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The University of Wisconsin-Barron County General Access Computer Lab is located in the library. This room is open during regular library hours for use by University of Wisconsin-Barron County students, faculty, and staff.
Each station has software supporting word processing, spread sheets, an internet browser and various programs used by individual university classes. Drinks with closable caps are welcomed at the computers, food and open drinks are not.
CPUs have sound jacks in the front and users are asked to provide their own headphones. Each desktop station also contains floppy disk and CD read/write drives and DVD read only drives. Users must provide their own disks. The Business Office in Meggers Hall has headphones, 3.25 floppy disks, and CD read/write disks for sale.
The Library photocopier also functions as the printer as no charge to students. Persons unaffiliated with the UW-BC are asked to pay $.25 per printed page. Color printouts and color transparencies may also be purchased at the library desk.
Contact the IT Service Center at email@example.com or 1-888-893-9892.
Additionally, the UW Colleges IT website may help answer your question.
The Wisconsin Integrated Software Catalog (WISC) allows students to save up to 90% off the retail price on a variety of computer software packages. | <urn:uuid:ac74c5c7-cb90-4a0d-8025-cec6b65675fe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://barron.uwc.edu/library/resources/computing/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942299 | 284 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Children in developing nations suffer from five times as many cases of cancer as their counterparts in developed nations. At the most basic level, the easiest way to increase survival rates in these children would be to train more doctors and nurses in their care and to add facilities where they can be adequately treated. To do this, cultural and financial disparities endemic to this population should be addressed. Scientists at National Cancer Institute (NCI) are working with colleagues, including those at International Network for Cancer Treatment and Research (INCTR), toward this end.
Articles Posted in ‘Special Populations’
December 12, 2011, 2:01PM
April 15, 2011, 12:20PM
The Cancer Statistics Review (CSR), updated just this morning with new incidence statistics, contains the most recent data available on incidence, mortality, survival, prevalence, and lifetime risk statistics for 27 cancers. Unlike other statistical cancer reports, the CSR is purely about numbers, without interpretation. The CSR is updated each year, as soon as new numbers are ready, ensuring that its figures are as up-to-date as possible. Today’s update includes data on incidence rates through 2008 (previously 2007). Mortality and lifetime risk updates for 2008 are expected in a few months.
April 19, 2010, 9:28AM | <urn:uuid:e42fe9fb-6af1-4602-8d57-6ff4e2e49809> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://benchmarks.cancer.gov/category/special-populations/ | 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 | 0.953766 | 269 | 3.015625 | 3 |
After returning from my weekly trip to my writer’s group, several thoughts occurred to me as I started to drift towards sleep. I jotted them down. Here they are fleshed out, though somewhat disjointed:
When is a door not a door?
Many a third grade child knows the answer to this riddle. It hinges on the playdough used to form the kernel of most jokes at that age – puns. But it also plays to the human mind’s tendency to categorize. When first asked the question, it is difficult to come up with a point in time when something so concrete as a door could not be a door. All doors are doors 100% of the time.
It is not this way with abstract thoughts, which the human mind learns to deal with as we grow older. Ask someone at college age or above “When is murder not murder?” and you’re likely to get some instant responses:
- “When you’re the state”
- “When you’re a famous athlete”
- “When the weapon is words, and the victim a reputation”
Abstract concepts are much more flexible by nature, and can spur hours long discussions into the wee hours of the morning.
However, some of these concepts have a tendency to form into the concrete in our minds. We start to believe that there can only be one definition of the word, and it is the correct definition.
When is incest not incest? There is no obvious answer to this question. Sure, we can argue over the nearness of relation required. (First cousins? Certainly not in Arkansas.) But despite the jokes, a relationship between brother and sister is always classified as incest, regardless of what state you live in. And we’re told such a relationship is wrong, according to nature, and to the Bible.
I don’t think I can argue about nature. Science has shown the potential results. But the Bible is another matter. It lists several relationships God holds abominable. Some of these we classify under the group heading of incest. But these are among the commandments that one follows because God said so. The Bible gives no explanation why.
God does sometimes explain his commandments. For example, shortly after being told we’re not to eat flesh with blood, we’re told the blood of an animal contains the soul. So even though we’re not directly told we can’t drink blood alone, it is very easy to arrive at that conclusion.
But if no reason is given, it is more difficult to expand the prohibitions. And the biblical list of relationships are not exhausted. While the US legal code would indict a half-brother and a half-sister, the Bible wouldn’t. In fact, there is a well-documented instance in the Bible where the relationship wasn’t considered abominable in itself. King David’s son Amnon rapes King David’s daughter Tamar. They had different mothers, and Tamar begs Amnon to first ask their father for her hand in marriage. The reader assumes David would have complied, and there would have been no issue in the marriage. The crime Amnon committed, which later Absalom avenges, was rape, not incest.
Many a religious person may tell you that the US legal code is based on the Bible. But in truth, there are many times where something is immoral under the eyes of the Abrahamic God, but still legal. As there are times when something is moral under the same eyes, but illegal. For example: the nation’s laws tell us that truth is always a defense when it comes to our speech. We’re permitted to say or print anything we wish, as long as we can prove its truth. But God makes it clear truth is not a defense against spreading malicious gossip. | <urn:uuid:7bccb3c5-22c6-42a9-b2b7-d93b4117b1da> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://transylvaniandutch.com/td/archives/date/2002/05 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96602 | 811 | 2.1875 | 2 |
When the New York Times spent 36 hours in Nashville, TN, reporter Keith Mulvihill found that there was more to Music City than music.
In Nashville, “there’s more to Nashville than country music, especially in the once-sleepy neighborhoods that now beat to a different rhythm,” says Mulvihill, “districts like East Nashville and 12 South thrive with lively bars, stylish restaurants and a young, eclectic crop of music makers, churning out everything from bluegrass to punkabilly.”
Some of Nashville’s highlights feature shopping, dining, entertainment and tourism. Treasure hunt at the vintage boutique, Venus and Mars or cool off at Las Paletas, a small shop that makes popsicles from fresh fruit and vegetables. Prided by being Nashville’s first restaurant to earn certification from the Green Restaurant Association, enjoy pleasant seasonal American dishes at Tayst.
To top off your trip to Nashville, check out the new beats of the city by walking over to East Nashville where the trendy neighborhood with newer venues is alive and thriving. Then, wind down in the dark wood and dim chandeliers of the Patterson House.
From music to pre-civil war, the history in Nashville is overwhelming. The Country Music Hall of Fame can be found in the historic Music Row District, familiar territory to legends Elvis and Dolly Parton. Relive the 18th century pre-civil war days at Belle Meade Plantation where visitors can view a posh carriage house, slave quarters and the silver-capped hooves of Iroquois. | <urn:uuid:5ac00993-c85e-4315-96ec-0a21c0427243> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://churchillcorp.wordpress.com/2009/11/17/spending-36-hours-in-nashville/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.901547 | 328 | 1.601563 | 2 |
New York State legislators may ban indoor teen tanning this summer.
Statewide, minors ages 14 to 18 need parental consent to fake and bake. Kids younger than 14 are banned from tanning under state law. Some New York counties, like Rockland, Suffolk and Nassau, have even more stringent restrictions than what's already on the books.
The bill (S3461A) is currently in committee and has bipartisan support in the Legislature. It would also have to be merged with a general assembly version to make it out alive. If ithe bill becomes law, it would prohibit children 18 and younger from using an ultraviolet radiation device unless they have special permission from a doctor.
Dr. Darell Rigel, a dermatologist at New York University's Langone Medical Center, said the law is necessary to protect minors from a cancer-causing agent.
“This is exactly the same as cigarette smoking,” he said. “We should protect minors from this carcinogen.”
In the last 20 years, Rigel has seen an increase in melanoma cases among younger patients. Overall, he's also seen an uptick in skin cancer as well. He has been practicing medicine in New York City for nearly three decades.
“There are lots of studies that show that exposure early in life [to ultraviolet rays] increases your risk later in life,” said Rigel.
Melanoma is one of the top five cancers among 20 to 34 year olds. About 560 New Yorkers die from skin cancer each year, according to a 2009 report by the New York State Department of Health. Roughly 1,600 men and 1,300 women are diagnosed with melanoma in New York State each year.
Seventy percent of customers at tanning salons are Caucasian women ages 16 to 49. Women also make up the bulk of tanning salon owners, said John Overstreet, executive director of the Indoor Tanning Association, which is based in Washington, D.C. Overstreet denied that using a tanning bed causes cancer.
“If you use the equipment properly, you won’t get burned,” he said.
Rigel countered that in the last several years he has started to see cases of skin cancer in areas where the sun doesn’t shine.
Still, Overstreet called the New York bill a government intrusion.
“This kind of law would certainly cost jobs and cost businesses,” he said.
With the recession, disposable income has dipped, and tanning salons have seen a decrease in customers. Coupled with the 10 percent federal tax on tanning that was sandwiched in the health care reform bill and will take effect in two weeks, tanning salons will suffer even more, said Overstreet.
Nationwide, 32 states have tanning restrictions.
“No state has done anything as draconian as this ban,” he said. | <urn:uuid:6b552d17-6c3d-4833-be8a-621d824ec1d6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/New-York-Could-Have-Toughest-Tanning-Law-96494209.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961882 | 603 | 2.171875 | 2 |
Heather Knies was given a death sentence at the age of 24. She battled not one, but two brain tumors -- one of them a grade 4 glioblastoma, the same kind of cancer that killed Sen. Edward Kennedy in 2010.
But today, six years later, she is cancer-free, and her doctors at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Arizona cannot explain it. Her latest MRI is clean, and she is neurologically intact.
The now-32-year-old Knies has not only outlived her life expectancy, she has married and become a mother. Her successful parenthood is remarkable, as intense radiation and chemotherapy can render cancer patients infertile.
Knies's daughter, Zoe, who is 7 months old, celebrated her first Christmas in December.
Knies's doctors say that in rare instances, a patient can break the "biological rules." But most often in those cases, the initial pathology of the tumor was suspect.
In her case, the pathology was "not controversial," according to her surgeon, Dr. Robert Spetzler, director of the Barrow Neurological Institute at Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix.
In his 35 years as a neurosurgeon in the United States, Spetzler said he has never seen such a triumph against a stage 4 glioblastoma.
"It's one of the most malignant tumors there is," he said. "Invariably it will come back and pop up somewhere else in the brain and it's uniformly fatal."
"It's not unheard of that that a few survive -- it's a bell curve and there are outliers," he said. "But in her case, not only has she survived, but she is perfectly normal and there is absolutely no evidence of a tumor on her MRI scan."
Knies has a few of her own theories for why she is still alive today.
"One, being God had a plan for me," said Knies. "I also had a great team of doctors and wonderful family and friends with a positive attitude."
"The mind is so much more powerful than anyone can imagine," she said. "People believe that when they get cancer, it will kill them. But I never once thought that."
Spetzler said Knies was "on the young side" for a glioblastoma, but it can occur at any age, "even in infants."
It all began in 2005, when Knies had the first symptom that something was wrong. She had just started a new job as a receptionist at a doctor's office and was driving home from work.
"Suddenly, I didn't understand what the dashed white line meant in the road," said Knies. "I had been driving since I was 15, so I started panicking and called my Mom. She asked, 'Did you take something?'"
Knies could see, but couldn't understand what she was seeing.
"I was only 24 and I was having visual problems," she said. "I can't even describe them."
Her boss, a dermatologist, insisted she see a specialist, and an MRI showed a low-grade tumor that was pressing on the visual reception cord in her brain.
"I had just moved to Phoenix from Missouri. I was just out of college and felt like I had the whole world waiting there for me," said Knies, ever the optimist. "Looking back, it probably grounded me a bit."
She underwent surgery at another institution, and she enrolled in a drug trial for an oral chemotherapy at Duke University, repeating MRIs every three months.
She says doctors told her to, "Go live your life."
But in less than a year one of the scans showed the white flairs of tumor growth. | <urn:uuid:9f87c02a-ce03-4d28-aad7-2b42a5dbc276> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://abcnews.go.com/Health/mom-stuns-doctors-beating-deadliest-brain-cancer/story?id=18135106 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.989888 | 782 | 1.609375 | 2 |
In the digital domain, "Poles" come from the Z-transform of the impulse response of a filter, known as the transfer function.
The impulse response of a filter is the output when you feed it an impulse. An impulse is signal that looks like this: [1 0 0 0 0 ...] – a pure digital click. The impulse response is important because it turns out that it is sufficient to characterize any linear, time-invarient (LTI) filter completely. You can convolve a signal by the impulse response of a filter to 'apply' that filter to the signal. This is how convolution reverb works, for instance: an impulse response of a room (conceived as a filter) is recorded and your signal is convolved with that impulse response in realtime by the reverb plugin.
Discrete convolution is a mathematical operation that takes two discrete functions and generates a new function that multiplies every output of one function with every output of the other and sums them all. Convolution is expressed abstractly as:
So, the function (f∗g)[n] ("f convolved with g of n") gives you a sum that represents multiplying every output of the function f[n] with the corresponding output of the function g[n] and combining them all. The dependent variable 'n' determines how the outputs of the two functions are lined up, or which outputs of g[n] are multiplied with which 'corresponding' outputs of f[n]. Typically we take f[n] to be x[n], the input to the system and g[n] to be h[n], the impulse response of a filter, so:
y[n]=SUM(x[m]-h[n-m]) – (convolution of input x[n] with filter h[n])
A way to think about convolution is that you are generating a function that slides the output of two functions past each other, multiplying each element by each corresponding element and summing as you go along. The wikipedia entry has a good animated diagram for this.
"Poles" (and "zeros) come from what's known as the transfer function: H(z) = Y(z)/X(z), which comes from the z-transform of the impulse response of the filter: h[n]. The transfer function expresses that the z-transform of the impulse response is equal to the z transform of the output (y[n]) of the system x[n] -> [Filter] -> y[n] (the input convolved with the impulse response of the filter) divided by the z transform of the input (x[n]). This follows from the fact that multiplication in the "z-domain" is equivalent to convolution in the time domain. Just as the output of the system, y[n] is equal to
∗ denotes convolution, not multiplication), in the z domain, the output of the system, Y(z) is equal to H(z)X(z) (the z-transform of the impulse response multiplied by the z-transform of the input).
The z-transform is one of many different 'transforms' such as the famous Fourier transform and the Laplace transform. The essence of a transform is that you are multiplying each output of a function onto a new "basis". The canonical example of a basis is the axes of a 3-dimensional plot: [x,y,z]. What's essential about a basis is that if we treat the axes x, y, and z as vectors (lines), you cannot 'get' one of the axes by adding one of the other axes with anything at all (a number or another line [vector] in the space). A basis is precisely a vector (line) that cannot be created by linear combination of other vectors. So, a shape in 3D space can be expressed by considering its position relation to the axes [x,y,z]. Likewise, a signal can be characterized by considering its value at a give time-step n. Just as [x,y,z] is a basis onto which we can "project" 3D shapes, the set of discrete time steps n from -inf to +inf is a basis onto which we can project a function.
What 'transforms' do is they take a function and project it onto a new basis. Typically functions are projected onto "time" (n in discrete systems, t in continuous systems). The Fourier transform, on the other hand, projects a function onto an infinite array of sine waves of ever increasing frequency. This is accomplished simply by multiplication. If we want to project the function f[n] into "Fourier space", we just do SUM(f[n]*sin[n]). (However, please note that this is a naive explanation. The Fourier transform is actually a projection onto complex functions of the form e^i*n. e^i*n is equivalent to cos[n]+i*sin[n]. '*' denotes multiplication here.)
The z-transform projects a function onto a gigantic polynomial. Remember, a polynomial is a function that looks like this:
Remember solving equations like this?
Just as in the Fourier transform we project f[n] onto an array of sine waves of ever increasing frequency, in the z-transform we project f[n] onto an array of polynomial terms of ever increasing "degree". It looks like this: SUM(f[n]*z^-n) or:
z^-n is a complex number z = (y,x) raised to the negative nth power. The effective doing the z-transform on a function is that you are projecting the output into the 2-dimensional "z-plane". By analyzing the response of the z-transform of the frequency response of a filter in the z-plane, we can learn about it.
Poles and Zeros
Poles and zeros come into the picture when we take a look at what the transfer function actually looks like in practice. From wikipedia, we learn that the transfer function can be massaged into a factored form where H(z) = [factored-polynomial-1]/[factored-polynomial-2] like so:
With the z-transform of the impulse response of the filter in question so represented, we can start to analyze the properties of the filter. Indeed, the reason that one uses the z-transform in the first place is that it is a particularly good representation for analyzing the properties of filters. One of the things that the transfer function shows, once it is in factored form, is when the equation will go to infinity and when it will go to zero. A point, or a value of z for which the equation is equal to infinity is called a pole. A point, or a value z for which the equation is equal to zero is called a zero. The location of poles and zeros can tell you a lot about the frequency response of a filter.
The Fourier Transform is a Subset of the Z-Transform
Before we can understand why, we must first note that the z-transform contains the Fourier transform. In fact, the Fourier transform is just the Z-transform evaluated on the unit circle. The unit circle is a circle in the 2D complex number space that is centered around the origin, z = (0,0) and has a radius of 1. Yes, this is the same unit circle from trigonometry. Position on the unit circle corresponds to the frequency response of the filter at that frequency. Frequency here is express in radians. So, if we evaluate H(z) at z = pi/2 = 90 degrees, we get an idea of what the filter is going to do to signals at that frequency. Frequency here is "normalized". 0 is the lowest frequency, pi is the highest frequency, but pi is not necessarily 20khz. -pi corresponds to a negative frequency. In practice, negative frequencies are not reproduced by your speakers and are ignored except for in the math. Let's, however, assume that pi = 20khz. If that's the case, then the response at pi/2 corresponds to the response at 10khz.
Pole Zero Analysis
The reason that pole zero analysis is useful is that it lets us see the contours of the frequency response on the z-plane around the unit circle. A pole creates a peak that will amplify certain frequencies and a zero creates a valley that will attenuate certain frequencies. The z-transform is more useful than the Fourier transform for this kind of analysis because sometimes the poles and zeros are outside of the unit circle, in which case their effect on the frequency response is indirect. The best way to understand this is through a diagram:
And more conventionally we see 2D pole-zero plots like this where x's are poles and o's are zeros.
Again, tracing the unit circle lets you see the response at different frequencies and the z-transform lets you see the mathematical properties of the function that influence the frequency response. Tracing the unit circle and projecting it into 2D Euclidian space gives you the familiar frequency response diagram:
Please correct me if I made any mistakes in my explanation. I'm not a signal processing student/professional – I've just taken one course in DSP. | <urn:uuid:7ecd8086-ba39-4932-a1a3-5ebf1f04c9d9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://avp.stackexchange.com/questions/441/what-does-poles-mean-in-relation-to-a-filter?answertab=oldest | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924873 | 1,958 | 3.34375 | 3 |
The World Is Full Of Itself
The world is full of itself. It’s not just dense, every square millimeter accounted for — it’s infinitely dense! Every square millimeter is infinitely divisible. Take your hand: we can zoom in closer and closer and closer — we can zoom forever — and know what we’ll find? More hand!
Often, we imagine the world is this static platform on which there’s stuff. And then there’s us who spend our time maneuvering around this stuff. But between the stuff and between us is, well, some stuff but also a whole lot of nothing.
The rise of modern science is premised on this very belief — that there is such a thing as nothing. They call it a vacuum. Scientists do experiments in a vacuum to understand the laws of… something. Which seems odd, doesn’t it?
But there have always been those who believe there is no such thing as nothing. They have been known to call themselves plenists which, once I write it here, is hilarious. Thomas Hobbes was a renowned plenist, among other things, no doubt. Leibniz, too, in a different way. I fancy myself a plenist.
This is to say, I believe the world is a plenum — it is full, absolutely full. And always at its limit. It can grow (or shrink) but it is still, always and necessarily, full and at its limit.
When I look at, say, a flower I am not looking through nothing. Between the flower and me is so much stuff, an impossibly thick layered quilt of stuff — oxygen and nitrogen, sure; some carbon dioxide, no doubt; but also ideas, history, sentiments, moods, textures and shapes of diverse invisible planes. Between the flower and me is nothing less than the world.
Even the machines in The Matrix understood this. Look what happens when a bullet tears through space: it tears through the viscous stuff of the world.
We are packed in here with the bees and the chickens and the spiders and the chairs and the gases and the ideas and the books and the dreams and the stars. And, miraculously, we can still move. That’s because all this stuff is more than just solid, liquid, and gas. There are other states, too.
Maurice Merleau-Ponty says that between the world and me is something called flesh. He claims this is an element such as fire, water, earth, and wind. This flesh embraces us, all of us. It embraces everything. This cosmic plenum is an infinite hug.
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A | A | A
Try something today. Count how many times someone brings up some sort of mental illness in normal conversation. Add that number up and tell me it doesn’t strike you as kind of weird how many normal people walk around with the belief that there is something wrong with them.
She assumed it was jewelry. Every year he gets her a charm for her gold chain or a pair of dangly earrings.
Fall if you will, but rise you must.
You may lose what would have been the joy of the experience had you not been so focused on some fabricated idea or unrealistic expectation you had of how it was going to turn out. | <urn:uuid:a562573c-89a1-4ef7-b69a-c626fbba2e3f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thoughtcatalog.com/2012/the-world-is-full-of-itself/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957443 | 703 | 2.28125 | 2 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Identity theft and phishing top the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) list of "dirty dozen" scams, which tend to peak this time of year as millions of Americans gear up to file their tax returns.
"Scam artists will tempt people in person, online and by email with misleading promises about lost refunds and free money. Don't be fooled by these scams," IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said in a statement on Thursday.
While the "dirty dozen" schemes are common year round, many occur most frequently during tax filing season, the IRS said. The filing deadline for 2011 taxes is April 17.
The IRS did not give figures in its annual list for the amount stolen or not paid through scams.
Identity theft occurs when thieves use a taxpayer's identity and personal information to file a tax return and claim a fraudulent refund.
The IRS blocked more than $1.4 billion from going to the wrong person last year through identity theft, the statement said.
Phishing is usually carried out through an unsolicited email or a fake website to lure potential victims and prompt them to provide personal and financial information.
"Armed with this information, a criminal can commit identity theft or financial theft," the statement said.
Among other scams, about 30,000 people have voluntarily disclosed foreign financial accounts since 2009 under a program to pay taxes on money returned to the United States.
The program was reopened this year. The IRS has collected about $3.4 billion under the 2009 program, and another $1 billion in upfront payments under a 2011 program.
The "dirty dozen" list is rounded out by:
-- fraud by return preparers
-- scams promising "free money" from the IRS or tax schemes involving Social Security
-- false or inflated income and expenses
-- false claims for refunds from Form 1099, which reports income other than wages, salaries and tips
-- frivolous arguments
-- falsely claiming zero wages
-- abuse of charitable organizations and deductions
-- disguised corporate ownership
-- misuse of trusts.
(Reporting By Ian Simpson; Editing by Paul Thomasch) | <urn:uuid:421ba29f-0118-4583-9ac1-169559b27f37> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wifc.com/news/articles/2012/feb/16/identity-theft-phishing-top-irss-dirty-dozen-tax-scams/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936867 | 431 | 1.851563 | 2 |
On the evening of March 25, 1864, Abraham Lincoln sent his young son Tad to fetch a copy of Shakespeare's plays from the White House library. With the volume in hand, the president recited passages to an audience of one: Francis Bicknell Carpenter, a painter who was working on "First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln," a portrait that now hangs in the Capitol.
After a while, Lincoln set down the book. "There is a poem that has been a great favorite with me for years," he said. Then he closed his eyes and declaimed 56 lines. He knew the words, but nothing else of the poem. "I would give a great deal," he said, "to know who wrote it, but I never could ascertain."
The author was William Knox and the title was "Mortality," though it was perhaps better known by its first line, "O why should the spirit of mortal be proud!" The theme is death, the great leveler that touches saints and sinners, kings and beggars, parents and children. Today, poet and poem would be almost entirely forgotten but for their connection to Lincoln.
Knox was born in Scotland in 1789. A descendant of John Knox, the 16th-century Protestant reformer, he showed a flair for verse at a young age but went into farming. He wasn't very good at it, possibly because he drank too much, and abandoned agriculture after five years. What he really wanted to do was write. His first collection of poems, "The Lonely Hearth," appeared in 1818. Two more followed: "The Songs of Israel," which includes "Mortality," in 1824 and "The Harp of Zion" in 1825.
The final book almost didn't see print. A publisher lost the manuscript, forcing Knox to spend several days rewriting its 65 poems in an impressive feat of recall. A few months later, Knox suffered a stroke and died at the age of 36. Sir Walter Scott eulogized him as "a young poet of considerable talent." Robert Southey, England's poet laureate at the time, also admired Knox.
Yet it was a former backwoodsman from the U.S. who kept Knox's words alive, helping the poet become a literary one-hit wonder. In 1831, a friend handed the then 22-year-old Lincoln a copy of "Mortality," untitled and anonymous, probably clipped from a newspaper. Lincoln had good taste in poetry, reading and memorizing works by Robert Burns and Lord Byron as well as Shakespeare. The obscure "Mortality," however, became the poem he liked best. "I would give all I am worth and go into debt to be able to write so fine a piece as I think that is," he wrote in 1846.
"Mortality" contains 14 four-line stanzas of anapestic tetrameter, meaning that it advances in four beats of three syllables, two unstressed and one stressed. Like much of Knox's work, its inspiration comes from the Bible, in this case the Books of Job and Ecclesiastes. The latter observes that there is nothing new under the sun, which Knox refashions: "For we are the same things that our fathers have been / We see the same sights that our fathers have seen / We drink the same stream, we feel the same sun / And we run the same course that our fathers have run."
The point of the poem is that death awaits all, regardless of station: "And the young and the old, and the low and the high / Shall moulder to dust, and together shall lie." Lincoln saw much of death. His mother died when he was a boy, his sister when he was a teenager, and Ann Rutledge, the love of his life before he met Mary Todd, when he was in his 20s. Two of his four sons died before him, and during the Civil War thousands of soldiers consecrated the grounds of Gettysburg and other battlefields.
Many Lincoln scholars have scoffed at "Mortality." David Herbert Donald dismissed it as "a tedious dirge." Ferenc Morton Szasz, who has written on Lincoln's appreciation of Burns, called it "mediocre." Yet Lizzie MacGregor of the Scottish Poetry Library praises the poem's "simple vocabulary and easy rhythm," which made it "easier for the man on the street to absorb." Douglas L. Wilson, a Lincoln scholar, has written that it "served as an emotional tonic for a man subject to recurrent and virtually disabling melancholy." In time, its appeal may have deepened for the Great Emancipator. Death makes men equal: The low and the high included the black and the white.
Lincoln recited the poem so much that some people assumed he had written it. The president always corrected the mistake. One listener eventually recognized the lines. Gen. James Grant Wilson knew "Mortality" and sent a copy of Knox's collected works to Lincoln. What Lincoln thought of the Knox corpus, or if he even read it, is not known. One story, perhaps erroneous, claims that Lincoln performed "Mortality" a final time on April 15, 1865, just hours before his assassination.
Although "Mortality" says nothing of an afterlife, Lincoln and Knox had a posthumous rendezvous. In 1893, the Scottish-American Soldiers Monument was built on the grounds of the Old Calton Cemetery in Edinburgh. Atop the monument stands a bronze Lincoln, the first statue of an American president erected outside the U.S. Nearby, in what "Mortality" calls a "dwelling of rest," lies the grave of William Knox.—Mr. Miller directs the Dow Journalism Program at Hillsdale College. | <urn:uuid:5eb45c2c-8a4a-4bb4-ae69-dfa3555103b3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204136404577207382524018066.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983966 | 1,192 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Genealogical Research at Yad Vashem:
Reference and Information Services
by Zvi Bernhardt
This document provides information about major research resources for
genealogists at Yad Vashem and the role of the Reference and Information
Services unit in providing access to these resources.
The article begins with a brief overview of Yad Vashem. It then describes
the principal information repositories at Yad Vashem that are important for
genealogists: the Hall of Names and Pages of Testimony, the Archive
Collection, and the Library. The article then explains how the Reference
and Information Services unit helps the public obtain information from
these repositories. The article concludes with links to additional
information about Yad Vashem.
Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance
Authority, is the principal repository in the world for information about
the Holocaust. Established in 1953 by an act of the Israeli Knesset, Yad
Vashem is located in Jerusalem on Har Hazikaron, the Mount of Remembrance.
The site includes museums, exhibition halls, outdoor monuments, and the
world’s largest collections of information concerning the Holocaust.
Information Repositories at Yad Vashem
The principal information repositories at Yad Vashem are the
Hall of Names, the Archives Collection, and the Library.
Although the Hall of Names and its collection of Pages of
Testimony may be the most familiar to genealogists, there are also
resources of great genealogical significance in the Archive Collection and
the Library. The Reference and Information Services unit at Yad Vashem
provides access to information in all these repositories.
The Hall of Names and Pages of Testimony
The Hall of Names is a department of Yad Vashem whose task is to
gather the names of Jewish victims of the Holocaust. It serves as a
special memorial to these victims by remembering them as individual
The Hall of Names is the repository for over two million documents
known as Pages of Testimony. These documents, which have
been submitted since the mid-1950s by family members and friends,
record the names and biographical data of those who perished.
They serve as symbolic paper tombstones for those who have no marked
graves. The collection of new Pages of Testimony continues to this day.
Pages of Testimony are important documents for genealogists, since
they can provide significant biographical details concerning the victim.
The information given on a Page of Testimony may include some, though
seldom all, of the following: the names of the victim’s parents; date
and place of birth; profession; place of residence; date and place of
death; and possibly a photograph of the victim. The Pages of Testimony
may also have genealogical value by providing the name of the person
who submitted the data; this person may have been a relative of the
victim. The submitter’s address is sometimes given, but this
information may be of limited value since it most often dates to
Yad Vashem has undertaken an extensive project to computerize the
Pages of Testimony. The vast majority of the pages have been entered
into a searchable database, which includes scanned images of these
pages. This is the world’s single largest computerized database of
Jews in the Holocaust.
Various other lists of names have also been computerized and added
to the database. These include the following: a list of murdered
from Western Germany; a list of murdered from Berlin; a list of
murdered from the Netherlands; a list of deported from France; a list
of deported from Bohemia and Moravia to and from Theresienstadt; a list
of prisoners from Mauthausen; a list of victims from Luxembourg; a
partial list of victims from Hungary compiled in the Nevek
series; a small list of victims from Thesalonika (Greece); a small
list of victims from Slovakia; and a small list of survivors compiled
by Yad Vashem. Many other lists exist at Yad Vashem that have not yet
Altogether, 2.7 million names are now included in the database.
While most of the information is about those who perished, there is also some
information about survivors. The process of computerizing names continues
at Yad Vashem, and new lists are constantly being added to the database.
The database is open to the public at Yad Vashem, but it is not yet
available on the Internet.
Ongoing Collection of Pages of Testimony
Efforts are underway to gather as
many additional Pages of Testimony as possible while potential donors of
this information are still alive and thus to record the missing names of
Jews who died in the Holocaust. Anyone who knows of a victim not yet
represented by a Page of Testimony is encouraged to submit a Page for that
Blank Pages of Testimony can be downloaded in Hebrew or English at
Forms can also be obtained:
- By writing to Yad Vashem, Hall of Names, PO Box 3477, 91034
- By e-mail request to
- By fax request to 972-2-6443-579
Pages of Testimony Forms are available in fourteen different languages.
Specify the language and the number of blank forms needed (one for each
The Archive Collection
The Archive Collection at Yad Vashem is the world’s largest
repository of Holocaust material. It contains 58 million pages of
documents, consisting of microfilms as well as collections of papers and
original documents. There are nearly 100,000 photographs and thousands of
films and videotaped testimonies of survivors. Included in these holdings
are thousands of files containing information about individuals. For the
most part, the documents themselves have not been computerized; however,
there are computerized catalogues and indexes that describe these holdings.
Material in the Archive Collection is available on-site to visitors, as are
the computerized indices and catalogues.
A major genealogical resource of the Archive Collection is documentation
collected by the International Tracing Service (ITS) of the Red Cross.
Situated in Arolsen, Germany, the ITS has collected enormous amounts of
data pertaining to individuals during World War II. Much of this
collection exists at Yad Vashem on microfilm. The part of the collection
most often used by researchers is the Master Index, which contains cards
with information on millions of individuals. There are no computerized
indexes of these cards at Yad Vashem, but the Master Index microfilms are
organized alphabetically by last name; this allows researchers to identify
and search the reel that should contain the cards they are seeking. Some
of the microfilmed index cards may have extensive information, including
parents’ names, mother’s maiden name, dates of birth and death, town of
birth, citizenship, last known residence, date of last known residence,
dates and places of incarceration, cause of death and, occasionally,
name(s) of the person(s) who queried the Red Cross about that individual.
The Yad Vashem library houses over 87,000 titles (in many languages),
thousands of periodicals, and many rare items. The public can access
the library’s holdings on-site. Residents of Israel have limited
borrowing privileges. The library’s holdings include the world’s largest
collection of Yizkor Books. These books of commemoration about specific
communities, published by survivors and former residents, often include
information about residents of that community and lists of its Holocaust
Accessing the Information: Reference and Information Services
Yad Vashem has established a Reference and Information Services unit to
serve the public. This unit provides access to information at Yad Vashem by
assisting on-site visitors and responding to written queries. It draws
upon resources in the Hall of Names, the Archive Collection and the
Library. With the establishment of Reference and Information Services, the
public no longer needs to send separate inquiries to each of those
departments since service is now combined for them. A single inquiry will
The Reference and Information Services unit helps members of the
public who personally come to Yad Vashem; it also responds to queries
sent by mail, e-mail, or fax. The answers provided in response to any
inquiry are based on whichever resources the staff believes can give
the best information.
