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|'Darkest of All' is a perennial flowering daisy, to 2 feet tall, clump-forming and erect with very leafy stems. Leaves are lance-shaped and grayish-green. Flowers have narrow, long, thread-like ray florets in semi-double form. Summer flowers are over 1 inch wide, with dark violet rays and yellow centers. They prefer sandy soil and should be cut back after flowering to prolong the flowering time. | <urn:uuid:53c5dd90-6165-4f46-ac8b-cb21307e269a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.backyardgardener.com/plantname/pda_1e0b-2.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939747 | 95 | 2.109375 | 2 |
We thus find that astronomy and astrophysics today requires a vast range of statistical capabilities. In statistical jargon, it helps for astronomers to know something about: sampling theory, survival analysis with censoring and truncation, measurement error models, multivariate classification and analysis, harmonic and autoregressive time series analysis, wavelet analysis, spatial point processes and continuous surfaces, density estimation, linear and non-linear regression, model selection, and bootstrap resampling. In some cases, astronomers need combinations of methodologies that have not yet been fully developed (Section 6 below).
Faced with such a complex of challenges, mechanical exposure to a wider variety of techniques is a necessary but not sufficient prerequisite for high-quality statistical analyses. Astronomers also need to be imbued with established principles of statistical inference; e.g., hypothesis testing and parameter estimation, nonparametric and parametric inference, Bayesian and frequentist approaches, and the assumptions underlying and applicability conditions for any given statistical method.
Unfortunately, we find that the majority of the thousands of astronomical studies requiring statistical analyses use a very limited set of classical methods. The most common tools used by astronomers are: Fourier transforms for temporal analysis (developed by Fourier in 1807), least squares regression and 2 goodness-of-fit (Legendre in 1805, Pearson in 1900, Fisher in 1924), the nonparametric Kolmogorov-Smirnov 1- and 2-sample nonparametric tests (Kolmogorov in 1933), and principal components analysis for multivariate tables (Hotelling in 1936).
Even traditional methods are often misused. Feigelson & Babu found that astronomers use interchangeably up to 6 different fits for bivariate linear least squares regression: ordinary least squares (OLS), inverse regression, orthogonal regression, major axis regression, the OLS mean, and the OLS bisector. Not only did this lead to confusion in comparing studies (e.g., in measuring the expansion of the Universe via Hubble's constant, Ho), but astronomers did not realize that the confidence intervals on the fitted parameters can not be correctly estimated with standard analytical formulae. Similarly, Protassov et al. found that the majority of astronomical applications of the F test, or more generally the likelihood ratio test, are inconsistent with asymptotic statistical theory.
But, while the average astronomical study is limited to often-improper usage of a limited repertoire of statistical methods, a significant tail of outliers are much more sophisticated. The maximization of likelihoods, often developed specially for the problem at hand, is perhaps the most common of these improvements. Bayesian approaches are also becoming increasingly in vogue.
In a number of cases, sometimes buried in technical appendices of observational papers, astronomers independently develop statistical methods. Some of these are rediscoveries of known procedures; for example, Avni et al. and others recovered elements of survival analysis for treatments of left-censored data arising from nondetections of known objects. Some are quite possibly mathematically incorrect; such as various revisions to 2 for Poissonian data that assume the resulting statistic still follows the 2 distribution. On rare occasions, truly new and correct methods have emerged; for example, astrophysicist Lynden-Bell discovered the maximum-likelihood estimator for a randomly truncated dataset, for which the theoretical validity was later established by statistician Woodroofe .
A growing group of astronomers, recognizing the potential for new liaisons with the accomplishments of modern statistics, have promoted astrostatistical innovation through cross-disciplinary meetings and collaborations. Fionn Murtagh, an applied mathematician at Queen's University (Belfast) with long experience in astronomy, and his colleagues have run conferences and authored many useful monographs (e.g., , , and ). We at Penn State have run a series of Statistical Challenges in Modern Astronomy meetings with both communities in attendance (e.g., and ). Alanna Connors has organized brief statistics sessions at large astronomy meetings, and we have organized brief astronomy sessions at large Joint Statistical meetings. We wrote a short volume called Astrostatistics intended to familiarize scholars in one discipline with relevant issues in the other discipline. Other series conferences are devoted to technical issues in astronomical data analysis but typically have limited participation by statisticians. These include the dozen Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems (e.g., ), several Erice workshops on Data Analysis in Astronomy (e.g., ), and the new SPIE Astronomical Data Analysis conferences (e.g., ).
Most importantly, several powerful astrostatistical research collaborations have emerged. At Harvard University and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, David van Dyk worked with scientists at the Chandra (3) X-ray Center on several issues, particularly Bayesian approaches to parametric modeling of spectra in light of complicated instrumental effects. At Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Computational Astrophysics group addressed several issues, such as developing powerful techniques for multivariate classification of extremely large datasets and applying nonparametric regression methods to cosmology. Both of these groups involved academics, researchers and graduate students from both fields working closely for several years to achieve a critical mass of cross-disciplinary capabilities.
Other astrostatistical collaborations must be mentioned. David Donoho (Statistics at Stanford University) works with Jeffrey Scargle (NASA Ames Research Center) and others on applying advanced wavelet methods to astronomical problems. James Berger (Statistics at Duke University) has worked with astronomers William Jefferys (University of Texas), Thomas Loredo (Cornell University), and Alanna Connors (Eureka Inc.) on Bayesian methodologies for astronomy. Bradley Efron (Statistics at Stanford University) has worked with astrophysicist Vehé Petrosian (also at Stanford) on survival methods for interpreting -ray bursts. Philip Stark (Statistics at University of California, Berkeley) has collaborated with solar physicists in the GONG program to improve analysis of oscillations of the Sun (helioseismology). More such collaborations exist in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere.
3 The Chandra X-ray Observatory is one of NASA's Great Observatories. It was launched in 1999 with a total budget around $2 billion. Back. | <urn:uuid:e732c1c5-1ca9-4c30-9e12-d979c61e2bf2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Sept03/Feigelson/Feigelson3.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909377 | 1,292 | 3.46875 | 3 |
“They sacrificed GEORGIA to save her soul” says the poster art for GEORGIA GEORGIA, a rare Maya Angelou-scripted racial drama finally out on DVD from Scorpion Releasing.
Black singer Georgia Martin (Diana Sands, A RAISIN IN THE SUN) is the most popular American singer in Europe. Arriving in Stockholm with her matronly companion Abigail Anderson (Minnie Gentry, THE BROTHER FROM ANOTHER PLANET) and her agent Herbert (Roger Furman), she surprises the foreign press in her lack of concern or awareness political and racial issues in the United States (she asks the interviewers to restrict their questions to “music, singing, love, and romance” as anything else bores her). In between performances, she finds times to fall in love with white American photojournalist Michael Winters (THE A TEAM’s Dirk Benedict), but Abigail would rather see her with Bobo (Terry Whitmore, Peter Watkins’ THE GLADIATORS), one of a handful of African-American Vietnam deserters in Stockholm who want Georgia to draw media attention to their plight (lack of work and access to medical and psychiatric care). Although frivolous and carefree on the outside, Georgia is really a neurotic wreck with an extremely fragmented sense of self; yet Michael seems to accept Georgia as she is (although he seems to be more capable of hiding his own deep neuroses behind his camera). When Bobo – who has had Georgia tailed around the city – tells Abigail that Georgia and Michael have been seen together, the older woman vehemently objects to what she sees as a betrayal of their entire race.
The New York Times described the film as being about “a black woman with white fever” but the interracial love story is more like the tipping point. Georgia isn’t a very involving protagonist for the first half of the film; her internal conflicts are signified onscreen more by the sparring of Abigail (who tells Bobo that Georgia has nearly “kicked the habit” of being black and that she tries to keep her on it) and Herbert (who regards Georgia as royalty and everyone else, black or white, as “little people”). “Black women have never been known to turn their backs on the responsibilities, not in history,” Abigail says when Georgia orders her to find something else to do while she is trying to work, but the old woman has firm ideas on what Georgia’s responsibilities are, including helping Bobo and the other defectors (especially after witnessing how direly in need one of them is of psychological help). When Georgia makes utters such trailer-ready lines like “Why do they wanna make me superhuman? Why can’t I be just plain Georgia?” or “I’m a woman, not black, not famous, not beholden to a living, just a woman!” one could interpret that as reflecting a side of Angelou in an earlier time still trying to find herself outside of the expectations others have of her as a famous black personage. When Herbert suggests Georgia sing a blues number to please the audience, she replies “Why don’t I just blacken my face and call myself Mammy” which greatly offends Abigail, who thinks of herself as a kind of motherly figure but not in the derogatory sense (Georgia tells Herbert that she keeps Abigail around as a reminder of what she escaped). Suggesting that the chilling finale is racially-motivated would almost seem like a justification, when it might be more appropriate to describe it as the tragic results of hate (one person dies, but all of the principal characters are destroyed even if we only see the direct results on two of them in the last scene).
Broadway actress Sands, who died of cancer in 1973 at age 39 a few days into the shoot of CLAUDINE (she was replaced by Diahann Carroll), has several fine moments in a never fully cohesive performance (understandable given the character’s almost schizophrenically changeable moods). Benedict – who gets an “and introducing” credit here – is underserved by a script that fails to balance out his side of the relationship (according to both director and actor in the disc’s commentary track, at least six of his scenes were cut out of the final producer-supervised edit). We are not given anything on Michael’s immediate background – including how he came to be in Stockholm – and what we are shown of him outside of his scenes with Georgia seem like unfinished trims of sequences (attending a park concert, visiting a nightclub, pacing around his apartment). We don’t know if he is a deserter too, but we know he saw combat and he is somehow psychologically or physically damaged (early in the film, Bobo jokes to his buddies that Michael’s experiences have rendered him impotent). Commentary moderator Steven Ryfle points out that Cinerama Releasing’s early press materials for the film made no mention of Sands’ character, only referencing a Vietnam Vet who falls in love in Stockholm (Ryfle also reveals that Cinerama was uncomfortable with the interracial aspect and wanted Michael’s character rewritten as a black man). GEORGIA GEORGIA was Gentry’s first film, but she had begun her acting career on the stage in the thirties with the Karamu Theater (an African-American theater company in Cleveland). Her performance here is unsubtle but ultimately unnerving. Furman began his career in the forties with the American Negro Theater (GEORGIA GEORGIA was one of only two films he in which he appeared). The gay characterization of Herbert is refreshingly free of "queeny" or self-loathing clichés of the period, and the script doesn’t reduce the complexity of his character to sexual frustration. Whitmore, a real-life GI who deserted Vietnam after being injured in a fire-fight, penned the book MEMPHIS-NAM-SWEDEN about his experiences, although I’m not sure how helpful the final cut may have been to his cause. Diana Kjaer – star of Mac Ahlberg’s FANNY HILL and Vernon P. Becker’s DAGMAR’S HOT PANTS – plays a local girl whose dalliance with Michael goes nowhere.
GEORGIA GEORGA was one of three productions by Irish-American Quentin Kelly and African-American Jack Jordan, whose company aimed to produce prestige black films. They had previously enlisted African-American directors Bill Gunn to script and helm the arty vampire film GANJA & HESS and Michael Schultz (SEARGEANT PEPPER’S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND and THE LAST DRAGON) to direct HONEYBABY, HONEYBABY, which also featured Sands along with Calvin Lockhart (THE BEAST MUST DIE). For GEORGIA GEORGIA, they commissioned writer/composer/dancer/actress/lecturer Maya Angelou to write a screenplay. Angelou had studied cinematography in Sweden – so she was familiar with the setting – but had little to do hands-on with the film’s production, which was helmed by Swedish film critic Stig Bjorkman (although Bjorkman mentions in the commentary that Angelou was on location and clashed with him on his preference for improvisation). He had only directed on feature prior to GEORGIA GEORGIA, and of the six subsequent films he directed between 1972 and 1985, only THE WHITE WALL (with Bergman actress Harriet Andersson) seems to be the only other one that had any sort of US distribution. Bjorkman’s later efforts have been documentaries on filmmakers, including TRANCEFORMER on Lars Van Trier (featured in its entirety on Criterion’s DVD of THE ELEMENT OF CRIME), I AM CURIOUS, FILM on Vigot Sjoman, and …BUT FILM IS MY MISTRESS on Ingmar Bergman. He has also written the Faber & Faber books on Woody Allen and Lars Van Trier, as well as a Michelangelo Antonioni book for Cahiers du Cinema.
GEORGIA GEORGIA was originally released on VHS in the states by Prism Entertainment (whose catalog included a range of Cinerama Releasing product) with box art that emphasized Benedict’s presence (as the star of BATTLESTAR GALLACTICA). Opening with a Cinerama Releasing logo, Scorpion’s single-layer, progressive, anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) transfer of GEORGIA GEORGIA is attractive though appropriately soft and grainy for Swedish Super 16mm low budget seventies production (cinematographer Rune Ericson – developer of the format – is credited as technical consultant). Some scratches and dings are apparent, but the bulk of the presentation is very clean. Colors are somewhat muted, but that is more by design than the condition of the element (Sands’ red outfits – and her fingernails – really pop in every shot, and the red-gelled nightclub scenes seem otherworldly in contrast with the bright exteriors and the stark whiteness of Georgia’s hotel suite). The film was photographed by Greek cinematographer Andreas Bellis who shot a number of Scandinavian exploitation films including I, A WOMAN PART II, THE SECOND COMING OF EVA, and THRILLER (he would also star in Bo Arne Vibenius’ hardcore BREAKING POINT). From the eighties onward, Bellis would become Nico Mastorakis’ DP of choice. Some long shots look like they would be better framed at the 1.66:1 aspect ratio, but the film would have been matted further to 1.85:1 for US theatrical projection. The Dolby Digital mono track is also in clean, although the most of the music seems rather recessed into the mix; that is, until Georgia performs “I Can Call Down Rain” and the music takes on a bolder presence (the same can be said for the end titles rendition of “This Little Light of Mine” which makes it even more disturbing in context).
Director Stig Bjorkman and actor Dirk Benedict appear on a commentary track, moderated by film critic Steven Ryfle. Benedict and Bjorkman point out missing scenes and footage present that Bjorkman left out of his final cut. Bjorkman was more interested in the love story, and wanted to balance both sides with some background for Benedict’s character. The producers (and Angelou) wanted to emphasize the political angle and integrated every scrap of related footage back into the film, which was re-edited by Hugh Robertson – credited as “editorial consultant” – the first African American editor nominated for an Oscar (original editor Sten-Göran Camitz is listed in the end credits). Benedict feels that his character was underwritten and that the political angle was over-emphasized for a film about an apolitical black woman abruptly falling in love with a white guy in Stockholm. A well-researched Ryfle keeps the discussion flowing with questions that focus more on the film’s themes than shooting anecdotes (although Benedict and Bjorkman are scandalously candid about their working relationship with Sands). A behind the scenes photo gallery is also included, which is all the more interesting because the stills provided by actor Benedict. The only trailer that Scorpion could find for the film was a Spanish or Mexican trailer (2:37) – titled PRISIONERA DE SU DESTINO – with English dialogue subtitled in Spanish and Spanish narration and onscreen text. No other Scorpion Releasing trailers are included. (Eric Cotenas)
BACK TO REVIEWS | <urn:uuid:795c3b15-d2b9-4aa2-b098-42a0b04abfaa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dvddrive-in.com/reviews/e-h/georgiageorgia72.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963085 | 2,502 | 1.65625 | 2 |
As the community of Newtown, Connecticut struggles to cope after the deadly shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, organizations have begun the process of setting up ways to help, both through donations and support.
- The Sandy Hook School Support Fund has been set up by the United Way of Western Connecticut. The fund will provide support services to families and the community. All donations to this fund will go directly to those affected.
- The American Red Cross has also been on the ground, offering food and water to first responders and providing more than 50 units of blood to Danbury Hospital where some of the victims were transported. They have set up a center for emergency grief counseling.
- The nonprofit mental health clinic Newtown Youth and Family Services is providing counseling for families, community members and school staff.
- The Newtown Parent Connection has also pledged to try and bring in extra counselors to help parents cope.
- Save The Children has opened a "child friendly space" in Newtown to give kids a place to play and express themselves while parents seek support or counseling. The organization has also released 10 tips for parents wondering how to help their children deal with their feelings about such a traumatic event.
- A number of other organizations, such as the National Association of School Psychologists and the American Academy of Pediatrics, have released recommendations for parents and teachers as to how to support children if they want to talk about what happened.
- The Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection says anyone wishing to volunteer should call 211 or (800) 203-1234.
For more information on how you can help the Newtown community and all those affected by the shooting, visit Impact Your World. | <urn:uuid:5b24695b-2f9c-4857-a575-0c199d059973> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hlntv.com/article/2012/12/15/how-help-sandy-hook-connecticut-school-shooting-victims?hpt=hln10_1 | 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 | 0.960487 | 334 | 2.28125 | 2 |
Clarinet Quintet : Work information
- Carl Maria (Friedrich Ernst) von Weber ( Music, Images,)
- Performed by
- Marcia Crayford (Violin), Christopher van Kampen (Cello), Antony Pay (Clarinet), Rosemary Furniss (Violin), Roger Chase (Viola)
- Work name
- Clarinet Quintet
- Work number
- Op. 34 / J. 182
- B flat
- 1815-01-01 02:00:00
- Simon Lawman
- Bob Auger
- Recording date
Carl Maria (Friedrich Ernst) von Weber
Despite the decline of his reputation over the last hundred years, German composer Carl Maria von Weber can be said to be one of the most influential composers of the nineteenth century. Through his operas Euryanthe, Oberon and particularly Der Freischütz, he established himself as the leading German operatic composer of the 1820s and influenced composers such as Mendelssohn, Wagner, Berlioz, Liszt and Meyerbeer.
The son of a court musician turned travelling theatre company director, Weber was born in 1786. Having shown promise in his early musical education, his father hoped for a prodigy of the talent of Mozart, and ensured he received a comprehensive musical training in Salzburg and Munich.
After composing early operas and a mass, Weber moved to Vienna where he continued his training with Vogler, also meeting Salieri, Haydn and Hummel. After a conducting appointment in Breslau, he gained a position in Stuttgart as Geheimer Sekretär to Duke Ludwig Friedrich Alexander, but was forced to leave in 1810 when prosecuted for embezzlement.
Moving to Darmstadt to continue his studies with Vogler, he was able to sell some of his works to publishers and founded a secret society of literary musicians, the Harmonischer Verein, that would promote each other's works through music criticism and reviews.
In 1813, after a few years of self-promoting travel, the Estates Theatre offered him a position in Prague as Musikdirektor, though the heavy work-load and frequent bouts of ill-health made composition difficult. He became involved in several stormy relationships and eventually married the singer Caroline Brandt in 1817.
With his new wife, Weber moved to Dresden as Kapellmeister to create a new German-language opera. Unfortunately the singers available to him were somewhat disappointing and Weber engaged in long standing arguments with the supporters of Italian opera who, he thought, were trying to discredit him. However, he did meet the poet Friedrich Kind, provider of the libretto for Weber's greatest work, the opera Der Freischütz.
The huge international success of Der Freischütz prompted a flood of job offers and, most importantly, a commission from Vienna's Kärntnertortheater for a new opera. This became Euryanthe, first performed in 1823 to a mixed reception in Vienna, but produced with great success in Dresden.
Although Weber's profile was at its height during these years, his compositional output dropped markedly after 1821, and there was an almost total cessation of literary activities from 1820. It seems the composer could generate no new enthusiasm for composition; only one small work was written between autumn 1823 and January 1825. In the meantime the ailing composer, still suffering from ill-health, continued to conduct.
Charles Kemble's commission of two new operas for Covent Garden rekindled Weber's enthusiasm and he began work on Oberon, travelling to London in 1826 for its first run. It was a great success but Weber was fading fast and finally succumbed to tuberculosis on 5 June 1826. He was buried in London to the strains of Mozart's Requiem but was exhumed and returned to Dresden in 1844 through the efforts of Wagner.
Although Weber is often characterised as the exponent of early Romanticism in music, many of his works contradict the ideas espoused by Hoffmann in his writings on opera. However, his opera overtures laid the foundation for the concert overtures and symphonic poems of the mid-nineteenth century, and many of Wagner's early works owe something to Weber. Neither is his considerable influence confined to the nineteenth century: Debussy and Stravinsky both recognised and acknowledged his contribution to music.
Carl Maria von Weber's sole Clarinet Quintet was written for the virtuoso Heinrich Joseph Baermann, a member of the Court Orchestra in Munich, and the performer for whom the composer also wrote his two Clarinet Concertos.
Work began on the 14 September 1811 at Jegisdorf in Switzerland and Weber was able to present Baermann, who he once described as 'a splendid man and a truly great artist', with the first three movements as a birthday present on 13 April 1815. The Rondo was finally finished on 25 August and Baermann gave the first performance the following day.
Unlike the more intimate Quintets by Mozart and Brahms, Weber's work gives the clarinet an almost concerto-like prominence with the strings taking a more accompanimental role. As a result, there's plenty of opportunity for virtuosic fireworks from the clarinet, especially in the closing pages of the Rondo.
The Menuetto, in particular, is great fun with a scampering clarinet part and interesting rhythmic syncopations. The Rondo finale contains many attractive melodies and its carefree sense of good humour is remarkably infectious. | <urn:uuid:2aefc542-9b5d-433f-a4bb-a388540ec219> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.classical.com/work/2147486536 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966995 | 1,168 | 2.015625 | 2 |
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It's called machinima - a contraction of machine and cinema - and it's the newest and cheapest thing in film-making.
So cheap, it seems, that one Sydneysider is producing a full-length animated feature film with a budget of absolutely zero.
The new form was made possible by computer game manufacturers, which began releasing some of their codes to enable players to customise characters and backgrounds.
A new breed of budget film-makers discovered you could borrow these codes to produce original stories. In 1999 the term machinima was coined.
For his feature film-in-progress, Peter Rasmussen - a scriptwriter from Baulkham Hills - is using a mid-range home computer and a commercial game creation software package.
He has put about 10 months' work into the film so far, with eight more to go, but acknowledges that the final product will be rough around the edges.
"Yes, it is raw," he says, "but I like to compare it a bit to South Park. The elements are very simple, but if you've got an engaging story you forget how simple the medium is."
The thing that has would-be film-makers so excited is that you can get from script to finished product with no interference from financiers, hissy fits from actors or a bill for even a single metre of film. And many are confident advances in games technology will soon bring to the genre the animation quality of big-studio hits such as Shrek.
Machinima uses a three-dimensional games environment. Once a film-maker has built "sets" and created characters, the action can be manipulated by keyboard and mouse, as if playing a game.
"It's like having a little studio with puppets in it," says Rasmussen. "What you are watching is something rendered in real time."
The first machinima festival will be held in Texas this month, organised by the small but grandly named Academy of Machinima Arts and Sciences.
The executive director, Paul Marino, says there are 15 to 20 teams around the world focused on developing machinima, including some professional studios.
"It's only a matter of time before the majority of animation developed is machinima," he says. "What animation houses are striving for is lower rendering time and this is a much, much quicker way of doing things.
"And because the thing is all live in the game engine you can change camera angles afterward. You can even manipulate the characters after the fact."
Rasmussen's first complete machinima film, Rendezvous, is among 30 festival entries. A tale of two space probes which fall in love, it is just five minutes long but took eight months to produce, partly because its maker was learning as he went. The new film, Killer Robot, has a much slicker look.
"The reason I've chosen robots is because nobody knows what they are supposed to look like," says Rasmussen. "If you do eyes, nose and mouth and lip-syncing, people only notice it when it's not working."
Some of the more adventurous machinima makers use human characters well, but quality is highly variable. In the share and share alike world of machinima, many "puppets" can be downloaded from the Internet to use in your own films.
The films themselves can also be downloaded, or seen at fringe film festivals, but Rasmussen believes Killer Robot and other machinima films will eventually make it to television.
"In the meantime, it is a way to show what you can do and to attract attention."
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Copyright © 2002. The Sydney Morning Herald.
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There are about 40 recognized breeds of cats, which account for only four percent of the cat population. The rest are mixed-breed. If you're planning on entering your cat in shows or other competitions, expect to pay several hundred dollars for a purebred. If you just want love and companionship, a mixed breed may be a good choice. Millions of cats are put to sleep each year because there's no one to adopt them. Kittens are adorable, of course, but take a lot more time and energy to train. Consider adopting an adult cat, whose personality has already been established. They generally adapt easily to a new owner. An animal shelter should be the first place to look. You can find a pet there for a reasonable cost, and save it from death in the process. Individuals with too many kittens will often advertise them for free. Just remember that there's no such thing as a free cat. Food, litter, toys, and vaccinations will cost you over a hundred dollars a year. In choosing a cat, spend a few minutes getting to know each other. Cats have definite personalities, and you want one that fits you. After all, the two of you could be spending the next fifteen years together.
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Open Directory and Active Directory, Part 3by Michael Bartosh
Editor's Note: In this third and final part of Michael Bartosh's series on Mac OS X's Directory Services architecture, he looks at data. If you haven't read part one and two yet, you should probably take a look before reading this final installment. Michael will be a speaker at the O'Reilly Mac OS X Conference in a session called "Mac OS X and Active Directory: A Study in Directory Integration". If you haven't registered for this event yet, this article will give you a good idea of the quality content that will be presented there.
Once Mac OS X has access to a directory like LDAP, it needs to find certain data in order to recognize users, groups, and any other data you've decided to use. One very fundamental issue is that Active Directory doesn't contain by default some of the user data Mac OS X expects to find in user, group and host records. Mac OS X makes use of directory data by mapping directory attributes to Apple's Directory Service data types.
In general there are several strategies for directory data integration. We'll examine some here.
Using Common Data. When attributes in the directory closely match in purpose and data content the attributes required by Mac OS X, they can be reused. This is the whole purpose behind a directory service. Certain data is common to the operation of various applications. Examples include authentication data, usernames, email address, telephone number, etc.
Static Mapping When data may be identical among all users on a particular machine, it can be statically mapped to a particular value. This means that the directory will not be consulted for this particular attribute. A good example is PrimaryGroupID (which corresponds to RFC 2307's gidNumber and NetInfo's gid). The default value for this attribute on all Mac OS Users is 20, which corresponds to the staff group. Unless your organization has some other gid management strategy, there is no reason to query the directory for this data. A "#" is prepended to static values in the Directory Access application in order to instruct DirectoryService to use that value rather than querying the directory.
The sttatic mapping with variables approach allows you to statically
specify most of a variable's value but
to take a portion of it from the directory. For instance,
#/Network/Servers/ace2/HOMES/$sAMAccountName$ would, for
the user shiner, become
/Network/Servers/ace2/HOMES/shiner. The implications of
this are powerful, virtually freeing you from directory schema
modifications. Unfortunately this functionality isn't currently a part
of Apple's shipping plugin. Instead, it's included in a modified
version of Apple's plugin available here. The plugin is
distributed in source form and building it is quite laborious. I've
published some instructions here.
Session by Michael Bartosh:
Participants in this session will be exposed to Mac OS X's directory services infrastructure in depth, and will learn to leverage its capabilities to maximize end user satisfaction while minimizing impact on enterprise systems. While Active Directory is the primary example, these strategies are applicable to almost any directory service.
O'Reilly Mac OS X Conference
The upside to this approach is obvious, namely, extra support for clientside functionality without data or schema additions to the directory. The downside, though, is that maintaining the software between releases (relying on a patched version of the plugin or having to patch it yourself) can be a maintenance headache and isn't supported by Apple.
Repurposing Unused Attributes AD ships with several hundred attributes, many of which are typically unused. When an unused (empty) attribute matches the equality characteristics of a Mac OS X attribute, it can often be used to hold the data that Mac OS X needs. This is not a ideal solution, since it might become necessary to use that attribute for its intended purpose at some point in time. It is often better than schema extension.
Repurposing Attributes In Use. When attributes in the
match closely the content required by Mac OS X, but do not serve the
same purpose of the Mac OS X attribute, they might be reusable. An
uSNCreated, which closely matches in value the
data required for UniqueID. Using attributes that meet value
requirements but support different functions is a risky proposition
due to a certain level of uncertainty surrounding maintenance of the
value. In specific,
uSNCreated should only be used if
either there is only one domain controller or if users are always
created on the same domain controller.
In general, re-purposing attributes in this way requires an in depth knowledge of the directory, and an understanding of the values that will be stored in the directory natively.
Schema Extension Another option for directory integration is schema extension, in which you extend the structure of AD to support the data types that Mac OS X needs. Schema changes to AD can't be undone in Windows 2000 Server, so this is a step that might have unforeseen consequences. We can also differentiate between supported and unsupported schema additions. Several Microsoft products--for example, Exchange and Services for Unix--modify Active Directory schema. Because these products are supported by Microsoft, their additions are generally well tolerated by AD administrators. In fact, the latter (Services for Unix 3.0) can be of great use during the process of directory service integration. Designed to help Windows administrators provide services to Unix hosts, the SFU package adds several types of data that most Unix operating systems (and hence Mac OS X) need. These attribute names are all prepended with msSFU30. We'll talk about several in depth later.
Unsupported schema modifications, though, are a very unpopular choice for enterprise directory administrators. In our experience it's very rare to find a deployment where such modification is not frowned upon. Additionally, it's common that an organization has policy against schema modification, or that schema modification is tied to a long and tedious committee review process. By far the most common circumstance is that the group managing Mac clients is not the same group that manages the enterprise directory, and the directory management group has little reason to placate the desktop IT group. These issues are not at all specific to Active Directory. Enterprise directories are mission critical parts of infrastructure and should be managed conservatively.
In general, if you plan to modify your schema outside the context of a Microsoft product, it's best to obtain an enterprise number for your organization and make these schema extensions in your own oid space. Discussions of oids and enterprise numbers in depth are beyond the scope of this document, but can be found here (this above refers to openldap but the information on the oid namespace applies to AD as well). You can apply for an oid space here.
Apple shows promise of providing a stable, supported oid space for
attributes. Preliminary work can be found on every Mac OS X host at:
/etc/openldap/schema/apple.schema. However, this schema
should not be used with Active Directory, because it is not yet
stable. Note the top lines of this file:
[ace2:/etc/openldap/schema] nadmin% head apple.schema #ident $Id: apple.schema,v 126.96.36.199 2002/10/03 00:12:44 jtownsen Exp $ # # Preliminary Apple OS X Native LDAP Schema # This file is subject to change. #
Indeed, in the upgrade from 10.2.3 to 10.2.4, the apple-mcxsettings attribute was modified. This wasn't catastrophic by any means, but due to this dynamic nature, we are avoiding Apple's oid space at the moment. Gordon Schukwit, a field sales engineer at Apple, has published a number of scripts and tools for adding Apple's schema to Active Directory here. They are nicely done; once apple.schema has been declared stable, this will be a much more seamless process than creation of your own oid space and attributes.
If schema modification does occur, it should be heavily tested and carried out in a programmatic and systematic manner rather than manually. You should already have a test forest that mimics your deployed configuration. Schema addition procedures should be published, reviewed and tested by independent groups prior to deployment.
The most important attributes for user authentication are the following.
RecordName: attribute used for authentication (legal characters are ASCII "A-Z", "a-z", "0-9", "_" and "-".) May have multiple values and values other than the first may contain UTF-8 Roman text. Max 16 values. In general, this maps to AD's sAMAcountName without any modification, but msSFU30Name is also a suitable match. Additionally, some sites will also map one of RecordName's subsequent values to userPrincipalName, allowing users to log in with the firstname.lastname@example.org form. This is a strictly required attribute.
UniqueID: Unsigned 32-bit ASCII string of digits 0-9. Range is 100-2147483648. UniqueID is a numerical identifier Unix OS's use to keep track of users and of the files they own. Its presence is strictly required, but this requirement can be met in a number of ways.
- uSNCreated: uSNCreated is a standard Microsoft AD attribute which
records the Update Sequence Number--a part of the AD replication
process--associated with the user's creation. This value in
general maps well to the data requirements of UniqueID; that is,
it's unique, and it will usually be less than 2147483648. Several
sites have deployed this mapping without issue and this Apple
documentation recommends it. However there are potential caveats:
- different domain controllers keep different sequence numbers. So it's possible there might be a value collision at some point in a multimaster environment. This collision can be avoided, however, if all users are created on the same DC.
- Using attributes that meet value requirements but support different functions is a risky proposition due to a certain level of uncertainty surrounding maintenance of the value.
- msSFU30UidNumber: Microsoft provides an attribute as a part of its Services for Unix schema that specifically fulfills the requirements of UniqueID. This is a good solution using supported schema extensions for situation when unique, consistent UniqueID's are required.
- static: In some cases, UniqueID might be statically mapped, meaning
that all users receive the same value. In 10.2.5 a bug exists
where statically mapped UniqueID's may not log in. The work around
for this (which is unsupported and frowned upon by Apple) is to
/System/Library/LoginPlugins/MCX.loginplugin. This actually solves a number of problems with loginwindow crashing mysteriously but disables Mac OS X's managed client capabilities. Apple neither supports nor recommends mapping UniqueID to a static value.
Password: Password expects a DES crypt'd value, which doesn't usually exist in Active Directory. Thus it should be mapped to a blank value (this is the default state of Apple's Active Directory mapping). Unless the user has already authenticated via some other method (usually kerberos) this should result in an LDAP Bind during login. That LDAP bind is used solely to authenticate the user: no directory data is queried during that connection.
We must reiterate the security implications of using LDAP Bind. You should seriously consider using SSL if you're not using Kerberos. Keep in mind if you're using kerberos this should alleviate the need for bind authentication, resulting in a secure login. However, in 10.2-10.2.5, the only way to really prevent LDAP binds is to map authenticationAuthority to some directory attribute, which will also prevent automounted network home directories from working. Luckily, if you've deployed 10.2.6, you can install Apple Security Update (6-9-03), which alleviates this behavior.
PrimaryGroupID: Unsigned 32-bit ASCII string of digits 0-9. Range is 100-2147483648. PrimaryGroupID is a numerical value that associates a user with its primary group. This attribute is not strictly required; group file and folder associations are generally inherited from the group association of the enclosing folder in Mac OS X. The default primary group in Mac OS X is 20. Unless your organization has some well-defined primary group strategy, this should be a static map to #20. Quite often we see the recommendation that PrimaryGroupID should be mapped to AD's PrimaryGroupID. This will have two results. It will increase network traffic (however slight), and it might result in delays on the rare instances lookupd does a groupWithNumber query. PrimaryGroupID may also be mapped to msSFU30GidNumber in a SFU installation.
HomeDirectory: Structured UTF-8 text. This is an XML formatted value that points to a user's home directory location. This data is not strictly required for user authentication but is required in order to use AFP or SMB home directories. It is functionally equivalent to the Windows HomeDirectory UNC value, though it is formatted very differently and the two are not interchangeable. HomeDirectory can probably refer to a number of protocols, but we've only tested AFP and SMB. Apple only supports AFP (although SMB home directories work with some caveats, and NFS home directories do not require this data). The data looks something like this:
This data is not at all native to AD. If you're using the same home directory for Mac and Windows clients over SMB you can derive the required values from the UNC HomeDirectory in AD as a part of the user creation process.
