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This place is quite spooky in foggy weather...
Legend has it that a Barguest, or Bargest, haunts the area.
A fearsome spectral hound,It is said to guard either a grave, sacred site, or hidden treasure.
It is supposedly "as big as a littlish bear." Normaly it is yellow, with large black eyes, although sometimes it is headless.
Trollers Ghyll is a great chasm cut in the hills near Appletreewick in the Yorkshire dales.
The name of this chasm suggests that even the Vikings believed that something evil lurked there (see below).
One night a cobbler was walking the canyon when he came upon the Barguest, it passed close enough to his hiding place that he could give us this description:
"...yellow, with great eyes like saucers. He'd a shaggy sort o' smell as he went by, and I counted myself for dead. But he chanced not to glimpse me, praise all the saints that ever were."
In the last one hundred years, five deaths have been associated with the Trollers Ghyll Barguest.
One of the most interesting stories concerns John Lambert, a loudly outspoken sceptic.
He went hunting for it in Trollers Ghyll at night, armed only with a walking stick. He was found dead the next morning.
BTW - From the old Norse, Trollers ghyll = Trolls Bottom Ravine (Ghyll = a small narrow valley or ravine).
Critiques | Translate
danyy (0) 2005-12-05 16:43
un endroit qui fait peur,
ce temps brumeux, cette absence de soleil, ce sol jonché de pierres hostiles, accidenté, ce passage étroit et cette végétation sans feuilles; c'est effrayant.
Une photo que j'aime pour cette ambience.
Vicky (1442) 2005-12-05 17:51
It certainly is a spooky story and you managed to capture it's atmosphere in this picture...glad you walked away in one piece to tell the tale! It really is a creepy place and, for once, the dull weather was welcome and helped create the mood. Good colours, I like the way the green stands out, and it's well composed too. Two points for your courage! Best wishes, Vicky
KevRyan (22924) 2005-12-05 18:10
A really interesting story Stephen - the language is ....well different...'Bargest of Trollers Ghyll' - a very atmospheric shot - one can imagine all sorts of spooky goings on here. I remember getting really spooked by a place near Mam Tor in the Peak District - a pool of water in the run off from one of the hills surrounded by trees - it was summer but somehow this place just made me really cold and suddenly shivering - your image really brings that back somehow.
best wishes Kev
Lisas_world (1228) 2005-12-05 20:19
Great note, Stephen, you are quite a story-teller... though I'm wondering why anyone would want to walk there at night.. looks creepy enough in the daytime, especially with those trees hanging over like waiting gnarly fingers. Good shot of the place, with damp, quiet greens in the foreground receding around the jutting rock and into the mist to heighten our sense of apprehension.
matjean (96) 2005-12-05 20:59
Incredible shoot! Nothing to add!
Philippe (11836) 2005-12-06 3:08
Hello, Stephen. This place doesn't look very hospitable and it's no wonder so many legends have been woven around it. I think you've chosen the right moment to choose it when the mist gives a mysterious aspect to it.
Balthazar (222) 2005-12-06 5:49
What a great place full of atmosphere and you have captured it well.
Tolkien springs to mind when I look at it.
martin-images (661) 2005-12-09 17:25
Great photo love the composition and you have captured the mood of the place well
hdl (6995) 2005-12-16 7:38
Very mysterious shot. Indeed, as you say it, it is spooky. I like the pov and especially the light fog in the valley. The leafless trees add to the atmosphere. This image would not have been so good in summer I think. You choose a good place at the right time. Well done.
pamastro (7218) 2006-01-02 0:05
It's just like something from a book it seems, both the name and tales of these places. Of course the books followed these precedents. It does have a spookiness here, especially in the fog. The green and the stone the twisted branches of the tree all are very eerie and foreboding. It really is like something deadly is lurking here somewhere. And it just disappears around the zag in the distance giving more frightening mystery.
That's interesting how a skeptic died looking for the mythical creature. Was it known how he died?
robiuk (10805) 2006-01-10 20:07
Just browsing these missed ones...
Quite spooky - reading your note scared me to death!
Think I mmight open a theme, sort of 'spooky places' or something... yours surely fits in!
And... it's beautiful at the same time!
- Copyright: Stephen Wilkinson (wilkinsonsg) (8662)
- Genre: Places
- Medium: Color
- Date Taken: 2005-11-22
- Categories: Nature
- Camera: Olympus E-1, 14-54mm Olympus Zuiko, 67mm Hoya Circular Polarizer
- Exposure: f/3.5, 1/45 seconds
- More Photo Info: view
- Photo Version: Original Version
- Date Submitted: 2005-12-05 16:32
- Favorites: 1 [view] | <urn:uuid:a3c16de1-5890-408f-b2da-e6bdee8ecfdd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Europe/United_Kingdom/photo282368.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916412 | 1,310 | 1.757813 | 2 |
SINGAPORE: The number of colorectal cancer cases in Singapore has gone up slightly over the past five years.
Latest figures from the National Registry of Diseases show that in the period of 2007—2011, a total of 8,459 new cases of colorectal cancer were diagnosed. This is compared to 8,178 cases diagnosed in the period of 2006—2010.
Colorectal cancer is the most common cancer in men. The incidence rate among the Chinese was the highest in both men and women while the median age at diagnosis of colorectal cancer was 67 years old.
Despite an increase in the number of Faecal Occult Blood Test (FOBT) screening participants each year, the Singapore Cancer Society said not enough of those who are aged 50 and above are getting screened.
Associate Professor Tang Choong Leong, head and senior consultant at Department of Colorectal Surgery at Singapore General Hospital, said: "The most common reason is the ’If it ain’t wrong, you don’t fix it’ mentality. That is one of the reasons why people don’t make themselves available. On the other hand, it is the lifestyle. We are very busy rushing here and there every day and making time for tests may be a problem."
In 2012, the Singapore Cancer Society said there were 24,634 people who were screened using the FOBT kit, compared with 12,161 in 2006.
Last year, 60,000 FOBT kits were distributed. The Singapore Cancer Society said it saw a return rate of 74 per cent which they say is quite high when compared to the rest of the world.
To reach out to more people, the organisation will be distributing 65,000 of these kits, which can be picked up at retail stores, hospitals and clinics.
Free FOBT kits will be distributed at 71 Guardian Pharmacy stores, as well as polyclinics and the Singapore Cancer Society.
Seventy—one—year—old Robert Hoo, tested positive for colorectal cancer in 2009 after using a FOBT kit.
"I couldn’t believe I have colorectal cancer. All my life, I have been a very active person. I have been very careful with my food. I also take vitamin. I exercise a lot. My bowel is very, very accurate so I was very disappointed," said Mr Hoo.
Part of his colon was removed to prevent the cancer from spreading and doctors consider him lucky as he was diagnosed early.
Colorectal cancer does not have any outward symptoms in its early stages but sufferers may experience minor bleeding from the affected part of the colon.
They said the majority of the cases diagnosed in the past five years are in the late stages of cancer where additional treatment to surgery, such as chemotherapy, is considered.
There will also be a more consolidated effort by various health agencies and hospitals to reach out to the public to raise awareness about this disease.
Assoc Prof Tang said: "Over the years, I believe there is some increase in awareness but still we are not reaching out to a large number of people in the age bracket that is eligible for screening. In fact in the last national survey on health, only roughly about 10 per cent of people are aware and the number of people who are practising screening are much less than that figure so the knowledge is there but not adequate and the practice is even worse."
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A makeshift shrine was set in New York's Greenwich Village Monday at the location where Mark Carson, a 32-year-old gay man, was shot dead la... More A makeshift shrine was set in New York's Greenwich Village Monday at the location where Mark Carson, a 32-year-old gay man, was shot dead last week. New Yorkers -- including mayoral candidate Christine Quinn -- are planning a rally to protest the shooting, which has been labelled as a hate crime.
Date 24 mins ago, Duration 0:37, Views 0 | <urn:uuid:23fb5585-ae0b-4bbc-998a-9d6239f5c6a2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.xin.msn.com/en/singapore/increase-in-colorectal-cancer-cases-over-past-5-years | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967777 | 841 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Beginners Level Course: Useful Commands - The 'cp' command
To show you how to copy files with Linux we talked about 'cp' in the lesson on aliases. 'cp' is for copying files from one place to another, or for making a duplicate of one file under a different name.
Let's go back to Tony's 'stuff' file For example, if you saved Tony's e-mail attachment to your main /home directory, /home/[your name], you may want to create a directory to keep Tony's files You could make the directory for Tony tonyd (Tony's last name is Dweebweiler)
Then you can do:
cp stuff tonyd
Remember use your TAB key to save time.
Now you're going to have TWO files named 'stuff' because you copied that file to the directory 'tonyd/' - you didn't move it there. You'll have the original 'stuff' in your home directory and then the copy in /home/[your name]/tonyd/.
You'll be able to tell the difference between the two files because the copy of 'stuff' in the directory 'tonyd' will show a different time. Use the command ls -l stuff on both files to see this.
If you had used the command cp -p instead of just cp you would end up with two identical files in two different places. If you don't want that, there's a better way of doing it so that 'stuff' is only in the directory 'tonyd'. That's themv command. We'll talk about that shortly.
More uses of the 'cp' command To show you how to copy directories and create duplicates of files. Now let's talk about two more basic uses of the cp command and some short cuts.
You can also copy entire directories to another place. As I mentioned in a previous lesson, you may want to work as two different users for two different jobs. You may be working as 'fred' and your directory 'tonyd' is in the directory /home/bob, where you work as 'bob'
As 'fred', you can use the command:
cp -r /home/bob/tonyd/ /home/fred/
If you're in your home directory you can use this command
cp -r /home/bob/tonyd/ ./
To copy the directory 'tonyd' to your home directory.
You may also use the command
cp -r /home/bob/tonyd/ ~
With the tilde wherever you happen to be and that will automatically copy the directory 'tonyd' to your other home directory.
The other use of 'cp' we talked about was to get a copy of a file with a different name. For example, Tony's file 'stuff' is loaded with jokes. You may want to add some more jokes and then pass it along to another person You could do this:
cp stuff stuff2
or choose a name that's meaningful for you other than 'stuff2'
Now you have another file that you can add jokes to while you preserve the original file. You can open it in 'pico' and start writing: "Why did the chicken cross the road..." Always remember to use that TAB key and the up and down arrows to save yourself some time. | <urn:uuid:c28542d7-832a-46e1-82f7-bc6ac425a8cf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.linux.org/article/view/useful-commands-the-cp-command | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929762 | 700 | 3.546875 | 4 |
In today's Underdark
preview, we descend a further layer, to the Feydark -- where we meet the madness of the gnomes.
If the Feydark is an echo of the Underdark, it is a smaller and brighter echo. While the Shallows might have a dank and dismal fungal forest, the Feydark has innumerable smaller caverns lit by dozens of varieties of phosphorescent mushrooms and their incandescent spores. Where each expanse of living stone chronicles the Shallows’ rasping assault upon the world above, the Feydark features hundreds of pocket-sized fomorian fiefdoms, each twisted by its own weird magic or insane monarch. The great dark oceans of the world’s deeps have cousins in the Feydark, but these fey cousins are finite and not as murky. Instead of an ocean, the Feydark has a sea. Where darkness conceals the Underdark, the Feydark is lit with the sporadic glow of luminescent sea creatures and spore creatures passing overhead.
Aside from scale, the significant difference between the Underdark and the Feydark is that the Feydark is more homogenous. The Feydark does not have areas of Shallows and Deeps. The entire Feydark is semideep—not as forgiving as the Shallows, but not as deadly as the Deeps.
Chapter 4 of Underdark presents the following topics.
Denizens of the Feydark: Brief looks at the monsters most commonly found in this region of the Underdark.
Typical Feydark Encounter: A fomorian and its cohorts lurk near a subterranean stream.
Geography and Phenomena: Terrain features and other special aspects of the environment.
Inbharann: A fomorian kingdom that is the site of both untold wealth and terrible danger.
Gnome Realms: Tucked away and populated by some of the hardiest individuals of the race, a few gnome communities prosper in the Feydark.
Deadtrees: The Forest Monarchs that towered over the Feywild long ago live on, after a fashion, beneath the earth.
Living Grotto: Every kind of fungus in existence can be found within this morass.
The Regrown Tree: A dungeon delve for paragon tier characters, who must try to preserve the rebirth of the Ivory Tree of Winter.
For heroic tier and paragon tier characters
Feydark gnomes' lives are marked by a grim determination to survive. Gnome realms survive in the shadows of larger, fiercer kingdoms by remaining secret and inaccessible.
Drochdan, Kingdom of the Gnomes
Dungeoneering DC 15: Drochdan is a kingdom of gnomes in the Feydark, surrounded by a network of deadly, twisting tunnels.
Dungeoneering DC 25: The gnomes of Drochdan occasionally fall victim to a berserk fury known as the haze, said to be a curse delivered by a hostile kingdom.
Dungeoneering DC 30: The gnomes claim they won Drochdan from its original owners, known today only as the Fools.
Drochdan is made up of an inner sanctuary known as Haven and a surrounding network of narrow and twisting passageways called the Traps.
The gnomes fill the Traps with hazards that maim, poison, or slay intruders—at least those that can enter in the first place. The Traps are so constricted that Large creatures can’t move through the area at all, even when squeezing. Medium creatures find navigating the Traps slow and painstaking work. This configuration protects Drochdan from incursion by fomorians or giants directly because when these larger enemies want to invade, they must send smaller servitors to do the job.
Haven offers a clear contrast to Drochdan’s outer passageways. It consists of a vast series of squared-off hallways and rectangular chambers, all of them finished in polished, lacquered wood. Despite their appearance, the wooden floors remain alive and slowly regenerate when scuffed, burned, or hacked. The wood was an ancient gift from surface-dwelling eladrin.
The gnomes did not build Drochdan. According to their legend, they won it by tricking a people remembered only as the Fools. But since the gnomes of Drochdan keep no histories other than oral folktales, it’s hard to say for certain. Their tales contradict each other, perhaps deliberately, on the nature of the Fools.
The gnomes here make other unverifiable claims. They say they were the first gnomes and that their surface-dwelling kin are descended from cowards who couldn’t survive in the depths. According to their creation myth, the first gnomes sprang from the wild dreams of primordials. When the other mortal races appeared, gnomes had already been around for ages, scavenging a living from the rubbish of the gods. According to gnome belief, religion is a trick you play on the deities to make them give you things. Gnome priests in Drochdan brag they have learned the secret of worshiping several gods at once without the gods in question being any the wiser.
The halls of Haven are stacked high with junk and clutter accumulated through centuries of raids on cyclopean workshops and fomorian kingdoms. Drafts and chill winds blow through them, arising spontaneously and with no clear source. Haven echoes with cries, sobs, and eerie laughter, to which the gnomes pay no mind. Whether these sounds rebound from the Shadowdark or are the inconsolable final remnants of the Fools, no gnome cares to say.
Surviving by hunting and foraging, the gnomes supplement their meager catches with goods purloined during furtive robberies of the fomorians. Their hunting bands set upon weak or vulnerable exploration parties without qualms. Membership in these hunting bands shifts constantly as hunters defect to groups run by recently successful leaders.
On the rare occasions when hunting and looting bands need to coordinate efforts, they defer to their monarch. When a monarch dies, the bands gather to acclaim the hunting leader with the largest eyes as his or her replacement. During this process, cheating is rewarded, so if a monarch’s death seems imminent, band leaders fan out across the Feydark in search of a rare root that enlarges the apparent size of a gnome’s eyes. Because hunting leader is a coveted position, the gnomes find that weak, vacillating, or overly trusting rulers die suddenly under mysterious circumstances.
The current monarch of Drochdan is King Finutar, who single-handedly slew a ravaging firbolg that had somehow entered Haven.
The gnomes of Drochdan suffer from a curse they call the haze. Often striking an entire hunting band at once, the haze plunges its victims into a state of berserk fury. It causes their eyes to glow red, their throats to constrict, and their mouths to open wide. One out of four victims of the haze sees his or her fingernails elongate and sharpen. Under the haze, victims lash out at the nearest threat, fighting until they or all targets in sight are killed. Fellow sufferers team up together, but turn on each other when everyone who is not touched by the curse has been felled. The haze suspends judgment but leaves the victims’ tactical instincts intact; they fight as well as they would while sane. This residual good sense does not extend to fleeing or disengaging.
King Finutar’s court magicians assure the people of Drochdan that the haze is a hostile sending from a rival kingdom—perhaps the fomorians. In private, some gnomes whisper that it is a curse created by the Fools and recently reactivated by unknown means.
In reality, this magical ailment is spread by contamination of Drochdan’s food supply by fungal spores. This fact explains why entire gnome hunting bands are stricken by it at the same time—they’ve all eaten the same rations.
Burrow under the Crystal Mountain
On the southeastern periphery of the Violet Thicket hides a gnome realm in secret crystalline caverns. By most accounts, the gnomes of the Burrow under the Crystal Mountain are more advanced than their counterparts in Drochdan.
The clandestine tunnels and chambers where these gnomes dwell, known as the Crystal Caverns, are protected by their remote and secret location and also by the ancient magic of their inhabitants. Obscuring glamors hide the entrance from casual and determined scrutiny alike. Those that penetrate the glamors face a honeycombed network of concealed deadfalls, narrow choke points, and dead-end false passages. The fearful gnomes rarely leave their domain; the few that do venture forth are trained to fight and, more important, to remain stealthy.
The Crystal Caverns are a place out of time, glittering with thick veins of rubies, diamonds, and other precious gemstones. The most valued common occupation among the gnomes of the Burrow is mining, with the greatest percentage of adults devoting themselves to that pursuit. | <urn:uuid:410d491d-33d5-4550-b7c9-4883f2dad07d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Print.aspx?x=dnd/4ex/20100108 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936405 | 1,900 | 1.671875 | 2 |
On 5th October 1961, Hague Convention was held to abolish requirement of attestation and legalization of public documents issued by any of signatory country. Visa applicants from all member countries are not required to get their documents legalized from foreign representative of the country whose visa is required. However applicants from all other countries need [...]
Wikivisas always try to bring latest and useful information to its readers. We received many queries and suggestions to elaborate free study opportunities in Europe. Free study option is available in Austria, Finland, Germany and Norway. All of these are member states of Europe and Schengen area. Sweden was also providing free study but after [...]
Norway is one of the European country which has state funded education system and all public universities provide free study at all levels. Aurora Borealis, Fjords, mountains and numerous other wonders attract millions of people to Norway. Nearly 12000 international students are enrolled and thousand of more come to study in Norway each year. Norwegian universities [...]
Germany has state funded higher educational system and most of the universities do not charge tuition fees even from qualified international students. However you would be required to pay a social fee not more than Euros 500 per semester, and many of the institutes even do not charge this nominal fee. Educational excellence of German institutes can be [...]
Finland is among the super powers in Europe. It has allocated highest part of its annual budget to education activities. Study is free even for students from third world countries.
Austria is one of those few Scandinavian countries having state funded education system, so thousands of foreign students get free education here. Thousands of under-grad and post-grad programs are offered in English language. Students from more than 130 countries come and join highly prestigious Austrian institutes. They experience multicultural environment and a blend of ancient-modern knowledge here. [...] | <urn:uuid:32c401f3-0972-4c88-83ef-663634a36746> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wikivisas.com/free-study/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967363 | 370 | 1.875 | 2 |
Indoor Air Quality Services in Land O’ Lakes
Living somewhere like Florida where insulation and proper sealing of a home is important for comfort as well as your wallet, the issue of poor indoor air quality can develop rapidly. Indoor air quality in Land O’ Lakes varies from home to home, but with tightly sealed windows and improper ventilation, it can aggravate the allergies or asthma symptoms of members of your family and make everyone slightly less comfortable.
Ierna’s Heating & Cooling offers a full range of indoor air quality services for homes and businesses in Land O’ Lakes and the surrounding Hillsborough County and Pasco County areas. If you are concerned about air quality and would like to learn more about what you can do to improve yours, call us today.
Common Lutz Indoor Air Quality Problems
Most air quality issues are simple and therefore easy to fix. Allergens like pet dander, dust, pollen and even some mold can develop inside when there is not sufficient ventilation and filtration. These may not affect every family member, but those they do affect can become quite miserable over time.
To remove common allergens like these, we recommend high MERV rated or even HEPA rated air filters. Air filters are installed as part of your air handler and can remove particles that are large enough to see in the air. The higher rated a filter, the smaller the particles it can remove. You can ask your technician about what options there are based on the models we carry.
Other Systems for Wesley Chapel Indoor Air Quality Issues
We also offer dehumidifiers, which offer an important solution for those high humidity winter days when it is not warm enough to turn on your air conditioner. These days can result in high humidity that then makes people uncomfortable and can contribute to the growth of mold in and around your home. Dehumidifiers are installed as part of your ductwork system or can be installed at your air handler.
We also offer UV germicidal light installation services. These systems will remove any unwanted germs such as viruses and bacteria from your home’s air supply as it passes through ductwork, greatly reducing the impact of such germs on the health of those with allergies or asthma symptoms.
If you are concerned about the health of anyone in your family and would like to discuss your options with a Odessa indoor air quality specialist, call Ierna’s Heating & Cooling today and ask to talk with one of our NATE and EPA certified technicians. We can test the air in your home and help you select a system that meets the needs of your family members. There are no high pressure sales pitches – just our technicians helping you make important decisions about the comfort and health of your family. | <urn:uuid:c63c0b7c-361a-47c8-ad8e-a9af2e13e1b1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.iernaair.com/indoor-air-quality | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948714 | 565 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Financial Aid FAQs
How is the amount of Financial Assistance determined?
Parents should utilize all of their own resources before applying for financial aid.
The amount of financial assistance awarded is based on the following factors:
- a family’s expected monetary contribution (see below)
- parental involvement in the school community
- student involvement in the school community
- LTS’s availability of financial assistance funds
Long Trail School uses a standardized, fair, and equitable “need analysis” to determine a family’s expected contribution which is based on the PFS (Parents Financial Statement) generated by the SSS (School and Student Services). Aid is given outright and does not need to be repaid, although the school appreciates repayment if a family’s financial circumstances change.
Do you offer a payment plan if tuition cannot be paid in full prior to the start of school?
Long Trail is always willing to help our families to make their tuition payments in a time frame that works for them. We offer several payment plans including TuitionPay through Sallie Mae. Please refer to the Tuition and Fees page on our website for more information.
When do I have to apply for financial aid?
You can begin applying for financial assistance November 1 through sss.nais.org. Returning families must submit their PFS by January 15th. Newly accepted families must submit their PFS by February 15. Refer to How to Apply for Financial Aid for more detailed information. | <urn:uuid:7201ecdc-0577-43f4-af22-05f44a8c4c94> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://longtrailschool.org/admissions/financial-aid/financial-aid-faqs/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959592 | 306 | 1.5625 | 2 |
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Real Turtle Specimen -- Red-eared Slider(Trachemys scripta elegans) specimen encased in indestructible, transparent lucite keychain. Safe,authentic and completely unbreakable specimen put real Turtle right at your fingertips!
Size of the turtle is 3.8 cm(1.5 inch).
Size of the lucite block is 6.5x4.0x2.2 cm(2.6x1.6x0.9 inch).
Weight of the keychain is 45 g and 60 g with packing box. It is a beautiful keychain and is also a very good collectible item for every body.
This is a handmade real animal specimen craft. Each one will be a bit different (specimen size, color and posture) even in the same production batch. The picture in my listing is just for reference as we are not selling a single piece in each listing.
Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) is the most common “Pet Shop Turtle” throughout the years in the world. It is massively farmed and millions are produced every year.
Red-eared sliders can be distinguished from all other North American turtles by the presence of a broad red stripe behind the eye. Some specimens, especially older males, become melanistic or black, which makes identification difficult. Red-eared sliders prefer quiet water with a muddy bottom and abundant vegetation, but they are also rarely found in moving waters.Although mortality rates are high among the young, adults are believed to live as long as 50-75 years.
This species is sensitive to cold temperatures over the northern portion of its range. Hatchlings overwinter in their nests.female red-eared sliders are typically larger than males. Males typically mature when they reach a plastron length of 90-100mm, between 2-5 years of age. Females at plastron lengths between 150 and 195 mm. Courtship occurs in Spring and Fall. Nests are excavated along the banks well above water, or some times considerable distances from water. Nests are excavated to a depth of 120-140 cm. Clutch size varies from 2-19 eggs, and is typically between 7 and 13. Eggs are white and usually measure between 23.5 and 44.2 mm in length and 18.4 to 24.6 mm in width. Eggs hatch in approximately 68-70 days and newborns are 20-35 mm long.
This species is omnivorous consuming whatever is available. Juveniles tend to be more carnivorous whereas older specimens tend to be more herbivorous. This species typically grows to approximately 203 mm with a maximum size of 289 mm recorded.
Red-eared sliders are believed to naturally occur in the Mississippi valley from northern Illinois and Indiana to the northern Gulf of Mexico, west to Texas and east to western Alabama.
Red-eared sliders may compete with native turtles for trophic resources and nesting areas.
Free shipping cost.
Goods will be sent by airmail from Hong Kong and it may take 12-18 days to arrive.
I can do combined shipping if buyer also buys other items in my store.
Full refund within 14 days.
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By clicking Confirm bid, you are committing to buy this item from the seller if you are the winning bidder and have read and agree to the Global Postage Programme terms and conditions - opens in a new window or tab. Import charges previously quoted are subject to change if you increase you maximum bid amount. | <urn:uuid:021a3c0c-eb1d-42d2-bd25-a82cf42fa251> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Large-Keychain-Turtle-Red-eared-Slider-Clear-/190525623387?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c5c364c5b | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936507 | 896 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Boat Registration Fee Increase Delayed Until 2014posted: 1/16/2013
The increase comes due to the passage of California Assembly Bill 2443, which authorizes the assessment of additional funding for Cal Boating for the implementation and administration of a quagga and zebra mussel monitoring, inspection and eradication program.
The bill had originally set a 2013 start date for the fee increase, but Gloria Sandoval of Cal Boating said the fee hike has been delayed and won’t occur until next year.
According to AB 2443, the fee cannot exceed a $10 increase, and it will not be imposed on vessels operated exclusively in marine waters, meaning boats operated on lakes and rivers will bear the brunt of the fee increase.
The funds from the increased Department of Motor Vehicles boat registration fee will be disseminated in grants by Cal Boating. It will award grants to specific applicants based on plans aimed at invasive mussel infestation prevention, giving priority to plans that include visual and manual inspection standards and other infestation prevention procedures consistent with the Department of Fish and Wildlife’s invasive mussel guidebook for recreational water managers and users.
The annual mussel infestation prevention fee is expected to bring in as much as $8.5 million, assuming 850,000 registered vessels and a $10 fee.
AB 2443 states that quagga and zebra mussels pose a significant threat to California’s water supply, flood control, power generation and aquatic recreation infrastructures. The mussels are also filter feeders that consume large quantities of microscopic plants and animals, upon which other species depend.
Boating poses one of the largest risks of introducing mussels and spreading infestations from one body of water to another. It is suspected that quagga mussels were originally brought to the Western United States on the hull of a recreational boat. Between 2000 and 2010, widespread mussel infestation in the Great Lakes region resulted in more than $5 billion in economic impact.
Were it to become infested, Lake Tahoe alone would likely incur economic impacts over $20 million annually. The bill argues that prevention of infestation is a more cost-effective approach than control or eradication, which may be impossible. | <urn:uuid:2677715d-6634-4d30-b92b-8e64513ae191> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thelog.com/SNW/Article/Boat-Registration-Fee-to-Increase-for-2013 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938694 | 459 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Recent headlines from reputable national newspapers such as the Washington Post and the New Yorker and the New York Times proclaim a frightening government penchant. Sources for those articles list U.S. officials and independent analysts who have been observing this quietly growing trend for some time. The Bush administration is studying options for military strikes against Iran as part of a broader strategy of "coercive diplomacy" to pressure Tehran to abandon its alleged nuclear development program.
Has U.S. policy to use "coercive diplomacy" become routine? Isn't the phrase "coercive diplomacy" strangely contradictive?
The Bush Administration has quietly ordered the removal of 30,000 troops from Iraq. Was this done to appease the American people with a "plan for withdrawal" from the war in Iraq? In his many recent speeches President Bush emphatically denies any plan for immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq. As I read the articles in major newspapers around the country today I was sickened by ominous headlines.
Thus far we Americans have been unsuccessful in our attempts to curb government actions. In this we cannot be apathetic. I urge you to view the Web site Congress.org where you will find names, e-mail and physical addresses as well as telephone numbers for federal elected officials from Arizona and every state in America.
Phone numbers for Ariz. Senators are: John McCain (202) 224-2235, fax:(202) 228-2862 or locally phone: (602) 952-2410, Fax:(602) 952-8702. For Senator Jon Kyl call (202) 224-4521, fax:(202) 224-2207 or locally phone (602) 840-1891; fax:(602) 957-6838. You will also find your representative listed.
Please take a moment to e-mail, call or write about any of your concerns. I often use e-mail and faxes. It's as simple as that. If a huge roar of negativism from the public is heard the administration must back off. America cannot afford to expand to a regional war and only we citizens can move to stop it.
America is rapidly losing its status as the world's most powerful and compassionate nation. I will fight in my way to be part of this nation's democratic processes, values and station in the world. I have seen these crumbling in a few short years and I will do anything I can that is lawful and effective to bring America back to her proud heritage.
Donna Davis, Payson | <urn:uuid:bf007253-ff68-412a-b117-279d68c1a24b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.paysonroundup.com/news/2006/apr/17/we_cannot_afford/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950667 | 513 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Hathi Bhata is a tourist spot located about 22 km from Tonk
. The focal point of the place is a monument of elephant carved out of a huge single stone. It was erected by Ram Nath Slat during the rule of Sawai Ram Singh in 1200 AD, the evidence of which is stated on the right ear of the elephant. The monument also bears the inscription portraying the story of Nal and Damayanti. | <urn:uuid:c40dc7aa-706b-43cf-8de2-32b998124336> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.india9.com/i9show/-Rajasthan/Hathi-Bhata-35515.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975815 | 87 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Any stress relieving ideas for nursing student?Register Today!
This is a discussion on Any stress relieving ideas for nursing student? in Health / Stress Management 101, part of General Nursing ... I am currently a nursing student going for my BSN and I was wondering if anyone had any advice for...by Keika57 Mar 3, '12I am currently a nursing student going for my BSN and I was wondering if anyone had any advice for how to handle all of the stress of school, work, and family. I know that nursing is a high stress level job, but there is so much thrown at you at once that I fear I will not remember everything by the time I graduate. This is only my first semester in the program and I am doing pretty good as far as grades, but as far as retaining everything is a different story. I am just really stressed out about everything. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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- Mar 3, '12 by angie1368I think as a nursing student, you can't dedicate all of your time to school. It is important to put away some time for yourself. Do things you enjoy. For me, to relieve some stress i would hangout with friends and family. I try to surround myself with people that are positive and happy. Another thing is, while in nursing school, i have a study group. Sometimes my study group and I would just hangout, grab a bite to eat and just talk about life. Lastly, get some sleep. Sleep is very important! Just hang on, the program will go by so fast.
- Mar 3, '12 by neatnurse30If you are already stressed out in nursing school, wait till you get a nursing job. Then it will be a real stress! I'm not saying it out of spite. Most of the nurses on my med surg floor left nursing after a couple of years- they couldn't stand the hospital work. A lot of people will say- find a job in a non-hospital environment. Well, it is not that easy. First of all- in order to work in a non-hospital setting, you need to have acute experience, or be specialized in something. Most of the doctor's offices these days hire medical assistants and not registered nurses to cut the cost. In the end, if you stay in the hospital environment for long enough- you risk depression, anxiety, panic attacks. If you try to get out of bedsite care nursing and the hospital- you usually have to accept lower pay to compromise. Maybe you want to advance your career in nursing and go for example for Nurse Practitioner, then maybe that's a good choice. I myself worked for a couple of years on a med surg floor, outpatient setting and it is everywhere the same- bad conditions. I could barely get enough half an hour lunch break, go to the bathroom etc. I decided that I'll no longer put up with bad nursing conditions like that. I will never go back to work in a hospital, ever again. Right now, I'm working part time in a doctor's office doing chemotherapy. People say, that once you become an RN- there are so many choices out there, not only in the hospital but in an outpatient setting, home health care etc. Maybe there are choices- but the working conditions of an RN are bad pretty much everywhere you go. I'm not trying to scare you, but warn you that nursing is a very tricky career choice. My two coworkers recently decided to quit nursing altogether- one got accepted to law school, the other one wants to go to the pharmacy school.
- Mar 3, '12 by Keika57Thank you I really appreciate the advice. I understand that nursing is a very stressful and fast-paced job. I am currently a CNA on a med-surg floor and even as an aide we sometimes struggle for lunch breaks and even bathroom breaks. I enjoy the fast pace and running around, but sometimes the stress level is a bit much when you have 5 different patients calling you at the same time. I try to spend time with my friends and family and I do take breaks from school because I know it is also important to take care of yourself, but I fear falling behind sometimes from all the work I get every week. I really do think I will enjoy nursing I just need to get through school first ! Again thanks for all the great advice!
- Mar 3, '12 by angie1368I do agree with neatnurse30. nursing school is just the beginning, but once you're on the floor as one of the official nurse it is hell. I am a recent LVN grad and i recently got hired at ALF i have about 60 residents to give meds too. Being exposed to what ACTUAL NURSING have changed my perception. Every time i'm about to go to work i do feel like having a panic attack. I have serious anxiety since i've been working. I can't handle the negative effects this job has given me. I am considering another career and quitting my current job. Good luck with school! | <urn:uuid:958452b6-04b5-4f90-b9bc-efd5fd6578b0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://allnurses.com/health-stress-management/any-stress-relieving-681552.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978556 | 1,097 | 1.710938 | 2 |
From Ohio History Central
The Michigan Survey helped escalate tensions between Ohio and the Michigan Territory over the two geographic regions' mutual boundary.
The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 established the northern boundary of Ohio as "an east west line drawn through the southerly bend of extreme of Lake Michigan." The United States Congress restated this line as Ohio's northern boundary in the Enabling Act of 1802, the legislation that led Ohio to become a state. The Congress also used the same language when it established the Michigan Territory in 1805. The Congress incorrectly believed that the line would intersect Lake Erie north of the Maumee River's mouth. During the Ohio Constitutional Convention of 1802, delegates received word from a fur trapper that the line would actually fall south of the Maumee River. The convention delegates stipulated in the Ohio Constitution of 1803 that Ohio's northern boundary must include the Maumee River's mouth. The United States Congress accepted Ohio's constitution, but it never formally acted on the convention's boundary proviso. The failure of Congress to act led to thirty years of conflict between Ohio and the Michigan Territory.
In 1812, the Congress authorized a survey of the boundary and hoped to end the dispute. The War of 1812 prevented the survey from taking place. In 1817, Edward Tiffin, the surveyor-general of Ohio, ordered William Harris to survey Ohio's northern border based on the boundary established in the Constitution of 1803. This survey became known as the Michigan Survey. Lewis Cass, the governor of the Michigan Territory, authorized his own survey based on the Enabling Act of 1802's boundary, which resulted in the Fulton Line. Both sides refused to compromise in the dispute.
By 1833, Michigan was moving towards statehood. Ohioans feared that Michigan would secure the disputed land if the issue was not settled before Michigan became a state. In 1833, the United States Senate sided with Ohio, but the House of Representatives refused to endorse the Senate's view. The Governor of the Michigan Territory, Stevens Mason, proposed the formation of a commission to negotiate a solution. Governor Robert Lucas of Ohio refused Mason's proposal. In 1835, the Ohio legislature formed Lucas County out of this disputed territory. The Ohio Common Pleas Court also held a session in the region to further validate Ohio's claim.
As a result of Ohio's actions, Governor Mason called for the Michigan Territory's militia to stand ready to take the territory by force. Governor Lucas responded in kind, sending Ohio's militia into the disputed area. Mason asked President Andrew Jackson to intervene. Jackson sent two representatives to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the conflict, and both groups sent representatives to a commission to negotiate. Both Ohio and Michigan, however, made it clear that they were ready for violence. Governor Mason ordered the arrest of Ohio's commissioners.
The federal government's representatives suggested Ohio and Michigan jointly govern the territory until the United States Congress could decide the issue. The Ohio legislature agreed to this proposal but, at the same time, authorized 300,000 dollars to the Ohio militia to seize the territory by force if Michigan refused joint control. Mason refused to accept the federal government's proposal. The Ohio militia moved to the south bank of the Maumee River and faced the Michigan militia on the north side.
President Jackson removed Mason as governor of the Michigan Territory for refusing to cooperate with the federal government's representatives. John Horner replaced Mason. Horner worked with Lucas to reach an amicable conclusion to the dispute. Many people in Michigan despised the new governor for his actions. They hanged Horner in effigy and verbally assaulted him. On June 15, 1836, President Jackson ratified an agreement between the two governors. Ohio would receive the disputed area of roughly four hundred square miles of land and the Michigan Territory would finally become a state. Jackson also granted nine thousand square miles of the Upper Peninsula to Michigan. With Jackson's actions, the Toledo War finally came to an end.
- Fess, Simeon D., ed. Ohio: A Four-Volume Reference Library on the History of a Great State. Chicago, IL: Lewis Publishing Company, 1937
- Onuf, Peter S. "The Toledo War and American Federalism." Northwest Ohio Quarterly 59 (1987): 135-152.
- Santer, Richard A. "Waging Peace: The 1915 Resurvey and Monumenting of the Ohio-Michigan Boundary." Michigan History 74 (1990): 26-31.
- Saxbe, William B., Jr. "Battle of the Transits: The Toledo War." Timeline 4 (1987): 2-11. | <urn:uuid:4b7ce957-7d6b-4eb7-95d2-fa962b0fb718> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Michigan_Survey?rec=756 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94718 | 940 | 4.25 | 4 |
Nothing is more damaging to a state than that cunning men pass for wise. - Francis Bacon
The advocate system which underlies the Western machinery of “justice” is, in a way, the exact opposite of science, though they both claim to have the same goal: discovering the truth. But while everyone in science is presumed to be on the same side, and an ethical scientist who has made a discovery wants others to share his information and to test his hypotheses by trying to prove them wrong, lawyers do things the other way around. Those who represent the accusatory side (the state or plaintiff) do everything in their power to find the defendant/respondent guilty of whatever it is he’s accused of, even if they know he isn’t, and those on the defense will similarly attempt to exonerate their client even if they know he’s guilty. Furthermore, either side is allowed to hide critical information from the other; it’s considered the responsibility of each side to demand that the other side turn over its information (a process called “discovery”), and if it fails to do so in exactly the right way the other side is allowed to hide that information, even if it results in an innocent man being imprisoned or executed. Furthermore, the United States Supreme Court recently ruled (in a case involving former New Orleans district attorney Harry Connick) that even if a prosecutor maliciously hides exculpatory evidence, and even if this monstrous act sends an innocent man to prison for 18 years (14 of them on death row), that said prosecutor hasn’t done anything wrong and is immune to lawsuits filed by his victim.
In short, the two systems are incompatible, and when they clash it is science which must lose because the scientist practices full disclosure, while the lawyer tells only those facts which are to his advantage. The result is that most of what passes for “science” in courtrooms is junk science at best, when it isn’t outright lying by hired guns posing as scientists to advance an agenda or simply to earn a paycheck. A large proportion of forensic “science” has long been attacked by legitimate scientists as undependable or totally bogus, but prosecutors like it because splatter or bite-mark analysis, dog behavior, and other highly subjective, error-prone “techniques” can be used to “prove” whatever the prosecutor wants proven; this may be acceptable to the moral cripples whose job is to cage as many humans as possible for as long as possible, but it isn’t “science” by any stretch of the imagination. In science, every possibility must be considered; in prosecution, the only one which is presented to a jury for consideration is the one which tends to make the defendant look guilty, whether it’s “shaken baby syndrome” or the mysterious “diseases” supposedly caused by silicone in the chest wall but not anywhere else in the body, or in any woman who isn’t American.
