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If there is one place that every Cebuano should have already gone to, that is the Basilica Del Sto. Nino De Cebu.
Regardless of one’s religion, the only minor basilica in the Philippines and Southeast Asia is worth visiting.
Here you can see the relics of different saints plus the church murals on the ceiling which one may remind of a basilica in Rome and Vatican City.
Though the church is high-ceiling, its aisle is not that long but it is still impressive nonetheless.
Outside the church is the minor basilica in which the faithful can attend masses on open air, similar to what the faithfuls can see and experience in Vatican City.
A Brief History
The convent of the Sto. Nino de Cebu was founded by Fr. Andres de Urdaneta on April 28, 1565 , the very day the Legazpi-Urdaneta expedition arrived in the island. On May 8 of the same year, when Legaspi and his men planned the urbanization of the city, they allotted a “place for the church and the convent of San Agustin, “where the Santo Nino image had been found.”
In 1599, the convent was made a house of studies of grammar, headed by the Visayan linguist, Fr. Alonso de Mentrida. It also served as a rest house for missionaries working in the province and as a retirement home for the aged and the sick, usually attended to by a lay brother.
The church has always been the Sanctuary of the Sto. Nino, under the custody of the Augustinians. The number of priests assigned to the church varied from three to five aside from one or two lay brothers.
How to get there
Of course, you have to visit Cebu to get to the Basilica Minore del Sto. Nino. Getting there depends on where you stay.
If you’re staying in a hotel in Lapu-lapu City near the airport, I suggest for a taxi to guide you to where the church is.
If in a Mandaue City hotel or pension house you want to stay , a taxi can be hired. But if opting for a jeepney, ride a 21A or 21D jeepneys and ask the jeepney drivers for direction to the church.
If you’re staying in uptown Cebu near the Fuente Circle, search for jeepneys with routes going to the church. Although one can save for riding jeepneys, it can be a hassle since most jeepneys don’t have a route plying beside the church except for 06C jeepneys.
And of course, you can always use a Google map to help you in searching for the Basilica Minore del Sto. Nino’s direction.
The Basilica Minore del Sto. Nino de Cebu is the first thing or place to visit in the list of 365 things to do in Cebu. | <urn:uuid:a6316337-40b3-4281-b207-aa58ab2f08d8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bjorncebuano.com/2013/02/26/1-visit-basilica-minore-del-sto-nino/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944946 | 633 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Not many entrepreneurs spend 11 years planning their business’s start. But from his first foray into business at age 17, Trip Hawkins knew he wanted to start one. He just didn’t know what it would do. Then, in 1971, he got a glimpse of an early prototype microcomputer at a friend’s house, and an idea began to take shape. In the future, he realized, home computers would be commonplace.
From that initial flash of insight, the biggest company in digital gaming would arise. Hawkins knew it would take time for home computers to catch on, but he began laying a course that would position him to profit from the coming electronic age.
He chose a date for his business launch: 1982. Just as planned, Hawkins did start a home-based, one-man business that year. That company became Electronic Arts, which now employs 7,600 and raked in a $677 million profit in 2010. How did it happen? Hawkins puts it down to a couple of personality traits: persistence and fearlessness.
“I was feeling completely sure of myself and totally confident about what my plans were, and pretty bulletproof,” Hawkins recalls.
Hawkins’ interest in games began in childhood—and so did his interest in business. While still a teenage student at Harvard University, he borrowed $5,000 from his father to create a board game centered on his love of sports, AccuStat Football. The money allowed Hawkins to create several hundred copies of the tabletop game. The game was loved by players but was a commercial failure, teaching Hawkins indelible business lessons that would shape his future plans.
“It was a thorough business experience for me, as I had to design, manufacture, have a marketing plan, and even assemble the product,” Hawkins recalls. “It helped me realize I was going to be an entrepreneur, but I was also disappointed that I failed. It made me a lot more careful and thoughtful before I started EA.”
At Harvard, Hawkins graduated magna cum laude with a self-designed major in strategy and applied game theory, then added a Stanford MBA in 1978. Hawkins chose his first employer, Apple Computer, deliberately. He had seen the Apple II debut at a computer fair the year before, and wanted to work for a home-computer company.
In Steve Jobs, Hawkins found a mentor who would greatly shape his outlook. It was early days at Apple: the company based in Cupertino, California, had just 50 employees when Hawkins joined.
Hawkins’ responsibilities at Apple grew over his four-year tenure, but he never lost sight of his primary goal: to acquire business savvy and watch for personal computers (PCs) to become more popular and powerful. From Jobs, he’d learned to think of himself as creative and unstoppable.
The time was growing ripe for his startup. One gaming company, Brøderbund, debuted in 1980. Hawkins heard from one investor who was interested in funding a game startup. He worried he was getting behind the curve.
His dream of starting a company had crystallized into what Hawkins thought of as his “big idea.” Most software companies, he’d realized, treated developers like serfs instead of fostering their creativity. He wanted to start a game company that would operate like a music label.
“By this time, I had experience working with prima donna software development geniuses and realized these are really creative people,” he recalls. “I began to realize I could work with them as independent artists, and treat them as artists.”
At just this time, Hawkins read in an airline magazine about venture capitalist Don Valentine of Capital Management (which would soon become legendary Silicon Valley firm Sequoia Capital). The article related that Valentine was so intimidating that one young entrepreneur actually fainted in his office during a pitch. His management style was likened to that of a crocodile, lying in wait and listening and then rearing up to rip everyone’s ideas apart. | <urn:uuid:f798760f-0ac5-4e2a-a8a9-c309f8d2ae99> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.forbes.com/sites/caroltice/2012/06/04/what-trip-hawkins-learned-from-his-first-startup-failure-helped-create-electronic-arts/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985919 | 836 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Communication in Sri Lanka
Telecommunication network and
services have considerably developed during the 1980s in Sri Lanka
and has been upgraded in 1990s with a new international exchange
and digital earth satellite system. Further investment is planed
to open investment market to foreign country.
Telephone IDD is available in
main towns. To call Sri Lanka from abroad, dial a country code 94
and omit 0 of the local area code. International calls can be done
at the main post office in major towns, form communication bureaus
or card phone booths. The cheapest calls can be made at post
offices. Fax can be sent from some post offices and hotels. E-mail
and Internet access can be easily found in major tourist town. | <urn:uuid:6a5bf45b-5a11-4feb-91b3-ba0281c4da36> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sri-lanka-tour.com/travel-guide/communication.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923099 | 156 | 2.265625 | 2 |
Welcome from Director
Welcome! As you plan your academic future consider the benefits of pursuing a degree from UMUC. We offer degrees in Business Administration and Management Studies. For example, the UMUC Business Administration Program offers you the opportunity to acquire knowledge in economics, accounting, finance, business law, marketing and the international business.
The skills you acquire as a result of completing courses within the Business Administration Program prepare you for analyzing workplace problems for resolution. Throughout the program, business students are engaged in an interactive approach to learning and are challenged to develop their critical thinking and problem- solving skills.
If you are particularly interested in for- profit, non- profits and government organizations, the Management Studies Program has been designed for you. This program uses a multi-disciplinary approach for providing you with a business management background. Students pursuing this degree have the opportunity to
- gain knowledge about various principles of business management
- develop their skills in business decision making
In addition to the academic degree programs, you may pursue a minor or a certificate in the following business areas:
- Business Administration
- Strategic and Entrepreneurial Management
- Management Foundations
- Business and Project Management
- E-Commerce management
- E-Commerce in Small Business
- Women in Business
Being competitive in business means possessing both, a quality business education, and critical business skills. Earning your business degree from UMUC helps you start off with an edge up in the workplace.
Director, Business Management | <urn:uuid:64530c40-4ca4-4ce6-bb67-eb8681ac5145> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.umuc.edu/bpp/mgst.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925324 | 299 | 1.796875 | 2 |
New Oversight Of Supreme Court Needed
July 7, 2008
By Doug Patton
My old boss, U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, one of the few non-lawyers on the House Judiciary Committee, used to tell me about how Congress has the power to regulate the federal courts.
"Constitutionally, we could reduce the Supreme Court to the Chief Justice sitting in his chambers at a card table if we wanted to," he would say.
I thought of that unused congressional authority as I pondered why it is that the Supreme Court tends to pull its members to the left.
In recent decades, from Abe Fortas and Thurgood Marshall, appointed by Lyndon Johnson in the 1960s, to Clinton appointees Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the 1990s, liberal Democrats are rarely disappointed in the left-wing positions of their appointees on virtually every issue. Not so with justices appointed by Republican presidents.
Certainly there are reliable minds on the court that can be trusted with the strict interpretation of the constitution. Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas have proven themselves worthy of our respect in that regard. Similarly, Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito are slowly building a reputation for eschewing judicial activism and for defending the concept of original intent.
But Republican nominees frequently fail to live up to the hopes of those who believe in strict adherence to the Founders' constitutional intentions.
In modern times, perhaps the biggest disappointments began with former California Governor Earl Warren, a Republican appointed by President Dwight Eisenhower to serve as Chief Justice.
Richard Nixon's appointments of Warren Burger and Harry Blackmun were a disaster. Both men voted in the majority on the most infamous Supreme Court ruling of the 20th Century, 1973's Roe vs. Wade, with Blackmun writing the majority opinion. The result is forty million Americans aborted.
David Souter, appointed by President George H. W. Bush, has so abandoned any semblance of conservative jurisprudence that he is now counted consistently with Ginsburg, Breyer and John Paul Stevens on the left end of the court.
Two Reagan appointees, Sandra Day O'Connor and Anthony Kennedy, turned into two of the biggest disappointments of the era. O'Connor's left turn culminated two important recent cases, Carhart vs. Stenberg and Lawrence vs. Texas. The Carhart case struck down Nebraska's ban on partial birth abortion. Lawrence created a constitutional right to sodomy, thereby throwing the door open wide for the movement to legalize same-sex marriage.
With O'Connor now retired, Kennedy is widely considered to be the court's "swing vote." But increasingly, Kennedy's decisions are viewed as activist liberal votes. He wrote the majority opinion in the aforementioned Lawrence vs. Texas sodomy case. He voted with the liberal majority in the outrageous ruling of Kelo vs. City of New London, in which the Connecticut town was allowed to use eminent domain laws to seize property from one private owner and hand it over to another simply because the new owner could pay more in property taxes.
In two of his most recent votes, Kennedy sided with the leftists on the court in Boumediene vs. Bush and Kennedy vs. Louisiana. In Boumediene, the court granted habeas corpus rights to prisoners captured on foreign battlefields, thereby potentially extending the protections of the U.S. Constitution to every human being on earth.
In the Louisiana case, a defendant, Patrick O. Kennedy, was convicted of raping an eight-year-old girl. Louisiana law permits a sentence of death for such a crime, and the assailant was so sentenced. But in a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that such a sentence constituted "cruel and unusual punishment."
Anthony Kennedy and Sandra Day O'Connor are both extremely enamored with foreign law. This is a problem Congress should address. Kennedy spends his summers in Salzburg, Austria, teaching international law at the University of Salzburg. He attends a yearly international judges' conference there.
Why should international law have any bearing on decisions supposedly based on the U.S. Constitution? Perhaps this type of activity should be curtailed or banned by Congress. Perhaps the size of the court should be reduced. Perhaps John Roberts reading briefs at a card table in his chambers isn't such a bad idea. | <urn:uuid:c73f0a13-3e5c-4377-809f-0cbaead8ee6c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.conservativetruth.org/article.php?id=571 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957184 | 892 | 1.828125 | 2 |
December 17, 2001
IRS E-File Posts High Marks in
Customer Satisfaction Survey
WASHINGTON - A government-wide survey released today indicated the Internal Revenue Service has significantly improved customer satisfaction among individual taxpayers, especially among those who file their returns electronically.
The IRS posted an 11 percent increase in satisfaction among all individual tax filers since 2000 and a 22 percent increase since 1999. It was the largest favorable gain of the 30 federal agencies surveyed by the American Customer Satisfaction Index.
One of the important reasons for the increase was the very high satisfaction rate among electronic filers. The 2001 ACSI placed the satisfaction rate for electronic filers at 77, 2 points higher than the previous year and nearly 7 points higher than the national score for private sector services. It was the third year in a row that taxpayers using IRS e-file expressed increased satisfaction.
This is great news. We realize we have more work to do, but the survey is just one more indication that the IRS reorganization and its emphasis on customer service are paying off, said Charles O. Rossotti, IRS commissioner. The satisfaction with IRS e-file won´t surprise any taxpayer who has used it. When they try it, they like it. It is fast, accurate and dependable.
The IRS also continued an upward trend among people who file paper returns, a segment the ACSI termed one of its toughest-to-please customer groups. There was a 4-point increase in customer satisfaction among paper filers for a score of 52.
For the 2001 filing season, there were 130.6 million individual tax returns. Nearly 40.2 million returns were filed electronically, a 13 percent increase over the 2000 filing season. The ACSI found that 78 percent of the people who filed electronically were so satisfied with the service that they would do it again.
Taxpayers have found that electronic filing has many advantages:
- It has a 99 percent accuracy rate, which reduces the chances of getting an error notice from the IRS.
- It is the fastest way to get refunds, in as few as 10 days with Direct Deposit.
- Taxpayers can create their own Personal Identification Number as an electronic signature.
- It provides privacy and security.
- Taxpayers receive an acknowledgement of receipt within 48 hours.
The ACSI survey for the first time also expanded its questionnaire to include customer satisfaction levels for other IRS Operating Divisions. The index provides a benchmark for customer satisfaction levels with Small Business form 1120 filers (66), Mid-size Business form 1120 filers (55), Tax Exempt Organizations (60) and Employee Plans (48).
Since 1994, the American Customer Satisfaction Index has been a national indicator of customer evaluations of the quality of goods and services in the private and government sectors. The 30 selected federal agencies serve 90 percent of federal government customers.
The ACSI is one of several national surveys conducted in recent months that found Americans have a more positive view of the IRS.
Previous | Next
2001 IRS News Releases | News Releases Main | Home | <urn:uuid:724891c3-0792-4739-bb09-3b0ebee9ecc0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://unclefed.com/Tax-News/2001/nr01-118.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95335 | 621 | 1.546875 | 2 |
The Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport said travelers can expect longer wait times due to the HIMSS conference departure scheduled for Thursday and the TSA impact from sequestration.
The Transportation Security Administration said in a statement that the impact of sequestration will impact screening times at the airport.
"As sequestration takes effect, travelers can expect to see lines and wait times increase as reductions to overtime and the inability to backfill positions for attrition begin to occur this month. While wait times can vary on a number of factors, due to the reductions mandated by sequestration, TSA will put in place a hiring freeze, which will result in up to an additional 1,000 TSO vacancies by Memorial Day Weekend and up to 2,600 vacancies by the end of the fiscal year.
"With TSA staffing levels decreasing over time, we expect that during busy travel periods wait times exceeding 30-40 minutes could double at nearly all of the largest airports. In addition, passengers who schedule their travel outside of peak flight schedules and plan to arrive close to their scheduled flight time may see their wait times now reach 30 minutes or more," the statement read.
Airport officials said they anticipate a heavy travel day due to the conference departure and encourages travelers to arrive two hours before their scheduled departure time. | <urn:uuid:54e4066b-93f1-479a-8610-2ba9cca61779> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wdsu.com/news/local-news/new-orleans/HIMSS-conference-sequestration-cited-for-long-wait-at-airport-Thursday/-/9853400/19211402/-/101hja9z/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00076-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954572 | 256 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Take a walk onto the Ocean Air Elementary School campus and you'll see immediately that this isn't your average public school.
A stone path representing a stream meanders from the front gate to the main two-story, curved classroom building. Columns that hold up a shade structure outside kindergarten classrooms are shaped like crayons. The exteriors of the buildings are painted in shades of white, red, blue and yellow.
The multipurpose room has wavy ceiling panels that evoke clouds in the sky. Hanging lights held in cylindrical shades are arranged like stars.
“I wish my elementary school looked like that,” said Frisco White of Westberg + White, the San Diego architectural firm that designed the campus. “I'd want to stay in elementary school my whole life.”
Ocean Air, at 11444 Canter Heights Drive, is the eighth school in the Del Mar Union School District. On Monday it will open with about 550 students, but it has the capacity for 200 more. It will ease overcrowding primarily at Torrey Hills Elementary.
White said Del Mar Union officials gave him significant latitude, within state education guidelines, to design a school that's different from many others.
“We just wanted to make it whimsical and fun and use different shapes that children might use, and not be constrained by (boxlike) architecture,” said White, whose firm also designed the popular Elementary Institute of Science on 51st Street in San Diego.
One feature he's particularly proud of is the library's roof, which is shaped like an open book.
“The whole idea was to make a fun environment for learning,” White said.
All of the school's students – except kindergartners, who have their own wing – have classrooms in a single two-story building. That will create a close-knit community where children of different ages will more readily interact with one another and teachers will collaborate more easily, fourth-grade teacher Natasha Rosario said.
“To be honest, I think it's better” than a one-story campus that's more spread out, said Rosario, who moved to Ocean Air from Torrey Hills. “We'll see everyone a lot more.”
The main classroom building is curved, with wide hallways and large classrooms with windows that face outside as well as the interior hallway. Numerous conference rooms provide teachers and students with quiet places to work and consult with one another.
The school doesn't yet have playing fields, but it will share a park with the city. School officials said they expect the park, which will have a recreation center, to be completed within the next year.
“It looks beautiful,” said parent Joy Lazo, who visited the school yesterday with her 6-year-old daughter, Wendy, who will begin the first grade at the school Monday. “Everyone is very excited.”
The campus, built over about 10 months, was budgeted at $37.7 million, but the actual cost will be $36.5 million because money set aside for contingencies will not be needed, said Rodger Smith, the district's director of facilities, planning and human resources.
Ocean Air was paid for by two special tax districts that cover Carmel Valley, Smith said. The North City West School Financing Authority is taxing 7,827 parcels between $900 and $1,245 annually for the next 35 years to help pay for the school. An additional 1,543 parcels in Community Facilities District 95-1, which covers the immediate area around Ocean Air, will be taxed between $1,200 and $1,400 a year for 35 years.
The school is badly needed in the high-density Carmel Valley area, which has grown quickly in recent years. Torrey Hills Elementary is only a few miles away, and Sage Canyon Elementary is about a half-mile away.
Bruce Lieberman: (760) 476-8205; firstname.lastname@example.org | <urn:uuid:4fcf43cb-8c2c-4c7f-b1cb-253896b7f9cd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.utsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070825/news_1mi25delmar.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970443 | 834 | 1.6875 | 2 |
A clever new imaging technique discovered at the University of
California, Berkeley, reveals a possible plan of attack for many
bacterial diseases, such as cholera, lung infections in cystic fibrosis
patients and even chronic sinusitis, that form biofilms that make them
resistant to antibiotics.
By devising a new fluorescent labeling strategy and employing
super-resolution light microscopy, the researchers were able to examine
the structure of sticky plaques called bacterial biofilms that make
these infections so tenacious. They also identified genetic targets for
potential drugs that could break up the bacterial community and expose
the bugs to the killing power of antibiotics.
“Eventually, we want to make these bugs homeless,” said lead
researcher Veysel Berk, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of
Physics and the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3)
at UC Berkeley.
Read more here. | <urn:uuid:f76cdc3e-27ed-429d-96d3-5a86f4a05bfd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://physics.berkeley.edu/index.php?option=com_dept_management&act=news&Itemid=419&task=view&id=291 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.904618 | 202 | 3.5 | 4 |
I "La Católica"
(1272 – 1305)
Isabel was born
on 22nd April in 1451 in Madrigal de las Altas Torres (Avila).
She will be King John II of Castille´s third daughter, married for the
second time with Isabel of Portugal, the future Catholic Queen´s mother.
childhood transcurred in Arevalo, where her mother moved short after being
widowed. The period in Arevalo was not very nice, because her mother soon
started to show proofs of her madness. We know very few of her instruction,
and we suppose that in those years she learn to read and write.
of Isabel "La Católica"
In 1464 King Henry the fourth, her brother,
took her to his court, giving her incomes, and a villa in Casarrubios del
The relationship between both brothers was
really closed and Henry showed proofs of dear to the young Princess and also
to her other brother Alfonso.
The situation in
Henry´s court is not very gratified because the nobels wish to take away
more power from the legitimate monarch, provoking a great confrontation
between those who wanted a strong monarchy and those who prefer a manageable
monarch from who they could obtain all kind of goods and graces. At that
moment, a meaningful fact known as "Farsa de Avila".
When in a
grotesque ceremony, the nobels took the crown from Henry IV and named king
of Castille Prince Alfonso, arguing that the heiress Juana is illegitimate
because she is daughter of the love between the queen and Beltran de la
Cueva, from where it comes the name Beltraneja, as the Princes is known
appart from these stratagems, but she started to act very soon.
death in 1468 provoked that his followers chose the young Princess as the
new candidate to take the crown to Henry. The aim of the nobelty was to have
a manageable person to follow their personal interests. At this context, it
was signed the Pact of the "Toros de Guisando" (1468) in which
Henry named his sister Isabel as Princess of Asturias, confirming that his
daughter Juana was illegitimate.
It is curious
that, Isabel, whose posibilities to reign in Castille were minimum when she
was born, she became the sucessor to the thrown. As Princess of Asturias,
Isabel should choose a good husband to marry. There were several candidates
to this political marriage: Alfonso V of Portugal; D. Pedro Giron, mester of
Calatrava, and Fernando of Aragon, heir to the neighbour crown. The choice
was consumated in Ocaña, where Isabel chose Fernando.
The marriage was celebrated in Valladolid on
19th October in 1469. The archbishop Carrillo had to represent a
false bull because both the newly-weds were cousins, having John the first
of Castille as common ancestor.
But this marriage will create a
confrontation betwen both brothers, because Henry will react and declared
illegal the naming of Isabel as Princess of Asturias, and naming Juana as
his legitimate heiress (Valdelozoya, 1470)
civil war was near, although they will still pass several years till it
exploded. Firstly, Isabel and Fernando hardly ever had allies, retiring to
Medina de Rioseco, but the number of followers was rising progresively: the
Vasque Country, Borgoña, Rome and specially the powerful family Mendoza.
Isabel´s position is stronger and it seems that Henry himself wanted to
negociate. But at that moment, the monarch died in Madrid, at the night
between the 11th and 12th December in 1474, without
writing the will.
account the Trate of "Los Toros de Guisando", Isabel proclamed
herself queen of Castille in Segovia, on 13th December.
It is a politics
of consumated facts which will provoke the war between Isabel and her
followers- who support a stable and consolidated monarchy- against Juana and
her followers- with the curious fact that they are the same that considered
her illegitimate, trying to consolidate their feudal rights and to relegate
the monarchy in a merely formal place-
In January in
1475, it was signed "La Concordia de Segovia" between Isabel and
Fernando, where it was produced a distribution of competences between both
monarchs.Isabel is "queen and owner of Castille" and her husband
receive the tittle of king. From that moment, that couple formed an
unseparable block and they together can confront the war.
and Fernando. The Catholic Kings
The civil war was
between 1475 and 1479, and it became and international war participating
Portugal and France supporting Juana while Aragon supported Isabel. The
Portuguese defeat near Toro(1st March in 1476) and the French
difficulties to invade territories in Guipuzcoa thanks to the Vasque marine
that turn into Isabel.
For three years,
they will smother the points of resistence in Extremadura and Andalucia,
what demonstrated that isabelian cause was not so established. The Treates
of Alcaçovas (September in 1479) finished with the fight, and from that
moment, Isabel is firmly settled in her thrown. At that year, 1479, John the
second of Aragon died, and Fernando became king of Aragon, and it began the
dinastic union between Castille and Aragon.
of the modern State were locating in the Iberian Peninsule.To strengthen the
royal power, they were followed a series of important measures, most of them
in the Parliament: the Constitution of "La Santa Hermandad" with
police and judicial aims (Madrigal de las Altas Torres, 1476); the
reorganization of the Royal Council, the enlargement of the competences of
the coregidor, (Toledo, 1480); regulation of the Royal Property; revision of
the otorged duties to the nobels by Henry IV; incorporation of the
maestrazgos of the Military Orders to the Crown, when naming Great Mester to
Fernando;the establishment in Valladolid of the Royal Canceller, and
creating a second Canceller in Granada (1505); creation of a permanent army
that has as the central aim, the Royal Guards, the urban milicies, and Santa
matters, it was produced the expulsion of the jewess (1492); the reformation
of the religious orders, done by the cardinal Cisneros; and the creation of
the Inquisition in Castille (1478) thanks to the bull "Exigit sinceras
devotionis affectus" proclaimed by Sixto IV with which it is conceded
to the kings the power of naming two or three bishops to perform the post of
inquisitors, and they were produced the first sentences in Sevilla during
The Sant Inquisición
In 1492 they happened three very important
facts for Spain:the conquer of Granada, the conquer of the Canary islands
and the discovery of America thanks to Columbus.
These three episodes can be related with the
foreign politics developed by Isabel and Fernando, directed to expand the
iberian domains to estrenghten the Crown as an international power,
confronting with France. It is true that the line drawed by Fernando has as
aim the expansion into the Mediterranean-Italy and Sicilia- but with these
new contributions Castille opened into the Atlantic Ocean. Thanks to the
bulls "Inter Caetera" (May 1493) the Pope Alejandro the sixth
conceded the soberanity of the discovered territories. This Pope himself
will be who conceded the tittle of Catholic Kings in 1904 to Isabel and
Fernando, which all their heiresses will also have.
Reyes Católicos sword
the foreign politics, it should be emphasized the politics of marriages
designed by the Kings for their children. All the marriages are directed to
asolate France: Isabel would marry the Portuguese Prince D. Alfonso, and
after enwidowing, with his heiress, D. Manuel (the lucky); John will marry
Margarita of Austria, Emperor Maximiliano the first and Maria of Borgoña´s
daughter; Juana will marry Felipe of Austria, also the Emperor´s son; Maria
will marry her brother-in-law, the widower D. Manuel of Portugal; Catalina
will be the first Henry VIII of England´s wife.
Portugal, the Empire and England, surrounded
the French reign with their offsprings. Fernando´s design couldn´t be more
perfect. Prince John´s death in 1497 will provoke a depression to D.
Isabel, maybe for succesive motives.
With Isabel´s death (1498) and her son
Miguel´s (1500) the will leaves her daughter Juana as heiress and owner of
the Castilian Crown.
Picture of Juana "La
D. Isabel´s body
was taken to Granada where she will be buried, and at the present we can
appreciate a marvellous mausoleum, created by Domenico Fancelli, in the real
Granadian Capille, accompanied by her husband Fernando.
Tomb of the catholic kings
in the cathedral of Granada.
If you want you can see the sword of
Isabel "La Católcia" with a various selection of historic sword
Isabel "La Católica", Aceros de Hispania | <urn:uuid:cdf506fd-e561-4407-bed9-a928e47fe091> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aceros-de-hispania.com/gb/infer.asp?ac=12&sg=a_isabel&trabajo=listar&pa=a_isabel&pagina=0&vista=cuadricula&numero=50 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935266 | 2,119 | 2.609375 | 3 |
|Hormonal contraceptives are still a low risk method of birth control|
This week, the New England Journal of Medicine published a study in which hormonal contraception was found to be linked to stroke and heart attack. Contraceptive options with higher doses of ethynyl estradiol, the estrogen compound found in most hormonal birth control, had higher risk of stroke and heart attack. However, at the same time the NEJM published an editorial that stressed that overall, risks were still VERY low, especially compared to the risks of unintended pregnancy.
Said the editorial’s author: “The amount of attention paid to these minuscule risks, and what are likely to be very small differences in vascular risk, detracts attention from more salient issues, like preventing unwanted pregnancy.”
Currently, the CDC classifies all hormonal methods as either “no restriction for the use of this method” or “the benefits of this method outweigh the risks.” For the majority of women this study is unlikely to change that, though women with high blood pressure are urged to avoid hormonal birth control.
Hormonal birth control remains a highly effective way for sexually active women, including young women, to prevent unintended pregnancy. | <urn:uuid:59499e43-97f9-4bec-a6bc-d94cd6975107> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/blogs-main/recent-research/2008-hormonal-contraceptives-are-still-a-low-risk-method-of-birth-control | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94991 | 248 | 2.515625 | 3 |
May 5, 2009
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has announced the closure of its HIV/AIDS-treatment projects in Transnistria, a breakaway region of Moldova unrecognized by the international community.
MSF has now handed over its HIV/AIDS program in Transnistrian prisons to local counterparts and the Ministry of Health, after already handing over activities from the civil sector in December, 2008. The projects were deemed a success after MSF established quality HIV/AIDS medical care for the population, following strong advocacy that international health resources allocated for Moldova also reach Transnistria.
MSF set up the program in 2007 to address the urgent needs of Transnistria's HIV positive population which makes up nearly 30 per cent of Moldova's HIV positive population but one-eighth of its total population. MSF enrolled more than 860 patients into the treatment program, more than half of all registered people living with HIV\AIDS in the region. Over 180 of the patients are now receiving anti-retroviral medicines, as their health conditions require it.
“MSF was the first international aid organization to directly assist people living with HIV/AIDS in this politically-isolated region. Our presence has demonstrated to local and international stakeholders that it is possible to work in Transnistria and provide aid to the most vulnerable regions,” said Head of Mission Mark Walsh.
A predominantly Russian-speaking strip of land separated from Moldova by the river Niester and once the scene of a violent separatist war, Transnistria is one of the unresolved post-Soviet “frozen” conflicts. In spite of huge needs, little international aid has reached the unrecognized region, despite the enormous assistance Moldova receives from international institutions to tackle the HIV/AIDS epidemic. MSF strongly advocated for better resource flow from Moldova to Transnistria and finally in Spring 2008, Global Fund antiretroviral drugs that were accessible in Moldova gradually became more available in Transnistria. Although a positive step for the HIV/AIDS-affected population of Transnistria, much more must be done to treat and tackle the disease.
“There certainly has been progress in treating HIV/AIDS in Transnistria. However, there is still much to be done, not least with HIV/TB co-infection as well as in other areas of health. It is now up to the relevant bodies to ensure this vulnerable population has continued access to quality healthcare,” says Walsh.
Between 2007 and 2009, MSF opened an HIV clinic in Tiraspol, conducted trainings for local health professionals, provided antiretroviral medicines and lab materials, and rehabilitated and equipped the health facilities. The program activities also included medical work in the co-infection ward of the Bender TB hospital, the in-patient department in Slobozia, a polyclinic in Ribnitsa, as well as HIV/AIDS treatment in three Transnistrian prisons. MSF also equipped a state-of-the-art laboratory which provides biochemistry and hematology analysis along with the ability to measure immune system strength. The final component of the project involved training local medical and laboratory personnel to then guarantee the sustainability of the program after MSF’s emergency intervention ceased.
© 2013 Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) | <urn:uuid:3025d8a1-d6ea-4129-96c5-db55cdb8d201> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news/article_print.cfm?id=3583 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95096 | 713 | 1.882813 | 2 |
Future BlackBerry devices could print messages onto your skin
Biblical prophecies could be fulfilled! No, we’re just joking, this isn’t what you may think. A service that Research In Motion is currently supporting and is seeking to gain patents for, will not be permanent, use ink, or otherwise damage your skin. The technology is tentatively called SkinDisplay. The concept is that your phone could produce a physical surface that would allow you to press your hand, finger, thumb, or any skin down and it would create a temporary ‘tracing’ of the message or missed calls.
Created by the Vitamins Design director, Clara Gaggero, who told Metropolis Mag that the continuing development of piezoelectric technology (where electricity can deform the material, and the reverse) makes the idea very much possible. They’re also working on another idea from the project, aimed at reducing the invasiveness of mobile phones on day-to-day life, was SmartCall. This system would let you indicate the urgency, subject, and deadline for all of your phone calls. Hit the break for a video of the SkinDisplay concept. | <urn:uuid:1b0877c5-ed36-436a-9b56-00939acbcced> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://n4bb.com/future-blackberry-devices-could-print-messages-onto-your-skin/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934962 | 240 | 1.84375 | 2 |
The University of Kentucky's College of Agriculture has several equine-related pages on Facebook with the latest news and events information. Stay up-to-date with the latest happenings by following their activity on these pages:
Equine Initiative: The UK Equine Initiative is an overarching framework for all things equine at the University of Kentucky, including the undergraduate degree program, equine-related student organizations, equine research, and outreach activities.
University of Kentucky Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center: The mission of the Gluck Center is scientific discovery, education, and dissemination of knowledge for the benefit of the health and well-being of horses.
Kentucky Equine Networking Association (created by the Kentucky Horse Council and University of Kentucky): The Kentucky Equine Networking Association's (KENA) mission is to provide an educational and social venue for equine professionals and other horse enthusiasts from all disciplines to share ideas and business strategies and obtain current knowledge on horse and farm management with the principal objective of enhancing individual horse ownership and the horse industry at large.
Saddle Up SAFELY: Saddle Up SAFELY is a new rider safety awareness program sponsored by UK HealthCare, UK College of Agriculture, and many community organizations. It aims to make a great sport safer through education about safe riding and horse handling practices.
Want more articles like this? Sign up for the Bluegrass Equine Digest e-Newsletter.
Disclaimer: Seek the advice of a qualified veterinarian before proceeding with any diagnosis, treatment, or therapy. | <urn:uuid:1f5c249b-efe7-4b92-9692-8ee3aee5e57b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/61304/uk-equine-programs-on-facebook | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914308 | 311 | 1.710938 | 2 |
The Healthy Community Development Program can offer a high level of expertise and services to the community.
The IMAGINE Primers
We have worked very hard to capture some of our best ideas and resources to put in your hands. The primers comprise of a series of books on various aspects of our population health work. Originally, these books were designed for staff within Northern Health, to encourage and support them in adopting a population health approach to their work. We have also found them to be useful to community partners, so, by popular demand, we are sharing them here with interested community members as well. The primers demystify the concepts of population health and community development, and clearly explain the need for a shared, whole of society, approach to improving health outcomes.
