text stringlengths 213 24.6k | id stringlengths 47 47 | dump stringclasses 1 value | url stringlengths 14 499 | file_path stringlengths 138 138 | language stringclasses 1 value | language_score float64 0.9 1 | token_count int64 51 4.1k | score float64 1.5 5.06 | int_score int64 2 5 |
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- USDA hardiness zones:
Cyclamineus daffodil (Division VI). A cyclamineus daffodil usually has a long trumpet and extremely reflexed petals (perianth segments). Petals are reminiscent of cyclamen. ëFebruary Gold rises 14-16î tall in spring. It is noted for early to mid-spring bloom (March - April in St. Louis, but as early as February in USDA Zone 7). Each flower features a bright yellow trumpet and slightly reflexed bright yellow petals. 'February Gold' was reportedly hybridized by de Graaff in Holland in 1923 (N. cyclamineus and N. pseudonarcissus).
- Full sun to part shade
Easily grown in average, medium moisture, well-drained soil in full sun to part shade. Best in organically rich, sandy loams that drain well. Plant bulbs 4-6\ deep and 3-6î apart in fall. After the flowers have bloomed, the top portion of each flower stem may be removed, as practicable, to prevent seed formation, but foliage should not be cut back until it begins to yellow. Flowers usually face the sun, so bulbs should be grown with any shade areas at the rear of the planting. Bulbs can be left undisturbed for a number of years."
Size and growth:
- 1.0 to 1.5 feet
- 0.75 to 1.0 foot
Bloom / flowers:
- March - April
Showy flowers and Yellow
Best in beds, borders, wild gardens, open woodland areas, in front of shrubs or massed under trees. Best planted in quantity, i.e., from smaller groupings of at least 6 bulbs to large sweeping drifts. Mixes well with other spring-flowering bulbs.
No serious insect or disease problems. Bulb rot may occur in poorly-drained soils. | <urn:uuid:b29c78d2-640d-487c-97af-e6c324d0224e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.yourgardenshow.com/plants/11138-Narcissus-February-Gold- | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.905099 | 397 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Step 1: Theory
An alternative answer would be 6 coins, 3 Quarters, 2 dimes and 1 nickel. In this example you will range most change between 5-95 cents, in 5 cents increments. In this example you will never receive more than 4 cents in change back.
The project is a way to carry these 10 coins easily inside your wallet. I have used a thin piece of cardboard. But if you may use most anything, I recommend any material about 2 stacked coins thick, and have enough friction to hold the coins in place. | <urn:uuid:1b481f77-e393-4e32-b315-9075a214acea> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.instructables.com/id/Always-have-Correct-Change-in-your-wallet/CNXRYSNFS8RCOJ0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921345 | 112 | 2.25 | 2 |
More than 8,000 miles away from Minnesota live the Asmat, a semi-nomadic people who inhabit the dense coastal rainforest of West Papua, Indonesia. Asmat art and artifacts – including shields, spears and masks – that the Crosiers collected in the last half century have found a new home at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. The Crosier Catholic fathers and brothers, who have been based in Minnesota since 1910, were among the first outsiders to enter the isolated Asmat region and have worked there since 1958. The Crosiers collected Asmat carvings, sculptures and artifacts to preserve them from extinction. They founded the American Museum of Asmat Art, and in 2007, donated the museum’s entire collection to St. Thomas.
Last summer, three Crosiers, who happen to call as many continents home, visited St. Thomas to see how our community is incorporating the new collection of Asmat art into its educational efforts. Our visitors were Crosier Master General Father Glen Lewandowski, who serves in Rome; Father Virgil Petermeier, who works with the Asmat in Agats, Papua, Indonesia; and Father Ed Greiwe, who serves at the Crosier priory in Onamia, Minn. All three appreciate the value of fostering awareness of Asmat culture because they have spent many years living in the Asmat region and advocating on behalf of the 70,000 Asmat people.
The American Museum of Asmat Art at St. Thomas contains carved and painted shields, sculptures, spears and arrows, as well as large fiber masks adorned with feathers, seeds and shells. It also includes utilitarian objects, such as bowls, fishing nets, axes, adzes, harpoons and daggers made and used by the Asmat. Works by neighboring groups such as the Dani are included in the collection to demonstrate cultural diversity in Papua.
The Crosiers’ visit started at Brady Educational Center where graduate students in the Art History Department research, design and install exhibitions for the atrium displaycases. Last year graduate students Jenny Maki and Barbara Manthey, along with volunteer intern Maureen Ragalie, produced a series of displays about Crosier history and Asmat drumming, traditional patterning and weaponry. While each student was responsible for specific cases, Maki, Manthey and Ragalie consulted with each other to ensure the exhibition flowed logically.
This year, four graduate students, Josh Feist, Vada Komistra, Elizabeth Henderson and Manthey are working on new installations in Brady Educational Center that will exploreconnoisseurship (how to recognize an individual or regional style) and the relationship that collectors have with the art that they acquire and the people who make it.
Connoisseurship and collecting are particularly timely topics because the Asmat museum received a large number of high-quality works from two donors last summer. Donna and Cargill MacMillan donated many artworks from the Pacific, the majority from Asmat. Accompanying many of the carvings in the MacMillan donation was information about the artists. While it may seem logical for such information to be included, frequently when non-Western art is purchased, the artist’s name is not recorded; having this information allows us to recognize an individual artist’s style and quality.
In August, Bishop Alphonse Sowada donated several pieces from his collection to the Asmat museum. These include very old drums, two more recent open-work carvings, arrows and stone axe blades. The open-work carvings reflect Asmat interpretation of core concepts of the Catholic faith. Sowada had served in Agats during a time when the Indonesian government discouraged Asmat art production. He led the effort to encourage carvers to continue sculptural production and through his advocacy was able to convince authorities to allow the Asmat Museum of Culture and Progress to be built in Agats. Sowada emphasized the need to document works thoroughly. Our work continues with Sowada to get as much information about the imagery, meaning and carving techniques as possible.
All of the newly donated pieces from the MacMillans and Sowada will help St. Thomas students learn about collections care as well as Asmat culture specifically, and Pacific cultures more broadly. Some will be displayed in the Brady Educational Center cases or the other Asmat museum exhibition venues in the John R. Roach Center for the Liberal Arts, O’Shaughnessy Educational Center and O’Shaughnessy-Frey Library Center. There also will be gallery space for the Asmat art in the new Anderson Student Center, which will open in 2012.
Before any of the new donations or pieces from the permanent collection are displayed, they pass through the Asmat museum lab located in one of our storage facilities. Lewandowski, Petermeier and Greiwe included a stop to the lab on their visit. They were able to see objects that art history graduate student Vada Komistra was examining and cleaning. Care must be taken, because unlike most Western artists, Asmat artists do not use any binder to attach pigment; instead, they rub paints made from lime, soot and ocher onto the object. After several years the paint can become very fragile, and cleaning small bits of dust and cobwebs and other minute debris is challenging.
Komistra and the other graduate students are cleaning the MacMillan and Sowada donations, as well as 70 objects that will appear in an upcoming exhibition, “Time and Tide: The Changing Art of the Asmat of New Guinea” at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
The UST Geography Department also is helping with the MIA exhibition. Stacie Rominski, a geography GIS lab student assistant, designed a map for an Asmat exhibition. As quality maps of the Asmat region are hard to come by, Rominski’s work caught the attention of Molly Huber, assistant curator of African, Oceanic and Native American Art at the MIA. Huber was able to work with Rominski to tailor the map to suit the MIA’s exhibition needs and for the “Time and Tide” exhibition catalog.
As Lewandowski, Petermeier and Greiwe toured campus,it became clear that the American Museum of Asmat Art is bringing departments together, creating an environment for art history graduate assistants to collaborate on collections preservation and presentation efforts, as well as enhancing the relationship that exists among the University of St. Thomas, the MIA and the Crosier Father and Brothers. But perhaps most importantly, it is exposing the St. Thomas community to a distant culture that has a lifestyle and environment vastly different than that of Minnesota. (View some Asmat art from the St. Thomas collection at www.stthomas.edu/asmat.) | <urn:uuid:1f5b8287-9af5-4e56-b38b-5ab7e632ba0c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.stthomas.edu/news/2008/11/01/asmat-art-finds-a-home-at-st-thomas/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957538 | 1,397 | 2.515625 | 3 |
House Small Business Committee Examines Role of Business Incubators on Job Creation
Mar 17, 2010 -
The House Small Business Committee held a hearing today to examine the role that business incubators can play in creating jobs and growing our economy.
Business incubators are facilities that serve small businesses by providing below-market office space, management advice on operating a business, and various type of clerical assistance. Provision of these services, shared among a variety of small businesses, lower operating costs and reduce start-up times by eliminating many of the logistical barriers associated with the opening of a business. Frequently, incubators are established in abandoned buildings, thereby promoting development in economically depressed areas. After receiving assistance from an incubator, a small business can often stand on its own, healthy and self-sufficient.
Ranking Member Sam Graves (R-MO) said, “Now more than ever, Americans need the services offered by small business incubators. The economic downturn has shuttered many businesses, leaving once bustling communities with empty storefronts and warehouses. Employers are hesitant, if not completely unable, to expand their operations or hire new workers, and would-be entrepreneurs are putting future initiatives on hold. Small business incubators can help provide stability in an unstable environment, encouraging growth and development.”
During the hearing, Committee Members heard testimony from Dr. Robert Strom, Director of Research and Policy at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to entrepreneurship. In his testimony, Dr. Strom cited recent Kauffman Foundation research that found that young firms (less than five years old) are responsible for virtually all net new jobs in the United States. Without these businesses, job creation would have been negative for 22 years from 1977 through 2005. It is clear that small firms will continue to play a critical role in America’s economic recovery.
Mr. Peter Linder, Chair of the Mid-Atlantic Angel Group Fund, testified at the hearing about the important assistance that angel investors can offer developing businesses. Ranking Member Graves believes that particular attention should be paid to the role that such private-sector investors can play with respect to incubators in an effort to lessen dependency on federal funding.
For video of the hearing, click here. | <urn:uuid:a642eeff-1936-4994-a6f8-06b0108fec21> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://smallbusiness.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=176863 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952643 | 462 | 2.078125 | 2 |
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Concertino for Cello and Strings
Price Not Announced
Commissioned by The King’s High School for Girls in Warwick, this work was written to provide a showcase for a talented grade 8 sixth-form cellist in her final performance at school before leaving for music college. The first movement explores the cello’s upper register in a lyrical cantilena. The second movement, which makes more use of the lower register, takes the form of a short accompanied cadenza. This leads without a break into the finale, where baroque fugal textures and rich harmonies are coloured throughout by exciting passage-work from the soloist. The orchestral parts are pitched quite modestly to reflect the abilities of a good amateur or school string group; the violin parts, for instance, never stray beyond third position. The solo writing, however, requires technical skill and mature expressive confidence in equal measure. Solo part: post grade 8.
Piano reduction of score also available. | <urn:uuid:1af28675-2f8a-4a4e-826f-b341e8620fc6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rondopublishing.co.uk/product/paul-sudlow-concertino-for-cello-and-strings/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906692 | 256 | 1.6875 | 2 |
The documentary "Where Europe Ends" is an hour long survey of regions that are European but outside the Union. The documentary looks at lands like Moldova and Transnitria, the ethnically mixed Transcarpathian region in Western Ukraine, and Black Sea Coast. Those already knowledgeable in these regions will not learn anything new but will appreciate the personal stories of Romanians, Jews, Germans, and others who have fallen through the cracks Russia and the European Union.
When the documentary talks about the history of regions one quickly realizes those lands beyond Europe(an Union) have long been moving towards and away the greater European cultural realm. Ancient Greece colonized the northern Black Sea coast. The Republic of Genoa extended Italian influence there as well. Germans brought Central European culture with them into southeastern Europe (ethnic Germans were fierce opponents of their price, Vlad "Dracula" Tepes, in part because of leadership not paying bills and Vlad's habit of impelling his ethnic German subjects), the Baltic (Teutonic Knights battled Orthodox and Pagans to gain massive cultural sway there until the end of World War II), and even past the Volga River (Volga Germans had their own autonomous Soviet republic). However, these attempts to bring/impose Europe were ended either by barbarian, Turkish, and Communist conquests. Each of these invaders sought to rebuild these lands in their own image. What they left beyond was instead fragmented cultures.
Today many in the outside zones of Europe want to be members of the European Union. They see how European Union membership has not only aided the core countries but has seemingly improved many former Soviet satellite states as well. Opposing them are homeland corruption, a ruler in Moscow wants a buffered Eurasian empire, and European Union elites who see the outsiders as pests not worthy to share in the common market. Hopefully the European Union can spread bringing open-government liberalism and economic improvement to the European overlooked lands while importing positive Eastern European traits. Time will tell though if Europe can finally hold onto these outside lands or if a new horde will keep them geographically separate yet again. | <urn:uuid:b1353fb2-e620-4233-9731-03566535a76a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.geographictravels.com/2009/06/where-europe-ends.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956985 | 423 | 2.140625 | 2 |
Firmware Corruption of Memory During Sleep Transitions
Updated: June 15, 2009
File name: mem-corrupt.docx
About This Download
This paper provides information for system manufacturers and firmware developers about firmware corruption of memory during sleep transitions. During Windows 7 development, multiple Windows-based platforms have encountered memory corruption in the lowest 1 MB of physical memory after resuming from sleep. This document describes the potential root causes of the memory corruption, diagnostic events in Windows 7 that can identify the corruption, and steps to resolve the problem on affected platforms.
This information applies for the following operating systems:
Included in this paper: | <urn:uuid:25878582-639e-4c42-978e-7c5b955bc605> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/gg463112.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.900343 | 130 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Why Set & Save?
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What is passion flower?
Passion flower (Passiflora incarnata) is a perennial climbing vine native to tropical areas of the Americas, known for its remarkable white flowers with bluish-purple calyx “crowns.” It was named “passion flower” by Spanish explorers to Peru in the 1500s who thought the flowers were symbolic of the passion of Christ. The plant’s flowers, leaves and stems have been used in traditional medicine for calming and sleep-promoting purposes.
How does passion flower support health?
Why choose Vitacost Passion Flower?
Vitacost nutritional products are manufactured to high standards of quality, efficacy and safety. Each Vitacost product meets or exceeds the standards and requirements set forth in the FDA’s Code of Federal Regulation (21 CFR, 111) Current Good Manufacturing Practices (CGMP).
* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. | <urn:uuid:fcc76748-f696-44a7-a2fc-98673dc7f9f7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.vitacost.com/vitacost-passion-flower?csrc=vitablog | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931166 | 236 | 1.882813 | 2 |
Anti Virus PLUS Review
Almost every computer users who are connected to internet got an anti-virus program installed to protect them from infected files and intruders. If someone for any reason don’t use an anti-virus protection, they are in great danger. A computer handles so much information every day, we download files, visit websites and installing new programs and it takes only one infected file to ruin your operative system or damage your hard disk. A computer virus infects unprotected computers and if it not removed fast it will spread across the computer system and infect a lot of files. It is incredible important to have an anti-virus protection installed and up to date.
There are many anti-virus developer online, but one anti-virus program caught our attention. It is called Anti-Virus PLUS and are created by ParetoLogic. Anti-Virus PLUS offers protection against viruses, malware, spyware and other malicious files. With a large database that is always updated Anti-Virus PLUS will give full protection against the most dangerous viruses and malware that are hiding in cyberspace. If you are looking for an anti-virus programs that can both remove viruses and kill spyware, Anti-Virus PLUS is a good choice. It is easy to rely on free anti-virus protection but when the attack comes, you will need full protection to stay safe.
Many anti-virus programs will slow down your computer performance and give your gaming and internet activity problems. It is good to have an anti-virus protection installed but when it slows down your computer, everything becomes useless. You want a good protection but not at the cost of computer speed and gaming experience. Anti-Virus PLUS provide both maximum protection and full speed when you browse the internet and playing games. You don’t want to play poker online and get problems with your anti-virus program blocking your way. Free poker sites got a lot of spyware and junk, but if you use Anti-Virus PLUS, you are both protected and still able to play poker or other games.
- Detection and complete removal of viruses, spyware and other malicious malware
- In-depth scanning and cleaning process that finds and eliminates sophisticated
- Detection and removal of known rootkits, which try to stop detection of malware
- Blocking of access to malware related URLs
- Native gamer mode that minimizes impact during gaming
- Customizable scanning
- Quick, easy-to-use
- Free database updates to keep you protected against the latest threats
Don’t take the chance to use a low anti-virus protection. Even if you never visit strange websites or download unknown programs, you will never know if you get an infected file into your computer system that could damage your hardware, erase important information and ruin your day. With Anti-Virus PLUS you will get maximum protection and still a good computer speed. Don’t take the risk, take action today and get Anti-Virus PLUS. | <urn:uuid:f3443a98-ef3e-4053-b254-6a66f65e00ec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fixregistry.net/anti-virus-plus-review/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917812 | 620 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Greece - Banking and securities
The government-controlled Bank of Greece (founded in 1927) is the central bank and the bank of issue; it also engages in other banking activities, although the European Central Bank is in charge of monetary policy. There are 33 Greek commercial banks, which are dominated by two massive, state-controlled banking groups, the National Bank and the Commercial Bank. 19 of the commercial banks are foreign, including three American banks. The two leading private banks are Alpha Credit and Ergo, which ranked third and fifth, respectively, in 1997 in the Greek banking industry in terms of assets. Banks still must redeposit 70% of all their foreign exchange deposits with the Bank of Greece at the going interest rate plus a small commission. In 1999, as part of a general privatization program, the government began selling shares in the National Bank of Greece and Ionian Bank was sold outright and taken over by Alpha Credit.
The Currency Committee, composed of five cabinet ministers, controls the eight specialized credit institutions: the Agricultural Bank, National Investment Bank, National Investment Bank for Industrial Development, Hellenic Industrial Development Bank, National Mortgage Bank, Mortgage Bank, Postal Savings Bank, and Consignments and Loans Fund. The money supply in 2001, as measured by M1, was 24.7 billion euros.The International Monetary Fund reports that in 2001, currency and demand deposits—an aggregate commonly known as M1—were equal to $22.2 billion. In that same year, M2—an aggregate equal to M1 plus savings deposits, small time deposits, and money market mutual funds—was $129.6 billion.
The Athens Stock Exchange (Chrimatisterion) was founded by royal decree in 1876. In 1967, significant reforms were instituted, including more stringent listing requirements, bringing about a rapid increase in the number of listed securities. New legislation was introduced in 1988 to expand and liberalize its activities. The rule changes provided for the establishment of brokerage companies, thus breaking the traditional closed shop of individual brokers. In 1997 there were 53 brokerage houses and just 6 private brokers. Computerized trading was implemented in 1992 and there has since been a rapid evolution of the market. The aim is to secure total dematerialization of shares and to allow brokers to screen-trade from their offices. A satellite trading floor was established in Thessaloniki in 1995. In 1996, Greek law was harmonized with the EU financial services directive, and banks may now be directly represented on the floor of the exchange instead of having to establish subsidiary brokerage houses. The late 1990s witnessed a boom on the exchange. In 1998, the index rose 85%, while the first five months of 1999 saw a further jump of 43.7%. However, this expansion did not continue into the new millenium. Between 2002 and 2003, the index lost 33.1% of its value. | <urn:uuid:aa1a7ffa-6402-43fd-87ab-2958ac224263> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Europe/Greece-BANKING-AND-SECURITIES.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967071 | 583 | 2.734375 | 3 |
ScotlandEdit This Page
From FamilySearch Wiki
Welcome to the page for Scotland! FamilySearch Wiki is a community website dedicated to helping people throughout the world learn how to find their ancestors. This page is the portal to all that the wiki has to offer on Scotland. Through the Scotland portal page you can learn how to find, use, and analyze Scotland records of genealogical value. However, these pages are works in progress and their content will grow with time. We invite you to contribute information.
- Browse: Pages for Scotland
- Beginners Guide 1855 to 1901: Finding Records of Your Ancestors Scotland 1855 To 1901 (42 Mb pdf file).
- Article: Getting Started - how to get started with your Scottish research.
- Article: Scotland History
- Article: Scotland Church Records Union List - introduction to this resource available in the Wiki.
- Article: ScotlandsPeople - information about this premier website for online access to Scotland's genealogical records.
- County list
- Personal names
- Glossary of terms
- Record selection table
- Handfast tradition
- Map of Scotland counties
- Strategies for locating births, marriages, and deaths
News and events
- Scottish Family History Fair, Aberdeen, 25th April 2009 - SAFHS
- Family History Conference, Stirling, 19-21 June 2009
- International Genealogy Festival at Strathclyde University, Glasgow, 21-24 July 2009
- Clan Gathering in Edinburgh, July 25 & 26, 2009
Did you know?
- An index of 21,000 passengers who left the ports of Glasgow and Greenock for non-European ports is available online at Aberdeen University. The dates are 1 January and 30 April 1923, and at other Scottish ports between 1890 and 1960. You can find these records on the Scottish Emigration Database
- Hebridean Connection is a new and ongoing site useful for those searching in the Western Isles of Scotland.
- One of the saddest events in the history of the Gareloch is the K13 submarine disaster, which took place during World War 1 on January 29 1917. | <urn:uuid:d1414e27-5488-4f56-9102-e278b39b80af> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/index.php?title=Scotland&oldid=172979 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.901007 | 434 | 2.296875 | 2 |
With the European Union’s Lisbon treaty in deep trouble, some of the finest minds in Brussels are at work devising solutions to problems of which the general European public is wholly unaware. For example, the size and composition of the European Commission.
If the Lisbon treaty doesn’t come into force next year, the next Commission will have to be selected according to rules set out in the EU’s 2003 treaty of Nice. These state that when the EU has grown to include 27 countries (which it now has), the number of commissioners should be “less than the number of member-states”. Read more | <urn:uuid:d9bebe80-9618-4219-9827-aa210a60050a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.ft.com/brusselsblog/2008/06/23/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938067 | 128 | 1.851563 | 2 |
Even if you exercise frequently, you can undo your workout by overeating. Here's our plan to reset your hunger clock.
Working out can make you work up an appetite, but don't think you can indulge in fettuccine Alfredo or have ice cream every night as a reward. You'll get fast weight loss results if you combine exercise with these smart eating strategies to curb your appetite. Use these dieting tips to avoid eating back all the calories you work off.
Eat Every 3 to 4 Hours
Giving your body a steady supply of calories keeps blood sugar normal during and after exercise, and it can prevent an excessively high insulin response the next time you eat that encourages excess body fat. To avoid taking in extra calories because you're eating more often, keep meals to 500 calories or less and snacks under 200, limiting total calories to about 1,600 to 1,800 a day.
Have Protein at Every Meal
Protein increases satiety and helps keep your appetite under control by stimulating gut hormones that help you feel full. Options include eggs, milk, soy milk, yogurt, and oatmeal for breakfast. Include nuts, beans, whole grains, lowfat dairy, fish, lean meats, and poultry at other meals and snacks to ensure you get enough protein. | <urn:uuid:446dd1a7-4fef-4de9-80c4-af94c5cb7db3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.prevention.com/weight-loss/weight-loss-tips/diet-tips-stop-overeating-after-workouts?quicktabs_qt_most_popular_weightloss=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935585 | 259 | 2.1875 | 2 |
At the particle level the verb "charge" has no definition. Charge cannot be added to a particle.
A particle has charge ( noun); it is a quantum number that characterizes the particle, and its charge may be 0, +/-1/3, +/-2/3, +/-1 (and some resonances +/-2).
A photon has charge 0, spin 1 and mass 0.
That is why it is called a photon and not an electron.
If it is possible to bend it than why not charge
That it can change direction ( bend) is a kinematic effect and controlled by the equations of motion. The quantum numbers are intrinsic and unchangeable in the definition of each particle. | <urn:uuid:62f66cc2-a0a4-4db4-8111-d67b189f4d9b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/38794/is-it-possible-to-charge-photons/38806 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929424 | 145 | 2.875 | 3 |
Grand Island High School: Grisanti secures supplemental grantsby jmaloni
Grand Island Central School District received two member grants from State Sen. Mark Grisanti. They are supplemental grants approved by the New York State Legislature for special programs available through each legislator.
The grants total $150,000: $75,000 received in 2011 and $75,000 in 2012. The funds from these grants will be used for the purchase of equipment for high school students in the planned technology wing. This sophisticated equipment is necessary to complete the course work for the high school's award-winning Project Lead The Way pre-engineering program.
"The district is proud to offer our students the opportunity to participate in Project Lead The Way. This pre-engineering program has proved to be highly successful and we are thankful for Senator Grisanti's support of our program and our students," stated Grand Island School Superintendent Robert Christmann. | <urn:uuid:40554436-bf5f-41e7-a954-9a51f0da3771> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wnypapers.com/news/article/current/2012/11/27/108630/grand-island-high-school-grisanti-secures-supplemental-grants | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951585 | 186 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Each of us who has ever worked in any programming project has had to deal with one of the biggest problems we face when creating projects. It is, of course, the execution time estimate. The question about the duration of the project appears in virtually every conversation prior. Definitely as for a client, it will be also an issue that will keep each of the project managers awake at night,. But the problem also applies to us. We need to ask ourselves before we start really working on the project. This question is – how much time do we really need to close the IT project?
Most of the people I know, especially if they are not very experienced in the designing and manufacturing processes, usually hate to make any type of estimates. This is really not surprising, because very often making an estimate resembles walking in the dark, because it is impossible to make a precise estimate of the new team, starting a new project. That’s why I decided to write a few articles on estimating, and I’ll show you the available methods and tools. I’ll =start with simple things =that we should really keep in mind when creating all kinds of estimates. Then we will complete a project estimation, then the methods for estimating the duration of individual tasks and functionality. At the end we will talk about the tools that can help us to come to the planning and execution.
Where did the idea for this series of articles come from?
The idea came on its own, without being asked for. You have been introduced to risk management in Agile projects. I write all the time about good programming practices and human resource management. I also wanted to describe the idea of planning projects, but unfortunately I can not do without writing the introduction to the assessment and estimation for projects based in Agile.
I also want you to realize that Agile is not only the agility and that there should be some rigor in software development. Only when you fully understand and manage risks in Agile projects and interpersonal management, and evaluation for Agile projects and good code generation, will you fully understand what this agility really is, about which so much is said nowadays. By the way, you will learn to create a really good and solid software, and the same code that is well written, with all best practices, and you will be able to demand really solid payment.
I think myself that a good estimate is half the battle. We do not want to impose any unnecessary costs on the customer, nor have them pay for hours of work when nothing really happens. In addition, the estimation is useful to us, even if we are not aware of it. Any excess hours not included in the estimates exposes us to costs which are not covered by the customer. And the costs are really huge. Note that a good programmer charges between 100 and 500 USD per hour. So as you can see, 10 hours not included in the estimates may be a loss to the developer of up to 5000 USD. If we can estimate the duration of the project accurately, we can make each of our customers a proposal that is realistic and not expose either us or the customer to unnecessary costs.
What do we really need to start assessing projects?
To estimate the duration of the entire project is a very difficult task. Sometimes at the beginning of the project huge problems begin to appear. In fact, at we will not really know until the end what we have to do in the project and what will be our tasks. Of course, we cannot at this stage support a lot of things, but first let’s deal with what actually happens in a formal assessment of each project.
The first stage of estimatingis the foundation. Again, each assessment must be accurately described as the foundation on which the project will be created. Assumptions are made to determine all these things that are included in the project and those that have not been addressed anywhere. Assumptions must also include information about what was assumed when creating a solution to the project and if the project has any planned resources. Assumptions are essentially all factors which significantly affect the duration of the projects. It is better to take into account excess assumptions than to forget about one of the key objectives of the project.
Another important issue with which we will certainly meet are deviations from the accuracy of the estimate. Deviations are not really a bad thing. It is through the study of deviations that we really learn to properly evaluate any IT project. Deviations allow us to realize and draw conclusions about the extent to which the forecast is accurate for our project’s duration.
From time to time, it happens that in the past we have done similar projects and we have a lot of experience in this type of project. Then we can safely bet that deviations will not be more than 10 – 25%. However, more often in the case of projects that we are doing on someone’s order, it so happens that we come to the field, which we do not have any idea. Then our estimate is really very informative. Maybe then it will reach a value of 100% of the time duration of the project. For me to estimate how much it will deviate, I developed the five-scale. Estimation is really hard to measure, and the five-scale estimates give a lot of flexibility in estimating projects. In addition, such a solution does not cause much confusion in any of the projects. The following is my scale variations. Pay attention; the greater the level of deviation, the wider is the interval. Here are my scale variations:
• 0 – 10% – is characterized by a very low deviation.
• 11 – 25% – is a low deviation. Overall, the scale from 0 to 25% is mainly characterized by such projects which we have had to deal with once before.
• 26 – 50% – this type of error is usually encountered when estimating, because always when talking with a client, when I assume that the project will take, for example, two months, I say to the customer that the execution time will amount to three months.
• 50 – 80% – high deviation, it happens when we lack the resources, motivation, or ability to move on very shaky ground.
• 80% + – very high deviation. It happens when we lack not only resources, but also get into some wild land. In general, the deviation from 50% up it shows that we tread on one of the wild lands or create a truly innovative software. I really do not worry about when the deviation will be up to 200%. It is not really something that happens in real life very often. I really do not know the deadline, which could not be translated :)
There is another very important thing when estimating the term of validity of the estimates. In fact, it is not required, but it is recommended to always specify a valid time estimate. Everything here really depends on the purpose of the assessment. For example, let’s tell a client or manager that our estimate is valid for the quarter, as after this time we will actually add further details. Assessing the validity period is not really a protection for us, because in this way we have any protection in case someone ever showed us the archival form of estimates and wanted us to enforce them, although in the case of the project in the meantime, there already had been a number of changes which have had a significant impact on our estimates.
I find very often the case determines the validity of the time estimate, because it usually works for corporations that require a certain amount of paper documentation. Although it has never in all my life have happened to me that the data to estimate the entire project has survived unchanged. Each estimate is always updated when new data comes in , and you will see the progress of the software, or if there are any problems during work on the software.
There is yet another thing we will surely encounter when estimating the ratio between the amount of work put into the development of software and the duration of the project. This is a really important thing that you should always keep in mind and you need to be fully aware that such a thing exists. It also must unconditionally be found in any of the descriptions of the estimate. What is the funniest thing, both of these terms are commonly used to change what is really a huge mistake, and you always need to distinguish between them, if you want to satisfy all the conditions of a good estimate. Now let’s get to these two concepts.
If the workload is mostly that as well determine the number of working hours that can be spent on the completion of a project or task. Number of working hours can be safely divided between the people who work during the project. A completely separate concept is the duration of the project information. You usually count toward issues such as the availability of resources, holidays, time spent on other projects, or commitments of the members of project teams.
In the case of estimating the effort and execution time, always check what the values currently forecast, because otherwise we can meet up with some misunderstandings. Why do you think that is? Consider two examples.
In the first case, let’s say the task we are working on will take 120 hours, and we have ten available programmers working productively for about four hours a day. Why four hours? See for yourself that even though the programmer is sitting at work for eight hours, he is really effective time for four and a maximum of five working hours. For the remaining time, each project manager should take care of the professional development of each programmer, sending him for training, etc.
In that case, we define full time work for 240 hours of operation, and after dividing it by 10 developers, we get 24 hours, again divided by the duration of their work, which is eight hours and get a score of 3 working days. So the client can safely say that time we will be making corrections is 3 days.
But now I will give an example of what happens when it comes to mistakes. Sometimes we face a situation where the client simply asks how long it will take to incorporate fixes for the product. The programmer says 24 hours, so the client believes that the next day he will get the fix. And as we see the developer was talking about 24 working hours, or 3 days of work. These errors usually occur when there was hard task duration and effort of the work suffered. Then often leads to misunderstandings with the client and in extreme cases, loss of customers.
If I did not consider the estimates to be significant, I simply would not describe it here. However, since I believe that my job is to bring you all the aspects of good software development, there is a need here for articles about estimation, because next to determining the risks and management of human resources, it is one of the most important subjects in the process.
Estimation of IT projects is really important. This allows us to determine at the beginning of the duration of each project, what resources we really need to effectively produce software. In fact, the estimate is not only essential to apply to all these here parts, but very often their use can protect against problems that may arise in the process of software development. A correct estimation of project time can also significantly reduce costs and offer customers a logical business proposition, which we will be able to meet. Personally, I would prefer the company which does not specifically lower the cost to one who would say that it does, but it is not able to complete the project at a fixed cost.
In the next part I will describe considerations and rules for estimating the entire project and individual tasks. Then you can move forward with your planning. Have a nice time reading the following articles. | <urn:uuid:e930ee3f-1ea3-4874-9e5a-ce9c42938bd1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://resources.infosecinstitute.com/estimating-projects-part-i/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964896 | 2,376 | 1.867188 | 2 |
Posted 9 months ago
Each Wednesday I go to see my father in a nursing home. On the trip there each week I go past a Vinnies and found this boomerang for sale. This is my first posting of some of my small collection of Australian Aboriginal objects. I am no expert on these objects. My interest was sparked in them by a gift from my Uncle Alf in the late 1950's. He had given me a 'woomera' - a throwing stick used to launch spears. He had bought it in Western Australia while working there as a marine surveyor.
Another spark in my interest in indigenous art and objects came from some books that my father had been given by his uncle in the 1930's. His uncle Alf had been bishop of the largest Catholic arch-diocese in the world during the World War II period, again in (northern) West Australia. These books on Indigenous Culture had been great visual references for me. Last year I went to Western Australia and in a four seater plane flew over the area from Perth to Geraldton and beyond that my relatives had seen and known.
In a way this object is part of a family story beyond the area where it was made. It is a link to the land that we call 'home'.
When I saw it, I recognised in its shape the grace and beauty of the native birds of Australia. Some people call these boomerangs "Swan-necked" but I also see the Emu, perhaps even a cassowary. Yet others refer to them as: "Hunting Boomerangs', 'Hook Boomerangs' , 'Beaked' and 'Number 7'.
The hunting boomerang is hand-crafted by the Aboriginal men into the shape of the number seven. The longer part of the boomerang is the used as handle and the shorter wing is extremely sharp. It is used by the men for hunting larger animals (kangaroo, emu) and in ceremonies, as a clapping stick.
It is an everyday object.
It is a custom shaped wood used in everyday life.
It is a wooden tool made from local materials.
The fluting is the signature of its maker/owner.
Note the 'fluting' is on one side of this one.
It is made from dogwood or mulga tree.
It is part root and part stem.
It is worked using flint/stone implements.
It is also fire worked.
It is a non-returner.
A man would have several of these.
It is 70 cm or 27.5 inches long
The beak is 27 cm or 10.6 inches long
The No.7 is produced with either a plain smooth surface, or a grooved/corrugated finish, which is a "signature" of the craftsperson and his clan.
I believe this one is from Central Australia near Alice Springs .....
But I am no expert.
Help is needed
"A boomerang is a custom shaped piece of wood used in everyday life. It is not a stick that comes back (very few come back). The purpose of the boomerang is to hunt animals for food or as a weapon in warfare. Sometimes they are also used in a similar way to clapsticks, to keep the beat during music They are made from hard wood - shaped, smoothed down, sometimes "fired" (to harden), then treated with a preservative and finally, painted (ceremonial ones).
Shapes differ from symmetrical to others having one side being much shorter than the other (the long side equals the throwing side which is held by the user.) Right and left handed boomerangs were made, using the same techniques on opposite sides. There are hundreds of different types of boomerangs to suit each environment (rainforests, open plains etc.) and purpose (weight, flight etc.).
Primarily, the boomerang is used by the men for hunting animals.
There is a second use for the boomerang - fighting. It is indeed a lethal weapon in skilled hands. They certainly are not used as Frisbees!
They are also used as musical instruments, to keep the beat (like clap-sticks) particularly for corroborees.
