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By John Chattaway, MD Anderson Staff Writer
Part II of Monday's post- Short Circuit: MD Anderson Robots Provide Safety in the 21st Century
"Autobots, roll out!"... and into the next lab
"I am a robot."
If you've traveled Floor 4 of the Main Building, you may have heard those words spoken by "Tess," the Swisslog SpeciMinder used by Laboratory Medicine to transport specimen batches between labs.
The robot is on loan from Swisslog while Pathology and Laboratory Medicine determines if it's a technology we want to invest in.
Laboratory Medicine technicians have a button or "bell" they push to call Tess. The robot has a pre-programmed map of our facility that it uses, along with external sensors, to find its way to the technician. Once Tess arrives, the technician loads specimen batches into it and tells it where to go.
Once Tess delivers the specimens to the required destination, if that destination has nothing to send, Tess returns to a docking station in the central specimen processing area.
"Tess minimizes the need for manual transport of specimen batches between labs. This enables our lab employees to stay focused on high value and patient-oriented work," says Lila Pulido, director, Pathology/Laboratory Medicine Operations. "It's also fun because you can program what Tess can say. I once heard it say, 'Sorry, I haven't had my morning coffee,' when it bumped into a wall."
Don't be fooled by Tess's simple, R2-D2-like appearance. The robot can hold up to 150 tubes of blood and a bag of microbiology specimens, or up to 50 pounds of cargo.
These are the droids you're looking for
While our robots don't travel through time or space, or morph into cars, they help make our operations more efficient.
So don't go poking the nearest doctor, checking for mechanical parts. We don't have androids working in the hospital ... yet.
The Robots of MD Anderson (video)
Short Circuit: MD Anderson Robots Provide Safety in the 21st Century | <urn:uuid:cb2c6b25-87f5-4484-bb93-3955b7df0f80> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www2.mdanderson.org/cancerwise/2012/01/short-circuit-md-anderson-robots-provide-safety-in-the-21st-century-part-ii.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934112 | 438 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Why there is no liberty on the “libertarian” right
Yesterday was Tax Freedom Day. That is, it was “the first day of the year that Britons work for themselves rather than the taxman,” at least according to the Adam Smith Institute. As such, it seems a rather apt time to discuss the right-wing libertarian notion of freedom.
The basic goal of (right) libertarianism, according to its own theorists, is the maximisation of individual liberty. This is perhaps explained the most lucidly by Ken Schoolland in The Philosophy of Liberty.
In essence, the philosophy of liberty “is based on the principle of self-ownership.” That is, “no other person, or group of persons, owns your life nor do you own the lives of others.” Further, your existence “is manifest in life, liberty, and the product of your life and liberty” and as such “to lose your life is to lose your future, to lose your liberty is to lose your present, and to lose the product of your life and liberty is to lose the portion of your past that produced it.”
The point where the left and right-libertarian interpretations of liberty diverge is when we get to property;
A product of your life and liberty is your property. Property is the fruit of your labor, the product of your time, energy, and talents. It is that part of nature that you turn to valuable use. And it is the property of others that is given to you by voluntary exchange and mutual consent. Two people who exchange property voluntarily are both better off or they wouldn’t do it. Only they may rightfully make that decision for themselves.
This, in essence is the homestead principle, the central tenet of right-libertarianism and “anarcho”-capitalism.
An anarchist communist would agree that you can be said to “own” that which you occupy and use. In fact, it is this principle from which opposition to wage-labour arises, seeing as it is the expropriation of surplus value (profit) from the fruit of your labour by another.
Contrary to the right, this leads us to conclude that property is theft. Because they conclude that once land has been “homesteaded” the proprietor has no need to further occupy or use it in order to maintain their claim to ownership. “Here, then,” in the words of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, “is a piece of land upon which, henceforth, no one has a right to step, save the proprietor and his friends.” Follow this principle to its logical conclusion, and soon those yet without property “will have nowhere to rest, no place to shelter, no ground to till. They will die at the proprietor’s door, on the edge of that property which was their birthright; and the proprietor, watching them die, will exclaim, ‘So perish idlers and vagrants.’”
I have dealt with this idea more fully in Property is theft and On Property and the right of inheritance. In those two posts, I have alluded to the point I want to expand upon here. That is, that the right-wing version of libertarianism justifies all that is wrong in the state as long as it only exists within private property and is a recipe for private tyranny.
In a recent blog post, right-libertarian blogger John Demetriou made the following point;
Many libertarians who are public in their politics (bloggers being a good example) are extreme feudalists. Propertarians. Anarcho-capitalists, totally uninterested in social matters, but utterly obsessed with private property ownership, as though that were the only gig in town and everything else mere decoration round the fucking theatre stage.
Needless to say, this line of thinking was not popular amongst his peers. However, it is a basic truth that they often “fail to support and encourage the rights, freedoms and liberties of people regardless of their wealth, standing and status as property owners.”
Demetriou argues that this is inconsistency on their part, but I contend that. To the contrary, this is the natural and expected consequence of the idea that liberty needs property. After all, if that is the case then “the rights, freedoms and liberties” of those without property are irrelevant. More than that, they are a barrier to the right, freedom, and liberty of the property owner to exercise a monopoly of force and absolute decision-making power over his own property. Thus “libertarianism,” especially in “anarcho”-capitalist form, is nothing less than a justification of private totalitarianism.
I have numerous times before cited Hans Hermann-Hoppe’s Democracy: The God That Failed as an an-cap concession of this point;
In a covenant concluded among proprietor and community tenants for the purpose of protecting their private property, no such thing as a right to free (unlimited) speech exists, not even to unlimited speech on one’s own tenant-property. One may say innumerable things and promote almost any idea under the sun, but naturally no one is permitted to advocate ideas contrary to the very purpose of the covenant of preserving private property, such as democracy and communism. There can be no tolerance towards democrats and communists in a libertarian social order. They will have to be physically separated and expelled from society. Likewise in a covenant founded for the purpose of protecting family and kin, there can be no tolerance toward those habitually promoting lifestyles incompatible with this goal. They — the advocates of alternative, non-family and kin-centred lifestyles such as, for instance, individual hedonism, parasitism, nature-environment worship, homosexuality, or communism — will have to be physically removed from society, too, if one is to maintain a libertarian order.
We can see how this manifests itself in practice, as well.
For example, a while ago I got entangled in a thread over at the Devil’s Kitchen about the supposed “right” of proprietors to ban people from their establishments. (The thread, like the original post, is now gone due to the fallout from an interview DK’s alter-ego did with Andrew Neil on Total Politics.) The story which led to the debate was the furore over a B&B owner banning a gay couple from his establishment, and DK was one of several libertarian bloggers who asserted his right to do so. In essence, proprietors have a right not to do business with people against their wishes, legislation sets a dangerous precedent, and “the market” will ensure that any injustice is corrected by people taking their business elsewhere after discovering this prejudice.
I made the point that although, yes, allowing the state to right wrongs with laws gives them licence to interfere elsewhere in more negative ways, statism and propertarianism weren’t the only two games in town. In fact, the reason that today people would remove their business from such a proprietor has nothing to do with “the market” and everything to do with a long campaign against such prejudice in order to change public attitudes. If that hadn’t happened, then “the market” would happily let the bigots thrive.
I suggested that, in place of state enforcement, people should challenge this discrimination with direct action akin to the sit-ins of the civil rights movement. Tellingly, this was met with horror and disapproval by libertarian commentors, defending property rights as utterly inviolable. They were, however, unable to suggest how discrimination of this kind could be challenged with out any violation of property. They were then reduced to quoting dictionary definitions at me to “refute” the idea that the monopoly of force exercised by the property owner is equivalent to the monopoly of force exercised by the state. Propertatrianism wasn’t private statism because they didn’t hold “the belief that the centralization of power in a state is the ideal or best way to organize humanity” so nur-nurny-nur-nur. Or words to that effect.
Despite this childish pedantry the main point, that private property is as coercive and authoritarian as the worst forms of the state, stands. In fact the state, as it exists in the West today, has an advantage over property precisely because of the (limited) concessions to freedom and democracy forced from below.
Returning to the Philosophy of Liberty, we find that one of the central points of the Homestead Principle is built upon a false premise which allows for coercion and domination. The sentence that “two people who exchange property voluntarily are both better off or they wouldn’t do it” seems innocent enough, until you realise that right-libertarians do not concede that there is such a thing as economic coercion. For example, Murray Rothbard saw wage labour as “a whole slew of institutions necessary to the triumph of liberty,” with rejection of it being “un-libertarian.”
This ignores the power that his ownership of property gives the employer over the employee. The relationship between them is distinctly unequal, making a mockery of the idea of voluntary exchange. Indeed, this is one of the reasons why employees organised themselves into trade unions – only collectively could their bargaining power match that of the employer or proprietor.
Chris Wilson, in How a Libertarian Capitalist Became a Libertarian Socialist, illustrates this point better than I can;
Jones is a individual who has zero access to capital, which excludes him from being self-employed. He must must find somebody who will share access to capital if he is to continue to eat. Fortunately, Smith has plenty of capital, and is willing to share it — under certain conditions of course. Smith says to Jones that he can use Smith’s capital to produce, *provided* that Jones engages in 90% of the productivity while Smith engages in 10%. Also, Jones will only receive 10% of the revenues despite all of his hard work, while Smith gets to keep 90% for his hoggish self. Jones agrees to these conditions because he has no other option. Is Jones morally bound by his agreement to allow Smith to keep 8 in 9 parts of what what Jones produces? The capitalist, of course, answers, “Yes”, and I once would have given the same answer, even though I knew intuitively that such an arrangement would be grossly unfair. My current answer is “No” — this relationship between Smith and Jones is inherently exploitive, and Jones is entitled to much better.
Wilson concludes that “a society in which human-created circumstances force people to “agree” to subject their will to that of a boss is by no means “free”.”
So do I. Such a society is inherently authoritarian and despotic. It makes a mockery of the words “anarchist” and “libertarian,” being instead the recipe for a myriad of private, feudal monarchies. From there, we either watch history repeat itself from the era of city states through to nations and empires or we see humanity destroy itself.
Either way, one basic fact holds true. If you want a recipe for genuine freedom, you will have to look beyond the right-wing and the “free” market. | <urn:uuid:1a02df9e-2cfa-429d-9447-e7e97b4ecaef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://propertyistheft.wordpress.com/2010/05/31/why-there-is-no-liberty-to-be-found-on-the-libertarian-right/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966184 | 2,380 | 1.875 | 2 |
I fear transgender people in Canada, and perhaps the United States and Britain, will have to get used to being called “transgenders,” like it or not. What was probably an error by one headline writer has appeared on many media sites.
Media organizations tend to copy each other: if a few organizations in the Western world use a word like “transgenders” to refer to trans people, then others will follow suit, thinking it is OK to do it.
The only way it can be prevented is for trans people to protest loudly to the organizations involved, or to ask GLAAD or some other organization representing them to intervene.
But I can see the logic some media organizations might be using: they call gay people “gays,” which has now become a noun, thanks to usage that may have begun when it was used by one headline writer way back who had a very limited word count with which to work. The same with the words “blacks” and “whites” to describe black people and white people. Both of those adjectives are now also nouns.
Even the word “transsexual,” orginially an adjective, is being used as a noun these days — and is listed as one in my dictionary.
So, it looks like the media might very well succeed in making the word “transgenders” a noun as well.
Send comments to email@example.com | <urn:uuid:bc7ac7c0-6747-4b17-86f8-bedbcf0352c7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.montrealgazette.com/2012/10/13/transgenders-has-a-precedent-been-set/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00076-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980106 | 310 | 1.875 | 2 |
Grave Preservation - The Living Cemetery
The Living Cemetery
A cemetery is more than just a place to inter the remains of the dead. Cemeteries are places where one can enjoy the art and symbolism of the tombstones, statues, mausoleums and the beauty of the trees and flowers. Victoria City Council designated Ross Bay Cemetery as a heritage site in 1997. To learn some of the history of Victoria and its people take a walking tour with a guide from the Old Cemeteries Society.
Cemeteries like Ross Bay, though they see few new tenants as space on the grounds dwindles, become more like parks or gardens than graveyards. Ross Bay has a full time staff for its maintenance, is open to the public for sightseeing, tours, bicycle riding, quiet walks and sitting in peaceful solitude away from the stresses of living in a busy city.
For although its monuments are made of stone, seemingly impervious to the ravages of time, Ross Bay, like so many other cemeteries, is in need of our attention as much as any other public facility. Just as a park needs its trees tended, its grass cut, its animals tended, and a building needs a fresh coat of paint, its windows cleaned, its innards swept out, so too does a cemetery's grass grow, its leaves fall, its grave markers become covered in moss, its carved epitaphs become faded, and worst of all, its graves fall victim to malice of vandals.
The members of the Old Cemeteries Society of Victoria are dedicated to researching, preserving and encouraging the appreciation of Victoria's Heritage Cemeteries. | <urn:uuid:9badeb60-91e2-4781-8110-aedb135edf63> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oldcem.bc.ca/gp_living.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971899 | 339 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Filabot Turns Your Plastic Junk Into Material for 3-D Printers
- 6:30 AM
Filabot promises to help turn your plastic crap into 3-D printed fanciness, alleviating one of the biggest sustainability problems for 3-D printing.
Just over a year ago, Tyler McNaney was on break from college. “I was surfing the internet as most college kids do, and I saw a video of 3-D printing,” he says. “I was amazed and I learned all I could about it.” Soon after, he owned one of his own. Not much longer after that, he decided he wanted to make his own filament for it. Sadly, he was low on cash. So he launched Filabot on Kickstarter.
For desktop 3-D printers to work, they need some kind of material to work with. Most contemporary printers use plastic filament, available in spools from various suppliers. Filabot reduces the need for that stuff. Instead you can grind up household plastics or even past projects to make new lines.
Think a meat grinder on top of a pasta maker and you get the general idea. “Plastic extrusion is nothing new,” says McNaney in the Kickstarter pitch video. “The only thing we’d like to do is adapt it to the desktop environment.”
The need for something like this is enormous. The whole point of 3-D printing is that you can do rapid prototyping and customization of parts. This means that you can expect any given project to have lots of unwanted prototypes, to say nothing of failed prints or other errors. Go into any vibrant makerspace and you’ll find dozens of demo objects, broken parts and failed experiment lying around, the detritus of tinkering with objects. It’s similar to how in the early days of computerized workspaces, the “paperless office” resulted in more paper being consumed as workers reprinted documents over and over.
“I am working on this because this is the next system that is needed for at-home manufacturing,” says McNaney. “3-D printing is in its infancy, and when coupled with a Filabot a 3-D printer will be a complete closed-loop recycling system on your desk, office or school. I also see a lot of potential for helping out third-world countries. With a Filabot and a 3-D printer people can now make things as simple as a fork or cup.”
Unlike some of the more outlandish promises about how 3-D printing might save the world, McNaney’s project has a point. The world is awash in disposable plastic containers like soda and water bottles. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if that junk could be re-used on site?
McNaney says the team is working on testing and documenting the range of plastic that will work. “The range of materials keeps growing. Filabot is expected to process most of the thermoplastics,” he says. “So far the plastics that work are HDPE, LDPE, ABS, NYLON. More to come on the different types that work.” They don’t process PVC because of toxicity concerns.
The project was funded in January 2012. A year later, McNaney says they’re getting ready to launch. “Right now we have the working system, but we are making this working system production-ready.” This means preparing the enclosures and extruder parts for final assembly.
Just before the holidays, McNaney released an update showing how even imperfectly made filaments worked fine when passed through a printer. “I was surprised to find that air bubbles and undersized diameter do not really affect the outcome of the part,” he says.
Looking ahead, McNaney says he hopes that advancements in 3-D printer extruders will allow for an even bigger range of plastics and a higher tolerance for imperfect filaments.
Meanwhile, maybe it’s time to start saving up your plastic junk. | <urn:uuid:47b0819e-e948-482f-8d41-c797214686b9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wired.com/design/2013/01/filabot-plastic-recycler/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958122 | 854 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Two incidents of violence involving Asian residents– one in January on the platform and one in March – have focused attention at Bayview’s T- Third Street stop between Oakdale and Palou Avenues.
Mission Loc@l went out Tuesday evening to spend some time near the platform between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. – the same time frame in which both attacks took place.
Before the sun sets there’s a regular flux of youngsters – boys mostly – crossing the street by clambering over the Muni platform, but no one seems to be pestering or harassing anyone that isn’t already a friend or acquaintance.
People of all races walk by to ride transit, and they don’t rush or look concerned for their safety, but they don’t necessarily stop and interact, either.
On the east side of the stop is a bizarre little plaza, devoid of plants but outfitted with a series of bolted iron seats facing the Muni stop, a perfect spot for watching the scene of waiting and arriving Muni riders.
What is most striking about the T-Third stop is that only African Americans seem to linger in the plaza and outside the liquor stores, enjoying the sunny weather, chatting and often hollering to friends across the street.
The block between Oakdale and Palou Avenues is populated by churchgoers and alcoholics, by teenagers and elderly.
It’s a popular gathering place as well as the gateway to the Bayview Opera House, on Third Street between Oakdale and Newcomb Avenues.
In the plaza, while the weather still holds, somewhere between 10 and 15 people of all ages gather in little groups. Others – adults and youngsters – swing by to chat briefly, walking, riding bikes or wheelchairs, an inordinate number of people here are equipped with canes. A toddler in an enormous puffy jacket waddles by, straying from the playground nearby.
The amount of litter out Tuesday isn’t particularly egregious, but a discarded medical device sits mysteriously on one of the benches.
The vast majority of the pedestrians on Third Street Tuesday are just passing through or leaving or waiting for transit, either the T-Third train, which stops at the platform, or the 24 and 54 buses at the curbside.
Residents have mixed feelings about how safe it is, but they also feel that San Franciscans from other parts of the city view Bayview as significantly more dangerous than it really is.
And many riders feel that the T-Third train itself is no more or less dangerous than any other Muni line. Statisitics from the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency support this. (See the text box.)
On Tuesday evening, police cars cruise by roughly every 10 minutes, but no officers are walking the beat. Two in a squad car stop to talk with some passerby briefly, but no one is standing on the platform. When Bayview Police Captain Greg Suhr is asked later about foot patrols here, he says there should have been a police officer standing on the platform during this time and that he’d look into it.
As the sun goes down and a cold wind sets in, the population of socializers thins and shifts over to the liquor store side of the street. All of Third Street picks up a more desolate flavor.
Members of the Valley Christian Fellowship park in the plaza and go inside to evening services. The African American pastor, Eric Gillette, thinks that a lot of the trouble at the Palou stop is from kids who don’t even live in Bayview.
“Last week there was a fight, one was from Fillmore and the other from Sunnydale, and they met in Bayview,” Gillette says.
He blames the violence on a few bad kids, products of a breakdown in family structure that results in a fundamental lack of respect for anyone or anything. He doesn’t think solutions hinge on merely pumping in more money but “really reaching them mentally, they don’t have anything to look forward to.”
An Asian man waiting for Muni says the neighborhood is okay but that there should be more police and more arrests. A white, gay man – who’d been held up at gun point once nearby – says he doesn’t feel unsafe exactly, but he’s cautious, always looking out for possible danger.
The only anxious moment of the evening comes when two large, seemingly-intoxicated, young African American men suggest that this reporter put her camera away, that “this isn’t the neighborhood you think it is.” It’s fairly unclear whether this is friendly advice, intimidation, or an attempt at flirtation.
Regardless of the warning, photos are taken. Nothing happens. After dark, the plaza empties, even the pigeons disappear.
The pastor’s wife, Gwen Gillette, says she had no fear walking around Third Street or anywhere in Bayview. “I don’t feel unsafe,” she said, insisting that there’s a lot of mileage in being friendly to everyone. “Show them kindness, give them a smile.” | <urn:uuid:0bf667e4-3e28-45c5-9df7-f4dd16b99eba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://missionlocal.org/2010/05/an-evening-at-third-and-oakdale-palou/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959712 | 1,081 | 1.585938 | 2 |
environmental economist Ju-Chin Huang seeks is almost invisiblethe
value of beach sand, clean water, pure airand vastly important.
Her field is called
nonmarket valuation, and it is her consuming interest. Certain goodsendangered
species, state parks, or beach qualitydont have a price, but
they have an economic value. Whats the economic value of having
a state park instead of a subdivision?
In general, Huang explains, there are two methods for
determining nonmarket valuation. In the direct method, you just
ask people how much theyre willing to pay. For a state park, how
much will they pay to go there? For a spotted owl, how much to save its
Regarding the owl, people may say yes to five dollars
but not to fifteen, so, she says, the answer is in between, and
you analyze the intervals and tie them to characteristics like income
level, gender, location. Eventually its a cost benefit analysis
and results in a dollar amount.
The indirect method studies the consumption of private
goods. The housing market, for example, becomes an indirect method to
help researchers know how property values are affected by highway noise.
Huang lives about a mile from a highway herself, in Newburyport,
Mass., with her economist husband Gregory Brown and their gray tabby cat,
Hicks, named after Sir John R. Hicks, the 1972 Nobel Laureate
She grew up in Taiwan and went to National Taiwan University;
she has a Ph.D. in economics and statistics from North Carolina State
University. Huang has been with the Whittemore School for three years.
Directly and indirectly, her research provides information
that is useful to policy makersinformation that can be controversial
because it may influence decisions. In a pilot mail survey last year for
an on-going project, Huang sent questionnaires to random residents of
New Hampshire and Maine seeking their views on the costs and effects of
beach erosion control methods. The coastal line naturally moves
inland, but because of human activities along the coastal area, we try
to stop that, she says. So theres a conflict between
human activities and nature.
After the survey went out, Huang was interviewed by newspapers
and National Public Radio. Though she occasionally finds herself at the
juncture between interests, Huang is resolutely neutral. Im
an academic researcher, not a policy maker, she says. But
Id like to make a difference in terms of policy making. What Im
interested in is just naturally tied to environmental policies.
As a teacher of economics, Huang is rigorous and organized,
expecting the best from her students.
She really made us work hard, but she did that for
a reason, says Melissa Hebert 01, who studied introduction
to econometrics with Huang. She wanted us to take as much away from
the class as possible.
Huangs model as a teacher is her mentor at North
Carolina State, environmental economist
And Smith speaks as highly of her. Graduate students
like Ju-Chin keep me enthusiastic about teaching! he says. She
took several of my classes and, in each case, used her class paper as
an opportunity to do some genuinely new work. Many of those papers have
now been published.
She is the absolute ideal of what a professor can
be, comments Huangs colleague, economics professor Karen Conway.
As a new faculty member, she has reached levels in her teaching,
research, and service that would be difficult to meet for many tenured
faculty, who have taught for years.
Mary Peterson, University Publications | <urn:uuid:ed26ae00-a14e-4699-8c8c-7a9ef011b380> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.unh.edu/facultyexcellence/2001/huang.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953034 | 765 | 2.0625 | 2 |
New evidence that Leicester skeleton 'was Richard III'
Scientists and archaeologists have said there is "strong circumstantial evidence" that a skeleton found in Leicester belonged to Richard III.
Archaeologists began a dig searching for his last resting place on 25 August under a car park in Leicester.
The excavation has uncovered the remains of a church which is thought to be where he was buried.
Richard Taylor from Leicester University said a skeleton found in the choir of the church had suffered "near death trauma to the skull" by a bladed implement.
He also revealed that an arrowhead had been found and that the individual had spinal curvature but the skeleton was not a hunchback.
The remains will now be subject to further analysis. Mr Taylor said the "search for Richard III had entered a new phase". | <urn:uuid:708fe61d-4e12-4e4d-b7a8-b1e047f8b163> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19569705 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980511 | 166 | 2.1875 | 2 |
Dear Tax Talk,
I am living in the U.S. and doing business in several other countries. I pay income taxes in each country I do business in. Do I have to pay taxes also in the U.S.?
If you're living in the U.S., you have to file income taxes in the U.S. Although you have to file, it doesn't mean you have to pay.
If you have paid income taxes in other countries, these taxes are credited against your U.S. income tax liability to determine if you have to pay income taxes to the U.S.
If you are self-employed, you may have paid enough income taxes to avoid paying income tax to the U.S., but you still could owe self-employment tax on your net income. You cannot claim income taxes as a credit against self-employment tax.
Claiming credits for foreign income taxes against U.S. income taxes is a complex part of the U.S. tax law. Form 1116 is used to identify the sources of income by type of income and country.
Depending on the complexity of your foreign income, you may need to complete more than one Form 1116. In each column of the form, you'll need to identify each country you did business in, as well as the gross income and direct business expenses. You'll also need to allocate indirect expenses from your individual income taxes.
After you've made these allocations, you'll develop a ratio of foreign income to total income. If this ratio is 100 percent, you can offset 100 percent of your U.S. tax liability, provided you have paid that much in foreign income taxes.
If your foreign taxes paid are less than the U.S. taxes, you owe a check to Uncle Sam. If the foreign taxes are more, you have a carryforward or carryback of foreign taxes to use in future or prior years. You would claim a carryback to recover U.S. income taxes paid in prior years on foreign income, if possible. Otherwise, any unused foreign tax credit can be carried forward five tax years.
Read more Tax Talk columns.
To ensure compliance with requirements imposed by the IRS, we inform you that any U.S. federal tax advice contained in this communication (including any attachments) is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (i) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (ii) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein. Taxpayers should seek professional advice based on their particular circumstances. | <urn:uuid:4e93d242-eb5e-428e-b43f-b55066607add> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/when-to-pay-us-income-tax.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970496 | 530 | 1.882813 | 2 |
Vol.39-No.12 December 1, 2000
In September 2000 the Supreme Court handed down decisions in several cases concerning changes in work rules which were seen as being disadvantageous to employees.
When working conditions are modified to the detriment of employees by changing provisions in work rules, legal questions arise as to whether the changed work rule can have a binding effect as reasonable. Legal opinion in these cases is based on a comprehensive assessment of a number of factors which might affect the balance between (i) the necessity for firms to change their work rules (the highest degree of necessity is required in the case of changes involving important working conditions such as wages and working hours) and (ii) the disadvantage imposed on employees. The social appropriateness of the changed work rule is also considered, along with discussions which may have occurred between the labor union(s) involved and the employer and the processes which were followed in reaching the decision to change the working conditions. This approach to such matters has been established by and modeled on Supreme Court precedents in similar cases in the past.
All three of the recent cases involved financial firms which had found it necessary to reorganize their personnel management systems so they could remain competitive in their sector. The proposed changes involved wages, working hours and the adoption of the complete five-day workweek system required by recent revisions to the banking laws.
In the cases involving the Ugo Bank and the Hakodate Credit Bank the Supreme Court's decisions concerned changes to working hours. In both cases, the employees lost their cases in the District Court, won on an appeal in the High Court, then ended up losing in the Supreme Court. In the Ugo Bank case, the issue concerned whether it was reasonable to change work rules by adding on a 60-minute extension to working hours from the 25th to the end of every month. In the Hakodate Credit Bank case, the dispute was over a 25-minute extension to working hours every weekday. The Supreme Court ruled that the changes in work rules may have been unfavorable to the employees but that they were reasonable enough for several reasons.
First, although the extension of working hours would disadvantage employees, actual scheduled working hours per week, or per year, either decreased (in the Ugo Bank case) or remained roughly the same (in the Hakodate Credit Bank case). Moreover, employees benefited from an increase in holidays, so that all in all the actual disadvantage to employees was not seen as being unnecessarily large. Second, unless wages are adjusted, it is basically understandable that a company would seek an extension to working hours to make up for a reduction in total working hours due to the introduction of the complete five-day week system. Since both banks offered relatively shorter working hours, they needed to change work rules to maintain their competitiveness in the market. Third, the extensions to working hours were not seen as long by Japanese standards, or as compared with the situation in other banks. In other words, the extended working hours were considered to fall within a socially acceptable range. Fourth, although the minority labor unions, including the plaintiffs, strongly opposed the changed work rules, and there was insufficient discussion between labor and management, the court found that the changes in rules were reasonable enough.
The Supreme Court also ruled on the Michinoku Bank case concerning modifications to the bank's personnel system (which resulted in the transfer of employees aged 55 and over to special posts under a system of mandatory retirement at age 60 and subsequently in a large reduction in the wages and retirement allowances paid to such employees). In this case, the employees partially won in the District Court, lost in the High Court, then gained a favorable decision from the Supreme Court which returned the case to the High Court based on the following reasoning.
First, it ruled that, owing to the aging of its employees, its weak business management, and the need to compete with other banks, the appellee (who was the bank), had a strong need to change its work rules in order to reform its organization and to reduce wage costs. However, the reduction in the wage of the appellant and other employees involved would bring their wage level down to only 40-50 percent of the standard wage level they ought to receive. The bank's alternative offer to its employees was not enough to make up for the reduction in wages which was seen as most seriously disadvantaging the appellant. The wages of the appellant and others after the changes to work rules were implemented would not be considered to be exceptionally high if the age of the employees, the size of the company, and its overall wage system were taken into account. The change in the wage system would improve the working conditions of many employees, but it would also shift all of the burden for curbing wage costs to the elderly employees whose wages would be reduced. This shifted burden was seen as creating a substantial disadvantage for the employees in question. Although the firm may have taken measures to ease some of the disadvantage those workers faced, the effect was not seen as being sufficient. Accordingly, the court ruled that the alteration to work rules was not reasonable. Finally, although the labor union organizing some 73 percent of the bank's employees had agreed to the changes in work rules, the court ruled that it is not appropriate to regard the opinion of labor unions as a major factor when judging the reasonableness of changes in wage systems.
It would seem that the circumstances behind the changes in work rules in the Ugo Bank and the Hakodate Credit Bank cases made them relatively easy to justify. On the other hand, the Michinoku Bank case pointed to the need to consider carefully how changes might affect all employees before the change can be judged to be reasonable. The court's judgement in this case will draw wide attention, and will result in a more careful consideration of how elderly workers should be utilized and treated. For that reason it will be a significant ruling in terms of future employment policies and labor-management relations. In this sense, the Supreme Court's decision in the Michinoku Bank case can be expected to have a considerable effect on employers' decision-making and on government policies.
Since February 1999 Nikkeiren (Japan Federation of Employers' Associations) has, in cooperation with the Ministry of Labour, been involved in the Employment Stabilization Scheme for Disabled People. The scheme encourages disabled people to find employment by providing a period of workplace training before actual employment. Nikkeiren recently announced that the scheme has produced fairly good results.
The scheme, entrusted to Nikkeiren by the Ministry of Labour, was launched to give disabled people temporary and short-term job opportunities which could lead to full-time employment. Under the scheme, firms, chiefly large business establishments, accept disabled workers for a month to give them on-the-job training. The firms also employ those who have completed the training on a trial basis over a three-month period.
The scheme is intended for disabled people who have registered as job-seekers at the Public Employment Security Offices. Coordinators at the Nikkeiren Emergency Support Center for the Employment Promotion of the Disabled and at other institutes look for business employers who wish to join the scheme. Subsidies for on-the-job training are given: ¥23,900 per trainee per month to business establishments and ¥116,700 per month to the trainees. In addition, companies which have accepted disabled workers on a trial basis are subsidized up to ¥59,000 per worker per month.
As of September 18, 2000, 3,631 business establishments throughout the 47 administrative districts of the country have asked that 5,167 places be filled by trainees, and 4,025 workers have participated in on-the-job training; 3,622 trainees have completed their program. Of those completing the program, 2,896 have been taken up as employees on a trial basis, and 1,990 have already completed this trial employment. Disabled workers who have obtained actual employment contracts totalled 1,679. The figures show that 80 percent of participants in the trainee scheme have actually gone on to trial employment, while 84.4 percent of those who completed their trial employment have actually been employed. These figures indicate the extent to which the scheme has achieved the goals set.
previous page next page MENU PUBLIC POLICY INDEX | <urn:uuid:496141e0-049f-4498-b882-76c8c96996ca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jil.go.jp/jil/bulletin/year/2000/vol39-12/04.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977338 | 1,683 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Internet Research | News
Budapest U Establishes IPv6 Training and Research Lab
Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) has established a laboratory for training and research in Internet protocol version 6 (IPv6), located at the Department of Telecommunications in the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Informatics. The purpose of the lab is to provide an open environment for validating solutions, network setups, and applications built on IPv6 and to provide onsite and online training in IPv6-related information and communications technology solutions to academics, government administrators, and telecom specialists.
The BME IPv6 lab operates under the umbrella of 6DEPLOY-2, a project to provide basic IPv6 training to organizations in Europe and developing countries and support real IPv6 deployments. This new lab will be part of an international network of IPv6 training and research facilities and connected to 20 similar centers around the world through GEANT, the pan-European data network dedicated to the research and education community. Each of the labs use the same technology and equipment, and their resources can be used redundantly, so researchers can use another lab's equipment remotely if their own lab's equipment is in use.
The 6DEPLOY-2 project is funded by the European Commission's Seventh Framework Program to further the development of the knowledge economy and culture in Europe. The BME lab's networking and communications equipment was donated by Cisco and is managed by the university's Cisco Networking Academy team.
"The introduction of IPv6 is no longer an option," said Istvan Papp, director, EMEAR Public Sector, Cisco."By providing the lab equipment, we wanted to contribute to the education of IPv6 specialists in Hungary and thus help the country's transition to the new protocol. IPv6 is also paving the way to new technologies such as machine-to-machine communication, mobility, or intelligent sensors. Participating in an international network of training and research facilities, the knowledge center at BME will be able to connect to the bloodstream of international innovation based on IPv6."
Budapest University of Technology and Economics in Hungary was established in 1782 and is one of the oldest institutes of technology in the world. It serves approximately 24,000 students, one-third of whom are foreign students, and offers engineering programs in the English language.
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org. | <urn:uuid:0a8bca20-3dbf-4649-93e2-85994cbdb57c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://campustechnology.com/articles/2011/09/19/budapest-u-establishes-ipv6-training-and-research-lab.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940455 | 504 | 2.15625 | 2 |
BRIEF LIVES OF SOME NOTABLE HOBOES
Young Karl Sekulovich, of Gary, Indiana, was an itinerant steelworker and boxcar poet for years before becoming a famous film and television star. As a hobo, he took the name "Kaveman Karl" and was known for hosting hobo stomp dances on his enormous nose. He was drawn to the stage in the late thirties, when hoboes were enjoying something of a vogue on Broadway, starring in such hobo-themed shows as Railbirds! and A Streetcar Named Desire. Later in his career, he became the American Express spokesperson, immortalizing the line "Never leave home without it, especially if you plan to forever lead a nomad's life on the hard hobo road, dodging the bulls and sleeping in makeshift hobo jungles and eating only beans, paste, and freedom."
Michael Douglas, his young costar in The Streets of San Francisco, recalled once that Malden would often take him aside and encourage a life of hoboism on the young star.
As Douglas told Rolling Stone in 1979: "Malden would say, 'Come on, brother! Let's leave all of this star stuff behind and go a-roamin'!' But that was never my trip, and he knew it. And then Karl would gaze out the window, with this sad look on his face. I used to think he was just staring stupidly the way old people do sometimes. Now I think he was probably looking at the scenery, angry that it wasn't moving." | <urn:uuid:59447324-af04-4df4-b032-60e46b0a9207> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jedidefender.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=10630.msg408990 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982874 | 323 | 1.585938 | 2 |
From Iraq came the revolting photos. Barbarians in Falluja had strung up the burnt bodies of American civilians on a bridge over the River Euphrates. Apart from the sheer horror of it — the teenagers merrily dancing as the blackened corpses swung in the background — Jews in particular may have been struck by the eerie resonance with the festival week now upon us.
Americans may be tempted to wonder why our forces are in Iraq in the first place, but Passover reminds us of what is at stake in the struggle to free Iraq from the rule of chaos and wickedness.
Passover is a time for reflecting on the spiritual meaning of places: Egypt, from which our ancestors were liberated; Israel, their destination, but also Iraq, or rather Babylon, or Mesopotamia, as the land was called in ancient times.
“Mesopotamia” literally means “Between Rivers” — the area between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers. It is referred to early on in the text of the Haggada:
The Haggada speaks of how God took Abraham from a land of false gods on the other side of the River Euphrates. Once he crossed the river, leaving Mesopotamia, he either was on his way to a very different land — a land of truth: Israel — or he was already there. There are some passages in the Bible that suggest Israel’s true eastern frontier is not the Jordan but the Euphrates (Joshua 1:4). Abraham was called the first “Hebrew” — or Ivri, from the Hebrew root meaning “the other side” — because his most decisive gesture was to cross to the other side of the Euphrates, leaving behind the lies of the idolatrous religion of his youth.
The importance of the land of Mesopotamia is stressed throughout the Bible. The story of mankind starts there: Adam and Eve were created in the vicinity of the Tigris and Euphrates (Genesis 2:14). And the historical narrative section of the Hebrew Scriptures ends there, when the kingdom of Judah has been conquered by Babylon, its citizens dragged back to the despised old country of our ancestors, to sit “by the rivers of Babylon” and weep “when we remembered Zion” (Psalm 137:1).
What was there to despise about Babylon? In the Bible, nations and peoples can represent spiritual concepts. The Philistines are associated with cynicism, the Egyptians with sexual immorality. The essential meaning of Mesopotamia has to do with falsehood.
That’s what Abraham was leaving behind when he crossed the Euphrates — the religion of false gods. Freeing others from their own false spiritual consciousness became his life’s work. In this way, Judaism got its start as a most aggressive missionary religion.