And despite what you may have seen on television, judges are downright hostile to science in the courtroom when it calls established procedures or the basis of laws into question:
[Dean] Boland, a Lakewood, Ohio, lawyer who specializes in technology cases, was ordered by a federal judge to pay [$300,000] to two unidentified minors whose stock photos Boland used to create…[artificial] images of children engaged in sexual conduct…[in order] to aid his testimony as an expert witness in courts in Ohio and Oklahoma. “The court concludes that a constitutionally effective defense to a child pornography charge does not include the right to victimize additional minors by creating new child pornography in the course of preparing and presenting a defense,” U.S. District Judge Dan Polster in Cleveland said in an opinion, rejecting Boland’s claim that his use of the images was constitutionally protected. Boland used the morphed images to show how difficult it is for people possessing child pornography to determine whether the images depict real children or were created artificially…Boland said he plans to appeal the judgment. “This ruling has the potential to affect the ability of people to get fair trials across the country,” [he] said…
…Boland used the images to aid his expert testimony in three criminal prosecutions for possession of child pornography. In one hearing, prosecutors questioned whether Boland’s use of the images violated the law against possession of child pornography. In 2007, Boland entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with prosecutors in Cleveland, avoiding a criminal conviction. As part of the agreement, Boland apologized in a local legal publication and admitted the images violated federal law, according to an appeals court decision. That same year, the guardians of the children whose photographs were used sued Boland for digitally altering the stock shots. Polster [originally] dismissed the claims, calling it a “difficult and troubling case.” That decision was reversed on appeal and the case was returned to Polster, who granted summary judgment for the two children…awarding $150,000 to each.
Note the sleaziness of the prosecutors’ circumvention of Boland’s defense tactic by attempting to charge him with a felony, despite the fact that they knew with certainty that the child porn was artificial. Personally, I think he was most unwise in creating artificial child porn images; his point could have been made by “morphing” adult photographs in the same way. But the fact remains that the prosecutors’ desire to “win” inspired them to call attention away from Boland’s undoubtedly effective defense tactic with the legal equivalent of an ad hominem attack. “Difficult and troubling” indeed; the message being sent here is that a mere image can be illegal even if its creation hurt nobody, but that creating artificial child porn is apparently acceptable to the court as long as the models are paid outrageous sums. Judges and prosecutors don’t want to be confused with facts that point out the absurdity of the laws; to them, facts are only acceptable when they can be bent to fit their own legalistic purposes, and lies dressed up as science will do just as well.
One Year Ago Today
“Drama Queens” refutes the neofeminist claims that prostitution is “humiliating” by pointing out that if anything, many whores’ self-esteem is too high, and that there are far more prima donnas among us than beaten-down victims. The column also contains a couple of news items and a humorous criticism of clients from a rather bitter escort. | <urn:uuid:0fbdd149-b282-46b4-ba61-4977d5c213a2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://maggiemcneill.wordpress.com/2011/11/09/don%E2%80%99t-confuse-us-with-facts/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963253 | 1,375 | 1.84375 | 2 |
By summer 2010, we began work on adding social features […] to Gimme Bar, and CouchDB started giving us trouble. This wasn’t CouchDB’s fault, really. It was more of an architectural problem. We were trying to solve a relational problem with a database that by-design knew nothing about how to handle relationships.
Then he ended up using MongoDB, which as CouchDB knows nothing about handling relationships.
After using both, extensively (for a very specific application, admittedly), I firmly believe that MongoDB is a superior NoSQL datastore solution for PHP based, non-distributed (think Dropbox), non-mobile, web applications.
How can you assess the general superiority of a storage solution based on a “very specific application”? What does PHP have to do with that? Are MongoDB drivers superior to just using HTTP with JSON?
Finally the sane conclusion:
Bottom line, this story sounds like building a prototype while also deciding what tools to use. Nothing wrong with that. But the title(s) should be different. | <urn:uuid:b46cfd2d-c739-470f-b464-ab07d5b89142> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nosql.mypopescu.com/post/5573826414/gimme-bar-prototyping-with-couchdb-and-mongodb | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940619 | 222 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Students and faculty at The University of Texas at Austin volunteered expertise, time and effort to help residents of Bastrop County cope with damage wrought by the September wildfires.
A nursing student, archivists and social work students were among those who pitched in during the fires and their aftermath.
And on Oct. 17, the university and other organizations will sponsor “Fire Relief: The Concert for Central Texas” at the Frank Erwin Center.
Entertainers include George Strait, the Dixie Chicks, Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett and Asleep at the Wheel. For more information and tickets, go to the Fire Relief website.
Money raised by the concert will help those affected by the fires with long-term issues and problems.
Nursing student cares for fire victims with grace and skill
As wildfires burned through Bastrop County in early September, Lindsey Wiginton wasn’t going to wait for an invitation to help.
The School of Nursing senior had grown up in Bastrop and still has family and friends there.
She’d already loaded up her car with supplies and was ready to drive to the fires when the American Red Cross called asking if she could help at the shelter that had been set up at Bastrop Middle School.
Once there, she joined a doctor and a nurse. Wiginton and the nurse worked through the night, tending to the medical needs of about 200 people who spent the night in the shelter and others who stayed in their vehicles outside the school. Many had rushed from their homes on short notice, leaving medications and other essentials behind.
Wiginton took medication histories, noted signs and reported to the doctor on duty. She took blood pressure and blood sugar readings. In the morning, she helped arrange rides to a pharmacy with police officers for those who needed prescriptions filled. She reported to a psychiatric nurse about people who needed her help.
Wiginton’s help didn’t strictly involve nursing duties.
One woman didn’t want to have anything to do with the aid workers. She lay on a cot, facing a wall. She was embarrassed and mortified by tears in her clothing.
The volunteers found a needle and thread in the theater arts room and Wiginton stitched up the woman’s nightgown. That made all the difference.
“There’s a need that some people have and it might seem silly to some people, but when you can take care of that, then they can deal with a difficult situation,” Wiginton said. “After that she could deal with sleeping on a cot. After that she was OK. ”
Dr. Marilyn Pattillo, a nursing professor, said the School of Nursing’s integrated content program that includes different aspects of nursing shone through in the ways Wiginton helped people at the shelter.
“She knew that you don’t have to be burned to be a victim,” Pattillo said. “If you’ve lost your home, that’s a mental health problem.”
The School of Nursing has led nationally in including emergency preparedness and disaster nursing content throughout its undergraduate and graduate programs. It will receive the 2011 Innovations in Professional Nursing Education Award from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.
Dr. Sanjeev Gupta, the Bastrop physician who worked at the shelter with Wigington, called her work excellent.
“She was very willing to help and very good with patients,” he said. “Her clinical acumen was excellent. She’s just a wonderful nurse.”
Wiginton said her training from her professors in the School of Nursing enabled her to work effectively at the shelter.
“I grew into my nursing shoes.”
By Tim Green
School of Nursing
Once the fires are out, conservators help salvage what remains
As media coverage intensified and damage estimates escalated during the Labor Day weekend fires in Central Texas, University of Texas at Austin conservators Karen Pavelka and Rebecca Elder realized they could help.
The two scholars have spent decades mending and preserving materials from photos and books to heirlooms and electronics in the School of Information, which has been ranked best in the nation in archives and preservation for more than a decade.
By Monday, Sept. 5, the iSchool had posted “Resources for Wildfire Victims” online. The site offered information about free workshops to help salvage personal items, gave tips for handling various materials, and listed disaster recovery agencies and their websites.
The school held two free disaster recovery workshops — one on Sept. 18 in the school’s laboratory on Guadalupe Street and another on Sept. 24 in the Bastrop Public Library.
“Something like this is so difficult to time,” Pavelka said. “People affected by these fires have so many basic necessities to deal with up front including finding housing, shopping for food and clothing and talking to insurance companies.
“However, we didn’t want to wait too long to have the workshops because if people start throwing things out, we’ve missed the opportunity to help. It’s a very fine line.”
Numerous graduate students volunteered their time and effort for both workshops, including Virginia Luhresen, Lorrie Dong, Sarah Sokolow, Antonia Frydman, Tiffany Criswell and Marianna Symonides.
Pavelka and Elder are still available to help and can assess items in their laboratories. Pavelka can be reached at 512-471-8286 and Elder can be reached at 512-699-3494.
By Amy Crossette
School of Information
Satellite images help researcher detect fires, manage evacuations
When a disaster strikes in Texas, Gordon Wells heads to the state operations center of the Texas Division of Emergency Management.
Wells, a research scientist at the Center for Space Research (CSR) and Cockrell School of Engineering, examines satellite images from CSR’s receiving station to help detect fires, track storm paths, manage evacuations and direct relief efforts.
When wildfires ignited in Bastrop County, Wells and his CSR team went into action.
The CSR quickly obtained satellite imagery that showed the complicated burn pattern of the Bastrop fire. Some tree stands were incinerated, while other woodland areas within the fire perimeter were only partially burnt or lightly damaged.
In the days following the fire, the CSR guided photo surveys conducted by the Texas Civil Air Patrol, which took more than 4,000 detailed photographs of the area.
Many of the aerial photos taken by the Civil Air Patrol showed evidence of a ground fire entering structures through wooden decks or shrubbery that grew near the sides of homes. Some destroyed houses were surrounded by trees with undamaged canopies.
The photos can be used by the National Institute of Standards and Technology as part of their Building and Fire Research Program to analyze the circumstances that caused the destruction of some structures while nearby properties were left untouched.
Recommendations for better protective measures may result from investigations underway in Bastrop County.
Although tree stands may have green foliage today, their trunks have been burned by the fire and are susceptible to disease and insects. The CSR plans to examine a series of high-resolution satellite images through the region’s green-up period in spring 2012 to observe signs of vegetative stress. Texas Forest Service and the county will work with landowners to identify dead and dying trees for removal.
By Tim Green
Office of the Vice President for Research
Social work group chips in to clean up after the fire
After helping clean up tornado-stricken Joplin, Mo., a group of students from the School of Social Work drove through another disaster on their way back to Austin: the wildfires that devastated parts of Bastrop County.
They wanted to help but there wasn’t much they could do. The Bastrop area was still in crisis mode and relief agencies were taking care of immediate needs.
“There was this desire for purpose and to be there for the victims of the fire,” said Robbie Spears, a master’s student in Social Work. “There was a lot of energy, but nowhere to go with it.”
A few weeks later, they had their chance. A call came from Bastrop. Help was needed to clean up burnt-out home sites.
Spears, five other social work students and Social Work professor Calvin Streeter drove into the Tahitian Village subdivision to haul away metal objects — that hadn’t burned in the fire.
“Washers and dryers and refrigerators and stoves,” Streeter said. “They needed to get that stuff cleared out of there. So that’s what we did.”
The scene was surreal, Spears said. Several houses that were burned to the ground sat across the street from a house that had been untouched.
The first site they visited was the home of Steven and Joyce Barrett whose daughter, Carrie, coincidentally, had received a bachelor’s of social work degree from the university in 1996.
The volunteers wore full-face masks to protect themselves from breathing in ash as well as gloves. “It was hot, dirty, dusty and stinky work,” Streeter said. “But there’s no other way to clean that up.”
The Social Justice Action Coalition, a student group in the School of Social Work, is working on more volunteer efforts, Spears said. They include more cleanup and rebuilding as well as working with a group to find housing for people who were recently released from prison and whose homes had burned in the fire.
By Tim Green
School of Social Work | <urn:uuid:7c861ab9-c691-48ca-9063-0fa394dada59> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.utexas.edu/know/2011/10/12/ut_fire_relief/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973292 | 2,024 | 1.695313 | 2 |
(NaturalNews) For many, the discussion of feeding your pet a raw food diet can be a scary thing. There is so much work and knowledge that is involved, not to mention all the health factors to take into consideration for both you and your pet. Or at least this is what your vet and mainstream media may lead you to believe. If it doesn't come in a bag with feeding instructions on the back then can it really be trusted? There may be feeding instructions but there is also generally a list a mile long of ingredients and without a PhD in Veterinary Nutrition you would be lucky to know the purpose of half of those ingredients.
With the veterinary field booming because of illnesses such as diabetes, thyroid disease, obesity, dental disease and a slew of other issues it is time for people to take their pets health back into their own hands. Veterinarians are just like doctors, they make money by keeping their patients sick. Whether or not they are doing this intentionally is a different story, but they are keeping their patients sick. If you ask a vet what pet food they would recommend after they tell you your pet has three teeth that need to be removed due to dental disease, they would generally recommend a kibble or wet food that they also sell at their clinic. If your pet is obese they tell you to cut calories. Who can sit there and watch their poor animal, their responsibility, pout and beg for food because they are hungry? There are some enlightened veterinarians and technicians out there but for the most part they repeat what the pet food
reps told them.
Raw food diets are a way to get your pet back to a simpler way of eating. Dogs are omnivores, cats are obligate carnivores and they require species specific food. Dogs benefit from a diet of predominantly raw meats. They do not need grains in their diet. Vegetable nutrients are best absorbed through pulverized vegetables, which can be achieved by using a high-speed blender to make them vegetable juice, consisting mostly of fresh greens, or giving them tripe. Dogs do not have the required teeth for grinding plant material making it difficult for them to get the nutrients and enzymes out of whole vegetables and greens. Cats need meat
; their little systems are designed to eat meat. Their teeth are designed for slicing through meat and breaking small bones. Cats do not have any flat teeth for grinding herbaceous material.
One of the major areas of concern when giving your pet raw meat is parasites, bacteria and salmonella. If you are conscious of the type of meat you are buying, parasites should not be a problem. Make sure that you are purchasing meats from a reputable source and if you can afford organic grass fed that is an even better choice. Not everyone that wants to feed raw can afford the cost of organic however, so when you are milling through the meat aisle trying to find meat for your dog, make sure to look at the nutrition labels. The reason is because it is very important to take notice of the salt content. Salt water is pumped into some meat as a preservative. High sodium levels are indicative of meat that has been packaged with preservation being the main concern. Another thing to remember if you are unable to feed organic is a lot of meat companies use radiation to preserve their meat. If you can find a local farmer or raw food
co-op that would be your best bet. Even if they aren't getting organic product you are going to be getting a higher quality of meat, especially if you know the farmer. There are also a lot of internet sites that meat can be ordered from, although this option can become very expensive unless you are doing bulk orders. Salmonella and bacteria are more of a concern for yourself then for your pet. A dog's digestive system is much shorter than that of humans and also becomes very acidic when food is introduced to it. The stomach acid kills off any bacteria that may be present on the meat. Dogs should not be fed pork or fish products to prevent parasite exposure. When preparing your pets food make sure you clean up your area and clean any other service the raw meat touches. This may sound like a lot of work but it really isn't.
Another concern for many people is stomach or intestine perforation. This is a valid concern but the chances aren't any higher than your pet choking on food (whether it be junk kibble, super premium kibble, home prepared food or a raw food). Everyone that has a dog or cat has heard at one point or another "chicken bones are dangerous." Well this is true when you are referring to cooked chicken bones. Cooked chicken bones are brittle and rigid making the chance of breakage higher if consumed by your pet. When cooked chicken bones break they can form sharp ends that have the potential to puncture a pet's intestinal wall. This is not to say that just cooked chicken bones are dangerous, any cooked bone
is dangerous for your pet, even the smoked bones they sell at the pet store for chewing purposes. Raw bones are a completely different story. There is that chance of perforation, but it is a much smaller chance. Dogs systems are designed to process these bones. Softer bones are best for consumption but a lot of people also feed recreational bones, such as marrow (soup) bones, to keep their pet busy or to promote dental hygiene.
This is a very broad topic with many different points to cover. Raw food has many benefits for your pet. The same holds true for pets as it does for people, "you are what you eat." Pets just have different requirements. By giving your pet a chicken wing or leg a day you will help promote a healthy lifestyle, more energy, healthy coat, pristine teeth and smaller bowel movements just to name a few. There is also the potential to turn your pet's health
issues around by putting them on a more natural diet. They are not little people and do not benefit from grains, legumes, beet pulp (watch out this is probably GM now), sugars, or any of the chemical preservatives that can be found in a generic bag of chow. If you wouldn't eat it yourself, why would you feed it to your pets?
About the author
Phoebe Kerr is a mom, and a writer and researcher in her spare time. Nap time is when she reads and does the homework on whatever class she is taking that month. A majority of her researching pertains to her life experience at that given time. Her extensive knowledge and resources range from animal nutrition to alternative healing modalities such as homeopathy and herbalism to alternative child rearing.
Phoebe has always been drawn to the natural world. Growing up in a rural town in Vermont gave her a deep seated love and respect for nature and the natural world. She attended university for Biology but in 2005 after starting her graduate studies in Agriculture had a large upheaval and her life took a different path. Her father-in-law was diagnosed with ALS resulting in the relocation of her and her partner to be close to his family. That was when her passion for healing the body was ignited. Since that time, her father-in-law has passed, but her desire for knowledge and helping others through education or hands on healing of loved ones had just begun to unfold.
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people have commented on this article. | <urn:uuid:624fd765-3520-4e0a-ae05-bb933347a00e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.naturalnews.com/024939_meat_food_bone.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97405 | 1,502 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Pinson Mounds is one of the most significant Native American archaeological sites in Tennessee. The mounds were constructed during the Middle Woodland period (ca. A.D. 1-500).
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Hi. It appears that you are visiting us from outside of Tennessee. Listed below are links that were of interest to other non-residents. We hope that you find them helpful. | <urn:uuid:eb39764f-6023-4bb9-a828-870e92d0a8b9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.state.tn.us/topics/Madison+County/State+Parks/Historic+Sites | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9713 | 90 | 2.609375 | 3 |
I love visiting schools and talking to students. I can tailor a presentation to your students from kindergarten to eighth grade, including the following topics:
The Process Of Writing A Novel
including topics such as:
Autobiography, Biography, Blogging, Brainstorming, Characters, Clichés, Comedy, Copywriting, Dialogue, Fiction, Idioms, Memoir, Mood, Mystery, Narrative, Non-Fiction, Opinion, Outlining, Pacing, Poetry, Point Of View, Reporting, Setting, Show-Don’t-Tell, Tone, and many more…
To discuss a visit to your organization, please email Christine at email@example.com
Before I published MY LIFE AFLOAT, I visited the 4th graders at W.C. Petty Elementary School in Antioch, Illinois. The students watched a PowerPoint presentation about my writing process and learned a big secret about authors — that we’re really just like them! Writing can be fun, but it can also be hard, and the more you do it, the easier it gets. I emphasized how important it is to learn the fundamentals of writing, but to make time to write for pleasure, too. I discussed what it’s like to write a novel from start to finish…and how long the process took for me.
Thanks to all the students and teachers who sent encouraging notes after my visit. I cried when I read them…they really inspired me to make my novel the best it could be. Here are just a few of the letters I received from the Bobcats of W.C. Petty Elementary:
I also visited Ms. Tate’s 3rd graders at Stone Academy in Chicago, Illinois before I published MY LIFE AFLOAT. What a great group of kids!
Ms. Tate’s 3rd graders asked some fantastic questions and really inspired me to make my novel sparkle. Thank you so much for the encouraging notes after the visit, too. Here are some of them:
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It is difficult to believe that ten days of school have already passed. We have jumped into the deep end of the learning pool, so to speak! Students are reading, setting writing goals, exploring numbers, and making terrariums. The first blog assignment is up and ready to go (look to the right, click the teacher link and choose Ms. Conlon's blog!) Enjoy reading about what we think about energy use!
About the Blogger
THE FINE PRINT!!
This website is approved by the school district. All material posted by students will be governed by the Appropriate Use Policy, especially the district policies against bullying and harassment and the district Internet Use policy provisions addressing offensive language and transmission of personal information about self or others. Please take a few minutes to read the Bellingham School District's Appropriate Use Policy as outlined on the Parent Permission Form which is listed under Related Links to your left. | <urn:uuid:f9d18724-479a-43d3-835f-0f8e4c496198> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blog_id=965423&mode=comment&user_id=&blogger_id= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960145 | 186 | 1.890625 | 2 |
Should you choose the organic strawberries versus conventional ones? Both are bright and colorful at the perfect ripeness and provide vitamins, antioxidants and fiber while being low in sodium. Is there an advantage to organic cookies versus regular cookies? Conventional products do cost less, but does it mean the organic is safer and better for you? Learn more about organic food before you shop.
Here are the main differences. Organic farmers use natural fertilizers, provide animals with organic feed and access to outdoors, reduce pests and manage weeds without insecticides and herbicides. Conventional farmers may use chemical fertilizers, treat animals with antibiotics and growth hormones and use insecticides and herbicides.
The USDA maintains these guidelines for marketing organic foods:
Organic: At least 95 percent of ingredients are organically produced.
100% Organic: 100 percent organic ingredients.
Made with Organic Ingredients: 70 percent must be organic.
Free Range/Free Roaming: Term that applies to chicken, eggs, and other meats. Government does not have a strict policy in terms of the amount of time animals must be outside.
Natural: USDA defines it as "not containing an artificial flavoring, coloring, chemical preservatives or artificial ingredients" for meat and poultry products. It does not mean that it is organic.
Should you choose organic?
The USDA has found that certain fruits and vegetables carry higher amount of pesticide residue even after they have been washed. The Environmental Working Group is a research and advocacy agency in Washington, D.C., that tested more than 10,000 pesticides in different fruits and vegetables and developed a 'dirty dozen" list. The conventional versions of these fruits and vegetables on this list have been found to have high levels of pesticide residues. While the organic versions of these fruits and vegetable may cost more, it may be worth it to buy organic in certain cases, the group says.
The "Dirty Dozen" list includes apples, peaches, potatoes and spinach. Among the "Clean 15" are sweet corn, avocado, mangoes and watermelon. For the full list go to ewg.org/foodnews.
Does organic mean better nutritional value?
While some people may prefer the taste of organic foods, the jury is still out if organic foods have a higher nutritional profile. Some studies have found that organic food has a higher antioxidant percentage compared to conventional produce. On the other hand, another large study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition looked at 50 years of data regarding organic versus conventional foods and found both are comparable in nutrient content.
Downside to eating organic
Organic foods often cost more than conventional foods as a result of more expensive farming techniques. Also, organic produce may spoil faster than conventional foods since they are not treated with waxes or preservatives. However, buying more organic foods does send a message with your food dollar to store owners and producers. If more people buy organic, this increases the demand, thus improving the supply. This grass-roots effort has been showcased recently as many large retail stores are selling organic produce.
What does the dietitian say?
If organic food fits in your family's budget, go for it. Ideally, it is best to try to choose organic versions of foods listed on the "Dirty Dozen" list. Those who are more budget conscious may want to take advantage of local farmers' markets when produce is in season. Produce, meat and poultry at local farmers' markers are less likely to be treated with lots of pesticides because they do not have long-shipping times. You can also ask the grower if they spray or use integrated pest management. When purchasing conventional fresh food products, it is important to trim and wash fruits and vegetable to remove outside layers that are more likely to be exposed to pesticides. Also, you may want to avoid produce imported from other countries since it is not grown under the same regulations enforced by the USDA.
Organic is not an excuse to consume an abundance of processed foods with the label, "organic." It is still important to choose an array of fruits and vegetables from a variety of sources. In the end, a cookie is a cookie whether it is organic or not. | <urn:uuid:96342656-4a06-4d1b-b8cc-c076e42d171e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tidewaterreview.com/features/health/bs-fo-nutrition-organic-20120710,0,65626.story | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939181 | 848 | 2.71875 | 3 |
HOLLAND, MI -- Hope College is taking part in a national effort aimed at growing the number of women who work in fields related to science, technology, engineering and math.
Three female professors at Hope were selected to participate in a project by the National Science Foundation to create a mentoring network to help female faculty at undergraduate universities succeed and advance in their careers.
“Ultimately, the network is expected to encourage the entry of more women into STEM disciplines,” according to a statement from the college.
The professors are: Stephanie Edwards, associate professor mathematics; Vicki-Lynn Holmes, assistant professor of mathematics and education; and Catherine Mader, professor of physics.
The project, based at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash., also includes a study that aims to find out why women have historically been underrepresented in math, science and engineering-based disciplines. | <urn:uuid:d5996ffb-5387-4116-9331-fb527b88bd4b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2012/03/hope_college_faculty_participa.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955387 | 179 | 2.265625 | 2 |
How to Start a Career in UX Design
Published: January 9, 2012
Quite often, Web magazines, blogs, and other Web sites feature many interesting and informative articles about how to do UX design, graphic design, and Web design, but offer very little content about the fundamental steps that one must take to actually develop a career in one of these fields. So what should you do if you are just starting out as a UX designer, and what steps should you take to further your career?
As in many other areas of life, a good education is, of course, essential to success. It is vital that you understand all that user experience encompasses before trying to decide what you are really good at and what really excites you, so you’ll know what area you want to specialize in.
You might get a formal education—perhaps earning a university degree in Human Computer Interaction or Interaction Design. But, if formal education is not your thing, there are other options available. You could start out by reading some basic UX books such as The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman or Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug. These are both great books because they show how to design things for use by people. Krug’s book focuses more on design for the Web and how people interact with it. After reading these two books, you will not be able to look at design in the same way again.
Another option would be to attend conferences or Webinars and soak up as much information as possible. Plus, if you really need to be hands on, there are Cooper U workshops on many aspects of UX design. However, for a beginner in the field of user experience, conferences can be expensive, so you may want to seek opportunities to interact with UX professionals without the expense. CHI, IxDA, UPA, and other professional organizations have local groups that hold events—often free events. If there isn’t one near you, why not start your own local group? Volunteering sets you on the path to being a leader in your field, not just a follower.
There are also UX Book Clubs in most major cities around the world that you can attend. You can discuss some of the ideas in the books that you’ve read with other UX professionals and even get advice from fellow attendees about how to progress in your career.
While having a good education is a great starting point, you won’t get very far without having some experience behind you. The best place to start is by looking for entry-level jobs in UX design or related fields such as graphic design or Web design. However, if you have no formal training, getting your first job in user experience can be particularly difficult. You may have to start out in other positions at an agency or product development company, then gradually take on UX design tasks as and when opportunities arise.
Tell as many people as possible about your career goals and how you want your career to develop. Then, if anyone hears of a small project in UX design, they may contact you. At first, you may have to work for little or no pay, but if you really believe user experience is the right career for you, all your hard work should pay off.
If you are just starting out and really have nothing in your portfolio, why not create your own project to demonstrate your skills—such as designing a new Web site or redesigning a well-known Web site to showcase your potential. Early in your career, chances are that you have little to show prospective employers in your portfolio. Doing design work for friends and family can present good opportunities for building up your portfolio. If you have had a formal education in design, you are likely to have more in your portfolio from the projects you did when in school. When applying for a job, make sure you include only relevant information and work in your portfolio, so you can really focus your application on that one position.
If you have had no previous work experience, most likely you will have to do an internship to get some work experience. Getting a good internship can be very competitive, so it’s important to have a polished resume and high-quality work in your portfolio. By securing and doing successful work in an internship, you can establish solid relationships with other, more established UX professionals within an organization, and they can become familiar with your work. Then, when the time comes for them to hire, you’ll be high on their list of potential candidates and stand a good chance of becoming an employee.
If you lack experience, why not try to get yourself a mentor from whom you can learn about user experience? If you find this a bit daunting or too much of a commitment, remember that mentoring can be whatever you and your mentor decide it should be. Exactly what form it takes obviously depends on how experienced both of you are. In any case, it gives you the opportunity to show off your skills to someone in the business of user experience. Plus, your mentor can really help you when it comes to expanding your portfolio. And when your mentor hears about a job opportunity, you’ll be high on their list of people to recommend.
Once you have gotten an education and have some experience under your belt, the next thing you need to aim for is establishing a professional presence for yourself—both online and offline. Doing this is essential to making yourself stand out from others in the industry. Make sure you have an online portfolio of your work, so you can instantly show others what you can do.
Having a blog alongside your portfolio can be a great way of showing what you have learned and discussing topics relating to user experience. This is especially true if you are largely self-taught, because you may have different insights into certain processes than those with formally schooling. Just writing about your experience in UX design would be a good starting point. But if time doesn’t permit you to publish your own blog, writing for other UX blogs or Web magazines is also worthwhile, because you can still help others by writing about your experiences, problems, and solutions.
Another great way to share information and be in the know without having to commit lots of time is getting on Twitter. Because it’s a social network, your exchanges don’t always have to be so serious. You may want get advice. Or perhaps you might just want to share a funny story. The more you tweet and engage with other UX designers through Twitter, the more they’ll remember you. And Twitter is one of the places that people often put out feelers when they are looking for a UX designer.
Another thing that can be really helpful is attending or presenting at local UX events and major conferences. This gives you the opportunity to introduce yourself to other UX professionals, so make sure you have some business cards to exchange with those you meet. Follow up with these new contacts, because establishing relationships with your peers in the UX design profession can be the best way to really boost your career.
If you have just started your career in any aspect of user experience or switched careers to user experience, you may feel very vulnerable and susceptible to criticism. But don’t let that put you off. Doing everything I’ve discussed in this article may seem quite daunting. But if you follow these steps in establishing your career and put the necessary time and effort into this profession that you are really passionate about, you can reap the rewards and build a happy, successful, and fulfilling career for yourself. At times, you may feel like you’ve done everything you can without achieving the results you’d hoped for. But don’t become discouraged. Your persistence will pay off. | <urn:uuid:188b5e3e-b26f-4ad2-b9ea-39c9fd8976cd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2012/01/how-to-start-a-career-in-ux-design.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965747 | 1,572 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Do you have questions about HIV/AIDS?
Please follow the links below to find out more.
HIV/AIDS Information Links
Answers to frequently asked questions prepared by Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
The Origins of HIV & AIDS
Informative article traces the origins of HIV & AIDS
Evidence that HIV causes AIDS
Facts about the HIV virus
What is the difference between HIV-1 and HIV-2?
Explains the different types of HIV infection
What is HIV Antiretroviral Treatment?
HIV treatments explained
HIV course of treatment
Continuing Antiretroviral Treatment
Continued treatment for the HIV virus | <urn:uuid:73db7440-73c6-46c4-bab8-4bcd7aa5dbed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.foundcare.org/about-hiv-aids | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90151 | 137 | 2.234375 | 2 |
RESEARCHERS from the Australian International Gravitational Research Centre (AIGRC) based at UWA, are investigating a new technique which could potentially place Australia at the forefront of international fundamental physics and bring benefits to the Australian science and technology industries.
Associate Professor Linqing Wen, who is leading the research, is collaborating with physicist Yanbei Chen from the California Institute of Technology to examine the new method which mimics the operation of the human ear to detect ‘chirp’ signals buried within gravitational waves.
According to the Director of the AIGRC, Winthrop Professor David Blair, gravitational waves are ripples in space generated by cosmic events such as colliding stars, black holes, and supernova explosions. Professor Blair says that when these objects omit each other, they produce what is known as a characteristic ‘chirp’ signal.
He says one of the major aims of inventing this new technique is to enable the gravitational wave community to detect signals instantly in real-time.
“When one of the signals has happened and comes to an end, we can specifically indicate that it exactly happened at that moment in time,” says Professor Blair.
He says that until recently, all gravitational wave data analysis was retrospective.
“People working with gravity waves often recorded all their data, before analysing these long data records using very powerful computers to see if there were any ‘chirps’ or special signals present.
“As the analysis process is done a long time later, one can’t exactly tell when the signal happened,” says Professor Blair.
He says this method is also particularly unsatisfactory for detecting Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) in gravitational waves.
“GRBs are powerful outbursts of electromagnetic energy in the universe since the big bang itself.
“Their detection will not only expose the mechanism and dynamics of the source but also allow physicists to view them with a telescope as they instantly happen.”
Professor Blair also says the particular signals the AIGRC Data Analysis team is looking for have certain patterns, comprised of frequencies that rise steadily with time.
“Our main objective is to make a device that can search for a particular pattern of frequencies and times and add them together, significantly improving sound recognition.
“We developed filters called Infinite Impulse Response Filters.
“These filters mimic the cochlea and hair cells in the human ear, which provide outputs to the thousands of parallel nerves that carry the frequency information from the ear to the brain.”
Professor Blair says that due to the rising tones of a chirp signal, each frequency occurs at a different time.
“These Infinite Impulse Response filters are able to pick out the frequencies and merge them with the appropriate time delays.”
However, he also believes that for the Infinite Impulse Response filters to work effectively, they require a massively parallel computer.
To achieve this, Professor Blair says the Infinite Impulse Response (SPIR) time delayed filter bank concept has to be combined with iVEC’s Graphics Processing Unit-enabled Fornax supercomputer.
He believes that this combination will enable physicists to detect ‘chirp’ signals more efficiently compared with previous techniques. | <urn:uuid:a5590afa-4ca9-4d7c-af79-41f27039ce9f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.snwa.net.au/topics/space/item/1721-new-technique-using-gpu-based-computer-to-detect-gravity-wave-signals.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940549 | 679 | 3.609375 | 4 |
The Elizabeth Plankinton mansion was built in 1886 by John Plankinton in anticipation of of his daughter, Elizabeth's, marriage to British sculptor, Richard Hamilton Park. Unfortunately before the couple were married and could move into the new home, Park changed his mind and ran off with a dancer from Minneapolis. After that event Elizabeth chose not to live in the palatial structure and spent much of her time abroad. The mansion was empty until 1896 when it was purchased by the widowed Mrs. Hugh L. Johnston. The Knights of Columbus began using the structure in 1910 and would occupy it until it was destroyed in 1980. Marquette University purchased the land around the mansion in 1975. The Elizabeth Plankinton mansion was on the list of the National Register of Historic Places and many students, polticians and citizens protested when they learned of plans to tear it down. However, their efforts were to no avail, as bulldozers began demolishing the building on October 11, 1980, before the permits were issued for such activities.
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This image is issued by Marquette University. Use of the image requires written permission from the staff of the Department of Special Collections and University Archives. It may not be sold, or redistributed, copied or distributed as a photograph, electronic file, or any other media. The image should not be significantly altered through conventional or electronic means. Images altered beyond standard cropping and resizing require further negotiation with a staff member. The user is responsible for all issues of copyright. Please credit: Department of Special Collections and University Archives, Marquette University Libraries. | <urn:uuid:acb4bf65-1940-4415-891d-11dca009d5be> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cdm16280.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p128701coll6/id/1866/rec/44 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974551 | 350 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Principal Proposed Natural Treatments
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| Herbs and Supplements to Use Only With Caution
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a permanent lung condition caused, most often, by cigarette smoking. It starts with a wheezing cough and gradually progresses to a shortness of breath that accompanies even the slightest exertion, such as dressing or eating. COPD encompasses both emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
Emphysema consists of the destruction of the tiny air sacs (alveoli) in the lungs and the weakening of the support structure around them. This leads to a collapse of the small airways in the lungs, especially on inhalation, and reduces the body's ability to take in oxygen and expel carbon dioxide.
Chronic bronchitis consists of chronic inflammation of the airways, causing a persistent productive cough. This inflammation also impairs the body's ability to exchange new air for old. COPD also involves spasm of the airways similar to what occurs in asthma. Finally, occasional flare-ups occur when bacteria grow in the lungs, leading to acute exacerbation of symptoms.
Because cigarette smoking contributes to both emphysema and chronic bronchitis, anyone who has COPD should stop smoking. Quitting smoking won't reverse the condition, but it might stop COPD from getting worse. Airborne irritants such as chemical fumes exacerbate symptoms and should also be avoided. Standard treatment for COPD includes using bronchodilators, such as ipratropium and albuterol, to reduce muscle spasms, and corticosteroids to control inflammation in the airways. Acute flare-ups are treated with antibiotics. Severe COPD may require continuous oxygen therapy.
Malnutrition is common among people with COPD and seems to correspond to the severity of the condition.
It's been suggested that the caloric needs of people with COPD increase as the disease progresses.
Because malnutrition in turn can worsen lung function and make people more prone to infection, many researchers now recommend that individuals with COPD receive supplemental nutrition as part of their treatment.
Principal Proposed Natural Treatments
N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) may improve breathing in people with COPD.
NAC is a specially modified form of the dietary amino acid cysteine. Regular use of NAC may diminish the number of severe bronchitis attacks. A review and meta-analysis of available research focused on 8 reasonably well-designed
double-blind, placebo-controlled trials
of NAC in COPD.
The results of these studies, involving a total of about 1,400 individuals, suggest that NAC taken daily at a dose of 400 to 1,200 mg can reduce the number of acute attacks of severe bronchitis. However, a subsequent 3-year, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 523 people with COPD failed to find benefit with 600 mg of NAC daily.
NAC was once thought to aid lung conditions by helping to break up mucus. However, continuing research has tended to cast doubt on this explanation of its action.
For more information, including dosage and safety issues, see the full
Other Proposed Natural Treatments
Evidence from three double-blind placebo-controlled studies enrolling a total of 49 individuals suggests that the supplement
can improve exercise tolerance in COPD, presumably by improving muscular efficiency in the lungs and other muscles.
Eucalyptus is a standard ingredient in cough drops and in oils sometimes added to humidifiers. A combination
therapy containing cineole from eucalyptus, d-limonene from citrus fruit, and alpha-pinene from pine has been studied for a variety of respiratory conditions. Because these oils are all in a chemical family called monoterpenes, the treatment is called
essential oil monoterpenes
. A 3-month, double-blind trial of 246 individuals with chronic bronchitis found that oral treatment with essential oil monoterpenes helped prevent acute flare-ups of chronic bronchitis.
A previous double-blind study, too small to provide reliable results, hints that oral use of essential oil monoterpenes can enhance the effects of antibiotics for acute flare-ups once they do occur.
It is thought that essential oil monoterpenes work by improving the lungs’ ability to clear secretions.
A mixture of extracts from
, and white cedar has shown promise for treating a variety of respiratory infections. A well-designed double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of 53 people tested its benefits in acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis.
All participants in this trial received standard antibiotic therapy. The results showed that people receiving the herbal medication experienced more rapid improvements in lung function than those given placebo.
In one poorly designed and reported study, use of an
Ayurvedic herbal combination
appeared to offer some benefit.
It has been suggested that the sports supplement
might improve muscle strength in people with COPD, but results from small double-blind studies have been inconsistent.
Slight evidence from a small open trial suggests that
improves lung function in individuals with COPD.
have been suggested for chronic bronchitis, but there is no meaningful evidence that they actually help. One study failed to find pomegranate juice helpful for COPD.
studies suggest a correlation between respiratory problems and diets low in
from food, such as
However, such studies don't prove that taking supplements of such nutrients will help—only double-blind, placebo-controlled studies can do that. (For information on the reasons why, see
Why Does This Database Rely on Double-blind Studies?
) Indeed, a double-blind study of vitamin E and beta-carotene supplementation found no effect on COPD symptoms.
The effects of other antioxidant supplements on COPD haven't yet been studied.
Evidence from several studies suggests that the standard approved diet, low in fat and high in carbohydrates, worsens exercise performance and lung function in people with COPD, whereas a
may improve COPD symptoms.
Carbohydrates cause the body to produce increased amounts of carbon dioxide, and people with COPD have trouble getting rid of carbon dioxide.
is an ancient form of Traditional Chinese Medicine consisting of deep breathing accompanied by slow, rhythmic movements. It is intended to promote the healthy flow of "qi" (or vital "energy") within the body. In a randomized trial involving 206 patients with COPD, Qigong appeared to improve respiratory function and activity tolerance.
In another trial, 80 people with COPD were randomized to receive Qigong or conventional rehabilitation for 6 months. At the end of the trial, there were no significant differences between the two groups.
Researchers have also studied the potential benefits of acupuncture in people with COPD. Sixty-eight adults were randomized to receive acupuncture or sham (fake) acupuncture once a week for 12 weeks.44 Those who received the real treatment experienced less shortness of breath after an exercise test compared to the control group.
Herbs and Supplements to Use Only With Caution
Various herbs and supplements may interact adversely with drugs used to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. For more information on these potential risks, see the individual drug article in the
section of this database. | <urn:uuid:d0856c27-9a26-472a-a3ac-238158742345> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bidmc.org/YourHealth/ConditionsAZ.aspx?ChunkID=21545 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934621 | 1,521 | 3.046875 | 3 |
[ Abridged version ]
Policy on nuclear weapons and weapons proliferation is of critical importance today. This resource offers a way to think about possible policy directions and the ramifications of each. Participants explore the four options presented, deliberate on the strengths and challenges of each, and then express their views. This material was developed for use in high school classes. Additional lesson plans and links to resources are available from the Choices Program at Brown University.
Choices Program, Brown University | <urn:uuid:972fcdac-fdcc-47f6-8115-a831a1d3549b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.everyday-democracy.org/Exchange/Tag.160.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935896 | 95 | 3.265625 | 3 |
Fight the Power
Last weekend, my son, Inti, who is 20 and I, who am quite a few years older than that, went to San Francisco to take part in a rally and demonstration in support of political prisoner and death row inmate, Mumia Abu-Jamal. The main demand is for a new trial for Mumia. It was the most powerful and energizing demonstration I have gone to in many years. We were part of a 15,000 person rally who gathered in Dolores Park in the Mission District of San Francisco at 10:30 A.M. on Saturday, April 24th. What was striking was the successful attempt to reach younger and older activists by the speakers and music as well as by the revolutionary content of the message. A speaker that really reached the rally was a college student from Chapman College, Rashad Richardson, who talked of people of all "racial" backgrounds fighting the oppressor and overthrowing capitalism. It reminded me of talks I had heard by the Black Panther Party 30 years ago. Also connecting the 1960's to the present was the reading of a poem, "War Without Terms", written by George Jackson, the author of "Soledad Brother", a legendary California inmate, writer and revolutionary who was killed in San Quentin prison. Much of the style was the contemporary--hip hop music, rap, spoken word.
