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A risk factor is something that increases your chances of getting a disease or condition. It is possible to develop MDS with or without the risk factors listed below. However, the more risk factors you have, the greater your likelihood of developing MDS. If you have a number of risk factors, ask your doctor what you can do to reduce your risk.
Because bone marrow is rapidly and continuously producing new cells, it is one of the most sensitive tissues in your body. This high rate of cell production makes it susceptible to both radiation and toxic damage. Factors that may affect your risk of MDS include the following:
Exposure to Radiation
Cumulative doses of radiation increase the risk of MDS. Such radiation may be used to treat the following types of cancer:
- Hodgkin's disease
- Breast cancer
- Lung cancer
- Ovarian cancer
- Cancer of the gastrointestinal tract
- Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
- Seminoma (a form of testicular cancer)
- Multiple myeloma
- Polycythemia vera
- Chronic lymphocytic leukemia
Atomic bomb survivors, who were exposed to high doses of radiation, developed MDS at a rate 20-25 times greater than the average.
Exposure to Certain Drugs and Chemicals
Prolonged exposure to certain drugs and chemicals increases the risk of MDS:
- Petrochemicals—chemicals derived from petroleum or natural gas, such as ethyl alcohol
- Benzene—a distillation product from coal and petroleum that is used as a solvent and as a fuel
- Alkylating agents
MDS may also occur in people who have taken immunosuppressive agents (for the treatment of aplastic anemia ) or granulocyte-colony stimulating factor or G-CSF (for the treatment of congenital leukopenia). However, due to the complexity of these conditions and their treatments, the relationship of MDS to these medications is not clearly defined.
Weak associations have been reported between the development of MDS and cigarette smoking and the use of hair dye, but definite causal relationships are unconfirmed.
Genetics and Birth Defects
People with certain inherited genetic defects are at a substantially greater risk of developing MDS:
- Down’s syndrome —This is a relatively common genetic disorder that results in birth defects, medical problems, and some degree of intellectual disability.
- Fanconi anemia—This condition is an inherited form of anemia that leads to bone marrow failure.
- von Recklinghausen’s disease (neurofibromatosis type 1)—This is a genetic disorder of the nervous system that causes tumors to grow on the nerves in any part of the body. The condition may also produce changes in the skin and bone deformities.
- Reviewer: Mohei Abouzied, MD
- Review Date: 03/2013 -
- Update Date: 00/31/2013 - | <urn:uuid:7a1f3992-556f-4adc-b0be-0c19a0c87a20> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://doctors-hospital.net/your-health/?/2010815450/Risk-Factors-for-Myelodysplastic-Syndrome--MDS | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923798 | 614 | 3.46875 | 3 |
View Full Version : Is it really that hard? Question for the programmers.
30th March 2009, 20:51
To create a stable, functional, full featured software player that actually works properly? Not being a programmer I don't really know but I have a hard time understanding how the biggest two (TMT & PDVD) are so messed up. Not to mention how often a patch breaks more than it fixes.
I am not wanting to start a flame war against the other companies I really am curious as to how big an undertaking it is.
31st March 2009, 02:30
Working in the IT industry, it's one of the most 'enjoyable' questions of recent times.
100 person days effort cannot be speeded up by getting 100 people to work on the task for 1 day. Similarly a $1000 'onshore' expert, is not more expensive than a $250 a day 'offshore' expert.
Sadly the people who make the descisions only see the overview.
100 onshore mandays @ $1000 = $100000
100 onshore mandays @ $250 = $25000
The result is generally a comprimise in quality, with the overall actual effort greatly increased.
I don't believe that the development for PowerDVD or TMT is done differently.
31st March 2009, 08:09
überblickYeah, you're right.
You finally have 100 people that create 100 DLLs that are completely incompatible to each other. And instead of cleaning this mess up, you just create another 100 DLLs that fix other buggy DLLs which are again incompatible. And if you completely lost your project's overlook you make a major version bump, declare your old software as deprecated/no longer supported and reset your support ticket system. That's how those companies work.
An example: If you find libraries named AC3Dec.dll, AdavAC3Dec.dll, Ac3HDDecoderDll.dll you see 3 iterations of the same thing. There's no need to create 100 DLLs, you can put all features into a single DLL. But only if your developers work as a team.
31st March 2009, 23:24
So the player software is not really a difficult application to make if you work properly.
Once you get into fairly large applications does the difficulty factor level off? | <urn:uuid:57c84f96-3b64-4eb8-a416-d4c53408b90e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://forum.slysoft.com/archive/index.php/t-28964.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945065 | 496 | 1.53125 | 2 |
If you tell people where to go, but not how to get there, you’ll be amazed at the results.
George S. Patton (http://www NULL.brainyquote NULL.com/quotes/quotes/g/georgespa124616 NULL.html)
The right Battlefield with a weak army?
Digging down in the trenches has been a successful strategy for ages. But it is not sufficient anymore. The terrain (financial market) today is going mobile and what was the right battlefield yesterday will be the wrong one tomorrow. And the enemy – aka competition – will overrun your trenches from multiple directions unless you adapt to the mobile future.
The wrong Battlefield with a strong army?
A strong force with empowered people gives agility and the possibility to meet and adapt to the challenges of a fast changing terrain (market). That the battlefield is wrong is of less importance and ease of adaption to changes increases the chances to win new land (markets/customer segments).
So how to achieve the agility to make use of the wrong Battlefield and gain new ground?
The telecom market survived the steel bath some years ago. How did they adopt to the changed battlefield? How did they go from digging into the trenches to an agile force able to speed up innovation aimed at the consumer.
Agility being the key to adapt to mobility there are certain roles or strategies that will make ALL of the difference – do you have all of them in place? Or will you be runner up?
Some interesting findings around the telecom players such as Nokia, Apple, HTC:
- Scouts – reading the land. Take a look at Nokia – change proactively according to the changing landscape. From rubber boots to mobile phones!
- Spies – predicting the future trends. Take a look at Apple – how can you achieve the same?
- Guerilla warfare – small agile groups that can change direction at a moment’s notice and test the enemy – and market – strength. Who thought that HTC would be a player when the “giants” dominated the market? And not to mention partnering up in a strategic way – or as HTC say: “Pioneering through partnerships”
- Surprise attacks – choose actions that are not expected. What can you say – apps, apps, apps…
- Combined operating units – assess and assign forces to defend the key areas of what land you have gained, leaving no openings for attacks from behind. While expanding into new territory…
“Each wave of change doesn’t eliminate what came before it, but it reshapes the landscape and redefines consumer expectations, often beyond recognition.”
Harvard Business Review highlights this in The Future of Shopping (http://hbr NULL.org/2011/12/the-future-of-shopping/ar/1).
- Liaising – or in other words the extended enterprise. You need to be agile to hang on to your market shares – and grow it – when the futures totally mobile generation becomes the majority of consumers. To find strong partners that fill in the gaps, guard your back and enable you to move faster is key to success. Take the role of General Patton by empowering your team – with both internal and external participants – they will enable you to meet the constantly changing battlefield of the future!
“The ability of (their) business to innovate more and faster in the combination with delivering an outstanding customer experience will be key to remaining competitive within their industry.”
The extended enterprise with empowered team members (quoting employees at a large Scandinavian bank) are nicely summed up here at AIIM (http://www NULL.aiim NULL.org/community/blogs/expert/Relationships-collaboration-and-empowerment).
“It turns out that the technology preferences consumers have outside the four walls of their companies are shaping the technology choices they make inside those four walls”
And the reason the extended enterprise will work is that it is populated by the “empowered employees” – who suddenly then brings 2 aspects into the battle – the knowledge from the enterprise – but also the preferences as a consumer. By empowering your team you get a double edged weapon to wield in the battlefield!
Quote from interesting article (http://www NULL.forbes NULL.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/02/09/the-empowered-employee-is-coming-is-the-world-ready/2/) by Eric Savitz (http://blogs NULL.forbes NULL.com/ericsavitz/), Forbes Staff
How will you become one of the winners in the financial mobility war?
Editors Note: A strong general is a necessity! See interesting article in Computer Sweden (in Swedish) here (http://csjobb NULL.idg NULL.se/2 NULL.9741/1 NULL.435934/mobilcheferna-gor-entré). | <urn:uuid:0f225809-1e8d-4413-9035-8c4c95a04f84> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.tieto.com/financialservices-se/2012/02/23/will-you-be-one-of-the-losers-in-the-financial-mobility-war/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915881 | 1,025 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Deliver for Youth is taking action to educate and empower young people to build a world where parenthood is safe and freely chosen.
Young people are the most vulnerable to maternal death and disability. But they are also the most important and critical agents of change who can transform policies, programming, and culture to reflect their right to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services. For young women ages 15 through 19, in much of the developing world, complications related to pregnancy, childbirth, and unsafe abortion are the leading cause of death. These young people often face especially serious barriers to accessing life-saving contraceptives and family planning services, including insufficient knowledge about modern methods and health care providers who discourage use of contraception among unmarried people. | <urn:uuid:a576b5e5-9efa-4ef9-9c62-f5dcbea075a8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.womendeliver.org/deliver-for-youth/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949896 | 142 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Researchers analyze fatty acids extracted from pottery found in northern Europe
By Summit Voice
SUMMIT COUNTY — Along with being a choice gourmet item for foodies, cheese has been a staple in many cultures around the world for centuries, as a transportable and digestible dairy product.
New research shows that cheese-making probably pre-dates previous estimates by quite a while. After analyzing fatty acids extracted from unglazed ceramic pottery, scientists say prehistoric people in northern Europe were making cheese as long as 7,000 years ago.
“Before this study, it was not clear that cattle were used for their milk in Northern Europe around 7,000 years ago,” said Mélanie Salque, a PhD student from the University of Bristol and one of the authors of the paper. “However, the presence of the sieves in the ceramic assemblage of the sites was thought to be a proof that milk and even cheese was produced at these sites<” Salque said. “Of course, these sieves could have been used for straining all sorts of things, such as curds from whey, meat from stock or honeycombs from honey. We decided to test the cheese-making hypothesis by analysing the lipids trapped into the ceramic fabric of the sieves,” she said.
“The presence of milk residues in sieves (which look like modern cheese-strainers) constitutes the earliest direct evidence for cheese-making. So far, early evidence for cheese-making were mostly iconographic, that is to say murals showing milk processing, which dates to several millennia later than the cheese strainers,” Salque added.
Before this study, milk residues had been detected in early sites in Northwestern Anatolia (8,000 years ago) and in Libya (nearly 7,000 years ago). Nevertheless, it had been impossible to detect if the milk was processed to cheese products.
The processing of milk and particularly the production of cheese were critical in early agricultural societies as it allowed the preservation of milk in a non-perishable and transportable form and, of primary importance, it made milk a more digestible commodity for early prehistoric farmers.
“As well as showing that humans were making cheese 7,000 years ago, these results provide evidence of the consumption of low-lactose content milk products in Prehistory,” said Peter Bogucki, one of the co-authors of this new study and proponent of the cheese strainer hypothesis. “Making cheese allowed them to reduce the lactose content of milk, and we know that at that time, most of the humans were not tolerant to lactose. Making cheese is a particularly efficient way to exploit the nutritional benefits of milk, without becoming ill because of the lactose.”
“It is truly remarkable the depth of insights into ancient human diet and food processing technologies these ancient fats preserved in archaeological ceramics are now providing us with,” said Professor Richard Evershed, leader of the Bristol. | <urn:uuid:00eed8a5-b260-464f-9027-ccafa515326f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://summitcountyvoice.com/2012/12/27/study-confirms-prehistoric-cheese-making/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968499 | 625 | 3.453125 | 3 |
How Do I Ensure Security in Our System?
Ensuring the security of protected health information (PHI) in your health IT system requires that you institute measures to guard against unauthorized use and disclosure of PHI. The HIPAA Standards for the Protection of Electronic Protected Health Information, known as the Security Rule, applies only to PHI in electronic form. As with the Privacy Rule, the Security Rule requires covered entities to have contracts or other arrangements in place with their business associates to ensure that the business associates will appropriately safeguard the electronic PHI.
Below are descriptions and overviews of the administrative, physical, and technical safeguards required for the security of PHI when using electronic health IT. These are discussed in detail in the Privacy and Security Module of the Health IT Adoption Toolbox.
Administrative safeguards refer to the policies and procedures that exist in your practice to protect the security, privacy, and confidentiality of you patients’ PHI. There are administrative safeguards that are required by both the HIPAA Privacy Rule and the HIPAA Security Rule. The administrative safeguards required under the HIPAA Security Rule include:
Assessing the risk of unauthorized use or disclosure is an important step in your overall plan for maintaining security within your system and is especially important when treating patients with HIV/AIDS. The security risk assessment and risk management safeguards are discussed further in the response to the last question of this module, “How Do I Comply with Meaningful Use Requirements?”
Physical safeguards for PHI and health IT refer to measures to protect the hardware and the facilities that store PHI. Physical threats, whether in electronic or paper formation, affect the security of health information. Some of the safeguards for electronic and paper-based systems are similar, but some safeguards are specific to health IT. Policies and procedures must be put in place to physically safeguard health IT. These elements include:
Technical safeguards are safeguards that are built into your health IT system to protect health information and to control access to it. This includes measures to limit access to electronic information, to encrypt and decrypt electronic information, and to guard against unauthorized access to that information while it is being transmitted to others. Procedures and policies are required to address the following elements of technical safeguards:
Having technical safeguards in place can protect against various intended and unintended uses and disclosures of PHI. The table below provides examples of risks and technical safeguards. Some of these safeguards are preventive measures to protect PHI, while others ensure that you are made aware of any unauthorized uses or disclosures. Furthermore, you will need to conduct regular checks of your system so that you can see who accessed the PHI stored in your system and when it was accessed.
PHI vulnerable to unauthorized disclosure, such as when PHI is left clearly visible on a computer screen after use
Ensure that computer locks and the screen disappears after a certain period of inactivity, and that only authorized users of that EHR can log back into the system.
PHI is exchanged with outside providers, reported to public health authorities, or moved to other media such as portable drives or a personal laptop
Ensure that all data are encrypted and transferred over secure data communication lines.
Institute specific policies restricting the movement of HIV/AIDS related PHI to portable storage devices.
Health care workers, other than those who are authorized to view a patient's PHI, use the system to review the PHI to discover that patient’s HIV/AIDS status
Require a password for access to PHI. Ensure that appropriate roles and role based access is defined and applied to staff. Conduct routine audit to see who has accessed sensitive data. Train all employees on the rules, regulations, and consequences of unauthorized access.
Health care workers, authorized to have access to a patient's PHI but not authorized to know the patient's HIV/AIDS status, inadvertently come across HIV/AIDS status when looking through the patient's EHR
Segregate HIV-related information into another section of the EHR that cannot be accessed unintentionally or intentionally by those without authorization. Ensure that role based access is configured and activated in the IT system. This would include any information related to HIV/AIDS status, such as test results, treatments, and participation in clinical trials or research.
Passwords are left in open areas, or passwords become vulnerable to theft from outside sources seeking to acquire patient data illegally
Institute a system for user authentication. Examples include using additional security codes to log in, requiring answers to a set of questions before log in, or fingerprint or iris scanning technology. Adopt a clear policy on passwords and educate staff on the policy.
While these risks exist with both health IT and paper record systems, computer-based systems can have security features built into the software to protect against unauthorized use or disclosure. Many health IT systems have built-in security protections. Also, EHRs that are certified by ONC for Meaningful Use must meet ONC Standards and Certification Criteria. An EHR must meet nine security criteria to be certified for the first stage of Meaningful Use.
Below are the nine security protection capabilities required for EHR certification and the one optional capability. These are the minimum capabilities necessary; some EHRs will have additional security capabilities.
While a certified EHR provides considerable security capabilities, you will still need to comply with the other administrative and technical safeguards to ensure the privacy and security of your patients with HIV/AIDS. In addition, you and your staff should be trained to comply with these protections. Online tools and resources (see Related Resources below) can be used to develop one-on-one or group training. In addition, the HITECH Act funds technical assistance and training programs to support meaningful use of EHR technologies. Two of these programs offer privacy and security compliance training and will assist you to implement privacy and security protections:
Regional Extension Centers (RECs) – ONC has funded 62 RECS across the country to support the adoption and meaningful use of EHRs. The RECs provide outreach, education, and technical assistance to help providers adopt EHRs and use them in a meaningful way. All RECs are required to educate providers on best practices related to privacy and security. In addition, ONC has worked collaboratively with the RECs to develop tools related to risk identification and mitigation both during and after implementation. The RECs focus their technical assistance on primary care clinicians and will assist clinicians working in safety net and community health center environments. State-by-state REC contact information is included on this website.
Strategic Healthcare IT Advanced Research Projects on Security (SHARPS) – SHARPS is a four-year research project supported by ONC aimed at reducing security and privacy barriers to the meaningful use of health IT. The project is led by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The SHARPS website contains a list of publications by members of the team on a range of health IT security topics.
HIPAA Security Series – This CMS series includes seven educational documents designed to give HIPAA entities insight into the Security Rule and assistance with implementation of the security standards. Topics include: Security 101 for Covered Entities; Administrative Safeguards; Physical Safeguards; Technical Safeguards; Organizational, Policies and Procedures and Documentation Requirements; Basics of Risk Analysis and Risk Management; and Security Standards: Implementation for the Small Provider.
Reassessing Your Security Practices in a Health IT Environment: A Guide for Small Health Care Practices – This ONC guide assists small health care practices to reassess their existing health information security policies for adopting and implementing EHRs. It includes frequently asked questions to help your practice identify appropriate safeguards and conduct risk assessments to secure electronic health information.
Technical Guidance for HIV/AIDS Surveillance Programs: Security and Confidentiality Guidelines – This Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) document for State and other governmental staff provides a set of guidelines for HIV/AIDS Surveillance Programs on confidentiality and security while conducting HIV/AIDS surveillance. Included is a Security and Confidentiality Program Requirement Checklist.
Ensuring Security of High-Risk Information in EHRs – This article discusses security precautions when dealing with sensitive protected health information.
HIV/AIDS Confidentiality and Data Security Guidance – This guidance document is targeted to local health departments and community based organizations that are developing, implementing, and maintaining policies and procedures to protect HIV/AIDS client confidentiality and medical records.
E-mail the HealthIT e-mail box: firstname.lastname@example.org | <urn:uuid:f5619b35-7ee5-480e-bdc9-df59e2357c8b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hrsa.gov/healthit/toolbox/HIVAIDSCaretoolbox/SecurityAndPrivacyIssues/howdoiensuresec.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934546 | 1,722 | 2.734375 | 3 |
click image to zoom
Subjects: Civil War
Description: Austin Blair
Member ex-officio of the State Board of Agriculture, 1861-65; president of the State Board of Agriculture; state senate, 1855; Governor, 1860 and 1862 widely known as the War Governor; 1866, 1868, and in 1870 elected to congress; regent of the University, 1881.
Austin Blair (1861-65) was born at Caroline, Tompkins county, New York, February 8, 1818, son of George and Rhoda (Beackman) Blair. He was educated at Hamilton and Union Colleges and received a Bachelor of Arts in 1839. Upon receiving his degree, he began to study law and was admitted to the bar in 1841. He then came west and settled at Jackson, MI. He began his political career as a campaign orator for Henry Clay in 1844. The following year, he was elected to the lower house of the Michigan legislature and was instrumental in securing the abolishment of capital punishment in the state. He was an ardent Free Soil man, and later was a participant in the formation of the Republican Party. In 1855 he was a member of the state senate. He was elected governor of the state in 1860, and again in 1862, and was widely known as the War Governor. In 1866, he was elected to congress, and was re-elected in 1868, and again in 1870. In 1881 he was chosen Regent of the University, and served the full term of eight years from January 1. He was one of the ablest, most conscientious, and most efficient members that ever sat on the Board. The Regents of the University conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws in 1890. He died at his home in Jackon, August 6, 1894. The next year the legislature provided for the erection of a memorial statue of him in the Statehouse grounds at Lansing. He had three children.
Original Format: Black and white photograph
Rights Management: Educational use only, no other permissions given. Copyright to this resource is held by Michigan State University and is provided here for educational purposes only. It may not be reproduced or distributed in any format without written permission of the University Archives & Historical Collections, Michigan State University.
Contributing Institution: University Archives & Historical Collections
Relation: MSU Photograph Collection
Contributor: MSU Archives and Historical Collections
Request a Copy for Purchase | <urn:uuid:8765305b-a1aa-4fc3-beea-564ea2eafb0e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://onthebanks.msu.edu/Object/1-4-42C/austin-blair/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978729 | 506 | 2.328125 | 2 |
Scientists have taken to egg swapping in the hopes of reinvigorating the ailing population of streaked horned larks in Washington state.
The streaked horned lark is a small bird native to both western Washington and Oregon currently on the candidate list of endangered specied according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Washington population of the bird has decreased significantly in recent years to due a lack of genetic diversity and inbreeding. To turn this trend around wildlife biologists are taking healthy eggs from Oregon’s Willamette Valley and swapping them with the sickly eggs from native Washington larks. The hope is to inject the population with some much needed healthy new blood and to revive this species on the brink.
Thus far the project seems to be working, as many of the test mothers have taken to their adopted young as if they were their own, but only time will tell if it’s enough to save the species. | <urn:uuid:a9324028-87c6-40f4-84f8-33938778e70e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.swap.com/index.php/2011/08/30/swap-of-the-day-swapping-bird-eggs-to-save-a-species/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970947 | 194 | 3.21875 | 3 |
When same-sex couples getting married in Maine had to describe their partners in one word, their answers were touching not only for their sincerity but also for showing what’s ordinary about LGBT relationships. Last Friday, Sam Ferrigno of HooplaHa.com traveled to Portland to witness some of Maine’s first same-sex marriages. He approached 14 couples with sketch pads, asked them to first write down how long they’ve been together and then to describe each other with a single word.
Photos were snapped as the couples revealed their answers to their mates and the results were wonderful. Ferrigno collected his images and put them together in a photo essay, which appeared first on HooplaHa, a new site dedicated to spreading smiles and positivity. It is meant to inspire, inform, enlighten, engage and above all entertain.
First photographed were Lucie Bauer (left) and Annie Kiermaier, who had been married in 2008 and came to City Hall to celebrate that their marriage is now recognized in their home state. | <urn:uuid:52e60425-2bf3-449b-aa59-8a957a0549ed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://projectqueer.tumblr.com/tagged/photos | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988424 | 215 | 1.820313 | 2 |
That Barnes & Noble Dream
Click here to read more from Slate's History Week.
This month marks the publication of 1776, David McCullough's rousing, feel-good tale of how George Washington led a ragtag crew of continental soldiers into their fateful battle for independence. It's safe to predict that 1776—the latest in a series of heavily hyped history blockbusters—will vault to the top of the best-seller lists, beguiling readers with its reverent portrait of Washington's heroism and the dulcet cadences of McCullough's finely wrought prose.
It will also drive many academic historians up the wall.
Our exasperation will stem partly, to be sure, from envy of McCullough's undeniable gift for storytelling and of his smashing popularity. But my academic colleagues will (or should) raise legitimate objections to the approach of a book like this—the surfeit of scene-setting and personality, the meager analysis and argument, the lack of a compelling rationale for writing about a topic already amply covered. McCullough's fans won't care. They typically have little use for what they regard—not always wrongly—as the narrowly focused, politically correct, jargon-clotted academic monographs that dwell on arcane issues instead of big, meaty topics like politics, diplomacy, and war.
Instead of grumbling over the public's middlebrow book buying tastes, the best thing academic historians can do is to try to offer them something better. A number of our own practices lead us away from engaging the public as we should. I've seen students entering graduate school aspiring to write like Arthur Schlesinger, only to be shunted into producing pinched, monographic studies. I've seen conferences full of brilliant minds unable to find an interesting presentation to attend that isn't literally read off the page in a soporific drone. We write too much for each other—and, as we do, a public hungry for good history walks into Barnes & Noble and gets handed vapid mythmaking that uninformed critics ratify as "magisterial" or "definitive."
Thankfully, historians now seem to be recognizing all this as a problem. At one point, many academics seemed to consider popularity a first step into the Hades of commercialization and dumbing down. But today, most of my peers, myself included, seem eager to publish with trade presses, to write op-ed pieces about our research, or to appear on NPR and Charlie Rose—not just because we want the ego boost (though who wouldn't?), but because we enjoy discovering new audiences who respond intelligently to our ideas. Indeed, although the chasm between popular and scholarly history is real, a number of historians, inside and outside the academy, have been able to develop a wide following with quality work.
Though the age of the historical blockbuster has made the rift between the scholarly and the popular more acute, the divide itself is quite old. In the 1930s, the former journalist and Ph.D.-less Columbia University historian Allan Nevins was so fed up with his colleagues' disregard for the public that he went on to found American Heritage magazine and the Society for American History to promote accessible history. In That Noble Dream, his chronicle of the historical profession, Peter Novick noted that in the 1950s "a work of serious scholarship, like Garrett Mattingly's The Armada, might achieve popular success, but for the most part best-sellerdom was reserved for amateurs like Walter Lord, Cornelius Ryan, William L. Shirer, John Toland and Barbara Tuchman, whom most professional historians … regarded as the equivalent of chiropractors and neuropaths."
The 1950s were also a heyday for public intellectuals—a time when Daniel Boorstin, Oscar Handlin, Richard Hofstadter, and C. Vann Woodward published widely read histories of lasting value. But the moment passed quickly. In the 1960s, a new generation of scholars sought to write history "from the bottom up," examining the stories of laborers, women, blacks, immigrants, and other neglected groups. This new generation expanded our historical knowledge as none had before. But their work displaced the accounts of military derring-do or inside political dope that the public craved. And the awareness of the diversity of the American experience undermined the very possibility of generalizing about the American past—a necessary and overdue realization, but one that meant, sadly, that grand, self-confident books like David Potter's People of Plenty or Hofstadter's American Political Tradition were unlikely to come along soon.
In their discussions about how to reach a wider audience without sacrificing rigor, historians and lay critics have offered several diagnoses of the problem. To paraphrase H.L. Mencken, many are simple, neat, and, if not wrong, then incomplete. Let me review a few, before moving on to my own assessment of the problem.
Academic vs. popular history. Many people see the dilemma as simply a matter of professors versus journalists, or professionals versus amateurs. But that dichotomy isn't very useful. There are academic historians with Ph.D.s, such as the late Stephen Ambrose, who write best sellers and blanket the media but command little scholarly respect. Historian Howard Zinn delivered the new social history to millions of readers, but most professors probably consider his People's History of the United States to be, in Michael Kazin's words, "bad history, albeit gilded with virtuous intentions." Meanwhile, many journalists who write about the past—Taylor Branch, Neal Gabler, Anthony Lukas—wind up in scholarly footnotes and classroom syllabi. Clearly, the lines have been scrambled. How, after all, should we classify a respected historian like Garry Wills, who earned a Ph.D. in classics, became a reporter, and is now an adjunct professor of history at Northwestern? (Wills' unashamed use of the "adjunct" title gives succor to nontenure-track professors everywhere.) In short, institutional status hardly correlates with quality.
Monographs vs. synthesis. Two decades ago, Thomas Bender of New York University called on historians to write more "syntheses": those broadly conceived stories that integrate monographic work into their wider contexts. Although sympathetic to the social historians who had debunked the old master narratives, Bender noted that they hadn't yet taken the next step of refashioning new ones. (Although since Bender wrote, books like Eric Foner's Story of American Freedom and Nell Painter's Standing at Armageddon have tried to do just that.)
Bender had a point. We've all seen lists of the obscure or narrow subjects that make for paper titles at conferences or published monographs. (Full disclosure: I once lost out on a job to a scholar whose dissertation was titled, "Metal of Honor: Montana's World War II Homefront, Movies, and the Social Politics of White Male Anxiety." It may be quite good for all I know.) Yet other historians have shown that monographic work need not alienate readers. The academic genre of "microhistory"—using a close study of a single moment or culture to open up wider vistas on the past—has lately found popular expression, and not always in the debased "vegetable-that-changed-history" form that has become ubiquitous (e.g. Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World; Mauve: How One Man Invented a Color That Changed the World, etc.). Books such as Paris 1919, Margaret MacMillan's blow-by-blow account of the Versailles conference, or Triangle, David von Drehle's narrative of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, take a snapshot of a crucial moment in time and tease out its wider import. A narrow focus need not sacrifice relevance.