Boomerangs are individually hand crafted, no two will be exactly the same." | <urn:uuid:8ab437eb-42a1-4fc3-a298-6823171a36b1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/68123-fluted-walbiri-mudbura-wilki-7-boom | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972687 | 905 | 2.25 | 2 |
Tesla's impressive first-quarter sales topped the news Monday, as the Model S outsold the ...
Bentley going racing with Continental GT3 -- Concept debuts at Paris motor show
Bentley hasn't fielded a race car since its Bentley Eight prototype won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2003, but that hiatus is drawing to a close. The British luxury automaker has unveiled its rear-wheel-drive Continental GT3 racing concept for the Paris motor show and announced its intention to return to the race track in late 2013.
The Continental GT3 is based on the Continental GT Speed, which Bentley claims is its fastest road-going vehicle ever. That car is powered by a twin-turbo W12 engine producing 616 hp and 590 lb-ft of torque, driving all four wheels.
We do know that the GT Speed's four-wheel-drive system has been swapped for a rear-drive setup on the Continental GT3. Beyond that, there's no word yet on what mechanical alterations Bentley is making to the GT Speed to turn it into a competitive racer. We can be sure that change runs deeper than the aerodynamic kit that adorns the GT3.
International racing governing body FIA has reportedly approved the GT3 concept, and Brian Gush—Bentley director of chassis, powertrain and motorsport—is heading up its development.
The company claims the GT3 program will yield a balanced racer capable of both speed and endurance and will be “eligible for a range of race series, up to and including 24-hour marathons"—which opens the door for future participation in the grueling 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The 2012 Paris motor show—or Mondial de l'Automobile, as it is officially known––will take place Sept. 27 through Oct. 14. It occurs every two years, alternating with the Frankfurt motor show in Germany. Paris is a showcase for the latest in design, but automakers will also be showing off their latest concept cars, green cars and supercars. | <urn:uuid:f8c28209-b78a-48ce-8557-f84877fc4745> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.autoweek.com/article/20120926/PARIS/120929896 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946029 | 416 | 1.507813 | 2 |
chinook, warm, dry air mass that descends the eastern slopes of the U.S. and Canadian Rocky Mts. after having lost moisture by condensation over the western slopes. Chinooks occur mainly in winter. They sometimes replace the cold continental air mass over the western plains, causing rapid melting of snow and temperature increases as great as 40°F (22°C) within a few hours. Similar winds occurring in the Alps and elsewhere are known as foehn winds. The term chinook was originally applied by Oregon settlers to a moist Pacific wind blowing from the direction of a Chinook camp.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Weather and Climate: Terms and Concepts | <urn:uuid:c946915f-1862-4c5e-a409-88dd1b50f805> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.factmonster.com/encyclopedia/weather/chinook-warm-dry-air-mass.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950125 | 136 | 3.8125 | 4 |
VATICAN CITY — Over the weekend some media announced that the Vatican had opened a Twitter feed. Intrigued, I quickly went to @vatican_va on Twitter. At first glance, it looked like the Vatican — there was the Vatican coat of arms, the Vatican flag and a link to the Vatican Web site. And hundreds of tweets in many languages, linking to Vatican Radio stories.
Then I e-mailed Father Federico Lombardi, who heads both the Vatican press office and Vatican Radio. I got a response rather quickly, and a surprising one. He said the Twitter feed was news to him, and that neither the press office nor Vatican Radio was doing the tweeting. A call to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications elicited a similar response: it wasn’t them, and they didn’t know who it was.
Hmmm. This was beginning to look more and more like online impersonation. Perhaps not the first, either: I knew there was already a @vaticanen Twitter feed that also identified itself as “Vatican” without, as far as I knew, any authorization.
A few more calls around the Vatican this morning elicited more surprise and some concern. I have the impression that Vatican Radio may be seriously considering a Twitter feed, and doesn’t like being hijacked like this.
At this point, no one I’ve spoken with here has any idea who’s tweeting for the Vatican. More as it develops…
UPDATE: The Vatican_va tweeter appears to have been silenced. No tweets on http://twitter.com/vatican_va since Monday afternoon. Yesterday someone at the Vatican told me this tweeter wouldn’t be posting for long … and he was right. The whole episode has prompted some Vatican media people to remark, “It wasn’t us — but it should have been us.” So don’t be surprised to see a real Vatican Twitter feed in the future.
Some may be aware of a similar Twitter account that calls itself “popebenedictxvi“. It posted quite a few items last year about papal activities, gained more than 3,700 followers, and then fell quiet until recently. This tweeter, though, states clearly near the top of the page: “This is not an official Vatican service. I’m just a fan doing his part to spread the word.” And his latest tweet, sent Jan. 24 after the pope issued his World Communications Day message on new media, issues this invitation: “If anyone at the Vatican would like to claim this Twitter acct, pls Direct Message me.” That seems like an offer too good to refuse.
SECOND UPDATE: OK, @vatican_va is back tweeting like crazy again, though it looks like whatever automated system he/she is using to link to Vatican Radio stories is having some hiccups. I really wish there were a way to identify the people behind Twitter accounts. | <urn:uuid:85883bca-b996-4c5b-9c11-ace1e47cad10> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cnsblog.wordpress.com/2010/01/25/whos-tweeting-for-the-vatican/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=fb311db3f8 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95698 | 625 | 1.5625 | 2 |
In the last minutes of 2012, the Republicans and Democrats finally decided on a deal that would keep us away from the fiscal cliff, and last night that deal was passed in the House.
For the first time since 1993,
In the vote, 172 Democrats and 85 Republicans favored the bill; 16 Democrats and 151 Republicans opposed it. The plan maintains tax cuts for individuals earning less than $400,000 per year and couples making less than $450,000. As promised, the bill will raise tax rates for those who make more and it also extends unemployment insurance and delays two months of automatic cuts in federal spending.
In the hours after the deal was reached, world markets rose and U.S. stocks are predicted to rise as well.
But more money for middle class, unemployment and even stocks doesn't have everyoe celebrating.
Amid all the melodrama, some questions remain about the bill, which President Obama will sign into a law, yet few answers have surfaced on how to solve the problems.
According to CNN:
It doesn't mention the $16.4 trillion debt ceiling that the United States reached Monday.
It also puts off the so-called sequester, cuts in federal spending that would have taken effect Wednesday and reduced the budgets of most agencies and programs by 8% to 10%.
In addition, the bill raises the threshold for higher taxes, putting President Obama between a rock and a hard place when it comes to pleasing the GOP:
While the deal gives Obama bragging rights for raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans, it also leaves him breaking a promise.
Obama had vowed to raise tax rates for the top-earning 2% of Americans, including those with household income above $250,000 and individuals earning more than $200,000.
Doesn't seem like a bad decision, after all, this means less Americans will be affected. But only 0.6 percent have incomes above $500,000, according to the Tax Policy Center. That means taxes go up on the top wealthiest percentage, something Republicans aren't happy with.
But Obama has something for those who think this deal comes with more problems than good. Next time, don't wait until the last minute:
"While I will negotiate over many things, I will not have another debate with this Congress over whether or not they should pay the bills that they've already racked up through the laws that they've passed," he said after the Tuesday night vote.
"We can't not pay bills that we've already incurred. If Congress refuses to give the United States government the ability to pay these bills in time, the consequences for the entire global economy would be catastrophic -- far worse than the impact of the fiscal cliff." | <urn:uuid:36b3a0d6-b720-45ab-9a05-0df2ae971d1a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://globalgrind.com/news/fiscal-cliff-deal-reached-more-issues-unanswered-video | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968192 | 553 | 2.015625 | 2 |
On the outskirts of Burnley, a town once dominated by the textile industry, much like Hyde, lies Harle Syke, the home of Queen Street Mill, the last surviving, operational steam powered weaving mill in the world. Owned by a workers co-operative “The Queen Street Manufacturing Company” the mill is a time capsule of the late Victorian age, which produced cloth using Victorian steam driven power looms until its closure in 1982. You might recognise the name of the mill from the film 'The Kings Speech' We have been contacted by the Museum for help.... lets hope we can.
Here at Queen St. Mill Textile Museum we have two boilers supplied new by Tinker – Shenton Ltd. Of Hyde. One boiler was supplied in 1894 (now decommissioned) and the boiler that we use daily was supplied in 1901. The makers test stamp gives the date 27th July 1901, so this year we wish to commemorate its 110th birthday on that date. I was thinking it would be nice if we could find and contact anyone from either the Tinker or Shenton families and invite them to attend the celebrations. Therefore through your site I was wondering if you could put feelers out to try and find anyone.I hope you will be able to help.Kind regardsAlwynQueen St. Mill Textile Museum
Tinker and Shenton Steam Boiler
So if you think you know someone who is related to either the Tinker or Shenton families let them know about this and tell them to contact the Museum. | <urn:uuid:908d32c2-9254-4596-875d-0c7a68297fc7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hydonian.blogspot.com/2011/04/tinker-or-stenton-family-request.html?showComment=1304079947302 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963238 | 311 | 1.820313 | 2 |
I'll Fly Away
A World War II Pilot's Lifetime of Adventures From Biplanes to Jumbo Jets
Distributed for University of Scranton Press
From his adventures flying for the Allies in World War II to his work as head pilot trainer for Ariana Afghan Airlines, Race has logged more than six decades in the air. I’ll Fly Away tracks his travels around the globe, encompassing his post-war job as crop duster and bush pilot, his thirty-four years as a commercial airline pilot for Pan American World Airways, his consultancy to King Hussein for Royal Jordanian Airlines, and the eight years in which he served as lead pilot for Orbis, an eye hospital on wings that served thirty-one countries. In 1989 Race notably retraced Charles Lindbergh’s 1927 20,000-mile goodwill tour, flying his Spirit of Orbis biplane to all forty-eight of the continental U.S. states.
A remarkable and wholly readable biography of an American original, I’ll Fly Away will be essential for the bookshelf of every aviation enthusiast. | <urn:uuid:686fe143-974a-48b2-bb31-f308f940d967> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/I/bo3775648.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95431 | 224 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Choosing a Prairie Dog
By: R. D. and Patti Bartlett
Read By: Pet Lovers
Black-tailed prairie dogs, Cynomys ludovicianus, are small, communal, burrowing rodents with endearing mannerisms, but they are plagued by bad press, non-indulgent ranchers, land-developers and property owners. Today's wild population of this keystone prairie species is an estimated one percent of their population at the turn of the 20th century. Black-tailed prairie dogs have been poisoned, vacuumed and hunted almost to oblivion. They deserve to be included on the federal endangered species list, but politics and other priorities have so far prevented this. Diarrhea
Four species of prairie dogs are found in the central and western United States. All are communal, but the black-tail, a species of relative lowlands, is particularly so.
Exactly how communal is communal? In the early 1900s in Texas, one prairie dog town covered more than 2,500 square miles and had an estimated p-dog population of more than 400 million animals. Today, black-tailed prairie dogs have been eradicated over much of their former range. Prairie dogs may now be most reliably seen in the wild only along some roadsides and in public park lands.
Should an animal so reduced in numbers be collected from the wild for the pet industry? In a perfect world, the unequivocal answer would be no. But the world of a prairie dog is anything but perfect. It is very likely that if they were not destined for the pet trade, the captured little rodents would be eradicated. So, with that in mind, our answer must, at least for the time being, be an equivocal yes. A life span of 6 to 9 years can be expected in captivity.
Adult are 3 to 4 pounds in weight and 14 to 16 inches long (including a 3-inch long tail). Despite his name, the black-tailed prairie dog is actually a burrowing squirrel. Of the several species found in the United States, only the black-tail actually has a black tail. His relatives, the smaller white-tailed Gunnison's and the endangered Utah prairie dogs, have tails tipped with white. Clad in soft hairs of buffy-tan to tan (rarely white), a prairie dog is darker on his back than on his stomach, and his chin and throat are lighter than his stomach. The very short, thin tail is fully haired. The eyes are situated near the top of the head and vision is keen. When sufficiently frightened, with an alarm bark, they dive headfirst into the burrow. Before reemerging, they peer cautiously around. With the eyes so close to the top of the head, very little of the prairie dog shows as he scans the area from the burrow mouth.
As do the incisors of virtually all rodents, those of the prairie dog grow continually. Under ordinary circumstances, the teeth are kept at the ideal length and sharpness by wearing against each other and by chewing. Occasionally, when not provided with sufficient chewing materials or through injury or other trauma, the teeth may fail to wear naturally. This will prevent your pet from eating naturally.
To chew, chew, chew is a prairie dog's forte. It's nothing personal - it's just what they do. Furniture legs, Habi-trails (from the inside out), electrical cords, old clothes, even bare toes – he'll try them all and if he likes them, he will chew them. The message here is when your pet is running loose around a room, make that room as chew-proof as possible, and watch your prairie dog carefully and continually. If you need to leave even for a moment, put him back in his cage.
This three-dimensionally active animal requires a cage at least 2 feet by 2 feet by 4 feet. Better yet is a cage 2 feet by 4 feet by 6 feet.
The prairie dog gets his name from his bark-like vocalizations. Actually, these little rodents have a rather extensive repertoire of sounds, but the two most noticeable are the "here comes danger" bark and the "all-clear" bark. Both sounds have two-syllables, but are of different intonations.
In the wild, these rodents eat a main diet of grass and perhaps a berry or two. They do not eat a high-fat diet, and they should not be given a high-fat diet in captivity. Timothy hay, carrots, sweet potatoes, a few sunflower seeds, safflower seeds, turnip greens, collard greens, dandelions (flowers and greens), nasturtiums (flowers and greens) and rabbit chow, are all acceptable dietary items. Do not give peanuts, cookies and other high-fat foods. Do not allow your prairie dog to become unnaturally obese, but do keep in mind that some wintertime weight gain is entirely normal. Fresh water should be available at all times.
If at all possible, purchase a prairie dog pup. Handle your prairie dog pup gently but firmly. Gently tickle his cheeks, chin and belly and pet his back so he becomes fully accustomed to your handling and petting. By the time he is weaned you will have a devoted (sometimes almost too devoted) pet.
The more often you handle and pet your prairie dog, the tamer and more tractable he will become and remain. Even if obtained when older, prairie dogs usually become reasonably (but not reliably) tame. A single prairie dog is more dependent on his human owner for playful and loving interactions than a pair of them housed together.
Prairie dogs are not adept climbers, but will often attempt to ascend to the highest vantage point.
Following their normal winter slow-down (they don't truly hibernate) prairie dogs become more active and begin breeding as the days lengthen and winter gives way to spring. However, these little rodents do not breed reliably in captivity, and almost all of those available in the pet trade are taken from the wild. From three to five seems to be a normal litter, although up to eight pups may occasionally be born. The babies are born about 45 days after a successful breeding. They are small, hairless and their eyes are closed. They begin weaning at about 5 weeks of age, begin leaving the burrow a week later, and disperse when they are about 10 weeks old.
Unless it is your intent to try to breed them, neutering is suggested for all captive prairie dogs. This should be accomplished before the late autumn (and the related and normal pre-winter fat accumulation) of your prairie dog's birth year.
Although prairie dogs are normally hardy and with good care remain quite healthy, occasionally sickness or injury may befall your pet. | <urn:uuid:63e71048-69f9-46b4-b8ca-06443b019c40> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.petplace.com/small-mammals/choosing-a-prairie-dog/page1.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966164 | 1,433 | 3.078125 | 3 |
Project test were released during the ATLETE conference, held April 12 in Brussels during the European Union’s Sustainable Energy Week. Luigi Meli, general director of European appliance industry association CECED, called the results "disappointing."
84% of tested appliances complied with the energy efficiency class declaration and two related key parameters: energy consumption and storage volume. However, just 47% of the tested appliances were found to comply with all five test parameters.
A statement released by ATLETE today pointed out that two of those parameters - freezing capacity and temperature rise time – "have been less commonly checked since the energy label was introduced in 1995."
ATLETE has said repeatedly that the test results are "indicative only," and that only the market surveillance authorities in each European Union member state can legally declare an appliance to be compliant or non-compliant.
ATLETE has also said that the 80 appliance models it tested represent a small sample of all the models sold in Europe by the entire appliance industry, so the test results are not sufficient for judging the overall compliance of any appliance maker's product line.
If nothing else, ATLETE has fulfilled its primary goal: to prove that pan-European monitoring of appliance labeling is possible, practical, and necessary.
"The level of compliance with energy label requirements must improve," stated CECED General Director Luigi Meli one of the project partners. "These results are disappointing but they do not detract from the industry’s position on this issue."
Meli added, "Strong market surveillance is the best way to ensure a level playing field, fair competition for domestic equipment manufacturers operating within the Single Market and a high level of protection for the consumers. It is essential that Governments provide adequate resources to ensure market surveillance."
Read the ApplianceMagazine.com in-depth report on ATLETE findings:
Europe's Non-Compliant Appliances | <urn:uuid:a4f8ce78-f9b7-442b-9777-24729bdf0c38> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.appliancemagazine.com/news_print.php?article=1481214&zone=0&first=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954342 | 391 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Charlie Ruggles (1892-1970) made his first theatrical appearance at the Alcazar Theatre in San Francisco. He later appeared
in motion pictures. The collection consists of photographs, keybooks, annotated plays and scripts, clippings, fan letters,
telegrams, playbills, framed awards, and ephemera relating to Ruggles' stage and motion picture career.
Ruggles was born on February 8, 1892 in Los Angeles; he made his first theatrical appearance at the Alcazar Theatre in San
Francisco; he later appeared in motion pictures; he died in December 1970.
17 boxes (8.5 linear ft.)
6 oversize boxes
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library,
Department of Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright,
are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of
the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the
copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC
Regents do not hold the copyright.
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. Advance notice required for access. Contact the UCLA Library, Department
of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information. | <urn:uuid:f61e760b-dffc-45ea-a246-0e1e80e8fd06> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt4m3nc88r/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946063 | 262 | 1.507813 | 2 |
posted on May 26, 2011 15:29
The New York State Legislature is preparing to pass a 2-percent property tax cap in Albany. But the Genesee County Legislature says Albany is not dealing with the real problem.
A state property tax cap would set a 2-percent cap on all property taxes in New York State. That means counties and school districts could only raise taxes 2-percent above the current level. Many local leaders say the cap would leave them with two options: finding other sources of revenue, which are rare; or cutting siginificantly from important programs.
Today, County Legislature sent a strongly-worded letter to the capitol, condemning the proposed tax cap, which they call “a state solution to a local problem, that was created by the state.”
Legislature chair Mary Pat Hancock says mandates are the real problem, not high taxes.
"Pension costs have gone up thirty-one percent," she says. "And in the past several years, Medicaid has continued to escalate in cost." Hancock has continually decried the Medicaid expenses, which she says are "forced" upon the counties. She and the Legislature called for the state to take the responsibility for Medicaid off of the counties' shoulders, where it has been since 1966.
"Certainly though, what we would like and what we will get are two different things," she says.
Hancock also reiterated that her concern has never been making it under a tax cap, because she believes county residents can't shoulder any more tax burden.
"If we were relieved from the mandates, we would even be able to lower our tax rate," she says.
Meanwhile, school officials are also decrying the proposed cap, and have been ever since state education aid began a precipitous drop last year. Batavia City Schools' Business Manager, Scott Rozanski, sees dark days ahead under the cap.
"In essence, it means we could only increase our expenditures by about $350,000," he says. "Cutting more is do-able, but it would probably create a lot more uproar." Rozanski did point out that the public could vote in favor of a tax increase higher than 2-percent, if they so choose. "They would be voting on the revenue portion of the budget, instead of the expenses like they are this year," he said.
Superintendent Margaret Puzio chooses not to rely on the public to increase their own contribution, though. She's holding out for an increase in state aid.
"The only reason we're looking at an increase in the tax levy is because our state aid was cut," she says. Asked how optimistic she was that state aid would increase, on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being very optimistic, Puzio put herself at about a 6 or 7.
"I've heard the plan is for it to go up, slowly," she says. "But there's no question about it: we have to look for ways to do things less expensively."
Local State Senator Mike Ranzenhofer has been a vocal supporter of the tax cap. Appearing in Batavia today, he said we may be putting the cart before the horse – but the state must institute the cap.
"The cap needs to be passed by both houses," said Ranzenhofer. He also expressed support for Hancock's proposal that the state assume Medicaid costs.
"I was a county legislator for twenty years. I understand that issue," he said. "I'm also very concerned about overuse of the Medicaid system by some, to the detriment of others. I'm talking about not having every possible optional service that you can have.
"People move here and travel here, in order for our citizens to pay for their healthcare, even though they're not citizens of our state."
Ranzenhofer is hoping that new work on a biometric technology bill will at least help cut down on Medicaid fraud, by creating an electronic fingerprint and/or DNA record of each Medicaid recipient.
The County Legislature, meanwhile, warns that a property tax cap with no mandate relief could lead to reductions in road and bridge maintenance, police protection, veterans services, and other important community programs. Mary Pat Hancock says that's not a fear argument – it's the reality.
"Those services are the only local items that are not mandated," she says. "And those local initiatives are not fringe items – they're things local governments have always done.
"It's not fear. I wish it was. But it's the reality."
Friday, May 27, 2011 5:34 PM
In the metro area (NY, NJ suburbs that are within 50 miles of NYC) we are suffering, property tax for an average house can be up to $12,000-$24,000, and they continue to raise at double digits rates. How can anyone afford to live? Corporations are leaving the area, and want to bulldoze the building to avoid property taxes. People want to leave also, but they are stuck, jobs have left this area. Who would want to do business here?
Pension exclusion for tax cap? You have to be kidding, vast majority of corporations got rid of their pensions 20 years ago, and only a few union controlled jobs may still have it.
People who work for government are sucking the blood out of private corporation workers, by imposing unbearable taxes.
Public school Superintendents make up to $400,000, Teachers make up to $150,000, Police chiefs make up to $500,000, police officers make up to $120,000+ (some up to $250,000); I am not saying that they do not deserve it, we just cannot afford to pay with 20% real unemployment. Health care and other benefits are all paid for by tax payers, while the tax payers themselves lack health insurance, pensions, and other benefits.
If parents want non mandated services let them pay for it, instead of using other people’s money to raise their children; no kids should suffer due the inability of their parent to pay, in such cases let the social services look at the case and give assistance. Right now poor people are paying for rich people’s kids, because property taxes are not based on household income (i.e. income of every one living at that address, not just the homeowner’s).
Something is drastically wrong here, property taxes need to be cut by 50% and then a 2% cap without exclusions in some parts of the state should be imposed. Bring jobs back to NY NJ metro area, stop corporations from leaving to other states or to other countries such as Ireland where the corporate taxes are around 12%, US rate is 35% and it does not include property taxes which are a huge chunk. | <urn:uuid:4c71501d-4463-4697-b233-f252e69b4ab3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wbtai.com/LocalNews/tabid/115/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/1205/Property-Tax-Cap-Not-the-Real-Solution-Says-County-Legislature.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975422 | 1,397 | 1.726563 | 2 |
South West TAFE is a recognised leader in the delivery of Apprenticeships &
Traineeships, offering a range of courses across many occupations.
Programs are designed to meet the increasingly diverse needs of industry. Programs
are developed to ensure skill outcomes are relevant to businesses and meet the needs
of the specific qualifications.
Apprenticeships and Traineeships combine structured on and off the job training
with paid employment. They may be delivered on the job (workplace based), block
release (blocks of studying combine with work), or a combination of both. To undertake
an Apprenticeship or Traineeship you must be employed.
Apprenticeships and Traineeships are an excellent way to kick start your career. If you
are still at school you may undertake a school based Apprenticeship or Traineeship
while finishing your VCE or VCAL. Many opportunities exist for school leavers and
mature workers to undertake Apprenticeships and Traineeships – bringing commitment
and experience to their industry.
Benefits to apprentices
There are a number of Government benefits and assistance available to Australian
Apprentices. These benefits may change and you should refer to the Australian Apprenticeships website for information of those
Benefits to employers
The Australian Government offers a range of incentives for eligible employers of
apprentices and/or trainees, particularly in areas of recognised skills shortages.
Assistance for employers of Australian Apprentices is subject to change and you
should refer to the Australian Apprenticeships website for information of assistance
Apprenticeship/Traineeship courses delivered at South West TAFE:
Go to Courses - Apprenticeships & Traieeships to view student course list.
More information on Apprenticeships & Traineeships download the brochure from
For more information about Apprenticeship & Traineeship programs at South West
TAFE phone 1300 648 911 or email firstname.lastname@example.org | <urn:uuid:3ffa2526-407e-4eee-bdf9-ad275a5007da> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.swtafe.edu.au/employers/apprenticeships-and-traineeships/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928847 | 407 | 1.734375 | 2 |
EO is a template-based, ANSI-C++ evolutionary computation library that helps you to write your own stochastic optimization algorithms quickly. Evolutionary algorithms form a family of algorithms inspired by the theory of evolution, and solve various problems. They evolve a set of solutions to a given problem in order to produce the best results. These are stochastic algorithms because they iteratively use random processes. The vast majority of these methods are used to solve optimization problems, and may be also called "metaheuristics". They are also ranked among computational intelligence methods, a domain close to artificial intelligence. With the help of EO, you can easily design evolutionary algorithms that will find solutions to virtually all kind of hard optimization problems, from continuous to combinatorial ones.
Galois is a computer game of the "falling blocks" type, but with unique features. Unlike most other games of that type, it is not limited to blocks made of four two-dimensional, square bricks: you can choose among several different brick shapes, blocks composed of more or fewer bricks, and even between two- and three-dimensional games.
NetCrack is cluster software developed to distribute a hashing algorithm's cracking process work using a brute force attack. Currently, it only supports the two most commonly used hashing algorithms: MD5 and SHA-1. Support is included for MySQL, safe mode, and others. It works like a client/server application, where the server is unique for each cluster network and its job is to distribute the cracking process work, coordinate the nodes, and prevent connections and data integrity errors.
RoseThorn is a cross-platform library for 2D and 3D games running on GNU/Linux (and possibly other Unix-like OSes) and Windows. Features include: hardware accelerated 2D and 3D rendering; Ogg and WAV Sound support with OpenAL; Lua scripting; BMP, JPEG, and PNG image loading and saving (from screenshots); easily created and modified user interfaces with XML and CSS, combined with Lua event handling; separate 2D and 3D libraries; support for multiple fonts in both TTF and bitmap formats; support for OBJ, 3DS, MD5, and RTM model formats; skeletal animation (a work in progress); support for UDP and TCP networking; thread and mutex support; a Simple Shader API; 2D animated sprites; and some basic cryptography support. There is simple event management, with key/mouse bindings easily customized from the in-game console, config file, command line, or GUI.
minidb is a Python module that utilizes the SQLite3 database library in order to store and retrieve Python objects. It utilizes Python's __slots__ mechanism to determine the column names, and uses the class name for table names. Data is always stored as text in the database, but will be converted using the type specified in __slots__ (which therefore has to be a dict).
Subtivals provides project subtitles for cinema festivals. Hard copies for film festivals do not always carry subtitles, especially for the hard-of-hearing. Subtivals' goals are the projection and the control of subtitles superimposed on a cinema screen. Projecting subtitles on top of another screen is called soft-titling, surtitling, supertitling, or even sometimes electronic subtitles or virtual subtitles.
Octaspire Crates! is a scriptable, skinnable, extensible, and relocatable 3D action puzzle game. All the missions, game entities (or crates), game states, and configuration of the game engine are implemented as plain text Lua-scripts. So, if you know Lua, you can write new game entities, game states, missions, and levels with any text editor, without any special development tools. New skins can be created with any image editor that can save .png images, dropped into a new subdirectory under the resources/textures directory, and changed in the configuration file config.lua. Crates has also its own (simple) implementations for all the different container classes it needs (like vector, string, and so on) to keep the external dependencies fewer.
I is a programming language that was designed to be efficient to write and run. The system incorporates many major libraries, allowing the creation of major projects such as Aciqra. It is an interpreted language and supports CGI scripting through the use of the CGI for Aciv/I extension. | <urn:uuid:55e1e194-73b2-4638-9c15-71e2048e1868> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://freecode.com/tags/windows?page=4&sort=popularity&with=6060&without= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915361 | 914 | 1.992188 | 2 |
European Commission - Press release
Commission and European Parliament launch Joint Transparency Register to shed light on all those seeking to influence European policy
Brussels, 23 June 2011 – In an effort to give a further boost to the transparency of the EU's decision-making process, the European Parliament and the European Commission are today launching a joint, public Transparency Register which provides more information than ever before on those who seek to influence European policy.
The new Register replaces the one set up by the Commission in 2008, which already contains more than 4000 organisations. These will be gradually transferred to the Joint Transparency Register over the coming 12 months. It also extends its coverage well beyond traditional lobbyists to include law firms, NGOs, think tanks - indeed any organisation or self-employed individual engaged in influencing EU policy making and implementation. This is a key step towards the EU's goal of a more participatory democracy.
Registrants will also have to provide more information than before, such as the number of staff involved in advocacy, the main legislative proposals they have covered, as well as the amount of EU funding they received.
By signing up to the Transparency Register, organisations will commit to a Common Code of Conduct pledging, for example, always to identify themselves by name and the entity they work for, and not to obtain information dishonestly. A complaint mechanism and measures to be applied are also outlined for those who break the Code of Conduct.
European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič said: “This is good news for the transparency of policy-making in Europe. All organisations, whether trade and professional associations, NGOs, think tanks or others who have nothing to hide will be in the register and will provide the public and the institutions with information about their work. All those who are not in the register will have to be asked why they can't be transparent - and they will see their daily work made more difficult by not being registered, in particular through the requirements of the European Parliament. I am pleased that the Council is now willing to play an active role in the Register as well. With the new Code of Conduct for Commissioners and now the Joint Transparency Register, we have set benchmarks for many other capitals in Europe and the world.”
Diana Wallis, Vice-President of the European Parliament said: “I feel that we have finally accomplished a goal our working group set ourselves several years ago, and today, by launching this joint register for interest representatives between the Commission and the Parliament, I hope that we will help to instil a more solid culture of transparency in Brussels.”
“Up until now, there may have been some confusion. Now there can be none: one register, one place to sign up. And for all those who want to take part in the EU policy-making process, this register will also demonstrate that our institutions are working together. This is why I am thrilled that the Council has now announced its willingness to take steps in joining us. Together we are taking a strong step in the right direction. On this note, I would like to thank Vice President Maroš Šefčovič for his open and co-operative working methods during these negotiations.”
The Transparency Register website:
What others say:
Jana Mittermaier, Head of Brussels Office at Transparency International
"Transparency International welcomes the new Transparency Register as another step in the right direction and encourages the European Commission and European Parliament to take further steps in the right direction. The new register is an important milestone in creating greater transparency around EU lobbying activities. It will only be effective however if it is used properly and in the spirit of the Code of Conduct that accompanies it. The new register will be a test of the commitment of all parties involved in lobbying to greater openness.”
José Laloum, Chairman EPACA: European Public Affairs Consultancies Association
“The success of the register is clearly in the interest of our professions and we urge the Commission and the Parliament to ensure that there are clear benefits, in terms of access, event participation and consultations, to being a registrant.”
Richard Linning President IPRA: International Public Relations Association
"IPRA, the International Public Relations Association, welcomes the launch of a common transparency register. Its objectives resonate with our own 50-year-old code of ethics which has recently been relaunched in clearer language and in more than 25 translations. We expect the new register to streamline access to Commission officials and MEPs."
Lyn Trytsman-Gray, President SEAP: Society of European Affairs Professionals
"SEAP welcomes the launch of a common Transparency Register for the European Parliament and the Commission, which SEAP has long supported. Transparency and trust lie at the heart of good decision making and good lobbying. There are however, some areas that still need attention and we will work closely with the Commission to ensure they are addressed."
Antonio Gravili (+32 2 295 43 17)
Marilyn Carruthers (+32 2 299 94 51) | <urn:uuid:d4f82988-450f-4877-8323-db0b31f087e6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-11-773_en.htm?locale=en | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948043 | 1,032 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Chapter 81.—There are Two Causes of Sin, Ignorance and Weakness; And We Need Divine Help to Overcome Both.
I shall now say this, which I have often said before in other places of my works. There are two causes that lead to sin: either we do not yet know our duty, or we do not perform the duty that we know. The former is the sin of ignorance, the latter of weakness. Now against these it is our duty to struggle; but we shall certainly be beaten in the fight, unless we are helped by God, not only to see our duty, but also, when we clearly see it, to make the love of righteousness stronger in us than the love of earthly things, the eager longing after which, or the fear of losing which, leads us with our eyes open into known sin. In the latter case we are not only sinners, for we are so even when we err through ignorance, but we are also transgressors of the law; for we leave undone what we know we ought to do, and we do what we know we ought not to do. Wherefore not only ought we to pray for pardon when we have sinned, saying, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors;” but we ought to pray for guidance, that we may be kept from sinning, saying, “and lead us not into temptation.” And we are to pray to Him of whom the Psalmist says, “The Lord is my light and my salvation:” 1263 my light, for He removes my ignorance; my salvation, for He takes away my infirmity.
Ps. 27.1Ps. xxvii. 1 | <urn:uuid:1b525e47-7803-4ece-a7da-f8b31fad7001> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/103/1030331.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965631 | 354 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Recently read a NY Times article about Olga Kotelko, 91,who is shattering track-and-field records—in her age group—and testing theories about aging. Check out this adorable video of her in which she says, “I don’t want to start another new career. I want to hang on to this one.” She is being studied like an alien to find out why she is still so youthful and able to amass hundreds of athletic gold medals for her age. What makes her different? Special muscles? Unique motivation? A very interesting six-page story. I have extracted some of the highlights that anyone of any age can relate to. It really points to the benefits of exercise for good health and youthful life. And it emphasizes what many people have realized is my own obsession—not just to live longer, but to live healthfully and actively…
…scientists like Taivassalo and Hepple have a different goal, and exercise — elixir not so much of extended life as extended youthfulness — may be the key to reaching it. James Fries, an emeritus professor at Stanford School of Medicine, coined the working buzz phrase: “compression of morbidity.” You simply erase chronic illness and infirmity from the first, say, 95 percent of your life. “So you’re healthy, healthy, healthy, and then at some point you kick the bucket,” Tarnopolsky says. “It’s like the Neil Young song: better to burn out than to rust.” You get a normal life span, but in Olga years. Who wouldn’t take it?
…You don’t have to be an athlete to notice how ruthlessly age hunts and how programmed the toll seems to be. We start losing wind in our 40s and muscle tone in our 50s. Things go downhill slowly until around age 75, when something alarming tends to happen.
“There’s a slide I show in my physical-activity-and-aging class,” Taivassalo says. “You see a shirtless fellow holding barbells, but I cover his face. I ask the students how old they think he is. I mean, he could be 25. He’s just ripped. Turns out he’s 67. And then in the next slide there’s the same man at 78, in the same pose. It’s very clear he’s lost almost half of his muscle mass, even though he’s continued to work out. So there’s something going on.” But no one knows exactly what. Muscle fibers ought in theory to keep responding to training. But they don’t. Something is applying the brakes.
…when you hear the stories of older senior athletes, a common thread does emerge. While most younger masters athletes were jocks in college if not before, many competitors in the higher brackets—say, older than age 70—have come to the game late. They weren’t athletes earlier in life because of the demands of career and their own growing families. Only after their duties cleared could they tend that other fire.
…Exercise has been shown to add between six and seven years to a life span (and improve the quality of life in countless ways). Any doctor who didn’t recommend exercise would be immediately suspect. But for most seniors, that prescription is likely to be something like a daily walk or Aquafit. It’s not quarter-mile timed intervals or lung-busting fartleks (a training technique, used esp. among runners, consisting of bursts of intense effort loosely alternating with less strenuous activity). There’s more than a little suffering in the difference.
…Yet if there’s a single trend in the research into exercise and gerontology, it’s that we have underestimated what old folks are capable of, from how high their heart rates can safely climb to how deeply into old age they can exercise with no major health risks.
