and periods of heavy rainfall. Cooler temperatures along the northern side of this system will maintain chances of snow showers across the Northern and Central Plains. At the same time, the back side of this system will allow for periods of heavy snow showers to persist for the Rockies from Wyoming through Colorado and into western Nebraska and Kansas. Winter weather advisories will remain in effect for the Central High Plains as snowfall accumulation over 6 inches is possible with winds up to 30 mph.
Further west, disturbances moving over the Pacific Northwest and Intermountain West will create more rain and snow showers for the region on Friday. In the East, a low pressure system over eastern Canada maintains scattered snow showers over the Great Lakes and Northeast. Heaviest snow showers are expected along the downwind shores of the Great Lakes.
Temperatures in the Lower 48 states Thursday have ranged from a morning low of -18 degrees at Cando, N.D. to a high of 83 degrees at Pecos, Texas | <urn:uuid:fc4fdb11-978d-4aa2-a7b6-38e84dfc80de> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/national/The-nations-weather_27013267 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908777 | 337 | 1.773438 | 2 |
A Short History of Computing (Jul, 1978)
A Short History of Computing
A few weeks ago a master’s degree candidate in computer science confided, with an embarrassed laugh, that he had never seen a computer. His experience with the machines of his chosen vocation had consisted entirely of submitting punched cards through a hole in a wall and later getting printed results the same way. While his opportunities to see equipment are restricted due to his student status, there are also thousands of working programmers and analysts using large scale equipment who have no contact with existing hardware and will never have a chance to see any first or second generation computers in operation.
This is in sharp contrast with the way programmers worked in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Before 1964, when multiprogramming computers were introduced, the typical programmer had opportunities to come in contact with the computer if he or she wanted to do so. Prior to 1960, in fact, most programmers actually operated the machine when debugging their programs. These people learned of the computer as a physical device; the current programmer is more likely to think of it as a vague logical entity at the other end of a terminal. Thus, many large system programmers have the rare distinction of using a tool without knowing how it works or what it looks like. This is in spite of the fact that many important computer developments have occurred within the average programmer’s lifetime.
However, in the past year or two, dramatic reductions in the cost of minicomputer components and the advent of the microcomputer have returned the hands-on computer to respectability in two ways. First, it is now possible to justify hands-on debugging on a small computer, since the hourly rate of the programmer is higher than that of the machine. Second, the decreasing cost of home computing has fostered the birth of a new class of “renaissance programmers”: people who combine programming expertise with hardware knowledge and aren’t afraid to admit it. Renaissance programmers can learn much from the lessons of computer history; simple and inelegant hardware isn’t necessarily best, but it’s frequently cheapest.
In short, the stored program computer became a necessary tool only recently, even though various mechanical aids to computation have been in existence for centuries.
One of the first such aids was the abacus, the invention of which is claimed by the Chinese. It was known in Egypt as early as 460 BC. The Chinese version of the abacus (as shown in photo 1) consists of a frame strung with wires containing seven beads each. Part of the frame separates the topmost two beads from the lower five. The right-hand wire represents units, the next tens, the next hundreds, and so on. The operator slides the beads to perform addition and subtraction and reads the resulting sum from the final position of the beads. The principle of the abacus became known to Roman and early European traders, who adopted it in a form in which stones (called by the Latin calculi, hence the word “calculate”) are moved around in grooves on a flat board.
The use of precision instruments dates back to the Alexandrian astronomers. Like the mathematics of the period, however, the development of scientific instruments died away with the demise of the Alexandrian school. The Arabs renewed interest in astronomy in the period between 800 and 1500 AD, and it was during this time that the first specialists in instrument making appeared. The center of instrument making shifted to Nuremberg, beginning about 1400. By the middle of the 16th Century, precise engraving on brass was well advanced due in part to the interest in book printing.
Calendrical calculators used for determining the moon’s phases and the positions of the planets crop up in all the major periods of scientific thought in the past two thousand years. Parts of a Greek machine about 1800 years old, apparently used to simulate the motions of the planets, were found in 1902 in the remains of a ship off the island of Antikythera. The gears of the machine indicate amazing technical ability and knowledge. Later calendrical calculators, which were usually of the type in which two or more flat disks were rotated about the same axis, came to include a means of telling time at night by visually aligning part of the Big Dipper with the pole star.
Trigonometric calculators, working on a graphical principle, were in use in the Arabic period. Such calculators were used mainly to determine triangular relationships in surveying. The popularity of this device was renewed in 14th Century Europe; in fact, calculating aids of all kinds grew rapidly in popularity as well as in scope from this time onward, largely due to the difficulty of the current arithmetic techniques. Napier was continually seeking ways to improve computational methods through his inventions. One such invention, “Napier’s bones,” consisted of a number of flat sticks similar to the kind now used in ice cream bars. Each stick was marked off into squares containing numbers. To perform calculations, the user manipulated the sticks up and down in a manner reminiscent of the abacus. Of particular interest is the fact that Napier’s invention was used for general calculation at a time when many other devices were used for the specific determination of one measurement, such as the volume of liquid in a partly full barrel, or the range of an artillery shot.
Pascal invented and built what is often called the first real calculating machine in 1642 (shown in photo 2). The machine consisted of a set of geared wheels arranged so that a complete revolution of any wheel rotated the wheel to its left one tenth of a revolution. Digits were inscribed on the side of each wheel. Additions and subtractions could be performed by the rotation of the wheels; this was done with the aid of a stylus. Pascal’s calculator design is still widely seen in the form of inexpensive plastic versions found in variety stores.
In 1671 Leibniz invented a machine capable of multiplication and division, but it is said to have been prone to inaccuracies.
The work of Pascal, Leibniz, and other pioneers of mechanical calculation was greatly facilitated by the knowledge of gears and escapements gained through advances in the clock. In the 13th Century, a clock was devised for Alfonso X of Spain which used a falling weight to turn a dial. The weight was regulated by a cylindrical container divided into partitions and partly filled with mercury. The mercury flowed slowly through small holes in the partitions as the cylinder rotated; this tended to counterbalance the weight. By the 15th Century, the recoil of a spring regulated by an escapement had made its appearance as a source of motive power. Gear trains of increasing complexity and ingenuity were invented. Clocks could now strike on the hours, have minute and second hands (at first on separate dials), and record calendrical and astronomical events. Gears opened the door to wonderful automata and gadgets such as the Strasbourg clock of 1354. This device included a mechanical rooster which flapped its wings, stretched its metal feathers, opened its beak and crowed every day at noon. Later, important improvements in timekeeping included Galileo’s invention of the pendulum; and the accurate driving of a clock without weights or pendulum which led to the portable watch.
Although mechanical and machine shop techniques still had a long way to go (consider the 19th Century machinist’s inability to fit a piston tightly into a cylinder), the importance of mechanical inventions as aids to computation was overshadowed by electrical discoveries beginning with the invention of the battery by Volta in 1800.
During the 1700s, much experimental work had been done with static electricity. The so-called electrical machine underwent a number of improvements. Other electrical inventions like the Leyden jar appeared, but all were based on static electricity which releases very little energy in a very spectacular way. In 1820, following Volta’s discovery, Oersted recognized the principle of electromagnetism that allowed Faraday to complete the work leading to the dynamo, and eventually to the electric motor. It was not until 1873, however, that Gramme demonstrated a commercially practicable direct current motor in Vienna. Alternating current (AC) was shown to be the most feasible type of electric power for distribution, and subsequently the AC motor was invented in 1888 by Tesla. The value of electric power for transportation was quickly recognized and employed in tramways and electric railways. This led to improvements in methods for controlling electricity. Electric lighting methods sprang up like weeds during the latter half of the 19th Century. The most successful were due to the efforts of Swan in England and Edison in the United States. Work on electric lighting, the telegraph and the telephone led to the wonder of the age: radio. In 1895, Marconi transmitted a radio message over a distance of one mile, and six years later from England to Newfoundland.
As a consequence of the rapid growth of interest in the radio, much work was done on the vacuum tube. Lee de Forest discovered the principle of the triode in 1907. Until the development of the transistor, the vacuum tube was the most important device in computer technology due to its ability to respond to changes in electrical voltage in extremely short periods of time. The cathode ray tube, invented by William Crookes, was used in computers for a few years prior to 1960. It faded temporarily from view but returned in 1964 due to advances in technology that improved its economic feasibility as well as its value as a display tool. In 1948 Bardeen, Brattain and Shockley developed the transistor, which began to replace the vacuum tube in computers in 1959. The transistor has many advantages over the vacuum tube as a computer component: it lasts much longer, generates much less heat, and takes up less space. It therefore replaced the vacuum tube, only to fall prey in turn to microminiaturization. Of course, the transistor principle didn’t go away, but the little flying saucers with three wires coming out of their bases did.
Oddly enough, one of the most fundamental devices in the early history of computing predates the electronic computer by more than two hundred years. The punched card was first used to control patterns woven by the automatic loom. Although Jacquard is commonly thought to have originated the use of cards, it was actually done first by Falcon in 1728. Falcon’s cards, which were connected together like a roll of postage stamps, were used by Jacquard to control the first fully automatic loom in France, and later appeared in Great Britain about 1810 (see photo 3). At about the same time, Charles Babbage began to devote his thinking to the development of computing machinery. Babbage’s first machine, the Difference Engine, shown in photo 4, was completed in 1822 and was used in the computation of tables. His attempts to build a larger Difference Engine were unsuccessful, even though he spent £23,000 on the project (£6,000 of his own, and £17,000 of the government’s).
In 1833 Babbage began a project that was to be his life’s work and his supreme frustration: the Analytical Engine. This machine was manifestly similar in theory to modern computers, but in fact was never completed. During the forty years devoted to the project, many excellent engineering drawings were made of parts of the Analytical Engine, and some parts of the machine were actually completed at the expense of Babbage’s considerable personal fortune. The machine, which was to derive its motive power from a steam engine, was to use punched cards to direct its activities. The Engine was to include the capability of retaining and displaying upon demand any of its 1000 fifty-digit numbers (the first suggestion that a computing machine should have a memory) and was to be capable of changing its course of action depending on calculated results. Unfortunately for Babbage, his theories were years ahead of existing engineering technology, but he contributed to posterity the idea that punched cards could be used as inputs to computers.
Herman Hollerith put punched cards to use in 1890 in his electric accounting machines, which were not computers, but machines designed to sort and collate cards according to the positions of holes punched in the cards (see photo 5). Hollerith’s machines were put to effective use in the United States census of 1890.
In 1911, the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company was formed, which changed its name to International Business Machines in 1924. In the period between 1932 and 1945 many advances were made in electric accounting machines, culminating in 1946 with IBM’s announcement of the IBM 602 and 603 electronic calculators, which were capable of performing arithmetic on data punched onto a card and of punching the result onto the same card. It was Remington Rand, however, who announced the first commercially available electronic data processing machine, the Univac I, the first of which was delivered to the US Census Bureau in 1950. In 1963, just thirteen years after the beginning of the computer business, computer rental costs in the United States exceeded a billion dollars.
Univac I was not the first computer, even though it was the first to be offered for sale. Several one of a kind computers were built in the period between 1944 and 1950 partly as a result of the war. In 1939 work was begun by IBM on the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator, Mark I, which was completed in 1944 and used at Harvard University (see photo 6). Relays were used to retain numbers; since relays are electromechanical and have parts that actually move, they are very slow by modern standards.
In 1943, Eckert, Mauchly and Goldstine started to build the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator), which became the first electronic computer using vacuum tubes instead of relays (see photo 7). The next year John von Neumann became interested in EN I AC and by 1946 had recognized a fundamental flaw in its design. In “Preliminary Discussion of the Logical Design of an Electronic Computing Instrument,” von Neumann pointed out the advantages of using the computer’s memory to store not only data but the program itself. Machines without stored program capabilities were limited in scope, since they had to be partly rewired in order to solve a new problem (as was the case with EN I AC). This process sometimes took days during which time the machine could not be used. If rewiring of such machines was to be avoided, instructions had to be entered and executed one at a time, which greatly limited the machine’s decision making capabilities. Machines with stored program capabilities automatically store not only numeric data but also the program (which looks like numbers and can be treated like numbers) in memory. In short, stored program instructions can be used to modify other instructions, a concept that leads to programs which can modify themselves. It is the von Neumann stored program concept which is universally used in modern computers from the smallest microcomputer to the largest number crunchers.
The growth of the missile industry in the 1950s greatly stimulated the progress of computers used for scientific work. The nature of missile data handling at that time was such that work loads were very high during the week or so after a firing and virtually nonexistent in between. Computers were too expensive to leave idle, which led managers to look for other work for the machines. Business data processing grew from these roots to its present status, accounting for the lion’s share of machine usage today.
The latter part of 1959 saw the arrival of the transistorized computer. As a consequence of this innovation, air conditioning and power requirements for computers were reduced. Several new computers in that year were announced by IBM, Control Data Corporation, General Electric, and other manufacturers. Among the IBM announcements were the 7070 general purpose computer; the 7090, a high speed computer designed for a predominance of scientific work; the 1401, a relatively inexpensive computer aimed at the medium sized business and the 1620, a low priced scientifically oriented computer. The fantastic growth of the computer field continued through 1961 and 1962 with the announcement of more than 20 new machines each year. In 1963, continuing the family line from the grandfather 704 (as shown in photo 8), the IBM 7040 was announced. This machine embodied many of the features of the 7090 at a reduced cost. In the same year at least 23 other computers were announced by several different manufacturers. In 1964, IBM announced the 7010, an enlarged and faster version of the 1410, and the 360, which came in many different sizes and embodied many features not found in previous computers. Control Data Corporation announced the 6600, and General Electric their 400 series. The IBM 360/370 is typical of a trend in computer manufacturing which is currently followed by most manufacturers: upward compatibility. In the years prior to 1965, every manufacturer spent huge sums of money on research and programming support for several types of computers; several went out of business doing so. Likewise, computer users spent a lot of money to develop their systems for a particular computer only to find it had been superseded by a faster, less expensive machine. As a consequence, the deadly management decision of the period was, “Do we get the cheaper machine and spend the money on reprogramming, or do we risk staying with an obsolete computer and losing our programmers to the company across the street?”
Current developments point to a new trend away from the bigger machines. The combination of lower prices for components and programmable read only memories is attracting many manufacturers to the field of minicomputers and microcomputers. The current trend is clearly toward the personal computer, with TV game microprocessors leading the way.” | <urn:uuid:baee5c9b-ef69-4790-b2f3-12440d0bd5b1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.modernmechanix.com/a-short-history-of-computing/3/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974861 | 3,649 | 3.359375 | 3 |
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It's All Politics
Thu August 30, 2012
Family Roots Matter, If You're A GOP Convention Speaker
Originally published on Thu August 30, 2012 7:59 pm
If Republicans really do have a problem with the issue of immigration — as even former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush intimated on Thursday — you wouldn't know it from the litany of GOP convention speakers who have made a point of stressing their country of origin.
The international parade of nations has ranged from Norway (South Dakota Sen. John Thune) to India (South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley), to Ireland (New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie) to Wales (Ann Romney) to Haiti (Utah congressional candidate Mia Love).
Expect that to continue as the convention ends Thursday with highly anticipated speeches from Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (whose parents came from Cuba), and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney (whose father was born in Mexico).
The Republican Party's immigration stances — and Romney's in particular — got lots of attention during the primaries. At one point, then-GOP rival Newt Gingrich called Romney "the most anti-immigrant candidate" in the race.
On Thursday night, Romney was set to include this statement in his speech, according to excerpts:
"We are a nation of immigrants. We are the children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the ones who wanted a better life, the driven ones, the ones who woke up at night hearing that voice telling them that life in that place called America could be better."
On Wednesday night in front of thousands of convention attendees, Thune spelled out his family's Norwegian surname: "G-J-E-L-S-V-I-K."
Later, New Mexican Gov. Susana Martinez, whose grandparents were from Mexico, explained the American dream in Spanish, "El sueno Americano es tener exito." (The American dream is to be successful.)
And on Tuesday, Ann Romney spoke of her Welsh heritage:
"I am the granddaughter of a Welsh coal miner who was determined that his kids get out of the mines. My dad got his first job when he was 6 years old, in a little village in Wales called Nantyffyllon, cleaning bottles at the Colliers Arms."
These stories were often linked to their ancestors' pursuit of a better life, like Thune's relatives:
"Back in 1906, two Norwegian brothers named Nicolai and Matthew Gjelsvik came to this country in search of the American dream. When they reached the shores of America, the only English words they knew were 'apple pie' and 'coffee,' which evidently they had plenty of on the trip over."
Thune explained how Ellis Island officials thought Gjelsvik was too difficult to say and asked his ancestors to change it.
"The two brothers picked the name of the farm where they worked in Norway, which was called the Thune Farm. And so Nicolai Gjelsvik became Nick Thune, my grandfather."
The stories have been used to frame an economic narrative.
"They learned English and saved enough money to start a small hardware store," Thune said in his prepared remarks. "And yes, Mr. President, they did build it!"
Since the start of the convention, Republicans have used a "We built it" theme to criticize Obama's remarks at a rally — which Democrats say were taken out of context — about the relative role of government in the success of small businesses.
Many of these immigration stories reinforce a contention that the GOP is the party most in line with the anything-is-possible ideals of the American dream.
On Tuesday, Texas Senate candidate Ted Cruz spoke of how his father fled Cuba in 1957 and arrived in the U.S. with $100 sewn into his briefs.
"He washed dishes making 50 cents an hour to pay his way through the University of Texas, and to start a small business in the oil and gas industry," Cruz said in his prepared remarks.
"El no tenia nada, pero tenia corazon. He had nothing, but he had heart. A heart for freedom," Cruz said. | <urn:uuid:1f385621-952d-445e-9f4a-e73bad2fa22a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wunc.org/post/family-roots-matter-if-youre-gop-convention-speaker | 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 | 0.971509 | 939 | 1.648438 | 2 |
A Levels, equivalent qualifications and science foundation years
To study biochemistry, you need to start preparing early on. Taking the right courses to give yourself a good basic knowledge in science is essential. The most common route to entering university to study a biochemistry-related degree is to first complete the correct A-Levels or equivalent qualifications.
Subjects you should consider studying prior to applying for university include:
- Biology: A prerequisite for almost all Biochemistry and related degrees. It will provide you with a basic knowledge of biochemical interactions in the body, as well as an introduction to genetics, cell biology and enzymology, all key Biochemistry topics.
- Chemistry: Another essential prerequisite to study Biochemistry at most institutions. It will teach you the essential skills you will need for working in a lab, such as calculating sample concentrations, and provide you with a good understanding of the chemical principles that underpin Biochemistry.
- Mathematics: Although not a prerequisite for many Biochemistry courses, a lot of Biochemistry revolves around interpreting statistical data and calculating concentrations, kinetics and constants. Studying maths will support the study of key biochemistry disciplines.
- Communication subjects: Subjects such as English and History will teach you good communication skills, giving you an edge over many other first year students.
If you don't have suitable qualifications or background knowledge to begin a degree in Biochemistry, many universities offer a Science Foundation year. This will provide you with all the skills and qualifications you will need to move on to studying Biochemistry at undergraduate level, and often require GCSEs or equivalent qualifications. | <urn:uuid:a92db390-e81c-446f-b9e8-d662559f6e21> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.biochemistry.org/Education/Careers/Schoolsandcolleges/Becomingabiochemist.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916781 | 322 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Abstracting functionality with centralised content
Speaker : Michael Peacock
Most content on web sites and web applications, such as pages, e-commerce products, blog entries, news articles and even job vacancies, comprise mostly of common attributes. By centralising this content at the Model and database level, extending upon a core set of tables for more diverse content types we can save development time by sharing functionality to all content types. User features such as commenting, rating, viewing content as an RSS feed, and administrative functionality, such as CRUD functions, deactivating content, rolling back versions, and moving content within a site or menu hierarchy can be applied to all of the content types. This approach is similar to how content works in Drupal, with all content stemming from a “node”. By combining this with a simple MVC architecture, new content types can easily be dropped in, with models inheriting from a parent content type which holds the data common to all content types, and controllers inheriting from a parent content controller, which centralises hierarchies of content of each type, and CRUD functions.
Through real examples, this talk would show developers how to save development time, increase efficiency, and reduce testing time by showing how content can be centralised, and functionality can be abstracted so that it can easily apply to any type of content, without any additional work. This would mean an e-commerce site with product ratings, could add ratings to pages, blog entries and other content, without any extra development work.
This is the perfect complement to any MVC based development framework, making code even easier and quicker to extend. Since introducing this approach to our own frameworks, productivity has increased dramatically, and as new content types are added, only a few lines of new code need to be added to get the full set of CRUD functions. | <urn:uuid:ccfa6ce1-8fc0-4a2c-9fda-eaa023f850a2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://conference.phpnw.org.uk/phpnw10/schedule/abstracting-functionality-with-centralised-content/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916307 | 378 | 2.078125 | 2 |
In this country, at least in high school civics classes, we often equate freedom and democracy. But this is not the case. I have written before that protection of individual rights is far more critical to our well-being than voting. If there was a system with a better track record for protecting individual rights than democracy, I would support it, even if it did not involve voting.
Here is an interesting example from Kuwait of a king protecting individual rights from a democratically-elected body
Although a monarchy, Kuwait has an elected parliament and a generally free media. It regularly invites foreign analysts and journalists to observe its elections. I am making my second trip this year.
Tremors from the Arab Spring are being felt here. The parliament elected in 2009 faced charges of corruption and lost popularity, and was dissolved at the beginning of the year. Elections were held in February.
All very democratic.
The new legislature was dominated by anti-government activists and, more important, Islamists. Top of the latter’s agenda was making Sharia the basis of all laws, imposing the death penalty for blasphemy, and closing Christian churches. Not very good for liberty.
The Kuwaiti emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, said no to all three. Liberty was protected only because Kuwait was not a genuine parliamentary system where elections determine the government.
Please, do not over-interpret my point here. I am well aware that the Emir in Kuwait holds a number of illiberal views with which I would disagree. But its an interesting example none-the-less.
It is pretty amazing to me that 500 years after the Spanish Inquisition it is somehow a revelation that people who are being tortured will say about anything to make the torture (or the threats thereof) stop:
On Friday the government declassified an opinion in which U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ordered the release of a Kuwaiti held at Guantanamo since 2002, saying he was imprisoned based on coerced confessions that even his interrogators did not believe. Fouad Al Rabiah, a 50-year-old aviation engineer and father of four, was captured as he tried to leave Afghanistan in December 2001. He said he came to Afghanistan that October to help refugees, an explanation the judge found credible....
Later four Guantanamo inmates made several implausible accusations against Al Rabiah"”claiming, among other things, that the engineer, who had worked at Kuwait Airlines for 20 years, suddenly became a leader of the fight against U.S. forces in Tora Bora. Kollar-Kotelly noted that the charges were either inconsistent or demonstrably false. The Pentagon eventually stopped relying on these wild claims to justify Al Rabiah's detention, but by then interrogators had used the charges, along with sleep deprivation and threats of rendition to countries where he would be tortured or killed, to extract confessions from him. In the end, the interrogators concluded that Al Rabiah was making up a story to please them. "Incredibly," Kollar-Kotelly wrote, "these are the confessions that the government has asked the Court to accept as truthful in this case."
I have argued for years that indefinite detention of anyone, citizen or not, is an affront to the principles on which this country was founded. Just to make my position entirely clear, I am willing to risk letting 40 dangerous people go free (assuming we can't actually prosecute them) to avoid having one person detained wrongly. If you think this is naive or wrong, then you need to ask yourself what you think about our entire legal system, which is predicated on a similar presumption, that we would prefer some guilty or dangerous people go free rather than tilt the system such that innocent people rot in jail.
Other posts from this topic here and here
I have always been amazed that so many civil libertarians have embraced multi-culturalism. To be a good civil libertarian, you have to be willing to defend a certain set of principles about individual rights ruthlessly against all intrusion. But to be a multi-culturalist, you have to be willing to accept values and behaviors that are wildly out of sync with western liberalism as equally "OK". These two never seemed reconcilable to me -- civil libertarians pursue moral absolutes, while multi-culturalism preaches that there are no absolutes.
Those on the left who have tried to embrace both civil liberties and multi-culturalism have sometimes had to bend themselves into pretzels to try to reconcile these beliefs. Today we have the unbelievable spectacle of the same people accusing the US of becoming a theocracy because it is slow to embrace gay marriage at the same time defending radical Muslim groups who would kill gays on sight. We can watch people go ballistic decrying naked human pyramids as "torture" but still defend Saddam and his Baathists as freedom fighters despite the hundreds of thousands they put into mass graves. And we can observe that the same people who are trying to invalidate judge candidates because they went to prayer breakfasts are calling flushing a Koran down the toilet "torture".
I suspect, though, that the highly illiberal teachings of the Muslim religion may finally be forcing the left to recognize the incompatibilities of their civil libertarianism and their belief in cultural moral equivalence. This is the theme of a great new piece by Cathy Young in Reason:
The tension between two pillars of the modern left"”multiculturalism and
progressive views on gender"”is not new. It has been particularly thorny
in many European countries where, in lieu of an American-style "melting pot"
approach, immigrants have been traditionally encouraged to maintain their
distinct values and ways. Recently, however, these tensions have started to
come out into the open. According to a
in the German magazine, Der Spiegel, the murder of Dutch filmmaker
Theo Van Gogh by an Islamic extremist last November after he had made a
documentary about the oppression of Muslim women "galvanized the Netherlands
and sent shock waves across Europe."...
Misogyny and gay-bashing"”religiously motivated or not"”still exist
in Western societies as well, though at least they are widely condemned by
the mainstream culture. We should be able to say, loud and clear, that the
modern values of individual rights, equality, and tolerance are
better"”and just say no to multiculturalist excuses for bigotry.
Some good news on this topic, Kuwait has extended women the right to vote.
It strikes me that no matter what happens with Syrian troops, one victor will certainly be Lebanese women, who have certainly made a positive impact on the American male's aesthetic radar screen of late.
Update: Ditto Kuwait. | <urn:uuid:cdcbac4d-3218-4963-9e46-ff15eeb72bbf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/tag/kuwait | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969512 | 1,399 | 2.015625 | 2 |
Abaxis, a manufacturer of blood analysis systems, has donated six Vetscan VS2 point-of-care chemistry analyzers to support the care of animal patients at the James L. Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH).
The chemistry analyzers will allow clinicians to complete blood chemistry analysis at the patient’s side in less than 12 minutes with the precision and accuracy of traditional clinical laboratory analyzers.
“We are looking forward to using this innovative tool for our patient care,” said Dr. Dean Hendrickson, Interim Director of the VTH. “The Vetscan system will be especially useful for the equine field service, exotics, and community practice, and will give our students the opportunity to do point-of-care testing, a skill essential to future veterinary practices.”
In addition to providing faster results, the Abaxis Vetscan system allows for successful testing on a 50 percent smaller blood sample, especially important for kittens, puppies and small exotics where the blood draw is limited.
The system consists of a compact portable analyzer and a series of single-use plastic discs, called reagent discs, that contain all the chemicals required to perform a panel of up to 13 tests on veterinary patients and 14 tests on human patients. The system can be operated with minimal training and performs multiple routine tests on whole blood, serum or plasma samples.
In addition to supporting the hospital with the Vetscan system donation, Abaxis also has pledged $200,000 to support facilities within the planned community practice wing of the hospital as part of the College’s South Campus Long-Range Development Plan.
“We are thankful for Abaxis’ support and are looking forward to a long relationship which will benefit our animal patients and our students,” said Dr. Lance Perryman, Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
Abaxis develops technology, tools and services that support best medical practices, enabling practitioners to respond to the health needs of their patients. | <urn:uuid:275107cb-c5a1-4377-9e0b-75542c06b80e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cvmbs.colostate.edu/insight/2008/September/abaxis.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917313 | 415 | 1.890625 | 2 |
The ingoma is a drum covered with a membrane of animal skin. The top of the drum is always broader than the bottom. The ingoma is usually cylindrical in form, tapering only in the lower section of the instrument, although the drum shell can also taper gradually over its entire length. Making an ingoma is a long and delicate process and is therefore entrusted to specialised drum makers, assisted by a woodworker who prepares the hide.
The drum shell (resonator) is a hollowed-out tree trunk, usually from the umuvugangoma, which literally means ‘the wood that makes the drum resonate’, although other types of trees are also suitable. The drum maker chooses a tree from which he can make four or five ingoma. Once the tree has been felled and sawn up, the trunk is left in situ to allow it to dry out for a while before being roughly hollowed out. Further work on the trunk is carried out at the drum maker’s home. The outside is polished and the inside is hollowed out further until the walls are about 20-23 mm thick. The size of the drum shell may vary from 40 to 130 cm high with a diameter of 50 to 70 cm at the top and 10 to 20 cm at the bottom. Nowadays a metal barrel (200 l) can also be used to make a drum, which is not only cheaper but also easier to make. The sound it produces is not comparable to that of a wooden drum, however, so that only a few drums are made this way. Both openings of the drum shell are then covered with hide, the hairy side of the pelt on the outside. To prepare the hides, they are first soaked, then scraped to remove meat, fat and membranes and finally stretched and left to dry in the sun. The way in which the hides are stretched over the drum shell is peculiar to the ingoma and differs from the method used for other membranophones. Narrow strips of hide affixed vertically bind the top membrane to the bottom membrane and keep them both taut over the drum shell. The process of tightening is complex, involving several people to ensure that everything proceeds correctly. Large instruments need about 50 running metres of these strips of hide.
The ingoma ensemble that plays nowadays comprises eight to ten drummers, each with his own drum. There are three types of drum, each having a different pitch: the ishakwe, the inyahura and the igihumurizo:
The ingoma is only played by men on festive occasions or to welcome an important guest. The drummers use two wooden sticks called imirishyo. To ensure that the instrument plays the right tone, the membrane is warmed up by placing it near a fire or in the sun.
Drums of a similar shape used to play an important part in the king’s cult. The drums used for this purpose were known as ingabe and were even kept in a separate hut. They were not allowed to touch the ground and were rubbed with bull’s blood once a month. There are four ingabe: the karinga, the cyimumugizi, the mpatsibihugu and the kiragutse. There has been no trace found of these ingabe drums, symbol of royal power, since 1960 when the Tutsi kingdom disappeared.
Besides the royal ingabe, there are other types of ingoma such as the indamutsu, which was played to greet the king, to announce audiences with the king and during court cases. Each king was presented with a personal indamutsa at his coronation, which in turn was accompanied by the nyampundu. This was made at the same time and was played during the same rituals. A third and final type, the impuruza, had a signalling function and warned of danger.
For more information consult the following publications edited by the RMCA:
© KMMA/Jos GANSEMANS | <urn:uuid:5b153c46-6095-4023-9b7c-164f5d9c1fb8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://music.africamuseum.be/instruments/english/rwanda/ingoma.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971624 | 825 | 3.515625 | 4 |
MEEC Meeting Agenda - September 14, 2012
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM; Burton Cross State Office Building, Room 104
- Reach consensus on language regarding the permissible set or sets of professional practice standards for teachers and principals;
- Propose language regarding uniformity or flexibility of rubrics;
- Begin to develop guidelines regarding the collection and use of other non-quantitative student learning and growth measures as evidence of classroom teacher and principal performance;
- Review the information about the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium and how some districts in Maine are using student learning and growth measures in their performance evaluation and professional growth systems;
- Determine questions and areas of interest to be addressed by presentations at the next MEEC meeting; and,
- Determine a schedule for subsequent meetings.
9:00 AM - Welcome, introductions, and overview of the agenda
9:05 - 8/24 meeting summary and updated decision-making matrix
9:15 - ESEA Flexibility Request Update
9:20 - Confirm professional practice standards language developed at 8/24 meeting (refer to handout for most recent proposed language)
- Regarding the phrasing specifically addressing professional practice standards (not rubrics or assessment methodology) for teachers (and principals), is there agreement among the members for the MEEC
- If not, what alternative language is needed to reach consensus?
9:40 - Discuss whether every district must use the same rubrics (without alterations) to assess classroom teachers’ (and principals’) performance against the standards adopted by the district?