Workshop design and delivery
Community groups do very good work, but may occasionally run into obstacles that threaten their capacity to serve the community effectively. There may be a need for developing a strategic plan, or building skills and capacity among board volunteers or staff, or there may be a crisis or point of conflict that threatens to derail work already underway. The Healthy Community Development team has the skills to help design workshops that introduce and ground population health principles and the best of the drive and passion expressed by the group. Woven together, these custom designed workshops have been very successful at harnessing and focusing the passion and drive of community energy and helping groups to chart a course for the continued good work.
In some cases, community energy and drive needs an outside support to help get things started in a solid way, or to help shift direction. Allowing all members of a community or group to be able to participate and contribute to planning and decision making requires a skilled outsider with tools and approaches that frame and support community needs in a good way and set planning processes up for success. Facilitation services support community members, or an organization’s staff, board and volunteers to come together in ways that allows everyone’s voices to be heard and everyone’s best skills and intentions to flourish.
Research and Consultation
Northern Health has a Research and Evaluation Department that supports Northern Health programs and practitioners in undertaking effective and useful evaluation work. In Healthy Community Development, our research work is geared toward supporting the evaluation of community based programs. Evaluation is often seen as an intimidating and burdensome requirement imposed by funders who want to ensure they are receiving good value for the funds they have invested. We believe that evaluation, done well, can produce multiple outcomes, enabling solid and relevant reporting on activities and achievements for funders and other communication purposes, as well as good direction for planning, increased teamwork and collaboration, empowering and inspiring reflection and contributing towards the building of community history.
This type of evaluation has many names. It is sometimes called Participatory Evaluation, Action Evaluation, Empowerment Evaluation, or Community Based Evaluation. It is well suited to community based and front line service provider work because of its potential for multi-tasking. For people and groups with limited time and scarce resources, multiple outcomes from one activity make the most sense. Most of these methods also put every step of an evaluation in the hands of the people most involved in the work. | <urn:uuid:a519d919-8bd7-42bf-ba89-e610faa24191> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.northernhealth.ca/YourHealth/HealthyLivingCommunities/HealthyCommunityDevelopment/Resources.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963284 | 648 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Here are excerpts from a review I published in VDARE.com in 2003 of a book written by Massachusetts Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren and her daughter:
Huge numbers of mothers entered the labor force over the last few decades. And the inflation-adjusted price of food, clothing, appliances, electronics etc. dropped sharply. So how come we don't feel like we've got a lot more discretionary income than our single-income parents had?
A wise and readable new public policy book called The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Mothers and Fathers Are Going Broke provides a simple answer:
We don't have more discretionary income than our single-income parents had.
The mother and daughter team of Harvard Law professor Elizabeth Warren and former McKinsey consultant Amelia Warren Tyagi explain: "The average two-income family earns far more today than did the single-breadwinner family of a generation ago. And yet, once they have paid the mortgage, the car payments, the taxes, the health insurance, and the day-care bills, today's dual-income families have less discretionary—and less money to put away for a rainy day—than the single-income family of a generation ago."
The two authors note: "The brunt of the price increases has fallen on families with children. Data from the Federal Reserve show that the median home value for the average childless individual increased by 23 percent between 1983 and 1998 … (adjusted for inflation). For married couples with children, however, housing prices shot up 79 percent—more than three times faster."
For example, in August, the median price of a single-family home in pleasant, suburban Ventura County west of Los Angeles was $480,000.
Many economists shrug that this vast rise in prices increases Americans' net worth. "But that net worth isn't worth anything," the two women point out, "unless a family plans to sell its home and live in a cave, because the next house the family buys would carry a similarly outrageous price tag."
... The biggest single cause of this growing financial stress on middle-income parents: the breakdown of much of the public education system. As Warren and Tyagi note, "Even as millions of mothers marched into the workforce, savings declined, and not, as we will show, because families were frittering away their paychecks on toys for themselves or their children. Instead, families were swept up in a bidding war, competing furiously with one another for their most important possession: a house in a decent school district… " ...
But what causes "bad schools"?
Here the authors play it coy. I can hardly blame them. Almost everybody uses "bad schools" as a euphemism. Who wants to become a pariah for telling the truth?
And for a book about the economics and law of personal bankruptcy, The Two-Income Trap is full of well-crafted zingers. I came away just plain liking these two ladies and their down-to-earth approach based on both formal data and the realities of daily life. | <urn:uuid:a1729396-310d-447d-8a4b-b7b81aa18d88> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://isteve.blogspot.com/2012/06/in-defense-of-elizabeth-warren.html?showComment=1338957676513 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96338 | 622 | 1.929688 | 2 |
April 12th, 2012
While we’ve talked about the fun April Activities that you can do outdoors, one thing that can put a damper on the good times is the appearance of your allergies. Since it’s been awhile since the appearance of these pesky afflictions, remember these tips in order to keep them at bay!
Know what you’re allergic to – A simple trip to your primary care doctor will allow them to administer an allergy test. Knowing that you’re allergic to pollen versus ragweed is a simple step that can help you determine if you should be on extra alert for the day.
Keep track of the allergy report – If your local news station does not include an allergen count, use websites such as www.pollen.com to keep track of days when the allergen that affects you is present at a high level. Knowing these days will allow you to limit your outdoor exposure, don’t plan on going to an event outdoors all day if pollen is your trigger allergen and the count is high.
Shower after coming inside – You are literally covered in allergens after walking outside. Make sure that the spores do not stick around on your clothes or furniture by washing everything down the drain!
A note on OTC’s –Some over the counter nasal decongestant sprays can be addictive if used over a long period of time. Take care to pick one that’s safest for you.
Keep your windows and vents closed – It seems like a simple thing to do, but even if the day is bright and inviting, resist the urge to keep your window open. All Grand View Builders homes are Energy-Star Certified and built with tight construction and ducts, sealing holes and cracks in the home’s exterior and helping to reduce moisture that causes mold as well as pollen and dust.
Have helpful things handy – Make sure you’re stocked up on tissues for your runny nose, lozenges to soothe your throat and antihistamine eye drops to relieve your swollen red eyes.
Unfortunately, allergies cannot be stopped outright. However, using these preventative measures can lessen the affects of allergies. | <urn:uuid:1d75fec6-e9b7-4c0d-918a-af68f1faaf1c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gvbtx.com/blog/tag/allergies/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937767 | 453 | 1.710938 | 2 |
THE 2012-2013 WALL OF FAME
Developed and Sponsored by Peoples Bank
With ever-increasing advances in technology, there is more need than ever for top performance in our personal and academic lives. In the united search for the development and reward of all-around excellence, the Wayne and Lewis County high schools and the Peoples Bank have combined efforts to introduce the “Wall of Fame” to students. We feel this program will encourage all seniors to attempt to earn the honor of being a “Wall of Fame” honoree and will establish itself as a goal to be reached for future seniors.
What is the Wall of Fame?
It is a school-year long program designed to recognize and reward the best, all-around seniors at our high schools. A select committee at each school, which includes the principal, a counselor, and one teacher from grades 9, 10, 11, and 12, will evaluate each senior from the beginning of school through the first week of April on specific criteria. During the latter part of April, five graduating seniors from each school will become “Wall of Fame” honorees. Photographs and honors information will be displayed for a full year on a special “Wall of Fame” at the Peoples Bank in Waynesboro, Hohenwald, and Clifton, and at the Collinwood Public Library. Media announcements and ads will honor each recipient. Four college scholarships will be awarded among the nominees, one from each high school. A countywide committee will choose recipients of the scholarships through an interview process. This committee will be composed of community members and will be coordinated through the Wayne and Lewis County Board of Education.
Why have a program recognizing an all-around student?
The reason is simple. Encouragement and recognition are strong motivators, and everyone needs these qualities. Historically, most recognition given to students over the years has been for athletic or academic excellence. The well-rounded student, who maintains a solid academic standing and often shows the skills that lead to accomplishment and success in life, is sometimes overlooked. The “Wall of Fame” was conceived to encourage and reward such students. In fact, the valedictorian and salutatorian are not eligible for the Wall of Fame.
Criteria for the “Wall of Fame”*
The criteria, developed by the high school faculty after discussions with Peoples Bank officials, are as follows:
- DEPENDABILITY - The greater ability is dependability.
- ATTITUDE - Positive, wholesome
- LEADERSHIP - In school and outside of school
- CHARACTER - Good, honorable
- SCHOOL / CIVIC PARTICIPATION - School and community
- SCHOLARSHIP - A minimum “B” GPA throughout the year
- ATTENDANCE - No more than five (5) excused absences—no unexcused
- COOPERATIVE - Good team player
School and bank officials strongly agree that any student selected using these criteria is a student whose future appears bright and productive. Such students deserve reward, recognition, and encouragement.
*All eligible students must be enrolled in a high school in Wayne County for at least two school years. The valedictorian and salutatorian are not eligible for the Wall of Fame. | <urn:uuid:b114f065-5622-43ef-b7c9-ca57dd962500> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pbbanking.com/s_scholarship.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946446 | 688 | 2.125 | 2 |
Catfish is a documentary, made in 2010, involving a man being filmed by his friends as he builds a romantic relationship with a girl and a bond with her ‘family’ on Facebook.
I’m so happy because I didn’t really know what sort of stuff to write in my blog which is not part of the course content but relates to the course UNTIL i stumbled across ‘Catfish’!!!
I just watched this movie last night and realised i could write about it on my blog!! I thought i could do this as it has lots to do with networking and it was very relevant to the lecture we had with Nate. What really struck me about the film is how anyone can easily create a network. The girl in the film totally made up an entire life that was fake. She added Nev Schulman, who the story revolves around and pretended to be someone she wasn’t. She built an entire false family – complete with Mother and Father and two daughters, one of which had a romantic relationship over the internet and the phone. She created hundreds of false accounts and added herself in order to make herself seem like a real person. She merely downloaded a random person’s entire photo collection and claimed it as her own. She would write, post and comment on all her photos with all her other accounts. As Nate pointed out in his lecture, it is so easy for anyone to use the internet and do all sorts of things with it. It is accessible for anyone do whatever like – including identity theft.
What also occurred to me is how a random person in Michigan added a random person in New york which lead to an entire film being made. This also demonstrates the power of the internet and how everyone is connected all over the world through a huge network, and in this case facebook…
I just find it so fascinating that it is so easy to create an entire network of people…especially fake!!!!! It just shows how far the internet has come from Paul Baran’s original idea of distributed communications. The film has really stuck with me and it has made me think about the internet in an entirely different way. It makes me realise how many different ways the internet can be used, including making an entire false network of people. Now i realise how useful Nate’s lecture was and how it relates to all sorts of things in regards to networked media.
Anyway, I’ll stop babbling along and end it here…BUT…
It was an incredible experience watching the film, especially because I had no idea what it was going to be about and I feel it was a couple of hours well spent!! | <urn:uuid:68dfb9e6-95a8-4800-a87d-fa3ad5d79baa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://raws.adc.rmit.edu.au/~s3328003/blog2/?tag=catfish | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981174 | 544 | 2.078125 | 2 |
The Open Transportation
How Drivers Understand Safe Behaviour and Perceive Risks at Passive
Railway-Road Level Crossings
Juha Luoma and Mikko Poutanen Pp 88-91
This study was designed to investigate how drivers assess safety issues at passive railway-road level crossings.
The study was limited to traditional and relatively inexpensive safety measures. Fifty-six car and van drivers were
interviewed after passive level crossings with low traffic volume. Both key requirements of safe behaviour (i.e. decrease
of speed and looking for trains) were indicated by 36-71% of drivers depending on the classification of responses. This
result suggests that a substantial percentage of drivers have no proper concept of safe behaviour at level crossings.
Another important result was that drivers found the crossing of main roads to be more difficult than crossing passive
railway-road level crossings — despite the fact that they considered the latter to be more dangerous. This suggests that the
drivers estimated the crash risk at railway-road level crossings to be relatively low, although they know that it is
dangerous in general. Furthermore, the drivers suggested that the conspicuity of level crossings could be improved by
increasing lateral visibility early enough and with advance warning signs. The drivers also suggested that caution could be
increased with the use of STOP signs, improving the visibility of road signs and increasing the lateral visibility of tracks.
The results suggest that there are several potential safety measures that could support drivers. | <urn:uuid:a45050c7-3714-4212-80ed-9f4d315f1d83> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.benthamscience.com/open/totj/article/V005/SI0021TOTJ/88TOTJ.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95482 | 303 | 2.375 | 2 |
The Mahabharata - First Book
"Sauti continued 'The Dundubha then said,
'In former times, I had a friend Khagama by name. He was impetuous in his speech and possessed of spiritual power by virtue of his austerities. And one day when he was engaged in the Agni-hotra (Fire-sacrifice), I made a mock snake of blades of grass, and in a frolic attempted to frighten him with it. And anon he fell into a swoon.
On recovering his senses, that truth-telling and vow-observing ascetic, burning with wrath, exclaimed,
'Since thou hast made a powerless mock snake to frighten me, thou shalt be turned even into a venomless serpent thyself by my curse.'
O ascetic, I well knew the power of his penances; therefore with an agitated heart, I addressed him thus, bending low with joined hands,
'Friend, I did this by way of a joke, to excite thy laughter. It behoveth thee to forgive me and revoke thy curse.'
And seeing me sorely troubled, the ascetic was moved, and [Page 53] he replied, breathing hot and hard.
'What I have said must come to pass. Listen to what I say and lay it to thy heart. O pious one! when Ruru the pure son of Pramati, will appear, thou shall be delivered from the curse the moment thou seest him. Thou art the very Ruru and the son of Pramati. On regaining my native form, I will tell thee something for thy good.'
"And that illustrious man and the best of Brahmanas then left his snake-body, and attained his own form and original brightness. He then addressed the following words to Ruru of incomparable power,
'O thou first of created beings, verily the highest virtue of man is sparing the life of others. Therefore a Brahmana should never take the life of any creature.
A Brahmana should ever be mild. This is the most sacred injunction of the Vedas. A Brahmana should be versed in the Vedas and Vedangas, and should inspire all creatures with belief in God. He should be benevolent to all creatures, truthful, and forgiving, even as it is his paramount duty to retain the Vedas in his memory.
The duties of the Kshatriya are not thine. To be stern, to wield the sceptre and to rule the subjects properly are the duties of the Kshatriya. Listen, O Ruru, to the account of the destruction of snakes at the sacrifice of Janamejaya in days of yore, and the deliverance of the terrified reptiles by that best of Dwijas, Astika, profound in Vedic lore and might in spiritual energy.'"
And so ends the eleventh section of the Pauloma Parva of the Adi Parva. | <urn:uuid:cdb12833-b91b-4a2b-ad11-a49d21ab4b91> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/the-mahabharata-first-book/d/doc3873.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957132 | 617 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Philip Larkin "This Be The Verse" - "They f*** you up, your mum and dad" Poem animation
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Uploaded on Mar 25, 2011
Heres the celebrated English poet Philip Larkin reading what is probably his best loved poem "This Be The Verse" "This Be The Verse" is a lyric poem in three verses of four iambic tetrameter on an alternating rhyme scheme, by the English poet Philip Larkin (1922--1985). It was written around April 1971, first published in the August 1971 issue of New Humanist, and appeared in the 1974 collection High Windows.
This Be The Verse is perhaps Larkin's best known poem; its opening lines ("They fuck you up, your mum and dad") are almost certainly his most frequently quoted. Larkin himself compared it with W. B. Yeats's Lake Isle of Innisfree and said he expected to hear it recited in his honour by a thousand Girl Guides before he died. It appears in its entirety on more than a thousand web pages. It is frequently parodied. Television viewers in the United Kingdom voted it one of the "Nation's Top 100 Poems".
Another testament to the enduring appeal of Larkin's poem came in April 2009, when the first four lines of the poem were recited by a British appeal court judge as part of his judgement of a particularly acrimonious divorce case involving the future custody arrangements of a nine year old child. Lord Justice Wall referred to the emotional damage caused to the child, saying: "These four lines seem to me to give a clear warning to parents who, post-separation, continue to fight the battles of the past, and show each other no respect."
Indeed, it is quoted on occasions by people who do not know they are quoting Larkin. It is brief and memorable enough that many who read it are then able to recite it from memory, and do so to others, who also remember it and recite it again with minor variations. It has been heard on the lips of adolescents who do not know who Larkin was. As such, the poem shows signs of having entered the folklore process of oral tradition, and may be on its way to becoming an underground nursery rhyme of sorts, after the manner of Pounds, Shillings, and Pence.
The title of the poem is an allusion to Robert Louis Stevenson's Requiem, which also contains familiar lines:
Under the wide and starry sky,
Dig the grave and let me lie.
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.
This be the verse you grave for me:
Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.
Stevenson's thought of a happy homecoming in death is given an ironic turn.
The title also ironically recalls the recurring phrase in the Old Testament threatening the sins of the father against his sons: "for I the Lord, thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me" [Exodus 20:5]. Larkin parodies the divine threat by rewriting the deliberate retribution of an angry vengeful God as the tragic shortcomings of "your mum and dad" (l. 1). This biblical allusion injects a homiletic quality into the unabashedly profane poem and hints at a certain awareness on Larkin's part that, of all his poems, this one will be the poem his readers will remember.
All rights are reserved on this video recording copyright Jim Clark 2011
This Be The Verse........
They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.
But they were fucked up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another's throats.
Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don't have any kids yourself.
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- Loading more suggestions... | <urn:uuid:7b8f333e-ef66-4b7b-8678-9431d19a40ce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRp3MfTScds | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927421 | 1,434 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Though most are happy that Skype has launched an Android application, users in the U.S. aren’t too excited with the notion that voice calls will be limited to a Wi-Fi connection while mobile data connections (GPRS, EDGE, 3G) can be utilized by those outside the country. Skype’s Android application was launched on October 5th, but someone has already figured out a way to turn voice calls over a mobile data connection back on for those in the U.S.
DroidForums.net reports that one of their members, xeudoxus, was able to hack Skype for Android in fifteen minutes and a link to download the modified app is now available. The application should be downloaded to a phone’s memory card and installed using a file manager application.
An Android version of Skype was first available exclusively to Verizon Wireless subscribers back in March after the carrier announced that it would carry Skype calls over its voice network without charging a subscriber’s voice or data plan. Limiting the newest Skype for Android application to require a Wi-Fi connection for voice calls would continue to give Verizon Wireless an edge over other carriers when it comes to attracting Skype users. It looks like that edge didn’t last long.
Read more at DroidForums.net | <urn:uuid:8e8b532c-4bac-426c-8602-9d62a1ce265a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.geek.com/mobile/skype-for-android-hacked-to-allow-calls-over-3g-1288682/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943532 | 268 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Syria civil war sees deadliest week, UNICEF says
September 3, 2012 -- Updated 0021 GMT (0821 HKT)
- NEW: The number of dead on Sunday rises to at least 144, says an opposition group
- The rebel Free Syrian Army says it carried out a Damascus bombing
- At least 1,600 people, including children, are killed in a week, UNICEF says
- A documentary group says nearly 5,000 people died in August
(CNN) -- At least 1,600 people were killed in Syria last week, making it the deadliest week yet in the civil war, a UNICEF spokesman said Sunday.
Patrick McCormick of the U.N. children's fund said the toll included children, as the government of Bashar al-Assad fights to suppress an 18-month uprising against its rule.
Nearly 5,000 people died in August, according to the Center of Documentation of Violation in Syria, which put the toll for the month at 4,937.
And there appeared to be no letup in the violence on Sunday, with opposition sources saying at least 144 people were killed across the country.
Syrian army soldiers take control of the village of Western Dumayna north of the rebel-held city of Qusayr on Monday, May 13. Syrian troops captured three villages in Homs province, allowing them to cut supply lines to rebels inside Qusayr town, a military officer told AFP. Tensions in Syria first flared in March 2011 during the onset of the Arab Spring, eventually escalating into a civil war that still rages. This gallery contains the most compelling images taken since the start of the conflict.
Syrian civil war in photos
Syria refugee crisis mounting
Gerges: Assad not backing down
Syrian activist: Three types of beatings
The Local Coordination Committees of Syria, an opposition group, said the toll includes a "massacre" of 35 people in the village of Al Fan in Hama province.
The state news agency SANA said there had been a clash between government forces and an "armed terrorist group" in the area.
Separately, a bombing near a government security building in the capital Damascus left at least four people wounded, state television said, calling the incident "terrorism."
The opposition Free Syrian Army's Grandsons of the Prophet Brigade said it carried out the attack.
CNN cannot independently verify reports of violence, because the Syrian government limits access by international journalists.
Opposition fighters claimed Saturday to be making advances, saying they captured a military air force base after an 11-day siege.
They seized the base to prevent airstrikes and shelling of civilians, Ridha Al-Alwani said via Skype from the border city of Albu Kamal in Deir Ezzour province.
A Free Syrian Army spokesman said the installation was the Air Defense battalion headquarters in Albu Kamal.
The military, however, still controls two other bases that it used to launch airstrikes following the rebel attack, Al-Alwani said.
At least 162 people died across Syria on Saturday, including 55 in and around Damascus, opposition activists said.
Several political activists reported that regime forces raided a hospital in the Damascus suburb of Kafar Batna, killed medical staff, and wounded patients. They said regime forces later burned the hospital.
The Local Coordination Committees of Syria said the regime forces had targeted the hospital in the past because it treated protesters.
CNN's Sarah Jones, Amir Ahmed and Hamdi Alkhshali contributed to this report.
Part of complete coverage on
There's more to the Syrian civil war than rebels versus the regime. Syria's neighbors in the Middle East also have a stake in the conflict.
May 9, 2013 -- Updated 2113 GMT (0513 HKT)
Israel is taking steps to defend itself against threatened retaliation from Syria after claims it launched airstrikes on Damascus.
May 14, 2013 -- Updated 1636 GMT (0036 HKT)
Domestic political will is a necessary for intervention and polls show Americans are reluctant to support military interventions in Syria.
May 6, 2013 -- Updated 1738 GMT (0138 HKT)
Syria's claim that Israel launched airstrikes presents a dangerous escalation of Israel's involvement in Syria's war, writes Fawaz Gerges.
May 7, 2013 -- Updated 0941 GMT (1741 HKT)
The U.N. says a Syrian rebel group may have used a nerve agent -- it would not be the first time the al-Qaeda-affiliated group used chemical weapons.
May 1, 2013 -- Updated 1800 GMT (0200 HKT)
Having willfully avoided direct military involvement in Syria for the past two years, Obama may not be so lucky anymore, writes Aaron David Miller.
May 10, 2013 -- Updated 0944 GMT (1744 HKT)
What began as a protest movement became an uprising that metastasized into a war, a vicious whirlpool dragging a whole region toward it.
A devout man prays. A fighter weeps over a slain comrade. These are a few faces of the Syrian conflict captured by photographer LeeHarper.
April 25, 2013 -- Updated 0859 GMT (1659 HKT)
A group of pro-Syrian regime hackers that has targeted major news organizations but its cyber attacks can have real-life impact.
March 7, 2013 -- Updated 2324 GMT (0724 HKT)
The role of women in Syrian uprising is little reported, but many have played a key part as activists and medics since the bloodshed began.
Are you in Syria? Share your stories, videos and photos with the world on CNN iReport, but please stay safe.
Today's five most popular stories | <urn:uuid:f85b61fb-4049-4b21-b3d6-5be84df472cd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://edition.cnn.com/2012/09/02/world/meast/syria-civil-war/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95124 | 1,173 | 1.726563 | 2 |
From Derek Thompson of The Atlantic:
In an interview with ABC, Mitt Romney offered his definition of the middle class. “Middle income is $200,000 to $250,000 and less,” he said.*
Who knows what “middle class” really means. It’s more of a feeling than a statistical definition. But as a matter of arithmetic, it doesn’t make much sense to think of people earning $200,000 as being in the middle of anything, except the top decile of earners. Using data from the Tax Policy Center 2012 projected distribution, here’s a look at the share of American tax units that make less than $200,000. The big blue slice is Romney’s definition of middle class, which in all fairness to him, is more or less shared by the White House. | <urn:uuid:42022481-328a-41a4-b7fe-9b85f4c29727> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://richardbrenneman.wordpress.com/2012/09/15/quotechart-of-the-day-class-unconsciousness/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965196 | 176 | 2.140625 | 2 |
History has always fascinated me, but some eras could have ended better. The thirteenth century is full of these unfortunate events. It ended badly for Scotland, but even worse for Wales, which lost its prince and its independence to King Edward I of England.
Edward had his eyes on Wales for thirty years, ever since Llywelyn ap Gruffydd’s forces had swept through his lands (held custodially by Edward’s parents and guardians) in 1256. Llywelyn’s army marched all the way to Deheubarth that summer and fall, and set the stage of Llywelyn’s twenty year supremacy in Wales. However, it wasn’t until 1267 that Edward’s father, Henry III, acknowledged Llywelyn as the Prince of Wales, a title he inherited from his grandfather–and another ten years after that before things fell apart for the Welsh prince.
Edward participated in the Ninth Crusade and despite the fact that his father died in 1272, he didn’t return to England until 1274, at which point he immediately turned a covetous eye on Wales. Why Wales instead of Scotland? It seems likely that Wales looked the easier target. Scotland had always been a separate kingdom, whereas Wales had fallen under the jurisdiction of England as a principality since the turn of the 13th century. Thus, invading Scotland meant attacking the rule of a reigning monarch; attacking Wales meant reining in a rebellious prince–a different matter entirely. In addition, in the winter of 1274, Dafydd ap Gruffydd, Llywelyn’s brother, conspired to assassinate Llywelyn and only a sudden snowstorm averted the attack. Dafydd, a long time friend of Edward from childhood, fled to England, and to Edward. Perhaps Edward believed if he unseated Llywelyn, he’d have a malleable prince in Dafydd.
For Scotland’s part, when King Alexander III of Scotland married Margaret of England in 1251 (Henry III’s daughter), Henry tried to insist that Alexander give homage to him. Alexander refused. By 1261, Alexander was well on his way to having as grand a plans for Scotland as Llywelyn had for Wales. He maintained a firm grip on power until his death in 1286.
By then, Llywelyn had been murdered (in 1282) and Wales had fallen finally, and permanently, to Edward. Subsequently, in 1283, Edward hanged, drew, and quartered Dafydd, the first man of standing to die such a heinous death. Edward inflicted the same death on William Wallace in 1305.
With King Alexander’s death, Edward saw Scotland as ripe for picking. With no obvious heir (all of Alexander’s children had died by 1284), only a granddaughter, Margaret, remained. When she died in 1290, upwards of fourteen different magnates claimed the throne, and they turned to Edward to arbitrate the dispute. He, of course, wanted whoever was crowned to swear allegiance to him. They all refused and eventually John Balloil was appointed king. Still, Edward maintained that he was the rightful overlord–and when he demanded the Scots join him in a war against France, the Scots instead allied with France. Unfortunately, this gave Edward the excuse he needed to invade Scotland, which he did in 1296. This led to William Wallace’s rebellion in 1297.
Unlike Wales, Scotland fought off England’s attempts to subjugate it for another few hundred years, ending finally with the defeat at Culloden and the razing of the Highlands.
One of the great things about writing historical fantasy is getting to change history–usually for the better!
My After Cilmeri series, Footsteps in Time and its sequel, Prince of Time, follows the adventures of two American teenagers who stop the English soldiers who intend to murder Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, and save Wales from over 700 years of English oppression.
About Sarah Woodbury:
With two historian parents, Sarah couldn’t help but develop an interest in the past. She went on to get more than enough education herself (in anthropology) and began writing fiction when the stories in her head overflowed and demanded she let them out. Her interest in Wales stems from her own ancestry and the year she lived in England when she fell in love with the country, language, and people. She even convinced her husband to give all four of their children Welsh names.
She makes her home in Oregon.
To find out more, visit Sarah’s site. | <urn:uuid:799e4086-6530-48bc-8605-c0533c82c5e1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bluebellstrilogy.com/blog/category/medieval-times-outside-scotland/wales/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975419 | 974 | 3.171875 | 3 |
The Douglas-Elbert Task Force has organized Santa’s Sharing, a program in which individuals, groups and businesses in the community sponsor client families or seniors living alone for Christmas.
Interested parties may participate by sponsoring a task force family. Sponsors shop for new gifts from the family wish list, then wrap and deliver the gifts to the family before Christmas. A Christmas sponsorship generally costs about $50-$60 per family member.
Those who want to help but don’t have time for shopping can purchase one gift certificate for the amount they would have spent on gifts. This allows the parents to purchase and wrap the gifts for their family.
Community members also can help by buying new toys, games or books for the Task Force Toy Chest.
Each year, there are families not matched with sponsors. Volunteers select and wrap gifts for the children from the Toy Chest, and parents are provided with gift cards.
The task force also needs financial contributions and gift cards. These contributions are used to provide for those with special or emergency needs, teens of families not sponsored or families especially in need of food.
To get involved in helping a local family, call the Holiday Sponsorship Hotline at 303-382-3869 and leave a message with your contact information. A Santa’s Sharing volunteer will return the call. E-mail questions to Nani1674@aol.com with the subject line: Santa.
More than 45 Elbert County 4-H members attended the Dare To Be You camp in mid-November at the Colorado State Fairgrounds in Pueblo.
“It was a tremendous amount of youth representing Elbert County at the camp,” said Sheila Kelley, Elbert County 4-H Extension Agent.
Dare To Be You is an annual camp for 4-H members ages 11-13. It is sponsored by the South Central District, which include more than 16 counties.
Along with the 41 4-H members who attended, seven older members acted as camp counselors. These counselors provided leadership, presented the workshops and generally helped the younger members wherever needed.
Giving back to the community is a large part of 4-H. Attendees participated in four community service projects as well as the workshops. The community service projects consisted of constructing table placemats for senior citizens homes and Meals on Wheels recipients, designing bookmarks with “warm, fuzzy” messages for people that are suffering from a chronic illness and making greeting cards for U.S. troops.
The group also collected more than 12 boxes of non-perishable food to donate to food banks. Elbert County members collected the largest number of items. The food was split between Pueblo and Elbert County food banks.
Anyone interested in joining 4-H should call either Elbert County Extension Office at 303-621-3162 or 719-541-2361. Elbert County 4-H is a part of Colorado 4-H through Colorado State University. | <urn:uuid:496288bd-4369-4dfb-8e71-5f0a42a5e3b0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ourcoloradonews.com/elbert/life/community-briefs/article_d4541e5e-ee3c-5850-88f8-569b972f0265.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948118 | 612 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Ag Water Demand Model – Okanagan Basin
The Agricultural Water Demand Model was developed to provide current and future agriculture water demands for the Okanagan Basin. The full report on this project is now available. As well we have reports on the Nicola, Kettle, and Similkameen Watersheds. All are online in PDF format for viewing and printing. Read More
A drought occurs when a region becomes deficient in its natural water supply whether on the surface or underground. Droughts can last for months and even years. In general, droughts occur when a region receives less than the average… Read More
The Irrigation Industry Association of British Columbia was formed in 1979 to provide a forum for manufacturers, suppliers, and contractors to get together to communicate and exchange information about the irrigation industry.
The Irrigation Industry Association of British Columbia (IIABC), with funding from the National Water Supply Expansion Program, has developed a new agriculture irrigation scheduling calculator. The calculator will determine an irrigation schedule for all types of agricultural irrigation systems and crop types. Read More
Okanagan Basin Water Board
Water supply information for the Okanagan is available from several sources, including the River Forecast Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Environment Canada, and the Ministry of Environment. Read More
The Partnershipn Committee on Agriculture and the Environment provides a single-window approach for consultation on enviornmental issues that affect farmers and agriculture. The Partnership Committee provides an opportunity for local government representatives to meet face to face with the people who initiate policies and legislation that directly affect farmers. Read More
The Farmwest climate station network is part of a water conservation initiative for more effective and efficient use of irrigation water.
InfoBasket is organised into areas of interest called Communities (e.g. Apiculture or Beef). Each Community is comprised of folders, such as Production and Processing, Business Management and Finance, Marketing and Trade, Regulations and Legislation, Directories and Contacts and Statistics and Market Data. Within these folders you will find links to documents specific to your agri-business needs. Read More
The annual B.C. Dairy Expo at Tradex in Abbotsford showcases the latest and most innovative equipment and technology for the agriculture industry. It kicks off with the popular Dairy Farm Tour each year. Read More
This factsheet from the BC Ministry of Agriculture provides an overview on building setback standards from watercourses and wetlands in farming areas. Read More
The Okanagan Basin Water Board (OBWB) was instituted in 1970 through a collaboration of the three Okanagan regional districts to provide leadership on water issues that span the entire valley – recognizing the need to work together to protect our common resources. Read More | <urn:uuid:2473c9be-9958-4ce6-bac6-c44c34bf4691> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://waterbucket.ca/aw/?type=summary§ion=water_sources | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914743 | 555 | 2.453125 | 2 |
RICHMOND -- City officials have scheduled a public meeting for Wednesday night to talk about specifications for rebuilding the Chevron refinery crude unit that caught fire after a pipe failure Aug. 6.
The meeting, set for 6:30 p.m. in the City Council chamber, will include discussions on metals that will be used in the repair of failed pipes, updates on the investigations into the fire and other plans.
Among the agencies expected to be represented at the meeting are Contra Costa County, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health, Bay Area Air Quality Management District and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Residents are encouraged to attend and provide feedback.
The meeting was prompted by the Dec. 4 council meeting, when city officials, residents and watchdog groups raised concerns that staff had already issued some permits with little discussion or oversight. The council voted to require City Manager Bill Lindsay to hold a public meeting this month to share information and encourage public feedback.
The Aug. 6 fire occurred when a 5-foot-long section of 8-inch carbon steel pipe carrying high-temperature gas oil sprung a leak, releasing hydrocarbons that soon ignited. The fire resulted in injuries to several workers and sent thousands of residents to hospitals in the area to seek treatment. Chevron has reported that the leak resulted from accelerated sulfidation corrosion,
The Chemical Safety Board is expected to release its findings into the fire's cause early next year.
Councilman Tom Butt, who last month criticized the permitting process as moving too fast, said the meeting should be a good opportunity to learn and affect the process.
