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Could the human body's own "marijuana" hold the key to a healthy and happy childhood? Scientists in Israel have posed the question, and their answer may surprise you.
Recently, researcher Ester Fride of the Behavioral Sciences Department of Israel's College of Judea and Samaria published a pair of scientific papers stating that the brain's cannabinoid receptors (receptors in the brain that respond pharmacologically to various compounds in cannabis as well as other endogenous compounds) and the naturally occurring messenger molecules that activate and bind to them (so-called endocannabinoids) "are present from the early stages of gestation" and may play "a number of vital roles" in human prenatal and postnatal development.
Writing in Neuroendocrinology Letters and the European Journal of Pharmacology , Fride suggests, "A role for the endocannabinoid system for the human infant is likely."
She notes that in animals, the endogenous cannabinoid system fulfills several important developmental functions, including: embryonal implantation (which requires a temporary and localized reduction in the production of the endocannabinoid anandamide), neural development, neuroprotection, the development of memory and oral-motor skills, and the initiation of suckling in newborns.
A dysfunctional endocannabinoid system, Fride speculates, may be responsible for certain abnormalities in infants, particularly "failure-to-thrive" syndrome, a condition in which newborns fail to properly grow and gain weight. (In animal studies, mice fail to gain weight and die within the first week of life when their cannabinoid receptors are blocked.)
Nevertheless, the author does not recommend that pregnant mothers consume cannabis, noting that a handful of studies have observed subtle cognitive deficiencies in offspring with prenatal exposure to pot. (At present, there exists little consensus within the scientific community as to whether infrequent cannabis use may impair postnatal development, as various studies have yielded conflicting results.)
Fride does, however, strongly recommend the use of cannabinoids in pediatric medicine. She notes that "excellent clinical results" have been reported in pediatric oncology and in case studies of children with severe neurological diseases or brain trauma, and suggests that cannabis-derived medicines could also play a role in the treatment of other childhood syndromes, including the pain and gastrointestinal inflammation associated with cystic fibrosis.
Because the development of the cannabinoid receptor system appears to occur gradually over the course of childhood, "children may be less prone to the psychoactive side effects of THC or endocannabinoids than adults," Fride writes. "Therefore, it is suggested that children may respond positively to the medicinal applications of cannabinoids without [psychoactive] effects." She concludes, "The medical implications of these novel developments are far reaching and suggest a promising future for cannabinoids in pediatric medicine" for conditions including cachexia (severe weight loss), cystic fibrosis, failure-to-thrive, anorexia, inflammation, and chronic pain.
"It's clear that the cannabinoid system is essential for complete human development, and that cannabis medicines have a great potential to help sick children," says University of Southern California professor Mitch Earlywine, author of the book, Understanding Marijuana: A New Look at the Scientific Evidence . "Given the well established safety of the medication, clinical trials for other disorders, particularly cystic fibrosis and 'failure-to-thrive,' seem a humane and essential next step." | <urn:uuid:09e93f83-57df-409f-bf80-bf639051d538> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.alternet.org/story/21504/pot_pediatrics?qt-best_of_the_week=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926217 | 708 | 3.125 | 3 |
Learn How To Set Up the HTML File for Export in Fireworks
Tags:adobe creative suite 2,adobe dreamweaver,adobe fireworks,adobe flash 8 professional,adobe illustrator,adobe photoshop,adobe web bundle,cascading style sheets,cmyk,html,jpeg,live,mac,macromedia studio 8,microsoft windows,rgb,total training
Grab video code:
I am going to just go up to ‘File’ then choose ‘Export’. Now, before we export this time, let us take a quick look at the ‘Options’, so we can se how we can control how Fireworks is going to write our HTML file.
I will just click on ‘Options’ over here, and you will see we get a few different selections that we are going to run through and see what kind of changes we can make in our HTML file. The first one is the HTML style.
Notice we can write a page targeted towards any type of environment we would like to. Also, you will notice that in addition to standard HTML, we have the option of being able to write extended HTML. I would recommend that as most browsers are moving into the XHTML format.
This is a very small change in the HTML code that is written but it will ensure that your code is compatible to all future browsers as well as the ones that have worked up in the past. I am going to leave that at Dreamweaver XHTML. You will notice, we can also choose the extension.
Now, quite honestly, it really does not matter whether you use HTM or HTML or capital or lower case letters. Your files will all be the same. Now, I am going to leave ours on HTM but I am going to make sure as we go forward in Dreamweaver that we just choose a consistent file format extension name. It just makes things a little bit easier for you.
There is an option to include HTML comments and if you are coder, what this will mean is it will include comments inside the HTML file it writes to mark off certain locations. If you are planning on hand inserting code yourself, you may just want to leave this out.
We also got some options for CSS that we will be using later. In the table specifications, it gives us spacing options and this is where you can choose that one pixel transparent spacing that we saw earlier in the top row and the right hand column.
I actually recommend leaving that set. It will make your job a lot easier and making sure that your table lines up. If you choose one of the other two options, it will make it much simpler table but it will also mean you have to manually go and adjust it any time any changes occur.
We got some ‘Cell Color’ options which just set the background of the page. I will be doing that in Dreamweaver later, so I will just leave that blank.
In the document specific settings, this is where you can choose how the automatic names will be generated, this whole set of hold down tabs up here allows you to choose from lots of different naming options, so that when it auto names your slices, it will generate things exactly the way you want.
My personal preference is to name the slices as we did, just because I get names that are much more easy to understand. So, I am going to leave all these defaults at reset values. I will click ‘OK’ and we will export our file once again.
Now, it should write over the existing HTML file and the GIF files and we will switch right on over to Dreamweaver and see how our changes look.
Once again, Dreamweaver is going to reload to show our new changes instead of the old files and we can see all of our new slices that have been inserted just exactly as we would like and we can see what the HTML slices look like.
We got a blank cell in a table to set just the right size and our placeholder content in the HTML setting has been inserted already for us. | <urn:uuid:9c77ad0e-eddb-44ee-a391-7a501b392781> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://on.aol.com/video/extreme-website-makeover---setting-up-the-html-file-for-export-86621906 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922949 | 840 | 1.898438 | 2 |
There are many beautiful water fountains around the world, from the Bellagio Fountains in Las Vegas to the old fountains of Rome. Here are some fountains that millions of people travel each year to go see. These fountains are located at some of the most popular tourist destinations from in front of some beautiful hotels, to the middle of downtowns.
The Dubai Fountain
The Dubai Fountain
The Dubai Fountain performance in the night
The Dubai Fountain is a record-setting choreographed fountain system set on the 30- acre man-made Burj Khalifa Lake, at the center of the Downtown Dubai development in Dubai.It is Illuminated by 6,600 lights and 25 colored projectors, it is 275 m (902 ft) long and shoots water 150 m (490 ft) into the air, accompanied by a range of classical to contemporary Arabic and world music. It was built at a cost of AED 800 million (USD 218 million) the fountain was officially inaugurated on 8 May 2009 along with the official opening ceremony of the Dubai Mall.
Swarovski Fountain, Innsbruck, Austria
The Fountains of Bellagio, Las Vegas
The Fountains at night, as seen from Paris Las Vegas
The Fountains of Bellagio is a vast, choreographed water feature with performances set to light and music.The show takes place every 30 minutes in the afternoons and early evenings, and every 15 minutes from 8 p.m. to midnight.The fountains are set in a 9-acre (3.6 ha) manmade lake.It is estimated that the fountains cost $75 million to build
71 Fountain, Ohio, United States
Fountain of Nations, Walt Disney World Resort
The Fountain of Nations is a musical fountain at Epcot in the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.. The fountain contains about 200,000 gallons of water, has about 300 nozzles and can shoot water between 30 and 150 PSI to over 150 feet high.
Archibald Fountain, Sydney, Australia
The Archibald Fountain, properly called the J.F. Archibald Memorial Fountain, widely regarded as the finest public fountain in Australia, is located in Hyde Park, in central Sydney, New South Wales.
Banpo Bridge Fountain, Seoul, South Korea
The Moonlight Rainbow Fountain is the world's longest bridge fountain that set a Guinness World Record with nearly 10,000 LED nozzles that run along both sides that is 1,140m long, shooting out 190 tons of water per minute which was Installed in September 2009 on the Banpo Bridge, Seoul.
Crown Fountain, Chicago, United States
Crown Fountain is an interactive work of public art and video sculpture featured in Chicago's Millennium Park designed by artist Jaume Plensa, it was opened in July 2004.The fountain is composed of a black granite reflecting pool placed between a pair of glass brick towers and they use LEDs to display digital videos on their inward faces. Construction and design of the Crown Fountain cost $17 million.
Floating Fountains, Osaka, Japan
Fountain of Wealth, Suntec City, Singapore
The Fountain of Wealthis listed by the Guinness Book of Records in 1998 as the largest fountain in the world. It is located in one of Singapore's largest shopping malls, Suntec City.At night, the fountain is the setting for laser performances, as well as "live" song and laser message dedications between 8pm to 9pm daily. | <urn:uuid:8421f183-2b90-4b1b-a47d-7978d0d3d2e8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://oddyfunny.blogspot.com/2010/06/amazing-and-creative-fountain.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948354 | 732 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Tax credit overpayment figures were published today by HMRC which show that the level of overpayment has fallen between 2005/06 and 2006/07, the period which covers the increased income disregard (this moved up from £2,500 to £25,000).
The amount overpaid in 2005/06 was £1.7 billion, which fell to £1.0 billion in 2006/07. There were 1,902,000 awards overpaid in 2005/06 and 1,291,000 in 2006/07. Over one in five awards were overpaid in 2006/07.
Overpayments are normal
Overpayments are a normal part of the tax credits system, the key question is whether any particular overpayment was expected by the claimant and did it arise through normal processes? If the answer to both is “yes” the system is likely to be working for that claimant.
Very often that has not been the case in the first five years and HMRC errors and poor communications have driven much of the dissatisfaction that has built up.
We still believe that much more could have been done to wipe the slate clean in respect of debts which accrued through errors and misunderstandings in the early years of the system. It would have given those claimants a completely different perspective and a way out of the long-term debt with which they are now shouldered. The more time that passes, the less likely is any action to be taken for these unfortunate people who are locked into situations not of their own making.
So if the past is set, then the future must offer more hope. Certainly many claimants or potential claimants would be comforted if they thought they were about to engage with the “New Improved Tax Credits” and not some patched-up old version.
This is why the discussion document Tax credits: improving delivery and choice is to be welcomed as it shows the government mind is not closed to further improvements.
The government is aiming to do three things:
- continuing to improve the service HMRC provide to the diverse range of people receiving tax credits by tailoring support more closely to individuals’ needs, to make the process of claiming, receiving and renewing tax credits easier for customers and to reduce the scope for error;
- giving customers more control over their tax credits affairs, by providing them with greater certainty about their awards, and more choice about how they receive tax credits and how they repay any overpayments that might arise, while continuing to provide additional support where their income falls or their circumstances change. While the proposals outlined at this stage to give customers more choice are relatively modest, they could inform the direction of future policy development; and
- setting out a range of possible options to simplify the delivery of childcare support through tax credits, to further reduce customer error.
Which is most important?
All the potential reforms are important. In the short term we think the agenda covered by the first bullet is the most important. Confidence in the current system must be established, especially, if in the same timescale, we are going to see an economic downturn.
This is most important for those customers of HMRC with complex and often chaotic lives. HMRC must pick up the challenge of communicating with these customers in ways that they can understand. This will cost more money; but it would be money well spent.
There are still further short to medium-term improvements that should be made which are not directly addressed in the consultation and we will be drawing these out in our response. We also feel that the government should not rule out more radical change without a detailed review of alternatives.
We will be studying the proposals in detail over the coming weeks. We welcome suggestions from visitors to our website.
Contact: John Andrews (Tel: 0844 579 6700 Fax 0844 579 6701) | <urn:uuid:7c8780eb-8489-4cec-be98-72675d16588e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.litrg.org.uk/News/2008/some-good-tax-credits-news | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971166 | 781 | 1.695313 | 2 |
A STUNTMAN has made aviation history by becoming the first skydiver to land without using a parachute.
Gary Connery, 42, from Oxfordshire, leapt from a helicopter a mile above Henley-on-Thames in southern England, then glided down using a specially adapted wing suit before landing on a "runway" of 18,000 cardboard boxes.
"It was so comfortable, so soft. My calculations obviously worked out and I'm glad they did," he told Sky News afterward.
His wife Vivian said she was "relieved it's all over."
To prepare for the jump he underwent weeks of intensive training in Switzerland and Italy, leaping from mountains and cliffs to perfect his wing suit glide angle.
As part of the preparations, Mr Connery studied the flight of kite birds and how they use their tails to control their flight direction.
"Kites steer by twisting their tail one way or another and I'll be doing the same," he explained before the jump.
Mr Connery said he "got a really nice exit. I started to fly very, very stable very quickly but there must have been some turbulence.
"I was experiencing a lot of bouncing in that flight that I hadn't experienced before, so it was a little weird. But these suits are amazing. There is so much stability in them."
Mr Connery made his first parachute jump at 23 after joining the Army.
He went on to become a professional stuntman, completing 880 skydives and 450 base jumps.
He has acted as a stunt-double for the likes of Gary Oldman, John Hurt and Rowan Atkinson and appeared in films such as "The Beach," "Die Another Day" and "Batman Begins."
He also leapt from the Eiffel Tower, Nelson's Column, Tower Bridge and the London Eye.
Landing a wing suit without a parachute has been a dream of skydivers since the modern wing suit was invented in 1997 by French skydiver and aristocrat Patrick De Gayardon.
The unique design of his suit enabled "pilots" to barrel-roll, swoop and fly in formation.
De Gayardon died a year later in a skydiving accident in Hawaii after a modification to his suit caused his parachute to malfunction.
US skydiver Jeb Corliss planned to become the first to land a wing suit without a parachute but his plans were suspended after he was seriously injured during a recent jump in South Africa. | <urn:uuid:5fb15ced-05c5-4685-8f2b-d37255422ce0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.teoti.com/wtf/116157-skydiver-first-to-ditch-parachute.html | 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 | 0.984198 | 512 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Description ADULT MALE Light morph has gray-brown upperparts and pale head. Underparts are pale but streaked heavily dark brown on breast, with dark feathers on flanks. In flight, from below, wings look pale except for dark carpal patch, tips, and trailing edge, while tail is white with broad, dark subterminal band; from above, tail is white with dark barring toward tip. Dark morph looks uniformly dark when perched; in flight, looks all dark from above, but from below, note whitish flight feathers (except for wingtips and trailing edge) and whitish tail with dark subterminal band. ADULT FEMALE Light morph is similar to male, but note dark belly patch and (in flight) more contrasting black and white pattern on tail and on underwings (except for streaked brown underwing coverts); from above, tail is white with broad black terminal band. Dark morph is similar to dark morph male, but plumage is browner; underwing coverts are noticeably paler than dark carpal patches. JUVENILE Light morph is similar to adult female, but in flight note cleaner, paler underwing coverts and gray (not black) subterminal band on tail seen from below; from above, wing coverts and inner primaries are paler than rest of upper wing. Dark morph is similar to dark morph female, but with paler subterminal band on tail underside.
Dimensions Length: 19-24" (48-61 cm); Wngspn: 4' 4" (1.3 m)
Habitat Breeds across Arctic North America; winters from southern Canada southward when widespread, but seldom numerous in open country including farmland; prefers marshes and open tundra.
Observation Tips A hovering Buteo in winter, with a pale upper tail, is an obvious contender for this species.
Range Florida, Plains, Western Canada, New England, Rocky Mountains, Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Alaska, Texas, Eastern Canada, Southwest, Northwest, California
Voice Mostly silent.
Discussion Large long-winged raptor with feathered legs and dainty (by Buteo standards) bill. Hunts at low level for rodents and small birds; often hovers. Perches for long periods and looks plump, with wings roughly same length as tail. Plumage is variable, but in all light morphs white upper tail contrasts with otherwise dark upperparts. Sexes are dissimilar. | <urn:uuid:d73e8438-41e3-495e-9d6c-36c448c6c589> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wild.enature.com/guides/detail.php?curr_rec=239&partnerCode=enature&guideID=212&groupID=1&familyID=&guideType=&view=fieldlist&term=&sort=&from=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.901394 | 516 | 2.625 | 3 |
Neodymium glass (Nd:Glass) is produced by the inclusion of neodymium oxide (Nd2O3) in the glass melt. In daylight or incandescent light neodymium glass appears lavender, but it appears pale blue under fluorescent lighting.
Neodymium glass solid-state lasers are used in extremely high power (terawatt scale), high energy (megajoules) multiple beam systems for inertial confinement fusion. Nd:Glass lasers are usually frequency tripled to the third harmonic at 351 nm in laser fusion devices.
Neodymium glass is becoming widely used in incandescent light bulbs, to provide a more "natural" light.
Neodymium glass has been patented for use in automobile rear-view mirrors, to reduce the glare at night.
The first commercial use of purified neodymium was in glass coloration, starting with experiments by Leo Moser in November 1927. The resulting "Alexandrite" glass remains a signature color of the Moser glassworks to this day. Neodymium glass was widely emulated in the early 1930s by American glasshouses, most notably Heisey, Fostoria ("wisteria"), Cambridge ("heatherbloom"), and Steuben ("wisteria"), and elsewhere (e.g. Lalique, in France, or Murano). Tiffin's "twilight" remained in production from about 1950 to about 1980. Current sources include glassmakers in the Czech Republic, the USA, and China; Caithness Glass in Scotland has also used the colorant extensively.
The sharp absorption bands of neodymium cause the glass color to change under different lighting conditions, being reddish-purple under daylight or yellow incandescent light, but blue under white fluorescent lighting, or greenish under trichromatic lighting. This color-change phenomenon is highly prized by collectors. Neodymium in combination with praseodymium gave Moser's "Heliolite" glass. In combination with gold or selenium, beautiful red colors result, such as Moser's "Royalite" or Tiffin's "Wistaria" or some of the colors achieved by Fenton. Since neodymium coloration depends upon "forbidden" f-f transitions deep within the atom, there is relatively little influence on the color from the chemical environment, so the color is impervious to the thermal history of the glass. However, for the best color, iron-containing impurities need to be minimized in the silica used to make the glass. The same "forbiddenness" of the f-f transitions makes rare-earth colorants less intense than those provided by most d-transition elements, so more has to be used in a glass to achieve the desired color intensity. The original Moser recipe used about 5% of neodymium oxide in the glass melt, a sufficient quantity such that Moser referred to these as being "Rare Earth Doped" glasses. Being a strong base, that level of neodymium would have affected the melting properties of the glass, and the lime content of the glass might have had to be adjusted accordingly.
Double nitrate crystallization was the means of commercial neodymium purification until the 1950s. The Lindsay Chemical Division of American Potash and Chemical Corporation, at one time the largest producer of rare earths in the world, offered neodymium oxide purified in this manner in grades of 65%, 85% and 95% purity, at prices ranging from approximately 2 to 20 dollars per pound (in 1960 dollars). Lindsay was the first to commercialize large-scale ion-exchange purification of neodymium, using the technology developed by Frank Spedding at Iowa State University/Ames Laboratory; one pound of their 99% oxide was priced at $35 in 1960; their 99.9% grade only cost 5 dollars more. Starting in the 1950s, high purity (e.g. 99+%) neodymium was primarily obtained through an ion exchange process from monazite sand ((Ce,La,Th,Nd,Y)PO4), a material rich in rare earth elements. The metal itself is obtained through electrolysis of its halide salts. Currently, most neodymium is extracted from bastnaesite, (Ce,La,Nd,Pr)CO3F, and purified by solvent extraction. Ion-exchange purification is reserved for preparing the highest purities (typically >4N). (When Molycorp first introduced their 98% grade of neodymium oxide in 1965, made by solvent extraction from Mountain Pass, California, bastnaesite, it was priced at 5 dollars per pound, for small quantities. Lindsay soon discontinued operations.) The evolving technology, and improved purity of commercially available neodymium oxide, was reflected in the appearance of neodymium glass made therefrom that resides in collections today. Early Moser pieces, and other neodymium glass made in the 1930s, have a more reddish or orange tinge than modern versions, which are more cleanly purple, due to the difficulties in removing the last traces of praseodymium when the fractional crystallization technology had to be relied on.
Naturally occurring Neodymium is composed of 5 stable isotopes, 142Nd, 143Nd, 145Nd, 146Nd and 148Nd, with 142Nd being the most abundant (27.2% natural abundance), and 2 radioisotopes, 144Nd and 150Nd. In all, 31 radioisotopes of Neodymium have been characterized up to now, with the most stable being naturally occurring isotopes 144Nd (alpha decay, a half-life (T½) of 2.29×1015 years) and 150Nd (double beta decay, T½ of 7×1018 years). All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lives that are less than 11 days, and the majority of these have half-lives that are less than 70 seconds. This element also has 13 known meta states with the most stable being 139mNd (T½ 5.5 hours), 135mNd (T½ 5.5 minutes) and 133m1Nd (T½ ~70 seconds).
The primary decay modes before the most abundant stable isotope, 142Nd, are electron capture and positron decay, and the primary mode after is beta minus decay. The primary decay products before 142Nd are element Pr (praseodymium) isotopes and the primary products after are element Pm (promethium) isotopes.
Neodymium compounds, like all rare earth metals, are of low to moderate toxicity; however its toxicity has not been thoroughly investigated. Neodymium dust and salts are very irritating to the eyes and mucous membranes, and moderately irritating to skin. Breathing the dust can cause lung embolisms, and accumulated exposure damages the liver. Neodymium also acts as an anticoagulant, especially when given intravenously.
Neodymium magnets have been tested for medical uses such as magnetic braces and bone repair, but biocompatibility issues have prevented widespread application. | <urn:uuid:3b8af8b3-c696-4bd0-a74e-7516b98f8636> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.reference.com/browse/heliolite | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931966 | 1,514 | 3.3125 | 3 |
LUBECK - Joachim Berger is a postcard-perfect host: sturdy, down-to-earth, a great storyteller, and a man with his heart always in the right place. For 34 years, Berger has been serving hearty German fare food that is good, rustic and rich in Kartoffelkeller, one of the many traditional pubs in the old town of Lübeck.
In his lifelong career as an innkeeper and restaurant owner, never could Berger have imagined this experience. One week ago, several representatives of the German factory inspectorate paid a visit to his restaurant.
When the officials arrived, they informed Berger that 17 members of a 37-strong party that dined in the restaurant on May 13th had been infected with the E-coli bacterium. One of the women who had fallen ill has since died.
The officers took samples of cucumber, lettuce and tomato from the restaurant's kitchen with them when they left. The results of their tests are not yet available neither are the results of the many tests that Joachim Berger has since commissioned on his own.
All of his employees have submitted stool samples. "We need to be able to rule out the possibility that the bacteria came from within our kitchen, Berger told Die Welt. He has chosen to speak openly about the subject. We have nothing to hide here, he says.
Salads have not been served in the restaurant since the relevant warnings were issued by the Robert Koch Institute. Instead, patrons can choose from pickled cabbage, beetroot, pickled cucumbers.
"There's not a fresh vegetable in sight, just as in the former East Germany," jokes Berger, who has not lost his sense of humor since the crisis began. Nor has he lost his clients. The business, says an employee, is doing super.
Could it be bean sprouts?
Throughout Germany, the search for the source of the deadly bacteria is still in full swing. In Lower Saxony this weekend, scientists believed to have found a new lead in the hunt for the origin of the pathogen: the bacteria may have spread on bean sprouts grown in northern Germany. However, German officials said Tuesday it may not have been the bean sprouts after all. The search continues.
On Friday, the Consumer Protection Department established an E. coli Task Force, in which federal and state representatives are working together with food experts to try to trace the course of the epidemic. Wednesdays crisis summit aims to address the progress of the many crisis groups.
Many hospitals have been pushed to their limits as they respond to the recent surge in patients being treated for E. coli, said Health Minister Daniel Bahr. "Over the weekend, Bahr visited the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, in order to get a better idea of the current situation. He called on citizens to take special care in the coming weeks. "We cannot exclude the possibility that the infection source is still active, he said.
The majority of Germans are still calm in response to the epidemic. Thus far, the Consumer Protection Department's hotline has still heard far more from concerned citizens regarding the disaster in Fukushima. Even during a recent dioxin scandal in Germany, the Ministry registered more calls. Experts say this could be because the authorities have issued more information regarding the E-coli infection than they have about other crises in the past.
Read the original article in German.
Photo - Photo © year Britta Heise | <urn:uuid:7026297d-7700-4d47-b259-208e276391c9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.worldcrunch.com/night-they-served-e-coli-dinner/tech-science/the-night-they-served-e.-coli-for-dinner/c4s3243/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978521 | 713 | 1.96875 | 2 |
Kumba’s revenue increased by 10% to
R23.4 billion on the back of a 37% increase in
export sales volumes driven by strong demand
from China. The increase in revenue from higher
volumes more than offset the average 40%
reduction in benchmark iron ore export prices.
Revenue generated from the sale of iron
ore increased by 6% from R18.9 billion
to R20.0 billion, with R18.7 billion
(2008: R17.5 billion) from export sales.
Revenue from shipping services increased
by 41% from R2.5 billion to R3.4 billion.
The group increased total sales volumes
by 21% from 33.0Mt in 2008 to 40.0Mt.
Export sales volumes from Sishen Mine for
the year increased by 9.3Mt or 37% from
24.9Mt in 2008 to 34.2Mt on the back of
increasing volumes from the Jig plant, the
successful introduction of a new blended
fines product and an increase in demand from
China. Export sales volumes to China totalled
75% (2008: 43%) of total export volumes
for the year. Total domestic sales volumes of
5.8Mt were down by 28% or 2.3Mt due to
lower demand from ArcelorMittal.
The 10% increase in revenue over last year
was principally as a result of:
- Increased export sales volumes, contributed
R6.6 billion to revenue, offset by the
year-on-year decrease in export iron ore
prices, reducing revenue by R5.4 billion,
and lower domestic sales volumes due to
the decline in domestic demand, which
reduced revenue by R377 million. The net
effect of these factors on revenue was a
net increase of R822 million. | <urn:uuid:f2784731-35d7-4c57-af2b-943ccb4551ed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kumba.co.za/reports/kumba_afs_09/fin_rev_revenue.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915892 | 401 | 1.578125 | 2 |
The new guidelines on wind power development were published last week (29 October) with the aim of ensuring that wind farms do not have a negative impact on vulnerable species and habitats in the ecological network of nearly 26,000 protected sites.
They give guidance to authorities and developers to ensure that new wind projects do not run contrary to the EU's Habitats and Birds Directives.
"If planned properly, modern wind energy activities can not only avoid impacting on wildlife but can also on occasion actively contribute to biodiversity conservation," the paper states. This is particularly the case when a wind development project is located in a natural environment that has already been modified, it argues.
But the Commission adds that there is a need for a case-by-case assessment of projects. This is because the impacts of erecting wind turbines in a specific natural environment depend greatly on the native wildlife as well as the design of the wind farm.
The guidelines try to reconcile two of the EU's environmental goals of increasing the share of renewable energies to 20% of its energy mix by 2020 and halting biodiversity loss.
The draft lists potential impacts on birds and habitats for developers to look out for, including the risk of birds and bats colliding with wind turbines, habitat loss or wind farms forcing animals to change direction during migration and normal foraging activities.
The guidelines argue that "most threats can be minimised by avoiding sites with sensitive habitats and key populations of vulnerable species".
The Commission urges member states to develop wildlife sensitivity maps to identify areas where wind farms can be developed at minimal risk to the environment.
At project level, each site should first be screened to determine whether the wind project is likely to have a significant effect on the area. Where this is the case, a further assessment is required before it can be authorised, according to the guidelines.
The European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) argued that wind farm developers already have to undertake an environmental impact assessment before giving construction the green light.
"Overall, wind power's impact on birds, bats, other wildlife and natural habitats is extremely low compared with many other human-related activities," it said in a statement. | <urn:uuid:966956e2-81c8-4245-8201-3438a667b69c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.euractiv.com/climate-environment/eu-moves-protect-wildlife-wind-t-news-499400 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93459 | 434 | 3.515625 | 4 |
|Preview Material|| || || || || || |
Student Mathematical Library
2000; 115 pp; softcover
List Price: US$20
Member Price: US$16
Order Code: STML/6
Higher Arithmetic: An Algorithmic Introduction to Number Theory - Harold M Edwards
We have been curious about numbers--and prime numbers--since antiquity. One notable new direction this century in the study of primes has been the influx of ideas from probability. The goal of this book is to provide insights into the prime numbers and to describe how a sequence so tautly determined can incorporate such a striking amount of randomness.
There are two ways in which the book is exceptional. First, some familiar topics are covered with refreshing insight and/or from new points of view. Second, interesting recent developments and ideas are presented that shed new light on the prime numbers and their distribution among the rest of the integers.
The book begins with a chapter covering some classic topics, such as quadratic residues and the Sieve of Eratosthenes. Also discussed are other sieves, primes in cryptography, twin primes, and more.
Two separate chapters address the asymptotic distribution of prime numbers. In the first of these, the familiar link between \(\zeta(s)\) and the distribution of primes is covered with remarkable efficiency and intuition. The later chapter presents a walk through an elementary proof of the Prime Number Theorem. To help the novice understand the "why" of the proof, connections are made along the way with more familiar results such as Stirling's formula.
A most distinctive chapter covers the stochastic properties of prime numbers. The authors present a wonderfully clever interpretation of primes in arithmetic progressions as a phenomenon in probability. They also describe Cramér's model, which provides a probabilistic intuition for formulating conjectures that have a habit of being true. In this context, they address interesting questions about equipartition modulo \(1\) for sequences involving prime numbers. The final section of the chapter compares geometric visualizations of random sequences with the visualizations for similar sequences derived from the primes. The resulting pictures are striking and illuminating. The book concludes with a chapter on the outstanding big conjectures about prime numbers.
This book is suitable for anyone who has had a little number theory and some advanced calculus involving estimates. Its engaging style and invigorating point of view will make refreshing reading for advanced undergraduates through research mathematicians. This book is the English translation of the French edition.
Advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and research mathematicians.
"The authors have succeeded in writing an interesting volume that can be recommended to students ... describe various aspects of prime number theory from the point of view of randomness, giving to the book a specific charm."
-- European Mathematical Society Newsletter
"A wealth of information ... The treatment is concise and the level is high. The authors have chosen to highlight some of the most important points of the area, and the exposition and the translation are excellent. Reading this book is equivalent to ascending a major summit."
-- MAA Monthly
"This is a very attractive introduction to prime number theory ... presentation is clear and concise ... [includes] material which has not previously appeared in a book. The proof [in Chapter 4] is an astonishing display of recent techniques in analytic number theory ...
"Wonderfully written, and the authors have the confidence to frequently express their delight with the subject and the sheer fun of exploring the philosophical ideas that underlie the investigation of prime numbers."
-- Mathematical Reviews
"Nicely written ... It is a pleasure to read this booklet, written by experts of number theory. Due to the many results, the elegant proofs, and the informal explanations of ideas, it is highly recommended to study this small monograph thoroughly."
-- Zentralblatt MATH
From reviews of the French edition ...
"This is a short introductory book on analytic number theory. The prerequisites are quite modest, but it still contains an impressive amount of information. A multitude of results is included, some of which were proved just recently ... this book is very well written. It is fun to read and at the same time presents most of the fundamental concepts and ideas in analytic number theory."
-- Mathematical Reviews
"The reviewer recommends it to all interested readers."
-- Zentralblatt MATH
"A wonderful book ... sweeping in scope, and ambitious ... a fearsome panorama of topics is attacked ... a thoroughly modern book, in the best sense of the phrase: it brings a beautiful collection of results in analytic number theory together ... some marvellous avant garde stuff."
-- MAA Online
Table of Contents
AMS Home |
© Copyright 2013, American Mathematical Society | <urn:uuid:a7326f8a-740f-444f-854a-cc349aa9eb1b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cust-serv@ams.org/bookstore?fn=20&arg1=stmlseries&ikey=STML-6 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916042 | 991 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Teri Galleries greatly appreciates the arrival of new C. Lewis Koi Fish Originals. Feast your eyes upon the beauty of nature, the way only C. Lewis knows how to make it come alive in front of your eyes.
A Chinese artist called C. Lewis, Chen Tai-yu was born in 1963. The name C. Lewis was inspired by the pseudonym name of Lewis Carroll who was an American novelist, inventor, teacher and photographer. Lewis (Chen) felt a need to adopt a name that would create a more universal interest in his work. From 1982 to 1985, he studied in the National Central Fine Art Institute in Guangdong. After his graduation, C. Lewis started his career as a professional artist. He is currently holding an associate membership at the National Chinese Artist Association & Guangzhou Graduate School of Oil Painting.
The Vineyards began as a series of painting color from nature or painting light with light itself. The metamorphosis of colored light across vast distances, the reflections of light on the grass, flowers, and trees with enormous skill.Lewis uses his brush like the wind, feeling the movement of this surroundings. This subject soon led to painting the movement in local koi ponds and still life with vegetables and pottery that seem to breathe on the canvas. His artworks have won National acclaim. He has exhibited in Singapore, Hong Kong, Los Angeles and Chicago.
No where more does his amazing ability to make his paintings come to life happen with the new Koi Originals here at Teri Galleries.
We hope you enjoy these masterpieces as much as we do. | <urn:uuid:85713f99-ad5b-414f-86a4-190b9153057d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.terigalleries.com/blog/?tag=reflections | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978354 | 328 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Driving your golf cart around Surprise, Arizona is fun until you find yourself on a highway or unable to cross a busy street. Enter the golf cart map, proposed by Councilman Richard Alton to help drivers of these vehicles get around safely. In fact, the map, useful to all, is simply a speed limit map; golf carts are safest on roads with speed limits under 35 mph.
- AZ Central
by Adena Schutzberg on 02/27 at 06:23 AM |
That’s the business model of Charles R. Carpenter who offers up scanned historic cadastral maps of the US on his company site, Historic MapWorks LLC. The pricing, per the site is complex and based on different prices for searching, printing and saving (as jpg or PDF). For now users include genealogists, title researchers, libraries and art galleries but the hope is to license the collection more broadly.
- Mass High Tech
by Adena Schutzberg on 02/27 at 06:08 AM |
“These developments are so new they are not on any maps. Not even Google.”
- NPR correspondent describing why a real estate buying tour bus got lost trying to find new developments outside Los Angeles. The story will be posted here later this morning.
by Adena Schutzberg on 02/27 at 06:03 AM |
The research, done by Cimex, explored how well UK crime maps are serving the public identified obstacles to government goals. The findings suggest “the current crop of crime maps is in fact leaving us more bewildered and confused than before.” (I’ve got an e-mail in asking who funded the study. More on that when I get an answer.)
The problems found:
- Information overload and sites with too many details
- Color coded maps or graphs that did not match
- Overcomplicated navigation & highly inconsistent wording
- Lack of interactivity in maps (whether for area selection or crime rates)
- Insufficient filters for users to narrow down the information
- Unclear time periods or missing points of reference
- Lack of comparison options that put the data into a meaningful context
Suggestions for improvement:
- Maps need to be informative and should be colour coded in a meaningful way.
- Maps and data should be connected to allow users to verify data and build trust.
- Users like to compare and require points of reference such as national averages, neighbouring areas or previous time periods.
- Interactivity enhances the user experience and should help users filter the information according to their preferences.
- press release
by Adena Schutzberg on 02/27 at 06:00 AM | | <urn:uuid:a806e8c6-e8c0-4e74-8712-4bf71ae9ffda> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://apb.directionsmag.com/archives/2009/02/27/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908921 | 553 | 1.90625 | 2 |
As the National Council on Teacher Quality writes, “Neither teachers’ unions nor state legislatures look upon tenure as an honor conferred upon a teacher who is found by some measure to be effective. In their view, tenure at the PK-12 level is a right that should be conferred to all employed teachers with a few years of satisfactory teaching experience.”
In the United States, the vast majority of public school teachers are compensated on a single salary scale. Although these scales are currently included in and reinforced by collective bargaining, such systems predate union contracts by several decades.
Teachers in U.S. classrooms are regularly evaluated, both when the teacher is probationary and when the teacher has been granted tenure. The terms of these evaluations, which are dictated by collective bargaining agreements, are based on process; they are not linked to teacher compensation and are almost never tied to student achievement.