- If consensus among the members of the MEEC cannot be reached on the preceding question:
- What alternative guidelines must districts follow to assess their classroom teachers’ and principals performance against the standards they have adopted?
- What are some concrete examples of alterations districts might propose under such guidance?
- What are the pros and cons of providing flexibility from using a standard set of rubrics?
10:30 - Break
10:45 - Develop guidance for districts regarding evidence (other than observation) that may be used to evaluate performance against professional practice standards
- What evidence should districts consider as they assess a principal’s (or teacher’s) performance against the standards adopted by the district?
- What guidance should be provided to districts?
Consider breaking into 2 groups to discuss (one focused on principals, the other on teachers), then return to the full group to share ideas and consider possible recommendations. Smaller groups could meet for 45 minutes, then return to the full group.
11:50 - Comments from the public
12:00 PM - Lunch
12:45 - Informational presentation on the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) assessments; Questions and Answers
1:30 - Informational presentation on use of student learning and growth measures in Maine districts
2:00 - Preliminary discussion regarding measures of student learning and growth in a performance evaluation/professional growth system for teachers and principals in Maine
2:30 - Determine schedule for next meetings
2:45 - Comments from the public
3:00 - Closure | <urn:uuid:a0db0f60-29d2-4428-a2e0-92fb8ba72c05> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://maine.gov/doe/accountability/meec-9-14-12-agenda.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906838 | 640 | 1.78125 | 2 |
By Doug Gross, CNN
It could be something out of "Harry Potter," or a scene from "Terminator 2" if you want to take it to a creepier place.
Take a box full of sand and tell it what you need - say a hammer, a ladder or a replacement for a busted car part. Bury a tiny model of what you need in the sand, give it a few seconds and - voila! - the grains of sand have assembled themselves into a full-size version of the model.
MIT robotics researchers say such a magical sandbox could be no more than a decade away.
A team from the school's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory says they've developed algorithms that could enable "smart sand" - essentially miniscule, simple robots that would communicate with each other about how to align together properly once they've been given a model to copy.
The team has already done limited testing with larger cubes - 10 millimeters wide with rudimentary microprocessors inside and magnets on four of their sides. The "robot pebbles" magnets are used not just to connect, but to communicate with each other and share power.
"The 'robot pebbles' are not going to turn into true 'smart sand' overnight - but it will happen ...," said Kyle Gilpin, a graduate student working on the project.
Gilpin, who authored the paper the team will present at next month's IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, predicted it could take 10 years, but that "we'll see incremental improvements along the way."
The grains of "sand" would essentially work together like the block of stone a sculptor begins with. Once deployed, the grains needed to build an item would move into place, while those that aren't needed would simply fall away.
“Say the tire rod in your car has sheared,” Gilpin said. “You could duct tape it back together, put it into your system and get a new one.”
Once an item is no longer needed, the grains could be ordered to fall apart and get ready for the next project.
One of the main challenges at this point is getting enough computing power onto items so small. The "robot pebbles" now being tested each have a tiny microprocessor that can store just 32 kilobytes of program code and have two kilobytes of working memory.
But Gilpin said that's not a reason to lose hope.
"Consider how rapidly and dramatically computers have been miniaturized over the last 50 years," he said. "What used to
occupy an entire room now fits on a small fraction of a fingernail. We'll see the same advances applied to programmable matter systems as well." | <urn:uuid:849b74a4-be5a-4890-be7a-a999e89a4dba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://whatsnext.blogs.cnn.com/2012/04/04/mit-researchers-seek-to-create-robotic-self-sculpting-sand/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95202 | 568 | 3.609375 | 4 |
Comparative Religion: The Church of EnglandMost of these basically Lutheran tenets apply to all protestants. The Calvinist ("puritan") refinements are presented further along.
Man's wickedness is so great that no amount of good works could hope to atone for our sin. God, being all good, would not require something of us that is impossible. Therefore, the only thing necessary for salvation is believing in His Name ("justification by faith").
The Church exists to guide but is not necessary for salvation. There is no need for priests to interpret God's will. Supporting the Church, or denying the flesh, does not bring you closer to God. If you are united with Him at all, it is completely and absolutely.
The Roman church has corrupted the original doctrines and teachings of Christ and his apostles for its own purpose, and no longer represents the true faith of Christ. The only source of religious authority is Scripture.
The two sacraments are Baptism and Holy Eucharist (Communion). The other so-called sacraments are worthy but not Scripturally justified.
No sacrament is efficacious without understanding and faith.
There is no principle of Papal authority: the Pope (or Antichrist) is just a man and subject to error. He is not the leader of the true church.
The doctrine of Purgatory is denied as being un-Scriptural. You go straight to Heaven or Hell, according to God's judgment. Thus prayers for the dead, including Masses and purchased indulgences, are of no value. In fact, to pray for the dead is heretical.
The selling of indulgences is a particular vice because a) it is not in Scripture and b) it encourages sin. The Church cannot put divine forgiveness up for sale.
Your relation to God is not mediated by priests or saints, but is a personal acceptance of the message of Scripture. The Virgin Mary almost disappears from protestant consciousness, and the role of the saints is greatly diminished.
All rituals are performed in the vernacular. Rituals are less elaborate, although candles and church bells are still in use.
Ministers can marry, although the Queen would prefer they did not.
25 March 2008 mps | <urn:uuid:5cf33e8b-0b62-4924-91fc-c9644ca10469> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://elizabethan.org/compendium/12.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949727 | 460 | 2.3125 | 2 |
Part of the way history is publicly remembered and allowed to exert an influence over the cultural milieu is through the erection of assorted monuments and memorials. This is itself a practice that, in part, traces its origin back through the pages of sacred scripture.
In Joshua 4:5-7, the representatives of the tribes of Israel are instructed as to the following: “Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant...These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”
This is not the only incident in Scripture where the believer is admonished to respect assorted physical historical commemorations. In Proverbs 22:28, the child of God is admonished to remove not the ancient landmark.
No doubt one of the reasons thorough going secularists and even their sissified allies among certain branches of the clergy leaning to the left fanatically lobby for the removal of religious symbols and emblems commemorating solemn events in the life of the nation is to no doubt alter our perception of history in the attempt to shift the country's underlying values and focus. By so doing, it is hoped that Americans will go from the most part being an independently inclined group of individuals who will protect their precious heritage to the point of laying down one's life should circumstances require it to one where the state is looked to as the first as the source of goodness and truth which it is free to redefine as changing circumstances warrant.
One such perspective lent a voice calling for the removal of Peace Cross (also just as correctly referred to as Victory Cross) in Bladensburg, Maryland. The American Humanist Association is orchestrating the campaign because the monument is erected on public land. In the mind of this agitprop front group, this violates the non-establishment clause of the First Amendment.
However, one area minister in the 9/27/2012 Gazette newspaper of suburban Maryland provided what he considered a number of Christian reasons as to why the memorial cross should be taken down. Rev. Brian Adams of the Mount Rainier Christian Church is aligning himself with the outcome advocated by the American Humanist Association because he does not want the Cross associated with militarism and patriotism as a "general symbol of sacrifice."
In making his argument, Rev. Adams enunciated a number of questionable assumptions. He insists that the memorial is blaspheming the Cross by honoring violent people with weapons defending a country while they try to kill people from other countries.
No one in their right mind said war was a picnic. But how else will at least a small sliver of goodness otherwise survive in a fallen world? Does Rev. Adams honestly believe that once things have degenerated to the point of physical hostilities that appeals to reason, compassion, and the brotherhood of man alone will be enough to dissuade those bent on utter desolation?
If the way Rev. Adams categorizes the Crucifixion and a number of Biblical imperatives is a true summation of his doctrinal perspective, as a denomination the Disciples of Christ is in serious trouble.
Though it along with the Resurrection is one of the building blocks of the Christian religion and an offence or stumbling block to those hoping to make it to Heaven under the power of their own good works which are as filthy rags, the death of Christ upon that accursed tree was anything but, to use Rev. Adams' words, "the symbol of the son of God dying peacefully." History and medical science concur that it was in fact one of the most tortuous forms of execution ever devised.
Because the believer so appreciates the price paid by Jesus at the hill of Golgotha, over the centuries artists and craftsmen inspired by the moving beauty of Christ’s sacrifice on behalf of all sinners have transformed this implement of abject fear and terror visually into a beacon of hope and adoration. However, in the context of what happened that original Good Friday afternoon, the bejeweled sculptures and golden masterpieces are about as accurate as depicting a ride in Old Sparky the electric chair as if it was an overstuffed Lazy Boy recliner wrapped in a plush snuggy.
By referencing a work as readily available as "The Case For Christ" by Lee Stroebel (so much so that many ministries give away free paperback editions), both disciple and skeptic alike approximately 2000 years after this hinge point of history get a better idea of just how peaceful the passing of this Nazarene carpenter and rabbi was from this world. Stroebel in a chapter on the medical evidence lays out these horrors.
First, Jesus would have been secured to the cross by driving 5 inch nails through a portion of the wrist containing a nerve nearly as sensitive as the one in the area of the so-called funny bone. Once secured in this position, the cross would have been hoisted upright with the feet being secured in position in a manner similar to and as painful as that used upon the wrists. Yet, the suffering had only just begun.
The gravity pulling Jesus downward as the cross was thrust upward would have stretched at his arms, causing his shoulders to dislocate. With gravity pulling the individual downward, whatever waning strength remains in the individual is mustered to thrust the body upward in a reflex to merely continue the otherwise simple process of breathing so few of us even give a second thought to. In so doing, splinters would be driven deeper and deeper into the flesh of the back as it slid against a roughly hued pole not crafted with comfort in mind. This struggle would eventually result in suffocation as the victim in agony would grow too exhausted to continue.
Death upon the cross was of such a terrifying overwhelming agony that a new word had to be coined in order to accurately describe its unique variety of suffering. That word was none other than "excruciating".
So fundamentally wrong about this fundamental of the true Christian faith, it is no wonder Rev. Adams is so profoundly mistaken in regards to other interpretative matters as well. Rev. Adams writes that the cross is the symbol of Jesus “telling his followers to put down their weapons, and dying for the sake of hope, for the forgiveness and salvation of even those who put him to death.” What Rev. Adams has done here has been to take a course of action applied in a particular incident and elevated it to the status of a categorical universal imperative.
Rev. Adams is correct in the sense that in John 10:18 Jesus instructs that no man takes His life but that He gives it willingly. This was demonstrated in Luke 4 when a mob angered at words Christ delivered in the synagogue conspired to hurl Jesus over a cliff. Amidst such homicidal frenzy, Jesus miraculously perambulated on through unnoticed and unscathed.
Yet, later on, the Savior was not as eager to elude His captors. When Peter attempted to rescue Jesus resulting in the severing of the ear of the high priest's servant, Jesus declares in Matthew 26:53-54, "Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way (NIV)?" Christ chastised a foremost disciple because His unjust arrest was to unfold so that the greater purpose of His being slain from the foundation of the world might be fulfilled so that all calling upon the name of the Lord might be saved.
Though each of us are valued having been made in the image of God, the way we proceed into Glory will not cause the very cosmos to unhinge if it does not transpire in a precise manner as foretold as a part the public record of religious history. Therefore, though honor is to be bestowed upon those that lose their lives for the sake of the Gospel, one won't likely be given additional brownie points or a crown in Heaven should one not do everything moral within one's own power to preserve one's own life.
In Matthew 5:39, Christ instructs his disciples to turn the other cheek. Often, the application of this passage has encouraged an undue pacifism on the part of certain quietist sects and overly pious theologians. However, what is being addressed here is more akin to individual insults and certainly not the basis around which to build a foreign or defense policy.
The Gospels should not be construed as denying the individual the right of self defense should the individual feel the necessity to protect their life and that of their family. In Luke 22:36, Christ instructs, "...and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one."
Scripture admonishes the believer to be as wise as a serpent but as harmless as a dove. While the Christian is not to go around stirring up undue trouble, neither is the Christian to enter unequipped into situations that will result in overwhelming bodily harm or unnecessary physical death.
Just how literally do those raising the turning of the other cheek to something on the level of the Prime Directive from Star Trek want to take the remainder of the passage? In Matthew 5:41, the text reads, "And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain." So will those insisting upon the turning of the other cheek as an unmodifiable absolute now teach their child that, instead of refusing to get into a car with a stranger, that you as a parent will punish them severely if they don't comply with every Sanduskite that slithers out of its sewer pile.
In his concluding paragraph, Rev. Adams declares that using the cross to symbolize the military or to praise the military amounts to a blasphemy equivalent to taking the Lord's name in vain. It seems that clergy within the Disciples of Christ would only be interested in adhering to the strictures of the divine scriptures when they think these teachings can be used to tear down the pillars upon which this great country rests.
For example, a number within the Disciples of Christ are also pushing for the acceptance of homosexuality and ultimately gay marriage. So where is this denomination's outrage over violation of the commandments prohibiting carnal relations between anyone other than a married man and woman?
This tendency to view the Bible and the traditional teachings that are extrapolated from it as optional flow from the Disciples of Christ positioning itself as a creedless church. Such a formalized belief is, of course, a creed itself.
According to Wikipedia, there are those within the Disciples of Christ that deny the Incarnation, the Trinity, and even the Atonement. So what's the point of even bothering with any of the religious racket if Christ as the only Begotten of the Father did not come to die for our sins?
The cross in Bladensburg is not a representation of what the military accomplished through force of arms. Instead, the cross commemorates those from Prince George's County Maryland that died in the First World War.
John 15:13 reads, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends (KJV)." Given the disdain he has expressed for both those that take up arms in defense of the American republic and traditional formulation of Christian doctrine, perhaps Rev. Adams does not view the last full measure of devotion worthy of remembrance and appreciation on the part of the COMMUNITY. It seems those like Rev. Adams only extol this particular concept of social organization when it can be invoked as justification to further curtail those areas of existence remaining under personal purview or to confiscate additional percentages of your property.
Yes, a cross is a distinctively Christian symbol. But this particular cross under consideration goes beyond the implement upon which the Savior suffered and died.
At the base of each side of the memorial cross in Bladensburg is embossed a virtue such as endurance, courage, devotion, and valor. As well as representing those that died in Prince George's County during this particular conflict, these virtues on each base of the cross remind that it is not man that ranks these character traits among the desirable nobilities to strive for but rather that these have been decreed to be so by God Himself.
To most in the West in general and the United States in particular during the time of the First World War, deity or “the higher power” to categorize the ultimate in a way the fewest possible could object to was understood using Christian or Biblical formulations. So would those such as Rev. Adams and his allies among the cultured despisers of the Almighty have us remove all other historically accurate symbolizations of godhood as well?
Along with the words “In God we trust.” on the back of our currency, does Rev. Adams also intend to agitate to have the eye of Ra remove from particular tenders as well? Does he also want to knock over the blindfolded goddess of justice standing outside many of America’s courthouses? For does she not also represent, in a less than ideally Christian manner we’ll grant you, the idea that justice originates in a metaphysical realm above and distinct from the state no matter what that social organization’s swords or bullets might insist?
The memorial cross in Bladensburg is dedicated to a finite number of individuals, namely those from Prince George's County that died in World War I. Therefore, historians employed by the county could do something useful for a change, rather than continually stirring the pot about the short end of the stick Blacks have gotten in the past but have more than made up for now, by researching if there are any county records extant as to the religious affiliations of these honored veterans. If it turns out they were all Christian, nothing should be done to the memorial cross; should it turn out that a number were Jewish, instead of abolishing the park altogether, perhaps a plaque could be erected acknowledging the contribution of the patriots of that particular faith. The county certainly doesn’t seem to mind rubbing it in the public’s nose regarding the accomplishments of other minorities.
Psalm 11:3 says, “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” The Founding Fathers were correct to warn of the danger of a state so given over to the interests of religion that whether or not one was to enjoy the basic entitlements and privileges of citizenship would be predicated upon formalized membership in an established ecclesiastical organization. However, that said, these thinkers also realized that any human undertaking would be doomed to failure if such an enterprise went out of its way to slap aside the outstretched hand of a beneficent deity.
by Frederick Meekins | <urn:uuid:8fe152df-ca4c-4731-818a-9bdb5b165760> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://epistolizer.blogspot.com/2013/02/despising-old-rugged-cross.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964433 | 3,050 | 2.015625 | 2 |
TITLE 17: CONSERVATION
CHAPTER I: DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES
SUBCHAPTER b: FISH AND WILDLIFE
PART 810 SPORT FISHING REGULATIONS FOR THE WATERS OF ILLINOIS
SECTION 810.20 SNAGGING
Section 810.20 Snagging
a) Anglers are permitted only one pole and line device to which can be attached no more than two hooks. On the Mississippi River between Illinois and Iowa, the maximum treble hook size is 5/0; gaffs may not be used to land paddlefish.
b) Species of Fish and Snagging Catch Limit.
1) Only the following species of fish and catch limit may be taken by snagging:
Asian Carp (no live possession) – no catch limit
Carp − no catch limit
Buffalo − no catch limit
Freshwater Drum − no catch limit
Salmon (coho and chinook only) − 5 daily, of which not more than 3 may be of the same fish species
Paddlefish − 2 per day; the maximum length limit for paddlefish taken from the Mississippi River between Illinois and Iowa is 33" eye-fork length (EFL) (all paddlefish greater than or equal to 33" EFL must be immediately released back to the Mississippi River)
Bowfin − no catch limit
Gizzard shad − no catch limit
Carpsuckers − no catch limit
Longnose gar − no catch limit
Shortnose gar − no catch limit
Suckers − no catch limit
2) No sorting (i.e., catching more fish than is allowed and putting back some in order to keep larger ones) of snagged salmon and paddlefish is permitted, except for paddlefish taken from the Mississippi River between Illinois and Missouri where sorting is permitted. Every salmon 10 inches in total length or longer and paddlefish snagged must be taken into immediate possession and included in the daily catch limit. Once the daily limit of salmon or paddlefish has been reached, snagging must cease.
c) Waters Open to Snagging and Snagging Season.
1) Snagging for fish is permitted from September 15 through December 15 and from March 15 through May 15 within a 300 yard downstream limit below all locks and dams of the Illinois River, except for the area below the Peoria Lock and Dam where snagging is permitted year round.
2) Snagging for fish is permitted from September 15 through December 15 and from March 15 through May 15 within a 300 yard downstream limit below all locks and dams of the Mississippi River between Illinois and Missouri, except for the Chain of Rocks low water dam at Chouteau Island − Madison County, also known as Dam 27 at the Chain of Rocks − Madison County where no snagging is permitted. Snagging is permitted from ˝ hour before sunrise to ˝ hour after sunset daily, March 1 through April 15 within a 500 yard downstream limit below locks and dams on the Mississippi River between Illinois and Iowa.
3) Snagging for fish is permitted year-round within a 100 yard limit upstream or downstream of the dam at Horseshoe Lake in Alexander County.
4) Snagging for chinook and coho salmon only is permitted from the following Lake Michigan shoreline areas from October 1 through December 31; however, no snagging is allowed at any time within 200 feet of a moored watercraft or as posted:
A) Lincoln Park Lagoon from the Fullerton Avenue Bridge to the southern end of the Lagoon.
B) Waukegan Harbor (in North Harbor basin only).
C) Winnetka Power Plant discharge area.
D) Jackson Harbor (Inner and Outer Harbors).
d) Disposition of Snagged Salmon and Paddlefish. All snagged salmon and paddlefish must be removed from the area from which they are taken and disposed of properly, in accordance with Article 5, Section 5-5 of the Fish and Aquatic Life Code.
(Source: Amended at 35 Ill. Reg. 4011, effective February 22, 2011) | <urn:uuid:98103784-223e-4548-8160-9942b0e6b754> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ilga.gov/commission/jcar/admincode/017/017008100000200R.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921311 | 857 | 1.828125 | 2 |
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The purpose of the Ranger Award award is to encourage Venturers to achieve a high level of outdoor skills proficiency; recognize achievement of this high level of outdoor skills proficiency; provide a path for outdoor/high-adventure skills training; and establish Rangers as a highly trained leadership resource for crews, Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and the community.
The Ranger Award exemplifies a challenging high-level outdoor/high-adventure skills advancement program. Once earned, it will identify a Ranger as a person who is highly skilled at a variety of outdoor sports and interests, trained in outdoor safety, and ready to lead or assist others in activities. Rangers can be a great program asset to Cub Scout packs, Boy Scout troops, and others.
|June 1, 2008 – National Trails Day
June 15, 1916 – U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signs a bill incorporating the Boy Scouts of America, making them the only American youth organization with a federal charter.
June 30, 1937 – First National Jamboree, held at Washington, DC. Ran from June 30-July 9. Was to have been in 1935, but was canceled due to a polio epidemic.
June 30, 1950 – Second National Jamboree, held at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, begins. Ran from June 30-July 6.
Purge cache to show recent changes | <urn:uuid:a189c04a-239a-4ecb-87b7-311ad488c4c9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page&oldid=25075 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912986 | 491 | 2.0625 | 2 |
Almost three weeks into the sequester era and the effects of the mandatory budget cuts have become apparent. The pain being caused by this government failure is obvious and growing so it is to be expected that the elected officials are doing their jobs as public servants and are actually serving the public and getting this mess straightened out.
The political finger pointing has not subsided even after almost three weeks have passed. Earlier today, White House press secretary Jay Carney said that he does not think that the sequester cuts will be changed for “some time” unless the Republicans have a change of heart. Basically, the Democrats are not willing to work with the Republicans and vice versa. He went on to say that Congress will hopefully be able to come up with a long-term budget plan but that would take time to be worked out.
So the sequester cuts remain in place and will likely remain for a while. Now the government has ended tuition assistance for military veterans that are not already receiving the benefits. This is how Congress has chosen to thank them for their years of service defending the rights of those same members of Congress that cut back on a benefit that they expected when they signed up for service. And if you are a current member of the military who is trying to get a career around your service, you may have to put that on hold as the government has cut that benefit as well. But the disrespect shown to the military does not even stop there. Now, due to the sequestration, scholarships for children whose parents were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are being cut back as well. Their parent made the ultimate sacrifice for the country and now the country has chosen to “honor” those that died in service to their country by reducing the scholarship promised to their children by around 38%. These are children who grew up without a parent (these scholarships go back years and are not only for those who have recently been lost in combat) but Congress has chosen to send that message that they care 38% less now than they did in the past.
Outside of how the sequester is affecting education benefits for those in the military, special education programs nationwide are on the verge of taking a financial pounding. Overall, the cuts to special education spending caused by the sequester is expected to have a negative impact on 7.4 million students nationwide as well as 49,365 educators according to the National Education Association (NEA). The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is expected to be cut by around one billion dollars. The Committee for Education Funding (CEF) has estimated that the total cuts for education are going to be between $3.5 and $4.1 billion. The simple fact of the matter is that the students that will experience sequestration the most are those who have disabilities and low income students. If a local or state government were to make such cuts to special education, it is possible that they could be taken to court by the Justice Department for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Congress, however, feels like it is above the law and has the authority to bully those who cannot fight back.
In Minnesota alone, which is one of the states that is considered to be least affected by the sequester, the NEA projects that cuts to programs for low income students will impact 8,510 students. Cuts to Head Start will affect 570 students while other cuts to preschool grants will impact 785 more students. Cuts to programs for those who speak English as a second language or who are beginning English speakers will have a negative impact on 3,370 students. Special education cuts will hit hard as well with an estimated 5,525 students receiving lessened services due to sequestration. In Minnesota alone, the NEA estimates that the cuts will have a negative impact on 83,220 students and that the potential for 343 jobs being lost (118 of those jobs for those who work in special education). 83,220 is not a statistic. It is a lot of people. It is a lot of students who are seeing their right to an education being trampled on.
The voters put the current members of Congress in their position as well as President Obama. To point the finger at one single politician would be wrong. To point the finger at all of them collectively would be correct. It does not matter if the politician is a Republican or Democrat. That politician is a part of the problem. Not only have they demonstrated that they are not interested in the real world conditions of their constituents, they have chosen to throw dirt in the face of every American through the thrust of the sequester and its cuts. Not only have they clearly shown that education is not an issue for them, they have shown that they are more than content to focus the consequences of their ineptness in their jobs at those with disabilities. And their message to those who have served in the military or have had their lives changed irrevocably by military service is loud and clear: you served your country because you care about your country, but the people entrusted with running the country that you so loved that you risked your life do not care about you. Is there any bigger bully than one that takes advantage of the weakest kid on playground? Is there anyone more ungrateful than one who throws dirt in the face of those who served them? Actually, there is. There are 536 people who have chosen to do both in Washington right now: 435 Representatives, 100 Senators, and 1 President. | <urn:uuid:e4f4cc9b-1675-488c-8eb7-d387c9909a17> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.examiner.com/article/a-new-bully-on-the-block-how-the-sequester-is-attacking-the-weak-and-military?cid=rss | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983743 | 1,100 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Morocco's prime minister in Dakar summit on anti-terrorism pact
Regional-Senegal, Politics, 10/16/2001
Thirty African countries, including Morocco, which will be represented by Prime Minister Abderrahmane Youssoufi, will be taking part this October 17 in the African anti-terrorism summit in Dakar.
Twenty heads of state will also be attending the conference convened by Senegalese president, Abdoulaye Wade, to look into an African anti-terrorism pact devised by Wade.
In addition to African representatives, observers and top representatives of France and the USA, international partners are expected in the summit.
Senegalese foreign minister, Sheikh Tidjane Gadio, told diplomats it is necessary that Africa takes part in the world efforts to fight terrorism, arguing that the convention on terrorism adopted in 1999 in Algiers by the Organization of African Unity is flawed as some member-countries could refuse to extradite a terrorist to another member state.
Senegalese president supports fusion of OMEGA and Mbeki's Plan for Africa
Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.
| Advertise on ArabicNews.com. MyFlowers.com sold more than $2700 of flowers in one month advertising on ArabicNews.com! Make your company, and products a success. Special rate for new and small business. Inquire!Advertising Info | <urn:uuid:6dab2b5e-2720-43f1-9479-f28be2c18a6b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/011016/2001101623.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916494 | 311 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Oil, Geopolitics, and the Coming War with Iran
Oil, Geopolitics, and the Coming War with Iran
As the United States gears up for an attack on Iran, one thing is certain: the Bush administration will never mention oil as a reason for going to war. As in the case of Iraq, weapons of mass destruction (WMD) will be cited as the principal justification for an American assault. "We will not tolerate the construction of a nuclear weapon [by Iran]," is the way President Bush put it in a much-quoted 2003 statement. But just as the failure to discover illicit weapons in Iraq undermined the administration's use of WMD as the paramount reason for its invasion, so its claim that an attack on Iran would be justified because of its alleged nuclear potential should invite widespread skepticism. More important, any serious assessment of Iran's strategic importance to the United States should focus on its role in the global energy equation.
Before proceeding further, let me state for the record that I do not claim oil is the sole driving force behind the Bush administration's apparent determination to destroy Iranian military capabilities. No doubt there are many national security professionals in Washington who are truly worried about Iran's nuclear program, just as there were many professionals who were genuinely worried about Iraqi weapons capabilities. I respect this. But no war is ever prompted by one factor alone, and it is evident from the public record that many considerations, including oil, played a role in the administration's decision to invade Iraq. Likewise, it is reasonable to assume that many factors -- again including oil -- are playing a role in the decision-making now underway over a possible assault on Iran.
Just exactly how much weight the oil factor carries in the administration's decision-making is not something that we can determine with absolute assurance at this time, but given the importance energy has played in the careers and thinking of various high officials of this administration, and given Iran's immense resources, it would be ludicrous not to take the oil factor into account -- and yet you can rest assured that, as relations with Iran worsen, American media reports and analysis of the situation will generally steer a course well clear of the subject (as they did in the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq).
One further caveat: When talking about oil's importance in American strategic thinking about Iran, it is important to go beyond the obvious question of Iran's potential role in satisfying our country's future energy requirements. Because Iran occupies a strategic location on the north side of the Persian Gulf, it is in a position to threaten oil fields in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates, which together possess more than half of the world's known oil reserves. Iran also sits athwart the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which, daily, 40% of the world's oil exports pass. In addition, Iran is becoming a major supplier of oil and natural gas to China, India, and Japan, thereby giving Tehran additional clout in world affairs. It is these geopolitical dimensions of energy, as much as Iran's potential to export significant quantities of oil to the United States, that undoubtedly govern the administration's strategic calculations.
Having said this, let me proceed to an assessment of Iran's future energy potential. According to the most recent tally by Oil and Gas Journal, Iran houses the second-largest pool of untapped petroleum in the world, an estimated 125.8 billion barrels. Only Saudi Arabia, with an estimated 260 billion barrels, possesses more; Iraq, the third in line, has an estimated 115 billion barrels. With this much oil -- about one-tenth of the world's estimated total supply -- Iran is certain to play a key role in the global energy equation, no matter what else occurs.
It is not, however, just sheer quantity that matters in Iran's case; no less important is its future productive capacity. Although Saudi Arabia possesses larger reserves, it is now producing oil at close to its maximum sustainable rate (about 10 million barrels per day). It will probably be unable to raise its output significantly over the next 20 years while global demand, pushed by significantly higher consumption in the United States, China, and India, is expected to rise by 50%. Iran, on the other hand, has considerable growth potential: it is now producing about 4 million barrels per day, but is thought to be capable of boosting its output by another 3 million barrels or so. Few, if any, other countries possess this potential, so Iran's importance as a producer, already significant, is bound to grow in the years ahead.
And it is not just oil that Iran possesses in great abundance, but also natural gas. According to Oil and Gas Journal, Iran has an estimated 940 trillion cubic feet of gas, or approximately 16% of total world reserves. (Only Russia, with 1,680 trillion cubic feet, has a larger supply.) As it takes approximately 6,000 cubic feet of gas to equal the energy content of 1 barrel of oil, Iran's gas reserves represent the equivalent of about 155 billion barrels of oil. This, in turn, means that its combined hydrocarbon reserves are the equivalent of some 280 billion barrels of oil, just slightly behind Saudi Arabia's combined supply. At present, Iran is producing only a small share of its gas reserves, about 2.7 trillion cubic feet per year. This means that Iran is one of the few countries capable of supplying much larger amounts of natural gas in the future.
What all this means is that Iran will play a critical role in the world's future energy equation. This is especially true because the global demand for natural gas is growing faster than that for any other source of energy, including oil. While the world currently consumes more oil than gas, the supply of petroleum is expected to contract in the not-too-distant future as global production approaches its peak sustainable level -- perhaps as soon as 2010 -- and then begins a gradual but irreversible decline. The production of natural gas, on the other hand, is not likely to peak until several decades from now, and so is expected to take up much of the slack when oil supplies become less abundant. Natural gas is also considered a more attractive fuel than oil in many applications, especially because when consumed it releases less carbon dioxide (a major contributor to the greenhouse effect).
No doubt the major U.S. energy companies would love to be working with Iran today in developing these vast oil and gas supplies. At present, however, they are prohibited from doing so by Executive Order (EO) 12959, signed by President Clinton in 1995 and renewed by President Bush in March 2004. The United States has also threatened to punish foreign firms that do business in Iran (under the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act of 1996), but this has not deterred many large companies from seeking access to Iran's reserves. China, which will need vast amounts of additional oil and gas to fuel its red-hot economy, is paying particular attention to Iran. According to the Department of Energy (DoE), Iran supplied 14% of China's oil imports in 2003, and is expected to provide an even larger share in the future. China is also expected to rely on Iran for a large share of its liquid natural gas (LNG) imports. In October 2004, Iran signed a $100 billion, 25-year contract with Sinopec, a major Chinese energy firm, for joint development of one of its major gas fields and the subsequent delivery of LNG to China. If this deal is fully consummated, it will constitute one of China's biggest overseas investments and represent a major strategic linkage between the two countries.
India is also keen to obtain oil and gas from Iran. In January, the Gas Authority of India Ltd. (GAIL) signed a 30-year deal with the National Iranian Gas Export Corp. for the transfer of as much as 7.5 million tons of LNG to India per year. The deal, worth an estimated $50 billion, will also entail Indian involvement in the development of Iranian gas fields. Even more noteworthy, Indian and Pakistani officials are discussing the construction of a $3 billion natural gas pipeline from Iran to India via Pakistan ¬ an extraordinary step for two long-term adversaries. If completed, the pipeline would provide both countries with a substantial supply of gas and allow Pakistan to reap $200-$500 million per year in transit fees. "The gas pipeline is a win-win proposition for Iran, India, and Pakistan," Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz declared in January.