"Conservative" political history vs. " radical" social history. Sometimes the problem with academic history is seen as a political one—a left-wing obsession with the plight of dispossessed groups. (Conversely, the problem with blockbusters is seen to be their essentially conservative celebration of American heroes.) But while the parade of lives of the founders does encourage mindless veneration, and the parade of dissertations proving some group's hitherto uncredited "agency" does get tiresome, politics isn't the real problem. Acclaimed crossover books like Walter Russell Mead's Special Providence and Geoffrey R. Stone's Perilous Times show that political, diplomatic, legal, and military history aren't inherently conservative, and prize-winning academic works such as Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's Midwife's Tale and Kevin Boyle's Arc of Justice show that race and gender history can have wide appeal. Besides, there's a lot of social history that, while radical in its politics, is retrograde in another sense—tinged with a sentimental celebration of "average Americans" that no more prods us to critical reflection than does a Richard Brookhiser biography of Alexander Hamilton.
Narrative vs. analysis. Another common diagnosis of history's ills, notably advanced in a 1979 essay by the late Lawrence Stone, is that it has forsaken the telling of stories. Concerned that the influence of social science had desiccated academic history in the 1960s and '70s, Stone urged his colleagues to revive the time-honored mode of narrative "to make their findings accessible once more to an intelligent but not expert reading public, which is eager to learn … but cannot stomach indigestible statistical tables [and] dry analytical argument." Every few years since, someone renews the call. Often he or she touts a fine example of the genre, such as John Demos' Unredeemed Captive—which proved, incidentally, that a gripping plot need not entail exalting the deeds of presidents and generals over average folk.
Again, the diagnosis is incomplete. Good narratives succeed not only because they contain colorful characters and gripping plot lines, but also because the authors integrate analysis into their selection of material, chapter structure, and word choices. Two narrative histories I recently reviewed, Dominic Sandbrook's Eugene McCarthy and Geoffrey Kabaservice's The Guardians, are page-turners that will nonetheless attract academic readers with their sophisticated analyses. Besides, historians from Hofstadter in the 1950s to my Rutgers colleague Jackson Lears today find wide audiences with works propelled more by argument than by drama. Most readers can appreciate ideas intermingled with people and events.
Jargon vs. Clear Writing. Perhaps the most common complaint about academics is that they simply don't write well. If only we could string a few coherent sentences together, the public would show interest. And in history, which readers rightly expect to be accessible, bad writing is especially egregious, as Peter Novick, among others, has noted. Writing about the Bancroft Prize-winning 1973 study Time on the Cross, Novick marveled that "historians who wanted to know the basis for Robert Fogel and Stanley Engerman's conclusion that slaves were only moderately exploited were told that the answer was:
Nor were the social-science types alone in their guilt. Increasingly, humanists were guilty of obfuscation, too. Consider a 1986 work of intellectual history described by Novick in which the author "helpfully provided a glossary of such terms as 'distransitivity,' 'actantial/actant,' and 'psychologeme,' [but] … no entries for terms which presumably all but the hopelessly illiterate commanded, like 'chrononym,' 'dromomatics,' and 'intradiegetic.' "
Obviously, the academy should reward lucid writing more than it does. But simply banishing jargon or tarting up our prose won't bridge the academic-popular divide. There are many ways to write well, and even jargon can have its place, if properly explained. (Most historians would agree that "presentism" is a genuinely useful concept, to which readers can be introduced rather painlessly.) And sometimes a good enough book can persuade readers to slog through its dense prose, as for example Eugene Genovese's history of slave life, Roll, Jordan, Roll, demonstrates.
If good history can't be reduced to a synthetic approach, a concern with politics, a rousing narrative, or even clear writing, then what might academics do differently? I'll take up the question in the second part of this piece, to be published tomorrow.
Click here to keep reading David Greenberg's argument.
David Greenberg, a professor of history and media studies at Rutgers and author of three books of political history, has written the "History Lesson" column since 1998. | <urn:uuid:7b86320a-49f8-4899-ad4f-d8398eccac73> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history_book_blitz/features/2005/that_barnes_noble_dream/academics_historians_vs_popularizers.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947955 | 2,598 | 1.828125 | 2 |
ABA Banking Journal - November 2007 - (Page 60)
Compliance Clinic What’s wrong with the way we regulate? Too much angst, too little delivered. Is there a better way? e all use the term “regulatory burden.” It means many things, from too much work to supremely difficult calculations. We use the term to refer to consumer protection regulations and to safety and soundness regulations. The real meaning is murky at best, but we know it’s out there and that something should be done about it. In the past several years, both the industry and regulatory agencies have worked to identify components of regulatory burden and find ways to minimize it. Statutes and regulations were scoured and some laws were changed, resulting in a little less burden. But there is plenty more burden on the horizon. Congress is looking actively at the negative results of predatory and nontraditional mortgage lending. Once more, we face a legislative solution that carries a heavy burden. Both consumer protection and safety and soundness may be affected. And banks will have to do more. It’s a recurring pattern. Does it always have to be this way? Or is there a better way to regulate? W By Lucy Griffin, president, Compliance Resources, Inc., and senior associate, Paragon Compliance Group. She can be reached at griffin@ bankersonline.com 60 NOVEMBER 2007/ABA BANKING JOURNAL One law, a few formulas, a thousand disclosures The first step in finding a better way to regulate is to take a hard look at the current process, to find the weak points. It’s a process of many steps, beginning with consumer complaints and congressional action through the issuance of regulations all the way to compliance efforts and examinations. Generally, regulation writing and disclosure design begins with a law. The mission of those writing the regulation and designing the disclosures is to carry out the mandate of the statute. In the case of Regulation Z, implementing the Truth in Lending Act, this process involved defining the elements of “finance charge,” developing formulas for calculation of APRs, and designing the format and content of disclosures. The result is the thousands of disclosures presented to consumers each year. When a draft regulation is put out for comment, the industry and other interested parties have the opportunity to opine. Far too few bankers take the time and trouble to review the proposal and develop thoughtful comments. Those who do comment tend to focus on the details. Industry members consider how to do what the regulation would require and the feasibility and cost of doing that. Consumer advocates consider whether it ILLUSTRATION BY STEPHEN F. HAYES Compliance without pain?
If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here. | <urn:uuid:9f2d7832-a4ba-419b-89a2-9f07a58997e7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lb.ec2.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/sb/ababj1107/index.php?startid=60 | 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 | 0.943983 | 574 | 1.6875 | 2 |
I am not in favor of total digital enhancement of photographic images. Too much room for human bias. Disclaimers must be issued when a photo is enhanced.
"Old Moon Images Get Modern Makeover"
March 31st, 2009
March 31st, 2009
WOODLANDS, Texas — Images of the moon gleaned from NASA spacecraft more than 40 years ago are now getting a 21st century makeover thanks to the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project (LOIRP).
Back in 1966 and 1967, NASA hurled a series of Lunar Orbiter spacecraft to the moon. Each of the five orbiters were dispatched to map the landscape in high-resolution and assist in charting where best to set down Apollo moonwalkers and open up the lunar surface to expanded human operations.
By gathering the vintage hardware to playback the imagery, and then upgrading it to digital standards, researchers have yielded a strikingly fresh look at the old moon. Furthermore, LOIRP's efforts may also lead to retrieving and beefing up video from the first human landing on the moon by Apollo 11 astronauts in July 1969.
Dennis Wingo, LOIRP's team leader, detailed the group's work in progress during last week's 40th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference.
Teamed with SpaceRef.com, LOIRP's saga is one of acquiring the last surviving Ampex FR-900 machinery that can play analog image data from the Lunar Orbiter spacecraft. Wingo noted that the work is backed by NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, the space agency's Innovative Partnership Program, along with private organizations, making it possible to overhaul old equipment, digitally upgrade and clean-up the imagery via software.
LOIRP is located at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif. There, project members are taking the analog data, converting it into digital form and reconstructing the images.
By moving them into the digital domain, Wingo said, the photos now offer a higher dynamic range and resolution than the original pictures, he added.
"We're going to be releasing these to the whole world," Wingo said.
Use of the refreshed images, contrasted to what NASA's upcoming Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission is slated to produce, has an immediate scientific benefit. That is, what is the frequency of impacts on the Moon's already substantially crater-pocked surface?
"We'll be able to get crater counts," Wingo told SPACE.com. "LRO imagery of the same terrain imaged decades ago will provide a crater count over the last 40 years."
Frozen in time
There's also a more down to Earth output thanks to LOIRP scientists.
They have used a Lunar Orbiter 1 image of the Earth for climate studies, basically a snapshot frozen in time that shows the edge of the Antarctic ice pack on August 23, 1966.
The team is working with the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado to correlate their images of the Earth with old NASA Nimbus 1 and Nimbus 2 spacecraft imagery that flew at about the same time — in the mid-1960s — as the Lunar Orbiter 1. Nimbus satellites were meteorological research and development spacecraft.
Wingo said that the original Nimbus images may have been recorded on an Ampex FR-900 — so by processing the original Nimbus tapes there is a very good chance that they can provide NASA with polar ice pack data from ten years earlier.
One treasure hunt outing by LOIRP may lead to finding what some term as "lost" Apollo 11 slow scan tapes, Wingo said.
"We don't think they are lost. People have been looking for the wrong tapes," he said, explaining that they were recorded on Ampex FR-900 equipment — not on another type of recorder as previously thought.
Wingo said those Apollo tapes are stored at the Federal Records Center, labeled and ready for a look see.
"We think for the 40th anniversary of Apollo we may be able to get the original slow scan tapes," Wingo said. If so, the hope is to recover them and give the public a higher-quality, never-before-seen view of human exploration of the Moon.
There is a lesson learned output from LOIRP.
"In the beginning, very few people thought this could be done...but now they have seen the results," Wingo said.
It is not enough to have 100 year recording medium, Wingo explains. Without the retention of the specific era equipment that images are archived on, it will be impossible for future generations to recover older NASA or other satellite data, he advised.
This is a general issue, not specific to the Lunar Orbiter program. The retention of critical hardware should be a requirement for flight efforts. The original historic Apollo 11 slow scan images have been lost due to inattention to this critical detail, Wingo concluded. | <urn:uuid:02d506e3-33b4-47b6-a9cb-e30f498b9ded> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://philosophyofscienceportal.blogspot.com/2009/04/moon-images-enhanced.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937917 | 1,007 | 2.78125 | 3 |
A wartime plan hatched between the government and John Waddington's, who then manufactured the boards and players' tokens in Wakefield Road, Stourton, saw secret escape maps produced by the company for Allied prisoners of war.
In an especially cunning plan, Monopoly boards were used by fake charities to send the maps and related messages to prison camps in Nazi-occupied Europe. Equipped with the information, numbers of shot-down pilots and other captured servicemen managed to break out and some made their way to neutral countries and back home.
The system was set in place by MI9, a secret government department responsible for helping prisoners of war and liaising with resistance movements in continental Europe. Section Nine of the British Directorate of Military Intelligence in the War Office, to give it its full name, carried out trials of maps printed by Waddingtons on silk, rayon and tissue paper as early as 1940.
Hiding places included cigarette packets and the hollow heels of flying boots, where the flimsy maps did not rustle suspiciously and, in the case of those printed on cloth or mulberry leaf paper, could survive wear and tear and even immersion in water if an aircraft 'ditched' in the sea.
Debbie Hall, formerly of the British Library and now at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, has studied the secret history of the silk maps, and the involvement of the famous Yorkshire firm. She says:
In December 1939, MI9, the branch of the secret service responsible for escape and evasion, was set up. It was made clear that it was the duty of all those captured to escape if possible. One man who was behind many of MI9's most ingenious plans, including the Waddington project, was Christopher Clayton Hutton.
Waddingtons already had the technology to print on cloth and made a variety of board games, packs of cards and the like that could be sent to the camps. They began by printing silk maps for supply to air crews, British and later American, and went on to conceal maps inside Monopoly boards, chess sets and packs of cards which could be sent into the prison camps.
Prisoners of war were allowed to receive parcels from their families and from relief organisations such as the Red Cross. The spooks did not want to compromise the latter and so set up a range of fictitious charitable organisations, often based at fake addresses or bombed buildings, to send games, warm clothing and other small comforts to the prisoners.
One of the major problems of captivity was boredom and games and entertainments were permitted as the guards recognised that if the prisoners were allowed some diversions they would be less troublesome. Once several Monopoly boards had got safely through, MI9 and Waddingtons developed a code to show which map was hidden in the set.
A special code was even used to indicate to the ministry which map was concealed inside a particular game so that it would be sent to a prisoner of war camp in the appropriate area. Hall says:
A full stop after Marylebone Station, for instance, meant Italy; a stop after Mayfair meant Norway, Sweden and Germany, and one after Free Parking meant Northern France, Germany and its frontiers. "Straight" boards were marked "Patent applied for" with a full stop.
Present day North Yorkshire county councillor John Watson, from Wetherby, whose father Norman Watson was instrumental in turning Waddingtons into a household name, says:
My father was fond of telling tales about Waddingtons part in the war effort. The silk maps were a major feature of such recollections. As I remember it, some of them were used as part of airmen's uniforms. I also know that the silk had to be specially treated so that it wouldn't distort through environmental pressures or through time. The Monopoly ones were laminated within the boards.
He also said that several Monopoly sets were sent out containing tokens made of pure gold to be used by prisoners to pay for assistance with their escapes. One other tale was that, once it was discovered the German guards were not searching the Monopoly sets themselves, real German currency was included in some of the packs of Monopoly banknotes.
These things may just have been exaggerations on my father's part but I doubt it. He was genuinely proud of the company's role during the war and I don't think that he would have needed to embroider the truth.
Another researcher into the subject is Barbara Bond, a graduate of Leeds University and former civilian researcher at the Ministry of Defence who is now pro-chancellor of Plymouth University and past president of the British Cartographic Society. She says:
MI9's philosophy of "escape-mindedness" was instilled into the members of all three services and the practical application of that philosophy was seen in the production of escape kits and aids to escape such as maps.
Initially the escape kits were in the form of small cigarette tins which contained concentrated food, tape, thread, tiny saws and compasses. The methods of getting the maps through to the prisoners of war were very ingenious. They were hidden in playing cards, pens, pencils, gramophone records, and game boards.
It was a cardinal rule in MI9 that they never used Red Cross parcels. Instead they set up their own cover organisations such as the "Prisoners' Leisure Hours Fund" and the "Licensed Victuallers' Sports Association". These dispatched both ordinary parcels containing clothes and the special ones containing escape aids.
You can read more in the excellent The Waddingtons Story by Victor Watson, John Watson's brother and former head of the firm who famously saw off a predatory corporate raid by Robert Maxwell. It is published by Jeremy Mills Publishing. | <urn:uuid:f45e40f3-76e4-4671-8ce1-bf7621f98d1f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/the-northerner/2013/jan/08/history-monopoly-waddingtons-victor-watson-stalag-prisoners-of-war?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+theguardian%2Fbooks%2Frss+%28Books%29 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982894 | 1,175 | 3.015625 | 3 |
Digicel 4G Broadband
Digicel 4G Broadband service offers internet access to customers without the need for reliance on telephone lines, offering more value, power and choice over Cayman's first 4G network.
What is WiMAX 4G technology?
Digicel’s 4G Network is a 802.16e Wimax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) network that provides mobile broadband “over the air” internet connections. It is a telecommunication technology that provides mobile internet access to devices including desktop computers, laptops and notebooks. Digicel 4G Broadband offers customers access to affordable and reliable internet solution over the first 4G WiMax network in the Cayman Islands.*
· Mobile internet at Home and On the Go,
· Best Value Internet with connections up to 4MB for only CI$58 a month,
· Flexible payment options (low rates for daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly payments),
· Easy installation (Plug ‘n’ play self-installed modems),
· Faster set-up time (just purchase, install and start using),
· Does not require a fixed telephone service, line rental payments or technical installation,
· Can be used to provide data, voice and video services to laptop or PC,
· Flexible contract options, available to prepaid and postpaid customers,
· On the go browsing (from anywhere within the broadband coverage area), 24/7 Customer Care Support,
· Technical support 8:00am to 8:00pm 6 days a week.
1. Why does Digicel manage traffic on its network?
Digicel is committed to ensuring the best possible online experience for its customers. Like other providers in the Cayman Islands and around the world, Digicel manages its network in such a way that no customer, service or application consumes excessive bandwidth which may impede the use and enjoyment of other customers. To meet this goal, Digicel uses reasonable network management practices that are consistent with industry standards. Digicel tries to use tools and technologies that are minimally intrusive. Just as the Internet continues to change and evolve, so too, will our network management practices to address the challenges and threats on the Internet. These practices ensure a high level of service for time-sensitive tasks such as sending email, requesting web pages, video conferencing and voice services, while at the same time limiting spam, viruses and other security threats to Digicel’s network and customers.
2. How does Digicel manage its network?
Digicel uses packet inspection to identify peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing traffic which is less time sensitive than other real-time sensitive applications, such as web browsing or video streaming. Because P2P file sharing applications are less time sensitive, they can be slowed when Internet traffic becomes congested without interrupting use of the service. When Digicel uses packet inspection as part of its traffic management measures, we do not examine the actual content of traffic and we only collect for a limited time your IP address. For example, we do not know the content of your communications nor your search activities. However, for traffic management to work properly, we use packet inspection technology to assess traffic data along with each IP address to determine what type of traffic it is so that we can treat it accordingly (e.g. if it is P2P file sharing traffic, we may slow it down to support other activities like web browsing and video streaming). Once the traffic has been sorted by type for traffic management purposes, it is not retained as part of the usage pattern of any IP address.
3. Who does this affect and what traffic is subject to traffic management?
These traffic management measures impact only those Digicel residential internet customers who are using common P2P file sharing applications. Customers using P2P file sharing applications may experiencean increase in duration time to download and upload files. Traffic management will not impact customers using other Internet applications or services.
4. Does Digicel look at any of the content that passes over its network?
Digicel does not look at content. Our traffic management is not used to identify content: it identifies only the type of traffic. Digicel’s network assigns an IP address to each of our customers’ modems so that it can properly route traffic to and from that customer. Our traffic management technology sorts P2P file sharing traffic from the other types of traffic associated with your IP address in real time. However, we do not record or retain any information about the types of traffic associated with your IP address.
5. When will this occur?
Customers may experience extended download and upload times when using P2P file sharing applications during the daily scheduled traffic management period which is currently scheduled from 6am to 11pm. The current upload/download rate speeds only for P2P file-sharing usage are decreased at the beginning of the peak to an average of 50kbps. | <urn:uuid:f99aace0-b90d-45be-a92e-4a2d0ffe56a5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.digicel.ky/en/broadband | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918064 | 1,029 | 1.539063 | 2 |
With the prospect of several new large scale projects either underway or on the horizon and the likelihood of massive new hires resulting from baby boomer retirements, northeastern Minnesota is on the verge of a potential boom, the likes of which has not been seen in decades. However, while the looming opportunities are very good news, they are not without their challenges. Issues involving workforce, housing, infrastructure and the environment need to be dealt with in a rational and responsible manner in order to bring the area’s full potential to fruition.
It is to this end that the Range Readiness Initiative was conceived, funded and organized by an ad hoc forum of the region’s economic development organizations partnering with industry, educational institutions, business organizations and governmental entities. As the name of the Initiative implies, our mission is to ready the region for economic expansion. The Range Readiness Initiative is charged with identifying potential challenges, issues and opportunities, developing shared strategies and solutions, and focusing the appropriate technical and financial resources in an efficient and effective response.
The Range Readiness Initiative is organized into the following working teams: projects, workforce, housing, community readiness and opportunities development. A leadership team serves as a steering committee for the overall Initiative and a strategy team provides direction and oversight to the various working teams.
Click here for more information on the Range Readiness Initiative.
- MAJOR PROJECTS
- ABOUT US
- BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES | <urn:uuid:faf29c3b-8d77-42a3-befb-7e737a268234> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rangereadiness.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94559 | 293 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Scientists will grapple ‘for years’ to best understand the whys and wherefores of a four-day rapid melting affecting 97 percent of Greenland’s enormous ice sheet. ‘Weird’ in a number of ways … but precise role of global warming remains to be determined.
That startlingly rapid four-day widespread melt of Greenland’s massive ice sheet between July 8 and July 12?
It was “global weirding” for sure. And “weird weather” by any stretch. Just what it has to do with global warming remains to be best answered by the relevant scientists, whose reasoned assessments we’ll have to eagerly await.
But don’t worry. They’re on it.
The before-and-after images of Greenland’s ice sheet instantly attracted widespread media attention, and deservedly so given the speed and scope of the melt. Which is not to suggest that it was necessarily unprecedented or even unforeseen.
Image courtesy of NASA/JPL.
Much of the initial media coverage reflected the cautionary approach taken by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in announcing the melt. The best reports on the melt noted that such events have occurred previously, most recently in 1889. But they noted too that this melt event is the first noted in the observational record now at the start of its 90th decade.
Some others, however, rushed to mistakenly headline the event as if the entire ice sheet had melted — WRONG. Oy Vey.
Far better to report, as Associated Press science writer Seth Borenstein did, that Greenland’s ice sheet — even its “coldest and highest place, Summit Station,” “suddenly started melting a bit this month … showed melting.”
(Had the whole ice sheet melted away over just four days, some have observed, we hardly would have had to wait long to learn about it in headlines, no matter how 24/7 they might be.)
So what gives? AP’s Borenstein, The New York Times’ Kelly Slivka, and others noted that such melting is not unprecedented … only highly unusual. Both reported the JPL points that the ice melt area had increased from about 40 percent of the ice sheet to about 97 percent in just four days. (The most extensive seen by satellites over the past 30 years was about 55 percent, Borenstein reported.)
Both Borenstein and Slivka picked up too on another point made by NASA/JPL:
Summer in Greenland has been freakishly warm so far. That’s because of frequent high pressure systems that have parked over the island, bringing warm clear weather that melts ice and snow, explained University of Georgia climatologist Thomas Mote.
Every 150 Years over the past 10,000
Slivka reported NASA Goddard Space Flight Center glaciologist Lora Koenig as saying the July 8-12 melt, while an extreme event, needs to be seen in a historical context: over the past 10,000 years of its history, large-scale melting events have occurred roughly every 150 years or so. With the previous huge melt in 1889, this latest extreme melt appears to be running pretty much on schedule.
Koenig pointed out too that surface ice on the sheet’s summit appeared to be within one degree Celsius — about 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit — of refreezing, which may have gotten under way around the July 14 end of the melt.
In his syndicated report, AP’s Borenstein quoted NASA chief scientist Waleed Abdalati as saying “It’s a big signal, the meaning of which we’re going to sort out for years to come.”
In a next-day analysis after his site initially had to rely on a reposting from The Huffington Post, Climate Central science writer Andrew Freedman took a look at “The Story Behind Record Ice Loss in Greenland.”
No More ‘Steady-State’ Arctic Climate
While “dramatic and worrisome to many climate scientists,” Freedman reported, the sudden melt “does not necessarily mean that Greenland is headed for a far faster and more significant melt than scientists already anticipate.” He reported on an e-mail exchange with University of Colorado research associate William Colgan: “Since we are looking at a record event, rather than a trend,” Colgan had written to him, “it is not really possible to directly translate this into a projection of future ice sheet behavior.”
Freedman also reported Colgan’s comment that “Perhaps all we can say is that the frequency with which Greenland melt years are being established is exceptional. It clearly demonstrates that the Arctic climate is no longer in steady-state … but rather that Arctic climate is in a highly transient state, whereby progressively more extreme events are exceeded as climate trends in a given direction.”
“I think it is clear that entire ice sheet melt events are now increasing in frequency as a result of anthropogenic [manmade] climate change, rather than natural variability in solar isolation,” Colgan wrote.
Freedman concluded that this particular melt “was set off by unusually mild weather conditions that have occurred more frequently in that region during recent summers.” He pointed to NASA/JPL’s finding of a number of upper-atmosphere high pressure centers, or “ridges,” over Greenland since May, leading to mild air temperatures and reduced cloud coverage … “similar to the weather patterns that have caused record heat in much of the U.S. this summer.”
Freedman reported also that Greenland’s west coast sea surface temperatures also have run warmer than average, likely contributing to a recent calving of a massive iceberg from the Petermann Glacier in mid-July.
So. Is it global warming? Maybe, and maybe not. But probably related in at least some ways, it would seem. Details and critical fine points, nuances, and uncertainties still to be determined.
Is it “global weirding”? You be the judge.
Is it weird weather? And not only in Greenland in mid-July but across much of North America throughout the spring and now well into the sultry and drought-stricken summer months?
That much seems a gimme. Bingo. For the precise climate connection, let’s wait for involved scientists to study, assess … and put forth some evidence-based findings. | <urn:uuid:0193864d-7787-4d4a-a663-3841123a56cf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.yaleclimatemediaforum.org/2012/07/startlingly-rapid-greenland-ice-sheet-melt-begs-question-why/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95895 | 1,363 | 3.578125 | 4 |
Coin-operated machines of all types are collected. The vending machine is an ancient invention dating back to 200 B.C., when holy water was dispensed in a coin-operated vase. Smokers in seventeenth-century England could buy tobacco from a coin-operated box. It was not until after the Civil War that the technology made modern coin-operated games and vending machines plentiful. Coin-operated machines play music, are used for gambling and skill tests, and dispense products like gum or perfume. Slot machines, arcade games, and dispensers are all collected. | <urn:uuid:ccbc1ae0-0b3a-4d5f-bb6e-ebee65625f44> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kovels.com/price-guide/coin-operated-machines.html?eid=961857 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959845 | 116 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Outside groups that funded numerous attack ads in the GOP primaries collected $49.2 million in donations in 2011, with huge contributions coming from billionaires, corporations and labor unions, something that would have been illegal were it not for pivotal court decisions in early 2010.
The top recipient among these so-called “super PACS” was Restore Our Future, which raised $30.2 million to assist the candidacy of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney — that’s more than what was raised by the official campaign committees of any of Romney’s GOP opponents.
The Center for Public Integrity reviewed Federal Election Commission documents filed by super PACs that spent money to support or defeat a presidential candidate in one of the primaries. When considering all super PACs in 2011, total contributions were almost $100 million.
Restore Our Future, which has close ties to the Romney camp, has spent at least $17.5 million so far this campaign, nearly $11 million in Florida, where Romney won handily Tuesday night.
The $49 million total does not include the $10 million in donations that casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and his wife gave to a pro-Newt Gingrich super PAC, Winning Our Future, which were made in January and will be disclosed in a few weeks.
Super PACs were created following the Citizens United Supreme Court decision and a lower court ruling in early 2010. The high court eliminated the ban on corporations and labor unions financing ads to urge people to vote for or against a candidate. A federal appeals court decision led to the creation of the super PACs, which can collect unlimited donations and spend the funds on ads supporting or opposing a candidate.
The groups are prohibited, however, from coordinating their activities with the candidate committees.
To give a little perspective, an individual can give a maximum of $2,500 to a candidate for the primary. Of the roughly 2,900 donors to all super PACs so far in the 2012 election cycle, the average donation was about $33,500.
It would take about 39,250 people giving the maximum donation to reach the total raised by super PACs — that’s about 13 contributors per one super PAC donor.
Thanks to the courts, what we’re left with now is “a world of unlimited money in politics,” said Meredith McGehee, policy director for the Campaign Legal Center. “The few rules on the books can be easily circumvented by anyone trying to influence elections, and that is what has happened.”
Unlimited money in politics creates a “combustible cocktail” that allows “those who can marshal enormous amounts of wealth to control who controls the power,” she said. “This will drown out the voices of the average Americans.”
Not everyone thinks that money and politics are a bad mix.