About 12:15 we gathered to march to the Civic Center. It was a sunny and warm day. The drums gave the march energy as did the chants, e.g., "They Say Execution, We Say Revolution". There were contingents representing many constituencies including labor unions, gay and lesbian, Asian-American, Latino/a and many, anarchists and many left parties. The demonstration stretched for blocks with thousands of signs calling for an end to the death penalty, for freeing Mumia and all political prisoners, to fighting racism in the criminal justice system, to demanding a new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal and many, many others. There was a feeling of urgency as the possibility of his execution in the next year by the State of Pennsylvania is very real. I also sensed in the marchers a feeling of hope and strength and a commitment to preventing his execution by the State of Pennsylvania.
It took us about an hour to reach the Civic Center in downtown San Francisco. We marched through many communities, including some that were predominantly African-American. Thousands watched us from their streets and from inside their apartments and houses. Leaflets were handed out explaining the many injustices connected to Mumia's conviction and death sentence. There was little hostility by those we marched by but neither was there much enthusiasm or support, rather the tone of those we marched by seemed to vary from indifference to some interest in learning why we were marching and who Mumia Abu-Jamal was, but not to the extent of joining us. There is a lot more education to do on this case.
We then gathered at the Civic Center in downtown San Francisco where there were speeches and music until a little past 5 P.M. Some of the highlights included a speech from a member of the Longshoremen's Union, the ILWU. He recounted the history of the struggles of the ILWU from the 1934 strike in San Francisco to the present. The ILWU speaker was especially meaningful as he was backed up by three buses of members who marched, and even more because they announced that they had called for a work stoppage in support of Mumia on the day of the demonstration at all of the ports they worked at from San Diego to San Francisco and Oakland to British Columbia. The speaker announced it was successful. To many of the younger demonstrators I spoke to, during and after the demonstration, the work stoppage greatly increased their consciousness about the potential power of labor and the strength of coalitions for radical social change that included labor unions and workers. Angela Davis read a statement from Alice Walker in solidarity with Mumia and sending him love on his 45th birthday, which was the day of the march. Angela Davis analyzed the racism in the California injustice system where 7% of the population is black but 39% of those on death row are black.
Very notable and positive were the large numbers of youthful speakers who stressed the importance of supporting Mumia and his struggle for a new trial. These speakers were high school and college students from the Bay area, mainly Black--there were also Puerto Ricans and Chicano speakers who linked the struggle for Mumia to others such as the Puerto Rican political prisoners. A statement from Subcomandante Marcos of the EZLN (Zapatistas) was read that wished Mumia a happy birthday, linked the struggles of indigenous people in Mexico to the struggles of people of color in the United States, and included a letter to the Governor of Pennsylvania, Tom Ridge, and the Supreme Court demanding not clemency, pardon or mercy, but justice and a new trial for Mumia.
Many speakers also strongly criticized the U.S./NATO bombing of Kosovo. One long-term organizer and friend who is very active against the U.S. War against Yugoslavia lamented in a conversation with me, however, that although thousands and thousands of Bay area residents had turned out for the Mumia march, only a small proportion would turn out for a demonstration against the bombing. She was excited by the turnout, particularly of young people for Mumia, but blamed the left for not speaking out more against the war and mobilizing more against it.
Ed Asner and others pointed that the demonstrations on this day, April 24th, 1999 were perhaps the largest ever for a political prisoner. They were significantly larger than previous demonstrations for Mumia, which shows the movement in support of him is growing.
The speaker who most moved the crowd, my son and myself was Michael Franti of the music group, "Spearhead". Combining poetry, spoken word and speaking from the heart and brain, Michael Franti spoke about his faith in people to build a movement to free Mumia. He rapped about how the struggle was about Mumia but it was also about much more--it was about challenging the death penalty, it was about challenging the insane system that is imprisoning more and more people, particularly but not limited to African-Americans. Michael Franti talked about how he came to the march to have his consciousness raised and how it was. So were my son's and mine.
Who was at the Demonstration?
The official estimate, which appeared in the major San Francisco paper the next day and on TV was 15,000. This seems about right. Numbers I got from asking people at the demo were between 12,000 and 20,000. I estimate also that maybe ½ were of college age or younger which was very exciting. There was a strong anarchist influence among the young. The demonstration definitely included all ages, from parents bringing babies and their children to many, many seniors. All ethnic and racial groups participated and were represented in more than token numbers, e.g., there was a significant group of marchers behind an Asians for Mumia banner. Although there were substantial numbers of African-Americans participating, I had expected there to be a larger turnout at the demonstration than there was. My rough estimate is that 10-15% of the entire march and rally were African-American.
According to two close friends who attended the simultaneous demo on April 24th in Philadelphia in support of a new trial for Mumia, the march there was bigger than the one in San Francisco, their estimates were between 25,000 to 40,000 took part. I had expected the Philadelphia demonstration to be much bigger than San Francisco as there were major mobilizations in many cities besides Philadelphia, e.g., New York, Chicago, and at many, many colleges. One friend of mine told me that in Chicago a coalition of groups who had never been able to work together before, cooperated well and got eight buses to go to Philadelphia. I am not sure what limited turnout, although the actual numbers were certainly substantial. It was a success. From what I heard, the racial and age composition was similar in Philadelphia to San Francisco.. Probably because of the greater hostility of the police and city officials in Philly than in San Francisco to the demonstration, the official estimate in Philadelphia was intentionally low--I saw estimates of 3000 and 8000. That was very disheartening to some of the marchers. So was the lack of national coverage. Nevertheless that 40,000 or more people rallied in Philadelphia and San Francisco is very, very impressive. Hopefully, many of these people like me will be inspired to do more in support of Mumia. My son definitely is.
A brief for a new trial was submitted by Mumia's lawyer, Leonard Weinglass, to the U.S. Supreme Court, two days before the demo on April 22nd. The demonstrations, the support for a new trial for Mumia from all over the world, and the growing number of organizations supporting this demand increase the likelihood that the Supreme Court will take this case more seriously. We need to do more, to make it a small part of whatever activities we do.
Two Final Notes
I was somewhat dismayed that many of my friends in San Francisco, all of whom had been hard core leftist activists in the 1970's, did not attend the demo. Some had very good reasons, others didn't. One could hardly believe that I had come 800 miles just to attend the demonstration for Mumia. What I felt but did not fully express to her was that I didn't want to look back 20 years from now, and feel guilty that I had not done much to save the life of Mumia Abu-Jamal. We owe him and ourselves that. I have spoken to many people of my parents generation who wish they had done more in support of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg before they were executed in 1953. Let us not repeat the same mistake.
I also realized that unless you are actively challenging this oppressive capitalist system, the mainstream media and dominant culture are so powerful that even those who were leftist activists in the past but not the present, are influenced enough by the dominant institutions that they find many, many reasons not to support Mumia, not to act against the bombing of Kosovo, not to oppose the sanctions in Iraq, etc., etc. It is more than them just feeling powerless, it gives me an appreciation of how easy it is for mainstream viewpoints to take over our minds.
There is a major struggle at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA where I teach, whether Mumia Abu-Jamal will be the graduation speaker this June. That will be the subject of my next commentary. Stay Tuned! | <urn:uuid:e2589c2c-03a4-44e0-849c-50a3cf2e0629> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.zcommunications.org/fight-the-power-by-peter-bohmer | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986626 | 2,182 | 1.773438 | 2 |
― Tyson attacks Tipping Trackbacks Canoeing: ∙ Tyson, so a ruler of the Grand Union Canal, Bugbrooke, Northamptonshire, England. Anyone who tried to enter or disturb the area, would be attacked out. ∙ Tyson is a male white swan as high as approximately 1.2 m. Not too high, right? But the overall wing span can be up to 2.5 meters. ∙ This white swans living in the Grand Union canal as mentioned above. Incidentally the month from March to May is the mating season. Apparently, [...]. | <urn:uuid:a4937a90-e695-46d6-901a-dd4c9d7bc77b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bloggers.com/post/tyson-attacks-tipping-trackbacks-canoeing-6234392 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967307 | 123 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Wilkinson Eyre completes new addition to Gardens by the Bay
Located in Marina Bay, Gardens by the Bay is a key project in delivering the Singapore Government’s vision of transforming Singapore into a ‘City in a Garden’. The commission to design the 54 hectare Bay South Garden was won in 2006 by a team led by Grant Associates and including Wilkinson Eyre Architects, Atelier One, and Atelier Ten. At the heart of Bay South Garden is the Cooled Conservatory Complex.
The two Conservatories, designed by Wilkinson Eyre Architects, cover an area in excess of 20,000 sq m and are among the largest climate controlled glasshouses in the world. They provide a spectacular, all-weather attraction and comprise a 1.28 hectare cool dry conservatory (the ‘Flower Dome’) and a 0.73 hectare cool moist conservatory (the ‘Cloud Forest’). Each has its own distinct character, but both explore the horticulture of those environments most likely to be affected by climate change.
The Cooled Conservatories are designed with as much environmental control as possible achieved through passive means before resorting to highly efficient, active systems. The principal design challenge of the biomes is the conflicting need to maintain the high light levels required by the plants whilst minimising the associated solar heat gain. The form of the biomes are optimised environmentally by containing a large volume within a relatively small surface area. In addition, the form of the Flower Dome is tilted forward so that it leans over towards the Marina Bay; the north façade is therefore self-shaded and never receives the full glare of the sun.
The envelope is critical to the success of the system: the structure has been designed to cast as little shadow as possible whilst highly selective glass is used to filter out as much heat as possible. The glazing has very high visual light transmission coupled with a very low solar heat gain coefficient. This is achieved through a low e coating on Face #2 of the glass, which means that approximately 64% of light is transmitted into the building with only 38% of the corresponding solar heat gain. When the sun comes out, deployable shades are used to control the light levels and limit the heat gain.
Inside, cool air is delivered at low velocity, trickling in and between the planted displays, providing the right growing conditions for the plants as well as comfort for the visitors. The fresh air is drawn in and dried with dessicant prior to passing through conventional chillers, reducing the amount of energy required for cooling; hot air collected from the top of the glasshouses is used to regenerate the dessicant by driving off the moisture. The on-site biomass boiler is fuelled entirely with green waste from the city’s parks.
The project has been accredited BCA Green Mark Platinum (the highest grade in the BCA Green Mark environmental assessment system). | <urn:uuid:b8be351b-20c7-4ea7-8d33-58cf7fba9f60> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com/index.php?fuseaction=wanappln.projectview&upload_id=21746®ion=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956155 | 599 | 1.976563 | 2 |
Thursday, January 19, 2012
The governor of Washington state has declared a state of emergency, authorizing the use of National Guard troops, if necessary, in the aftermath of a snow and ice storm that has paralyzed much of the state.
Tens of thousands of people lost power, and hundreds of cars slid off roads. The Seattle airport was shut down this morning, delaying or canceling most flights before a runway was reopened. Lines of people snaked around nearly every ticket counter.
The storm claimed at least two lives. One victim was a child whose body was pulled from a creek in Oregon after a car was swept away from a grocery store parking lot. His mother is still missing. Another person was killed by a falling tree east of Seattle.
As temperatures warm up in the days ahead, authorities are worried about the potential for flooding. | <urn:uuid:38fc9fa4-84ab-477b-8f48-8eef600cad8d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kake.com/weather/headlines/State_of_Emergency_In_Washington_State_After_Snow_Ice_Storm_137690118.html?site=mobile | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980403 | 170 | 1.515625 | 2 |
New 'nanostructuring' techniques that turn liquid oils into more functional solid fats could replace controversial methods including partial hydrogenation or inter-esterification (using acids or enzymes to harden oils), say US scientists.
They could also prove to be a key weapon in the fight to reduce saturated fat in bakery products, according to George John, associate professor at the City College of the City University of New York.
While the monounsaturated fatty acids in liquid oils such as olive or rapeseed oil are better for you, bakers in particular need to use harder fats, which contain more unhealthy saturated fats, said John, who was speaking at a Leatherhead Food Research conference on nanotechnology last month.
New technology able to create unsaturated semi-solid fats from liquid oils is therefore attracting interest from the food industry, said John, who specialises in developing nanomaterials that are self-assembled from the 'bottom up' (rather than using 'top-down' techniques that make larger particles smaller).
"Current methods [for hardening liquid oils] such as partial hydrogenation, inter-esterification or adding fatty acids can be problematic, so we're looking to generate sugar-based short chain molecular gels as new oil gelators [substances that could be added to liquid oils which makes them go semi-solid]. These could be used in confectionery and baking."
He added: "We have developed a few sugar-based amphiphiles, which showed excellent oil-thickening ability, but this work is still in the developmental stage and we do not think that there are any such molecules currently on the market."
Oil gelators had been used industrially in the past to make some frying oils spoonable, said fats and oils expert Geoff Talbot, but this was new.
"Unilever had a product called Superfry using this technology, but not using sugar-based substances to achieve it," said Talbot.
Unilever also spoke at the conference. The consumer goods giant highlighted a series of novel techniques for creating nano emulsions enabling the more efficient delivery of nutrients including high pressure homogenisation, microchannel emulsification and a new 'melt' emulsification process. | <urn:uuid:95cef3cf-29dc-4731-a7b3-f38ee2d970a7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.foodmanufacture.co.uk/Business-News/Nanostructuring-could-be-key-to-reducing-saturated-fats | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951865 | 460 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Economic Reporting Review
December 6, 1999:
WTO meeting; effects of a crash; slide of the euro
By Dean Baker
WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION
"President Chides World Trade Body in Stormy Seattle"
David E. Sanger
New York Times, December 2, 1999, page A1
"U.S. Effort to Add Labor Standards to Agenda Fails"
Steven Greenhouse and Joseph Kahn
New York Times, December 3, 1999, page A1
These articles discuss the Clinton administration's agenda at the WTO meetings. Both articles
contain the assertion that labor standards were at the top of this agenda. While the
administration had political reasons for making this claim, that does not necessarily mean it is
true. The negotiations are held in secret, and neither article suggests that it was written with
knowledge of the actual content of the negotiations. If labor standards actually are the top item
on its agenda, then presumably the administration would be making threats to walk out of the
session if it doesn't get movement on this issue. There is no evidence in these articles that it has
applied this sort of pressure.
It is worth noting the timeline that would likely be associated with the administration's proposal
to establish a working group on labor standards, which is not mentioned in these articles. This
working group could conclude that labor standards are an appropriate item for negotiation. If
this happened, then they could be discussed at the next round of the WTO, which would
typically begin in six to eight years. If this round led to agreement on labor standards, they
could begin to be implemented at its conclusion, which would be approximately 2014. In other
words, even if the issue progressed along the path the administration is suggesting, any
imposition of labor standards is probably at least 15 years in the future.
According to the first article, an "American official" in Seattle suggested that the working group
on labor standards did not have to be associated with the WTO, but could instead be attached
to another international body, such as the International Labor Organization or the World Bank.
If labor standards were ultimately established through one of these other organizations, they
could not be enforced with trade sanctions. As a result, such standards would likely have little
"Seeing the Fear of Free Trade Made Concrete"
New York Times, December 2, 1999, page A15
This article reports on the complaints of delegates to the WTO that people don't understand
how they have benefited from expanded trade. At one point the article notes comments from
Long Yongtu, China's chief delegate to the WTO. Mr. Long said that the U.S. may have
something to learn from China, since China's state-run media had been promoting the WTO as
a path to prosperity for the 13 years that the country was trying to gain entry.
The U.S. government and media have also consistently promoted the nation's trade policies as
a path to promote growth. The main difference between the two nations, in this respect, is that
the opponents of trade policies in the United States are free to promote their views as well.
"Carrying the Flag for Free Trade: Brazil Still Embraces Globalization"
New York Times, December 2, 1999, page C1
This article discusses the impact of increased international trade on Brazil's economy. The
article asserts that "Brazil ... points to itself as an example of the positive economic change that
can come from policies advocated by the 135-nation group [the WTO]." Actually, the
evidence does not suggest that the impact of these policies has been especially positive.
According to the data presented in a chart accompanying the article, Brazil's per capita GDP
growth has averaged approximately 2.5 percent annually over the last decade. By comparison,
according to data from the United Nations, Brazil's per capita GDP growth averaged 4.7
percent annually in the period from 1960 to 1980, when it was following a more
inward-looking path to development.
At one point the article notes that Brazil is still a relatively closed economy, and points out that
other nations, such as Mexico, are much more integrated into the world economy. It comments
on this point: "Brazil has a long way to go before thoroughly reaping the rewards of free trade."
According to data from the IMF, over the last 15 years Mexico's per capita GDP growth has
averaged approximately 1.0 percent annually.
"Trade Theory Collides With Angry Reality"
Washington Post, December 3, 1999, page A1
This article discusses the protests in Seattle and the objections to WTO's agenda more
generally. At one point it comments that proponents of this agenda "have figured they could win
the debate simply by pressing over and over again the economist's mantra that increased trade
results in better jobs for workers...." This is a serious misrepresentation of standard economic
theory on trade. Standard economic theory implies that increased trade can on average raise
living standards, but there will also be winners and losers from increased trade. It is entirely
possible that much of the workforce, possibly even a majority, could see their wages
depressed as a result of international competition. It is also worth noting that according to
economic theory, extending barriers like patents and copyright protection, which has also been
part of the WTO agenda, could lower living standards worldwide.
"Across the Atlantic, Free Trade's Victors"
Washington Post, December 2, 1999, page A34
This article discusses a chemical firm in England that has vastly expanded its business based on
the growth in its export products. The article presents the firm and its workers as an example of
the winners from trade, but notes that no one from the firm went to protest in favor of the
WTO in Seattle because "the better-off are quieter than those complaining of harm."
The discussion in the article is misleading because it implies that the workers at this firm would
have been worse off had it not been for the reduction in tariff barriers from the most recent
round of trade negotiations. Implicitly, the article assumes that these workers would either not
be employed, or had worse paying jobs, if these tariff reductions had not taken place. Actually,
the vast majority of workers who hold jobs in an export industry would have also held jobs had
those exports not existed, just as the vast majority of workers who lose jobs due to imports
will find alternative employment. Whether trade has on net benefited a particular group of
workers will depend on whether it has on net lead to an increase in demand for their specific
For example, if this WTO round standardized education and licensing requirements, so that
hundreds of thousands of people from developing nations could work as doctors in the United
States, it could lead to a significant displacement of doctors already working in the United
States. Some of the displaced doctors may subsequently find employment in export-related
jobs. However, these jobs may pay a far lower wage than doctors received before the removal
of barriers to competition. In this case, it would be wrong to assert that the displaced doctors
had benefited from trade based on the fact that they hold jobs producing goods for export.
Virtually all labor economists agree that, in the United States, trade has had the effect of
reducing the demand for workers without college degrees. This has had a negative impact on
their wages, although the size of this impact is subject to considerable debate.
See more about trade.
THE STOCK MARKET
"Inflation Is Still the Only Real Threat"
New York Times, November 28, 1999, Section 3 page 4
This analysis examines the potential risks to the current expansion. At one point the article
discusses the possibility of a stock market crash. It notes that this can be a problem, but claims
that the Federal Reserve Board learned how to deal with a crash in 1987.
Since 1987 the stock market has risen by more than 300 percent. Over the same period,
corporate profits have risen by approximately 140 percent. This means that stocks are far
more over-valued now than they were in 1987. In order for the stock market to be no more
over-valued today than it was prior to 1987 crash, it would have to lose 40 percent of its
value. This would imply a loss of approximately $6 trillion in wealth, or $22,200 for every
person in the country. The fact that the Federal Reserve Board was able to prevent the 1987
crash from having a significant impact on the economy does not mean that it would be able to
cope with the much larger downturn that would be needed to return the market to historic
"Waiting for 2000, Wondering if the Economy Will Keep Surging and Watching for
New York Times, November 29, 1999, page C8
This article discusses the stock market's growth potential for the year ahead. It argues that the
biggest threat to the market's future growth is its extraordinary run-up in price over the last five
years. According to the article, the reason this poses a problem is that the consumption
resulting from this new wealth may cause the Federal Reserve Board to raise interest rates and
slow economic growth.
The more obvious explanation is that as a result of the fact that the rise in the stock market has
far exceeded the growth of profits, stocks are now hugely over-valued. It is less likely that an
over-valued asset will rise in price than one that is under-valued.
"Euro Hits New Low Against the Dollar"
Washington Post, November 27, 1999, page E1
"Euro Declines to Record Lows Against Dollar, Pound and Yen"
Edmund L. Andrews
New York Times, November 27, 1999, page B1
These articles report on the decline in the euro against other major currencies. Both articles
assert that Europe's slow growth relative to the United States has been one of the main factors
in this decline.
There is no theoretical or empirical basis for suggesting that the rise or fall in the value of a
currency would bear a direct relationship to a nation's growth rate. Investors opt to hold
currencies based on the returns they expect to receive, not based on how rapid an economy is
growing. If a nation raises its interest rates, then it provides investors more reason to hold its
currency, even if the higher interest rates dampens economic growth. While returns and
economic growth can be related, there is no necessary link.
Recent history provides many examples where countries with relatively rapid growth have seen
declines in the value of their currency. For example, from 1990 to 1995 the dollar lost more
than 35 percent of its value against the yen, even though U.S. economic growth far outstripped
Japanese growth during this period. Just this year, the euro has fallen by more than 20 percent
against the yen, even though the euro nations have enjoyed a more rapid rate of growth. There
are numerous other examples of divergences in economic growth and the movement in the
value of a nation's currency. In short, there is simply no basis for claiming that slow growth in
Europe explains the decline in the value of the euro.
Both articles attribute Europe's slow growth to structural problems in the European economies.
Neither article discusses the possibility that the tight monetary policy of the European Central
Bank has been an important factor, as has been argued by many of the world's most prominent
economists. (See "An Economists' Manifesto on Unemployment in the European Union," BNL
Quarterly Review, 9/98.)
"German Parliament Backs Schroeder's Austerity Plan"
Washington Post, November 27, 1999, page A21
"Germany Resists the New Economy"
Washington Post, November 28, 1999, page A14
These articles discuss Germany's current economic situation. The first article reports on the
decision of the German parliament to support a set of cuts in social spending proposed by
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. The article refers to this as "an important victory in his battle to
curtail the country's soaring national debt and bloated welfare system."
Actually, Germany's national debt is not soaring. Even before these cuts were passed, it was
projected to stay almost constant measured as a share of GDP, the standard metric among
economists. The article does not indicate how it determined that Germany's welfare state was
At one point this article presents the size of Germany's national debt in billions of dollars and
then on a per capita basis. Without additional information, very few readers will have the
knowledge to put these figures in a meaningful context. The figure of $10,000 per person may
appear frightening to readers, but in fact the U.S. debt is actually somewhat higher at about
$13,600 per person (although the debt to GDP ratio is somewhat lower in the United States).
In fact, by any standard measure, Germany's debt is well within the ability of the economy to
sustain it, and would remain so for the foreseeable future even without the cuts being proposed
by the government.
The article also misrepresents the platform of the government in the last election. It notes that
Schroeder was elected on a pledge to reduce unemployment, and implies that this pledge
meant the sort of cuts in the welfare state that he is now promoting. In fact, Schroeder never
suggested that he was going to cut back the welfare state during the election campaign, and
actually promised to reverse some cuts implemented by the prior government.
The second article characterizes German labor costs as "exorbitant." It does not indicate how it
has made this determination. In spite of its relatively high labor costs, Germany manages to run
a small trade surplus, unlike the United States, which currently has a very large trade deficit. It
is also worth noting, that according to OECD data, there has been very large shift from wages
to corporate profits in Germany over the last two decades.
See more about Europe.
OUTSTANDING STORIES OF THE WEEK
"On Chicken's Front Line"
Lena H. Sun and Gabriel Escobar
Washington Post, November 28, 1999, page A1
"Eating Chicken Dust"
Peter S. Goodman
Washington Post, November 28, 1999, page A23
"Immigration Transforms a Community"
Washington Post, November 29, 1999, page A1
"Workers Answer to Multiple Names"
Washington Post, November 30, 1999, page A1
"Chicken Plant Jobs Open U.S. Doors for Koreans"
Washington Post, December 1, 1999, page A1
This series provided an in-depth examination of the poultry industry in the eastern counties of
Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. The series examined the wages and working conditions in
the industry and the changing ethnic composition of the workforce and the communities in
which they live.
"When Physicians Double as Entrepreneurs" Kurt Eichenwald and Gina Kolata
New York Times, November 30, 1999, page A1
This article examines the conflicts of interest that can arise when doctors have a financial stake
in medical devices that they use on their patents.
"Post-Mortem of a Highflier: Boston Market"
New York Times, December 2, 1999, page C2
This article examines the history of Boston Market in the aftermath of its purchase by
McDonald's. Before it was forced into bankruptcy, the company was able to use creative
accounting techniques to convince investors that it had enormous growth potential. At one
point, its stock had a market value of $3.2 billion, an amount that is greater than the market
value of many large established companies.
"World Bank Economist Felt He Had to Silence His Criticisms or Quit"
New York Times, December 2, 1999, page C2
This article discusses the factors that led to the resignation of Joseph Stiglitz as the World
Bank's top economist. Stiglitz has been harshly critical of many of the policies being pursued by
the World Bank and the IMF. The article indicates that he left his position because he was not
going to be allowed to continue to make such criticisms.
Dean Baker is an economist and the co-director of the Center for Economics and Policy
Research (CEPR). His latest book (co-authored with Mark Weisbrot) is Social Security: The
Phony Crisis (University of Chicago Press). ERR is a joint project of FAIR and CEPR.
ERR is edited by Jim Naureckas.
Back to CEPR's Economics Reporting Review website. | <urn:uuid:d529470c-6d3f-4cea-aa9f-c9090bdfda8a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cepr.net/err/dec61999.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950963 | 3,478 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Join a Study Group at the Science Learning Center
The Science Learning Center offers study groups for students enrolled in introductory biology, chemistry, and physics courses, as well as MATH 156.
Study groups are small groups of 10-13 students who meet once a week for two hours to actively:
- Review course material
- Solve Problems
- Discuss course concepts
- Prepare for exams
Each study group is led by a trained facilitator who has already taken the class successfully. The role of the facilitator is to help the students teach and learn from each other. The study group leader also provides supplemental materials, including worksheets, practice tests, and old exams.
Study groups are offered for.
- BIOLOGY 171, 172, 225, 305, 310, & 311;
- CHEM 130, 210, 215, 230, 260, 302, 451, & 452;
- PHYSICS 125, 126, 140, 240,
- MATH 156.
For more information about study groups visit www.lsa.umich.edu/slc | <urn:uuid:9bae8ff5-5164-40f0-b83e-10804e27d27c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lsa.umich.edu/csp/studentprograms/tutoringstudygroups/joinastudygroupatthesciencelearningcenter_ci | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914095 | 222 | 2.375 | 2 |
Learn more about the kinds of things that Scouts do—and learn to do them better—with the resources in this section.
The Boy Scouts of America's premier high-adventure base challenges Scouts and Venturers with more than 200 square miles of rugged New Mexico wilderness. Backpacking treks, horseback cavalcades, and training and service programs offer young people many ways to experience this legendary country.
Scouting captures the interest of older scouts through diverse high-adventure and outdoor opportunities. that reinforce Scouting's ideals.
Outdoor adventure is the promise made to boys when they join Scouting. Boys yearn for outdoor programs that stir their imagination and interest.
Climb On Safely is the Boy Scouts of America's recommended procedure for organizing BSA climbing/rappelling activities.
The BSA high-adventure program directory lists council-operated high-adventure trekking programs to help units locate high-adventure programs across the nation.
Enjoy this arcade of educational and entertaining games, quizzes, and interactive resources.
An exciting new program where young men enhance their leadership skills in the Philmont Backcountry. Scouts will expand upon the team building and ethical decision making skills learned in National Youth Leadership Training (NYLT).
More than 300 trails have been approved for Tiger Cubs, Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Varsity Scouts, Venturers, and family campers. The Boy Scouts of America strongly recommends that hikers use only historic trails that have been nationally approved.
There are numerous opportunities for Arrowmen to provide service, demonstrate leadership, and practice camping skills by working with a Cub Scout pack.
Project COPE is an exciting outdoor activity designed to meet the needs of youth who seek greater challenges to their physical and mental abilities.
Scuba BSA introduces qualified Boy Scout, Venturing, and registered adult participants to to the special skills, equipment, and safety precautions associated with scuba diving.
Leave No Trace is an awareness of our impact on the environment that teaches us to respect the rights of other users of the outdoors as well as future generations. | <urn:uuid:be937f74-c57f-45a1-912a-c4f510381ab9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://longbeachbsa.org/sitecore/content/Home/BoyScouts/Youth/Activities | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931951 | 423 | 2.46875 | 2 |
The Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) will release the findings of its annual Urban Mobility Report at 12:01 a.m. CST on Thursday. As in the past, the report will present national, regional and local rankings for all 439 U.S. urban areas.
It will also include detailed data on 101 specific urban areas, including:
•Annual travel delay per peak traveler
• Fuel wasted due to traffic delays
• Financial cost of congestion per peak traveler
• Length of rush hour traffic conditions
In addition, this year the report will include expanded estimates of the effects of congestion on the regions studied.
According to TTI, it incorporates a significant advance in study methodology, leveraging real-time traffic data for every major roadway in the U.S. – the result of a partnership with INRIX, a supplier of travel time data.
Each year, the study aims to provide a collection of easily understood measures to support national and local decision-making by helping policymakers understand the congestion problem and how to identify solutions.
According to a 2009 study by INRIX, Los Angeles was the country’s most congested city, followed by New York and then Chicago. Dallas/Fort Worth, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle/Tacoma, and Philadelphia also earned top scores for worst traffic congestion.
A July 2009 TTI report showed the overall cost for congestion (based on wasted fuel and lost productivity) reached $87.2 billion in 2007-- or more than $750 for every U.S. traveler. The total amount of wasted fuel topped 2.8 billion gallons-- or three weeks' worth of fuel for every traveler. And the amount of wasted time totaled 4.2 billion hours-- or nearly one full work week (or vacation week) for every traveler.
Sponsors of the TTI-conducted study-- established in 1982-- include TTI, the University Transportation Center for Mobility, the American Road and Transportation Builders Assn. Transportation Development Foundation, and the American Public Transportation Assn.. | <urn:uuid:6f8df9d6-cc29-4116-9571-726d59990a52> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fleetowner.com/regulations/traffic-congestion-report-due-tomorrow-0119 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926021 | 416 | 2.015625 | 2 |
> On Friday 28 July 2006 16:50, Tom Schutter wrote:
>>I am about to get a new machine. Seeing how valgrind punishes my
>>machine more than any other app, I am letting valgrind control the
>>specs of the new box. In my mind that means more RAM is the primary
>>consideration, fast CPU is second, and everything else comes after.
>>Dual-core or dual CPU won't help. Fast disk is nice, but not
>>I am planning on an AMD Athlon 64 or Opteron CPU. The problem I am
>>having is finding the right motherboard that will support more than
>>4GB of RAM.
Julian Seward replied:
> Interesting proposition; however I have a slightly different
> suggestion. From what we've seen from profiling V, what really
> kills you is cache misses. So maybe consider getting something
> with a huge L2 cache. Core 2 Duo E6400 and above have 4M L2s
> and nice low power consumption.
Just to be sure: the first priority is no actual paging to/from disk.
The capacity for page faults usually is 80 to 200 per second,
which is a delay of 36M to 15M CPU cycles per page fault @ 3GHz.
Check by running /usr/bin/top. The "Swap:" line should have "0k used",
and a Valgrind process should have a constant difference between
VIRT and RES.
Next priority is low cache miss rate (avoid access to RAM.)
The capacity for uncorrelated [non-adjacent] access to RAM
often is 4M to 10M accesses per second, which is a delay of
750 to 300 CPU cycles per cache miss @ 3GHz. Bigger L2 cache
(the 4MB that Julian mentioned) tends to be better.
Making effective use of a large L2 cache also matters. One of the
factors is misses in the TLB (Translation Look-aside Buffer) for
virtual addresses. The TLB is a cache, too. It has a few dozen
entries, and each entry can remember the virtual-to-physical
address translation for one page of either "small" (4KB) or
"huge" (4MB, except 2MB on some CPUs) size. Operating with huge
pages tends to reduce the delay due to TLB misses. A miss in the TLB
costs slightly more than either 1 or several accesses to the data
cache, depending on the underlying architecture (direct-mapped
or reverse-mapped basis for the TLB.)
Another factor in making effective use of a large L2 cache is
aliasing of addresses onto cache lines. The mapping from virtual
address to cache set must be evenly distributed for best throughput.
Using larger pages tends to help, but in most cases the operating
system still must choose physical pages carefully ["page coloring"]
in order to obtain best cache performance.
Unfortunately for best performance of large processes, by default
linux uses small pages and random coloring. Sometimes you lose big,
by a factor of 2 or more in cache throughput, due to the luck of
the draw. You can try using hugetlbfs with explicit mmap(), but
this requires cooperation with Valgrind because the mmap() does
initialize memory as far as memcheck is concerned.
As a practical matter, reaonable systems with more than 3GB to 4GB
of RAM often are considered not to be "personal" machines. Instead,
the market deems them to be "servers" for a workgroup, department,
or enterprise. They are often dual-processor or quad-processor.
[Two vendor names include Tyan and Supermicro.] The cost of the
motherboard alone is often $300 to $1000, and each processor often
costs a similar amount. It often makes sense to use registered,
buffered, ECC RAM, which also costs more than the unregistered,
unbuffered, non-ECC RAM used in "personal" workstations. | <urn:uuid:2e04f349-0380-4c60-9ef8-3e9c96ab4a47> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?forum_name=valgrind-users&max_rows=25&style=nested&viewmonth=200607&viewday=29 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916354 | 873 | 1.617188 | 2 |
December 3, 2010
Did you ever make your parents a pencil holder out of a soup can covered in construction paper? I did, and I’m sure my folks treasured it…for at least a week or two, before putting it in the garage alongside the macaroni mosaics and the ashtray paperweight. These days, talented craftspeople are turning food packaging into far more sophisticated and creative wares that not only a mother could love. (But your mother might love them, too.)
The online craft and vintage marketplace Etsy is one of my favorite places to shop for handmade gifts, and some retailers are also getting in on the recycled product trend. Here are a few ideas for making it a green Christmas (or Hanukkah, though you’re running out of time):
1. The perfect place for sweethounds to stash their candy money is this coin purse woven from foil candy wrappers. At the Smithsonian Museum Store—$25 each, or $22.50 for Smithsonian members. The store also sells “Can-Can” flower pins, made from recycled cans by Brazilian craftspeople. On sale for $15.99/$14.39.
3. Along the same lines, college students can keep their electronics safe on the way to those all-night study sessions with padded laptop cases, sewn from reclaimed coffee sacks and other fabrics by a Baltimore seamstress. They’re sold at the Labudde store on Etsy for $40–$48.
4. Some bottles are attractive enough to forfeit the return deposit. Bottlehood, out of San Diego, is one of a number of Etsy shops selling tumblers made from soda and beer bottles, like these IBC root beer glasses. Set of four for $25. Sedona’s YAVAglass has a wide selection of upcycled glasses; I particularly like the Dry soda set, $28 for four. And the Smithsonian store sells soda pop tumblers made from discarded NYC restaurant soda bottles (sale price $20.97/$18.87 for set of four).
5. Help decorate the home bar or man-cave with a beer bottle chandelier from Barlite. They provide the holder; the gift recipient provides the empties. Small two-tier chandelier currently on sale for $299. For the same idea at the high end, Meyda Tiffany turns old wine bottles into Pottery Barn-worthy chandeliers and pendant lamps. They’re custom crafted in upstate New York so, unfortunately, it’s probably too late to make it by Christmas (though a bottle of wine and an IOU would do the trick). Inquire for prices and ordering information. VivaTerra, the eco-minded retailer, also sells table lamps made from repurposed French wine bottles. $219–$439.
6. Bottle caps are turning up in all kinds of jewelry: Little girls and tweens will love pendants and bracelets adorned with their favorite characters, whether Dora the Explorer or the Jonas Brothers. $8 each at the beads2jewellery shop, or search for countless other makers on the site. Retro bottle caps, like the Mountain Dew slipknot necklace at Toridawn11, appeal to teens and young adults. $6.50 each. Rebrewedcreations, from Philadelphia, makes more subtle and sophisticated bottle cap jewelry, like these “beerrings” with scrubbed-off graphics and elegant shapes. $20 a pair. There’s even something for the guys: Milkweedandhoney, also in Pennsylvania, makes beer bottle cufflinks. (Not recommended for wearing to job interviews, unless the job is at a bar.)
7. With more and more wineries turning to synthetic cork or screw-top bottles, the real thing is taking on nostalgic value—and has many creative uses. A cool hostess gift or stocking stuffer (for the adults) would be a set of champagne cork magnets (actually made from the corks of cava, the Spanish version of champagne) by SublimeHouseWarming. $8 for a set of six. I also love this wine cork bulletin board by 4EyesAndEars that also recycles another endangered item, the letterpress drawer. $65.
8. One thing that’s, unfortunately, in little danger of disappearing, is the ubiquitous plastic grocery bag. Luckily, some ingenious crafters invented “plarn” (plastic yarn), which can be crocheted into all kinds of objects. I particularly like these plastic bag baskets by BagsAgain, in Virginia. $10–$25 per basket.
Reduce, reuse, recycle, rejoice!
Editor’s Note: Also check out our holiday gift guide of food-related children’s books.
Sign up for our free email newsletter and receive the best stories from Smithsonian.com each week. | <urn:uuid:b60c95de-c9f3-4cc9-894e-64c2a23a1898> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/food/2010/12/holiday-gift-guide-crafty-ideas-from-recycled-food-packaging/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91937 | 1,029 | 1.585938 | 2 |
I always thought that relics were largely a Catholic phenomenon. You know: the toe of St. Francis Xavier, the Shroud of Turin, the finger of Mary Magdalene. And I certainly did not think relics would make interesting reading. Then, I came across a fascinating new book called Rag and Bone: A Journey Among the World’s Holy Dead by Peter Manseau.
NCR Today is the group blog of NCR. Each member of our diverse team of bloggers writes on different topics, including the politics of the church and secular society (and the interaction between the two), culture, management of the church and more.
In Memory of Karl Malden 1912–2009 R.I.P.
Th great Oscar-winning actor Karl Malden died yesterday. He is remembered for being a fine character actor. Charles Gibson, the ABC news anchor, quoted Malden as saying he was the only actor in Hollywood whose nose qualified him for handicapped parking.
Most of the world's agricultural work is done by women. The following is a statement about the increasing threats to women's land rights and ownership in Africa by Br. David Andrews, former director of the National Catholic Rural Life Conference, who currently works with Food and Water Watch in Washington.
The issue of women’s land rights and land ownership in Africa is a serious one. The FAO says that women contribute 60 to 80 percent of the labor used to produce food for household consumption and for sale in developing countries, especially sub-Saharan Africa. In a recent meeting of the Commission on Sustainable Development at the United Nations the concluding official 50 page text calls for a recognition of the rights of women over 50 times.
Times must be difficult at Ignatius Press, but apparently the conservative Jesuit, Fr. Joe Fessio, couldn't help himself in embracing one of the most divisive public personas in Newt Gingrich. Gingrich and his wife created an "inspiring walking tour of the nation's important buildings ...."
Fessio, the former provost of Tom Monaghan's pet project, Ave Maria Unviersity, and now theologian in residence at the school, fawns over Newt. "Newt Gingrich's Ph.D. in history really shines through in both this DVD and the book it evolved from."
Here's the whole description from Ignatius Press:
"The Lord hears the cry of the poor." Ps 34
Two stories in today's Lectionary readings--Hagar and the child Ishmael expelled into the desert (Gen 21), and the two demoniacs who confront Jesus (Matt 8)-- might have come from the morning news.
Visit http://www.unhcr.org, the home page of the United Nations High Command for Refugees, to get information on the millions of displaced, stateless, asylum-seeking, emigrating peoples around the globe.
Google the phrase "homeless and mentally ill" to find scores of sites like http://anxietypanichealth.com and to read a 2008 report on "the estimated 744,000 people who are homeless on any given night, 40 to 45 percent of them with a serious mental illness. Most of these mentally ill people go untreated, and unable to work, live a hand-to-mouth existence out on the streets."