…Motivation may ultimately be the issue. Finding reasons to keep exercising is a universal challenge. Even rats seem to bristle, eventually, at voluntary exercise, studies suggest. Young rats seem intrinsically driven to run on the wheels you put in their cages. But one day those wheels just stop turning. The aging athlete must manufacture strategies to keep pushing in the face of plenty of perfectly rational reasons not to: things hurt, you’ve achieved a lot of your goals and the friends you used to do it for and with are disappearing. Read the rest of this entry » | <urn:uuid:14a26dd1-977a-4489-833d-fde7b1d7b1df> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.irasabs.com/?tag=do-not-take-it-easier-as-you-get-older | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96048 | 965 | 1.953125 | 2 |
Punta music is something that I find people sometimes love or hate. Andy Palacio, the Garifuna cultural ambassador that passed away earlier this year was a former Punta star and I read in a write up about his concert that I attended last summer, that he had moved from “poppy” and “less refined” Punta to Garifuna folk. Which is cool, but it seemed like they were implying that Punta, a more globalized-hybrid form of music, was in some way inferior. (Article spotted via W&W.)
That said there are nuff Hondureños y Belizanos, en la Bahia y California, and as Andy said, Garifuna all over the states. I asked one of my students, that had tagged “H Town” on the side of the center where I work (making sure for our collective safety,) if it was a gang related tag. He laughed and said, “no man, Honduras.” I then (with a sometimes too eager desire for a chance at cultural solidarity) replied, “oh, so you listen to Punta?” He looked at me funny and said with his best deep South U.S. Drawl, “whatchu you know bout Punta?”
Perhaps this is an instance of the type of Globalization Andy Palacio, Grupo Wama, and Kwame Anthony Appiah are talking about. Individual people make decisions in their lives that effect the cultural richness and diversity of the world. We want to be modern but at the same time acknowledge our historical cultural richness. This is a struggle I can strongly relate to.
Here are a couple Punta tracks to bang out at whatever place you like to play music.
Buy Andy Palacio Music | <urn:uuid:f7a53685-35f1-4ab5-93a3-646207f8bca9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ghettobassquake.com/no-olvidemos-lo-nuestro | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966259 | 373 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Paul Evans stands in a lush corn field on the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe Farm and Ranch and marvels at the changes on this ground over the past 20 years. A couple of decades ago, when he came to the 597,000-acre reservation in the southwest Colorado desert near the New Mexico border, this land near the toe of Sleeping Ute Mountain produced nothing. Zip. Nada.
The place was filled with life as only the desert can, but it was brown, sandy, rocky and nothing of economic value grew between here and Shiprock, the famed geologic formation in the distance. So how does the farm, managed by Evans, manage to coax 300-bu. corn out of this parched land that averages 5-7 in. of rainfall yearly?
Irrigation. This 7,700-acre farm is less Story County, Iowa than Al-Fayoum Oasis, an island of green in the Egyptian desert brought to life by ditches filled with Nile River water. In the Utes’ case, the water arrives via a wide canal 41 miles long, pumped south from McPhee reservoir on the Delores River, bringing a wealth of water from the slopes of the Rocky Mountains.
The Utes won a water-rights lawsuit in 1988 that recognized their historic right to the water. About 24,000 acre-feet gravity flows to the farm each year and through 110 center pivots.
Soon after the tribe won the lawsuit, Evans got the job as farm manager. That entailed making a farm from bare desert. He had worked for Servi-Tech, a Kansas-based crop consulting company, dealing with farmers in Ft. Morgan, Colo., Pratt, Kan., and Mt. Hope, Kan.
Just when machines started rolling hard on the project, they encountered Anasazi ruins dating back 700 years in an area known as Cowboy Wash. The Utes consider Anasazi ruins holy places, and current laws require bringing in experts when encountering ruins. The archeologists soon arrived and spent the next three years and about $3 million excavating. Meanwhile, construction continued on the rest of the farm.
Starting from scratch perhaps gave the farm some advantages. Evans and his co-workers had no mistakes by previous managers to correct. They could begin with the latest technology. Soon, he realized the soil was highly productive when irrigated. In those early days, the farm’s irrigation manager, the late Bill Cone, worked out methods for efficiently applying water.
“Bill was a genius. That’s the only way to put it,” says Allen Phelps, the current manager of the high-tech computer-operated irrigation system. “A lot of what we’re doing now is his design. He walked me through it and showed me what to do. We developed a very cost-effective high-pressure system by decreasing pipe size and using a dual-valve combination. It’s pretty elaborate. We run 110 pivots with a three-man crew, including myself.”
Just how the entire project runs still enthuses Evans, all these years later.
“It’s all gravity flow. No pumps. We had to redesign valves and came up with these dual valves we’re now using. It was necessary to ‘farmer-ize’ things, you could say, to tailor things to what we needed. Engineers helped us some. We’ve been fortunate to have smart people working here. That’s the key thing, building a good team of people,” he says.
With water and good people, Evans soon realized, the farm had good potential. He wanted to push it to the max. Although he did not set out to make one of the nation’s top corn yielding farms, good management made it just that.
Over the past decade, it often placed high in the National Corn Growers Association yield contest. Although the farm has never won the national contest, it regularly places highly.
Last year it came in third nationally with 315.7 bu./acre in the No-Till/Strip-Till Irrigated category. In 2010, it was also third, with 335.93 bu./acre. In 2003, the farm came in second nationally, with 305.63 bu./acre. It has also done well in the state yield contest several times. Average corn yield across the farm runs in the 220-bu. neighborhood.
“We try to maximize every acre, to push each acre to its full potential. That’s because we’re in the business of trying to make a profit, and that’s the only reason.”
With high yields like that, it’s natural to think the soil possesses some sort of magic that, added with water, produces top crops. Not so, Evans says.
“These are not what most people would call good soils. They are high pH. They’re not bad soils–they’re just not great. It is a very nice farm, no argument there. What we’ve found is that if you have water and the right amount of fertilizer, you can make bad soil look pretty good,” he says.
They strip-till on 30-in. rows, planting for a population of 34,000 corn plants per acre. Fields tend to be low in organic matter, so they compost them.
“Our biggest problem in the fields is rocks. We run a mechanial rock picker, particularly on new alfalfa fields,” says Crop Manager Vaughn Cook, who joined the company seven years ago from southern Idaho.
“We face challenges. The rockiness costs us a lot of money to deal with. The weather is a big challenge, of course. I’ve always like reduced tillage. The strip-till works very well for us. It’s good for the land and we try to be good stewards. A lot of people say that but we really do. We try to balance being good stewards of the land and staying in business,” Cook says.
Through the years, Evans worked hard to build a good team. Cook is one key team member. Another is Simon Martinez, point man on the team. He too, has been here from the beginning, first serving as construction foreman developing the farm, now its operations manager and overseeing personnel. Martinez even worked for the engineering firm that built the reservoir dam, meaning he was in the area before the farm’s birth.
“It’s wonderful to have had this experience. To be able to literally bring this to life and see it become successful and play a role in feeding the world has just been a blessed thing,” Martinez says.
“We built on people,” Evans says. “We bring in people to manage our weaknesses. There are some things I don’t do well, so I find someone who does. The whole farm has to be a team. I don’t care that much about equipment–I care about who’s operating it. I’m not interested in high-tech for the sake of being high-tech. I’m interested in what it does.
“What we have here is a neat group of people. When we do something it’s because they’ve agreed to it. Our people are good at what they do and we never hesitate to send them to additional training when it’s appropriate.”
Ute Mountain Farm and Ranch Enterprises employs 18 full-time workers along with four or five seasonal employees. It produces 1,400 acres of corn, 1,000 acres of wheat, 700 acres of sunflowers and 4,500 acres of alfalfa.
“It’s owned by the tribe, of course, and we are training tribal members to be prepared to step into management roles,” Evans says. | <urn:uuid:45bae608-34f3-4d4b-b24e-8dc320da9b59> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cornandsoybeandigest.com/print/corn/built-scratch-top-corn-yields-desert-ground?page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966712 | 1,663 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Every school needs an effective discipline policy. Effective discipline is universally recognized as an important aspect of any kind of school. All children must be protected. Thankfully, all administrators have the ability to use technology to their advantage. Schools have to ensure pupils are safe at all times. The behaviors that children learn in school are the base for the values they will have as adults. Using a school discipline system based on software is a good way to keep a database of student activity organized and accessible.
Sick people sometimes make trouble at educational institutions. Sadly, when things go the wrong way, these people can cause deadly results. School shootings happen in nations worldwide. Kids don’t trust their instructors and vice versa. Software can help bridge this chasm. When students perceive that school policies are fair, they are more liable to comply with rules. Fair and equal treatment is a crucial element of any student discipline plan.
The administration of any educational institution has to make even discipline a priority. If they don’t strive for this, their whole school will suffer. These kids work hard in class every single day. Students must have faith that the school faculty and staff are also willing to put forth a genuine effort. Check out EdClick.com to get more details on school discipline system options. This can make your school more secure. | <urn:uuid:a94f3d16-3307-4ce4-92f7-4f2e30290880> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tennesseechocolates.com/2012/07/implementing-a-fair-school-discipline-system/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960692 | 267 | 2.8125 | 3 |
January 09, 2013 /24-7PressRelease/
-- When you or a loved one is suddenly faced with a serious medical crisis, the best option is often to go quickly to the emergency room at the nearest hospital. In such situations, the sick or injured individual must put trust in the trained medical professionals to provide the best possible quality of care. Unfortunately, results from a study
recently conducted by Oregon Health and Science University have revealed that patients in emergency rooms
are less likely to receive adequate care when the emergency department is busy.
The study examined almost one million emergency room visits at 187 hospitals during 2007. The researchers compared medical records from days when the emergency departments were able to help everyone to those when the hospitals had to divert ambulances to other medical facilities due to overcrowding.
The researchers found that patients who were admitted when the hospital had to turn ambulances away were more likely to die while admitted. In addition, they tended to stay in the hospital for longer periods of time and had higher medical expenses.
Specifically, the study revealed that there was a 5 percent higher chance of a patient dying while admitted to the hospital if they were admitted to the emergency room when the department was busy. Those patients stayed in the hospital .8 percent longer than those admitted when the hospital was not busy and had 1 percent higher expenses.
The researchers calculated the overall consequences of busy emergency rooms and found that approximately 300 people died due to overcrowded emergency rooms. In addition, patients admitted on busy days spent a total of 6,200 more days in the hospital and incurred an extra $17 million in medical expenses.
Some of the suspected reasons for this disparity seem apparent. For instance, when the emergency room is above optimum capacity, it is more likely that those with critical illnesses
will not receive timely care. In addition, as the attention of physicians and nurses is constantly redirected to attend to new patients, there is less time to provide adequate care to those already admitted to the hospital.
Researchers note that the problem will likely continue to worsen as the population of elderly Americans increases.
Immediate concern for Ohio youth in emergency rooms
While a larger population of older Americans is likely to prolong the problem, emergency room overcrowding can also have a negative effect on young people in Ohio. According to the Ohio Department of Health, from 2002 to 2010, the number of young sports players who required trips to the emergency room to treat traumatic brain injuries doubled.
Consequently, a new law was recently passed, which requires that young athletes be taken out of the game if they exhibit signs of a head injury. The law requires that these injured athletes receive permission from a medical professional before returning to the sport.
Whether the ill or injured individual is a young athlete or a senior citizen, every person receiving treatment in an emergency room deserves proper care. If you or a loved one has been harmed due to medical malpractice in an emergency room, consulting with a knowledgeable Ohio personal injury attorney will ensure just compensation is received.
Article provided by Anderson Law Offices, LLC
Visit us at www.andersonlawoffices.net---
Press release service and press release distribution provided by http://www.24-7pressrelease.com
# # #Read more Press Releases from FL Web Advantage: | <urn:uuid:3f4fa850-aa96-426f-93c1-6e74dcb73a13> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/press-release/study-shows-increased-fatalities-in-overcrowded-emergency-rooms-323519.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972314 | 665 | 2 | 2 |
Dressed in worn leather boots and jeans, Mac Mead reaches between Swiss chard seedlings to scoop up handfuls of dark, moist earth. It’s a breezy spring morning in Threefold’s historic Pfeiffer Center garden in Chestnut Ridge, New York—America’s first biodynamic garden.
“Everything needed to heal the earth can come right from your own garden,” says Mead, the center’s program director, as the soil filters through his fingers. “That’s the heart of biodynamics—a partnership with the forces of the earth and the cosmos.”
If biodynamics (BD for short) sounds a bit mystical, that’s because it is—yet a growing community of proponents ranging from backyard gardeners to small-scale fruit, vegetable, and dairy farmers to commercial winemakers claim big results from its unusual techniques. These include tracking the movements of the moon and stars to guide planting and cultivation, using composting techniques that employ herbal preparations to enhance the breakdown of organic matter, and spraying specially aged manure and silica elixirs on beds and plants to focus the growth-promoting powers of soil, light, and air.
“Biodynamics is all about rebuilding healthy soil, growing healthier food, and building a community of people around that,” Mead says. “And in the U.S., it all started here in this garden.”
Founded in 1926 as Threefold Farm, this peaceful oasis is just 30 miles from New York City—yet worlds away from the malls and interstate traffic jams just up the road. Here, honeybees buzz in a tidy apiary. There’s a small orchard of dwarf apple and pear trees. Phlox, mayapple, and bleeding heart bloom in exuberant, half-wild borders. Inside the fenced vegetable garden, cover crops of crimson clover and blue-green rye ripple in the wind. Onions and peas, lettuces and radishes—30 vegetable varieties in all—reach for the sun.
Look closer, and there are signs of the garden’s biodynamic roots everywhere. This beyond-organic approach has been practiced here for most of the past 84 years. A planting calendar based on lunar cycles hangs in the garden shed. The 68 beds in the vegetable garden are raised—BD practitioners believe this enlivens the soil. There are big patches of chamomile, yarrow, and valerian—herbs added in small quantities at specific places in a compost pile to improve the conversion of garden and kitchen scraps into rich, moist humus. And a barrel of stinging-nettle tea—with a smell so pungent it makes my eyes sting—waits to be used for watering vegetables. (Tomatoes love it.)
“Biodynamics is definitely spiritual,” says assistant gardener Megan Durney. “But there are no hard-and-fast rules. Add pieces of it to your gardening—you don’t have to do everything. And you don’t have to take it on faith. Experimenting and being skeptical are encouraged. See for yourself what works. That’s what I do.”
The Organic–Biodynamic Connection
Biodynamics and organic gardening have much in common, including a shared moment of rebellious, chemical-free history—with connections to this little plot of land where renowned biodynamic scientist Ehrenfried Pfeiffer spent 17 years researching BD growing methods. The center is named for him, and his old lab is just up the hill. While Pfeiffer wasn’t the first to bring BD to America from Europe, he was an important early leader—working in Switzerland with the founder of biodynamics, Rudolf Steiner, and running a successful BD farm in Holland before leaving Europe to come to America in the 1930s.
In Pennsylvania, Pfeiffer crossed paths with J.I. Rodale, founder of this magazine and of America’s organic-gardening movement. In the 1930s and 1940s, it took about 2 hours to drive between Rodale’s experimental farm near Emmaus, and Kimberton, where Pfeiffer was creating a model biodynamic farm and training center. “These were passionate men with big personalities and strong opinions. Their conversations must have been fascinating,” says Bill Day, development coordinator at Threefold Educational Center (parent of the Pfeiffer Center and of the other community and educational organizations on the propery’s 140 acres, including a restaurant, a food co-op and a Waldorf school).
Both men were intent on showing the world an alternative to the chemical-based agriculture they feared was sapping the earth’s fertility and leaching nutrients from food. Rodale funded some of Pfeiffer’s early experiments, including one in which mice fed an organic diet were found to be less irritable and have fewer digestion problems than those on conventional chemically raised feed. Rodale published Pfeiffer’s book The Earth’s Face and Human Destiny in 1947 and commissioned Pfeiffer to write for Organic Gardening. “The soil itself is now considered a living being,” Pfeiffer wrote in the pages of this magazine 62 years ago. “It dies when it is abused and mineralized. It is sustained when organic methods are practiced.”
Today, the Pfeiffer Center is teaching the world how to garden biodynamically. There’s a yearlong training program for aspiring BD growers, weekend workshops for backyard gardeners, and a program called the Outdoor Lesson that invites schoolchildren from local public schools to get their hands dirty in the garden—and taste the results.
“For years, biodynamics was a small movement—it’s better known in Europe and Australia,” Mead says. “Now, more small farms, orchards, and vineyards are adopting it. So are CSAs [Community-Supported Agriculture farms] where you can buy into a share of the harvest. You can buy biodynamic garden seed and find certified, biodynamic produce at natural-food stores. I think people who know about organics are looking for something more spiritual in the garden—and in their food. This goes beyond sustainability to resupplying the earth with what it really needs. We believe that’s our responsibility.”
One backyard gardener who’s convinced is Richard Makowski of River Vale, New Jersey. Makowski says he tried the biodynamic planting calendar a few years ago “for the heck of it”—and saw his winter squash yields triple. “My wife says the vegetables are sweeter,” he says, taking a break from planting a bed at the Pfeiffer garden. “I didn’t even believe this stuff at first. And maybe you don’t have to. But I’ve never met a gardener who isn’t spiritual on some level.” | <urn:uuid:8e417ed0-ccc7-4921-8cf4-69aab721332a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.organicgardening.com/print/7495?page=0%2C1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947148 | 1,473 | 2.234375 | 2 |
A Long-Term Strategy for American Security:
by Jayne Seminare Docherty and Lisa Schirch, November 9, 2001
A Visit at Camp Unity: First Person Reflections: The following article presents the author’s personal reflections of her September 24th trip to Camp Unity, the area near the Pentagon where investigators and search and recovery workers eat and take breaks from their work.
by Hannah Mack Lapp, November 4, 2001
At The Fork in the Road: Trauma Healing: As peacebuilders, we must learn to recognize and examine the trauma that often smolders beneath conflict. We might be able to provide a quick fix, but we can’t transform the presenting conflict without uncovering — or somehow attending to — the underlying trauma. The conflict can actually worsen. Victims are re-traumatized and, if the trauma goes unhealed, the victim may become the aggressor; the abused may become the abuser.
by Nancy Good, October 10, 2001
Communicating with the Terrorists and Their Supporters: To send a well-crafted message that can actually be heard as it was intended, we need to pay attention to all three elements: message, channel, and recipient.
by Jayne Seminare Docherty, September 19, 2001
Creating a Big Circle for a Difficult Discussion: Keynote address for first teach-in at Eastern Mennonite University given by Jayne Docherty on October 15, 2001.
by Jayne Seminare Docherty, October 15, 2001
Difficulties of Confronting Unconventional Warfare: Strategists of unconventional warfare have for decades sought to turn the anger and might of a military giant against itself. Thus, the September 11 attackers stand in a tradition of unconventional warfare with a considerable track record of success.
by Ron Kraybill, September 26, 2001
Four Reasons to Use the War Metaphor with Caution: Given our reliance as a nation on a war metaphor for describing many difficult situations (e.g., war on poverty, war on drugs, war on crime), it is natural that we would talk of our current situation as a state of war, even if we do not envision an immediate massive counter-attack. Nevertheless, this metaphor should be used with great caution.
by Jayne Seminare Docherty, September 16, 2001
Frameworks Other Than War: As we have listened to the TV commentators following the plane crashes at the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon, the metaphor of “war” has been used over and over again. When thousands of people die in a planned disaster, few commentators seem to have any other frame of reference. Metaphors are powerful because they subtly define what we know, what we see, what we can’t see, and what we can imagine.
by Frank Blechman and Jayne Seminare Docherty, September 14, 2001
How Might Peacemakers Respond to Terrorism?: The events of September 11 may leave those of us committed to non-violent methods of conflict resolution puzzled about how to respond. As military and intelligence forces mobilize around the world, what is our responsibility?
by David Brubaker, October 2, 2001
Is U.S. Policy Being Driven by the Pentagon’s Hardware?: If this really is a new kind of war against a new kind of enemy, shouldn’t our leaders be taking the time to develop the necessary tools before “ramping up” a war effort to the point where the military hardware and tactical needs drive policy rather than the other way around?
by Jayne Seminare Docherty, November 9, 2001
Keeping Our Options Open: Waco or Apollo 13: Crises are marked by events that do not easily fit into existing organizational and conceptual categories. During a major crisis, we discover that:
- We cannot easily understand the meaning of the events.
- We struggle to define the problems exposed by the crisis.
- Even when we think we have some idea of the nature of the problem, we do not have the language for expressing our ideas.
- We have difficulty mobilizing resources to deal with the problems arising out of the crisis.
- We need to create new organizational structures and new organizational relationships in order to address the crisis effectively.
by Jayne Seminare Docherty, September 17, 2001
by Jayne Seminare Docherty, October 2001
Pacifist Response: To speak to this issue we do not have to go back to an imagined debate between Napoleon Bonaparte and the Duke of Wellington. It was our own revered general and former president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, who observed that war never settles the problems of the world; it only exacerbates them. This does not make Eisenhower a pacifist, but it does lend considerable credibility to their contention that war is not an effective solution!
by C. Norman Kraus, October 1, 2001
Peace Activists or Concerned Citizens?: It is gratifying to discover that someone in the media acknowledges that not everyone is giving unequivocal support to President Bush’s call for a war against terrorism. It is also disconcerting to see how those urging caution are being rhetorically marginalized even as their activities are being described.
by Jayne Seminare Docherty, September 20, 2001
Reframing Terror from the Perspective of Conflict Resolution: The events on September 11, 2001 that overtook our daily lives and reoriented our national and global priorities pose significant challenges for our newly emerging century. They leave us with the question — Quo vadis — where are we headed? Where we are going and how we get there depends a great deal on how we define the nature of our journey, its challenges, and ultimately its proposed destination. We might best understand our destination as a horizon, visible as a guidepost but never removing the need for continued journey.
by John Paul Lederach, November 16, 2001
Revisiting the Original Blueprint of Terrorism: “Terrorism will persist so long as oppression, poverty, and injustice persists.” This statement, spoken by my political science professor at George Mason University, Joseph Conley, is quite reflective and profound because it requires us to understand terrorism in a different perspective. It requires the victim of terrorism to understand that the terrorist perceives the victim as being responsible for the violence that was inflicted against him. The victim is responsible because of his injustice, his oppressive behavior or his insistence on keeping a society in poverty.
by Jennifer Kimble, December 2001
Revisiting the War Metaphor: Sept. 25, 2001: During times of uncertainty – when no easy policy answer or response is apparent – we must resort to analogy to make sense of the new problem facing us. These analogies are expressed through metaphors.
by Jayne Seminare Docherty, September 25, 2001
Strategy in Afghanistan: Initial responses to September 11 focused on the question of how to eliminate Osama bin Laden and the threat of terrorism. In recent days a broader set of related questions are emerging. First, how do we relate to the people of Afghanistan? This is a key question. Second, how do we gain support of Afghanis to apprehend bin Laden and take him to trial? This is an immediate question. A longer-term question, but nearly as important to the success of efforts to address terrorism and support the emergence of stability in the region is, third, how do we assist the creation of a credible government in Kabul?
by Ali Gohar and Ron Kraybill, October 5, 2001
The Challenge of Terror: A Traveling Essay: Though natural, the cry for revenge and the call for the unleashing of the first war of this century, prolonged or not, seems more connected to social and psychological processes of finding a way to release deep emotional anguish, a sense of powerlessness, and our collective loss than it does as a plan of action seeking to redress the injustice, promote change and prevent it from ever happening again.
by John Paul Lederach, September 16, 2001
Trauma Recovery and Justice: September 11 and its Aftermath: What form of justice will continue and sustain a recovery process for the families of those lost in this tragedy, and for all of us as we seek security in our world? Is it only the punitive kind that uses the rule of law and possibly violence to ‘right the wrong’ or is it justice that leads to transformation of unjust circumstances through the development of just relationships?
by Barry Hart, September 16, 2001
What Motivates the Terrorist or Potential Terrorist?: Our instinct is to assume that anyone who would fly a passenger jet into a building, killing himself, everyone on board, and thousands of other people in the building must be deranged. This judgement often finds expression in claims that such individuals are evil. If this is the case, then crafting any kind of a preventive or cautionary message for individuals who might take similar actions is futile.
by Jayne Seminare Docherty, September 24, 2001
Win the Battle But Lose the War?: Yes, we are at war. But it’s a different kind than some think. This is a battle for the heart and soul of humanity. If we lose, our grandchildren will inherit a world more miserable than our own. How the United States responds to the atrocities it has experienced will have a big impact on that future world.
by Ron Kraybill, October 20, 2001
A Call for Thoughtful Response: Finally, as the full magnitude of the horror of these events becomes apparent, the repercussions are going to be personal as well as political, social, and cultural. We will each experience this trauma in our own way and our responses will be shaped by our past experiences with war, violence, and terror. It is important that we each find places where we can process our personal horror. We also need to be particularly mindful of the impact of these events on our neighbors whose lives have already included violence and terror in the United States and around the world.
by Jayne Seminare Docherty, Ron Kraybill, Howard Zehr, September 12, 2001 | <urn:uuid:039b0118-b508-4f7d-962a-ba20beb709cb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://emu.edu/cjp/publications/beyond-september-11th/2001/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945226 | 2,077 | 2.09375 | 2 |
( cross-posted from techPresident)
In my frequent conversations about open government and citizen participation, the subject of elite capture (or “how representative it is”) is almost unavoidable. Some go as far as evaluating participatory initiatives on the grounds of an ideal notion of representativeness: participants should perfectly mirror the socio-demographic traits of the larger population from which they come.
But oddly enough, the same people who raise these concerns about participatory initiatives are much less inclined to apply the same reasoning and standards to traditional politics. In other words, few take the time to consider how representative and inclusive existing electoral democracy actually is. An article by Nicholas Carnes at the New York Times about political representation in the United States puts the issue into perspective:
If millionaires were a political party, that party would make up roughly 3 percent of American families, but it would have a super-majority in the Senate, a majority in the House, a majority on the Supreme Court and a man in the White House. If working-class Americans were a political party, that party would have made up more than half the country since the start of the 20th century. But legislators from that party (those who last worked in blue-collar jobs before entering politics) would never have held more than 2 percent of the seats in Congress.
I’ve yet to see a participatory process that produces similar results. But the limits of representation do not stop there. African Americans and Latinos are still greatly under-represented in US politics. The gender issue is no different: with the House of Representatives only 17 percent women, the Inter Parliamentary Union ranks the US 82nd in female representation in politics, behind countries such as the Arab Emirates, Sudan, Mauritania and Kazakhstan.
Obviously, the US is by no means exceptional in exclusion. Those working in the field of political participation have long been aware of the excluding effect of representative systems. As put by political scientist Arend Lijphart, unequal participation remains as representative democracy’s “unresolved dilemma.” Even more unfortunately, underlines Lijphart, inequalities in representation and influence “are not randomly distributed, but systematically biased in favor of more privileged citizens (…) and against less advantaged citizens”.
And it is from this unresolved dilemma that the raison d’être of participatory innovations stems. But rather than a replacement for representative systems (as misunderstood by some), participatory innovations are complementary mechanisms to enable the participation of individuals who are systematically excluded from traditional politics, ultimately increasing the overall diversity of voices that influence government.
This observation leads to a fundamental issue when assessing citizen participation initiatives: beyond questioning demographic representativeness, one must also consider the extent to which initiatives succeed (or not) in promoting the participation of previously marginalized sectors of society (i.e. inclusiveness).
So how inclusive are these mechanisms?
To continue with the US example, let’s consider one of the most exciting open government events taking place at the local level in the US: the recent adoption of participatory budgeting in NYC. Unlike most overhyped #opengov experiences, a team of researchers carried out an evaluation of the experience looking at, among other things, the extent to which it promoted inclusiveness. Below are some excerpts from the report [PDF]:
- Twenty percent of PB voters identified themselves as African American; 14 percent as Hispanic or Latino/a; 2 percent as Asian and 2 percent as “Other.”
- A higher percentage of African Americans participated in neighborhood assemblies (38 percent), compared to the full population in the four districts (31 percent).
- Twenty-one percent of budget delegates and 19 percent of PB voters were born outside of the United States.
- Participants that identified themselves as Black/African American were the most likely to volunteer to be budget delegates.
- Women represented 64 percent of neighborhood assembly participants, 65 percent of budget delegates and 62 percent of voters in the PB process.
But how these numbers compare with participation in traditional politics is probably one of the highlights of the evaluation (emphasis is mine):
One of the most striking findings about who participated in PB [participatory budgeting] is how the data compares to other types of civic engagement, particularly voting patterns in NYC elections. Across the districts, PB engaged communities that have traditionally been uninspired by politics. People of color, low-income people and some immigrant groups turned out at higher rates than in previous elections.“
A few numbers worth noting:
Latino/as represented 39 percent of voters in the 2009 City Council elections. However, 50 percent of PB voters identified themselves as Latino/a (District 8 NYC).
Black or African Americans represented 79 percent of voters in 2009 City Council elections. However, 87 percent of the district’s PB voters identified themselves as Black or African American (District 45 NYC).
Twenty-two percent of PB voters had a household income of less than $10,000 compared to 4 percent of the district’s voters in the 2009 City Council election (District 8 NYC).
I have very little doubt, if any, that the contrast would be even starker if we compared the income of those who sit on the City Council and those who participated in the NYC participatory budgeting. In City Councils across the US, less than 10 percent of members come from a blue-collar background. Conversely, the numbers on income of participatory budgeting participants speak for themselves.
As citizen engagement gains traction in the open government agenda, inclusiveness should be one of the top priorities: both from normative and empirical standpoints, more inclusive initiatives are likely to produce better outcomes. The NYC experience provides valuable lessons for donors, policymakers, advocates, and enthusiasts alike. They can find more about it here and here. | <urn:uuid:90d394dc-b386-4f43-ba97-4c7cc17e50ce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://democracyspot.net/category/representation/ | 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 | 0.952099 | 1,195 | 2.34375 | 2 |
Begun in 2007, One Laptop Per Child reports having distributed over 2 million XOs the world over. The laptops are designed to enable reading and learning with internet connectivity. The latest version, designed by fuseproject, debuted at CES 2012 and costs just under $100, down by almost half from its earlier form. For a quick overview of the XO-3, mainly from the perspective of fuseproject founder Yves Behar, see Dezeen.
CES also introduced competition for the XO: the Aakash Ubislate 7, a tablet that retails at just $50.
According to the OLPC faq, “OLPC is based on constructionist theories of learning pioneered by Seymour Papert and Alan Kay, and on the principles in Nicholas Negroponte’s book Being Digital” [link added].
by Zoe Fox / Mashable Tech / 8 January 2012
One Laptop Per Child will unveil its XO 3.0 tablet at the Consumer Electronics Showin Las Vegas Monday. The fully functional tablet is designed to be inexpensive, use little energy and brave extreme weather conditions.
The rugged tablet includes the Marvell ARMADA PXA618 SOC processor, Avastar Wi-Fi SOC, standard or Pixel Qi sunlight-readable display, and supports Android and Linux operating systems. Unlike any other tablet on the market, it can be powered by solar energy, other alternative sources or hand-cranks.
Image Source: article | <urn:uuid:73b980d8-5c82-4abc-bc62-a43c8b58df5e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://newlearningonline.com/2012/01/16/one-laptop-per-child-debutes-rugged-tablet-for-students-in-developing-world/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914572 | 302 | 2.140625 | 2 |
About Native Instruments:
Native Instruments’ first product, Generator, a virtual modular synth that eventually morphed into Reaktor, may have been born of Berlin's active techno scene, but the success of that product and Pro-5, a model of the legendary Sequential Circuits Pro-Five synth, led company founder Stephan Schmitt to realize that they could easily expand beyond just the electronica and techno worlds. Their wider success was assured with "B4 Organ," the first great virtual instrument modeled on classic drawbar and tone-wheel technology.
Though techno and dance musicians and producers were the first to latch on to NI's software products, their commitment to sound quality over everything else, belief that usability is as important as functionality, and willingness to experiment kept growing their range of software into new areas. Guitar Rig, their virtual guitar amp and effect collection has been used to process much more than just guitars, and Kontakt rapidly became a standard among sample players.
As their line of products has grown, NI's vision has broadened to include virtually every aspect of music production—from KOMPLETE, the audio engine which is the basis for much of their instrument technology, to MASCHINE, a comprehensive hardware/software beat production solution and TRAKTOR, a full range of tools for the digital DJ. With an ongoing commitment to develop easy-to-use and deceptively powerful tools for musicians of all stripes, NI products have become the pivot point for many producers and engineers. | <urn:uuid:351a1ce2-3ed3-4bde-86bb-5118005e7968> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.guitarcenter.com/Native-Instruments.gc?extup=Featured-Clearance | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968648 | 305 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Amsterdam is not an ancient town. You’ll find no Roman remains or traces of ancient conquerors any more than you’ll find any Romanesque churches. The town rose up from the sea both literally and figuratively during the Middle Ages, in the early 13th century. With these 2 audio guides, we will discover how a simple fishing village became one of the key European cities of the 17th century. We’ll stroll through picturesque streets and districts steeped in history.
Click on + to zoom Click on the buttons for more details
2 audio walks to discover at your own pace the canals and the historical center of Amsterdam. Each lasts between 1 and 2 hours and a half. But of course, you may bypass the chapters and places you are not interested in. | <urn:uuid:85f5d3da-0cee-41cf-ad26-0710456b4eac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pocketvox.com/en/node/25 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940042 | 164 | 2.234375 | 2 |
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New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics
and is an equal partner with North America (including the United States, Canada, and Taiwan) in 75 percent of ALMA (Japan is a 25 percent partner). ESO is now aggressively planning a 42-meter European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), which is significantly larger than the Giant Segmented Mirror Telescope planned for completion in 2018. Investments in the SKA being made by Europe, South Africa, and Australia far exceed those of the United States. In space astronomy, the European Space Agency has just launched the successful Herschel and Planck telescopes with a combined cost of more than $2 billion and is planning its next Cosmic Vision missions.
Astronomy planning exercises are now conducted around the world. The European Union recently completed its first decadal survey in astronomy, the ASTRONET study,1 and similar activities have been conducted for European astroparticle physics (ASPERA)2 and space astronomy.3 Australia’s 10-year (2006-2015) strategic plan4 strongly emphasizes international partnerships for the largest projects. Although there is remarkable convergence on the most compelling science questions and considerable overlap in plans for facilities, there is relatively little or no formal international input to or coordination between these activities.
Additional, major international activities include those involving Australia (e.g., Gemini partner, SKA precursor programs), Japan (e.g., JAXA, Subaru), and China (e.g., FAST).
these precious instruments. These pressures are most evident in ground-based facilities. The advantages of such partnerships are manifest: cooperation can reduce unnecessary duplication of facilities and effort, marshals the best technological expertise globally, provides international merit-based use of the facilities, and makes it possible to construct facilities that otherwise would be out of the financial reach of any one nation or region.
Traditional international partnerships, in which two or more national partners collaborate in the construction, operation, and management of a facility, also carry with them inherent disadvantages and overheads. The involvement of multiple organizations inevitably increases the complexity of decision making and management, which translates into a significant overhead in project costs. If government agencies are involved, either as direct partners or as managing agencies for one or more partners, the increase in bureaucratic requirements and the delays in decision | <urn:uuid:f288bd8c-1dc1-4247-aee5-310946abf537> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12951&page=83 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927109 | 512 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Must-Have Garden Tools
Tips on handy tools to have when working around the garden.
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Gardening is never dull, and that's especially true when a gardener needs a tool that's sharp. Those tools include primarily pruners, loppers, shears, bow saws and more. But there are other, less familiar tools that master gardener Paul James uses even more often. Here is a list of his must-haves for the garden.
Scissors. They're not ordinarily considered tools of the gardening trade, but they come in handy for all sorts of things. There are even scissors made specifically for gardening tasks. For example, bonsai scissors (figure A) are one tool which no bonsai enthusiast in the world would be without.
Tin snips (figure B), which are nothing more than big scissors, are great for cutting wire, especially metal screening material used to protect plants from pests and freezes.
