text stringlengths 213 24.6k | id stringlengths 47 47 | dump stringclasses 1 value | url stringlengths 14 499 | file_path stringlengths 138 138 | language stringclasses 1 value | language_score float64 0.9 1 | token_count int64 51 4.1k | score float64 1.5 5.06 | int_score int64 2 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
J. William Murdock and Ashok K. Goel
In this paper we describe a compromise between generative planning and special-purpose software. Hierarchical functional models are used by an intelligent system to represent its own processes for both acting and reasoning. Since these models are custom-built for a specific set of situations, they can provide efficiency comparable to special-purpose software in those situations. Furthermore, the models can be automatically modified. In this way, the specialized power of the models can be leveraged even in situations for which they were not originally intended. When a model cannot address some or all of a problem, an off-the-shelf generative planning system is used to construct a new sequence of actions which can be added to the model. Thus portions of the process which were previously understood are addressed with the efficiency of a specialized reasoning process, and portions of the process which were previously unknown are addressed with the flexibility of generative planning. The REM reasoning shell provides both the language for encoding functional models of processes and the algorithms for executing and adapting these models. | <urn:uuid:7d734618-b73f-4196-8b24-b423905d718f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aaai.org/Library/ICAPS/2003/icaps03-008.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966874 | 217 | 1.914063 | 2 |
The Case For Native Plants
by Neil Diboll, Prairie Nursery
The recent surge of interest in low-maintenance meadows has spawned a plethora of wildflower seed mixes that are now available to the consumer. Most consist of a combination of annuals, biennials, and perennials, but some contain only annuals, and a few are composed purely of perennials. Which wildflower seed mix will best suit your needs?
First and foremost, the gardener should be familiar with the various species that are included in a given wildflower mix. Learn about plant heights, colors, adaptability to region, soil type, and sun conditions. Most commercially available "general purpose" meadow mixes contain a variety of flowers that do best in full sun and tolerate a wide range of soil conditions. Many mixes include a few species that are specifically adapted to dry, regular, or moist soils, so that some seed will almost certainly grow no matter where the mix is planted.
Some vendors sell the same mix nationwide, while many companies offer variations for different parts of the country. Most of these commercial wildflower concoctions are surprisingly similar in content. They usually contain plants from all over the world that tend to exhibit "weedy" behavior: that is, they grow rapidly on an open seedbed. Most are annuals and biennials. This assures quick results, so that the customer is immediately gratified. However, a common problem with these types of wildflower mixes is that by the third or fourth year the annuals and biennials have played out, and been overtaken by undesirable grasses and weeds.
Most wildflower mixes are advertised to yield meadows that flower year after year with a minimum of maintenance. Unless proper care is taken in selecting the seed mix, the desired outcome may not materialize. If long-term results are the goal, it is crucial that a seed mix contain a high proportion of perennials that are adapted to the particular region in which they are planted. This is especially true in the high-rainfall Northeast, Southeast, and Midwest. Plant growth is rapid in these regions, and perennial species tend to naturally dominate the landscape.
An exception to this occurs in arid regions, such as the Southwest, where perennials do not effectively control the soil environment. Native annual wildflowers here will usually self-seed themselves from year to year. The Far West states also have distinct wet and dry seasons, and require plants that are adapted to that cycle. Specific seed mixes are available for many of the various environments found in the Far West.
It is important that the wildflowers in the mix be matched to the particular soils and slope aspects of a site. Dry, sandy or rocky soils will support a completely different set of flowers than rich, loamy soils. If the area to be planted is on a hillside, the direction that the hill faces can strongly influence what will successfully grow there. South and west slopes tend to be hot and dry. North slopes are cooler and moister, and east slopes are intermediate. Plants that thrive on a north-facing slope may not even survive the seedling stage on a south-facing hillside. Conversely, those that require the heat of the south slope may be completely overtaken by the competition on a north slope. Most companies offer seed mixes for dry soils and normal soils; a few offer mixes for wet soils as well. Some specialty houses will even design custom mixes to suit individual situations.
Most meadow and prairie plants require at least one half day of full sun in order to perform well. If an area is shady, woodland wildflowers and ferns would be the best choice. There are very few seed mixes presently available for shady areas at this time. Most of our native woodland plants produce only small quantities of seed, and these are often difficult to harvest. Availability of seeds of woodland plants therefore tends to be low, and prices high. Transplants are available for many woodland wildflowers, however. There are a number of nurseries across the eastern half of the United States that propagate and sell a variety of plants for shady areas.
As mentioned before, a critical consideration in the selection of a wildflower mix is its relative proportions of annuals, biennials, and perennials. Many a gardener has been thrilled with the first year or two of their "wildflower" planting, only to despair by the third year when only a few of the annuals and biennials they planted reappear. A reverse phenomenon occurs with mixes composed exclusively of perennials and biennials. Because these plants ordinarily require at least two years to reach maturity, such plantings are typically dominated by annual weeds in the first year. The perennial flowers grow slowly and concentrate on building extensive root systems that will sustain them in the coming years. Underneath the weeds are numerous small flower seedlings that are evident to the experienced wildflower gardener, but not to the average citizen. For the distressed individual who recognizes only weeds, it appears to be an unmitigated disaster. If one is to reap the long-term benefits of an all-perennial mix, a little patience is required at the outset.
Understanding the behavior of the plants in a seed mix is instrumental in developing one's expectations of its performance. For the purposes of predicting the short-term and long-term results that will occur with a given mix, wildflowers can be divided into three basic behavioral groups:
- Native plants;
- Naturalized plants;
- Non-naturalized plants.
There is some disagreement on the definition of native plants among botanists and ecologists. Most plants are native to a certain region, usually encompassing many states. Within their individual areas of distribution, some species occur only in specific habitats: these plants are usually difficult to cultivate because they demand special conditions. Plants that thrive in a variety of situations tend to be quite adaptable: because of this flexibility, these species can often be successfully utilized in wildflower seed mixes.
Most native wildflowers are slow-growing and long-lived. They focus first on developing strong root systems. Blooming comes later, after the plant is well-established. It is not uncommon for such native perennials as purple coneflower, butterflyweed, and blazingstar to require three years to flower. This may seem like a long time to wait, but once established they will return year after year. Some native prairie wildflowers have been documented to live for 25 years and longer!
Although there may be no record of a plant's occurrence in a certain region, that does not mean that it cannot grow and thrive there. We seldom think of plants as being mobile, but they are fully capable of migrating from place to place. Just because we don't actually see them move does not mean that they cannot establish themselves across large distances. Plant migrations have been occurring throughout the eons, and continue today, now largely due to the activities of people.
When a plant invades, or is moved to a new location, and is capable of reproducing there, it is said to be naturalized. Plants from one part of the world can become naturalized in new, far-away areas, either by human intent or by chance. Plants from a certain region of one country can also move into other parts of that same country and become naturalized there.
Some of our best-known wildflowers are actually non-native, naturalized species that originally came to the Americas from Europe and Asia. These include Queen Anne's Lace, Chickory, Dame's Rocket, Ox Eye Daisy (Shasta Daisy), Bachelor's Button (Corn flower), and Butter and Eggs, among others. Commonly found along roadsides and in waste places in many parts of the U.S., they exhibit aggressive, weedy behavior. These non-native species are heavily used in most commercial wildflower seed mixes, precisely because of their ability to grow rapidly on freshly worked soil.
The introduction of non-native plant species into a region is sometimes associated with undesirable side effects. The great majority of our agricultural weeds, Johnson grass, Purslane and Quackgrass, for example, have been introduced from Eurasia, mostly by accident. Perhaps worse, certain non-native landscape plants such as Purple Loosestrife, Tatarian Honeysuckle, Buckthorn, Multiflora Rose, and the dreaded Kudzu, have been introduced into various parts of the world, then escaped from cultivation and caused serious ecological problems. When these aggressive interlopers break the weak leash of the garden and begin prowling about in the larger landscape, the big losers are often our native plants. The introduction of exotic plants, although well intentioned, has led to some unfortunate consequences. For this and other reasons, an increasing number of landscapers and gardeners are planting attractive native plants instead of naturalized exotics.
The third category of flowers that are commonly used in commercial wildflower seed mixes are non-naturalized species. These are usually annuals from other parts of the world that are capable of growing and flowering on a prepared seedbed, but do not persist without being replanted on a regular basis. Examples include Baby's Breath and the California Golden Poppy when planted in climates with extremely cold winters, such as in the upper Midwest. Non-naturalized "wildflowers" cannot actually be considered to be true wildflowers, as they will grow only with a helping hand from the gardener. True wildflowers are generally defined as plants that grow naturally in the wild without the assistance of cultivation. It is misleading to call non-naturalized plants "wildflowers", much less to sell them as such. It is particularly distressing for the home gardener when these mixes are planted, bloom for a year or two, and then quickly relinquish the meadow to unwanted weeds.
THE CASE FOR NATIVE PLANTS
Many homeowners and landscapers are now using seed mixes that are composed of wildflowers native to their region. Our native flora has been overlooked for far too long, and is finally being appreciated for its own innate, often stunning, beauty. With the exception of the arid regions of this country, which exhibit a predominance of annual wildflowers, almost all of our native meadow and prairie wildflowers are long-lived perennials. Many grow on a wide variety of soils, and some are perfectly suited to extreme sites where few other plants can survive. Properly installed and managed, native wildflowers constitute a dynamic, self-sustaining plant community that can actually bring a lifetime of enjoyment.
Native plants also possess the advantage of being adapted to the conditions of their region For hundreds, if not thousands of years, they have survived and prospered. They are well accustomed to handling the climatic curveballs that Nature occasionally throws their way. The great drought of 1988 clearly illustrated this point in the American Midwest. While many lawns and non-native flowers curled up and even died, the native prairie vegetation either continued to grow and flower, or went dormant until adequate precipitation finally arrived later in the season. With the advent of late summer rains, a large proportion of the prairie plants that had gone dormant resumed rapid growth, sometimes literally overnight.
Perhaps most amazing of all was that prairie plantings that were seeded in 1988 were surprisingly successful; most species germinated and grew despite the cataclysmic conditions. They were able to utilize what little soil moisture was available in order to survive extended dry spells. In some areas, newly-germinated prairie seedlings endured 50 consecutive days without rain, coupled with relentless winds and temperatures well over 100 degrees F. In other instances, many seeds simply sat in the soil, waited until rains came in mid-summer, and germinated then. Some seeds remained intact in the ground, overwintered, and came up in the spring of 1989.
There are definite reasons why plants are native to their regions. Sometimes it takes a major climatic event to remind us why.
GRASSES IN WILDFLOWER SEED MIXES
Some wildflower seed mixes include grasses. Grass seed is usually less costly than flower seed, and it may appear that adding grasses "cheapens" the mix. However, grasses are a natural component of wildflower meadows, where they occupy the space between individual flowers. The inclusion of grasses in a seed mix is therefore both logical and ecologically sound. If some sort of grass is not planted, it is a sure bet that one or more unwanted grasses will appear in short order.
Many of the grasses that tend to muscle their way into wildflower plantings are often incompatible with most flowers. Although grasses can be controlled by spraying with selective herbicides, this merely serves to reopen the niche that grasses naturally occupy. The inevitable result is the return of some kind of grass, or worse yet, other weeds. As one begins to rely upon spraying to maintain the meadow, it suddenly becomes less "low-maintenance" and more like "lawn maintenance." Which is what most people try to avoid when they plant a meadow in the first place.
By including selected grasses in a mix, it is possible to establish types that will coexist with the wildflowers. Different mixes rely upon various grasses to fill this niche. Many use short, non-aggressive cool season varieties, such as sheep fescue (Festuca ovina) or hard fescue (F. ovina var. duriuscula). These tend to stay fairly low, and leave plenty of rooting zone for most flowers. Sheep fescue grows in a clump rather than developing into a sod. This type of growth form is particularly compatible with flowers because it leaves space open
for them between the clumps. Sod-forming grasses such as Kentucky Bluegrass, Tall Fescue, Smooth Bromegrass, and our warm-season native Switchgrass, generally make poor companions for wildflowers. They spread aggressively, infringe on their neighbors, and often lead to the eventual exclusion of all but the most competitive wildflowers.
Of our native warm-season prairie grasses, three clump-formers, or "bunchgrasses", stand out as excellent companions for wildflowers. These are Little Bluestem (Andropogon scoparius), Sideoats Grama (Bouteloua curtipendula), and Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans). Little Bluestem and Sideoats Grama grow to between two and three feet in height: Indiangrass reaches between four and seven feet tall. All three grow readily on almost any normal, well-drained soil, and can tolerate very dry conditions. Sideoats Grama leaves the most room for flowers due to its open growth form and relatively shallow roots. Little Bluestem is more competitive, but is very popular because of its striking bronze fall color. Indiangrass is usually planted with the taller prairie flowers: it possesses a beautiful golden seedhead that is matched by few other grasses anywhere.
When seeded with wildflowers, grasses weave the "fabric" that holds the "floral tapestry" of the meadow together. Throughout the spring and summer, the grasses serve as a backdrop to highlight the showier flowers. Then, at the end of the growing season, the grasses send up their seed-heads and don their fall colors to extend the meadow's period of interest well into the winter. The bronzes and golds of the prairie grasses provide an especially welcome addition to the late season landscape, long after the last flower has bloomed.
WILDFLOWERS AND WILDLIFE
Equally as exciting as the wildflowers themselves are the numerous birds and butterflies that are attracted to them. Many homeowners are planting meadows and prairies specifically to create habitat for these wonderful winged creatures. The activities of these garden visitors span the four seasons, and add yet another dynamic element to the wildflower patch, whatever its size.
In spring, ground-nesting birds utilize the cover afforded by the grasses to brood and rear their young. Summer flowers attract insects, which, in turn, constitute the most important element in the diet of young birds. Come autumn, many of the native wildflowers and grasses produce highly nutritious seeds. These are relished by a variety of songbirds, and attract many migrants that stop over on their long journey south. Throughout the winter, resident birds will forage for the remaining seeds to help them survive the long, cold months.
Many butterflies have developed close relationships with native wildflowers. As our few remaining undisturbed habitats continue to be lost to development, many native plants are becoming extremely rare. The implications for many butterflies are dire: with the loss of their host plants, some butterfly species are inching closer and closer toward extinction. Unless native wildflowers and the habitat they provide are restored, we can expect to see further declines in overall butterfly populations, and more losses of rare and endangered species.
The home gardener can help reverse this trend by planting native flowers, grasses, trees and shrubs. Combined together, these plants beautify the landscape and create new habitat for a variety of wildlife. This is particularly effective if the native plantings replace the ecological desert known as "lawn". Providing little food, no cover, and subject to regular incursions by loud, deadly machines, the lawn is no friend to wildlife. Add a regular dose of chemicals to keep it "healthy," and the lawn becomes the last place that any wild thing would want to spend its time.
Lawns can also be expensive and time-consuming. Many people are replacing portions of their lawns with wildflowers so that they have less turf to care for and more free time to enjoy other pursuits. When selecting a wildflower seed mix, why not choose one that will provide long-term results and also benefit our wild friends? Then integrate the meadow or prairie with many different berry-producing shrubs, and coniferous and deciduous trees. This will go a long way toward making your property more attractive to a wide variety of wildlife.
WHICH MIX FOR YOU?
So, the question remains: which wildflower seed mix is best for you? Your needs and expectations will determine the answer. First and foremost, the mix must be suited to your climate, soil type, and personal taste. If you want a meadow that will bloom year after year, choose a mix with a high proportion of perennials that are adapted to your region. If instant results are a necessity, make sure that the mix has some annuals in it, but not to the exclusion of longer-lived varieties. For those interested in preserving a part of our natural heritage of plants and animals, a mix of native flowers and grasses is the answer.
Whatever your choice, make sure that the mix will do what you want it to do. Don't be fooled by pretty pictures: know the behavior of the plants that will grow from the seeds you are buying. This will require some investigation, but it will be well worth the effort. Once your wildflower planting is installed and established, you can sit back, relax, and know that you made the right decision.
Back to Top | <urn:uuid:254f3290-de09-4c99-bbd8-df2f1ac6a72f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.prairienursery.com/store/the-case-for-native-plants-ezp-48.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957809 | 3,996 | 2.40625 | 2 |
Alignment means to chose a memory address such that the processor can access in a single memory access. On most CISC architectures the CPU will handle misaligned memory addresses as expected by the programmer that is for a load the processor will perform multiple memory addresses as required then reassemble the final value transparantly to the programmer. For the store the same equivalent will happen. Problem: a single load/store operation now requires multiple memory accesses which means it's no longer an atomic operation.
Unaligned loads and stores on MIPS
The MIPS architecture tries to get away without the extra complexity of handling unaligned loads in the pipeline or microcode. For this purpose the instructions LWL, LWR, SWL and SWR were designed. These instructions will load rsp. store a 32-bit word. For unaligned 64-bit loads and stores there are LDL, LDR, SDL and SDR.
Problems of the MIPS Unaligned Load Instructions
For one they are specific to the MIPS architecture. However GCC allows a variable to be declared as packed through the __attribute ((packed)). In a packed data structure there are no more alignment guarantees so GCC will emit code that uses the MIPS unaligned load and store instructions. So this is a portable way of accessing these instructions. But this may require recompilation and access to the source code.
Downside is that now every 32-bit or 64-bit memory access has been replaced by a sequence of of two instructions. This inflates code - sometimes considerably - resulting in higher I-cache pressure so possibly slower execution. Usually these instructions are always uses in pairs, that is for example a LWL/LWR sequence. These instructions execute reasonably quickly and even the oldest processors have a bypass in the pipeline so the 2nd instruction won't have to wait for the first one to complete. Still there's an extra instruction to execute.
Transparent fixing by the kernel
On the MIPS architecture a misaligned load or store will result in an address error exception. If everything else is looking ok the kernel will then execute the operation in software. This emulation has high overhead and is on the order of 1000 times slower than a properly aligned memory access.
Advantage of using the kernel fixup
For some code misalignment is expected to be very rare. In such a case letting the kernel do the job is the best choice for performance. Also there is no recompilation required and thus no bloat of the resulting binaries.
Cavium cnMIPS cores
Cavium cnMIPS cores feature an advanced pipeline design that can transparently handle misaligned memory accesses. The Linux kernel enables this feature which short of re-designing software to guarantee alignment provides best possible performance, no software engineering pain.
If there is a problem at with Cavium's approach then it's that a binary using the MIPS unaligned load/store instructions will suffer a small performance penalty of a cnMIPS core and a binary that does not use these instructions may perform optimally on a cnMIPS core may crawl on another MIPS core because it's alignement handling has not been issued. Still a hardware-based approach like this should be optimal.
Sony R5900 / Playstation
This MIPS core features 128-bit load and store instructions as part of its multimedia extensions. These 128-bit memory operations will not take an address error so fixup in the kernel is not possible.
The unaligned instructions are covered by US patent 4,814,976 which expire on December 23, 2006. Some of the international patents have expired later. For a little more on the history of this patent see the article on Lexra. | <urn:uuid:b155c6d5-d77b-4c65-9595-847ec4cb4571> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.linux-mips.org/wiki?title=Alignment&oldid=11651 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916063 | 762 | 3.78125 | 4 |
First time accepted submitter deathcow writes "After forty years, a fresh perspective on old Pioneer data leads to new conclusions as to why the Pioneer probes are decelerating. Many theories to the slowing probes have persisted over the years — was it gravity? some type of unforeseen radiation? dark matter? Thanks to the data backup preservation efforts of a NASA Ames Research engineer, mountains of old telemetry data were still available for studying this curious anomaly." | <urn:uuid:2452c01b-92f4-4375-b459-5eef93b05b77> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://science.slashdot.org/story/12/12/07/0244206/new-theory-about-the-source-of-pioneer-space-probe-deceleration/interesting-comments | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95619 | 89 | 1.96875 | 2 |
This item is NOT eligible for "Free Standard Shipping on orders over $50.00" promotion. (Details)
Titanium Grade 2 (Commercially Pure) and its alloys have attractive engineering properties. They are about 40 percent lighter than Steel and 60 percent heavier than Aluminum with a density of .163 lbs./in3. The combination of moderate weight and high strength gives Titanium alloys the highest strength to weight ratios of any structural metal. Titanium is used in diverse applications - from aircraft parts to surgical implants, and as hardware for marine and chemical equipment - wherever high strength to weight ratios, high temperature stability and good corrosion resistance to salt water and chemicals is required. Titanium and its alloys have flat stress strain curves, and when properly machined, can produce an excellent surface finish due to its unique chip formation characteristics. For best results, sharpen tools frequently; use proper tool angles and adequate coolants, directed closely to the point of contact. Slow speeds and heavy feeds are recommended. Commercially Pure (CP) Grade 2 is 99 percent Titanium, alloyed with minimal contents (0.20 percent or less of each) of iron, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, and less than 0.4 percent residual elements. Melting point of 3029 degrees F.
How can we improve our Product Description?
There are no customer reviews yet.Be the first to review this item | <urn:uuid:9195abf7-c137-4ae8-8cd1-d9a54920bbd5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.amazonsupply.com/small-parts-titanium-seamless-tubing/dp/B003TFFC88 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920431 | 285 | 2 | 2 |
Avocados, which are fruits by the way and not vegetables, have also been called alligator pears because of their shape and skin color. California produces about 90% of the nation’s Avocado crop.
Avocados are rich in vitamins A, D and E, lecithin (a natural antioxidant, conditioner and moisturizer), beta-carotene (which converts to Vitamin A promoting healthy skin and nails) and more than 20% essential fatty acids.
To prolong the life of you avocados, peel, seed and puree them, add a little lemon juice, put the mixture in an air-tight container and freeze. It will last up to four to five months before using.
Avocado oil is derived from the pulp of fresh avocados. Although the avocado is a fruit, its oil is categorized as a vegetable oil. The oil promotes the regeneration of scarred skin and softens and conditions dry, flaky skin and scalp. Avocado oil has a long shelf life (organic avocado oil last the longest.
Oil expressed from the flesh is rich in vitamins A, B, G and E. The oil contains vital amino acid such as oleic and linoleic, which are essential fatty acids that help eliminate eczema, psoriasis, dandruff, and aid in the prevention of hair loss.
Oleic is an omega nine fatty acid, rich in antioxidants which fight the side affects of free radicals, moisturizer and also aids in stronger and thicker hair growth.
Linoleic is an omega three fatty acid, anti-inflammatory and promotes healthy hair growth. Both oleic and linoleic help in the absorption of Vitamins A , E and K, which work with essential fatty acids to provide healthy sheen to your hair and skin as well.
Avocado oil can be used to do scalp massages, as a pre-shampoo treatment, a hot oil treatment, and can even be added to your favorite conditioner to enhance its moisturizing properties.
Avocado Oil Shampoo
To prepare an avocado oil hair shampoo, you will need 1 teaspoon avocado oil, 1/2 teaspoon coconut or olive oil and 6 oz liquid castile soap. Mix all the ingredients together and store it in a bottle for at least 2 days to allow the ingredients to set. Use it to shampoo your hair on a regular basis.
Avocado Deep Conditioner
Peel, seed and mash one avocado and add 1 cup of coconut milk. Combine the ingredients together and mash until the mixture is smooth and thick. I strongly suggest you use a mixer for this or you will have bits and pieces of avocado in your hair that will take forever to rinse out.
Comb the mixture through your hair and wait about 10-15 minutes (you can also sit with a plastic cap on as well), then rinse off, making your final rinse with cool water.
Check out my Avocado and Coconut Milk Deep Conditioner Video | <urn:uuid:c0c39dbb-23a6-4a7d-aaf8-0c502cd7a33d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://allnaptural.blogspot.jp/2011/01/avocado-condiitoner.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922524 | 610 | 2.1875 | 2 |
I learned this song on the bus
on the way to a high school debate
tournament. You have to sing it really, really fast.
The Donut Song
Well, I walked around the corner
And I walked around the block
And I walked right into a bakery shop
And I picked up a donut
And I wiped off the grease
And I handed the lady a five-cent piece.
Well, she looked at the nickel and she looked at me
And she said "Hey mister, can't you plainly see?
There's a hole in the nickel,
there's a hole right through!"
I said, "There's a hole in the donut too."
"Thanks for the donut. Goodbye!"
This isn't really a hand jive
because there are no accompanying motions (as far as I know) and it isn't really a nursery rhyme
. It's just an annoying song | <urn:uuid:90b82048-64ba-47e2-8a15-e2b390c1c4d4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://everything2.com/title/The+Donut+Song | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974715 | 196 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Cutting down on calories and increasing exercise -- if that's all there was to weight loss, we’d all be thin. But things get in the way of our losing weight and keeping it off, like fad diets and their promises of quick weight loss.
New diets are fun to try. In fact, diets can be successful and we lose weight. However, problems come up when we start to miss our favorite familiar foods.
Gradually, we go back to our old ways. Two-to-six months later we've gained back the weight we lost, and the only thing left of the diet may be feelings of failure, guilt, anger, and shame.
After a while, we find a new miracle diet and we try again. When this diet becomes unbearable or boring, our old eating habits return and slowly we regain all that’s been lost.
For many of us this on-again, off-again diet method can lead to early aging and poor health. It slows down our metabolism, too, making it even harder to lose weight the next time around.
To lose weight and keep it off it's important to discover what your overeating habits are, and change them.
One way to become aware of your eating habits is to keep a food diary for a few days at a time. Write down in your diary what foods you eat and how much, what time you ate it, where, and how you feel physically and emotionally.
After a few days, you can look at the diaries for behavioral patterns to your eating habits. You might discover that you eat at certain times of the day to avoid boredom, or simply for pleasure.
Maybe you’re eating in certain situations, like watching TV, when you have certain emotional or physical feelings, when you're in certain places, or when you're stuck inside the house during bad weather.
You'll discover your own patterns for eating, and what triggers you to eat when you're not really hungry. These are the habits that need to be changed.
Try to replace your old automatic eating habits with new ones that help your weight control program. For example, you could substitute low-calorie nutrient rich snacks for the higher calorie ones.
Plan your meals a week in advance; this can take a lot of the tension away from deciding what to eat at the last minute. Prepare only the amount of food you plan to eat, so you can avoid being tempted to munch on leftovers later.
Drink plenty of water. This can help you feel full and lessen the need to snack.
Remember, change takes time; it doesn’t happen overnight. Keep working at the things you want to change for a healthier, happier you.
Animation Copyright © Milner-Fenwick | <urn:uuid:5bf2d517-110f-4ced-b16f-602f2d3776f6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://aventurahospital.com/your-health/?/287828/Changing-Our-Eating-Habits | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957575 | 570 | 2.34375 | 2 |
Types of placements
Permanent foster care placements
Some children need permanent placements until they reach the age of majority. Some individuals hesitate to become foster parents because they are afraid of going through a painful separation with the children they have grown close to. However, individuals or families can become permanent foster families. In these situations, the risks of going through a heart-breaking separation are much smaller. Some children in permanent placement continue to visit their biological parents, while living with their foster families. Other children do not have any contact with the biological family and the foster family becomes the only family for the children.
Short-term and medium-term child care placements
Some individuals prefer devoting themselves to children for a limited period of time. They play a crucial role for a certain time in the lives of these children and guide them through the next step (ex.: adoption) or back to their own family (ex. going back to their biological parents). It's possible to become such a family by requesting children who need a full-time placement for a limited period of time.
Respite care placements
It's possible to become a foster family on a partial basis with a limited commitment. This type of placement can suit individuals who cannot or do not wish to get involved with children on a full-time basis, but who still wish to help them. This type of commitment can be satisfying and motivating for both the children and the adults while providing relief for permanent foster families, for example.
Children with special needs
Some people have an affinity for taking care of children with special physical or intellectual needs. The degrees and types of conditions vary as much as the children do. Some disabilities are less severe than others. Valoris is always seeking individuals to take care of children with special needs. The placement periods vary. Experience is an asset but not required, however it is necessary to have the will learn, to understand and to support the child in question.
For adoptive families or families who wish to adopt, children and youth regularly become available for adoption, through Valoris. However, there is a lack of families willing to adopt an older child (6 to 16 years of age), a child with special needs (physical, intellectual or emotional) or three siblings or more. Some families may have so much to offer these children but do not realize there is such a need in Prescott-Russell. Singles and couples can become adoptive families.
Individuals can request to adopt a child once that child becomes officially available for adoption. It's also possible to become a foster family with the intention of adopting. In this case, our agency will introduce the family to a child who is more likely to become available for adoption. This will prevent the child from going through an emotional separation once he or she becomes available for adoption.
Emergency and temporary care placements
Some children and teens are sometimes introduced to families during an emergency situation, with only a few hours notice. While waiting for a regular foster family, temporary or emergency placements are sometimes necessary. These specially designated families agree to be on-call (on rotation) during weekends and evenings, according to a pre-established schedule, in order to provide an immediate placement for children and teens. In addition to the financial and professional support already provided to all foster families, emergency placement families receive additional financial support. Temporary homes offer a substitute placement, for a limited period of time that usually lasts one month and never more than three months. These families become experts in assessing the children's needs and providing advice and assistance in introducing children to their regular foster families.
Room and board and semi-supervised apartments
Being a full-time parent may not suit everyone; nevertheless, some people may have a room or an apartment and may be willing to spare a few hours each week to act as mentors providing support and advice. Interested individuals can offer room and board or a semi-supervised apartment to a teenager, a young adult or an independent adult with special needs.
Welcoming teens - an urgent need
Valoris is constantly seeking foster parents who are willing to welcome teenagers for a short, medium or long period of time. Teens are at a crucial point in their lives and a warm and loving family can have a major impact on their life. There is an urgent need for families willing to welcome teens with serious behavioural problems. These young people, often scared by years of abuse, instability, rejection or neglect desperately need foster parents who will believe in them and support them. Unfortunately, it seems that few people want to help. The reality of the matter is distressing considering the fact that many individuals have so much to offer. We're not asking individuals to be experts in the field or to work miracles. What's most important is listening, supporting and caring for these teens. | <urn:uuid:83b84948-76c3-4c9f-b358-56f4a0b032d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.seapr.ca/fr/?option=com_content&view=article&id=124&Itemid=145&lang=fr | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961933 | 974 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Thank you for visiting our past auction result archives. If you have an item identical (or similar) to this auction lot, please call, write or contact us to discuss. We will be able to help you.
Extraordinary 1889 Baseball Medal Presented to Robert Westlake
Starting Bid - $1,000, Sold For - $1,410
Exquisite baseball medal presented to catcher Robert Westlake in 1889 in recognition of his endurance behind the plate. This is one of the most exceptional nineteenth-century baseball presentation pieces we have ever seen, distinguished both by its elaborate design and rarity, as well as provenance. The medal, which is composed of three separate metal components, features an engraved gold and silver-colored brooch at the top that reads "Robert L. Westlake/Worlds Record Of 1889." Hanging from the pin, on two small chains, is a semicircular gold-colored banner that is intersected by two crossed baseball bats. The engraving on the banner makes note of Westlake's achievement: "Catching 75 Straight Games." Hanging from the center of the intersecting bats is a silver-colored baseball. A second hanging piece, attached by two small chains on either end of the bats, is composed of a silver-colored disc decorated with a floral pattern that surrounds a gold-colored baseball located in the center. The letters "B," "F," and "C" are engraved on the ball (meaning unknown; possibly the initials of the organization presenting the award). The medal displays only light wear and is in Excellent to Mint condition. Strictly in terms of design, this is one of the finest nineteenth-century presentation pieces to ever surface. Of course, it should be noted that the extreme rarity of such pieces allows for very few comparisons. This is one of only a very small number of individual baseball medals we have ever seen dating from the 1800s and the that fact so few have surfaced almost surely indicates that the presentation of such pieces was the exception rather than the rule. Robert Westlake (who in prior years was a teammate in both Bellaire, Ohio, and Wheeling, Virginia, with Hall of Famer and Negro League pioneer Sol White) played with Springfield of the Tri-State League in 1889. Known as a fine defensive catcher, he was obviously durable too, as evidenced by this award. Although catchers were wearing chest protectors and masks in the late 1880s, the gear was still primitive by modern standards and offered little protection from foul tips (the practice of wearing shin guards was still twenty years in the future). Catching was the most hazardous occupation any athlete could choose at the time, and only the most resolute, or stupid, volunteered for the job (catcher's gear is not called "the tools of ignorance" without good reason). Broken fingers were commonplace, not to mention sprains and cuts, and the rigors of the position normally necessitated many days off just to recuperate. The fact that Westlake caught seventy-five consecutive games is a true testament to both his skill and fortitude. To put the accomplishment in proper perspective, one should note that Buck Ewing, who is universally considered the greatest catcher of that era, never caught more than ninety-seven games in any season of his career. The act of catching seventy-five straight games was truly an incredible feat at that time and one that was certainly worthy of such an expensive and singular presentation piece. Ideally, this pin originates directly from the family of Robert Westlake and is accompanied by two period cabinet photos of Westlake in uniform that would be perfect for display with the medal. The first, a formal studio photograph, pictures Westlake wearing both his catcher's mitt and chest protector as he strikes a throwing pose. The photographer's credit, "Edmonston/East Liverpool, Ohio" is printed along the base of the mount. Additional advertising for the Edmonston studio appears on the reverse. The name "Bob" is written in pencil at the base of the mount. Although Westlake's team affiliation in this photo is not known, the fact that it was produced by an Ohio photography studio lends to the possibility that it was taken during his tenure with Springfield (Ohio) at the time he received this award. The cabinet (4.125 x 6.5 inches) has been slightly trimmed along the right border and displays moderate surface wear (Gd-Vg). The second cabinet (4.25 x 6.5 inches) pictures a bust-length image of Westlake as a member of Portland in 1891. The photographer's credit "Jackson/Portland, Me." is printed along the base. Advertising for the Jackson photography studio appears on the reverse (Vg-Ex). Total: 3 items (medal and two cabinet photos). Reserve $1,000. Estimate (open). SOLD FOR $1,410
(Click the smaller thumbnails to the left and right (if any) to cycle through each photo in the gallery of images for this lot.) | <urn:uuid:c1e2b656-81f0-48e2-8907-88ec9b38f856> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://robertedwardauctions.com/auction/2011/1207.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971223 | 1,023 | 1.609375 | 2 |
- My Account
- Sell Art
Alabama, USA, 1948
Susan Williams is a mid career artist who was a Senior Lecturer in Fine Art in the U.K and who has exhibited extensively nationally and internationally. She now works full time at her studio practice.
Her current work explores the use of the computer as a primary drawing medium to make works which present the female form as personnages in roles or guises that occupy different kinds of imaginary or psychic space. The drawings examine the concept of female in such a way as to encourage out forms which can appear real and unreal simultaneously and which undermine any singular or stable meaning. | <urn:uuid:54797d5a-d806-4e63-bcf8-c8c8fe21a305> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.picassomio.com/susan-williams.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958245 | 128 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Wednesday, March 26, 2008 at 3:39 PM
All the news lately about National City’s financial problems have some area competitors thinking the big bank’s woes could be their gain. ideastream’s Dan Bobkoff reports.
National City bank insists it’s still well-capitalized and that its investments, deposits and mortgages are safe. But with all the headlines about National City’s exposure to subprime loans and its precipitously falling stock price, competitors spotted an opportunity.
One of the most aggressive is the much-smaller FirstMerit bank, which is based in Akron. It’s taken out full-page newspaper ads touting sound lending decisions and better business practices. The ad never mentions National City but, presumably, readers are expected to remember all the bad press and pick FirstMerit instead. At least that’s the intent.
KOLBE: The fact is that’s not how someone reading that ad may respond to that.
That’s Richard Kolbe, a marketing professor at Kent State University. He says this kind of ad could backfire for banks like FirstMerit, instead leading to the impression that they have something wrong.