Does this start to ring a bell? Since America invaded Iraq a year ago, we’ve learned a lot about Iraqi culture under Saddam. Among other things, it was pervaded by lies. When U.S. forces, streaming up the Euphrates, had already entered the suburbs of Baghdad, Saddam’s information ministry was still pumping out the pathetic assertion that the American aggressors were hundreds of miles away, being mercilessly pounded by the fearless Republican Guard.
Today the legacy of lies remains. The Iraqi capital is so flooded with incredible gossip and insane rumors that a new newspaper was launched, the Baghdad Mosquito, devoted exclusively to sorting the lies from the truth. Another Baghdad paper had to be shut down for trafficking relentlessly in squalid lies about the occupation. When the American civilians were strung up from that bridge at Falluja, their evilly grinning killers propounded the lie that they were really CIA agents — total nonsense. And so on.
I don’t mean to set up a simplistic causal relationship between the Bible’s idea of Mesopotamia and the fact that Saddam’s regime made the place a land of lies. Yet the coincidence is surely meaningful, illustrating a pair of basic principles.
First, where you find evil, you find lies. Second, there is a bright, clear demarcation between truth and falsehood, as evident and obvious as the banks of the Euphrates. The biblical imagery serves as a rebuke to those who insist that often truth can’t be distinguished from falsehood, that it’s all a gray area.
America must not lose heart in this conflict, for our involvement in Iraq, critically important, is about nothing less than the struggle of truth against lies. May truth prevail.
David Klinghoffer is the author, most recently, of “The Discovery of God: Abraham and the Birth of Monotheism” (Doubleday, 2003). He can be reached at email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:c1c5ce60-93a2-424a-9158-07bc496ada2c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://forward.com/articles/5455/beyond-the-euphrates-a-war-of-truth-vs-lies/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962038 | 993 | 3.125 | 3 |
The One-Man Salute. Moon Gas. Tail Wind. The Gluteal Tuba. The Third State of Matter. Chair Air. Backdoor Breeze.
A very special note from Fatty: Today, I will write about farts. It occurs to me that not everyone wants to read about farts. I understand that. I respect that. I even sympathize with that.
And yet, today I will write about farts.
For those of you who prefer to read about something besides farts, please allow me to recommend reading the MinusCar Project today instead. It’s well-written and always has something thoughtful and interesting to say about biking.
And now, I shall now begin writing about farts.
The single most satisfying biological function one can perform on a bike is breathing. Here’s a fun experiment you can try to verify this assertion: while riding a bike, don’ breathe. Hold your breath until you think you’re going to explode. Keep holding it. Hold your breath until you think you’re going to die. Keep holding it. Hold your breath until blackness starts crowding the perimeter of your vision. OK, now feel free to breathe again. Isn’t that satisfying?
Farting, however, comes in a close second, satisfying-ness-wise. Here’s a fun experiment you can try to verify the truth of this assertion:
- First, try the “hold your breath” experiment described above, so you have a fair basis of comparison.
- Ensure that you are on a nice, long mountain bike ride. Something that will shake you up for hours on end.
- Eat several Clif bars. Or Powerbars. Or whatever.
- Force down extraordinary quantities of energy gel.
- Drink Cytomax (if you’re me). Lots and lots of Cytomax.
- Observe the beginning of a gurgling sound.
- Observe the building of pressure.
- Note that you begin to stand as you pedal from time to time, hoping you’ll fart soon.
- Try positioning your body in different ways, trying to straighten the path.
- Start fantasizing about farting.
- Finally, gratefully, fart. Cry a tear or two of joy.
Whenever my good friend Rick tells the story of the time he raced the Leadville 100, he talks about how prominently farting figured into his day.
“As the pressure grew, my stomach started bloating,” Rick says. “It became more and more difficult to ride at all.” Rick continues. “At one point, I got off my bike and laid down for a few minutes. It didn’t work.”
“I began making promises to all manner of deity, saying I’d be a better person, spend more time with my kids, start going to church, and stop stealing toilet paper from gas station bathroom. I would apply myself at work…if only I could fart.”
“Finally, it happened. I farted, loud and strong. The relief was exquisite. My stomach reverted to its previous non-distended state. It was the happiest moment of my life. I was able to finish the race, a big smile on my face.”
“True to my word, I have attended church every day since, and have become an excellent father. I have received several promotions and now am a vice president at a major advertising firm.”
“That fart changed my life.”
After the Ride
During the ride, a fart is truly welcome. Eventually the ride ends, but that doesn’t mean the effluvium flow comes to a halt. The problem is, long rides usually involve a car trip, both to and from the ride.
That return trip can be problematic. Farts become stinkier, though that may just be a perception thing, based on the fact that you’re no longer leaving them behind.
It can get pretty bad, because for some reason, everyone else’s farts smell worse than your own (by which I mean “my own”).
In order to minimize the effects of lots of already-stinky mountain bikers making lots more stink, I have developed the following rules of post-ride, in-car fart etiquette:
- Make your intentions clear. Two seconds before release: say clearly, “Fire in the hole.” You are allowed to interrupt conversation with this statement, because what you have to say is definitely quad one (important and urgent). If you have a different catchphrase, that’s fine. Just be sure everyone knows what the announcement phrase is. Above all, do not simply fart without any announcement, hoping that nobody will notice.
- Take action. One second before release: If you have access to a car window, roll it down two inches. If you do not have access to a car window (ie, you have no seniority in the riding group and are therefore the poor sap who has to sit in the middle), you have no obligation. If you have access to a window when another announces he’s going to fart, you are obligated to roll down your window. It is important that all four windows go down a minimum of two inches.
- Do not comment. OK, you farted. Fine. Let’s not dwell on it. And above all, please do not boast.
- Back to normal. Once all effects have passed, roll the window back up.
To give you an idea of how well my riding group knows each other, we no longer have to do a separate “Make your intentions clear” step. Rolling down the window is sign enough.
There. I’ve done it. I’ve written about farts and biking. I think I’ve made the world a better place. | <urn:uuid:f127ee60-dba3-4fba-a4c5-ea2dff968e0d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fatcyclist.com/2006/06/02/the-one-man-salute-moon-gas-tail-wind-the-gluteal-tuba-the-third-state-of-matter-chair-air-backdoor-breeze-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942408 | 1,250 | 1.9375 | 2 |
A portrait of happiness in the last Himalayan kingdom.
Since 1972, Bhutan has been attracting international attention as the only country in the world that quantifies its nation’s well-being not by Gross National Product, the narrow and soulless measure of our economic monoculture, but by Gross National Happiness. In 2007, artist Jonathan Harris (♥♥♥♥♥) traveled to Bhutan to explore the Gross National Happiness paradigm. Balloons for Bhutan documents his effort to capture “a portrait of happiness in the last Himalayan kingdom” in his signature style of multimedia storytelling.
Harris asked 117 people of various ages, occupations, education levels, and social status five questions related to happiness: What makes them happy; what is their happiest memory; what is their favorite joke; what is their happiness level on a scale of 1 to 10; if they could make one wish, what would that be. He then gave each person the number of balloons corresponding to their stated happiness, and wrote each person’s wish on the balloon of their favorite color. On the final night of his journey, he strung up the inflated balloons at Duchala, a sacred mountain pass at 10,000 feet, bobbing amidst Buddhist prayer flags.
Here’s an excerpt from Harris’s 2007 EG / TED talk, where he talks about the project:
What Lucille Ball has to do with the dot-com bubble, or why 2001 was the beginning of the end for TV comedy.
I may have given away my TV set in 2004 and fully endorse Clay Shirky’s theory of cognitive surplus but, as a devoted Marshall McLuhan groupie, I’d be the last to renounce the medium as culturally inconsequential. Television, for all its ills and follies, still commands a remarkable portion of our collective conscience — and, it turns out, it has an implicit conscience of its own, as TV executive Lauren Zalaznick demonstrates in this eye-opening, stride-stopping TED talk, using GapMinder, the statistical visualization software made famous by TED rockstar Hans Rosling.
From the intricate balance of moral ambiguity and inspiration, humor and judgement, to the normative shifts scripted television can ignite, to the evolving ideals of motherhood, Zalaznick illustrates not only how history has shaped the medium, but also how the medium itself is shaping cultural history.
Moral ambiguity becomes the dominant meme in television from 1990 for the next twenty years.”
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Written by The Daily Bell
ECONNED shows how the financial crisis is ultimately rooted in dubious economic theory. Its wide-ranging historical treatment starts with changes in methodology in the economics profession in the decade after World War II, leading to the rise of neoclassical economics and financial economics, which over time came to dominate policy thinking. These ideas were seized upon by conservative and corporate interests to promote deregulation starting in the 1970s, which included deregulation of financial services. But as ECONNED explains, financial markets operate differently than goods markets. Most importantly, they lack a propensity to self-correct. The result of deregulation of financial services was a rise in predatory behavior and looting, which unwittingly aided by overly accommodative Federal Reserve interest rate policies, produced the financial crisis. – Interview with Naked Capitalism founder
Dominant Social Theme: The problem with capitalism is that it is not regulated enough.
Free-Market Analysis: Naked Capitalism just picked up an article attacking DB as a "parody" of Austrian finance, so we thought we'd do a bit of research to find out why it posted the story. You can see our initial response here:Attorney Responds to the Daily Bell.
The founder of Naked Capitalism is Yves Smith, a pen name of Susan Webber, and she has written a book calledECONned. She gave an interview about the book (see above) in which she said that it was based (at least in part) on the idea that financial markets lack the propensity to "self correct."
She also said that the financial crisis was caused by financial deregulation and aided by "unwitting" Federal Reserve interest-rate polices. We don't think so. What we tend to believe after a century or so (actually closer to 500 years, collectively) of running central banking, those who seem to be in charge know EXACTLY what it does to the larger economy. No, we don't think it is unwitting at all.
Here's a question: If after 100 years, central banking officials don't understand the results of their policies, should they (the institution, anyway) be given power to run economies? And if they DO know what central banking does to an economy, aren't they being malicious (to say the least) in continuing to foist this system on everyone else? Central bankers would seem to be either ignorant or malicious. Either way, what are they doing with the power to run and ruin economies?
In fact, what central bankers do over and over is "fix" the price of money. They do so by regulating its volume and worth. Most recently, the Fed is said to have issued US$16 TRILLION into the marketplace to support an economic system that is dying.
They should have let it die quickly. Instead, people throughout the Western world are being tortured by the money supply. One tallies the cost in human despair: People lose jobs and houses, even commit suicide. Old people eat cat-food because of horribly low interest rates.
Meanwhile, the powers-that-be launch war after war to protect this dysfunctional system by distracting people's attention and further militarizing what is left of Western economies. Depleted uranium has killed or sickened millions overseas; still bombs drop and the poison drifts down from the sky in a gentle, endless, agonizing rain.
The modern money system is apparently the flip side of the modern economic system. It doesn't have to be this way, though. The only arbiter of money, in truth, is the marketplace, which regulates the creation of money naturally through supply and demand – usually through the circulation of gold and silver. Too much and the price goes down and less supply becomes available. Too little and the price goes up and more supply becomes available.
It is a simple fact that price-fixing doesn't work. Doesn't. Can't. Ever. So ... here is another question for pro-central banking advocates (or even those who merely think the system is unwitting): How much is too much? Alan Greenspan himself admitted early in his tenure that he couldn't find a way of accurately measuring how much money an economy needed – except in hindsight (when it's too late).
As Austrian economics points out correctly, the overprinting of money, which central banks (and especially the Fed) do constantly, swells the economy with overconfidence and currency. This is inevitably dangerous.
Eventually, when the markets reveal the mass of promotions to be unworkable, there is a crash and people's investments lose value. If the crash is deep enough, people lose much of what they worked for. Usually, central bankers do not. Meanwhile, remaining industry is further consolidated by the powers-that-be with additional central bank-printed capital!
One more thing. As a side effect, the powers-that-be use major downturns to pass more government regulation. Since the elites control governments behind the scenes via mercantilism, the central banking cycle is inordinately profitable. It consolidates both industry and government control in their hands.
Still another point: Much fraud in financial markets is CAUSED by the overprinting of money. Such euphorias make people over-confident and greedy. It makes them easily suggestible. They participate in investments they never would involve themselves in during a less euphoric time. This is why we disagree about Naked Capitalism's approach to the markets (if we understand it properly).
A free and fully deregulated market absent central banking and other distortions would likely be self-corrective; the Invisible Hand would work. But that's not what we have. Central bankers didn't "unwittingly" cause the current economic crisis. The system is SET UP to cause it.
Over the years, central banks consistently attempt a "soft landing," thus perpetuating one side of the larger business cycle. It is like a balloon that is puffed up until it bursts and a depression ensues.
During such times, nobody knows what to invest in anymore. It is not clear what companies are viable, given the incessant money stimulation and central banks' propensity to puff up their own distribution system of commercial banks and other huge industrial elements. Sound familiar?
Go to any city center and you'll see dozens of gleaming bank headquarters. The world is overbanked; Banking is the last big bubble, though no one ever writes about it.
The central bank itself is the fount and fundament of the problem. If one de-emphasizes its role (or even claims its manipulations are merely unwitting), one cannot correctly analyze larger issues, in our view.
And now we have our answer as to why the site posted the story referred to above. It is twofold. First, the Daily Bell is a proponent of the laissez faire (unregulated) marketplace; second, because one of its principals once had SECtroubles. Thus, the article fits within this larger meme – that "naked capitalism" on its own is dangerous and needs to be regulated. And those who are proponents of the Invisible Hand (versus big government regulation) are inevitably crooks.
In fact, we don't think a rational case can be made for regulation any more than a rational case can be made for the money-fixing of central banking. Is regulation ever REALLY effective? The 1930's convulsive change in the financial industry produced the SEC, the NASD, the NYSE (as a self-regulatory organization), Glass-Steagall and basically introduced the idea that Wall Street itself needed federal oversight.
But here we are, with worse problems than ever. Now we are being told we need still MORE regulation. Regulation and laws generally are a price fix just the way money printing by central banks are a price fix. One can argue that laws and regulations are NECESSARY but one cannot argue that they do not distort the larger marketplace.
Here is just one example of how counterproductive regulation can be. In researching a book on Wall Street (for about five years) one DB-associated writer discovered that the NYSE's former floor-based specialist system has a much different history than is ordinarily related. As even the Economist magazine pointed out a number of years ago, the specialist system was the result of one floor broker breaking his leg and standing in one place. Eventually, he began to specialize in a single stock. And thus the specialist system was born. Untrue.
In fact, from what we can tell, the real reason for the specialist system was because the NYSE was consolidating and buying up other exchanges in the 1800s. One exchange it couldn't buy was the one run by the "Uptown Boys" that were doing continuous trading when the NYSE brokers were still involved in auctions.
Eventually a deal was struck. The Uptown Boys agreed to come downtown if they could have stock franchises and the NYSE began continuous trading,which was more lucrative for brokers. And that's what happened. The specialist system was apparently born out of a business merger.
One cannot fully appreciate the ludicrousness of this unless one studies the subject. In the 20th century millions of words were written about the specialist system. Theses were written; degrees were handed out. The SEC debated the issue endless, especially after the 1987 Crash. And yet, the system was NEVER intended to protect investors from stock crashes, nor could it. A single specialist couldn't prop up his stock during a panic. He didn't have the capital to do so. No one did.
But nonetheless, the specialist system became an entrenched investor protection. The mainstream media reported on it solemnly and the NYSE honchos were very happy because their business compromise had been blessed by the regulatory authorities and turned into a market necessity. This is often how regulation seems to work. It facilitates regulatory capture. It blesses self-interest with the force of law.
Modern, centralized Wall Street is the RESULT of regulatory forces. The abuses in large part are the RESULT of regulatory price fixing and central bank money manipulation. It's fairly indisputable, in our view.
Why does this system persist and prosper? Well, as we have pointed out, it feeds on itself. Also because there are powerful interests that want it to. It's unfortunate, but after a combined half-century or so studying the way the modern financial industry works, we've concluded that there is a power elite interested in creating one-world government, one that needs to promote regulatory rule in order to create global dominance.
This is no joke. This elite that runs out of the City of London and elsewhere, doesn't just want to create world government; it actively wants to suppress the burgeoning human population – and the implication is that it wants to do so violently if necessary.
One simply needs to search the Internet for Georgia Guidestones to see what may be in store. Or read the writings of the Club of Rome and see who is associated with THAT.
It is unfortunately a basic dominant social theme, and an effective one: We need government to ensure that capitalism doesn't get out of hand. Government must be seen as the arbiter of fairness and a proponent of justice for the little guy. In fact, the calculation is much more basic: No government, no new world order.
Conclusion: We perceive an increasing number of websites that pretend to be laissez faire or pro-free market but are actually supporting the meme that free markets work best when they are under the supervision of an extensive (and growing) regulatory regime. Unfortunately, they never really attack the cause of the problem, which is money printing. This would seem to be an evolving dominant social theme of the elites as they ready their next attack on what's left of the free market, especially its financial entities.
© Copyright 2008 - 2011 All Rights Reserved. The Daily Bell is an informative compendium of independent economic views and analysis, which is published by The Foundation for the Advancement of Free-Market Thinking (FAFMT). | <urn:uuid:28d1b0a8-677a-4ea5-83d0-91e22fa50d6f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rightsidenews.com/2011111626558/us/economics/what-is-naked-capitalism.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970706 | 2,453 | 2.109375 | 2 |
Kidney donors — whose blood types don't match the relatives or friends who need kidney transplants — have another option to help.
A program of the Kidney Transplant Service at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital and UCSF Medical Center allows you to donate a kidney to a stranger, who has a blood type compatible with yours and who is at the top of the kidney waiting list for a "deceased donor" or cadaver, kidney. In exchange, your relative or friend moves up on the waiting list for a kidney from a deceased donor.
The program, called the Live Donor to Deceased Donor Waiting List Exchange Program, is a way to benefit a loved one, even if you don't match your loved one's blood or tissue type.
This is a way to potentially reduce the wait time for a deceased-donor kidney, which in the Bay Area ranges from three to six years and is primarily dependent upon blood type.
Once you make a kidney donation, your relative or friend will move to a position on the waiting list equivalent to that of the patient who received your donated kidney. The relative or friend would have the right of first refusal for any offered deceased donor kidney after reaching the top of the list.
If you're interested in more information or want to participate, you and your loved one should talk with a transplant doctor or coordinator. If you decide to proceed, your diagnostic evaluation and the evaluation of your loved one will begin.
The kidney recipient must pass all screening tests and be ready for the transplant. You also will undergo a series of tests to confirm that you can safely donate.
Once you and the recipient complete the evaluations, your kidney will be offered to a patient on the deceased donor waiting list and the transplant performed.
After the surgery, your loved one will move to a higher position on the deceased-donor waiting list, a position equal to that of the patient who received your kidney.
For example, if your kidney went to the fourth patient on the deceased donor list, your loved one would move to the fourth spot on the list for his or her blood group and would receive kidney offers once at the top of the list.
Because there are so few deceased donor kidneys available each month, it may take some time until your loved one receives a transplant. The chart below shows the number of deceased donor kidneys of a given blood type that become available in a typical month:
|Blood Type||Per Month|
Because of the limited number of kidneys, your loved one may wait several months before a suitable kidney is available. If your loved one has a high level of antibodies, it may be more difficult to find a kidney.
Ask your transplant doctor about antibody levels, which is checked using a test called the panel reactive antibody (PRA). The chart below shows the chances of a compatible kidney being found based on the PRA.
|PRA Level||Donor Kidney|
|PRA < 10 percent||98 percent|
|PRA 10 - 19 percent||47 percent|
|PRA 20 - 29 percent||31 percent|
|PRA 30 - 39 percent||19 percent|
|PRA 40 - 49 percent||19 percent|
|PRA 50 - 59 percent||14 percent|
|PRA 60 - 69 percent||11 percent|
|PRA 70 - 79 percent||11 percent|
|PRA > 80 percent||5 percent|
If a patient has a PRA level that's greater or equal to 80 percent, only one kidney in 20 (or 5 percent) would be a match. Even if one has a high PRA, this program will help because being high on the waiting list will make it more likely a matched kidney will be found.
We will do everything possible to find a good deceased donor kidney for the recipient. Live donor kidneys, however, are generally better than most deceased donor kidneys.
Any donor and recipient , who have incompatible blood or antibodies, can participate in this program after discussing the program with a transplant doctor and signing the consent forms.
If the testing shows that either you or or the recipient is not a candidate for surgery, you will not be eligible to participate.
For more information, contact a transplant coordinator at (415) 353-1551.
|Donor Consent Form|
|Recipient Consent Form|
The consent forms linked to from this page are in Portable Document Format (PDF). These documents can be viewed using Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader, you can download it for free from Adobe's Web site. | <urn:uuid:1c7a49bd-0b9e-45cd-b45e-72dd210782b0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ucsfbenioffchildrens.org/programs/kidney_donor_waiting_list_exchange/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921725 | 945 | 2.5 | 2 |
Monthly Archives: February 2012
“Sugar production in the New World was essential to the rise of capitalism. Rather than simply satisfying luxury consumption, a lot of the sugar produced under slavery in the Caribbean found its way into the daily diet of the growing European proletariat. With many peasants leaving the country-side to seek jobs in the cities, there was an increased need for food production and a shrinking rural labor force. The need for more food was neither met by increased cereal production (which would have required substantial transformation in production techniques) nor was it met by increasing meat production (which was basically intended for the bourgeoisie). Rather, sugar became–and remains today– a substitute for real food. Capable of producing increased energy output at the expense of long-term health, sugar is the opiate of the working class under capitalism.” – Susan Willis
I have long been concerned by the number of Black people who believe that reproductive freedom is somehow a threat to Black freedom. There have been various instances of conservative Blacks group who perpetuate the false notion that Black women exercising reproductive freedom is somehow antithetical to Black freedom, and the overall progress of the Black community. What I read within these conservative agendas is the notion that Black women’s reproductive freedom is a threat to Black patriarchy and White supremacy. These two entities conspire to relegate the Black woman’s reproductive freedom to a location of betrayal, simultaneously posing a threat to the control that patriarchal Black men and racists White want to hold over the Black woman and the Black community.
I have long believed that reproductive freedom is one of the primary ways in which we assert ourselves as free people. As the great-grandson of a Black woman who was forced to have an abortion, I have always known, or rather sensed, that there was something important and revolutionary in our ability to control our own bodies. Reproductive freedom is one of the main freedoms on which all other freedoms rest, and without it we are forever vulnerable to the forces of oppression. I speak openly about the fact that Black women’s writing has been one of my primary pathways to feminism and feminist movement. Enter Toni Morrison. In her foreword to Beloved, Toni Morrison outlines the questions that propelled her to write her critically acclaimed work. One paragraph stands out from the others in its articulation of the struggles that Blacks, in particular Black women, have faced within this racist and sexist society.
Toni Morrison writes,
“In the eighties, the debate was still roiling; equal pay, equal treatment, access to professions, schools…. and choice without stigma. To marry or not. To have children or not. Inevitably these thoughts led me to the different history of Black women in this country–a history in which marriage was discouraged, impossible, or illegal; in which birthing children was required, but “having” them, being responsible for them–being, in other words, their parent–was as out of the question as freedom. Assertions of parenthood under conditions peculiar to the logic of institutional enslavement were criminal.”
In one short paragraph, Toni Morrison poignantly articulates many of my own sentiments about the role, and necessity, of reproductive freedom in Black life. The powers who conspire to deny Black women of bodily autonomy don’t want us to remember the not so distant past in which Black women, and Black people, were the victims of their anti-choice institution. Sexist and racist America depends on Black people not understanding the degree to which they were denied reproductive freedom, and why our control of our own bodies, our right to make our own reproductive choices, is one of the most important aspects of any Black freedom movement.
In my mind, there is no question as to whether or not Black women, Black people, or any people should have control over their reproductive decisions. How could I look at the past and ignore the many ways in which this sexist and racist society thwarted Black reproductive freedom? It becomes clear me to me that aiding in the denial of reproductive freedom only furthers the marginalization of Black people. White supremacy and Black patriarchy have long been in cahoots. This becomes clear to me when conservative Whites and conservative Blacks unite in an effort to deny Black women reproductive freedom. Those Black people who are interested in Black freedom must think deeply about the ways in which their participation in the denial of Black reproductive freedom functions to further oppress Black people. Our notions of freedom in a White racist society should begin with our bodies. Reproductive freedom is Black freedom. | <urn:uuid:f9c819bf-104f-47bd-a58f-ad494e4cf140> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://antiintellect.wordpress.com/2012/02/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958736 | 930 | 1.859375 | 2 |
Ben Greenfield is a fitness and nutrition expert who competes at the Ironman and Half Ironman World Championships.
What does it mean to become superhuman?
Everyone is born with a certain number of genetic triggers. Your diet can unlock or keep locked those triggers that have the power to activate your genetic potential. Becoming superhuman means to become the strongest version of yourself possible.
Here are the questions we asked Ben:
- You have a live event coming up called Superhuman Coach, can you tell us what it means to become superhuman?
- Can you give us some examples of superhuman food?
- What do you think about eating for one’s blood type? Will it help with weight loss?
- Overtraining: how do we prevent it? And if we see we’re starting to over-train, what can we do without losing too much during marathon training?
- How do endurance athletes handle the GI distress issue?
- Why does cramping happen and how can we prevent it?
- What should I be looking for in a probiotic supplement in terms of specific bacterial strains and what sort of culture counts would be considered sufficient or adequate?
Also Mentioned in This Episode
Yaktrax pro for running in the snow! | <urn:uuid:8a99ec8c-92d1-432f-b574-7c1f46fa7d65> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://marathontrainingacademy.com/category/nutrition | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944594 | 260 | 1.5 | 2 |
Dog Obedience Training
Basic Commands such as Heel on Lead, Sit, Down, Stand, Sit Stay, Down Stay and Recall, works for many of our dogs to help them to understand what is expected of them. Yet, many of the dogs that I treat whilst able to heel perfectly well on a lead or sit whilst you talk to a friend, are often acting out behavioural issues at home or in the park.These problems are rarely if ever addressed in the obedience training hall. That is why I currently do not have adult classes.
I am a firm believer in puppy training and socialisation classes. (The earlier the better) as puppies learn more between eight to sixteen weeks that at any other time during their lives.
This is the time for your dog to be introduced to children, other dogs, strangers, traffic, and all the things they may encounter during their lives. This is also the pivotal time to instill certain disciplines such as recall, jumping up, and walking to heel.
A good obedience instructor should be able to help you with some of the more common "dog problems" such as housebreaking, nipping and mouthing, chewing and walking to heel. It is a sad fact that many obedience instructors haven't the experience or the training to address the more serious problematic issues. These problems may include agoraphobia, separation anxiety, personality disorders, stealing, resource guarding, depression, dominance, nervousness and aggression etc. If you are having "behavioural" issues with your dog, you need to address these BEFORE you attempt organised obedience training.
It was my intention, with my brother Paul who is also a practicing behaviourist, to start an organisation that combines the skills of the "Obedience Trainer" with the scientific and behavioural techniques of the "Behavioural Counselor" I fervently believe that you need both skills to successfully treat our dogs.
At present there are organisations such as the APDT which are primarily the scout hall type of trainer. And then you have the APBC that is supposed to be the behaviourists, effectively never the twain shall meet. They tend to be distrustful and disdainful of each other.
To my mind that is an absolute nonsense. Many behavioural issues can be helped through basic obedience training and many training issues can be overcome by behavioural techniques. To separate these two skills is counter productive, hence my vision for a united organisation called PAACT. The Professional Association of Applied Canine Trainers. Since writing this PAACT has been launched and is proving to be even more successful than I I imagined. We now have well in excess of eighty members and is still growing. To find a PAACT trainer/behaviourist in your area who is training and studying both disciplines go to www.paact.co.uk. Or click on the logo.
At present some behavioural practitioners have grandiose titles such "Clinical Behaviourist" This is meant to imply they have clinical skills, which unless they are also a Vet is untrue. All "clinical behaviourist" means is they see your dog in a clinic instead of where they should actually see your pet, which is in its own surrounding ie the home or where the behaviour occurs. Then you can see the real behaviour, rather than a dog that is inhibited by the very clinic itself.
I am also finding that some of the behaviourists have clients that are desperately disappointed at the outcome. They often will not even touch or handle the dogs in any way. Never mind come up with a viable and workable program to help solve the dogs and the owners problems.
Many of these behaviourist and trainers have taken weekend courses, and are then sent out on the unsuspecting general public with a grandiose titles, but very little practical or academic knowledge.
I was at a show called Just Dogs Live at the East of England Showground a couple of years ago. We saw one of these well known experts who licence others through short courses. My brother and I were working with dogs out of the audience, that we had never handled or met before.
I demonstrate hands on work at various shows and major events. This well known expert came on and started training a puppet. She had a staff member running around with a puppet on his arm, that she was teaching to sit and stay and other training techniques.
To say I was shocked was putting it mildly. But it brought home just how little knowledge, ability and experience some of these people have. Then they run courses and licence others. I took a couple of pictures of this expert before her staff ran over and were trying to block me from taking them. There is a major difference from writing books about a method and actually putting into practice.
I believe it takes a minimum of seven years working experience, plus study and exams, and a minimum of 2000 dogs you have treated or worked with personally for behavioural problems on a one to one basis before you can call yourself a true expert and a behaviourist.
Some so called Behavioural Counselors may be coming out of University with a shiny new degree, in most cases none of the work is practical, it is all academic. That is like learning to drive a car by reading a book. Some do not even know which end of a dog to feed. many have never even owned or even handled dogs. You will find you will get a nice 30 to 50 page report on the behavioural problems of your dog, but what about the hands on practical help and advice that you REALLY need.
Some of these academics, claim Doctorates and use the term Dr at every opportunity. However many of these PhD's are not related in any way to dogs. I have an Honorary Doctorate in Metaphysics but would never use it, though I am fully entitled to do so, as it was granted by an awarding body. I believe it would lead my clients to wrongly assume that the Doctorate was fully earned and was to do with animal behaviour and specifically dogs, which of course it is not.
|Is your dog pulling on the Lead, Unruly, Bad Recall, Aggressive on Lead, Jumping Up?
See my article and Video Clips on how to stop this. The Jingler
Which includes operant conditioning, desensitisation and reinforcement training. Modern reinforcement training is based on behavioural science. Reinforcers may be of a POSITIVE nature, something you might like and want more of, or NEGATIVE, something to be avoided. Knowing which is appropriate and WHEN to give it is the key to modifying behavioural traits. Many of the behaviour problems seen today are as much a result of the "drive level" of the dog, as they are the misapplied corrections that we humans quite often give our pets.
Lack of controlled early socialisation plays a key role in many behavioural problems we see in our adult dogs. Too little or no socialisation is the root cause of many of the fear and aggressive behaviour's prevalent today. Too much socialisation, also known as flooding can also cause behavioural difficulties with rude over boisterous bullies that plague our parks ands streets.
This means attributing human characteristics and traits to animals. Which can be another contributing factor to behavioural problems and is often the main reason why owners find it difficult to communicate effectively with their dog.
What is anthropomorphism? The textbook definition of anthropomorphism is: to assign human emotion or thought patterns to animals or objects which are incapable of achieving such dimensions. This would be like explaining that a vine climbs up the tree to get a better view of the garden.
Why do we engage in such behaviour?
Humans are better able to relate to something when they see themselves in it. Using the plant example, this is an example of projection. Projection is a psychological phenomenon in which one projects their feelings upon others, animals, or objects.
This is useful in everyday life for it takes the guess work out of reality. Instead of constantly contemplating why something is as it is, you simply put it into context with your everyday life. Dogs unfortunately are not Human or Primate they are Canids and therefore think and see the world and our human morals very differently to ourselves. To read more about this see my article on Understanding Dogs Abilities.
It is vitally important that you also understand the critical learning periods and these can be be seen on my website, read Critical Periods part one and two. To really understand your dogs language and how it communicates read my articles on Communication part one and two. Also read the Alpha Myth that explains why it is impossible for us to really be an alpha or pack leader. It also explains how we should be really controlling out dogs.
And finally if you get it all right, you will hopefully live in harmony with a pet that is a pleasure to live with rather than the unruly thugs we see on a day to day basis who are sometimes an unmitigated nightmare to own and handle.
Stan Rawlinson 2009 | <urn:uuid:713828fe-51dc-4956-ac48-b623b72505f0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.doglistener.co.uk/behavioural/obedience_behavioral.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972056 | 1,830 | 2.21875 | 2 |
Running is a great workout. It’s a cardiovascular exercise that can be done almost anywhere; and it’s an amazing way to keep your legs strong and lean. But it does have its drawbacks. Running can create tight hamstrings and hip muscles and sore knees.
That is where yoga comes in handy.
Yoga for runners is a helpful way to loosen up those tight muscles and ligaments, while allowing the areas of the body that take a pounding to stretch and unwind.
Here is what you need to know about running and yoga:
Yoga’s mind-body practice will strongly appeal to the mind of a runner, who thrives on the meditative and solitary aspect of their running routine. Yoga can also greatly help bring balance to many of the imbalances caused by running. Most runners have developed subtle, but potentially harmful, imbalances in the way their feet hit the ground and the way they maintain their alignment throughout their stride. Yoga can restore these instabilities allowing the runner to experience a more agile and much safer workout.
And perhaps most importantly, yoga increases flexibility. While runners may have incredible endurance and powerful legs, they have terribly tight leg, hip and upper back muscles. Yoga’s ability to create more range of motion in the body makes it a wonderful compliment to running.
While all yoga postures can be beneficial to runners, these three are especially helpful:
- Downward dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana): This classic yoga asana (posture) will stretch tight hamstrings, which are a trademark of devoted runners, as well as elongate the back. Simply start on all fours and slowly lift your hips towards the ceiling as you straighten your legs. Resist the urge to bring your feet closer to your hands so that your ankles are flush to your mat. Instead, allow your heels to keep reaching down towards your mat as you ground yourself down with all four corners of your hands. Hold for at least five deep breaths.
- Bound-angle pose (Baddha Konasana): This hip opener is a formidable solution to tight and sore hip flexors, abductors and adductor muscles. Start by sitting down on your mat, bringing the soles of your feet together and with your feet as close to your body as possible. Lift and lengthen your spine as you inhale and exhale deep through your nose. Allow your groin muscles to soften and release as you hold this posture for a minimum of five breaths.
- Pigeon pose (Eka Pada Rajakapotasana): Another hip opener that also relaxes the mind and stretches out the lumbar spine. Start in downward dog and bend the right knee and bring it forward. Take the right knee just outside the right hand while releasing the top of the left leg to the floor. Then square your hips to the floor and bring your torso down towards your leg so that you’re doing a forward fold over your right leg. Keep your left foot pressing down onto the top of your mat as you breathe into the tightness of your hips and continue to square them off. Hold this posture for a minimum of five breaths.
If you have an existing running injury, seek out a yoga instructor who is experienced in rehabilitation or specializes in working with people who have injuries.
June 24th, 2010 | <urn:uuid:8067f20e-fdd5-4220-85b2-22542ee0428a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/06/yoga-for-runners/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948917 | 689 | 2.1875 | 2 |
Blue Pill or Red Pill?
Down the Rabbit Hole of Comparative Effectiveness Research
With these words, President Barack Obama not only demonstrated his hip sci-fi credentials—Morpheus’s choice to Neo was either to take the blue pill and remain happy but ignorant of the truth, or the red pill, which would reveal to him a sometimes-painful reality and also launch the lucrative “Matrix” trilogy of movies—but also his desire to take a 21st-century, data-driven approach to clinical decision making and health care policy.
Among competing treatments for the same disease, which one is best? Which one is worth the money? These questions are the core of comparative effectiveness research. Half of insured patients in the United States are on chronic medications for conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol. Patients, physicians, and policymakers need reliable data to know what to take, what to recommend, and what is worth paying for. Typically, however, they don’t have these data.
The Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, has implemented a number of initiatives to address this problem. One of the largest is the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, or PCORI. A core mission of PCORI is to conduct comparative effectiveness research that gives patients and their health care providers the best evidence to help make more informed decisions. As promising and common sense as this mission is—because why not pay half price?—solid gold evidence to answer a patient’s question “Should I take the red pill or blue pill?” is hard to obtain.
The fundamental problem is that the gold standard for studying comparative effectiveness, the randomized controlled trial, or RCT, is too costly and disruptive to be done for every important comparative effectiveness question. At the RCT’s core is the assignment of an intervention to each subject by a “flip of a coin,” meaning that some patients receive drug A, and some patients receive drug B.
Unfortunately, an RCT is a massive enterprise. Special procedures such as using a “flip of a coin” at a central study site to assign each patient to an intervention are so different from routine clinical practice that trials must hire expert clinical investigators and take place at special study sites. Meanwhile, patients and physicians alike can be reluctant to engage in an activity so potentially disruptive to routine clinical care. Ethical oversight helps ensure that clinical care is not truly compromised, but this oversight is intensive, costly, and time-consuming too. The result? RCTs can take years and cost millions of dollars.
Given these challenges, relatively few RCTs are done. The major pharmaceutical companies are among the few institutions that can single-handedly muster the resources to implement large RCTs, and they use them to get their drugs approved, typically by comparing the drug to a placebo. Even if multiple competing drugs are available for a disease, drug companies rarely conduct comparative effectiveness studies. Why should they? For a company, the decision to conduct a RCT is not a matter of public policy. It’s a business decision. If a company does a comparativeness effectiveness trial, the study design often uses clever design features that, unsurprisingly, stack the data to show their that drug is more effective.