Pages: 1, 2 | <urn:uuid:fb90d151-bbd7-4e79-a26f-43c8c6866048> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/mac/2003/08/26/active_directory.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.901623 | 2,881 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Freezing Rain Causes Several Car AccidentsFriday morning in the grand forks area, roads were so icy that that the Highway Patrol issued a no-travel advisory for I-29 from Grand Forks north to Canada.
With the warm up- comes the cool down at night and in the early morning hours.
What has melted freezes- making travel difficult.
This morning in the grand forks area, roads were so icy that that the Highway Patrol issued a no-travel advisory for I-29 from Grand Forks north to Canada.
There were more than 15 accidents this morning, including 4 rollovers and 12 people sliding into ditches.
Troopers say there were no injuries.
When temperatures hover around freezing, ice can form on roads, making them very slick. And any precipitation turns to freezing rain.
"If it rains it's going to freeze right away and that's what happened this morning. It froze to the roadway, froze to the vehicles, everything. It was quite think to the point where immediately salt and sand being placed on it didn't work." Sargeant Aaron Hummel said.
Right now the temperature is 36-degrees in the grand forks area.
We aren't expected to get any more freezing rain tonight so that should help keep ice off of roads. | <urn:uuid:b29028ac-26bf-44b4-b3aa-172a7fcc5eae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wdaz.com/event/article/id/6220/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971605 | 264 | 2.0625 | 2 |
Blood stains and bullet holes mark the place where armed Palestinian terrorists killed 11 Israel Olympic team members, after keeping them hostage for almost 18 hours. Munich, Sep. 7, 1972.
"Living in the Era of Megaterror"
Op-Ed, International Herald Tribune
September 7, 2012
Author: Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government, Harvard Kennedy School
Forty years ago this week at the Munich Olympics of 1972, Palestinian terrorists conducted one of the most dramatic terrorist attacks of the 20th century. The kidnapping and massacre of 11 Israeli athletes attracted days of around-the-clock global news coverage of Black September’s anti-Israel message. Three decades later, on 9/11, Al Qaeda killed nearly 3,000 individuals at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, announcing a new era of megaterror. In an act that killed more people than Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, a band of terrorists headquartered in ungoverned Afghanistan demonstrated that individuals and small groups can kill on a scale previously the exclusive preserve of states.
Today, how many people can a small group of terrorists kill in a single blow? Had Bruce Ivins, the U.S. government microbiologist responsible for the 2001 anthrax attacks, distributed his deadly agent with sprayers he could have purchased off the shelf, tens of thousands of Americans would have died. Had the 2001 “Dragonfire” report that Al Qaeda had a small nuclear weapon (from the former Soviet arsenal) in New York City proved correct, and not a false alarm, detonation of that bomb in Times Square could have incinerated a half million Americans.
In this electoral season, President Obama is claiming credit, rightly, for actions he and U.S. Special Forces took in killing Osama bin Laden. Similarly, at last week’s Republican convention in Tampa, Jeb Bush praised his brother for making the United States safer after 9/11. There can be no doubt that the thousands of actions taken at federal, state and local levels have made people safer from terrorist attacks.
Many are therefore attracted to the chorus of officials and experts claiming that the “strategic defeat” of Al Qaeda means the end of this chapter of history. But we should remember a deeper and more profound truth. While applauding actions that have made us safer from future terrorist attacks, we must recognize that they have not reversed an inescapable reality: The relentless advance of science and technology is making it possible for smaller and smaller groups to kill larger and larger numbers of people.
If a Qaeda affiliate, or some terrorist group in Pakistan whose name readers have never heard, acquires highly enriched uranium or plutonium made by a state, they can construct an elementary nuclear bomb capable of killing hundreds of thousands of people. At biotech labs across the United States and around the world, research scientists making medicines that advance human well-being are also capable of making pathogens, like anthrax, that can produce massive casualties.
What to do? Sherlock Holmes examined crime scenes using a method he called M.M.O.: motive, means and opportunity. In a society where citizens gather in unprotected movie theaters, churches, shopping centers and stadiums, opportunities for attack abound. Free societies are inherently “target rich.”
Motive to commit such atrocities poses a more difficult challenge. In all societies, a percentage of the population will be homicidal. No one can examine the mounting number of cases of mass murder in schools, movie theaters and elsewhere without worrying about a society’s mental health. Additionally, actions we take abroad unquestionably impact others’ motivation to attack us.
As Faisal Shahzad, the 2010 would-be “Times Square bomber,” testified at his trial: “Until the hour the U.S. ... stops the occupation of Muslim lands, and stops killing the Muslims ... we will be attacking U.S., and I plead guilty to that.”
Fortunately, it is more difficult for a terrorist to acquire the “means” to cause mass casualties. Producing highly enriched uranium or plutonium requires expensive industrial-scale investments that only states will make. If all fissile material can be secured to a gold standard beyond the reach of thieves or terrorists, aspirations to become the world’s first nuclear terrorist can be thwarted.
Capabilities for producing bioterrorist agents are not so easily secured or policed. While more has been done, and much more could be done to further raise the technological barrier, as knowledge advances and technological capabilities to make pathogens become more accessible, the means for bioterrorism will come within the reach of terrorists.
One of the hardest truths about modern life is that the same advances in science and technology that enrich our lives also empower potential killers to achieve their deadliest ambitions. To imagine that we can escape this reality and return to a world in which we are invulnerable to future 9/11s or worse is an illusion. For as far as the eye can see, we will live in an era of megaterror.
Graham Allison is director of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.
For more information about this publication please contact the Belfer Center Communications Office at 617-495-9858.
For Academic Citation: | <urn:uuid:b0105c8f-3f62-44b9-9909-06982146b8a2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/22302/living_in_the_era_of_megaterror.html?breadcrumb=%2Fexperts%2F892%2Fgregory_aftandilian%3Fback_url%3D%252Fabout%252Fpeople-alumni%253Fgroupby%253D1%2526page%253D1%26back_text%3DBack | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937918 | 1,096 | 2.34375 | 2 |
HUNT VALLEY, Md. — Taking a close look at a company’s data and using it in creative ways will likely elevate opportunities to tap into new sources for sales, according to Tom Loveland, founder and CEO of information systems firm Mind Over Machines.
Speaking at the May Knowledge Session hosted by the Baltimore/Washington chapter of Sales & Marketing Executives International, Loveland provided case study examples of how companies strategically “mined” data in search of information that illuminated a path toward their business goals and leading to profits that otherwise might have been overlooked. Data mining can range from intense analytics and repackaging or mashing data, to simply sifting through company email exchanges to identify contacts with prospective customers. A sampling of take-aways from Loveland’s presentation included:
- A key to success in business intelligence and data mining is a cooperative relationship between the marketing and IT departments. Each needs a common understanding on business drivers and, in most cases, these relationships depend on executive management leading the way by recognizing the opportunities and fostering communication, innovation and creativity.
- Both IT and marketing must know the business, and each must reach beyond the bounds of their typical functions. IT should step into the role of solving business problems with people and for people, while marketing should know how to use the data to benefit sales, create richer stories that lead to sales conversations, and also use the data to help focus and drive the creative process.
- Companies must set themselves up for success by positioning themselves to be in the business of collecting data and train their teams to look at their data in different ways. If you are ever faced with a situation that makes you think “there must be a better way,” then treat that as a flag that there may be an opportunity to turn your data into an actionable opportunity, Loveland said. | <urn:uuid:9e234ca6-4b22-4e66-bfd0-b3e5c8338bc9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.smei.org/2012/05/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952543 | 379 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
the same came unto him by night, and said to him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that thou doest, except God be with him.
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God!
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born anew.
The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?
Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou the teacher of Israel, and understandest not these things?
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that which we know, and bear witness of that which we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.
If I told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things?
And no one hath ascended into heaven, but he that descended out of heaven, [even] the Son of man, who is in heaven.
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up;
that whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.
For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him.
He that believeth on him is not judged: he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God.
And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.
For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, lest his works should be reproved.
But he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, that they have been wrought in God.
After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized.
And John also was baptizing in Enon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized.
For John was not yet cast into prison.
There arose therefore a questioning on the part of John's disciples with a Jew about purifying.
And they came unto John, and said to him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond the Jordan, to whom thou hast borne witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him.
John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it have been given him from heaven.
Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but, that I am sent before him.
He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, that standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is made full.
He must increase, but I must decrease.
He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is of the earth, and of the earth he speaketh: he that cometh from heaven is above all.
What he hath seen and heard, of that he beareth witness; and no man receiveth his witness.
He that hath received his witness hath set his seal to [this], that God is true.
For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for he giveth not the Spirit by measure.
The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.
He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life; but he that obeyeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. | <urn:uuid:29dcf907-b61d-41aa-8125-7e22ff05f8f8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.speedbibleverse.com/asv/B43C003.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976963 | 1,005 | 1.929688 | 2 |
Mobile network technology for smarter cars
February 22, 2011
As you are about to drive into an intersection, a piercing alarm and a flashing red warning light cause you to hit the brakes hard. You narrowly avoid a serious collision with a car running a red light.
Today, a relatively few cars equipped with expensive radar- and camera-based collision-avoidance systems could give you this warning. But if a coalition of automakers backed by the U.S. Department of Transportation has its way, much cheaper warning systems would be installed in all new cars before the end of the decade. The key is replacing expensive sensors with cheap and ubiquitous global positioning system (GPS) and Wi-Fi wireless technology.
Cars are full of electronic sensors and computers that monitor all phases of vehicle operation. GPS, already present in cars with built-in navigation systems and inexpensive to add to others, can provide data on precise location, acceleration, speed, and direction. Wi-Fi provides an easy way to broadcast the data so other cars in the vicinity can use the information.
A car equipped with the system broadcasts data 10 times per second using a WiFi variant known as dedicated short-range communications. Other cars in the vicinity pick up the broadcasts and feed the data to onboard computers, which use the information to calculate the relative position of other cars and figure out which pose potential hazards.
"We use low-cost automotive GPS," says Joseph Stinnett, a research engineer with Ford Motor Active Safety, who demonstrated the system in a mostly empty parking lot at Washington's Robert F. Kennedy Stadium. "Since we are just locating two vehicles relative to each other, the GPS positioning is quite good. If we wanted to position the vehicle on a map of the earth, we would have three to five meters of error. But positioning relative to another vehicle, it's actually sub-one meter." That's good enough for the critical task of resolving which car is in what lane.
In the real world, it will take some sophisticated software to make the system work effectively. On a crowded highway, a car might be receiving signals from dozens of vehicles within Wi-Fi range at any time. The software has to filter out information from irrelevant carsfor example, those heading in the other direction on a divided highwayto focus on those that pose a potential threat. With 1,000 or more signals arriving every second, that takes a fair amount of processing power. Fortunately, processing, like GPS and Wi-Fi, has gotten very cheap.
Meanwhile, high prices continue to pose a major barrier to adoption of existing systems, effectively limiting their use to high-end cars. For example, a relatively limited radar-based blind-spot monitoring system is part of a package that adds more than $3,000 to the price of a Ford Taurus.
Of course, existing systems have one huge advantage: their radar and computer vision sensors don't depend on other vehicles being similarly equipped to do their job. But the GPS plus Wi-Fi approach only works if all nearby vehicles are broadcasting data. A car in your blind spot that isn't sending out position information is as invisible to your computer as it is in your mirrors. That's why the members of the third-generation Vehicle Safety Communications Consortium--Ford, General Motors, Daimler, Volkswagen Audi. Kia Hyundai, Toyota, Nissan, and Hondaare working with DoT and theNational Highway Traffic Safety Administration toward requiring installation of the systems once they become cheap and reliable enough.
Widespread use of the system could provide additional benefits. Existing systems for monitoring traffic flow mostly rely on loop sensors embedded in the pavement. They are expensive to install and maintain, generally limiting their useand the availability of real-time traffic reports--to a few major roads. Monitoring the Wi-Fi broadcasts of passing cars, though it would raise some privacy issues that must be addressed, could provide much more extensive data at much lower cost. | <urn:uuid:806cc16b-793d-4a7f-b5de-c393eb742fdf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://newsroom.cisco.com/feature-content?type=webcontent&articleId=5924700 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947808 | 800 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Arequipa is one of Peru's most attractive cities with its fine whitewashed colonial buildings, pretty squares and a skyline dominated by three volcanoes: El Misti, Chachani and Pichu Picchu. This pretty city known as 'La Cuidad Blanca' or white city is a great place to stay before heading higher up into the Colca Canyon, where you can explore remote villages and see magnificent condors soaring over the valley below in the early morning.
Arequipa's historic centre has a number of attractions including an impressive main square and the Santa Catalina Monastery, one of Peru’s most important religious monuments. A visit to the beautifully restored convent of Santa Catalina, built in 1579 and now open to the public after 400 years of seclusion, is a real highlight. It offers a remarkable step back in time, beautifully refurbished with period furniture, cobbled streets and original colonial art work.
Equally fascinating is its museum which houses the mummy of Juanita, a young girl sacrificed in an Incan ceremony and perfectly preserved over the centuries by ice high up in the Andes before she was discovered and brought to Arequipa.
At an altitude of just under 2,400 metres, Arequipa is a gradual introduction to attractions at higher altitude, such as the Colca Canyon.
The Colca Canyon
Colca Canyon is the deepest canyon in the Americas and twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. The scenery here is breath-taking and the area is home to vicuñas, llamas and the majestic condor. Travel either from Arequipa or Puno through the fertile landscape of the Colca Valley, stopping at traditional villages surrounded by pre-Inca agricultural terraces, some of which are still in use today.
There are some very comfortable lodges close to the Mirador and with spectacular views over the valley and terraces below. In the early morning, go to the Mirador overlooking the steep canyon below where you can watch majestic condors soaring above on the thermal currents. Then relax in hot springs, take hikes or horse-rides in the canyon or simply enjoy the peace and tranquility in this high Andean landscape. | <urn:uuid:6bcf63a7-b74f-4674-8518-5a5ba4949ea9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rainbowtours.co.uk/area/peru/arequipa-colca-canyon/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929645 | 456 | 1.71875 | 2 |
By Joyce Hendley
Better known as “the food lab,” Penn State’s Laboratory for the Study of Human Ingestive Behavior looks like a series of anonymous dressing rooms. In these plain, curtained-off cubicles, where test subjects eat carefully prepared and measured foods, Barbara Rolls has been debunking some of the most enduring beliefs about eating and appetite.
Despite what diet gurus had espoused for decades, Rolls’s lab discovered that drinking water before meals has little effect on reducing hunger. Her work also unraveled the widely recommended advice that eating a variety of foods can help us eat less. In fact, she found, we eat more when we’re given lots of foods to choose from—and less when the range is so narrow that our variety-craving palates, in essence, become bored and we stop eating. This concept explains the short-term success of those diets that have us eating nothing but cabbage soup—and their ultimate failure when our bored palates eventually fight back.
Rolls is widely acknowledged to be the nation’s top authority in the study of satiety, the sense of fullness that signals the body we can stop eating. Her book Volumetrics Weight-Control Plan (HarperCollins, 2000) is one of the rare bestselling weight-loss books to also win widespread kudos from weight-control experts.
The Volumetrics approach sprang from the findings that people tend to help themselves to the same weight of foods from day to day, regardless of calorie content. In the food lab, Rolls experimented with changing the energy density (calorie content) but not the portion size, by pumping up volume and weight with low-calorie vegetables. She found that as long as the portion sizes of the foods remained the same, regardless of calories, people were satisfied by what they ate. Test subjects reported feeling just as full from two cups of vegetable-packed pasta salad as they did from two cups of higher-calorie salad with more pasta and fewer vegetables.
Eat filling, low-energy-dense foods at most meals, recommends Rolls, and you’ll control hunger without feeling like you are on a “diet.” Rolls’s latest book, The Volumetrics Eating Plan (HarperCollins, 2005), expands upon that approach with tips, menus and recipes.
Q: Americans are getting fatter and fatter. Yet you’ve written that it’s not very helpful to tell people to eat less. Why not?
If people just eat less across the board, they’re going to have a small amount of food on their plates. They’ll think, “That’s not enough food.” The message needs to be tailored: Eat more of the low-energy-dense foods and less of the high-energy-dense foods. But overall, achieve a balance that you enjoy.
When you eat low-energy-dense foods, you can have big, satisfying portions. With the very low range of energy density—nonstarchy vegetables and fruits—it’s very hard to overeat calories. You’d have to eat huge volumes. So you can consider those free foods—the ones you should turn to when you get the munchies. But that doesn’t mean you have to give up foods that are higher in energy density… just moderate the portions.
Most of us who manage our weight on a daily basis do this anyway. When I talk with people who’ve been a normal weight most of their lives, they say they eat a pattern that’s pretty high in fruits and vegetables, and lower in fat—and they’re not eating everything in sight. Most of us are using some restraint on a daily basis, because frankly, we’re now confronted with so much food every day that you almost have to be “the weird one” not to become overweight.
Q: But the foods we’re surrounded by are usually high in energy density—like fast foods and sweets. How do we keep from piling them on our plates?
It takes a mindset. You have to be aware of what you’re eating, and you have to have a plan. Ideally, you should decide where you’re going to eat, choosing where you know you’ll find options that fit with your plan. It’s easier in some places than in others—but if enough of us ask for healthier foods, the food industry is going to give them to us. The success of salads at some fast-food restaurants has already sent a message.
You need to educate yourself by getting nutrition information and learning about what’s in your food—but once you understand what you’re looking for, it’s pretty easy. If a food is glistening, it’s probably high in fat. If the vegetables are barely visible on your plate, it’s a clue that it’s a fairly energy-dense meal.
When you’re cooking for yourself, think: “How can I tweak this recipe?” Say you’re making a sandwich. You could build it up by adding lots of your favorite vegetables. You could use a lower-fat meat or a lower-fat cheese or a lower-fat spread—or leave the spread off altogether. There are lots of choices, and no strategy that’s right or wrong.
Q: What do you do if you don’t like vegetables?
That’s a problem—I admit it. If you need to add a bit of fat, or even sugar, to your vegetables to make them more palatable, that’s okay. Try tucking vegetables into things where you won’t notice them, like casseroles or pizza. And keep trying new ones. We’ve also got to expose kids to a wider selection of vegetables, so that they get a taste for them early.
Q: If drinking water before or during a meal seems to have no effect on cutting hunger (despite popular belief), why are foods that contain a lot of water, like soup, so filling?
Hunger and thirst are controlled by completely separate mechanisms in the body and the brain. One of the big unresolved questions in our field is, when is a caloric liquid processed as a food and when is it processed as a beverage? We don’t really know yet. Clearly, there’s a huge psychological component to eating behavior, which can often override the biology.
Our work has shown that although drinking water has little effect on energy intake, incorporating water into foods helps increase satiety. Having a big portion of a water-rich low-calorie food at the start of the meal—like a salad or broth-based soup—is a great strategy to reduce overall calorie intake. If the course is large enough and low enough in energy density, it can help fill you up and displace the more energy-dense foods later in the meal.
Q: What role should low-fat or reduced-calorie foods play in a healthy diet?
Lots of people don’t like the idea of foods that have been “tinkered with.” If you have that kind of mindset, you shouldn’t go there. But those products are an easy way to lower energy density and calories. If you’re drinking a 12-ounce soda daily, just switching to diet soda will save you 150 calories a day. If you don’t like a low-fat cheese, try mixing it with regular cheese—or just use less of the regular.
Of course, some people use low-calorie foods as an excuse, like ordering a diet soda to go with their huge burgers and fries in a fast-food restaurant. That’s clearly not going to work. You still need to be mindful of what you’re eating.
Q: Can a person tell the difference between satisfied and stuffed?
I’m not sure that many of us are paying enough attention to know that. I suspect people rarely let themselves feel hungry these days…they’re nibbling, they’re eating on the go. They need to really think as they’re eating.
Q: If we Americans could only make one change in our eating habits, what would do us
the most good?
Eat more produce—for so many reasons. The “5-A-Day” program is recommending 5 cups of fruits and vegetables a day, which is actually 10 servings. Another way of looking at it is to fill half your plate with produce over your day—with some low-fat dairy products on the side. That’s easy to remember.
Rolls’s Daily Menu:
Breakfast: High-fiber cereal with skim milk and fruit. It seems more substantial if I put a bit of nonfat yogurt on it and a sprinkle of sugar. I actually prefer skim milk now, and even put it in my coffee.
Lunch: The food around here is geared to students—big and caloric. I try very hard to bring something with me; usually a sandwich on whole-grain bread—with hummus or lean deli-meat, and plenty of vegetables like lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes. I’ll also have a piece of fruit, and diet soda or water.
Dinner: My partner is the best cook around—so I don’t have to cook for myself very often. When I do, I’ll make pasta primavera with the veggies I have on hand; sometimes I’ll add lean poultry or fish. I don’t have dessert on a daily basis, but once in a while I’ll finish with a small piece of great chocolate.
100-Calorie Snacks (Volumetric vs. Typical)
• 1 1/2 cups strawberries
• 2 cups fresh vegetables (baby carrots, celery sticks, cucumber slices) with 1 tablespoon
• nonfat Ranch dressing
• 12 ounces fruit smoothie (fruit, nonfat yogurt and crushed ice)
• 1 1/4 cups vegetable soup
• 1 chocolate chip cookie
• 10 potato chips
• 4 ounces strawberry milkshake
• 1/2 medium bagel, dry | <urn:uuid:77a7b8e7-5276-46c3-9829-fdb014ee607a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eatingwell.com/print/9802 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947859 | 2,161 | 2.328125 | 2 |
Pipeline and gathering projects are some of the most complex in the oil and gas industry. When transmission, loop, and associated projects cross jurisdictional boundaries, a specialist that understands how to address unavoidable wetland, stream and habitat impacts and accelerate permit timing is imperative.
RES helps these companies to make sure that they understand the preferences of the regulatory districts their projects encounter. Our goal is to supply the quickest and easiest mitigation solution within a time frame that fits your operational goals.
Additionally, RES collaborates with your environmental consulting partners to help assess the offset requirement based upon your chosen route. As the route changes, RES’ team of biologists, regulatory professionals, and GIS analysts will update your forecasted need and adjust it accordingly.
When your project reaches the critical decision point, RES acts quickly to ensure your offset supply is available to you promptly so that your permits get approved and construction can begin.
To learn about our services for temporary impacts, visit the Post-Construction Restoration page. | <urn:uuid:17654d59-b420-4867-968f-465cf3cd7f66> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://res.us/pipelines/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931384 | 201 | 1.679688 | 2 |
It’s almost that time of year again!
Unfortunately, the boating season is winding down and even in Texas it is time to start thinking about protecting your valuable recreational asset during the winter months. The time and effort you spend now will have a definite effect on your boat's performance, or lack of it. It will certainly save you time, effort and money come spring. You should remember that your insurance policy may not cover damage done by lack of maintenance or neglect. The best place for your boat to be during the winter is out of the water, under cover, in a climate-controlled boat storage area. Make sure that your boat is well covered with a tarp or some other sturdy cover.
Your first step in winterizing should be to make a checklist of all items that need to be accomplished. Check the owner's manual of your boat and motor for manufacturer's recommendations on winterization. The following is a generic outline of areas which should be of concern to you:
Inboard Engine - You should run the engine to warm it up and change the oil while it is warm. You should also change the oil filter, flush the engine with fresh water and circulate antifreeze through the manifold. Remove spark plugs and use "fogging oil" to spray into each cylinder.
Outboard Engine - Flush engine with fresh water using flush muffs. Let all water drain from the engine. Disconnect fuel hose and run engine until it stops.
Stern Drive(s) - You should thoroughly inspect the stern drive. Drain the gear case and check for excessive moisture in the oil. This could indicate leaking seals and should be repaired. Clean the lower unit with soap and water. If your stern drive has a rubber boot, check it for cracks or pinholes. Grease all fittings and check fluid levels in hydraulic steering or lift pumps. Check with your owner's manual for additional recommendations by the manufacturer.
Fuel - Fill your fuel tank to avoid a build up of condensation over the winter months. Add a fuel stabilizer by following the instructions on the product. Change the fuel filter and water separator.
Bilges - Make sure the bilges are clean and dry.
By following the above suggestions, you should be in good shape for the winter. Do not, however, neglect to consult your owner's manuals for manufacture's recommendations on winterizing your boat and other systems.
All your product needs, (such as oils, lubes, fuel stabilizers or cleaning agents) can be found at here at Bass Pro Shops Marine accessories counter or the Tracker Parts & Service center. If you prefer the Tracker Service center can even do the work for you! They can be contacted at 210-253-8772. | <urn:uuid:30c42c15-e758-43f6-823d-ab3eefc97e26> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.basspro.com/blog/bass-pro-shops-san-antonio-tx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943378 | 560 | 1.554688 | 2 |
We all know about torrents don't we? If you do not know what torrent technology is, you have arrived at the right time. Bit Torrent or Torrent technology helps you to download files from users who already have the file. This file is not hosted anywhere on the Internet and you can be sure that they don't come from hosts who intend to load viruses or spy-ware into your computer. Torrents are becoming a hit among Internet users because you can get almost all kinds of data right from music to movies, all for free. So where do you start your search for a torrent? There are lots of websites which offer torrent downloads but searching each and every website is a time consuming job. Use Pick Torrent, which is a torrents search engine that searches all torrent sites and copies the torrent files onto its database for easy user retrieval and you can be sure that you would find the torrent that you need to download. | <urn:uuid:b2eaac25-052a-49c9-bfee-bd460cb9ab20> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hometown-news.net/2009/07/search-for-torrents.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960606 | 185 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Assisi Peace Prize Awarded to 2 Who Promote Peace Through Education
One Is Israeli, the Other Palestinian
| 1131 hits
ASSISI, Italy, JULY 6, 2004 (Zenit.org).- The 2004 Assisi Peace Prize was awarded to two women -- an Israeli and a Palestinian -- whose friendship is a symbol of the longed-for peace in the Holy Land.
Angelica Edna Calo Livne, Israeli educator and journalist, and Samar Sahar, Palestinian director of an orphanage, are also among the candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Sahar, a Christian, was born in East Jerusalem and studied management at the University of Bethlehem and in England. In 1995 she participated in the Columbus International Program with a group of Palestinians on a peace mission to Ohio.
She has received several awards for her contribution to the dialogue between the two peoples and has dedicated her life to work with children, following in her parents' footsteps. They founded the Jeel-Al-Amal Home of Bethany, which is the most important institution of assistance to children in Palestine.
Sahar also founded the Lazarus Home for Girls, to help orphan girls and women in difficulty, and a "bread oven" in Bethany to enable Israeli and Palestinian women to work together baking the "bread of peace."
Father Vicenzo Coli, Custodian of St. Francis' Basilica, awarded the prize.
Calo Livne, born to a Jewish family in Rome in 1955, has been living in an Israeli kibbutz, on the border with Lebanon, since she was 20. Married and the mother of four sons, for years she has been a teacher in multicultural schools, and in schools for difficult boys. She has also taught at the college level and has worked on programs that enable the elderly to recount their life experiences to young people.
She describes herself as an "educator of peace through art." To this end, in 2002 she created the Rainbow Theater, made up of young Jews and Arabs -- Christians, Muslims and Druses -- who with mime and dance narrate what goes on in the mind of an adolescent living in a country at war.
Calo Livne told ZENIT about the case of a girl who on one occasion "began crying out a disturbing monologue in which she recounted her experience during the last 'holidays' in Mombassa, Kenya, with her parents and little brothers when the wonderful hotel in which they were staying was turned into a scene of death and horror after an attack against Israeli citizens."
To illustrate her work, Calo Livne quoted a letter written by 21-year-old Nemi: "Four of my best friends have died in an attack. When I heard about it, I didn't want to take part in the show. I no longer believed in anything. I did not feel like doing anything. But I had to react. We must continue to believe in something. We cannot stop dreaming."
Sharif Balut, a 21-year-old Christian Arab, wrote: "I come to the Rainbow Theater because I believe in peace. Because I believe that we will be able to live together, because we are different and through my friends I know new worlds. I look forward to this meeting all week because it enlarges my heart. To dance, laugh, joke and recite with them makes me happy!"
Calo Livne said: "I believe profoundly that our work is a message of confidence in the future, a victory of good over evil and over the darkness that continues to shroud the world." | <urn:uuid:7f216392-4ce1-4f53-b295-ab1d2f20626f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/assisi-peace-prize-awarded-to-2-who-promote-peace-through-education | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97386 | 738 | 2.375 | 2 |
Tesla Retail Store Hands On, Tesla S in the Flesh (pics)
So if you happen to live in Santa Monica, CA, or some where close by, you can stop by what is Tesla’s first retail location located on the Santa Monica Promenade, otherwise known as 3rd street (it’s on the last block, closest to Wilshire). The location is less than 4 weeks old, and effectively shuts down the showroom located on Santa Monica Blvd, next to the ING building (or the entrance to the 405 freeway) – it’s now purely a service garage.
Tesla is calling it a retail store, and while you can’t physically touch the car they’ll eventually be offering ride and drives that will accessible from the store’s back alley. Only one S Sedan is on hand for viewing, but they’ve outfitted the store with a wide array of goodies. The one I found the most intriguing was a touchscreen monitor that allows potential customers to vary the types of environmental and driving conditions one might encounter during a journey. The interface is very slick, and with a flick of the finger you can vary the speed, temperature and a few other factors, all of which influence the range of S sedan’s on board batteries. In other words, if it’s 100 degree F and you’re traveling at 70mph, the S’ range will shorten. However, what we didn’t know is that Tesla’s battery tech allows them to individually cools each battery in the cluster. This means that if one battery gets too hot – this would not only lead to less mileage, but a degration of the battery’s life – it can shut down the individual battery and cool it until it reaches a usable level. The touchscreen kiosk, for lack of better words, also provides a wide array of info regarding Tesla and their technology.
Nevertheless, we suggest you stop by the retail store, if not for nothing to simply view the S Sedan in the flesh. The vehicle appears to be extremely well crafted, and we can’t help but get excited about that massive 17-inch touchscreen located in the car’s center dash. Which mind you is Linux based, and runs their proprietry apps. No, Tesla hasn’t opened up an API or dev kit, but they will eventually. | <urn:uuid:b35c28ff-7ed3-49af-8bf1-cb4dc245a72a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gadgetreview.com/2012/07/tesla-retail-store-hands-on.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943982 | 495 | 1.796875 | 2 |
A few reasons to sail at Heron Lake, New Mexico, USA
17. Heron Lake has all the basics for sailing, including a marina, dry storage, concrete boat ramps, and a very solid sailboat mast raising pole, yet it's missing one thing: crowds.
16. With minimal light pollution in the region and a high mountain location (7100 ft. elevation), Heron Lake has beautiful sunsets and sunrises and gorgeous clear skies for stargazing.
15. The new owners of the Stone House Lodge still offer great desserts following Marilyn Morrison's traditions and the High Country in Chama has live bands and great food.
14. If you'd like to combine sailing with angling, Heron Lake is unique in being the southernmost point in our country with ongoing populations of cold water fish, such as Lake Trout and Kokanee Salmon.
13. Recreation in the area is varied, including paddling on Heron, taking a raft trip down the Rio Chama in the canyons below El Vado lake, horse riding, mountain climbing, hunting, and snow skiing at Wolf Creek Pass or Taos.
12. Heron Lake is a no-wake lake, but El Vado lake is only a few miles away to satisfy the go-fast motor buffs if your group has a mixture of sailors and mosquito boat drivers.
11. Sailors who want to cruise can journey to Wind Warning Island or put out the hook in one of the more remote northwestern coves.
10. History and culture buffs can enjoy the scenic steam-driven Cumbres & Toltec Railroad, local weaving and art galleries, Native American dances and pow wows. (One side of Heron Lake State Park is bounded by the Jicarilla Apache nation.)
9. Heron Lake is a mecca for wildlife fans, with ospreys (fish hawks), bald eagles, mountain lions, bears, elk, bobcats, foxes, porcupines, mule deer, great horned owls, herons, beaver, muskrats, Canada geese, cliff swallows, and plenty of other creatures around.
8. There is little danger of America's Cup lawyers interfering with any regattas in New Mexico.
7. The New Mexico Sailing Club owns and operates the Heron Lake Marina as a co-op and keeps moorage costs rock-bottom cheap, with slips for around $500 for the six-month season, along with social activities and a gathering place under the floating marina pavilion. Visitor slips are only $10 per night.
6. The New Mexico Sailing Club offers reciprocal hospitality (two nights free, half price remainder of the week) to visiting sailors from other yacht and sailing clubs, making a great bargain even better.
5. A thousand people in Heron Lake State Park on the fourth of July or Labor Day weekends would be an enormous crowd. Peace and solitude are readily available here.
4. New Mexico's no-wake Heron Lake is one of the largest such lakes anywhere, creating a wonderful haven for sailors, kayakers, anglers, and nature lovers.
3. New Mexico's lakes are at a diverse range of altitudes at climate zones, allowing for near year-round sailing.
2. The challenging wind conditions force sailors to be alert and opportunistic in making use of wind when they get it. Tacking up the Narrows will focus your crew as its quirks give them a wake-up call.
1. There are no Great White sharks to chomp on unwary dinghy sailors. | <urn:uuid:70b0d323-98a5-46c2-a929-70bb62834f05> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://desertsea.blogspot.com/2010/08/few-reasons-to-sail-at-heron-lake-new.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920859 | 747 | 1.578125 | 2 |
- uploaded: Aug 19, 2012
- Hits: 375
9 Aug 2012 CNN
UN - Global food prices are on the rise. Abdolrez Abbassian is Senior Economist, UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
America's Drought isn't just America's problem. After 3 months of declines the wholesale cost of food rose thanks to the cost of grains. Damage to corn and maize crops. Corn prices are up 23%. The worst drought in 50 years. Cereal prices up 17%. In Russia drought is causing concern of a repeat of export controls. And Sugar! Up 12% because of Brazil's floods and Australia's drought. Grains, cereals, wheat.....this man says it is not a food crisis but global panic could bring one about.
"You get high prices and you get rationing. It is not a simple thing that we are making up. The prices for July is not a number that comes out of our books, it is a market price. Prices went up by 6 per cent. There are fundamental reasons for it. It is a concern for poorer countries that rely on the world market for their food"
[Laws of economics 101 - prices are going to go up!]
"Hopefully we won't go further but you're absolutely right. We can't change the weather. But we can make sure we don't make the same mistakes in 2007-08 when some countries put export controls. This is not a panic situation, supplies are out there".
[Realistically, as with Russia, when it comes to protecting your own market rather than worrying about next door it's a beggar-thy-neighbour policy you know it!]