“I think the regime allows for more spending, which I think is generally a good thing,” said Brad Smith, former FEC commissioner and co-founder of the Center for Competitive Politics. “Added spending helps voters understand the issues and put candidates on a spectrum. It informs voters.”
The pro-Romney PAC Restore Our Future got a big boost from wealthy investors, records show. Of the nearly $18 million it raised in the second half of 2011, friends from Bain Capital, the private equity firm where Romney served as CEO, gave at least $750,000. The largest donors were Julian Robertson of Tiger Management LLC and Paul Singer of Elliott Management Corp. Each gave $1 million.
Robertson is a hedge fund pioneer and wealthy investor. Singer is known for, among other investments, buying other nations’ bad debt and collecting on it for a profit. Rooney Holdings Inc., a Tulsa, Okla., construction company, also gave $1 million.
Chris Shumway of Shumway Capital gave $750,000. Bob Perry, a Texas homebuilder with deep pockets for GOP causes , also gave the group $500,000.
The second largest haul among the presidential super PACs was Make Us Great Again, which supported Texas Gov. Rick Perry. It raised $5.5 million with more than $1.3 million coming from oil companies.
Priorities USA, a super PAC supporting Barack Obama, has raised $4.4 million. Its top donor is Jeffrey Katzenberg of DreamWorks Animation who gave $2 million. It is also a favorite of labor unions.
Endorse Liberty Inc., the pro-Ron Paul super PAC, received $1 million in 2011 with $900,000 coming from Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal, which was later sold to eBay. Revolution PAC, another pro-Paul super PAC raised $518,000. The group filed late citing problems with credit card transactions.
The biggest super PAC of them all is American Crossroads, when considered together with its nonprofit sister group, Crossroads GPS. The two raised $51 million in 2011, according to the organizations.
Conservative groups will need as much money as they can scrape together to beat President Barack Obama, who raised $128 million in 2011 for his campaign, compared to Romney’s $57 million.
This story has been updated to include Revolution PAC, which filed late.
David Donald and Aaron Mehta contributed to this report. | <urn:uuid:f184772f-65fa-4288-9bcd-3e39826efe4a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.publicintegrity.org/2012/02/01/8080/presidential-super-pacs-raise-49-million-through-december | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965712 | 1,088 | 1.796875 | 2 |
The listing describes it as legendary, and accurately so. When William Randolph Hearst left San Simeon, this is where he moved. JFK and Jackie spent their honeymoon here and it’s been used in movie scenes of “The Godfather” (Remember the horse head?) and “The Bodyguard.”
Asking $95 million, the estate is known as “The Beverly House,” and has 29 bedrooms, 40 bathrooms. Situated on 3.7 acres just 3 blocks away from Sunset Boulevard, the mansion also has a nightclub, a cinema, a living room with 22-foot ceilings, 2 tennis courts, a 75 foot long pool and an outdoor seating terrace that can host 400 sit down guests.
The home was the creation of architect Gordon Kaufmann, who also designed the Hoover Dam, and was built in 1925. In 1946, Hearst was given the mansion by his “mistress,” actress Marion Davies, who bought the mansion for $120,000 as a gift.
Fast forward to 2012, the property is now listed at $95 million. Yes, a huge sum, but a considerable amount below the $165 million it was listed for in 2007. According to the LA Times, the Beverly House’s 4th and current owner, attorney-investor Leonard M. Ross, purchased the mansion over 30 years ago and refurbished and expanded the estate, including buying back the adjacent property which was sold off after Hearst’s passing in 1951. Unfortunately, it appears Mr. Ross has run into recent financial difficulty and just filed for bankruptcy protection last week. | <urn:uuid:07f8dfaf-ffea-4787-8177-0e05e1e142d3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.sfgate.com/ontheblock/tag/beverly-house/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97326 | 337 | 1.703125 | 2 |
|Trade and Industry Law|
Economic order is based on the freedom of trade. This means that everyone has access to commercial activities. This basic right however, does not exclude the possibility that legal restrictions may arise in regard to the practice of trade. A range of obligations are imposed on traders.
If you would like to register a company, have been denied a company or already run a company, and you have legal questions concerning this, do not hesitate to get advice from an experienced lawyer at GRP Rainer.
Commercial law in the strict sense poses specific requirements for traders. In general, they are required to become a member of, for example, the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Chamber of Crafts, Chamber of Trade, or similar. Often, there are also specific requirements regarding “reliability” that traders must meet. Our lawyers will explain to you fully your rights and responsibilities as a trader.
The relevant statutes of trade law are extensive and found in various laws such as the Gewerbeordnung, the Gaststättengesetz and the Ladenschlussgesetz. However, there are also numerous labour laws of a regulatory nature, such as Arbeitsschutzgesetz. The risks posed by commercial sites, commercial law in a broader sense, are today mainly absorbed by environmental law. The most important statute is the Bundesimmisionsschutzgesetz.
Lawyers at GRP Rainer will help you exercise and enforce your legal interests. | <urn:uuid:2cb86201-94f3-44be-a82f-a1924e7559be> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.grprainer.com/en/Trade-and-Industry-Law.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949005 | 304 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Vice President Joe Biden kicks off a two-day campaign swing through eastern Ohio today, pushing a populist economic message — dubbed “Obama economics” — that he’ll use to draw sharp contrasts between the president and Mitt Romney.
The vice president also plans to offer his first direct, public scrutiny of Romney’s record at the private equity firm Bain Capital, according to excerpts of his first speech in Youngstown released by the Obama campaign.
He will recount the case of GST Steel — the now defunct Kansas City, Mo., company that is also featured in the campaign’s latest TV ad, airing Wednesday in Ohio and four other states.
“He thinks that because he spent his career as a ‘businessman,’ he has the experience to run the economy,” Biden plans to tell a crowd at M7 Technologies, an advanced manufacturing facility. “So let’s take a look at a couple of things he did. He’s raised it. So let’s take a real hard look at it.”
GST Steel was acquired by Bain Capital in 1993 but went bankrupt in 2001 after being saddled with debt. Roughly 750 workers lost their jobs and retirement benefits, while executives and investors profited from investments. (Romney left Bain in 1999 but retained a stake in the company.)
“Romney made sure the wealthy played by a separate set of rules, he ran massive debts, and the middle class lost. And folks, he thinks this experience will help our economy?” Biden will say.
“Where I come from, past is prologue,” he says. “So what do you think he’ll do as president?”
The Romney campaign has said GST was a single case and sought to highlight other positive examples of Bain investments, including the Indiana company Steel Dynamics, which continues to thrive.
Republicans also contend that Biden’s focus on Romney’s background in private equity is meant to be a distraction from the administration’s record on the economy, which is recovering sluggishly from recession.
“With 23 million Americans struggling to find jobs, voters understand that it’s time to elect a successful businessman like Mitt Romney can put people back to work and address the serious economic challenges facing our country,” said Romney campaign spokesman Ryan Williams.
Still, Biden will claim credit for the recovery on the campaign trail, arguing in his remarks that the economy is “starting to come back.” But he focuses most of his attention on what he calls competing economic philosophies for the future.
“There’s Obama Economics, which values the role of workers in the success of a business, and values the middle class in the success of the economy,” Biden will say. “And then there’s Romney Economics, which says as long as the government helps the guys at the very top do well, workers and small businesses and communities can be left to fend for themselves.
“Nobody knows better than the people of the valley the consequences of that kind of philosophy,” he will say. “You’ve been through hell and back.”
This post has been updated. | <urn:uuid:dce22c3c-6ce8-4713-844e-994ba08ac8c6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/05/biden-pushes-obama-economics-in-ohio-swing/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972073 | 670 | 1.507813 | 2 |
The American Automobile Association cautions that the New Year's holiday period is the deadliest time to be on the road because of alcohol-related driving fatalities.
This problem on the roadways has caused San Bernardino County to adopt the state-driven "Avoid the 25" DUI campaign. It has kept authorities very active in December, said Ontario police Officer Natalie Kopperud.
The campaign is made up of 25 local law enforcement agencies cracking down on those driving under the influence.
Between Dec. 14 and Dec. 26, officers in the task force made 844 DUI arrests.
"Tragically, there was one death attributed to a drunk driver in our area reported by the sheriff's Hesperia station," Kopperud said. "And nine DUI-related injury collisions reported throughout the county."
Random sobriety checkpoints are planned in the the county looking for drivers under the influence.
The majority of those who died in the California Highway Patrol's jurisdiction were not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash.
CHP officers made more than 1,200 DUI arrests, according to CHP officials in Sacramento.
To help ensure motorist safety, the CHP is preparing to ring in the new year with an increased enforcement presence statewide.
The CHP's New Year's maximum enforcement period began Friday and continues through Tuesday.
The increased enforcement effort follows the one that occurred during the Christmas holiday period.
During that 102-hour reporting period, 39 people were killed in collisions and CHP officers made 1,170 DUI arrests statewide.
There are ways to keep out of jail and stay alive while celebrating the incoming year.
The Automobile Club of Southern California is once again offering its "Tipsy Tow" service.
Tipsy Tow provides a complimentary ride and a vehicle tow for up to seven miles from the point of pickup for drivers who have consumed alcohol on New Year's Eve. It's available to members and non-members.
"Friends don't let friends drive drunk isn't just a slogan," said Inland CHP spokesman Mario Lopez. "It should be a way of life."
CHP officials are encouraging the public to report drivers suspected of being under the influence.
When calling 9-1-1 to report a suspected drunken driver, authorities ask that you provide a description of the vehicle, a license plate number, location and direction of travel.
"Our ultimate goal is to help prevent avoidable tragedy by encouraging the public to make responsible choices such as designating a sober driver, buckling up, and traveling at a speed safe for conditions," said CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow.
The Tipsy Tow service can be hailed by calling 800-400-4222.
Reach Dougvia email, call him at 909-386-3925, or find him on Twitter @crimeshutterbug.
Get the latest crime and public safety news on Twitter @IECrime. | <urn:uuid:e9a24583-4a78-4018-996b-7ca778e9aa75> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailybulletin.com/sbcountywatchother/ci_22281452/police-lookout-duis | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959131 | 599 | 1.554688 | 2 |
This month, as we celebrate one of our country’s most beloved holidays, we also highlight one of our nation’s most pressing health problems - diabetes.
November is American Diabetes Month, so DietsInReview.com has partnered with the American Diabetes Association to feature articles, stories and resources all month long on this disease. During November, you will learn how to enjoy the season’s favorite foods while also sticking to a healthy eating plan. You will also be informed just how widespread diabetes is and what you can do to reduce your risk and those around you.
With 24 million American children and adults living with diabetes, and another 57 million at risk for type 2 diabetes, the prevalence of this condition clearly necessitates action from everyone, including families, individuals, public health professionals and policy makers.
We are glad to share with you this month the expertise of the American Diabetes Association, a national organization whose sole mission is to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes.
In addition to the information we will share with you, check with your local chapter of the American Diabetes Association to join their Stop Diabetes movement, get screened and volunteer your time and resources to fight diabetes.
November 3rd, 2009 | <urn:uuid:17de10e7-7271-4b87-9315-1ba6f5e4af3a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/11/november-is-diabetes-awareness-month/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930469 | 254 | 2.09375 | 2 |
A company called Solar Integrated Technologies recently announced it will be launching a solar carport product. The carport provides shade for parked vehicles, and generates 1.22 kilowatts of solar power in the process. The carport has a modular design that accommodate parkings lots of all sizes and shapes. Solar Integrated also announced the completion of its first solar carport project – 152kW of solar power on carports covering 186 parking spots at the Millennium SportsClub in Vacaville, California.
The company also offers a solar roofing product for commercial buildings. | <urn:uuid:7bc6194b-a063-4f9d-a871-4bfe5305ecae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://metaefficient.com/renewable-power/new-product-launch-solar-carport.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930465 | 113 | 1.601563 | 2 |
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The Honda Disc Brake Rotor is one part of the total quality package that is your Honda. The Disc Brake Rotor on your Honda is part of one of the most important systems on your Honda; the braking system. Disc Brake Rotors are normally made of cast iron, which is very tough and long-lasting, and seldom actually wears out. Some high performance or racing Disc Brake Rotors may be made of composites such as carbon-carbon or ceramic-matrix, and these may be more susceptible to wear than cast iron. Most often cast iron Disc Brake Rotors are replaced due to damage, rather than wear. There are several ways Disc Brake Rotors can be damaged, but the most common reason is incorrect breaking in of disc brake pads. There is a particular process that should be followed when breaking in a new set of disc brake pads and though it is critically important, it is often overlooked. Because of improper disc brake pad break-in, deposits can be left on the Disc Brake Rotor and these can cause vibrations or shudder when braking. Often this is misdiagnosed as warped Disc Brake Rotors, but in fact that is seldom (if ever), the case and it is much more commonly caused by the deposits on the Disc Brake Rotor. If you should need to replace your Honda's Disc Brake Rotors for any reason, keep in mind the quality behind your Honda when installing new parts. Your Honda has a legacy of high quality and durability behind it and you only want to install parts of the highest quality and durability to complement these qualities in your Honda. You chose a Honda for these same attributes of quality and long-lasting reliability, and want to select only parts that will enhance and maximize these qualities. Make sure you choose a manufacturer whose focus is on high quality and durability in their parts and who also has experience making parts for Hondas specifically, so you can be assured of correct fit and function. Auto Parts Network (APN), has a wide selection of quality Honda Disc Brake Rotors. We provide the very best customer service and have knowledgeable experts available to help you choose the right parts for your vehicle. APN can be the source for all your automotive parts needs with our great service, competitive prices and the best selection of parts available! | <urn:uuid:6e4f0eea-0300-405a-8c78-501985591b86> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.autopartsnetwork.com/honda-disc-brake-rotor-se/bvg3H1u--W2?mcatflag=all&last_master_cat_flag= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948272 | 505 | 1.6875 | 2 |
scorching weather recently gripped the city of Yangon, two taxi drivers
succumbed to heat exposure. This year, the central part of the country
has especially been hit with record high temperatures, some rising to an
oppressive 45 degrees Celsius, a full 6 degrees above the average
maximum for the time of year.
The population is responding by
curtailing activities and remaining indoors whenever possible. Officials
are also disseminating survival tips and have halted the export of rice
to ensure food supplies in case the lack of rain leads to crop failure.
In rural areas, extreme temperatures are causing water
shortages as wells dry up, with a higher incidence of diseases such as
flu and skin allergies being noted. In one township alone, around
100,000 fish were estimated to perish in a single day from the heat and
lack of rainfall.
We are deeply saddened at the loss of life and
suffering caused by the extreme heat. Our prayers for the soon blessing
of cool rain for the gentle Burmese people and that humanity unites in
sustainable lifestyles to halt climate change and restore balance to the
Speaking with concern as she has previously about our
urgent situation, Supreme Master Ching Hai addressed global warming
during an October 2009 videoconference in Indonesia, describing the
simple but meaningful action needed to counteract its dangers.
Supreme Master Ching Hai : Now,
according to expert scientists, the atmospheric temperatures are rising
so steeply that we do not have much time left to change. And that is
just what they have predicted up to date. http://www.prensa-latina.cu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=187072&Itemid=21 http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/6981508.html http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsworld.php?id=497002
The effects of climate
change can be seen in so many ways, with increased flooding, droughts,
fires and even earthquakes everywhere in the world.
How do we
stop these alarming changes? The greenhouse gases released from the
animals, from their waste, agricultural runoff, and the activities
related to these massive operations have been identified as the primary,
the number one cause of global warming.
We have to halt the meat consumption and the livestock raising.
we should choose to buy organic vegetable and fruit products to save
our lives and those of our families, save the animals and the planet. | <urn:uuid:c7a95b4e-70df-45c6-97d3-f9faee237560> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://suprememastertv.com/extreme-weather/?wr_id=2012&page=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917389 | 551 | 2.3125 | 2 |
The so-called “high-level” segment of the climate talks began today. The next 48 hours represent a crucial stage of the talks.
You can feel this in the air at the Bella Centre; the atmosphere is charged, if a little weary. Numbers in the corridors have shrunk as observers are increasingly being denied access as government parties swell in advance of head of state attendance at the end of the week. Outside however numbers are growing, as more and more demonstrators and activists arrive with each passing hour (and some are removed, hundreds have reportedly been arrested). Some members of government parties have been left out in the cold and are struggling to get in amid the chaos.
Inside, ministers are now leading “informal” consultations on crunch issues: finance, developing countries role in cutting emissions and other issues such as trade issues and proposals for a levy on bunker fuels. I hear rumours that two parties of 25 ministers have been convened to tackle the issue of emission reduction targets.
COP president Connie Hedegaards strategy is to force political discussions in order to pave the way for a more comprehensible deal for heads of states to agree later this week. And they are a long way from that at the moment. What has emerged so far remains heavily bracketed – yet to be decided.
It is hard to get an overall sense of how things are developing as meetings retreat behind closed doors, but here’s how I see things standing on some of the key business issues:
Outcome from Copenhagen: Ms Hedegaard is aiming to broker one package by Friday with agreements on long-term cooperative action and the Kyoto Protocol, underpinned with a range of other agreements on issues such as capacity building and technology transfer. She also wants agreement on an overaching text which would demonstrate the political will to commit to emission reductions and finance. If agreement is reached on these elements they will likely be political in nature, with an aim to make it a legally binding agreement by 2010. But there are constant challenges to this plan and what will emerge remains subject to intense debate.
Numbers: Work to agree emission reductions targets have failed to be completed before today’s deadline, in part because of the numerous delays and suspensions in work in the last five days. These followed accusations that developed countries were dragging their heels in order to try and secure a new treaty whch contained commitments from China and India to control some of their spiralling emissions - not just developed countries. As a result, the current proposals are marked by gaps and blank spaces where there should be numbers.
Sectoral approaches: As I reported yesterday, attempts to agree some general text on sectoral approaches has failed after being blocked by developing countries. It is only being pursued for agriculture. As a result it is dropping off the agenda. I think this represents a real missed opportunity. If designed correctly, this could have offered a real way to tackle emissions from industry on an equal basis regardless of location.
Levies on aviation and marine bunker fuels: A proposal is to place a levy on bunker fuels – which the UN think would generate $12 billion a year on a steady and predictable basis - is being blocked by China, India, Saudi Arabia and the Bahamas. The blocking countries argue that the levy should only be applied in developed countries.
Technology transfer: Technology and carbon-saving products and their global deployment is key to reducing emissions. Developing countries however argue that intellectual property rights are presenting a huge barrier. This has led to heated debate.s As it stands a decision to relax IPR is bracketed. But cooperative action on technology does look certain and there is a commitment to increase private and public energy-related R&D - doubling existing R&D by 2012 and increasing it to four times its current level by 2020. Watch this space for more detailed analysis of technology proposals.
Reform of the Clean Development Mechanism: The EU has been advocating a shift to sectoral approaches in advanced developing countries to avoid the pitfalls of the project-based CDM (the mechanism which generates the credits to allow "carbon offsetting" in developed countries). Under the EU's plan a baseline for business-as-usual emissions in a particular sector would be set, and a county would start earning credits (which could then be sold to developed countries) once its emissions fall below the reference levels by an agreed amount. The concern for us is the incentive used to stimulate action by the private sector in countries involved in such a scheme. We cannot allow a situation where companies in Europe effectively subsidise their competitors.
But as one of the leading negotiators said yesterday: "Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed." And very little has been agreed yet. The overriding request I hear from the manufacturing community in respect to climate change is that there is clarity in the direction of policy and that efforts are made to ensure that competitors face similar carbon constraints and costs, regardless of where in the world they are situated. At this stage we are as far from that as is possible. | <urn:uuid:1f0bec9b-3ab8-434a-9c84-c3011338cc3f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eef.org.uk/blog/author/sbaker.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966731 | 1,015 | 1.984375 | 2 |
Breathing Easier with Healthier Eating
Kimberly was four years old when she had an asthma attack so severe she punctured a lung. By 16, she had been hospitalized at least nine times for asthma and taken dozens of medications, including prednisone, an oral steroid. She shied away from exercise and gained weight.
In 2001, she changed her diet, eating more fruits and vegetables, and started exercising more. While the asthma didn’t disappear, its severity lessoned, and she hasn’t been hospitalized for five years. She is off steroids entirely. | <urn:uuid:9ac699f4-7ffd-4e39-b135-2b1f572425d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.childrenshospitaloakland.org/healthcare/depts/PulmonaryMedicineSuccessStories.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984351 | 121 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Binational Learning Community
Food, Culture and Social Justice in Oregon and Ecuador
What does a food system that is fair and healthy for everyone look like and what steps can be taken to help create it?
In this learning community, a group of professors, students and select community members will focus their attention on this question by exploring two regions that contain a wide variety of ecosystems, cultures and agricultural products and where food activism is strong. Oregon is known for its environmental laws and Ecuador is the first country to call for food sovereignty in its constitution. How do these policies play out in the lives of people who produce food and eat food? What are the impacts of the global food system on rural communities and on people's health? How are food activists attempting to change the food system?
Schedule Fall 2013
|Phase I||September 3-27||Orientation Ecuadorians arrive in Oregon 140 hours of site visits in Oregon|
|Phase II||September 30- November 29||Fall Quarter Students must enroll in 2 of 4 OSU courses linked with Ecuador|
|Phase III||November 30- December 20||Oregonians arrive in Ecuador 140 hours of site visits in Ecuador|
In Ecuador and Oregon, we will visit sites of sustainable food production that are integrated into local, regional, national and international markets, as well as programs that highlight culturally important foodways outside of the market system.
Particular attention will be given to indigenous foodways and ecosystems: Coastal and Plateau tribes in Oregon and Andean and Amazonian tribes in Ecuador. Food justice lies at the center of our explorations.
Students must enroll in at least 2 of the 4 courses offered during Fall 2013 (listed below)
Courses can fulfill all or part of the core requirements for the Food in Culture and Social Justice (FCSJ) undergraduate certificate or graduate minor
|Course Number||Course Title||Credits|
Anthropology of Food
||Language and Culture
||Nutrition and the Social Determinants of Health||3 credits|
||Rural and Urban Links Through the Food System||3 credits|
- Community Members will participate in video conferences calls with Ecuadorians in the fall.
- Community Members can attend OSU student classes, if desired, but they will not be obliged to complete class assignments.
Costs $2593 (excluding airfare and tuition)
* Fees include 8 credits of OEC 488/588 for the September and December field trips.
Application Deadline Friday, May 3, 2013
We are looking for a diverse group of 15 people who want to engage with others to learn about food, culture and social justice in Ecuador and Oregon. We are looking for people who can share their own knkowledge about some aspects of the food system and who want to increase their communicative competence in Spanish.
The group travel components of this program in Oregon and Ecuador are being coordinated through Oregon Abroad, the study abroad programs of the Oregon University System. All participants must complete an application through Oregon Abroad. This application enables program faculty and administrators to have access to the information needed to evaluate candidates and run the program.
After clicking on the Oregon Abroad online application, please select “Binational Learning Community (Oregon and Ecuador)” from the list of program names. Once you have initiated an application, you will receive an email that gives further explanation and instruction. This system will be where are all critical documents are stored, including your transcripts, references and copy of your passport and insurance coverage. You will refer to this application at all stages of your program, so please make a note of your login and password.
All participants must also complete the Oregon State University International Degree and Education Abroad (IDEA) application. From the dropdown menu on the right-hand side of the page, select “Ecuador” and follow the instructions.
Community members who are NOT current OSU students must ALSO complete the process to become a non-degree seeking student. This step is necessary so that you may be enrolled in the required overseas accident and sickness coverage. There is a $25 fee for this process.
Scholarships: Check out OSU IDEA at http://oregonstate.edu/international/studyabroad/finances/scholarships
Please note – the program application deadline is extended to Friday, May 3 so that group logistics may be organized.
Contact Rebecka Daye at dayer[@]onid.orst.edu | <urn:uuid:f0fa74ec-74e6-43fb-a64e-e4e9c2743765> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://oregonstate.edu/cla/fcsj/binational-learning-community | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921702 | 915 | 2.28125 | 2 |
Monday, November 26, 2007
I am going to lay the whole genre of "Christmas Movie" at the feet of Charles Dickens. If Dickens didn't write A Christmas Carol, I am sure someone else would have. The sheer endurance of the story proves how it resonates with our human experience and desire.
A Christmas Carol seems to be the prototype of what I have come to think of as the "Christmas Miracle Story." These are the stories where some unknown "force" (sometimes an angel, but often undefined) is the instigator of a series of events that creates a miraculous change in the protagonist. In A Christmas Carol, we could say that the force is Marley, but Marley actually seems to be more an actor in the bigger drama involving not only Marley but the other ghosts. This miraculous appearance by Marley and the other ghosts and the journey through time, cause, what we are supposed to believe, is an enduring change in the character, in this case, Scrooge. This enduring change makes Scrooge's life so much more wonderful and productive. And, in turn, we are to believe that this type of miracle could happen for us.
One variation on this is the "Replay the Day" movie. Here, the miracle is the opportunity for a "do over" on the day and try to get the whole "Christmas Thing" right. Through the miracle of redoing the day, the person learns the "true" meaning of Christmas. In these, especially, we often do not know what or who the causative "force" is, nor do we know why this particular person is chosen to be the recipient of this miracle. The recipient of the miracle is usually someone that we can relate to but the behavior is usually much more pronounced. But in relating to the character, we can again, on some level, believe that a miracle like this could happen to us.
Then there are the "Change of Heart" movies. The House Without a Christmas Tree in which an embittered father finally sees that even though his wife is dead, his daughter still lives on, is one of these movies. In these movies, there is a miraculous moment at Christmas when the grief shatters and the "wonder" of Christmas is allowed to shine through. The past is allowed to become the past and the present takes on a new immediacy. Of course, we are to believe that this new insight will live on and the characters will now live "happily ever after." Of course, we are left with the feeling that if we can just "break through" we too can find this immediacy and vitality in life.
I don't know if you can have a Christmas movie without this miracle motif. Granted, in the Christian tradition, the whole thing started with a miracle. Hanukkah involves a miraculous saving of a people. Even the Saturnalia festivals were to invoke a miraculous fertility in plants and people. And this motif even spills over into the secular in the form of Santa and his miraculous trip around the world by a miraculous means of propulsion.
What is unfortunate is that this sets us up to expect the miraculous during the Christmas season. We expect to have great things happen. We expect to have great breakthroughs with those around us. We expect to have wonderful things happen. And then when they don't, I know I feel, in some form, cheated. If miraculous things can happen to these "everyday" people, why can't they happen to us?
Well, even so, I am not going to stop watching A Christmas Carol or The Polar Express or The 12 Days of Christmas Eve or Miracle on 34th Street or even The Grinch. I am going to watch them, and I am going to keep dreaming that my Christmas miracle will occur too! | <urn:uuid:f98caf5d-9b51-40ca-bb88-f4fcedddf9e9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bentonquest.blogspot.com/2007/11/christmas-movies.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963667 | 775 | 1.992188 | 2 |
(See also Sindarin words)
Sindarin was the Elvish language most commonly spoken in Middle-earth in the Third Age. It was the language of the Sindar, those Teleri which had been left behind on the Great Journey of the Elves. It was derived from an earlier language called Common Telerin. When the Noldor came back to Middle-earth, they adopted the Sindarin language, although they believed their native Quenya more beautiful. Before the downfall, most of the Men of Númenor also knew the language, though the common language there was Adûnaic. Knowledge of it was kept in the Númenórean realms-in-exile Arnor and Gondor, especially amongst the learned. While Westron (descended from Adûnaic) became the most common language in Middle-earth during the Third Age, Sindarin remained the everyday language of Elves and Rangers. Sindarin is the language referred to as "the Elven-tongue" in The Lord of the Rings.
Sindarin became the language of the Noldor because of the command of King Elu Thingol of Doriath. Upon learning of the Kinslaying at Alqualondë, he declared that Quenya, the language of the Noldor, should be prohibited in his lands. As the Noldor were dwelling in a Sindarin-speaking land, and because of the decree of Thingol though it did not directly affect them, they gradually switched entirely to Sindarin. Their names were also changed to Sindarin, such as Finwë-Ñolofinwë to Fingolfin, and Turukáno to Turgon.