Or if you live in any large or mid-sized American city, read your local paper or call city hall and ask about conditions on the street in your home town.
If the facts are as described in this Newsday story, it appears like another act of pure clericalism by Father Dan Murphy, pastor of St. Saviour Church in Brooklyn diocese, at its finest and backed up by the diocese.
That's among the beefs that St. Saviour church pastor the Rev. Daniel Murphy had with James Flanagan, who was let go this spring after 25 years as principal of the church's elementary school, according to an e-mail to parents from Flanagan's adviser.
"As pastor, I should have received a personal invitation with a complimentary ticket," Murphy wrote in six pages of complaints against the principal about the $200 he had to shell out for the March 2007 and October 2008 events."
Flanagan said the charges against him had nothing to do with his leadership of the school.
Connecticut's Attorney General has ruled that the Catholic church in the state does not have to register as a lobbyist in order to, well, lobby the legislature because the state's lobbying laws are probably unconstitutional for failing to exempt religious organizations. In short, the First Amendment trumps the state's ethics laws.
Now there might have been a time when the Republican Party had something - something - to offer our nation. I am trying to remember. Oh, yes, they allege they are "pro-life," but an honest look at the record shows they have fought virtually all life-enhancing legislation in the past several decades, particularly those bills which aid the poorest and most vulnerable among us. | <urn:uuid:82e29d64-ca7a-444e-a080-66f5be8305c4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today?page=719 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967299 | 1,024 | 1.898438 | 2 |
LONDON (AP) — It's a bird, it's a plane — it's a plane that looks a bit like a bird.
British Airways has unveiled the first in a flock of Olympic-themed jets that will fly during this summer's London Games.
The Airbus A319, which has been painted to resemble a giant gold dove, goes into service Tuesday, the first of nine similarly decorated Olympic planes.
Artist Tracey Emin mentored designer Pascal Anson, who created the look of the plane. Emin said she loved the design, which "brings back the excitement of travel."
The planes are one of several Olympic-themed projects for British Airways designed to celebrate British creative talent. Chef Heston Blumenthal is helping colleague Simon Hulstone develop in-flight meals inspired by traditional British cookery and the 1948 London Olympics, and actor Richard E. Grant has helped writer Prasanna Puwanarajah script a short film to be shown on flights.
All three projects — though not an actual Airbus — will be on display at an aviation-themed pop-up restaurant, gallery and cinema in London from Wednesday until April 17.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:449680ed-ffac-48ab-ab91-84be2aeb9754> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2012/04/03/british-airways-unveils-olympic-dove-plane_print.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937403 | 257 | 1.5625 | 2 |
It is based on the Xbee module from MaxStream. The module can communicate up to 100 feet indoors or 300 feet outdoors (with line-of-sight). It can be used as a serial/usb replacement or you can put it into a command mode and configure it for a variety of broadcast and mesh networking options. The shields breaks out each of the Xbee's pins to a through-hole solder pad.
It also provides female pin headers for use of digital pins 2 to 7 and the analog inputs, which are covered by the shield (digital pins 8 to 13 are not obstructed by the shield, so you can use the headers on the board itself). The Xbee shield was created in collaboration with Libelium, who developed it for use in their SquidBee motes (used for creating sensor networks).
Choose a currency below to display product prices in the selected currency. | <urn:uuid:4f31dbc3-e5b5-4d42-8c92-74c7d24a70e0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.abra-electronics.com/products/A000021-Arduino-Xbee-Shield-for-Arduino.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942064 | 180 | 1.804688 | 2 |
This is an autobiographical epic poem in the style of The Aeneid. Names are obviously false.
I will not open with fact,
No matter how you react,
But with imagination,
And without the slightest hesitation.
Let me take you back in time,
Please do not decline,
And paint you a scene,
Where much may you glean.
Picture a distinguished man,
A terrifyingly strict man,
Of an old fashioned, Victorian mindset,
That was Ajay Biswas, a man of prospect.
Biswas had a family; a wife Ambu,
Two sons; Bansi and Babu,
Two daughters, Alpana and Amala.
Bansi, the elder was an engineer,
Which in India is a popular career,
With the elder three married and settled,
Ajay determined Babu too be settled.
Babu, a carefree guy of twenty four,
Did his free and single life adore,
But Ajay, stern and unbending,
Decided an arranged marriage be pending.
Ajay consulted with nephew Manav,
Manav had a daughter Malati,
Ajay and Manav agreed on the union. | <urn:uuid:df895b30-f38a-4d60-9040-43b9964a6526> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.protagonize.com/poem/gaze-through-my-eyes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943102 | 255 | 2.078125 | 2 |
The right foods and supplements can sharpen focus and regulate mood.
Doctors and ADD experts rarely talk with parents about managing their child’s ADD symptoms through diet. This is a mistake, says Ned Hallowell, M.D., author of Delivered from Distraction, because the quality of a child’s diet determines how effectively his brain operates. Poor nutrition can cause a child to become distracted, impulsive, and restless. “The treatment of ADD must include diet as an essential component of a proper regimen,” says Hallowell. Here are tips on improving ADD symptoms by improving diet:
Beef Up Your Protein Levels
It is more difficult for a child to pay attention or regulate mood when he’s not getting enough protein, says Vincent J. Monastra, Ph.D., author of Parenting Children with ADHD: 10 Lessons That Medicine Cannot Teach. Foods rich in protein are used to make neurotransmitters, the chemicals released by our brain cells to communicate with each other. Protein can also prevent surges in blood sugar, which increases hyperactivity. “Because the body makes brain-awakening neurotransmitters when you eat protein, it’s a good idea to start your day with a breakfast that includes it,” says Monastra. Common protein sources include beef, pork, poultry, fish, eggs, beans, nuts, and dairy products.
Take Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Found in cold-water, fatty fish, such as sardines, tuna, and salmon, omega-3s are believed to be important in brain and nerve cell function. Omega-3s increase the level of dopamine in the brain. While omega-3 fatty acids seem to improve anyone’s mental focus, the compounds may be especially helpful to those with ADHD. One study, done in 2003, showed that omega-3s tend to break down more readily in the bodies of patients with ADHD than in those without the condition. Another study, from 2004, suggested that ADD children were more likely to have low blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids than those with no symptoms. Hallowell, founder of the Hallowell Centers for ADHD, recommends that his patients take omega-3 supplements, and notes that “it seems to help with mental focus, not hyperactivity or impulsivity.”
Mind Your Minerals
Deficiencies of several minerals—zinc, iron, and magnesium—can worsen symptoms of inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. Zinc is involved in the regulation of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that helps control mood. One study showed that zinc combined with ADD medication—methylphenidate, specifically—improved symptoms of hyperactivity and impulsivity. Zinc is found in beef, turkey, chicken, pork, lamb, oysters, and beans.
Magnesium is involved in hundreds of enzyme activities. “Among the substances that are developed from magnesium are the myelin sheath that surrounds the brain cells and the neurotransmitters involved in attention and concentration,” says Monastra. Magnesium is found in meats, nuts, soybeans, and spinach.
The latest research suggests that low levels of iron can worsen ADHD symptoms in children with the condition. A 2004 study found that 84 percent of children with ADHD had significantly lower levels of iron, compared with 18 percent of kids without the condition. Iron plays an important role in the brain, affecting production of the key neurotransmitter, dopamine. If you suspect your child has low levels of iron, talk with your doctor about testing him. Diet, not supplements, is the safest way to increase your child’s iron levels.
Balance Your Diet
Hallowell encourages parents of ADD children to visualize their plates when preparing a meal. Half of the plate, he recommends, should be filled with fruits and vegetables, one-fourth with a protein, and one-fourth with carbohydrates. This combination will control swings in behavior caused by hunger or a shortfall of a particular nutrient. In addition to the balanced plate, Hallowell advocates eating several servings of whole grains each day, to prevent blood-sugar levels from spiking and later plummeting, and cutting back on foods that contain dyes and excess sugar. Several studies have suggested that artificial food coloring and sugar may increase hyperactivity in children with ADHD. | <urn:uuid:c267a359-1a8f-497a-ad90-ef11872090dc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.additudemag.com/adhd/article/4924-2.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943869 | 886 | 2.875 | 3 |
Cave adaptation is caused by dwarves spending too much time underground with insufficient exposure to outdoor sunlight.
Exposure of cave-adapted dwarves to outdoor sunlight can cause two negative thoughts: "irritated by the sun" and "nauseated by the sun". The latter results from more severe cave adaptation and often results in profuse vomiting. Cave adaptation causes no problems if the affected dwarves simply remain underground.
Cave adaptation can be prevented by regular exposure to outdoor sunlight, which can be achieved by having an outdoor meeting area or high-traffic areas above ground. You can roof over the above ground area to prevent your dwarves getting rained on, yet it will still prevent cave adaptation. In other words, exposing your dwarves to areas that have ever been exposed to sunlight will prevent cave adaptation; it doesn't matter whether those areas have since been roofed over.
Cave adaptation can be treated the same way that it's prevented. However, due to the negative thoughts brought about by exposure to light in cave-adaptated dwarves, these outdoor areas should be well decorated with statues or the like. This should provide enough positive thoughts to negate those caused by cave adaptation. The progress of treating severe cave adaptation can be observed through Thoughts and Preferences, as limited exposure to sunlight will first convert severe cave adaptation into mild cave adaptation; see Personality traits for details.
|This article or section has been rated D for Dwarf. It may include witty humour, not-so-witty humour, bad humour, in-jokes, and references to the Bay12 forums. Don't believe everything you read, and if you miss some of the references, don't worry.|
A scientific explanation of cave adaptation by Deus Machina.
Underground has low levels of light and very little air circulation.
Dwarves develop low-light vision (plump helmets are packed with beta carotene!) and their facial follicles become sensitive to the motions that a breeze produces against their beards, which allows them to tell where tunnels turn.
As they go deeper, their eyes become less relied upon, and they adapt further to rely on their whisker-based folli-cation.
These eventually become so sensitive that, should a dwarf venture outside, the wind is the equivalent of multicolored and varying strobe lights. This is as aggravating to a dwarf's folli-cation as a Pink Floyd show seen while sober is to our sight, up to the point of causing nausea. | <urn:uuid:2ad3a119-11a3-47e2-bfbd-03e5bfd38337> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/v0.31:Cave_adaptation | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9589 | 506 | 2.96875 | 3 |
How To Survive When Your Heart's Been
|BY MARY GUINDON, PH.D., NCC
Mid-February may be cold and icy in most places, but it's also the time for warm, fuzzy, positive thoughts about love and relationships. From the anonymous Valentine's cards passed around in grade school classes, to the TV and magazine ads for serious investments in diamond jewelry, February 14th brings constant reminders of how wonderful it is to be in love.
But despite all the starry-eyed publicity that relationships receive at this time of the year, it's also a fact that not all of them last forever. Love may be wonderful, but having the present love of your life announce that it's just not working out and that he or she is out the door, is anything but wonderful. When it happens, and it does to almost everyone at one time or another, it can leave us feeling shattered, unlovable, abandoned, and very much alone. It can make you feel your life can never again be the same and bring pain that is truly excruciating.
What can you do? Start by following the age-old advice given to everyone with a broken heart. Let time be the healer. As time passes and you gain distance from the breakup, you'll also gain perspective. Realize you will heal and give yourself the time you need. Recognize, also, that you will heal at your own pace, not someone else's.
Such advice, of course, is of little consolation when the wound is new and the ache immense. Here, then, are ten practical tips to help you get through this initial period of pain:
- Recognize this as a loss, similar to the death of someone close to you. That means you will mourn. That's natural and inevitable. Don't beat yourself up or feel guilty for being sad or angry.
- Acknowledge that the day will come when you will get better. When you have the flu, you know it won't last forever. Think of this pain as a flu of the heart. It's going to go away, too.
- Take care of yourself physically. Get lots of rest but don't languish in bed. Exercise. Eat well and sensibly. This is not the time to junk out nor the time for stringent dieting.
- Put structure in your life. Stick to your regular schedule as much as possible during the week. Make plans for evenings, weekends and holidays.
- Realize you really aren't alone. Seek the support of others. There's nothing to be ashamed about. It's okay to accept comforting, but don't wallow in repeated story telling. Instead, do something for or with someone else. Consider the help of a professional counselor.
- Invest your energies in life. Surround yourself with things that are alive: plants, pets, and kids. Nurturing others is a fantastic way to nurture yourself.
- Be aware of the rebound. This is not the time to rekindle old, failed relationships, nor the time to start a new one. You need time alone to get to know yourself again.
- Start something new, interesting and involving. Develop a new interest or rediscover an old one. Take a class at the community college... pick up that craft project gathering dust... go on a tour, even if it's in your own town.
- Forgive your ex-lover. Forgive yourself. Celebrate the good in the relationship ended, but don't hold on to mementos from it. They can keep you stuck in the past. Honor what you had, then let it go. Burn, bury, throw out, or give away those reminders. Don't go out of your way to revisit those special places. And don't contact your ex-lover, hoping for unrealistic reconciliation. Accept that when something's over, it's over.
- Reaffirm yourself. You have value. Be gentle with yourself. Your life is well worth living. Anticipate a positive outcome and accentuate your positives. Learn from this experience and evaluate your own growth. Take stock and make realistic adjustments where you need to.
Taking these simple steps can help minimize that pain and put your life back on a positive, solid footing. And one day soon you will be able to commend yourself for your courage and your survival. You made it! And hopefully, come next Valentine's Day, you'll again be a participating member of the relationship celebration.
Dr. Guindon is the department chair for the Department of Counseling and Human Services at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. She is a licensed clinical professional counselor and a licensed psychologist with more than 20 years counseling experience. | <urn:uuid:f2f17fbd-7ef6-4947-90ba-0b66c649b469> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.shepherd.edu/safweb/counseling/specialtopics/brokenheart.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958236 | 966 | 1.859375 | 2 |
For many years after the alleged Roswell event in July 1947, when a flying saucer was said to have crashed on a ranch located about 60 miles north of Roswell, New Mexico. Rumors of alien corpses found nearby were largely dismissed by all but the more stubborn believers in extraterrestrial invaders. Every so often, though, stories would surface about Hangar 18 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, which was said to hold the remains of the crashed Roswell flying saucer and the refrigerated corpses of the alien bodies that had been found beside the downed craft.
Dayton, Ohio is not a town that most people would find remarkable. Except for the presence of the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. This military base started life merely as Wright Field (so named for the Ohio-born brothers who invented modern aviation). But, not long after the UFO crash at Roswell, that changed. Materials from the New Mexico crash site were believed to have been transported to Dayton, after which, Wright Field became formally known as Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
Many UFOlogists believe, since 1947, Wright-Patterson has been used to store wreckage from the downed alien craft and the bodies of the aliens themselves. It wasn’t long before rumors began to circulate about the mysterious “Blue Room,” or, Hangar 18. Stories about this top secret location in the Air Force Base were so persistent that in the 1960s, Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona dropped by the base and asked permission of General Curtis LeMay to view Hangar 18. His request met with quite a stir and was flatly denied by LeMay.
As UFO research enters the twenty-first century, controversy still rages over the truth of whether Major Jesse Marcel and his men collected pieces of debris from a flying saucer along with the bodies of two to five extraterrestrial crew members. Most civilian and military personnel accounts who claim to have been eyewitnesses to the events at Roswell speak of five alien bodies found at the impact site north of Roswell and state that four corpses were transported to Hangar 18 at Wright Field, with the fifth going to the USAF mortuary service at Lowry Field. Two years before his death in the late 1990s, pilot Oliver “Pappy” Henderson swore at a reunion of his World War II bomber crew that he had flown the remains of four alien bodies out of Roswell Army Field in a C-54 cargo plane in July 1947.
Don Schmitt and Kevin Randle, in their book UFO Crash at Roswell (1991), include an interview with Brig. Gen. Arthur Exon in which he states that, in addition to debris from the wreckage, four tiny alien cadavers were flown to Wright Field: “They [the alien bodies] were all found, apparently, outside the craft itself.…The metal and material from the spaceship was unknown to anyone I talked to. [The event at] Roswell was the recovery of a craft from space.”
In his subsequent research, Randle’s investigations confirm the claims made previously by other researchers that four corpses were transported to Wright Field and the fifth to Lowry Field. There are, however, numerous secondary accounts that maintain that one of the aliens survived the crash and was still alive when Major Marcel and his retrieval unit arrived on the scene. Some UFO researchers believe that as late as 1986 the alien entity was still alive and well treated as a guest of the air force at Wright-Patterson. | <urn:uuid:61fecfb3-e67e-4713-9b28-3d3cc2a26b09> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://circa71.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/hanger-18/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977863 | 714 | 2.328125 | 2 |
Musician Timothy Gudger shares how music has impacted him
In the series, “Playing It Forward,” the Salisbury Symphony Orchestra has shared what motivates musicians to teach music to children. To close it out, here is a letter from Timothy Gudger, principal violist with the Salisbury Symphony.
Although Gudger is not a music teacher, he is a great example of the benefits children receive from early music education.
“There are a variety of my current attributes and achievements as an adult that I believe are a direct outcome of having been privileged to partake in the strings programs offered in the Salisbury-Rowan School System:
“Dexterity is probably one of the more evident outcomes. The mind-power to be cognoscente of what is written on the page, what one is hearing, what one is seeing, and translating all of this into, in its most basic essence, movement of your right and left hands on an instrument requires a tremendous amount of focus.
“Developing this mental agility at an early age, I believe, is what gave me the knowledge to excel academically, get a master’s degree in viola performance, acquire a well-paying job as a staff accountant, and continue to play in four orchestras and be principal violist in one.
“The discipline that is required to learn, improve and succeed as a musician had immediate benefits that still carry on today in my personal life. I believe that this discipline is what kept my high attendance in school. I suspect that this is the same reason that I take the same approach to my work. From an early age, I was taught to set standards and goals and that I had to stick with them.
“Being in the strings program gave me a group of friends with whom I could identify and bond. Moreover, it kept me out of circles of people who might have led me down a path of personal destruction.
“Furthermore, I have found later in life that the people who identify with music as I do tend to be of a higher caliber and social standing. I think these positive and upstanding individuals tend to improve my integrity as well. In retrospect, I think these people may have always been a positive role model for me and a reason for my success.
“There is a uniqueness to playing an instrument. I was in a sizeable string class, yet we all sounded different. It may have been the amount of discipline each individual put forth in his practice, but I think it’s more than that. There is an ineffable quality to music that allows each person to play, hear, or interpret it differently. So, even at that early age, uniqueness is developing. The strings program only boosts that individuality we all inherently have. It hones it, nurtures it, and then it blossoms.
“I want to add that I was the fourth child in a family of non-musicians. I had never heard classical music until the Symphony came and played at our elementary school. While my parents didn’t understand my fascination, at least they didn’t discourage it. So here I am today, the first in our family to graduate from college, the first to be successful financially, blessed to be in association with friends and colleagues who are respected and well established, and motivated to still improve and self-determined enough to do it. Do I accredit this to music? Most definitely!”
This is the fifth in a series of short stories submitted by the Salisbury Symphony Orchestra to spotlight its teachers.
For more information about After-School Strings classes, call 704-637-4314 or visit the symphony’s website at www.salisburysymphony.org. | <urn:uuid:e0588871-2ac5-4806-a019-87fa4f1949cb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.salisburypost.com/article/20130130/SP01/130139929/1016/SP0101/musician-timothy-gudger-shares-how-music-has-impacted-him | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973226 | 782 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Menopausal symptoms can be a real drag, especially at work. Hot flashes and memory glitches can look pretty bad during a board meeting or employee review.
A Newhouse News Service story on menopausal women at work raised the question: To tell or not to tell? If employees misinterpret menopausal symptoms as signs of your disapproval, shouldn't you just tell them what you're going through? The story quotes one woman as saying: "I don't worry about what people think about me going through menopause. I'm more concerned about what they'll think if they don't know."
Of course, menopause may be a strange topic to bring up at the morning meeting.
But in many work cultures, it's inappropriate to discuss your health or personal topics, said Ruth Haag, a management consultant and coach in Sandusky, Ohio.
"It's like having hemorrhoids at work," Haag said. "Nobody wants to hear about it."
She cautions women against sabotaging themselves by sharing too much personal information. Many people experience problems like sleep disruption as they age, regardless of menopause. And younger employees may be sleep-deprived due to small children or late nights out, Haag noted.
So what do you think? Should women tell? Would you rather know? | <urn:uuid:b8ff36d8-e4c6-4ffc-8a10-4b0fe3c2827b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/the-inside-job/2008/08/11/should-women-tell-coworkers-if-theyre-menopausal | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969711 | 266 | 1.734375 | 2 |
What's Different about Fredonia?
"The Physics Department with its small classes and excellent teachers provided me with a fantastic background for a career as a scientist. The smallness of the department allowed me to get to know and work directly with the faculty that would not have been possible at a larger university."
Fredonia has an unusually strong physics program for an undergraduate college. A 1995 comparative study of physics departments shows Fredonia as sixth in the nation among non-Ph.D. granting institutions in the number of graduating majors. This "critical mass" of students, combined with a highly dedicated and accessible faculty provides a winning combination for student success. Unlike large research institutions, there are no large lecture courses at Fredonia. Introductory courses are in the range of 25-50 students (halved for recitation sections). Upper level courses range from 8-18 students. All courses in the physics major, including labs, are taught by professors, not TA's. Professors know each student individually and there is a lot of opportunity for one-on-one interaction, ranging from extra help in office hours, advising for courses and careers, independent study, and research. The Fredonia program provides a lot of options in addition to the traditional BS program in physics. Students can combine physics and engineering through 3-2 and 4-2 cooperative engineering programs, through which students receive a physics degree from Fredonia and an engineering degree (either bachelors or masters) from one of 14 affiliated institutions. Other popular options are Mathematics-Physics and Geophysics. It is also possible to combine physics with a computer science minor or major. Fredonia graduates have traditionally done very well in finding good jobs and succeeded in graduate school in a variety of disciplines, including medicine and law as well as physics and engineering.
The Department of Physics has five full-time faculty, all holding the doctorate, and three part-time faculty. Specialties include Atomic Physics, Computational Physics, Quantum Theory, Elementary Particle Physics, Cosmology, Theoretical and Experimental Solid State Physics, Positron Physics, and Electronics. The department is actively engaged in significant research: since 1984, 56 manuscripts have been published in major international refereed journals and over 70 papers have been presented at conferences. In many cases students have assisted in faculty research.
Significant numbers of students are engaged in research or independent study projects with professors. Students are encouraged to present the results of their research at regional physics conferences. An active physics club engages in research projects and outreach activities, as well as going on field trips and attending conferences. Recent club projects have involved magnetic levitation, holography, robotics, and construction of physics demonstrations such as a Reubens' Flame Tube, and a Peltier-cooled cloud chamber.
Information on Graduates
In conclusion, physics graduates are participating in creative ventures with tremendous rewards. The Department of Physics is proud of these achievements. We are looking forward to hearing from you! | <urn:uuid:6f51044d-8ea0-4063-962f-3c61de51bfeb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fredonia.edu/department/physics/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955603 | 604 | 1.851563 | 2 |
The Tehuacán Valley captures the tragedy and triumph of Mexico’s worst freshwater crisis in decades. In this video, meet Francisca Rosas Valencia, a leader who is working to better her community’s water future.
In the heart of central Mexico, lies a valley whose very name, across the land, is synonymous for water: Tehuacán.
But custom can have deeper roots than reality. And the people of Tehuacán Valley have felt the water ebb beneath their feet. This fertile land of mineral springs, where corn was cultivated for the first time in all the world, is a drier place now.
Little rain from above means more withdrawal from below. Groundwater levels continue to plummet at an alarming rate. Water, always valuable, has become a precious commodity, and where it is absent, the future whithers.
At a man-made rain-collection pond in the dusty town of San Marcos, Francisca Rosas Valencia watches families come for water. Parched and barren land frames this eye of water, which serves as an option of last resort for those whose pipes go dry for hours, or days, on end.
The water is unsettlingly opaque. It is intended for livestock, but it stretches as far as laundry and may, in the hardest times, even be pressed into service for drink.
Doña Francisca has lived in San Marcos all her days and has seen water come nearer, but she has also seen that it cannot go much farther.
“In my childhood, at the age of seven, my parents required me to travel far distances to retrieve water. Now, the conditions are better. But there is still not sufficient water to meet all our needs. I would like to find a solution for us to have sufficient water, because water is the most important basis for life here.”
Doña Francisca is doing something unheard of for women in her indigenous ethnic group. With the determination of her enterprising ancestors, who built the region’s first dam in 715 B.C.E., she has become a community leader. She’s encouraging her neighbors — family farmers — to replace their traditional corn crops with amarynth, a high-protein grain more suited to the arid climate.
Her effort show promise: hundreds of peasant families have made money from selling amarynth products, marketed under the brand name “Cuali,” or quality.
“I like to work. I like to be successful. I have nine family members to support.”
Forces of man and nature have turned this valley’s freshwater supply, once renowned throughout Mexico, into an ancient memory. Industrial and agricultural pollution have rendered many waterways dangerous and some deadly. Rainfall is scarce, leaving soils parched and aquifers dangerously empty.
Four years ago, Circle of Blue assigned Newsweek’s Latin America bureau chief Joe Contreras and World Press-winning photojournalist Brent Stirton of Getty Images to tell Tehuacán’s story. Now, we turn our attention back to the region to find out what’s happened since — particularly after the worst drought in 68 years struck Mexico during the summer of 2010. | <urn:uuid:19c50e25-0d47-49c8-b216-1c5d0778ff2a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2011/world/tehuacan-video-essay-scarcity-and-solutions-pt-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945934 | 671 | 3.390625 | 3 |
City Council Meeting Covers Everything From History to New Construction
Auburn City Council had an eventful meeting June 11, 2012 during which they covered marketing and signage, historical grounds, construction, and more.
Auburn’s New Marketing
Alan Jackson, a Peru State College professor, and a group of his students have been working with Auburn to renovate its marketing. So far Jackson and his students have been working on ideas for the web site, a smartphone app, and a logo. However, Jackson does not have the means or training to create signs. Jackson contacted School House Graphic Products, a student-run graphic design and signage company which designs and manufactures signs.
There are eight high school students who work for School House Graphic Products over the summer, and they would collaborate with Peru State College and the Auburn school system through Skype or face-to-face meetings to research Auburn’s history and design the web site and signage. Clay and Julie Mohr teach and supervise students who work at School House Graphic Products, which is based out of Arnold, NE. School House Graphic Products has worked with the Department of Roads and attended trainings so that they understand guidelines for putting up signs throughout a community.
For the past ten years, students have learned business, technology, and art skills while gaining the skills necessary to work in a sign company through School House Graphic Products. This company his produced everything from 911 Road Identification signs for Custer County, NE to trophies for the National Little Miss Beauty Pageant.
The Auburn City Council examined a proposed ordinance which would declare certain sections of Auburn historical districts. The ordinance would create a Historical Preservation Board composed of five members, three of which own real estate in the historical district and two of which who have an interest in preservation, culture, history, or engineering. The members would be appointed by the mayor with confirmation by the City Council.This council would push toward preservation of historic sights, while keeping the intentions of the owners in mind.
The area under consideration stretches from the courthouse block to sections of downtown. The reasoning behind the large area lies in the history of Auburn. Because Auburn used to be two railroading towns which combined into one, it has two areas with historic buildings.
Hidden Treasure Nomination
Every summer, Heritage Nebraska chooses a location for their Hidden Treasure award. Hidden Treasures are destinations which aren’t on web sites or brochures, but are still worth visiting. Although there is no prize money, the destination receives publicity, and it is an honor. This year, councilwoman Mary Kruger has nominated Legion Memorial Park for the award.
In 1929, the City of Auburn purchased the property for the park for 6,000 dollars. Donations were collected for benches, a fountain, a Douglas Fir Tree, and playground equipment. In July of 1931, the original swimming pool was dedicated an the park was named Legion Memorial Park. The buildings in the park were build in the 1930’s and 40’s and were built with red granite and limestone from local quarries. They were financed by the Works Project Administration put into place by President Roosevelt. A WWII army tank was added to the park in the early 1950’s, and in May of 2011 the Nemaha County Veteran’s Memorial was dedicated nearby. In 1994 today’s swimming pool replaced the older pool. Legion Memorial Park is one of the National Historic Park sites. It is a great place to walk, picnic, or host a party.
P Street Bridge Project
The JEO Consulting Group submitted an estimation of the cost to reconstruct the bridge on P Street. An estimated 101,330.10 dollars would pay for engineering, removal, materials, and contingencies. The Community Redevelopment Authority (CRA) has 60,000 dollars which could be used for this project; however, they have not determined whether those funds will be used for the bridge or not. The City Council voted 5-1, with Clark opposing, to move forward with the project if the CRA grants them the funding. Once the bridge has been completed, the council would like to look towards paving P Street. | <urn:uuid:de1ba187-53bb-44da-a775-81f81f637a46> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.anewspaper.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1107:city-council-meeting-covers-everything-from-history-to-new-construction&catid=1:local&Itemid=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971317 | 845 | 1.5625 | 2 |
millennium in a sentence
Example sentences for millennium
By the turn of the millennium, my argument was beginning to gain ground.
That uncertainty will spread as the millennium approaches, and could easily tip into panic.
Websites are the shop fronts of the new millennium, and of course you don't put damaged goods in the window.
It is impossible to say just when these national dress codes began eroding, but by the turn of the millennium they were gone.
The lost first decade of the millennium could be redeemed in one year of gutsy negotiating.
But only in the new millennium, in the time of global electronic transmission, has the identification become second nature.
It's truly the work of a millennium.
The new millennium is a time for exciting discoveries and renewed appreciation for our history and our heritage.
Seventies luxuries-air conditioners and clothes dryers-are of course the new millennium's necessities.
Something similar may be happening on a global scale as our millennium approaches its close.
It is time to move this holiday into the new millennium.
The end of war between nations is a nearly certain achievement of the next millennium, if not the next century.
This is supposed to happen at the start of the millennium.
In fact, our electronic novelties are transforming the word as profoundly as the printing press did half a millennium ago.
Why, six months ago you would have thought it the millennium to have a flower shop of your own.
But the pace of the change has quickened since the turn of the millennium, and even more so since the crash.
This updated guide to etiquette explains how to navigate in the new millennium.
He was headed straight into the battle of the millennium.
Another, painted at the turn of the millennium, presents an imaginary firework display.
Mock wireless antennae of bamboo and rope had been erected to receive in advance the news of the millennium.
E-mail is so last millennium.
However, the phrase "seeing is believing" hasn't lasted for over two millennium for just no reason.
The layout of the site is considered to be a seminal work of urban planning from the first millennium.
Famous quotes containing the word millennium
Postmodernism is, almost by definition, a transitional cusp of social, cultural, economic and ideological history when m... more
Until politics are a branch of science we shall do well to regard political and social reforms as experiments rather tha... more
This war no longer bears the characteristics of former inter-European conflicts. It is one of those elemental conflicts ... more | <urn:uuid:e2dfd474-03d8-490c-9540-d6f918b71df8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.reference.com/example-sentences/millennium | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93147 | 533 | 2.015625 | 2 |
Lyme disease - Borrelia burgdorferi organism
Lyme disease is caused by a bacterium called Borreliaburgdorferi. It is known as a spirochete because of its long, corkscrew shape. This photograph shows the typical corkscrew appearance of a spirochete. (Image courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.)
Last reviewed 3/15/2012 by Mark Levin, MD, Division of Infectious Disease, MacNeal Hospital, Berwyn, IL. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M. Health Solutions, Ebix, Inc.
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Any duplication or distribution of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited. | <urn:uuid:2fc487a3-ab39-4b5c-b3c7-0fa9cf465c5c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uihealthcare.org/Adam/?/HIE%20Multimedia/2/1427 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90495 | 238 | 3.546875 | 4 |
Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Coal Miner Employment and Domestic Energy Infrastructure Protection Act, a bill that protects American jobs and promotes U.S. energy production by blocking the most extreme elements of the President's job-killing environmental agenda.
"The people of Texas understand that a real 'all of the above' energy plan wouldn't exclude affordable American coal," said U.S. Congressman Kevin Brady, "and that Washington needs to stop doing things that hurt the mining industry and our economy."
"This White House's efforts to rewrite coal mining regulations will cost jobs, lower our nation's energy production and deny all Americans access to affordable energy right here at home," added Brady. "That doesn't make sense in any economy, let alone the Obama economy, which ranks dead last when compared to all other post-World War II economic recoveries."
The bill also prevents a national energy tax from being imposed under the Clean Air Act and requires a comprehensive analysis of the effects of federal environmental regulations on American manufacturing, global competitiveness, energy prices and jobs. | <urn:uuid:7f9117fc-a87a-4274-b4dd-eb52f8acbcef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://votesmart.org/public-statement/747383/house-votes-to-stop-the-war-on-coal | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928548 | 217 | 1.960938 | 2 |
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February 24, 2013 3:22 pm
Poor Numbers: How We Are Misled By African Development Statistics and What To Do About It, by Morten Jerven, (Cornell University Press, RRP£40.50, $65)
There are lies, damned lies and then there are African statistics. If economic figures everywhere are a work in progress – regularly rebased and updated to take into account fresh data – those from Africa are the most open to question and the most unreliable in their revision.
This will come as no surprise to academics, investors or development specialists. Shantayanan Devarajan, chief economist of the World Bank for Africa, for example, has talked recently of “Africa’s statistical tragedy”. Yet the extent and implications of the variations are little studied, and the data are widely used.
The point is not simply theoretical. Some innovative recalculations from social surveys last year by London School of Economics professor Alwyn Young suggest living standards in sub-Saharan Africa have risen at 3-4 per cent a year in the past two decades, or three to four times faster than existing data sets claim.
More extreme, in 2010, Ghana recalculated its gross domestic product, adding 60 per cent ($13bn). Overnight, the “low income” country was redefined as low-middle income: good for investment and fulfilling politicians’ pledges; bad for recipients of aid from donors focused on the poorest nations.
Poor Numbers is an important contribution to the subject. Morten Jerven, an assistant professor at the school for international studies at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, builds the case for renewed scrutiny. Pointing to “huge discrepancies and alarming gaps” in African figures, he writes: “Datasets are like guns. Someone will use them if they are left lying around.”
The book, while technical, is notable for its application of economic analysis without indigestible equations; for drawing out broader policy implications; and the use of colourful insights from the field. Conducting fieldwork in Zambia’s Central Statistical Office in 2007, he found a crop survey delayed by the need for car repairs, computers gone missing, scant records from the previous three decades and just one of the three staff from the national accounts division regularly in the office.
He examines data to show that in 2011, only 17 of a selection of 47 African countries had prepared their own new GDP estimates. Just 10 had a “base year” – the reference point from which subsequent adjustments are made – that was within the past decade. Madagascar’s dated back to 1984.
Yet fundamental changes – in agriculture, industrialisation, the large, unrecorded informal sector – have taken place since. “More than half of the rankings of African economies up to 2009 may be pure guesswork,” Jerven concludes. From his own informal polling of statistics offices in 23 countries, he found just three believed their own GDP calculations covered the whole economy and 18 thought they were underestimated.
So how did such a lamentable situation come about? The author describes how statistical offices are a relic of the colonial period, which had its own extractive priorities. African production and trade not destined for export were considered irrelevant. With decolonisation, funding for data gathering waned further. In mid-1970s Zambia, the university library lacked the money to transport reports from the statistical office to its archives; they are now missing. Ever poorer national statistics meant lower demand and still fewer resources for improvement.
The structural adjustment programmes – reducing fiscal imbalances by cutting public spending – advocated by the International Monetary Fund in the 1980s and 1990s ought to have given new impetus to economic measurement. Yet, Jerven argues, budget cuts and the break-up of large state-controlled companies that undertook centralised data collection worsened the problems.
Today, external donors’ priorities are still influential. Jerven cites a three-year aid programme in Malawi that used Norwegian software that was too complex to manage locally and models inappropriate for the data available.
A recent push towards accountability in meeting the social objectives of the UN millennium development goals has had the perverse effect of creating demand for 48 new indicators – many difficult to quantify – and further stretched limited capacity to measure broader economic growth.
Jerven’s recommendations for reform are a bit thinner, although he is right to call for a focus on strengthened national statistical capacity, the use of “economic anthropologists” and at a minimum greater transparency on the underlying assumptions and weaknesses of existing data.
As he rightly concludes: “Numbers are too important to be ignored, and the problems surrounding the production and dissemination of numbers are too serious to be dismissed.”
The writer is an FT correspondent
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2013. You may share using our article tools.
Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web. | <urn:uuid:08fe9e75-138e-4035-8e51-a80c0d111424> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/0168741a-7c4d-11e2-91d2-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=published_links/rss/global-economy/feed/product | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937224 | 1,065 | 1.765625 | 2 |
A few weeks ago it was noted that the president of the Jersey City Education Association was stepping down. He was cited as being a “Legend.” With all due respect, The only “Legend” in Jersey City Education Association Annals was and is Louis T. Scialli. Mr. Scialli was the one who took the J.C.E.A. from an also-ran union and elevated it to be one of the most powerful urban education unions in the United States.
From the 1960’s until his death in the early 1990’s Lou fought for the improvement of teaching conditions in the schools, better salaries and benefits, and grievance arbitration system that is still in existence today. It was he, through the force of his will and leadership that led the teachers through the bitter strikes of the 1960’s and 70’s, strikes that proved to be successful and led to the benefits the Jersey City teachers enjoy today. No doubt many of the young teachers have never heard of his name and accept things the way they are, but these benefits were gained through much strife and difficulty.
As a retired teacher who was involved with Lou in the early days of our struggle, it only seems fitting that the New Jersey City Education Association building be named after him. Lou initiated and complete the purchase of the first J.C.E.A. building which cemented and legitimized the union’s acceptance as a true professional organization. It is therefore only fitting and proper that his legacy should forever be remembered by all Jersey City teachers, past, present, and future by naming that building on the boulevard after him.
Lou was the face of the J.C.E.A. for many years. It would be a great tribute to honor a man who has done so much for the children, people and teachers of Jersey City.
William F. Millevoi
Retired Teacher, Coach, Administrator for J.C. School Board
Special kudos go to the recently retired 1st vice president of the Jersey City Education Association Bob Cecchini. It was he, as chairperson of the Grievance Committee who shepherded teachers concerns and solved their problems with the Jersey City Board of Education with professional grace and intelligence. It was he who negotiated the past 3 teacher’s contracts and left todays teachers in a good place. Bob was there with Lou in the early days and did his best to keep Lou’s legacy alive, always putting the concerns of the teachers above anything else. If Lou were here today, he would say to Bob- “thanks for a job well done” | <urn:uuid:028d15c2-8ae0-4ce6-aa5c-3873b8918e23> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hudsonreporter.com/view/full_story/19993008/article-%E2%80%9CLegend%E2%80%9D-?instance=special_coverage_bullets_right_column | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985337 | 541 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Annual membership dues vary by state. Please click here to view the membership dues table.
FAQs for Pilots
Senior Members must be at least 18 years old. There is no maximum age limit.
No, you do not have to join the military.
You must first become qualified as a CAP Pilot. The next level of service is to be a Transport Mission Pilot (TMP). Until you become a CAP TMP, you are limited to checking out in the local aircraft (C172 or 182 most likely) and maintaining your personal and FAA currency.
- Be an active CAP member at least 17 years of age (16 years of age for CAP glider pilots).
- Possess a valid FAA private, commercial, or airline transport pilot certificate.
- Possess a class III or higher medical certificate (not required for gliders).
- Possess a current flight review IAW FAR 61.56.
- Satisfactorily complete a CAP Form 5 flight check (similar to a BFR) in an aircraft (in an appropriate group) within the preceding 12 months.
- Complete an annual CAP Form 5 written examination and annual aircraft questionnaires for each aircraft authorized to fly.
The qualifications to become a Transport Mission Pilot are: During authorized Emergency Services missions, CAP Transport Pilots may transport CAP members, ferry aircraft, fly “high bird” communication sorties, and transport parts or equipment needed for missions.
- At least 18 years of age.
- Current and qualified CAP pilot in accordance with CAPR 60-1, with at least 100 hours pilot in command time including at least 50 hours of cross-country flying.
- Qualified General Emergency Services.
Qualifications to become a Search and Rescue/Disaster Relief Mission Pilot – Once becoming a CAP Pilot and attaining 175 hours PIC time with 50 hours of cross-country time one can start training to become a SAR/DR Mission Pilot. (50 hours X-C is the A to B, 50 NM or more, kind)
- Qualified Transport Mission Pilot
- At least 200 hours pilot in command time and 50 hours of cross-country flying 3. Qualified Mission Scanner
- Complete all requirements listed in the most current version of the Aircrew and Flight Line Task Guide for MP.