"Things are better now," Butt said. "The city is doing more to make sure the public understands the process."
As part of its permit application, Chevron provided the city a detailed risk analysis regarding the selection of pipe material for the repair on Dec. 12.
The city has retained two metallurgical specialists to evaluate Chevron's plans, which call for using 9 Chrome alloy as piping material in the unit, which ferries high-temperature, sulfur-containing fuels.
Environmental watchdog groups have criticized the plan to use 9 Chrome alloy, saying more durable metals are available and that Chevron is not in compliance with a city resolution passed last month calling on the refinery to use only the "best available technology" in rebuilding the burned unit.
What: Public meeting to discuss rebuilding of Chevron refinery crude unit
When: 6:30 p.m. Wednesday
Where: City Council chamber, 440 Civic Center Plaza | <urn:uuid:d46f0b6f-7283-4176-bc29-fc4c978ecc45> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_22210754/richmond-hold-public-meeting-permits-chevron-refinery-work | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931986 | 515 | 1.53125 | 2 |
The cultural and economic problems America confronts are structural. The lifelong biological family is unable to reliably function as a source of social order. The size and scope of the criminal justice system is unsustainable and corrosive. The magnitude of privately held debt spins nightmare scenarios in the heads of policymakers already hesitant to undo a system of governance dedicated above all to artificially maintaining for Americans of every class a lifestyle many of them could not accomplish on their own.
That may feel compassionate — or even merely prudent — but on anything more than the most shortsighted of timelines, it is neither. The endemic subsidization on which our virtual prosperity depends is incompatible with any fair view of Americans as a free people. And against that most serious charge, Pawlentyism — no matter how conservative in its convictions, commitments, and attitudes — has no answer.
Does any Republican approach? For now, it’s difficult to answer yes. But the contours of a satisfactory alternative to establishment drift are easy to recognize.
In foreign policy, end our indefinite military garrisons, increase our ability to poke hard with a sharp stick at key moments and help our cornerstone allies in Europe and Asia better assert a constant regional presence.
On criminal justice, legalize soft drugs, clean up the appeals and capital punishment process, overhaul our corrupt (and corrupting) prison system, and reform and reintegrate felons.
On border issues, permit brief stays for true migrant workers, and demand an immediate choice between citizenship and deportation for resident illegal immigrants without criminal records.
On social issues, embrace the Tenth Amendment, and work to defeat and reverse judges who don’t just legislate from the bench but philosophize.
And on the defining issue of our time — subsidy and entitlement spending writ large — begin the urgent task of painstakingly unraveling the cocoon of incentives, payoffs, behavioral modifications, and socioeconomic engineering that has forced well-off, middle-class, working-class, and poor Americans to choose between greater prosperity and greater independence.
There’s no reason a Republican candidate can’t embrace these or similar positions. They amount to a post-establishmentarian vision of governance that steps outside the box created by misleading categories like “extreme” on the one hand and “centrist” on the other. And they sharply rebuke the sitting president.
Tim Pawlenty didn’t flop because Iowans are crackpots or Tea Partiers are wingnuts. It’s not extremism along the traditional political spectrum that grassroots Republicans (and independents and others) want. It’s an extreme departure from that spectrum, which has become — to say nothing of the parlous state of the left — a license and excuse for a great drift into inadequacy by conventional fusionism on the right.
If the candidates counted as the winners in the wake of Pawlenty’s departure don’t grasp that fact, they might have beaten him, but they’ll have joined him, too.
James Poulos is the host of The Bottom Line and Reform School on PJTV. A doctoral candidate in Government at Georgetown University, he holds degrees from Duke and USC Law. His writing has appeared in The American Conservative, The Boston Globe, Cato Unbound, The National Interest, and The Weekly Standard, among others, and is featured in the collection Proud to Be Right, edited by Jonah Goldberg. He has been an editor at Ricochet.com and a fellow of the Claremont Institute. He lives in Los Angeles. His Twitter handle is @jamespoulos. | <urn:uuid:c8a1afb0-e17f-41ce-a1fd-3fc85a12c7e6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dailycaller.com/2011/08/14/the-real-reason-pawlenty-failed/2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931904 | 733 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Five prayers Catholics can take to heart
The issue of prayer is not prayer; the issue of prayer is God. One cannot pray unless he has faith in his own ability to accost the infinite, merciful, eternal God.-Jewish Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, Man's Quest for God (Hudson River, 1981)
As Catholics, we have a long tradition of prayer. And in our relationships with God we are invited to "talk things over" constantly. This dialogue is one of faith, an abiding trust that God speaks to us in scripture, through the sacraments, in community, in ordinary, everyday experiences. And we are called to respond to this communication with praise and thanksgiving, petitions and pleas for mercy.
"Prayer . . . is communication, in which God's word has the initiative, and we, at first, are simply listeners," wrote the late Swiss Catholic Cardinal Hans Urs von Balthasar in his book Prayer. It is good to be reminded of this fact so that we realize our response is to God's initiative in our lives. But our response often takes the shape of formal prayer, expressing what we believe, how we feel, and how we might respond. Here are five traditional Catholic prayers that are well worth memorizing since they contain both a basic wisdom and express a tender faith.
Thanks be to Thee, my Lord Jesus Christ,
for all the benefits which Thou hast given me, for me,
O most merciful friend, redeemer and brother.
May I see Thee more clearly,
love Thee more dearly
and follow Thee more nearly.
This prayer is both an expression of the centrality of Jesus in the Christian life as well as a formulation of a triple desire regarding one's relationship with the Lord.
If you were asked, "Who is the lord of your life?", what would your response be? One possible answer as a pragmatic, democratic American would be: "No one is the lord of my life." Our individual freedom is so stressed that allegiance is given to no one, except perhaps our own ego. But this prayer expresses gratitude to Jesus, Lord, friend, redeemer, and brother for two reasons: all the benefits and blessings that we have gratuitously received and the mystery that Jesus suffered and died for our salvation.
Richard's prayer is an affirmation of the mystery of the Incarnation and redemption. It is a song of thanksgiving for the Paschal Mystery through which we have been given our freedom: the forgiveness of our sins.
This prayer is filled with longing, with the desire to see, love, and follow in the way of the Lord. It is a prayer of discipleship by which we yearn to put on the mind and heart of Christ. Also note carefully Richard's use of the adverbs clearly, dearly, and nearly (my mother once said that you can tell educated people by their use of adverbs). These are common enough modifiers, but when directed toward the Lord they take on added significance.
Warning: pray this prayer daily from the heart and your life will change in a profound way. Gratitude does lead to joyful generosity and desires do foster enlargement of the heart. As Father Thomas Green, S.J. says, "Prayer is the loving that flows from a deeper and deeper knowing."
Direct, we beseech thee, O Lord, all our actions
by thy holy inspiration, and carry them on by
thy gracious assistance so that every prayer and
work of ours may begin always from thee and
through thee be happily ended.
Every morning our Latin teacher would begin class with this prayer. But not in English! Within two weeks we all had to stand and recite this petition to the Lord. The words are still lodged in my memory: Actiones nostras, quaesumus, Domine, aspirando praeveni, et adjuvando prosequere: ut cuncta nostra oratio et operatio a te semper incipiat, et per te coepta finiatur.
Looking back on this experience I am truly grateful (at the time, I was not). In one sentence we have a rich theology and an expression of deep faith. This prayer also emphasizes the importance of how we begin and end the events of our lives.
At times our work and our prayer do not arise out of God's inspiration but rather through our own willfulness. This petition is asking God to truly inspire us, to guide us toward what is true, good, and beautiful. The assumption here is that the Holy Spirit is always available as we make decisions that shape our lives and human history. As in the Book of Genesis, the Spirit hovers over us with gifts of wisdom, sensitivity, and courage to be true disciples of the Lord.
Things may begin well but not necessarily end in happiness and peace. Marriages begun in love do break up; religious commitments begun with dedication and consecration can go awry; an opening birdie on the golf course can be forgotten with a triple bogey on number 18. Our God is not only a creator bringing us into existence. Our God is providential love who wills that we further the kingdom in all we do and say. And as every pilot knows, beginnings and endings are crucial.
Then there is the in-between. The meal begins with "Bless us, O Lord . . ." and ends with "We give you thanks . . ." We also need to be aware of the Lord's presence during the conversation. The pilot needs to use his or her expertise not just in taking off from Chicago's O'Hare Airport and landing at New York City's La Guardia but also during the entire flight. This prayer from the Divine Office helps us to remember that God is with us at all times: beginnings, middles, and ends.
This prayer has a universality about it. We seek God's direction at all times, in every place-doing the laundry, changing diapers, hoeing the garden, painting a picture, scrubbing for surgery, correcting homework, fixing the kitchen sink, changing a tire, and kneeling to say our nightly prayers.
In the preface of the Mass we proclaim that "it is our duty and our salvation, always and everywhere to give you thanks . . ." We do that precisely because God always and everywhere sends the Spirit to enlighten our minds and enable our wills to do what is right and just.
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known
that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought
thy intercession, was left unaided.
Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins,
my mother: to thee I come, before thee
I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate,
despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.
During the Second Vatican Council, lengthy discussions were held regarding Mary's place in the church. A decision had to be made: would the council write a separate document dealing with Mary or would a theology of Mary be placed in a broader context? As we now know, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, one of 16 documents of Vatican II, addressed "The Role of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, in the Mystery of Christ and the Church" in chapter eight. This document encourages us to turn to Mary for assistance since she mirrors so powerfully the central truths of our faith and two particular virtues that are central to discipleship: obedience and self-giving. Mary indeed is a sure sign of hope.
The Memorare has been part of the Catholic tradition for centuries. It is a prayer of supreme confidence and trust in Mary as our intercessor. It is also a prayer of honesty and humility. We come before Mary with our sins and our sorrow. In a culture in which sin is often denied, we must have the wisdom to face our darkness and selfishness. We come before Mary as we are, and she embraces us as such. No need for pretense here.
In the Vatican II document, we are told that by her maternal charity Mary cares for all the followers of Christ who "still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties." As we confront the dangers of war and illness, the difficulties of strained relationships and unemployment, we turn to Mary knowing that she will intercede for us that we might receive the graces we need to change our situation or to endure that which we must suffer. We are not alone. The Memorare is an excellent prayer to deepen our faith and live more fully the gospel call.
Soul of Christ, sanctify me.
Body of Christ, save me.
Blood of Christ, fill me.
Water from the side of Christ, wash me.
Passion of Christ, strengthen me.
O good Jesus, hear me.
Within Thy wounds hide me.
Never permit me to be separated from Thee.
From the wicked enemy defend me.
At the hour of death call me
And bid me come unto Thee,
That with Thy saints I may praise Thee
For ever and ever. Amen.
The moments after receiving our Lord in the Eucharist are precious. One way to remain focused and attuned to the presence of Jesus within us is to recite the Anima Christi. Said slowly, thoughtfully, and prayerfully, this prayer can help us deepen our union with Christ in profound ways.
The focus is on the Lord-on his passion, death, and love. In this sacrament of Real Presence, we encounter here and now the risen Christ who does many things according to our circumstances-things like sanctifying, saving, washing, strengthening, healing. Faith is demanded here, a faith that plunges us into the grace of the moment.
Warning: words can be memorized and said too easily. What is essential is the reality that the words symbolize. InShakespeare's Hamlet, we are given the classic line by King Claudius: "My words fly up, my thoughts remain below; Words without thoughts never to heaven go." We must mean what we say and say what we mean.
For those who pray the Anima Christi, it might be helpful to transpose the "me" to "us" every so often. People with a sense of social consciousness might accuse the author of this prayer in its present form as simply giving us another example of the individualism that dominates our culture. We must remind ourselves that our spirituality is always communal, that it always embraces the entire Mystical Body of Christ.
After receiving the Lord in Eucharist at Mass, it might be a rewarding practice to pray this prayer as we return to our place in church. Unless we bring a certain level of intentionality to our consciousness we can become so easily distracted by someone's new red hat, by the parishioners who are leaving early, or by the fear that a second collection is about to take place.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow your love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is dying that we are born to eternal life.
This is a dangerous prayer, asking us to become instruments of God's peace. There are four ingredients in that agency: mediating truth, charity, freedom, and justice. This is serious business and one should not ask for something unless there is a corresponding willingness to follow through on the request. It's like that most dangerous of all prayers, the Our Father. In it we ask God to forgive us in proportion to our forgiveness of others.
If one is going to be a messenger of peace in a world of hatred, injury, doubt, despair, darkness, and sadness, much courage will be required. The ancient prophets, like Jeremiah and Ezekiel, were reluctant to take on the difficult task of being God's spokespersons. Yet they were obedient and focused not on the difficult, but on the love, pardon, faith, hope, light, and joy that God longs to bestow upon creation.
Most of us desire consolation, understanding, and love, and rightly so. These are great graces and blessings. Yet the mature disciple of Jesus, crossing a threshold at some point on the faith journey, begins to find giving better than receiving, pardoning a greater joy than being pardoned, and dying to oneself the door to eternity. We have in this prayer an alternative, subversive wisdom that confounds our contemporary culture. Praying and singing this prayer might bring about a holy revolution.
These prayers are part of the Catholic tradition. They have sustained many pilgrims over the years and continue to tend to the souls of many disciples. I close with some reflections on prayer from various authors, passages which might deepen our understanding and love for our vocation of being a praying and worshiping community:
Prayer then means yearning for the simple presence of God, for a personal understanding of his word, for knowledge of his will and for the capacity to hear and obey him. It is thus something much more than uttering petitions for good things external to our own deepest concerns.- from Thomas Merton's Contemplative Prayer (Doubleday, 1971)
If our prayer is to be adequate to our vision, there must be a place in it for the Transcendent Mystery and Incarnate Life; for adoration and sacrament, awe and active love.-from Evelyn Underhill's The House of the Soul (Seabury Press, 1984)
The only force I believe in is prayer, and it is a force I apply with more doggedness than attention.-from Flannery O'Connor's The Habit of Being (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1979)
And one final prayer from the pen of John Henry Cardinal Newman:
Oh, Lord, support us all the day long, until the shadows lengthen and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done. Then in thy mercy grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at last. | <urn:uuid:527cac6f-0b51-4fa3-8e75-d00df8381434> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uscatholic.org/node/556 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949467 | 3,006 | 1.976563 | 2 |
On this premiere edition of Native Report host Stacey Thunder takes us to the Independence Day Pow-Wow at Red Lake Nation in northern Minnesota to learn about the long proud history of Red Lake, and how it shapes the community today. Co-Host Tadd Johnson introduces us to a traditional Ojibwe healer and a medical doctor who work cooperatively at the Mille Lacs reservation clinic in central Minnesota. Then Bois Forte elder and traditional healer Gene Goodsky will take us out into the woods with a group of high school students who he is teaching to identify traditional medicines. We’ll also hear from the elders, and take a pop quiz on Native Report.
Season 1 Episode 1
Season 1 Episode 2
On this edition of Native Report we’ll join a group of third graders learning about Dakota and Ojibwe culture and heritage at Mankato Minnesota’s Education Day. Next we’ll head to the White Earth Reservation for a tour of an archaeological dig at an old mission school site. We’ll meet Chairwoman Erma Vizenor and talk about issues in education at a meeting of the Minnesota Indian Education Association, where we visit competitors in an Indian Quiz Bowl. We’ll also learn from the elders and take a pop quiz on Native Report.
Season 1 Episode 3
This week on Native Report we’ll go out in the woods with folks from the 1854 Authority and learn about the role they play in preserving and protecting natural resources in northern Minnesota. Then we’ll head out onto a scenic lake to gather wild rice, and learn about its processing. Next Co-Host Tadd Johnson will take us on a tour of the Vermillion History Center at Bois Forte Reservation near Ely, Minnesota. We’ll visit with the elders, and learn something new on Native Report.
Season 1 Episode 4
On this edition of Native Report host Stacey Thunder takes us to a brand new high school ITV class where kids are learning the Dakota language…it’s a great thing for high school students from the nearby Lower Sioux Community. We’ll also learn about a program offered by the Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College, which is creating a whole new accredited generation of Ojibwe language teachers. Co-Host Tadd Johnson then takes us to the back yard of a Bois Forte tribal member who teaches an Ojibwe language class for neighborhood kids every day in the summer. We’ll also talk to the elders about the importance of preserving and passing on language…and take a pop quiz on Native Report.
Season 1 Episode 5
On this edition of Native Report hop on a paddle boat to take the Big River Journey with students who are learning about the science and heritage of the Mississippi River, including lessons about the daily life of Dakota people pre-European contact. Host Stacey Thunder shares some examples of how tribes are cooperating with other governments to create great transportation projects. Co-host Tadd Johnson talks with St. Paul Pioneer Press editorial page editor and Cherokee Indian Art Coulson about his career in journalism and his advice for aspiring native journalists. Visit with the elders, and take a pop quiz this week on Native Report.
Season 1 Episode 6
This week on Native Report join a group of elementary school students as they head to Nett Lake to get a first hand lesson about traditional Ojibwe methods of gathering and processing wild rice. Tadd Johnson introduces you to Peggy Flanagan, a young urban Indian leader from the White Earth Reservation. Then Stacey Thunder talks to Ojibwe artist Steve Premo about his life, and his art. Also hear what the elders have to say, and take a pop quiz this week on Native Report.
Season 1 Episode 7
On this edition of Native Report visit the busiest emergency services station in Minnesota’s Scott County--at the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community. Meet organizers of a very successful non partisan program which empowers and encourages tribal people to get out and vote. Then learn about traditional methods of harvesting and processing maple sugar. Also learn from the elders, and take a pop quiz this week on Native Report.
Season 1 Episode 8
This week on Native Report visit a nationwide crisis hotline and learn about efforts to save American Indian youths from teen suicide. Learn about the history of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, and talk to tribal leaders about their vision for the future. Then visit the Eastman Johnson collection of sketches and paintings which gives us a glimpse of the people and culture of the Grand Portage Band of Chippewa before the turn of the last century. We’ll also hear from the elders, and take a pop quiz this week on Native Report.
Season 1 Episode 9
On this edition of Native Report learn how leaders from the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community are working to create a new generation of Dakota language speakers. Meet artist Carl Gawboy…who has been called the Ojibwe Norman Rockwell. Then head out onto the ice to learn about traditional Ojibwe ice fishing in northern Wisconsin. We’ll also hear from the elders and take a pop quiz this week on Native Report.
Season 1 Episode 10
On this edition of Native Report new health threats…and new responses to old threats, hear what’s working from Bemidji Area Indian Health Services Director Dr. Kathy Annette. Tour a new state of the art waste water treatment facility that will protect the environment…and turn waste into energy. Then learn about the illustrious career of artist George Morrison. We’ll also visit with the elders and take a pop quiz this week on Native Report.
Season 1 Episode 11
On this edition of Native Report visit the Bug-O-Nay-Gee-Shig school in northern Minnesota for lessons in Ojibwe language and culture. Then learn how the Upper Sioux Community is making the revitalization of the Dakota language a family affair…and a community affair. We’ll also hear from the elders and take a pop quiz this week on Native Report.
Season 1 Episode 12
On this edition of Native Report learn what tribes are doing in Minnesota to prepare for natural disasters, epidemics, and terrorist threats. Then explore the history of the Upper Sioux Community. And meet St. Paul Pioneer Press Opinion Page Editorial Writer and Cloquet, Minnesota native Deborah Locke. Also hear from the elders and take a pop quiz this week on Native Report.
Season 1 Episode 13
On this edition of Native Report the American Indian Youth Summit attracts tribal leaders from across Minnesota for discussions on plans to create communities that produce strong, empowered young people. Artist Gordon Van Wert talks about his career as a stone sculptor, and his inspirational recovery from a massive stroke. And Tadd Johnson explores the history of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. Also visit with the elders and take a pop quiz this week on Native Report.
Season 1 Episode 14
On this edition of Native Report visit Woodland Community Public Radio WOJB-FM in Hayward, Wisconsin which is licensed to the Lac Courte Oreilles band of Ojibwe. Then explore the American Indian Art Scholarship exhibit at the University of Wisconsin, Superior. And meet Joe Day, the head of the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council. Also hear from the elders and take a pop quiz this week on Native Report.
Season 1 Episode 15
On this edition of Native Report we’ll head to one of Minnesota’s favorite sports fishing lakes to see how they’re keeping track of the fish population. Then we’ll talk to the director of Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission about the role they play in managing natural resources in three states. And finally we’ll meet University of St. Thomas literature professor Heid Erdrich who’ll tell us about her picks for an essential reading list of great Native American authors. Also visit with the elders and take a pop quiz this week on Native Report. | <urn:uuid:7cee943f-dd77-4ab0-a3ad-7d81050b40fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wdse.org/shows/native/watch/season-1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925091 | 1,653 | 1.976563 | 2 |
Impact of term limits on state legislative elections in 2010
122 state senators were termed-out in 2010. 122 seats was 36% of the 337 total state senate seats up for election in November in the 14 term-limited state senates with elections in 2010.
253 state representatives were termed-out. This represented 20% of the 1,263 total seats up for election in November in the 13 term-limited states with elections in November 2010.
Altogether, 375 current state legislators had to leave office after the November elections because of term limits. This was 23% of the 1,600 state legislative seats up for election in the 14 term-limited states with 2010 elections, and about 6% of the 6,125 state legislative seats that were up for election altogether in 2010, including the non-term-limited states.
- See also: State legislative elections, 2010
- Main article: Impact of term limits on state senate elections in 2010
43 state senates held general elections in November 2010. In 14 of these states, state senators were subject to term limits. Louisiana was the only state with state senate term limits that did not a general election for its state senate in 2010.
- 55 incumbent Democratic state senators
- 66 incumbent Republican state senators
- 1 non-partisan state senator.
3 other state senators who would have been ineligible to run in November resigned their posts earlier in 2010.
In 7 states, the term limits axe fell more heavily on incumbent Republicans: Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Ohio and South Dakota. In 4 states, the term limits axe fell more heavily on incumbent Democrats: Arkansas, Colorado, Nevada and Oklahoma. In 2 states, the axe fell equally on both parties (California and Maine) while Nebraska's senate is officially non-partisan.
- See also: State senate elections
|2010 Competitiveness Overview|
| Primary competition (state comparison) |
| Incumbents with no primary challenge in 2010 |
Incumbents with no challenges at all in 2010
Incumbents defeated • Victorious challengers
|Major party challengers (state comparison)|
|List of candidates with no competition|
|Open seats (state comparisons)|
| Impact of term limits on # of open seats |
Long-serving senators • Long-serving reps
|Chart Comparing 2011 Results • Comparisons Between Years |
• Party differences
|2010 State Legislative Elections|
|Competitiveness Studies from Other Years|
|2007 • 2009 • 2011 • 2012|
45 state houses held general elections in November 2010. In 13 of these states, state house terms are subject to term limits. (15 states have state legislative term limits, but Louisiana did not hold a state house election in 2010 and Nebraska does not have a state house.)
253 state representatives were ineligible to run for re-election in November because of term limit laws in their state. This included:
- 127 incumbent Democratic state representatives
- 124 incumbent Republican state representatives
- 2 non-partisan state representatives.
In 6 states, the term limits axe fell more heavily on incumbent Republicans: Arizona, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma and South Dakota. In 5 of these states, the current majority party was also the Republican Party. The Montana House was evenly split at 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans.
In 6 states, the term limits axe fell more heavily on incumbent Democrats: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Michigan, Nevada and Ohio. In all 6 of these states, the majority party in 2010 was also the Democratic Party.
In 1 state, the axe fell equally on both parties (Maine).
Impact on parties
The Republican Party took more of a hit from term limits in the 2010 state legislative elections than the Democratic Party, both in terms of how many individual incumbent legislators the Republican Party lost (190, versus 182 for the Democratic Party) and in terms of how many state legislative chambers lost more Republicans (13, versus 10 for the Democratic Party).
|Party||# of termed senators||# of termed representatives||Total|
|Party||Senates with most losses||Houses with most losses||Total|
|Equal D/R losses (or non-partisan chamber)||3||1||4| | <urn:uuid:0a8dca02-643d-4a98-9fb8-b9cc60c2874e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Impact_of_term_limits_on_state_legislative_elections_in_2010 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946045 | 867 | 2.359375 | 2 |
Stephen Ambrose, Copycat
The latest work of a bestselling historian isn't all his.
Jan 14, 2002, Vol. 7, No. 17 • By FRED BARNES
Which is perhaps why Ambrose was drawn to it. Indeed, at one point, he appears to confuse what he read in Childers with what he heard from McGovern. According to Childers, "The ball turret . . . was the most physically uncomfortable, isolated, and terrifying position on the ship." In "The Wild Blue," Ambrose writes, "The ball turret was, as McGovern said, the most physically uncomfortable, isolated, and terrifying position on the plane."
The next sentence in "The Wild Blue" is identical to that in "Wings of Morning:" "The gunner climbed into the ball, pulled the hatch closed, and was then lowered into position." And the following sentence is remarkably similar, too. Childers says the B-24 gunner "rode suspended beneath the plane, staring down between his knees at the earth five miles below." Ambrose says gunners "were suspended beneath the plane, staring down between their knees at the earth." Two sentences later, Childers writes, "Ball turret gunners had to be small, but even so very few could actually fit into the turret with a chute on, so they relied on the waist gunner to engage the hydraulic system to raise the turret and then get them out of the ball." Changing that sentence a bit, Ambrose writes, "Although all ball turret gunners were small, few of them had enough room to wear a parachute. If bailout was necessary, they relied on the waist gunner to engage the hydraulic system to raise the turret and help them out and into their parachutes."
ASKED ABOUT SIMILARITIES between "The Wild Blue" and "Wings of Morning," Simon & Schuster, Ambrose's publisher, issued this statement: "Stephen Ambrose's 'The Wild Blue' is an original and important work of World War II history. All research garnered from previously published material is appropriately footnoted." The publishing firm claimed the similarities involved only about ten sentences of description of technical matters and that the debt was adequately discharged in the four footnotes.
Childers has not mounted an effort to publicize Ambrose's use of his work; I heard about the similarities from a colleague, not from Childers, who actually assigns two of Ambrose's books, "Band of Brothers" and D-Day, in his classes. Childers said he looked up the index when he first got "The Wild Blue" and flipped to the parts where his work was footnoted. His first reaction was, "this sounds awfully familiar. It didn't make me mad. It made me disappointed." Childers said he hasn't written Ambrose. "What would I say?" he asked. "Shame on you?" He added he "doesn't want to go after Stephen Ambrose. The man has done an awful lot of good work."
Childers, whose previous books have been on German history and politics, plans to make "Wings of Morning" the first book in a World War II trilogy. He is now at work on a book about a B-17 pilot from Philadelphia who was shot down, hidden by the French, captured by the Gestapo, and sent to Buchenwald concentration camp. The final book will take up what Childers calls "the last battle"--the return home of American servicemen after the war.
Ambrose has written well-regarded biographies of Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon, but his fame as a historian has come from his enormously admired books on World War II. "Band of Brothers," the story of an airborne company that jumps into France on D-Day and fights across Europe until the war ends, was turned into a ten-part television series on HBO last fall. What has made Ambrose's book especially appealing is his focus on the soldiers and airmen, not the generals. "He really did a lot to shift the focus away from the high commands," Childers said. "Veterans love him."
FOR HIS NEXT BOOK, Ambrose is researching the Pacific war, again dealing with the troops, not the brass. On his website stephenambrose.com, he asks any Pacific veterans to send "oral history, memoirs, diary, and/or letters home." His appeal is touching. "Veterans often say that they don't need to do an oral history because they weren't in combat or they don't feel that what they did was all that important. Well that's not true. Regardless of what you did or where you were stationed, your history is important."
Though it took a while, Childers said he was sure that "one way or another, somebody would notice" the close resemblance between his book and Ambrose's. One reviewer, Sam A. Mackie in the Orlando Sentinel, didn't make that link but noted the literary superiority of the part of "The Wild Blue" that relied on Childers to the rest of the book. "Ambrose is at his best" when writing about the harsh lifestyle on a B-24, Mackie commented. "But," he went on, "all such passages are surrounded by often banal prose."
Fred Barnes is executive editor of The Weekly Standard. | <urn:uuid:628eddc9-4992-4272-9566-a3ab6a8aa644> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/000/739bezwf.asp?page=2 | 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 | 0.982314 | 1,089 | 2.328125 | 2 |
Two of my favorite chaps under the Tuscan Sun are related. Ugo Contini Bonacossi and grandson Leone are probably a lot more alike than even they realize. Ugo, now 90, was an engineer and traveled the world. But he came home to guard the patrimony of Capezzana for future generations. He remade his life and is an historical figure for Tuscany, Cabernet and the Super Tuscan phenomenon.
Young Leone is an artist. But family history compels him to fly the flag of the family and protect the historical capital of the winery.
When Ugo was a young man, off he went into the world. But the land, and the times, brought him back. Let’s say it provided him with a focus that previous generations had worked to build. For a family to have something that can be traced back hundreds of years is no easy task.
Young Leone is in that same position now. He has come back home. He has the soul of an artist. Ugo has the soul of an engineer. Both men have had their lives shaped by the land and the estate they call Capezzana. Ugo, and the succeeding generation have worked through the most intense period in history for Italy and Italian wine.
Now Leone has been shown the lithographers stone. It is now his time to forge his impressions over the next generation and take the place they call Capezzana into the future for the next generations.
No easy task in any time, for a young man or a young woman, with dreams and desires of their own. But a dream many a person would love to have the opportunity to pursue.
Just one of the many wonderful stories in the pavilion of dreams we call Vinitaly. | <urn:uuid:3065cadb-5753-445b-b401-ba81eee6562b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.acevola.blogspot.com/2010/04/vinitaly-pavilion-of-dreams.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980925 | 364 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Nick Davies, Special Correspondent for 'The Guardian' speaks to The Generalist in a new series of contemporary interviews for our companion audio site THE AUDIO GENERALIST. Listen now.
His latest book is 'Flat Earth News' [Chatto & Windus] - a term he defines as an unreliable statement or story 'created by outsiders, usually for their own commercial or political benefit, injected by a wire agency into the arteries of the media through which it then circulates around the whole body of global communication .'
The rise of 'flat earth news' in our media is due, Davies believes principally to less people having to produce more stories in a 24/7 environment, leaving little time to check facts - or even to leave the office !
It also means an unhealthy reliance on wire copy and pr releases. A research report specially commissioned for the book from the University of Cardiff discovered that 80 per cent of news stories in a sample of 'quality' national newspapers in the UK consisted of agency or PR copy. [Available for download here]
On a low level it means more noise in the system; on a high level - the Y2K panic and WMDs in Iraq.
The book also reveals the extent to which British 'broadsheets' employ the services of a network of 'crackers' who supply them with details from private databases - phone records, bank details and the like.
The book, most controversially, analyses three newsroom situations in more depth: the history of the Insight team at the Sunday Times and the reason for its decline; the situation in the newsroom at The Observer leading up to the paper's decision to give its editorial support to Blair's Iraq campaign; the scene inside Paul Dacre's Daily Mail (In a word: ugly.)
The book's sucess can be partly judged by the fact that it is already on its third reprint just eight days after publication.
The book has received a great many praiseworthy reviews, including:
Flat Earth News. Review by Deborah Orr
[Independent on Sunday. 15 Feb 2008)
The Vile Behaviour of the Press by Peter Oborne
[The Spectator. 30 Jan 2008]
(The Telegraph 10 Feb 2008)
THE OBSERVER CONTROVERSY
Failures of the Fourth Estate by Mary Riddell
(Observer 3 Feb 2008)
Flat Earth News. Review by David Aaronovitch
(The Times 8 Feb 2008)
Is Journalism Getting a Fair Press in this Book?
by Dan Sabbagh (The Times 8 Feb 2008)
Kamal Ahmed: 'Nick is a coward.'
By Michael Savage. (The Independent 11 Feb 2008)
[Since first posting, Nick Davies has written to us claiming that the Kamal Ahmed piece is libellous and that he has written to the Independent to that effect. The Times are publishing a letter tomorrow correcting what he describes as 'the worst of the falsehoods' in the Dan Sabbagh piece.
'No topic is so surrounded by myth as the golden age of the press.' by Simon Jenkins
(The Guardian 8 Feb 2008)
Damaged Limitations by Peter Preston (The Guardian 9 Feb 2008)
These articles say more about the critics themselves than they do about the book which they have either wilfully misunderstood and/or patronised
John Humphries, Ian Hislop, Roy Greeenslade, John Pilger, Peter Oborne. All have positive quotes on the book jacket.
Lively debate at pressgazette.co.uk
What interested me most was a quote in Hard truths for the trade in 'Flat Earth News' by Tim Luckhurst (The Independent 10 Feb 2008): 'I suspect Flat Earth News will come to be seen as among the last excellent books about journalism by a member of the pre-digital generation. Many of the sins he identifies are too easily detected by informed internet readerships. That which survives unchallenged in print is increasingly exposed to ruthless scrutiny on the web. Cynicism is not a new phenomenon in British journalism, but it has a new foe.' [First sighting of the phrase 'pre-digital generation'! Those who began on manual typewriters]
charliebeckett.org makes the point that Davies seems uninterested in 'alternatives to Big Media. There is a world of citizen journalism, user generated content and bloggers out there. There is also a whole range of new journalism techniques that can link the hack with the public to create a more interactive, transparent and trustworthy news media. It can support even the most sophisticated kinds of investigative journalism.'
There is a detailed and interesting critique by Adrian Monck which questions the Cardiff research and much of this has to do with new technology, which has revolutionised journalistic practice and enabled writers to be much more productive. [Monck has his own book out called 'Can You Trust the Media.']
Nick Davies gave a speech at the London School of Economics on Nov 17, 2007. It is reproduced on the Media Workers Against the War site. The first comment on the piece reads as follows: | <urn:uuid:e0b2b88a-c303-47fc-be32-4519de773250> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hqinfo.blogspot.co.uk/2008_02_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931696 | 1,051 | 1.59375 | 2 |
“Whiting, by God!” Sir Henry exclaimed.