"The US model is superior. They don't do that. Other countries are worried about domestic inflation". | <urn:uuid:f9f72258-1b48-4ccc-bd07-40a67418040f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.disclose.tv/action/viewvideo/110366/Global_Food_Panic__When_Drought_strikes_we_all_pay/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964915 | 363 | 2.234375 | 2 |
Updated on Thursday 28 June 2012
The Law School Admission Council (LSAC or Law Services), the test makers, outfitted the exam to measure the critical reading and analytical thinking skills necessary for success in your first year of law school.
The Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) consists of 175 minutes of multiple-choice testing and a thirty-minute writing sample. On the LSAT, you will be required to think - thoroughly, quickly, and strategically.
You will receive one overall score for the LSAT, ranging from 120 to 180 (there are no separate section scores). Plus, you will also receive a "score band," which is a range of scaled scores above and below your score, indicating a "true score" at a reasonable level of confidence. Lastly, there's your percentile score, which ranks your performance relative to that of a large group of other test takers.
You can find all the information about the LSAT and how to take and register for the test at http://www.lsac.org/
If you would like more information about courses to prepare for your GRE, please see Kaplan
Directions: Each group of questions is based on a set of conditions. You may wish to draw a rough sketch to help you answer some of the questions. Choose the best answer for each question and fill in the corresponding space on your answer sheet.
Exactly four statues are lined up on the floor of a wax museum, on pedestals numbered 1 through 4, from left to right.
The statue that glows in the dark occupies either the first or the fourth pedestal. An athlete statue occupies the second pedestal. There is at least one pedestal occupied by a male figure between the two pedestals occupied by female figures. One of the athlete statues glows in the dark.
Which one of the following must be true of the third pedestal?
Answer: Rules 1 and 4 both mention the glow-in-the-dark statue, so you can zero in on those rules to make the key deductions:
With one athlete concretely placed by Rule 2 on the second pedestal, the other athlete (the glow-in-the-dark statue) must occupy pedestal 1 or 4. With the two athletes placed, pedestal 3 must be occupied by either the gangster or inventor.
This question shows you the value of thinking through the situation up front: It allows you to scan the choices and quickly zero in on the answer. We're asked what must be true of the third pedestal, and we just deduced that pedestal 3 must be occupied by either the gangster or inventor, so it certainly can't be occupied by an athlete; therefore, (D) is the correct choice. | <urn:uuid:52628a67-fd91-440c-8901-37383a997087> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.internationalstudent.com/test-prep/lsat/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947634 | 559 | 2.515625 | 3 |
It is perhaps no surprise to anyone that just about anything can be customized, from little things like a school folder, to something big like an automobile. And this Saturday, the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) is making that theory into an upcoming exhibition.
Titled We/Customize, this exhibition goes inside the art of customizing objects, as part of both an artistic and personal expression. This process-oriented project has been separated into four phases outside the walls of OMCA, in which the public has been invited to participate in the creative activities and demonstrations, thus engaging in the gallery installation process.
We/Customize have already gone through two phases, the Oakland Rover Missions, and the Great Hall Rove In. The upcoming exhibition is part of the project’s third phase, exploring the various expressions and forms of personal customization. It will also be featuring weekly Customizers-in-Residence Open Studios, where visitors can meet and participate with customizers in workshops, through a variety of hands-on activities.
The exhibition will be on view until June 2nd, at which OMCA will begin the fourth phase Roving On, where on and off-site projects will continue with the discussions about California, as well as other OMCA projects. Log on to museumca.org for more information. | <urn:uuid:3a16cdfb-5f5d-4e65-9d7d-0450bccab62c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.examiner.com/article/we-customize-exhibition-at-omca?cid=rss | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96496 | 267 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Editor's note: Kay Bailey Hutchison is a Republican senator from Texas.
By Kay Bailey Hutchison, Special to CNN
(CNN) – In the run-up to the party conventions, new attention has been focused on women's issues in the political sphere. It has been accompanied by claims that the Republican Party is somehow unfriendly to women - which will be a surprise to the thousands of women attending the convention in Tampa, Florida.
The assertion is baseless. Having served 19 years in the Senate, and as a lifelong Republican, I have some perspective.
Much of the recent debate has focused on a narrow slice of what constitutes women's issues and how gender should direct women's views. But this is overly simplistic.
Women make up half of the most diverse country in the world. We are represented ethnically, socially, racially, economically, religiously and ideologically across the spectrum. To say that there is a set of concerns that can be labeled "women's issues" is absolutely true. To assume that we all feel the same way about them - or that we must feel the same way about them to represent our gender legitimately - is inherently sexist.
My experiences as a woman certainly inform my perspective, but they do not wholly define my political views. I am also guided by the values my family instilled and the educational opportunities I had growing up.
That we employ different methods and points of view does not mean that one or the other party is the natural place for women. | <urn:uuid:47ce7700-b246-4298-88e2-f6a06d020cc1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/27/opinion-unfriendly-to-women-not-my-gop/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971245 | 302 | 1.84375 | 2 |
I’ve mentioned the fundamental theorem of arithmetic a few times on this blog, so it’s probably time for it to be a theorem of the week. I’ll state it straightaway.
Theorem (the fundamental theorem of arithmeticEvery integer greater than 1 can be expressed as a product of primes, uniquely up to reordering the factors.
For example, , and while I can also write it as , this is just reordering the factors — it’s not a genuinely different factorisation. Prime numbers also have prime factorisations: the prime factorisation of 17 is simply 17.
Note that the fundamental theorem of arithmetic is one good reason why it’s convenient to define 1 not to be a prime. If it were prime, we could add as many factors of 1 as we liked to the prime factorisation of a number to get lots of different (but not interestingly different) factorisations.
This is a really important theorem — that’s why it’s called “fundamental”! It tells us two things: existence (there is a prime factorisation), and uniqueness (the prime factorisation is unique). Both parts are useful in all sorts of places. The existence part is useful because it tells us that the primes are somehow the “building blocks” of the integers, and this helps with lots of things. The uniqueness part is useful because it allows us to do certain things that would otherwise not be possible. For example, if we know the prime factorisation of , then we know the prime factorisation of , safe in the knowledge that can’t also have some other prime factorisation.
A useful lemma
Before I tell you about a proof of this theorem, there’s a preliminary result that we’ll need. It’s jolly useful in all sorts of places.
Lemma Let be a prime, and suppose that divides the product . Then divides or divides .
(As usual in mathematics, the “or” here is inclusive, in the sense that we could have dividing both and .)
This really is a property of primes. For example, 6 divides , but 6 divides neither 3 nor 4. (Intuitively, I like to think that this is because we can break up 6 into , and the factors here can divides the factors 3 and 4 separately.) In fact, this property is sometimes taken as the definition of a prime number. In that case, one would then show from this definition that a prime number can be divided only by itself and 1. But since most people are more familiar with the definition of a prime as a number divisible only by itself and 1, I’m going to stick with that definition and show you how to prove the lemma. I’m going to use Bézout’s theorem, so if you don’t know that result you might like to read about it now (and then come back here afterwards!).
Proof of lemma We have a prime , and we know that it divides the product . Let’s suppose that doesn’t divide . Then our goal will be to show that divides .
Now if doesn’t divide , then and are coprime. As usual, we try using Bézout’s theorem to turn this into a positive statement: there are integers and such that .
We know that divides , so we should try to get something containing . Let’s multiply our equation by : we get .
Now divides each term on the left-hand side, so it must divide the right-hand side. That is, divides , as we wanted.
Proof of the theorem
Now we are well placed to tackle the proof of our main theorem, the fundamental theorem of arithmetic. We’ll do the two parts (existence and uniqueness) separately.
Existence We need to show that every integer greater than 1 has a prime factorisation. To do this, we shall use the idea of aminimal counterexample. If the result isn’t true, then there must be a smallest number that doesn’t have a prime factorisation. Let’s call it .
Now can’t be prime, because if were prime then it would have a prime factorisation: itself. So is composite. That is, it is a product of two smaller numbers, say .
Then and are less than , and is the smallest number not having a prime factorisation, so and must have prime factorisations. But then has a prime factorisation: simply multiply those of and .
So there can’t be a counterexample, so the result must be true.
Uniqueness Now our job is to show that every integer greater than 1 has a unique prime factorisation.
So let’s suppose that we have a number with two factorisations:. Here , …, , , …, are primes, not necessarily distinct (we can have or whatever). Our aim is to show that in fact these two factorisations are the same.
If any is equal to some , then we can cancel those factors. Let’s do that wherever possible. We hope that in fact we now have no primes left on either side, because then we’ll know that the two factorisations were the same (they contained exactly the same primes). So let’s suppose that isn’t the case and try to obtain a contradiction.
We have something like , where each is not equal to any .
Now divides the right-hand side, so it must divide the left-hand side too. Using our lemma repeatedly, we see that means that divides for some . But and are both prime, so this says that — and we’ve assumed that not to be the case.
This gives the contradiction we wanted, so the factorisation is indeed unique.
Of course, Wikipedia has a page about the fundamental theorem of arithmetic. The theorem should be described in any decent introduction to number theory. As usual, I shall mention Davenport’s The Higher Arithmetic at this stage.
It turns out that there are settings (number fields) in which one can do number theory, but where one does not necessarily have unique factorisation. This leads to a lot of extremely interesting mathematics — perhaps I shall return to it in a future theorem of the week. There’s so much interesting maths out there! | <urn:uuid:9c868d70-7309-48a0-9a86-0e30764a5335> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.chegg.com/homework-help/questions-and-answers/this-website-below-says-that-there-is-an-existence-part-and-a-uniqueness-part-of-the-theor-q3541469 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930234 | 1,344 | 3.21875 | 3 |
Common skincare problems
At some point we all have skincare problems. Whether it's hormonal changes, lack of sleep, too much partying, stress or hereditary causes - zits, spots and acne can affect us all at every stage. We've put together the most common skin problems for men and women and our recommendations on how best to tackle them.
Acne is typically caused by the interaction of bacteria, hormones and sebum (oil from the hair follicle). To help stop the build-up of acne it's essential to keep the area cleansed as much as possible. Avoid skincare and makeup products with alcohol and additives as this can irritate the affected areas. Your daily routine should include cleansing, gentle exfoliation and moisturising. Use non-scented soaps and once in a while have a professional facial as the intense treatments and formulas can help to clean the skin.
We recommend: Clinique Comforting Cream Cleanser , Clarins facial treatments, Clinique Three Little Soaps with Travel , Clarins Gentle Foaming Cleanser Normal or Combination Skin , Clinique Anti Blemish Solutions, Dior Combination to Oily Skin - Cleansing Foam, Chanel Purete Ideale Matifying , Estee Lauder Sparkling Clean Purifying Exfoliator mask | <urn:uuid:c8ec0582-e27a-4133-b5a2-d24d2bcfefbb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.debenhams.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/category_10001_10001_161113_-1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923813 | 270 | 1.648438 | 2 |
The best time to take your whey protein shake often throws up differing opinions. Most people swear by the post workout method while others are adamant that a pre workout serving before exercise is also beneficial. There is a number of theories that people can offer to argue their case one way or the other. When all is said and done, like many supplements, different things work for different people.
Whey protein pre workout – Some athletes like to use a whey protein drink just prior to their workouts. The theory is it will help the muscles during the period of intense exercise and breakdown. In addition, it also speeds up the metabolism. Of course, this liquid nutrition is much easier to digest than normal foods. Hence, the feeling of bloating or training on a full stomach is not an issue. In fact, some people even consume whey protein during their workouts. A specific pre workout serving may not be necessary assuming that protein consumption is already at the required level. It is surely worth a try but is probably not for everyone and is down to personal preference.
Whey protein post workout – This is by far the most important time to give your body some quality nutrition. After your muscle fibres have been broken down in the gym, this is when they need repairing. In other words, you have a window of opportunity to complete the job by consuming a decent amount of protein. If you take a serving of whey protein immediately after your workout, it will speed up the repair of muscle tissue and assist with the creation of new growth. Furthermore, your recovery times will also improve. You should definitely see the results from this method in a short space of time.
Whey protein pre and post workout – Some hardcore athletes will consume whey protein both immediately before and after a workout.
Whey concentrate vs isolate - Typically, whey protein concentrate is approximately 80% protein while whey protein isolate is more along the lines of 90% protein. That said, whey protein concentrate undergoes less processing than isolate and is thought to contain more whey peptides. Concentrate also stays in the system for longer periods compared to isolate. Most quality protein powders contain a combination of concentrate and isolate anyway so both angles are covered. That said, some athletes prefer using a whey isolate product for pre or post workout.
If you had to choose between taking whey protein pre and post workout, then most would go with the post workout option. This is a tried and tested method that has produced results over a long period of time. | <urn:uuid:cca0dfa2-1b55-49cc-9c8e-31f59f5d2fbf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.powderandpills.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970765 | 512 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Some of the victims of war crimes in Croatia have been forced to pay court expenses after their claims for reparation failed.
Marica Seatovic’s story is one of 72 cases where the victims have been asked to pay court expenses.
Her husband Mihajlo spent his life as a waiter in Novska, a small town in central Croatia. On the evening of November 21, 1991, when Novska was at the frontline of the war in Croatia, Seatovic was sitting alone in his home.
Suddenly, at about 10pm, several soldiers invaded his home and took him to a nearby house, where his neighbours Ljuban Vujic and Miso and Sajka Raskovic were already being held captive.
A brutal crime was then committed. According to the indictment filed by the then Croatian military prosecutor against two Croatian army soldiers, Mihajlo Seatovic was killed with six shots. Miso Raskovic and Ljuban Vujic were also slain. The naked corpse of Raskovic's wife Sajka was found lying in bed on the first floor.
The perpetrators were arrested and an indictment was filed. But in November 1992, the Zagreb military court released them under the terms of the Croatian amnesty law.
"There are reasonable indications that the indicted committed the crime, but there is no doubt that it was perpetrated in connection with the war imposed by the occupying army, so the amnesty law should be applied", the court explained in its verdict.
The prosecutor did not appeal, so the verdict became final and the perpetrators went free.
For years, the relatives of those killed did not know what really happened to their loved ones.
"Everybody kept silent in Novska, pretending nothing had happened", Mihajlo Seatovic's wife Marica explained fifteen years after the crime.
Failed compensation request
It was in 2006 that she found out how her husband and her neigbours were killed, and who allegedly did it, after she had unofficially obtained copies of the indictment and of the military court verdict.
In 2004, Marica Seatovic requested financial compensation from a municipal court in Novska. Two years later, the court refused the claim, ordering that Marica Seatovic pay 8,000 kuna (about 1,100 euro) in court expenses.
Mrs Seatovic is retired, and spent several months paying off the court expenses from her monthly pension of 2,200 kuna (300 euro).
The Croatian Supreme Court annulled the judgment, so the compensation process started all over again, but again without success for Marica Seatovic.
The Municipal court in Novska repeated its verdict, claiming that Seatovic's compensation claim fell under the statute of limitations.
So Marica Seatovic, still living next door to the place where her husband was killed, is now obliged to pay court expenses for a second time.
There are 72 similar cases in Croatia, according to Documenta, a human rights NGO from Zagreb.
Pensioners the most affected
Most of the 108 compensation requests filed at Croatian courts because of killed close relatives were refused, and in 72 cases the courts forced the victims to pay court expenses.
Most of the cases were refused because the perpetrators had not been found and punished, which meant that the crimes had not been proven in court.
The government and even the Croatian Constitutional Court have made several attempts to stop the practice of forcing victims to pay court expenses, but the practice continues.
In March last year, the municipal court in Sisak obliged a woman whose husband was killed in October 1991 to pay 27,000 kuna (about 4,000 euro) court expenses, after her compensation request was refused by the court.
"Most of the people who are obliged to pay are retired with very low pensions. So they are threatened with the repossession of their homes", warned the Documenta director Vesna Terselic.
Documenta has asked the government to write off the court expenses which the families of killed Croatian citizens, mostly Serbs, have been ordered to pay.
The total sum of those expenses, according to Documenta, is about two million kuna (300 thousand euro). Comparing that sum to the defence costs of Croatian generals indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY, Documenta emphasised that the defence of just one of those generals, Tihomir Blaskic, amounted to about 150 million kuna (20 million euro).
"The state is callous towards the war crimes victims", claims Zoran Pusic, president of the Citizen Committee for Human Rights.
"If the state pays the defence of those indicted by the ICTY, it is legitimate to ask if it supports war crimes" he said. "On the other hand, we see no political will to compensate the victims", Pusic added.
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If you have trouble logging in or any other questions regarding you account, please contact us | <urn:uuid:af408165-1837-49ae-8f52-f191b64e8628> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/war-victims-in-croatia-punished-by-courts | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974957 | 1,116 | 1.890625 | 2 |
Eccentricity of the intellect
Anyone who, like me, has studied or worked in Trinity College Dublin over the past half century is familiar with the historian R.B. McDowell. Let me say right away that I’m not suggesting we all know anything, even in outline, of what McDowell taught or researched, but we know what he looked like and how he appeared on the campus.
Robert Brendan McDowell died just over a year ago, having very nearly reached the age of 100. He was instantly recognisable: in all weathers he crossed the campus wearing what looked like three or four layers of coats and a battered hat (all of which looked like they had seen better days). He was constantly talking or mumbling, even when nobody was with him. He always walked fast. At dinner he would wear an old gown that was stained and torn in several places. However, if you were sitting near him you would hear a never-ending flow of comments and anecdotes, many of them highly amusing.
About 25 years ago McDowell and another TCD Fellow wrote a history of the College. I remember sitting next to him at Commons (dinner) at the time he was writing this, and in explaining his work he remarked to me that one of the sad discoveries he had made that there were no longer any eccentrics in academic life. I bit my lip.
Of course to many in the outside world the academy is all about other-worldly eccentricity. To many observers this makes old professors endearing, but also emphasises their remoteness from ‘real life’: academics are thought sometimes to inhabit a world in which the normal laws and customs of human behaviour and relevance don’t need to apply. I confess I find this a difficult concept to address. Eccentrics are endearing, but more importantly, an eccentric approach to knowledge can open up new ways of thinking, or facilitate important discoveries. I understand the desire to protect and preserve this aspect of academic life. On the other hand, universities should not be presented chiefly as places in which harmless eccentrics pursue daft ideas, some of which may by some fluke turn out to be important.
Certainly academic freedom should, amongst other things, allow and nurture some degree of intellectual unorthodoxy, which may present to some as eccentricity. But universities are now increasingly institutions that need to answer some quite direct questions posed to them by society, and other-wordliness may not be the response primarily sought. This is a hard balance for universities to get right. But whatever your university might be, I do hope that there will still be some room in it for a person like R.B. McDowell.Explore posts in the same categories: higher education comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. | <urn:uuid:4e60f7c4-ee69-4d61-9ae4-ca445520af09> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://universitydiary.wordpress.com/2012/10/23/eccentricity/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983243 | 575 | 2.015625 | 2 |
“There are no happy endings. Only stories that haven’t finished yet.”
Have you ever been in what could be described as a ‘toxic relationship’? At the core of these types of relationships we discover a common denominator: lack of trust. The key to resolving toxicity and making this type of relationship work is to resolve the trust issues. In order to do that, both parties have to be willing to do the work. Where both parties are willing to do the work, there is potential for the toxic couple to flourish into an unbeatable duo who pull their strong wills together and use their passion for each other to take on the world instead of trying to destroy the other person.
I affectionately refer to this spread as the Smith & Wesson, partially because the inspiration came from the film Mr & Mrs Smith and because it was at gun point they realised how much they loved each other and called a truce. I intuitively laid the cards out in a W shape. It was only when I began reading the cards that I realised the connection between the gun point allegory and the W for Wesson. It made me smile
1a+1b. Trust issues within the self of partners A and B respectively that have carried over into this relationship from the past (childhood trauma, previous abusive relationships etc)
2a+2b. How A holds B ‘at gunpoint’ and vice versa
3a+3b. Why A feels she can’t trust B (something B does) and vice versa
4. Higher reason for both parties coming together
5. What it would take for both parties to drop their guns and call a truce
6. Most likely outcome provided this advice is heeded
1a. Past issues for partner A – Maker 9 (9 of Pentacles) Root and Blossom: This person was not able to put roots down in the early years. It is possible that A moved around a lot and went to a few different schools. A still struggles with being self-sufficient and to provide for their own physical needs to some degree. She also suffers from feelings of low self-worth, as if she doesn’t deserve all the good that life has to offer.
1b. Past issues for B – Warrior 4 (4 of Wands) Foundations Blessed: A blighted, unsupportive and aggressive (lots of beatings) home environment during childhood and adolescense makes it difficult for B to trust people in general. He has suffered from long periods of homelessness and moving like a hobo from place to place.
2a. How A holds B at gunpoint – V The Elder: She tries to change B by ‘teaching’ him how things are done. She often sounds and comes across as having more knowledge, and she uses this to bludgeon her partner into submission.
2b. How B holds A at gunpoint – Judgement: B is very critical of A. He picks on things and likes to hold onto past grudges. He also has a tendency to see things as either black or white, forcing a fiery finale when things don’t go his way.
3a. Why A doesn’t feel she can trust B – Dancer Five (5 of Cups) Where Loss Resides: She feels abandoned by B (he literally did leave her at a time when she was vulnerable and in need of support) and it triggers old abandonment issues within herself. This in turn, makes her lose the ability to detach. She goes into reactive mode and lashes out.
3b. Why B doesn’t feel he can trust A – Maker Seven (7 of Pentacles) Effort Sustained: He feels that A lacks patience and that she rapidly tears down everything he tries so laboriously to build for the two of them. Sometimes it is he who is destructive but he usually manages to find a way of blaming the destruction on her even if it means dragging something up that happened quite a long time ago (see 2b Judgement)
4. Higher reason for coming together – Maker Five (5 of Pentacles) Winter’s Bite: From the perspective of the Higher Self, these two souls have chosen to get together under conditions of hardship and loss to see if they can learn and grow together. Quite synchronistically, their dramatic split happened during the winter months, shortly after the loss of their baby. They could have turned to each other for comfort but instead they turned on each other.
5. What it would take for both people to drop their guns and call a truce – Warrior Nine (9 of Wands) Guardian: They need to learn to respect their own and each other’s boundaries. Learning to respect Self is always the first step. This will take a lot of work for these two souls who both lacked role models for respect growing up. A mistakes ‘instruction’ with being helpful (makes B feel belittled) and B mistakes ‘withholding’ with keeping the peace (makes A feel abandoned).
6. Most likely outcome – Warrior Eight (8 of Wands) Dragonflight: This would continue to be a passionate, even combustible, relationship but if they can make all the arrows fly the same way… There is a lot of power and potential here! If respect can be maintained the attraction would never fade. | <urn:uuid:da9a4dcd-d55e-4c7c-ad3d-0b5bf9ca5704> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lovedovetarot.com/2012/04/14/mr-mrs-smith-healing-a-toxic-relationship-with-the-tarot/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969788 | 1,110 | 1.773438 | 2 |
The National Institute of Mental Health has awarded $5 million to researchers at the Mailman School of Public Health to establish the Columbia Center for Homelessness Prevention Studies. The center is a multidisciplinary effort to research homelessness and develop ways to prevent chronic homelessness among people with severe mental illness, who comprise about 25 percent of homeless adults 18 and older. It is the country's only NIMH-funded research center for the development of new and effective approaches for homelessness prevention among people with severe mental illness.
More than 30,000 homeless people live in shelters in New York City, with a substantial but unknown additional number who are homeless but unsheltered. In the United States, more than 800,000 people are homeless on any given day, with 2.3 million to 3.5 million experiencing a period of homelessness over the course of a year.
"Our center is unique because it brings together colleagues from so many different disciplines, from psychiatry and social work to urban planning and economics," says Carol Caton, Ph.D., center director, principal investigator and research scientist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute.
Dr. Caton, also a professor of clinical sociomedical sciences at the Mailman School, has been researching the problem of homelessness for more than 20 years. She and Ezra Susser, M.D., Dr.PH, and center co-director, formed a group made up of Columbia faculty, providers of services to the homeless, consumers, and city and state policy makers who will work collaboratively to develop new and better ways to help the homeless and those at-risk of homelessness to retain safe, adequate, and affordable housing.
"Research at the center will fill a clear void," says Dr. Susser, also the Anna Cheskis Gelman and Murray Charles Gelman Professor and chair of the Mailman School's Department of Epidemiology and professor of psychiatry. "The majority of existing research on homelessness is descriptive defining the number of homeless, who is homeless, and identifying risk factors. We need to go much further to understand the underlying causes of chronic homelessness and speed up the development, testing and dissemination of effective interventions to prevent the newly homeless from becoming chronically homeless."
In its mission to become a national resource, the center also is working with researchers at medical centers affiliated with Dartmouth, Harvard, Yale, and New York University. It also is collaborating with providers of health and housing services and local and state agencies, including the New York City Department of Homeless Services and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
"New York City makes a good laboratory for this work," Dr. Caton says. "It not only has the highest population of homeless in the country, but also is the only U.S. city whose citizens have a legal right to shelter. The city's academic psychiatrists and mental health services researchers have been in the forefront of efforts to understand contemporary homelessness and initiate creative responses in program development, policy, and advocacy. The new center promises to help accelerate efforts to bring about solutions to the public health problem of homelessness."
Having received the grant in September, the center already has launched several studies. Among them is the development of a fidelity manual which describes the key elements of an intervention in a measurable way for the "housing first" approach, to be carried out in collaboration with Pathways to Housing. This community agency pioneered an approach that enables people living on the street to immediately gain access to housing and supportive treatment services. A second study explores the stability of living arrangements for formerly homeless people with severe mental illness, whether it's living with a family member, in a group home, or in an apartment.
To foster communication about homelessness and maximize participation of students and faculty throughout the medical center, Dr. Caton says the homelessness study center plans to hold grand rounds and monthly luncheon discussions for students and faculty. It also will provide support and mentoring services for trainees and fellows, practica for students who hold a master's degree, and a pilot funding program for junior investigators. For more information, contact the center at 212-305-3503.
Researchers Apply Long Track Record to Homelessness Studies
Several of the researchers who will conduct work under the auspices of the Columbia Center for Homelessness Prevention Studies also helped run a Critical Time Intervention (CTI) program, which, from 1990 to 1994, served homeless men with severe mental illness at the Fort Washington Men's Shelter in Washington Heights. The goal of that program funded by the National Institute of Mental Health was to help prevent the men from becoming homeless again as they made the transition from the shelter to community-based housing. The CTI program, one of the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act Demonstration Projects, has been recognized by the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health as an evidence-based program and as a model program by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Since then, Columbia researchers have worked on additional CTI programs, including one for mentally ill homeless veterans and another for homeless families in Westchester County. Daniel B. Herman, D.S.W., M.S., assistant professor of clinical epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health, is studying CTI programs that help homeless people who are patients in state hospitals make the transition to permanent housing.
"The new Center for Homelessness Prevention Studies has a much wider scope than previous projects but CTI is expected to be a featured intervention that will be studied in different settings and with different populations under the auspices of the center," Dr. Susser says. | <urn:uuid:1f78dc9c-e68c-463a-9ba6-9c71e4eba349> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/publications/in-vivo/vol4_5_dec-jan_06/public_health.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952135 | 1,132 | 2.078125 | 2 |
You must keep records to prove the amount of the cash and noncash contributions you make during the year. Which records you must keep depends on the amount of your contributions and whether they are cash or property contributions. New recordkeeping requirement were established for all contributions made after January 1, 2007. You cannot deduct a cash contribution, regardless of the amount, unless you keep as a record of the contribution, bank records (such as a cancelled check or bank statement containing the name of the charity, date and the amount) or a written communication from the charity.
This Financial Guide discusses which records you must keep.
Cash contributions include those paid by cash, check, electronic funds transfer, debit card, credit card, or payroll deduction. You cannot deduct a cash contribution, regardless of the amount, unless it is substantiated by one of the following:
- A bank record that shows the name of the qualified organization, the date of the contribution, and the amount of the contribution. Bank records may include: a canceled check, a bank or credit union statement or a credit card statement.
- A receipt (or letter or other written communication) from the qualified organization showing the name of the organization, the date of the contribution, and the amount of the contribution.
- Payroll deduction records. The payroll records must include a pay stub, Form W-2 or other document furnished by the employer that shows the date and the amount of the contribution, and a pledge card or other document prepared by or for the qualified organization that shows the name of the organization.
Cash Contributions of $250 or More: You can claim a deduction for a contribution of $250 or more only if you have an acknowledgement of your contribution from the qualified organization or certain payroll deduction records. If you made more than one contribution of $250 or more, you must have either a separate acknowledgment for each or one acknowledgment that lists each contribution and the date of each contribution and shows your total contributions.
To determine whether a contribution is $250 or more, do not combine separate contributions. For example, if you gave to the church $25 each week, your weekly payments do not need to be combined. Each payment is a separate contribution. The acknowledgment must be written and state whether you received any goods or services in return. If something was received in return, a description and good faith estimate of the value of the goods or services must be included.
For payroll deductions, the payroll records must include a pay stub, Form W-2 or other document furnished by the employer that shows the date and the amount of the contribution, and a pledge card or other document prepared by or for the qualified organization that shows the name of the organization. If the pay stub, Form W-2, pledge card, or other document does not show the date of the contribution, you must also have another document that does show the date of the contribution.
For a contribution not made in cash, these general rules apply:
The records you must keep depend on whether your deduction for the contribution is:
- Less Than $250
- At least $250 but not more than $500,
- Over $500 but not more than $5,000, or
- Over $5,000.
Amount of contribution. In figuring whether your contribution is $500 or more, combine separate contributions of similar items during the year. If you received goods or services in return, reduce your contribution by the value of those goods or services. If you figure your deduction by reducing the fair market value of the donated property by its appreciation, your contribution is the reduced amount.
Deductions of Less Than $250
If you make any noncash contribution, you must get and keep a receipt from the charitable organization showing:
- The name of the charitable organization,
- The date and location of the charitable contribution, and
- A reasonably detailed description of the property.
A letter or other written communication from the charitable organization acknowledging receipt of the contribution and containing the information in (1), (2), and (3) will serve as a receipt. You are not required to have a receipt where it is impractical to get one (for example, if you leave property at a charity's unattended drop site).
Additional records. You must also keep reliable written records for each item of donated property. Your written records must include the following information.
- The name and address of the organization to which you contributed.
- The date and location of the contribution.
- A description of the property in detail reasonable under the circumstances. For a security, keep the name of the issuer, the type of security, and whether it is regularly traded on a stock exchange or in an over-the-counter market.
- The fair market value of the property at the time of the contribution and how you figured the fair market value. If it was determined by appraisal, you should also keep a signed copy of the appraisal.
- The cost or other basis of the property if you must reduce its fair market value by appreciation.
- The amount you claim as a deduction for the tax year as a result of the contribution, if you contribute less than your entire interest in the property during the tax year. Your records must include the amount you claimed as a deduction in any earlier years for contributions of other interests in this property. They must also include the name and address of each organization to which you contributed the other interests, the place where any such tangible property is located or kept, and the name of any person in possession of the property, other than the organization to which you contributed.
- Any conditions attached to the gift of property.
Deductions of At Least $250 But Not More Than $500
If you claim a deduction of at least $250 but not more than $500 for a noncash charitable contribution, you must get and keep an acknowledgement of your contribution from the qualified organization. If you made more than one contribution of $250 or more, you can have either a separate acknowledgement for each or one acknowledgement that shows your total contributions.
The acknowledgement must contain the information in items (1) through (3) listed under Deductions of Less Than $250, earlier, and your written records must include the information listed in that discussion under Additional Records.
1. It must be written.
2. It must include:
- A description (but not necessarily the value) of any property you contributed,
- Whether the qualified organization gave you any goods or services as a result of your contribution (other than certain token items and membership benefits), and
- A description and good faith estimate of the value of any goods or services described above. If the only benefit you received was an intangible religious benefit (such as admission to a religious ceremony) that generally is not sold in a commercial transaction outside the donative context, the acknowledgement must say so and does not need to describe or estimate the value of the benefit.
3. You must get the acknowledgement on or before the earlier of:
- The date you file your return for the year you make the contribution, or
- The due date, including extensions, for filing the return.
Deductions Over $500 But Not Over $5,000
If you claim a deduction over $500 but not over $5,000 for a noncash charitable contribution, you must have the acknowledgement and written records described under Deductions of At Least $250 But Not More Than $500. Your records must also include:
- How you got the property, for example, by purchase, gift, bequest, inheritance, or exchange.
- The approximate date you got the property or, if created, produced, or manufactured by or for you, the approximate date the property was substantially completed.
- The cost or other basis, and any adjustments to the basis, of property held less than 12 months and, if available, the cost or other basis of property held 12 months or more. This requirement, however, does not apply to publicly traded securities.
If you are not able to provide information on either the date you got the property or the cost basis of the property and you have a reasonable cause for not being able to provide this information, attach a statement of explanation to your return.
Deductions Over $5,000
If you claim a deduction of over $5,000 for a charitable contribution of one property item or a group of similar property items, you must have the acknowledgement and the written records described under Deductions Over $500 But Not Over $5,000. In figuring whether your deduction is over $5,000, combine your claimed deductions for all similar items donated to any charitable organization during the year.
Generally, you must also obtain a qualified written appraisal of the donated property from a qualified appraiser.
Qualified conservation contribution. If the gift was a "qualified conservation contribution," your records must also include the fair market value of the underlying property before and after the gift and the conservation purpose furthered by the gift.
Out of Pocket Expenses
If you render services to a qualified organization and have unreimbursed out of pocket expenses related to those services, the following three rules apply.
- You must have adequate records to prove the amount of the expenses.
- You must get an acknowledgment from the qualified organization that contains a description of the services you provided and a statement of whether or not the organization provided you any goods and services to reimburse you for the expenses incurred. If so, the statement must include a description and good faith estimate of the value of any goods or services (other than intangible religious benefits). If the only benefit you received was an intangible religious benefit, you must receive a statement stating this; however, the acknowledgment does not need to describe or estimate the value of an intangible religious benefit.
- You must get the acknowledgment on or before the earlier of: (a) The date you file your return for the year you make the contribution, or the due date, including extensions, for filing your return.
Car Expenses. If you claim expenses directly related to use of your car in giving services to a qualified organization, you must keep reliable written records of your expenses. Whether your records are considered reliable depends on all the facts and circumstances. Generally, they are reliable if you made them regularly and at the time you incurred the expense.
Your records must show the name of the organization you were serving and the date each time you used your car for a charitable purpose. If you use the standard mileage rate of 14 cents a mile for 2011 and 2012, your records must show the miles you drove. If you use actual expenses to complete the deduction, your records must show the costs of operating the car for charitable purposes only.