Collective bargaining refers to the regular, district-level negotiations of teacher representatives (labor) and district representatives (management) regarding salary, working conditions, and terms of employment. The result is a collective bargaining agreement (CBA), commonly called a union contract that covers all teachers, whether or not they are union members.
In this first issue of 2011, we tackle teacher quality. Specifically, this edition focuses on key areas that are currently driving the teacher quality conversation at the national, state, and local levels: the role and impact of collective bargaining, teacher evaluations, teacher compensation, and teacher tenure.
This month's newsletter takes an in-depth look at teachers: teacher evaluations, teacher compensation, and teacher tenure.
In November, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, The State Chamber of Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Business and Education Coalition and others teamed up to host an Oklahoma City screening of the powerful documentary “Waiting for ‘Superman.’” And this month the presidents of the Oklahoma City, Tulsa and state chambers unveiled a joint agenda that includes proposals making it easier to get rid of bad teachers.
On Tuesday, January 11, U.S. Chamber President and CEO Tom Donohue delivered the annual State of American Business address, highlighting the business community's priorities for growing the economy and putting millions of Americans back to work in the year ahead.
ICW's Caitlin Ward presented the Alfred P. Sloan Awards for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility at the Aurora Chamber of Commerce's State of the Chamber breakfast on December 10th.
The U.S Chamber of Commerce's Institute for a Competitive Workforce issued a report calling on corporations and the business community to invest in early learning programs to bolster our nation's workforce development strategy. I'm a doctor, not a businessman. But that's my idea of a good investment. | <urn:uuid:7c3b593f-9eab-40c5-93fe-c92bf1afd2a1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://education.uschamber.com/news?page=34 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958203 | 560 | 2.015625 | 2 |
I didn't explain clearly in the last post why I think the Euro will survive, so here goes.
The Euro is a political project first and an economic one second. This is both a strength and a weakness. It is a weakness because there will always be a reluctance for individual nations to commit financially to the project. So the stability and growth pact was broken - even Germany and France failed to stick to the rules on borrowing, yet alone the 'club med' countries.
There was never a recognition (or large enough central fund to redistribute) that could cope with very different economies, cultures and languages. This was always going to restrict the mobility of labour needed to allow for a single market/currency zone. But it is also a strength because ultimately when it comes to the choice between a united Europe or a fractured one, from Italy to France, Germany to Spain they will choose the former. Germany certainly played a brinkmanship game over funding Greek debt but it had too much to lose by any country leaving.
And that is the crunch, leaving the Euro wouldn't solve any debt problem. Yes they could devalue but the power to set your own interest rates is overstated. Interest rates would still follow the major economies anyway (that is why from the US to EZ to UK rates only vary 0.5%. The costs of leaving the Euro would be astronomical. The markets may wish for a Euro crash, but it just ain't going to happen. Cameron has just bet the UK economy on a Euro collapse. Both him and his Daily Mail, Murdoch Tories are going to be sorely disappointed and every Brit except perhaps a few hedge fund managers are going to suffer as a result. | <urn:uuid:64dc5ddd-86cd-44be-a984-583f93c2d84a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://neilharding.blogspot.com/2011/12/why-euro-will-not-collapse.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982515 | 341 | 1.65625 | 2 |
By OECD authors Peter Jarrett, Hervé Boulhol and Balázs Égert, for Bloomberg
11-04-2011 - A new OECD report on France argues that, despite a pick-up in growth to 2% or more in 2011, the recent recession is likely to leave lasting traces on public finances and employment, accentuating existing structural weaknesses. Ever since 1980 the government debt-to-GDP ratio has trended upwards. The government’s fiscal consolidation plan will stabilise debt (Maastricht definition) at below 90% of GDP by bringing the deficit down steadily to 2.0% in 2014. But the deficit should be eliminated entirely in the medium term to ensure a sustained decrease in the debt to GDP ratio. In any case, the government should now announce specifically how it intends to achieve its medium term objectives. The report argues that structural reforms are key for successful consolidation and hikes in growth potential.
Figure 1. A persistent budget deficit and steadily rising government debt
First, the budgetary framework should be strengthened as the current set-up (including spending rules for central government and social security) did not prevent persistent deficits in the past. A cyclically-adjusted deficit rule, a more detailed multi-year budgeting framework and an independent fiscal council would improve fiscal discipline.
Second, deficit reduction should focus primarily on the spending side. Boosting government efficiency by and reconsidering spending programmes that are not cost effective can yield substantial savings. While the 2010 pension reform is a serious step forward, further changes are needed to maintain the system’s long-term sustainability. For example, the contribution period should be linked automatically to life-expectancy gains, and the complexity of the system should be streamlined and transparency enhanced. Even if the quality of the French health-care system is good, substantial savings could be made without impairing performance, such as by reducing hospitalisation and administrative costs and expanding use of generic drugs and capitation-based physician compensation.
Third, the tax structure should be rendered more conducive to growth. Priority should be given to environmental taxes and levies that minimise tax-induced distortions, including property taxes and VAT. Tax bases should be expanded and inefficient tax expenditures (including reduced VAT rates) scaled back.
Better employment outcomes would greatly ease the pressure on public finances by lowering unemployment benefits and raising tax revenues. Compared to the average OECD country France lacks 1.5 million jobs for its under 25s and over 55s. The main labour market weaknesses are: an onerous level of labour taxation, a high minimum wage; substantial segmentation of employment contracts, which hampers the economy’s ability to adapt to shocks and spreads the burden of necessary adjustments unevenly; the poor quality of labour/management dialogue and inadequate trade union representativeness; and still underdeveloped active labour-market measures. France could continue to draw inspiration from Denmark’s experience with “flexicurity”, which combines generous unemployment benefits and greater access to training and job search support in exchange for limited employment protection (few barriers to lay offs) and a strict obligation to accept job offers.
Besides labour-market reforms the government is right to be putting the accent on the supply of output. It should go further by further freeing up education and eliminating barriers to the regulated professions, to SME growth and business entry in the distribution sector.
Figure 2. Main weaknesses of the French labour market
Economic Survey of France 2011 | <urn:uuid:1f80e3cb-7024-4729-bcb0-b26ca980e4a0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oecd.org/economy/francecleanbreakneededtostopworseningpublicfinances.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925258 | 706 | 2 | 2 |
Dukes County, MassachusettsDukes County is a county located in the U.S. State of Massachusetts. Its official name is "the County of Dukes County." As of 2000, the population is 14,987. Its county seat is Edgartown6. The county consists of the island of Martha's Vineyard together with other small islands southeast of Cape Cod.
|Table of contents|
3 Cities, towns, and villages*
4 External link
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,272 km² (491 mi²). 269 km² (104 mi²) of it is land and 1,003 km² (387 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 78.86% water.
As of the census2 of 2000, there are 14,987 people, 6,421 households, and 3,788 families residing in the county. The population density is 56/km² (144/mi²). There are 14,836 housing units at an average density of 55/km² (143/mi²). The racial makeup of the county is 90.69% White, 2.40% Black or African American, 1.71% Native American, 0.46% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 1.48% from other races, and 3.19% from two or more races. 1.03% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 6,421 households out of which 28.40% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.40% are married couples living together, 9.80% have a female householder with no husband present, and 41.00% are non-families. 32.00% of all households are made up of individuals and 11.10% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.30 and the average family size is 2.91.
In the county the population is spread out with 22.70% under the age of 18, 5.50% from 18 to 24, 29.60% from 25 to 44, 27.80% from 45 to 64, and 14.40% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 41 years. For every 100 females there are 95.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 92.10 males.
The median income for a household in the county is $45,559, and the median income for a family is $55,018. Males have a median income of $38,945 versus $30,346 for females. The per capita income for the county is $26,472. 7.30% of the population and 5.00% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 10.40% are under the age of 18 and 5.30% are 65 or older.
Cities, towns, and villages*
* Villages are census division, but have no separate corporate existence from the towns they are in. | <urn:uuid:0b509eac-d038-4136-8d0b-278f599c37d7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.encyclopedia4u.com/d/dukes-county-massachusetts.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951056 | 649 | 1.742188 | 2 |
A 20 month old girl is brought to the Emergency Department with a rash. She has had a one month history of upper respiratory symptoms, and has just completed a ten day course of Cefdinir of sinusitis. Two days prior to admission (day 10 of cefdinir), a light rash erupted on her chest. She was given Benadryl, and one dose of prednisolone by her primary care physician one day prior to admission. The rash continued to worsen, and was very pruitic. Her parents tell you that she stopped walking now due to the swelling in her feet. Itching and swelling improved with oral antihistamines, and the next day she was walking and playing. The eruption cleared completely within a week. Urticaria multiforme is a variant of urticaria in which urticaria and angioedema are present, the lesions are itchy, the lesions are not fixed, and the symptoms and lesions improve with oral antihistamines.
symmetric generalized discrete and confluent annular plaques with targetoid borders and dusky centers associated with angioedema | <urn:uuid:4e6af501-7986-4cc6-a2da-1ebf751729e8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dermatlas.med.jhmi.edu/image/urticaria_multiforme_1_071118 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961668 | 230 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Every year I see more cases where young adults are involved with either violence, drug complications or reckless acts resulting in various medical dilemmas.
Newton's third law of motion states that every action has an equal and opposite reactions. This came to my mind as I briefly watched the new show on MTV "Skins". As you may know skin refers to rolling paper (so you can catch the drift), this show is a copy of a British show with the same name.
Los Angeles Times reported this " Nothing more than an R-Rated teen soap minus any truly resonant characters". Basically the show is all about teens using school as a hang out where they can do drugs, smoke and make fashion statements. Learning is not really a part of schooling as far as this show is concerned. All parents and teachers are imbeciles or out dated and belong to a different world.
My point is this, you are what you grow. I read an interesting article the other day, it was about how your children become what you expect from them. If you have lower expectations they would probably prove you right. However, if you have higher expectations they will likely achieve them. So next time think of them as Einstein rather than "Jackass".
I guess I am preaching to the choir, I guess we all know that there is a problem, maybe this makes me a boring father, well so be it. The questions is what are we doing about it? What are you doing?
Blog you later.
About the picture: I like the attentiveness of this child, no matter whatever he is being taught. Smithsonian Museum, Washington. | <urn:uuid:ca317ce2-630c-412b-9137-22a924e1414f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://humanfactorinmedicineandlife.blogspot.com/2011/01/skins.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973503 | 332 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Each issue carries an
Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
The Book of Daniel is perhaps best known for the
tales of chapters 16. These stories introduce Daniel, a
Jewish youth deported to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar "in the
third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah" (1:1). He
and his three friends were trained to serve at the royal court.
Daniel won a reputation as an interpreter of dreams
(chapters 2, 4 and 5) and he emerged unscathed from the lions'
den (chapter 6). In the tales Daniel and his companions triumph
in the midst of trials in which their lives, or at least their
reputations, are at risk, and the pagans glorify God.
The book itself, however, is a product of the Maccabean
age. These earlier stories are taken over by the author Daniel.
The kings of these talesNebuchadnezzar, his "son" Belshazzar
and the latter's successor, Darius the Medeare too amiably
religious to be types of Antiochus IV, the "villain" of Daniel.
Rather it is the unwavering fidelity of Daniel and his companions
to God and the Law, and God's vindication of them, that serve
the author's purpose.
In this issue of Scripture From Scratch,
we will concentrate on the strictly apocalyptic section of the
book, chapters 712. While Daniel 712 is unquestionably
the only full-blown apocalypse in the Hebrew Bible, it is, most
likely, not the earliest Jewish apocalypse. It would have been
predated by some of the apocryphal Enoch material (I Enoch).
Daniel 712 deserves to stand as the masterpiece
of Jewish apocalyptic literature. It can even be dated with near
precision, to 165 B.C.shortly before the death of Antiochus
IV Epiphanes. Daniel 712 consists of three visions (chapters
7, 8, 1012) and an interpretation of a biblical prophecy
(chapter 9). Along the way, revelation is mediated by an angel.
In each unit there is a historical pattern, an eschatological
crisis and the prospect of judgment and ultimate salvation.
In a series of visions, Daniel 712 traces
the course of history, with stress on the ultimate, inevitable
victory of the people of God. Four successive empires are portrayed:
the Babylonian, Median, Persian and Greek (a stereotyped list)each
surpassing its predecessor in evil.
In this manner the reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes
(the Seleucid monarch who had launched an assault on the Jewish
religion) is presented as a flood of evil. The time was at hand
when God would show his power.
Daniel maintains that history is totally under divine
control. That is just the point. He tells the story of the past
in such a way that the persecuted Jews may understand that their
sufferings have a place in God's purpose.
The book looks always to the final victory, to the
endtime, to the coming of the kingdom. It sees the messianic age
about to dawn, beyond the time of tribulation. God's victory over
the forces of evil is assured, and those who serve him faithfully
will have a glorious part in his triumph.
Daniel, like apocalypse in general, presupposes
the existence of a supernatural world above the visible one. The
apocalyptic seer has an inside look at this heavenly reality.
In the first vision (chapter 7) Daniel saw four
beasts rising from the sea. An angel explained to him that these
represented four empires: Babylonian, Median, Persian and Greek
(Seleucid); the "little horn" (a deliberately contemptuous phrase)
coming from the last of them was Antiochus IV. The Ancient of
Days (God), in a heavenly judgment scene, condemned the four empires.
Then there appeared, on the clouds of heaven, one "like a son
of man," that is, a human figure (in contrast to the beasts).
The angel explained that this heavenly figure, presented here
as an individual, symbolized the earthly people of God, the "saints
of the Most High." They will receive an everlasting kingdom which
would be inaugurated after "a time, two times and half a time"
(i.e., three and a half years)a reference to the approximate
duration of the persecution of Antiochus (167-164 B.C.).
The second vision (chapter 8), explained by Gabriel,
is closely related to the previous one. A two-horned ram (the
conventional Medo-Persian empire) was opposed and destroyed by
a he-goat (the Greek empire) with a conspicuous horn (Alexander
the Great). While the he-goat was at the height of its power,
the great horn was broken (premature death of Alexander) and four
horns grew in its place (the fourfold division of Alexander's
empire). Out of one of these horns sprouted "a little horn" (Antiochus
IV). In his pride this horn exalted himself. In the first place
this was by his assumed title: Antiochus Theos Epiphanesthat
is, Antiochus, manifestly God. He also challenged the prince of
the heavenly host (God) through defilement of his temple and prohibition
of sacrifice. The tyrant would be broken "by no human hand." The
daily sacrifices would be offered again after 2,300 evenings and
morningsthat is, after the three and one-half years of the
In the third vision (chapter 9) Daniel puzzled over
Jeremiah's prophecy that 70 years must pass before the desolation
of Jerusalem would be ended (Jer 25:11; 29:10) and he prayed to
God for light on this mystery. While Daniel prayed, confessing
his sin and the sin of his people Israel, the angel Gabriel came
to interpret the 70 years: Jeremiah had spoken of the captivity
and the return from exile, but the full restoration, the advent
of Messianic times, would occur after "70 weeks of years."
It is a fine example of apocalyptic ingenuity in
interpreting earlier texts. The immense difference between this
and the later abuse of such texts is that Daniel's interpretation
is in line with the vision of the earlier prophet.
The fourth vision (chapters 1012) is a revelation
of the final period preceding the messianic age. Although it is
dated to the third year of Cyrus, the Persian period is sketched
in a single verse (11:2). Chapter 11 deals with the successors
of Alexander the Great and gives a detailed account of the relations
between Seleucids and Ptolemies down to Antiochus IV. Though this
historical summary is cast in the form of a vision of events to
come, little of it is prediction in the proper sense.
Daniel's last vision (chapter 12) finally leaves
the field of politics and moves to a higher plane. The goal of
history is God's kingdom, which will come solely by God's own
power and in his good time. In verses 2-3, we find the doctrines
of the resurrection of the body and of retribution after death
explicitly stated for the first time.
Finally, Daniel is ordered to "seal the book": its
message is for the endtime. Once again we are told that the persecution
will last "a time, two times, and half a time."
A common feature of apocalyptic also found in Daniel
is determinism: there are two camps, the righteous and the wicked.
And it is presupposed that there is little or no chance that the
wicked will change allegiance. One must always keep in mind the
cultural setting of apocalypticism. There is the powerless minority,
effectively disenfranchised by the dominant group, who are not
going to relinquish their power base. What can the oppressed do?
The solution to look to a "soft" solution beyond
death is rightly questioned in our day. The Book of Daniel, however,
looks only to a divine intervention. And it follows the road of
determinism: "Go your way, Daniel, for the words are to remain
secret and sealed until the time of the end. Many shall be purified,
cleansed and refined, but the wicked shall continue to act wickedly.
None of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall
One must note that the apocalyptic view of history
is deterministic as far as the direction of history is concerned.
The destiny of humankind inevitably moves toward a final realization
of the kingdom of God. It is this conviction that dominates the
historical perspective of the apocalypses, not the fate of the
individual, which is left unspecified within the movement toward
the new age.
Theology of History
The author of Daniel tells the story of the past
in such a way that the persecuted Jews may understand that their
suffering had a place in God's purpose and may see that the tyranny
of Antiochus fell within God's plan. The situation had not developed
by chance or in defiance of the divine decree.
Though the king may seem to succeed in his proud
revolt against the Prince of princes, and may with impunity trample
over the people of the Prince, his triumph is illusory: "he shall
prosper until the period of wrath is completed, for what is determined
shall be done" (11:36). And though it might seem that such emphasis
on God's absolute control of human affairs must encourage a laissez-faire
attitude, a directly opposite effect was intended and achieved.
This confident assurance that history, divinely
guided, moved toward a goal fixed by God fired the tiny band of
faithful Jews with indomitable hope when any hope seemed vain,
and urged them to supreme effort where resistance seemed doomed
to failure. Indeed, their plain duty was put before them in explicit
terms: "The people who are loyal to their God shall stand firm
and take action" (11:32). The book always looks to the final victory,
to the time of the end, to the coming of the kingdom. The author
sees the messianic age about to dawn, just beyond the "time, two
times, and half a time" of the persecution.
Apocalypticism is a child of prophecy and here the
link with the prophetical writings is clear. The prophets before
and during the exile believed that deliverance from Babylonian
bondage would herald the last age. The author of this book expected
the great change to come with the death of Antiochus. In both
cases we have the characteristic foreshortening of prophecy. The
prophets had seen a vision and were overwhelmed by the majesty
of it. If the kingdom will not come as speedily as they had imagined,
they are certain that it will come. God's victory is assured,
and those who serve him faithfully will have a glorious part in
Next: The Communion of Saints (by Elizabeth McNamer) | <urn:uuid:33399d56-0476-445c-8dff-575d2037b961> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.americancatholic.org/Newsletters/SFS/an0901.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942868 | 2,388 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Rapid DNA testing could prove a boon to law enforcement agencies (Image: Tony Webster via Flickr)
DNA testing has provided the biggest revolution in the identification of criminals since the adoption of fingerprinting in the early part of last century. Still, the technology has limitations. Most genetic tests take 24-72 hours but the time taken for DNA to go from crime scene to identification can span as long as 14 days. By the time that the results are back, the suspects often have been released. A newly developed test could make checking DNA from people arrested for crimes against DNA samples from crime scenes stored in forensics databases almost as easy as matching fingerprints. | <urn:uuid:ab60b635-4fec-4827-8eb9-f8368d50272d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gizmag.com/rapid-dna-testing/15950/picture/118952/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963387 | 130 | 3.15625 | 3 |
A tattoo is a design which is permanently carved in the skin with the help of needles and ink. The word came from the Tahitian term "tatua" which means "to mark." This form of art has been used by people of all cultures & countries, for centuries. Even in ancient times decorating the skin with beautiful tattoos was a popular practice, but in the United States, tattoo have recently gained social acceptance.
History Of Tattoos
Different forms of tattoo art have been practiced by many different cultures of the world, over the centuries. It has been found that Egyptians started using tattoos as early as 4000 B.C. Japanese began the art of tattooing in around 500 B.C. They used this form of art for cosmetic and religious purposes. They even used tattoos as a brand known to the criminals as part of their punishment. The Japanese used to make tattoos by puncturing the skin with fine metal needles & creating multicolor designs. Eskimos tribes invented new technique of tattooing of using bone needles.
Origin Of Tattoos
In the 1769, Captain James Cook traveled to Tahitia and observed skin marking customs in the natives. In his book, The Voyage in H.M. Bark Endeavor, Cook described the term 'tatua' which "leaves an indelible mark on the skin." In the United States of America, tattoo shops were considered dangerous and were socially unacceptable. But this mindset is now changed & tattoos are becoming increasingly popular in United States among the people of every age. A German immigrant, Martin Hilderbrandt, got the honor of the first professional tattooist in United States.
Tattooing In United States
During initial times tattoos were made by hands, but in 1891 the first electric tattoo machine was issued to the Irish tattooist Samuel O'Reilly at the United States Patent Office. He began his business as a "tattoo parlor" in New York City. This was the first tattoo studio in the United States. Soon the tattoo parlors became the trend in the United States of America. Then, during the First and Second World Wars, military of United States adopted tattooing as a means of protection and remembrance. Conventions, magazines, and other kinds of exposure, made tattooing popular in the country.
Popularity Of Tattoos
People, now, have started appreciating the artistic merit of tattooing. Tattoos are frequently used to express personal and religious belief. It is now seen as a part of fashion and young generation is simply crazy about tattooing. The combination of technology, historical awareness and artistic ability has taken the art of tattooing to heights never imagined before. It has been seen that hand tattooing is also making a comeback in the United States again. Tattoo art is growing so fast today that there is hardly any country untouched by this form of art. | <urn:uuid:b60a8c8c-efbd-49d0-b8c4-272b3d404ecf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bodyart.iloveindia.com/tattoo-history/tattooing-in-us.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97232 | 589 | 2.671875 | 3 |
May 10, 1869, Vol XIII---NO. 110. [p. 1.]
CLEVELAND DAILY LEADER.
LAST NIGHT''S DISPATCHES.
THE PACIFIC RAILROAD.
THE LAST RAIL LAID ON THE
LAST RAIL TO BE LAID TO-DAY
ON THE UNION SECTION.
Universal Rejoicing, Enthus-
iasm and Jubilee.
The Pacific Railroad.
The Last Spike Driven on the Cen-
tral Pacific Road — Tremendous
Enthusiasm and Extraordinary
Demonstrations in California. etc.
AT SAN FRANCISCO
May 9 — 8 A. M.
Pacific railroad celebration to-day was one
to be remembered for all time in San Fran-
cisco. The day was ushered in by a salute
of one hundred guns. At noon all the fed-
eral forts in the harbor fired salutes, the
bells of the city were set to ringing, and
and steam, whistles to screaming. At night
the whole city was illuminated, presenting
a brilliant appearance. The procession was
the largest and most enthusiastic ever wit-
nessed in San Francisco. The people
were willing and eager observers of an
event of so much importance to this city
and the Pacific coast, and turned out en
masse. Business was generally suspended.
Nearly every citizen exhibited hearty inter-
est in the demonstration. The military and
civic display was grand. In addition to the
state militia, all the available United States
troops from the several forts and stations
participated in the occasion, while the civic
societies turned out in full ranks. The city
and harbor presented a magnificent sight
during the day, the principal ships being
draped with the banners of every nation
and thronged with excited and joyous
people. The shipping was dressed in fine
style. A dispatch from the junction of the
roads announcing the driving of the last
spike on the Central Pacific road, at ten
o'clock this morning sent a thrill of joy
through the city. Congratulatory messages
were transmitted to the directors of the Cen-
tral Pacific and Union Pacific roads by Cal-
At Sacramento the event was celebrated in
a grand and enthusiastic manner. The city
was crowded with a multitude of people
from all parts of the state and Nevada. The
Grand Lodge of Odd Fellows, in session in
this city, accepted an invitation to attend the
Sacramento demonstration, and delegations
from Nevada, Grass Valley, Vallejo, San
Francisco, Placerville, San Jose, Marys-
ville, Virginia City, and Gold Hill, Nevada,
were also in attendance. The lines of travel
to and from Sacramento were thrown open
to the public free, and immense numbers of
people took advantage of the circumstance
and flocked hither. The Central Pacific
company had thirty locomotives gayly
decked ranged on the city front, and at the
signal of a gun announcing the driving of
the last spike on the road the locomotives
opened a chorus of whistles, and all the bells
and steam whistles in the city joined.
Profound regret is expressed that the
roads were not joined to-day, and the failure
is attributed to obstinacy or inability of the
Union Pacific road to make connection.
Dispatches from Promontory Point say sev-
eral hundred men seized the train at Pied-
mont on which was President Durant, say-
ing they were hungry and must have their
money, and would detain him till it was
forthcoming. The non-arrival of Durant is
alleged as the principal reason for postpone-
ment of the ceremony of joining the roads
until Monday next. | <urn:uuid:519b648f-f197-4b7d-93d2-d7b053936e6e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cprr.org/Museum/Cleveland_5-10-1869.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933569 | 821 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Mike Gehard 4.14
Ever have one of those days where you sit back at the end of the day and realize that you didn't get anything tangible done? Why do those days happen? Many times is it because we lack focus during the day to complete even the simplest of tasks. Our modern lives don't allow us to practice focus; in fact they conspire against us being focused. This talk will explain why focus is important to productivity and teach one way you can practice focus through meditation. | <urn:uuid:057ef60e-86ab-43a8-a87c-f8b8b2a0a777> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://speakerrate.com/talks/8232-focus-why-do-i-need-more-stinkin-focus | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971986 | 101 | 2 | 2 |
Map of Selwyn District
Current location in the site
Click on any small version to see a large-size version of that map. Some browsers reduce an image to force it to fit your screen. If the image you get is not very clear, try clicking on it to force a 100% viewing size.
|Selwyn District||Selwyn Boundaries|
|Shows the entire Selwyn District with location of townships, and State Highways||Shows the boundary roads between Selwyn and Christchurch|
Our District Plan Index Map is also available online.
Google map links of our townships are available on each township's page. | <urn:uuid:a13d2488-c5ab-44a4-a7af-a1ea646fe765> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.selwyn.govt.nz/contact-us/map-of-selwyn-district2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.902997 | 133 | 1.726563 | 2 |
The Air Defense Artillery Museum at Fort Sill is open to the general public four days a week.
"It's been three years since everything moved up here" from Fort Bliss, Texas, said ADA Museum Curator Jonathan Bernstein. "We've been open on a limited basis for about a year now."
Since he took the job last April, he's tried to have it open once a week.
"Being able to be open on a full-time basis and get the public out here to see this great history makes it worthwhile," he said. "We're more than happy to have as many people through as we possibly can."
It's free, it's open to school groups, and there is no age restriction. Naturally, the school kids won't be allowed to climb on the equipment. Hours of operation are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday. For the next few weeks, it's advisable to call ahead at 917-1787, to make sure your visit or tour does not conflict with some other tour. That will ensure you have the curator's full attention and can get as much out of the experience as possible. The museum also provides an educational mission for soldier students in Advanced Individual Training, Basic Officer Leader Course, Captains' Career Course and Warrant Officer Course.
The ADA Museum is being temporarily housed in Building 4908, one of the historic hangars built at Henry Post Army Airfield in 1932. When you enter Key Gate, drive west on Sheridan Road to Geronimo Road, turn left and proceed south until you reach the control tower. The museum is in the hangar immediately east of the control tower.
Artifacts have been moved out of buildings 1505 and 1506 on Bateman Road for the next six months so that heating, ventilation and air conditioning units could be installed to provide climate control. Soldiers of the 696th Forward Support Company loaded the heavy items onto Heavy Equipment Transporters and 168th Brigade Support Battalion drove them over to the airfield. They moved a total of 23 heavy pieces of equipment. Some 32 mannequins are now being moved over to represent ADA soldiers in the exhibits.
One of the newest exhibits will be a 57-mm antitank gun coming from the Army's artifact clearinghouse at Anniston, Ala. It will be used to portray action at Trois Ponts, Belgium, on Dec. 21, 1944, when the 80th Airborne Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion organic to the 82nd Airborne Division successfully held off a German armored column.
"Two ADA soldiers there, Lt. Jake Wertich and Cpl. Stokes Taylor, both earned the Distinguished Service Cross posthumously there. Their actions prevented Kampfgruppe Hansen from joining up with Kampfgruppe Piper, which was the main effort in the Battle of the Bulge. Had they linked up, they would have been able to continue the drive westward toward Antwerp, so really a pivotal moment and two key ADA heroes that we're looking to honor," Bernstein said. | <urn:uuid:80a4ff57-62e6-45c8-96ff-96fd1471ed09> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.swoknews.com/news-top/area/item/4763-air-defense-artillery-museum-expands-hours | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965908 | 628 | 1.804688 | 2 |
I know this has been talked about a lot and "Westernbeekeeper" did a great photo tutorial but I have a few question.
I've read a lot of post where they talk about setting the saw at 10 degrees to make the angled ear cuts, I set up my saw to make some trial pieces and I ended up with my blade around 5 degrees in order to get the dims. to match the "Dadant" frame.
I drew it up in CAD and found the actual angle to be 5.7 degrees. Can someone help me figure this out?
Here is Westernbeeker's photo that I added what the dims should be based in the above .pdf file. Westernbeekeeper, can you verify if your dims. match the drawing?
I'm sorry to be questions other peoples work but I'm just trying to make sense of it. | <urn:uuid:c6730e06-f41a-4c59-bf8b-6b4cae254c40> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?277811-Bottom-bar-less-foundationless-frames&goto=nextoldest | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954518 | 178 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Radio Programming Ideas For Personalities and Programmers, Especially Country Radio Broadcasters.
Saturday, November 19, 2005
MIT Research: Aluminum Beanies Not Effective Shield Against Radio Signals
Stop The Presses!
Maybe it's not just fluoridated drinking water and the radon in your basement that you have to worry about now. It would probably make more sense to cover this "news" in a bit less than five months, say around the end of March, but I can't wait that long to let you in on this.
The Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie (AFDB) Web site explains how to build your own AFDB, which it says "can shield your brain from most electromagnetic psychotronic mind control carriers." It advises readers to make their own and not buy commercial AFDBs, which it warns "may contain backdoors, pinholes, integrated psychotronic circuitry or other methods that actually promote mind control."
Not so fast, say Ali Rahimi from MIT's Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department and his associates Ben Recht, Jason Taylor and Noah Vawter from the MIT Media Laboratory,. Their Web site, On the Effectiveness of Aluminum Foil Helmets: An Empirical Study describes the result of using a network analyzer to measure the shielding effectiveness of the AFDB. The measurement techniques are not clearly defined and somewhat suspect, especially since measurements of multiple helmets showed a 30 dB amplification at 2.6 GHz and a 20 dB amplification at 1.2 GHz.
Zapato Productions rebuts the MIT measurements, explaining, "only psychotronic energy can affect the brain in any coherent manner." He explained that simple EM fields have only trivial effects. These might cause indistinct sensations of a supernatural presence. He added that electromagnetic energy had to be converted into psychotronic energy before distant mind control forces could gain access to the brain's neural network in order to implant and extract thoughts.
If you are feeling a bit down, perhaps even paranoid, an AFDB (even reading about them) might just help! How effective is your AFDB across the radio spectrum? Don't forget to read the fine print and check out the references. | <urn:uuid:80b1f7f8-7add-4dea-987b-23df050c8d2e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://aoprep.blogspot.com/2005/11/mit-research-aluminum-beanies-not.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922102 | 445 | 2.078125 | 2 |
The largest study to date testing the venous-obstruction theory of multiple sclerosis failed to support it, leading the Italian Multiple Sclerosis Society to declare the theory dead.
Reported here by leaders of the group, known by its Italian abbreviation AISM, the study of nearly 2,000 individuals with blinded central imaging analysis found the condition in only about 3% of MS patients and in only slightly fewer healthy controls or patients with other neurological conditions.
Key data were released at a press briefing by principal investigator Giancarlo Comi, MD, of the University of Milan, and other study leaders in advance of Comi's formal presentation, scheduled for Saturday at the annual meeting of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis.
They characterized the study as the largest yet conducted on the so-called chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency theory (CCSVI), advanced in 2009 by Paolo Zamboni, MD, of the University of Ferrara in Italy.
The CCSVI theory quickly took the MS community by storm, leading many patients to seek venous angioplasty and stenting procedures in hope of obtaining relief or even a cure, as Zamboni and some other vascular surgeons claimed was possible.
But the theory also drew substantial criticism, especially after numerous other researchers were unable to reproduce Zamboni's original findings of 100% presence of CCSVI in MS patients and 0% in non-MS controls. Some groups were unable to detect CCSVI in more than a small fraction of patients, while others found that it was relatively common but without specificity for MS.
In the new study, sponsored by AISM and called CoSMo, ultrasound analyses were performed on 1,874 individuals at 35 clinics throughout Italy. A total of 107 were subsequently excluded because of technical problems with the images or because participants were found not to meet the specified inclusion criteria (such as age or disease duration).... Read More - http://www.msrc.co.uk/index.cfm/fuseact ... ageid/3538 | <urn:uuid:89bb9018-0b70-4987-8332-6e0eb2e08cc9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thisisms.com/forum/chronic-cerebrospinal-venous-insufficiency-ccsvi-f40/topic7098-120.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966939 | 422 | 2.34375 | 2 |
Catalysts are advanced materials that enable chemical transformations. It is estimated that more than 60% of chemical products and 90% of chemical processes are made possible by catalysis. The catalyst market size exceeds $25 billion and involves large industries supplying products and services critical to everyday living. Enzymes, which are nature’s catalysts, drive the biochemical processes in living organisms and anchor industrial biocatalysis. Catalysis is now expected to play a crucial role in transformational technologies designed to usher in a better and cleaner world. This is key area of interest for Pangaea Ventures and our portfolio companies are already leveraging unique catalytic processes to engineer and manufacture novel advanced materials. | <urn:uuid:9b104916-86d9-4673-ba66-33d4cf85946b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pangaeaventures.com/blog | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948304 | 138 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Policies and Practices
To maintain a safe and pleasant environment for everyone, the CTA has some basic rules governing behavior on our buses and trains, as well as in CTA facilities (such as train stations and at bus turnarounds, terminals and stops).
On this page:
Per CTA Ordinance #006-75 identifies activities that are not allowed on property owned, operated or maintained by the CTA:
- Possessing a weapon (except pepper spray)
- Using or consuming drugs or alcohol
- Playing radios or using other devices that make sound others may hear
- Tampering with equipment
- Indecent exposure or sexual conduct
- Drunken, disorderly or disruptive conduct
- Obstructing stairs, corridors, platforms, stations or otherwise hindering access to public areas
Additionally, please do not:
- Obstruct or hinder access to any public area
- Eat or drink any food or beverage on board buses or trains (it is OK in stations, but be sure to dispose of trash properly)
- Cross between train cars under any circumstances, unless directed to do so during an emergency
- Post bills or distribute materials in the paid area of transit stations or on CTA vehicles
- Perform music or other entertainment unless you have a valid permit and identification under the governing CTA ordinance and you do so within a designated performance area
- Offer, accept or otherwise exchange farecards (such as giving someone else a card with a remaining, active transfer)
Violating any of these prohibitions may be subject to arrest or immediate removal from CTA property, fines, community service, court supervision and/or an order for restitution.
For full details regarding prohibited activities, see the complete ordinance.
Note: Additional rules not listed in this ordinance may be established by CTA or the Chicago Transit Board and enforced by CTA employees and local police. Please follow instructions given by CTA or law enforcement personnel. Non-compliance may also result in removal from CTA property or arrest.
Service animals (animals that provide assistance to people with disabilities) are permitted on CTA at all times.
Only small pets in protective carriers are allowed on CTA buses and trains. Carriers cannot take up seats, seating areas or obstruct pathways on buses, trains or in stations and must be able to be carried on by a single person.
To ensure the comfort of others, animals in carriers need to behave in such a way that does not disturb others.
CTA reserves the right to remove from CTA vehicles or property any animals (including service animals) which act aggressively or pose a direct threat to others.
Children in strollers
Children in open strollers are welcome on CTA, however we encourage parents to be considerate of other customers and adhere to these rules when traveling with a stroller.
Keep strollers clear of aisles and doorways aboard buses and trains.
Seniors and customers with disabilities have priority use of the Priority Seating area aboard buses and trains. If these seats are not in use, open strollers may be parked in this area. This will help you to avoid blocking the aisle. Please yield this space if a customer with disabilities, a senior, or a person using a mobility device wishes to board. On buses, you may request use of the access ramp or lift to help you board and exit.