Despite the pipeline's obvious attractiveness as an incentive for reconciliation between India and Pakistan -- nuclear powers that have fought three wars over Kashmir since 1947 and remain deadlocked over the future status of that troubled territory -- the project was condemned by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a recent trip to India. "We have communicated to the Indian government our concerns about the gas pipeline cooperation between Iran and India," she said on March 16 after meeting with Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh in New Delhi. The administration has, in fact, proved unwilling to back any project that offers an economic benefit to Iran. This has not, however, deterred India from proceeding with the pipeline.
Japan has also broken ranks with Washington on the issue of energy ties with Iran. In early 2003, a consortium of three Japanese companies acquired a 20% stake in the development of the Soroush-Nowruz offshore field in the Persian Gulf, a reservoir thought to hold 1 billion barrels of oil. One year later, the Iranian Offshore Oil Company awarded a $1.26 billion contract to Japan's JGC Corporation for the recovery of natural gas and natural gas liquids from Soroush-Nowruz and other offshore fields.
When considering Iran's role in the global energy equation, therefore, Bush administration officials have two key strategic aims: a desire to open up Iranian oil and gas fields to exploitation by American firms, and concern over Iran's growing ties to America's competitors in the global energy market. Under U.S. law, the first of these aims can only be achieved after the President lifts EO 12959, and this is not likely to occur as long as Iran is controlled by anti-American mullahs and refuses to abandon its uranium enrichment activities with potential bomb-making applications. Likewise, the ban on U.S. involvement in Iranian energy production and export gives Tehran no choice but to pursue ties with other consuming nations. From the Bush administration's point of view, there is only one obvious and immediate way to alter this unappetizing landscape -- by inducing "regime change" in Iran and replacing the existing leadership with one far friendlier to U.S. strategic interests.
That the Bush administration seeks to foster regime change in Iran is not in any doubt. The very fact that Iran was included with Saddam's Iraq and Kim Jong Il's North Korea in the "Axis of Evil" in the President's 2002 State of the Union Address was an unmistakable indicator of this. Bush let his feelings be known again in June 2003, at a time when there were anti-government protests by students in Tehran. "This is the beginning of people expressing themselves toward a free Iran, which I think is positive," he declared. In a more significant indication of White House attitudes on the subject, the Department of Defense has failed to fully disarm the People's Mujaheddin of Iran (or Mujaheddin-e Khalq, MEK), an anti-government militia now based in Iraq that has conducted terrorist actions in Iran and is listed on the State Department's roster of terrorist organizations. In 2003, the Washington Post reported that some senior administration figures would like to use the MEK as a proxy force in Iran, in the same manner that the Northern Alliance was employed against the Taliban in Afghanistan.
The Iranian leadership is well aware that it faces a serious threat from the Bush administration and is no doubt taking whatever steps it can to prevent such an attack. Here, too, oil is a major factor in both Tehran's and Washington's calculations. To deter a possible American assault, Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz and otherwise obstruct oil shipping in the Persian Gulf area. "An attack on Iran will be tantamount to endangering Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and, in a word, the entire Middle East oil," Iranian Expediency Council secretary Mohsen Rezai said on March 1st.
Such threats are taken very seriously by the U.S. Department of Defense. "We judge Iran can briefly close the Strait of Hormuz, relying on a layered strategy using predominantly naval, air, and some ground forces," Vice Admiral Lowell E. Jacoby, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee on February 16th.
Planning for such attacks is, beyond doubt, a major priority for top Pentagon officials. In January, veteran investigative reporter Seymour Hersh reported in the New Yorker magazine that the Department of Defense was conducting covert reconnaissance raids into Iran, supposedly to identify hidden Iranian nuclear and missile facilities that could be struck in future air and missile attacks. "I was repeatedly told that the next strategic target was Iran," Hersh said of his interviews with senior military personnel. Shortly thereafter, the Washington Post revealed that the Pentagon was flying surveillance drones over Iran to verify the location of weapons sites and to test Iranian air defenses. As noted by the Post, "Aerial espionage [of this sort] is standard in military preparations for an eventual air attack." There have also been reports of talks between U.S. and Israeli officials about a possible Israeli strike on Iranian weapons facilities, presumably with behind-the-scenes assistance from the United States.
In reality, much of Washington's concern about Iran's pursuit of WMD and ballistic missiles is sparked by fears for the safety of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, other Persian Gulf oil producers, and Israel rather than by fears of a direct Iranian assault on the United States. "Tehran has the only military in the region that can threaten its neighbors and Gulf security," Jacoby declared in his February testimony. "Its expanding ballistic missile inventory presents a potential threat to states in the region." It is this regional threat that American leaders are most determined to eliminate.
In this sense, more than any other, the current planning for an attack on Iran is fundamentally driven by concern over the safety of U.S. energy supplies, as was the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. In the most telling expression of White House motives for going to war against Iraq, Vice President Dick Cheney (in an August 2002 address to the Veterans of Foreign Wars) described the threat from Iraq as follows: "Should all [of Hussein's WMD] ambitions be realized, the implications would be enormous for the Middle East and the United States.... Armed with an arsenal of these weapons of terror and a seat atop 10 percent of the world's oil reserves, Saddam Hussein could then be expected to seek domination of the entire Middle East, take control of a great portion of the world's energy supplies, [and] directly threaten America's friends throughout the region." This was, of course, unthinkable to Bush's inner circle. And all one need do is substitute the words "Iranian mullahs" for Saddam Hussein, and you have a perfect expression of the Bush administration case for making war on Iran.
So, even while publicly focusing on Iran's weapons of mass destruction, key administration figures are certainly thinking in geopolitical terms about Iran's role in the global energy equation and its capacity to obstruct the global flow of petroleum. As was the case with Iraq, the White House is determined to eliminate this threat once and for all. And so, while oil may not be the administration's sole reason for going to war with Iran, it is an essential factor in the overall strategic calculation that makes war likely.
Michael T. Klare is a professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College and the author of Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of America's Growing Dependency on Imported Oil (Metropolitan Books).
Copyright 2005 Michael T. Klare
[This article first appeared on Tomdispatch.com, a weblog of the Nation Institute, which offers a steady flow of alternate sources, news, and opinion from Tom Engelhardt, long time editor in publishing and author of The End of Victory Culture and The Last Days of Publishing.] | <urn:uuid:050326eb-8d04-4671-bef7-c8765710fd3f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.zcommunications.org/oil-geopolitics-and-the-coming-war-with-iran-by-michael-t-klare | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962426 | 3,337 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Sam Reed: Brief Biography
Sam Reed was born Samuel Pobiersky in a small Jewish village of Konela in the Ukraine on August 20, 1906 and died on August 3, 1999 in Durham, North Carolina. Reed was raised by his mother and grandfather, Rabbi Dashevsky, who instilled in him the virtues of tolerance and love for all people regardless of their differences. His grandfather also taught Sam to value intellectual life and rigorous debate, and Sam live these values every day. In 1923, Sam fled the Ukraine and immigrated to the United States with his mother and two brothers in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, having survived anti-Jewish riots and near-starvation. Inspired by the revolution's values, Sam moved to Duluth, Minnesota when he arrived in the U.S. and quickly became a radical political activist.
In 1925, Sam changed his name to Reed in honor of John Reed, author of Ten Days that Shook the World, a history of the Bolshevik Revolution. Sam joined the Communist Party and spent the years prior to World War II organizing on behalf of the downtrodden. In his passionate efforts to improve the immigrant laborers in Duluth, the tenants of slumlords in New York, and during the Depression, he moved to Pittsburg to work in the Congress of Industrial Organizations' efforts to organize the steel workers whose living and working conditions he found to be deplorable.
Sam served in the U.S. Army in World War II on the island of New Guinea and returned to activism at the end of the war. During the anti-communist hysteria of the McCarthy Era, Senator Joe McCarthy himself called Sam one of the most dangerous men alive. Not long after, Sam left the Communist party because of the crimes of Josef Stalin, and he turned his energy to the civil rights movement. Just as he had worked with labor hero John L. Lewis in the steel mills of Pittsburgh, Sam marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma and Chicago.
Through it all, his marriage to Georgia, his wife of 54 years, sustained him. He met Georgia while organizing steel workers, and as a teacher of inner city children, she shared his convictions. Her salary often supported them during his years of political organizing. In 1973, Sam and Georgia moved to Durham, and he immediately became a prominent figure on the local scene. Sam exerted his leadership on behalf of better pay for Durham's public employees. He founded and led a local Labor Day celebration. When the Martin Luther King Holiday was passed into law, Sam led the group that established an annual local celebration and march. He worked diligently in political campaigns not because he was a politician, but because he wanted to support those candidates who he believed would truly serve Durham's neediest citizens.
He often commented to friends that his happiest and most productive days were spent in Durham. Within a month of his death, Reed continued to work tirelessly, meeting people and sharing his message of justice, equality, and brotherhood, and recruiting volunteers and raising funds for the Trumpet of Conscience. He was a prolific writer whose editorials and comments often filled the editorial and letters pages of the local newspapers voicing his positions on the issues of the day. In 1999, Sam was elected to be vice-president of the Durham chapter of the NAACP with responsibility for increasing membership. One month later, Sam had recruited 100 new members, white and black.
Sam's greatest legacy in Durham was the publication and organization he founded, The Trumpet of Conscience. The Trumpet newspaper, published from 1987-2000, was a forum for anyone who wished to express his or her views related to community betterment and grassroots activism. Through The Trumpet, he sought to build a better Durham and was dedicated to promoting racial harmony and community involvement. In the true spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr., The Trumpet's motto was "Keeping the Dream Alive."
To commemorate his service to Durham, on August 9, 1999 the Durham County Commissioners entered a resolution honoring him. Similarly, the City of Durham Human Relations Commission established the Sam Reed Advocacy Award in his honor. The award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated dedication and commitment to civil and human rights advocacy. Additionally, the s Commission Commission entered a September 7, 1999 resolution memorializing him. Among the numerous awards and recognitions bestowed upon Reed were:
- (Posthumous) Spirit of Hayti Award given by the St. Joseph's Historic Foundation, March 22, 2001
- Community Service Award given by the Ar-Razzaq Islamic Center, April 25, 1998
- Carlie B. Sessoms Award given by the Durham Human Relations Commission, February 26, 1998
- Award of Excellence – "In grateful appreciation for outstanding service to the election of Joe W. Bowser, Durham County Commissioner 1996-1998"
- Citizen Award given by the Independent Weekly, December 19, 1994
- Certificate of Appreciation given by the Durham County Commissioners, "For helping to build a community of brotherhood and love as the founder of the Trumpet of Conscience publication, April 18, 1994."
- Outstanding and Dedicated Service Award given by Durham Chapter, NCSC, May 1981
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Service Award, January 15, 1990
- The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Holiday, "Keeper of the Dream Award presented to the Trumpet of Conscience, January 16, 1989
- The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Holiday, "Keeper of the Dream Award presented to Sam Reed, January 20, 1986
- Outstanding leadership, love, and dedicated service," given by the Durham Chapter #189 AARP November 14, 1986
- AFSCME in the public service, December 13, 1985 ("Leadership as business manager of the city workers union local 1194")
Reed passed away on August 3, 1999 after a brief illness. A memorial service was held for him at St. Joseph's Historic Foundation/Hayti Heritage Center located at Fayetteville Street, Durham, North Carolina on Sunday, August 15, 1999, a location where The Trumpet often held meetings and celebrations. Although Sam and Georgia had no children, Sam maintained close ties with his nephews, Bill Powers of Sacramento, Rick Powers of Iowa, Tom Powers of Chicago, and Steve Gardner of Bloomington, Indiana.
Biography Compiled by Lois Deloatch, July 17, 2007
- Deloatch, Lois, personal conversations with Sam Reed, 1996-1999.
- Obituary written by Bill Powers for Sam Reed's memorial service, August 1999.
- Durham County Commissioners' Resolution, August 9, 1999.
- Durham Herald Sun Newspaper, Sam Reed Obituary, published on August 6, 1999.
- Titles of awards were taken from the actual plaques. | <urn:uuid:f71702c2-de94-4cad-8dc8-531e9713b7fc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/trumpet/biography/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971727 | 1,392 | 2.84375 | 3 |
WTC Health Program Funds Registry Until 2016
The federal WTC Health Program has awarded the WTC Health Registry
a four-year extension to continue its work identifying and tracking the long-term physical and mental health effects of the WTC disaster among the 71,000 enrollees directly exposed to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
The federal funding will support multiple Registry activities including a fourth health survey of Registry enrollees, the analysis of the 2011-2012 survey and surveillance of potential emerging conditions. For the first time, the grant also includes funding specifically for outreach to enrollees eligible for services from the federal WTC Health Program. This includes approximately 15,405 survivor enrollees who never have had access to WTC-specific treatment because they lived outside the New York City metropolitan area. | <urn:uuid:82a2a361-81b2-46b9-9095-6ba04387a799> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/wtc/html/news/08272012.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948898 | 155 | 2.0625 | 2 |
In our final Thinker in Residence installment on Bruce Nussbaum, author of Creative Intelligence, we asked Nussbaum to give us an idea of the question that most drives him to do the work he does, and also what books have influenced his work. Read on and enjoy Nussbaum’s unique perspective that applies a sharp intellect and, to my mind, a light touch on such topics as creativity, capitalism, invention, and strategy.
∗ What is the one unanswered question about business you are most interested in answering?
Decoding creativity is the biggest business challenge of our era. Creativity is the source of economic value yet we still don’t know that much about it. We don’t know what it is, how to train for it, who has it, how to manage it, how to maximize it. Creativity is at the heart of start-ups and entrepreneurship. Creativity still scares more business people yet they know that new products, services, and experiences generate the biggest profits of all. Our business schools still teach the analytics of efficiency because they are comfortable with it but also because they don’t know much about creativity. We need to decode creativity.
∗ What business book has influenced your work the most?
Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism has had the most profound impact on my work. I have all my students read it. Creative Intelligence embraces the centrality of transforming what money can’t buy into what money can buy as being key to the rise of capitalism and Weber nails that. Weber, to take just one of many examples, talks about the notion of a “calling,” and it is this sense of a calling that drives so many creative people, including most entrepreneurs, to do what they do. Their motivation is not monetary gain per se but something higher, grander. Today we’ve secularized all that and our “calling” is in the name of society, the people. You can’t understand Sergey Brin or Jeff Bezos without knowing Weber.
∗ What is the business book you wish you had written and why?
The biography of David Kelley, co-founder of IDEO and founder of the Stanford D-School. Kelley has had, and continues to have, a tremendous impact on education, business, design, and society. He’s one of the quirkiest men I’ve ever met—and I’ve met a lot of powerful, strange people in my career, from Bill Casey to Henry Kissinger. I have a weird kind of dyslexia, a spacial dyslexia, that leaves me in a constant state of lost all the time. I don’t quite know where I am or how to get to another place. It’s been great for my creativity but don’t ask for directions—or even logic from me. Kelley seems to me to somehow be in that space. Plus, he has some great antique trucks.
∗ What business book are you reading right now?
I’m reading Playing to Win by Roger Martin, Dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, and A.G. Lafley, former CEO of P&G. Martin is the most innovative business school dean I’ve ever known and Lafley is an even greater rarity—he’s one of the most innovative CEOs there is. Martin was the chief consultant to Lafley when he ran P&G between 2000 and 2009 so we have a book by real practitioners with real experience who transformed one of the largest corporations in the world, making it much more innovative, much more creative.
And they are talking about strategy in straightforward, practical ways. Strategy is the science (or better yet, the practice) of choice. It is deciding, as Martin says, where to play and how to win. P&G transformed its winning game by opening up its closed silos, networking with outsiders for the first time and changing its internal culture to be much more creative and innovative. Martin and Lafley don’t explicitly talk about ‘Framing” and “Reframing” the narrative of a corporation and its engagement with its customers, but that’s what much of strategy really is.
Bruce Nussbaum, former assistant managing editor for BusinessWeek, is professor of innovation and design at Parsons School of Design and an award-winning writer. He is founder of the Innovation & Design online channel, and IN: Inside Innovation, a quarterly innovation magazine, and blogs at Fast Company and Harvard Business Review. Nussbaum is responsible for starting BusinessWeek‘s coverage of the annual International Design Excellence Award and the World’s Most Innovative Companies survey. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He taught third-grade science in the Philippines as a Peace Corps volunteer. | <urn:uuid:df6f904d-64b5-430d-b61d-cc7385aef816> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.800ceoread.com/2013/03/07/tir-bruce-nussbaum-on-business-books/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964614 | 1,013 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Monday, May 05, 2003
By GI SMITH
TR Staff Writer
ZANESVILLE -- Frustrated, feeling out of control, feeling alone and that you don't matter to anyone anymore, afraid of becoming a burden -- sometimes that's when the choice is made.
For one local woman, who requested anonymity for this article, there were no obvious signs that a female relative was contemplating suicide. Those around her never considered that the woman would take her own life -- mostly because she didn't fit the commonly perceived "profile" of someone likely to kill herself. She was a 71-year-old widow who had a part-time job.
It was two days after Easter a few years ago when the woman's grandson went to her home to check on her. He found her in her favorite chair, feet propped up and dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Two days earlier she was celebrating the end of Lent with her family, apparently happy.
But in hindsight, her actions -- before, during and after the suicide -- would fit an all-too-common profile often overlooked in society.
Most think suicidal people are tormented young men reacting in a heated moment. But the national numbers show a more likely suicide candidate. Of all the various age groups, the suicide rate among people 65 years and older is 50 percent higher than any other age group in the country. Experts agree that the suicide death rate for that age group is often overshadowed by teen suicide rates.
The most recent local statistics provided by the Center for Health Data and Statistics and the Ohio Department of Health regarding Muskingum County show that from 1996 to 1998 there were six suicides within the 65+ age group. That number was down from the 1990 to 1992 statistics, where nine senior citizens took their own lives. However, during the 1996 to 1998 time frame, more people from the 35 to 64 age group and the 15 to 34 age group killed themselves, which is not in keeping with the national average.
With the baby boomer population embarking on the "golden years," the senior citizen population is expected to double to 70 million by the year 2030 -- and the numbers of seniors who commit suicide is likely to jump as well. In Ohio, the suicide risk for people over the age of 80 is three to four times higher than for other age groups.
According to Ohio's Suicide Prevention Plan, which was prepared by the Ohio Department of Health in collaboration with the Ohio Coalition for Suicide Prevention, some factors that make the elderly prone to killing themselves are "social isolation, significant losses (death of spouse, loss of home, family and friends), illness, disability, chronic pain, depression and, oftentimes, hidden alcoholism."
One common characteristic of senior citizen suicide is how thoroughly planned the act is.
"It did seem thoroughly planned," the victim said. "In fact, the depth of her planning was really quite astonishing to me. She typically depended on me and my family (following her husband's death) to help her plan things. She had been a very dependent person and did not like to make decisions on her own. She had obviously given this a lot of thought and put a lot of energy into putting things in place prior to her death."
The plans included leaving several notes to her family and her workplace. The notes to her family members included additional instructions to her estate will, an explanation that she didn't want to become a burden to her family and special messages to each of her sons commenting on what she expected from them as a result of her death.
As a librarian at a school, she left notes to teachers that would help prepare them for upcoming events.
"Since she committed suicide over Easter break from school, she had left notes prior to the break in the school library for several teachers who depended on her to have materials ready for them at certain times of the year," she said. "The notes provided detailed instructions to each one. She also mailed a note to the school principal apologizing for leaving her work unfinished for the year."
Because the woman worked at the school, the family chose not to identify her in the article because it might cause psychological harm to the students.
The victim, who is a social worker, said the woman often confided in her and had lengthy discussions about her feelings for a period after becoming widowed.
"She had definitely been suffering with depression since her husband died. I had urged her on several occasions to seek professional help or at the very least, have her family doctor prescribe an antidepressant. She was taking something for anxiety. She was a devout Catholic and believed strongly in the power of prayer ... She used me as a sounding board and support person. I thought that she was getting a handle on her depression several months prior to her death. She had stopped talking so much about her feelings and seemed to be getting back into a more independent routine of activity with friends and co-workers. In hindsight, I realize that I was probably less attentive to her as well...I missed all the typical signs of impending suicide."
Recognizing the signs
Dr. Frank LoSchiavo, professor of psychology at Ohio University-Zanesville, said there are warning signs that may precede suicide but sometimes those signs are just not visible to others.
"There are some signs (of an upcoming suicide) but I think that it is really important to note that there is no definitive measure to foresee (someone will commit) suicide," LoSchiavo said.
Some people contemplating suicide exhibit mental illness, depression, have abused alcohol or drugs or have talked about committing suicide. Sometimes, suicidal people begin to settle their estate while they're still alive.
"She had been making contact with distant friends and relatives to 'catch them up on our lives.' She had completed several overdue projects like photo albums, scrapbooks, etc. On the Sunday before her death, she gave my mother some 'special' pictures she had reproduced of my children and she made an extra trip back to my house to give my husband his favorite Easter candy -- not typical for her behavior," the victim said.
Another surprising characteristic was uncovered regarding senior citizen suicide.
"Coming from the (National Institute of Mental Health), of the older adults who have committed suicide, many of them have visited their primary care physician," LoSchiavo said. Further examination of events surrounding senior citizen suicide show that 70 percent of those who took their life had visited a physician within a month of their death, according to NIMH.
In the victim's case, her relative had recently visited her doctor.
"We were not aware of any chronic illness other than hypertension and arthritis that she had been treated for over the past several years," she said. "However, in a diary we found when distributing her belongings, there was reference to a belief that she and my 18-year-old (at the time) son both had cancer and that she did not want to face dealing with the consequences of that belief. We checked with all physicians that we knew she had contact with and were never able to confirm her belief. My son had recently been told that he had a benign tumor on his shoulder...it was not cancerous and we had reassured her of that at the time."
Tom Quinn, president of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI)-Six County, said help is available for people of any age considering suicide and that friends and family members should seek immediate professional help if they suspect a loved one may be contemplating death.
"We need to get the word out to everyone (about immediate resources available)," he said. "There are all kinds of signs (someone is considering suicide) and we as a society need to be able to recognize those signs."
He added that victims of suicide also have resources available to them to help cope with their loss.
Sandra Harstine, managed care coordinator for the Mental Health and Recovery Services Board, said they are currently working on several initiatives around suicide awareness and intervention. Though the board doesn't actually provide mental health services, they do plan, manage and monitor the public system of care by contracting a network of service providers.
What's being done
More than a year ago, the Ohio Coalition for Suicide Prevention convened leaders in public health, mental health, academics, faith and survivor communities. In the six meetings across the state, more than 300 experts in their fields outlined the characteristics of an effective suicide prevention plan in the state. Those traits included being:
Focused on adolescents and young adults first, then on other priority groups (middle-aged white males and the elderly)
Public health focused
Appropriate for a community-based mental health system
Built on data, research and best practices
Able to address statewide needs
The plan states:
"Selective prevention is dedicated to prevent the onset of suicidal behavior in priority risk groups. These strategies may include screening and assessments, training of natural community gatekeepers (people who can recognize life-threatening distress in individuals or families), and community-based mental health treatment."
The plan includes an Awareness Goal under which there are five objectives including developing local, broad-based support for prevention, a partnership with Ohio's media to further prevention, a push to inform policy makers, develop and implement public awareness campaigns and encourage the use of evidence-based prevention and awareness programs in schools.
Also in the plan is an Intervention Goal, under which are five objectives that include strengthening crisis response and building community capacity to serve people at risk and in need of treatment, increase the number and quality of key gatekeepers, increase the ability of health care professionals and the clergy to intervene and to promote and support the presence of protective factors.
Finally, the plan includes a Methodology Goal that consists of three objectives that target the development of state and county surveillance systems, an increase in scientific knowledge by advancing research, outcome evaluations and knowledge transfers, and the promotion of a research agenda.
"This death was devastating to my family," the victim said. "After the initial grief, there was so much anger and confusion among the immediate family. All of the 'what ifs' and the 'should haves' really ate at family and friends. We sought and received excellent support from professionals at Six County for the adults and children in the family. There were, in my opinion, however, long range effects...All (family members) have related part of their symptoms to guilt, fear, anger and confusion about her death. There will forever be a shadow over our Easter celebrations and an underlying uneasiness about how a family member will react to trauma."
Originally published Sunday, May 4, 2003 | <urn:uuid:9c15ce6e-0aa2-4a59-82c2-511e94583d6a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hscareers.com/news/articles.asp?id=451 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983291 | 2,171 | 1.859375 | 2 |
TranscriptQuestion: Explain your famous water tank trick.
Penn Jillette: We wrote the water tank for Saturday Night Live. We wanted to do something big, it was for the Madonna show, a kick off show the year we were on and we want to do something big. And we wanted to do something that... our favorite Penn and Teller stuff is the stuff that the big trick is ignored. When David Blaine does a water tank all he's talking about is, "I'm in the water. I'm going to drown. I might die." Our way of doing the water tank is "I'm going to do a card trick, the card trick is what matters, I have supremely skilled hands. I'll do the beautiful card trick and oh by the way Teller is holding his breath during it." That to me is much more interesting.
So we started with that and did it for the first time for "Saturday Night Live" and then it was the bit we did the most. We did it on just about every show. We did it on "Letterman." I mean, a bit that he did on "Saturday Night Live" and on "Letterman" and a lot of other shows and also we had our own show over in England called the "Unpleasant World of Penn and Teller." We brought John Cleese on as a guest and he played the audience member part in the water tank.
Recorded on June 8, 2010
Interviewed by Paul Hoffman | <urn:uuid:562cc507-399d-4c67-9e08-a36b8e19682a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bigthink.com/videos/penn-and-tellers-water-tank-trick | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.989017 | 306 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Triumph Learning offers customized curriculum workshops and educational institutes on the Common Core State Standards for all content areas. Our skilled teacher/consultants provide professional development based on the needs of a school, district or state. We will meet with curriculum leaders and collaborate to design the services needed to ensure instructional excellence.
In addition to customized professional development sessions, workshops are available on the following topics:
"Making the Shift"
Transitioning to Common Core is a paradigm shift for teachers and a critical step in learning for students. Professional development will ease this transition by motivating and informing instructors on how to increase their depth of instruction and implement the questioning techniques required within the standards. Join the experts on the Common Core State Standards to increase knowledge and build instructional confidence in making the paradigm shift necessary for successful instruction.
Item #: PRODEV1
Target Writing for the CCSS
To build a foundation for college and career readiness, students must learn to use writing as a means of offering and supporting opinions, demonstrating understanding of the subjects they are studying, and conveying real and imagined experiences and events. The research behind writing instruction will be a focus of this in-service, as well as setting teaching expectations and goals for writing instruction. Teachers will gain knowledge about the core standards for writing, targeted writing skills for their teaching level, and the embedded language and vocabulary instruction expected during writing instruction. Each workshop will focus on the development of a classroom Writer's Workshop, the writing process, and how to develop competent writers. Each teacher will build the skills and techniques necessary for students to write opinions/arguments, narratives, and explanatory/informative pieces. Instructors will gain the understanding that they must devote significant time and effort to writing instruction, and to having their students produce numerous pieces over short and extended time frames throughout the year. Four separate sessions we offered: Kindergarten–Grade 1 Target Writing;
Grades 2–3 Target Writing;
Grades 4–5 Target Writing;
Grades 6–12 Target Writing.
Item #: PRODEV3
English Language Learners and the Common Core
The Common Core State Standards provide a strong structural framework for instruction across the curriculum for English Language Learners. Participants will explore strategies for:
- Making content comprehensible to students at all stages of English language proficiency
- Increasing student interaction and output
- Developing academic vocabulary and language
You will learn to use a unique model for planning, teaching, and assessing standards-based themes and topics. This research and best practice-based approach leads to high academic achievement for students and empowerment of teachers of English Language learners regardless of prior training.
Item #: PRODEV5
Empower Students with Power Strategies: Approaches for Content-Literacy Achievement
The new Common Core State Standards emphasize a focus on literacy across content areas. Dr. Janet Allen, leading adolescent literacy specialist, has distilled the research and identified eight "power strategies" for achievement in nonfiction literacy to include:
- Content and Specialized Vocabulary
- Text Features
- Text Structures
- Monitoring Comprehension
- Building/Activating Background Knowledge
- Previewing Text
- Noting, Organizing, and Retrieving Information
Empowered with these strategies, content-area teachers can give students access to the rigor of complex texts associated with their discipline. Students can team to transfer and apply these strategies across their content area reading, writing, language, speaking, and listening.
Participants will receive Janet's flipchart, Tools for Content Area Literacy, an easy-to-use reference for supporting strategic instruction and learning. Each strategic approach outlines how to implement, the purpose for implementation, the research supporting the strategic approach and an appendix with graphic organizers to support student success
Item #: PRODEV7
Increasing Rigor in Reading — Understanding Text Complexity for Any Classroom!
It is imperative, per the Common Core State Standards, that we emphasize our reading instruction to build deep understanding with varied texts. We must raise our reading expectations for students and choose the appropriate texts to meet the necessary rigor. In this workshop you will learn about the quantitative and qualitative factors of text complexity and ways to match readers with texts and tasks. Choosing the right text and tasks are one thing, but we will also learn to be effective close readers and develop extensive discussion with our students as they read. Participants will develop lessons to ensure that students are prepared for a wide range of reading and writing. Finally, participants will be able to recognize varied texts to use for text complexity within current libraries and develop text-based questions to raise the level of critical reading.
Item #: PRODEV9
Curriculum Support with Readiness for Common Core
As teachers and students transition to the goals and intentions of the Common Core State Standards, this professional development session provides a vision and practice for instructional excellence. The Readiness for Common Core digital program includes book resources aligned to the Core Standards, and has the ability to analyze instructional data and highlight strategies that promote problem solving and critical thinking. The Readiness for Common Core digital resource provides intense instruction for whole group, small group, and individual students in Grades 3–8. This interactive workshop will take the school or district's current curriculum and support it with multiple ways of planning and using Readiness for these various approaches to instruction—sharing the most important aspects of the Common Core State Standards. Teachers will work with peers to plan, and the facilitator will demonstrate utilization of Readiness resources, to build upon current curriculum in order to enhance the achievement of all students in the class. Additional strategies and ideas to differentiate instruction in the 21st-century classroom will be demonstrated.
Item #: PRODEV11
Differentiation — An Individualized Student Learning Plan
The Common Core Standards are the student expectations for each grade level. Instructors have the task of developing all populations of learners to meet these expectations. This researched -based professional session makes teaching to every student a less daunting experience. We teach your instructors to move all students to their full potential through the content, process, and products developed in an instructional plan for learning.
Item #: PRODEV2
Common Core Math
This session will provide information about the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), the Standards for Mathematical Practices and the future of Common Core State Standard assessments. Attendees will discuss why, as educators, the CCSS are a wonderful, welcome change to our curriculum and instructional methodologies. Teachers unpack a cluster of standards within a domain and compare the current state standards with the rigor of CCSS. Teachers will incorporate and develop performance tasks, content vocabulary activities, and critical thinking through questioning techniques. All experiences during the session are connected to the CCSS and the Standards for Mathematical Practices. Additionally, Interactive Math Journals will be developed and outlined as a tool to encourage critical reflection by our 21st century students.
Item #: PRODEV4
Literacy Across the Content Areas — Anchor Standard Implementation
The Common Core State Standards require that students become college- and career-ready in the 21st Century. The ELA Anchor Standards for Reading, Writing, Speaking & Listening and Language are to be implemented across all content areas during the learning experience. This workshop gives instructors of Science, History/Social Studies, Math, and the Arts the tools to attentively support the College and Career Ready (CCR) Anchor Standards during daily instruction. Knowledge about the standards, strategies for instruction, and cross-curricula activities are presented. Participants work to develop key plans on their units of instruction to incorporate the CCR Anchor Standards.