Fundamental questions—such as “Does drug A or drug B have a better chance at keeping a diabetic patient from needing insulin? Does drug A or drug B prolong life more in heart failure patients?”—go unanswered because, outside of the big pharmaceutical companies, few institutions have the resources to do an RCT to answer these questions. Part of the answer may be for the Food and Drug Administration to ask for more RCTs to address comparative effectiveness questions, but we also need new methods to do comparative effectiveness research more efficiently.
The RCT is a 20th century method that worked well for acute, serious diseases such as infectious diseases, heart attacks, and pediatric cancers, where entry criteria were simple, options in clinical care were few, and results could be obtained relatively quickly. Since the middle of the 20th century when the debt-weary post-war British National Health Service used it to inform whether streptomycin therapy was worth the cost for the treatment of tuberculosis, it has been the court system that decides which promising therapies are in fact safe and effective and which are not. For complex, common, and chronic diseases such as diabetes that can require lifelong treatment, however, the RCT is a large and costly enterprise akin to moving an armada across an ocean.
President Obama’s call for a trial to compare the blue pill to the red pill would mean mustering millions of dollars and recruiting thousands of patients as research subjects to be followed for many years. Even then, the results will likely be subject to a fusillade of questions because patients who participate in an RCT are typically not like the usual patient, the protocols often limit usual care, and treatment options may have changed in the years it took to execute the trial. A more modern, streamlined approach is needed.
Just as the RCT was made possible by 20th-century advances in statistics and research technologies, 21st-century advances now present an alternative to the large, expensive, and cumbersome clinical trial. The critical change happening now is the linking of fast, user friendly, networked computers into large databases replete with medical information—the so-called electronic medical record, or EMR.
Most proposals to use EMR as a tool for comparative effectiveness research simply use the EMR as a large database for a traditional observational study. This possibility has received deserved attention, but has also been appropriately criticized, because such traditional observational studies are not nearly as reliable as RCTs in distinguishing true causal effects of drugs from non-causal associations. We propose a complementary way to use EMR that will retain some of the special advantages of RCTs at much lower cost and with fewer ethical problems. We call it Prompted Optional Randomization Trial, or PORTS, a design impossible in the days of paper charts but easily implemented [subscription required] using an EMR.
Physicians who use the EMR have experienced how the system talks back to them. It can, for example, prompt a physician to reconsider or even change a medication that is linked to a documented patient allergy, interacts with another medication, or is not on formulary. These prompts sometimes result in rapid, appropriate adjustment of medications, but perhaps more often the physician finds the suggested change inappropriate and overrides the prompt with the click of a button.
The same technology can be used to introduce one of the RCT’s essential features, the “flip of a coin,” where the computer can choose whether the patient receives the red pill or the blue pill. Whenever a physician order one of these colorful pills, the computer can make its own random choice between the drugs. The computer can then prompt a physician to consider changing his or her prescription, but only when a physician’s order and the computer’s random choice are discordant. When identical to the randomly generated orders,, physicians’ orders stand.
If, for example, a physician orders the blue pill, 50 percent of the time the computer will also choose the blue pill. No prompt will be displayed, and the physician prescribes blue. If the computer chooses red instead, it displays a prompt to consider prescribing the red pill instead of the blue pill. A physician who prefers the blue pill for the particular patient dismisses the prompt with a single click and prescribes the blue pill. A physician with no preference between treatments, however, can endorse the change with a single click and prescribe the red pill.
A PORTS study design makes sense when the red pill and the blue pill are both used interchangeably in clinical practice, but physicians truly do not know which one is safer or more effective. This design increases the probability that a patient will receive the randomly assigned treatment. The association will not be perfect, since in many cases the patient and physician will prefer a drug and appropriately ignore a prompt that conflicts with that preference. Intuitively, however, if the blue pill is in fact a little better than the red and a prompt for blue makes patients more likely to get blue, the patients who do get a prompt for blue will on average do a little better than patients who get a prompt for red.
Crucially, that difference will reflect the properties of the pills themselves, not subtle differences between the kinds of patients who choose red and those who would rather have blue. A relatively simple technique called instrumental variable analysis formalizes this intuition and makes it possible to take these data and uncover the difference in effectiveness between the red pill and the blue pill. It turns routine clinical practice into an efficient and low-cost engine of discovery that will tell Americans whether we should take the red pill or the blue pill.
To be sure, this method has ethical challenges. Some patients will get a treatment different from what they and their doctor would have otherwise selected. Is it possible that some patients will be harmed? We would argue that it is not, because the physician can override the prompt if there is any reason to suspect one drug is worse than the other. Should patients give consent before this method is used? Would they need to give it every time, or just once when they establish care at a practice that uses this method? These are questions that need to be addressed, but they are mere shadows compared to the glare of the serious ethical concerns traditional RCTs raise.
To date, the EMR has received middling marks as a technology to reduce health care costs. The PORTS proposal is just one example of the more general but untapped promise of the EMR in medicine, a promise that could be as revolutionary as the RCT, and before that, the stethoscope.
Electronic systems, prompts, and other tools can introduce small probabilistic changes in care, changes that can yield the kind of unbiased quality improvement data that to date has been available only at the high cost of the RCT. Small, benign random variations in practice could gradually develop a far more comprehensive picture of what works and what does not.
We just have to summon the will to take the red pill and discover the innovative ways to interact with the new matrix of medical data.
James Flory is a fellow in endocrinology at Weill Cornell Medical Center. Jason Karlawish is a professor of medicine, medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania. Image: Warner Bros / Village Roadshow Pictures.
Comments on this article | <urn:uuid:30bc4d26-cb08-4d2b-8dba-e20ceb735ff6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://scienceprogress.org/2013/01/blue-pill-or-red-pill/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951236 | 2,177 | 1.75 | 2 |
Israeli security forces are on high alert today in anticipation of the Global March to Jerusalem.
The demonstration, organised by a coalition of anti-Israel groups from around the world, is expected to attract thousands of protesters.
There are a number of security concerns about the event, which will take place as Jews prepare for Shabbat and Muslims mark Friday prayers.
The date has been chosen as it coincides with Land Day, when six Arabs died protesting againstIsraeli government plans in 1976.
Demonstrations are also expected to take place in the West Bank and the Lebanon and Gaza borders. Last year on Nakba Day – another day known for anti-Israel protests - demonstrators stormed Israel’s borders from Lebanon and Syria, resulting in the deaths of 15. This year, more than 2,000 border police will be on alert at checkpoints and other key sites to avoid such clashes, with troops positioned on the northern borders as well.
The Israeli government has said it wants people to be able to mark Land Day and has instructed security forces to act with restraint.
The police have also been in contact with Arab communities and urged them to ensure the protests remain peaceful.
“We’re hoping there won’t be any major incidents,” said police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld. “If there are … obviously the police will respond and deal with them.” | <urn:uuid:4adb8c5b-e4a8-49eb-9874-41c91fe1a85c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thejc.com/print/65902 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964498 | 280 | 1.820313 | 2 |
ATLANTAAlthough screening can reduce mortality from colorectal cancer, a CDC study indicates low use of sigmoidoscopy/proctoscopy and the fecal occult blood test (FOBT), particularly within the recommended time intervals. People with health insurance, higher incomes, and more education were more likely to report having had these tests.
In 1997, only 41% of adults age 50 and older reported having had one of the two commonly recommended screening tests (FOBT or flexible sigmoidoscopy) within the recommended time frame [MMWR 48(6):116-121, 1999].
The CDC analyzed data from the 1997 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) on the use of colorectal screening tests. All 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico participated in the BRFSS, a population-based, random-digit-dialed telephone survey of the noninstitutionalized, US population 18 years or older. A total of 52,754 persons aged 50 or over were asked whether they had ever had a blood stool test using a home kit or a sigmoidoscopy/proctos-copy and when the last test had been performed.
Overall, 39.7% of respondents reported ever having had an FOBT, and 41.7% said they had ever had sigmoidoscopy/proctoscopy. A total of 19.8% reported having had FOBT during the preceding year, and 30.4% said they had had sigmoidoscopy/proctoscopy during the preceding 5 years (the recommended time periods). Overall, 40.9% reported having had either test within the recommended time interval, and 9.5% reported having had both tests during the prescribed time.
Men were more likely than women to have had sigmoidoscopy/proctoscopy (35.1% vs 26.7%), and women were more likely to have had FOBT (20.9% vs 18.3%).
The findings in this report underscore the need for efforts to increase screening for colorectal cancer, the report said. In response to low rates of use of screening tests, CDC is beginning a comprehensive health communication campaign to educate consumers and health care providers about the importance of colorectal cancer screening and to encourage patients to discuss screening options with their providers. | <urn:uuid:680c5fbd-d46e-4094-a680-7def88221297> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cancernetwork.com/news/display/article/10165/79673 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972993 | 490 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Forgetting that cloak of invisibility — how about a device that hides you in the very fabric of time? New research published in Nature reveals that scientists have successfully hidden an object in both space and time — even if for only for 40 picoseconds. Rather than bending light around the object, their technique creates a temporal hole in light beams where an event can be hidden.
The technique relies on what's known as a split-time lens to create a temporal hole. A beam of light is pushed through the lens, which speeds up the travel of the fast moving blue light, and slows down the comparatively sluggish red, leaving a gap in the middle — a gap ripe for exploitation. The light is recombined on the other side, and for a window of trillionths of a second, whatever goes on in that gap is undetectable.
Whatever's in the gap should interact with the light passing through, but it simply...doesn't. The travelling light beam emerges on the other end of the lens unscathed and untouched, completely oblivious to what happened in that undetected picosecond gap.
Photo via NREL. | <urn:uuid:fd375cab-6991-48c5-9750-c9fb03150a6e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://io9.com/5873410/breakthrough-cloaking-device-creates-a-hole-in-light-and-time?tag=physics | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938371 | 229 | 3.15625 | 3 |
Administrators took far more interest in women students than simply stimulating their "life of the mind." As Dean, Marion Talbot seized the opportunity to build a strong female community within the limited on-campus housing available. Living in Kelly Hall on the main quad, she supervised students' studying, socializing, diet, and exercise. Talbot believed strongly that balance, moderation and variety were key to women's educational success.
Parents asked Dean Talbot for assurance that their daughters would receive all the "necessary protections" at Chicago. In turn, the University operated in loco parentis, creating curfews and other rules aimed at limiting the interactions of men and women students outside of the classroom. For Talbot, refinement and order were important principles for the women's residences. The dorms were equipped with formal entertaining spaces for rituals like "class night," as well as more informal mentoring between undergraduate and graduate women students. In public receiving rooms, residential students entertained visitors and planned social events under the watchful eyes of their house mothers.
Administrators hoped as many women as possible would live on campus, instead of seeking out cheaper, unsupervised rooms in Hyde Park. While many students from the Chicago area lived at home, fundraising campaigns emphasized that the University students deserved a "safe and comfortable home" on the main quad where they could be under surveillance and protected. Yet the first female dormitories on the main quad-Foster, Kelly, Beecher, and Green Halls-could house only a few hundred women.
Due to lack of funding, plans for a new women's dormitory were cancelled in 1931 at the same time that Burton-Judson Courts, which provided housing for men, and International House, which allowed for some women residents, opened on the southern end of campus. Not until the late 1950s did the University complete a successful building campaign for new women's dorms.
7. Letter to Miss Anderson, February 14, 1909. University of Chicago Office of the President, Harper, Judson and Burton Administrations Records.
Hand-drawn illustrations depict a "Class Night" ceremony in Nancy Foster Hall.
|8. Foster Hall residents, ca. 1895. Archival Photographic Files.
The donor of this photograph labeled it "Prom Night for those who did not attend the prom."
|10. Ruth Cohen, Pearl Hood, and Sara Barney in front of Beecher Hall, ca. 1901. Archival Photographic Files.| | <urn:uuid:9b54784c-564d-4d54-9f5c-d8858ba52c66> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/webexhibits/OnEqualTerms/HousingWomenOnCampus.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956991 | 503 | 2.9375 | 3 |
If you have a swimming pool, then you have maintenance on that pool. Besides keeping that chemical s balanced, you have the ugly chore of getting rid of all the debris that blows and falls into the pool. The skimmer and filter will help get rid of some debris, but what about the leaves and debris that sinks to the bottom?
You can certainly sweep it towards the drain or vacuum it out. But why set up the vacuum when you can scoop it out with a leaf rake or net? Check out the pro’s that go to your neighbor’s house. They don’t use the cheap net that you have. Instead they have a net with an angled front that allows them to push it along the bottom and scoop out the debris. These have various names like “stingray” or “piranha”, but they function the same. The angle allows the debris at the bottom of the pool to flow over the lip and into the net. Brilliant! They are more expensive however; usually around the $40 mark.
They don’t only perform well at the bottom, but they do well skimming floating debris from the top of the water too. You can also buy them with different sized net densities to capture smaller particles, but that makes them harder to push through the water.
A variable speed pool pump can dramatically cut your energy usage. When compared with a single stage pump (like I have), the savings are dramatic. Most manufacturers claim that the payback is 1 to 2 years, but that is based on several assumptions, many of which don’t hold true for me personally. So when you look at the sales literature make sure the numbers portrayed actually apply to you.
The sales literature I’m reading is based on comparing a variable speed pump to a 1 ½ horsepower single speed pump running at 12 hours per day. The cost of electricity is $0.16 per kWh. The claim is a cost savings up to $1,500 each year. This would hold true if your costs and run times are the same as the comparison.
I don’t run my pump for twelve hours a day unless the water looks like split pea soup. Otherwise I run it the minimum amount necessary for the water to be clear and the chemicals to stay balanced. So the cost to run my 1hp single speed pump will be less and my purchase decision may be different.
I calculated that the cost to run my pump is $509.52 per year. I arrived at this number by calculating the total number of hours annually that I run my pump and multiplying by my hourly cost of $0.22 per hour.
Hourly cost: Motor Amp Rating x Voltage=Watts (7.4 x 230v=1702watts)
Watts/1,000=Kilowatts (1702/1000=1.702 kilowatts)
Kilowatts x Cost per kWh=Cost per hour (1.702 x $0.13=$.22 per hour)
I calculated my annual run times by taking the number of hours each day I run the motor.
For December through March: 3 hours each day x 120 days=360 hours
For April: 5 hours each day x 30 days = 150 hours
For May: 8 hours each day x 31 days = 248 hours
For June through August: 10 hours each day x 92 days=920 hours
For September through October: 8 hours each day x 61 days=488 hours
For November: 5 hours each day x 30 days=150 hours
Total annual hours=2316 hours x $0.22 per hour=$509.52 annual electricity cost to run my pool motor.
By comparison, if I get a variable speed motor and run it a flat 10 hours per day (although I think the true time would be closer to 15 hours per day), my costs decrease. Using the formulas above: 2.44amp rating x 230v=561.2/1000=.5612 kilowatts
.5612 kilowatts x $0.13 kWh=$.073 x 3650 hours per year = $266.45
So if I installed a variable speed motor, my annual power cost is $266.00 for a savings of $243.00 per year over my current cost. Right now my power company is offering a rebate that would lower my installed cost down to about $1,000.00.
My simple payback is $1,000/$243=4.12 years
There is no doubt the variable speed pump saves energy. Substitute your own numbers for mine to see your own breakeven. | <urn:uuid:f4242869-e44f-426d-aed9-f82c3c236e19> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pro-handyman.com/Pro-Handyman-Blog/?Tag=pool | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933589 | 963 | 1.765625 | 2 |
The early 1970s were quite possibly the craziest years in Formula One and not only because of the mammoth sideburns. These were years of wild experiments in fields as apart as aerodynamics and sponsorship structures, and they produced fascinating evolutionary dead-ends like the Lotus 56, a turbine-powered, four-wheel drive Indy 500 car driven by Emerson Fittipaldi in the 1971 Italian Grand Prix.
The car would have been a monster had it not been regulated to death at Indianapolis. Designed by Lotus’s Maurice Philippe, the 56 followed the lead of the STP-Paxton Turbocar—the car which Parnelli Jones had almost won the 1967 Indianapolis 500 with—and was powered by a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 turboprop airplane engine, driving all four wheels without a gearbox.
While Jones’s car was the fastest thing out there before it broke down with eight miles to go, air inlet size regulations by 1968 had made the Lotus evenly matched in power with the other cars. Like many Lotuses, the 56 was shrouded in tragedy. It was originally meant to be driven by Jim Clark, who’d died at a Formula Two race before the Indy 500, and his successor, Mike Spence, was killed in the Lotus 56 in a testing accident.
Still, the car could’ve won the race, had all three Lotuses entered into the 1968 Indy 500 not retired. Soon after, turbines were banned from Indianapolis for good.
Colin Chapman then turned the Lotus 56 into the 56B, a Formula One car. It would not prove to be his best idea. The car was heavy, complicated and too fragile for the violent demands of F1. It was entered in three Grands Prix in 1971, and the only time it finished was at Monza, driven by Emmerson Fittipaldi, above, who brought it across the line 8th.
The race—held for the last time at a chicane-less Monza, thus becoming the fastest Formula One race for 32 years—was a fitting testament to the general chaos of the early ’70s: nobody finishing in the points had ever won a Grand Prix. Emmerson Fittipaldi, driving the conventionally-powered but aerodynamically radical Lotus 72, would win the championship for Lotus a year later, leaving this beautiful, smooth, but ultimately too ambitious car in the attic of forgotten designs. | <urn:uuid:175ec73f-3da2-4201-a948-80e403b13fe1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jalopnik.com/5902332/in-1971-lotus-raced-a-four+wheel-drive-f1-car-powered-by-an-airplane-engine?tag=Lotus | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978432 | 501 | 2.4375 | 2 |
Feb 11 2013
Environment Secretary Owen Paterson will update MPs on the horse meat scandal after warning that the next set of tests could produce more bad results.
Mr Paterson's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has sought to play down any concerns that the scandal could pose a health risk and said there is "no reason for people to change their shopping habits".
But there are fears that the full scale of the scandal has yet to emerge. The Environment Secretary said the Government was powerless to impose a ban on meat imports unless beef contaminated with horse meat is found to be a health risk.
Mr Paterson spoke after the chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee backed a ban on meat imports and urged the public to buy their meat locally.
Conservative MP Anne McIntosh said: "I believe there should be a moratorium on the movement of all meat until such time as we can trace the source of contamination." But shadow environment secretary Mary Creagh said banning meat imports was a "knee-jerk reaction".
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has said there is no evidence to suggest the horse meat detected in beef products poses a danger to humans, but confirmed that tests have been ordered for the veterinary drug phenylbutazone as animals treated with "bute" are not allowed to enter the food chain.
Frozen foods firm Findus, which has taken its beef lasagnes made by French food supplier Comigel off shelves after some were found to have up to 100% horse meat in them, said it was considering taking legal action against its suppliers as an internal investigation "strongly suggests" that the contamination "was not accidental".
Mr Paterson said no case for criminal action has been discovered in the UK yet but the FSA said it was "working closely" with police in case that changes.
The scandal has spread all over the continent as details of the elaborate supply chain in the meat industry emerge. French consumer safety authorities have said companies from Romania, Cyprus and the Netherlands as well as its own firms were involved.
Romanian authorities have confirmed they are investigating. One theory for the apparent increase in the presence of horse meat in the food chain is new restrictions on using horses on roads in Romania, which have led to a surge in numbers of animals being put down. | <urn:uuid:943006c3-61b2-4d99-a789-21fa8a778b55> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.osadvertiser.co.uk/news/west-lancashire-breaking-news/2013/02/11/fears-over-horse-meat-scandal-scale-80904-32785728/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979305 | 473 | 2.046875 | 2 |
The intricacies of investor psychology shed light on what people are doing to miss out on long-term opportunities—and on how advisors can help them overcome those behavioral hurdles, according to a recent report from Franklin Templeton Investments.
Behavioral phenomena can have a negative impact on investor psychology, says Franklin Templeton in a wide-ranging “thought leadership” comment, “2020 Vision: Time to Take Stock,” on its public website.
Investors experienced loss during the 2008-2009 financial market crisis, and much of their negative perceptions of market growth stems from that time. As a result, many investors are afraid of experiencing the same sort of loss now.
With the help of Predictably Irrational author and behavioral economist Dan Ariely (left), Franklin Templeton pinpoints three behavioral reasons why investors may be missing out on opportunities for the long term:
Franklin Templeton Investments’ Beyond Bulls & Bears editorial team spoke to Dan Ariely, James B. Duke Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University, who has studied people’s often irrational behaviors and actions, including the concept of loss aversion.
“He shared some insights with us about his experiments and findings about how we experience the pain of loss, and how it often overrides the reward felt from gain,” Beyond Bulls & Bears reports. “People hate losing much more than they enjoy winning. How happy are investors when they make 3% on their investments and how miserable are they when they lose 3%? There is a tremendous asymmetry.”
“As humans, our thinking is strongly influenced by what is personally most relevant, recent or dramatic,” says the Beyond Bulls & Bears comment. “As investors, this can translate into perceptions colored by personal experiences that likely represent only a fraction of the complete economic picture. As an example: availability bias means that a person whose home has lost 20% of its market value and whose spouse endured a long period of unemployment is less likely to see or feel an economic recovery even while housing markets show signs of recovery and unemployment ticks down.”
Beyond Bulls & Bears goes on to quote Ariely, a Duke professor and author of Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape our Decisions, who asserts that a financial advisor could create different biases, depending on how he or she might frame a discussion about risk.
“Imagine if I was a financial advisor,” Ariely says, “and you came to talk to me about your risk attitude, and I started the discussion by asking you to describe how you felt in the last three years on the days when your portfolio lost 5% of its value. Then I asked you what your risk attitude was. Most people would say they don’t want to ever experience days like that again. On the other hand, what if instead I talked about people I knew who were retired and living in the Bahamas, fishing and golfing? Now your risk attitude would probably be different.”
3) Herding. Many consumers assume the consensus view is the correct one and follow the crowd whether they’re looking to buy a new phone or to invest money for retirement, Franklin Templeton’s Beyond Bulls & Bears editorial team notes in “Getting Trampled by the Herd.”
Chasing the market can lead investors to buy when prices are too high and sell when prices are too low. But on the flip side, value hunters can often find bargains if they move away from the crowd.
“The word ‘contrarian’ has a surly ring to it, but the idea of zigging when others are zagging is actually the foundation of the basic buy low/sell high investing strategy,” Beyond Bulls & Bears says. “The late Sir John Templeton had plenty to say about this type of behavior. One of his more famous lines: ‘Avoid the popular. When any method for selecting stocks becomes popular, then switch to unpopular methods.’”
Read The Upside of Irrationality, Investment Advisor’s cover story on Dan Ariely, at AdvisorOne. | <urn:uuid:fb8be1ef-24ec-415e-b55c-5bed9cf14819> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.advisorone.com/2012/10/29/3-self-defeating-investor-behaviors-franklin-templ?t=risk-management&page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953076 | 861 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Volunteers, partners and donors are making a difference in schools right now.
You can be a part of the Great change in City Schools and help to accelerate achievement by supporting schools through the organizations listed below the icons.
Adopt-A-Classroom invites the community into the classroom in support of teachers and their students. By adopting a classroom, donors form partnerships with specific classrooms providing financial and moral support. The result is a meaningful contribution to education in which donors experience the impact of their efforts and celebrate in a classroom"s success. Click here to help
The Baltimore Community Foundation City Schools fund provides support for a wide array of activities to help City Schools succeed. Donations can be made to this general fund. More specific donations can be made to help families purchase school uniforms. Many of our families have trouble securing the numerous supplies their children need for the start of the school year. We thank you in advance for any help you can provide. Click here to help.
Teachers, administrators, and PTA/PTO parent group leaders create Wish Lists of the classroom or school-wide items children need to explore their potential and excel. Wish Lists can be modified at any time. Educators do not need to wait for their entire goal to be met. This means that educators can safely invite contributions and get the supplies they need, without the risk of forfeiture, and donors’ preferences are honored. See how easy it is to improve your school at ClassWish.org
Teachers, media specialists, librarians and counselors can post their needs on this website in the form of a project proposal. Donors view the site and choose a proposal. Donor"s Choose acts as the facilitator, accepting the funds from the donor for purchasing the supplies/equipment as well as collecting thank you letters from the students and teacher to send to the donor. Funds are provided once projects are fully funded Click here to help.
This program allows donors to provide individual packs of school supplies so that every child has the tools they need to be successful. Click here to help
An online wish list toolkit for teachers, school administrators, librarians and teachers in after-school or vocational programs that follow a curriculum. This tool helps to equip their schools with new and gently used and in-kind donated resources. Every school can benefit at zero cost to the teacher or school. Certain items must meet City Schools Standards of Acceptance before posting. Schools and Departments can also list spare items to be shared within their district. Click here to help | <urn:uuid:2fec4162-5ac7-4ac3-b4ae-bca464fe5881> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.baltimorecityschools.org/site/Default.aspx?PageID=745 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954495 | 516 | 2.171875 | 2 |
Residents of Kitgum town are planning a demonstration against electricity distribution company, Umeme, for the consistent irregular power supply to their town.
The frequency of power blackouts increased in Kitgum this month. Almost every day for the past four weeks, the power has been cut off without warning. When there is electricity it is often too low to run basic equipment.
Margaret Apio, the proprietor of Roxy Discotheque, says she is forced to spend on two generators to power her disco hall. She says that with rising fuel costs, this is an expense to high for her to maintain.
//Cue in: "When there is no power..."
Cue out: "... which is very expensive."//
In addition to the business community, many residences are suffering because of the inadequate power supply.
Hussein Akbar, a resident of Apollo Ground, says the sharp and sudden rises in power have burned all his electrical equipment. He says he is ready to publicly demonstrate against Umeme's lack of control over power distribution and in ability to protect users.
David Mukibi, the Kitgum Town Council LC5 councilor, blames the power supply problems on corruption. He says small weak electricity poles were purchased instead of standard poles and they are unable to adequately distribute power throughout the town.
//Cue in: "The poles ..."
Cue out: "... during rainy season"
Mukibi asks the Kitgum district leadership to take up the matter with Umeme in order to prevent mass action against the company.
Umeme has not provided a comment on the matter. | <urn:uuid:6fd7b2a3-19f7-4458-8a31-851dfd1b52ca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ugandaradionetwork.com/a/story.php?s=26464 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962782 | 335 | 1.90625 | 2 |
Q: Did you urge him to use it?
CLINTON: That was what I urged my husband to do. He made a different decision
CLINTON: Only as part of a comprehensive peace agreement. Thatís always been my position, that [it should] guarantee Israelís safety and security and the parties should agree at the negotiating table. A unilateral declaration is absolutely unacceptable and it would mean the end of any US aid.
LAZIO: Thatís a change of heart for Mrs. Clinton, because back in 1998 you called for a Palestinian state. You undercut the Israeli negotiating position. The people of New York want to have somebody who has a consistent record. For eight years I have been consistent and strong in my support for the security of the state of Israel. Without equivocation. Without a question mark next to my name.
CLINTON: There is no question mark next to me. Thereís an exclamation point. I am an emphatic, unwavering supporter of Israelís safety and security.
Q: Wait a minute. Didnít your presidential candidate, George W. Bush, also accept contributions?
LAZIO: Itís absolutely wrong for all. The difference, though, on top of receiving the contributions, is that people who support the Hamas terrorist group, have been invited and courted at the White House, which I think is wrong.
CLINTON: I learned that an organization claimed credit for sponsoring a fund-raiser I attended; an organization whose members have made statements that I find offensive and have condemned. And as soon as I found out the facts, I returned all of the money that was raised because I did not want anyone to have a false impression about my strong support for Israelís safety and security.
CLINTON: We should have vetoed it. It was one-sided. It did not address the violence that I believe is fomented by Arafat. It did not address what Israel has tried to do, such as pulling out of Lebanon. Weíre seeing the capture of Israeli soldiers, the desecration of Josephís tomb. Itís imperative that Arafat end the violence and get back to negotiating. The US remains the guarantor of Israelís security, and in the Senate, I would certainly be a strong voice for doing whatever was required. Iíve also called for conditioning aid to the Palestinians on their willingness to end violence, on their willingness to rid their textbooks of anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli statements.
LAZIO: I did issue a statement immediately expressing my strong disappointment with America not using its veto power. I do not support call for a Palestinian state. My record is one of 100% consistency for the security of the state of Israel.
CLINTON: What Pollard did was a terrible crime against the US. It was a great breach of trust and national security and he plead guilty, was convicted and is serving a very long prison term. The question for me is around the due process issues concerning the way that he was sentenced. It is something that I have questions about and I believe that fair-minded people should ask similar questions. There was secret evidence put in before the court that has never been revealed.
LAZIO: The only person who is in a position to make that decision and the only person whoís got the authority to actually issue a pardon is the president himself.
|Other candidates on War & Peace:||Rick Lazio on other issues:|
George W. Bush
(Republican for President)
(Republican for V.P.)
(Democratic nominee for Pres.)
(Democratic nominee for V.P.)
(Reform nominee for Pres.)
(Reform nominee for V.P.)
(Green nominee for Pres.)
(Libertarian nominee for Pres.)
(Constitution nominee for Pres.)
2004 Senate Races:
(AK)Knowles v.Murkowski v.Sykes
(CA)Boxer v.Jones v.Gray
(CO)Coors v.Salazar v.Randall v.Acosta
(GA)Isakson v.Majette v.Buckley
(IA)Grassley v.Small v.Northrop
(NH)Granny D v.Gregg
(NY)Schumer v.Mills v.McReynolds
(UT)Bennett v.Van Dam
House of Representatives
SenateMatch (matching quiz)
Senate Votes (analysis) | <urn:uuid:1cfa032e-0513-474a-873e-a99ebf37ebd5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ontheissues.org/International/Rick_Lazio_War_+_Peace.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909971 | 918 | 1.632813 | 2 |
This transcript is automatically generated
And I'm here with that congressman Kevin McCarthy the GOP whip and that Italian maybe -- be very practical.
He's right in the presence said tonight that you're seeing -- -- -- that's not gonna happen.
Well there's quite a few things because -- put these big lofty goals and he's done this before remember in past speeches where he said he -- cut the deficit in half in his first term.
He gives these lofty goals but never gives the details of the accountability here.
To get -- -- -- mean tax reform that we wanted to tax reform.
But it's almost when you listen to what he says it's his way or no way.
When he talks about about the Fed is talk tonight about racing and let's say for example the minimum.
Minimum wage to nine dollars an hour second -- and I don't think this program.
I don't think guys that yet but we have an economy this week.
And everything he talked about was taking a little more out of the economy when you take more out of -- you provide less for those to actually get to the middle class in the middle class to get higher up.
It's better that people able to keep more in their pocket and actually create more jobs.
Small business is at its lowest point in seventeen years of starting new jobs if he raises a threshold even hired to start a small business that -- nine dollars an hour.
We even going further down and they create more jobs than anybody else in America and that's the challenge that we have.
Senator John McCain is there between these disappointed he didn't speak about -- tonight that's of particular interest of his.
He didn't spend a lot of time on international.
Issues this necessity want.
-- and I'll tell you know what are what are what I really wanted to hear.
I wanna hear how we're both gonna work together and what I wanted was kind of -- first priority the first priority of where we currently are today with a sixteen trillion dollar deficit.
Say a pox on both houses if you don't pass a budget.
I want to see a budget passed I wanna see something that balances.
Balances a decade but balances.
And you've got -- senate where how ironic he's got the CEO of apple sitting up with the First Lady.
And the last time the -- Democrats in the senate passed the budget.
The iPad wasn't even introduced it now that on what their -- vision -- -- -- even.
And you can't do everything that he wanted to get done without even first laying -- plan.
-- -- -- -- In the American people heard the president -- -- -- sponsors and Marco Rubio the Tea Party response which we put on Greta -- dot com by senator Rand Paul.
But we have the written copy on people go to Greta -- to hear the speech he says the president does a big woe is me or the one point two trillion sequestered that he -- signed into law.
Some Republicans are joining him.
Few people understand that the -- does he would cut any spending it just slows the rate of growth so you would sequester.
Government will grow over seven trillion over the next decade he -- Rand Paul right.
-- polish which -- really asking is three cents on the dollar to be cut.
And this is what the president has remember when we went to the debt ceiling.
And he couldn't get anywhere this was the one thing he asked when he didn't want to do anything about it come in the future he wanted to ignore it member and his presidential campaign -- second base -- this would never happen.
He's never done any action to find cuts somewhere else even though the house the Republicans led last term and pass the bill twice -- just died in the senate assistant and take action.
Now that it's coming to the deadline he wants to -- -- that's just kicking the can down the road you can't do that.
We spend more than we bring in -- look.
In the first two months of this new fiscal year our revenue increased by 10% extra thirty billion.
But are spending increased 6716%.
More than 87 billion that -- same subject he said they just loved it thought yup I got to do that want.
I felt when he talked about the men and women in our military making sure that there able to do and be the very best yet we all agree.
I thought when he talked about.
Looking for the future in investing in research I'd like to invest in research -- I know that pays off.
But you can't make investments if he can't plan where -- money's going and if you don't have -- budget he can't do anything.
-- -- -- -- -- | <urn:uuid:b53fc7c9-7515-4e4a-a292-19b94c2b9050> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://video.foxnews.com/v/2160966295001/obamas-gauntlet-versus-rubios-gop/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foxnews%2Fvideo+%28Internal+-+Video+-+Latest%29 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972055 | 977 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Salads and Beans
The lettuces and other greens that overwintered in my garden don’t seem to mind the cold wet spring. The longer days and occasional rays of sun are enough for them to grow a few inches a day it seems. And as noted in last week’s post, my neighbor’s greens are even more prolific.
Not only are the cultivated greens thriving these days but so are the wild ones. I have never known much about what edibles one can forage but last week I had the pleasure of hosting a local TV news station and Edible Portland in my kitchen. They filmed a segment on wild edibles that had been picked earlier that morning in an urban neighborhood here in Portland by John Kallas, one of the authorities on wild foods. John wrote a comprehensive book on wild edibles including lots of recipes and photos to identify these delicious and nutritious foods. So if you don’t have any lettuces in your garden you might want to check out the book and then take a walk in your neighborhood and see what you find. The salads and frittatas we sampled during the filming were delicious.
And beans! I love beans and to my great delight I caught a bit of Splendid Table (the NPR weekly food show) on Sunday about some of the healthiest people on earth who live in Turkey and eat lots of beans, olive oil and red wine.
But back to yesterday’s lunch salad–the salad I make in some fashion several times a week for lunch and for dinner has two main components: greens and beans. I always have home-cooked beans in the freezer and usually a quart in the fridge (canned beans work fine for this kind of thing too). And in the winter I almost always have kale around (which works beautifully in this hearty salad in its raw state) and the above mentioned greens. You really can use most any kind of green leafy item from spinach to kale to watercress and arugula to endive to romaine. Same with the beans. . .. red, black, pinto, white, garbanzo are all delicious.
Nice additions to this salad foundation are some of kind of cheese, hard-boiled egg, some herbs or nuts, thinly sliced onion or minced garlic. . .. You can also play with the ratio of beans to greens. If you want a bean-heavy salad, just chop the greens and herbs a little finer and have the focal point be the beans, eggs, nuts, etc. And finally you need a zippy dressing. My standard is good olive oil (I like Unio by Siurana available locally at Pastaworks), lemon juice or red wine vinegar, salt and pepper and my secret ingredient: reduced apple cider. I take a half-gallon of organic apple cider and bring it to a boil in a big pot and reduce it at a rolling boil until it gets a little syrupy and viscous. I usually get about 1 1/2 cups from half a gallon. I store the syrup in a jar in the fridge and add a couple of teaspoons to my salad dressing.
With or without a slice of good bread (or maybe a batch of cornbread at dinner time) this is a light but satisfying meal.
And finally, since I promised you two recipes this week, here is a link to a recipe from my current favorite cookbook: Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi from the eponymous restaurant in London. I made these leek fritters last night and reluctantly sent my husband off to work with the leftovers.
P.S. There are a few spots left in my May classes, including next week’s Spring Market Class.
Greens & Bean Salad
See notes above about how to adapt this kind of salad to your liking and to what you have on hand, and hence the vague quantities below. This is really more of an idea than a formal recipe.
2-4 cups of packed greens of your choice
1-3 cups cooked (or canned) beans of your choice (pinto, black, white, garbanzo. . .)
2 hard-boiled eggs, roughly chopped
1/2 shallot or small chunk of red or yellow onion, slivered or diced
1-2 ounces of cheese of your choice (feta, sharp cheddar, fresh goat’s cheese. . . )
handful or two of raw or toasted nuts (walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pine nuts. . .)
1/4 cup roughly chopped herbs (parsley, basil, chervil, tarragon, cilantro. . .)
1/4 cup of good olive oil
2-3 teaspoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons reduced apple cider (see note above) (optional)
salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 clove of garlic, minced
Place all salad ingredients in a large boil. Mix dressing and drizzle over salad and toss well. | <urn:uuid:93609d4a-329e-4d4c-ab69-e2757384a280> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cookwithwhatyouhave.com/2011/04/26/salads-and-beans/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943012 | 1,030 | 1.789063 | 2 |
UConn Conference Addresses the Impact of Counterfeit Electronics
Researchers and industry professionals met at the University of Connecticut's Storrs campus today to discuss how counterfeit electronics pose silent threats to transportation, communication and national security systems in the U.S. and abroad.