CAP does not normally provide primary flight training for members. That said, we do have a lot of members who are also Certified Flight Instructors and often willing to provide training to members at reduced rates. Depending on your locality, CAP members may also have access to military aero clubs and their flight instructors which can be significantly cheaper than going through a normal commercial operation. We have several scholarships that help CAP Cadets obtain a pilot's license. Unfortunately, we do not have any scholarships for adult members. See our scholarships page for details.
Once you have your license, you can fly with CAP CFIs in CAP aircraft to increase your ratings which can also be significantly cheaper than a commercial operation again.
Most squadrons meet weekly for about 2 1/2 hours, and offer special activities on the weekends and during the summer. Training to fly for CAP might require more time then the weekly meetings.
CAP has approximately 550 aircraft, mostly Cessna 182s and 172s. CAP has the largest fleet of single-engine piston aircraft in the world and through CAP’s volunteer members, CAP logs about 120,000 flying hours per year.
Senior members may be required to wear a specific uniform during certain activities, when flying in CAP aircraft for example. Senior members may wear the USAF style blue uniform or one of the distinctive CAP uniforms. However, some members choose to serve quietly without wearing a uniform. You can purchase uniform items from Vanguard www.civilairpatrolstore.com.
Regular and Reserve officers of the Armed Forces of the United States, active, retired, or honorably discharged, may be advanced to a CAP grade equivalent to their grade in the Armed Forces (but not to exceed lieutenant colonel), in recognition of their military knowledge and experience.
Regular, Reserve, and National Guard Senior Noncommissioned Officers of the Armed Forces or Coast Guard of the United States, active, or retired, in the grade of E-7 through E-9 may receive an advanced CAP grade in recognition of their military knowledge and experience.
Such promotions are neither automatic nor mandatory, but are at the discretion of the promoting authority.
You will only have access to the base when participating in CAP events. You will be allowed to shop at the BX only when on official orders and billeted on the base. Authorized uniform items can be purchased at the Military Clothing sales store.
Aliens admitted for permanent residence are eligible. Other non-citizens must request a waiver of the citizenship requirement through the wing and region commander.
All promotions are at the discretion of your squadron commander, but the standard way to earn rank is determined by your time in CAP, time in your current rank, and the training you complete for your CAP position. There are other circumstances that warrant a promotion – for specifics, talk to your squadron commander. In order to receive any promotion, you must be at least 21 years old and have a high school diploma or equivalent.
In order to ensure the best possible protection of CAP cadets, all senior members are fingerprinted and checked by the FBI to ensure no one with any violent or sexual-assault felony convictions has contact with the cadets.
Many citizens want to support the great work of CAP, but simply don’t have the time right now. You can still help by becoming a member of the National Patron Squadron. Visit our donation page for more details.
Civil Air Patrol does not preclude membership due to medical conditions or disabilities. However, participation in certain activities may be limited depending on the condition, illness or disability. | <urn:uuid:c6c665d6-66cb-4a09-abaa-b25c2d73a4ed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/how_to_join/pilots_faq/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937722 | 1,195 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Riding in the heat sucks. Showing up drenched in sweat is always a bad look, but cruising around in a t-shirt results in sunburn, windburn and sometimes serious, life threatening injuries. What if you could buy a jacket built out of a strong, abrasion-resistant material that also has lots of holes for airflow? Well, you can. It’s called a mesh jacket and it’s the next best thing to having A/C on your bike.
Icon makes the ARC Mesh jacket for hot weather. Construction and materials are shockingly good for a $230 jacket. The torso and insides of the arms are made of magical air-flowing nylon mesh which feels very crash worthy, especially by mesh jacket standards. Shoulders and the outsides of the arms are covered in 1.2-1.4mm thick leather that is soft, yet strong. The seams are solidly constructed and all seven (really, seven?) exterior logos are thoughtfully integrated. An added benefit of its mesh construction is that it weighs next to nothing.
This all-black jacket is part of Icon’s “Stealth” range of colorways. It’s great to see a mainstream gear maker offering a significant portion of its products in all-black with blacked-out logos.
The best part? Wearing this jacket actually keeps you cooler than a t-shirt with no jacket at all. How? First, it keeps the sun off your arms and back. Second, when it’s unbearably hot, the slower and controlled airflow through the mesh works to pull heat away from your body much more effectively. If you’re wearing a t-shirt, 80mph hot wind blasts blow the sweat right off of you before it has a chance to work. Water pulls heat from you as it evaporates and the ARC mesh slows the wind blasts down to a slow breeze that actually allows that process to work.
Would it survive a 35mph slide? Almost certainly, those leather impact areas are key. Would it save you in a freeway speed slide? It’d probably help. There are CE-certified protectors in the shoulders and elbows, but the fit (more on this later) makes the placement of the armor questionably safe. The back pad it comes with doesn’t meet CE standards, but it’s better than nothing and it’s easy to swap out for Icon’s CE approved Stryker back protector. A safety concern with this jacket is that the provided belt snaps aren’t big enough or located in a proper position to make them useful. Check out the photo below, that’s a standard-sized belt and there’s no way those snaps are going to fit over it. Because the jacket is so short and loose, without securing it to pants it’s a road rash disaster waiting to happen, there’s just nothing stopping it from riding up as you slide down the road.
Which brings us to the fit. Icon got a lot of things right with this jacket but one important thing really wrong. Even after trying a myriad of sizes the fit of the jacket just simply doesn’t work. I don’t think it’s just me either. I’m a fairly average 6 feet tall, 155 pounds and am probably an off-the-peg 38 regular if I was the kind of guy that bought sport coats. In other words, I’m used to being able to buy clothes that fit.
In the off chance that you’re extremely fat, there are side expansion gussets
In a size small, this jacket is so short that it’s actually unwearable. It gets worse too: The arms are freakishly long and loose (try fitting all that material inside gloves that cover your wrist). In medium, it’s still too short and all the other problems are worse. The arms are so long they cover your entire hand and the armor doesn’t come close to sitting at the shoulder or elbow or covering the fragile pointy bones. How about an extra small? Arms are the correct length, armor is in all the right spots and fit through the torso is good all the way down to my belly button where the jacket just abruptly ends a good four to five inches before it should.
Sean’s going to kill me, but I’m including this rather embarrassing photo of him to illustrate just how odd the fit is. This is an extra small, which fits his shoulders, arms and chest perfectly, but he’s got a lot of work to do in the gym if he really wants to rock that fashionable belly shirt look. To see a picture of Sean which isn’t so embarrassing, go here. — Ed.
The ARC Mesh jacket is tagged as a Sport fit which places it in the middle of Icon’s range. In other jacket styles, they also offer Relaxed (which is baggier) and Attack (which is more fitted).
We’re not just being style-conscious in our complaint here. The big concern here is safety. If you crash in an ill fitting jacket it’s unlikely the armor will stay in place and, depending on which way you slide, some or most of your torso may be exposed, defeating the purpose of wearing a jacket in the first place. Comfort is also a concern, an excess of material will flap around at highway speeds, at best acting as a distraction, at worst making the jacket unbearably uncomfortable.
While it’s not our style here at Hell For Leather, clothes can be baggy and still fit well. Look at a pair of Levi’s Relaxed Fit jeans. They’re baggy, but they still match the human body and hit all the basic structure points. They’re also not too short. Despite targeting a specific market who might want their riding gear to be a bit looser (and thereby unfortunately less functional for the reasons mentioned above), Icon would do well to solve this problem and rescue an otherwise great product. This is an affordable, high-quality, nice-looking jacket that would be a bargain at $230, if it fit. | <urn:uuid:eb7aa89e-0c3d-498f-9f1e-e7819ac9f2f7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rideapart.com/2011/08/gear-icon-arc-mesh-jacket/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949353 | 1,291 | 1.640625 | 2 |
We can count the fiscal deficit, but we cannot count the pain of a family where the breadwinner has just been retrenched. We can value the share price, but we cannot value honesty or integrity.
So much of our political, economic and business discourse is about ideology, policy, methodology, models, frameworks and systems. So little of our discourse is about what set of values underpins our models, frameworks and systems. In any economic system, be it socialism or capitalism, when there is a loss of morals and ethics, the poor and the vulnerable suffer the most. Economic systems or models or frameworks matter, the numbers matter; but they matter far less than the foundation upon which they are built. That foundation is the set of values or ethics upon which we build our businesses, organisations and societies.
"Everything that is counted does not necessarily count; and everything that counts can not necessarily be counted" Albert Einstein
In the past 14 months, the world has witnessed economic turbulence not seen in most of our lives. The International Labour Organisation estimates that over 50 million people have lost their jobs. The number of South Africans who have lost their jobs in the past three quarters stands at just below a million. That's one million households in pain, where food would be scarce, stress in abundance, where families struggle to make ends meet. Economic turbulence is measured in the human condition, the feelings, emotions, aspirations and happiness of millions and millions of people. By this measure, the word depression more adequately describes the human cost of this global economic crisis.
We should also remember that even before the crisis, over four million South Africans were unemployed and about 40 per cent of households were living on less that 2 dollars a day. About half of our young people sit idly in townships, with neither work nor hope. The strain and stress that these statistics have on our social fabric is massive: crime, inequality, social dislocation, marginalisation – there is a greater sense of ‘us' and ‘them'.
Societies cannot survive and prosper in these circumstances. Inequality, of the scale that we have, is not sustainable in the long run. It is impossible for our country to make the kind of progress we need without addressing the key issue – that too few people work and in particular, that too many young people cannot get work.
Returning to what went wrong in the economic systems of the world – with socialism in the 1980s and with capitalism last year. In both cases, three things went wrong. Firstly, elites captured power and used state resources to benefit the few. In Eastern Europe, the best schools, the best hospitals, even the best holiday resorts were reserved for senior party members. The higher up the ranks of the party, the better one was treated by the state. In modern day capitalism, the elites not only have a monopoly on the best schools and hospitals but they also use the state to further their own interests. While the bailouts of the financial system in the US were necessary, there are few who will doubt the role of the elite in lobbying for support from Washington. Here in South Africa, elites have captured state resources through corruption, through crony empowerment and by milking the state through charging exorbitant prices.
The second common feature was that the ‘distance' between government and the governed widened. The lifestyles of the elites, even in government, became unrecognisable to those of the electorate. The standard of living of senior public officials was so distant from that of the electorate that it blurred their judgement. The deterioration of the health system is a case in point. With almost all politicians and most senior officials in the state having access to private health care, too few policy-makers recognised that public health services were collapsing, even though 83 per cent of the population rely on the public health system. The elites were shielded because it did not impact on their lives.
The fracas around the expenses of politicians is a clear example of the widening distance between public office bearers and the electorate. Many senior leaders in government and in business live in different areas, use different means of transport, their children go to different schools, they shop in different stores, they purchase different items and they read different newspapers. Such distance must have negative implications for governance, accountability and democracy.
The third common thread that gave rise to these crises was a complete breakdown in the ethical foundations of society, both in government and in business. The casino economy, as parts of the financial services sector has become known, lost all perspective of right and wrong. Market players believed, with almost religious zeal, that markets were always right and that resources were always allocated in an efficient manner.
Without honesty and integrity, free markets will run amok. Let's take the example of price collusion, affecting so many of our industries in South Africa. Let me ask the question, who is a greater threat to free markets in South Africa, the so called ‘left' who call for nationalisation or the business leaders who fix prices in anti-competitive ways and don't play by the rules?
A business community that condones their own when they fix the price of bread or rig a tender contract is a community that has lost its moral compass and therefore cannot be relied upon to help build a successful country.
This loss of moral compass occurred in socialist countries too. Only the immoral could not see that certain reforms, such as collectivisation in farming, was causing food production to fall and hunger to increase. Because prices were not a signal of a crisis in food production, food had to be rationed and of course, the elites got more. A system that justified anti-democratic practices such as bannings, arrests and intimidation of the opposition by the state is a system that has lost its moral authority.
There are government examples of how hubris led to failure too, from the great Roman empires to our present day government here today. Arrogance, disregard for the electorate and disdain for the views of others is a recipe for failure. The complete lack of humility in our discourse is a serious cause for concern.
Our country faces massive challenges. We seek to build a united, prosperous, non¬-racial and non-sexist society where the opportunity of every citizen is valued and nurtured. We cannot achieve this objective unless we tackle the employment challenge. Under the leadership of President Zuma, we have opened up a dialogue on a new growth path for South Africa. An alternative growth path must be a more labour-absorbing one and a more inclusive one.
While government has a key role to play in increasing employment, only through a partnership with the business community can we hope to succeed in creating millions more jobs. As government, we have an obligation to business to support them and to provide the environment for entrepreneurs to succeed. At the same time, we expect honesty and integrity from our business community. As I've said repeatedly in the past, we seek entrepreneurs, not tenderpreneurs. We seek people and businesses that are going to create jobs and add value to public services without milking the state, even if this is in the name of BEE.
Even as we search for a new growth paradigm and as the world searches for a new economic paradigm, let us recognise that no system in the world is sustainable if it is not underpinned by a sense of morals, ethics and values. No system can succeed if it is not people-centred. We must put people first, and we are unashamed that we will put the poor and vulnerable first in our policies.
I leave you the words of John D. MacDonald, “Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn't blow in the wind or change with the weather. It is your inner image of yourself, and if you look in there and see a man who won't cheat, then you know he never will.”
Note: This speech was given on the 10 November 2009 at the Cape Times/KPMG Business Personality of the Year 2009 and was published by Cape Times.
Nhlanhla Nene is the Deputy Finance Minister of the Republic of South Africa.
|A minute with the deputy minister
Ethics and integrity are two of the core values of the Chartered Accountancy profession, what role do you think the profession can play to enhance these values in the way South African business is run?
Ethics should be an intrinsic value in any business but more especially the CA(SA) profession. Any business that does not espouse these is not worthy of clientele at all. A lack of ethics is simply organised theft.
What are the important factors that business leaders should take into consideration in leading through the current challenges (economic, environmental and political)?
When leaders are oblivious to the big picture, when they ignore the impact of their actions on the broader populace then they should not even be called leaders. It is important to remember that business cannot be done in isolation.
Are there ways you think we can improve as a country to run our business smartly?
We have to look at how we can maximise our profits without sacrificing people and succumbing to the culture of greed. | <urn:uuid:8b2dd328-2669-4bf1-89ea-1bbd06322a7e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.accountancysa.org.za/resources/ShowItemArticle.asp?Article=BUILDING+A+FOUNDATION+%96+A+SEARCH+FOR+VALUES&ArticleId=1842&Issue=1089 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965626 | 1,868 | 2.21875 | 2 |
The rope-climbing playground is designed for children aged 5-15 but after a rigorous testing process I can confirm that it can also accommodate 33 year old males if they feel so inclined. The structure is 2 metres high and is an old-school playground in that it's more challenging than modern playgrounds and is designed to improve physical fitness. Interestingly it can hold as many as 300 kids at a time, although I'm not sure this has been tested to its full extreme yet.
The playground is a partnership project between the School's Board of Trustees, Wellington City Council and the Ministry of Education, which is beneficial because it is utilised during school hours by West Park School school kids and after school and on weekends by the community.
The total cost of the project was $170,000. | <urn:uuid:9a31328b-738d-4d3e-aaa8-041174408b62> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.justinlesterforwcc.com/1/archives/04-2012/1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986536 | 163 | 1.890625 | 2 |
Learning from Animals
Animal Behavior Program teaches students about human behavior, too
As an aspiring veterinarian, Stephanie Beeson knows she is going to have to answer questions related to animal behavior on a regular basis.
“It doesn’t matter whether you’re working with dogs, cats, cattle, lab animals or zoo animals, the subject is going to come up,” said Beeson, a 2007 Southwestern graduate who is now enrolled at the Texas A&M University School of Veterinary Medicine.
Fortunately for Beeson, she is going to be well prepared to handle such questions. Beeson is among the students who have earned degrees in animal behavior at Southwestern − a relatively rare program the school has offered since 1991.
“I came to Southwestern specifically to major in animal behavior,” Beeson said. “Most schools have biology, psychology or animal science, which might have behavior in there somewhere, but very few schools have undergraduate degrees in animal behavior. I wanted something different from what I could get in the biology programs at other schools, so when I saw Southwestern had a behavior major I decided that would be perfect.”
Beeson said animal behavior is a specialty in veterinary medicine and she would eventually like to do a residency and get board certified as a veterinary behaviorist.
While some students who graduate from Southwestern’s Animal Behavior Program plan to work with animals, some take what they learn from working with animals and apply it to humans.
Katy (Siciliano) Goldey, who received the Animal Behavior Program Award for Excellence in 2008, is now working on her Ph.D. in biopsychology at the University of Michigan and is part of a team that is researching the effects of sexual thoughts on testosterone and cortisol.
“When I started college I was thinking about possibly working at a zoo, but ended up realizing I really liked research, and especially teaching others about research,” Goldey said.
Jessica Bolton, who received the Animal Behavior Program Award for Excellence in 2010, is working on her Ph.D. in psychology and neuroscience at Duke University. Bolton said she did not come to Southwestern specifically for the Animal Behavior Program, but it was an added bonus.
“I wasn’t completely sure of what I wanted to major in when I arrived,” Bolton said. “I think the Animal Behavior Program prepared me very well for graduate school, especially in neuroscience, because I basically received a double major in psychology and biology, which is what neuroscience is. I took very relevant courses from interdisciplinary areas, like Psychology Research Methods and Behavioral Neuroscience, Cellular and Molecular Biology Research Methods, and Medicinal Chemistry in addition to more narrow Neuroanatomy classes when I was studying abroad at the University of Sussex in England. All of these and more helped me to learn to think and write critically like a scientist, which definitely prepared me for graduate school.”
As undergraduates at Southwestern, Beeson, Goldey and Bolton all worked in the lab of Fay Guarraci, an associate professor of psychology who currently serves as co-chair of the Animal Behavior Program. Guarraci said a required research experience is an important aspect of the program.
“We think that what serves students best is having experiences working with animals,” Guarraci said. “In addition, because animal behavior is the scientific study of animals the students need to understand how and why you study animals. The best way to learn that is to actually do the studying yourself.”
Other Southwestern faculty members who are involved with the Animal Behavior Program include Jesse Purdy, professor of psychology; Romi Burks, associate professor of biology; and Ben Pierce, professor of biology. Steve Shapiro, who serves as chief of the Section of Behavioral Care and Enrichment at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center’s Veterinary Sciences Division in Bastrop, Texas, also has been involved with the program since 1996. Shapiro is one of the world’s leading experts on animal behavior and the M.D. Anderson facility, which is formally known as the Michale E. Keeling Center for Comparative Medicine and Research, is one of only a handful of places in the country that conducts research on primates.
Guarraci personally works with about four students a year in her neuroscience research laboratory, which focuses on studying animals as model systems for understanding biological processes. Her topics of interest include drug addiction, motivation, reproduction and mental illness.
“In a nutshell, we study the brain and how it influences animals’ behavior,” Guarraci says. “In laboratory sciences − in biomedical research, for example − rodents tend to be very common models for diseases or physiology… how the system works. Throughout each experiment, the question that we strive to ask is, ‘What can we learn about human conditions from studying an animal model?’”
Delia Shelton, who received the Animal Behavior Program Award for Excellence in 2009, said the mice and fish models she is currently working on in graduate school closely parallel the study subjects she worked with at Southwestern under the direction of Guarraci and Purdy. Shelton is now working on a dual Ph.D. in psychological and brain science and evolution ecology and behavior at Indiana University with a minor in cognitive science.
“When I applied to Southwestern I didn’t realize I had stumbled upon a gem,” Shelton said. “The Animal Behavior Program gave me transferable skills and foundation grounded in fundamental concepts in animal behavior that I continue to rely on today.”
Shelton said the professors and the training she received at Southwestern also enabled her to attend graduate school fully funded on three different fellowships, one of which was a prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Her goal is to become a professor at a top-tier research university.
“I want to push the edge of science and make contributions that revolutionize the way people think about science,” she said.
Goldey and Bolton said their experiences at Southwestern also helped them land NSF Graduate Research Fellowships.
“I gained extensive research experience and learned how to carry out a project from start to finish as well as work together with a research team of faculty and students,” Goldey said. “I wrote a lot about my experiences at Southwestern in my NSF application. The fact that I’d had the opportunity to present my research from Southwestern at conferences was also a huge help in getting the NSF grant − all of my application reviewers mentioned this in their comments.”
Goldey said she has asked her Southwestern professors for lots of advice during graduate school, including advice on the NSF application and advice on her dissertation topic. She hopes to become a professor at a liberal arts college.
“I want to work somewhere that allows for the type of in-depth interactions between students and faculty that Southwestern does,” she said.
Bolton also wants to become a professor and researcher, but is still undecided on whether she wants to work at a small liberal arts school like Southwestern or a larger research university like Duke. “Either way, I aspire to be like Dr. Guarraci and hopefully instill in my students a love for science and research, as well as a passion for lifelong learning,” she said.
(Georgetown writer Rachel Brownlow contributed to this story) | <urn:uuid:6338a520-e056-4d45-8d86-f6d3a790ab33> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.southwestern.edu/live/news/7689-learning-from-animals/live/academicsnews.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973872 | 1,544 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Dorking from Denbies Hillside
Dorking shown within Surrey
|OS grid reference|
|Sovereign state||United Kingdom|
|Ambulance||South East Coast|
|EU Parliament||South East England|
|UK Parliament||Mole Valley|
History and development
Dorking appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as the Manor of Dorchinges. It was held by William the Conqueror. Its Domesday assets were: one church, three mills worth 15s 4d, 16 ploughs, 3 acres (1.2 ha) of meadow, woodland and herbage for 88 hogs. It rendered £18.
Subsequent Lords of the Manor included the Dukes of Norfolk, who lived in Dorking until they moved to Arundel. One of them is buried in Dorking churchyard. In the medieval period, Dorking was a prosperous agricultural and market town, benefiting from its position on the junction of a number of important roads and tracks.
In 1750, the construction of a turnpike road made Dorking a staging post on the route to Brighton and the coast. The Bull's Head in South Street had a famous coachman, William Broad, whose portrait hangs in Dorking Museum in West Street. An inn in the centre of Dorking, the White Horse, was developed in the 18th century; previous buildings on this site belonged to the Knights Templar and later the Knights of St John.
Dorking held a big wheat and cattle market in the High Street. The poultry market was held in the corner of South Street and round Butter Hill. Here the famous Dorking fowl were sold. This breed, which has 5 claws instead of the normal four, was a favourite for 19th century tables, including that of Queen Victoria.
Dorking lost its stagecoaches when the railways arrived, but now attracted wealthy residents who built large houses in and around Dorking, such as Denbies House and Pippbrook House (now with Council Offices in the grounds). Surrounding land and beauty spots such as Cotmandene and Box Hill were donated by landowners for public use, protected by the Metropolitan Green Belt and AONB designation of the North Downs and Greensand Ridge.
A game resembling rugby was once played here. The two sides were unlimited in number, representing the east and west of the town. The goals were the two bridges on the Pipp Brook. The Town Crier kicked off the ball at 2 pm and stopped play at 6 pm. The game was started at the church gates and was "rioted" up and down the High Street. It ceased in 1897 after complaints by tradesmen and it was officially stopped under section 72 of the Highway Act 1835.
The town is in the west of the area between hill ranges in southern England known as Holmesdale which has headwaters of several rivers. The town's geography is undulating, for example the elevation of the southern point of the central one-way system is 76 metres and on its northern side the elevation is 59–60 metres. The Mole's nearest point to the town lies at 45 metres.
Just northeast of the town the River Mole cuts a steep-sided valley through the North Downs. On the left bank is Denbies Vineyard, the largest vineyard in the UK On the right bank is Box Hill, owned by the National Trust and Britain's first Country Park. The hill has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest, because of the large number of rare orchids, which grow there in the summer.
Further north is Norbury Park, which contains the Druids Grove, a forest of ancient yew trees, some of which are more than 1000 years old
To the south west of the town is Leith Hill, also owned by the National Trust, the second highest point in the south east of England after Walbury Hill. Its modest tower climbs to 1,000 ft (300 m) above sea level. The area is towards the east of the Surrey Hills AONB surrounded by the Greensand Ridge, including Holmbury Hill and Pitch Hill, as well as the nearby escarpment of the North Downs from Box Hill to Newlands Corner.
A new species of fish-eating dinosaur, Baryonyx walkeri was discovered in clay pits just south of Dorking. The creature had a long curved claw on each hand and remains of its last meal were discovered fossilised in its ribcage. The skeleton can be seen at the Natural History Museum in London. One disused clay pit (Inholms lane) is now open to the public as a nature reserve.
|Climate data for Dorking|
|Average high °C (°F)||8
|Average low °C (°F)||2
|Precipitation mm (inches)||69.5
Modern Dorking
The evolution of Dorking has been kind to the town centre. Much of the original character survives, whilst accommodating businesses that serve the needs of the 21st century. The town is well known for its antique dealers. The town's three main trading streets of High Street, West Street and South Street are complemented by a small open-air shopping centre, St Martin's Walk, which is adjacent to the town's main car park and easily accessed from the High Street.
In the late 1990s Dorking Halls was given a huge refit, to make it a cinema and theatre complex. In 2003 a new modern leisure centre and swimming pool were added to the Dorking Halls Complex.
Dorking and nearby Box Hill were chosen as part of the route for the 2012 London Olympics Cycle Road Race.
Surrey County Council elected every four years, has three representatives, with only a few close but outlying farms falling under the latter two wards :
|2005||Steven Cooksey||Dorking and the Holmwoods - includes the town Dorking|
|2001||Helen Clack||Dorking Rural - comprises farms and villages east of Dorking|
|1993||Hazel Watson||Dorking Hills - comprises farms and villages south & west of Dorking|
Five councillors sit on Mole Valley borough council, who are:
|2008||Paul Elderton||Dorking North|
|2012||Derrick Stanley John Burt||Dorking North|
|2011||Stephen Cooksey||Dorking South|
|2010||Margaret Cooksey||Dorking South|
|2012||Tim Loretto||Dorking South|
Nearest Settlements
||Great Bookham||Westhumble||Pixham, Box Hill, Headley|
Famous residents and literary connections
The famous composer Ralph Vaughan Williams lived in Dorking for much of his life, and penned most of the works which made him famous in Dorking. The lark in "The Lark Ascending" is known to have been heard in the Mole Valley to the north of the town.
Kenneth Baker served as Member of Parliament for Mole Valley from 1983 to 1997 and lived for most of that time in Betchworth. On retirement he was made a life peer and took the title 'Kenneth Baker, Baron Baker of Dorking'.
People who have lived in the town in the past include: Daniel Defoe who attended Rev. James Fisher's boarding school in Pixham Lane, and Defoe later mentioned Dorking in his tour through the whole Island of Great Britain.
Dorking also gets a mention in Defoe's book A Journal of the Plague Year, as a refuge for his brother's family.
Henry Hope and his nephew Thomas Hope spent summers at Deepdene in the beginning of the 19th century. Benjamin Disraeli wrote his novel Coningsby also while staying in Deepdene House (demolished in 1967) on the outskirts of the town. Emma Holland was brought up in the town.
Dorking and its environs, including Box Hill and the Deepdene Hotel, feature heavily in British author Robert Goddard's fictional thriller Closed Circle (1993). In this novel there are also several allusions to the notorious money-for-titles trader Maundy Gregory, the owner of the Deepdene Hotel in the inter-war years.
The Cubitt family had links with the town also. Thomas Cubitt was born and lived in the town, and later built up large areas of London from the early 19th century. His politician son George also had connections with the town, and notably financed the building of St Barnabas Church on Ranmore Hill known by its nickname of Cubitt's Spire, Cubitt's Finger or Cubitt's Stump.
The famous irrigation engineer Sir Arthur Cotton spent his last days, preaching the Bible and experimenting on cultivation of new wheat strains here. His tombstone at a local cemetery describes Sir Arthur as “irrigation Cotton” who was involved in construction of large scale irrigation projects, dams, aqueducts, bridges and canals in India. The Polish poet Marian Hemar is also buried at the local cemetery.
The Battle of Dorking a fictional short story written by Lt. Col. Sir George Tomkyns Chesney in 1871 was set in the town. Describing a fictional invasion and conquest of Britain, it triggered an explosion of what came to be known as invasion literature.
Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart of the band 10cc opened a studio, Strawberry Studios South, in a former cinema in Dorking at the end of South Street in 1976 following the departure of Kevin Godley and Lol Creme. Songs recorded here include 'The things we do for love' and 'Good morning judge'. Songs recorded here by other artists include 'Ebony and Ivory' by Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder. The building was later demolished, the site used as a builders yard for a time and a housing development now occupies the site. In addition, The Cure recorded and mixed at Rhino Studios, which was situated at Pippbrook Mill, Fairfield Drive.
Child composer and musician Alma Deutscher lives in Dorking.
Local government
Twin towns
The town has three railway stations.
- Dorking railway station, on the Epsom to Horsham Sutton & Mole Valley Line run by Southern. Additionally, South West Trains run services to London Waterloo.
- Dorking Deepdene, on the Guildford to Redhill North Downs Line. Services are run by First Great Western.
- Dorking West, also on the Guildford to Redhill North Downs Line, but served less frequently.
Most bus services are run by Arriva, the main locations served being Guildford, Redhill and Reigate including villages in between, as well as some local services. Sunray Travel operates a Surrey CC supported route to Leatherhead and Epsom, and running via Box Hill. Metrobus took over Arriva's Horsham depot, and now run route 93 to Horsham, and London Buses route 465 to Kingston.
Various Primary Schools cater for 5–11 year olds:
- Powell Corderoy Primary School
- St Martin's School
- St Paul's School
- St Joseph's School
- St John's School, formerly Redlands
Secondary education is largely provided for by:
Emergency services
Dorking is served by these emergency services:
- Surrey Police
- South East Coast Ambulance Service as of 1 July 2006. The Surrey Ambulance Service, Sussex, and Kent Ambulance services have all merged, and have now ceased to exist.
- Surrey Fire & Rescue Service, in North Holmwood
- Dorking Hospital, small hospital with no A&E.
Leisure and culture
On 15 June 2004, Dorking was granted Fairtrade Town status.
The Dorking Halls is a cinema, theatre, leisure centre and swimming pool complex. There is also an "Arts Alive" Festival which takes place annually during the last two weeks of October. Dorking Halls is also yearly host to a professional pantomime which was re-introduced in December 2006, after several years of hosting Zippo's Circus.
Dorking also has a museum, a library, about twenty pubs and a CIU affiliated club. It is noted for its antique and art shops on West Street.
The town has an active collection of sports clubs.Dorking has two Non-League football clubs Dorking Football Club who are based in the centre of the town and play at the Meadowbank. Dorking Wanderers F.C. play at the Dorking Wanderers Stadium, which is situated near Westhumble.
Dorking rugby football club which plays at Brockham attracted national attention when it won the Powergen Vase in 2005/2006 and continues to do so currently playing in National League 3, London & South East. Dorking and Mole Valley Athletics Club is based at Pixham Sports Ground. They host the annual Dorking Ten road race starting from Brockham Green. The Mole Valley Bowmen are located in the grounds of St Martin's primary school.
Near to Dorking lies the Leith Hill area, along with the adjacent hills of Holmbury Hill and Pitch Hill, as well as the nearby escarpment of the North Downs from Box Hill to Newlands Corner. This place is notable in southern England for country walks, rambling and mountain biking. As a whole this area is known as 'The Surrey Hills'. Also adjacent to Dorking is Denbies Vineyard. The Dorking Group of Artists exhibit locally twice a year, in Betchworth and at Denbies. They celebrated their 60th anniversary in 2007.
Underneath the town lie the Dorking Caves which are open occasionally to the public.
Leith Hill Music Festival
Each year in April, the town plays host to the Leith Hill Music Festival for local choral societies. This was founded in 1905 by Margaret Vaughan Williams, sister of the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Lady (Evangeline) Farrer, wife of Lord Farrer of Abinger Hall. Ralph Vaughan Williams was the Festival Conductor from 1905 to 1953. The present Festival Conductor is Brian Kay. It is a competitive festival lasting three days, each day with a different division of choirs; each evening the choirs who have competed during the day combine to give a concert of the works which form the subject of the competitions. Following the tradition established by Vaughan Williams, the St. Matthew Passion or the St. John Passion of J. S. Bach are also frequently performed by the combined choral societies.
- "UK Grid Reference Finder". UK Grid Reference Finder. Retrieved 29 April 2012.
- Surrey Domesday Book
- "List of Recreation Areas and Parks". Mole Valley Borough Council.
- Visit Surrey
- News archive, Natural History Museum website
- "Averages for Dorking".
- "Description of Dorking from Local Authority". Mole Valley Borough Council.
- Guy Martin (28 May 2012). "Dorking cockerel gets in Diamond Jubilee spirit". Get Surrey. Retrieved 26 June 2012.
- Surrey County Councillors. Retrieved 2012-04-28
- Mole Valley Councillors. Retrieved 2012-06-05
- Mole Valley Results 2009-11
- Notes on Defoe
- A Journal of the Plague Year, 1665
- Dorking Deanery - Church Histories
- Surrey Advertiser twinning info
- Dorking Rugby Football Club
- 2005/2006 Powergen Vase
- Dorking and Mole Valley Athletics Club
- Mole Valley Bowmen
- Dorking Group of Artists
- And Choirs Singing, An account of the Leith Hill Musical Festival 1905-1985
- "Leith Hill Music Festival". Retrieved 14 November 2010.
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Homeless issue loan shark warning
12:06pm Saturday 24th March 2012 in News
HOMELESS people in Southampton have produced a piece of artwork aimed at highlighting the risk of using illegal money lenders.
The Society of St James charity has been working with the England Illegal Money Lending Team in order to highlight the risk of illegal money lenders, more commonly known as loan sharks, to those it supports.
People who use the charity’s Drug Intervention Programme have been working together to create the artwork to highlight the dangers of loan sharks and to encourage people not to use them. The artwork was funded using proceeds of crime money taken from convicted loan sharks through the courts, and took five weeks to design and produce by the group which meets to put their energy and creativity into something positive. | <urn:uuid:440295a9-d159-48c2-922d-3b1685ef0c38> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/9611650.Homeless_issue_loan_shark_warning/r/?action=complain&cid=10220765 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969948 | 187 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Internet In Bloom For The Layperson
In hard times many go back to school to become more marketable. However, the education industry is often a good place to find employment. For example, during 2011, more than 4,710 colleges and universities posted over 97,910 faculty, administrative and executive job postings to www.HigherEdJobs.com and the site is visited by more than one million a month as verified by Google Analytics. At present, HigherEdJobs lists 17,899 jobs at 1,968 institutions by category, location and type. Most colleges have their own Web sites that list their job openings.
Ever have trouble finding a childcare provider or know someone who has? For free referrals and a plethora of related services visit the NYS Office of Children and Family Services online at http://ocfs.ny.gov or if you are Asian or feel more comfortable communicating in Chinese see www.childcarecpc.org which is the Asian Childcare Resource and Referral service under the Chinese-American Planning Council, working under the above NYS Office of Children and Family Services. Both sites enable online form submission for free qualified childcare referrals. An example of the qualifications, include: CPR and First Aid certification, screening for child abuse, good mental health and two years’ experience.
While on the subject of China, did you know you may now find the New York Times online in Chinese? It comes in Mandarin and Cantonese at the click of a mouse in the upper right corner of the web page at http://cn.nytimes.com.
Recent American Trucking Association (www.Trucking.com headquarters in Arlington, VA) statistics indicate the industry turnover is at a whopping 88 percent as of the fourth quarter of last year and about 83 percent as of the first quarter of this year. Turnover is simply defined as the percentage of employees that quit an industry. Thus, if you have 100 employees in a company and 10 quit that year the annual turnover is 10 percent. The LA Times reported the high turnover as good news, meaning it indicates increased business and therefore, truckers are being hired by better companies for higher pay, hence leaving their prior company is a promotion. Regardless of the specifics it clearly indicates a strong need for good drivers. The BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) pay range is a median of $38,000 with the upper 10 percent making over $57,000. However, owner operators make over $100,000 per year. Not bad considering the prerequisite is: a high school diploma, a state CDL Class A, this may involve a trucking school costing about $3,000 to $5,000 for most, or having the employer pay, with a contract for continued employment of about two years and good health. Of course you will have to be away for several weeks at a time, be able to work independently and meet deadlines without incurring traffic violations, such as your vehicle being overweight, failing to keep a travel log and speeding, never mind keeping the truck on the road in one piece in all weather conditions. The prevalence of GPS technology means tractor-trailers are monitored more than ever before in history, so drivers will have to be good at following industry regulations to remain employed.
Ted J. Bloom, MLS., MSEd., CPL., has been a published columnist in New York since 1999. A college librarian in Downtown Brooklyn and Manhattan with two graduate degrees, some of his credentials include, creating and running a career preparation computer lab for at-risk youth through the U.S. Department of Labor, as well as being a SUNY Communications Instructor and a YMCA Director. | <urn:uuid:7bba5351-e132-4d95-aa36-c278ca85e70c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.qgazette.com/news/2012-08-15/Features/Internet_In_Bloom_For_The_Layperson.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958773 | 747 | 1.742188 | 2 |
SAN ANGELO, Texas — West Texas Boys Ranch has been a staple of the West Texas community for 64 years. Over that 64 years there have been many changes, some small and some major. It is being able to understand and know the past that helps us move forward into the future.
Many times throughout the year we have former boys come out and visit the ranch. We call them former boys but they are not boys anymore, they are men. They range from just graduating school to being retired. Their stories are all very similar but there have been changes on the ranch.
When West Texas Boys Ranch first started the boys lived in dorms, a more institutional setting. Now the boys live in cottages, which promote a more family-oriented setting. The boys used to attend chapel service on the ranch every Sunday where as now they travel to town with their cottage parents to attend service. In the past, the boys got their three squares a day in the cafeteria cooked by the kitchen staff but now eat their meals in their cottage, prepared by their cottage moms.
"There have been a lot of changes since I was here," a former boy once said, "but your purpose has never wavered."
West Texas Boys Ranch still operates the original 963 acres that was originally purchased in 1947. We still have about a mile frontage on Spring Creek where the boys still fish and camp. The ranch chores are virtually the same but have a few technological advances and the mission of West Texas Boys Ranch has stayed the course.
I gave a tour to a former boy who is now at retirement age a couple of weeks ago. One of his fondest memories was being a part of the Boys Ranch Choir. He said that they would travel around to the churches in San Angelo and surrounding communities to sing on Sundays. While we were in the office I showed him a picture of a young boy who had caught a 40-pound catfish out of Spring Creek several years ago and he remembered the one he caught that was over 50 pounds.
"And it was probably in the same spot," he said.
Some things have changed at West Texas Boys Ranch and some things have not.
Another former boy in his late 40s came out with his family. He had found memories of the summer work bell program. For that summer he was on the ranch, he was assigned to the painting crew. He said everything that was wooden got scrapped and painted. Till this day, he still does not like to paint. He also had great memories of the cafeteria and staff, where he learned to peel potatoes and how to cook armadillo with the cafeteria supervisor.
While West Texas Boys Ranch does not promote the cooking and consumption of armadillo, the boys get their fair share of venison.
I visited with a local business man who never lived at the ranch but had a good friend that did. He recalled when he was 14-years-old that he would ride his motorcycle out to the ranch and stay the night with his friend. At eight in the morning all the boys would meet at the flagpole, say a prayer and the Pledge of Alliance. Then the boys would run to the cafeteria for breakfast. He said that he had never eaten fried bologna before visiting boy's ranch. But even now, on occasion he will fry some bologna for breakfast.
I cannot say for sure but will guess that every once in a while we have a cottage mom or dad standing over a stove with a hot pan of bologna cooking.
West Texas Boys Ranch has made an impact on the lives of thousands of boys since 1947. So much so that they come back and visit the place they called home for that period in their life. Some buildings and staff may have changed over the years but this ranch is still home. They look back at their youth and can now reflect back that West Texas Boys Ranch made a huge impact on their lives. There are thousands of people in our local communities who know, knew or were friends with a boy at the ranch.
If you have a fond memory or funny story about a former boy and would like to share with the ranch please do so. You can email me at email@example.com or send a letter to West Texas Boys Ranch, 10223 Boys Ranch Road, San Angelo, TX 76904.