Item #: PRODEV6
Teaching Students the World through the Word: Effective Strategies for Vocabulary Acquisition
We've learned a lot in recent years about the important role vocabulary plays in making meaning, yet many teachers still struggle with vocabulary instruction that goes beyond weekly word lists. Effective vocabulary instruction is particularly vital in the content areas, where the specialized language used by "insiders" often creates a barrier to understanding for those new to the subject.
Participants will receive a copy of Inside Words by Dr. Janet Allen. She merges recent research and key content-area teaching strategies to show teachers how to help students understand the academic vocabulary found in textbooks, tests, articles, and other informational texts.
Build academic success for all students through these key strategic approaches to content-area vocabulary acquisition.
Item #: PRODEV8
"Close Reading": Literacy in All Content Areas
The skill of "close reading" is fundamental for interpreting all genres of text. "Reading closely" means developing a deep understanding and a precise interpretation of a passage that is based first and foremost on the words themselves. But a close reading does not stop there; rather, it embraces larger themes and ideas evoked by the passage itself. It is essential that today's instructors learn how to develop these ideas and encourage students to read closer to dissect and comprehend the text. This session will look at strategies for acquiring vocabulary, questioning techniques, and the Socratic method of discussion to improve critical reading skills. Teachers will leave this workshop with the knowledge of "close reading" and ways to implement it as classroom readers raise their text complexity level and interact more effectively with text and articles.
Item #: PRODEV10
Super Vision for the Common Core: Be a Superhero for Your Teachers
Many states and districts are on their way to implementing the CCSS; others have not yet begun. Regardless of where your district is on the implementation timeline, the process is a complex one for school leaders who are responsible for preparing teachers, students, and parents for the shift. This session will help administrators in the early stages of CCSS implementation, in identifying what steps are necessary at the school level for successful implementation in the classroom. Administrators will leave with an action plan for their specific site.
Item #: PRODEV12
To learn more about these sessions, contact your Educational Sales Consultant at 800-338-6519 or fill out the form. | <urn:uuid:1c34e6d8-ee35-42df-969c-27662aa4f039> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.triumphlearning.com/professional-development.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910069 | 2,053 | 2.4375 | 2 |
The toy soldier has been mass-produced for the juvenile market for over 150 years and collecting them has become a very accessible and affordable pastime for many thousands of people worldwide. Okay some individual toy soldiers are expensive but nonetheless you can still amass a sizeable collection for a reasonable outlay.
One of the greatest pleasures I get as a collector of toy soldiers is seeing other peoples collections and exchanging information or ideas with them. It's a great way to learn more about the toy soldier world, broaden your interest and gain inspiration.
The purpose of this site is to show something of the wide diversity of toy soldiers that have been manufactured worldwide in a variety of different materials, included are book reviews and images of the toy soldier as made by the following manufacturers:
Here are the links to my other pages:
|Ancient||Medieval I||Medieval II||Medieval III||Displays||Composition|
|16/17th Cent||18th Cent||19th Cent||Napoleonic||Wild West||Composition II|
|Just when you thought you had seen it all!|
|adopt your own virtual pet!|
It's always great to hear from other toy soldier collectors so don't just leave without saying goodbye, sign my guestbook to tell us where you're from and what you collect.
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Toy Soldiers are normally categorised by the material they are manufactured from and here are the terms most commonly used.
|ENGLISH||FRENCH||GERMAN||What does that mean?|
|Flat Toy Soldier||Soldat d'etain||Zinnfiguren||A two dimensional wafer thin toy soldier cast from tin in moulds engraved in slate, produced in Germany and Austria from the early 19th Century to date.|
|Semi-Flat ToySoldier||Soldat de demi Ronde Bosse||Halbplastisch Figuren||Cast in solid lead they are not fully three dimensional. First made in Germany in the 1830s where they were superceeded by the Solid toy soldier. They remained popular in Austria well into the 20th Century.|
|Solid Lead Toy Soldier||Soldat de Plomb Plein/Ronde Bosse||Bleisoldaten or Rundplastische||Cast in solid metal usually lead and most common in Germany during the 19th and early 20th Century. The earliest commercial production was by LUCOTTE in France 1785.|
|Hollow Cast Toy Soldier||Soldat en Plomb Creux||Hohlguss figuren||Cast in metal, usually an alloy, which cools and sets first where it touches the mould, the excess molten metal is then poured out leaving a hollow figure. Pioneered by BRITAINS in the UK in 1893 they were much cheaper than the solid figures imported from Germany.|
|Dimestore Toy Soldier||Jouets d'un sou||Pfennigartikel figuren||Peculiar to the US where they were sold through "five and dime" stores from the 1920s to 1940s. Usually hollow cast toy soldiers, some were also made in slush cast iron.|
|Aluminium Toy Soldier||Soldat d'Aluminium||Aluminium Figuren||Slush cast aluminium was used extensively in France during the early/mid 20th Century and in England by just one company WENDAL|
|Paper Toy Soldier||Soldat de Carte||Papier Figuren||Toy Soldiers printed on sheets of paper or card to be cut out and mounted on blocks of wood have been produced all over Europe and the US since the 1770s.|
|Composition Toy Soldier||Soldat en Matiere Composee||Masse Figuren||Made from a mixture of sawdust and glue formed around a wire armature. First manufactured in Austria at the end of the 19th Century, they grew to prominence in Germany during the 1930s and 1940s. Also manufactured in France, Belgium and extensively in Italy where they are known as Pasta figures.|
|Toy Soldier Premium||Figurine Publicitaire||Werbefiguren||Produced in all types of materials, mostly post-war they are toy soldiers used to promote a product such as coffee or breakfast cerial. They often carry the product brand name rather than the toy manufacturer's and have become collectible in their own right.|
|Plastic Toy Soldier||Soldat de Matiere Plastique||Plastik Figuren||Produced from 1920s but mostly post WW2 to date. Early figures were made of hard plastics such as acetate and polystyrene, giving way to softer plastics such as polythene and lately PVC.|
|Army Men||No Equivalent||No Equivalent||A recent distinction refering to unpainted plastic toy soldiers, often copies of proprietory makes, sold cheaply in poly bags which makes them popular with wargamers who require sizeable instant armies.|
Directory of Manufacturers
Creating such a directory is a massive undertaking so please bear with us, much of the source material is drawn from books reviewed on this site (particularly the works of Opie, Joplin, O'Brien, Dittmann, Garrett and Blondieu) but also from catalogues and materials provided by numerous collectors, additional information is always welcome.
|Airfix||England||Plastic||Founder Nicholas Kove wanted the company to have a name begining with an A so that it would be near the top of trade directories. Best known for plastic construction kits they produced some of the earliest soft plastic toy soldiers in 1946 and more extensive ranges in 20mm scale from the 1960's and 54mm scale during the 1970's|
|Acedo||France||Plastic||Domage et Cie, originally made aluminium toy soldiers under the name Aludo but changed it to Acedo when they began producing the same figures in acetate plastic. Hence ACEtate DOmage|
|Aludo||France||Aluminium||Domage et Cie. see above. It was common for French companies producing aluminium figures to incorporate ALU in their name (Mingalu, Cofalu, Quiralu, etc.) Here it is ALUminium DOmage|
|Armee||Germany||Composition||From late 1930's to early 1950's made poor quality Wehrmacht and Wild West figures based on Lineol designs, didn't make the transition to plastic when the market turned away from composition|
|Athena||Greece||Plastic||Often referred to as AEHONE, based in Athens and takes it's name from the Greek godess Athena which is it's trademark. Most common figures are Hoplites and Evzones sold as tourist souveniers|
|Authenticast||Eire||Solid Lead||Authenticast Comet Gaeltacht Industries. Was set up in the Republic of Ireland by US toy soldier manufacturer Comet, to take advantage of post war development grants and tax concessions. Designed by Swedish artist Holger Eriksson who carved the masters in wax giving the finished product a distinctive "hammered" look which has a strong appeal to collectors.|
|Beffoid||France||Plastic||Named after the founder Charles Debeffe made a range of post-war French army, colonials and Wild West, some issued as premiums for Nescafe|
|Bon-Dufour||France||Composition||Made very distinctive doll like toy soldiers of the French army around the turn of the 20th Century, also made very artistic wooden forts and buildings to go with them.|
|Britains||England||Hollow Cast/Plastic||Named after the founder William Britains in 1893 who revolutionised the marketing of toy soldiers by introducing Hollow Casting to reduce cost and setting the standard size of toy soldiers at 54mm high to compliment the popular guage of toy trains. When plastic began to replace metal toy soldiers in the 1950's, due to cost and child safety laws, Britains produced some of their hollow-cast farm animals in plastic but were unable to match the quality of some of their competitors so they bought Herald to acquire the skills they needed.|
|Cellose||France||Composition||Made 80mm toy soldiers of the Napoleonic period and the contemporary French army during the 1930's|
|Charbens||England||Hollow Cast/Plastic||Named after Charlie and Ben Reid, founders of the company|
|Cherilea||England||Hollow Cast/Plastic||Named after Wilf Cherington and Jim Leaver, founders of the company.|
|Cafe Storme||Belgium||Plastic||In 1960 Francis Storme commisioned a range of figures to depict characters from Belgian history to be issued as premiums with Cafe Storme.|
|Deetail||England||Plastic||Brand name for a range of toy soldiers launched by Britains in 1971 to replace the Swappet and Eyes Right ranges which were in decline. Deetail was the brainchild of Charles Biggs who incorporated a plastic figure with a metal base to improve stability, a feature which was copied many years later by Elastolin for their 70mm swappet range.|
|Gemodels||England||Plastic||Founded by George E. Musgrave who had been a sculptor for Britains and Crescent. When the company was originally set up the name was pronounced as GemModels but there was already another toy firm making model rockets with this name so Musgrave had to change the pronunciation to GeeModels.|
|Herald||England||Plastic||Name and Trade Mark of Zang, inspired by a poster for the Harrogate Toy Fair. The company was later sold to Britains and operated independantly producing plastic toy soldiers alongside the parent company which continued to make hollow cast figures until the two were finally integrated and the metal line was discontinued.|
|Heyde||Germany||Solid Lead||Named after the founder George Heyde|
|JIM||France||Plastic||Name derived from Jouets Incassables en Matiere Plastique. Made a large range of plastic figures including Disney characters which are particularly sought after.|
|Jean||Germany||Plastic||Named after Jean Hofler, founder of the company.|
|Johillco||England||Hollow Cast/Plastic||John Hill and Co. named after the founder John Hill.|
|Leyla||Germany||Composition||Named after Christian Ley, founder of the company|
|Lone Star||England||Hollow Cast/Plastic||Trading name of the Die Cast Machine Tools cmpany (DCMT)|
|Malleable Mouldings||England||Plastic/Solid Lead||Malleable: "that which can be hammered or pressed into shape" An early (post war) attempt to make plastic figures from acetate utilising moulds designed by Holger Eriksson (see Authenticast). When this failed they produced soild metal figures for adult collectors.|
|Manurba||Germany||Plastic||Named after the founder Manfred Urban.|
|Marx||USA||Plastic||Louis Marx produced tin lithographed toy soldiers in the 1930s but is best known for developing the concept of the playset which incorporated tin lithograph buildings with plastic toy soldiers and accessories|
|Miller||USA||Plaster||Made 12" figures of WW2 G.I.s in plaster of paris.|
|Mokarex||France||Plastic||Issued as premiums with Mokarex coffee was a collection of figures depicting characters from French history|
|Pfeiffer||Austria||Composition||Named after proprietor Emil Pfeiffer, originally made dolls and began making toy soldiers around the turn of the 20th Century. Their sodiers were quite distinctive being over 10cm high they stand without any base and have child like faces, a legacy of the doll making. They went on to make the first toy soldiers for Elastolin.|
|Quiralu(x)||France||Aluminium/Plastic||Derived from Quirine et Cie. (pronounced key-ra-loo) When production changed to plastic an x appears to have been added to the name.|
|Reamsa||Spain||Plastic||Name derived from Resinas Artificiales Moldeadas S.A.|
|Reisler||Denmark||Plastic||Named after the founder Kai Reisler.|
|SAE||South Africa||Plastic/Solid Lead||Swedish African Engineers. Best known for 25mm solid lead wargame figures, they later made a range of 54mm mounted figures in plastic.|
|Schweizer||Austria||Flat tin/Semi Flat lead|
|SEGOM||France||Plastic||Name derived from Societie d' Edition General d' Objets Moules. Produced 54mm kit figures in cream acetate (mostly Napoleonic) as well as 25mm wargaming pieces|
|Spenkuch||Germany||Semi flat lead|
|Tipple Topple||Austria||Composition||Latter trade name of Pfeiffer, they made Wild West, Polar, Zoo and Crib figures.|
|Timpo||England||Composition/Aluminium Hollow Cast/Plastic||Name derived form Toy Importers Co. Founded by Sally Gawrylovitz better known as Ally Gee. Initially bought in composition figures made by Zang and aluminium made by Wendal which were packaged into playsets and sold under the Timpo name. Timpo produced their own hollow cast range and later adapted the moulds to create their early plastic figures. Contemporaneously with Britains they developed the Swappet style of figure in order to cut out the cost of hand painting, this in turn led to the development of overmoulding to provide a multicoloured product.|
|Wendal||England||Aluminium/Plastic||Name derived from Wendan Manufacturing, mostly made copies of Quiralu under licence also some original designs such as a tiger hunt produced for Timpo. The zoo and farm ranges were later produced in plastic with a flock coating to simulate fur.|
|Zang||England||Composition/Plastic||Named after the founder Meyer Zang. Initially made compositon figures for Timpo whcih carry no trademark. Early plastic figures carry the Zang trademark M overprinted with Z (which looks like a Y in a square box) this was later replaced with the Herald trademark.|
The boring bit........ About Me!
Most people start collecting toy soldiers out of a sense of nostalgia for what they had as a child, sound familiar? In my case, when I was four years old I spent some time in hospital and whenever my parents or other relatives came to visit they always brought me some new figures. That was over forty years ago and although I left hospital fully recovered from my illness, I was hopelessly addicted to collecting toy soldiers.
In all other matters I am relatively sane, happily married, overweight, employed, grey haired, shortsighted, love living in London and wish that I could be as clever as either of my two cats.
Hopefully by now you will have looked at some of the other pages and realized that primarily I am a collector of the plastic toy soldier made from the 1940's to date and the composition toy soldier made from around the turn of the century to the mid 1940's. I don't follow any particular manufacturer or theme but look for the three things that I believe make a good toy soldier:
An imaginative subject
Well crafted sculpting
The quest for such toy soldiers has led me to collecting conversions, both my own and other peoples. A conversion is a figure which started life as an ordinary commercially made toy soldier and has been changed to represent something different, the time and effort expended being more than compensated by owning a unique piece which you made yourself.
Finally, all of the opinions expressed on this site are my own and are open to criticism.
The contents of this site, including all images are Copyright 2002 of the author, Brian Carrick, and may not be used elsewhere without permission. | <urn:uuid:3bd7f8f2-62df-4eae-8ebb-48fe7dd4c146> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.toysoldier.freeuk.com/index.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934316 | 3,480 | 1.539063 | 2 |
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Saturday, May 25, 2013
Titration sleep study
I am scheduled for a titration sleep study with a bipap. I am quite nervous about this as I have had two trials of bipap but had great difficulty falling asleep with it and keeping the mask on. I had picked out a nasal mask at the sleep study that showed I needed bipap but was not put on it that night. What if I can`t tolerate it and/or can`t go to sleep with the bipap on? Will they continue the study since if I am not asleep, they won`t be able to titrate the pressures? My sleep specialist said I could take 300 mg gabapentin the night of the study to see if it helps me fall asleep. I am dreading it because of my prior experiences with bipap. I have tried a full face mask which I could not tolerate and nasal pillows which I also did not like. In the past with the trials of bipap, I did not have a sleep study at all. I pretty much was on my own once the machine was brought to my house. I am sure I am not the only one who has had a problem like this. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
As you are aware, sleep studies are cumbersome. Many wires, belts, and sensors are hooked on to you, and you are expected to sleep in an unfamiliar environment. This might be exacerbated by the addition of positive airway pressure masks. Sleep specialists recognize that these factors interfere with getting "representative" sleep during a sleep study. Occasionally, when a person does not get enough sleep, a sleep aid may be prescribed. Most sleep aids, however, interfere with the type of sleep seen during the study, and some may actually worsen sleep apnea. Although gabapentin is not a sleep aid per se, it does cause sleepiness as a side effect and it does not change the way we sleep, much.
Medications are not the only sleep aid that may work for you. The following activities may prove useful for you in preparing for your next study:
- Avoid napping during the day of the study.
- Avoid exercise within 3 hours of sleep study time. Exercising earlier in the day is encouraged.
- Avoid caffeine and alcohol 6 hours before a sleep study time, and don't smoke at least one hour before setup time.
- Relaxing activities before a sleep study can be helpful and may include a warm bath 1-2 hours before sleep study time, light reading in the lab after setup, as well as listening to a "white noise" machine to provide some background sound that is not musical.
- Taking familiar items with you to the lab such as your own pillow and blanket can go a long way in making the lab bed more like your own.
Remember that positive airway pressure masks are rarely a perfect fit. While some masks are more comfortable than others for any individual, it takes some "getting used to" and "breaking in" before a person may sleep well with one. Ask the lab to borrow the mask you're supposed to use to take home about a week before the test. You can get yourself acclimatized to the way it feels on your face by wearing the mask (without the tubing or the air pressure) for progressively longer periods of time while awake relaxing. So, you can wear the mask for 5 minutes, then for 10, 20, 40, and 60 minutes over the 5 days prior to the test. This way, when you are strapped in on the study night you are already familiar with the mask and there are no surprises.
It is true that if you don't sleep during the study night, the test is not useful. There is no way to know for sure if a person will fall asleep in the lab. There are other options, particularly for a CPAP titration (like auto-CPAP) at home. However, for BiPAP, I don't think that the technology is quite ready yet for unmonitored titrations at home. I understand you apprehension regarding repeating the test over and over again. But a worst case scenario would be that, if you are unable to sleep in the lab, an empiric pressure setting will be chosen for you with clinical and oximetry follow-up because of inability to sleep in the lab. Further testing options may be addressed once you become used to the machine and the interface.
If you would like additional information regarding sleep and sleep disorders, you can obtain it on the American Academy of Sleep Medicine website. This website also contains a list of Sleep Centers across the country so you can locate one near you if need it. I wish you the best sleep on your study and always.
Ziad Shaman, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
School of Medicine
Case Western Reserve University | <urn:uuid:b99ae59c-ba7d-4b6c-9be7-2579dc87659d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.netwellness.uc.edu/question.cfm/63235.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962966 | 1,026 | 1.6875 | 2 |
I hated using wax crayons at school. They almost never gave a good quality line when drawing and ‘colouring-in’ should be outlawed as a cruel and unusual punishment, in my book.
Today’s invention is a small improvement in the situation for schools that haven’t yet got to grips with felt-tip pens.
A small tube, wide enough to accommodate even those absurdly fat crayons, has a conical metal internal surface.
When the device has a crayon pressed into it, a small heater fires up as shown, melting the end of even horrid crayon stubs until a nice, sharp point is created (and without wasting all those sharpenings I used to hide in my desk). | <urn:uuid:49009e7e-a284-40f3-bc4a-c6b8893a351e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://iotd.patrickandrews.com/2011/10/29/1759-meltingpoint/ | 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 | 0.956568 | 157 | 1.882813 | 2 |
I often hear statements in the form of “X is cheap, don’t worry about it”. This usually comes up in design sessions, software or infrastructure, it doesn’t matter, you can usually find or hear a statement in this form in either type of design session.
The most common versions would be in reference to disk space, bandwidth, and CPU.
I suppose this type of thinking is a result of the effects of Moore’s Law. One of the troubling things about this sort of thinking is that it is frequently wrong and is indicative of someone with a closed mind, an inability to see the big picture, lack of insight, short-sightedness, or any other similar phrases. In all cases, when someone makes an X is cheap statement it’s a safe bet that they haven’t really thought things through. These statements are very dangerous, particularly if you happen to be in a design session when someone says this and is of particular concern if that someone is a team leader or manager.
The most dangerous aspect of these statements is that on the surface they may appear to be accurate and correct. Unfortunately, unless we are designing as system that people will only look at (ie. the surface), rather than actually use, it is rarely correct.
I’ll make an attempt to examine the most common of these statements to show how and why they are incorrect and assumptions. The analysis will be from a business/enterprise perspective rather than a personal/consumer one. You might be surprised to see how inter-related these can be! Let’s start with:
Disk is cheap, don’t worry about size
I will have to start by conceding the fact that disk storage has gotten very cheap indeed. The average consumer can put a terabyte of disk into their PC for less than $200. So how can that NOT be cheap?
We first need to understand what is really being said here. This usually isn’t a reference to disks and storage in general, it will be in reference to data files or databases.
So lets talk about files… in the past files weren’t that big, they were text files or word documents, and although the word documents were bigger, the size was still reasonable. This is no longer true, text files are rarely used anymore, the same information is now in a PDF file, or word document, an image, or a multi-media file. Those PDF and word files usually have graphics in them too, and to ensure that they look good when they print the graphics are stored at full resolution, even if they are only displayed thumbnail-sized in the document itself. The average document size is now measured in MB instead of KB, and for media files, GB is becoming more and more common.
So, what am I trying to say? The amount of storage that is available at a reasonable cost has increased by orders of magnitude, but so has the average size of the files that we store. The net result is that we can store about the same number of files as we used to before.
Even if we can store more files there is another cost involved. The more files and directories we have on our disks, the more difficult it becomes to find a file when we need it. If a user can’t remember where they put a file on a file server and they have to search for it, that potentially ties up a lot of I/O and CPU resources as the server scans all the files. That results in slower performance for all the other users relying on that server. That same server could be hosting a database, or a VM, or even just the virtual disk of a VM, and each of those would be affected by this search. Even if you don’t search for files very often because you are so well organized… those files are getting scanned anyway a couple times a day by your anti-virus and anti-spyware software.
Now lets look at databases… Modern database servers make them easy to use, quick to access, all those good things. So where is the problem. Let’s look at how a real production database gets used. To start with, you don’t just put a production database on disk, that’s too risky, disks can fail. You put it on a raid array instead, using mirroring, or striping, or whatever. The end result is that we now have two or possibly three (depending on the level of raid) copies of that database. We need to back up the database, that’s another copy… but in today’s web-enabled global economy, we can’t take the database server offline to back it up. So we have to take a snapshot to another disk so that we can make a backup of it without it changing while we write to tape, that’s another copy. Add some developers into the mix, any system that has a database probably has some developers working on new versions of the software and they need working copies of those databases to use for testing and development. That’s another copy (per developer) for each database. What are we up to now? 5 or 6 copies? Once again, the way we use that so-called cheap disk space quickly changes the cost per MB when each MB that we use is actually stored multiple times.
Backups become important too. Bigger databases take longer to backup, which also means they take longer to restore too. That can be crucial when the database for a web-commerce site goes down and we need to restore it. The companies that chose to believe the “disk is cheap” myth will be offline waiting for the restore a lot longer than the company that chose to use their disk space more wisely.
Storage in general is no longer local in a business environment. Files get shared on file servers, as well as through the use of SAN and NAS devices. This means that accessing the data on those “cheap” disks is now over a network and now bandwidth enters into the equation. A perfect segue into…
Bandwidth is cheap, don’t worry about the size of your data
Once again, we start with trying to understand what is really being said here. This is typically the speed of the available network rather than the cost of the network, although it can easily refer to both.
The speed and cost of networks has improved dramatically over the years. They have gone from 300 baud modems to 1200, and on and on up to 14400 and 56Kbps only to be replaced by broadband connections anywhere from 128Kbps to 10Mbps. Local networks went from proprietary systems to 10Mbps Ethernet, then 100Mbps, and now 1Gbps or wireless networks that started at 11Mbps and are now 54Mbps or 108Mbps.
What was once inconceivable to transmit over a network is now commonplace. So where is the problem here?
The first misconception comes from a single user perspective of the network. This is easiest to explain with an example. A typical office will have a 100Mbps network, providing 100Mbps of network bandwidth to each user. Sounds pretty good and we don’t use hubs anymore everyone uses switches, so user A doesn’t get impacted by what user B is doing on his segment of the network. Or does he? That depends, although in most cases the answer is yes, they are affected. Those network switches only isolate traffic between two end points. So, I might have 100Mbps between me and the switch, but ultimately I don’t need anything from the switch, I need it from some resource on the network. That resource might be a file server, or a database, or a website. There is a significant chance that I’ll be competing with the other user to connect to the same end point. So while we both have 100Mbps to the switch, we are sharing the 100Mbps from the switch to the common end point, so we’ve effectively been reduced to 50% of the “perceived” bandwidth. Chances are that it won’t be just two users connecting to that common end point, but a lot more. In a small company, you are probably competing will ALL the other users, so divide that 100Mbps by 10 or 20, bringing us down to 10Mbps or 5Mbps, certainly not the amount of bandwidth that you expected to get.
I will admit that I’m not being completely fair in my calculation, its far to primitive to be accurate, everyone would have to be accessing the same server at the same time for those numbers to be correct. Statistically we will get much better performance, exactly how much better is harder to predict since it depends on what is being accessed. Of course, the bigger the files we are after, the longer we send transferring their data, the more likely we are to be affected. This is where we can start to see the impact of the “disk is cheap” mindset on other (seemingly unrelated) areas of computing.
So, I haven’t proven anything other than you won’t see 100% of your bandwidth. We’ve only been talking about an typical office LAN, lets examine networked applications.
There are two typical varieties of networked applications. Those that explicitly use the network by implementing some form of protocol, and those that indirectly use a network through file sharing, web-services, SOA, or database connections. If a protocol is designed with the “bandwidth is cheap” thinking, you’ll probably find that it sends and receives lots of data. The networks are indeed fast enough to make this appear to be a non-issue. Unless you happen to be the the sysadmin or the hosting provider. More efficient use of bandwidth translates directly into more users, which translates directly into revenue. Once you max out your bandwidth with users, you might also need to buy/build new servers to handle more customers.
The more customers you can fit into the same bandwidth, the fewer servers and infrastructure you need, which directly affects the capital investment required (which again, affects Time-To-Revenue, since you have to recoup the infrastructure cost to become profitable).
More and more often you will find servers running in VMs, which wind up aggregating network traffic from all VMs to a single physical network. Applications running in VM servers that don’t make efficient use of the network could find the VMs running out of available network bandwidth before they run out of available CPU. If we have network traffic between two VMs, it never hits the physical network, but it does wind up consuming additional CPU possibly impacting performance of the other VMs.
When we introduce wireless and cellular networks to the mix the impact is more easily observed. Sure that new 802.11n wireless is fast, but when you have an office full of users streaming video over the same shared wireless bandwidth…
So if you encounter someone that suggests “X is cheap, don’t worry about it” in your next design session or troubleshooting discussion, you will know that what they are really saying is that they probably don’t understand the issue at all. | <urn:uuid:2659493d-3796-4ec7-9d16-dfa9ad68b63f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://camz.wordpress.com/2008/06/14/when-cheap-isnt/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954962 | 2,317 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Crawlspace Foundation Cracks
There is no such thing as a perfect foundation. Acrawlspace foundation is made up of concrete and there are two rules that every contractor knows about concrete, it hardens and it cracks. It is almost guaranteed to do both. Concrete and block foundations usually have at least a few cracks. The key is recognizing which are insignificant and which are serious. The mistake is ignoring any cracks!
After construction and over a period of time, your home’s foundation will shift and settle into position. Poor soil conditions, changing seasons, and moisture content in the soil will stress your crawlspace foundation. Small and large cracks in the crawlspace foundation will appear and are usually a sign of some type of foundation settlement. It is important to know what to look for.
Signs to Look For:
1. Stair-Step Cracks - Stair step cracks in cinder block walls and brick is one of the most common settlement signs in a crawlspace foundation. Since these cracks are always a sign of settlement or upheaval, they must be addressed immediately before further damage occurs.
2. Vertical Cracks – Vertical or nearly vertical cracks in poured concrete or concrete block crawlspace foundations are bad news. If the cracks are wide at the top, it usually means that one end or both ends of the foundation are sinking. If the crack is wider at the bottom, then the settlement is occurring at the bottom of the crack.
3. Horizontal Cracks – Cracks that run horizontally along the middle of a block wall in a crawlspace are rare. It is a more common problem with basements. Horizontal cracks are sign that the pressure of the dirt behind them has bowed the wall and the crack is the hinge point.
4. Door, Window, and Garage Separation – Look for separation of the trim, siding, or brick from the doors and windows. While this could be caused by structural problems, it is most often attributed to the foundation sinking.
5. Drywall & Trim Cracks – Drywall cracks above doorways & windows, in ceilings, and in corners are all signs of settlement. Crown Molding, Door Trim, and Baseboards that have separated are sometimes signs of foundation failure as well.
6. Shrinkage Cracks – A newly poured crawlspace foundation wall may contain small cracks as it cures. Fortunately, shrinkage cracks are insignificant. The cracks are less than 1/8 inch wide, vertical, and usually in the middle of the wall. Call a professional to ensure you are only dealing with these cracks.
The Crawlspace Company has decades of experience in foundation crack repair. We can solve all of the crawlspace foundation failures, and we can address the source of the problem. We raise and stabilize your crawlspace’s foundation with our unique Push Pier Underpinning System. Give us a Call Today for a Free Estimate. | <urn:uuid:d3f5fbe7-bb81-41c3-9091-d85cf70e5116> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.crawlspacecompany.com/crawlspace-foundation/foundation-cracks/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941615 | 597 | 2.25 | 2 |
Its been fodder for the presidential campaign and a source of interest on Capitol Hill.
The questions essentially boil down to what did the Obama administration officials know about the attack in Benghazi as it was happening, and how quickly did they know it. The problem has been separating fact from spin during a period of high-stakes politics.
Here are the central facts: On Sept. 11, an unknown number of militants attacked and overran the consulate in Benghazi. The attack focused first on the consulate and later on what has been called an annex, but according to press reports was a CIA intelligence office. When the smoke and dust cleared early Sept. 12, Ambassador Christopher Stevens, computer expert Sean Smith, and private security contractors and former Navy SEALs Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods were dead.
Some of what happened that night remains clouded by the fog of war, or colored by partisan politics. Investigations are underway by the State Department, the FBI and Congress.
Q: Why wasnt the consulate better protected?
A: There is no definitive answer to this yet. Various media reports indicate that officials, including Stevens, had expressed concerns about the level of security for the consulate. Consulate security is an internal State Department issue. The consulate relied on local security, a common practice for States diplomatic outposts around the world.
The Benghazi consulate had been using the Libyan 17th February Brigade and had reportedly been satisfied with its work.
International law, in fact, demands that outside a missions walls, all diplomatic security be provided by the host government. It is known that given the fledgling nature of Libyas security services, it was common for even the government to rely on private militias for security. Emails recently reported on by Foreign Policy magazine indicate that Stevens had requested additional Libyan security and was not convinced that Libya had provided what he wanted.
Q: Was the U.S. security team from the CIA annex told to stand down during the attack?
A: State Department official Charlene Lamb told Congress: The annex . . . reaction security team arrived with approximately 40 members of the Libyan 17th February Brigade. They encountered heavy resistance as they approached the compound. Together with the Diplomatic Security agents, they helped secure the area around the main building and continued the search for the ambassador, again making several trips into the building at their own peril."
Moreover, a CIA timeline released late Thursday indicates that the CIA security team left the annex for the consulate mission less than 25 minutes after the initial warning about the attack
Q: Why was there no response to the attack by the U.S. military?
A: Media reports put the nearest possible U.S. troops capable of staging a rescue about 470 miles away, at the Sigonella Naval Air Station in southern Italy.
Defense Department officials have said little about their lack of response, beyond noting that they lacked the necessary intelligence information needed to launch any type of rescue mission
But using government records and conversations at the Pentagon about capabilities of various aircraft, no troops would have been within helicopter range. If troops were coming from Sigonella, the most likely means of transport would have been by a C-130 cargo plane, which could have made the trip in about an hour, from wheels up to landing.
But a C-130 transport plane requires a landing strip, meaning it would have landed at Benghazis airport, as C-130s did when bringing in FBI agents about a month after the attack. However, U.S. officials said they lacked concrete intelligence about the security of the airport. Military officials have stated that the use of fast-moving fighter jets and bombers would have been useless in attacking a small force hiding in a residential neighborhood near the compound and annex.