“Whiting!” Philippa repeated, in agonised disgust. “What does this mean, Henry?”
“It must be a shoal,” her husband explained. “It means that we’ve got to get amongst them quick. Is the Ida down on the beach, Jimmy?”
“She there all right, sir,” was the somewhat doubtful reply, “but us’ll have a rare job to get away, sir. That there nor’easter is blowing great guns again and it’s a cruel tide.”
“We’ve got to get out somehow,” Sir Henry declared. “Mills, my oilskins and flask at once. I sha’n’t change a thing, but you might bring a cardigan jacket and the whisky and soda.”
Mills withdrew, a little dazed. Philippa, whose fingers were clenched together, found her tongue at last.
“Henry!” she exclaimed furiously.
“What is it, my dear?”
“Do you mean to tell me that after your promise,” she continued, “after what you have just said, you are starting out to-night for another fishing expedition?”
“Whiting, my dear,” Sir Henry explained. “One can’t possibly miss whiting. Where the devil are my keys?—Here they are. Now then.”
He sat down before his desk, took some papers from the top drawer, rummaged about for a moment or two in another, and found what seemed to be a couple of charts in oilskin cases. All the time the wind was shaking the windows, and a storm of rain was beating against the panes.
“Help yourself to whisky and soda, Jimmy,” Sir Henry invited, as he buttoned up his coat. “You’ll need it all presently.”
“I thank you kindly, sir,” Jimmy replied. “I am thinking that we’ll both need a drink before we’re through this night.”
He helped himself to a whisky and soda on the generous principle of half and half. Philippa, who was watching her husband’s preparations indignantly, once more found words.
“Henry, you are incorrigible!” she exclaimed. “Listen to me if you please. I insist upon it.”
Sir Henry turned a little impatiently towards her. “Philippa, I really can’t stop now,” he protested. “But you must! You shall!” she cried. “You shall hear this much from me, at any rate, before you go. What I said the other day I repeat a thousandfold now.”
Sir Henry glanced at Dumble and motioned his head towards the door. The fisherman made an awkward exit.
“A thousandfold,” Philippa repeated passionately. “You hear, Henry? I do not consider myself any more your wife. If I am here when you return, it will be simply because I find it convenient. Your conduct is disgraceful and unmanly.”
“My dear girl!” he remonstrated. “I may be back in twenty-four— possibly twelve hours.”
“It is a matter of indifference to me when you return,” was the curt reply. “I have finished.”
The door was thrown open.
“Your oilskins, sir, and flask,” Mills announced, hurrying in, a little breathless. “You’ll forgive my mentioning it, sir, but it scarcely seems a fit night to leave home.” | <urn:uuid:20661ade-731f-4e0e-90d5-724c78aa7267> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bookrags.com/ebooks/1931/54.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968025 | 836 | 1.5 | 2 |
I have not been too impressed with the sudoku cubes that are currently on the market. For starters they can’t follow all of the sudoku rules. Sure, each face of the cube contains the numbers 1 through 9 but that’s it, the rules don’t go beyond one face at a time. If you follow a column or row all the way around the puzzle you find that there are 12 places for numbers, so the rules of placing numbers 1 through 9 with no duplicates just can’t be applied to a 3x3x3 cube. Also, I feel that the fact that printed numbers have an orientation to them gives away too much when solving one of these cubes. If you places to pieces next to each other and the printed orientation of the numbers does not match, then you know that these pieces are not positioned correctly.
In order to apply the sudoku rules across all surfaces of the puzzle I used a 4x4x4 cube and 16 numbers instead of 9. This allowed me to have all 16 numbers on each of the 6 faces, without duplicates. Also when you follow any column or row all the way around the puzzle, you will also find all 16 numbers.
The next thing I did was get rid of the numbers. In order to fix the printed number orientation issue I assigned a different color to each number. The16 different colored stickers have no orientation to help you with solving the puzzle.
When working out the pattern I first used numbers as it was much easier to arrange and rearrange them as necessary. I also took care not to have any duplicated edge or corner pieces. I then assigned the following colors to the numbers:
2 bright orange
6 light gray
8 light purple
9 bright green
14 light blue
15 bright yellow
Any colors could be used so long as you use 16 different ones. I chose the colors above based purely on what I had available.
There may be more than one solution to this cube. I haven’t studied it enough to determine if that is the case or not. Also, I have not scrambled it yet, I’m kind of afraid to | <urn:uuid:59f692cc-6fa7-4aed-a56e-6630bfe7062e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.twistypuzzles.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=11306&p=128516 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935438 | 447 | 2.171875 | 2 |
The UCross Ranch received the Excellence in Rangeland Management Award for its integrated livestock, wildlife, education and conservation programs. The award recognizes outstanding examples of rangeland management that result in long-term health and sustainability of the range resource while providing efficient production of livestock, wood products, water wildlife, aesthetic values, recreation and other non-commodity values. This award also puts them in the running for the National SRM Rangeland Stewardship Award, to be given out during the February 2014 International SRM Meetings in Orlando, FL.
The UCross Ranch sits in northeast Wyoming in an area with a long history and tradition of rangeland-based agriculture. The Ranch has experienced a common suite of challenges facing many operations in this part of Wyoming – reclamation following energy development, invasive species, drought and change of ownership. The Apache Foundation had been managing the stewardship of natural resources since the late 1990’s and their long-term commitment to conservation and active management of the rangeland resources have lead to overall improvements to the Ranch. “To say that cooperation is key in this operation would be an understatement,” said Nathan Lindsey, manager of conservation and stewardship for Apache Foundation – Wyoming. “Energy leases, grazing leases, hunting operations, fishing and educational programs all require attention – sometimes simultaneously, and coordination among these diverse interests toward an overarching goal of ecological sustainability is key to their success.”
The Apache Foundation creatively implements many of the long-recognized standards of rangeland management. Extensive water developments over the past several years have increased flexibility of grazing and livestock distribution, and rotational multi-species grazing provides significant periods of recovery for desirable plants. The monitoring program includes data not only on rangeland condition, but also on wildlife populations, riparian condition, stream flow, erosion and soil stability, and other indicators of whole-ecosystem health. In addition, Barry Bauer and his family leases the grazing on the Ranch, incorporating both sheep and cattle grazing for production and to meet land management goals as grazing management is an integral component of the overall management strategy on the Ranch. The Apache Foundation is also strongly committed to educational and research partnerships and is currently working with UW, Yale School of Forestry, Kansas State, and Sheridan College on projects.
“Activity is sometimes confused with productivity, but not in this case,” says award nominator Brian Mealor, UW Extension Weed Specialist. “The many ongoing programs at UCross Ranch have already resulted in significant improvement to the resource base. Drastic reductions in base ground, reduced erosion in draws, reduced invasive weed populations, and increased forage productivity all reflect trends in the right direction for this conservation-minded program.” The Ranch is protected by a conservation easement with The Nature Conservancy, ensuring it will remain an intact agricultural operation into the future. Brian goes on to say, “Apache Foundations’ commitment to adaptively manage their resource base, and to providing research and educational opportunities that have impacts well beyond the Ranch’s borders, clearly demonstrate their excellence in rangeland management.”
NOMINATING PROCEDURES FOR EXCELLENCE IN RANGELAND STEWARDSHIP AWARD
1. Any member of the Wyoming Section, Society for Range Management may nominate a candidate for this award.
2. All nominations must be submitted on the standard nomination form and must be turned in to the Awards Chair by September 1 of each year.
3. Letters of recommendations are required, as appropriate, from the Nominee’s NRCS District Conservationist, BLM Area Manager, Forest Service District Ranger, County Agricultural Extension Agent or local soil and water conservation district. Letters should be attached to the application when submitted.
4. The Awards Committee will forward recommendations of award winners to the Wyoming Section Council by September 10 of each year. The Council will make final decision on award winner.
5. Each nomination must bear the signatures of two section members indicating that they have satisfied themselves that the individual is worthy of the award. These section members should personally field review the operation.
6. A maximum of four awards may be presented each year with no more than two award winners per year.
7. The Awards Chair or President will notify the nominators as to those selected or not selected.
8. The candidates selected for the award will be notified of their selection by the Section President by November lst and requested to attend the Annual Meeting to receive the award. Public announcement of the award will not be made until the award is presented at the Annual Meeting.
9. Recipients will receive a metal sign (20″ x 28″) that says “Excellence in Rangeland Stewardship Award” “Society for Range Management”. The recipients must agree to prominently display the sign on their ranch.
10. Recipients will receive a year complimentary subscription to the Wyoming Section-SRM Newsletter.
11. Nominations may be held over one year if not chosen. | <urn:uuid:cbbd06f6-93e9-436d-a596-5da8a2057388> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rangelands.org/wyoming/awards/excellence-in-rangeland-management-award | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937941 | 1,037 | 1.867188 | 2 |
Baalty Scores Big in Cairo
Children of all ages, all over the world love computer games. But while children like to play games, it is not uncommon in many countries for children to have to work to help support their families. Many of these children don’t have time for games. But Baalty is a different kind if game.
Baalty means My Shop in Arabic; it is an on-line computer game that teaches small business skills, entrepreneurialism, and micro-loan management. The game and contest are aimed at the very children whose poverty makes it necessary for them to work. By putting business skills into an appealing game format, children are given a head start in the game of life.
In 2009 a Millennium, Canada team in Egypt provided the web hosting and administration for the contest. Children from all over Egypt entered into the game and were separated into four groups. First, boys and girls were divided into separate groups, then theses two groups were divided by age: 12-15 year olds and 16-18 year olds.
Based on their game scores, three finalists from each category were selected from different areas of Egypt. They went to Cairo for the finals, be held November 18, in al-Azhar Park. The winner in each category received the first prize; a Sony Netbook computer. All finalists also received gift certificates from a major restaurant chain in Egypt.
The game has been so successful that Millennium in Cairo has had requests for a Spanish version of Baalty for use in Central America. | <urn:uuid:841decbf-d1a9-4450-ac17-1b59c03e7ef1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mrds.org/index.php?option=com_fjrelated&view=fjrelated&layout=blog&id=116&Itemid=187 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978318 | 311 | 1.882813 | 2 |
Freedom of religion and conscience are in danger of disappearing from Canadian society, the country's bishops warned on May 14.
“In the past decade in Canada there have been several situations that raise the question whether our right to freedom of conscience and religion is everywhere respected,” the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops observed in Monday's pastoral letter.
“At times,” the bishops observed, “believers are being legally compelled to exercise their profession without reference to their religious or moral convictions, and even in opposition to them.” They pointed to the dangers of “radical secularism” and an “aggressive” relativism that opposes all claims of truth.
The Canadian bishops also highlighted the anti-religious nature of some “anti-discrimination” laws, as well as the tendency of advocacy groups to use provincial Human Rights Tribunals to promote a radical agenda and block believers from speaking and acting freely.
These “acrimonious procedures,” they said, “would be better replaced by a civilized and respectful debate” that offers “a voice in the public forum to religious believers.”
“If that voice is suppressed in any way, believers should view this as a restriction on their right to freedom of religion, one which should be forcefully challenged,” the bishops stated.
Billed as a “pressing appeal” to people of all religions and outlooks, the Canadian bishops' “Pastoral Letter on Freedom of Conscience and Religion” cites the country's Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which numbers “freedom of conscience and religion” among the fundamental Canadian liberties.
However, the bishops' message also makes it clear that religious freedom is not a right given by the government. Rather, it is a human right that the state “acknowledges and respects” but “does not grant.”
The Canadian bishops cited the Second Vatican Council's document on religious liberty, “Dignitatis Humanae,” which declared that a person should not be “forced to act in a manner contrary to his own beliefs, whether privately or publicly, whether alone or in association with others, within due limits.”
As they called attention to national and global threats to this right, the bishops also offered four points for reflection and action. In an introduction to the letter, conference president Archbishop Richard W. Smith of Edmonton summed up its advice to Catholics and “everyone of good will.”
The archbishop explained that Catholics, non-Catholics, and even non-believers have a shared interest in “the right of religion to be active in the public square.” Both groups should also seek “healthy Church-State relations” that distinguish between the two without pushing the Church out of public life.
Canadians were also urged to form their consciences “according to objective truth” – rather than personal preference or the will of the majority – and to safeguard the right of conscientious objection, especially in areas “linked to the dignity of human life and the family.”
In some Canadian provinces, the bishops warned, these rights have already been compromised or lost.
“For example, some colleges of physicians require that members who refuse to perform abortions refer patients to another physician willing to do so,” they noted.
“Elsewhere pharmacists are being threatened by being forced to have to fill prescriptions for contraceptives or the 'morning after' pill; and marriage commissioners in British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Saskatchewan must now perform same-sex marriages or resign.”
Under these circumstances, they said, Christians have both a right and a duty to stand against laws that violate the moral order.
The bishops also affirmed parents' right “to educate their children in their religious convictions and to choose the schools which provide that formation.” The state, meanwhile, “has the obligation to protect this right … and to create a suitable environment where it can be enjoyed.”
In the course of upholding their principles, believers may also be forced to suffer for them. The Canadian bishops cited the example of Saint Thomas More, an English patron saint of Catholics in political life, who chose martyrdom when asked to put his country above his faith.
Believers who defy an unjust state decree, they warned, “must be prepared to suffer the consequences that result from fidelity to Christ.” If they are not given an accommodation or reprieve, they should receive “the effective solidarity and prayerful support of their religious communities.”
“The Church’s vitality has often been nourished by persecution,” the bishops noted. “Our era is no exception.” | <urn:uuid:23707665-0a88-4ae8-ad0f-92a5970d2520> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/Americas.php?id=5443 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964438 | 986 | 2.265625 | 2 |
The Iraqi constitution’s downside for women
Reprint. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
The Iraqi constitution’s downside for women
By JUAN COLE
Thursday, September 1, 2005, Page A21
One of George W. Bush’s justifications for his Iraq project has been the Greater Middle East Initiative, a long-term plan to bring democracy to the Arab world. So: Is the new Iraqi constitution a setback for human rights — specifically women’s rights? If so, how bad is it?
When challenged on this issue, President Bush responded that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had assured him that the constitution guarantees inherent rights to women and that it talks about Islam only as “a religion,” not “the religion.” But secular-leaning Iraqi women in politics are not so sanguine. One, Safia Taleb al-Souhail, Iraq’s ambassador to Egypt OK?? formerly close to Mr. Bush, recently alleged, “We have lost all the gains we made over the last 30 years.”
Islamic law is a dynamic and evolving set of practices rather than a religious code written in stone. Still, contemporary fundamentalist interpretations of Islamic law in countries such as Iran have negative implications for the rights of women. They give women only half the amount of inheritance that their brothers receive. They give the right of unilateral divorce only to men. They make no provision for alimony. They allow polygamy. Shia law permits the contracting of temporary marriages for specified periods of time.
Contrary to what the Bush administration keeps maintaining, Iraqi law affecting the status of women had been much revised by modern reformers and by the revolutionary Baath Party, which had been influenced by Marxist thought on women’s rights. In the 1970s Iraq was probably the most progressive Arab country on women’s issues (although women later lost some ground under Saddam Hussein).
In 2003 through 2004, when Iraq was under direct U.S. rule, Shia leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim attempted to put all Iraqis under Shia religious law for personal status matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, and so forth. His attempt was beaten back by the impressive woman physician and politician, Rajaa al-Khuzai, in alliance with secular-leaning men.
But now women such as Ms. Taleb al-Souhail — whom President Bush honoured at his State of the Union address, and who flashed a “V” for victory sign — are discouraged. The Jan. 30, 2005, elections brought to power the Shia fundamentalist parties that had long sought to overthrow the secular Baath. They dominated the drafting of the new constitution. Article 2 therefore says that Islamic law is “a fundamental source” of legislation. The Shia religious parties had wanted it to declare that Islam is “the source” of law. The indefinite article was used instead, accounting for President Bush’s somewhat confused statement to the press. But having Islam be “a fundamental source” of law is nearly as strong.
Paragraph A goes on to say that parliament may not pass civil legislation that contradicts the “established laws of Islam.” This phrase is clear in Arabic, but has been mistranslated by the Western wire services. If parliament passes a law requiring that the shares of women’s inheritance be equal to that of their brothers, will it be struck down as contradicting “the established laws of Islam”?
The new constitution does forbid discrimination on gender or ethnic grounds, and prohibits legislation that contravenes human-rights law. Thus it contains a key contradiction.
Another ambiguity comes in article 39, which says, “Iraqis are free to practise matters of personal status in accordance with their religions, sects, beliefs, or choices, and this shall be organized by statute.” The implication seems to be that there will be a civil code passed by parliament, but that Iraqis may choose to be under the religious law of their community instead.
But consider the practical problems of applying this: Might not a woman from a conservative Sunni family feel pressure from her father, brothers and husband to accept Islamic law, even if she were secular-leaning? What would happen if a wife chose civil law and her husband chose Shiite law? Would she be allowed to initiate a divorce? Would she receive alimony?
Given that so much about women’s status is unclear in Iraq’s new constitution, subsequent statutes passed by parliament and the rulings of judges will be decisive. But the religious Shia parties have a good chance of dominating parliament for years to come, given the Shiite majority in Iraq. They will also have opportunities to pack the courts with Shiite fundamentalist judges and even ayatollahs (article 90 allows appointment of experts in Islamic law as court judges).
Clearly, conservative, religious parliamentarians and justices could take away with one hand the provisions for gender equality that the constitution has granted with the other.
Some have taken hope from the provision that at least 25 per cent of parliamentarians be women. But both in Pakistan and Iraq, fundamentalist parties have easily found women to run who will uphold religious law.
As for Rajaa al-Khuzai, who once bested the clerical leader al-Hakim, she is thinking of emigrating. “I am not going to stay here,” she told the New York Times, adding: “This is the future of the new Iraqi government — it will be in the hands of the clerics.” | <urn:uuid:e4d53948-3200-463a-9ece-68249a248117> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.juancole.com/2005/09/iraqi-constitutions-downside-for-women.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960303 | 1,150 | 2.265625 | 2 |
When police officers face deadly force threats, the most effective tactics and tools should be employed. Would anyone argue against this? Part of response capability includes immediate access to a patrol rifle, which allows the officer to deliver accurate fire over long distances (e.g., in school or building hallways) or penetrate an offender’s body armor. Such access could save the life of an officer or a citizen.
The patrol rifle concept has been embraced nationwide by law enforcement agencies of every size and type. The two largest police organizations in Illinois, the Chicago Police Department and the Illinois State Police, have adopted an individual officer purchase policy, as have many municipal and county departments. A primary problem in getting patrol rifles out to officers on the street has been cost. One proven solution : Allow individual officers to purchase their own rifle, as they do in many agencies with their handguns.
Seems obvious and workable, but there’s the proverbial fly in the ointment.
I’m often asked why agencies that either allow or mandate the purchase and use of personally owned handguns prohibit personally owned patrol rifles. An officer or deputy calls or writes to say that his chief or sheriff has been informed that there’s a “liability” issue associated with allowing personally owned rifles or carbines to be used on duty. The officer asks for confirmation. My response : No one has yet been able to demonstrate to me that this legal myth has any valid basis. I find nothing in the law, either by statute or case law, that would support this belief. I may have missed it, but I don’t believe so.
Like so many urban legends, this unfounded belief has gained momentum. As stated, not every agency can afford to equip each officer with a patrol rifle, and in the current economy this is even more unlikely. By restricting the procurement of additional patrol rifles through individual officer purchase, the one certainty is that there will be fewer rifles on the street when badly needed.
Let’s consider the issues.
Who Owns It: When a firearm is lawfully owned/purchased, approved by the agency and properly documented, the ownership of the firearm has absolutely no relationship to the lawful and justifiable use of the tool in the course of the officer’s employment. Would this same thinking apply to every other piece of gear we use? If we focus only on firearms, it defies logic to say that personal ownership of a duty handgun somehow has a different impact relative to use than that of a long gun. The core test is not who holds title, but the firearm was employed in the course of the officer’s response.
Documentation: When any firearm, handgun or long gun, is accepted for duty use, it’s important to record the serial number, conduct a safety function check and test the weapon in live fire.
We record weapon serial numbers of the individual firearm for several reasons: to identify which officer the weapon is assigned or belongs to, to monitor functionality and accuracy during range training, and to assist in identification in the event of loss or theft.
Personal ownership changes none of the above.
Policy: Departments should consider adopting a policy that details the type of firearms and accessories authorized for duty use. Certain weapon types, ammunition and components are more suited to the law enforcement mission. See my agency’s patrol rifle policy below. Like so many policies, this is a combined effort that began with the Decatur (Ill.) PD and has been adjusted to fit our needs.
Whatever the language, whatever weapons are authorized, it will have value only if officers are in possession of what they need when they need it. Coupled with training on a regular basis under realistic conditions, officers carrying patrol rifles will be far better prepared for the call of shots fired, report of a shooter in ...
In the end, the test will not be who paid for and owns a rifle, but who has a rifle.
Sample Policy: Authorized Patrol Rifle/Carbine
The purpose of this order is to establish departmental guidelines for the acquisition and deployment of the patrol rifle/carbine.
A. The authorized patrol rifle/carbine may be provided by the police department or individually officer owned.
A. All authorized patrol rifle/carbines must meet the following specifications. The Chief of Police or his designee shall approve any variation in type or caliber of the patrol rifle/carbine.
B. All patrol rifle/carbines:
A. No modifications, other than the follow-ing list, will be permitted without prior
approval of the Chief of Police.
B. Requests for any other modifications must be submitted in writing through the Range Officer and Training Commander, with recommendations, to the Chief of Police.
C. Generally approved options:
D. Supplemental Sighting System: Use of a supplemental sighting system must be approved by the Chief of Police. The device must be suitable for tactical, close-quarter engagement and allow immediate access to the iron sights should the system fail.
IV DEPLOYMENT POLICY
A. Patrol rifle/carbines will be deployed consistent with the Departmental Use-of-Force Policy.
B. Officers deploying the patrol rifle/carbine will maintain control of the firearm at all times or ensure that the weapon is secured by another police officer.
C. Patrol rifle/carbines deployment is recommended when the following conditions are identified:
V TRAINING AND QUALIFICATION
A. Officers must complete a department approved patrol rifle/carbine training course.
B. Officers must successfully complete the annual departmental training and qualification course of fire to remain eligible for field deployment of the patrol rifle/carbine. | <urn:uuid:9bb1e87d-d743-4400-bab9-943c9183fd2e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lawofficermagazine.com/print/529 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950177 | 1,172 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Was just reading this post on WebDesignerDepot on how to beat designer's block.
It's frustrating especially when you have a tight deadline, and you can't seem to get anything done, let alone started. What are the other ways you deal with designer's block aside from the ones stated in the post?
The "cut-up technique" has been used since the 1920's to induce creativity. (the technical name is aleatoricism: incorporating chance into the process of creation). Writers and artists such as William Burroughs and Brion Gysin explored random juxtapositions quite a bit in the 1950s/60s. One example: Burroughs would take a page of text, cut it up into 4-6 pieces, and re-arrange them, creating new sentences, words, and meanings.
Similar things have also been done with speech, sound, video, and photography. Throwing a bunch of random stuff together and seeing what comes of it. A musician called "Scanner" made a device that would scan the airwaves, and incorporate 3-second sound bytes from random sources (radio, television, short-wave radio, etc) into his live mixes during shows. Neither he nor his audience knew what they were about to hear in the mix.
Throw five random images into layers in photoshop. Randomly use offset with wrap around to each layer, randomly choose the blending method (screen, multiply, etc...), randomly re-arrange the layers. Do it fast, without thinking or looking at first, and just see what unexpected results manifest.
A creative director in NYC once told me he had a box of stuff: toys, office supplies, things found on the street, photos, words cut out of magzines, etc... Each day he would shake the box, pick two or three things out, and try to come up with three completely different ways to combine them into a creative idea.
Thanks for the info, never thought that concret info about my "technique"... Great to read.
I also do something like that creative director from NYC, i have a box full of flyers, catalogs, cutouts, etc... ;) | <urn:uuid:91378d65-4c35-4927-9dac-6cc0b478c932> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ucreative.com/forum/topics/designers-block | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967084 | 449 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Opinion: Proven with other technologies, service-oriented architectures gain Web services leverage to transform enterprise IT.
In the current issue of eWEEK, I report on a conversation that I moderated late last month among players on the field of service-oriented architecture (SOA). The group included representatives from several vendors of SOA technologies and services, plus an enterprise IT buyer to keep those vendors focused on reality.
It seemed to me that there were two key points to the discussion:
The use of Web services technology does not inherently lead to the creation of a service-oriented environment. This point, made by several participants, bore out an argument that I made last fall: that brittle, slow and costly systems can be built with any technology.
On the other hand, many enterprises are seeing significant financial returns from SOA-based initiatives, often begun with earlier generations of technology and architected to include but not depend on emerging Web services implementations. Such efforts are now becoming easier to undertake and expand because of the low barriers to entry that Web services tools can provide.
The resulting climate encourages three results.
SOA construction is increasingly being driven by financial rather than technical imperatives, resulting in broader and more vigorous management support for the direct and indirect costs of such a transformation.
Web services adopters are less inclined to walk around the technology seeking excuses -- such as gaps in multivendor standards -- to postpone trying it out. Theyre more likely to see the standards glass as nine-tenths full rather than one-tenth empty, and to build what they can with what they have today.
The advent of a genuine services platform in an organization paves the way for a service-based organization that has the leverage to break down silos of data and code and start building more efficient and strategic systems.
In discussing the remaining gaps between the possibilities and the current realities of SOA, I found both vendors and customers agreeing that theres still a lot to do in making services discoverable through catalogs, rather than relying on development teams and configuration management disciplines to know what services exist and how they can be usefully hooked together. Business Process Execution Language gets approvingly mentioned as a productive development aid, but UDDI is the technology that seems most often mentioned as having the potential to change the basic model of applications from one of static assemblies of modules to one of dynamically assembled confederations of services.
More powerful, though, and therefore more interesting, is the change in the organizational role of IT that comes from being the enabler of business function rather than the steward of technology. When electrical power was a leading-edge technology, it was common for a company to have a VP of electricity; when electrical service became ubiquitous, it became in most organizations a domain of contract administration rather than technical leadership. Being a leader of technology adoption today, paradoxically, may lead to redefining yourself as something else tomorrow.
Tell me what youd like to have as your job title in 2010 at email@example.com
Peter Coffee is Director of Platform Research at salesforce.com, where he serves as a liaison with the developer community to define the opportunity and clarify developers' technical requirements on the company's evolving Apex Platform. Peter previously spent 18 years with eWEEK (formerly PC Week), the national news magazine of enterprise technology practice, where he reviewed software development tools and methods and wrote regular columns on emerging technologies and professional community issues.Before he began writing full-time in 1989, Peter spent eleven years in technical and management positions at Exxon and The Aerospace Corporation, including management of the latter company's first desktop computing planning team and applied research in applications of artificial intelligence techniques. He holds an engineering degree from MIT and an MBA from Pepperdine University, he has held teaching appointments in computer science, business analytics and information systems management at Pepperdine, UCLA, and Chapman College. | <urn:uuid:d9ac8c3c-d987-4aa6-9309-28250a586a89> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Application-Development/SOA-Initiatives-Find-Warming-Climates/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957926 | 801 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Dr. William F. Polik of the Hope College chemistry faculty has been elected a Fellow of the prestigious American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
AAAS Fellows are elected for having made scientifically or socially distinguished efforts on behalf of the advancement of science or its applications. Polik was chosen for outstanding accomplishments in physical chemistry, especially the vibrational properties of small molecules; for mentoring of undergraduates through research; and for leadership in educational policy.
A total of 449 AAAS members have been elected Fellows this year and will be honored on Saturday, Feb. 17, during the association's annual meeting, being held in San Francisco, Calif. Polik is one of only 60 scientists nationwide being honored in chemistry.
"It's a tremendous honor," said Dr. Moses Lee, who is dean for the natural sciences and professor of chemistry at Hope. "Will is a leader in his field, and this unequivocally indicates so."
"I think this is also excellent recognition of the quality of our program--that we have colleagues such as Will, and to have them recognized among such an outstanding group of scientists and professors in the nation," Lee said.
The mix of institutions with Fellows includes national research laboratories; Ivy League schools such as Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton and Yale; and comprehensive universities among which are Michigan State University and the University of Michigan. Only a small percentage of the Fellows are from undergraduate colleges like Hope, none of which are in Michigan.
Founded in 1848, the AAAS represents the world's largest federation of scientists, and works to advance science for human well-being through its projects, programs and publications. With more than 120,000 members and 262 affiliated societies, the AAAS conducts many programs in the areas of science policy, science education and international scientific cooperation. The AAAS publishes the prestigious peer-reviewed journal "Science."
The tradition of naming AAAS Fellows began in 1874, with Fellows selected following a review process that begins with nomination to one of the association's 24 science sections, which focus on fields ranging from anthropology; to education; to mathematics; to the social, economic and political sciences.
Polik is the Edward and Elizabeth Hofma Professor of Chemistry at Hope. A specialist in physical chemistry, he uses lasers to study the details of chemical reactions, and maintains an active research program that involves Hope students. Since joining the Hope faculty, he has received 46 grants and awards totaling more than $2 million in support of his research, has given 56 invited seminars and has written 52 articles--including 15 co-authored with 20 Hope students who have worked with him on his research.
He has been especially committed to involving undergraduate research students in his research program, with between three and five students typically conducting research at any given time. During his time at the college his research program has involved 50 students, of whom 10 now have Ph.D. degrees, nine have master's degrees and five are currently in graduate school. Three of his research students have been awarded National Science Foundation or Department of Defense postdoctoral fellowships, and three have been awarded the college's top prize for creativity in independent research.
Polik has been an active advocate at the national level for undergraduate research and education in a variety of ways. He is currently serving a three-year term as chairperson of the national Committee on Professional Training (CPT) of the American Chemical Society (ACS). In the fall of 2005, he organized a symposium on "Envisioning Undergraduate Chemistry Education in 2015," held during the national ACS meeting in Washington, D.C. In addition to his ongoing service on the CPT, he is a past member of the ACS DivCHED committee that helped develop the current set of physical chemistry national examinations and is past chairperson of the Beckman Scholar Program Executive Committee, which distributes more than $1 million annually in undergraduate research fellowships.
He was named a "Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation Scholar" for 2004, and in the fall of 2003 he was one of only eight chemists in the nation to be honored during the "Excellence in Undergraduate Research Symposium" held at Indiana University in Bloomington for making significant contributions to research and the mentorship of chemistry undergraduates. Polik received the "Provost's Award for Excellence in Teaching" at Hope in 1999, the same year that he received the Sigma Xi Award for Scientific Outreach at the college. In 1991, he received a prestigious "Presidential Young Investigator Award" from the National Science Foundation.
Polik joined the Hope faculty in 1988 as an assistant professor. He was promoted to associate professor in 1994 and full professor in 2000, and appointed to his endowed chair in 2001.
He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1982 and holds a doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley.
Polik is the second member of the Hope faculty to be elected an AAAS Fellow in the past three years. Dr. James Gentile, who was dean for the natural sciences and the Kenneth G. Herrick Professor of Biology at Hope before becoming president of Research Corporation of Tucson, Ariz., in 2005, received the honor in the fall of 2003. | <urn:uuid:476d2d7e-257b-43de-8111-226f5dc3cf12> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hope.edu/2006/11/27/william-polik-hope-faculty-elected-aaas-fellow | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975979 | 1,061 | 2.125 | 2 |
27 April 2011 Health experts from around the world have convened in Moscow to tackle non-communicable diseases, which are the leading killer today and on the rise, according to a new report issued by the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO).
According to the first WHO Global Status Report on Non-communicable Diseases, 36.1 million people died in 2008 from conditions such as heart disease, strokes, chronic lung diseases, cancers and diabetes. Nearly 80 per cent of these deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries.
“The rise of chronic non-communicable diseases presents an enormous challenge,” says WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, who launched the report during the Global Forum that opened today in the Russian capital.
“For some countries, it is no exaggeration to describe the situation as an impending disaster; a disaster for health, for society and most of all for national economies,” she added.
“Chronic non-communicable diseases deliver a two-punch blow to development. They cause billions of dollars in losses of national income, and they push millions of people below the poverty line, each and every year.”
Cardiovascular diseases account for most deaths attributable to non-communicable diseases, claiming 17 million lives annually, followed by cancer (7.6 million), respiratory disease (4.2 million) and diabetes (1.3 million).
These four groups of diseases account for around 80 per cent of all non-communicable diseases deaths, and share four common risk factors – tobacco use, inadequate physical activity, the harmful use of alcohol, and poor diets.
Ala Alwan, WHO Assistant Director-General for Non-communicable Diseases and Mental Health, noted that about 30 per cent of people dying from these diseases in low- and middle-income countries are under the age of 60 and are in the most productive period of life. “These premature deaths are all the more tragic because they are largely preventable,” Dr. Alwan said.
According to WHO, millions of deaths can be prevented by stronger implementation of existing measures such as stronger anti-tobacco controls and promoting healthier diets, physical activity and reducing the harmful use of alcohol.
The report launched today provides global, regional and country-specific statistics, evidence and experiences, as well as advice and recommendations for all countries and pays special attention to the countries which are hardest hit by non-communicable diseases.
It recommends raising taxes on tobacco, banning tobacco advertising and legislating to curb smoking in public places. Other measures include reducing the levels of salt in foods and stopping the inappropriate marketing of unhealthy food and non-alcoholic beverages to children.
Some 300 representatives from civil society, the private sector and academia are taking part in the Global Forum, which will provide inputs to the First Global Ministerial Conference on Healthy Lifestyles and Non-communicable Diseases Control, set to take place on Thursday and Friday in Moscow.
Both events are a precursor to the first-ever General Assembly high-level meeting on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases, which will begin in New York on 19 September.
News Tracker: past stories on this issue | <urn:uuid:6e85ae13-9dfb-49d8-be08-d860a9401f84> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=38200&Cr=non-communicable&Cr1= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935813 | 651 | 3.1875 | 3 |
MIAMI (AP) - Elections supervisors statewide say they had high voter turnout at the polls on the first day of early voting in Florida.