These include computerized databases as well as printed and archival
material. Thus an inquiry about a particular individual may be responded
to with Pages of Testimony, printed sources such as Yizkor Books, or
archival sources such as lists made by the Germans. Use of the computerized
names database permits complex searches, such as searching for a particular
surname from a particular town. The ability to do complex searches is more
limited when archival and library sources are used.
It you can visit Yad Vashem in person, staff members or the
Reference and Information unit will advise you on the materials available
and provide help on using databases.
On-site researchers have access to the searchable
names database that includes scanned images of Pages of Testimony. Many
sources of genealogical information at Yad Vashem that are not yet in the
database are described in computerized indexes, which are also generally
open to the public. There is no charge for these on-site services, but
there is a charge for photocopies and printouts.
If you cannot visit Yad Vashem in person, you can request
information via postal mail, e-mail, or fax. Reference and Information
Services will respond to written queries.
They will usually respond within two weeks but
may take up to three weeks during peak periods. There is a minimum charge
of $10 (US) for the first query from any individual, plus a fee for
photocopying if more than 10 pages need to be copied. If no information is
found, there is no charge. For subsequent queries, the charge is $25 per
hour of work, plus photocopying fees. Reference and Information Services
at Yad Vashem will not charge more than $25 without seeking prior
authorization. Fees can be remitted by credit card or check.
The initial query can include a request for information about several
names, up to "a reasonable level". (For example, it would not be considered
"reasonable" to ask for all the Cohens in Warsaw).
Search requests should be:
- Mailed to: Yad Vashem, Reference and Information Services,
PO Box 3477, 91034 Jerusalem, ISRAEL.
- Faxed to: 972-2-6443-579
- Sent via e-mail to:
In order to insure accurate results, supply as much information as possible
about the individual(s) you want the staff to search for. Send at least the
following information about the individual: last name; first name;
permanent place of residence (town and country) before the war. Include
the following additional information, if known, about the individual:
maiden name; birth date or approximate age; family status (married or
single); birthplace and country; first and last names of mother, father,
spouse; wartime residence (place and country); occupation or profession;
date/year of death; place and circumstances of death.
Provide the following information about yourself: full name; postal
address; e- mail address; relationship to the individual about whom you are
seeking information (optional). Reference and Information Services will
use your e-mail address or other contact information to discuss and clarify
your request, if necessary.
The Reference and Information Services unit was created to provide the
public with the best possible service. The unit is headed by Nadia Kahan;
the author is her deputy. These are the people to contact if special
service is needed or if there are any complaints. They are interested in
hearing complaints in order to continue to improve the service.
For additional information | <urn:uuid:a66b7508-617c-4b10-ae59-6b1d26840f84> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www2.jewishgen.org/infofiles/YadVashem.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.902658 | 2,547 | 3.140625 | 3 |
Table 80 Data Declaration
Full-time Law Enforcement Employees, by State by Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Counties, 2010
The FBI collects these data through the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program.
This table provides the total number of law enforcement employees, total officers, and total civilians employed by metropolitan and nonmetropolitan county agencies listed alphabetically by state.
- The information in this table is derived from law enforcement employee counts (as of October 31, 2010) submitted by participating agencies.
- The UCR Program defines law enforcement officers as individuals who ordinarily carry a firearm and a badge, have full arrest powers, and are paid from governmental funds set aside specifically to pay sworn law enforcement.
- Civilian employees include full-time agency personnel such as clerks, radio dispatchers, meter attendants, stenographers, jailers, correctional officers, and mechanics. | <urn:uuid:c68b7027-438f-490e-9153-7075729ad418> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2010/crime-in-the-u.s.-2010/data-decs/table-80-data-declaration | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924971 | 177 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Krakow rejects Dutch race taunts claim
The mayor of Krakow in southern Poland wrote to UEFA rejecting all claims that some fans racially abused Dutch players during a public training session before Euro 2012, AFP learnt on Tuesday.
The Netherlands captain Mark van Bommel said on June 8 that the players heard monkey chants during the practice two days earlier, which forced coach Bert van Marwijk to take the squad to the other side of the pitch.
European football's governing body UEFA reacted by writing to the mayors of host cities in Poland and Ukraine, asking them to take steps "to prevent discriminatory or racist behaviour at open training sessions".
But the mayor of Krakow, Jacek Majchrowksi, responded in a letter to UEFA general-secretary Gianni Infantino two days later, saying that he was astonished at the accusations.
"None of the people responsible for the organisation of the open training session... noticed any racist behaviour," he said in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by AFP on Tuesday.
"Krakow police went through the video monitoring records at the stadium, as well as through media records of the training -- the theory of alleged manifestations of racism has not been confirmed by any of these sources."
After the claims were first reported in the Dutch media, UEFA initially said that they had no reports of racist chanting at the training session and that the Dutch football federation had not made a formal complaint.
Instead, it said that some Polish fans were unhappy at UEFA for not making Krakow one of the four Polish host cities for the tournament.
But after van Bommel's comments, UEFA announced it had written to the host cities requesting a tightening of procedures and monitoring.
Majchrowksi said the allegations were "extremely unfair" and "harmful to the image of our city", which had a proud tradition of multi-culturalism.
"The crowds of Krakow... do not deserve the constantly repeated false allegations of a reputed racist incident during the Dutch representation's training session," he wrote.
The build-up to Euro 2012 was overshadowed by fears of racist violence, after a BBC television documentary showed images of football fans in both host nations making Nazi salutes and monkey noises at black players plus an attack on Asian students.
UEFA has since had to deal with racist chanting by supporters, the most high-profile being by Croatia fans against Italy's Mario Balotelli during their Group B match Poznan, Poland, last Thursday.
The Croatian football federation was fined 80,000 euros ($100,000, 64,500 pounds) on Tuesday. | <urn:uuid:73f28e79-5758-4d5b-a28c-43f11ae5fa01> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mtnfootball.com/europe/news/afp-news-english/201206/120619-krakow-rejects-dutch-race-taunts-claim.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978069 | 537 | 1.515625 | 2 |
While 100,000 people had their water supply restored on Sunday, 400,000 still had no water, he said.
Separately, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics estimated that the overall physical damage so far amounted to about $1.9bn (£1.4bn).
The UN has asked Israel to open Gaza's borders to allow in construction materials, but so far only basic humanitarian supplies have been let in.
Meanwhile, Arab foreign ministers meeting in Kuwait have failed to issue a statement on the Gaza situation because they disagreed over who was to blame for the conflict.
Egypt said Hamas had invited the attacks, while Syria said Israel should be declared a terrorist entity.
Palestinian medical sources say at least 1,300 Palestinians were killed, nearly a third of them children, and 5,500 injured during the conflict. Thirteen Israelis, including three civilians, were killed.
This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so. | <urn:uuid:e249e1cb-244e-40fc-8c06-21dea0964e7a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7839863.stm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966511 | 251 | 1.828125 | 2 |
HOPEWELL, Penn. (WTAJ/CNN) - The Junior Iditarod doesn't happen until February, but a Pennsylvania teen says she's already ready for the challenge.
Taylor Steele says she working with her dog team to get ready for the grueling sled race through Alaska.
Steele is so dedicated she traveled to the state to learn from the Iditarod race winner in 2004.
During the race, she'll have to take care of her dogs and cook food, all by herself.
It's a challenge, but Steele says seeing her dogs running motivates her to keep going.
The Junior Iditarod is February 23 and 24 in Alaska. | <urn:uuid:5b5653b2-792a-4481-b3b8-bfdf82ce1da3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ksdk.com/news/world/article/352150/28/Teen-to-compete-in-Iditarod | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967961 | 140 | 1.625 | 2 |
Join for Just $16 A Year
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Drug dependence occurs when you require one or more drugs to function normally. You may have a medical condition, such as high blood pressure or chronic pain, which requires you to take drugs to maintain your quality of life. This might be considered “drug dependence,” but is probably not a problem. Drug dependence becomes a health concern, however, when an individual abuses illegal or prescription drugs.
Intermittent abuse can evolve into dependence. Eventually, you can’t live a normal life without the drug. You may use larger doses or other types of drugs to overcome the tolerance that develops with regular use.
Drug addiction and drug dependence are sometimes interchangeable. Many addicts depend on drugs to function. It is possible, however, to be dependent on drugs without being addicted. This often occurs if you rely on medications to control a chronic medical condition. It is also possible to be addicted to drugs without your body becoming dependent on them.
Features of dependence may include some or all of the features of addiction, plus:
Drug addicts often begin using drugs socially and become dependent over time. In some cases, drugs may have been initially prescribed to treat a medical condition (e.g. pain medication). This normal and safe use can sometimes develop into abuse and dependence.
Compulsive drug use may be triggered by:
According to the National Institutes of Health, drug users typically pass through certain stages on the way to drug dependence:
1. You use drugs for recreation. Drugs are taken infrequently and in social settings.
2. You start using drugs on a regular basis, often abandoning family and friends in favor of drug use. You become concerned about losing access to drugs.
3. You become addicted to drugs and preoccupied with getting access to them. You may abandon most or all of your previous interests and relationships.
4. You become dependent on drugs and unable to live without them. Your physical and mental health deteriorates.
It can be difficult to differentiate the symptoms of dependence and the symptoms of addiction. Both conditions are characterized by a preoccupation with drugs, secretive behavior, and avoidance of activities and relationships that were once important. Drug addicts may also neglect their appearance and may suffer extreme fluctuations in weight.
You can often determine whether an addiction has evolved into dependence by observing the addict’s behavior when he or she has not had access to drugs for a significant period of time. Physical symptoms of withdrawal occur when the body becomes stressed without the drug. Symptoms may include:
When drug abuse escalates to dependence, treatment becomes complicated. Ultimately, you must stop the using the drug, but doing so abruptly can cause harsh physical side effects. You may need to enter a residential detoxification program or attend one on an outpatient basis.
Substances that mimic the effects of illegal drugs may be given to reduce the symptoms of withdrawal during treatment. Detox programs use a combination of therapy and medical care to ease dependence and ultimately stop the addiction. Ongoing therapy sessions may be required for an extended period of time after you are released from a treatment program.
Extreme cases of intoxication, withdrawal, or overdose may require emergency care before addiction and dependence can be treated.
If left untreated, drug dependence is very dangerous. You may increase your drug use as your body adapts to the drugs, which can result in overdose and death.
Treatment may reverse dependence if it is caught early and if you are willing to be treated. Sometimes treatment is successful the first time, but relapse is common among drug addicts. Ongoing therapy and support groups can help recovering addicts stay on track and address signs of relapse.
Written by: Marissa Selner
Published on Jul 18, 2012
Updated on Feb 15, 2013
Medically reviewed by George Krucik, MD
Enter your symptoms in our Symptom Checker to find out possible causes of your symptoms. Go.
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Members get a free Rx card from AARP® Prescription Discounts provided by Catamaran.
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Members learn the ABCs of buying health insurance with Aetna’s 15-Minute Health Insurance Guide.
Caregiving can be a lonely journey, but AARP offers resources that can help. | <urn:uuid:5b02f594-18f4-4b56-b704-27fa6b5bdc18> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://healthtools.aarp.org/health/drug-dependence | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942404 | 982 | 3.140625 | 3 |
Following a request by a Connecticut medical examiner, geneticists appear poised to investigate Adam Lanza's DNA. Outside experts say the University of Connecticut scientists—who have agreed to "give any assistance they can"—will probably search for genetic mutations or abnormalities that might prompt mental illness or aggression. They may study Lanza's full genome, ABC News reports. But the potential project has some geneticists concerned: It could lead to a stigma against anyone with such mutations.
"It's too risky from the standpoint of unduly stigmatizing people, but also from distracting us from real red flags to prevent violence from occurring," says a psychiatry professor. "The last thing we need when people are in the midst of grief is offering people quick fixes which may help our anxiety, but can be counterproductive to our long term safety and ethics." What's more, the sample size—one person—is too small to determine anything, says an outside geneticist. But another expert says such a study could help figure out "who is at risk and what might be dramatic treatments." | <urn:uuid:077a5198-7eeb-4409-8200-8f8822fbe15e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newser.com/story/159995/scientists-to-study-adam-lanzas-dna.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959246 | 212 | 2.0625 | 2 |
Summer Evenings, Magnolia Bakery Trashes the West Village
Every evening in the summer, the cupcake eaters descend on the West Village and make a beeline for the corner of Bleecker and West 11th, the home of Magnolia Bakery. This institution is credited with originating the cupcake trend, and has been celebrated in every major publication except The Village Voice. Its association with Sex and the City draws further patrons, intent on enjoying a tiny piece of stale cake surmounted by clouds of indifferent, pastel-colored frosting.
Which would be neither here nor there, except that these same hordes, once finished with their sugary indulgence, throw the packaging material directly on the ground, or toss it on top of already overflowing trash cans, for blocks in every direction, besmirching the neighborhood with boxes, tissues, coffee cups, and other material bearing the distinctive Magnolia Bakery logo.
Magnolia Bakery is clearly a cash cow, having devised a brilliant business strategy for using a small storefront (it was previously a pet shop specializing in parrots), jamming it with employees who bake small portions of cake in mere minutes in convection ovens that dominate the space, and then frost them with an icing made from something called "butter solids"--I've seen the boxes. Patrons are so eager to get these cupcakes that they line up down the block and sometimes wait 15 or 20 minutes for a taste. Magnolia cupcakes are the culinary equivalent of meth, and eaters quickly become addicted. | <urn:uuid:cb451ab8-03ec-41ee-9225-bbd9bef22993> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.villagevoice.com/forkintheroad/2009/08/summer_evenings.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935462 | 316 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Distortion_UK, on 20 December 2010 - 03:34 PM, said:
You clearly don't understand. If you had any concept anatomy or biomechanics you would know how bad sport in general is for your health.
Ask any sports man in their 50's how their joints are or their back is.
No playing paintball at the weekend isn't going to damage your knees but if you run for let's say 1 hour a day the meniscus cartilage in your knees will tear and flake off leaving with bone on bone or known as osteoarthritis.
Distortion_UK, on 23 December 2010 - 05:41 PM, said:
Sorry just informing you that sport is detrimental to ones health, a concept you dont understand. Running in excessive amounts is bad for you. Its fact. There no shit you can do or say to change that fact.
Distortion_UK, on 25 December 2010 - 06:25 AM, said:
Ok, the cartilage in your knees, the meniscus. Well it's a thick pad and this pad absorbs the shock transferred through your knees. This pad of cartilage will never ever grow back or repair it's self once its gone.
when you run you transfer 8 times your body weight through your knees. This thick pad as rouged as it seems does wear away, an all those ,little niggles you get tear the cartilage. When I say excessive I mean 2or so hours a day.
When this cartilage has worn away due to it's weight bearing load and continual pressure of running the bone will grind on bone, which you know as osteoarthritis.
Argue as you will but cartilage does wear away and it won't ever re grow. yes ageing to some extent does have an effect but sport quickly speeds up the process. I've written numerous papers on how sport is detrimental to health in different ways.
For your information before you start throwing around terms and accusations I've been studying sports and science exercise for 4 years now. With that course I've studied biology and human biology. I've also taken level 1,2 and 3 physical instructors course. So I'm now qualified to go and work in a gym as a personal trainer.
Sport has been my life for is considerable time. It's something I know a fair bit about. I'm not trying to belittle anyone, I'm trying to help people. I know a lot of people haven't studied sport in depth and trying to help.
Running directly on it's own isn't that bad. But that's not the problem. People have piss poor running technique, myself included. Through this you get the niggles which causes the cartilage to flake which causes arthritis which is a pain in the ass.
I'm starting to think helping people isn't worth it.........
Lol You don't get it... Where did I ever say cartilage does not wear away, or that it grows backs? You won't find it. You read one thing and you have comprehension problems or something because you registered it as something else. I said running does not cause osteoarthritis and so on.. You are more than welcome to go back and read it over again..
I am going to go with the assumption that you mean little hairline fractures when you say niggles..
And please keep repeating to me what Osteoarthritis is. I obviously do not understand it....
Also I want to thank you for proving to me that you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. You completely tried to back step your way out of the hole you dug yourself in and showed that you have no facts at all.
Sooo... What's your final answer here bud? I mean you studied biology, human biology, lvl 1-3 instructor courses, certified personal trainer, and yet you do not have an exact answer here.. Were you asleep during the lecture days on this?
You just proved that your entire point you were trying to make is invalid. Your not even sure on what you are saying and tried to change it after you saw that I have credible information proving your wrong. Information and data collected by credited scientists and medical professionals that had their research published in medical journals.
Speaking of credibility, the papers you wrote have none. Those are simply some papers you wrote on how you think sport is detrimental to health. You are not a credited professional. You have no hard evidence that running causes Osteoarthritis. I could go find someone who says Hitler was Jesus Christ reincarnated and was here to cleanse the planet and write numerous papers on it but that does not make it true...
Well I am glad it took you 4 years to become a personal trainer. I see it went a long way for you. | <urn:uuid:0339007d-39ce-4fef-8b59-6407f7817487> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.techpb.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=125061&st=20 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976648 | 985 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2009/09/30/The_Secret_Lives_of_Parents_Revealed
Author Po Bronson argues that children actually benefit from peer pressure in the long term. He draws a direct link from being self-conscious as an adolescent to maturing into a more socially attuned and sensitive adult.
Although your kids may make you want to rip out your hair and scream bloody murder, must parents remain calm, forgiving and extremely patient? Not anymore. Blogs and web sites like True Mom Confessions are revealing intimate truths about parenting and forcing us to reconsider what it means to be a "good parent."
Waldman, branded a "bad mother" after stating she loves her husband more than her children, and Bronson, science writer turned parenting investigator, share their experiences, discuss their perspectives on current distorted parenting habits and explore a new way of thinking about kids. - Commonwealth Club of California
Po Bronson has built a career both as a successful novelist and as a prominent writer of narrative nonfiction. He has published five books, and he has written for television, magazines, and newspapers, including Time, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and for National Public Radio's Morning Edition.
Currently he is writing regularly for New York magazine in the United States and for The Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom.
Po Bronson's book of social documentary, What Should I Do With My Life?, was a #1 New York Times bestseller and remained in the Top 10 for nine months. He has been on Oprah, on every national morning show, and on the cover of five magazines, including Wired and Fast Company. His first novel, Bombardiers, was a #1 bestseller in the United Kingdom. His books have been translated into 18 languages.
Po speaks regularly at colleges and community "town hall" events. He is a founder of The San Francisco Writer's Grotto, a cooperative workspace for about 40 writers and filmmakers. From 1992 to 2006 he was on the Board of Directors of Consortium Book Sales & Distribution. He lives in San Francisco with his family.
Full Transcript coming soon | <urn:uuid:eca0a727-c1c1-4cf0-b402-004a89053746> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sweetspeeches.com/s/7011---does-peer-pressure-get-a-bad-rap-po-bronson | 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 | 0.95667 | 443 | 1.507813 | 2 |
It is often said that to meet our child’s best teacher we must simply look into a mirror. Our children will become the kind of learners that we encourage them to be.
Former educational reformer, John Holt, said, “We can help children learn best by making the world, as far as we can, accessible to them, paying serious attention to what they do, answering questions – if they have any - and helping them explore what they are most interested in.”
In public schools across the state teachers work tirelessly to develop relevant lessons based on the Common Core and Essential Standards that each student should know. They work to differentiate among the various levels of abilities that are in their classrooms, so that each student gets the instruction that he/she needs to thrive. But without a nurturing environment at home, students often struggle to achieve their highest potential, and students who are truly gifted may not have the opportunity to blossom.
Finding ways to nurture your child is not complicated. Lindsey Townsend of the Arizona Department of Education, suggests everyday ways to help your child learn and succeed in life. The most obvious, but perhaps most important, way is to provide a loving environment where your child feels secure, protected, and sheltered from stress, anxiety, and adult problems. Another way to nurture is to “talk it up” with your child.
Talk to them about his/her day; talk about different tasks you may be doing when you’re together; talk about current events; keep the communication flowing. If your child is younger, it’s the best thing you can do to promote language development. Then later on your child will be accustomed to talking with you about any situation.
Of course, the importance of reading together as a component of nurturing cannot be stressed enough. Children who are read to on a regular basis become better readers and gain literacy skills more rapidly, and are more successful in school. Children should have access to books, and should see their parents reading for pleasure and for education.
Other everyday ways to nurture your child include making time to play, whether it be outdoor or indoor games. This is another way to give him/her the individual attention on which he/she thrives. Making connections between book learning and the real world, such as scheduling visits to the seashore, farmers’ markets, concerts, plays, etc. is another important means of nurturing, as is helping your child to develop organization abilities and time awareness.
These components are critical for success in school and throughout adulthood. Encouraging his/her interests and passions by providing a variety of hands-on experiences such as music, sports, dance, even bug collecting allows a child to find out what he/she is good at.
Although it is hard for parents to do, teach your children how to deal with negative situations by allowing them to fail, then encouraging them to find the solution to the problem.
The last item that Townsend suggests is to think “emotional IQ”, not just academic IQ. In other words, if you don’t focus on the basic elements of good behavior such as following directions, taking turns, sharing, and getting along with others, being a mathematical genius will do him/her no good.
Our children are our future. As parents, we are responsible for bringing up our children in a nurturing environment where education is a priority and not an afterthought, where classroom teachers are not the sole persons responsible for educating, and where our children feel that they are our most valued asset.
Tom Caton is the principal at Elkin Elementary School. | <urn:uuid:b6ce39dd-187f-4069-bb9b-31b9dedb9304> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://elkintribune.com/view/full_story/21841270/article-%E2%80%98Your-Child%E2%80%99s-Best-Teacher%E2%80%99?instance=commented | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968659 | 737 | 3.515625 | 4 |
For most modern woodworkers, wax is not a finish. It goes on top of the finish and creates a barrier to scratches. But after reading the forthcoming translation of A.J. Roubo’s “L’Art du Menuisier,” it’s clear that wax was once a fast and beautiful finish for furniture.
That is, when assisted with a tool that’s forgotten in this country.
Enter the “polissoir” – the French word for “polisher.” Here is how Roubo described the tool in his section on finishing tools:
“The polisher, figures 8 & 9, is a sheaf of ordinary grass or straw, about 4 thumbs long, by about 2 thumbs in diameter. This sheaf is bound tightly along its length. Before making use of it, one soaks it in molten wax, which one lets cool, after which one rubs the polish on a piece of wood to smooth it and make it proper to polish the work. There are polishers of diverse forms and sizes, in order to be able to get into all parts, nooks and crannies. [This tool has the unusual benefit of both smoothing the surface by burnishing and applying a wax coating to create a glossy finish.]
“The wood burnishers for polishing, figures 10, 11, 12, are of small pieces of walnut or another wood of a fine and closed grain, without being too hard, of about 6 thumbs of length at least, which are of various sizes and shapes, and thin to a bevel at the end. These woods serve to polish the work, or better said, to extend the wax into the creases and tight parts in which the polishes cannot go, like fillet-work and other little pieces where it is necessary to keep the sharp edges.”
A quick editorial note about Roubo: The text is not entirely linear. So while this is all we have on the polissoir proper, Roubo comes back to the tool time and again in the manuscript. It makes appearances in other sections of his volumes, including his treatise on veneer.
But after you imbibe all that writing, the basic idea is this: Rub a wax on your work – the wax can be beeswax or another mixture. Scour the waxed surface with your polissoir, which will burnish the work and drive the wax into any pores of the work. Allow the wax to cool. Buff it up.
After this weekend, I think I’ll be putting a polissoir into my tool chest. Here’s why. I spent the weekend at Don Williams’ mountain home in Virginia, where he demonstrated the tool using a variety of waxes. I used the tool and Roubo’s instruction and was entirely impressed.
Don is the leader of the project to translate Roubo’s opus on woodworking. He’s also a lifelong professional finisher, restorer, conservator, woodworker and patternmaker. And even with all those years of experience, he was blown away by the polissoir and what it did for his finishes on hardwoods and softwoods. And impressing Don with something in the finishing realm is no small feat. So the fact that it was done by a dead Frenchman is all the more interesting.
Don wanted to share this knowledge with other woodworkers and finishes – even before his Roubo translation hits the streets. And so he has given talks on the polissoir, appeared in some internet videos and has even started selling this tool at a modest price.
I now have one of these polissoirs – I traded him a hat for it – and it is a sweet piece of work. It’s handmade to Don’s specifications by a professional broom maker who works near his Virginia cabin. The fibers are tightly bound by both a natural casing and some intricate string work.
And holy cow does the tool work. I’m not going to waste any more words. Simply watch the video I shot at Don’s shop. It’s a bit longer than your typical woodworking video – and there are no banjos – but it is darn well worth your time.
If you want to order a handmade polisssoir, you can send Don an e-mail at firstname.lastname@example.org. The polissoirs are $18 plus shipping.
If you are interested in traditional finishes, get one. If you are interested in wax, get one. If you dislike polyurethane, ditto.
— Christopher Schwarz
For more on finishing, check out “Understanding Wood Finishing.” | <urn:uuid:ea05f856-d0e7-4b29-bc6d-f9b6d3b79d9d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/finishing/my-introduction-to-the-polissoir-roubos-wax-polisher?wpfpaction=add&postid=237801 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956566 | 992 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Government-Backed Green Investment Bank is Huge Win for Environmentalists (Video)
Image credit: Friends of the Earth UK
Brian posted back in 2010 on plans by the UK's then Labour government to launch a $3bn Green Investment Bank that would pour funds into wind, solar and other clean tech opportunities. But with economic turbulence continuing, and government cuts hitting hard, there was much uncertainty whether the country's now Conservative/Liberal coalition government would come through on this pledge. That uncertainty has now been removed, and campaigners are popping the champagne corks. But there's still more campaigning to be done.
As Friends of the Earth campaigner Simon Bullock explains in the video above, the creation of the bank is not the only thing environmentalists are celebrating. They're also delighted about many of the details of how it will operate. From the news that it will be able to invest in energy efficiency in people's homes (as opposed to just building fancy new clean tech), to the fact that it will become a permanent institution enshrined in law (as opposed to a temporary government program)—it really does look like, for once, green campaigners have gotten most of what they ask for. There are, however, concerns that the bank will not be allowed to borrow money until 2015—something campaigners say is an unnecessary delay.
With the UK Government committing to legally binding, world-leading CO2 cuts too, it seems environmentalists in the UK are on a roll of late. Now the battle is heating up to make sure a new energy bill passing through Parliament has the teeth it needs to deliver the cuts the government has promised.
British campaigners seem to be doing so well, perhaps we should ask them to have a word with the GOP on their climate antics too... | <urn:uuid:e05200f1-c7bb-4b9c-b885-5211f28f6475> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.treehugger.com/corporate-responsibility/government-backed-green-investment-bank-is-huge-win-for-environmentalists-video.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96374 | 354 | 2.0625 | 2 |
I have a simple question. I hope I don't get a stupid answer. Where does the magnetic field of a permanent magnet comes from AND why is it permanent (are we dealing with perpetual motion)?
This is what wiki is saying: "The spin of the electrons in atoms is the main source of ferromagnetism, although there is also a contribution from the orbital angular momentum of the electron about the nucleus. When these tiny magnetic dipoles are aligned in the same direction, their individual magnetic fields add together to create a measurable macroscopic field."
What the wiki is saying is correct, but we have to think further or go one step further... So put your head out of the box:
THIS IS NOT THE ANSWER I WANT TO HEAR. Because then I can ask why is the electron spinning (or what is the origin of spin) and that for an infinit time (CRAZY)? This is of course a physics question......We are missing an important energy source, unless you know where this form of energy is coming from and why it is permanent.
Thank you very much!
Wikipedia says: "Truly isolated systems cannot exist in nature..." Just be aware of this, before you are answering. (So before you are answering or commenting ==>THINK!) | <urn:uuid:e58dcd36-e1fc-437f-9438-1f808a9b1a21> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/53956/origin-of-magnetic-field-in-a-permanent-magnet | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940926 | 266 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Nature Bulletin No. 759 June 6, 1964
Forest Preserve District of Cook County
Seymour Simon, President
Roberts Mann, Conservation Editor
The early settlers in Illinois and Indiana grew corn, but not much wheat
other than patches of it to be ground into flour by local grist mills.
There was a reason. In those days wheat had to be sown, cut and
threshed in virtually the same way as it had been for 6000 years -- by
hand -- and that meant countless hours of monotonous backbreaking
The earliest tool for cutting grain was a long knife of wood or bone with
flakes of flint inserted to give it a saw like edge. Late Stone Age people
used curved flint tools similar to the sickles made by ancient Egyptians
of bronze and, later, of steel. The Romans developed a two-handed
scythe that was gradually improved until, after the Middle Ages, a
cradle was added.
The cradle, as perfected in colonial America, had five long wooden
fingers paralleling the scythe blade and attached to the snath (handle).
On each back stroke it laid the cut grain in a neat swath. Two men, one
cradling and the other gathering bundles which he bound with bands of
straw, could harvest and shock about two acres of wheat in a long day.
After harvesting the bundles were hauled to a threshing floor, scattered
over it and, to separate the grains from the heads, trodden by cattle as in
Biblical times, or beaten with flails. Then, after the straw was raked off,
the wheat was cleaned by winnowing -- tossing forkfuls of grain and
chaff into the air so that the chaff (hulls) would be blown aside by wind.
The invention of two successful reaping machines -- independently by
Obed Hussey in Ohio, who obtained the first patent in 1834, and by
Cyrus Hall McCormick in Virginia - brought about an end to that
tedious handiwork. Further, they apparently encouraged the invention
and manufacture of other labor-saving farm implements and machinery:
the chilled steel moldboards plow, harrows, seeding drills, corn planters
and cultivators, threshing machines, and steam "traction engines" to
pull or propel them.
The first reapers merely cut the standing grain and, with a revolving
reel, swept it onto a platform from which it was raked off into piles by a
man walking alongside. It could harvest more grain than five men using
cradles. The next innovation, patented in 1858, was a self-raking reaper
with an endless canvas belt that delivered the cut grain to two men who
riding on the end of the platform, bundled it.
Meanwhile, Cyrus McCormick had moved to Chicago, built a reaper
factory, and founded what eventually became the International
Harvester Company. In 1872 he produced a reaper which automatically
bound the bundles with wire. In 1880 he came out with a binder which,
using a magical knotting device invented by John F. Appleby, a
Wisconsin pastor., bound the handles with twine. Ultimately, in this
20th century, it was replaced by the self-propelled combine, operated
by one man, which cuts gathers, threshes, and sacks the grain
The reaper was the first step in a transition from hand labor to the
mechanized farming of today. It shattered an ancient bottleneck in the
path of progress and brought about an industrial revolution, as well as a
vast change in agriculture. A man became able to produce more and
more with less and less effort. He could farm more land. His excess
crops fed the city folks, factory workers, and the builders of canals,
highways and railroad. Hand in hand, the reapers and the railroads
enabled the rapid westward movement of our civilization.
We will be back in September. Meanwhile, have a good summer!
To return to the Nature Bulletins Click Here!
Update: June 2012 | <urn:uuid:73d26d4f-a319-4d26-a58f-0b755683db43> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/natbltn/700-799/nb759.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952314 | 877 | 3.765625 | 4 |
VIDEO TO ADD
We’ve found that Grolsch’s owner, SABMiller, is dodging its taxes around the world.
The money that African countries lose each year could put an extra 250,000 children in school.
We need your help:
Tax dodging costs poor countries billions each year – far more than they receive in aid.
The more money poor countries can raise in taxes the less aid they will need.
We’re campaigning to stop multinational companies dodging tax, to help countries break free from poverty forever. | <urn:uuid:3c75a3d4-bebd-40c8-9dbb-6d88a8566484> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.actionaid.org.uk/tax-justice-campaign/tell-sabmiller-to-schtop-tax-dodging | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917166 | 113 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Natural gas is bought and sold as a bulk commodity with price based on its energy content. It is very important to accurately determine the heating value/calorific value of natural gas as well as quantify individual components of the streams. The Agilent Micro GC Natural Gas Analyzer (NGA) is a 2 channel, multi-dimensional system based on the 490 Micro GC. Each channel includes a micro-machined capillary column, and thermal conductivity detector enabling very fast analysis cycle times (typically less than 60 seconds). When paired with the 490-PRO Micro GC, the in-board data handling software can analyze natural gas and provide all key parameters (ISO 6976, ASTM D3588, GPA 2286 and GPA 2172) around the clock in autonomous operation.
Write a review
Sharing your experience will help scientists like you. Achieve Reviewer Status and Win an iPad 3 (All reviews published will be entered into the next drawing on May 31st 2013). | <urn:uuid:2cb3d106-7685-456b-9374-4e1811ecbc4d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.selectscience.net/products/micro-gc-natural-gas-analyzer/?prodID=106909&u=BD42D83D-234C-4462-A8E4-7830E54AE749&techBID=5 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917644 | 200 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Ray Ginger put it in two absolutely brilliant books–Altgeld’s America and The Age of Excess–even the Republicans thought that they wanted to live in Abe Lincoln’s America, where when you are young you split wood into fence rails and go to law school at night and when you are middle-aged you become a lawyer and get rich and when you are old you enter politics and save the union and free the slaves. They wanted to live in that kind of world, of upward mobility, in which opportunity is wide open even to the son of a penniless and not very successful rural farmer.