KOLBE: Is this bank in trouble and they have to convince us they are strong? When people see advertising from banks, they may make that judgment on that.
However the public reacts, Kolbe says, given that banking is not a growth industry, it’s not surprising competitors are trying to steal market share away from their beleaguered peers.
Regional Economy/Business - News
Please follow our community discussion rules when composing your comments. | <urn:uuid:1e6a14d6-67a7-4645-8dab-b57176feecfb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ideastream.org/news/feature/10296 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94493 | 345 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Hōkūle‘a to Join Hikianalia in Sea Trials and Crew Training for the WWV
Posted on February 22, 2013
Mokauea, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i—
The Polynesian canoe Hōkūle‘a will return to the water this Saturday, February 23, at the Marine Education & Training Center, Sand Island Parkway, beginning final sea trials for the upcoming Worldwide Voyage.
Hōkūle‘a came out of the water on September 5, 2012 for some cleaning and tightening. One of the first tasks was to clean and prepare the hulls for a final painting. Her solar panels have been repositioned, deck boxes have been refined, rigging has be re-lashed, below deck shelving and bunk boards have been rebuilt, and she’s been repainted. More than 3,000 feet of rope, safety netting and more than 20 gallons of paint have gone into this tune-up. In addition, more than 2,200 volunteer hours, professional services and labor, have been put in at dry dock since September. (For photos of dry dock work, see the previous blog.)
“We spent these past few months taking care of a few fine adjustments,” explained Pwo Navigator and Dry Dock Coordinator Bruce Blankenfeld. Hōkūle‘a, originally launched in 1975, was completely overhauled recently, splashing back into the water on March 8, 2012. “During that time Hōkūle‘a was taken apart completely, cleaned and rebuilt piece by piece, making her stronger, lighter and faster—ready to sail for another 37 years.”
Hōkūle‘a will join with the Society’s new canoe, Hikianalia, in the water for the first time. Together they will undergo sea trials—testing the vessels and training crewmembers—in preparation for the monumental Worldwide Voyage (WWV), which is being planned to start in June 2013.
“We are looking forward to sailing together, Hōkūle‘a and Hikianalia – sister stars, sister canoes,” says PVS President and Pwo Navigator Nainoa Thompson.
Planning to depart in early June of this year, WWV will spend the first year in the Pacific. Over three years, WWV will visit more than 60 ports in more than 20 countries.
Thompson looks to the future, “We are ready to embark on a voyage that will share ancestral wisdom, messages of peace, and hope for our children. The canoe is like planet Earth. As we care for the wa‘a and each other, we will carry those values that inspire us all to care for planet Earth and all her resources.”
The community is welcome to support the re-launch of Hōkūle‘a this weekend at the Marine Education & Training Center, Sand Island Parkway:
Friday, February 22, evening
- Hōkūle‘a will be prepped and loaded onto dollies
Saturday, February 23, 5:00 AM
- Gathering and blessings
- Hōkūle‘a splashdown
“Hōkūle‘a has always been Hawai‘is canoe,” asserts Blankenfeld. “She belongs to Hawai‘i. We encourage everyone to come out and see her.” | <urn:uuid:a2b7e17e-b0cd-4857-9eda-75a29cea7c39> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hokulea.org/wwv-report/hokulea-to-join-hikianalia-in-sea-trials-and-crew-training-for-wwv/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956714 | 721 | 1.945313 | 2 |
The Marywood University Nursing Program provides students with both the academic knowledge and the clinical skills necessary to evaluate patients and deliver effective nursing care.
This pre-professional program provides both the academic knowledge and clinical skills necessary to practice in a health care setting. The undergraduate nursing program is combines liberal arts and science and applies it to nursing care and practice. The B.S.N. program also prepares students for advanced nursing education and professional career development. BSN Curriculum
This program allows for working registered nurses to pursue a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing. RN-BSN Curriculum
This program allows the licensed practical nurse the ability to pursue both registered nurse licensure and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing Degree. LPN-BSN Curriculum
For more information, contact Mark McKeever at email@example.com
Office is located in the Science Building, 3rd floor, room 340.
Office phone number (570) 348-6275. | <urn:uuid:7d01c30b-6d9f-4bd5-8191-ecf8c784e142> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.marywood.edu/nursing/programs/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00076-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926645 | 200 | 1.539063 | 2 |
This is an Abert's Towhee doing what I call "Towhee Talk". This is a type of call that all species of Towhees that I'm familiar with sing. I noticed while looking at the spectrogram of this call that it is in all probability two towhees singing together (sometimes called "duetting"). I do notice that they sing this song when there are several together in one bush. This one was recorded at Peck's Lake [Arizona], Nov. 4, 1997. See for a spectrogram of the central part of this sample - see if you think it's two birds, too. (Remember to press "back" after viewing the image)
To cite this page:
Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2013. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed at http://animaldiversity.org.
The Animal Diversity Web is an educational resource written largely by and for college students. ADW doesn't cover all species in the world, nor does it include all the latest scientific information about organisms we describe. Though we edit our accounts for accuracy, we cannot guarantee all information in those accounts. While ADW staff and contributors provide references to books and websites that we believe are reputable, we cannot necessarily endorse the contents of references beyond our control. | <urn:uuid:19be14ff-7f3b-4bd2-9ea7-c34ecb0348dc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/collections/contributors/naturesongs/abto2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9276 | 289 | 2.5 | 2 |
I agree with what Patty has said about the digital vs chemical (below)
I did a lesson with my students where they had to tone a picture using
both chemical toner and scanning the picture to tone it digitally. We
had a critique and they wrote a statement comparing and contrasting
the two processes.
I was very surprised that most of the students prefered the chemical
process. They felt they had more control over the process and liked the
hands-on aspect of it.
I am reluctant to give up the chemical. I've talked to the kids and
love the darkroom. It's an experience like none other. It's a
thing that the computer can't offer.
They love and hate the smell; they love and hate getting their fingers
it---- they love the connection the computer can not offer.
I think the difference is that the computer gives results without the
feeling of having a "hand" in it. The chemical is magical: the digital
become a matter of fact.
If we are going to uphold that it is important to maintain traditional
skills to train artists, then I think that is important in photo as
Software like PhotoShop offer the techniques of basic darkroom
burning, dodging, contrast control, masking... If you know it in the
darkroom first, it makes the electronic manipulation all the more
I'm not sure at what point we give up the 'old' and totally embrace
new... certainly it should not be for budgetary concerns.
What I love about the darkroom is that the kids are so taken with the
magic-- so proud of the skill---- and what I love about the darkroom is
I see kids truly working and interacting together, helping each other
what I see as a true group activity. All I see in the computer lab is
struggling with a machine--- they don't smell it or feel it they
produce and too often that production is
"noise" made by hitting arbitrary buttons without knowing just what
decisions were made. That may be legitimate- but ask a photo student
filter is and ask some kid just hitting buttons what a filter is -
determine what the learning is.
I wonder sometimes why programs are considering going totally digital
music programs doing the same? Certainly music can be produced without
traditional instruments but are we eliminating instrument | <urn:uuid:628f9a16-9658-4072-8dc0-1d13843d0bff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.getty.edu/education/teacherartexchange/archive/May03/0622.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958321 | 491 | 2.109375 | 2 |
It must be the season for data storytelling because here is another terrific article on how to take data, shape it into meaningful material, and share it as a story to complement a presentation. This adds another influencing tool to your storytelling toolkit.
I really like how the author Jim Stikeleather reminds us of the different types of audiences we need to pay attention to when shaping data into a story. His list is excellent!
I also like this quote from the piece: "Finding the narrative structure will help you decide whether you actually have a story to tell. If you don't, then perhaps this visualization should support exploratory data analysis (EDA) rather than convey information."
And there are very good insights here on not censoring, being balanced, and the time you spend on editing.
For all of us who need or want to share data as part of our storytelling skills, this article is helpful.
I couldn't agree more. I'm working right now with a client on measures, data, metrics, standards, and figuring out how to tell the story in ways that can influence changes in behavior.
Who said storytelling was only about sharing experiences? It is also about finding data, shaping that into a shareable story, and then delivering the story the data is telling you so people can be influenced.
Here's an article that speaks directly to those issues -- and gives advice for how to bring data to life, and tell its story.
What I like it that it starts with "The Art of the Question". In other words, the data you will use depends on the questions you are asking. Get the questions right and the story begins to unfold.
There are other tips here that are also helpful. For all you big data-heads out there -- or for anyone confronted with a lot of data -- read this article so you can start figuring out the story to share.
And thank you for Giuseppe Mauriello for finding and pointing me to this post!
Credible stories are rooted in data, and your opinions add perspective. Develop more credible stories with these 6 steps for data-driven brand storytelling.
Got data? Need a story?
Got a story? Need data?
Then these 6 steps will help shape your data into a story -- or bring data into your story.
Marrying data and storytelling to make your point is sometimes tricky to do. What I really like about this post is that its first tip is all about figuring out what question(s) are top most in the minds of your audience -- because that is the first step in figuring out how to take your data and shape it into a story OR determine which data you need to help your story along.
The other 5 points are also really good: where to find data if you need it, how to vet and filter the data, choosing how to share the data visually, how to weave the story and data together, and then most importantly -- receiving feedback before you publicly share it.
Go read this article. I think you will find it very helpful!
Many thanks to Giuseppe Mauriello for sending me this article to review :)
Let's begin with an article that appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) at the end of last year. Narrative vs Evidence-Based Medicine—And, Not Or was written by Zachary Meisel and in it he said: "Scientific reports are genuinely dispassionate, characterless, and ahistorical. But their translation and dissemination should not be. Stories are an essential part of how individuals understand and use evidence."
Data is supposed to be cold and objective; but the dissemination of your data can be warm and subjective. So go ahead, tell a story with your data. Because if you don't, you run the risk of falling behind. As Meisel continued: "Those who espouse only evidence—without narratives about real people—struggle to control the debate. Typically, they lose."
It’s become pretty much axiomatic these days that if you're really serious about getting your data across to your audience, you need to tell a story with it. Stories are more engaging and convincing than mere data. If you want to influence someone’s behaviour you need to touch their heartstrings and move them to tears. And you won't do that if you only engage their logical left brains. No, you also need to impose yourself on their creative and emotional right brains.
Which all sounds promising and exciting, but we need to remember that it's data we’re talking about here. Data is logical and soul-less and is usually a collection of seemingly disconnected facts. How are we going to fit that into a story?
Love this article with good ideas for keeping storytelling with data sweet and simple.
Thanks Gregg Morris @greggvm and his Story and Narrative curation for originally finding this post!
Information can be useful--and even beautiful--but only when it’s presented well. In an age of information overload, any guidance through the clutter comes as a welcome relief. That’s one reason for the recent popularity of information graphics.
Got data? Need it to tell a story? Then make sure you read this article about constructing a storied infographic. An infographic is one visual storytelling method.
Yes, there are graphics tips here for us non-graphics people like "Choosing a Format". But the majority of the article is about effective storytelling with data. Like tips on "Finding the Narrative" and "Identifying Problems" (essential to a good story) to locating the "Hero" or key message.
And I like how the author, Josh Smith, dicusses determining a visual approach.
In the end, having graphic design skills seems necessary to do this type of visual storytelling well.
Yet I think that there are plenty of ways to use the tips in this article to take simple data in our work and turn it into visually inspiring pieces without being a graphic designer.
So take these tips and play/experiment with the simple tools we do have available to us non-graphic biz folks: PowerPoint, MSPublisher, Excel, Keynote, Prezi, and the like.
What is data storytelling? In two parts, it’s (1) how we use data visualization to help us see and read the story social data tells, and (2) how we as social media experts package that story and make adjustments to campaigns.
It should, but unless we can find the answer to the question “so what?” all that data just seems time-consuming. That’s why we practice data storytelling. It’s the act of data visualization before, during and after mining/analyzing data.
For all of us who want to know how to share the stories data tells, then this article gives a great framework. You'll have to read down to the end, however, to get to the gold.
Most of the article is about measuring social media campaigns. Then we get to the good stuff: the model for storytelling with data that contains 5 elements.
The other insights are good, so grab those. Then pay attention to those 5 elements and start working on your data stories. The model should get you started.
Statistics and infographics are best understood if used together with a metaphor or analogy. We explain how to make this work for you.
Displaying data as a story is challenging, yet figuring out how to do this is a hot topic these days.
In this guest blog post I recently wrote, I explain how to bring storytelling and story elements into displays of data (infographics) to create stronger connections to readers plus more powerful knowledge transfer.
I hope it helps everyone as they work with stories in their business, and data in their presentations.
Infographics are visual representations of information, or “data viz” as the cool kids call it these days.
Here's a great article on how to create infographics, or tell a story using 'data viz.'
Translating data into a story is tough work and this article gives us some fabulous tips on how to do it.
Not a graphic designer? Don't worry -- as a business person the more you know about how to create a great data viz story, the better you can tell a graphic designer or graphic scriber what you want.
Another reason I like this article is because it actually mentions the need to create a storyline for your visual, and know before had what the key message is you are trying to deliver.
The storytelling points the article leaves out are the storytelling devices of metaphor, analogy, contrast, and sensory material that are critical to a story's and an infographic's success. These pieces are implied in the article, but need more direct discussion about.
Use this article as a great guide. And if you want more detail, go dig into "Visualize This" by Nathan Yau (although it can be pretty technical).
Here's a Fast Company article with tips on how to tell a story with data, from the author of the recently published book "Visualize This" Sam Yagan. Yagan shares some really good insights about the process of creating a story from data that are important to consider.
Nathan Yau's new book, Visualize This, shows how to use design to make sense of an information-flooded world...
Turning data into a compelling story is tough, yet essential work when you need to use data to move others to action.
I haven't reviewed this book yet but it looks to be a winner. I really like the intro video that's on this site. Next step? Amazon.com to get the book! I'll come back to you with a review in a few weeks.
Hey folks -- I ran across this today and it looks like a fabulous list of quality resources about telling stories using data. Or using data to tell stories. Your choice :)
Data storytelling might not be your thing -- or it could be an activity that is part of your future.
If so, you are going to want to keep this list available. Not only are there good articles (some I've already scooped here), but there are videos to watch and research papers to explore. I'm always a fan of research because it adds so much credibility.
I haven't read everything here, or watched the videos but they do sound substantial and helpful.
So dig in here. Data storytelling is not easy to do and we need all the help we can get. Many thanks to data geek author Zach Gemignani for putting this post and resources together!
Here's the next stop on the data and visual storytelling journey. While the previous article I curated focused on the history of visual storytelling, this research article addresses 'what's next.'
For the authors of the article -- what's next is the presentation and communication of data that has played only a minor role in research up to this point.
Click on the title of the article "Storytelling: The Next Step for Visualization" at the bottom of the blurb to get a free copy of the research paper.
The research paper itself focuses on journalism as storytelling -- which it is, but it is not the only method or approach. So the article is limiting in that way.
Still, there are some good insights about how data visualization needs to move more directly into storytelling using story delivery techniques.
Iin the end, the authors Robert Kosara and Jock Mackinlay say:
"Storytelling promises to open up entirely new avenues of research in visualization. Going from exploration to analysis to presentation is a natural progression, which is mirrored by the research effort focused on these steps over time. As the field becomes more mature and provides many useful techniques for the first two steps, we need to start focusing on presentation. This is even more important as visualization gets used for decision-making, where the succinct presentation of important facts is crucial."
Learn more about the value of data visualisation. Tableau's Jock Mackinlay explains why data is inert and worthless without the twin practices of visualisation and storytelling.
This is a quick piece that makes some valuable points. Frankly, I'm not a hard-core data head. Yet I love looking at spreadsheets, bar charts, line charts and other visual displays of data in order to make meaning of the material and spot trends.
There is a whole science to displaying data in meaningful ways (see Edward Tufte's work) that we don't need to go into here. But what I like about this article is that it points to the fact that all the data in the world is meaninglessuntil you can tell the story about what it is saying and what itmeans.
Storytelling and data go hand-in-hand.
Truly, those of us in the field of business storytelling need to build our data skills. And data-geeks need to develop their storytelling skills. Sounds like a match made in heaven!
Here's another aspect of storytelling that this article alludes to: yes, we all know it takes time to share a story and in this fast-paced world, it is not uncommon to hear "But who has the time?! Just give me the data to share. We've got to get moving!" Ahhhhh -- huge mistake! Taking the time to share a story in the beginning makes projects go much more quickly.
That sounds counter-intuitive, but I experience this phenomenon again and again.
Read the article for additional points on how the marriage of data and storytelling make for better decision making. They are worth remembering.
Theresa Welbourne, CEO Research Professor, and Denise Avink of Northrop Grumman, spoke on October 27 on Data Coaching: A Cure for HR Data Analysis Paralysis?. They discussed ways to make HR data more relevant to the business and why data coaching is a must-have skill for HR, OD, and communications professionals as well as consultants and executive coaches. Theresa Welbourne shared the key aspects of data coaching and how it is being used by organizations who are adopting Fast HR practices to stay ahead of the competition.
Got data? Need to articulate its story? Then this article is for you!
Turning data into effective storytelling in order to create awareness, understanding, and action is a very tough job. But I am happy to say that processes and tools are emerging. Like the ones shared here!
This is a slide presentation along with an audio file of a webinar that focuses entirely on how to take big data and not only find its story, but share it as a story to generate meaning and action. It is a step-by-step process.
Hooray! I love the process and models shared here, along with how Northrum Grumman usesthis process effectively.
Step one is gathering together the data. Step two is moving into dialog about it. Now here is where there might be a significant weakness. I did not listen to the 55+ minute audio file where the presenters might have explained this. But from what I can gather from the slides, dialog is mostly identified as focus groups.
Hmmmm -- seems more effort needs to be expended here in using Appreciative Inquiry to craft effective questions,evoke stories, and naturally spur action. So the model may need upgrading.
But if you have a bunch of data that you need to use to generate understanding and meaningful action, then this PPT can really help you.
And here is a link to a companion piece from Dr. Theresa M. Welbourne held a webinar entitled "Data Coaching is What's New." She discussed data coaching as a must-have skill for HR, OD, and communications professionals as well as consultants and executive coaches. She shared the key aspects of data coaching and how it is being used by organizations who are adopting Fast HR practices to stay ahead of the competition.
Hey everyone -- this looks like a really great FREE tool for taking a bunch of data and creating a stunning visual story. I haven't tested it because I don't have a pile of data to crunch, make it look beautiful, or tell a story with it.
But if you do, then I wanted to make sure I passed this along.
Actually, these are best leveraged together---big data and powerful analytics have deep meaning when positioned in the context of powerful stories. Stories give people a context in which to position the analysis provided by the data.
This is a really nice article about how well data and stories work together.
The only piece I would add is this: share your storiesfirst, and then support them with data. Most often people go for the data first, and then maybe share a story.
So do the reverse and you won't put people to sleep or have them looking at you with a quizzicle eye wondering, "And what does this data mean?"
Story is the meaning-making part of the equation. Data is the sense-making part.
"The idea is complex, but the explanation must be clear, simple and concise. It's all your clients will listen to. The art of storytelling is something that most architects never learn. Instead, during our education, we model pompous intellectualism, poetically making nonsensical archispeak statements while wearing black turtlenecks. Of course in studio, there often is no client and no real story, only our personal filter for solving the assigned problem. In practice, our client becomes our audience and whether we are auditioning for the part, or holding a design meeting, we can never forget to perform for them."
For all you data-heads, scientists, tech geeks, architects, lawyers and the like -- this article is for you!
It very simply explains why and how to shift your presentations so you can connect with your audiences through storytelling.
Want more business? Want to sell your ideas? Read this quick article, and then explore the rest of the collection here for more ideas/action steps.
Once again, thank you Gregg Morris @greggvm for originally curating this article!
Mobile business intelligence app developer Roambi wants to marry the excitement of a magazine narrative with the dryness of business intelligence data on the iPad. The goal is to tell the story behind the numbers.
How's a data head going to share the real story that the numbers tell? Here's a new tech tool, Roambi, to help iPad folks bring data to life. This software helps you marry data charts with content, graphics, and photos, and could really help businesses share the numbers story. You will still need to know how to create a compelling story, but this tool will get you closer to storifying your charts, graphs and spreadsheets.
"Finance is generally perceived to be a dull subject. Do stories fit here? On the face of it, it would seem outrageous to mix storytelling and finance, observes Mr Sam Swaminathan, Storyteller, Center for Creative Thinking, US (http://bit.ly/F4TSamS), during a recent interaction with Business Line."
Read this article for examples and ideas of how CFOs and entrepreneurs have made financial numbers meaningful through storytelling. The author even includes a short piece on being deluded by false stories. I particularly like the author's insights on innovation and sharing stories of projects that didn't work out.
If you are having a hard time connecting numbers to stories, check this article out.
Thanks to fellow curator Jennifer King and her Scoop.it content Storytelling for Social Change for showing me this article. | <urn:uuid:81e76be7-1a70-4edb-9b27-fcca83375ecb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scoop.it/t/just-story-it/p/317269892/spare-change-change-the-world-with-transmedia-storytelling?tag=datastorytelling | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944943 | 4,037 | 1.6875 | 2 |
- Equine Initiative
- Regulatory Services
- Biosystems/Ag Engineering
- Food Science
- Fine Arts
- Community Development
- 4-H Youth
- Family and Consumer Sciences
- Ag Information Center
- Ag Magazine
- Office of Diversity
- Ag Weather
- Ag Faculty Council
- Staff Links
- College Store
Target spot widespread in burley float beds
The recent wet weather resulted in many cases of target spot on young burley tobacco plants in greenhouses across the state. With more wet conditions in the forecast, growers need to watch their seedlings closely for any sign of the disease in order to manage it if it does develop, said Kenny Seebold, plant pathologist in the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture.
"In terms of severity and how widespread it is, this is the worst case of target spot I've seen since I came here in 2005," he said. "Every year, we usually have some target spot, but this year we're finding it in nearly every float bed we visit."
Seebold said the spike in target spot is likely due to the large amount of rain the state has received in recent weeks. The fungal disease favors cool-to-warm temperatures and humid or damp conditions for development and is closely related to damping off.
Target spot forms lesions on the plant leaf, which can lead to defoliation, slow maturity, damping off and in some cases plant death. Usually the lesions are green when they first appear on leaves but can become brown and brittle if not treated.
Target spot can overwinter in old trays that were reused without being properly sanitized. However, the recent wet weather has exacerbated the spread of the disease to greenhouses with proper sanitation practices or which are using new trays.
The wet weather has kept many growers from setting their first plants, resulting in many plants staying in the greenhouse longer. The longer the plants stay in the greenhouse, the more susceptible they are to the disease, especially if it turns wet again.
"If we do have a delay in setting, it could make things worse," Seebold said. "The plants will be sitting ducks for disease development."
If the disease is found, burley growers should try to control the disease in the greenhouse using a fungicide that contains the ingredient mancozeb.
To keep the disease from occurring, burley growers should keep their seedlings as dry as possible by utilizing ventilation in the greenhouse and checking water levels in float beds to maximize air flow. Regularly clipping plants also will improve ventilation, but growers should remove debris so other diseases such as blackleg and collar rot do not occur later in the season.
Many growers tend to lower nitrogen levels in plants they are getting ready to plant, but keeping nitrogen levels up can help keep target spot away or at least lessen its affects. Target spot tends to be worse in plants with low nitrogen levels.
There's no way to ensure that target spot will not be carried to the fields from the greenhouse and appear later in the season, especially if it was present this spring in float beds. Producers should continue to monitor plants throughout the growing season for target spot, especially if planting in an area with high humidity or if target spot was present in the greenhouse. Target spot found later in the growing season can result in significant yield losses. To control the disease later in the season, use an application of Quadris when the plants are in the layby stage.
Keep the brakes on planting a little longer
Early summer could come at a price, UK ag meteorologist cautions
Photo depicts damage to apple trees after the Easter Freeze in 2007.
Without looking at the calendar, Kentuckians might easily be fooled into thinking...
The Arboretum gears up to host a Party for the Planet
The Arboretum, on the campus of the University of Kentucky in Lexington, is partnering with LG&E and KU Energy LLC to offer a month-long celebration called Party for the Planet 2012, with activities for... | <urn:uuid:e44194f8-400a-417f-a0fa-3fd0d73412cf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ca.uky.edu/news/?c=n&d=362 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949035 | 827 | 2.4375 | 2 |
April 12th marks the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the most traumatic event in American history, the Civil War. To commemorate this momentous event in our nation’s history, a free program Disunion! The War Begins! will be held at the Lanier Mansion State Historic Site, on Tuesday, April 12 at 8 p.m.
“It is appropriate that we are holding this event at the Lanier Mansion State Historic Site since J.F.D. Lanier did so much to help Indiana during the Civil War,” said Lanier site manager Gerry Reilly. | <urn:uuid:51529c18-895e-48fd-8272-ba76b8ee38df> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mytrimblenews.com/news/regional?page=25&mini=calendar-date%2F2013-01 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940041 | 121 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Karl to deliver 20th Annual C. B. Van Niel Memorial LectureUniversity of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology
George Somero, Director of the Hopkins Marine Station, says that Karl's work, like van Niel's, is opening up new frontiers. "Dave's studies of the relative abundances of Bacteria and Archaea in the marine water column have caused microbiologists and marine scientists in general to take a whole new look at the nature of marine microbiology," says Somero. "And, like van Niel, Dave has been a major driver in initiating new programs in research and education and in fostering the types of collaborations that lead to new breakthroughs."
C. B. Van Niel was a pioneer in general microbiology and comparative biochemistry, and along with others from the "Delft School" in the Netherlands, introduced novel concepts and understanding about the role of microorganisms in energy capture, nutrient cycling and their role in the habitability of our planet. His most lasting contribution was his research on photosynthetic bacteria, showing a common biochemical mechanism with green plants. Through painstaking laboratory experiments, he demonstrated the process of photosynthesis could be expressed as a series of biochemical reactions not unlike the sequential steps that had already been shown for respiration. His work provided a fundamental understanding of energy flow in the biosphere and led to numerous subsequent discoveries. In 1930, he organized a summer training course at Hopkins Marine Station that was designed to provide training in general microbiology, which was otherwise not available in university curricula at that time. Over the next three decades his intensive course became a proving ground for the development of American Microbiology as a unique scientific discipline. He was revered as a teacher and mentor, and in 2004 the American Society for Microbiology designated Hopkins Marine Station and Van Niel‘s laboratory and classroom building as a "Milestone in Microbiology" site.
David Karl joined UH in March 1978. In the early 1980s he established the Laboratory for Microbial Oceanography which, over the years, grew into a comprehensive research and training facility. In 1988, along with Roger Lukas and others, he established the Hawaii Ocean Time-series (HOT) program, an ongoing research program to investigate climate-related impacts on marine ecosystem dynamics. In 2005, Karl was named a Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Investigator in Marine Microbiology and in 2006 he was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.
For more information on the Van Niel Memorial Lecture, please see the Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University web site: http://www-marine.stanford.edu/memoriallectures.htm________________________________________________________________________________
For Interviews contact:
David Karl, Professor, Department of Oceanography, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii, firstname.lastname@example.org, (808) 956-8964 http://hahana.soest.hawaii.edu/lab/dkarl.html
SOEST Media Contact: Tara Hicks Johnson, (808) 956-3151, email@example.com.
For more information, visit: http://www-marine.stanford.edu/memoriallectures.htm | <urn:uuid:5ae4d927-ed8e-43ea-9057-002b083a6e5f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hawaii.edu/news/article.php?aId=2248 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931727 | 672 | 2.4375 | 2 |
In today’s regulatory environment, if you aren’t testing your workspaces (and employees) for noise exposure you are putting your company at risk. On-Site Acoustic Testing is here to support your organization by providing you with qualified OSHA noise consultants who will provide you with an accurate assessment of your sound levels.
Our team members will perform measurements in your workspace and also initiate dosimetric (dosimeters are sound level meters that are worn during the working shift by your employees) testing to determine the time-weighted average (TWA) of noise that your employees are actually exposed to while they are performing their daily activities.
We will work with you to analyze the results of the testing, determine which (if any) employees are potentially at risk, and then help you implement a program for hearing protection devices. We will also help you implement a hearing conservation program at your organization. Our OSHA noise consultants are familiar with the myriad of OSHA (MSHA as well) regulations, and the ASTM and ANSI standards they are based upon.
On-Site Acoustic Testing will assist your company in maintaining a safe and productive workspace. Contact us today to speak directly with us about OSHA related noise measurement services.
We provide services nationwide, and emergency “rush” services are available. | <urn:uuid:5d8e1bc7-1539-4c44-81f0-9dee0cc2d244> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.onsiteacoustictesting.com/?p=253 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948469 | 269 | 1.523438 | 2 |
|Sunday, Jan 27, 2013 - 11:00 PM
"The Abolitionists, Part Three"
During his raid on Harpers Ferry, John Brown is captured, then executed, becoming a martyr for the cause. Abraham Lincoln is elected president in 1860; war breaks out in 1861. On New Year's Day 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation is announced; African-American men may now enlist in the Union forces, and two of Frederick Douglass' sons go to war. In December 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified, banning slavery in all states. G | <urn:uuid:8468410f-562c-4999-afc6-ee2f5e73baad> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.idahoptv.org/schedules/listingDetails.cfm?TZ=MT&thisChannel=KAID&VersionID=254149&ThisDate=1-27-2013&thisTime=23:00:00&ShowPast=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939818 | 127 | 2.984375 | 3 |
1 definition by Bob Zurunkel
A condition in which a subject can safely and believeably deny knowledge of any particular truth that may exist because the subject is deliberately made unaware of said truth so as to benefit or shield the subject from any responsibility associated through the knowledge of such truth.
The CIA black ops division undertakes dangerous and usually what would be considered illegal missions that are not officially sanctioned by the US administration so that the administration, which usually benefits from such missions, can safely dissavow any knowledge of them in the event of their publically uncovered success or failure. The administration is in the position of plausible deniability towards the CIA's actions.
by Bob Zurunkel Oct 17, 2005 add a video | <urn:uuid:668a690c-f968-4051-be3d-d293846e67bb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.urbandictionary.com/author.php?author=Bob+Zurunkel | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946993 | 145 | 1.859375 | 2 |
I woke up this morning and asked myself what is the greatest mischief I can get into today? Then it came to me. I could get a whole country pissed off at me. Now you have to admit that is ambitious. How am I going to piss off a whole country you ask? By attacking one of the great mythic shibboleths of the English people: the longbow. First let me say I have never met an Englishman that I didn’t like. I think they are delightful people. However, someone has to do this dastardly deed and it might as well be me.
Here is a passage from the book Battle. It was published in 2003 and was written by a major early modern military historian. What I mean to say is it reflects what is currently believed by many military historians today. I say this because I don’t want to be charged with creating ‘straw dogs’ or ‘straw men’ or ‘straw hippos’ or whatever straw being one is accused of when creating a false argument.
During the Hundred Year’s War, French chivalry fell victim at Crecy (1346) to new English tactics that took advantage of the peasant longbow in defensive positions that supported dismounted knights. A decade later the French responded at Poitiers (1356) not by confronting the problem [p 339] posed by English longbowmen but by mimicking the English knights and dismounting. It was as though they could only interpret their earlier defeat as being wrought by their social equals, the English knights. The result was that the longbowmen enjoyed even better targets. Sixty years later, at Agincourt (1415), the French repeated their aristocratic mistake. [p 340]
Look closely at how our historian describe the combatants. Peasants use longbows and knights don’t. Notice the social interpretation of the combatants. What the author is using here is an outworn stereotypic social order and placing it anachronistically over the fourteenth and fifteenth century military order. Were there peasants at this time? Of course. Were there knights? Again, of course. However, these two facts are almost irrelevant. There were knights among the men-at-arms in the English army but they were always a minority. At one point they only made up 5% of the army. One might say the term ‘knight’ was used in a more generic sense to represent the nobility even the lower nobility. Again, irrelevant. Mounted troops were not raised on the basis of their nobility.
Men-at-arms were raised on the basis of property. It didn’t matter if the property owner was noble or not. If he held the requisite amount of property, he was to be armed with the accoutrements of a man-at-arms. The raising of cavalry had little to do with knighthood.
At this time, many of the landowners in England were non-noble and were known as franklins (yeoman of a latter period). Investigations into several counties showed franklins were on the same financial level as squires. This meant men-at-arms would have been raised from franklin estates as from estates of the squirarchy. As such, men-at-arms were composed of both groups: non-nobles and minor nobles. To equate men-at-arms with knights is an error. To describe them as knights is to falsify reality.
To return to longbowmen, they were peasants only in the sense they were farmers. Specifically, they were property owning franklins. Franklins who owned property but not enough to warrant supplying a man-at-arms had to supply an archer on horseback. Franklins supplied both men-at-arms as well as archers. The only difference is the amount of property owned by a particular franklin. As a result archers and men-at-arms were as likely as not to came from the same property owning group. To superimpose a social order which had no relevance to the military reality is to fail to understand the military social realities of the times.
Our author has posited two ideas. Men-at-arms and bowmen represented two different cultures: knights and peasants. He goes on to assert the problem the French had is that they reacted to their social equals rather than the real danger: the archers. Here he presents the second idea: the longbow was the real danger on the late medieval battlefield.
As time went on, the French came to copy the English system of raising cavalry. Edward III, writing to Sir Thomas Lucy, wrote that when they had arrived at Crecy, the enemy appeared with 12,000 men-at-arms of which 8,000 were gentlemen, knights, and squires. This leaves 4,000 non-noble men-at-arms. Property not nobility became the determining factor. Therefore, it is logical to assume that French cavalry came from the same property owning groups as the English, French men-at-arms probably represented both noble property owners and non-noble property owners. This was hardly a group vastly different from those property owners who were the bowmen. To force a cultural perspective vastly different between archers and men-at-arms is not a functional approach to understanding the military realities of the Hundred Year’s War.
Let us now take up the issue of what our author thinks to be the real threat in these wars. Here we come to the beloved myth of the English longbow. The myth of the longbow rests upon the holy trinity. Not that Holy Trinity. It is the holy trinity of Crecy, Poitiers, and Agincourt.“ It must be said that the battle of Crecy was won in great measure to the longbow working in conjunction with dismounted men-at-arms. This was the classic infantry versus cavalry engagement. Poitiers was not.
At Poitiers the English fought from an enclosed position difficult for cavalry to fight through. The French dismounted and attacked on foot. They were finally defeated by a small unit of mounted English men-at-arms who outflanked the French. There is the account of archers firing on a French mounted force but they had to be reposition because their firing was ineffective. Other than this event, there is no indication the longbows effected the battle at all. Then we have the classic attack by French cavalry at Agincourt to open the battle. Once the cavalry van was defeated there is no indication that longbow fire contributed at all in defeating the enemy. Some sources say the archers dropped their bows and arrows to join in the fray. Others say the archers had run out of arrows and then joined the fray. Either description highlights the ineffectiveness of the longbow. In the event that both bow and arrows were dropped, such a thing would only have happened because that archers saw the ineffectiveness of their fire. If the archers had run out of arrows, it would have been a clear indication that the archery fire was unable to influence the course of the foot battle.
Viewing all three battles a pattern clearly emerges. Bow fire is effective against mounted attacks but much less so against dismounted attacks. Our author’s comments that by slavishly following the example the English men-at-arms, the French, by dismounting, were failing to acknowledge the real threat of the longbow does not bear out. The longbow’s failure was in meeting the threat of the dismounted attack. When viewed in this manner, the longbow was not the uber weapon that modern English speaking historian make it out to be.