Election Day is Nov. 6, but early voting began Saturday. More than 25,000 people voted in Miami-Dade County.
Duval County reported more than 20,000 people voting. So did Hillsborough County.
More than 13,300 ballots were cast in Orange County.
In northwest Florida, Leon County had more than 5,400 voters, and Escambia County had more than 6,400.
Special polling places will be open daily through Nov. 3 throughout the state for voters who want to cast their ballots early.
Officials say more than 1.1 million Floridians have already cast ballots through mail-in absentee voting.
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.) | <urn:uuid:2168cee4-8d3c-4a0e-824a-0f367393bb6a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wtsp.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=280074 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956363 | 189 | 1.703125 | 2 |
But would you refuse the treatment?
I have vivid memories of the announcement of the first human heart transplantation in 1967. After an almost unseemly race to be the first doctor to attempt a transplant, it was carried out by Christiaan Barnard. His background research - the justification for undertaking such a dangerous procedure - was thin, to say the least. And his preparation for the operation was almost devoid of an ethical or legal framework. When it came to the decision to proceed, Barnard said “I didn’t even inform the hospital authorities that I was going to do the operation”.
How different medical research is today, with | <urn:uuid:fbba94b1-9060-481f-8268-ce7fc5662157> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/law/columnists/article2046960.ece | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970606 | 134 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Well, it's certainly unfortunate that the Occupy movement doesn't have "a coherent message" it can present in the context of conventional American politics. Maybe if it had one of those things, we'd now have a president who feels compelled to say things like:
"Now, you can call this class warfare all you want. But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes? Most Americans would call that common sense."
"It's because they understand that when I get tax breaks I don't need and the country can't afford, it either adds to the deficit, or somebody else has to make up the difference like a senior on a fixed income; or a student trying to get through school; or a family trying to make ends meet. Thats not right. Americans know its not right."
"While government can't fix the problem on its own, responsible homeowners shouldn't have to sit and wait for the housing market to hit bottom to get some relief."
"From now on, every multinational company should have to pay a basic minimum tax. And every penny should go towards lowering taxes for companies that choose to stay here and hire here in America."
Or, even, maybe, perhaps:
"And tonight, I am asking my Attorney General to create a special unit of federal prosecutors and leading state attorneys general to expand our investigations into the abusive lending and packaging of risky mortgages that led to the housing crisis. This new unit will hold accountable those who broke the law, speed assistance to homeowners, and help turn the page on an era of recklessness that hurt so many Americans."
Make no mistake: Without all the hell-raising, and all the shouting at the right buildings, and all the drum circles, we would have heard a very different State of the Union speech last night. This country doesn't like to talk about issues of class. Not in any real sense, anyway. Not in any way that seems to undercut what we believe to be the god-kissed upward mobility that is inherent to America as roadside diners and Jerry Lee Lewis. Alas, since the Masters of the Universe burned down the house a couple of years, the issue of class in all its manifestations have become impossible to ignore. Our neighbors lose their house. Our cousin loses his job. Our kids move back in because, as we may have mentioned on this blog before, Fk The Deficit. People Got No Jobs. People Got No Money. Over the past year, thanks to the hippies in the parks, and the union folks marching in places like Wisconsin and Mitch Daniels's Indiana, the country has been tied to a chair like Alex in A Clockwork Orange and conditioned to look at what happens to your country's promise when you hand it over to greedy grifters who shuffle money for a living, and to their political hirelings like Mitch Daniels, say, about whom more anon who enable the shuffling and then tell the people whose lives were wrecked by it that they're just going to have to suffer a little or else The Deficit Monster will come in the night and devour their grandchildren yet unborn. Or something. The president spoke far more about righting the wrongs inherent in the system that got us into this mess than he did about The Deficit. It's hard to imagine that happening a year ago.
I have no illusions about what last night's speech was. It was a campaign speech, full of plans and promises that don't have a sick wife's chance with Newt Gingrich of ever being passed into law. This is dispiriting, but, considering that Congress has managed to achieve an approval rating that's barely hovering in single-digits, and considering that it's an election year and not much would've gotten done even if the current Congress wasn't full of ignorant vandals and politically recalcitrant cementheads, that was completely to be expected. And the plans and promises were surprisingly bold, considering the source. Some of the president's base is not going to be happy with a lot of the speech; I'm not overjoyed with the saber-rattling over Iran, or the notion that the American political system is basically supposed to be Seal Team 6. (Eric Cantor is supposed to have the president's back? The president's supposed to have his? What planet are we on here?) But there are unmistakable signs in the speech that the president's re-election campaign is going to place the consequences of a rigged economy squarely in the middle of the debate and, coming on the day on which we got a look at the details of Willard Romney's Most Excellent Life, that is to be applauded more than mildly.
(And compare all of that to Mitch Daniels's lugubrious basset-hound of a response, which is now being widely praised, largely because he's not a goofy adolescent like Bobby Jindal, or a stiff like Bob McDonnell, or a nut like Michele Bachmann, to name three of the people who've drawn the short straw and had to respond to an Obama State Of The Union. Daniels said all the right boogedy-boogedy about The Deficit, and about how it's the Republicans who want to save the entitlement programs, and both David Gergen and Andrew Sullivan thought what he said was very excellent, indeed, which should tell you all you need to know about it.
"We do not accept that ours will ever be a nation of haves and have nots; we must always be a nation of haves and soon to haves."
"Contrary to the President's constant disparagement of people in business, it's one of the noblest of human pursuits. The late Steve Jobs what a fitting name he had created more of them than all those stimulus dollars the President borrowed and blew." And which I, Mitch Daniels, used out here so I could claim I balanced my state's budget.
Daniels was an incompetent as George W. Bush's budget director, and now he is a union-busting fake whose state is bleeding jobs, and who has several thousand people marching against him every day as he tries to turn Indiana into Mississippi, and tries to keep the Super Bowl from being an epic PR disaster. He's also a pretty big liar. And he's the principled alternative to the current GOP presidential field, the mysterious Austerity wizard to make all of David Brooks's dreams come true. We are cleansed by pain, you know.)
If all it ever was going to be was a campaign speech, it was a very good one, and, if it's an indication of what the campaign is going to be like, then, maybe, the campaign itself will turn on whether or not the country will continue to be run on the three-card monte ethics of our corporate class. He's not in the drum circle yet, but he's in the crowd watching, and his foot is beginning to tap along.
EARLIER: The State of the Union Is Angry >>
Thomas P.M. Barnett, Chris Jones, Tom Junod, Scott Raab, Eric Rauchway, John H. Richardson, Eli Sanders, Mark Warren, John Weaver, and other smart people, occasionally.View All Posts | <urn:uuid:9f45381a-015a-49ca-942e-55363edd0582> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/state-of-the-union-class-6645356?click=news | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974796 | 1,474 | 1.5 | 2 |
From A to Z, Dr. Oz tackles the entire alphabet of your health. He reveals the warning signs your body may be sending you. Learn how to treat your skin problems, fight colds, improve digestion, supercharge your immunity, get a good night’s sleep, and spice things up in the bedroom!
Whether it’s A for “Abdominal bloating,” H for “Hives,” or Z for needing to get more “Zzzs,” your common health issues cover the entire alphabet (and then some). Here, Dr. Oz explores it all, starting with the warning signs from A to E your body is sending you about your health.
A: Abdominal Bloating
If your abdomen feels bloated, your body may be signaling the presence of diverticulitis, or an infection of the large intestine. Your large intestine’s job is to squeeze bowel movements through the body and out. Sometimes, however, the intestine’s lining is pushed out into little pouches, creating a condition called diverticulosis, which affects about 2 out of every 3 people at some point in their lives. But if fecal matter gets waylaid in those pouches, an infection can set in, causing diverticulitis. Once an infection has begun in your intestine, there is a risk it can rupture into your abdominal cavity, leak blood and become life-threatening. If, in addition to bloating, you experience severe abdominal pain or fever, it may mean diverticulitis, and you should see your doctor.
B: Bladder Issues
Bladder issues, such as frequent urination or burning, may mean your body is signaling a spreading urinary tract infection. Many women experience UTI, or a bacterial infection of the bladder. Sometimes the bacteria can ascend to the uterus, releasing pus into the kidneys and even spreading into the blood. In a worst-case scenario, what started as a normal UTI can lead to organ failure.
How do you know if you have a typical UTI or if your body is alerting you to something more serious? If, in addition to typical bladder issues, you experience fever, a rapid heart rate, rapid breathing, or back pain, see your doctor as it may be a sign your UTI is spreading and should be treated immediately with antibiotics.
C: Changes in Smell
Change, and especially loss, of smell may be your body’s way of signaling the onset of Alzheimer’s.
One of the first parts of the brain affected by Alzheimer’s is the olfactory cortex, which is responsible for our sense of smell. If your ability to identify scents diminishes, it may mean more than just sinus issues.
Here’s a simple test. Have a friend lay out the following 12 scent items: strawberry, smoke, soap, peppermint, clove, pineapple, natural gas, lilac, lemon, leather, rose, and cherry. If you cannot identify at least 9 of the 12 items by smell, talk to your doctor.
Dizziness may be your body’s way of signaling heart disease. Your heart’s job is to pump blood throughout the body, including distributing oxygen to brain. A weak heart, however, can’t pump sufficient blood to brain, and without enough oxygen, you may suddenly feel dizzy or light-headed.
How can you tell if your dizziness is a sign of a heart problem? If, in addition to dizziness, you also experience nausea, sweating, shortness of breath, or pain in your jaw or neck, it may be a heart attack alert and you should seek immediate medical attention.
Next, the alphabet of health continues with 5 solutions for your most annoying skin problems (plus bonus treatments for fever and achy joints).
Want to soothe the red, itchy skin associated with eczema? Try sprinkling a half-cup of baking soda into a warm bath ,and soak for 15 minutes for instant relief.
Watch for next week when we explore the next few letters of Dr. Oz’s alphabet!
Courtesy of Dr. Oz. | <urn:uuid:17af5a5a-5c99-459b-b99d-1a0bf77a6dc1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://askinyourface.com/2012/07/11/new-series-the-dr-oz-alphabet-a-e/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917204 | 870 | 2.703125 | 3 |
What to do the Night of the First Frost or Freeze
(excerpted from our yet-unpublished 2013 Texas Gardening Calendar)
- First killing frost. Damage can occur at temperatures as warm as 36 to 38 degrees, primarily on still, clear nights. Protect plants from early frosts and light freezes by covering with lightweight frost cloth fabric from the nursery. The same covering will protect plants that are normally winter-hardy in your area from damage during record cold winter weather. Pre-cut it and store it in labeled bags until time of need.
- First hard freeze. Protect faucets and watering equipment. Wrap exposed faucets with insulation. Disconnect hoses, and drain all lawn sprinklers.
We have several hundred bullets like this in our new 2013 Texas Gardening Calendar. It will print within days. If you'd like to get it at the lowest price, order now. The price will never be this low again. | <urn:uuid:ab581a6f-e70f-4f77-a9e3-0ec3fabf284f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.neilsperry.com/articles/2012/10/25/your-plants-are-cold,-or-soon-will-be.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938188 | 194 | 2.6875 | 3 |
"We want it immediately," Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath said when asked whether the EC would like it to be enforced before the next general elections.
The proposal for debarring convicted candidates as well those facing charges of heinous crimes like rape and murder from contesting polls is pending with the government since 1998. It forms part of the electoral reforms proposed by the Election Commission to government from time to time.
"Commission's view regarding banning criminals from contesting is one of the oldest in the country, as early as 1998. About 15 years back, Commission has made the proposals to the government," the CEC said.
He said, "Not only those who are convicted, those who are facing serious criminal charges on heinous affairs, they should also be barred from contesting the election. We have been pursuing and hoping for action."
Asked on what the poll body was doing with regard to pushing its proposal for enforcement, Sampath said, "I think you should ask the government."
The Election Commission as part of its electoral reform proposals to de-criminalise politics had on July 15, 1998, written to the government in this regard.
"For preventing persons with criminal background from becoming legislators, the Commission has made a proposal for disqualifying (from contesting election) a person against whom charges have been framed by a Court for an offence punishable by imprisonment of 5 years or more," the proposal read.
The chorus to ban candidates with criminal background from contesting polls has gained ground in the recent past amid public outrage against those committing heinous crimes, especially against women, in the wake of the recent Delhi gang-rape.
A number of legislators in various state assemblies as well as in Parliament are facing criminal charges, including those of rape and murder against them.
The Election Commission had also proposed disqualification of such candidates even prior to conviction, provided the court has framed charges.
Under the existing law (Section-8, ROP Act, 51) there is a disqualification once a person is convicted and sentenced to imprisonment of two years or more (in the case of certain offences mentioned in sub-sections (1) of Section-8, conviction itself leads to disqualification, even without any sentence of imprisonment).
The poll body also proposed, "As a precaution against foisting false cases on the eve of election, it has been suggested that only those cases in which charges are framed six months prior to an election should be taken into account for that election."
The proposals for de-criminalisation of politics has been reiterated by the EC in November, 1999, July, 2004 and October, 2006, but the electoral reforms have not yet come about.
New Delhi: The Election Commission on Friday said it would like criminal candidates as well as those facing charges of heinous crime to be "immediately" debarred from contesting elections.
First Published: Friday, January 11, 2013, 20:31 | <urn:uuid:d481796f-974b-4fad-b041-7873f6b356cf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/election-commission-for-immediate-debarring-of-cri_822326.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978403 | 593 | 1.53125 | 2 |
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Original Society Led the Way
By the spring of 1966, the Griggsville Wild Bird Society was on the scene. This organization, that later was to become the Nature Society, was sponsored by Trio Manufacturing Company (that later was to become Nature House Inc.). Led by Chairman A. E. Vail, the Society promoted all birds, but its original members joined because of their interest in martins. The Society immediately began collecting and distributing information about birds.
Although active in 1965, their presence on the continental scene was not felt until 1966. Before that spring and summer were past, the Society had made a unique mark on the midwest and south, and its influence was beginning to be felt far and wide.
Early in 1966, the Purple Martin Capital News began publication as the link between the Griggsville Wild Bird Society and its members. It eventually became the Nature Society News, but not until 1979, three years after the organization itself had changed its name to the Nature Society.
J. L. Wade's first book, What You Should Know About the Purple Martin, was also published in 1966.
But the most striking activities of the Society that year were the promotions held in Houston, St. Louis, and Chicago. In all these cities, Purple Martin Time met enthusiastic acceptance by city administrations, civic groups, business people, and the media. They pushed interest in wild birds to its highest level in years. | <urn:uuid:3863c89f-354f-493b-a26f-d2a463fc1c1e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.naturesociety.org/first_society.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97911 | 305 | 2.1875 | 2 |
Alpha-1 antitrypsin (an-tee-TRIP-sin) deficiency, or AAT deficiency, is a condition that raises your risk for certain types of lung disease, especially if you smoke. AAT deficiency is an inherited condition. "Inherited" means it's passed in the genes from parents to children.
Some people who have severe AAT deficiency develop emphysema (em-fi-SE-ma) — often when they're only in their 40s or 50s. Emphysema is a serious lung disease in which damage to the airways makes it hard to breathe.
A small number of people who have AAT deficiency have cirrhosis (sir-RO-sis) and other serious liver diseases.
Cirrhosis is a disease in which the liver becomes scarred. This prevents the liver from working right. In people who have AAT deficiency, cirrhosis and other liver diseases usually occur in infancy and early childhood.
A very small number of people who have AAT deficiency have a rare type of skin disease called necrotizing panniculitis (pa-NIK-yu-LI-tis). This skin disease can cause painful lumps under or on the surface of the skin.
The following information will focus on AAT deficiency as it relates to lung disease.
Alpha-1 antitrypsin, also called AAT, is a protein made in the liver. Normally, the protein goes into the bloodstream and helps protect the body's organs from the harmful effects of other proteins. One of the main organs it protects is the lungs.
AAT deficiency occurs if the liver doesn’t produce enough AAT proteins or the AAT proteins that are made in the liver aren't the right shape. They get stuck inside liver cells and can't get into the bloodstream. Because not enough AAT protein travels to the lungs to protect them, the risk of lung disease increases. Also, because too many AAT proteins are stuck in the liver, liver disease can develop.
AAT deficiency is considered severe when blood levels of the AAT protein fall below the lowest amount needed to protect the lungs.
AAT deficiency is an inherited condition caused by altered genes. It's not known how many people have it. Many people who have the condition may not know they have it. Estimates of how many people have AAT deficiency range from about 1 in every 1,600 people to about 1 in every 5,000 people.
You may not have any serious complications if you have AAT deficiency, and you may live a normal lifespan. Many people who have AAT deficiency but don’t smoke will not develop any serious related lung diseases.
Among people with AAT deficiency who do have a related lung or liver disease, about 3 percent die each year. Smoking is the leading risk factor for life-threatening lung disease if you have AAT deficiency. If you have severe AAT deficiency, smoking can shorten your life by as much as 20 years.
AAT deficiency has no cure, but treatments are available. In most cases, treatment is based on the type of disease you develop.
Altered alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) genes cause AAT deficiency.
AAT genes are inherited — that is, passed from parents to children. Children who have AAT deficiency inherit two altered AAT genes, one from each parent. These genes tell cells in the body how to make AAT proteins.
AAT deficiency occurs if the liver doesn’t produce enough AAT proteins or the AAT proteins that are made in the liver aren't the right shape. They get stuck in the liver cells where they’re made. The proteins can't get to the organs in the body that they protect, such as the lungs. Without the AAT proteins protecting the organs, diseases can develop.
Many gene alterations can cause AAT deficiency. The most common altered AAT gene that can cause AAT deficiency is called PiZ. Another common altered gene is PiS. A normal AAT gene is known as PiM.
You’ll have AAT deficiency if you inherit two abnormal genes (one from each of your parents). If you inherit a PiZ gene from one parent and a normal AAT gene from the other parent, you are considered a “carrier” of the alpha-1 gene. Carriers may or may not have an increased risk of developing emphysema as a result. As a genetic disease, alpha-1 may be passed on to your children.
Even if you inherit two altered AAT genes, you may not have any related complications. You may never even realize that you have this inherited condition.
In the United States, Caucasians of Western and Northern European descent are more likely than other ethnic groups to have alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency, but the disease can affect people of any ethnicity.
Many other gene alterations can cause AAT deficiency, but PiZ is the most common.
AAT deficiency is an inherited condition. If you have bloodline relatives with known AAT deficiency, you're more likely than others to have the condition. Even so, it doesn't mean that you’ll develop one of the diseases related to the condition.
Some risk factors make it more likely that you’ll develop lung disease if you have AAT deficiency. Smoking is the leading risk factor for serious lung disease if you have AAT deficiency. Your risk also may go up if you're exposed to dust, fumes, or other toxic substances.
You may have alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency if you have signs and symptoms of a serious lung condition, especially emphysema, without any obvious cause.
Another sign of AAT deficiency is if you develop emphysema when you’re 45 years old or younger. Signs and symptoms of emphysema include shortness of breath and wheezing, decreased ability to do physical activity, and cough.
At first, many people who have AAT deficiency are diagnosed with asthma. This is because wheezing also is a symptom of asthma.
Alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency usually is diagnosed after you develop a lung or liver disease that's related to the condition.
Because of this, a number of doctors may be involved in the diagnosis of AAT deficiency. These include primary care doctors, pulmonologists (lung specialists), and hepatologists (liver specialists).
To check whether the disease you have may be related to AAT deficiency, your doctor will:
Your doctor may recommend tests to confirm a diagnosis of AAT deficiency. He or she also may recommend tests to check for lung- or liver-related conditions.
A genetic test is the most certain way to check for AAT deficiency. This test will show whether you have altered AAT genes.
A blood test also may be used. This test checks the levels of AAT protein in your blood. If the levels are a lot lower than normal, it's likely that you have AAT deficiency.
If you have a lung disease related to AAT deficiency, your doctor may recommend lung function tests and high-resolution computed tomography (to-MOG-ra-fee), or CT, scanning.
Lung function tests measure the size of your lungs, how much air you can breathe in and out, how fast you can breathe air out, and how well your lungs deliver oxygen to your blood. These tests may show how severe your lung disease is and how well treatment is working.
High-resolution CT scanning uses x rays to create detailed pictures of parts of the body. A CT scan can show whether you have emphysema or another lung condition and how severe it is.
Lung function tests, also called pulmonary (PULL-mun-ary) function tests, measure how well your lungs work. These tests are used to look for the cause of breathing problems, such as shortness of breath.
Lung function tests measure:
Doctors use lung function tests to help diagnose conditions such as asthma, pulmonary fibrosis (scarring of the lung tissue), and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).
Lung function tests also are used to check the extent of damage caused by conditions such as pulmonary fibrosis and sarcoidosis (sar-koy-DOE-sis). Also, these tests may be used to check how well treatments, such as asthma medicines, are working.
Lung function tests include breathing tests and tests that measure the oxygen level in your blood. The breathing tests most often used are:
These tests may not show what's causing breathing problems. So, you may have other tests as well, such as a cardiopulmonary exercise test. This test measures how well your lungs and heart work while you exercise on a treadmill or bicycle.
Two tests that measure the oxygen level in your blood are pulse oximetry and arterial blood gas tests. These tests also are called blood oxygen tests.
Pulse oximetry measures the blood oxygen level using a special light. For an arterial blood gas test, your doctor inserts a needle into an artery, usually in your wrist, and takes a sample of blood. The oxygen level of the blood sample is measured.
Lung function tests usually are painless and rarely cause side effects. You may feel some discomfort during an arterial blood gas test when the needle is inserted into the artery.
Alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency has no cure. However, the lung diseases associated with this inherited condition have many treatments. Most of these treatments are the same as the ones used for a lung disease called COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).
If you have symptoms related to AAT deficiency, your doctor may recommend:
Alpha-1 augmentation therapy is a treatment to people who have AAT-related lung (or skin) disease. This therapy involves getting infusions of the AAT protein. This raises the level of the protein in your blood and lungs.
In addition to years of observational studies, recently published results of two controlled clinical trials confirmed that AAT augmentation therapy significantly reduces the decline in lung density and may therefore reduce the future risk of mortality in patients with AAT deficiency-related emphysema.
People who have AAT deficiency and develop related liver disease will be referred to doctors who treat those diseases.
Researchers are working on possible treatments that will target the altered AAT genes and replace them with healthy genes. These treatments are in early stages of development.
Researchers also are studying therapies that will allow the misshaped AAT proteins to be released from the liver into the bloodstream. They’re also studying a type of augmentation therapy in which the AAT protein is inhaled instead of injected into a vein.
If you're interested, talk with your doctor about whether any clinical trials of new AAT treatments might benefit you.
You can't prevent alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency because the condition is inherited (passed from parents to children through the genes). If you inherit two altered AAT genes, you’re more likely to develop AAT-related lung disease. Even so, you may never develop one of the diseases related to the condition.
You can take steps to prevent or delay the lung diseases related to AAT deficiency.
People who have alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency don't always develop serious lung or liver diseases. This means that you can have AAT deficiency and not even know it.
If you already know you have AAT deficiency, you probably also have a related lung or liver disease. Ongoing medical care and lifestyle changes can help you manage your health.
Ongoing Medical Care
If you have AAT deficiency, ongoing medical care is important. Talk with your doctor about how often you should schedule follow-up visits.
Take all of your medicines as prescribed and follow your treatment plan. Get flu and pneumococcus vaccines to protect you from illnesses that may worsen your condition.
Get treatment right away for any breathing problems. If treatment includes pulmonary rehabilitation, work with your health care team to learn how to manage your condition and function at your best.
Quit Smoking and Avoid Lung Irritants
If you smoke, quit. If you don’t smoke, don’t start. Smoking is the leading risk factor for lung disease. Talk with your doctor about programs and products that can help you quit.
Also, try to avoid secondhand smoke and other lung irritants, such as dust, fumes, or toxins. Check your living and working spaces for things that may irritate your lungs. Examples include flower and tree pollen, ash, allergens, air pollution, wood burning stoves, paint fumes, and fumes from cleaning products and other household items.
Advise your children to avoid smoking and to stay away from places where they might inhale irritants or toxins. Because AAT deficiency is inherited, your children may have the condition or carry the gene for it. They should do whatever they can to reduce their risk of getting serious lung diseases. (Of course, this is true for anyone — with or without AAT deficiency.)
Follow a Healthy Diet
A healthy diet is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. A healthy diet includes a variety of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
A healthy diet also includes lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, and fat-free or low-fat milk or milk products. A healthy diet is low in saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium (salt), and added sugar.
For more information about following a healthy diet, see the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s Aim for a Healthy Weight Web site, "Your Guide to a Healthy Heart," and "Your Guide to Lowering Your Blood Pressure With DASH." All of these resources include general information about healthy eating.
Also, talk with your doctor about whether it’s safe for you to drink alcohol.
Do Physical Activity Regularly
Try to do physical activity regularly. Talk with your doctor about how much and what types of activity are safe for you.
For more information on physical activity, see the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' "2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans" and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s "Your Guide to Physical Activity and Your Heart."
Learning how to manage stress, relax, and cope with problems can improve your emotional and physical health. Relaxation techniques — such as meditation, yoga, breathing exercises, and muscle relaxation—can help you cope with stress.
Emotional Issues and Support
Living with AAT deficiency may cause fear, anxiety, depression, and stress. It’s important to talk about how you feel with your health care team. Talking to a professional counselor also can help. If you’re feeling very depressed, your doctor may recommend medicines or other treatments that can improve your quality of life.
Joining a patient support group may help you adjust to living with AAT deficiency. You can see how other people who have the same symptoms have coped with them. Talk with your doctor about local support groups or check with an area medical center.
Support from family and friends also can help relieve stress and anxiety. Let your loved ones know how you feel and what they can do to help you.
Also, be sure to speak to your BioRx Alpha-1 Solutions Advisor or Baxter AATmosphere advocate for additional resources and support. | <urn:uuid:f2810ec9-3ef7-43bb-91e3-5032eb8adb30> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://myalpha1solutions.com/alpha-1-antitrypsin-deficiency-faqs.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948525 | 3,225 | 3.578125 | 4 |
|PDF (4 MB)|
YES College Preparatory School, Southeast Campus
|School Profile: Selected Variables|
|Year First Chartered and Authorizer||1998, state|
|Grades and Enrollment||6–12 and 665|
|Student Ethnicity||5% African-American|
1% Asian American
|Free and Reduced-price Lunch||78%|
|Annual Cost per Student||$7,205|
Source: School records data from 2005–06
Just off a busy main highway, along what was until recently a country road, now dotted with small business-industrial parks and new housing, three neat rows of portable-like structures house YES College Preparatory School, Southeast Campus (YES Prep). Along these rows, flapping in the Gulf Coast breeze, inspirational banners proclaim the school's philosophy: "Excellence is a Habit," "The Students of Today Are the Leaders of Tomorrow," "The Only Way to Lose Is to Quit Trying." One banner, declaring "Whatever It Takes," holds special meaning for students, families, and teachers as YES Prep's recipe for success. For Keith Desrosiers, the school's third principal and former YES Prep teacher, "whatever it takes" means "not letting obstacles prevent us from reaching our goal." And the goal is ambitious: matriculation from high school as well as acceptance to and success at a four-year college.
YES Prep's mission is "to provide a rigorous and comprehensive educational program that prepares low-income students for success in a four-year college or university," which is interpreted as "pursuing excellence, building positive relationships, serving and improving communities, and creating new opportunities and experiences." The school's structure includes an integrated sixth through 12th-grade academic and developmental program, a longer school day, monthly service learning (i.e., community service) experiences on Saturdays, annual three-week summer sessions and summer enrichment opportunities, and classwide spring trips to colleges and universities.
The idea for YES College Preparatory School was born when Chris Barbic, a dedicated and visionary Teach for America corps member at Houston's Rusk Elementary School, and a small group of parents saw Rusk's graduating students slip academically and disengage from learning while attending their neighborhood middle and high schools. "High rates of illiteracy, truancy, and juvenile crime were consuming students in the East End," says Barbie. The impetus for a new schooling model, says one board member, was seeing "good work being lost" as students entered the large and low-performing local schools where there was "no one to catch them when they fell."
In 1995, through a charter with the Houston Independent School District, Barbie and others opened YES Preparatory school, a middle school program for students at Rusk. By the time the first cohort of sixth-graders graduated in 1998 the vision for an integrated sixth through 12th grade program had evolved and a new charter was obtained to open the state's only chartered public middle and high school district. The first school in the YES system, YES College Preparatory School, Southeast campus, opened that same year. Since then the YES system, still headed by Barbic, has opened two other campuses, with another campus opening this fall.* Currently, the southeast campus is the only one fully integrating all middle and high school grade levels. Desrosiers says the "plan is to operate 13 campuses in Houston neighborhoods within the next 10 years."
"Our intent is to change the face of public education," he says, "by making sure that all kids in Houston, regardless of where they live, get the best education and by changing their expectations along the way." The ultimate goal, he adds, is "to create a critical mass of college educated students who can then return to Houston and bring real change to our underserved neighborhoods and communities."
School Operations and Educational Program
YES Prep offers its students, selected by lottery, an award-winning rigorous college preparatory curriculum and enriching social experience. The curriculum is a content-based detailed scripted sequence of instruction—developed by YES Prep faculty and based on Pre-AP and AP course outlines—specifying student outcomes for each nine-week grading period. AP work is offered in every subject area. Students also report a thriving social experience at YES, talking of dances, community service projects, sports competitions, summer enrichment activities, and more than 30 mixed-grade clubs from which to choose.
The YES Prep course of study is aligned to state standards and has augmented requirements. To qualify for a diploma, students are required to earn 22 credits, including 4 in English, 4 in mathematics, 3 in foreign language, 4 in science, 4 in the social sciences, 1-1/2 in physical education and health, 1 in both fine arts and technology, and 1-1/2 in electives ranging from painting, video production, and photography, to psychology, yearbook, and robotics.
Trusting relations between caring adults and students are promoted through the structure of the school. All students participate in the APSD (Academic, Personal, and Social Development) program, which addresses nonacademic issues relevant to their lives. During APSD time, students receive counseling and support and discuss tragedies like the death of a classmate and information about puberty, dating, health, body image, and sexuality. Students also learn about career and academic planning, money and time management, and how to study. By their junior year, APSD becomes a twice weekly seminar, and by senior year a daily seminar, to address issues about the transition from home and family to roommates and college, and facilitate the college search, application, and acceptance process.
YES Prep students report high satisfaction with their school experience, crediting good teaching and caring adults for their successes. Teachers give one-to-one time in class, out of class, after class, through e-mails or cell phone calls. Issued cell phones, all teachers are on call to students until 9 p.m. each school night and on weekends. "Teachers want you to understand information, not memorize it, and make us redo work until we get it right," says one student. They "find new ways to teach until you understand." Another student declares, "Knowing they honestly care is my safety net."
Class sizes are small, typically one teacher for every 13 students, the largest class sizes not exceeding 28 students. Having time to work individually with students is key to the school's success. As described by one veteran YES Prep teacher, the school is committed to moving beyond "book knowledge and taking thinking to the next level, to interpreting, analyzing, challenging children." A new teacher talks about "making material relevant" and "keeping content exciting," explaining that he teaches mathematics by using examples and by inviting guest speakers from applied fields, like meteorology and psychology, and from the computer industry. "Ask anyone, even the custodian," urges Desrosiers. "Every single person knows why they are here—to get our kids into college and ensure that they are successful when they are there."
Assessment is integrated into the YES Prep instructional program and is used to develop tutorials, to target individualized instruction and remediation, and to designate time for pullouts or enrichments for students below grade level or struggling to master content, especially in reading and mathematics. Teachers report routinely working in teams and departments to disaggregate data in order to make sense of them and understand what they suggest for subsequent teaching.
Family Involvement and Partnerships
Parents' belief in the YES Prep mission and involvement in bringing it to fruition are central to the school's success. Parents sign a "contract of commitment" to affirm their role in the "Whatever It Takes" approach. Desrosiers explains that while working multiple jobs prevents most parents from spending time in the classroom, they are active in many other ways. A Parent Advisory Association provides a range of needed support services, such as fund-raising, special events planning, office assistance, monitoring the cafeteria, and helping to supervise Saturday service activities. According to parents, communication with teachers and the administrative staff is routine, and they feel the school is open to ideas, suggestions, and concerns. Communication is generally maintained through e-mail and telephone contact.
"We will work with anyone who wants to work with us," declares Desrosiers. The YES Prep model relies on long-term partnerships from an expanding pool of community organizations and businesses that support the school's mission. Many are contracted to provide fee-for-service enrichment opportunities and clubs for the students. All students participate in service-learning projects and interface with the greater Houston community through their stewardship efforts. Examples of such projects include building paddocks at a humane horse ranch, cleaning beaches and parks, and tutoring elementary school students. During summer, many students are placed at university summer school programs or in volunteer internships or real work experiences or work shadowing opportunities at local businesses.
YES Prep maintains an extensive network of relations with college recruiters, frequently hosts college and university representatives and alumni to meet with students, and takes students to visit campuses across the nation. A partnership with Houston Community College allows YES Prep students to take dual enrollment courses in pre-calculus, calculus, and literature and composition, as well as to make up course work during summer sessions.
Since acceptance to a four-year college is a graduation requirement, and since many students are first-generation college bound, the school works directly with parents to support them through the "letting go" process. A designated full-time faculty works with each student and family to identify colleges and universities, apply, select "the best fit" from among the offers, secure financial aid or scholarships, prepare for the transitions, and provide alumni support once they are enrolled.
Governing for Accountability
A board and site-based leadership team govern YES Prep. The board, comprising a group of 21 business and community leaders, sees chartering as an innovative tool that can be used well or poorly. YES, says one board member, is using the tool effectively to "create a different culture in education—a culture of success." The on-site management team, consisting of the principal, the middle and high school deans, and the director of college counseling, meet weekly to address operational and other "hot topic" issues. Together with some of the department heads and nominated teachers and staff, they form the campus-based leadership team, who addresses budget, personnel, and student affairs.