Tolkien originally imagined that the language which would become Sindarin was spoken by the Noldor. However, Tolkien later decided that it was the language of the Sindar. For this reason it is called "Noldorin" in the older material, such as the Etymologies. When Noldorin became Sindarin, it also adopted some features of the originally unrelated language Ilkorin. Tolkien based the sound and some of the grammar of his Noldorin/Sindarin on Welsh, and Sindarin displays of the consonant mutations that characterise the Celtic (especially Brythonic) languages. The language was also probably influenced to an extent by the Germanic languages, as Tolkien was a scholar of both Old English and Old Norse.
Sindarin is mainly analytic, though traits of its highly inflected progenitor can still be seen.
Sindarin was designed to have a Welsh-like phonology. It has most of the same sounds and similar phonotactics.
|f||f, v||Represents [v] when final or before n, [f] everywhere else.|
|i||j, i||Represents [j] when unstressed by a vowel, [i] everywhere else.|
|ng||ŋ, ŋɡ||Represents [ŋ] when final, [ŋɡ] everywhere else.|
|ph||f, ff||Represents [f] when final, [ff] everywhere else.|
|y||y||Pronounced like the German ü|
An accent signifies a long vowel (á, é, etc). In a monosyllabic word, a circumflex is used (â, ê, etc). However, for practical reasons, users of the ISO Latin-1 character set often substitute ý for ŷ.
Diphthongs are ai (pronounced like aisle), ei (day), ui (too young), oi (boy), and au (cow). If the last diphthong finishes a word, it is spelt aw. There are also diphthongs ae and oe with no English counterparts; Tolkien recommended to substitute ai and oi respectively if one does not care about details. If one does care, it is similar to pronouncing a or o respectively in the same syllable as one pronounces an e (as in pet).
In archaic Sindarin, there was a vowel similar to the German ö (IPA: [œ]), which Tolkien mostly transcribed as œ (usually not as oe as is often found in publications like The Silmarillion, cf. Nirnaeth Arnoediad [read: Nírnaeth Arnœdiad], Goelydh [read: Gœlydh]). This vowel later came to be pronounced ɛand is therefore transcribed as such [sc. Gelydh].
Archaic Sindarin also had a spirant m or nasalized v (IPA: [ṽ]), which was transcribed as mh (though always pronounced [v] in later Sindarin).
Sindarin plurals are characterised by i-affection, or umlaut. The Sindarin term for this is prestanneth ("affection of vowels, mutation"). Almost all Sindarin words form their plurals like English man/men and goose/geese — by changing the vowels in the word. The plural patterns are:
|In Non-final Syllables|
|a > e||galadh > gelaidh|
|e > e||bereth > berith|
|i > i||fireb > firib|
|o > e||golodh > gelyth|
|u > y||tulus > tylys|
|y > y||(no example available)|
|In Final Syllables|
|a > ai||adan > edain|
|â > ai||tâl > tail|
|e > i||edhel > edhil|
|ê > î||hên > hîn|
|i > i||brennil > brennil|
|î > î||dîs > dîs|
|o > y||annon > ennyn|
|ó > ý||bór > býr|
|ô > ŷ||thôn > thŷn|
|u > y||urug > yryg|
|û > ui||hû > hui|
|y > y||ylf > ylf|
|ý > ý||mýl > mýl|
|au > oe||naug > noeg|
Note that ai can sometimes become î (or, less commonly, ý).
The reason for this is that the primitive plural ending -î (still present in Quenya as -i) affected the vowels in the word by making them higher and fronter. After this sound change occurred, the suffix -î disappeared when all final vowels were lost.
Sindarin also has several suffixes which denote a so-called class plural. For example, -ath indicates a group of something, e.g. elenath from elen (an archaic form of êl), meaning "star" and -ath. It means "a group of stars" or "all the stars in the sky". Another ending, -rim, is used to indicate a race, e.g. nogothrim from nogoth — "dwarf" and -rim, meaning "the race of dwarves". The ending -hoth is generally used in an unfriendly sense, e.g. gaurhoth from gaur — "werewolf" and -hoth, meaning "werewolf-host".
Sindarin has a complex series of mutations. There are three main different types of mutations: soft mutation (or lenition), nasal mutation and stop (occlusive) mutation. Additionaly, a mixed mutation is also observed after certain particles or prepositions. Finally, it is presumed that Sindarin also once had what we could call an archaic spirantal mutation (also sometimes called liquid mutation by scholars). It is still uncertain whether this mutation is still productive or if it only occurs in ancient constructs.
The following table outlines how different consonants are affected by the different mutations:
Here the apostrophe indicates elision.
Words beginning in b-, d-, or g- which descend from older mb-, nd-, or ng- are affected differently by the mutations:
Take, for example, the deictic article i, which triggers soft mutation. When added to a word like tâl, it becomes i dâl. In Sindarin's phonological history, t became d in the middle of a word. Because i tâl at the time was considered one word, the t became d, and thus i dâl. However, without the article the word is still tâl.
Mutation is triggered in various ways:
- Soft mutation, the most widely occurring mutation, is triggered by the singular article i, the prefixes athra-, ath-, go-, gwa-, ú-, and u-, as well as the prepositions ab, am, adel, be, dad, di, na, nu, and î, and after avo. It also affects the second element in a compound, an adjective following a noun, and the object of a verb.
- Nasal mutation is triggered by the plural article in, and the prepositions an, dan, and plural 'nin.
- Mixed mutation is triggered by the genitive article en, and the prepositions ben, erin, nan, 'nin, and uin.
- Stop mutation is triggered by the prepositions ed, ned, and o(d).
- Liquid mutation is presumably triggered by the preposition or.
Pronouns are perhaps the most poorly attested feature of Sindarin. What has been reconstructed by the comparative method is largely conjectural and is not agreed upon, and therefore will not be addressed in this article.
Sindarin pronouns, like those in English, still maintain some case distinction. Sindarin pronouns have nominative, accusative, genitive, and dative forms.
|First Person||Second Person||Third Person|
|Accusative||nin||#men||le (resp.)||le (resp.)||den|| di|
|Genitive||nín||mín [subi. vín]||lín||tîn [subi. dîn]|
|Dative||enni [refl. anim]||ammen|
Sindarin verbs are also quite complex. The number of attested verbs in Sindarin is small, so the Sindarin verb system is imperfectly known; no verb has a full paradigm of forms available. There are two main types of verbs: basic and derived. Basic verbs have stems which end in a consonant, and derived verbs have stems which incorporate some sort derivational morpheme (such as a causative ending) which ends in -a.
Basic verbs, though smaller in number than derived verbs, have a very complex conjugation which arises from Sindarin's phonological history.
Basic verbs form the infinitve by adding -i: giri from gir-. This ending causes an a or o in the stem to umlaut to e: blebi from blab-. Sindarin does not use infinitive forms very often, and rather uses the gerund to achieve the same meaning.
For all persons except the third person singular, the present tense is formed by the insertion of -i, and the proper enclitic pronomial ending: girin, girim, girir. As with the infinitive, -i causes an a or o in the stem to umlaut to e: pedin, pedim, pedir, from pad-. The third person singular, because it has a zero-ending, does not require the insertion of -i. This leaves the bare stem, which, because of Sindarin's phonological history, causes the vowel of the stem to become long: gîr, blâb, pâd.
The past tense of basic verbs is very complicated and poorly attested. One common reconstructed system is to use -n: darn. However, the only time this -n actually remains is after a stem in -r. After a stem ending in -l, -n becomes -ll: toll. After -b, -d, -g, -v, or -dh, it is metathesized and then assimilated to the same place of articulation as the consonant it now follows. The consonant then experiences what could be called a "backwards mutation": -b, -d, and -g become -p, -b, and -c, and -v and -dh become -m and -d. The matter is complicated even further when pronomial endings are added. Because -mp, -mb, -nt, -nd, and -nc did not survive medially, they become -mm-, -mm-, -nn-, -nn-, and -ng. In addition, past tense stems in -m would have -mm- before any pronomial endings. Because this all may seem rather overwhelming, look at these examples which show step-by-step transformations:
- cab- > **cabn > **canb > **camb > camp, becoming camm- with any pronomial endings.
- ped- > **pedn > **pend > pent, becoming penn- with any pronomial endings.
- dag- > **dagn > **dang (n pronounced as in men) > **dang (n pronounced as in sing) > danc, becoming dang- with any pronomial endings.
- lav- > **lavn > **lanv > **lanm > **lamm > lam, becoming lamm- before any pronomial endings.
- redh- > **redhn > **rendh > **rend > rend, becoming renn- before any pronomial endings.
The future tense is formed by the addition of -tha. An -i is also inserted between the stem and -tha, which again causes a and o to umlaut to e. Endings for all persons except for the first person singular can be added without any further modification: giritham, blebithar. The first person singular ending -n causes the -a in -tha to become -o: girithon, blebithon, pedithon.
The imperative is formed with the addition of -o to the stem: giro!, pado!, blabo!.
Derived verbs have a much less complex conjugation because they have a thematic vowel (usually a) which reduces the number of consonant combinations which occur.
The infinitive is formed with -o, which replaces the -a of the stem, e.g. lacho from lacha-.
The present tense is formed without modification to the stem. Pronomial endings are added without any change.
The past tense is formed with the ending -nt, which becomes -nne with any pronomial endings, e.g. erthant, erthanner.
The future tense is formed with -tha. With the addition of the first person singular -n, this becomes -tho.
The imperative is formed like the infinitive.
During the First Age there were several dialects of Sindarin:
- Doriathrin or the language of Doriath, a form of the language which preserved many archaic forms;
- Falathrin or the language of the Falas, later also spoken in Nargothrond;
- North Sindarin, the dialects originally spoken in Dorthonion and Hithlum by the Sindar, these dialects contained many unique words and were not fully intelligible with the Sindarin of Beleriand proper.
With the exception of Doriathrin, the dialects were changed under Noldorin influence, and adopted many Quenya features, as well as unique sound changes devised by the Noldor (who loved changing languages). The distinct dialects disappeared after the Noldor and Sindar were dispersed during the later Battles of Beleriand. In the refuges on the Isle of Balar and the Mouths of Sirion a new dialect arose under the refugees, which mainly took after Falathrin. During the Second Age and Third Age Sindarin was a lingua franca for all Elves and their friends, until it was displaced as the Common Tongue by Westron, a descendant of Adûnaic which was heavily influenced by Sindarin.
Sindarin is actually a Quenya term. No Sindarin word for Sindarin is known, but usually the term Edhellen ("Elvish") is used in Neo-Sindarin.
Quenya inflection of the noun "Sindarin" | <urn:uuid:73c26d92-e963-4fc7-ac28-0376674c966d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Sindarin&oldid=96552 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91682 | 3,572 | 3.15625 | 3 |
Majors and Concentrations / Fields of Study
Majors that can be completed using COSC courses exclusively:
General Studies with these concentrations can be completed using COSC courses exclusively:
The following concentrations in the General Studies major can be completed by combining
Charter Oak's online courses and other sources of credit, such as credit transferred
from regionally accredited institutions or testing:
Customized Concentrations in the General Studies Major
We also offer two customized concentrations in Individualized Studies and Liberal
Studies. Depending on the areas of focus, these may be completed using Charter Oak
State College online courses exclusively.
The Individualized Studies concentration option allows you to combine professional
studies with the liberal arts and sciences into a cohesive course of study. The key
to receiving approval for this concentration is your ability to explain the rationale
underneath the proposed concentration and its relation to your career and/or personal
The Liberal Studies concentration is composed of traditional liberal arts disciplines
found in the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences and mathematics.
Again, you will be able to pursue this concentration only if you are able to clearly
explain the rationale behind the proposed concentration and its relation to your career
and/or personal goals.
*A bachelor's degree in General Studies at Charter Oak requires you to complete a
concentration, which consists of a minimum of 36 credits in one or more fields of study. This enables
you to personalize your degree based on your specific career goal. To learn more about
each concentration, please click the links below. Students preparing to graduate with
a bachelor's degree must complete a concentration capstone experience with Charter
Oak State College earning a grade of "C" or higher. The purpose of this experience
is to demonstrate mastery of the learning outcomes in the chosen concentration. This
requirement may not be met with a course transferred from another institution.
For "Concentration Basics", please see the Degree Completion page. | <urn:uuid:400db340-b5a2-4364-b0d7-d8f94c0c2170> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://charteroak.edu/Prospective/Programs/concentrations.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910324 | 409 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Mark Your Calendars!
Brain Awareness Week 2009 will take place from March 16-22
Brain Awareness Week (BAW), created by the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, is an international partnership of government agencies, scientific organizations, universities, and volunteer groups. It includes more than 1,700 partner organizations in 57 countries and its purpose is to make the public more aware of the benefits and promise of brain research. In 2008, Brain Awareness Week was the week of March 10th-16th.
Canada is a world leader in neuroscience research. During Brain Awareness Week, there is much media and public interest in the brain and nervous system. Society for Neuroscience chapters across Canada have arranged for graduate students to visit hundreds of local elementary and high schools to talk about the brain and the field of neuroscience. Additionally, prominent researchers will host public lectures at universities and research hospitals on topics ranging from emotions, stroke and cognition, to neurodegenerative diseases and memory loss.
Every year, in an effort to increase the profile of Brain Awareness Week, NeuroScience Canada issues a Media Advisory that compiles a list of activities being organized to mark the week by all of the Canadian chapters of the Society for Neuroscience across the country.
This year, NeuroScience Canada collaborated with the Canadian Space Agency and astronaut Dr. Dave Williams to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the space shuttle NeuroLab. This flight was dedicated to the advancement of neuroscience research and focused on the effects of microgravity on the brain. Dr. Williams spoke at McMaster University, the University of Toronto and at his former high school, Beaconsfield High, to raise awareness about the important research that can be accomplished on a space shuttle mission, while highlighting neuroscience research and its relevance to all Canadians.
Dr. Williams' speaking tour commenced March 11, 2008 with a talk at McMaster University titled “Neuroscience Research in Space from Plasticity to Performance”. This presentation reviewed the results of the 26 scientific experiments conducted during the NeuroLab spaceflight. Ranging from studies on neuronal plasticity, perception, sensory and motor function as well as developmental neurobiology to clinical issues related to human adaptation to space, the experimental results have tremendous application to clinical neuroscience. Organized in partnership with the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences, the event was attended by more than 100 members of the neuroscience community.
Dr. Williams then went on to give a presentation on March 26 at the University of Toronto titled “My Brain in Space”. Dr. Williams discussed the many neurological changes that take place in astronauts working in space and after their return to Earth. The similarities and differences between the changes seen in astronauts compared with clinical conditions observed in patients with neurological disorders were also discussed. NeuroScience Canada would like to thank the Program in Neuroscience who helped make this event a success.
Finally, Dr. Williams ended his speaking tour at his former high school, Beaconsfield High, on March 31. He spoke to students of grades 9 and 10 about his experience in space and his research on NeuroLab. His talk generated great enthusiasm amongst the students. This was confirmed by the very interesting question and answer period that followed his presentation.
We also hung forty street banners in prime locations throughout the City of Montreal, in order to coincide with the period before and after Brain Awareness Week. The banners featured our logo, website address, and the line “La Recherche Intelligente” (“Intelligent Research” in English). | <urn:uuid:8af46580-02cc-4bef-9603-d6fb6d244bcb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://braincanada.ca/index.php?q=en/Brain_Awareness_Week | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961502 | 706 | 2.75 | 3 |
Corporations move to fill US education gap
Corporations are taking matters into their own hands. With technology changing at a dizzying rate, they face a growing need to train employees in everything from state-of-the-art equipment to the newest management techniques. Often they find that high schools and colleges can't keep pace with developments in the business world.Skip to next paragraph
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So they're taking up chalk and pointer and starting classes of their own - and in some cases, sapping teachers and students from already struggling public and private colleges and universities.
Corporations are now spending $3 billion a year to train their employees, according to a recent survey by Training magazine, up from a small percentage of that figure 15 years ago. Almost half as many teachers are now employed in the private sector as are employed by America's public school system, a total of nearly 250,000 full-time corporate educators.
These private-sector programs, alternately known as ''corporate education'' and ''human resources development,'' used to consist primarily of management training. But they have grown to include everything from training in communication skills training and use of new equipment to employee motivation seminars and organization development courses.
The massive corporate investment in education is made necessary by the rapid pace of technological development, experts say. Corporations are finding that the need to constantly retrain workers and the slow reaction time of colleges and universities to changes in the economy are forcing them to take on the task in order to stay competitive.
Although corporate educators say they can't, won't, and don't want to take on the role of a liberal-arts college, the headlong dash of corporations into the education field may not bode well for academia.
''We've gone full circle from the traditional idea that colleges and universities had a monopoly of ownership on the production of knowledge and the teaching of people, to a situation where the available resources are no longer in colleges and universities but in the private sector,'' says Timothy Weaver, associate professor of instructional development at Boston University.
For the most part, the growth of corporate education has not come at the expense of colleges and universities. Most educators inside and outside the private sector see the roles of the two as mutually exclusive, with corporate training continuing to be ''job specific.''
Still, the goals of schools and corporations often coincide, and in many instances there is close cooperation between the two. Private-sector schooling is soaking up some of the estimated 1 million students who graduated with teaching degrees in the 1970s but were unable to find work.
In addition, Boston College has begun a human resources education program which ''trains the trainers,'' grooming educators for training careers in private industry. Other universities are studying the concept, and dozens of high-tech companies have donated computer equipment to secondary schools to encourage interest in the field.
''There is a blurring of distinction between what the corporate world is doing in its investment in education and what the traditional system of colleges and universities are doing . . . ,'' says Mr. Weaver.
He cites examples of a leading consulting firm now offering a master's degree in education, a hospital that is awarding graduate degrees in health science, and a top high-technology firm, Wang, that has established a chartered, degree-granting institute.
But not everyone sees the competition as healthy. Leonard Nadler, professor of education at George Washington University and an authority on human resources development, says the private sector has more flexibility and money, giving it an unfair advantage.
Others complain that the private-sector buildup lures top academic talent. Robert Gower is one who took the leap. He was a college professor for 15 years before joining Raytheon Data Systems as a manager of curriculum and staff development.
''The university's budget was shrinking at the same time Raytheon was developing its staff,'' he says. ''I saw an opportunity and went after it. I like the task-oriented, get-things-done atmosphere in the private sector. Schools are going to have to acquire the same higher energy level.'' | <urn:uuid:7c745d67-f0f6-4a74-93d5-a7b7d73ab55c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.csmonitor.com/1983/0131/013145.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969803 | 834 | 1.882813 | 2 |
25th Anniversary Issue: Salaries Increase, But Ties FrayIn 1979, what did a direct marketing company do when it needed to fill a position? Some of the same things it does today: perhaps advertise in a local newspaper or network among colleagues. A few executive recruiters existed to call upon. But, oh, how things have changed.
In 2004, numerous trade publications exist in which to advertise. The Internet has emerged along with the concept of online job boards, and every company has its own Web site on which it can advertise positions.
We began work on our landmark Annual Salary Guide in 1979. Care to guess the salary range for an operations director? $27,320-$42,760. Today that position commands $87,400-$120,600. How about a creative director? $28,650-$48,800. A six-figure salary wouldn't be unusual today. And a marketing manager? $29,870-$47,900. Depending on the product, the range now is $62,900-$89,100.
New Job Responsibilities
The responsibilities for these positions are very different as well. In 1979, most orders came via mail, and toll-free order lines barely existed. None of these positions required computer proficiency. There was no World Wide Web, no concept of online orders or computer graphics.
Computers have changed the dynamics of staffing, too. In 1979, they were just starting to become part of the office landscape. Most output was produced on typewriters, and executives weren't expected to do their own typing. Memos were given to administrative personnel to be typed and distributed. These days, it would be unimaginable for a professional to be unable to type, since most have a computer keyboard on their desk.
What about the length of employee service to corporations? The corporate climate has changed, and so has duration of tenure. To cut costs and stay competitive, corporations have embraced the concept of "right sizing." It has been necessary for fiscal survival in many cases. Employees have learned that, unlike in days gone by when employment with one company might be counted on for years or even an entire career, the "at will" concept of employment reigns. Employee or employer may cut ties at any time, for any reason.
One result has been that employees follow their short-term interests, pursuing new positions that result in higher pay or title whenever the opportunity presents itself.
As a recruiter, I view this with concern. A direct marketer who has had five jobs in seven years has not had the time either to identify the challenges and make contributions at his or her workplace or to hone skills and grow professionally within these organizations.
The number of direct marketers has grown tremendously. U.S. sales revenue attributable to direct marketing reached $2.2 trillion last year, according to the Direct Marketing Association.
In many ways, things haven't changed. The industry was clubby and close-knit in 1979, and often still is. Colleagues who work together within a company or in client/vendor relationships continue to form relationships that transcend the formality of the project. They greet each other as friends at industry meetings and conferences.
Technology has enabled a global familiarity as well. From an employment perspective, as a recruiter I can post a position I am working on in California on a direct marketing club online board or send a mass e-mail to a network of contacts that I think may be interested in the position. I can reach a thousand people with the click of a button.
The speed and depth of reach we enjoy today was unimaginable in 1979. | <urn:uuid:1d8b0858-104e-414a-bee1-25f29b254970> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dmnews.com/25th-anniversary-issue-salaries-increase-but-ties-fray/printarticle/85501/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968072 | 739 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Mozambique is one of the finest diving destinations in the world, with remarkably unspoilt coral reefs and an abundant variety of marine life that all levels of divers can enjoy all year round. Sea temperatures vary between 30°C in summer to 21°C in winter and the structure of the reefs offer pinnacles, overhangs, coral arches and much more.
Reef depths vary from 10m to 40m and offer good visibility and fantastic photo opportunities. Not only of the incredible range of coral but of over 6,000 species of fish. The reefs attract a variety of game fish while the coral is home to myriads of brightly coloured smaller fish including schooling banner fish, Moorish idols, butterfly fish, blue striped snappers, barred sweetlips, goldies, and trigger fish.
Mozambique diving is an excellent all year-round activity and a range of exciting and varied diving itineraries can be organized. Barracuda, manta rays, moray eels, sharks, huge schools of kingfish, giant lobsters, and numerous species of reef fish are commonly seen. The whale shark, the largest fish in the world which can reach lengths of up to 14m and weigh up to 15 tons, can be spotted between December and April.
Above the waves, dolphins are frequently encountered as are leatherback, loggerhead and green turtle. Humpback whales can be sighted between August and October while the lucky few may get to marvel at the sight of the rare dugong. Most lodges in Mozambique are pleased to welcome all levels of divers and lessons can be arranged for both beginners and intermediates.
Mozambique Diving Packages
Mozambique Diving Lodges
Best Diving Destinations | <urn:uuid:35e85b45-f35c-4f2d-91ef-420a5be95261> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mozambique.co.za/Dive_Destinations-travel/diving-in-mozambique.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928908 | 364 | 1.726563 | 2 |
There may be jobs requiring greater mendacity than a college affirmative action officer college president comes to mind but there cant be many. The ideal college affirmative action officer lies about his mission not only without regret but also without awareness, so brainwashed has he become in the foolish ideology of “diversity.” The following false propositions form the cornerstone of the college diversity charade:
1. The fact that your college still has not achieved proportional representation of blacks, Hispanics, and women in certain fields, such as the sciences, is because it hasnt put enough effort into finding them. The problem is not that there is an insufficient number of qualified minorities and women to go around. (It is acceptable here to imply that your college may even be discriminating against “diverse” candidates.)
2. The diversity push that you are always in the process of initiating is a first-ever event; now that you have finally made it clear that your college values “diversity,” the long-overlooked “diversity” candidates will magically materialize.
3. There is no conflict between “diversity” and high academic standards; as the most fluent diversity-speakers love to intone: “diversity” is part of excellence.
Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to pose some questions regarding the above diversity credo to the University of California at San Diegos chief diversity officer, Jorge Huerta; Mr. Huerta was kind enough to respond (by e-mail). Our exchange is below.
Jorge Huertas job makes demands well beyond the above generic requirements for a diversity bureaucrat. Being a diversity officer in the University of California demands Major League talent in the art of obfuscation, because by law your job should not even exist. In 1996, Californians voted to abolish race and gender preferences throughout government, including in higher education. That vote meant that the massive apparatus for bringing in under-qualified minorities and women as students and faculty to state-supported universities should have packed up and gone home, because from then on, California schools were supposed to have been race- and color-blind.
Of course, things didnt work out that way (read more on the topic here). Not a single affirmative action officer was let go; if anything their skills in evasion became more essential. The University of California campuses are trying just as frantically to “diversify” their faculty and student bodies, but they have to pretend that race and gender has nothing to do with their efforts. How do they cope with the cognitive dissonance? Huertas responses to my questions suggest how: by simply stonewalling any demand for a straight answer and by a shameless display of diversity doublespeak.
The Huerta exchange shows the degree to which our universities have ceased being places of free inquiry and the pursuit of truth. Instead, students learn from adults in authority that truth is to be avoided at all costs, including at the expense of basic coherence. How this lesson in cynicism affects students later in life is a question deserving of further study.
Q: As I understand it, when an academic department at UC San Diego initiates a faculty search, you provide an analysis of that departments racial and gender composition with the aim of helping the department increase its diversity.
A: The UC San Diego Office of Academic Diversity and Equal Opportunity completes that analysis. At UC San Diego, we view every recruitment effort as an opportunity to bring us closer to our goal of greater diversity..
Q: Do you believe that there are undiscovered black Ph.D.s in nuclear physics, say (to choose a field at random), or in other hard science and engineering fields, who have not already been identified by every university in the country seeking to diversify itself? Isnt every university in the country chasing the same very small number of underrepresented minorities in the sciences?
A: UC San Diego is very focused on increasing diversity among faculty in the sciences as well as in other disciplines. It could be said, perhaps, that we are all vying for the same excellent candidates, precisely because they are excellent. This may make the process more challenging but it does not change UC San Diegos level of commitment and long-term goals
Q: Do you think that without friendly encouragement from yourself or other administrators, a physics department, say (this is a purely hypothetical example) would discriminate against or even merely ignore highly qualified and competitive minority physicists?
A: I think all academic departments at UC San Diego are well-aware of the universitys strong commitment to achieving greater levels of diversity. UC San Diegos chancellor Marye Anne Fox and I have made it a point to communicate the importance of this goal to all academic leaders and department heads. In addition, I think faculty at UC San Diego realize that a more diverse faculty that more accurately reflects the citizens of California is in everyones best interests
Q: If you dont think that a department would discriminate against a competitive minority scientist, might oversight from a diversity officer be interpreted as friendly pressure to make race-conscious hiring decisions?
A: The administration of UC San Diego cannot tell any academic department who to hire. Further, we are prohibited by law (Proposition 209) from using race as a factor in hiring. This makes achieving our goals more challenging but it just means we have to try harder through outreach and other efforts.
Q: You said in the La Prensa article that “you cannot have excellence without diversity.” To take a purely hypothetical example, do you think that a cancer lab at UCSD, say, that was composed overwhelmingly of Chinese and South East Asian researchers and that was developing a way to turn off a cancer-prone gene, would be less “excellent” for its lack of underrepresented minorities?
A: I believe thats been taken out of context. Of course, a group of scientists who are not ethnically diverse can conduct excellent research. Our goal at UC San Diego is to achieve greater levels of diversity ethnically, intellectually, and in terms of gender. Diverse perspectives lead to a more competitive and stimulating marketplace of ideas and the outcome of this is excellence in the greater community.
Q: If you do believe that such a lab would be less excellent than a lab with black or Chicano researchers, do you believe, to repeat my question from above, that there are competitive underrepresented minority [URM] microbiologists that UCSD is overlooking?
A: Those “competitive” URMS may be overlooking UC San Diego.
When he is not purporting not to pressure departments into hiring by race and gender, Mr. Huerta works with UC San Diegos Cross-Cultural Center, its Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Association, and its Womens Center on a “Dialogue on Race” to celebrate what Huerta calls “innovations in equity, diversity and excellence.” Those “innovations” will presumably not include straight-speaking.