Knives. A knife is also good to have on hand for everything from cutting twine to cleaning dirty fingernails. Like scissors, there are knives made to perform specific tasks. Grafting knives (figure C) are used to make cuttings of woody plants. A harvesting knife is used to cut greens in the vegetable garden.
One specialty knife is designed to cut the roots of potted plants, thus freeing plants from their pots without damaging the roots. The flexible blade (figure D) makes it easy to stab the knife into even the most potbound plant, and its serrated edge slices easily through roots. Another knife is also designed to cut roots, but is used for those in the ground. It also has a serrated edge, which enables you to cut or saw your way through roots of varying sizes.
The Hori-Hori (figure E), a Japanese gardening tool that is knife-like but far more useful, is a staple for James. It's great for planting bulbs, cutting sod, sawing roots, digging out weeds.
It comes in three other styles: larger with sharper serrations and a stainless steel blade to ward off rust; one with a more comfortable, composite handle; and the granddaddy of them all, a truly professional tool that is all business (figure F).
Machetes. Machetes (figure G) make dividing perennials a snap and are also designed for clearing brush and saplings. In fact, this machete has been standard U.S. Army issue since 1941. The blade easily cuts through green saplings up to an inch and a half in diameter. The hook on the other side of the blade is great in tight spots and cuts on the pull stroke.
Axes and hatchets. Axes aren't for everyone, but they certainly have their place as cutting tools in the garden. Hatchets are slightly less intimidating and can be used as both a cutting tool and a hammer.
Cutters. Wire cutters have their place, too (figure H). While not considered a gardening tool, there are plenty of times when a gardener needs to cut wire. Large bolt cutters are the best tool of all for cutting metal, especially the remesh that's often used to form tomato cages.
Weeders. Several types of weeding tools (figure I) also have sharp edges, which allow them to slice through weeds like butter.
Tool Sharpeners. But no sharp tool will work well unless you keep it sharp. Shovels and hoes, for example, though not designed to be sharp like a knife, need their edges maintained so they penetrate the soil more effectively. To sharpen his tools, James uses a variety of things, including his grandfather's whet stone for knives. Here are two new sharpeners that work great and are easy to use.
This sharpener is even more foolproof (figure K). Simply draw the tool over its surface to sharpen it. It works on practically any sharp tool.
Bonsai scissors (BM01, 7-1/4-inch traditional style Japanese professional grade bonsai shear/scissor) - Dallas Bonsai Garden
Long-reach rose pruners (LA-15006) - GrowTech, Inc.
Grafting knife (2475E, Victorinox florist/grafting knife) - A.M. Leonard
Potting knife (9560) - Charley's Greenhouse & Garden
Japanese short-bladed root cutter (11P23.05) - Garrett Wade
Hori-Hori knife (TD2501 or TD2502) - Stone Lantern
Soil knife with orange handle (4750) - A.M. Leonard
Soil knife with deep serrations (79W05.01, Gardener's digging tool) - Garrett Wade
Machete (18N11.50, Woodman's Pal machete ax) - Garrett Wade
Solid carbide sharpener (63C01.01) - Garrett Wade
Tool sharpener with hand guard (GS6, Garden Sharp) - A.M. Leonard | <urn:uuid:03958af1-dc7f-47e8-a6ee-e0bd1676b5d5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hgtv.com/home-improvement/garden-tools/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929962 | 1,079 | 2.3125 | 2 |
(AP) Doctors in Cuba operated on Venezuelan President Hugo for cancer on Tuesday, his government said, after the illness reappeared despite a year and a half of surgeries and treatments.
Information Minister Ernesto Villegas, reading a statement on Venezuelan television, said the surgery was under way and that beforehand Chavez had expressed absolute confidence he will overcome the obstacles that have emerged in the path of life.
It is the fourth cancer-related operation that Chavez has undergone since June 2011.
Tareck El Aissami, a close confidant of Chavez, later told state television in Venezuela the operation was progressing without any problems.
Everything is going well, El Aissami said.
Cuban officials have been silent on Chavez's surgery with news of developments coming from the government in Caracas. It is unclear if Venezuelan officials will announce when the surgery was completed.
The Venezuelan president announced on Saturday that he needed to have surgery again after tests showed some malignant cells had reappeared in the same area of his pelvic region where tumors were previously removed.
On the streets of Caracas, Venezuelans on both sides of the country's deep political divide voiced concerns about Chavez's condition and what might happen if he doesn't survive his illness.
It's difficult to think about Venezuela without Chavez, said Rafael Perdomo, a mechanic who has supported the president since 1998, when he first ran for the presidency. I fear that we, the poor, could lose everything if Chavez dies.
Chavez recently said for the first time that if his illness cuts short his presidency, Vice President Nicolas Maduro should take his place and be elected president to continue on with his socialist movement. But Perdomo said he doesn't trust Maduro the way he trusts Chavez.
Others Venezuelans said that while they're sorry about Chavez's health situation and wish him the best, it isn't a particular concern for them. Many were out buying Christmas gifts and shopping for food ahead as they prepared for the holiday season.
I'm sorry about what is happening to the president, but for many of us life goes on, said Maria Colmenares, a housewife and opposition supporter, as she left a supermarket with bags of groceries and stood on a street corner waiting for a taxi.
I feel pity for Chavez and his people, especially the Chavistas because they have put all their hopes in the president and they know that nobody is capable of replacing Chavez, Colmenares added. None of Chavez's collaborators have his charisma.
Chavez received a flurry of get-well messages from leaders across Latin America, including the presidents of Chile, Peru and other countries. Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, who visited Chavez in Havana on Monday, said his ally was undergoing a very delicate operation.
He's passing through one of the hardest moments of his life. Our heart and our solidarity are with a historic president, Correa said at an event Tuesday in the Ecuadorean city of Tulcan.
Chavez had said the surgery would present risks. But the government said in a statement on Tuesday that his medical team has transmitted its optimism about the success of this operation.
Groups of supporters have gathered to pray for Chavez this week in Venezuela and elsewhere. In Bolivia, American actor Sean Penn joined a candlelight vigil organized by the Venezuelan Embassy on Monday night, wearing a track suit emblazoned with the colors of Venezuela's flag, just like one that Chavez has worn.
He is one of the most important forces we've had on this planet. And I will wish him nothing but that great strength he has shown over and over again, Penn told a crowd at the vigil, his voice quavering with emotion. He called Chavez inspiring.
Throughout his nearly 14-year-old presidency, Chavez has been loved by some Venezuelans and reviled by others as he has nationalized companies, crusaded against U.S. influence and labeled his enemies oligarchs and squalid ones.
Some Venezuelans said they're concerned about the political upheaval if Chavez eventually dies in office.
Many people don't dare to say it, but they want Chavez's death, said Omar Mendez, a shopkeeper who said he supports neither Chavez nor the opposition. I would say something to those people: They should think hard about the consequences if Chavez does not survive this terrible illness because Chavez's death could bring about an unprecedented political crisis.
The 58-year-old president won re-election in October and is due to be sworn in for a new six-year term on Jan. 10. If Chavez were to die, the constitution says that new elections should be called and held within 30 days.
Chavez said on Saturday that if such a vote were held, his supporters should elect Maduro to take his place.
While speaking at a political rally on Monday, Maduro wiped away tears while referring to Chavez. Even beyond this life, we're going to be loyal to Hugo Chavez, he said.
Chavez first announced he had been diagnosed with cancer in June 2011. He underwent a surgery for a pelvic abscess, and then had a baseball-sized tumor removed from his pelvic area. In February, he underwent another surgery when a tumor reappeared in the same area.
He has also undergone months of chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Throughout his treatments in Cuba, Chavez has kept secret some details of his illness, including the exact location and type of the tumors.
Chavez had previously said in July that tests showed he was cancer-free. But he said over the weekend that a new round of tests in Cuba had again found cancerous cells.
Diego Torres in Quito, Ecuador, and Associated Press writers Ian James and Fabiola Sanchez in Caracas contributed to this report.
Christopher Toothaker on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ctoothaker | <urn:uuid:422a045c-2771-4863-9e46-b347a8dad682> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.timesleader.com/stories/Hugo-Chavez-undergoes-cancer-surgery-in-Cuba,239908?category_id=529&town_id=1&sub_type=stories | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982791 | 1,189 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Beginning New Year's Day, parents in Illinois could be charged with a crime for allowing their underaged children - or anyone else under the age of 21, for that matter - to drink alcohol on any piece of property they own or rent.
Illinois residents should also be aware that the state has also made it more difficult to use a cell phone while driving; that all daycare facilities need to be tested for radon; that all car owners will need to pay more for their license plates to help pay for state parks; that non-violent offenders can avoid prison time; that intentionally not paying sales tax could result in jail time; and that local governments can now hide from the public how much in sales taxes they are rebating to businesses that open new shops, hotels, restaurants or dealerships in town.
These changes to state law mark just a few of the more than 150 new laws taking effect Jan. 1.
Some of the laws have already made headlines, such as Public Act 97-1049. That law specifically makes it a crime to allow underage drinking at a parent's or guardian's home, as well as at barns, cabins, boathouses, and on any other property a parent or guardian might own.
Still others in Illinois may be familiar with the changes brought by Public Act 97-830, which now makes it illegal to use a mobile phone while driving in any construction or road maintenance zone, not just those with reduced speed limits.
The state has also moved in Public Act 97-829 to prohibit all hand-held mobile device use while driving commercial vehicles. And in Public Act 97-795, the state has also redefined commercial vehicles to include vans, capable of transporting nine to 15 people, if the driver is being paid to transport the occupants of the vehicle.
However, just as in years past, 2012 proved to be a busy year for the Illinois General Assembly, which approved a number of other new laws, set to take effect in 2013, including:
• Public Act 97-976, which would now require counties, cities and villages to file standard reports to the Illinois Department of Revenue on all sales tax rebate agreements the local governments enact with businesses. The forms would include the names and locations of the businesses with which the local government is entering into the agreements, which are typically used to spur new economic development, by helping new stores, restaurants, hotels and other businesses offset some of the costs of building their new facilities. The reports would also include the amount that would be rebated and how it would be rebated. But the new law also specifically allows the local government and the state to withhold certain specifics of the deal, including the amount of sales tax that is expected to be collected and rebated, from the public, making that information exempt from the Freedom of Information Act.
• Public Act 97-981, which requires licensed daycare centers and daycare homes to be tested for radon at least once every three years. Those results would then need to be posted at the center or home.
• Public Act 97-1074, which creates the crime of sales tax evasion. Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan said the law is the result of an ongoing investigation of gas stations to recover sales taxes from many station operators who the state believes underreported revenues to avoid paying taxes. Those convicted of sales tax evasion could now face sentences of up to 15 years in prison, depending on the amount of taxes not paid.
• Public Act 97-1136, which enacts a host of fees, including entrance fees and use fees, to raise an estimated $32 million for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to maintain public lands in the state. Those fees also include a $2 surcharge tacked onto the cost of every license plate renewal sticker sold.
• Public Act 97-1118, which creates a 12-month diversion program to allow those charged with non-violent felonies, including burglary, theft, and possession of a stolen vehicle or of certain amounts of illegal drugs, to avoid jail time.
• Public Act 97-733, which makes it illegal to possess, sell or distribute shark fins in Illinois.
• Public Act 97-1035, which requires those entering "adult entertainment facilities" to pay a $3 fee, to fund sexual assault prevention efforts in Illinois.
• Public Act 97-1063, which eliminates "unnecessary delays" in adoptions of children, in which the child is already living with the prospective adoptive parents, and all parties have consented to the adoption.
• Public Act 97-850, which allows the IDNR to require people to clean boats and other watercraft before putting their craft in bodies of water in Illinois.
• Public Act 97-743, which imposes a fine of $1,000 on anyone who pops a wheelie on a motorcycle while speeding.
• Public Act 97-723, which requires those attempting to sell scrap metal to provide greater proof that they actually owned the metal, and which provides for tougher penalties for those illegally selling or buying stolen scrap metal. | <urn:uuid:d39d4325-69b0-433e-a858-6683520c3089> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kcchronicle.com/2012/12/29/new-year-brings-new-laws-in-illinois-in-2013/at14ei4/?page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964559 | 1,038 | 1.664063 | 2 |
The Green Bank Interferometer (GBI) at present consists of two 26 meter telescopes spaced 2.4 km apart, equipped with dual-frequency (8.3 and 2.25 GHz) dual-polarization cryogenically cooled receivers. Observing since 1996 has been in support of NASA High Energy Astrophysics programs and concentrates on galactic X-ray binary stars. X-ray and gamma-ray monitoring of these sources by satellite observatories RXTE, BATSE, and OSSE, are compared with radio data.
About 50 objects are observed daily at 2.25 and 8.3 GHz. Included are many well-known objects such as Sco 1, Cyg X-1, Cyg X-2, Cyg X-3, SS433, and Algol. The GBI tries to follow promising X-ray and gamma ray burst sources, but few become detectable in the radio. One that became unusually bright in the radio was XTE J0421+560, which flared in April 1998, and was watched by the VLA and GBI. It reached a flux density of 0.8 Jy at 8 GHz about 3 days after the X-ray outburst, with a slow decline over the following weeks. VLA mapping showed development of a jet. This source was found to be a known symbiotic star, CI Cam (Hjellming and Mioduszewski, IAU Circular 6862).
Two famous galactic "microquasar" sources, GRO 1655-40 and GRS 1915+105, are monitored daily by the GBI. The third galactic source with superluminal motion, XTE J1748-288, was discovered in 1998 and placed on the GBI program quickly enough so the GBI provided the most continuous observations of a series of two major events. This source turned into a steady jet source like SS433 in 1999.
These three microquasars were joined by V4641 Sgr, whose X-ray outburst in September 1999 called attention to itself. Radio light curves based on GBI and VLA monitoring show a power law decay following the initial outburst. VLBA maps (Hjellming, Rupen, and Mioduszewski) showed a one-sided jet that died quickly only to be replaced by a weakly decaying continuous jet source. HI absorption mapping indicates a distance of less than 1 kpc, which makes this by far the closest known microquasar.
In October 1999 an X-ray transient source, XTE J1859+226, was discovered by the RXTE satellite. Initial follow-up radio observations, done with the GBI, VLA, and Ryle Telescopes, showed a radio source about of about 10 mJy, which, a few days later, flared to about 100 mJy (Pooley, Hjellming, IAUC 7278). Optical spectra (IAUC 7276) suggest it is an X-ray nova. The source continues to be monitored.
Cygnus X-3 has been monitored closely by the GBI since 1982. The major radio flares in February and June 1997 were studied in unprecedented detail by monitoring at Green Bank, Cambridge, the VLA, and the VLBA. Detailed VLBA maps by Hjellming, Mioduszewski, and Rupen showed the evolution of features in the expanding jet. Onset of features corresponded to outbursts seen in the GBI monitoring. Correlations with X-ray observations done with of Cyg X-3 during these outbursts showed a correlation between the radio flares and the hard X-ray emission. But during quiescent periods, there is an anti-correlation (McCollough et.al. NewAR 42, 629, 1998). A possible explanation is that during quiescent radio states the radio emission is generated in or near the accretion disk, while during flares, the radio emission is from the emerging jets.
An important clue to the understanding of Cyg X-3 was the discovery that the radio flux density drops to a very low level (< 30 mJy) shortly before a major flare (Waltman et.al. A.J. 108,179, 1994; A.J. 112, 2690, 1996). Increased mass transfer to an accretion disk may temporarily quench the radio emission before a flare erupts, fed by the increased transfer rate.
Cygnus X-3 is now (April 2000) in an active phase, having flared to 13.5 Jy at 15 GHz on April 1. An active phase can last a month or two with several large outbursts. The situation is being monitored with the GBI, VLA, VLBA, Ryle Telescope, MERLIN, and the RATAN 600 in the radio, and with BATSE, Beppo-SAX, and Chandra in the X-ray. The initial outburst followed a typical scenario of expansion of an initially optically thick synchrotron emitting plasma. Important results will undoubtedly emerge after the observations and analyses are complete. | <urn:uuid:96b1c6d2-8bf0-48fd-bf7a-b2c102582538> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gb.nrao.edu/fgdocs/gbi/gbiresults.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952507 | 1,061 | 2.671875 | 3 |
portion of the exhibit, Illuminations:
Revisiting the Buffalo Pan-American Exposition of 1901,
provides a fascinating glimpse into the general state of health care and
medical technology available at the turn of the century. What could attendees
at the Exposition expect in terms of hygiene and health care? Were restroom
facilities provided, and were they kept clean? Were doctors and medical
equipment available on the grounds? Who drove the ambulance
that carried the wounded President McKinley?
These pages contain
some interesting and less well-known facts about maladies that befell
Pan-Am goers, what attendees could expect in terms of health-care and
hygiene, the medical equipment available at the time, the caregivers who
tended to visitors, and information about other health-related events
that occurred on the Exposition grounds.
Lavatory facilities at the Exposition
Public comfort and the sanitary conditions of lavatory facilities were
a major concern of an exposition that expected to draw close to ten million
The enormous task of overseeing daily medical care and disease prevention
at the Pan-Am fell to Dr. Roswell Park, Medical Director of the Exposition.
Medical exhibits were scattered throughout the grounds and displayed the
technical advances of the time. Visitors could find exhibitors showing
medical devices ranging from prosthetic limbs for amputees to the pocket
sized "Pan-Am Microscope." Discussed in this portion of Illuminations
The staff at the Exposition's hospital treated everything from daily cases
of diarrhea to President McKinley's gunshot wound, and staff made sure
the numerous food vendors adhered to hygienic practices and monitored
the lavatory facilities.
The Exposition's ambulance, driven by F. T. Ellis, was most famously used
to ferry President William McKinley from the Temple of Music to the Exposition
hospital after he was shot by Leon Czolgosz September 6, 1901.
Buffalo nurses played a prominent role at nursing conventions being held
at the Exposition featuring speakers such as Dr. Anita Newcomb McGee and
Return to Illuminations Home Page | <urn:uuid:38d6d7fc-edad-4905-934c-40ee1f2de07e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://library.buffalo.edu/exhibits/panam/hsl/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928857 | 446 | 3.015625 | 3 |
How Apple's newest device became an accessory to an international crisis.Pichi Chuang/Reuters
Just as tempers had begun to cool off after anti-Japanese riots left Hondas and Toyotas strewn, vandalized, across China's streets two weeks ago, tensions on the microblogging site Weibo began to rise again over news that in Japan, the newly released iPhone 5 listed a set of contested islands -- known as Diaoyu in China, Senkaku in Japan, and claimed by both countries -- as part of the Okinawa Prefecture, part of Japan. To complicate matters, the Senkaku-labeled islands appear beside a duplicated set of the same islands, labeled the Chinese way. Within the first few hours after news broke, over 760,000 outraged posts appeared on Weibo, nearly all calling for boycotts of the latest iPhone.
Some of the Weibo posts demonstrate more nuance than others, but a common theme they share is an underlying assumption that the iPhone symbolizes America's political stance -- and by extension, U.S. hypocrisy. Miyou de jiang (@米油的酱) writes "Boycott Apple!!! Make them declare their position on the diaoyu islands (抵制苹果！！！让他们表态。)." Pan Xinyi De Weibo (@潘欣毅De微博)" wrote, "It is the United States supporting Japan from behind that Japan dares to buy the Diaoyu islands (就因为有美国在背后撑腰，小日本才敢购买钓鱼岛。)." Beijing Morning Post (@北京晨报) puts it rather bluntly, "Double-faced practices! ( 两面派做法吧！)."
For these microbloggers, the iPhone 5 map is the latest in a long line of U.S. missteps regarding the recent Sino-Japanese dispute. Officially, Washington has nothing to say on the issue. But when State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a briefing on August 28 that the United States formally refers to these "special little rocks" as the Senkakus and not also the Diaoyus, it signaled to China that perhaps the United States was not really playing Pontius Pilate.
Nuland also reemphasized that the islands fall under the scope of Article 5 of the 1960 U.S.-Japan Treaty, which obligates the U.S. to defend these islands on Japan's behalf. As a journalist pointed out at the briefing, declaring neutrality seems a bit contradictory, particularly since the U.S. is also engaging in joint military drills with Japan in the Pacific. While not a new phenomenon, it is the first time the two countries are practicing on islands, which the Chinese find suspicious and interpret as drills for defending the Diaoyu or Senkaku islands.
Xu Wu, a professor of communications and media studies at Arizona State University, describes the sway of cybernationalism as a "double-edged sword without a handle" that the Communist Party must keep at equilibrium lest it get crushed. "It is a ruthless force," Xu said, "a dangerous game, like picking up nickels in front of a steamroller."
Many of these microbloggers, and those protesting on the streets last week, are known as "angry youth" or fenqing (愤青). While often applied to several generations of Chinese, including the pro-democracy students of Tiananmen, the term more recently describes the current cohort's hyper-nationalist and anti-Western streak.
But today's anti-Japanese riots, mostly youth-driven, are not new. They echo another set of anti-Western riots that erupted in 2008.
During the summer Olympic games in Beijing, a new wave of nationalism swept the nation in response to western criticism of China over Tibet. After torch relays were disrupted in Paris by pro-Tibet activists, youths in China rioted and boycotted Carrefour, a French supermarket franchise with hundreds of branches in the country. One fenqing, who chose to remain anonymous, told the Financial Times, "People in the West don't understand the Tibet issue and they are being tricked into attacking China."
After the 2008 riots, scholars and media scrambled to define and understand this new breed of fenqing and what it would mean for China's foreign policy. In a panel held by the Brookings Institute in 2009, four experts drew similar conclusions: many fenqing are well educated and part of the elite. As such, they exert significant influence over the Communist Party's foreign policy, which in turn affects countries like the United States.
One panelist, Evan Osnos of The New Yorker, wrote a comprehensive piece about fenqing and profiled Tang Jie, who created a nationalist video, "2008 China stand up!" that went viral over Weibo. Osnos discovered that these youths, or at least ones like him masterminding viral video campaigns, are well versed in both Western and Chinese politics. Tang told Osnos of his frustrations on Western media portrayal of China:
"Like many of his peers, Tang couldn't figure out why foreigners were so agitated about Tibet -- an impoverished backwater, as he saw it, that China had tried for decades to civilize. Boycotting the Beijing Games in the name of Tibet seemed as logical to him as shunning the Salt Lake City Olympics to protest America's treatment of the Cherokee."
Tang's comments give us pause at a time when Western media has suggested in some instances that the Communist Party is taking advantage of anti-Japanese fervor, or even instigating it to deflect internal criticism. While it may be true, some say it is not the whole picture.
The hard part is predicting whether -- or when -- Weibo's hundreds of thousands of angry but silent posts will spill out and onto the streets. Theresa Wright, a political science professor at California State University in Long Beach and a participant on the four-person panel, had some apt advice for the West in 2009 that still resonates today.
"In terms of how foreigners should respond to China's youth," she said, "the lesson is something that some Americans (and other Westerners) may not want to hear: rather than treating China's young people as misguided individuals in need of enlightenment, we need to accept them on their own terms, and with respect. Many Chinese today -- both young and old -- have a sense of pride, a feeling that China is finally 'getting it right.' " | <urn:uuid:2d1f5296-7f0f-4b86-bb6c-622ddb5b2a8f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/09/iphone-5s-geopolitical-debut/262750/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95412 | 1,430 | 2.125 | 2 |
Dozens of pit bulls rescued from a bloody dog fighting den in the Bronx are well on their way to good health and happiness.
More than two dozen of the dogs were transferred to animal rescue groups throughout the Northeast, which will try and place them in permanent homes, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).
Fifty of the dogs, many found starving and scarred, were pulled from a building super’s basement apartment on Sherman Avenue in the Bronx in June. The super, Raul Sanchez, 57, was arraigned last month on multiple counts of animal fighting, aggravated animal cruelty and animal cruelty.
The ASPCA had brought the battered dogs to an upstate shelter, where they got plenty of healthy food, exercise and socialization, and were then evaluated by experts who found some to be beyond help. Sadly, 17 dogs with either severe medical or behavior problems had to be euthanized.
“Imagine sitting in a box 24 hours a day for 4 years and not seeing the light of day, no sunshine, no anything. That will give you a window into the kind of environment they came from,” said Charles Henderson, founder and director of Charles Henderson Animal Rescue in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Henderson took three of the dogs that lived through the horrors of the dog fighting operation, and found foster families for them.
Diane Lyons is fostering one of the rescued pit bulls.
“I feel like I’m setting an example, how calm and easy and soft these dogs are, how gentle they really are, especially with young children,” said Lyons, a mother of a one-year-old and three-year-old.
Henderson is still looking for permanent homes for the dogs. For more information go to www.charleshendersonanimalrescue.org | <urn:uuid:5e9e400e-90d4-4453-a31a-93fac1826d57> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.courant.com/news/wpix-pooches-rescued-from-bronx-dogfighting-den-now-healthy-and-adoptable-20120905,0,4851777.story | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969536 | 382 | 1.90625 | 2 |
Get involved: send your pictures, video, news and views by texting WO to 80360, or email us
Oak marks 80th anniversary of founding of Macdonnell Gardens, Leavesden
Residents of garden homes for disabled ex-servicemen gathered in the last dose of autumn sunshine to plant an oak tree to mark their homes' 80th anniversary.
Macdonnell Gardens in Leavesden is a set of 12 bungalows founded by Annie Macdonnell in 1931 with the aim to provide accommodation for disabled ex-servicemen and their families.
The oak tree marked the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and Anne Relf, has lived at Macdonnell Gardens for two years cared and nurtured the plant since February until it was planted on Tuesday (October 31).
The tree was a replacement of one planted by Prince George - the Queen's uncle - back in 1933 in the Macdonnell Memorial Garden, and which was removed in 1991.
Mrs Relf’s husband Brian served in the RAF as squadron leader in the Cold War, Falklands and Northern Ireland from 1960 up until 1997 when he retired.
She said: "When I was caring for the plant at home, I used to kiss it every morning.
"Now it is outside, I will still come out and kiss it every morning.
"I am so lucky to live here and it is our little sanctuary in the middle of a busy world.
"It was such a great day and I am so pleased at the turnout. The sunshine is also out for our day. "
The bungalows were built in 1932 and 1933 on two acres of donated land, with funds raised by Mrs Macdonnell, the widow of an Honorary Colonel in the Army Pay Department.
The first six bungalows were officially opened on October 30, 1932, by Lord Knutsford and dedicated the same day by the Right Reverend Bishop Lander.
Mr and Mrs Relf, who originally lived in Sussex, have been married for 48 years and have fondly nicknamed Quercus Robur plant "Quirky".
Brian Relf, who developed severe breathing disabilities due to pollutants in the air during his time serving, said it was an "absolutely wonderful day".
Mr Relf said: "It was a successful day and what a great day to mark the diamond jubilee along with replacing the oak tree originally planted by Prince George back in 1933."
Macdonnell Gardens, now run by Haig Housing Trust, gained conservation status in January by Watford Borough Council and the oak tree was purchased with help from the Woodland Trust.
Residents from Mcdonnell Gardens collectively came together to raise the money towards the oak tree project and putting up a commemorative plaque to mark the day and in tribute to the Queen. | <urn:uuid:96e166ff-1843-4374-a5ff-75b82326e20c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/10018240.Diamond_jubilee_oak_tree_planted_in__little_sanctuary_/?ref=rss | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974649 | 576 | 1.875 | 2 |
What is Ashraya?
Ashraya is a charitable organization registered in India and the
United States. Its objective is to support programs that help
in the uplifting of poor women. Ashrayas focus is on
women and girls because women play a critical role in the welfare
of the entire family, but unfortunately have not received the same
opportunities as men and boys.
Ashraya is a word in the Hindi language that denotes support or
a helping hand. This word describes the main aim of Ashraya. It hopes to give a helping hand to adolescent girls and women through education and training to improve their income earning opportunities.
What type of programs does Ashraya support?
Any program that aims at improving the well being of poor girls and women
is eligible for Ashraya support. This includes the following:
- Skills training for adolescent girls and women to enable them to seek productive employment
- Support to girls and parents for the education of girls from grades 1 to 12
- Scholarships for post-secondary vocational training and, for very bright girls, higher education
- In exceptional cases, construction and upgrading of school facilities
The support from Ashraya is in the form of grants that are made on an annual basis. The amount of grant is determined depending on the nature of the proposal up to a maximum amount (currently Rs. 18,000 per project, or about US$ 400 per annum). Repeat grants are possible for successful projects. Ashraya expects the community to participate by providing space for the training center.
Scholarship aid for basic education currently varies from Rs. 600 to 1,500, and for post-secondary education and vocational training from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 20,000 per annum. The amount is determined by Ashraya taking into consideration total financing need, potential support by others and individual contribution by the beneficiary.
Who can apply for a grant?
Grants from Ashraya are made to community organizations, schools or individual girls that fit the specified criteria. Community representatives can approach Ashraya for setting up vocational training centers. Social workers are also encouraged to approach Ashraya with specific proposals on behalf of a specific community. Teachers and principals of schools, colleges and vocational training institutions serving poor girls are encouraged to refer needy and deserving students for scholarship aid.
How do I apply?
Please approach one of Ashrayas Trustees in India with your specific ideas either in person or in writing.
Management of Ashraya:
In India, Ashraya is managed by a Board of Trustees, assisted by volunteers who propose and oversee specific projects. The volunteers come from different walks of life. The one thing they all have in common is their commitment and dedication to the aims of Ashraya.
In the United States, Ashraya is registered as a nonprofit corporation in the state of Virginia. It has received tax-exemption as a public charity under Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS code. Donors may thus deduct their contributions from their US federal income taxes. It is managed by a Board of Directors. Current members of the Board are:
Dr. Inder Sud, International Development Specialist, President
Mr. Kyle Bruck, Algorithmic Trader
Mr. Daniel Ritchie, International Development Specialist
Mr. Richard Skolnik, International Health Specialist
Ms. Stephanie Sud, Consultant
Funding of Ashraya:
Ashraya is funded entirely from private contributions from individuals.
We do not ask or receive any financial support from the Government.
We heartily welcome contributions from individuals and business,
in India or abroad. Contributions in any amount will be gratefully | <urn:uuid:3ee6f02b-0cd2-4a4f-9433-ef5d2cffce3d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ashraya-india.org/index.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948673 | 761 | 2.359375 | 2 |
As a rebel coalition gains more control over the Central African Republic, a hunger crisis is also escalating in the country. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said yesterday, "The current situation is limiting WFP’s ability to provide country wide support”.
WFP also said that towns it distributed food to in December have now been occupied by rebel forces. Currently, food aid is suspended in areas held by the rebels.
Further troubling is that the extent of displacement and humanitarian needs is not yet fully known. A UNICEF-led assessment team is heading to conflict-affected areas.
In the capital city of Bangui, food prices have reportedly risen by 27% placing a further strain on the population. South African peacekeepers have been deployed to help prevent rebel forces from moving toward Bangui.
WFP is not only facing difficulty accessing areas, but also low funding for its country programmes including nutritional support for small children and school feeding. A humanitarian air service WFP runs is out of funding. This service allows humanitarian workers to be transported to hard to reach areas of the country where people are in need. WFP depends on voluntary donations from governments and the public.
Think Africa Press welcomes inquiries regarding the republication of its articles. If you would like to republish this or any other article for re-print, syndication or educational purposes, please contact: email@example.com
For further reading around the subject see: | <urn:uuid:3c31d0bc-04bd-4404-92d1-5d5a48df5c1e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thinkafricapress.com/central-african-republic/war-and-hunger-central-african-republic | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954993 | 302 | 2.109375 | 2 |
10 September (22 September, old style) 1875
Born in Varėna, a small town in the south of Lithuania, into the family of the church organist Konstantinas Čiurlionis and Adelė Marija Magdalena Radmanaitė-Čiurlionienė, Mikalojus Konstantinas was the eldest of nine children.
1876 – 1877
The family lived in Ratnyčia.
The Čiurlionis family moved to Druskininkai.
Čiurlionis completed the elementary school in Druskininkai. Taught by his father, he played the piano and organ very well. The doctor Jozef Markiewicz, a close friend of the family, recommended him to Michal Oginski, who had an orchestral school in Plungė.
1889 – 1893
Čiurlionis lived in Plungė, learning to play various instruments at the orchestral school on M. Oginski’s estate and singing in a choir. He started composing music, and in his spare time liked drawing. From 1892, as a flutist with the orchestra, he received not only his keep but also a salary. With the orchestra he played concerts in Palanga, Riga and Rietavas.
With financial support from M. Oginski, Čiurlionis studied at the Warsaw Institute of Music. Having enrolled in the piano class, he began his studies under Professor T. Brezicki and in 1895 moved up to Anton Sygietinski’s class. He also studied composition under Zygmunt Noskowski.
His best friend at the Institute was his colleague Eugeniusz Morawski. Čiurlionis was a frequent guest at his friend’s home, where he met and fell in love with Eugeniusz’s sister Maria. But, their romance did not lead to marriage. Maria’s father, having noticed their feelings, took haste to marry off his daughter to another suitor.
In addition to his main subject, Čiurlionis also studied harmony, the theory and history of music, the natural sciences, astronomy, philosophy, numismatics and mineralogy, and attended a choir class. His favourite authors were Adam Mickiewicz, Juliusz Słowacki, Bolesław Prus, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Friedrich Nietzsche and Leo Tolstoy. In Warsaw, he composed canons, fugues, preludes, variation cycles for piano and a string quartet. He earned a diploma in composition. His graduation work was a cantata for mixed choir and symphony orchestra De Profundis.
He stayed in Druskininkai, drawing and teaching his siblings music.
Autumn 1899 – spring 1901
Čiurlionis lived in Warsaw giving private lessons in order to support himself and his brother Povilas who has entered the Institute of Music. He rejected an offer to take the position of the conductor of the Lublin Music Society’s choir and orchestra.
Čiurlionis composed Polonaise for wind orchestra. His first publication – the Nocturne in F-sharp minor in Meloman (No. 8).
October 1990 – April 1901
Čiurlionis composed the symphonic poem In the Forest and dedicated it to his friend E. Morawski. With this composition he participated in a competition funded by Count Zamoyski and won a special mention from the jury.
1901 – 1902
Čiurlionis studied composition under Professor Carl Reinecke and counterpoint under Salomon Jadassohn at the Leipzig Conservatoire. As an external student he attended lectures in aesthetics, history and psychology. He listened to his favourite compositions by Handel, Tchaikovsky, Wagner and Liszt at the Gewandhaus and Leipzig Theatre. He studied independently orchestration of Berlioz and R. Strauss compositions at the library of C.F. Peters’ publishing house.
During his Leipzig period, he composed the symphonic overture Kęstutis, a string quartet in four movements, canons and fugues including Sanctus and Kyrie for mixed choir. During his vacations he did some drawing.
14 July 1902
Čiurlionis earned teacher qualification from Leipzig Conservatoire.
Autumn 1902 – early 1904
Čiurlionis lived in Warsaw, and studied at Jan Kauzik’s drawing school. By giving private lessons, he supported his younger brothers continuing their education there.
In the autumn 1903, he painted Funeral Symphony, a cycle of seven paintings. He began composing the symphonic poem The Sea. In order to dedicate himself fully to art studies, he turned down Emili Młynarski’s proposal to teach at the Warsaw Institute of Music.
Spring – summer 1904
Čiurlionis began his studies at the Warsaw School of Art, which was headed by Kazimieras Stabrauskas, an artist of Lithuanian descent. Karol Tichy and Konrad Krzyżanowski taught drawing, Ksawery Dunikowski sculpture and Ferdynand Ruszczyc painting. During his studies Čiurlionis created the book cover designs Cottage Beyond the Village, In Autumn, The Thought and Towers, and completed the paintings The Bell, Island and The Temple.
At the same time he led the school choir.
In the summer of the same year, he went to a plein-air organised by the school in Arkadia, near łowicz (Poland).
Autumn – winter 1904
Čiurlionis composed variation cycles for piano Sefaa Esec and Besacas.