As a charter school, YES Prep has the flexibility and autonomy to innovate, solve problems, and do "whatever it takes" to meet the academic, behavioral, social, and developmental needs of students so that each graduate succeeds at a four-year college or university. Desrosiers says, "Now that we have an 'army' of alumni in four-year colleges and universities, it is easier for our students and families to see that they are capable of achieving the same results. Success breeds success."
Since 2001, 86 percent of YES Prep first generation college-bound students were accepted to 170 colleges and matriculated from 56 campuses nationwide. Among the students graduating since 2001, there have been three AP scholars with distinction, three AP scholars with honors, 25 AP scholars, four honorable mentions from the National Hispanic Recognition program, two Gates Millennium scholars, ten Vanguard scholars, and one Jackie Robinson Foundation scholar. YES Prep also has a college application rate of 100 percent, with 100 percent of its students being accepted to one or more four-year colleges or universities each year since 2001.
Out of nearly 200 charter schools in Texas, YES Prep is the only school to receive the Texas Education Agency ratings of "exemplary" or "recognized" every year of operation. In 2002, it was one of nine schools nationwide to receive the Hewlett-Packard High Achieving Schools award. In 2003, it was one of 20 schools to receive the Education Trust's Dispelling the Myth award for educational excellence in low-income communities.
|YES Prep: Evidence of Closing the Achievement Gap|
Outperforming the Houston Independent School District (HISD) on the 2005 Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) exams in reading and math, 98 percent of YES Prep students passed the English language arts exam and 95 percent passed the math exam compared with 74 percent of HISD students passing reading and 52 percent passing math.
Ninety-nine percent of 11th-grade YES Prep students passed the TAKS English exam and 100 percent passed the math exam compared with the Texas state average of an 88 percent pass rate in English and a 77 percent pass rate in math.
In HISD, 30 percent of high school students take the SAT compared with 100 percent of YES seniors. The average YES score on the SAT was 1025 in 2005, higher than average for their local district in Texas (937) and higher than the national average for Hispanic students (937).
*YES grows each campus by one grade level each year until the campus has a complete middle and high school program. | <urn:uuid:9ee89b98-a153-471d-a3c4-e6e1d5a59efd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www2.ed.gov/admins/comm/choice/charterhs/report_pg23.html?exp=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963366 | 2,675 | 1.78125 | 2 |
There has been comment about recent coverage on the BBC and elsewhere of changing attitudes towards Down's Syndrome. My colleague Rob Ketteridge, editor of the documentaries unit in Audio and Music Factual, explains.
- By Rob Ketteridge
- On Monday 24 November the Radio 4 documentary "Born With Down's" and BBC News reported that more babies are being born with Down's Syndrome than at any time since prenatal screening began in 1989. In 1989 there were 717 Down's Syndrome births. This figure then fell to a low point of 572 in 2001, since when there has been a steady increase to 749 in 2006 - the last year for which figures are available. Since 2001 the proportion has risen ahead of the overall birth rate.
- So far so good and accurate. But do the headline statistics support the idea that more parents are choosing to continue with pregnancies after Down's Syndrome has been diagnosed or when it is a high risk? And if so, is there any evidence that a reason for this could be that social attitudes towards Down's Syndrome are changing?
- Since the documentary was broadcast these questions have become a matter of fierce debate, with some of the medical experts and statisticians as well as some journalists challenging these hypotheses. One issue they have raised is that there has been an increase in the number of older mothers with a higher risk factor for Down's Syndrome during this period. They argue that the rising trend is therefore predictable and without prenatal screening it would be significantly higher. They also state that from 1989 to 2006 the proportion of women choosing to terminate a pregnancy following prenatal diagnosis of Down's Syndrome has remained constant at around 92%.
- To shed more light on this, we need to look at the data in more detail. Bear with me because things are about to get more complex.
- The figures are published annually by the National Down Syndrome Cytogenetic Register run by Joan Morris who is Professor of Medical Statistics at the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine in London. Follow this link [pdf] and look at Table 7 on Page 8 of the latest report for 2006. The table shows that in 1989 there were 1033 diagnoses of Down's Syndrome in total, of which only 30% approximately (318) were prenatal. There were 717 live births and 290 terminations that year. In 2006 there were 1877 diagnoses, of which approximately 60% or 1132 were prenatal, leading to 749 live births and 767 terminations.
- So: in 1989 there were 318 prenatal diagnoses and 290 terminations; in 2006 there were 1132 prenatal diagnoses and 767 terminations. On the face of it, the proportion for those choosing to terminate after a prenatal diagnosis in 2006 doesn't look anything like the 92% figure.
- But - and it is an important but - the 2006 figures also reveal that in that year there were 293 cases of "Unknown Outcome" - a figure that has also been rising over the years. If a high proportion of these were in fact terminations then the 92% figure starts to look accurate.
- Last week I contacted Professor Morris to ask about this. She said: "To obtain the true proportion of women who decide to terminate their pregnancy we had to analyse a subset of the data from cytogenetic laboratories for whom we had excellent follow-up (in other words areas of the country in which we had extremely few unknown outcomes). In these laboratories we found that 92% of prenatal diagnoses were terminated." A footnote to the published tables also states that: "A large proportion of the missing outcomes are from one single large private cytogenetic laboratory in London, which analyses samples from women throughout the South East of England."
- So: there is little evidence here, according to Professor Morris, for a shift in social attitudes leading more parents to continue with a pregnancy after Down's Syndrome has been diagnosed prenatally. Some have argued that the consistency of the 92% figure over this period isn't in itself very surprising: the diagnostic tests (such as amniocentesis) carry a small risk of miscarriage and the argument is that most parents who go ahead with them are likely to be decided on termination already if a positive diagnosis is received.
- However none of this tells us much about the still large number of cases where a conclusive prenatal diagnosis isn't made. In some cases parents might have refused diagnostic testing because of the miscarriage risk or because they had decided to continue with the pregnancy whatever the outcome might be.
- What do we know about the views of parents in this last category? There has so far been little evidence. Surprised by the rising numbers, the Down's Syndrome Association conducted a survey of some of its members to coincide with the programme. In many cases religious reasons were given for continuing with a pregnancy when Down's Syndrome had been diagnosed or was a high risk. But, as we reported, a significant number also cited changing social attitudes towards people born with Down's Syndrome.
- Such evidence is interesting but inconclusive. What is more certain is that the original documentary and other reports could have included more information about the complexity of the data underneath the headline figures - as necessary qualification and context - and more fully represented the debate about how to interpret it.
- Better understanding - not just of the data and other evidence, but also of Down's Syndrome itself and social attitudes towards it for which we are all responsible - seems to be clearly needed. Primarily, though, the documentary focussed movingly, and from more than one point of view, on parents who have Down's Syndrome babies and it engaged with their experiences.
I would just add that one of the claims made by Ben Goldacre in his Bad Science blog and Guardian column is that when Professor Morris issued her clarifications after the story was initially covered in newspapers and online, "everybody ignored them, nobody has clarified". That's not true - our website's health pages were updated as soon as we had spoken to her. | <urn:uuid:1f5ff41e-b181-462a-b849-9e27a93d7916> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2008/12/changing_attitudes.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976543 | 1,209 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Saturday, May 25, 2013
hi im 19. i have been experiencing a kind of greeny mucus discharge for some time. its almost like when a person has a cold and the mucus that comes out of the nose. what is the cause of it? im on the pill and androcur. i have been treated for thrush and bacterial vaginosis.
All women have some amount of vaginal discharge. A small amount is present from vaginal moisture, and some mucous secretion is made by the cervix, which tends to become thinner and more copious around the time of ovulation.
When the discharge has a foul odor, or if it is accompanied by itching, burning, or irritation, then it is more likely to be due to an infection. A pelvic examination can usually identify the infection and treatment if necessary.
Sometimes, hormonal medication can trigger additional cervical mucus. Depending on the components of the pill that you are on, it may be contributing to your issue. Speak with your physician about trying a different one.
Jonathan A Schaffir, MD
Clnical Assistant Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology
College of Medicine
The Ohio State University | <urn:uuid:444ad9e9-c566-4d77-b2ad-706bdc46cf31> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.netwellness.uc.edu/question.cfm/81629.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94409 | 243 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Hives, medically known as
urticaria, is an outbreak of swollen, red or pale
red itchy bumps or wheals on the skin that appear
suddenly. It can disappear in one place and reappear in
other places. It can last for a few hours, or up to
24 hours before fading.
occur anywhere on the body, such as the trunk, arms,
legs, and palms.
is produced by histamine released from skin mast
cell. Histamine causes
fluid to leak from the local blood vessels, leading
to swelling in the skin. When people’s immune system
gets down, some allergen such as food, insect bites,
medicine, sun exposure, even stress could trigger
the histamine release. If this reaction is limited
to small areas of the skin, it is called
“urticaria”; If it is involve to large areas of the
body, is called “ angioedema”.
In Chinese medical healing philosophy, we think the histamine can
transfer to the toxins and show up to your skin to
cause hives. Therefore, our herbal treatment is designed
to improve your immune system, and clear up the
toxins inside your body. It is to treat the root
without any side effect.
We understand that there are about 80% people with hives are
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In most cases, it takes one to
two month to see the result. For
moderate to severe cases, it may take two to three
months to have significant improvement. | <urn:uuid:0e4ac4ed-fe4f-4e44-9791-85b038ec50de> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.merryclinic.com/eczema/treatment_hives.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91233 | 519 | 2.328125 | 2 |
Black Like Me
A selection of articles related to black like me.
Original articles from our library related to the Black Like Me. See Table of Contents for further available material (downloadable resources) on Black Like Me.
- Select Cross-Cultural and Historical Personifications of Death
- This extensive introduction includes some of the more well known, along with some lesser known Death "incarnations", and I use that term loosely, as in many cultures, the Angel of Death can be quite an adept shapeshifter. We have tried to cull...
Mystic Sciences >> Necromantic Studies
- Astral Beings and Wildlife
- The astral dimension contains a wide variety of what could be called non-physical subtle energy life-forms; or as Carlos Castenada so aptly calls them: inorganic beings. Some of these have a positive nature (nice) and some seem have a negative nature (not so...
Parapsychology >> Astral Projection
- Grimassi, Raven
- Raven Grimassi is the author of several books on Wicca and Witchcraft, including The Wiccan Mysteries, which was awarded Book of the Year and First Place-Spirituality Book by the Coalition of Visionary Retailers in 1998. Raven Grimassi was born in 1951 to an...
Real Interviews >> Authors
- Everyday Earth
- When you think of "Earth" what comes to mind? Perhaps you feel the stable element of solidity and grounding. Or maybe you see Earth as the third planet from the Sun. Or for you, is Earth the rich brown soil in your own backyard? Earth is all these...
The Elements >> Earth
- Black Gospel Music
- Black Gospel music is also known as Urban Contemporary Gospel music. Its roots were the Negro spiritual songs that were sang by the African slaves while tilling the rich cotton fields of their white Southern masters in the early 18th century.
>> Poetry & Fable
- Lauràelle, the Ceremony & the Sword: An OBE Experience
- I have profoundly hesitated over the telling of this tale for many years. I have a lifetime of experiences like this to share, but some (like this one) may seem way over the top to some people, no matter how its written. This is simply because they lack any...
Astral Projection >> Out of Body Experiences
Black Like Me is described in multiple online sources, as addition to our editors' articles, see section below for printable documents, Black Like Me books and related discussion.
Suggested Pdf Resources
- BLACK LIKE ME the CARD GAME - Kulture Freedom.com
- “Black Like Me” is laughter, history, entertain- ment, culture Like Me.” Black Like Me Rules: Between 2 and 10 players can play at once.
- Black Like Me
- Black Like Me. John Howard Griffin .
- BLACK LIKE ME
- Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin - MonkeyNotes by PinkMonkey.com. PinkMonkey.
- Black like Who? Cross-Testing the "Real" Lines of John Howard
- leased in book form as Black Like Me (1961), adapted as a film with the same title in 1964-really served.
Suggested News Resources
- ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN: BLACK LIKE ME (Miles Morales) - Black Nerd Rants
- SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE BLACK NERD COMEDY: http://bit.
- Ultimate Spider-Man: Black Like Me (VIDEO)
- Unboxing Ultimate Spider-Man #160 (VIDEO) So I've just picked up this week's comics from Orbital in London and I'm on the bus. So lets have a look inside the... Will We Be Getting A Black Spider-Man?
- Artists' exhibit comes to town
- Started eight years ago by Maureen Dixon with the help of Herman Mashaba of Black Like Me, the exhibition has grown into a big event that celebrates black artists' talent. Sponsors such as Deutsche Bank have join in to support the initiative.
- Obama Hangs Painting In White House Depicting Black Girl Being Taunted By
- One was Glenn Ligon's “Black Like Me No.
- 'The Help' shows Hollywood still in need of help
- that the main protagonist has to be a white actor, if a mass audience is expected to care about the story. Too bad. I'd love to look forward to a movie about the Freedom Riders, or even a quality adaptation of John Howard Griffin's "Black Like Me.
Suggested Web Resources
- Black Like Me - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Black Like Me is a non-fiction book by journalist John Howard Griffin first published in 1961.
- Amazon.com: Black Like Me (9780451192035): Robert Bonazzi
- Griffin's (The Devil Rides Outside) mid-century classic on race brilliantly withstands both the test of time and translation to audio format.
- Black like me - Google Books
- May 31, 2011 In the deep south of the 1950's, journalist John Howard Griffin used medication to darken his skin to a deep brown.
- IMDb - Black Like Me (1964)
- Directed by Carl Lerner. With James Whitmore, Sorrell Booke, Roscoe Lee Browne, Al Freeman Jr..
Great care has been taken to prepare the information on this page. Elements of the content come from factual and lexical knowledge databases, realmagick.com library and third-party sources. We appreciate your suggestions and comments on further improvements of the site. | <urn:uuid:0b13636a-2adc-4a93-879f-b3a3a578585b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.realmagick.com/black-like-me/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912171 | 1,160 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Local Governments and Rural Development
Comparing Lessons from Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Peru
By Krister Andersson, assistant professor of environmental policy; Gustavo Gordillo de Anda, former U.N. official; and Frank van Laerhoven, Ph.D.
Despite the recent economic upswing in many Latin American countries, rural poverty rates in the region have actually increased during the past two decades. Experts blame excessively centralized public administrations for the lackluster performance of public policy initiatives. In response, decentralization reforms have become a common government strategy for improving public sector performance in rural areas. The effect of these reforms is a topic of considerable debate among government officials, policy scholars and citizens’ groups. This book offers a systematic analysis of how local governments and farmer groups in Latin America are actually faring today.
Based on interviews with more than 1,200 mayors, local officials, and farmers in 390 municipal territories in four Latin American nations, the authors analyze the ways in which different forms of decentralization affect the governance arrangements for rural development “on the ground.” Their comparative analysis suggests that rural development outcomes are systemically linked to locally negotiated institutional arrangements—formal and informal—between government officials, NGOs, and farmer groups that operate in the local sphere. They find that local-government actors contribute to public services that better assist the rural poor when local actors cooperate to develop their own institutional arrangements for participatory planning, horizontal learning, and the joint production of services.
This study brings substantive data and empirical analysis to a discussion that has, until now, more often depended on qualitative research in isolated cases. With more than 60 percent of Latin America’s rural population living in poverty, the results are both timely and crucial. | <urn:uuid:e8e14e0f-0fc2-4eb9-8a6a-c58820c69059> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://artsandsciences.colorado.edu/magazine/2009/06/local-governments-and-rural-development/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920629 | 355 | 2.484375 | 2 |
What kind of tree is it? (My husband the landscaper wants to know) Is it a maple? (which would make sense)
There are these tree guard things that you can get to enclose the tree so the dog can't get to it. We've used them on young trees to protect them from nutty dogs digging them up, running into them and using them as spring poles. I'll have to call the landscape supply store to find out what they're called.
If you post a picture of the tree and where the sap is coming from - Mark can figure out what to do, then I'll post it for you.
Moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent characteristic in men ~ General George S. Patton, Jr.
She taking all the stars down from her sky to hang them up someplace new, where there's better weather and the sky's a different blue. ~ Autumn Fields | <urn:uuid:25eda815-4893-4212-9409-a9c37113eea4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pitbulltalk.com/viewtopic.php?p=16623 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974206 | 190 | 1.515625 | 2 |
“open access” is not good enough
I have ranted at regular intervals about the use of “Open Access” or often “open access” as a term implying more than it delivers. My current concern is that although there are are tens of thousands of theses described as “open access” I have only discovered 3 (and possibly another 15 today) which actually comply with the BOAI definition
of Open Access.
The key point is is that unless a thesis (or any publication) explicitly carries a license (or possibly a site meta-license) actually stating that it is BOAI compliant, then I cannot re-use it. I shall use “OpenAccess” to denote BOAI-compliant in this post and “open access” to mean some undefined access which may only allow humans to read but not re-use the information
I do not wish to disparage the important efforts to making scholarly information more widely available, and I applaud the general direction and achievement of the groups below. I appreciate that the copyright of historical content normally is held by the student author and it’s certainly very valuable to have “access” to it. But it is not OpenAccess. And unless specific policies are put in place to add specific BOAI-compliant licenses then future theses will also be non-compliant.
Here are typical statements:
- “EThOS will make UK theses available on open access for global use”. Having spoken to EThOS colleagues last week it is clear that “open access” does not automatically mean OpenAccess. (Electronic theses in the UK: the open access future : JISC).
- MIT theses: “Regardless of whether copyright is held by the student or the Institute, the MIT Libraries publish the thesis electronically allowing open access viewing and limited downloading/printing. See http://dspace.mit.edu.” The term “open access viewing” might suggest the theses are BOAI-compliant and therefore is potentially misleading. I found that the “public” thesis had been mounted with “printing disabled” which means that it cannot be technically re-used (as well as being legally non-reusable)
- ECS Soton: A well-known thesis is in e-form: (ECS EPrints Service – Evaluating Research Impact through Open Access to Scholarly Communication) (Brody, T). It offers two sorts of download: “(i) PDF – and (ii) Other (Latex) – Access restricted to members of ECS [i.e. Soton only]“. This is a differential distribution of scholarship. I could also not find any license or copyright statement
By contrast let’s look at “Open Source” which applies to software and has been highly successful in liberating the field. It’s very widely used in academia and elsewhere. The Open Source Definition
Open source doesn’t just mean access to the source code. [PMR's emphasis] The
distribution terms of open-source software must comply with
the following criteria [PMR's elisions]:
1. Free Redistribution
The license shall not restrict any party from selling or
giving away the software as a component of an aggregate
software distribution containing programs from several
different sources. The license shall not require a
royalty or other fee for such sale.
2. Source Code
The program must include source code [...]
3. Derived Works
The license must allow modifications and derived works, and must
allow them to be distributed under the same terms as the license
of the original software.
4. Integrity of The Author’s Source Code
The license may restrict source-code from being distributed in
modified form only if the license allows [...]
7. Distribution of License
The rights attached to the program must apply to all to whom
the program is redistributed without the need for execution of
an additional license by those parties.
*10. License Must Be Technology-NeutralNo provision of the license may be predicated on any individual
technology or style of interface.
In general the term “Open Source” is completely self-explanatory within a large community. I can describe my software as OS and everyone understands what I mean. There are some licenses (e.g. GPL) which require additional freedoms but they don’t invalidate the above.
By contrast if someone describes something as “open access” it simply means that I may – as a human – and at some arbitrary time in human history – read the document. It does not guarantee that
- I can save my own copy (the MIT suggests you cannot print it and may not be allowed to save it)
- that it will be available next week
- that it will be unaltered in the future or that versions will be tracked
- that I can create derivative works
- that I can use machines to text- or data-mine it
So I believe that “open access” should be recast as “toll-free” – i.e. you do not have to pay for it but there are no other guarantees. We should restrict the use of “Open Access” to documents which explicitly carry licenses compliant with BOAI. [A weaker (and much more fragile approach) is that a site license applies to all content. The problem here is that documents then get decoupled from the site and their OpenAccess position is unknown.]
If the community wishes to continue to use “open access” to describe documents which do not comply with BOAI then I suggest the use of suffixes/qualifiers to clarify. For example:
- “open access (CC-BY)” – explicitly carries CC-BY license
- “open access (BOAI)” – author/site wishes to assert BOAI-nature of document(s) without specific license
- “open access (FUZZY)” – fuzzy licence (or more commonly absence of licence) for document or site without any guarantee of anything other than human visibility at current time. Note that “Green” open access falls into this category. It might even be that we replace the word FUZZY by GREEN, though the first is more descriptive.
However there is no value in “Green open access” for theses. Let’s make sure they are all BOAI compliant. | <urn:uuid:0fd5304a-4ad2-43ab-bdc8-a7442938642f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.ch.cam.ac.uk/pmr/2007/06/10/open-access-is-not-good-enough/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93111 | 1,368 | 1.640625 | 2 |
To the Editor: I read the Rismillers' Open Forum, "Evolution of the Antipsychiatry Movement Into Mental Health Consumerism," in the June issue and the follow-up letters to the editor that were published in the August issue with special interest because I have taught and researched this topic for many years (1). The Rismillers trace the history of the antipsychiatry movement, although they misinterpret and overstate its demise. However, their emphasis on mental health "consumerism" and numerous historical and factual errors about the "ex-mental patient" self-help movement are the primary concerns of their critics. The debate hinges on individual versus social perspectives, a dichotomy that highlights the individualistic, pro-psychiatry bias of the Rismillers. Their critics reveal a social "antipsychiatry" perspective, despite some of their claims to the contrary. Also, an underlying problem is the failure of all parties to define key terms. [A bibliography documenting statements made in this letter and providing additional sources for interested readers is available online at ps.psychiatryonline.org.]
The Rismillers discuss "mental health consumerism" and project a psychologistic perspective that underestimates the size of the ex-patient movement and ignores its preference for the "survivor" label over the "consumer" label (2). Their critics understate the radical nature of the ex-patient movement. In fact, more than 60 percent of ex-patient groups support antipsychiatry beliefs and consider themselves to be "psychiatric survivors." Many in the "mad liberation" movement believe they are victims of psychiatric treatments that harmed them. Patients are not "consumers" choosing from a menu of psychiatric services, like shoppers at a cafeteria deciding what to have for lunch. The victim-survivor perspective of ex-patient groups promotes "alternatives" to psychiatry. They seek empowerment through group activism, what they call "taking the 13th step," toward a sociopolitical understanding of the problems of living similar to the perspectives of Szasz and Foucault.
The essence of the antipsychiatry perspective is its opposition to involuntary "treatment." The idea of "treating" someone against his or her will, whether by psychoanalysis or chemotherapy, is considered a non sequitur. Accordingly, the Rismillers are more pro-psychiatry and their critics are more antipsychiatry in their perspectives. The Rismillers correctly characterize antipsychiatry as evolving "from being campus based to being patient based" as it morphed into the grassroots activism of the ex-patient movement. However, their argument that the antipsychiatry movement evolved into the ex-patient movement, as a necessary and sufficient "cause," cannot be known. Clearly, the founders of the antipsychiatry movement are often cited as revered heroes by participants in the emerging ex-patient movement, but this does not verify a direct causal connection between the two.
Antipsychiatry promotes skepticism about the concept of "mental illness" as disease. Without carefully defining terms, the Rismillers suggest that antipsychiatry dwindled because scientific advances regarding the nature of mental illness allowed psychiatry to address key grievances of its critics. However, antipsychiatry and the ex-patient movement have always argued that brain disease is what neurologists diagnose and treat, and there is little evidence of physical lesions in the brain that constitute a distinct class of "psychiatric" diseases.
The antipsychiatry and ex-patient movements believe that alternative views of reality are sociocultural phenomena, not "mental illnesses." The Rismillers argue, by contrast, that schizophrenia is at least "partially biologically based," gaining support from neurotransmitter research, twin studies, and psychopharmacological advances. However, one extensive review of research on the cause of schizophrenia analyzed 1,046 studies published between 1991 and 1995 and concluded that the science does not support a unitary cause that correlates with an underlying physical lesion (3). While most research concentrates on biochemical and genetic causes, these studies present the weakest findings in the literature, leaving the disease hypothesis unsupported.
The Rismillers ignore the extensive literature questioning the scientific evidence for "blaming the brain" and the use of psychotropic drugs or electroshock, genetic theories of mental illness and twin studies of schizophrenia, and the reliability of the DSM, which is so popular in psychiatry today (4). This literature is well known within the ex-patient movement. Far from explaining the demise of antipsychiatry, it rationalizes the movement by providing a perspective of scientific support for its reformist stance vis-à-vis psychiatry. It also helps explain the expansion of the ex-patient movement, which was recently estimated at 7,467 groups comprising 41,363 members (5).
Given the extensive critical literature on the concept of "mental illness" and the size of the ex-patient movement, the objective observer might conclude that psychiatry is less scientific and more political than the Rismillers suggest and that the ex-patient movement is more scientific, more antipsychiatry, and a more important social movement than most people understand it to be. Acknowledging different perspectives and carefully defining terms may help clarify this debate.
Dr. Emerick is professor emeritus in the Department of Sociology at San Diego State University.
1.Emerick RE: Mad liberation: the sociology of knowledge and the ultimate civil rights movement. Journal of Mind and Behavior 17:135-160, 19962.Everett B: Something is happening: the contemporary consumer and psychiatric survivor movement in historical context. Journal of Mind and Behavior 15:55-70, 19943.Barker K: Constructing Mental Illness: An Evaluation of Schizophrenia Research. San Diego State University, Masters Thesis, 20004.Valenstein ES: Blaming the Brain: The Truth About Drugs and Mental Health. New York, Free Press, 19985.Goldstrom ID, Campbell J, Rogers JA, et al: National estimates for mental health mutual support groups, self-help organizations, and consumer-operated services. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 33:92-102, 2006 | <urn:uuid:cacc865e-3beb-4205-b7ad-bd6e90d6cdfc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ps.psychiatryonline.org/article.aspx?articleid=97169 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925475 | 1,282 | 1.640625 | 2 |
WHO QualityRights Project – addressing a hidden emergency
WHO QualityRights aims to improve the quality and human rights conditions in mental health and social care facilities and empower organizations to advocate for the rights of people with mental and psychosocial disabilities.
The care available from mental health facilities around the world is not only of poor quality but in many instances actually hinders recovery. It is common for people to be locked away in small, prison-like cells with no human contact or to be chained to their beds, unable to move.
The objectives of QualityRights are to:
- Improve service quality and human rights conditions in facilities.
- Promote human rights and recovery from mental disabilities.
- Develop a movement of people with mental disabilities to provide mutual support, conduct advocacy and influence policy-making processes.
- Reform national policies and legislation.
to hear what celebrities, civil society, UN and WHO officials and policy makers say about QualityRights.
The QualityRights Tool Kit
The WHO QualityRights Tool Kit supports countries to assess and improve the quality of care and human rights conditions in mental health and social care facilities.
- Suitable for use in low, middle and high-income countries.
- Can be used by Governments and NGOs.
- Supports improvements on the ground and at policy level.
- Promotes participation of people with mental health conditions.
Mental health policy and service development
Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, WHO Geneva. | <urn:uuid:87165963-27ce-4aca-969f-675430a819c0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.who.int/mental_health/policy/quality_rights/en/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915261 | 302 | 2.1875 | 2 |
FLAMINGO BREEDING SEASON ON INAGUA, BAHAMAS with MELISSA MAURA
Flamingos. The national bird of the Bahamas, featured in the nation’s Coat of Arms. But sadly no longer available to view on Abaco**, despite sporadic attempts to reintroduce them as breeding birds on the island (the last, I believe, about 15 years ago). By the end of the c19, numbers were already small. During his field trip in 1886, naturalist F.H.Herrick noted “The rare flamingo is now reduced to a colony of a few hundred on Abaco, where, as I was informed by an old settler, they numbered thousands several years ago, and similarly the beautiful tropic bird, which is hunted chiefly for food, is being gradually exterminated”.
Ornithologist Charles Cory noted none on his visit to Abaco in 1891 (though he does seem to have been concentrating on smaller birds). In 1905, naturalist Glover M. Allen reported his Abaco findings in THE AUK Magazine, which I have summarised elsewhere: “Of particular interest is… the apparently imminent loss of the flamingo (“fillymingo”) from the Northern Bahamas – a single colony only still surviving on the Abaco Marls by 1905″. There remained a breeding population on the Abaco Marls until the mid-c20, but they then appear simply to have died out there (and more generally in the northern Bahamas).
So to see these gorgeous birds, you will have to go elsewhere. Inagua, to be precise, where in the INAGUA NATIONAL PARK you will find the world’s largest West Indian flamingo colony (around 50,000 of them). Melissa Maura, whose superb photos of ABACO PARROTS I recently featured, visited Inagua during the 2012 breeding season, and took some wonderful photographs that she has kindly allowed me to use. They certainly deserve wider publicity. The collection below (©Melissa) shows adults in flight; adults standing around; the remarkable cup nests; and this year’s chicks… overall, a gallery of 50 shades of pink and grey…
** For the second time this week, nature has outshone mere bloggery. First, I wondered when a manatee might visit Abaco. Answer: right now! Georgie has taken her first long trip from her new home on the Berry Is to visit Abaco – see HERE. And now Sean Giery has responded to a link to this flamingo post on the excellent ABACO SCIENTIST website to say “I just saw my first flamingo last week flying over the beach at Crossing Rocks. It would be great to see them make a comeback on Abaco”. That’s a wonderful prospect.
A brief clip of the sound of Caribbean Flamingos
WEST INDIAN FLAMINGO Phoenicopterus ruber (BNT Article)
The West Indian Flamingo is hardly one to get confused with other birds. Its long legs, long neck and characteristic pink colour make these birds like no other. The West Indian Flamingo has a large, heavy, down curved bill that is most often described by the layperson as “strange”. Adults can reach up to five feet in height.
Even though the Flamingo is a strong flier, it is really quite shy and prefers to live in remote and lonely places. Usually these are rather desert-like spots, dry islands and shorelines where salt is made, and where few other creatures can survive. The island of Great Inagua fits that portfolio perfectly. This is where the majority of West Indian Flamingos are found in The Bahamas. The flock breeds around Lake Windsor (Rosa) which lies within the boundaries of Inagua National Park.
The West Indian Flamingo which once roamed the entire neo-tropical region (tropical Americas) was hunted to a near extinction. Today the West Indian Flamingo is mostly found on the island of Great Inagua in the Bahamas but has also recolonized islands in the Bahamas such as Mayaguana, Crooked and Acklin islands, Exumas, Long Island and Andros.The West Indian Flamingo has also recolonized other countries such as Aruba; Brazil; Colombia; Cuba; Dominican Republic; Ecuador; French Guiana; Guyana; Haiti; Jamaica; Mexico; Netherlands Antilles; Suriname; Trinidad and Tobago; Turks and Caicos Islands; United States and Venezuela.
Flamingos are filter feeders and feed on the microscopic plants and animals found in ponds and mud. The larvae of the salt marsh fly is one of the major constituents of the diet of West Indian Flamingos. They also eat brine shrimp, small snails as well as other forms of animal and vegetable life so small that they can scarcely be seen without the aid of a microscope! Although small in size, this food is rich in a protein called beta-carotene which gives Flamingos their characteristic colour. Flamingos stir up their food from shallow water and separate it from the mud and water by pumping and straining it through their bill. They are the only birds which feed with their bill upside down!
Flamingo breeding activity usually begins in early March when huge flocks gather and engage in elaborate and loud courtship displays. This is almost like a very large dance – the massed birds parade together shoulder to shoulder, preforming head flagging (waving the head from side to side), wing salutes (opening the wings to expose the black flight feathers) and the twist preen (twisting the neck over the back and pretending to preen itself whilst stretching out on of its wings. The chorus of courting birds can be heard miles away. This synchronized courtship dance stimulates the birds to breed at the same time, ensuring that the chicks are hatched around the same time.
When the courtship displays are all over the pairs are formed and the building of the nest mounds begins usually around April. Nests are built on the ground out of mud and are baked hard by the sun. The nest which resembles small volcanoes, can be from a few inches high to sometimes over two feet high a shallow crater at the top. This is where the single egg is deposited. Flamingos lay one white egg that is about twice the size of a hen’s egg. Both parents share in incubation which takes exactly 28 days to hatch.
Flamingo chicks look nothing like their parents. They are covered with a thick coat of white down and have pink bills and feet. Both parents feed the chick a secretion from the crop gland in the neck known as “flamingo milk” or “crop milk”. This “milk” is a concentration of fats and proteins (similar to mammals milk) and has a very high amount of beta-carotene making it a bright red colour. When they are about 30 days old the chicks have changed to a dark gray down and start to feed themselves but still eat from their parents if they can. By three months the chicks are fully grown and become a bright pink colour signalling that they are sexually mature to the rest of the colony.
In the 1950′s it was thought that was hunted down to a small population of about 5,000 only on the island of Inagua, Bahamas. With the help of the National Audubon Society in the United States, the creation of the Bahamas National Trust and the appointment of park wardens, the Inagua population grew to approximately 60,000 – a true conservation success story. It also became illegal to harm or capture this bird under the Bahamas Wild Bird (Protection) Act. The IUCN redlist of threatened species lists the West Indian Flamingo as a species of Least Concern due to the fact that the population is currently expanding and increasing its range. However, The Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) lists the West Indian Flamingo in Appendix II which limits the exportation of the species as it can cause the species to become endangered.
Natural threats: Building nests directly on the ground make Flamingos vulnerable to a number of predators. The eggs can be trampled by wild donkeys and boar that roam freely in the same area where Flamingos live and nest.
Hunting: As flamingos only bare one chick a year, it makes them vulnerable to over exploitation. Although Flamingo meat is eaten in other Caribbean countries, it is illegal to harm, capture or kill the Flamingo in The Bahamas.