We would like to give a BIG West Texas, "THANK YOU" to our supporters who invest in the lives of our boys. Your donations are making a difference in a boy's life ..for the rest of his life. | <urn:uuid:2492bc6e-3d3d-4ca8-90a2-bd6f34b99aec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2011/aug/20/former-boys-recall-happy-memories-of-boys-ranch/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00076-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988715 | 933 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Green Marketing & Leveraging the Internet
September 03, 2009
Successful builders and remodelers are making green in building green. Even in this challenging economy, companies marketing and selling green products and services are succeeding by offering affluent consumers environmental choices that fit their personal philosophy and lifestyle.
ServiceMagic.com, an online lead generation company with over 60,000 contractor members, created a series of green articles aimed at homeowners who wanted to know more about greening a variety of home improvement projects, including kitchen, bath, and basement renovations. Forty-six percent of homeowners who submitted requests for home improvement projects indicated an interest in making the project green. Consumer interest in building green projects is increasing every day, and successful building contractors are taking advantage of this trend.
Building Your Business Through the Internet
Homeowners are going to the Internet in ever-increasing numbers to find assistance for their home improvement projects. The stats are staggering. A recent study conducted by comScore, Incorporated, a leading Web behavior research firm, found that online searches to find local businesses and products grew 58% in the last year alone. That means that figuring out an online marketing strategy is no longer an option but a mandatory part of doing business in today’s world.
Figuring out ...
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Guest Author - Taisha Turner
Jinn were created before mankind. Therefore, they exist before the creation of Adam and Eve. Jinn's origins is fire while mankind is from clay. Like men, Jinn can die.
Jinn are from distant islands beyond the sea. They are able to travel great distances to interact with mankind. Some Jinn are good while some are not. In most tween and teen fiction, they are malicious creatures. Yet, Jinn like mankind know: right from wrong. They know and understand: truth from fiction. Also, they know: good from bad.
Jinn marry and have children. They can intermarry with others including mankind. Queen Jadis, the White Witch, in The Magicianís Nephew and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, is half Jinn and half Giant. Jinn have homes, too. A Genie (Jinn) in the story One Thousand and One Arabian Nights lives in a lamp.
The Jinn character experiences the feelings: envy and greed. These two traits bring trouble to mankind's existence. Mankind is usually caught in the Jinnís greedy struggle for power. This is in many tween and teen fiction to increase the tension in the hero(es) life.
In children's books, the Jinn character is strong and evil. So strong its power can enter protected areas. They are magical entities. Of course, they are a part of the dark, magical realm. The Jinn character, Ifrit, in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's book, The Mirror of Fire and Dreaming, fits this profile.
Tween and Teen books with the Jinn character
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
The Magician's Nephew by C. S. Lewis
The Mirror of Fire and Dreaming by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
One Thousand and One Arabian Nights by Geraldine McCaughrean
Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling
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List of Dr. Seuss Books
Don Freeman Books
Stan Berenstain Books | <urn:uuid:79d1016f-a17b-447c-a66f-42e0c7c2e38c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art22789.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931438 | 447 | 2.3125 | 2 |
Whether you're laughing involuntarily at a joke, or smiling politely at a stranger's unfunny anecdote, your facial expressions play an important role in communicating with those around you.
Now, an investigation into the playtime behavior of gorillas reveals that they use facial expressions akin to our smiles and grins to reassure friends of their non-violent intentions. The results, researchers say, could help point to the origins of human guffaws.
Researchers have long believed that gorillas, like humans, use facial cues to communicate information. Researcher Bridget Waller — an evolutionary psychologist at the University of Portsmouth — studies facial expressions in primates to uncover the evolutionary origins of human smiling and laughter.
"Through facial signals," writes Waller — along with coauthor Lyndsay Cherry — in an article published in the latest issue of The American Journal of Primatology, "individuals can potentially send and receive information and may benefit from coordinating their behavior accordingly."
Different social situations call for different facial expressions. If a stranger offers you his or her seat on the subway, for example, the appropriate response is usually not to laugh at them, but to smile politely.
Two commonly encountered gorilla facial signals are the "bared-teeth" signal — wherein the mouth is open and both rows of teeth are clearly visible — and the "play face" — where a gorilla opens its mouth, but does not bare its teeth whatsoever. The play face, as its name implies, is used during play behavior. According to Waller, it is a foundation of human laughter.
"[During play, gorillas] open their mouths and cover their teeth as if to say, 'I could bite you but I'm not going to,'" explained Waller in an interview with the BBC.
The bared teeth signal, on the other hand, "is a signal of appeasement, submission and/or affiliation," and is thought to be related to the origins of human smiling; in other words, if you gave a gorilla your seat on the subway, it would be more inclined to bare its teeth at you than flash you an open-mouthed play face.
But in Africa's western lowland gorilla, a third facial expression is often observed — a mix of the play face and bared-teeth face. The result is a grin wherein only the top teeth are bared. When Waller observed the playtime behavior of ten different western lowland gorillas, she found that those who wore this third expression — called a "full" play face — tended to do so during especially intense bouts of play; and when the gorillas were observed making the face, their play sessions tended to carry on longer than those that featured the toothless play face.
In other words, Woller's findings suggest that the full play face is used specifically to coordinate and maintain play — an effect that she hypothesizes is achieved by reducing uncertainty in the receiver, and reassuring that a particularly rowdy play session is, in fact, play. | <urn:uuid:ff72e736-ac40-459d-a733-62f7fb18a286> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://io9.com/5880822/grinning-gorillas-could-help-explain-the-origins-of-human-laughter | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955472 | 613 | 3.3125 | 3 |
Of sea dogs, beach lovers and cruise ships
In Rostock, once a medieval trading center and today Germany’s only major city on the Baltic coast, the sea still influences many people’s lives. The beautifully restored old town and city harbor area with its historical warehouses bear witness to the city’s former affluence and power as a member of the Hanseatic league. Today, Rostock is booming once again – and not just because it is one of the main German ferry and cruise ports, but also because more and more vacationers are discovering its charms: wide sandy beaches, pretty seaside resorts, and a beautiful park with a maritime theme.
Back to the overview
Old town, city harbor and cruise ships
Old town: Medieval town hall, colorful merchants’ houses, monumental churches – many splendid buildings still testify to Rostock’s grand history. In the late Middle Ages, the settlement at the mouth of the Warnow river was one of the most powerful members of the Hanseatic League. Its aldermen’s influence extended the length and breadth of the Baltic region, and in 1409, the region’s first university was also founded in Rostock. Almost the entire center of the city was destroyed or badly damaged during World War II; some of the old town buildings were lost forever, others left to decay. It was only after the collapse of the German Democratic Republic that many historical buildings were lovingly restored.
Historical city harbor: It was from here, Rostock’s former main harbor, that the city’s merchants traded with their business partners in Scandinavia and the Baltic region in the Middle Ages. Because it was last used by the Soviet army in the days of the German Democratic Republic and because regular freight and ferry services had operated out of the city’s modern, new international seaport since the 1960s, a question mark hung over the future of the city harbor after the fall of the Iron Curtain. Rostock recognized its historic chance – and turned the city harbor into a new, maritime district. Now cafés, restaurants and theaters occupy the old warehouses, and shipping companies have moved in. In addition to the restored buildings, a handful of old cranes and the ships in the museum harbor all recall the history of the place.
Cruise ships: The colossal Baltic ferries that serve destinations in Scandinavia, Poland and Latvia from Rostock are real eyecatchers. The spectacle is complete when they sail past the picturesque district of Warnemünde and through the narrow Warnow estuary. But Rostock can go one bigger, too! The Hanseatic city counts among Germany’s most popular cruise ports. Giant ocean liners – floating cities sometimes 300 meters long – tie up in Rostock-Warnemünde roughly 160 times a year, bringing with them a total of around 250,000 passengers. For a chance to see a luxury liner close-up, check the Internet for details of which ships arrive when.
Ferry services from/to Rostock: www.rostock.de/faehren/faehre-rostock.html. Ship arrivals online:
Lighthouse, Hanse Sail and IGA Park
Lighthouse and Teepott:
Warnemünde remained a small, impoverished fishing village right into the 19th century. It consisted of just two streets, Vöörreeg (front row) and Achterreeg (back row), where visitors today can still admire the beautiful rows of ancient houses. This district of Rostock is now a state-recognized seaside resort with one of the widest sandy beaches anywhere on the German Baltic coast. Warnemünde’s landmark, the 30-meter-high lighthouse dating from 1897/98 (open to visitors during the summer months), stands right next door to the postwar modern-style Teepott exhibition center, built in 1968, which houses two restaurants, among other things.
Lighthouse: Am Leuchtturm, Tel.: +49-(0)381/519 26 26. Open: May-Sep daily 10am-7pm. Admission: €2 (reduced €1).Teepott restaurant: Tel.: +49-(0)381/548 45 88, Seepromenade 1. Open: daily 11am-midnight. www.teepott-restaurant.de
Warnemünde/Hanse Sail: Warnemünde is definitely one of the busiest Baltic resorts today, with a host of bars, boutiques, pubs, restaurants and also a casino. Visitors love to stroll along the beach promenade and the main promenade, pretty Am Alten Strom, which follows the mouth of the river. This particular district of Rostock is pervaded with a real festival atmosphere several times a year, for example during Warnemünde Week and Hanse Sail, a maritime mega-event that draws some 250 ships and around one million visitors. Neighboring districts and resorts, such as Nienhagen and Markgrafenheide, are a better choice for anyone longing for relaxation. With some more tranquil spots along the way, Rostock’s Baltic coastline extends for a total of around 18 kilometers.
Hanse Sail: www.hansesail.com. Warnemünde Week: www.warnemuender-woche.com.
IGA Park: What’s it to be – waterfront or park? This question simply doesn’t arise in Rostock, where you have huge IGA Park right on the riverbank. Created for an international horticultural show in 2003, it not only boasts some beautiful gardens, but also reputedly the world’s largest living building – a church formed from arching willows. Visitors can also get a “first-foot” experience of different surfaces as they walk along a two-kilometer barefoot track. If you find yourself longing for a little maritime atmosphere after this little trip back to nature, the park’s museum ship is your ideal next stop.
IGA Park: several entrances, Tel.: +49-(0)381/12 83 13 00. Open: Apr-Oct daily 9am-6pm, Nov-Mar daily 10am-4pm. Admission: €1. www.iga-park-rostock.de. Shipbuilding and Maritime Museum on board the museum ship: Open: Jul-Aug daily 9am-6pm, Apr-Jun, Sep Tue-Sun 9am-6pm, Oct-Mar Tue-Sun 10am-4pm. Admission: €4 including park (reduced 2.50). www.schifffahrtsmuseum-rostock.de
Pictures: mauritius images (2), Tourismuszentrale Rostock/Warnemünde, IGA Park Rostock, Neumann/Tourismusverband MV | <urn:uuid:fbe52d2b-c9b1-449d-9799-5b86c4cae370> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lufthansa.com/sd/en/Lufthansa-Highlights-Rostock | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910744 | 1,454 | 2.203125 | 2 |
Computerized (GOTO) Telescopes
Starting to learn the night sky from a light polluted area is quite easy; only a few stars to learn and see. Viewing from a dark sky for the first time can be startling but confusing. With the assistance of a GoTo Computerized Telescope, the amateur astronomer can have their telescopes guide them through the night sky through a few basic initial steps (these steps can differ depending on what alignment system the telescope mount accepts). With a simple computerized hand controller, time and date must be entered (if there is no built in GPS system) and the observer must slew to two named stars so the computerized GoTo mount can calculate coordinates accurately. Always make sure the mount is properly balanced prior to alignment; helps in accuracy. Some of the most common alignment systems include the Celestron All-Star, Two-Star, Sky-Align, Meade AutoAlign, and Vixen's StarBook Ten.
Automatically Locates The Wonders Of The Universe With Its Motorized System & On Board Computer! All glass, fully coated optics reveal the depths of our solar system and the wonders of the Universe.... Learn MoreModel#: 22050
Regular Price: $249.95
Special Price: $199.98 | <urn:uuid:0d46174b-fbd7-4763-8f97-73abc63b3ee9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://telescopes.net/store/telescopes/computerized-goto-telescopes.html?manufacturer=3&price=2%2C100 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907441 | 257 | 2.421875 | 2 |
Apr. 18, 2008 Engineers at Washington University in St. Louis, using an impressive array of imaging and tracking technologies, have determined the importance of mixing in anaerobic digesters for bioenergy production and animal and farm waste treatment. Anaerobic digesters employ reactors that use bacteria to break down organic matter in the absence of oxygen.
They are studying ways to take "the smell of money," as farmers long have termed manure's odor, and produce biogas from it. The major end product of anaerobic digestion is methane, which can be used directly for energy, converted to methanol, or, when partially oxidized, to synthesized gas, a mix of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Synthesized gas then can be converted to clean alternative fuels and chemicals.
The goal is two-fold; one is to have farms that grow their own energy by using readily available farm waste to power the farm, the other is to eliminate the environmental threat of methane, a greenhouse gas considered 22 times worse than carbon dioxide.
Muthanna Al-Dahhan, Ph.D., Washington University professor of energy, environmental and chemical engineering; his postdoctoral fellow Khursheed Karim, Ph.D.; and his graduate students Rajneesh Varma, Mehuld Vesvikar and Rebecca Hoffman have determined that mixing is the most crucial step in the success of large, commercial anaerobic digesters that can react 15,000 gallons of manure. In addition to graduate students, numerous undergraduates have contributed to the research.
Al-Dahhan received a roughly $2.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy in 2001 to research anaerobic digestion. Since 2004, he and various collaborators have published no fewer than 16 papers on their anaerobic digester studies, and many will follow. The most recent paper is published in Biotechnology and Bioengineering 100 (1): 38-48, 2008.
"Each year livestock operations produce 1.8 billion tons of cattle manure," Al-Dahhan said. "If it sits in fields, the methane from the manure is released into the atmosphere, or it can cause ground water contamination, dust or ammonia leaching, not to mention bad odors. Treating manure by anaerobic digestion gets rid of the environmental threats and produces bioenergy at the same time. That has been our vision."
A good mix
There are about 100 anaerobic digesters in operation in the United States, but a remarkably high percentage — 76 percent — regularly fail. Al-Dahhan and his colleagues at WUSTL, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and ultimately the Iowa Energy Center based in Ames, Iowa, studied the configuration, design, hydrodynamics and mixing parameters of reactors and their effects on the treatment performance and bioenergy production.
"A systematic study had never been done before, so we wanted to get a notion of what was behind the high failure rates reported," Al-Dahhan said. "We tested by gas injection, mechanical agitation, slurry circulation and liquid circulation and at different intensities. We found that, at laboratory scale (four liters), all of the different mixing modes performed adequately."
They then went to Oak Ridge Laboratory to a pilot plant and tested a reactor that held 100 liters.
"As size increased, we found mixing plays a very important role in successful operations," Al-Dahhan said. "Intensity of mixing also is important. We found that if intensity of mixing is reduced, failure often is a consequence."
Anaerobic digestion of manure is opaque, which means to understand the hydrodynamics of anaerobic digestion Al-Dahhan and colleagues developed a unique computer-automated, multi-particle radioactive tracking (MPRT) system, a novel dual source gamma ray computed tomography (DSCT), and computational fluid dynamic simulation. These tools allowed the researchers to see where and under what conditions biochemical stagnant — or dead — zones occurred. They also analyzed mixing systems, hydrodynamics, shear effect and reactor configuration.
"We then used all of our knowledge to redesign the commercial digester at the Iowa Energy Center to make an efficient and long-lasting operation," Al-Dahhan said. At WUSTL, Al-Dahhan and his student Rajneesh Varma collaborated with Joseph O'Sullivan, Ph.D., professor of electrical and systems engineering, on developing a new imaging reconstruction algorithm and program for the developed DSCT. With his student Rebecca Hoffman, Al-Dahhan collaborated with assistant professor of energy, environmental and chemical engineering Lars Angenent, Ph.D., on microbiology techniques and measurement of organisms' distribution.
"The research we've done provides the basis to scale up in the future, " he said. "The process is complex, but we're seeking to simplify it for use as a quick assessment and evaluation of the digester. The final goal is a simple system ready for use by farmers on site for bioenergy production and for animal and farm waste management."
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Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead. | <urn:uuid:1974f0a2-c5ad-4b58-80de-6437ffe7ff8e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080416140922.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944559 | 1,089 | 3.421875 | 3 |
To its credit, the fertility industry’s professional organization – the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) – has said plainly that freezing women’s eggs remains an experimental procedure that should not be “marketed or offered as a means to defer reproductive aging.” To its discredit, ASRM does little to see that even its own members adhere to its conclusion. (If this sounds familiar, you may be thinking of the similar disregard in which fertility clinics hold ASRM guidelines on the number of embryos they should put in women’s wombs, and on the use of embryo screening for sex selection.)
In fact, hundreds of American fertility clinics now offer “social egg freezing,” and there are thousands of online ads promising women they can “extend their fertility” by putting their eggs on ice. This disjuncture is examined in an article in this week’s Nature titled “Growth of egg freezing blurs ‘experimental’ label.”
Science writer Alison Motluk points out that chemicals used in the freezing process are toxic to embryos, though no one knows how much the eggs absorb; that there have been no systematic follow-up studies either of children born from frozen eggs (fewer than 2000 worldwide) or of success rates, especially for women in their late thirties who are the primary users; and that the procedure is very expensive. She notes that several other widely used assisted reproduction techniques, including pre-implantation genetic diagnosis and injecting sperm directly into eggs, were also rushed from lab to patients with next to nothing in the way of animal studies or clinical trials.
Ironically, proponents of social egg freezing offer this record of untested techniques as an argument in favor of removing the procedure’s experimental label. Though the commercial throttle is already wide open, these promoters are probably right in thinking that ASRM’s designation dissuades some women, dampening the growth of what is clearly a lucrative new market for the fertility industry. In an April article in Vogue, fertility doctor Geoffrey Sher, an active and early proponent of egg freezing, says that there “is already the potential for eight times the demand for egg freezing as there is for IVF procedures, just based on population numbers.” Sher and others believe that women should be encouraged to undergo the procedure in their late 20s or early 30s, when their eggs are higher quality.
Though the tone of the recent Nature article is more sober than that of many media accounts, neither it nor the other media stories published over the past several months – the Vogue piece, coverage by National Public Radio, and a first-person account on Huffington Post – even mention the non-trivial short-term risks (side effects ranging from mild to – rarely – life-threatening, with plenty of debilitating territory in between) and still uncertain long-term risks of egg retrieval for women.
In most of the media coverage, the take-away message is that egg freezing is an unproblematic boon. NPR’s article, for example, carries the conclusive title, “Egg Freezing Puts The Biological Clock On Hold” and reports that fertility doctors “envision a time when society considers freezing eggs an act not of desperation but of empowerment.” The Vogue piece declares, “Stopping the biological clock through egg freezing has long been the ultimate feminist fantasy.”
There have indeed been, and probably still are, some feminists who fantasize thus. The most notorious is Shulamith Firestone, who back in 1970 envisioned gender equality enabled by artificial wombs. Myself, I’ll forgo the fantasy techno-fixes. Give me the kind of feminism that assesses the real-world effects of a practice like egg freezing – as do, for example, Our Bodies Ourselves and the National Women’s Health Network.
Previously on Biopolitical Times:
Posted in Assisted Reproduction, Egg Retrieval, Marcy Darnovsky's Blog Posts, Marcy Darnovsky's Publications, Op-eds & Articles, Reproductive Justice, Health & Rights
Comments are now closed for this item. | <urn:uuid:b796c8e0-cf59-41e9-9b56-dadbeebede9f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.biopoliticaltimes.org/article.php?id=5833 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948419 | 865 | 2.125 | 2 |
In the Persian Gulf, the U.S. Navy cruiser Vincennes shoots down an Iranian passenger jet that it mistakes for a hostile Iranian fighter aircraft. Two missiles were fired from the American warship--the aircraft was hit, and all 290 people aboard were killed. The attack came near the end of the Iran-Iraq War, when U.S. vessels were in the gulf defending Kuwaiti oil tankers. Minutes before Iran Air Flight 655 was shot down, the Vincennes had engaged Iranian gunboats that shot at its helicopter.
Iran called the downing of the aircraft a "barbaric massacre," but U.S. officials defended the action, claiming that the aircraft was outside the commercial jet flight corridor, flying at only 7,800 feet, and was on a descent toward the Vincennes. However, one month later, U.S. authorities acknowledged that the airbus was in the commercial flight corridor, flying at 12,000 feet, and not descending. The U.S. Navy report blamed crew error caused by psychological stress on men who were in combat for the first time. In 1996, the U.S. agreed to pay $62 million in damages to the families of the Iranians killed in the attack. | <urn:uuid:8d24f987-365d-41c6-b4f0-d59a6cee9cfc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/us-warship-downs-iranian-passenger-jet | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986181 | 252 | 2.453125 | 2 |
Here's my self-imposed challenge: Write a monomyth (epic) using writing prompts given on Gather.
Here are the other parts, if you haven't read them yet.
This part comes through Len's SatWE Challenge:
This Week’s Challenge:
Pretty much wide open with the understanding that you’re going to write something (prose or poetry; fiction, nonfiction, or essay) that includes anything to do with a castle.
* * * * *
The three teddy bears slept under the blanket next to the dying campfire. Spaulding slept closest to the pond to protect his brothers, but it was a fitful sleep.
Why did the Lady bring me down here? What have I gotten my brothers into? Diamond doesn't want to leave. What if Petey the Pigeon doesn't want to leave either? For that matter, can we leave or are we prisoners? Why did the Lady bring me down here?
It had been a long tumultuous day, so Spaulding did fall deep asleep. He dreamt of screeching eagles, lightning bugs turned into fairies, and a whitewater river swallowing him, tossed about among trash bags, kelp, and a yellow ride-on tractor. Its footrest caught his eye. He yanked and the eye was gone. Something grabbed his other eye. He yanked again, and woke up, but he couldn't see a thing.
He sat up and reached for his shoe-button eyes. They were gone. An eagle screeched and cushioned paws grabbed him.
"My eyes! My eyes! Where are my eyes?"
Teddy yanked his arm to drag him closer to hug him.
"It's okay. Mr. Stuck caught the frankenfish that stole your eyes."
"Oh, no!" Phil screamed.
Spaulding felt the breeze of huge wings flapping. The eagle landed near him.
"He tore the fish apart," whispered Phil. His voice trembled. Spaulding clutched him to his chest.
"Don't worry, Little One." The eagle tapped Spaulding on the shoulder with his wing. "I retrieved your eyes."
Someone spit and Phil jumped up. He ran back to drop something delicate onto the ground at Spaulding's feet. Spaulding reach, but couldn't find them. The eagle's wing feathers pinned the paw to the ground.
"Do you have a sewing kit?"
Spaulding shook his head.
"Then why do you want to touch your own eyes?"
Spaulding pulled back his paw. "What do I do? I, I, I can't see. I need my eyes. How do I protect my brothers without them?"
"I will take your eyes to the Lady's castle for you. She can fix you and you will see again."
"Are you kidding me?" Spaulding yelled. "I was almost drowned. Teddy had his legs shredded. Phil is only three years old. Mommy has no idea where we are. None of us, none of us should be down here and you still want me to go on? You want me to go through this scary, scary land with my two younger brothers--blind? Are you kidding me?"
His shoulders shook. He hid his eye sockets with his paws and sunk his head to his knees. Teddy hugged him around one shoulder and Phil hugged him around the other. And then Phil released his brother's shoulder.
"You're a mean, mean bird." Phil growled.
Spaulding grabbed Phil and squeezed him to his chest.
The eagle's voice softened. "I know you're scared, Little One. Trust me one more time." He tapped Spaulding's shoulder with his wing, but Spaulding jerked away and hugged his brothers. "The Lady would not have brought you down here, if she knew it would cause you harm."
"I'm blind. I'm blind! Is there no greater harm then a blind teddy bear?" Spaulding pulled Teddy closer. "Oh yeah, there is! A shredded teddy bear. We're harmed!"
"She can make you all as good as new. She has powers." The eagle pulled all three bears under his wing. "How did this place come to be? This is her land, her power, and she wants your help. Your struggles aren't over, but they serve a purpose. Please, trust me one more time."
Spaulding relaxed his grip on his brothers and faced the eagle.
"How do I get to the castle if I cannot see?"
The eagle lifted his wing and stepped away. "You have three things better than your eyes. You have your two brothers and the feather named Brian." Spaulding felt him walking around him. "Do you think you can help your brother?"
"I've been trying to help my brothers."
"Not you. Remember, he can't see you and can't hear you nodding your heads. You'll have to talk to him and guide him. Can you help your brother?"
"Yes," Teddy whispered.
"Better than you have," Phil answered.
Spaulding swung his paw, but missed.
"Sorry, but he's a mean-"
"No, he's not. He saved me and got my eyes back. We're just scared. Can you help me?"
"Of course. I'm a big boy."
Spaulding smiled. "Okay, but this is up to you two now. Do we keep going or do we go home?"
"Can't we do both?" Phil asked.
Teddy snickered. "Yeah, both."
Spaulding faced the area he last heard the eagle. "Okay, but I'm going to kick some serious tail feathers, if I find out I shouldn't trust you."
"Fair enough," the eagle said from the other direction. "Let me take those eyes to the castle now to keep them safe."
Spaulding felt Phil reaching into the grass right in front of his foot and then heard him run towards the eagle. "One question first." Spaulding smiled, recognizing Phil's deficient voice. "Which way to the castle?"
The eagle flapped his wings. "Follow the river. It's a day and a half away, Tiny One."
"I'm not tiny," Phil shouted as the eagle flew away.
To be continued…. | <urn:uuid:63bf4c6a-374f-45d5-87df-942a0e969e8a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://writing.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474979206324 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984327 | 1,350 | 1.617188 | 2 |
There is no evidence of mermaids existence, says National Ocean Service
There is no evidence that mermaids exist, The National Ocean Service, a US government scientific agency, has said.
The National Ocean Service made the unusual declaration in response to public inquiries following a TV show on the mythical creatures.
It is thought some viewers may have mistaken the programme for a documentary.
“No evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found,” the service wrote in an online post.
The National Ocean Service posted an article last week on its educational website, Ocean Facts.
Images and tales of mermaids – half-human, half-fish – appear in mythology and art from across the world and through history, from Homer’s Odyssey to the oral lore of the Australian aboriginals, the service wrote.
The article was written from publicly available sources because “we don’t have a mermaid science programme”, said National Ocean Service spokeswoman Carol Kavanagh.
Carol Kavanagh said that at least two people had written to the agency asking about the creatures.
The inquiries followed May’s broadcast of Mermaids: The Body Found, on the Discovery Channel’s Animal Planet network.
The programme was a work of fiction but its wink-and-nod format apparently led some viewers to believe it was a science education show, the Discovery Channel has acknowledged.
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Short URL: http://www.bellenews.com/?p=21144 | <urn:uuid:fa799a21-ed2f-4f78-920f-824ca419c7fd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bellenews.com/2012/07/03/science-tech/there-is-no-evidence-of-mermaids-existence-says-national-ocean-service/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907945 | 747 | 2.609375 | 3 |
San Jose, California (CNN) -- Computers are evolving. We have voice-controlled assistants on our phones, telepresence robots for when we can't make it to a meeting in person, and self-driving cars that are headed to a road near you.
These machines aren't just taking over human tasks. Computerized systems are also taking on more human characteristics. As technology gets more advanced, how will our relationships with it change?
People are funny when it comes to automated devices, whether they're automatic doors or humanoid robots. We'll give them names and personalities, see them as cute or creepy, trust them with our lives and even get mad at them.
This was a prevailing theme at The Atlantic's recent Big Science Summit in San Jose, California. For starters, take the example of a smart thermostat that was a little too smart. The popular Nest thermostat, created by the designer behind the iPod, uses sensors and information about your behaviors over time to maximize energy efficiency in the home.
During beta testing, the engineers tried having the Nest automatically set a heating and cooling schedule out of the box, based on the pattern it knew would be most energy efficient, according to Yoky Matsuoka, Nest's vice president of technology. The device imposed this efficient schedule on users under the assumption that they would learn to adapt to it.
People hated it.
If they felt a touch too cold, they would rebel against the thermostat, manually turning it up even higher than they normally would, wasting energy. The homeowners wanted to feel that they were in control, and were unhappy having something make the decisions for them.
The feature was changed and the final version of the Nest starts with a blank slate, waiting to learn the user's patterns and preferences.
Wendy Ju, a researcher at the Stanford Human-Computer Interaction Group, studies how people perceive and react to computers.
"Robots seem like weirdos," said Ju at the Big Science Summit. She's experimented with tweaking computerized systems so that they seem less like "strange creatures."
In one experiment, Ju's group rigged automatic doors to open in different ways: Some would open slowly, then pause before fully opening; others would immediately jerk all the way open. The people walking by the doors assigned them different levels of intelligence, and thought the doors that opened in two steps just seemed smarter.
It turned out that adding the pause gave illusion of forethought, even though it was just an extra programming step. People thought the door was more intelligent because it appeared to think before carrying out an action.
In another experiment, Ju's group found people were twice as likely to use a public information kiosk when it had a waving robot hand attached to it. The physical movement made the kiosks seem more approachable.
Understanding these types of little human quirks are the key to making better computers and robots in the future, and to getting people to embrace using them, scientists say.
Science fiction is filled with conflicting depictions of smart computers. For every benign system, like "Star Trek's" tea-making computer, there is a more nefarious example like "The Terminator's" Skynet. It's no surprise people are wary of computers becoming smarter than us, taking power from us and doing tasks we do perfectly well already, thank you very much.
Like driving. Self-driving cars have been a concept for many decades, but in recent years they finally jumped from idea to reality, pushed by a contest started by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in 2004. Search giant Google has been testing automated vehicles on the roads in Nevada and California, but they're not the only ones working on self-driving cars.
The Center for Automotive Research at Stanford (yes, CARS) is also experimenting with autonomous vehicles. The group started testing an autonomous Audi TTS on the wide-open Bonneville Salt Flats in western Utah, where there are no pesky obstacles. Next it went up Colorado's Pike Peak, a famously twisty mountain road that zigs and zags unpredictably for 12.4 miles. Finally they took it to northern California's Thunderhill Raceway, where it hit 115 mph without a driver, and without crashing.
Every successful test builds hope that these cars can eliminate human driving errors, which are responsible for 90% of auto accidents. But part of selling the idea is making it clear that even a street of all automated cars, communicating with each other, won't be absolutely safe.
"It's hard to make software that is perfect. If your software has an error, that could be fatal in a self-driving car," said Chris Gerdes, director of the center, at the science summit. For example, he said, the vehicles' pedestrian-detection system must analyze a huge variety of human shapes -- when driving through San Francisco on Halloween, for example.
It's generally thought that one of the biggest hurdles for self-driving cars is convincing people to trust them. However, in their experiments, CARS researchers have also seen a surprisingly different reaction: people putting too much confidence in the cars.
When the self-driving technology moves from testing into daily use, it will likely start small, appearing in safety features in cars. By 2015, we could have automated traffic-jam assistants that help with driving in stop-and-start traffic, freeing the driver up to text or read. But if drivers are 100% comfortable turning over control to the car, how do you get their attention back?
"I'm worried there's not much of a gray area," said Gerdes.
One researcher who is moving far beyond just trying to make a system seem smart or trustworthy is David Hanson, CEO of Hanson Robotics. Hanson wants to make a lifelike robot that has human-level intelligence.
"It benefits people to humanize our technology," said Hanson at the Big Science Summit. "We discover things about ourselves."
Visually, he's very close to reaching that goal. Using a substance called frubber and his own background in animation, Hanson has created incredibly (some might say creepily) lifelike heads that can mimic subtle facial movements and expressions.
The robots are loaded with personality profiles and can hold real-time conversations by drawing on a database of dialogue produced by creative writers.
Ideally, Hanson would like to make the robots look and act so human that people would be able to form relationships with them.
But that level of intimacy with a robot isn't for everyone.
"I think that the number of people I want to have that deep relationship with is small, maybe 10," said Ju. | <urn:uuid:8e9d947b-434a-4da5-8f75-d8052a7958cf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/01/tech/innovation/computers-humans-science/index.html?c=innovation | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969292 | 1,363 | 2.984375 | 3 |
|A local family rallies around daughter with Rett Syndrome|
In the chill hours after she came into this world one short December day, they called Riley Hooper their “Dream Baby.”
While the other infants born around her screamed, filling the hospital hallways with wet, newborn cries, Riley, beautiful daughter of Jeff and Kelly, sweet little sister to brother Jordan and sister Kamryn—who was then still practically a baby herself—took in the world with big, saucer eyes and snuggled in, calm as “Silent Night.”
Soon, they called this baby girl “Smiley Riley.”
And the best probable future flowed out before the Hooper family like a clean, blue cloth. They had three beautiful, healthy children. They had a strong faith. They were blessed beyond measure.
Riley hit all the usual milestones in her first few months. Rolling over. Finding her feet. Sitting up. Crawling. Picking up Cheerios. Her first tooth.
She babbled and cooed. She seemed to say “Duck” and “Cup.” She wore that smile like a halo.
And then everything seemed too still.
“When she was a year old, she was nowhere near walking,” Kelly Hooper recalls. “I thought, 'She'll do it. Give her time.'”
Riley took a few steps. But soon it was clear something was wrong.
A visit with Baton Rouge pediatric neurologist Dr. Charlotte Holman confirmed there was some sort of problem.
Two months and several tests later, while other families were hanging stockings and hunkering down for Christmas Eve, Dr. Holman delivered the life-altering diagnosis. Riley tested positive for Rett Syndrome, an incurable neurological condition usually found in females. At age 2, Riley would start to regress.
Among an array of individually varying symptoms, Rett Syndrome often results in a loss of motor skills and speech. Those who live with it usually develop seizures.
Until the 1990s, Rett Syndrome was often misdiagnosed and largely misunderstood by doctors.
Now, they know it is caused by an abnormality in the MECP2 gene. This understanding also gives families and researchers hope that, one day, sooner rather than later, they'll find a cure.
Last month, the World Rett Syndrome Congress took place in New Orleans. There, researchers and scientists convened to share their knowledge of the syndrome.
Kathryn Kissam of Baton Rouge is the chairman of the International Rett Syndrome Foundation and is passionate about finding a cure.
Dr. Holman says raising awareness of Rett Syndrome, which only recently has been understood by the medical community, helps get the word out so that parents who suspect their child has Rett Syndrome can get a proper diagnosis and treatment.
“Rett Syndrome is a condition with very specific features, such as losing developmental milestones, small head size, hand washing movements and seizures, that can be genetically identified,” she says.
For the Hoopers, Rett Syndrome has meant an entirely new future, vastly different than the one they first envisioned.
This morning, Riley is, as always, smiling. On every wall, there are pictures of her and that radiant grin. Riley as a baby. Then as a toddler. Then blooming into a gorgeous little girl with smooth brown hair, sea-colored eyes and delicate features.
Above the family's gleaming dining room table, adorned with a vase of brightly colored daisies, the three Hooper kids beam in separate canvas prints, each four times larger than life.
The future may look different, but the family is no less rich.
Sixteen-year-old Jordan is a junior at Walker High. On the quiet side, he's passionate about sports. Riley, an outdoors girl, is a fixture at his games. Seven-year-old Kamryn still shares a room with Riley and can often be found reading to her sister early in the morning.
“They have a special bond,” Kelly Hooper says.
When friends ask Kamryn what is wrong with Riley, she tells them, “Her brain is sick.”
Riley is five years old. She sleeps in a crib. She crawls from place to place. She wears size 2 clothes and weighs 21 pounds. She's still in diapers. Through extensive physical therapy, the Hoopers were able to help Riley remember many of the skills she might have lost as Rett Syndrome took hold through her toddler years. That Riley can crawl is a constant relief. That she knows her mom and can hear and clearly enjoy music is bliss.
At Pediatria Health Care, a Baton Rouge school for medically fragile children, Riley has become a member of a thriving community who are all facing medical obstacles. Riley has lots of buddies.
Kelly Hooper can easily tote Riley on her hip. Though Riley fills the halls with squeals and even occasional laughter, she doesn't speak. Her slender fingers curl inward and don't grasp at paintbrushes or splay open for high fives.
Kamryn's starting to realize that Riley might not ever get better. Still, she doesn't give up. She keeps asking, “When is Riley going to talk to us?”
“You can kill yourself with the 'if-only,'” Kelly Hooper says.
In darker times, right after the diagnosis, Hooper admits that she would list all the things Riley might never do. She might never get married. She might never have children.
Then it dawned on Hooper that she loves Riley, as she loves all her children, not for what Riley will do. Not because of this future or that future or another one. She loves Riley pure, simple and white-hot.
This is the only Riley that has ever graced the Earth. She will carry Riley. She will feed Riley. She will be Riley's voice. She will shelter her forever. She will look into the pool of her own heart in amazement as it widens and deepens to hold the vastness of this particular, unique life that is her youngest daughter.
“When we got the diagnosis, initially, it was pretty devastating,” Jeff Hooper says. “Then you kind of sit back and you look at the situation and what are you going to do? You have to make the best of it.
“You make a new reality,” Kelly Hooper says.
Reality. It's what gives life texture and meaning, those moments, hours, days, weeks and months of ordinary, chock-full of pet peeves and aches and pains, both physical and emotional.
Ask the Hoopers, and they quickly focus on the blessings. But that doesn't mean the situation is not unbearably difficult at times.
Not all of the family's difficulties stem from the Rett Syndrome diagnosis.
The Hoopers are in the midst of divorce proceedings.
Jeff and Kelly have been able to pick through the situation as a unified force. They recognize they are both parents. They've pledged to work together raising all their children. When it comes to Riley, that's a process that will probably keep them knit together, for better or for worse, for the rest of their lives, regardless of legal definitions.
“When Kelly and I talked about how we were going to handle this and telling the kids about it, we talked about, 'This is what we'll tell Jordan. This is how we are going to put it to Kamryn.' But you don't really know what to do with Riley,” Jeff Hooper says. “I wonder if Riley knows what's going on.”
A person with Rett Syndrome feels a bit like being a bird that's trapped within an immobile cage of bones and muscles that won't move, even when they try to think them into doing so. Recent developments in technology have given some who live with Rett Syndrome a constant, streaming way to tell the world what it is like.
Minnesota blogger Karly Wahlin, 27, has Rett Syndrome. She learned how to read by looking closely while her sister and mom read to her. When she was nine, she was given a little typewriter. For the first time, she was able to to describe for her family what she was going through.
“I was so afraid,” Wahlin wrote on her blog Inspired By Love at spiritdances.wordpress.com. “I knew that something wasn't right in my body because I tried so hard to pick things up, and feed myself or say words, and I couldn't. It got worse when I was old enough to see other kids younger than me who could do those things. I felt terrified inside because I couldn't find a way out.”
Wahlin is no longer stuck. And she's no longer known as just a Rett sufferer, but a poet, a musician, a documentary filmmaker and a blogger with 94,000 hits.
“If girls with Rett are allowed to learn, and are given reassurance on the days they are struggling, they can have a great life, too,” Wahlin writes.
Watching Riley learn how to press “Yes” and “No” on an iPad sparks hope among the Hoopers that she, too, will be able to tell them what she's thinking and feeling and what she wants to do with her life.
“I really believe that Riley is not going to suffer from this for her whole life,” Jeff Hooper says. “The way things are progressing, we are going to be able to maybe have conversations with her or we'll get to watch her run around, or maybe I'll get to walk her down the aisle one day.”
In the meantime, the Hoopers have become Riley's students in many ways. She has taught them just how patient they really are, and how massive their ability to give truly is.
“Before I had a special needs child, I'd be like, 'They're so strong. I'm not strong. I could never do that,'” Kelly Hooper says. “But then you do. You're a lot stronger than you think.”
Click here to find out how one local woman is working to find a cure for Rett Syndrome.
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How to master the fish fillet
Step-by-step instructions for filleting fresh fish, which is a particularly useful culinary skill for those of us fortunate enough to live in southeast Louisiana.
Social media style
With our cover story featuring 25 must-follow Twitter accounts in Baton Rouge, and examining the growing social media site's impact on the local community, we wondered what Twitter might look like in the flesh—living, breathing, fashionable flesh. Prices are approximate, and price and availability are subject to change. (Styling: Erin Mehta)
Bad Guys, Good Eats! Pop-Up Dinner at Restaurant IPO
Chef and 225 contributor Jay D. Ducote and Chef Chris Wadsworth hosted the Bad Guys, Good Eats! dinner at Restaurant IPO Wednesday night. The dinner was themed around famous movie villains, pairing cocktails and ales with plates of food resembling famous baddies like The Joker, Lord Voldemort, Hannibal Lector, and many others. The highlights of the night were the three middle courses—a black bean soup laced with blood sausage to signify Lord Voldemort, a brace of coneys on black eyed peas resembling Sauron, and lamb medallions atop a fava bean puree to pay homage to the famous favorite of Hannibal Lector.