An exhibition of Čiurlionis’ works was held at the school. Displayed was Fantasies, a cycle of ten paintings. In his letter to Povilas, written in April 1905, he mentioned his other works painted in 1904 – 1905 (64 in all), among them the cycle of five paintings Deluge, the triptych Rex, Murmur of the Forest, and Tidings.
Čiurlionis took part in the first annual exhibition of the Warsaw School of Art with his cycle Storm and other paintings.
He spent his vacation with the Wolman family in Anapa by the Black Sea. He travelled in the Caucasus, painted and took photographs.
Čiurlionis lived in Warsaw with his brother Stasys. He continued his studies at the School of Art, and made a living by giving private lessons.
He began leading the choir of the Warsaw Lithuanians’ Society for Mutual Assistance.
End of 1905
Čiurlionis went to the artists’ residence in Ribiniškės (Latvia), which was funded by patron of art E. Kerbedienė. He spent Christmas in Druskininkai.
Beginning of 1906
He lived in Druskininkai, arranged Lithuanian folk songs. In a letter to his brother Povilas, he wrote that has decided to “dedicate all his past and future works to Lithuania.” At the time the idea to write a Lithuanian opera was born.
Čiurlionis took part in an exhibition of works by the students of the Warsaw School of Art in St Petersburg, with his cycles Creation of the World, A Day and Storm, the diptych Rex (it has not survived), and others. Art critics took note of his extraordinary paintings.
The first article on Čiurlionis appeared in Vilniaus žinios (No. 123).
Summer – autumn 1906
He took part in a plein-air organised by a school in Istebna (in the Carpathians, then under Austrian rule).
The same year, he spent the summer in Krynitsa with the Wolman family. At the time he wrote his literary Letters to Dievdurakėlis.
Supported by Bronislawa Wolman, he travelled in Europe visiting Prague, Dresden, Nuremberg, Munich and Vienna. He was fascinated by the works of Van Dyck, Rembrandt, Arnold Böcklin he saw in museums. At the time he worked on sketches for The Zodiac cycle. He received an invitation to participate in the First Exhibition of Lithuanian Art.
Late 1906 – early 1907
Čiurlionis left the School of Art. He sent his works to the First Exhibition of Lithuanian Art in Vilnius and helped to organise it. For the exhibition he presented the cycles Creation of the World and Storm, triptych Rex, and eight fluor etchings (33 works in all).
Čiurlionis completed orchestration of the symphonic poem The Sea and started working on the new symphonic poem Creation of the World.
In the first half of the year he painted 50 works.
In the autumn, he moved to Vilnius, participated in the constituent assembly of the Society of the Lithuanian Art and was elected to its executive board. He met the writer Sofija Kymantaitė at the dress rehearsal for Gabrielius Landsbergis-Žemkalnis’ drama Blinda. The number of paintings he completed this year is huge: Sonata of the Sun and Sonata of the Spring, the triptychs Raigardas, My Road, The Prince’s Journey, Summer, the cycle of eight paintings Winter, The Zodiac cycle, the painting Forest, etc.
Winter – spring 1908
Čiurlionis lived in Vilnius, led the Vilniaus Kanklės choir. He gave a concert with the choir and as a pianist. Assisted by Sofija Kymantaitė, Petras Rimša and several other enthusiasts, he put on the Second Exhibition of the Lithuanian Art in Vilnius and Kaunas, and created the cover design for its catalogue and a poster. He displayed more than 60 of his latest works in the exhibition.
The same year, he joined the discussions in Viltis regarding the founding of the House of the Nation, campaigned to raise the funds for its establishment, and promised to donate all his works to it.
On 30 May, conducted by the composer, Čiurlionis’ cantata De Profundis was premiered in Vilnius.
During a stay in Druskininkai, he painted Sonata No. 3 (Sonata of the Serpent), Sonata No. 4 (Sonata of the Summer), and the diptych Prelude. Fugue.
Together with his fiancée Sofija Kymantaitė, he stayed in Palanga, where he painted Sonata No. 5 (Sonata of the Sea), the diptych Prelude and Fugue, and the triptych Fantasy. They both were planning to write an opera Jūratė.
August – September 1908
The couple visited Sofija’s uncle Vincas Jarulaitis in Plungė, her parents in Kuliai and Karklėnai, and later went to Druskininkai. Here Čiurlionis painted Sonata No. 6 (Sonata of the Stars).
At the end of August, on the advice of the Vilnius-born artist Lev Antokolsky, Čiurlionis went to St Petersburg, hoping to find a more regular source of income and to take part in exhibitions. His first trip was not very successful.
October – December 1908
In the middle of October, Čiurlionis went to St Petersburg for the second time taking some of his paintings and planning to stay there longer. He visited the Society of Lithuanians and the artist Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, who introduced him to Russian artists. They immediately accepted him into their association. Čiurlionis again gives private lessons as a means of earning a living. Help came from Lithuanians living in St Petersburg: Alfonsas Moravskis, Juozas Tallat-Kelpša, Juozas Zikaras and Stasys Bytautas.
The Society of Lithuanians held weekly events, in which Čiurlionis played his compositions. Here the thought occurred to him to form a music department within the Society for Lithuanian Art, which would take care of Lithuanian composers and musicians, organise competitions and concerts, and found the music library. The Society’s executive board supported the idea. Čiurlionis did not forget the Vilniaus Kanklės choir either and kept sending his folk song arrangements for it.
Skylark, a collection of folk song arrangements by Čiurlionis, was published in Warsaw.
He was also writing music for the opera Jūratė, based on the libretto sent by Sofija, and painted sketches for the set and curtain.
At the end of December he went to join his fiancée.
1 (14) January 1909
In Šateikiai, a small town near Plungė, Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis married Sofija Kymantaitė. After the wedding, they went to St Petersburg.
January – March 1909
Čiurlionis’ works were displayed at the Salon exhibition in St Petersburg and at the first spring exhibition of the Vilnius Society of Artists, three of his works were shown at the sixth exhibition of the Russian Association of Artists, among them Rex, which was painted in St Petersburg. He sent several of his paintings to the 13th exhibition of the Sztuka Society of Art Lovers in Krakow.
His piano works were performed at a concert in the series Evenings of Contemporary Music in St Petersburg on 28 January (10 February) 1909. In February, his works were performed at a concert held by the Salon exhibition, along with the compositions by Alexander Scriabin, Nikolai Medtner, Igor Stravinsky and Sergei Rachmaninov.
At the end of March, the couple returned to Lithuania.
The couple lived in Druskininkai. They would go to Vilnius to take part in organisation of the Third Exhibition of Lithuanian Art. Čiurlionis designed its poster and the cover for the catalogue. He displayed more than 30 works at the exhibition including Sonata of the Serpent, Sonata of the Sea, Sonata of the Stars, Fairy Tale of the Kings, and the triptych Fantasy. His paintings were displayed at the exhibition to mark the fifth anniversary of the Warsaw School of Art. In June, he and Sofija painted the stage curtain for the Rūta Society’s hall, and he appeared as a pianist in concerts held by the Society.
July – October 1909
Čiurlionis and Sofija lived in Plungė. That summer he produced around 20 paintings including The Altar, Angels (Paradise), Lithuanian Graveyard, many sketches and vignettes for folk songs. Together with his wife, Čiurlionis wrote the book of critical essays In Lithuania. He designed its cover and several initials (which remained unused).
In a general meeting of the Lithuanian Society of Science Čiurlionis was elected the member of the committee for collecting and notating songs.
November – December 1909
With his paintings created earlier, he went to St Petersburg again. There he received a proposal to lead the Lithuanian Society’s choir in St Petersburg. Together with Kazimieras Būga, Augustinas Voldemaras, Česlovas Sasnauskas, Juozas Tallat-Kelpša he was compiling The Terminology of Our Music, the dictionary of Lithuanian musical terms.
At the end of December, his intense creative work and constant material deprivations had undermined Čiurlionis’ health. The neuropathologist and psychiatrist Vladimir Bekhterev diagnosed him as suffering from exhaustion.
On the Professor’s advice, Čiurlionis’ wife took her sick husband back to Druskininkai.
His paintings Noah’s Ark, Angels (Paradise) and Ballad (The Black Sun) are shown at the Seventh Exhibition of the Association of Russian Artists in Moscow.
Late February – March 1910
Čiurlionis was admitted to the Czerwony Dwór sanatorium in Pustelnik (near Warsaw). Some of his works were displayed at the Seventh Exhibition of the Association of Russian Artists in St Petersburg, and nine of his paintings were shown at the Fourth Exhibition of Lithuanian Art in Vilnius.
April – May 1910
Twenty-eight of his works were displayed at the Exhibition of Lithuanian Art in Riga, and several at an exhibition of the Association of Russian Artists in Kiev.
Čiurlionis’ daughter Danutė was born.
Seven works by Čiurlionis were shown at an exhibition of works by Russian artists in Paris. Sofija Čiurlionienė’s book In Lithuania was published in Vilnius.
Čiurlionis’ health improved, and he was allowed to paint and play in moderation.
He received a belated invitation to participate in an exhibition of the Artists’ New Congregation in Munich. Čiurlionis was elected a member of the newly established society Mir Iskusstva (The World of Art) in St Petersburg.
5 November 1910
Čiurlionis sent a card to his wife, in which he hoped to see her soon.
January – March 1911
Čiurlionis’ paintings are displayed at Mir Iskusstva exhibitions in St Petersburg and Moscow, and four works are shown at an exhibition in Minsk. Twenty-eight of his works are displayed at the Fifth Exhibition of Lithuanian Art.
His health was gradually improving, but at the end of March he caught a cold and contracted pneumonia during a walk.
28 March (10 April) 1911
Čiurlionis died at the Czerwony Dwór sanatorium in Pustelnik, and is buried in the Rasų Cemetery in Vilnius.
Translated by Sonata Zubovienė | <urn:uuid:b8e6e5ee-3850-4924-81b3-c6f3bddfbfd0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ciurlionis.eu/en/ciurlionis/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969112 | 3,925 | 2.234375 | 2 |
OCEAN CITY, Md. (AP) — Floodwaters surged into seaboard communities in Maryland and Delaware as former Hurricane Sandy crashed ashore on the mid-Atlantic coast, and residents feared the worst was yet to come as the huge, violent storm headed inland.
Parts of Ocean City in Maryland and Rehoboth Beach and Dewey Beach in Delaware — three of the region's most popular coastal destinations — were under water by Monday afternoon. Officials were predicting that Sandy would cause damage equal to or greater than two of the worst tropical storms in the region's history: Gloria in 1985 and Agnes in 1972.
Authorities implored people to stay off the roads while imposing evacuation orders that affected thousands of residents in low-lying coastal communities, primarily in Delaware. Sandy made landfall Monday night near Atlantic City, N.J., no longer a hurricane but still a dangerous hybrid storm with 80 mph sustained winds.
In Washington, the federal and local governments were to remain closed Tuesday along with the courts, public schools and the Metro system that serves about 1.2 million weekday customers. Most flights in and out of the three airports serving the region were canceled Monday, and widespread cancellations were expected Tuesday. Tourist attractions such as the Smithsonian museums were off-limits, and shelters opened to help hundreds.
Multiple tractor-trailers, disabled by a blizzard in far western Maryland, were blocking the westbound lanes of Interstate 68 near the Allegany-Garrett county line Monday night, a Maryland State Police dispatcher said Monday.
"It's like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs up here," Bill Wiltson said.
He said about six inches of snow spawned by Superstorm Sandy had caused multiple wrecks, but no injuries, as tractor-trailers struggled to climb slippery Big Savage Mountain near Finzel.
"We've got a couple vehicles sideways in the roadway because they're all right in the middle of the pack," Wiltson said.
The Maryland State Highway Administration said Monday night it had no estimate of how long the westbound lanes of I-68 would remain blocked.
"We got them freed and then got them a little farther up the road, and then hit another place where we couldn't get them up the hill," agency spokesman David Buck said at 9:30 p.m., about an hour after the closure was announced.
He said wet, heavy snow began falling in the afternoon, accumulating to more than 5 inches by 8:30 p.m. The National Weather Service predicted 10 to 14 inches in the area Monday followed by several more inches Tuesday.
The blockage was about 90 miles west of Baltimore.
Also in western Maryland, authorities urged residents of Locust Grove in Allegany County to evacuate because of rising waters.
Delaware City Police Chief Dan Tjaden said Monday night that minor flooding from early in the day was subsiding and no further flooding was expected.
But with the passage of the center of the storm, officials at the Joint Information Center at Delaware's emergency management agency said conditions were pretty quiet early Tuesday.
"We've had no reports of deaths or injuries across the state and no significant damage," said JIC spokeswoman Jill Fredel.
Fredel said officials will have a better idea of the storm's impact later Tuesday morning, and that a decision on whether to lift driving restrictions would be made by 8:30 a.m., after authorities assess road and weather conditions.
From Washington to New York, Sandy caused havoc Monday. Utilities warned power outages could affect millions and last for a week as the vast tropical system converged with a wintry storm and cold Arctic air. As of 8:30 p.m. Monday, after a few hours of gale-force winds in the region, there were more than 300,000 power outages in Delaware, Maryland, northern Virginia and the District of Columbia, utilities reported.
No part of the region appeared safe from Sandy's impact. Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley said his state was "right in the crosshairs" of the storm and urged people to stay off the roads at least until Tuesday night. He said flooding was likely in communities along the Chesapeake Bay.
"The days ahead are going to be very difficult," O'Malley said. "There will be people who die and are killed in this storm."
Maryland's health secretary said the state's first fatality was a woman killed in a car accident in Germantown, but police said they had not determined conclusively that her death was storm-related.
The Bay Bridge, which links Maryland's Eastern Shore with the rest of the state, was closed Monday afternoon because of high winds.
In Washington, the weather service warned that the Potomac River would experience its worst flooding since 1996. Flooding was expected to begin Tuesday night and last through the end of the week, the weather service said.
Parts of coastal towns in southern Delaware already were under water by midday Monday. Wind-driven high tides swamped streets in Lewes east of the Lewes-Rehoboth canal, and police blocked off a bridge over the canal. The wind and water toppled light poles near the Lightship Overfalls, a National Historic Landmark.
Farther south in Dewey Beach, water from Rehoboth Bay inundated streets on the west side of Route 1, the major coastal highway, and crept onto the highway itself. Authorities blocked off Route 1 at southern the edge of town because of dune breaches farther south near the Indian River Inlet bridge, which also was closed.
"We know that we will get through this," Delaware Gov. Jack Markell said during a news conference in Rehoboth Beach, where huge, brown waves crashed onto the sand in front of the boardwalk. "We just need to stay together and stick together and work together."
The stormy Atlantic Ocean covered the beach in Ocean City, where a pier was battered and badly damaged. Tracy Lind, a front desk worker at a Holiday Inn & Suites, said the pier was part of the fabric of the resort town, frequented by fishermen and visited by tourists and locals seeking a close-up look at the ocean.
"It's kind of like an icon in Ocean City. It's the closest people can get to the ocean without getting in," Lind said. "I always thought that it would withstand anything."
Mayor Rick Meehan said there was significant flooding in a downtown area where officials had ordered a mandatory evacuation. About 200 people were staying in the evacuated area.
The high water and extent of the flooding surprised some. Ron Croker, the owner of Waterways Marina, was out in the rain Monday afternoon moving jet skis from a parking lot on Coastal Highway. Croker said he was surprised how high the water rose.
"It's never been this high," Croker said of the water. "Pretty amazing."
On Monday afternoon, the Ocean City boardwalk was deserted, and shops that normally sell hot dogs and lemonade, T-shirts and souvenirs were closed. An amusement park at the end of the boardwalk was locked. A Ferris wheel, stripped of its cars, slowly turned in the wind.
In Delaware, Markell ordered the evacuation of about 50,000 people in coastal communities. Thousands more were evacuated in parts of Wilmington, the state's largest city, and Delaware City, a working-class community that's home to a massive oil refinery.
At high tide around midday Monday, dark gray waves rolled and crashed along Delaware City's 10-foot seawall. The tide was near the city's 8.5-foot record. The next high tide, overnight, was forecast to surpass it.
The Sussex County Emergency Operations Center was operating on emergency power Monday night. Spokesman Joe Hopple said the main power supply had been up and down a few times, but that generator power was fine.
Occupancy at the American Red Cross shelter in New Castle, Del., reached 101 by 4 p.m. Monday, more than triple the total from 24 hours earlier. Some brought along dogs and cats.
In the Washington area, winds started picking up Monday afternoon, and some snowflakes mixed in with the raindrops falling downtown. Fire departments began responding to trees falling on homes, although no injuries were reported.
Although Arlington National Cemetery was closed to tourists, the Army's Third U.S. Infantry Regiment, known as The Old Guard, continued to stand guard over the Tomb of the Unknowns. Soldiers in combat uniforms were guarding the tomb from a small enclosure covered by a green awning about 20 feet away, said Maj. John Miller, a regiment spokesman.
The Metro transit system in Washington closed for the first time since Hurricane Isabel in 2003 and was to remain shut at least through Tuesday morning.
Associated Press writers Brian Witte in Reisterstown, Md., David Dishneau in Delaware City, Del., Matthew Barakat in McLean, Va., and Eric Tucker and Ben Nuckols in Washington contributed to this report. | <urn:uuid:7a5a251e-dcb9-4242-a512-92bbcd4866a3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://washingtonexaminer.com/floodwaters-reach-mid-atlantic-ahead-of-sandy/article/feed/2043284 | 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 | 0.975831 | 1,869 | 1.828125 | 2 |
One of the best-kept secrets in Missouri
Although Darwin’s theory of Natural Selection states that the fittest of all species survive the test of time, today even the strongest of them all cannot always escape screeching tires, gunshots, traps and land clearing.
The Wild Canid Center is working to reverse the trend to extinction for multiple species of canids through captive breeding, research and education. And this captivating mission is going on right under our nose. Open since 1971, the Wild Canid Center is a silent destination. With little funding, this facility seems to fly under the radar, although it is the premier breeding canid facility in the country.
A trip to the Wild Canid Center is an eye-opening, beautiful experience and the perfect place to take the family or any animal lover.
Commonly known as “the wolf sanctuary,” the Wild Canid Center doesn’t have the bells and whistles of the zoo, and you can’t cuddle with the little pups. But this facility touches visitors in a real way, connecting humans with nature and their canine earthmates.
On Oct. 2, visitors have the opportunity to watch the wolves in action from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the facility’s annual open house, “Rendezvous with the Wolves.” The open house is one of three major yearly fund-raisers for the non-profit organization and the only time throughout the year that visitors may tour the facility without prior reservations.
Located near Eureka, Mo., the Wild Canid Center is on 65 acres of land within Washington University’s Tyson Research Center.
Here, the organization works to carry out their mission of repopulating multiple dying species of wolves. Mexican Gray Wolves, Red Wolves, Maned Wolves and African Wild Dogs can be seen from viewing platforms or from the walkways between fenced enclosures. The Center consists of 12 to 15 enclosures that range from one to three acres, each equipped with the landscape and topography native to the wolf.
The Mexican Gray Wolf and the Red Wolf seem to be the center’s current primary focus of attention. These species hinge on the reintroduction of multi-generational packs into the wild, and the Wild Canid Center leads the country in getting this done.
When Assistant Director Kim Scott started working at the Wild Canid Center in 1994, there were only 62 Mexican Gray Wolves in existence. Now there are 250 to 300 due to the efforts of the center’s work along with other similar organizations within the Fish and Wildlife Service.
During a traditional tour, visitors will view the wolves’ behavior while a docent tells them about the species, their origin and interesting behaviors. Visitors can compare these wolves to their descendants, man’s best domesticated friend.
However, unlike the common household pet, these dogs do not receive loving human interaction. Wolves naturally fear humans, and it is necessary for them to have this fear when reintroduced into the wild, according to Scott.
Some of the wolves at the center came from zoos, and therefore must be broken of their human tolerant behavior. Employees and volunteers at the Canid Center work hard to have as little contact with the wolves as possible to promote their future success in the wild.
She said it can be most difficult to avoid a “cutesy” relationship with the wolves, but it is necessary for their well-being.
One of the hardest times, Scott said is when the staff must bottle feed a pup, yet not get emotionally close.
“It’s hard when you’re bottle feeding them to keep from saying, ‘Oh, you’re so cute’ and snuggle up to them,” Scott said. “You have to show restraint.”
But all of this work pays off.
It is fair to say that the Wild Canid Center has single-handedly saved the Mexican Gray Wolf population from extinction, and that is just one step in their efforts to put an end to canid extinction.
“I would love someday to close this place because we wouldn’t need it anymore. They’re such majestic, beautiful creatures,” Scott said.
Before that day comes, the Wild Canid Center would like to purchase their own land and build a more suitable facility to breed and observe the canids. The new enclosures they build will include rounded corners to avoid wolf injuries, visual barriers between the different species to avoid “fence fighting” (verbal scuffles between wolf neighbors) and the facility expects to be open to the public daily.
But this will only happen after the Center raises a few million dollars to facilitate the move. This weekend’s open house is one of few fund-raisers to help the Wild Canid Center meet its goal.
At the open house visitors will not only have the opportunity to view and photograph the wolves, but will also enjoy Native American dancing of the Kahok Dancers and demonstrations by St. Louis Metropolitan Police Canine Division, Gateway Sled Dog Club, Gateway Search Dogs and Missouri Disc Dogs. Children’s activities, games and face painting are also on the agenda for the day’s festivities.
Admission for the open house is $15 per carload.
In addition to the open house, the Wild Canid Center offers two fall evening programs on Fridays and Saturdays from September through December. The Wolf Programs begin with the “Discovery Box” which allows visitors to touch wolf pelts and other unique wolf related items, view a slide show about wolf communication and join the wolves in a howl.
The Camp Fire Program is conducted around a campfire where guests will listen to “good” wolf stories and later take a walk to howl along with the wolves.
Program fees are $10 a person, regardless of age. Children under 5 are asked not to attend. Campfire programs for Halloween may have special pricing.
For more information, a list of activities and directions to the Wild Canid Center visit www.wolfsanctuary.com. Reservations are required for regular tours and may be made by calling 636-938-5900. | <urn:uuid:76d8afa4-d65b-4a70-8a5e-ed929ad9ea10> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.timberwolfinformation.org/?m=200509 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942406 | 1,294 | 2.765625 | 3 |
The post- Elopocalypse angst has been getting me down over the past few days. It’s against my nature to spend a lot of time worrying about things that are decided, done, dusted. It was Democritus, I think, who said that only a fool worries about things over which he has no control, and I definitely identify with that.
Watching events unfold on the world stage, I find myself wondering exactly how much responsibility lies in the hands of the Finns. Once their goal was to put a phone into the hands of every citizen of the planet
I wrote another guest article for the VisionMobile blog last week, which just went live yesterday, titled “Open Source community building: a guide to getting it right” . Exerpt: Community software development can be a powerful accelerator of adoption and development for your products, and can be a hugely rewarding experience. Working with existing community projects can save you time and money, allowing you to get to market faster, with a better product, than is otherwise possible. | <urn:uuid:cf7110df-e42f-4467-b310-bf4331c45aa2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.maemonokian900.com/tag/money/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970452 | 215 | 1.539063 | 2 |
A refurbished helicopter was introduced as the newest unit in STARFlight's fleet. It will be used to help combat wildfires.
The Conti family shelved plans to rebuild after the Bastrop fires and decided to take a new path.
A year and a half after a wind-fueled wildfire burned through Bastrop County, the community is starting to look forward once more.
Two new homes have been dedicated for families burned out by the Bastrop wildfires, but the need is desperate for more donations to build more.
A very warm April afternoon is the perfect backdrop for local firefighters to train and learn about fighting fires from above, using helicopters.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has given Texas $31.2 million to help cover the costs of devastating wildfires that spread across the state during a
The extended drought has put much of Texas at risk for wildfire and no place holds as much potential disaster than Westlake Hills.
Firefighters believe they are nearing containment of a stubborn wildfire that has burned 405 acres in Central Texas and driven people from their homes.
Two years after one of the worst wildfire seasons in Texas history, state lawmakers are still working to cover the costs associated with those disasters.
Authorities say a wildfire that started from a campfire has burned about 175 acres in Central Texas and threatens five homes.
The Texas agency responsible for fighting wildfires has asked the state Legislature for an additional $27.2 as it faces the threat of more devastating fires in
Fall’s cool mornings and pleasantly warm afternoons make for perfect camping weather. So, it’s no surprise that this is the busiest time of the year for Texas
The Austin Firefighters Association questions whether Austin Water Utility has the expertise to safely manage prescribed burns on area wild lands.
Travis County is about to get another tool to help fight wildfires. Commissioners approved money to buy a surplus helicopter for firefighting.
Right now the
Officials from a program through the Texas General Land Office says they still have plenty of money to give away for those who need it the most. | <urn:uuid:25d0018f-1d93-4363-a33d-4f765a8e5ed0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kxan.com/generic/news/texas/texas-wildfires-news-headlines | 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 | 0.958123 | 418 | 1.632813 | 2 |
School of Perpetual Training
Looking for that dream job in the computer game industry but don't have the technical skills to make it happen? Throw that mouse or joystick aside and try the new webcam-enabled training exercises from the School of Perpetual Training. If you like to play Dig Dug, train for a job in mineral mining. Or if Tetris is more your speed, train for a job in global shipping and distribution. The motion tracking programs are simple and easy to use. The online interface lets you train again and again until you're satisfied with your global market value. Don't waste another minute. Get started today!
School of Perpetual Training along with other new works commissioned by Turbulence by R. Luke Dubois and G.H. Hovagimyan with Christina McPhee are on exhibit at Pace Digital Gallery through May 1, 2009.
School of Perpetual Training was created by Stephanie Rothenberg through an Eyebeam Residency and is a 2009 commission of New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc., (aka Ether-Ore) for its Turbulence web site.
People: Stephanie Rothenberg
Tags: web 2.0, sustainability, motion tracking, labor, games | <urn:uuid:7ddb87df-98e3-4535-8244-b056d8bb3b09> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eyebeam.org/blogs/srothenberg/school-of-perpetual-training?page=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928994 | 251 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Michael Eric Dyson, well-known academic and best-selling author who appears regularly on NPR and CNN, lectures on "Dr. King for the 21st Century" at 7 p.m. on January 24 in Scripps College's Garrison Theater, 231 E. 10th Street. This free event is open to the public.
Dyson, a professor at Georgetown University, has written numerous books, including New York Times best-seller "April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Death and How It Changed America" (Basic Civitas Books: 2008) and "I May Not Get There with You: The True Martin Luther King Jr." (Free Press: 2001). In his most recent book, "Can You Hear Me Now? The Inspiration, Wisdom, and Insight of Michael Eric Dyson" (Basic Civitas Books: 2011), he probes such contemporary topics as race and the presidency.
An American Book Award recipient and two-time NAACP Image Award winner, Dyson has been named one of the 150 most powerful African Americans by Ebony magazine. An ordained minister, Dyson has taught at such prestigious universities as Brown, Chapel Hill and Columbia and has appeared on The Today Show, Nightline, The Tavis Smiley Show, Real Time with Bill Maher and The Colbert Report.
For more details, go to the Pasadena Journal's "News" Section, then choose "Community News". | <urn:uuid:7c44bffb-0f9f-4e0f-9458-43ec22f3df6e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pasadenajournal.com/calendar-of-events/community-calendar/details/963-social-critic-michael-eric-dyson-speaks-on-dr-king-for-the-21st-century?pop=1&tmpl=component | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936911 | 288 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Date of Award
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Berger, Emery D.
Moss, Eliot B.
Kaplan, Scott F.
CPU scheduling, Garbage collection, I/O management, Memory management, Operating system, Resource management
Computer Sciences | Systems Architecture
Computer systems now run drastically different workloads than they did two decades ago. The enormous advances in hardware power, such as processor speed, memory and storage capacity, and network bandwidth, enable them to run new kinds as well as a large number of applications simultaneously. Software technologies, such as garbage collection and multi-threading, also reshape applications and their behaviors, introducing more challenges to system resource management. However, existing general-purpose operating systems do not provide adequate support for these modern applications. These operating systems were designed over two decades ago, when garbage-collected applications were not prevalent and users interacted with systems using consoles and command lines, rather than graphical user interfaces. As a result, they fail to allow necessary coordinations among resource management components to ensure consistent performance guarantees. For example, garbage-collected applications cannot adjust themselves to maintain high throughput under dynamic memory pressure, simply because existing virtual memory managers do not collect and expose enough information to them. Furthermore, despite the increasing demand of supporting co-existing interactive applications in desktop environment, resource managers (especially memory and disk I/O) mostly focus on optimizing throughput. They each work independently, ignoring the response time requirements that the CPU scheduler attempts to satisfy. Consequently, pressure on any of these resources can significantly degrade application responsiveness. In order to deliver robust performance to these modern applications, an operating system has to coordinate its resource managers (e.g., CPU, memory, and disk I/O), as well as cooperate with resource managers in the user space, such as the garbage collector and the thread manger. To support garbage-collected applications, we present CRAMM, a system that enables them to predict an appropriate heap size using information supplied by the underlying operating system, allowing them to maintain high throughput in the face of changing memory pressure. To support highly interactive workloads, we present Redline, a system that manages CPU, memory, and disk I/O in an integrated manner. It uses lightweight specifications to drive CPU scheduling and to coordinate memory and disk I/O management to serve the needs of interactive applications. Such coordination enables it to maintain responsiveness in the face of extreme resource contention, without sacrificing resource utilization. We also show that Redline can be used to support response time sensitive multi-threaded server applications. Our experiences and extensive experiments show that we can coordinate resource managers, both inside and outside the operating system, efficiently without destroying the modularity of the existing system. Such coordination prevents resource managers from working at cross purposes, and dramatically improve the performance of applications when facing heavy resource contention, sometimes by orders of magnitude.
Yang, Ting, "Operating System Support for Modern Applications" (2009). Open Access Dissertations. Paper 55. | <urn:uuid:a7e3e35f-3ea1-4713-b20f-09bbaeb38859> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://scholarworks.umass.edu/open_access_dissertations/55/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907658 | 612 | 1.96875 | 2 |
When it comes to answering the question what causes the critical condition of gout, it’s better to dig a bit deep into some brief discussion about the nature of the disease which will make the answer easier. The nature and the common understanding of the critical disease will throw some light on the main causes of the gout for sure.
In common terms gout is a type of arthritis. This is known as the metabolic arthritis and the disease affects the joints of the body. The main reason of the gout is the congenital disorder of the uric acid metabolism. Gout is caused by the chronic deposits of the uric acid crystals or mono sodium urate on the joints or the tendons of the anatomy areas of the body. The disease also affects the surrounding tissues of the joint areas.
Normally our body is equipped with handling the uric acid. Actually this is nothing but the waste substance of the purines in the body. These in the blood is processed by the kidneys and our body system gets rid of them through the urine. But if there is too much accumulation of the uric acid the kidneys cannot process the extra uric acid and these starts to be built up in the body which results in the attack of the gout.
The accumulation of the uric acid starts to build up the uric acid crystals that begin to be deposited in the joint areas and in the tendons. These crystals cause the unbearable pain in the joint areas. Sometimes the attack an the pain is so acute that the patients have to suffer the pain for a long time and on regular basis. Sometimes the pain can last for a few hours but sometimes the pain can last for a few days which is extremely painful experience. So, as a disease it is quite serious and proper attention should be paid to the proper treatment of the disease.
In some of the gout cases the uric acid crystals become large in size and they become large enough to burst through the skin near the affected joint areas. Such incident causes the skin sinuses which leads to the discharge of the white chalky substance through the fissures. In many of the gout cases, the areas surrounding the affected joints become tender, red, hot and swollen. The skin sometimes become so sensitive that even a slightest of touch can lead to intolerable pain.
Some patients can also manifest some other types of Gout Symptoms. Low degree fever, nausea, vomiting all these can occur to the patient of gout. But these are not very common type of symptoms. Most of the time the primary strike area for the gout is the big toe but sometimes other joints areas like the fingers, wrists, heel, knees, arms and spine can be the possible strike area of the gout.
Hereditable reasons, kidney problems, certain medications, obesity, high purine foods, previous injuries all these can be the other reasons for the gout. But the high level of these in the blood and the uric acid crystals in the joints is the main cause of the gout. | <urn:uuid:794cf03e-6bd8-4c0d-abac-b99662c92db0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://what-is-gout.com/cause-of-gout/what-causes-gout.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945017 | 615 | 3.15625 | 3 |
To serve India, improve character: March 4, 2013 – News n Analysis by Dr. Raj Baldev, Cosmo Theorist, on the political culture of India, which is deteriorating day by day, even the so-called PM Candidate of a particular party does not use standard language, how painful, think over what could be the future of our country.
Even opposition should have decency in language, that is missing. The ruling party is also not free from corrupt allegations.
A new culture of politics has already gone deep into the blood of Indians, little or no regard for God, who has now become a formality to have some small temple at home or to use the priests on some auspicious occasions or marriages.
This is one of the reasons that most of the Indian leaders are now not showing their national patriotism or responsibility for the jobs allotted to them or the position given to them by the public or country since they don’t fear God and so don’t take their responsibility with a commitment.
It is so since India is believed to be a God Fearing country and the people have always been good and sympathetic to others, which is now missing.
I shall first pick up the policies of the UPA Govt. , so far I know, no leader having any official position can take any independent decisions, those have ever taken had to pay the heavy price.
The strong indications suggest it is due to some force of men or women at the helm or some wrong guiding factor that influence them; it is one of the reasons that national discrepancies are getting wider and wider than becoming narrower.
I would simply say that the govt. has more yes men than real leaders, who can guide the people and look into their welfare or attach importance to the real human values, rights or their due justice.
Those who are not yes leaders normally don’t get chances anywhere to be associated with the Govt. in any manner, directly or indirectly.
The govt. represented by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram proudly say the growth has gone down from 8% to 5%. But I would like to remind that it is all due to faulty policies of the Govt, none else can be blamed.
Answering a query on current account of deficit in the Google + Hangout, the finance minister said the figure of deficit is likely to be less than the provisional figure of 5% announced in the Budget.
“We will not cross the red line of fiscal deficit. It will be kept at 4.8% or below.”
To cut down current account deficit, P Chidambaram suggested that if gold is not imported for one year, half of the deficit will disappear, and the only way to meet the target is to increase exports.
Supposing the above suggestion is correct, then why heavy taxes on the rich, why enhancement of service tax on property and increase of fuel prices where not required to do so.
Lakhs of people are rotting in jails, particularly poor people, they don’t have even someone to stand surety for them, they are forced to stay in jail due to ignorance, at least five time more in jail than the maximum punishment of the crime alleged to be committed by them.
(Continued on Next Page): | <urn:uuid:c8006fc5-7c18-48ee-9a2e-f91e17fd999b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.internationalreporter.com/News-21529/upa-govt-has-no-able-finance-minister-series-2.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962664 | 676 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Is it IBS or Something Else?
For Immediate Release
MILWAUKEE WI (February 24, 2006) - One common concern of patients with symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome is that they have "something else."
IBS, which affects up to one in every five people, is characterized by chronic or recurring abdominal pain or discomfort associated with diarrhea, constipation or other changes in bowel patterns. It often can be diagnosed during a medical history and physical examination by its symptoms alone or along with limited testing.
"Patients sometimes worry they have some other disease, especially if their symptoms are persistent or severe, or if they know other people who had similar symptoms but a different disorder," explains Dr. Lin Chang, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Digestive Diseases at UCLA.
Colorectal cancer and inflammatory bowel disease may cause IBS-like symptoms, but affected individuals usually have other symptoms that are not frequently present in IBS. They also can be diagnosed by specialized tests.
Gynecological disorders, like endometriosis and ovarian cancer, can cause chronic lower abdominal pain and bloating, but these symptoms are not usually related to meals or defecation as in IBS. However, gastrointestinal symptoms can be vague and a gynecologic exam can help distinguish these disorders from IBS. Women should have annual pelvic examinations whether or not they have IBS symptoms.
Tips for Dealing with IBS
- Educate yourself about IBS.