Please fold your stroller in the event that a bus or train becomes crowded, in order to make room for others. Be aware that in the event that a bus or train is crowded, a CTA employee may ask you to fold your stroller or wait for another vehicle. Please follow their instructions. Also, during certain periods of high ridership, we may require that all strollers be folded before you board.
Children in an open stroller should be seated and secured in the stroller before boarding the bus or train.
Note that strollers are never allowed on escalators. If traveling with an open stroller in a multi-level facility, please use elevators or ramps where available. On train station platforms, position your stroller parallel to the platform edge (not facing it), use wheel locks/brakes and stay with it at all times.
In general, simple personal (non-commercial) photography and video recording are permitted on CTA property and vehicles. Use of ancillary equipment, such as a tripod, or taking pictures or video of non-public areas of CTA property are not permitted.
We've put together a Photography & Video Policy page to explain the policy in some detail. It also provides some helpful tips. We encourage you to familiarize yourself with the policy.
Being a good neighbor on transit
You can help make sure everyone has a safe and pleasant trip on the CTA.
Here are some tips to help you be a good neighbor on transit:
- Move all the way in when boarding train cars, or all the way to the rear on buses to make room for everyone.
- Keep packages, bags or luggage on your lap or between your feet on buses and trains to avoid blocking aisles.
- If a bus or train gets crowded, fold your stroller or cart.
- Take everything you brought on board with you when you leave (including newspapers).
- Use trash receptacles and recycling bins, as appropriate.
- Keep your feet and belongings off of empty seats to allow others to sit down.
- Be mindful of others when talking on your phone or using electronics which others may hear (including ringtones). If you’re carrying on a conversation by text message, turn your ringer down or put your phone on vibrate.
- Allow exiting passengers out of a bus or train before attempting to board.
Help us keep service moving and on-time. Please:
- Have your fare ready before you board a bus or approach a turnstile.
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Following these rules and recommendations (as well as instructions from CTA employees while using our services) helps to make CTA more enjoyable for everyone! Thank you for your cooperation. | <urn:uuid:e5fc8ebf-61e5-4319-a90f-98ae2fd7d346> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.transitchicago.com/riding_cta/policies.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920374 | 1,310 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Dozens of British politicians are calling on Brazil to save Earth’s most threatened tribe by halting illegal logging and land invasions in their territory.
Expressing their ‘concern’ and ‘alarm’ to the UK Parliament, the MPs say Brazil must take action before the Awá tribe are driven to extinction.
In the parliamentary motion, the MPs ‘urge [Brazil] to bring a halt to illegal logging and stop invasions of the Awá’s land.’
Only 460 Awá live in Brazil’s north-eastern state of Maranhão, and their land is being destroyed faster than any other Amazon tribe.
As nomadic hunter-gatherers, the Awá depend on their forest to survive.
One Awá man told Survival, ‘The loggers are destroying all the land… This is Indian land… I am angry, very angry with the loggers, extremely angry. There is no game for me to hunt, and my children are hungry’.
Since Survival launched its campaign to save the Awá tribe, an investigation into illegal logging has been ordered, and Brazil’s Indigenous Affairs Department (FUNAI) has vowed to make the tribe a top priority.
However, despite these pledges, thousands of illegal loggers are still believed to be operating in the area, and the start of the logging season has renewed fears.
The Awá are appealing to Brazil’s Justice Minister to do more to protect their territories, which, despite being legally recognized, are being ravaged by deforestation.
The Awá are particularly concerned about the impact land invasions are having on their uncontacted relatives, who are vulnerable to disease.
But the tribe remain determined not to lose their strong connection to the land. One Awá man said, ‘We are nothing without our land… it will not be destroyed, because we are here.’
Survival’s Director Stephen Corry said today, ‘British Parliamentarians are right to be concerned. It’s vital Brazil’s Justice Minister takes action straight away: if he can’t manage to enact Brazil’s own laws, the Awá will soon be destroyed.’ | <urn:uuid:e6f6285e-25ff-4703-917e-b95981a55c44> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/8453 | 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 | 0.946767 | 465 | 2.296875 | 2 |
When Guiding Eyes for the Blind dropped off Saki at Bridget Kennerley’s house, they made sure to tell her what to expect from the young golden retriever on that first night. What they couldn’t tell her, however, was how different her life would be every night after.
“It was interesting at first, especially before she was trained,” said Bridget. “I would have to hold her up and sprint downstairs before she had an accident at three in the morning.”
After attending foundation training classes every week for the first few months, Bridget and Saki now attend the next level of classes every other week. This past December Saki was one of the youngest dogs in the region to become a jacketed guide dog, meaning Bridget can now take Saki with her into public buildings, restaurants, church and even out on the family boat.
“We want to expose her to every possible situation a blind person could take her into,” said Anne Kennerley, Bridget’s mother.
The Kennerleys’ ultimate goal is to have Saki get through the formal training and pass the test this August to become an official guide dog for people with visual disabilities. Anne said the reason they chose to work with Guiding Eyes for the Blind was that the non-profit organization gives the guide dogs up for free to those in need.
“It’s amazing how many people are involved in this,” Bridget said. “We met a referee at an ice hockey game, a couple at the ski lodge, a lady on the metro … it’s an experience you can bond over with people from all over the area.”
RUDY FERNANDEZ doesn’t consider himself much of a pet lover.
“Except for Kristy. She’s a good dog,” he said, smiling fondly in the bluetick coonhound’s direction. After giving in to his children’s requests for a dog, he decided to adopt one from a rescue shelter. The moment he saw Kristy, he decided she was the right one.
“She’s very easy-going and doesn’t require a lot of attention. She loves to stretch out in the sun and probably sleeps about 18 hours of the day,” he said, laughing.
Rudy said she’ll often disappear upstairs with his son Jonathan who plays with her in his room, inventing games and adventures.
Jonathan piped in, “I like spending time with her. But she’s got a sad look in her eyes.”
Kristy was found in West Virginia, where she had a litter of puppies, and was rescued from owners who had mistreated her. Rudy said she still shakes a lot and is easily startled and scared by little things.
Her past hasn’t changed her hound nature though and even now if the Fernandezs leave the door open she takes off, sniffing out a path until the family organizes a neighborhood search to find her. No matter how lost she gets, however, they always manage to bring her safely back home.
WHEN HER DAUGHTER LEFT FOR COLLEGE, Gail Glover began sending her a picture of their cat Stevie every day. Inspired, her son Owen Joyce began tweeting a daily picture of the cat under the trend ‘#dailycatpic.’
“She’s so cute you can put a picture on twitter and get a minimum of three favorites,” Joyce said, half-joking and half-serious.
Internet celebrity aside, Stevie is a constant source of entertainment for the family, who adopted her from a friend in May 2011. All she carried with her was her name, the result of a case of mistaken gender, just as her mother’s—Dave—and grandmother’s—Johnny—had been. Although she was just a kitten then, she learned quickly.
“At first she didn’t know how to go to the bathroom in the litterbox, but just like the expression ‘copy-cat,’ you only have to show her what to do and she copies it,” Glover said.
Joyce said he finds Stevie’s nature entertaining, both for her and himself. If they shine a laser pointer at a wall, she breaks into a gallop as if she was a horse, chasing after the light all around the house and even into walls.
“She’s a funny little thing and makes us all laugh,” Glover said. “She just does goofy stuff all the time.” | <urn:uuid:d1f93542-36ed-413b-8dcf-b00bf8548578> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/news/2013/feb/28/meet-area-families-best-friends/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976554 | 990 | 1.5625 | 2 |
When Campaign 2008 began, few would have predicted that distrust of the mainstream media — especially NBC — might end up as one of the defining issues of the election. But it seems that the Peacock Network has unwisely painted itself into a corner, and that could actually hurt Barack Obama.
A recent Rasmussen Report poll shows that about half the country thinks the press is out to get Sarah Palin, with a full quarter saying this makes it likelier they’ll vote Republican. If that trend continues, it could have huge consequences.
Keith Olbermann and MSNBC are commonly recognized as the leaders of the pro–Barack Obama movement in the mainstream media (through no fault of Obama’s, by the way). It seems odd that a cable TV host, on a network with a relatively small audience, could help swing an election. And yes, NBC moved this week to rein him in, taking Olbermann and Chris Matthews off their hosting duties for live political events, including Election Night and the debates. And yes again, Olbermann’s self-declared enemy, Fox News, is often every bit as partisan as he is.
But in the age of YouTube and the Internet, even a cable host can have a large, instant impact, magnified by his critics. And what Olbermann and MSNBC are still doing may be helping the Republicans and many of the old supporters of Hillary Clinton unite in a common cause against an old target of populism: the press.
From its birth as an American political movement in the late 19th century, populism was loosely linked to the Democratic Party — the traditional home of the working classes — and party rhetoric and policy still assume that this state of affairs exists. But since the 1960s, the Democrats’ identification with the multiple rights revolutions — and with big government supported by high taxes — has allowed it to be increasingly portrayed as a defender of cultural elites, not the common man.
As populists drifted away from the Dems, distrust of the mainstream media became one of the movement’s strongest rallying cries, often overriding even distrust of government and large corporations. But while the Democratic Party was reliving its past glories, the Republicans heard this anti-media cry, and used it to their advantage.
The ploy has its roots in the 1964 GOP convention, when delegates shouted insults at the network anchors in the booths above (a move repeated this year at the Republican convention in St. Paul). Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew then developed it into an art form with their attacks on the press several years later. Almost 40 years hence, this conservative populist movement is still gaining momentum — thanks to the rise of niche talk radio, the Internet, and the collapse of traditional journalism — which many in the masses on the right take as a sign that history is on their side.
Fair and Barack
One of the secrets of the success of Fox News is the way it has tapped into all this discontent with the mainstream media — portraying itself as “fair and balanced” and “populist,” all while stationing itself in New York (the elite media capital) and adopting its own partial take on the news. This development, naturally, has horrified the media establishment, which was bound, sooner or later, to develop an anti-Fox alternative — if only for commercial reasons. Hence, MSNBC’s transformation into the Obama News Network, with Olbermann as its Master of Ceremonies. | <urn:uuid:86043993-56b6-4b42-be99-8c310060164f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thephoenix.com/Boston/news/68080-peacock-problem/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967972 | 708 | 1.796875 | 2 |
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[cdn-nucl-l] what exactly is "renewable" ???
Can you believe the
ignorant arrogance of these EC officials ?
NUCLEONICS WEEK - July 26, 2001
EC WANTS EXTERNALITIES
BUT NO BENEFITS GIVEN
The European Commission (EC) says the external costs of
electricity production technologies, as calculated in a recently
completed report, should be factored into decisions on technology
choice. But despite its low overall costs, the commissioners
do not believe nuclear power should be subsidized or
otherwise encouraged alongside more "renewable" energy
Andrea Dahmen, spokeswoman for Research
Philippe Busquin, said that despite the calculated
external costs of nuclear energy, the EC had no
whatsoever of allowing member states to subsidize
power production or to otherwise "encourage" it.
renewable," she said, and thus doesn’t fit into
the February guidelines.
She said the guidelines are "basically" directed at encouraging
hydro, wind power production, and solar photovoltaics,
technologies which have a "very good chance of being
....since when is ANY
energy source that depends on the nuclear fusion reactions of the Sun
Some time ago, B.L.
Cohen calculated that with nuke fuel reprocessing (never mind thorium use &
reprocessing) and U-extraction from seawater, nuclear energy is very much
comparable in long-term availability to the Sun's expected operating life of
some 4GY -- even assuming large energy consumption
How "renewable" will
hydro be during the next ice age, with reservoirs buried under a mile-thick
sheet of glacial ice ?
According to geologists,
we are overdue (geologic time scale) for another period of massive increase in
volcanic activity... how will photovoltaics fare in such a climate
Windmills may be cheap
without networks of transmission lines and backup power sources -- but do we
want the entire globe to be covered forests of concrete & steel towers and
maintenance access roads ?
Are these people on
drugs or something ? | <urn:uuid:c60d5ed6-f779-4bdc-ac60-4180d33711f5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mailman.mcmaster.ca/mailman/private/cdn-nucl-l/0107.gz/msg00023.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.900933 | 474 | 1.65625 | 2 |
The role of women in policy-making has been largely neglected in conventional social and political histories. This book opens up this field of study, taking the example of women in education as its focus. It examines the work, attitudes, actions and philosophies of women who played a part in policy-making and administration in education in England over two centuries, looking at women engaged at every level from the local school to the state.
Women, Educational Policy-Making and Administration in England traces women's involvement in the establishment and management of schools and teacher training; the foundation of the school boards; women's representation on educational commissions, and their rising professional profile in such roles as school inspector or minister of education. These activities highlight vital questions of gender, class, power and authority, and illuminate the increasingly diverse and prominent spectrum of political activity in which women have participated.
Offering a new perspective on the professional and political role of women, this book represents essential reading for anybody with an interest in gender studies or the social and political history of England in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. | <urn:uuid:518bfa87-6aca-43a3-b1aa-04feafad9abd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://books.google.ca/books?id=z0Db5egIAZoC&pg=PA168 | 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 | 0.964885 | 214 | 2.4375 | 2 |
Case Study - Dutch Bankers January 2003
'Best of Both Worlds' is a management approach supported by Natural England. The following is an extract from the Best of Both Worlds website -
"Many outdoor pursuits take place in sensitive areas where public access has to be managed in order to protect its natural or cultural heritage. Yet, recreation enthusiasts and conservationists share many of the same objectives:
- to enjoy the natural environment
- to appreciate our cultural heritage
- to expand their understanding of natural processes
- to protect and improve what they enjoy"
A few years ago, the Trail Manager, David McGlade, was asked to provide a Case Study about a large party event which damaged part of the National Trail in 2003. This has been used as an example of why such events need to be better managed by the organisers and what we can learn from it. The Case Study is available to download (see below). | <urn:uuid:bba9a8fc-3ec4-4413-a01c-5a47e7bc8973> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/hadrianswall/publications.asp?PageId=306 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96495 | 186 | 1.960938 | 2 |
Blenheim Palace and The Cotswolds
|Included Highlights:||Blenheim Palace: the Birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill, The villages of the Cotswolds, traditional lunch in pretty Burford, Blenheim Gardens, Professional Tour Guide, Luxury Vehicle|
|Duration:||Full Day (approx. 9 hours)|
|Included:||Blenheim Palace and Lunch in the Cotswold's|
|Departures:||Friday Saturday and Sunday (Summer only: May to September)|
A drive through The Cotswold's in beautiful North West rural England, set in the gently rolling hills ('wolds') villages steeped in history, traditions and with a charming blend of old stone cottages, many of them with a thatched roof.
Visit the picturesque villages of: Bibury, Burford and Bourton-the-Water.
The name Blenheim derives from a decisive battle that took place on the 13th August 1704 on the north bank of the river Danube, near a small village called Blindheim or Blenheim, where the French leader, Marshall Tallard, had fixed his lines.
Here John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough, won a great allied victory over the forces of Louis XIV, thus saving Europe from French domination.
Blenheim Palace is one of the most beautiful stately homes in Britain. Contains a large collection of porcelain, magnificent tapestries, paintings, old furniture, historic relics and the opportunity to see the room where Churchill was born.
The Palace grounds with lakes spanned by stone bridges.
The park, woodlands and the column with the statue of John Chirchull on it. Notable the Marlborough Maze, the world's second largest hedge maze. | <urn:uuid:99803fd6-f3e1-4d91-b537-5b0ebbd6661b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.londontourguides.com/french/sulgrave.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920051 | 376 | 1.953125 | 2 |
Sobering Report on KQED June 12, 2012Posted by davidmwittman in access to education, students, university.
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I heard this driving home Friday night: a radio report about how some good California high school seniors are reluctant to consider UC because they know cuts will continue and quality will continue to decline. This was truly disheartening to hear. We need to restore education as a public good. California Sales and Income Tax Increase Initiative which will probably be on the ballot this November is a good place to start. It funds K12, and to a lesser extent community colleges, rather than UC, but it represents a step in the right direction.
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today’s (re) post comes David Meyer, a Professor of Sociology and Political Science at UC Irvine.
The future of the University of California is even more daunting for organizers than the troubled present.
The problem: Students, faculty, and the citizens of California have interests in both access to the University system and maintaining some degree of excellence in the system. It’s extremely hard to focus on both issues simultaneously, and it’s hard to know who to work with and who to trust.
Over the past five years, the University has been fighting losing battles on both fronts. As the state of California has consistently cut funding, the University has cut spending and programs while raising tuition. Most of the ten campuses are working hard to increase the percentage of out-of-state and international students, who pay much higher tuition. It’s a viable revenue strategy, but it’s understandable why California taxpayers are incensed that their University has less room for the young people of California.
Meanwhile, ongoing cuts to programs are affecting the quality of education UC students receive. Saturday’s New York Times reports that students face fewer classes, larger classes, tougher admissions standards, less attention, higher tuition, and even a less demanding education. According to the Times, every student may still have access to an academic adviser, but each adviser is now responsible for 500 students (rather than 300 in years past). Is that access? Many professors facing larger classes with fewer teaching assistants now require less writing, shorter and fewer papers. (When I came to UCI, about a dozen years ago, each of my TAs was typically responsible for 80-90 students; 120-140 is now more typical. If this doesn’t seem like much of a difference to you, try to imagine reading and commenting on 40 ten page papers.) Students are unlikely to complain about such reforms, but they’re certainly not being helped.
Davis Dozen update June 3, 2012Posted by Julie Sze in protests, students.
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the end of the quarter is coming fast, and then the summer lull will likely take its toll in terms of media and broad interest in campus politics. But, the Davis Dozen case certainly continues. Read this on yesterday’s court appearance | <urn:uuid:9d2ff62c-91f7-47ce-b41a-901f8db4f68c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ucfacultysupportingstudents.org/2012/06/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957256 | 612 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Maury Albertson, one of the architects of the Peace Corps, died at 90 on January 11. India RPCV Jane Albritton has written her memories Albertson and his contributions to the Peace Corps:
"As Maury recounted his story, his voice was still filled with the wonder of it all. He remained amazed that everything moved so fast. That Sargent Shriver could put together a team that included Bill Moyers and Warren Wiggens. That "Sarge" had the stamina to have lunch with every legislator in DC to get the money to fund JFK's vision and Maury's plan. Colorado State became one of the first training sites for volunteers, and Pauline became the first director in Pakistan. Check it out. In 1961 a Farsi-speaking woman running the show in Muslim Pakistan where the first group included three Black volunteers. Martin Luther King made his "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963, and it took until 1964 for the Civil Rights Act to bar discrimination in employment on the basis of race and sex. I came to understand that the pivotal role he played in the development of the Peace Corps was just part of his bigger, personal vision for Peace on Earth. Just weeks before he died at 90, he had been in Jakarta, Indonesia, teaching a doctorate-level class on sustainable development. Who was this guy? I have tried to come up with an image for Maury. Here’s the best I can do. I think he was like a big planet with its own gravitational pull. Even from a distance, it looks bright in the night sky. But what happens when you look more closely with a stronger telescope? Why there’s more. The bright planet - like Jupiter, maybe - has color and 63 moons orbiting around it. And no matter how close you get, the vision never gets out of focus, even as it turns - with apparent joy - in multiple motions. That would be Maury. " | <urn:uuid:d4c2783e-2ab4-4081-8eee-01d5d7aea8e7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://peacecorpsonline.typepad.com/peacecorpsonline/staff/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984909 | 404 | 2.625 | 3 |
In an area of suplemental irrigation, like the delta region of west central Mississippi, pivots are at their best when asked to perform in a variety of summer weather conditions. The summer of 2000 provided just such an opportunity. “We saw a renewed interest in center pivot irrigation after that summer. It was hot, dry and windy from early spring until late summer,” repor Mark and Don Barger of Big D. Inc., Greenwood, Mississippi.
“The 2000 crop year was unique. Many farmers with center pivots on tight, heavy soils experienced greater yield increases than normal an greater increases than those on lighter soils using various methods of irrigation,” Don Barger explains. “Mechanized irrigation saved several cotton crops from disaster, and, in some cases, paid for the initial investment in just one season.”
Read more »
The development of the center pivot sprinkler over the past 20 years was an advance in the state of irrigation technology comparable to micro-irrigation, plastic pipe and laser leveling. The only thing that has possibly meant more to the practice of irrigation than these would be the wide use of efficient, centrifugal and turbine pumps.
The center pivot has opened up thousands of acres to irrigated, agronomic crops and increased production o thousands more. Farms that could not use surface methods because of topography and could not economically justify portable, side-roll or solid set sprinklers had no alternative to dry land agriculture until the advent of the center pivot.
The pivot solved the problems of topography, economics, labor and deficient water supplies. Pivots are in use in nearly every country in the world on nearly every crop and the contribution of the pivot to the world’s agriculture cannot be overestimated.
Read more » | <urn:uuid:5ae3759e-e874-45e6-a119-409e793ee610> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.traxcoirrigation.com/category/center-pivot | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937521 | 367 | 2.484375 | 2 |
Well, the answer is no. If it were, I wouldn't give any money to the NBA considering how much those guys get paid, versus the top WNBA salary of 105,000. Clearly, if the NBA did own the WNBA, they could afford to pay these players at least 1.0 million. However, the WNBA does have some financial backing from the NBA, about 10.0 million a year. The average salary for a WNBA player is-get this- 50,000 dollars!! Fine for a job in retail or a restaurant, but with all that exertion, they should definitely pay more. The conclusion: WNBA makes poor profit. So, technically, the lackluster pay is not the league's fault at all. Still, those NBA players need to make a little less, and those WNBA players a little more. The players would probably quit if they didn't have to go to the WNBA to establish themselves before going overseas, and making a lot more money. For an example, Candace Parker makes about 75,000 dollars in the WNBA, but when she goes overseas, she makes 1.2 million. For a lot of people, the WNBA is the offseason. | <urn:uuid:b7edb0b6-3ad9-4955-9e17-3083d5b5de22> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.swishappeal.com/2013/2/16/3996146/the-question-many-wnba-fans-have-asked-is-the-league-owned-by-the-nba | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978876 | 247 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Advocates of Pennsylvania's new Opportunity Scholarship Program often say the goal is to give parents more choice in where their children go to school. An article this week in the Reading Eagle suggests it may be the other way around.
The Opportunity Scholarship Program was enacted along with the 2012-13 state budget. Modeled on the state's Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program, it provides tax credits to businesses that make donations to organizations providing scholarships to students in low-achieving districts. The program is funded at $50 million in 2012-13.
Low-achieving districts are defined as the lowest 15% of elementary and secondary schools, based on combined math and reading scores for the prior school year. Students can use scholarships to attend private schools or other public schools.
As Reading Eagle reporter David Meekel writes, private schools are permitted under this scholarship program to accept students at-will, while public schools participating in the program must admit students using a lottery process.
State officials had said that a lottery system will likely be used to award the scholarships...
Chris Wakeley, the Democratic executive director of the House Education Committee, said a lottery will [be] used only for public schools.
Only four public schools statewide have been approved to receive students, Wakeley said. As for the private schools that have been approved, Wakeley said, they will be [able] to pick and choose who they accept.
"We can't require them to take a child," he said.
Wakeley said private schools' only restriction is they can't discriminate based on things like race or religion.
"It's not about a student choosing a school; it's about the school choosing the student," he said. | <urn:uuid:f054b19a-02c2-4dcd-91b4-a9fcd1205f08> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thirdandstate.org/2012/august/private-schools-able-pick-and-choose-students-getting-opportunity-scholarships | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974616 | 347 | 2.171875 | 2 |
(AP) A U.S.-funded study released Monday said both Israeli and Palestinian schoolbooks largely present one-sided narratives of the conflict between the two peoples and tend to ignore the existence of the other side, but rarely resort to demonization.
The research by Israeli, Palestinian and American researchers, billed as setting a new standard for textbook analysis, tackled a particularly fraught issue longstanding Israeli claims that the Palestinians teach incitement and hatred of Israel in their schools.
The study, funded by the U.S. State Department, appeared to undermine these allegations, though it was unlikely to resolve the debate.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu argues that the conflict with the Palestinians is not over land, but over Israel's acceptance in the region, and that peace is not possible until the alleged incitement stops.
Palestinians say Netanyahu is hiding behind such claims to divert attention from settlement building on occupied lands and from what they believe is his unwillingness to reach a peace deal on internationally backed terms.
The new study said the school books of both sides are typical for societies in conflict though books used in Israeli state schools include significantly more information about Palestinians and more self-critical texts. Books used in Israel's ultra-Orthodox religious schools, attended by more than a quarter of Jewish students, and in Palestinian schools contain little information about the other side, the study said.
On both sides, the chief problem is the crime of omission. It's the absence of a clear, outright recognition of existence and the other side's right to exist, said Gershon Baskin, an Israeli member of the study's scientific advisory panel.
Israel's Education Ministry dismissed the study as biased but did not elaborate. The Palestinian Education Ministry said its books reflect the reality of Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories but do not incite to hatred.
The study analyzed 74 Israeli and 94 Palestinian books, covering grades 1-12 and teaching social sciences, geography, literature, religion, Arabic and Hebrew. The Israeli books were from state-run secular and religious schools, as well as independent ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools. The vast majority of the Palestinian books were used in government schools, and only six in private Islamic schools.
Scholars said they developed a new method to ensure greater objectivity, as they reviewed nearly 16,000 pages from Israeli state school books, close to 3,500 pages from books in ultra-Orthodox schools and close to 10,000 pages from Palestinian books.
All Israeli and Palestinian researchers were fluent in both Hebrew and Arabic so they could analyze the books of both communities, study organizers said. Often, the same texts were reviewed by more than one person, and the data was entered remotely into a database at Yale University so researchers could not be influenced by how the study was progressing.
The study found that as part of the selective narratives presented, both the Israeli and Palestinian books tended to describe negative actions of the other against the own community, while portraying the own community in positive terms. Books often lacked information about the religion, culture, economy and daily life of the other side.
It is clear that each side is emphasizing its own narrative of the conflict, said Daniel Bar-Tal of Tel Aviv University, one of three lead scholars, along with Sami Adwan of Bethlehem University and Bruce Wexler, professor emeritus at Yale.
There is really minimal dehumanization on both sides, but at the same time, there is really a line of ignoring the other side, he said.
The failure to recognize the other is particularly apparent in maps of the land between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River, where the Palestinians hope to establish their state alongside Israel.
The Palestinians want to form their state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in 1967. For now, they have limited autonomy in 38 percent of the West Bank, where more than 90 percent of the Palestinians live. Israel annexed east Jerusalem immediately after the 1967, a move not recognized by most of the world, and withdrew in 2005 from Gaza, now controlled by the militant Palestinian group Hamas.
Israel was only shown in three of 83 post-1967 maps in Palestinian books, the study said.
Of 330 post-1967 maps in Israeli books, 258 included the area between the Jordan River and the sea. Of those, 196 maps, or 76 percent, did not indicate any borders between Israel and the occupied lands. Of the 62 maps that included a demarcation, 33 showed which areas are under Palestinian self-rule, while 29 maps showed borders with color lines, but do not refer to a Palestinian presence.
Historical events, while not fabricated, are presented selectively to present the own community's national narrative, the study said.
Yossi Kuperwasser, a senior Israeli official who monitors Palestinian statements and actions for the government's incitement index, rejected the study's conclusions.
Our curriculum calls for peace and states why peace is good and there (in Palestinian schools) it is just the opposite, he said. Incitement to violence, to hatred, is the main obstacle to peace, and this has to change if we really are to have peace.
Jihad Zarkarneh, in charge of textbooks in the Palestinian Education Ministry, said that as long as Palestinians live under military rule, their books cannot be expected to portray Israel in a positive light.
If the study wants me to praise the Israeli occupation, the Israeli culture, I'm telling the researchers that no people on earth praised their occupier, neither in America nor in France or China or anywhere, he said.
The study was overseen by a 19-member scientific advisory panel. On Sunday, 14 members endorsed the findings in a statement. Arnon Groiss, an Israeli researcher who conducted previous textbook studies and did not endorse the findings, declined comment when contacted last week, saying he had not seen the full report.
Previous textbook studies have come to varied conclusions.
A previous joint Israeli-Palestinian study noted that both Israeli and Palestinian books present a national narrative, but that Israeli books allocate more space than in the past to Palestinians and their suffering.
Two NGOs, Palestinian Media Watch and IMPACT-SE, have harshly criticized the Palestinian textbooks, saying they ignore Israel, emphasize martyrdom, a term for being killed while carrying out an attack or in a clash with Israelis, and do not educate to peace.
The new study was initiated in 2009 by the Jerusalem-based Council of Religious Institutions in the Holy Land, which represents top Jewish, Muslim and Christian clerics.
However, the council is not participating in the study's release, said a top official, Trond Bakkevig, a Norwegian reverend. The study went beyond the requested analysis of books teaching religion, he said, adding that we found it best it is being published in the name of the scholars who did it.
The State Department said it is one of several to have received grants from Washington, but that they are not being endorsed by the U.S. government. They are independent assessments that can provide additional perspectives on complicated issues, said spokesman Patrick Ventrell.
Associated Press writer Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank contributed reporting. | <urn:uuid:6493e705-7fb0-4942-a59f-309ee3c34936> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.timesleader.com/stories/Textbook-study-faults-Israelis-and-Palestinians,259672?category_id=6&town_id=1&sub_type=stories | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962478 | 1,462 | 2.390625 | 2 |
Today is Wyoming Winter Weather Awareness Day [AUDIO]
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has released its plan to remove wolves in Wyoming from federal protection and allow them to be shot on sight in most of the state. Doug Randall reports on that story. Today (10/5) is Wyoming Winter Weather Awareness Day, an effort to urge people to be prepared for winter weather. Click past the jump to listen to Wyoming Radio News. | <urn:uuid:ba8a1353-a88e-44cf-bdd5-423f9295af2b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kgab.com/today-is-wyoming-winter-weather-awareness-day-audio/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935745 | 90 | 1.726563 | 2 |
- Beyond the EHR: Seamlessly Connecting Nurses and Physicians Using an EHR-Extender (EHR-e)
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Despite the millions of people who have gained insurance coverage as a result of the health law, a survey released Thursday shows outreach efforts for two popular provisions are missing key parts of their target audience.
The Commonwealth Fund’s report on gaps in health insurance found that more than 60 percent of survey respondents know about a provision that allows children up to age 26 to stay on their parents’ insurance. Meanwhile, half know about the law’s high-risk insurance pools. For both of these provisions, though, a significant number of people likely to benefit remain in the dark.
[Political Malpractice: How politics distort Americans' perception of health reform.]
For example, 40 percent of respondents age 19 to 29 didn’t know about the benefit that permits those under 26 to obtain coverage from their parents’ plan. When asked about the high-risk pools, 45 percent of people in fair or poor health and 65 percent of people who were uninsured didn’t know about that coverage option.
“It’s indicative that there are differences in what people are hearing” about the law, said Sara Collins, a vice president of the Commonwealth Fund and one of the report’s authors. “There’s a need to get information to the people who will benefit.”
According to the survey, awareness of the health law’s provisions varied greatly depending on income. Fifty-four percent of respondents who had incomes below 250 percent of the federal poverty level were unaware of the under-26 provision, compared to just 25 percent at or above that line. For the high-risk pools it was 63 percent and 39 percent, respectively.
Both parts of the law address important gaps in coverage also highlighted by Thursday’s report. Among the more than 2,000 respondents, slightly more than a quarter went without insurance at some point in the year prior; 69 percent had gone without insurance for more than a year.
The under-26 provision has allowed 2.5 million young adults to gain coverage, according to a government report, and brought down the uninsured rate by a few percentage points. A recent analysis by Gallup, however, speculated that the young adult uninsured rate has hit a plateau since the health law took effect.
“There’s a robust level of awareness” for under-26 coverage, said Jennifer Mishory, deputy director for Young Invincibles, a pro-health law group focused on young adults. She added that gaps in awareness can largely be attributed to traditionally underserved, uninsured groups that are less engaged in health insurance.
Case in point: the Hispanic population, which the survey found had much less knowledge of the health law’s coverage expansions. Thirty-eight percent were aware of the under-26 provision and 28 percent for the high-risk pools, compared with 71 percent and 57 percent, respectively, among white respondents.
Mishory said that Young Invincibles is looking to partner on outreach with community health centers, which address uninsured populations, as well as develop a smartphone application to spread awareness. The group is also in the middle of a nationwide bus tour.
“We need to do more,” said Kathleen Stoll, director of health policy for Families USA, a group that supports the health law. She described how “it takes a while for programs like these to break through.” People with pre-existing conditions are a particular challenge, because individual states run the high-risk pools with varied levels of publicity.
And in a surprise, as Stoll noted, Republicans showed greater awareness than Democrats for the health law provisions: 74 percent versus 65 percent for the under-26 rule, and 60 percent versus 52 percent for high-risk pools.
The poll, conducted by Knowledge Networks for the Commonwealth Fund, surveyed 2,134 adults between June 24 and July 5, 2011 and has a margin of error of +/- 3 percent.
This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente. | <urn:uuid:5d495570-b35e-4192-b7ab-e8e1ba9902c7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.govhealthit.com/news/many-americans-unaware-aca-benefits-survey-says | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952926 | 961 | 2.265625 | 2 |
Take any of the other suggestions and focus more on creating a service specific for startups. Don't create some "tool" that can be configured any way the user wants, but a service that does it the way it should be done with as little thought, energy, and effort as possible.
Example: If someone already knows how to setup an accounting system or hires an accountant, they can just buy QuickBooks. This isn't going to give the startup a competitive advantage; its just a necessary evil to do business. What is an advantage is having your accounting system already setup for them.
There has to be more in common among startups to setup an accounting system than there are differences. The service should literally lead them through the process of setup with as many decisions made in advance. "But I want to use my personal checking account for the business." Well, you shouldn't. Step #1 Provide the following information and an online checking account will be created at Bank X for Company Y with PayPal, Visa, MasterCard merchant account, etc. Step #2 Employees on payroll? Do this...
Take a LAMP website. Here is the Server Name\Website, Database Server\Database Name. Now do a backup to your offsite datacenter under an appropriate schedule and send the user an email showing them how to do a restore and make them test it. Done.
Again, just do it using the best practices. Why reinvent the wheel? A startup has plenty to worry about. Save them from themselves. | <urn:uuid:5e5140ce-63c9-484c-a7cf-05aaea481334> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://answers.onstartups.com/questions/11658/what-are-the-most-common-it-services-needed-by-start-ups | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950893 | 306 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Northern Sinfonia’s outreach and education work is incorporated into the music education program of The Sage Gateshead –a uniquely integrated approach enabling the Performance programme and Education and Community programme to be entirely inspired and supported by each other.
Northern Sinfonia is pioneering an approach to musical discovery that will remove barriers to participation and enable everyone who wishes to, to become involved in, stimulated and excited by music making – no matter what their age or ability. Its education programme brings together the key features of highest quality community music, music education, conservatoire practice, an international performance centre and creative laboratory.
The Education and Community programme is delivered through eight strategic programmes: Early Years, Work with Schools, Vocal and Instrumental Learning, Practitioner Development, Community Music, Further and Higher Education, Resources and Music in the Workplace. Together the programmes are committed to: providing new musical opportunities across the whole of the North of England; fostering knowledge, understanding and enjoyment of all kinds of music; promoting learning and participation at the heart of all Northern Sinfonia’sw work; bringing together for all ages the best of music education and community music; helping people address their individual learning needs and find appropriate routes of progression; and developing ground-breaking work of national and international significance. | <urn:uuid:f290c6f5-a79f-407d-9275-0ea57799fb86> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.britishcouncil.org/arts-music-education-mused-northern-sinfonia.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922106 | 260 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Electrotherapy Devices: also known as Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS)
The therapeutic value of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) has been well known and in use for many years despite the fact that we have only theories to explain why this approach works. When used by a healthcare professional trained to determine the proper placement of electrodes and to select an appropriate mode, the TENS device offers a realistic non-drug approach to pain control. In particular, where pain is chronic, and not responding to traditional drug therapy TENS offers another modality that can prove to be very effective.
Conductive gel helps to enhance the conductivity between the electrode and the skin. It works by wetting the skin, thereby reducing skin resistance. When applied to an electrode the conductive gel helps the signals to get to the nerves under the skin.
Spectra 360 Electrode Gel is the only salt-free and chloride-free electrically conductive gel.