Elizabeth Arkley Hammett, a local nursing student and Fur Ball co-coordinator, and her husband Grey Hammett III, who works in commercial real estate, will take you through our summer guide. And they'll look good while doing it, too. Where noted, their clothes and accessories are available from local retailers. | <urn:uuid:0cb31eb6-2a1f-4405-98e7-2a3efc0e79ab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.225batonrouge.com/article/20120930/225BATONROUGE01/309279949/0/past-issues | 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 | 0.973181 | 2,514 | 1.9375 | 2 |
The National Law Journal called it one of the "top 100 verdicts of 2007": A truck driver working for a hazardous waste company in Texas caused an
accident that led to a man's death. A jury awarded $20.7 million to the deceased's estate, agreeing with the plaintiff that
the employer was negligent in hiring the driver without adequately checking his drug use or driving record.
It happens in the veterinary profession, too. A veterinary practice hires a young woman who presents herself as a qualified
and experienced veterinarian. She's worked three years for another practice and seems to be a good match. But after conducting
a background check, the practice management is shocked to learn that she doesn't have a license to practice veterinary medicine.
The woman completed two years of veterinary school, dropped out, and still got a job as a veterinarian in a corporate practice.
Hard to believe? It happens. Here's another true story: A prospective employee seemed to be matching up well to a veterinary
practice's needs and goals, but the practice played it safe and ran a background check. The managers learned that the applicant
had been convicted of embezzling from a former employer.
Both of these hiring scenarios could have proven unfortunate for these practices, but—luckily—in these two cases, a background
check helped avert professional and financial disaster. Unfortunately, not all veterinary practices are so cautious.
According to a study conducted in the fall of 2009 by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 73 percent of HR professionals
surveyed said they performed a criminal background check on all job candidates. Nineteen percent did background checks on
selected candidates, and 7 percent performed no background checks. It's estimated that less than 10 percent of veterinary
practices conduct any kind of background check at all.
As a practice owner, you have at least three precious things that need protecting: your clients, your patients, and your employees.
How well are you shielding them? Your practice is your livelihood now and will provide the economic resources you need for
retirement in the future. How well are you protecting your most important financial investment?
Employees of veterinary practices have relatively easy access to both money and controlled drugs. With so much on the line,
it's hard to say why more owners don't perform background checks and pre-employement drug screening. With the average cost
of a background check less than $100 and basic pre-employment drug screenings at around $25, you can afford to cut your risk
of hiring a potential disaster-in-waiting.
So what do you need to know to get started? Let's begin by discussing your rights as a hiring employer and the rights of a
potential employee under the law. | <urn:uuid:59d182ec-2d95-41fe-a9da-5f31f63c870d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://veterinarybusiness.dvm360.com/vetec/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=710576&sk=&date=&pageID=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958712 | 564 | 1.609375 | 2 |
At face value, the new animated feature "ParaNorman" is good. But when you know what went on behind the scenes to create it, the film is nothing short of genius.
"ParaNorman" was created using stop motion technology, which producer Travis Knight explains as a "process that dates back to the dawn of cinema, with a charm and warmth and a beauty that other forms of animation do not have."
Physical sets are built complete with props (more than 30,000 props were built for "ParaNorman") and puppets (there are 28 different puppets used to create the main character of Norman) are also built to act on the sets to bring the motion picture to life.
"Stop motion is different from other forms of animation in that everything you see in a shot has to be moved by a person. You start with a puppet that has a little metal skeleton inside so you can pose it and it will hold its position and you move it slightly, take a picture, then move it a little bit more, take another picture. When you knit enough of those individual pictures together and play them, it looks like the character is brought to life," says Knight, who is also the lead animator for "ParaNorman," and CEO of LAIKA, Inc., a company in Hillsboro, Ore., whose expertise is animation media, including two dimensional, computer generated and stop-motion animation.
While the company was instrumental in Tim Burton's "Corpse Bride" in 2005, they became known for their own stop-action expertise with the movie "Coraline," which was nominated for an Academy Award in 2009. "ParaNorman" is the company's second film, released in conjunction with Focus Features.
"'ParaNorman' is not only a wonderful story but it is the most advanced stop motion film of all time. I think the audience members will ultimately get so involved in the story that they will forget that they are actually watching a hand crafted stop motion movie. Only after the movie is over do they have time to think 'Whoa, how in the world did they do that?'," says Brian McLean, creative supervisor of replacement animation and engineering at LAIKA.
While director and writer Chris Butler came up with the idea for "ParaNorman" 16 years ago, the movie itself took two years to make. Two minutes of footage can take a week or more to shoot, say the filmmakers, while one very intricate scene that takes place in a lavatory took one year to shoot. Fifty-two stages were used to create the world of "ParaNorman" and the number is the most ever assembled for a stop-motion animated feature.
"At any given time during the shoot, there would be 52 separate shooting units working," said Sam Fell, co-director of "ParaNorman."
"ParaNorman" is set in the town of Blithe Hollow, a New England town filled with history. Three hundred years ago, it was the scene of a famous witch hunt. As odd as the town is given its legend, 11-year-old Norman Babcock is the town's oddest. He is obsessed with scary movies and ghost lore and is also gifted with the ability to see and speak with the dead, including his beloved grandmother, who spends her days sitting on the family couch and sharing her love of horror movies with her grandson. When Norman's odd uncle Prenderghast tells him a secret about a witch's curse that is about to come true, Norman is charged with saving the small town from a vengeful witch and zombies who are summoned from their graves.
Butler hopes that by the end of "ParaNorman" there's a nice takeaway from the story about an oddball kid who isn't seen favorably by everyone from his father to his classmates. "Maybe they'll look at the person next to them and see them in a slightly different way," says Butler.
Watching the movie and knowing the painstaking work that went into it will also make moviegoers see an animated film in a different way, too. "ParaNorman" is a unique gift for moviegoers and a hand-made work of art. But, most of all, it's just plain fun. | <urn:uuid:51946169-1256-43c9-a25a-64a7d6749219> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.channel3000.com/entertainment/atthemovies/-ParaNorman-creators-spill-behind-the-scenes-secrets/-/10206688/16163448/-/r6dd8fz/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980527 | 882 | 1.71875 | 2 |
There aren’t many foods I enjoy more than a slice of toasted bread (homemade, of course) topped with a little butter and jam, which is why I always enjoy experimenting with different recipes for jams and jellies. Not only do my homemade fruit preserves make it possible to store the flavor of summer all year long, but they keep my morning toast interesting, and that’s very important to me.
I know I’ve already shared several recipes with you from Marisa’s blog, Food in Jars, but this recipe for orange creamsicle jelly is one of my absolute favorites. It’s tangy, sweet, and flecked with vanilla seeds that give it an amazingly smooth flavor. I made a small batch with freshly squeezed oranges a few weeks ago, and I’ve been smearing it over my toast ever since. And because it’s so good, I plan to add this recipe to my normal canning rotation each year, not only for myself, but to give as gifts to all my friends and family so they can taste it for themselves. Something this delicious should be shared with as many people as possible.
To follow Marisa’s recipe for creamsicle jelly, check out her amazing blog, or read below:
• 4 cups freshly squeezed orange juice
• 4 cups sugar
• 2 vanilla beans, split and scraped
• 1 packet liquid pectin (half a box)
Combine orange juice, sugar, vanilla bean scrapings and beans in a large pot, and boil over high heat. Using a thermometer, bring the temperature up to 220 degrees. Continue to cook for at least 30 minutes, or until the liquid has reduced in volume by half.
When the volume has reduced and the temperature is at 220 degrees, add the pectin. Stir constantly and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat.
Remove the vanilla beans from the pot and pour jam into sterilized jars. Wipe rims, apply lids, and screw on bands. Process in a boiling water canner for ten minutes.
Remove jars and place on a towel-lined countertop. Allow them to cool to room temperature. Check the seals, and store any unsealed jars in the fridge. Store the sealed jars in a cool, dry place.
This jelly is delicious over toast or stirred into yogurt.
To package my creamsicle jelly, I used half-pint jars that I labeled with marigold colored tags and labels in the style Candystripes. | <urn:uuid:79923320-62c6-401a-bfc9-51b476e0833b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.myownlabels.com/blog/orange-creamsicle-jelly/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915618 | 530 | 1.5 | 2 |
Property Assessors Offices - Arkansas Laws and Regulations
Learn about the laws and regulations governing property assessors offices in ArkansasArkansas property assessors offices laws and regulations deal with property taxes that are based on the estimated value of real property. The fair market value is the most common standard of value used in Arkansas, although there are other standards, such as the foreclosure value or distressed sale value. A property tax exemption is applied by reducing a property's assessed value by a specified amount before calculating the property tax.
There are a variety of information sources regarding the laws on Arkansas property values. These sources include the three following categories:
- The Arkansas state government. These sources offer official information, including state laws that deal with property assessors in Arkansas.
- County and municipal governments in Arkansas. These sources provide the rules and procedures for a specific property assessors office in Arkansas.
- Arkansas law firms that include property law as one of their areas of practice. These firms may provide information on specific issues of property tax laws in Arkansas.
Examine the laws that control assessors of property values in Arkansas
Arkansas Assessment Coordination Department provides the goals of The Arkansas Property Taxpayer Bill of Rights, which addresses property assessment in Arkansas. The Arkansas General Assembly provides the assessment of property taxes in Title 26, Subtitle 3, Chapter 26, Subchapter 11 of the Arkansas Code.
Study the procedures for conducting Arkansas property assessment in a particular jurisdictionLocal governments have specific procedures for property assessments and also may offer an Arkansas property tax search. A complete list of Arkansas property tax records may also be available.
Sebastian County Assessor Office summarizes the legislative duties of assessors under Arkansas law. The Craighead County Assessor's Office provides the legal requirements of the assessors office in Arkansas.
Review Arkansas property assessors laws from law firms in ArkansasArkansas lawyers who specialize in property law frequently offer summaries on the property taxes that are assessed in Arkansas. They also may write articles on specific issues regarding property taxes in Arkansas.
- Many laws on Arkansas property assessments are the result of the Financial Institutions Reform and Recovery and Enforcement Act (FIRREA). The savings and loan crisis of the late 80s resulted in the passage of the FIRREA in 1989, which required the adoption of property appraisal standards in the United States.
Copyright © 2013 Business.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved. | <urn:uuid:26cf9095-1c22-4330-8673-49665b3dbe8c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.business.com/guides/property-assessors-offices-arkansas-laws-and-regulations-36647/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90799 | 487 | 2.328125 | 2 |
WASHINGTON — In a highly unorthodox initiative aimed at alleviating a growing glut of physicians, the federal government has agreed to pay hospitals around the country hundreds of millions of dollars not to train doctors.
The initiative, embedded in the federal budget agreement, extends to all 1,025 of the nation's teaching hospitals an offer similar to a controversial experiment approved for New York earlier this year.
That experiment, which will pay hospitals in that state $400 million over the next several years while they gradually decrease the number of young doctors they train, drew an outcry from teaching hospitals elsewhere that felt New York had wangled a lucrative special deal.
Congressional Republicans decided that, instead of trying to block the money for New York, they would expand the opportunity nationwide.
Since it began, Medicare has underwritten residency training programs heavily and has, in effect, made residents a prized, inexpensive kind of labor for their hospitals. Taxpayers spend $7 billion a year on such training.
Now, hospitals that downsize will not get extra money outright. But if they volunteer to reduce their residency programs by 20% or 25% over five years, Medicare will cushion the financial blow. For the first two years, it will pay the whole subsidy for the missing residents. After that, the payments will taper off for three years.
The agreement also for the first time essentially forbids hospitals to increase the sizes of their residency programs. | <urn:uuid:d64490da-3946-4a9b-9905-870dec28ad16> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.latimes.com/1997/aug/24/news/mn-25548 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954564 | 285 | 1.890625 | 2 |
A Reflection on the May 2010 Brazil-Turkey Nuclear Initiative Toward Iran
On February 22, 2011, Director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center, Haleh Esfandiari opened the seminar "A Reflection on the May 2010 Brazil-Turkey Nuclear Initiative Toward Iran" by calling to mind the photo of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil, holding hands to mark the signing of the May 2010 Nuclear Deal, also known as the Tehran Agreement. She ended her introduction by rhetorically asking those present whether Iran was truly interested in an agreement or if it had alternate, more sinister intentions.
Paulo Sotero, Director of the Brazil Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center, then introduced a Brazil-centric picture of the May 2010 initiative, saying that the event produced open criticism from both current and former Brazilian diplomats. President Dilma Rousseff, who was inaugurated in Brasilia this past January to succeed President Lula, however, has sought to distance herself from certain aspects of Lula's relationship with Iran. Mr. Sotero noted that before her inauguration, Rousseff, herself a former victim of torture, criticized the Brazilian abstention in a UNHCR vote on stoning following an Iranian stoning sentence, saying, "There is no nuance. That was a mistake." In light of continued Iranian incompliance in international agreements, Mr. Sotero invited the event's discussants to give their perspectives on the objectives, motives, and accomplishments of the May 2010 Nuclear Deal.
Professor Monica Herz, Director of the International Relations Institute at the Catholic University, Rio de Janeiro, was the first panelist to speak. She structured her talk into two main arguments: first, the event can be understood in terms of a changing distribution of power in the international system. Recent debate has focused on the lack of coordination and dysfunctions that emerging powers are creating in the global governance system. Professor Herz posited, however, that though this approach allows us to understand disparate interpretations of the Tehran Agreement, it disregards what should be our focus: how and if the world order will adapt to new emerging powers. Herz believes that the rising influence countries like Brazil exert in the economic sphere is not matched by a rising influence in "high politics in general and security in particular." Moreover, tensions between dominant and emerging powers stem from the "stability of international institutions" and their accompanying "hard power asymmetries."
"One of the obvious victims of these tensions is the non-proliferation regime," Professor Herz said, introducing her second argument. In addition, the inherent faults in the regime's composition serve only to exacerbate this crisis. Professor Herz emphasized that in particular, the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was negotiated in a global context vastly different, and incompatible, with today's realities. After reviewing the history of the regime, she asserted that little progress has been made in updating the regime.
In spite of this, Herz said, Brazil increasingly sees the internationalization of power and authority as something to examine and discuss. For the last fifteen years Brazilian foreign policy has centered on Brazil's changing role in international politics, with a particular focus on "seeking a realistic means to ensure wider participation in global forums."
One of the aspects of international relations Brazil has taken issue with is the NPT. Professor Herz explained that the NPT established two approaches to state negotiations: one in terms of the logic of deterrence, and the second in terms of nonproliferation. She underlined that the discriminatory nature of the non-proliferation regime and the need to move further towards disarmament has been a "hot topic" for Brazilian society. "Complete denuclearization is a central concept to Brazil's position," she said. Therefore, "any attempt to link nonproliferation to denial of access to [nuclear] technology is totally unacceptable" to the Brazilian government. Additionally, the "argument that qualifies weapons users as rational or irrational, ethical or unethical" is equally rejected. Brazil stresses that without progress in disarmament, there is no reason for other states to reciprocate in adhering to nonproliferation.
Therefore, Professor Herz concluded, Brazil's involvement in the 2010 Tehran Agreement can be understood in terms of a "sense of identity" Brazil felt with Iran, "specifically regarding autonomy in the technological sphere," as well as "treatment in terms of equality of sovereignty."
Professor Mustafa Kibaroglu, Associate Professor of International Affairs, Bilkent University, Ankara, followed Professor Herz and offered Turkey's perspective on the negotiations leading up to the Tehran Agreement. He reviewed the events that led up to the Tehran Declaration, or the swap deal, of May 2010. Professor Kibaroglu lamented the rejection by the P5+1 countries of the "unique opportunity" the swap deal presented. He expressed confusion about why, when Turkey had kept Washington updated on all the negotiations, Washington had not made Turkey aware earlier of its disapproval of the deal. "It is fair to say," he said, "that the United States acted too hastily" in first rejecting the deal and later in convincing the Security Council members to pass a new round of sanctions on Iran. Sanctions are not only ineffective in impacting Iranian nuclear ambitions, given that Iranians are accustomed to circumventing them, but implementation of sanctions also engender support for the Iranian regime from anti-American states and people.
Insofar as motivations behind Turkish participation in the negotiations, Professor Kibaroglu first underscored that as a non-permanent member of the UNSC, it was Turkey's duty to involve itself in issues of international peace and security. Furthermore, Turkey's particular interest in Iran's nuclear program is threefold: first, it is partly based on the fear of Iran developing nuclear weapons, since "Turkey will be the country most negatively affected" by such a development; second, Turkey does not want the United States to justify military action against Iran by claiming that Iran rejected diplomatic efforts; third, Turkey fears Iranian justification of nuclear enrichment to weapons grade levels under the claim of not receiving enough global support. Along these lines, Professor Kibaroglu stressed that the non-proliferation regime stipulates "the importance of equal and balanced treatment" of "the three inseparable and mutually reinforcing pillars": non-proliferation, disarmament, and peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Turkey believes Iran is entitled to this third pillar.
After a short coffee break, Robert Litwak, Vice President for Programs and Director of International Security Studies at the Center, introduced a second round of panelists. Former Ambassador and current Vice President of the Cohen Group, Craig Kelly was the first to speak, and he felt it was "very important to underscore" that the United States welcomes increased globalization in the Western Hemisphere. He sought to clarify that the United States did not seek "to discourage Brazil or Turkey from trying to exert influence on this issue." Rather, he said, Washington understood that the two countries were committed to and shared the same goal as the United States – to prevent a nuclear weapons program from developing in Iran – but that the two sides disagreed on the tactics that should be employed to accomplish this goal. Ambassador Kelly explained that President Obama, when he assumed power, attempted pure diplomacy with Iran, but his efforts "failed to bear fruit, and to the contrary bore a lot of frustration." Therefore, the administration decided that only through a mix of sanctions and diplomacy could they make real progress on Iran. Moreover, Ambassador Kelly said that Washington's almost universal skepticism about Iran's intent was made clear "privately and publicly" to Brazil and Turkey during the negotiations that led up to the Tehran Agreement. Despite U.S. rejection of the "swap deal," Kelly closed by expressing his belief in the resilience of the Brazil-U.S. relationship.
Dr. Trita Parsi, President of the National Iranian-American Council and former Wilson Center Public Policy Scholar, focused on the Iranian perspective of the affair. He opened by explaining that the stalemate that ended negotiations between the United States and Iran in October of 2009 was the result of Iranian domestic "political infighting," as well as Iranian suspicion of the United States' sincerity in any agreement.
The body of Dr. Parsi's presentation addressed four myths that have arisen out of the failed Tehran Agreement. First, Dr. Parsi denied that Tehran "tricked" Brazil and Turkey into the deal with the hope of dividing the international community or embarrassing the latter countries. Each country had various interests that motivated their participation in the negotiations. Second, "although it is impossible to ascertain" whether or not Iran was sincere, Dr. Parsi mounted an argument that implied a sincerity in Iran's actions. Third, Dr. Parsi addressed the wrong assertion that the Tehran Declaration was meant to be a final solution to the question of Iran's nuclear program. Instead, the intention was to "build trust and create space for additional diplomacy." Lastly, he addressed the notion that the Tehran Declaration was rejected because of "its failure to address Iran's growing LEU stockpile." The truth is, after the stalemate of October of 2009, the democratic Obama administration began a months-long initiative to persuade China and Russia to agree to sanctions, a feat it accomplished "unbeknownst to Brazil and Turkey... only two days before Lula's trip to Iran." The United States's domestic political landscape was marked by pro-sanctions voices, anger after the sham 2009 Iranian presidential elections, and fears over what a nuclear deal would mean for upcoming November 2010 elections. These factors are the real motivating factors for the United States's rejection of the Tehran Agreement and for its push for a new round of sanctions.
Dr. Parsi concluded by returning to the potential for Brazil and Turkey to participate in future negotiations. He believes that there are few countries "so uniquely positioned" as Brazil and Turkey to effect positive change on the Iranian nuclear issue, and that if the real objective is a peaceful solution, "then a closer review of Turkey and Brazil's mediation efforts would be valuable."
Following Dr. Parsi, Professor Nizar Messari of the Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco interpreted the Brazil-Turkey mediation from three disparate viewpoints: that of Sunni Arab states, the Gulf States, and the Arab public. The Sunni Arab states found the Brazilian position "extremely puzzling" and negative because they see Iran, a majority Shia state, as an increasing security threat. As an example, Professor Messari noted that before his deposition Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was increasingly vocal about a Shia threat, and Saudi Arabia has been very alarmed by what they see as an Iranian encouragement in the current Bahrain (a majority Shia country) uprising. Given that these Sunni states depend on the United States military for their security, the Brazil-Turkey mediation "is bad because it just delays and postpones any action by the United States."
On the other hand, Professor Messari pointed out, the Gulf States saw the mediation as "extremely positive." After Turkey, he argued, the Gulf States would be the worst off in the case of a nuclear-armed Iran because they are completely vulnerable to military action against them. The mediation "gave them hope that the [Iran nuclear] program would be stopped eventually" and even suggested a peaceful resolution to the problem.
Arab public opinion was also extremely in favor of the Tehran Agreement. Although Arab leaders stress religious divisions, the Arab streets largely support the Iranian nuclear program as it symbolizes sovereignty and international independence. The Brazil-Turkey mediation let Iran "off the hook" and would have allowed it to both continue its nuclear development while retaining membership in the international community.
To finish, Professor Messari warned that a nuclear Iran would catalyze an arms race in the region. Since there are "strong doubts" that the "U.S. would extend its nuclear umbrella" to protect Iran's Arab neighbors in the case of a nuclear Iran, Arab states will take it upon themselves to develop nuclear arms in self-defense. "We can live with Israeli weapons," Messari cautioned, "but Israeli and Iranian? That is too hard to accept. We need to protect ourselves."
Drafted by Jillian Macnaughton,
Paulo Sotero, Director, Brazil Institute
Trita Parsi // former Public Policy ScholarFounder and President, National Iranian American Council and author of A Single Roll of the Dice: Obama's Policy with Iran
Chair, International Relations Department and Director, Center for Eurasian Studies, Okan University, Istanbul
Nizar Messari // Associate Professor of International AffairsAl Akhawayn University, Ifrane, Morocco | <urn:uuid:1f99352e-c6ff-4ade-935a-065825f06846> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/reflection-the-may-2010-brazil-turkey-nuclear-initiative-toward-iran | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958625 | 2,593 | 1.6875 | 2 |
But back in May 2004, he was a 19-year-old finishing up his sophomore year at Harvard.
He was also the acclaimed founder and creator of an increasingly popular Web site called TheFacebook.com, which had launched in February 2004.
As we've reported in detail in a separate story, the launch of TheFacebook.com was not without controversy. Just six days after the site launched, three Harvard seniors, Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra, accused Mark of intentionally misleading them into believing he would help them build a social network called HarvardConnection.com, while he was instead using their ideas to build a competing product.
After Mark launched TheFacebook.com, Cameron, Tyler and Divya hired a series of developers to build HarvardConnection -- the site Mark Zuckerberg had told them he would build but did not. By mid-May, the trio had a site ready for launch. By then the site's name had changed from HarvardConnection to ConnectU.
Sometime during the 14 days leading up to May 28 -- the editors at Harvard's student newspaper, the Crimson, received an email in the their "tips" inbox from Cameron Winklevoss, one of the founders of ConnectU.
This email presented the argument Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divvya Narenda had already brought to Harvard's Administration Board and to Mark Zuckerberg -- that TheFacebook.com was the product of Mark Zuckerberg's fraud against the ConnectU team.
Since the Winklevoss brothers were best known at Harvard for being exceptional rowers, the story was assigned to Crimson sports writer Tim McGinn. After a phone call, Tim hosted Tyler, Cameron, and Divya in his office at the Crimson. The four of them went over emails between Cameron and Mark.
After the ConnectU team left, the Crimson invited Mark into its offices to defend himself.
When Mark arrived at the Crimson, he asked Tim and Elisabeth Theodore, an editor helping with the story, to sign a non-disclosure agreement so that he could show them the work he'd done on HarvardConnection. Per Crimson policy, Tim and Elisabeth refused to sign the NDA.
On a Crimson computer, Mark brought up what he described as the work he did on HarvardConnection. He gave Tim and Elisabeth a guided tour of the site. Mark's goal seemed to have been to show Tim and Elizabeth, the Crimson reporter and editor, that, other than the ways in which social networks are all the same, there were no features or designs in the work he did on HarvardConnection.com that ended up in theFacebook.com.
Mark's demonstration was successful: After he left, the Crimson decided not to run a story. Tim emailed Tyler, Cameron, and Divya to tell them that the story would not run. He contacted Mark to say the the same thing.
But then, perhaps a day or so later, the Winklevoss brothers reached out to Tim McGinn again, this time to tell him that another Harvard rower -- one named John Thomson -- had told them that Mark had stolen something for TheFacebook from him, too. They told Tim that John's claim was that Mark Zuckerberg stole from him the idea for a TheFacebook feature called "Visualize Your Buddy."
With a new accusation at hand, the Crimson decided to re-open its investigation. Tim McGinn called Mark and told him about about John's claim and gave him a chance to deny it. Mark denied the claim and got very upset -- apparently because he felt he had been promised there would be no story.
For the rest of that night and into the next morning, Tim and his editor Elisabeth Theodore attempted to follow-up with John Thomson. After they finally reached him, John told them that he made the whole Mark Zuckerberg anecdote up in order to impress the Winklevoss brothers, who were important members of the rowing team. [As an aside, kudos to the journalism at the Crimson!]
Tim and Elisabeth decided to drop John's claims from the story. But, this time, they decided to go ahead and publish a story on ConnectU's claims against Facebook.
Mark Zuckerberg was not content to wait until the morning to find out if the Crimson would include John's accusations in its story.
Instead, he decided to access the email accounts of Crimson editors and review their emails. How did he do this? Here's how Mark described his hack to a friend:
Mark used his site, TheFacebook.com, to look up members of the site who identified themselves as members of the Crimson. Then he examined a log of failed logins to see if any of the Crimson members had ever entered an incorrect password into TheFacebook.com. If the cases in which they had entered failed logins, Mark tried to use them to access the Crimson members' Harvard email accounts. He successfully accessed two of them.
In other words, Mark appears to have used private login data from TheFacebook to hack into the separate email accounts of some TheFacebook users.
In one account he accessed, Mark saw an email from Crimson writer Tim McGinn to Cameron, Tyler, and Divya. Another email Mark read was this one, from Crimson managing editor Elisabeth Theodore to Tim McGinn:
From: Elisabeth Susan Theodore
To: Timothy John McGinn
Subject: Re: Follow-up
OK, he did seem very sleazy. And I thought that some of his answers to the questions were not very direct or open. I also thought that his reactiont o the website was very very weird. But, even if it's true so what? It's an [redacted] thing ot od but it's not illegal, right?
We reached out to Tim McGinn and Elisabeth Theodore for comment. Both declined to comment.
When we reviewed the details of this story with Facebook, the company had this comment:
"We’re not going to debate the disgruntled litigants and anonymous sources who seek to rewrite Facebook’s early history or embarrass Mark Zuckerberg with dated allegations. The unquestioned fact is that since leaving Harvard for Silicon Valley nearly six years ago, Mark has led Facebook's growth from a college website to a global service playing an important role in the lives of over 400 million people."
We're certainly not questioning the latter fact: Facebook's success has been awe-inspiring. Given the significant concerns about privacy online in general and at Facebook in particular, however, it seems reasonable to ask what the company's reaction -- and Mark's reaction -- is to the reported behavior above.
In the past, Facebook has told us: "Facebook respects user privacy and access to site usage and profile information is restricted at the company. Any Facebook employees found to be engaged in improper access to user data will be disciplined or terminated."
It is clear that the events described above would be a direct violation of Facebook's current policy, which has now been in place for several years. The policy was not in place at the time of the events described above.
A source close to the company suggests that it was the fallout from early privacy violations like this one -- fallout that has included reputational damage to Mark Zuckerberg and expensive and prolonged litigation with ConnectU -- that has shaped Facebook's current privacy policies and made Mark the CEO he is today. | <urn:uuid:514be1bc-463a-40f1-9437-85067e024d2e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.businessinsider.com/how-mark-zuckerberg-hacked-into-the-harvard-crimson-2010-3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976121 | 1,513 | 1.515625 | 2 |
US Building $100-Million Underground Bunker at Secret Israeli Missile Base
Walter Pincus reported in The Washington Post a few days ago that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has put out a request for proposals, seeking contractors with top-secret clearances to develop a $100-million underground military facility for the Israeli army. Here’s the project description:
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to supervise construction of a five-story underground facility for an Israel Defense Forces complex, oddly named “Site 911,” at an Israeli Air Force base near Tel Aviv.
Expected to take more than two years to build, at a cost of up to $100 million, the facility is to have classrooms on Level 1, an auditorium on Level 3, a laboratory, shock-resistant doors, protection from nonionizing radiation and very tight security. Clearances will be required for all construction workers, guards will be at the fence and barriers will separate it from the rest of the base.
The article also notes that in the past the Corps has built facilities for Israel’s nuclear missiles. So it should come as no surprise that a highly placed Israeli source tells me that the site for this project is the top-secret Israeli missile base Sdot Micha, located near Beit Shemesh (about 15 miles from Jerusalem). That’s where the country’s ICBM (nuclear-armed Jerichos) fleet is housed. The site is so hush-hush that a 2010 article about it in Yediot had passages censored from it that came directly from the widely accessible Global Security website. Censors are often not known for subtlety or even common sense.
The U.S.-built underground site is to be nuclear-hardened so that it can withstand a WMD attack from an Israeli enemy. This would allow Israel’s missile command-and-control system to continue operating despite a potential massive and devastating attack. According to this source, the IDF already has a nuke-proof command center under the Kirya, its Tel Aviv headquarters.
Since we know that Israel and the U.S. both spy on each other, I find it extraordinary that Israel would trust the U.S. to build one of its most sensitive military facilities. In fact, I know personally that the FBI bugged the Washington, D.C. Israeli embassy over a period of years. The Mossad has for decades operated here. Why doesn’t Israel fear the U.S. would do the same with these facilities?
One answer may be that the project is financed under the U.S. Foreign Military Sales program, meaning our government is financing the project gratis to the Israeli taxpayer. For Israel, economy trumps self-reliance.
One has to ask: which enemy is Israel defending against in building this complex? Since the project will take two years to complete, that would be around the time a number of analysts believe that Iran could have nuclear capability should it choose to create a weapon.
There appear to be two considerations here:
1. Israel anticipates that Iran will have WMDs by 2014.
2. Israel anticipates attacking Iran at some point after the underground bunker is completed.
There’s only one reason to build such a facility: you are guarding against an enemy attack. There is only one enemy that comes close to offering Israel such a threat: Iran. It alone among Israel’s current enemies (aside from Syria, which is distracted by a few domestic problems of its own) has the capability to lob long-range missiles at it. Though it currently cannot arm them with a nuclear warhead, conceivably (in Israel’s estimation) that could change. That’s why it’s critical that Israel maintain its own nuclear capability to launch an attack and/or respond to an enemy one.
Since it seems extremely unlikely that Iran’s leaders would mount a preemptive strike against Israel, certainly not a nuclear strike, construction of such a fortress indicates that Israel anticipates mounting such an attack and needs to ensure its critical military forces will remain intact after an Iranian response.
Though the code name for the project, 911, may be coincidental, the sense of looming Armageddon is palpable. It should also be noted that all three of Israel’s most formidable enemies, Hezbollah, Hamas, and Iran, have substantial underground military complexes. Gilad Shalit may have been kept in such bunkers during his captivity, and Hamas’s senior leadership retreats to such complexes during Israeli attacks like the one we saw last month.
One of Hezbollah’s most effective tactics was using tunnels that the IDF was not aware of to attack Israeli troops from various angles to devastating effect. Iran, too, has buried its advanced Fordow uranium enrichment facility under 300 feet of mountain. This hardening prevents Israel from destroying the site unless it gets U.S. 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs. Thus Israel, along with its adversaries, is placing its most critical military infrastructure and weapons system underground so that they can withstand either sabotage or full-frontal attack.
Pincus notes some truly bizarre religious injunctions that are called for in the request for proposals. It specifies mezuzas:
The Corps offered a lengthy description of the mezuzas the contractor is to provide “for each door or opening exclusive of toilets or shower rooms” in the Site 911 building. A mezuza (also spelled mezuzah) is a parchment which has been inscribed with Hebrew verses from the Torah, placed in a case and attached to a door frame of a Jewish family’s house as a sign of faith. Some interpret Jewish law as requiring — as in this case — that a mezuza be attached to every door in a house.
These mezuzas, notes the Corps, “shall be written in inerasable ink, on … uncoated leather parchment” and be handwritten by a scribe “holding a written authorization according to Jewish law.” The writing may be “Ashkenazik or Sepharadik” [sic] but “not a mixture” and “must be uniform.”
Also, “The Mezuzahs shall be proof-read by a computer at an authorized institution for Mezuzah inspection, as well as manually proof-read for the form of the letters by a proof-reader authorized by the Chief Rabbinate.” The mezuza shall be supplied with an aluminum housing with holes so it can be connected to the door frame or opening. Finally, “All Mezuzahs for the facility shall be affixed by the Base’s Rabbi or his appointed representative and not by the contractor staff.”
Frankly, I’ve never heard of any difference between Sephardic and Ashkenazi mezuzas, nor have I heard of any difference between writing styles from one tradition to the other. This appears to be based on either inaccurate information about Jewish rites or misinterpretation of something the Corps was told by the IDF.
Further, I feel confident knowing that God, through these powerful religious amulets, will be protecting the Jewish people and its military defenders. Now the only question is whose divinity is more powerful: the Jewish Yehovah or Iran’s Shi’ite Allah? But didn’t Moses offer the Israelites a single God? If only he could see his people now creating a God for Us and a God for Them. I hope it might horrify him half as much as it does me.
Read more by Richard Silverstein
- Panetta Warns of Cyber Pearl Harbor – October 16th, 2012
- Bibi’s Secret War Plan – August 15th, 2012
- US Counterterror Policy Brought to You by Our Sponsor, Israel – July 16th, 2012
- Did the Mossad Murder Arafat? – July 4th, 2012
- Shin Bet Arrests Israeli Druze at Syrian Border, Slaps Gag on Media Reporting – July 1st, 2012 | <urn:uuid:91d4bef1-9f3f-43a9-b8c5-ef1be9d78672> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://original.antiwar.com/richard-silverstein/2012/12/02/why-is-the-us-building-an-underground-bunker-for-israel/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956326 | 1,689 | 1.601563 | 2 |
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The God Delusionby Richard Dawkins
A typically bold and incisive book from one of our great science writers, The God Delusion pulls no punches. I gave it to my cousin in hardcover last year, and he hasn't stopped citing passages since. "There are lots of people out there," Dawkins notes in the preface, "who feel vague yearnings to leave their parents' religion and wish they could, but just don't realize that leaving is an option. If you are one of them, this book is for you."
Synopses & Reviews
In this provocative New York Times bestseller, now published in paperback with a new preface, the preeminent scientist — and the world's most prominent atheist — Richard Dawkins eviscerates the major arguments for religion and demonstrates the supreme improbability of a supreme being. The God Delusion makes a compelling case that belief in God is not just wrong, but potentially deadly. With rigor and wit, Dawkins asserts the irrationality of belief in God and the grievous harm religion has inflicted on society, from the Crusades to 9/11. Supporting his points with historical and contemporary evidence, he shows how religion fuels war, foments bigotry, and abuses children. The God Delusion also offers exhilarating insight on the advantages of atheism to the individual and society, not the least of which is a clearer, truer appreciation of the universe's wonders than any faith could ever muster. This is a book that challenges each of us to test our beliefs, no matter what beliefs we hold.
"The antireligion wars started by Daniel Dennett and Sam Harris will heat up even more with this salvo from celebrated Oxford biologist Dawkins. For a scientist who criticizes religion for its intolerance, Dawkins has written a surprisingly intolerant book, full of scorn for religion and those who believe. But Dawkins, who gave us the selfish gene, anticipates this criticism. He says it's the scientist and humanist in him that makes him hostile to religions fundamentalist Christianity and Islam come in for the most opprobrium that close people's minds to scientific truth, oppress women and abuse children psychologically with the notion of eternal damnation. While Dawkins can be witty, even confirmed atheists who agree with his advocacy of science and vigorous rationalism may have trouble stomaching some of the rhetoric: the biblical Yahweh is 'psychotic,' Aquinas's proofs of God's existence are 'fatuous' and religion generally is 'nonsense.' The most effective chapters are those in which Dawkins calms down, for instance, drawing on evolution to disprove the ideas behind intelligent design. In other chapters, he attempts to construct a scientific scaffolding for atheism, such as using evolution again to rebut the notion that without God there can be no morality. He insists that religion is a divisive and oppressive force, but he is less convincing in arguing that the world would be better and more peaceful without it." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
"Dawkins focuses heavily on the monotheistic religions with quotations from the Bible and Koran that sanction genocide, rape and the killing of unbelievers....Bible-thumpers doubtless will declare they've found their Satan incarnate." Kirkus Reviews
"This is a brave and important book." Desmond Morris, author of The Naked Ape and The Human Animal
"A resounding trumpet blast for truth....It feels like coming up for air." Matt Ridley, author of Genome and Francis Crick
"At last, one of the best nonfiction writers alive today has assembled his thoughts on religion into a characteristically elegant book." Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor, Harvard University, author of The Language Instinct, How the Mind Works, and The Blank Slate
"To those readers tired of being told that they must bow respectfully before every absurd or bizarre superstition they encounter, and who worry about the effects of this atmosphere of hyper-tolerance on the health of our society, Dawkins' irreverent and penetrating work will seem a breath of fresh air." San Francisco Chronicle
Discover magazine recently called Richard Dawkins "Darwin"s Rottweiler" for his fierce and effective defense of evolution. Now Dawkins turns his considerable intellect on religion, denouncing its faulty logic and the suffering it causes.
A preeminent scientist — and the world's most prominent atheist — asserts the irrationality of belief in God and the grievous harm religion has inflicted on society, from the Crusades to 9/11.
With rigor and wit, Dawkins examines God in all his forms, from the sex-obsessed tyrant of the Old Testament to the more benign (but still illogical) Celestial Watchmaker favored by some Enlightenment thinkers. He eviscerates the major arguments for religion and demonstrates the supreme improbability of a supreme being. He shows how religion fuels war, foments bigotry, and abuses children, buttressing his points with historical and contemporary evidence. The God Delusion makes a compelling case that belief in God is not just wrong but potentially deadly. It also offers exhilarating insight into the advantages of atheism to the individual and society, not the least of which is a clearer, truer appreciation of the universe's wonders than any faith could ever muster.
In his sensational international bestseller, the preeminent scientist and outspoken atheist Richard Dawkins delivers a hard-hitting, impassioned, but humorous rebuttal of religious belief. With rigor and wit, Dawkins eviscerates the arguments for religion and demonstrates the supreme improbability of the existence of a supreme being. He makes a compelling case that faith is not just irrational, but potentially deadly. In a preface written for the paperback edition, Dawkins responds to some of the controversies the book has incited. This brilliantly argued, provocative book challenges all of us to test our beliefs, no matter what beliefs we hold.
About the Author
Richard Dawkins taught zoology at the University of California at Berkeley and at Oxford University and is now the Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford, a position he has held since 1995.
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Aired the week of 11/14/12 - #1246
Paul Giancarlo and his twin boys were looking through the newspaper at breakfast one day when they found a paper bag inside and a note asking readers to fill the bag with food to donate to their food bank. It galvanized the whole family and they worked together on a few of their own food drives to help out. A month later, Paul saw an article about how most food banks struggle after the holiday season and decided to find a better way to support the hungry and community in his area. With the help of family and friends he co-founded The Food Project with John Javna. It’s a new way to connect community and the hungry in a simple, year-round system. After a little over two years, the program has collected over 300,000 lbs of food and is spreading to lots of other cities, too. | <urn:uuid:e4485a60-6642-456d-8dcd-54b59124787c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.etown.org/e-chievement/paul-giancarlo/ | 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 | 0.967585 | 184 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Fiscal cliff: Next president's first big problem to solve
Expiration of Bush tax cuts nears
No matter who wins the election on Tuesday, the next president will have to immediately stare down the country's largest, most pressing domestic problem: the fiscal cliff.
That cliff -- which starts to take effect in January -- includes $7 trillion worth of tax increases and spending cuts over a decade.
Among the policies at issue are reductions in both defense and non-defense spending, the expiration of the Bush tax cuts, the end of a payroll tax holiday and extended unemployment benefits, and the onset of reimbursement cuts to Medicare doctors.