Then how did the myth of the longbow come to be. I believe this myth gained strength in the first half of the twentieth century. I think in part it was a reflection of historical influences by some Marxist thoughts melding with the early growth of the social sciences of this time. The idea arose that historical change was the product of conflict between the oppressed and their oppressors. It was easy to see the peasants as the oppressed and the knights as the oppressors. Historical change reflected the growth in power of the oppressed. Gradually it was the archers, as representative of the oppressed, that became the heroes. Thus the myth of the longbow was created. | <urn:uuid:34e51b9e-d0a6-4325-9ed3-eb7a9262ace5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wapenshaw.wordpress.com/2007/06/02/myth-of-the-longbow/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984278 | 1,731 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Most Active Stories
Sun January 14, 2007
Troop Increase in Iraq Protested in Wilmington
By Megan V. Williams
Wilmington, NC – Honks of support and shouted opposition met the half-dozen protesters who stood at the intersection of College and Oleander Sunday with signs urging an end to the war in Iraq.
Wilmington Peace Meetup last demonstrated at this location nearly three years ago. Organizer Steve Lee said the time and place were picked to attract the attention of passing churchgoers
The goal, Lee said, was "to remind people that there's a connection between what most religions command us to do in regards to peace-making, and this work we're doing here."
According to Lee, the response from motorists was more positive this time than when his group last picketed that corner, although there were certainly shouts of 'vote Bush!' 'Go War!' and hostile honks. "If they honk and give you the finger, it means they're not in favor," Lee laughed.
Lee said the group's biggest challenge, even as public opinion has shifted ever more towards opposition to the war, is convincing people of the importance of public action.
Wilmington Peace Meet-Up has a triple focus, according to Lee, split between increasing public awareness, pressuring Congressman McIntyre to take a stand against the war, and opposing military recruiting efforts. The group is also marching in the Martin Luther King Day Parade today. | <urn:uuid:807a71f3-1348-4ee6-842a-f7364a4af497> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://whqr.org/post/troop-increase-iraq-protested-wilmington | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00076-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973135 | 294 | 1.625 | 2 |
Tuesday’s election created lots of data about voting patterns in places that used different voting technologies. Various people have done exploratory data analysis, to see how jurisdictions that used e-voting might differ from those that did not. See, for example, the analysis cited in Joe Hall’s entry below.
As a commenter ("Jon") notes, voting technology is not the only difference between Florida counties that might account for the observed differences. Counties that used e-voting tend to be larger, more densely populated, and more Democratic-leaning than those that don’t. Perhaps these differences explain the data.
To answer questions like these would require more sophisticated data analysis, probably performed by a person who does such analyses for a living. Such a person could control for differences in voter demographics, for instance, to see whether there is an e-voting effect separate from the kinds of differences cited above. Such a person could also tell us how big the remaining effect is, and whether it is statistically significant.
It would be great if some hotshot social science data analyst would agree to do such a study. I’m sure that the folks out there who have data would be willing to furnish it, and to suggest theories to test.
It’s also worth thinking about what a particular finding would tell us. It’s one thing to find an anomaly in the data; but it’s another thing to explain what could have caused it. If you can point to an anomaly, but you don’t have a plausible story about how a rational election-stealing strategy would have caused that anomaly, then you don’t have strong proof of fraud, no matter how much evidence of the anomaly’s existence you can present.
If real anomalies exist, I think it’s more likely that they’ll turn out to be caused by errors or technology failures than by e-voting fraud. Either way, a careful study of the data might be able to teach us a lot about how well various voting technologies work in practice.
2 Comments »
The URI to TrackBack this entry is: http://evoting-experts.com/wp-login.php/wp-admin/wp-admin/wp-admin/wp-admin/wp-trackback.php/wp-trackback.php/65
Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed:
<a href="" title="" rel=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong> | <urn:uuid:ad92e4f6-0518-49f6-99a5-fd8854f0ca10> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.evoting-experts.com/index.php?p=65 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924511 | 557 | 2.375 | 2 |
Steps toward a nuclear-free world
How my congregation works for a nuclear-free future.
Following the lead of our youth and the vote that day in 1987, our members have shown a consistent commitment to a world free of nuclear weapons. Our church is known by many in Maine as “the social action church,” and at the 2003 General Assembly, the UUA recognized our congregation with the coveted Bennett Award for Congregational Action on Human Justice and Social Action.
Our Social Action Committee works with Peace Action Maine, the Friends Committee on National Legislation, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and others. In 1998, we hosted a daylong regional meeting with the title “Abolish Nuclear Weapons—One of the Best Things We Can Do for Our Children.” In January 2008, some church members joined in a teleconference meeting with Senator Susan Collins to ask her to vote against funding for a new nuclear weapons facility. We had previously worked to convince her to vote against the “bunker buster bomb,” and her vote was crucial to stopping this project.
Social change bends in small steps towards justice. Members of our Social Action Committee participated in those steps as we began meeting with aides to Senator Collins and Senator Olympia J. Snowe in 2009 to educate them about the need for the New Start treaty. This treaty calls for the reduction in the number of nuclear weapons for Russia and the United States to 1,500 each. That treaty entered into force on February 5, 2011, and Collins and Snowe led the way with their positive votes. That treaty itself is a small step towards the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which bans all nuclear explosions in all environments, for military or civilian purposes.
With the proliferation of nuclear weapons in countries such as North Korea, Iran, and Pakistan, we are reminded that such weapons remain a threat to our very existence. All Unitarian Universalists can help bring about a world free of nuclear weapons by identifying allies in their areas, and using the resources of the Campaign for a Nuclear Free World or the Friends Committee on National Legislation to form a plan that can include everyone in your congregation. A letter-signing effort at our church in May 2012 produced forty-six letters to each of our two senators and to Rep. Chellie Pingree. We delivered the letters by hand along with a plate of homemade brownies. Pingree voted in June 2012 to cut billions of dollars from the defense budget for a new bomb plant at Los Alamos National Laboratory. This project is now put on hold for at least five years.
The 1987 youth-led vote to make our church a Nuclear Free Zone provided our church members a goal. In the years since, we have worked with politicians, activists, and journalists. Even small steps can lead to big change. Other congregations can seize opportunities to speak out and work with like-minded organizations to build a movement to achieve this goal of a world free of nuclear weapons.
This article appeared in the Fall 2012 issue of UU World (pages 9–10). See sidebar for links to related resources.Comments powered by Disqus | <urn:uuid:41f831b3-2a27-4ef0-89b8-a5104855e6a5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uuworld.org/life/articles/220123.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960927 | 639 | 2.09375 | 2 |
The European Congress on Physiotherapy Education has also seen the first stage launch of PHYSIOPEDIA.
Physiopedia is an ambitious project that aims to eventually offer an evidence-based knowledge resource for rehabilitation professionals throughout the world. Through utilising collaborative wiki technology Physiopedia is a place where all physiotherapists and physical therapists can participate by sharing, contributing and building
knowledge to develop a global understanding. For educators Physiopedia offers an opportunity to involve their students in this knowledge creation process as part of an educational program.
This project is currently being developed with universities from the UK and the USA. We are now at a stage where we are keen to establish further partnerships with other institutions from around the world that can help us with the initial population of the site with valuable content. We are also keen to engage therapy educators and their students to use this resource as a learning tool in their educational programme. Additionally we are seeking input from clinical
experts who by adding their opinions on specific topics will add great value to this resource. | <urn:uuid:8076e115-07c6-478d-9685-2c589e6ff75b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.physio-pedia.com/blog/2008 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955911 | 212 | 2.71875 | 3 |
(click image to zoom-in)
|Author: Adam-Franz van der Meulen|
|Battle Painting, Painting, Oil on canvas, 118x174.5 cm|
|Origin: France, 1657|
The canvas Cavalry Engagement and the companion painting The Battle were previously listed in the Hermitage inventories as "An Episode from Louis XIV's Wars in Flanders" and "An Episode from the Scottish War of 1650-1651". However, when Diderot wrote to Catherine the Great, he quite correctly called them "batailles ideales" - imaginary battles. These are the earliest of 10 paintings by van der Meulen in the Hermitage collection.The works are signed and dated 1657, that is, prior to the artist's arrival in France. They belong to the typical Flemish battle genre. They are splendidly composed and produce an effect on the viewer. The paintings represent abstract scenes which do not correspond to any concrete historical event.
Diderot noticed these two paintings as early as 1769, when they were in the collection of Louis-Michel Van Loo, and he commented on them to Falconet, who was buying paintings in Paris for the new collection of the Empress: "I have found for Her Imperial Majesty two van der Meulens, perhaps the most splendid of all the ones in Europe. These are large, matched paintings. They are as fresh as if they were just completed?" However, the price asked was exorbitantly high and therefore Catherine II only bought them three years later, when Van Loo's collection was sold off following his death and the price was significantly lower - 10,000 francs. It should be mentioned that even at such a price van der Meulen's paintings were the most expensive at this auction. The amount paid was greater than for canvases by Rubens or Rembrandt.
|Album: Pair to the painting "The Battle"|
|Source of entry: Collection of L.M. Vanloo, Paris, 1772|
Adam-Franz van der Meulen Online
Adam-Franz van der Meulen [Flemish Baroque Era Painter, 1632-1690] Guide to pictures of works by Adam-Franz van der Meulen in art museum sites and image ...
Frans van der Meulen - Rijksmuseum Amsterdam - Museum for Art
(1632-1690) Van der Meulen was trained by the court painter Pieter Snayers of Brussels. His first work as an independent artist was done in Brussels. ...
NG London/Full Collection Index
Artist Name, Works by MEULEN, Adam-François van der. MELÉNDEZ, Luis · MEMLING, Hans · MENGS, Anton Raphael · MENZEL, Adolph · MERCIER, Philippe · METSU, ...
Unless otherwise noted, images this web site may be used for any purpose without prior permission.
Any material in the public domain found on this web site is not protected by copyright.
We make no representations or warranties with respect to ownership of copyrights in the images, and do not represent others who may claim to be authors or owners of copyright of any of the images, and make no warranties as to the quality of the images.
We shall not be responsible for any loss or expenses resulting from the use of the images, and you release and hold us harmless from all liability arising from such use.
We do not sell art prints, framed posters or reproductions. Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses. | <urn:uuid:1bb4c01d-8c5c-4fd7-b5d3-7b7cc55f8226> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.arthermitage.org/Adam-Franz-van-der-Meulen/Cavalery-in-the-Battle.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932333 | 752 | 2.171875 | 2 |
The stock market is flying high, but much of small business America remains grounded.
Unlike the big corporations that have been raking in huge profits and stoking the stock market toward record highs this week for the Dow Jones industrial average, most small firms have yet to enjoy the fruits of the nearly 4-year-old recovery.
Even though some small employers are starting to see daylight, particularly with the housing market coming back to life, analysts and business owners paint a picture of companies still hampered by weak sales and pangs of uncertainty, particularly over tax and government policies.
Small businesses typically have been engines of job creation, but their lagging performance, along with a sharp drop in the rate of new startups, has been a key reason employment growth has remained mediocre.
Since the jobs recovery began in February 2010, employment at companies with 1,000 or more workers has grown by more than 8 percent, according to payroll processor Automatic Data Processing and research firm Moody’s Analytics.
But for firms with fewer than 20 employees, which constitute the bulk of businesses, the net job increase has been just 3.4 percent over that period, though the gap has narrowed somewhat in the last year.
The payroll tax increase at the start of this year and the government spending cuts that began March 1 aren’t expected to help matters. | <urn:uuid:ca120030-7973-421c-a1e9-1b8dd372a19e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130309/NEWS0107/303090319/1011/SPORTS0411 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976185 | 271 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Green Label makes its sustainable threads using 100% organic cotton and low-impact dyes in a sweatshop-free environment in the U.S.
If you want to know some facts behind the buzz about organic cotton, its website has useful information about the difference between conventional and organic methods here.
For instance, farmers have only been using pesticides and insecticides since World War II--before that, what we now call organic farming was just called, well, farming.
25% of the world's use of insecticides is in agriculture; nine of the most common chemicals used are highly toxic and likely carcinogenic. That's a problem beyond soil, air, and water and one that humans are dealing with as even though we may not eat cotton, the chemicals sprayed on the crop can drift away to other fields affecting both farmworkers and produce-eaters. On top of that, pesticide-laden cottonseed oil is used in many a packaged food.
So, by only buying organic cotton and supporting companies like Green Label, you can support healthy crops, soil, air, water, and, most importantly, people. | <urn:uuid:d59d0fc2-d212-4975-8dd3-1929fc676cb7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://allshadesofgreenblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/green-label-tees.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 | 0.970122 | 227 | 2.234375 | 2 |
Many people say they love a vigorous and direct brushwork that shows the touch of the hand. We all take pleasure in dazzling technique. But there’s a risk in making the brushstrokes the main subject of painting.
Above is a detail from “Pigs in a Wood, Cornwall” by Sir Alfred J. Munnings. Evidently he painted this from life with the pigs moving around in front of him in the dappled light of a forest. The technique is impressive, because every brushstroke describes form, movement, light, and local color.
Good technique like this happens when you try to convey the most complete illusion in the least time with the simplest means. The goal should be to make an accurate statement in the time allotted, not to dash off some eye-catching brushstrokes.
Above is another example of fine paint handling, this time by Anders Zorn. It’s painted with urgency and directness. He worked from life in a limited amount of time, probably an hour or two. We see beyond the paint surface to the musician’s chiseled face, the rosin from his bow, the cool light from the window.
Here’s a small detail from a magazine illustration in gouache by Harry Anderson from the 1950s, showing a group of sisters conferring about their grieving mother. It’s another example of a functional bravura that stops short of being self-indulgent. There’s no wasted effort. Most of the passages are kept wet together, softening the modeling and immersing most of the strokes.
All of these are quick paintings, all virtuoso efforts. Great paint technique can also be manifest in a carefully crafted month-long effort. In this case, the brushwork can still be economical, but it’s evident on a smaller scale of reference.
For example, here’s a painting from 1885 called “Fish Sale on a Cornish Beach” by Stanhope Forbes, along with a detail of the fish. Click to enlarge.
The painting took Forbes weeks to complete. He worked entirely outdoors from life. When you look at the painting, you see more than just the paint. You practically smell the fish.
Good technique always draws attention beyond the surface of the painting and toward something else, something intangible, something invisible—light, atmosphere, character, or story.
OK, so if these are examples of true virtuosity, where is the pitfall?
Unfortunately, by the end of the 19th Century, many artists became concerned primarily with the paint surface as an end in itself.
Here’s a detail of a painting by Frederick Frieseke from 1913. The paint strokes have taken on a life of their own. It’s a bit hard to tell what the strokes are trying to represent. They’re painted in a completely different style from the woman’s knees.
This detail is from a painting by Childe Hassam called “The Bricklayers.” Hassam seems to be stuck on the surface, too, as if he was just frosting a cake. What has he told us about these bricklayers, or about the environment they’re in, or about the light shining on them? Not much, because the paint gets in the way. It's not a problem with a lack of drawing ability. Both of these guys could draw well if they wanted to. The problem is with the thought process.
It’s easy to make a painting look like paint. But it’s a lifelong challenge to use paint to evoke the chill of autumn or the smell of a rose.
A century and a half ago, Asher B. Durand wrote that when execution “becomes conspicuous as a principal feature of the picture, it is presumptive evidence, at least, of a deficiency in some higher qualities.” | <urn:uuid:1cad144d-523e-4632-aedd-9c9afc9c20c9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2008/01/pitfalls-of-virtuosity.html?showComment=1199394120000 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961074 | 813 | 2.15625 | 2 |
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: My plants can't get enough iron!
Tom Woods wrote:
> It's my understanding
> that a properly constituted trace element mix is made such that every trace
> element is present in the same ratios that they are used by the plants. So,
> if all the iron is used up by the plants (and not lost to other processes)
> then all the other trace elements will be used up as well, because they are
> used in lockstep with iron in the ratio they are present in the mix and in
> the plants. Isn't that the underlying assumption to using iron test kits in
> the first place?
Yes, that is the underlying assumption. The problem is that iron *is*
lost to other processes, so the assumption may be wrong.
Iron(ferric)-chelates are broken down by light and the iron can then
form compounds that don't stay in solution and aren't biologically
available. I think that iron is the only trace element that is effected
that way. Iron can drop out of solution faster than other trace
elements, so it is a poor indicator; if you use iron as an indicator for
other trace elements then the other trace elements may build up in
How much of a problem this might be depends on details of the trace
element mix -- like the amount of excess ligand in the mix -- that
aren't usually posted on the label. If it does happen, then it could be
difficult to detect. A nutrient toxicity typically has the same
symptoms as a deficiency in another nutrient. If you do run into a
problem and continue to increase your fertilizer dose to fix the
deficiency then the problem would only get gradually worse.
My description comes from data for ferric-EDTA; ferric-DTPA behaves
similarly. I think that Seachem's Flourish line uses ferrous gluconate,
and that shouldn't act quite the same way. But, since it was Dr. Morin
who brought up the subject I suppose the there might be some analogous
behavior with ferrous gluconate. | <urn:uuid:1b8ec062-55b5-4fb5-a69a-96ac1f043696> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fins.actwin.com/aquatic-plants/month.200201/msg00283.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942907 | 465 | 1.640625 | 2 |
The American Museum of Natural History
The Frog Show
Last November, I went to visit the Museum of Natural History in Manhattan so I could see and review the Frog Show for toadilytoads.com. As expected, the show was low on toads and 99% of the exhibits featured frogs. The only true toads present were a few Smooth Sided Toads (bufo guttatus). However, I do love frogs, too, and it was nice to see a good sized pacman frog and a few pyxies who were fairly well along, though by no means fully grown.
A note about the museum itself: The museum is very large. The Frog Show isn't all that large compared to the relative space of the museum, but the problem was, to rent a wheelchair from them, you have to travel all the way across the museum from where we entered. If you ever plan to visit this museum and need a wheelchair, check the website for their layout map. If I'd have known, we would have entered the side nearest the wheelchairs. Of course, I'd really have liked it more if I would have been able to bring my scooter, but I didn't have it at the time. The wheelchair made the day possible, however. Not only did I see the frog show but we looked around other parts of the museum as well. I even had a chance to see a photography exhibit done by the Master who is Abbot of the Zen Mountain Monastery where I sometimes visit, John Daido Loori Roshi.
As for the frog show, the main attraction of the exhibit was the poison dart frog vivarium. And yes, the little guys are very cute, but give me a good old brown toad anytime. I'd take any bufo americanus over a poison dart frog anytime. Below are my own pictures of the exhibit. Here is the link to the official site exhibit: http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/frogs/ecosystem/
This was the main attraction of the show (at least as far as the show coordinators thought). These are all poison dart frogs. I think they're all very beautiful and they have cute faces. They are fun to watch, too. Their care is not as easy as toad care, though and you really wouldn't be able to take them out and expect to have them sit calmly, eating from yourhand and enjoying a back stroke like a toad might. Still, they are very exotic and very cute and it was nice to see them in such a beautiful enclosure.
This little one actually looked white in real life. I guess the camera just couldn't get the color just right. I love the little blue one hiding under the leaf, too.
This is a Budgett's Frog. They're sort of a cross between a pacman frog and an African Claw. They are very funny to watch.
Here is a growing African Bullfrog or Pyxie frog. This frog has more growing to do but it's larger than our Pyxie. Click here for our Pyxie's gallery.
Too bad this adorable toad huddle wasn't really part of the show. This was a photo that was backlit on a large wall display. It appears to be a bufo americanus female with two males on her back (the lighter one seems to be in amplexus with her and the darker one is trying to be). I could be wrong, but judging by the gland size and other features, they do look like b. americanus. The quote by Kermit got cut off and I didn't realize how much of it was missing until I got home. Too bad. It was a good quote and if I find it online someplace, I will post it here.
I'm not sure who this adorable guy is, but man I would love to keep on of these. He's SO cute! I love the mouth.
I cannot recall the exact name of this treefrog, but it was so cute. It's about the size of an Australian Dumpy (or White's Treefrog).
Don't ask me how any of the frogs in this show were able to sleep with lights blaring at them and people staring and little children tapping on the glass.
Here in the middle of the moss pile is a firebelly. These guys are aquatic and sometiems called Firebelly toads, however, they are not toads. Bombina Orientalis are not Bufos at all. In fact, even stretching into the outer rim of the Bufonidae family, bombina isn't included. They are frogs. They are very cute and very frog.
Can you spot the frog hidden in this picture? It's a Vietnamese Moss Frog. clever disguise. There were several in this tank and you had to hunt for them all.
I could be wrong, but I beleive this frog was called a Mexican Dumpy. Like the other large treefrog shown above, it rivals any of the large Australian treefrogs.
What a cute froggie! AWWW! He looks depressed, poor guy.
And here they are; the only true toads in the exibit. These Smooth Sided Toads, (bufo gluttatis) are very large. They look similar in many ways to a Rococo toad, particularly in how flat they are and how large their glands are. They were sleeping in this hollow area of a tree. It was dark in their but my flash lit them up. Like most toads, they are nocturnal and were trying to rest.
This was another of those backlit wall displays. The quote is very frightening. First off, the toad looks absolutely intelligent. He looks like he is about to narrate a PBS documentary on some nature show or read Hamlet aloud. (Ok, here's where I show real toad bias), notice the dumb, though very cute expression on the bullfrog's face. He sure is adorable, but he doesn't look like he will be reading Shakespeare with our toad friend!
Here is a fine looking pacman frog. I really liked the way they had the terrarium set up. My husband and I do not keep "frog moss" in our pacmans' tanks because of the amount they ingest when feeding. These guys, like all the amphibians in the exibit, are sitting on living, planted moss. Not the loose stuff in the bag that you can buy in the pet shop. | <urn:uuid:90d91827-cb29-4988-8639-8cfdbf0021b0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://toadilytoads.com/museum_frogshow.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98513 | 1,348 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Mood of the Market
Even when presented with a hypothetical large amount of negative equity, most homeowners state that they would not walk away from their homes.
So, sure -- there's a lot of real estate-related financial decision-making that needs to be studied, continuously, to empower lawmakers to better regulate the mortgage markets and to provide signals as to the market's dynamics, past, current and future.
But it looks like there's a big chunk of big real estate decision-making that is, actually, quite simple to understand. We buy homes because we want to. And that's why we keep them, too -- for better or for worse.
Tara-Nicholle Nelson is author of "The Savvy Woman's Homebuying Handbook" and "Trillion Dollar Women: Use Your Power to Make Buying and Remodeling Decisions." Tara is also the Consumer Ambassador and Educator for real estate listings search site Trulia.com. Ask her a real estate question online or visit her website, www.rethinkrealestate.com.
|Contact Tara-Nicholle Nelson:|
|Letter to the Editor|
Mirrors don't have to be kitschy
What's Your Home Worth? | <urn:uuid:10a908ad-b671-4eaa-b05d-16b2e19b9077> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/real-estate/the_real_reason_we_buy_real_estate-123254698.html?page=2&comments=1&showAll= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947453 | 253 | 1.59375 | 2 |
English / Like Water For Chocolate
Like Water For ChocolateThis essay Like Water For Chocolate is available for you on Essays24.com! Search Term Papers, College Essay Examples and Free Essays on Essays24.com - full papers database.
Autor: anton 03 May 2011
Words: 1546 | Pages: 7
An Analysis of the significance of the Three Kings Day bread in Like Water for Chocolate; how does the memory of the Three King's Day bread reveal Tita’s attitude towards her current relationship with her family?
Tita’s revelation of the Three King’s Day Bread addresses the thematic core of the novel Like Water for Chocolate, revealing her exasperation towards her apparent disloyalty to the family suggesting one of the novel’s major themes. That theme is Tita’s repudiation of maintaining a virtuous loyalty to family tradition, for it negates individual expression, and the importances of living life in the same light that the childhood innocence of the quote suggests. It also explains the main point that Esquivel is trying to get across, that life is full of unexpected obstacles and those who are willing to overcome them are the ones who will achieve their true happiness. Therefore, through the use of evocative imagery and flashbacks, Esquivel illustrates Tita’s despondent attitude towards her relationship with her family.
Throughout the quote on page 167-168, Esquivel uses nostalgic imagery to convey Tita’s pessimistic attitude towards her family by describing images of her childhood experiences. One of the five senses that Esquivel utilizes to convey Tita’s attitude is olfaction. Through the sense of smell, Tita is able to recognize her emotions about others. For example, Tita remembers most of the traditional recipes by the aromas that Nacha unleashed in her cooking, inducing the “happy days when [she] was with her†(Esquivel 167) causing Tita to associate her perceptions of other characters through food. “The smells: her noodle soup, her chilaquiles…her seasoning, her teas, her laugh, her herbal remedies…[her cooking] what she craved and whipped the chocolate†(Esquivel 167) all echo optimistic attitudes about Nacha because that was the only facet of imagery that Tita could associate to Nacha. Other features of imagery include visual perceptions that suggest Tita’s reliance on food to identify her attitude about other people. Seeing that Tita grew up in the kitchen, food is the only object that she sees and relates to people. If she saw a boiled egg, for example, she would remember her authoritative mother, Mama Elena, and loath being forced fed a food that she had to accept. In this situation, Tita would associate her distaste for boiled eggs as an expression of passive rebellion towards her mother. Also, the fact that she was force fed by her mother, Tita’s rejection promotes her submissiveness to her mother’s word but also her utmost disdain for what she believe to be best for her daughter. This concludes that although Tita expresses bitter taste for her mother’s seemingly good intention- recall that the narrator focuses on sympathy towards Tita not Mama Elena- she does not appeal to her mother because she necessitated Tita to surrender to tradition, a part of Mexican culture that Tita wants to rebel because it limits her freedom. However, the use of imagery does not end there; Esquivel also employs the sense of touch to show Tita’s feelings towards her closest companions, Pedro and Nacha. Though the passage does not describe ‘touch’ explicitly, the fact that she is preparing a meal inclusively pertains to her reactions to the textures of the food she makes contact with. For example, “while Tita was forming the squares, she [mourns] for the Three King’s days of her childhood;†this demonstrates her sensitivity to touch and her emotions. It seems that whenever she prepares a meal, the textures give rise to a sensation, revealing her quieted attitude about a person or a situation. In the case of the revived memory of the Three King’s Day bread, Tita is ‘touched’ by this memory because she misses the “the single moment form that time†that called for “enthusiasm†and innocence of hope (Esquivel 167-8). The description of her forming the squares also invokes her ‘touching’ upon the present situation that she is in. The shape itself symbolizes Tita being encased in a condition that deeply moves her psychologically. As Esquivel puts it, Tita feels as if she has locked herself into a state that reflects her fear of self-confidence. The fact that she still does not know how to express her knowledge of her pregnancy to Pedro also shows that she fears Rosaura’s response to Tita’s meddling with her husband; hence touch echoes Tita’s reproach for communication while simultaneously disclose her attitude towards Rosaura and Pedro: for Rosaura, Tita invokes a tinge of jealousy and resentment due to the fact that she has to deceive her sister in order to be with Pedro; for Pedro, he is featured as an embodiment of unattainable desire, Tita longs for him but fears him because he also represents her temptation to rebel and dishonor her family (recall how she is currently concerned with being pregnant and how she wonders how everyone is going to react to her disobedience). However, because touch reminds her of Pedro, Tita uses her cooking to communicate these attitudes towards Pedro and Rosaura. In a way, most of Tita’s meals tend to reach out and “touch†Pedro sensually, while at the same time, it “touches†Rosaura bitterly.
Flashbacks also illustrates Tita’s cynical attitude towards her family by reviving memories that not only evoke pain to her but also juxtaposes the longing to live her life as she had innocently imagined it in her childhood, before tradition negatively forced her away from individual expression. Because the passage gives rise to Tita’s state of depression, the ‘cheerful’ memories are concluded to be nostalgic. This notion is seen when Tita prepares for the Three Kings’ Day bread for the upcoming guests that evening; she reminisces her child-like anxieties when “her biggest worry then was that the Magi never brought her what she asked for, but instead what Mama Elena thought was best for her.†(Esquivel 167) The author here uses this memory to exemplify Tita’s submission to authority, via Mama Elena, who is Tita’s dominant oppressor due to the fact that in the end it is Mama Elena who will determine whether Titas’ wishes will be granted or not. The author also reveals Tita’s submission to her authoritative mother; for as Tita grew up accepting and conforming to Mama Elena’s will, her natural passion and imaginations are accepted only within the limits of the activities prescribed by the traditional feminine role that her mother has bestowed upon her. “While Tita was forming the squares, she [also] mourned for the Three Kings’ days of her childhood, when she didn’t have such serious problem.†(Esquivel 167) This also connotes one of Tita’s occurring situations with her family; for although Mama Elena has passed away, complications between Tita and Rosaura persist as they continue to “compete for the love of [Pedro]†(Esquivel 168). Tita fears that she has become pregnant as a result of her encounter with Pedro. She also fears John Brown’s response when she will have to cancel her engagement now that she is not a virgin. Not only does the remembrance of the Three Kings day bread remind Tita of her apparent dissatisfaction with her family members and loved ones, the traditional recipe also revives the loving care of Nacha and companionship of the disappeared Gertrudis while still maintaining the nostalgia of Tita’s attitude. “Those happy days when Nacha was with her,†(Esquivel 167) allows the reader to sympathize with Tita, who finds it difficult to cook the bread by herself, because she is mostly disheartened by her pregnant state as it deters her once positive relationships with her family. As her remorse is expressed by her thoughts from the King’s Day bread, her attitude towards her family is irrefutably unmistakable: for Pedro, her longing desire to be by his side is threatened by her inability to rebel outwardly to Mama Elena or to Rosaura, frustrating her because she is denied the right to be by her loved one; for Rosaura, Tita feels that she could never come to a peace treaty because of her submissiveness; and for Mama Elena, Tita simply cannot stand for her mother’s unfairness to suggest what would make her children satisfied. Therefore, this particular recipe suggests that her childhood memories reflect dejected attitudes towards her existing unease with her family.
For all of these reasons, Tita’s revelation of the Three King’s Day bread decisively promotes her despondent attitude towards her relationship with her family. By having Tita disclose her childhood experiences to reflect how she feels about her family members now, Esquivel creatively appeals to the use of evocative imagery and the narrative device of flashbacks to exhibit the theme of the importances of living life in the same light that the childhood innocence of the quote suggests. Through her varying attitudes towards certain family members, the theme correlates to the truth of Tita’s nature. Her recollection of the happiness she once shared with the Three King’s day bread finally reveals her true disposition: because she hasn’t been able to live up to her childhood dreams, Tita’s overall pessimism towards her family illustrates that her failure to defend herself from her present internal conflict causes her to live a life of lies and unhappiness.
Get Better Grades Today
Join Essays24.com and get instant access to over 60,000+ Papers and Essays | <urn:uuid:47463b04-f36d-4826-960e-c479dc60c98f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://essays24.com/English/Like-Water-Chocolate/47917.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961692 | 2,248 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Invitation to Museums
As part of our Your Local Museum project, Honouring the Ancient Dead (HAD) are compiling the first comprehensive on-line database of the ancestors and their bodily evidence in the UK, particularly focusing on those of British provenance falling outside of the scope of the Human Tissue Act.
This ground breaking initiative, designed to inform and provide a universal research resource for all, is supported by some significant authorities within the museum sector. Here the project is endorsed in their own words.
“The British public has a right to access museum collections of British ancestors and to know how they are being cared for. This database will provide an important collation of information for the public and museum professionals alike. It is vital that museums make information on all their collections available to their communities and having this resource for human remains is a significant step in the right direction.” (Laura Hadland - Senior Curator History – Jewry Wall Museum, Leicester)
“I would urge all museum archaeologists to work with Honouring the Ancient Dead in the compilation of data for their Your Local Museum project. The care of human remains in museums has been and continues to be an important subject for all who care for and value our shared past. Furthermore museums have a responsibility to engage with all sections of their local community in order that they may truly reflect the needs and aspirations of their users.” (Philip J Wise - Heritage Manager, Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service)
“The HAD website is already a very useful one-stop resource for information about British human remains, with links to all other relevant sites; the inclusion of the database will make it unparalleled in this country, providing data on human remains which are not available anywhere else but which we all desperately need in order to make informed policy and display decisions.” (Piotr Bienkowski - Deputy Director, The Manchester Museum)
Keep in touch with the project's progress by looking for your local museum in our YLM Database. | <urn:uuid:092a01c5-b6fa-47d0-bb77-9ab22b1bbaa6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.honour.org.uk/node/265 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940204 | 410 | 2.328125 | 2 |
Objective of Shariah: A Quranic Perspective by Nouman Ali Khan
A must watch for Muslims! Brother Nouman Ali Khan presented a wonderful speech in ICNA convention on "Objective of Shari'ah: A Quranic Perspective".
What I learned from it is -- The Shariah's main purpose got two things:
1. To purify us
2. To make our lives easy for us
He also mentioned the difference between the Scholars and Dayee (preachers) in Islam. Some very practical examples has been shared in the speech where he showed how Shari'ah simplifies our lives and living on earth. | <urn:uuid:e6a9da1f-0f82-446a-b25f-80f014ca5691> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://turntolights.blogspot.com/2011/06/objective-of-shariah-quranic.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92116 | 131 | 1.851563 | 2 |
Life On The Road
ATA supports interim HOS rule
The American Trucking Associations recently testified before a Senate Subcommittee that it supports the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Interim Final Rule on drivers’ Hours of Service. The interim rule retains key components of the 2004 truck driver work and rest rules, which have contributed to improved safety on the nation’s highways.
ATA Vice President of Safety, Security and Operations Dave Osiecki testified that in just four years, the current rules have contributed to significant decreases in the number of fatal large truck crashes, the fatal large truck crash rate, the number of injuries from truck-involved crashes and the injury crash rate. Osiecki testified before the Subcommittee on Surface Transportation, Merchant Marine Safety, and Security and Infrastructure of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
Osiecki said the current HOS rules represented a “balanced set of rules” that promote driver alertness through natural work and rest cycles while providing the industry with operational flexibility. “ATA supports the new hours of service rules because they are working,” Osiecki said.
In its Interim Final Rule, the FMCSA cited data collected by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute that showed there is no increase in crash risk in the 11th hour of driving. Government and industry safety data and metrics clearly indicate that the current HOS rules are an improvement in truck safety over the pre-2004 rules. For example:
• The projected truck-involved fatal crash rate for 2006 is 1.94 fatal crashes per 100 million vehicle miles of travel. This is its lowest point since the U.S. Department of Transportation began keeping these records in 1975.
• The number of truck-involved fatalities decreased 4.7 percent in 2006—from 5,240 in 2005 to 4,995 in 2006—the largest percentage drop in truck-involved fatalities since 1992.
• The number of truck-involved crash injuries decreased by almost 2,000 in 2005 and another 8,000 in 2006.
• The injury crash rate, another accepted metric, is also at its lowest point since DOT record-keeping began.
According to the ATA, the rule that remains in effect reflects scientific research that shows that the comprehensive regulations in effect since 2004 (except for a change in sleeper berth regulations in October 2005) promote driver alertness and enhance highway safety. Components of the rule include:
• Increasing from eight to 10 hours the minimum amount of time that drivers must be off-duty between shifts, allowing a greater chance for seven to eight hours of sleep.
• Reducing the maximum daily on-duty time by one hour from 15 to 14 and eliminating the provision allowing this time be “tolled” by breaks.
• Providing a maximum 11-hour driving time per shift to complete runs safely.
• Promoting schedules nearer to a 24-hour circadian cycle.
• Allowing for a minimum of 34 consecutive off-duty hours of rest, recovery and restart to eliminate potential sleep debt. | <urn:uuid:039ef320-95c5-4842-ad07-8ff24253b7a9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.otrprotrucker.com/OTR/Archives/OTR2702/currentlotr.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935956 | 620 | 1.648438 | 2 |
"Everybody breathing dirt, eating dirt---they
call it "pay dirt," for Youngstown clean would be Youngstown out of work..."