By 1890 they discovered that they weren’t living in Abe Lincoln’s America at all.
As a result in the First Gilded Age you had two political movements. The Democratic, left, farmer, labor, semi-socialist, Populist Movement on the one hand. The mixed bipartisan Democratic and Republican, urban, Progressive Movement on the other. Both of them were desperately eager to change America, to repair the flaws of the Gilded Age, to reduce inequality, to make the economy work for everybody–or at least for every white guy–and even to grant women the vote.
They wanted this so much so that someone like Republican President Theodore Roosevelt–as aggressively a partisan an animal as you would ever see–would place his loyalty to the Republican cause second to his loyalty to his progressive principles for American reform. He was happy denouncing Democrats as communist anarchists, but equally happy denouncing rich republicans as “malefactors of great wealth” who desperately needed to be controlled.
Theodore Roosevelt wove his political career out of being head of the Republican party and head of the Progressive Movement. And at the end non-Progressive Republican President Taft simply offended him one time too many, and Roosevelt decided to blow up the Republican Party and hand the presidency to Woodrow Wilson from 1912-1920.
That was the history of America from 1880-1920 or so. After 1920 you do get a Republican Gilded Age resurgence under Harding, Coolidge, Hoover–very corrupt, especially under Harding. But by the late 1920s Progressivism is rising again–even Hoover is running as a Progressive. Then when the Great Depression comes Franklin Roosevelt comes in and he takes the entire progressive agenda off the shelf and promptly begins to implement it.
We haven’t had anything like that over the past thirty years.
And here I’m simply going to throw up my hands and say that I don’t know why.
It’s in a great mystery to me. As an economic historian I like to look at political economic patterns from the past and to say we should learn from these and generalize them and take them as providing some insight into the present and the future. In general, we economic historians are extraordinarily successful. There are lots of lessons to be drawn from the first age of globalization for the second. There are lots of lessons to be drawn from the high school-ization of America for the college-ization of America and for education elsewhere in the world. There are lots and lots of lessons to be drawn from the Great Depression for today.
But the political economy of Gilded Ages? Why the first Gilded age produces a Populist and a Progressive reaction and the second, so far, does not? There I throw up my hands and say that my economic historian training betrays me. I have no clue as to what is going on here.
I'm an Economics Ph.D. student at UC Berkeley focusing on public finance topics at the intersection of labor economics and macroeconomics. You can follow me on twitter @omzidar.
Tags2012 Alan Auerbach Baumol's cost books Brad Delong College debt Economic Policy Education Emmanuel Saez Enrico Moretti Finance Fiscal Cliff Fiscal Policy Government Government Spending Great Recession Growth Hamilton Project Healthcare Healthcare Costs Housing Immigration inequality Investment Jobs Labor larry summers Laura Tyson Local Labor Markets Middle Class Monetary Policy NYTimes Obama Paul Krugman Productivity Raj Chetty Romney Spending States Stimulus Tax Cuts for Whom Taxes Tax Reform Wages
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Should Christians be for or against the free market? For or against globalization? How are we to live in a world of scarcity? William Cavanaugh uses Christian resources to incisively address basic economic matters -- the free market, consumer culture, globalization, and scarcity -- arguing that we should not just accept these as givens but should instead change the terms of the debate.
Among other things, Cavanaugh discusses how God, in the Eucharist, forms us to consume and be consumed rightly. Examining pathologies of desire in contemporary "free market" economies, Being Consumed
puts forth a positive and inspiring vision of how the body of Christ can engage in economic alternatives. At every turn, Cavanaugh illustrates his theological analysis with concrete examples of Christian economic practices.
— Wycliffe College, Toronto
"Many Christians vaguely sense that all is not well with their relation to consumer society, but find it difficult to name just what ails them. In Being Consumed William Cavanaugh offers the clearest, most helpful diagnosis I have ever seen. No liberal guilt-tripping here, just some serious theological reflection on matters like God, desire, justice, pluralism, and the nature of human freedom. I especially like Cavanaugh's concrete examples of economic practices consistent with life in the body of Christ. This book will be required reading in my introductory theology course."
— University of Bristol
"Rampaging retail therapy in our Western economics requires a radical analyst. We have an Augustinian prophetic voice in William Cavanaugh, who subjects the free market, consumer culture, globalization, and scarcity to Catholic interrogation. He employs the traditions of Augustine, Aquinas, Hans Urs von Balthasar, and John Paul II, proposing an alternative desire that transforms the church and our practices. Envisioning a eucharistic justice that leaves us rich in community-caring and prosperous in our constant sharing, Cavanaugh is lucid, personal, practical, and theologically wise."
M. Therese Lysaught
— Marquette University
"Can a book free Christians from the ‘invisible hand' that seems more and more to dominate every aspect of our lives? William Cavanaugh provides a much-needed how-to manual for just such a liberation. Clearly written and even entertaining, Being Consumed frees us from the ironic position of ‘having no choice' but to live by the rules of free-market consumerism in a globalized world of scarce resources. . . Cavanaugh makes clear that the everyday economic life of Christians can be different and can make a difference. And he sows seeds that could, if taken seriously by Christians and churches, produce well over a hundredfold — produce, that is, a revolution."
"Being Consumed is a thoughtful look at a difficult set of issues. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to understand better how we might apply Christian teaching within our modern economic framework" | <urn:uuid:de2f382a-d077-4348-97ce-1fdc379900cc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eerdmans.com/Products/4561/being-consumed.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90309 | 594 | 2.140625 | 2 |
Workshop of the Master of the Very Small Hours of Anne of Brittany (French, active Paris, 1480-1510)
Coffer by an unknown maker (French, 15th century)
The Nativity, in Coffer, c. 1490
Woodcut hand-colored with brush, stencil and watercolor on ivory laid paper mounted on the inside cover of a coffer, constructed of wood, iron, leather, horsehair and linen
231 x 164 mm (woodcut, image); 220 x 330 x 150 mm (box)
The Art Institute of Chicago, George F. Harding Deaccessions Fund; Restricted gift of Mr. and Mrs. William Vance; The Amanda S. Johnson and Marion J. Livingston Fund, 2009.49
Field 8; Bartsch v161, pp93-95, .063-1-3
This woodcut and coffer demonstrate the very unusual survival of a print in its original context. Incredibly, ten other impressions of this stencil-colored, mass-produced Nativity survive, all also in boxes, and approximately one hundred other French coffers ornamented with similar prints exist. Their original purpose, however, remains uncertain. Despite their metal reinforcements and standardized lock, they were not sturdy enough to be strapped to pack animals. They may instead have been worn as backpacks, with the cushion on the bottom allowing the container to sit on the traveler’s knees for use as a movable shrine. A shallow secret compartment in the lid of this example is equally mysterious. It may have held contact relics, such as fabric or hair, or even consecrated Communion wafers, an unseen presence that would have reinforced the devotional value of the entire object. | <urn:uuid:124d5389-18ea-473c-b153-22cc438d3eae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/exhibitions/Kings-Queens/artwork/193362/print | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930409 | 355 | 2.9375 | 3 |
With The Mill & The Cross, Polish filmmaker Lech Majewski has created an remarkable cinematographic work of art stunning in its technical brilliance of interwoven digitized landscapes, realism and intrigue.
The 92-minute film is based on Pieter Bruegel’s 1564 painting “The Way to Calvary.” The all-star cast features Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner/Ladyhawke) as Bruegel, Michael York (The Three Musketeers/Austin Powers) as Bruegel’s business associate Nicholaes Jonghelinck and Charlotte Rampling (Angel Heart/The Duchess) in the role of Mary.
Like many Biblical-inspired paintings of the Northern Renaissance period, The Mill & The Cross demands the viewer’s complete attention as even the smallest details are symbolic. And as is the case in these paintings, while the primary subject matter – the Crucifixion of Jesus here – mirrors our Western image of Christ, the landscape, buildings and people, however, are European, and in this instance a fantastical meld of Flanders (today Belgium/The Netherlands) and a mythical craggy mountain on which a windmill rests atop. The Mill, of course, represents heaven and the Miller is God, who grinds the bread of life and gazes downward over his dominion.
Majewski literally takes us inside Bruegel’s mind and into the painting itself. At times, the goings on in the work are somewhat freeze-framed as the artist enters the canvas to make adjustments to clothing. We see the original sketch from which the painting is derived and are given access to the intensions of the artist.
“My painting will have to tell many stories,” says the artist. And it does.
At the time of Bruegel’s work, Flanders was brutally occupied by Spain. In the painting, as well as the film, Spanish soldiers, cloaked in red tunics, are the oppressors and depict the Roman legions ruling Jerusalem. We gain insight into Bruegel’s view of the mercenaries terrorizing on horseback as they lash and beat a young man, who is then tied to a wagon wheel and the hoisted upon a tall pole until he dies and the ravens pluck out his eyes. The gruesomeness of the Spanish is also portrayed when a woman, condemned as a heretic, is buried alive. As told by Michael York, the King of Spain has “declared all heretics should be put to death.” It is a strange juxtaposition and yet explains the ironies and hypocrisies of the time.
The storyline of the Crucifixion – crown of thorns, carrying the cross through the streets, hanging of Judas – plays out towards the end of the film, just set in 16th century Europe.
Beyond the somber tone, minimal dialogue and stunning imagery, The Mill & The Cross demands the viewer’s thoughts. As the film ends, the completed painting is shown. As the camera slowly backs away, we see the painting hanging on the wall. As the lens further reverses and pans the room, we suddenly realize this is a museum piece exhibited with thousands of additional works of art. We are compelled to wonder, if so much detail and thought went into this one painting, then what about all of these other pieces. Not only do we want to view the movie immediately again, the film asks us to look more carefully at masterpieces on display in museums around the world. And that is the magic of The Mill & The Cross. It makes us think. | <urn:uuid:d2eab149-c942-418a-8239-2fd97746fc4b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.veermag.com/VeerIssues/film/dec2011/film.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955423 | 753 | 1.960938 | 2 |
What Was the Vietnam War?The Vietnam War was the prolonged struggle between nationalist forces attempting to unify the country of Vietnam under a communist government and the United States (with the aid of the South Vietnamese) attempting to prevent the spread of communism. Engaged in a war that many viewed as having no way to win, U.S. leaders lost the American public's support for the war. Since the end of the war, the Vietnam War has become a benchmark for what not to do in all future U.S. foreign conflicts.
Dates of the Vietnam War: 1959 -- April 30, 1975
Also Known As: American War in Vietnam, Vietnam Conflict, Second Indochina War, War Against the Americans to Save the Nation
Overview of the Vietnam War:
Ho Chi Minh Comes HomeThere had been fighting in Vietnam for decades before the Vietnam War began. The Vietnamese had suffered under French colonial rule for nearly six decades when Japan invaded portions of Vietnam in 1940. It was in 1941, when Vietnam had two foreign powers occupying them, that communist Vietnamese revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh arrived back in Vietnam after spending thirty years traveling the world.
Once Ho was back in Vietnam, he established a headquarters in a cave in northern Vietnam and established the Viet Minh, whose goal was to rid Vietnam of the French and Japanese occupiers. Having gained support for their cause in northern Vietnam, the Viet Minh announced the establishment of an independent Vietnam with a new government called the Democratic Republic of Vietnam on September 2, 1945. The French, however, were not willing to give up their colony so easily and fought back.
For years, Ho had tried to court the United States to support him against the French, including supplying the U.S. with military intelligence about the Japanese during World War II. Despite this aid, the United States was fully dedicated to their Cold War foreign policy of containment, which meant preventing the spread of Communism. This fear of the spread of Communism was heightened by the U.S. "domino theory," which stated that if one country in Southeast Asia fell to Communism then surrounding countries would also soon fall. To help prevent Vietnam from becoming a communist country, the U.S. decided to help France defeat Ho and his revolutionaries by sending the French military aid in 1950.
France Steps Out, U.S. Steps InIn 1954, after suffering a decisive defeat at Dien Bien Phu, the French decided to pull out of Vietnam. At the Geneva Conference of 1954, a number of nations met to determine how the French could peacefully withdraw. The agreement that came out of the conference (called the Geneva Accords) stipulated a cease fire for the peaceful withdrawal of French forces and the temporary division of Vietnam along the 17th parallel (which split the country into communist North Vietnam and non-communist South Vietnam). In addition, a general democratic election was to be held in 1956 that would reunite the country under one government. The United States refused to agree to the election, fearing the communists might win.
With help from the United States, South Vietnam carried out the election only in South Vietnam rather than countrywide. After eliminating most of his rivals, Ngo Dinh Diem was elected. His leadership, however, proved so horrible that he was killed in 1963 during a coup supported by the United States. Since Diem had alienated many South Vietnamese during his tenure, communist sympathizers in South Vietnam established the National Liberation Front (NLF), also known as the Viet Cong, in 1960 to use guerrilla warfare against the South Vietnamese.
First U.S. Ground Troops Sent to VietnamAs the fighting between the Viet Cong and the South Vietnamese continued, the U.S. continued to send additional advisers to South Vietnam. When the North Vietnamese fired directly upon two U.S. ships in international waters on August 2 and 4, 1964 (known as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident), Congress responded with the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. This resolution gave the President the authority to escalate U.S. involvement in Vietnam. President Lyndon Johnson used that authority to order the first U.S. ground troops to Vietnam in March 1965.
Johnson's Plan for SuccessPresident Johnson's goal for U.S. involvement in Vietnam was not for the U.S. to win the war, but for U.S. troops to bolster South Vietnam's defenses until South Vietnam could take over. By entering the Vietnam War without a goal to win, Johnson set the stage for future public and troop disappointment when the U.S. found themselves in a stalemate with the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong.
From 1965 to 1969, the U.S. was involved in a limited war in Vietnam. Although there were aerial bombings of the North, President Johnson wanted the fighting to be limited to South Vietnam. By limiting the fighting parameters, the U.S. forces would not conduct a serious ground assault into the North to attack the communists directly nor would there be any strong effort to disrupt the Ho Chi Minh Trail (the Viet Cong's supply path that ran through Laos and Cambodia). | <urn:uuid:b253948c-9f39-43f7-b011-e17fa60a63ff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://history1900s.about.com/od/vietnamwar/a/vietnamwar.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97156 | 1,034 | 3.734375 | 4 |
Setbacks, monitoring and mitigation at issue in proposed rules
By Summit Voice
SUMMIT COUNTY — On the last day of 2012, state regulators unveiled their latest proposal to protect communities from oil and gas drilling impacts, including 500-foot setbacks in rural and urban areas, as well as new requirements for outreach and mitigation.
The rules are aimed at forestalling a groundswell of opposition to fracking in residential areas, but the proposal may be a classic case of too little, to late, as communities around the state consider outright bans on fracking.
The draft rules are based on months of stakeholder meetings and public participation, including nearly a year of presentations and comment on the issue of how best to balance energy production with the need to minimize impacts on residences from nearby oil and gas development.
Conservation advocates pointed out that many residents want greater setbacks.
“Governor Hickenlooper’s disappointing proposed oil and gas regulations, released late on New Years Eve, will not bring many Coloradans comfort or joy as they ring in the New Year,” Conservation Colorado said in a prepared statement.
“After months of hearing from stakeholders and thousands of citizens across the state who want greater setbacks, the Governor’s proposal would still allow heavy industrial activity near our homes and families. As local governments act to address drilling impacts near communities, these proposed weak regulations raise concerns of the ability and political will of the administration to properly regulate drilling and fracking in our State.
“While opposing these weak standards, we will continue to push for meaningful protective buffer zones and strong groundwater testing near drilling and fracking which put the health and welfare of Coloradans and our communities first.
“These proposed rules reinforce Colorado’s role as a national pacesetter in the comprehensive and progressive regulation of oil and gas exploration and production,” said Matt Lepore, director of the COGCC, the state’s regulatory agency that staffs the Governor-appointed Commission. “These proposals contain mitigation standards unprecedented nationally and mark yet another step forward in fashioning a model regulatory framework that strikes a balance that’s right for Colorado.”
“At the same time, we understand that our draft rules will leave no one set of interests completely satisfied, and provide various targets for those who want to see it done differently,” Lepore said. “And yet, we expect most everyone who participated will see elements and concepts in these proposals that they helped initiate and push forward.”
Components of the proposals include:
The new rules will require operators to meet enhanced mitigation, notice and outreach requirements when drilling near residences beginning at 1,000 feet. Setbacks in previous rules of 350 feet (urban) and 150 feet (rural) will now be 500 feet statewide.
New measures to limit impacts may include pit-less drilling, steel berms and underground liners, strict dust and lighting controls and capture of gasses to reduce odors and emissions.
Operators must engage in expanded notice and outreach efforts with nearby residents and conduct additional engagement with local governments about proposed operations.
Operators must conduct sampling of water wells near drilling sites both before and after drilling activities to ensure drinking water aquifers are protected. This would make Colorado the only state to require sampling both pre- and post-drilling.
Operators cannot operate within 1,000 feet of buildings housing larger numbers of people, such as schools, nursing homes and hospitals without a hearing before the Commission.
These proposals will be considered during public hearings scheduled for January 7, 8 and 9 before the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. The Commission can modify the proposal, or pursue other options, based on testimony during this hearing, and in previous hearings that have taken place on these matters in recent weeks.
The upcoming hearings will take place at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel, 1550 Court Place, beginning at 9 a.m. each day. The Commission includes representatives from across Colorado. Seats are filled by members with expertise in environmental and wildlife protection, agriculture, soil conservation, oil and gas production and regulatory oversight. | <urn:uuid:6184c07f-4dd6-45e4-9a2c-43d17b44b705> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://summitcountyvoice.com/2013/01/01/colorado-set-to-adopt-new-oil-and-gas-drilling-regs/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950746 | 843 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Back in October, I reported on the release of a draft that would approve the use of the Counter Mode with CBC-MAC (CCM) encryption mode. Earlier this month, NIST released a final version of the publication, which means that CCM is now blessed as an approved encryption mode and 802.11i-based systems can be certified under the FIPS standards. As a result, I would guess that in six months to a year, we will see FIPS-certified wireless LAN systems hit the market.
Reading the public comments and responses, I get the sense that this was a somewhat controversial decision. Without approval of CCM from NIST, 802.11i would be dead in the water in most government agencies. With so much money riding on the approval, there were bound to be strong opinions. If you’re interested in seeing what the objections were and how the NIST staff responded, take a look at the publish NIST response to the most common public comments. | <urn:uuid:184bb5c0-6735-46e7-b30f-4bcaf7609fa6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oreillynet.com/etel/blog/2004/05/final_approval_of_counter_mode.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969596 | 203 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Planning wireless networks is not always an easy task. Sure, you can stick access points all over the place and overdo the coverage in your environment, but that could be much more expensive than necessary if proper planning is done.
NetSpot has created an application for OS X that will help you plot the wireless access in your office or environment. This post will walk through the beta version of the NetSpot application and create a wireless access point map. You can download the beta for yourself here.
Import your floor plan
To get started you will need to import an image of your floor plan. This will serve as the diagram on which you will plot your access points.
The basic floor plan (click images to enlarge)
Once the floor plan is loaded, NetSpot will ask that you plot at least two access points on the drawing. When doing this, you will need to enter the distance between them. Clicking the map will plot an access point.
Note: When adding access points, NetSpot will consider the scale of the drawing.
To get started, add at least two points to the plan. Dragging them on the document to their approximate location will help start a plan for your environment. Once the access points are plotted, click Next to proceed.
Add at least two access points
On the next screen, you define the borders of your organization. Placing markers in the corners of the drawing will outline the perimeter of the area you want to survey. This will enclose the access points inside the environment and help to create an appropriate plan for going forward.
Mark the borders of the environment to be scanned
Now that the environment has been defined, the fun starts. You will walk around the office or environment and mark your position. When you do, the application will scan for wireless access points and signal strength where you are. Repeat this at various points around the environment to create a coverage map of the location.
Walking around the office
As you move around the space, NetSpot will scan for wireless networks in range each time you click the map relative to your location. This will determine the coverage at these spots.
When you have marked all the spots you need, click Stop; the diagram will change color based on the strength of coverage detected. The default view shows the signal to noise ratio found. You can change this to one of the following views:
- Signal Level: shows the amount of wireless signal available
- Noise Level: shows the amount of noise present
- Qty of access points: shows the signal strength of the environment based on the quantity of access points
Once the scan is complete and the map created, you can export it to a PDF document in a single click to create a snapshot of wireless access in your environment.
The completed report
NetSpot is a simple-to-use tool for creating wireless deployment planning maps. Organizations using this tool can benefit from being able to test many locations in their environment to place access points and get the best coverage from them. | <urn:uuid:6d58ee7c-33ea-4909-be23-5b69bd4c92ec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/mac/create-wireless-planning-maps-with-netspot-for-os-x/1376 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918329 | 614 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Novartis is paying Opexa Therapeutics $4 million for a novel stem cell technology currently in preclinical development. The deal includes a $3 million up-front fee and an additional $1 million in technology transfer fees that will be paid over six months.
Opexa says that total payments including future milestones could top $50 million before royalties. Novartis will be responsible for carrying out and funding all future research, development, and commercialization activities.
The adult stem cell technology is designed to enable the production of monocyte-derived stem cells (MDSC) from blood. Opexa says early data has shown that the technology can potentially generate monocyte-derived islet cells from peripheral blood mononuclear cells.
Opexa is focused on the development of patient-specific cellular therapies for the treatment of autoimmune diseases including multiple sclerosis (MS) and diabetes. The company’s lead product is Tovaxin, a T-cell MS vaccine that is specifically tailored to each patient’s disease profile. In October 2008 the company reported positive top-line results from a Phase IIb study in early, relapsing MS patients. | <urn:uuid:c8dbcec4-6f7e-4f40-ad05-b4b81aab7603> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.genengnews.com/gen-news-highlights/novartis-acquires-opexa-s-stem-cell-technology-for-4m/59874220/?kwrd=Stem%20Cells | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926137 | 240 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Are we really on the brink of having robots to mop our floors, do our dishes, mow our lawns, and clean our windows? And are researchers that close to creating robots that can think, feel, repair themselves, and even reproduce?
Rodney A. Brooks, director of the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory believes we are. In this lucid and accessible book, Brooks vividly depicts the history of robots and explores the ever-changing relationships between humans and their technological brethren, speculating on the growing role that robots will play in our existence. Knowing the moral battle likely to ensue, he posits a clear philosophical argument as to why we should not fear that change. What results is a fascinating book that offers a deeper understanding of who we are and how we can control what we will become.
About the Author
Rodney A. Brooks is Fujitsu Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at MIT and director of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. He is also chairman and chief technological officer of iRobot Corporation. He is a founding fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence (AAA) and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The author of several books and a contributor to many journals, he was one of the subjects of Errol Morris’s 1997 documentary, Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control. Brooks was born in Australia and now lives in suburban Boston.
Praise for Flesh and Machines: How Robots Will Change Us…
“A book that will spark intense reactions and generate mind-twisting questions.” -The Boston Globe
“A stimulating book written by one of the major players in the field–perhaps the major player. . . . Offers surprisingly deep glimpses into what it is to be human.” -The New York Times Book Review
“Brooks . . . lucidly explores his life with robots....Flesh and Machines ranges far and wide, but remains unified by the author's passion.”–Wired
“Readers don’t have to share Brooks’ vision of the future to love reading his book, the imaginative work of a skilled yet genial provocateur.”–Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Brooks [is] the irrepressible Pied Piper of robotics.” –Los Angeles Times
“A considered and thought-provoking work. . . . This is the best kind of popular science book: The ideas are clear and accessible but not dumbed down.”–American Scientist
“A man-as-machine thesis that is presented accessibly and humanely.” –Booklist | <urn:uuid:c97438a4-3e27-40fd-b6fb-ac9ad9952f09> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bookpassage.com/book/9780375725272 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933559 | 550 | 2.4375 | 2 |
Designing a PV inverter system
The two primary sub-components in a PV inverter systems typically are the controller used to implement system management tasks and control algorithms, and the AC-to-DC conversion circuit.
The controller is used for tasks including grid and system monitoring, system synchronization with utility power for grid-connected systems, and output power quality monitoring. The controller also performs protective functions for safety and compliance with various standards and regulations. Other key functions include data logging, firmware updates, and communications with the system operator, as well as battery charging control for standalone systems, and smart metering used for grid-connected PV systems. One other important controller responsibility is the execution of control and energy management algorithms. In addition to being very computationally demanding, these tasks can also impact power efficiency.
The DC-to-AC conversion circuit also plays an important role, handling all the tasks related to converting raw DC power from the panels into clean AC power that is consistent with the utility grid’s voltage and power quality requirements. To accomplish this, the circuit uses a set of switching power devices such as metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) or insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs). The inverter circuit also includes active filtering circuitry to reduce the distortion caused by harmonics resulting from high-frequency switching.
Choosing the right configuration
Designers have a choice of several possible PV conversion circuit configurations. The choice depends on a number of factors, including the number of power processing stages, the type of power decoupling, the types of intra-stage interconnections, and the type of grid interface.
There are also important considerations related to power levels. Micro inverters are typically integrated in the PV module for power levels up to 400 watts (W), whereas string inverters are used for power levels up to 10 killowatts (Kw). For power levels between 5 and 50 kW, multi-string inverters are generally the best choice. For higher power levels, central inverters should be used. | <urn:uuid:1ccebc96-496e-4e1d-9b07-f0bb0d738886> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eetimes.com/design/smart-energy-design/4401511/Enhancing-the-efficiency-of-photovoltaic-systems-?pageNumber=1&Ecosystem=communications-design | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914693 | 419 | 3.4375 | 3 |
The People Factor On The Internet
by Wanda Loskot, Success Connection
In a world dominated by technology, it is easy to forget about the people factor. So often Internet success is measured by page impressions, clickthrough ratio, high
placements in search engines...
Please, remember that here, in this highly technical world, you are *always* dealing
with real people. People like you and me -- with desires, ambitions, and habits.
One person at a time.
I participated in an Internet Super Summit in LA -- it was a truly awesome gathering of Internet marketers,organized by Jay Abraham and the Netrageous team. One of the most dramatic moments was relating to that human factor.
It was during Ken Evoy’s presentation (in case you still don’t know who Ken Evoy is -- he is the author of "Make Your Site Sell" which is by now considered the best deal among the books on the topic of Internet marketing). He was talking about the necessity of focusing on visitors when building a website and he was illustrating it by guiding us through his own superb websites.
Ken’s point was to be constantly aware how difficult it is to concentrate on visitors. Without seeing their eyes rolling up to the ceiling, without hearing their yawning and their fingers tapping the table, it is oh-so-easy to overlook when they become bored or impatient....
Please remember that people on the net have zero tolerance for being bored. And as brutal as it sounds, they have no interest in your product or service -- they only want to
read about themselves and how your product or service can solve their problems. Everything that is not focusing on them is boring and if something begins like a boring
sentence, they skip it.
To illustrate how difficult it is to focus, Evoy announced that as he will explain how and why he designed specific web elements -- he will talk about his visitors. And he
challenged himself and the audience, promising that if anyone could catch him talking about himself or about his business instead of his visitors, he would pay $100 (he
also asked Jay Abraham to double the stakes :-)
And so he went on talking about effective web design...
Let me remind you that Ken Evoy knows how to concentrate on people. His websites are among the most glorious examples of visitor-focused content. And he himself is a very giving person -- as far from being self-absorbed as it goes.
So, guess how long it took for someone to catch him talking about himself during that presentation?
About 30 minutes...
Just think. If Ken Evoy, the master himself, can lose focus of the most important thing during a two hour presentation -- how likely is it that you can lose track of your audience?
To measure how well you are focusing on your audience, go to your website, brochure or another piece of communication that should be focused on your reader, and count how many times you use "me" and "mine" vs. "you" and "yours". You
should use "you" at least three times as often as using "I" (and me, mine, our). Yes -- three times as often!
Some people advice using equal number of "Me" and "You" in text -- no, no, no! This is not good advice. Equal number of "Me" and "You" will not put nearly enough focus on our reader.
Even if you write about you yourself, or about your company and your product, think about your visitors. Concentrate on helping them get involved with whatever you talk about. Help them understand it. Educate, enlighten, entertain, inform -- always by talking about them, not about you.
It is so easy to forget about that "people factor" when we sit in front of our computers -- designing, publishing, and writing. So easy to slip into the trap of creating stuff about us, about our products, about our business.
Ken Evoy made another important point during that presentation. He said that once someone skips reading a sentence, it is easy for them to skip another sentence or bullet point, and then another one, until they stop reading.
The bottom line? Make sure that you do everything you can, so that your audience keeps reading -- if they stop reading, how will they ever be able to buy from you?
And thank you for staying with me all the way to the end :-)
© by Wanda Loskot. All rights reserved.
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Advertise Your Business | <urn:uuid:fa22fee0-2b35-42b1-87a2-fd7f0525c4b7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cdnbizwomen.com/articles/loskot5.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971107 | 1,043 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Promoting microbial degradation of oil has been one of the main arguments in favor of dispersant use. Interestingly, the PWSRCAC review (covering literature from 1997-2008) did not identify any recent study that explicitly found dispersant use enhancing the biodegradation of oil. Actually, ~50% of studies found that chemical additives inhibited microbial degradation and the other half of studies didn’t find any significant difference between treatment and control groups. Worryingly,
It is also noted that the most toxic components of the oil, the biodegradation of PAHs [Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons], has never been shown to be stimulated by dispersants. (Fingas, 2008)
Apparently, only the old skool research supported this promotion of oil biodegradation. But science is like fashion—research trends change as time progresses and we learn from our mistakes (and despite a resurgence in 80s trends, parachute pants and stretch stirrup pants were DEFINITELY mistakes). Older studies showed enhanced results because they were carried out under ideal lab conditions—high energy tanks containing lots of yummy nutrients and plenty of time for microbes to work their magic. In the open ocean, microbial growth is restricted by the limited availability of many key nutrients. In a real oil spill, time is of the utmost importance, and oil needs to be contained, removed or degraded as soon as possible.
What is clear from these studies is that the interactions between bacteria, oil, and dispersants are very complex. Yoshida et al. (2006) reported differential responses of bacterial species—some groups were able to utilize dispersant components as nutrient sources, while the growth of other bacteria was directly or indirectly prohibited. Thus, biodegradation is highly dependent on the dispersant formula, the in situ microbial community structure, and the specific type of oil being degraded.
Finally, I cannot stress enough that biodegradation is HIGHLY affected by temperature—Ventosa et al. (2004) reported rapid oil degradation at 20°C but much slower microbial breakdown at 5°C. Dispersant use = Deepwater oil plume = slooooooow biodegradation in cold, deep waters.
Fingas, M.F. (2008). A Review of Literature Related to Oil Spill Dispersants 1997-2008 Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council (PWSRCAC) Report PWSRCAC Website
Venosa AD, & Holder EL (2007). Biodegradability of dispersed crude oil at two different temperatures. Marine pollution bulletin, 54 (5), 545-53 PMID: 17316707
Yoshida A, Nomura H, Toyoda K, Nishino T, Seo Y, Yamada M, Nishimura M, Wada M, Okamoto K, Shibata A, Takada H, Kogure K, & Ohwada K (2006). Microbial responses using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis to oil and chemical dispersant in enclosed ecosystems. Marine pollution bulletin, 52 (1), 89-95 PMID: 16202430 | <urn:uuid:90566f93-5af8-429d-82fe-aa876f86a227> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://deepseanews.com/2010/09/dispersants-part-iii-do-dispersants-really-promote-degradation-of-oil/comment-page-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.904412 | 638 | 2.75 | 3 |
Just last week, Twitter became the latest casualty of poor Internet security when it fessed up to hackers having stolen account details for 250,000 of its users. As I’ve reported before, this type of activity seems set to rise, and you can be sure we will not be hearing of some of the more serious breaches. Would a bank confess in public to having had your account details stolen? Exactly!
The chances are that you were not one of the unlucky quarter of a million, and if you were, Twitter will have kindly let you know via email by now. If you think you have had an email from Twitter about it though, be very careful, as this kind of event is certain to trigger secondary events whereby phishers send fake emails to millions of recipients pretending to be from Twitter, encouraging you to click links in the email – WHICH YOU SHOULD NEVER DO!
There is an important lesson to learn from this though, which is whatever web service you have signed up for, you should not be using a password that you have already used elsewhere. It might not seem obvious, but if someone manages to obtain your login and password for one website, and you use the same access details for another site, it means the hacker potentially has access to two of your accounts rather than just the one that was exploited. If you use the same access credentials across all sites, you can only imagine the problem it will begin to cause you.
So what about the problem of remembering a different password for every site? There are two approaches to this:
- Use a completely random password for every site and note it down. By ‘note it down’, we mean use a secure piece of software designed to store your passwords for you. Such password vaults are readily available and have their own ‘master password’ you can set preventing unauthorised access to all your login details. Never note down your passwords in a way that they are not protected from theft.
- Have a ‘mental method’ of generating a password for every site you use, meaning every site has a different password, and you can work out in your head what that password should be.
Clearly option 1 is the most secure method if a little inconvenient, but far less inconvenient than having a thief using your login details.
Hopefully you can see the risk of using the same password across multiple sites, and we hope that if you have been doing this, you now feel compelled to go and start changing them.