- Use a diary to identify factors that influence symptoms.
- Partner with your doctor. Establish treatment goals and develop a plan to manage your symptoms.
- Join a patient organization, like IFFGD, for support and ongoing information.
Certain symptoms, like unexplained weight loss or rectal bleeding, are not typical of IBS and signal the need for additional tests to identify other conditions. Remember that IBS is common and people may sometimes have another coexisting disorder that is not responsible for their IBS symptoms. Doctors can help sort this out.
"It is important to talk to your doctor. Once your physician has made a confident diagnosis, you can focus on developing a treatment plan with your doctor," says Nancy Norton, president and founder of the International Foundation for Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders. "Education is an important first step in that process."
For more information about IBS, visit www.aboutibs.org or call (888) 964-2001. | <urn:uuid:18c0a957-0a52-4e00-8ea0-dc82ebf03f65> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.iffgd.org/site/news-events/press-releases/2006-0202-ibs-or-something-else | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953259 | 502 | 2.484375 | 2 |
Resolution. What is it? How does it affect what I view on the Internet? Simply put, Resolution is the exact pixel dimension that your monitor or screen displays. There are many different sizes/dimensions at which people use to work and view things on the internet.
This is a guide that will show you how having different resolutions will affect how you view your Twitter background.
While there are many different resolutions out there, the most common are 1024, 1280, 1440 pixels wide. The heights will change between these 3 based on the monitor or screen being set in a traditional 4:3 or 6:9 aspect ratio (Standard or Widescreen, respectively).
Below you will see a graphical represenatation of a Personalized Twitter background as view on the aforementioned resolution sizes. For these we are using a standard screen resolution height of 768 pixels tall.
(The actual viewable area can be less or greater depending on the browser and how many toolbars, tabs, etc. you have turned on.)
We here at TwitterBackgrounds.com design for a minimum width of 1280 pixels for the majority of our users. The designs become too small to read/view when on a larger resolution if made for anything smaller than 1280 pixels wide.
Thanks and enjoy TwitterBackgrounds.com!
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The New Hampshire Citizens' Veto Amendment
did not appear on the November 2, 2010 ballot
in the state of New Hampshire
as a legislatively-referred constitutional amendment
. The measure would have allowed citizens to reject laws passed by the New Hampshire Legislature
. According to the proposal of the measure, citizens could veto any laws by implementing a limited citizens' referendum process. The measure would have only allowed for residents to reject proposed state law, not institute it. Representative Laurie Boyce
is one of the many sponsors of the measure.
The measure would have amended the second part of the New Hampshire Constitution by adding a new Article 2a.
Path to the ballot
Part II, Article 100 says that a legislatively-referred amendment can go on the ballot if approved by a 60% vote of each house of the New Hampshire General Court. | <urn:uuid:8ba3572f-dec0-468e-a19f-70515f5f0e24> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/New_Hampshire_Citizens'_Veto_Amendment_(2010) | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940174 | 175 | 2.296875 | 2 |
Web edition: August 18, 2011
Among minority scientists applying for National Institutes of Health research grants, blacks alone face a substantially lower likelihood of being successful than whites, a new study finds. This investigation, which was prompted by the research agency itself, will catalyze further probes and a host of changes, promises NIH director Francis Collins.
The findings emerge from a study published online Aug. 18 in Science. Donna Ginther of the University of Kansas in Lawrence and her colleagues probed the success rates of Ph.D. investigators working at U.S. institutions in winning NIH grants between 2002 and 2006. Over that time, more than 40,000 individuals submitted a total of 83,188 applications. Each hoped for the opportunity to dip deeply from a pool of funds averaging about $1.4 billion annually.
Researchers who described themselves as Hispanic had grant success rates comparable to whites. Initially, Asians appeared to have a 4 percentage-point lower success rate than whites. But when Ginther’s group reanalyzed the data, restricting the applicants to U.S. citizens, the Asian disadvantage vanished. (Says Collins, this suggests that applicants who didn’t fare well here might have been non-native English speakers with a language barrier to articulating their ideas cogently.)
But nothing erased the black disadvantage, Ginther’s team found.
“These data are deeply troubling,” Collins says. “Even after controlling for all of the factors that were considered to be important for predicting success” — like education and NIH training, the labs in which they ended up working, the number of research papers they’ve authored — “black applicants were 10 percentage points less likely than white applicants to receive research grants.”
Numerically, he told reporters, that translates to about 27 percent of white researcher’s grant applications winning funding, compared to only about 17 percent of those submitted by blacks.
“It is certainly a situation that we all agree is unacceptable and requires intervention,” Collins says.
On the drawing board
He and Lawrence Tabak, the principal deputy director of NIH, broadly outline an action plan to deal with the problem in a report that also appears online in Science. Details, however, await the findings of a pair of new advisory groups that Collins created.
Tabak co-chairs one of these: a diversity in biomedical research working group. He reports that in its initial teleconference, the group discussed how to probe obstacles to the recruitment of first-rate applications from minority scientists and to ensure that those proposing the best science have an equally high chance of landing NIH funds.
“This is a committee that is not designed to produce a glossy report that will sit on shelves,” Tabak says, but rather to provide Collins “tangible action items” by next June.
One issue NIH plans to take on immediately: how to adequately “blind” grant reviewers to applicants so that any chance of bias is minimized — without also eliminating important details that might reflect the quality of a scientist’s research or resources.
NIH already strips off a researcher’s stated race or ethnicity from a grant proposal before reviewers judge its merit. However, names and the background of the principal investigator remain — which in some instances may offer clues. Such as a first name like Kwame or L’Shaniqua, or perhaps reference to an applicant having attended a historically black college.
In an experiment set to begin soon, Collins promised to investigate whether further blinding is needed. His agency will simultaneously subject some collections of grant applications to two review panels, then compare their results. One panel will receive applications that contain the same information as in the past; the other will receive proposals from which all names and identifying characteristics have been removed.
Boosting help, enriching opportunities
While the magnitude of the black disadvantage might have surprised NIH, the agency has long known that blacks play a bit role in biomedical research. They constitute 10.2 percent of the U.S. population, Collins notes, yet only 1.2 percent of researchers leading projects financed by NIH (through investigator-led — or RO1 — grants).
The newly quantified disadvantage highlighted by Ginther’s team might reflect weaker training of black researchers on how to craft a winning application, less access to mentoring on research design, some subtle bias on the part of grant-review committees — or a combination of all these. Collins vows his new advisory groups will look into each.
For instance, not all grant applications are scored for quality. Those that reviewers feel will fall within the lower half are just rejected.
Ginther’s group now reports that among grant proposals that were scored highly, race and ethnicity had no impact on funding success. This suggests that blacks may face some disadvantage in drafting a compelling proposal.
Collins now promises NIH will soon offer extra assistance to inexperienced grant applicants and be “supporting innovative approaches to encourage more extensive and effective local mentoring of junior faculty” by the academic institutions at which they work. He adds that his new advisory groups will also consider how NIH might encourage researchers who weren’t successful the first time around to reapply for a grant (since most successful applicants have to try a few times before they land a grant — and blacks are less likely to do that).
Sitting in on grant deliberations should help young faculty of all ethnic backgrounds get a better taste of how research proposals are judged and what’s most likely to wow their peers. Scientists recruited to review grants, however, tend to be older, more experienced individuals. Collins aims to change this by actively recruiting “promising junior faculty” to become reviewers: “We aim to have 50 of these early career reviewers assigned to each of NIH’s three rounds of grant reviews in the 2012 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1."
At a briefing for reporters, Tabak noted that NIH has already begun sharing what it’s learned with officials at the National Science Foundation, Department of Defense, Energy Department and Education Department. From those discussions, he says, it sounds like these agencies are also open to investigating whether racial or ethnic disparities may exist among applicants for their grants.
D.K. Ginther, et al. Race, ethnicity, and NIH research awards. Science, Vol. 333, Aug. 19, 2011, p. 1015. doi: 10.1126/science.1196783. [Go to]
L.A. Tabak and F.S. Collins. Weaving a richer tapestry in biomedical science. Science, Vol. 333, Aug. 19, 2011, p. 940. doi: 10.1126/science.1211704. [Go to]
NIH Research Project Grant Program (RO1) home page: [Go to] | <urn:uuid:716daac5-f82d-4d38-bdd4-5aa904bf48b6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/333476/description/Blacks_far_less_likely_than_whites_to_land_NIH_grants | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951149 | 1,412 | 2.09375 | 2 |
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An early type of photograph made by imaging a negative on glass backed by a dark surface.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In photography, a picture made by applying a dark backing to the face of a thin negative on glass. The negative, as seen from behind, thus appears as a positive against the backing, the lights being formed by the opaque portions, and the shadows by the backing seen through the more or less transparent portions.
- n. an early type of photograph in which a glass negative appears positive when displayed on a black background
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Photog.) A picture taken on a plate of prepared glass, in which the lights are represented in silver, and the shades are produced by a dark background visible through the unsilvered portions of the glass.
- Greek ambrotos, immortal; see ambrosia + type. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
“Father suggested that we put a written notice in the business office, and that very afternoon Dr. Richards knocked at our door, saying the ambrotype was his.”
“Tell Miss Ella I was looking at her "ambrotype" last Sunday in church, my cousin admired it very much, indeed I am afraid he will fall in love with it which would certainly be quite unfortunate as she is engaged.”
“The process flourished less than two decades before "ambrotype," the next of many successively faster and cheaper photographic processes, began to replace it.”
“Your ambrotype stills keeps good, and as I gaze on it my heart is with you then again.”
“In November 1863 Phylinda Humiston heard of the story and recognized the details of the ambrotype.”
“Removing a small ambrotype from his pocket, he looked at the 3 children whom he would never see again and there died.”
“In January 1864 Dr. Bourns traveled to Porterville to return the ambrotype to Phylinda.”
“In order to accomplish this he had copies of the ambrotype made into the popularcartes de visite and had them distributed in the north.”
“This hand-colored ambrotype of Olivia Langdon was probably made in 1867.”
“Ada wished there were a way to capture what she was hearing in the way an ambrotype captures images, so it could be held in reserve for the benefit of a future whose residents might again need access to what it stood for.”
These user-created lists contain the word ‘ambrotype’.
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
being words related to photography and the photographic arts
Looking for tweets for ambrotype. | <urn:uuid:7aec93da-6fb1-48c3-a254-dd364aab35ff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wordnik.com/words/ambrotype | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958657 | 622 | 3.328125 | 3 |
Reporting Ian Bush
By Ian Bush
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – If you thought cameras had every angle covered on the football field, a Pennsylvania college student’s project could have you seeing the game from a whole new perspective.
There are dozens of cameras pointed at the field on any given Sunday, but Kris Kitani saw what’s missing: “Wouldn’t it be cool if you could experience football from the ball’s point of view as people are ripping the ball away from each other and as the ball’s flying?”
So, the post-doctorate research fellow at Carnegie Mellon University said, ‘why not fit a camera in the football itself?’
“Basically you see a big blur, because the camera’s moving so fast — close to up to 600 RPMs.”
To solve the motion sickness, Kitani and his team wrote software that tosses skyward shots and smoothly stitches together the good ground video — like a smartphone taking a panorama.
“Kind of flying almost like an airplane over the football field.”
Could the same kind of tech be used in a baseball, volleyball, or tennis ball?
“Maybe if there’s some kind of new camera that’s able to withstand some kind of impact, it could be possible for other ball-based sports.”
Now, the challenge is to make it small and light enough not to throw off the thrower — and for the NFL to take notice. | <urn:uuid:68c2581b-2499-4092-aff9-279ba4ccbc33> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2013/02/22/pa-students-software-captures-the-game-from-the-balls-perspective/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940419 | 323 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Maestro Juan Torres Calderon, renowned Michoacan artist and humanist born in Morelia in 1942, studied at the Escuela Popular de Bellas Artes of the University of Michoacan de San Micolas de Hidalgo and in the studio of respected Maestro Alfredo Zalce.
Early in his career Juan contributed in the creation of one of the Palacio de Gobierno murals in Morelia and in the 1980′s received the Alfredo Zalce award. Juan is passionate about ceramics and art history, identifies with fauvism and impressionism and is a promoter of the traditional art and crafts of Capula, Michoacan.
The colors and classic style of Juan’s paintings and sculptures harmonize to touch the intellect and spirit and evoke happy emotions of the heart. His strong yet flowing brushstrokes caress the canvas creating a sentimental, spiritual ambience. Juan is known for his other worldly, dignified expression of the female form and celebration of nature.
Over his career, Juan has exhibited in over 40 national and international galleries and museums.
Please visit Maestro Juan Torres Calderon’s website at this LINK | <urn:uuid:2c62e0e0-7c4c-42c7-9b0f-2e167111bd94> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cangomexico.com/2012/maestro-juan-torres-calderon-artist-and-sculpture-morelia-michoacan-state-mexico/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907227 | 244 | 1.703125 | 2 |
In the 2010 documentary film, The Tillman Story, the story of Pat Tillman and his tragic death at the hands of “friendly fire” is retold. Tillman was the NFL star who gave it all up to join the military cause in Afghanistan after being inspired by 9/11 to do something for his country. He did not do it for the glory or publicity, and gave up a lucrative football career for what he perceived to be a worthy cause. After his death the U.S. government implemented a publicity campaign to use Tillman’s death as a tool to promote the war as a cause so worthy that even a highly-paid NFL star believed it to be worth the sacrifice. What the government failed to mention is that Tillman was killed at the hands of his fellow soldiers during a “fog of war” incident in a steep and narrow slot canyon in which there was much confusion about where enemy fire was originating. It’s a very disturbing film to watch—infuriating in fact—and Jon Krakauer’s book, Where Men Win Glory, presents the story in excruciating detail in a compelling narrative.
Pat Tillman was an atheist. At his funeral his younger brother Richard got up to speak, visibly upset, noticeably inebriated, and with beer in hand proceeded to thank everyone for their warm sentiments, but upbraided those like Maria Shriver and Senator John McCain who made religious overtones in their sentiments, noting about his brother Pat: “He’s not with God, he’s fucking dead. He’s not religious. Thanks for your thoughts, but he’s fucking dead.” Continue reading…comments (107) | <urn:uuid:82d4f6df-ee80-4c44-beaf-332a4bb73794> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.skepticblog.org/tag/atheism/page/2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982155 | 354 | 1.640625 | 2 |
The Italian government has outlined new regulations governing lawyers in Italy, sparking outrage within the Italian legal community.
The legislation, proposed by justice minister Clemente Mastella, could force lawyers to give clients an estimate of their maximum spend and reveal details about their insurance cover.
Michelina Grillo, president of the Italian Lawyers Union (Organismo Unitario dell'Avvocatura Italiana), voiced opposition to the new regulations. "We'll continue to use all our energy and activities to make sure that the law receives all the necessary corrections during its passage through parliament," she said.
The Italian government's move comes in the same week that the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that Italian minimum fee rules break EU competition laws.
The ECJ said the Italian minimum fee system is anticompetitive, as it prevents foreign firms from undercutting Italian firms."[The system] limits the choice of service for recipients in Italy because they cannot resort to the services of lawyers established in other member states that would offer their services in Italy at a lower rate than the minimum fees set by the scale," said the ECJ.
The court did not propose an alternate system, concluding that national courts would have the final say.
Leah Dunlop, managing partner of Lovells in Italy, said: "I suspect the decision is somewhat late. The Italian tariff system has always been within the crosshairs of the [European] Commission."
The Italian government had already passed a decree in June abolishing the tariff system, which offers lawyers a minimum percentage of a deal or case. Parliament has 18 months to finalise the framework law. | <urn:uuid:dfc62e49-37ea-4f2b-9af5-b55683fbbe59> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thelawyer.com/italian-firms-attack-govts-transparency-scheme/123529.article | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976084 | 334 | 1.65625 | 2 |
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People with severe forms of the inflammatory skin disease psoriasis are more likely to die of heart-related causes and stroke than those without the condition, new research shows.
In fact, for people with the severe form of psoriasis, the condition is a bigger risk factor for heart- and stroke-related death than high blood pressure, Dr. Joel M. Gelfand of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia, one of the researchers on the study, told Reuters Health.
The findings "should be a very strong message" for people with severe psoriasis to get other risk factors like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and excess weight under control, Gelfand said.
In psoriasis, cells build up on the skin surface and form itchy and sometimes painful scales and red patches. Joint inflammation may also occur. Up to one in 25 of adults have psoriasis, and about one in five of those have severe disease that warrants treatment with powerful inflammation-suppressing drugs like methotrexate.
Because such drugs carry a high risk of side effects, Gelfand noted, most people with severe psoriasis actually go untreated. "In the last 10 years or so there's been an explosion in new drugs approved for psoriasis," he added. "They're too new to know what their full use will be in the psoriasis population."
Gelfand and his colleagues first reported in 2006 that severe psoriasis upped a person's heart attack risk. The illness has since been linked to an increased risk of stroke.
In the current study, he and his colleagues matched 3,603 patients with severe psoriasis to 14,330 people who were free from the disease and followed them for about three years, on average. Three percent (108) of those with severe psoriasis died of heart- or stroke-related causes, compared with about two percent (301) of those without psoriasis.
People with severe psoriasis were nearly 60 percent more likely to die of causes related to heart disease or stroke than those without the disease, the researchers found.
Even once Gelfand and his team accounted for smoking, high blood pressure, and diabetes, the psoriasis patients' risk of death due to these causes was still 57 percent higher, suggesting that the skin disease in and of itself was the link.
This meant that there was one extra death per 283 people with severe forms of psoriasis per year, compared to those without the disease.
The relationship among factors that increase heart and blood vessel disease risk and psoriasis is very complex, Gelfand noted; for example, smoking and obesity both boost psoriasis risk, while people with psoriasis are known to be more likely to develop diabetes, which in turn ups heart disease risk.
Genes that make people susceptible to psoriasis have been linked to heart disease as well, he added, and the type of inflammation associated with heart- and stroke-related disease is very similar to that involved in psoriasis.
Teasing out the reasons for the link, and figuring out whether treating psoriasis could reduce heart disease risk, will require more research, he and his colleagues conclude.
SOURCE: European Heart Journal, online December 27, 2009.
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The latest news, tips and recipes for people with diabetes.
Healthy food that tastes delicious too? No kidding.
Yoga for Back Pain
Pets HelpYour Heart
Are YouMoney Smart? | <urn:uuid:d0846aa7-1e1c-4a90-a654-757edee7a5df> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lifescript.com/health/centers/cholesterol/news/2010/01/18/severe_form_of_psoriasis_ups_heart_disease_risk.aspx | 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 | 0.958599 | 776 | 2.375 | 2 |
Disunion follows the Civil War as it unfolded.
When the Civil War broke out, thousands of Irish-born men in both the North and the South volunteered for military service. Some 140,000 served in the Union Army, and they dominated at least 20 regiments. The most famous belonged to Thomas F. Meagher’s Irish Brigade. Meagher (pronounced “Mar”) was an Irish native whom the British had banished to Tasmania after he became involved in Ireland’s 1848 uprising. After escaping from the island, he made his way to America, where he became a popular lecturer on Irish independence.
Meagher believed it was important for the Irish-born to fight for the Union. The anti-immigrant Know-Nothing party was still politically potent, and Meagher promoted military service as one way Irishmen could demonstrate their loyalty. An Irish veteran could “take his stand proudly by the side of the native-born, and will not fear to look him straight and sternly in the face, and tell him that he has been equal to him in his allegiance to the Constitution,” he said. Largely because of Meagher’s influence, an Irish Brigade was authorized, with Meagher its commanding general.
Three regiments — the 63rd, 69th and 88th New York — formed the core of the Irish Brigade, along with the 116th Pennsylvania and the Irish-dominated 28th Massachusetts (a few other regiments also rotated through the brigade). Before leaving for battle, the three New York regiments were presented beautiful silk flags in a ceremony held in front of Archbishop John Joseph Hughes’ home. The flags, with a gold harp, white clouds and sunburst on a green background, would become conspicuous on many future battlefields. Across the bottom of each, written in Gaelic, was the brigade’s motto: “Who never retreated from the clash of spears.” The 28th Massachusetts was presented a similar flag.
A pipe, a stencil, a cup, a button — common objects rendered remarkable by the events of December 1862.
The brigade first saw combat during the 1862 Peninsula Campaign, where it participated in Gen. George B. McClellan’s advance on Richmond. But it was during the Seven Days Campaign that the brigade began to earn its reputation for steadiness in battle. At the Battle of Malvern Hill, it engaged in a bloody hand-to-hand fight with the Louisiana Tigers, many of whom were also Irish-born. Afterward, one colonel requested new muskets to replace the ones damaged in the melee, but the corps commander, Gen. Edwin V. Sumner, refused because he thought the men had simply lost them. The general changed his mind when he was shown a pile of muskets with splintered stocks, bent barrels and twisted bayonets. One soldier told him, “The boys got in a scrimmage with the Tigers, and when the bloody villains took to their knives, the boys mostly forgot their bayonets, but went to work in the style they were used to, and licked them well, sir.”
The Seven Days made the Irish Brigade’s reputation. It was said that whenever General Sumner prepared for battle he would ask, “Where are my green flags?” and that he once quipped that if the Irishmen ever ran from the field he would have to run as well. When Abraham Lincoln visited McClellan’s army at Harrison’s Landing, Va., where it was preparing to ship back to Union territory, an officer claimed the president picked up a corner of one of the Irish colors, kissed it and said, “God bless the Irish flag.”
At the Battle of Antietam, the Irish Brigade led its division in attacking the infamous Bloody Lane. In preparation for the deadly work ahead, Father William Corby, one of the brigade’s chaplains and future president of Notre Dame, rode down the firing line and administered a general rite of absolution to the men.
Meagher advanced to the crest of a hill overlooking a brigade of North Carolinians hunkered down in the sunken road bed and let loose with two volleys. The Confederates responded with a heavy fire of their own that killed or wounded eight of the brigade’s color bearers. When Capt. James McGee of the 69th New York picked up his regiment’s flag from the ground, a bullet cut the staff in two. He reached down for the colors again and a bullet tore through his cap. Despite the heavy fire, Captain McGee finally retrieved the flag and defiantly waved it at the enemy.
Meagher drew his sword and shouted, “Boys! Raise the colors and follow me!” He wrote in his after-action report that he believed “the impetuosity and recklessness of Irish soldiers in a charge” would dislodge the rebels. Meagher’s men leveled their bayonets and got within 30 yards of the enemy position before the Confederates stopped them with fierce musket volleys.
The brigade suffered a 60 percent casualty rate by the time it withdrew from Bloody Lane. The division commander, the beloved Gen. Israel Richardson, was among those lost, later dying of infection after being wounded by shell fragments.
The Irish Brigade’s most famous battle was at Fredericksburg, Va., on Dec. 13, 1862. Gen. Ambrose Burnside ordered repeated frontal assaults against Gen. Robert E. Lee’s veterans posted behind a stone wall on a rise above the center of the city called Marye’s Heights. Several attacks had already failed when the Irish Brigade was sent in to try again. The brigade’s distinctive Irish flags had become so ragged from battle damage that all had been retired except the one carried by the 28th Massachusetts. General Meagher, however, wanted his men to be recognized as being Irish and ordered each soldier to put sprigs of evergreen on his cap. Meagher, dressed in a tailor-made green suit with a yellow silk scarf around his chest, was said to be “a picture of unusual grace and majesty.” Meagher, however, failed to accompany his men in the charge. He was suffering from an ulcerated knee and had gone back to town for his horse when the advance was made. Meagher’s absence at Fredericksburg and accusations of being drunk on several other battlefields caused many officers to hold him in low esteem.
Raising the old Irish cheer “Faugh-a-Bellagh” (“Clear the Way”), the Irish Brigade advanced up Marye’s Heights over its dead and wounded comrades. Waiting behind the stone wall was Col. Robert McMillan’s Georgia brigade. McMillan was Irish himself, but he had no qualms about shooting his fellow immigrants. A newspaper later reported that when McMillan saw the 28th Massachusetts’ green flag, he yelled excitedly to his men, “That’s Meagher’s Brigade” and drew his sword. “His countenance lighted up,” the account said, “and dashing along the line among men, amid him a shower of balls, and waving his sword around his head, shouted –‘Give it to them now, boys! Now’s the time! Give it to them!’ And never did men better respond to a call.”
The Georgians cut the Irishmen to pieces. Of the approximately 1,400 men who started up the hill, 545 became casualties. The 69th New York lost all 16 of its officers. After the battle one Confederate wrote, “The last charge was made … o’er the bloody field by Meagher’s celebrated Irish Brigade which was almost destroyed. The gallant fellows deserved a better fate.” In his description of the battle, the brigade historian, Henry Clay Heisler, declared, “It was not a battle — it was a wholesale slaughter of human beings.”
The Irish Brigade’s bravery at Fredericksburg received a great deal of attention. The London Times correspondent William H. Russell (himself Irish-born) wrote, “Never at Fontenoy, Albuera, or at Waterloo was more undaunted courage displayed by the sons of Erin than during those six frantic dashes which they directed against the almost impregnable positions of their foe.” A legend also arose that Lee was told that the New Yorkers had made a brave attack against the stone wall, Lee recognized the regiment from the Seven Days Campaign and was said to have replied, “Ah yes. That fighting 69th.” In any case, the “Fighting 69th” nickname stuck.
After the battle, the 69th’s men were horrified to discover that their color bearer was missing. They prided themselves in never having lost a flag in battle and the next day went looking for him. The dead color sergeant was found sitting against a tree with his hands clasped over his chest. The flag staff, stripped of its national colors, lay near him. Upon preparing the body for burial, the soldiers discovered the sergeant had wrapped the flag around his body to prevent its capture. There was a bullet hole through it and his heart.
Fredericksburg shattered the Irish Brigade. By February 1863 there were only 340 men present for duty. Meagher repeatedly asked his superiors to allow the men to go home to rest and recruit, but they denied his requests. When Joseph Hooker, who had replaced Burnside as commander of the Army of the Potomac, refused another entreaty after the Battle of Chancellorsville, Meagher resigned in a huff.
Over the next two years, four officers led the brigade. Three were killed. All were Irish-born. Col. Richard Byrne (often spelled Byrnes) was mortally wounded at the Battle of Spotsylvania, and Col. Patrick Kelly was shot in the head and killed at the Battle of Petersburg. Col. Thomas Smyth led the brigade for a while and then was transferred to another unit. He was mortally wounded at Farmville, Va., on April 7, 1865. Smyth died two days later — the same day Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox. He was the last Union general to be killed in battle.
At the Battle of Gettysburg, the brigade numbered just over 500 men, but it was ordered into the thick of the fight at the Wheatfield and Devil’s Den. Once again, Father Corby stood on a large boulder and gave general absolution to the brigade before it advanced. By the time the Irishmen withdrew, they had lost 202 men. When a Gettysburg monument was dedicated to the brigade’s New York regiments in 1888, Father Corby held a mass for the veterans. Blessing the monument, he noted its Celtic cross and declared, “It is an emblem of Ireland, typical of faith and devotion, and the most appropriate that could be raised to hand down to posterity the bravery of our race in the great cause of American liberty.”
Despite its repeated losses, the Irish Brigade again saw heavy action in the 1864 Overland Campaign. It participated in the fighting at the Wilderness, charged the Mule Shoe at Spotsylvania, and joined in the near suicidal attack at Cold Harbor. In June, the brigade accompanied the army south to Petersburg.
Col. Robert Nugent of the 69th New York replaced Kelly and was the brigade’s last commander. Nugent had been shot in the stomach at Fredericksburg and afterward was sent to New York City to help supervise the draft. When the Draft Riot erupted there in July 1863, he tried to calm the mobs even though rioters looted and burned his own house.
Because of the heavy losses suffered in the Overland Campaign, the Irish Brigade was combined with another small brigade to form the Consolidated Brigade. But the unit kept its separate identity, and Nugent led it in the Grand Review in Washington when the war ended. He then took the 400 New York survivors, where they paraded for the people of New York City and were addressed by Thomas Meagher.
Afterward, Meagher was appointed the territorial secretary for Montana. On July 1, 1867, he drowned under mysterious circumstances when he fell off a steamboat on the Missouri River. Explanations for Meagher’s death ran from an illness to drunkenness to murder. His body was never recovered.
The Irish Brigade suffered the third-highest number of battlefield casualties of any Union brigade. Of the 7,715 men who served in its ranks, 961 were killed or mortally wounded, and approximately 3,000 were wounded. The number of casualties was more men than ever served in its ranks at any one time. As a testament to the Irishmen’s bravery, 11 of the unit’s members were awarded the Medal of Honor.
Sources: John M. Hearne and Rory T. Cornish, eds., “Thomas Francis Meagher”; Henry Clay Heisler, “The Irish Brigade and its Campaigns”; Terry L. Jones, The American Civil War; John F. McCormack, Jr., “Never Were Men So Brave,” Civil War Times; Kelly J. O’Grady, “Clear the Confederate Way! The Irish in the Army of Northern Virginia”; Stephen W. Sears, “Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam”; “This Mighty Scourge”; and War of the Rebellion: The Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies.
Terry L. Jones is a professor of history at the University of Louisiana, Monroe and the author of six books on the Civil War.
This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: December 12, 2012
The Irish uprising that led to Thomas F. Meagher's banishment occurred in 1848, not 1849. | <urn:uuid:9a8ef72b-a369-4e72-b6b0-b4cf3050a530> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/11/the-fighting-irish-brigade/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979763 | 2,935 | 3.609375 | 4 |
|Birthplace:||Macon, GA, USA|
|Death:||Died in Quang Nam, Vietnam|
|Cause of death:||KIA hand grenade|
|Occupation:||5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division|
|Managed by:||Marvin Caulk, Volunteer Curator|
About Rodney Maxwell Davis, SSG
Rodney Maxwell Davis (April 7, 1942 – September 6, 1967) was a United States Marine who posthumously received the Medal of Honor for his heroism during the Vietnam War.
Davis was born on April 7, 1942, in Macon, Georgia to Gordon N. Davis and Ruth A. Davis. He attended elementary school and high school there and graduated from Peter G. Appling High School, May 29, 1961.
Shortly after graduation, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in his hometown, August 31, 1961; then reported for recruit training with the First Recruit Training Battalion Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina. Upon completion of recruit training in December 1961, he was transferred to the Marine Corps Base, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and underwent Individual Combat Training with the Second Battalion, First Infantry Training Regiment, graduating the following February.
He then joined Company K, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines, 2nd Marine Division, FMF, at Camp Lejeune and served as a rifleman until May 1964. While stationed at Camp Lejeune, he was promoted to Private First Class, April 1, 1962, and to Lance Corporal, January 1, 1964.
Lance Corporal Davis was ordered to London, England, for a three year tour of duty as Guard with the United States Marine Detachment, Naval Activities. He was promoted to Corporal, January 1, 1966, and to Sergeant, December 1, 1966.
Ordered to the Republic of Vietnam in August 1967, he was assigned duty as a Platoon Guide with Company B, First Battalion, Fifth Marines, First Marine Division. On September 6, 1967, he was operating with his unit in the Quang Nam Province on a search and clear mission during Operation Swift, when they were attacked by a large North Vietnamese force. Elements of the platoon were pinned down in a trench line by mortars, heavy automatic and small arms fire. He went from man to man encouraging them on and also returning fire at the same time. An enemy hand grenade fell in the trenches his men were fighting from and without hesitation he threw himself upon the grenade. He saved his fellow Marines in this selfless act and thus earned the nation's highest military decoration: the Medal of Honor.
Medal of Honor
The President of the United States in the name of The Congress takes pride in presenting the MEDAL OF HONOR posthumously to
SERGEANT RODNEY M. DAVIS
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS
for service as set forth in the following CITATION:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as the right guide of the Second Platoon, Company B, First Battalion, Fifth Marines, First Marine Division, in action against enemy forces in Quang Nam Province, Republic of Vietnam, on September 6, 1967. Elements of the Second Platoon were pinned down by a numerically superior force of attacking North Vietnamese Army Regulars. Remnants of the platoon were located in a trench line where Sergeant Davis was directing the fire of his men in an attempt to repel the enemy attack. Disregarding the enemy hand grenades and high volume of small arms and mortar fire, Sergeant Davis moved from man to man shouting words of encouragement to each of them firing and throwing grenades at the onrushing enemy. When an enemy grenade landed in the trench in the midst of his men, Sergeant Davis, realizing the gravity of the situation, and in a final valiant act of complete self-sacrifice, instantly threw himself upon the grenade, absorbing with his own body the full and terrific force of the explosion. Through his extraordinary initiative and inspiring valor in the face of almost certain death, Sergeant Davis saved his comrades from injury and possible loss of life, enabled his platoon to hold its vital position, and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
/S/ RICHARD M. NIXON | <urn:uuid:e3e21cae-c5ff-4696-a820-6039dce698dc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.geni.com/people/Rodney-Davis/6000000012677148175 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973142 | 910 | 1.539063 | 2 |
The Oregonian editorial “Cut Oregon Capital Gains Tax” rests on many unproved assumptions. “In many cases, capital gains go right back to work” - or not. No proof offered for this assertion, which smacks of the “trickle down” assumption which so far has not worked very well for the US economy. Perhaps some of these investments find their way back into the US economy, and perhaps some migrate into Swiss bank accounts and foreign-based corporations. No showing here of how much goes where.
Nor is there any evidence as to why people relocate. Maybe people move to Washington to escape Oregon’s “famous” high taxes - or maybe they move for family reasons, health reasons, or to find more appropriate markets. Again, we don’t know; no one preparing these surveys asked the movers why they went elsewhere. The editorial states that in 2007, 297 Oregonians with capital gains moved to Washington (while 264,000 such taxpayers stayed here). These 297 movers made more capital gains in Washington than the stay-at-homes made here. Is that why they moved? We don’t know. Do we know whether cutting the capital gains tax would have influenced any or all of them to stay here? No. The editorial presents a plethora of figures about moves in and out of Oregon and capital gains earned here and there with absolutely no evidence showing that the capital gains tax precipitated any part of these relocations.
Also, the reference to “tax friendly Washington” does not mention the property tax nor the sales tax rate in that state. Revenue has to come from somewhere; would the editor prefer the flat, regressive sales tax for Oregon?
Another point is that the state income taxes are a deduction on the federal return, which considerably lessens the pain.
Supporters of low (or no) capital gains taxes claim that the low rates encourage investment which in turn does good things for the economy. On the Federal level capital gains taxes are much lower than the taxes on ordinary income, but the job creation seems to be mostly overseas and the gap between rich and poor has been growing apace. It doesn’t seem that all this encouraged investment has done much for the working stiff, or for the country’s economy generally.
Finally, what needs no proof is that capital gains are a tax on passive investment income, and income taxes are a tax on monies earned by the sweat of the worker’s brow. Lowering the capital gains tax leaves workers, who have no investments, to carry the burden of financing the state (or the country), while the wealthy investor gets off scot free. Fair? I don’t think so. | <urn:uuid:bdd8a4f7-ae81-4db0-9563-5d0ac94e4e58> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.oregonlive.com/myoregon/2012/10/killing_the_capital_gains_tax.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969394 | 562 | 1.882813 | 2 |
It's National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, in case you didn't know, and so the good folks at Fenway Health in Boston created the startingly infographic below to illustrate the extent that HIV continues to disproportionately effect black gay men.
Among the stats are the following:
- Black men who have sex with men comprise less than 1 percent of the U.S. population but more than 20 percent of new HIV infections.
- One in four Black MSM are already infected with HIV by the time they reach age 25. By age 40, 60% of Black MSM are living with HIV.
- In a CDC-sponsored 21-city survey of MSM, 59% of Black MSM found to be HIV-positive were previously unaware of their infection, compared to only 26% of white MSM.