Related Financial Guide: ADVANCED CHARITY TECHNIQUES: Maximizing Your Deduction
Related Financial Guide: CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONS OF PROPERTY: Maximizing the Deduction | <urn:uuid:56f95964-01e3-403d-a6bb-f674770ee358> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scineaccounting.com/le-charityrecords.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943244 | 2,232 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Mobile banking is more popular than ever, and just about every bank out there, plus PayPal, has an app for the iPhone, and for other smartphones as well. One of the main concerns about mobile banking has been keeping sensitive information safe. We’re not talking just names and e-mail addresses here, but account numbers and PINs. Put a few of those information blocks together, and a thief can really do some damage. And while we’re all pretty comfortable with our smartphones, and use them for everything from e-mail to social networking to making the occasional phone call, it’s still relatively new technology that hasn’t quite been perfected yet, at least not in terms of constant security. A lot of people got a reminder about that earlier this week when Citigroup announced its mobile banking app contained a security flaw.
Citibank, the banking arm under the Citigroup umbrella, is currently the number five mobile banking provider with about 800,000 mobile customers. Approximately 117,600 of those customers who use the Citi Mobile iPhone app were affected by what’s being described as a flaw in the app’s programming.
Citigroup released a statement explaining that whenever a customer used the app, it would save the customer’s banking account information on a hidden file stored on the iPhone. The company went on to say it doesn’t believe anyone’s personal data was compromised since its mobile banking app is the only application able to access the hidden data file.
Still, it posed a risk. John Hering, the CEO of Lookout, a mobile security provider, said the problem with programming flaws of this nature is that a hacker could create another app that is designed to retrieve data from hidden files on the phone. The risk would become even greater if a user’s phone was lost or stolen.
Citigroup released an upgraded application on July 19 that does not store any information, and also deletes any previously saved account data that may remain in the user’s iPhone or computer when the phone was synced.
If you’re a Citibank customer, and you use this app, you may want to upgrade if you haven’t already. | <urn:uuid:93936290-d618-40ba-a1b5-bfa065ea6a82> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mobilemoo.com/news/iphone-news/citibank-discovers-security-breach-in-iphone-app/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958292 | 459 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Mindful of current discussions within and outside academy around the past and present both historical and cultural, CS Journal, the Department of Humanities and the Group-Seminar on Cultural History at Icesi University, invite the national and international academic community to participate in the call for papers for the 9th issue of its journal.
This volume will have as its main topic of discussion current "studies on history and culture” approached from a broad perspective, where the different viewpoints from humanities and social sciences may converge. Thus, we seek to open a space for discussion and research where, starting from an interdisciplinary dialogue, the tense and complex relations between the fields of history and culture will be recognized and explored, not only in the wide scope of definitions involved, and the plurality of meanings it entails, but also in the variety of objects of study that have been part of reflections from the academy. Contributions are suggested to address any of the following specific topics:
• Social and cultural representations
• Cultural Practices
• History of Ideas and Intellectual History
• Material history and History of everyday life
• History and Political Culture.
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announcements appearing in this service. (Administration) | <urn:uuid:48724e71-b89a-4e5b-9163-d5ec0404e110> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=188846 | 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 | 0.933646 | 312 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Tuesday, September 11, 2012 10:09 PM EDT
By JONETTA BADILLO
It’s been 11 years since terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and miles away in the small towns of Middlesex County, Sept. 11 is not forgotten.
Middletown’s annual observance will take place at the South Green at 8:46 a.m., the time the first plane hit the World Trade Center. And at 10 a.m., the South Fire District in Middletown will hold a remembrance ceremony at the site of the steel beam from one of the towers at 445 Randolph Road. The groundbreaking that will take place will be the star of a memorial that will be built.
Middletown Mayor Daniel Drew invites the public to the earlier ceremony, in which police and firefighters will participate. There will be a moment of silence, the lowering of the American flag and the reading of the story behind the Signal 5555, according to Deputy Fire Chief Robert Kronenberger.
Residents and dignitaries from both Durham and Middlefield will take part in two separate 9/11 remembrance ceremonies tonight.
With each scheduled for 6 o’clock, Durham will hold its ceremony on the town Green, while Middlefield’s will take place at the town fire house.
Durham First Selectwoman Laura Francis said it was the town’s Recreation Department that started the event, and it’s become a tradition ever since.
She said last year about 20 people came out and she’s hoping the event will get the same turnout this year. People will have the opportunity to speak out about the horrific day that took thousands of lives in 2001.
Last year, Middlefield received a piece of steel from one of the World Trade Center twin towers, and held a dedication ceremony remembering those who died during the attacks, said Middlefield Volunteer Fire Company Fire Chief Peter Tyc.
"We had a monument dedicated to that, so it serves as a permanent remembrance," Tyc said, noting the event drew in a couple of hundred people last year.
The event, which Tyc said will be very simple this time around, will be about 30 minutes long.
Tyc said a group of firefighters worked on planning the event for a month as it takes time to notify people and invite town officials.
"We’ll see how many people show up," he said. "Hopefully, we get a good turnout."
A bagpiper will be performing in the ceremony tonight, Tyc added.
"We want to make sure this day is remembered," Tyc said. "It’s a significant day in our history. We’re not just remembering firefighters who died, but also the police officers and the people who were on those planes who crashed into the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania."
Jonetta Badillo can be reached by email at email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:07e8f362-1d32-4a15-b29b-96d462aab993> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.middletownpress.com/articles/2012/09/11/news/doc504ea9e8396e3258725229.prt | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959801 | 606 | 1.992188 | 2 |
This website is no longer being updated. Visit Dartmouth Now for all news published after June 7, 2010.
Dartmouth College Office of Public Affairs • Press Release
People watching short clips of silent debate footage are able to predict political election winners more accurately than predictions based on reports of economic conditions, finds a study supported by Dartmouth, the University of Chicago, Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research (ISR).
"We found that snap decisions based on charisma are a good predictor of election outcomes," says Daniel J. Benjamin, an assistant professor of economics at Dartmouth and a fellow at ISR. "But you need to measure charisma with silent video clips rather than sound-on clips because knowing about candidate policy positions disrupts people's ability to judge the non-verbal cues that really matter." Benjamin was a co-author of this study with Jesse M. Shapiro of the University of Chicago.
After watching ten-second silent video clips of competing gubernatorial candidates, participants in the study were able to pick the winning candidate at a rate significantly better than chance. When the sound was turned on and participants could hear what the candidates were saying, they were no better than chance at predicting the winner. For the study, Benjamin and Shapiro showed 264 participants, virtually all Harvard undergraduates, ten-second video clips of the major party candidates in 58 gubernatorial elections from 1988 to 2002.
Researchers found that the accuracy of predictions based solely on silent video clips was about the same as or greater than the accuracy of predictions based on knowledge of which candidate was the incumbent and information about the prevailing economic conditions at the time of the election, including the unemployment rate and any changes in personal income for the year prior to the election.
"The basic finding that adding policy information to visual information about candidates actually worsens voter judgment has some important implications," says Benjamin. "It may help to explain, for example, why expert forecasters, who are highly informed about and attentive to policy matters, have been found to perform no better than chance in predicting elections."
The findings also underscore the importance of charisma as distinct from policy positions or party affiliations in winning elections.
"It may be difficult to describe the factors that determine a politician's charisma," says Benjamin. "But it can be measured by how people react to a politician in the absence of information about policy positions. Our study clearly shows that reactions to even small amounts of visual information are highly informative about charisma."
The research was funded by the Taubman Center for State and Local Government at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and by KNP Communications, a political consulting firm that used the findings to develop a tool called the Virtual Primary(™) to help political organizations and donors predict at the beginning of the campaign which candidates would be successful in the end.
Dartmouth has television (satellite uplink) and radio (ISDN) studios available for domestic and international live and taped interviews. For more information, call 603-646-3661 or see our Radio, Television capability webpage. | <urn:uuid:123e3ee7-e072-43b7-9af9-75c2befe44d7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dartmouth.edu/~news/releases/2006/11/06.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962832 | 627 | 2.453125 | 2 |
An Elegant Presentation
Reviewed by Kevin L. Barney
Readers of a certain age may recall participating, whether as a youth leader or as a young person, in a rite of passage in Latter-day Saint culture known as "standards night." At this event, a typical scenario that was played out was to offer a piece of cake, or perhaps a stick of gum, to a member of the audience. Usually one of the young people would readily agree; but before giving it over to the waiting youth, the leader would mash and squeeze the piece of cake through her unwashed hands or chew the piece of gum vigorously. It was, of course, still a piece of cake or gum. Nevertheless, the young person, disgusted by the treatment of this supposed "treat," recoils in horror and wants nothing further to do with it. This was meant as an object lesson on the need to maintain one's virtue and remain morally clean. But it also illustrates well the point for which I wish to adapt it: that the way something is handled and presented matters greatly as to how readily it will be received and appreciated.
The volume under review, The Book of Mormon: A Reader's Edition (hereafter simply Reader's Edition), edited by Grant Hardy, sets forth the 1920 edition of the Book of Mormon (which is in the public domain and therefore available for such purposes) in a large and relatively expensive volume. Given that one can obtain a slender missionary edition for a few dollars (or, for that matter, usually for free), why should anyone buy this book? The answer lies in its presentation.
Although I suppose few of us have an actual first edition of the Book of Mormon in our personal libraries, many of us have a facsimile of the first edition and are therefore familiar with it. It of course purported to be scripture, but the first edition looked more like a novel than like the Bible. This perceived defect has been remedied over time in subsequent editions—most notably by Orson Pratt in the 1879 edition—by shortening the chapters and adding verse numbers, and subsequently in the 1981 edition by superimposing on the text the same apparatus (in three-columned footnotes) as was used for the King James Version (hereafter KJV) of the Bible published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1979.
Ironically, however, as the official editions of the Book of Mormon over time have come to look more and more like the KJV, modern Bible translations have been moving in the opposite direction—away from the double-columned, verse-centric formatting of the KJV to presenting the text in a single-column setting, the dominant organization of which is the paragraph, not the verse. That is, modern Bible translations have been presenting the Bible to look more and more like a novel, in a format that is easier for the reader to grasp. The Reader's Edition presents the text of the Book of Mormon in a manner similar to that used by modern editions of the Bible. These modern editorial standards are used precisely because they enhance the readability of the text, making it easier for modern English readers to follow what is going on and to see connections between ideas and phrasing that might be lost in a more verse-centric presentation.
Inasmuch as the Reader's Edition has many features designed to enhance the readability, comprehension, and appreciation of the text, at this point I will simply attempt to describe them:
When I first approached this book, there were two issues that concerned me. The first was the cost of the book, which, at just under forty dollars, is significant. The cost is, however, to a great extent a function of size. In order to accommodate the felicitous editing of the text used in this edition, the book runs to over seven hundred large pages, bound in a handsome hardback cover. In my view, the significant advantages to the elegant presentation of the text in this edition are well worth the cost. It helps to realize that Hardy is donating all his royalties from the sale of the book to the church's Humanitarian Services fund.
Part of the problem is that we have become so accustomed to inexpensive missionary editions of the Book of Mormon that we may tend to take the book somewhat for granted and not fully appreciate its value. Further, because the missionary editions are printed on onionskin paper and are quite thin (presumably to lessen the intimidation factor), we forget how long and complex a text the Book of Mormon really is. To space the text properly so that it can really breathe requires a lot of pages. Rereading the Book of Mormon in this edition reminded me how intricately constructed the book is. As Hardy points out (p. xiii), the book's high degree of literary coherence in the face of such a complex internal structure is truly stunning. If Joseph Smith were simply the author and creator of this account, then he would well deserve the label of "religious genius" it has become trendy to assign to him.
My second concern had to do with the use of the 1920 edition text. As a practicing Mormon, for devotional purposes I would obviously prefer to have access to the 1981 edition text, which of course was not available for this project. But for me, at least, Hardy's appendix on textual changes largely moots this concern. The vast majority of the changes are so immaterial that they would scarcely be noticed, even if one were to read assigned passages from this text out loud in a Sunday School class. Indeed, reviewing these changes in the text, one cannot help but chuckle at the overdramatic assertions still common in anti-Mormon literature announcing the shocked discovery that there have been over three thousand changes in the text. Further, Hardy makes it clear that he has no intention of somehow superseding the church's official 1981 edition. That edition has tools and advantages of its own, and in many contexts it will continue to be the edition of choice. The principal virtues of the Reader's Edition will become apparent not when used to look up individual verses, scripture-chase style, but in reading the book as a whole, or at least significant portions of it.
Although these initial two concerns were largely allayed when I read the book itself, a third concern arose at the conclusion of my reading, and that is the lack of an index. Many readers of this volume may not be Latter-day Saints or may otherwise lack ready access to the Topical Guide and other indexing resources of the official editions of the scriptures. I would hope that if a second edition is prepared, an index would be added.
There were very few points at which I noted an error or disagreed with Hardy's handling of an issue. As is obligatory in reviews such as this, however, I will mention a few:
These kinds of nits, however, were few and far between. Overall I found the notes to be excellent and innovative. For instance, I very much liked Hardy's treatment of chronological matters. He correctly gives the first year of the reign of Zedekiah as 597 BC, not 600. And he recognizes (p. xxii) that chronological correspondences to our calendar are necessarily approximate, both because of uncertainty over the length of the Nephite year and also because of uncertainty as to the year when Jesus was born. For the internal chronological systems based on either the reigns of the judges or the birth of Christ, Hardy simply designates the years with negative or positive numbers (e.g., -39 or +22) to show how the years relate to the sign of Christ's birth.
A significant problem with the official editions of the scriptures is that they do not handle quotations well. For example, to find quotations of the Old Testament in the New Testament it is necessary to look in the Bible Dictionary, s.v. "Quotations"; in situ cross-references are not consistently given, and even when they are given, they are often drowned in a sea of references so that their significance is not fully appreciated. To illustrate, try this experiment: First, read Hebrews 1 in the 1979 edition of the KJV. Then read it again in an edition that shows the quotes with a different typeface, such as bold or italic. When you can immediately see and appreciate the extent to which the author is quoting from the Old Testament, it is a very different reading experience. This volume handles such quotations much better, not only with footnoted references in the text itself, but also by showing the quotes with either indented or italicized text. This intertextuality can especially be seen when Nephi interprets Isaiah at 1 Nephi 22 (such as at pp. 57-60) and in 2 Nephi 25 and following (pp. 117-34).3
I have a particular interest in the Hebraic poetry of the Book of Mormon,4 and so I was especially pleased to see that Hardy used indentation to assist the reader in recognizing parallel lines. I was also relieved that Hardy did not try to go too far and replicate all of the poetic and rhetorical structures set forth by Donald W. Parry in his Book of Mormon Text Reformatted according to Parallelistic Patterns (hereafter Parallelistic Patterns).5 Although the Hardy and Parry volumes overlap slightly in purpose, ultimately they serve very different needs. Parallelistic Patterns shows no attention to matters of font, spacing, graphic design, headers, and so forth, and is essentially unusable as one's primary text of the Book of Mormon. But that is not its reason for being—it is rather an explication of an argument, a resource, reference, and repository for detailed information regarding Hebrew poetic and rhetorical forms in the Book of Mormon text. Conversely, the purpose of Hardy's Reader's Edition is specifically that of providing a very readable presentation, and to get mired in the details set forth in Parallelistic Patterns would not have furthered that purpose. In my view, both Reader's Edition and Parallelistic Patterns are important volumes for the libraries of students of the Book of Mormon, and neither fills the particular role of the other as a tool of Book of Mormon study.
The glossary of names is useful because it is more than just a list. It identifies individuals by family relationships and place names by geographic orientations, and it gives the first reference in the text where the name occurs. Hardy also follows the excellent practice of the 1981 edition of using subscripted numbers to differentiate different people who bear the same name.
I was glad to see that in the "Suggestions for Further Reading" Hardy has included a section on "Critical Responses." To be useful as a scholar's edition, the book needs to point the reader to some of this literature.
I well remember a couple of decades ago attending conferences at Brigham Young University at which Truman Madsen managed to assemble some of the world's foremost scholars of religion, several of whom brought to bear their considerable skills and tools on the Book of Mormon itself. Those were heady times, but there has been too little of that kind of scholarly attention paid to the Book of Mormon since. As the Catholic scholar Thomas O'Dea famously noted many years ago, "the Book of Mormon has not been universally considered by its critics as one of those books that must be read in order to have an opinion of it."6 Perhaps one of the more well known recent examples of this dictum is Harold Bloom, whose comments on the Book of Mormon do not reflect deep understanding and apparently were not benefited by an actual reading of the text.7 The day when this sort of an effort will qualify as scholarship on the Book of Mormon has passed. Ideally accompanied by Terryl Givens's introduction to Book of Mormon studies,8 Grant Hardy's Reader's Edition now makes easily available, even for the uninitiated, a text of the Book of Mormon that can be understood and will reward careful reading. As various universities begin to flirt with the concept of "Mormon studies," this is a most welcome development indeed.
If it is not clear by now, let me reiterate that I loved this book and thought it was very well executed (and very much needed). A word of warning, however: reading the Book of Mormon all the way through in this edition might well spoil you from reading it any other way. | <urn:uuid:7ed8da85-0ac1-4bd3-a8b3-262be922a74d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/review/?vol=16&num=1&id=522 | 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 | 0.966589 | 2,518 | 2.015625 | 2 |
|Barbara Robertson is a contributing editor of Computer Graphics World and a freelance journalist specializing in computer graphics, visual effects, and animation. She can be reached at: BarbaraRR@attbi.com.
A guy, a girl, and a car. Ah, the stories you could tell, the movies you could make, if only...if only you could afford to hire the cast, crew, a director of photography, location scout, costume designer, and, and.... But wait! Maybe you can. Maybe anyone can—anyone, that is, willing to substitute animated characters for live actors.
That's the promise and, for some, already the reality of Machinima. A combination of the words "machine" and "animation," this new genre is frequently defined as filmmaking within a real-time 3D environment, although, in practice, it's usually filmmaking within a game engine.
"Machinima is the convergence of filmmaking, animation, and game development," explains Paul Marino, co-founder of the Academy of Machinima Arts and Sciences (AMAS) and of the Machinima-making studio, ILL Clan. An outgrowth of game movies and game mods, Machinima has been compared to puppet shows, animated films, improvisational theater and interactive fiction.
In fact, Machinima is all those things. "You can set up a camera and use the models in a game," says Jake Hughes, who made his Machinima movie Anacronox within a Quake 2 game. "It might take a half-hour to set up your first camera, but then it's quick. You can try a close-up or a dolly or a zoom using models in the game. You can access the characters' animations, and after learning the process, you can create an entire scene. The levels are essentially different sets. It's a blast."
|Anachronox: The Movie, created by Jake Hughes within a Quake 2 game, won Best Picture at the first Machinima Film Festival.
Hughes made his film from cinematics he created for and within the game Anacronox. "As you play Anacronox, suddenly your character is telling a story in the cinematics," he says. After the game was released, Hughes realized he could create a narrative from the cinematics. So, he output scenes to AVI files, edited them in Adobe System's Premiere and produced the 2-1/2 hour animated film.
"It's a gift to be able to see new media being created; it's like watching Gutenberg as he invented the printing press," says Henry Lowood, curator for the history of science and technology collections at Stanford University Libraries. "One idea is that you can make movies without mortgaging the house, but it's interesting to think about it more as performance. Machinima offers a new production process for what is possibly a new medium."
|Lenny and Larry Lumberjack star in ILL Clan's award-winning Machinima short, Hardly Workin'.©2001 The ILL Clan, Inc.
That's exactly what ILL Clan is doing. At press time, the studio was planning a Machinima-based performance for the Florida Film Festival that would feature the animated characters Lenny and Larry Lumberjack from their award-winning short film Hardly Workin'. "We'll have a predetermined idea for a story, but we'll elicit suggestions from the audience," Marino says. "It will be animated improvisational theater."
The stage is Mom's Truckstop, a set (or level) inside a Quake 2 engine, where Larry, Lenny, and Mom's cook will be puppeteered by three members of ILL Clan using computer keyboards. "A camera person will set up the shots, and then he or I will jump from one camera to the next," says Marino. He plans to record the performance so it can be edited later into a short film that could then be distributed on DVDs and released on Web sites.
"It's hard to get the real industry to notice Machinima because the graphics don't look so good and the film industry doesn't understand games and their look, but the graphics are getting better," says Hughes. "Five years from now, we'll have games that look more like Toy Story, and the Machinima tools will be adapted into those games."
Indeed, most Machinima characters look and move like game characters, and facial animation is a far cry from Toy Story. "It's like previz on steroids," says Marino, alluding to studios such as ILM, which used a game engine to give Steven Spielberg a previz playground for A.I. (see "Inside Moves," July, 2001, pg. 43).
But simplicity is not a problem for Machinima aficionados. "One of the things we're doing with our next film is completely abandoning photorealism," says Hugh Hancock, chairman of the Edinburgh-based Machinima studio Strange Company and editor of the www.machinima.com Web site. "We're giving it a comic book feel."
Characters will be created in NewTek's LightWave and imported into either a game engine or new Machinima software under development in a secretive Cambridge-based start-up company.
The question is, if the result will be a linear narrative, why work within the limitations of an interactive medium? "Machinima is spontaneous," Hancock says. "You can try things out, play about, and there's no penalty. It's the playfulness of it that's really important."
Tommy Pallotta, producer of the animated feature Waking Life, also finds Machinima fascinating. "I thought that working within the limitations in this world would be interesting," he says. So, when the British band Zero 7 asked him to direct its latest music video, he decided to use Machinima, and enlisted help from Fountainhead Entertainment. "It probably would have been quicker to do the film in a 3D animated program," he says. "But now, we can reuse the assets in an improvisational way."
|Zero 7's "In the Waiting Line," by Waking Life producer Tommy Pallotta, was the first music video created with Machinima tools.
"Everything has been done," says Katherine Anna Kang, Fountainhead founder and co-founder of AMAS. "We can take elements from this storytelling music video and apply them to a game." They could also churn out episodes for a TV series.
Like most Machinima studios, Fountainhead has developed tools to help set up lights and cameras for real-time filmmaking. The studio plans to offer AMAS members a "sandbox" version of its Machinimation software to capture animations. "It will be like a consumer camcorder," Kang says.
In addition, although Kang can't imagine doing Machinima in anything other than a game engine, some Machinimists are considering real-time tools such as Kaydara's MotionBuilder, which offers clever animation tools and the possibility of including media such as video within the real-time environments.
Animator Randy Cole, who worked with Pallotta, notes, "Machinima was like doing normal 3D animation, but with lots of limitations." Cole used Caligari's Truespace and Alias|Wavefront's Maya to create models, which were imported into Fountainhead's Machinimation tools in Quake 3. The resulting music video, which has played on www.mtv.com, looks more like traditional 3D animation than most Machinima films
So why bother? "I was asking myself that," Cole says. "But you could actually see in real time how everything would look. And you could record the animation as you moved the camera around, so it was like being on a set. When I went back to 3D animation, I missed that."
And that's why Kang prefers working inside game engines. "I want characters that react to the environment and that affect the environment," she says.
"While many of the Machinima people talk about it as a new way to make films, I think there's something very prescient about it," says Carl Goodman, curator of digital media for the American Museum of the Moving Image (Astoria, NY). "It's telling us what films in the future might be like. The camera is reduced to a construct, to one's perspective onscreen rather than a physical object. It's truer to the notion of digital cinema than using digital cameras."
And it's more accessible if people can make films for the price of a game or by using Kaydara's $100 personal limited edition. AMAS hopes to create an asset library for budding filmmakers, says Marino, so they aren't limited to game models.
"That would give people who are not modelers or animators access to a world they otherwise couldn't access," says Cole. "It would be fascinating to see what people would do... they could grab a guy, a girl, and a car, and make a movie."
For his part, Pallotta now plans to use a game engine for his next film. "I'm interested in straddling the line between film and gaming," he says. "Interactive narrative has failed for the last 20 years. That's a challenge I'd like to tackle." | <urn:uuid:3af5bf52-1772-47d3-a718-cf83f7f13187> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cgw.com/Publications/CGW/2003/Volume-26-Issue-4-April-2003-/Films-of-the-Future.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970446 | 1,941 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Are Almond Oatmeal Cookies Healthy?
Cookies have long been considered as nothing but tasty treats, however, does that hold true for almond oatmeal cookies? Almonds are popular as the memory enhancers and oatmeal is a known source of several wholesome nutrients. It is obvious to assume that anything prepared using these as the key ingredients would be healthy, or is it! Read on to find out the truth…
Nutritional composition of almond oatmeal cookies
Several forms of almond and oatmeal cookies are available with many recipes combining other ingredients like chocolate chip, peanuts, raisins, etc. to the cookie mixture. The values given here are for standardized oatmeal and almond cookies prepared using flour, butter, and sugar as the main adjuncts. For ease of discussion, the other varieties have not been included.
Total calories – 165 kcal
Total fat – 4 gm
Saturated fat – 1 gm
Cholesterol – 23 mg
Total carbohydrates – 30 gm
Sugar – 8 gm
Dietary fiber – 5 gm
Protein – 6 gm
Sodium – 63 mg
The calcium, potassium, and iron content of the cookies can vary from 1% to 15%.
Health benefits of almond oatmeal cookies:
Good for brain development and function
Almonds are a rich source of essential fatty acids, which are important for brain development and cognition. Oatmeal is a good source of carbohydrates, which is the primary source of energy to the brain. These 2 ingredients together enhance brain activity and cognitive functions.
Prevents lifestyle related diseases and disorders
Both oatmeal and almonds are a rich source of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber. These nutrients help prevent a medley of diseases including CVD, diabetes, and cancer.
Helps reduce weight
The abundance of soluble fibers in the cookies provides very high satiety value. This helps curb sweet cravings and junk food addiction. Almonds have a naturally sweet taste, which helps reduce the amount of sugar added to cookies. If prepared using the right adjuncts, these cookies can actually help maintain weight loss regimen.
Good for skin
Almonds are rich source of tocopherol / Vitamin E: a nutrient known for preventing premature aging, wrinkles, and promoting supple skin. Irregular bowel movements is purported to cause acne, the high fiber content of these cookies helps prevent this malady as well.
Disadvantages of eating almonds oatmeal cookies:
- Even though almonds and oatmeal healthy ingredients, they make up for less than 50% of the cookie recipe. Adjuncts such as butter or shortening, white flour, and sugar are essential to prepare this dish and responsible for making them not so healthy after all. As is evident from the nutrition profile given earlier, these add unnecessary calories and free sugar to the baked dish. Moreover, while the key ingredients help reduce cholesterol, fat used to prepare the cookies add direct cholesterol to the diet. Sugar and white flour cause a sudden peak in blood sugar levels, which negates the presence of dietary fibers in oats and almonds. Thus nullifying the health benefits brought about by almonds and oats.
- Apart from the additives added the processing that the key ingredients endure ends up damaging several of their virtues. Most antioxidants are heat labile and so are the vitamins present in these foods. Unless fortified, the cookies may not provide any of the antioxidant and vitamin benefits of the raw ingredients.
- Certain studies have shown that over consumption of almonds can cause hair loss problems and hence, must be consumed in moderation.
- People with almond and/or tree nut allergy must avoid consuming almonds in any form. Consuming any food product that has come in contact with and/or contains almonds can cause fatal anaphylactic shock among these people.
Thus, to conclude, almond oatmeal cookies can at the best be labeled as best of the 2 evils. They surely are better options than butter cookies or sugar cookies, but when compared to other snack or breakfast dishes like almond oatmeal porridge, they do fail to deliver results. | <urn:uuid:5167c5b7-50fe-4eda-a53c-17cb7a1aade7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ifood.tv/blog/are-almond-oatmeal-cookies-healthy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916179 | 834 | 2.78125 | 3 |
It’s Take Your Cat to the Vet Week
Fellow kitty parents, we made a promise. We took an oath. We vowed to love, cuddle and care for our feline friends in times of sickness and health. But with veterinary costs on the rise, how do we keep doing what’s best for them without breaking the bank? One word: prevention. In honor of Take Your Cat to the Vet Week, the following tips will help you save on vet care—and help them live longer, healthier lives.
Don’t skip yearly exams. This is a big no-no. Remember the saying, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?” Well, it applies to our pets, too. It’s much more expensive—and risky—to treat an illness than to protect against it.
Vaccinate! Hard times are not an excuse to skip your cat’s annual shots, but it does make sense to talk to your vet about creating a vaccine protocol specific to their needs. Some vaccines are optional, while others are essential in preventing serious diseases.
You are what you eat. A good quality cat food—formulated under the guidelines of the American Association of Feed Control Officials—is often more cost effective than a cheap or homemade diet. Also, avoid overfeeding your feline, which can lead to obesity.
Spaying or neutering can save lots of money. This simple action prevents serious health problems including uterine, ovarian and testicular cancer. Visit our online database to find a low-cost program in your area. If you live in New York City, check out our mobile clinic.
For other measures you can take to help cut down on vet costs, check out our Saving Money on Vet Care section. | <urn:uuid:83e43926-2c98-46c0-a5ee-f8d7ade3ce19> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.aspca.org/content/its-take-your-cat-vet-week | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925808 | 369 | 1.945313 | 2 |
Why would God reach down his hand and drag his fierce fingers across rural America killing at least 38 people with 90 tornadoes in 12 states, and leaving some small towns with scarcely a building standing, including churches?
If God has a quarrel with America, wouldn’t Washington, D.C., or Las Vegas, or Minneapolis, or Hollywood be a more likely place to show his displeasure?
We do not ascribe such independent power to Mother Nature or to the devil. God alone has the last say in where and how the wind blows. If a tornado twists at 175 miles an hour and stays on the ground like a massive lawnmower for 50 miles, God gave the command.
- “The wind of the Lord, shall come, rising from the wilderness, and it shall strip Ephraim’s treasury of every precious thing” (Hosea 13:15).
- “The Lord turned the wind into a very strong west wind, which lifted the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea” (Exodus 10:19).
- “God appointed a scorching east wind” (Jonah 4:8).
- “God commanded and raised the stormy wind” (Psalm 107:25).
- “Even winds and sea obey Jesus” (Matthew 8:27).
But why Maryville and not Minneapolis? Why Henryville and not Hollywood?
God has spoken about these things. Consider three ways he addresses — all of us.
1. Job, “Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Job’s ten children died because “a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people” (Job 1:19).
Job cries out to God, “Why have you made me your mark? . . . Why do you hide your face and count me as your enemy? . . . Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power?” (Job 7:20; 13:24; 21:7).
In other words, Why Henryville, and not Hollywood?
God’s answer to Job is not that he was a worse sinner than the “wicked” — or that Maryville had some dark secret.
His answer was, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?’” (Romans 11:33–34; Job 15:8; 36:22f).
Job’s loss was not a measure of his immorality. “Job was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil” (Job 1:1).
In fact, perhaps God chose Job for that deadly wind because only the likes of Job would respond: “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).
2. Luke 13:4–5, “Unless you repent.”
A Tower fell and killed 18 people in Jesus’ day. Jesus spoke into that situation: “Those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:4–5).
This is a word to those of us who sit safely in Minneapolis or Hollywood and survey the desolation of Maryville and Henryville. “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
Every deadly wind in any town is a divine warning to every town.
3. 1 Peter 4:17, “God’s own people are not excluded.”
We are not God’s counselors. Nor can we fathom all his judgments. That was the lesson of Job. Let us beware, therefore, of reading the hand of providence with too much certainty or specificity. God is always doing a thousand things when he does anything. And we see but a fraction.
But stir into your mental framework this truth: When a time for judgment comes, it usually includes, and begins with, God’s own people. That’s what the apostle Peter says.
“It is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17; Jeremiah 25:29; Ezekiel 9:6; Amos 3:2).
Therefore, God’s will for America under his mighty hand, is that every Christian, every Jew, every Muslim, every person of every religion or non-religion, turn from sin and come to Jesus Christ for forgiveness and eternal life. Jesus rules the wind. The tornadoes were his.
But before Jesus took any life in rural America, he gave his own on the rugged cross. Come to me, he says, to America — to the devastated and to the smugly self-sufficient. Come to me, and I will give you hope and help now, and in the resurrection, more than you have ever lost.
You can show your partnership in suffering, and help lift the load, at Samaritan’s Purse.
Recent posts from John Piper — | <urn:uuid:d1c6afda-1741-4317-a0c6-73e973eaa6a8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/fierce-tornadoes-and-the-fingers-of-god | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960339 | 1,170 | 2.359375 | 2 |
Long before fresh ingredients and a “back to basics” approach to cooking became trendy in the UK, the fertile Cotswolds – a picturesque stretch of hilly land that is split between Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire in England’s west, crisscrossed with winding country lanes and dotted with thatch-roofed, picture-perfect villages — was already renowned for its diverse produce and the use of locally-sourced, seasonal ingredients.
However, the Cotswolds are eagerly embracing this current food revolution — championed by British chefs such as Jamie Oliver and Rick Stein — and its many celebrated dining establishments are pushingModern British cuisine to new levels of creativity. The Cotswolds’ draw for foodies also includes a great variety of local cheeses, meats, fruit, vegetables, honey, fish, ales, beer and more, found either at their respective sources or at the many farmers’ markets and food festivals held in the region throughout the year.
So what should you be on the lookout for? The Cotswolds are responsible for more than a hundred different varieties of cheese, including the fantastic goats’ cheeses from the Windrush Valley dairy; creamy organic Cotswold Brie made by Simon Weaver of Lower Slaughter; mild and crumbly Single Gloucester made of Gloucestershire cattle milk from Godsells Cheese; and St Eadburgha – reminiscent of Camembert – from Gorsehill Abbey. The production of Double Gloucester, a stronger-tasting, more savoury, less crumbly version of Single Gloucester, is not restricted to the Cotswolds, unlike that of Single Gloucester , but it is the only cheese in England to participate in the highly dangerous annual sport of cheese-rolling, held at Cooper’s Hill near Brockworth in the Cotswolds.
Meat-wise, keep an eye out for the organic burgers – winners of the Food Product of the Year at the Cotswold Life Food and Drink Awards in 2011 – and meatballs, courtesy of LoveMyCow from Tagmoor Farm near Bourton-on-the-Water in the central Cotswolds, as well as ethically-farmed boar products from the Real Boar Company and a locally-reared breed of pig – Gloucestershire’s Old Spot – on menus throughout the region. More exotic fare, such as smoked venison, trout and salmon, can be found at Upton Smokery near Burford in the east of the region.
A sweet tooth can be sated with ice cream courtesy of Winstones and theCotswolds Ice Cream Company, as well as the locally-made classic British sticky toffee pudding or Banbury cakes – currant-filled pastries, baked in their namesake village in the northeast Cotswolds for a good 500 years.
Artisan brews abound. Ones to sample include the seasonal, quintessentially British The Dog’s Bollocks, a fruity pale golden ale, and Bah Humbug, a spiced dark golden ale by Wychwood. Also not to miss are ales –ranging from golden bitter Hooky and fruity Old Hooky to the dark, malty Double Stout — by Hook Norton, Bulldog golden ale and Nelson, a classic bitter, by The Patriot Brewery, and Codger, a dry, crisp beer with a hoppy finish, Stunner, a malty, fruity pale ale, and Rascal, a fruity, citrusy wheat beer, by the Cotswold Spring Brewing Co. Non-alcoholic tipples that you will find in village shops throughout the region include fruit cordials by Five Valleys and Benson’s apple juice.