Have you had any of your online accounts compromised? Were you a victim of the Twitter hack, or have you received a phishing email on the back of the Twitter hack? I’d love to hear your thoughts. | <urn:uuid:cc35e35e-78e7-4067-b98b-907a3eef2268> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.flinca.com/blog/twitter-reminds-us-why-we-need-lots-of-passwords/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961734 | 553 | 2.53125 | 3 |
||Laura Currier (Laura Ormsbee of Vermont)
Nathaniel Currier was born March 27, 1813 to Nathaniel and Hannah Currier in Roxbury, Massachusetts. At the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to William S. and John Pendleton of Boston who had set up the first lithographic establishment in America. His apprenticeship served him well as he went on to be the largest publisher of lithographs. Mr. Maurer described Nat Currier as being very gentlemanly and liberal. As is evident to the success of the firm of Currier & Ives he was very devoted to his business.
Nat Currier had many friends including Horace Greely and P.T. Barnum. He was well known for his sense of humor and Harry T. Peters tell of one story about P. T. Barnum. "Currier had heard that one day his friend, the great showman, had rushed into the barber shop of the old Park Hotel, at Beekman and Nassau Streets, to get a shave. Barnum had hurried up to Tom Higginson, the barber, and said, 'Tom, I'm in a jurry.' 'Sorry for it,' said Tom, 'but it's that gentleman's turn next.' 'That gentleman' was an unshaven irshman waiting for a ten-cent shave. Barnum turned to him and said, 'My friend, if you will let me have your turn, I'll pay for what you have done.' The gentleman consented, and, as Barnum found out later, had a full job done - absolutely everything the house had. The check was for a dollar and sixty cents. When Currier heard this story he found the very Irishman and had him pose. The result was the famous cartoon, "The Man that Gave Barnum 'His Turn.'"
Nathaniel was married twice, his first wife Miss Eliza West of Boston. He had one son with Eliza Edward West Currier. In 1847 he married Miss Laura Ormsbee of Vermont. Laura and Nathaniel are memorialized in the famous N. Currier lithograph The Road Winter. He lived at several addresses in New York City including 153 Macdougal Street, 137 Macdougal Street and 28 West 27th Street. He had a summer house called "The Lion's Mouth" in Amesbury, Massachusetts. He was known to like fast horses and he kept several in Amesbury. Nathaniel died on November 20, 1888 at his home on 28 west 27th Street. | <urn:uuid:296ea00e-0e3a-4df9-afac-7f1077a91bcd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://oldprintshop.com/artists/currier-ives-nat.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.989445 | 526 | 2.015625 | 2 |
The forces that make Japan one of the world’s most earthquake-prone and volcanic countries, and sparked a nuclear disaster, could become part of its long-term energy solution, experts say.
Steam and hot water billow and gush from deep below the ground at Japan’s tens of thousands of famed hot springs and could be harnessed to drive turbines that generate electricity in a clean, safe and stable way, they say.
Although Japanese high-tech companies are leaders in geothermal technology and export it, its use is miniscule in the nation, which has for decades relied heavily on imported fossil fuels and atomic power.
Japan’s parliament was expected to pass a law yesterday to promote renewable energy, such as wind, solar and geothermal, by forcing power utilities to buy it at fixed prices and letting them pass extra costs onto consumers.
“Japan should no doubt make use of its volcano, magma and other geothermal energy,” said Yoshiyasu Takefuji, professor of Tokyo’s Keio University and a prominent researcher of thermal-electric power generation. “The March 11 disaster caused a lot of sadness, but it has also changed people’s thinking about energy.”
Japan is located on the Pacific’s “Ring of Fire” at the juncture of four tectonic plates that slowly grind along, driven by the flow of super-hot magma below, creating stresses that are released in earthquakes.
The most powerful of these in Japan’s recorded history, a magnitude 9.0 seabed quake, struck on March 11, triggering the huge tsunami that killed more than 20,00 people and set off the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster.
The crisis has sparked a backlash against atomic power, which previously made up 30 percent of Japan’s energy needs, and increased interest in alternative energies, which account for only 8 percent, most of it hydro. Artist Yoko Ono, John Lennon’s widow, has called on her home country to tap its natural energy, following the example of Iceland which uses steam and hydroelectric power for more than 80 percent of its needs.
In northern Japan, 60km from the tsunami-ravaged coast, lies Japan’s first geothermal power plant, built in 1966 at the hot spring resort of Matsukawa in Hachimantai.
The 23,500-kilowatt plant, set amid mountains where the smell of sulfur hangs thick in the air, never stopped running after the quake, while in contrast, two-thirds of Japan’s reactors remain offline for safety checks.
The head of the plant, Kazuhiro Takasu, said Japan must accept that switching to renewables will carry initial extra costs, but that a new ￥10 billion (US$130 million) geothermal plant would break even in “a few decades.”
“People are now talking about renewable energy, but such excitement can easily ebb off after a while,” Takasu said.
For now, geothermal makes up less than 1 percent of the energy mix in Japan, a resource-poor economic powerhouse that imports its oil, coal and gas and has invested heavily in nuclear energy since the 1970s oil crisis.
The biggest hurdle to geothermal, most experts agree, is the high initial cost of the exploration and drilling of deep Earth layers that contain hot water, and of then constructing the plants.
Another problem is that Japan’s potentially best sites are already being tapped for tourism with popular onsen hot spring resorts or are located within national parks where construction is prohibited. | <urn:uuid:b18759da-147d-4b7a-b206-c5b79c80a2e0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2011/08/27/2003511796 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956554 | 754 | 3.46875 | 3 |
As we already proved in this handy pie chart on gay marriage, the world will not end if two people of the same sex are allowed to get married. The only thing that will happen is that some gay men and lesbians will get (gasp!) married. (Maybe some of them will also get divorces and alimony and shared child custody, eventually, but let’s look on the bright side.)
So why is same-sex marriage still not legal in 45 states while other terrible acts and laws remain legal? Here’s a list of 10 such acts or laws that, despite being a hell of a lot worse than two people getting married, remain absolutely legal.
In several states, it is legal to own exotic pets such as tigers, bears, lions, and monkeys. No longer the territory of guys like Zigfried and Roy, apparently, there are enough exotic pet enthusiasts to warrant internet how-to’s. Exotic pet breeding is a flourishing industry, regardless of concerns for animal welfare or public health and safety. Many have clamored to illegally transport animals into the country in hopes of selling them for a large profit. Smuggling exotic pets is a $10 billion dollar a year industry, second only to drugs. Tens of thousands of dollars in ‘merchandise’ die slow and cruel deaths each year. Forced to travel hidden in cramped boxes or cages, improperly cared for, starved, and generally neglected, many smuggled animals such as the endangered Slow Loris (or even Tigers) suffer diseases and slowly die. Those who don’t die are often abandoned when their new owners realize keeping a Tiger requires more than kitty litter and Fancy Feast.
An epidemic of suicides last summer and autumn spotlighted a major problem faced by many teens: cyberbullying. The National Crime Prevention Council defines cyberbullying as “the process of using the Internet, cell phones or other devices to send or post text or images intended to hurt or embarrass another person.”
Cyberbullying is another issue in which advancing technology has outrun authorities’ ability to deal with it. Anonymity, free speech, and murky privacy laws all make trolling nearly impossible to prosecute. Because most cyberbullying takes place outside of school, administrations and teachers are at a loss as to how to prevent it, or punish it when it’s discovered. Parents have successfully sued school districts for failing to prevent such harassment, but otherwise, little legal action can be taken.
The Animal Welfare Act, put into law in 1966, prohibits cruelty of animals. However, the law itself is strangely narrow: birds, amphibians, reptiles, farm animals, and rodents bred for research are all exempt from the bill. This means that while mammalian pets are afforded legal protection, the vast majority of animals in the US are not. Factory farms, puppy mills, and animal experimentation all have horrific practices that would nauseate any sane person, though all of these practices are legal under the Animal Welfare Act. | <urn:uuid:2eaf342d-eb72-4a7f-80cd-a2e197caa590> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.prosebeforehos.com/government_employee/05/04/10-things-much-worse-than-same-sex-marriage/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9442 | 612 | 2.25 | 2 |
Pregnant or positive: Adolescent childbearing and HIV risk in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
Rutenberg,Naomi; Kaufman,Carol E.; Macintyre,Kate; Brown,Lisanne; Karim,Ali Mehyrar
Reproductive Health Matters 11(22): 122-133
Publication date: 2003
In communities where early age of childbearing is common and HIV prevalence is high, adolescents may place themselves at risk of HIV because positive or ambivalent attitudes towards pregnancy reduce their motivation to abstain from sex, have sex less often or use condoms. In this study, we analyse cross-sectional survey data from KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, to explore whether an association exists between the desire for pregnancy and perceptions of HIV risk among 1,426 adolescents in 110 local communities. Our findings suggest that some adolescents, girls more than boys, were more concerned about a pregnancy if they lived in environments where youth were perceived to be at high risk of HIV infection. The probability that pregnancy was considered a problem by boys was positively correlated with the proportion of adult community members who thought youth were at risk of acquiring HIV, and for girls by the proportion of peers in the community who thought youth were at risk of HIV. We also found that becoming pregnant would be a bigger problem for the African girls than the white and Indian girls. The analysis suggests that for some adolescents, in addition to effects on educational and employment opportunities, the danger of HIV infection is becoming part of the calculus of the desirability of a pregnancy. | <urn:uuid:00107eaa-0bb6-4007-9357-607cc30b9f8f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.popcouncil.org/publications/abstract.asp?RefID=2583 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964196 | 318 | 1.945313 | 2 |
|The USA's Pledge of Allegiance (& the military salute)
was the origin of Adolf Hitler's "Nazi" salute under the National Socialist
German Workers Party (Nazis). http://rexcurry.net/pledge2.html
The swastika was used by the military and by socialists in the USA and in the USSR, before it was used by the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP).
| The swastika, although an ancient symbol,
was also used to represent "S" letters joined for "socialism" under
the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazis), similar to the
alphabetical symbolism for the SS Division, the SA, the NSV, and the
VW logo (the letters "V" and "W" joined for "Volkswagen"). http://rexcurry.net/bookchapter4a1a2a1.html
|Francis Bellamy & Edward
Bellamy touted National Socialism and the police state in the USA decades
before their dogma was exported to Germany. They influenced the NSDAP,
its dogma, symbols and rituals. http://rexcurry.net/police-state.html
Although no support exists for the "ancient Roman salute," support does exist for the use of the middle finger in ancient Rome. There is more support for the "middle finger" as the "ancient Roman salute" according to "Straight Dope" and Cecil Adams (who has never had the guts to discuss the Pledge of Allegiance as the origin of the Nazi salute (a discovery by the historian Dr. Rex Curry), despite having been DARED PUBLICLY to discuss it. According to Adams: The "one-finger salute" is thousands of years old. In Gestures: Their Origins and Distribution, Desmond Morris and colleagues note that the digitus infamis or digitus impudicus (infamous or indecent finger) is mentioned several times in the literature of ancient Rome. Two references are from the epigrammatist Martial. Another reference is from the historian Suetonius. http://rexcurry.net/roman-salute-oxford-english-dictionary.html
The stiff-finger salute would be a more appropriate gesture for the Pledge of Allegiance.
The leaders of the “new Rome” myth constantly seek to ensnare us in a “devil’s bargain”: a false promise to keep us safe if only we will give up all our rights to privacy and dissent, and hand over to them our allegiance for their socialism and their various wars. In Madison, WI, the local school board refused a call from the federal government after 9/11 to compel school children to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in unison. -- From the web. | <urn:uuid:0ef89fe6-cad9-4a3a-8ece-05eca677d464> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rexcurry.net/roman-salute-oxford-english-dictionary.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911303 | 574 | 2.9375 | 3 |
The books in AksharBharati, given to the schools and communities are divided in three categories.
In this category books are defined for the childrens ranging from age group 6th to 12th
Books in secondary level are defined for the childrens from age group 13th to 18th
Books on English language are kept for all the categories
These booksets are further grouped into a library. Each library contains 800 – 1000 new books.
Books are selected by volunteers, teachers, specialized NGOs and feedback from existing libraries.
We select books based on children’s best interests and learning. There are multiple types of books made available to childrens in schools and communities. These types are mainly for language learning, picture books, moral stories, storybooks, novels, books on science, sports, history, art, competitive exams, biographies, etc. These Book set are redesigned every 6 months. | <urn:uuid:e51c2305-a661-45af-9f0d-80377570f788> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aksharbharati.org/Books.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941797 | 186 | 2.578125 | 3 |
The NPT Review Conference: Monday, May 3rd
By Malte Andre, IPPNW-Germany
Being honest to ourselves, President Mahmud Ahmadinejad gave a very modest speech at the NPT Review Conference today. He followed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the religious leader of Iran, who recently issued a fatwa against nuclear weapons, by calling nuclear weapons “disgusting and shameful”. Furthermore, the Iranian President criticized the leadership role of the US in both, the United Nations Security Council and the NPT reviewing process.
By introducing some steps to improve the disarmament actions making them legally-binding without discrimination or precondition, Ahmadinejad seeked more credibility in the international community.
Later in the evening US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would answer that the “US will do its part.” These statements may have provided some hope unless Mrs Clinton threatened all states ”breaking the rules”, they had to pay a high price if they did.
Did we all forget Condoleeza Rice’s statements concerning Saddam Hussein whom she suspected to develop nuclear devices in hidden places in 2003? Back then, the US did not wait until the final proof, which they said, would have been a mushroom cloud coming out of Saddam’s smoking gun.
Finally, every audience has to decide on his own whom to believe, Clinton or Ahmadinejad. | <urn:uuid:b95d20ec-7af7-4ea3-99ce-3402252f407c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://peaceandhealthblog.com/2010/05/03/the-npt-review-conference-monday-may-3rd/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949306 | 289 | 1.710938 | 2 |
New Jersey is more then just a home for many of us. It is a place to play, explore, have an adventure, and much more. In the north you have hills and valleys. In the south you have shore towns and pines. In between, you have a mix of both.
Since 1991, Jenkinson's Aquarium has dedicated itself to the education, conservation, and superior care of a diverse collection of life from aquatic habitats. We strive to provide our guests with a unique and memorable experience.
Within the zoo you will find all types of animals for your kids to enjoy. From birds of prey, to big cats, to reptiles and more, they have it all. Beyond the great animals, they also have special programs throughout the day. | <urn:uuid:c4fc7629-6d86-46a4-a829-dcd7b365bd74> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.getoutsidenj.com/your-city/new-jersey/%7CRCnt:CtAl%7C184/Zoo-Aquarium.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970113 | 154 | 1.585938 | 2 |
One of the key characteristics of IBA, and brief intervention in general, is that it is ‘opportunistic’. IBA is delivered by someone who makes use of a chance to ask about alcohol use when the patient or contact is not seeking help or advice around their alcohol. IBA is truly a brief intervention – an opportunity to initiate a risky drinker to think about their alcohol use when they would not have otherwise done so.
But after recently doing IBA with, wait for it… a stranger on a train, I was left asking myself “have I taken this too far?”. Of course they weren’t a complete stranger when I asked them if they wanted to look at their own alcohol use. It came about after I’d got chatting with them (during a long delay) and told them about what I’d been doing (IBA training) and why. Interestingly they agreed, scored as drinking at a risky level and were willing to discuss some of the good and not so good things about their drinking. Along with some light-hearted chat and joking – understandable given the situation – they identified some benefits to cutting down. I closed it by handing over a leaflet with more information on ways to cut down, and we moved back to the more usual topics of light conversation had amongst relative strangers.
So, how do I feel about what happened? We know IBA works very well in Primary Care settings. We are learning more about its role in A&E settings, Criminal Justice environments and other health or community based settings. But how far outside of these ‘common sense’ settings should we go? At an individual level, asides from a lack of evidence, should there be any limits to who and where we can offer to do IBA? A recent post suggested we can use an ethical framework to assess how far we can extend IBA, rather than focusing on research to prove it will work. I think this makes good sense and I believe if IBA can be done, the setting may be less important that the individual’s consent and the IBA delivery skills.
I’ve always suggested that IBA should ideally be in a confidential environment. But if someone is comfortable to discuss their alcohol use in more public places then why should we neglect them of the opportunity to make a more informed decision about their drinking? Of course I’m not suggesting we all try IBA with every person you get chatting to on a train, but there are some real opportunities to do IBA in ‘creative settings’. I personally enjoy doing IBA and seeing people contemplate their alcohol use, and I feel as long as I do no harm and never push someone, we can be as opportunistic as we like! | <urn:uuid:a54c4cb8-e5ef-4a74-81aa-bf56fb5230ac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://alcoholiba.com/category/comment-and-debate/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970329 | 569 | 1.6875 | 2 |
A proactive company that has a history of honest communication with its employees will only further strengthen employee relations if communication remains transparent, irrespective of how dramatic the restructure maybe.
After all, greatest critics of a restructure are the employees themselves.
The businesses who have invested in establishing an open and trustworthy covenant with its employees will strengthen on the basis of honesty alone.
Businesses without the credibility of consistent honest communication with their employees can make a clean start by communicating effectively throughout a restructure and then sustaining it beyond. This demonstration by the company of commitment to live by its values will be acknowledged by employees, but it will be a long time before the suspicion (that the old ways will return) subsides. A ‘high say – high do’ culture will eradicate that suspicion over time.
An organisation in which employee communication has been consistently poor that then attempts a radical restructure may successfully achieve the desired new physical structure, but by further alienating its employees in the process. Embarking into a new world without the hearts and minds of your staff will make an already complex job doubly difficult to achieve.
A board or leadership team that lives by its values and demands the highest standard of employee relations exponentially increases its chance of completing a restructure successfully. | <urn:uuid:ba41a500-bb93-4cf8-87eb-26d0e5281e54> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ghost-partnership.com/blog/?p=117 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946322 | 256 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Age group this is designed for : 5 years old and more
This puzzle is come up on studying the classic chinese 'Tangram' puzzle or the japanese 'Fukuwarai' puzzle. This consists of seven moveable magnetic shapes that can be re-positioned to create many different facial expressions based on traditional face paints in japanese theatre.
Simplicity and variety
Many possible answers
Surprise and delight
Difficulty and patience
Share his/her work with friends.....
I believe this puzzle helps stimulate a child's brain and his development quite a bit.
Kabuki Gram's prototype measures 100x150 and is made from magnetic colored paper and steel paper. Wooden version with odds and ends might be great. | <urn:uuid:0dbe90a6-61b6-4078-9760-5cdd8130b8a2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.design21sdn.com/competitions/6/entries/785/gallery/4619 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928095 | 153 | 1.859375 | 2 |
1 definition by catamount_gap_blues
1. Shorted Form of Cullowhee
2. An small town in the mountains of North Carolina that is home to Western Carolina University
"Instead of going home to Atlanta Merritt is spending her entire summer in the Whee."
"Aint no place I'd rather be than in the Whee."
by catamount_gap_blues Jun 16, 2005 add a video | <urn:uuid:4b73ba43-fc1e-4dfa-8a9e-e384e4988522> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.urbandictionary.com/author.php?author=catamount_gap_blues | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926604 | 92 | 1.625 | 2 |
Let us assume that the three dimensions of space are visualized in the customary fashion, and let us substitute a color for the fourth dimension. Every physical object is liable to changes in color as well as in position. An object might, for example, be capable of going through all shades from red through violet to blue. A physical reaction between any two bodies is possible only if they are close to each other in space as well as in color. Bodies of different colors would penetrate each other witout interference ... If we lock a number of flies into a red glass globe, they may yet escape: they may change their color from red to blue and are then able to penetrate the red globe.
The Philosophy of Space and Time
The URL of this page is: | <urn:uuid:d85961fa-ddb5-4a07-b63c-cffc8605c536> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/~history/Quotations/Reichenbach.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935804 | 154 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Letter: Other Ways to Fight Tooth Decay
To the Editor:
Although Bradford residents may have recently over-Googled “water fluoridation,” why is it that we aren’t addressing the main causes of dental cavities rather than focusing on a Band-Aid that, even in the best light, may reduce only 20 to 40 percent of cavities?
There are three main factors needed for decay: bacteria, sugars and time. Although thousands of different bacteria happily live in our mouths, streptococcus mutans mostly are responsible for decay. And we survive on sugars of all types; what eats away at our teeth are mostly the sticky, sugary foods. And the third factor, time, is not on our side. The more time that the sugars linger in our mouths, the more our teeth are demineralized.
Let’s look at our habits and what is important for our children’s health. Stop buying candy and sugary drinks that lead to cavities. Instead, buy sweets that rinse away quickly. Chocolate milk may be a good one. Put new, attractively colored toothbrushes on Santa’s list. Ask your banks to get rid of the candy bins. Ask your grocery stores to leave candy out of the checkout isle. Throw away most of the Halloween candy. Ask your dentist to make an appearance at your school or club. Support excellent nutrition for expectant mothers. Educate yourself and your children on the impact of developing cavities and long-term effects.
So instead of fluoridating 100 percent of our town’s water, of which greater than 99.9 percent never gets ingested by the targeted children, let’s focus on getting to the root of the decay instead of sugarcoating it! | <urn:uuid:875ee226-8034-44c1-a869-133bb6d0b73a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.vnews.com/news/townbytown/bradford/3183924-95/candy-cavities-decay-ask | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944698 | 367 | 3.03125 | 3 |
Renewables - June 19
Click on the headline (link) for the full text.
Many more articles are available through the Energy Bulletin homepage
Solar future brightens as oil soars
Ashley Seager, The Guardian
Soaring oil prices have led to such a boom for solar power that the industry could operate without subsidies in just a few years, according to industry leaders. At the solar industry trade fair in Munich over the weekend, there was growing confidence that the holy grail known as "grid parity" - whereby electricity from the sun can be produced as cheaply as it can be bought from the grid - is now just a few years away.
Solar photovoltaics (PV), which convert sunlight into electrical power, have long been dismissed as too expensive to make a meaningful contribution to the battle against climate change. But costs are falling as PV production booms, and with electricity prices rising rapidly in line with soaring oil and gas prices, demand for solar panels is increasing sharply.
Germany, the world leader in PV thanks to its "feed-in tariff" support, installed 1.1 gigawatts of capacity last year - the equivalent of a large power station. It now has nearly half a million houses fitted with PV panels.
(16 June 2008)
Brighter future for solar panels: silicon shortage eases
Ben Arnoldy, Christian Science Monitor
New factories could end a production logjam. But consumers may not see prices drop before 2010.
Quartz, the raw material for solar panels, is one of the most abundant minerals on earth. But for years, the solar industry has faced a bottleneck in processing quartz into polysilicon, a principal material used in most solar panels. The problem stalled a steady decline in prices for solar panels.
Now the silicon shortage may be coming to an end, predict some solar analysts, thanks to new factories coming online.
If true, the price for solar panel modules could start falling by as much as a third by 2010, says Travis Bradford, president of the Prometheus Institute for Sustainable Development in Cambridge, Mass. That’s good news for an industry that remains one of the most expensive power sources.
Global demand for solar panels is growing at about 50 percent per annum, says Mr. Bradford, but the polysilicon supply for solar will grow by 80 percent for each of the next couple of years.
(5 June 2008)
Solar prices set to slump
This is the year that the cost of electricity from solar power will drop below the cost of grid-generated power.
The long-awaited fall in the cost of solar power is just around the corner. As huge amounts of additional manufacturing capacity come on stream over the next few months, the price of grid-electricity continues to rise.
Prices for solar components are set to drop by next year from about $3.80 per watt to about $1.40 a watt. According to Dean Cooper, an analyst at Ambrian Capital, the global manufacturing capacity for solar modules is set to increase “dramatically”, from 3 gigawatts last year to 15 to 20 gigawatts of production by 2010.
Much of the growth is coming from China.
(2 June 2008)
Contributor Joseph Neri writes:
Coming just in the nick of time as several states have already mandated that utility companies buy more power from renewable sources. | <urn:uuid:d323ff7d-49ff-4c60-98af-366ff35a708d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.resilience.org/stories/2008-06-19/renewables-june-19 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949444 | 694 | 2.421875 | 2 |
May 31, 2012
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON — In a landmark decision, on May 31 a Boston federal appeals court declared the heart of the Defense of Marriage Act, called DOMA, unconstitutional. The 1996 law defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
The three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeals in Boston ruled unanimously that the law unconstitutionally discriminates against same-sex couples.
The panel included two Republican appointees. It is the first time a federal appeals court has struck down parts of DOMA.
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, whose office filed the suit, hailed the decision, saying DOMA damaged Massachusetts families everyday.
“We’re aware of veterans who would not be able to be buried in a veterans cemetery with their loved one, their married partner. They are married under Massachusetts law. But for purposes of federal law they would not be considered married and not be able to be buried together," she said, citing also couples who have not had access to health care, Social Security and other survivor benefits.
Mary Bonauto, the lead attorney for Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, said the ruling affirmed the constitutional rights of the 17 plaintiffs. "Having worked with these seventeen people for these many years now, and knowing these many burdens DOMA imposes on them, I am thrilled," she said. "And I’m thrilled in part because the court couldn’t be clearer that a big part of its ruling is that these plaintiffs have the right to secure equal protection of the law on the same terms as others. That is the promise of America, and that is the foundation of this decision."
The court did not rule on a more politically explosive provision of DOMA, which says that states without same-sex marriage do not have to recognize same-sex unions performed in states such as Massachusetts, where gay marriage is legal. Nevertheless, Coakley called the ruling a big deal, saying, "This is a great day for Massachusetts for civil rights and for all same-sex couples in Massachusetts who are married or who will be.”
But Kris Mineau of the Massachusetts Family Institute said liberal states such as Massachusetts are trying to define marriage for the nation: "This court has the audacity to hold the federal government hostage and demand the government recognize Massachusetts’ radical social experiment and bestow its benefits upon it."
The ruling is now expected to wind up before the Supreme Court. Mineau said he was confident the court will see the "eternal logic" of defining marriage as between a man and a woman.
> > READ: Legal documents from the case
CASE CHALLENGES DOMA | <urn:uuid:9f64533c-7b54-443c-b212-e73c16163fcb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www15.wgbh.org/articles/index.cfm?tempid=6362 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967352 | 555 | 1.976563 | 2 |
Let’s say something good about mortgages.
O.K. They’re flammable.
The pastors, elders and members of the Ephesus Seventh-Day Adventist Church at Lenox Avenue and West 123rd Street are so happy to be living without debt that they restaged a mortgage-burning ceremony last week just to have a photographic record.
“We’ve paid it off — praise God,” the Rev. Dedrick L. Blue, the senior pastor, said on Wednesday. The $550,000 mortgage was held by the Atlantic Union Revolving Fund, a church-affiliated lending institution. Ephesus now has a credit of $62.09, Dr. Blue said.
What occasioned the borrowing was an ambitious project to restore the exterior of the 125-year-old church, which was badly damaged in a 1969 fire. That was when it lost the tip of its slender steeple, a Harlem landmark for generations. The steeple was not replaced during the reconstruction in the early 1970s. But it was recreated and reinstalled five years ago, in the most obvious sign of the renovation project. Other work included repointing the facade after Allen Price, the church’s building chairman, discovered there was no mortar between the stone blocks.
“The only thing that was holding this building up was gravity itself,” Dr. Blue said.
The congregation — predominantly African-American, with a good many members from the Caribbean, Central America, Brazil and West Africa — numbers about 1,200 to 1,300. Not everyone thought the church should be spending so much money on a building project, Dr. Blue conceded. But he added that the structural revitalization went hand in hand with a desire by church leaders to bridge the divide between old and new Harlem. “It’s almost a symbol; not only of what we were but of what we are becoming,” he said.
The building, designed by John Rochester Thomas, was constructed as the Second Collegiate Church of Harlem. Ephesus has occupied it since 1930. It is included in the Mount Morris Park Historic District. Joseph Merriweather, a longtime member with personal memories of the fire, credited a Fire Department captain with having preserved the stained-glass windows.
The new steeple rode out Tropical Storm Irene last year, but so many roof tiles were damaged that water got into the pipe organ, swelling the wood and leather. It is still playable, Dr. Blue said, but much diminished. As he surveyed the main sanctuary, he envisioned a renovation that would bring back some of the 19th-century character of the original building and, among other touches, eliminate the “disco light” chandeliers installed in the 1970s.
Would such a project mean another mortgage? The pastor raised his eyebrows at the question, as if he wished the subject hadn’t come up. “To be honest with you,” he answered, “yes.”
Remember, though, that Ephesus already has $62.09 in hand. | <urn:uuid:9ec9b7d3-7753-4fad-905d-28185a2c688d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/under-a-new-steeple-a-harlem-church-gets-out-from-under-debt/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978323 | 643 | 1.546875 | 2 |
|Permanent Representative of Mexico to the UN Claude Heller (left), UN Special Representative Radhika Coomaraswamy, UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon sign ‘red hands’ petition.|
By Chris Niles
NEW YORK, USA, 13 February 2009 – Children from 101 countries have appealed to international leaders to take stronger action to end the use of child soldiers.
Red Hand Day, 12 February, marks the anniversary of the signing of a protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) that forbids the use of children in conflict.
But despite the existence of this protocol, more than 250,000 children are still being forced into conflict in at least 17 countries – including some that have ratified the treaty.
Secretary-General receives petition
To try and end this abuse, children circulated a petition and collected more than 250,000 painted 'red hands'. In a ceremony at UNICEF House in New York yesterday, former child soldiers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Colombia – along with youth activists from Germany and the United States – presented them to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
|UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (second from left) stands with youth delegates from the Red Hand Day campaign. From left: Julia Price from the US, Madeleine from DR Congo, Yina Paola from Colombia and Anne Maria Anders from Germany.|
"The issue will remain a high priority for the United Nations," he said.
UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman leant her full support to the petition, noting that entire generations of children have known nothing but war.
Veneman, the Secretary-General, Permanent Representative of Mexico to the UN Claude Heller and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, also added their signatures and 'red hands' to the petition.
'Recruitment violates international law'
The young people appealed for urgent action.
"Former child soldiers like me are encouraged to have youth from all over the world standing up for our rights," said Yina Paola Moreno Soto, 20, from Colombia. "We hope that world leaders and commanders using child soldiers will pay attention."
Ban added: "This is a truly impressive effort to engage children around the world in one of the most appalling human rights abuses.... Recruitment violates international law and human decency. I am determined to stamp out such abuse."
The following external link opens in a new window:
Red Hand Day website | <urn:uuid:4fa9cac4-0de0-433e-979c-f08e73ab2dcc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.unicef.org/media/57929_48040.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9148 | 538 | 2.375 | 2 |
Contrary to what the doomsters have been telling us, China’s economy is not on the verge of collapse. As the Wall Street Journal’s man in Beijing (and my former student), Aaron Back, reported: “China’s economic growth accelerated in the fourth quarter of 2012.” Indeed, China’s fourth quarter GDP growth rate came in at a strong 7.9%.
What the doomsters and many other Pekingolgists fail to grasp is that money matters. Indeed, it dominates fiscal policy, and nominal GDP growth is closely linked to growth in the money supply – broadly measured.
China’s most recent acceleration in GDP growth did not catch me flatfooted, because China’s money supply has been surging (see the accompanying chart).
In fact, China’s M2 money supply measure is 9.7% above the trend level. Money matters. | <urn:uuid:708e996c-99d4-4064-afc4-c4e67b810380> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cato.org/blog/china-money-matters?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Cato-at-liberty+%28Cato+at+Liberty%29 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931513 | 190 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Our generation is experiencing the most profound demographic transition ever and Africa is at the center of it.
Africa’s population is rising rapidly and will most likely double its population by 2050. Depending on the source of data, Africa will soon pass 1 billion people (and it may already have) and could reach up to 2 billion people by 2050 [ I am using the UN’s 2009 World Population Prospects, which projects Africa to exceed 1.7 billion by 2050 based on sharply declining fertility rates]. This makes it the fastest growing continent and Africa’s rapid growth will also shift the global population balance.
By 2050, Africa will be home to more than 20% of the world’s population. When some of us were born in 1970, there were two Europeans for every African; by the time we may retire in 2030, there will be two Africans for every European.
Kenya mirrors Africa’s population growth. The population has doubled over the last 25 years, to about 40 million people, and rapid population growth is set to continue. Kenya’s population will grow by around 1 million per year – 3,000 people every day – over the next 40 years and will reach about 85 million by 2050.
Many think this is a big problem. There are three reasons why I am less certain that the rapid population growth in Africa, especially in Kenya, is the fundamental development challenge:
First, despite Africa’s rapid population growth and Europe’s stagnation (even decline in few countries) the old continent remains much more densely populated than Africa. If we look at Western Europe – where I come from – there are on average 170 people living on each square km. In Sub-Saharan Africa there are only 70 today. This gap will narrow in the next decades but even by 2050, Western Europe is expected to be more densely populated than Africa. I am following the population debates in Europe, especially in my (densely populated) home country Germany. I have never heard anyone argue that there are too many people in Europe.
Second, while the speed of population growth remains unchanged, its sources are different. In the past, population growth was driven by increasing numbers of children. Today, and in the future, it is driven by longer life expectance and the “base effect” of the previous population boom. There are just many more young families which have children. However, they have fewer of them. In Kenya, the number of children per family has fallen sharply, from 8.1 children in 1978 to 4.6 children in 2008, and by 2050 it may reach 2.4. As a result, the fastest growing group in Kenya’s population is not anymore young children – but adults which will almost triple in size from 21 million today to about 60 million in 2050. (see figure 1).