Original Source: http://www.mindingthecampus.com/originals/2007/05/diversity_gobbledygook.html | <urn:uuid:cb29bbd1-8941-4b7b-9f7c-c948abaab1a4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/miarticle.htm?id=4736 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960334 | 1,473 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Obama: Health Insurers Must Now Provide "Free" Services
For adults, the list of covered services includes mammograms, colonoscopies and other cancer screenings, diabetes screenings, counseling for tobacco use and certain types of pre-natal care. For children, it includes pediatric visits, vision and hearing screening, developmental assessments, immunizations and obesity screenings.
Insurers say the changes won't be free to consumers since plans will have to raise premiums overall to offset the cost of covering these services. The Obama administration estimates that the changes will increase the cost of premiums by an average of 1.5% a year.
My question is, why stop there? Why not require them to give away all health care for free? | <urn:uuid:351f310e-7cbf-4f17-8915-66593d3e804a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bizblogger.blogspot.com/2010/07/obama-health-insurers-must-now-provide.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930621 | 147 | 1.960938 | 2 |
What Health Care Could Mean for Students
As a journalism student at New York University, I pride myself on knowing what’s going on in the news. Like that the bill was enacted on Tuesday. I also like to know the significance of the news. Like what the bill now means for America. And me.
The health care debate has been going on for decades, but I’m not convinced all of America’s youth shares my enthusiasm for media analysis. I’m pretty sure the health care bill is a distant blip on many young adults’ radar, although some of its key provisions impact us directly. Part of the problem may be a disinterest in the individuals themselves, but there’s something else. There’s a disconnect between what goes on at Washington—the politics, the intellectual jargon surrounding the health care issue— and the young people whose lives the bill will change.
From now on, our lives are going to be different. It would be nice to see some sort of explanatory “health care for dummies” that bridges the gap between Washington and America’s youth so we could understand exactly what’s going to change.
So why does the health care bill matter for young Americans? How are our lives going to be affected?
The Huffington Post compiled a great, straightforward slideshow of the top eighteen immediate effects of the health care bill.
Number four on the list is monumental. More young adults will be covered by health insurance. We now have until we’re 27 years old to stay on our parents’ insurance plans. That gives us more time to find jobs, go to school, and figure our lives out without worrying about health insurance.
A less significant but still relevant change was placed at number eleven: the bill imposes a ten percent tax on indoor tanning services, going into effect on or after July 1, 2010. Maybe then tan-obsessed teens will think twice before shelling out the extra cash for this cancer-inducing activity.
At number fifteen is nutrition content disclosure. Chain restaurants will be required to list calorie content of their food on both in-store and drive-through menus. Both the tanning tax and nutrition disclosure force us to think about how to treat our bodies and stay healthy, while we’re still young.
The bill also includes student loan reform that helps make college more affordable. Access to quality education shouldn’t be for the few, but for the many.
All in all, the bill opens up many doors for America’s youth. Even if it’s hard to understand, its promise for a better future is unmistakable.
Campus Progress, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping young people be heard through an online magazine as well as campus journalism organizations and various projects, provides a neat timeline on their website of the bill’s effects on young Americans. | <urn:uuid:d5405d27-010b-4624-b5dc-eca55368df99> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ethnoblog.newamericamedia.org/2010/03/what-health-care-could-mean-for-students.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945933 | 596 | 2.203125 | 2 |
The MRD Samaritans Outreach Program helps provide for the basic needs of the homeless, vulnerable youth, and their families. Making several stops a night in the MRD van, Allan distributes food, clothing, personal care product kits, emergency funds, and on-the-street care and support. He also provides bus tokens, sandwiches, and bottled water to homeless people living outside. Riding the bus provides them safe refuge from the city streets, and a place to get out of the cold in winter. He also distributes tokens to people without transportation to get to job interviews, doctor visits, appointments, etc. During the daytime hours, he follows up on requests for referrals to agencies that help with housing, counseling, chemical dependency, job placement, financial aid, and healthcare. In 2012 Samaritans Outreach alone will serve over 45,000 people in urgent need! Basics provided include:
• Emergency Food: Water, Sandwiches, Fruit, Bakery Goods, Baby Formula
• Clothing: Winter Coats, Hats, Boots, Socks, Gloves
• School supplies, Clothing, Books, Backpacks, Fieldtrip Funding
• Funding for Bus Tokens, Bus passes, and Minnesota ID Cards
• Basic Needs: Blankets, Diapers, First Aid Supplies, Personal Care Products
• Funds for Emergency Rent Payments, Transportation, and Misc.
• Funds for Prescription Medication Co-Payments | <urn:uuid:9896faae-c865-4a6b-bb22-0d2b50742349> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mrdinc.org/SamaritansOutreachProgram.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920439 | 287 | 1.695313 | 2 |
In the Netherlands, rural roads are also a pleasure for cyclists. The reason is that there are very few cars using them. Many rural roads only offer convenient through routes by bicycle. Drivers are encouraged to take other routes.
The signpost to the left stands in the village of Peize, which has just over 5000 residents. It is fairly typical for rural areas. Note that there are directions given to 9 different places by bike (the red writing on a white background), but drivers are offered only "all directions" (white writing on a blue background).
What happens if the drivers try to follow the cycling route ? Well, it's not easy. Fairly frequently these routes are not passable at all if you're driving a car. For that reason, drivers are better off using the directions indicated for them, even if it will mean a detour. On the way into this village I used the route indicated left on this sign to Eelde-Paterswolde. That means the road shown in this video:
On the way out of the village, in the direction the camera is pointing in the photo at the top, I used this one:
There are 29000 km of cycle path in the Netherlands and 130000 km of road. What is often not understood outside this country is how much of the "road" is also (almost) only for bikes. Motorists can only follow the motoring routes, not the cycling routes. As a result, the majority of country roads are almost like cycle paths in all but name. The experience of riding along them is almost completely free of cars.
There are many other examples of smooth cycle paths next to (deliberately) rough roads.
Not just the towns, but also the countryside has to a large extent been "traffic calmed". Sections of road joined by cycle path make through routes for cyclists, not for drivers. It makes cycling a pleasure. | <urn:uuid:47edeed3-a21d-4b3d-a123-90e05bea0c0d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2008/08/traffic-calming-countryside.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96941 | 392 | 2.375 | 2 |
The Berkshire Archaeology Research Group (BARG) is a voluntary group dedicated to investigating the archaeology of the county of Berkshire. The Group welcomes anybody who is interested in archaeology.
BARG take an interest in uncovering evidence for human activity in the Royal County across a broad period from prehistoric times right through to the post-medieval and modern periods.
This website contains details of the group's projects and other activities and provides details of how to join the group.
The Berkshire Archaeology Research Group has:
- A programme of research into the archaeology of Berkshire. You can find details of this programme in the project pages of this web site.
- A programme of quarterly meetings and visits. Further details are available on the Calendar pages.
- Lectures about Berkshire archaeology which are offered to societies, groups and schools. Further details are available in the About BARG section.
- Capabilities to carry out archaeological work. These are offered to local history and heritage groups and societies. Further details are available in the About BARG section.
- As part of its research programme BARG offers volunteers the opportunity to try out a wide range of archaeological techniques including excavation, fieldwalking, geophysics, finds analysis, hedgerow surveying, earthwork surveying, building surveying and documentary research.
The Group welcomes new members, so, if you are interested in archaeology and would like to do some field work, please contact us. The membership form can be found here.
Site History: This site was updated on 30 April 2013 | <urn:uuid:d37e3d71-de47-480d-b226-9ba781d224c9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.barg-online.org/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923286 | 320 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Zeiterion’s Court Program Shows Power of Art to ChangePosted: August 20, 2012
By Bettina Borders and Estella Rebeiro
One day several years ago, Katherine Knowles, the director of the Zeiterion, approached the Juvenile Court to offer the possibility for court-involved youth to attend Zeiterion performances. Ms. Knowles envisioned the Z as a valuable community resource and wanted to extend it’s reach to include everyone. In her mind, this also meant the kids most folks want to forget.
There are many words used to describe these kids, trouble makers, delinquents, “druggies,” problem kids, misguided, etc. Ms. Knowles thought that perhaps some of them could find something at the Z to facilitate “turning them around.” It sounded good to the court. Why not try it. By and large these were kids with little opportunity to attend the Z on their own resources. Thus through the vision of Ms. Knowles and the generosity of her board, an ostensibly unlikely partnership began. Under the supervision of probation, young people from our court, and often their families, began to attend the varied theatrical performances offered by the Z.
There were several permutations to this partnership, which is part of two alternative sentencing initiatives supervised by probation and the court. At one point Ms. Knowles identified an anonymous donor who wanted to have the kids attend the theater in style. A limousine appeared at the courthouse, picked the kids up and drove them around various scenic areas of the city before dropping them, and their parents, at the Z. Later they were picked up and returned to the courthouse.
At another time, the youth participating in an alternative sentencing program, Changing Lives Through Literature, read “To Kill a Mockingbird” and later attended the play, courtesy of the Z. There have been plays, musicals, storytelling, dance, theater and magic performances these youth have had the opportunity to see. But the question remains: What has it meant?
For most of these youth and their families, this is an extraordinary experience. First, they are having a wonderful experience together, one that most of us take for granted. The probation officers who accompany these youth have watched while the demeanor of these kids transforms as the evening unfolds. They are indistinguishable from the rest of the audience; polite, engaged, attentive, well behaved, well dressed, inquisitive, mesmerized by the magical extravaganzas they are watching. They are out of their “comfort zone” and yet “belong” in this new environment. It is wonderful to hear about as the probation officers report back to the court.
But the transformation does not end there. The youth are asked to write about their experiences or discuss them in groups. Each youth is excited, energized and articulate when dissecting the play or gushing over the virtuosity of dancers or musicians. Many “thank yous” by letter and by mouth are sent by the youths. Another lesson learned. These are experiences we want for all of the youth in our community and Ms. Knowles and the Board of the Z must be commended for making them accessible to those teens least likely to find their way to the beautiful Z.
Art, we know, can transform people, all people. Ms. Knowles and her board have set a high standard for accessibility to art. One that can be replicated in many other areas of our community, particularly for youth. Our youth have much to learn from its leaders and the places frequented by them. Our court certainly appreciates the efforts made by the Z to include these youth. As Ms. Knowles says at the beginning of a performance: “Let the magic begin.” Perhaps she is on to something.
Honorable Bettina Borders is first justice of Bristol County Juvenile Court in New Bedford. Estella Rebeiro is senior probation officer. This op-ed was originally posted in the South Coast Today. | <urn:uuid:f6e38c4d-f3f9-4bfd-af24-16ae61ce5211> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cltlblog.wordpress.com/2012/08/20/zeiterions-court-program-shows-power-of-art-to-change/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974038 | 828 | 1.773438 | 2 |
By Alison Hayward
In the wake of Hurricane Sandy earlier this month, I saw a familiar sight by the side of the road: a radio station was emceeing an aid event for disaster relief. The event organizers were overseeing donations that were pouring into the parking lot they were commandeering for the task, as evidenced by a veritable mountain range forming in the parking lot, made up mainly of piles of donated clothing and blankets. Donating things like blankets and food items surely helps budding humanitarians to conjure images in their heads of how their concrete donations will be used. Yet most who donate such goods to disaster relief efforts are unaware that they are likely to be hindering the ability to provide efficient aid to victims, rather than helping.
The perceived need for donated clothing, blankets, food items, or medical supplies is often listed by major relief groups such as World Vision and the Red Cross as one of the top disaster myths. It seems to be only common sense that disaster victims would need such things, because disasters not only destroy local resources, they also disrupt supply chains by devastating transportation systems, storage facilities, and utilities that may be needed to store or transport items. In both domestic and international disasters, we are bombarded by media images of victims desperately trying to stock up on such goods, or seeking them in the wreckage. Noting our own abundance of such material items, a sense of guilt or of duty to serve those in need is a common reaction, and thus, donation drives are organized, and mountains of blankets begin to grow.
In many ways, this influx of goods creates a challenge for aid agencies. Such agencies, when well-run, have strategic plans designed to mobilize necessary supplies to victims in need. They may have organized caches of supplies in disaster areas which are maintained during the relevant seasons, or the ability to purchase items wholesale locally that they have matched to specific identified needs. In contrast, donated goods sent via grassroots efforts from various domestic or international sources are sent in a jumble, without knowledge of the specific needs on the ground to be filled, and may undermine those local supply chains and services that are still active after a disaster – which further damages the area’s economy. Because large-scale disasters, for many reasons, tend to strike harder in the “global South” and humanitarian aid comes to these sites from the “global North”, another common occurrence is the sending of inappropriate items for the climate. Large shipments of blankets and winter gear thus arrive in tropical or subtropical areas, and relief workers must spend time arranging for organization, storage, and transport of these items to other locations, costing them time and money that could have been used more effectively elsewhere.
Similar ethical logic is applicable to the volunteer medical assistance that comes from non-local sources during disasters. Although these situations can arise domestically, the best recent example would be the Haiti earthquake of 2010. The catastrophic damage of the earthquake was featured prominently in the news media, and Haiti’s location makes it a more affordable and quick flight from the United States than most earthquake or tsunami targets. Innumerable medical and non-medical volunteers thus streamed into Haiti to “help” with disaster relief.
Even though many of these volunteers had been in contact with local organizations prior to arrival, they still found that they were ill-prepared to provide meaningful assistance to Haitians affected by the earthquake. These volunteers had knowledge and skill sets that were useful in the global North, where electricity, running and potable water, medical referral networks, and follow-up care are widely available. When taken out of these contexts, even teams of volunteers who had come heavily laden with supplies found that their equipment could not function in the makeshift Haitian clinics or damaged hospitals. Surgeons who were used to being able to focus on their surgical procedures realized that their post-operative patients were developing bloodstream infections. And as volunteers became victims, both of injuries in aftershocks and of epidemic illnesses such as cholera, resources were diverted from Haitians in efforts to help them.
The frustrated feeling that “no one’s in charge here” was common. There was little recognition of the fact that untold numbers of volunteer groups showing up and conducting semi-autonomous relief projects was part of the reason that proper organization and monitoring of efforts was so difficult. How many of these volunteers would have been willing to donate the amount that they spent to travel to and stay in Haiti towards disaster aid, so that organizations and agencies could mount a more effective, coordinated effort? This question is an important one. Unless we are willing to accept that there are personal, non-altruistic reasons for wanting to provide medical care or supplies directly to disaster victims, i.e. the desire to be perceived as heroic, or to learn how to provide care in a resource-limited situation, or to gain experiences that may help advance our careers – then it should be clear that helping disaster victims through established channels of aid, rather than assembling autonomous teams and efforts, is likely to be the best solution.
This means that if an individual wishes to use his or her medical skills to provide humanitarian aid, that individual should strongly consider doing so through a path that may be less easy or convenient, such as signing on for a term of service with Medicins Sans Frontieres, or training with and joining a Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT).
In a disaster situation, aid is generally distributed in a utilitarian fashion – an attempt to maximize the effectiveness and the efficiency of the aid that is being provided. Thus, it follows that a person who is trying to fulfill a moral obligation to help disaster victims who are in need should also strive to the best of their ability to do the greatest amount of good for the largest number of victims. It is more compelling to provide care to a known person or family in need than it is to have the knowledge that you are aiding a larger, more abstract group of persons, but this motivation needs to be balanced against the wish to provide truly meaningful and effective aid to disaster victims. It is more compelling to think about a specific, though nameless person being warmed by your blanket than it is to think about the unknown needs being fulfilled by your donation to the Red Cross. But next time a disaster strikes in a location remote to your own, try to harness your desire to provide care to those in need and rise above the wish to help a specific person with a specific concrete item or service. Consider how much you’d be willing to spend to personally travel to the disaster area to aid those victims. Keep the blankets in your closet. And send money, send money, send money.
Blank, L. “Myths of disaster relief” World Vision, 1/19/2010. Found at: http://www.worldvision.org/content.n…disaster-myths
Brown, E. “Busted: 5 Myths of Disaster Relief” Relevant Magazine, 1/25/2010. Found at: http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/…isaster-relief
Fessler, P. “Want to Help Sandy Victims? Send Cash, Not Clothes”. National Public Radio, 11/16/2012. Found at: http://m.npr.org/news/front/165211607
Lasalandra, M. “Twelve Disaster Myths and Misconceptions”. Harvard Public Health NOW, 2/1/2008. Found at: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/now/2008…-response.html | <urn:uuid:36c5cf80-dd2b-4563-9255-5a9fbb784263> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://studentdoctor.net/2012/11/why-disaster-victims-dont-need-your-blankets-or-your-band-aids/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966243 | 1,555 | 2.390625 | 2 |
Snapper, Mutton – US
Mutton Snapper are most commonly found in the tropical waters of the Caribbean, Florida and Gulf of Mexico. They can live to 40 years of age, have moderate growth rates, and become sexually mature after three years.
Mutton Snapper were overfished for many years, but their abundance has increased and today it is at a medium level in the South Atlantic US and Gulf of Mexico.
Mutton Snapper are mostly caught by hook-and-line, bottom longlines or traps, fishing methods which cause moderate habitat damage and some bycatch of sea turtles and sawfish.
This fish may have high levels of mercury that could pose a health risk to adults and children. More mercury info here. | <urn:uuid:dc1fc14e-eb09-4282-ac45-43d0bc87fc6b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blueocean.org/seafoods/snapper-mutton-us/?showimg=472&imgpage=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970265 | 152 | 3.078125 | 3 |
His plan, which intends to raise nearly $2 billion of additional funding for Pennsylvania's transportation system, does so with changes in the way fuel is taxed.
Under the plan, Corbett would cut the flat tax on gasoline purchases at the pump by 17 percent over the next two years.
That would be countered by a five-year phasing out of the cap on the tax on the wholesale price of gas paid by oil and gas companies.
"It is time for the oil and gas industry to pay their fair share of the cost of the infrastructure supporting their industry," Corbett said in his address.
Corbett said by phasing out the $1.25 cap that was established on the wholesale price of oil in the early 1980s, the state can realize approximately $1.8 billion by the fifth year of the plan. He noted that the wholesale price reached the ceiling in 2006, so funding from the Oil Company Franchise Tax has not grown since.
For a complete report on how the budget proposal may affect businesses, read the Jan. 11 print edition of Lehigh Valley Business. | <urn:uuid:a8554a6d-4626-4fca-a9f2-ae8d3d467fea> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lvb.com/article/20130206/LVB01/130209961/Proposed-Pa-budget-raises-$2B-in-transportation-funding | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979524 | 222 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Russia's summer of heat, drought and fire is starting to take a human toll in Moscow, Europe's most populous city.
Deaths in Moscow have doubled to an average of 700 people a day as the city struggles with a deadly combination of record hot temperatures and poisonous smog from wildfires.
Andre Seltsovky, Moscow's health chief, blamed weeks of heat and smog for the jump in mortality compared to the same time last year.
The average death rate in the city during normal times is between 360-380 people a day, he said. Today, we have around 700.
He added that the city's morgues are filled with 1,300 bodies, close to their capacity. In addition, he said, ambulance trips are up by almost one third, to 10,000 a day. And city officials have ordered 3 million face masks for the population, estimated to be 11 million.
The health department director's comments broke days of official silence on the human toll in the capital. But within hours, Russia's health minister, Tatyana Golikova, demanded an explanation for the statistics.
Acrid smog blanketed Moscow for a sixth straight day Monday, with concentrations of carbon monoxide and other poisonous substances running at roughly double the safe levels. Last weekend, airborne pollutants soared, exceeding safe limits by nearly seven times.
In face of the smog, several embassies in Moscow, including the American, cut their services Monday. Citing 'hazardous levels of air pollution,' the U.S. State Department issued a warning advising people planning to visit Moscow to carefully consider their plans. The warning expires Sept. 5.
Since Friday, smoke from wildfires has delayed or forced the cancellation of 64,000 flights in European Russia, Rosgidromet, the national weather bureau, reported Monday.
On Sunday, Moscow airports experienced a record exodus - 104,000 people flying out of the city. Travel agents report that package tours to destinations popular with Russians like Egypt, Montenegro and Turkey are completely sold out for next weekend.
At the heart of the smog is an infernal archipelago of 550 wildfires across central Russia. NASA estimates that they are pumping as much as 1 million tons of carbon monoxide into the air every day.
Sergei Shoigu, Minister of Emergency Situation, told reporters Monday: "We need a wind, any kind of wind."
Without a wind, he said, the Moscow basin is filling up with automobile exhaust gases and the smoke of about 40 peat fires burning around the capital.
Forecasters say the pollution may decline on Wednesday with a wind from the west. To help Mother Nature, Russia's national weather bureau, asked Moscow's industrial enterprises to cut emissions by about one third through Wednesday afternoon. Health authorities have asked employers to give workers Tuesday off.
On the fire front, there is little room for optimism. The weather bureau expects another 10 days of African-style heat for European Russia - and no significant rain for the rest of August.
On Monday, Prime Minister Putin further cut his forecast of Russia's grain crop, saying it would be at least one third less than last year's bumper crop of 97 million tons. Last week, Mr. Putin shocked world markets by barring further exports of wheat this year from Russia, the world's third largest producer.
Alexander Frolov, head of Russia's weather service, said Monday that historic records and the study of lake deposits indicate that this summer's heat wave could be Russia's worst in 1,000 years.
Speaking at a Moscow a news conference, he said: "This phenomenon is absolutely unique. We have an 'archive' of abnormal weather situations stretching over a 1,000 years. It is possible to say there was nothing similar to this on the territory of Russia during the last 1,000 years in regard to the heat."
Health authorities say that living in Moscow these days is the equivalent to smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. In response, city officials have opened 123 air-conditioned rooms with filtered air - the pulmonary equivalent of a municipal network of non-smoking rooms.
See additional photos by VOA’s Sergei Moskalev in Moscow: | <urn:uuid:a0ac4e4b-dcef-41ee-8157-df76e9113157> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.voanews.com/articleprintview/123519.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945965 | 860 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Living with Lupus
Oregon has joined a select few other states in recognizing a debilitating and painful disease of lupus – and May is officially Lupus Awareness Month in Oregon. The Oregon State Legislature unanimously approved the designation of May as Lupus Awareness Month in Oregon last year and for the second annual of this milestone, Molly’s Fund Fighting Lupus (the organization that pushed to have Oregon designate the month) has been fundraising and has launched the first ever comprehensive Lupus Awareness Campaign in the Northwest. Molly's Funed Co-Founder, Molly McCabe, who is living with Lupus, and Spokesperson Anita Noble, also living with Lupus, joined us today to explain more about this devastating disease and Molly's Fund.
Lupus is a chronic, autoimmune disease that can damage any part of the body (skin, joints, and/or organs inside the body). When a person has lupus, something goes wrong with the immune system, and it cannot tell the difference between foreign invaders and your body’s healthy tissues and creates auto-antibodies that attack and destroy healthy tissue. The result is intense inflammation, pain, and damage in various parts of the body. There is no cure, and thousands of Oregonians suffer from this illness, and millions do world wide.
Some Hard Facts:
Lupus Awareness Month Activities. For information on the following or more information on Lupus go to MollysFund.org.
Lighting of the Morrison Bridge
Local Support Group Meeting
Fighting Back – A Live Benlysta Education Event
Butterflies in the Park – a Walk for Lupus Awareness
# # # | <urn:uuid:b64d1959-ed8c-42bf-bf88-ec16a889a3d2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.katu.com/amnw/segments/Living-with-Lupus-150975225.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916006 | 339 | 2.421875 | 2 |
How can I transfer my texting messages from my Samsung Galaxy
Ask a question
The deployment has already revealed a whole lot of devices that don't meet the criteria for getting on the corporate network.
Yahoo Japan, the country's largest Web portal, said up to 22 million user IDs may have been leaked during a hack that was discovered last week.
Hoping to entice more enterprises to use the R statistical programming language directly within their predictive modeling and data visualization jobs, Tibco has released a free version of its R runtime engine.
A vast debit card fraud scheme that allegedly netted US$45 million has been linked to the hacking of credit card processors in the U.S. and India.
Hackers who commandeered The Onion's Twitter account used simple but effective phishing attacks to obtain passwords, according to a writeup by the publisher's technology team.
Domain registrar Name.com forced its customers to reset their account passwords on Wednesday following a security breach on the company's servers that might have resulted in customer information being compromised.
The popular Snapchat photo-messaging app used mainly by Android and iOS mobile device owners to share images that then self-destruct after 10 seconds is the sort of security idea that businesses say can help them secure online transactions with business partners.
Breaches like one that exposed credit card data of Schnucks supermarket customers for four months could become commonplace.
A 41-year-old man was arrested for allegedly disrupting his former employer's network after he was passed over for promotions, leading him to quit his job and take revenge, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation said.
The Dutch government today presented a draft bill that aims to give law enforcement the power to hack into computer systems -- including those located in foreign countires -- to do research, gather and copy evidence or block access to certain data.
White Papers & Webcasts | <urn:uuid:92bf23d1-9f84-4600-b040-e374ae2ded6f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.itworld.com/answers/topic/data-protection/question/how-can-i-transfer-my-texting-messages-my-samsung-galaxy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966493 | 382 | 1.679688 | 2 |
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Whitley County Jewish History Jews living in Whitley County during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries were a part of, not apart from, mainstream culture. According to one report one hundred Jewish individuals lived in the northeastern Indiana county in 1900. Most Whitley Jews resided in Columbia City, but a few families lived in South Whitley and one family lived in Churubusco. Possibly due to their small number, the local Jewish community did not erect a temple or synagogue, a Hebrew school, or kosher businesses. Rather, Whitley Jews befriended their non-Jewish neighbors, attended public schools, occasionally went to Christian Sunday school, and joined interfaith choirs. Yet through individual and group activities, the Whitley Jewry maintained their cultural heritage.
Chicago Fair Building, Columbia City | <urn:uuid:dddc9b0b-3dcd-4f4b-aab8-c531d3b2e077> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://in.gov/dnr/historic/3964.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937907 | 193 | 3.390625 | 3 |
Parent Preferences for Learning
Vol. 1, No. 2, Spring 1996
A study of Euro-Americans, Hispanic, Native American, Asian, and African American parents.
Karen Debord, Ph.D.
Parent involvement and parent education have been topics of concern for teachers and caregivers for decades. However, the recommended practices focus on programs researched with and designed for parents using the White middle-class as its target population (Fine & Henry, 1989; Harman & Brim, 1980; Powell, 1988). This limited focus clearly excludes much of the parent population in this society. There are numerous factors to consider when designing parent education programs.
Parents are pivotal for most families, but consideration must be given to parents as individual learners. Understanding that life stage, age of children, learning needs, economic status, cultural contributions, and social networks all contribute to the design of the program will enable teachers and parent educators to design programs that will meet individual parent content needs plus individual parent learning needs.
In this study, more than 1800 parents were asked to respond to a questionnaire about their parenting information needs. Preliminary findings indicate that differences exist between and among groups in how they prefer to receive parenting information. In the first phase of analysis, findings indicate that parent educators cannot meet the needs of parents as a homogeneous audience. Planned attention should be given to target parent audiences. Parents of different ethnicities vary in how they currently obtain parenting information. For example, African American parents more often than others use immediate family members; primarily their own parents as primary sources of information while Hispanic parents prefer to turn to their medical practitioner as a source of information.
Educational level is a consideration for those designing parent education programs as well. Parents with at least two years of college prefer newsletters, books, and magazines, while parents with less education show preferences for home visits, videos, and learning through computer-aided instruction.
Indications are that parent educators need to understand parents as adult learners and become more creative, diverse and innovative in program design and delivery offering a range of learning opportunities.
Note: Dr. DeBord is continuing to analyze data from this study. Information concerning preferences for learning in a group versus individually, preferred locations, comfort level with others in the group, who should instruct, and topics about which parents want to learn will be forthcoming. Each of these questions will be comparatively analyzed by race/ethnic groups, educational level, gender, and professional skill level, family structure and number and ages of children.