Electrodes are used in conjunction with Transcutaneous Nerve Simulators (T.E.N.S Unit). They are placed on or around the area causing most of the pain and are joined to the T.E.N.S Unit with wires. The electrodes have a flexible cloth backing which allows the electrode to easily and durably conform to different body surfaces. Electrodes are available in a variety of shapes and sizes for application. Each electrode comes pre-gelled and wired for easy application.
Electrodes are placed on different areas of the skin depending on the location and type of pain.
Transcutaneous Nerve Stimulators (T.E.N.S Unit)
The T.E.N.S Unit is a pocket size, portable, battery-operated device that sends electrical impulses to specific parts of the body and helps with pain management. There are two theories about how the T.E.N.S. unit manages pain. The first theory is the Gate Control Theory. This theory suggests that by electrically stimulating sensory nerve receptors, a gate mechanism is closed in a segment of the spinal cord. This prevents pain carrying messages from reaching the brain and blocking the perception of pain.
The second theory is the Endorphin Release Theory. This suggests that electrical impulses stimulate the production of endorphins in the body. These release morphine-like substances that blocks pain messages from reaching the brain. This is similar to the effects of conventional drug therapy but without the drug side effects.
The battery-operated TENS unit features include a small transformer, a pulse generator, frequency and intensity controls and usually has four electrodes. It has three modes: continuous, modulate and burst and is sometimes equipped with a timer.
TENS is an excellent, non-drug alternative for chronic pain such as lower-back ache and arthritis. It is also useful in relieving acute pain associated with surgery, traumatic injury, and other conditions. The effectiveness of the TENS is residual meaning, when turned off the pain relieving effect will last.
We recommend if living with chronic pain and you are questioning if you would benefit from the use of a TENS unit, discuss this with your physician. The best way to start using a TENS unit is under the direction of a physiotherapist. Ask for a physiotherapy referral and discuss this with your therapist. They are the most knowledgeable in the proper use of a TENS unit.
We do not recommend purchasing a TENS unit and experimenting with it. This never results in a good outcome for the individual trying a unit on their own. | <urn:uuid:1c567da5-2e2e-49cb-9a75-ee0fff823f17> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.staffordpharmacy.com/home-healthcare/home-healthcare-center/electrotherapy-devices/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930768 | 733 | 2.890625 | 3 |
Germany finishes paying WWI reparations, ending century of 'guilt'
Few people in Germany noted the country's final $94 million WWI reparations payment on Sunday. Some historians say that's for the best.
To some historians, World War I ended Sunday.Skip to next paragraph
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Amid the news headlines marking the 20th anniversary of German reunification, the country quietly finished paying the last of its debt stemming from reparations imposed by the Versailles Peace Treaty more than 92 years ago.
"It's a symbol. It marks the end of World War I," says Ursula Rombeck-Jaschinski, a professor of modern history at Heinrich-Heine University in Düsseldorf. "It shows that Germany is prepared to pay back its debts after 92 years. More importantly, it also shows that Germany today is a totally different Germany than it was in the 1920s and 1930s."
Today Germany has a robust economy and is a model of financial stability, far from the heavily indebted nation that once ran up inflation and shrugged off creditors. While the last payment connected with the reparations passed virtually unnoticed here Sunday, for some Germans and many historians it marked the symbolic closing of a highly controversial treaty that ended one war and laid the foundation of another.
Seeds of Hitler’s rise
The so-called "guilt clause" of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles placed full blame for the war on Germany and ordered reparations of 132 billion German marks (roughly $400 billion in today's dollars). The debt fed a cycle of hyperinflation that pushed Germany to the brink of financial collapse.
By 1931, the international community had canceled Germany’s debts. By then the country had already paid 23 billion gold marks, or 17 percent of the Versailles demands, and still had to reimburse the foreign bonds it had issued in the 1920s to raise the reparation cash. The debt continued to fuel deep feelings of resentment, which Adolph Hitler exploited to catapult himself to power in 1934.
"Nothing played a greater role in Nazi propaganda than the refusal of Versailles and the promise to go back on the treaty," says Gerd Krumeich of the University of Düsseldorf, a World War I historian. "It gave rise to a campaign of propaganda and hatred."
"Without the Treaty of Versailles, the course of German history would have been quite different," agrees Carl-Ludwig Holtfrerich of Berlin’s Free University. "That was a lesson the Americans drew after World War II. They pleaded for a new world order where reparation was out of the question." | <urn:uuid:14a70797-8168-4555-93f3-bc400a5dae9c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2010/1004/Germany-finishes-paying-WWI-reparations-ending-century-of-guilt | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957988 | 555 | 3.203125 | 3 |
Library of Congress, by Alexander Jackson Davis and Stephen H. Gilmer, ca. 1832
The congressional library was comfortably furnished to accommodate both elected officials and the general public.
I.N. Phelps Stokes Collection, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations | <urn:uuid:6845aa57-a62d-4c0c-a093-8324c563143b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.visitthecapitol.gov/exhibitions/online/1815-to-1851/the-capitol-1815-1851/a-splendid-capitol/225-library-of-congress-by-alexander-jackson-davis.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00076-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907381 | 82 | 1.625 | 2 |
Published to accompany the exhibition Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan at the National Gallery, London 9 November 2011 – 5 February 2012.
Leonardo da Vinci’s reputation as an inventor and scientist, and the complexity of his creativity and personality, have sometimes almost overshadowed the importance of his aims and techniques as a painter. Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court Of Milan focuses on a crucial period in the 1480s and '90s when, as a salaried court artist to Duke Ludovico Sforza in the city-state of Milan, freed from the pressures of making a living in the commercially minded Florentine republic, Leonardo produced some of the most celebrated – and influential – work of his career.
The Last Supper, his two versions of The Virgin of the Rocks, and the beautiful portrait of Ludovico’s mistress, Cecilia Gallerani (The Lady with an Ermine) were paintings that set a new standard for his Milanese contemporaries. Leonardo’s style was magnified, through collaboration and imitation, to become the visual language of the regime, and by the time of his return to Florence in 1500, his status was utterly transformed.
Works from British, US and European collections represent the diverse range of Leonardo’s artistic output, from drawings in chalk, ink or metalpoint to full-scale oil paintings. Together with the authors’ meticulous research and detailed analysis, they demonstrate Leonardo’s consummate skill and extraordinary ambition as a painter.View spreads of this book (1 MB PDF)
"marvellous catalogue – thorough, eloquent, original: that is to say, nearly unique in this field"
Laura Cummings, 'Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan – review', The Observer, 13 November 2011
"The superbly produced catalogue by Luke Syson and Larry Keith is as measured, thoughtful, and original as any I've read. In terms of art history, their understanding of Leonardo is the new gold standard."
Richard Dorment, 'Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan, National Gallery in London: review', The Telegraph, 7 November 2011
22 July 2011 | <urn:uuid:f539daac-dc48-49e3-bbae-08ff5ecfbac7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nationalgallery.co.uk/products/leonardo_exhibition/p_leonardoEC | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945854 | 455 | 2.46875 | 2 |
LONDON -- The opening ceremonies start tonight to kickoff the London 2012 games.
If you journey on London’s famous double-decker buses, you’ll experience the joy of the Olympic Games and the gridlock on London streets.
It is morning rush hour, and a 30-minute ride by train, takes two hours if you’re driving.
Mark Halbig is a tour guide and battles this mess every day. While Halbig navigates the crush of cars, London’s taxi drivers are gearing up for gridlock.
They are angry because they’re not allowed to use the Olympic lanes during the games.
On Monday, they staged a protest by putting their cars in park, causing a major traffic jam and we were stuck in the middle of it.
Today, on the day of opening ceremonies, the drivers vow to do it again -- bringing the games to a screeching halt before they even begin. | <urn:uuid:ac9ec4c3-8d91-4fa3-8d48-d7349c64d480> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wcnc.com/sports/summer-olympics-london-2012/olympics-video/London-gears-up-for-Olympics-as-traffic-headaches--163989836.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927175 | 195 | 1.609375 | 2 |
WHAT: As the New England Patriots head into Sunday's AFC Championship game against the Baltimore Ravens, the Rhode Island Jump$tart Coalition and Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis will visit Cumberland High School Thursday to kick off a campaign to promote "Financial Football," a free NFL-themed on-line game that lets players score touchdowns for their favorite team by answering questions that include tips about personal finance.
Posted on the Secretary of State's website the game lets fans of all ages choose the Patriots as their team and play against the computer or each other, tackling topics ranging from understanding debt to saving for college. A win for the Patriots or any other NFL team is recorded on the national leader board. New England is currently number one in the nation.
"This is the perfect time to capitalize on Patriots' playoff fever to promote financial literacy. 'Financial Football' turns important lessons about money management into a fun family activity," said Mollis. "Keeping the Pats on top is a wonderful educational expression of our support for our home team."
WHEN AND WHERE: Thurs. Jan. 17, 11:20 a.m., the Transition Center at Cumberland High School, 2600 Mendon Rd.
HIGHLIGHTS: See students play the game on-line. Ask students about the importance of learning about personal finance. Learn the ABCs of financial literacy. Play the game yourself.
MEDIA CONTACT: Chris Barnett at 222-4293 | <urn:uuid:f4fbe09b-8f85-447a-bbbd-eaee21d9babc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ri.gov/press/view/18420 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939677 | 297 | 1.617188 | 2 |
BecothingsEach product produced by Becothings is being designed as eco-friendly as possible, not only functionality but, at the same time, the contribution to life cycle has also been considered at the design phase. Products such as clothes hanger and potty usually end their life cycles in garbage and for that reason, Becothings manufacturers are saying that it is better to plan what will be done with such materials at the end of their life cycles. Becothings team are designing the products with right materials and proper design in such a way that they will do the minimal damage to the environment. Becothing's latest produced material was plant fibers to be used in place of plastics. In fact, the material is a mixture of materials that can be destroyed biologically, i.e. biocomposite. 80% of the material used is bamboo and rice skins. Rice skin is a by-product of rice production, therefore, possibility to use instead of discarding makes this product a great material. When you think of bamboo, you may think of it as thin and long shrubs, however, in fact, bamboo is a grass derivative and grows very fast. What this means is planting new ones in the place of bamboos used and thus providing sustainability quickly. All of these materials are mixed with resin derived from amino acids. This resin connects all fibers together. And the most important, it allows the fragmentation of the mixture. After the expiry of product's life time, if you leave it in a moist and warm environment such as burying under the soil, the resin decomposition starts and at last the product vanishes under the soil biologically. This process, depending on environmental conditions, ends within a period of 2 to 3 years. This feature makes it priceless for products that are used for a short time and the recycling process is difficult, such as a potty. Becothings production Becopotty is an eco-friendly potty, produced from waste plant materials, and when you bury it in the ground after many years of use at home, it can disappear rapidly biologically. Becopotty, having received Mother and Baby Silver Award in 2009, is both comfortable and convenient with its ergonomic design. While the rise of back side provides balance, the protection shield in the front side prevents the splashes, and so that toilet discipline is maintained in a hygienic manner with comfort . Becopotty potty begins its life as an agricultural surplus, i.e., bamboo and rice skin. Becothings collects and makes this residue dust. Mixes it with a resin that can disappear biologically, and keeping it in a mold to manufacture Bocepotty potty.
Comment (Max: character) | <urn:uuid:4394c3e3-be9a-4bcd-b37d-f1587bfe6fe2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.yesilist.com/mother-baby/becothings-en/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963375 | 549 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Note: This item is more than three years old. Please take the publication date into consideration for any date references.
April 29, 2010
Palo Duro Canyon State Park Honoring History While Opening Doors
CANYON — Spectacular, rugged and starkly beautiful, Palo Duro Canyon State Park has always been a worthy Texas bragging point. To make sure everyone has an opportunity to enjoy the canyon’s scenic splendor, early this summer Texas Parks and Wildlife begins making more of this 76-year-old park current with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Construction is expected to be completed in spring 2011.
"There are accessibility issues that have to be conquered to give everybody the same access," says Park Superintendent Randy Ferris.
Thanks to bond funding authorized by the Texas Legislature and approved by statewide voters, Texas Parks and Wildlife is repairing and renovating several Palo Duro Canyon facilities to make them ADA compliant.
At the same time, TPWD is protecting the historical integrity of park structures. At the park headquarters, that is a particular challenge because it was built by the legendary Civilian Conservation Corps. Six CCC companies labored from 1933 to 1937 to build the park. Their work is carefully protected by the Texas Historical Commission and other entities.
"The main part of the building is a CCC-era structure," says project manager Ronny Gallagher. "There are two restrooms in the headquarters that are extremely small but are in that older, historic area."
The building also has a newer section, built in the CCC style but only about 40 years old. That section will be renovated so people in wheelchairs can easily access the building. The headquarters service counter also will be made accessible. But the historic area’s small restrooms defied being altered without destroying their original character.
"So we are taking another building that is adjacent, a CCC building that was used to house a water tank," Gallagher says. That structure had the space to alter it without destroying its historic nature. "We are going to modify that tank and put restrooms inside there."
The more than $600,000 in improvements at Palo Duro Canyon are part of a long list of major Texas State Parks rejuvenation projects underway this year, all aimed at keeping the parks fun, safe and customer friendly. Texas State Parks general obligation bonds have been sold to fund more than $44 million in repairs and renovations to park cabins, bathrooms, electrical and water systems, and other state park infrastructure. Along with fixing up more than 40 state parks, the bonds provide an additional $25 million to dry berth the Battleship Texas.
Another ADA restroom update will be done in Palo Duro Canyon’s Chinaberry Day Use Area. The walls of that non-CCC structure will be moved outward several feet to provide adequate wheelchair turnaround room inside, and the doors will be widened. Chinaberry also gets ADA-compliant pathways from the parking area to picnic pads and the restroom.
More upgrades will be made at the Sagebrush Camp Area, where three campsites will be brought up to ADA compliance.
"We are going to be doing some elevation work, some grading, adjusting the picnic pad to make sure it’s the right size and allow easy access from the camper to the pad," Gallagher says. "And we will put an ADA walkway between those campsites to the restrooms."
Palo Duro Canyon is indisputably one of Texas’ most spectacular state parks. It is often called the "Grand Canyon of Texas," although the experience, for many guests, is more intimate than visiting the national icon. The Grand Canyon is so vast, deep and challenging that most visitors see it only from the rim. A visit to Palo Duro Canyon State Park means driving — using a road originally built more than 70 years ago by the CCC — down the canyon wall and right into the heart of the canyon.
Ferris says it is the amazing contrast of the canyon with the surrounding landscape that most enthralls people. "You’ve driven across the Panhandle’s flat farmland and ranch land. Then all of a sudden you’ve got the second largest canyon system in the United States."
The park features numerous examples of CCC handicraft. The visitor’s center, originally the Coronado Lodge, was one of the first structures. Others, Ferris says, include the Rim Cabins and the Cow Camp Cabins. The latter were built as open air shelters and later modified into cabins using the CCC design. The CCC boys also constructed a number of the park’s bridges and picnic areas.
The almost 30,000-acre park also boasts great geologic and military history. It took 250 million years of water erosion to carve out the 120-mile long, 800 feet-deep canyon (not all in the park). That story is revealed by the layers of rock exposed as the canyon deepened. The presence of iron causes the distinctive rust red of the Quartermaster formation, the lowest and oldest layer seen in most areas of the park.
One wonders if all this beauty was appreciated by the combatants — soldiers and Indians — in the month-long Red River Wars of 1874, which essentially ended the lifestyle of Plains Indians. The final battle of that war took place in and around the canyon, climaxing with the capture and destruction of the food and horses of the remaining Native American resistance.
Palo Duro Canyon State Park attracted about 277,000 visitors last year with its potent combination of scenery, camping, hiking, cabins, equestrian rentals and great diversity of plants and wildlife. It is located in the Texas Panhandle, 14 miles east of Canyon and 30 miles south of Amarillo.
Watch the official Palo Duro Canyon State Park video on YouTube:
For more information, call the park at 806/488-2227, or visit the official website: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/palo_duro/
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If you have any suggestions for improving these pages, send an e-mail to firstname.lastname@example.org and mention Plain Text Pages. | <urn:uuid:91c9915e-cc44-4b35-ac84-27185feb9b4a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tpwd.state.tx.us/newsmedia/releases/?req=20100429b | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940654 | 1,466 | 2.15625 | 2 |
After inaccurate reporting by the BBC of two recent events in Israel, the news agency admitted their errors and offered an apology.
The first report stated that Israeli bulldozers razed the family home of Ala Abu Dheim, the Israeli Arab who killed eight students at the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva (religious seminary) in Jerusalem on March 6.
"Hours after the attack, Israeli bulldozers destroyed his family home. Later, mourners set up Hamas and Islamic Jihad banners nearby," the article read.
Shortly after the BBC issued its report, other media sources showed the house still standing, no small embarrassment to the BBC staff.
In a second falsification on March 14, an article entitled "Israel Jets Strike Northern Gaza" stated that the Israel Air Force was deliberately targeting civilians in Gaza following Kassam rocket attacks on southern Israel.
The correspondent wrote that UN Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon accused Israel of targeting the civilian population in an "inappropriate and disproportionate" air strike.
"The Israeli air force said it was targeting a rocket firing team," the article read. "UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [sic] has condemned Israel's attacks on Palestinian civilians, calling them inappropriate and disproportionate."
Jonathan Hantman, a British Jew residing in Manchester, responded to the article.
"It is one-sided for the report to describe Israel's operations as 'attacks on civilians' while not describing the Palestinian rocket attacks to which Israel was responding, as 'attacks on civilians' or 'acts of terrorism,'" Hantman wrote.
"Ban's statement, made some two weeks ago, did not refer to yesterday's attack and did not describe Israel's operation in Gaza as 'attacks on civilians,'" he continued. "He did, however, describe Palestinian rocket attacks as 'acts of terrorism,'" he noted.
Hantman wasn't the only one who picked up on the BBC's false reporting.
The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) noted the use of a file photo, which was supposed to show the demolition of the terrorist's family's house.
The BBC issued an official apology for both stories. | <urn:uuid:2bde39ea-67a2-44da-99b2-18d8680c9a0f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2008/March/BBC-Admits-Falsifying-Israeli-News-/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965301 | 442 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Censorship Is ‘Dialogue’: Byron Report’s Brilliant Doublespeak
- 2:09 PM
I haven’t read all 226 pages of the report that psychologist Tanya Byron recently prepared on children and technology for the UK’s Prime Minister. But skimming through the relevant sections about videogames, one astonishing example of doublespeak caught my eye.
On the subject of the UK law that allows the government to refuse to issue a rating to violent games, thus making their publication a criminal offense punishable by an "unlimited" fine and two years in jail, Byron writes:
[T]he provision is used as a way to initiate a dialogue between the classification body and developer and therefore leads to changes being made to many video games (e.g. introducing ‘solarisation’ effects to reduce the impact of death scenes), which avoids complete rejection.
"Initiate a dialogue!" How delightful! Here is an example of a dialogue that is often initiated by this law.
Government: If you release this game, we will take all of your money and throw you in jail.
Game publisher: Okay.
See? How can you call that censorship?
Byron Review [Official Site]
Photo courtesy BHCP | <urn:uuid:77910660-ea34-4601-ab74-c6946500bf4a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2008/03/censorship-is-d/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912276 | 262 | 1.609375 | 2 |
WASHINGTON The Federal Reserve, navigating treacherous economic waters, decided on Wednesday to leave a key interest rate unchanged, bringing an end to a string of consecutive rate cuts.
The central bank announced that it was keeping the federal funds rate, the interest rate that banks charge each other, at 2 percent, marking the first time in 10 months that the central bank has failed to reduce interest rates at one of its regular meetings.
The Fed is confronted with the twin perils of a possible recession and rising inflation pressures, stemming from this year's surge in oil and food prices.
In a brief statement explaining the decision, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues cited both the threats to growth and rising inflation pressures as problems confronting the economy at the moment.
The statement said that the downside risks to growth "appear to have dimished somewhat" while adding that "the upside risks to inflation and inflation expectations have increased.
The Fed action was approved on a 9-1 vote with Richard Fisher, president of the Fed's regional bank in Dallas, casting a dissenting vote. Fisher objected to the action, saying he would have preferred an immediate increase in interest rates to fight inflation.
The decision to leave rates unchanged had been widely expected by financial markets.
Because of the Fed's decision, short-term borrowing costs on millions of consumer and business loans tied to banks' prime lending rate will remain unchanged. The prime rate is currently at 5 percent, its lowest level since late 2004.
Investors are split about the Fed's actions for the rest of the year. Some analysts believe the Fed could start raising rates, possibly as soon as the next meeting in August because of concerns about inflation. Other economists argue that the weak economy and rising unemployment will keep the Fed on the sidelines until at least after the November elections.
While saying that the upside risks to inflation have increased, the central bank repeated its forecast that it expected "inflation to moderate later this year and next year."
The opposing forces of weak growth and recession put the central bank in a bind. Its main policy tool changes in interest rates can only address one of those problems at a time. The Fed can cut interest rates to spur consumer and business spending and economic growth or it can raise interest rates to slow spending and growth and ease inflation pressures.
From September through April, the Fed aggressively cut interest rates seven times. However, after a series of sizable rate cuts as the credit crisis was roiling global financial markets at the beginning of this year, the Fed at its last meeting in April reduced rates by a more modest quarter-point and signalled that the rate cuts could be coming to an end.
Even as Fed policymakers were meeting Tuesday and Wednesday, the economic news has continued to be bleak including a report showing that consumer confidence in June dropped to the lowest level in 16 years. Soaring gasoline prices, plunging home values and rising unemployment are all weighing on confidence.
The Bush administration is hoping that the government's $168 billion economic stimulus program, which is sending rebate payments to 130 million households, will help dissolve some of the gloom and bolster consumer spending in the months ahead.
Against the backdrop of economic weakness have been rising signs of inflation pressures stemming from crude oil prices which have shot up this year to above $130 per barrel, pushing gasoline prices to all-tme highs above $4 per gallon and also prompting other companies to boost their prices.
On Tuesday, Dow Chemical Co. announced it was raising prices on a wide range of products by as much as 25 percent, an increase that is coming on top of price hikes of up to 20 percent it announced on June 1.
In a speech on June 9, Bernanke took a tough line on inflation, saying that the Fed would "strongly resist an erosion of longer-term inflation expectations." Those comments and tough talk from other Fed officials unnerved investors who went from thinking the Fed might leave rates unchanged for most of this year to starting to worry that rate hikes could begin this summer.
Other analysts, however, said they believed Bernanke wanted to send out a strong anti-inflation warning, especially since it was coupled with a comment in an earlier speech about the Fed chief's concerns that the weak dollar was adding to U.S. inflation problems. The remarks taken together had the impact of bolstering the dollar, which had been tumbling.
Some economists saw the comments by Bernanke and his colleagues as an effort to convince the markets that the central bank is serious about fighting inflation without having to start raising interest rates at a time when the economy remains very weak.
The last thing the central bank wants is a repeat of the 1970s, when successive oil price shocks did trigger a wage-price spiral that sent inflation soaring and was only subdued when the Fed under Paul Volcker pushed interest rates to levels not seen since the Civil War. | <urn:uuid:7123e1f0-c7dd-41d5-b867-44b440612ab9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.toledoblade.com/business/2008/06/25/Federal-Reserve-leaves-key-rate-unchanged-at-2-percent.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971908 | 986 | 2 | 2 |
As with most such outbreaks, there are legitimate grievances behind the protests being mounted by the “Red Shirts” of Thailand. That truth renders the events there even more strongly reminiscent than they might otherwise be of similar incidents around the globe during the Cold War. Thailand’s precarious situation could spiral out of control very easily. It is not at present being driven by outside forces or even apparently being exploited by them. But U.S. influence in the region is at stake along with Thai democracy. If a consensual stability is not restored in favor of the status quo long presided over by King Bhumibol Adulyadej, there will be no lack of interested outsiders seeking to shape Thailand’s future.
Most readers are familiar with the basic narrative about populist politician Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted from power in a military coup in 2006 and convicted of corruption charges in 2008. A February 2010 court decision ordering him to return $1.4 billion to the state was ostensibly the precipitating event for this spring’s prolonged protests by his Red Shirt supporters.
But fewer may be aware that Thaksin’s search for quarters in exile landed him this spring in Montenegro, the autonomous coastal province of Serbia that has become famous for its special relationship with Russia. Thaksin now holds a Montenegrin passport and has reportedly visited Russia during this year’s period of Thai unrest. The sitting prime minister of Thailand, for his part, is not leaving Russia uncourted. The Bangkok Post noted last week that Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva plans to visit Moscow himself in early June, in spite of having canceled trips to the U.S., Vietnam, and Australia because of the unrest at home.
Russia’s interest is as much in drawing Thailand away from China as it is in cooling the traditional warmth between Bangkok and Washington. The year 2009 saw an unprecedented agreement between China and the Abhisit government to hold a joint military exercise billed as a rival to the “Cobra Gold” series with the U.S., the recurring Thai-hosted war game that draws up to 15,000 troops from the U.S. and East Asian nations. Growing military cooperation between Thailand and China is a continuation of policy inaugurated under Thaksin Shinawatra; efforts to cultivate or preempt such cooperation are in prospect regardless of who comes out on top in Thailand. Meanwhile, Russia’s re-energized ties with Vietnam, which now include a major arms deal and ongoing improvements to the naval base at Cam Ranh Bay, position the Russians next door to Thailand — as well as athwart China’s strategic vista to the south.
Adding to the prospect of instability is the Malay Muslim minority in southern Thailand. The Malay Muslims have taken a back seat to the Red Shirts this year, but their restiveness has by no means subsided. They will seek to take advantage of any evidence of weakness in the regime. The likelihood that they will have outside help is strong if the fate of Thailand is in doubt.
Regional observers think King Bhumibol will have to step in as he did in 1992 and demand that the opposing factions settle their differences. But this very critical view of that option, from Australia’s center-left Sydney Morning Herald, implies a reason (other than his ill health) why he hasn’t done that yet: it might not work. An ineffective royal appeal would be the signal for political chaos.
On the other hand, the status quo in Thailand cannot continue for much longer anyway. Bhumibol is 82, and his oldest son is unpopular. Although this situation is rife with difficult issues, the Obama administration should surely be doing more than closing the U.S. embassy in Bangkok to business, evacuating American personnel, and being “deeply concerned,” as State Department spokesmen have reported in daily briefings for the last six weeks.
It’s worth noting that Russia is not evacuating any diplomatic personnel from Bangkok. Moscow and Beijing are more determined than Obama is to play a major role in restoring stability to Thailand. That will not work in our favor. American influence in Asia is heading the same direction as our influence in the Middle East. | <urn:uuid:b1a42c74-5523-4da7-a127-d138cd2bb610> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.commentarymagazine.com/topic/abhisit-government/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970097 | 879 | 1.710938 | 2 |
The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade
By Ann FesslerPenguin
By Angela BonavogliaFour Walls Eight Windows
If you are a supporter of legal abortion, reading books like these is chilling and galvanizing, just as their authors intend. But the stories in such books ought to have little role in shaping today’s public policy. The women described in their pages are travelers from an antique land, reporting about an America that is at once fairly recent and utterly unfamiliar. Bearing a child out of wedlock is so accepted today that some of the most respected professional-class women I know have done so intentionally.
Today, no young woman can be thrown out of college, or fired from her job, or cast out of “society” for becoming pregnant. Nor is adoption the horror that it was a generation ago: No birth mother needs to feel that her child is lost in the woods; she can decide to pursue an open adoption, she can change her mind about relinquishment, days—and in some states, months—after giving up the baby. Furthermore, even illegal abortion would look very different today than it did four decades ago. However bad the toll on women’s health would be (and it would be very bad), it would be nothing like the carnage of the past. The age of ignorance is gone, and abortion is a simple procedure. In these days of home pregnancy tests and pharmaceutically induced abortion—and, above all, of sophisticated antibiotics—the mortality rate would be far lower.
But that doesn’t mean that these stories can’t help us understand the complexity of the question of abortion—only that we have been focusing on the wrong part of the narratives. The endings of these stories, with their dangerous abortions and forced adoptions, may have little bearing on the world of today. But their beginnings, with all the emotions and impulses and desires that have always combined to leave some women pregnant when they don’t wish to be, are as timeless as anything in human history. They reveal something about the eternal and dangerous nature of being female, and because of this, they merit a great deal of our attention. The way these stories begin tells us as much as we ever need to know about the profound and complex decisions women make when they decide to have sex.
Recently, I saw a stand-up comedian joke about the first time he had sex. The only willing girl lived 25 miles from his house, and he didn’t own a car. But that didn’t stop him: He rode his bicycle to get to her. As the audience laughed at the thought of this desperate, horny journey, he drove his point home: “I mean, the real question is: ‘How far wouldn’t a man ride a bicycle to have sex?’ There’s no answer to that. He would just keep riding that bicycle.” There was a wave of happy laughter, a response not so much to the particular joke as to the idea it signified, which is the core of a reliable genre of jokes: the gargantuan power of the male sex drive, and men’s willingness to endure difficulty and unpleasantness to fulfill it.
When I hear jokes like that, I sometimes think of the kitchen sink full of bloody towels in my mother’s apartment. Or, now, of the woman in The Choices We Made who returned to her apartment in Hollywood after an illegal abortion and stayed there, alone, for three days until her roommate came home:
Blood was on the bed; it was on the floor; it was on the carpet. We had run out of sheets and the mattress was ruined. I guess I did think I was dying … But you know, I’m sure there was a part of me that thought I was supposed to die. I had done this terrible thing—I had had sex and I’d gotten pregnant. The abortion added to it, but that was not the terrible thing.
The real question is not how far a man would ride a bicycle to have sex. It’s how much ruin and butchery a woman will risk to have sex—which turns out to be as much ruin and butchery as the world has in it. The heroic and audacious and mystifying part of the stories in these two books isn’t how women got through abortions or adoptions; it’s how they got the courage to have sex in the first place.
To begin with, of course, there is erotic desire. “Despite all of that terror—and I’m talking tooth-gnashing terror,” recalls Rita Moreno,
I still now and then would give in, succumb, to those pleasurable moments. It’s astounding. When you’re that scared you usually stay away from the thing that scares you, but not with sexuality.
But women have always bound other emotions with their eroticism. To hear these women talk about sleeping with men for reasons that have nothing to do with sexual impulses is to understand something essential about women, and about why they have been so easily exploited by men for sex. “Nobody ever took into consideration feelings,” writes Polly Bergen about the harsh lectures she was given about sex when she was a girl:
They never took into consideration wanting to be held or wanting to be loved or wanting to be cared for or wanting to not feel alone or frightened … putting out seems like such a small price to pay for not being lonely.
A woman who was made pregnant—as a 17-year-old girl by a 31-year-old man— reports, “It wasn’t like I liked sex or didn’t like sex; I just wanted to be with him.”
Women will always have emotional needs that they can fill through sex, and men will always use those needs to their advantage. But men will never bear the brunt of sexuality. The toll of sex—the anguish that it can produce, the consequences of it—falls on women alone. One of the most chilling episodes in The Girls Who Went Away occurs after a girl returns from her ordeal of giving birth and surrendering her baby. She sends the baby’s father a note, to which he replies in bewilderment: “You sound so bitter, Lynne. You were never bitter.”
Jerry Seinfeld used to have a routine about the television commercials for laundry detergents that promise the product will remove bloodstains from clothing. “I think if you’ve got a T-shirt with bloodstains all over it,” Seinfeld would say, “maybe laundry isn’t your biggest problem.” It’s a funny line, and it’s one that only a man could think of, because the real reason blood is such a vexing and eternal laundry problem doesn’t have to do with gunshot wounds or serial shaving mishaps (in the commercials, a witless husband is forever nicking himself shaving, usually wearing his best white shirt, the male equivalent of showering in your bra and panties). Bloodstains occur and recur in households because women spend a lot of their lives bleeding. If a man or a child woke up in a small pool of blood, the alarm would be genuine and well-founded. But if a woman does so, it’s business as usual. The bloodiness of menstrual blood is something that has been steadily de-emphasized in the past century, but blood it surely is. Once I walked into the students’ restroom at an all-girls school late in the afternoon on a warm day, and the smell that assailed me was reminiscent of the smell of Buckley’s, the butcher shop in Dublin where my mother bought Kerry beef running with blood.
Every month, a woman’s womb slowly fills with blood in anticipation of an event that she wants to occur only a few times at most, and that up until 70 years ago had a good chance of killing her. This is nature’s unkind way with women. The sort of man who knocks a woman up and then disappears is nowhere near as heartless as nature, which allows a fertilized egg to implant in a fallopian tube, or arranges a baby’s body in the womb in such a way that it cannot by any natural means escape through the birth canal, or spreads the placenta across the cervix so that it will rupture and cause a hemorrhage almost certain to kill the mother if no medical staff is on hand to stop it. The fact that modern medicine has so radically reduced the incidence of death in childbirth testifies less to the wonder of science than to the crudeness of the dangers at hand.
I’ve never had an abortion, and at this point in the game, I never will. Nor do I have daughters, so this is not an issue that will affect my own life in any immediate way. But I understand that the reality of women’s and girls’ lives is that they include as strong an impulse for sex as men’s. And maybe because I am a woman, the practical has always had a stronger pull on my emotions than the theoretical. Those old debates about the nature of the human soul have never moved me; surely a soul is no more valuable to God if it exists in this world rather than the next. And a thousand arguments about the beginning of human life will never appeal to me as powerfully as a terrified pregnant girl desperate for a bit of compassion.
But my sympathy for the beliefs of people who oppose abortion is enormous, and it grows almost by the day. An ultrasound image taken surprisingly early in pregnancy can stop me in my tracks. In it is much more than I want to know about the tiny creature whose destruction we have legalized: a beating heart, a human face, functioning kidneys, two waving hands that seem not too far away from being able to grasp and shake a rattle. One of the newest types of prenatal imaging, the three-dimensional sonogram—which is so fully realized that happily pregnant women spend a hundred dollars to have their babies’ first “photograph” taken—is frankly terrifying when examined in the context of the abortion debate. The demands pro-life advocates make of pregnant women are modest: All they want is a little bit of time. All they are asking, in a societal climate in which out-of-wedlock pregnancy is without stigma, is that pregnant women give the tiny bodies growing inside of them a few months, until the little creatures are large enough to be on their way, to loving homes.
These sonogram images lay claim to the most powerful emotion I have ever known: maternal instinct. Mothers are charged with protecting the vulnerable and the weak among us, and most of all, taking care of babies—the tiniest and neediest—first. My very nature as a woman, then, pulls me in two directions.
The Choices We Made ends with a couple of stories about the early days of legal abortion. One is told by Byllye Avery, who founded the first abortion clinic in Gainesville, Florida. The office space she and her three colleagues rented had a terrible tile floor, and the clinic’s nurse said they needed to cover it. There was no money left for the shag rug they all wanted to buy, but the nurse said her mother-in-law was going to pay for it:
What we didn’t know was that, actually, [the nurse] had ordered the rug and charged it to us. When we found out, we were so upset with her, but the carpet is what made the place. We had a beautiful blue shag rug that went through the whole clinic, even the exam rooms. That’s what everybody who came there talked about—shag carpets were the rage. It was also that we had the gall to say, “We don’t have to have these horrible tile floors just because this is a health-care facility.” It helped women to know that abortions didn’t have to be bloody and butchery. Certainly, you wouldn’t put that kind of rug on the floor if it was going to be ruined.
It was a very womanly thing to do—to set your heart on a shag carpet, to trick someone into buying it for you, to rely on the fact that once it was installed, everyone would love it and forgive you. And it was womanly because of the way a simple bit of decoration could send a powerful and audacious message that only other women would be able to interpret. A river of blood runs through The Choices We Made, and it runs throughout the history of womankind. That river stops, more or less, with the installation of that shag carpet. The carpet, and the women who found the money to pay for it, along with all the women and men who made possible a context in which an abortion could be performed legally, safely, and even humanely—together they say: Enough. | <urn:uuid:b644e9c8-8c0e-4f57-a235-4c409b89c0c6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2007/05/the-sanguine-sex/305780/2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977209 | 2,733 | 2.390625 | 2 |
Typical teen behavior can trigger a lot of emotion in parents. By learning to spot that behavior and manage our own impulses, we avoid giving our teens control. Plus, we communicate better because our messages aren't clouded by emotion.
The first trick is to pay attention to yourself.
What happens when your teen mouths off? Does your heart race? Do your cheeks burn? Does your neck get stiff? These are the warnings signs of a gut reaction. As soon as you feel the cues, take a deep breath (or three) or take a break to cool down. Before you do, though, set a time when you'll both come back and continue talking.