Although it is a real joy to drive or ramble around the Cotswolds to find these delectable morsels and tipples at their source, if time is at a premium you can kill a plethora of birds with one stone by timing your visit to coincide with a major farmers’ market or one of the many local food festivals.
Due to its former importance as the centre of the cloth industry, the Cotswolds have a market tradition that goes back several hundred years, though for some villages, the switch to produce has been a fairly recent one. Case in point is Stroud — not the most picturesque of the west Cotswolds villages, yet its award-winning weekly Saturday market, launched in 1999, is the largest in the United Kingdom and attracts nationwide attention beyond its 60 or so stallholders — it was featured in the television programmes The Hairy Bikers’ Food Tour of Britain and Rick Stein’s Food Heroes, and was also the recipient of Best Food Market accolade at the BBC Food and Farming Awards in 2010. In the northern Cotswolds, Chipping Norton – a market town since the 12th Century – holds its farmers’ market on the third Saturday of every month and features produce as diverse as Fosse Way honey, organic cheese, ales and even local wine, while the intimate market in Stow-on-the-Wold, held on the second Thursday of the month, is the place for baked goods and locally-caught trout.
When it comes to food fiestas, the Cotswold calendar is not complete without a visit to the Stroud Food Festival, part of a two-week food extravaganza in the first half of September – which celebrates the best of local produce without resorting to importing gimmicky celebrity chefs for the event. More niche is the British Asparagus Festival, attracting asparagus-lovers to the Vale of Eversham in the northwest Cotswolds between April and June each year with every imaginable asparagus recipe, auctions of the best “gras” (as it is locally known) and other festivities. A new, small-scale festival that shows great promise is theNorth Cotswolds Food and Farming Festival, which combines fresh produce with teaching attendees about rare livestock breeds and farming. It took place for the first time at Cotswold Farm Park near Stow-on-the-Wold in October 2011 and is now planned to become an annual event.
Last but not least are the area’s many dining establishments, lauded for carrying on the tradition of Modern British cuisine – a backlash against the austerity of the World War II years, consisting of reinventing classic British dishes with Mediterranean touches – using the best of local seasonal produce and plenty of imagination and flair.
In the region’s northeast, Wild Thyme in Chipping Norton uses such seasonal ingredients to great effect, creating the likes of braised pork belly with Cotswold crayfish and pairing English cherries with a peach and pistachio salad. In the southwest, the succinct menu at Nailsworth’s Wild Garlic is a happy melange of international influences and has a changing monthly menu, dictated by market availability; the results – roasted bone marrow salad with capers, salt cod and shellfish Catalan stew – speak for themselves.
The French-influenced Old Butchers, in the highly-visited central Cotswold village of Stow-on-the-Wold, is not afraid to use offal, such as calves’ brains, alongside more traditional fare that includes slow-cooked mutton with pearl barley. In tiny Bourton-on-the-Hill, also in the central Cotswolds, the menu at the award-winning Horse and Groom is unashamedly British and deceptively simple; the quality of its beer-battered hake, slow-roasted pork belly and apple and rhubarb crumble, together with its home brew – Goff’s Jouster — sets it apart from its peers. The contribution of another miniature village – Upper Slaughter — to the rich culinary world of the Cotswolds has not gone unnoticed either; its ambitious pairings of Cornish crab with mango and veal sweetbreads with cep cannelloni, as well as more traditional poached chicken and braised beef, have earned the Lords of the Manor its Michelin star.
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By Sanjeev Patel, CYT
Most Yoga students need to be taught a specific method to warm up, or loosen the muscles and joints. Increased circulation in the muscles and lubrication of the joints are crucial to avoid injury and to get the benefits of the yoga practice. Warm ups also provide a time to begin to focus the mind and breath and make it less likely for the student to have stiffness or soreness afterwards.
During Yoga teacher training, it is important for interns to learn a variety of warm ups from seated, standing, or kneeling positions. As you know, many Yoga teachers start classes from different positions.
A warm up could begin seated, kneeling, or in standing positions reaching upwards into Palm Tree Posture II and then moving into Palm Tree posture IV, stretching the sides of the body. Rag doll Forward bend begins to loosen up the body with the bending, swinging and limpness of the arms releasing tension in the neck, shoulder and back while lengthening the hamstrings. Swinging rag doll and arm swings helps release and twisting from side to side is also good.
The Chimp Bounce is excellent for circulation and “lightness” as it is and hard to remain too serious while bouncing and vocalizing. Arm Rotation and Shoulder Squeeze are good for warming up the shoulder joints. Many people tend to carry tension in the shoulders so a good warm up there is essential.
Head rolls are good from left to right, but not backward. Be very careful of the neck to avoid compression on the back side of the movement. Some options like shoulder rolls, and hip circling are all good for loosening and preparing the body for asanas. Sitting down, the Spinal Rock I and Cradle Rock are good warm ups for gently massaging the length of the spine.
The Recumbent Stretch would fit in nicely here as a further warm up and release of tension. Then while sitting in Sukhasana one may do ankle rolls and foot stretches. This puts less strain on the knees and enables a thorough exploration of the stretch in the feet and ankles.
© Copyright 2010 – Sanjeev Patel / Aura Publications
Sanjeev Patel is a certified Yoga teacher and an exclusive author for Aura Wellness Center.
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FREE CONTENT: If you are a Yoga Teacher, Yoga studio, blogger, e-zine, or website publisher, and are in need of quality content, please feel free to use my blog entries (articles). Please be sure to reprint each article, as is, including the resource box above. Namaste | <urn:uuid:1f7bb8b2-49df-4f0f-86b6-61569892a5a8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.yoga-teacher-training.org/2010/06/13/teaching-yoga-the-value-of-hatha-yoga-warm-ups/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916735 | 555 | 2.328125 | 2 |
Looking into how 3D has influenced the way we think, we take a closer look into LightWave 3D Group and their 3D influence on virtual production.
The LightWave® 3D Group, a division of NewTek, Inc., announced today it is making virtual production available to everyone with LightWave® 11.5’s Virtual Studio Tools, which offer real-time performance capture for virtual cameras, character puppeteering, and virtual lighting tools. Demonstrated publicly for the first time at SIGGRAPH 2012, actors used five individual Sony Playstation 3 (PS3) Move controllers concurrently to capture and play back live performance in real-time using LightWave 11.5 Virtual Studio Tools.
Watch the SIGGRAPH 2012 LightWave Virtual Studio Tools video here: http://youtu.be/SLbl7hl2PRc.
Extending the development of its cutting-edge virtual production toolset, the LightWave 3D Group also announced today the development of next-generation virtual production tools and technology for virtual location scouting, virtual art department, virtual cinematography, virtual lighting, and virtual puppeteering for the live production, film, television, visualization, architecture, and gaming markets.
Virtual Studio Tools in LightWave 11.5 allow artists to easily manage and control animated objects and characters while recording the performance motion from simultaneous devices into animation takes for playback and viewing. The new Control Booth and Device Managers in Virtual Studio Tools can be used to manage every aspect of how a controller is configured and used in LightWave, allowing anything that can be animated in LightWave to be controlled with numerous devices.
“The ability to put innovative hardware and software solutions for virtual visualization and virtual art department technologies into the hands of artists is a very exciting opportunity,” said Rob Powers, president, LightWave 3D Group. “Virtual production technology creates a shift for artists by allowing them to control every aspect of the performance themselves—they’re in the driver’s seat and our Virtual Studio tools support their efforts. The work is done by their own hand.”
LightWave was the first software to offer virtual production tools in its list of features with support for the InterSense VCam™ Tracking System and 3DConnexion 3D controllers. Now support for the Playstation Move opens the door for studios of all sizes to use virtual production tools in their production pipelines.
One of the first five individuals hired directly by James Cameron to work on “Avatar,” Rob Powers created the industry’s first Virtual Art Department (VAD) for the film; Powers was also recently nominated for an Art Director’s Guild award for his work as VAD supervisor on the Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg film “The Adventures of Tintin.”
“This type of virtual technology is changing the way projects are produced,” said Powers. “It far exceeds pre-visualization by shifting the production process back to a real-time collaborative discovery process and closely aligning the digital visual effects and animation process with live-action production. Now creative teams can collaborate in the moment instead of months later after a lengthy postproduction process.”
New to the LightWave 3D Group is Dominick Spina who is utilizing his previous experience as NVIDIA senior technology product manager responsible for GPU accelerated projects at studios, product manager at Digital Domain, and development lead for D2 Software’s Academy Award® winning NUKE compositing software to aid in the creation of LightWave’s next-generation virtual production tools. “The LightWave 3D Group is uniquely positioned to bring virtual production and visualization to everyone—from individual artists to large studios with complex pipelines,” said Dominick Spina, VP worldwide sales and marketing, LightWave 3D Group. “NewTek’s longstanding expertise in hardware product manufacturing and its development of leading 3D software technologies will continue to inspire new developments in next-generation virtual production tools for LightWave and related products.”
LightWave 3D combines a state-of-the-art renderer with powerful and intuitive modeling and animation tools. LightWave includes 999 cross-platform render nodes, support for Windows and Mac UB 64- and 32-bit operating systems, free technical support and more. LightWave is enjoyed worldwide as a complete 3D production solution for feature film and television visual effects, broadcast design, print graphics, architectural visualization, game development, and more. LightWave is responsible for more artists winning Emmy® Awards than any other 3D application.
For more information about LightWave or the LightWave 3D Group, please visit: http://www.lightwave3d.com, Twitter, YouTube or connect with us on Facebook.
Pricing and Availability
Purchase or upgrade to LightWave 11 and automatically receive LightWave 11.5 at no extra cost when the software is publicly available. LightWave 11 is priced at $1495; upgrade pricing from earlier versions of LightWave is $695. LightWave 11.5 is expected to ship Q4 2012 at a suggested retail price of US$1495. Educational pricing is also available. Visit lightwave3d.com to purchase or locate an authorized LightWave reseller.
Benefiting producers and artists with cost-effective and groundbreaking technologies, NewTek is a worldwide leader in portable live production, video editing, 3D animation and special effects tools, including the TriCaster™ product line, 3Play™ and LightWave 3D®. NewTek has won numerous industry accolades, including two Emmy® Awards.
Clients include: “The X Factor,” ESPN X Games, New York Giants, NBA Development League, Fox News, BBC, NHL, Nickelodeon, CBS Radio, ESPN Radio, Fox Sports, MTV, TWiT.TV, USA TODAY, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). NewTek products have been used in feature films and television shows, including “The Amazing Spider-Man,” “The Hunger Games,” “Avatar,” “The Adventures of Tintin,” “The Walking Dead,” “Fringe,” “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” and more.
Source: Press Release
Have a question for the HD Guru3D?
Copyright 2012 HD Guru Inc. All rights reserved. HD GURU is a registered trademark. | <urn:uuid:0fe57907-cf29-45c3-bd86-b3f9927fe3c3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hdguru3d.com/ligthwave-3d-group-surprises-us/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.905708 | 1,334 | 1.585938 | 2 |
For the more information about the air resources of the National Park Service, please visit http://www.nature.nps.gov/air/.
Pondicherry Wildlife Refuge
Within Pondicherry Wildlife Refuge are two shallow, warm water ponds, surrounded by marsh, bog and forest that support an abundance of submerged, floating, and emergent vegetation, and a great variety of birds. The wetland complex is the type locality for a species of pondweed and spike-rush.
Location: Coos County, NH
Year designated: 1972
Ownership: State, Private
Please remember, National Natural Landmarks (NNLs) are not national parks. NNL status does not indicate public ownership, and many sites are not open for visitation.
Last Updated: June 28, 2012 | <urn:uuid:4f3b7c29-412a-483f-b7c5-957bd0cb3fe3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nature.nps.gov/nnl/site.cfm?Site=POND-NH | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.904184 | 162 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Handbook >> Game Theory >> Useful Concepts in Game Theory >> The concept of Equilibrium and some solution concepts >> Backward induction >>
Using Backward Induction to solve a game in extensive form
The picture above depicts a popular game known as the centipede game. The centipede game was popularised by Rosenthal(1981).
The way to solve this game is to apply backwards induction. If we see look at the next to final node player 2 will surely choose D, taking 101 instead of 100 and leaving player 1 with 98 instead of 100. this is because playing A is dominated by playing D for player 2. So, at the next to final node player 1 will choose D, taking 99 instead of the 98 he would have got by choosing A and letting 2 choose D. This will leave player 2 with 99 and so he in turn a node earlier will chosse D and take 100. And so on- going back up the tree, players 1 and 2 always take D instead of A, winding up with 1 choosing D at the first node in the game for a payoffs of 1 for each player, whereas each player would receive 100 if they played to the end of the tree.
However, based on experimental evidence this is not the best prediction of actual reality, and asked to play the game, one typically finds even the more sophisticated players moving a fair ways out towards the end before one of them chooses D. For a discussion of experiments using the centipede game click here | <urn:uuid:5c84aac1-162d-45ac-b580-058c5cc9963f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.econport.org/content/handbook/gametheory/useful/equilibrium/backward/solve.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961147 | 304 | 4.0625 | 4 |
You may think that you have seen it all --
You have read books, learned from teachers
and other movies like this one,
But ... there is more to the story ...
You were provided ideas, concepts, science and some basic tools, but where do you go from this point forward? | <urn:uuid:19117219-6c06-46b8-a255-4bb7d0486dc8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://theultimateanswermovie.com/ | 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 | 0.977776 | 61 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Movement 1: Agnus Dei
Movement 2: Beat! beat! drums!
Movement 3: Reconciliation Word over all, beautiful as the sky
Sir Thomas Allen (baritone), Judith Howarth (soprano), Corydon Singers, Corydon Orchestra, Matthew Best (conductor)
Movement 4: Dirge for two veterans The last sunbeam
Movement 5: The Angel of Death has been abroad
In the event, Vaughan Williams’s warnings and entreaties went unheeded. But the humanitarian warmth and splendour of his vision remains; and, after all, if the day ever dawns when composers fail to speak out through the medium of their art against mankind’s seemingly illimitable folly and wickedness, we shall be in a poor way, to put it mildly.
1) The soprano solo leads the forces of apprehensive humanity (the chorus) in their quest for peace. At the end the drums of war are heard in the far distance.
2) War erupts: nothing and nobody is inviolate. The Whitman setting is dominated by beating drums and blowing bugles, inbuilt in the music even when the text isn’t directly referring to them. In an inspired transition (Vaughan Williams no less than Britten was a master of the seamless scene-change) the drums of war turn into the lapping, laving rhythms of …
3) Reconciliation. The ‘enemy’ is dead—‘a man as divine as myself’, as in Wilfred Owen’s ‘Strange Meeting’—and music of transcendent beauty and simplicity warms and cleanses the world.
4) Dirge for Two Veterans. A second drum-study. This time the drums are not of war but of its aftermath—death, and burial. Vaughan Williams based this movement on an earlier setting of the same words made before his mature style had crystallized. This works to his advantage since the music has a kind of rude solidity and strength which a more sophisticated musical language might have mellowed. It would be easy to sentimentalize Whitman here, and this Vaughan Williams resolutely avoids.
5) The ostinato bass which plays out the ‘veterans’ now plays in the Angel of Death. The snorting of Dan’s horses momentarily recalls the apocalyptic equine visions of Sancta Civitas, but these are soon dispelled by one of the work’s most magical moments, the solo baritone’s reassuring ‘O man, greatly beloved, fear not, peace be unto thee’. Chorus basses intone the great text from Micah, almost every word a poem: ‘Nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.’ The word spreads among all instruments and tongues in prospect of a New Jerusalem: bells ring out in a riotous succession of keys and peals, and what better than C major for the Christmas climax: ‘On earth peace, goodwill toward men’? As the sounds of the heavenly host move out of earshot the soprano solo rises from them with a final reiteration of her entreaty: hers alone is the voice that lingers at the end like a solitary ray of hope, a light in the night.
from notes by Christopher Palmer © 1993 | <urn:uuid:bbfbb7fa-436d-4519-aa3f-3e8b13ebb3c2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/tw.asp?w=W2995&t=GBAJY9365505&al=CDS44321/4 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926751 | 709 | 1.984375 | 2 |
"I haven't even gotten into muffins! Or cupcakes. Or are those a subset of muffins? We'll need a committee to investigate that."
-- From a late installment of 8-Bit Theater (wherein our intrepid adventurers argue over what kind of evil cake the demonic force Chaos might turn the world into)
So.... exactly what is
the difference between a cupcake
and a muffin
? Having baked both at times, I ought to know, but for a more learned answer
, I followed Fighter
's fancy and convened an unofficial committee
of the Internet
and similar sources. And so I turned to The Cupcake Project
, which in turn turned to Cupcakes Take the Cake
, which took its own turn to Diana's Deserts
, which (whew, finally!) puts it as follows:
A basic formula for muffins is 2 cups flour, 2-4 tablespoons sugar, 2½ teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 egg, ¼ cup oil, shortening or butter and 1 cup milk. When the fat, sugar and egg ratio in a recipe reaches double or more than this, you have reached the cake level.
Buried in other Internet locales are observations that "Cupcakes have the butter and sugar cream
ed together before adding other ingredients one at a time. Muffins throw everything in at once and mix together"; and a library of suppositions that the presence or absence of icing
figures in (but this seems of minor import). An actual cookbook example, The Joy of Vegan Baking
(2007) declares that the difference between a cupcake and a muffin "seems to be a fine line," putting it on the icing and the sweetness of the cupcake, which it observes to have in earlier usage referred to any smaller cake. Mom's Big Book of Baking
(2008) chalks it up to the batter; while Betty Botter may have bought some better butter for her batter, if it was muffin batter, it was thicker -- batter up!! And Crazy About Cupcakes
(2006), in its advocacy of breakfast
cupcakes, looks to both denseness and frosting as differentiators.
To be sure, then, the difference between muffin and cupcake is pretty much the difference between bread
. The output of these variegated recipe
s is that bread is denser, and so more packed with nutrients
, while cake is lighter and fluffier. From this differentiation arises the historic dichotomy; bread is the health
ier choice, the working man's daily sustenance
. Cake is the rare treat of the day laborer, and the daily delight of those wealthy enough to waive off work. A muffin is like a compact loaf of bread; a cupcake is like an extra-delicate (and so even more elite) cake. Would we give that man on Drury lane the same respect were he called the cupcake man?
The denser muffin supports a bigger top -- ever heard of a bulging belly
referred to as a cupcake top? Didn't think so. The muffinical density also bears the inclusion of even heavier bits -- raisins
chunks and peanut butter
blobs. One observer has quipped that if one hurls a cupcake against the wall, they'll hear a 'poof!' But throwing a muffin yields a 'thud!'" (But I addend to that, if you are need of a weapon
, use a scone
). Said observer also proposed that muffins go with coffee
, and cupcakes with tea
, and that fast food
dispensaries will deal in the former, and not the latter.
There is, at last, also a colloquial difference, given another meaning often assigned to the "muffin" (as carried forth by Lady Gaga
in her "Poker Face" vid
, wherein the Lady doth concede, "I'm bluffin'
with my muffin").... But context
is everything in this social sense -- naturally, if one were to walk up to a lady
at a party
and, leeringly arching ones eyebrows, were to intone, "I'd like to lick the icing off your
cupcake," you'd surely get much the same response as if your comment had been an offer to butter | <urn:uuid:baf1737a-00a6-4337-80e5-07fe64f53eec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://everything2.com/title/The+difference+between+a+cupcake+and+a+muffin | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962073 | 911 | 2.359375 | 2 |
Internet sites to help out, educate or have fun with.
Let's face it: Playing air guitar in front of the mirror is fun when you're 14, but not so much when you're 34. Why not learn how to play the real thing? This site gives the beginning guitarist lots of tips and feedback. It also offers a forum for more accomplished musicians, too.
There might be no stranger beast that roams the land than the American teenager. With their constantly fluctuating hormones, a parent never knows what or who will come through the door next. Let this site give you some help. It's sponsored by iParent and offers articles, talkbacks and tips galore on reining in your tortured teen, or, at the very least, keep you from snapping and inadvertently thinning the adolescent herd.
NEW YORK TIMES LEARNING NETWORK
This site is geared to kids in grades three through 12, but it offers a lot of information and facts that any adult yearning for knowledge would be interested in. Take a look at news summaries, a word of the day and historical facts. Surf it for a few seconds, and you might leave a little smarter.
Math AND fun. Two words that most non-mathemeticians would be hard pressed to put together. But this site hopes to change that. Fool your math-hating children by having them try out some brain teasers and other games involving, yes, math. It's as easy as 1, 2..., uh, 3.
Have a favorite Web site? Send the address to
Technology Editor Kenneth Carter | <urn:uuid:886fa713-bfa3-4e30-8d44-5303ce6424b7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.al.com/techcetera/2008/06/web_surfing_random_access_24.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951395 | 326 | 2.328125 | 2 |
It’s no secret that trees get cut down to make paper for our printers. Everyone knows that. And obviously cutting down trees is bad. Everyone knows that too. Even with the creation of renewable forests and sustainable logging, cutting down trees sucks. For years we’ve been told to reduce, reuse, and recycle, and that’s good advice, but how about remove? As in remove the option to use paper at all.
That’s exactly what the WWF (World Wildlife Fund) had in mind when they created the .WWF file format. It’s a similar file format to .PDF but contains no option to print the document. It’s a screen only format. I’ve got to say, it’s one of the best ideas I’ve heard in a while to cut paper use. If you’re creating a document that has no reason to be printed, .WWF is the way to go. And let’s be honest here, what really needs to be printed anyway? I can’t remember the last time I bought ink or paper for my printer.
Please note that as of this writing it is available for Mac OS X only, but according to their website the Windows version is on it’s way to check back frequently!
Click below to watch the video after the break and get more info here. | <urn:uuid:27f132e7-9959-46da-bfbe-3a6eda394a58> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.whatcouldbegreener.com/275/this-could-be-big-save-your-files-as-wwf-to-make-them-unprintable/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940062 | 290 | 2.203125 | 2 |
Working memory is the brain function that allows us to hold information in memory long enough to manipulate or perform some function on it in order to solve a problem or come up with a response. It is considered an "executive function", which is a set of cognitive abilities that allow us to plan, organize, self monitor, initiate and inhibit responses, and shift gears as needed.
We use our working memory everyday for all kinds of tasks. Pearson's Cogmed website provides a handy chart (see below) of some of the ways we use working memory in all stages of development:
|Age||Working memory is crucial for…||Indicators that a working memory needs exercise|
As you can see, if an individual has problems with their working memory they may experience significant difficulties across a broad range of tasks and in a variety of situations. A number of different conditions can be correlated with working memory problems such as: attention deficits or learning disorders, brain injury, stroke, being over-committed, or even the natural effects of aging.
Fortunately, we are discovering that working memory can be improved. One way of doing so is using a working memory training program such as Cogmed. According to Pearson, "Cogmed Working Memory Training is an evidence-based training program developed by leading neuroscientists to improve attention in individuals with weak working memory. Cogmed is backed by peer-reviewed, controlled research done at leading universities around the world and is proven to lead to significant, real life improvements in 80% of users."
If you are interested in learning more about Cogmed, please visit the Pearson Cogmed website or the YouTube Cogmed Video Channel. My website provides additional information about ADHD, learning differences and other mental health concerns, http://www.kctherapist.com/. | <urn:uuid:a90806ef-aca5-4bb6-bc89-8c65165343a0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kctherapist.blogspot.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936934 | 368 | 3.859375 | 4 |
Have you ever wondered how or why records in a county office were created? The county auditor and recorder offices create a variety of records that help us understand where and how our ancestors were living. Finding an ancestor documented in records like a tax list or a deed book may be the clue that sets you on the track to finding additional information. Representatives from the Franklin County Auditor and the Franklin County Recorder will explain the resources available, how to access the information, and what it is like to do research at a county office in Ohio. This is an excellent opportunity for family researchers to learn how these offices can make their research more complete and use the legal records concerning property to identify family surnames and places where they lived before vital statistics records were being maintained in the probate court office. Additionally, this is a rare opportunity for family historians to talk with the employees of the Auditor and Recorder Offices in a workshop setting.
Date: Saturday, September 22, 2012
Time: 10:00am – Noon
Location: Ohio History Center’s Archives/Library Classroom
Cost: $15.00 OHS/FCGHS members, $20.00 non members
Records that the Ohio County Auditor’s Office has created in Ohio’s History (a sample that highlights items that may be of particular interest to family historians) :
- Tax Lists & Maps: Various types of property records that include names of individuals, property descriptions, and valuation.
- Assessment Lists: Lists of real property valuations including description of lot or tract, value of land & buildings and record of appraisals/reassessments.
- Quadrennial Enumerations (May have been stored with the Clerk of Courts of Common Pleas Office in some counties): Enumeration of white mail inhabitants of the county over 21 years old showing for each: name, address, race, occupation, and whether a freeholder of land within the county.
- Civil War Bounties: Township assessors’ lists of volunteers filed with the county auditor for payment of county bounty, showing volunteer, company in which enlisted, age dependents, date of enlistment, and sworn statements of money paid the county for bounties to volunteers.
- Enumerations of Deaf, Dumb, Blind, Idiotic, and Insane: Original reports to the auditor from township assessors showing information for individuals identified with a disability listed. Information may include name of person, “affliction,” age, sex, color, residence, whether in charge of a guardian, cause of affliction, and how long afflicted.
- Enumeration of Feebleminded, Cripples, and Epileptics: Information may include name and address of patients, amount of funds contributed toward care, how each person is cared for, if institutionalized the date of admission is given.
- Enumerations of Soldiers and Sailors: Contains enumeration of living veterans who served in the Mexican, Civil and Spanish American wars & the Philippine Insurrection. Showing name, branch of service, war, company, regiment, battery or vessel, rank and address.
- Exemptions from Military Service: Contains original affidavits from physicians relative to a person drafted into Civil War service concerning the reason for exemption.
- Indigent Soldier Burial Records: For each indigent soldier buried by the county this record shows name, last residence, rank, date of death, itemized account of burial cost, place and date of burial. Because the approval came from county’s commissioners office, the reports may be filed with the commissioners.
- Manufacturers, Mines, and Labor Miscellaneous Statistics: Township assessor reports of adults employed in various industries. Names not given, but this is an excellent way to get a sense of a county’s employment base.
- Militia Rolls: Contains Civil War enrollment of male residents of the county subject to conscription showing name, age, and place of residence.
- Mothers’ Pension Records: Shows name of recipient, case number, number of dependent children, monthly award & dates initiated and terminated.
- Oil and Gas Returns: Detailed data on production of oil or gas on leased lands, showing names and addresses of lessor and lessee, location & acreage leased.
- Oil Wall Lists: Shows information on oil wells within the county including name and address of property owner
- Practicing Physicians and Layers Lists: Showing name and township of residence
- Records of Inmates in the State Benevolent Institutions: Record of dependent persons committed to state institutions showing name, age, name of guardian, relationship, financial condition, institution where person is living, date committed and reason for commitment.
Records that the Ohio County Recorder’s Office has created in Ohio’s History (a sample that highlights items that may be of particular interest to family historians):
- Deed Records: Contains verbatim transcripts of deed filed showing file number, names and addresses of Grantor and Grantee, description of property, date of transfer, and index references to plat books.
- Certificates of Transfer of Real Estate Records: Transfer of real property in estates showing decedent, age, heirs, relationship, portion inherited, description and location of property, date filed and recorded.
- Articles of Incorporation: Transcripts of articles of incorporation of fraternal, religious, social, and immigrant aid associations as well as business concerns.
- Entry Records: Contains copies of original land grants to the first settlers of the county including a description of the land, owner identification, date and acreage.
- Abstract of Mortgage Records: Shows name of grantor and grantee, date mortgage recorded, mortgage, and date cancelled.
- Lease Records: Verbatim transcript of leases, subleases, assignments of leases, and memoranda of leases.
- Mortgage Records: Verbatim transcript of mortgages, showing file number, names and addresses of mortgagor and mortgagee, description of property, total amount and duration of mortgage, and index references to plat books.
- Plat Books: Contains plat maps of all land within the county from its settlement or 1803 (whichever is earlier), showing streets/roads/alleys as laid out, including subdivisions of existing lots and annexations to municipal corporations. Show full name and address of deed holder, description of original property, and date recorded.
- Power of Attorney Record: Verbatim transcript of powers of attorney filed, showing grantee, grantor, date granted, & specific acts authorized to perform.
- Soldiers Discharge Records: Verbatim transcripts of honorable discharges from the US Armed Forces, showing full name, and address of soldier, rank, and last duty assignment.
- Soldiers Grave Records: Soldiers name, location of cemetery, lot, section, block and grave number | <urn:uuid:dcd55cfd-92a2-4251-abeb-031b5ff25249> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ohiohistory.wordpress.com/2012/09/12/county-office-research-focus-on-the-county-auditor-the-county-recorder/?like=1&_wpnonce=d1fb2cdf27 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90679 | 1,412 | 3.09375 | 3 |
SOPA will have grave effects on the health of hundreds of thousands of Americansposted Wed, 16 Nov 2011
We were pleased to see that this guest column from Lee Graczyk about SOPA was posted on Techdirt today.
The House Judiciary Committee today is holding a hearing to examine the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), a bill that proposes to address online copyright and trademark infringement by denying services to registrants, owners or operators of Internet sites. There has been much discussion on the technological implications of this bill, but Congress and the media have overlooked SOPA's major health implications--it would take away Americans' access to safe, affordable prescription medications from licensed, legitimate Canadian and other international pharmacies.
No one would disagree that websites illegally distributing "knock-off" goods, which include rogue online pharmacies, are a public menace. However, SOPA's definition of an Internet site that endangers public health (even worse than in its Senate counterpart, the PROTECT IP Act) is so vague and broad that safe, legitimate Canadian and other international pharmacies could be shut-down "in the dark of night."
This is because SOPA inappropriately groups together real pharmacies--licensed, legitimate pharmacies that require a doctor's prescription and sell brand-name medications--and the rogues, who sell everything from diluted or counterfeit medicine to narcotics without a prescription.
This oversight is extremely dangerous for Americans (I am one of them) who rely on legitimate Canadian and other international pharmacies to import safe, affordable prescription medications they need to survive. For example, 90,000 people in Florida alone would lose access to safe, affordable prescription medications because of SOPA.
Each year, hundreds of thousands of Americans import safe, affordable prescription drugs because they cannot afford the same brand-name medications that are sold in the U.S., which cost at least twice as much. Others refuse to pay the exorbitant costs of prescription medications when there is a more economical way that is just as safe.
The bottom line is that pharmacies accredited through organizations such as the Canadian International Pharmacy Association, Pharmacy Accreditation Services and Pharmacy Checker are the "real deal." They sell brand-name prescription medications made by top manufacturers.
A recent study by the Commonwealth Fund highlights the need for drug importation. According to the survey on health insurance coverage, a staggering 48 million Americans ages 19-64 did not fill a prescription due to cost in 2010, which represents a 66 percent increase since 2001.
Americans, especially those without insurance and seniors living on fixed incomes, should not have to make choices like whether to fill their prescriptions or buy groceries for the week. Everyone, including those in the tech community with whom we agree on the overall negative impact of SOPA, should bear in mind the severe health implications of this bill, which would affect the well-being of patients across the U.S.
If Americans don't take action to protect their right to safe and affordable medications, they could lose their access to safe, legitimate pharmacies and, therefore, vital medications they need to stay alive. | <urn:uuid:c8f90f5e-3b16-4b60-8cc2-2135990e8093> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rxrights.org/your-thoughts/sopa-will-have-grave-effects-on-the-health-of-hundreds-of-thousands-of-americans | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946037 | 623 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Ron Bailey writes about last weekend’s excellent Planet Money story “When Patents Attack,” which focuses on the enormous market in “defensive” patents, purchased as a kind of retaliatory hedge against lawsuits from other technology companies:
In early July, the bankrupt tech company Nortel put its 6,000 patents up for auction as part of a liquidation. A bidding war broke out among Silicon Valley powerhouses. Google said it wanted the patents purely to defend against lawsuits and it was willing to spend over $3 billion to get them. That wasn’t enough, though.
The portfolio eventually sold to Apple and a consortium of other tech companies including Microsoft and Ericsson. The price tag: $4.5 billion dollars. Five times the opening bid. More than double what most people involved were expecting. The largest patent auction in history.
That’s $4.5 billion on patents that these companies almost certainly don’t want for their technical secrets. That $4.5 billion won’t build anything new, won’t bring new products to the shelves, won’t open up new factories that can hire people who need jobs. That’s $4.5 billion dollars that adds to the price of every product these companies sell you. That’s $4.5 billion dollars buying arms for an ongoing patent war.
Perhaps this is an obvious point, but it’s worth dragging it out explicitly: The very existence of such massive trade in “defensive patents” is, in itself, pretty strong evidence that there’s something systematically quite wrong with the American patent system—because a patent that’s useful for “defensive” purposes is very likely to be a bad patent.
As everyone acknowledges, there’s a large deadweight loss involved in the creation of any patent system (and intellectual property more generally), because it prevents people from making free use of an intrinsically non-rivalrous good: Information. The static loss is, in theory, supposed to be outweighed by a dynamic gain: The incentives created by the patent system lead to the creation of new inventions that would never have existed but for the inventor’s ability to fully internalize the value of that invention.
But now think about how defensive patents work. Companies aren’t buying them—or buying into the services of companies like Intellectual Ventures—because they provide otherwise unavailable technical insights. The point, rather, is to acquire (or have access to) a bundle of patents that any potential litigant who sues you is likely to be “infringing” in their own products. Like nuclear weapons, the point is not to actually use them—but only to be able to threaten to use them if anyone else should deploy theirs against you.
This only works, however, if other companies are almost certain to have independently come up with the same idea. A patent that is truly so original that somebody else wouldn’t arrive at the same solution by applying normal engineering skill is useless as a defensive patent. You can’t threaten someone with a countersuit if your idea is so brilliant that your opponents—because they didn’t think of it—haven’t incorporated it in their technology. The ideal defensive patent, by contrast, is the most obvious one you can get the U.S. Patent Office to sign off on—one that competitors are likely to unwittingly “infringe,” not realizing they’ve made themselves vulnerable to legal counterattack, because it’s simply the solution a good, smart engineer trying to solve a particular problem would naturally come up with.
Needless to say, every patent granted for an idea that any number of suitably skilled engineers could have (and would have, and did) come up with is a patent that probably shouldn’t be granted—a pure deadweight loss that’s actually compounded by the squandering of resources on the “arms race,” with no compensating dynamic gain. Actually, there’s probably a dynamic loss: You end up creating a huge incentive for smart and skilled people to spend their time and energy not coming up with a brilliant idea that nobody else would have, but instead trying to be the first to put on paper ideas that are obvious (to a properly trained and up-to-date person) but haven’t been locked down yet—the solution, again, that almost any professional would have come up with once they were actually trying to implement the relevant technology. A sector where investment in defensive patents is so massive, then, is a sector where—even if some of them do genuinely add value—patents are probably doing more harm than good on net.