Figure 1 - Kenya today (2010) and tomorrow (2050) – Double the population but not many more children
Source: World Bank computations based on United Nations, 2009, World Population Prospects
Third, population growth and urbanization go together, and economic development is closely correlated with urbanization. Rich countries are urban countries. No country has ever reached high income levels with low urbanization. Population growth increases density and, together with rural-urban migration, creates higher urban agglomeration. And this is critical for achieving sustained growth because large urban centers allow for innovation and increase economies of scale. Companies can produce goods in larger numbers and more cheaply, serving a larger number of low-income customers. Kenya has companies which have been benefitting from increasing population growth and density in targeting the large numbers of lower and lower-middle income groups – the “bottom of the pyramid”. Their business model is viable because they can serve a multi-million customer base, which has increased by 25% over the last 10 years and which continues to grow rapidly.
Are we thus ahead of golden age of development in Africa? It is possible but there is no guarantee. This will depend on many other factors as well. As the last decades have shown larger population and increased population density are no guarantee of success. However, it seems that the current pattern of population growth is not the main constraint to Africa’s development anymore and can even be a positive force. | <urn:uuid:3837a1ef-7bed-4f75-8a80-b8b7cb90c676> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.worldbank.org/africacan/can-rapid-population-growth-be-good-for-economic-development | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957408 | 879 | 2.75 | 3 |
Forks vs. Knives
When you face a simple task and have all the capability and know-how necessary to accomplish it by yourself, there is really no reason for you to collaborate. And that's OK.
But when achieving the goal is hard, and the tools you have are insufficient, there is room for collaboration. In some cases collective action will be a part of the task itself—meaning the mobilization of group collaboration is a part of the task. Often this mobilization is a by product of the principal objective.
We defined intentionality and coordination of contributions as key to collaboration. But both intention and coordination actually raise the cost of collaboration, and in some cases makes it not worth the trouble.
“Sometimes developers simply want to publish and share their work, not start a social movement. Sometimes they want to contribute to a project without going through masonic hazing rituals.”
This quote from the Multiplicity and Social Coding chapter refers to Distributed Version Control Systems. The loose coordination enabled by these systems attempts to lower the cost of collaboration. By using these distributed collaborative tools the overhead inherent in establishing intention and coordination is reduced. In fact these system allow for a completely individualized practice. A Git user can work alone for years. By publishing her files online under a Free Software license she opens the door to a potential reappropriation or even future collaboration. She does not have to commit to contribute, she does not have to coordinate with anyone. She is not collaborating (yet).
This approach is similar to the principles advocated by the Free Culture movement. Share first and maybe collaborate later, or have others use your work, be it in an individual or a collaborative manner. But while distributed sharing platforms are common, DVCS excels in constantly switching between a coordinated action and an individuated one.
At any point of the development process Alice, a Git user, can inspect Bob's code repository and choose to fork (essentially duplicate) his code base to work on it separately. No permission is required, no coordination needed. At any point, Bob can pull Alice's changes and merge them back into his own repository.
This might seem trivial, but it's not. Centralized version control systems can make it technically easy to fork but are usually not sophisticated enough to make merging back easy. This has turned forking into a highly contested practice, as forking the code meant forking the project and dividing the community. DVCS makes forking and merging trivial and lowers the cost of collaboration.
But whilst distributing and individuating the process minimizes the need for intent and coordination, it may result in deemphasizing the collaborative act. By ensuring that ‘you don’t have to start a social movement’, does it divorce itself from the social ideals of collaboration celebrated by many Free Software activists?
We argue it does not. You can still start a social movement if you like. You might actually have better tools to do so too, as the distributed process allow a larger autonomy for the individual members and less friction in governance and control.
From Splicing Code to Assembling Social Solidarities
We can already see early examples of these approaches outside of Free Software. One of them is the Twitter Vote Report used in the 2008 US presidential elections <twittervotereport.com> and its later incarnation as SwiftRiver, a tool for crowdsourcing situational awareness:
“Swift hopes to expand [Twitter Vote Report’s] approach into a general purpose toolkit for crowdsourcing the semantic structuring of data so that it can be reused in other applications and visualizations. The developers of Swift are particularly interested in crisis reporting (Ushahidi) and international media criticism (Meedan), but by providing a general purpose crowdsourcing tool we hope to create a tool reusable in many contexts. Swift engages self-interested teams of “citizen editors” who curate publicly available information about a crisis or any event or region as it happens”
—Swift Project, 2010 <http://github.com/unthinkingly/swiftriver_rails>
These activist hacker initiatives are realizing the potential of loosely coordinated distributed action. Its political power is entangled with its pragmatism, allowing the collaboration to fluidly shift between individual and collective action. In January 2010, as the horrors of the Haiti earthquake were unraveling, hackers around the world were mobilizing in unconference-style “CrisisCamps”. These hackathons gathered individuals in physical space to “create technological tools and resources for responders to use in mitigating disasters and crises around the world.” <crisiscommons.org/about-us>
Contesting the Shock Doctrines
This type of external interest and action was previously reserved to human rights organization, media companies, governments and multinational corporations—all organizations that work in a pretty hierarchical and centralized manner. Now we see a new model emerge—a distributed networked collaboration of interested individuals contributing digital labor, not just money.
The political vacuum presented by these natural or man made crises leave room for a strong active force that often enforces a new political and economic reality. In her book titled The Shock Doctrine, author Naomi Klein describes how governments and businesses have exploited instances of political and economic instabilities in recent decades to dictate a neo-liberal agenda. In each case the interested powers were the first on the scene, imposing rigid rules of engagement and coordination, and justifying enforcement by the need to restore order.
In contrast, the activists are providing the tools and the know how for data production and aggregation. They are then actively assembling them into actionable datasets:
“People on the ground need information, desperately. They need to know which symbols indicate that a house has already been searched, where the next food/water/medicine drop will be, and that the biscuits are good, and not expired. They also need entertainment, and news—à la Good Morning Vietnam. And messages of consolation, emotional support, solidarity, and even song and laughter. ”
The model of individual autonomy and free association that enables the hackers coding is embedded into the assistance they propose, empowering communities on the ground. One of the hackers from the NYC CrisisCamp jokingly declares: “Two sides get to play the shock doctrine game”. It is obviously a drop in the ocean in comparison to the scale of the disaster and the years it would take to heal. Nations and corporations have long term interests and the resources that will probably keep them in the picture long after the networked effort will evaporate.
These are brave yet very early experiments in new political association. They are widely informed by experiments in collaboration and control in information economies. Most of them will not automatically translate to meat space. Especially at times of natural disaster, when food and medicine shortage occupies much of the human rights debate.
Open Leaders Failing Forward
The abundance of information technologies have also lowered the price of failure and made it an inherent part of the process. It's not about whether you will fail, it's about how you will fail. What will you learn from failure? How will you do things differently next time. This is what some call “failing forward”.
The lowering costs of failure in distributed networked production allows for a more open emergence of leadership. One may provide leadership for a while and then get stuck, lose the lead, and be replaced by another one forking and leading in a different direction. This algorithmic logic justifies open access to knowledge and distribution of power that favors merit over entitlement. This is not a democracy, but a meritocracy. A meritocracy that favors technical expertise, free time, persistence and social skills. All traits that are definitely not evenly distributed.
Initiatives like FLOSS Manuals have acknowledged the importance of documentation for the collaborative process. To take real advantage of the network effect, we should learn to document failure, not only success.
In the past, experiments in alternative social organizations were hampered by limitations on the resources available within individual projects, and isolated by the costs of communication and coordination with kindred efforts. This was the case of the Cooperative movement, communes, the occupied factories in Argentina and other similar alternative social experiments. If we extend the notion of failing forward beyond the production of information, future results might look different.
New models of collaboration will continue to inform and alter our social relations. These political experiments are free for us to assess, free for us to fork and to try something different. Then, in the future after more development is done, and the commits have been tested, we will also be free to merge them back. | <urn:uuid:5230d510-e397-47a5-bd30-f62f7aaa6b36> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://en.flossmanuals.net/collaborative-futures/ch031_forks-vs-knives/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940772 | 1,773 | 1.992188 | 2 |
Tests of Time: Making the Case for the Liberal Arts in an Age of Assessment and Careerism
by Ronald R. Thomas
“The belief that all genuine education comes about through experience,” John Dewey cautioned, “does not mean that all experiences are genuinely or equally educative.” We who are leaders in higher education have committed ourselves to providing students with what we believe to be the most genuine educational experiences possible. And those of us who advocate for the inherent value of a liberal arts education have become accustomed to challenging the assumption that such an education is by definition impractical. We do not accept the simplistic proposition that students must make a choice between an educational experience that is either principled or practical, nor that they must decide between an idealistic pursuit of truth, on the one hand, and a more realistic training for a career, on the other. While we affirm with John Newman that the great idea of the university is that it values the pursuit of truth and the acquisition of knowledge for their own sake, we also believe with equal conviction that a broad education in the arts and sciences, steeped in an understanding of and an appreciation for the principles of the traditional disciplines of knowledge, will produce the most effective and capable citizens. Franklin Roosevelt reminded us that “Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely,” concluding, “the real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.” An education that seeks to instill an insatiable intellectual curiosity and sense of adventure in individuals while it prepares citizens for active and productive engagement in the deliberative and democratic institutions of our society can afford to be regarded neither as elite nor elitist, but must remain an essential aspect of the great American experiment in self-discovery and self-governance.
In an age of growing technological sophistication that demands more and more specialized “skill sets,” what is the basis for our belief that a liberal arts education offers the most “genuinely educative” approach for democratic citizenship? In a culture that is increasingly committed to the value of testing and formal assessment, how should we respond in making the case for a liberal education without conceding that all values are market values? And in an economic context in which a family’s investment in higher education continues to spiral upward and the premium for a private liberal arts education is growing dramatically, how is that case most effectively made—especially when so many believe that whatever else an education does, it must provide credentials for a career?
Our first responsibility is to be as precise as possible about what we mean by a liberal education, what its objectives are, and what you are supposed to have when you get one. Studies have shown that there is general confusion about this subject in the society at large, among opinion leaders, and in our target markets as well. Most of the mission statements in liberal arts institutions affirm that a liberal education seeks nothing less than to equip individuals to reach their full potential as thinking and acting human beings. Such an education is intended not only to transfer knowledge, but to inspire certain habits of mind: to provide experiences that will develop an inquiring, discerning, and responsible intelligence capable of testing ideas, synthesizing information, challenging assumptions, appreciating different cultures and points of view, and making informed judgments. To that end, the curricula of liberal arts colleges and universities call for some combination of depth and breadth of knowledge that includes a broad general education from a number of disciplines and a more focused mastery within a single discipline or major. In addition, a liberal education offers an understanding of how knowledge is organized and interpreted while it imparts skills that foster a life of continuous learning: critical thinking, problem solving, project design and implementation, cross-cultural understanding, interdisciplinary approaches, numerical reasoning, artistic and scientific literacy, written and oral expression.
With the foundation of knowledge and character such an education provides, we maintain that graduates are prepared to take a leadership role in virtually any field, and are equally prepared to adjust to the rapid changes of a global and hi-tech economy that will increasingly call for flexible talent and creative career adjustments. Along with Socrates, a liberal arts education affirms the ideal of the examined life; and like Aristotle, it maintains that a final judgment about the quality of a life can only be made once the whole life has been lived. The key question for us is how to translate these messages for the audiences that need to hear them and how to provide convincing evidence about how effectively we are reaching these objectives. For many, a liberal education still means taking a lot of courses in literature and art that don’t have much demonstrable practical value. One feature of the case we must make to prospective students and their parents is that college costs are not merely an investment in a career, but an investment in the quality of an entire life. We must be wary about being drawn into a purely market-based apologia for an experience in which worth is a function of price. “The great object of education should be commensurate with the object of life,” Ralph Waldo Emerson declared in his classic essay “Education,” concluding that that object “should be a moral one.” On the ultimate value of such an education, he added in that same essay, “a new degree of intellectual power seems cheap at any price.”
Despite this firmly held conviction that there is moral worth as well as practical value in a liberal arts education, it is clearly not the case that those of us is the liberal arts have neglected systematic performance assessments along the way. On the contrary, assessment efforts now inform virtually everything professional educators do. Over the last two decades, assessment has become the watchword of regional and national accreditation agencies for colleges and universities. It has become a factor for institutional selection by prospective students who study the rankings and ratings of institutional quality by a proliferation of publications from U.S. News & World Report to the Princeton Review. And an increasing reliance on assessment in the form of survey and data collection has established offices of institutional research to monitor strategic indicators, program effectiveness, student satisfaction, and planning priorities for practically every institution of higher learning in the country today.
Since Kenneth Feldman and Theodore Newcomb published The Impact of College on Students in 1969, an extensive literature on the effectiveness of higher education has developed, spurred by the steep climb of college costs in the 1980s and the increasing technological capability of collecting and analyzing information. Ernest Pascarella and Patrick Terenzini synthesized much of this work from these two decades in How College Affects Students (1991), while A. W. Astin published two influential books—in 1977 and in 1993—that focused upon the growing importance attributed to educational environments in shaping the outcomes of a college education in the “four critical years” of a student’s life.
More recently, Marc Chun, a fellow at the RAND Corporation’s Council for Aid to Education, has organized the several forms of assessment we perform in higher education into four categories, and reviewed each for its advantages and drawbacks. Actuarial or archival data are made up of the figures we collect to record graduation rates, student/teacher ratios, graduation rates, endowment levels, student body composition, admission test scores, selectivity rates, etc. While it is methodologically the most “objective” in its application, this approach tends to equate quality with greater financial resources and student selectivity. A second form of assessment, the ratings of institutional quality published in magazines and college guides generally survey peers and “experts” in the field and combine these opinion surveys with certain actuarial data. Assessments of this kind are unscientific at best, methodologically arbitrary at worst, and the results generally depend more on reputation than on performance. A third approach to assessment makes use of surveys that collect data directly from students about their satisfaction with, the outcomes of, and the professional benefits produced by their educational experience. These student surveys—like the National Survey of Student Engagement, the Cooperative Institutional Research Program, the recent Annapolis Group Alumni Study, or the Goals and Values of COFHE Students study—suffer, by definition, from the limitations of self-reported data, the dependability and comparability of which are often difficult to assess. The last category of assessment is direct assessment of student learning, including analysis of grades, administration of standardized tests, skill-performance measurement, and evaluation of student projects. Direct assessment is the least systematically applied, since it depends upon reaching general agreement about what learning outcomes should be measured and the most effective way to do that. It carries with it the further danger that the assessment instrument sometimes narrows and degrades the educational experience rather measuring its effectiveness (as we are finding in many secondary schools’ mastery exams where teachers often “teach the test” rather than the subject).
While most of us practice a number of forms of assessment all the time, many of us who are champions of a liberal education remain uncertain about how best to measure the real worth of the educational experience we offer our students, and we are more than a little skeptical about the effectiveness of surveys and spread sheets. We often prefer to rely on anecdotes about our most impressive alumni in making the case for institutional effectiveness: we like to talk about the CEO at Goldman Sachs who majored in classical studies, the accomplished surgeon who won the senior class poetry prize, or the civil rights attorney who was a biology major. These life stories are compelling and are well-worth telling. But we have not been as effective as we will need to be in demonstrating the long-term effects of a liberal education for the enhancement of the quality of an individual mind and, at the same time, for the collective benefit of the national body politic. That is our challenge.
We practitioners of a liberal arts education are very much aware that the Carnegie Foundation classifies only 228 of the 3941 institutions of higher learning in this country as 4-year liberal arts institutions and that enrollments in these institutions comprise less than 6% of the market—which is now a record high 15 million enrolled students in America. We are also cognizant that, except for a small rise between 1955-70, the number of liberal arts degrees being awarded has actually been declining for nearly a century, now more precipitously than ever, despite the fact that the number of students enrolled in higher education has risen so dramatically. Quite clearly, while colleges and universities like ours enjoy a shrinking share of the higher education market, we have a more and more distinctive—and we might even say, essential—alternative to what may be called consumer education. At the same time, applications to the top liberal arts colleges and research universities have never been higher, a demand that bears out our belief that in a global economy of change and challenge the most productive and successful citizens are those with the critical skills and capacity for judgment a liberal education provides. The performance of our graduates also proves the point. While liberal arts institutions enroll less than 6% of the students currently engaged in higher education, we like to tout, some 60% of the Fortune 500 CEOs graduated with liberal arts degrees. Liberal arts college graduates also comprise a disproportionate percentage of admissions to medical school and PhD programs in the sciences year-in and year-out.
A number of recent initiatives and studies seek to bring additional empirical evidence to that claim. One example, the Value Added Assessment Initiative, funded by the RAND Corporation and promoted by the AAC&U, calls for the implementation of a direct assessment mechanism in higher education that will declare with much more specificity “what kinds of capacities we want our students to achieve in college, why we think these capacities make a difference, and what progress we are making in helping students achieve them.” The purpose of the VAAI is to guide institutional development and to shape public policy, with its advocates arguing that “unless the academy constructs an educationally efficacious system, one may well be imposed from outside.” This initiative calls for assessment exams modeled after the LSAT to be built-in to college curricula, measuring at key intervals over time how institutions are performing in gradually developing of a set of key skills associated with educational effectiveness.
On another front, the Annapolis Group study, “What Matters in College after College,” offers a comparative alumni survey approach to the question of educational outcomes. The Annapolis study offers evidence that liberal arts colleges are clearly doing something right in the cultivation of critical skills for success in their alumni. The results show quite convincingly that Annapolis Group alumni were far more likely than graduates of any other category of college or university to credit their undergraduate experience in helping them develop skills vital to their success in careers, capabilities that earlier educational research has shown to be positive indicators of an effective education: problem solving, decision making, analytical thought, effective writing, relating to people of different backgrounds, and new-skill apprehension. Specifically, alumni from these schools attributed these outcomes to the sense of community they developed with other students in the residential setting, the faculty mentors they met and developed in small class settings, the research they were able to perform as undergraduates with teaching-oriented faculty, and the leadership role they took in various extracurricular activities. In some of these categories, Annapolis Group institutions more than doubled the performance of the top 50 research universities. Moreover, Annapolis alumni were far more likely to graduate in four years, to successfully earn a graduate degree after graduation, and to rate their college as “extremely effective” in preparing them for career change or advancement. They were also much more likely to place importance on civic and community engagement, to remain more involved with their undergraduate college long into their lives, and, finally, to give a higher satisfaction rating to their undergraduate experience than any other alumni group tested.
The “Goals and Values of COFHE Students Interested in Business” survey from the Consortium on Financing Higher Education offers a more focused study and a more nuanced set of results for our consideration. This study seeks to respond to the current national concern about the moral bankruptcy that seems to be indicated in the wake of the myriad of corporate scandals of this decade by surveying attitudes and values of COFHE and non-COFHE students and alumni and comparing them with students from these same groups who are interested in business or who earn MBA degrees. Like the Annapolis Group study, this survey indicates that the highly selective private colleges and universities comprising COFHE are doing something right in comparison to non-COFHE schools in attracting and cultivating altruistic students who are motivated more by social conscience than by personal gain. And yet, the study showed that there is a significant discrepancy between the attitudes of COFHE students who go into business and those who do not, with business students significantly more motivated by financial wealth and less concerned in helping others. These students also report being much less affected by their undergraduate experience in these areas, and they are much less likely to attribute the development of moral values to their college education. If we wish to make the case that COFHE schools legitimately claim to be the places that educate America’s future leaders, and that in light of the current lack of confidence in corporate leadership and morality in America the approach of COFHE institutions may offer some hope, these results give us all occasion to reflect seriously upon how well we implement our goals in all areas of the curriculum.
A non-COFHE school offers a useful example about how we might approach this issue directly. I am about to become president of an institution that has over the last two decades been transforming itself from a regional comprehensive university in the Pacific Northwest into a national liberal arts college. Over that time, the University of Puget Sound has consolidated its five satellite campuses, eliminated several professional graduate programs, cut its enrollment in half, reduced its student-teacher ratio from 18-1 to under 11-1, increased its selectivity dramatically, grown its on-campus residential student population from about 20% to about 65%, and fundamentally overhauled its curriculum. Now a highly ranked national liberal arts college, nearly 80% of Puget Sound’s students come from 47 states and foreign countries other than Washington, when only 25 years ago over 80% of the student body were in-state residents. As I move from Trinity College—a COFHE institution where we don’t have a business major, yet about 33% of our graduates enter careers in business administration or finance—I am impressed by the way Puget Sound has addressed this issue. Rather than eliminating the School of Business with the change in institutional mission, Puget Sound remains one of the few liberal arts colleges in the nation that has such a program; but it has become one that is equipped to address head-on the very issues about corporate corruption and values raised in the COFHE study. Puget Sound’s School of Business has completed redesigned its curriculum, adopting an explicitly liberal arts approach to business, leadership, and public policy that offers a cross-disciplinary educational focus that combines specialized knowledge in business with problem solving, critical and interpersonal skills, ethical judgment, written and oral communication, assessment of issues facing the economy, and integrated study with courses in other humanistic disciplines including political science, economics, philosophy, history, and literature.
Together with the Annapolis and COFHE studies, the example of Puget Sound offers us encouragement and a warning. We who are committed to excellence in the liberal arts must focus our attention not only on providing evidence for others of our success, but on getting candid information for ourselves about where we are performing well and where we are not. Ultimately, the productive and responsible lives lived by our alumni will always offer the most successful advertisements for our educational quality. Studies assessing educational effectiveness, like those considered here, continue to confirm earlier research that identifies the totality of the learning environment, the intensity of educational encounters in that environment, and the degree of personal engagement that takes place there as the most critical conditions for success. We residential liberal arts colleges with outstanding facilities and small student/faculty ratios are literally built to meet these expectations. We must continue to practice the critical thinking and problem solving we preach as we test our own performance over time and continue making ourselves more and more effective in providing our students with “the most genuinely educative experience” possible.
But our charge and our challenge go beyond these important steps. While we advocate for an educational experience that is personally transformative, we must also make it clear that such an education also produces the most civically responsible public citizens. There is a national good as well as a personal benefit that is served by a liberal education that prepares the next generation to take an active and informed role in public debate, to engage the challenges of complex cultural conflicts, and to refashion our democracy to respond to the as-yet-unknown tests we will surely face in the future.
Experience and Education, ch. 2 (1938).
The Wit and Wisdom of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Government and Democracy, p. 29, eds. Peter and Helen Beilenson, Peter Pauper Press (1982).
Astin’s books are titled Four Critical Years (1977) and What Matters in College? Four Critical Years Revisited (1993).
Marc Chun’s review of the literature appears in a special issue on “Value Added Assessment of Liberal Education” in peerReview (4:2/3, Winter-Spring 2002), pp. 16-25.
Carol Geary Schneider, Ibid., p. 5.
Roger Benjamin and Richard H. Hersh, Ibid., p. 10. | <urn:uuid:432d8d7b-6bbf-47db-98e5-40aa429f7040> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pugetsound.edu/about/office-of-the-president/articles--addresses/tests-of-time/ | 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 | 0.959088 | 4,017 | 2.28125 | 2 |
British, 1757 - 1827
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English painter, engraver and poet, born in London. From the age of seven he habitually saw a white-bearded God peering in through his window, or angels perching in trees. An admirer of Dürer, Michelangelo and Raphael and a friend of Fuseli, Blake was extremely eccentric. He walked the streets in a Phrygian bonnet. His work, still obscure, suggests a new version of Christianity, whose radicalism lies in its visual Symbolism. A precursor of the Pre-Raphaelites and Symbolists.
A selection of art exhibitions which have featured this | <urn:uuid:1faee55d-576d-4e3a-8915-95ce8f00d7ce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.artmagick.com/pictures/artist.aspx?artist=william-blake&display=slideshow | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931437 | 157 | 3.171875 | 3 |
Working in the Community: A Guide for Employers of Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders
Reviewed by Jennifer Hieminga, MEd, BCBA,
New Haven Learning Centre for Children, Toronto CA
As many of us who have worked with adults with autism know, it can be difficult to engage and encourage local businesses to provide supported employment or supported volunteerism opportunities for our adults. The Alpine Learning Group, with support from The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation, has formulated a user-friendly, functional and detailed manual that will help professionals in the field of autism engage the employers in a way that will make the relationship between the employer and the employee more productive, effective, and meaningful.
This manual is designed to enhance the experience of employees with autism by educating their employers and co-workers at their job sites. It is also an excellent resource with which to approach potential employers in order to help them understand autism and to inform them of what they may expect if they decide to employ a person with autism spectrum disorders. It is written in user-friendly, simplistic terms, making it easy for a person who has little or no prior background in autism or applied behaviour analysis to grasp the content.
The manual highlights important facts about autism and common challenges that many individuals with autism encounter. The four main areas of difficulty listed include:
- Communication challenges (e.g., employee may use alternative forms of communication such as pictures)
- Receptive language difficulties (e.g., employee may require simple direction)
- Social skills deficits (e.g., employee may not initiate a greeting or provide eye contact)
- Potential challenging behaviours (e.g., due to difficulty communicating the employee may express themselves in other less appropriate ways).
Worth noting is the authors’ use of specific examples related to the work environment, clearly illustrating what it is like to work with a person with autism.
To highlight how an individual with autism learns best, a brief description of Learning Theory (i.e., Antecedent, Behaviour, Consequence), as well as strategies such as prompting, prompt fading and task analyses, are provided. In addition, the employer is made aware of common strategies that can be used to enhance job performance such as picture and textual schedules, the use of reinforcement systems, data collection, natural supports and extra practice outside of the work setting. It is noted that these strategies can be implemented with the use of a job coach. Further detail regarding the role of a job coach is provided (e.g., they act as a shad-ow, identify and implement teaching strategies), assuring the employer that their role will be to help successfully integrate their new employee into the workplace, as well as to help co-workers interact with and understand individuals with autism.
Jobs well suited for individuals with autism, such as those which are consistent, repetitious, do not require a lot of social interaction, and those which involve more visual components (e.g., matching, filing, sorting), are noted in this manual. This information enables the employer to better understand, and, in turn, better match jobs to the person with autism’s needs, strengths and preferences—a process referred to as "job carving."
The manual provides practical strategies to promote positive interactions between employees with autism and their co-workers by answering commonly-asked questions, such as:
- How to interact with their colleague
- What to do if their colleague makes an error
- What to do if their colleague exhibits maladaptive behaviour
- How to provide praise and encouragement | <urn:uuid:f15bf74e-e30f-47e4-8dab-187350ec132e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.asatonline.org/resources/book_reviews/working | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958638 | 724 | 2.375 | 2 |
Given the very high level of interest people have had in this previous discussion of the OC Transpo strike and unions in general (78 comments so far), it seemed worth initiating a second discussion on the matter. Since the union is saying that the major purpose of this strike is to retain the right to have bus routes assigned on the basis of seniority, the general issue of seniority and unions seems to be worth considering.
There do seem to be some valid reasons for supporting higher pay and greater privileges for more senior individuals. Among those are the issue of experience, which those who are senior to an organization can be expected to have in greater amounts, and perhaps the facilitation of standard lifestyle transitions: from youth to adult life, and from that to retirement.
At the same time, there seem to be valid reasons to oppose perks based on seniority. In situations where something worth rewarding is often correlated with seniority, but can be measured easily, it seems to make sense to measure and reward it directly. That way, rather than assuming that ten years on the job makes you more capable, you can reward those who actually demonstrate capability in a day-to-day manner. Another argument is that basing a large share of pay and benefits on seniority rewards the mediocre at the expense of the excellent. Those who are very active and engaged get paid no better than those who perform the minimum obligations of the job. Aside from providing a disincentive for talented people to be part of the organization, that seems basically unfair.
I am not disputing the freedom of unions and employers to negotiate whatever terms seem best to them. I am simply seeking to open a discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of favouring seniority: from the perspective of union members, management, and those who consume the products of services the union members and management provide. | <urn:uuid:c6801cd0-27d2-47b7-bed2-1450b9370248> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sindark.com/2008/12/15/unions-and-seniority/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973443 | 371 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Peak Moment 141: Trathen Heckman takes us on a step-by-step tour of how to make a safe, ecological and legal suburban home graywater system. Follow the water as it drains from the bathroom tub (and sink and laundry) through a unique valve leading into the backyard garden. It flows into an optional wetland and underground pond for filtering. The water is then piped below ground to several destinations in the yard, where it will supply water for plants growing above it. Trathen discusses the process with local government agencies, the system design and construction (with pictures), costs, resource books, and why to undertake a graywater system in the first place.
Ride an electric bike. Tour a permaculture back yard garden. In each episode of Peak Moment TV, Janaia Donaldson hosts practical grass roots entrepreneurs who are exploring locally reliant lifestyles to meet these challenging times. Peak Moment TV is cross-pollinating the most challenging shift in human history - an energy transition away from fossil fuels to sustainable living. | <urn:uuid:6c7addec-27f2-4e3b-8f0b-6574ad8f1cdf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blip.tv/peak-moment-tv/creating-a-home-graywater-system-2964045 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908837 | 212 | 2.109375 | 2 |
Some celebrities aren't just pretty faces. A few of them are also touched with that Yankee prowess for tinkering and invention. In this weekly series, we introduce you to the Patents of the Rich and Famous. And maybe you learn a little bit about how patent literature works along the way.
Inventor: Michael Jackson
Known For: Jackson Five darling. King of Pop. Plastic surgery victim. Neverland overlord. Beloved icon. *
That about sums it up.
But amidst the scandals and surgeries (and defenestrated children!), MJ will always be remembered for his dance moves. He was, after all, the Moon Walk inventor.
Jackson not only delivered elaborate choreographed dance numbers in his high production music videos, but he also translated his act to his live performances. Since his videos are rather elaborate, sometimes, his show couldn't exactly mimic his videos. Jackson didn't like that. So, it's no surprise that Jackson invented a dancing shoe to improve his stage act.
Invented Apparatus: "Method and means for creating anti-gravity illusion"
It's a shoe with a special hitch that changes the wearer's center of gravity, allowing the dancer to shift forward more than the gravity would normally allow, thus creating an anti-gravity illusion.
The present invention overcomes the above noted deficiencies of the previously employed cable system by providing specialized footwear and a moveable hitch or post to which the specialized footwear can be detachably engaged to allow the footwear wearer to lean forward on the stage, with his or her center of gravity well beyond the front of the shoes, thereby creating the desired visual effect.
The shoe has a "moveable hitch" that allows the wearer to lean forward on stage, while the shoe still looks securely planted on the ground.
It looks a little something like this, but switch out that very uncool looking dude, for a fly back-up dancer:
Rationale Behind Inventin: In Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" video, during an already impressive dance sequence, he pulls out his gravity-defying dance move:
Perhaps you're wondering: Whoa, how did he do that? Well, it's a music video. So, he used that movie making magic they call special effects. More specifically:
This effect was accomplished by the use of cables connecting a harness around the dancer's waist with hooks on a stage, thereby allowing the dancer to lean forward at the required degree.
That wouldn't work in a live show, obviously, inhibiting Jackson's grooviness too much on stage. Jackson needed something wireless.
The invention provides a new design for shoes which will allow his or her performing artist, by engaging the shoes onto an upstanding post positioned to project upwardly from a stage at a predetermined time, to lean forwardly to put his or her center of gravity beyond the front or rear of his shoes, thereby creating the desired gravity defying interesting visual effect.
And, voila. A small post would rise from the stage, lock into his shoe and allow him to pull off his trick, as seen in this live performance:
* This article originally referred to Michael Jackson as an "alleged child abuser." In 2005, Jackson was indicted by a California grand jury on four counts of molesting a minor but subsequently found not guilty on all charges. | <urn:uuid:b50c9a50-2880-4382-b232-c740f8340eb0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2010/10/celebrity-invention-michael-jacksons-gravity-defying-shoes/64588/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967546 | 688 | 2.234375 | 2 |
In 2002, IIE's trustees committed to making scholar rescue a permanent part of the Institute's work. Dr. Henry Jarecki, Dr. Henry Kaufman, Thomas Russo and George Soros founded the Scholar Rescue Fund. By assuring that threatened scholars find safe haven and are able to continue productive academic work, SRF shines light on those who obstruct the pursuit of knowledge and preserves the intellectual capital of humanity, vital for societal progress.
The idea of rescuing threatened scholars has long been a part of IIE’s vision since its founding in 1919. From the Bolshevik Revolution to the Hungarian Uprising, IIE has demonstrated a commitment to protecting academic freedom. In the 1930s, IIE was instrumental in founding the Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars, which rescued more than 330 scholars fleeing persecution in Europe.
Major activities undertaken throughout the Institute's history include:
The Russian Student Fund, 1921-1949
The Russian Student Fund helped over 600 students and scholars caught in the crossfire of the Bolshevik Revolution and Stalinism to reach safety in Europe and the United States. IIE published a directory identifying over 200 scholars still in Russia and their fields of expertise in order to assist them in finding teaching positions abroad that would remove them from danger. This program continued for decades, helping many to teach freely and beyond the reach of government and security forces of the USSR.
Rescue of Scholars from Fascist Italy, 1922-1924
Mussolini’s rise resulted in the widespread displacement of scholars. The Institute relocated many of these Italian scholars to the United States, where they were afforded grants and several named chairs at leading universities.
The Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced German (later Foreign) Scholars, 1933-1941
The Emergency Committee assisted scholars who were barred from teaching, persecuted and threatened with imprisonment by the Nazis. IIE President Stephen Duggan appointed Edward R. Murrow to lead the effort. In the first two years of the Committee's existence, Murrow received requests for help from educators and researchers across Europe. The program expanded to include Austria, Czechoslovakia, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Italy. Over 300 scholars were rescued, some of whom became Nobel Laureates and many whose work and ideas helped shape the post-war world.
Read the 1944 list of the Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Scholars »
Rescue of Scholars from the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939
The Spanish Civil War forced scholars into exile on both sides of the conflict. IIE used its network of centers in Latin America to find host campuses for scholars not placed in the United States.
Committee on Awards for Chinese Students, 1942-1945
The Committee assisted over 400 Chinese students stranded in the U.S. during the Second World War who were unable to receive funds to continue their studies. The Institute set up similar programs to assist Turkish and Iranian students and scholars who were unable to return to their countries due to war.
Emergency Program to Aid Hungarian University Students (in cooperation with World University Service), 1956-1958
As a result of the violent suppression of a popular uprising in Hungary, thousands were forced to flee the country. A joint committee was set up between IIE and the World University Service to aid academic refugees. Together they arranged for some 1000 students to receive admission to U.S. universities, many of whom later became leading professors in the sciences and social sciences. In order to help the refugees overcome lack of fluency in English, IIE set up two special centers for intensive training and pre-academic orientation at Bard College and St. Michael's College. Substantial funds to make this possible came from the Ford, Rockefeller and other foundations, as well as the business community.
The South African Education Program (SAEP), 1979-2001
This program provided over one thousand black South Africans with access to education, denied to them under apartheid. The Institute arranged for nearly 200 universities to offer either full or partial scholarships, and additional resources were provided by the Ford Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation and 85 other corporations and foundations. Special consideration was given to those seeking to study in the fields of business administration, mathematics, education, science and engineering. Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu's Educational Opportunity Committee managed program selections inside South Africa. In 1983, USAID recognized the importance of this program, and contributed over $29 million. By the time of Nelson Mandela's election, nearly 1700 SAEP fellows had completed their undergraduate, graduate, or short-term training programs, and 95 percent had returned to re-build South Africa.
Rescue of Burmese Refugees, 1990-1992
In response to a U.S. Congressional mandate, IIE organized an initiative to train Burmese students and scholars who had been living as refugees in Thailand since September 1988. The Institute placed them in U.S. universities for further training.
Due to the Asian economic crises in the late 1990s, many Asian students studying in the U.S. suddenly found themselves without funds to continue their education. An initial grant of $7.5 million from the Freeman Foundation provided almost 1400 student loans over the course of two years. Repayments of the loans later enabled IIE to help students and scholars affected by the 2005 Tsunami. Other donors interested in Asia made possible the rescue of hundreds of scholars in the wake of the uprising in Tiananmen Square and those victims of the Cultural Revolution.
In June 1999, IIE announced a grant from the Open Society Institute creating a new fund for thousands of students studying in the U.S. from Albania, Macedonia and the former Yugoslavia whose families could no longer support them financially or who had no home to which they could return.
Scholar Rescue Fund, 2002-Present
The Scholar Rescue Fund (SRF) formalizes and seeks to endow the Institute's long history of assisting scholars under threat. It has enabled the Institute to issue academic fellowships to over 500 scholars from 50 countries (over 750 awards, including renewal fellowships), and place these SRF fellows at nearly 300 host partner institutions in 40 different countries. | <urn:uuid:be14a5bc-36b2-47a5-862d-f527f748fdcb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scholarrescuefund.org/pages/about-us/our-history.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958008 | 1,245 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Credit: GETTY IMAGES
There are places around the world that have seen a boost in tourism this week thanks to 12/21/12, the day some doomsday prophets believe the world will end, according to a French sect.
BUGARACH, FRANCE - DECEMBER 20: The sun rises over Bugarath, the small village in the foothills of the Pyrenees on December 20, 2012 in Bugarach, France. Miviludes, the French Government's dedicated sect watchdog, are investigating the likelihood of apocalyptic sect activity or ritualised suicides due to the prophecy of an ancient Mayan calendar which also claims that Burgarach is the only place on Earth which will be saved from the apocalypse on the evening of December 21, 2012. (Photo by Patrick Aventurier/Getty Images) | <urn:uuid:17e50cc2-583a-43a3-9e14-c7e923dc96d7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kmov.com/news/slideshows/184435321.html?gallery=y&c=y | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923699 | 166 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Well, kinda’ funny to be writing about this on a blog focused on the society, lifestyle, movies, environment and new technology. Nevertheless, after a recent round of casual discussions with my friends (over a couple of pints of beer!), I would wanna share my thoughts on this. I agree, more or less, with Wikipedia’s definition of ghosts. Various religions treat/consider ghosts in their own form, choreographed to that religion’s ‘personal’ likes and dislikes, and I’m not gonna discuss about them over here. I may believe in God and ghosts, but not in religion. What are ghosts made of? Hmm, an interesting question, but difficult to give a concrete answer. | <urn:uuid:d459ff65-bb64-47ae-b28d-26d2e7724490> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ubiquitense.com/tag/electromagnetic-field/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946091 | 150 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Press release submitted by Illinois Quad City Chamber of Commerce|
City of Davenport Proclaims September 18 "Chiropractic Awareness Day"
Observance to be held in conjunction with Palmer"s Founder"s Day
(Davenport, Iowa) In honor of the first chiropractic adjustment on Sept. 18, 1895, in downtown Davenport, the City of Davenport has issued a proclamation naming September 18 as "Chiropractic Awareness Day." The first Chiropractic Awareness Day will be celebrated at 12 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 18, 2009, which also is the day Palmer College of Chiropractic recognizes the founding of the chiropractic profession and the College at its annual Founder"s Day.
During this first celebration, Davenport Mayor Bill Gluba will read the proclamation in the courtyard of the B.J. and Mabel Palmer Residence at 8th and Brady streets in Davenport, followed by remarks by Palmer President Donald Kern, D.C., and Non-profit Chiropractic Organization (NPCO) President Joshua Heines. Tours of the B.J. and Mabel Palmer Residence will be available following the remarks. Parking is available in the Vickie Anne Palmer Hall parking lot at 7th and Brady streets, Davenport. Current Palmer student Joshua Heines founded NPCO in Davenport, and came to Palmer with the idea for a Chiropractic Awareness Day.
Palmer College of Chiropractic was founded in 1897 by the discoverer of chiropractic, D.D. Palmer, in Davenport, Iowa. Approximately 2,300 students attend Palmer College campuses in Davenport, San Jose, Calif., and Port Orange, Fla. There are more than 26,000 Palmer alumni, who make up more than one third of the approximately 75,000 chiropractors currently in practice worldwide. Palmer"s Doctor of Chiropractic curriculum is a five-academic-year program that is typically completed in three-and-one-third calendar years.
Non-Profit Chiropractic Organization (NPCO) is an official 501(c)3 organization dedicated to providing chiropractic healthcare to people living in poverty around the world. Through non-profit clinics, NPCO is able to have a positive effect on individuals" abilities to bring restoration to their communities and education to their people.
Milan, IL Details
|(More Print Ads)| | <urn:uuid:3fc7b0c2-9eea-4cd4-99ee-fd62fc75ef1b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://qconline.com/archives/qco/display.php?id=458166 | 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 | 0.925421 | 517 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Affective States: On the Politics and Histories of Sentiments(2)
This course starts from two premises: (1) that sentiments articulate the personal and the political in historically specific ways; and (2) that sentiments are historically located social phenomena with specific genealogies. We draw on a range of literature in anthropology, history, philosophy, political science, and literary criticism to explore the changing ways in which thought and feeling, rationality and passion, reason and sentiment have been understood. The focus is on sentiment as an index of relations of power and as a tracer of them. Seminar themes include attention to social inequality and sentiment, state formation and affect, the politics of compassion, imperial sympathy, structures of feeling, and sentiment as a marker of political and social location. Course requirements include weekly commentary on the readings, a short review essay and a research paper. Readings include: Albert Hirschman, The Passions and the Interests
, William Reddy, The Navigation of Feeling
, Carolyn Steedman, Landscape for a Good Woman
, and selections from Adam Smith, David Hume, Didier Fassin, Amelie Rorty, William James, Raymond Williams, and others. | <urn:uuid:1feee75c-2ffb-42fb-984e-d28dce821389> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newschool.edu/NSSR/courses.aspx?id=29433&DeptFilter=NSSR+Historical+Studies&TermFilter=Fall+2009 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925163 | 248 | 2.0625 | 2 |
Art and Museums
For some years now, the "Museumsnacht" (Museum Night) has also been carried out every January in Basel. Most of the more than 30 museums in the city take part, and offer special guided tours, performances, concerts and culinary delights.
Art Basel – the world’s leading art fair
Art Basel, the international art show for 20th and 21st century art, is universally acknowledged to be the world’s most important art fair. Over 300 carefully selected exhibitors turn the exhibition into an exceptional temporary museum. Artists, art collectors and many VIPs from the art and culture worlds meet during Art week in Basel.
"Cultural Landscapes (Kulturlandschaften)" refers to regions that have been characterised by a common history, by a common culture. Organised as a festival in Basel for the first time in 2003, CULTURESCAPES has become a fixed institution in the regional and national cultural landscape. From 2011 onwards, CULTURESCAPES not only presents countries, but also cities.
Liste – the young art fair
Art Basel is for established art, Liste - the young art fair – wants to show newer and bolder art to a younger audience. It has grown to become just as international as its big sister and is now an integral part of the whole Art week. This also applies to several other fairs and shows, where local artists can also exhibit their work.
Shift – a festival of electronic art
Basel is not only a city for traditional art. In the last decade or so, Shift – festival of electronic art has attracted an international audience for film, video and electronic media. The festival is accompanied by performances, discussions and talks.
"Regionale" – a trans-regional art festival
The annual "Regionale" exhibition is an attractive platform for a variety of artists and art institutions on the Upper Rhine. It intends to act as a mirror for current happenings, the epitome of contradictions, the diversity, for the pleasurable and competitive coming-together of artists, event organisers and the public. With trans-regional attention: in 2011, art museums from the region of Bern took over the Basel regional model for the first time. | <urn:uuid:3709ce22-9921-4a01-8512-dff03324d967> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.basel.ch/ru/kultur/jahreshighlights/kunstundmuseen.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94873 | 474 | 1.859375 | 2 |
I recently ran across this blog (forum?) called Chowhound, and this series of posts regarding eating well in San Francisco on $3 usd a day. From what I understand, some politicians tried to eat on $3 usd a day and concluded that it couldn't be done without resorting to junk food. The poster took up the challenge with some great results.
Then there was this article in the NY Times that stated that healthy food costs 10 times more than junk food. Wow! I have been pretty poor, and while I admit that my kids loved Ramen, when I finally read the label it stopped being a staple on our table, oh, it made it's appearance on occasion because it is an easy, tasty and fast lunch. Oops, I got off on a tangent, anyway, there was not a lot of junk food in my house. I find that premise disquieting at best, also I don't entirely agree. Junk food is expensive!
Reading the comments, there seemed to be a vocal group that said that while it was certainly possible to eat well for less, that diet would be boring. There was much maligning of the humble lentil. I think it is more than possible to eat well on less than $3 (for the purposes of this post I am using dollars because most of the information is in USD) but the key is variety in seasoning.
I also found this interesting slide show called "What the World Eats" on Time's website. There was an American family of 4 living in North Carolina who spent $341.98 usd per week, another 4 member family in California who spent $159.18, a Mexican family from Cuernavaca of 5 who spent $189.09 (did you see all that soda?), the family of 4 from Great Britain spent $253.15 and for contrast the 13 member family in Bhutan who spent and amazing $5.03! The German family of 4 spent the most, $500.07 a week.The photographs, shot by Peter Menzel are from the book "Hungry Planet".It sounds like a good read, it would also be interesting to know what percentages of the families' income is spent on food.
All this got me thinking about how much do I spend on food a week? Part of me wants to take the easy answer and say $60 max, but I don't really know. We have tried to keep track of our expenses with varying degrees of success, computer crashes and lack of follow through have been our downfall. I like to think that on an average I spent 600 pesos every 2 weeks at the grocery store, but that isn't accurate, since I also shop at Costco and that stuff lasts much longer (I have half of a jar of sun dried tomatoes in olive oil in the fridge that I bought about a year ago, I use the tomatoes but a little goes a long way.). So I think I am going to keep track of what I spend each day on food, starting tomorrow. I'll share the results with you next week.
I'm pretty sure that I spend less than $3 a day per person, but maybe I am deluding myself?
I also added a poll for you to participate in, how much do you spend? | <urn:uuid:7527aee7-43d7-4b27-b153-a54bfb485d79> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://theresacooks.blogspot.com/2007/12/what-would-you-eat-if-you-only-had-3usd.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986793 | 670 | 1.703125 | 2 |
It may look unassuming, but this sleek black box is the culmination of a two-year long collaboration of more than 50 students from 7 different faculties of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. Initially envisioned by two architecture students and built for the European Solar Decathlon 2012 in Madrid, the goal of Odooproject was to encourage a new sustainable life by designing a house where as much time as possible can be spent outdoors.
More information about Odooproject after the break…
Odoo’s square plan has two primary elements: the north half enclosure and the south half outdoor terrace, bordered by the ‘summer wall’ to the south. The design allows comfortable living inside or outside throughout the year as the seasons allow.
The enclosure is a compact form, well insulated and airtight, to maximize material and energy efficiency. The building is almost monolithic, save for the south façade, which is entirely triple-glazed. Large sliding doors play down the division between the indoor and outdoor living spaces. Internally, the open plan space can be adapted using the mobile and flexible built in furniture, instead of walls, making the house easily presentable as a pavilion.
The secret to making the terrace habitable lies in the ‘summer wall’ stretching along its south border. Providing shade during the day, the thickness of the this wall houses the amenities necessary for living outdoors. Hiding inside the wall you can find storage for terrace furniture, a fully equipped outdoor kitchen and a movable open fireplace. The wall also conceals the workings of the HVAC and passive conditioning systems.
To provide a comfortable environment, as efficiently as possible, the house uses both active and passive systems. The compact form of Odoo reduces heat loss, while its organization means it has two south-facing facades. The glass façade exploits solar gain, to heat the interior during the winter, and the solar panels on the ‘summer wall’ generate power from the summer sun.
Due to the lightweight nature of the pavilion, thermal mass is provided by a unique system of water pipes. During the winter solar gain heats pipes in the floor, the water is then pumped into an insulated tank and can be used to heat the house at night. In the summer months, sprinklers dissipate the heat from roof after dark, allowing the system to use it as a cooling mass during the day.
Odooproject’s sleek black looks take their queue from the array of solar cells, covering not only the summer wall, but also the roof. Combined, these panels produce three times more energy than the house would consume annually.
After the Solar Decathlon, Oodoproject was reassembled on the campus of The Budapest University of Technology and Economics, where it currently resides.
Architectural And Interior Design: Adrián Auth, Balázs Szelecsényi
Faculty Advisor Of Architectural Design: László Csízy
Lead Faculty Advisor: Tamás Varga
Photographs: Balázs Danyi
For further team members, and more information visit Odooproject | <urn:uuid:f10f032c-af95-4311-b5ab-133f6f1548f5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.archdaily.com/328182/budapest-students-design-sustainable-house-for-indoor-and-outdoor-living/ | 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 | 0.937382 | 662 | 1.914063 | 2 |
Initiative aims for 100,000 new STEM teachers
Partnership draws on member organizations’ expertise in recruiting and retaining talented educators
From staff and wire reportsRead more by staff and wire services reports
A new national movement aims to increase the supply of math and science teachers and retain excellent teachers currently in U.S. classrooms by preparing 100,000 new math and science teachers over the next 10 years. Read more with registration. | <urn:uuid:b400b972-ef8b-41a4-a048-2358569b88b5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/12/05/initiative-aims-for-100000-new-stem-teachers/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938312 | 89 | 1.703125 | 2 |
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Dramatic improvements in Grid power quality require fundamental changes to the physical layer of the Grid, where our electric power is generated, transported and utilized. The addition of “Smarts” to the Grid is essential; however, while it is a necessary condition, it is insufficient to provide the digital quality power that our loads increasingly demand. The fundamental problem of the Grid is not lack of intelligence, but lack of speed. Bulk power sources are remote from loads, and existing controls are applied to clumsy actuators and switchgear. The Future Grid, described here, requires a minimum penetration of generation coupled through electronics. This can easily be achieved through Grid-connected renewables, ideally highly distributed, with autonomous controls for transient events and centralized regional controls for slower time scales. Partial penetration of fast response generation enables performance which can achieve substantially higher quality of power. An additional requirement for a truly robust Grid is either a very high level of high bandwidth control of sources and loads or high-speed fault-limiting and high-speed valves in the Transmission and Distribution (T&D) system, to contain damage and prevent cascading blackouts.
Date of Conference: 27-29 Sept. 2010 | <urn:uuid:4e5e1df7-4504-45e8-bade-7eb787005ee8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?reload=true&tp=&arnumber=5619840&contentType=Conference+Publications&sortType%3Dasc_p_Sequence%26filter%3DAND(p_IS_Number%3A5619765) | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914794 | 244 | 2.375 | 2 |
There is a huge popularity of different types of videos among people around the globe. Video editing software converts videos into digital form for the better understanding of the computer. It edits different types of videos with greater flexibility and at an instant speed. Editing videos or films has become quite simple and creative, as one can move the clips of videos from one place to another place diagonally dragging the icons on the screen. This software enables one to export or import video files into the PC.
This video editing software does not require any types of plug-ins, as it is fully loaded with all necessary features needed for editing videos. One can record videos with the help of small cameras and mobile phones and also it is possible to add extra effects and transitions in this software. This software not only save users time and money but enhance the quality of videos, giving it a professional look. This editing software consists of lots of techniques for better understanding of methods for editing and creating videos, sitting at home. There are lots of benefits of this software, as it is fully control by the users, help to customize videos according to the taste, choose layouts and design of videos, making slide show by using different photos, enjoy videos with background music, and lots of other functions.
This video editing software has lots of efficiency like editing videos, applying video effects, provide animated tasks, and save video files in advanced video formats. One of the popular software is AVS Video Editor; other examples are Free Video Dub, and Media cope, ultra video joiner, cyber link media suite, and lots of more, which are available at websites at a reasonable price. | <urn:uuid:8b7706aa-538c-4bf0-9331-cccc6aeca485> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.free-download.org/windows-en/video-software/video-editing-software/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934122 | 329 | 1.796875 | 2 |
This week, Astronomy.com reported some intriguing comet research at Lowell Observatory in Arizona. A Lowell scientist, Dave Schleicher, studies the chemistry of comets. He and his colleagues recently found that Comet 96P/Machholz 1 has a weird chemistry. Machholz is extremely low in a chemical called cyanogen compared to other comets. The Lowell researchers think it may be a totally new class of comets, possibly cooked up billions of years ago in a very different way than their comet comrades in the early solar system.
Or — and this is pretty speculative — Machholz could be a refugee from another star system, kicked out by a gravitational glitch onto an unfathomably long journey to our corner of space, whereupon the Sun’s gravity snatched it from the void.
The press officer for Lowell, Steele Wotkyns, called me to see if I wanted to talk to the scientist, Dave Schleicher, about the work. This is a routine interaction. Scientific institutions want coverage of their work and we want to pass along interesting new findings to readers.
“Interesting” is the key word. What’s interesting to a reader? Making that call is part experience, part gut instinct. I ask myself what is inherently cool about the discovery. In this case, it came down to two issues: chemistry and origin.
Chemistry can be a tough sell to a broad audience. So I thought I’d ask Schleicher what this oddball cyanogen-poor comet would smell like. Most people relate to the universal basics of smell, touch, taste, sound, and sight.
Schleicher seemed a little dubious about my motives for asking this silly question, but he was a good sport about it. He says if you thawed out a chunk of comet in the lab and sniffed it, it might smell of ammonia. It also contains lots of pure carbon compounds, but these might not smell like anything in particular.
As for cyanogen, it was a poison gas used in World War I. “Presumably it had an identifiable odor,” Schleicher told me in an e-mail, “such that soldiers knew when to put on their gas masks.” Indeed, cyanogen chloride is a toxic, foul-smelling nerve gas that causes rapid paralysis and death. So don’t play with a comet, should you ever come across one.
OK, we got the smell thing out of the way. Now for the serious stuff: Could this comet be, like Clark Kent (a.k.a. Superman), a strange visitor from another world?
If so, the travel time to our solar system would be stupendous. For the comet to be captured by our solar system, it can’t come into the neighborhood too fast. Otherwise it might just fling itself back out into interstellar space.
Assuming a relatively slow inbound speed — something roughly the velocity of a commuter jet — Machholz would take something like 10 million years to reach us from the nearest star, Alpha Centauri. “More likely,” Schleicher said, “if Machholz 1 did come from another stellar system, it has been on its journey for hundreds of millions or even more than a billion years.”
It would be tough to prove extrasolar origin for a comet, Schleicher notes, because such an interstellar refugee would enter the inner solar system at about the same speed as any other comet originating from the Oort Cloud — a cloud of comets extending from 1,000 to 50,000 times the Sun-Earth distance.
However, if a comet came into the solar system at a relatively high velocity and with a hyperbolic orbit, astronomers might argue that it came from another star. But no one has seen such a comet — yet.
Interestingly, Schleicher said, about one comet probably escapes our solar system each year. “After a billion years or so, that's a lot of comets that we have lost, and there is no reason to believe that the same thing isn't happening to comets in other stellar systems.”
Schleicher’s project has studied about 150 comets so far, probing them for spectroscopic clues to their chemical composition. Chemistry tells us how and where they formed and could reveal important new details about the early solar system. If astronomers ever do discover a comet from another star, Schleicher said, statistical analysis of lots of comets will probably provide the key evidence.
Another approach, Schleicher says, is to journey to the comet in question and bring a sample of it home. Detailed analysis of its chemistry could potentially identify it as from another star system.
As the Comet Observer Award coordinator for the Astronomical League, I found this article very intriguing. Not only does it have information about a comet I and many others photographed, but its speculation of being a totally different type of comet is most interesting and curious. That would something if it was found to come from another solar system oort belt!
Thanks for writing, kcstarguy . Yeah, an extrasolar comet -- too cool. Especially considering the idea that material like this could potentially carry some trace of extraterrestrial life. Hmmmmm.. was our solar system "seeded" billions of years ago by primitive cells hitchhiking on a lost comet from Alpha Centauri??? | <urn:uuid:6282341d-a7d0-4315-9163-b8233130ad7a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cs.astronomy.com/asy/b/astronomy/archive/2008/12/05/so-what-does-comet-96p-machholz-smell-like.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948589 | 1,129 | 3.328125 | 3 |
Demand for wireless data around the globe will double each year through 2014 as the population turns to smartphones and data devices for instant information everywhere. To battle this growth, carriers are dropping unlimited plans in favor of tiered data buckets, which research firm iSuppli today says will boost declining carrier margins, while also helping to predict demand for service. That makes sense, but it’s too early to tell if customers will come out the winners.
Indeed, carriers weren’t prepared for the explosive growth in mobile broadband use over recent years. Jump back in time prior to the debut of Apple’s iPhone in 2007, and you’ll see an industry focused on voice and messaging revenues; data was only useful to the mobile enterprise worker and early adopters using smartphones with clunky browsers that made mobile web surfing less appealing than a root canal.
With the first iPhone and credible competitors that followed came a growing appetite for data: first in the browser, later with mobile apps and the desire to use phones as mobile hotspots. Indeed, as noted in a GigaOM Pro report on the data traffic tsunami (subscription required), iPhones were the primary driver behind the 5,000 percent increase in data usage on AT&T’s network from 2007 to 2010. With the relatively recent addition of 3G tablets and MiFi devices, demand for data will only keep growing, yet the problem remains: How can carriers predict data use and manage the service revenues against operating costs?
Tiered data plans are one answer when compared to the old model. Until this year, consumers generally chose one of two data plans: a low-capacity option at roughly $25 to $30 (200 – 250 MB) or a $50 to $60 “unlimited” plan that typically provided 5 GB of data. The latter plan appears to be a better value on a cost-per-MB basis, but it also introduces a problem for network providers, because the capacity variance between the two plans is very wide and gives little room for operators to predict demand accurately. As a result, AT&T began the shift away from unlimited plans earlier this summer, and others are following.
Industry analyst Chetan Sharma sums up the problem best in his report, Managing Growth and Profits in the Yottabyte Era:
Operators typically have great intelligence on voice usage but for data, the infrastructure and efforts are generally not on par. There is little understanding of what consumers are doing, which applications and services they are tuned to at any given instant, forecasting traffic spikes, etc. As cost of supporting data services exceeds the cost of managing voice services and as the revenues from data services become more prominent than those from voice services, operators will have to pay much more attention to the specifics at a very granular level and design business models and pricing plans per the trends and forecasts.
Consumers may want unlimited plans, but carriers can’t provide them due to limited infrastructure. Increasing demand will outpace fixed supply as carriers invest more to keep up with the growing wave of data demand. The investments to try to do so aren’t outpacing revenues from demand; if you can get past the jumbled look of the iSuppli chart below, it shows a declining trend of network operating margins over the past year. Consumer demand is the one variable that unlimited plans can’t account for.
A “pay for what you use” model might be the second-most desirable data offering on a consumer’s wish list, but like the unlimited model, it does little to help the operators predict demand in advance. Only by looking at prior usage habits can the carrier even try to predict how much data a consumer may use in the future. And all it takes is a new, hit social networking service or popular, must-have bit of software to throw that predictor model out of whack.
This topic of managing network capacity and data demand is particularly timely given that T-Mobile is the latest U.S. carrier to offer tiered data plans. Om recently spoke with Neville Ray, T-Mobile’s CTO, about the plans and Om’s vision of the Gigabyte phone. Ray agreed that it’s just a matter of time, saying, “You’re seeing some of these very capable smart phones emerge, and in several cases, we’re seeing devices where data consumption will be greater than a gigabyte per month.”
It’s good to hear that carriers are thinking forward, both in terms of demand and the best plans to offer and predict usage, so a migration to tiered data could fit the bill for all parties involved with both 3G and 4G networks. (Related: see our mobile broadband guide to understand how data networks are currently migrating to 4G). The only remaining variable is how will consumers take to such limits? Yes, the plans will be marketed as potential cost savers for some, but the heaviest of users will balk at having to refill their data bucket several times a month. Of course, as that happens, we should see a very different margin chart in as little as six months from now, much to the carrier’s delight.
Related GigaOM Pro Content (sub req’d): | <urn:uuid:77a95f93-e439-4dba-bbc1-95b871ab9876> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gigaom.com/2010/11/04/flat-rate-data-plans-are-dead-is-that-a-good-thing/comment-page-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942347 | 1,082 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Students enter the program with training in Classics from their undergraduate and, in most cases, their Master’s programs. This means that they have some experience with Greek and Latin language and literature, ancient history, and archaeology and material culture. It is the goal of the course requirements of the doctoral program to deepen that training with a view to advanced research, and to broaden it as preparation for teaching Classics at the university level. Accordingly, students are required to take a minimum of 5.0 FCE during their program of study, including the Department’s Core Course (Classics 9000). Students may select courses on the basis of their research interests but must normally include a range of courses in Greek, Latin, Ancient History, and Archaeology and Material Culture. In year one of the Ph.D. program, students will normally take 3.0 FCE at the graduate level, followed by 0.5 FCE in the summer between years one and two (to prepare for their Comprehensive Exams in the fall of year two). In year two, students will normally enroll in 1.0 FCE in the first term and 0.5 FCE in the second term. This reduced course enrollment is structured to allow students to prepare for the Special Field Examination at the end of year two.
Classics 9000 is a special survey course for all graduate students in the Department, to be taken in the student's first year of enrollment. This "Core Course" is intended to provide a common focus for graduate students, and to introduce them to the major scholarly approaches and questions of the discipline of Classics as well as to give students a broad perspective on the discipline as a whole, through the examination of a full range of selected texts and evidence from archaeology and material culture. Students are exposed to the standard scholarly literature for and critical approaches to four major areas: Philosophy and Oratory; History and Historiography; Archaeology and Material Culture; and Literature.
At the start of terms 2, 5, 8, and 11 (that is, in January of every year) the Department’s Chair of Graduate Studies will meet with each student to discuss the student's progression, along with that student’s mentor. A this meeting, a detailed progress report is signed by the student.
Proseminars: Every two weeks there will normally be a one-hour proseminar for all students. The proseminars are designed to help students develop skills for a career inside or outside academia. Topics will vary from year to year, but include: writing an abstract; writing a grant proposal; applications to PhD programs; working with research tools (TLL/TLG); textual criticism; introduction to resources in ancillary disciplines; developing research skills.
There will be no examination, but students are required to attend all the proseminars that are applicable to their career path. Students must notify the Graduate Chair if they are ill and have to miss a workshop.
Departmental Research Seminars and Guest Lectures: In the intervening weeks, there will also be public lectures given by internal and external colleagues. To accommodate the latter, the schedule may occasionally need to be adjusted.
Attendance at all of these events is mandatory for graduate students
Students must pass written foreign language examinations during the first two years of the program to demonstrate they have a reading knowledge of two modern languages other than English. One of these languages must be German, a language which has traditionally been central to the discipline; the other will normally be either French or Italian. The Modern Language exams are offered three times a year: September, January and April. PhD students must attempt to take the first Modern language exam no later than January of their first year, and each time subsequently until they have passed their first language exam, and must attempt to take their second Modern Language exam no later than January of their second year, and each time subsequently until they have passed their second language exam. Students must pass both Language exams by April 30 of Year 2. This language requirement is met by passing a translation test, to be written with the aid of a dictionary, set by the Department.
At the beginning of their program, each student will be assigned a faculty mentor who will orient the student to the program and department and will provide initial advice on selection of courses. The advisor may or may not become part of their supervisory committee. Because students normally enter doctoral programs with some sense of both a subject for the dissertation and a possible supervisor of their project they will be required at the beginning of their second year to settle on a topic and supervisor. A Supervisory Committee will then be set up normally consisting of three faculty members, who must hold Core Membership in the School of Graduate and Post-Doctoral Studies. Members of the Supervisory Committee will bring expertise relevant to the subject area of the dissertation.
Required Examinations: Ancient Language Sight Examination, Comprehensive Examination, Special Field Examination
Upon entering the Ph.D. program, all students will normally write sight translation examinations in Greek and Latin texts appropriate to their intended areas of specialization. These exams are intended to ensure that students are adequately prepared to undertake advanced coursework in both ancient languages and to diagnose any weaknesses in their preparation. The examinations will take place in early September, and will consist of one two-hour exam for each language on successive days. Each exam will consist of one prose passage and one verse passage; no dictionaries or other aids will be permitted. The exams will normally be set and marked by a committee of two members of the GAC (a third member of the GAC may be called upon to express and opinion if there is significant disagreement about a student’s performance).
The GAC is committed to reporting results to students in a timely manner, normally within 10 business days of the completion of the exams. Should a student fail any part of the Language Sight Examinations he/she will be required to do further coursework in that language to improve his/her proficiency. Students will be given a second opportunity to pass the failed sections in January of the first year in the program and, if necessary, a third and final attempt in April of the first year. Students who fail on the third attempt may be asked to withdraw from the program. The examination will be graded on a pass/fail basis. In order to be considered a ‘pass’, the student’s translation must show competence in understanding the vocabulary and syntax of the passage
Students will write the Comprehensive Examinations in September of year two of the student's program on dates fixed by the Department, normally on the Wednesday, Friday and Monday of the last week of September. The exam covers the major areas of emphasis in Classics, including Language and Literature, Philosophy, History and Historiography, and Archaeology and Material Culture. The examination is based on Reading Lists in primary and secondary sources and established by the Department well in advance of the examination. The format of the exam is as follows:
A. Language Exams: Two four-hour exams, one in Greek subjects and one in Latin, on separate days.
Commentary: Each exam will offer 10 passages (5 poetry, 5 prose), of which the student will select a total of SEVEN, with no fewer than 3 in each poetry/prose category. Students will be expected to provide written commentary on each passage, including (for example): identification of the author and work; identification of any significant formal characteristics (e.g., metre, dialect, etc.); situating the passage in the context of the development of its genre and/or literary tradition; relevant information about the scholarly tradition and/or major interpretative questions regarding the passage or the larger work.
Translation: In addition, the students will translate THREE of the passages, at least one in each of the prose/poetry categories. The students may pick ANY three passages from the total of 10 (i.e., the two categories of commentary/translation are not mutually exclusive).
B. Archaeology exam: 'visual gobbets' asking for comment on specific examples of painting, sculpture and architecture. One four-hour exam on both Greek AND Roman archaeology.
The comprehensive exams are designed to ensure that the student has attained the necessary breadth of knowledge in Classics prior to undertaking specialized research. The exams will normally be set and marked by a committee of two members of the GAC (a third member of the GAC may be called upon to express and opinion if there is significant disagreement about a student’s performance). The GAC is committed to communicating the results to students in a timely manner, normally within 10 business days of the completion of the exams. Expectations normally include some or all of the following: a good knowledge of the primary texts, relevant scholarship and current critical issues; evidence of wide and critical reading; evidence of independent thinking, often manifesting itself in the ability to assess the scholarship in the field and ask significant questions about the material; clear writing.