Next, learn to spot typical teen behavior so you won’t over-react.
Once you know that brain development can affect teen behavior in some pretty bizarre ways, you may see your teen in a new light. Start keeping a list of the things your teen does that make you feel frustrated, impatient, angry or threatened. (Include specific words, emotions, gestures and body language.) Writing things down will make it easier for you recognize the same scene later and say, "I'm not falling into this trap again."
Just don't get so disconnected that you miss the red flags.
Disconnecting your emotions from your teen's everyday drama doesn't mean you should ignore what you see. These things deserve close attention (especially if you see several at once):
- He has a hard time concentrating.
- She's quiet, depressed, tired, or doesn't care about her looks.
- He's hostile, won't cooperate, and often misses curfews.
- Her relationships with your family are falling apart.
- He's hanging out with a new group of friends that you think are a bad influence.
- Her grades have slipped and she often misses school.
- He's lost interest in sports and other favorite activities.
- Her eating and sleeping patterns have changed.
- His eyes are red-rimmed and his nose is runny — but he doesn't have allergies or a cold.
- She gets explosive when she's angry.
- Household money keeps disappearing.
- You find evidence (pipes, bongs, rolling papers, small medicine bottles, eye drops, or butane lighters).
If you have serious worries about your teen, visit www.drugfree.org/intervention. You'll find advice there about what to do next. | <urn:uuid:9a028a90-40bb-4cc7-b394-fbfaa00c7d1e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://teenbrain.drugfree.org/tools/pickyourbattles/bait.html?tr=y&auid=9773405 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944697 | 507 | 2.75 | 3 |
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About the Book
On an otherwise uneventful Monday afternoon on May 17, 1954, in the sixteenth month of Dwight D. Eisenhower’s presidency, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the doctrine of "separate-but-equal" no longer had a place in American society. For Thurgood Marshall and the other lawyers who argued the case, the decision in Brown v. Board of Education promised to change irrevocably the social fabric of the United States. Finally, the nation’s highest court had agreed that segregation was inherently unequal, that legalized racial inequality could no longer be tolerated.
What frequently goes unmentioned, however, was the Court’s calculated inclusion of the words “all deliberate speed” in a second decision that called for the end of school segregation. Those three words left the Court’s mandate flawed from the outset, allowing public groups, politicians, and policy makers to systematically subvert the spirit of the Brown decision and delay its implementation over the next fifty years.
Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., was not even two at the time the Supreme Court made its decision, and his family – farm workers in the Central Valley of California – had scant knowledge of how keenly the ruling would affect them. In All Deliberate Speed, Ogletree examines the personal ramifications of the decision not only on him and his family – his being a "Brown baby," his student days at Stanford University and Harvard Law, his immersion in the Boston busing crisis – but also on the society at large.
Presenting a vivid pageant of historical figures – heroes and foes alike – that includes, among others, Charles Hamilton Houston, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, Martin Luther King, Jr., Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren, William Shockley, Anita Hill, Alan Bakke, and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Ogletree elucidates the disconnection between the noble ideal of racial equality and the trouble reality of race in America. He discusses the shocking ambivalence of the American judicial system, the increasing legal challenges faced by the need for affirmative action and how those challenges have brought the issue of reparations to the fore. In addition, he provides new insights on his role as lead counsel for Professor Anita Hill in the controversial Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas hearing, the Alan Bakke reverse-discrimination case, the enduring legacy of Thurgood Marshall, and the recent decision on the University of Michigan’s admissions policies.
In focusing on the legal ramifications of, and challenges to, the Brown decision, Ogletree champions
the work of an often unsung group of heroes: the lawyers, especially Charles Hamilton Houston and Thurgood Marshall, who – while thousands of people were valiantly protesting in the streets – argued strenuously and persuasively in the courtrooms across America that the mandate that would become inherent in the Brown decision must not be denied.
A measured blend of personal memoir, exacting legal analysis, and brilliant insight, Ogletree’s eyewitness account of the legacy of Brown v. Board of Education offers a unique vantage point from which to view five decades of race relations in America.
Please visit www.amazon.com or your favorite local bookseller to order a copy today! | <urn:uuid:e2d7611f-265b-4f4e-945d-aa9c5b1539ee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://alldeliberatespeed.blogspot.com/ | 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 | 0.947007 | 686 | 2.984375 | 3 |
FEBRUARY 26, 1954
NEW YORK, Thursday—There is one group of refugees that you rarely hear mentioned these days and yet their situation is perhaps one of the most pathetic. That is the group of Spanish refugees now living for the most part in France and who cannot return to their country because they fought against the present fascist regime. They wanted a democratic state.
Many people think because the Soviet Union came to the aid of the group who fought for a democratic Spain that the Soviets gained complete control and the whole movement was Communist. As a matter of fact this was never so and most of these refugees in France today are democrats and never had anything to do with communism.
There is an organization called Spanish Refugee Aid, Inc., which collects money in this country, gets people to adopt individuals or families and help them, sends over clothes and other things such as hearing aids, typewriters, and even an accordion for a blind veteran of the Spanish war who has to live in a hospital in France. This group cares for 600 cases which it has on its active list but there are about 500 more who need to be aided and they have all been recommended by well known, non-Communist Spanish committees in France.
This Spanish Refugee Aid, Inc., is located at 45 Astor Place, New York City, and they have asked me to ask for the help and understanding of my readers. They would like to provide artificial limbs, dentures, sewing machines, because these are the things the refugees will never be able to get without our help. If they had them they might be able to live more productive and happier lives.
Eight men have asked for artificial limbs which would cost about $1,000. Five hearing aids are needed, two wheelchairs, 22 people are begging for dentures while 18 families would give a great deal if they could have sewing machines. There are many more who want work tools, bedding or clothes.
Just because we do not hear often about these people does not make their plight any less serious. Nor does it lessen the burden upon France, which provides so much relief a month to each individual who cannot provide for himself. These were people fighting a civil war in the hope of getting a free and democratic government. France has carried the burden of these refugees almost alone for a very long time and it seems to me that when we read such stories as the following, we cannot help but grieve for them.
Here is what my correspondent writes about one poor man: "He has a tubercular lesion on his nose and his medical report states he is full of ulcerous Koch baccili. He lives in a kind of cabin which is very dirty and hasn't a single piece of clothing which is not dirty and in rags. He is surrounded by medicine bottles and reminds one of a leper in the Middle Ages. We must do something for him." | <urn:uuid:bed23421-c2cd-409e-89ca-22413c6af457> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gwu.edu/~erpapers/myday/displaydoc.cfm?_y=1954&_f=md002788 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984815 | 590 | 2.265625 | 2 |
BEIRUT: Facebook’s announcement earlier this month that it would consider allowing children under 13 to access the site has been met with little reaction from parents.
In fact, many young kids already have accounts, and some parents and educators say it can be a good thing with the right supervision. Hana Ghannoum was with her son two years ago when he opened a Facebook account at the age of 10.
“I was against him lying about his age. But he had two older sisters on Facebook, and he wanted to be a part of the whole thing,” Ghannoum says, noting that her son added her as a “friend” on the site, which allows her to see his activity.
So far, Ghannoum, a psychology instructor at the American University of Beirut, says Facebook has been a good experience for her children, who use the site to share photos of their vacations and stay in touch with friends.
In fact, as the family prepares to relocate to Germany, her children have already made friends with their new classmates through the world’s largest social networking site, which she believes is a good way for them to ease the transition to a new country.
But she understands the concern many parents might have over increased access for younger users, who might not be mature enough to handle certain content, language and interactions online. Several months ago, her children’s school sent a note to parents, asking them to speak to their kids about online bullying, which had become a problem among some students.
While some have criticized the company for considering the inclusion of young children, many acknowledge that the move would change very little and would only formalize an already existing situation. It is common for parents to set up accounts for their kids, and some have even created accounts for their babies as soon as they were born.
The social networking site currently bans children under 13, in line with U.S. regulations which require parental consent for data collection of children. This applies to all the countries throughout the world where it operates. But the company itself admits that the rule is difficult to enforce, particularly with so many children wanting to use the site.
According to a study in November by the Internet journal First Monday, 19, 32, 55 and 69 percent of children (ages 10, 11, 12 and 13 respectively) in the families they surveyed in the United States have Facebook accounts.
The same study found that 95, 88, 82 and 82 percent of children at those ages who joined the social network did so with the awareness of their parents, while 78, 68, 76 and 60 percent of them did it with the help of their parents.
Still, in a move that it hopes will expand its user base while being acceptable to parents, Facebook says it is working on prototypes that will allow preteens to use the site under parental supervision. This would include allowing parents to decide who their children can or can’t “friend” and what applications they use. The new features might also allow Facebook to charge parents for the games their children play.
While this new move might not change much in practice, it is causing parents and social media experts to evaluate the need for better privacy settings, parental supervision and communication with the much younger generation that’s now socializing online.
“Parents need to play a more active role in terms of awareness,” says Ayman Itani, media professor at the Lebanese American University. “It’s the same online: stranger danger, being careful about what they share.”
However, at an age when kids are not only vulnerable to strangers, but also have not developed time management skills, Itani stresses that it is important for parents to help get their children into the habit of limiting their time online, especially on a site as engaging as Facebook.
“A conscious effort needs to be made for a more balanced lifestyle,” Itani says. “I’m seeing more families making efforts – like saying no phones at the table.”
John Hess, who works at an NGO in Beirut and is the father of four children including two teenage boys, is against the idea of Facebook lowering its user age, which he believes is already too young.
Because of the company’s lack of enforceable regulations, he says he has a strict schedule for when his kids can go online, an agreement to share their passwords with him until they are 16, and he monitors their activity on a weekly basis.
“We have had to correct some bad language and communicating the wrong emotions to girls,” he says. “What’s interesting about Facebook and other social networking sites is the amount of raw emotion that seems to come out in text. Closing messages with ‘I love you’ and ‘do you love me back’ are exploratory feelings, but also ones that need direction.
“This is where we as parents can address the positive side of these emotions, but also point out how these statements can send someone down a path that they are not mature enough for.”
Even with parental supervision, he wonders if some from the older generations are able to understand the nuances of their children’s online language, such as “hooking up” and “WTF” – which, in his opinion, is all the more reason for parents to have open communication with their children in their daily lives rather than just close supervision online.
“With so many fathers traveling and working outside of Lebanon, I notice that Facebook attempts to fill this need for familial intimacy,” he says. “This is why youth find it so attractive and secretive. They have their own private world where humor and senseless things can be expressed, but also a void can be met [through] a surrogate family.”
As a parent, he sees the site as a double-edged sword, with the need to regulate his children’s use as well as an opportunity for them to learn about the world, noting that following current events and relating to friends have overtaken their interest in gaming as an online activity.
He says, “I have noticed just in my children an awareness of the Arab Spring, the financial crisis in Greece, and the issues that their peer groups are facing in other parts of the world. It is almost like a global solidarity movement for youth.
“Overall, I think that Facebook is a positive thing for youth ... I like that kids have an avenue for expressing themselves. Of course their immaturity will show up, but that is to be expected.” | <urn:uuid:c72e7f6f-2a84-4100-a40c-a1d0d6a5204c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/Jun-26/178203-parents-educators-welcome-facebook-for-kids.ashx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979045 | 1,368 | 2.3125 | 2 |
Can anyone think of any reason NOT to get this vaccine for a 20 mo? I know the disease is rare, but that doesn't mean alot to me because there is still a chance of coming in contact with it. Oh, btw, he is also still partially bf.
|read somewhere that getting this vaccine could increase his chances of getting other non hi related types (pneumococcal) of meningitis (Hilary Butler), but I cannot find this information anywhere else, so I am not sure I believe it.|
|widespread use of Hib conjugate vaccine and the subsequent reduction in Hib colonization may have opened an ecologic niche for increased colonization with Hia or other non-Hib strains...the potential for serotype replacement remains a concern (16). Three population-based studies have documented small increases in the incidence of non–type b H. influenzae disease after the introduction of the Hib conjugate vaccine...or a preexisting background rate of non-b serotype disease may have simply been uncovered due to the decreasing Hib rates.|
|Furthermore, the potential risk of the vaccine exceeds the potential benefit. We compared a group that received four doses of the vaccine, a group that received one dose, and a group that was not vaccinated. The cumulative incidence of diabetes per 100 000 in the three groups receiving four, one, and no doses of the vaccine was 261, 237, and 207 at age 7 and 398, 376, and 340 at age 10 respectively.|
My daughter got her prevnar and a hib at her 18thish month visit, within a couple of months she was deathly ill with an s. pneumo bacterial illness. Hilary helped me to connect the dots. IMHO had Morgan not gotten those two vaccines together, she wouldn't have almost died due to the infection she got. There is substantial proof that when you give the Hib vax that it increases the risks of getting s. pneumo. We are proof of that. Thankfully, our daughter is still alive.
|I would get the vaccination. The side effects are low and you'll feel better that you did. It's only ONE, instead of several! The benefits outweigh the risks.|
|In 1998–2000, approximately 44% of children younger than 5 years of age with confirmed invasive Hib disease were younger than 6 months of age and too young to have completed a three-dose primary vaccination series. Fifty-six percent were age 6 months or older and were eligible to have completed the primary vaccination series. Of these age-eligible children, 68% were either incompletely vaccinated (fewer than 3 doses) or their vaccination status was unknown. Thirty-two percent of children aged 6–59 months with confirmed type b disease had received three or more doses of Hib vaccine, including 22 who had received a booster dose 14 or more days before onset of their illness. The cause of Hib vaccine failure in these children is not known.|
I just came across your post from April '09 and couldn't believe the similarity in how you verbalized your decision making with the HiB vaccine and how I feel at this exact moment. Two years later, I am curious to know which path you took and how you have felt about your decision. I am currently in anguish over deciding which and how many vaccines to get for my 31 month old non-vaxed daughter. I have 7 year old twins (received only their 0-18 month vaxes) that are constantly bringing home germs, and despite our best efforts to stay healthy we have had a pretty rough winter. They all had influenza B last month, which put my 2 1/2 year old in the hospital. And she has been treated with 2 rounds of antibiotics since November for conjunctivitis and ear infections (her only two ever.) They were all breast-fed until 14 months, but I am assuming that has no benefit at this point. Another question to all mothers would be - how do you keep your kids immune systems in tip-top shape? What supplements do you recommend? Currently we do JuicePlus, Bio-K liquid probiotics, and elderberry on occasion.
Thanks in advance!!
we do probiotics, cod liver oil, and if hes coming down with something we do vit. c and an elderberry supplement.
i also really limit his sugar, so no juices or treats unless we're celebrating something, and i try my best to eat a whole food diet with many greens and vegetables. coconut oil, bee pollen, and sun is shining green powder in our smoothies.
we still get colds/coughs and such. and i think making sure they're eliminating daily is really important and the general stress level is low and a happy home is provided:)
but as for the breastmilk-though you are not bf now, i believe there are still benefits that bf children receive long after they were breastfed.
Thanks so much for the info. It is comforting to know that BF may still have some lingering benefits. Also, I do keep hearing of cod liver oil supplement, but can't imagine that it tastes good? Do you have a source where you get it, or a tip on how you get your kids to take it?
Hi. Wow! It HAS been 2 years since I posted this!! My son is almost 4 now and still unvaxed. I will be honest and say this vaccine is the one that gave/gives me the most grief. I decide and then I would get nervous again. I read a scientific study that said breastfeeding protects even after you have stopped bf'ing. My son is very healthy, praise the Lord! I do give him supplements too. I give him juice plus, multivitamin, cod liver oil (carlson's lemon flavor in juice or a spoon with a drop of Dr. T's vitamin D3 (1000iu), and a probiotic daily....also lots of good rest and sunshine and play. My older kids were vaxed until I had one (my 4th) have a possible neurological reaction to his 4 month vaccines. I am learning more and more and always researching! I would love to know what you decide. | <urn:uuid:ff8de297-b99b-46f2-ae3d-3b90cfde88da> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mothering.com/community/t/1076447/hib-vaccine-any-reason-not-to | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976809 | 1,278 | 1.78125 | 2 |
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By SUSAN TAYLOR MARTIN
© St. Petersburg Times, published July 4, 2001
Like many foreign correspondents, I spent much of 1999 alternately repulsed and fascinated by the monumental con job that one man, Slobodan Milosevic, was able to pull on his fellow Serbs.
With St. Petersburg Times photographer Jamie Francis, I wandered through the huge refugee camps in Macedonia, stunned by the sight of so many ethnic Albanians driven from Kosovo by Serbian troops. At night we returned to our little hotel whose owners, originally from Serbia, insisted that the Albanians had only themselves to blame and, besides, things weren't really as bad as they looked on TV.
In Kosovo, after the NATO war ended and Albanians began pouring back, we ventured into villages where nervous Serbs debated whether to stay or go. They knew their lives were in danger; they seemed incapable, though, of understanding why the Albanians hated them so.
And in Bosnia, where U.N. troops were struggling to hold together that ravaged country, we spent an evening drinking cheap wine with two Serbian lawyers. It was clear they saw Serbs as the true victims of Bosnia's horrific civil war, not the Muslims and Croats who died by the tens of thousands.
In his 13 years in power, Milosevic dragged Yugoslavia into four wars, all of which he lost. He watched, nonplused, as what was left of his country became a ruined pariah state, almost as bad as Iraq. His ill-fated ventures uncorked a flood of refugees that washed all across Western Europe, stirring up ugly, anti-immigrant sentiment.
The final tally of Milosevic's rule: more than 225,000 people killed, 3-million displaced.
Now the time has come for Milosevic to pay the piper. Last week, Yugoslavia's new government, eager to get foreign aid, bowed to international pressure and extradited him to the Netherlands. There he will become the first former head of state to go before an international tribunal on war crimes charges.
Yet even as investigators continued to dig up bodies in Serbia, thousands of Serbs turned out to protest Milosevic's extradition. How, given his appalling record, could the Serbian people have supported him for so long?
"There was an effective process of manipulation, people's fears were preyed upon, they were made to feel increasingly victimized," says Neil Kritz, director of the rule of law program at the Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C.
"(Serbs) were given to understand that Slobodan Milosevic would protect and save them."
Yet, Kritz, like other experts on the Balkans, was heartened that more Serbs didn't join the pro-Milosevic demonstrations.
"In fact, the level of support at the time he was sent to The Hague was relatively modest," Kritz says. "All indications have been that as more and more evidence emerges about the atrocities . . . the Serb people clearly recognize these are crimes that need to be punished."
Although it is hard to remember a time when the Balkans weren't in Milosevic-induced turmoil, Yugoslavia was comparatively quiet for much of the post-World War II period.
Under Marshal Tito's relatively benign brand of communism, ethnic tensions were kept in check and the country enjoyed a better quality of life than many others in Eastern Europe. At our hotel in Macedonia, the Serb owners used to rhapsodize about the "grand old days" in Belgrade, where she taught French and he played violin in the symphony.
"We could travel, to Paris, to England," said Madame Natalie, as we called her. "People respected you when you said you were from Yugoslavia."
After Tito died in 1980, Yugoslavia was governed by a collective presidency that ended when Milosevic was elected in 1989. To bolster his power, he began to foment the extreme Serb nationalism that led to four wars and Yugoslavia's disintegration.
"What the Serbs didn't understand was that Yugoslavia was a community of equal republics," says Sonja Biserko, a Belgrade native who heads the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia. "They saw it as sort of an enlarged Serbia and didn't accept the wishes of the other republics, which were looking for the transformation of Yugoslavia into a looser confederation."
In the early '90s, Macedonia became the sole Yugoslav republic to win its independence without bloodshed. Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia broke away only after an increasingly brutal series of wars that culminated in Milosevic trying to "cleanse" Kosovo of its almost 2-million ethnic Albanians.
Despite his defeat by NATO, Milosevic managed to hang on until October when he was ousted by the democratically elected opposition government of Vojislav Kostunica. Faced with rebuilding a country devastated by economic sanctions and NATO bombs, Kostunica's government decided to send Milosevic to The Hague in return for the prospect of $1.7-billion in foreign aid.
To Serbs sick of isolation and poverty, the money should help overcome any feelings that Milosevic got a raw deal.
"The international community is now providing enormous amounts of support to Serbia," says Dan Serwer, director of the Balkan Initiative for the Institute of Peace. "Financially, politically and even, in a sense, military support because the international operation in Kosovo essentially sits there to maintain Serbian sovereignity.
"If you take a step back, you realize that Serbia has been treated very generously by the international community as soon as it got rid of a guy whom we blamed for a major part of the difficulties."
In recent months, support for Milosevic has ebbed as Serbs have been confronted with gruesome, televised evidence of atrocities, including the corpses of Albanians murdered in Kosovo but buried elsewhere in an attempt to hide them from war crimes investigators.
"They're discovering bodies all over Belgrade and people are beginning to recognize that this was a nasty regime," Serwer says.
Still, it likely will be a long time before Serbs fully accept the enormity of the crimes committed by their own. Experts say it is important that the proceedings against Milosevic be based on solid evidence and that Serbian journalists be given all the resources they need to cover the trial as well as possible for the people back home.
"If the tribunal looks like it doesn't have the evidence, if it looks like it's politically rather than judicially motivated -- there are all sorts of pitfalls here," Serwer says.
"As an analyst, I have no doubt that the atrocities occurred and that Milosevic had command authority over the people who committed them. But it's a big step between that analytical certainty and proving it in a court of law where opposing lawyers are trying to punch holes in your case."
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2Pac is Holive! And How to Fall in Love with a Cartoon - Technology and Science Week
Photo courtesy of ultra520.
Without touching too much on the old news of the 2Pac hologram that debuted this year at Coachella (which wasn't actually a hologram at all), I'd like to plot out a few ideas worth thinking about while imagining holographic and digital performers as future alternatives to American pop stars. There will be talk of bronies, so like, prepare for that and stuff. Or don't. Actually - just don't. Brony up now.
1. Firstly, most "young" people never saw 2Pac live, or for that matter, alive. 2Pac or, as he is known on his social security card, Tupac Shakur is from the past (i.e. he's "dead") to many youths and youthettes. He is known through recordings and past interviews, (and maybe that video of him having sex with ladies - who I just learned were not hologram'd in). Dr. Dre, M.D., the de facto public voice for the Digital Domain backed AV Concepts project (the folks behind the hologram), said that he hopes to see the two very dead stars, Marvin Gaye and Jimi Hendrix, make their own holographic appearances in the near future. This is an excellent idea. Let's continue to exhume the surviving memories of music deities so that we won't have to continue to entertain the idea that blond children with bowl haircuts happen in 2012. Sometimes I feel like I'm Danny Tanner, but I don't understand - and don't want to understand - my annoying children. What I mean to say is that I'm Bob Saget. Sup.
2. Fame blows. It blows in the winds of trend. Typically, Americans don't put to rest the iconic entertainers who die early or take off before we've grown tired of them enough to start hating them. Take comedian Dave Chappelle, for instance. The man (human, not deity) was ridiculed for voluntarily taking career leave at the peak of his fame, often by naive young white kids who became dependent on the unfortunate ways that Chappelle's comedy enabled casual racism. Not to mention all those out of work puppets and children who have nowhere to go without him. But bowing out gracefully is only for the transcendent performer, like Phil Collins. Sadly, Phil Collins has not done this; this is "Sussudio," a great, great song -- a personal favorite. On "Point the Finga," 2Pac aptly raps: "And the media is greedier than most/You could sell 'em your soul or they'll be on ya 'til a niggaz ghost." He just recently recorded a quadruple album called "What's my hologram's billing address?"
3. We are cyborgs, and half of a cyborg's favorite things are made on a computer. Yes, we're cyborgs, but we'd rather not acknowledge it for fear of letting a computer tell us what we know, like, and want; Google and Facebook. The ever-expanding wireless organ permits the organic self to recognize select computed images and beings as familiar to the point of sympathy (the singularity), and if the liberals get what they want, we'll all be gay-marrying ponies and appointing aging felines as ambassadors to foreign countries. NObama! NObama!
4. Japan has this holographic bullstuff already, and they've been doing digital pop stars for literally millions of years (a literally unverified claim). Futurist novelist William Gibson's conception of Japan as the "global imagination's default setting for the future" is rooted in the, to much of America, inconceivable suspension of disbelief held by much of Japan's population regarding their sources of entertainment. Either that, or they truly are unable to tell the difference between artificial pop stars and authentic human beings. In which case they must think the global population is up in the quadrillions, at least.
5. Are holograms immune to the tabloids? Unless they're programmed to be faulty and human, then there's no legal recourse that I know of for a hologram hypothetically doing anything holographically illegal. Imagine 2Pac's hologram getting shot by the actual Suge Knight, who thought the hologram 2Pac was the authentic 2Pac. Would Suge go to jail? Should Suge sell seashells by the sea shore? Would hologram 2Pac react and get holographic on Suge's ass? More importantly, will they be able to make hologram Private Stock for hologram Biggie Smalls? Or build a hologram whiskey bar for hologram Jim Morrison? There are so many more idiotic questions I have to ask!
6. Distrust in mass media is trending upwards. Trust in mass media has declined dramatically over the last four decades, and with distrust in the main source of information comes a chaotic search for alternate truth. Alternate truth being the willing belief in a vast consortium of fiction. What is truth, anyway? If I knew, I wouldn't have bought all these damn seashells for Suge Knight. He's a very persuasive man, that Suge Knight.
7. Live dubstep is very popular. That's both the beginning and the end of that complete thought.
Your parents and grandparents, great-grandparents and great-great-grand dogs do not want to understand any of this, even though they might, deep down, feel a strong affinity to holograms because of Princess Leia (and to some degree, this little girl who will also one day be hologram'd). As for the skeptics in the 18-34 age range, or whoever the hell you are, let's at least attempt to understand the allure of a celebrity hologram, or even a digital celebrity, because how much stranger is that than loving someone's digital personality without intimately knowing them in physical reality? There are countless popular internet personalities whose live-action social playing is far less engaging than their live action role-playing, or even their ability to find all the most awesome dragons to slay in Azeroth and then lead you there, because those are way cooler things to do than get a stupid coffee at Starbucks with some boring jackass whose fingernails are always dirty and talk about why your parents don't approve of your obsession with My Little Pony.
"It was love at first sight," you told them as they looked disconcertingly at one another, as if their son had just come out of the necrophiliac closet.
"But son," your dad says, "how could you love...a cartoon?"
With eyes filled to the lashy brim with joyous tears, you boldly proclaim with your mouth a quiver, "I love all of creation, Mom and Dad, even the ones who can't love me back! Especially the ones who can't love me back!" Tired from all the unnecessary socio-physical interaction, you look off into the distance, turn your computer on, realize that you'll never love a human like you love those sweet little ponies. | <urn:uuid:9b27e2d8-d8da-4dc3-aa81-16b6f6ac41de> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://breakthruradio.com/post/?blog=72&post=12231 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00076-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961195 | 1,472 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Edgy Content Musing #1 – Suicide in YA/Teen Novels.
It’s been a few months since, I’ve written a literary musing and I got a lovely email forwarded to me saying that they had missed the musings from the residential bloggers “that’s me”, well half of the equation as there are only two of us.
How do I come up with a musing topic? There’s normally two options , Option A) If there is a topic that has arisen in my everyday life or something has sparked my interest and Option B) I have a notebook that I write a list of topics relating to literature that I can elaborate on and write enough about.
One of my favourite genres as readers of my blog The Phantom Paragrapher will know is Edgy Content. This is books that have been written with topics that are either viewed as out of the norm or topics that can cause alot of controversy.
Today’s Literary musing is of Suicide in YA/Teen Novels, this is a topic that for some reason – I have actually read alot about and also combining in this post – will be novels that involve school shootings as in a way they are a part of teenage suicide in novels, as the majority of the time –the killer has ended his/her life also. It may be a bit of a morbid topic, but it is a topic that in today’s society is a big issue and is happening so often –mostly due to bullying etc. I read a sad newspaper article that somebody had posted on the FB page of YA Authors against Bullying of an 8yr old girl who committed suicide due to bullying – 8 years old !!! Come on a person that is far too young.
The reason that Suicide in novels is seen as an Edgy Topic, is that alot of people could blame these teen/ young adult novels for putting the ideas into today’s generation. Each of the books , that I will list , touch on the topics but they do have either A) a moral in the story or B) they are touching novels that will make you cry and think about the consequences of actions etc. Below, will be a list of my Top Ten Novels with a few small sentences about each of them.
1. Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult – This was actually the first book for me that I read of Jodi Picoult’s and got me hooked on her writings , it was also the first novel that I had read that touched on the issue of a school shooting. It shows the story of seventeen year old Peter who had endured bullying and had finally enough and went on a shooting rampage towards his bullies. The novel flicks between the incident, what happened to lead Peter to do this and the aftermath of the community.
2. The Pact by Jodi Picoult – This is another novel by Jodi Picoult, this one focuses on what seems like a suicide pact gone wrong. A Gun which held two bullets only – one person Emily is dead with a gunshot to her head, the other Chris is still alive and couldn’t go through with the other bullet on himself. Like Nineteen Minutes, the novel flicks between the incidents, what happened leading up to the night and the consequences and aftermath of the Pact gone wrong between the two families involved.
3. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher – There are thirteen tapes, each one a reason why Hannah Baker killed herself. The tapes turn up on Clay Baker’s porch with a note attached – listen to the tapes and then pass them on down the list. Each person on the list played an impact on Hannah’s life either negative or positive. In each tape she explains to the person how they played a role in her life and at the end of the novel, it will have you in tears as you discover the thirteen reasons why and what Hannah’s life really was like.
4. Impulse by Ellen Hopkins – Author Ellen Hopkins is one of my most favourite authors that touch on Edgy Content, her novels are so raw with passion and emotion and in some parts her books have been banned or herself have been banned from speaking at conferences due to her novels. In Impulse, we meet three teens who had just had enough and all decided to end their lives whether it was by bottle, gun or blades. In this novel, the three teens were unsuccessful and have landed themselves in Aspen Springs Psychiatric Hospital, The novel talks about their lead up to the act and their current situation at the hospital.
5. The Hate List by Jennifer Brown – This would have to be one of the best books that I have read and I recommend it to all to read. It is a school shooting with a different twist. In this novel, the local school has a shooter – teen student Nick who has endured bullying and eventually turns the gun on himself. The novel focuses on the survivors and mainly the girlfriend of the shooter Valerie.
6. Hold Still by Nina LaCour – This novel is about two best friends Caitlin and Ingrid. Caitlin ends up committing suicide and leaving Caitlin behind, she is left to try and pick up the pieces and is wracked with guilt – trying to figure out what went wrong and what happened. We read as Caitlin starts to go towards a downward spiral, pushing everybody away and others are worried that she may follow in Ingrid’s footsteps. We then see Caitlin find Ingrid’s journal and read as she discovers what lead Ingrid to her decision and then the baby steps Caitlin takes in order to move past Ingrid’s death.
7. By the Time You Read This, I’ll Be Dead by Julie Ann Peters – Julie Ann Peters is another one of my favourite authors and you will see two of her books “Define Normal” and “Keeping You a Secret” are reviewed on my site. In By the Time You Read This, I’ll be dead follows the story of Daelyn who is sick of being bullied and is counting down the days till she is dead, she then meets a boy named Santana who makes her look again at her decision and whether it really is the right thing to do.
8. Pitch Black: Color Me Lost by Melody Carlson – Even Christian authors can touch on Edgy Content as my favourite Christian author Melody Carlson has proven. Pitch Black is part of her True Colors Series and focuses on Morgan whose life is crazy and tough; her family are the ideal dysfunctional lot. Or so she thought so until her best friend Jason committed suicide, this novel focuses on Morgan re-finding herself and changing her life and discovering what her friend Jason had going on.
9. Glimpse by Carol Lynch Williams – In a few ways, I thought that Glimpse reminded me a bit of Impulse by Ellen Hopkins. The first is that like Ellen Hopkins’s is famous for, Carol Lynch Williams has written the novel in verse. The second is that this novel features on two sisters Hope and Lizzie, Hope walks on Lizzie with a gun in her mouth and the hand on the trigger. Lizzie ends up in a psychiatric hospital, Hope discovers Lizzie’s journal and reads what drove Lizzie to suicide and what it has to do with their prostitute mother.
10. To Save A Life by Jim Britts – This last one is a Christian book and has also been made into a film which I own. It follows the life of two friends Roger and Jake until they reach High School, Jake has gone off and become Mr. Popular leaving Roger alone and to become an outcast. During their high school year, Roger commits suicide and it leaves Jake feeling confused and left pondering whether he could have saved his friend? This tragedy causes Jake to take a step back and do something to prevent this from happening again. It is such a touching and inspirational book/film and tissues are needed
• If you have any other novels about this topic that you enjoyed or any suggestions for future musings, feel free to leave a comment or email me at Paulazone@live.com
Signing Off, Till Next Month: | <urn:uuid:594b480f-fce0-47be-b4d9-70c612db0257> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thephantomparagrapher.blogspot.jp/2011/08/edgy-content-musing-1-suicide-in-yateen.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97637 | 1,692 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Sushi without doubt is one of the most widely eaten dishes across the world. Seafood lovers throng the different Japanese restaurants to try the different types of sushi they offer. The variety is too diverse, and the taste of each is so unique and different that it is extremely difficult to pick a favorite. However, certain types of sushi have indeed gained some precedence over others. Sushi is prepared mainly with rice cooked in vinegar and topped with different kinds of fish as well as many other ingredients. The few popular ones are mentioned below.
The types of sushi eaten the most, differ from country to country, however the following list contains the dishes that remain popular in most places.
- Fukusa Sushi: In this dish, a thin egg crepe is used to completely envelop the rice to give a rectangular shape.
- Inari Sushi: This dish makes use of tofu that is deep fried with rice stuffed in the center. The dish is then given an oblong shape.
- Saiku Sushi: Also known as the sushi made on special occasions, this sushi is a blend of many colorful ingredients that liven up the dining table.
- Vegetarian Maki: Now even vegetarians can enjoy sushi, with the vegetarian maki. This dish uses purely vegan ingredient with different vegetables forming the main focus of the sushi.
- Nigiri Sushi: Usually, a layer of uncooked fish pressed onto a bed of vinegary rice, the dish is especially prepared by hand and given a rectangular shape.
- Sashimi: Most of the ingredients in the Sashimi are used raw, except the rice. The fish and vegetables especially are used fresh and give the dish a unique taste.
- Temaki sushi: This is one of the types of sushi that happens to be a very popular dish for dinner parties and can be easily made at home. The rice is cooked in vinegar and pressed gently onto some seaweed and covered with the toppings. Then the seaweed is gently wrapped around the rice and cut into boxes.
- Chirashi Sushi: This sushi is perhaps the most unique of them all. The ingredients are prepared in such a way that the dish resembles a salad more than it resembles traditional sushi. However, the taste is unmistakably sushi-ish.
- Gunkanmaki: In this dish, a very fine layer of rice is used, a feat achieved by tremendous pressure applied to the rice. The rice is then covered with nori, a traditional name for black seaweed. This helps to keep the topping usually fish, in its place. | <urn:uuid:0cd9a17f-26b4-45b9-afb0-1dae4e7e0013> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://typesofsushi.net/tag/gunkanmaki/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956438 | 529 | 2.171875 | 2 |
Viral Shell Oil Video Is Hoax: Reports
( An earlier version of this article reported on video that purported to show a private party held by oil company Shell for its Arctic drilling launch. Shell sent an email that said it did not host or participate in the alleged event, and a spokeswoman for the company said it was likely a hoax. TheStreet regrets the error.)
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- A video purporting to show a private kickoff event for Royal Dutch Shell's (RDS.A.) long-awaited Arctic deepwater drilling that went viral on the Internet is now reported to be a hoax.
A video reportedly recorded by Occupy Wall Street protestor Logan Price and reported by Gothamist shows a miniature oil rig gushing uncontrollably on a woman's dress after the model malfunctioned, with the surprised victim backing away as several event hosts rushed to help, and rushed at the protestor filming the incident on his phone.
"Recently groups that oppose Shell's plans in offshore Alaska have posted a video that purport to show Shell employees at an event at the Seattle Space Needle. Shell did not host, nor participate in an event at the Space Needle and the video does not involve Shell or any of its employees. We continue to focus on a safe exploration season in 2012," Shell wrote in an email.
"I think it was just a, like you said, like a hoax," Kayla Macke, a Shell spokeswoman, said in a phone call.