Historical Threats: The Flamingo was hunted for its big, pink feathers that were used to decorate hats and other nonessential items. Low flying planes of World War II over Andros wreaked havoc on the Flamingo population. This noisy disturbance drove these shy birds away- so much so that their return was doubtful.
The Flamingo is the national bird of The Bahamas.
The West Indian Flamingo is also refered to as the American, Caribbean or Rosey Flamingo.
There are a total of 6 species of flamingos in the world. The other species are Andean Flamingo (Phoenicoparrus andinus), Chilean Flamingo (Phoenicopterus chilensis), Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus), Lesser Flamingo (Phoeniconaias minor), Puna (James’s) Flamingo (Phoenicoparrus jamesi).
The Greater Flamingo is closest related to the West Indian Flamingo. Despite the Greater Flamingo being a larger size and considerably less brightly coloured, some authorities consider them the same species but different sub-species. | <urn:uuid:27aaf4b7-2fbe-47bf-b448-0369e3deeffe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rollingharbour.com/tag/bahamas-national-bird/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943893 | 2,053 | 2.390625 | 2 |
If there is unexpected horse in our food why don't we test for other DNA
This is only the tip of the iceberg, I expect. Processed meals invite suppliers to put "any old shit" into food and conceal it with flavourings, and it isn't surprising that horse has shown up. I expect that we've been eating horse for decades.
The answer is to retreat from foods where you can't identify the contents, to "meat and two veg" combinations (or make your own food from raw ingredients) where you have a clearer idea what's on your plate.
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Website powered by: Immediate Media Company Limited. | © Runner's World 2002-2013 | | <urn:uuid:78046ee9-273a-499d-a90c-4b74d477cec6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/forum/clubhouse/food-chain-do-you-trust-it/240595-5.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924586 | 220 | 1.578125 | 2 |
“Enabling Products”: Consumers With Limited Hand Functions Evaluate an Automatic Jar OpenerBy Arthanat, Sajay; Stone, Vathsala I.; Usiak, Douglas J.; Technology and Disability, Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 99-115
Publication Date: 2010
Product usability study examined the experiences of consumers with hand function limitations regarding the quality and value of a commercially available automatic jar opener. Study participants were 50 individuals aged 28 to 74 years with limitations in hand functioning due to conditions including arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, spinal cord injury, cerebral palsy, and muscular dystrophy, 40 of whom were female. Participants valuated the Lids-Off, a consumer product designed to mechanically open hard to open jars using a unique, motor driven gear system that grips and breaks the vacuum seal on the jar to unscrew its lid. Using questionnaires and telephone interviews, the longitudinal study assessed the usability of the Lids-Off across six weeks of home trial, its consumer acceptance at the end of the 6 month study period, and its impact on the consumer’s independence following two years of its usage. Findings from the study, which was supported by the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Technology Transfer (T2RERC) at the University of Buffalo, included high ratings of the jar opener on aspects including usability, safety, comfort, reliability, and ease of one-handed use. Product use was consistent during the trial period, evidencing high consumer satisfaction and product acceptance. The authors conclude that the study attests to the potential benefits of involving consumers with disabilities in the development of products as a strategy to integrate inclusive design features and broaden their market value.
Published by: IOS Press (Website:http://www.iospress.nl)
Association for the Advancement of Assistive Technology in Europe (AAATE) (Web Site: http://www.aaate.net ) | <urn:uuid:1750305d-f5c2-4dc5-92e7-07d85921230d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://abledata.com/abledata.cfm?pageid=160377&ksectionid=160164&atlitid=199648 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918296 | 398 | 2.171875 | 2 |
Pension Ponzi: How Public Sector Unions are Bankrupting Canada's Health Care, Education and Your Retirement
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Pension Ponzi lays the blame squarely at the feet of the politicians who refused to stand up to Canada's public sector unions. The fact is Canada's public sector, which accounts for 20% of the workforce, has been grossly overpaid relative to their counterparts in the private sector with cushy pensions paid for with your taxes and new debt. There is no denying that the country does not have the financial resources to ensure that the next generation of Canadians will have the same standard of living as the ones before it-or to support our growing seniors population. Meeting our public sector pension obligations will break the current social safety net that is a pillar of the Canadian way.
Can you escape this bleak future? Can you afford to live longer? Nationally-recognized pension expert Bill Tufts and award-winning journalist Lee Fairbanks explore how this catastrophe came about and then suggest ways that government can fix what's broken, and how you as an individual can protect yourself from the financial calamity that is about to engulf Canada. | <urn:uuid:4e9ea1fc-624a-4cd8-ada2-fb6e1a2bbe6e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1118098730,descCd-description.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925601 | 258 | 1.507813 | 2 |
After yesterday’s report indicating that shootings at the 1972 Bloody Sunday events, when British soldiers shot dead 14 protestors, would include the term ‘state murder,’ there is a further report in today’s Guardian about the response from some of the bereaved. Although the killings took place 38 years ago, it is clear that feelings are still strong:
This is from a young woman who was 18 at the time:
“There were the times you felt very, very proud of how strong people were and how much they could remember, especially older people after such a length of time. And there were times you heard evidence you didn’t want to hear. Giving evidence myself was the end of a long road of wanting to tell what I saw to the world. For a long, long time I had closed what happened deep inside me. I wanted to talk about it, but I couldn’t, because if I brought it to the front of my mind I couldn’t cope. As it gathered momentum, I kept saying to myself, “Aye, you can do this”. When it comes your time you are going to be able to cope.”
This is from an 18-year old man whose 22-year old brother was killed:
“Take the fella that murdered my brother. In his own neighbourhood, that boy probably wouldn’t treat a stray animal the same way. But he doesn’t feel what he did on Bloody Sunday was wrong because he was brought up in the system to see my brother as an enemy, somebody who had to be taught a lesson.”
The families of the more than 80 killed in Bangkok on the orders of the Thai state will feel the same way. Is there any hope that they will receive justice? | <urn:uuid:777ba666-53b7-4f55-9d05-d9b53e84143a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jcwalsh.wordpress.com/2010/06/12/ | 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 | 0.989318 | 373 | 1.96875 | 2 |
Below is one of our free research papers on A Working Party. If the term paper below is not exactly what you're looking for, you can search our essay database for other topics.
A Working Party
This poem is about a 'normal', 'average' man who came to the trenches only 3 hours before, and then is killed as he is doing his job of piling sandbags along the parapet.
Throughout this poem, Sassoon appeals to the emotions of the reader by trying to create an emotional attachment between the reader and the young man. He explains that
"He was a young man, with a meagre wife
And two small children in a Midland town;
He showed their photographs to all his mates,
And they considered him a decent chap
Who did his work and hadn't much to say,
And always laughed at other people's jokes
Because he hadn't any of his own."
Sassoon deliberately describes the man clearly and significant detail, which makes the reader realise that this man was just a normal man, probably not unlike the reader, and makes the reader see the pure tragedy when the man dies. "He was just a simple man, who never did anything to hurt anyone" is the response Sassoon wants the reader to have, and feel the injustice of the man's death.
Sassoon specifically starts the poem off slowly, describing the men slowly making their way down the trenches, slipping into the mud and squeezing past other soldiers returning from the front line. Then, he ironically rushes the man's death in the last two lines, after the man is thinking how slow time passes. The man's sudden death shocks the reader and shows them how suddenly life can be taken away.
"And as he dropped his head the instant split | <urn:uuid:0e941704-f23c-4f4d-a266-7f7f203be9ab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.4freeessays.com/essays/367517/A-Working-Party | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973968 | 364 | 2.6875 | 3 |
is a township in Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the township population was 22,578. Cranford Township unfolds from the banks of the meandering Rahway river and has been dubbed the "Venice of New Jersey".
Cranford was incorporated as a township by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 14, 1871, from portions of the Townships of Clark, Linden, Springfield, Union and Westfield. Portions of the township were taken to form Garwood (March 19, 1903) and Kenilworth (March 13, 1907).
magazine ranked Cranford as its 37th best place to live in its 2008 rankings of the "Best Places To Live" in New Jersey.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 4.8 square miles (12.5 km²), of which, 4.8 square miles (12.5 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square miles (0.1 km²) of it (0.41%) is water.
There are nine municipalities bordering the township: Garwood and Westfield to the west, Springfield Township to the north, Kenilworth to the northeast, Roselle and Roselle Park to the east, Linden to the southeast, Clark and Winfield to the south. | <urn:uuid:b2230c8e-11fa-45d6-b16c-20a06f30a46d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.owners.com/nj/cranford | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950701 | 282 | 1.867188 | 2 |
Snoopy or Sharky?
snack room —
the litigator takes
a third of the donuts
………………….. by dagosan
When you think “lawyer,” which image comes to mind: Snoopy or Sharky? You don’t have to read the study “Public Perceptions of Lawyers“ (ABA Section of Litigation, 2005), nor our Shakespeare on Lawyers, to know how most people react to the L-word. Therefore, although the f/k/a Gang prefers mediation to litigation (and have gathered many stinging quotes about litigation and trials), we’ve done our best the past few years to remind our readers and blogging colleagues that August 31st is Love Litigating Lawyers Day. It is no surprise, however, that LLL Day (which was created by Wellcat.com), like the similar April 8th celebration of Be Kind to Lawyers Day, just doesn’t seem to be catching on with either the public nor the Bar. Indeed, Wiley has noted this problem in several Non Sequitur cartoons, such as this one and that one.
It is not at all clear what we can do to make lawyers (not to mention litigation) more popular. Over at EdHelper.com, August 31st and Love Litigating Lawyers Day have been turned into a Career Day theme for Grades 7 to 12. However, I’m not too sure that the suggested Lesson Plan for the day — a vocabulary list — is going to lure many youngsters into the profession:
Vocabulary – challenging words: articulate, himself, lethargic, problem, anyhow, watcher, abreast, all-important, never-ending, glamorous, passionate, solution, ever-changing, ongoing, meaningful, position
This approach might work better:
with an ice cream cone
the senior partner
… by Barry George
I’m not even sure that this lovely “Lawyers Do It In Front of a Jury of Their Peers” t-shirt (via George Lenard) will help improve the popularity of the legal profession, despite the prevalence of dirty old men in the general population and the Bar.
opposing counsel crosses
. . . by dagosan
As you may recall, not even trial lawyers want to be call trial lawyers any more. But, we would have thought that Walter and Ted at Overlawyered.com would want to toast the profession that has made them famous in the blogisphere. The closest we could find to a celebration of litigators this week at their website is Walter Olson’s coverage of “Biden and the Trial Lawyers” (Aug. 23, 2008) — which tells of the Democratic nominee for Vice President’s close ties to the plaintiff’s bar, and recalls Joe Biden’s affectionate “bottom-feeders” line (via Point of Law):
“I’ll pay the bottom-feeders to go out and get these big fees to stop bad guys from doing bad things.”
That reminded me, of course, that the Democratic National Committee should love litigating lawyers a lot. (See, e.g., CampaignMoney.com, which shows that Democrats have received 80% of of all political contribution by trial lawyers since 1999; and “Cash Bar – How trial lawyers bankroll the Democratic party,” National Review, August 20, 2001.) If they hurry, on the last day of their National Convention, perhaps the Dems can hold a quick, early celebration in honor of Love Litigating Lawyers Day.
If you need an even better reason — beyond the Sermon on the Mount — to love litigating lawyers, check out Carolyn Elephant’s post at Legal Blog Watch, “Litigation as Profit Center” (Aug. 26, 2008). Carolyn points to an article in The Columbus Business Journal, which ” describes the range of different revenue sources that have developed around the Franklin County Courthouse.” And, she concludes, “Ah, profiting off of litigation — isn’t that the American way?”
. . . . . . . . . . .
That’s all the time I’m going to spend convincing you to do a little something nice for a lawyer on August 31st (even the non-litigating ones). Try hard to curb your enthusiasm. You know how much the Bar treasures its image of dignity.
litigation bags –
… by dagosan
clear and cold
of her attorney’s briefcase
… by Ed Markowski
afterwords (Sept. 1, 2008): Thanks to Ed of Blawg Review, I discovered today at Peter Black’s Freedom to Differ weblog that August 31st has also been declared Blog Day, on which bloggers are encouraged to point to “5 new blogs that you find interesting.” Among his selections, Peter suggested a new-to-me blawg from Australia, SkepticLawyer. Since we have been the proud home of SkepticalEsq (and Prof. Yabut) for more than 5 years, we send a big “Howdy, Mates” to the team at SkepticLawyer. Now, the f/k/a Gang doesn’t want to sound toooo cynical, but we are well past the time when we felt we had the time to investigate five new weblogs — no matter how interesting and worth of persual they may be. We’re pleased to have learned of just one interesting weblog. | <urn:uuid:f9bbeb7d-37d4-4341-9f12-c0f433fab12f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/ethicalesq/category/uncategorized/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954095 | 1,168 | 1.773438 | 2 |
How is it possible to turn an argument into a mutually beneficial outcome?
when two involved parties are arguing, it seems to be over a disagreement where both sides of the argument want an outcome that conflicts with the opposition.
however, often both sides of the argument want the same outcome (ie. peace) and it is not a matter of getting there, it is a matter of how to get there.
how can ordinary people step in to offer advice, where needed, to create a mutually beneficial outcome for both sides of an argument?
does anyone have examples of a resolution where two sides of an argument were dealt with according to the desired goal for everyone involved? please share your experience. | <urn:uuid:5b8e5360-699c-4e26-88fe-04b7b8fb653f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ted.com/conversations/15811/how_is_it_possible_to_turn_an.html?c=592481 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97083 | 141 | 2.15625 | 2 |
Back in the early spring, an unusual bout of muddle-headedness afflicted my usually clear-headed daughter Kayla. She was choosing the classes she will take in her first year of high school, and she couldn’t decide which language to choose. So far, she has had a couple of years of French study, and an exposure to Italian. Her first plan was to switch to Spanish. (“Sounds good,” said her mother. “Spanish is so useful for Americans, and you’ll easily pick it up because of your knowledge of French and Italian.”) A few days later, she wavered. Maybe she would stick with French. (“Also a good choice. French is spoken in so many different countries, including Canada,” said her mother.) Days pass. More wavering.
This went on for about two weeks until the day she came home with her head completely cleared. “I figured out which language to study.” “Which one — French or Spanish?” asked her unsuspecting mother. “Neither. I’m going to take Chinese.”
Huh? Where did that come from? Kayla patiently explained that nearly two billion people speak Chinese, and more Americans should learn it. And, in fact, she was preaching to the choir. I studied Mandarin in college, and lived in Beijing for two years, though I also studied Spanish (in high school) and French (high school and a semester in college). My husband and I took Kayla and her brother to China three years ago, and both of them picked up a few phrases. So, Chinese it is. I’m really excited about her choice, and I’m looking forward to dusting off some of my skills.
Just as our town’s high school has added languages that go beyond the traditional Eurocentric offerings, more and more Fletcher students have decided to study languages that were rarely pursued by applicants when I first started to work in Admissions. In recent years, for example, the number of applicants who list Arabic as their second language has grown enormously. And we see a great number of Mandarin speakers, as well as students who have been drawn toward in-the-news regional languages, such as Pashto. It hasn’t been a gradual change, either. More of a seismic shift. No longer is there only one non-native speaker of Arabic or Mandarin — instead, we will have business-related classes offered in those languages to native and non-native speakers alike. Quite a change from the days when language study in the U.S. was largely limited to French, Spanish, and maybe one other option!
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TagsAdvice Application Book picks Boston Boston Marathon Career Classes Coffee Hours Commencement Community Conferences Davis Square deadlines Dear Ariel decisions Early Notification Essays Events Financial Aid Five-Year Updates Fletcher Forum GAMS GMAT GRE Hall of Flags IELTS Interviews Language requirement LLM Medford MIB Open House Orientation Outside the classroom Praxis Recommendations restaurants Scholarship Social List Somerville Student Stories thesis TOEFL Videos waitlist | <urn:uuid:f48a2586-dbf1-497f-aae8-f684a64d0288> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sites.tufts.edu/fletcheradmissions/2008/07/31/world-languages/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976331 | 649 | 1.867188 | 2 |
In turn 4 people throw away three nuts from a pile and hide a
quarter of the remainder finally leaving a multiple of 4 nuts. How
many nuts were at the start?
Factorial one hundred (written 100!) has 24 noughts when written in full and that 1000! has 249 noughts? Convince yourself that the above is true. Perhaps your methodology will help you find the number of noughts in
10 000! and 100 000! or even 1 000 000!
Prove that if a^2+b^2 is a multiple of 3 then both a and b are multiples of 3. | <urn:uuid:db566095-870b-4cb7-96da-ad55c838e61c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nrich.maths.org/6224/solution | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951781 | 129 | 3.078125 | 3 |
We will return to our discussion on the last days of the life of Fr Doyle in a few days time when we get closer to the anniversary of his death next week.
For now, however, we shall have one of Fr Doyle’s thoughts.
‘What is it to thee? Follow thou Me’ (John 21: 22). This thought came to me: I am not to take the lives of others in the house as the standard of my own, what may be lawful for them is not for me; their life is most pleasing to God, such a life for me would not be so; God wants something higher, nobler, more generous from me, and for this will offer me special graces.
COMMENT: Here Fr Doyle touches on an important truth, and an interesting aspect of his life and spirituality.
How tempting it is for us to allow the social norms we perceive around us to determine our behaviour. So often we can rationalise away our sins or our mediocrity with the thought that “everybody is doing it”. But we must not take “everybody” as the standard of our behaviour. Our standard must be Christ, and he has a definite plan for each of us. We know that He desires our perfection and holiness, but this will mean different things for different people. For Fr Doyle it meant an austere and mortified life. The legitimate luxuries that were permitted to others were not God’s will for Fr Doyle. And, perhaps it is a consolation to realise that Fr Doyle’s austerities are not for everyone else, although at the very least the spirit of penance will be relevant for all of us, even if it is lived out in different ways in each person’s individual life.
Knowing the temptation that we have to base our standards on the behaviour of others, we must remember that we, ourselves, can become role models on whom others may base their own behaviour and attitudes. We should live in such a way to encourage and edify those we live with. As St Francis said, we should preach always, and when necessary, use words.
Today is also the feast of Blessed Karl Leisner, a martyr of the Nazi Holocaust who lived his faith despite the compromises with Nazism he saw around him, even at the cost of his freedom, and ultimately his life. Movingly, he managed to be ordained while in the concentration camp, dying from TB soon after celebrating his first Mass.
Blessed Karl Leisner, pray for us, that we may follow the gospel, and resist the seductions of prevailing opinion. | <urn:uuid:94201d8f-492e-4055-bcc6-79161b803cd4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fatherdoyle.com/2012/08/12/thoughts-for-august-12-from-fr-willie-doyle-3/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969729 | 542 | 2.25 | 2 |
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The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
The labor laws provide for both the right to organize and bargain collectively between management and trade unions, and collective bargaining occurred throughout the public sector and the organized private sector. The Labor Minister could refer unresolved disputes to the Industrial Arbitration Panel (IAP) and the National Industrial Court (NIC). Union officials questioned the effectiveness of the NIC in view of its inability to resolve various disputes stemming from the Government's failure to fulfill contract provisions for public sector employees. Union leaders criticized the arbitration system's dependence on the Labor Minister's referrals. The Labor Minister made several referrals to the IAP during the year. The IAP and NIC were active; however, both suffered from a lack of resources.
Workers had the right to strike; however, certain essential workers were required to provide advance notice of a strike. A worker under a collective bargaining agreement could not participate in a strike unless his union complied with the requirements of the law, which included provisions for mandatory mediation and for referral of the dispute to the Government. The law allows the Government discretion to refer the matter to a labor conciliator, arbitration panel, board of inquiry, or the NIC. However, in practice the law does not appear to be enforced; strikes, including in the public sector, were widespread.
In January, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) commenced a 6-month strike to protest, among other things, the nonpayment of research allowances and the nonimplementation of an agreement reached in 2001 to re-admit 49 dismissed lecturers of the University of Ilorin who had previously participated in a strike. ASUU suspended the strike on June 18 following the intervention of the IAP.
On March 31, the NLC directed all public sector employees to commence a 3-day warning strike to protest federal government refusal to pay an agreed upon 12.5 percent salary increase (see Section 6.e.). The strike followed the expiration of a 2-week ultimatum. Organizers called off the strike on April 1 after the Government agreed to prepare a supplementary budget the National Assembly to accommodate salary increases.
On June 30, NLC, joined by senior staff associations under the umbrella of the TUC, commenced a nationwide strike action to protest increases in gas prices. In the 10-day national strike, there were 18 confirmed killings of protestors by security forces. Security forces forcibly dispersed several demonstrations, arrested union leaders, and brutalized a journalist in Abuja. The strike was suspended following an agreement reached between government and labor leaders.
During the year, the Medical and Health Workers Union went on strike for 3 days regarding salary increases and payments of other allowances. They reached an agreement with the Ministry of Health, resolving the issue.
The Anambra State Government reached an agreement with public sector unions on the modalities for the payment of outstanding arrears during the year. The Government paid several months arrears; however, salaries were in arrears again at year's end. The state civil service was nearly paralyzed as many workers declined to work until salary arrears were paid.
During the year, smaller strikes continued in the oil sector, particularly in the Niger Delta. The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and its senior staff counterpart Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) were particularly concerned about the increasing use of contract labor and the number of indigenous workers in management positions. On February 15, NUPENG and PENGASSAN branch units in Chevron and Shell staged warning strikes that lasted 5 days to protest an alleged plan to severely cut jobs and replace indigenous employees with third country nationals.
There were no developments in the following 2002 strikes: the January general strike protesting the Government's 15.3 percent fuel price hike; the February police strike demanding payment of 1-year's wage arrears; the May strike by the Nigerian Union of Railwaymen (NUR) over the nonpayment of 3 months' salary; and the July strike by the Lagos State Truck Owners Association, Port Harcourt dockworkers, and Shell (SPDC) contract workers.
There were no laws prohibiting retribution against strikers and strike leaders, but strikers who believed they were victims of unfair retribution could submit their cases to IAP, with the approval of the Labor Ministry. The IAP's decisions were binding on parties but could be appealed to the NIC. In practice the decisions of these bodies infrequently carried the force of law. Union representatives described the arbitration process as cumbersome and time-consuming, and an ineffective deterrent to retribution against strikers.
On October 3, the Inspector-General of Police in Abuja called President of the NLC Adams Oshiomhole in for questioning following a 3-hour meeting in Lagos on how to mobilize against higher fuel prices. Later in the month, as the fuel price crisis deepened, six leaders of the NLC were arrested as they picketed filling stations selling gasoline at above the official price. The leaders were detained and refused bail for 1 week.
The Government retained broad legal authority over labor matters and often intervened in disputes seen to challenge key political or economic objectives. However, during the year, the NLC increasingly spoke out on economic reform, fuel price deregulation, privatization, globalization, tariffs, corruption, contract workers, and political issues.
EPZs in Calabar, Cross River State, and Onne Port, Rivers State, operated during the year. Workers and employers in these zones were subject to national labor laws, which provided for a 10-year amnesty on trade unions, strikes, or lockouts following the commencement of operations within a zone. In addition, the law allows the EPZ Authority to handle the resolution of disputes between employers and employees instead of workers' organizations or unions. The ILO has criticized the EPZ Decree for not allowing any unauthorized person to enter any EPZ consequently making it very difficult for workers to form or join trade unions since union representatives are not allowed access.
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Link 2 Us| | <urn:uuid:eed4fbb1-b68d-4f6d-8b1b-b585533e59aa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ncbuy.com/reference/country/humanrights.html?code=ni&sec=6b | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968538 | 1,268 | 2.21875 | 2 |
Negativity sets a bad example
Stop the negative campaigns, please. I would think that Superintendent Heather Fiorentino, as the leader of the Pasco School District, would concentrate on making a positive appearance in everything she does.
Does she not realize that students can read? Does she not realize that she is teaching our students that it is okay to be negative?
As a parent and grandparent, I would love to see all negative campaigning come to a complete halt. Get real people. Talk about yourselves and your qualifications for the job you are seeking. Or, keep your mouth shut.
Jeanie Germain, Dade City
Pasco deputies search for gunman | Aug. 9 article
Secondary arms market troubling
The NRA has worked vigorously for an armed society and now it looks like it has succeeded. Armed men held up and robbed a convenience store in Dade City and robbed customers as well. But this time, as a tribute to the quest for an armed society, the store clerk fired at the armed robbers. Apparently, no one was killed — this time.
This Dade City incident is emblematic of the larger picture that creates an armed society: Citizens use guns to defend themselves, and those legally prohibited from owning firearms are armed to the teeth. The under-age drug dealer, the convicted felon, the person with outstanding arrest warrants are all prohibited from owning firearms, but they are armed to the teeth.
Why does this happen? Because we allow people to buy guns on the secondary market and to buy them without a criminal background check (except at retail gun stores.)
A recent visit to a gun show in Pasco revealed, that except for one or two sellers, the dealers were selling firearms on a cash and carry basis. Is this what we really want? Selling firearms like we sell bread or soda at the local store?
Tom Burke, Clearwater
Endorsements are part of politics | Aug. 9 letter
Bunting backed for right reasons
Who is Marion Hammer? Marion Hammer represents a splinter group of the NRA. She endorsed Steve Simon for all the wrong reasons.
The elected officials who endorsed Bill Bunting did so for all the right reasons.
Dennis Bonfiglio, Hudson | <urn:uuid:b7be7cc9-14f3-4403-914d-c0ae7881136f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/letters/pasco-letters-fiorentinos-campaign-negativity-sets-bad-example-for-students/1245055 | 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 | 0.953264 | 457 | 1.523438 | 2 |
The 150 troops are intended in the first instance to help Jordan, a key but fragile US ally, deal with the influx of refugees from the fighting across the northern border. They are also preparing for any action that might be needed to secure Syria’s chemical weapons in the event of the Assad regime losing control of them.
But officials also told The New York Times that the possibility of a buffer zone in southern Syria, enforced by Jordanian troops with American logistical support, had also been discussed. Jordan as well as its neighbours is deeply concerned at the threat of the Syrian war spilling over its borders.
The American troops have been stationed at a Jordanian military base north of Amman about 35 miles from the border since the end of a major joint exercise called Operation Eager Lion. There have been reports before that troops pulled out of Iraq stayed in neighbouring Jordan as a buffer force, but this is the first confirmation of a deployment directly attributed to the Arab Spring.
In Libya, western nations including the United States supplied air power to help the rebels, but “boots on the ground” were limited to a small number of British and French special forces offering training and support.
The US, like Britain and other Nato countries, has refused to send military support to the Syrian rebels despite their calls for President Bashar al-Assad to step down, though the CIA are believed to be in southern Turkey helping to assess rebel recipients of military supplies sent by Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
day appointed a new prime minister, Abdullah Ensour, to implement constitutional reforms he has put forward in response to the protests and to prepare the way for parliamentary elections next year.
At least 200,000 refugees from Syria have crossed into Jordan, with more than 30,000 at the giant Zaatari refugee camp. Residents there have staged protests and even riots over conditions.
Jordan fears that militants now known to be aiding the Syrian rebels, to whom Jordan has offered moral support, might use the cover of the conflict and its refugees to cross over the border themselves. | <urn:uuid:cfe6fa79-13c8-4227-9aa6-c9a79e6c6980> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mar15.info/2012/10/us-troops-operating-in-jordan-near-syria-border/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971763 | 410 | 2.28125 | 2 |
The Little Bell That Could Not Ring (Holiday Musical)Item #: HL.44223068
Unrated ( Be the first to review this item )
Choral. Voicing/Format: Singer 5 Pak. 6.75x10.5 inches. 24 pages. Published by Hal Leonard. (HL.44223068)
Free Shipping on this item in orders above $199
A family of bells is faced with the dilemma of an out-of-tune member! The Little Bell tries and tries but just can NOT find the right pitch! Now it is Christmas Eve and the Bell family is scheduled to appear in concert. What should they do? Little Bell starts practicing and unknowingly guides Santa's sleigh with her ringing. The Little Bell saves the day after all! This delightful musical for Grades K-3 includes 5 unison songs and a clever script featuring easy rhyming lines. The Teacher's Manual has a complete production guide with suggestions for costumes, set design and staging. Involve many classes or just one. Ideal for young first-time performers and is easily adapted to any school, church or community situation. Send a message to your students and parents that everyone is special in their own way. Available: Teacher's Manual, Singer's Edition 5-Pak, Performance/Accompaniment CD. Performance Time: 15 minutes. For Grades K-3. | <urn:uuid:82531ab7-8e9a-4c09-a17a-7ccc8cf5b15a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.activemusician.com/item--HL.44223068 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91204 | 284 | 2.140625 | 2 |
For parents, my concern is this.............why does this happen? I understand general issues with kids who don't like the other kids at school............I don't really but, I can follow the flawed logic
Nadine asks the key question. And people have been asking it since practically the dawn of time. And regrettably, there are no good answers. Why do bad things happen to good people? To innocent people? These questions have been asked by the smartest people on the planet and no one has ever come up with good answers.
But, if you look at some of the most notable shootings since 2000... today in Connecticut... the two shootings in Colorado, Columbine and the movie theater in Aurora, and the one at Virginia Tech, what they all seem to have in common to one degree or another is some type of mental illness.
-- Family of the shooter today describe him as not well.
-- The red haired 'joker' guy from the movie theater is clearly out of his mind.
-- The two teens who tried to shoot and blow up Columbine felt so picked on and persecuted that they snapped. They didn't plan to survive.
-- The young adult who killed the students at Virginia Tech was also mentally unstable.
How to explain how such trouble individuals all had access to this kind of fire power is indescribable.
Wish I had words of wisdom.... I don't.
I don't know how the families impacted by these tragedies move on.
As for the rest of us, time heals our wounds... that's what we have to hope for.... | <urn:uuid:d5532388-e457-4e83-a03e-01dc4bd2bd27> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://forums.colts.com/index.php?/topic/13619-just-pray-for-those-families-in-the-connecticut-elementary-school-shooting/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976269 | 328 | 1.859375 | 2 |
Clifdale Elementary students study African drumming
Published: Monday, April 2, 2012 at 3:15 a.m.
Last Modified: Monday, April 2, 2012 at 12:20 a.m.
Clifdale Elementary School students studied African drumming as a part of their Black History month music lessons. Kindergartners did an excellent job of playing
differing rhythm patterns on percussion instruments.
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged. | <urn:uuid:64573d9c-00c1-4bd0-9ad2-c27b8a511258> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.goupstate.com/article/20120402/ARTICLES/120409976/1051/NEWS01?Title=Clifdale-Elementary-students-study-African-drumming | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939134 | 119 | 3.171875 | 3 |
Olympic Racewalker Valeriy Borchin Collapses Near Finish [Video]
Valeriy Borchin of Russia, the 2008 Beijing Olympics gold medalist and 2011 world champion, was in the home stretch of the London Olympics 20K racewalk today when he passed out from exhaustion.
Borchin’s collapse at the 19K mark of the event was captured on the videos below. Chen Ding of China wound up winning the gold in the London 20K racewalk. Erick Barrondo, earning Guatemala’s first Olympic medal in any sport, won the silver.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Borchin, who obviously was unable to finish, was put on a stretcher and taken by ambulance to the hospital.
According to Deadspin, racewalking–which looks herky-jerky to the uninitiated–requires a tremendous amount of endurance and skill and is not a “walk in the park” by any means:
Racewalking… [is] s a real-deal, throw-down, God-honest Olympic sport. The athletes just as elite and devoted as in any other event…
It’s different from running because there are two limitations. You must keep at least one foot on the ground at all times. And your front, supporting leg must stay completely straight from the moment it touches the ground until your center of gravity passes over it. Failure to do so is called a “lifting infraction.” You do not want a lifting infraction….Only one American has ever won an Olympic racewalking medal: Larry Young scored bronzes in 1968 and 1972.
Deadspin adds that “Racewalking traces its roots back to a 19th century pastime called ‘Pedestrianism,’which was described as ‘competitive long distance walking events.’” Racewalking made its debut at the 1904 Olympics as part of the decathalon. In 1908, it became a standalone Olympic event. There are both 20K and 50K racewalks at the Olympics. | <urn:uuid:3304eb7e-b488-43b4-9d3a-2e154cdac527> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.inquisitr.com/293130/olympic-racewalker-valeriy-borchin-collapses-near-finish-video/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953199 | 432 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Rosh Pina was settled in 1882 by a group of pioneers from Romania, making it the first Jewish village in the Upper Galilee in modern times. Rosh Pina's lands were purchased in 1878 by Jews from Tzfat, who tried unsuccessfully to earn their livelihood as farmers.
Arabs from neighboring villages frequently attacked Jewish traffic near the town. In 1938, Betar youth member Shlomo Ben Yosef took part in a retaliatory attack. He was captured by British officers and became the first freedom fighter hung by the British. Rosh Pina residents honored his memory by setting up a monument in the local cemetery.
Rosh Pina presently numbers 1860 residents.
For information on Rosh Pina in the Partnership 2000: Palm Beach - Rosh Pina | <urn:uuid:01f3816d-36ab-4e38-bff8-ad6a7d298802> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jewishagency.org/JewishAgency/English/Jewish+Education/Compelling+Content/Eye+on+Israel/Places+in+Israel/Rosh+Pina.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985271 | 160 | 2.84375 | 3 |
NOTE: Poll closes at 12PM PST, Thursday, July 5th.
First, in case you missed it over the weekend, the WUWT Sea Ice page has gone through an upgrade. A number of new graphs and data sources were added that should be helpful in this sea ice poll. Details here.
For now a look at the JAXA sea ice extent. The plot is below:
Here’s a different version, including trend lines for the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s Averages, as well as for the three years with the lowest minimums since 1979, 2007, 2011 and 2008:
Note the 2012 plot isn’t far from the 2011 and 2007 plots at this point.Bering Sea Ice Area reached a record high this year, and that extra ice may well come into play later in the melt season.