--Frank Bohn, 1915
The Youngstown Historical Center of Industry & Labor provides a dramatic overview of the impact of the iron and steel industry on Youngstown and other Mahoning Valley communities. The museum's permanent exhibit, By the Sweat of Their Brow: Forging the Steel Valley, explores labor, immigration and urban history, using videos, artifacts, photographs, and reconstructed scenes.
Objects on display range from workers' tools and clothing to "last heats," the last batches of steel produced at each of the mills before they closed. Hundreds of photographs, some more than 30 feet long, are used throughout the museum. Videos examine topics such as housing, recreation, and urban history. Life-size scenes---including a mill's locker room, part of a company-built house, and a blooming mill, where steel ingots were shaped for further processing---help visitors understand steelmaking and the lives of steelworkers.
In addition to the permanent exhibit, the Center offers educational programs and a library and archives. Part of the Ohio Network of American History Research Centers, the Archives/Library serves as a repository for local government records, as well as manuscripts collected from workers, companies and labor organizations.
The Center of Industry and Labor is located at 151 West Wood Street in Youngstown, in Mahoning County. Wood Street is off of Market Street two blocks north of downtown.
Youngstown Historical Center of Industry & Labor
SITE EDUCATION PROGRAMS
This site offers educational programs for school groups. The Teacher's History Planner lists the wide range of subject-focused field trips offered at this site and other Ohio Historical Society sites. Each field trip includes a brief description and location as well as general dates of availability. View the following program offered at this site by clicking here.
Ohio History Center 800 E. 17th Ave. Columbus, OH 43211 © 1996-2012 All Rights Reserved. | <urn:uuid:4aac7d09-267d-4e0e-9ae8-3e59c33a4315> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ww2.ohiohistory.org/youngst/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933454 | 416 | 2.875 | 3 |
Possible U.S. Coup against Mexico Defense Minister
Our neighbor to the south is getting special attention from the Obama Administration, NY Times reports. Concerned with the possible promotion of Gen. Moises Garcia Ochoa, President Obama and his foreign policy team urged the Mexican government to cease his seemingly imminent promotion to Minister of Defense.
Whether the U.S. was a central force in the decision to not promote Gen. Ochoa remains unclear. However, sources say that the U.S. government was alarmed about his perceived involvement in the budding U.S.-Mexico bilateral relationship.
In September, Gen. Ochoa led the military Independence Day, a ceremonial post that traditionally confirms the next Minister of Defense. Ever since, the United States beefed up its once covert misgivings about the General.
On December 1, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, Anthony Wayne, met with senior advisors to President Enrique Nieto to express apprehension about the promotion.
Although Gen. Ochoa’s military resume reads like a hallmark to military service, beneath of ink, allegations of corruption and cronyism blight his public image. Gen. Ochoa supposedly siphoned off millions in defense contracts for personal gain. Mexican news reports (2012) alleged that the General could not account for $355 million in funds that were supposed to go towards improved technological advancements.
General Ochoa reportedly has links to drug cartels. It is no secret that drug cartels run Mexican socio-political systems. According to classified D.E.A. intelligence reports (that the NY Times was lucky enough to get its hands on), on Dec. 15, 1997, Gen. Ochoa (who was then a Colonel) attempted to negotiate a deal with Mexican drug trafficking organizations. The report also accuses Gen. Ochoa of letting Amado Carrillo Fuentes escape during a massive drug raid.
The accuracy of these allegations remain unclear, yet it was enough for the U.S. to step in and derail his promotion.
The United States has incentive to remove the General from the Nieto government. For one, Nieto is a PRI member, a party known for its rampant corruption and fraternization with drug cartels. The party was in power for 70 years until 2000. This is their first presidential victory in a decade. Obama wishes to keep relations as cooperative as possible, and worked to remove a factor that may influence the new administration, fresh in its term.
U.S. relations with Felipe Calderon (2006-2012) expanded the bilateral cooperations in ways revolutionary. The two administrations fought, captured, and killed a record number of cartels. Intelligence sharing is now the highlight of new AmeriMex relations; the the first joint intelligence unit operates on a Mexican military base and the U.S. regularly shares sensitive information with the Mexican Navy which has led to the capture of cartels.
Gen. Ochoa, although a small figure in the big picture, could have jeopardized this fostering relationship.
Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda got the job instead.
Gen. Ochoa was dispatched to Coahuila, a northern border state known for its cartel activity. Assassinations and prison outbreaks are familiar to the region. No word if this new assignment speaks to his strength as a military leader, or his unpopularity in the Mexican government.
For more on this story, please read this NY Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/05/world/americas/us-stepped-in-to-halt-mexican-generals-rise.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimes&_r=0 | <urn:uuid:ef6f9acb-40d5-4ec6-b0ca-a5dffbb4a8ae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pheonixreview.com/2013/02/05/possible-u-s-coup-against-mexico-defense-minister/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961543 | 770 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Papal elections are among the world's most mysterious, with no declared candidates and more bluffing than a high-stakes poker game. No cardinal can openly campaign for a job whose election is said to be inspired by the Holy Spirit.
But behind the scenes, at meetings inside the Vatican's thick walls and dinners at the finer Roman restaurants, the cardinal electors size up potential candidates among themselves and drop subtle hints to Vatican watchers in the media about who's up or down.
This round of discreet discussions, dubbed "totopapa" or "pope sweepstakes" by irreverent Romans, was only kicked into a higher gear on Monday when Benedict announced the first papal abdication for centuries. It will go into overdrive when cardinals from around the world arrive in the next few days.
But Benedict seems to have set the Roman rumor mill in motion back in 2010 when he told a German interviewer that he would consider resigning if he felt physically unable to continue.
"This confession shook up everybody who's anybody at the Vatican and led some cardinals to launch into the semi-official battle," French journalist Caroline Pigozzi wrote in her newly published book Le Vatican indiscreet (The Indiscreet Vatican).
Their approach is the polar opposite of a modern
"Paradoxically, one must not appear in the papers and certainly not be photographed," she wrote. "A man of the Church is not a star and must always remember the saying 'whoever enters the conclave a pope comes out a cardinal'."
John Thavis, a veteran Rome correspondent whose book The Vatican Diaries comes out on February 21, said he had Benedict's comments from 2010 in mind as he rushed to finish it.
"I was afraid he would announce his resignation before we went to print," he told Reuters. "I thought he would do it on February 22, the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, which is the feast associated with the authority of the pope."
CONCLAVE IN MID-MARCH
About one-third of the 117 cardinals eligible to vote work in the Vatican bureaucracy, or Curia, and can easily compare notes on rising stars or unwanted candidates when they meet.
The others, archbishops overseeing major Catholic centers around the world, are now booking their flights to Rome, with many hoping to attend the pope's farewell to his cardinals on Feb 28. Once they're here, the quiet talk starts in earnest.
Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi confirmed on Wednesday that the conclave would start as early as March 15, but the exact date still had to be worked out.
Normally when a pope dies, cardinals rush to Rome for the funeral held on the ninth day after his death. Once here, the discreet exchanges they may have had by phone or email with friendly cardinals can turn into face-to-face discussions.
Lombardi said the fact there is no funeral this time should not mean "that the cardinals should not arrive in Rome, start meeting and speaking to each other and reflecting on the state of the Church and on the criteria of the choice of a successor."
Openly naming candidates is considered bad form, but many use the polite fallback of discussing which qualities the new man should have and leaving unsaid who fits the bill.
Before the conclave, the Vatican holds plenary meetings called general congregations where cardinals discuss issues facing the Church and report on conditions in their home countries. The exact date for these meetings this time has not yet been fixed.
No names are debated at these sessions, but they double as platforms where undeclared candidates attract attention by making speeches and meeting cardinals they don't know.
The general congregations before the 2005 conclave proved decisive for the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who as the dean of the College of Cardinals moderated the discussions.
Several cardinals said afterwards his gracious way of conducting the sessions and summing up comments that had been made convinced them he was the best choice for the papacy.
Another subtle influence as the cardinals gather is the role of the so-called "grand electors," cardinals who may not be in the running but can influence groups to vote for their man.
Polish-born Karol Wojtyla could not have become Pope John Paul without the lobbying by the then Vienna Cardinal Franz Koenig and some German cardinals.
When Benedict named an unusual number of Italian and Curia prelates as cardinals in February 2012, several other Church leaders apparently read this as a bid by his deputy Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone to sway the next conclave.
Their revenge came with the Vatileaks scandal, which saw unprecedented leaks of internal Vatican documents that cast Bertone in a very negative light. Benedict's former butler, Paolo Gabriele, was sentenced to 18 months jail by a Vatican court last October for leaking the documents, but pardoned by Benedict just before Christmas.
The scandal deeply embarrassed Benedict, who surprised the Church by naming six non-European cardinals in November to partly tilt the balance away from the Old Continent again.
NO CLEAR FAVOURITE
Before the 2005 conclave, Benedict and the liberal favorite Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini of Milan stood out from the rest of the field as the most qualified to become pope.
Martini, who died last year, was ill and threw his support behind Buenos Aires Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, but it was not enough to stem the conservative tide swelling for Ratzinger.
No single favorite stands out this time, which could make it harder for the conclave to crystallize around one man and reach the necessary two-thirds majority in a few voting rounds.
Benedict's continued presence at the Vatican, even if he never leaves the small monastery on its grounds where he will live and never speaks in public, could also influence the vote.
Cardinals sometimes opt for a clean break from a former pope, as they did in 1958 in choosing the affable Pope John XXIII after the stern Pope Pius XII, but some may not want to back a departure from the policies of a still living ex-pope. | <urn:uuid:82c30d70-0e1c-488a-8841-f5eb2e8c6d26> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.record-bee.com/digitalextras/ci_22580899/discreet-papal-campaign-began-before-pope-shock | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972721 | 1,269 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Like most music therapists I enjoy ruminating on, discussing, and debating issues which relate to humans and their music making. I am therefore excited by the New Zealand School of Music’s new initiative to have all postgraduate students from their various disciplines including performance (classical and jazz), musicology, composition, and music therapy, sharing ideas at a weekly forum to consider how we can learn from each other and strengthen our research work. Staff members who instigated the forum are keen for it to be student led and it is gratifying to be able to participate as a PhD student, rather than a music therapy lecturer.
Although initial meetings were given some focus by a designated facilitator, for the first few weeks a small but growing numbers of students attending the forum have danced about each other, unsure of the best way to begin. It has been interesting to observe the way we have tried to find our place as participants – to know what our own starting position might be in this context, and how we might interpret and act on our ideas in this particular situation. Students who study at this level clearly have significant understanding and high levels of competency in their respective fields, and a good knowledge of more general aspects of music. However, initially at least, it seems many of us have lost our musical and social identities and are rendered relatively impotent in this setting. We each might feel have little to offer the group, and could be interpreted as being somewhat standoffish.
The scene demonstrates the way in which our view of ourselves, and therefore our behaviour, is influenced by the situation we find ourselves in. As Ruud (2000) noted, people do not behave consistently across situations but construe their realities, interpret situations and act according to preferences, plans or goals. For example, we can protect ourselves and preserve our current self image by not taking risks and by contributing tentatively early in the series of meetings. Or we can throw caution to the wind and begin trying out various ways of being in this setting, until we find our individual and group ‘postgraduate forum idendities’.
By looking at ourselves in this situation, we can be reminded also about how easy it can be to misinterpret musical behaviour too, and the importance of considering music in context. Ruud (2000) and others have argued that musicology has tended to misunderstand musical behavior by drawing conclusions based upon interpretations of the music alone. Over recent decades however, studies in music and social science domains including social psychology, feminism, cultural studies, and ethnomusicology and so on, have offered new perspectives that would have challenged and changed the way most of us who attended the postgraduate meeting would think about our work, and indeed provided impetus for the cross discipline sharing. We are now aware that musical meanings cannot be extracted from pieces of music, and that the people involved and the context in which the music is made is of fundamental importance to meaning making.
Music therapists are perhaps particularly influenced by the wide ranging but relatively recent changes in philosophical thinking, given that music therapy is a process involving the mutual interaction of art, science and human relationships. Bruscia’s description of music therapy highlights this complexity:
“As an art, (music therapy) is concerned with subjectivity, individuality, creativity and beauty. As a science it is concerned with objectivity, collectivity, replicability and truth. As an interpersonal process it is concerned with empathy, intimacy, communication, reciprocal influence , and role relationships” (Bruscia, 1989, p.8).
One might think that the broad range of art and science-based knowledge required for music therapy could mean that practitioners and researchers in this discipline have some experiential advantage in cross disciplinary discussion. After all, embracing multiplicity and diversity is a necessary part of what we do. Nevertheless the complexity of the music therapy discipline that caters to a whole host of client groups and uses numerous methods means that we need to choose from multiple perspectives when trying to understand various pieces of work. It can therefore be very difficult to know which position to adopt initially in order to contribute to broad based discussions in a context such as the postgraduate forum, especially when our motivation to do so includes a desire to help others to understand and appreciate music therapy.
As the starting point for our most recent postgraduate meeting we were asked to consider the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, and how we might interpret the myth. This made a nice link for my colleague Sarah Hoskyns and I, as we were already familiar with the connections our friend Leslie Bunt had made with the myth in his book ‘Music Therapy: An Art Beyond Words’ (Bunt, 1994) and were able to bring some of his ideas along with our own to the table.
As we began our exchange of ideas we each revealed something about how our multiple experiences led us to various understandings and to draw diverse meanings from the tale. Various traditional and new metaphors were conjured from the myth and the different libretto and musical scores that individuals had encountered. What was hopeful about our interactions was that our points of difference were exciting, and interesting connections were revealed. And it was also evident as the discussion broadened to other music topics that, regardless of our philosophical points of view, music touches each one of us deeply. I am looking forward to the next of our meetings. I know I will enjoy contributing to increasingly vibrant interactions and in doing so will continue to be reminded of the importance of contextual understandings.
Bruscia, K. E. (1989). Defining Music Therapy. Phoenixville: Barcelona Publishers.
Bunt, L. (1994). Music therapy, an art beyond words. London: Routledge.
Ruud, E. (2000). 'New Musicology', Music Education and Music Therapy. Paper presented at the 13th Nordic Congress of Musicology, Aarhus University, Denmark.
Rickson, Daphne (2008). Thinking about Context. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy. Retrieved May 15, 2013, from http://testvoices.uib.no/?q=colrickson050508 | <urn:uuid:a2ffd839-404e-4614-af3d-a9af3c5f1ec6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.voices.no/?q=colrickson050508 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962768 | 1,252 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Senior executives from Amazon, Starbucks and Google were accused of diverting hundreds of millions of pounds in UK profits to secretive tax havens during a fraught exchange with a committee of MPs.
Members of the public accounts committee described a director from Amazon as being "deliberately evasive" and displaying "outrageous" ignorance after he failed to say how much profit is generated in Britain or who owns the online retailer's Luxembourg-based holding company.
A senior figure from Starbucks, which employs more than 7,000 staff in more than 800 outlets in the UK, was told he was not believed when he claimed the coffee chain did not make profits in Britain.
An executive from Google admitted it operates in Ireland because of a low corporation tax rate there of 12.5% and was later accused by the committee chair, Margaret Hodge, of "immoral" behaviour.
Hodge told the executives that UK taxpayers are increasingly frustrated by the use of tax havens and creative accounting by large firms trading in Britain. "People want to know why companies which benefit from an infrastructure paid for by them and are paying people low wages who receive taxpayer-funded tax credits from the exchequer are not paying their fair share," she said.
Amazon avoids UK taxes by reporting European sales through a Luxembourg-based unit, MPs alleged. This structure allowed it to pay a rate of less than 12% on foreign profits last year – less than half the average corporate income tax rate in its major markets.
Andrew Cecil, Amazon's director of public policy, was accused of being "totally evasive" after failing to explain who owned the company, and was unable to detail the income made by the Britain arm of his business.
Hodge claimed the director was not a "serious person" to appear before the committee and vowed to order another senior executive to appear before it to fill in the blanks in his evidence. She asked why customers buying books through a UK website are billed from the UK and goods are delivered from UK centres but taxes are paid in Luxembourg.
Cecil said some taxes are paid in Britain. Amazon.co.uk paid £1.8m in corporation tax on more than a £200m turnover for 2011. He added that the firm was being investigated by the tax authorities in France.
Starbucks paid no corporation or income tax in the UK in the past three years, it emerged last month. The world's biggest coffee chain paid £8.6m in total UK tax over 13 years during which it recorded sales of £3.1bn.
Troy Alstead, its global chief financial officer, faced repeated claims from MPs that it engaged in aggressive tax avoidance in the UK as he tried to explain its corporate affairs. He declined to give details publicly of a favourable rate granted it in the Netherlands on a proportion of profits transferred there in the form of an intellectual property "royalty" on UK shops.
Dutch authorities wanted that to remain confidential, he claimed, prompting allegations it was a "sweetheart" deal that bosses wanted to keep under wraps.
Tory MP Stephen Barclay said a reduction in the level of that royalty from 6% of sales to 4.7% after talks with HM Revenue & Customs appeared to be merely a "cosmetic" move. It resulted in an £8m increase in corporation tax, Alstead said. He was unable to give any breakdown of how either figure was calculated.
Alstead claimed that globally Starbucks remains "an extremely high tax payer" but had failed to generate substantial UK profits. "Respectfully I can assure you there is no tax avoidance here," he said.
Asked to say what rate the firm paid in Amsterdam, where it had a roasting operation, he said tax authorities there had asked for it not to be disclosed publicly.
Google's filings show it had £2.5bn of UK sales last year, but despite having a group-wide profit margin of 33%, its main UK unit had a tax charge of £3.4m in 2011.
The company avoids UK tax by channelling non-US sales via Ireland, an arrangement that allowed it to pay taxes at a rate of 3.2% on non-US profits. It also diverts some of its profits through Bermuda.
Matt Brittin, the head of its northern Europe operation, said that Google operates in Ireland and Bermuda because they offer attractive tax rates.
"Like any company you play by the rules [and] manage costs efficiently to offer fair value to shareholders," he said.
"We're not accusing you of being illegal, we are accusing you of being immoral," replied Hodge.
All three companies have been asked to supply further information to the committee. Another Amazon executive will be asked to appear before the committee in two weeks to respond to unanswered questions, Hodge said. | <urn:uuid:f5470b81-f13b-4f40-980f-e7f2a5a0a890> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/nov/12/amazon-google-starbucks-diverting-uk-profits | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983245 | 987 | 1.71875 | 2 |
As usual, any claims from both sides in the Syrian Civil War have to be taken with heaping grains of salt because both sides have proven to be liars who produce metric tons of propaganda that turns out to be false.
Still this is the perspective of the Sunni side in the war. And it indicates why Iran is having so much trouble reaching out to the new Islamist Middle East.
The former prime minister of Syria delivered a harsh critique of the country’s president during an interview with al-Arabiya Friday, claiming that “not even the Nazis did what Bashar Assad’s doing in Syria.”
Assad and the Sunni rebels combined seem to have killed about 90,000 people. It’s unclear how many of the dead are civilians, but considering that Muslim fighters tend to launch rapid raids and then withdraw, especially when the odds are against them, but are pretty good at killing unarmed civilians, there probably is a high civilian death toll. Most fighters in the Muslim world tend to be killed while running away from a fight.
90,000 is nowhere near Nazi territory. But then again the Islamists and their leftist Western allies routinely claim that Israel is the new Nazi Germany after battles where a thousand die, most of them enemy fighters, so the lesson here is that Holocaust Deniers tend to set a low bar for being “worse than Nazis.”
Riad Hijab, who defected from his post in Damascus six months ago, also told the Arabic-language news outlet that Iran is “actively running” Syria.
“Syria is occupied by the Iranian regime,” he said. “Who runs the country isn’t Bashar Assad but Kassem Suleimani, the head of Iran’s al-Quds Brigades [within the Revolutionary Guards].”
Unlike much of the Anti-Assad propaganda this is marginally plausible because Assad hasn’t exactly shown that he can win this war and the Revolutionary Guard has more expertise in guerrilla warfare.
Assad’s setbacks have led Iran to adopt a guerrilla model, radicalizing and transforming the Alawite Shiite population into militias resembling those of the opposition. And since Syria is largely dependent on Iran and Russia, it wouldn’t be too surprising if the Revolutionary Guard which is reportedly now calling the shots in Iran is also calling the shots in Syria.
But the Sunni propaganda thrust has been that Iran is pulling out. Al Jazeera has kept putting out stories claiming that Iran is withdrawing from Syria. Now they’re claiming that Iran is in control of Syria. The narrative shift may have emerged out of Ahmadinejad’s botched visit to Egypt where the Muslim Brotherhood clearly failed to convince him to pull out and turn over Syria to the Brotherhood… not that Ahmadinejad even has that authority any longer.
If Iran is actually in control of the Syrian government and military, then this fight may truly get bloody. The Iran-Iraq War was a vicious conflict. Iran would not be too enthusiastic about a repeat of that much bloodshed, but Turkey and Qatar appear to be. | <urn:uuid:40f16fb0-4b70-4f1b-a6d0-980a290c5a61> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/syrian-prime-minister-claims-iran-is-now-occupying-syria/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951774 | 637 | 1.5 | 2 |
It is hereby declared to be the public policy and a responsibility of this state to assist its residents in improving the energy efficiency of their residential dwellings. It is the purpose and intent of the Legislature in enacting this article to provide low interest loans to residents of this state of low and moderate income, who own and occupy single family residential dwellings, as an incentive for the improvement of the energy efficiency of such dwellings.
The Legislature finds that the public policy and responsibility of the state as set forth in this section cannot be effectively attained without the funding, establishment, operation and maintenance of the energy conservation revolving loan fund.
(1) "Residential dwelling" means a single family residence located in the state of West Virginia, which it is determined by the housing development fund can be substantially aided in the conservation of energy by the making of improvements financed with a loan under this article;
(2) "Eligible owner of a residential dwelling" means:
(a) Person or persons of low and moderate income who own and occupy a residential dwelling; or
(b) Person or persons of higher income who own and occupy a residential dwelling in such area or areas of this state which are determined by the West Virginia housing development fund, in consultation with the public service commission, by resolution, to be a critical energy shortage area; or
(c) Person or persons who own and occupy a residential dwelling and who because of age or disability are found and determined by the West Virginia housing development fund, by resolution, to require assistance in improving the energy efficiency of such dwellings to insure their health, safety and welfare;
(3) "Housing development fund" means the West Virginia housing development fund created and established by section four, article eighteen, chapter thirty-one of this code;
(4) "Revolving loan fund" means the West Virginia energy conservation revolving loan fund which is created and established by section six of this article;
(5) "Person or persons of low and moderate income" means a person or persons, irrespective of race, creed, national origin or sex, determined by the housing development fund to require such assistance as is made available by this article on account of personal or family income not sufficient to afford to implement or install energy conservation materials or equipment designed to improve the energy efficiency of residential dwellings, and in making such determination the housing development fund shall take into account the following: (a) The amount of the total income of such persons and families for housing energy needs; (b) the size of the family; (c) the cost and condition of the residential dwelling; and (d) the eligibility of such persons or families for federal housing energy conservation assistance of any type based upon low or moderate income basis.
(1) To accept appropriations, gifts, grants, bequests and devises, and to utilize or dispose of the same to carry out the purposes of this article;
(2) To make and execute contracts, releases, compromises, compositions and other instruments necessary or convenient for the exercise of its powers, or to carry out its purposes under this article;
(3) To collect reasonable fees and charges in connection with making and servicing loans, notes, obligations, commitments and other evidences of indebtedness, which fees shall be limited to the amounts required to pay the costs of the housing development fund, including operating and administrative costs;
(4) To invest funds not required for immediate disbursement in any of the following securities:
(i) Direct obligations of or obligations guaranteed by the United States of America;
(ii) Bonds, debentures, notes or other evidences of indebtedness issued by any of the following agencies: Bank for cooperatives; federal intermediate credit banks; federal home loan bank system; Export-Import Bank of the United States; federal land banks; the Federal National Mortgage Association or the Government National Mortgage Association;
(iii) Public housing bonds issued by public agencies or municipalities and fully secured as to the payment of both principal and interest by a pledge or annual contributions under an annual contributions contract or contracts with the United States of America; or temporary notes issued by public agencies or municipalities or preliminary loan notes issued by public agencies or municipalities, in each case, fully secured as to the payment of both principal and interest by a requisite or payment agreement with the United States of America;
(iv) Certificates of deposit secured by obligations of the United States of America;
(v) Direct obligations of or obligations guaranteed by the state of West Virginia;
(vi) Direct and general obligations of any other state within the territorial United States, to the payment of the principal of and interest on which the full faith and credit of such state is pledged: Provided, That at the time of their purchase, such obligations are rated in either of the two highest rating categories by a nationally recognized bond rating agency; and
(vii) Any fixed interest bond, note or debenture of any corporation organized and operating within the United States: Provided, That such corporation shall have a minimum net worth of fifteen million dollars and its securities or its parent corporation's securities are listed on one or more of the national stock exchanges: Provided, however, That (1) such corporation has earned a profit in eight of the preceding ten fiscal years as reflected in its statements, and (2) such corporation has not defaulted in the payment of principal or interest on any of its outstanding funded indebtedness during its preceding ten fiscal years, and (3) the bonds, notes or debentures of such corporation to be purchased are rated "AA" or the equivalent thereof or better than "AA" or the equivalent thereof by at least two or more nationally recognized rating services such as Standard and Poor's, Dun & Bradstreet or Moody's;
(5) To sue and be sued;
(6) To promulgate and publish rules and regulations not inconsistent with the provisions of this article;
(7) To appoint such employees and consultants as it deems advisable and to fix their compensation and prescribe their duties;
(8) To acquire, hold and dispose of personal property for its purposes under this article;
(9) To enter into agreements or other transactions with any federal or state agency, any person, or any domestic or foreign partnership, corporation, association or organization;
(10) To sell, at public or private sale, any mortgage or other negotiable instrument or obligation securing a loan made under the provisions of this article;
(11) To establish guidelines to be complied with by any person, firm, association, partnership or corporation, engaged in supplying, retailing or installing energy conservation materials or equipment designed to improve the energy efficiency of residential dwellings to be improved with financing under this article;
(12) To approve any person, firm, association, partnership or corporation who shall enter into any bargain, agreement or contract to furnish or install energy conservation materials or equipment for a residential dwelling, the cost and expense of which shall be defrayed by a loan made pursuant to this article;
(13) To make loans in the manner and under the terms and conditions prescribed by this article to eligible owners of residential dwellings to defray the costs of financing the purchase and installation of energy conservation materials and equipment, designed to improve the energy efficiency of such dwelling;
(14) To establish and supervise an inspection program to assure the satisfactory nature of all materials and workmanship for energy efficiency improvements financed by loans made pursuant to this article and to utilize to the extent possible the services of municipal building inspectors;
(15) To enter into agreements with banks, public utilities and other entities for advertising the energy conservation revolving loan fund, for taking applications for loans from such fund, for supervising the execution of promissory notes, deeds of trust and other papers associated with the energy conservation revolving loan fund, for approving and inspecting energy conservation loan contracts to insure compliance with the provisions of this article, for accepting and transmitting loan payments, for the operation and administration of any other aspect of the energy conservation revolving loan fund established by this article and for reimbursing such banks, public utilities and other entities for any reasonable and necessary expenses incurred in the implementation of any such agreements.
(b) The purpose of the energy conservation revolving loan fund shall be to provide a source from which the housing development fund may make loans to eligible owners of residential dwellings.
(c) The housing development fund may invest and reinvest all moneys in the revolving loan fund in any investments authorized by section five of this article, pending the disbursement thereof in connection with loans made pursuant to this article.
(d) The housing development fund may expend any income from loans or investments authorized by this article in payment or reimbursement of all expenses of the housing development fund which, as determined in accordance with procedures approved by the board of directors, are fairly allocable to such financing or activities authorized by this article: Provided, That no funds shall be used to carry on propaganda or otherwise attempt to influence legislation.
(1) No loan shall be made under the provisions of this article, unless an affidavit shall be executed by the eligible owner asserting his title to the residential dwelling and submitted to the housing development fund together with evidence of his source of title;
(2) The proceeds of all such loans shall be used only for financing the cost of improving the energy efficiency of residential dwellings through the installation or upgrading of insulation, storm windows and doors, caulking, weather stripping, heat pumps, or other energy conservation materials or equipment in such dwellings;
(3) All such loans shall be repaid in full over a period of time not to exceed three years and at a rate of interest not to exceed three percent;
(4) All such loans shall be limited to a maximum amount of two thousand dollars for each residential dwelling: Provided, That in no event shall the amount of the loan exceed the actual cost of materials purchased, or the actual cost of materials and labor furnished or supplied by any person, firm, association, partnership or corporation certified by the housing development fund;
(5) Each such loan shall be evidenced by a negotiable promissory note executed and delivered by the eligible owner or owners and shall be secured by a deed of trust upon the property and dwelling improved by the proceeds of the loan: Provided, That in no event shall a certificate of title, title insurance or other title security be required;
(6) All notes and deeds of trust accepted as security for loans under this article shall be payable to the order of and for the use and benefit of the West Virginia housing development fund;
(7) Payment of the loan proceeds shall be made by the housing development fund jointly to the owner and any person, firm, association, partnership or corporation supplying and furnishing materials or labor and materials upon a determination by the housing development fund and certification by the eligible owner that the workmanship and materials for energy efficiency improvements are satisfactory.
Note: WV Code updated with legislation passed through the 2012 1st Special Session | <urn:uuid:d75738d5-ab6d-411b-a298-30cf44f030bf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.legis.state.wv.us/wvcode/ChapterEntire.cfm?chap=31&art=18A | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943895 | 2,235 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Saturday, Oct 22, 2005
Agri-Biz & Commodities
Industry & Economy - Environment
Most rubber estates may not get carbon credit
Vipin V. Nair
Kochi , Oct. 21
EVEN as the natural rubber industry prepares itself to pitch for trading in carbon reduction under the Kyoto Protocol, most of the existing rubber plantations in the country are unlikely to qualify for trading in certified emission reduction (CER).
This is because the United Nations Framework Convention of Climate Change (UNFCCC) stipulates that to qualify as a clean development mechanism (CDM) project, an afforestation or re-forestation activity should take place on those lands that did not have a forest as on December 31, 1989.
UNFCC, the international treaty under which the Kyoto Protocol was agreed upon by 35 developed nations, defines a forest as a single minimum area of between 0.05 to 1.0 hectare with a tree cover of 10 to 30 per cent and with trees having the potential to reach a minimum height of 2-5 metres at maturity.
This rule will automatically disqualify a large chunk of the existing rubber plantations since they would have been in existence much before the cut-off date set for CDM projects. Replantation too is not eligible for trading in CERs under the rule.
"Most of the existing plantations in Kerala would not get CERs," said Dr James Jacob, Deputy Director, Rubber Research Institute of India (RRII). Kerala accounts for over 83 per cent of India's 5.74 lakh hectares of rubber plantations.
However, Dr Jacob said rubber plantations that come up on degraded land, where there was no tree cover as on December 31, 1989, such as those in the North-East region, would qualify for trading in CERs.
He said unlike in the case of CDM projects in industries, afforestation and re-forestation activities have an uphill task getting the recognition as an eligible CDM project.
"It is not easy to verify (an afforestation/-reforestation activity as CDM project) as in the case of a factory where such a project is on," Dr Jacob said.
Apart from plantations, a host of other activities related to rubber, such as using effluents from sheet rubber processing units to generate biogas, would also qualify for CDM projects.
Rubber trees have very high carbon sequestration capabilities. RRII has worked out that one hectare of rubber plantation can sequestrate about 165 tonnes of carbon over a 21-year growth period of rubber trees, thereby earning as much as 605 CER a hectare that can be traded.
This carbon is equivalent to 605 tonnes of carbon di-oxide. One CER is taken as one tonne of carbon di-oxide or its equivalent of other green house gases (GHG) that is prevented from being released into or removed from the atmosphere.
The Kyoto Protocol to the UNFCCC mandates developed countries to bring down green house gas emissions to 5.2 per cent below the levels prevailed in 1990, by 2012.
One of the three mechanisms the Protocol has put in place is CDM, under which developed countries that need to reduce GHG emissions can contribute to environment-friendly projects in developing and least-developing countries.
The countries that have the emission reduction obligations can trade in CERs and use them to partially meet their targets. Currently, one CER is being traded at the rate of 12 to 15 euros.
Meanwhile, according to Dr N.M. Mathew, Director of RRII, the institute has now set up a task force, comprising various stakeholders of the rubber sector, to evolve the methods for getting CDM funding.
The first meeting of this task force would take place next month, he said.
Stories in this Section
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription
Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | The Hindu eBooks | The Hindu Images | Home |
Copyright © 2005, The
Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu Business Line | <urn:uuid:3cfbf4e6-f571-4bc7-9ae5-4a1bb731b07c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thehindubusinessline.in/2005/10/22/stories/2005102201771200.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947391 | 887 | 1.992188 | 2 |
You and the Law
Changes to the Meaning of Disability Under the ADA, Part 2
Under the ADA, a person is disabled if they meet one of the following three criteria: 1) The person has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the person’s major life activities, 2) There is a record of such an impairment of that person, or 3) The person is regarded as having such an impairment.
In 2008 (effective January 1, 2009) President Bush signed into law the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA). The ADAAA has changed how we interpret the above criteria to determine whether or not a person has a disability.
Last month, in Part 1, we focused on how the ADAAA has changed how the ADA views whether or not a person has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the person’s major life activities.
This month, in Part 2, we look at how the ADAAA has changed how a person is regarded as having an impairment.
First, what does “regarded as” mean? Under the ADA, to say that a person was “regarded as” having a disability means that the person was discriminated against by the employer for having a disability. “Regarded as,” the ADA equivalent of a discrimination claim based on age or race, is a discrimination claim based on a disability, whether or not there actually is a disability.
The ADAAA has changed the level of proof required to show that an individual has been regarded as having a disability. Prior to the ADAAA, it had to be shown that a person did not have an impairment that substantially limited a major life activity, but that the employer treated the person that way. Under the ADAAA, this definition has been expanded to mean that an employer will be deemed to have regarded a person as having a disability if that person has been subjected to an action prohibited under the ADA because of an actual or perceived physical or mental impairment, whether or not that impairment limits or is perceived to limit a major life activity. In other words, meeting the “major life activity” threshold has been removed. However, the ADAAA does exclude impairments that are transitory (expected duration of six months or less) and minor.
Prior to the ADAAA, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had taken the position that an employer does not have a duty to provide a reasonable accommodation to someone who is only covered under the ADA because that person is regarded as having a disability. The theory behind this position was that the barrier involved in a “regarding as” case is not a physical or medical barrier, but rather the employer’s alleged discriminatory attitude.
The ADAAA supports this position by making it clear that employers are not required to offer accommodations to employees who claim they were “regarded as” disabled. The interesting result here is that if an employee makes an actual request for a reasonable accommodation, it will greatly reduce an employee argument that he was “regarded as” being disabled, because the employee is the one who requested the accommodation in the first place.
“Regarded as” claims arise when a company takes action that either is based, or can be construed as being based, on an impairment or perceived medical condition. For this reason, companies have started to remove any issues regarding medical conditions, need for accommodations or medical leaves of absences from anyone who has input regarding the employee’s job status (such as promotion, termination, changes, etc.). Employee requests will go to a separate person or department so that if an employee is later fired, the person making that decision (such as a manager) can claim that he was not aware of any special requests made by the employee, thereby avoiding a “regarded as” claim. Employers can avoid “regarded as” claims by basing all decisions on an employee’s actual work performance, rather than an employee’s medical condition or impairment.
If you would like a copy of the ADAAA, please contact Ehlke Law Offices. MF
This article provides only general information about complex labor laws. It should not be considered as a legal opinion or legal advice. We strongly recommend that readers confer with legal counsel on the application of the law to their individual situations and the use or modification of this article.