Programs used to prevent hackers from stealing information or spreading viruses have been around just about as long as computers themselves. But UConn professor of engineering innovation Mohammad Tehranipoor, who helped plan the conference, says only over the past ten or so years have researchers realized equipment too can be a target.
"The brain of the electronics systems are what we call chips. And they can be found everywhere. In daily life we deal with computers, laptops and cell phones. And all of these chips can be compromised."
Tehranipoor says as design and manufacturing operations have moved overseas, recycled or cloned chips made to appear functional have begun showing up in a variety of electronic devices from car-locks to helicopters. He says sometimes faulty chips give equipment shorter or less functional life-spans. In other cases, they allow adversaries to access and distribute confidential information from remote locations.
"You're dealing with individuals that do the counterfeiting in their home all the way to the state level -- they're very difficult to detect. And we're talking about how to prevent them from getting into the supply chain."
Tehranipoor says the UConn conference included sessions on new low-cost technology like electronic "fingerprints" that could determine authentic chips from counterfeit ones -- much like security threads embedded in U.S. currency. The event is sponsored in part by the U.S. Army Research Office. | <urn:uuid:f30b9f0d-1cce-4461-b277-5e6a911d62ee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nepr.net/news/uconn-conference-addresses-impact-counterfeit-electronics | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94759 | 339 | 2.65625 | 3 |
HIAS Young Leaders annual Advocacy Mission began in 2003 and has become an important cornerstone of the Young Leaders Program. Each year, students and young professionals from all over the country travel to Washington, DC to learn more about current issues and advocate on behalf of different immigrant and refugee communities. More information about past Missions is below.
Advocacy Mission 2008
In January, Young Leaders gathered for the two-day mission to focus on
- extending Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for elderly immigrants and refugees,
- holding the goverment accountable for visas it had promised to Iraqi refugees,
- and protecting refugees, often the victims of terrorism themselves, from being barred from entry into the US because of broad language as to what qualifies as "Material Support" of terrorist groups.
The 2008 Mission was an important and timely event for many HIAS-assisted immigrants, and a temporary two year extension on SSI benefits was passed in October 2008. | <urn:uuid:7b772ba2-5c77-4802-9a24-b02b35f16826> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://youngleaders.hias.org/en/pages/missions | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959689 | 193 | 1.9375 | 2 |
With the Albert Pujols extension deadline passed, almost every team and fan in baseball is hoping to acquire The Machine’s services next offseason. However, Pujols, or anyone his age for that matter, is not worth a 10-year contract.
At this rate by the time his career is over Pujols will be the best first baseman in the history of baseball. Go to baseballreference.com and you’ll see players comparable to Pujols at the same age. On that list are names like Gehrig, Aaron, Mantle and Frank Robinson. Not such a bad list to be associated with. The problem is that Pujols is 31 years-old, 32 by opening day 2012, and a 10-year contract close to $300 million given to a player at that age could handcuff a team financially if they are not playing in the Bronx or Boston.
After turning 35 years old, Frank Robinson slugged over .500 just once in five years. Mantle was out of the game due to injuries by the time he was 37. Hank Aaron was well below average his last two seasons, though he was in his 40s. If Pujols plays well for the first eight years of the contract, I’m sure the Cardinals would view it as a success.
However, what if he’s merely above league average for the last five years of the deal? Is five years at close to $30 million a year for a pretty good first baseman worth it for a team like the Cardinals? The Rangers thought signing Alex Rodriguez was a franchise-altering move when they signed him to that 10-year, $252 million contract in 2001, but quickly realized that they had no money to make any other significant moves. Three years later he was gone.
Don’t get me wrong, if Pujols were to leave it would be a gigantic loss for the Cardinals in production on and off the field.
However, there have been countless instances in which so-called franchise players leave their teams and the team moves on. Babe Ruth didn’t finish his career with the Yankees. They won the World Series a year after his departure. Favre left the Packers. How are they doing? And according to Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert the Cavs are going to win the NBA championship before the Heat.
Make no doubt about it, if Pujols leaves the Cardinals they will never be able to make up his level of production with one player. But they would be able to sign multiple players with the $30 million they would save annually. The Cardinals could give him a contract based on legacy ala Derek Jeter but it wouldn’t be as easy for the Cardinals, because again, the Yankees are about the only team that can hand out that kind of contract.
Next summer Pujols will see what is out there in terms of contract offers and some team will offer him a 10-year deal. Sorry Yankees and Red Sox fans, I’m not talking about you. It turns out that each team only has room for one great first baseman. But whoever does offer the deal may end up getting a once-in-a generation hitter for 10 years. More likely though they’ll be paying close to $30 million a year for an aging legend who is a shade of his former self in the final few years of the deal. | <urn:uuid:a0133d99-db93-4c0e-b450-17de59522c5c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theeagleonline.com/sports/story/a-warning-to-the-team-that-dares-sign-the-best-player-in-baseball/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981223 | 695 | 1.515625 | 2 |
If you make it an external file, then they have to download it once, which is slightly slower than including it in the page, because of the extra HTTP request. However, after that, it will be cached and they don't need to download it again.
In terms of the impact on SEO, that's the benefit - your site is quicker, which Google rewards greatly.
For code management, you are still best to develop with the code in an external file and then use a deployment script to grab the code and insert it for the production version of your code.
Finally, shared libraries like jQuery should always be external, because they will often already be cached in a visitor's browser from another site they visited.
There are two additional reasons for external JS files. | <urn:uuid:630c2343-f1af-4768-bd9d-04a1eb36fd76> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://webmasters.stackexchange.com/questions/13163/javascript-in-html-vs-in-a-js-file?answertab=votes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956603 | 157 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Sports Management Degree Program (B.S. Management Major)
Professional sports organizations are big business today. Behind the winning records and famous player names are many other employees and activities. The Sports Management degree exposes students to all facets of the business of sports, including sports sponsorship relationships, team and league equity issues, labor and personnel management, and a wide variety of ethical and social issues facing business professionals in both professional and amateur athletics. The degree prepares students for internal positions in sports organizations, public marketing, radio and television programming and events management. An internship in a sports organization blends theory with practice.
Sports management students complete the core curriculum in business (39 units) that is taken by all business students. The core curriculum insures that all business majors have a solid understanding of the totality of the business enterprise. The Sports Management degree then consists of upper division courses in sports organizations, sports ethics, sports marketing, the economics of sports, and the history of sports. An internship is the culmination of the program. The program can be completed in four years of study; see a sample curriculum. | <urn:uuid:2ec4a137-6e33-48ad-b9bd-fef7698ae95d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.menlo.edu/degrees/detail/sports-management-degree | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938989 | 218 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Anatomical pieces | Théodore Géricault | 1818
In the last post about Géricault, we saw that the artist was commissioned with a series of 10 portraits of patients who were hospitalized in La Salpêtrière, the mental asylum from Paris. In this period, Géricault borrowed human remains from the morgue to paint them. Anatomical pieces cannot be categorized as an artistic study of human anatomy, because the remains are separated from the body, reason for which they have no value for this purpose. Neither can be thought as a still life (although the “stillness” is redundant). Compositions with vegetables, man-made objects and, even, dead animals don’t cause us the same level of rejection as this painting and that’s because the artist tries to give life to something dead. As we are all terrified with the idea of death and knowing that our body is eventually going to be the object of decomposition and oblivion, Anatomical pieces shocks us for its morbidity. | <urn:uuid:741e3861-6a34-487e-adb5-09d04f05f4f2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://silverandexact.com/2011/06/03/anatomical-pieces-theodore-gericault-1818/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951057 | 215 | 3.203125 | 3 |
Things to Consider
What would happen to my estate if I died without a Will?
Click to view the Intestacy Flow Chart
Do I need to appoint Guardians for my children in my Will?
If you don’t make a Will and you are a parent of young children then you will have no control over who looks after them should anything happen to you. In such circumstances, the courts will appoint someone on your behalf- someone you may not have chosen.
If you do make a will, then you can appoint guardians of your choice, who will look after your children until they reach the age of 18.
What is an executor and who should I appoint?
An executor of a Will are the person(s) that you appoint to administer your estate according to your wishes. These are usually close family members, close friends, whoever you would trust to carry out your wishes. They are responsible for everything they do or fail to do in this regard. You need to ensure that the people who are going to carry out those wishes have got the attributes needed to do it, honesty is important, but they also need to be team players.
They need to be able to be able to make decisions about financial and other matters, in the interest of the beneficiaries as a whole and not just themselves.
How should I protect my business?
To answer this question we must consider the following –
- Do you want your business to continue after your death?
- Will your family be the right people to run your business or would they be better off to sell the business?
- It is important to discuss these matters with your Will Writing consultant who will be able to advise you on ways to make sure your intended beneficiaries don’t miss out. | <urn:uuid:364055c6-ff35-478d-ba37-554a3ee007a3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://willmakersofsheffield.co.uk/things-to-consider/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970282 | 360 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Arts & Culture
Temescal in a time of change
In many ways, the Bay Area is still struggling to recover from the housing market crisis. Although some housing prices are rising, only a few neighborhoods have returned to the peaks reached in 2006. And most of them are in Silicon Valley. Richard K. Green, director of the Lusk Center for Real Estate at the University of Southern California, told the San Jose Mercury News that, “Oakland is still dead.”
Despite the statistics, some areas in Oakland have seen rapid development in recent years. One of them is the northern neighborhood of Temescal. In many ways, it's a typical Bay Area neighborhood: ethnically diverse and middle-income. The average household makes about $68,000, close to the median for Alameda county. But as with many places in the Bay, Temescal is changing rapidly. You can see signs of that change at the First Friday Art Walk.At around seven o'clock in the evening on the first Friday of the month, Temescal’s Telegraph Avenue is filled with people. Doors along the street hang open and people stroll by, wandering in and out of cafes, galleries, shops, and art studios. They’re drinking wine, talking, laughing, and occasionally buying some artwork or jewelry.
Julie Stevens owns a salon in the neighborhood called 17 Jewels. She's lived and worked in Temescal for more than nine years, and seen a lot of First Fridays. “The first couple of years we did it, you were like, ‘When is nine o'clock? When is nine o'clock?’” Stevens remembers. “But now it's 7:30pm and I'm ready to sit down. So, it's good,” she says, adding that the event's popularity reflects a changing neighborhood. “It's definitely a changing of the guards in terms of who is here. In terms of the money.”
The scene at First Friday is only one side of the neighborhood. On a regular weekday, it looks and feels different. Cars pass by on Telegraph Avenue, making it noisy and busy. Some of the popular restaurants are crowded, like Bakesale Betty on the corner of 51st Street and Telegraph Ave. But otherwise, not too many people walk down the sidewalks.
Down 49th Street stands an example of the economic disparities Stevens described: a public housing project right next to half-million dollar homes. Stevens explains that in Temescal, there are families who can afford to buy homes in $500,000 to $700,000 range and there are those who qualify for Section 8 housing.
The diversity can lead to tensions – and extreme juxtapositions. Next to the trendy restaurants, vintage clothing stores and organic ice cream shops are McDonald's and Jack in the Box restaurants. And there are other, older places, like Golden Gate Donuts on 41st Street, that have seen neighborhood change around them.
Inside the donut shop, lottery tickets are just as popular among the clients as the actual donuts. Standing outside the entrance door, Charles Jackson says he's regular at the shop and comes here every day to meet his friends.
Jackson is retired. He spent 20 years working at an oil refinery and another 20 as an iron worker. He says he’s lived in Temescal since 1978, just around the corner from the donut shop. “There use to be a lot of work going on out here and it's not happening anymore as it used to since we've closed all the base,” Jackson explains. “The work is not kind of it used to be.”
Nearby, at 49th Street, is a small alley that looks like a backyard at first glance. Inside are tiny shops, an art gallery, and an old-fashioned barbershop that’s been open less than a year.
Although it's a working day, the Temescal Alley Barbershop is full of people. Four or five men are waiting in the line for one of the three barbers. Nick Vlahos is cutting the hair of Thomas Schnetz, who owns the Dona Tomas Mexican restaurant, located just around the corner.
Like Jackson, Vlahos grew up in the neighborhood. As he snips, he explains why he wanted to open his business in Temescal. “At first it had to do with the fact that the rent was right,” he explains. “We were just renting a shack with three walls. So, it wasn't too expensive.” Vlahos says that all of the small buildings in Temescal Alley used to be stables, for the horses that pulled 19th Century streetcars through the neighborhood.
It's been a long time since any horse occupied this building, but Vlahos says Temescal has changed a lot, even in the last decade. The biggest change, he says, is the crime rate.
“I know, my old boss' wife, the house she grew up on here, just a block away. Every single house on her block by the mid 80s was robbed at least one time. Some multiple times,” he remembers.
Vlahos says that it feels much safer nowadays. That might be one of the reasons he felt comfortable opening a business. But he says that there are still problems. “From what I understand, people are getting robbed on 49th St every week,” Vlahos says. “But they just don't talk about it and they don't always report it because Oakland police have a lot do.”
Possibly a bigger issue in Temescal than crime is the recession. The city of Oakland was hit hard, and has dealt with a $58 million budget shortfall over the last several years. Many city employees were fired, whole departments were merged or liquidated, and programs to help residents and small business owners have been repeatedly slashed. Julie Stevens says that, in the absence of consistent city support, many residents are taking responsibility of the neighborhood themselves. “Temescal has kind of sprung up unbeknownst to the help of the city,” she explains, “because city doesn't have any money. And they don't have enough manpower to really go out and send out their ambassadors.”
In 2004, residents and business owners voted to become what's called a special benefit assessment district. That means the majority of people decided to pay an additional fee to fund improvements in the neighborhood. The money goes toward things like regularly sweeping sidewalks, maintaining landscaping, making banners, and organizing neighborhood events. It's one of the funding sources for the First Friday Art Walk.
Stevens emphasizes that Temescal has a real sense of community, and many people truly care about the neighborhood. She believes that diversity is a strength. “You look around the neighborhood and you can see the diversity. You saw Korean guys walking, African-American… You see white people, brown people, young people, skateboarding young people. So there is lots of things to bring,” she says.
Walking back towards the BART station, it's easy to see the different parts of the neighborhood: across the street from Golden Gate Donuts is a trendy new cafe full of people drinking coffee and working on their laptops. Up the street, Jack in the Box is full of customers. The organic ice cream shop seems a bit empty, as do the Korean restaurants. But in few hours that could all change. | <urn:uuid:6474188c-df03-4d50-8465-1c0dad310d49> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kalw.org/post/temescal-time-change | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981439 | 1,551 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Christian Louboutin is knnow as famous designer. His work Christian Louboutin shoes was born and raised in Paris’s 12th arrondissement. He was the only son of Roger, an (cabinet-maker), and Irene, a homemaker, his parents are European French and he has 3 sisters. Louboutin stated within a 2012 interview that he was “much darker-skinned than every person else in his family. You understand, I felt I wasn’t French. My household was pretty French and so I decided they had probably adopted me. But rather than feeling it was terrible and that I was an outsider who had to go and uncover my real family, I invented my personal history, total of characters from Egypt due to the fact I was quite into the pharaohs.” Within the very same interview he also recounted an incident where his dark European looks had been the concentrate of racial hatred. One day he was out having a friend “in leopard, with high heels who was half-Spanish, half-Vietnamese”. Louboutin, required to use a restaurant toilet. “The employees went crazy! One particular guy grabbed my buddy by her hair and started calling her a “little bitch”. I took my fist to him, and he screamed,you dare touch a white guy orcrush your nose even more flat than it can. I within a black or mixed race family, so I had no experience of racism. But nonetheless, I was different…to get a few days I wanted to go back there and kill them,” he admitted. “I was total of anger.”
Louboutin was expelled from school 3 instances and ran away from house at the age of 12, at which point his indulgent mother allowed him to move out to reside at a friend’s house. Louboutin faced substantially opposition when he decided to drop out from school. Having said that he claims that what helped him make up his mind was an interview on Television with Sophia Loren in which she introduced her sister, saying she had to leave school when she was only 12, but when she turned 50, she got her degree. He later remarked, “Everybody applauded! And I believed, ‘Well, a minimum of if I regret it I’m going to be such as the sister of Sophia Loren!’”
Landscape architect Louis Benech has been his partner given that 1997. Louboutin and his companion devote time amongst their houses in Paris 1st arrondissement, a fisherman’s cottage in Lisbon, a palace in Aleppo, Louboutin shoes a houseboat on the Nile christened Dahabibi-my appreciate boat, plus a home in Luxor. The Luxor domicile is a former craftsman workshop, produced of earthen bricks, to which he has added an further floor and also a rooftop belvedere. Moreover, he also shares a 13th-century castle in thecompany companion Bruno Chamberlain.
Louboutin claims that his uncommon pastimes consist of trapeze flying, inspired by the film Wings of Need, and that inspirations come from showgirls and music halls ?a not fashion (or la mode), which he asserts becomes speedily dated.Louboutin helped bring stilettos back into fashion in the 1990s and 2000s, designing dozens of styles with heel heights of 120mm (4.72 inches) and higher louboutin shoes for men. | <urn:uuid:861f6bcf-b559-474d-8706-59cb2263318c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://earlmphalen.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985608 | 737 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Description of Historic Place
The Lock Office is located on the Rideau Canal below the Parliament Buildings at the upper end of the Ottawa lock station near the Rideau River. It is an asymmetrical, one-and-a-half storey building of random coursed stonework surmounted by a hipped roof clad in slate. Features include large arched windows, an enclosed porch and a shuttered bay window. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.
The Lock Office is a Recognized Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental values.
The Lock Office is a very good example of a building associated with the construction and operation of the Rideau Canal. The Office illustrates the theme of military defence strategy for Upper and Lower Canada in the second quarter of the 19th century, and the evolution and transformation of the waterway as a federal public work. It also illustrates the development and maintenance of regional canal systems by the federal government in the post-Confederation era. It is associated with major changes at the Ottawa Lockstation during the late 19th century, such as the beautification of the site following the establishment of the adjacent Major’s Hill Park.
The Lock Office at the Ottawa Lockstation is the most architecturally distinguished of the several lock offices along the Rideau Canal, and the only extant one that was constructed of masonry in the 19th century. The solid composition and eclectic architectural expression exemplifies the combination of different styles that typified the work of the Department of Public Works under the direction of Chief Architect Thomas Fuller. The building underwent extensive interior alterations in 1973, and its exterior was restored in 1980. Good craftsmanship can be seen in the exterior stonework.
The Lock Office reinforces the historic character of the Ottawa Lockstation and is a familiar landmark to local residents and visitors.
Sources: Marilyn E. Armstrong-Reynolds, Eleven Buildings, Northern Area, Rideau Canal, Ontario, Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office, Building Report 91-131 to 91-134 and 91-175; Lock Office, Davies Lockstation, Rideau Canal, Ontario, Heritage Character Statement 91-134.
The following character-defining elements of the Lock Office should be respected.
Its ongoing role as a key component in both the Ottawa Lockstation and the regional canal system, for example:
- its ongoing function as the lock office and one of the key public buildings of the Ottawa Lockstation;
- its prominent location at the west side of the northern entry to the Rideau Canal, a key section within the regional canal system.
Its distinctive architectural styling and high-quality construction, as evidenced by:
- its stylistic eclecticism and attention to detail, features that characterize many buildings designed under the direction of Chief Architect Thomas Fuller, as exemplified by the following carefully designed elements;
- its asymmetrical one-and-a-half storey form, enclosed by random-coursed stonework and ornamented with ashlar trim, and surmounted by a complex slate tile roof;
- its Romanesque Revival elements, such as thick voussoirs and a large semi-circular arch, which are combined with more traditional Victorian elements like segmented arches.
Its spatial and functional relationships to its immediate context and the canal landscape, as evidenced by:
- its original physical and functional relationships with the nearby Commissariat Building and locks, which remain legible;
- its comfortable rapport with the Parliament Buildings and Château Laurier Hotel;
- its status as a well known landmark that is used by local residents and visitors from both land and water. | <urn:uuid:1041b3fa-7e2a-4f1c-bfc1-efd3a6d05ddf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=11088 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944122 | 748 | 3 | 3 |
3D Mesh with symmetry faces having coincident meshes
3D Mesh with symmetry faces having coincident meshesPosted by Michael Hansen at July 09. 2012
I am trying to build a mesh of a cyclic sector, so I have two faces with the same topology but with an angle between them. I would like these two faces to have an identical mesh.
I just can't find the way to do this. The aim is to do this automatically through the TUI, so the sew command doesn't seem to be a solution.
Any help or idea is very welcome
Have fun, cheers,
Re: 3D Mesh with symmetry faces having coincident meshesPosted by Michael Hansen at July 09. 2012
I found the solution in another thread
The trick is to make a 3D mesh of the volume, then create a sub-mesh of the initial face with any parameters you want. A second sub-mesh has to be made for the "projected" face, with algorithm : Projection 1D-2D. It is necessary to define two vertexes on each face tough.
Hope this will help someone else ... python attached.
Have fun ! | <urn:uuid:09322174-4eb3-4773-b3eb-d05929283524> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.salome-platform.org/forum/forum_10/786229246 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944099 | 241 | 2.171875 | 2 |
1: “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.” – Shifting from the predictions of doom, God, through Hosea, begins to explain His intense love for His people and what He has done for them even as they turned away.
2: “The more I called them, the more they went from me; they kept sacrificing to the Baals, and offering incense to idols.” – Israel, the errant child, loved and yet insistent in following the wrong path.
3: “Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them up in my arms; but they did not know that I healed them.” – God had always nurtured His people and yet they did not know Him.
7: “My people are bent on turning away from me. To the Most High they call, but he does not raise them up at all.” – The prophets were calling Israel to return to God, but the people did not respond and would not exalt His holiness – instead, they followed their own path.
8b: “My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender.” – God debates with himself. First He outlines all the reasons His unfaithful child should be punished and then He speaks of His love for them.
9: “I will not execute my fierce anger: I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and no mortal, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.” – Punishment is a just action for Israel’s sinful ways and yet, God’s heart softens and total destruction is abated.
Points to Contemplate:
Reflect on the goodness of God in your life.
As a child of God, when have you felt His nurturing love in your life? At what times did you feel Him lift you into His arms and heal you of your pain or distress? What can you remember that provides evidence of Him leading you through the “desert” moments of your life? What sustenance has He provided? And what are the blessings He has cascaded down upon you?
Do you still turn away? After reflecting on God’s nurturing love for you, do those times that you turned from God come to mind? What has been your response to His love? Do you still worship other idols and gods? Do you insist on following your own path? Have you stubbornly held on to your sinful ways and have not allowed God’s holiness into your life? Is your heart still filled with worry and anxiety? Do you fret about the future and look for peace and understanding from anything that comes your way? Are you “bent on turning away (from God)?”
What should God do with you? Are you deserving of His punishment? Should He give up? Should He be angry? Frustrated? Will you ever learn? Much of what you have done saddens God and yet, He loves you. Even though you seemingly are bent towards turning from Him, He loves you. Even though your pathway to holiness seems rocky and errant, His heart softens for you. Do these thoughts reinforce the magnitude of God’s grace and love for you? Promises of the Gospel:
Israel has been a very difficult child to raise. He wandered and drifted. At every opportunity, he turned from God and began seeking fulfillment and purpose from any other source that came his way. All the evidence that gave proof of God’s nurturing love was forgotten or overlooked. God’s frustration after centuries of reaching into their lives was understandable. How much more could He do? As with any wayward child, punishment became an option to consider. The severity of the punishment was befitting of the crime and yet, God wavered. His love softened His heart and destruction was abated. God will never give up on us no matter how far we drift or how frequently we return to the ways of sin. His love has been permanently etched on our hearts and has become a beacon that is always available to show us the way home. | <urn:uuid:1a4a8c92-46e6-436b-b296-037065c7b3aa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.faithwriters.com/article-details.php?id=15843 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98046 | 877 | 1.890625 | 2 |
Understanding exactly what an ISA is and how it works can be a little confusing, and that’s before you start considering questions such as who has the best interest rates, whether you want to invest cash or shares, etc…
Here at ISA Rates we aim to make life a little simpler. We explain how ISAs work, clarify the differences between the different kinds of ISA and help you pick the account best suited to you.
What Is an ISA
An Individual Savings Account, or ISA, is, in effect, you own personal little tax haven. As the name suggests an ISA works much like a savings account, with one crucial difference; the money your savings earn is exempt from tax.
Another key difference is that there is a limit to how much you can invest in an ISA each year. At present you can pay in no more than a total of £10,680 per annum into you ISAs.
Just as with savings accounts interest rates vary between providers and there are different types of account honed towards different needs, such as easy access accounts or those with a fixed rate of interest.
As well as a cash ISA, into which you pay money, you can also have a stocks and shares based ISA, and you’re allowed one of each.
Shares based ISAs are ideal for those who prefer to have the value of their savings tied to the fortunes of the markets than to bank’s interest rates. More details are available on the What Is an ISA? Page.
Cash ISAs: Keeping Things Simple
Whilst ISAs based on stocks and shares can be profitable they are, by their nature, riskier and more complicated than cash ISAs. They take some managing and, if you’re unlucky, it’s not impossible to lose the entire value of your investment.
Cash ISAs on the other hand are very straightforward and completely risk free. You simply pay in as much as you want to invest, sit back and watch the interest accrue, tax free.
Compare Rates to Get the Best Deals
Once you’re ISA is full you’ll have to wait until the new financial year to invest more. As a result many people open ISAs or switch accounts in March and April, a period known as ‘ISA Season’.
This is often the best time to find the best rates as ISA providers compete, not only for new custom, but also to keep their long term savers from moving elsewhere.
Be sure to look carefully into the details of your ISA as there is more to consider than just the interest rate, for example the advertised rate may only apply for a short period of time. | <urn:uuid:7b351438-3f26-4e09-9b1d-78d755a9118b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.isarates.org.uk/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969386 | 561 | 1.835938 | 2 |
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4 Key Principles For Finding Your Path to Greatness
Success is defined in different ways by different people, but more and more it has become synonymous with money and status.
Real success, however, is less about results or a bottom line, and more about the process of achieving goals and dreams.
Many business people today are overwhelmed by the need to maintain results-driven success. Once we decide that the results are all that matter, then success comes at high price. We find ourselves making sacrifices and compromises that were once unacceptable. We trade today for some future payoff. When that payoff comes, we realize it can never be enough. And, when the results we work so hard for don’t materialize, we label that failure. It’s an impossible model to sustain for a lifetime.
Fortunately, there is another way.
In my book, Own YOUR Success, I contrast results-driven success with a much more balanced approach. The key principles are ones that anyone can put into practice immediately.
The first principle is Attain Belief in Yourself, which I break into five keys:
1. Accept the truth. Acknowledging the person you are today is the key to becoming the person you want to be and, ultimately, to attaining belief in yourself. There is a big difference between failing and not getting the results we want. Instead of seeing failure, see opportunities for growth and change.
2. Speak the truth. Be honest about your past behaviors and habits. While it may be difficult to acknowledge them, burying those parts of our lives makes us feel like victims, amplifying our fear and pain. Shedding light on the past, by talking with a trusted friend or professional, frees us.
3. Breathe through the truth. Avoid reacting from a place of pain or anger – no matter how much you believe you are right. Be open to changing your perspective. Treat yourself lovingly. Do not self-destruct.
4. Process the truth. Give yourself time and space to find your equilibrium. Developing belief in yourself means gaining confidence that will lead to a stronger foundation.
5. Create a plan based on the truth. Changing entrenched behaviors and mindsets takes time, and sometimes they return. Stay strong. Continue to believe and actively engage in this process. Define how you want to live your life from where you are right now.
Once you attain belief in yourself, you can believe in others – as all great leaders do. Use meditation and mindfulness to gain focus and clarity. This allows you to act with purpose, intention, and awareness at all times.
The second principle is Act with Courage and Integrity.
Whether you are the CEO, in middle management, or in an entry-level position, when you act with courage and integrity, it inspires others to do the same. A big part of that is appreciating all people and the selfless acts and sacrifices they make every day.
The third principle is Create Your Prizefighter Day – Do Great Things!
Each day set three attainable activity goals: one personal, one professional, and one to help others. By taking action in these three areas every day, you make each day victorious. The victory is not in the results, but in the actions themselves. Even if what you do doesn’t turn out perfectly, as you may have hoped, the experience of accomplishment every day is a victory.
The fourth principle is Create a Living Legacy.
Surrender to a cause greater than yourself. Find your passion and live it every day. Work diligently toward your goal. Fight for what you believe in despite the obstacles in your path. Don’t wait to leave a legacy after you’re gone. Live that legacy every day.
Quotes Of Greatness
As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world, but in being able to remake ourselves. - Mahatma Gandhi
“Greatness lies, not in being strong, but in the right using of strength; and strength is not used rightly when it serves only to carry a man above his fellows for his own solitary glory. He is the greatest whose strength carries up the most hearts by the attraction of his own.” - Henry Ward Beecher
“All greatness of character is dependent on individuality. The man who has no other existence than that which he partakes in common with all around him, will never have any other than an existence of mediocrity.” - James F. Cooper
“Man’s greatness lies in his power of thought.” - Blaise Pascal
“Those who occupy their minds with small matters, generally become incapable of greatness.” - Francois de La Rochefoucauld
“Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” - William Shakespeare | <urn:uuid:c03499c6-e57f-4ac6-83fa-cd6afc24ab9f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://addicted2success.com/success-advice/4-key-principles-for-finding-your-path-to-greatness-by-ben-newman/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94267 | 1,151 | 1.765625 | 2 |
As suggested by the Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg collections described elsewhere, the papers of Supreme Court justices and appeals court judges contain a wealth of information
on federal case law relating to women of all classes, races, and regions. Many of these judges and justices also had earlier
careers as lawyers or state judges, and thus their papers may reflect aspects of state law as well. For a sense of the division's
collections relating to the Supreme Court, consider that it holds the papers of nearly every chief justice from 1796 to 1969.
Locating material relating to women and the law in the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century collections is more difficult than
in those of the twentieth century, as fewer challenges to women's legal position reached the nation's highest court in earlier
years. Nevertheless, many of the early collections do contain correspondence with women family members and friends, some of
which touch on legal matters.
For example, the papers of Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase (12,500 items; 1755-1898; bulk 1824-72) [catalog record] contain correspondence with his third wife, Sarah Bella Ludlow Chase (d. 1852), and his daughters Janette Chase Hoyt and
Catherine “Kate” Chase Sprague (1840-1899), in which he discusses his career and advises Kate against seeking a divorce.
Malvina Shanklin Harlan (1838-1916), wife of Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan (20,400 items; 1810-1971; bulk 1861-1911)
Some Memories of a Long Life. Malvina Shankin Harlan. Typescript Memoir, 1915. Manuscript Division. exhibit display
wrote a memoir of her fifty-four-year marriage to Harlan, which was recently edited and published by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
under the title, Some Memories of a Long Life, 1854-1911 [catalog record].
In it, Harlan discusses their family life, religion, politics in Washington and Kentucky, her interest in music, and her
husband's legal cases. A passage of the memoir that especially interested Justice Ginsburg was Malvina's discussion of the
role her husband, a former slaveholder, had as the lone dissenting voice in the Court's 1883 decision to overturn the Civil
Rights Act of 1875. Malvina spurred him into writing the dissent by putting on his desk the very inkwell that Chief Justice
Roger Brooke Taney had used to write the Dred Scott decision in 1857.
Among twentieth-century chief justices, the papers of Earl Warren (250,000 items; 1864-1974; bulk 1953-74) [catalog record] are notable for the many landmark decisions identified with his tenure in the areas of civil rights, race relations, criminal
procedure, freedom of speech and press, and church-state relations.
Included are case file materials for Griswold v. Connecticut, the 1965 privacy rights case that overturned one of the last state laws prohibiting the prescription or use of contraceptives
by married couples. The Griswold decision is also represented in the papers of William O. Douglas (634,000 items; 1801-1980; bulk 1923-75) [catalog record] , who wrote the Court's majority opinion in the case.
Besides Douglas's papers, the division holds those of other associate justices who served under Warren or his successors,
several of which are particularly relevant to women's legal history, especially the papers of Felix Frankfurter (70,625 items; 1846-1966; bulk 1907-66) [catalog record] , an associate justice from 1939 to 1962.
Letters from the justice's wife, Marion Denman Frankfurter (d. 1975), describe her activities at Smith College (1910-12) and
graduate studies in social work, her support of suffrage, her work with the American National Red Cross during World War I
(see related collections described under Health and Medicine), and her research and editing of her husband's articles. Marion's sister, Helen Denman, wrote about her experiences as a
traveling secretary in the 1920s for the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA). While a professor at Harvard Law School,
Felix Frankfurter assisted the National Consumers' League and other groups in their efforts to obtain
protective legislation for women in the workplace. He was the lead attorney for the appellants in the 1923 Supreme Court case
Adkins v. Children's Hospital, and his papers contain files relating to that case and more generally to child labor and minimum wage legislation. He counted
among his correspondents notable women such as Grace Abbott, Molly Dewson, Alice Hamilton, Belle Moskowitz, and Frances Perkins.
Frankfurter's fellow New Deal appointee Hugo L. Black (130,000 items; 1883-1976; bulk 1926-71) [catalog record] also maintained files from his Senate and judicial careers on wages and hours legislation, pure food and drug bills, and
Since the 1960s, the number of Supreme Court cases relating to women's legal rights has grown substantially as the judicial
system has ruled on issues of job discrimination, privacy, reproductive rights, affirmative action, and sexual harassment.
These topics and others are particularly well represented in the papers of:
William J. Brennan (388,000 items; 1945-98; bulk 1956-90) [catalog record]
Harry A. Blackmun (530,000 items; 1913-99; bulk 1959-94) [catalog record].
Harry A. Blackmun wrote the majority opinions in the landmark 1973 abortion rights cases Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton. As a result, he received much correspondence (more than eight thousand items of which were retained in his papers) from supporters
and detractors on both sides of this contentious issue. Most of the critical letters stemmed from the 1973 cases or were received
before oral arguments in the controversial 1989 ruling Webster v. Reproductive Health Services, in which the Court upheld Missouri's restrictions on abortion and accepted limits on the use of federal funding for abortion-related
On March 4, 2004, the access restrictions on the Blackmun Papers expired, and at that time, the Library released a special
Harry A. Blackmun Papers Web site containing a collection overview, bibliography, links to the collection finding aid, and digital copies of six highlights
from the papers, including a note exchanged between Justice Blackmun and Justice Potter Stewart concerning the public announcement
of the Court's decision in the 1973 abortion cases.
Legal case files form an important component of recent judicial collections, and such files are generally arranged by date
of term and docket number, which may be a year or two earlier than the date of decision. Legal casebooks, digests, and other
sources held by the Law Library are helpful in identifying decisions relevant to women. Also useful is Elizabeth Frost-Knappman and Kathryn Cullen-DuPont's
Women's Rights on Trial: 101 Historic Trials from Anne Hutchinson to the Virginia Military Institute Cadets (Detroit: Gale Research, 1997; KF220.F76 1997). | <urn:uuid:6ebacb51-7134-4874-8dba-031caca0b442> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/awhhtml/awmss5/supreme.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941477 | 1,492 | 2.484375 | 2 |
Baptist World Mission (BWM) was born in a battle. The original founders of the Mission were leaders in the Conservative Baptist movement, who had opposed the liberalism of the old Northern Baptist Convention and had organized a separate fellowship of churches as well as their own missionary societies. As the Conservative Baptist movement grew, however, many of its leaders began to embrace a compromising position which came to be known as "new evangelicalism." This philosophy began to be particularly evident in both the Conservative Baptist Foreign Mission Society and the Conservative Baptist Home Mission Society. Strong Bible-believing leaders within the movement saw the need for establishing a mission board not contaminated with this influence. Thus the "World Conservative Baptist Mission" was born, which is now called "Baptist World Mission," and has continued as a strong champion for fundamentalism.
The Mission has a complete doctrinal statement which positionalizes it on the major areas of theology. However, there are certain key issues about which questions are often asked, and it is to these issues we speak in this document.
WHERE WE STAND ON DOCTRINE
A fundamentalist is one who accepts the biblical doctrines commonly known as the "fundamentals," such doctrines as biblical inspiration, the total sinfulness of man, salvation by grace alone, the complete deity of Jesus Christ, His bodily resurrection from the dead, His literal return, and other truths historically held by orthodox Christians. The Mission is opposed to modern religious liberalism, to neo-orthodoxy, and to other heretical views under whatever name they may appear.
On the Inerrancy of Scripture
Total allegiance is given to the doctrine of the verbal, plenary inspiration of Scripture. The human authors of Scripture were superintended in their work by the Holy Spirit who caused them to produce a text without error. We thus speak of the Bible as being both inerrant and infallible. Inerrancy is ascribed only to the original text written by the inspired authors.
Divine inspiration was such that nothing God intended to be included was omitted from the Bible. Every word in the original text is the very word God desired, though He did not violate the human personality of the writers in producing it.
In recent year, some claiming to be evangelicals have advanced the idea the Bible is inspired when It speaks on doctrinal matters, but contains errors in areas such as geography, history, and science. This position is heartily rejected.
One of the conflicts causing the formation of Baptist World Mission centered on premillennialism. Some Conservative Baptist leaders, while themselves professing to be of premillennial persuasion, were not willing to affirm premillennialism in their official doctrinal statements, thus making it a test of fellowship within the movement. Founders of BWM, on the other hand, believed premillennialism was vital to a biblical position.