Gothamist originally posted a story on the alleged Shell party, but later updated the story to say the video was a hoax.
Shell's plans to drill in a portion of the Arctic previously unopened has been in the works for years, and in fact, was originally scheduled to launch in summer 2010, just after the massive BP(BP) Macondo oil spill struck the Gulf of Mexico.
The federal government imposed a drilling moratorium in May 2010, delaying any new drilling permits because of BP's mess.
Shell's top North American executive, Marvin Odum, and several other Big Oil CEOs, including Exxon Mobil's(XOM) Rex Tillerson and Chevron's(CVX) John Watson were grilled on Capitol Hill about outdated, carbon copy oil spill response plans in the aftermath of the BP Macondo disaster, and failed to make a winning case to prevent the moratorium. | <urn:uuid:96f4eb75-bb1e-4e2f-b5eb-91f91b44e065> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://business-news.thestreet.com/wickedlocal-marblehead/story/did-shell-just-preview-the-next-big-us-oil-spill/11573080 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971076 | 480 | 1.59375 | 2 |
A recent Federal Reserve report makes a convincing case for
investing in global emerging market stocks and emerging market
[caption id="attachment_60181" align="alignright" width="300"
caption="As the U.S. housing market collapsed, emerging market
funds devoted to real estate were rising."]
The Federal Reserve study reports that
American families lost 39% of their household net
from 2007 to 2010, mostly due to falling home values.
Over the same three years, emerging market funds such as SPDR
S&P Emerging Markets (
) and iShares MSCI Emerging Markets (
) have risen.
As U.S. real estate values collapsed in the Great Recession,
growth in global emerging market countries continued. Growth is now
falling in China and India, but it is still more than double that
of the United States and the euro zone. Emerging market funds
devoted to China and India will benefit from their growth.
This trend is likely to continue. Emerging market nations are
sitting on lots of assets while developed countries are in debt.
China has the most foreign exchange reserves -- over $3 trillion
-- of any nation. The United States Federal Reserve has over
$3 trillion in assets too, but that's due to inflating its balance
Emerging markets to invest in for long-term growth
The bills always come due in the end. Sovereign debt has to be
serviced. The funds must come from tax increases and/or spending
cutbacks. When debt loads are so huge that reductions in
government spending can't address them, it's clear that household
wealth will continue to drop as taxes rise. The developed nations
will dig themselves deeper, while the emerging nations and their
emerging market funds will continue to prosper.
The dollars paid to service a nation's debt will leave the
country at the mercy of its bondholders. For the United States,
that will be China. This will make it difficult for U.S. household
wealth to recover from its current 1992 levels. Meanwhile, the
emerging market funds keep rising. | <urn:uuid:7f6e737e-e5f1-44b2-bb40-90b2866ba9eb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nasdaq.com/article/federal-reserve-study-shows-value-of-buying-emerging-market-funds-cm151949 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945065 | 443 | 1.851563 | 2 |
Rescue crew trains with chopper
October 2, 2008 · Updated 9:43 AM
The low-flying helicopter that swooped over the Valley this past week was a training exercise with a new rescue hoist for crews with the King County Sheriff's Office.
The Sheriff's Air Support Unit hovered off Mount Si to help officers train with a new cable hoist used to lift people during rescue operations. It's the first cable hoist the department has ever had, Sheriff's Department spokesman John Urquhart said.
Search and rescue teams were learning how to use the hoist, accompanied by the manufacturer.
"This is very exciting," said King County Councilwoman Kathy Lambert, who petitioned the County Council to fund the new hoist that's now in service.
"We will be the only government that's certified to do this in the Northwest," Lambert said. "Prior to this, we had to wait for the military helicopter to come. We had to wait for hours."
During this winter's floods, Lambert learned that the sheriff's rescue unit wasn't able to perform safe, quick rescues with its own helicopter due to the lack of a cable hoist. Without a hoist, flood victims would have to try to board a hovering helicopter from their roof.
"They were improvising," Lambert said. "I'm not telling my citizens to get on the roof and jump in a helicopter."
The 10-day training period in North Bend took place on mountainsides, in forested areas and over water, wrapping up Wednesday, April 11. Rescue teams practiced lifts from different heights, including hovering at 80 feet.
For the complete story, subscribe to the Valley Record, (425) 888-2311 | <urn:uuid:79df8f97-f569-4d42-8767-438738cfceb5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.valleyrecord.com/news/30125619.html | 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 | 0.979187 | 355 | 1.882813 | 2 |
Poetry matters to me in ways I only realized, after I had started writing
Within my own subconcious lie the answers to all my questions in this life
...all my trials decyphered by myself, to myself, with words...
the meaning to the puzzle...and I have always had the picture!
appellare, get a sip of what’s unaware
Feel the firm in issued hand
On solid ground, weigh who that stands!
Cognomen, who are you?
Name yourself. O’ maiden rues!
Sobriquets, doth fades alas
. . . an alias? Don’t be an ass!
A’point, by signuum, infer, select
pro bare yourself, a non elect
Co-optations, brand-new leaf
Show them all just what you sheaf!
Re your world
Your tick still ticks . . .
Climb up higher to where the echos stick
Bid, hold your peace . . . and speak to it!
Poetry matters because it's music: which is the most pithy, concise and capsulated way to express emotion, states of mind and atmospheres using words. In fact even more condensed when done right then song lyrics themselves which usually have to serve the actually music melody or meter you choose to set the word to. Of course not all poems are short: but within them they should never be redundant (that's where the editor should step in) UNLESS that repetition is part of what state you are trying to create in the reader. So enought said, I like parallelisms and here's my most recent poem I wrote a few weeks ago. The only "poem" I've written since August 2007 I think:
River out of Eden [Confluences…]
Two streams running, side by side…
Merging – in a River,
Running to the SEA.
The River is You – (under sun & moon)
The little stream is me…
Confluences … emerging
River out of Eden, running to you…
Sometimes turbid, sometimes blue
Confluences – running crooked, running true
Mergers – flowing to the Sea,
Running homewards to You.
2. Two clouds building,
One bank over the Big Lake (yonder)
A little cumulus over my lone Pine Tree…
Floating, blowing towards the Blue beyond.
That sky is You (over clouds of rain, fields of dew)
…the Lone Cloud was me…
Confluences… “emerges” [running Home to You]
3. One Tree standing, on a lonely barren hill…
Like that old rugged cross,
That bore your body but couldn’t contain your SOUL –
That broken branch struck by storms,
Lies exposed like me –
The forest beyond yonder hill is You.
Confluences… Death merging into Life
LIFE emerges in a green vast sea.
4. Seeds of winter – lay them down – on dry fallow ground.
Waiting for rain (that never seems to come)
Seeds of Spring – YOU sow fertile soils,
Waiting for Rivers of Eternal Springs, fresh with life.
You said: “These are your harvests my children, for good or bad,
These are your harvests…” (On fields waiting for rain)
River out of Eden, running to You.
Some search forever (it seems)
Some turbid, some running true.
River out of Eden, sometimes running straight, sometimes running blue.
Poetry matters because it says so much, yet with an economy of words, using words that bring out the musicality of language. It can speak volumes of emotion or sensory experience, even if it is only a little haiku, if it is well-written.
I love the way that traditional (iambic pentameter / Shakespearean) sonnets have a rhythm that dances along sedately like a minuet. The old English style of writing is very charming, and well-suited to the sonnet.
Romantic Asian poetry really appeals to me. I love "Black Marigolds" by Chauras, which is a very long, sad love poem, well-worth searching for through Google. It is hauntingly poignant, full of references to exotic flora and fauna.
The world's best poems are worth reading again and again. "Bianca Among The Nightingales" by Elizabeth Barrett-Browning, is a fabulous, darkly-dramatic love poem. Bianca, the central character, has moved away from her beloved home town of Florence, Italy, to live in England, after losing her fiancee to an Englishwoman (who is never named). One assumes that she has done this in desperation, to try to win him back. Her wistful stanza about Florence is enough to bring a tear to your eyes...
My native Florence! dear, forgone!
I see across the Alpine ridge
How the last feast-day of Saint John
Shot rockets from Carraia bridge.
The luminous city, tall with fire,
Trod deep down in that river of ours,
While many a boat with lamp and choir
Skimmed birdlike over glittering towers.
I will not hear these nightingales.
....This stanza shows the sheer power that a poet can have, to paint a vivid picture with words. You can feel her sad nostalgia about Florence, and clearly see the magnificent city, lit up at night, reflected in the water - "glittering towers" - and how the boats, lit with lamps, skim "birdlike" over the surface of these shimmering reflections. All through this spectacle, the fireworks are exploding on the bridge. Then, in the very next stanza, she introduces the other woman....
I seem to float, we seem to float
Down Arno's stream in festive guise;
A boat strikes flame into our boat,
And up that lady seems to rise
As then she rose. The shock had flashed
A vision on us! What a head,
What leaping eyeballs!—beauty dashed
To splendour by a sudden dread.
And still they sing, the nightingales.
.......the theme of the nightingales is repeated throughout the poem, as if Bianca feels that the birds are mocking her by bringing back the memory of how they sang on that same night. As you read on, the poem gets sadder and more emotional... highly recommended for anyone who writes love poems or enjoys reading them. It would also be great for an actress to read aloud, in an Italian accent.
There are so many poems I love; the dark poetry of Edgar Allen Poe, the humourous work of Spike Milligan, the more cryptic outpourings of Sylvia Plath.
I always come back to rhyming poetry in the end, especially the sonnet form, in my own work. Maybe I am just old-fashioned at heart.
The world would certainly be a poorer place without poetry. I love it... poetry is the beating wings of the written (and spoken) word.
Poetry matters to me because it is a way I can express my emotions. Sometimes I am confused and cannot sort things out; and so I write a poem. It helps me better understand myself and my world, explore different issues I am dealing with or others are dealing with.
It is respite and therapy. It's a delicious meal of a thousand spices that change with every taste. It's hands in ink, quill dreams and parchment moods. It's breath, life, essential for this woman to spin through the days.
Comes Alchemy Once, a man said, kiss me,and I said, anything butthat nectar, petal within petal.And, for two decades,neither have I kissed you.Everything else, yes.Anyhow, slow, attentiverape is…Continue
CREATIVE THINKERS INTERNATIONAL MEMBERSHIP GUIDELINES
1. Membership at CTI is free and open to all those interested in either the production or appreciation of the creative arts, to include literature, visual art, dance, music, film, spiritual theory, the social sciences, philosophy, general humanities, scientific inquiry, education in general, and other disciplines intended to enhance the quality of life for all humanity. Applicants should be at least 17 years old and members are allowed one full profile per person.
2. Materials posted by Members of CTI are their sole responsibility and not that of CTI management or any other member of the CTI site.
3. While recognizing that the work of creative artists is often controversial by its very nature, CTI prohibits and discourages the posting of any overtly obscene and intentionally inflammatory material. These include overt pornography, racist diatribes, religious slander, and any postings promoting discrimination against or the oppression of other human beings.
4. In the interest of stimulating creative growth, we encourage dialogue and even debate. However, Members should avoid leaving intentionally offensive or antagonistic remarks on the pages of Fellow Members. We can disagree and still remain a harmonious community.
5. Explore, grow, share, and enjoy your creative success.
Please remember, these guidelines are likely to evolve as the site itself continues to evolve and develop. We welcome and encourage your input. After all, yours are some of the best minds on the planet so we would be very foolish not to listen to what you have to say. | <urn:uuid:53a9b959-9095-43a0-aeb0-5ce0f40499eb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://creativethinkersintl.ning.com/group/thepathofthepoet/forum/topics/1105089:Topic:68?page=1&commentId=1105089%3AComment%3A33389&x=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938665 | 2,004 | 1.757813 | 2 |
SEVEN ANSWERS TO FIND OUT MORE
Below 7°C, or for most of the period running from October to March, winter tires offer greater road holding ability compared to summer tires. During the cold months, the compound used in summer tires hardens which decreases its road holding, traction and braking capabilities.
It’s true, you have to buy two sets of tires: one for summer and one for winter. But when the winter tires are fitted, the summer tires are set aside and stored appropriately. They can then be used again as the months get warmer ensuring safety in all weather conditions.
Winter tyres have been developed to offer excellent performance when the temperature is below 7°C. During the summer their compound, which is softer than that of summer tyres, wears much more rapidly and hence doesn't perform as well.
Winter tires have been developed to respond actively in the presence of snow but also offer excellent performance, compared with summer tires, on wet and dry roads throughout the cold weather season. The tread pattern has been designed to reduce the risk of aquaplaning considerably, compared with summer tires.
This option is strongly advised against. In fact, if the car is front-wheel drive, and winter tires are fitted only at the front, there is a risk of losing control of the vehicle. If the car is rear-wheel drive, and winter tires are fitted only at the rear, there is a risk of losing control when cornering. Finally, if winter tires are fitted on the non-driving wheel axle it will be very difficult to move on icy or snow-covered roads.
No. With chains you can’t go more than 50 km/h. Some winter tires, however, are approved for speeds up to 270 km/h (speed rating W). Obviously you must always observe the speed limits set by the Highway Code and adapt your speed according to the weather conditions.
The braking distance with winter tires is reduced by 10% on wet roads and by 20% on snow. This means that, with winter tires, below 7°C, you can stop sooner and will be able to control the vehicle more effectively. | <urn:uuid:41dce6ce-8fa4-462c-a50a-26fc968e22bb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pirelli.com/tire/us/en/car/genericContent/winter_collection.tab?tab=7 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972191 | 440 | 2.265625 | 2 |
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (French: La Déclaration des droits de l'Homme et du citoyen) is one of the fundamental documents of the French Revolution. Influenced by the doctrine of natural rights, it promulgates a set of individual rights and collective rights which are defined as universal: they are supposed to be valid in all times and places, pertaining to human nature itself. The last article of the Declaration was adopted August 26, 1789, by the National Constituent Assembly (Assemblée nationale constituante) as the first step toward writing a constitution. Along with the U.S. Declaration of Independence, it is considered to be a major precursor to international human rights instruments.
While it set forth fundamental rights for all men without exception, the Declaration of the Rights of Man did not make any statement about the status of women, nor did it explicitly address slavery. Also, although the declaration avowed that it was created "under the auspices of the Supreme Being," it holds back from the affirmation of its US counterpart, which proclaims that human rights are endowed by God, rather than the state.
The principles set forth in the declaration are of constitutional value in present-day French law and may be used to oppose legislation or other government activities.
|“||First Article – Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions can be founded only on the common utility.||”|
The Declaration of the Rights of Man was intended as part of a transition from an absolute to a constitutional monarchy. Among its drafters was the Marquis de Lafayette. Many of the principles laid down in the declaration directly oppose the institutions and usages of the ancien régime of pre-revolutionary France. France soon became a republic, but this document remained fundamental.
The rights set forth in the declaration come from the philosophical and political principles of the Age of Enlightenment, such as individualism, the social contract as theorized by Thomas Hobbes of England and adopted to the French by Jean Jacques Rousseau, and the separation of powers espoused by the baron de Montesquieu. As can be seen by comparing the texts, the French declaration is heavily influenced by the concept of human rights contained in the U.S. Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776) of which the delegates were fully aware. Moreover, the declaration was checked by Thomas Jefferson, the author of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, then the U.S. ambassador in Paris, before its acceptance. Lafayette and some other main actors of the French Revolution had already fought in the U.S. War of Independence.
A major difference in the two documents is that the French declaration makes no mention of God as the source of human rights, while the U.S. declaration affirms that human rights are derived from the "Creator" and that the role of the government is to protect these God-given rights.
Effects of the declaration
This statement of principles contained in the declaration provided the kernel of a much more radical re-ordering of society than had yet taken place.
|“||(From Article VI) – All the citizens, being equal in [the eyes of the law], are equally admissible to all public dignities, places, and employments, according to their capacity and without distinction other than that of their virtues and of their talents.||”|
This commitment to equality strikingly contrasts with the pre-revolutionary division of French society in three estates—the clergy, the aristocracy, and the common people (known as the Third Estate)—where the first two estates had special rights. Specifically, it contradicts the idea of people being born into noble or other special class, and enjoying (or being deprived of) certain rights for this reason.
The declaration provides that citizens are to be guaranteed the rights of "liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression." It argues that the need for law derives from the fact that "...the exercise of the natural rights of each man has only those borders which assure other members of the society the enjoyment of these same rights." Thus, the declaration sees law as an "expression of the general will," intended to promote an equality of rights and to forbid "only actions harmful to the society."
A mere six weeks after the storming of the Bastille and barely three weeks after the abolition of feudalism, the declaration put forward a doctrine of popular sovereignty and equal opportunity:
|“||(From Article III) – The principle of any sovereignty resides essentially in the Nation. No body, no individual can exert authority which does not emanate expressly from it||”|
This contrasts with the pre-revolutionary situation in France, where the political doctrine of the monarchy found the source of law in the divine right of kings.
The declaration also put forward several provisions similar to those in the United States Constitution (1787) and the United States Bill of Rights (1789). Like the U.S. Constitution, it discusses the need to provide for the common defense and states some broad principles of taxation which overturned the tax standards of the pre-revolutionary era, in which the Church and the nobility were exempted from most taxes. It also specifies a public right to an accounting from public agents as to how they have discharged the public trust.
The declaration also prohibits ex post facto application of criminal law and proclaims the presumption of innocence, prohibiting undue duress to the suspect. In pre-revolutionary France, while technically one was considered guilty only after having been sentenced by the appropriate authorities, the royal courts made ample use of torture to extract confessions and gave few rights to the defense. In most cases, it was very likely that one would be convicted and sentenced, once suspected.
The declaration also provides for freedom of speech and of the press, but a relatively weak guarantee of freedom of religion—"provided that [...the] manifestation [of religious opinions] does not trouble the public order established by the law." It asserts the rights of property, while reserving a public right of eminent domain:
|“||"(From Article XVII) - Property being an inviolable and sacred right, no one can be deprived of private usage, if it is not when the public necessity, legally noted, evidently requires it, and under the condition of a just and prior indemnity [that is, compensation].||”|
The declaration is largely addressed to the rights of individuals, not addressing freedom of assembly, freedom of association, or the right to strike. However, these principles did eventually acquire a constitutional value, from the provisions of the Constitution of the French Fourth Republic, under which, unlike at the time of the Revolution, these were specifically understood to extend to women and blacks.
Those left out of the Declaration
The declaration, as originally understood, recognized most rights as only belonging to males and did not give rights to women or abolish slavery. It has also been criticized for its weakness—compared to the U.S. Bill of Rights—with regard to freedom of religion and association.
Sometime after The March on Versailles on October 5, 1789, the women of France presented the Women's Petition to the National Assembly in which they proposed a decree giving women equality. The Declaration's failure to include women was also objected to by Olympe de Gouges in her 1791 Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen. Women were finally given these rights with the adoption of the 1946 Constitution of the French Fourth Republic.
Similarly, despite the lack of explicit mention of slavery in the Declaration, the slave revolt on Saint-Domingue that became the Haitian Revolution took inspiration from its words, as discussed in C.L.R. James' history of the Haitian Revolution, The Black Jacobins.
On the other hand, the declaration's adversarial attitude toward the Roman Catholic Church as the Second Estate resulted in a permanent traditional of secularism, sometimes taking the extreme form of persecution both of the formerly established Church and religious minorities deemed by the state to conflict with "public order."
According to the preamble of the Constitution of the French Fifth Republic (adopted on October 4, 1958, and the current constitution as of 2005), the principles set forth in the Declaration of the Rights of Man have constitutional value. Many laws and regulations enacted by the state have been overturned because they did not comply with those principles as interpreted by the Constitutional Council of France or the Conseil d'État ("Council of State").
Many of the principles in the 1789 declaration have far-reaching implications nowadays:
- Taxation legislation or practices that seem to make some unwarranted difference between citizens are struck down as unconstitutional.
- Suggestions of positive discrimination on ethnic grounds are rejected because they infringe on the principle of equality, since they would establish categories of people that would, by birth, enjoy greater rights.
- Laws deemed discriminatory toward religions have also been struck down, although France's record on this score remains a subject of international criticism.
The declaration has also influenced and inspired rights-based liberal democracy throughout the world.
Text of the Declaration
The representatives of the French people, organized as a National Assembly, believing that the ignorance, neglect, or contempt of the rights of man are the sole cause of public calamities and of the corruption of governments, have determined to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural, unalienable, and sacred rights of man, in order that this declaration, being constantly before all the members of the Social body, shall remind them continually of their rights and duties; in order that the acts of the legislative power, as well as those of the executive power, may be compared at any moment with the objects and purposes of all political institutions and may thus be more respected, and, lastly, in order that the grievances of the citizens, based hereafter upon simple and incontestable principles, shall tend to the maintenance of the constitution and redound to the happiness of all. Therefore the National Assembly recognizes and proclaims, in the presence and under the auspices of the Supreme Being, the following rights of man and of the citizen:
1. Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good.
2. The aim of all political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.
3. The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. No body nor individual may exercise any authority which does not proceed directly from the nation.
4. Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else; hence the exercise of the natural rights of each man has no limits except those which assure to the other members of the society the enjoyment of the same rights. These limits can only be determined by law.
5. Law can only prohibit such actions as are hurtful to society. Nothing may be prevented which is not forbidden by law, and no one may be forced to do anything not provided for by law.
6. Law is the expression of the general will. Every citizen has a right to participate personally, or through his representative, in its foundation. It must be the same for all, whether it protects or punishes. All citizens, being equal in the eyes of the law, are equally eligible to all dignities and to all public positions and occupations, according to their abilities, and without distinction except that of their virtues and talents.
7. No person shall be accused, arrested, or imprisoned except in the cases and according to the forms prescribed by law. Any one soliciting, transmitting, executing, or causing to be executed, any arbitrary order, shall be punished. But any citizen summoned or arrested in virtue of the law shall submit without delay, as resistance constitutes an offense.
8. The law shall provide for such punishments only as are strictly and obviously necessary, and no one shall suffer punishment except it be legally inflicted in virtue of a law passed and promulgated before the commission of the offense.
9. As all persons are held innocent until they shall have been declared guilty, if arrest shall be deemed indispensable, all harshness not essential to the securing of the prisoner's person shall be severely repressed by law.
10. No one shall be disquieted on account of his opinions, including his religious views, provided their manifestation does not disturb the public order established by law.
11. The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man. Every citizen may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law.
12. The security of the rights of man and of the citizen requires public military forces. These forces are, therefore, established for the good of all and not for the personal advantage of those to whom they shall be entrusted.
13. A common contribution is essential for the maintenance of the public forces and for the cost of administration. This should be equitably distributed among all the citizens in proportion to their means.
14. All the citizens have a right to decide, either personally or by their representatives, as to the necessity of the public contribution; to grant this freely; to know to what uses it is put; and to fix the proportion, the mode of assessment and of collection and the duration of the taxes.
15. Society has the right to require of every public agent an account of his administration.
16. A society in which the observance of the law is not assured, nor the separation of powers defined, has no constitution at all.
17. Since property is an inviolable and sacred right, no one shall be deprived thereof except where public necessity, legally determined, shall clearly demand it, and then only on condition that the owner shall have been previously and equitably indemnified.
Compare to other bills of rights
- England: The Bill of Rights of 1689, on which the U.S. Bill of Rights was partly based.
- Scotland: The Claim of Right, similar in chronology and origin to the English Bill.
- United States: the United States Bill of Rights (1789)
- United Nations: Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
- Europe: European Convention on Human Rights (1950), Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (2000)
- Canada: Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982).
- Moral universalism
- Politics of France
- Natural law and natural rights
- Universality (these rights are universal, i.e. valid in all times and places, or claim to be)
- ↑ Some sources say August 27 because the debate was not officially closed.
- ↑ The American Declaration was in part based on the Virginia Declaration of Rights developed by George Mason in June 1776, themselves based on the 1689 English Bill of Rights, published a full century before the French version. Few French were vividly aware of these precedents.
- ↑ Index of Anti-Cult Laws and Laïcité in France Center for Studies on New Religions, Torino, Italy Retrieved April 30, 2008.
- Church, William Farr. The Influence of the Enlightenment on the French Revolution. Problems in European civilization. Lexington, Mass: D.C. Heath, 1973. ISBN 978-0669820249
- Collins, Irene. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen 1789 and 1793. Liverpool: Department of History, University of Liverpool, 1985. ISBN 978-0947608057
- Dunn, Susan. Sister Revolutions: French Lightning, American Light. New York: Faber and Faber, 1999. ISBN 978-0571199006
- Grayling, A. C. Toward the Light of Liberty: The Struggles for Freedom and Rights That Made the Modern Western World. New York: Walker & Co, 2007. ISBN 978-0802716361
- Jellinek, Georg. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of Citizens: A Contribution to Modern Constitutional History. Westport, Conn: Hyperion Press, 1979. ISBN 978-0883559345
- Steiner, Henry and Alston, Philip. International Human Rights in Context: Law, Politics, Morals. Oxford University Press; 2nd edition, 2000. ISBN 978-0198298496
All Links Retrieved April 9, 2008.
- The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen - in English. www.hrcr.org
- The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen - in French. www.conseil-constitutionnel.fr
- The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in both English and French with links to other texts. www.mdx.ac.ukcateogory:politics
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How Anthony Bourdain May Have Contributed To The Arab Spring
In San Antonio, while yukking it up and finding highly creative ways to tell Paula Deen to go f*** herself, Anthony Bourdain came back to a profound point: food — and the people who provide it — has power. It can bring people together, tell stories about their lives, and, in the case of his No Reservations episode in Egypt, incite a region into revolution.
It hit home for Bourdain in the midst of filming in Cairo. He wanted to film a segment featuring foul, the breakfast — and main meal — of many Egyptians. As the clip below shows, it’s a dish that includes seasoned fava beans and “a lot of bread.” His government-provided guides, however, were aghast:
“No, no, they said. This is not interesting; you don’t want see this,” he said of their guides, who went so far as to forbid it and threatened to revoke filming permits and make them leave the country. So, one of the crew members feigned sickness as a distraction, and they were able to shoot the scene.
“Why were they so insistent? What was it that was so worrying to them?…It’s because they knew the show is broadcast all over the world, including in Egypt. This was prior to the revolution. The army owned all the bakeries and controlled the distribution of flour; there were bread wars.
“Not only is this the daily food of most Egyptians, it’s pretty much all most Egyptians eat every day. That’s it. A little bowl of beans and a big stack of bread,” he said. “They understood the power of this scene. They knew this show was beamed back to Egypt and they’d be watching, thinking, ‘That’s what we eat? We have a terrible government.’
“I’m not taking credit for the Arab Spring,” Bourdain amended, according to My San Antonio. “But I’m using this as a point of why food is important.” Indeed, the Mubarak regime fell three years after that episode of No Reservations aired, but Bourdain’s anecdote provides an interesting glimpse into the autocratic control Hosni Mubarak had over every aspect of Egyptian life. (Oh goodness, now we’re really excited for Bourdain’s CNN show.)
Here’s the clip in question: | <urn:uuid:2880bfbe-ba50-4f9d-805c-2ae4b3082d6a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thebraiser.com/anthony-bourdain-arab-spring/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971822 | 531 | 1.984375 | 2 |
Preventingtheexorbitantcostofstudentmobility The cycle of mobility robs a student of the very foundation that can prevent the burden to society that his lack of education will otherwise cause.
Heather O’Mara and Ruth Márquez West
The societal cost of a high school dropout has been calculated into actual dollars and cents and circulated for public awareness. What is less known, though, is the exorbitant cost to a child’s potential achievement caused by switching schools for reasons other than grade level progression – an event referred to as student mobility.
In a child’s life, the hidden costs associated with high mobility (when a student switches schools more than once at each level) are often unrecoverable. The greatest loss, caused by disruption to a learning routine before, during and after a school change, is often to the child’s achievement potential. Not only is he distracted from his studies but, just as critical, his affiliation with a school that provides accountability, positive esteem from a sense of belonging and learning momentum is impeded.
A typical HOPE student, upon enrollment, has switched schools several times during his school career. Regardless of their ages: 37% of 1st graders attended at least 2 schools; 49% of 2nd-5th graders attended 3 or more schools in the past 3 years; 53% of 6th graders attended 3 or more schools; 33% of 10th graders attended 3 or more schools. These numbers, when viewed in light of the impact noted below, confirm that community action for mobility awareness has reached a critical point.
• It takes a minimum of 4-6 months for a student to recover academically from each school change
• Highly mobile students score up to 20 points lower on standardized tests
• On average, changing schools lowered the GPA of Hispanic students by .541 on a 4.0 scale
Students who switched schools were 35% more likely to have failed a grade (Felner, R., Ginter, M. & Primavera, J. 1981. The Journal of the American Medical Association.)
In a study on the broader impact of student mobility, researchers noted that highly mobile students are less likely to participate in extracurricular activities, are more likely to have behavioral problems and are more likely to drop out of school. (Tucker, C. J., Marx, J. & Long, L. 1998. "Moving on": Residential mobility and children's school lives. Sociology of Education, 71(2), 111-129.)
The cycle of mobility robs a student of the very foundation that can prevent the burden to society that his lack of education will otherwise cause. After several school changes, students can easily be entrenched in a cycle of evaluation and remediation that
Temp agencies, ‘raiteros’ exploit undocumented
Ty Inc. became one of the world's largest manufacturers of stuffed animals thanks to the Beanie Babies craze in the 1990s.
But it has stayed on top partly by using an underworld of labor brokers known as raiteros, who pick up workers from Chicago's street corners and shuttle them to Ty's ...
ASSET Bill: ‘People do believe in humanity’
Moments after Gov. John Hickenlooper signed the ASSET bill at the Student Success Building on the Metropolitan State University Denver campus this week, a beaming President Stephen Jordan went to the microphone and put an exclamation point on an historic event.
“ASSET,” he proclaimed to ...
Citizenship must reflect more humane principles
The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) finds the immigration bill introduced last week a modest start on reform, due to provisions that address family unification and workers’ rights and create a narrow path to citizenship for some immigrants. But much of the bill reproduces many of the ...
Communities of color face higher environmental risks
This week we celebrate Earth Day, an international campaign for environmental awareness and protection. While this is a time to celebrate our planet, we are also reminded of the great environmental risks facing communities of color and their resilience to protect both the planet and their ... | <urn:uuid:311ce39d-a7ca-40a7-aa09-980e0b4fcd36> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.elsemanario.net/noticia/2050/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961163 | 859 | 3.171875 | 3 |
Thursday 2 August 2012: Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute
The real reason for our trip to the Isle of Bute was to visit this beautiful house and grounds. It has been on my "list" for years. A Victorian Gothic Mansion designed in the late 1870s by architect Sir Robert Rowand Anderson for the 3rd Marquess of Bute. The first home in Scotland to be lit by electricity, the first house to have a heated swimming pool, and a central heating system to serve more than 120 rooms.
The interiors reflect the Marquess's passion for art, heraldry, astrology, mythology and religion, and the family portraits are perhaps the finest held in a private family collection. The Arts and Crafts architect Robert Weir Schultz created many beautiful pieces of furniture and fittings for the house. Even the door hinges for each room were individually designed.
As I really wanted to see the tiled, vaulted marble Swimming Pool, not usually open to the public, we arranged a special tour with our own guide, which also included the Burges Chapel with a completely mirrored floor, and the Smoking Room. We stood on the Smoking Room Balcony on the first floor to the right of this image, taking in the views down to the Clyde. I had to pinch myself to accept I was actually here.
It really is a "Must See" for any art lover. Visit on a sunny day. The light reflecting in through the stained glass with cut crystal stars in the Marble Hall is absolutely beautiful.
More information here. | <urn:uuid:a2e1ce06-2ae7-4a03-998e-fb148ebc7e23> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.blipfoto.com/entry/2212048 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975734 | 315 | 1.65625 | 2 |
CMU engineering students harvesting pedestrian energy to produce electricity
Electrical panel to provide renewable energy to power temperature display
Central Michigan University engineering students are constructing an electrical panel that will serve as a vibrational energy harvester to create renewable energy for powering a temperature display. The panel, which will be located in the entrance of CMU’s Engineering and Technology building, will generate electricity by using the vibrations of pedestrian footsteps as they walk in and out of the facility.
Assistant professor of engineering Tolga Kaya says the student-led project could lead to the development of self-sustainable electric systems to be used in settings highly populated by pedestrians like subway stations or settings that experience heavy vehicle traffic like highways.
“This project is about generating energy through human steps and using that energy to sustain a system without batteries,” Kaya said. “This is a small prototype. If this works, similar panels could be installed in train stations and other high traffic areas so that these facilities can be self-sustainable and generate their own energy.”
The panel is being constructed as part of a senior design project for engineering students with a budget of $1,500.
The panel is scheduled for completion in April. If the project is a success and the panel is self-sustainable, Kaya imagines it will remain in the entrance of the building in the future.
The project began in the fall with four students conducting the research that would make the second-semester design phase successful. For the students who created the project, there’s a genuine interest in the technology that goes beyond the requirements of the course work.
“I have always had an interest in energy harvesters like wind turbines and power dams,” said White Lake senior Robert Balma. “It’s fun to see something being powered from nothing.”
Canton senior Justin Scaparo says the project has been challenging, but the experience he’s getting has been very valuable.
“We’ve had to use a lot of our own research to be innovative in what we’re trying to do,” Scaparo said. “We’re working together, bringing together pieces of our own expertise, to develop new applications using the technology that is out there. It gives me the opportunity to bring what I learn in class to life.” | <urn:uuid:d87bb4a8-8182-4b01-9860-23af89111b3a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cmich.edu/libraries_research/student_research/Pages/default.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956624 | 495 | 2.984375 | 3 |
View Full Version : Shower basin cast into a new slab?
10-15-2010, 01:21 PM
Shower basin cast into a new slab?
We are planning to build a new home on a slab. The newly poured slab will have embedded multicolored “river gravel” into the surface and then ground flush and polished. We fell in love with examples we’ve seen. I already have the grinder/polisher. ;)
We are pondering the idea of screeding a 60x60 sloped (1/4” per foot??) shower basin directly into the slab. Then grind and polish like the rest of the floor. I’m wanting a scenario with minimal ledges for the wife’s wheelcair to negotiate.
I’m envisioning fabricating and brushing a free standing stainless shower stall. Trust me, that part will LOOK nice. Mostly concerned with casting and/or troweling the shower basin. ?? Any suggestions or concerns with this concept?? Moisture into the slab??
10-15-2010, 01:33 PM
While you can have river rock as the floor, industry standards won't allow you to do what you are proposing. They don't consider concrete as a waterproof layer, so you need a liner. That liner must be sloped to a drain with weep holes to drain any moisture that gets beneath the setting layer. You can still have a barrier free shower, but you shouldn't (and it wouldn't pass code if the inspector knows anything).
So, I'd have them depress the slab where you want the shower to accommodate the barrier free, then build it up 'normally'. This means, preslope, liner, setting bed, then finished surface. Getting the details all right with the walls as you've envisioned might be a little non-standard as well, but doable. Suggest you check out www.johnbridge.com (http://www.johnbridge.com) for help on this...they deal exclusively on tiling, showers, etc. and lots of tiling/shower pros to bounce ideas off of.
IF you have a "flush" roll in entrance, then there is little sense in having a liner because the water could never accumulate in the shower above the floor level, without also flooding the room. There would also be no way to "conceal/enclose" a liner with a free standing shower wall.
10-16-2010, 01:18 PM
Check out Tile Council of North America. They have design diagrams for this sort of thing (haven't looked recently for this situation), and you may need to waterproof most of the floor in the bathroom (and part way up the walls) to accomplish what you want and pass codes and meet industry standards. First step is to see if you can talk to the local inspector, describe what you want, and get his blessing. I'd still check out www.johnbridge.com (http://www.johnbridge.com) for their thoughts...they do this sort of thing every day.
10-16-2010, 11:39 PM
I have done a couple of these and a liner is required. a nice touch is a trench drain if installed on the outside edge it prevents the water from traveling past the edge of the shower, or if installed next to the wall it provides a more even surface to walk or roll on. and be sure to talk to a good tile person
10-17-2010, 06:07 AM
Hmm, well, looks like there’s a little more to it than simply putting in a “glorified floor drain”. ;) My concern with “typical” membrane ADA installations is that the wheelchair itself is difficult or impossible to dry and it will carry and drip significant moisture onto the floor in front of the membrane edge when exiting. How to keep moisture from getting under the membrane from outside of its protected zone? Make the whole room a “shower pan”?? Hmm… further research needed.