There are no comments posted at this time. | <urn:uuid:09205a57-3e1b-461a-9c81-5eabfed85e03> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.metalformingmagazine.com/magazine/article.asp?aid=5781 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969525 | 910 | 2.890625 | 3 |
So you have decide it’s TIME. Time to begin the journey of starting a family, that is. But where oh where do you even begin? Here is a list of 10 things you can do before ”Trying To Conceive” that can increase your chances of a healthy pregnancy.
1. Discuss having a baby with your partner.
Make sure both of you are ready. Well, as ready and prepared as you can be. Talk about how a pregnancy will impact your life financially, physically, and emotionally. Do you have medical insurance? If not, make sure you contact your doctor and/or local health department for additional information on your options. Pregnancy, childbirth, and parenthood can be amazing experiences but can also be stressful at times. Having a child changes your life forever. Are you and your partner ready for this responsiblity?
2. Make an appointment with your doctor.
You will be able to discuss your current pregnancy prevention methods, your overall health status, and your menstrual cycle. This will ensure you are as healthy as you can be at the time of conception.
3. Make sure you are getting enough folic acid
Take a multivitamin (or prenatal vitamin) that includes 400 milligrams of folic acid. Taking folic acid prior to and during pregnancy helps prevent birth defects.
4. Stop the use of cigarettes, alcohol, and illegal drugs. All have potential to harm your unborn baby. Increasing your risk of miscarriage, stillbirth, low birth weight, and preterm labor. Also reduce or eliminate your caffeine intake. Intake of high amounts of caffeine have been linked to miscarriage. If you do tend to drink alot of caffeinated beverages make sure to decrease the amount slowly. Otherwise you will be left with one heck of a headache.
5. Eat a healthy well balance diet and try to be at or close to your ideal weight.
Being under or over weight can effect your ability to conceive. While pregnant you need to eat a well balanced diet in order to provide your baby the vital nutrients he/she needs to develop.
6. Stop Using Birth Control.
When you and your partner are ready, stop using birth control. If you are using hormonal birth control methods, some providers will advice you to wait 1 to 2 cycles prior to trying to conceive. Again contact your doctor for their advice.
7. Make sure to keep careful track of your periods.
Keep in mind or write down the first day of your menstrual cycle. If you become pregnant, this is the date your provider will use to determine your due date.
8. Try to stay as stress free as possible.
Even excessive everyday stress can takes it toll on your body and affect your ability to conceive. If you have an issues with anxiety and/or depression make sure you discuss them with your doctor. Sometimes these issues can show their ugly heads or increase during pregnancy and/or postpartum. There are options so don’t despair. Try to relax and HAVE FUN!!!
9. Contact you doctor as soon as you see that super exciting POSITIVE pregnancy test.
10. Last but certainly not least, remember getting pregnant can take time.
It certainly can happen on the first try, but for many couples that is just not the case. Here are a few pregnancy statistics to ease your mind:
25% of couples get pregnant on their first attempt at trying to conceive
60% within the first 6 months
75% within the first 9 months
90% within the first year
But if you have been trying for a year or more make sure to contact your doctor. They can look into things further and make sure that everything is okay. | <urn:uuid:074d3aff-1941-44ad-9882-3140745a2869> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.modernstylemama.com/pregnancy/trying-to-conceive/10-things-to-do-prior-to-trying-to-conceive-increase-your-chances-of-a-healthy-pregnancy.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947745 | 757 | 2.171875 | 2 |
At a Georgetown theatre one December evening, a special, invitation-only screening of a new movie took place. Unlike most such events, though, the intent was neither to promote the movie nor to raise money, but to make a point.
The movie was Syriana, the fast-paced if somewhat hard-to-follow George Clooney-Matt Damon flick about skullduggery from the District of Columbia to the oilfields of Arabia and back. The point was that since dependence on oil can lead to foreign policy complications, not to mention murder, maybe everyone ought to use less of the stuff.
A sound environmental stance, so it was no surprise that two of the organizations sponsoring the showing were the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council, and that the bottoms filling many of the seats belonged to some of Washington’s green-group staffers, a bunch of liberals if ever one existed.
So what was Frank Gaffney doing there?
Gaffney, for those who have something better to do than watch talking heads snarl at each other on TV chat shows, is a regular on those programs. He reliably argues the point of view usually described as neo-conservative.
But there he was, sharing cinematic vibes, and perhaps even popcorn, with folks from environmental organizations and labor unions. Politics makes strange seatmates.
The official sponsor of the screening was the Set America Free Coalition. This new organization includes political operatives as conservative as Gaffney and Gary Bauer, who briefly ran for president in 2000 as a candidate of the religious right, and as liberal as Deron Lovaas of the Natural Resources Defense Council and Bracken Hendricks of the union-financed Apollo Alliance, an offshoot of the left-leaning Campaign for America’s Future.
And just what has brought these disparate parties together? The conviction that the United States needs an alternative to oil, much of which comes from the Middle East. As the Coalition’s Web site puts it, "We believe that by spearheading a global effort to transition the transportation sector to next-generation fuels and vehicles that can utilize them, the United States can deny its adversaries the wherewithal they use to harm us."
Apart from the barbaric use of "transition" as a verb, hardly anything in that statement would offend anyone on the left or right. And the alliance of foreign policy hawks and environmentalists may be poised to do some good.
"It’s a very fruitful and productive collaboration," says NRDC’s Lovaas. "We’ve not only come to agreement about the threat, but also on ways to break the addiction to oil."
Which is not to say that the motivations on each side are identical. Lovaas says he and the other greenies agree that legitimate foreign policy reasons exist for using less oil. But the group that took the lead in setting up the coalition — a little-known organization called the Institute of Analysis of Global Security — proclaims that it is "exclusively focused on global security."
Foreign policy conservatives established the institute after the September 11 attacks. Its motto is not, but could be, "It’s the oil, stupid." Unlike so many conservatives, those at the institute and at Set America Free seem to have shed the delusion that the U.S. can drill its way to energy independence (HCN, 12/12/05: The Final Energy Frontier).
"The oil companies are running to stay in place," says Anne Korin, the institute’s co-director. "They’re unable to discover enough oil."
In other words, whoever is funding these folks, it is not the oil industry.
Which does not answer the question of who is. Korin says the institute takes no corporate or government money, surviving on contributions from foundations and individuals, but she will not elaborate. The institute apparently doesn’t need much money. Its 2004 federal tax return showed revenues of $111,564, of which $100,000 went for the salaries of Korin ($55,000) and co-director Gal Luft ($45,000).
What it lacks in wealth, the institute makes up for in big-name support. Among its official advisors are James Woolsey, CIA director under President Clinton, and Robert McFarlane, President Reagan’s national security director.
Right now, Set America Free’s purpose in life is to support the Vehicle and Fuel Choices for American Security Act, sponsored by Sens. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., and Evan Bayh, D-Ind., both of whom, perhaps not incidentally, are thinking about running for president in 2008. The bill would mandate reducing oil consumption by 2.5 million barrels a day in the next decade, and by 10 million barrels a day by 2031. Currently, the U.S. consumes about 20 million barrels each day.
Because the bill does not say how these cuts would be made, most environmental organizations remain neutral about it. But the generally liberal Consumer Federation of America has endorsed the bill.
And Set America Free is not the only sign of collaboration between foreign policy conservatives and environmentalists. Another alliance includes greens who have begun to reconsider their longtime opposition to nuclear power.
Among those urging another look at nuclear power are Fred Krupp, executive director of Environmental Defense; Jonathan Lash, president of the World Resources Institute; and James Gustave Speth, dean of Yale University’s school of forestry and environmental studies. Stewart Brand, the legendary founder of the Whole Earth Catalog, argued in an article in Technology Review that shifting to nuclear power — which, despite its other drawbacks, does not produce greenhouse gases — might be the only way to stave off global warming.
This particular incarnation of the conservative-green coalition does not yet have an organizational structure. Nor has it yet hosted a movie screening. If and when it does, however, it’s not likely to show The China Syndrome. | <urn:uuid:23aa0484-4b35-413b-9165-0a1fdaa8d26e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hcn.org/issues/321/16283/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957521 | 1,227 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Because aquaculture is a means to provide safe food while reducing the stresses on overfishing, the federal government supports aquaculture.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which operates under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Commerce, manages a competitive grant program - and other financial assistance programs - to help start aquaculture projects, as well as support research and technology.
Listed below are the top 3 federal aquaculture grants:
• The National Marine Aquaculture Initiative - Managed by the federal Sea Grant program, this grant is for demonstration projects and research to help improve aquaculture. The competition of this competitive grant is designed to promote joint ventures that will help develop a sustainable aquaculture industry. Projects often include private companies, research institutions, universities, state governments, and coastal communities working together for a greater purpose than they would individually.
• Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program - Managed by the ever-helpful U.S. Small Business Administration, this program is to aid innovative scientific research toward commercial aquaculture. According to NOAA, "SBIR awards lead to major breakthroughs, innovative technologies, and next-generation products and processes".
• The Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant Program - Recently, this grant has been canceled due to insufficient funding as a result of the 2008 economic crisis, but some money may still be available. This grant supports projects that encourage environmentally and economically sound aquaculture and helps improve market availability. | <urn:uuid:20c1fb04-261b-4191-8083-f7eb4ba0aa93> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fishery.about.com/od/BestAquaculturalPractices/a/Aquaculture-Grants.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928925 | 309 | 2.625 | 3 |
Social discovery is the latest buzzword on the Web, but it has limits. Here's how one company is trying to use (but not over-use) social discovery to figure out what game you want to play before you even know you want to play it.
(This is Part 1 in a series of articles about social discovery. You can read Part 2 here.)
There are zillions of Flash games online, and finding the one you want to play at the time you want to play it can take far too long. Particularly if you’re looking for something to kill a few stray minutes while you're commuting or waiting for a friend who's running late for a dinner reservation.
That’s where Hooked Media Group steps in. The San Francisco-based app developer takes advantage of users' social connections to predict what games they'll enjoy. This approach to recommendation is a form of social discovery, a phrase that describes peoples' tendency to follow recommendations from friends rather than vested interests like vendors or publishers, or even disinterested parties like search engines. “The number of apps keeps growing,” said Prita Uppal, Hooked Media’s CEO. “We’re trying to help consumers sift through all that content and find the right game - something they’re actually going to like.”
Games People Play
Hooked Media’s app is currently available for Android, with an iPhone release expected later this year. The company combs through a wide range of data points to customize its recommendations. As it turns out, finding the right game is serious stuff.
Some of the data points are personal rather than social. The type of game you play on the subway on a Monday morning, when you may be trying to jumpstart your brain while heading into work, is much different than the game you want to play on a Friday night when you’re winding down after a week at work. Other apps and games on your phone give the Hooked algorithm hints about what you like, as well as how much time you typically spend playing.
More recently, however, Uppal noticed that by adding social discovery elements into the algorithm, the matches got even better. What your friends like may also be a good indicator of what you like. Hooked displays live feeds of friends playing games and has found that people are more likely to play a game if the game icon is displayed next to a friend’s name as opposed to the friend’s profile photo. Additionally, by tying into social networks, Hooked can pull information from your social graph, making it easier to figure out your likes and dislikes.
“We’re not only trying to understand you, but we’re trying to understand you and your friend,” she explained. When the Hooked app asks you if you want to recommend a game to your friends, it doesn’t present an alphabetical list, but instead prioritizes the list to show you the friends most likely to enjoy the same game.
Finding The RIght Balance
Social discovery is a powerful set of tools, but Uppal cautions that it has limits. “People sometimes try to take it too far," she said. "Just because Megan is your friend doesn’t mean you’re going to like the same games as Megan.”
Thus, for Hooked, social discovery is just one element in narrowing down its recommendations. It uses social information to identify games you might like, and combines that with other data points to zero in on a game you might love.
Recommendation engines that draw from a variety of data sources may very well be the future of online discovery, Uppal said. “We will begin to see social discovery combining recommendation technologies - and this in turn will evolve app discovery.
"Think about it. With this method, you would not only receive recommendations based on your purchasing and browsing history, but you would also be tapping into the influential recommendations from our social friends. The result is tailored recommendations that are based on algorithms and analysis as well as human interest.”
ReadWriteWeb’s Dave Copeland will be speaking at the SocialDiscovery.org’s next Social Discovery Conference on Aug. 6-7 at the Fairmont San Francisco. ReadWriteWeb readers can get a discount of more than $1,000 if they register by August 3.
To read more about social discovery, see Social Discovery is Pushing Search & Social Closer Together. | <urn:uuid:fb006b76-30c8-4d09-9e50-16ed9323cf2f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://readwrite.com/2012/08/01/hooked-media-group-uses-social-discovery-to-fine-tune-game-recommendations | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954276 | 935 | 1.507813 | 2 |
The USA Today reports that while United Airlines and Continental appear to be clear for merger take-off, some politicians who oppose the merger have threatened they might try to re-regulate the industry.
Chairman of the Houst Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, James Oberstar (D-Minn.), and Jerry Costello (D-Ill.) are considering “legislation (that) would impose federal regulation of airline pricing and re-establish a government gatekeeper role similar to that played by the old Civil Aeronautics Board prior to deregulation in 1978.”
Deregulation has been credited with making airline travel affordable for the average American. But Oberstar pointed to the $2.7 billion the airlines earned in baggage fees in 2009 as evidence that consumers are no longer benefiting from the system. He said he believes there’s support in the House for re-regulation.
Here’s some more travel news you can use: | <urn:uuid:0a893b68-e690-4ebf-a4f6-0da25ec0c2d3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.yapta.com/yapta/tag/credit-cards | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95895 | 195 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Parents of young children are typically viewed by childless adults as sad individuals who can only talk about stuff that is as predictable as it is boring. I certainly used to think that way. But when I came to have a child myself, I was hit by the feeling that everything I thought I knew before was wrong. It's as if I suddenly realised for the first time something of what life is really all about. This sense of being grounded in reality has a very maturing effect, one that I'm sure has had a positive impact on the kind of scientist I am. Certainly, becoming a parent has given me something in common with many more senior scientists--which is useful for making small talk.
My wife and I were blessed with our first baby during my long and Spartan years of study. Like many students, during this time we were flat broke for years on end. But contrary to popular belief, having babies was not an expensive proposition for us, perhaps because we had no objections to entering secondhand shops or accepting hand-me-downs from other parents.
Now, we have three children aged six and under and a postdoc salary so we are no longer poor; we just have no job security. This can be a little irksome at times but I've developed a pragmatic attitude to the future and accepted that I might have to do something else to earn a living if things don't work out in research. Come what may, my family comes first.
My wife is not a scientist and says she understands very little about what I do. I've grown to like it this way. But I found it a very humbling experience to try and describe my science to little children. As my kids grew a bit older they started showing interest in where I was disappearing to each morning, only to mysteriously return every evening. The first time I tried explaining I was shocked at how totally meaningless and unimportant I made it sound. I could see the look of bewilderment on their faces. At the time, even I thought 'how did that project get funded?' With practice I learned to make my work sound much more exciting to them. This has surely helped me write lay-person's summaries on those grant proposal forms a little clearer. If you can explain your science to a 3-year-old, you can sell it to anyone!
This initial sense of bewilderment in children only matures into a deep sense of curiosity. They started asking questions like 'Mummy, what does Daddy really do?' Inevitably, one day they turned up on the lab's doorstep, on the pretence of 'picking Daddy up with Mummy'. This turned into an opportunity to really explore my paranoia about unpleasant chemicals.
To a nonparent it's hard to explain just how deep-seated your instinct is to protect your children. Without a moment's hesitation I started using the same protocol I had developed earlier in my Dad-hood for taking my children to public toilets. There are only two rules: 1) Order them not to touch anything; 2) Get in and out as quickly as possible to reduce the temptation for them to touch anything. 'Don't touch that' I hollered at them to the stunned silence of the other lab members. Well, you never know, do you? My feelings of paranoia were temporarily assuaged when my toddler slipped from my hands and on to the floor of the corridor. 'I wouldn't let them crawl around down there,' quickly interrupted a colleague of mine, whom I later found out was a parent too.
But just as science may be full of hazards for your children, as a scientist-parent you realise pretty quickly that you have to protect your science from your offspring, too. For instance, I soon discovered that babies and computers do not mix. I was working at home on a report when my baby threw up all over my keyboard, instantly crashing my computer. Of course I hadn't saved the file for ages. Ironically this was literally seconds after my wife took a lovely photograph of me sitting there working with babe in arms, being the very model of a multitasking 'new Dad'. Needless to say, I've now learned to lock myself away from all potential sources of vomit when I'm working at home.
Despite these few minor problems to overcome, children do come with a range of excellent fringe benefits for scientists. For instance, just going home has become a reality check beyond compare for me. My children are an excellent tonic against taking my research too seriously, because they have a wonderful knack of bringing me back to the uncompromising simplicity of childhood. Open the front door and you are confronted by running and cheering little ones who have absolute trust and complete faith in you. I, for one, cannot think lofty abstract thoughts when I'm being bombarded by existential questions from one child, whilst changing the dirty bottom of another, with a third infant climbing on my back asking me to play with her. Also, it may not sound like it, but being jumped on by an army of small, intelligent beings after the worst day you've ever had in the lab can actually be stress-relieving. You just have to learn how to let go and accept that it is happening to you--and of course not mind being hurt.
And then, a career in research comes with fringe benefits for parents too. The major one has to be flexibility. Science can be a very free-and-easy form of employment, at least at the postdoc level. We postdocs usually run our own show in terms of when we conduct our research, and without too many must-do diary entries for teaching and the like. Many times I've enjoyed the freedom to swan off home when there's been a minor medical crisis or a school nativity play--or simply when I'm just plain knackered from lack of sleep. I have to say that handling nasty solvents is not recommended during periods of acute child-induced sleep deprivation. At times like this, I've found, it's best to confine myself to work at my computer.
Life with children is always unpredictable, often extremely tiring, and undoubtedly easier to deal with if you have a solid and reliable sense of humour. You might think this sounds similar to life as a scientist, and in many ways having one or more small people in your life is highly compatible with a career in science.
As a postscript, our family received our final instalment of new members during my first postdoc position. What's that you say? How do I know it's going to be our final instalment? Well, that would be telling wouldn't it? | <urn:uuid:2eccc40c-58df-4002-94e7-0521153ebf72> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/print/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2004_01_16/nodoi.4483009684771090473 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982394 | 1,356 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Zomi Samson : Kapkhovung Samte
Last Updated on
Saturday, 06 March 2010 01:40
Saturday, 06 March 2010 01:38
Kapkhovung Samte, the Zo Superman was born in 1904 at Bualtal: Village, Chin Hills, Myanmar to Lamzathang Samte (father) and Khawlniang. He had three sisters and was the second child to his parents. In early age he was not healthy and was lean and thin. After six years of his birth in the year of Mautam (1910) his father expired. Due to the famine as a result of Mautam (after a gap of about 50 years bamboos in Zo country use to flower and bear fruits which have high potential to make the rats extra fertile. Once the rats consumed the seed, they become fat and grow very fast and within no time they multiply in numbers. Then they move in groups destroying all standing crops and plants wherever they go. They can finish the crops of an entire village in a single night. So whenever there is bamboo flowering there is famine among the Zo people. click here for more about Mautam) and the death of his father they have to move from their village in search of better pastures and settled down at Thawngkhup Veng, Lungthul Village in the southern Manipur bordering Mizoram and Myanmar with his mother and sisters.
Thus started a history that will never be forgotten in the Zo history in Lungthul (T) Village. Although very skinny at his early age he become healthy and his body developed so well within no time. He grew up to be a very tall well built young man and his mother got him married to Nemkholuan of Theigoutang village. The villager taunted his wife saying her husbands growth to be abnormal and ask her to mark and watch their words that he would also die abnormally (early). She believed them and left him.
After 15 years of settling down at Lungthul his mother also died. Then he no more charm to stay back at Lungthul and moved again to Singngat which is about 25 kms from Lungthul. There he fell for a beautiful girl by the name Letngai and married her. They have a daughter but soon died. After living for five years he moved down to Lingsiphai village near Lamka town where his beloved wife passed away.
Around this time the Japan: Galpi (Second World World) broke out and all villagers around their area fled their homes to escape from the war. He fled to his sister Vaihenching who is settling at Chongkhozou with her husband. The Japanese soldiers, when they see Kapkhovung, were surprised that a man could be that big and strong. They invited him to their camps, served good food and measure his statistics. (may be they have better records). The British government also ask him to join the 4th Assam Rifles and offered the post of direct Jamadar, but he declined the offer. They want to test his strength in a tug-of war with five soldiers against him; he was reluctant for the test, but the soldiers lost to him.
His vital statistics:
1.Height :7'1" (Measured by Rev. H. L. Sela, NEIG Mission and Pu Chinkham, Mission Compound)
5.Fingers :H. Tunzachin measured it to be exactly the size of his toes.
6.Chest :8 tuk(approx.60")Measured by Zamgin of Tuilaphai Village.
7.Measure of his stength:
a. He could hold tight a full size mithun by the horn. (Mithun is the biggest and most famous amimal of the Zo. It is bigger than a buffalo.)
b.150 Corn/Maize bunch (1 bunch made of 15 corns) is his normal carrying load.
c. He could carry a matured wild boar (6 tuk size) with wild creepers (rope) a distance of 8 miles and never utter a single word of tiredness.
d. He carried 1mound(40 kg)of salt while climbing the steep hills paths from Barak river bank to Parbung village with a single hand.(there is no motorable road and people have to cover the distance/slopes walking till today)
e. A big rock the size of a Zo Zubelpi (big long earthen wine pot use in big festivals like Tong,lawmzunek etc. served to villagers) he carried from Lanva river to Pearsonmun (around 2 kms) still can be verified at the Khawmual of Pearson village today.
f. The stone weighing about 2mounds and 10kgs he carried can be found about 2 furlong from Tuizang river (between Thanlon and Pherjawl).
g. He could comfortably carry an oak tree freshly cut into a log 12 meter long and 1.5' dia.
h. It is said that when he carried his sick wife to the Lamka hospital for treatment it looks like
a mother carrying her baby.
a. His normal diet is a basket (tukri) full each of yam and pumkin.
b. He could consume a rice of 4 khap pot (approximately 7 average Zo persons eating) at one meal.
His general appearance shows that he is humble and friendly. His height and body size is proportionate. His finger and toes are pointed and long. His chest is big and stomach small. Although not very handsome his appearance is good and manly. His face is long and skin yellow like the rest of the Zo stock of people. We regret that we cannot put his photo here to be seen by all. We are trying our best to get one.
Although Pu Kapkhovung Samte is that strong he never wanted to show off or publicise his strength.So his full stregth is not clearly known. He is humble and kindhearted.He never loss his temper,he said : "if I get angry whoever I come across whether man or beast will not survive" and always keep his cool.He love drinking rice beer but he is afraid he would become drunk and loss control; so he avoid drinking.He is a disciplined person. He believe in Zo sacrifices and whenever he got sick he would approach the village priest to perform sacrifices. He did not like himself (his strength) to praised by others. He is truthful and fulfil his commitments. He is sentimental and love music.
After he reached his sisters village Chongkhojou, he did not live long and died in August 1944 at the age of 44.Though he did not leave behind valuable properties and treasures during his short life; he is remembered for his strength in Manipur, Chin State and to the Britishers and the Japanese. It is ill luck for the Zo people that he had to die early.Had he live today with us... one can imagine.. what fame the Zo Superman would bring home for his people.
Source:25th SIAMSINPAWL MAGAZINE 1987 | <urn:uuid:a25b499b-304d-445e-b9f8-e190e0233c66> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://zoage.com/index.php/component/content/article/16-culliterature/21-superman | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984292 | 1,495 | 1.59375 | 2 |
A Cape Coral resident had his questions on the way the city buys its equipment when he spoke during public input at Monday's City Council workshop meeting Monday at City Hall.
Public Works Director Jeff Pearson had the answers.
Resident Dan Shepard questioned the council on the rationale behind buying all new equipment such as trailers, excavators, backhoes and a wheel loader, among other things, which will cost the city more than half a million dollars.
"That's a big list of equipment. When I needed a new truck, I put in a new motor and new transmission," Shepard said. "That's the difference between government and business. Our city overbuys."
Pearson begged to differ, and he had stats and pictures to support the city position.
Pearson said the equipment was as much as 20 years old, with as much spent on repairs as it costs to buy brand new. He also showed photos of the equipment in a state of disrepair.
"Repairs can end up exceeding the useful value of the vehicle and it's time to get something newer," Pearson said.
The loader, for example, was purchased in 1993 and had more than 6,000 hours on it. Rising repair costs were making the old loader, which Pearson said was used almost daily, a money pit.
Pearson said that call is usually made by the fleet managers, who look at the records and determine whether a piece of equipment has reached the end of its useful life.
The trailers, in particular, looked as though it would disintegrate with all the rust eating through the metal.
The cost for the backhoes, excavator, trailers and loader was $380,286.68, and his presentation drew rave reviews.
"Seldom have we had a consent item so well presented," Councilmember Chris Chulakes-Leetz said.
Councilmember Kevin McGrail agreed, adding, "This is analogous to the police cruisers. We haven't done capital improvements. This isn't Christmas, this should have been replaced."
Council still had questions regarding whether the equipment could be used in other departments, not just public works, but perhaps for the Parks & Rec. Mayor John Sullivan asked if the equipment could be "pooled."
Shepard made a suggestion, which council seemed to like, that perhaps Pearson could find slightly-used equipment at a discount. Police did something similar recently, buying used vehicles for official personnel.
Pearson said he would look into that before the consent items come to a vote next week.
Earlier in the meeting, Pearson came to the podium to ask for three spare vertical turbine pumps for the Canal Pump Stations Nos. 3, 4 and 5, at a cost of $139,031.13.
Part of the problem with the pumps, beside their age, is the fact that the equipment at the stations was fitted for different brand pumps, Pearson said. To make the same pumps fit would require work.
This worried McGrail, who asked if the pump purchases could be phased in. Pearson said they could, but if a pump went down, there would be no backup to keep up pressure in the irrigation systems, with replacement which could take months.
Sullivan also wondered why the pumps weren't all one brand, as they were supposed to be.
"Why did we stop that? The pumps were more expensive, but more reliable, lasted longer and parts were easier to get," Sullivan said.
The purchases, made as part of the 2012 fiscal year, were consummated by piggybacking quotes, bids or contracts awarded by other entities.
"We've known these items have needed to be replaced for a long time. However, the money for capital improvements wasn't there and was delayed," Pearson said. "We're not efficient if we have equipment that doesn't work well." | <urn:uuid:aa07f6b6-68ea-4e9d-9904-00b518f222b2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lehighacrescitizen.com/page/content.detail/id/525916/Council-gets-look-at-requested-capital-improvements.html?nav=5110 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988675 | 785 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Why International Adoption Matters
International adoption is always a hot button issue—and my recent post about Russia cutting American families out of their adoption program was no exception. Inevitably, any story about international adoption brings out a slew of people commenting that “American families should just adopt from the U.S.” (And just as inevitably, those people are rarely people who have adopted or plan to adopt themselves.)
But domestic adoption isn’t the best choice for every family—and it cuts thousands of children from around the world off from the possibility of a loving family. Here’s why international adoption matters, to my family and the thousands of others who were created that way.
Domestic adoption can be challenging. Most families who adopt domestically eventually succeed. But the time frame before you’re picked by a birthmother is completely random—some families find a match within days of putting their information out there, while others wait for years. And many families have at least one “failed placement,” when the birthmother decides she wants to parent her child. (Fabulous for the birthmother and child—but heartbreaking for the potential adoptive parents.) My husband and I simply couldn’t deal with all of those unknowns.
Today, most adoptions in the U.S. are open, which means the birth family and adoptive family maintain contact. Open adoption is much better and healthier for everyone involved—especially the child. But there are some families who aren’t comfortable with that, and international adoption is a more closed option.
Foster adoption can be even more challenging. People point to the number of children in foster care in the U.S.—463,000—and say that we should all simply adopt from foster care. But keep in mind that some of those children do end up being reunited with their birth families weeks or months later. For those who remain in foster care, sometimes it is possible to adopt young children, but in many cases it’s older children who are available, many of whom have seen and experienced things no child should have to experience. These children need a special kind of love and support that some families are simply not equipped to provide.
All children deserve a loving family. Does our capacity for love and kindness really end at the border? Ideally, children in Russia or China or Ethiopia should find a loving family nearby, to help them preserve their connection to their birth culture. But many of these children—especially those with special needs—have few prospects for finding a family within their own country. If there are willing and able parents somewhere in the world who want to raise them, why should we stop them?
Life in the orphanages is devastating to a child’s future. Institutional care is always subpar, no matter how “good” the orphanage is. There is no replacement for a loving family—and it bears out in research, which shows that a baby who is raised in an orphanage loses a month’s worth of development for every three months she spends there. (Which means that an 18-month-old sitting in an orphanage is much more like a 12-month-old.) Children in orphanages often have limited opportunities for education, and are sent out into the world as young as 14 years old, left to fend for themselves.
Until you have personally visited an orphanage, you simply can’t understand how devastating it is. I do.
Imagine a classroom filled with 30 cribs. The cribs have no mattresses, and the babies all lie on wooden slabs in the cribs. Every single crib is filled except for one by the window (which is where your new baby rested her head until a few days before). There is one single attendant charged with caring for all of these babies, and she walks around with the same dirty rag to wipe the babies’ noses—it seems that all of the babies are horribly sick with colds.
The babies all stare at you, and reach out to you. You touch their hands, and wish you could simply scoop them all up and take them out of there. There are no toys (despite the fact that you and other adoptive parents have donated plenty), and nothing to stimulate these babies as they lie in their cribs day after day. Most of them (including your baby) have huge flat spots on the backs of their heads, due to lying on their backs for months. They are fed the same thing every day—a mix of rice cereal and formula, put into a bottle. The attendant has too many mouths to feed, so the babies aren’t held when they’re fed—the bottle is propped up for them.
This is where my daughter would have spent her days. Because she has a small medical issue, she would have had little to no education—despite the fact that she is incredibly bright. If she was lucky, she would have gotten a job at a nearby factory after the orphanage left her go. If she wasn’t….well, I shudder to think about that.
Foster care isn’t ideal, but these warehouses of children are far, far worse. This is why I chose to adopt internationally—not once, but twice. And why I continue to support charities that work with the orphanages, so that the kids who are left behind can go into foster care, get an education, and get proper nutrition.
Maybe someday, we will get that perfect world, where kids can stay with the parents who gave them life—or with friends and family nearby. Where anyone who wants to be a parent can make that dream happen. But until we get that perfect world, we have to make the best of the one we have.
Photo: Mother and child by AISPIX by Image Source / ShutterstockAdd a Comment | <urn:uuid:9a58fc90-43a2-472f-a777-73d5f79c2817> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.parents.com/blogs/goodyblog/2013/01/why-international-adoption-matters/ | 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 | 0.974179 | 1,201 | 1.765625 | 2 |
For many seafood products with environmental concerns, buyers can help provide incentives for improvements that can result in more sustainable production. This makes it very important for buyers to request that suppliers make steps toward being more environmentally responsible and continue sourcing if improvement is demonstrated. FishWise can help facilitate improvement projects by:
- Developing roadmaps that guide suppliers toward improvements
- Establishing protocols and monitoring tools to ensure credibility
- Collaborating with conservation organizations like Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP), World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and businesses throughout the supply chain on existing improvements projects
- Coordinating with government regulators and regional fisheries management organizations on improving fisheries management
- Contracting third party auditors for verification of progress in distant regions
- Using market incentives to reward fisheries making program improvements resulting in sustainable product
Once improvement projects are established, buyers can feel confident about their path toward sustainability and continue, or in some cases begin, sourcing from these fisheries or farms. | <urn:uuid:03899009-b04c-4563-a6d2-40c160551540> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fishwise.org/services/improvement-projects | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924269 | 192 | 2.3125 | 2 |
Chart of the day: Car ownership
Many thanks to PeakVT, in the comments, who links to this particularly ugly chart which does do what I wanted and show how the number of cars per 1,000 population has evolved over time. The lines are sales figures; the darker line shows that we’ve dropped from selling almost 60 cars per 1,000 population per year to selling about 35 of late. The black squares show that we now have about 780 vehicles per 1,000 population, up from about 750 ten years ago.
In other words, for most of the past decade, every group of 1,000 people bought about 60 cars a year and ended up with about 3 more vehicles at the end of the year than they had at the beginning. So what happens when they’re only buying 35 cars a year? Even if they manage to hold on to their old clunkers for a bit longer than they otherwise might have done, the total number of cars per 1,000 people is likely to fall quite dramatically: a year or two of this and we could be back where we were ten years ago.
Still, check out this league table: the US has vastly more cars per 1,000 people than any other major nation. Canada, for instance, has only 563 vehicles per 1,000 people — less than three-quarters of the US figure. For America to even approach that level would be unprecedented in living memory, but there’s really no particular reason why the average American needs 36% more cars than the average Canadian. If you’re losing say 15 cars per 1,000 people per year, it would take over 14 years to get down to Canadian levels of car ownership.
Hugo Lindgren, in this week’s New York magazine, quotes the NBER’s Robert Gordon saying that auto-sales rates are bound to pick up:
It’s hard to imagine any good news out of Detroit at this point, but Gordon says it’s coming. Before the recession, annual U.S. automobile sales were about 18 million vehicles. They’ve dropped to half that, an insanely low—and unsustainable—level. At this rate, the average car would have to last 25 years. A typical replacement rate would boost auto sales up to around 15 million a year, and Gordon expects that we’ll start working our way back to that figure this year, buoying the stronger auto companies and putting workers back on the line.
If we’ve learned anything over the past decade, it’s that things can stay at unsustainable levels for much longer than anybody might imagine. And over the medium term, it’s far from obvious that auto sales in the 9-10 million range are really as unsustainable as all that. Not only don’t we need to get back to “a typical replacement rate”; it’s actually very unlikely we will ever again see the rates of car ownership that prevailed before the crash. That was a world of 3-car garages in exurban McMansions; we’re moving into a more sustainable way of living, which involves fewer cars and higher urban density. Those black squares in the graph above are going to start marching downwards for many years to come. Which means that the wiggly lines aren’t ever going to regain their prior peaks. | <urn:uuid:d2bf52d3-df22-43a1-9483-692338c4a0af> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/06/01/chart-of-the-day-car-ownership/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966213 | 708 | 1.867188 | 2 |
All About You
The test is positive! With that knowledge comes the giddy and delicious feeling of having a secret—so don't be surprised if you can't concentrate on your regular old boring non-pregnant life. It's natural for your mind to be racing with happy thoughts and also some concerns: Is it too soon to paint the nursery? What about the name, "George"? Are we really ready for this?
Although it may take another week for your pregnancy hormones to really kick in, there's probably one word (besides distracted) to sum up how you feel this week: tired. So tired that the concrete sidewalk looks like a nice place to nap. Your levels of HcG, the hormone that plays a crucial role in pregnancy, continue to rise (in early pregnancy the HcG levels double roughly every two to three days until they plateau around 16 weeks) and the amount of blood in your body is actually increasing.
This Week: Miscarriage Worries
Miscarriage is not something you want to think about right now, and hopefully you won't have to, but it's totally normal—and even expected—to obsess about whether you're having a healthy pregnancy, especially during the first trimester, when miscarriages are most likely to happen. Here's what you need to know.
How common is miscarriage? A whopping 15 to 20 percent of pregnancies result in miscarriage. And according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, that number might be much higher because many miscarriages occur so early in pregnancy that a woman doesn't even know she's pregnant. What seems like a late (and heavier-than-usual) period can actually be a miscarriage.