Finalization of the Reading List: Although the PhD Reading List is designed to represent a broad spectrum of the most central texts in reek and Latin language, students may submit to the GAC, in writing, a proposal for substitutions (e.g., Livy 1 instead of 21), by April 30 of Year 1 (in order to receive GAC approval well in advance of the exams). The GAC will then take any such requests under consideration and decide on a case by case basis. In certain cases on the Reading List students are permitted a choice of works by an author; students must indicate to the GAC, in writing, their choices in these instances by September 15th of the year in which they are to sit the Comprehensive Examination.
Assuming normal progression in the first two years of the Ph.D. program, students will write an examination in their area of intended research in April of the second year. During the Fall term of the second year students will meet with the Graduate Affairs Committee to declare their area of interest for the thesis and to select a thesis supervisor and a committee. At this time the subject of the Special Field Examination will be determined. The supervisor in the student's intended area of research, in consultation with the Graduate Affairs Committee of the Department, will decide on the structure and scope of the Special Field Examination.
A preliminary list of primary and secondary readings should be submitted by the student to the GAC, for suggestions and approval, by February 1st of Year 2, assuming normal progression. The format of the Special Field Examination is determined by the supervisor and the student’s area of research, but will normally consist of passages of primary or secondary source material for analysis, translation and commentary; students will have four hours to complete the exam. The exam will normally be set and marked by a committee consisting of the student’s supervisor and one other GAC member (a third member of the GAC may be called upon to express an opinion if there is significant disagreement about a student’s performance). The GAC is committed to reporting results to students in a timely manner, normally within 10 business days of the completion of the exams.
Once the student has passed the Comprehensive Examination, he/she will prepare for the Special Field Examination and the thesis prospectus. Because preparation for the Special Field Examination necessarily includes thorough investigation in the student's area of research, it is recommended that the student undertake work for both the thesis prospectus and the Special Field Exam at the same time. If the student passes the Special Field exam, he/she will be required to submit to the Graduate Committee a detailed prospectus by May 15 of the second year. A date will then be set for the candidate to defend their thesis prospectus orally. This prospectus will normally consist of (1) a tentative title; (2) the name(s) of the supervisor/committee; (3) a statement (ca. 15-20 pages) of the focus of the thesis and proposed methodology. A bibliography must also be provided, organized to indicate which materials will be pertinent to the student's larger research trajectory, and those that are specific to the narrow focus of the thesis. The thesis prospectus must be submitted to the Graduate Chair and the members of the supervisory committee at least three weeks prior to the date of the oral defense. Following the presentation, questions will be posed by the student's supervisory committee. After the defense the student's supervisory committee will make one of three decisions: the prospectus may pass, need minor revisions that could be approved by the supervisory committee without another defense being scheduled, or fail.
A student who fails any part of the Comprehensive Examination, the Special Field Examination or the Thesis Prospectus defense will be allowed one further attempt to pass it. A student who fails any part of these examinations twice, or who fails more than one examination, may be required to withdraw from the program.
After successful completion of the Special Field Examination and defense of the thesis prospectus, the student will embark on a program of original research in the thesis subject area leading to the completion of a written thesis of publishable quality, normally 200-300 pages in length. When the thesis is thought to meet recognized scholarly standards for the discipline and degree, the Graduate Chair will arrange a Thesis Examination Board (the thesis Supervisor(s), Supervisory committee or the candidate alone may also initiate this process). The thesis and the thesis oral examination will follow the rules and regulations set forth by the School of Graduate and Post-Doctoral Studies. At the time of the thesis defense the candidate will present a public lecture on some aspect of his/her research. It is expected that this process will normally take two years, but submission of the thesis must occur no later than 5 years after admission to the Ph.D. program.
It is the goal of the program to see the degree requirements completed in four years. The normal schedule is as follows:
Year 1: Language Sight Examination, Coursework (including the Core Course), meeting the modern foreign language requirement
Year 2: Coursework, Comprehensive Exam, selection and approval of thesis topic, supervisor and
supervisory committee, Special Field Exam and Thesis Prospectus
Year 3: Research and Writing of Thesis
Year 4: Research and Writing of Thesis, Submission and Defense of Ph.D. Thesis
At the beginning of Term 2 (and each subsequent January for continuing students), the Graduate Chair of the Department, (after consultation with the mentors and instructors) will meet with each student, along with that student’s mentor, to discuss the student's progression. At this meeting a progress report is signed by the student.
If a student should fail to meet the Progression Requirements set out in this document, and/or if there is a concern, the Graduate Chair of the Department, in consultation with the Graduate Affairs Committee, will draw up a plan of work that the student will be expected to follow in order to make up the deficit within a prescribed period of time.
Funding for Term 3 and all subsequent terms is dependent upon the progression of the student.
Students must complete a total of 5.0 course credits at the graduate level in the Ph.D. in the Classics’ program within their first two years of study.
These course credits include:
Classics 9000: Survey Course (weight 1.0)
4.0 additional graduate level course credits primarily based on their research interests, but also in keeping with the need to prepare for the Comprehensive Examinations.
Modern Language Requirements
Students must pass written foreign language examinations during the first two years of the program to demonstrate they have a reading knowledge of two modern languages other than English. One of these languages must be German, a language which has traditionally been central to the discipline; the other will normally be either French or Italian. This language requirement is met by passing a translation test, to be written with the aid of a dictionary, set by the Department.
Ancient Language Sight Examination
Students must pass a sight translation in Greek and Latin texts within their first year of study, appropriate to their intended areas of specialization.
Students must pass a Comprehensive Examination in September of their second year of study.
Special Field Examination
Students must pass an examination in their area of intended research in April of their second year of study.
Students must submit and orally defend a thesis prospectus within their second year of study.
Research and Writing of the Thesis
Students will complete a thesis no later than five years after admission to the Ph.D. program. | <urn:uuid:37570561-82e0-49d4-b1e5-6c1eb4a61347> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uwo.ca/classics/graduate/PhD-program.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951424 | 3,371 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Reverse Mortgages: A Golden Ticket or Mistake for Your Client?
Several decades ago, a French attorney, Andre-Francois Raffray, had a bright idea: He offered to pay 90-year-old Jeanne Calment the equivalent of $500 a month in return for the gift of Calment’s apartment upon her death. Calment lived to 122, outlasting Raffray, who died at the age of 77. She was still paid the $500 a month until her death in 1997, receiving a total of about $180,000, which was two to three times the value of the apartment.
The agreement between Calment and Raffray can be seen as a crude predecessor to today’s reverse mortgages. Like that agreement, a reverse mortgage allows a person to borrow against the equity of his or her house for either a lump sum or monthly payments. In turn, at the borrower’s death, the lender—usually a bank or the federal government—gets the amount of loan, plus interest and costs, up to the full value of the house. Unlike the simple agreement between Calment and Raffray, reverse mortgages can have high fees and might not work out as well for the borrower or his or her heirs as it did for Calment. To determine whether a reverse mortgage might be appropriate for a client, it is helpful to understand how reverse mortgages work, their benefits, and their disadvantages.
What Are Reverse Mortgages?
In a reverse mortgage, a person borrows against the equity of his or her home, or in some cases, other dwellings owned by the borrower, for a lump sum amount, monthly payments, or a combination of the two. The payment is not taxable as income, but might be considered a liquid asset, and thus included in calculations relating to Medicaid, if the funds are kept in an account past the month received. There are two types of reverse mortgages. Ninety-five percent fall into the category of Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs), which are administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and insured by the Federal Housing Administration. The remaining 5 percent are proprietary reverse mortgages, which are offered by banks, credit unions, or other financial institutions for people with very high-value homes. To qualify for either type of reverse mortgage, the borrower typically has to be at least 62 years old. The older the person, the higher amount available to borrow. The current lending limit for HECM loans is $625,000. The borrower must have sufficient equity in the home, though the loan can be used to pay off the borrower’s existing mortgage. The lender will have to confirm that the house is in sufficient repair. For HECM loans, the borrower will have to attend counseling with a HUD approved counselor to ensure the borrower knows the risks and costs of the loan.
After obtaining the loan, the borrower will be required to keep current on the taxes and insurance for the house. The loan becomes due when the borrower dies or no longer lives at the house. At that point, the borrower (if still alive) can pay back the loan, an heir can pay back the loan, or the house will be sold with the proceeds first going to the bank to cover the loan.
What Are the Advantages to Reverse Mortgages?
- The loan is limited to the value of the home if the borrower dies or decides to move away, even if the home decreases in value.
- As long as the borrower stays current on the taxes and insurance and keeps the house in good repair, he or she will not be forced to move.
- If there is an existing mortgage on the property, the proceeds of the reverse mortgage can be used to pay the first mortgage off. Then, the borrower will have more available cash each month. The borrower can stay in the home even if he or she would not otherwise have enough money to pay for the mortgage.
- Interest rates are usually lower than for a standard home equity mortgage.
- The buyer will not need to show that he or she has sufficient wages to get the loan.
What Are the Disadvantages to Reverse Mortgages?
- While the costs can be financed into the loan, the costs are rather expensive compared to a standard home equity loan. While the fees can vary, they usually include: (1) a mortgage insurance fee (2 percent of home’s value); (2) origination fee (capped at 2 percent for the first $100,000, and 1 percent thereafter, with an overall cap of $6,000); (3) title insurance; (4) a monthly service fee to maintain the loan (usually $25-$35 a month); (4) title, attorney, accounting, and recording fees; (5) the cost of the appraisal; and (6) a survey (if needed).
- The borrower can use up all of the equity in the home, which decreases the amount of inheritance or the amount of assets available to the borrower if he or she needs to be moved into assisted living or a nursing home.
- If the borrower lives in a nursing home or assisted living for more than a year, he or she will have to repay the entire loan.
- If family members live in the house with the borrower, but are not on title, then they will have to pay the loan or be forced to move.
- The interest rates can be adjustable, and thus alter the amount of equity borrowed.
While reverse mortgages likely will not be as lucrative for today’s borrowers as the agreement was for Jeanne Calment, they can be an optimal way for many clients to continue living in their homes while also affording the increasing costs of care, food, and other daily expenses. On the other hand, reverse mortgages can place an unnecessary financial burden on the borrower and his or her heirs. Given the costs and risks, careful consideration, planning, and discussion with family members should occur before signing the papers.
Additional information on reverse mortgages can be found online at:Paul M. Crisalli is an attorney with The Lawless Partnership, LLP, a small firm in Seattle, Washington, where his practice focuses on estate planning, real estate, litigation, and appeals. Contact him at email@example.com.
© Copyright 2010, American Bar Association. | <urn:uuid:1f00238e-5762-4af1-8ac0-af13f6fb052d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.americanbar.org/newsletter/publications/solo_newsletter_home/crisalli.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959655 | 1,309 | 2.015625 | 2 |
You may have not noticed, but Microsoft is playing a fairly significant role in the storage market. The Redmond, Wash.-based software supernova came out of practically nowhere to capture nearly 30 percent of the NAS market, according to IDC, since the introduction of its WPN (Windows Powered NAS) two years ago. This summer, it'll release Version 3.0, as well as a Web download that augments the forthcoming .Net server to support iSCSI. Has Microsoft truly arrived?
This isn't Joe Millionaire, so we won't hold the suspense. Of course Microsoft has arrived.
Take a look at the slow and steady success of WPN. In 2000, Microsoft started pushing WPN as an alternative to OEMs that were building NAS devices internally. Hewlett-Packard and Dell jumped aboard and have had success ever since. To date, IBM, Iomega, NEC, and about 10 other OEMs are onboard, praising Microsoft for being the closest thing to a standard compared to fellow proprietary solutions from Network Appliance and EMC.
Microsoft told us Version 3.0 will feature an API that can be written to to permit real snapshots. In other words, the technology -- dubbed volume shadow copy service -- will actually communicate with the OS and application, and freeze computing tasks to make an actual point-in-time copy. Without this function, data can become corrupted if the system is performing a task when the snapshot is taken.
In Version 3.0, Microsoft will also introduce a second API that enables low-level SAN management, meaning LUN discovery, mapping, and masking. This feature is called VDS (virtual disk service). Of course, there are also performance and scalability increases, which will be announced later, including the ability to manage eight nodes simultaneously -- six more than possible with the current version of WPN.
Now here comes iSCSI, making more waves. Microsoft has long verbalized its plans to support iSCSI in its next version of .Net server, which sports a bundle of storage management features, including volume shadow copy service, VDS, and open files backup, as well as better support for SANs. Microsoft's support for iSCSI means many things. For one, it gives the company a bigger market opportunity with WPN, as it’s likely we'll see NASes front-ending iSCSI targets. Microsoft has also been hosting secret plugfests where vendors are certifying its targets against iSCSI.
And, of course, with Microsoft's (read: big-name vendor) support, it’s very likely that iSCSI will really take off. | <urn:uuid:f375e04a-f4cb-4711-9e8f-9ee1a40c47ab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.infoworld.com/t/storage/microsoft-storage-supernova-318 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955163 | 544 | 1.5 | 2 |
Africas First Real Life Superhero Saves Kids in Liberia
Tells about a real life superhero in Liberia Africa saving kids lives.
Over the last three months a real life superhero has been roaming Monrovia and the surrounding area. This masked hero calls himself Lion Heart. Lion Heart has been proving he has the heart of a lion by what he has done.
Lion Heart has been going to people and teaching them things that can save as well as improve their lives. Lion Heart has even been able to save children while he was teaching people. Many people he has taught had people dying from dehydration caused by diarrhea and all they needed was to mix an exact mixture of 1 liter of clean water, 1 tablespoon of salt, and 8 tablespoons of sugar. Once they were given this mixture in the proper amount they were able to be saved from a symptom that would have killed them as it does to millions of people every year. All they needed was information.
Lion Heart has been teaching other things as well that will help save lives. He has taught people simple things like boiling water they get from the stream, and not to cooking inside the house with no ventilation which are some of the top causes of death in the world even higher then cancer or AIDS. He has also taught people to not eat after those in the family that are sick but to give them separate cups and utensils.
Besides teaching them about hygiene he teaches them other important things as well. He teaches them things that can help improve their economic state. One example is teaching villagers how to make their own high grade fertilizer using their own urine by mixing it with 5 to 10 times the amount of water to urine. This greatly improves yields and gives them more to eat or sale.
He has also been warning people about the slave trade and the tricks that the slavers use to get people into slavery. He also hears stories from those that learned to late such as Mr. Kahn Jackson of Monrovia who lost a daughter to a human trafficker that was working with a NGO. Hearing the stories lets him know the many ways human traffickers operate so he can warn people of the tricks they use.
Lion Heart has been learning about the problems as he helps people and then does what he can to find the solutions and be more helpful. When he teaches people he asks that they teach others what they learn. Mr. Tarnue Bobo of Mindina village assured him that he would tell the entire village of Mindina. There are even a few people that have asked Lion Heart to teach them what he knows so they can teach people too.
Lion Heart has visited many people and many others have taught what he taught them. Perhaps the things he teaches can be taught in other countries as well. | <urn:uuid:8c979778-d574-4d48-89a6-80a0c8d10dbd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://newsflavor.com/world/africa/africas-first-real-life-superhero-saves-kids-in-liberia/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.990033 | 561 | 1.867188 | 2 |
Vernacular Name: Aardvark
Scientific Name: Orycteropus afer
Class: Mammalia Order: Tubulidentata Family: Orcycteropidae
Geographic Range: Central through southern Africa
Habitat: Open woodland, grassland and scrub areas of Africa and the Sahara.
Physical Characteristics: Body and head length 3 to 4 ft., tail 1 1/2 ft. Weight 90-145 lbs. Pig-shaped body is muscular having short powerful legs and feet ending with long spoon-shaped, sharp-edged claws. The front feet have four claws and the back have five. The tail is powerful, thick and hairless. An elongated, flexible snout is protected from dust and dirt by a fringe of rough bristles. Tongue is long (1 1/2 ft.), thin and sticky. Elongated head is topped by extra large ears which fold down. The almost hairless skin is yellowish gray in color but often darkly stained by the soil pigments encountered while digging for food. Dentition consists of toothless molars which grow throughout their life.
Adaptations: Terrestrial, solitary, nocturnal, large eyes with retina containing only cones. Nostrils close up when the aardvark burrows, providing protection from dust, dirt, and attacks by ants or termites. Powerful claws for digging into ground or termite nests. Acute sense of smell and hearing.
Ecological Niche: Nocturnal. Secondary consumer, primary consumer, seed disperser for aardvark cucumber, soil aerator, provides habitats for other species via burrowing activities. Burrows have several entrances and may be up to
40 ft. in length.
Reproduction: Male late fall and winter, gestation 7 months, usually one offspring. Births occur during rainy season when food is plentiful. Mother and young form family unit until maturity. Females remain near mother, males leave area.
Predator/Prey: Lions, leopards, hunting dogs.
Conservation: II, Protected species.
Other Information: Aardvark has no known relatives. Does not completely destroy termite/ant nest, but returns to feed several times then abandons the nest allowing it to rebuild and increase population. When insects are scarce they will eat soft-bodied insects and fruit. They have more olfactory lobes, nine total, than any other mammal.
Zoo Diet: Cooked feline diet, dog food, eggs, K-Sol vitamin supplement blended with warm water into gruel. | <urn:uuid:9e7e0db7-4ff2-4c80-943f-0b1bdca47ca5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.opengroup.org/austin/aardvark/aardvark.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921182 | 534 | 3.796875 | 4 |
New talks on Iran nuclear program offer slim hope
Published: Tuesday, February 26, 2013 at 8:56 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, February 26, 2013 at 8:56 a.m.
ALMATY, Kazakhstan — World powers began a new round of high-level talks with Iranian officials Tuesday, trying to find a way out of a yearslong tussle over Tehran's nuclear program and its feared ability to make atomic weapons in the future.
Few believe the latest attempt to forge a compromise will yield any major breakthroughs, but negotiators are optimistically casting it as a stepping stone toward reaching a workable solution.
Officials described the latest diplomatic discussions as a way to build confidence with Iran as the country steadfastly maintains its right to enrich uranium in the face of harsh international sanctions.
"The offer addresses the international concern on the exclusively peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear program, but it is also responsive to Iranian ideas," said Michael Mann, spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who is leading the negotiations. "We've put some proposals forward which will hopefully allow Iran to show some flexibility."
Mehdi Mohammadi, a member of the Iranian delegation, said Tehran was prepared to make an offer of its own to end the deadlock but will resist some of the West's core demands.
The Obama administration is pushing for diplomacy to solve the impasse but has not ruled out the possibility of military intervention in Iran to prevent it from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Israel has threatened it will use all means to stop Iran from being able to build a bomb, potentially as soon as this summer, raising the specter of a possible Mideast war.
A senior U.S. official at the talks said Monday that some sanctions relief would be part of the offer to Iran but refused to elaborate. The new relief is part of a package that the U.S. official said included "substantive changes."
The official acknowledged reports earlier this month that sanctions would be eased to allow Iran's gold trade to progress, but would neither confirm nor deny they are included in the new relief offer, and spoke only on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive diplomatic talks more candidly.
In a statement before the talks began Tuesday, the Interfax news agency cited Russia's envoy as saying the easing of sanctions was possible only if Iran can assure the world that its nuclear program is for exclusively peaceful purposes.
"There is no certainty that the Iranian nuclear program lacks a military dimension, although there is also no evidence that there is a military dimension," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.
China's Foreign Ministry said diplomacy offered the only route to resolve the dispute and called for all sides to show flexibility.
"We think the Iranian nuclear issue is very complicated and sensitive. All parties should have firm confidence in peacefully resolving the issue through dialogue and negotiation and take an objective and pragmatic attitude," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a daily briefing in Beijing.
Members of the Chinese and Iranian delegations met at a bilateral session before the main talks got under way.
Interfax cited an unidentified Iranian delegation member as saying Iran might also hold one-on-one talks with Russia, but ruled out direct negotiations with the United States in Almaty.
Officials from both sides have set low expectations for a breakthrough in Almaty — the first time the high-level negotiators have met since last June's meeting in Moscow that threatened to derail the delicate efforts.
While Mann acknowledged the Almaty talks would unlikely lead to a firm, he insisted that it remained an important stepping stone toward a definitive solution.
"We're not interested in talks just for talk's sake. We're not here to talk, we're here to make concrete progress," he said.
The first session talks are being held in private at a hotel in Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city, and were deemed so sensitive that reporters were not allowed on the premises Tuesday save for a small handful of TV cameras and photographers allowed to watch Ashton greet Saeed Jalili, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council.
The opening round Tuesday afternoon lasted 2 ½ hours.
Tehran maintains it is enriching uranium only to make reactor fuel and medical isotopes, and insists it has a right to do so under international law. It has signaled it does not intend to stop, and U.N. nuclear inspectors last week confirmed Iran has begun a major upgrade of its program at the country's main uranium enrichment site.
Over the last eight months, the international community has imposed harsh economic sanctions on Iran that U.S. officials said have, among other things, cut the nation's daily oil output by 1 million barrels and slashed its employment rate. Western powers have hoped that the Iranian public would suffer under sanctions so the government would feel a moral obligation to slow its nuclear program.
The six world powers — United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany —want Iran to suspend enrichment in its underground Fordo nuclear facility, and to ship its stockpile of high-grade uranium out of the country.
Mohammadi said that the shuttering of Fordo was "out of the question."
Negotiators hope that easing some of the sanctions will make Tehran more agreeable to halting production of 20 percent enriched uranium — the highest grade of enrichment that Iran has acknowledged and one that experts say could be turned into warhead grade in a matter of months.
Mohammadi said Iran would only agree to that stipulation on the condition of UN Security Council sanctions being suspended.
But an analysis released Monday by the International Crisis Group concluded that the web of international sanctions have become so entrenched in Iran's political and economic systems that they cannot be easily lifted piece by piece. It found that Tehran's clerical regime has begun adapting its policy to the sanctions, despite their crippling effect on the Iranian public. Doing so, the analysis concluded, has divided the public's anger "between a regime viewed as incompetent and an outside world seen as uncaring."
Iran has been unimpressed with earlier offers by the powers to provide it with medical isotopes and lift sanctions on spare parts for civilian airliners, and new bargaining chips that Tehran sees as minor are likely to be snubbed as well. Iran insists, as a starting point, that world powers must recognize the republic's right to enrich uranium.
All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged. | <urn:uuid:07dbced6-c6c9-4a83-b6c4-8d13c175a8b2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ocala.com/article/20130226/WIRE/130229768/1402/NEWS?Title=New-talks-on-Iran-nuclear-program-offer-slim-hope | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966445 | 1,322 | 1.59375 | 2 |
This year's VAT rise hasn't raised annual inflation
A common myth, circulated all over the press, and repeated in numerous denunciations by Labour politicians, is that one reason inflation has risen so much over the past nine months is the rise in VAT to 20 per cent in January 2011. The idea that this rise has created some artificial upwards distortion, that will drop out next year, has also reduced pressure on the Bank of England to raise interest rates.
A VAT rise might increase inflation via a purely "mathematical" or "mark-up" effect. If a product cost £117.50 before VAT rose from 17.5 to 20 per cent, we might expect it to cost £120 afterwards. It is natural to suppose that this raises the rate of inflation. But it will not raise the annual rate of inflation if VAT rose by the same amount, at the same time the previous year. VAT rose from 15 per cent to 17.5 per cent in January 2010. Insofar as there was an upwards "distortion" from the VAT rises, it was that the 2010 inflation rate was "artificially high". The 2011 rate is not increased, relative to 2010, so the rise in annual inflation since 2010 is not the mathematical effect of the rise in VAT. (For real nerds, strictly speaking it is reduced, because 120/117.5 < 117.5/115.)
Why, then, do we read that the Bank of England says the VAT rise raised the inflation rate? The Bank tells us that the degree of "pass-through" of the January 2011 rise was greater than that of the January 2010 rise. What does "pass-through" mean? It means that in January 2011 firms were more able to pass the cost of the increased tax on to their customers than in January 2010. In other words, the ability of firms to raise prices was greater in January 2011 than in January 2010.
Well, the ability of firms to pass on cost rises into price rises has a name: inflationary pressure. Thus, saying that the January 2011 VAT rise involved greater pass-through, raising prices more than in January 2010, is just an obscure way of saying that inflationary pressures were higher in January 2011, so inflation rose more. There is nothing "distortionary" or "artificial" about that.
Further remarks on private vs public sector austerity and accounting identities
May 1st, 2013 17:55
Can public sector austerity coincide with private sector austerity?
April 30th, 2013 16:00
Draghi's scheme may make some very rich people even richer – and that doesn't make it a good idea
September 12th, 2012 14:31
The FSA is largely to blame for slow lending growth
August 14th, 2012 17:31
Eurobonds or other debt pooling are not the only (or best) form of fiscal union
July 9th, 2012 16:51 | <urn:uuid:f92b384f-ab74-4e97-9f72-eb3eaf48a8a1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/andrewlilico/100010721/this-years-vat-rise-hasnt-raised-annual-inflation/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971023 | 598 | 2.265625 | 2 |
Calorie Bargain or Calorie Rip-Off: Are the Claims Really True?
Pages in this Story:
- Hershey's Reserve: Is It Better Than Regular Chocolate?
- "Don't Go Hungry" Campaign by Post Cereal: Will It Fend Off Hunger?
- Special K Protein Water: Does It Really Cut Down on Hunger?
- Diet Coke Plus: Are These Vitamins and Minerals We Need? Is It Worth Drinking?
"Don't Go Hungry" Campaign by Post Cereal: Will It Fend Off Hunger?
Recently, all cereals, even the ones that are basically morning candy, seem to have some sort of health claim. The latest? The campaign for Post Shredded Wheat, Raisin Bran, Grape-Nuts Original, and Grape-Nuts Trail Mix Crunch, claiming that these cereals will prevent you from getting hungry. According to Elisa Zied, MS, RD, spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association and author of Feed Your Family Right!, the focus on fiber is a good thing. "You can feel fuller, work toward meeting your daily fiber needs (which many of us do not meet), and incorporate more whole grains (again, most of us do not meet the dietary guidelines calling for three servings of whole grains a day), and this can help you in your weight-management efforts."
However, according to Judith Wurtman, PhD, author of The Serotonin Power Diet (Rodale, 2006), "Fiber does slow down stomach emptying, but for decades the use of fiber-rich cookies, candies, drinks, etc., have been promoted as helping weight loss. If that were really true, everyone who drinks Metamucil would be thin. Is that the case?"
Not only that, but many of these cereals are high in calories and have significant amounts of added sugar. "For example, 1 cup of Post's Honey Nut Shredded Wheat contains 190 calories and 12 grams of sugar (it has a reasonable amount of fiber for a cereal: 4 grams); the second and third ingredients on the label are sugar and honey, which makes this a high-sugar food," says Zied. Still others have even more added sugar.
Zied prefers a cereal that's flakier or puffier, and therefore less caloric. She also recommends no more than about 8 grams of added sugar and prefers even less. "I don't mind when there's a little extra sugar to taste a bit better and make it more appealing to consumers so long as the fiber amount is 5 or more grams" she says.
Bottom line: Pushing fiber and 100 percent whole grains is good, but the extra sugar is not so good. Your best bet from this batch is Post Shredded Wheat Cereal Original, which has no added sugar, no sodium, and about 6 grams of fiber, or Post Original Shredded Wheat 'n Bran, which has only 1 gram of added sugar, no sodium, and 8 grams of fiber.
What do you think of this story? Leave a Comment.
SAVE EVEN MORE! Say "Yes" to Fitness® Magazine today and get a second year for HALF PRICE – 2 full years (20 issues) for just $15. You also get our new Fitness Band and Total Body Express Band Workout ABSOLUTELY FREE! (U.S. orders only) | <urn:uuid:fe9bd438-71fd-4099-8d5d-697c50f5c096> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/weight-loss/expert-advice/diet-detective/calorie-bargain-or-calorie-rip-off-are-the-claims-really-true/?page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940892 | 697 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Press and Journal
Highlanders dress part to play extras in movie Centurion
Actors Roman in the gloamin
By Nichola Rutherford and Johnny Muir
When almost 200 armoured men marched through a Highland estate wielding spears and carrying shields, onlookers would have been forgiven for thinking: “The Romans are coming”.
But the dozens of local men spotted braving rain and snow on the Glenfeshie Estate this week had good reason for dressing as Roman soldiers – they were extras in the new movie, Centurion.
Men from across the Highlands and Moray volunteered to take part in the movie, ensuring they would spend their 13-hour day working alongside Bond girl Olga Kurylenko.
Filming in the Highlands began last month and the local extras played their part during a day’s filming on Tuesday.
It is understood their efforts will amount to little more than seven minutes of the film, which is set during the Roman invasion of Britain and tells the story of Quintus Dias, the sole survivor of a raid on a Roman fort.
Newcastle-born writer-director Neil Marshall is among a team now working on the film’s special effects, which include increasing the numbers of Roman soldiers to appear like many thousands.
Ukranian Kurylenko, who appeared in Quantum of Solace, plays Gorlacon, a Pictish Queen who leads the rout of the Roman legion. The film is expected to be released late this year or in early 2010.
Meanwhile, Inverness Castle, the hills above Loch Ness at Dores and swing bridges over the Caledonian Canal could all feature in a Bollywood movie due to be shot in the Highland capital next month.
Filming of the psychological thriller Purple Lake – based on Loch Ness – had been due to begin on Saturday but the start date has now been put back until the end of March.
Sue Bellarby, a UK-based locations manager for Indian film company ASA Productions and Enterprises, said Inverness and the Highlands would provide the movie’s backdrop during a month of filming.
She has scouted a multitude of locations which could feature in the movie, including Falcon Square, Inverness Castle, Midmills College, the city’s Red Cross building, the River Ness, the Town House and swing bridges over the Caledonian Canal.
The hills and moorland overlooking the east bank of Loch Ness could also be used to create an “eerie winter feel”. Woodland close to Inverness may also be used, while shooting could take place inside a city home.
Ms Bellarby said: “For the size of the city in relation to a lot of other places, Inverness has everything.
“It has everything you could possibly want – shops, a theatre, lots of facilities, but it is only 10 minutes away from some of the most stunning countryside on the planet.”
Ms Bellarby said the film could also give the Highland economy a lift, with the movie’s cast due to stay in the Kingsmill and Thistle hotels during filming.
It is also hoped that after the film’s release, which is due to be this year, visitors will want to come to Inverness and the Highlands to explore some of the sights featured in the movie.
The film’s start date has been put back because of difficulties in bringing Indian actors to Scotland.
Filed under: Britain, Perfomances, Performance, Roman Army, Roman Britain | Leave a Comment » | <urn:uuid:6f0f8503-9dc3-49b8-a5d7-4aba47a47aff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://arltblog.wordpress.com/category/perfomances/ | 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 | 0.95703 | 741 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Legal Feeds Blog
New charges for Quebec’s construction magnate Accurso, The Globe and Mail
Pregnant woman murdered after Vancouver officers fail to pass on threat, Vancouver Sun
Group of Cape Breton citizens fail to stop oil well, The Chronicle Herald
Case involving 28-year-old computer hacking law will not go before the U.S. Supreme Court, Reuters
Undocumented immigrants put at risk by health care reform, Huffington Post
French court’s verdict on EU fiscal pact expected later today, Reuters
Gu Kailai awaits verdict after 7-hour trial, Reuters
|The federal government is appealing the decision that gave Gloria Taylor the right to seek an assisted suicide. (Photo: Andy Clark/Reuters)|
“After careful consideration of the legal merits of the June 15, 2012 ruling from the British Columbia Supreme Court, the Government of Canada will appeal the decision to the British Columbia Court of Appeal, and will seek a stay of all aspects of the lower court decision.
“The government is of the view that the Criminal Code provisions that prohibit medical professionals, or anyone else, from counselling or providing assistance in a suicide, are constitutionally valid.
“The government also objects to the lower court’s decision to grant a ‘constitutional exemption’ resembling a regulatory framework for assisted suicide.”
Gloria Taylor, 64, was one of several plaintiffs who argued in court that the criminal law was unconstitutional and that people with serious illnesses should be entitled to take their lives with the help of a physician.
In her 395-page ruling in June striking down the ban, Justice Lynne Smith found that the law was over broad and the absolute prohibition of assisted was “grossly disproportionate” to the objectives it was meant to accomplish.
She had suspended her decision for a year to give Parliament a chance to change the laws and bring them in line with the Constitution. But she had allowed an immediate exception for Taylor “to seek — and her physician will be permitted to proceed with — physician-assisted death under specified conditions.”
“The laws surrounding euthanasia and assisted suicide exist to protect all Canadians, including those who are most vulnerable, such as people who are sick or elderly or people with disabilities. The Supreme Court of Canada acknowledged the state interest in protecting human life and upheld the constitutionality of the existing legislation in Rodriguez [v. British Columbia (Attorney General)],” Nicholson continued in his statement.
“In April 2010, a large majority of Parliamentarians voted not to change these laws, which is an expression of democratic will on this topic. It is an emotional and divisive issue for many Canadians,” he said.
|Borys Wrzesnewskyj, in suit, speaks to journalists during a break in hearings at the Supreme Court Tuesday. (Photo: Chris Wattie/Reuters)|
But it was set against the backdrop of separate court challenges to results in seven other ridings where Conservatives are accused of seeking to suppress the votes of non-Conservatives, charges the Conservatives deny.
In Tuesday’s case, lawyer Kent Thomson, representing Opitz, argued for the top court to overturn an Ontario Superior Court decision that invalidated his slim May 2011 election victory and ordered a by-election.