Fine, M. J., & Henry, S. A. (1989). Professional issues in parent education. In M. J. Fine (Ed.), The second handbook on parent education: Contemporary perspectives (pp. 3-19). San Diego: Academic Press.
Harman, D., & Brim, Jr., O. G. (1980). Learning to be parents: Principles, programs, and methods. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publishers.
Powell, D. R. (Ed.) (1988). Parent education as early childhood intervention: Emerging directions in theory, research, and practice. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing.
Karen DeBord, Ph.D., Extension Assistant Professor and Child Development Specialist, North Carolina State University, email@example.com | <urn:uuid:49704a33-38c9-46b8-84a7-4b1647f9e86c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ncsu.edu/ffci/publications/1996/v1-n2-1996-spring/parent.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930183 | 680 | 2.953125 | 3 |
By Myra Lee Adams Goff
Thanks to some early settlers, we have pictures painted with words of what early NB looked like from writers like Roemer, Lindheimer, Brach and the most prolific of all writers, Hermann Seele. Let’s not forget all those personal letters that were saved by families.
One of the best descriptions of the early Mission Valley area was written by Wilhelm (Bill) Adams, the older brother of my grandfather, Louis Adams. In 1937 Bill Adams told his story to his son, Harold Adams, who fortunately for us all, typed Bill’s story as he was speaking.
The paper was copied in its entirety in Alton Rahe’s book, “History of Mission Valley Community”. Excerpts from that paper bear repeating.
Bill Adams and my grandfather Louis were sons of Heinrich and Katarina Doeppenschmidt Adams. Katarina’s father was Jacob Doeppenschmidt, Sr. whose ranch was in the Honey Creek area. Heinrich’s ranch was in the Mission Valley. Both families were ranchers from the beginning. Honey Creek Ranch is now under the care of the Texas Parks and Wildlife.
Heinrich Adams, as a single man, came to Texas and New Braunfels in 1850 from Prussia. A family tradition states that Heinrich was educated in Germany and was in an elite military unit - elite because one had to be over six feet tall to be eligible. That was tall for Europeans in those days. Supposedly he had to leave Germany because he hit an officer. In 1856 he married Katarina Doeppenschmidt, daughter of Jacob and Anna Marie Doeppenschmidt. There were six children; my grandfather was the youngest.
In 1894 after both Heinrich and Katarina had died, second son Bill bought the ranch from his sisters and brothers. My grandfather, Louis, being a minor, went to live with his uncle, Jacob Doeppenschmidt,Jr. Bill was a successful rancher and eventually expanded the ranch to 1100 acres.
Bill was also involved in politics. He served as a Deputy Sheriff and then Comal County Commissioner for eight years and then was elected Sheriff and Tax Collector in 1908-1920. (Source of above by Marilyn Thurman and Jane Brummet, granddaughters of Bill Adams).
Bill’s paints a word picture of the early Mission Valley area. At one time there were no fences and sedge grass was as high as a horse “waving in the wind like waves of the ocean” with no brush and cedar and an occasional live oak. The game was deer, wild hogs, wild turkeys, javelinas, geese, ducks, swans, pelicans, flamingos, wild pigeons (an extinct bird sometimes referred to as the wandering dove because it would drift south in the winter and return in the spring.) There were panthers, various wolves, coyotes, bears, leopards, wild cats, raccoons, opossums, ringtail civet cats, skunks, armadillos and other smaller animals.
Farming in the area started when the settlers arrived and they needed tanks and waterholes. This explains all the types of waterfowl. The most remarkable of all the watering places was the Post Oak Sea, a mile from Adams’ ranch house. It was a large body of water never known to go dry until 1887 and since then held water for only a short time following a series of heavy rains. When all other watering holes were dry and the Guadalupe was down to a trickle, this large body of water was full. If you want to see it, drive out Hwy. 46 and from the intersection of Loop 336, on the right side about four miles, you will see a large tank near the road. That’s not it! Drive a little further and off in the distance you will spot the “Sea” with a small amount of water. Speculations about the “Sea” going dry have gone on for years; some thought there was an earthquake, some felt it had to do with a storm in 1886.
“We young fellows from our neighborhood would get together at the Sea all on horseback with several trained dogs, and waited for the wild hogs to come to the water. The lake was several acres across and a mile in every direction. Good rodeos would take place there between the dogs and hogs.”
Other Bill Adams stories are reprinted in Rahe’s book that can be purchased at the Sophienburg. | <urn:uuid:2e06696e-949e-41dd-8522-cbf19c4131a1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sophienburg.com/blog/?tag=sheriff | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980426 | 963 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Starting the debate: antidepressants or dandelions
Posted Saturday 13 October 2012
Has mental health become over-medicalised? Are we driven down paths to treatment more by busy doctors and powerful pharmaceutical companies than by individual need? These are difficult questions that I have struggled with as I bring a mental health book to publication, and a recent survey by Mind has highlighted the importance of being open and frank about how we, unique as each of us is, take responsibility for our health needs.
I am a writer and researcher, experiencing depression and anxiety for much of my adult life, managing symptoms with antidepressants. Talking therapies offered to me on the NHS were ineffectual and short-term. I paid for CBT, which had little effect and am now in long-term counselling. At last I am coming to terms with why I respond in particular ways to particular circumstances and it is helping.
I was made redundant two years ago and since then have at last been able to pursue my first love – writing. My blog gave birth to a book – an anthology of prose and poetry expressing the real-life experiences of more than twenty people who live with mental illness. Dandelions and Bad Hair Days: Untangling lives affected by depression and anxiety aims to raise awareness and beat the stigma attached to mental health and raise money for charity.
I started a debate on the book’s website in a post entitled Mental Health: where do we draw the line, the responses to which struck me in light of some of the statistics produced in the survey.
The survey indicates that those like me, who have been taking anti-depressants for more than two years, feel they are less well-informed and are less likely to have been offered talking therapies than those first diagnosed within the last two years.
We are regularly told that antidepressants are not addictive but we have to be honest with ourselves; I know I am addicted to these drugs not because of their chemical ingredients but because I am afraid of what will happen if I stop taking them.
A significant number of people completing the survey are no longer reviewed by their GP so like me, many may be taking them for years without considering alternatives.
Responses to my piece on the website came from therapists and lay readers, many of whom felt antidepressants are not readily promoted by the NHS. The pressure from drugs companies is debated but I would be the first to say that there ARE benefits for many from antidepressants, myself included. But experiencing depression is NOT like having a broken leg which, for most, is a similar experience that can be cured with a plaster cast. Mental health issues are quite different, however helpful campaigns are at using the physical illness or injury analogy to reduce stigma.
No one experience described within Dandelions is the same as another, no one treatment more or less successful. Medication suits some, talking therapies others. CBT is not the cure-all that many NHS professionals rely upon and a combination of therapies is often most beneficial. For some, finding a way to manage their own symptoms with the support of alternative therapies has been liberating but that is not something the medical profession are always comfortable with. Others – and I am becoming someone who can appreciate the importance of this – find the only way to make a lasting change is to examine their most difficult experiences with the help of a counsellor and take steps to alter entrenched patterns of behaviour.
The author of the title piece in Dandelions and Bad Hair Days, writer Vivienne Tufnell, compared dandelions to those issues we must face in order to deal with our depression and antidepressants to weed-killers. It might be possible to stop addressing these ‘weeds’ with chemicals and start accepting them for what they are – issues that can be addressed by other, more holistic methods that treat us as individuals. It is hard at the moment to see health professionals accepting this but it might be time to change the analogies…
Suzie Grogan is a freelance writer and researcher based in Somerset.
After many years in the public and voluntary sectors she now writes on
health, social history and poetry. Having been published in a variety of
local and national magazines she is now working on two books -
Dandelions and Bad Hair Days; Untangling lives lived with depression and anxiety (launched on 10 October) and Shell Shocked Britain which will look at the legacy of the First World War on mental health in the 20th
Did you take our survey over the summer? Read through the results.
Find out more about antidepressants, how they work and their side effects. If you, or someone you know, is thinking about coming off, read about how you can come off these drugs successfully and the difference between relapse and withdrawal.
Commenting is now closed. | <urn:uuid:9724c968-fe39-48a7-a46e-4e3828bd1dd1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mind.org.uk/blog/7547_starting_the_debate_antidepressants_or_dandelions | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970221 | 973 | 1.773438 | 2 |
|Sustainable Thinking Drives CCFCC Convention|
|Written by Mitch Kostuch|
|Tuesday, 05 June 2012 14:30|
HALIFAX — More than 200 chefs from across Canada have united for the 49th CCFCC (Canadian Culinary Federation) Convention, which runs in Halifax until tomorrow, June 6, with a Sustainable Food Systems theme.
The event has attracted international visitors, including; Michael Ty, president of the Florida-based American Culinary Federation; Louis Perrotte, continental director of the Americas for the Paris, France-based World Association of Chefs Societies (WACS); and L. Edwin Brown, WACS ambassador.
On the speaker’s stage, the penalty for mishandling food sources was dramatically illustrated by Ron Walters of High Liner Foods who pointed out that Newfoundland’s cod fish industry was almost wiped out by foreign overfishing during a 15-year period in the 90s and still hasn’t recovered. “Sustainability is not just an option, it’s essential in the interest of both the source and the end consumer,” Walters said.
Walters also pointed out that farm-raised fish has become more important in the market, representing a growing percentage of market share. He explained that aquaculture will surpass wild fish consumption in just a few years and will likely grow to 75 per cent of the market within the next 10 years. "Science has shown aquaculture farming has a much smaller environmental footprint than almost all traditional land farming; it’s a very efficient way to grow food,” he said.
Mark MacPherson, of the U.S.-based Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, gave a passionate appeal. “My job is to work myself out of a job — to make sustainability the common standard so consumers are not misled.” He added: “I’m immensely hopeful on the seafood side, over the next five to 10 years, that sustainability will be the norm across Canada with chefs and with consumers.”
In a subsequent panel discussion 30-year foodservice veteran Lil MacPherson, restaurateur-owner of Halifax’s green-friendly Wooden Monkey restaurant offered a suggestion. “Chefs can use their purchasing power to drive change,” she said, before offering a reminder. “Consumers are finding sustainability choices more desirable, and a new generation of young people is even more environmentally aware.”
Chef Ed Walker, chair of the Culinary Arts Program, Thompson Rivers University, spoke on farmer and chef collaboration. Inspired by the U.S.-based Farm2Chef program, Walkers has organized the Thompson (TSCFC), a collaborative of approximately 70 farmers, which links local producers with local chefs. He urged the audience to consider similar programs in their area and distributed a questionnaire about the possibility of forming a national organization. | <urn:uuid:86a2320f-d33e-4adb-a9b6-2e2e234545ee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.foodserviceworld.com/atlantic/nova-scotia-news/4333-sustainable-thinking-drives-ccfcc-convention.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943534 | 603 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Maintaining your home is unquestionably important, because it keeps your house in the best condition possible and works to either prevent problems from occurring or to fix them before they can become more severe and pose a risk. There are some things we can do ourselves as homeowners, but for others you will need a professional handyman.
Handymen are typically well versed in many different areas of maintenance. They can do pressure cleaning, door and lock fitting; they can install smoke detectors, repair and maintain tiling and decking, and install everything from sheds to sprinklers to irrigation systems. They can reseal driveways, clean, garden, clean gutters, mow lawns, and pressure clean.
In short, a good handyman is able to do those jobs that you do not have the time or know how to do on your own. They do not necessarily require a professional, simply someone who knows what they are doing. Furthermore, generally, a handyman will be able to handle several tasks in a single visit.
What Handymen Can’t Do
Of course, there are going to be some things that even the best handyman cannot do. For example, a handyman should not try to do any work that could put your home's structure at risk. They should never do anything with the electric system or the plumbing, which should be left up to qualified professionals. | <urn:uuid:d0fe417a-082f-48ab-b438-b30606ac0e78> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.buildwish.com/product-directory/17/Toronto/trade-handymen | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960973 | 284 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Continuing with my project to create a list of great games you can play for free, this post features an adaptation of the classic party game Absolute Balderdash. In this game, players attempt to guess the real definition of a word, whilst attempting to convince the other players that their made up definition is the correct one.
Number of players: 3 – 8
Playing time: 30 minutes
You will need:
- A pen for each player
- Some paper for each player
- A dictionary
Players take in turns to be the dictioner. In each round, the dictioner selects and reads out a word from the dictionary. The word chosen should be obscure so that none of the other players are likely to know its true meaning. All of the players (apart from the dictioner) writes up a made up definition for the word onto a piece of paper. The dictioner also writes, in their own words, the real defination onto a peice of paper.
The dictioner collects together and reads out all the definitions, including the correct definition. They should be careful not to give away who wrote down which definition. Note, if one of the other player’s definitions matches or closely resembles the true definition, the dictioner should, instead of reading it out, remove it from the game. Going clockwise from the dictioner, each player (apart from the dictioner) chooses which of the definitions they think is correct. This is indicated by writing each player’s name onto the definition they have chosen. Once all players have chosen a definition, the dictioner reveals which one is correct. Scoring is as follows:
- All player (apart from the dictioner) receives one point for each other player that chooses their definition.
- All players receives one point if they guessed the correct definition.
- All players (apart from the dictioner) receives two points if their definition matches or closely resembles the true definition.
- The dasher receives two points if none of the other players chose the true definition.
The game continues for a pre-defined number of rounds. All players should become the dasher an equal number of times. The player with the most points at the end of the game is the winner. | <urn:uuid:7b8f1e50-759b-41e7-ba10-d1c11e5faf07> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://stickinsect.wordpress.com/2010/12/22/games-you-can-play-for-free-dictionary-dash/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949462 | 463 | 2.75 | 3 |
Grace-Marie Turner is president and founder of the Galen Institute, which is funded in part by the pharmaceutical and medical industries. (McClatchy-Tribune)
ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Few issues generate more political emotion than the need to provide health insurance for children. It is much less expensive to cover children than adults, and healthy children have the best chance of becoming healthy adults.
But that does not mean the government must provide the insurance.
Nonetheless, the new Congress is poised to act on President-elect Barack Obama's campaign promise to provide universal coverage for children. With the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) due to expire on March 31, Congress is expected to use renewal of the program as a vehicle to require that all children have health insurance.
But expanding SCHIP to cover all children would be a mistake, for four reasons:
--First, Congress should make sure poorer, uninsured children are covered first. At least two-thirds of uninsured children already are eligible for SCHIP or Medicaid but aren't enrolled. If SCHIP were expanded to cover children in higher-income families, their parents would rush to the head of the line to get the taxpayer-subsidized coverage. When a "free" government plan is offered, it's nearly impossible to resist. Poorer children would be left behind as states focus on enrolling higher-income kids.
--Second, expanding the program would "crowd out" the private insurance many higher-income kids already have. Hawaii offers proof. Earlier this year, the state created a new taxpayer-financed program to fill the gap between private and public insurance in an effort to provide universal coverage for children. But state officials found families were dropping private coverage to enroll their children in the government plan. When Gov. Linda Lingle saw the data, she pulled the plug on funding. With Hawaii facing budget shortfalls, she said it was unwise to spend public money to replace private coverage children already had.
--Third, putting many millions of children on a government program will quickly lead to restrictions on access to care. A young boy died in Baltimore not long ago from an untreated tooth infection, even though he was enrolled in SCHIP. Few dentists can afford to take SCHIP patients because the program's reimbursement rates are so low. The boy's mother couldn't find a dentist to see him. In Massachusetts' move toward universal health coverage, more people have insurance, but they are finding that physicians' practices are often filled, with waiting lists for a new patient appointment at 100 days and counting. Putting more children on SCHIP will add to the program's financial pressures, making it harder for poorer kids to get care.
--Finally, government insurance means that politicians and bureaucrats, not parents, make decisions about the care children receive and about what services will or will not be covered.
There is a better way: Lower- and moderate-income uninsured families, not just children, need help to afford health insurance. But right now, the deck is stacked against them. They make too much to qualify for public programs, such as Medicaid, but don't have good, higher-paying jobs that come with health insurance.
They need help in purchasing policies, and that help could be provided through tax credits that are refundable so people get the money even if they owe little or nothing in taxes. And 12 million more people would be able to buy affordable health insurance if Congress were to allow people to buy insurance across state lines. Finally, market fixes could help people with pre-existing conditions to get private insurance.
None of these reforms requires turning our health care upside down or turning it over to the government, but they would provide powerful incentives for families, and children, to get health insurance that they can own and keep with them.
So when the debate over universal coverage for children begins tugging at the nation's heart strings next year, it would be wise to consider the costs and consequences and look at alternatives that put parents, not politicians, in charge of health care for children. | <urn:uuid:2e2c6411-0bad-40cc-bd57-29013bc3c87c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.cleveland.com/pdopinion/2008/12/private_sector_beats_politicia.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973102 | 831 | 2.3125 | 2 |
Washington, January 4 : Researchers have uncovered a link between a certain genetic variation - associated with active personality traits in humans - and longer life.
This derivative of a dopamine-receptor gene – called the DRD4 7R allele – appears in significantly higher rates in people more than 90 years old and is linked to lifespan increases in mouse studies.
Robert Moyzis, professor of biological chemistry at UC Irvine, and Dr. Nora Volkow, a psychiatrist who conducts research at the Brookhaven National Laboratory and also directs the National Institute on Drug Abuse, led a research effort that included data from the UC Irvine-led 90+ Study in Laguna Woods, Calif.
The variant gene is part of the dopamine system, which facilitates the transmission of signals among neurons and plays a major role in the brain network responsible for attention and reward-driven learning. The DRD4 7R allele blunts dopamine signaling, which enhances individuals’ reactivity to their environment.
People who carry this variant gene, Moyzis said, seem to be more motivated to pursue social, intellectual and physical activities. The variant is also linked to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and addictive and risky behaviors.
“While the genetic variant may not directly influence longevity,” Moyzis said, “it is associated with personality traits that have been shown to be important for living a longer, healthier life. It’s been well documented that the more you’re involved with social and physical activities, the more likely you’ll live longer. It could be as simple as that.”
Numerous studies – including a number from the 90+ Study – have confirmed that being active is important for successful aging, and it may deter the advancement of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s.
Prior molecular evolutionary research led by Moyzis and Chuansheng Chen, UC Irvine professor of psychology & social behavior, indicated that this “longevity allele” was selected for during the nomadic out-of-Africa human exodus more than 30,000 years ago.
In the new study, the UC Irvine team analyzed genetic samples from 310 participants in the 90+ Study. This “oldest-old” population had a 66 percent increase in individuals carrying the variant relative to a control group of 2,902 people between the ages of 7 and 45. The presence of the variant also was strongly correlated with higher levels of physical activity.
Next, Volkow, neuroscientist Panayotis Thanos and their colleagues at the Brookhaven National Laboratory found that mice without the variant had a 7 percent to 9.7 percent decrease in lifespan compared with those possessing the gene, even when raised in an enriched environment.
While it’s evident that the variant can contribute to longevity, Moyzis said further studies must take place to identify any immediate clinical benefits from the research. “However, it is clear that individuals with this gene variant are already more likely to be responding to the well-known medical adage to get more physical activity,” he added.
The study has been published online in The Journal of Neuroscience. (ANI)
TV Shows and Politics
- Sunny Leone's Item Song 'Laila Teri Legi'
- Sunny Leone refused permission by DTCM to Perform in Dubai
- Salman Khan's Link Up with Daisy Shah; Media Again Making stories on His New Affair
- How much do Indian celebrities film stars charge for an event or a public appearance?
- Famous Television Series POLICE FILES on BIG MAGIC channel | <urn:uuid:6f354e45-fcb4-4d6a-b178-c95913fd686e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.topnews.in/genetic-link-longevity-identified-2369463 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935248 | 740 | 2.640625 | 3 |
[ This IS ALL WE Need : And SOME Love AND Passion ] Temple Bar, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Image by || UggBoy♥UggGirl || PHOTO || WORLD || TRAVEL ||
Worry is thoughts and images of a negative nature in which mental attempts are made to avoid anticipated potential threats. As an emotion it is experienced as anxiety or concern about a real or imagined issue, usually personal issues such as health or finances or broader ones such as environmental pollution and social or technological change. Most people experience short-lived periods of worry in their lives without incident; indeed, a moderate amount of worrying may even have positive effects, if it prompts people to take precautions (e.g., fastening their seat belt or buying fire insurance) or avoid risky behaviours (e.g., angering dangerous animals, or binge drinking).
Excessive worry is the main component of Generalized anxiety disorder.
One theory of anxiety by Liebert and Morris in 1967 suggests that anxiety consists of two components; worry and emotionality. Emotionality refers to physiological symptoms such as sweating, increased heart beat and raised blood pressure. Worry refers to negative self-talk that often distracts the mind from focusing on solutions to the problem at hand. For example, when students become anxious during a test, they may repeatedly tell themselves they are going to fail, or they cannot remember the material, or that their teacher will become angry with them if they perform poorly. This thinking interferes with focusing on the test as the speech areas of the brain that are needed to complete test questions are being used for worrying.
Dr. Edward Hallowell , psychiatrist and author of Worry, argues that while "Worry serves a productive function", "anticipatory and dangerous" worrying—which he calls "toxic worry"–can be harmful for your mental and physical health. He claims that "Toxic worry is when the worry paralyzes you," whereas "Good worry leads to constructive action" such as taking steps to resolve the issue that is causing concern. To combat worry, Hallowell suggests that people should not worry alone, because people are much more likely to come up with solutions when talking about their concerns with a friend. As well, he urges worriers to find out more information about the issue that is troubling them, or make sure that their information is correct.
Another step to reduce worry is to make a plan and take action and take "care of your brain" by sleeping enough, getting exercise, and eating a healthy diet (without a "lot of carbs, junk food, alcohol, drugs, etc). Hallowell encourages worriers to get "regular doses of positive human contact" such as "a hug or a warm pat on the back". Finally, he suggests that worriers let the problem go rather than gathering them around themselves.
In positive psychology, worry is described as a response to a moderate challenge for which the subject has inadequate skills.
For more on this theme, do not worry and click away, enjoy some knowledge:
I never worry about action, but only inaction.
— Winston Churchill | <urn:uuid:46e00842-21be-48c4-b2cc-880791cdfaac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://readmythought.com/tag/this/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959826 | 630 | 3.078125 | 3 |
- Historic Sites
The Central Fact Of American History
It was the nation’s biggest business, it was well organized as a Detroit assembly line, and it was here to stay. It was slavery. David Brion Davis, A lifelong student of the institution, tells how he discovered—and then set about teaching—its vast significance.
February/March 2005 | Volume 56, Issue 1
I have long believed that what most distinguishes us from all other animals is our ability to transcend an illusory sense of now, of an eternal present, and to strive for an understanding of the forces and events that made us what we are. Such an understanding seems to me the prerequisite for all human freedom. In one of my works on slavery I refer to “a profound transformation in moral perception” that led in the eighteenth century to a growing recognition of “the full horror of a social evil to which mankind had been blind for centuries.” Unfortunately, many American historians are only how beginning to grasp the true centrality of that social evil throughout the decades and even centuries that first shaped our government and what America would become.
As a college undergraduate in the late 1940s I was taught the “moonlight and magnolias” mythology of slavery, a mythology propagated by respected historians as well as by popular nonacademic books and by influential films from the time of The Birth of a Nation to Gone With the Wind and beyond. This mythology existed because the slaveholding South had counteracted its military defeat by winning the ideological war—or in other words, the way the twentieth-century American public understood slavery and the Civil War. The effects of this victory on our racial history are brilliantly documented by the 2001 masterpiece by my Yale colleague David W. Blight, Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory.
By 1820 nearly 8.7 million slaves had departed for the New World from Africa, as opposed to the 2.6 million whites who had emigrated from Europe.
By the 1930s a strong consensus had emerged to the effect that the Civil War had little, if anything, to do with slavery. One school of thought held that the war had been waged over economic issues and resulted in the triumph of Northern capitalism. A second school argued that the war had been a needless and avertable tragedy, brought on by abolitionist fanatics and a few Southern extremists. Virtually all American whites agreed that slavery had been an inefficient, backward, and increasingly marginal institution that had contained the seeds of its own economic destruction and which would have soon ended without a war. This was the view of the nation’s leading expert on slavery in the 1920s and 1930s, the Yale professor Ulrich B. Phillips.
My very liberal-minded but self-educated parents—both of them first journalists and then productive writers of friction and nonfiction—were delighted in the mid-1930s by a new, well-written, and immensely popular survey of American history by W. E. Woodward (no relation the great C. Vann Woodward). According to his New American History, “the slave system did incalculable harm to the white people of the South, and benefited nobody but the negro, in that it served as a vast training school for African savages.”
Such views persisted well into the 1950s, even among some of the most respected white historians. As a member of Dartmouth College’s undergraduate class of 1950, I took a course in which we learned that Reconstruction had been a disaster, since hordes of carpetbaggers and scalawags had quickly corrupted the ignorant Negroes and even put them in state legislatures. The professor presented a humorous picture of the Ku Klux Klan, an organization needed, he explained, to keep the peace by scaring the highly superstitious Negroes (the white-hooded Klansmen would knock on a black family’s door and then hoot out the sounds of ghosts).
Things were not much better when I attended graduate school at Harvard from 1951 to 1953. Lecture courses on American social history, on the history of immigration to America, and on the history of religion in America, taught by world-famous professors, gave little attention to slavery, though they were excellent in other respects. The major recommended work on the course syllabuses was Ulrich B. Phillips’s deeply researched but highly racist 1918 book American Negro Slavery. One must remember that in 1954, at the time of Brown v. Board of Education and 89 years after the Thirteenth Amendment, blacks in much of the South were, as Bob Herbert recently reminded us in The New York Times, “expected to step off the sidewalk or cross to the other side of the street if whites were approaching,” while “in the national imagination, blacks were typically janitors, maids, chauffeurs or bootblacks.”
I began to sense the momentous neglect of the importance of slavery only when I became acquainted in the spring of 1955 with Kenneth Stampp, Harvard’s visiting professor from Berkeley who was then completing his revolutionary book The Peculiar Institution, a point-by-point rebuttal of Phillips. I was no doubt more open to Stampp’s approach as a result of the shocking racial conflicts, including a bloody firefight, I had seen in early 1946 as a military policeman in Germany in the segregated army of occupation. But it would take nearly two decades for the insights I absorbed from Stampp to become widely accepted in the historical profession, despite a groundbreaking early article on the Civil War by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., in 1949. It was only in the 1950s that evidence even began to show that slavery, far from being economically backward, was an extremely efficient and productive form of labor, and that the organization of large plantations anticipated in many ways the assembly line and modern factory production. Only in fairly recent years have we learned that the greatest concentration of rich pre-Civil War Americans lived in the Deep South, and that in 1860 the market value of slaves exceeded that of the nation’s railroads and factories combined; and that if the South had been a separate country, it would have been more prosperous than any European nation except England. We can now see that Abraham Lincoln, in his debates with Stephen Douglas in 1858, had some reason to predict that any peaceable abolition of slavery would take at least a hundred years. He was thinking of what we now term the civil rights era.
In 1600 or even 1700, if you could have asked the ordinary Englishman what came to his or her mind when the word slavery was mentioned, the response almost certainly would have been a fellow Englishman seized at sea, or even on the English coast, by Barbary corsairs. We now know that between the mid-sixteenth century and 1800 Muslim raiders captured and enslaved well over a million Europeans, including even some 400 Icelanders. Similarly, if we were to pose the same question today to the average American, the answer would very likely point to an African-American slave picking cotton in the pre-Civil War South. But as early as 1944 Gunnar Myrdal’s monumental study An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy, the first comprehensive sociological study of American racism, criticized the tendency of Americans “to localize and demarcate the Negro problem.” It was bigger than we thought. Few Americans know that by 1820 nearly 8.7 million slaves had departed from Africa for the New World, as opposed to the 2.6 million whites, many of them convicts or indentured servants, who had left Europe. Thus by 1820 African slaves constituted almost 77 percent of the enormous population that had sailed toward the Americas, and from 1760 to 1820 this emigrating flow included more than five African slaves for every European.