Premillennialism is that system of thought which confesses a literal reign of Christ on Earth for one thousand years following His glorious, visible return to Earth. Premillennialists believe during this Kingdom period the promises given in the Old Testament to the nation Israel will be literally fulfilled. They will be restored to their land, and Christ, their Messiah, will rule over them.
Postmillennialists teach Christ's Kingdom will be inaugurated through the efforts of the church. After the Kingdom has been established, Christ will return. This system has experienced a revival in recent years through the writings of the "reconstructionists" or proponents of "dominion theology." Postmillennialism is not supported by Scripture.
Amillennialists deny any literal and future reign of Christ on Earth and, while differing somewhat in their interpretations, generally see the promises of a kingdom fulfilled in the present-day church. This identification of the Church and Israel is contrary to the plain teaching of Scripture.
Dispensationalists affirm certain basic truths.
- All Scripture, including the prophetic portions, should be interpreted literally, that is according to the grammatical-historical principles of biblical interpretation.
- There have been various stewardships (dispensations) during the history of man. It was man's responsibility to respond obediently to these different revelations of God's will.
- God has an eternal purpose for the nation Israel.
- The Church and Israel are separate entities with separate divinely-appointed programs.
- There will be a future kingdom on Earth followed by the eternal state.
Dispensationalists reject that system known as "covenant theology." Covenant theologians equate Israel and the Church, spiritualize many of the prophetic portions of Scripture, and affirm that infants should be "baptized" (sprinkled) because infants were circumcised under the Old Testament covenant.
Dispensationalists also believe in the "blessed hope," the biblical teaching of the pretribulation rapture of the Church. Baptist World Mission interprets the term "pretribulational" as referring to a rapture of the Church prior to the beginning of the seventieth week of Daniel. Christ will catch His Bride away before the inception of that awful time of judgment.
On the Gifts of the Spirit
In fairly recent years, the Charismatic movement has been spawned and has become prominent upon the ecclesiastical scene. Most charismatics teach all of the spiritual gifts mentioned in the New Testament are operative today. They especially emphasize the use of certain miraculous gifts such as speaking in tongues and healing. Some also claim to have the gift of prophecy by which they receive extra-biblical revelation.
The Charismatic movement has embraced and is propagating heretical errors and is having a very disruptive impact upon the Christian world. Their contention that the miraculous sign gifts are still evident today is contrary not only to the teaching of Scripture but also to the historical position of Bible-believing Christians through the centuries. The gift of tongues, for example, was a "sign gift," that is, a gift divinely-bestowed and intended as a sign to the nation Israel authenticating the message and ministry of the apostles. The gift of tongues was never a sign of the baptism nor filling of the Spirit.
On the Baptist Distinctives
Baptist World Mission does not feel any embarrassment about the name "Baptist." This name, understood and interpreted in the light of its historical context, denotes a people who have held tenaciously to great biblical truths when many of these truths were disdained and those who held them were vilified and persecuted. We do not embrace these doctrines because they were taught by our Baptist forefathers, but because they are taught in holy Scripture. While recognizing there are people calling themselves "Baptists" who are unfaithful to the historic doctrinal position associated with the name, we are unwilling to give up a designation which has both historic and biblical significance.
The biblical doctrines when grouped together are referred to as the "Baptist Distinctives" and are as follows:
- Sole authority of Scripture
- Necessity of a regenerate church membership
- Autonomy of the local church
- Soul liberty of the individual
- Priesthood of the believer
- Two ordinances of the church
- Two officers of the church: pastor and deacon
- Separation of Church and State
Obviously Baptists do not believe these principles constitute the sum total of divine revelation. They are, however, precious truths which have distinguished those people called "Baptists" for centuries and are still worthy of our joyful adherence.
On The Local Church
The word "church" is used in two ways in the New Testament. It sometimes speaks of the universal Body of Christ in which all believers are placed at their conversion. Most of its usages, however, refer to the local congregation, the visible body of believers gathered in a particular place for the worship of God, the observance of the ordinances, the evangelism of the world, and the teaching and preaching of God's Word. BWM's doctrinal statement declares we believe the local church to be the "center of God’s program for this age." We believe that every Christian should be an active member of a biblical church.
A person must be a born-again Christian in order to qualify for church membership. There are only two ordinances committed to the local church: baptism and the Lord's table. Baptism is the single immersion of a genuine believer in Christ and is required for church membership.
Each church is responsible to its Head, the Lord Jesus Christ. No organization or group of individuals can act for a local church nor impose their will upon it. Each church is free to follow the direction of the Spirit of God in supporting missionaries, calling pastors, and making other decisions relating to its work.
WHERE WE STAND ON BIBLICAL METHODOLOGY
Methodology is a reflection of theology. What we believe is demonstrated in what we do. What we do and how we do it is important to God. The Mission does not espouse the view that "if it works, it is good." Something may work well, but not be biblical. Our first question must always be, "Is this program, method, or action in line with the Word of God?"
The Priority of Evangelism
In some quarters much is made of the importance of "social awareness" on the part of the Christian and the local church. We are told it is mandatory for believers to have a "social agenda," i.e., a program for alleviating some of the social ills of this world. An examination of the New Testament, however, illustrates abundantly the early church did not feel it their responsibility to try to change society, but to preach the Gospel, which changes individuals.
Baptist World Mission from its inception has emphasized the priority of evangelism. We expect missionary candidates to be practicing evangelism here at home long before they actually arrive on the field. The Gospel needs to be presented personally to those with whom we have contact. The Gospel needs to be proclaimed in public gatherings as there is opportunity.
Many mission agencies have been caught up in "institutionalism." They pour thousands of dollars into buildings, schools, hospitals and other institutions, while neglecting the primary work of evangelism. We believe the main emphasis of a missionary should be upon winning people to Christ, baptizing them, and teaching them the Scriptures. Other efforts may be good in themselves, but may not constitute the best and highest use of a missionary’s time.
The Necessity of Church Planting
We believe the central goal of missionary work is the planting of local churches. There is no other substitute for this. Whatever the missionary does should be with the aim of starting a new church or nurturing one already in existence.
Church planting is not easy. The missionary labors in an alien culture which is controlled by Satan, whose government and citizens often are not friendly to the Gospel. The missionary is tempted to become sidetracked and substitute other activities in the place of church planting. Some want to specialize in a particular effort which they enjoy but does not have any direct connection with the task of church planting. Such temptations should be resisted. All missionary tasks must be measured in the light of the goal: "Does this contribute in some meaningful way to the establishment or nurture of a New Testament church?"
Our goal as a Mission is to produce self-sustaining and self-propagating churches. In other words, churches standing on their own without being propped up by missionary dollars or led by missionary pastors. We desire churches pastored by national believers who are well-trained in the Scriptures. These churches should be financially supported by their own members. In some cultures this is a challenging and difficult task, but it is nevertheless a goal which is mandated in Scripture. To produce church leaders indigenous to the country requires diligent training in programs established for that purpose. One of the missionary’s chief concerns should be the development of godly and competent leadership.
WHERE WE STAND ON BIBLICAL SEPARATION
Some years ago the Board of Trustees of Baptist World Mission adopted the following resolution on biblical separation:
"WHEREAS there is a shift away from a biblical position on separation in the fundamentalist world today;
And WHEREAS this shift is further apparent in the cooperation of those who call themselves fundamentalists with men who have remained in cooperation with those within the Southern Baptist Convention;
And WHEREAS there is a willingness of those who hold to biblical inerrancy to remain in apostate denominations and conventions;
And WHEREAS there is the cooperation of fundamentalists with charismatics and new evangelicals in school endeavors and the broadcast media;
WHEREFORE, be it resolved that the Board of Baptist World Mission, in annual meeting, October 27, 1982, recognizing the scriptural command to speak the truth and to speak it in love, reaffirms its commitment to the biblical commands to separation from apostasy and from brethren who walk contrary to the commands of Scripture."
This resolution flows out of scriptural principles and complements the statement on separation found in the Constitution of the Mission which reads in part as follows:
"We believe in . . . the separation of the local church from all affiliation and fellowship with those who deny the verities of the Christian faith and from those who are content to walk in fellowship with unbelief and inclusivism."
It should be noted the Mission believes biblical separation includes more than separation from outright apostates. It also includes a refusal to work with true believers who compromise biblical principles in the name of Christian fellowship. Some speak of these principles as "first" and "second" degree separation, but the Bible does not use this terminology.
The foundation of biblical separation is the holiness of God. "Be ye holy for I am holy" (1 Pet. 1:16). Separation from false doctrine is simply obedience to this command. Our holy God demands holy teaching. To be separated is to "touch not the unclean thing" (2 Cor. 6:17). Obedience in the matter of separated fellowship and work is part of "perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Cor. 7:1).
The rise and proliferation of new evangelicalism has made the task of the separatist even more difficult. These evangelical brethren believe many of the same doctrines as fundamentalists. They profess adherence to the authority of Scripture (though some of them deny the historic doctrine of biblical inspiration).
They are inclusive in their thinking and ecumenical in their practice. New evangelical fellowships may include a broad spectrum of people from independent Charismatics on the one hand to traditional Roman Catholics on the other. What are called "denominational distinctives" are downplayed in the interest of fostering fellowship among many diverse groups.
Many years ago under the leadership of Billy Graham, the philosophy of "ecumenical evangelism" was born. Evangelistic crusades were organized in metropolitan areas. No doctrinal restrictions were placed upon participants. Leading liberal preachers and their churches were enlisted in the campaigns and the evangelist carefully avoided any reference to their unbelief. With the defense "souls are being saved," an unequal yoke was created. This devastating practice has continued to this day and has caused great confusion among God's people The ancient prophet's inquiry is certainly one to be pondered now: "Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord?" (2 Chron. 19:2).
Missionaries are often put under pressure to cooperate with various ecumenical evangelistic efforts in the countries where they work. The philosophy is promoted which says, "We can do it better together than we can apart." Faithful missionaries standing against this philosophy are often vilified as "uncooperative" and "divisive." Cooperative evangelism on the mission field, however, is no more scriptural and productive than it is at home.
Personal separation is also a corollary of biblical holiness. The believer is commanded in Scripture to be separated from the sinful practices of this world. We are not to be "conformed to this world" (Rom. 12:2). We are to have "no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness" (Eph. 5:11). We are to repudiate the world with its lusts (1 Jn 2:15-16). In this age of loose living, some feel emphasizing personal godliness is "legalistic." To seek, however, to be godly in personal living is not legalism but holy obedience.
It is one thing to take a stand and quite another to maintain it. Numerous organizations and churches at one time took a firm stand for God, but have long since drifted into a looser and accommodating position. Since its inception Baptist World Mission has continued to stand without drift or compromise. The Mission takes seriously the solemn charge of God: "Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand . . . Stand therefore . . ." (Eph. 6:13-14). | <urn:uuid:7bb6d424-9f35-47ee-ac91-3bb557c03909> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.baptistworldmission.org/our-history-and-stand/752-where-baptist-world-mission-stands.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959453 | 3,493 | 1.875 | 2 |
This Month in Physics History
June 1876: Edward Bouchet becomes the first African American PhD in physics
Edward Bouchet was born in September 1852, in New Haven, Connecticut. His father, a freed slave, worked as an unskilled laborer, like many black men in the town. His mother was a housewife, and he had three older sisters. The Bouchet family was active with their local church and the local abolitionist movement, and encouraged all the children to get an education.
The local public schools were segregated, so in elementary school Edward Bouchet attended the Artisan Street Colored School, which had 30 students of all grade levels, and one teacher. In 1868 he gained admittance to Hopkins Grammar School, a prestigious private preparatory school that sent its graduates to Yale College. At Hopkins Grammar School he received a classical education, studying Latin and Greek as well as geometry, algebra and history. Bouchet graduated first in his class in 1870.
He entered Yale in the fall of that year. Bouchet was not the first black student to enter Yale, but he was the first to graduate. He lived at home during his time at Yale, and was clearly devoted to his studies. In June 1874, he graduated sixth in a class of 124 students. He was the first black person to be nominated to Phi Beta Kappa.
As a talented young black man interested in science, Bouchet had come to the attention of Alfred Cope, a philanthropist in Philadelphia who was on the board of managers for the Institute for Colored Youth. The ICY was one of the few places in the city where black students could get an academic high school education. Cope wanted to build up the science program there, and hoped to bring Bouchet onto the staff.
But before recruiting him as a teacher, Cope encouraged Bouchet to continue his studies, and paid for his graduate education at Yale. Edward Bouchet spent two more years there, completing further studies in chemistry, mineralogy, and physics. His primary professor was Arthur Wright, who in 1861 had become the first person to earn a doctorate in physics from an American university. Bouchet’s original research focused on geometrical optics, and he wrote a dissertation entitled “On Measuring Refractive Indices.” Just two years after completing undergraduate studies, Bouchet became the first black person to earn a PhD in physics.
A white person with Bouchet’s credentials would have been able to obtain a university position, but even with his impressive accomplishments, not many career options were open to him as an African American. So in the fall of 1876 Bouchet went to teach at the Institute for Colored Youth, as Cope had wanted.
At ICY, Bouchet headed the school’s new science program. In addition to physics and chemistry, Bouchet taught classes in astronomy, physical geography, and physiology. An advocate for improving science education, Bouchet repeatedly asked the school’s board of managers to provide laboratory space for students to perform individual experiments. In addition to his regular teaching, Bouchet gave lectures on various scientific topics for students and staff, and even reached out to the wider community by giving public lectures on science.
Bouchet taught at the ICY for 26 years. However, by around 1900, many black young people were being pushed into vocational and technical training, rather than academic education. Even black leaders, including Booker T. Washington, advocated for this approach, arguing that this type of education was what suited black people best. Bouchet’s accomplishments clearly showed that black people were capable of academic and scientific pursuits, but in 1902 the ICY managers decided that the school would give up academic subjects and shift its focus to industrial education. Bouchet lost his job.
Bouchet spent the next several years in several different teaching positions around the country. In 1916, Bouchet returned home to New Haven in poor health, and died in 1918 at age 66. He was survived by his mother, who died two years later at age 102.
As a black man in a segregated society, Bouchet surely faced many challenges, but he didn’t leave behind many letters or notebooks, so we know little today about his thoughts on his career or his daily life. A friend of his wrote in an obituary that Bouchet was “a man of keen sensibilities and unusual refinement. He was a prolific reader and was greatly interested in the history of his own people and of his native town.”
Bouchet never married or had children. He was a member of the Franklin Institute and the American Academy of Political and Social Science and was active in the NAACP.
Over his career in teaching, Bouchet had educated many black youth in science, but black people were still excluded from most scientific education and careers for many years. It was not until 1918, the year Bouchet died, and 42 years after he received his PhD, that Elmer Imes became the second African American to receive a PhD in physics.
Further reading: Ronald E. Mickens, ed., Edward Bouchet, The First African-American Doctorate, World Scientific Publishing Company (2002).
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The national conference, which will be held Sept. 29-Oct. 1 in Tulsa, OK, is designed to help eliminate homelessness and substandard housing for people with mental illness. Some 400-500 are expected to attend the symposium, including mental health advocates, mental health service providers, housing planners and developers, people with mental illness and their family members and financial developers.
The symposium is hosted annually by the Mental Health Association in Tulsa to provide the latest research and practical information about current issues related to mental health and mental illness. This year’s conference is being organized into six tracks:
- Planning and Development. This track will address creating housing options appropriate for individual communities, establishing relationships with housing developers, identifying the steps to establishing a housing program and creating a housing development plan in a community.
- Funding Opportunities. This will address how to fund housing and support services for people with mental illness, and will examine such sources as foundations, government, homeownership assistance and private donors.
- Coalition Building and Consensus Reaching. This track will address how to develop coalitions and reach consensus on implementing housing in communities, including who should be invited to join the coalition and how meetings should progress.
- Model Housing Options. This will examine models from around the country for meeting the needs and wants of people with mental illness.
- Community Services and Support. This will include peer support services, daily living skills training and employment and educational opportunities.
- Clinical Wraparound Services. Included will be workshops on identifying and managing a mental health crisis, building family support and implementing mobile treatment teams.
To register for the conference, click here.
For information on the National Housing Endowment, e-mail Julie Wheeler or call her at 800-368-5242 x8483.
[ Go to Top ] | <urn:uuid:d06fc534-66d9-454f-90fa-49f9b6eba1b6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nbnnews.com/NBN/textonly/2004-06-21/Association+News+%26+Events/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949565 | 370 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Excerpt From Oceana.org
The turtle pictured above, a critically endangered Kemp’s ridley, swallowed a large hook and was also struck by a boat. Beasley [rehabber of Sea Turtle Hospital] spoke passionately against gillnets. “My colleagues in other states ask, ‘why do you get so many turtles?’ My answer? Gillnets,” she said. “It’s a sad thing. There’s a reason other states have gotten rid of gillnets.” At 72, she said she’d love to see them outlawed in her lifetime.
“The use of gill nets catch and kill 65% of the non targeted species by-catch. Sea turtles, pelicans, ducks, and other sea birds along with numerous other kinds of fish are killed as by-catch in gill nets and dumped overboard. Why have other states disallowed in shore gill nets and have been very successful in doing so? North Carolina must take corrective action to eliminate this problem. Gill nets are unnecessary and have significantly reduced numerous fish species in the state.”
A local group calling itself The Angry Fisherman put out a press release saying:
“The only place in the world that allows gill nets in the turtle sanctuaries is North Carolina (Hammocks Beach State Park). For every 10,000 Sea Turtles hatchlings 1 makes it back to lay eggs. Almost any animal that swims into a gill net will drown if not removed in a timely manner. “
The 2010 Lawsuit to Stop Gill Netting
following Article By Craig Holt from North Carolina Sportsman
The Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center of Topsail Island expected to file a lawsuit sometime during January aimed at removing gill nets from North Carolina coastal waters.
The Beasley Center, which rehabilitates injured sea turtles and keeps monthly records of snared North Carolina turtles, contends gill nets have been harming these endangered and threatened animals for years in violation of Section 10 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
An update on legislation
The 2010 lawsuit on behalf of the turtle hospital resulted in conservationists making compromises with representatives that regulated the height of gill nets in order to allow animals the opportunity to swim past the net. It did not result in a ban of the practice of gill net fishing. It us unknown how much effect this has on reducing the mortality of bycatch of other sea animals or birds. A recent study on modified gill nets showsthat some modifications on nets have no impact on the number of sharks unintentionally killed as bycatch.
A more recent article by Craig Holt cites the Coastal Fisheries Reform Group attempts at a total ban on the practice have been stalled by leglislative in action on the part of representatives.
“Our bill never got a fair hearing, and no vote was ever taken…With the legislature continuing in its meek course, paralyzed into inaction by the loud noise of commercial fisheries interests, CFRG plans to act. We have retired our effort toward compromise and are rededicated to the cause to eliminate all gill nets from the waters of North Carolina as a conservation measure to protect our marine fisheries and the other aquatic life in our sounds and estuaries.”
from North Carolina Sportsmen | <urn:uuid:ef6e14eb-181c-4300-b1f6-b95661f5c1b8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://croatanearthfirst.com/2012/04/05/whats-happening-with-our-turtles/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942939 | 686 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Audiences will be getting a new look at Abraham Lincoln this weekend with the wide release of director Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln," and they'll be seeing a lot of America, too.
The film, which recreates the former president's life through the crucible of the Civil War, was filmed at several historic locations. Lincoln's life took him through a number of states before and during the war, which gave Spielberg and his crew a wide geographic canvas.
It was while shooting "War of the Worlds" in Rockbridge County, Va., that Spielberg began discussing returning to the state, said Andy Edmunds, interim director of the Virginia Film Office. Edmunds worked with production designer Rick Carter for nine years, helping him scout locations across the state.
Yet there is so much more to Lincoln than the movie that bears his name.
For history and film buffs looking to explore Lincoln's life, here are five locales that go beyond a trek to the National Mall.
City Point: Hopewell, Va.
One of Spielberg's Virginia stops was City Point, now Hopewell, which served as Ulysses S. Grant's headquarters during the Siege of Petersburg.
Lincoln spent two weeks there in 1865 with his family, traveling aboard the war ship River Queen, which filmmakers replicated in full, said Rita McClenny, chief executive officer of the Virginia Tourism Board.
From there, Lincoln watched the fall of Petersburg, later visiting the city, which was also shot on location, Edmunds said.
Indeed, many pivotal wartime decisions "were made on Virginia soil," McClenny said.
Capitol Square: Richmond, Va.
Filming in Richmond was a win-win for both the state and the filmmakers: Spielberg dressed up Richmond's capitol building as its national counterpart, and he used the capitol square as a sort of backlot for more than two weeks, Edmunds said.
Tourism officials, in turn, organized city tours, turning the location shoots into opportunity.
While filming, locals consumed the star sightings. A local restaurant even debuted a salad named after one of the movie's stars: the Sally Field of Greens.
Did co-star Tommy Lee Jones really eat at Bistro Bobette? Yes, and fans can too, McClenny said. With any luck, they'll sit in his seat.
Old State Capitol and Lincoln/Herndon Law Offices: Springfield, Ill.
Springfield, Ill., was the nucleus of Lincoln's career, political and otherwise, before he headed to Washington. It was there in 1858 that he gave his "House Divided" speech. It's also home to the Old State Capitol, where Lincoln worked as a legislator, and to the Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices.
Both sites are crucial, according to Dave Blanchette, public information officer at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, the former because "it looks as though the General Assembly just met there yesterday rather than 150 years ago." Adding to the historical sense visitors get while touring, it feels now as it felt then.
But Lincoln was also a lawyer for 25 years, "longer than anything else in his life," Blanchette said. The law offices -- the only of their kind, as no other buildings remain where Lincoln practiced law -- provide a necessary perspective on the president's professional experiences.
New Salem State Historic Site: Petersburg, Ill.
Lincoln spent some of his most formative years growing up in New Salem, Blanchette said. And the township is at the heart of the "log cabin" image that has crystallized around the 16th president.
The site was recreated in the 1930s and '40s using the remaining foundations.
"You can stroll through the log village and try and imagine what life would have been like in the 1830s," Blanchette said, which lets visitors experience a period when Lincoln transformed himself from a "young man with no real direction in life" to someone with "purpose and a vision."
Abraham Lincoln Birthplace: Hodgenville, Ky.
The president's birthplace is "literally the first memorial of any kind of Abraham Lincoln," said Bill Justice, superintendent of the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Park, which has its origins in an early 20th-century project by the Lincoln Farm Association. | <urn:uuid:c99ce407-8258-472d-95c1-b8f43ed7b3ac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.local10.com/thats-life/travelgetaways/Learning-Lincoln-Five-stops-in-the-U-S/-/1716726/17438456/-/st3tu4z/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973701 | 888 | 1.859375 | 2 |
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Petition Tag - prithviraj chauhan grave
The Great Prithviraj Chauhan, the last ruler of Chauhan dynasty to sit on the throne of Delhi, was born in 1168 as the son of Someshwar Chauhan, the king of Ajmer.
The brave emperor was buried near the tomb of Mohammad Ghori.
According to reports, it is now a part of the tradition in Afghanistan that those who pay visit to the tomb Mohammad Ghori first disrespect the place where the Indian emperor’s mortal remains are buried.
The inscription on the tomb reads: “Here lies the Kafer king of Delhi.”
There must now be an urgency of bringing back the remains of Prithviraj Chauhan to India for a worthy memorial at Delhi as well as Ajmer.
Indian PM visited grave of Babur, but not Prithviraj Chauhan
Indian PM Dr. Manmohan Singh, Natwar Singh and Rahul Gandhi’s recent vist to Afghanistan was one of the historic visit after along time, during that visit they have visited to Babur’s Grave.
Needless to say Babur is an Invader, not a Indian King. Indian Media and Indians might have forgotten to recollect history, there is another grave in afghanistan, grave of legendary Rajput king Prithviraj Chauhan, a hero in India, lying in a dilapidated condition in the outskirts of Ghazni. This passive callousness shown by these leaders has brought utter disgrace to India, these leaders should be questioned by public and parliamentarians in the parliament.
Mr. S.C Sharma who has seen the dilapidated grave, of the Emperor of India Prithviraj Chauhan in Afghanistan, which is been subject to regular indignity till today. He is an eyewitness to this and has penned down what he has seen (apart of the article is given below).
Many years ago, while travelling by jeep from Kandahar to Kabul, I had to make a night halt en route at Ghazni. At the hotel, I learned that there was a grand mausoleum over the tomb of Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi near the town, and I determined to see it. A few extra Afghanis (the local currency) helped my driver to comprehend the necessity of making a small detour the next morning.
The mausoleum was indeed grand - judging by local standards - with a high, arched doorway like the Buland Darwaza. lie tomb proper was in a cellar about four or five feet be low ground-level. It intrigued me considerably to note that there were no steps leading down into the tomb. Instead, a metal chain hung from the ceiling of the cellar. I was told that I would have to hold the chain and jump down.
I asked for the reason for this peculiar method of entry. The caretaker was evasive at first. But after much persuasion, he disclosed that there was another tomb at the exact spot where you jumped down. There, the infidel king of Delhi, Prithviraj Chauhan, lay buried.
Title: Ghazni’s best-kept secret
Author: S.C. Sharma
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: April 25, 1998 | <urn:uuid:f439f9a4-77b0-4af1-b28e-308f7c8a9116> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gopetition.co.uk/tag/prithviraj%20chauhan%20grave | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959314 | 704 | 1.9375 | 2 |
This is not the end of western civilization but I think the issue could have used a little less political hyperbole and lot more sober reflection:
The Senate voted decisively Saturday to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" law, beginning the process of ending a 17-year ban on gays serving openly in the military and reversing decades of official military policy.
In the end, the contentious bill passed by a lopsided 65 to 31as 57 members of the Senate Democratic caucus and eight Republicans voted to end the ban.
In a statement, President Obama praised the procedural vote earlier in the day that allowed for Saturday's historic passage: "I am also absolutely convinced that making this change will only underscore the professionalism of our troops as the best led and best trained fighting force the world has ever known."
That last remains to be seen. The Commandant of the Marine Corps General James Amos, is decidedly against the idea of openly gay men serving in combat. Does he know something that DADT opponents don't? He is guessing as much as they are. Nobody knows what impact, if any, there will be which is why rushing this thing through a week before Christmas doesn't make any sense.
Using the military as a social science lab is a fine old Washington tradition. But it should be pointed out that historically, these social experiments have proven out. Everyone said that southern soldiers would quit en mass and never serve with black soldiers when the armed forces were integrated. Similar warnings were issued when women were given expanded roles in the military. Both "experiments" worked out well, so there's a chance that openly homosexual men will have no impact on unit cohesion or combat effectiveness as some proponents of DADT argue they will.
We'll all just have to wait and see. | <urn:uuid:e0516b7c-823d-4c20-b648-83020a9fd4e3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/12/dont_ask_congress_repeals_dadt.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973673 | 362 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Who gets multiple sclerosis (MS)?
MS affects women more than twice as often as men. White (Caucasian) people are more likely to develop it than people of other races. If someone in your family--such as a parent or sibling--has MS, you have a greater risk of developing it, too. MS can affect people of any age, but it often begins between the ages of 20 and 40. If you have another autoimmune disease, such as thyroid disease or Type 1 diabetes, your risk of developing MS is slightly higher.
Some studies show that where you live can affect your risk of getting MS. People who spend their childhood in areas with a temperate climate, such as northern United States or southern Canada, seem to be at higher risk for MS.
What causes MS?
No one really knows for sure what causes MS. It’s most likely the result of a combination of environmental, viral and genetic factors. A number of different viruses have been linked to MS. A childhood virus may trigger MS later in life.
This information was developed as part of an educational program made possible through support from AstraZeneca.
Written by familydoctor.org editorial staff | <urn:uuid:d9a11598-9640-4c24-8f8a-dfeff5a41c90> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://familydoctor.org/familydoctor/en/diseases-conditions/multiple-sclerosis/causes-risk-factors.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971843 | 243 | 3.40625 | 3 |
Governments worldwide continue to look for ways to lower security risks, control waste, fraud and abuse and improve delivery of goods and services to their citizens. The focus on strong personal identification is the best and only means of achieving these objectives. At the end of the day, whether the issue is border control, voter registration or public distribution, knowing “who” is at the very heart of any viable government authentication solution.
Facilitate traveler authentication at busy borders without compromising on security
Verify citizens in large-scale government identity projects with biometrics
Protect the enterprise perimeter and selected locations inside from unauthorized access
Deliver government goods and services to intended recipients with biometric authentication | <urn:uuid:22336a6c-491f-47c5-89c6-143a03380bd3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lumidigm.com/government/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910081 | 139 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Don’t Let the Bedbugs Bite
Human and canine exterminators fight nationwide wave of pests
The unmarked white building on Candelaria holds one bed and two dressers but no personal belongings suggesting a home. It's eerily devoid of picture frames, stuffed animals and clothes. A cooler sits on the beige tile floor, and Patriot Pest Control's newest employee bounds into the room to check it out. Captain Dale, the bedbug-detection dog, has one thing on his mind.
Author Amy Stewart on the lifestyles of the gross and deadly
You’re strolling barefoot down the beach when—what the?—you step on a furry mass that sends lightening bolts of pain shooting through your body. You look down to discover the culprit: a roiling blob of fuzzy caterpillars. That doesn’t seem so bad, and after the pain subsides, you decide not to visit a doctor. You return home, but huge bruises begin to appear on your body. Instead of getting smaller, they get bigger. By the time you get to a hospital and doctors realize you’ve been stung by a certain type of poisonous Brazilian caterpillar―and order the special antivenin from South America―your kidneys shut down and your blood won’t clot. Later that day, you die.
The X-terminator Files
Bedbugs hide in crevices and cracks until they venture out for a snack. Detection and eradication can be tricky because these little critters are hard to locate. David Erik Swanson from Patriot Pest Control just got a bedbug detection dog to ease the process (see “Don’t Let the Bedbugs Bite”), but he says some infestations have been so bad he didn't need help finding them.
Ancient Flying Luck Machines: The Dragonfly Festival is neither creepy nor grossDragonflies are thought to be good luck, symbols of happiness and springtime. But they have a sinister side, too, with nicknames of “eye-snatcher” or the “devil’s darning needle.” These winged beauties have had millions of years to develop their reputations on planet Earth. The ABQ BioPark Botanic Garden is once again unveiling their secrets at the Dragonfly Festival, buzzing with “discovery stations” where patrons can learn to identify species by color, size and wing color. | <urn:uuid:898bdabb-cf6e-4aab-bdb9-31f46afc06f1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://alibi.com/?scn=feature&di=2011-07-14 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.900426 | 502 | 1.882813 | 2 |
It's great to make a new friend. It's awful to have a fight with your best friend. These books and websites have stories and advice about making friends and staying friends.
It's My Life by PBS Kids
The PBS Kids website has a section called "It's My Life", and inside that section, there's a section about Friends. It has videos about crushes, gossip and rumors, and bullies, and three online games including "Make Up or Break Up" which is about best friends who have a big fight.
This website is from Australia's Children Youth and Women's Health Service, and it has a special section on Friendship for kids. It shows you how to be your own friend, the things to do (and not to do) to be a good friend to someone else, and how to tell if your friend is a truly good friend.
A schoolteacher named Susan Stein created this website about friendship with her class. There are poems and drawings, sections like "How to Be a Good Friend" and "Where to Find Friends", and there's even an interview section where the students asked their moms how they made friends when they were kids themselves.
Shykids - Making Friends
Shy Kids is a website created by people who were shy kids themselves. In their "Making Friends" section, they tell you the very first thing you need to do to make a new friend, and how to choose someone to be your friend.
Articles & Databases
The Brooklyn Public Library website has a section called "Articles and Databases" which has lots of magazine and encyclopedia articles to help you with your homework, and also short stories to entertain you. You'll find the answer to this question in a short story: What secret did Junita tell Kendra in private and then Kendra blabbed it to the whole school? Search the database Primary Search to find the answer. Type in the search box "Best Friends Mucho Amigos". It's a short story by Patricia Burke Hanson, and in it you'll learn what Juanita told Kendra.
Along came Spider
Fifth-grader Spider Stevens--nicknamed for his climbing ability--wrestles with his loyalty to his best friend versus friendship with the popular crowd.
Diary of a wimpy kid : Greg Heffley's journal
by Jeff Kinney
Greg and Rowley stick together because they're both undersized weaklings and not popular, but when something happens to make Rowley suddenly a lot more popular, Greg becomes jealous and is a complete jerk to Rowley. Will Greg learn what it really means to be a true friend and become friends with Rowley again?
When a new, white student nicknamed "The Jesus Boy" joins her sixth grade class in the winter of 1971, Frannie's growing friendship with him makes her start to see somethings in a new light.
Friendship, from your old friends to your new friends
author, Núria Roca ; illustrator, Rosa Maria Curto.
When you move to a new neighborhood or city, you lose your old friends and have to find new ones. This book shows you how to make new friends in your new place, and also how you can stay in touch with your old best friends too.
How to be a friend : a guide to making friends and keeping them
Laurie Krasny Brown and Marc Brown
This book has suggestions on what to do if you're shy and want to make friends, or if you and your friend have a big argument, or if you have to face a really bossy kid or a bully. The illustrations are by Marc Brown, who did all the "Arthur" books.
Real friends vs. the other kind
Jack, Abby, Mateo, Jen, Chris and Michelle are the middle school students who will take you through this guide to friendship. There are chapters about friendship dilemmas, so-called friends, when friendships aren't working, crushes, and making new friends. This is Book 2 of the "Middle School Confidential" series.
The best bad luck I ever had
In Moundville, Alabama, in 1917, twelve-year-old Dit hopes the new postmaster will have a son his age, but instead he meets Emma, who is black, and their friendship challenges the accepted ways of thinking and leads them to try to save the life of a condemned man.
The broken bike boy and the Queen of 33rd Street
Sharon G. Flake ; illustrations by Frank Morrison
Ten-year old Queen, a spoiled and conceited African American girl who is disliked by most of her classmates, learns a lesson about friendship from an unlikely "knight in shining armor."
The lacemaker and the princess
Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
In 1788, eleven-year-old Isabelle, living with her lacemaker grandmother and mother near the palace of Versailles, becomes close friends with Queen Marie Antoinette's daughter, Princess Therese, and finds their relationship complicated not only by their different social class but by the growing political unrest in France.
The reinvention of Edison Thomas
Middle school student Eddy Thomas loves science and inventing, but has trouble with people. Finally he meets some friends who appreciate his abilities and respect his unique view of the world. With their help can he rethink his definition of success. | <urn:uuid:284dc872-4367-42bc-a98b-73c36814d1ff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bklynpubliclibrary.org/explore-topic/kids/friendly | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959142 | 1,108 | 2.375 | 2 |
Abortion, Birth Control Biases Exposed by Proponents' Original Intentions
by Bob Parks
Because so many things seem to get lost among the political minutia when laws and policies are created, it's wise to look back to find the "original intent" that began the process. When it comes to the original intent of liberal abortion and birth control policies, the motivations of their proponents can be downright shocking.
Most people probably think the original intent behind the movement to legalize abortion, for instance, was to give women control of their bodies. It was all about a woman's right to choose, right? Wrong.
To understand the abortion lobby's original intent, one must start with the world's leading provider of abortion - Planned Parenthood. Its founder, Margaret Sanger, believed that the poor were a burden on society and that a cleansing of the gene pool through birth control was in order. In the 1930s, Sanger targeted blacks with "The Negro Project" that strategically placed birth control clinics in poor and minority neighborhoods.
Why bring up the past? Besides uncovering original intent, they say that those who don't learn the lessons of the past are doomed to repeat them.
Recently uncovered documents from the Clinton Presidential Library shed new light on the modern motivations of those who pushed the Clinton Administration to expedite bringing RU-486, often called the "morning after pill," into the American marketplace. Mincing no words, one document quotes a leading abortion and birth control advocate who told President-Elect Bill Clinton that he should "start immediately to eliminate the barely educated, unhealthy and poor segment of the country."
Ron Weddington, the man who successfully helped argue the 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion in America, made that statement.
Pointedly advocating the legal distribution of RU-486, Weddington wrote in a cover note to Clinton advisor Betsy Wright, "Something's got to be done very quickly. Twenty-six million food stamp recipients is more than the economy can stand." In the attached letter, Weddington urged the future president to use his powers of persuasion to push for new birth control policies. He said President Clinton could begin "reforming our country" by "start[ing] immediately to eliminate the barely educated, unhealthy and poor segment of the country... Our survival depends upon our developing a population where everyone contributes. We don't need more cannon fodder. We don't need more parishioners. We don't need more cheap labor. We don't need more poor babies."
In his first official act, President Bill Clinton ordered the government to begin paving the way for RU-486 to be marketed to the American public. It would appear that Weddington's letter may be a foundation document - evidence of original intent - for President Clinton's decision to rush to make RU-486 available in the United States.
Today, over a decade later, RU-486 is again in the headlines. The Food and Drug Administration - one of the federal agencies pushed to make RU-486 readily available back in 1993 - issued a health warning last July because five American women died after using RU-486. This past March, more maternal deaths were linked to RU-486, in addition to the countless potential lives extinguished through the use of this drug.
It's sad that there are still so many in our society who believe they are morally superior and should determine who should and should not be born simply because of a parent's economically-inferior status. To them, it really never seems to have been about a woman's right to choose. But using this rallying cry gets women all worked up, and that's half the battle. Whatever works.