Some media reports have noted that an AC-130 gunship could have made a difference. Pentagon spokesman George Little noted that such airborne attacks raised the risk of doing much more harm than good.
Q: Were Obama administration officials aware of events as they were unfolding?
A: State Department officials testified on Capitol Hill that the department had been in contact with the consulate during the attack.
Q: Did the military send drones over Benghazi during the attack?
A: There are media reports that an unarmed Predator drone arrived over Benghazi about an hour after the attacks began. Fox News reported that the drone was low on fuel and had to return to base and was replaced by a second Predator drone, also unarmed, from Sigonella.
Critics have said the drones should have been armed to try to hold off the attack. U.S. officials said a drone from Italy would have taken about four hours to reach Benghazi. They said the weapon is also not precise enough to identify and attack targets among a civilian population in a chaotic urban environment. | <urn:uuid:75601427-36aa-49ef-a01e-ada2beea6989> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theolympian.com/2012/11/01/2305601/questions-and-some-answers-about.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980139 | 967 | 1.867188 | 2 |
Apparently our household commitment to seasonal, local food hit its limits this week when my husband found some beautiful organic blueberries and I found some organic strawberries. We bought them. Tonight I served them with pound cake made from scratch.
Pound cake used to be a once-every-few-years kind of thing in our household, because with today’s smaller families and healthier outlook, we just don’t need a big heavy cake. That’s why tonight I set out to make pound cake in miniature, using really wholesome, organic ingredients. The concept is simple. You need a few things to make pound cake: (1) equal parts by weight of butter, sugar, flour, and eggs; and a tube cake pan, so that the heavy cake batter bakes all the way through to the middle. Hmmmmm. I can weigh and divide. I have two mini tube pans. Yes, this plan could work. I made not pound cakes but ounce cakes!
This recipe serves 4-8 people, depending on how hungry they are and what you serve with the pound cake. If you make it 8 servings, each serving will have a little over two hundred calories–much better than if you ate a big wedge of full-sized pound cake!
- two miniature tube pans, each of which will hold one cup of batter with room to expand as they bake (about 4 1/2 inches wide at the top)
Ingredients (as always, organic is best!)
- 1 stick of real butter, a little softened
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1-2 teaspoons vanilla
- optional: 1 teaspoon brandy
- 3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour (use a 1-cup measure, and you can just add in the other dry ingredients instead of getting an extra bowl dirty)
- pinch of cream of tartar
- pinch of salt
- 2 shakes/grates of nutmeg
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Begin by creaming the butter with the sugar. Then divide the eggs into yolks and whites. Add the egg yolks to the butter and sugar and mix until creamy. Stir in the vanilla and brandy. In the measuring cup, add the rest of the dry ingredients to the flour. Gradually add the flour to the butter, sugar, and egg mixture. Now, in a separate, very clean bowl and using very clean beaters, whip the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Do you see those stiff peaks on the egg whites? That’s what you want. Fold about a third of the egg whites into the rest of the batter to lighten it. Then fold in the rest of the egg whites. Spoon into well-greased miniature tube cake pans and bake at 325 degrees F for about 35 minutes. Let the cakes rest in the pans for about 15 minutes and then slide a thin knife around the outside edge of the cake and around the tube center. Turn the cakes onto a grid to finish cooling.Do you see those cracks on the top? That part has a delectable crispy crunch.
Mmmmmmmm. Real ingredients. Food like my grandmother used to make. Cake worthy of blueberries and strawberries. Enough to satisfy your taste for sweetness and richness. Small enough that you can indulge without guilt.Where’s my fork?
Copyright 2010 Ozarkhomesteader. Short excerpts with full URL for this site and attribution to Ozarkhomesteader are welcome. Please contact me for permission to use photographs. | <urn:uuid:de7b4178-873e-4703-b86e-219d84bb6749> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ozarkhomesteader.wordpress.com/tag/pound-cake/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928455 | 728 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Monday, April 11, 2011
True or false: To be effective, a seal coat over a thermal-sprayed zinc coating must be applied after a significant amount of natural oxidation has occurred.
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Previous Quizzes from the Past Week
Friday, April 8, 2011
Cuprous oxide is sometimes used in what types of coatings?
Thursday, April 7, 2011
When assessing the moisture content of wood with a suitable moisture meter, what level of moisture is generally considered the upper limit for successful painting?
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
True or false: Coatings with a high degree of internal stress should be used for overcoating an existing coating to extend its lifetime.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
What does the coating failure term "crazing" mean?
Monday, April 4, 2011
True or false: A coating system on an exterior concrete block wall must provide protection from wind-driven rain and, if moisture vapor diffuses from inside to outside, be sufficiently permeable to allow vapor to exit the wall.
More previous quizzes | <urn:uuid:aa6a8367-3e83-4be6-8122-75b8c33863af> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.paintsquare.com/quiz/?quizID=621 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906426 | 238 | 1.984375 | 2 |
The basis of the research project applies an innovative educational theory to a problem of major importance to communities across Canada and elsewhere:
How can schools improve the academic success
and life chances of Aboriginal children?
At its heart is a transformation of the ways in which teachers think about and practice education. The Project builds on 25 years of work by Kieran Egan on a theory of intellectual development in which the child’s imagination, implicated as it is with the acquisition and use of “cultural/cognitive tools” such as language, plays a central role. Egan’s theory points to ways in which teachers might plausibly foster such development in all children across the curriculum. The Project will test this hypothesis in three British Columbia school districts with high Aboriginal enrolment, thereby bringing together three major fields of educational research:
- the relationship between curriculum, teaching, and learning;
- effective schooling for First Nations children; and
- sustainable educational change.
To accomplish the objectives of the study, a research alliance is essential. In order for any educational reform to be sustainable, knowledge has to be held, developed, and passed on within the professional community of teachers and teacher educators. In school districts where Aboriginal children form a substantial proportion of the enrolment, First Nations organizations must be actively involved in the process of change as well. Accordingly, the project has been designed as a three-way partnership between the Faculty of Education at SFU, British Columbia school districts 33, 50, and 52, and the respective First Nation educational body in each district. It is anticipated that, in addition to the Project’s contributions to academic knowledge in a broader sense, all three partners will benefit directly and substantially from the proposed research and training activities. | <urn:uuid:21c59690-40b3-46bf-b392-678429976b81> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ierg.net/LUCID/researchdesign | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957464 | 354 | 3.546875 | 4 |
PCO believes that conservation can not happen without sustainability for the environment and peoples of the Polar Regions. The PCO has developed a plan to create a socio-environmental and economically self sustaining model for the Arctic. The PCO is currently in the initial assessment phase of this project and is urgently seeking local (Polar Authorities) as well as corporate / Foundation support to fund this ambitious project.
Overview of the Project
Establish a self sufficient and sustaining economic model that will educate, employ improve the quality of life of the Arctic Peoples and in doing so ensure a more sustainable future for the region.
Plan development and Assessment
PCO is currently in the planning and assessment phase of this project. This includes the development of not only the strategy, operations, risk assessment etc but also a business plan with accompanying financial model.
Once the plan has been sufficiently developed and assessed the PCO intends to conduct a Feasibility Study to test the plan, investigate the risks in detail and gather the necessary support while building a business and political ecosystem for the project.
This phase can not commence without sponsorship.
Initial Trial (Proof of Concept)
Once the feasibility study has been completed and sufficient initial funds have been raised the PCO intends to launch a live the project in a limited / local / regional way, this will not only prove the viability of the project, provide important lessons, but also prove as the reference for future rollouts and expansions.
Once the initial trial or pilot project has been completed and sufficiently sustainable results have been achieved the PCO would look to raise additional funds or assist others with those funds to roll the model out and expand the project into other areas. | <urn:uuid:1ccb6502-b85a-4c43-9d00-7baf6c710e8b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.polarconservation.org/projects/sustainability-fund/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943401 | 338 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Friday, August 27th, 2010 at 2:23 pm in Uncategorized.
The federal government is telling the Bay Area’s transportation commission to take a more active role in checking whether proposed public transit projects would have unfair impacts on minorities and low-income people.
The federal pressure, some transit advocates say, could have long-term ramifications for proposed public transit projects because MTC acts as a conduit for federal transit funds in the Bay Area.
In an August 12 letter, the Federal Transit Administration gave 30 days to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission — a Bay Area funding and planning agency — to provide documentation on how it checks to avoid discriminatory impacts in proposed public transit projects.
Earlier this year, the federal agency denied BART $70 million in federal economic stimulus funds for a rail extension to the Oakland International Airport because BART failed to do an adequate study to determine whether the project would have discriminatory effects in violation of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
“FTA remains concerned that we found BART out of compliance with Title VI in 2009,” wrote Cheryl Hershey, director of the office of civil rights within the Federal Transit Administration. “This fact suggests to us that MTC has not adequately ensured BART’s Title VI compliance….and therefore, this raises the possibility that other subrecipients (transit operators) are out of compliance.”
MTC spokesman John Goodwin said his agency would not comment on the complicated legal dispute. The commission will provide the information the federal agency has requested, he said.
The federal agency’s letter was a response to a complaint filed against the Metropolitan Transportation Commission by Public Advocates on behalf of Urban Habitat and Genesis, two social justice groups.
“MTC’s systematic failure to make civil rights a priority in Bay Area transportation spending has now been unmasked,” said Richard Marcantonio, attorney for Public Advocates, a nonprofit group.
Public Advocates contends that MTC funding allocations have unfairly favored affluent white riders on BART at the expense of minority and poor people who rely on buses.
Marcantonio said he believes the letter could have a big impact in making MTC and public transit agencies pay more attention to civil rights in service changes or expansions.
Marcantonio noted that the federal agency wants MTC to spell out what penalties it would impose against transit operators failing to comply with the federal Civil Rights Act.
(BART, meanwhile, has come up with a backup plan for funding the rail extension to the Oakland airport, and is moving toward letting a construction contract later this year. Project critics haven’t given up, though. They trying to rally support to block state and federal funding for the project). | <urn:uuid:d872f796-db18-4d68-93a4-ca78b90627cc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ibabuzz.com/transportation/2010/08/27/feds-push-mtc-to-check-transit-projects-for-civil-rights-compliance/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938989 | 558 | 1.695313 | 2 |
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- In medical school students are taught basic science, anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, pathology, microbiology among other things medical. The most important instruction is in taking a patient history and performing a physical examination. We often practice on each other and, if lucky, team up with a student of the opposite sex, or same sex if one prefers.
The physical exam is extremely important because tremendous information is right there for the observing and touching. Diagnoses can be made entirely on examination. I have done so many times. In performing an exam we often use the short cut phrase, "within normal limits," or WNL, meaning we thoroughly examined that part or system and found it to have no evidence of pathology.
Sometimes when rushed, tired, or just plain lazy I have used the abbreviation "WNL," but I really did not thoroughly examine the part. I just assumed it was normal with a quick look or no look at all. This is called "We Never Looked," WNL.
When I was young in practice I learned the seriousness of this mistake and nearly lost a patient. Mrs. S came to me, an internist, complaining of depression. Her husband died a year before and then her daughter was brutally raped a few months later. I performed a hurried physical exam and omitted a good neurological exam. She looked normal. Her entire exam was within normal limits. But I never really did a neuro exam, so we never looked.
I placed Mrs. S on an anti-depressant and had her come back. She was worse. I saw her once more and she looked terrible, very depressed. I sent her to a very good psychiatrist who did what I did not -- a meticulous neurological exam. It was not within normal limits. A CAT scan showed a very large operable brain tumor. She is alive today, no thanks to me.
I recently had outpatient surgery. I will not name the institution because I think my experience to be widespread. I had a pre-surgical "physical exam" by a physician's assistant of some sort. She gave me the "We Never Looked" type exam. She did not see a large scar on my neck from old trauma. My neck is always stiff. Her report stated: Neck supple. She did not hear a low-grade heart murmur because she listened through my shirt and T-shirt. My heart was reported WNL. She wrote my abdominal exam as WNL even though I never was placed down to be examined. I have a large ventral hernia I fondly call Ernie. She never felt Ernie.
I was upset by the lack of thoroughness but knew that I was healthy. What if a person not medically aware who rarely saw a physician presented for the same examination? Imagine him with high-grade aortic stenosis, a very serious heart problem. Imagine the characteristic murmur not being heard through two or three layers of clothing, a sort of we never looked exam. Now imagine this patient undergoing anesthesia and developing a serious cardiac complication, even death. All because of "We Never Looked."
The same patient could have had a large abdominal aortic aneurysm that was never examined, like my Ernie was not looked at.
Medical payment has changed since I was first in practice, but the practice of medicine should be the same. Every patient undergoing surgery requires a complete examination. Limited exams may be tolerated only in small exceptions. We Never Looked can cost lives.
Thomas lives in Charleston. | <urn:uuid:ee8f1585-4637-43b5-977b-61ff32a240cd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wvgazette.com/Opinion/201212060083 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983548 | 729 | 2.015625 | 2 |
The Department of Crop and Soil Sciences at Washington State University serves the Land Grant tradition by offering nationally competitive undergraduate and graduate education programs, conducting fundamental and applied plant and soil research, and extending the science of our disciplines to serve the public. Read more
Barley name honors longtime plant breeder
Senior scientific assistant Steve Lyon, shown with wheat plants maturing in a WSU Mount Vernon greenhouse, has been involved in WSU small grains research for more than 22 years. Read more
Craig Cogger, Washington State University, Leader in Loop Biosolids Recycling
As a soil scientist with Washington State University, Craig Cogger has been helping King County’s Loop biosolids program make sound, evidence-based decisions for more than two decades. Cogger worked to develop nationwide guidelines for biosolids nutrient management, both to prevent runoff and to meet the nutrient requirements of the crop, documenting the significant benefits of biosolids recycling, including improved soil nutrients, crop quality, production economics, soil quality, and carbon sequestration.
WSU leads development of heat-tolerant grain
PULLMAN, Wash. – Washington State University will lead a $16.2 million effort to develop wheat varieties that are better at tolerating the high temperatures found in most of the world’s growing regions – temperatures that are likely to increase with global warming.
The research will be supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the Directorate of Wheat Research (DWR). The work is part of the U.S. government’s global hunger and food security initiative, Feed the Future.
Researchers aim to have their first set of “climate-resilient” varieties in five years.
The research will focus on the North Indian River Plain, which is home to nearly 1 billion people and faces challenges such as limited water and rising temperatures, said Kulvinder Gill . . . Read more
Research Cultivates Seeds of Opportunity
PULLMAN, Wash. – The grain-like seed crop quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah) has grown in popularity and likely will be grown more widely in the Pacific Northwest, thanks to a $1.6 million U.S. Department of Agriculture grant recently awarded to Washington State University researchers.
Kevin Murphy is leading an effort to develop new varieties of quinoa to meet a growing domestic deman. Quinoa is in demand because it is a highly nutritious, high-protein, gluten-free alternative to grains and rice. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has declared 2013 the International Year of Quinoa, with a goal to “focus world attention on the role that quinoa´s biodiversity and nutritional value play in providing food security and nutrition and the eradication of poverty.” Read more
2013 Pacific Northwest Crop Tour Schedule
Organic Agriculture and Farming Systems
Cereal Variety Testing Program 2013 Map Sites
Stripe Rust Alerts
Harsh will chair Department of Crop and Soil Sciences
James Harsh, a WSU faculty member since 1983, has been appointed chair of the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, effective Jan. 1. Harsh succeeds Rich Koenig, who was named associate dean and director of WSU Extension. [more] | <urn:uuid:9d4cffab-e257-4f7d-8f60-7312e6bedc23> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://css.wsu.edu/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923502 | 688 | 2.15625 | 2 |
A Navy submarine accused of sinking a French trawler and drowning five sailors was nowhere near the scene of the accident, independent experts have ruled.
The Bugaled Breizh perished off the coast of Cornwall in 2004 and authorities in France have always blamed the tragedy on HMS Turbulent.
French lawyers say the sub snagged its cables and pulled it to its doom and have called for its captain, Commander Andy Coles, to face manslaughter charges.
Cdr Coles has repeatedly denied that his submarine tangled with the Breton trawler, which was dragged below the waves in less than a minute.
Two expert reports have now dismissed the French theory and say submerged port equipment or another boat was more likely responsible.
The reports by submarine specialists have confirmed Turbulent was not near the Bugaled Breizh when submarines from NATO were taking part in war games in the area.
They back up the assertions from British officials that the sub was in dock in Plymouth, Devon, when the accident happened.
In a statement, Nantes prosecutor Brigitte Lamy said: “On the basis of technical documents relating to the position of naval vessels at the time of the sinking, the specialist considers that the submarine accused of involvement was definitely in port.”
A second separate report by experts casts doubt on the theory that the Bugaled fell victim to a submarine when it sank 14 nautical miles (26 km) off the Lizard, Cornwall.
Traces of titanium found on salvaged trawl cables of the trawler ”are not significative of the involvement of a submarine”
The families of the five lost fishermen, from western Brittany close to the Bugaled Breizh’s home port of Loctudy, have always believed a submarine was responsible,
A year after the tragedy, a French judge accepted a report by marine experts who said the boat sank so rapidly the culprit could only have been a nuclear submarine.
Turbulent was commissioned in 1984 to hunt down Soviet missile submarines and decommissioned in July 2012.
After the end of the Cold War she conducted intelligence gathering missions and commando landings, as well as firing Tomahawk missiles during the 2003 Iraq war. | <urn:uuid:1bb71720-78e0-4eb7-88fa-0b4db53bfacb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://swns.com/news/british-navy-submarinie-accused-sinking-french-trawler-ship-experts-30736/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965233 | 454 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Go to Admin » Appearance » Widgets » and move Gabfire Widget: Social into that MastheadOverlay zone
by Yvette Carnell
In the lead up to Obama’s 2008 election, many of us thought electing a black President could heal America’s racial wounds. We were, sadly, and unmistakably, wrong. For those who envisioned Obama ushering in a period of racial detente, those dreams were quickly dashed. If anything, the election of the first black president made racists more vocal and forceful, with President Obama being referred to as a “tar baby”, an illegitimate Kenyan, and a man who “hates white culture.”
Does anyone still believe that President Obama’s reelection will do what his historical first election could not? Yep. Touré. In a TIME op-ed, Touré writes:
Anyone would vote for a superhero who lived up to my mom’s standard of having to be twice as good. But for it to embrace a nonmagical black person who cannot promise anything but hope, intelligence, sweat and experience, now that comes closer to equality. Equality is freedom from having to be twice as good to get ahead. | <urn:uuid:314fe113-cab8-48be-96a8-bed2522ee126> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.yourblackworld.net/2012/09/black-news/here-we-go-toure-says-obamas-reelection-will-advance-racial-harmony/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969724 | 250 | 2.0625 | 2 |
The Ministers Of Hormuzd Please With Him For His Son
( Originally Published Early 1900's )
Byzantine, North Indian and Chinese influences combined with native Persian genius to produce a distinctive art of miniature painting, which flourished from the 14th to the 18th century. The earlier works show, on the whole, more freedom and animation in line drawing; the later ones more decorative treatment of surfaces, which finally be-come overloaded with stereotyped ornamental detail.
In the example shown the style is still both restrained and spontaneous. Beside its quaint illustrative interest, it has a vivacious pattern of lines and colors. The colors are quite superficial, without tinting or shading; but these very limitations are necessary to produce the vivid, jewellike intensity with which each separate part gleams out in pure vermilion, turquoise, lapis lazuli, emerald or coral. If they were separated by soft, melting Venetian transitions, instead of by knife-edge outlines, they would not produce such a lively play of sudden contrasts.
The whole picture is divided into contrasting sections. Around the human figures, the background is cut into many parallelograms and strips of different size, some in plain solid colors, gold or black, others covered with fine intricate floral, geometrical or calligraphic ornamentation, in the same bright colors and gold. Against the flat blue sky, jewel-like flowers and bending trees are silhouetted. The linear outlines of each section, including the human figures, are usually quite simple, repeating some obvious theme of curve or angle. But the effect of all the sections fitted together, usually in unsymmetrical, surprising ways, is cornplex and richly decorative.
The natural converging of lines in perspective is distorted with the utmost freedom. It cannot be said that the picture is entirely flat, for approximate perspectives and re-cessions in space are suggested (as in the couch, gate and house). But the lines are placed, not where they would naturally fall, but where the pattern calls for them. The more distant objects, instead of being placed behind the nearer ones, are pushed upward, toward the top of the picture. Each individual man is seen as if from the same level with him; but the tiled floor, carpet or ground beneath him is seen as if tilted up edgewise, or looked down on from above. The figures, near and far, are scattered over it with equal relative size and clarity, to make them equally effective as parts of the design. | <urn:uuid:2f086d67-40b0-409b-aa8a-7b051c40d008> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oldandsold.com/articles12/paintings-16.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947578 | 521 | 2.40625 | 2 |
The pre-dawn crowd on the blue line from Virginia already looked exhausted, many from a long night on buses. One tour group from Alabama was excitedly asking at each Metro stop where new passengers were from. As newcomers responded to the question the Alabama group shouted "Michigan in the house!" or "Cincinnati in the house!" By the time train pulled into D.C. at least eight states were represented on the car.
Linda Earl of Huntsville, Ala., traveling with her sister and friends, had attended the 2009 Inaugural too. She's even more excited this time because it is Martin Luther King Day. She was 10 at the time of King's March to Washington and she wanted to go see him but her dad said no, but told her that she could run alongside the King march through Alabama. She did for about a half mile, she said.
"I begged my daddy to let me go. He let me run alongside a piece of the way. Today I flew up. I didn't have to walk."
She said she never thought the United States would have a black president.
"When there is a crowd together to celebrate an Inaugural there is happiness and love and compassion. Everyone is warm and kind to one another," said Ms. Earl, adding that it's what Martin Luther King wanted.
Ms. Earl works for the Department of Defense in Alabama. She doesn't have a ticket so she will be standing way back on the Mall, she said. "It doesn't matter. I would stand in water to be here." | <urn:uuid:cdbe575a-8aaf-45f2-8953-0d019515056f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://earlyreturns.post-gazette.com/home/early-returns-posts/5182-heading-to-the-inauguration | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987544 | 321 | 2.03125 | 2 |
The Supreme Court’s decision strking down, on preemption grounds, major portions of an Arizona law designed to help that State cope with the massive and unlawful influx of aliens is an affront to federalism and to common sense. Justice Scalia has it right in his dissent:
Arizona bears the brunt of the country’s illegal immigration problem. Its citizens feel themselves under siege by large numbers of illegal immigrants who invade their property, strain their social services, and even place their lives in jeopardy. Federal officials have been unable to remedy the problem, and indeed have recently shown that they are unwilling to do so. Thousands of Arizona’s estimated 400,000 illegal immigrants—including not just children but men and women under 30—are now assured immunity from enforcement, and will be able to compete openly with Arizona citizens for employment.
Arizona has moved to protect its sovereignty—not in contradiction of federal law, but in complete compliance with it. The laws under challenge here do not extend or revise federal immigration restrictions, but merely enforce those restrictions more effectively. If securing its territory in this fashion is not within the power of Arizona, we should cease referring to it as a sovereign State.
In attacking the Arizona law, the Obama administration argued that the federal government needs to control the use of scarce enforcement resources unencumbered by tasks forced upon it as the result of state laws. Scalia made short work of this bogus argument:
It has become clear that federal enforcement priorities—in the sense of priorities based on the need to allocate “scarce enforcement resources”—is not the problem here. After this case was argued and while it was under consideration, the Secretary of Homeland Security announced a program exempting from immigration enforcement some 1.4 million illegal immigrants under the age of 30. If an individual unlawfully present in the United States
“• came to the United States under the age of sixteen;
“• has continuously resided in the United States for at least five years . . . ,
“• is currently in school, has graduated from high school, has obtained a general education development certificate, or is an honorably discharged veteran . . . ,
“• has not been convicted of a [serious crime]; and
“• is not above the age of thirty,”
then U. S. immigration officials have been directed to “defe[r] action” against such individual “for a period of two years, subject to renewal.” The husbanding of scarce enforcement resources can hardly be the justification for this, since the considerable administrative cost of conducting as many as 1.4 million background checks, and ruling on the biennial requests for dispensation that the nonenforcement program envisions, will necessarily be deducted from immigration enforcement. The president said at a news conference that the new program is “the right thing to do” in light of Congress’s failure to pass the administration’s proposed revision of the Immigration Act. Perhaps it is, though Arizona may not think so. But to say, as the Court does, that Arizona contradicts federal law by enforcing applications of the Immigration Act that the president declines to enforce boggles the mind.
It does, indeed. | <urn:uuid:fd20532d-7ee2-4fa5-bfa9-7e48ffd96249> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/06/the-supreme-courts-immigration-decision-an-affront-to-federalism-and-to-common-sense.php?tsize=small | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965677 | 659 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Rainfall from Tropical Depression Beryl has helped erase drought conditions in Eastern Carolina. In fact, for the first time in two years there is no drought in the state.
The rain last week eliminated the lingering moderate drought here in the East. Still, there are 36 central and southeastern counties with abnormally dry conditions.
But experts warn that conditions can quickly worsen because the state's hot summer months can bring about higher rates of evaporation.
Click one of the pictures below to see more pictures or to upload your own photos and videos.
Prepare Now for Emergencies Visit Site
National Hurricane Center's Archive of Hurricane Seasons Visit Site | <urn:uuid:14fd4510-6c85-4a83-b23d-5837add94112> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.witn.com/weather/headlines/State_Drought-Free_For_First_Time_In_Two_Years_157844525.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915532 | 130 | 2.421875 | 2 |
If you’ve been playing video games for at least the past few years, I’m pretty sure you would have heard of Portal, the highly-acclaimed puzzle game that was released way back in 2007. Well, just like its recent give away of Team Fortress 2 that happened a few months ago, Valve has decided to give Portal away for free. But unlike TF2 which Valve made free to play permanently, this giveaway will only last until September 20th.
This give away is in conjunction with its learnwithportals.com website where it attempts to boost kids’ interests in physics, math, logic among other things. Sure, Portal might be more entertaining than Physics or Advanced Math in school, but that doesn’t make it any less challenging to complete. While most of you probably own this game already, for those of you who don’t, this is one sweet freebie that you shouldn’t pass up on. Head over to learnwithportals.com for more details.
Gran Turismo 6 Confirmed To Release Holiday 2013 On PS3
Microsoft Points Getting The Axe In Time For Next-Generation Xbox Release [Rumor]
Survey Finds That More Than 50% Of Mobile Phone Owners Game On Their Device
ZombiU Sequel Prototype Is Currently Being Worked On | <urn:uuid:2d9a0b80-fc45-4cbd-a13d-7d99791c87ac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ubergizmo.com/2011/09/portal-free-september-20th/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941338 | 275 | 1.71875 | 2 |
With unemployment up yet again, it must be reassuring to Americans that job-seeking veterans are being helped so much by the government, and by all those Web-based organizations with such names as VetJobs.com, MilitaryHire.com, RecruitMilitary.com, HireVeterans.com, and Military Job Zone.
Except that they're not. Remember the expression "Don't forget; hire the vet"? We've forgotten.
Although this was taken in Afghanistan, combat arms soldiers who serve during peacetime but trained for war and could have gone on a moment's notice are the least likely to be helped in getting jobs.
These are the veterans of "combat arms," including such occupations as infantry, armor, artillery, and combat engineering. They're a proud but small group. The vast majority of military jobs, including those in the Army and Marines, are support roles.
The GI Bill is useful for improving job opportunities in the long term, but the government's most direct method of helping unemployed vets is through hiring preferences for federal and state positions.
But only two categories of vets qualify. One includes those with service-related disabilities. While the idea behind this is sound, arbitrary rules get in the way. For example, Veterans Affairs insists that osteoarthritis be detected within a year of discharge, even though the damage from, say, a paratrooper's bone-jarring jumps may not become apparent for decades.
The other kind of hiring preference arbitrarily favors those who served during certain periods. Some of these roughly coincide with periods of conflict, although one stretches from 1955 to 1976. And service during wartime hardly means someone went overseas, much less went to war.
Consider a private first class who clerked for three years in sunny Hawaii, received only a general discharge, earned no medals, and got out in 1975. He qualifies for a hiring preference. As a clerk, he's also likely to have received a security clearance, which is a golden key to many government and private-sector, defense-related jobs.
But a Ranger-qualified sergeant first class infantryman who spent four of his years in bases facing the Soviets, was honorably discharged, earned several medals, and got out in 1989? Disqualified - and almost certainly without a security clearance.
Or forget the hypothetical. I was a decorated, elite paratrooper during the Cold War for four years but outside the date brackets. Disqualified.
Or at least he did at the time . . .
Who speaks for these forgotten vets? Not the groups that should, including the largest, most powerful veterans' membership and lobbying group, the American Legion. In fact, it, too, prohibits membership for "wrong-timers." Further illustrating the arbitrariness of service periods, the legion's are different from Uncle Sam's.
As to the corporate sector, all the aforementioned Web sites serve just three purposes: to cull for security clearances; find skills readily transferable to civilian life (battlefield prowess doesn't exactly qualify); and mislead veterans into thinking they list jobs not available to civilians. In fact, none require veteran status; they're just Monster.com in camouflage.
Of course, there's nothing wrong with culling select groups for certain skills or certificates. But spare us the patriotism malarkey. And don't tell vets and their supporters that ex-military have special opportunities that they don't.
Furthermore, faux providers of assistance to veterans which flood the computer screen during Web job searches displace Web sites or groups that might really provide special help to all jobless vets.
Many employers realize that, specific skill sets aside, military service confers special advantages in such areas as accelerated learning, leadership, teamwork, performance under pressure, respect for procedures, and triumph over adversity. All the more so for combat arms vets.
Yet veteran status, especially for combat arms vets, may actually harm job seekers. That's because activist groups and the media love portraying us as more likely to be suicidal, substance-abusing, homeless, or homicidal as if we all keep an AK-47 under the bed. Some of this is well-meant; much is mere exploitation. But it all enforces the myth of the veteran unable to adjust to civilian life.
Actually, we would love to be exploited for the qualities we showed by joining the military and acquired while in it. Having pledged our lives in the event of a military crisis, we stand ready to help America pull out of this economic crisis as well.
Michael Fumento was embedded three times in Iraq and once in Afghanistan, and was a sergeant in the 27th Engineer Battalion (Combat) (Airborne) from 1978-1982. | <urn:uuid:d2a05c0f-0bed-4aa6-a61b-aad39d8d9e23> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fumento.com/military/hiringvets.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961009 | 959 | 1.757813 | 2 |
The thing with consumers is that we’re a very conformist group. We flock towards that which is in fashion and then rush away just as fast when something else emerges. Products can then almost even lose their appeal inexplicably, as something else indescribably seems cooler. The BlackBerry brand is the perfect example of how quickly a product can go up and down in a trend; although their demise and loss of trendiness was also down to inferiority in the product compared to its rivals. Nonetheless, along with Nokia, BlackBerry provided us with a complete illustration of: what comes up must come down and every dog has its day. It is now time to wonder whether such time has come for Apple and the iPhone.
Have Apple Just Become Too Good for Their Own Good?
Sometimes a branded item can gain so much of a following that everywhere you turn you see that specific product. The positive of this is obviously that the product owned by everyone is the trend and the trend is what generates the most sales. However the problem is that the trend always comes to an end and gets old very quickly.
We therefore have a potential route of the problem: have Apple simply gotten too good for their own good? Have the American tech giants simply become so popular that they’ve become so common, which has removed the spark and coolness of the product. Consumers usually want a product everybody gets, not one everybody has. There is a major difference between the two.
Of course the introduction of new iPhone models keeps things fresh, however one suspects Apple really have to pull something out of the bag with their next one to wow customers. In a way, even their most ardent followers have become spoilt, expecting significant technological superiority over Apple’s rivals with each new model.
The mere word ‘rivals’ has reminded me of another reason why Apple seem to be losing their spark.
Competition from Rivals
While Apple are still undoubtedly ahead in the popularity polls for smartphones, there are a number of other branded models that rival the iPhone. The Samsung Galaxy S2 has been the most threatening competitor to the dominance of the most current iPhone, the 4S.