For centuries these Africans performed the most arduous and exhausting work, clearing forests, hewing and splitting wood, plowing the soil, planting and harvesting the exportable crops—sugar, coffee, cotton—that founded prosperous economic systems which eventually attracted untold millions of free immigrants. And if black slaves provided the basic power that drove the interconnected economies of the entire New World, some of their sacrifice is reflected in the fact that as a result of mortality and negative growth rates (not in North America), by 1825 blacks constituted only about 18.6 percent of the New World population, of which 39.4 percent was now white, 18 percent mixed, and 24 percent Native American.
While no New World colony began with a blueprint for becoming a slave society, the entire hemisphere had become implicated in the paradox of trying to reconcile racial slavery with aspirations to escape the sins of the Old World. When teachers tell their students about the forming of “a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal,” how many note that in 1775 the slavery of blacks was legal in all 13 colonies? That it continued to be legal in New York until 1827, in Connecticut until 1848, and in New Jersey until 1865?
Even most history texts fail to convey the extent to which the American government was dominated by slaveholders and pro-slavery interests between the inaugurations of Washington and Lincoln. Partly because of the clause in the Constitution that gave the South added political representation for three-fifths of its slave population, Southern leaders increasingly challenged restrictions on the westward expansion of slavery and the creation of new slave states. Southern slaveholding Presidents governed the nation for roughly 50 of those 72 years. Slaveholding Presidents, senators, congressmen, and Supreme Court justices also lived and ruled in a national capital deliberately placed in a slaveholding and slave-trading region, where, unlike Philadelphia, for example, their human property would be safe and secure. Moreover, none of the six Northern Presidents in that time dared challenge slaveholding interests.
There were strong economic reasons for the broad national reach of American slavery. Southern slave-grown cotton was the nation’s leading export. It powered textile-manufacturing revolutions in both New England and Europe and paid for imports of everything from steel to capital. Accordingly, in the nineteenth century, slave values more than tripled. By 1860 a young “prime field hand” in New Orleans would sell for the equivalent of a Mercedes-Benz today. For a considerable time the fortunes of New England manufacturers and New York merchants depended on a northward flow of cotton, a fact that carried the deepest implications for politics as well as for banking, insurance, and shipping. It should be no surprise, therefore, that abolitionists like William Lloyd Garrison were portrayed as a lunatic fringe and that most Northerners long agreed that the Constitution prevented any interference with slavery. The gag rule of the 1830s and 1840s prevented Congress from hearing hundreds of petitions calling for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, for restrictions on the interstate slave trade, and for limits on the expansion of slavery into Western territories. This clear violation of the First Amendment did not faze a government that sanctioned the destruction of antislavery mail addressed to the South.
A crucial and final point: a frank and honest effort in classrooms to face up to the darkest side of our past, to understand the ways in which social evils evolve, should in no way lead to cynicism and despair or to a repudiation of our heritage. The development of maturity means a capacity to deal with truth. The more we recognize the limitations and failings of human beings, the more remarkable and even encouraging history can be. Acceptance of the institution of slavery can be found not only in the Bible but in the earliest recorded documents in the Mesopotamian Near East. Slavery was accepted for millennia, virtually without question, in almost every region of the globe. Even in the nineteenth century there was nothing inevitable or even probable about the emancipation of black slaves throughout the Western Hemisphere. This point is underscored by the appalling use of coerced labor in the twentieth century, especially in various forms of gulags or concentration camps. Yet the history of New World slavery and antislavery shows us that people can change course, that they are not compelled to accept the world into which they are born. | <urn:uuid:22ff533e-7fd6-4642-9719-5c03bb761a0f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.americanheritage.com/content/central-fact-american-history?page=show | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970556 | 2,506 | 3.765625 | 4 |
Nidd Heads report not yet on site
Previous exploration: NL 29:19
Aim: to relay lines in sumps 1 and 2 of the Flood Rising of the N.W. Rising.
J.T.G. dived the first sump and put a new line in place. R.J.S. followed through and tackled the second sump. 107 m. of thick line was laid into the sump ending at a depth of -3 m in a comfortable passage. The air bell must be within a few metres of this point. On the way out a great mound of old line, which had broken and become tangled, was successfully removed.
Continuing on from his limit of 5th November R.J.S. laid a further 15 m of line to reach the air bell discovered by O.W. Statham on 1.7.73. Allowing for the length of line at the start of the sump, Sump 2 is 119 m long with a maximum depth of 3.7 m. The continuation from the air bell was entered and O.W.S's. "two foot slot down to a lower level" was reached. This was descended to the lower level, which was found to be a low boulder-strewn bedding. After 6 m of awkward progress amongst large fallen boulders the diver decided to return to the air bell. Compass bearings and observations of the flow direction at the air bell indicate that this is not the way on. The correct way must be somewhere in Sump 2.
The bulk of the flow in this cave emerges from between fallen blocks near the entrance and R.J.S. had a look at this to see if an alternative way could be found. A squeeze between two of the blocks leads to a descent to a shingle floored bedding leading on with a strong current emerging. This quickly becamo too low. An alternative way down over the top of a fallen block leads to another squeeze into what is almost certainly the same bedding. This confirms the findings of Waddon and Davies (1961, C.D.G. Review 1962, p. 22).
Whilst R.J.S. was amusing himself in the above sumps, J.T.G. looked at this small rising in the left hand branch of the cave. He confirmed that the water rises from a low bedding plane which is undiveable.
Plan opposite page 19.
Aim: to confirm previous finds and compare with the N.W. Rising. Same reference. Survey in Diving Review of 1961.
Both main stream sumps were dived and the previous finds were confirmed. The second sump can be followed for about 10 m to a point where two precariously balanced blocks, which have fallen from the roof, make further progress hazardous.
The short sump through into Backwater Chamber was also dived. As noted by Davies, water only flows here during flood. It is probable however that Backwater Chamber represents the original rising for the water. This would explain the comparatively small dimensions of the mainstream passage. A dig in the choke in the floor of this chamber would possibly give access to a bedding plane from which the water originally rose.
In 1 m visibility laid line on from the point reached on 11.5.81 (NL 60:20). Following the left hand wall, the diver made about 23 m of painful progress blundering around in what appeared to be an area of confusing cross joints. Unsure of the general direction in which he was travelling the diver tied off and returned. Passage continuing but small at the end.
Searched the left hand wall, going in, between the air bell and the junction at 122 m for possible alternative ways on. Nothing found; this wall is solid. The main line passes very close to the air bell, as J.T.G. saw G.W.C. sail past, as he was sitting in the air bell. As the visibility was better than on Wednesday, 2 to 3 m, J.T.G. then decided to have a look at where he had got to on Wednesday. First he searched the passage between the 122 m junction and the 152 m mark. Apart from a cross joint leading off on the right, probably connecting with the area of cross joints explored on 21.12.80, there were no other ways off. 8 m along the line laid on Wednesday the error of his ways became apparent, as the line disappeared off up a comparatively minor joint heading west. To the right, north, at this point was a black space and shingle slope leading downwards. This is probably the way on.
The black space seen on 2.8.81 proved somewhat illusory and the diver soon found himself squeezing up into a joint heading north. Nine metres and one dog leg later he broke into a much larger passage also heading north. Following the right hand wall, the passage appeared to divide, the right hand branch taking the form of a boulder strewn rift. 30 m from base his line ran out. Depth still only about 2 m. Total distance from start of sump about 190 m.
Left the 190 m mark generally following the right hand wall. After only about 15 m of progress in a northerly direction the diver was forced first west and then seemingly south. At 220 m not at all sure he was heading in the right direction the diver reeled back in. A fruitless search was made of the area where the passage turned west and the diver exited with no clear idea of where the way on might be.
Starting from the 190 m mark (NL 61:12) followed the left hand wall and ended up at exactly the same place, as had been reached on 16.9.81. Another fruitless search, including a look at some holes in the floor, ensued before the diver got fed up and started reeling in. Alighting on a shingle slope some 15 m back from the end, he noticed silt being whisked away by a strong current. Following the slope downwards he popped through a 'dog's front door' at -3 m into a large passage. This descended steeply before levelling out. 250 m into the sump at -17 m, his line ran out. This last section of passage was far less affected by breakdown, as one might expect, as one moves away from the top of the limestone.
Managed to prize R.J.S. away from a wedding to give his verdict on the latest developments at Nidd Heads. He led in surveying from the 122 m. mark to the point reached on 18.10.81 (plan opposite page 19). He confirmed the depth as -17 m and also the impressive nature of the passage; it being about 5 m high and of indeterminate width. J.T.G. then continued on following the right hand wall over a gently undulating shingle floor. After 35 to 40 m he ran into an alcove and reeled back into the main passage. Here a combination of the cold, a jamming line reel and overweighting dictated a return, so the line was attached to a weight. Limit of exploration 280 m at -15m.
R.J.S. also released a quantity of dye at the start of the tube some 60 m into the sump. Not surprisingly this reappeared at the entrance to the rising after about 2 hours. No trace was seen at the S.E. Rising even after 5 hours. This suggests that the junction between the two risings is somewhat further into Sump 2 than was suspected. As there are no passages off to the right between the start of the tube and the 122 m belay, this may mean that the waters part past the 'dog's front door'. A further test should confirm this.
Little achieved. At end of line passage is 5 to 6 m wide. No extra line laid because of a faulty valve. On the way back had a touch of what I can only assume to be the narks, losing all concept of the passage around me. Probably due to apprehension, cold and alcohol the previous evening. Felt much better in the higher levels.
At 280m R.J.S. took the line over to the left side of the passage and started laying line from there. At this stage the passage was from 6 to 9m wide, 1.5m high on the left and 4.5m on the right. Past this, the passage soon took on the form of a wide bedding, and 60m of line was laid out along this, being finally belayed at the foot of a little drop at -7m.
The lines had broken at several points in the heavy floods and this was complicated by further breaks during the process of repair. The last dive through saw the line continuous to 340m with all loose line removed.
J.T.G. started at 340m and laid out 60m of line. The passage dipped down
to -15m before rising to -6m at the end. The left hand wall was followed
throughout, the passage dimensions being huge. Following on, T.G.Y. went to
the end of the line, while G.W.C. turned back at 245m.
1st May, 1982
Divers: R.J.Shackleton and J.T.Griffiths
From the 400m mark R.J.S. laid 75m of line, following he left wall. The passage again dipped down to -15m before coming up again slightly. J.T.G. experimenting with a dry suit, went to the end of the line and back.
A gala day at Nidd Heads, but very little achieved, because of atrocious visibility (less than 1m). It had rained heavily the previous day and, although water levels had not risen, a lot of muck must have been washed down. R.J.S. released some dye at the 240m mark. This reappeared at the N.W.Rising, together with the poor visibility, 2½ to 3½ hours later, ceasing flowing after 5 hours. No dye or muck had appeared at the S.E. Rising after 5 hours.
Training dive for Mark through Sump 1. J.T.G. armed with dry suit and twin 2548 l bottles laid another 88m of line at an average -13m depth. This should have brought the line length up to 563m, but, to be conservative, we have estimated the length to the end as 550m. The passage still continues in a northerly direction. A lonely frog was met at 240m and -15m.
R.J.S. removed the jump lines at 122m and 152m.
J.T.G. went in on Saturday to check the lines. Returning on Sunday with G.W.C. he went to the 550m mark and tied on. Within 5m he found himself in another blind alley, this time at -16m. The way on must be shortly before the end, probably to the left, where the passage rises to -9m. On the way back the passage between 550 and 475 m was surveyed. It is generally at -16m and has a prominent chert band as its roof. Total dive time was 1 hour and 25 minutes.
The end of Nidd Heads is now at the limit of twin 2548l bottles. Staging will be required, if further progress is to be made. | <urn:uuid:e6497882-9b11-422d-98e6-642274fa1f66> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cucc.survex.com/jnl/cdg/nh.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970792 | 2,380 | 2.40625 | 2 |
Children too sick to go to school are still getting an education--thanks to robots in the classroom that transmit lessons back to the student.
Stepan Supin, 12, of Moscow has been battling leukemia for two years, and his immune system is so weak he can't leave home. However, telepresence technology allows him to go to school via remote-controlled robot.
The R.BOT 100 was developed by Moscow's 3Detection Labs several years ago, and it's been helping Stepan study history, geography, and languages since September.
Priced at roughly $3,000, the R.BOT 100 moves around on a wheeled base and has a display, Web cam, microphone, speakers, and an Internet link so Stepan can interact with his classmates and teacher.
"I can change the robot's speed, to go slower or faster. I can move his head to look left or right. I really feel as if I am in the classroom," Stepan told Australia's Herald Sun.
In Texas, Lyndon Baty also goes to school through a robot surrogate. He suffers from polycystic kidney disease and has a severely impaired immune system, which confines him to home.
Lyndon attends class with the Vgo telepresence robot, which was released last year by Vgo Communications. With two-way video, audio, and a 10-hour battery, Vgo lets Lyndon roam around the halls of Knox City High School and interact with other students (see the video below).
"I never thought when I was sick that I would ever have any interaction, much less this kind. It is just like I am there in the classroom," Lyndon said. … Read more | <urn:uuid:a75bcd16-b939-4905-b849-4037829bb260> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.cnet.com/8300-5_3-0-4.html?keyword=russia | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980714 | 351 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Impressive impact factors prove that BioMed Central's Open Access journals are high quality and widely read and cited. Journals published by BioMed Central have again received impact factors that compare well with equivalent subscription titles, it was announced today, with five titles in the top five of their specialty. The high impact factors for these journals affirm that they are respected by researchers, and are fast becoming the place for authors to submit important research findings.
Five journals published by BioMed Central received their first impact factors this year. BMC Bioinformatics, with an impact factor of 5.42, has reinforced its reputation as one of the top journals in its field. Launched in 2000, it is the second highest ranked bioinformatics journal, and already has an impact factor comparable to that of Bioinformatics (5.74), the most established journal in the field, which has been publishing for more than two decades and is supported by a major society. Read the rest of the article...
Note: If you'd like to find out what the Impact Factor for a given journal is, use the Journal Citation Reports. The data for 2004 has just been added to JCR.
Posted by at June 23, 2005 10:57 AM | <urn:uuid:c7c4dfd5-c700-475b-a01a-b03d6fc2a1a5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.library.illinois.edu/blog/scholcomm/archives/2005/06/open_access_jou.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975896 | 249 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Almeroth-Williams, Thomas (2010) City of Beasts: The Impact of Quadrupeds in Hanoverian London. MA by research thesis, University of York.
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK: England & Wales.
In his classic study, Man and the Natural World (1983), Keith Thomas assumed and asserted that by 1800 the inhabitants of English cities, and particularly London, had become largely alienated from animal life. This study challenges this assumption by exploring the scale and impact of quadruped mammalian life in London during the period, 1714–1837. My research represents a deliberate shift in historical enquiry away from debates centred on the rise of kindness and humanitarianism, and towards the integration of animals into wider urban historiographies and a demonstration of how their presence shaped urban existence. My central aim is to highlight the power of animals to make profound and far-reaching changes in society, and specifically in the British metropolis. Much recent historiography has given particular attention to human cruelty to animals. Yet, the tendency to consider human-animal histories solely as narratives of abuse threatens not just to over-simplify complex phenomena but also to seriously underestimate the role of animals in society. I seek to redress this imbalance by re-asserting the significance of animal technologies and by placing animals at the centre of eighteenth-century urban, social and cultural histories. I begin by considering the scale and contribution of cattle and horses to the social and commercial life of the metropolis as well as their impact on the construction and use of the built environment. I then turn to the disruptive influence of animals and the challenge of ‘commanding’ the recalcitrant beast, by examining the problem of the ‘over-drove’ ox and of equine traffic accidents.
|Item Type:||Thesis (MA by research)|
|Department:||The University of York > History (York)|
|Deposited By:||Mr Thomas Almeroth-Williams|
|Deposited On:||16 Feb 2011 12:54|
|Last Modified:||16 Feb 2011 12:54|
Repository Staff Only: item control page | <urn:uuid:b1fa1d60-cff7-4fa8-8fd5-b60020397d7d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/1234/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908403 | 455 | 2.078125 | 2 |
The year is 1910, and Henry Ford’s Model T is rolling off the assembly line. It soon will join some 8,000 other automobiles currently in the U.S., motoring along at a brisk pace of 10 mph along 144 miles of paved roads – and “gassing up” at the local druggist.
Fast forward 100+ years, and today’s innovation is no less thought-provoking. Along with cars run on electric power in an effort to save resources and the environment, consumer products fueled by market research are hitting the streets in record pace. This year alone will see such creations as microwave popcorn that opens into a self-contained serving bowl, a “super cleaning” skin cleansing system that scrubs away dead skin and dirt, and a new, hyper-foam toothpaste that cleans teeth amid a shampoo-like foam.
Then as now, research-driven innovation drives the U.S. marketplace. After a year or recession-fueled stagnation, new product introductions in the U.S. hit 40,820 in 2010, up over 2,000 from 38,738 the year prior, notes research firm Mintel.
The trend points to “a ramp-up in risk taking,” Tom Vierhile, director of product launch analytics at researcher Datamonitor, told USAToday.
But what drives innovation? Simplicity, utility and expediency – sustained over time. Innovation is not a one-time “Eureka!” moment, but is entrenched in a company’s culture.
For example, Mr. Ford’s vision lives to this day; Ford was the one U.S. automaker that declined government bail-out money. Today, instead of focusing on repayment, the company is creating cars infused with amenities customers want – like iPod ports, voice-driven commands and innovative styling, all while keeping price and value in mind.
Whether Henry Ford or his progeny generations later, innovation has delivered on several key mandates. It…
… goes against conventional thinking. To create his assembly line, Henry Ford looked beyond traditional handcrafting assembly methods to a manufacturing process where “interchangeable parts were added a product in a sequential manner using optimally planned logistics to create a finished product much faster,” Wikipedia says. His work even led to dramatic social ramifications borne of mass production – ranging from higher wages for his workers to affordability of his vehicles.
… is borne from really listening to the customer. Customers were clamoring for vehicles, yet prices were too high. Mass production lowered costs
… incorporate key innovation points, like creating and sustaining innovation, fostering a healthy new product development process, and creating value amid a culture of observation, measurement and accountability.
As the economy gains momentum toward recovery – like a Ford Model T rolling off the assembly line – Chief Innovation Officers and new product development managers alike will be challenged to ensure innovation remains part of the company’s culture and product line. | <urn:uuid:f60b828e-65c1-44e9-8fec-edc0062d2b6f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.vistage.com/business-innovation/innovation-that-withstands-the-test-of-time-and-timeliness/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945484 | 620 | 2.21875 | 2 |
Nearly a decade later, Katie broached the subject with her mother, who was already a mother of three, ages 28, 21 and 14. Judy replied immediately, "Of course!"
But good intentions are one thing. Good health, luck and blessings are quite another.
"My first concern was if I would be allowed to be a surrogate," Judy recalled. "Otherwise, we have been preparing ourselves since Katie was 18."
Judy consulted with Dr. Nancy Corsbie at Chicago IVF Advanced Reproductive Health Centers, where she was told it shouldn't be a concern that she was midway through menopause.
"What I and many other women do not know is that a woman's uterus never ages," Judy noted.
A rigorous process
Still, she had to undergo a complete physical, including the examination of the internal linings of her uterus, and also a psychiatric evaluation. Preparations for pregnancy included several different hormone treatments to prepare her uterus for in vitro fertilization, a process where egg cells are fertilized by sperm outside the body.
Katie also had to undergo hormone treatments, which caused her ovaries to mass produce fertile eggs. She was monitored frequently with ultrasounds and blood work to see when they were ready to be harvested.
After her embryos were harvested, specialists put them each in a Petri dish with the sperm and waited three days for them to fertilize and grow. Embryos are graded based on the number and quality of the cells. An "A8" is the best grade you can get.
"We were lucky that both times we harvested, I produced a good amount of eggs and our day-three embryos were high quality," Katie recalled.
But they were not so lucky with the results at the University of Chicago Center for Reproductive Medicine & Infertility.
"The lowest point of all of this for me was when Mom went in for the second implant at the University of Chicago," Katie said. "I got a call from the doctor telling me all of our eight frozen embryos didn't make it through the freezing-thawing process."
Katie, her husband and her mother thought with 10 "great embryos" they would have at least a couple of chances for the procedure to work. The cost of IVF can cost thousands of dollars and their insurance didn't cover it.
"I was prepared for the implant to not take, but I was not prepared for all of our second, third, and fourth chances to be lost in an instant."
However, after a little coaxing from her mother, and more money from her husband's re-enlistment bonus, they were able to give it another try. But this time with a different doctor in Virginia Beach, at the New Hope Center, which boasts a high success rate.
Judy couldn't wait for the blood test results 10 days later, so she took a home pregnancy test. The test came back positive.
"That was the highest point so far," Judy said.
The in vitro fertilization worked, the stars aligned, and the gods blessed them. Judy became pregnant in July with her daughter's baby -- and her first grandchild. Her due date is April 18.
"I give the New Hope Center all the credit. There is a reason why the government reports show them with such a high success rate," Judy said. "This is THE most important thing in my life. And we must never forget about the power of prayer."
Judy and her husband relayed the wonderful news to Katie and Chris via Skype, despite previously agreeing to keep it a secret.
"Patience is not really her thing," Katie joked. "The wait was killing her. She wanted this so badly for us."
I asked Judy if it seems strange or unnatural that her first grandchild will be coming from her own body.
"It doesn't seem to be weird at all," she replied. "I have been hopeful for this for over 10 years. I am so thankful. This is God's gift."
People's reaction to the, admittedly, unusual pregnancy has been very positive, although initially it was a serious concern to Judy. Her husband, Rob, has been on board since day one.
"He has known my heartfelt intentions for many years," Judy said. | <urn:uuid:bd8d14aa-a490-4a79-b4c8-d2d7738b612d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.southbendtribune.com/2011-04-08/news/29399552_1_katie-uterus-fertilization | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987872 | 878 | 1.75 | 2 |
|Changing the World|
Changing the World is also available in book form through the order page. The book contains the Vision of A Circle Way Village as well as reprinted articles from the Talking Stick newsletter form 1993-2006 that helped to form the vision.
A Vision of a Circle Way Village
By Manitonquat (Medicine Story)
What are we going to do? Nobody likes the world as it is: violence, drugs, alienation, oppression, poverty, hunger, injustice, corruption, broken families and communities, pollution, environmental degradation – I could go on, but, you know.
So what are we going to do?
A lot of people say, “Nothing. It’s hopeless. The ordinary person is powerless. So I’m just looking out for me and mine. Get what I can, live as well as I can, and don’t worry too much about what happens to the rest of the world.”
Then there are the activists. The ones that take on one or more pieces of what’s wrong and try to affect change by opposition, demonstrations, marches, civil disobedience, confrontation for peace, the environment, civil and economic justice. Sometimes it’s effective and things shift a little, and there’s a comradeship of solidarity that feels good.
Others prefer to work within the system. By infiltrating and spreading human values in government, business, education, medicine, and so on, making friendly connections, one can make small changes where one lives and works.
These changes all seem so small and scattered in the vast complex of what’s wrong. But very few people still think that revolution would fix anything. Two centuries of revolutionary responses have not helped, and sometimes made things worse.
The fact is no one could construct a theory that would work for every person in every society now and into the future. I don’t have the answer to the world’s problems. But we do. There’s a saying, “None of us is as smart as all of us.” Broad studies of human societies show us that they are most human, most considerate and beneficial to all, when they are egalitarian, when deliberation and decision-making are distributed most equally. When power becomes concentrated in an individual or a special group oppression and injustice appear and grow.
As Lord Acton observed, power corrupts, and only the true equality of small groups, where there is time and care for each person to be heard, can protect our communities from that corruption. From the beginning civilized societies were corrupt, for instance, by the exclusion of the female half of the population, power resting only in the male, further narrowed to the warrior and the wealthy. The system of what is called checks and balances has failed to address this unequal distribution of power to the wealthy.
True democracy does not exist in any of the nations of the world, because of size and the influence of wealth. But it has existed in those tribal societies where each person has an equal voice, where communities are small enough for people to know and hear each one.
Is it possible for a planet of more than six billion people to have economic, political, cultural and spiritual organization based on units small enough to secure such a true democracy, maintaining equality and the common values of each community, yet cooperating in larger projects and organization for a greater good globally?
As a tribal person who has experienced living in a variety of tribal communities and who has studied the evolution of human society, I have come to the conclusion that it is possible for humanity to achieve a society that is truly egalitarian and enhances the creativity, contentment, closeness and love of every member. I see indications of that in all the work I have done with circles and communities for the past forty years.
What follows is my own personal conception and vision of how that might be achieved. I offer it as part of our common search to make our lives, the lives of the coming generations, and that of the Earth and our fellow creature species, better, healthier, safer and happier.
I have chosen to present this vision in a compact version, as a visit to a village of the future. It is a see I hope may find fertile ground in our heart and mind to grow into your own vision, to share and deep us moving forward together.
I intend to begin to nurture this seed with others as soon as we may find a spot to begin our first Circle Way Village. It will not develop just like this vision, because it will be the product of all the different people who build it. But I believe the basic human principles behind it are ones to which most will find agreement. | <urn:uuid:6a7ac1b7-909f-4ad7-a065-974f9e84d6bd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.circleway.org/articles/circlewayvision.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960817 | 964 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Book Description: Ablation is destruction of tissue function and is an important form of therapy for many conditions. This book describes the design of probes, generators, and other devices to accomplish ablation and describes the procedures that optimize therapeutic effect. * Describes ablation modalities: radio frequency, cryo, microwave, ultrasonic, laser and chemical ablation. * Explains how to perform imaging, mapping and guidance during ablation. * Covers the many applications for ablation. * Describes how to measure tissue physical parameters necessary for computer modeling of ablation. * Covers tissue regrowth, computer modeling, probes, generators, regulatory requirements, and manufacturers. | <urn:uuid:bd863fd5-2a33-4442-a9be-832080362fec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.campusbooks.com/books/professional-technical/engineering/9780471699477__.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907496 | 134 | 2 | 2 |
Foundation School Program (FSP)
The Foundation School Program (FSP) is the primary source of state funding for Texas school districts. The program is administered by the Texas Education Agency (TEA). The FSP, in its current form, is meant to ensure that all school districts, regardless of property wealth, receive "substantially equal access to similar revenue per student at similar tax effort."
School Finance Topics
For more information, contact:
Office of School Finance
Page last modified on 11/26/2012 08:57:58 AM. | <urn:uuid:92ae0e51-907f-4ebd-835c-0fe644dbc9ec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=7721&menu_id=645&menu_id2=789&ekfxmen_noscript=1&ekfxmensel=e9f6cb525_645_717 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920588 | 115 | 2.125 | 2 |
The waters of the picturesque Pihovec Stream rise from a small spring located below the old road from Zagrad to Vetrni vrh that then continues onward to Kum Mountain, which is – according to oral tradition – believed to be standing on three rocky legs with a lake beneath them. This assumption is most likely based on an ancient belief, upon which a water reservoir is hidden inside every mountain.
The lake/reservoir theory is backed up by some old-time legends. According to one, a piece of land had once fallen into the lake in the Mrak Valley in Cimerno. According to another, a pair of oxen had once fallen into some cave in Skofja Riza. The yoke (das Joch) of the first ox was later found at the spring of Pihovec Stream in Zagrad and the yoke of the second ox was found on the opposite side of Kum Mountain at the Mitovski Fall near Trbovlje.
The third legend relates directly to the Pihovec Stream. According to it, a huge rock on the inner side of the spring serves as a natural dam or a wedge (der Keil) that prevents the outbreak of large quantities of water.
Legends aside, the Pihovec Stream is actually a very small stream, which flows into Sopota less than a kilometer from its spring.