What causes miscarriage? The good news is that a miscarriage is often nature's way of ending a pregnancy that would not have resulted in a healthy baby. Babies with a problem in their genetic code (aka "chromosomal abnormalities") will often spontaneously abort. The bad news is that most women won't be able to pinpoint the exact cause. And even if it is for a "good" reason, it's still devastating when it happens to you.
What's my risk? Women who smoke, drink alcohol (excessively), or take drugs are more likely to have problems in pregnancy, including miscarriage. Miscarriage is also more common in older moms. An infection (like bacterial vaginosis or a previously unknown problem with the uterus or cervix, can cause miscarriage.
What are the signs of miscarriage? Though some spotting during early pregnancy is normal, a lot of spotting or heavy bleeding is the most common sign of miscarriage.
What can you do to crush the concern? The anxiety you're feeling will abate once you hit the 12-week mark, when the chances of having a miscarriage plummet (though if you're the obsessive type, you'll worry for the next eight months … and until your baby leaves for college). Breathe, trust your body, try to enjoy the amazing things that are happening inside you, and pamper yourself through your newly acquired aches (just don't touch my breasts!). | <urn:uuid:15ac2677-47d2-4faa-9636-78c06f2f663e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.babyzone.com/pregnancy-week-by-week/5-weeks-pregnant_70612-page-2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964027 | 640 | 1.90625 | 2 |
Definition from Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary
Courts that handle lawsuits requesting remedies other than monetary damages, such as writs, injunctions, and specific performance. Such courts existed, separate from courts of law, under English common law and in several states. Federal bankruptcy courts are an example of courts that continue to operate as courts of equity. Compare: court of law
Definition provided by Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary.
August 19, 2010, 5:13 pm | <urn:uuid:4d82d405-9c4c-435a-b2e1-e665a6d5202d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/court_of_equity | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935738 | 103 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Indecisive Reasons for Action: Socrates, Not Hercules, as Judicial Ideal
Eric J. Miller
Saint Louis University - School of Law
October 30, 2011
Ronald Dworkin famously introduces the idealized judge, Hercules, to demonstrate how to identify one right answer for any legal problem. Since judicial disagreement makes sense, according to Dworkin, against the background of plural theories of the good, Hercules solves a particular political problem: how to avoid apathy or indecisiveness in choosing among competing theories. Dworkin's judge is supposed to stand by his or her political convictions in the face of competing, plural points of view. Choosing the one right answer is thus a method of political commitment.
My claim is that Dworkin is caught between a rock and a hard place, not once, but twice. First, the right answer thesis must avoid two sources of indecisiveness. If a legal system is too ontologically simple, then there will be multiple equally good answers, so no unique right answer. If a legal system is too ontologically complex, then incommensurability raises the possibility of no right answer. It is up to Dworkin to provide some basis for thinking that the legal system is neither too simple nor too complex, but (in the words of Goldilocks) "just right." He never does.
Dowrkin cannot identify the just-right answer because incommensurability is an essential part of pluralism. This is his second problem: Dworkin claims that, on the one hand, he thinks that there is one right answer to any given legal question, on the other, that political morality is irreducibly plural. His concept of integrity thus demand from a judge internal coherence and consistency of political and moral justifications, though it also requires external inconsistency of plural points of view. So his theory trades upon the existence of a particular sort of ontological incommensurability, one his theory of judicial choice denies.
The fact that judges can choose among incommensurable points of view is less surprising that Dworkin seems to suppose. But the fact of choice does not generate a right answer, it merely generates a final answer. The fact that a judge is, or can become, convinced that it is the only available answer speaks not to the judge's sense of integrity, but her narrowness of mind. That is not the sort of virtue we should encourage in a plural society.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 59
Keywords: Jurisprudence, legal theory, incommensurability, decision, adjudication, philosophy, Dworkin, Finnis, Hercules, Socrates, epistemology, practical reasonworking papers series
Date posted: October 31, 2011
© 2013 Social Science Electronic Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
This page was processed by apollo4 in 0.875 seconds | <urn:uuid:d0ad0ff8-82cc-4955-9d0c-10125cc4b55d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1951574 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937863 | 595 | 2.3125 | 2 |
Alfred H. Miles, ed. Women Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.
Prefatory, Vol. II.
THE PRESENTATION of the Women Poets of the Century in two volumes, in place of the one volume occupied by them in the first edition, has enabled the Editor to add to the representation of some, and to include others who had no place in the former editionpoets, much of whose work has been published since its issue: Christina Rossetti and Mrs. Radford are examples of the former, and the latter include Katharine Tynan Hinkson, Jane Barlow, Annie Matheson, Ada Bartrick Baker, Rosa Newmarch, and Cicely Fox-Smith. To these authors and their publishers the Editors thanks are gratefully tendered; to Messrs. William Blackwood & Sons, the publishers of Mrs. Bakers Palace of Dreams; to Messrs. Lawrence & Bullen, the publishers of Mrs. Hinksons poems; to Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co., the publishers of Ghost-Bereft, by Jane Barlow; Mr. John Lane, publisher of Songs to a Singer, by Rosa Newmarch; and to Mr. Elkin Mathews, the publisher of Horæ Amoris: Songs and Sonnets, by Rosa Newmarch, and Wings of the Morning, by Cicely Fox-Smith.
That there are other women poets who are worthy of representation in this work, and who might have been included in this edition but for the arbitrary limits of space, must be admitted. The Editors desire, however, has been throughout to represent adequately those he felt bound to include, rather than give inadequate representation to a larger number, and it must be left to future editions to do justice to those whom present limits exclude.
Further references to women poets will be found in the appendix of this volume, and in the general appendix at the end of Vol. VII. Poets and Poetry of the XIXth Century (Bridges to Kipling): also in the volumes X., XI., and XII., devoted to humorous and sacred poetry. All are included in the general index at the end of Vol. XII. (Plumptre to Doudney).
A. H. M.
NOTE:IN the prefatory note of the first edition of this work (1891) the Editor invited criticism with a view to the improvement of future editions. Several critics responded to this appeal, and their valuable suggestions have been considered in preparing this re-issue. In some cases the text has been revised and the selection varied; in others, additions have been made to complete the representation. The biographical and bibliographical matter has been brought up to date. | <urn:uuid:262d8e4d-ec16-471b-9c84-7863ebc4777d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bartelby.com/293/186.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953323 | 565 | 1.820313 | 2 |
UNICEF and Government of Tajikistan sign new six-year Country Programme Action Plan
DUSHANBE, 28 December 2009 – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) signed a new six-year Country Programme Action Plan (CPAP) for the period 2010-2015 with the Government of Tajikistan on 25 December 2009 in Dushanbe.
Mrs. Rukiya Kurbanova, Deputy Prime-Minister of the Republic of Tajikistan, signed the Country Programme Action Plan on behalf of the Government of Tajikistan, alongside Ms. Hongwei Gao, UNICEF Country Representative in Tajikistan.
“The Government of Tajikistan takes all possible efforts to ensure children’s rights and interests, and meet their needs in line with national and international legal documents,” said Mrs. Kurbanova during the signing ceremony. “I am confident that with UNICEF assistance the new Programme of Cooperation designed to run from 2010 to 2015 will be implemented successfully.” Ms. Hongwei Gao added, “The CPAP has been developed following many rounds of close consultations with Government counterparts, UN sister agencies and donor partners. It builds on the achievements and lessons learnt from the current programme of cooperation.”
During the next six years UNICEF will provide 12 million US dollars from its regular resources and 16 million US dollars from other resources. The priorities of the programme will focus on saving children’s lives; providing quality basic education, particularly for girls; water, sanitation and hygiene education (WASH) at schools; child care sector reform and justice for children. The new CPAP for the period 2010-2015 will be implemented within a new United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF), signed by the Government of Tajikistan and the United Nations earlier in December. Under the UNDAF, UNICEF and other UN agencies present in Tajikistan will align their development activities to support the National Development Strategy and the Poverty Reduction Strategy.
For more information, please contact: | <urn:uuid:6acb2676-fef0-4280-90f7-85ee8d99f5c2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.unicef.org/ceecis/media_13631.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907517 | 423 | 2 | 2 |
This is a syndicated post from CNA Daily News. [Read the original article...]
Madrid, Spain, Jan 30, 2013 / 04:18 pm (CNA).- A replica image of Our Lady of Czestochowa is currently traveling throughout Spain on a pro-life and pro-family pilgrimage that will span 12,000 miles and 23 countries.
Dubbed “From Ocean to Ocean,” the tour began last September in Vladivostok on Russia’s Pacific coast and will conclude at the Shrine of Fatima on the Atlantic coast of Portugal.
Organizers of the tour hope that “the number of people who discover and defend the dignity of the human being from conception to natural death will continuously increase.”
The famous image of Mary, normally housed at the Jasna Gora Shrine in Poland, has been in Spain since Dec. 15, visiting more than 25 dioceses.
Its stop in the region of Murcia was especially significant as the area was hit by a 5.1-magnitude earthquake in May 2011, which left nine people dead and 324 injured, in addition to causing widespread damage. Masses, holy hours and other services were celebrated as the icon visited the region’s cities of Vera Cruz and Lorca.
In the region’s capital city of Murcia, the icon visited the Poor Clare convent, where the nuns gathered for a special rosary. The convent is one of the important architectural sites in the city, as it was constructed over an ancient Arab palace.
From Feb. 7-14, the image will be in Madrid for a series of prayer vigils in defense of human life.
The icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa – one of the most venerated images in Poland – depicts the Virgin Mary holding the child Jesus in her arms. Throughout its history, it has been the target of numerous attacks that have left marks on Virgin Mary’s face and neck.
Blessed Pope John Paul II had a special devotion to Our Lady of Czestochowa and kept a copy of the image in his papal apartment at the Vatican.
Incoming search terms:
- our lady of czestochowa icon Spain Tour | <urn:uuid:28315a3d-2366-40c5-bffc-82217d0e6217> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dfwcatholic.org/our-lady-of-czestochowa-icon-touring-spain-28251/.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953276 | 465 | 1.765625 | 2 |
White House aides are increasingly convinced that accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will never face trial in a civilian court and are trying to cut a deal that would still transfer Guantanamo Bay terrorism suspects to the U.S., where many would faces criminal charges, a senior administration official said Monday.
President Barack Obama is trying to keep a campaign pledge to close the U.S. military prison in Cuba, a promise that has attracted criticism from Republicans who say it would jeopardize national security. He has also lately been under fire from people within his party who say Obama should not accept any deal that would prosecute Mohammed outside the normal judicial system.
But a senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive negotiations, said the most important goals are closing Guantanamo Bay and ensuring that the government can prosecute some detainees in U.S. courts. To do so, the only option may be abandoning the administration's original plan to prosecute the alleged 9/11 conspirators in civilian courts and instead send them before military tribunals.
Sen. Lindsey Graham is seen as key to the deal. Over the weekend, the South Carolina Republican expressed willingness to cut a deal that leads to closing Guantanamo Bay.
"If we could get Khalid Sheik Mohammed and the co-conspirators of 9/11 back in the military commission, it'd go down well with the public," Graham said on CBS' "Face the Nation" program.
But the deal is far from done. The White House does not want to hold military commissions at Guantanamo Bay. That means the administration would need to reach a deal to close the prison and hold military commissions within the U.S.
Graham also wants to set up new court system to handle detainees who are too dangerous to be released but who, because of evidence problems or other reasons, cannot be successfully prosecuted in either tribunals or civilian courts. The White House does not favor such a plan, so a compromise would need to be reached.
It's not at all clear the administration can muster the votes to pull together that compromise. Normally, the executive branch has broad discretion on how to wage war and prosecute criminals, but Congress has threatened not to pay for any trials inside the U.S. That has forced the White House into a difficult bargaining position.
In an election year, every day that passes makes it more difficult to reach an accord. Republicans have seized several opportunities to criticize the administration as soft on terrorism, and many Democrats appear loathe to tackle the issue themselves, particularly when the administration appears conflicted and indecisive.
Ben Wittes, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank who recently rallied conservative lawyers to counter a new line of GOP attack directed at lawyers within the administration, said the political debate over terrorism is "so coarse and stupid" it ignores the complexities of the national security problem.
He said the administration has made the situation worse for itself by announcing plans — like closing Guantanamo Bay or prosecuting Mohammed in New York — then letting opposition grow.
Underscoring what a political quagmire this has become, the American Civil Liberties Union ran a full-page advertisement in The New York Times on Sunday, criticizing Obama for even considering military tribunals for Mohammed. The ad portrayed Obama morphing into President George W. Bush, reflecting a disappointment expressed by several supporters.
"The president must know, as a constitutional scholar, that he's making a horrible, horrible deal. I have no doubt about that," said David Nachman, a New York attorney who handles detainee cases and who supported and donated to Obama. "And I have no doubt that the people around him believe the deal is necessary to preserve other goals of the administration."
But he said that doesn't excuse a compromise he sees as unprincipled.
Retired Brig. Gen. James P. Cullen, who met with Obama when he announced in January 2009 that Guantanamo Bay would be closed, said Monday that the White House should not give up on Attorney General Eric Holder's plan to prosecute Mohammed in New York.
"Go back. Do the political groundwork that should have been done originally," Cullen said.
One clear sign that such 9/11 criminal trial is unlikely is that Justice Department experts on Guantanamo Bay, national security and international law aren't taking part in the negotiations over the fate of Mohammed and others, several U.S. officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the deliberations.
The Justice Department could legally prosecute Mohammed in New York, Virginia or Pennsylvania — states that were involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. But New York politicians already have eliminated their state as a possibility and the political sentiment doesn't appear any friendlier in Virginia or Pennsylvania.
That leaves Obama with little or no ability to insist on a criminal case if he still wants to close Guantanamo Bay and keep criminal courts open for terrorism cases down the road. And those remain the top priorities.
(This version CORRECTS spelling of Nachman.)
© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:29f60210-3739-44c1-99e4-b5ff67b116f8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/US-Obamas-Guantanamo/2010/03/08/id/352003 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963884 | 1,041 | 1.515625 | 2 |
As we near the end of Black History Month, here is a roundup of sites that highlight films from and about the African-American community.
From “The Root,” a news source from the African-American perspective, comes 10 Films on Our Must-See List in 2013, including a Jackie Robinson biopic and a new Will Smith sci-fi flick.
BlackShortFilms.com. Short films featuring black directors, actors, writers, and themes. Twenty-four short films are currently featured at the website.
BlackClassicMovies.com offers a Top 100 collection of the best black American classic movies available today. The list covers over 80 years of films dating back as early as 1920.
Hollywood Black Film Festival. Dubbed “The Black Sundance,” the Hollywood Black Film Festival (HBFF) is an annual four-day celebration of black cinema drawing together established filmmakers, popular film and TV stars, writers, directors, industry executives, emerging artists, and diverse audiences from Hollywood and around the world.
The HistoryMakers. A video oral history archive of the untold personal stories of both well-known and unsung African Americans. The archive includes more than 2,000 interviews. | <urn:uuid:584c6cab-62f1-4ffa-891a-73277b839dc3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.stcharleslibrary.org/wordpress/movies/black-film/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915261 | 250 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Iran: Six leading members of the Bahá’í faith detained
The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran is calling on Iranian judicial authorities to account, in terms of Iranian and international law, for the detention on 14 May 2008 of six leading members of the Baha’i faith, who have been taken to Evin prison. All are members of the Baha’i national coordination group, the “Friends;” the seventh member has been imprisoned in Mashhad since 5 March 2008. No charges have been announced in the cases.
While the detainees have all been regularly summoned, detained, and interrogated as individuals, this is the first time they have been seized as a group. The entire leadership body of the Baha’is in Iran is thus in detention.
“We are deeply concerned that the detention without charge of the entire Baha’i leadership is consistent with a pattern of violent and illegal persecution of Baha’is in Iran,” the Campaign stated. “The persecution of religious minorities will bring neither internal stability nor international security to Iran.”
Intelligence agents detained Fariba Kamalabadi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeid Rezaie, Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Vahid Tizfahm at their respective homes in the early morning of 14 May and conducted searches.
The sixth member of the leadership body, Mahvash Sabet, has been in incommunicado detention since 5 March. According to information received by the Campaign, her family has only been allowed to see her for a moment when Intelligence Ministry agents brought her to a public place where a family member was able to recognize her. Other than this brief encounter, her family has had no contact with her, nor any telephone calls.
“There is cause to fear for the health and safety of Mahvash Sabet, whose incommunicado detention amounts to a form of torture, and of her colleagues as well,” the Campaign said.
Such arrests are alarming, especially when taking into account the past treatment of Baha’is and recent trends. In 1980s, the Iranian government targeted the Bahai leadership through extensive arrests and executed seventeen members of the leadership. In the past three years the numbers of executions of all kinds have skyrocketed in Iran, doubling each year.
The Campaign is calling upon members of the international community, the United Nations, and the European Union to protest these unjustified detentions, and to call for the immediate release of the detained Baha’i members if they are not properly charged in accordance with international standards.
The Bahá’í religion is not recognized under the Iranian Constitution, which only recognizes Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism. Bahá’ís in Iran are subject to discriminatory laws and regulations which violate their right to practise their religion freely, as set out in Article 18(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a state party, and which deny them equal rights to education, work and to a decent standard of living by restricting their access to employment and benefits such as pensions. They are not permitted to meet, to hold religious ceremonies or to practice their religion communally. Members of the Bahá’í community in Iran profess their allegiance to the state and deny that they are involved in any subversive acts against the government, which they state would be against their religion.
- Iran: Za’feran Mohamaadi Murdered by her Family Members, Witnessed by Bystanders
- Iran: Iranian Single Women Might Need Father's Permission to Go Abroad
- Bahrain: Interview with Maryam al-Khawaja "The Regime Oppresses All Bahrainis".
- Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia criticised over text alerts tracking women's movements.
- Day 2/16 of Activism Against Gender Violence: Somayeh's Testimony
- Sudan: Female lawyer detained, risks torture!
- Sudan: Khadija Mohamed Badr Health Deteriorating in Detention
- Sudan: Sudanese WHRDs In Egypt Receive Death Threats
- Universality Of Human Rights At Stake! Act Now To Oppose Russian Resolution On Traditional Values!
- SUDAN: Layla Ibrahim Issa - Another woman sentenced to death by stoning. Take action now! | <urn:uuid:92f06c2a-6e24-4998-bee2-0810fb16d513> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wluml.org/node/181 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95495 | 904 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Lyrebird imitating construction work
The Adelaide Zoo writes: This is Chook, our male Superb Lyrebird at Adelaide Zoo. We've had a lot of construction going on lately and Chook has picked up many of the sounds.
It's just a different type of music.
Again the Adelaide Zoo says:
We think we can hear the following sounds:
3. Jack hammer
4. Lawn mower hitting sticks
5. Leaf blower starting
6. Power drill
7. Wood saw
8. Human voices
9. Two-way radio
He makes lots of different bird calls as well. What can you hear? | <urn:uuid:280e55a9-b607-4058-bd7c-db5c291f26b7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bearlyrambling.blogspot.com/2010/03/lyrebird-imitating-construction-work.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93085 | 142 | 1.617188 | 2 |
by H. P. Lovecraft
Danforth and I have recollections of emerging into the great sculptured hemisphere and of threading our back trail through the Cyclopean rooms and corridors of the dead city; yet these are purely dream fragments involving no memory of volition, details, or physical exertion. It was as if we floated in a nebulous world or dimension without time, causation, or orientation. The gray half-daylight of the vast circular space sobered us somewhat; but we did not go near those cached sledges or look again at poor Gedney and the dog. They have a strange and titanic mausoleum, and I hope the end of this planet will find them still undisturbed.
It was while struggling up the colossal spiral incline that we first felt the terrible fatigue and short breath which our race through the thin plateau air had produced; but not even fear of collapse could make us pause before reaching the normal outer realm of sun and sky. There was something vaguely appropriate about our departure from those buried epochs; for as we wound our panting way up the sixty-foot cylinder of primal masonry, we glimpsed beside us a continuous procession of heroic sculptures in the dead race’s early and undecayed technique—a farewell from the Old Ones, written fifty million years ago.
Finally scrambling out at the top, we found ourselves on a great mound of tumbled blocks, with the curved walls of higher stonework rising westward, and the brooding peaks of the great mountains showing beyond the more crumbled structures toward the east. The low antarctic sun of midnight peered redly from the southern horizon through rifts in the jagged ruins, and the terrible age and deadness of the nightmare city seemed all the starker by contrast with such relatively known and accustomed things as the features of the polar landscape. The sky above was a churning and opalescent mass of tenuous ice-vapors, and the cold clutched at our vitals. Wearily resting the outfit-bags to which we had instinctively clung throughout our desperate flight, we rebuttoned our heavy garments for the stumbling climb down the mound and the walk through the aeon-old stone maze to the foothills where our aeroplane waited. Of what had set us fleeing from that darkness of earth’s secret and archaic gulfs we said nothing at all.
In less than a quarter of an hour we had found the steep grade to the foothills-the probable ancient terrace—by which we had descended, and could see the dark bulk of our great plane amidst the sparse ruins on the rising slope ahead. Halfway uphill toward our goal we paused for a momentary breathing spell, and turned to look again at the fantastic tangle of incredible stone shapes below us-once more outlined mystically against an unknown west. As we did so we saw that the sky beyond had lost its morning haziness; the restless ice-vapors having moved up to the zenith, where their mocking outlines seemed on the point of settling into some bizarre pattern which they feared to make quite definite or conclusive.
There now lay revealed on the ultimate white horizon behind the grotesque city a dim, elfin line of pinnacled violet whose needle-pointed heights loomed dreamlike against the beckoning rose color of the western sky. Up toward this shimmering rim sloped the ancient table-land, the depressed course of the bygone river traversing it as an irregular ribbon of shadow. For a second we gasped in admiration of the scene’s unearthly cosmic beauty, and then vague horror began to creep into our souls. For this far violet line could be nothing else than the terrible mountains of the forbidden land—highest of earth’s peaks and focus of earth’s evil; harborers of nameless horrors and Archaean secrets; shunned and prayed to by those who feared to carve their meaning; untrodden by any living thing on earth, but visited by the sinister lightnings and sending strange beams across the plains in the polar night—beyond doubt the unknown archetype of that dreaded Kadath in the Cold Waste beyond abhorrent Leng, whereof primal legends hint evasively.
If the sculptured maps and pictures in that prehuman city had told truly, these cryptic violet mountains could not be much less than three hundred miles away; yet none the less sharply did their dim elfin essence appear above that remote and snowy rim, like the serrated edge of a monstrous alien planet about to rise into unaccustomed heavens. Their height, then, must have been tremendous beyond all comparison—carrying them up into tenuous atmospheric strata peopled only by such gaseous wraiths as rash flyers have barely lived to whisper of after unexplainable falls. Looking at them, I thought nervously of certain sculptured hints of what the great bygone river had washed down into the city from their accursed slopes—and wondered how much sense and how much folly had lain in the fears of those Old Ones who carved them so reticently. I recalled how their northerly end must come near the coast at Queen Mary Land, where even at that moment Sir Douglas Mawson’s expedition was doubtless working less than a thousand miles away; and hoped that no evil fate would give Sir Douglas and his men a glimpse of what might lie beyond the protecting coastal range. Such thoughts formed a measure of my overwrought condition at the time—and Danforth seemed to be even worse.
Yet long before we had passed the great star-shaped ruin and reached our plane, our fears had become transferred to the lesser but vast-enough range whose recrossing lay ahead of us. From these foothills the black, ruin-crusted slopes reared up starkly and hideously against the east, again reminding us of those strange Asian paintings of Nicholas Roerich; and when we thought of the frightful amorphous entities that might have pushed their fetidly squirming way even to the topmost hollow pinnacles, we could not face without panic the prospect of again sailing by those suggestive skyward cave mouths where the wind made sounds like an evil musical piping over a wide range. To make matters worse, we saw distinct traces of local mist around several of the summits-as poor Lake must have done when he made that early mistake about volcanism—and thought shiveringly of that kindred mist from which we had just escaped; of that, and of the blasphemous, horror-fostering abyss whence all such vapors came.
All was well with the plane, and we clumsily hauled on our heavy flying furs. Danforth got the engine started without trouble, and we made a very smooth take-off over the nightmare city. Below us the primal Cyclopean masonry spread out as it had done when first we saw it, and we began rising and turning to test the wind for our crossing through the pass. At a very high level there must have been great disturbance, since the ice-dust clouds of the zenith were doing all sorts of fantastic things; but at twenty-four thousand feet, the height we needed for the pass, we found navigation quite practicable. As we drew close to the jutting peaks the wind’s strange piping again became manifest, and I could see Danforth’s hands trembling at the controls. Rank amateur that I was, I thought at that moment that I might be a better navigator than he in effecting the dangerous crossing between pinnacles; and when I made motions to change seats and take over his duties he did not protest. I tried to keep all my skill and self-possession about me, and stared at the sector of reddish farther sky betwixt the walls of the pass-resolutely refusing to pay attention to the puffs of mountain-top vapor, and wishing that I had wax-stopped ears like Ulysses’ men off the Siren’s coast to keep that disturbing windpiping from my consciousness.
But Danforth, released from his piloting and keyed up to a dangerous nervous pitch, could not keep quiet. I felt him turning and wriggling about as he looked back at the terrible receding city, ahead at the cave-riddled, cube-barnacled peaks, sidewise at the bleak sea of snowy, rampart-strewn foothills, and upward at the seething, grotesquely clouded sky. It was then, just as I was trying to steer safely through the pass, that his mad shrieking brought us so close to disaster by shattering my tight hold on myself and causing me to fumble helplessly with the controls for a moment. A second afterward my resolution triumphed and we made the crossing safely—yet I am afraid that Danforth will never be -the same again.
I have said that Danforth refused to tell me what final horror made him scream out so insanely-a horror which, I feel sadly sure, is mainly responsible for his present breakdown. We had snatches of shouted conversation above the wind’s piping and the engine’s buzzing as we reached the safe side of the range and swooped slowly down toward the camp, but that had mostly to do with the pledges of secrecy we had made as we prepared to leave the nightmare city. Certain things, we had agreed, were not for people to know and discuss lightly-and I would not speak of them now but for the need of heading off that Starkweather-Moore Expedition, and others, at any cost. It is absolutely necessary, for the peace and safety of mankind, that some of earth’s dark, dead corners and unplumbed depths be let alone; lest sleeping abnormalities wake to resurgent life, and blasphemously surviving nightmares squirm and splash out of their black lairs to newer and wider conquests.
All that Danforth has ever hinted is that the final horror was a mirage. It was not, he declares, anything connected with the cubes and caves of those echoing, vaporous, wormily-honeycombed mountains of madness which we crossed; but a single fantastic, demoniac glimpse, among the churning zenith clouds, of what lay back of those other violet westward mountains which the Old Ones had shunned and feared. It is very probable that the thing was a sheer delusion born of the previous stresses we had passed through, and of the actual though unrecognized mirage of the dead transmontane city experienced near Lake’s camp the day before; but it was so real to Danforth that he suffers from it still.
He has on rare occasions whispered disjointed and irresponsible things about “The black pit,” “the carven rim,” “the protoShoggoths,” “the windowless solids with five dimensions,” “the nameless cylinder,” “the elder Pharos,” “Yog-Sothoth,” “the primal white jelly,” “the color out of space,” “the wings,” “the eyes in darkness,” “the moon-ladder,” “the original, the eternal, the undying,” and other bizarre conceptions; but when he is fully himself he repudiates all this and attributes it to his curious and macabre reading of earlier years. Danforth, indeed, is known to be among the few who have ever dared go completely through that worm-riddled copy of the Necronomicon kept under lock and key in the college library.
The higher sky, as we crossed the range, was surely vaporous and disturbed enough; and although I did not see the zenith, I can well imagine that its swirls of ice dust may have taken strange forms. Imagination, knowing how vividly distant scenes can sometimes be reflected, refracted, and magnified by such layers of restless cloud, might easily have supplied the rest—and, of course, Danforth did not hint any of these specific horrors till after his memory had had a chance to draw on his bygone reading. He could never have seen so much in one instantaneous glance.
At the time, his shrieks were confined to the repetition of a single, mad word of all too obvious source: “Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!”the cave, horrors, horror, Lovecraft, H. P. Lovecraft | <urn:uuid:7180b95b-7842-4761-a7be-b86d06f02500> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.necrologyshorts.com/novellas/h-p-lovecraft/at-the-mountains-of-madness-contents/at-the-mountains-of-madness-chapter-12/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967528 | 2,591 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Definition of Hypertensive retinopathy
Hypertensive retinopathy is damage to theretina from high blood pressure. The retina is the layer of tissue at the back part of the eye. It changes light and images that enter the eye into nerve signals that are sent to the brain.
Causes, incidence, and risk factors
High blood pressure can damage blood vessels in the retina. The higher the blood pressure and the longer it has been high, the more severe the damage is likely to be.
Most people with hypertensive retinopathy do not have symptoms until late in the disease.
Signs and tests
Using an instrument called an , your health care provider can see narrowing of blood vessels, and signs that fluid has leaked from blood vessels.
Controlling high blood pressure () is the only treatment for hypertensive retinopathy.
Patients with grade 4 (severe hypertensive retinopathy) often have heart and kidney complications of high blood pressure. They are also at higher risk for stroke.
Franklin W. Lusby, MD, Ophthalmologist, Lusby Vision Institute, La Jolla, California. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc. – 8/31/2010 | <urn:uuid:5abf61f1-2616-4d00-8cb0-f0c77d5e5c02> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.drgreene.com/adam/hypertensive-retinopathy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924655 | 267 | 3.25 | 3 |
Five Things You May Not Know About Lunch Meat
There’s more to delicious deli meats than many people realize.
(NAPSI)--Do parents really know what they are feeding their kids? Land O’Frost, the nation’s largest family-owned packaged lunch meat brand, is demystifying lunch meat and offering consumers “Did You Know?” facts about their product.
As a company whose priority is food safety, Land O’Frost is a leader in keeping lunch meat tasty, fresh and safe both on and off the shelves. In fact, Land O’Frost has been awarded numerous industry recognitions for food safety technologies, including American Meat Institute safety awards and Safe Quality Food Certification on all three of the company’s facilities.
“Every school season brings the return of thousands of sandwiches being made, packaged and eaten every day by families across the country,” said Karen Malsom, director of innovation at Land O’Frost. “Food safety and making quality products have always been top priorities for Land O’Frost, which is why it is our goal to help consumers better understand lunch meat by clearing up some common misconceptions.”
Myths And Facts
Malsom debunks the following myths about a product that thousands of people in the U.S. eat every day:
1. Deli meat is fresher than prepackaged lunch meat. FALSE: When lunch meat is packaged in Zip-Pak pouches, as is Land O’Frost lunch meat, the freshness is sealed in. This keeps prepackaged lunch meat fresher, longer compared to deli meat.
2. Nitrites in lunch meat are bad for you. FALSE: Nitrite occurs naturally in many plants and foods and is produced by the human body. Nitrites that are used in processing lunch meat prevent the growth of bacteria that produce food poisons. Nitrites are the curing agent used during processing and impart a preservative effect in meat products.
3. Eating meat daily is not healthy. FALSE: The U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend eating 5 to 7 ounces of meat per day as part of a healthy, balanced diet.
4. Processed lunch meat is less sanitary than raw produce and other meat products. FALSE: Lunch meats have been cooked and packaged in a sanitary manner under controlled conditions, unlike raw products such as sprouts, lettuce, spinach and raw hamburger meat.
5. Lunch meat only stays fresh for a few days. FALSE: Packaged lunch meat kept at 35 degrees Fahrenheit, the average temperature of a refrigerator, will last up to its sell-by date unopened or seven days after opening.
More Fun Facts
In addition, here are five “Did You Know?” facts related to lunch meat:
• Lunch meat was brought to the U.S. in the 1800s by European immigrants.
• Sandwiches, a $121 billion market, are the most popular item eaten by Americans, according to food experts.
• Lunch meat is a $3.4 billion industry.
• American men, on average, eat 6.9 ounces of meat per day and women eat 4.4 ounces.
• Total meat and poultry production in 2010 reached more than 92.1 billion pounds.
Land O’Frost manufactures sliced packaged luncheon meats (beef, chicken, turkey and ham) and is the largest family-owned brand of packaged deli meat in the U.S. Some of the leading products marketed by Land O’Frost include: Land O’Frost Premium One Pound, the top-selling deli pouch in the U.S.; Land O’Frost Deli-Shaved and its ultrapremium line Land O’Frost Bistro Favorites. Information on several additional items can be found on its website. The Land O’Frost brand can be found in the supermarkets and mass merchandisers that account for nearly 90 percent of the retail sales in the country, as well as Mexico, Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories. The company operates three facilities in Lansing, Ill., Madisonville, Ky. and Searcy, Ark.
You can get great recipes, nutritional information and more at www.landofrost.com. | <urn:uuid:49d5bdf5-bde4-4e74-a05b-977e7fe3cf9d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://singleagain.com/food/five-things-you-may-not-know-about-lunch-meat.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951314 | 902 | 2.25 | 2 |
SAN FRANCISCO — Researchers are working to discover how genes interact with each other to lead to cancer progression. This research is expected to lead the way toward the discovery of new targeted therapies against breast cancer, according to a study presented at the Second AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Basic Cancer Research, held here Sept. 14-18, 2011.
For example, the researchers found that a diuretic used to treat hypertension and edema also stops breast cancer cells from progressing, although this potential treatment is a long way from human trials, said lead researcher Bin Zhang, Ph.D., principal scientist and group leader at Sage Bionetworks in Seattle, Wash.
The researchers analyzed multiple large-scale cancer genomic data sets to find novel pathways and driver genes that help breast cancer progress. They then tested them in the laboratory against various compounds and drugs to see how they would react, explained Zhang.
"We tried to objectively derive a global picture of how genes interact with each other to impact cancer progression so that we could understand holistically the mechanisms underlying this complex disease. Then, we can systematically identify optimal intervention points for drug development," he said.
The researchers found that many genes function as groups corresponding to different pathways, so future targeted therapies would work better if they target more than one pathway. This also gives credence to the idea that using combination therapy against the different genetic pathways might help fight cancer better.
Although they tested breast cancer cells, Zhang said, their methods could be used to test other cancers and even other diseases.
"There is an enormous amount of cancer characterization data available, yet it remains challenging to establish models that predict tumor progression and drug response. We developed complex and advanced algorithms to reconstruct multiscale gene regulatory networks that reveal global patterns of gene interactions in cancer and also detail regulatory maps," he said. "These networks will serve as a blueprint for us to understand cancer progression and develop novel therapeutics."
Zhang and colleagues have found a diuretic used to treat hypertension and edema affected the progression of cancer cells. They predicted and successfully validated its novel effectiveness in preferentially killing cancer cells through inhibiting cell cycle pathways that are responsible for uncontrolled cell proliferation.
Based on their prediction, they believe this drug is as effective in culture as several marketed cancer drugs. However, there is still some time until it can be tested in people, according to Zhang.
Follow the AACR on Twitter: @aacr #aacr
Follow the AACR on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/aacr.org
The mission of the American Association for Cancer Research is to prevent and cure cancer. Founded in 1907, the AACR is the world's oldest and largest professional organization dedicated to advancing cancer research. The membership includes 33,000 basic, translational and clinical researchers; health care professionals; and cancer survivors and advocates in the United States and more than 90 other countries. The AACR marshals the full spectrum of expertise from the cancer community to accelerate progress in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer through high-quality scientific and educational programs. It funds innovative, meritorious research grants, research fellowships and career development awards. The AACR Annual Meeting attracts more than 18,000 participants who share the latest discoveries and developments in the field. Special conferences throughout the year present novel data across a wide variety of topics in cancer research, treatment and patient care. The AACR publishes seven major peer-reviewed journals: Cancer Discovery; Cancer Research; Clinical Cancer Research; Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention; Molecular Cancer Therapeutics; Molecular Cancer Research; and Cancer Prevention Research. AACR journals received 20 percent of the total number of citations given to oncology journals in 2010.