Considering that he grew up poor, given that so many people agree with this rationale, Bill Clinton himself is lucky to have been born.
Think about it. Think about the original intent of these people.
# # #
Bob Parks is a Navy veteran, single father and national advisory council member of the black leadership network Project 21. Comments may be sent to [email protected].
Published by The National Center for Public Policy Research. Reprints
permitted provided source is credited. New Visions Commentaries
reflect the views of their author, and not necessarily those of
Project 21 or the National Center for Public Policy Research.
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21 | NCPPR | <urn:uuid:8486bd64-0e76-4cbe-acbd-dde9c0439d39> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nationalcenter.org/P21NVParksAbortion90606.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95772 | 900 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Cheese is saltier than a bag of crisps contributing to an epidemic high blood pressure
Experts have warned that alarming levels of salt in cheese are contributing to an epidemic of high blood pressure responsible for strokes, heart attacks and thousands of early deaths a year.
The campaigning group found a single portion of cheddar has a greater amount than a bag of crisps, while feta, halloumi and other popular types contain higher levels of salt than seawater.
CASH is calling for families to cut down on their consumption of cheese, and also demanding that the Government sets new guidelines for manufacturers to ensure lower levels of salt.
Cheese, which also usually carries high levels of saturated fat, is the third-biggest contributor of salt to the national diet, after bread and bacon.
Together, these alone are responsible for the recommended daily intake of 6 g – about a teaspoon – being exceeded by over a third. The average intake is 8.1 g a day.
Doctors say salt is a major factor in high blood pressure.
A survey of hundreds of supermarket products by CASH found that the saltiest option on the high street was Roquefort with 1g in a typical portion of 30 g.
Halloumi comes in at 0.81 g per 30 g, while feta has an average of just over 0.75 g per 30 g. All three are greater than seawater’s 0.75 g.
In an alarming warning for parents, processed cheeses, which are popular with children, also showed high levels.
Iceland Cheese Food Slices carry more salt in one 20 g portion – 0.56 g – than in a packet of crisps.
However, CASH did find that it is possible for shoppers to switch to relatively low-salt or even salt-free cheese for a healthier option.
Director Katherine Jenner said: “It’s worth looking at the label and choosing a lower-salt version of your favorite cheese, or just use a little less next time you get the grater out.”
CASH chairman Graham MacGregor, professor of cardiovascular medicine at the Wolfson Institute in London, said: “We urge the Government to stop dragging its heels and set new, lower, targets for cheese manufacturers to work towards.
“Even small reductions will have large health benefits.
“For every 1g reduction in population salt intake we can prevent 12,000 heart attacks, stroke and heart failure, half of which would have been fatal.”
Director of the Dairy Council, Dr. Judith Bryans, said: “People have been being nourished by cheese sandwiches for many years.
“No one should eat too much of anything, but cheese and dairy are an important part of a healthy diet.”
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Short URL: http://www.bellenews.com/?p=27201 | <urn:uuid:8926fd9f-1eb9-4165-8961-8a85f3e0e84b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bellenews.com/2012/11/29/health/cheese-is-saltier-than-a-bag-of-crisps-contributing-to-an-epidemic-high-blood-pressure/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928021 | 770 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Bologna University Quarter
Bologna owes much of its contemporary charm and vibrancy to its lively University Quarter. As in all good university cities, it has a good cache of cafes, bars and clubs to cater to its student population.
Bologna’s university has an impressive lineage, dating back to 1088, making it the first university in Europe. During the Renaissance and Baroque eras, it attracted some of Europe’s finest thinkers, including Renaissance scholars Mirandola and Alberti, astronomer Copernicus, and the artists Durer and Borromeo.
The university houses a number of museums, including an Anatomy Museum, Herbarium, Physics Museum, Museum of Anthropology, Wax Museum and Museum of Zoology.
Most museums are found in the Palazzo Poggi, the university’s seat after 1803. A highlight is the Astronomy Museum, along with the palazzo’s many frescoes and impressive decor.
The University Quarter is a 10 to 15-minute walk east of the Two Towers, focusing on Via Zamboni. | <urn:uuid:03b65b3c-3b93-4eaa-8679-83b439274d65> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.viator.com/Bologna-attractions/Bologna-University-Quarter/d791-a1530 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914312 | 229 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Ritalin is the most commonly prescribed medication for ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). This treatment has helped thousands of people control their symptoms. But because Ritalin is a stimulant like cocaine, it may cause undesirable changes in the brain over time. It also has the potential for abuse. So what are the benefits of Ritalin, and what are the risks?
Ritalin is currently prescribed to approximately six million people in the US.
75% of these are children, with boys receiving Ritalin about four times more often than girls.
Since the mid-1950s, doctors have been using Ritalin to treat a variety of conditions including depression, fatigue syndrome and narcolepsy. Ritalin gained FDA approval for treatment of hyperactivity in children in 1961.
Individuals with ADHD have difficulty concentrating, and can be hyperactive or impulsive.
They also have lower levels of a brain chemical called dopamine.
Dopamine helps people control their behavior. So having the right level of dopamine in the brain is important. Ritalin increases dopamine levels, enabling ADHD kids to focus, filter out distractions, and make decisions based on reason rather than emotion.
Like cocaine, Ritalin is a powerful stimulant that increases alertness and productivity. Ritalin and cocaine also look and act the same. Both have a similar chemical structure, and both increase dopamine levels in the brain. They do this by blocking a dopamine transporter protein responsible for the reuptake of dopamine at the synapse.
The dopamine transporter normally moves dopamine from the synapse into the sending neuron.
Ritalin and cocaine block the dopamine transporter, causing an increase in dopamine concentration at the synapse.
Ritalin is not addictive when taken as prescribed by doctors. Why this difference between Ritalin
and cocaine? Ritalin is a pill that you swallow, so the drug takes longer to reach the brain. Cocaine
is taken in high doses by injection or snorting. It floods the brain quickly with dopamine,
which makes it dangerous and addictive.
Unfortunately, Ritalin is quickly becoming a drug of choice for teens. It's relatively cheap and accessible. And because it's a prescription drug, it's perceived to be safe. But if Ritalin is abused (taken in high doses) or taken improperly (by injection or snorting), it can be just as addictive as cocaine. This is because drug delivery methods can influence the addictive potential of a drug.
Misdiagnosis of ADHD is a common problem that complicates the Ritalin controversy. Some say that
Ritalin is now over-prescribed, and that undesirable changes in the brain may result over time.
Recent animal studies suggest that children who are mistakenly diagnosed with ADHD and treated with Ritalin may be more likely to develop depression as adults. This can be explained by Ritalin's effects on the reward pathway.
We know that Ritalin increases dopamine levels in the brain. But an unnecessary increase in dopamine during childhood may change how the brain develops. The brain may become desensitized to natural rewards like food, romance and social interactions, leading to depression.
30-50% of adolescents in drug treatment centers report abusing Ritalin.
ADHD children are typically taken off of Ritalin when they reach adulthood. Interestingly, these individuals seem to be more prone to cocaine addiction. Why is that? Because Ritalin and cocaine are similar drugs, it's possible that ADHD adults are unknowingly using cocaine as a replacement for Ritalin. In other words, it may be an attempt to self-medicate. Cocaine may help individuals with ADHD focus, feel calm and in control.
Dr. Glen Hanson
Kids with untreated ADHD are four times more likely than normal to abuse drugs.
Dr. Kelly Lundberg
Is Ritalin a 'gateway drug'? Studies show that proper Ritalin use does not lead to drug abuse.
Research shows that 10-30% of cocaine addicts have ADHD.
Because of Ritalin's similarity to cocaine, some believe Ritalin could be a 'gateway drug'. A gateway drug is defined as a drug that may lead to the use of other more addictive drugs. But studies show that Ritalin-takers are actually far less likely to experiment with other drugs unlike those with ADHD who are not medicated. | <urn:uuid:2f8684d9-e485-47ed-ba29-a36c3272d755> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/addiction/issues/ritalin.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940338 | 905 | 3.171875 | 3 |
BARCELONA, Spain--NFC (near field communication) technology has been around for some time now, but as of yet it's failed to hit a level of ubiquity in our devices that would galvanize more businesses to adopt it. That, however, is changing fast.
While most think of NFC as solely a new payment solution, companies are constantly finding new ways to implement it.
NFC is essentially a new way to exchange information from one device to another, wirelessly. It's different from other wireless technology in that it requires the two devices to be within a centimeter of each other. Hence … Read more | <urn:uuid:bdc2d1af-7e15-4756-ab89-a20d4d849f45> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.cnet.com/8300-5_3-0-1.html?keyword=payments | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979516 | 130 | 1.9375 | 2 |
This post is about the funniest 3 word combination in the English language.
But first, check out this movie trailer. I WILL see this if it ever makes it to Texas:
There's only one problem. Why are they featuring Republican politicians? Especially Ronald Reagan?
Ronald Reagan was able to increase the amount of money coming into the Treasury by using a simple method. He lowered taxes. GDP increased as people hid less of their income and put it to work in sensible ways. It's better to have 15% of a thousand dollars than 85% of a hundred dollars.
But under Reagan, our government spent money like, well, like Republicans.
Here's a chart showing U.S. debt as a percentage of GDP. It's from Wikipedia, but it roughly follows the info to be found here:
Does that look like they believed "Government Is Not The Solution; Government Is The Problem?"
Here's another look at the same data, formatted for entertainment value....
Veronique De Rugy on George W. Bush's spending habits:
During his eight years in office, President Bush oversaw a large increase in government spending. In fact, President Bush increased government spending more than any of the six presidents preceding him, including LBJ. In his last term in office, President Bush increased discretionary outlays by an estimated 48.6 percent.
During his eight years in office, President Bush spent almost twice as much as his predecessor, President Clinton. Adjusted for inflation, in eight years, President Clinton increased the federal budget by 11 percent. In eight years, President Bush increased it by a whopping 104 percent.
One reason offered for these large budget increases is that entitlement programs are growing rapidly. Although Social Security and Medicare spending growth outpaced most other programs in the mid-1990s, spending growth in discretionary programs has accelerated in the last 15 years, especially during Bush’s two terms. Between FY2002 and FY2009, discretionary spending rose 96 percent.
Some argue that federal spending during the Bush years was so high because security needs drove up the budget. It is true that defense spending increased dramatically since the late-1990s, particularly since 9/11 and the beginning of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, nondefense spending increased too. Some also argue that much of the increase in nondefense spending stemmed from increases in homeland security spending. Whether this is true, the overall rapid rise of discretionary spending indicates that, here too, the administration and Congress made no trade-offs in the budget. If the administration and Congress wanted more security spending and wanted to be fiscally responsible, they should have found savings elsewhere in the budget.
President Bush added thousands of new federal subsidy programs during his eight years in office. In 2008, there were 1,816 subsidy programs in the federal budget that spread hundreds of billions of dollars annually to special interest groups such as state governments, businesses, nonprofit groups, and individuals. The number of subsidy programs has grown by 30 percent since 2000 and by 54 percent since 1990.
Here's some more research from Ms. De Rugy, from the November 8th, 2008 issue of Reason magazine. (Remember, this was written before the current Messiah started his spending spree):
"When it comes to out-of-control spending, conventional wisdom says the Democrats are most likely to bust open the coffers. That's why many fear an increased Democratic majority in Congress topped by a Democratic president. And we should be afraid. Democrats are indeed big spenders. Second only to Republicans."
She goes on to rank the possible combinations of Republican vs. Democrat control of Congress and the Presidency, going from kinda bad to worse:
1) Democratic White House, Republican Congress
2) Republican White House, Democratic Congress
3) Unified Republican or Democratic rule.
You cannot, you will not, get spending under control by electing Republicans. Until recently, Republicans held all the spending records. Democrat spending might be sillier, and easier to poke fun at, but by every measurement, until recently, the Democrats spend less money. If you look at the long term, FREAKIN' DEMOCRATS are the fiscal conservatives !
We simply have to start electing Libertarians to high office. There is no other solution.
Oh, and the funniest 3 words in the English language?
Small Government Republican | <urn:uuid:2e767b86-d951-4499-8845-92de85a74cd4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thewhitedsepulchre.blogspot.com/2010/08/ronald-reagan-was-fiscal-conservative.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963736 | 889 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Thursday 17th January, 2008 A high quality education doesn't have to come at a high cost. In fact, it's possible to take classes from big names like Yale, MIT, and Tufts without ever submitting an application or paying a cent in tuition.
I’ve been a fan of open education for some time and recently have been intrigued by the revival of the “free” business model debate by Chris Anderson and Kevin Kelly , among others. So, conflating the two, I decided to undertake what turned into a “pulling a thread on a sweater” exercise and see how many free places to learn things I could find on the Web relatively quickly. I’ve included some notes and observations on this exercise below, but first I’ll cut to the chase and offer a brief table of contents for what follows: Now for the notes and observations: First, this is obviously nowhere near a comprehensive list. There are who knows how many sites out there, and for the purposes of this post, I have confined myself to sites that offer relatively formalized learning experiences and state this as their explicit purpose. Truth is, there is almost no place on the Web where you can learn something.
This is a guest post by Michelle Fabio. Personally, I am heartened to see association and nonprofit online education initiatives at the top of the list. This is a great post to bookmark for future reference and share. Use the links at the bottom of the post to do that easily. – JTC
The Internet has made the lifelong pursuit of knowledge easier for nearly everyone in the world. There are tons of websites dedicated to providing free courses, reference books, education apps, and other learning materials. Here are 25 stand-out sites that would be useful to almost any lifelong learner. Clusty – This unique search engine sorts results into clusters of related information so that it is easier to sort out the relevant from the irrelevant. Schoolr – Schoolr is a fully-customizable search engine that can be used to search Google, Wikipedia, and other popular sites. It can also be used to translate text, convert units, and cite sources. | <urn:uuid:c36e013a-7e45-45ed-9f70-a3a0d96dc46a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pearltrees.com/carlo42/learning-resources/id2639400 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951865 | 442 | 2.234375 | 2 |
CARSON CITY, Nev. - The number of frozen water pipes increased during the recent cold snap and more may come to light as temperatures warm, according to Curtis Horton of Carson City's Public Works Department.Horton, departmental operations chief, said Tuesday that calls about frozen pipes at homes and mobile homes had come in at a higher-than-normal rate, above the typical 20 to 30 calls a week during cold weather. He urged mobile home owners to check their skirting and other homeowners to check crawl spaces and boxes that cover water connections outside their houses.A sprinkler water pipe rupture Tuesday evening forced the evacuation of three patients from the long term acute care facility located at Carson Tahoe Specialty Medical Center.According to a press release from Carson Tahoe Health, the patients were moved to Carson Tahoe Regional Medical Center. By 7:15, the flood had been contained.Horton also said the city had a frozen water meter early Tuesday that was repaired. "That happens every now and then," he said, adding that the meter actually may have broken earlier but wasn't noticed until the morning hours. But other than that case, on Plantation Drive between Ash Canyon Road and Manhattan Drive on the west side of Carson City, he said city government wasn't experiencing any problems.He expects problems to continue as long as the cold does, and in warmer weather some additional problems will be caught by homeowners as pipes start to unfreeze."It's a sustained cold. This has been cold for the past couple of weeks," he said, adding, "It has been keeping us busy."The bitter cold that has gripped the region for nearly a week was subsiding Tuesday as a warmer front moved in. By afternoon, the record-setting cold that caused pipes to burst as far south as Las Vegas was making its way east. The record low of minus 24 along the Utah line in Ely on Monday had warmed to minus 8 early Tuesday and the single digits in Reno were forecast to approach 40 degrees on Wednesday.The extreme wintry conditions also led Gov. Brian Sandoval to declare a state of emergency Tuesday in an effort to allow more propane deliveries in Nevada. It suspends federal regulations that limit the number of hours driven by a commercial operator in a shift. The declaration applies to commercial truck drivers bringing in propane.Sandoval's declaration, which he called a "precautionary measure," came a day after a record low of minus 24 degrees was set along the Utah line in Ely. Las Vegas's high temperature on Monday also set a record low for that date.In Stateline, fire officials restored fire protection systems at four Lake Tahoe casinos after sub-zero temperatures caused pipes to freeze and break at each of the high rises on Tahoe's south shore.The casinos on the California-Nevada border were cleaning up Tuesday after fire crews had to spend the night on site until the sprinklers and other emergency systems were verified to be operating safely. A record low of minus 11 degrees started the trouble Monday morning."It was a little crazy for us for a while, but it was pretty quiet overnight," Tahoe Douglas fire marshal Eric Guevin told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "We've been able to get some heat in some of those questionable areas and all the fire protection systems are in place now."Guevin said a damage estimate wasn't immediately available but he said the worst appeared to be at Harrah's where broken pipes sent thousands of gallons into the main 18-story tower and a high-roller gambling area. He wasn't aware of any gamblers or gaming tables that were harmed but he said some slot machines in the high-roller area at Harrah's apparently were damaged and patrons had to be evacuated from that area.Two sprinkler heads also broke at Harvey's casino, and another broken pipe sent water into the loading dock at the Horizon casino. At the MontBleu, an antifreeze system meant to prevent pipe breakage froze, he said.Now, Guevin fears trouble is brewing in frozen pipes at homes that may be sitting vacant around Lake Tahoe, where the temperature was forecast to warm slightly by Tuesday afternoon."These pipes at the casinos are in well-heated, well-maintained buildings, so the bigger concern for us are homeowners whose pipes are probably freezing solid in vacation homes," Guevin said."As soon as it warms up, those are going to let go and we are going to be busy," he said. So far, they'd only had a handful of such incidents, he added.City officials in Reno who scrambled to find housing for hundreds of homeless in single-digit conditions the past few days welcomed significantly warmer weather Tuesday. In neighboring Sparks, the city council declared a limited state of emergency on Monday, mostly as a formality to free up money to repair a pair of 7-foot diameter sewer lines that broke in the cold late last week. | <urn:uuid:d80ea90f-1453-43a2-b75b-28963cb67a6b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tahoedailytribune.com/article/20130116/NEWS/130119955 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977429 | 1,004 | 1.625 | 2 |
Area Studies, Language Programs Win Almost $11 Million from Education Department
Over the coming four years, the UCLA International Institute's renowned programs on East Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Near East, Southeast Asia and heritage language education anticipate federal support of $6.7 million for language instruction, public programming, outreach to local schools, and more. Five centers will distribute nearly $4.3 million in Foreign Language and Area Studies fellowships to UCLA undergraduate and graduate students.
It's very important for us to train specialists. You see the need for it every day.
At the conclusion of a competitive process that takes place every four years, the U.S. Department of Education awarded $6.7 million to UCLA programs in international area studies and language instruction. Over the 2010–14 cycle, the department will give UCLA International Institute programs almost $4.3 million to distribute to graduate students and, for the first time, undergraduates in the form of Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowships.
At nearly $11 million, the grants represent a 12 percent overall increase in federal funding compared with the previous four-year cycle. They will go to International Institute units dedicated to teaching and research on Europe, Latin America, the Near East, and heritage language education, and to dual-campus consortia on East Asia and Southeast Asia. The funding is subject to annual congressional approval of the department's budget; in a resolution passed last month, the U.S. House of Representatives honored the 50th anniversary of the international education programs that are authorized under Title VI of the Higher Education Act.
"UCLA is interested both in broad issues of internationalization and globalization, and the study of specific regions," said Professor Randal Johnson, the new interim vice provost of international studies at UCLA. "It's very important for us to train specialists. You see the need for it every day."
For the second time, the Education Department funded UCLA's National Heritage Language Resource Center (NHLRC), endorsing its innovative approaches to instruction for students who have been exposed to target languages other than English at home.
NHLRC Director Olga Kagan said that the center, one of 15 U.S. Language Resource Centers devoted to various approaches and sets of world languages, will use its four-year, annual grant of $329,950 to continue teacher training programs and to expand research projects that describe the differing arcs of language acquisition for heritage- and foreign-language learners. One project will establish standards for rating the language proficiency of heritage speakers.
"This is not an easy task because these learners are so heterogeneous and a common measuring stick is not immediately obvious," Kagan said.
The NHLRC will produce language-specific materials for K-12 schools and a general guide for teachers that, according to Kagan, will "make it clear that a heritage language curriculum needs to be rooted in the community."
1st Undergraduates to Receive FLAS Fellowships
Along with their awards, five UCLA international area studies programs and consortia received recognition as National Resource Centers, a designation that some of them have enjoyed for decades. The Education Department provides separate funding for NRC programming and FLAS fellowships.
NRC funds support the full range of activities in area studies, including instruction in modern languages, course development, outreach to K-12 schools, conferences and public programming, library collections, and joint projects on multiple campuses. The Institute uses Title VI funds, for example, to maintain the Outreach World website, which offers lesson plans for social studies and history along with other content for K-12 schools.
Johnson points out that the mandate of the NRCs goes well beyond disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, to include issues addressed at UCLA primarily by professional schools. Under his leadership, for example, the Latin American Institute wrote into its grant proposal a research project on intellectual property issues and government policies affecting "creative industries" in the region. The project aims to involve faculty members from the Anderson School of Management, the School of Theater, Film & Television, and the School of Law.
UCLA International Institute centers covering Europe, Latin America, the Near East, East Asia and Southeast Asia will administer the annual competition for FLAS fellowships, for study in the United States on selected languages and countries of those regions. Because of cost-sharing arrangements with UCLA academic departments, some centers are able to award more fellowships than the Education Department nominally assigns to them. In past cycles, FLAS awards went exclusively to students pursuing advanced degrees; but starting in 2010–11, the four centers will support about eight UCLA undergraduates per year with the grants, along with some three dozen graduate students.
NRC awards constitute official recognition by the Department of Education of academic units which exercise national influence, judged by the size of their faculties, the scope of the courses offered both in modern languages and a broad range of academic disciplines, outstanding library collections, and active outreach programs for K–12 teachers and students in Southern California. The separate LRC program confers similar official recognition upon centers of excellence in language education.
Two of UCLA's federally funded NRCs operate as dual-campus consortia. The University of Southern California shares in the grant for East Asian studies, administered on this campus by the Asia Institute. UCLA and UC Berkeley Centers for Southeast Asian Studies also apply jointly for federal funds.
Updated Aug. 30, 2010: The Latin American Institute received late notification last week of its four-year, $930,000 grant for FLAS fellowships. The additional grant brought the total of federal funding for UCLA International Institute units in 2010–14 to nearly $11 million, up from just over $10 million as originally reported.
Published: Monday, August 09, 2010 | <urn:uuid:f1640946-0948-4550-b522-86bc49857106> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://international.ucla.edu/news/article.asp?parentid=116660 | 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 | 0.943723 | 1,181 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Hi everyone!! Take a look at this great website I found http://www.birdid.no/index.php?nr=2. You can test your bird (or mammal) ID skills at your chosen level. It's very good. I tested my children and they surprised me with how many birds they could name!!
Failed badly on trying to find the English version, did much better with the birds once I did though.
There's a drop-down list at the top which you need to select first. Also, they must still be developing the mammals and tracks tests as you can't click on the links for them. Some pictures of the birds are at a funny angle so you can't see the markings - which is great as it's what we see in real life! What levels did you try brad?
Tried level 1 and level 6, got a minus score at level 6, I'll try it in Norwegian next I may do better.
Thanks for the link, Andrea. Still working on level 2 UK!
"The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom" - Wlliam Blake
Had a bash at level 1. Might try level 2 later. It's a good site thanks for sharing it.
Grrrrr, Can't tell marsh and willow tits apart!!! Also having trouble with turns, they're all the same! I like how on the higher levels they put babies and females into the mix.
Now, you've put me off trying a higher level :-)
Sometimes their surroundings give you a clue. Higher levels are really difficult but then there will be a completely obvious Puffin for example to put your score back up. On the plus side the high levels make it easier for you to get on the daily score chart, even with Brad's negative score!!
What's a Puffin?
Maybe you should stick to level one after all!
I think you may be right
Try the sound quiz too, I just tried it at level 1 UK, it was mostly blue tits and cuckoos - so not too difficult!
Can manage the Cuckoo not sure about the others mind you. Really really bad on bird song.
Just tried the sound one, I have so much to learn. | <urn:uuid:35a3a617-998d-42a9-8c2c-0a39190b7d72> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/placestovisit/tollieredkites/f/60750/p/78015/506221.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963473 | 465 | 2.109375 | 2 |
To Engineer Is Human800ceoread. Nice guys. Todd was kind enough to give me an excerpt containing two reviews from the book he just finished writing with Jack Covert entitled, The 100 Best Business Books of All Time to be released in February 2009.
Todd’s review of To Engineer Is Human was a book I had never read. It was such a well crafted synopsis that I quickly went out and got the book. He extracted the following idea from the book that caught my attention:
Much lip service is given to accepting failure in business as natural phase in the learning process, yet internalizing the idea seems a little more difficult. Shareholders don’t show sympathy for failed products. Customers expect their product to arrive when promised and in pristine condition. Most of the other books featured in these pages detail the workings of successful companies, while Petroski’s book tells a more complicated tale of failure, one in which business practitioners can find wisdom. The most important lesson has to be appreciating failure as a learning opportunity. Failure is common. Not learning from failure forces companies to repeat the same mistakes again. In engineering, that repetition can cost lives; in business, our livelihood.Henry Petrosky wrote that “no one wants to learn by mistakes, but we cannot learn enough from successes to go beyond the state of the art.” The core of the problem would seem to be the stakeholder's failure – or certainly their reluctance – to take the long view. If the rest of the reviews are anything like Todd’s review, the book should be a good read and a valuable reference tool.
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Att läsa Lispector med Cixous : Écriture féminine och Stjärnans ögonblick
Abstract (Summary)The essence of literature – it’s voice, it’s meaning– has always been scrutinized of interest to readers and theorists. The language in itself has the power to revolt against and undermine current and dominant hierarchies. This language can also be of a passive nature, accepting existing norms and dichotomies. This paper has the ambition to examine the language, the voice, of Clarice Lispector in her novel A Hora da Estrela (The Hour of the Star).The theoretical horizon from which I will read The Hour of the Star is that of Hélène Cixous, which can be expressed through the term écriture féminine. Écriture féminine suggests a way of writing that revolts against dominating hierachies and, at the same time, rewrites oppositions and dichotomies. This way of writing, whatever associations and delimitations it’s name will invoke, is not available for one sex only; the sex that this writing refers to is that of the text. Thus both men and women can express écriture féminine, and as Cixous says, Jean Genet and Franz Kafka are examples of this although Clarice Lispector is the one, in Cixous’ opinion, who best expresses this feminine writing. In my reading and writing I will focus on the meta-fictive element in A Hora da Estrela, I hope to show that this element operates in many different ways, on different levels. This I will achieve by exploring the way in which Lispector reveals the relation to the other; a text, a person, language, the subject. My thesis is that Lispector practices what Cixous theorizes. Another point I want to make is that Lispector expresses in opposition to describe. This is related to the close relation between writing and body, and in the end writing and reading. The relation between reading and writing is a question of the nature of the text and the essence of writing. The writing is in A Hora da Estrela described as a problematic venture, discussing the role of the author and the meeting with the other. This aspect goes as far as questioning the entire relation to tradition, gender, literary canon.In conclusion: The purpose is to do a reading of and with, both Lispector and Cixous, in order to find the essence and expression of écriture féminine in the novel A Hora da Estrela.
Source Type:Master's Thesis
Date of Publication:02/14/2005 | <urn:uuid:7ff70282-8286-41a6-adf7-5588ea29f6d9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.openthesis.org/documents/Att-Lispector-med-Cixous-och-415211.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915325 | 571 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Both chambers of Congress were in session in Washington last week following an extended recess. President Obama greeted them with a lengthy State of the Union (SOTU) address that was—not surprisingly—praised by Democrats and panned by Republicans. Now that both parties have heard the president’s wish list for the year and have held their respective annual retreats to plan their legislative agendas, activity can begin—we all hope. Presidential, not congressional, politics are stealing most of the public’s attention at the moment. Republican primary debate number 19 was held in Florida last week, and the fourth primary vote took place in that state on Tuesday, with Mitt Romney claiming all the delegate votes. So far, there is no clear challenger to President Obama, who will be seeking his second term in November.
The release of the administration’s FY 2013 budget has been postponed until February 13, providing more time to study the recommendations from the SOTU and anticipate this year’s funding priorities for education. In his speech, President Obama presented a strong case for making college more affordable, reforming teacher education programs, reducing classroom time spent on testing, and supporting talented teachers. He highlighted the impact of the Race to the Top Program as a catalyst for education reform and underscored the important role that community colleges can play in retraining workers, reiterating his view that education is the path to economic recovery.
The reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) is still the major business before education committees in the Congress. The draft bills released recently by House Education and the Workforce Committee chairman John Kline (R-Minn.) will soon be introduced as legislation and marked up in the Committee, probably before the end of February. Without any Democratic support, it is unlikely that the Senate will take up the House measure or its own bill, leaving Secretary of Education Arne Duncan as the key education policymaker as he approves state waivers from the provisions of the No Child left Behind Act (NCLB). Clearly, the administration views the waiver plan as preferable to either the bipartisan bill produced by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee or the Kline drafts. The second round of waiver applications is due shortly. Forty states have indicated their intentions to submit applications, having lost faith in Congressional action.
The Congress did complete some important bipartisan business last week. The debt ceiling was raised by $1.2 trillion, without the acrimonious debate this action usually generates. And in the House, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) accepted the resignation of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), who cited her need for additional time to recover from a gunshot wound sustained last year. Just before that ceremony, in a rare display of unity, the House unanimously approved a bill that has been important to Congresswoman Giffords, affecting border states.
President Delivers Third State of the Union Address
On January 24, President Barack Obama delivered his third State of the Union (SOTU) address. After a year filled with attempts to improve the condition and prospects of the middle class and the ensuing partisan arguments about how to do so, the president did not stray from the message he has delivered in speeches in recent weeks and months. In Obama’s 2011 address, education played a prominent role; this year, it was folded into the third of the four main pillars of his speech—manufacturing, energy, worker training, and American values. He called for community colleges to become “community career centers” to train two million Americans with the skills that will lead directly to jobs. He also said, “Our commitment to skills and education has to start earlier.” Offering a new nationwide policy to increase the country’s high school graduation rate, he declared, “We also know that when students don’t walk away from their education, more of them walk the stage to get their diploma. When students are not allowed to drop out, they do better. So tonight, I am proposing that every state—every state—requires that all students stay in high school until they graduate or turn 18.” The president also highlighted initiatives and programs already underway that he considers successes. At the top of his list was the Race to the Top program and other initiatives initially funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Obama stated, “For less than one percent of what our nation spends on education each year, we’ve convinced nearly every state in the country to raise their standards for teaching and learning—the first time that’s happened in a generation.” The president expressed his desire to “offer schools a deal” to let go of the status quo and to provide them with the resources necessary to keep and retain quality teachers and “reward the best ones.” In referring to this new program proposal, he said, “In return, [we will] grant schools flexibility: To teach with creativity and passion; to stop teaching to the test; and to replace teachers who just aren’t helping kids learn.” In addition, he argued that through the reform of teacher education programs, carving out steps for career advancement that are tied to performance, and providing leadership opportunities for teachers, this new initiative would revamp the profession and expand an established program favored by the administration—the Teacher Incentive Fund. More information.
Read the SOTU address.
GAO Finds Overlap in STEM Programs, Urges Planning and Evaluation
The number of reports on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education increased this week as the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report that suggests the federal government’s $3 billion annual investment in STEM education initiatives contains a number of programs with overlapping goals and target audiences. The report, requested by House Education and the Workforce Committee chairman John Kline (R-Minn.) and Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education chairman Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), notes the overlaps, but also states that overlap does not necessarily indicate duplication. “Even when programs overlap, the services they provide and the populations they serve may differ in meaningful ways and would therefore not necessarily be duplicative,” the report stated. In fiscal year 2010, 13 federal agencies were sponsoring 209 STEM programs, at a cost of $3 billion. This examination mimics the inventory of federal STEM education programs recently completed by the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), as well as other examinations of federal STEM education programs that have occurred in recent years. The GAO said STEM programs need to be “well coordinated and guided by a robust strategic plan” to ensure that they are aligned without duplication, and the report points to the imminent release of a plan from OSTP. The GAO also suggested that programs need better evaluation, a point reiterated in Chairman Kline’s comments on the release: “In recent years, the federal government has dedicated significant resources to developing STEM programs, yet taxpayers have seen little evidence that these programs are actually working. According to the GAO, only about a quarter of the 209 federal STEM programs have been evaluated for efficacy since 2005, and nearly 90 percent overlap with at least one other program.” Read the report.
EdWeek Examines STEM Specialty Schools
On January 17, Education Week hosted a webinar that examined the concept and proliferation of STEM-focused schools. These schools focus on preparing students for study and careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields and have recently been buoyed by the president’s call for the creation of hundreds of new STEM schools. The session featured Sharon Lynch, a science education professor at George Washington University, who outlined the need for and benefits of STEM schools. She said that although STEM schools historically have targeted the top math and science students in a state or district, schools in the new wave have a broader reach, with many of them aimed at serving populations that are underrepresented in STEM fields, such as African-American, Hispanic, female, and low-income students. She cited statistics that show that pursuit of STEM studies and careers act as equalizers in the workplace, since in these fields the differentials in pay among varying genders and races are the smallest. Steven Zipkes, founding principal at Manor New Technology High School in Manor, Texas, noted that the emphasis on collaboration and project-based learning in STEM-focused schools serves all the students in their future endeavors, whether they pursue two-year, four-year, or graduate degrees—in STEM fields or other areas—or choose to enter the workplace immediately after high school. He also said that engagement in the STEM fields supports increased achievement in all academic areas and behaviors. Listen to the archived webinar.
ED Releases Strategic Plan for FY 2011–2014
On January 13, the Department of Education (ED) posted its draft strategic plan for fiscal years 2011–2014. The plan contains six goals: (1) to increase college access, quality, and completion through the improvement of postsecondary education, career-technical education, and adult education; (2) to increase the number of students who are college or career ready through the improvement of classroom instruction and rigorous academic standards while providing support services; (3) to improve early learning through effective services addressing health, social, emotional, and cognitive outcomes for high-need children from birth to third grade; (4) to improve the use of data, research, evaluation, transparency, innovation, and technology to improve and enhance the education system; (5) to continue to provide an equitable education to all students; and (6) to increase and improve ED’s organizational capacity to address and implement this strategic plan appropriately. The draft also highlights three points of focus: (1) an emphasis on early learning; (2) a commitment to college readiness for all high school graduates; and (3) the provision of supports to students to ensure that they complete postsecondary education with a credential such as a degree or certificate. More information. | <urn:uuid:bd148afa-d512-45b4-980f-bc8f9f9eda4b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nctm.org/news/content.aspx?id=32137 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967349 | 2,066 | 1.804688 | 2 |
We begin this post, which is about a very, very unfunny topic, with a funny reference to one of the funniest movies ever, in our opinion:
The movie is “My Cousin Vinny”, and the scene we draw you to is the one in which the judge asks first-time lawyer Vinny Gambini (played with precise comic timing by Joe Pesci) what he is wearing:
Vinny Gambini: My clients…
Judge Chamberlain Haller: What are you wearing (note: the Judge pronounces this ‘wa’an‘, in a southern US drawl)?
Vinny Gambini: Huh?
Judge Chamberlain Haller: What are you wearing? (Less accent this time)
Vinny Gambini: [wearing a black leather jacket] Um… I’m wearing clothes.
[the Judge angrily stares ominously at Vinny]
Vinny Gambini: I… I don’t get the question.
Judge Chamberlain Haller: When you come into my court looking like you do, you not only insult me, but you insult the integrity of this court!
Vinny Gambini: I apologize, sir, but, uh… this is how I dress.
Judge Chamberlain Haller: Fine. I’ll let you off this one time. The next time you appear in my court, you will look lawyerly. And I mean you comb your hair, and wear a suit and tie. And that suit had better be made out of some sort of… cloth. You understand me?
Vinny Gambini: [not comprehending] Uh… yes. Fine, Judge, fine.
We ask that your takeaway from this comic scene is simply, “what are you wearing” – and instead of decorum, the question this time is – have you thought about the sustainability aspects of the clothing you purchase and wear? Or, perhaps your business – or your project – requires the use of cloth or leather or other resources. What’s their source? Is the production of that material “okay”?
By “okay”, we refer to the classic project management and business concerns, like, is it going to be of consistent quality, a good price, and of reliable availability? But in light of recent events in Bangladesh (1,100 workers killed at Rana Plaza) and Cambodia (shoe workers killed in building collapse) we suggest that the “what are you wa’an” question also considers whether or not the resource or material is sustainable from the perspective of fair trade, of fair labor, of safe working conditions.
Have a look at this collection of stories from the UK’s Guardian newspaper regarding the recent tragedies in south Asia related to poor – and unsustainable – working conditions in that part of the world.
Notice also the ‘teaser’ for this list of stories:
“The collapse of a factory in Bangladesh has put sustainability in the fashion industry back on the agenda”
Cambodia shoe factory collapse kills workers
On Thursday 16 May a ceiling came down at Wing Star Shoes plant in Cambodia, killing at least two people. The latest in a long line of industrial accidents killing workers in the fashion industry making garments for the west.