Update: Conveniently, via Techdirt, some empirical support for this idea comes in a new paper by Stanford law prof Mark Lemley. Rather than being produced by a lone genius who must be granted a monopoly to encourage creation of a benefit we’d otherwise do without, major innovations are typically independently arrived at by many people or groups nearly simultaneously. They are, as the saying goes, ideas whose time had come. | <urn:uuid:db628aef-8eba-4e4b-96c6-85d20ceaff66> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.juliansanchez.com/2011/07/28/good-defensive-patents-are-bad-patents/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962627 | 1,072 | 1.960938 | 2 |
Take Five: Brian Tamanaha on why law schools are failing and how to fix them
To get a graphic demonstration of the problems with law schools that Washington University Professor Brian Tamanaha highlights in his new book, try this:
Ask Google to find, using rankings from U.S. News, the law schools whose students have the most debt.
The results show not only the staggering amounts that newly minted lawyers owe before they even begin their legal career but also the percentage of students from any particular school who have debt.
So, 94 percent of the students who leave the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego take with them debt that averages more than $153,000. At American University in Washington, the figures are 80 percent averaging $151,000; for Northwestern, 73 percent averaging $131,000. And U.S. News lists Saint Louis University at 83 percent averaging $120,000, with Washington University having 73 percent in for an average of $101,000.
In an era in which big-salaried corporate law jobs are harder to find, Tamanaha says, many young lawyers will find their debt burden too much to overcome. That financial imbalance, along with other problems including requirements imposed by the American Bar Association, led to Tamanaha’s new book, “Failing Law Schools.”
While he isn’t sure that the reforms he proposes will ever come to pass, Tamanaha said he felt compelled to let the public know what is happening to the profession to which he has devoted his life as a lawyer, including stints as a public defender, clerk for a federal judge, assistant attorney general for the Pacific island state of Yap, interim dean of St. John’s University law school and, since 2010, a professor at Washington University.
He’s also spent time surfing the waves in his native Hawaii -- a pastime that may have prepared him for some of the turbulence his critique of the current state of legal education is sure to bring.
Tamanaha began the book after writing blog posts for several years about the growing tuition bills and loan payments that law students and graduates were facing. When he finally sat down to write last summer, he said, the data he collected showed that the problem had only gotten worse, as the number of high-paying legal jobs shrank and student debt mounted.
He notes that for the law school classes of 2011, only 55 percent had full-time jobs as lawyers. From 2010, where students at only one school had average debt over $140,000, that number increased to nine schools the following year.
As the fresh numbers have become available to help prove his point, he said he regrets that he could not access the figures before, because they clearly show how the situation continues to get worse.
“When I began,” he said, “I suspected things were not working, but as I pulled numbers together, I was quite shocked at how many people it was not working for.
“I made it a rule of thumb to make conservative estimates, but as a result, I understated the degree of the problem.”
Understatement isn’t exactly the tenor of “Failing Law Schools.” In forthright prose filled with facts and figures yet written in an easy-to-digest style, Tamanaha methodically makes his case: Legal education is badly broken.
He also comes up with concrete proposals to turn things around, though he isn’t confident that they will be put into place in time to save some lower-tier law schools that might find themselves unable to attract enough students to stay in business.
“The ABA has been behind some of the problems,” he said, “so the likelihood that the ABA will reform some of the schools is not high.”
The interview with Tamanaha has been edited for length and clarity.
Are the problems you highlight in the book new, or were they prompted by the economic downturn? Have others pointed them out before?
Tamanaha: I think it pre-dated the recession. The contraction in the legal market, essentially the corporate law market, which hit in 2008, just exposed a problem that already existed. We began paying attention because it began affecting graduates.
It wasn’t that there wasn’t a problem. In part the problem was concealed because people were not paying attention to graduates from law schools, and it has gotten worse because tuition continues to go up so much. Something that was already expensive has become absurdly expensive. No one sat down to figure it all out and pull all the numbers together. I pay more attention to it than most academics, and even I didn’t realize it until I had the numbers.
You have to break it out into two hemispheres. Students don’t all graduate and become the same kind of lawyers. At the high end of the market is the corporate legal market, where people earn $120,000 to $150,000 a year. So even at a cost of $200,000, for people in those positions it still pays off. But that is only 10 percent of graduates nationwide. That number got squeezed down, and when that squeeze happened, it sent people who previously had jobs in the corporate legal market to get other types of legal jobs.
It was a crescendo effect. The bulk of graduates from law schools, particularly local law schools, work in local firms and state and local governments. For those people, salaries have stagnated because of the oversupply of lawyers.
Also, at the lower end of the market, efficiencies have come such as online services that let people download their own forms and do things like write a will. The legal profession is losing its monopoly.
Is this a structural change or something that is just cyclical?
Tamanaha: People suggest that this is just temporary, and things will turn around. They won't. We have produced an oversupply of lawyers throughout this period, and statistics that project forward show that that will continue.
Meanwhile, law schools continue to increase their enrollment. It is bizarre that they would have problems with their graduates getting jobs but continue to graduate even more lawyers.
In general, during an economic contraction, people apply to law schools thinking they will come out at a time of better economic opportunity. Now, three years on, schools are sending out even more graduates into a tough environment. In the past two years, the number of applicants to law schools has dramatically turned downward. This year, law schools are actually scrambling to fill their classes. 2011 was a year of very bad publicity for law schools. Information got out there not only about the high costs of getting a law degree but about the poor results for students once they got out.
I think we’ve priced ourselves too high, and that was exacerbated in 2011 when all the bad news came out. If this continues for another year, I think some law schools will fold. Ironically enough, the lowest-ranked schools are also having significant declines in their number of applications, but they may be able to weather it. It’s schools that actually want to hold themselves to higher standards that will find themselves in a difficult situation. There are just fewer bodies to go around. If you have standards, you can’t accept everyone. If you only accept those who you think will graduate and pass the bar, you will have a hard time filling a class.
What financial reforms do you think are needed?
Tamanaha: The federal loan program has to change. As long as there is no limit on what students can borrow, tuition will continue to go up. We’re just part of a higher education system that is showing the same dynamic. The problem with law school is that it takes students who have already gone through their undergraduate years and accumulated whatever debt they need to go there. Then they take on more debt on top of that. You might say we’re just the most extreme corner of higher education.
We need to apply some kind of cap on the federal loan program, either on how much individual students can borrow or on how much individual schools can obtain for any given year.
A student who applies to law school and is admitted applies for federal loans through the school. You can get the full cost of attendance, all tuition plus living expenses minus any grants you get. The federal government then sends the money to the law school, and the school disburses living expenses to the student. This is basically done by filling out a one-page form. The program doesn’t make any evaluation on the student’s ability to repay. A student who goes to Harvard can borrow the same amount as someone who goes to Thomas Jefferson Law School. If you put a cap on that, law schools will have to set tuition with that cap in mind.
In an election year, a lot of attention is being paid to student debt. This is becoming a serious public policy concern. People are talking about student loans as the next debt problem. I have a hard time believing that there won’t be some changes to the student loan situation.
What other changes could help law schools become more responsible and accessible?
Tamanaha: The ABA rules need to be changed to strip out provisions that relate to the academic model of law schools -- things like tenure, support for research and library collections. The main benefit of doing that is that it would allow law schools that focus on training students to be lawyers to operate at a much more modest cost.
Law schools can run at a much lower cost if they are not subsidizing so much research time for professors. Instead of having professors teach two classes a semester, they can teach three or even four. A school based on that design would be much cheaper. I would allow more choice in law schools, so that students can go to schools that are still accredited but cost $20,000 less.
At the end of the book, you pose a scenario to legal educators where their best friend since high school asks whether their daughter should go to law school and amass debt possibly into six figures. Talk about the factors that go into that decision.
Tamanaha: It depends on what school you get into, how much money they are offering you, how much debt you expect to incur. You have to lay out all of these different considerations. This isn’t just an abstract question. I tell people they have to look at their own institutions and make that choice.
Would you advise a friend to send their kid to their own law school? That’s a hard question. I’m trying to personalize it. This is something that we all need to figure out for ourselves. | <urn:uuid:286c79d6-4579-45de-9990-2f3d9ef5c236> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.stlbeacon.org/?_escaped_fragment_=/content/25993/failing_law_schools_071112 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980152 | 2,223 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Debbie Schector signed up for the Planet Green Recycle Program in September 2012 and is raising funds for a great cause. Debbie and her coworkers created a Relay for Life team (Team Semtech) and they collect inkjets, cell phones and other small electronics as a way to raise funds for the annual American Cancer Society Camarillo overnight walk.
The team gathers the inkjets and other electronics throughout the whole year leading up to the Relay for Life walk. Debbie realized that the Planet Green Recycle Program was a perfect fit: her team will raise funds and at the same time help keep electronics out of landfills.
Now let’s get to the full interview:
Planet Green: Tell us how you are working with Planet Green to raise funds for your Relay for Life team?
Debbie: The American Cancer Society Relay for Life Camarillo is an organized, overnight community fundraising walk. ACS is a non-profit organization that raises much needed funds to spread awareness to save lives from cancer and to provide services to those people fighting cancer. Our team hosts several kinds of fundraisers prior to the big overnight event. We like to vary the types of fundraisers we have, and to find unique ways to raise money without always asking directly for cash.
Each year, our Relay for Life team has a large Electronics recycle event. We gather many cell phones and printer cartridges at that event and we continue to gather those items throughout the rest of the year. We heard about Planet Green our first year and knew that we had to partner with them year round to eliminate unnecessary electronics ending up in our landfills.
Planet Green: What made you want to sign up for the Planet Green Recycle program?
Debbie: Recycling is a way for us to be environmentally friendly. Planet Green was a great way for us to be responsible and to raise money for our American Cancer Society Relay for Life Team.
Planet Green: How have you and your team encouraged others to support your effort?
Debbie: Our Relay for Life team is a corporate team based in Camarillo and the company we work for is very sensitive to being environmentally responsible. We start spreading the word internally at work a few weeks before our big recycle event. We also have an Intranet page that has links to Planet Green to purchase recycled cartridges. Our Relay for Life community has meetings at least once a month during the entire year and we are constantly reminding all the other teams to collect the items.
Planet Green: What advice can you give to other individuals and organizations who are trying to raise funds by recycling?
Debbie: It is super easy to spread the word and gather the items. We find that everyone likes participating in events that help the environment. And even better, we take the money raised and donate it to a worthy cause like the American Cancer Society.
A big thank you to Debbie and her whole Relay for Life team for raising funds for great causes! It really is a win/win and we wish you the best of luck with your recycling and fundraising efforts!
-Team Planet Green Recycle | <urn:uuid:f49d1773-f624-4553-9690-1cf281306074> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://planetgreenrecycle.com/blog/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944266 | 640 | 1.78125 | 2 |
When Lemuel Gulliver is washed up on the distant shore of Lilliput, he becomes a giant among men.
News reports tell of a gigantic monster roaming the high seas at incredible speed Professor Aronnax is brought in to investigate-and finds himself imprisoned under the sea!
Join D'Artagnan, the most famous of all swashbuckling heroes, in his very first adventure with the King's Musketeers.
The story begins with the death of an old sailor and the discovery of a secret treasure map.
A love of books and reading is one of the most precious important gifts ayone can give a child. | <urn:uuid:d990d276-7105-4f61-b2d1-c1d58fbaf4c2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rumahbukuanak.com/products.php?publisher_id=7 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940157 | 134 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Lucinda Williams (born January 26, 1953) is an American rock, folk, and alt-country songwriter and singer. A three-time Grammy Award winner, she was named "America's best songwriter" by TIME magazine in 2002.
Williams has garnered considerable critical acclaim but her commercial success has been moderate. She has a reputation as a perfectionist and as a slow worker when it comes to recording; six years passed between the release of her second and third albums. However, she frequently makes guest appearances on other artists' albums and contributes to compilations and soundtracks. She has recorded with Elvis Costello, Nanci Griffith, John Prine, Leftover Salmon, and Steve Earle, among others. She has also opened concerts for artists such as Neil Young.
Williams was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, the daughter of poet and literature professor Miller Williams. Her father worked as a visiting professor in Mexico and Chile as well as different parts of the American South, before settling at the University of Arkansas. His daughter showed an affinity for music at an early age, and was playing guitar at 12.
By her early 20s, Williams was playing publicly in Austin, Texas and Houston, Texas, concentrating on a folk-rock-country blend. She moved to Jackson, Mississippi, in 1978 to record her first album, for Smithsonian/Folkways Records. Titled Ramblin', it was a collection of country and blues covers. She followed it up in 1980 with Happy Woman Blues, which consisted of her own material. Neither album received much attention.
In the 1980s Williams moved to Los Angeles, California (before finally settling in Nashville, TN), where -- performing both backed by a rock band and in acoustic settings -- she developed a following and a critical reputation. Nevertheless, it was not until 1988 that Rough Trade Records released the self-titled Lucinda Williams. The single "Changed the Locks", about a broken relationship, received radio play around the country and gained fans among music insiders, including Tom Petty, who would later cover the song.
Its follow-up, Sweet Old World (Chameleon, 1992), was a melancholy album dealing with themes of suicide and death. Williams's biggest success during the early '90s was as a songwriter. Mary Chapin Carpenter recorded a cover of "Passionate Kisses" (from Lucinda Williams) in 1992, and the song became a smash country hit for which Williams received the Grammy Award for Best Country Song in 1994.
Williams had garnered considerable critical acclaim, but her commercial success was moderate. Emmylou Harris said of Williams, "She is an example of the best of what country at least says it is. But, for some reason, she's completely out of the loop. And I feel strongly that that's country music's loss."
Williams also gained a reputation as a perfectionist and slow worker when it came to recording; six years would pass before her next album release, though she appeared as a guest on other artists' albums and contributed to several tribute compilations during this period.
The long-awaited release, 1998's Car Wheels on a Gravel Road was Williams' breakthrough to the mainstream. Containing the single "Still I Long for Your Kiss" from the Robert Redford film The Horse Whisperer, the album received wide critical notice and soon went gold. It received a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album. She toured with Bob Dylan and on her own in support of the album.
Williams followed up the success of Car Wheels with Essence (2001). This release featured a less produced, more stripped-down approach both musically and lyrically, and moved Williams further from the country music establishment while winning fans in the alternative music world. She won the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Female Rock performance for the single "Get Right With God", an atypically uptempo gospel-rock tune from the otherwise rather low-key release. The title track was co-written and co-recorded with alternative country musician Ryan Adams.
Her seventh album, World Without Tears, was released in 2003. A musically adventurous though lyrically downbeat album, this release found Williams experimenting with talking blues stylings and electric blues.
In 2006, Lucinda recorded a version of the John Hartford classic "Gentle On My Mind," which played over the closing credits of the Will Ferrell filmTalladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby
Williams was a guest vocalist on the song "Factory Girls" from Irish punk-folk band Flogging Molly's 2004 album, "Within a Mile of Home", and appeared on Elvis Costello's The Delivery Man. She duetted with Steve Earle on the song "You're Still Standin' There" from his album I Feel Alright from 1996.
Williams released the album "West" on February 13, 2007, to mostly good reviews. The material is highly personal, chronicling the death of her mother and the breakup of a turbulent relationship.
Lucinda released her ninth studio album, "Little Honey", on October 14th.
Lucinda Williams (born January 26, 1953) is an American rock, folk, blues, and country music singer and songwriter.
She recorded her first albums in 1978 and 1980 in a traditional country and blues style and received very little attention from radio, the media, or the public. In 1988, she released her self-titled album, Lucinda Williams. This release featured "Passionate Kisses," a song later recorded by Mary Chapin Carpenter which garnered Lucinda her first Grammy Award for Best Country Song in 1994.
Known for working slowly, Lucinda recorded and released only one other album in the next several years (Sweet Old World in 1992) before her greatest success came in 1998 with Car Wheels on a Gravel Road. This album presented a broader scope of songs that fused rock, blues, country, and Americana into a more distinctive style that still managed to remain consistent and commercial in sound. It went gold and earned Lucinda another Grammy while being universally acclaimed by critics. Since Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, she has released a string of albums that have also been critically acclaimed, though none have sold in the numbers of her 1998 breakthrough. She was also named "America's best songwriter" by TIME magazine in 2002. | <urn:uuid:fc284f5d-d6de-41cd-b5a5-b02e0be39740> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.blastro.com/artist/Lucinda+Williams.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978433 | 1,296 | 1.640625 | 2 |
It's the feast day of a little known blessed -- Peter To Rot. I remember reading his story in a book about modern saints I received around the time of my Confirmation, "Faces of Holiness, Faces of Christ." But it wasn't until our Kenosis teens began researching saints to be the patrons of Kenosis that I realized the reason for his martyrdom near Papua New Guinea. He was a martyr for marriage.
Fast forward more than a year later, and my fiance and I were told that the only day available in July for a wedding at the church in which we hoped to marry was July 7.
Fast forward another few months, and I realize that July 7, our wedding day, is the feast day of Bl. Peter To Rot, a martyr for marriage. God is good! And, no worries, I am not typing this post on our wedding day. In fact, as I mentioned a couple of days ago, I have pre-posted until the beginning of August to allow me time to marry, move and travel.
But I had to share the saint of the day and a link to his powerful story.
Bl. John Paul II said in his homily for the beatification of Bl. Peter To Rot:
The Martyr’s example speaks also to married couples. Blessed Peter To Rot had the highest esteem for marriage and, even in the face of great personal danger and opposition, he defended the Church’s teaching on the unity of marriage and the need for mutual fidelity. He treated his wife Paula with deep respect and prayed with her morning and evening. For his children he had the utmost affection and spent as much time with them as he could. If families are good, your villages will be peaceful and good. Hold on to the traditions that defend and strengthen family life!
Let's learn from this martyr's story and ask him for his prayers today. | <urn:uuid:a4cd7c36-6195-4be4-99c5-9a82e73b3cf6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://unshakeablehope.blogspot.com/2012/07/bl-peter-to-rot-pray-for-us.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98973 | 388 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Snapshots from Valencia: How Horchata Is Made at the Món Orxata Factory
Horchata in the US usually refers to rice-based Mexican horchata, but the original, Spanish version of this sweet, milky, grain or nut-based beverage is made with tiger nuts ("chufas" in Spanish, "xufes" in Valencian), water, and sugar. When I found out Valencia—specifically the town of Alboraya* just north of the metropolitan area—is the birthplace of horchata and the center of tiger nut production in Spain, trying fresh horchata became the number one thing I wanted to do in Valencia. I ended up drinking it five times from three different places.
* You'll find many horchaterias in Alboraya on the appropriately-named main street, Avenida de la Horchata/Avinguda de l'Orxata. Alboraya is also home to a horchata and tiger nut museum, Museo de la Horchata y la Chufa.
Most of the horchata I tried was from Món Orxata ("World Horchata" in Valencian), an Alboraya-based company started in 2003 that makes fresh horchata every morning from organically and locally grown tiger nuts and sells it from carts around the city, bringing back the hochata-cart tradition from the early 1900s. They also sell it at their two Orxata Coffee Shops and ship to other parts of Spain through their online store.
Món Orxata cart locations vary by season—there are more in the summer than winter—but the ones I came across were right by the Colon metro stop and at the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias (City of Arts and Sciences), two areas you're likely to visit if you take a trip to Valencia.
I took a tour of the Món Orxata factory one morning to learn more about horchata. Check out how they make horchata in this slideshow »
How to Drink Món Orxata at Home
Like Mexican horchata, tiger nut-based Spanish horchata is also milky, nutty, and sweet, but with the flavor of...well, tiger nuts. The flavor is similar to soy milk or almond milk. I'd say there isn't much to dislike about something that's milky, nutty, and sweet, but Bizarre Foods host Andrew Zimmern found Spanish horchata disgusting, describing it as soy milk (a valid description) seasoned with stomach medicine (whoa, there). So maybe it's not for everyone. But I'd suggest you ignore him.
Unfortunately, since fresh horchata only keeps for 72 hours, it doesn't travel well outside of Spain. To drink the fresh stuff at home, you can try making it yourself from scratch by soaking and blending your own tiger nuts. Món Orxata sells tiger nuts in small packs that each make one liter of horchata. You can also buy tiger nuts at Mercado Central, but otherwise, whole dried tiger nuts aren't commonly found in stores in Valencia since it's easy to buy already-made horchata. You may also find tiger nuts from online retailers, like tienda.com.
An easier solution is to use horchata concentrate. Món Orxata's preservative-free concentrate lasts up to three years unopened, but once opened only lasts five days. You can also find horchata concentrate and ready-to-drink bottles in supermarkets, but they may be made with cheaper tiger nuts from Africa or contain preservatives. (Note: Not having tasted horchata made of Spanish tiger nuts against horchata made of African tiger nuts, I can't claim to know what the differences are.) Món Orxata doesn't export a bottled version of their horchata. Chufi is a brand of bottled horchata made from Valencian tiger nuts that you can find on Amazon.
About the author: Robyn Lee is the editor of A Hamburger Today and takes many of the photos for Serious Eats. She'll also doodle cute stuff when necessary. Read more from Robyn at her personal food blog, The Girl Who Ate Everything. | <urn:uuid:aa2121e0-72f2-4603-a5b1-0ccbace844d9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2011/11/valencia-spain-how-horchata-is-made-at-the-mon-orxata-factory-alboraya.html?ref=excerpt_readmore | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940582 | 893 | 1.75 | 2 |
American Diabetes Month
October 29, 2010
American Diabetes Month is a time to raise awareness of diabetes prevention and control. Diabetes is a disease in which the body is unable to properly use and store glucose (a form of sugar). Glucose builds up in the bloodstream and causes your blood “sugar” to rise too high. In the United States, 24 million people are living with diabetes and 57 million more are at risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
The goal of diabetes management is to keep blood glucose, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels as close to the normal range as safely possible. In some people, diet and exercise can keep diabetes under control. When diet and exercise aren’t effective, a physician may prescribe diabetes pills or insulin. The treatment prescribed depends on the type and severity of the disease, the person’s age, and lifestyle.
Diabetes is a serious disease. If left untreated, serious complications including heart disease, stroke, blindness, kidney failure, nerve damage, and even death can occur. There is no known cure for diabetes. Diabetics must continue daily treatments throughout his or her lifetime.
Valley West offers education through the KishHealth System Diabetes Education department. Located in the Medical Office Building on campus, all our educators work to help patients self-manage their diabetes to maintain life-long good health. For more information about Diabetes Education at Valley West, please call 815.786.3684.
Source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health. Available online at http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/diagnosis/#2B. | <urn:uuid:c7c6c64e-314d-40af-95e1-6f2656cce5aa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.valleywest.org/news/archive/2010/10.29.10_diabetesmonth.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00076-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919791 | 342 | 3.546875 | 4 |
Total Solar Eclipse: 14 November 2012
A Total Eclipse of the Sun will occur over Northern Australia early in the morning of 14 November 2012. This spectacular phenomenon is probably the most awe inspiring event in the natural world.
What is a Total Solar Eclipse?
An eclipse of the Sun occurs when the moon passes between the earth and the Sun. The Sun is much larger than the moon it is also much further away, such that the two bodies appear to be about he same size in the sky. During a total solar eclipse, the moon moves in front of the Sun and completely covers it. This casts a shadow on the Earth’s surface. As the moon orbits the Earth and the Earth rotates, the shadow moves across the Earths surface in a narrow path generally from west to east. To see a Total Solar Eclipse you must be in the shadow’s path. If you are outside the shadow’s path at the time of the eclipse, the moon will not completely cover the Sun and you will only see partial eclipse.
During the partial phase of the eclipse, the moon gradually covers the Sun. This takes about an hour. As the total part of the eclipse approaches, the sky becomes darker and an ominous black shadow approaches from the west. The Sun is reduced to a thin crescent. The temperature can drop significantly. In the final few seconds before totality, the last brilliant parts of the Sun’s surface shine through valleys on the moon in a shimmering display called Baily’s Beads. Finally the beads are reduced to a single point and the Sun looks like a dazzling diamond ring. As the last bright point winks out, the Sun’s pink upper surface called the chromosphere can be seen around the edge of the moon and often prominences, pink loops of plasma extending above the chromosphere, are visible. During totality, the moon appears as a black hole in the sky surrounded by the pearly white Corona, the Sun’s outer atmosphere composed of ionised gas which curves out from the Sun, usually in a pattern formed by the Sun’s magnetic field. The whole sky is dark in a surreal twilight with a glowing light around the horizon with a sunset tinge which is caused by the scattering of different wavelengths of light in the atmosphere. At the end of totality the sequence is reversed, with prominences, chromosphere, diamond ring and Baily’s Beads again being visible. The moon then gradually uncovers the Sun, taking about an hour until the partial phase is over. | <urn:uuid:f846f6d8-0007-4fba-bf3b-0ebef3d5102d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eclipse2012.com/eclipse | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929955 | 524 | 3.296875 | 3 |
NHGRI's Nobel Connections
One of the winners of the 2007 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine once received a helping hand from the National Human Genome Research Institute. But the aid didn't come on the scientific front - it came on an airplane landing strip.
The saga dates back roughly a decade when a small plane skidded off the short runway at the Airlie Center in Warrenton, Va., and ended up in the mud. The pilot, Oliver Smithies, Ph.D., faced quite a predicament. But a gaggle of National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) staff, assembled for their annual scientific retreat, came to his rescue, applying their collective heave-ho to get Dr. Smithies' craft back onto the runway.
Scientific meetings rarely start with such excitement; but Dr. Smithies, who was then a member of the NHGRI Board of Scientific Counselors, made that gathering one to remember. Now, the octogenarian genomics researcher has landed something far more exciting - a feat that has all of NHGRI cheering.
Dr. Smithies of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is among the trio of researchers recently awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for pioneering work on gene targeting technologies that enabled development of knockout mouse models. In addition to Dr. Smithies, the other recipients were another researcher with ties to NHGRI, Mario R. Capecchi, Ph.D., of the University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City; and Sir Martin J. Evans, Ph.D., of Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom.
Dr. Smithies served on the NHGRI Board of Scientific Counselors - a group that previews and evaluates NHGRI's intramural research programs and provides peer review of Division of Intramural Research investigators - from 1994 to 2000. He has used gene targeting to develop mouse models of inherited diseases such as cystic fibrosis and thalassemia. He has also developed numerous mouse models for common human diseases such as hypertension and atherosclerosis.
The other recent Nobel Prize winner with NHGRI connections is Dr. Capecchi, who is currently collaborating on a comparative sequencing project with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Intramural Sequencing Center, administratively housed within the NHGRI Intramural Program. He is also a co-author of the 2004 Nature Genetics paper that described the scientific rationale for the trans-NIH Knockout Mouse Project, in which NHGRI is a key participant. In addition to his role in developing gene-targeting technologies, Dr. Capecchi's research has uncovered the roles of genes involved in both mammalian organ development and in the establishment of the body plan. His work has shed light on the causes of several human inborn malformations.
Gene targeting, the breakthrough technology recognized with this Nobel Prize, can be used to inactivate genes in mice. The result is an animal model, called a knockout mouse, which can be used in experiments to study diseases impacting mice and humans. Gene targeting makes it possible to produce almost any type of DNA modification in the mouse genome, allowing researchers to determine the role of each gene in normal physiology and development.
Researchers are developing knockout mice as models of inherited human diseases such as cancer, heart disease, neurological disorders, diabetes and obesity. Gene targeting has already produced more than five hundred different mouse models of human disorders, including cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes and cancer.
NIH, and NHGRI in particular, is steeped in research that benefits from the discoveries made by these Nobel laureates. A trans-NIH initiative of particular note is the Knockout Mouse Project mentioned above. NIH works closely with other large-scale efforts that are developing knockout mouse strains now underway in Canada - called the North American Conditional Mouse Mutagenesis Project (NorCOMM) - and in Europe - called the European Conditional Mouse Mutagenesis Program (EUCOMM). The collective goal is to create a mutation in each of the approximately 20,000 protein-coding genes in the mouse genome. The initiative, launched in 2006, aims to generate a comprehensive and public resource of mice containing a knockout mutation in every gene in the mouse genome.
The net impact of the Knockout Mouse Project, made possible by the discoveries of these Nobel Prize awardees, will be the rapid and efficient availability of animal models to study the underlying genetic causes of diseases impacting human health. Biomedical research and public health will receive enormous benefit from the rapid and wide availability of these knockout mouse strains.
"The selection of these researchers to receive a Nobel Prize is very gratifying for those in our field who have utilized gene-targeting technologies for their studies and can see its remarkable promise," said NHGRI Scientific Director, Eric Green, M.D., Ph.D. "It truly represents a fundamental breakthrough that is enabling a wealth of important biomedical research today."
Last Reviewed: May 9, 2012 | <urn:uuid:ae5d8187-cf4a-4ce5-bb18-be3c61d70401> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.genome.gov/26023255 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942289 | 1,029 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Obituary for Václav Havel by the President Toomas Hendrik Ilves
The departure of the writer, humanist and politician Václav Havel marks the departure of a great European.
Václav Havel was a man who stood for freedom, democracy and human rights and was always convinced in the supremacy of tolerance and human respect. He was a brave and vocal advocate of both individuals and entire nations, who could solely defy evil by the power of his word and change the world more than the regimes that resisted him through repression and tanks. This is how Havel demonstrated the power of free words and the eternity of humane values.
He took the immeasurably immense spiritual role as a fighter against totalitarian regimes and authoritarianism in Europe and the world in general. He was also a spokesman for people who had broken free from alien regimes and occupations. Even those who were fearful of him and despised him listened to Václav Havel, the politician.
We will always remember him as one of the most important symbols of Europe in defeating communism and as a person who placed democratic values above agreements that only resulted in short-term benefiits. He did this with his creative works during the darkest years of the 20th century and later, as a head of state, through politics. Havel understood that the end of evil starts with the first rays of freedom to penetrate the doors of darkness.
Estonia will remember Václav Havel with gratitude for his support for our return to Europe and integration with NATO; as a pioneer, he was acutely aware of the need of small nations to ensure their security and their future. He patiently explained all of this to those who never wanted to hear or lacked the skills to listen, as well as those who were naive enough to believe that totalitarism would want to change itself.
On behalf of the Estonia people, I express my condolences to the next of kin of Václav Havel and to the people of the Czech Republic.
Toomas Hendrik Ilves
The Republic of Estonia awarded Václav Havel with the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana in 1996. | <urn:uuid:6d0ba4de-4bce-4b8e-95f6-f1a9702010b4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.president.ee/en/media/statements/6946-obituary-for-vaclav-havel-by-the-president-toomas-hendrik-ilves/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979823 | 446 | 2.3125 | 2 |
The State Department secretly accused Syria of not living up to its promise to top U.S. diplomats to stop supplying Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group with missiles.
As a result, the group has enough firepower to threaten turning any clash with Israel into a regional war, The New York Times reported on its website Monday evening.
The disclosure comes from the trove of secret State Department cables released to a number of news outlets by the document-dumping website WikiLeaks.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told a high-ranking American diplomat that his government stopped sending weapons to Hezbollah, an assurance the State Department questioned a week later, the Times reported.
"In our meetings last week it was stated that Syria is not transferring any 'new' missiles to Lebanese Hizballah," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrote with an alternative spelling for the group in a February cable. "We are aware, however, of current Syrian efforts to supply Hizballah with ballistic missiles. I must stress that this activity is of deep concern to my government, and we strongly caution you against such a serious escalation."
The Times cites a Pentagon official saying the militant group's armory has as many as 50,000 rockets and missiles, including 40 missiles capable of reaching the Israeli capital of Tel Aviv.
The Times report provides a look at what the U.S. knows about the flow of illegal arms into the Middle East.
For example, Hamas, the militant group in Gaza, and Hezbollah receive North Korean missile technology through Iran and Syria, the Times reported.
Hamas also receives weapons from Iran through the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, the Times reported. Diplomats allege in the cables that the weapons are flown from Tehran on huge cargo planes operated by Sudan's Badr Airlines. The Sudanese government said the planes were carrying farm equipment, the Times reported.
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Video: Army Pvt. Claims Responsibility for WikiLeaks Spill | <urn:uuid:94d612ff-3431-4fad-a205-514e2e7f77e2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503543_162-20024778-503543.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912577 | 545 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Free emergency-preparedness training for Ark. first responders
By Carolyne Park
Copyright 2007 Little Rock Newspapers, Inc.
BELLA VISTA, Ark. — Emergency responders would be stretched to the limit, schools and nonessential businesses would close, and drug and vaccine supplies would quickly be depleted if the avian influenza virus evolved into a pandemic, Rick Johnson of the Arkansas Department of Health told participants in an emergency preparedness course in Bella Vista on Tuesday.
"Who are the first ones we need to look after? Ourselves and our families," said Johnson, the department's Washington County unit administrator.
The six-hour course is one of three free courses taught in cities nationwide by Northwest Arkansas Community College's Institute for Corporate and Public Safety. The others are on terrorism and weapons of mass destruction awareness in the workplace, and business continuity planning.
Crisis scenarios range from a tornado to a terrorist attack.
"The institute's primary purpose is making sure that a community is ready when a crisis occurs, and a crisis will come - that's inevitable," said institute Director Ricky Tompkins. "We must be prepared." Since it was founded in 2004, the institute has trained people from 28 states, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Mariana Islands and the United Kingdom, Tompkins said. Instructors have taught courses in Denver, San Antonio and Parma, Ohio.
About 1,200 emergency responders have trained since January, including about 500 online.
Jacqueline Pauly, the institute's instructional designer, said its four staff members work with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to connect with businesses and community leaders nationwide.
Primary course participants are emergency responders, including police and fire departments, paramedics and military personnel. The institute also offers consulting and training for businesses, especially utility companies and those that use hazardous materials, Pauly said.
"Our main goal is to bridge the gap between the public and private sector in emergency preparedness," she said.
The Bentonville community college received a $998,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to start the institute three years ago. It was one of 15 institutions awarded a share of $33 million in crisis training grants from the department.
Other grant recipients include the American Red Cross, the University of Texas at San Antonio and the University of Arkansas System's Criminal Justice Institute in Little Rock, which received $2.8 million.
The Institute for Corporate and Public Safety recently applied for a $2.8 million grant in hopes of expanding its scope, Tompkins said. Its current funding ends Sept. 30, 2008.
Bella Vista resident Linda Young was among 44 people to attend Tuesday's course at the College at the Crossing. A second course will be offered there Nov. 15.