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system. | <urn:uuid:2f650c79-3e89-4a4a-869c-9d62f208d2b0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-09/aafc-fpt091211.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942457 | 809 | 2.8125 | 3 |
World demand for dairy products remains strong, despite higher prices.
Strong domestic and international demand helped push the cheese price above $2 and the butter price very nearly to $2 in early autumn.
Now, as I’m writing this column in mid-October, both prices are in retreat. These prices simply went too high, too fast and too early.
End users found themselves in one of two situations. Either they had spent the summer building some inventory at attractive prices or they viewed the price spike with disbelief and put away their order books, waiting for prices to retrace.
Not to worry. Remember that dairy demand is resilient—but first take a look at supply. Market analysts at the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) just delivered their outlook. In a nutshell, worldwide milk production will be higher and demand will be higher during 2013 and beyond.
- In New Zealand, pasture conditions are ideal, milk producers are starting to use more supplemental feed and production per cow is increasing. Total production will be up 4%.
- Ditto in Australia for water and feed, plus a big inventory of replacement heifers. Production will be up 5%.
- South American milk producers have some attractive options, namely row crops and beef. That said, they will still make 5% more milk; most of it will be consumed in South America.
- In the European Union, where production quotas still prevail, USDEC says production could increase by 1%. Domestic demand will be slack, so more EU dairy products will enter the world market.
- Here at home, milk production will be largely unchanged from 2012.
If the USDEC crystal ball is correct, an additional 6 billion pounds of milk will arrive on the world market during 2013. This is equivalent to a 3% increase in U.S. milk production.
For perspective, worldwide milk usage increased by 7.2 billion pounds in 2010 and by another 7.5 billion pounds in 2011.
China is the poster child for worldwide demand, but U.S. exporters are also finding healthy appetites in numerous Southeast Asian countries, the Middle East and Northern Africa, and Mexico.
USDEC analysts offered insight on several markets that went beyond the television headlines. For example, China is quietly abandoning its one-child-per-family policy. This single change promises to create a huge market for milk-based infant formula.
Meanwhile, buyer-held inventories are being reduced. Demand is resilient. Buyers here and abroad will likely be back.
The price of whole milk powder is a benchmark for international trade, and that price has hovered around $3,000 per ton for much of this year. As noted, buyers will be back, and USDEC predicts that whole milk powder will move to somewhere between $3,800 and $4,200 per ton. This translates into a U.S. milk price of $20 to $21 per cwt.
- November 2012 | <urn:uuid:965bb184-5fd0-49f2-a5b6-c5f36d56c92f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.agweb.com/livestock/dairy/article/market_watch_diary_dairy_demand_resilient/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946533 | 606 | 2.15625 | 2 |
BRUSSELS — European Parliament lawmakers on Friday demanded that U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano ease restrictions for Europeans traveling to the United States, saying plans to impose a new $10 (euro6.73), entry fee are unfair.
Citizens from many European Union countries already have to fill in an online visa waiver form before they travel to the U.S., but could face an additional charge when they arrive, which many EU officials and lawmakers fear amounts to a new visa restriction.
"The measures ... are even harder than they were under the previous (U.S.) government and that for us is a contradiction that we in the European Parliament cannot accept," Austrian lawmaker Ernst Strasser told Napolitano during a special hearing with her. "We really have to insist on our European values, that European data protection laws and European civil liberties also have to be taken account of."
Dutch lawmaker Sophie in't Veld urged Napolitano to review a controversial anti-terror pact between the EU and the U.S. which sees the transfer of data collected on trans-Atlantic air passengers to U.S. authorities to make sure the data is not being misused.
Many European lawmakers also urged Napolitano to persuade the U.S. Congress and President Barack Obama to ditch the planned $10 fee.
Napolitano said she could accept a review of the existing transfer of airline passenger data deal, but rejected calls to drop the new fee, which the U.S. Congress passed in September, but still has to be signed by Obama.
"Unlike many of your countries, the United States does not have a separate agency to promote tourism and travel, and so the goal of this is to use that to actually fund and help tourists and travelers who wish to come to the United States," Napolitano said. "In that respect I think that it is not only reasonable but in these days of reduced government budgets, it's the way to fund that."
The United States began requiring people who do not need visas to enter America to register online at least 72 hours before travel and to renew their registration every two years. Under the proposed plan, visitors would have to pay the $10 fee when they register.
On top of this, Europeans along with many other international visitors to the U.S. face stepped up identity and travel checks that Washington imposed since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Visitors already have to provide fingerprints to U.S. border guards when entering the country, and airlines they use forward data, including passenger names, addresses, seat numbers, credit card information and travel details.
EU lawmakers are angry because Americans visiting European countries such as France, Germany and Italy face no such fees or online checks.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:4384f864-772e-494d-af03-813e194883fb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nbcnews.com/id/33732604/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958533 | 586 | 1.859375 | 2 |
Enhance Your Energy
Tips for Fighting Fatigue
A brisk 30 minute walk is enough to boost your vitality and lift your mood
Maybe you hit a lull in the afternoon, or feel exhausted right after dinner. Or perhaps you have to drag yourself out of bed in the morning. Regardless of when you feel it most, low energy makes life more challenging. And while you might not be able to recapture the endless reserves you felt as a child, certain foods, lifestyle habits, and supplements may help you feel younger and more energetic.
Shift into a Less-Stressful Lifestyle
How you spend your days--and nights--can make a big difference in your energy levels.
- Get more sleep: There's a reason the National Institutes of Health recommends adults get between seven and nine hours of sleep daily--your body needs it. Not getting enough can lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, depression, memory impairment, and a weakened immune system, says Derek Johnson, a Los Angeles based holistic nutritionist, and Executive Nutrition Director of the Biggest Loser Resorts.
- Manage stress: Your emotional state has a lot to do with your energy levels. Depression, stress, and anger can drain you, both emotionally and physically. Relaxation and breathing techniques can lower stress, and therefore preserve your energy.
- Move your body: Not only can regular exercise improve sleep, it can enhance energy. Even a brisk 30 minute walk is enough to boost your vitality and lift your mood, and a few yoga stretches have been shown to increase physical and mental energy, and enhance alertness.
Increase Your Nutrition Knowledge
Eating a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and lean proteins, and low in refined carbs and sugars can help fight fatigue.
- Forgo simple carbs: Chances are when you are feeling a little sluggish, a cookie or soda sounds like just the thing to give you that burst of energy you crave. In reality however, such simple carbohydrates may ultimately drag you down. "When you eat fast-burning carbohydrates, your blood sugar shoots way up, giving you that quick jolt, but it is very short-lived," says Johnson.
- Eat protein: Including 1 to 2 ounces of lean protein with every meal keeps the body strong and delays the blood sugar absorption--meaning a steady flow of energy for you. Be sure to combine that protein with healthy fat and complex carbohydrates.
- Hydrate: The best time to hydrate the body is between meals, and coffee doesn't count. "Even when your body is only 3% dehydrated you start to suffer from fatigue and reduced brain function and energy," says Johnson. Strive to drink plenty of water every day.
Take Advantage of Supplement Secrets
When diet, exercise, and lifestyle changes aren't enough to lift you out of fatigue, talk to your healthcare practitioner about these energy-boosting supplements:
- Vitalize with vitamins: A high quality multivitamin/mineral supplement that is rich in B vitamins can aid in the body's transfer of energy.
- Support your cells: Carnitine, a product of the amino acids methionine and lysine, helps the body use fat as fuel, while CoQ10 has been shown to be a vital component in cellular energy production.
- Fire up your reserves: Siberian ginseng (Elutherococcus senticosus) has adaptogenic properties that can improve low energy and increase mental alertness without the negative effects of other stimulants such as caffeine. | <urn:uuid:b68904f9-c3d9-4066-bd2a-497ea6b2f178> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.vitaminshoppe.com/content/en/healthguide/hncontent_printable.jsp?resource=/assets/feature/enhance-your-energy/~default | 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 | 0.92897 | 721 | 2.015625 | 2 |
The biggest corn crop in 75 years has made it a great year for Monsanto Co.
The producer of genetically modified seeds posted third-quarter profits that exceeded the expectations of analysts and generated a net income of $937 million, up 35 percent from a year earlier.
In the next year, Monsanto plans to continue to expand to Latin America and Eastern Europe. Sales of insect-resistant seed are expected to increase in Brazil and Argentina in 2013, according to Bloomberg.
Monsanto's seed sales and genetic licenses were up 35 percent in the third quarter.
This year, the company has added 1 million acres to its reach in corn and 10 million acres in soybeans, according to Bloomberg. | <urn:uuid:bb9407bb-e3c1-4706-9ff1-a6c444e4e167> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://businessrecord.com/Content/Ag---Environment/Ag---Environment/Article/Monsanto-profits-exceed-expectations/163/787/46641 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952985 | 141 | 1.78125 | 2 |
But the study sort of overlooks the fact that the simple purpose of sporting carbo drinks, in cycling especially, is just to get some energy on long rides where it's not so easy to eat or carry lots of food.
It's a simple energy in, energy out calculation, with perhaps the added benefit of averting cramp with salts / sugars.
If a proper double-blind test showed that drinks with carbs had no effect on maintaining energy levels, THEN I'd be listening.
Last edited by ZootHornRollo; 19-07-2012 at 12:21 PM.
For what it is worth this paragraph from the second article certainly goes along with my opinion:
"A more recent systematic review of the effects of exercise induced dehydration on performance in long cycling time trials suggested that drinking according to thirst sensations (as opposed to drinking more or less frequently) was associated with better sports outcomes.(22) One of the studies in the review found that exercise induced dehydration of up to 2.3% of body weight significantly improved performance.(23) The explanation for how exercise induced dehydration might improve performance is straightforward: you carry less weight, and you don’t have to interrupt your exercise."
The "carry less weight" is particularly relevant if you have to carry your own water/drink.
I suspect that once all the evidence is in we will end up with advice along the lines of "drink to thirst, eat to hunger" - with the very important qualification that if you know - because of the length/height gain or the temperature - that you will need to drink/eat during an event then start early with a little and often approach.
Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.
Eating: I never want to eat anything when I'm running. I'll never get hungry, even when bonking (cycling term: sex while running doesn't appeal either). I have to make myself eat, & I only eat calories as that's all I appear to need. Kendal Mint Cake upsets my stomach least, so that's all I eat. That's a mix of sucrose & glucose, so it gets into & out of my system quickly, so I eat every 45 minutes. The amount is based on what I find I can digest, & Sarah Rowell's advice in her book. 42.5 grams of KMC per 45 mins (3 Romney squares).
Drinking: I can get thirsty when running, but usually I don't, even when getting dehydrated. So I try to make sure I have a drink regularly, every 45-60 mins. Once I start drinking, that's when I find out whether I'm thirsty/dehydrated. I go with what I feel like drinking, & listen to my body - but it only really works when I've started the process by starting to drink. I don't drink more than I feel like drinking, unless it's pretty hot, in which case I might have a little more to allow for the sweating over the next 15-20 minutes.
I've never had any supplements of any kind, or a sports drink. Mind you, I did try Lucozade back in the 60s, when they marketed the same guck as an invalid drink for the elderly. It was horrible then, & I don't imagine that's changed much.
Helsby Running Club
I'm with Splatcher on this. I rarely feel hungry or thirsty even when running for several hours. Despite that I've had one or two bad experiences when I've become pretty dehydrated on a run and definitely feel stronger in the last miles if I do drink & eat. Having said that, I don't eat or drink anything like as much as I see recommended sometimes and nothing "special". Very roughly speaking I only take a drink if I'm planning to run for more than an hour in the tropics (longer in the UK depending on the weather) and drink one or two mouthfuls (100ml?) each hour or so, and it's usually just water or diluted orange juice. I only eat if I'm out for more than about three hours - then it's a banana or handful of raisins, slice of malt loaf.
And I don't think we're unusual in not noticing thirst even when becoming dehydrated. I have lots of friends who do manual work all day under a tropical sun but rarely drink during the day because they say they are not thirsty. They do, however, get frequent headaches caused by dehydration. I know it's dehydration because when they come asking for paracetamol I make them drink a couple of glasses of water and only give the tablets if they still have the headache 20 mins later. They rarely do.
Having said all that, I'm not sure just drinking a lot after the end of a run is necessarily a sign that you were too dehydrated. As Mike's excerpt suggests, being a little dehydrated may actually be helpful but I'm guessing it's a fine line between good dehydration (= less weight) and bad dehydration that impacts your performance negatively. Even though I drink a little while running I'm usually thirsty afterwards (I can easily down a couple of pints of water, milk, tea &/or homemade ORF in the hour or two after a 30 miler). I don't see that as a problem as long as I wasn't becoming wobbly legged or simply finding the going unusually tough in the last miles. Feeling thirsty might be an adequate indicator to avoid this for some people, but not for me.
I would in part agree with some of the above regardind not feeling hunger or thirst.
My reasons may differ, but for me I would be to engrossed in the experience to pay attention. I have lately however been making a conscious effort to ask myself "am I hungry" "am I thirsty" which has not necessarily come naturally. Suffice to say I seem to be running better and with more enjoyment as a result.
Purely from personal experience.
Having now watched the panorama programme, I wasn't too surprised by its findings.
I am constantly amused by the outraged tone of programmes such as this when they describe the action of companies trying to sell things to make more money. I think the questions people should generally ask about the companies are: is it illegal? will it make them more money? if it's "no" and "yes", then of course companies will do it.
Are you an uphill goat or a downhill hare? This is for you
My BMJ is becoming better value for money (will never catch up with Fellrunner though ) - 2 major exercise related debates in the last month (there's also been one on exercise and depression).
I don't think it's a good idea to conflate the eating and drinking issues. With eating there is a measurable loss of performance if hypoglycaemia occurs after depletion of glycogen stores and eating some calories thereafter is essential to preserve activity above what fat burning can support. Even in those who have great natural and trained fat burning capability and running economy there will be a benefit from carb calories and ingestion of carbs is worthwhile in the absence of hunger (and often presence of nausea). With drinking there is no good evidence that dehydration impairs performance over the distances and times studied and therefore no reason to advocate drinking in the absence of thirst. There have been deaths in marathons due to over zealous rehydration causing hyponatraemia. Much is also said of the need for electrolyte intake which again lacks any proper evidence and this is also often tied in with prevention of cramp whilst the evidence suggests cramp has nowt to do with electrolyte status. As for f'in' beetroot don't even go there
As far as sports drinks go my 2p is (in agreement with points others have made) firstly that I find it easier, when driven to drink by thirst during a run, to get something flavoured down my neck than plain water - generally Nuun nowadays as most energy drinks are so sweet as to be off-putting and I can dip stream water and add tabs on the run. Maybe I've still got some illogical attachment to the electrolyte stuff too. Secondly, if you acknowledge the need to get calories in then many will find ingesting them by drink, which is going down for hydration anyway, is the best tolerated and easiest way to do it. So to my mind they're useful and not a complete con but hugely and knowingly oversold by the manufacturers. It is also annoying that so much bad science has been wilfully created to pollute the environment and a shame that all those funds couldn't have been channeled in to some decent research.
I've made a mental note to go back and read the evidence for mixing carb and protein rather then just carb in the endurance setting - I was reasonably convinced by the limited published evidence but can't really remember the ins and outs of it or the level of evidence. There are several products using this mix now -eg a SIS drink - and I maybe convinced to give these a go versus Nuun and food
At the end of the day there's a lot to be said for the placebo effect - if you feel it's doing you good in a sporting context it probably is, mentally at least - so long as the placebo is harmless and not bankrupting
Based on Prof Barkoukis' comment, i'd go a long way to avoid drinking one of those prior to a run; and i can't see how an energy drink containing zero carbs could provide any energy whatsoever. Perhaps the Dublin based personal trainer your signature is advertising could shed some light on things?Originally Posted by Wikipedia
Can't climb for toffee... | <urn:uuid:b493e7c8-bed6-4eb4-89fc-06fe70214c0f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://forum.fellrunner.org.uk/showthread.php?17816-Sports-drinks&p=494726 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975784 | 1,995 | 1.921875 | 2 |
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard is alive and well in the U.S. and the country’s law enforcement officials ignore them at their peril, according to former U. S. Air Force officer Steven O’Hern.
O’Hern says that the Revolutionary Guard, long an influential factor in the radical Islamic regime in Iran, does most of its surveillance and intelligence gathering through its proxy force, Hezbollah, considered by many to be a terror group.
“In the United States, the Revolutionary Guard uses more than one approach. Hezbollah operatives and sympathizers are present in large numbers in many parts of the United States and actively conduct reconnaissance missions that develop information, photographs, and diagrams of federal buildings, and infrastructure targets,” O’Hern said.
“Those targets include such things as water utilities or electrical substations, and other potential targets to give the Guard the ability to quickly order a terrorist strike in our homeland,” O’Hern said.
He explains that the Revolutionary Guard is working through Shi’a mosques around the United States as well as the nation’s Lebanese immigrant communities.
WND previously reported that a former Iranian official who has knowledge of Iran’s terror network estimated there are more than 40,000 of the regime’s security, intelligence and propaganda forces in the West, largely in friendly South American nations.
And WND has reported that Muslims are using mosques, including some in the United States, as terror command centers.
It is the Guards’ intelligence office that runs financing, recruiting and other strategies through Islamic centers and mosques, including some in New York and Ohio.
O’Hern, who has written “Iran’s Revolutionary Guard,” about the issue, said the primary mission of the Iran Revolutionary Guard and its Hezbollah proxy is to weaken the U. S. national security.
“In the United States, the Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah have a long-term mission of gathering intelligence on homeland targets and maintaining the capability to deliver multiple terrorist attacks if the IRGC chooses to do so,” O’Hern said. “I say ‘maintain’ because the Guard has already developed it.”
He said attacks could be ordered in retaliation if Iran’s nuclear program is hit, or, “Sleeper cells could even be ordered into action if economic sanctions were so successful that the regime was in danger.”
“Attacks against the U.S. homeland are only one place where the IRGC can strike – it also can attack U.S. troops and facilities in Afghanistan, Africa, Europe, all of which are closer,” O’Hern said.
O’Hern’s findings are affirmed by the analysis of a former Defense Department analyst who has asked not to be named for security reasons. The analyst points to the major Arab-American communities in the major cities, especially in Dearborn, Mich., and the San Francisco Bay area.
“It is my sense that IRGC will rely more on Hezbollah in the U.S. than having their own operatives here. The reason for that is Hezbollah presence is primarily through the concentration of the Arab-American communities, mainly Lebanese, throughout the U.S., such as in Michigan and elsewhere,” the source said.
Former FBI counterterrorism officer and Islam analyst John Guandolo agrees that the Revolutionary Guard has a presence in the United States, and it operates through the major Shi’a communities.
“This is the Iranian government’s military activity in the U.S,” he said.
Guandolo, who established Guandolo and Associates in 2012, says that when it comes to working to undermine non-Muslim countries, Shi’a and Sunni Muslims work together.
“We do know the Sunni and Shi’a groups that are hostile to the United States are working together. In Lebanon, Iraq, and other places we see Hezbollah, by Iran, and Hamas with al-Qaida, working together on the ground,” Guandolo said.
“In the United States, the largest Muslim Brotherhood organization, the Islamic Society of North America, put forth the ISNA Code of Honor which says Sunni Muslims will not challenge other Muslims, the Shi’a, on their Takfiri, their legitimacy,” Guandolo said.
“All Muslims are focused on a similar goal. In other words, the Muslim world is working towards one goal right now and they have written agreements and are working on the ground around the world together,” Guandolo said, “So, yes, Hamas, CAIR works with Hezbollah, which is basically the IRGC.”
The former Defense Department analyst says the Revolutionary Guard operates the same way worldwide.
“That is similar in Africa and Latin America. Like Iran, Hezbollah is mainly Shi’a, although it will have some Sunnis and even some Christian Lebanese who are sympathetic here,” the former Defense Department analyst said.
“There is a major Hezbollah contingent, for example, in Canada. It would be much easier for Iran to work through them and the extensive Lebanese communities throughout the U.S. than to seek to establish a major independent presence,” the Defense Department analyst said.
Still, he said, it’s possible that the IRGC itself may have operational units working in the United States.
“However, I don’t doubt that IRGC may have some operatives here acting as liaison with the Hezbollah elements here. In Lebanon, the IRGC presence is more open with representatives working out of the Iranian embassy in Beirut,” the Defense Department analyst said.
Read the rest at WND | <urn:uuid:c7cf344a-8072-4433-84d0-ab2a9ddcef7a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://counterjihadreport.com/2012/12/06/iranians-prepare-terror-campaign-inside-u-s/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=1a35c759c1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959164 | 1,201 | 1.585938 | 2 |
CHISHOLM, Minn. (AP) — Ironworld has a new name.
The 660-acre museum complex on the Iron Range in Chisholm (CHIS'-uhm) is now known as Minnesota Discovery Center.
Officials say the center, which showcases northeastern Minnesota's history and future, needed a name that offers a broader definition. The complex features a museum, entertainment venue, research library and park.
The Ironworld Development Corporation announced the name change. The IDC manages the property in mutual agreement with Iron Range Resources.
The facility opened in 1977 as the Iron Range Interpretive Center with 34 exhibits. In 1984, it was renamed Ironworld USA.
On the Net:
Minnesota Discovery Center: http://mndiscoverycenter.com
Information from: The Daily Tribune, http://www.hibbingmn.com/placed/ | <urn:uuid:b23d98ad-4a26-42f2-986b-bce71d2a072a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.superiortelegram.com/event/article/id/35619/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90047 | 178 | 2 | 2 |
About Boarding Schools
Boarding schools today are very different from what they used to be, and poles apart from stereotypical Hollywood images such as, havens for children of privilege, or refuges for troubled teens. New research proves that contemporary boarding schools serve a diverse body of motivated and well-rounded students who study and live in supportive, inclusive academic communities where they learn about independence and responsibility; traditional values that help them achieve success at higher rates than private day and public school students in the classroom and beyond.
To gain a more comprehensive understanding of modern-day boarding schools and the relative value of the boarding school experience, The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS), the non-profit membership organization for independent, college-preparatory boarding schools, commissioned Art & Science Group, a market research and consulting firm based in Baltimore, to study the subject. The results of this detailed assessment debunk many of the misperceptions about boarding schools and offer new insight into the strengths and advantages of boarding schools today.
Taken from The Truth About Boarding School
(A Comparative Study of Education Options)
Please click the logo below to download a summary of key findings from the boarding schools' research project.
Consult current TASIS publications like Getting Ready for Life at TASIS and the MS and HS Student Handbooks from the Publications page of this website; they will also be helpful to you as you consider becoming a boarding student at The American School in Switzerland. | <urn:uuid:98190749-e087-4856-9628-be1e8aa9de2b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://yvonne.procyk@tasis.ch/page.cfm?p=22 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941748 | 298 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Vacation should be a time for rest and relaxation, not for finding a job. However, Erin Papworth ‘03, English major and business minor, did just that during an African safari in 2003. After getting into a political debate with a safari guide, Papworth realized that despite her interest in Africa she knew far too little about its reality. To her surprise, he offered her a job and lodging in exchange for her commitment to truly understanding the continent’s problems.
“He was completely right,” Papworth said. “I had to learn about the region, political history and communities of a continent first-hand before I attempted to assist in its development.”
Papworth became familiar with many political and social issues because of her various jobs. After working for the safari company, she worked for Bana Ba Lesatsi, or Children of Water, a school for orphaned children living with HIV /AIDS.
“There is a lack of understanding of what actual life is like in Africa,” Papworth said. “The continent has very functional societies and truly rich cultures in its 52 countries.”
Papworth also worked in Darfur, Sudan for Doctors Without Borders, a private, international medical relief agency, providing humanitarian aid in a war zone. She helped to distribute food and organize medical care for a camp of 70,000 internally displaced people.
“Western ideas don’t always fit in with African ideology,” Papworth said. “We helped the refugees establish the means for everyday life, and then let them solve the problems in their own cultures.”
Papworth was introduced to international politics while on a LMU study abroad program at Oxford University, England. She took a comparative government class examining the difference between British and American governments, and learned about the global influence of British colonialism.
“LMU opened my eyes to the broader world of international politics,” Papworth said. “I wanted to take the work I was doing in college and apply it to the suffering I saw in the world.”
Papworth hopes to combine her education with her field work. She has been accepted into a master’s program in public health at The School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Tulane University in New Orleans, LA, starting spring 2008.
As for those interested in pursuing an education or a career in international politics, development or conflict, Papworth offered this advice:
“Start small and learn about the roots of the issues” Papworth said. “Begin with one country, and that will open the door to the rest of the continent.” | <urn:uuid:9ed23e3a-cce8-4b0a-a97b-5fe1d650b434> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lmu.edu/lmunews/LMU_Alumna_Backs_Her_Education_Through_First-Hand_Experience.htm?DateTime=633352934400000000&PageMode=View | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97395 | 557 | 1.804688 | 2 |
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey -- 8 Big Differences Between The Book And Movie
Even though the movie is coming to theaters on Friday, it's still a little hard to believe that J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit will be made into three whole movies. Sure, the book is the prequel to the epic Lord of the Rings trilogy, but it's also famously short and written for children. How does Peter Jackson plan to wring any kind of drama out of it?
WIth the first installment of the new trilogy, An Unexpected Journey, we're finally getting an idea of how it will work-- and though the story sticks closely to the big beats of the book you remember, there are are some additions and even, over the course of two and a half hours, some parts left out. Read below for the eight biggest differences between The Hobbit book and movie, and once you've seen it, jump into the comments to let us know what you think of the changes!
SPOILERS HEAD FOR THE HOBBIT BOOK AND MOVIE
It starts with a massive flashback to Smaug's takeover of Erebor.
Before we see Bilbo, Gandalf or any of the main characters, the story begins by showing us the dragon's invasion of the dwarves' ancestral homeland-- setting up the stakes for their desire to take their home back, and giving us a peek at the dragon who doesn't appear in the rest of the movie. It's very similar to the start of Fellowship of the Ring, when Galadriel gave us a quick rundown of Middle Earth. You'll have to decide for yourself if it's wise to start a movie without its title character, though.
Back to top | <urn:uuid:0d812dae-0c6d-4577-8c91-69abced6834a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Hobbit-An-Unexpected-Journey-8-Big-Differences-Between-Book-Movie-34549.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954016 | 350 | 1.96875 | 2 |
Scone left without housing office
The Upper Hunter Shire Mayor is concerned residents facing homelessness in the region may not be getting the information they need, since a community housing service closed its office in Scone.
Compass Housing is a not for profit organisation providing affordable housing for those facing financial hardship across the Hunter.
It had an information office in Scone, but decided to close the branch two months ago.
Councillor Lee Watts is disappointed struggling residents in the town no longer have the office nearby.
"I believe that that service should have stayed in Scone and unfortunately due to reasons beyond what I know, they had to move back to Muswellbrook and that's not fixing the problem and finding solutions," she said.
The ABC has been reporting on a spike in the homeless rate across the Upper Hunter as a result of the mining boom, which has led to the establishment of a homeless committee for the region.
Compass CEO Greg Budworth says the reason for the closure in Scone was because not enough people were using the office.
"We did a 10 week study of who was accessing our services in Scone and over that 10 week period, only three tenants accessed it," he said.
"So it was an economic decision to concentrate the administrative centres in more concentrated areas."
But Mr Budworth says the money saved by closing the office can be used for more important things.
"Anything that doesn't take away our service but makes it more efficient is more money we can spend on housing." | <urn:uuid:63fb1892-c5f6-4788-a36a-109736725e99> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-22/compass-scone/4086458/?site=&source=rss | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982749 | 311 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Motorcycles and Coriolis Effect
Name: Ralph B.
I teach a motorcycle course and I understand about
countersteering and the physics that go into it. My question focuses on
the idea of the Coriolis effect and how it effects motorcycle turning. In
the northern hemisphere we notice that riders can make turns to the left
easier than they can to the right. Some people believe that this is
related to the Coriolis effect. Is it? If it is how is it?
Near the equator, the Earth travels 25,000 miles per day. Near Illinois,
the distance is closer to 15,000 miles per day. When an object moves toward
the equator, the ground accelerates eastward. This makes the object appear
to accelerate westward. When an object moves away from the equator, the
reverse happens. For something as large as a rotating tropical storm, this
Coriolis effect decides the direction of rotation: clockwise in the
northern hemisphere, counter-clockwise in the southern hemisphere.
The Coriolis force is a very weak force. For something as small as a
motorcycle, forces such as and friction with the road would definitely
overpower it. A very slight breeze from the side would have extreme effect
compared to the Coriolis force. Check to see whether your motorcycle tends
to fall to the left when standing still. If so, then the motorcycle is
slightly heavier on the left side. This could cause the preference to turn
Math, Science, Engineering
Illinois Central College
I think the Coriolis effect is much too small to have a significant effect
on the turning direction of a motorcycle. It is a "apparent" change in the
trajectory of an object that results because the Earth rotates during the
time lapse of an object. If you search Google for "Coriolis effect" you will
find numerous "hits" that provide good detailed analyses.
The "right" vs. "left" thing -- could it be that it is simply the radius
of curvature of the turns? For a right turn the cycle turns into the close
lane whereas in the case of a left turn the cycle turns into the far lane.
The right turn has a smaller radius of curvature so it would be reasonable
that the right turn would be more difficult. The "northern" vs.
"southern" hemisphere would need a large sampling of riders and careful
statistical sampling or instrumentation to determine whether this is just a
perception or involves "real physics".
I am not sure what effect the Coriolis force has on turning, except that it
is quite small. The Coriolis force on an object of mass m moving at speed
v while at latitude L is given by
F = 2 m v w sin(L)
where w is the angular speed of rotation of the earth. For a bike of weight
1000 lb moving at 60 MPH at 40 degrees of latitude (near Philadelphia), the
force is about 1/4 pound. Not noticeable, I would think.
The direction of the force in the northern hemisphere is to the right. I
cannot think how this would make it easier to turn to the left. I suspect
it is easier to turn to the left since all race tracks, by tradition, I
suppose, have been constructed so the racers turn to the left.
Do you know for sure that bikers in the southern hemisphere find it easier
to turn to the right? How are the race tracks constructed in the southern
I would bet that race tracks in the southern hemisphere are also constructed
so the racers turn to the left. I would further bet that bikers in the
southern hemisphere find it easier to turn to the left. But I certainly do
NOT know; it could be an interesting and rewarding area for some research.
Let me know what you learn!
Best, Dick Plano, Professor of Physics emeritus, Rutgers University
Click here to return to the Physics Archives
Update: June 2012 | <urn:uuid:1708a29c-90c0-4a5e-be89-f320e74401c8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/phy00/phy00799.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935091 | 855 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Stem-Cell Method May Cheat Death
A reproductive research team in Chicago could have an answer to the ethical and scientific conundrums presented by the pursuit of stem-cell treatments.
That's no small task considering it's a question the top minds in science and bioethics have been racking their brains to solve. Scientists at the Reproductive Genetics Institute, or RGI, believe they can derive high-quality embryonic stem cells from an early embryo without killing it.
The approach would involve removing one cell from a very early embryo that has developed to about eight cells (called a morula), and deriving stem cells from that single cell. The embryo would still have the potential to develop into a human if implanted into a womb. The only thing preventing the scientists from trying the process is money, said Dr. Yury Verlinsky, director of RGI.
"No problem," Verlinsky said of the technical challenge. "I need funding. If you give me funding, I will be doing this."
Verlinsky said he can't be certain the technique will engender embryonic stem cells, but the prospect has greater potential than more complicated proposals recently presented by other scientists to the President's Council on Bioethics.
He and his colleagues at RGI have become experts at a technique called pre-implantation diagnosis, which helps reproduction specialists during in vitro fertilization identify embryos that are most likely to grow into healthy babies. They take one cell, called a blastomere, from the embryo -- which is not damaged by the process -- and test the cell for genetic markers. The researchers say they might be able to expand that single cell into an embryonic stem-cell line.
Verlinsky and his colleagues recently published the first evidence of embryonic stem cells derived from morulae in the Dec. 6 issue of Reproductive BioMedicine Online. In this experiment, which led to eight stem-cell lines (they self-replicate indefinitely), the morulae were destroyed. But because a morula contains just eight cells, it's not hard to imagine one cell being sufficient to derive a stem-cell line.
"Certainly there will be some technical challenges, but it's probably nothing that cannot be worked out," said Bruno Peault, a stem-cell researcher and professor of pediatrics and cell biology at the University of Pittsburgh. "This might be a way to do this because certainly there is no damage from harvesting only one cell."
The researchers say deriving stem cells from morulae is a more straightforward method -- and the resulting cells might be more powerful -- than taking them from older embryos at the blastocyst stage (about a week old).
Embryonic stem cells have the potential to cure deadly diseases, scientists say, and many believe destroying days-old embryos to obtain cells that could save lives is morally acceptable, even imperative. Others believe embryos at any stage of development are worthy of the same protection as any human being. This impasse, and President Bush's executive order prohibiting federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research on cells derived after August 9, 2001, has led to proposals of several creative alternatives to getting embryonic stem cells without killing an embryo.
The President's Council on Bioethics heard two proposals Dec. 3. One came from two Columbia University researchers who described the potential technique in the Journal of Clinical Investigation in November. They suggested using embryos left behind at IVF clinics that have died; they compared that technique to harvesting organs from a brain-dead person for transplantation. | <urn:uuid:91eafdea-d0b8-4b6f-8b00-298537760d34> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/news/2004/12/66113 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959802 | 720 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Can the Regime of Meaning Be
An Extension of the Regime of Truth?
Fool: The reason why the seven
no more than seven is a pretty reason.
Lear: Because they are not eight?
Do cells in their bloodstream dream?
Do they know one another like fish in a school,
like starlings in their dark armor that,
as one, at once, dip the right wing
and sail and bank at once in their hundreds?
It is a secret.
I walk around with it.
Then I am back, having read the last few pages
of a novel in which a lover dies
and forty years pass and the wisteria she planted
frames the bedroom window. I know
my work is to reinterpret the world to myself.
It says the meaning asks, Which wing is right?
It means: don't cry, didn't-plant-any-Where.
(My native American name.)
Can't I live in my own bloodstream?
Call me Mobius… (docket here intervenes)
"We show that there is no decision procedure
that separates those first order
statements that hold almost always from those
whose negation almost always hold."
Shhh. Show me how—at once—to hold my head
so it dreams a window bound by streams of air.
Analogous air. So my analogs of fin and wing
home in on How and Where.
Bisection (cheering, vivi-)
The flowers themselves are like knees,
not their buds, as with peonies,
the ball-peened. She calls me
from too far away for not even a kiss
yet, could be like violets, too,
that end's her spectrum. Say
lustrum, hurt one. Say I do
Teena, too. See how, too, I am
on my knees. Say I too know
what you means.
Conclude In a Moist Relentment
-Sir Thomas Browne
I have lived a lot of palaces.
A typo's made me rich.
I have mopped a lot of floor.
Barge. Bail. Flail.
Hoop, she said.
Must I through you?
Stairway not hopeful.
Witch: to go it alone.
He called me a bitch.
The word "asymptote" is uglier.
Yet skin is torn.
I sore. I hone.
Wherein Our Bones with Stars
Shall Make One Pyre (damper)…
There is no item of your coming.
I am sad long hope is at an end. I hate the end.
My special hatred of Death cannot such patient Sad forfend.
Had you returned even one hour early
The statute-madness of the World had died daily.
That there may be more world than my Soldier hope has hoped—
Horae combustae only. Felix esse mori?
It is a lesson to be good. I tried—try—am tried.