Fashion chains sign to help finance safety in Bangladesh factories
Will the collapse of the Rana Plaza building lead to a change in practice? Some of the world’s biggest fashion chains, including H&M, Zara, C&A, Tesco and Primark, have signed up to a legally-binding agreement to help finance fire safety and building improvements in the factories they use in Bangladesh. The government in Dhaka has also announced plans to raise the the minimum wage for garment workers.
Eight top fashion retailers fail to sign Bangladesh safety accord
A number of retailers failed to put their names to a Bangladesh safety pact, including Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s and New Look.
Bangladesh building collapse: woman rescued after 17 days speaks of ordeal – video
A woman found alive in the rubble of Dhaka’s Rana Plaza after 17 days tells how she got rescuers’ attention with a stick as she heard voices above her.
Bangladesh building collapse – pictures
Devastating photographs of the Rana Plaza collapse which killed more than 1,100 people in April 2013.
Fashion doesn’t give a damn about garment workers
Thought-provoking comment piece by Lucy Siegle – author of To Die For: Is Fashion Wearing Out the World – which gives an insight into the fashion industry and how the world’s 40 million garment workers work to try and complete near-impossible orders.
Was your T-shirt made in the Dhaka garment factory? You have no idea
Applying any ethical criteria is challenging when it comes to fashion – so isn’t it time we had Fairtrade labelling for clothes?
Death in Bangladesh is too high a price for quick-fix fashion
Blog by 18 year-old fashion lover on how she has stopped buying cheap clothes. She points out teenagers’ spending power is worth £7bn a year – imagine if that were channelled into buying fewer well-made clothes produced under fair wages.
Time for an international minimum wage
Bangladeshi writer Muhammad Yunus’ insightful comment piece is great for sixth formers who want to delve deeper into the how foreign buyers can unite to lift workers out of ‘slave labour’.
The deaths of thousands of workers due to short-term thinking reminds us that sustainability is about much more than the climate and “green” but about long-term thinking in general.
We ask that:
As an individual, consider your clothing purchases. A boycott of goods from these countries is probably counter-productive. The clothing industry in countries like Bangladesh has indeed improved the quality of life. Instead, ask questions, push for more accountability from the retail stores, fashion brand names, and mass marketers. Push them to sign up for controls and limits and commitment to sustainability and fair trade in manufacturing.
As a project manager, turn off your natural propensity for the ‘project timeline blinders’ which we often put on – for all the right reasons. Take them off from time to time and look around.
Maybe we all need to be more like the Judge and ask – what are we wa’an? | <urn:uuid:12f637da-a564-4278-8e17-990b1bb4e5ef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.earthpm.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942753 | 1,346 | 1.765625 | 2 |
January 6th, 2006 04:59 PM
C/C++ Wake on LAN program
I work for a secondary school in the U.K. and we have currently just implemented a "wake on LAN" program and a similar program to close down the computers of a night. Although the problem is that the programs are products of two different companies and therefore their integration with one another is severally lacking.
Therefore I am considering creating my own program to handle both the booting up and shutting down of the computers. Initially in C and then latter with a GUI in C++.
Therefore I was hoping that someone would be able to provide me with the vital sections of code that send the boot up packet and shut down packet.
Thank you in advance.
January 6th, 2006 10:26 PM
I don't think there are any boot up or shutdown packets. You're going to need a program listening on the machines you want to bootup or shut down that will do so when they come across a certain predefined packet to tell them to. Also, it will need to either have authentication, or only run during a certain time frame when the computers are to be shut down or booted up. I say that like I know exactly what it needs to do. Well I don't, and I don't know how to program it either. Just throwing out ideas. Good luck.
January 10th, 2006 05:20 AM
There is a boot-up packet, but there is no shut-down packet (as far as I know). The boot-up packet is actually a specially crafted ethernet frame that can be sent via almost any protocol (TCP, IPX, UDP, etc..).
Programmatically I believe you can use any type of network/sockets library to construct the special bootup frame/packet and just send it to the computer you want to turn on. To turn off the computer, you will probably have to use syscall's for whatever operating system you are interfacing with.
A good reference that I just google'd is the Wake on LAN mini HOWTO.
It explains how Wake On LAN works and has program examples for both Windows and Linux in various languages (PERL, Visual Basic, C, even vb-script!). I think that should get you started. | <urn:uuid:71d84761-5d15-436d-b397-50ed8ab1fa4c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.antionline.com/showthread.php?270111-C-C-Wake-on-LAN-program&p=877759&viewfull=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954742 | 475 | 2.53125 | 3 |
[music-dsp] Vocoder Filter Banks
James Chandler Jr
jchandjr at bellsouth.net
Tue Apr 7 13:12:35 EDT 2009
Have never made a vocoder. Perhaps one decision could be whether you
want the vocoder 'obvious electronica' versus 'as natural-sounding as
such an artificial thing might be designed'?
In some 'color organ' spectral-response color lighting controllers,
fairly wide dead-bands were intentionally added. To assure that if a
certain sound turns on the red light, then hopefully that sound will
have minimal effect on the adjacent-band blue or green lights. The
dead bands were to hopefully exaggerate the visual effect of the light
Similarly, PERHAPS if you want a dramatic obvious intelligible
artificial vocoder effect, then some fairly discrete (but narrow) dead
bands between vocoder bands could be an advantage?
Perhaps if you take great care to avoid phase-interference between
bands and to smoothly merge the band boundaries, you might get a more-
realistic 'hi-fi' effect which is less intelligible? Dunno. Just
There is an old analog bandpass filter strategy of pairing series
bandpass filters with slightly-spread Fc, to improve selectivity,
flatten the band-top, and steepen band skirts. Fancier steeper designs
can use more than 2 series staggered bandpass filters.
Some simple math on designing these things was in Don Lancaster's old
Active Filter Cookbook but there must be better academic articles
somewhere. Regurgitating from memory the basic idea-- Given the
desired target Fc, set one bandpass filter to (Fc * X), and set the
other bandpass filter to (Fc / X). This symmetrically spreads the pair
on each side of the center frequency.
For any Q, there is some perfect spread factor X which will give the
flattest-widest band top, and the pair will have skirts at least twice
as steep as a single bandpass filter (of the same Q). Or you could try
a smaller spread to get a slightly-humped Fc. Or a wider spread to get
a wider band which may have a slight dip in the center-- A wider steep
band with a slight camel-back double-hump response at the top.
Mixing a bank of the bandpass pairs would likely sound very
artificial, but for a vocoder perhaps that would not be a disadvantage?
I've experimented with staggered-pair bandpass RBJ filters several
times, and found at least one application where it appears useful.
Made a program which has middlin success in picking enough harmonic
info out of a mix to guess at the chord progression. It uses a
chromatic-tuned filter bank covering about 2 octaves in the midrange
and 2 octaves in the bass. About 48 12th octave bands. Would need to
load up the source code to recall the exact number or the exact params.
Attempting to make each detection band as flat and steep as possible
over 1/12 octave, with minimal ringing, the first filter stage is a
staggered bandpass pair with Q and spread selected to be as steep/flat
as possible over the 1/12 octave. I can't recall how that was
calculated. Am weak on math and I forget it instantly.
The output of the bandpass pair is fed into a Goertzel algorithm tuned
to the frequency of interest. The Goertzel by itself could be fooled
by strong harmonics from other pitch centers, and that is why I wanted
to attenuate out-of-band audio as much as possible before feeding the
It seems to be a pretty selective chromatic filter bank, but of course
strong harmonics also register in the filter bank, and there is ugly
post-processing code to crudely attempt ignoring obvious harmonics and
look for likely fundamentals in the bass/midrange, for the chord
detection. On some songs it is surprisingly accurate, and on a few
songs it is laughably innacurate.
Anyway, that is one instance where the paired-staggered-bandpass seems
to be worth its pay <g>.
James Chandler Jr.
On Apr 6, 2009, at 6:27 PM, Didier Dambrin wrote:
> While I too wouldn't say it's a good idea to build an EQ out of
> filters in parallel, I've done one using RBJ's bandpasses, and its
> flat output is not too far from the dry, better than I expected -
> but I still consider it as a "fancy EQ-like effect" rather than a
> proper EQ tool.
> I'm now evaluating possibilities for something that really does need
> a parallel filterbank: a vocoder.
> One option is to use bandpasses, like RBJ's. Problem here, I'd like
> the freedom of moving bands around, not necessarily having the same
> distance between them.
> So another option would be to build bandpasses out of low/
> highpasses. This would cost a lot of CPU, especially because the
> bands should be narrow, for a minimum of 24dB/oct it would already
> require 2x2 filters per band. And the slopes not being controllable,
> hard to play with the # of bands if they're all too wide.
> This (old?) article also seem to say that bessel filters would be
> better for vocoders, and maybe EQ in parallel too?
More information about the music-dsp | <urn:uuid:588ce2e2-776a-4315-9fb0-732953452961> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://music.columbia.edu/pipermail/music-dsp/2009-April/067515.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928452 | 1,206 | 1.726563 | 2 |
It is the purpose of DynamicBracingSolutions™ to provide solutions to
deficiencies in locomotion resulting from neuromuscular disorders on an
individual basis. Providing solutions that enable a person to reach their potential outcome. This is consistent with the
definition of Rehabilitation (to restore to a former capacity; to
restore to a state of efficiency; to restore to a condition of health
or useful and constructive activity). Perhaps the most important factor
is caring to make a difference.
Rehabilitation is really about people helping people to regain function
otherwise lost to disability.
This individual approach to treatment is fundamental to the philosophy of DynamicBracingSolutions™. It is the combination of caring, individual attention, the desire to improve rather than maintain, and the use of technology that makes our company unique. In the "old days", professionals had more time to relate to the people they treated; however, technology was limited. In the fast paced world of today, we have the technology but no longer have the time. We rely too heavily on technology to solve our problems. In the past, professionals had the time to care; today we must make the time to care. Each person is a unique individual, not a disease entity or a statistic to be treated in the same manner as everyone else!
It is our desire at DynamicBracingSolutions™ to attain the "best of both worlds" through a caring individualized approach and the use of modern technology. Science and technology are essential but without caring, there is no hope. It is HOPE that is the foundation of Rehabilitation! Without hope there is no solution. The team approach is necessary to obtain our goals and provide solutions requiring education, understanding and commitment on the part of every team member. The team includes the individual receiving treatment, the doctor, the orthotist and the physical therapist. All needs to work together at all times without variation.
The human body is an amazing thing that can adapt to any situation. There is an inherent or unconscious compensation to minor deficiencies and deformity that over time progress to become accepted and "normal" to the individual. These conditions, although isolated to a particular joint or muscle will ultimately affect the whole body. This all leads to a gradual loss of function. The sooner the deficiencies are addressed, the better the outcome or solution.
No one wants to wear a brace. This may be seen by individuals and professionals alike as a "failure or giving in to a problem." No one wants to wear glasses either except to see better. Most of us choose better vision in spite of our desire not to wear glasses. As in the case of eyeglasses, an orthosis needs to be designed specifically for the individual and improve on function rather than accommodate for it. Traditional generic designs are accommodative by design. Most patients want to improve. This paradox can be solved through education. Recognizing a problem is the first step. Looking for solutions and not accepting the status quo is the next step.
The rehabilitation approach offered by DynamicBracing-Solutions™ is not an end in itself. It does not cure the problem but offers solutions to the adverse affects of the problem. Change is often difficult and old habits are hard to break. It requires hard work and dedication on the part of every member of the team. If the individual receiving treatment is genuinely committed and subscribes to the philosophy and protocol offered by DynamicBracingSolutions™, then there is HOPE. Where there is hope, there is the potential for improvement. This improvement will then be consistent with the definition and goals of rehabilitation. It is about solutions to very complex problems. | <urn:uuid:506213ca-fc81-48c6-9291-43aa385d8490> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dynamicbracingsolutions.net/Pages/Mission.html | 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 | 0.951403 | 744 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Confronting the Challenges of Climate Literacy
A Summer Workshop for High School Teachers
Institute for Geophysics, Jackson School for Geosciences
University of Texas at Austin
Monday June 10 – Friday June 14, 2013
Understanding the complexity and interconnectedness of Earth's natural cycles across various time and spatial scales has become increasingly important as the effects of human activity on those cycles become more apparent. Join us for a week at University of Texas at Austin to learn about three new high school curriculum units* that address these topics and how you can incorporate them into your science classes. The new Web-based curriculum units will be freely available to you and are designed to enhance classroom learning by allowing students to explore the topics in a variety of modes, including hands-on activities, video interviews with scientists, group work, self-guided examination of scientific data, and class discussions.
- Participants who complete the workshop will receive 40 CEUs from University of Texas at Austin and a stipend.
- Accommodations and two meals daily (breakfast and lunch) will be provided at no cost to participants.
- Texas teachers can also apply for a transportation subsidy (max. $250).
Space is limited to 25.
CLICK HERE to complete and submit an application. We are no longer accepting applications.
Questions? Call Dr. Kathy Ellins at University of Texas at Austin (1-512 471-0347)
*Climate and the Cryosphere: Earth's Frozen Waters
How do Earth's glaciers, ice bergs, and ice sheets affect the Texas climate? The complexity of Earth's interconnected system is highlighted in this unit as students learn about the cryosphere's dynamic nature and the positive and negative feedback systems that play a critical role in shaping our planet's climate.
*Climate, Weather, and the Biosphere
Earth's atmosphere not only provides us with life-supporting oxygen; it helps maintain our planet's temperature range, which shapes life on Earth as we know it. Students learn about various temporal and spatial scales at which weather and climate occur, and the interactions of the Earth's system at local, regional, and global scales that drive our weather and shape our climate.
*Climate and the Carbon Cycle
Carbon cycles through the Earth system on time scales that vary from fractions of a second to hundreds of thousands of years, and is as essential to the phytoplankton as it is to the Giant Sequoia. Air bubbles from ice cores reveal the dynamic history of atmospheric carbon across the past 600,000 years and help scientists establish the long-term history of the carbon-climate connection. | <urn:uuid:29ff2923-aec1-4ca1-b249-a128234c7f63> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://serc.carleton.edu/earthlabs/TXWorkshop_about | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919142 | 538 | 2.859375 | 3 |
We report a case of neutropenic ulceration in a 42-year-old woman receiving azathioprine for pemphigus vulgaris. She developed multiple indolent ulcers involving the nose, neck, and back, after about 6-8 weeks following commencement of azathioprine 50 mg daily. The ulcers were large, disfiguring, dry, and with basal necrotic slough. They were painless and did not discharge pus. The absolute neutrophil count was severely depressed initially, but normalized following azathioprine withdrawal. Swab culture revealed colonization with Klebsiella pneumoniae and the ulcers healed with local debridement, treatment with imipenem, and topical application of mupirocin. However, nasal disfigurement persisted. Neutropenic ulceration is known to be associated with azathioprine therapy but we report this case because of the unusual presentation-indolent cutaneous ulcers. Early recognition of the problem and drug withdrawal can prevent complications like disfigurement.
Neutropenia is characterized by an abnormally low number of neutrophils in the blood. Neutrophils normally comprise 45-75% of circulating white blood cells, and neutropenia is diagnosed when the absolute neutrophil count falls to <1500/ μL. Slowly developing neutropenia often goes undetected and is generally discovered when the patient develops sepsis or localized infections.
There are many causes of neutropenia, and immunosuppressants are a common iatrogenic cause. Azathioprine is an immunosuppressant drug that is being used for nearly 50 years now in organ transplantation and in diseases with suspected autoimmune etiology. Dermatologists use azathioprine as a steroid-sparing agent in various dermatoses such as psoriasis, immunobullous diseases, photodermatoses, and eczematous disorders. The drug has been used in ulcerative autoimmune disorders such as Crohn’s disease and pyoderma gangrenosum. On the other hand, it has also been implicated as a cause of ulceration associated with neutropenia. Most reports of neutropenic ulceration document involvement of the buccal mucosa and oral cavity. We report a case of multiple severe cutaneous ulcers associated with long-term azathioprine use in a patient with pemphigus vulgaris. | <urn:uuid:3cc1950c-f77a-4a3b-8cd6-31db74944312> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pemphigus.org/nl/multiple-cutaneous-neutropenic-ulcers-associated-with-azathioprine/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940472 | 516 | 2.015625 | 2 |
Genuine friends are those who will swallow their pride and support your decisions no matter what. Now, I’m not saying that if your friend(s) wanted to jump off a building or shoot up some drugs you should be 100% supportive. In which case, you should definitely stop them but that’s besides the point.
I am referring to relationships in particular. When it really comes down to it, your relationship or your friend’s relationship is no one’s damn business (unless something was seriously wrong). Relationships are not black and white, there are many gray areas and people will encounter numerous bumps throughout their relationships and they may or may not conquer and prevail from those obstacles. Yes, some things may become redundant but it is your job to shut off YOUR insecurities for a second, shut up, and be the caring and understanding person you’re supposed to be. As a friend, it’s perfectly acceptable to voice your opinions, make suggestions and let your friend see things from an outsiders perspective. However, your main job is to be supportive.Otherwise, you’re going to drive them away and they will NEVER come to you for anything. If they make a mistake and end up getting hurt, so be it. Just be there to help them cope and get through the pain. It’s not the end of the world and they will hopefully learn from it. It’s not your relationship, you don’t know what they’re going through so you have no right to shit( please excuse my french) negativity on your friend’s relationship. Think, instead of them being perfectly and blissfully happy, you’re the bad guy raining on their parade. Everyone lovesssss a negative Nancy right? Said NO ONE EVER. | <urn:uuid:9e289a16-189b-4e2c-8397-5f932bb6ab8d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://chvmonte.tumblr.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9592 | 373 | 1.523438 | 2 |
On October 26, 2012, THP-Mozambique celebrated the inauguration of the Chokwe Epicenter Health Center in the Gaza Province of Mozambique. And just in time -- the very evening of the inauguration, Ignésia Gonçalves Ngovene arrived on foot from a nearby village to deliver a health baby boy.
The Hunger Project joins 50 other organizations in supporting the recommendations laid out in the new Roadmap for Continued U.S. Leadership to End Global Hunger and in urging the U.S. government to continue to invest in a comprehensive approach to end global hunger and malnutrition.
The Hunger Project is part of this global movement to reduce child undernutrition. At the launch event in New York City this week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton thanked The Hunger Project along with several of our partner organizations for our role in establishing the thousanddays.org website. | <urn:uuid:7917d427-8a64-4b52-8a13-23dfa159c1f8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thp.org/what_we_do/key_initiatives/prioritizing_maternal_and_childhood_nutrition/latest_news | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923886 | 180 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Angered over what they perceive to be a violation of free speech, hackers in California launched an online attack against a California transit agency after it turned off cellphone service at its stations in an effort to prevent a potential protest last week.
The hackers are apparently frustrated by efforts taken by police in San Francisco to jam cellphone communications so that protesters could not move forward with their protests. Gawker.com explains: "Protesters had planned to gather at a San Francisco BART [Bay Area Rapid Transit] station during rush hour to protest the fatal July shooting of Charles Hill by a BART police officer. But the protest never materialized. One reason, possibly, is the extreme lengths police went to make sure potential protesters couldn't communicate."
Click here to read the entire article. | <urn:uuid:b68b3a4a-ebc3-4222-a534-ab1f78825653> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jbs.org/internet-freedom/hackers-seek-revenge-for-free-speech-violation | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965656 | 153 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Even the casual follower of academic science and industry R&D will recognize that most areas of scientific inquiry are quickly becoming interdisciplinary in nature. The reason for this is both simple and exciting. Technology and broad experimental proficiency have allowed the scientist to start asking bigger, more complex questions. The tools of molecular biology and genetics are helping introduce new innovations to t
he fields of chemistry, ecology, archeology, and even physics, to name a few. Importantly, this transforming principle goes both ways. The tools and principles of chemistry are quickly becoming an integral part of modern biology. Historically, the fields of chemistry and biology were considered distinct disciplines, each applying its own technology and methods to solve problems within their own field of study. The boundaries between the chemical and biological sciences are rapidly dissolving as scientists increasingly use chemical tools and concepts to explore mechanism, structure and function in complex biological systems at the biochemical, genetic and organismal level. The introduction of the Biochemistry major at Ave Maria University starting Fall 2012 reflects the importance of this interdisciplinary approach.
The new Biochemistry major was initiated by Dr. James Peliska and Dr. Joshua Lees of the Department of Biology and Chemistry. Dr. Peliska is no stranger to starting major programs. He joined AMU in 2002 as the founding chair of the Department of Biology and Chemistry. He remained in that position, having overseen the initiation and growth of the Biology and Chemistry program, until the fall 2010 when he stepped down as chair to pursue his research program more actively. Dr. Peliska received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and then received a NIH postdoctoral fellowship to study the biochemistry of reverse transcription of Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1. The study of this complex biochemical process involved in the replication of the viral genome sparked a long-term fascination to understand the mechanisms of DNA replication and the processes that lead to drug resistance in this important viral target. Dr. Peliska has actively pursued this line of research for over 21 years, identifying new inhibitors of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT, the main replicating enzyme of the virus), publishing studies on the mechanisms of reverse transcription and the properties of mutants of HIV-1 RT that give rise to drug-resistant strains of HIV-1. While a faculty member at the University of Michigan, he had the opportunity to collaborate extensively and successfully with a pharmaceutical partner to discover new inhibitors of HIV-1 reverse transcription. He continues these important studies today in the laboratories of AMU.
One of the hallmarks of the new Biochemistry major is an emphasis on student research participation. Under the mentoring of Dr. Peliska, students work collaboratively with other Biochemistry students on projects directed toward the development of new bacterial screening methods that promise to provide important ways of identifying and characterizing novel inhibitors of HIV-1 RT, as well as predict and analyze the propensity to develop drug-resistant mutations. These results will play a role in the understanding viral replication and in the development of potential new drugs against this disease-causing viral target. These studies combine techniques in synthetic organic chemistry, enzyme kinetics, protein chemistry, structural biology, genetics and microbiology. Modern biochemical research such as this is heavily dependent on modern instrumentation and facilities, and the excellent research facilities at AMU make these projects possible. For more information on Dr. Peliska, his publication record and his research, visit the AMU Biochemistry webpage at http://mysite.avemaria.edu/jpeliska/Chem/BIOCHEMHOME.htm | <urn:uuid:32f05b32-7a9e-48ab-94dd-d7e98211bdfa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://avemaria.edu/Home/Spotlight/agentType/View/ArticleID/202.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938189 | 729 | 2.328125 | 2 |
Rheumatology telephone helplines: An activity analysis
McCabe, C. , MacDowell, J. , Cushnaghan, J. , Butts, S. , Hewlett, S. , Stafford, S. , O'Hea, J. and Breslin, A. (2000) Rheumatology telephone helplines: An activity analysis. Rheumatology, 39. pp. 1390-1395. ISSN 1462-0324
Full text not available from this repository
Publisher's URL: http://rheumatology.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content...
Background: Anecdotal evidence suggests that the services offered by rheumatology telephone helplines in the UK vary widely between NHS Trusts because of the lack of national or European guidelines. Objective: To conduct an activity analysis of six NHS Trust rheumatology telephone helplines in the south and west of England. Methods: Serial data were collected on the first 100 calls received on or after 1 January 1999 by six rheumatology helplines in the south and west of England. Background information was gathered on the management, availability, setting and purpose of each helpline. Data on the time taken to manage these calls and patient satisfaction were not collected. Results: Patients with rheumatoid arthritis were the major users and no significant differences were found in the outcome of their calls between centres, but wide variations were revealed in the management of the helplines, the populations they serve and the services they offer. Conclusion: The rheumatology helpline services in six NHS Trusts in the south and west of England were shown to be the same in name only. They lacked uniformity in the delivery of care and accessibility to relevant patient groups. The geographical variation in service delivery may result in patient dissatisfaction and confusion if a number of hospitals are attended over the course of a patient's chronic disease. Further research is required to identify the helpline needs of the broader rheumatology population, patient satisfaction, outcomes and system costs, and to progress towards the development of national and European guidelines.
Repository Staff Only: item control page | <urn:uuid:af4b8a1d-1864-4a4f-b56b-bc5561e8efd9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/10700/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921945 | 452 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Vocab activities for your classroom
The Descriptive Suffix "-ish"
In this Wordshop article, Susan Ebbers helps readers to distinguish between words ending in the suffix "-ish" and other types of "-ish" words. Ebbers then provides teachers with some creative suggestions for introducing students to the suffix "-ish."
Words ending with the suffix -ish are often adjectives, but this suffix has several senses. The suffix -ish is flexibly used with a base word to denote "somewhat, somewhat prone to, or somewhat like." For example, we have ticklish, reddish-blue, stylish, childish, boyish, a waspish tongue, a foolish old woman, a coldish wind.
Then we have Spanish, Irish, Scottish, Finnish, Danish, etc. These words are also typically used as adjectives (but not in "We just ate a danish for breakfast."). However, now the suffix creates a different sense. Does Scottish mean 'somewhat like a Scot?' No, typically it implies that someone or something hails from Scotland. An exception is, "I wore a skirt that looked rather Scottish." Doubtless, we could think of additional exceptions.
However, words like astonish, admonish, tarnish, polish, varnish, and establish are not adjectives; they are typically used as verbs (but polish and varnish are also nouns). Is this even the same suffix? According to David Crystal, it is not. In the comments of his marvelous post "On -ish," he states: "This ish [in verbs like tarnish] has a completely different etymology. It's from a French (and ultimately Latin) suffix expressing the beginning of an action."
I suspect this use of -ish, to create a verb, is largely extinct in English, if it ever existed. Perhaps it is found only in verbs that passed into English via French. Do folks today freely create new verbs with -ish, as in nourish and languish? Must I reverbish this post?
To be sure, we also find words like fish, dish, wish, swish, etc. What's going on with this set of words? Do they even contain the suffix -ish? No. There is no meaning in the string of letters in these cases; it is not a morpheme in these words, not an indivisible unit of meaning. Instead, these words comprise a phonogram family.
Read: Read the delightful children's book Ish by Peter Reynolds to the class. A frustrated young artist is encouraged by his little sister, for his sketch may not look exactly like a vase, but it is vase-ish. Visit Book Chatter to meet the author and set up an account to read the book for free, online.
Invent: Encourage students to invent a new -ish word. Perhaps they might name a new group of people, possibly aliens: "This is the planet Bendlandia, where we speak Bendish."
Detect: Have students play word detective, searching through magazines and newspapers for words ending with the adjective-forming suffix -ish, clipping the words and placing them on a bulletin board. This could be a homework activity. As students read books, have them stay alert for this suffix. They could write their finds on index cards and add them to the class chart.
Write: Eventually, encourage students to use this suffix more frequently in their writing. Why not try writing a poem? As I recall, even my second graders, back in my teaching days, enjoyed limericks.
Play: One way to engage students in critical thinking is to play "Will the Real Suffix Please Stand Up!" After teaching children the adjective-forming suffix -ish, say a word in context. Students stand up and shout the word if it contains the suffix and is an adjective. If not, they remain seated. Then, they write the word in the appropriate column of a two-column chart, as shown below, and they underline the base word. Notice that the base word in mulish is not as transparent as in the other words. Discussion should include the idea that spellers have to drop the final e in mule before adding a suffix that begins with a vowel, as in mule + -ish → mulish.
Will the Real Suffix Please Stand Up!
greenish They found a greenish rock.
darkish Wear the darkish sweater.
radish I bit into a crisp, red radish.
dragonish See the dragonish creature fly!
mulish The dog is stubborn and mulish.
Sort: More verbally proficient students might sort words into three groups: adjectives that end in the suffix -ish, verbs that end in -ish, and Other. Let partners collaborate during the sorting activity. Encourage discussion and prompt students to provide a rationale for their categorization.
That's all for now. Time for dinner! I have become a bit peckish!
Susan Ebbers is the creator of Vocabulogic, an edublog focusing on word knowledge and linguistic insight. She is a former K-8 teacher and principal, a Cambium Learning curriculum author, a national literacy consultant, and a doctoral candidate. Her research interests pertain to word-learning aptitude, measurement design, and motivation theory. In her spare time she writes poetry, including the Jamie’s Journey series of children’s books. Visit her website or follow her on Facebook. | <urn:uuid:f49feb90-1f1d-4d28-af74-bbbe4346ea05> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordshop/the-descriptive-suffix-ish/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95284 | 1,139 | 3.3125 | 3 |
Check out this incredibly moving response to Jonah Mowry’s video from one of our own – Thank you for a beautiful video, Sarah Jo Oliver
This watt detector device from OPPD is used to measure the amount of electricity various household appliances use. It calculates how much money or energy is being spent on an hourly, daily, monthly or yearly basis.
You can collect data from your home or office, and take steps to reduce energy use, become more energy-efficient and save money.
Just ask for one at the Circulation Desk.
Check out this wonderful video made by a few of our very own Heider students…
Shout out to our stars Colin Honecker and Patrick Czechut-Hoffman! | <urn:uuid:f4f121f4-2a77-423c-9f20-1a60107e96f2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://heiderhall.wordpress.com/category/random/ | 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 | 0.918045 | 150 | 2.78125 | 3 |
The Wilhelm Gustloff was a German passenger ship constructed by the Blohm and Voss shipyards. She was named after Wilhelm Gustloff, the assassinated German leader of the Swiss Nazi party (NSDAP). The Wilhelm Gustloff was launched on May 5, 1937 measuring 208.50 meters (684 feet) long by 23.59 meters (77.39 feet) wide with a capacity of 25,484 gross register tons. She was requisitioned into the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) on September 1, 1939 and served as a hospital ship during 1939 and 1940. Beginning on November 20, 1940 she was stripped of her medical equipment and repainted from her hospital ship colors (white with a green stripe) to standard naval grey. The Wilhelm Gustloff was then assigned as a floating barracks for naval personnel at the Baltic port of Gotenhafen (Gdynia) – near Danzig from 1940 onwards.
The Wilhelm Gustloff's final voyage was during Operation Hannibal in January 1945, when she was sunk while participating in the evacuation of civilian refugees, German soldiers, and U-boat personnel trapped by the Red Army in East Prussia. She was hit by three torpedoes from the Soviet submarine S-13 in the Baltic Sea on the night of January 30, 1945 and sank in under 45 minutes, taking an estimated 9,400 people with her. which if accurate makes the sinking of the Wilhem Gustloff the largest known loss of life in a single sinking in maritime history.
From September 1939 to November 1940, she served as a hospital ship with her official designation being Lazarettschiff D. On her first mission to the Baltic Sea, she treated 650 wounded Polish soldiers.
Beginning November 20, 1940, the medical equipment was removed from the ship and it was repainted from the hospital ship colours of white and green to standard naval grey. As a consequence of the British blockade of the German coastline, she was used as an accommodations ship (barracks) for approximately 1,000 U-boat trainees of the 2nd Submarine Training Division (2. Unterseeboot-Lehrdivision) in the Baltic port of Gotenhafen (Gdynia) – near Danzig (Gdańsk). The Wilhelm Gustloff sat dockside for over four years until she was put back in service to transport military personnel and civilian refugees as part of Operation Hannibal.
The ship's final voyage was to evacuate civilians, Kriegsmarine sailors, and wounded German soldiers from Gotenhafen to Kiel. The ship's complement and passenger lists totaled 6,050 people on board, but this did not include many refugees who boarded the ship without being recorded in the ship's official embarkation records. Heinz Schön, who carried out extensive research into the sinking during the 1980s and 1990s, concluded that the Wilhelm Gustloff was carrying a crew of 173 (naval armed forces auxiliaries), 918 officers, NCOs, and men of the 2nd Submarine Training Division (2. Unterseeboot-Lehrdivision), 373 female naval auxiliary helpers, 162 badly wounded soldiers, and 8,956 refugees, for a total of 10,582 passengers and crew. Although the ship was built for 1,465 passengers, she had the capacity to board many more for a short trip by utilizing her public recreation spaces to accommodate people, but she was carrying less than 50% of the rescue equipment necessary for the extra passengers.
The ship left Gotenhafen early on 30 January 1945, accompanied by the passenger liner Hansa, also filled with refugees and soldiers, and two torpedo boats. The Hansa and one torpedo boat developed problems and could not continue, leaving the Wilhelm Gustloff with one torpedo boat escort, the Löwe. The ship had four captains on board, three civilian and one military, and they could not agree on the best course of action to guard against submarine attacks. Against the advice of the military commander, Lieutenant Commander Wilhelm Zahn (a submariner who argued for a course in shallow waters close to shore and without lights), the senior civilian captain, Friedrich Petersen, decided to head for deep water. When he was informed by radio of an oncoming German minesweeper convoy, he decided to activate his ship's red and green navigation lights so as to avoid a collision in the dark, making the Wilhelm Gustloff easy to spot in the night. As the ship's equipment included antiaircraft weapons, it had been travelling blacked-out, it was not marked as a hospital ship, and it was transporting combat troops, it did not have any protection as a hospital ship under the international accords governing this.
The ship was soon sighted by the S-13, under the command of Captain Third Class Alexander Marinesko, which fired three torpedoes at the Wilhelm Gustloff's port side about 30 km (20 miles) offshore between Großendorf and Leba soon after 21:00 (CET) hitting her with all three. The first torpedo hit near the port bow, the second torpedo hit behind it just ahead of mid-ship. The third torpedo struck the engine room in the area below the ships funnel, cutting off engine and electrical power to the ship.The ship took a list to starbord and was settling by the head.Later the Wilhelm Gustloff listed to port.
In the panic that followed, many of the refugees were trampled in the rush to the lifeboats and life jackets. Some equipment was lost as a result of the panic. The water temperature in the Baltic Sea at this time of year is usually around 4°C; however, this was a particularly cold day, with an air temperature of −10° to −18°C and ice floes covering the surface. Many deaths were either caused directly by the torpedoes or by instant drowning in the onrushing water. Others were crushed in the ensuing panic on the stairs and decks, and many jumped into the icy, dark Baltic. Reports talk about children clinging onto adults and women trying to save their babies, though constant waves dragged them away from them, most never to be seen again. Small children fitted with life jackets for adults drowned because their heads were under water while their legs were in the air.
Less than 45 minutes after being struck, the Wilhelm Gustloff went down bow first in 44 metres (150 feet) of water. German forces were able to rescue some of the survivors from the attack: torpedo boat T-36 rescued 564 people; torpedo boat Löwe, 472; Minesweeper M387, 98; Minesweeper M375, 43; Minesweeper M341, 37; the steamer Gottingen saved 28; torpedo-recovery boat (Torpedofangboot) TF19, seven; the freighter Gotland, two; and Patrol boat (Vorpostenboot) V1703 was able to save one baby. These figures are from the research of Heinz Schön, and that would make the total lost in the torpedoing and subsequent sinking to be 9,343 men, women, and children. This would make it the largest loss of life in a single sinking in maritime history.
In an article in the magazine "Sea Classics", Irwin Kappes mentions that "there were over 6,000 passengers on board". He also states that the escort ship Löwe was alongside within 15 minutes, taking off as many survivors as she could carry, and that when Captain Henigst of the cruiser Admiral Hipper, herself carrying 1,500 evacuees, received reports from her lookouts that she was under torpedo attack, he chose not to stop to pick up survivors. Kappes gives a precise total of those lost in the sinking as 5,348. The source of this information was the German book "Die Gustloff Katastrophe" written by Heinz Schön, who later revised his original numbers.
Heinz Schön's more recent research is backed up by estimates made by a different method. The Discovery Channel program Unsolved History has undertaken a computer analysis (using software called maritime EXODUS) of the sinking, which estimated 9,400 dead −85% (among over 10,600 on board); this analysis considered the load density based on witness reports and a simulation of escape routes and survivability with the timeline of the sinking.
Many ships carrying civilians were sunk during the war by both the Allies and Axis. However, based on the latest estimates of passenger numbers and those known to be saved, the Wilhelm Gustloff remains the largest loss of life resulting from the sinking of one vessel in maritime history. Günter Grass, in an interview published in The New York Times on Tuesday April 8, 2003 said, "One of the many reasons I wrote Crabwalk was to take the subject away from the extreme right... They said the tragedy of the Gustloff was a war crime. It wasn’t. It was terrible, but it was a result of war, a terrible result of war.
According to the Soviet propaganda version, more than a thousand German officers, including 70–80 submarine crews died with the Gustloff. Women from the ship were described, perhaps falsely, as SS personnel from German concentration camps
In 2006, a bell recovered from the wreck, and subsequently used as decoration in a Polish fish restaurant, was loaned to the "Forced Paths" exhibition in Berlin. In 2007, the ship's bell was placed on display at the Gdańsk Museum in Krantor.
Close Like The Pros.(Close Like The Pros: Replace Worn-Out Tactics with the Powerful Strategy of Interactive Selling)(Brief article)(Book review)
Jun 01, 2007; Close Like The Pros Steve Marx Career Press Inc. PO Box 687, Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417 156414934X, $15.99 www.careerpress.com... | <urn:uuid:df7e11fb-97f3-421b-adff-94f1b5b10381> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.reference.com/browse/salesman-ship | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974429 | 2,054 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Several weeks ago, a study suggested that women taking estrogen-only hormone replacement for treating menopause symptoms could be at lower risk for developing breast cancer. A much-larger study has now revealed that estrogen-only regimens if used for longer than ten years may raise a woman’s long-term risk for breast cancer.
The new study was funded by the National Cancer Institute, part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
The study revealed that women who used estrogen-only therapy after menopause had 22 percent increased risk for breast cancer if they decided to use it for 10 to 14.9 years, and 43 percent greater risk if they used it longer than 15 years while t10 to 14.9 years, and 43 percent greater risk if they used it longer than 15 years.