Lawmakers must choose whether to leave in place some or all of them, replace them, postpone them or cancel them entirely. The decision will affect the economy, the country's credit rating and the U.S. debt burden.
If left in place, the fiscal cliff would lead to the biggest single-year drop in the annual deficit as a percent of the economy since 1969.
But because it would be so abrupt and arbitrary, it also could throw the United States back into a recession next year, when more than $500 billion will be taken out of the economy. (Related: Americans face $3,500 fiscal cliff hit)
Neither President Obama nor Mitt Romney has said much about the cliff, though each has been vocal on two components: the expiring Bush tax cuts and defense spending cuts.
And neither has said anything about the debt ceiling, which likely would be part of a fiscal cliff deal. The country's borrowing limit will be reached by the end of the year, but the Treasury Department says it can employ "extraordinary" measures to let the government pay its bills in full until early in 2013.
So how would the two men vying for the White House handle things?
Obama: Tax hike on rich key
Like many Democrats and Republicans, the president doesn't like the automatic, across-the-board spending cuts called for under the so-called sequester. He wants them replaced.
At the same time, the White House budget office said the president's senior advisers would "recommend" he veto any bill that averts the defense cuts while leaving intact the non-defense cuts or that "fails to ask the most fortunate Americans to pay their fair share."
Meanwhile, senior administration officials said recently that Obama would veto any fiscal cliff package if it does not include an increase in tax rates for top earners.
The president himself, however, hasn't used the word "veto." Instead, he urges Congress to "work on those things we can agree on" -- namely, to extend the Bush tax cuts for the majority of Americans.
In his last debate with Romney, Obama pointedly said the defense cuts "won't happen" even though both parties -- at least publicly -- aren't budging from their negotiating positions. Then, in an interview with the Des Moines Register, Obama went further, expressing confidence that a "grand bargain" on debt reduction could occur within six months of his second term if he's elected.
Elsewhere, Obama has not pushed for an extension of another key part of the fiscal cliff: the temporary 2% payroll tax cut passed at the end of 2010. But that doesn't mean he won't. "We'll evaluate the question of whether we need to extend it at the end of the year when we're looking at a whole range of issues," Carney said in September.
Mitt Romney: Give me time
Romney wants time to deal with the fiscal cliff.
In August, Romney told Time Magazine's Mark Halperin that if elected he would rather Obama and Congress postpone the tax increases and spending cuts.
"Let's have at least a year of runway or even six months of runway after the new president is elected so that we can have the tax reform and the military spending plans and the budget plans that are consistent with that individual self-leadership and views."
In May, he said he would want to "deal with these issues on a ... permanent basis as opposed to a stopgap effort that would require unraveling and re-evaluation," he said.
Romney opposes the nearly $500 billion in cuts to defense spending called for under the so-called sequester. And he doesn't want the Bush-era tax cuts to expire for anyone.
At the same time, he has promised to balance the budget in eight to 10 years without cutting defense or raising taxes.
Lawmakers and policy experts say the best a lame-duck Congress can probably do before the end of the year is come up with a "bridge" or "framework" deal.
Broadly, that might mean lawmakers postpone fiscal cliff measures for several months to a year, negotiate a small amount of spending cuts and agree to strike a large deficit-reduction deal by a date certain next year, perhaps according to agreed-upon targets for spending and revenue.
But then if lawmakers failed to deliver next year, the fiscal cliff or something similar would take effect.
- Jessica Yellin, CNN's senior White House correspondent, contributed to this report.
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Rev. Jobs Brings His Sermon to a Close
by Gary North: Occupy
Liberty Street (OLS)! (The Federal Reserve Bank of New York)
I have already
covered two-thirds of Steve Jobs' 2005 commencement address to
graduating students at Stanford. He adopted the powerful technique
of telling stories from his life stories from which he
extracted fundamental principles of ethics and action. He used
those personal stories as launching pads for conclusions relevant
to his listeners' lives. This is not easy for a speaker to do,
but when he does it well, it is highly effective. It can even
change a few listeners' lives.
first story was on his dropping out of Reed College. Message:
you cannot connect the dots of your life in advance, but you can
there is an overall coherence in life that we cannot see day by
day. The second
was on being fired from Apple in 1985, then re-hired in 1997.
The message: don't settle in life. Don't compromise with your basic
beliefs. Never quit.
We now come
to his third story. "My third story is about death." This is a
good theme to end the story of any life.
I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live
each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly
be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the
past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked
myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to
do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been
"No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
This is good
advice. It is not easy advice to take. It is not an easy plan
to implement. Why not? Because it deals with that final event
in a lifetime with which everyone must settle. Most people prefer
to avoid considering it on a regular basis. Not so with Jobs.
a master of digital tools. But digital tools were not his crucial
tool, as he explained.
that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered
to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything
all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment
or failure these things just fall away in the face of death,
leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are
going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking
you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no
reason not to follow your heart.
is true. It is profoundly true. "Naked thou came into this world,
and naked thou shalt depart." Or, more authoritatively, "For we
brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry
nothing out" (I Timothy 6:7).
"How much did he leave behind?"
Answer: "All of it!"
He said that
this realization was "the most important tool I've ever encountered
to help me make the big choices in life." This is an important
admission. When one of the world's richest men, who earned his
money the hard way serving customers for three decades
says that one thing was the crucial tool in his success,
it is wise for his listeners to pay attention.
What is truly
important? Not the following: "all external expectations, all
pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure." But we must be careful
in accepting at face value a rhetorically charged litany of anything
in a speaker's presentation. Even if the list is accurate, it
may not really illustrate the point he is making.
I don't believe
this part: that he regarded as peripheral all expectations. He
was intensely future-oriented. This fact was the bedrock foundation
of conclusion #2: "Don't settle." Why should anyone adopt this
principle? Only because he thinks there are negative consequences
for not honoring it. That is, he has expectations. He believes
that causes and effects are linked. This deeply religious faith
was the underlying principle of his first story about connecting
life's dots. He believed that something greater than what we see
here and now governs the connecting of life's dots.
purpose-driven to one degree or another. We act. We decide. We
have expectations about the results of our actions. Ludwig von
Mises made this the foundation of his economic theory. As actors,
we have external expectations. We think that the world will be
a slightly different place a better place, at least for
us after we take a course of action.
was one of those rare individuals whose decisions changed the
external world. He was invited to speak at Stanford because of
external expectations are an inescapable concept. It is never
a question of external expectations vs. no external expectations.
It is always a question of which external expectations.
On the other
hand, these three ought to be peripheral in our decision-making:
"all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure." Obviously, this
is not easy. Jobs seemed to be governed by pride, but maybe not.
He was surely governed with supreme self-confidence. If not, he
could not have adopted and then implemented this principle: "Don't
settle." This was why he could overcome his fear of embarrassment
a genius in the broadest sense. He was in the same league as Thomas
Edison: a major creator in several fields. He was a skilled technician.
He was also an artist. His mastery of form and function rivaled
that of Raymond Lowey, who was never widely known, but who was
a Jobs-like industrial designer. His success at Pixar indicates
how incomparably versatile he was. But all of it would have come
to naught before he even began if he had been burdened with the
fear of embarrassment or the fear of failure. This triumph over
these two common human emotions marks the great entrepreneurs.
this remark famous: "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration."
It was an exaggeration, but clever. It has stood the test of time.
Yet that intense perspiration will not be expended apart from
one's internal triumph over the fear of embarrassment and the
fear of failure. This means that the successful person must escape
the limits of the normal human comfort zone. The comfort zone
is, in my view, a far greater barrier than the constraints of
financial capital. It is easier to raise money than it is to overcome
the fear of failure and the fear of embarrassment. If you do not
achieve the second, you will not achieve the first.
making a point. "These things just fall away in the face of death,
leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are
going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking
you have something to lose." We are back to Kris Kristofferson's
lyric: "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose."
That, too, is a profound insight.
you accumulate, the more you have to lose. This is a constraint
on freedom of action. Wealth increases some choices the
choices based on money but it imposes others: the choices
based on responsibility. There is no escape from responsibility
in a free society. You must act economically on behalf of some
future customers and disregard the expectations of all the others.
You must allocate your money and your time. Whatever you spend
on one project you cannot spend on another.
you ever have to make up your mind;
Pick up on one and leave the other behind?
It's not often easy and not often kind.
Did you ever have to make up your mind?
saying that the fear of losing whatever you possess must not constrain
you in your pursuit of some vision, some connecting of the dots.
He had a lot to lose. He learned that when he got fired. He rebounded.
He went out in 1985 as a very rich man. But he went out a failure
and embarrassed, as he told his audience. He had to put that behind
him. The next time around after 1997 he was even
more unwilling to settle.
Yet we all
must settle. In most of our lives, we must settle. We should refuse
to settle in those key areas that he designated as "truly important."
This is where
most people prefer not to venture: identifying what is truly important
in their lives, and thereby also identifying where they must refuse
to settle in the connecting of their lives' dots. Yet we must,
He then began
a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in
the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't
even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost
certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should
expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised
me to go home and "get my affairs in order," which is doctor's
code for "prepare to die." It means to try to tell your kids everything
you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just
a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up
so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means
to say your goodbyes.
day we are born, the Great Physician tells us to get our affairs
in order. Every religion tells us this. But, because the termination
date is not given to us, we procrastinate.
day, Jobs received something like a termination date.
lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a
biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through
my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas
and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife,
who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a
microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to
be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with
surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.
skeptics who say that Jobs was using that speech to persuade investors
that Apple was a good company to invest in. He was free of cancer.
That motivation was possible, but the nature of the message of
Story #3 would seem to preclude this. So was the message of Story
#2: "Don't settle." Story #3 was about settling.
was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the
closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it,
I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when
death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:
one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't
want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we
all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should
be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of
Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make
way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too
long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared
away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
the central message of his speech. It could have been inserted
into any graduation speech over the last century. But, because
Jobs had gone through the valley of the shadow of death, his words
had more impact. Rhetorically, this was the heart of the speech.
He had emotionally faced death. He had come face to face with
"life's change agent."
As a speaker,
he was gifted. He fused the central message of his speech with
its central rhetorical flourish. In his previous two stories,
he matched lesser messages and lesser rhetorical flourishes. The
stakes were not so high. Here, he went for what salesmen call
the close. Here, he called his listeners to action.
time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.
Don't be trapped by dogma which is living with the results
of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions
drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage
to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know
what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
If taken literally,
this is silly: "Don't be trapped by dogma which is living
with the results of other people's thinking." A commencement address
is more laced with dogma than most sermons. A commencement speech
is a sermon. It is more a sermon than almost any other form of speech.
Funeral sermons are rhetorically subdued, due to the nature of the
event. Graduation speeches are rites of passage for the future leaders
of society in the West. They are where leaders do their best to
persuade their listeners of something. Job's commencement address
is the supreme model of the genre.
dogma is an inescapable concept. It is never a question of dogma
vs. no dogma. It is always a question of which dogma. And
important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.
They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything
else is secondary." I agree. But we are now back to message #1
from Story #1: the underlying coherence, relevance, and lifetime
power of whatever connects the dots. He invoked providence, but
it is the providence of each person's inner voice.
the dots? How does the inner voice not Son of Sam's inner
voice, I trust recognize the underlying pattern of the
dots and then communicate this information to us? What is intuition?
Why should we trust it? Jobs was serving as Rev. Jobs that day.
But Rev. Jobs never made the transition from rhetoric emotional
appeal to logic: a causal explanation for the connection
of the dots.
Then he offered
I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole
Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation.
It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here
in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch.
This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop
publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and Polaroid
cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years
before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with
neat tools and great notions.
his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog,
and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue.
It was the mid-1970's, and I was your age. On the back cover of
their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country
road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were
so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay
Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay
Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself.
And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.
It was a masterful
sermon. As an occasional writer for The Whole Earth Catalog
and the Whole Earth Epilog, I appreciate his reference. The
foolishness reference attracts me. As the apostle Paul wrote, long
before the Whole Earth Catalog, "For ye see your calling,
brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty,
not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak
things of the world to confound the things which are mighty" (I
Jobs is dead.
He did not get those extra decades. He got an extra six years.
He put those years to productive uses. Customers benefited greatly.
His final gadget, the iPhone4s, sold more units in the first three
days than any new product in the history of manufacturing: almost
four million units. He did not live to see this. The phone was
announced on October 4. He died on October 5.
was his sermon's message? He laid this out masterfully: (1) the
dots are connected in a providential way, somehow; (2) don't settle,
at least not in the areas that matter; (3) the inescapable reality
of death is supposed to help us identify what is sufficiently
important so as not to settle. This all adds up to high-order
foolishness, he said. Be foolish.
child who asks, "But who created God?" I would have asked Jobs:
"But what connects the dots?" He never said. I don't know if he
ever spent much time searching for an answer to the question.
But his life was surely an astounding series of connected dots.
commencement speaker said, "Go and do thou likewise." But get the
dots question answered.
North [send him mail]
is the author of Mises
on Money. Visit http://www.garynorth.com.
He is also the author of a free 20-volume series, An
Economic Commentary on the Bible.
2011 Gary North
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Can you imagine looking at this photograph without ascribing to the image what you know of red and white stripes coupled with stars on a blue background and of a circle divided by lines in this particular pattern?
How much differently would an Indian Hindu look at a painting of an elephant than would an American voter in the weeks leading up to a Presidential election?
If you don’t know all the meanings carried by an icon, what message do you get from a picture of such icon? If you think it is anything other than a pretty picture, but think a meaning that is not its iconography are you just suffering from deluded ignorance?
Is knowledge binding (jnanam bandaha) or does it liberate?
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
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Since 1970, the year of the first Earth Day, America's population has increased by 42%, the country's inflation-adjusted gross domestic product has grown 195%, the number of cars and trucks in the United States has more than doubled, and the total number of miles driven has increased by 178%.
But during these 35 years of growing population, employment, and industrial production, the Environmental Protection Agency reports, the environment has substantially improved. Emissions of the six principal air pollutants have decreased by 53%. Carbon monoxide emissions have dropped from 197 million tons per year to 89 million; nitrogen oxides from 27 million tons to 19 million, and sulfur dioxide from 31 million to 15 million. Particulates are down 80%, and lead emissions have declined by more than 98%.
When it comes to visible environmental improvements, America is also making substantial progress:
• The number of days the city of Los Angeles exceeded the one-hour ozone standard has declined from just under 200 a year in the late 1970s to 27 in 2004.
• The Pacific Research Institute's Index of Leading Environmental Indicators shows that "U.S. forests expanded by 9.5 million acres between 1990 and 2000."
• While wetlands were declining at the rate of 500,000 acres a year at midcentury, they "have shown a net gain of about 26,000 acres per year in the past five years," according to the institute.
• Also according to the institute, "bald eagles, down to fewer than 500 nesting pairs in 1965, are now estimated to number more than 7,500 nesting pairs."
Environmentally speaking, America has had a very good third of a century; the economy has grown and pollutants and their impacts upon society are substantially down.
But now comes the carbon dioxide alarm. CO2 is not a pollutant--indeed it is vital for plant growth--but the annual amount released into the atmosphere has increased 40% since 1970. This increase is blamed by global warming alarmists for a great many evil things. The Web site for Al Gore's new film, "An Inconvenient Truth," claims that because of CO2's impact on our atmosphere, sea levels may rise by 20 feet, the Arctic and Antarctic ice will likely melt, heat waves will be "more frequent and more intense," and "deaths from global warming will double in just 25 years--to 300,000 people a year."
If it all sounds familiar, think back to the 1970s. After the first Earth Day the New York Times predicted "intolerable deterioration and possible extinction" for the human race as the result of pollution. Harvard biologist George Wald predicted that unless we took immediate action "civilization will end within 15 to 30 years," and environmental doomsayer Paul Ehrlich predicted that four billion people--including 65 million American--would perish from famine in the 1980s.
So what is the reality about global warming and its impact on the world? A new study released this week by the National Center for Policy Analysis, "Climate Science: Climate Change and Its Impacts" (http://www.ncpa.org/pub/st/st285/
) looks at a wide variety of climate matters, from global warming and hurricanes to rain and drought, sea levels, arctic temperatures and solar radiation. It concludes that "the science does not support claims of drastic increases in global temperatures over the 21rst century, nor does it support claims of human influence on weather events and other secondary effects of climate change."
There are substantial differences in climate models--some 30 of them looked at by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change--but the Climate Science study concludes that "computer models consistently project a rise in temperatures over the past century that is more than twice as high as the measured increase." The National Center for Atmospheric Research's prediction of 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit warming is more accurate. In short, the world is not warming as much as environmentalists think it is.
What warming there is turns out to be caused by solar radiation rather than human pollution. The Climate Change study concluded "half the observed 20th century warming occurred before 1940 and cannot be attributed to human causes," and changes in solar radiation can "account for 71 percent of the variation in global surface air temperature from 1880 to 1993."
As for hurricanes, 2005 saw several severe ones--Katrina and Rita both had winds of 150 knots--hitting New Orleans, the Gulf Coast and Florida. But there is little evidence linking them to global warming. A team of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists concluded that the increased Atlantic hurricane activity since 1995 "is not related to greenhouse warming" but instead to natural tropical climate cycles.
Regarding Arctic temperature changes, the Study found the coastal stations in Greenland had actually experienced a cooling trend: The "average summer air temperatures at the summit of the Greenland Ice Sheet, have decreased at the rate of 4 degrees F per decade since measurements began in 1987." Add in Russian and Alaskan temperature data and "Arctic air temperatures were warmest in the 1930s and near the coolest for the period of recorded observations (since at least 1920) in the late 1980s."
As for sea ice, it is not melting excessively. Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans concluded that "global warming appears to play a minor role in changes to Arctic sea ice." The U.N.'s IPCC Third Assessment Report concluded that the rate of sea level rise has not accelerated during the last century, which is supported by U.S. coastal sea level experience. In California sea levels have risen between zero and seven millimeters a year and between 2.1 and 2.8 millimeters a year in North and South Carolina.
Finally come the polar bears--a species thought by global warming proponents to be seriously at risk from the increasing temperature. According to the World Wildlife Fund, among the distinct polar bear populations, two are growing--and in areas where temperatures have risen; ten are stable; and two are decreasing. But those two are in areas such as Baffin Bay where air temperatures have actually fallen.
The Climate Science study concludes that projections of global warming over the next century "have decreased significantly since early modeling efforts," and that global air temperatures should increase by 2.5 degrees and the United States by about 1 degree Fahrenheit over the next hundred years. The environmental pessimists tell us, as in Time magazine's recent global warming issue, to "Be Worried. Be Very Worried," but the truth is that our environmental progress has been substantially improving, and we should be very pleased. | <urn:uuid:e2c5a704-1db0-450a-b6d1-46839b3b7173> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.patsfans.com/new-england-patriots/messageboard/12/36623-gores-heat.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951728 | 1,335 | 3.21875 | 3 |
Preventing Davie Traffic Accidents During the School Run
The morning school run is a high-risk time for Davie car accidents. With plenty of people on the road trying to get to school and then to work, there’s often congestion, frayed tempers, and therefore a high risk of Davie traffic accidents. To reduce your risk of accidents during this time of morning, make sure that you:
1) Talk to your child about pedestrian safety and distracted walking. If your child walks to school, you can help your child prevent a Davie pedestrian accident by teaching your child to stay safe. Walk the route to school with your child, pointing out any possible dangers and reviewing the safety tips that are relevant for the walk. In many cases, children like listening to music or texting while they walk. Make sure that your child does not do this, as distracted walking can cause your child walk out into traffic.
2) Give yourself plenty of time if you are dropping your child off at school. If you are driving your child to school, you can help prevent Davie traffic accidents by giving yourself additional time. While this may mean getting up earlier, it can also help prevent the speeding and aggressive driving that are all too common during the school rush.
3) Be alert for others – including buses, pedestrians, and kids on bikes – sharing the road, especially close to the school.
4) Use good communication skills. When dropping your child off at school, make sure that you make eye contact with pedestrians, bicyclists, and other motorists to ensure that you are visible and that you are communicating well with others who share the road with you.
5) Stay focused. While texting and driving is not illegal in Florida, any form of distracted driving can be extremely dangerous to you and your child. Distracted driving leads to many Davie truck accidents and traffic accidents each year, so put your mobile devices away and focus fully on the drive to school rather than on distractions.
6) Follow speed limits. Speeding significantly increases your risk of a collision.
7) Drop your child off in a safe zone. Your child is at risk if you drop them off where there is a high traffic volume and fewer pedestrian areas. If your school has a drop off zone that allows you to deposit your child right at a pedestrian area, this is often the safest possibility. If this is not an option, drop your child off in an area with good pedestrian walkways, easy access to the school, and low traffic. If it is difficult to find such an area, encourage your child’s school to create a safe drop-off zone. | <urn:uuid:03aaca02-1f11-4c3a-91fb-81efeafc4030> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.millerboycott.com/preventing-davie-traffic-accidents-during-the-school-run/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963411 | 540 | 1.695313 | 2 |
| Jun 21, 2011
BY MICHELLE Y. GREEN
Jun 21, 2011
The word “thesis” comes from Late Latin and Greek, meaning “a putting or setting down.” Even though “thesis” is a noun, it has the sense of completing an action, such as putting or setting down a heavy brick. In other words, a thesis statement has weight. It is the foundation upon which the rest of the essay is built. Every paragraph in the essay should relate back to the topic as “put down” in thesis statement.
It’s no wonder, then, that so many students struggle with how to craft a strong thesis statement. But a simple analogy—a night at the movies—can help demystify the role of the thesis statement in an essay or paper.
Start by giving your class the following scenario:
It’s the weekend, and the latest batch of blockbusters awaits. Time to check the movie listings, call your friends, and get ready for two hours of air-conditioned fun and frolic. You decide to see Thor
, a fantasy flick that Moviefone describes like this: Exiled to Earth after his arrogance fans the flame of an ancient conflict, the Mighty Thor of Asgard discovers the meaning of humility when a powerful old foe dispatches a destructive force to crush humanity.
Although you don’t know much about this hero, you figure from Moviefone’s description that the movie is going to be somewhere between The Lord of the Rings
and Clash of the Titans
. There’s sure to be teeth-grinding revenge, superhuman feats of strength, and lots of swordplay.
But what if, 15 minutes into the show, Thor
turns out to be an animated Disney movie, or worse, a Scandinavian film with subtitles?
You just spent ten dollars on a ticket, not to mention shelling out fifteen bucks for popcorn, M & M’s, and a Dr. Pepper. You got there early and scaled countless steps searching for the perfect seats. All for what? This isn’t the movie you were promised.
Now, help your students make the connection: Just like the blurb about Thor
in Moviefone, the thesis statement gives the reader an expectation
of what will happen. If that expectation is not met, there will be angry moviegoers. Likewise, if the thesis statement fails to inform the reader as to what the essay is about, or states one thing but delivers another, there will be disappointed readers.
The thesis statement also makes a promise to the reader. Tell students that it’s their job to give readers their money’s worth by developing each point as promised. This is more easily accomplished with a well-crafted thesis statement.
Remind students that they can tell a lot by the “Coming Attractions” of a movie: who the stars are, what time period the movie takes place, a general idea of the plot, whether it’s a comedy or thriller. In the same way, a thesis statement sets forth a plan—it gives a “preview” of the essay’s major points.
Moviefone promises that Thor will “fan the flame of an ancient foe,” and “dispatch… a destructive force to crush humanity.” Students may not have heard of the Norse god of thunder, but thanks to the well-written blurb, they sure won’t be expecting Bambi
. Michelle Y. Green is an award-winning children’s book author and an adjunct professor of English at Prince George’s Community College, Largo, Maryland.
© 2011 Michelle Y. Green. Please do not reproduce in any form, electronic or otherwise. Teaching Tips: Dancing with the StarTs Stand Up, Hand Up, Pair Up: Cooperative Pre-Writing | <urn:uuid:1553c68e-d307-4a03-aa16-821a801cad7f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.reading.org/general/Publications/blog/engage/engage-single-post/engage/2011/06/21/thor-and-the-thesis-statement | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915723 | 815 | 3.203125 | 3 |
A San Mateo fifth grade student was one of the top 10 winners of a Northern California creative-writing contest for fifth graders in San Francisco Wednesday night.
The Northern California "Celebrate America Creative Writing Contest," now in its 10th year, challenged fifth graders to write essays or poems on the theme, "Why I Am Glad America Is a Nation of Immigrants."
Melanie Kramer, taught by Carol MacKenzie at Meadow Heights Elementary School, came in fourth out of the top 10.
Taking first place was Aedra Li of Miraloma Elementary School in San Francisco, who went on to represent Northern California in the national contest, where she received an honorable mention. The third-place winner in Northern California was Kenyamarie Mahone of Hall Middle School in Larkspur.
The top three winners recited their entries at the awards ceremony Wednesday at the San Francisco Public Library, and all 10 were honored on stage with certificates and awards from Bay Area notables.
Among those acknowledging the honorees on the program were Congresswomen Nancy Pelosi and Doris Matsui and state Assemblyman Tom Ammiano. The three are among this year's 21 judges, which also included four other members of Congress – John Garamendi, George Miller, Barbara Lee and Jackie Speier.
The regional contest – which drew more than 350 entries from 17 schools this year – is organized by the Northern California chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association in cooperation with the national contest sponsored by the nonprofit American Immigration Council.
KQED and the San Francisco Public Library also co-sponsored the local ceremony.
A full list of the top 10 winners and awards ceremony program is attached to this article. | <urn:uuid:64637f15-255f-41ec-8c41-f5f2e146f94f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fostercity.patch.com/groups/schools/p/san-mateo-student-in-top-10-northern-california-writia2ebd97e60 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961321 | 348 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Combining two of my biggest passions in life pottery and photography I have been making ceramic cameras for several years now. These are fully functional cameras that produce black and white prints. Somewhat different from what you'd find at the local camera store, these creations are pinhole cameras.
The design of this particular camera is based on a hexagon, with a pinhole aperture on every other side wall for a total of three openings through which light reaches the negative. The pinhole drilled through the sheet metal in each of the three openings is about 1/100th of an inch in diameter. Three small lids work like a shutters for the camera. The shutters fit tightly in place, blocking light from the pinhole until the beginning of the exposure. To take a picture each shutter is removed (as shown in the first photograph) and light travels in to the negative. This camera has six feet for stability.
Pinhole cameras can be made from just about any container, so long as the imaging light reaches the negative only through the small pinhole opening. In my cameras I use black and white photo paper for the negative, and the paper is often fitted into a curved holder to give each camera a unique perspective. In the camera shown at left, the 5 x 8 inch paper negative is wrapped around a ceramic cylinder in the interior of the camera.
This camera is about 30 cm tall, and 26 cm wide. It's made of stoneware, reduction fired to cone 10. It has an iron red glaze, and a cobalt blue glaze, plus a post firing decoration of 24K gold leaf. Inside it is glazed matte black. There is no lens, viewfinder nor light meter.
The second photo shows a shutter in place on the side of the camera. The shutter has cork attached to the inner flange to hold it snuggly in the camera opening surrounding the pinhole. To take a photograph the camera is loaded with a piece of photo paper in a darkroom, and then taken outside. The shutter is removed and the negative is exposed. The shutter is replaced, and the camera then goes back into the darkroom, the negative is removed from the camera and developed.
The third photo shows the interior of the camera; the large lid on top has been removed. It shows a piece of photo paper wrapped around the ceramic cylinder in the centre of the camera. The cone of light entering the camera through each pinhole falls on roughly one third of the photo paper, with a little bit of overlap with the light from the adjacent pinholes.
The forth image is the test photograph I made with this camera to see if it worked properly. Pinhole photographs often have a slightly surreal look to them. One of the pinholes was pointing down my driveway, another was pointing at the headlight of my car, and the third was pointing at me while I timed the exposure. Pinhole cameras typically have very long exposures, and this one was one minute in full sun. The long exposures mean that the passage of time itself becomes a factor in the final image as you can see, I'm somewhat transparent in the photograph! This is because for the first ten seconds of the exposure I was busy next to the camera taking the shutters off, and for the last ten seconds of the exposure I was busy putting them back on, so I was only in the picture for two-thirds of the exposure! The bright marks on my face are actually dapples of light shining through the trees on the other side of my head. Each image that comes through the pinhole is flipped horizontally and vertically before it reaches the negative making for an interesting jumble in the final image.
There are some more examples of my ceramic cameras on my Cameras | <urn:uuid:57c205d8-fbf3-484b-a97f-be60264c2a92> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.steveirvine.com/feature.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963725 | 766 | 1.65625 | 2 |
No one expects bad things ? and by bad, I mean catastrophically bad ? to happen to them.
Yet terrible tragedies happen to people who didn?t expect them every day of the year.
You can?t take a vaccine to immunize yourself against ill fortune.
But you can prepare for disasters before they happen.
That way, when they strike, you ? and your family ? will survive ? with the minimum hardship possible.
In particular, here are 5 things I think you should do now to protect yourself against future problems and headaches:
1. Become financially secure.
Money can protect you against many disasters, and make many others easier to bear.
How much wealth should you strive to accumulate?
I recommend a goal of $2 million in liquid assets.
Reason: $2 million invested at 10% annual return produces an income of $200,000.
If a catastrophic illness or other crisis prevents you from working, you can just live off your investments.
And if your business fails or your career derails, you likewise can live off your investment income.
2. Buy life insurance.
Until you accumulate the $2 million, you need to leave an estate big enough to ensure a comfortable life for your family ? preferably, without forcing your spouse to sell the house and make the kids move.
Although a $2 million estate would be ideal, your spouse can probably get by nicely even with a million dollars in term life insurance on you.
Tip: buy this life insurance while you are young, before you have a serious illness.
Should you get sick, and then decide to get life insurance, the cost will be prohibitive.
3. Buy health insurance.
More than 46 millions Americans do not have health insurance.
They are gambling their family?s entire financial future.
One serious illness can quickly wipe out your life savings.
Get health insurance now. If you can?t afford a private policy, join a group that offers discount coverage to members.
Tip: buy your insurance first. Then select doctors from the HMO?s list of approved physicians.
That way, your doctor visits are covered by your plan, greatly reducing your health care costs.
4. Create sources of passive income.
What happens if you injure your back ? or get a debilitating illness ? and can?t work?
Disability payments are often limited.
A better idea is to start creating sources of passive income now ? sources that make money for you without you working.
One idea: investment real estate ? rental properties.
Another: start an Internet marketing business that generates thousands of dollars in weekly revenues without any activity on your part.
Here?s a Web site where I discuss how you can make a six-figure passive income online with your own Internet marketing business:
5. Live for the moment.
This may seem contrary to the idea of ?prepare for the future.?
But it?s really not.
When I was young, my father did not earn a high income, and constantly worried about money.
Yet my mother ?forced? him to take at least one nice week-long vacation a year.
By some standards, these were far from ?luxury? vacations ? although they were very nice — but the cost certainly made him nervous.
Eventually, my father became ill from a cancer that would cause his death at a too-early age.
But by then, both he and my mother had a lifetime of great memories from their travels all over the globe with family and friends.
Had he waited until retirement, they wouldn?t have shared those memories ? because he died before he was able to quit working. | <urn:uuid:747d1140-443c-427f-9bba-ffbe5def0233> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bly.com/blog/2009/02/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962889 | 758 | 1.75 | 2 |
Photograph by Joe Raedle, Getty Images
Published February 1, 2010
The space agency's 2011 budget, released today, reveals plans to scrap the Constellation program, including the rockets and spacecraft that NASA has been developing over the past four years to replace its aging space shuttle fleet.
Constellation's demise would mean that NASA will have no plans for manned space flight beyond the final shuttle launch in fall 2010. Instead the U.S. will have to rely on other governments, such as existing Russian craft, to ferry people to the International Space Station.
The news has actually been expected since last September, when an independent panel known as the Augustine Committee determined that Constellation would require large budget increases to land even a handful of astronauts back on the moon before 2020.
U.S. President Barack Obama's decision to scrap the program is based on Constellation being "over budget, behind schedule, and lacking in innovation due to a failure to invest in critical new technologies," according to a statement posted on the White House Office of Management and Budget Web site.
No Moon Mission, But More Money for NASA
When former U.S. President George W. Bush announced the Constellation program in 2005, the plan included designs for a new launch vehicle and crew capsule, a new moon rover, and eventual construction of a moon base at one of the lunar poles. (See pictures of the planned Constellation spacecraft.)
But even with the loss of resources already poured into Constellation, NASA's new proposed budget would see the space agency get more funding than it did in 2010.
As of 2011, NASA would receive an additional six billion dollars over the next five years, officials announced, for a grand total of a hundred billion dollars by 2015.
"This budget gives us a road map to even more historic achievements, as it spurs innovation, employs Americans in exciting new jobs, and engages people around the world," NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden said at a press conference today.
The money saved by halting Constellation would instead be used to fund robotic space missions, to help commercial companies develop manned spacecraft, and to develop new engine technologies that could eventually take astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit and into deep space.
"Imagine trips to Mars that take weeks instead of nearly a year, people fanning out across the inner solar system, exploring the moon, asteroids, and Mars nearly simultaneously in a steady stream of firsts, and imagine all of this being done collaboratively with nations around the world," Bolden said. "That's what the President's plan for NASA will enable."
NASA "More Sustainable" Without Moon Missions
Responding to initial reports of the budget changes leaked last week, Florida Senator Bill Nelson, a former astronaut, wrote in a statement that the Obama Administration is "replacing lost shuttle jobs in Florida too slowly, risking U.S. leadership in space to China and Russia, and relying too heavily on unproven commercial companies."
Florida Representative Suzanne Kosmas also condemned the White House's decision, saying in a statement that "the President's proposal lacks a bold vision for space exploration and begs for the type of leadership that he has described as critical for inspiring innovation for the 21st century."
Meanwhile, supporters argue that the new budget is more realistic and creates better opportunities for advancing space exploration.
"I think it puts us on a much more sustainable path than we've been on for the past ten years," Ray Williamson, executive director of the space advocacy group Secure World Foundation, told National Geographic News.
And former astronaut Buzz Aldrin said in a statement that he strongly endorses NASA's new direction. (Related: "Buzz Aldrin, First Man (to Pee) on the Moon, Sounds Off.")
"As an Apollo astronaut, I know the importance of always pushing new frontiers as we explore space," Aldrin said.
"The truth is that we have already been to the moon—some 40 years ago. A near-term focus on lowering the cost of access to space and on developing key, cutting-edge technologies to take us further, faster is just what our nation needs to maintain its position as the leader in space exploration for the rest of this century."
The Ring Nebula shines, a volcano erupts, and Germans see the bat signal in this week's best new space pictures.
As extreme weather seems to accelerate globally, scientists believe events Down Under can help explain what to look for-and guard against.
Cicadas bugging you? See our recipe ideas for the low-fat critters, including the new candied cicada cocktail. | <urn:uuid:50df3b30-6b21-47ec-9e8d-72d91e87e68c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/02/100201-obama-nasa-budget-moon-constellation/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941057 | 937 | 3.296875 | 3 |
L.R. Cooke1,2*, D.J. Carlisle1, D.G. Wilson2 and K.L. Deahl3
1 Applied Plant Science Division, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Newforge Lane, Belfast BT9 5PX, UK
2 Department of Applied Plant Science, Faculty of Science and Agriculture, Queen's University, Belfast
3 Vegetable Laboratory, USDA, ARS, Beltsville, MD 207-5-2350, USA
Accepted: 27 Nov 2001
Woody nightshade (Solanum dulcamara) is a common hedgerow plant in the UK and Ireland, a herbaceous perennial and one of only two native Solanum spp. S. dulcamara is a known host of Phytophthora infestans (Erwin & Ribeiro, 1996), but infection is rarely reported and there is only one British record, from Harpenden, England (Hirst & Steadman, 1960). There have been no published reports from Ireland.
On 2 September 1998, leaf lesions similar to those of P. infestans on potato were found on a naturally occurring S. dulcamara at the Agriculture & Food Science Centre, Belfast. The plant was growing within 100 m of an experimental potato plot inoculated with P. infestans.
When two infected leaves of S. dulcamara were incubated for 24 h under high humidity, fungal growth developed around the lesion margins. This had a hyaline mycelium bearing lemon-shaped sporangia which released motile zoospores after chilling in water, consistent with P. infestans. Three isolates were obtained from this plant during September 1998. Growth on rye agar was indistinguishable from that of local potato isolates of P. infestans.
Detached leaflets of S. dulcamara and S. tuberosum were inoculated with the woody nightshade isolates and kept in a humid chamber. Both hosts became infected and profuse sporulation occurred within 7 days. The fungus isolated was confirmed as P. infestans by morphological, biochemical and molecular characteristics. Inoculations of attached leaves of potted S. dulcamara plants resulted in necrotic lesions with a few sporangia; sporulation was mostly on fallen leaves. P. infestans was reisolated and identity confirmed as before. In September 1999, numerous leaf lesions were again observed on the same plant. White sporulation occurred on the abaxial surface and comprised sporangia characteristic of P. infestans.
The three 1998 isolates were A1 mating type, sensitive to metalaxyl, mitochondrial haplotype IIa, characteristics typical of P. infestans from potato in Northern Ireland (Carlisle et al., 2001). A 1999 isolate was A1, metalaxyl-sensitive, mtDNA haplotype Ia. All were monomorphic and homozygous for glucose-6-phosphate isomerase and peptidase (Gpi 100/100, Pep 100/100), as confirmed with single-spore isolates. RG-57 fingerprint analysis confirmed the close similarity of the woody nightshade and potato isolates.
P. infestans in Ireland belongs to the new population sensu Spielman et al. (1991), which may infect a wider host-range than the old US-1 clonal lineage. However, S. dulcamara infections have only been found when blight is already widespread in potato fields and there is no evidence to suggest that woody nightshade acts as an overwintering host in Ireland.
Carlisle, DJ, Cooke, LR, Brown, AE, 2001. Phenotypic and genotypic characterisation of Northern Ireland isolates of Phytophthora infestans. European Journal of Plant Pathology 107, 291-303.
Erwin, DC, Ribeiro, OK 1996. Phytophthora diseases worldwide. St. Paul, Minnesota, USA: APS Press
Hirst, JM, Steadman, OJ, 1960. The epidemiology of Phytophthora infestans. II. The source of infection. Annals of Applied Biology 48, 489-517.
Spielman LJ, Drenth A, Davidse LC, Sujkowski LJ, Gu W, Tooley PW, Fry WE 1991. A second world-wide migration and population displacement of Phytophthora infestans. Plant Pathology 40, 422-430.
©2001 The Authors | <urn:uuid:a66ee327-35f3-4387-97b2-fd6ea61bc87a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ndrs.org.uk/article.php?id=4011 | 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 | 0.914814 | 946 | 2.265625 | 2 |
Has your child been begging for a pet? Most kids love the idea of a pet, but very few realize the commitment that it takes to care for an animal properly. If your child is begging for a pet, resist the temptation to buy her a pet as a toy. Yes, she loved the little chick she saw at the farm or the baby bunny he held at the petting zoo. But keep in mind that pets become members of your family, requiring almost as much attention and care as your children. They also create their own ecological “paw prints” in the food, toys, bedding, and care they will require. So if you and your child aren’t ready to spend the time, energy, and money involved in feeding, walking, training, bathing, amusing, and loving a pet, consider one of these options instead:
Buy your little one a stuffed animal instead. If he has his heart set on a furry new pal, maybe he’d like a Build-A-Bear
pet. Pet choices range from the traditional bear to dogs, cats, and bunnies, as well as dinosaurs and wild animals. In fact, purchasing one of their special “wild” animals such as a cheetah or a panda bear, benefits the conservation efforts of the World Wildlife Fund.
Adopt-a-shelter: Animal-loving kids can show their love for pets by helping out at their local animal shelter. Talk to your local organization to learn how your child can help. Ideas include fundraising, creating informative fliers, designing a website, or collecting recycled newspaper to line animal cages.
Pet sit: If your child is begging you for a pet, try pet sitting for a friend or fostering a pet from your local shelter. If your child is not ready to handle the responsibility of waking up early to feed, water, walk, and care for her pet each day, hold off on getting her one of her own.
Make an eco-treat: Give your feathered friends a nutritious treat while helping your child appreciate the wildlife in his own backyard. Generously coat a pinecone with peanut butter and roll in oatmeal or sunflower seeds. Tie a string that is 3 to 4 feet in length around the stem of your feeder and hang it from a nearby tree branch. | <urn:uuid:468cbe74-6e4d-408f-a8f9-e97cdb9c4f8e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mnn.com/family/family-activities/blogs/cant-have-a-pet | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956737 | 478 | 2.65625 | 3 |