My wanting unabated though the insolent part of reason lied—
So the perfectest actions of earth console me
Not. Nor can such saying allay an aching punctual.
I ought perpend: the beautiful path through the stone of water…
Can the sunfish drown?
Again shall the Vessel say to the Potter
Why hast thou made me thus? Let me rather
(or more of the same) Be in love with dead Sir Thomas Browne. | <urn:uuid:25e4e57e-3055-4cba-a58e-a303fbf7720b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cortlandreview.com/issue/17/waldner17.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921143 | 747 | 1.75 | 2 |
There’s been a lot of press lately about the electric car (vehicle). EV’s are the transportation of the future, providing energy efficiency and lower operational costs. EV’s will move us toward energy independence; mitigate the onset of global warming; and create thousands of new “green” jobs.
Of course most of these benefits defy calculation which is the essence of vague claimed advantages. But if you’re a believer and a moralist when it comes to the environment, go out and buy an EV. Feel good about yourself. That‘s the only reason it makes sense. It certainly isn’t the economics.
Electric cars are not cheap. A basic battery pack alone runs $15,000. Thus, the gas augmented EV Chevrolet Volt, for example, cost some $41,000, compared to a similar sized gas engine only Chevrolet Cruze at $17,000. The all battery Nissan Leaf with its limited range is cheaper at $32,000. These costs do not include the installation of home chargers requiring garage upgrades.
Considering the cost, buyers of EVs are by necessity relatively affluent. They are willing and able to pay up for the self esteem boost and bragging rights. I have no problem with how people spend their money, but why do EV buyers get to spend some of mine?
To make EV’s more economically appealing, the federal government is offering up to $7,500 in tax credits to EV buyers. At a time when the federal deficit is ballooning because of out of control spending, Washington is now subsidizing car purchases by the affluent. The low-income guy who just needs a car to get to work is forgotten again, right after the new car purchase “clunkers” stimulus program last year destroyed 600,000 cheap used cars.
Now don’t get me wrong. I want to do my part to support energy independence, stall global warming, boost green job creation and fight environmental pollution. Auto fossil fuel emissions account for some 9 percent of greenhouse gases. Methane gas, however, the product of animal (cows, pigs) “emissions” accounts for about 19 percent. So I will become an organics only vegetarian, which is expensive. Since my estimated contribution to environmental improvement will exceed that of any EV buyer, I want a subsidy too; $7,500 sounds about right.
- - -
Write to email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:7a92514a-9963-4fc3-9bf2-f6506e44c7fe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2010/nov/09/money-marts-why-should-taxpayers-pay-others-drive/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933943 | 511 | 1.914063 | 2 |
When all else fails, the "standard" way of proving a problem NP-hard is to go back to the basics, i.e 3SAT. One particularly quirky variant that I quite enjoy is NAE-SAT:
As usual, you're given an instance of satisfiability with clauses and variables, and you want to check if there's a satisfying instance. In NAE-SAT, the extra catch is that in no clause are you allowed to have all literals set to TRUE. Since no clause can have all literals set to FALSE, you get the name 'Not-All-Equal-SAT', or NAE-SAT.Like SAT, NAE-SAT is NP-Complete, and remains so if you restrict clauses to containing 3 literals (i.e NAE-3SAT). Other interesting properties:
- NAE-3SAT is still NP-complete in its monotone variant (i.e if all variables appear unnegated). This is in contrast to SAT, which is trivial in that case. This property is particularly handy if you don't want to deal with how to ensure consistency between a variable and its negation when making a gadget.
- If X is a satisfying assignment for NAE-SAT, then so is X' (the complement of X). This is again because of the NAE-property. A clause that's satisfied with one literal becomes one that's satisfied with two literals, and so on. Since no clause has all three literals set to TRUE, no clause becomes unsatisfied. This is useful because when you assume that the problem has a satisfying instance, you have two instances you can use (we used this trick in a paper a while back).
- Unusually, and unlike other SAT variants, Planar-NAE-SAT is in P. This is a surprising result due to Bernard Moret, and prevents us from using NAE-SAT for many geometric problems where planarity is a useful tool (but if you can handle crossings, you're ok). | <urn:uuid:2e37b7ed-65b3-443e-927f-3cb0f0dee020> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://geomblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/joys-of-nae-sat.html?showComment=1345942441596 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937109 | 429 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Murder in Madras
As Chennai (new name for Madras) was celebrating Christmas with Carols, and the Tamil-Hindu holy month of “Margarzhi” with Vedic hymns and Carnatic music, 11-year-old Aravind Karthikeyan lost his life most gruesomely. Three of his own friends, teens between 15 and 17 years of age, killed him on the night of December 26 2006 after luring him to an empty house on the city’s western periphery. They wrapped the body in a bed-sheet, put it on a bicycle, took it to a desolate spot on a Hindu temple land and hid it behind the bushes.
But the teenagers had not planned to murder Aravind. They merely wanted to kidnap him and get a ransom of Rs 500,000 from his father, an employee with a private hospital in Chennai. They thought of using the money to buy fancy mobile telephones and have a good New Year’s Eve bash in one of the city’s star hotels.
However, the plan went horribly wrong when Aravind overheard his friends at the house, and tried to escape. The teens panicked and hit the boy with a brick killing him. It was only after this that the boys placed the ransom call. Two days later, the police arrested the offenders, two of whom are high school students. The third is a school dropout, but works in a factory.
Interestingly, all of them belong to respectable middleclass families with no known record of dysfunction or crime. They are not even poor or abused, factors that have till now contributed to deviant behaviour among children.
Chennai’s police chief, Letika Saran, told the media that the boys had been inspired by films to commit the crime. In fact, they had gone to the extent of sprinkling chili powder around the bushes to throw police dogs off the scent, a scene re-enacted from a recent Tamil movie. Cinema has always been an integral part of Tamil society, giving rise to political thought and personalities. Now, it appears to be instigating crime.
There is no “counter-culture to balance the often negative imagery of cinema”, says Geeta Ramaseshan, a leading Chennai lawyer and social activist. Such juvenile crimes are on the rise even in Chennai, which is by far the most tradition-bound and conservative among India’s four metros. Dazzled by the neon-sign blinking consumerism and motivated by cinema’s make-believe message, Chennai’s youth is taking the easiest way to acquire riches.
Sadly, Indian juvenile remand homes one of which that Aravind's killers
have been sent to since they are under 18 and cannot go to a normal prison
-- are not really equipped as counter-balancing reformatories. And the
family too seems to be failing here. Even in Chennai.
(Posted on this website on January 11 2007) | <urn:uuid:3053cf71-0adb-41ff-87b9-e281a23cc31e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gautamanbhaskaran.com/gb/aravind.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969519 | 618 | 1.875 | 2 |
Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park will open a new exhibit May 24.
“Looking East, Facing West: The World of Zhang Huan” features the work of Chinese artist Zhang Huan. Huan is a sculptor, painter, photographer and installation artist. His exhibit focuses on the themes of Chinese history, spiritual tranquility and the importance of Buddhism in his own life.
The chief curator of Meijer Gardens calls Huan’s exhibit the first of its kind in the American Midwest.
“Looking East, Facing West: The World of Zhang Huan” will remain on display until August 25. However, a featured piece, the "Long Island Buddha," will remain at Meijer Gardens after that. | <urn:uuid:cef9a0aa-1ced-4be0-8d08-275a77ad1f55> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://adacascade.wzzm13.com/news/arts-culture | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955999 | 159 | 1.90625 | 2 |
Christianity is a crutch for the weak.
With a pinched nerve ravaging the muscles in my right buttocks the past month I’ve been walking with a sizable limp. You know, the kind that makes you walk like a zombie with a gangsta lean. I haven’t thought of crutches to ease the pain but I have thought pretty hard about snatching one of those hoverounds whenever I find myself at Walmart. I didn’t want to garner any dirty looks from the old or obese people I’d have to take it from though. But I’m sure people with maimed or broken legs appreciate the support of crutches.
Have you ever went up to an injured individual and declared smugly: “Crutches are for people who can’t walk on their own!”
Jesus is for people who can’t walk on their own.
Christianity absolutely is for the weak, diseased, emotionally distraught, broken, and depressed of the children of men. The bottom of the barrel is the cream that rises to the top in God’s upside down Kingdom.
As Jesus said (my paraphrase): ”I came for the sick, not those who suppose they’re well.” Jesus came for the embittered Lieutenant Dans, the paraplegics who can’t even go to the bathroom without being humbled by the help of others.
The nervous social introvert who can’t even go to the bank without praying they don’t see anyone they know.
For the foolish.
For the poor.
For the unpopular.
For the weak. Especially the weak. (1 Corinthians 1:26-31)
If the statue of Liberty will take them how much more will the perfect Father in Heaven open His strong arms for them? His own dear Son limped up to Calvary to show His compassion for the limpers. He rose from the grave to show they wouldn’t limp forever.
If Christianity is a crutch for the weak I say this: Lean hard into this crutch called Christ, and I promise, you will find Him much more than just a crutch. | <urn:uuid:821eab7f-343c-4f41-9b50-fb66b8eb9725> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://chiefofleast.com/2013/01/12/christianity-absolutely-is-a-crutch-for-the-weak/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933808 | 462 | 1.585938 | 2 |
How to Tell People about the Famine in Somalia
Give $10, feed a child. This is a common campaign tagline among aid groups and charities especially those that work amidst the food crisis in East Africa. But does this one-liner oversimplify the complex issues in crisis areas particularly Somalia? In an article on The Guardian, the head of an international medical charity accused aid groups of misleading the public on the real situation in Somalia.
"There is a con, there is an unrealistic expectation being peddled that you give your £50 and suddenly those people are going to have food to eat. Well, no. We need that £50, yes; we will spend it with integrity. But people need to understand the reality of the challenges in delivering that aid. We don't have the right to hide it from people; we have a responsibility to engage the public with the truth," Dr Unni Karunakara, president of Médecins Sans Frontières, said.
Karunaka’s statements sparked debate on Twitter and even had New York University professor Bill Easterly and Oxfam spokesperson Ian Bray trading blows for a while.
@bill_easterly To Bray @Oxfam: "no debate allowed" on Somalia is worse than "aid agencies arguing w/ each other."
@IanOxfam Aid agencies trading insults will not improve access in Somalia. Misrepresenting my quote will not either. Grow up
@bill_easterly Thx for help growing up. Now can you address the criticism?
@IanOxfam Criticism dealt with in quote, you may not agree with it but it was dealt with so 2nd time please do not distort what I said
@bill_easterly But @IanOxfam you don't answer how you cope with lack of access to people inside Somalia
@IanOxfam thks Bill Yes access big challenge Joint work with local partners Reached 600k last week Gedo M+L Juba L Shebelle Banadir
A commenter also criticized The Guardian for publishing the story, saying it just gives an excuse for people not to donate and may even result in reduction of donations. Twitter war aside, the discussion highlighted issues on ethics of fundraising and public education on the intricacies of humanitarian aid.
With so much available media and a shorter attention span of people nowadays, awareness and fundraising campaigns have to be short and direct. They must also appeal to the emotions of people. Most of us donate because we want to feel helpful; we want to feel like we’re doing something that makes a difference in such a horrible catastrophe. To affirm this, fundraising ads are crafted in such a way as to say that the $10 you gave was translated to actual food for the famine victims.
This method however, also runs the risk of delivering simplistic messages that don’t cover the complexities on the ground. How then can aid groups make donors and the public understand, for instance, the difficulty of access to Somalia, Al-Shabaab blocking aid delivery, incidents of corruption and the myriad of other problems that plague humanitarian relief? But one could also say: does it even matter? Isn’t the important thing to raise money in whatever way possible? If a simplistic message gets people to give $10 for the famine in Somalia, then it’s good enough and has served its purpose.
The importance of better public education on humanitarian aid, I think, is its potential to reduce donor fatigue. Going back to the earlier point of people giving because they want to feel helpful, people get tired of giving not because they don’t want to help anymore. They get tired of giving because they don’t see the impact of what they give. When an aid group asks people to give $10 for the famine in Somalia and then the situation still doesn’t seem to improve, they begin to wonder if it even makes sense to donate in the first place. It leads to the callous but candid mindset of “What else is new? People are always starving in Africa anyway.”
But if there is better public engagement and discussion on the realities of the crisis, people would have a deeper understanding of the situation on the ground and why the problem calls for more than just delivering food packs. Campaigns could also go beyond the usual poverty porn and the shock value of photos of emaciated children. On the longer term, this may even be better for aid and development. When people understand the intricacies of the famine and the factors that contribute to it, it may be easier to mobilize support for long term solutions.
© UNICEF/NYHQ2011-1205/Kate Holt. Somalia, 2011. On 27 July, people collect water during a distribution in a camp for people displaced by the drought, in Mogadishu, the capital. | <urn:uuid:efa510a7-a773-4cd0-9c21-8ab9df21fa06> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://voicesofyouth.org/posts/how-to-tell-people-about-the-famine-in-somalia | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947801 | 997 | 2.015625 | 2 |
Tower City Center
Union Terminal Group
View from Public Square
|Architect:||Graham, Anderson, Probst & White; Walker & Weeks|
|Architectural style:||Beaux-Arts, Art Deco|
|Governing body:||U.S. Postal Service|
|Added to NRHP:||March 17, 1976|
Tower City Center (formerly known as Cleveland Union Terminal) is a large mixed-use facility located on Public Square in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. The facility is composed of a number of interconnected office buildings, including the landmark Terminal Tower, a shopping mall, a casino, two hotels, and the main hub of Cleveland's three rapid transit lines. On March 17, 1976, the tower was added to the National Register of Historic Places as the Union Terminal Group.
Construction and train station
The Cleveland Union Terminal was built by the Van Sweringen brothers as a terminal for all trains coming into Cleveland via the various railroad lines in a concept similar to New York City's Grand Central Terminal. The facility also included a number of retail stores and restaurants. Original designs for the complex show that at first the brothers did not plan on building an office tower within the complex. However, they eventually decided to build the 52-story Terminal Tower on the northeast side of the complex facing Public Square. From its completion until 1964, the Terminal Tower was the tallest building in North America outside of New York City. Cleveland Union Terminal also served as the downtown station for the Van Sweringens' new Shaker Heights Rapid Transit Line.
The complex was designed by the firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst, and White. Site preparation began in 1922, and approximately 2,200 buildings were demolished. Construction began in 1926, and structural work was completed by 1927. At the time, it was the second-largest excavation project in the world after the Panama Canal. The Terminal Tower opened to its first tenants in 1928. Three other office buildings, the Medical Arts Building, Builders Exchange Building, and Midland Building, were built in addition to the Terminal Tower. The three Art Deco buildings are collectively known as the Landmark Office Towers and were completed in 1929. In addition to the new buildings, the 1918 Hotel Cleveland (now the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel) was connected to the complex. Cleveland Union Terminal was dedicated and officially opened in 1930.
In 1931, the Higbee Company moved its main store to a new building connected to Cleveland Union Terminal. In 1934, the U.S. Postal Service moved its main Cleveland office to Union Terminal in a new connected building designed by the firm of Walker and Weeks. It is today known as M.K. Ferguson Plaza.
The Union Terminal served all rail lines – except for the Pennsylvania Railroad and initially the Erie Railroad – from completion until 1973. It was never particularly popular with the railroads, however. It required deviating from the quicker route along Lake Erie. As the city would not allow trains to operate under steam power near the downtown area, trains were forced to switch from steam to electric power at a suburban rail yard when heading inbound and then reverse on the way out at another yard. As a result, some lines began to bypass the station entirely, heading along the lake route, and some trains stopped serving the city altogether. In addition, national passenger rail travel had already passed its peak and was starting its gradual decline in favor of the automobile and, later, the airplane. The Erie RR, owned by the Van Sweringens, could not afford the electric transfer and continued to use its own nearby station until 1948, when it replaced steam with diesel locomotives and was able to serve the Union Terminal under its own power.
In 1968, the Cleveland Transit System line finished its extension through Cleveland's west side to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and Cleveland became the first North American city with direct rapid transit access from downtown to an airport.
Cleveland Union Terminal becomes Tower City
The main concourse of Tower City Center
|Owner||Forest City Enterprises|
|No. of stores and services||112|
|No. of anchor tenants||0|
|Total retail floor area||367,000 sq ft|
|No. of floors||3|
Amtrak's short-lived Lake Shore served Union Terminal for seven months in 1971, but the railroad found the rents prohibitive and when the new Lake Shore Limited began in 1975 Amtrak chose to construct a new station on Lake Erie just north of the downtown. The former Erie Railroad commuter service, ultimately inherited by Conrail, was discontinued on Jan. 14, 1977, ending the facility's use as a train station. However, the three rapid transit lines – which by 1975 were all controlled by the newly created Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority – continued service.
Most of the platform area was demolished in the late 1980s renovation of the building. The station area itself was converted by Forest City Enterprises into a mall and food court known as The Avenue, which opened in 1990. As part of the renovation, RTA rebuilt its rapid transit station beneath the center. The rest of the platform area was turned into a parking garage for the new complex. The complex was renamed Tower City Center in 1991. When it opened, the mall housed many high-end retailers, including Bally of Switzerland, Barneys New York, Fendi, Gucci, Versace, and even had a letter of intent from Neiman Marcus to build a 120,000-square foot anchor store in 1992. Over the following 17 years, many of those shops were replaced by more modest stores, some of them local retailers.
In 1991, two new 11-story office towers, the Skylight Office Tower and the Chase Financial Tower, were added. The Chase Building houses Cleveland's Ritz-Carlton Hotel and The Skylight Office Tower houses the Hard Rock Cafe. After the completion of the nearby Gateway project in 1994, RTA built an indoor walkway connecting Tower City to the complex. A second walkway was built in 2002 to connect Tower City with the Carl B. Stokes U.S. Courthouse.
Higbee's (by then bought by Dillard's) closed its department store in the complex in January 2002. Positively Cleveland (formerly the Convention and Visitors Bureau of Greater Cleveland) and the Greater Cleveland Partnership (the local chamber of commerce) opened offices in the Higbee Building in 2007. Until recently, the Cleveland Plus Visitors Center occupied the first floor. Now, the first four floors are occupied by the Horseshoe Casino Cleveland, which opened on May 14, 2012.
In 2001, Time Warner Cable Amphitheater opened as an outdoor stage along the Cuyahoga River near the Tower City Complex. A site on the Cuyahoga River side of the complex was proposed as a location for a new Cleveland convention center, but in January 2009 the Cuyahoga County Commissioners decided to redevelop the existing facility.
See also
- "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2008-04-15.
- "Post Office Plaza". Forest City Enterprises. Retrieved 2010-09-29.
- "The Avenue at Tower City Center". Forest City Enterprises. Retrieved 2010-09-29.
- Toman, Jim; Blaine S. Hayes (1996). Horse trails to regional rails: the story of public transit in greater Cleveland. Kent State University Press.; 280, 295.
- Toman, Jim; Blaine S. Hayes (1996). Horse trails to regional rails: the story of public transit in greater Cleveland. Kent State University Press.; 297
- Northeast Ohio. "Cleveland's downtown is considered choice real estate for outlet shopping | cleveland.com". Blog.cleveland.com. Retrieved 2013-03-24.
- Name (required) (2011-12-08). "Tower City Center – Big City Baby". Bigcitybaby.com. Retrieved 2013-03-24.
- Peggy Turbett, The Plain Dealer. "Forest City CEO David LaRue oversees change at company, Tower City Center: Talk with the Boss". cleveland.com. Retrieved 2013-03-24.
- "Cleveland Bucking The Gloomy Trend In Malls - Chicago Tribune". Articles.chicagotribune.com. 1991-02-17. Retrieved 2013-03-24.
- "Tower City then and now". The Plain Dealer. 2007-10-14. Retrieved 2008-06-15.
- "About Cleveland". Positively Cleveland. Retrieved 2008-06-10.
- Litt, Steven (2009-01-31). "Chosen medical mart site offers second chance for Mall". The Plain Dealer. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
- Herrick, Clay. Cleveland Landmarks (1986) ISBN 0-9646459-0-4
- Johannesen, Eric. Cleveland Architecture 1876-1976 (1979) ISBN 0-911704-21-3
- Rarick, Holly. Progressive Vision: The Planning of Downtown Cleveland 1903-1930 (1986) ISBN 0-910386-86-2
- Van Tassel, David. Grabowski, John. The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History (1987) ISBN 0-253-33056-4
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tower City Center|
|Preceding station||Baltimore and Ohio Railroad||Following station|
|Terminus||Cleveland – Wheeling||
|New York Central Railroad|
|Water Level Route||
toward New York City
|Cincinnati – Cleveland| | <urn:uuid:6e324105-1009-4d15-9ace-832d785a978f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Union_Terminal | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930292 | 1,979 | 2.484375 | 2 |
Special Ed Advocate Newsletter
Wrightslaw, our goals are to help you gain the information and skills
you need to navigate the confusing world of special education.
parents & schools disagree - advice from an independent educational
consultant; graduation & dropout rates for kids with disabilities;
learn about No Child Left Behind; facts about extended school year
(ESY); Pete & Pam Wrightslaw training programs in Florida and
1. When Parents and Schools Disagree by Ruth Heitin
Heitin, an independent educational consultant, describes common
areas of disagreement between parents and schools and offers suggestions
and strategies to handle these problems:
Dr. Heitin writes, "I often tell my clients that if my own
parents were alive, they would never understand what I do for
a living." Read When
Parents & Schools Disagree:
2. Graduation Rates for Kids with Disabilities Drop in NY
2002, the U. S. Department of Education reported that 57 percent
of children with disabilities graduated from high school with
a regular diploma and that the dropout for these students rate
was 29 percent. (Source: 23rd
Annual Report to Congress on Special Education, May 10, 2002).
When Dee Alpert, editor of the Special Ed Muckraker, looked at the numbers in New York, she discovered some disturbing information. "In 2001-2002, the number of disabled students who graduated from high school in New York declined 9.3 percent from the previous year, from 14,448 to 13,469."
decline was not publicly announced by New York State Education
Commissioner . . . who also neglected to make public disabled
students' scores on State-mandated exams, although the No Child
Left Behind Act and the State Department of Education regulations
require the state to report these scores."
learn more, read "9.3%
Drop in Graduation Rates for Kids with Disabilities"
by Dee Alpert.
3. Parent's Guide to No Child Left Behind
emphasizes accountability and teaching methods that
In A Parent's Guide to No Child Left Behind, Sue Heath teaches you about new requirements for teachers and paraprofessionals, school and school district report cards, annual testing in math and reading. You will also learn about new options for parents including transfers from failing schools and free supplemental services - tutoring, after-school programs and summer school.
learn about No Child Left Behind - how it applies to you, your
child, and your school - download A
Parent's Guide to No Child Left Behind at:
4. Learning About No Child Left Behind
No Child Left Behind Act will have a big impact on your child's
education. You need to learn about this new law, so we collected
resources to help you get started.
Child Left Behind Page:
Get Fact Sheets about Reading Achievement, Reading First, 21st Century Technology, State Standards, Getting Students Help, Measuring Progress, Good Teachers, School Safety, and other topics from U. S. Department of Education:
5. Hot Topic! Facts About Extended School Year (ESY)
Hot battles continue to arise about
extended school year services for kids with disabilities. If
you have questions about a legal issue (like Extended School Year
services), you need to do your own legal research
About Extended School Year will help you learn about
these issues. This page includes information about two ESY cases,
Daniel Lawyer v. Chesterfield and Reusch v.
6. Wrightslaw: Advocacy Training: May 2003
Boot Camp, special ed was occupying every worry cell in my brain.
Now that I have a road map, I worry less and accomplish more."
- Carolyn from Oklahoma
Knowledge is power. When you have information and skills, you will be a more effective advocate for your child. Our role is to help you gain knowledge so you can negotiate with the school on your child's behalf.
have never learned so much useful information at a workshop -
thank you for having a heart for kids and the head for the Law."
- Susan from Texas
and a one-day advocacy training program in Roanoke, Virginia.
Wrightslaw training programs focus on four areas: special education laws, rights & responsibilities; how to use the bell curve to measure progress & regression; SMART IEPs; and how to use tactics & strategies for effective advocacy.
attended your Boot Camp with two coworkers. We learned SO MUCH
in those two days! Your books could not be more helpful to anyone
who works with special education students." - Christie
We are now booking programs for 2004. To learn how you can bring Pete & Pam Wright to your community, please read our FAQs about Seminars.
7. Subscription & Contact Info
The Special Ed Advocate is a free online newsletter about special education legal and advocacy issues, cases, and tactics and strategies. Subscribers receive "alerts" about new cases, events, and special offers on Wrightslaw books. | <urn:uuid:8016e697-e394-4200-9181-1ece0015d232> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wrightslaw.com/nltr/03/nl.0423.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916793 | 1,051 | 2.5 | 2 |
Undoubtedly the most controversial part of the plan will be the use of advanced biological engineering techniques to turn basic food crops white.
"Scientists have assured us that no nutritional value will be lost from the bio-engineered crops," said the Ministry spokeswoman.
One of the earliest crops to be affected will be yellow rapeseed flowers. Scientists have already completed a two year trial of bio-engineered white rapeseed and have said the new engineered crops will be used in pilot projects in Henan and Shandong provinces over the coming year.
Normal, yellow rapeseed, and how white, bioengineered rapeseed might look.
Chinese people are fond of bright yellow landscapes created by rapeseed flowers and there is likely to be some resistance to government plans from traditionalists. But the Rapeseed Association of China said in a statement, "Obviously we will be sorry to see the traditional yellow color go, but we believe our government and our Party have the best interests of the Chinese people at heart."
The Ministry spokeswoman admitted that some foreigners will compare the government's climate change initiative to some of the more bizarre campaigns of the China's past, such as killing off sparrows by banging drums and so on. But she insisted "This will be a peaceful and constructive initiative and a major contribution to saving the planet."
"This is not a gimmick, we are deadly serious. People should know by now that China means business."
(China.org.cn April 1, 2009) | <urn:uuid:c2840cff-4400-49f7-95db-a9839facdf63> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.china.org.cn/environment/news/2009-04/01/content_17535189_2.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949914 | 302 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Happy #MissionMonday folks. I trust that you had a great weekend and that you are excited for another wonderful work week with your amazing students. For this week, was trying to think of something good. I really wanted to focus on me and how I can grow as a teacher and a learner. I realized the only way that was going to happen was to do what my students do every day in my class.
Asking questions is how we learn. However, as teachers, we sometimes feel like we are not allowed to ask questions. As tech people in our respective buildings or districts, we are the ones that have to have the answers for everything. It might be a hardware issue or a software issues, but we are expected to have the answer and make everything work when asked. We can't be afraid to say, "I'm not sure. Can I get back to you on that one?" I love searching for the answers to problem I don't understand, but sometimes asking questions is the best and fastest way to learn something new.
Another part of asking questions I think people should think about is asking THAT question. Every district has rules as to why you cannot do this or that and we take many of them as they are and go about our teaching lives. We might not like these rules, but we accept them. Sometimes asking people, "Why?" is all that it takes to change the system. Some rules have been in place because of past management and new management has never thought about them because nobody asks. Forcing people to explain rules might actually make them realize the need to change those rules.
EX: I asked the powers at be if it would be possible to use Skype in my class in the near future. Now, we have so many filters in our district, I thought there was no way that it would be possible, but I decided to ask the question and see where it lead. I was surprised to find that it was something they are considering but were not sure of the interest. When I'm ready to try it, I just need to let them know and it will happen. A simple question might now open up Skype to other classrooms in the district because I asked THAT question.
Your #MissionMonday, if you choose to accept it, is to ask THAT question. It can be the question you have been afraid to ask your PLN about because it seems remedial or it can be a question about a policy you think is outdated and needs to be revisited. The world changes when questions ask. If teachers don't ask questions, how can we expect students to do the same? | <urn:uuid:c48abaf0-9c88-4a1e-b663-a6e7a91f4441> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thenerdyteacher.com/2010/04/mission-monday-ask-that-question.html?showComment=1272423911469 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.989075 | 530 | 1.875 | 2 |
Feb 27, 2013
From staff reports
Just as the dialogue on border security and immigration heats up and as police departments bring unmanned aerial vehicles from the battlefield to the neighborhood, Ohio University's John Gilliom and co-author Torin Monahan of the University of North Carolina take a close look at the surveillance society in their new book, "SuperVision: an Introduction to the Surveillance Society."
Among their topics: the increasing use of unmanned aerial vehicles, now bringing their Superman-like vision from the battlefield and the border to the backyard.
"A few years back, the big excitement was about police cruiser cameras … and red-light cameras," write the authors. Now, "it might sound like science fiction, but 'smart surveillance' and 'automated prediction' are upon us."
The book was published by the University of Chicago Press. Gilliom is a professor of political science and associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences at Ohio University.
"For those who take comfort in the idea that your phone calls, Facebook posts, and Google searches are safely separated from the prying eyes of government agents, think again. The public-private partnership in surveillance is strong, will continue to grow, and is very well-hidden from any meaningful accountability," write Gilliom and Manahan.
On border surveillance, the authors describe:
"People want to be protected from harm," note the authors. "Violent crime and terrorism rank high on the list of things we'd all like to avoid. So it makes sense on one level that the promise of protection through surveillance would be appealing. Unfortunately, study after study shows that technological surveillance is not very good at preventing crime and is probably even less effective at preventing terrorism."
Several online media have been writing about the workplace surveillance issues discussed in the book: | <urn:uuid:01cd08ff-8eaa-4043-b527-8aeeefc61f8e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ohio.edu/compass/stories/12-13/2/Gilliom-book.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947955 | 368 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Urban life key to tackling climate change
A remedy for the inconvenient truthSubmitted on 11/16/2010. Tags for this image:
CONCERN about climate change has ebbed with the global economic contraction.
Noble sacrifice seems less attractive to people fearing loss of a job.
So the political resolve to address global climate change has weakened. It wasn't so long ago that the consensus to act resolutely was deep and broad.
People compared the climate challenge to the disappearing ozone layer that spurred successful collective action by all nations to address an existential threat.
Opponents of climate action were viewed as strange, almost as odd as Holocaust deniers.
Now politicians, particularly on the Right, and energy industries have marshalled a full-blown counter-attack against advocates of action on global warming. Coupled with the recession, this campaign has stalled almost any government action on climate and energy in the US.
The Republican John McCain withdrew his support for a cap-and-trade system. US President Barack Obama and the Democrats barely mentioned climate change during the mid-term elections campaign. In Australia, the opposition, headed by a climate change sceptic, almost won the federal election.
It is tempting to attribute this situation solely to the greed of the oil barons or the cravenness of vote-hungry politicians, but I attribute part of the blame instead to three strategic errors.
The first error was to rely too heavily on existential and apocalyptic arguments. The ozone crisis was relatively simple, whereas climate change is complex and therefore it is easier to raise doubts about its severity.
The second error was to cast climate action as a moral obligation to sacrifice living standards today to save future generations. Actually, most energy-saving and CO2-reducing actions add efficiency to the economy and quickly help increase productivity.
The most effective argument against action on climate change is that it will hurt the economy and kill jobs.
By associating their cause with sacrifice, environmentalists handed this debating advantage to opponents on a silver platter.
The third error was to focus almost exclusively on technical remedies such as efficient light bulbs, hybrid cars and green buildings. That left out discussion of human settlement patterns, which account for most of the difference in energy consumption between areas of the developed world and those with much smaller footprints.
Specifically, the US with its spread-out development patterns and low usage of public transport and other alternatives to the car has an annual per capita energy consumption of 7900 oil equivalents, compared with 3775 equivalents for Europe with its more compact pattern.
With its hybrid development pattern, Australia clocks in at about 5900 equivalents per capita.
Although the former US vice-president Al Gore deserved his Nobel Prize and Oscar for the movie An Inconvenient Truth, he gave viewers a too narrow view of steps they could take.
His nine-item list of suggestions leaned heavily on small but significant changes we could make in our daily lives - changing to a more efficient light bulb, driving less, checking the pressure on our tyres, using less hot water, adjusting thermostats, and, naturally, buying his DVD.
Since then, progress has been made on installation of energy-efficient light bulbs and vehicle efficiency is improving again after a decade of backsliding.
One huge omission was how and where to build the more than 50 million new homes projected for the US by 2037.
Densely developed cities such as Sydney, Tokyo, London and New York rarely come to mind as models of environmentalism, but they should.
With people living closer to each other, walking more and taking advantage of public transport, cities have powerful environmental advantages.
A report prepared for New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's green blueprint, PlaNYC, revealed that New Yorkers generate, on average, 7.1 tonnes of greenhouse gases a year, two-thirds less the average 24.5 tonnes generated by most Americans.
Of course, not everyone can be - or wants to be - a resident of New York. The good news is that a variety of walkable neighbourhoods helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
A 2002 peer-reviewed study by John Holtzclaw compared driving patterns across metro Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
It showed that kilometres driven by an average household dropped between 32 per cent and 43 per cent as the density of neighbourhoods doubled.
In other words, in moving from a typical ex-urban neighbourhood with 7.2 units per hectare to a leafy neighbourhood of townhouses and low-rise apartment buildings where densities are at least 57to the hectare, a household would reduce its driving to about one-third of their former levels.
A move to the tight-knit heart of Surry Hills or Darlinghurst near Sydney would yield about a 50 per cent reduction.
With a switch to far more efficient transport for some of their trips and walking for some others, that's a big reduction in the annual tonnage of carbon a household sends into our atmosphere.
At the moment, the freedom to fire up a backyard barbecue or to load up a car or ute and hit the road are an assumed "national lifestyle" of the US and Australia, and that's not necessarily the problem. The problem is how much you use that ute.
In the next 30 years, Americans and Australians will build tens of millions of new dwellings. It's looking as if building a good portion of them in liveable, walkable traditional neighbourhoods is one of the most convenient - and effective - remedies for the inconvenient truth.
This article is crossposted on The Australian. | <urn:uuid:889b54d2-22cf-45cc-b358-6e7fa9bab916> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cnu.org/cnu-news/2010/11/urban-life-key-tackling-climate-change | 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 | 0.955978 | 1,137 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Nelsons' gift aids Opportunity Program
August 18, 2011
A former Dayton resident and her husband have endowed a scholarship to benefit the , Vice President for Advancement Blake Hudson has announced.
Virginia K. and Gordon Nelson, who live in Maryville, Tenn., recently made the gift in memory of Mrs. Nelson’s parents, Carlos T. and Hazel Tallent Knight. Mrs. Knight taught for 34 years in Rhea County and Dayton City schools, and Mr. Knight was a school principal before going into the produce business.
“This is something we had been thinking about for some time,” Mrs. Nelson said. “Dayton was my home, and I know a lot about Bryan College. I belonged to First Baptist Church and know how much the college means to the church. The college has a reputation for being a good Christian school.”
When the Nelsons contacted Mr. Hudson, he mentioned the Bryan Opportunity Program, which helps students from low-income Tennessee families afford to attend the college. “We were interested in establishing a scholarship, and this sounded good,” Mrs. Nelson said.
Income from the endowed scholarship will be used to support the Bryan Opportunity Program. This year some 70 students are expected to attend Bryan because of support from the program.
Mr. Hudson said a gift like that of the Nelsons “is one of the most enduring and enterprising ways to make a difference in the lives of Bryan College students. Endowed scholarship funds are invested, and a portion of the interest earned each year helps meet the current needs of students. The balance is reinvested to grow the endowment and ensure funds continue for future generations.
“We appreciate the Nelsons’ generosity and invite other friends of the college to consider making a similar gift.” For more information about endowed scholarships, contact Mr. Hudson by or by calling 423.775.7323. | <urn:uuid:1f74dfc4-15b5-40a5-a401-bfa7c33f99d2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bryan.edu/8811.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962453 | 399 | 1.5625 | 2 |