“For combination therapy there is so much data about the dangers that we really tell people that if they must take it to treat symptoms, they should only do so for a year or two at most,” said study author Dr. Wendy Chen, an associate physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an assistant professor in medicine at the Breast Cancer Treatment Center at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. “For estrogen alone, there is more safety data for someone who wants to take it for five or six years.”
Popularity: 1% [?] | <urn:uuid:3b3444bc-d895-4fff-aafc-a79e0096593e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sportsnhealth.net/sports-and-health/long-term-estrogen-therapy-increases-breast-cancer-risk.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951264 | 286 | 2.515625 | 3 |
EQT Corp. adds to natural gas station in Strip District
A Chapman Corp. employee works on the electrical system for two new pumps at EQT's natural gas fueling station in the Strip District.
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Part of EQT Corp.'s effort to increase demand for the natural gas that it's extracting from the Marcellus Shale appears to be paying off.
The Downtown-based gas driller announced Wednesday it was adding a fueling island to its compressed natural gas (CNG) station in the Strip District. Construction already is under way to add two fuel dispensers to the site's current six.
The company said an increase in customer demand was behind the expansion.
The station had about 200 transactions and sold about 2,000 gallons of CNG in January 2012. By December, that had increased to more than 1,000 monthly transactions and 15,000 gallons sold.
The site opened in July 2011 to service passenger cars and company fleet vehicles that run on natural gas. Companies and advocates of shale gas extraction have viewed the CNG market as a way to increase demand for a product that saw supplies skyrocket when hydraulic fracturing technology started unlocking reserves like Appalachia's Marcellus Shale.
Several major companies and organizations with large vehicle fleets and high gasoline costs have adopted the fuel source.
CNG has fewer emissions that traditional gasoline and is cheaper -- the CNG at the Strip District station costs $1.89 per equivalent gallon of regular gasoline. Online fuel tracking site GasBuddy reports the average price for a gallon of unleaded gasoline in Pittsburgh is $3.77.
EQT said four customers make up nearly half of its business at the Strip District site: the City of Pittsburgh, UPMC, Paragon Foods and Veterans' Taxi. The EQT site is the only CNG station within Pittsburgh city limits, according to AltFuelPrices.com. Other nearby sites include a Giant Eagle distribution center in Crafton and a Clean N Green station in Washington.
More are expected to be on their way. The state's Act 13 shale legislation passed last year included more than $20 million for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to help pay for the purchasing and conversion of CNG-powered cars.
EQT is helping the Butler Transit Authority build a CNG service station outside Lyndora that is expected to open in early 2014.
First Published March 21, 2013 12:20 am | <urn:uuid:e8b6ef7c-633f-4f59-afa1-b02ea95f877c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/business/news/eqt-corp-adds-to-natural-gas-station-in-pittsburghs-strip-district-680244/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95534 | 496 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Wake Tech’s Testing Center helps students determine which courses (and level of coursework) will be most appropriate for them. The center offers the ACCUPLACER placement test (previously the COMPASS test), which assesses students’ abilities in reading comprehension, sentence skills, and math.
The placement test does not determine your admission to Wake Tech, but it does determine whether you will take college-level courses or must first complete pre-curriculum (preparatory) courses before beginning a program of study.
Please read carefully the information that follows to learn more about placement testing and how you can prepare, schedule, and sign up for the test – or find out if you are exempt!
You are exempt from the ACCUPLACER Placement Test if you:
Have SAT scores of:
520 or higher in Critical Reading (or Verbal)
600 or higher in Math Scores must be less than five (5) years old at the time you apply to Wake Tech.
Have ACT scores of:
21 or higher in the Reading, Writing, and Math sections of the ACT test. Scores must be less than five (5) years old at the time you apply to Wake Tech.
Have received a grade of "C" or better in a college-level English and math course from a regionally or nationally-accredited institution.
NOTE: Students enrolling in a Health Sciences program must have completed a college-level math course within the past 5 years. | <urn:uuid:2ec2a9e5-467f-4cf3-acab-4681c32e6483> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.waketech.edu/become-student/testing-center | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.913518 | 309 | 1.976563 | 2 |
Posted: Jul 26, 2010 9:06 AM by Bea Karnes, News First 5
Updated: Jul 26, 2010 9:07 AM
Biologists are making a bet on the annual release of thousands of endangered baby sea turtles. They're being released into the western Gulf of Mexico in hopes the oil-fouled waters of the eastern Gulf will be cleaned up by the time the turtles arrive.
The plan's supporters say the risks of holding turtles in captivity at a critical stage in their life cycles could be worse than the dangers of oil more than 400 miles away.
Critics argue the decision doesn't adequately account for hurricanes, storms or a seasonal change in current, all of which could bring the oil west and directly into their path.
For years, scientists have incubated and hatched the Kemp's ridley turtles to give the endangered creatures a boost.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service are going ahead with this year's release. | <urn:uuid:3c41a858-7e5d-4c6a-9e08-c755146209ff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.koaa.com/news/biologists-to-release-baby-turtles-in-gulf/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964462 | 199 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Well-known photo of Nancy Hart taken by Civil War photographer Marion Kerner (L) and recent photo discovered by Chris Delaney of Craigsville (R)
IS NEWLY FOUND PHOTO OF CONFEDERATE SPY NANCY HART, OR IS SHE STILL ELUDING US?
By Susan Matthis Johnson, Richwood WV 2006
Susan Johnson is the author of two plays about Nancy Hart. Bury Me by Nancy Hart was produced in 1992 by the Mill Whistle Players of Richwood, WV, with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the West Virginia Department of Culture and History.
The Old Main Players in Summersville, WV produced it the following year as an outdoor drama. She also wrote "Nancy Hart Live!" and script for a one-woman show produced several times by the West Virginia Culture Alive! program. Johnson is a writer and journalism teacher who lives in Richwood, WV, with her husband and five children.
We are grateful to Johnson for permission to publish her most recent account about Hart on the Herald.
The latest photo.
It’s one of the most provocative photographs of the Civil War. A comely young girl is arranged in a pose almost identical to that of the Mona Lisa. Her eyes are focused and intense, but her mouth seems to be in mid-swallow.
On her head is a man’s hat, garnished with a fluffy plume. Her dark hair is chopped off just below her chin. She wears an off-the-shoulder dress that could be taffeta—quite inappropriate attire for guerrilla warfare. Her left hand bears a simple ring and is placed protectively across her abdomen.
The subject of the famous photo is Nancy Hart, one of the most notorious and colorful spies of the Civil War. According to eyewitness accounts, the photo was taken by an itinerant ambrotypist at the headquarters of Yankee Colonel William C. Starr in Summersville, VA (now West Virginia) at the request of Marion Kerner, a civilian telegrapher.
The headquarters consisted of a "pretty, two-story and attic frame dwelling" which had been commandeered by troops from the Ninth West Virginia Regiment, the main body of which was stationed in Gauley Bridge, approximately 25 miles away.
Housed in the headquarters that sultry July of 1862 were Colonel Starr, a Captain Davis, two orderlies and Kerner. Very soon, however, the barracks were to become co-ed. While foraging for "whatever fresh vegetables [their] appetites might crave," the men came upon two girls crushing corn outside a small cabin. The two turned out to be Nancy Hart and a companion, whom, while unnamed by Kerner, some have identified as a Becky Carpenter, probably the daughter or granddaughter of the old woman who inhabited the cabin.
Who was Nancy Hart?
Who was this Nancy Hart? According to Jim Mylott’s three-part series in the Roane County Times Record, Nancy was born near Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1847. She was one five children of John and Eliza Bowling Hart. The family moved to Tazewell County, Virginia, where Nancy’s sister Mary met and married William Price in 1853. (1850 census records of Washington County list a John Hart, farmer, and wife Rebecca Bowling, born in Asheville, NC, in 1805, as having seven children, one of whom was Nancy, born in 1843 in VA.
Mary, who figures later in this story, is listed as being born in 1835 in Smyth County, VA.) Mylott’s account has Nancy and her family following the Prices to Roane County, and the young Nancy, called Peggy by her family, growing up in the wilds of the Flat Fork area now part of West Virginia.
Nancy was described as a "natural tomboy." She learned to shoot and ride as well as cook and sew, and at age 12 she had developed a reputation as an excellent markswoman. She was also developing some partisan feelings, although she told her granddaughters that her father, while a Democrat, was opposed to slavery.
Apparently she and her father once witnessed a black slave being whipped by his master, which John Hart remarked was "the most shameful thing he’d ever seen." There were, however, early indications of her allegiance to the Confederacy. According to one story, Nancy was in attendance of an enlistment party for her sister’s brother-in-law when a detachment of Union soldiers marched by.
Nancy, who was quite a little spitfire, raised her hands and yelled at the group, "Hurrah for Jeff Davis!" The Yankees responded with a minnie ball that struck the wall of the cabin just inches above Nancy’s head.
Shortly thereafter Nancy began to show up at the campfires of soldiers who were in the area. She would provide them with information, do a little scouting and spying and even a little entertaining.
She would even provide information to Union soldiers from time to time. Eventually the rebellious little Rebel ran off and joined a group called the Moccasin Rangers, probably because she had become infatuated with a member of the group, either its charismatic leader, Perry Conley, or one of his followers and later to become her husband, Joshua Douglas.
At this point it was clear that she was mainly interested in the camaraderie rather than the politics. But that was soon to change.
Nancy gets political
In mid October of 1861, Nancy, possibly a little homesick, ventured back to her sister Mary’s home in Roane County. Unaware that the house was being closely watched by Union troops, Nancy was astonished when soldiers came to the door.
Apparently the Moccasins had wreaked some pretty heavy havoc around the state, ambushing mail trains and vandalizing telegraph lines. Mary, who was nine months pregnant, hid Nancy by tying her up in bolster on the bed.
She then lay on the bolster and pretended to be in labor. When soldiers searched the room, one even bent down and ran his sword under the bed--so close that Nancy would tell her granddaughter years later she could smell his breath.
Nancy escaped this capture, but her poor family did not fare so well. Mary’s husband William was taken by Union soldiers into the woods and shot. Hearing of this, Nancy vowed revenge. In fact, Nancy later told her sister that she came upon one of the guards who had arrested William and that he "just dropped off a log dead."
Mary was convinced that Nancy had "stalked the man like one would a deer until the right moment came along." The Harts were ostracized by the Prices for bringing such misery to their family, and Nancy’s parents were forced to move back to Virginia. Mary moved to Kentucky with her children.
Without a family or a home, Nancy then rejoined the band of irregulars led by Conley, and the group soon gained the reputation of being one of the most ruthless guerrilla bands in the Virginia region.
According to Mylott’s account, Nancy was captured once when the group was engaged in a raid in Braxton County. She was taken in and interrogated by a Captain Rollyson, whom she was able to convince through her feminine wiles that she was just an innocent country girl on her way to visit family.
Rollyson released her, Mylott writes, "much to his embarrassment when he later found out who she was." Nancy returned to Conley with much valuable information, which the Moccasins soon used against Rollyson.
Luck was eventually to run out on Conley, however. In early summer of 1862, the band was surprised by a detachment of the 30th Ohio Infantry when they were hiding out in Webster County. Conley was mortally wounded and the Rangers scattered, some to join other guerrilla bands and others to enlist in the regular Confederate army. Nancy had nowhere to go but the mountains, possibly to the mountain cabin where she was surprised by Starr that day while grinding corn.
Nancy and her companion were captured and eventually incarcerated in the attic of Starr’s headquarters. The telegrapher Kerner writes, "To while away the dreary hours of their imprisonment, I supplied them with sewing material and illustrated papers, which they could not read, but they eagerly studied the pictures." The enchanted telegrapher also provided them with "such dainties as the sutler’s wagon afforded" and did what he could to "allay their fears."
It was during this hot, muggy month that the itinerant photographer happened by and was engaged by Kerner to make an ambrotype print of the famous Confederate scout and spy. Nancy, who had never seen a camera before, was extremely intimidated by the instrument and would only agree to sit before it after Kerner’s photograph was made. It was Kerner’s hat, decorated with a military feather, which was placed on Nancy’s head. When the photographer showed Nancy the image, she was "greatly elated."
It was only days later that Nancy, perhaps emboldened by the prospects of the newly taken photograph being etched on a wanted poster, was able to cajole a young guard out of his rifle. Kerner writes, "No sooner had she grasped the musket in her hands, however, then she stepped back in the room, and, lifting it to her shoulder, fired."
The guard fell dead and Nancy stepped over his body and escaped, riding bareback on Colonel Starr’s very own horse. She left behind her companion, who related the story to Kerner and the other, "just as she had witnessed it with her own astonished eyes."
Nancy returns with the cavalry
An intensive search produced no runaway female spy, but a week later, Nancy returned. She was not alone. With her were five hundred of Stonewall Jackson’s cavalry under the command of a Major Bailey, who surrounded the headquarters and captured the entire force. Nancy didn’t forget the kindnesses of the telegrapher, however.
She told Major Bailey that Kerner was not a Yankee and was, indeed, a prisoner like herself and he was allowed to go free. The rest were marched off to Libby Prison.
Amazingly, that was the last anyone heard from Nancy Hart during the Civil War.
She soon thereafter married her sweetheart and fellow Moccasin Ranger, Joshua Douglas, and settled with him in Spring Creek in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, where they raised two sons. Douglas had been injured in the skirmish with the 30th Ohio Infantry in Webster County prior to Nancy’s capture.
It is possible that Nancy was nursing him in the limestone caves near Summersville when she was captured. It seems likely that Nancy would have taken the injured Douglas in the direction of his home place near Lewisburg. This route would have placed her near where Starr captured her in the summer of 1862.
In defense of this theory, Nancy’s two granddaughters, Moppie Douglas McCollam of Camp Hill, PA and Myrtle Hollandsworth of Richwood, West Virginia, both in their nineties, related to this reporter in 1992 that Nancy had told them she had given birth to a stillborn baby in a cave, possibly during the summer of her capture.
Only a slight stretch of the imagination can place Nancy in the cave with her wounded lover, Joshua. The wedding ring and the careful placement of her hand across her stomach in the Kerner photo suggest that she might have been pregnant and all the more determined, therefore, to escape from her captors.
The excitement and trauma of the ensuing events may have precipitated the early labor and delivery of the stillborn. Both women remember their grandmother saying she buried the baby in the cave. (One of the two granddaughters said that Nancy told them she delivered twins.)
Of course, the allure of the photo is all the more powerful because no one has ever claimed to have another photo of Nancy Hart.
That is until now. Chris Delaney of Craigsville, WV, twelve miles east of Summersville, came across a photo in the trunk of his great grandmother when the family was moving her to a nursing home. According to the family’s oral history, it is a photo of Nancy Hart taken from a print on a tin plate, which, they say, was originally on a wanted poster.
No writings or markings appear on the print. While the cropped hair, the sloping shoulder and the pouting mouth are similar in the two photos, it is not immediately apparent that they are of the same woman. Interestingly, Myrtle Hollandsworth remembered that there was another photo of her notorious grandmother, but she said the only copy she knew of was burned in a house fire.
Elusive even in death
Nancy Hart’s grave on Manning Knob near Richwood bears a tombstone that reads Nancy Hart 1847-1902. Of course, the name is wrong, as is the date of her death. She was Nancy Hart Douglas and she died much later than 1902—probably in 1912, as both of her granddaughters recall attending her funeral when they were 11 or 12 years old. In addition, Greenbrier County records indicate she was still alive in 1907 when her husband passed away, and local oral history places her in downtown Richwood during the 1910 appearance of Halley’s Comet. Allegedly Nancy Hart is remembered as saying the comet meant there would soon be another war.
The historical marker on the courthouse lawn in Summersville also contains several errors. She was not captured during a raid on Summersville as the marker reads, and it was a rifle, not a pistol, that she used in her escape.
It will be up to experts to determine if the new photograph is of the same woman as the first. One thing, though, is certain: in death, as in life, the Nancy Hart is elusive to those who wish--either in body or in facts or in images--to capture her.
Comstock, Jim. "Nancy Hart." West Virginia Women: The West Virginia Heritage
Encyclopedia. Vol. 25. Richwood, West Virginia: 1974.
Hollandsworth, Myrtle, granddaughter of Nancy Hart. [Personal interview] February
Holston Pastfinder, Holston Territory Genealogical Society, Vol. 21, No. 2. Bristol VA-
TN. HPF.81: IGI IC 11509.
McCollam, Moppie Douglas, granddaughter of Nancy Hart. [Personal interview] August
Mylott, Jim. "County History: The Story of Nancy Hart." The Times Record. Spencer,
West Virginia, 10 May 1979.
Thanks to my father, Gene Matthis, for his diligent work in finding records from census data. | <urn:uuid:ce464a4a-97cc-436b-9a2b-efc97836252c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hurherald.com/cgi-bin/db_scripts/articles?Action=user_view&db=hurheral_articles&id=19728 | 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 | 0.983485 | 3,113 | 1.976563 | 2 |
Urban coyotes pose little dangerCoyotes adapt well to living in urban areas but generally stay away from people
By: Emily Zimmer, Rosemount Town Pages
It may seem alarming to run across a coyote while on a walk in downtown Rosemount. But the wild canines are in Rosemount and generally pose no danger to residents.
Police chief Gary Kalstabakken said police officers have reported seeing coyotes near the train tracks near downtown.
"You will see them in town," said Kalstabakken. But Kalstabakken said coyotes "are generally not an issue."
According the Minnesota DNR coyotes can be found anywhere in Minnesota including busy urban areas. In the Twin Cities area, coyote populations are rising.
Coyotes are wild members of the dog family. On average they weigh 30 pounds and are 18 inches tall. The DNR says the animals are gray and brown and resemble a small German Shepherd dog.
Coyotes generally are loners except when families are raising pups.
Simply put, coyotes don't like people. According to the DNR there have been no reported attacks on humans in Minnesota. However, attacks have been reported in other states.
The DNR says experts believe attacks by urban coyotes occur after the animals become accustomed to humans or after being fed by humans.
Coyotes primarily eat small mammals including mice and rabbits. However, they have been known to kill small pets including dogs and cats. Also they will raid garbage cans for food.
Kalstabakken warned against feeding any wild animal. He said small animals shouldn't be allowed to roam freely and garbage cans should be secured.
If you encounter a coyote that doesn't immediately run off, Kalstabakken recommended harassing the animal by chasing and shouting at them.
If problems should arise with coyotes they can be killed without a license. Contact the DNR or the city of Rosemount for information on coyote removal. | <urn:uuid:4af3367e-3b73-41af-a959-021682447b83> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rosemounttownpages.com/event/article/id/27596/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958862 | 405 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Khalifa University announced today that it held a talk on ocean exploration and its implications to science and technology, as part of its Distinguished Speakers Series, at the InterContinental Hotel, Abu Dhabi on November 18th.
The talk, which was open to the public, was presented by distinguished scientist, educator, policy advisor and business development leader Tony Haymet, Director, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Vice Chancellor for Marine Science and Professor, University of California at San Diego. He is also co-founder and Chair of CleanTech San Diego, which promotes and supports clean technology businesses.
Dr. Haymet discussed the robotic exploration of the ocean, which is beginning to explode after a 50 year hiatus. He used the example of the ARGO network of 3500 submersible (unpiloted and untethered) robots to measure temperature and salinity (argo.ucsd.edu). This network allows global teams of scientists to measure the fundamental physical properties of the ocean.
Dr. Haymet also discussed the financial problems being experienced by governments which have traditionally funded earth, atmosphere and ocean science, and how new consortia and mechanisms are evolving to spur this new age of exploration.
“It was a privilege to welcome Dr. Haymet to Abu Dhabi, and we are delighted that he could speak to our students and the public,” said Dr. Tod Laursen, President of Khalifa University. “This talk, as do the others within the distinguished speaker’s series, provided a very useful context for our students to complement their academic interests in science and technology, as well as give them ideas for future career pursuits. We had the opportunity to host Dr. Haymet on our campus, and he was able to meet with our Robotics and Biomedical faculty, as well as, faculty from other disciplines. Our faculty and students greatly appreciated this, and it was a wonderful learning opportunity for them.”
Khalifa University is currently offering a Ph.D in Robotics and a M.Sc. in Engineering by Research. Khalifa University’s Robotics Institute is currently conducting research in the unmanned vehicles, with a focus on Autonomous Navigation, Teleoperation, Autonomous Handling and Manipulation, and on Biomedical Robotics, specifically Rehabilitation Robots and Human Augmentation. | <urn:uuid:63cdba9a-b9af-4ccf-959d-a68abd594289> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.albawaba.com/business/pr/khalifa-university-talk-by-scientist-451567 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963912 | 474 | 2.0625 | 2 |
Women have been active participants in anti-government protests that toppled the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt. Now, as Tunisia turns the page on authoritarian rule, women are seeking their place in the future political makeup of this North African country.
There was a familiar sound in the January protests that ousted Tunisia's strongman president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali. The sound of women -- like teacher Ledia Nebli, who participated in rallies against the regime in downtown Tunis with her husband and three daughters.
Nebli says that of course women were beside men in the demonstrations -- they wanted freedom after more than two decades of authoritarian rule.
Tunisia's women have been beside men in many other ways -- starting with the fight for independence from France more than half a century ago. Many like reporter Samar Neguida are proud of their role.
"Women in Tunisia -- they have more rights than anywhere else in the Arab region and the whole Middle East region. They are allowed to vote, they are allowed to have cars -- not like women in Saudi Arabia. They have rights in the parliament -- more than 25 percent of the lower house of deputies is made up of women."
Now, Tunisian women are searching for their place in this new post-Ben Ali landscape. Some fear the re-emergence of the once-banned Ennadha Islamist party.
The party's leader, Rachid Ghanouchi, argues he has no intention of imposing his beliefs on Tunisians. But women like Faten Abdelkefi -- a 33-year-old mother of three and a major participant in the Facebook revolt that drove Ben Ali from power -- were out in force demonstrating against his return late last month.
Abdelkefi says Tunisian women are concerned they may lose the rights they gained if Ennadha emerges as a major political force.
But others like Neguida note that championing women's rights also served as a pretext to give legitimacy to Ben Ali's staunchly secular - but undemocratic -- regime.
"It was, in one way or another, helping Ben Ali. Because he was fighting Islamists by taking off women's veils for example."
With elections expected within six months, women are now considering what part they will play in the political process.
Blogger Abdelkefi says women were so worried about the Islamists returning, they paid less attention to their place in the current interim government -- where only two of the 23 ministers are women. Not one of the 24 newly named governors is a woman.
Abdelkefi suggests one longstanding group -- the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women -- could be reshaped into a political party.
Abdelkefi is also keeping an eye on women in other Arab countries, now roiled by their own anti-government protests. She says she has been cheering on her counterparts in Egypt who helped drive longtime President Hosni Mubarak from office on Friday.
|NEW: Follow our Middle East reports on Twitter
and discuss them on our Facebook page. | <urn:uuid:520d6871-8cc0-4c24-b9b7-629d5b701946> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.voanews.com/content/tunisian-women-carving-out-new-niche-for-themselves-116109519/134983.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969303 | 621 | 2.078125 | 2 |
The Illustration Friday challenge word this week is “swell”.
“Gee, Dad, as far as fathers go… you’re swell!”
Even as Dennis Mitchell was wreaking havoc in Mr. Wilson‘s petunia bed (no, that’s not a euphemism), he loved his dad. And what was not to love?
Herbert Anderson was born in Oakland, California in 1917. At 22, he headed to Hollywood to pursue an acting career. After small, uncredited roles in a dozen or so films, he got his break in 1941′s Navy Blues opposite Martha Raye. He followed that with the World War II epic Battleground in which he adopted the screen name “Guy Anderson”. Herbert’s regular work continued at Warner Brothers Studios, where he appeared in numerous roles as newspaper men, naval officers, photographers and the occasional “good friend” of the main character. His role of Dr. Bird in the 1955 Broadway production of The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial led to a reprise of the part in the film version with Humphrey Bogart. Herbert was the only cast member from the play chosen to do the movie.
The new medium of television offered Herbert more opportunities to play familiar ”everyday” characters on sitcoms and Westerns. In 1959, he landed the role for which he would be forever remembered, good natured Henry Mitchell, father to Dennis the Menace. For four seasons and 144 episodes, Herbert, as Henry, puffed his pipe and presided over the household at 627 Elm Street. He passed level-headed judgement and extended unconditional love to his son… even when Dennis and pal Tommy were torturing the hell out of poor Mr. Wilson. He also exercised fair discipline when the situation called for it. Dennis was right. He was a swell dad.
When Dennis the Menace was cancelled, Herbert found steady work in a number of television series, appearing in guest roles on My Three Sons, Batman, The Patty Duke Show, The Brady Bunch and many others. He performed as the harried, onscreen manager alongside Herman’s Hermits in the 1966 Beatles rip-off Hold On. In 1994, after twelve years of retirement from the entertainment business, Herbert passed way at age 77 from complications following a stroke. | <urn:uuid:5a50a654-e99c-4a44-8f3d-6ecee1c5500f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.marshotelonline.com/2011/08/13/if-swell/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962071 | 486 | 1.757813 | 2 |
I have never shared or understood the moral prejudice against homosexual acts. Even as a boy, I thought the legal penalties were unjust. A quarter of a century ago, I wrote an essay in which, among much else, I called for gay marriage to be allowed.
There is currently a gay-marriage Bill before Parliament, and I have not changed my mind on the topic. I am still in favor of gay marriage. If two consenting adults want to live together in close union and can find a consenting minister of religion to bless their union, who are we to object? The same applies to polygamy, polyandry, incest, or any other kind of union between consenting adults. To a libertarian, the sole function of state marriage laws is to offer individuals a package of legal agreements and declarations that they could make for themselves if they wanted to find the money and time.
I accept that there are religious dimensions to heterosexual marriage and that there are utilitarian benefits, so far as strong and stable families give meaning to our lives and are a counterbalance to what might otherwise be the overwhelming power of the state. But these religious dimensions are something for religious believers to embrace. As for the utilitarian benefits, I cannot see how opening the package of legal agreements and declarations to other than monogamous heterosexuals should weaken family life. If two men are allowed to get married in front of a priest, I cannot see how this devalues my own civil marriage.
I also accept that gay marriage is not part of our traditions, and that traditions—especially those of English civilization—should not be attacked. But tradition is not a static force. It changes in the light of new facts. Changes in the law regarding homosexuality have largely followed changes in the social acceptance of homosexuality. We are not talking about the abolition of marriage and the bringing up of all children in state orphanages. It only involves the opening of a package of legal agreements and declarations to other than monogamous heterosexuals.
If you are a devout Catholic or a devout member of various other denominations, you must believe that civil marriages, even between heterosexuals, are state-recognized fornication. You may also deny the validity of any marriage not solemnized by a minister of your denomination, or the validity of a marriage between persons previously divorced. If those are your views, you should not become a civil registrar. There is no place for religious scruples in conducting the ceremonies.
Still, I see no reason why anyone should be obliged to recognize homosexual unions. If I offer any kind of accommodation yet object to gay marriage, I should have the right not to allow two men to sleep with each other in one of my beds. If I am a pub-keeper, I should be at liberty to throw two men out if I see them kissing. If I run any business at all, I should not be required to employ known homosexuals or to keep them on if I later discover their tastes. Nor should I be required to invite their partners to any social events I may organize. Other people should have the right not to do business with me if I want to do any of this and to counsel others not to do business with me. But my right to do as I will with my own must be unquestioned.
The overall guiding principle here is that we have the right to life, liberty, and justly acquired property. From this are derived specific rights to freedom of speech and association, among others. But there is no right here to be loved, or included, or treated as equal in our private dealings. The English liberal tradition is about the right to be left alone, not to make unilateral claims against others.
The problem is that we live in a politically correct police state. Freedom of association has been largely abolished. Freedom of speech is not far behind. Our ruling class makes hardly any new law unless it can be used to subject us to more total control. Regardless of what safeguards on conscience are now promised, I suspect that the Bill before Parliament is the beginning of a process that it is hoped will end in the state control of religion.
We are moving toward this because Christians believe in a source of authority separate from and higher than the state. Until recently, it was the custom of absolute states to make an accommodation with whatever church was largest. In return for being established, the priests would then preach obedience as a religious duty. Modern absolute states, though, are secular. Such were the Jacobin and the Bolshevik tyrannies. Such is our own mild tyranny.
Bad laws do not bind in conscience. And there may be times when even the avoidance of scandal or disorder do not justify public obedience. Any ruling class that has absolutist ambitions and is not willing to make an accommodation with the religious authorities will eventually go too far. It will command things that cannot be given and then find itself staring into a wall of resistance. The French Revolutionaries were taken by surprise. The Bolsheviks knew exactly what they were doing when they hanged all those priests and dynamited those churches. Our own ruling class also knows what it is doing. The politically correct love feast it has been preparing for us throughout my life requires the absolute obedience of the governed to commands that no devout Christian can regard as lawful. Therefore, the gathering attack on Christianity.
This does not yet apply to the other religions. The Jews are untouchable. Besides, religious Jews are a minority within a minority and involve themselves in our national life only so far as is needed to separate themselves from it. The Muslims and others are not really considered part of the nation, or they are considered objective allies of the new order under construction. Or no one wants to provoke them to rioting and blowing themselves up in coffee bars. But other believers must eventually be persecuted should the Christians first be humbled.
Whatever its merits in the abstract, gay marriage must be seen in this light. I can see a time when two men will present themselves before a Catholic priest and demand to be married. When they are refused, they will take the priest to court, and he will be made to pay damages, or be fined, or be otherwise punished. Or, if he conducts the ceremony, he will be suspended by his bishop, and the whole Catholic Church will then be punished. It might be funny to imagine what would happen if these men were to convert to Islam and present themselves before an imam in Tower Hamlets. But this will not happen. It might be the Church of England first—but the Catholic Church will be the main target, because that is the default winner of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries’ religious disputes, and it is now the main barrier against secular tyranny.
It may be that gay marriage will itself be the line beyond which the devout will not be pushed. If so, this would be regrettable. It would be the wrong issue. But I do not think this will be the line. The proposals are too reasonable in themselves, and there is an evident lack of passion within the country at large. Most likely, some churches would give in. Others would face years of internal strife. The rest could be smeared as nests of bigotry and be weakened by loss of tax advantages and by public discrimination against their members. The purpose here of gay marriage is not to bring on a fundamental conflict, but to prevent one by dividing and weakening opposition in advance.
I suspect that the present Bill is less about liberation than about greater enslavement. In a libertarian society, there would be no bar to marriage of any kind between consenting adults. For all I know, some people might, once the proper means were available, want to change sex every couple of years and contract temporary marriages to suit. But we do not live in a libertarian society. We must not lose sight of what ought to be. At the same time, we must take into account what is.
Does this mean I am against the Bill currently before Parliament? I am afraid it does. On the one hand, I strongly agree with the principle of gay marriage. On the other hand, I suspect the intended consequences of its implementation.
In 1685, James II became King of England. His reasonably plain objectives were to undo the Protestant Reformation in England and to make himself as absolute and unaccountable as Louis XIV was in France. At first, he tried to secure these objectives by relying on the support of his Catholic subjects and of useful idiots in the Church of England. After two years, he realized that this was not sufficient support. He therefore reached out to the Protestant dissenters, offering them a full toleration if they would give him their support. Some did take his offer. They had been long and vexatiously persecuted after 1660 and saw the deal’s immediate benefits. Most did not take his offer. They saw it as a first step to general despotism. After the Glorious Revolution, the dissenters did not receive the full equality that James had promised. But they did get an effective toleration in a country still free in its civil institutions.
This should be how all libertarians, of whatever degree, should regard the present Bill. The law to enable civil partnerships was one of the few decent things Labour did. Civil partnerships provide every unit in the package of agreements and declarations that legally define marriage. There is already no law to prevent civil partnerships from being blessed by consenting ministers of religion.
Let this be enough until we have made better times in England—when allowing full marriage to all consenting adults will not be an enabling step toward the tyranny that our masters plainly have in mind for us.
Copyright 2013 TakiMag.com and the author. This copy is for your personal, noncommercial use only. You can order reprints for distribution by contacting us at email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:fb694dea-97c0-4e81-8837-50c63765c7c5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://takimag.com/article/let_us_have_gay_marriage_but_not_yet_sean_gabb/print | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969484 | 1,996 | 1.828125 | 2 |
The Caddoan languages are a family of Native American languages. List of language familiesA language family is a group of Languages related by descent from a common ancestor called the Proto-language of that family Indigenous languages of the Americas (or Amerindian Languages are spoken by indigenous peoples from the southern tip of South America to Alaska and They are spoken across the Great Plains of the central United States, from North Dakota to Oklahoma. The Great Plains are the broad expanse of Prairie and Steppe which lie east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada The United States of America —commonly referred to as the North Dakota ( is a state located in the Midwestern and Western regions of the United States of America. Oklahoma ( is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America.
Five languages belong to the Caddoan language family:
I. Northern Caddoan
II. Wichita is a moribund Caddoan language spoken in Oklahoma. Only one fluent speaker remains and hence it is almost certain that Wichita will soon become Southern Caddoan
The Kitsai language is now extinct, its members having been absorbed into the Witchita tribe in the 19th century. Caddo is a Caddoan language of the Southern Plains spoken by the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma. According to some definitions an extinct language is a Language which no longer has any speakers, whereas a dead language is a language which is no longer spoken Caddo, Wichita, and Pawnee are presently spoken in Oklahoma by small handfuls of elders. Caddo is a Caddoan language of the Southern Plains spoken by the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma. Wichita is a moribund Caddoan language spoken in Oklahoma. Only one fluent speaker remains and hence it is almost certain that Wichita will soon become The Pawnee language is a Caddoan language spoken by Pawnee Native Americans located in North central Oklahoma. Arikara is spoken on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. Arikara (also Sahnish Arikaree Ree refers to a group of Native Americans that speak a Caddoan language. The Fort Berthold Indian Reservation is a US Indian reservation in North Dakota that is home for the Three Affiliated Tribes which consists of the North Dakota ( is a state located in the Midwestern and Western regions of the United States of America. Some of the languages were formerly more widespread; the Caddo, for example, used to live in northeastern Texas, southwestern Arkansas, and northwestern Louisiana as well as southeastern Oklahoma. The Caddo are a nation or group of tribes of Southeastern Native Americans who in the 16th century inhabited much of what is now East Texas, western Texas ( is a state geographically located in the South Central United States and is also known as the Lone Star State. Arkansas ( is a state located in the southern region of the United States. The State of Louisiana ( or, État de Louisiane, pronounced) is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America The Pawnee formerly lived along the Platte River in what is now Nebraska. The Pawnee (also Paneassa, Pari, Pariki) are a Native American tribe that historically lived along the Platte, Loup and The Platte River is an approximately 310 mi (499 km long river in the Western United States. Nebraska ( is a state located on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States and
Adai, a language isolate known only from a 275-word list, may be a Caddoan language, but the documentation is too scanty to determine with certainty. A language isolate, in the absolute sense is a Natural language with no demonstrable genealogical (or "genetic" relationship with other living languages that is Wallace Chafe finds the relationship unlikely.
It has been proposed that Caddoan is related to Keresan or a part of a Macro-Siouan stock (along with Siouan and Iroquoian). Keresan (kəˈriːsən also Keres (/ˈkɛrəs/ is a group of seven related Lects spoken by Pueblo peoples in New Mexico, U The Macro-Siouan languages are a proposed Language family that would include the Siouan, Iroquoian, and Caddoan families The Siouan (aka Siouan proper, Western Siouan) languages are a Native American Language family of North America, and the The Iroquoian languages are a Native American Language family. The Keresan-Caddoan connection is now mostly rejected. Caddoan as part of Macro-Siouan is a possibility, but more research is required to determine the validity of this proposal.
Indiana University-Bloomington American Indian Studies Research Institute's Northern Caddoan Linguistic Text Corpora site: and Dictionary Database Search (includes Arikara, Skiri Pawnee, South Band Pawnee, Assiniboine [Nakoda], and Yanktonai Sioux [Dakota]): | <urn:uuid:207fbef0-34b6-4bcf-81ea-8f6380b3c566> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://citizendia.org/Caddoan_languages | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948746 | 1,057 | 3.40625 | 3 |
Theotokos "Donskaya" (Theophanes, 14th c.) - T80
Product #: T 80
Theophanes the Greek
14th c. (Late)
Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
Church Feast Day 1:
[Add to Wishlist]
This icon is a reproduction of the famous original icon of the Virgin “Donskaya” which is the Russian translation of “of the Don” (our icon T80). It is the tradition that this icon was brought by the Cossacks of the Don to Prince Dmitri Ivanovich before the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380 to help the Prince defeat the Tartars in that decisive battle that began to free the Russian land from Tartar subjugation and invasions. The famous iconographer Theophanes the Greek painted it at around that time. In 1591 victory in another important battle against the Tartars was credited to this icon.
Icons of the Virgin have played an important part in the history of Orthodox nations and there have been many times when, in the face of very unfavorable military odds by a threatening enemy, the people have gathered together before an icon of the Virgin to pray and ask her help to intercede before her son Jesus Christ to save and protect His people. In many cases these prayers have averted the disaster of a most surely impending defeat.
The icon is shown here as it was first painted, without its protective metal cover (riza in Greek or oklad in Russian). | <urn:uuid:2ddfe97d-915f-40d4-9379-e7add5b3858e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.skete.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/product.display/product_id/39/index.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952923 | 312 | 2.25 | 2 |