- Among young men ages 13-24, Black MSM are 14 times more likely to test HIV-positive than white MSM. | <urn:uuid:685a91c7-fbb4-482c-8f1d-da454dce0da0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gay.com/gaynet/how-you-can-help-on-black-hivaids-awareness-day | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949162 | 188 | 2.59375 | 3 |
teucer at pobox.com
Wed Dec 9 18:30:12 PST 2009
On Wed, Dec 9, 2009 at 5:26 PM, Suey <lordhunt at gmail.com> wrote:
> David Herzog wrote:
>> the Spanish also have used them since "the dawn of time" and called them?
>> "marmetta" roughtly translated "tripod pot" meaning they had 3 legs forming
>> the tripod in which to put the fire under the pot. Bakus the Crockist of the
>> house Klemend Holdt in the Kingdom of Antir
> Weclome to the group. I thought marmite was French. That has nothing to do
> with three legs. Please enllighten me.
Also, "marmetta" is certainly not Spanish - no native Spanish word has
a double t. (And the only word I know for a dutch oven in Spanish is
"cazuela," but that's a bit vaguer. There's probably something more
specific but I don't know it; I never needed quite such specific
culinary vocabulary when I was a medical interpreter, so it didn't
More information about the Sca-cooks | <urn:uuid:d07ea24d-9e7c-45dd-9021-2420e17b52a8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lists.ansteorra.org/pipermail/sca-cooks-ansteorra.org/2009-December/029178.html | 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 | 0.958016 | 263 | 2.015625 | 2 |
Transmedia. It started as an academic term, coined by Henry Jenkins in his book Convergence Culture who said, “transmedia represents the integration of entertainment experiences across a range of different media platforms,” Jenkins defines transmedia as storytelling that “immerses an audience in a story’s universe through a number of dispersed entry points, providing a comprehensive and coordinated experience of a complex story.”
As a storytelling mode transmedia is exciting, dynamic and the ultimate 360 approach to storytelling –360content, 360platforms and with the potential for the full 360experience. The basic premise of transmedia is that rather than using different media channels to simply retell the same story, you utilise these channels, their communities and functions to communicate different elements of the story. Its success relies on fragmenting a narrative and making each platform do what it does best which, in turn, extends the life and longevity of the story. Contrary to some thinking, this practice isn’t device-driven (Kindle, Nook, iPad), but is platform driven as it is the platform that subtly dictates and influences audience reactions, social & behavioural trends and user experiences. The bottom line is that with a solid transmedia strategy in place everything remains connected by the same central narrative and theme, but each channel excels at what it does best, rather than bending to fit a central idea that’s being repurposed for multi platforms.
Sounds great, right? So how can it work for publishers? What might it mean for books? I can tell you what it doesn’t mean. It doesn't mean Vook. (Although to use Vook as an element of a full 360 transmedia novel is definitely viable). It doesn’t mean Enhanced Editions (although once again, these guys offer a legion of expertise and solid, exciting platforms and concepts in adding elements to a larger transmedia strategy). It doesn’t mean Lulu, Blurb or CompletelyNovel (but they offer options – which is what transmedia likes)! Transmedia isn’t DailyLit or Keitai. It isn’t YouTube, Babelgum or even SecondLife. The truth is, transmedia isn’t any one of these, but at the same time, can embrace and utilise all of them.
The fact remains that successful and credible transmedia novels must focus primarily on story and, without that focus, will be in danger of shifting from a viable ‘immersive experience’ to one of those transparent ‘cross-media marketing initiatives and/or brand extensions’. The exciting bit is that storytelling and the entertainment industry is on the cusp of something new and exciting and it isn’t only about 3D special effects as in ‘Avatar’. Transmedia storytelling is about immersion, participation & experiences in an authored environment which will not only attract existing readers, but bring new audiences and modes of fragmentation.
So, what can publishers do now? Publishers have already begun to embrace the notion of transmedia by casting off those expectations we’ve grown up with – that a story is… text on a page, actors on the stage, special effects on the screen or a narrator reading. In our digital and connected world it’s now a natural step to dictate how we want our stories; whether we want to read, listen, watch or ‘do’. Publishers are so close to sitting at that ‘sweet spot’ – they have the legacy of storytelling abilities (not so much in the creation of, but certainly in the professional ‘filtering’ system, publishing, marketing and distribution) alongside the potential expertise of all things ‘digital’. HarperStudio, Penguin, Fourth Story Media and Perseus, are amongst those that are beginning to seed audiences and engage across a series of platforms. I believe that book as the primary platform is a fabulous means of introducing transmedia to genres that aren’t so tech centric – such as chick lit, self help and ‘how to’ guides perhaps. ‘Book’ is an age-old familiar, tactile product and if the primary story is well written, transmedia elements can be woven in as part of the text narrative and readers will be compelled to engage with fragments. Publishers are renowned story gatekeepers but now exist in a time where ad agencies are using the concept of ‘story’, along with branded content, to sell – and doing so extremely well. Publishing can develop as a multi-modal broadcast media by gatekeeping the ‘story’ and not the ‘page’ - by releasing this focus on ‘page’ and adopting a transmedia approach can still keep book as the primary product whilst working with media partners to cast a wide net and offer a series of options for receiving, interacting and engaging with these stories.
No other place exists in the entertainment industry where ‘story’ is deemed as ‘publishing’ – cinemas screen movies, radios broadcast plays, audio downloads are podcast and television broadcast sit-coms and dramas – all of which can make the leap to computer screen, but traditional print publishers are also competing with a host of new online broadcast options – audio stories are appearing on YouTube and AudioBoo, text novels are available on our mobile devices and we can consume Shakespeare in a series of 140 word bursts via Twitter. Only in the last 500 years or so did a distinction arise that cut the musical society in two, forming separate classes of music performers and music listeners. Throughout most of the world music making was a natural activity where everybody participated. Our culture now makes a distinction between a class of performers – the ‘experts’ and the rest of us who pay to listen. This is in marked reversal to what is happening with publishers – publishers were the ‘experts’; the gatekeepers of professional and quality writing and now everybody can publish online. And for free…
Publishers are excited about delivering stories in new ways, but there is also some caution and resistance to change from both publishers and readers, as moving the action from one device to another mid-story raises the risk of distraction. While transmedia storytelling can be an effective way of providing options and adding value, successful implementation requires care and sensitivity. Whether the links between media are cyber bridges, GPS games, QR codes or audio clues, moving a reader from book to device relies on the transition being relevant to the new platform, so that each medium excels at what it does best. Publishers are aware that it could be a few years before the full effects are seen, with new narratives developing organically and finding a receptive audience. It all goes back to relevance. Andrew Savikas coined this on the TOC blog, “The bigger issue I see is that thinking of the problem as “how do we get a textbook onto an iPhone” is framing it wrong. The challenge is “how do we use a medium that already shares 3 of our 5 senses — eyes, ears, and a mouth — along with geolocation, color video, and a nearly-always-on Web connection to accomplish the ‘job’ of educating a student.” That’s a much more interesting problem to me than “how do we port 2-page book layouts to a small screen.”
Not every storyworld will work as a transmedia novel, but as accessibility opens doors and presents new options, transmedia will open the gates for enhanced experiences, deeper levels of immersion and a host of options for those lean-back and lean-forward moments. In a nutshell, to receive your stories in the way that you want them! The bottom line is that some readers and writers are changing their habits and fans are becoming actively engaged in stories. The value of a good story remains and is vital; the question is will you prefer to read, listen, watch, or do?
Alison is a bestselling novelist & PhD researcher writing the first transmedia romcom novel. She has discussed the merits of transmedia storytelling for publishers, at TOC, Digital Book World & London Book Fair & will be speaking at RWA, IASPR and The International Conference of BOOK 2010.
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1 week 4 days ago | <urn:uuid:1ee4f671-7ba5-4241-84c6-bfe9ff4db0c2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.futurebook.net/content/transmedia-storytelling-%E2%80%93-what%E2%80%99s-it-all-about | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933932 | 1,982 | 1.9375 | 2 |
Most people have a general idea that when they start sneezing, their nose is runny, and their throat is scratchy, they're getting a cold. But what do you do about it?
The common cold is something very common that people usually get on average three or more times during a year. And it is a virus that's primarily in the nose.
The three main symptoms of a cold are sneezing, nasal stuffiness, and runny nose. You may have other symptoms, like having a fever of 100? or 101?, or you may have some tickling or scratchiness in the back of your throat. In fact, that may be the very first symptom, a little scratch in the back of your throat. Then after a couple days the nasal discharge tends to turn a little bit darker, maybe a little greener. Then after about a week, you're all the way better.
So, what's the best way to treat a cold?
The first thing you need is plenty of rest and fluids. Water, juice, and clear broth can help replace fluids you may lose during a fever. Chicken soup is another great choice, in fact, it can help relieve congestion. In short, chicken soup really is good food.
Over-the-counter oral cold and cough medicines may help ease adult symptoms, but they don't treat the virus that caused your cold. In fact, so far there is no cure for the common cold. ALSO, don't give a child under 6 any cold medicines, they won't help your child, and they may have serious side effects. And antibiotics? They won't help a cold, and, if you take them too often, antibiotics can break down your body's ability to benefit from them in the future when you may really need them, such as when you get the flu.
In general, remember that getting plenty of rest and fluids is the best way to help you deal with your cold symptoms. Eventually, your cold symptoms usually go away, probably in about a week. If you still feel sick after a week, see your doctor to rule out a sinus infection, allergies, or any other medical problem. | <urn:uuid:d024ea24-8ef9-499c-af8b-a72fb23e657e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mercydurango.org/body.cfm?id=186&action=detail&AEArticleID=000080&AEProductID=Adam2004_5117&AEProjectTypeIDURL=APT_57 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969675 | 444 | 2.9375 | 3 |
“Not to engage in the pursuit of ideas is to live like ants instead of like men.”
Do you ever get down in the dumps?
Occasionally, I get lost down there, wandering between mountains of my own kind of dark. It feels like being an ant, lumbering over clumps of earth that are small to other people but monumental to me. Sometimes there isn’t earth at all—just the significant size difference between me and the rest of the world.
Lately, I’ve squirmed beneath both earth and smallness. My legs scrabble over pebble and shale and the walls are stacked so high around me that it feels like perpetual night. I find myself wandering in looping tunnels. I keep digging though, stopping now and then to ask myself if I am just getting in deeper or pulling free of the mire.
Yesterday, I broke ground.
While waiting to pick my kids up from school, I looked up. Mounds of dingy clouds mottled the sky but for one shining moment, a patch of blue surfaced. It felt like God peeled back the sky just for me. It reminded me that all storms pass, even the really long ones. Within seconds, the clouds won out and draped back over the blue.
That small blue space carried me through the rest of the day. It makes me wonder, what if I hadn’t looked up? What if I kept my head down and missed that slice of grace? Would God have offered another one? While I suspect He would, I’m still glad I didn’t miss it.
Today, the sky is more blue than gray. Today the sun is abundant and joyous—available to see no matter where I look. But I think yesterday’s glimpse is a pearl more precious than any glittering diamond.
Muted, soft, and hard-won.
Until next time,
P.S. How do you get out of the dumps? | <urn:uuid:4dad9803-0750-4f65-bb80-a8a46909d963> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ltelliot.com/2010/04/breaking-ground.html?showComment=1271375531837 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942587 | 414 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Apple’s iPads seem to have conquered the entire tablet market, but this fact shouldn’t irritate manufacturers of home desktop computers and other tablets. On the other hand, these manufacturers need to pay attention to this worrisome statistic which states that approximately one in four customers purchases iPads, the tablet computer appears to be their first Apple product. NPD Group states that more and more people rush to purchase iPads and iPhones now.
Summarizing the value of all mentioned above one may conclude that both iPads and iPhones are the major consumer electronics devices. To say the truth these devices faced certain problems in the nearest past but anyway that didn’t ruin their reputation. Moreover according to the recent studies the vast majority of new iPad owners are absolutely satisfied with their purchase. And taking into account the constantly growing index of iPhone sales, there’s nothing threatening Apple’s plans.
PC makers should keep in mind that if customers are satisfied with their already purchased Apple’s stuff then most probably they will opt for this company’s additional hardware such as iMacs, MacBooks, Airport routers and other worthy things. Moreover the availability of the iCloud sync for Reminders as well as Messages supported by both Mac computers and iOS devices, makes expensive Apple desktops and laptops more attractive. And in the worst case customers may even reject the idea of purchasing a personal computer in favor of this flexible iPad as it enables to accomplish most computing tasks.
However, some PC manufacturers such as Sony, Lenovo, Toshiba and Samsung try to occupy both the computer and the mobile niches. Unfortunately these companies have failed to acquire enough experience in terms of mobile and desktop technology, ecosystem and user interface while Apple seems to have no rivals in this field. So those people who are still referring to the traditional desktops and mobiles need to make the right conclusion from this tendency illustrated above. | <urn:uuid:862e7f07-9bba-43a5-88aa-6ea7477e066c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://apple-scene.com/pc-makers-should-keep-an-eye-on-apples-ipads.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957651 | 381 | 1.703125 | 2 |
by Ron Paul
Is all the recent talk of secession mere sour grapes over the election or perhaps something deeper? Currently there are active petitions in support of secession for all 50 states, with Texas taking the lead in number of signatures. Texas has well over the number of signatures needed to generate a response from the administration, and while I wouldn’t hold my breath on Texas actually seceding, I believe these petitions raise a lot of worthwhile questions about the nature of our union.
Is it treasonous to want to secede from the United States? Many think the question of secession was settled by our Civil War. On the contrary, the principles of self-government and voluntary association are at the core of our founding. Clearly, Thomas Jefferson believed secession was proper, albeit as a last resort. Writing to William Giles in 1825 he concluded that states “should separate from our companions only when the sole alternatives left are the dissolution of our union with them, or submission to a government without limitation of powers.”
Secession is a deeply American principle. This country was born through secession. Some thought it was treasonous to secede from England, but those “traitors” became our country’s greatest patriots. There is nothing treasonous or unpatriotic about wanting a federal government that is more responsive to the people it represents. That is what our revolutionary war was all about and today, our own federal government is vastly overstepping its constitutional bounds with no signs of reform. In fact, the recent election only further entrenched the status quo.
If the possibility of secession is completely off the table there is nothing to stop the federal government from continuing to encroach on our liberties, and no recourse for those who are sick and tired of it. Consider the ballot measures that passed in Colorado and Washington state regarding marijuana laws. The people in those states have clearly indicated that they are ready to try something different where drug policy is concerned, yet they will still face a tremendous threat from the federal government. In California the feds have been arresting peaceful medical marijuana users and raiding dispensaries that state and local governments have sanctioned. This shouldn’t happen in a free country!
It remains to be seen what will happen in states that are refusing to comply with deeply unpopular mandates of Obamacare by not setting up healthcare exchanges. It appears the federal government will not respect those decisions either.
In free country governments derive their powers from the consent of the governed. When the people have very clearly withdrawn their consent for a law, the discussion should be over. If the feds refuse to accept that and continue to run roughshod over the people, at what point do we acknowledge that that is not freedom anymore? At what point should a people dissolve the political bands which have connected them with an increasingly tyrannical and oppressive federal government? And if people or states are not free to leave the United States as a last resort, can they really think of themselves as free? If a people cannot secede from an oppressive government they cannot truly be considered free. | <urn:uuid:d2fbb770-a043-49e7-aef8-57e76e97f836> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://freenorthcarolina.blogspot.com/2012/11/midnightrider.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969659 | 621 | 1.71875 | 2 |
“Belarus: The Ongoing Crackdown and Forces for Change”
Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
Rep. Chris Smith, Chairman
November 15, 2011
Welcome to our witnesses and everyone joining us this morning.
Nearly a year after the brutal post- election crackdown of last December, the Lukashenka dictatorship has not relaxed its grip. Civil society remains under attack, with NGOs facing ever greater constraints, and freedoms of assembly and expression are severely infringed. Just a few days ago, Lukashenka further tightened his grip by signing amendments to two laws – one would tighten penalties for political and civil society groups receiving foreign aid and the other would add even more restrictions on peaceful gatherings, such as the “silent” protests which resulted in the detentions of some 3,000 people this past summer.
Yet at the same time there are reasons to ask whether the dictatorship may not be increasingly vulnerable. Lukashenka’s popular support has plunged because of his repression and because of the ongoing economic turmoil. And Lukashenka is facing a new international environment – we can talk about how changing policies of the U.S., EU and international institutions like the IMF may be affecting the dictatorship.
The sad truth is that, two decades after the demise of the Soviet Union, Belarus remains unreconstructed politically and economically and isolated from its European roots. The Belarusian people, who have endured so much over the course of the last century, certainly deserve better. I am convinced that the time will come when Belarus will be an integral member of the family of democratic nations. We need to stand in solidarity with the people of Belarus to achieve these goals and the values we all espouse.
So we’ll have to talk more about what more can be done by the United States and its European partners to promote democratic change in Belarus – both by assisting those struggling for freedom, and by holding accountable those who perpetrate human rights abuses. The Belarus Democracy and Human Rights Act of 201, legislation I authored this spring, passed the House in July, and awaits Senate passage. The BDHRA reinforces earlier legislation I authored, the Belarus Democracy Acts of 2004 and 2006. The Bush and Obama Administrations have put the provisions of the earlier legislation to good use, but this new bill will reinforce our message and provide new tools for promoting democracy and human rights in Belarus – for example, it expands the list of Belarusan senior officials who would be denied U.S. visas and be subject to asset freezes – so that the list would now include those involved in the post-election crackdown.
I’ll close with an observation on political prisoners. In the last few months, Lukashenka has released many of the political prisoners convicted in the crackdown – he obviously hopes to regain favor in Europe and the U.S., in view of Belarus’ sinking economy. The U.S. and the Europeans, and the international lending institutions, must not be taken in by this. Before we can improve relations with such a vicious dictator, we need to see truly meaningful changes – such as the release of all remaining political prisoners, full restoration of their civil and political rights, and a complete end to the harassment of all those who criticize the dictator.
Now I’ll introduce our witnesses.
Our first witness, Ales (AH-LESS) Mikhalevich (Mi-kah-LE-vich) was a candidate in the December 2010 Belarusian presidential elections. In the protest that followed, Mr. Mikhalevich was arrested, as were six other presidential candidates and more than 600 others. Held for two months in a KGB jail – in Belarus it is still called the KGB – after his release Mr. Mikhaelvich publicly denounced the conditions in his prison and described the acts of physical and psychological abuse that he and others endured. In danger of being arrested again, he sought and received political asylum in the Czech Republic. Last week, Mr. Mikhalevich was awarded Canada’s John Humphrey Award for his courage and determination in defending human rights and democratic principles. He holds degrees in Political Science and Law from the Belarusian State University, and has studied at the University of Warsaw and University of Oxford.
Rodger Potocki [Puh-TOT-ski] is Senior Director for Europe at the National Endowment for Democracy, where he has overseen NED’s Belarus portfolio since 1997. Rodger has written widely on Belarus; his most recent article, “A Tale of Two Elections,” appeared in the July 2011 issue of the Journal of Democracy. An adjunct in Georgetown University’s History Department, Rodger also worked in the US Congress and at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and Jamestown Foundation. He holds an MA in Russian and East European Studies from Yale
Susan Corke is Director for Eurasia Programs at Freedom House. Before joining Freedom House, she spent seven years at the State Department most recently as the Deputy Director for European Affairs in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL). Of great interest to us because of the Helsinki Commission’s mandate to fight for human rights, she has been the managing editor for the State Department Country Reports on Human Rights, where she had responsibility for reports on European countries. She has also had supervisory oversight over DRL’s civil society, media and human rights programs in Europe (including Belarus). She has a Master’s degree in International Affairs from George Washington University. | <urn:uuid:f090a679-78ca-4a1e-9840-5378cba46b36> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://csce.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContentRecords.ViewWitness&ContentRecord_id=1374&ContentType=D&ContentRecordType=D&ParentType=H&CFID=9122161&CFTOKEN=43372433 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962359 | 1,132 | 1.71875 | 2 |
HISTORY OF FLIGHT Use your browsers 'back' function to return to synopsisReturn to Query Page
On April 24, 2006, at 1145 eastern daylight time, an experimental Lancair 360, N9GX, registered to and operated by a private individual, as a 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight, lost power and collided with the ground shortly after takeoff from the East Cooper Airport, Charleston, South Carolina. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident, and no flight plan was filed. The airplane was destroyed by impact forces, and the commercial-rated pilot was fatally injured. The flight was originating from East Cooper Airport at the time of the accident.
In a statement provided to an FAA inspector, a witness stated that he observed the aircraft make two low passes over runway 17. He also stated that the engine sounded like it was running smoothly but quietly. On a third pass, the pilot raised the landing gear and started to climb. He began a normal left turn to crosswind. The witness stated that he might have looked away for a second, and "when I looked back, the wings had rotated to what appeared to be almost a 90-degree bank." The witness also said that, " the nose of the aircraft dropped to almost vertical, the aircraft dove into the ground, but I did not observe any fire or smoke."
The pilots wife stated that her husband went to the airport to practice touch and go landings. Witnesses at the airport reported seeing the airplane conducting touch and go landings prior to the accident. They reported that the airplane departed from runway 17, entered a high bank angle and "just fell out of the sky." The Charleston County Aviation Authority responded to the crash and found the wreckage approximately 800 feet left of the centerline of runway 17. FAA inspectors arrived at the scene and reported that the airplane was located in a marsh area with the nose embedded in the ground facing the runway. No radio transmissions were received from the pilot prior to the accident.
A review of the information on file with the FAA Airman's Certification Division, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, revealed that the pilot was issued a private pilot certificate on November 7, 2003, with ratings for airplane single engine land and multiengine land instrument airplane. The pilot also held a commercial pilot rating for rotorcraft-helicopter and instrument helicopter. The pilot's last flight review was conducted on October 8, 2005. The pilot held a third-class medical certificate issued on January 31, 2006 with no restrictions. A review of the pilot's logbook pages revealed that the pilot had a total of 3,888.1 flight hours. The last recorded flight in N9GX previous to the accident was on April 03, 2006.
The airplane was an experimental Lancair (serial number 804-320-646FB). It was a two-seated, low-wing airplane of predominantly fiberglass construction with retractable tricycle landing gear. A 160-horsepower Lycoming IO-360-B1F engine (serial number L-28075-51A) powered the airplane.
A review of the aircraft logbook revealed that Interstate Turbine Management preformed a conditional type annual inspection on March 22, 2006. The airframe Hobbs time at annual inspection was 51.9 hours. A review of the engine logbook revealed that the engine was disassembled and reassembled by Triad Aviation IAW AS2004-10-14 for a propeller strike on February 13, 2006. The engine was test run for 2 hours 15 minutes at an RPM 2700, and returned to service. The engine was reinstalled on the airplane on March 22, 2006.
Examination of the wreckage by FAA inspectors and an A&P mechanic revealed that the airplane was located 1,000 feet off the departure end of runway 17. Upon arriving at the site they noticed that there was no smell of fuel. The engine and propeller were embedded 3-feet into the ground. The cockpit and fuselage section of the airplane was fragmented. The empennage was broken off at the front of the vertical stabilizer. Examination of the left wing and primary flight control surfaces revealed that they were fragmented on impact. Examination of the right wing revealed that the leading edge was fragmented and the remainder of the wing was intact. The right wing fuel tank revealed a small trace of residual fuel. The fuel lines were removed from the fuel flow transducer and fuel flow divider, and residual fuel was noted in fuel lines.
Examination of the engine revealed a residual amount of fuel in the gascolator. The header tank was fragmented and no fuel was noted. The propeller governor was removed, the crankshaft turned freely, and continuity of the valve train was observed. The cylinders were removed and the case halves split, and all components were in serviceable condition. The fuel servo was inspected, and no anomalies were noted. The mechanical fuel pump was broken, and when tested by hand was able to pump fuel.
Personnel from the Mount Pleasant Fire Department, who responded to the accident site shortly after the event, did not observed the smell of fuel at the wreckage site. The report filed by the Fire Department determined there was no fuel spill at the accident site.
The Medical University of South Carolina preformed a postmortem examination of the commercial-rated pilot on April 25, 2006. The reported cause of death was blunt force trauma. The Forensic Toxicology Research Section, Federal Aviation Administration, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, performed postmortem toxicology of specimens from the pilot. The results were negative for carbon monoxide, cyanide, and ethanol.
On March 15, 2006, the pilot purchased 37.20 gallons of 100LL AVGAS from Corporate Wings, Charleston, South Carolina. On March 22, 2006, the pilot requested Interstate Turbine Management to perform a new weight and balance of his airplane. The airplane was defueled to facilitate the weight and balance. After the weight and balance was perform it was returned to the pilot without fuel. There were no records of the airplane being refueled prior to the accident flight.
The airplane was released to Mike Alpha Tango Company on June 12, 2006. | <urn:uuid:76cb1822-0e0b-48b8-8414-dab83101dc90> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief2.aspx?ev_id=20060508X00520&ntsbno=ATL06LA070&akey=1 | 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 | 0.973523 | 1,261 | 2.46875 | 2 |
These are hints and code examples I created for teaching computer graphics to 3rd/4th year students. All the code has a new BSD/MIT license, have fun, let me know if you do something cool with it.
The first program I write for any new 3D system (hardware or software) is a spinning cube. It's also the first program I give my students. A cube is the "hello world" of 3D programming: if you can draw a cube, you can draw anything.
I use GLUT for teaching, as do many OpenGL books, because it's easy to learn and available for all the major platforms. But if you want to build more complex GUIs around your 3D graphics, you will need a better UI toolkit. Here is the spinning cube rewritten for:
More and more, Python has become my first choice for programming projects. Here is a Python OpenGL cube program. Requires wxPython and PyOpenGL.
Some introductory notes on how to write stereoscopic VR programs.
These are COMP2720 lecture notes about the use of 2D images in 3D graphics. It's meant to be a brief introduction for students who've done some 2D programming with raster graphics.
Why am I staring at a black screen? is a question every 3D programmer asks themselves from time to time. This gives some reasons why.
OpenGL lighting hints for new programmers may be helpful if you are grappling with lights, materials, and surface normals for the first time.
This is a program to demonstrate creating stereo graphics for either redblue stereo (any machine) or active stereo with shutter glasses. Your choice of C or Java. Written for Linux, but uses GLUT/JOGL so should run on other systems with minimal changes. (And it isn't a cube.)
Back to Home Page | <urn:uuid:772c1307-4db8-496e-9ea4-38990e96cea5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cs.anu.edu.au/~Hugh.Fisher/3dteach/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914346 | 381 | 2.78125 | 3 |
As a general rule, all JBS students are to take at least six (6) classes each semester. The JBS Guidance Counselor will arrange the schedule on a semester basis. The Guidance Counselor may pre-register selected JBS juniors and seniors for Alice Lloyd College courses. College courses may apply toward meeting the student class load requirement if necessary. Any other exceptions to the normal class load must be initiated by the Guidance Counselor and approved by the JBS Dean and Alice Lloyd College Academic Dean (depending upon availability of classes following ALC student placement). The college courses successfully completed count as both high school and college credit.
Additional information about The June Buchanan School’s academic offerings can be found in the following links.
The June Buchanan School is a college preparatory school and provides opportunities for students to take a series of standardized tests. The Guidance Counselor maintains materials designed to help students improve their performance on standardized tests. Standardized test results are important indicators for college and university admission officials, and JBS uses test scores as a tool to evaluate curriculum performance.
Materials for registering for college entrance exams (American College Test – ACT, and the Scholastic Aptitude Test – SAT), registration deadlines, and exam dates are available from the Guidance Counselor. JBS encourages students to take these standardized exams and the Guidance Counselor will help advise students in this regard. Announcements concerning the exams are posted on bulletin boards in CAC and the Guidance Counselor will send parents a listing of standardized testing dates with other pertinent information.
This test is a preliminary test for the SAT administered by the Guidance Counselor, and is the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. The test is designed for juniors.
The Guidance Counselor will administer this test for sophomores in October. The test is a preliminary to the ACT.
JBS administers the CTBS test in April each year to students in Kindergarten through Ninth grade.
All JBS juniors and seniors are encouraged to take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (usually given in November).
To graduate from The June Buchanan School, a student must have successfully completed a total of twenty-four (24) credits, consisting of:
Part of the unique nature of the educational program at JBS is the opportunity students have to get a “head start” on their college course work by taking ALC college classes during the regular school year as a part of JBS tuition arrangements. This program was envisioned as a means by which advanced students can advance beyond classes offered at JBS. CHAP is designed as a fast-track option for outstanding JBS students. JBS students may count college courses as “dual credit” with the permission of the appropriate officials of the School and ALC.
CHAP classes taken at Alice Lloyd College count as electives for JBS students. However, the CHAP class grade is not calculated into the JBS grade point average, unless it is a class that is replacing a JBS class. For example, if the JBS student takes Speech at the college because they could not fit it into their JBS schedule, it will be calculated into the grade point average.
The JBS Guidance Counselor identifies students eligible for the CHAP program and arranges college pre-registration. Seniors must submit an application and be accepted by Alice Lloyd College (this requires an ACT score of at least 18), and are required to take a minimum of three JBS classes. Only under exceptional circumstances will the JBS Guidance Counselor designate 2nd semester juniors for CHAP courses. JBS juniors must exhaust all JBS course offerings in an academic area before being eligible for CHAP. Written approval (signatures) must be given by JBS Dean, the ALC Academic Dean, and the parent(s) of the student applying for a CHAP class for the student to be eligible to take a CHAP class. Juniors may only take one college offering in the spring semester and are subject to the same college criteria as the seniors.
JBS students enrolled in ALC classes must abide by college rules of classroom participation, drop-add regulations, and grading and testing policies. JBS students are not authorized to “cut” college classes regardless of the number of permissible cuts allowed by the college instructor. JBS students may be asked to withdraw from a college course by college administrators or the JBS Dean and/or Guidance Counselor if it is determined that such withdrawal is in the best interest of the student or either of the respective institutions. A complete listing of CHAP courses is available in the Guidance Counselor’s office. | <urn:uuid:92d9c588-7cfe-4f9e-acc5-b244bfc3d64c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.alc.edu/the-june-buchanan-school/academics/?yr=2012&month=11&dy=&cid=mini | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939613 | 966 | 1.78125 | 2 |
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Home > The Science of Lightning
The Science of Lightning
June 26, 2012
Understanding the Science of Thunderstorms and Lightning
By definition, all thunderstorms contain lightning. Lightning is a giant spark of electricity that occurs within the atmosphere or between the atmosphere and the ground. As lightning passes through the air, it heats the air rapidly to a temperature of about 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit, about 5 times hotter than the surface of the sun.
During a lightning discharge, the sudden heating of the air causes it to expand rapidly. After the discharge, the air contracts quickly as it cools back to a normal temperature. This rapid expansion and contraction of the air causes a shock wave that we hear as thunder (this shock wave can damage walls and break glass).
All thunderstorms go through various stages of growth, development, electrification, and dissipation. The process of thunderstorm development often begins early in the day when the sun heats the air near the ground and pockets of warmer air start to rise in the atmosphere. When these pockets reach a certain level in the atmosphere, cumulus clouds start to form.
Continued heating can cause these clouds to grow vertically upward into the atmosphere. These "towering cumulus" clouds may be one of the first indications of a developing thunderstorm. The final stage of development occurs as the top of the cloud becomes anvil-shaped.
As a thunderstorm cloud grows, precipitation forms within the cloud with mostly small ice crystals in the upper levels of the cloud, a mixture of small ice crystals and small hail (graupel) in the middle levels of the cloud, and a mixture of rain and melting hail in the lower levels of the cloud. Due to air movements and collisions between the precipitation particles near the middle of the cloud, the various precipitation particles become charged.
The lighter ice crystals become positively charged and are carried upward into the upper part of the storm by the updraft. The heavier hail becomes negatively charged is suspended by the updraft or falls toward the lower part of the storm. The end result is that the top of the cloud becomes positively charged and the middle and lower part of the storm becomes negatively charged.
Normally, the earth's surface has a slight negative charge; however, as the negative charges build up in the lower and middle part of the storm, the ground beneath the base of the cloud and in the area immediately surrounding the cloud becomes positively charged. As the cloud moves, these induced positive charges on the ground follow the cloud like a shadow. Farther away from the cloud base, but under the positively charged anvil, the negative charge may be further induced.
In the initial stages of development, air acts as an insulator between the positive and negative charges. However, when the electrical potential between the positive and negative charges becomes too great, the insulating capacity of the air breaks down and there is a discharge of electricity that we know as lightning.
Lightning can occur completely within the thunderstorm cloud or between the cloud and the ground. In-cloud lightning generally occurs between positive charges near the top of the cloud and negative charges near the middle or bottom of the cloud. Cloud-to-ground lightning occurs between charges in the cloud and charges on the ground. Lightning can also occur between clouds.
Cloud-to-ground lightning can be categorized into two different types -- the negative flash and the positive flash. The negative flash usually occurs between the negative charges in the lower part of the storm and the positive charges on the ground under and near the cloud base. Positive flashes usually occur between the positively-charged upper levels of the storm and the negatively-charged area surrounding the storm.
In the negative cloud-to-ground flash, an almost invisible, negatively-charged channel of air forms in the lower part of the cloud and surges downward toward the ground. As this "step leader" approaches the ground, streamers of positive charge propagate upward from trees, buildings, and other objects on the ground. When one or more of these streamers meet the step leader, the connection is complete, and the lightning channel discharges which we see as the very bright "return stroke" that we call lightning. The entire process takes only a small fraction of a second.
The process for a positive flash is similar except that a positive channel usually originates in the anvil of the storm and propagates downward. In this case, streamers of negative charge move up to meet positively-charged channel as it approaches the ground. When a connection is made, a positive flash of lightning occurs.
While both negative and positive flashes of lightning can be deadly, positive flashes are more apt to catch people by surprise. Because the distance between the ground and anvil is much greater than the distance between the ground and the cloud base, a much larger electric potential is needed to initiate a positive flash of lightning. For the same reason, positive flashes are infrequent and widely scattered around the storm.
The greatest danger associated with the positive flashes, however, is that they strike in areas where most people think they are safe from the storm. They generally strike well beyond the area where rain is falling and well beyond the main area where most of the lightning (negative flashes) and thunder is occurring. Consequently, many victims are caught completely off guard.
The best advice in order to minimize your risk of becoming a lightning victim is to get to a safe shelter sooner and to stay there longer. In general, if you can hear thunder, you are within striking distance of the storm.
Remember…When Thunder Roars, Go Indoors!
Lightning Fact for the Day:
What is often referred to as "Heat Lightning" is simply the lightning from a distant thunderstorm that is too far away for the resultant thunder to be heard. In most cases, the light you observe is being reflected off clouds near the horizon. Keep an eye on the storm though, since it may be headed in your direction.
Lightning Question of the Day:
How can you tell how far a flash of lightning is away from you?
While you see the visible flash of lightning almost instantaneously, the sound of the thunder travels at a speed of about 1100 feet per second or about 1 mile in 5 seconds. For every 5 seconds between the time you observe the lightning and the time you hear the thunder, the lightning flash is 1 mile away. If you count 10 seconds between the lightning flash and the corresponding thunder, the lightning flash was 2 miles away. For 15 seconds, the flash would be three miles away.
Unfortunately, this method only works for the previous flash and does not tell you how close the next lightning strike will be. Generally, if you hear thunder, you are within striking distance for the next flash of lightning. If you are not in a safe place at the time, move to a safe place immediately.
The National Weather Service has declared the week of June 24th through 30th, Lightning Safety Awareness Week. This safety information is courtesy of the National Weather Service, Gray, Maine.
To learn more about lightning safety, visit the National Weather Service Lightning Safety page.
|Copyright © 2010 All rights reserved.| | <urn:uuid:538f220f-9513-4889-8328-30e1313db3bd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://maine.gov/mema/prepare/prep_news.shtml?id=401098 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931428 | 1,483 | 3.9375 | 4 |
§ Mr. Austin Mitchell
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department by what authority, and for what reasons, the Cable Authority ceased taking the RTL Astra channel.