Wrzesnewskyj had challenged the results, accusing Elections Canada of irregularities including not being able to produce registration certificates to back up the right to vote.
“We know that people that showed up with no ID were allowed to vote. That speaks to the integrity of the system here,” Wrzesnewskyj told reporters in the court’s foyer. “How can we have confidence in the laws enacted by parliamentarians when we can’t have confidence in who it was that actually was elected?”
There were no allegations of intentional wrongdoing.
Opitz argued that 52,000 people voted in his district, and it would not be right to overturn the results just because of some clerical errors by what he called honest and well-meaning Elections Canada officials.
“Everybody here’s made a mistake,” he told reporters .
In May, an Ontario judge invalidated Opitz’s election, disallowing 79 votes, including 52 that he disqualified because he could not find the voters were registered properly. Elections Canada subsequently found 44 of those 52 were in fact properly on its national voters registry.
Both sides tried to convince the seven judges hearing Tuesday’s case the soundness of the electoral system was at stake.
“Voters will recoil against [the system], saying . . .‘I lost my right to vote because some poll clerk didn’t write my name in a book.’ That can’t be right,” said Thomson.
Wrzesnewskyj’s counsel Gavin Tighe countered: “The rules provide integrity to the system, because the right to vote must be to vote in a fair system. . . . The right to vote in an election that is conducted unfairly is a right with no substance to it at all.”
While Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin showed great skepticism about Opitz’s position, three justices — Rosalie Abella, Marshall Rothstein, and Michael Moldaver — repeatedly questioned the idea of overturning an election because of a strict application of rules without any proof of wrongdoing.
“How can the process have integrity if a person who is qualified to vote is not allowed to vote for reasons that don’t apply to anything except the strict language?” asked Abella.
McLachlin said Canada had adopted a system of very strict record-keeping precisely because of electoral disputes that plague many countries.
“If this court should let that record-keeping slide, what will we be doing? We will excuse too many errors. What will that do to the overall Canadian electoral system?” she asked.
The court, which broke its summer recess to hear the case, reserved its decision but is expected to expedite its verdict.
|The PitCREW dragon boat team from Pitblado LLP. (Photo: Pitblado LLP)|
“We were losing up until the finish,” says Wallace. “We passed just at the finish line. As a steerer, I could see how we were doing. It was great to pull ahead just then.”
The race took place on June 23 at the Winnipeg Rowing Club on the Red River. The Pitblado team included 17 people from the law firm, with a mix of lawyers and support staff. The firm got involved with the race through partner Joe Barnsley, who is part of the Winnipeg Rowing Club. The club worked with the Canadian Cancer Society to host the event.
“It’s a good cause. It seemed like a great team-building event as well,” says Wallace.
|The PitCREW in action on the Red River. (Photo: Pitblado LLP)|
Pitblado faced off against 27 other teams, including two Winnipeg law firms.
The reason the Pitblado team won? Wallace says the victory was due to hard work on the team’s part.
“The team really meshed well and everyone that was rowing put in a lot of effort.”
Wallace says his firm plans to race again next year.
- Orders may pave the way for Competition Bureau approval
Maple, a consortium of Canada’s largest banks, insurers and pension funds, said the Ontario Securities Commission has approved final recognition orders that will govern operations of the combined entity after the close of the $3.8-billion deal. The rules will be published by the OSC later on Wednesday.
Canada’s Competition Bureau said earlier this year it was working closely with the OSC on its review of the deal. The bureau initially raised concerns about the deal’s impact on competition, but it later indicated the OSC’s final terms and conditions may help to “substantially mitigate” its concerns.
Maple as part of the deal wants to fold under TMX’s wing Alpha Group — TMX’s biggest domestic competitor in stock trading, and the Canadian Depository for Securities, which clears and settles all stock trades in Canada. The fact that TMX and Alpha control some 85 per cent of all stock trades in Canada raised concerns the merger would give too much power to a single market and clearing operator controlled by Canada’s big financial institutions.
TMX and Maple, in a joint statement, said the OSC’s orders approve the proposed acquisition of TMX Group, Alpha and CDS.
The orders, which provide the terms under which the OSC will permit Maple to operate a combined exchange and clearing group, have been reviewed and agreed to by all members of Maple Group.
Update 2:11 p.m.:
Competition Commissioner Melanie Aitken just released the following statement:
"Following an extensive review of Maple Group's bid to acquire TMX Group, as well as Alpha Group and Canadian Depository Services (CDS), in light of the Ontario Securities Commission's (OSC) recognition orders as finalized today, the Competition Bureau does not, at this time, intend to make an application to the Competition Tribunal to challenge the proposed transactions.
Lawyers in formal court dress mingled with pot-banging demonstrators of all ages in a central Montreal square yesterday after some 500 jurists took to the streets to protest against Quebec’s Bill 78.
The law, passed in efforts to get protesting Quebec students back to class, restricts freedom of assembly, protest, or picketing on or near university grounds, and anywhere in Quebec without prior police approval. The law also places restrictions upon education employees right to strike.
|Some 500 lawyers took to the streets of Montreal to protest Bill 78, which they say tramples Quebeckers’ rights. (Photo: Carl-Philippe Simonise)|
“We are here to express our concern with the lack of confidence of a growing number of our fellow citizens toward our judicial institutions that are there to uphold fundamental individual and collective liberties and the primacy of the law,” litigator Rémi Bourget, one of the organizers of the march, shouted through a megaphone.
“We are also officers of justice and many of us will be on the front lines of the fight to have the law declared illegal,” said Bourget, calling Bill 78 “a disproportionate attack on our freedom of expression, association, and of peaceful protest.”
Yesterday’s street protest by legal professionals of all stripes really began last week, a few days after Bill 78 was adopted with a few lawyers sharing concerns about its implications on a Facebook page, Bourget said before the march. That quickly morphed into plans for a formal protest to “remind people of the dignity of our function [as lawyers] and our system of justice” in a “spontaneous grouping that is independent of any organization or political party.”
“I am outraged by this law that bullies the rights of association and the individual right to protest that was adopted with the goal of putting an end to the conflict rather than focusing on the problem and settling it,” said Nathalie Belley, a solo practitioner and a litigator with 20 years of experience who travelled from Chambly, a city about 25 kilometres southeast of Montreal to attend Monday’s march. “It erodes the future of democracy and the idea that a special law can be adopted to control the population at large is scary.”
Besides the protest march, hundreds of Quebec lawyers have volunteered their time or sent input for a court challenge on the constitutionality of Bill 78 by some 124 individuals, community organizations, unions, and Quebec’s three main student groups that is set to be heard before a judge of Quebec Superior Court this Friday.
|(Photo: Mark Blinch/Reuters)|
The resignations come ahead of what are expected to be massive layoffs this year as the company prepares to launch BlackBerry smartphones run by an operating system completely different from that used in its legacy phones.
RIM’s shares have fallen some 75 per cent in the last year while its market share has shriveled against competition from iPhone maker Apple Inc and a slew of manufacturers using Google Inc’s Android operating system.
Bawa, who joined RIM in 2000, was promoted to general counsel and chief legal officer in late 2010. RIM said in a statement Bawa planned to stay on to support the hiring and transition of a replacement.
Analysts and former employees have long complained about what they viewed as a hyper-cautious corporate approach at RIM. That grew out of a drawn-out patent dispute early in the company’s rise and was exacerbated by the hiring of a slew of in-house lawyers afterwards.
RIM is quietly cleaning out layers of management and recruiting new people to fill important roles in a new structure being fashioned under Heins, who himself replaced longtime co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie in January.
The Waterloo, Ont.-based company currently employs around 16,500 people globally. Two sources with close connections to RIM have told Reuters that RIM plans to bring its workforce closer to 10,000 by early next year.
The sources asked to go unidentified because their disclosures would hurt their relationships with RIM.
The cuts will affect RIM’s legal, marketing, sales, operations, and human resources divisions, one of the sources said.
|'The passage of this bill is the result of a significant effort on the part of the Ministry of Justice,' says Bruce LeRose.|
“The passage of this bill is the result of a significant effort on the part of the Ministry of Justice,” said Bruce LeRose, president of the LSBC.
The amendments to the act include:
• An updated mandate that highlights the commitment of the LSBC to protection the public interests in the administration of justice.
• Decisions of LSBC hearing panels are subject to review by a board that will include persons who are not lawyers.
• Where it is in the public interest, the LSBC will have the authority to suspend a lawyer under investigation or impose conditions on the lawyer’s practice.
• Maximum fines for lawyer misconduct will be increased to be more in line with those of other professional bodies and to act as a greater deterrent.
• The LSBC will have the ability to require witnesses to answer questions and produce records in an investigation into a lawyer’s conduct.
• The LSBC will be able to suspend or disbar lawyers convicted of a wider range of serious crimes, which will also be extended to include those committed outside Canada.
• The elected and appointed board of governors, not all lawyers, will set the annual fees paid by lawyers to fund the LSBC.
More on the amendments here.
Photos: Gail J. Cohen
Launched in 2007, the Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers has grown substantially from its first meetings in a local Toronto Chinese restaurant.
Thierry Ntumba and Mariott Gilpin from the Royal Bank of Canada join in the festivities at Hart House.
Former FACL president Jason Leung of Ridout & Maybee LLP, Jennifer Leung, Neil Kothari of RBC, and visiting National Asian Pacific American Bar Association executive member Jin Hwang of Verizon Wireless in New Jersey.
Law Society of Upper Canada Bencher Raj Anand of Weir Foulds LLP, Heydary Green managing director Michael Cochrane, and Ontario Superior Court Justice Faye McWatt.
A little light entertainment.
More members of the RBC legal team: Mahira Mohtashami and Karen Sladden.
Patrick Gervais from Blaney McMurtry LLP, and Paliare Roland’s Manpreet Dhaliwal and Gregory Ko.
Some of the organizers of the FACL gala: Rosa Kang of Bennett Gastle PC; Jazz Li from Cappell Parker LLP; Andrea Yau of Koskie Minsky LLP; Cynthia Aoki of Jones Harley LLP; and mylawbid.com founder Jeffrey Fung.
Law Society of Upper Canada benchers Linda Rothstein and Janet Minor.
Vanessa Lam of Macdonald & Partners and Landy Marr Kats LLP’s Anna Wong.
Alwin Kong of Cancer Care Ontario; Brendan Wong from Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, Janet Chong from Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, and Rogers Communications’ Trung Lam.
Ontario Attorney General John Gerretsen.
Keynote speaker Justice Linda Lee Oland of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal. Her advice for the crowd was: “Don’t self select out” of applying for judicial positions.
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Gail J. Cohen | <urn:uuid:e7deb396-c35c-4656-b5fb-61816b610771> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.canadianlawyermag.com/legalfeeds/Gail-Cohen/Page-3.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954034 | 3,525 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Improve your chances in the field with Winchester's Guide to Whitetail Hunting
Whitetail hunting presents a unique set of challenges that requires special skills and equipment. Regardless of your skill level or the quality of your equipment, there are some basic steps you can take to improve your chances in the field and bring home that monster buck. The following is a guide to whitetail hunting basics.
The best way to improve your chances of bringing home a big buck is to know where they are. Get in the field and scout early to learn whitetail habits and movements. Pay careful attention to deer signs such as scrapes, rubs, droppings, tracks and deer trails. Motion-sensor game cameras are also a good way track deer movement. Many of these cameras will put a time stamp on the pictures, which allows you to identify what time of day deer are moving. Knowing when and where deer move, eat and sleep is critical to developing a successful plan and determining effective stand placement and tactics for deer season.
Deer Stand Placement
Understanding deer movement means you can then begin strategic placement of your deer stand. Locate your stands near deer trails that run between food sources and bedding areas. Ideally, you should locate a part of the trail that has a natural ‘funnel’ or narrowing that will help keep the deer confined to a targeted area. When placing your stand, select a location that will be downwind and about 25-100 yards from the path you expect the deer to take. If you are using a tree stand, it should be placed at least 12-15 feet off the ground. Use natural surroundings and foliage to provide additional cover. If you are using a tree stand, be sure to use a safety harness and follow all safety practices. If possible, setup your stand several days before your first hunt. This will allow the deer time to get used to the presence of the stand and you to clear branches and create unobstructed shooting lanes which will improve your chances to take a clean shot from your stand.
At the range, shoot at distances near and far to learn where to hold at a distant target. Learn your firearms capabilities as well as your own capabilities. Always check your background for a safe backstop before beginning to sight in the firearm.
Place the target at 25 yards and fire three shots. Adjust your scope, according to the manufacturers instructions, to hit dead on or slightly low and confirm with three more shots. Be sure to allow your barrel time to cool down between shots - a hot barrel will change the point of impact of the bullet. Place the target at 100 or 200 yards (depending on the expected ranges you will be hunting) for your final adjustment. Fire three shots and adjust your scope to the point you wan the bullet to strike, using the center point of impact of the three bullet holes.
Before the hunt, spend time shooting in a variety of positions such as standing, sitting or kneeling and practice shooting in the type of clothing in which you typically hunt. Learn how to take advantage of natural rests and how to shoot off of crossed shooting stick rests. Never take an off-hand shot if a shot from a solid rest is possible. Remember, the key to accuracy and success is a steady gun and a smooth pull of the trigger.
Having a well-fitting gun is critical to becoming a proficient shot. A variety of guns are available for whitetail hunting. Gun styles range from the traditional bolt action rifles like the Winchester Model 70 to cantilever shotguns like the Winchester Super X3 to gas-operated autoloading rifles like the Winchester Super X Rifle.
When selecting a firearm, it is important to select a gun that fits. The gun should not only provide a comfortable physical fit, but it should also fit the conditions in which you hunt. The Winchester Super X Rifle offers reduced recoil and enhanced ergonomics promoting better handling. For more information on the Super X Rifle and other Winchester Firearms, visit www.winchesterguns.com.
It is paramount to match the cartridge and ammunition to the animals you plan to hunt. While some of the .22 caliber rifles designed for small game and varmints are extremely accurate, they are not powerful enough, nor well suited for hunting deer and larger animals. Neither would you hunt rabbits with a .338 Winchester magnum designed for use on large game animals. Winchester produces a variety of slugs and bullets perfectly designed to cleanly and quickly take that trophy buck.
Never mix ammunition. Keep it separated by calibers and cartridges as well as bullet weight and bullet design. Seldom do equal weight bullets of different design have the same point of impact. Remember, if you change the bullet weight or design, you must re-sight your firearm.
Winchester Ammunition is an innovator in ammunition technology and offers rifle bullets and shotgun slugs in a wide range of calibers and gauges to meet your needs on the range or in the field. | <urn:uuid:6106c5f8-66d1-4e0e-9b94-e6f4c14108de> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.winchester.com/learning-center/hunting-guides/Pages/Whitetail-Guide.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933063 | 1,011 | 1.84375 | 2 |
In this image taken by the Korean Central News Agency, the Unha-3 rocket lifts off from a launch site in North Korea on Wednesday. / Korea Central News Agency via AP
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) - A satellite North Korea launched aboard a long-range rocket is orbiting normally, South Korean officials said Thursday, following a defiant liftoff that drew a wave of international condemnation.
Washington and its allies are pushing for punishment over the launch they say is nothing but a test of banned ballistic missile technology.
The launch of a three-stage rocket - similar in design to a model capable of carrying a nuclear-tipped warhead as far as California - raises the stakes in the international standoff over North Korea's expanding atomic arsenal. As Pyongyang refines its technology, its next step may be conducting its third nuclear test, experts warn.
The U.N. Security Council, which has punished North Korea repeatedly for developing its nuclear program, condemned Wednesday's launch and said it will urgently consider "an appropriate response." The White House called the launch a "highly provocative act that threatens regional security," and even the North's most important ally, China, expressed regret.
In Pyongyang, however, pride over the scientific advancement outweighed the fear of greater international isolation and punishment. North Koreans clinked beer mugs and danced in the streets to celebrate.
"It's really good news," North Korean citizen Jon Il Gwang told The Associated Press as he and scores of other Pyongyang residents poured into the streets after a noon announcement to celebrate the launch by dancing in the snow. "It clearly testifies that our country has the capability to enter into space."
In Seoul, about 100 people held a rally to protest the launch, and burned a stuffed doll of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and a mock missile made of paper.
South Korea's Defense Ministry said Thursday the satellite is orbiting normally at a speed of 7.6 kilometers (4.7 miles) per second, though it's not known what mission it is performing. North Korean space officials say the satellite would be used to study crops and weather patterns.
Defense Ministry Spokesman Kim Min-seok said it usually takes about two weeks to determine whether a satellite works successfully after liftoff. He cited data from the North American Aerospace Defense Command.
Wednesday's launch was North Korea's fifth bid since 1998. An April launch failed in the first of three stages, raising doubts among outside observers whether North Korea could fix what was wrong in eight months, but those doubts were erased Wednesday.
The Unha rocket, Korean for "galaxy," blasted off from a launch pad northwest of Pyongyang just three days after North Korea indicated that technical problems might delay the launch.
South Korean navy ships found what appears to be debris from the first stage rocket at Yellow Sea and were trying to retrieve them on Thursday, defense officials said. The debris is believed to be a fuel container of the first stage rocket.
The officials said South Korea has no plans to return it to North Korea because the launch violated U.N. council resolutions.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command confirmed that "initial indications are that the missile deployed an object that appeared to achieve orbit."
The launch could leave Pyongyang even more isolated and cut off from much-needed aid and trade.
The U.N. imposed two rounds of sanctions following nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009 and ordered the North not to conduct any launches using ballistic missile technology. Pyongyang maintains its right to develop a civilian space program, saying the satellite will send back crucial scientific data.
Pyongyang is thought to have a handful of rudimentary nuclear bombs, but experts believe the North lacks the ability to make a warhead small enough to mount on a missile that could threaten the United States.
Associated Press writers Kim Kwang Hyon and Jon Chol Jin in Pyongyang, North Korea; Foster Klug, Hyung-jin Kim and Sam Kim in Seoul, South Korea contributed to this report.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Read the original story: South Korea: N. Korea's satellite orbiting normally | <urn:uuid:d008f2ce-2857-486f-95cf-bb790bfdab33> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailyworld.com/usatoday/article/1766011?odyssey=mod_sectionstories | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948065 | 853 | 1.914063 | 2 |
LGN Run Club's Top Ten pre marathon race day tips
10 April, 2012
LGN Run Club's Top Ten marathon tips
Welcome to LGN’s top 10 marathon tips, these come from real life experiences of LGN's running passionate Run Club trainers, including those in our team aiming for Olympic marathon qualifying times and benefiting from the latest research via Team GB training camp expertise. We hope it helps makes your marathon experience sweeter and provides smile inducing running memories to last a lifetime.
Setting the scene
The time is almost nigh, you have trained like a Trojan, so it is important you start to plan and embrace some of the pre race practicalities and logistics that are very often overlooked and can sometimes render your fantastic training investment redundant on race day.
Vital you arrive on the start line with full glycogen reserves, most experiences of ‘hitting the wall’ are down to people running out of fuel. Ensure you have excellent low GI breakfast (Porridge is the choice of many world record holders) and prepare easily digestible snacking food to take with you en route to race.
Have an eating plan for the race and stick to it, eat more than you think you need during the race - each sports gel contains approx 25g of carbs which will give you a 30 minute energy window, thus for 4 hour goal you need to think about 8 gels or equivalent race fuel... perhaps more than you had planned?
Remember the LGN mantra of pre-empt, pre-empt and pre-empt.
Pre empt fuel running low - do not react!
As per above with fuel, we need you to arrive on the start line beautifully hydrated. Hydration does not just mean water, but importantly all the essential electrolytes and salts that assist with muscle function. It can take up to 48 hours to hydrate fully to a cellular level, so drinking copious amounts of water before that start can often merely flood your kidneys, dilute your essential
electrolytes and actually lead to de-hydration.
Consider drinking little amounts but often at least one week prior to race day, again pre-empt is the watchword, your thirst mechanism generally only tells you when you are already de-hydrated. Research indicates maximum hydration uptake at 0.4 – 0.8
litres per hour, so you just need to keep sipping at each water station to top up your nicely pre hydrated body– simples.
48 hours to hydrate... no guzzling 2 litre bottles on start line
3. The start
Family watching on TV, good luck cards adorning your mantelpiece at home ensures plenty of adrenalin, this coupled possibly with caffeine often means many people will be running too fast at the start of the race. This is further amplified at the London Marathon where the opening 6-7 miles are very slightly downhill.
Be the one person who is not dictated to by the crowd and stick to your own pace and or find an official pacemaker to help guide you through the opening miles.
Pace, pace and pace, be brave and hold back the initial adrenalin rush
4. Write it down
The day of the race with be an exhilarating adrenalin fueled day, don’t try to remember anything important on race day itself, write your to-do list several days before and make more than one copy.
Good enough for Shakespeare, good enough for you
5. Toilet paper
Take some, sounds low tech and indeed it is, but can be a vital comfort blanket knowing you will not get caught short prior to the starting gun going off.
Don't leave home without the above
6. Toe nails
Aim to trim your toe nails 7 days prior to race day, we need to make sure they are not too long (catching ends of your shoes) and reduce risk of infection should you accidently trim them a tad too close, we have all done it.
No clipping closer than 7 days before race day
Muscle function and recovery is intrinsically linked with sleep, your body produces Human Grwowth Hormone while you sleep the very same thing sporting drug cheats inject.... thus sleep is very important and Paula Radcliffe aims for 11 hours per day.
Expect that the night before marathon day, you may well be too excited sleep normally and factor in the fact you will be getting up at possibly 5.30 / 6am. Therefore aim to sleep at least one hour longer than your norm for the three days prior to your big 26 mile day to allow for this possibility.
Human Growth Hormone, why inject to cheat when you can sleep your way to an advantage?
8. Nothing new
Quite simply, on race day do not eat, drink or wear any item of clothing that you have not previously tested on your longest run.
The lucky pants Aunt Beryl bought you might feel majestic on a gentle jog round the block, but 18 miles into race day and with a mild case of ‘salt rub’, you may wish you stuck to what you knew. Same goes for taking fuel during race, Lucozade for example is the London Marathon’s chosen product, so if you want use their services, make sure you have tested the products previously.
Keep to trusted & known running kit - please excuse shameless LGN plug
9. Test run
As per the sleep headline above, getting up at 5.30am, eating a hearty low GI breakfast and then racing 26miles is not the same as eating toast at 9am and going out for your 10 or 15 mile Sunday run.
Practice at least once getting up at the same time you would on race day and eating breakfast and then running at race time, perhaps save for longest training run to best mimic marathon day.
Chuck Yeager proved the test pilot legend, reach for the stars and become your own test pilot
10. Mental prep
You have trained to your best, eaten porridge like it’s going out of fashion, hydrated like a lord and have acquired the pace judgment of a metronome, however, do expect a few things out of your control to go not as planned on race day, this is natural with thousands running in a confined area. Remember it is a long race, with plenty of time to remedy an initial problem.
Some of you may remember BBC TV coverage of the toilet problems encountered by both Steve Jones & Paula Radcliffe in the final miles of the London Marathon in 1985 and 2005… and yet both still went on to victory.
Prepare for the unexpected and prepare to have a magical 26 mile day.
LGN trainers hunted for hours until they found this 4 leaf Clover - Good luck from all the LGN team
Indeed we wish all LGN Run Club members and friends of LGN good luck in their respective 26 mile journey, happy running one and all!
Do a runner with LGN
Keep up to date with LGN events, announcements and more. | <urn:uuid:70bfc5d5-19f4-4a7d-93b8-3f02fab3941e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lgnwellbeing.com/news/lgn-run-clubs-top-ten-pre-marathon-race-day-tips | 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 | 0.940691 | 1,443 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Leo T. Kehl with a line formation of dance students. August 13, 1929. Image ID 28788.
Images from the Kehl School of Dance - Madison
The Kehl School of Dance in Madison celebrated its 125th Anniversary in June 2005. Founded by Frederick W. Kehl in 1880 as Kehl's Dancing Academy, it has been operated by family members ever since - first by his son Leo, and more recently by Leo's daughters: Virginia Lee Mackesey, Jo Jean Janus, and Jo Ann McDermott.
The collection includes posed individual and group shots of Kehl students in full costume; images of public events (such as a flag drill at Henry Vilas Park in 1911 and the "living flag" demonstration on the Capitol steps in 1900); shots of marquees advertising Kehl's Dance Troupe, the interior and exterior of the dance studio and the Capitol Bowling Alley; and images of dance and entertainment professionals.
View images from the Kehl School of Dance and take a "step" back in time! | <urn:uuid:e50ec4ae-6c9c-4846-84b9-070c41aedd75> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/whi/feature/kehl/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94563 | 213 | 1.734375 | 2 |
There are many methods of determining bending stiffness and properties, such as bending force and bending moment, which are related to bending stiffness. Examples of methods for measuring bending stiffness are the resonance bending stiffness method for paper and the 4-point bending stiffness method for corrugated fibreboard. Methods like those of Taber and Clark and the 2-point bending resistance method according to L&W are all examples of "bending-stiffness related" methods, i.e. methods which do not really measure bending stiffness but which measure something which correlates with bending stiffness.
The measurement results are usually reported in the form of a bending resistance or bending moment. These bending-stiffness-related methods are characterized by the fact that the measurement results are strongly dependent on the test format and on other measurement conditions.
The measurement of tensile stiffness involved some theoretical problems which we have learned to handle with the help of theories of materials mechanics, measurement methods and correct equipment. The measurement of bending stiffness makes even greater demands on method and measurement equipment, if we are really to measure what we intend to measure. In this chapter, we shall now consider bending stiffness by studying the theories of mechanics of materials in order to obtain a better understanding of this important property. The ambition is to understand the stresses which interact when a material is exposed to a bending moment. I therefore exclude basic mathematical derivations, such as the general calculation of moment of inertia.
Two principles for bending stiffness measurement
Two different principles are utilized for the determination of bending stiffness. The first is the beam bending principle, which is in turn subdivided into the 2-point, 3-point and 4-point methods, depending on the number of load application points on the sample. The second is the resonance stiffness principle where the natural frequency of free vibration is utilized.
Theory for bending stiffness in beam bending
Since paper is an extremely complicated material from a bending stiffness point of view, we choose to describe the bending stiffness theories starting from a rectangular beam of metal. The beam is assumed to be weightless so that its own weight need not be introduced into the discussion.
Read the entire article (pdf) | <urn:uuid:80d65fbc-64f3-485b-8be6-53643927ad1e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lorentzen-wettre.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=269&Itemid=165&lang=ja | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944011 | 436 | 3.625 | 4 |
Tutorials for CS559
These are some tutorials and sample code to help you get started doing the programming for CS559.
There are two types of tutorials here. One set was written by Mike Gleicher (with help from 559 TAs) to help students understand the concepts behind the libraries. The other set was written by Stephen Chenney (with help from 559 TAs) and has much more specifics about how to do projects within the CS environment.
Part 1 - Getting started with Windows and FlTk
Mike's notes on Getting Started with FlTk
Tutorial 2: Command Line Arguments
Tutorial 3: An FLTK Window
Tutorial 4: A More Complex FLTK Example
Part 2 - Working with Images and LibTarga
Tutorial 5: Use the LibTarga library
Tutorial 6: Modify and Display Image
Part 3 - Getting Started with OpenGL
Tutorial 7 - OpenGL in FLTK (with some 3D basics)
Tutorial 8 - OpenGL Lighting
Tutorial 9 - OpenGL Input | <urn:uuid:2402ae64-7e8b-42cc-81bd-a8c23d8513db> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://research.cs.wisc.edu/graphics/Courses/559-f2005/Tutorials/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932333 | 223 | 2.203125 | 2 |
View Full Version : Summer camp young teen activity..help?
I am organizing a short, 3 day camp for our church. July 5,6 and 7. I was looking for an outdoor type activity for the young teens. We did a climbing wall one year that was a huge sucess. Anyone know any info on the challenge type courses that push teamwork and make 'em use they little brains? Any links, someone to talk to, ideas, anything?
04-22-2007, 11:52 PM
The timeframe may be a little short notice this year but there is an excellent camp in Arkadelphia (Camp Winnamocka) with full accomodations and they will do as much or as little as you want for your group; sleeping accomodations, meals, ROPES courses 8O , water activities :D , etc.....give them a look on the web!!
Hope this helps some......good luck!! Also there used to be some pretty good programs offered at Camp Ferndale 4-H Camp out in West Little Rock/Ferndale area.....been a long time since I went there.
Cool!! (AKA RP345)
04-23-2007, 07:59 AM
Don't know if this is what you had in mind, but there is also a brand new challenge course at the Heifer Ranch, near Perryville. Not sure if it's available for public use, though. I guess you would just have to call them to find out. From their web site (http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.2643045/):
"The Ranch’s high challenge course includes four connected elements: a two-line bridge, a multi-line vine, island hopping and a catwalk. To reach the top, participants climb an access tower that resembles a climbing wall but has the ease of climbing a ladder. After completing the four elements, participants descend the course down the zipline. The course was designed to have up to 17 people actively participating at one time and will take a single participant approximately 20 minutes to complete."
04-23-2007, 02:42 PM
I went to the adventure cahllenge camp at the 4-H center 3 or 4 years in a row and it was great. They did a lot of team building excercies and had a great ropes course. I'm not sure if it is open for any other camps. It is a reallynice facility.
04-23-2007, 07:34 PM
The Paris High School (479) 963-2247 has a Ropes Course for Teamwork and probably even has the instructors to complete the course.
I could only suggest that you call the number I have listed and ask because I am not sure.
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A study finds that those who drink in moderation - no more than 14 drinks a week and no more than three a day for women and four a day for men - have better overall scores than those who abstain completely.
The quality of life was measured using the Health Utilities index, which looks at factors including dexterity, emotion, cognition and mobility.
Researchers from the Boston University School of Medicine studied 5,404 Canadians at age 50, and continued to observe them over a follow up period.
Most showed a stable alcohol consumption pattern and 'persistant moderate drinkers' were identified.
They found that these regular moderate drinkers scored highest in each of the health indices.
However, subsequent changes in quality of life past 50 were similar in all groups, except for those who cut down on drinking from moderate levels - and these showed signs of decline.
The authors write: "Overall, this study shows a positive relation between regular moderate alcohol intake and quality of life in middle-aged adults.
"The effects on the subsequent quality of life as one ages of continued alcohol consumption, or of decreasing intake, remain unclear."
But reviewers invited to comment on the study warned that the study did not take into account the reasons for people stopping drinking or cutting down.
Harvey Finkel, from the Boston University Medical Center, said: "As people age, even disregarding medical obstacles, social interactions generally decrease, which leads to both less stimulation to drink and less opportunity to drink." | <urn:uuid:73cacd41-c33b-4e4f-a588-53a83413ae2f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/9352383/Two-glasses-of-wine-a-day-improves-quality-of-life-for-middle-aged.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970795 | 298 | 2.296875 | 2 |
medwireNews: Researchers have confirmed that trait-impulsiveness is associated with bipolar disorder and provide additional evidence of it being linked to a more severe clinical expression of the disease.
They found that Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS)-10 scores were significantly higher, indicating increased impulsivity, in bipolar disorder patients who had a history of substance misuse or rapid cycling and mixed episodes.
There was no evidence, however, of an association between trait-impulsiveness and any variable relating to suicide attempts.
Bruno Etain, from Hôpital Albert Chenevier in Créteil, France and colleagues believe the findings indicate the possibility of using trait-impulsiveness as a means of identifying bipolar disorder patients at risk for substance misuse and mood instability and better tailoring their treatment.
"The codification of therapeutic interventions as a function of impulsiveness level is required," they say. "Nevertheless, such a dimension should be included in personalized medicine that is developing for bipolar patients."
A total of 385 euthymic bipolar disorder patients and 185 mentally healthy individuals participated in the study and comparison of their BIS-10 scores showed that the two groups had significantly different total scores, at approximately 66 for bipolar disorder patients versus 59 points for controls.
The bipolar disorder patients also scored significantly higher than controls for the three subscales: motor impulsiveness, attentional impulsiveness, and nonplanning impulsiveness.
The researchers note in the Journal of Affective Disorders that bipolar disorder patients who misused alcohol had significantly higher BIS-10 total scores than bipolar disorder patients who did not, with average scores of 69 versus 65. Respective scores for patients who misused cannabis and those who did not were 72 versus 65. Moreover, a history of both alcohol and cannabis misuse had an additive effect.
The findings were similar for patients with rapid cycling or mixed episodes, with patients with a history of at least one mixed episode or rapid cycling scoring an average of 69 on the BIS-10 versus a score of 65 for patients with neither history.
"These results may have several important clinical and research implications," say Etain et al. These include the use of trait impulsiveness to identify patients at greater risk for substance misuse, "making it possible to focus preventing measures on those most at risk."
Also, "patients with high impulsiveness scores may be more prone to mood instability... but they may also be more prone to severe, comorbid clinical expression," the team notes.
"Specific drug-based and psychological interventions targeting dyscontrol and hyperreactivity might therefore be possible."
medwireNews (www.medwirenews.com) is an independent clinical news service provided by Springer Healthcare Limited. © Springer Healthcare Ltd; 2013 | <urn:uuid:2f25e432-6565-4c62-8ba0-69174c90d279> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.medwirenews.com/47/103180/Psychiatry/Impulsiveness_linked_to_severe_clinical_features_in_bipolar_disorder.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942761 | 561 | 1.96875 | 2 |