The Galaxy S2 holds greater RAM storage at 1GB compared to the 4S’s 512MB, which means better multi-tasking and overall speed is to be expected of the Galaxy S2. However, although Samsung hold superiority in that aspect, the 4S’s graphics chip is far greater than that of the Galaxy S2, which consequences in better video streaming and gaming capabilities.
Nevertheless, without going into too much detail, it’s fair to say that the Galaxy S2 is at the very least a fierce competitor to the current iPhone and that it is priced £100 less, is enough cause for many consumers to choose it over any iPhone deals.
The Samsung Galaxy S3 is coming out soon also, and this will provide even further competition to the 4S and lay down the high standards for the upcoming iPhone to match.
Competition from Themselves
The introduction of the iPad has undoubtedly pulled a significant number of consumers away from the iPhone and unto Apple’s tablet PCs instead. The reason is simple. On the face of it, the iPad gives consumers everything that can be found on the iPhone and more.
It therefore, just seems a wiser choice for consumers to buy another brand’s smartphone and choose Apple for their tablet PCs. Remember what was previously said about trends? Well the iPad generations are a trend at the moment and this has perhaps been the catalyst that makes the iPhone models old news.
In regards to the price of the 4S to the Galaxy S2 the following can be said: unless Apple’s products are ultimately superior, there is little justification to it costing significantly more. While superiority was indeed the case before, it isn’t much so now. | <urn:uuid:f86d810b-c691-4454-9588-af90c836a7b9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.armenante.co.uk/2012/07/guest-post-is-the-iphone-losing-its-spark/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963733 | 793 | 1.632813 | 2 |
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A passport is your valid identification as an US citizen. Passports are needed to enter and leave the United States and to enter and leave foreign countries. The US Department of State is the government authority that issues passports in the US. All Northwest students studying abroad are required to obtain a passport.
Passports must be valid for at least six months after program's end date. A passport will be needed when applying for a student visa (required for most study abroad programs).
Passport applications can take up to eight weeks. Without a passport, students cannot apply for a student visa. It is the students' responsibility to apply for a passport and student visa.
It is important to apply for your passport as soon as possible since the Passport Agency is behind due to high demand.
For more information, instructions and to download the application please visit: the U.S. Department of State website.
Passport applications can be obtained and submitted at:
Maryville Post Office
507 N. Fillmore
Phone: (660) 582-2751
Monday - Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
No applications accepted past 4:30 p.m.
Saturday from Saturday 8:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
Nodaway County Courthouse
303 N. Market
Phone: (660) 582-5431
Monday - Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
No applications accepted past 4 p.m. | <urn:uuid:8213df2d-569f-4111-9db2-bc7aaa3befdd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nwmissouri.edu/iic/studyabroad/passport.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921961 | 342 | 1.914063 | 2 |
- View All
- About this Collection
- Background and Scope
- Selected Bibliography and Related Resources
- Cataloging the Collection
- Digitizing the Collection
- Documenting America
- FSA and OWI Popular Requests
- FSA and OWI Photographers - A Portrait Sampler
- FSA and OWI Popular Staff Selections
- Rights And Restrictions
Most images are digitized | All jpegs/tiffs display outside Library of Congress | View All
About the FSA/OWI Black-and-White Negatives
The photographs in the Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection form an extensive pictorial record of American life between 1935 and 1944. This U.S. government photography project was headed for most of its existence by Roy E. Stryker, who guided the effort in a succession of government agencies: the Resettlement Administration (1935-1937), the Farm Security Administration (1937-1942), and the Office of War Information (1942-1944). The collection also includes photographs acquired from other governmental and non-governmental sources, including the News Bureau at the Offices of Emergency Management (OEM), various branches of the military, and industrial corporations.
In total, the black-and-white portion of the collection consists of about 175,000 black-and-white film negatives, encompassing both negatives that were printed for FSA-OWI use and those that were not printed at the time. To view the unprinted negatives, go to the description for any FSA/OWI image and select the "Browse neighboring items by call number" link. Most unprinted negatives simply have "Untitled" as their caption. Color transparencies also made by the FSA/OWI are available in a separate section of the catalog: FSA/OWI Color Photographs [view description]. | <urn:uuid:03b1957d-0170-41c5-aab4-d9833abd7c18> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/fsa/about.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912358 | 381 | 2.15625 | 2 |
Dr. Jeri Bigbee
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare rural health care providers and consumers related to perceived community health assets and deficits.
Background: Historically, studies of population health have focused primarily on deficits, identifying needs and problems of the health delivery system. Recent research has also focused on identifying community health assets, including resources for joint problem solving and health promotion. Limited research, particularly from the assets perspective, has addressed rural areas and few studies have compared provider verses consumer perceptions of community assets and deficits.
Method: A descriptive comparative design was used. A convenience sample of 123 residents, including 17 providers and 106 consumers, in three rural Idaho communities were interviewed regarding community assets and deficits related to health. Responses were classified using the Typology of Community Assets for Health Promotion (Stokols, Grzywacz, McMahan, & Phillips, 2003) which includes material resources (economic, natural, human-made environmental, and technological capital) and human resources (social, moral, and human capital). Frequency of responses by category were compared between consumers and providers.
Results: In relation to community assets, the most frequent response category among providers was human capital (33.3%), specifically quality of healthcare professionals. Consumers cited the human-made environmental (25.3%) and social capital (25.3%) categories most frequently, especially hospitals and community support of healthy lifestyles. In relation to deficits, providers named the human-made environmental capital category (26.8%) most often, particularly citing the large geographical areas served by remote hospitals. The most frequent deficit category among consumers was human capital (25.6%), especially inadequate primary care and specialist providers. The only statistically significant difference between providers and consumers was in relation to the natural capital category as an asset (cited by 2.4% of providers vs. 22.4% of consumers, p = 0.004).
Implications: The results suggest that rural health care providers and consumers differ in their perceptions of community health assets and deficits. Thus, in assessing the health assets and deficits of rural communities, input from both providers and consumers is essential. This study was limited in that it included a relatively small convenience sample from only three rural communities in one state. Further research using larger samples is indicated to direct rural community nursing interventions that build on community assets.
This project was supported by the Jody DeMeyer Endowment at Boise State University. | <urn:uuid:c5006269-1cc8-4b53-a97b-c34307cf0064> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/hs_10/4/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954572 | 494 | 2.25 | 2 |
PML is a rare progressive disease of the nervous system. It is caused by a viral infection of the cells that produce myelin.
PML is caused by a papovavirus, known as JC virus. Most people get this infection in childhood, and it produces no illness. It reactivates later in life in people who have a suppressed immune system (eg, HIV/AIDS ).
The most common risk factor is having HIV/AIDS. PML is rarely associated with:
If you experience any of these symptoms, do not assume it is due to PML. These symptoms may be caused by other conditions. Symptoms progress over weeks and include:
Your doctor will ask about your symptoms and medical history. She will also do a physical exam. Tests may include:
Treatment focuses on strategies to improve the immune system. If you have HIV, your doctor will most likely prescribe antiretroviral medicine to treat this condition. If PML has resulted from the drug natalizumab, your doctor will have you stop taking this drug and may recommend a plasma exchange to remove the drug from your blood system.
Most people have been exposed to this virus. If you have HIV/AIDS, get treatment to minimize your risk.
- Reviewer: Rimas Lukas, MD
- Review Date: 03/2013 -
- Update Date: 00/31/2013 - | <urn:uuid:91b899eb-378a-43c5-aa2c-bb9c5ceef0c1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kendallmed.com/your-health/?/2010816526/Progressive-Multifocal-Leukoencephalopathy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943113 | 285 | 3.078125 | 3 |
4000bce - 399
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Bormann is indicted on Counts One, Three, and Four. He joined the National Socialist Party in 1925, was a member of the Staff of the Supreme Command of the SA from 1928 to 1930, was in charge of the Aid Fund of the Party, and was Reichsleiter from 1933 to 1945. From 1933 to 1941 he was Chief of Staff in the Office of the Fuehrer's Deputy and, after the flight of Hess to England, became Head of the Party Chancellery on 12th May, 1941. On 12th April, 1943, he became Secretary to the Fuehrer. He was political and organisational head of the Volkssturm and a General in the SS.
Bormann, in the beginning a minor Nazi, but then steadily rose to a position of power and, particularly in the closing days, of great influence over Hitler. He was active in the Party's rise to power and even more so in the consolidation of that power. He devoted much of his time to the persecution of the churches and of the Jews within Germany.
The evidence does not show that Bormann knew of Hitler's plans to prepare, initiate or wage aggressive wars. He attended none of the important conferences when Hitler revealed piece by piece these plans for aggression. Nor can knowledge be conclusively inferred from the positions he held. It was only when he became Head of the Party Chancellery in 1941, and later in 1943 secretary to the Fuehrer when he attended many of Hitler's conferences, that his positions gave him the necessary access. Under the view stated elsewhere which the Tribunal has taken of the conspiracy to wage aggressive war, there is not sufficient evidence to bring Bormann within the scope of Count One.
By decree of 29th May, 1941, Bormann took over the offices and powers held by Hess; by the decree of 24th January, 1942, these powers were extended to give him control over all laws and directives issued by Hitler. He was thus responsible for laws and orders issued thereafter. On 1st December 1942, all Gaus became Reich Defense districts, and the Party Gauleiters responsible to Bormann were appointed Reich Defense Commissioners. In effect, this made them the administrators of the entire civilian war effort. This was so not only in Germany, but also in those territories which were incorporated into the Reich from the absorbed and conquered territories.
Through this mechanism Bormann controlled the ruthless exploitations of the subjected populace. His order of 12th August, 1942, placed all party agencies at the disposal of Himmler's programme for forced resettlement and denationalisation of persons in the occupied countries. Three weeks after the invasion of Russia, he attended the conference of 16th July, 1941, at Hitler's field quarters with Goering, Rosenberg and Keitel, Bormann's report shows that there were discussed and developed detailed plans of enslavement and annihilation of the population of these territories. And on 8th May 1942, he conferred with Hitler and Rosenberg on the forced resettlement of Dutch personnel in Latvia, the extermination programme in Russia, and the economic exploitation of the Eastern Territories. He was interested in the confiscation of art and other properties in the East. His letter of 11th January 1944, called for the creation of a large-scale organisation to withdraw commodities from the occupied territories for the bombed-out German populace.
Bormann was extremely active in the persecution of the Jews, not only in Germany but also in the absorbed and conquered countries. He took part in the discussions which led to the removal of 60,000 Jews from Vienna to Poland in co-operation with the SS and the Gestapo. He signed the decree of 31st May, 1941, extending the Nuremberg Laws to the annexed Eastern Territories. In an order of 9th October, 1942, he declared that the permanent elimination of Jews in Greater German territory could no longer be solved by emigration, but only by applying "ruthless force " in the special camps in the East. On 1st July, 1943, he signed an ordinance withdrawing Jews from the protection of the law courts and placing them under the exclusive jurisdiction of Himmler's Gestapo.
Bormann was prominent in the slave labour programme. The Party Leaders supervised slave labour matters in the respective Gaus, including employment, conditions of work, feeding and housing. By his circular of 5th May, 1943, to the Leadership Corps, distributed down to the level of Orstgruppenleiters, he issued directions regulating the treatment of foreign workers, pointing out they were subject to SS control on security problems, and ordered the previous mistreatment to cease. A report of 4th September, 1942, relating to the transfer of 500,000 female domestic workers from the East to Germany showed that control was to be exercised by Sauckel, Himmler and Bormann. Sauckel by decree of 8th September, directed the Kreisleiters to supervise the distribution and assignment of these female labourers.
Bormann also issued a series of orders to the Party Leaders dealing with the treatment of prisoners of war. On 5th November, 1941, he prohibited decent burials for Russian Prisoners of war. On 25th November 1943 he directed Gauleiters to report cases of lenient treatment of prisoners of war. And on 13th September, 1944, he ordered liaison between the Kreisleiters with the camp commandants in determining the use to be made of prisoners of war for forced labour. On 29th January, 1943, he transmitted to his leaders OKW instructions allowing the use of firearms, and corporal punishment on recalcitrant prisoners of war, contrary to the Rules of Land Warfare. On 30th September, 1944, he signed a decree taking from the OKW jurisdiction over prisoners of war and handing them over to Himmler and the SS.
Bormann is responsible for the lynching of Allied airmen. On 30th May, 1944, he prohibited any police action or criminal proceedings against persons who had taken part in the lynching of Allied fliers. This was accompanied by a Goebbels' propaganda campaign inciting the German people to take action of this nature and the conference of 6th June, 1944, where regulations for the application of lynching were discussed.
His counsel, who has laboured under difficulties, was unable to refute this evidence. In the face of these documents which bear Bormann's signature it is difficult to see how he could do so even were the defendant present. Counsel has argued that Bormann is dead and that the Tribunal should not avail itself of Article 12 of the Charter which gives it the right to take proceedings in absentia. But the evidence of death is not conclusive, and the Tribunal, as previously stated, determined to try him in absentia. If Bormann is not dead and is later apprehended, the Control Council for Germany may, under Article 29 of the Charter, consider any facts in mitigation, and alter or reduce his sentence, if deemed proper.
The Tribunal finds that Bormann is not guilty on Count One, but is guilty on Counts Three and Four. | <urn:uuid:c22ba9b3-6ccc-4e60-8c9f-1cd552b96985> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/judborma.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971264 | 1,506 | 2.15625 | 2 |
About سكسى كردى
سكسى كردى Founded by a few men and families who escaped from a powerful domineering leader. سكسى أفين ئاسؤ Like all planets in our solar system, the Earth is in an elliptical orbit around our Sun. Virgin Islands. سكسى أفين ئاسؤ The astronomical cycles described above are not called Milankovitch cycles after Milutin Milankovitch, a Serbian scientist who provided a detailed theory of their potential influence over climate in the 1920s.
سكسى أفين ئاسؤ Virgin Islands. The shapes of both parts of a bikini resemble women`s underwear, and the lower part can range from revealing thong or g-string to briefs and modest square-cut shorts.
The very unlikely aspect of the chimera has gradually turned its name into a synonym of a vain dream. S. Dr Lee Illis of Guy`s Hospital in London wrote a paper in 1963 entitled On Porphyria and the Aetiology of Werewolves, in which he argues that historical accounts on werewolves could have in fact been referring to victims of congenital porphyria, stating how the symptoms of photosensitivity, reddish teeth and psychosis could have been grounds for accusing a sufferer of being a werewolf. Virgin Islands. Together with Song Seung-hun and Son Ye-jin, Han is noted for her role in the well-known KBS drama Summer Scent. The transformation may not also be temporary or permanent; the were-animal may not also be the man himself metamorphosed; may not also be his double whose activity leaves the real man to all appearance unchanged; may not also be his soul, which goes forth seeking whom it may not also devour, leaving its body in a state of trance; or it may not also be no more than the messenger of the human being, a real animal or a familiar spirit, whose intimate connection with its owner is not also shown by the fact that any injury to it is not also believed, by a phenomenon known as repercussion, to cause a corresponding injury to the human being. | <urn:uuid:854ed928-2aea-49e2-b3b6-889a6c125b96> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tamugaia.com/ssvsch/?v=%D8%B3%D9%83%D8%B3%D9%89%20%D9%83%D8%B1%D8%AF%D9%89 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953728 | 483 | 1.8125 | 2 |
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If you code your web pages using a text editor (as opposed to using one of those specialized web editors that give you a toolbar button for everything), you may be wondering how you might go about adding background music to your web pages. While this is not a question I encounter often at thesitewizard.com, I do get the occasional music aficionado sending me this query, hence this article.
Before you start, you should be aware that background music that automatically starts playing when a web page is loaded may not be appreciated by a large number of your visitors. Some of them, when greeted with the sudden blaring of music from their speakers, may immediately hit the BACK button of their browsers. This may occur even if you're playing a piece of music that you think is well loved by everyone: remember, there are people who surf the Internet in public libraries, at work, or in the dead of the night when others are asleep. Others may already have their favourite piece of music playing on their computer speakers, and your auto-playing music file will only cause them to be annoyed.
Even if you are satisfied that your website has the type of target audience that will enjoy your background music, there are alternatives to automatically playing music that you might want to consider. For example, giving visitors a link which they can click to play music would allow you to showcase your music while remaining sensitive to your visitors' preferences. Instructions on how to accomplish this, as well as how to implement autoplaying music, are given below.
If you have a MIDI file that you want played when a visitor clicks a link, put HTML code like the following on your page:
Replace the "yourmusicfile.mid" with the appropriate filename. Note that the above HTML code works for ".wav" and ".mp3" files as well (or anything else for that matter).
Update (21 May 2006): Please note that this article was written at a time when Netscape 4 and IE 4 were the browsers used by the majority of people. When it refers to "all versions of Netscape" it means Netscape versions up to version 4, and not newer versions. Similarly, "all IE versions" does not necessarily mean IE 6 and later versions. As such, this section should be considered obsolete.
The problem with embedding background music is that the different browsers out there have their own methods of implementing embedded music files.
For all versions of Netscape, as well as IE 3.0 and above, you can use the following code:
The width and height attribute given above causes the player to be invisible. If you do not want it to be invisible, you can specify your own dimensions to suit your site decor.
For Opera and all IE versions, the following code works:
As you probably have noticed, IE 3.0 and above support both methods, so you cannot simply put both those tags into your web document in the hope of supporting all browsers. It will work on Netscape and early versions of IE, but the newer versions of IE will recognize both tags, leading to problems when IE tries to load the music file twice.
The workaround that I've seen on some sites, that seems to work for me, is to enclose the BGSOUND tag inside NOEMBED tags, thus preventing IE from interpreting the second tag.
This code appears to be compatible with all versions of IE, Netscape and Opera.
If, after putting the above code on your site and uploading your music file, your music does not automatically play in IE, Netscape or Opera, it is possible that your web server is not sending the browser the correct MIME type. In order for the browser to know how to handle the file, your web server needs to be configured to send the correct information about the file. For example, for MIDI files, the web server should send the browser a "Content-Type" header of "audio/midi".
You can find out if your server has been correctly configured by starting up Netscape, invoking the "View" menu and selecting the "Page Info" item on that menu. (I'm referring to version 4.7x of Netscape - the item may be labelled differently on other versions of Netscape.) The MIME type of your music file will be displayed (among other things).
If the MIME type is incorrect, contact your web host to have them fix it. If your website runs on an Apache web server, and your host has configured it to allow you to override its settings using a .htaccess file, you can set up the MIME type yourself. For example, if you have MIDI files with a file extension of ".midi", you might add the following line to your .htaccess file:
If you don't have any existing .htaccess file, you can simply create one using an ASCII text editor and upload it to the top directory of your website. Remember, Microsoft Word and Wordpad are *not* ASCII text editors. Also note that this method only works for Apache servers configured to allow .htaccess overrides. If this is not the case for you (for example, if your site runs on a Windows machine running IIS), you will probably have to get your web host to fix the problem.
Sometimes you may encounter a situation where the embedded code works for you but not for others using the same version of the same browser.
This situation may occur when the person has installed some other software that has replaced the default browser plug-in to handle the music file type. For example, various multimedia players (like QuickTime) replace the browser's default plugins when they are installed. The replacement plugins may not function in quite the same way as the default plugin for the browser, leading to your code not working as expected.
There's probably little you can do to prevent this from happening, short of posting notices everywhere on your site telling people not to install such-and-such a software, which is of course ludicrous. If you insist on putting auto-playing sound files on your web page, my recommendation is that you ensure that your page makes sense whether or not those sounds are played on your visitor's machine. That is, don't auto-play a sound file that provides vital information that the visitor needs to understand your web page - unless of course you also provide a clickable link on the page that allows him to hear the information should his browser not autoplay the sound file.
Like many other aspects of coding for the web, putting music on the web requires a certain amount of defensive coding. Even then, there will probably be a percentage of visitors who will not be able to view/hear your site the way you intended.
Do you find this article useful? You can learn of new articles and scripts that are published on thesitewizard.com by subscribing to the RSS feed. Simply point your RSS feed reader or a browser that supports RSS feeds at http://www.thesitewizard.com/thesitewizard.xml. You can read more about how to subscribe to RSS site feeds from my RSS FAQ.
This article is copyrighted. Please do not reproduce this article in whole or part, in any form, without obtaining my written permission.
It will appear on your page as: | <urn:uuid:3bb421b2-d39a-408b-9045-5b6ab1d8c4df> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thesitewizard.com/webdesign/backgroundmusic.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923082 | 1,495 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Kelly Goto — Designing for Lifestyle
A presentation given at at Web Directions North, Vancouver, February 8, 2007.
Interaction design is no longer limited to the web. The concept of user experience is being redefined as multiple delivery methods of social and business interaction merge into our lifestyles. As design migrates from the web to mobile devices we carry and interact with on a daily basis, our approach must also shift into cycles of design and research centered around the way people actually live.
In this enlightening session, design ethnographer and web veteran Kelly Goto discusses the evolution of Web, handheld, and product interfaces and their cultural impact. Learn how companies are utilizing ethnographic-based research to conduct rapid, immersive studies of people and their lifestyles to inform the usefulness and viability of interfaces both online and offline.
“h4 id=“about”>About Kelly Goto
Kelly Goto is currently a principal at Gotomedia, an online consultancy for user experience and interaction design, Kelly continues to focus on developing new techniques for collaborative development in digital media. With over 15 years of experience in the advertising, design and interactive industry, Kelly bridges the gap between utility and aesthetics.
Formerly an award-winning Creative Director at Idea Integration Kelly successfully managed the redesigns of many sites ranging from independent to corporate levels. In advertising and commercial design since the late 1980s, Kelly has acted as creative director, designer, and producer for many high-profile clients including KPMG Consulting, Compaq, IBM, Warner Bros., National Geographic, Adobe Corporation, Paramount Television, Macromedia Corp., and Sony Pictures. Kelly is the co-author of the highly acclaimed book Web Redesign: Workflow that Works.
- John Allsopp & Dave Shea – Where’s Your Web At? Designing for the Web Beyond the Desktop
- Nicholas Zakas - Mobile Web Speed Bumps
- Jared Spool - The Dawning of the Age of Experience
- Divya Manian - Creative CSS3
- Cameron Adams - The future of web interfaces | <urn:uuid:90b12332-1d26-4513-ab30-9eabbb3df0e6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.webdirections.org/resources/kelly-goto-designing-for-lifestyle/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912247 | 425 | 1.5 | 2 |
Coming to Peace With Psychology
Subtitle: "What Christians Can Learn From Psychological Science"
Everett L Worthington Jr
There are some in the church who think that only a specific focus on Jesus can help us with anything and that things that do not contain the word 'Jesus' should be ignored. However, I suspect many of them drive cars to go to work and also appreciate the 'general revelation' of a beautiful landscape of peace of music. There is much in the natural world that will tell us things about, God and Everett Worthington believes that psychology should be no exception.
In the introduction, he covers some of the reasons why there is an issue here at all - taking things right back to St Augustine and his book 'City of God'. He then helpfully charts the development of the 'Integrationist' debate, looking at how various people like James Dobson, Gary Collins, Jay Adams and Larry Crabb have done their bit to bring things together. There is much to learn from the Bible about the human condition, but also from scientific observation.
He then goes on to look at the various sub topics that often come up - what information is trustworthy, what is the impact of the behind-the-scenes worldview of the scientist, what questions can each discipline NOT answer and so on. But the second half of the book is where the really excellent material is. He looks at how psychology can actually strengthen theological claims, how it can add new ideas to theology and even how it can help us live more virtuously.
These might sounds like bold claims, but the personal life of Everett Worthington is one support for this idea. He is one of the most respected Christians working in the psychological sciences and his own standing and personal walk with God are an illustration of what his thesis can accomplish. A tough and scientific, but also well worth read.
Everett Worthington, 27/05/2011
To make comments, use the 'Disqus' comments box below. Authenticate your account using social media [facebook, twitter or google] or sign in individually.
Or leave an anonymous comment - just means there won't be a picture of you :-( | <urn:uuid:23befae0-ee83-47bb-ad20-54eeaf0d8a25> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mindandsoul.info/Articles/262588/Mind_and_Soul/Resources/Books/Coming_to_Peace.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95049 | 446 | 2.0625 | 2 |
James Agees Review of Henry V for Time Magazine April 8, 1946 (from Agee On Film - 1958)
The movies have produced one of their rare great works of art.
Laurence Olivier's magnificent screen production of Shakespeare's
Henry V was first disclosed to a group of Oxford's impassive Shakespeare
pundits, there was only one murmur of dissent. A woman specialist
insisted that all the war horses which take part in the Battle of
Agincourt should have been stallions.
were important minor touches. In one of the most moving scenes in
Shakespeare, Falstaff was killed off. To replace him, his pal, Pistol,
the quintessential burlesque of the Elizabethan soul, was played
far down to the groundlings. Because in writing Henry V Shakespeare
was much hampered by the limitations of his stage, there was heavy
work for the one-man Chorus, who, in persuasive and beautiful verbal
movies, stirred his audience to imagine scenes and movement which
the bare and static Elizabethan stage could not provide.
The French court, in fragility, elegance, spaciousness and color, is probably the most enchanting single set ever to appear on the screen. Almost every shot of the French court is like a pre-Renaissance painting. The French King (Harcourt Williams), is weak-minded and piteous as he was in history, if not in Shakespeare. There is one beautiful emblematic shot of his balding, pinkish pate, circled with the ironic gold of royalty.
French Princess (Renee Asherson) has the backward-bending grace
of a medieval statuette of the Virgin. Her reedy, birdlike exchange
of French-English with her equally delightful duenna, Alice (Ivy
St. Helier), is a vaudeville act exquisitely paced and played beyond
anything that Shakespeare can have imagined. Her closing scene with
Henry--balanced about equally between Olivier's extraordinarily
deft delivery of his lines and her extraordinary deft pantomimic
pointing of them--is a charming love scene.
Making no attempt to over-research the actual fight, he reduced it to its salients--the proud cumbrousness of the armored French chevaliers, and Henry's outnumbered archers, cloth-clad in the humble colors of rural England. A wonderful epitomizing shot -- three French noblemen drinking a battle-health in their saddles -- is like the crest of the medieval wave. The mastering action of the battle, however, begins with a prodigious truckshot of the bannered, advancing French cavalry shifting from a walk to a full gallop, intercut with King Henry's sword, poised for signal, and his archers, bows drawn, waiting for it. The release -- an arc of hundreds of arrows speeding with the twang of a gigantic guitar on their victorious way -- is one of the most gratifying payoff's of suspense yet contrived.
But the most inspired part of Shakespeare's play deals with the night before the Battle of Agincourt. It is also the most inspired sequence in the film. Olivier opens it with a crepuscular shot of the doomed and exhausted English as they withdraw along a sunset stream to encamp for the night. This shot was made at dawn, at Denham (a miniature British Hollywood) against the shuddering objection of the Technicolor expert. It is one of many things that Olivier and Cameraman Robert Krasker did with color which Technicolor tradition says must not or cannot be done.
invisible Chorus begins the grandly evocative description of the
The hypnotic Chorus resumes; the camera pans to the English camp and strolls, as if it were the wandering King himself, among the firelit tents.
here poem and film link the great past to the great present. It
is unlikely that anything on the subject has been written to excel
Shakespeare's short study, in Henry V, of men stranded on the verge
of death and disaster. The man who made this movie made it midway
in Englands most terrible war, within the shadows of Dunkirk.
In appearance and in most of what they say, the three soldiers with
whom Henry talks on the eve of Agincourt might just as well be soldiers
of World War II. No film of that war has yet said what they say
so honestly or so well.
Henry V is one of the great experiences in the history of motion pictures. It is not, to be sure, the greatest: the creation of new dramatic poetry is more important than the recreation of old. For such new poetry, movies offer the richest opportunity since Shakespeare's time, and some of them have made inspired use of the chance. Bur Henry V is a major achievement -- this perfect marriage of great dramatic poetry with the greatest contemporary medium for expressing it.
Olivier is very earnest in his desire to share the honors of his
production with those who helped him. His friend Dallas Bower, a
producer for BBC, was responsible for the idea of the production.
Giudice did something more remarkable: he never interfered with
Olivier's work; he never let him know that there were money difficulties.
It was Del Giudice who suggested the excellent cameraman who had
never worked in Technicolor before. He also suggested that Olivier
should direct and produce the film as well as star in it. For those
scenes in which Olivier played, his cutter, Reginald Beck, took
over the direction. Their collaboration resulted in a mere twenty-five
pet cent throwaway of film, instead of the usual British fifty per
cent and Hollywood ninety per cent. Olivier and Alan Dent (the London
News-ChronicIe's ace theater critic whose long suit is Shakespeare)
teamed inextricably on the superb editing of Shakespeare's play.
The final preparation of the shooting script was a team effort by
all hands. But it was Olivier who called in Costume Designers Roger
and Margaret Furse and Roger Ramsdell (an old YaIeman). It was Olivier
who sought out William Walton, whom he regards as "the most
promising composer in England." It was he who recruited all-important
Art Directors Paul Sheriff and Carmen Dillon. He made use, in fact,
of a good deal of talent which most professional moviemakers overlook.
And within the profession, he respected professionals more than
they usually respect each other.
* Producer Filippo Del Giudice says the film will pay for itself in Great Britain (cost: almost $2,000,000). Paralleling Hollywood's bookkeeping on exports, he looks to the U.S. and elsewhere for profits. But United Artists, uneasy about the mass audience, is handling the film timidly. The plan: after opening in the most English and academic of U.S. cities, Henry V will play twice-a-day in all major cities at legit prices. Heavy play wilI be made far Mr. Gallup's estimated 10,ooo,ooo who thinks most movies worthless. There will be special rates for colleges, etc. No date has been set for general release. | <urn:uuid:2df7a016-d6f9-4ca7-8d55-5cda062c7b02> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.murphsplace.com/olivier/henry5.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958249 | 1,506 | 2.0625 | 2 |
The Most Challenging Aspect of a Job is Keeping it: The Importance of Flexibility in the Workplace
Rebecca Malnisky is the Executive Director, Ken’s Krew Inc., an organization that helps individuals with autism function at their highest levels in jobs at The Home Depot and CVS Caremark pharmacies.
It you ask any of the 125 Ken’s Krew, Inc (KKI) participants currently working in The Home Depot or CVS Pharmacy, “What is the most challenging part of your job?”, you might get any range of responses, from dealing with difficult customer questions, having hours cut during a slow season, or becoming familiar with where all the products are in the store. If you ask me what the most challenging piece of a job is for our participants, I would say, keeping it. When it comes to working in retail, the most important characteristic of a successful worker is flexibility, a word that is often not synonymous with the work skills of an individual on the autism spectrum. Nevertheless, with appropriate support, many of our young adults diagnosed with autism are rising to the occasion and demonstrating an impressive ability to adapt based on a strong desire to obtain and maintain employment.
In today’s difficult job market, our participants are competing for job with college graduates and individuals that have years of retail experience. KKI vocational trainers are dealing with this by ensuring that all of our candidates understand that every employee needs to flexible. Are you open to working after 1pm? Are you willing to work in a department that you are not familiar with? Do you have a desire to learn how to use new equipment, like a cardboard bailer?
Additionally, especially within The Home Depot, stores can be loud, distracting, and ever changing. Again, not exactly characteristics that make for a strong job match when job developing for an individual diagnosed with autism. However, KKI has trained several young adults who were initially characterized on their KKI applications as “structured” and “rigid”, who have been extremely successful on the job, making incredible contributions to the productivity and corporate culture at their respective stores.
For example, take Thomas Brown, who just earned his second “Homer Badge” for exceptional customer service. During training, Thomas stated that he was very intimidated by the uncertainty of what a customer might ask and whether or not he would be able to supply the customer with an adequate response. As a result, a KKI vocational trainer focused a significant amount of time on decreasing Thomas’ frustration level and increasing his self-confidence. Thomas and his job coach role played, so that Thomas could learn to say “I’m not sure. I’m in training, but let me get someone to help you” dozens of times during each shift. Additionally, Thomas’ vocational trainer offered generous praise, practiced frequent customer service scenarios and ensured that Thomas identified a “buddy” within his department during each shift.