§ Mr. Mellor
The Cable Authority is responsible under the Cable and Broadcasting Act 1984 for the regulation of programme content on cable television. Section 10 of the 1984 Act places the authority under a duty to do all that it can to ensure that all licensed services comply with a number of requirements, which are codified in the authority's programme codes and guidelines. I understand the Cable Authority concluded that RTL Plus was in breach of these requirements and that it was therefore no longer acceptable. | <urn:uuid:69614e5c-f188-47ac-b8e3-80e5c076e8fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/written_answers/1990/mar/29/rtl-astra-channel | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952965 | 135 | 1.5 | 2 |
So reads the epigram carved into a commemorative stone, appropriately spartan, on a Greek hill. The tale behind it thrilled generations of schoolchildren educated in the classics. Hollywood is now praying it can breathe new life into the genre of the ancient historical epic with the help of a British-led cast.
The Battle of Thermopylae is regarded as one of history's pivotal moments, a doomed yet heroic last stand in 480BC with nothing less than Western civilisation at stake. Led by King Leonidas, an elite force of 300 Spartans, backed by around 7,000 Greeks, was vastly outnumbered by King Xerxes' invading Persian army, which has been estimated at between 80,000 and more than a million. For three days the Spartans stood firm at the 'Hot Gates', the main pass into central Greece, and inflicted appalling losses before being outflanked and killed. The sacrifice inspired all of Greece to unite and drive out the Persians and is therefore seen as enabling the seeds of Western democracy to flourish.
The story has faded from the school curriculum along with Greek and Latin, but a dark and violent £30m film dramatisation, named 300, receives its world premiere next month at the Berlin Film Festival. British actors take leading parts, with Gerard Butler, who played the title role in the film version of The Phantom of the Opera, as Leonidas, rising star Lena Headey as his wife, Queen Gorgo, and Dominic West as the warrior Theron. But cinema-goers will also be assailed by computer-generated special effects featuring monsters, battlefield carnage and superhuman acrobatics - this is no literal interpretation.
Hollywood is pinning hopes on 300 to rediscover the kind of success enjoyed by Ridley Scott's Oscar-winning Gladiator in 2000. Since then the ancient epic has suffered setbacks with Troy, starring Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom, which was derided by critics as a travesty of Homer, and Alexander, with a bleached-blond Colin Farrell, which flopped at the box office and earned director Oliver Stone some of his worst reviews. Both films were made by Warner Brothers, as is 300. Another turkey could destroy studios' willingness to invest in the genre, just as in 1963 when the Richard Burton-Elizabeth Taylor version of Cleopatra killed such productions for decades.
'Gladiator was such a huge success in 2000 that a lot of people jumped on the bandwagon,' said historian Paul Cartledge, a Sparta expert who advised the makers of 300 on ancient Greek pronunciations. 'I thought Troy was quite good but my colleagues did not agree. Alexander was a lumbering, shapeless failure, historically and artistically. It's put the notion of making ancient movies back, so there is a lot riding on 300.'
300 is based on a graphic novel by Frank Miller and uses the same technology that brought his comic book Sin City to the big screen. Miller was inspired by Thermopylae when, aged six, he saw the film The 300 Spartans, starring Ralph Richardson. 'It was a shocker, because the heroes died,' Miller recalled. 'I was used to seeing Superman punch out planets. It was an epiphany to realise that the hero wasn't necessarily the guy who won.' Miller researched the battle, interviewed academics and visited the site in Greece but has admitted that he occasionally used artistic licence at the expense of accuracy.
300 has been described as 'the goriest ever film' and its director, Zack Snyder, says it possesses a 'hysterical weirdness'. He reportedly enlisted an extreme fitness trainer and sent the actors and stuntmen to a 'boot camp' for two-and-a-half months, forcing them to endure punishing workouts and live off meat, leaves and berries. Snyder said: 'I told everyone, "You guys have got to be in crazy shape, in superhero shape."' He issued them with T-shirts that read, 'I died at Thermopylae'.
The film recreates the moment when the Spartans were warned that enemy arrows would darken the sun and one soldier replied, 'Then we will fight them in the shade.' Cartledge, author of Thermopylae: The Battle that Changed the World, said he was not surprised the battle retains its fascination. 'It's one of those iconic moments, like Dunkirk, a defeat but a glorious defeat that marked the turning point towards victory. All 300 Spartans took part on the basis that they had sons so they knew their bloodline would not die out. They had about 7,000 Greek allies, and I think it's reasonable to estimate they were up against 200,000 Persians. Had the Persians won the overall war, where would we be? We can't say democracy in the Athenian manner would have happened in the way it did.'
Winners and losers in ancient tussle
Based on ancient Rome under emperor Marcus Aurelius
Director Ridley Scott
Stars Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix
Budget $103m (£53m)
Worldwide box office $456m
Critics said 'Just when we thought the day of the sword-and-sandal spectacular was a distant memory, along comes a Roman epic to rival classics such as Ben Hur'
Based on Homer's account of the assault on the city by the Greeks
Director Wolfgang Petersen
Stars Eric Bana, Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom
Box office: $481m
Critics said 'In Troy, and in overreaching, underachieving productions like it, digital imagery is fast becoming both a Trojan horse and an Achilles heel'
Based on the life of Alexander the Great
Director Oliver Stone
Stars Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie, Anthony Hopkins
Box office $167m
Critics said 'Turkeys don't come any bigger' | <urn:uuid:c9912ca0-0ea5-4fa2-9dbf-10410fde0465> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/jan/28/film.filmnews | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966111 | 1,188 | 2.46875 | 2 |
Healthy Living: Blogs
Story Updated: Jun 22, 2012
Deep brain stimulation also known as DBS is a surgical procedure that is used to treat several disabling brain issues.
A new study... published in the journal Neurology- looks at whether DBS may help Parkinson patients over the long haul.
159 participants were randomly assigned to deep brain stimulations in two different parts of the brain. They were then asked to keep a diary of their motor symptoms for three years.
While past studies have had mixed results about which area of the brain benefits most from DBS, this research showed significant relief for patients who had surgery in both. Motor symptoms improved by 32% on average over the course of the study.
Medication use was allowed so more research is needed to figure out what role, if any, it played.
While there is no cure for Parkinson's, this study shows Deep Brain Stimulation can help provide relief from debilitating effects of the disease, like tremors.
I'm Dr. Cindy Haines of HealthDay TV, with the news that doctors are reading; health news that matters to you. | <urn:uuid:504cc2a1-b9f6-4596-a11a-a303d1a189ee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wkbw.com/lifestyle/health-link?feed=bim&id=159951695 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96795 | 230 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Common sense suggests people typically prefer to feel emotions that are pleasant, like excitement, and avoid those that are unpleasant, like anger. However, does the emotion of anger provide a benefit in some situations?
A new study in the journal Association for Psychological Science suggests “anger,” while perhaps unpleasant, is helpful or useful in particular situations.
Psychologists Maya Tamir and Christopher Mitchell of Boston College, and James Gross of Stanford University tested whether people prefer to experience emotions that are potentially useful, even when they are unpleasant to experience.
The authors wanted to examine whether individuals are motivated to increase their level of anger when they expect to complete a confrontational task, where anger might enhance performance.
They told the study participants that they will either play a computer game that is confrontational (Soldier of fortune — a first person shooter game where killing enemies is your primary goal) or one that is not confrontational (“Diner Dash”– a game in which players guide a waitress serving customers). They were then asked to rate the extent to which they would like to engage in different activities before playing the game.
The researchers found that participants preferred activities that were likely to make them angry (e.g., listening to anger-inducing music, recalling past events in which they were angry) when they expected to perform the confrontational task. In contrast, participants preferred more pleasant activities when they expected to perform a non-confrontational task.
With this preference established, the researchers wanted to examine whether these inclinations to increase anger improved performance. They randomly assigned participants to either the angry or excited emotion induction (or a neutral condition) and then had them play the confrontational and a non-confrontational computer games.
As expected, angry participants performed better than others in the confrontational game by successfully killing more enemies. However, angry participants did not perform better than others in the non-confrontational game, which involved serving customers.
So it seems that individuals are not always striving to feel pleasure and may even be willing to endure some nasty emotions if necessary. “Such findings,” write the authors “demonstrate that what people prefer to feel at any given moment may depend, in part, on what they might get out of it.” | <urn:uuid:6d786bc4-916d-4f8d-8a67-bdea9a74e084> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/03/27/usefulness-of-anger/2086.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962844 | 464 | 3.109375 | 3 |
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City Guide: HoustonLocated at the south of the United States, Houston is the largest city in the State of Texas, and the fourth largest city in the United States of America by its area. Founded in 1830s, it is home to Texas Medical Center and NASA’s Johnson Space Center. In addition to its skyscrapers and high-rise buildings, the city has many museums and lush green landscape
Tourist AttractionsHouston is world renowned for its high-quality museums. In addition, it is known as the space city by being home to NASA and it has a high-rise skyline.
Located close to the City Hall, the Museum District is a beautiful part of the city which should be visited. This area is the collection of tree-lined paths, magnificent gardens, fountains and many of the best museums in Houston.
Rothko Chapel located in the Museum District is an architectural highlight of 20th century art. The fourteen paintings produced by Mark Rothko for the chapel create a meditative atmosphere.
The Downtown Aquarium includes exhibits of the striking sea life. This underwater world teeming with a great deal of exotic species is the place for unprecedented experiences.
Standing as the site where Houston was founded in 1836, Buffalo Bayou is a 52 mile-slow moving waterway and a significant recreation area. It is home to a diverse collection of fauna and flora, hiking and bike trails, with many parks located along its banks. Sam Houston Park, Hidalgo Park, Buffalo Bayou Art Park and Spotts Park are a few parks located here.
Culture & EntertainmentHouston is home to many culturally and historically significant museums. The city is one of the best known destinations in the country for its ballet, opera and theater companies.
The Museum District hosts many popular collections and cultural institutions. Millions of visitors flock to this area every year. The Museum of Fine Arts, Holocaust Museum Houston, Menil Collection and Houston Museum of Natural Science are just a few examples.
The Theater District located in the Downtown area is home to the major performing arts centers of the city. Alley Theater, Bayou Place, Wortham Theater Center, Hobby Center for the Performing Arts are a few performing venues available.
The Houston Ballet, Houston Symphony Orchestra and Houston Grand Opera are among the major performing arts venues of Houston.
Located in the Downtown area Theater District, Bayou Place is the main entertainment venue hosting, live music, cinemas and other forms entertainments.
Food & DrinkHouston is known as one of the best culinary areas in the United States. The city cuisine comprises almost all of the world cuisines. Vegetarian, sea food, Japanese, fast-food, coffeehouses, Mediterranean, barbecue and many more types of food are available. Barbecue food is especially a significant part of the city cuisine.
While the Theater District is filled with restaurants offering a variety tof continental cuisines, the downtown Entertainment District boasts many trendy restaurants.
ShoppingHouston is a shopper’s paradise offering designer boutiques, flea markets, large malls, department stores, and underground pedestrian tunnels.
The Galleria area is home to the biggest shop concentration in Houston. Here, you will find everything. Highland Village Shopping Center located in the east part of the Galleria is an amazing shopping area. Rice Village is the place for designer boutiques, craft galleries and traditional shops. The Central Market is the best place for a great range of food. A large wine list and vegetables are waiting the visitors.
In Skylife Houston
In 10 Steps “New” Houston
In 10 Steps “New” Houston
NASA SPACE MUSEUM: You too can be an astronaut at the Space Museum, where the National Aeronautics and Space Administration offers visitors a wide choice of activities and hands-on experiences. Be sure to visit the museum with your kids and examine the rockets, check out the simulations, see all the work stations and experience weightlessness just like a real astronaut!
FINE ARTS MUSEUM
Founded in 1900, Cullen Sculpture Garden is Texas’s first art museum and one of America’s biggest national museums. It dazzles the eye with Cullen Garden of Sculpture, historic mansions on its grounds and its extensive collection of Renaissance and Baroque art.
HOUSTON CHILDREN’S MUSEUM
One of the city’s most popular venues, this is also one of the best conceived and most advanced children’s museums in the world with a vast range of activities. Your kids will love this museum, which provides education for children of every nationality in science, culture, geography and creativity, as well as offering activities and play areas.
THE MENIL COLLECTION
You’ll find one of the most significant art collections in the U.S. in this modern art museum owned by the Menils, a prominent Houston family. Works of modern artists like Picasso, Ernst, Matisse, Magritte and many others can be seen in this collection, which also includes ethnic art and antiques.
ART CAR MUSEUM
As its name indicates, this museum invites ‘Art Car’ buffs to see for themselves how classic cars are transformed into works of art. A collection of ‘mad’ classics from priceless American cars encrusted with knives and forks to pink Cadillacs of every hue. And the Art Car festivals and exhibitions are a year-round tradition.
BAYOU BEND COLLECTION AND GARDENS
Once the home of Houston philanthropist Ima Hogg, Bayou Bend, on the grounds of the Fine Arts Museum, is home now to the city’s most valuable collection of American decorative arts. Built in the 1920’s, this historic mansion has 28 rooms, each reflecting the decor of a different period.
Houston’s Chinatown is little known. And yet it is home to the largest Asian population outside L.A. But Houston’s Chinatown boasts another superlative: America’s biggest Asian Shopping Center. Hong Kong City is a behemoth of a mall where you can find absolutely everything from Asia. Don’t miss this exotic experience
THE PROJECT ROW HOUSES
Once slated for demolition, the Project Row Houses were restored with the help of local firms and transformed into an artistic and cultural community. One of the finest examples of Houston’s changing face, these 22 restored free-standing homes and their residents are making a significant contribution to the stage arts.
One of the city’s most genteel districts, Houston Heights is a perfect picture of 19th and 20th century America. Its layout unchanged since the 19th century, Heights teems with former financial district, shops, cafes and antique dealers, all restored to their original appearance. And the historic Houston Heights Town Hall and Fire Station and fine old homes are the icing on the cake.
One of several parks in the heart of Houston, Discovery Green is an ideal place to take the kids for a day of fun activities. The park’s most prominent work of art is University of Texas Art Professor Margo Sawyer’s installation, Synchronicity of Color, with its cubes of different colors.
Ticket Sales Offices: Houston
Houston: Airport Map Information
Address : George Bush Intercontinental Airport, 2800 North Terminal Road, Houston, Texas 77032, USA Phone : +1 281 230 3100
Houston: Airport Map Information
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|Monetary Unit||:||American Dollar|
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REVIEW OF NEW BOOKS.
Poems by James Russell Lowell. Cambridge: Published by John Owen.
This new volume of poems by Mr. Lowell will place him, in the estimation of all whose opinion he will be likely to value, at the very head of the poets of America. For our own part, we have not the slightest hesitation in saying, that we regard the "Legend of Brittany" as by far the finest poetical work, of equal length, which the country has produced. We have only to regret, just now, that the late period at which we received the volume, and the great length to which Mr. Poe has been seduced into a notice of "Orion," will preclude an extended notice and analysis this month of Mr. Lowell's volume. This, however, we propose at some future period. For the present, we must content ourselves, perforce, with some very cursory and unconnected comments.
Mr. Lowell is, in some measure, infected with the poetical conventionalities of the day -- those upon which Mr. Poe has descanted in speaking of Mr. Horne's epic. He has suffered himself to be coteried into conceptions of the aims of the muse, which his reason either now disapproves, or will disapprove hereafter, and which his keen instinct of the beautiful and proper has, long ere this, struggled to disavow. It will not be many days before he dismisses these heresies altogether; and, in his last, longest, and best work, we clearly see that he is already growing wearied with them -- although the distaste may yet be scarcely perceptible to himself. We mean to say that he will soon find it wise to give every thing its due time and place. He will never the less reverence the truth nor ever will the welfare of his race be less precious in his eyes than now -- we should grieve, indeed, could we think it would -- but his views of the modes in which these objects are to be advanced will undergo modification, and he will see distinctly, what he now but vaguely feels -- that the sole legitimate object of the true poem is the creation of beauty.
The "Legend of Brittany" includes a hundred and eighteen of the Don Juan stanzas. Its subject is exquisitely beautiful. Whether it is original with Mr. Lowell we know not -- most probably it is not -- but the story itself (from whatever source derived) forms one of the truest and purest poetical theses imaginable. A Templar loves and betrays a maiden. Afterward, to conceal his guilt, he murders her, enceinte, concealing the corpse, temporarily, behind the altar of his church. A nameless awe prevents him from removing it. Meantime, a festival is held in the church; and, during the swell of the organ, the spirit-voice of the deceased addresses itself to the murderer. It represents that she, the murdered, cannot enjoy the heaven which she inhabits, through grief at the destiny of the unbaptized infant in her womb. She implores its baptism. The poem ends with the performance of this rite, and the death, through remorse, of the repentant lover.
The naked digest here given conveys, of course, only the most feeble idea of the rare beauty of the whole; nor of this beauty could we convey any just conception even in many pages of comment. The sublimity of human love was never more magnificently portrayed. We cannot refrain from quoting some passages from the words of the spirit:
Think not in death my love could ever cease.The description of the swelling of the organ -- immediately preceding these extracts -- surpasses, in all the loftier merits, any similar passage we have seen. It is truly magnificent. For those who have the book, we instance the forty-first stanza of the second book, and the nine stanzas succeeding. We know not where to look, in all American poetry, for any thing more richly ideal, or more forcibly conveyed.
If thou wast false more need there is for me
Still to be true; that slumber were not peace,
If't were unvisited with dreams of thee:
And thou hadst never heard such words as these,
Save that in heaven I must forever be
Most comfortless and wretched, seeing this
Our unbaptized babe shut out from bliss.
This little spirit with imploring eyes
Wanders alone the dreary wild of space;
The shadow of his pain forever lies
Upon my soul in this new dwelling place;
His loneliness makes me in Paradise
More lonely, and unless I see his face,
Even here for grief could I lie down and die,
Save for my curse of immortality.
World after world he sees around him swim,
Crowded with happy souls, that take no heed
Of the sad eyes that from the night's faint rim
Gaze sick with longing on them as they speed
With golden gates that only shut out him;
And shapes sometimes, from Hell's abysses freed,
Flap darkly by him, with enormous sweep
Of wings that roughen wide the pitchy deep.
I am a mother -- spirits do not shake
This much of earth from them -- and I must pine
Till I can feel his little hands, and take
His weary head upon this heart of mine;
And might it be full gladly for his sake
Would I this solitude of bliss resign,
And be shut out of Heaven to dwell with him
Forever in that silence drear and dim.
I strove to hush my soul, and would not speak
At first for thy dear sake; a woman's love
Is mighty, but a mother's heart is weak,
And by its weakness overcomes; I strove
To smother bitter thoughts with patience meek,
But still in the abyss my soul would rove,
Seeking my child, and drove me here to claim
The rite that gives him peace in Christ's dear name.
I sit and weep while blessed spirits sing;
I can but long and pine the while they praise,
And, leaning o'er the wall of Heaven, I fling
My voice to where I deem my infant strays,
Like a robbed bird that cries in vain to bring
Her nestlings back beneath her wing's embrace;
But still he answers not, and I but know
That Heaven and Earth are both alike in wo.
The music is suddenly interrupted by the nameless awe which indicates the presence of the unseen spirit.
As if a lark should suddenly drop deadThe defects observable in the "Legend of Brittany" are, chiefly, consequent upon the error of didacticism. After every few words of narration, comes a page of morality. Not that the morality, here -- not that the reflections deduced from the incidents, are peculiarly exceptionable, but that they are too obviously, intrusively, and artificially introduced. The story might have been rendered more unique, and altogether more in consonance with the true poetic sentiment, by suffering the morality to be suggested; as it is, for example, in the "Old Curiosity Shop," of Dickens -- or in that superb poem, the "Undine" of De la Motte Fouqué.
While the blue air yet trembled with its song,
So snapped at once that music's golden thread,
Struck by a nameless fear that leapt along [page 143:]
From heart to heart, and like a shadow spread
With instantaneous shiver through the throng,
So that some glanced behind, as half aware
A hideous shape of dread were standing there.
The other demerits are minor ones. The versification is now and then slightly deficient -- sometimes in melody -- sometimes in force. The drawing out of "power," "heaven," and other similar words into two syllables, is sure to enfeeble the verses in which they are so drawn out. The versifier, where a doubt, however slight, exists, never errs on the side of excess; but this is a point we cannot argue just now. Of the positively rough lines, we quote only one:
Earth's dust hath clotted round the soul's fresh wing.
Here the harsh consonants are excessive. But we feel ashamed of alluding to trifles such as these in the presence of beauties so numerous and so true. We extract, at random, a few of the smaller gems of the poem.
Her spirit wandered by itself and wonWe have left ourselves no room to speak of the other poems in detail. Those which we think best, are "The Moon," "To Perdita Singing," "Midnight," "Rosalie," "Reverie," "The Shepherd of King Admetus," and "A Dirge." These are crowded with excellences of the loftiest order. "Prometheus" we have not yet read so attentively as we could wish. Altogether, we intend this as merely an introduction to an extended review of all the poems of Mr. Lowell. In the mean time we repeat, that he has given evidence of at least as high poetical genius as any man in America -- if not a loftier genius than any.
A golden edge from some unsetting sun.
For she was but a simple herdsman's child,
A lily chance-sown in the rugged wild.
Not the first violet on a woodland lea
Seemed a more visible gift of spring than she.
Low stirrings in the leaves, before the wind
Wakes all the green strings of the forest lyre.
Faint heatings in the calyx ere the rose
Its warm, voluptuous breast doth all unclose.
Flooded he seemed with bright delicious pain,
As if a star had burst within his brain.
So, from her sky-like spirit, gentleness
Dropt ever like a sunlit fall of rain,
And his beneath drank in the bright caress
As thirstily as would a parched plain
That long hath watched the showers of sloping gray
Forever, ever, falling far away.
And when he went, his radiant memory
Robed all his fantasies with glory fresh,
As if an angel, quitting her the while,
Left round her heart the halo of his smile.
Like golden ripples, hastening to the land
To wreck their freight of sunshine on the strand.
Hope skims o'er life as we may sometimes see
A butterfly, whose home is in the flowers,
Blown outward far over the moaning sea,
Remembering in vain its odorous bowers.
She seemed a white-browed angel sent to roll
The heavy stone away which long had prest,
As in a living sepulchre, his soul.
In the court-yard a fountain leaped alway --
A Triton blowing jewels thro' his shell
Into the sunshine.
His heart went out within him like a spark
Dropt in the sea.
---- as if all fäerie
Had emptied her quaint halls, or, as it were, [column 2:]
The illuminated marge of some old book,
While we were gazing, life and motion took.
[This notice is accepted by Poe in his Dec. 15, 1846 letter to G. W. Eveleth: "The notice of Lowell's 'Brittany' is mine." In the same letter, Poe disavows authorship of notices of Rogers and of Shelly. The review of Shelly he attributes to Parke Godwin. The poem listed here as "Rosalie" is more correctly "Rosaline."]
~~~ End of Text ~~~
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Morning 5: Actors who've played Richard III
With VIDEO and PHOTO GALLERY
Scientists say they have identified the body of England's King Richard III as that of a slightly disfigured skeleton found buried under a parking lot last year. Well-known actors have portrayed the king over the years, mostly in William Shakespeare's play, "Richard III." From Garrick to Kean, Burbage to Branagh, and from Sir Alec Guinness to Sir Laurence Olivier, the casting call for Shakespeare's vile character has gone far and wide. Here are five actors who caught our fancy:
1. John Wilkes Booth – The future assassin of Abraham Lincoln played Shakespeare's tyrant Richard III for his first time in 1863 in Boston. A review called him "the most promising young actor on the American stage."
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A radar glitch at the Medford airport has grounded the facility's cloud-seeding balloon, which combined with heavy fog this week to delay or cancel numerous flights, airport officials said.
The radar issue does not affect airplane flight safety, as planes can land and take off once the fog clears on its own, Rogue Valley International Medford Airport Manager Bern Case said.
It would most likely be safe to fly the unmanned CASPER balloon with the current radar, but Case said the airport has emphasized extreme caution. The balloon is used to release dry ice pellets for cloud seeding, to create openings in the fog that would allow landings or take-offs.
"The tower has had a challenge with the radar and we just can't seed without the balloon," Case said. "It's been a long couple of days."
The fog caused between five and seven flight delays on Thursday. Several people were stranded for hours on flights heading in all directions, Case said.
Among those stranded far from home was Jacksonville resident Dana Winkler.
Winkler earlier this week flew to Los Angeles for a work meeting. She quickly found that the Rogue Valley had become an impregnable fortress when fog socked in the area, stranding her in Portland.
"I didn't expect to be gone long, so I didn't pack a lot of essential items," she said.
Airline officials told her she would have to plan on spending a long day at Portland, not leaving until a late flight on Friday.
Frustrated, Winkler booked at rent-a-car at a steep rate for the drive back to Jackson County.
"You can't be gone for too many days because you start missing work," Winkler said. "I'm just glad to be back home."
Additional flights from Portland and San Francisco were delayed Friday.
Case said the airport has scrambled to squeeze as many people as possible onto flights in the past 24 hours to clear up the backlog of passengers.
"It has set us back, but we are trying to get people where they need to go," Case said.
In the meantime, CASPER will remain in the hangar, unable to do what it does best.
The Cable Attached System Providing Effective Release, known by the catchier acronym CASPER, is an 18-foot helium-filled balloon that hoists a cylinder of dry ice pellets.
After being sent aloft, the balloon is pulled along by a truck to seed the clouds above the runway area. The pellets freeze the fog, creating snow, which drifts to the ground and clears the air.
It cuts a wide swath in the fog that enables planes to come and go.
"When we can't get the balloon in the air, Mother Nature wins," Case said.
The airport hopes to have the balloon available this weekend.
It likely will be needed, as the stagnant air and freezing fog is expected to stick around the valley until the middle of next week, according to National Weather Service Meteorologist Mike Petrucelli.
An air stagnation advisory originally set to expire Sunday has been extended until 10 a.m. Tuesday, the National Weather Service reported Friday.
Because of limited air movement, a high pressure system will remain in the area, trapping pollutants and resulting in thick, freezing fog in the Rogue Valley.
The area needs a storm system to move in to blow the stagnant air away and clear the skies, Petrucelli said.
"This is going to hang around for the next few days," he said. "The pattern does not look like it's going to change."
Reach reporter Chris Conrad at 541-776-4471 or email firstname.lastname@example.org. | <urn:uuid:30af6c16-f314-47c2-9f8c-3ca6e54fcc91> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailytidings.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130119/NEWS02/301190304/-1/NEWS05 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969037 | 765 | 1.640625 | 2 |
For one thing, Gore would not have attacked Iraq in 2003. In his speech to the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco in 2002, he said: 'If we quickly succeed in a war against the weakened and depleted fourth-rate military of Iraq, and then quickly abandon that nation, as President Bush has quickly abandoned almost all of Afghanistan after defeating a fifth-rate military power there, then the resulting chaos in the aftermath of a military victory in Iraq could easily pose a far greater danger to the United States than we presently face from Saddam.'
He was wrong about the hasty exit from Iraq, but in all other respects, he was spot on. And it is quite possible that if the US and United Kingdom had not invaded Iraq, the West would not now be facing the threat from Iran's uranium-enrichment programme because President Ahmadinejad would not have been given the opportunity to maximise a position only made possible by Saddam's fall.
The 'what if?' conjecture underlines two things about good leadership in America. The first is that doing nothing is a hell of a lot better than reaching for your gun and firing at the wrong target. The second is that it took some courage for Gore to speak out against the martial din of Rupert Murdoch's Fox News network during that period.
Someone once said that leadership is the capacity to explain oneself to others in a way that clarifies and expands a vision of the future. There's maybe too much of the management handbook in that, because the greatest leadership quality is to be true to what you think and to go on saying it, whatever the prevailing view.
In his Vanity Fair/Carbon Trust lecture last week, Gore explained himself and his convictions on climate change with a good deal of ease and charm. Because he is on the stump to win minds and not, as yet, votes, he is free along the way to touch on the institutionalised heartlessness of America under George W Bush, a landscape which stretches from the ruination of Appalachia by the coal industry, through the derelict city of New Orleans, to the $400bn US budget deficit.
In the background looms America as it is today - the TV networks run by six corporations (as opposed to 50 when Ronald Reagan first stood for President), political funding of parties ($500m at the last count), the interesting fact, given its quality, that an average American spends more than a fifth of his life watching TV, and the recent decision by Congress to vote for an increase in the US national debt to $9 trillion. Whether he runs for the presidency in 2008 or not, Gore beckons to the ingenious, open-hearted and staunch nation that has been shouted down these past few years.
That seems to be leadership of a very desirable kind. I cannot say whether he would be a good President, but he is infinitely more impressive than the leading Democratic contender, Hillary Clinton, who voted for the war, has visited Baghdad twice since 2003 and is allowing Rupert Murdoch to hold a benefit for her in July. That alone must signal that she is already too compromised to be President, but also that she lacks the ability to explain herself and clarify a future, which, because of China, the national debt, oil prices and environmental threats, especially from hurricanes, is bound to be very different for all Americans.
It is the vision thing - or the combination of reflection, language and independence of mind - that we look for in a leader and which, to the surprise of many, Gore has found in his years out of office. He will have to trim his message if he goes for the Democratic nomination, but at least he will have spoken as he thinks today. That is not true of Hillary Clinton at any stage since 1992, when her husband was elected President.
A couple of years ago, I was sitting at dinner in Italy with an American Express executive, the impenetrably cool Kenneth Chenault, who told me about serving with Henry Kissinger on the board of Amex before becoming CEO. After giving a speech on a mundane banking matter, Chenault was approached by Kissinger, who said: 'You understand power and you know how to use it.' That is the other component of a great leader.
He challenged me to name five great leaders in office anywhere in the world at that moment (I couldn't) and then asked me about Tony Blair. I had to explain that I was not a supporter because he'd gone into Iraq without a second UN resolution and that his record on civil liberties was troubling. But Blair certainly understood power and he knew how to use it.
I added that he was brave and had found a sort of demotic and insistent language to speak to the British people about public services and security. And his vision? Well, that was wrapped up in his ideas about modernisation and management. As far as I remember, Chenault asked whether competent management and leadership were the same.
They aren't and that is where Gordon Brown comes in. I have to say I find him completely opaque as a potential leader and that, in itself, is not a good sign. As journalists move their allegiance from the Prime Minister to the Chancellor, like flies blown from one cowpat to another, I keep on wondering what they see in Brown, or whether it's just that they feel power is already shifting to Number 11 and have taken off to follow the scent.
It may be that Brown has not been free to explain himself as his friend Gore has, but even so, you would expect a bit more than the rather weird ruminations about flag flying and Britishness. And bravery? Well, I don't see it. He knew about the preparations for the invasion of Iraq from a very early stage because he had to find the money for it, but somehow he has kept his distance from sharing that responsibility with Blair. And on the big cock-up of the moment, concerning working tax credits, he has remained schtoom. Finally, there is no sense of Brown clarifying and expanding a vision of the future in a way that addresses the ordinary person.
Cicero once said that in order to persuade an audience, you needed to inform, to charm and to stir the emotions. Brown certainly does well in the first, with all that banter about endogenous growth, but there is a lot of work to do in the second two areas. His speeches do not have what Cicero called functional beauty. However, I do concede that he understands power and knows how to use it and, perhaps, that is ultimately what bothers me about him. | <urn:uuid:73b499de-4acf-4a80-adf2-5809c099f5d9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2006/jun/04/comment.usa | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982591 | 1,333 | 1.742188 | 2 |
By Frank Radosevich II
July 25, 2012
Roughly 30 Peoria-area high school students poured molten pewter into molds, bent steel rods and ate crunchy marshmallows this week while participating in the ASM Materials Camp.
The weeklong camp provides students with real-world experiences and a better understanding of materials used in everything from industrial tractors to children’s toys. Bradley’s Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering and Technology Department organizes the camp with help from the Peoria Chapter of the American Society of Materials.
Now in its eighth year, the day camp teaches students about the properties and uses of metals, plastics and bio-materials as well as helps teenagers build presentation and teamwork skills.
“It’s helpful for them to decide what they want to do after high school,” said Jeff Jensen, co-chair for the ASM Materials Camp. As a Caterpillar Inc. employee and a graduate of Bradley’s Management for the 21st Century program, Jensen noted the camp’s significant educational value. This year the students visit the bronze foundry in Heuser Hall and attend workshops in the laboratories of Morgan Hall.
Jensen said the facilities at Bradley are invaluable to the camp and give students a taste of what studying engineering is like on a college campus. Lab experiments, like freezing rubber balls in liquid nitrogen until they shatter when dropped, demonstrate principles of materials science to the students.
“What we are doing here are not your typical high school science lab experiments. This is more hands-on, more exciting,” Jensen added.
Aside from working on campus, students also tour engineering facilities such as a Caterpillar foundry, the USDA’s National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research and Hot Iron Blacksmithing, a local blacksmithing shop where they can watch the intricate process of working with metals and other materials.
Josh Brandes, a senior majoring in manufacturing engineering technology, helped the organizers of the camp last year and admits he’s learned from observing the workshops in action.
“It’s a great experience,” he said of the camp. “Some of what they are doing during the week are experiments that I did in class.”
Brad Moser, 17, from Roanoke, Ill., said a high school teacher suggested he attend the camp to learn more about the field of engineering. Planning to become a mechanical engineer one day, Moser said the camp offered a welcomed change from science class and a peek at what to expect after graduation.
“It’s not like you sit down and take notes all the time,” he said. “It’s nice to know what people actually do once they’ve finished studying.” | <urn:uuid:0a597c6b-0520-41e2-80f2-ef68a8fd875e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bradley.edu/inthespotlight/story/?id=a72b465b-3878-4d56-8778-87946f1e0854 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944077 | 580 | 2.75 | 3 |
Psychological & Therapeutic Assessment in Boston & Newton, MA
Psychological testing and assessment refers to the use of an array of measures designed to explore an individual's cognitive, personality, and emotional functioning. The general goal of psychological testing is to gather information about current emotional functioning, personality style, and areas of concern that may be targets for treatment. Often, diagnosis and treatment planning are key goals for psychological testing.
Therapeutic Assessment (TA) is similar to traditional psychological testing but it differs in its emphasis on collaboration with the client and focusing on how to create positive change for clients. The TA model is not as focused on diagnosis and treatment planning and instead focuses on identifying barriers to positive change and ways to remove those barriers. In fact, TA can be helpful for individuals without a specific diagnosis but who want to improve their lives.
At CPA, psychological and therapeutic assesessment is frequently implemented as a "first step" in the therapeutic process and can highlight areas of concern or strenght that may warrant further conversation.
Psychological and therapeutic assessment can provide important information about an individual's:
- Personality structure
- Relationship styles
- Life themes
- Cognitive or belief frameworks (or schema)
- Treatment needs
- Response to treatment
- Barriers to greater success
Following the evaluation, your psychologist will meet with you to discuss the findings and, together, you and your clinician will discuss how some of the results can be incorporated into your therapeutic work together.
If you are interested in psychological or therapeutic assessment in Boston or Newton, MA, call us or complete our quick and easy Online Intake Form | <urn:uuid:b8a30b4e-9d6a-4272-9a08-78b80359f0b0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.commpsych.com/psychological-testing/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915474 | 329 | 1.96875 | 2 |
Prescription cough syrups containing the narcotic hydrocodone can cause nausea as well as other side effects, such as constipation, dizziness, drowsiness, fatigue, vomiting, and psychological dependence. That's one reason that syrups containing hydrocodone—or the related ingredient codeine—should be used only for especially persistent and wrenching coughs, and only for adults.
Try milder measures first, such as humidifying the air to moisten dry airways, drinking hot liquids, and sucking on non-medicated lozenges. Most coughs actually stem from postnasal drip associated with the common cold. In those cases, using an over-the-counter antihistamine or nasal spray can help resolve the symptoms that cause dripping. Note that no cough product, either prescription or over-the-counter, is recommended for young children. | <urn:uuid:272d0795-d148-4a2e-9998-e3fbe3534069> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.consumerreports.org/health/2008/10/cough-syrup-sid.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.904639 | 181 | 2.015625 | 2 |