Thanks guys. Good info.
The purpose for a membrane is to contain the water inside the shower basin when the water accumulates faster than it can drain. It has absolutely NO PURPOSE when the water can flow onto the floor of the room since it cannot "accumulate" higher than the floor. Here, they would require a trench drain at the entry, but that is an independent matter from the membrane.
10-17-2010, 02:35 PM
Schluter www.schluter.com (http://www.schluter.com) makes two membranes that can be combined. Check out their website. Kerdi inside of the shower, and Ditra outside will make a totally waterproof area. Use some Kerdi-band on the floor wall junction outside the shower, if you're paranoid. I've used Kerdi and Ditra, and find them easy to use and to work well. They have some new waterproof panels designed for tiling walls, benches, etc. called Kerdi-board that can be used in place of a wall panel, and then the waterproofing. You can tile directly to it, make benches, etc. out of it so there'd be no wood or other stuff in the shower area to waterproof. If you ever got enough water outside of the sloped shower area, it would flow out of the room, but that's another story; normally, it would only be some drips, and may not even need additional waterproofing. | <urn:uuid:7dc8cbe5-5064-4cc6-8d4d-5c34356dd1ba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.terrylove.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-38682.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933024 | 1,145 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Archive for May, 2011
Well, as far I am concerned, summer is officially here! I saw my first lightening bug this evening! I was watering my plants when I noticed a flickering yellow glow. I realized it was a firefly! Unfortunately, I gave him an unwanted shower! What a welcome, the poor guy. I hope he was able to fly off once he dried.
I just love summer nights! I spend many nights out under our huge maple trees in my favorite Key West hammock chair! I stretch out and listen to the night sounds, what a chorus, and I watch the fireflies light up the dark. I often think I could just sleep out there but I always come in and crawl in my bed, peaceful from my nighttime rendezvous with nature.
Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service. There are many stories as to its actual beginnings, with over two dozen cities and towns laying claim to being the birthplace of Memorial Day.While Waterloo N.Y. was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it’s difficult to prove conclusively the origins of the day. Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war). It is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971 (P.L. 90 – 363) to ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays), though several southern states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead: January 19 in Texas, April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10 in South Carolina; and June 3 (Jefferson Davis’ birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee.
For me, it is a day to remember loved ones that are gone and to honor our servicemen past and present for the freedom we experience here in the United States. It’s also like an “extra Sunday” to me, which is a day for a cookout, then lounging in my favorite Hatteras Hammocks quilted hammock!
Today, I bought my first butterfly bush! I have admired them for years but just didn’t have one in my garden.Mine is a deep purple color. It is a shrub type of plant that resembles a miniature lilac, comes in many beautiful colors, smells heavenly, and, best of all, it attracts butterflies! It is easy to grow and is quick growing.
I placed mine near the edge of my patio and plan to let it grow large for extra privacy.It is only a few feet away from my hammock chair stand, where I spend time relaxing, reading, and sipping a refreshing drink after working in the garden while hanging in my hammock chair. I am looking forward to a new activity–watching butterflies!
This has been the rainiest spring on record in my part of the country. The pretty, sunny days are here and there, but not here enough! There have been so many times this past winter and this spring that I have been so thankful that I made a spot inside my house for a hammock and a hammock chair.
I was lucky I had a large room for both. However, I highly suggest this to everyone. Even if space is limited, usually we can find a way to make room in a corner to hang a hammock chair from the ceiling or place in a hammock chair stand. The benefits are wonderful! At least if I am stuck in the house, I am happy to be able to use my favorite relaxation pieces!
Now that Mother’s Day is passed, it is supposed to be safe to plant outside. For the annuals and tender perennials, it is always safer to wait and the danger of frost is supposed to be over by now. Some of the later tulips are still in full bloom but it is okay to plant some annuals around them. This way they can get an early start for a long summer of constant color.
The arc hammock stand can be a regal piece of furniture amongst the flowers in the yard. This is what some people refer to as a garden hammock. How enjoyable to take a little break after planting flowers to admire the beauty you added to your home!
I wish all of the mothers out there a beautiful and happy Mother’s Day doing whatever makes them happy. I hope you have some quality time with your children today.
Some of my favorite memories are actually quite simple times just reading to my boys, whether it was in our Brazilian hammock, or snuggled up in bed. These are some of the best times we’ve had and I hope I instilled a love for reading in them. Your children are never too young or too old to read to them! | <urn:uuid:d8589686-f325-4e75-a857-bada3776759b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thehammockgazette.com/date/2011/05/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974778 | 1,120 | 1.640625 | 2 |
The situation has not changed. All that has changed is that we are now being informed of how many unique visitors we have.
WordPress.com stats are now and have always been page view stats. Every time a link is clicked and a new page is opened that is recorded as a stat. Example: If I come to your blog and click links into 4 different posts and/or pages on your blog that creates 4 page view stats.
one cool site
WordPress blogging tips tools & tutorials
Visitor tracking on WordPress.com blogs Edit this entry
Posted on October 2, 2009 by timethief
diversity1Once you have created your new WordPress.com blog, you will need to add your new blog to your Google web masters account, generate and submit a site map, and register with search engines. After you have published a few posts and attracted some visitors some questions will begin to arise.
Visitor tracking questions
Where did your blog visitors come from?
Which search engines did unique visitor hits or returning unique web visitors come from?
What path did they take on your site?
Which browser and which operating system do your visitors use?
How long are your visitors on your page per visit and how many pages did they view?
What time of the day did they come?
Hits, Page Views, Unique Visitors
What is a hit? In web analytics, a hit is any request for a file from a web server. By request means a hit calculates page content delivered, all images to complete that page, and any additional files that need to be loaded to make the web page you are looking at, appear the way it does.
What is a page view? A page view is a request to load a single page of an internet site that results from a page request from a web surfer clicking on a link on another HTML page which is pointing to the page in question.
What is a unique visitor? A unique visitor is access from a single IP to a web server that generates page views and hits during a particular visit. When a visitor has cookies disabled, there is no way of establishing if they are a unique visitor or not. | <urn:uuid:b19eaf53-63e8-4d8c-a0da-e0a6471c9e05> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/difference-between-views-and-visitors?replies=27 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93243 | 443 | 1.703125 | 2 |
If your residence burned to the ground and you lost all your
belongings, would your insurance policy provide you with enough
coverage to replace everything you own?
Many property policyholders are underinsured. When you apply for
a property insurance policy, you set your own policy limit for the
contents of your home based on what you estimate it would cost to
replace everything inside your residence. It is easy to save a few
dollars off your premium by reducing your coverage, but you could
end up taking an unnecessary hit to your personal pocket book.
Review your coverage
When you select your contents coverage,
take a moment to review your policy and ask these very important
questions to ensure you have adequate coverage.
- Look at the value you have listed as the
total worth of your belongings. Is that all the money you need to
replace every item you have inside your home?
- Make sure you are factoring the cost of
your belongings at today's prices, not what you paid for them when
you bought them.
- Have you considered the value of your
wardrobe, your kitchen utensils, your furniture? Even small
appliances like radios, clocks, blenders and hair dryers? Are these
included in your estimate? Your insurance does not just cover large
items of great value, but it covers almost every item in your
- Do you have items in your home that are
worth more because they are antiques or are one-of-a-kind
irreplaceable valuables? If so, you'll want to list them on your
policy with an appraisal certificate to make sure you are
compensated for their true market value.
- Does your policies place coverage limits
on certain items? Many providers have these limits set for
jewellery, furs, bicycles and computers. If the standard coverage
level is not enough for you, there are usually options you can add
to your policy to make sure you are adequately protected.
More coverage = more cost?
It only costs a few dollars a month to
increase the contents coverage levels on your property policy. Take
a look at these rates for contents coverage in a Toronto
condominium, for a 40-year-old with no prior claims:
|Named-perils contents coverage||$30,000||$35,000||$40,000|
When you're shopping for property insurance, make sure to ask
each company about their included coverage levels. There are a lot
of differences from policy to policy, and price is not always
indicative of the coverage offered. | <urn:uuid:98a6dd96-a4d4-4750-b620-19a12e9d822f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tdinsurance.com/products-services/home-insurance/shop-and-buy/howmuch.jsp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938438 | 550 | 1.5 | 2 |
Saint Valentine’s Day is also popularly known as Valentine’s Day. Valentine’s Day is not only celebrated on Feb 14 but also can celebrate, whole of the week from 7th Feb to 14th Feb as it is called as Valentine Week.
Valentine Week (7th Feb to 14th Feb) : Valentine Day Sms Picture on Rose Day, Propose Day, Chocolate Day, Teddy Day, Promise Day, Kiss Day, Hug Day, Valentine Day 2011
Day 1: Rose Day (7th Feb)
Day 2: Propose Day (8th Feb)
Day 3: Chocolate Day (9th Feb)
Day 4: Teddy Day (10th Feb)
Day 5: Promise Day (11th Feb)
Day 6: Kiss Day (12th Feb)
Day 7: Hug Day (13th Feb)
Day 8: Valentine Day (14th Feb)
Why Valentines Day Counts From Rose Day ?
Spring season in symbols of love brought prosperity in nature. The plant gets new leaves, which change look of nature. Moreover valentine day held on 14 February every year signifies the importance of love as it falls in the same season. In the meantime rose day falls a week before valentine. It strongly supports the season symbol of love and prosperity.
Anyone can not ignore the importance of day according to ones related moments of past. Looking on the value of several aspects related to one, some masses in world started celebration by giving name to a day. Named on the name of Saint Valentine, valentines day is celebrated as a symbol of love for couples. It is held on 14th Feb. of every year, as it is a birthday of Saint Valentine too.
The festival of valentine day begins with 7 Feb allotted in the name of Rose, then on 8th of the February month occurs propose day, chocolate day falls on 9th Feb, teddy day on 10th Feb. 11 Feb is for promise day, followed by hug day and kiss day on 12 and 13 February. It shows chain of cycle associated with relationship of love. Some new couples following same procedure to his first or beginning love story.
The day of valentine holds importance for showing love and affection between intimate companions. Lovers celebrate the day by offering flowers, Valentines cards and gifts to its love-match or love-partners, while husband and wife celebrate day by candle light dinner. Gift shops are decorated with valentine day gift and contains valentines day cards and gift accessories. Few shops also keep cards related to friendship as some youth prefer it in most occasion of valentine in fear. They think that if love is out, it could break the friendship relation. Hence cards with quotes of friendship strongly resemble ones feeling of friend and days are changed for them as friendship via friendship day cards.
Generally, The Friendships Day is celebrated on the first Sunday of august every year, which was a birth of Greeting Card Company. Joyce Halls, founder of hallmark propagated the day to honor the relationship of friendships. Through this day people expresses his or her feeling and respect for friendship, friendship day held.
With various ideas and thoughts people get engage in various kinds of festival season in the whole year. The days are the best mean of expression an inner feeling full of complexity of happiness.
Similar to valentines day, various countries are celebrating love as a centre and festival related to love. As love is not only restricted to couples or partners or love match but it also include several other aspects of life. Passionate with music, musician love his instrument, same with other people too. Generally it is used a symbol of mutual feeling between two opposite pairs for getting in the mood of new relation of pairs or couples.
But its aspects differ with every relation like mother affection on her child is regard as best portrait of love in any living world as mother never do anything to hurt her child.
~# Today is the Propose Day of the Valentine Week. Read ahead for some proposing ideas. | <urn:uuid:e6e82d10-dd69-4d5f-88e7-2fe6afce314d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.myselfanand.com/2011/02/spring-season-in-symbols-of-love-brought-prosperity-in-naturewhy-valentines-day-counts-from-rose-day-in-this-spring-season/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950915 | 833 | 2.34375 | 2 |
Fish landings in the UK. (Photo: Shetland Seafood Auctions/FIS)
Fish landings fall in quantity, rise in value: report
Friday, September 28, 2012, 15:30 (GMT + 9)
There has been a fall in quantity but an increase in value of fish landed by the UK fleet, as it is shown in the Marine Management Organisation's (MMO) annual UK Sea Fisheries Statistics 2011 report published this week.
The report – available on the MMO website – includes detailed figures on the UK fishing fleet, the number of fishers, the quantity and value of landings, international trade and the state of key fishing stocks.
The report shows that during 2011 UK vessels landed 600,000 tonnes of sea fish (including shellfish) into the UK and abroad with a value of GBP 828 million (EUR 1.04 billion). This represents a 1 per cent fall in quantity but a 15 per cent increase in value compared with 2010. The rise in value is primarily due to a large increase in the average price of pelagic fish.
The report highlights that in 2011:
- The UK fishing fleet remained the sixth largest in the EU in terms of vessel numbers, with the second largest capacity and fourth largest power. A total of 6,444 fishing vessels was registered with a total capacity of 202,000 gross tonnage and total power of 809,000 kilowatts.
- Just over 12,400 fishers were reported as active in the UK. Of these, around 2,400 were part-time.
- Scottish vessels accounted for 60 per cent of the quantity of landings by UK vessels while English vessels accounted for 28 per cent. Peterhead remained the port with highest landings in 2011, although these were down by 13 per cent from 2010 levels to 107,000 tonnes.
- Shellfish formed the majority of landings by the UK fleet into England, Wales and Northern Ireland, while pelagic fish had the highest share of landings into Scotland.
- In 2011, imports of fish and fish preparations rose to 720,000 tonnes, a 2 per cent increase from 2010. Over the same period, exports decreased by 15 per cent to 437,000 tonnes.
- World figures for 2010 showed that China remained the largest producer of fish, landing 13.4 million tonnes of fish. | <urn:uuid:cdecdef0-8aa2-4d0e-8b71-1ea109190d0e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fis.com/fis/worldnews/worldnews.asp?monthyear=&day=28&id=55712&l=e&special=&ndb=1%20target= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930609 | 485 | 2.203125 | 2 |
"Okayyyy," said Beth, our local swim coach, who owns a pool and for many years has taught all of the neighborhood children how to swim.
I closed my eyes and waited for the next inevitable question.
"How old is your son?"
"Well, um, er..." I replied uncomfortably.
How do I do this? I wondered to myself. How do I explain why it took so long for me to consider swimming lessons for Nicholas? How do I explain about Nicholas? How do I tell her about his diagnosis? But more importantly, will she be willing to teach him how to swim?
"He, um, has very low muscle tone and struggles with issues related to coordination." My pathetic attempt to try to educate her on some of Nick's challenges.
"Okayyyy, how old is he?" she asks again patiently.
"He's ten," I replied and felt my cheeks start to redden.
"No problem, she said, We will probably need to place him in a class with younger children."
"Perhaps this isn't going to work," I answered, frustrated with my inability to explain what Nicholas needed.
"I have taught several children diagnosed with special needs to swim," she replied trying to assure me she had done this before.
More images of a floundering Nicholas gulping mouthfuls of chlorinated water.
"I don't know, I said, I am not sure this would be a suitable class for Nicholas."
Again my fear and inability to communicate.
"Once I see him in the water, I will have a better idea of what he needs." she reassured.
"Oh," I said feeling a little better but still picturing Nicholas and Beth floating out of the pool on a giant kid-made tsunami.
"Why don't you just bring him by on Monday," she said. I could sense she was getting frustrated with me.
I hung up the phone and questioned the value of my degree in communications.
As the days passed, Nicholas looked forward to his first swimming lesson. We all tried to prepare him for the arrival of the big day.
"Nicholas, you're going to love swimming in the pool, it's so much fun," Weston said anxious to reassure his younger brother.
"I am?" Nicholas asked.
"You are!" Weston answered.
"Beth is soooo nice!" I told him enthusiastically.
"She is?" Nicholas asked.
"She is!" I answered.
Monday finally arrived and Nicholas awoke. He donned an old pair of Weston's "surfer dude" swim trunks, anxious to begin his new adventure.
We arrived at Beth's pool.
A mass of tiny, wet children was exiting the churning pool, laughing and shivering. What was I thinking? I thought to myself as they clamored around me and Nicholas looking for their towels. It wasn't long before each chilly child found their mother and headed home. The pool and surrounding area became quiet, the water stilled. A tanned, gray haired woman walked up to Nicholas and extended her hand.
"Are you ready Nicholas?" she asked.
"I am!" he replied enthusiastically.
She held his hand and led him to the edge of the pool.
They did not speak.
Within minutes, Beth had the sensory-sensitive Nicholas in the pool and smiling. I sat stunned on the side of the pool. I watched as these two strangers silently connected. They glided through the water in an effortless motion of trust and mutual respect.
Beth pulled Nicholas slowly around the pool. He let her gently guide his body.
"Ok, now try to put your legs behind you," she instructed softly, and the compliant Nicholas allowed his body to float. They swirled silently together through the water from one side of the pool to the other, softly, gently, quietly. Nicholas bonded easily with this patient woman. There were no dangerous waves or whirlpools. There was no fear or anxiousness, no difficulties communicating; submerged in the clear, tranquil water of the pool, they were dancing. As I watched their graceful movements together, I could almost hear the music.
This calm, silent scene was a sharp contrast to the loud, nervous noise inside my head. My needless worry seemed silly to me now and I wondered if perhaps the word "disabled" was a more accurate description of me. I was the one who was awkward and afraid. I was the one who had trouble trusting.
I was the one who couldn't dance.
It is my son, not me, who hears this inner music, a song that connects him silently and fluidly to others in this world who also vibrate to that beautiful sound.
As I watched my son dance to this silent music, I realized I have a lot to learn.
Lisa Peters writes about family life at her blog www.onalifelessperfect.blogspot.com. Please feel free to come visit and share our adventures. Thank you for reading. | <urn:uuid:f8bbf233-f60a-453f-a896-d8e2b1ffa086> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hopefulparents.org/2012_08_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986602 | 1,040 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Accreditation Program Overview
The AAFCS Accreditation Program assures the public that accredited undergraduate family and consumer sciences programs provide the highest quality educational experiences and prepare students for professional roles to improve the quality of life for individuals, families, and communities.
Accreditation standards for university programs and the criteria imbedded within the standards reflect the highest quality expectations defined by the profession. As such, they are based on research, best practices, and qualitative indicators of performance, especially measures of program effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity, including those related to student learning outcomes. As the profession evolves, standards for assessing quality may be redefined periodically.
The standards for accreditation are clear, valid for the profession, and reliably assessed by qualified peers. The process for accreditation is rigorous, useful, non-burdensome, and technologically sensitive. The standards and criteria for accreditation by AAFCS are applicable to all post-secondary family and consumer sciences programs, regardless of program differences such as size, scope, specialization, delivery methods, or public, private, or consortium affiliation.
Purposes of Accreditation
AAFCS accreditation has three basic purposes:
Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) Eligibility Statement
At its meeting on September 20-21, 2010, the CHEA Board of Directors reviewed the recommendation of the CHEA Committee on Recognition regarding the eligibility application submitted by the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (AAFCS) Council for Accreditation. The board of directors determined that AAFCS is eligible to undertake a recognition review. AAFCS will complete a self-evaluation providing evidence that it meets the CHEA recognition standards. CHEA requires an observation visit to a decision-making meeting of the accrediting organization to observe decision-making activities as these relate to CHEA eligibility and recognition standards. The CHEA Committee on Recognition will review the self-evaluation, the report of the observation visit, and any third-party requests for comment and make a recommendation to the CHEA Board of Directors. The CHEA Board of Directors will make the final determination of recognition status.
Accreditation Program Support
Carol Anderson, CFCS,
Director of Accreditation
1-800-424-8080 or 703-706-4600, ext. 4622 | <urn:uuid:65be119a-1222-484f-a336-bdd0247a7be0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aafcs.org/CredentialingCenter/Accreditation.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918099 | 473 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Why Ranchers and Farmers Are Reluctant to Seek Counseling and How Family Practitioners Can Help
May 2003, Vol. 8, No. 2
ISSN 1540 5273
Randy R. Weigel
Men, especially ranchers and farmers, avoid seeking counseling for personal problems because growing up male is often characterized by an emphasis on independence, competition, emotional restraint, and maintaining the upper hand in relationships. How men are socialized, as well as social, family, and personal barriers, cause many ranchers and farmers to be reluctant to seek help. But family practitioners -- Extension professionals, family therapists, and family service providers -- can provide valuable support to the ranchers and farmers who need their help. Drought, commodity prices, stock market, and other agricultural issues increase stress for agricultural producers. Financial pressure can place individuals at greater risk for depression, anger, anxiety, and thoughts of suicide. These conditions may increase the need to seek help in dealing with the impacts of these situations. But, because growing up male is often characterized by an emphasis on independence, competition, emotional restraint, and maintaining the upper hand in relationships, many ranchers and farmers are reluctant to seek help, especially counseling. Why do some men find it difficult and even refuse to seek help for personal challenges? How can others help?
These questions are explored by looking at how men's upbringing makes seeking help a challenge; social, family, and personal barriers to seeking help; and how family practitioners can provide needed support. This article is not meant to ignore the needs of female ranchers and farmers under stress, but addresses the needs of men who are far less likely to seek mental health counseling and four times more likely to commit suicide (Weigel 2001).
Learning what it means to be "male" or "female" is one of the most difficult and complex lessons in life (Brannon 1985). Young boys, for example, are rewarded by their parents and teachers for conforming to expected standards. Playmates congratulate each other for performing like men. Mentors pat boys on the back for their masculine achievements.
Beliefs about how men ought to behave are constructed at many levels in society and in the minds of men. A masculine identity generated by news media, artists, teachers, historians, parents, and public figures dominates how men think about themselves. Because men in any subgroup (e.g., ranchers and farmers) tend to share the same cultural history, they perceive similar notions about how to behave (Harris 1995). These common understandings of masculinity constitute a dominant gender identity. This identity leads to four traditional attitudes about masculinity:
- men should not be feminine ("no sissy stuff"),
- men should strive to be respected for successful achievement ("the big wheel"),
- men should never show weakness ("the sturdy oak"), and
- men should seek adventure and risk ("give `em hell") (Brannon 1985).
This traditional view of being male causes many men to hesitate to seek help from others. For example, men are taught that masculine power, dominance, competition, and control are essential to proving one's masculinity; that vulnerabilities, feelings, and emotions in men are signs of femininity and are to be avoided; that masculine control of self, others, and environment are essential for men to feel safe, secure, and comfortable; and that men seeking help and support from others is a sign of weakness, vulnerability, and potential incompetence (Robertson and Fitzgerald 1992).
Barriers to seeking help
Although traditional socialization is a prime cause for ranchers' and farmers' reluctance to seek help, there are other social, family, and personal constraints that impact their willingness and/or ability to seek help.
During the farm crisis of the 1980s, mental health services and rural churches played a major role in supporting and counseling farmers and ranchers. Some of the mental health programs that were designed to help distressed farm and ranch families at that time are still operating. Today, however, mental health services are less available and accessible than they were in the 1980s. For state-supported mental health programs today, there is an increased focus and priority on serving the serious and persistent mentally ill population with less national, state, and local attention to the types of mental health needs arising from farmers or ranchers in crisis. Furthermore, with today's reimbursement systems, local mental health programs have less flexibility to respond to mental health needs resulting from the farm crisis (Beeson 1999).
Likewise, in many instances in the 1980s, ranchers and farmers were provided an entrée to a helping system through the pastor of a church or through a referral made by the clergy of a friend (Heffernan 1999). However, with the decrease in rural populations and the reduced number of individuals involved in religious work in rural areas, the number of rural churches is declining, and hence the availability of this important support for ranchers and farmers is declining as well.
Changing rural lifestyles
Although the rural lifestyle has long been considered an ideal way of life for many, there are subtle changes that are impacting help seeking among ranchers and farmers:
- fewer ranchers and farmers with more miles between them creates greater isolation;
- a growing global economy affects local prices and creates greater competition and less cooperation among ranchers and farmers;
- urban migration to the country increases the possibility of rural community fragmentation;
- increased use of technology reduces the opportunity and need for social interaction, and
- less national recognition of the plight of agriculture causes a decreased emphasis on providing supportive resources (Reese 2002).
For decades ranch and farm families have had less participation than the general public in human service programs. Explanations for this include a conservative, rural ethic that increases the reluctance to seek help, difficulty in gaining access to services, and distrust of helping professionals in general. In addition, since men more often head these families and because they can be reluctant to seek help, they may be responsible for the reticence of the entire family system to seek help.
To find out what would prevent farm families from seeking help from social agencies even if they needed to, Martinez-Brawley and Blundall (1989) interviewed Pennsylvania and Iowa farm families. They reported farm families' perceptions of obstacles to seeking help included:
- concerns about their reputation in the community,
- lack of understanding about what services do and how they work,
- having grown up with the idea of not seeking help from social agencies,
- lack of money,
- feeling that one must solve one's own problems,
- fear of being perceived as lazy,
- fear of being perceived as mentally ill,
- distrust of helping professionals, and
Male approach to counseling
Comparing the goals of traditional counseling with the expectations of traditional male socialization also illustrates why men are often reluctant to seek help from others. For example, many traditional approaches to counseling ask that clients develop a sense of self-awareness and share their emotions with a therapist. Yet men appear to be socialized away from self-awareness and encouraged to control (or hide) their feelings. In addition, traditional counseling is designed for people who admit they have problems, but men are generally taught to cope on their own and not admit that they need help. Counselors often ask clients to disclose their vulnerabilities. Men, however, are taught to hide their vulnerabilities to maintain a competitive edge. Finally, counseling requires clients to explore their lives openly with another person, while men are socialized to be in control of their lives, implying that any self-exploration should be done independently and on an intellectual level. It is understandable why men might avoid a process that requires them to consider failure instead of success, cooperation instead of competition, and vulnerability instead of power (Robertson and Fitzgerald 1992).
In spite of these and other barriers to seeking help, many ranchers and farmers do seek help and benefit from the support of others.
How family practitioners can help
Beeson (1999) suggests that family practitioners who are successful in increasing the likelihood that ranchers and farmers will benefit from seeking personal help employ what he calls the APPLE principle.
- Be Accessible. Successful family practitioners are readily available to ranchers and farmers. They employ toll-free phone numbers and 24-hour hotlines if possible. They are flexible with visits and do not limit them to 50-minute hours or 8-to-5 time slots. They have a visible presence in the community -- at meetings, coffee shops, and sporting and school events -- where they can get to know producers and develop trust.
- Be Personal. Family practitioners accommodate a rancher or farmer on his terms. They are willing to meet around a kitchen table, in a mobile home, or in a barn. Being personal also means working with an entire family if necessary.
- Be Professional. A high degree of professionalism is critical to supporting men reluctant to seek help. Effective family practitioners exercise careful management of personal and professional boundaries in the helping relationship to protect confidentiality and still maintain friendships.
- Be Linked. Distressed ranchers or farmers are most likely facing a myriad of personal problems such as financial, legal, health, childcare, and retraining issues. A helping professional needs to be connected with the variety of community services available so that a coordinated effort can be used to support a ranch or farm family and quick access to crisis care can be provided if needed.
- Be Empathetic. Family practitioners and volunteers who have a familiarity with agriculture appear more credible to ranchers and farmers. These mental health workers are able to talk about how little producers make on hay, wheat, milo, or corn, and about the high cost of water, fuel, fertilizer, or machinery.
When ranch or farm men are having difficulty dealing with personal challenges, talking with a skilled listener is highly recommended. There is strong evidence that ranchers, farmers, and their families benefit from working with a counselor (Fetsch and Zimmerman 1999). Family practitioners can give important advice to ranchers and farmers on what to look for, expect, or ask for in seeking the services of helping agencies or individuals. Some examples of that type of advice follow:
- Ask friends. "Let's say somebody has a situation in which he . . . . Who do you know who is good at helping folks solve a problem like that?" If two or three people identify the same professional, great!
- Call the helping professional, introduce yourself, and don't be afraid to admit skepticism about whether counseling will do any good. Describe the situation and ask, "How much experience have you had with helping ranchers with this kind of situation? What do you advise in such a situation? What do you charge? How do I know you'll keep what I say confidential?" Ask any other questions that you have.
- React to your gut feeling as you interview each professional. Is this a counselor that can be trusted? If not, call and interview someone else. It's better to drive 60 miles to talk with a trusted person than to drive 5 miles and hate the entire experience (Fetsch 2002).
If working with a counselor is uncomfortable for the rancher, farmer, or family, suggest seeking someone else (e.g., a friend, pastor, or other trusted individual) who will listen and give practical help, insight, or support. Or, suggest calling an anonymous crisis hot line.
Finally, ranchers or farmers endorsing more traditional roles of masculinity who may have a stereotypical view of counseling as entirely emotionally focused might be more likely to seek help if they understand that counseling can be consistent with a less open emotional style (Wische et al. 1995). Suggesting a cognitive-behavioral approach, which emphasizes problem solving, skill building, and personal mastery, may be more effective than a counseling approach that emphasizes emotional expression and self-disclosure (Cook and Heppner 1997).
Whether providing direct counseling, facilitating client referrals, or delivering educational programs, the family practitioner's attitude can enhance the willingness of reluctant ranchers and farmers to seek help for personal problems. What appears most helpful in supporting these men is that family practitioners:
- Minimize mental health jargon. The wide use of mental health terms should be avoided because people in crises do not see themselves as being mentally ill (Hargrove 1986).
- Speak in terms that ranchers and farmers can relate to. They respond more favorably to words such as workshops, consultation, and personal coaching rather than to the notions of counseling or therapy (Fetsch and Zimmerman 1999).
- Create an atmosphere of trust and respect. Since traditional male socialization makes developing these feelings difficult, finding mutual trust and respect is a welcome relief (Garfinkel 1985).
- Realize that most ranchers and farmers are confident in their ability to find solutions for their problems. Involve them in solving their own problems and encourage decisions that are best for them (Bosch and Griffin 2002).
- Know that ranching and farming is not just an occupation or job. For many men, being a rancher or farmer is a very complex psychological, sociological, and some would say, spiritual connection. Ranching and farming is a way of life, a profession, a covenant with the land, and a commitment to the future (Beeson 1999).
Perhaps the most important message family practitioners can convey to ranchers and farmers reluctant to seek help is to avoid sweeping problems under the rug, burying them inside, or pretending that they will magically go away on their own because they most likely will not.
Beeson, Peter G. 1999. Farm crisis and mental health summit: A summary of findings. In Party-line, ed. Peter G. Beeson, 28-29. St. Cloud: National Association for Rural Mental Health.
Bosch, Kathy, and Charlie Griffin. 2002. Weathering tough times: Responding to farmers, ranchers and rural business persons. University of Nebraska West Central Research and Extension Center, North Platte. On-line: http://www.panhandle.unl.edu/tough_times/2 (retrieved October 2002).
Brannon, Robert. 1985. Dimensions of the male sex role in America. In Beyond Sex Roles, ed. Alice G. Sargent, 296-316. St. Paul: West Publishing Company.
Cook, Stephen W., and P. Paul Heppner. 1997. Coping, control, problem-solving appraisal, and depression symptoms during a farm crisis. Journal of Mental Health Counseling 19(1):64-75.
Fetsch, Robert J. 2002. "Cowboys" personal e-mail, 8 March.
Fetsch, Robert J., and Toni S. Zimmerman. 1999. Marriage and family consultation with ranch and farm families: An empirical family case study. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy 25:485-501.
Garfinkle, Perry. 1985. In a man's world: Father, son, brother, friend, and other roles men play. New York: New American Library.
Hargrove, David S. 1986. Rural community psychology and the farm foreclosure crisis. Journal of Rural Community Psychology 7(2):16-26.
Harris, Ian M. 1995. Messages men hear: Constructing masculinity. Bristol: Taylor and Francis, Inc.
Heffernan, Judith B. 1999. Mental health and ministry: The vital connection. In Party-line, ed. Peter G. Beeson, 16-18. St. Cloud: National Association for Rural Mental Health.
Martinez-Brawley, Emilia E., and Joan Blundall. 1989. Farm families' preferences toward the personal social services. Social Work 34(6):513-522.
Reese, Peter. 2002. Whatever it takes. Successful Farming 100(7):18-22.
Robertson, John M., and Louise F. Fitzgerald. 1992. Overcoming the masculine mystique: Preferences for alternative forms of assistance among men who avoid counseling. Journal of Counseling Psychology 39(2):240-246.
Weigel, Randolph R. 2001. The personal nature of agriculture: Men and depression (B-1104). Laramie: University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Service.
Wische, Andrew E., James R. Mahalik, Jeffrey A. Hayes, and Elizabeth A. Nutt. 1995. The impact of gender role conflict and counseling technique on psychological help seeking in men. Sex Roles 33(1-2):77-89.
Randy R. Weigel, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Extension Specialist, Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, University of Wyoming
Cite this article:
Weigel, Randy. 2003. Why ranchers and farmers are reluctant to seek counseling and how family practitioners can help. The Forum for Family and Consumer Issues 8(2). | <urn:uuid:bb4b454b-9a0f-4c18-8172-4ed57f67b4ce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ncsu.edu/ffci/publications/2003/v8-n2-2003-may/fa-1-ranchers.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934303 | 3,460 | 2.890625 | 3 |
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Marilyn Monroe died at 36. Her death certificate lists “Acute Barbiturate Poisoning. Ingestion of Overdose” as the cause. Just below that line, you can see that the person who issued her death certificate typed “Probable Suicide.” Many people question whether her death was a suicide, an accident, or possibly a homicide.
A death certificate is an intriguing document. It encapsulates a person’s life story on one page—the birthplace, parents, education, length of career, residence, time, place, and cause of death and finally, what happened to the remains. The information required for a death certificate can vary since each state looks at it differently. California regards them as public documents. Texas and New York makes them available only to family members and others showing a direct need. Satisfying curiosity is not considered a need.
John Belushi, John Denver, George Harrison, Truman Capote, “Fred and Ginger” and Frank Sinatra are just a few of the 182 Hollywood notables from the Silent Era to today whose intriguing death certificates are collected here—fascinating! | <urn:uuid:d5078c76-ed14-40e0-8e06-7c739556df75> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://famous.moviestarstoday.com/2011/03/01/famous-movie-stars-celebrity-death-certificates/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942946 | 252 | 1.546875 | 2 |
If you have enough data, you’d likely find that today’s terrible weather occurred sometime in the past. With regard to tornadoes, April and May of 2011 look a lot like May and June of 1953. Given the huge amount of money, technology and time we now devote to warning people about nature’s most intense cyclones, the 2011 fatality figures appear to be very disturbing, because they are so similar to those in the big storms 58 years ago.
Both years saw major storms (F4 or F5 on the F0-F5 Enhanced Fujita scale) plow very long paths through densely populated territory. One hundred fourteen people perished in Waco, Texas, midday on May 11, 1953, followed by 116 in Flint, Mich., on June 8, and 94 in Worcester, Mass., June 9. The Flint and Worcester tornadoes were very likely caused by the same long-lived supercell thunderstorm; similarly a single storm with a 300 mile path spun up several very lengthy and powerful tornadoes over Alabama this year. In Tuscaloosa, home of the University of Alabama, over 40 were killed.
The death count for the Joplin tornado on May 22 is currently up to 123, making it the worst single storm since two that occurred on successive days in 1936, with 216 fatalities in Tupelo, Miss., on April 5, and 203 in Gainesville, Ga., the next day.
These numbers aren’t very different from one another. So are we throwing an inordinate amount of money into our detection and dissemination system and getting very little in return?
In a word: no. Despite 2011, there’s strong evidence that we are saving a tremendous number of lives with modern technology.
After the 1953 disasters, developers of weather radar convinced Congress to support a national network of detectors known as the WSR-57 (for 1957), a very acceptable machine for picking up tornadoes capable of causing significant damage. By the mid-1970s, WSR-57’s pretty much covered the tornado-prone regions of the nation.
An interesting thing happened to tornado frequencies. Before the WSR-57 went online the number of reported tornadoes averaged about 500 per year nationwide. By the time the network was complete, we leveled out around 800. Tornado death frequency — the number of fatalities per million — dropped precipitously. This was an unqualified technological success.
In the late 1980s we deployed the new Doppler radar, the WSD-88, which can actually track the movement of air within a storm (and therefore pinpoint a tornado vortex). Tornado numbers soared, thanks in large part to the detection of hundreds of “F0” twisties that might knock over an untethered trailer or the sign at Bob’s Grille in Nags Head (EAT AND GET THE HELL OUT). We now average over 1000 per year, a number that has been constant since the Doppler network went national. Death frequencies dropped a bit more, but not at much as they did from the WSR-57, which picked the “low hanging fruit.” While still saving more lives, we are also detecting more weenies.