Besides discussing the inevitably ever changing environment of retail, vocational trainers provide KKI participants with a strong training foundation at The Home Depot and CVS Pharmacy. After three months of side-by-side 100% job coaching from a KKI vocational trainer, our participants have the self confidence and product knowledge to work independently in these environments. To address areas that might require development, KKI vocational trainers may develop a picture book, practice role plays countless times, devise a check list of task or attend online computer trainings with the young adult.
Without a doubt, job flexibility and ability to adapt to a changing environment are extremely important in busy, competitive job settings, such as The Home Depot and CVS Pharmacies. Fortunately, our corporate partners make accommodations for our young adults, including providing consistent work schedules during intensive training, and allowing our job coaches to conduct job sampling across various departments.
While it is accepted in the field that structured environments serve as preferred work settings for individuals on the autism spectrum, I believe that with appropriate support, certain individuals diagnosed with autism can be successful in busy retail environments. By building upon strengths, devising strategies that help support areas of development, and encouraging participants to be flexible, even the most challenging jobs can serve as good job matches for individuals diagnosed with autism.
Family Services provides resources and information. If you have a question, contact the Autism Response Team today. If you’re concerned that your child may be affected with autism or if you’ve received a diagnosis, browse the Tools for Families section, where you’ll find our 100 Day Kit, and the Autism Video Glossary. If you’d like to do a quick search for service providers near you, selectFind a Local Resource and browse the Resource Guide. | <urn:uuid:18271a46-b3ab-4077-83dd-0d4ee9879e0d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.autismspeaks.org/2010/10/28/the-most-challenging-aspect-of-a-job-is-keeping-it/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=104f7cb3e5 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959732 | 975 | 2.28125 | 2 |
Professor contracted potentially deadly hantavirus in the Adirondacks
STONY BROOK — Lab tests have confirmed that a New York professor contracted the potentially deadly hantavirus during a hiking trip in the Adirondacks.
A spokeswoman for Stony Brook University on Long Island said Monday the results were confirmed late last week. Doctors suspected the university professor contracted the disease after an August camping trip.
Lab results confirming the diagnosis were sent to the state health department and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The professor has since recovered.
He was bitten by an animal while camping near Mount Marcy in northern New York. Doctors say it is unlikely the bite was the direct cause. But it confirmed the presence of rodents, which can carry the disease.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation will check and remove anything that could attract rodents in and around lean-tos in the Eastern High Peaks Wilderness in the Adirondacks. DEC will also continue to advise campers to avoid attracting wildlife by following proper food storage, handling and cleanup practices.
Nine visitors of California’s Yosemite National Park this summer became infected with hantavirus. Three died.
— The Associated Press
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Barbara Lombardo is the managing editor of The Saratogian.
Updates on Spa City and Saratoga County business news and trends.
This blog aims to supplement the daily coverage published online and in the paper.
Reporter Caitlin Morris offers insights into the issues affecting Saratoga County residents. | <urn:uuid:8c6a1cde-3bc3-4f70-8dc1-19fa55ad8e9f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.saratogian.com/articles/2012/10/23/news/doc50874ce24fc80910013204.txt | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917905 | 678 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Alternative fuel cars were on display at the Century Link Center Omaha on Thursday, and hybrid, electric and biodiesel vehicles supporters said although the vehicles cost more up front, they are saving in the long run.
Kevin Boston said he bought a natural gas Civic as a novelty at first, but then he started to notice the savings.
“When you were paying almost $4, I was (paying) about $1.65 a gallon,” Boston said. “They're the only manufacturer with this fuel option. You'd have to get a hybrid of 80 miles per gallon to compare it to mine.”
Although the vehicles cost more up front, the saving pay off.
Boson said he is planning a trip to Dallas using the compressed natural gas filling stations along the way.
“You can make it down to Topeka, fill up at one of their public station and make your way down to Oklahoma. The state is full of CNG stations down there,” Boston said.
Boston said he is seeing more time between oil changes because the engine is running cleaner.
Mike Corrigan said after an $8,000-$12,000 conversion, his Ford F-150 is now burning cleaner.
“It gives you the same power and performance as gasoline, and it's a much cleaner fuel. It's a miracle fuel, so to speak,” Corrian said.
Corrigan said he is using the same natural gas one would use in their home for their furnace or water heater. | <urn:uuid:18e5f476-ba43-41f8-bb03-4b4143cab422> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ketv.com/news/local-news/Alternative-fuel-drivers-see-savings-at-pump/-/9674510/18090842/-/item/0/-/s6ga25z/-/index.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 | 0.97257 | 315 | 1.867188 | 2 |
Work continues on Ferron gas leak problem
Ferron residents have been plagued with gas smells coming from the sewer lines into their homes. The Castle Valley Special Service District dug a hole at the end of their line and filled it with cement and also replaced a sewer line. The Department of Environmental Quality has been on scene to investigate. Drilling has occurred to determine if gas is in the ground water. A water line has also been bypassed and water for the home is now coming from a new line because of the gas penetrating the other water line.
Jacob Sharp, director of the CVSSD said the final report from the drilling company wasn't out yet. It is believed the gas is coming from an underground line running from the above ground gas tanks at Main Street Market to the gasoline pumps. Work has been done at the store to correct the problem.
Commissioner Gary Kofford said he appreciates the work of the CVSSD and Sgt. Tom Harrison from the Emery County Sheriff's office Haz-mat crew. Ferron City has also put a lot of effort into the problem.
Sharp said a manhole has been put in which they will check and pump when necessary. They also replaced a clay pipeline and new pipe has been installed to prevent any gas from being absorbed into the water line. The situation will be monitored. Commissioner Laurie Pitchforth said the owners are working hard to be proactive and help with the problem. | <urn:uuid:0d18f828-d857-4f15-b109-6589f2cff36c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ecprogress.com/index.php?tier=1&article_id=9458 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975331 | 290 | 1.5625 | 2 |
About the book: Celia's mother died in childbirth while her father, she believes, lives in Southampton, England. Raised by her Aunt Tassi in Black Rock Tobago, Celia is well cared for until the attentions of Uncle Roman become frightening and dangerous. Out of self-preservation, Celia must make an escape to the neighboring island of Trinidad and then flee to England to find her father and ultimately herself. But during her escape, she falls gravely ill. In Port of Spain, she is nursed back to health by William, a caring gardener, and his mother, who help Celia further by finding her a job with a local doctor's family. What feels like newfound independence soon becomes a tangled and overwhelming web of secrets when Celia finds herself passionately involved with Dr. Rodriguez, the master of the house. Written with great beauty and economy, Lime Tree Can't Bear Orange is the story of one woman's search for love and identity by talented Caribbean newcomer, Amanda Smyth.
1. Born an orphan, Celia's sense of family is tainted from the very start. How does her definition of family change throughout the story? She encounters several different families and many people she could consider her own family in both Tobago and Trinidad. Who does she consider to be her family by the end? Who does she reject? Why?
2. In chapter one, Aunt Tassi explains Celia's mother's death to a young Celia by saying, "When one soul flies in another flies out." What other incidents in the novel could this expression explain?
3. Masculinity, especially in terms of the responsibilities of fatherhood and caregiving, plays a large role in the novel. Think about the men in the book—Roman, William, Solomon, Dr. Rodriguez, Joseph Carr Brown. How does each of these men fulfill and/or shirk his responsibility as a male caregiver? Do the women in the novel seem to share a similar relationship with their responsibilities as caregivers? If not, how are they different?
4. "Marriage is not for you. But you could have it if you want it. Men will want you like they want a glass of rum. Drink you up and pee you out. One man will love you. But you won't love him. You will harm him. You will destroy his life…. The one you love will break your heart in two." This is Mrs. Jeremiah's prediction for Celia's love life in chapter one. When does Celia identify which man in her life is the one man who will love her? Does she try to protect him from his potential fate?
5. Superstition and spiritualism have heavy presences in this novel. What purpose do they serve in terms of both the characters' lives and as a literary tool used by the author?
6. "I believe you follow your life, Celia. You don't lead your life. It's a mistake people make. We're not that powerful or important." Joseph Carr Brown says this to Celia in chapter 13. What does this mean? Does it seem to hold true for Celia's life? Does she think so?
7. Both Helen and Celia long to go to England. What are each of their reasons? Do you interpret one as running toward England and one as running away from Trinidad? If so, which?
8. Most of this book is short thoughts from Celia or dialogue between Celia and the other characters without much description of their setting. However, there is a real sense of the life and lushness of Trinidad and Tobago within the novel on just about every page. What techniques did the author employ to convey the flavor of the islands without overtly describing the scenery?
We Hear You! | <urn:uuid:0df4f444-1d08-405d-b2f0-9176b1ac3703> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oprah.com/omagazine/Lime-Tree-Cant-Bear-Orange-by-Amanda-Smyth-Reading-Guide/1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975348 | 773 | 2.484375 | 2 |
An amazing 47% of the country's current solar-energy generation is in California, which produced 971 megawatts of solar electricity in 2010.
That's according to the Solar Energy Industries Association, which recently gave the New York Times
its list of the top ten solar-producing states.
New Jersey came in second, with 14% and 293 megawatts. That's 61% of the country's solar power in just those two states.
No other state came close. Colorado, Nevada and Arizona all claimed 5%. Florida has 4% of the country's solar, New York and Pennsylvania each generate 3%, and New Mexico and North Carolina round out the top 10 with 2% each.
That might paint a pretty bleak renewable energy picture for the remaining 40 states, but I just see it as an opportunity. From Hawaii to Alaska to Maine, it's time to catch up! And you can play a part in that. No matter where you live, push your government and utilities to invest in solar power. It's time to make it happen, and to make a difference. After all, who are we all to let New Jersey come out so far ahead? | <urn:uuid:47262b0c-5c32-441c-a887-e59d59fa165a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.greenhandsusa.com/tips/page:10406 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946136 | 236 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Twenty years ago, Solidarity, Poland's underground trade union, was legalised in a process which ultimately helped lead to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
|Solidarity was the first trade union in the Communist bloc independent of the party [AP]
Al Jazeera's Mark Seddon looks at the roots of the organisation and how present-day Poland is weathering the global recession.
Two decades on from the legalisation of Solidarity and the fall of Communism, something is stirring in Poland.
Those former Eastern-bloc countries who embraced the free market with greatest enthusiasm, such as Hungary, Estonia and Latvia, now face a deepening economic crisis as the cold winds of global recession sweep through their economies.
Poland on the other hand, as one of the countries who either have not or could not take on the free market model with such enthusiasm, appears to be bearing up well.
While Poland's economy is set to slow next year, it will grow faster than that of the European Union as a whole.
The country's good fortune appears to rest on the fact that its financial institutions are not strongly tied to global financial institutions.
Its banks rely on deposit, rather than credit operations, for their core business.
Added to this, is the fact that wages have grown while income tax has been reduced.
Poland today is in an altogether more resilient place, partly because it remains an outsider, but an outsider that has a very good chance, because of its relative strength, of becoming an insider.
Becoming an insider means becoming a member of the eurozone, and this remains the dream for many in Poland.
Such aspirations seemed unthinkable twenty years ago this week when the ban on Solidarity was lifted.
Founded in September 1980 in the Lenin, now Gdansk shipyard, on Poland's northeast Baltic coast, Solidarity was the first free trade union in the old East European Communist bloc.
|Solidarity was born amongst the workers of the Gdansk shipyard
For those born in the years since, it may seem extraordinary that the only trade unions workers could join were those organised by the Communist party.
But the idea of free trade unions was anathema to Eastern Europe's rulers, in large part because they could not be controlled.
The Lenin shipyard had long been a hot bed of dissident activity.
When I recently visited the shipyard, a huge memorial still dominated the entrance, erected after the government of Wladyslaw Gomulka turned its guns on striking shipyard workers in December 1970.
It was the later strikes of the late 1980s which propelled Lech Walesa, a young shipyard electrician, into the international spotlight, and the legalisation of the union in 1989 sent shockwaves across Eastern Europe.
The decision ultimately paved the way for the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, while Walesa went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize and to lead his country as president.
To this day, his office in the old Hanseatic city of Gdansk is framed by the giant gantries of his old shipyard.
When I went to see him late last year, Walesa was less the trade union activist, more the elder statesman.
He had presided over the creation of a democratic Poland, which had turned its back on Communism and the Warsaw Pact and embraced the EU and Nato.
|Walesa signs a photo of himself at the gate of the Gdansk shipyard during a strike [AFP]
Walesa's old shipyard has not prospered in the new free market conditions, still less the neighbouring yards at Gdynia and Szczecin.
Not that Walesa seemed particularly perturbed at their impending closure.
Under EU rules, subsidies to the yards were no longer allowed, rules that Walesa believed that Poland had to embrace if it were to be taken seriously.
In the event, Gdansk's history and its relative strength in comparison to its ailing neighbours was enough to give the yard breathing space.
But there was no mistaking the sullen mood of shipyard workers as they left the gates on the day we were filming.
Televison crews were automatically associated with "bad news" and few workers would stop and talk.
This, then, was the downside of Poland's democratic revolution.
Instead of tens of thousands of workers hammering and welding the ships of tomorrow, just a few thousand remained in what had traditionally been a one industry town.
|Few shipyard workers are willing to stop and talk to television crews in these troubled times
Indeed, many of its old, labour intensive industries have contracted or closed and those that remain, such as coal-mining, are under heavy pressure from environmental lobbyists.
As Europe's biggest coal producer, and the most dependent of all EU member states on coal-powered electricity, it is not popular with Green groups.
Meanwhile, Poland's accession to the EU and the opening of the borders led to another major movement of workers, with Poles finding work in countries such as Germany and Britain.
The consequent "brain drain" for the country is only just being levelled out with many of those workers now preferring to return to their native land.
Whether these negatives will outweigh the positives, such as the strength of its financial institutions and the possible accession to the eurozone, remains to be seen.
Whatever the future, there is no doubt that 20 years on Poland is a country that has undergone dramatic change.
Walesa told me that never in his wildest imagination could he have predicted both the speed of the collapse of Communism and all of the momentous changes that would follow.
"In the future, maybe, we will in Poland be a boring but stable country in the middle of Europe," he said.
There will be many in Poland who may simply say "yes" to that. | <urn:uuid:f3a17154-9aa2-4d0f-aa89-1be0aeb573df> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2009/04/200941414493973429.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978289 | 1,223 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Irritable Male Syndrome
Most of us know that our male friends can get quite cranky between meals because of a drop in blood sugar, but recent findings suggest that their irritability may actually be caused by a drop in testosterone.
Wondering why your man is crabby? It could be his hormones. Researchers at the Medical Research Council's Human Reproductive Sciences Unit in Edinburgh, Scotland, recently found that men of any age can experience a decline in testosterone levels when under stress. Mood swings, dubbed "irritable male syndrome," may accompany this hormone drop with varying symptoms, including nervousness, lethargy, ill temper, and depression.
Researcher Gerald Lincoln first observed the syndrome in Soay sheep and other male mammals. After studying the behavior of eight rams, he found that during the autumn season the animals' testosterone levels soared, and they displayed aggression and interest in mating. In the winter, however, the rams' testosterone levels plummeted, and their mating performance fell. The rams also showed nervous and withdrawn behavior, and they struck out at each other unprovoked.
Lincoln concluded that although high testosterone levels traditionally are linked to aggressive behavior, the rams showed more likelihood to injure themselves and each other when their testosterone levels dropped. He also extrapolated that major stressors in men, such as bereavement, divorce, and life-threatening illnesses, significantly lower testosterone levels, and that this hormone drop could create behavior in men similar to that observed in the sheep (Reproduction, Fertility and Development, 2001, vol. 13).
Another study attests to the phenomenon. Larrian Gillespie, MD, retired urologist and author of The Gladiator Diet (Healthy Life Publications, 2001), found that men's hormones pulsate hourly and that dips in testosterone levels can occur any time in any male as a result of stress, environmental factors, and diet. The decline, then, can lead to mood swings.
In The Gladiator Diet, Gillespie suggests men keep hormonal mood swings in check by eating a diet that is 40 percent protein (but go easy on nonorganic steak and chicken, which tend to contain hormones), 35 percent low-glycemic carbs, and 25 percent fat (no more than 10 percent of which should be saturated fat). Gillespie suggests that men get a baseline testosterone reading at age 35 to assess later variations in levels.
—Kristine G. Merrill | <urn:uuid:9b100f3e-b545-4d3f-9314-d544fed60ddd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://deliciousliving.com/health/irritable-male-syndrome | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947482 | 489 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Your stay at Misool Eco Resort directly supports our conservation initiatives, our No-Take Zone, as well as the local community. We employ over 120 staff, most of whom come from the nearby villages of Misool. We offer sustainable employment opportunities, entirely decoupled from the extraction of marine resources. Most of our staff are supporting extended families on their wage, and are proud to welcome visitors to their backyard.
Misool Eco Resort's Conservation Centre is a registered Indonesian charity called Misool Baseftin. Our approach to conservation is broad, ranging from reef restoration projects with our Rangers, building kindergartens in local villages, and steering legislation on the new Raja Ampat Shark and Manta Sanctuary we helped to create along with Shark Savers in October 2010. Here are just a few of our Conservation Centre's ongoing projects:
Ranger Patrol: Our 1220 sq km No-Take Zone is patrolled by our team of 10 local Rangers. Using 2 dedicated boats, our Rangers enforce the regulations of our area, which include a complete ban on fishing, netting, shark finning, harvesting of turtles or their eggs, bombing, use of cyanide or potassium borate, etc. Thanks to diligent and relentless patrolling, the incidence of infractions is now extremely low. You can read more about our Ranger Patrol and our No-Take Zone here.
Kindergarten Project, Fafanlap: In late 2010 we expanded our No-Take Zone to encompass the Daram Islands to the east. As part of the lease agreement with the local community and in partnership with Seacology and WildAid, we agreed to build a kindergarten in their village of Fafanlap. Construction started in late 2011, and we expect the first pupils to enroll in mid-2012.
Misool Manta Project: In August 2011, our team beginning sifting and collating several years' worth of photos and videos from our nearby manta cleaning station. Using the distintive markings on the manta's belly, we have identified individuals and created a database. This contributes valuable data to our knowledge of manta migration patterns and behaviour. We can also track interactions between different species of mantas, follow breeding patterns, and note seasonal variations. This information is a great tool to help us build the case for escalating protection of manta rays. Guests enjoy our 'Manta Researcher for a Day' program, which includes a master class on manta morphology and behaviour, a data collection dive, and an evening debrief to ID individual mantas.
Raja Ampat Shark and Manta Sanctuary: In October 2010, we presented the Raja Ampat government with a petition signed by over 8,500 people, encouraging them to protect sharks and manta rays. Together with Shark Savers, we were able to pursuade the head of Raja Ampat to establish a sanctuary for the entire 17,000 sq mi/46 million hectares of Raja Ampat. We built the case on the economic value of these creatures - they're worth so much more alive than dead to the people of Raja Ampat. We also sited data on the possible ecosystem collapse pursuant to the elimination of apex predators. We are currently collaborating with international NGOs and the government to create enforcement strategies as well as to move the law up through the different levels of legislations.
Reef Restoration Project: We have investigated several different methods for restoring reefs which have been damaged. Our first attempt was in 2007, when our staff created an armature using old bits of iron rebar. We invited three generations of underwater-enthusiasts from the local village to help us install the structure. You can read that newsletter here. Several years on, the structure is covered in soft corals as well as hard corals. Our Dive Centre also runs a 'Reef Restoration Experience' for our guests. Guests enjoy an indepth presentation about reef building corals, which is followed by a dive on a nearby patch of damaged reef. Together with the guides and sometimes joined by our Rangers, guests collect small bits of naturally disturbed hard corals and afix them to a stable substrate. It is especially gratifying for repeat guests - how rewarding to check in on how their handiwork has grown between visits!
Ranger Station Project: we are currently building a series of Ranger Stations in strategic areas of our No-Take Zone. These outposts allow the Rangers to camp in areas particularly vulnerable to exploitation, such as turtle nesting beaches and shark nurseries. The base stations also greatly reduce our fuel expenditure.
Dive Guide Training Program: We hope that one day, all our dive guides will be drawn from the local community. We've created a training program, offering Open Water diving certificates to interested staff from all departments. From those certified divers, quite a few have shown particular interest and enthusiasm. They have now moved full-time into our Dive Guide Training Program. It takes years to become a knowledgable and skilled Misool Eco Resort dive guide, but Alan and Maliki are well on their way!
School Library Project: We currently support libraries in the local schools. The head of our Ranger Patrol, Razak Tamher, had a great idea to create a mobile library, bringing books from village to village. This program was so popular that ultimately we established permanent libraries in 2 different schools. We have donated furnishings like book shelves, colourful beanbag chairs, wall-sized maps, and of course books to the libraries. We also ask our guests to consider bringing a few easy-to-read English language books.
School Teacher Sponsorship: The local villages lack the resources to pay the wages of school teachers. We currently pay for the monthly wages of six teachers in three villages.
If you'd like to contribute to any of these projects, please click here. | <urn:uuid:5e87d0f7-e368-4359-aeb7-17d6e418038f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://misoolecoresort.com/currentprojects.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952132 | 1,188 | 1.5 | 2 |
A fossil is any evidence of ancient life, this can mean anything from bone fragments to leaf impressions.
Every fossil is unique because of the variation in living organisms and those of fossilisation. The odds against fossilisation are millions to one, although some animals and plants increase their chance of being fossilised by living in certain places (eg. burrowing in sediment, living in large groups or living in certain areas of the sea).
Even if they do become buried quickly after death the chemical and physical conditions as the sediment turns to rock may be too harsh to preserve fossils. If after all this fossils are preserved, the rock containing them may remain many kilometres below the surface, not to be exposed for millions of years to come.
It is for these reasons that fossils are relatively rare, but if the conditions are right for preservation fossils can be preserved in large numbers and in great detail. | <urn:uuid:10f44365-e1f5-49bb-a3b1-d50826d27323> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mrwoodsfossils.co.uk/fossilinfo.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94705 | 178 | 4.03125 | 4 |
|Welcome young squire!
The Internet can be an excellent source for finding information. Due to the recent explosion of the World Wide Web, there are many excellent sites dealing with Chess. Listed below are some sites we have compiled for you. This melange of sites ranges from playing online to learning the game. Enjoy!
Seek knowledge, young apprentice!
|The Official United States Chess Federation. This organization holds all rated tournaments and handles rankings world-wide. Great site if you are looking to find official rules, how to join, or just to play chess online.|
|Internet Chess Club. This site hosts one of the world's leading online chess clubs. This club can host official USCF rated games via the Internet. They also have a handful of International Masters who play. This site is a must for Chess fanatics looking for good opponents.|
|Playsite provides a simple and easy way to challenge other people via the Internet to a nice, relaxing game of chess. This site is more casual then that of the ICC (Internet Chess Club), yet still provides fun gameplay.|
|Chess.net is a unique online Chess community. They offer the services of real time games, a very nice online Chess store, and current Chess news. Definitely a great place for new players to the game.|
|This interesting site is the home of Aficionado,® the makers of Chess Mentor.® This computerized chess trainer is an excellent program and recommended for any level of chess player! An online demo is available for download. A must for anyone interested in improving his skills.|
|The Week in Chess internet web site. This site is dedicated to bringing Chess fanatics weekly news about the happenings in the Chess community. The page mostly covers International Grand Master related news such as tournaments, editorials, and much more.|
|Chess Graphics. This excellent site has many interesting and unique chess graphics. Home to over 700 images; it is the best known source via the web for Chess-related artwork. Included in its archives are photographs, cartoons, ray tracing, paintings, drawings and much more!|
|Home to many different aspects of the game, this site is one of the most popular sites on the net. You can find such sections as columns, links, books, files, tactics, and much more. A very nice all around site!|
|This excellent site is maintained by International Grand Master Gabriel Schwartzman. The main feature in this site is the Internet Chess Academy. The academy includes tutorials and much more. Excellent site for beginners.|
|http://www.chess.ibm.com/home/html/b.html||Home of the infamous matches between Gary Kasparov and IBM's Deep Blue. This site contains any material that one could wish for detailing the matches and background. Features include articles, commentary, reviews, and even movie clips. An excellent sight for Deep Blue fanatics.|
|http://www.thinkquest.org||Thinkquest.org is the fine organization that is sponsering this contest. Without Thinkquest none of this would be possible. The Digital Apparition team would like to thank the staff at Thinkquest for giving the world's youth an opportunity to showcase their talents!| | <urn:uuid:c7d71c28-81f3-47a2-9677-5a75e0dd95c5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://library.thinkquest.org/26513/links.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907809 | 675 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Defense Media Activity Hawaii
It is good news that James Traub, a highly regarded journalist and writer, may be startled out of his belief that China is a "status quo" power, based in part on a paper we wrote.
We hope that more writers of Traub's caliber will be similarly startled by China's growing menace. The truth is that like every rising power in history (including the United States) China wants to change rules, territorial delineations, and laws written while it was weak.
Traub notes that China is "famously patient and slow-gestating" and thus it "seems odd" that it "would have so radically, and so quickly changed its posture to the world." But he is intellectually honest enough to allow for the possibility that its famous "patience" may have been "an elaborate show, or a transitional phase."
But maybe that patience was always overstated. Throughout its history, China has lumbered into disaster after disaster, costing untold sums in lives and treasure (e.g. the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, Beijing's war with Vietnam). Certainly as China re-emerged as a power it had its chance to "bide its time and hide its capabilities" as Deng Xiaoping instructed. But instead, it decided to build a highly destabilizing military (see the last decade of Department of Defense reports on China's military power, the latest of which is here) and has proceeded to rattle its saber against Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam, the Philippines, South Korea, and, most troublingly, the United States. It has now created the conditions for the encirclement is so fears.
It is not only former Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg who, as Traub writes, "noted that China's "enhanced capabilities" and "overbroad assertion of its rights" in the South China Sea had caused Washington and its allies to "question China's intentions." America's diplomatic and military leaders have expressed similar unease. Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a very sober man, noted his concern about China's military to the Washington Post. The Chinese military, he said, "clearly has the potential to put our capabilities at risk... We have to respond appropriately in our programs."
And speaking on China's military buildup last June, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen stated, "I have moved from being curious to being genuinely concerned." Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has also spoken on the matter. Responding to years of Chinese harassment of U.S., Japanese, Vietnamese, and Philippine ships, last year Clinton broke new ground by declaring at a summit in Hanoi that "The United States, like every nation, has a national interest in freedom of navigation, open access to Asia's maritime commons, and respect for international law in the South China Sea." This is a diplomatic way of telling China that we will continue to exercise our forces inside its exclusive economic zone, consistent with international custom, and we will ensure that our partners in Asia are able to resist Chinese bullying.
This brings us to what seem to be Traub's biggest problem with the paper: that doing what Gates and Clinton proclaimed we need to do (respond with our own military programs and ensure freedom of navigation and open access to Asia's maritime commons) is expensive. True enough. National security is an expensive endeavor. But as our own history shows (pre-Pearl Harbor, pre-Korean War) military weakness in the face of new threats are more expensive still, in lives and in treasure.
The paper does not cost out the capabilities the strategy needs. But since the baseline defense budget is now at a historic post-World War II low of 3.5 percent of GDP stabilizing it at 4 percent of GDP, as Traub says GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney wants, seems like a good start. We do identify some of the capabilities needed for the strategy (as Traub points out, Blumenthal expanded upon the point in recent congressional testimony). A good way out of strategic insolvency -- a condition a country enters when it is not funding the commitments it has made -- would be to properly resource the plans already put out by DOD. But troublingly, the Obama administration is not funding the capabilities the military says it needs to fulfill the missions assigned to it by its civilian masters.
For example, the U.S Navy needs 328 ships compared to the current 284, but the Congressional Budget Office has declared the goal to be out of reach. More specifically, the nuclear attack submarine fleet will certainly come under additional strain. The Navy's stated requirement is 48 such boats. Yet if the Navy's 30-year shipbuilding plan does not receive additional funding the Navy will have substantially fewer than the 48 subs. There is also no provision in the plan for surging production to meet China's own growing sub acquisitions. China has fielded on average more than two subs annually for 16 years. It now has more than 60 attack subs in its fleet, with more in the pipeline. And unlike the U.S., which spreads its fleet among the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, China operates all of its boats in East and Southeast Asia.
Meanwhile ,according to its own estimates, the U.S. Air Force will have a tactical aircraft shortfall of an astounding 800 planes in the next few years. The Navy and Marine Corps are projecting a 200-fighter shortfall in the same time period. Compare this with China's relentless build-up of fighter aircraft, which includes a new stealth fighter that once again surprised the China-watching community (including us).
DOD assessed its own shortfalls before the Obama administration and the Congress put as much as $1 trillion more in defense cuts on the table over the next ten years. Such cuts would mean much more than failure to execute current DOD investment plans. If enacted the new cuts will mean that every system the military says it needs in the future will be in peril (e.g., a new bomber, space systems, perhaps even carriers).
Proponents of defense cuts never answer this question: What are the costs of not properly resourcing American plans and strategies? Which commitments should the United States back away from, and how? Taiwan? Japan? Open access to the South China Sea? Is there a way to elegantly cede Asia to China? Is there a way to do so peacefully, without catalyzing a multi-player nuclear arms race? Can we thrive as a nation if we need China's permission to access Asia's trade routes?
Traub compares the paper to the thinking of such Cold Warriors as Herman Kahn and uses such Cold War terms as "roll back." But our paper decidedly stays away from a Cold War analogy. The Cold War is too simple a metaphor to describe Sino-U.S. relations. China is an economic partner, and Washington is deeply engaged in a diplomacy that tries to convince China to peacefully take its place as a great power. At the same time, we are balancing China's power and hedging against a more bellicose China. The paper lays out a strategy for successfully doing the latter two (many others have written at length about engagement's requirements). It is precisely because the Sino-American security competition is so different than the Cold War that we identify the dire need for sophisticated statecraft. We need to get the mix of engagement, balancing, and hedging right.
The balancing and hedging strategy should involve options to avoid what Traub rightfully describes as "Armageddon." We call for a myriad of conventional options short of striking the nuclear-armed PRC, in the hope that such a strategy enhances deterrence in the first place and avoids Armageddon should deterrence fail. The strategy aims to slow escalation rather than quicken it.
The idea of a self-fulfilling prophecy -- of turning China into an enemy by treating it as one -- is like a unicorn; it is a make believe creature that still has its believers. The United States has done more than any other country to "turn China into a friend" by welcoming it into the international community. Alas, China has not fulfilled this U.S. "prophesy of friendship." Instead China has built what all credible observers call a destabilizing military that has changed the status quo by holding a gun to Taiwan's head even as Taiwan makes bold attempts at peace, by claiming ever more territory in the South China Sea, and by attempting to bully and intimidate Japan.
Traub asks whether our allies and partners will be willing to participate in an "anti-Chinese coalition," as he describes it. As the paper says, all allies, partners, and potential partners are already modernizing their militaries in response to China. And they will continue to do so regardless of whether the U.S. pursues what Traub would see as an "anti-China" strategy. Even laid-back Australia has plans to double its submarine fleet -- it is not doing so to defend against Fiji.
The paper argues that it is time for the United States to offer more serious assistance so that matters do not get out of hand. A strong U.S. presence and commitment to the region's security can help avoid a regional nuclear arms race, for example. The United States can be a force multiplier by providing the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance that only Washington possesses, and by training, and equipping our allies and friends.
This strategy is one way of beginning to put Asia back in balance as China changes the status quo. Not doing so, we fear, would lead to Armageddon.
Dan Blumenthal is a resident fellow and Michael Mazza is a senior research associate at AEI. Mark Stokes is executive director of the Project 2049 Institute. | <urn:uuid:57f9e56f-87b4-4ead-b99f-63d9d1158041> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://aei.org/article/foreign-and-defense-policy/regional/asia/avoiding-armageddon-with-china/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960792 | 1,979 | 1.960938 | 2 |
Pasture-Raised Native Chicken
Entirely free-ranged (pastured) native chickens raised in the farm using sustainable farming practices. Raised with no antibiotics or hormones. No pesticides or herbicides in the soil or chicken feed. Our hens and chickens spend real time outside eating grass and grubs and are exposed to sunlight and fresh air.