It's important people know what to do in crisis situations because government resources will be stretched thin, Young said. | <urn:uuid:2967ba10-8cee-4ff9-a56d-d477fe7dce78> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.homeland1.com/mass-casualty-incidents-MCI/articles/338722-Free-emergency-preparedness-training-for-Ark-first-responders | 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 | 0.956709 | 598 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Organ is an unincorporated community in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, United States. Organ was initially started as a mining camp prior to the American Civil War. However, it was not officially established as a community until 1883. President Chester A. Arthur granted the 40-acre parcel of land under congressional approval through a Federal Land Grant to the Organ Mining Corporation in 1883. Mining operations near Organ produced gold, lead, iron, silver and other minerals. Actual mining in the Organ Town Site was prohibited. The largest production mine was the "Torpedo Mine". Organ originally had its own school, constable's office, community center, town square, post office, hotel, business district and cemetery. Organ also had two large mining furnaces for smeltering ore and a geological assay office belonging to the mining company. In 1885 Organ's population was over 1500 people. In the 1930's the mines in the area became inundated with water and were no longer feasible for use and with the onset of the Great Depression, mining operations ceased. However, with the opening of White Sands Missile Range and the testing of the Nuclear Bomb in 1945, Organ began to thrive again as a community providing homes and leisure services to military personnel and government contractors only a short distance from the main military post. Organ is very active supporting the military and White Sands Missile Range still. Today, Organ is under the direct jurisdiction of Doña Ana County and the County Probate Judge as directed in the presidential order of 1883, because it was never incorporated. The state government recognizes Organ as an independent community under New Mexico State House Bill 523 of the 44th State Legislature in 1999, which recognized "Traditional Historic Communities. " For this reason, Organ cannot be annexed by any municipality according to the provisions directed under this house bill. Organ still has its own water and sewer utility service and other services are provided independently. The Organ Community Center was improved in 2008 and is still located on land of the original town square. The roads are paved and improvements are still ongoing through the supervision of Dona Ana County. The Organ Post Office is still in operation and Organ still has a few businesses. The cemetery is still in use and is called the "Slumbering Mountain Cemetery" with newer and historic graves. Educational services for children are provided by the Las Cruces Public Schools in Las Cruces, New Mexico (the original Organ schoolhouse has been closed for some time). Organ is still an active community and has a rich history. There are roughly 100 households in the area currently. | <urn:uuid:ffc1fa80-fb27-4fcf-ae68-25ca31a87583> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://openjurist.org/law/premises-liability-law/new-mexico/organ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979687 | 515 | 2.171875 | 2 |
Unused Embryos Vex Infertility Patients
Survey Shows Many Couples Aren't Sure What to Do With Leftover Frozen Embryos
Dec. 4, 2008 -- Couples who have unused and unwanted frozen embryos as a result of infertility treatment often feel conflicted about what to do with them, with disposal and donation frequently seen as unacceptable options.
This is the finding from the largest survey ever conducted examining fertility patients' attitudes toward their stored, frozen embryos.
There are about half a million such embryos in storage in the U.S. The survey revealed that many patients remain in limbo about what to do with their embryos once they have no more need for them.
One in five patients who said they had completed their childbearing indicated that they were likely to freeze their embryos "forever," while 36% said they were likely to thaw and dispose of the embryos.
And just 34% said they were somewhat or very likely to donate the embryos for use by other infertile couples.
The survey was published today online in the journal Fertility and Sterility.
"The prevailing view in the philosophical debate about this issue is that patients who care about their embryos will choose to donate them to another couple, but this is not how patients often see it," Duke University Medical Center ob-gyn and bioethicist Anne Drapkin Lyerly, MD, tells WebMD. "Patients may care very much about what happens to their embryos, but that doesn't meant they want them to become children."
Donation for Research Preferred
For couples facing infertility treatment, the question of disposing of frozen embryos may either never come up or be far down their list of concerns.
But once treatment is complete, patients commonly face the decision of what to do with the frozen embryos they don't plan to use.
One study shows that as many as 70% of patients with frozen embryos who consider their families complete continue to pay annual storage fees for five years or longer.
The newly published survey included more than 1,000 patients treated at infertility clinics across the country. Four out of five patients had at least one child at the time they completed the survey, and 44% had two or more children.
The survey presented four choices for disposing of embryos: thawing and discarding; donation to an infertile couple; indefinite freezing; and donation for research.
Two out of three patients (66%) who wanted no more children said they would be somewhat or very likely to donate the embryos for research. That was almost twice as many as said they might donate the embryos to infertile couples.
Donation for research was the most widely accepted option for disposing of frozen embryos, but Lyerly points out that many patients don't have this option or don't know that they do.
"Many centers don't make available all the options for disposition," she says. "Even in places where embryo research is not conducted, it is possible that embryos can be transferred to another center, yet this might not be discussed." | <urn:uuid:c8f66256-34d4-4eb8-a6b3-4f7f712deb96> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.webmd.com/infertility-and-reproduction/news/20081204/frozen-embryos-vex-infertility-patients?src=rsf_full-4273_pub_none_rltd | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975319 | 621 | 1.875 | 2 |
Abuja — Widespread and systematic murder and persecution by Boko Haram, a militant Islamist group in northern Nigeria, likely amount to crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
Government security forces have also engaged in numerous abuses, including extrajudicial killings, Human Rights Watch said.
The 98-page report, "Spiraling Violence: Boko Haram Attacks and Security Force Abuses in Nigeria," catalogues atrocities for which Boko Haram has claimed responsibility. It also explores the role of Nigeria's security forces, whose own alleged abuses contravene international human rights law and might also constitute crimes against humanity. The violence, which first erupted in 2009, has claimed more than 2,800 lives.
"The unlawful killing by both Boko Haram and Nigerian security forces only grows worse; both sides need to halt this downward spiral," said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "Nigeria's government should swiftly bring to justice the Boko Haram members and security agents who have committed these serious crimes."
The report, which includes a photo essay, is based on field research in Nigeria between July 2010 and July 2012, and the continuous monitoring of media reports of Boko Haram attacks and statements since 2009. Human Rights Watch researchers interviewed 135 people, including 91 witnesses and victims of Boko Haram violence or security forces abuses, as well as lawyers, civil society leaders, government officials, and senior military and police personnel.
Since 2009, hundreds of attacks by suspected Boko Haram members have left more than 1,500 people dead, according to media reports monitored by Human Rights Watch. In the first nine months of 2012 alone, more than 815 people died in some 275 suspected attacks by the group - more than in all of 2010 and 2011 combined.
Boko Haram, which means "Western education is a sin" in the Hausa language of northern Nigeria, seeks to impose a strict form of Sharia, or Islamic law, in northern Nigeria and end government corruption. Widespread poverty, corruption, police abuse, and longstanding impunity for a range of crimes have created a fertile ground for violent militancy in Nigeria, Human Rights Watch said.
Boko Haram's attacks - centered in northern Nigeria - have primarily targeted police and other government security agents, Christians, and Muslims working for or accused of cooperating with the government.The group has also bombed newspaper offices and the United Nations building in the capital, Abuja; attacked beer halls and robbed banks; and burned down schools.
Five days of clashes between the group and security forces, and brazen execution-style killings by both sides, left more than 800 people dead in July 2009 and precipitated further violence. Security personnel in 2009 arrested and summarily executed the group's leader, Mohammed Yusuf, along with at least several dozen of his followers, in the northern city of Maiduguri.
When the group reemerged in 2010 under the leadership of Abubakar Shekau, Yusuf's former deputy, it vowed to avenge the killings of its members. Suspected Boko Haram members have since attacked more than 60 police stations in at least 10 northern and central states and bombed the police headquarters in Abuja. According to media reports monitored by Human Rights Watch, at least 211 police officers have been killed in these attacks.
A widow of a police officer killed by Boko Haram said that members of the group attacked a police barracks in the city of Kano in January 2012 while disguised in police uniforms:
I was standing in the doorway.... I saw five men in mobile police uniforms. They had AK-47s. They didn't say anything. One of them shot me in the leg and I fell inside the house. My husband, he was in uniform, came out and saw them. He had no gun. He asked, "Colleagues, why did you shoot my wife?" And then they shot him, bang in the forehead. He fell down [dead].
Police took the woman to the hospital the next morning where doctors amputated her right leg above the knee.
Boko Haram has also claimed responsibility for targeting and killing numerous Christians in northern Nigeria. Suspected members of the group have bombed or opened fire on worshipers in at least 18 churches across eight northern and central states since 2010. In Maiduguri, the group also forced Christian men to convert to Islam on penalty of death, Human Rights Watch found.
Suspected Boko Haram gunmen, often riding motorcycles and carrying AK-47s under their robes, have also gunned down more than a dozen Muslim clerics and assassinated traditional leaders for allegedly speaking out against its tactics or for cooperating with authorities to identify group members. The group also has claimed responsibility for killing northern politicians and civil servants - nearly all Muslims.
"Boko Haram has callously murdered people while they pray at church services in northern Nigeria," Bekele said. "It has also gunned down Muslims who openly oppose the group's horrific violence."
Nigeria's government has responded to Boko Haram with a heavy hand. Security forces have killed hundreds of Boko Haram suspects and other members of the public with no apparent links to the group, in the name of ending the group's threat to the country's citizens. But the authorities have rarely prosecuted those responsible for the Boko Haram violence or security force personnel for their abuses.
During security raids in communities where attacks have occurred, the military have allegedly engaged in excessive use of force and other human rights violations, such as burning homes, physical abuse, and extrajudicial killings, witnesses told Human Rights Watch.
The Nigerian authorities have also arrested hundreds of people in raids across the north. Many of these people have been held incommunicado without charge or trial for months or even years. In some cases they have been detained in inhuman conditions and subject to physical abuse or death. The fate of many of those detained remains unclear.
Boko Haram should immediately cease all attacks, and threats of attacks, that cause loss of life, injury, and destruction of property, Human Rights Watch said. The Nigerian government should take urgent measures to address the human rights abuses that have helped fuel the violent militancy.
"Nigeria's government has a responsibility to protect its citizens from violence, but also to respect international human rights law," Bekele said. "Instead of abusive tactics that only add to the toll, the authorities should prosecute without delay those responsible for such serious crimes." | <urn:uuid:1ca151a3-5ff0-489e-8eff-cd68a6c47be6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://allafrica.com/stories/201210111380.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972876 | 1,297 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Mississippi Military Records
From Ancestry.com Wiki
This entry was originally written by Kathleen Stanton Hutchison for Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources.
Revolutionary War. At the beginning of the Revolutionary War, the region that was later to become Mississippi Territory was a province of Great Britain. In 1779 a patriot by the name of James Willing led attacks along the Mississippi, confiscating and destroying property belonging to the British. The significance of this action foreshadows later events that led to the Spanish taking control of British West Florida. Primary source material regarding these events may be uncovered through the British Provincial records found in the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Of special interest is the Fifth Series (covering America and the West Indies), 582-97. Another helpful source from the National Archives is the Oliver Pollack Papers from Record Group 360, Records of the Continental Congress. These records were obtained in London through the British Public Record Office. For a better understanding of the period, see Robert V. Haynes, The Natchez District and the American Revolution (Jackson, Miss.: University Press of Mississippi, 1976).
Veterans of the Revolutionary War pioneered their way into this land, and some can be traced through Family Records: Mississippi Revolutionary Soldiers, published by the Mississippi Society of the DAR. Information found here is not considered official proof but does offer good leads to what may otherwise have been lost. This publication does have errors, but it is well indexed. Because Mississippi was not part of the United States at the time, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History has no official Revolutionary War records on file. The grave registrations, however, include Revolutionary soldiers who are buried in Mississippi (see Mississippi Cemetery Records).
War of 1812. Research about the War of 1812 in Mississippi should begin with Eron O. M. Rowland’s article, “Mississippi Territory in the War of 1812,” found in volume four (Centenary Series) of Dunbar Rowland, ed., Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society (Jackson, Miss.: the society, 1921). The Mississippi Department of Archives and History has available copies of National Archives microfilm of both index and service records for Mississippians who served in this war. In addition, grave registrations should be checked (see Cemetery Records).
Mexican War. For an overview of the Mexican War as it related to Mississippi, see Lynda J. Lasswell, “First Regiment of Mississippi Infantry in the Mexican War” (master’s thesis, Rice University, 1969). National Archives microfilm of Mississippians’ service records for the war is available at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, along with Mississippi grave registrations (see Mississippi Cemetery Records).
Civil War. Of particular value are the chapters in Rowland’s Military History… (see Background Sources for Mississippi). They include the numerical listing of the state’s units that served in the army of Northern Virginia, and the other listing of those that served in the Western Theater of Operations, Army of Tennessee. For a publication citing original materials pertaining to the Civil War, see Patti Carr Black and Maxyne Madden Grimes, comps., Guide to Civil War Source Material in the Department of Archives and History, State of Mississippi (Jackson, Miss.: Mississippi Department of Archives and History, 1962).
National Archives microfilm of Mississippi Confederate military records, which include both muster rolls and some pension applications, are found at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. The military record gives the name, rank, and organization of Mississippi soldiers who served in the Confederate States Army; the pension application, made by the veteran or widow of a veteran, gives more genealogical data. There is also a listing of Union volunteers from Mississippi. All of these compilations are indexed. The state archives also has a microfilm copy of “Selected Records of the War Department Relating to Confederate Prisoners of War, 1861–1865,” which is part of the War Department Collection of Confederate Records, Record Group 109.
Some county courthouses conducted and kept an enumeration of confederate soldiers in 1907. The Vicksburg National Military Park, Park Historian, 3201 Clay St., Vicksburg, MS 39183-3495, has a listing of all known Union soldiers buried in their National Military Cemetery along with some family members who were buried there after 1866. This list is available at the park and at the Old Courthouse Museum in Vicksburg. Confederate soldiers are buried at the Cedar Hill Cemetery, whose office has recorded lot purchasers beginning in 1840 and has a listing arranged alphabetically by state of Confederate soldiers buried there. Inquiries may be addressed to P.O. Box 150, Vicksburg, MS 39180.
FamilySearch.org has a variety of collections available for free online:
- Mississippi, Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865
- Mississippi, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers
Later Wars. With privacy restrictions placed on some later military records, availability becomes more difficult. Some records found in the Mississippi Department of Archives and History include World War I records (which include an alphabetical typescript index of Mississippi veterans). The National Archives—Southeast Region has World War I draft registration cards. The state’s archives has an alphabetical index to Mississippi soldiers who fought in the Korean Conflict (Record Group 33), and in Official Records, Mississippians killed in World War I, World War II, the Korean Conflict, and the Vietnam Conflict. Grave Registrations for those buried in Mississippi include the following wars: Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Indian Wars, Mexican War, Civil War, Philippine Insurrection, World War I, World War II, and the Korean Conflict. Though helpful, the source is not exhaustive. | <urn:uuid:5df01ca0-3340-4096-ba41-9f379cbd9900> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ancestry.com/wiki/index.php?title=Mississippi_Military_Records&oldid=31663 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919399 | 1,196 | 3.15625 | 3 |
'Browser Hijacking' the Latest Threat for Windows Users
Windows users already have enough security risks to worry about, but here’s a new one — browser hijacking.
It takes tedious, time-consuming work to undo the damage, and most users only discover the ‘hijacking’ after it’s happened. Pop-up windows overlap everywhere, the Internet Explorer home page and Web services are switched to other sites and the list of favorite sites is replaced with porn, the Washington Post reported.
In some cases, all users did was click an "OK" button that they thought was changing home-page settings or adding a Web toolbar — not knowing the damage that would result. The problem is often caused by going online with an old copy of Windows, allowing a hijacker's site to take advantage of security flaws.
The Washington Post recommends a few strategies to stop the problem. Run an up-to-date antivirus utility and firewall program and regularly download Microsoft's critical updates (windowsupdate.microsoft.com). Two of the biggest security flaws behind browser hijacking can be fixed with a pair of downloads. A third can be remedied by installing a better browser.
First, stop pop-ups by going to toolbar.google.com through Internet Explorer 5.5 or newer, or install another browser. Step two is to update the Java software on your machine. Its developer, Sun Microsystems, designed it with tight limits on what a Web-based application can and can't do. But these limits must be enforced by a "virtual machine" program that runs on your own computer, and the one Microsoft developed contained vulnerabilities that hijackers abuse. The better option is to download and install Sun's own, free Java virtual machine (www.java.com).
Step three is to eliminate ActiveX, which allows Web interactivity, but it relies on users to give the right answer when Internet Explorer asks, "Do you trust this publisher?" Click "yes" and the ActiveX program can do whatever it wants. Use an ActiveX-free browser for everyday Web use. A good Internet Explorer replacement is a free copy of Mozilla (www.mozilla.org).
If your computer has already been infected, your antivirus program should clean it out. But you may need specialized hijack-removal software, such as Hijack This! or CWShredder (both at http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html | <urn:uuid:45af0c59-36c6-4161-89ca-cee03ed01fab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.accountingweb.com/topic/technology/browser-hijacking-latest-threat-windows-users | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909507 | 514 | 1.960938 | 2 |
Cançionèr presents music for a fascinating and little-understood phenomenon: during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, certain areas experienced brief outbreaks of manic, "contagious" dancing that often afflicted dozens, or even hundreds. Ordinary people would succumb to a compulsion to dance furiously for days or weeks on end, some to their deaths. Some feared that they had been cursed, and perhaps gave in to mass hysteria. Music was offered for the dancers in the hope that it would appease Divine wrath. Instrumental and vocal dance music, flagellant songs, penitential prayers, tarantellas, and more! Members of Cançionèr include San Diego favorites Tom Zajac and Shira Kammen. | <urn:uuid:5c60dccf-acb7-4d07-a136-073cc9c56cb0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sandiego.org/members/music/san-diego-early-music-society/events/canconier-choreomania.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960968 | 149 | 1.8125 | 2 |
MusicLink Foundation: Teachers who sign up with MusicLink agree to cut their normal rate by at least half to give children the opportunity to take lessons they could not otherwise afford.
Ethos Music Center: Oregon's largest music school (2,650 students) discounts lessons and classes on a sliding scale, especially to students under 18 who are in the Free or Reduced Price Lunch Program at school. Last year, Ethos gave out $45,000 in scholarships. 503-283-8467.
Community Music Center: The city-run music center gives scholarships to students taking classes there. 503-823-3177.
Oregon Music Teachers Association: This organization of private teachers works with MusicLink (see above).
Portland Youth Philharmonic: PYP musicians pair with middle school students for half-hour private lessons. Cost: $40 for eight lessons. 503-223-5939,
Public school music teachers are a good source of information for financial aid. Just ask. Some booster programs can also help, or start your own. | <urn:uuid:fbf1538b-86c5-4cee-bdc7-ee4a527da1b0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oregonlive.com/performance/index.ssf/2011/08/families_can_get_help_paying_f.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925707 | 213 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Ocracoke Island: Its People,the U.S. Coast Guard and Navy Base During World War II by Earl William O'Neal, Jr.
"A mere six weeks after Pearl Harbor, U.S. involvement in the Second World War became a terrible reality to natives of North Carolina's Outer Banks with the sinking of the tanker Allan Jackson just 60 miles of Cape Hatteras. The thick black smoke which streamed skyward from the burning ship on January 18, 1942, marked the end of innocence for the islanders, and in the ensuing months they observed firsthand the hardships, human toll, and devastating effects of the war effort along the Atlantic seaboard."
O'Neal's book begins with the Navy's appropriation of land from the islanders, to the construction and commissioning of the Navy Section Base on Ocracoke's harbor on October 9, 1942. On January 16, 1944 it was converted to an Amphibious Training Base, and in 1945 it was setup as a Combat Information Center. In 1946 the Base was closed.
The book sells for $32.95 plus tax and shipping and handling. There are pictures of the base in the book
Fort Ocracoke is so OTBP that it no longer exists-monument says:
"The remnants of Fort Ocracoke are submerged in Ocracoke Inlet 2 miles to the west southwest toward Portsmouth Island, the last of possibly four forts on Beacon Island. The mostly earthen Fort Ocracoke was constructed by mainland Confederate volunteers beginning on May 20, 1861, the day North Carolina seceded from the Union and joined the Confederacy.
"After Union victories on Hatteras Island in August 1861, the confederates partly destroyed the fort and abandoned it without a fight. Mainland Union froces completed the destruction in September 1861. Beacon Island was consumed by the waters of Ocracoke Inlet in the first half of the 20th century. The fort's remains were discovered and identified by members of surface interval diving co. in August 1998, acting on a tip from the Ocracoke Charter Boat Captain Donald Austin."
A description of the fort is in a report made by Lieutenant Maxwell of the US Steamer PAWNEE
..[the fort] is octagonal in shape, contains four shell rooms, about twenty five feet square, and in the center a large Bomb-proof, one hundred feet square, with the magazine within it. Directly above the magazine, on each side, were four large tanks containing water.
The fort had been constructed with great care, of sand in barrels covered with earth and turf. The inner framing of the bomb-proof was built of heavy pine timbers. There were platforms for twenty guns... The gun carriages had been all burned. There were eighteen guns in the fort—namely, four eight inch navy sell guns, and fourteen long thirty-two pounders. ... I found one hundred and fifty barrels also, many of them filled with water. There being no water in the fort, they had brought it from Washington and Newberry (New Bern)....
After destroying the guns, I collected all the lumber, barrels and wheelbarrows, and placed them in and about the bomb-proof, set fire to the pile and entirely destroyed it...
I am, respectfully, your obedient servant,
JAMES Y. MAXWELL Lt USN
Okay so a good part of the island is beach, but when you're there you'll feel like you've stepped into another world. Haven't you always wanted to look around at a beach and not see resorts towering over you, beer bottles sticking out of the sand, crowds of people and umbrellas? You really feel secluded out here and that's why it was the perfect place for my wife and I to spend our honeymoon. As many others feel, when they write on this location, I hate to tell the masses about it because then it might become too developed in the name of tourism. But I think the worst of that anyone will see is the over abundance of blackbeard trinkets that are for sale in various gift shops. Ocracoke Island is too beautiful for anyone to want to ruin with too much commercialization. And I don't think the locals would allow it. Enjoy the beach, it's especially peaceful in the morning right after the sun comes up. There's no one around except you. | <urn:uuid:b503ea05-e7db-4252-ab19-7d9408b1ca60> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/North_America/United_States_of_America/North_Carolina/Ocracoke-826863/Off_the_Beaten_Path-Ocracoke-TG-C-1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969432 | 909 | 3.578125 | 4 |
MongoDB: Sharding with the Fishes
Sharding is the not-so-revolutionary way that MongoDB scales writes (it’s very similar to techniques described in the Big Table paper and by PNUTS) but many people are unfamiliar with what it is and how it works. If you’ve seen a talk on MongoDB or looked at the website, you’ve probably seen a diagram of sharding that looks like this:
…which probably looks a bit like “I hope I don’t have to understand that.”
However, it’s actually quite simple: it’s exactly how the Mafia is structured (or, at least, how The Godfather taught me it was):
- The shards are the peons: someone tells them to do something (e.g., a query or an insert), they do it and report back.
- The mongos is the godfather. It knows what data each peon has and gives them orders. It’s basically a router for the requests.
- The config server is the consigliere. It knows where all of the data is at any given time and lets the boss know so that he can focus on bossing. The consigliere keeps the organization running smoothly.
For a concrete example, let’s say we have a collection of blog posts. You choose a “shard key,” which is the value Mongo will use to split the data across shards. We’ll choose “date” as the shard key, which means it will be split up based on values in the “date” field. If we have four shards, they might contain data something like:
- shard #1: beginning of time up to June 2009
- shard #2: July 2009 to November 2009
- shard #3: December 2009 to February 2010
- shard #4: March 2010 through the end of time
Now that we’ve got our peons set up, let’s ask the godfather for some favors.
Say you query for all documents created from the beginning of this year (January 1st, 2010) up to the present. Here’s what happens:
- You (the client) send the query to the godfather.
- The godfather knows which shards contain the data you’re looking for, so he sends the query to shards #3 and #4.
- shard #3 and shard #4 execute the query and return the results to the godfather.
- The godfather puts together the results he’s received and sends them back to the client.
Note how all of the sharding stuff is done a layer away from the client, so your application doesn’t have to be sharding-aware, it can just query the godfather as though it were a normal mongod instance.
Suppose you want to insert a new document with today’s date. Here’s the sequence of events:
- You send the document to the godfather.
- It sees today’s date and routes it to shard #4.
- shard #4 inserts the document.
Again, identical to a single-server setup from the client’s point of view.
So where’s the consigliere?
Suppose you start getting millions of documents inserted with the date September 2009. Shard #2 begins to swell up like a bloated corpse. The consigliere will notice this and, when shard #2 gets too big it will split the data on shard #2 and migrate some of it to other, emptier shards. Then it will let the godfather know that now shard #2 contains July 2009-September 15th 2009 and shard #3 contains September 16th 2009-February 2010.
The consigliere is also responsibly for figuring out what to do when you add a new shard to the cluster. It figures out if it should keep the new shard in reserve or migrate some data to it right away. Basically, it’s the brains of the operation.
Whenever the consigliere moves around data, it lets the godfather know what the final configuration is so that the godfather can continue routing requests correctly.
Leave the gun. Take the cannolis.
This scaling deliciousness is, unfortunately, still very alpha. You can help us out by telling us where our documentation sucks (specifics are better than “it sucks”), testing it out on your machine, and voting for features you’d like to see.
(Note: Opinions expressed in this article and its replies are the opinions of their respective authors and not those of DZone, Inc.) | <urn:uuid:49eb9c43-52d1-4f4f-a4f7-1ac36a538dff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://architects.dzone.com/articles/mongodb-sharding-fishes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93472 | 1,003 | 2 | 2 |
Seung-yun Kim, assistant professor of computer sciences at Shepherd University, worked with two local high school teachers who were awarded a $36,000 grant through the West Virginia IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence program.
Wendy Lee, science teacher at Musselman High School in Inwood, and Denise Gipson, science teacher at Jefferson High School in Shenandoah Junction, asked to work with Kim based on his abstract published in the WV-INBRE research directory.
The grant allowed the teachers to work with Kim for nine weeks this summer as he researched modeling and simulation of malaria and medication interaction.
Each teacher received a stipend of $13,000 and the additional $10,000 was used for Kim's lab supplies to conduct the research.
The group modeled human system using Petri Net and introduced malaria and then introduced three different types of prescription drugs to simulate the reaction of the malaria. They then used Tina, a Petri Net modeling and simulation tool, to compile a final report. Kim said that their work will be published in a paper in the coming year.
Gipson, who has a Master of Science in biochemistry from the University of California at Davis, said that the program allows her to see what has changed and stayed the same in her field of study.
"It's a positive experience," Gipson said. "It's nice to see bio-chemistry and computers combined, update our skills, and establish professional contacts."
Gipson, Lee, and Kim traveled to the 10th Annual WV-INBRE Summer Research Symposium at Marshall University on July 28 where Gipson presented on the group's findings to date.
Gipson said that she hopes to continue a partnership between Jefferson High School and Shepherd and that the experience is a valuable opportunity for high school teachers.
"This provides a way to do research on up-to-date information in science that we can take back to high school students," said Lee.
Kim said that this is the first time to have high school teachers work with the computer science, mathematics, and engineering department at Shepherd.
"It's a good opportunity to have connected, and we plan on publishing the research we have completed," Kim said. | <urn:uuid:197a7782-5d3b-4c03-9139-a21587c7fb54> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wdbj7.com/topic/hm-shepherd-university-professor-aids-two-high-school-teachers-20110826,0,5989735.story | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965466 | 464 | 2.296875 | 2 |
Climate change a threat to Assam tea
New Delhi (UPI) Jan 3, 2011
India's popular Assam tea may be threatened by global warming, experts say.
Begun by the British in the early 19th century, there are 850 tea plantations spread over 593,000 acres in the northeastern Indian state of Assam, accounting for most of the country's harvest of leaves used to brew traditional breakfast teas.
But tea production in Assam declined from 564,000 tons in 2007 to 487,000 tons in 2009, says the Assam Branch Indian Tea Association, an umbrella group of some 400 plantations. It estimates that for 2010, the crop will have dropped to 460,000 tons.
"This is clearly climate change and it is bound to have major impact on the tea industry," said Debakanta Handique, a climate scientist in Assam, The Guardian newspaper reports.
Rainfall in Assam has dropped by more than one-fifth in the past 60 years and the minimum temperature has increased by 1.8 degrees to 67.1 Fahrenheit.
"Climate changing is definitely happening," said Mridul Hazarika, the director of the Tea Research Association, which is conducting studies on how the changes are affecting tea production, Britain's The Independent newspaper reports. "It is affecting the tea gardens in a number of ways."
An increase in erratic weather is adding further stress to the tea plants, which last year received less sunlight because of heavy rainfall, TRA research indicates. Assam experienced an average of an hour less of sunshine each day during this past growing season, TRA says.
Heavier than usual rainfall last year meant the plants received less sunlight and oxygen, TRA says. The resulting wet and humid conditions led to an increase in pests, compounding production losses.
Changes in the quality of Assam tea is also concerning growers.
"There is a huge demand for Assam tea abroad, and this is due to its strong, bright flavor," said Sudipta Nayan Goswami, an Assam planter, the Guardian newspaper reports.
"The changes will sharply hamper the demand for this variety of tea abroad," he said, noting that the black tea no longer has its distinctive creamy, strong flavor.
The average price of tea in Assam could reach $4.02 per kilogram by April, from $3.35 a kilogram, said tea plantation giant McLeod Russel India, The Economic Times newspaper of India reports.
"We're at the thin edge where any inconsistency in weather or cropping pattern has an immediate spiking effect on prices," said Azam Monem, director of the company.
Share This Article With Planet Earth
Farming Today - Suppliers and Technology
Belgrade (AFP) Jan 3, 2011
Standing in her greenhouse in gumboots, Zorana Gajic jokes how she used to think "food grew in supermarkets" but now experiments on how to mix crops to ensure optimum use of her "organic" soil. A path next to the greenhouse leads to an orchard with plum and cherry trees, melon patches in between and a flock of sheep grazing peacefully throughout. "I came to this via my husband otherwise ... read more
|The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement| | <urn:uuid:34b2ec4d-f8d7-4ec8-81a5-6ad785728ba3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.seeddaily.com/reports/Climate_change_a_threat_to_Assam_tea_999.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935775 | 774 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Since the gods were thought to be creators of the world, it was quite difficult for ancient people to think the gods were unrelated to the power in some manner. Any leader (not only king but also a general) had to convince their people and soldiers that the gods were at least loyal to their side to maintain good morale. Also in the ancient states often the only two branches of power were the religious one and executive one, thus the inauguration was performed by the supreme priest as the second-important figure in the state.
That said, the Roman emperors did not claim the divine mandate. Their power was in theory delegated by the people and senate of Rome. You of course heard that they were proclaimed "divine" sometimes, but usually post-mortem, and this was a honor conferred by the decision of the senate (and did not imply the dead were gods but just god-like). There were also temples of the "Emperor's genius", genius being a minor god, personal protector of the emperor (all people were thought to possess a genius as well). That is the people just honored the personal protector of the emperor so that his life to be safe.
Some emperors just like other noble Romans traced their ancestry to gods, but this was never used to justify their special rights to the power.
But I am not sure that this case falls under your request because the empire was officially a republic until the reign of Heraclius who after he defeated the Sassanid Empire adopted the title "King of Kings" (Basileos Basileon) which was previously held by Khosrov II, the defeated Sassanid king. It should be noted meanwhile that adopting a foreign royal title was not that charged in Roman Empire/Republic where sometimes even republican officials could receive a royal title from local barbarian tribes as a sign of loyalty. Thus it could be argued that even after Heraclius the power was in theory delegated to the emperor by the three forces combined: the people, the army and the church (the first emperor whose coronation involved the Patriarch though was that of Leo I the Thracian, before Heraclius).
The eastern title "King of Kings" was not religious in nature though. It just meant the king was recognized as the supreme king by other peer kings.
If we look deeper in the history, the ancient Greek kings were just gens elders. Take for example, Sparte where initially was four and later two tribes with their respective "kings", the two considered the equal kings of Sparta. I think the most ancient concept of "king" was exactly that of a tribe's elder, the head of a family. | <urn:uuid:74b4bca5-1749-4ce4-b166-2cfccbbb1b08> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://history.stackexchange.com/questions/1007/were-there-any-well-known-royal-dynasties-that-did-not-in-some-way-cite-religiou | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.99157 | 541 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-58367-320-1
Cloth ISBN: 978-1-58367-321-8
Read an excerpt in Links: International Journal of Socialist Renewal
As a young militant in the Student Youth movement, Esteban Morales Domínguez participated in the overthrow of the Batista regime and the triumph of the Cuban Revolution. The revolutionaries, he understood, sought to establish a more just and egalitarian society. But Morales, an Afro-Cuban, knew that the complicated question of race could not be ignored, or simply willed away in a post-revolutionary context. Today, he is one of Cuba’s most prominent Afro-Cuban intellectuals and its leading authority on the race question.
Available for the first time in English, the essays collected here describe the problem of racial inequality in Cuba, provide evidence of its existence, constructively criticize efforts by the Cuban political leadership to end discrimination, and point to a possible way forward. Morales surveys the major advancements in race relations that occurred as a result of the revolution, but does not ignore continuing signs of inequality and discrimination. Instead, he argues that the revolution must be an ongoing process and that to truly transform society it must continue to confront the question of race in Cuba.
Esteban Morales Domínguez, a proactive, democratic voice living an integrated social-professional-Communist Party cadre life in Cuban socialism, straightforwardly posits skin color and racism as transversal life-defining subjects that require conscious social science research and special policy attention to renovate and advance Cuban socialism as a full participatory democratic project with equitable material and spiritual development for all citizens. | <urn:uuid:d37439b2-3289-492c-b1a9-d2bc2cfdb909> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://monthlyreview.org/press/books/pb3201/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.903707 | 346 | 2.21875 | 2 |
Botnet that pwned 100,000 UK PCs taken out
Researchers crowbar entry into cybercrime server
Security researchers have uncovered the command and control network of a Zeus 2 botnet sub-system targeted at UK surfers that controlled an estimated 100,000 computers.
Cybercrooks based in eastern Europe used a variant of the Zeus 2 cybercrime toolkit to harvest personal data - including bank log-ins, credit and debit card numbers, bank statements, browser cookies, client side certificates, and log-in information for email accounts and social networks - from compromised Windows systems.
Trusteer researchers identified the botnet's drop servers and command and control centre before using reverse engineering to gain access its back-end database and user interface. A log of IP addresses used to access the system, presumably by the cybercrooks that controlled it, was passed by Trusteer onto the Metropolitan Police.
Trusteer declined to point the finger as to the locations of the Zeus botmaster controlling the systems, beyond saying that compromised systems were controlled from eastern Europe.
"The cybercrime servers were hidden but the hackers were not using a lot of security, so it was possible to find a way into the database," Mickey Boodaei, Trusteer's chief exec told El Reg.
The original attack was probably seeded by a combination of infected email attachments and drive-by downloads, according to Amit Klein, Trusteer's chief technology officer. The Windows-based malware used to control zombie clients was a variant of the infamous Zeus cybercrime toolkit, a customisable Trojan keylogger and botnet-control client sold through underground forums that's become the sawn-off shotgun of the cybercrime economy over recent years.