Are there really more tornadoes? If that were true, then the number of strong ones that people notice (unfortunately by hindsight) without or with radar — F3 through F5 — should be going up. Obviously not:
Several factors contributed to this year’s horrible figures. One is general awareness. Neither Joplin nor north central Alabama are as tornado-prone as the Oklahoma-Texas “tornado alley.” The tornado drill just isn’t high up on today’s to-do list.
In 1999 Oklahoma City experienced an extreme F5 tornado — and the most powerful one in that class that has ever been measured — that barreled a long path through much of its suburban sprawl. Death toll: 36.
Oklahoma City is tornado-nuts, as well it should be. The National Severe Storm Laboratory, which does a lot of field research, is located there for a very good reason. Television stations compete in storm tracking and many of them have their own Doppler radars. In the absence of modern technology and hyper-awareness, that storm could have easily killed a thousand.
Tuscaloosa and Joplin, while hardly tornado-free, are a ways off the usual major axis of destruction. Joplin is also very close to the Ozarks, whose rough surface clearly makes the state of Missouri an island in the annual tornado tsunami. No one in either city is constantly worrying about having their home pulverized like they do in Oklahoma City every time the dewpoint gets above 75 degrees.
The bad news is that we have yet to succeed in preventing large numbers of fatalities in built-up areas away from the tornado culture when an F5 shows up. But the remarkable and good news is that we have cut the frequency of tornado fatalities, in deaths per million population, by at least fourfold in the past century.
Despite our technology, monster storms will continue to get loose in cities where people don’t perseverate on tornadoes. I am sure that there will be a lot of discussion in the weather business about how to prevent a repeat of 2011, but, on that one, this old weather-geezer is stumped. | <urn:uuid:f579e79f-92a0-4f34-bf4b-951504e475b7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/great-tornadoes-2011-put-perspective | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957325 | 1,119 | 3.0625 | 3 |
The changes are summarised:
- A new hazardous property H13 (Sensitising) has been introduced and the old H13 property is now H15 (waste capable by any means, after disposal, of yielding another substance e.g. leachate, which possesses any of the hazardous properties H1 to H14). You will have to use these hazardous properties when assessing your waste.
- Changes have been made to simplify multiple collections and you must now use the modified standard consignment note. The same consignment note is now used for multiple collection rounds and single collections.
- The hazardous waste consignment note has been changed to include in Part D a declaration by the consignor that the waste hierarchy has been considered.
- If you are a waste broker or dealer then you will have to keep records of hazardous waste for three years.
- The requirement for you to retain consignment notes at all authorised sites except landfills will be reduced to five years.
- You will only be allowed to mix hazardous waste if you have an environmental permit which allows you to do so and you will have to comply with Best Available Techniques (BAT).
The European revised Waste Framework Directive (rWFD) has required changes to our legislation.
There have therefore been some consequential changes in the regulation of hazardous wastes by amendment of the Hazardous Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2005 and the Hazardous Waste (Wales) Regulations 2005.
So, if you produce or manage hazardous waste, check that you are familiar with changes to hazardous waste controls.
Our technical guidance WM2 has been amended to explain what H13 is and how you can assess your waste. WM2 can be found on our 'What is hazardous waste?' web page:
Very few wastes will have H13 as their only hazardous property so we do not expect a significant increase in wastes being classified as hazardous. Some adhesive wastes may have H13 as their only hazardous property.
Multiple collections will continue but the consignment note has been simplified and a modified standard consignment note is to be used for both multiple and single collections.
A carrier must complete a standard consignment for each customer for each site on the round. A round number and collection number must be completed in the carrier’s declaration on the consignment note.
When the carrier arrives at the consignee’s site, the consignee, in addition to the normal information required, will need to declare how many collections were received that were in the collection round.
The consignee’s quarterly returns will include the round number and collection number for each customer in the round.
Guidance on how to carry out a multiple collection round can be found on our website:
You must now use the new procedure as this became mandatory on 28 September 2011.
We have produced new electronic and paper consignee return forms allowing the entry of these new requirements and providing guidance on how to complete the forms. These new documents can be found on the following page:
As the use of the new form of modified consignment note became a legal requirement on 28 September 2011, we will expect returns for waste received from 1 October to include the new hazardous properties and/or carrier round details for consignments.
There is a five-step waste hierarchy which is an important requirement of the revised Waste Framework Directive. It applies to anyone who produces or manages waste. Unless there is a good reason not to, a waste should be managed, in order of preference, by:
2. Preparing for re-use
4. Other recovery (for example energy recovery)
When completing a consignment note a consignor must sign the declaration in Part D to indicate that you have considered the hierarchy before transferring your waste.
There are many sources of guidance on how to apply the waste hierarchy to waste, some of which will be available shortly on the Defra website or on Waste Resources Action Programme’s (WRAP) website:
Anyone mixing or diluting hazardous waste must hold an appropriate environmental permit and any mixing of hazardous waste will have to comply with BAT. All new permits will include a condition implementing this requirement.
Those operations authorised under Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) already have this requirement but it has now been applied to all permits. This new provision will only be applied to new permits issued after 29 March 2011 and to existing permits on their first review.
On the hazardous waste pages of our website:
Telephone: 03708 506 506 | <urn:uuid:6c06bd07-8138-4f6f-9020-c0c82ec98ecb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.environment-agency.org.uk/business/regulation/129233.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931146 | 926 | 1.859375 | 2 |
The Newtown, Conn., tragedy has rekindled the oft-postponed national debate on gun control. Round-the-clock coverage of the horror inflicted on families and the community has reminded us that our schools and public spaces can be terrorized without warning. The question is not whether there will be another mass killing, it is when and where.
In the United States and in California, we have long interpreted the Second Amendment to allow for the lawful possession of firearms by law-abiding citizens. This right is not absolute, as it has been subject to interpretation and restrictions that have been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. It is fair to say that every regulation on the books today, whether at the national or state level, has been subject to controversy and opposition.
One argument used by those who oppose gun control is that any steps taken will be insufficient to address the complexities presented by the combination of a disturbed individual, access to combat-style weapons and a culture of violence. Clearly, while the issue is difficult and there is no single reform or remedy, as President Barack Obama stated, "We must do something."
Though Connecticut was ranked earlier this year by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence as one of six states with the toughest gun laws, it is apparent that greater limitations on access to assault weapons, high-capacity magazines and firearm sales at gun shows without buyer background checks need to be discussed.
Precedent-setting legislation in our state includes:
· California became the first state to ban the manufacture, transport, import, or sale of assault weapons after the 1989 killing of five schoolchildren at Cleveland Elementary School in Stockton.
· All purchasers of guns must undergo background checks. Sales are banned to felons, drug addicts and other categories of individuals, including those with specified mental disorders and domestic violence restraining orders.
· Every sale of a gun, including sales at gun shows, must be conducted by a licensed dealer, and there is a 10-day waiting period for a criminal background check to be conducted.
· The sale of large-capacity magazines, those holding more than 10 bullets, is not permitted.
As the 2013-14 legislative session begins, bills have been introduced to strengthen California's gun control laws and protect the public, law enforcement and law-abiding gun owners.
What is difficult if not impossible to measure is how many senseless deaths have been prevented because a bad-intentioned person hasn't been able to acquire a gun. And, while there is no foolproof design to prevent all criminal actions, if by limiting or preventing access to a gun we save just one person, then we are fulfilling our duty to better protect our communities.
The health and safety of Californians depends on moving the discussion about gun control forward in a manner that respects the rights of law-abiding, responsible gun owners while enforcing laws designed to protect all individuals.
State Sen. Bill Monning, D-Carmel, represents the 17th Senate District. | <urn:uuid:7265401a-c0bd-4c48-9533-20abb7a78f3b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.montereyherald.com/letters/ci_22272224/time-respectful-gun-control-dialogue | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95153 | 608 | 2.1875 | 2 |
The Wales Transport Research Centre (WTRC) was set up in 2001 to develop an independent transport analytical facility in Wales. Since then the WTRC has grown into a significant research resource for transport, both in Wales and elsewhere.
The WTRC is Wales’ leading research centre for applied research and consultancy, covering all aspects of air, land and sea transport for both public and private sectors. The Centre operates as an independent academic research centre, whilst maintaining a professional, commercially-focussed approach to its research.
The WTRC has an unrivalled knowledge and expertise of the transport issues of Wales and the surrounding regions. Clients value the flexible approach of our small team of experts, which encompasses significant experience in the transport sector at national, local and European levels. Based in Wales, we provide an unparalleled perspective on Welsh transport issues to clients based in the region and much further afield.
Incorporating government, industry and academic experience, our team has a vast knowledge of past, present and potential future transport issues. Significantly we provide specialist expertise in:
- Aviation – Bus and Train Policy and Operations – Road and Rail Investment – Freight, Logistics and Seaports – Traveller Information Needs and Services – Economic and Market Appraisal
Our clients cover a broad cross section of the public sector to include the Welsh Government, local authorities, public transport operators, and voluntary organisations. Our recent clients have included:
- Welsh Government – European Union – SWWITCH Regional Transport Consortia – Arriva Trains Wales – First Student – First Great Western – Carmarthenshire County Council – City & County of Swansea – Friends of the Earth
The Research Centre has created a strong profile for itself and the University through regular TV and Radio interviews, its monthly Western Mail column, and professionally through learned journals, other articles and conference papers. | <urn:uuid:b7a22f17-040e-4f2f-9997-19abe45d313f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://transport.research.glam.ac.uk/ | 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 | 0.926208 | 381 | 1.820313 | 2 |
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January 24, 2006 4:58 pm
A simple change in how browsers load web pages is heralding a fundamental shift in the way we interact with the internet.
Whereas current websites are mostly static, a new technology is making them easier to use, more responsive and, in some cases, able to mimic complex desktop applications such as word processors. As a result, it is making software such as project management and content management, once available only to big enterprises, cheap and accessible to small businesses and individuals.
The change Ajax makes is very simple. Rather than having a web browser reload an entire web page every time a user clicks a link or button, Ajax allows only those elements that need updating to be reloaded – a simple change with dramatic consequences.
“By using the Ajax techniques, we are able to move beyond traditional web mail to provide a very fast and interactive product,” says Paul Buchheit, software engineer at Google. “Google Mail added features not previously found in web email, such as address auto-complete and interactive spellchecking. Actions such as replying to a message are now instant. Previously they required loading a new page from the server, which can be very slow.”
Being web-based, many current Ajax applications have been called “social software”, that is, they provide ways of collaborating or sharing information such as bookmarks or photos. Ajax is also suited to project management software. An example is Basecamp, one of a number of Ajax-based collaboration tools aimed at small businesses produced by software company 37Signals.
A common collaboration tool benefiting from Ajax is email. “E-mail is one of the killer applications for Ajax,” says Scott Dietzen, president and chief technology officer of Zimbra. Zimbra’s email client works inside a web browser, but is as fully featured as a desktop application, supporting functionality that would have been unthinkable in a web-based application only a few months ago. Being part of a web browser, the application integrates seamlessly with other collaboration tools such as Zimbra’s instant messaging, calendar and address book. It also means that users can check their email, whether they are in the office or using a laptop in any Wi-Fi enabled environment. Ajax, therefore, helps Zimbra provide a complete web-based collaboration suite.
Collaboration is also the strength of the web-based word processor, Writely. “Writely is about collaboration, sharing and publication,” says Sam Schillace, co-founder of Writely. Because Writely is on the web, users have an easy way of editing and sharing documents without having to email them to each other and manage all the changes that their colleagues make. It also provides a simple way of publishing documents on to websites such as blogs and, because it works in a browser, users can edit the documents wherever they have access to a computer and the internet.
In spite of its strengths, there is a limit to how responsive Ajax technology can be and therefore what Ajax applications can do.
Ajax is, for example, unsuitable for online gaming, which requires a lot of desktop computing power, or for Google Earth, an application that includes three-dimensional fly-throughs of terrain.
Nevertheless, there is great scope for Ajax as development tools are being made public as open-source software. Both IBM and Zimbra are offering toolkits to developers, which, in Zimbra’s case, makes it easier for others to integrate with its collaboration suite.
In the near future, when business people sit in internet cafes in constant contact with their teams as they edit documents, instant message and collaborate on projects, they’ll probably be doing it all through Ajax applications.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2013. You may share using our article tools.
Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web. | <urn:uuid:b101a9f6-6f4c-4b88-b50f-b6ffc656cbdf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/f3881acc-8ce8-11da-9daf-0000779e2340.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939154 | 860 | 1.695313 | 2 |
by Gary North
by Gary North
As this recession accelerates, will your career accelerate with it? Or fall behind?
It is one thing to recognize that your career has hit a brick wall. There are solutions for this.
The appropriate strategy is different when your career hits a detour because of the recession.
One of the reasons why the general public does not perceive what would previously have been regarded as recessionary economic conditions is that the employment rate has stayed high. One of the reasons for this is that the United States has moved from a manufacturing economy, in terms of its total labor force, to a service-based economy. This does not mean that America produces fewer goods than it did two decades ago. What has changed is that the labor force has been cut by 50% in the manufacturing sector. American workers in manufacturing are far more efficient today than they were two decades ago. But to have survived, they had to make adjustments to a high-tech world.
Unemployment generally does not hit white married men. Whenever we read about rising unemployment, we should bear in mind that people who read economic newsletters are probably not going to lose their jobs. They may get their careers sidetracked for a time. They may find that their employer can no longer keep up with wage rates in the industry. But, generally speaking, white, middle-class, married males do not lose their jobs in a recession.
A few employees do find that they are unprepared for the new conditions. This is especially true for men who are over age 50. These men have been the sacrificial lambs of outsourcing, computerization, and the flattening out of business hierarchies. The specialized information that they used to provide to their employers can be delivered by software. Their market niches have been eroded by competitive factors that only began to appear 20 years ago.
Because readers of newsletters and Websites like this one do not feel the pain of recession early in the process, they may not perceive that the terms of trade between employers and employees have shifted. Things seem to be bumping along fairly well, despite the fact that the stock market is down, real estate prices are falling, and there seems to be no engine of recovery on the horizon. Because their jobs appear to be safe, they assume that their careers are equally safe. This is a mistake.
I distinguish between a person's job and his career. Sometimes they are the same. Four decades ago, they were almost always the same. But these days, because of outsourcing, international competition in business, and technological competition from computers, an individual finds that he does not lose his job, but his career has hit a dead end. Anything like automatic promotion is a thing of the past. This is even true in Japan, where promotion by time served was almost automatic. International competition has made this practice a thing of the past. So, a person who thinks that he has a career path in front of him is living in the past. Today, a career path is hacked out of the wilderness by the equivalent of a machete. If you do not have a machete, and if you are not skilled in its use, your career may be more in the past than it is in the future.
Young men who are entering the work force today, or who have been in it for less than a decade, already are aware of this phenomenon. They get bounced around from job to job in these years. It is difficult to find any job with something resembling a tenure track today. Tenure-track jobs that once were synonymous with careers are becoming exceedingly scarce except in high-technology fields such as engineering. Even here, someone who does not keep up with the industry is going to find that his career hits a brick wall within five years. There is no coasting possible except in government employment.
This is why an individual has to develop a personal training program in which he systematically keeps up with developments in his own niche, but also keeps up with general trends. He needs to know what is happening in general categories because these can affect the survival of his particular niche. It does no good to be a master of a niche when the general market is moving away from a particular service that is represented by the niche. A person had better be flexible if he wants to escape the possibility that his niche will be outsourced or replaced by technology.
Let me give you an example. Consider a physician. The generalist who deals with people on a daily basis is probably not going to change his career. He may have to change his expectations regarding income, because government entry into the field of health care has distorted prices and has added costs. So have legal expenses. But, on the whole, the generalist is not going to see his career change by much. But specialists in niche fields are facing tremendous competition from sources that did not exist 20 years ago.
Surgical procedures in India, Southeast Asia, and South America sell for half the price or a third of the price that they cost in the United States. At the same time, international plane fares have fallen dramatically over the last 10 years. Even with increases because of rising fuel costs, the cost of international travel is much less than it was 10 years ago. This means that Americans can shop for non-emergency procedures. They can get competent medical care, sometimes delivered by physicians who are fluent in English, for a fraction of the cost of the same medical procedure in the United States.
A physician who does not recognize that he must now sell his services to patients who have economic options will find that his career does not advance. A career means advancement. It means that you are paying attention to business. You are committing time and money to staying ahead in your field. This is your calling: the most important thing you can do in which you would be the most difficult to replace.
WHAT I LEARNED FROM LARRY ALTSCHULER
Probably the best example I had as a young man was a friend of mine in high school, Larry Altschuler. He was the only friend I knew who worked in his father's business. His father was in the restaurant business — a very tough business. It is easy entry and high attrition for business owners. He had his own small restaurant by age 19, as I recall. I don't think he went to college. I left town at age 17 and only rarely returned.
Fifteen years later, he had a nice restaurant in Manhattan Beach, California: "The Bay Nineties." (The region is called the South Bay.) On a return visit in 1973, I took my wife to eat there. It no longer exists.
I have not seen him in 35 years, so I'm guessing about his business strategy. He probably made his profit in liquor sales. So, his strategy was to get lots of people into the restaurant and sell them drinks while they were waiting for a table. He needed more patrons than dinner tables. He had this amazing, unheard-of approach to get a long line: low dinner prices and high quality. You even got a choice of side dinner entries — a mini-meal. I ordered spaghetti. (Note: I remember this from 35 years ago.) Spaghetti is cheap, but it has high perceived value for spaghetti lovers. It was good spaghetti sauce, which is the key to spaghetti.
Here was the capper. When your meal was over, your waiter brought out a large serving tray filled with uncooked food: salmon, filet mignon, and lots of other expensive stuff. You could buy your next meal for $1. You made your selection, and he brought it back in a "doggy bag." Do you think Larry had repeat business? Do you think he sold a lot of booze? He was the first businessman I ever knew among my peers. I did not appreciate just how skilled he was, and how innovative in a generally non-innovative field, until I was in my thirties — about the time I started my own newsletter business.
His father ran a restaurant. Larry knew in high school that he would be going into this field. He was an active participant in the Junior Achievement program. He invited me to join. I was not interested in business at the time, so I never did. He was the only person I knew who did join.
He was the only person I knew who owned his own business at age 19. He told me that every morning he got up at 3 a.m. and drove into Los Angeles to the Farmer's Market. There, he would buy produce. His father had taken him when he was still in high school to learn how to do this. I did not know that when we were in high school together.
The idea of getting up that early to drive into Los Angeles to examine heads of lettuce was not the sort of thing that anybody else I knew was doing. He was doing it, but he never told me. This is the kind of dedication that it takes to run a successful business. He learned early. Nobody I knew in high school would have had any incentive to do this, or any idea that this is what he would do after graduation.
He did not drive into Los Angeles every morning to save money. The time costs were too high. He did it to get the best produce for his customers. He told me that by getting there early, he got the best goods. Those who arrived later got leftovers.
He understood quality. Even when most customers don't appreciate high quality, a few will. Even if they don't, the business owner develops a mindset: deliver a high-quality product to your customers.
The key to success in most businesses is repeat business. The key to repeat business is high quality. Anyone can cut prices. It is not easy to raise quality and still keep prices low enough to stay in business. Repeat customers in the non-fast food restaurant business return because of high quality.
Anyone who goes to college who has the attitude that he had in running his business will be highly successful as a student. This kind of dedication is extremely rare. But when your money is on the line, and you're in a business in which there is open entry and stiff competition, you have to pay attention to details in order to prosper. He was willing to do this.
It was not until I hit retirement age that I began getting up at 4 a.m. to begin running my new Web business. I find that this is what it takes to run a successful Website. I do my writing early in the morning, and then I run my question-and-answer forums later in the day. Going online at 4 a.m. and reviewing what I had written the day before, and then writing material for the next day, is my equivalent of going into the Farmer's Market. There is early morning work that must be done in order to operate a functioning business through the day. What my friend Larry knew it age 15, I finally adopted at age 65.
It was not clear to customers how much work it took him to deliver meals during rush hour. This is as it should be.
The easier you make your work look, the better your impression. If you give the impression that you are just barely surviving, just barely staying ahead of the day's disasters, your work ethic will be respected, but your boss may hesitate to promote you. If you're just barely hanging on today, how well will you do in a new slot, with greater responsibilities and new areas to master?
In contrast is the person who seems to be able to achieve his daily tasks almost effortlessly. He may be like a duck on a pond: sliding silently across the surface, but paddling like mad beneath the surface. If you can give the impression of being on top of things without also giving the impression of being just barely on top of things, you will be perceived as a low-risk candidate for advancement.
GOING ON THE OFFENSIVE
If a company wishes to expand its market share, it should do this in times of economic crunch for the industry. While other firms are cutting back, playing the turtle, an aggressive company can gain market share by investing in advertising and marketing.
The same is true in your career. If you can gain a reputation for being a go-getter and aggressive in a time when most of your competitors are pulling back, hoping not to overrun their budgets, hoping not to make a major mistake, you can call attention to yourself and your value to the company. The risk goes up, but the reward also goes up.
I am strongly of the opinion that in your career, the best defense is a strong offense. I don't think it is a good idea to be perceived as being in defense mode in a time of cutbacks. It is much better to gain a reputation of being aggressive, competent, and willing to branch into new areas when times are bad. An employer looks for this kind of person in good times, and he hesitates to fire someone like this when times get tougher.
The person who hunkers down, plays the turtle, and tries to hide is the kind of person who is perceived as expendable in any organization. He may stay off the short list of people to be fired, but once he is on that list, the likelihood that he will be fired increases sharply. People play the odds by trying to remain invisible, but invisible people can be sacrificed without a lot of pain for the employer. This is why I think playing defense is a high-risk strategy when it comes to your career.
The best time to move up is during a crisis. This is well-known in military circles. People get killed during wartime. This opens up positions. Back in 1838, Alexis de Tocqueville commented on the fact that democratic armies generally favor war. War lets noncommissioned officers rise into the ranks of commissioned officers, because of the openings that take place on the battlefield. They could never have risen in the ranks from noncommissioned officers to commissioned officer in times of peace. De Tocqueville concluded if a nation wants to avoid wars, it is best to have an army of professionals, where advancement is not possible for people who do not enjoy upper-class status. Of course, he understood that in a democracy, this kind of army was disappearing.
A crisis is ready-made for aggressive people. This is why I see the present recession as an advantage. In times like this, people who are really competent can make major gains on their competitors. This is much more difficult in boom times, because everybody seems to be prospering. Everybody seems to be successful. Warren Buffett is correct: nobody knows who is swimming naked until the tide goes out.
As the recession intensifies, you must pay much greater attention to details. You must be alert to opportunities. You probably should increase your commitment in terms of hours. Yet I have said in the past that it is unwise to work for more than 40 hours a week for salary. So, I am really recommending that you combine your job with after hours efforts to increase your knowledge of your niche, and to increase other people's awareness of your presence in this niche, in such a way that this appears to benefit your company. It does benefit your company, but also benefits you. It enables you to establish your reputation apart from your company.
Presence on the Web is basic to this strategy. You want to be able to establish new beachheads in your career. Don't devote time beyond 40 hours a week to your company unless this time simultaneously opens up opportunities for your career outside your company. You become more valuable to your employer, but you also become more mobile. Mobility is basic to career success in today's marketplace.
As the economy slows, people will begin to come to grips with the new realities of the employment scene. I don't think this scene will ever be the same for Americans. The terms of trade are turning against us because of past fiscal policy, monetary policy, and a change from future-orientation to present-orientation. Competition has been increasing. When the dollar falls, Americans' lifestyles will have to be cut back. This is always painful.
The day of small trucks with high profits is over. Gasoline prices are too high. These trucks are used to haul urban egos, not cargo. Ford and GM bet the farm on these non-farming trucks, and now they must readjust. They have little room or capital to readjust. They waited to long. The Japanese from 1970 became quality minded. They stuck to their knitting. They had to claw away market share from Detroit. They were lean and mean.
Detroit is finished, in every sense. They sat on their laurels. They thought it would be fat city forever. It is more likely to be bankruptcy. The American industry will not recover.
You must adjust whenever you can. This is the lesson of the Big 3. They did not adjust.
September 4, 2008
Copyright © 2008 LewRockwell.com | <urn:uuid:03573b39-68f0-46be-94eb-5999d5e374f1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north650.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985895 | 3,494 | 1.765625 | 2 |
U.S. fears ‘potential massacre’ as Syrian helicopters fire on rebel strongholds
Explore This Story
BEIRUT—United Nations monitors said Syrian helicopters fired on rebel strongholds north of Homs on Monday and called for “immediate and unfettered access” to conflict zones where they had heard many women and children were trapped.
International mediator Kofi Annan also said he was gravely concerned about violence in Homs and in Haffeh, a mainly Sunni Muslim town near the Mediterranean coast, where the U.S. State Department said it feared a “potential massacre.”
The UN observers, tasked with monitoring Annan’s April ceasefire deal which failed to stem the violence in Syria, have instead been cataloguing mass killings, bombings and clashes in which many hundreds of Syrians have died.
The outside world, divided in its approach toward Syrian President Bashar Assad’s crackdown on a 15-month-old uprising, has been unable to halt the violence despite broad international support for Annan’s tattered peace plan.
“UN observers reported heavy fighting in Rastan and Talbiseh, north of (Homs), with artillery and mortar shelling, as well as firing from helicopters, machine guns and smaller arms,” UN spokeswoman Sausan Ghosheh said in a statement.
It was the first time the UN monitors have verified repeated allegations by activists that Assad’s forces have fired from helicopters in the military crackdown on rebels. Syria’s government is the only force in the conflict equipped with helicopters.
The observers “also received reports of a large number of civilians, including women and children trapped inside (Homs) and are trying to mediate their evacuation,” Ghosheh said.
UN observers reported Free Syrian Army rebels captured army soldiers, she added, calling on “all sides to stop the killing and human rights abuses to ensure the protection of civilians and to respect international law.”
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 63 civilians were killed across Syria on Monday, nearly half of them in the northern province of Idlib. Twenty-one soldiers and security forces were killed, most of them in rebel bomb attacks, it said.
In the eastern city of Deir al-Zor, 10 people were killed when a car bomb detonated in the Jura district, the British-based Observatory said, but activists said more than 16 people were killed and dozens more wounded.
Syria’s state news agency reported military funerals on Monday for 26 people “targeted by armed terrorist groups as they carried out their national duty.”
A spokesman for Annan said he was gravely concerned by the latest reports of violence and “the escalation of fighting by both government and opposition forces.”
Annan expressed particular concern at recent shelling in Homs, where activists said on Sunday government forces killed 35 people in one of the biggest bombardments since his ceasefire deal was supposed to come into effect on April 12.
“(Annan) is particularly worried about the recent shelling in Homs as well as reports of the use of mortars, helicopters and tanks in the town of Haffeh,” his spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said in a statement.
“There are indications that a large number of civilians are trapped in these towns,” Fawzi said, adding that Annan “demands that the parties take all steps to ensure that civilians are not harmed, and further demands that entry of the UN military observers be allowed to the town of Haffeh immediately.”
Last week, activists said government forces surrounded Haffeh, close to the heartland of Assad’s Alawite minority, after rebel fighters seized control of a police station and destroyed five tanks and armoured vehicles.
The U.S. State Department said Syrian attacks would have consequences.
“The international community can and does learn what units were responsible for crimes against humanity and you will be held responsible for your actions,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said as activists reported tanks were again surrounding Haffeh.
Activists say Syria’s army and pro-Assad militia have committed two massacres in the last two weeks, in the Houla region and a farming hamlet called Mazraat al-Qubeir. Syrian authorities blamed the killings on “terrorists.”
The United Nations says Syrian forces have killed more than 10,000 people in the crackdown on an uprising inspired by revolts which toppled four Arab leaders last year. Syrian authorities say foreign-backed militants have killed 2,600 soldiers and police.
Rebels have grown increasingly well-armed in recent weeks, both through increased smuggling of weapons and through defections of soldiers who bring their weapons with them.
On Sunday rebels briefly seized control of a strategic army base and threatened to fire its surface-to-air missiles at Assad’s palace, before being forced to withdraw by an army counterattack.
The violence has divided world powers, with Russia and China blocking two draft UN resolutions which could have led to international action against Assad’s government.
On Monday, Russia called for Iranian involvement in efforts to end the conflict in Syria, putting it at odds with the United States, and said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will travel to Tehran on Wednesday to discuss the initiative.
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- Missing woman's last call was to Dellen Millard, says ex-boyfriend | <urn:uuid:f91908a0-8c62-4b7a-ba5b-d179118e6c31> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2012/06/11/us_fears_potential_massacre_as_syrian_helicopters_fire_on_rebel_strongholds.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968318 | 1,226 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Why rake when you can mulch?
Mike McGrath, Garden Plot
Is there anything wrong with oak leaf mulch?
Tracy in Crofton writes: "I heard your advice on using shredded leaves as mulch. Almost all my trees are oaks, and I have read that shredded oak leaves are not recommended for use as mulch because they don't break down quickly. Is that accurate? My other concern was a warning that shredded leaves are 'welcome mats for voles'; do you have any comment on that?"
Shredded oak leaves make a great mulch, Tracy. Oak leaves are more fibrous than some other leaves, but you don't WANT your mulch to break down fast.
Any mulch can provide cover for shrews and voles, especially wood, bark and root mulches, and especially when such mulches are applied too heavily or mounded right up against the sides of plants -- an incredibly foolish "horticultural design" that allows rodents to gnaw away at the tasty bark unseen. The way to prevent such problems is to never spread any mulch deeper than 2 inches, and never let any mulch actually touch the trunk of a tree or the stems of a shrub.
And yes, this means that if you have "volcano mulched" trees, you should hoe that mulch away from the trunks ASAP. Piling mulch up against the side of a tree is like handing out knives and forks to the tiny vermin in your yard.
Lilacs blooming in November!
Maria "in Southern Maryland" writes: "I looked out my window today and noticed that my lilacs are blooming. They're 10 years old, and have never done this before. We've had a few frosts already, and everything else is dead. How can this be?"
You're not alone, Maria. I've gotten a handful of reports from our region -- and as far north as New York -- of spring bloomers like lilacs, azaleas, dogwoods and Bradford pears blooming out of season from the stress of this wretched roller coaster of a spring, summer and early fall.
Don't do anything to the plants now. Don't feed them, don't prune them and don't mulch them. Enjoy the flowers, and ideally let the faded blooms just remain on the plant over winter.
The affected plants may bloom again in the spring or they may not. Either way, do be sure to prune them lightly after their typical bloom time is over in the spring. Don't panic or overreact and there should be no lasting damage from this (hopefully) unusual episode.
How to handle an ivy-covered lawn
Kathy in Silver Spring writes: "I had a family emergency and wasn't able to get out and tackle the ivy that was taking over my lawn this spring; the ivy has since killed most of the grass. Can I kill the ivy with Brush B Gone or something and sow rye grass for the winter? Or do I have to wait and use regular grass seed next spring?"
None of the above, Kathy. No herbicides -- including the deadly, dangerous one you name -- have any effect on ivy. They just roll off of its protective waxy coating. Like it or not, ivy has to be removed the old-fashioned way: physically. And rye grass seed won't germinate any better in cold weather than any other type of grass seed.
So use the next 10 months to attack and eradicate the ivy. Break the job up over that entire time. Soak the soil well and pull some of the ivy out -- roots and all -- every weekend you can work outside. (The colder the weather, the better, in fact. It limits the ivy's legendary ability to regrow.)
In spring, begin cutting whatever "lawn" you have high and keep working the ivy. Then prepare the soil by adding a lot of compost and leveling it out perfectly before you sow your new seed next August -- the only reliable time to sow a new lawn in our region.
What to do with crabgrass NOW?
Nari in Reston writes: "I haven't gotten all of my over seeding work done yet. I have quite a few big areas of crabgrass and don't know if I should continue spreading new seed overtop of them in this already cold weather or if I should not. Please advise me on what I should do now and next spring."
It's too cold for any seed to germinate now, Nari, and I suspect that any seed you spread over-top of crabgrass was a waste of money anyway. If you want to do something this fall, pull out some of the clumps by hand (soak the soil well first and pull slowly (you'll get big clumps out in one piece, roots and all) or torch the tops of the plants with a flame weeder to kill some of the seed the crabgrass has recently set.
Cockroaches are so adaptive, their brains may reject some foods.
A fallen officer's daughter gets a swarm of support. (Photos)
The Galapagos Islands are now just a click away. (Photos)
Clothes have a starring role at the Cannes Film Festival. (Photos) | <urn:uuid:ff0aa0c4-1208-4719-b0c5-afd05102099c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wtop.com/902/2628302/Mulching-mounds-ivy-eradication-and-late-blooming-lilacs | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960635 | 1,104 | 2.140625 | 2 |
In his homily today, our Chaplain, Fr. Eugene mentioned that ordinarily God does not call a person without first preparing him or her at least in a remote way by gifts of nature and grace. Matthew probably had heard of Jesus and may even have listened to him teach. He must have had some strength of character as a tax collector to endure patiently the derision and disdain of the "good" Jews. This same quality would prepare him for the contempt and scorn sometimes heaped on the apostolic band when they preached the message of Jesus in the hearing of the Pharisees.
In this generation those called by God may not realize at first that they have already been gifted by the God of surprises, with natural and supernatural qualities which fit them for religious life. They might look at their natural talents, abilities and preferences to indicate a path to the consecrated life. Let each one of us reflect on our own life story and notice where God has been leading us.
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Six years ago, Rod R. Blagojevich became the first Democrat to be elected governor of Illinois in 30 years, unseating what he called a Republican "legacy of corruption, mismanagement and lost opportunities."
Until his arrest Tuesday on federal corruption charges, the self-proclaimed "always lawful" Blagojevich had built a political career, in part, on fighting corruption. When he ran for governor, he touted his past as a state criminal prosecutor and promised to break away from politics as usual.
"A governor must be willing to take on the special interests, not carry their water," he said when he announced his candidacy for governor in 2001, at the North Side Chicago steel mill where his Serbian immigrant father once worked. "It means shaking up a system that serves itself instead of the people."
Photogenic, 45 years old and the son-in-law of a powerful Chicago alderman, he was elected with 52% of the vote. As a congressman, Blagojevich, who turned 52 today, had amassed a loyal following of Democrats who saw him as a reformer.
The governor enjoyed approval ratings of 55% his first year on the job, according to Chicago Tribune polls. But public opinion began to sour by his second year in office as Blagojevich clashed with and pointed fingers at other elected officials and institutions. Allegations of corruption also curbed his popularity.
Recent polls by the Tribune put the governor's approval rating at 13% -- even lower than the 23% of his scandal-marred predecessor, George Ryan, in his final weeks in office. Ryan has since been convicted on federal corruption charges and is in prison.
Public disdain for Ryan -- or at least his name -- seemed to help Blagojevich, now in his second term, win the governorship. His GOP opponent was Jim Ryan, the then state attorney general, and Blagojevich routinely linked Jim Ryan with the unpopular George Ryan. The two are not re- lated.
"How can you replace one Ryan with another Ryan and call that change?" he asked voters in 2002. "You want change? Elect a guy named Blagojevich."
Polls before the election indicated voter confusion over which Ryan was which; another showed that 9 in 10 voters said government corruption was an important factor in deciding between the candidates.
Calling the governorship a lifelong dream, Blagojevich said during his campaign that although his name might not roll off the tongue, "I believe I have something else: I can unite this state."
And perhaps Blagojevich has done just that: A Tribune poll in October found that more than half of his own party disapproved of his job performance, as did 83% of independents. Three out of four voters said the governor has not kept his promise to end corruption.
And what about that name? As he has acknowledged, one challenge was teaching it to voters.
"How do you say his name?" one of his campaign websites asked. "Bla-GOYA-vich." His supporters sometimes chanted it -- syllable by syllable -- at campaign appearances.
On the stump, he predicted that if voters sent him to Springfield, "more people will be able to say 'Blagojevich' than ever before."
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
Rod R. Blagojevich
Family: Wife Patricia; two daughters.
Education: bachelor's degree, Northwestern University, 1979; law degree, Pepperdine University, 1983.
Experience: Elected Illinois governor 2002, reelected 2006; served in the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois' 5th District 1997-2002; served in the Illinois House from a North Side Chicago district 1992-96; assistant Cook County state's attorney, prosecuting criminal cases.
Quote: "I don't care whether you tape me privately or publicly. I can tell you that whatever I say is always lawful."
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