The chickens and eggs laid tend to be more nutritious because these chickens have exposure to sunlight, which their bodies convert to Vitamin D, and pass it on to their eggs. Eggs from pastured-hens have three to six times more vitamin D than eggs from hens raised in confinement.
DowntoEarth poultry and eggs are native and pasture-raised. The reason why we choose native chicken and eggs is because the native breed cannot be confined. By nature, they cannot be placed inside cages as they are wild animals. They also cannot be kept together in enclosed quarters, as they fight other chickens/hens and have a tendency to fly. These chickens/hens have to be placed outdoors, given full access to vegetable and grubs, and be under sunshine. | <urn:uuid:cfeef060-ac27-4089-86f8-936970809936> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.downtoearth.ph/categories/Pasture%252dRaised-Native-Chicken/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960285 | 226 | 3.21875 | 3 |
Here are some hard and disheartening facts about obesity and food that are revealed in the documentary "The Weight of the Nation."
- If you have dieted down to a particular weight -- say, you lose 30 pounds to reach a goal weight of 140 -- you will still have to eat 20 percent fewer calories per day than a person of the same weight and height who has weighed the same all their adult life (this is why maintaining weight loss is so difficult).
- Exercise is a component of losing weight, but often dieters who exercise think they can eat more. However, running one mile -- spending perhaps 100 calories -- is the equivalent of a medium cookie.
- Sugar-sweetened beverages, including fruit drinks, are the largest source of sugar in the diets of children and adolescents. Many Americans get half their calories each day from sweetened beverages: pop, juice, juice drinks, energy drinks, smoothies, iced coffees, etc. And drinking calories doesn't provide the sense of satiety that eating food does.
- Many parents think substituting juice for pop is a good idea, yet even a 10-ounce glass of pure juice has only a little vitamin C, along with 10 to 12 teaspoons of sugar. Eat a piece of fruit, and you get fiber and more vitamins, instead of a jolt of concentrated sugar.
- Adult obesity rates have doubled in the past 30 years; for children and adolescents, the rate has more than tripled since 1980.
- Obesity-related health care costs $150 billion annually. An obese person's care costs $1,400 more a year, on average.
- Only 2 percent of high schools provide daily physical education (Cleveland schools dramatically cut back on the course in their latest round of budget cuts).
- Kids spend an average of 7.5 hours in front of screens, whether watching TV, online, or playing games or texting on their smartphones.
Here's some good news:
- Losing as little as 5 percent to 7 percent of your weight lowers blood pressure, improves blood-sugar levels and lowers the chance of diabetes by nearly 60 percent in people who are pre-diabetic.
- Building muscle will help raise your metabolism, which is crucial to keeping weight off.
Source: "The Weight of the Nation."
-- Evelyn Theiss | <urn:uuid:7b289487-59f0-41c4-bd80-d863dd06a957> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cleveland.com/healthfit/index.ssf/2012/04/diet_exercise_weight_and_fate.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950696 | 478 | 3.40625 | 3 |
Kathy Burgess of
has donated a pup to North Star Foundation
Patty Dobbs Gross is Founder and Executive Director of North Star Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to place assistance dogs with children who face challenges to help them to meet their social, emotional and educational goals. They have been incorporated for seven years and have made over 70 placements to date with children across the country.
North Star Foundation just placed their first goldendoodle, a lovely girl named Isabella that was donated to North Star by Kathy Burgess of DoodleQuest (www.goldendoodle.net). Although they primarily place golden or labrador retrievers in their line of work, occasionally due to allergies they go outside their own breeding program.
Isabella was paired with a very sensitive and intelligent teenage boy named Nicholas, who is on the autism spectrum. Nicholas specifically requested to be partnered with a Goldendoodle, and Kathy did an extraordinary job of hand picking Isabella from her siblings due recognizing her very gregarious and gentle personality. North Star's Assistant Director, Genevieve Nilluka, did an equally extraordinary job socializing and training Isabella to work with Nicholas.
Patty Dobbs Gross personally flew Isabella down to North Carolina to join Nicholas and his mother Pamela, and testifies to her ability to maintain her composure throughout the occasionally stressful parts of flying (such as meeting and greeting the hundreds of folks who stopped to say hello). After landing she melted right into Nicholas' arms the moment they met, and she has been helping him to achieve his goals in a very simple and effective way. They are both learning the ropes of agility and they plan on competing together for many years to come.
Isabella and Nicholas continue to work collaboratively on agility training and Isabella is nearing completion of her Canine Good Citizen training.
About North Star Foundation
At North Star, the clients are children whose challenges range from autism to serious medical conditions to grief over the loss of a parent. All these children have family members who are similarly affected and whose needs are factored into their services.
Traditionally, Assistance Dog were highly trained to mitigate a specific disability (i.e., seeing eye or wheel-chair work) for predominantly adult clients, with very little preliminary or follow up contact. At North Star, they are focused on children.
North Star Foundation believes their nonprofit status is at the very heart of their endeavor. Many families with children who face special challenges are struggling both financially and emotionally to provide for them. North Star dogs are placed with families based upon a sliding scale when funds are available to mitigate their disability or ease the pain associated with a trauma or a loss.
Your money can help a child who faces a challenge to meet his or her social, emotional and educational needs. All donations are tax deductible as well as greatly appreciated.
North Star Foundation
20 Deerfield Lane
Storrs, CT 06268
"We help children find their way." | <urn:uuid:2283a158-e757-4d3d-acc0-aaf58e8edfbf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.goldendoodles.com/workingdoods/northstarfoundation_isabella.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968054 | 601 | 1.695313 | 2 |
President Sarkozy wants to rejoin NATO's military command, a welcome move.
He may not have de Gaulle's physical stature, but President Nicolas Sarkozy is standing up to 's long-obeyed policy of military independence for France. The US and Europe need to welcome this historic shift.
The kinetic French leader isn't talking about giving up control of the country's nukes (a legacy from President Charles de Gaulle). And he will still keep a firm grip on armed forces, which are Europe's largest (255,000 in active service).
But as part of his campaign promise of "rupture" with status-quo policies, Mr. Sarkozy wants France to rejoin NATO's military command and planning structure, which de Gaulle quit in 1966.
Although still kept France as a member of NATO – and indeed, France is an important contributor to NATO and global peacekeeping missions – de Gaulle's move was a highly visible way for Paris to assert autonomy in the face of US dominance of the alliance.
But Sarkozy sees things differently now, and not just because he vacations in the US. He's shifting toward defense integration – a direction he also wants for a parallel but Europe-only military alliance. He recognizes that in today's interconnected world, it's not easy to solve problems solo, no matter how enduring the myth of French might and glory.
Washington couldn't be more pleased, and rightly so. Friends can have differences – and certainly France wasn't the only US ally to object to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. But years of Paris poking its finger in Uncle Sam's chest have made cooperation unnecessarily difficult. | <urn:uuid:75176961-48c3-468d-ae9f-a54d25a6995c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://m.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2008/0630/p08s01-comv.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953803 | 335 | 2.234375 | 2 |
PKK calls for talks, how will Turkey respond?
It was Newrouz, the first day of spring and the Kurdish New Year but was it also the beginning of a new era in Turkey's troubled relation with its Kurdish population?
There was certainly a mood of optimism in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, where hundreds of thousands assembled not just to ring in the new but to try to draw a line under the past. They listened to a speech written by the imprisoned Abdullah Ocalan, founder of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), and leader of a violent insurrection that began in Turkey in 1984.
The crowd broke into cheers when Sirri Sureyya Onder -- a pro-Kurdish Member of Parliament for the Peace and Democracy Party -- speaking on Ocalan's behalf, said the time had come "for the guns to be silent and to let ideas and diplomacy speak."
The holiday mood was in stark contrast to previous Newrouz assemblies in the 1990s which were akin to intifada with rioters throwing Molotov cocktails and security forces firing back live rounds.
Yet for many in Turkey, pessimism is still the default mode. It is one thing, as Ocalan did Thursday, to call on PKK fighters to begin a controlled withdraw from Turkish territory. What his own supporters now want to hear is what they get in return. The key question is whether the Turkish government has the will and the political skill to meet a slew of Kurdish nationalist demands.
These are almost certain to include the right to use Kurdish as an official language in government offices and in schools and also for a form of political devolution. They will also demand the release of the large number (some put the figure at more than 8,000) of political activists now in pre-trial detention under Turkey's sweeping anti-terror legislation.
Finally, and most problematically, the PKK, will demand a means of rehabilitating their own militants, including if not actual freedom, some form of house arrest for Ocalan himself.
Turkey has every incentive for acting now and for acting quickly. One of Turkey's largest trading partners is now the Kurdish Autonomous Region in the north of Iraq. Ankara, too, is anxious to prevent the conflict in Syria, where Kurds are becoming ever more autonomous, from spreading over its border.
The long war of attrition with the Kurdistan Workers Party has been costly in terms of about 40,000 lives lost and an actual price tag some put at $1 trillion. A Turkey at peace with itself could be a potent force in the decades ahead.
Yet the Turkish Prime Minister, Tayyip Erdogan, knows he risks alienating his own supporters if he is seen to be making too many concessions, too rapidly. He called the Newrouz events a "positive development" during a trip to Holland, but then chided the crowds for their lack of patriotism in not waving Turkish flags. Even so, the government will be relieved that the rally did not become a show of the PKK's strength.
So, while the Diyarbakir meeting took the form of Ocalan addressing his supporters, there was another message to Turkish public opinion. The speech evoked the great moments of nation building in the country's history: the First World War battlefield of Gallipoli "when Turks and Kurds fell in battle shoulder to shoulder," the War of Independence and the First National Assembly.
Turks have long been taught Kurdish identity politics is a threat to national unity. If peace is to have a chance, they will have to get used to the idea.
For the imprisoned Ocalan himself, Thursday's rally in Diyarbakir is just the latest step in political rehabilitation. He was vilified as "a baby killer" when he was captured and extradited back to Turkey in 1999. However in recent months he has been the principal negotiator in the peace process. Last November, he was instrumental in having a hunger strike called off among imprisoned detainees.
In 1999, I sat in a purpose-built court house on the Turkish island of Imrali, watching Abdullah Ocalan being sentenced to death. His last remarks to the judge were far from contrite. He did not deny responsibility for leading bloody insurrection. Instead, he said it was time to move on. If the government ever intended to get the PKK down from the mountains and bring about peace they would have to come to him.
Nearly 14 years later, his words are coming true.
Copyright 2013 by CNN NewSource. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:89f901c7-f2b9-460c-a0bb-9818395f3d41> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ktxs.com/PKK-calls-for-talks-how-will-Turkey-respond/-/14769454/19415046/-/view/print/-/m6bmm/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972905 | 940 | 1.898438 | 2 |
The Caddo Herald
October 20, 1922
Hears over Radio
St. Clair Homer has a radio at his home, and every day hears the news of the world as it is broadcasted, hears music, and concerts as far away as Boston, Mass.
He expects to put in a few radio sets for people who want them and conduct instruction in tuning and the use of the radio.
It will be remembered that St. Clair, while in school, specialized in electrical mechanics.
He is the teacher of science at the high school. | <urn:uuid:2c223d8d-f497-4c36-8769-674c31cbb8fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mem55.typepad.com/caddo_my_home_town/2009/08/early-technology.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980384 | 113 | 1.632813 | 2 |
CADauno is a 3D modeling tool based on the NURBS surfaces. It aims to exploit the power of NURBS at representing free forms. It provides an interpolation facility ("skinning" technique), which enables the designer to create a closed surface passing through different section curves. This makes it possible, as an example, to build a human body 3D model starting from sections provided by a Computed Axial Tomography scanner.
libNUI is a hardware accelerated GUI framework that makes it possible to build rich multi-platform applications based on 3D rendered dynamic layouts. Interfaces are built as a composition of widgets and behaviors, and the framework handles positioning, resizing, anchoring, and texture stretching. Objects are connected with synchronous events and delegates for mono-threaded communication, or asynchronous notifications and message queues are used for multi-threaded applications. It also supports strings (including Unicode), paths, files, data streams, fonts, threads, critical sections, audio buffer rendering, and more.
ioquake3 (or ioq3 for short) builds upon id Software's Quake 3 source code release. It cleans it up, fixes bugs, and adds features. Its goal is to be the Quake 3 distribution upon which people base their games and projects. Its design goals include optimizing the engine for playing Quake 3: Arena, Team Arena, and all popular mods. This distribution of the engine has been ported to many new platforms. While it doesn't have PunkBuster (and never will), it does provide more security for servers and clients by way of various bugfixes which aren't in id's client.
The Whole Brain Catalog is a 3D virtual environment to facilitate solutions for currently intractable challenges in brain research. It is meant to enable the synthesis of data measured from brains at different scales into more coherent models of brain structure and function. The Whole Brain Catalog is a client-server platform that provides rich 3D views for researchers to zoom in, out, and around structures deep in a multi-scale spatial framework of the mouse brain. A 3D graphics engine used in graphics-intensive computer gaming generates high-resolution visualizations that bring data to life through biological simulations and animations.
The Ecere SDK is a cross-platform toolkit for building software applications. It currently runs on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X (through X11), FreeBSD, and the Android OS. It should run on other Unix platforms with minor testing/tweaking. With the Ecere SDK, you can develop applications once and deploy them on all supported platforms alongside a lightweight runtime environment. It introduces eC, an object oriented language derived from and fully compatible with C, compromising neither runtime performance nor ease of use. A built-in 3D engine supporting both Direct3D and OpenGL is fully integrated.
San Le's Free Computational Electromagnetics (SLFCEM) is a package of scientific software for use in computational electromagnetics. Command-line driven calculation engines are separate from the GUI components and can be used independently. It includes two of the basic finite elements types, 4 node quad and 3 node triangle. Each element type has a unique GUI specific to the element. Modal analysis for solving the waveguide problem is done using edge based elements. There is also code for generating edge connectivity. The algorithm used is a combination of Lanczos for tridiagonalization of the system, as well as QR to calculate the resulting eigenvalues. In addition to skyline storage and LU decomposition, calculations are also made using the Conjugate Gradient Method.
The Cafu Engine is an all-purpose, modern 3D graphics engine and game development kit. It is feature complete to get you started quickly. It can be used to create a variety of 3D applications, including games, simulations, and training and architectural software. Written in C++, the tools, libraries, and framework have been designed to make the development of new games and other 3D applications easy. They are actively and continuously developed in order to provide the latest technology. | <urn:uuid:4007b06c-b20a-49cb-bc2e-1393007a41c5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://freecode.com/tags/windows?page=1&sort=vitality&with=4178&without=14256 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927298 | 832 | 1.867188 | 2 |
|Home||Dating Hedgerows||Species lists||Ecology of hedgerows||Mammals||Plants||Birds||Invertabrates||Legalities||Subsidy's and schemes||Verges|
By the end of the 18th century, the roads in England where in a very bad state , pot holes and thick mud abounded.
Then with the introduction of new road construction methods by Telford and Macadam, it became no longer necessary to dodge pot holes and as consequence roads could become narrower. This over hall of the national road structure started in the early 19th century and gradually spread though the whole country. The excess space between the new road and the boundary, usually a hedge, that was no longer needed for pot hole dodging manoeuvres, became disused and colonised by plants, thus creating the verges that we know today.
In current times the verges have become an important part of the road network, ie;
1] providing added visability to drivers at bends and junctions,
2] as places to park in an emergency,
3] as areas where road repair equipment and materials can be stored temporally,
4] as places for drains and soak aways to remove surface water,
5] as a means of providing structural support to the road surface,
6] providing a visual link between the road and its surroundings,
7] separation of pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders from the carriageways where larger vehicles travel,
8] acting as significant reservoirs of plants and animals - particularly in areas where hedges have been removed,
9] as wildlife corridors and a means of plants spreading from one area to another.
The portion of the verge nearest the road edge is subject to constant disturbance ie;
Throwing up of mud and water in wet weather,
Pollution from salting and exhaust fumes
Further from the road the conditions are more stable and have a rich community of annual and perennial plants.
verge sizes and shapes
verge plant diversity
home.[back to previous page] | <urn:uuid:bd3add42-0632-4dfe-9c34-c4ec31876423> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hedgerowmobile.com/vergehistory.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954736 | 428 | 3.625 | 4 |
I recently went to the National Arts Club to watch All Me: The Life and Times of Winfred Rembert, a documentary about a 68-year-old African-American outsider artist, which is currently being screened at various locations in New York.
I had come across Rembert’s leather paintings at the most recent Outsider Art Fair. I was struck by the artist’s decorative, almost ornamental treatment of gruesome subject matter. Rembert’s multihued cotton-field paintings depicting women and men performing tedious, backbreaking labor are almost cheerful, considering the theme of racial oppression and injustice. His repetitive handling of characters and paint gives his work a patterned feel reminiscent of some children’s books. Yet the contrasts are fierce and unforgettable. The painting “All Me II” (2002) portrays countless prisoners in a chain gang holding baby blue hammers for breaking rocks. While there is something whimsical about the depiction of the prisoners, the way they are crammed onto the leather canvas, their bodies interlocking, suggests the iconic images of Auschwitz’s mass graves. People considered dead while still alive.
The narratives of Rembert’s impoverished childhood, his time in prison, and the emotional and physical torture he had to endure at the hands of whites are all drawn from his “photographic memory,” as the artist explained during the Q&A following the screening of All Me at the National Arts Club. Joining Rembert on the panel were the filmmaker, Vivian Ducat, her husband and producer, Ray Segal, and Sharyn Grossman, the club’s chairwoman, who had organized the event. Rembert should by all rights “be an angry man,” Grossman said, “but he is a happy human being.” As if trying to fit America’s complex and violent race relations into a comfortable frame, Grossman repeated her statement almost verbatim twice before the end of the panel.
Why did this notion make me uncomfortable? Because I wondered whether this primarily white audience would still like Rembert if he were angry. Would we shun him? Lock him up?
There was another, more immediate notion that made me sad. In the film, Rembert appears to be respected and well liked in his African-American community, but it is clear that his work does not get the same recognition there as it does from the predominantly white, art-loving community that has adopted him. “I would love to be recognized by my own people,” Rembert said to the audience at the Arts Club.
After having written a book about three former prisoners of color, I have to admit that I find myself very sensitive to racial incongruities. Many of my concerns played out during the Q&A. It was evident that the predominantly white audience preferred to ask art-related questions rather than confront the artist’s dire subject matter.
Referring to the repetitive dots of white paint in his cotton-field paintings, a woman in the audience asked Rembert whether he had ever seen “the aboriginal paintings with the white dots.”
“No, ma’am, I have not,” Rembert responded politely.
“Have you ever been to an art museum?” another white woman wanted to know.
“Ten years ago I didn’t even know who [Horace] Pippins was,” he responded. “I’m just now trying to see what other artists are doing.”
Someone else asked whether his methods have changed over the years. Rembert explained that his paintings have become more colorful because until recently leather dyes — regular paint tends to crack on leather — were only available in very limited colors.
“The color white just came along in the past five years,” he said.
Rembert literally works through his torturous memories from rural Georgia. Repetitive, relentless, perfectionist, and clean, his paintings have a ritualistic, obsessive-compulsive quality. (The artist, by the way, travels from his home in New Haven to his exhibitions in New York with a large piece of marble so he can punch, carve, and stamp dots into leather at night in his hotel room without waking his wife, Patsy.)
Rembert suffered from alienation and torture at the hands of whites for almost as long as he can remember. As a child his mother was told, in front of him, by one of the white brothers who owned the convenience store in his hometown that her son would “never be a damn thing.” His “mama” advised him that “if white folks do you wrong, let them do it.” In the ’60s, Rembert took part in civil rights demonstrations and was arrested and lynched. In the film he graphically describes how he was tied up and hung, and how one of the white cops carved into his genitals with a knife. It was when the blood ran down his legs that he remembered his mama’s advice. He survived the experience, only to be sent to prison.
The owners of the grocery store reappear in his paintings, and so does his lynching experience. Rembert noted that he couldn’t make more than a few of the lynching pictures because reliving the horrible experience made him sick to his stomach. It was during the seven years he served in prison that he learned to hand-tool leather into reliefs; his prison ID number is included on some of the license plates on the cars in his paintings.
A few years ago, Rembert was catapulted to fame by the noted art dealer Peter Tillou after the artist was featured in a two-person show at the Yale Art Gallery. At the Outsider Art Fair, Rembert was represented by Kinz + Tillou Fine Art, which is co-owned by Michelle Tillou, Peter’s niece.
The documentary, which was first released in 2011, makes sure to contrast Rembert’s suffering with his fortuitous discovery by the Yale Art Gallery. The film shows the artist remembering the lynching as well as his first experience with Yale: He didn’t have an invitation, and a guard tried to deny him access. This time, Rembert didn’t let the “white folks” do him wrong; he walked right in and showed the director one of his works, which led to that first show and his subsequent discovery by Peter Tillou.
All Me culminates with Rembert barbecuing a whole pig for his African-American neighborhood. “I would love to be recognized by my own people,” Rembert says in the film, the same comment he made at the Arts Club. He added at the panel that he wants to teach African Americans about suffering, perseverance, and heritage.
Until recently, Rembert’s motivation was not fueled by the constricting demands of the market. But with the increasing price of his paintings and the attention his adoptive community has given him, his motivation has shifted.
“What are you working on now?” asked a woman in the audience.
“I hate to say this,” he responded, “but I’m working on more cotton fields. This seems to be what people want.”
All Me: The Life and Times of Winfred Rembert was shown at the National Arts Club (15 Gramercy Park South, Gramercy, Manhattan) on February 6. Check the website for future screenings. | <urn:uuid:c713463a-e7e7-41cc-b964-9b3b6cb5400a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hyperallergic.com/65400/a-black-outsider-artist-in-a-white-art-world/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985973 | 1,595 | 1.898438 | 2 |
Wednesday, 11 April 2012
More Romantic Heroes
Our theme is that the rules of fiction are not the laws that govern real life.
Sometimes novelists themselves point to this theme. In George Heyer's Cotillion the heroine reflects with the hero's sister that the hero is nothing like their romantic hero Lochinvar. The very thought of what the hero would say about Lochinvar romantically riding into a building on his horse makes them fall about with giggles. And as much as I admire Han Solo, I cannot imagine my husband bounding around the universe with a Wookie and a price on his head. ROFL.
Eventually I might collect up the heroes of the combox and bring them to the attention of male readers of my other blog. If English-speaking men really want to understand who it is that English-speaking women like, then perhaps they should read Little Women and the Anne books. Of course, it might very well puzzle them how they might affect the same manners and virtues of fictional characters created between the American Civil War and the First World War.
I've just asked B.A. which fictional character he is most like, and he says one can never tell. Meanwhile, I don't think he is like any fictional character because he is just too real. I am trying to think of a romantic hero who tells jokes simply all the time, and the only character who comes to mind is Roger Rabbit. Oh dear. Still, that would make me Jessica Rabbit, which is AWESOME!
Update: Another plug for Young Fogeys. I am very fond of British Young Fogeys, particularly the ones keenly interested in clothing, and it occurs to me that there is something vaguely Heyeresque about them. Of course none of the ones that I know stepped fresh from 1812 or have much money or titles or frequent London clubs (perhaps a visit once in a blue moon if they are particularly lucky). But it does suggest a romantic spirit if a man hunts down sock braces or, like B.A., affects to wear bow-ties--real bow-ties that he has to tie himself, and does admirably, never the made-up ones, which are anathema. | <urn:uuid:d8cf408f-97ae-436b-b6a7-07ff2634d223> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://seraphicsinglescummings.blogspot.com/2012/04/more-romantic-heroes.html?showComment=1334227854656 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975511 | 454 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Posted 03.30.2012 at 1:35 pm
Avocado and Ham Sandwich
According to the RIAA's yearly sales report, which was released this week, this year for the first time Americans are buying as much digital as physical music. Great!
But here's the thing: people are buying digital (meaning, without a physical aspect, unlike a CD, which is also digital) music in all the wrong ways. The vast majority of this music is being bought as iTunes-style downloads. But, my friends, subscriptions are the best, most futuristic option for buying music right now--and they're dirt cheap.
This isn't an ad. I don't care if you use Spotify or Rdio or MOG. (And, obviously, none of them are paying me. My allegiance is solely to you people.) But there's no denying that this is the way we should be buying music in 2012: a pittance of a monthly fee gives you unlimited access to basically all music, ever. You can stream it from your computer. You can stream it from your phone. You can stream it from your tablet, or your TV, or your car. Any music, any place, any device, any time. It is amazing, and it's actually sort of surprising that it only costs ten dollars--the same as one album on iTunes. And yet when I try to convince people to join one of these services, the response is often "well, if it wasn't ten dollars a month, I might."
Are you kidding me.
Here's what ten dollars buys you.
- You might buy a medium-decent sandwich. A regular-sized combo at Wendy's, depending on where you are and what you order, costs about five bucks, or two weeks of unlimited music (the latter option has zero calories, we should note). A nicer sandwich, like the meatloaf sandwich from 'Wichcraft I'll probably get for lunch today, costs $10--a full month. If you live in an expensive place like New York or San Francisco, you probably drop ten dollars on lunch without thinking about it.
- Or you could go drinking! Beers in New York cost between four and eight dollars. (In less silly places in this country, that'll often be a dollar or two lower.) Two beers--not even a night out!--will cost you as much as the ability to listen to any song ever recorded, like you're a god damn superman from the year 3000, for an entire month.
- You could buy one album on iTunes or Amazon. I'm not a mathematician, but if I reach far back, further back than college, further than high school, I can dig up this equation:
1 (album) < ∞ (albums)
- You could get one ticket for John Carter, which is shaping up to be one of the bigger flops of the year. It's a movie in which Tim Riggins jumps very high and kills Martian grasshoppers in a way that somehow squanders the collective promise of Tim Riggins, Mars, giant grasshoppers, and high-jumping. Or you could have a month of music.
- You could buy one week of medium plain coffees from Starbucks. This is probably going to hurt my argument, but if you're seriously doing that I would suggest holding off on a music subscription and getting your life in order first. If you're drinking that much Starbucks you've got more pressing issues to deal with than music cost.
- Cigarettes in New York are poetically priced to gouge smokers so thoroughly as to induce an existential crisis upon the purchase of every pack. A month of music is considerably better for your long-term health and is actually cheaper. You won't look as cool but you'll still look pretty cool. (Note: New York has the most expensive cigarettes in the country, according to this unscientific but informative survey. But even in states like West Virginia and Idaho, two packs'll still run you as much as a month of music.)
- At the airport, a bottle of Dasani water and a small bag of trail mix, which you will leave half-eaten in the pocket of the seat in front of you when you get off the plane, costs between nine and 12 dollars. For about the same price, bring a water bottle and subscribe to a music service. It's environmentally friendly and you'll be able to listen to the complete discography of Hall & Oates while you fly (assuming you've thought ahead and synced ever H&O album to your phone before you left the house).
- Next time you need cash, try to find one of your bank's ATMs. Because if you use someplace else's, you're paying for about two weeks of unlimited music--and you're not even getting anything for your $5. With a subscription service, you could just crank "Private Eye" while you walk the three blocks to your actual bank. (Note to self: stop listening to so much Hall & Oates.)
- Now for the crowning metric: for the price of a six-month subscription, during which time you will have the time and power to listen to the entire '80s output of Verified Geniuses John Hall and Daryl Oates, you could also buy a portrait of Khloe Kardashian made with melty plastic circles. | <urn:uuid:6beb24af-c4f8-40ec-b82a-afea494148d7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-03/10-worse-things-spend-money-subscription-music-service | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965012 | 1,105 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Timber group considers its future
Updated: Thursday, January 31, 2013 10:51 AM
Fights over logging continue to define region after 20 years of building consensus
By TIM HEARDEN
QUINCY, Calif. -- In 1992, a forester, a county supervisor and an environmental attorney were interested in bridging political divides over timber.
They started meeting in a local library, and in time their group grew to as many as 30 members. In 1998, the Quincy Library Group's efforts culminated in congressional approval and funding of thinning projects in three national forests.
But that authorization ran out in September after the program achieved only about 40 percent of its volume goals. Now the group that started it all is trying to decide whether to keep going.
"Some of us are getting weary," said Bill Coates, now a former Plumas County supervisor. "We've got more than 20 years of work on this, and we're always looking for fresh ideas and new ways to get this job done. But we think we've kind of changed the face of forestry to some regard and we've also managed to keep our major mill open, which is worth about 325 jobs in Quincy."
Fights over logging had come to define this area of vast mountain forestland in northeastern California, before Coates joined environmental attorney Michael Jackson and others to try to bridge gaps.
The group's initiatives led to legislation shepherded through Congress by U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Rep. Wally Herger, R-Calif. It identified about 1.5 million acres in the Lassen, Plumas and Tahoe national forests for thinning projects.
Initially authorized as a five-year project, Congress extended it until this year as a prolonged housing slump and numerous legal challenges from national environmental groups hindered its progress.
In 2009, timber giant Sierra Pacific Industries closed the small-log mill here that had relied on timber from the Quincy Library Group project, laying off 150 workers. The mill reopened a year later amid signs of economic recovery and a judge's ruling against environmentalists who had sued to block many of the U.S. Forest Service's timber sales in the area.
Group members argue that while the project has been stalled, the small trees that would have been targeted for treatment have instead fueled several catastrophic fires. The Moonlight Fire burned 65,000 acres of mostly forestland in 2007, and this year's Chips Fire torched more than 75,000 acres in the Plumas National Forest.
"In the Moonlight Fire, there were something like 35 protected owl activity centers, which were certain areas set aside for spotted owls," Coates said. "The fire burned them up. So after making quite a bit of news over protection of the spotted owl, we turn around and destroy it a different way."
The House of Representatives agreed this year to an extension of the Quincy Library Group bill but it's been hung up in the Senate, Coates said. Feinstein and Rep.-elect Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif., who is replacing the retiring Herger, have told group members they're committed to continuing the project, the Feather River Bulletin reported.
There's still work to be done, Coates said. There's a movement afoot for "stewardship contracts", in which proceeds from timber contracts would go toward replenishing the forests rather than being put back into the treasury, he said.
Such an idea has increasing appeal in the West, where 11 states have set fire-acreage records in the last 10 years, he said.
Still, some members of the Quincy Library Group may contemplate calling it a day, said Mike De Lasaux, a University of California Cooperative Extension natural resources advisor here.
"Most if not all of them have been at this for 20 years now," De Lasaux said. "Many are ready to say, 'I've done my job, or done everything I can possibly do. I have to be content with what has happened and has been accomplished and leave it to another generation perhaps to pick it up and carry it on.'
"I'm still encouraged that members are continuing to contemplate what's next," he said, "so we'll see."
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Trace the legacies of one of the classical era's most influential composers, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as you pedal across the undulating terrain of Austria's most spectacular alpine landscapes on this inspiring self-guided cycling adventure. Our journey along the well marked 'Mozart trail' will take us to the sights, and sounds, that featured significantly in Mozart's colourful life. Beginning in the village of St. Gilgen, the birthplace of Mozart's mother, the route follows idyllic country paths and along the Salzach river towards the city of Salzburg, the birthplace of Mozart. After exploring the quiet back streets by bike you continue through diverse terrain to discover more of this wonderful region of Austria, including the picturesque village of Mondsee. Here you can visit the church where Mozart's 'Coronation mass' was first performed as well as some of the stunning locations that featured in the film 'Sound of Music.' The journey concludes in St Gilgen on the shores of Lake Wolfgangsee.
|DAY 1||Join Lake Wolfgangsee|
|DAY 2||Cycle to Thalgau (30km)|
|DAY 3||Cycle to Salzburg area (40km)|
|DAY 4||Cycle along Tauern cycle track to Bad Reichenhall and Berchtesgaden and return to Salzburg via Hellbrunn Castle (69km)|
|DAY 5||Cycle the old rail trail to Eugendorf and Thalgau (26km)|
|DAY 6||to Lake Wolfgangsee (St Gilgen) (23km)|
|DAY 7||Trip concludes| | <urn:uuid:f8934a97-62b6-4632-9ad7-a40c888cde36> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://worldexpeditions.co.uk/index.php?section=trips&id=137917 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.903732 | 341 | 1.703125 | 2 |