"There are some significant changes between Zeus 1.x and Zeus 2.0: Zeus 2.0 installs differently, better adapted to newer Windows operating systems (Vista, 7). Additionally, Zeus 2.0 has built-in support for Firefox," Klein explained.
"There are Zeus binaries out there for few months already with version number 2.0.x.y. We do not control Zeus's version numbers - it's the Zeus writers who do that," he added.
Trusteer says the attack is an example of the growing trend of regionalised malware. ® | <urn:uuid:26c1bba5-dfc2-405b-b05a-038300aba277> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/08/04/zeus2_botnet_pwns_brit_pcs/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945181 | 467 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Pores are the openings of oil glands in your skin, so people with bigger and more active oil glands tend to have large pores and rough-looking skin. Although pore size is mainly determined by heredity, there are ways to minimize their appearance.
Enlarged pores can become clogged with oil, dead skin, and bacteria, so it's important to keep your skin clean. Be sure to wash your face before going to bed, especially if you wear makeup. Look for a cleanser with salicylic acid which helps control oil and unclogs pores, like Clinique Acne Solutions Cleansing Foam or Aveeno Clear Complexion Daily Cleansing Pads. Once a week, use a facial scrub to remove rough, dead skin and reveal softer, newer skin cells. For best results, avoid scrubs made from walnut shells or apricot pits, which can scratch your skin. Instead, try a product with smooth beads, such as Garnier Nutritioniste Nutri-Pure Microbead Cream Scrub.
If at-home products don't do the trick, consider going to a facialist for a microdermabrasion treatment. This procedure uses fine crystals to exfoliate dead skin cells and help keep blackheads under control. For best results, it should be repeated every four to six weeks. Your dermatologist may also recommend medical treatments that can reduce pore size, including salicylic acid peels and photofacials (which use intense pulsed laser light).
Learn more in the Everyday Health Skin and Beauty Center.
Looking for help with a skin condition? Find a dermatologist or plastic surgeon.
Last Updated: 04/14/2008
Dr. Jessica Wu is a board-certified dermatologist in Los Angeles who specializes in medical and cosmetic dermatology. She graduated from Harvard Medical School and completed her dermatology residency at the University of Southern California. | <urn:uuid:8fa678d7-0817-410c-991c-309a1b65567b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.everydayhealth.com/skin-beauty-specialist/can-i-shrink-my-pores.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94134 | 393 | 1.820313 | 2 |
How to Prevent Freezer Burn
Follow this easy advice to keep frozen foods fresh.
Those grayish, frosty spots that show up on the surface of foods, known as freezer burn, occur when food is improperly wrapped and exposed to too much oxygen. Freezer burn won't rot meat or produce, but it can cause items to toughen and taste spoiled. Protect food from burn and pesky ice crystals by tightly covering it with freezer-safe wraps and bags, making sure to squeeze out as much excess air as possible. | <urn:uuid:0f336ecc-f940-48e4-b193-980264fd79af> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/shopping-storing/freezing/prevent-freezer-burn-10000001700479/index.html?xid=yshi-rs-freezer-082112-freeze-food | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962175 | 106 | 2.75 | 3 |
10th July, 2012, Tehran: Just a day after fitting in on an approach to finish the violence in Syria with Assad, Kofi Annan, the United Nations Arab League Envoy, went to Iran for a dialogue with top officials.
Last week, Kofi Annan spoke about a greater role for Iran in settling the Syria crisis. He admitted that all the attempts for a political resolution had actually failed till now and added that Iran needs to be a part of the solution. Annan did not reveal the kind of help he was expecting from Iran. An Iranian news agency told that Kofi Annan would meet Ali Akbar Salehi, the Foreign Minister, and Saeed Jalili, who is a top security official.
Iran is a steadfast partner as well as military backer of Assad’s rule and Tehran is also the chief regional partner of Syria, supplying him them financial and humanitarian aid. US have already ruled out the participation of Iran in international peace meetings on Syria.
Western superpowers have asked Assad to leave power, but still his main partners Russia and China does not have any peace plan which include his ouster. | <urn:uuid:b1720871-0abf-42ae-a739-1941e88babf1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailynews365.com/world-news/united-nations-envoy-annan-asks-iran-to-help-on-syria-crisis/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975025 | 231 | 1.539063 | 2 |
The city of Novosibirsk in Russia has released a real-time tracking Google Map for the city's bus network. Using the map it is possible to view the locations in real-time of all the city's buses.
You can select to view buses on any individual bus line or select a combination of any lines. If you click on any of the displayed buses on a line you can view the schedule of when it will arrive at the stops on its route.
There is also a mobile phone optimised version of the site so that you can see how far away the next bus is when you are actually standing at a bus-stop.
Via: Andrei's Blog | <urn:uuid:76bd2af7-4f51-484e-ae7c-9eee948547c3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mapsmaniac.com/2010/05/real-time-buses-in-novosibirsk.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915775 | 139 | 1.789063 | 2 |
My (utterly unsubstantiated) pet theory on the development of the torpedo stern is as follows: As the nascent inboard gasoline engines grew more powerful, the cruiser-stern (double-ended) small planing & semi-planing boat designs of the day had a tendancy to squat as the boat exceeded the 1.34 (approx) speed-to-length (S/L) ratio threshold. Design theory of the time held (accurately) that S/L ratios higher than 1.34 were achievable with high length-to-beam (L/B) hullforms, and that a flattish bottom with hard bilges and straight buttocks allowed even higher speeds. It would be reasonable to think that a redistribution of weight at the stern would alleviate the squatting, so the cruiser stern was drawn reversed, making a torpedo stern. This has the effect of maintaining a high L/B ratio, provided adequate coaming height to keep water out and people in, and moved the weight of the stern structure forward. Nice plan, too bad it didn't work much over a S/L ratio of about 2.5. Later developments added the "sponsons" at the stern, as shown in the Stancraft boat in Donwest's photo, to provide reserve buoyancy underway. These quickly became incorporated into the hull bottom as an extension of the bottom planking, and we were well on our way to developing the square stern. Developments in MTB's chronicled by Lindsay Lord during WWII and later break-through hullforms by Ray Hunt sealed the fate of torpedo sterns on fast boats. But they live on in some quarters 'cause they're so darned pretty. That's my story and I'm sticking to it (at least until it fails utterly under withering assault)!
Hope for the best, but plan for the worst. | <urn:uuid:97ef8596-6b30-4297-9d4b-dd04cdb4d7d4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.php?11866-Torpedo-Stern&p=650507 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969728 | 380 | 1.875 | 2 |
What connects guns to gum?
Genocide and graffiti are worlds apart, as are the global trade in illegal timber and nuisance parking, gangland killings and the theft of rare bird eggs, right? Wrong. They are all simply and inextricably linked by a single issue, all part of the same one-planet problem: Environmental Crime.
INTERPOL: Serious and organised crime
A Detective Inspector attached to the National Wildlife Crime Unit in Livingston, Scotland, heading up an international INTERPOL team, has pioneered coordination of a worldwide operation across 51 countries fighting illegal trade in reptiles and amphibians. Results have included the seizure of thousands of animals and products valued at over €25M. The primary target here has been eco-cybercrime, widespread and big bucks; but this scale of intercontinental sting is by no means the only level of interest and involvement at which environmental policing pays.
Crime is crime. Investigations that get results are valuable and targeting environmental transgressions can represent an effective route into a known underworld network at national, regional, even local level. Convictions won as a result of an eco-crime investigation can bring benefits to law enforcement services in more ways than one: They might take a serious criminal temporarily out of circulation, albeit on a lesser charge; and/or they might help unearth evidence in connection with a serious crime, so providing the breakthrough the police needed.
As well as pursuing high-profile cases involving illegal trade in exotic items such as ivory or tigers, INTERPOL understands that supporting the likes of the Environment Agency in its pursuit in England and Wales of prosecutions in connection with waste licensing, management, transfer and disposal offences is an effective way of disrupting the activities of organised crime syndicates. Searches on the basis of skip-hire malpractice can result in arrests and convictions of much greater significance, with wider-ranging implications.
In short, whilst The Sopranos might be fictional, the dirty-money storyline links between gangsters and garbage are not entirely false and not so far removed from real-life drama, legal prosecution cases and convictions in the courts.
Conflict resources: Prosecuting the President for ‘pillage’
Serious and organised as the ‘The Mob’ might be, they are not however at the top of the tree in terms of environmental crime.
This week, the verdict due in the trial of the former President of Liberia, Charles Taylor, could set a significant legal precedent (according to reports in The Ecologist). Taylor is being tried on 11 counts, the final one of which is ‘pillage’, or conflict-related theft, prohibited in international humanitarian law under the 1949 Geneva Convention.
Wars cost money. Many brutal conflicts have depended on arms deals funded via ill-gotten gains, exploitation of rights and illegal trade in natural resources, such as timber and ‘blood diamonds’. This violent history has lead to the environment being described as the ‘unpublicised victim of war’.
Proof of ‘pillage theory’ is difficult to obtain. Prosecutions are complex and potentially costly, with outcomes uncertain, but the principle is valid and mainstream jurisprudence is becoming increasingly interested in exploring its application.
The price to be paid for ‘stolen goods’ is perhaps set to rise to a whole new level, where the concept of ‘costing the earth’ is to be taken as a literal measure of value.
Ecocide: A Crime against Peace
A stage further and bigger still sees environmental crime taken to the United Nations. In April 2010, Barrister, environmental campaigner, aspiring law-maker and activist Polly Higgins submitted to the United Nations the written proposal for Ecocide to be made the 5th Crime Against Peace (alongside Genocide, Crimes against Humanity, Crimes of Aggression and War Crimes).
Ecocide is defined as: The extensive destruction, damage to or loss of ecosystem(s) of a given territory, whether by human agency or by other causes, to such an extent that peaceful enjoyment by the inhabitants of that territory has been severely diminished.
To highlight the campaign, a Mock Trial then took place in the UK Supreme Court, in London, which in turn lead to the sentencing of two fictional oil company CEOs, found guilty of Ecocide in relation to highly topical cases concerned with tar sands extraction.
In the land of environmental law, ‘Ecocide’ is intellectually and effectively building the bridge between the territories of human rights and crime. Crossing the boundary from fiction to fact at the UN would alter the legal landscape forever.
Environmental Crime: You, me and the dog
So, where exactly on this scale of escalating ‘biolence’ are to be found the petty eco-crimes, minor cases of community misconduct and household misdemeanours of the general public? Where does all of this leave you and me?
Well, at the level of Local Environment Quality (LEQ), mostly dealing with dog mess, chewing gum, fast-food and cigarette litter, surrounded by abandoned vehicles, fly-tipped fridges and tyres, mouldering back-street mattresses and graffiti.
This is the grim reality of combating environmental crime for the majority – a relentless and relatively thankless process of cleaning-up after the actions of the minority. More grime squad, than crime squad? Wrong.
Crime is crime. Results are results. The game is the same, whether chasing leads at INTERPOL, pitching Ecocide to the UN, or fighting for a clean and healthy neighbourhood. The job is to protect: One Planet; One People.
To protect, first you need to care. Environmental Crime? Take care. Give care. Care.
Further reading, legislation and links:
• The INTERPOL website provides information on operations, intelligence and projects in connection with environmental crime, covering the activities of both the Wildlife and the Pollution Working Groups.
• Ecocide is a Crime can also be found on Facebook.
• The Environmental Protection Act (EPA) 1990 sets out regulations for England & Wales covering a broad range of environmental issues, from pollution to GMOs. Of primary importance, was its original constitution making it an offence to litter.
• The Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act (CNEA) 2005 is the key policy document in Local Environment Quality (LEQ) regulations, providing more effective powers and tools, under which provision, for example, Local Authority enforcement officers are able to issue fixed penalty notices. It updates and extends an number of the legislative elements of the EPA above.
• The Antisocial Behaviour Act 2003 deals with (among other things) fly tipping, littering, graffiti, and fly posting.
• The Government in England and Wales works closely with the independent charity Keep Britain Tidy (KBT) to develop advice, research, support and training, plus deliver behaviour changing campaigns on LEQ matters, including the Love Where You Live campaign. KBT resources and outputs of note include Knowledge Banks, Surveys and Reports – particularly the landmark Local Environment Quality Survey England - plus special projects such as the Eco Schools initiative, the Green Flag awards scheme for parks and the Blue Flag programme for beaches.
• The Government-lead Chewing Gum Action Group (CGAG) works closely with industry and Local Authorities to reduce the amount of gum litter on streets of the UK.
• For concerned individuals living and working in England & Wales, there is also additional information available online regarding street cleaning, litter and illegal dumping matters, offering help and advice on what can be done about LEQ issues.
Author: Jim McClelland | <urn:uuid:cff6797d-3c0b-4c50-bb73-b4acf8d52056> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jimtheeditor.wordpress.com/2012/04/24/environmental-crime-from-ecocide-via-interpol-to-litter/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938079 | 1,556 | 2.203125 | 2 |
According to the Navajo, the world was woven into existence by a female deity named Spider Woman. Many traditional weavers pray to this female spirit. Because the weavers put their whole soul or spirit into the textile, some weave a little line to the edge of the textile called a Spirit Release Line. A vast literature exists on their legends and stories that span the centuries.
Archaeologists have found fragments of weavings that have been scientifically dated as many thousands of years old. The exact date of the earliest known weavings in the western hemisphere is still being debated, but may be over 10,000 years ago. Weavings were made long before the advent of looms.
Native weaving materials included plant and animal fibers. Some materials were collected and used in their natural forms, but most were made stronger by spinning multiple fibers together like yarn. Designs were created by dying the yarns different colors or by using two or more different fibers to make patterns. Relief designs also were created by mathematically calculating the sequences of fibers to go over or under, as in twill plaiting. Some very sophisticated ancient weavings preserved in caves have survived nearly intact. After the advent of pottery, some weavings were kept sealed and found in nearly perfect condition.
The longest, continuous weaving traditions have survived in certain cultures throughout the western hemisphere. In North America, the Hopi, Zuni, and Rio Grande pueblos maintain a 2,000-year-old weaving tradition. Before the coming of the Spanish conquistadors, Pueblo weavers clothed hundreds of thousands of people in the American Southwest. Their favorite fiber was cotton grown from seeds developed in southern Mexico. Traditional ceremonies accompanied the planting, tending, harvesting, processing, and weaving of cotton.
One type of ceremonial sash belt, woven in a technique called float warp, is created from Taos Pueblo in the north, through Mexico and Central America, to the tip of South America. Ancient weaving traditions have survived, especially among the Zapotec in Mexico, the Mayans in Guatemala, and the Andean weavers of Peru and Bolivia, where some of the most sophisticated hand weavings in the world were developed. The thread count on the finest wearing blankets tops 200 stitches per inch. Their pictorial designs are narrative scenes from legends and tribal traditions that help illustrate rich and varied cultural histories.
Great textiles sometimes emerged even during times of great turmoil or revolution. In the 1680s, when the Pueblo Indians of the American Southwest were fighting for their freedom and independence from the Spanish, a group of Navajo women married Pueblo men, who taught their wives to weave. Thus the Navajo textile tradition was given a tremendous boost, because the ancient techniques spread quickly through matrilineal family lines. Eventually over 10,000 Navajo weavers, mostly women, developed dynamic weavings on a vertical loom using wool from Spanish Churro or Moreno sheep.
During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, perhaps no other tribe promoted textiles as fine art more than the Navajo. From the 1850s, a First Phase Chief's Blanket was one of the most highly valued items. Woven so fine it would repel water, this Navajo wearing blanket became increasingly more complex in color and design. Eye-dazzling serrated diamonds and zigzag patterns became popular. Their yarns were dyed of indigo blue, and reds of cochineal.
From 1880 to 1920, the so-called Transitional Period of Navajo textiles reflected the changing times for Indians, from freedom to reservation life. The weaves became looser, except for tapestries woven of fine Germantown yarn. During the first half of the twentieth century, regional styles developed named after the local trading posts. Today, Two Grey Hills tapestries are woven over eighty stitches per inch, as fine as the best contemporary weavings in Central and South America.
Schaaf, Gregory. 2002. American Indian Textiles: 2,000 Artist Biographies. Santa Fe, NM: CIAC Press.; Whitaker, Kathleen. 2002, Southwest Textiles: Weavings of the Pueblo and Navajo. Seattle: University of Washington Press.; Winter, Mark. 2004, Dances with Wool. Santa Fe, NM: Toadlena Trading Post. | <urn:uuid:644d9660-6070-4b11-ba56-5d2204bf244c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.historyandtheheadlines.abc-clio.com/ContentPages/ContentPage.aspx?entryId=1171776¤tSection=1161468&productid=5 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962467 | 886 | 4.09375 | 4 |
We're living in tough times. American families are scraping and struggling to make ends meet just to save up enough money to buy end's meat. In recognition of the terrible economy, President Obama has promised not to raise taxes on middle- and low-income Americans.
Starting today, the government is imposing a 15-cent fee on most fresh-cut Christmas trees, but before critics compare President Obama to the Grinch, officials want to explain this is a growers' arrangement to boost tree sales. And they insist it is not a "tax"…
The money all goes to a marketing board being set up for the tree growers' industry, just like the "Got Milk" dairy marketing campaign… which boosted sales and consumption.
It's not even Thanksgiving and President Obama has already ruined Christmas—with taxes. And he would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for the heroes at Fox News and the Drudge Report…
The well-trafficked Drudge Report is leading with the story, linking to a blog by David Addington… assailing the president thus: "The economy is barely growing and nine percent of the American people have no jobs. Is a new tax on Christmas trees the best President Obama can do?"…
White House spokesman Matt Lehrich told ABC News that despite some media coverage, "I can tell you unequivocally that the Obama Administration is not taxing Christmas trees"… Nonetheless, the criticisms have apparently had an impact as the program is now being delayed.
Oh my God — the War on Christmas is real! Who knows what else might be true. Maybe ACORN really did cause the recession, Al Gore is secretly warming the globe and the President is just George Soros in a Barack Obama mask.
Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images News/Getty Images
Tags: Christmas, Drudge Report, Economy, Environment, Fox, Matt Drudge, Taxes | <urn:uuid:4352f360-f3b4-48ad-815b-c2fc08db6d8f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.indecisionforever.com/blog/2011/11/09/how-the-president-almost-stole-christmas | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950133 | 384 | 1.539063 | 2 |
One Stop Therapy: A Life Changing Program
The legal system's solution for problem behavior is punishment. This isn't very smart because it just doesn’t work: The same people are arrested repeatedly, despite the risk of punishment. We have a better idea: solve our client's legal problem and any problem behavior patterns at the same time. This helps our clients and benefits everyone. This is the smart way to handle the social problem of crime.
The lawmakers who created our legal system had no idea that the system of punishments would fail to deter people from breaking the law. After all, the lawmakers assume that no one would risk harsh punishment because the lawmakers themselves would never risk it. So here is the fundamental flaw in our legal system: This assumes that the people most at risk for running into criminal prosecution think the same way as the lawmakers. They don’t.
The reason is very simple: Most of the people who break the law suffer from brain illnesses that affect their behavior.
When you think about it, it makes sense. Here's the math:
Brain = Behavior
Healthy Brain = Healthy Behavior
Unhealthy Brain = Unhealthy Behavior
For most people, this is hard to fully understand. So think of it like this: If someone you loved were suddenly stricken blind or deaf, it would be obvious to them and everyone else. The same is true when someone is so mentally ill that they lose touch with reality hallucinate. But when someone slowly starts to have vision or hearing problems, they and everyone else may not be able to tell. The hearing or visually impaired person may not even know that they have a problem for a long time – if ever. Think about this carefully: You can’t tell if someone has a hearing or sight problem just by looking at them. Over time, the impairment may become obvious to others if the hearing impaired person continually turns the television volume up louder than other friends or family think is appropriate. The visually impaired person may have trouble reading or driving. Often, the person suffering the visual or hearing problem is the last to know.
Now imagine an illness of the brain that doesn’t cause headaches, sneezing or nausea – it can’t be seen or heard. How do the symptoms become apparent? Here’s a shocker: Your loved one gets arrested.
In many cases, some family members saw the pattern of behavior and correctly predicted it would cause problems. However, they may have attributed the behavior to a lack of discipline, character, morals or other personal failing. This will need to be examined, but in many cases, the problem behavior is not just a moral failure: In about 80% of all cases where the defendant is guilty, an undiagnosed, misdiagnosed, or improperly treated brain illness is involved.
Brain illnesses don’t always have obvious symptoms like instant blindness or the flu. Symptoms of a brain illness often show up in the form of problem behavior which results in arrest. Fortunately, most of these illnesses can be successfully treated.
- After the Arrest: What Happens Next?
- Trial Services: Jury Trials, Bench Trials and Hearings
- Settlement Legal Services
- Dress instructions for Court
- Coping with Stress during the Legal Process
- One Stop Therapy: A Program Suitability Guide
- One Stop Therapy: A Life Changing Program
- One Stop therapy: The Treatment Solution
- One Stop Therapy: The Legal Solution
- One Stop Therapy: Mental Illness Explained | <urn:uuid:28e8e36d-787a-4563-a6ea-da0e211dd2fc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cobblawfirm.com/OST_program.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951391 | 715 | 2.796875 | 3 |
- The current House leadership has had six months to pass a new farm bill but farmers will be planting soon with no idea of what kind of programs will rule in 2013.
- Last week, House Speaker John Boehner said the Senate would have to resolve the fiscal crisis that threatens the nation's economic recovery.
- With this kind of leadership, it's no wonder the public has a crisis of confidence in its government leaders.
I hate to be a Grinch so soon after Christmas, but it looks like it’s time for House Speaker John Boehner to go.
As farmers prepare to turn the calendar on the new year, they and their lenders don’t have a clue about the farm programs that will exist in 2013 because Speaker Boehner has been sitting on the farm bill for six months.
And now, at a time when the country needs leadership, Boehner has thrown up his hands and said the Senate will have to fix the “fiscal cliff” budget mess because Boehner can’t deliver the votes needed to help solve the crisis.
In many of the world’s democracies, Boehner would already be halfway out the door after the House balked at passing a major piece of legislation like the budget bill he offered and then withdrew before Christmas. The failure would have precipitated a “no-confidence” vote that would have meant new elections.
Not having the votes has become Boehner’s mantra. During the six months that a bipartisan group of House members tried to get him to allow the farm bill to come to the House floor, Boehner claimed he couldn’t bring it to the floor because it didn’t have enough votes for passage.
Now, Senate leaders are trying to put together a tax bill that is, ostensibly, supposed to originate in the House. It remains to be seen what Boehner will do if the Senate pulls off a miracle and works out a compromise. The claim that he once again can’t produce the votes will not be well received in official Washington.
It's difficult to imagine what some of Boehner's predecessors must be thinking as they watch the current turmoil in Washington. The late Sam Rayburn, Jim Wright and former Speaker Newt Gingrich must be shaking their heads. | <urn:uuid:3e094439-910e-4c01-8ecb-501ef55b57aa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://deltafarmpress.com/blog/leadership-vacuum-adds-washington-budget-turmoil | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970304 | 456 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Looking for some Fun Facts about butterflies? We can help - we have LOTS of Fun articles to help you:
Fun Butterfly Facts:
We have gathered some strange butterfly facts to
share with you. Amaze your friends! Enjoy!
- Butterflies range in size from a tiny 1/8 inch
to a huge almost 12 inches.
- Butterflies can see red, green, and yellow.
- Some people say that when the black bands on the
Woolybear caterpillar are wide, a cold winter is
- The top butterfly flight speed is 12 miles per
hour. Some moths can fly 25 miles per hour!
- Monarch butterflies journey from the Great Lakes
to the Gulf of Mexico, a distance of about 2,000
miles, and return to the north again in the
- Butterflies cannot fly if their body temperature
is less than 86 degrees.
- Representations of butterflies are seen in
Egyptian frescoes at Thebes, which are 3,500 years
- Antarctica is the only continent on which no
Lepidoptera have been found.
- There are about 24,000 species of butterflies.
The moths are even more numerous: about 140,000
species of them were counted all over the world.
- The Brimstone butterfly (Gonepterix rhamni) has
the longest lifetime of the adult butterflies:
- Some Case Moth caterpillars (Psychidae) build a
case around themselves that they always carry with
them. It is made of silk and pieces of plants or
- The caterpillars of some Snout Moths (Pyralididae)
live in or on water-plants.
- The females of some moth species lack wings, all
they can do to move is crawl.
- The Morgan's Sphinx Moth from Madagascar has a
proboscis (tube mouth) that is 12 to 14 inches
long to get the nectar from the bottom of a 12
inch deep orchid discovered by Charles Darwin.
- Some moths never eat anything as adults because
they don't have mouths. They must live on the
energy they stored as caterpillars.
- Many butterflies can taste with their feet to
find out whether the leaf they sit on is good to
lay eggs on to be their caterpillars' food or not.
- There are more types of insects in one tropical
rain forest tree than there are in the entire
state of Vermont.
- In 1958 Entomologist W.G. Bruce published a list
of Arthropod references in the Bible. The most
frequently named bugs from the Bible are: Locust:
24, Moth: 11, Grasshopper: 10, Scorpion: 10,
Caterpillar: 9, and Bee: 4.
- People eat insects – called "Entomophagy"(people
eating bugs) – it has been practiced for
centuries throughout Africa, Australia, Asia, the
Middle East, and North, Central and South America.
Why? Because many bugs are both protein-rich and
good sources of vitamins, minerals and fats.
- YOU can eat bugs! Try the "Eat-A-Bug
Cookbook" by David George Gordon , 10 Speed
Press. Don’t want to cook them yourself? Go to
for all sorts of insect goodies! My favorites are
"Cricket-lickit’s" – a flavored
sucker with a real edible cricket inside.
insects can carry 50 times their own body weight.
This would be like an adult person lifting two
heavy cars full of people.
- There are over a million described species of
insects. Some people estimate there are actually
between 15 and 30 million species.
- Most insects are beneficial to people because
they eat other insects, pollinate crops, are food
for other animals, make products we use (like
honey and silk) or have medical uses.
- Butterflies and insects have their skeletons on
the outside of their bodies, called the
exoskeleton. This protects the insect and keeps
water inside their bodies so they don’t dry out. | <urn:uuid:e29c73a4-d0c6-43eb-9e35-dd601d3c5ec6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thebutterflysite.com/facts.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912285 | 888 | 3.59375 | 4 |
Forecast Market Trend With A Management Accounting Degree In Arizona
Management Accounting is used by managers to make decisions about the daily operations of a business. It is not based on past performance, but rather on current and future trends, which cannot be exactly predicted. Since managers often must make decisions in the short run time of fluctuating environmental management, accounting is mainly based on forecasts and market trends.
In Arizona, a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting examines the concepts of Financial Reporting, Financial Management, Asset Management and Business Law. Behind all professionals who handle finances, this degree provides students with knowledge of accounting (http://accountingdegreetalk.org/), accounting information systems and income tax.
Financial management courses are offered online and on campus. If you take a full schedule of courses throughout the year, you can get the Financial Management Degree in just 18 months. Working in small groups, you get practical exercises in critical processes like:
- Recording business transactions with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP)
- The groundwork for financial statements
- Protecting your employer from fraud
A Degree in Financial Management can lead to a variety of professional positions in finance after graduation. It prepares a person to work in the private sector or in non-profits such as governments, hospitals and businesses. With this degree you may become a financial analyst, accountant or auditor. | <urn:uuid:8f01ccd6-0f8a-407f-ab48-73f1e751f517> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://accountingdegreetalk.org/states/arizona/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939048 | 274 | 2.203125 | 2 |
The Mahesh Memorial Trust is an NGO based in Chennai, India, working towards creating public awareness about cancer, providing financial aid to economically challenged patients, organizing counselling and support for cancer patients and their families, and supporting any other form of activity associated with the fight against cancer. The Trust was established in the memory of Mahesh Mahadevan, respected composer and music director, who passed away in October 2002 after battling cancer for 13 years. He believed that there is life beyond cancer and that is the motto that the Trust works on.
In recent times, the efforts of the Trust have been geared towards the building of the Mahesh Memorial Paediatric Oncology Centre at the Adyar Cancer Institute. The paediatric ward is a modern facility housed in a 22,000 sq. ft. building comprising a play area, dining room, general wards, and ICU, among others. It was inaugurated in April 2009. The art, colours and interiors of the building have been incorporated with the children in mind, providing the tiny tots here a cheerful ambience for their treatment and recovery.
We celebrated 10 years of working towards helping children live beyond cancer! A lot has been achieved and a lot more to be done… | <urn:uuid:bbd9027a-0f89-4227-8f8d-ad70e9ac55d8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.livebeyondcancer.org/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966535 | 253 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Sunday, March 20 is International Anti-Street Harassment Day
Some people will say, however, that universities are actually packed with radical professors spouting revolutionary new ideas. Granted, there are some smart professors with interesting things to say, and it’s worth your time to get whatever useful information you can out of them (which is why this pamphlet exists.) But don’t be fooled by these so-called "radical" academics. If they’re so radical, why do they spend all of their time writing books and sitting in their offices? Writing and reading and sitting around should support radical activity, not substitute for it. "Radical" professors, like all professors, are just intellectual bureaucrats without the courage to pursue a radical course of action, no matter what their ideas may be. Like all professionals, they’ve sacrificed their humanness for the supposed perks (more like curses) of a middle-class life. Approach them with caution.
Saturday, March 19th, 7 PM
JustSeeds & Books Through Bars present…
VOICES FROM OUTSIDE
An Art Exhibit & Benefit Auction to send books to prisoners
The complete Voices From Outside: Artists Against the Prison Industrial Complex created by the JustSeeds Collective for the 10th anniversary of Critical Resistance.
At the Not An Alternative/Change You Want To See Gallery
84 Havemeyer Street, Williamsburg Brooklyn
L to Bedford, J to Marcy, or G to Metropolitan | <urn:uuid:015af46a-71c5-4ae7-b133-f62b5fc29a8c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://zines.barnard.edu/category/topics-38?page=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918178 | 299 | 1.570313 | 2 |
You might have noticed these little buttons around the Internet. If you are wondering what they are...
RSS is "the next big thing" -- you can use it to get newsfeeds from CNN or BBC, as well as just about anything else, including news on upcoming movies, DVD releases, your favorite musician's tour updates, etc.
Once you get started, it's like having your favorite parts of the Web come to you. No need to go out and check for updates all the time.
"RSS" means "Really Simple Syndication." What it means to you is that when you subscribe to a site that has an RSS feed, you can keep up-to-date without having to check the site every day or week.
Once you start using RSS you'll wonder how you ever got along without it.
How do you get started? Easy!
Download a free RSS Reader first. This is special software that reads the RSS feeds...
Windows -- RssReader
Mac -- NetNewsWire
Firefox -- Sage (for MAC and Windows, highly
Special note for Firefox users:
Firefox has built-in support for RSS feeds (also known as "Live Bookmarks".) While not quite as convenient as the Sage RSS reader, you don't have to download anything to use it.
When you see the orange Live Bookmark indicator in the lower right hand corner of your Firefox browser or in the address bar, left-click on it to subscribe to that site's feed.
Okay, once you're set up, here's all you have to do...
Right-click (control-click for Mac users) on any orange RSS button on a site, blog or news source that interests you. Start by right-clicking on my orange button below. Then...
Select Copy Shortcut ("Copy Link to Clipboard" for Mac, "Copy Link Location" for Firefox browsers), and paste that URL into your RSS Reader.
And that's it! You're subscribed.
Don't want to download new software?
Subscribe through My Yahoo!, My MSN or Google... | <urn:uuid:042761ad-66a0-4dc7-aee7-969cd2c8a1ff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.loving-long-island.com/what-is-rss.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914424 | 434 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Appanoose County was established in 1843 and originated by the Iowa Territorial Legislature on January 13, 1846. It is named for the chief of the Sac and the Fox Indian tribes who headed the peace party during the Black Hawk War. Appanoose means "A Chief When a Child."
Appanoose County was one of the main coal mining areas in Iowa during the first third of the 20th Century.
On November 1, 1844 the Legislative Assembly of Iowa ordered Andrew Leach and William S. Whitaker to locate the county seat of Appanoose County. It was soon located and named Chaldea. It was then platted by the county surveyor. The name Chaldea was later changed to Senterville, in honor of Governor Senter, of Tennessee. The spelling was changed and the county seat of Appanoose is currently Centerville.
In the summer of 1847 it was decided that the county would erect a courthouse, but nothing was done at this time. On September 10, that same year, the dimensions and plans for the courthouse were decided upon and bids were sent out. The contract was given to James Jackson for $160 and the finish work was done by Jesse Wood for $119. The building was ready for occupation in April 1848. This courthouse was used until 1857.
The construction of a second courthouse began in 1860 and was completed in 1864. During this time the county business was conducted in local churches. This courthouse was destroyed by a fire on the Fourth of July. It seems that people were lighting fireworks from the courthouse cupola and throwing them into the air. One rocket evidently landed in the box with all the other fireworks and exploded. The fire destroyed the cupola and most of the second floor. The county continued to use the building but finally gave up in 1903.
The cornerstone for the third, and current courthouse was laid on May 21, 1903. It cost $90,600 to build and was designed by the architects Smith and Gage. The exterior walls are covered with Bedford stone veneer and the roof is all tile. The clock tower, which rises from the middle of the building, sets the building apart from all others. The courthouse is situated on a large town square and is the pride of Centerville and Appanoose County.
Source -- ISAC(Iowa State Association of Counties) | <urn:uuid:a81d6f07-7986-4031-a99f-e7aeadd6fca7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.appanoosecounty.net/index.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988667 | 484 | 3.203125 | 3 |
On May 29 President Barack Obama introduced his administration's new report on cybersecurity in the United States entitled Cyberspace Policy Review: Assuring a Trusted and Resilient Information and Communications Infrastructure.
Introduced just last week in the Senate, rather quietly, was the new Cybersecurity Act of 2009. Proposed by Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), the legislation, in part, calls for the establishment of a national cybersecurity adviser, a cyber czar as it were. But, it’s getting a big boost now.
Google, the internationally popular Internet search engine, is under fire. Christine A. Varney, President Barack Obama's nominee to be the next antitrust chief at the Justice Department, has publicly branded Google as a monopoly. | <urn:uuid:1df5fd20-4a69-4eeb-a16f-b39c1a193296> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thenewamerican.com/tech/computers?start=143 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928823 | 169 | 2.15625 | 2 |
About Heath Schools
- There are 3 K-12 schools in Heath, TX, including 2 public schools and 1 private schools. Heath public schools belong to one districts, Rockwall ISD District.
- There are 2 Heath elementary schools, 1 Heath middle school, 2 Heath high schools and 2 Heath preschool schools.
801 Laurence Dr
Heath, TX 75032
Contact Education.com with questions or feedback about SchoolFinder.
Please note, if you wish to speak to someone at the school, you must contact the school directly. | <urn:uuid:52ed7f1f-63ab-4387-b2af-d93019164d97> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.education.com/schoolfinder/us/texas/heath/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941583 | 112 | 1.695313 | 2 |