The NSIDC extent data is used as the reference for the ARCUS sea ice outlook minimum determination, so I suggest you use it to base your best guesses:
Last month reader poll figured 4.9 million square kilometers. This month I think a lower value might be more representative. My personal forecast is now 4.7 million sq kilometers. Here’s the poll, pick one value for the summer 2012 minimum extent, expected in late September: | <urn:uuid:90531f48-da23-4d88-a44b-71ee34125822> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/07/03/seat-ice-news-volume-3-number-7-the-next-arcus-sea-ice-outlook-forecasting-poll-for-2012-is-online/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937383 | 268 | 1.578125 | 2 |
The triglyceride level is a laboratory test to measure the amount of triglycerides in your blood. Triglycerides are a type of fat.
Your body makes some triglycerides. Triglycerides also come from the food you eat. When you eat, your body uses carbohydrate calories for immediate energy. Leftover calories are turned into triglycerides and stored in fat cells for later use. If you eat more calories than your body needs, your triglyceride level may be high.
Oftentimes dementia patients don't even realize that they are experiencing low-level pain, which prevents them from being willing to... Read more »
Most of us are familiar with the placebo effect––the benefit patients sometimes receive from a treatment that has no active components.... Read more »
The levels of abuse and cruelty human beings are capable of inflicting on one another never ceases to amaze me. When that abuse comes... Read more »
Source: ADAM Encyclopedia
of ComplicationsHigh Blood Pressure and Heart DiseaseAll patients with diabetes and high blood pressure should adopt lifestyle changes. These include... Read more » | <urn:uuid:79d9ae2e-5259-42c0-8743-b0b82bf20c43> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.healthcentral.com/chronic-pain/h/level-of-pain-medication.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907035 | 221 | 2.75 | 3 |
Running at Large
It’s against the law to allow your dog to run at large. People are often confused by exactly what the law does – and doesn’t – allow owners to do.
A “Dog at large” is defined as a dog that is off or outside of the premises of its owner; not restrained by a rope, leash, chain, or other similar means; or not under the immediate control, restraint, or command of its owner or keeper. If a dog is not restrained by a leash or tether of some kind, is not at heel, or not a working dog in the field, the dog is considered to be “at large.” Dogs are permitted to run inside an approved off-leash park. Here is a map of off-leash parks in and close to Washington County.
We enforce this law seriously. Last year, we responded to about 1200 dogs-at-large complaints.
We encourage neighbors to settle these problems amicably when possible. Often, you’ll find out that you can resolve the problem without the legal process. For example, your neighbor might not know that the dog is running through the neighborhood while the family is off to work. Explaining the problem to the dog’s owner usually solves the problem. If after speaking with the owner the problem continues, call us. Animal Services will dispatch an officer to discuss the problem with the dog owner. Any dog found running at large may be impounded. If impounded, redemption fees and fines will be charged.
Sometimes, we’ll suggest that you file a formal complaint against the dog’s owner. Animal Services can help you file this complaint, known as a civil infraction. | <urn:uuid:de4c7742-24f1-47a5-b777-7e53a2c7725f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.co.washington.or.us/HHS/AnimalServices/AnimalControl/Complaints/running-at-large.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966059 | 356 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Local nonprofit groups are using personal notes, direct appeals, smartphone apps and even prayer to raise money in these still-tough economic times.
And their leaders think the efforts will help in key fundraising campaigns in the final weeks of the year.
"I'm very ambitious this year," said Johnny Wilson, executive director of Fayetteville Urban Ministry, which hopes to raise $100,000 in donations to supplement income from other sources.
Wilson said the $100,000 goal is twice what the organization raised last year and about $20,000 more than it raised about four years ago. The ecumenical group provides emergency assistance, literacy programs for adults, free repairs for low-income homeowners and youth mentoring.
Nationwide, charitable giving plummeted in 2008 and 2009, during the recession, then rose in 2010 and 2011, according to groups that study the subject. But giving remained off from pre-recession levels, according to the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.
Giving levels this year remain to be seen. A third of all charitable giving happens in December as the tax year winds down.
Many local nonprofit organizations have felt the recession's pinch. Last year, the Fayetteville branch of the Salvation Army missed its Christmas fundraising goal of $663,000 by about $70,000. This year, it set a slightly lower goal - $650,000 - and has instituted some new efforts to reach out to potential donors. Among them: stations at some kettle locations where people can give by swiping their credit cards. The branch also has a link at its website for online donations.
Wilson said Fayetteville Urban Ministry has made changes this year in its fundraising plans. For one, he said, it's set an actual dollar goal for the first time ever. For another, it started targeting certain professions and businesses - physicians, for example - with an eye toward persuading them to donate. Wilson said he also has begun challenging people to give "their most healthiest contribution."
"In a strained time, we're kind of going through the process of refreshing Fayetteville Urban Ministry," he said. "We're trying to sell Urban Ministry by getting people in the door to show them what we do and to let people know (their donations) go right back toward the community."
Some who can't afford to give money volunteer their time instead. Wilson said that's welcome, too.
"Oh my gosh," he said. "You know how much that helps us?"
The Fayetteville chapter of Habitat for Humanity added a new element this year to its annual fundraising effort - personal notes from board members to prospective donors.
"Our board members recognize that times are tough," said Ann Griffin, the group's executive director. So at the bottom of the group's annual appeal letter, they wrote notes if they knew the recipient "just to encourage people who have the ability to give to consider us as one of their organizations that they support."
The letters went out recently, but Griffin said the notes have already had "a major impact."
She said she believes people who can afford to are still donating money to nonprofit groups. But many are being choosier about who they give to.
"Let's face it," she said. "It's easier to blanket the community (with charitable donations) when you have tons of money in your pocket. But when you have to cut back, now you're starting to look not just at worthy causes but at worthy causes that are close to your heart - ones you feel led to give to."
As a result, organizations have to be more proactive in reaching out to prospective donors and in getting out the word about their mission.
Habitat partners with low-income families to build affordable homes that they can buy. Over the years, the Fayetteville chapter has built 132 homes and plans to complete 10 this year.
Griffin said some might see Habitat as helping only a relatively few people, compared with other groups whose programs may help hundreds of people with immediate needs each year, but that's missing the big picture.
"When you place a family in a home, you break the cycle of poverty," she said. "That's an enormous impact, not just for the family but for generations."
Habitat's homes also add to the city's tax base, she said.
United Way of Cumberland County is in the midst of its annual fundraising campaign. Ruthie Dent, the organization's director of marketing and communications, said the effort is going well but final results won't be available until early next year. United Way, which supports numerous agencies and organizations, exceeded its $1.6 million goal last year by $69,000 and is looking to raise $1.8 million this year.
Because of the economy, she said, some agencies are finding it harder to raise money than they once did even as they see increased demand for services. She said United Way is there to help them.
At Operation Inasmuch, the annual fundraising appeal was sent out in the newsletter but the effort is less structured than at other nonprofit organizations. Executive Director Sue Byrd said the group doesn't have a monetary goal, though it hopes for contributions to help it open a homeless shelter.
The organization serves homeless and needy people by providing free hot breakfasts each day, training programs and extremely low-cost group housing in five homes that it owns.
Byrd said the group's needs are answered by prayer and by the support of generous people, not by cold-eyed financial figuring.
"It's not a budgeting mind-set," she said. "It's a 'Here's our need.' "
And the need has always been met, she said.
"We have never had to struggle," she said. "I'm not saying we have all the money in the world, but when we have a need, it's answered. God's people always show up with their gifts for us."
Staff writer Catherine Pritchard can be reached at email@example.com 486-3517. | <urn:uuid:a8135f8d-832c-4ba4-a068-b5c4bffa7f32> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fayobserver.com/articles/2012/12/02/1219245 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977733 | 1,254 | 1.515625 | 2 |
During a thunderstorm Mother Nature can put on a spectacular, and at times, dangerous show. Dangers associated with thunderstorms can include lightning, heavy rain, flooding, hail and strong winds. The life span of thunderstorms is usually less than an hour. When storms combine they can form squall lines. Some thunderstorms grow into powerful supercells which can last for hours and spawn tornadoes.
Only 10% of the estimated 100,000 thunderstorms a year become severe, but that 10% accounts for most of the loss of life and property damage. The first step in staying safe in a thunderstorm is staying tuned into Oklahoma's Own number one meteorologist, Gary England and the News 9 weather team. If severe weather is possible in the area Gary and his staff of meteorologists will keep you up to date on all the watches and warnings and will let you know when and where the storms will strike.
What to do during a thunderstorm:
• Stay off of land line phones
• Stay away from windows
• Have flashlights in case the power goes out
• Avoid taking a shower or bath. If lightning strikes your house it may send a current of electricity across metal plumbing into your bathroom. Plastic piping will not carry lightning.
• Reduce your speed
• If your visibility is impaired and you cannot drive through the storm pull off to the shoulder of the road, away from tall objects, such as trees, which could fall due to wind or lightning.
• Turn on your vehicle's emergency flashers
• Stay in the vehicle until the storm passes
• Do not touch metal objects in the vehicle
• Go inside!
• If you cannot find shelter, stay away from tall, isolated objects such as trees, poles, or posts.
• If you begin to feel your hair stand on end, this indicates lightning is about to strike. Stay low. Curl up on the ground in a small little ball possible. Do not lie flat on the ground, it makes you a larger target for lightning, and try to keep out of puddles or other standing water.
• Boaters and swimmer should get to land as a soon as possible
• If you're in a group caught outside, spread out.
• Never touch downed power lines. Dial 911 or the local power company immediately to ensure that the line is turned off so repairs can be made.
7401 N. Kelley Ave.
Oklahoma City, OK 73111
OKLAHOMA CITY'S OWN TM
Oklahoma's Own News9.com is proud to provide Oklahomans with timely and relevant news and information, sharing the stories, pictures and loves of Oklahomans across our great state including Oklahoma City's Own. | <urn:uuid:d5e3955c-0787-4744-adb7-7ccf9095d26a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.news9.com/story/7524248/what-to-do-in-a-thunderstorm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926116 | 561 | 3.0625 | 3 |
U.S. consumers spared big costs in climate bill
NEW YORK |
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A new U.S. government study on Tuesday adds to a growing list of experts concluding that climate legislation moving through Congress would have only a modest impact on consumers, adding around $100 to household costs in 2020.
Under the climate legislation passed by the House of Representatives in June, electricity, heating oil and other bills for average families will rise $134 in 2020 and $339 in 2030, according to the Energy Information Administration, the country's top energy forecaster.
The bill requires energy companies to help consumers lower costs during the early years of the program which would "mute the impact of higher energy prices for households until at least 2025," said Kay Smith, an EIA economist.
Regulating greenhouse gases with a market mechanism, such as the cap and trade program outlined in the bill, is one of President Barack Obama's top goals.
Democratic leaders hope the bill, which would place a cost on polluting greenhouse gases in the United States like carbon dioxide for the first time, will come to a vote by the full Senate in October. That would come before a U.N. meeting in Copenhagen in December in which nearly 200 countries hope to form a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol on global warming.
The EIA estimate was in line with earlier projections from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office which said average families would pay about $175 extra annually by 2020, and the Environmental Protection Agency, which said families would pay at most an extra $1 per day.
Republican opponents of the bill have calculated household costs would rise $3,100 or more annually on higher prices for energy and other goods. The Chamber of Commerce estimated in April that a cap and trade system would cost households about $1,400 a year by 2020.
MINIMIZING WINDFALL PROFITS
A big part of keeping costs down involves the use of offsets, which would allow polluters like power plants to invest in projects -- like burning gases given off from rotting farm animal waste -- when they determine it's too expensive to cut their own pollution.
The CBO said in a report on Tuesday that offsets could cut the costs of the climate bill passed by the House by 70 percent from 2012 to 2050, though questions linger about whether some of offsets, particularly ones revolving around forestry, actually cut all of the emissions they claim.
At a hearing on Capitol Hill, the Government Accountability Office, an arm of Congress, concluded that "consumers will bear most of the costs of a cap and trade system" as companies pass along their increased energy costs.
The GAO added, however, "These costs could be largely offset depending on how revenues are used."
Under the bill, many of the permits to pollute would be given away at first to local power companies, which would then be required to help lower consumer costs through investments in conservation and by lowering energy bills.
The finance committee is examining whether pollution permits required under the climate change bill should be sold or given away initially and whether some consumers, especially the poor, should be given rebates or new tax breaks.
"We want to make sure we minimize the chance of windfall profits" to companies, Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus said. Baucus acknowledged the difficulty writing a bill that achieves Democrats' environmental goals while still having enough votes to pass the Senate.
Fellow Democrat Blanche Lincoln drove that point home during the hearing, calling the House-passed bill "deeply flawed" and one that would hurt rural areas like her home state of Arkansas, which rely more heavily on petroleum fuels to drive long distances and grow crops.
But Senator John Kerry, a leading proponent of cap and trade legislation, accused some companies of engaging in "bogus arguments" that inflate the potential costs to consumers. He warned that if Congress fails to pass a climate bill, the Environmental Protection Agency likely would step in with carbon regulations that would be more onerous on companies.
(Additional reporting by Tom Doggett, Ayesha Rascoe and Richard Cowan in Washington; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
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I'm sure that everyone has heard of the quote oft attributed to Samuel Clemens, "There are three type of lies. Lies, damn lies, and statistics." This quote was always on my lips as I suffered through my required statistics course in college. It was only when I had to help my fiance (now wife) with her graduate course in statistics that I found a new respect for the field. Nowadays I see the value that statistics can give us, but only when we make the judgments ourselves. Never trust a stat that someone else has quoted to you. Only the raw data itself is truly useful to you.
So what does this have to do with real estate. Well, first of all stop listening to NAR's statistics. They mean nothing. But more importantly, I recently read an old post at I Will Teach You To Be Rich that was highly educational.
Here's the synopsis. Ramit shows you two credit card offers from the same company. The economics of the offers are essentially the same, but the graphical designs are different. Different colors, different pictures, different layouts. One emphasizes "fixed [rate] until 201o", the other emphasizes "0% interest rate". From his post:
This is how real marketing is done–not by handwavy marketers saying “I think red is better!” but by actual, rigorous data analysis.And he's right. Real marketing is done in this way. When marketers tell you that red ink draws more attention, they aren't relying on some biological study from a university discussing how the physics of light focuses the eye on red (at least not usually). They are basing that belief on statistical analysis. They sent out 1,000 credit card offers in red ink and 1,000 credit card offers in green ink and the red ink led to a 23% higher application rate (all statistics are, of course, made up).
How can we use this information? As real estate investors, we too, have to be marketers. We have to find people to occupy our properties. This could be done in many ways, we can advertise on one of thousands of websites, we can places signs in the community, we can go to a real estate company. But many of those options cost money, and which gives you the best return?
Biff and I have decided to find out. From now on, whenever we advertise an opening in one of our units, we're going to pay attention. Using just a simple spreadsheet, we'll keep track of each person who responds to our ads, storing the date, the advertising that worked, and whether or not they finally applied for tenancy. That last part is important, as Biff currently estimates that we get about 85% of all of our calls due to the neighborhood signs, but most of our actual applicants come from people who find our web ads.
We don't have that many properties and, if we're lucky, we won't have to find new tenants every year. But it's worth while to keep track of the statistics that we can. More information never hurt anyone. And if you've been paying for that apartments.com ad every year, but never gotten a bite from it? Maybe it's time to stop throwing your money in that direction and try something new! | <urn:uuid:260acd9f-58c4-4412-8eb2-d73b3295ebab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lordingtheland.blogspot.com/2007/06/statistics-and-damn-lies.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975268 | 670 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Tufts University researchers have identified what appears to be a new class of "instructor" cell they claim plays a key role in triggering melanoma-like growth in pigment cells. The team says the events leading to cancerous transformation start as a result of changes in membrane voltage in the instructor cells. This initiates a serotonin transport-based pathway that leads the progeny of stem cells to initiate abnormal growth in melanocytes. They suggest their discoveries could lead to the development of new treatments for diseases as disparate as cancer, vitiligo, and birth defects. Moreover, the future discovery of similar types of instructor cell impacting on different types of body cells could lead to new approaches to regenerative medicine as well as cancer therapy.
The Tufts University research is published in Disease Models and Mechanisms, in a paper titled, “Transmembrane voltage gradient in GlyCl-expressing cell population controls behavior in neural crest derivative in vivo.
Misregulation of stem cells is known to play a role in the development of cancers and birth defects, explains the Tufts team, led by Michael Levin, Ph.D., professor of biology and director of the Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology. Moreover, studies have shown that stem cells exhibit unique electrophysiological profiles and that ionic currents controlled by ion-channel proteins are critical in stem cell differentiation. However, the role of bioelectrical signals still remains poorly understood, especially in vivo. To investigate the effects of membrane voltage on cell regulation further, the researchers focused on neural crest stem cells in embryos of the frog Xenopus laevis.
During development in vertebrates, including humans, neural crest cells migrate throughout the body and give rise to a range of cell types, including melanocytes and tissues in the heart, face, and skin, the team notes. Congential malformations of the neural crest are already known to lead to birth defects.
The Tufts researchers manipulated the electrical properties of a newly identified cell population found throughout the frog embryo, by using ivermectin to open the glycine gated chloride channels (GlyCl) characteristic of the newly identified cell type. They found that changing the chloride ion levels to either hyperpolarize or depolarize the cells triggered abnormal growth in distant, neural crest-derived melanocytes. The affected melanocytes proliferated abnormally and also changed shape, invading neural tissues, blood vessels, and gut in a manner typical of metastasis. When the team used different methods to manipulate the transmembrane potential of what they termed the instructor cells, the effects on distant melanocytes were the same, suggesting it was the voltage change itself and not the method used, the chloride flow, or GlyCl channel that were responsible.
Subsequent testing of human epidermal melanocytes in a depolarizing medium also resulted in a shape change similar to that found in the Xenopus tadpoles. Further investigation suggested that serotonin was the likely messenger responsible for converting the voltage change in the instructor cells to changes in the melanocytes.
“Discovering this novel bioelectric signal and new cell type could be very important in efforts to understand the mechanisms that coordinate stem cell function within the host organism and prevent tumor growth,” Dr. Levin suggests. “Ultimately it could enable us to guide cell behaviors toward regenerative medicine applications.”
The Tufts researchers are already looking at the potential for using voltage-sensitive dyes for noninvasive cancer detection, and investigating possible techniques that could prevent cancer progression through the repolarization of abnormal cells and their instructor cells. | <urn:uuid:529a9e79-1dfe-40a9-a8c7-5835a399e78c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.genengnews.com/gen-news-highlights/new-voltage-sensitive-cell-type-directs-stem-cell-daughters-to-trigger-cancer/81244086/?kwrd=Tufts%20University | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9374 | 730 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Editorial: Make nation's laws; no experience necessary
The newspaper Politico has a scary take on the new Congress that will assume office in January: The serious and very difficult issues facing the country will be in the hands of one of the least experienced Congresses in decades.
Between the unusually large 2011 freshman class, retirements and defeated incumbents, the new Congress could have upward of 155 members with less than four years of experience, and "... the chambers will be filled with rookies and sophomores unbound by the institution's traditions while having virtually no experience doing serious legislative work."
Or doing work of any kind in Congress.
The House, under both parties in recent years, sets up calendars that call for members to spend long periods of time back in their districts raising money and campaigning, then returning to Washington for a few days. One veteran lawmaker cracked that they don't have the time or the experience to know one end of the gavel from the other.
Politico says that an influx of new blood could bring fresh ideas and new energy. But based on the new members so far, it could just as easily mean a crop of confrontational, hyperpartisan zealots who don't feel they have to learn anything because they know with total certitude what they know.
Last summer, the new lawmakers came close to driving the nation into technical default; they forced the House leadership to renege on a deal that allowed the nation to stay solvent. Thanks to their intransigence, we still, after three years, don't have an essential national transportation bill and it's conceivable we may not get one, something to keep in mind as we revert to a nation of dirt roads.
Traditionally, lawmakers spent years building expertise and seniority in issues like defense, taxes, transportation, public works and health care, but the new breed, at least so far, disdains both seniority and expertise. They have their slogans and they're sticking to them.
But vital issues await both the lame-duck and the new Congress: What to do about extending the tax cuts? How to avoid an automatic across-the-board $1.3 trillion budget that the Pentagon says will seriously weaken the military? Some kind of planning for the impact of a European debt crisis, or the Chinese economy suddenly going flat? And preparing for another increase in the debt ceiling?
Come January, this country could go one of two ways. Nothing so far arouses any confidence that the newcomers will pick — or are even capable of choosing — the right direction.
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As Northeast Ohio gears up for a local election, get the latest on what's happening behind the scenes.
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I'm just beginning my architecture course and I wanted to ask what program's are most often used when designing or what programs I should learn.
I have a very good understanding in autocad 2d, however, there are some other programs I have seen being used however I'm unsure of what exactly they are used for. Such as illustrator, photoshop etc. I'm going to try and learn revit and rhino for 3d design, however, once again, not sure of the differences.
Which program's would you suggest I become familiar with to not only succeed in my course but for the rest of my career as well.
Thanks in advance
Learn Rhino and its associated plugins. Best modeling power to learning curve ratio.
I've been in the industry for 10 years and for me the most useful programs are as follows;
1. Autocad - Mainly for 2d work. I can't find any other program that are better, maybe match it but not better.
2. Revit - for 3d and 2d work
3. Photoshop - We all know what this is for.
4. Acrobat writer. - Write and read all your PDF documents.
I've used other programs in the past such as 3d studio max, ArchiCAD, Sketch up, microstation, and many other 2d programs but those 4 programs I listed is enough to do everything I needed to for designing, drafting, 3d visualisation and simple photo editing.
Hope that helps. Good luck
Thanks so much, that helps a lot | <urn:uuid:7ed4ef8e-0784-455e-a163-827c8348d459> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://archinect.com/forum/thread/67204754/programs-used-in-architecture/0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971071 | 339 | 2.21875 | 2 |
This bill would give the "global warming Gestapo" the power to throw senior citizens out of their homes, if the homes are not up to energy-efficient building standards. "A senior citizen whose home is destroyed by a tornado .. and she wants to rebuild .. if she doesn't rebuild according to the rules in this bill .. she is declared an unlawful occupant of her own home." – Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA-01)
First of all, state and local laws already require construction to meet current codes when homes are built or re-built. So, there's nothing new here.
And it's a good thing — it's how we make sure homes are safe, healthy, livable and efficient. It's also how we make sure senior citizens (and everybody else) aren't taken advantage of by shoddy or unscrupulous builders.
What the Waxman-Markey bill does is set some broad national efficiency targets for new construction. The bill leaves it up to cities, states and building code associations to decide how to meet them — based on local weather and climate, cost-effectiveness for the region and local preferences.
In other words — pretty much the same system we've got now.
More importantly, the national efficiency targets require that code changes are cost effective and save people money on their power bills. Senior citizens would appreciate lower utility bills at least as much as anyone else. They would be unlikely to argue strenuously against a provision that will immediately reduce their monthly expenses and will ultimately put more money in their pocket.
As for "global warming Gestapo" .. we don't think cute alliteration justifies anything that offensive. | <urn:uuid:05fec4f9-4e8f-4430-aeb7-333d08e189ce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.edf.org/climate411/category/truth-squad/395/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97241 | 339 | 1.929688 | 2 |
Best known for its edible varieties—onions, garlic, chives, shallots and leeks—Allium also includes hundreds of ornamental species. Far too interesting to be left in the vegetable patch, various cultivars are in bloom May to July and, as spring bulbs, must be planted in fall. The tall-growing species, standing like sentries with big, round heads, provide wonderful contrast to other shapes usually found in perennial borders; dwarf species are well suited to rock gardens.
While some allium flowerheads are just a couple of centimetres wide, others can be ten times as large. These perennials range in height from 15 centimetres to more than a metre, with flower colours of white, yellow, blue, silvery pink and mauve. Their leaves (either round and hollow or flat and strap-like), although attractive when they first emerge, can become untidy later in the season. Plant them among other perennials or annuals such as roses, irises, poppies, anemones or petunias to help screen the leaves.
Alliums are long-lived and do not appeal to deer, squirrels, rabbits, mice or chipmunks. Flowers can be left on the stalk to dry or, if cut early, will last up to three weeks in water. The slightly garlicky smell they emit when cut disappears once put in water.
Of the more than 450 species known, only a handful are widely cultivated. Most, including those on page 2 (save one), are hardy to Zone 4, even Zone 3 with mulching and/or snow cover.
- Plant bulbs in fall (once ground temperatures have dropped below 16°C) at a depth three times their height: about 15 centimetres for larger bulbs, 10 for smaller ones.
- Alliums prefer well-drained, neutral or alkaline soil and adequate moisture (about 2.5 centimetres per week).
- Space about 30 centimetres apart, as most bulbs will reproduce, gradually forming clumps, with each bulb producing its own flower.
- Plant tall varieties in a well-protected spot; with their large, heavy heads on tall, narrow stems, they’re easily blown over.
- For the best show, plant in groupings of three to five.
- Mulch generously in areas where frost and snow are threats.
- Fertilize three times with bone meal or any good garden fertilizer: once when planting, once just after they emerge and again right after flowering.
(The allium shown above is a 'Globemaster'.) | <urn:uuid:42e203e7-19d0-4435-85e0-2b23f6fa99e6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.canadiangardening.com/business/:%20%20%09/plants/flower-bulbs/attention-grabbing-alliums/a/30693 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925198 | 543 | 3.1875 | 3 |
In this booklet we will examine the Bible's teaching on conversion. Contrary to what many think, it is not just a one-time event. Instead the Scriptures reveal that it is a process.The process begins with God's calling, followed by the key steps of repentance, baptism and the receiving of the Holy Spirit—finally climaxing with the return of Jesus Christ, when the dead in Christ are resurrected to immortality and given eternal life. That is the ultimate transformation, being changed from a mortal to an immortal being!
The word conversion is heard often in religious circles. People commonly speak of their "conversion," or how they came to be "converted." What do these words mean?
Conversion, in a religious context, generally refers to a change from one belief to another, or the addition of a new religious belief. But is that all there is to conversion?
Some use the word conversion to mean almost any dramatic change for the better that people choose to make by their own efforts, sometimes erroneously giving the impression that all such self-induced changes are from God. This, however, is simply not true. People can and do change without God's intervention—but not in the same way that conversion is described in the Bible.
Even without any religious background, people—simply because of the dictionary definition of the word—understand that conversion refers to a change. If something is converted, it is changed in some way.
The biblical concept of conversion certainly involves change. For example, the Scriptures relate that Paul and Barnabas, as they traveled toward Jerusalem, "passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, describing the conversion of the Gentiles; and they caused great joy to all the brethren" (Acts 15:3, emphasis added throughout).
But if a person is converted—changed—what is he changed from, and what is he changed to?
In the Bible conversion is represented as a miraculous, life—transforming process—a process that is impossible without the direct, active intervention and participation of God. In fact, He initiates the conversion process. He first opens the minds of those He is calling, or inviting, to conversion so they can begin to understand the Scriptures with a clarity and depth they could never attain on their own.
This wonderful, miraculous process usually begins when the individuals God is calling hear, or read, the truth of God accurately explained from His true servants. Our Creator begins to open their minds at that time to comprehend the true gospel of Jesus Christ.
God's Word now begins to make sense to them. Just as a picture emerges when the pieces of a puzzle are fitted together, so can those whom God is inviting to be converted begin to understand the Holy Scriptures. This is the miracle of God's calling.
What follows depends on the choices they make when they hear or read God's truth. They can respond to God and ask for His help to implement what they learn. Or they can turn their back on the understanding of the truth they have received.
Although He clearly encourages human beings to "choose life" (Deuteronomy 30:19), God does not force anyone to make the right choice. But, as we shall soon see, the consequences of our choices are enormous.
In this booklet we will examine the Bible's teaching on conversion. Contrary to what many think, it is not just a one-time event. Instead the Scriptures reveal that it is a process.
The process begins with God's calling, followed by the key steps of repentance, baptism and the receiving of the Holy Spirit—finally climaxing with the return of Jesus Christ, when the dead in Christ are resurrected to immortality and given eternal life. That is the ultimate transformation, being changed from a mortal to an immortal being!
Let's begin our quest—directly from God's Word—for an understanding of this marvelous transformation called conversion.
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All correspondence and questions should be sent to email@example.com. Send inquiries regarding the operation of this Web site to firstname.lastname@example.org | <urn:uuid:421ac110-98de-469b-af8f-fbbb656628e0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ucg.org.uk/UCG_BI_Literature/booklets/TL/TL.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945439 | 860 | 2.75 | 3 |
Posts tagged with 'Music'
Our Internet Statistics Compendium has seen another bumper update this month, with an impressive swathe of data focusing on the internet landscape in Australia.
The latest report released by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation (CCi) gives a comprehensive overview into how the internet has become integral to Australians as a social tool, a shopping platform and an entertainment channel since 2007.
Yet, it is the report’s insight into audio and video trends which are some of the most interesting, with online perhaps not eating into consumption habits of traditional media as much as we might expect. Be sure to check out the Australia and New Zealand edition of our ISC for more from the region.
The other day I eavesdropped as a pretty girl faced the teenage boy seated across from her and sang, “Tonight / We are young / So let’s set the world on fire”.
Frustrated by his blank stare, she said, “Don’t you know the song? It’s from that Chevy commercial”.
If that example doesn’t convince you of the power of music and marketing, nothing will.
There is little doubt that digital is the future of music. The CD may not be dead, but it might as well be.
Its replacement for millions of consumers has been digital music services of various kinds, ranging iTunes and the Amazon MP3 Store to Pandora and Spotify.
If you're a consumer, finding a buying your favorite tunes is as easy as opening up iTunes or heading over to Amazon.com or Google Play.
But where do you go if your business is in search of the perfect song for a presentation, corporate video or trade show event?
There are numerous differences between Apple's content ecosystem and Google's. One of the biggest: through iTunes, Apple offers a unified and arguably superior experience. Whatever you're looking for, be it music, apps or books, can be purchased and downloaded in a single place.
This apparently hasn't been lost on Google, which today announced that it's combining Android Market, Google Music and the Google eBookstore into a single entity dubbed Google Play.
The past decade may have been tough for the music industry, but thanks to online video, times have arguably never been better for the music video.
On YouTube, for instance, music videos represent one of the most popular content categories, and some of the most popular music videos have racked up hundreds of millions of views.
Late last year, Google finally jumped into the digital music market by launching its long-awaited Google Music service.
Despite skepticism and criticism, the search giant clearly had high hopes for its music service, which competes with Apple's iTunes and Amazon's MP3 store. Thus far, however, the skeptics and critics appear to be right.
Music is arguably one of the most popular things in the world (who doesn't listen to music), but it isn't exactly easy being a musician. That's particularly true for indie artists who don't have huge audiences and major record label backing.
The pains of the music industry, coupled with its overall sexiness as a business, have made the music space one of the most popular for startups.
As Facebook continues the charge towards its rumoured-but-practically-confirmed IPO this year, its next trick is a feature called 'Listen With'.
Announced last night, this allows groups of people to listen to the same song at the same time via the social network’s music service.
It's been more than a decade since Napster sent the music industry into a
tailspin, and record labels are still adapting to the digital reality they find themselves in.
For better or worse, the future of music is not the CD, and a huge recent milestone confirms what we have known for a long time: that it's largely digital. | <urn:uuid:4b683520-162f-45c5-ae3d-ed90c1bbdc40> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/tags/music | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955505 | 799 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Boulder Imaging, a systems integrator involved with machine vision, saved its customer money by switching camera sources for its machine vision system.
Having 6,000 pixels, the Piranha 2 camera can detect defects down to 20 micrometers. Source: Dalsa
Boulder Imaging (Boulder, CO) is a systems integrator involved with machine vision. The software used with its machine vision systems is developed in-house and designed for specific applications. Boulder Imaging’s systems can be used to inspect any surface that requires a uniform finish, such as fiberglass, glass, paper or other Web applications. Furthermore, cylinder inspection, which is more challenging than Web applications, is a specialty of Boulder.
The system they have developed is called the Vision Inspector. One application of the system is to inspect the surfaces of printer drum cylinders, key components for printer cartridges used in laser printers. The machine vision system runs continuously, without any breaks.
All of Boulder’s machine vision equipment is used for industrial inspection in manufacturing plants that build products requiring surfaces with virtually no defects. There are two pieces to the Vision Inspector. First, there is the actual live inspection system that detects defects, gathers all information about defects and communicates with the robotics to sort them out. The second part is the process control station, which gives the operator a direct view of all defective parts that have been found, and classifies them. The system is, in essence, identifying defects and at the same time presenting this information in a statistical manner.
Says Carlos Jorquera, CEO and founder of Boulder, “The quality of the surface of a printer cartridge drum is directly tied to the quality of the printer page. Therefore, it’s very, very important to have a very uniform surface, otherwise field defects, field nonuniformities or any artifacts might show up on the printer page. Our Vision Inspector system inspects every single one of those drums made by our customer, a printer manufacturer.”
To get an image of something cylindrical in shape, Boulder uses Piranha 2 line scan cameras from Dalsa (Waterloo, Ontario) to put together a large image of the surface. Along with its own proprietary software, Boulder also uses Dalsa’s X64 frame grabbers to capture the image.
Jorquera explains, “We chose the Dalsa Piranha camera because it gets the resolution we needed to be able to see defects down to 20 micrometers in size. That requires us to use a camera with at least 6,000 pixels.” The camera’s light sensitivity allows Boulder to detect minute and difficult-to-see defects. The use of the camera also results in approximately 83 parts inspected per minute.
The high resolution of the Dalsa camera allows Boulder to image the whole length of the part. “Prior to using this approach, our customer was using up to three smart cameras from another source,” says Jorquera. “The cost savings from that change alone was about 40%.”
Jorquera sees machine vision components from Dalsa continuing to be important in the next generation of the Vision Inspector system. As Boulder continues to innovate, Jorquera wants the next phase to be able to incorporate adaptive learning, meaning that the machine vision system would be able to learn about defects from the data it generates.
BenefitsPrior to using Boulder’s Vision Inspect system with the Dalsa Piranha 2 camera, Boulder’s customer was using a system with up to three smart cameras from another source.
The cost savings from the change to Boulder’s system was approximately 40%.
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