Find out more about Radece at http://www.ktrc.si
ktrc-kulturno turistični rekreacijski center Radeče
Ulica Milana Majcna 1
Free of charge
GPS Northing (N) : 46,0738
GPS Easting (E) : 15,1021 | <urn:uuid:e3c21736-64ce-40aa-9536-9d9809024f12> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.slovenia.info/?reka_potok=9130&lng=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939054 | 372 | 2.90625 | 3 |
When it comes to your money, you should know where you are, where you’re going, and how you’ll get there. This all starts with the dreaded B-word, BUDGET. The very mention of the word budget sets off a feeling of confinement, restriction, limitation and loss of control. I admit there is a sense of confinement, restriction, and limitation associated with managing money—but it has nothing to do with a budget. What confines, restricts and limits us is the amount of money we make. Our income! So if you want to spend more, have more, and save more without sacrificing your lifestyle, you simply need to make more. A more formal definition of a budget would be a plan for spending, saving, and investing money. The importance of making a budget and sticking to it is to save for future goals while meeting present obligations.
Nobody wants to be tied down and confined—especially when it comes to our money. Most of us hold the position that it’s my money and I’m going to do as I please. You showed up to work, bust your butt and earned it. I’m with you—do as you please! Just do it on purpose with a plan that includes your needs, goals, desires, responsibilities, and commitments. Otherwise doing what pleases you today without planning can be the catalyst for what will destroy you tomorrow—financially speaking.
Now that we have a basic understanding of why a budget is important, how do we know that our budget is something that needs to be followed or something that needs to be changed. If you’re barely making it month to month or have “too much month left at the end of your money”, the telltale signs are evident—SOMETHING HAS TO CHANGE. But what is that something? How do you quickly identify the area in your budget that’s causing you problems? What if the telltale signs are not so apparent? You pay your bills on time each and every month. You have a few dollars left after the dust settles. Are you moving in the right direction? You manage to get the numbers to balance, but are you sacrificing your children’s college fund, your retirement plan, your entertainment and recreational activity or tithing? If you’re currently doing well financially, wouldn’t you like to do better? A healthy budget recognizes that there are a lot of things we need, want, and desire in life—all of which have a price tag attached to them. A healthy budget does not limit or restrict you to pursue the things you desire in life. It simply helps you to understand that money is finite. There’s only so much of it that will flow through our hands and we have to make the most of it.
I’ve compiled some budget percentage guidelines that will help guide you to ensure that as you spend money and obligate yourself to payments, you have considered that there are other things you want to do in life that requires money. These budget percentage guidelines will ensure that you’re not overspending or under funding a particular category.
•Child Care/School— 5-10%
These are guidelines and are not the universal standard. They are flexible and can be manipulated to line up with your priorities. The important thing to understand as you slice your money pie is that a bigger slice in one category will require a smaller slice in another category. For example, you can cheat up on the housing category allocating 40-percent of your income as long as you reduce your transportation category down to 5-percent.
Here’s how it works. You want to total the amount of money you bring home in your paycheck each month. We’re only concerned with our take home pay (net income) since what we take home in our paycheck is the only thing we can spend. From there you want to look at what you’re currently spending on a particular category. To calculate the percentage of a specific budget category, all you have to do is divide the amount budgeted for that category by your net income. For example, let’s assume that your net income is $2,000 per month. Each and every month you bring home about $2,000. Let’s further assume that your house payment is $900 per month, your car payment is $450 per month and your debts (personal loans and credit cards) are $300 per month. By dividing housing payment of $900 into your net income of $2,000 you calculate housing to equal 45 percent of your net income. By dividing car payment of $450 into your net income of $2,000, you calculate transportation to be 23 percent of your net income. By dividing your debt payment of $300 per month, you calculate debt to be 15 percent of your net income. By comparing these percentages to budget percentage guidelines, you see that you’re over spending in each in every category. By adding up the percentages in these categories you’ll see that housing, car and debt accounts for 83 percent of your net income and you still have to buy food and pay utilities among other things. This leaves very little if any for tithing, savings, entertainment and other things you aspire to do with money.
Leave it to me to use an example that paints a grim picture. My example is a close depiction of what’s taking place in most households. They camouflage their reality by using credit to finance the rest of their lifestyle. Like money, credit is finite. At some point you’ll max out your credit and be forced to accept the wisdom in the budget percentage guidelines. I’d rather heed the advice now and begin to sculpt my budget to align with my priorities, values and goals and get the biggest bang for my buck.
(Mortgage and Money Coach Damon Carr is the owner of ACE Financial. Damon can be reached at 412-856-1183.)
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- 'Star Trek's' Zoe Saldana on racism: 'I'm not going to talk about it' (2) | <urn:uuid:40c836c1-f704-4d53-a15a-011410f09336> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newpittsburghcourieronline.com/?option=com_content&view=article&id=8124:budget-sculpting&catid=41:business&Itemid=37&fontstyle=f-larger | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938594 | 1,345 | 2.28125 | 2 |
What the Ancients Did for Us
General Information
Step back in time to discover how the world was shaped by the ancient Chinese, the Mesopotamians, the Arabs and even the Ancient Britons. Adam Hart-Davis presents an epic history of ancient inventions and is joined by his team of roving reporters on the move around the globe as they delve into the beginnings of civilization.
Who invented beer, bread and the wheel? How did the Egyptians align the pyramids so accurately? Did you know the ancient Greeks measured the circumference of the earth, invented robots and the first computer?
This epic new series begins in the Middle East with a set of amazing inventions from The Islamic World and the series finishes with the Britons. Along the way we will meet the Chinese, the Aztecs, Maya & Incas, the Romans, the Indians, the Mesopotamians, the Egyptians, the Greeks.
Nine programmes examining the military, technological, social, architectural and medical advances of each era and its peoples, What the Ancients Did for Us traces some of the defining moments in history and the key inventions that shaped our world today.
The Islamic World
In this first part of an exciting new series, Adam Hart-Davis builds and tests some of the most extraordinary inventions from the early Islamic World. From the palaces of the Alhambra in Spain to the crowded souks of Cairo in Egypt, roving reporter Amani Zain tells us the stories behind the golden age of Islamic discovery. From soap to torpedoes, from water pumps to windmills, Adam shows us the lasting effect the Islamic world has left on the technology we use today.
The Chinese
China is the fastest growing economy on earth. One in four of every person on the planet is Chinese, and Shanghai is six times the size of London, offering a home to twenty million people. But while China is developing rapidly now, the Chinese civilisation is one of the oldest surviving in the world.
The ancient Chinese thought they were at the centre of universe. Cut off from the rest of the world for centuries the Chinese developed a unique culture, and made many technological, scientific and artistic advances long before the West.
Programme two of What The Ancients Did For Us explores this amazing country and the inventions of these ingenious people. The people who gave us the world's first fast food including what we call pasta - the noodle. To pay for this delicacy, they came up with paper money, printing with moveable type and a unified system of weights and measures. To move all their goods they invented canals, and the unique segmented arched bridge. To protect their new borders they discovered gunpowder, exploding bombs, paper armour, flamethrowers and the kite. To advance their culture they made the first seismograph and highly efficient double action piston bellow. For pure beauty they gave spun silk, created the firework and lacquer - the world's first plastic. And, finally, for fun they gave us the beautiful game � football.
The Aztecs, Maya and Incas
These three peoples lived in a vast area of modern-day Central and South America which incorporates coastal strips, hot and steamy jungles, savannah grassland and cold windy highlands. Though they spoke different languages, they had broadly similar cultures and they worshipped many of the same gods (although they gave them different names). They all used digging sticks, ate maize and beans, respected the number 13 and practised human sacrifice. Interestingly, although they developed the wheel as a toy, for some reason they didn't adapt it for other purposes.
The Aztecs built their settlement in a swamp in what is now Mexico City and when the Spanish arrived they thought it more spectacular than Venice. The Aztecs were fantastic warriors but they were also excellent farmers: because they had stumbled on hydroponics, their floating fields produced an abundance of nutrients in the food they were growing.
The Mayas built some of the tallest buildings of the ancient world � without the use of the wheel, or even horses. The pyramid El Castillo in Chichen Itza is the Mayan calendar, literally set in stone. Each staircase has 91 steps which, when added to the single step at the main entrance to the temple, totals 365 steps. At sunset on the spring equinox, the great serpents' heads at the foot of the main staircase are joined to their tails by a "body" of shadow. They developed a very accurate calendar that could predict solar and lunar eclipses, transits of Venus and - most importantly - the coming of the rains and the time to plant.
The Romans
Rome was founded on the banks of the Tiber in 753 BC and for a thousand years the western world was ruled from within its walls. To support this vast Empire the Romans created complex infrastructure and used the techniques of mass production, centuries before the industrial revolution. In this programme Adam Hart-Davis will find out how the Romans managed to do so much, so long ago and discover just what the Romans did for us.
For a start they created the first professional, salaried army and invented fearsome war machines. To move around the Empire they constructed thousands of miles of roads � and we find out what it actually takes to build one of these.
They built amphitheatres and race tracks and in the process brought gladiatorial games and equine sport to every corner of their empire.
They pioneered the mass production of glass and double glazing, and created enormous aqueducts that fed water from distant sources into the heart of their cities and bath houses, created clever heating systems, and flushing toilets. They produced vast quantities of marble veneer to clad their cities and recent evidence suggests they cut the stone using multiple bladed water-powered saws. To move such heavy material they constructed cranes and invented the first ball-bearings.
But perhaps their one invention that has had the biggest impact on the modern world more than anything else is concrete, they used it everywhere from houses to bridges, (it would set hard under water), and without it they couldn't have built the Pantheon and its vast domed roof � unsurpassed in size until the 19th century.
The Indians
India is one of the oldest and richest civilizations in the world. It is home to the world's first planned cities, where every house had its own bathroom and toilet five thousand years ago. The Ancient Indians have not only given us yoga, meditation and complementary medicines, but they have furthered our knowledge of science, maths - and invented Chaturanga, which became the game of chess.
According to Albert Einstein, they "taught us how to count", as they invented the numbers 1-9 and 'zero', without which there would be no computers or digital age. Unfairly we call this system of counting Arabic numbers - a misplaced credit.
In 1790 the Indians defeated the British Army in the battle of Pollilur with a secret invention � the rocket. The British eventually stole the idea and used it against Napoleon's fleet. And so what Ancients episode would be complete without obligatory demonstrations of ancient techniques for making explosions from Adam and "Master Craftsman Marty Jopson"? This episode is not incomplete in this way.
The Mesopotamians
Who kicked off civilisation? Was it the Egyptians, the Greeks or the Romans? Well, actually, none of them did. Human history began in the great alluvial plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, with its rich and immensely fertile soil: a land known as Mesopotamia. The people that dwelled here eight thousand years ago had learned to irrigate the land with canals and ditches, and were keen farmers. From this came plenty, which relieved man of the need to fight for survival. The Assyrian, Babylonian and Sumerian civilisations flourished here in an area stretching from modern Turkey, to western Syria, and Iraq.
But what did they do for us? For a start, they invented writing, with the oldest book, the epic of 'Gilgamesh', written around 4,500 years ago. They also gave us the first written laws - apparently to restrain 'drunkenness' in the population; a side effect of another of their innovations, beer.
They invented brick, which they produced in millions to build the first cities and their 'Ziggurat' temples. In warfare they gave us the first professional army and invented the tank or siege engine, and it was here that the wheel was invented; and then the chariot in 4,000 BC.
They observed the movement of the stars, and created the Zodiac, thereby being responsible for both astrology and astronomy.
The list goes on � the reed boat and the sail, glass blowing... They even came up with the electric battery, although no one is quite sure what they did with it.
Hermione Cockburn is back as roving reporter to seek out the cradle of civilization.
The Egyptians
Egypt became a unified country five thousand years ago and - until the arrival of Alexander the Great in 332 BC - remained a fiercely independent land with its own very distinctive art, religion and culture. Egypt was the superpower of its day and her kings were treated as demigods throughout the Mediterranean world � but what did they do for us?
Trying to control the flood water of the Nile, the Egyptians built the first dam, a huge undertaking which unfortunately didn't survive a severe flash flood.
Technology and tool-making are high up on the list of Egyptian inventiveness. To speed up the smelting of bronze they invented the foot bellows and devised the multiple headed drill � a drill that could cut through at least three beads at the same time.
With royalty in mind they gave us the wig, make-up and wonderful clothing, and to keep all this safe they came up with the first lock. To pass the time of day they invented fishing as a hobby and the folding stool to sit on whilst waiting for that bite.
And last but not least the Egyptians liked to keep meticulous records and invented paper from the papyrus plant. It's a wonderful material with long fibres and can also be used for basketry, sandals and rope.
The lovely Amani Zain returns for her third stint as roving reporter.
The Greeks
The ancient Greek civilisation flourished for about a thousand years, not as a unified country but rather as a loose association of city states, both on the mainland of Greece and elsewhere around the Mediterranean. The philosopher Plato described the states as being like a series of frogs sitting around a pond. Although the Greeks drew on the ideas of various earlier civilisations, they were the people who, more than any other, handed down to us the foundations of our democracy, our notions of ethics and justice, our science, our mathematics and our music.
But perhaps their most amazing invention is the first known computer. This was a small box stuffed with cogs and moving parts all skilfully made and by turning a handle it would display the movements of planets to an astonishing degree of accuracy -in fact it was a planetarium.
Hermione Cockburn gets the Adam "finger towards the horizon" treatment this week.
The Britons
A lot of people still think that we were just woad-covered savages before the Romans came along. Well, we weren't - firstly we weren't covered in woad but dressed in a rather elegant new-fangled invention - trousers; more importantly we were organised, spiritual, technologically advanced Brits with European business connections � all without towns and cities or being able to read and write!
This programme shows the evolution of the people of Britain from Stone Age hunters to Iron Age warriors. From early people who used animal bone picks to dig mines to a society skilled in the use of metallurgy, bronze, iron and gold. From a nomadic existence to a society organised into tribes with their own coinage and identities. From farmers using simple wooden ploughs to ferocious warriors driving thousands of chariots and repulsing the invading Roman army of Julius Caesar.
Technical Specs
- Video Codec: DivX 5.21
- Video Bitrate: 1500
- Video Resolution: 700x408
- Audio Codec: MPEG-1 Layer 3
- Audio BitRate: 128kb/s
- Audio Channels: 2
- RunTime Per Part: 57:51
- Number Of Parts: 9
- Ripped by Bosmon
Release Post
- MVGroup.org (torrent)
- Norsk EselForum.org
- Phantom P2P.com
Official Website
Related Documentaries
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ed2k Links
What.The.Ancients.Did.For.Us.1of9.The.Islamic.World.(Adam.Hart-Davies).DVB-DivX 5.21.avi (671.84 Mb)
What.The.Ancients.Did.For.Us.2of9.The.Chinese.(Adam.Hart-Davis).DVB-DivX 5.21.avi (700.19 Mb)
What.The.Ancients.Did.For.Us.3of9.The.Aztecs.and.Incas.(Adam.Hart-Davis).DVB-DivX 5.21.avi (700.20 Mb)
What.The.Ancients.Did.For.Us.4of9.The.Romans.(Adam.Hart-Davis).DVB-DivX 5.21.avi (700.24 Mb)
What.The.Ancients.Did.For.Us.5of9.The.Indians.(Adam.Hart-Davis).DVB-DivX 5.21.avi (700.28 Mb)
What.The.Ancients.Did.For.Us.6of9.The.Mesopotamians.(Adam.Hart-Davis).DVB-DivX 5.21.avi (700.27 Mb)
What.The.Ancients.Did.For.Us.7of9.The.Egyptians.(Adam.Hart-Davis).DVB-DivX 5.21.avi (700.26 Mb)
What.The.Ancients.Did.For.Us.8of9.The.Greeks.(Adam.Hart-Davis).DVB-DivX 5.21.avi (700.33 Mb)
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In the blink of an eye, waters can sweep away villages, winds can tear through communities, avalanches can bury sleepy mountain towns and the earth can quiver, crippling entire regions.
Earthquake, windstorm, avalanche and flood: four of nature’s most awesome weapons that unleash fury on people and structures are re-created in NGC’s four-part series Forecast: Disaster. Host Ben Fogle teams with leading experts and scientists in each episode to test the devastating science behind some of nature’s most catastrophic forces.
Striking entire regions with no warning, earthquakes devastate infrastructures and leave populations crippled. High-speed winds from tornadoes turn everyday debris in to objects of destruction, while storm surges from hurricanes have engulfed entire cities. And avalanches, often man-made, bury cozy mountain villages while ice storms leave millions of people without power and water.
But what is the science behind these acts of God, and can Mother Nature be recreated to find out? 3-D cameras are fitted to a purpose-built two-story house as weather conditions are reconstructed and tests carried out to demonstrate the catastrophic damage that extreme natural forces can cause in each episode. (Source:
National Geographic Channel)
No votes yet | <urn:uuid:75df0a1b-4170-4878-9fbf-c80faf4a0ceb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tvrage.com/shows/id-32849?veid=1065221049&evote=9 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922363 | 260 | 2.453125 | 2 |
A is for Aleph. B is for Beit. G is for Gimel...
When I was a child, Hebrew was beaten into me by a series of well-meaning teachers. Upon reflection, they were probably my first foray into hand-lettering type. Sadly, the letters stuck, but comprehension of the words peeled away past my teenage years. I have always had a nagging thought in the back of my head that if I’d seen a clearer historical thread between Hebrew and modern English, I would have better retained the language.
Shapes for Sounds, a lovingly crafted book by Timothy Donaldson and published by Mark Batty, explores the birth and maturation of the Latin alphabet in both written and spoken mediums across the whole of Europe and the Middle East, and so much more. It clearly demonstrates the path from the first recorded alphabets all the way to our native tongue of English through the lens of my first love as a designer: typography.
Read my full review of Shapes for Sounds at The Designer's Review of Books | <urn:uuid:d23b3f36-865d-455d-9c66-f5a6b3619418> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://changeorder.typepad.com/weblog/2008/12/book-review-shapes-for-sounds-by-timothy-donaldson.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973391 | 219 | 2.078125 | 2 |
This is probably par for the course as pop culture goes, but must it be given any academic or even social legitimacy?
In a report titled White House Fantasy - Women dream of sex with prez that appeared in the New York Times News Service, Judith Warner, after a couple of chance anecdotes about dreams of the President, including her own, decided this could be national trend. After sending out emails, she came to the hey, presto! conclusion that it was indeed a trend. People were dreaming about O-ing with Obama, and it included degrees of guilt regarding his wife Michelle. (Dreams have morals?)
It is a bit intriguing that no one had dreams about sex with Bill Clinton when he was in office. This sort of reeks of a dumbing down of the Presidential candidate. Do not forget there were several analyses about how women dreamed about pop singer Madonna. That was Barbie-in-hardware-store-stopping-by-for-some-sublimity-stuff.
The Obama fantasy is a bit more uptown girl trying to be do-gooder. It’s a trip down the yo mamma denial in full play. I do not agree with the writer’s further analysis:
I understood perfectly where these cozy dreams of easy familiarity came from. It was that sense so many people share of having a very immediate connection to Barack Obama, whether they’re black or biracial, or children of single parents or self-made strivers; or they’re lawyers or community organizers or Ivy League graduates.
Isn’t easy familiarity more likely with those that truly changed either the course of events or were doing ornery things? How many people are involved in community work, are lawyers and have studied at Ivy League Universities? Did anyone ever hear about dreams of Abe Lincoln, who did a lot to free the slaves, or Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer, or at a ‘green’ pinch, Al Gore? (If identification and an element of the Stockholm Syndrome prevail, then why not Thomas Jefferson for his nubile slave girl-mistress Sally Hemmings?)
Why are the underdogs left out of the dream machine? This is about power and the belief that they, the dreamers, have given it to him.
Take this example of a 62-year-old’s dream recounted by her daughter:
“Michelle had divorced Barack because he had become ‘too much of a star.’ He then married my mother, who was oh so proud to be the first lady.”
See? He cannot be too much of a star. They clothed the emperor and now Obama should be grateful that they let him create history or else he’d continue being a backroom idealist like Martin Luther King to be brought out for the fiery speeches and civil rights talk.
The other advantage is that the Obamas do not do what are atypically Black things. They fall in the safe zone of mainstream stereotypes. No one will dream about walking with Barack hand in hand down Harlem, will they?
Is this change or a ‘be our kind of man’ challenge? Wonder if anyone would sleep over this... | <urn:uuid:14d7a42a-1c7c-439d-8b69-ff9f7d1f14fc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://farzana-versey.blogspot.com/2009/02/did-you-dream-about-obama.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964947 | 661 | 1.523438 | 2 |
A simple notion drives the work of performance artist Stelarc: The human body is obsolete
He was born Stelios Arcadiou, but in 1972, the Cypriot-Australian performance artist legally changed his name to the more computer-like "Stelarc"—perhaps a more fitting name for someone who has devoted his career to exploring the unification of man and machine.
Known for his experimental body modification performance works that often incorporate robotics into his own body, Stelarc was a Principal Research Fellow in the Performance Arts Digital Research Unit at Nottingham Trent University in Nottingham, England, and is currently a visiting Professor in the School of Arts at Brunel University, West London.
In his work, Parasite: Event for Invaded and Involuntary Body, which was performed at the 1997 Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria, he connected electronic muscle stimulators all over his body, and allowed his physical movements to be controlled by people through the internet. Other performances have included a robotic third arm and a six-legged, spider-like pneumatic walking machine. In 2007, he had a cell-cultivated ear surgically attached to his left arm.
In the 2005 book Stelarc: The Monograph, editor Marquard Smith, the director of the Institute for Modern and Contemporary Culture at the University of Westminster, London, and founder and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Visual Culture, writes: "Working in the interface between the body and the machine, employing virtual reality, robotics, medical instruments, prosthetics, and the Internet, Stelarc's art includes physical acts that don't always look survivable—or, as science fiction novelist William Gibson puts it in his foreword, 'sometimes seem to include the possibility of terminality.'"
In one of the books essays, Arthur and Marilouise Kroker (Arthur is the Canada Research Chair in Technology, Culture and Theory and director of the Pacific Centre for Technology and Culture at the University of Victoria, and Marilouise is a senior research scholar at the University of Victoria) write:
"Like it or not, we have collectively already climbed out of the mechanical images of the body of the modern era into the genetically modified bodies of the present and future. Stelarc's performance of the genetically modified body is like a talisman guiding us to the consciousness of the body as a gene machine. We already reside within the architecture of Stelarc's artistic vision."
The name of their essay is "We Are All Stelarcs Now." And while we may not have a third ear implanted in our arms, just a quick survey of how we exist today gives credence to Stelarc's guiding concept: The human body is obsolete.
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In a statement, FDA Administrator Margaret A. Hamburg said she had decided the medication could be used safely by girls and women of all ages. But she added that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius had rejected the move. –Washington Post
Then came poor women in Washington, D.C.First it was Bart Stupak.
Now it’s Pres. Obama putting politics before science, while making Kathleen Sebelius the first H.H.S. secretary ever to overrule the F.D.A.
Mr. Obama didn’t get the message in 2010,when women split with Republicans, after winning their vote by 13 points in 2008. Now Pres. Obama has given progressive women a real reason not to vote for him, because he’s confirmed for the third time that what’s important to a majority of women in the Democratic Party isn’t important to him.
Obama’s continual war on our reproductive freedoms sends a message to organizations like Planned Parenthood, a group that’s been feckless since Pres. Obama came into office, with NARAL not much better. But they’ve got their own funding to worry about, which isn’t coming from the right, so what difference does it make if a poor or young woman has to pay more to get a doctor to prescribe medication that’s been approved by the F.D.A. as safe for women of all ages to be available over the counter? This hurts women in the 99%, upping the ante on their reproductive choices. More from the Post:
“We are outraged that this administration has let politics trump science,” said Kirsten Moore of the Reproductive Health Technologies Project, a Washington-based advocacy group. “There is no rationale for this move. This is unprecedented as evidenced by the commissioner’s own letter. Unbelievable.”
Susan F. Wood of George Washington University, who resigned from the FDA in 2005 because of delays in relaxing restrictions on Plan B, said she was “beyond stunned” by the decision.
“There is no rationale that can justify HHS reaching in and overturning the FDA on the decision about this safe and effective contraception,” Wood said. “I never thought I’d see this happen again.”
I’ve referred before to the chapter in my book, The Hillary Effect, that’s titled “Is Freedom Just for Men?” It’s detailed, taking on the right, including Sarah Palin, who trumpets “freedom,” just not for women, and also Michele Bachmann and the “baby Palins,” among others, including Leader Pelosi, for allowing the Catholic bishops into the conversation when health care legislation was being debated, as well as Pres. Obama for emboldening and then capitulating to the Bart Stupak contingent, which ended up codifying the Hyde Amendment into law (previously it was a budget item, voted on yearly). You may also remember this past April, when Obama caved to Speaker Boehner, this time again screwing poor women, doubling down in D.C. Hey, why not? They don’t vote, right? From Colbert King, as a refresher:
The budget deal that averted a federal government shutdown delivered a below-the-belt blow to local self-determination. Congress used the budget negotiations to attach riders that prevent locally raised tax dollars from being used for reproductive services for low-income District women. Another provision forced a federally funded school-voucher program on the city.
If that weren’t galling enough, President Obama threw the city under the bus and bought the deal, telling GOP House Speaker John Boehner, “John, I will give you D.C. abortion. I’m not happy about that.” Boo-hoo. Like hell.
That Pres. Obama has hit women again isn’t surprising. Pres. Obama is afraid Republicans will use his support for reproductive freedoms against him in the general election campaign. The right is anti-science, so Obama wants to prove he can be, too, when it’s convenient and the constituency being hit is also being squeezed, because Republicans would do worse. Never mind that this mentality is what inspires Pres. Obama and other Democrats like him to believe they’ve got nothing to lose, because women won’t dare bolt the Democratic Party.
So, get ready for Obama fans to tell you that it’s the correct decision, because young women under the age of consent don’t have rights, unless their parents say so, while the Bill O’Reilly contingent applaud Obama, as will conservatives and some independents, which is exactly what the White House wants to hear.
Obama and his fans will ignore how his decision impacts a healthy majority of the female population, especially women in rural areas and poor women, as well as others in the 99% hit hard by bad economic times, women who have lost their insurance. They’ll say it’s important to support Obama, because Republicans are worse.
The right’s argument is that it encourages early promiscuity and encourages men to prey on young girls. Men who victimize young girls don’t give two hoots about the Morning After pill or contraception, they’ll do it anyway. Teenage girls in today’s society are not the same as they were during the June Cleaver era, sexualized at younger ages than ever before. Preparedness and access to all SAFE and F.D.A. approved medicines is the only way we will prevent unwanted pregnancies.
Modern women would be better off if Mr. Obama would go back to voting “present.”
I wonder how Pres. Obama would like it if progressive women did that next November?
Taylor Marsh is the author of the new e-book, The Hillary Effect – Politics, Sexism and the Destiny of Loss, the view from a recovering partisan, chosen by Barnes and Noble as one of 4 books in the launch of “NOOK First” Featured Authors Selection. Marsh is a veteran political analyst and commentator. She has reported from the White House, been profiled in the Washington Post, The New Republic, and has been seen on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, CNN, MSNBC, Al Jazeera English and Al Jazeera Arabic, as well as on radio across the dial and on satellite, including the BBC. Marsh lives in the Washington, D.C. area. This column is cross posted from her new-media blog.
When Democrats congregate, some lawmakers are going to argue “why are we cannibalizing ourselves,” said a senior Democratic aide. “Plus, he’s not going anywhere, so we just look like a bunch of idiots.” – Democrats worry Anthony Weiner will hurt agenda
A bunch of idiots gets it exactly right.
When a leader targets one of her own she needs to hit him; on Rep. Anthony Weiner, Democratic minority leader Pelosi (and DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz) missed by a mile. It’s not Debbie Wasserman Shultz’s place to tell Mr. Weiner to focus on his “well being” or his family. Pelosi and Wasserman Schultz played female moralists instead of remembering their job is as political party leaders, something the men don’t forget.
As I wrote this weekend, if Democrats want a real disaster all they have to do is serve up an ethics investigation, with the results landing in the heat of the 2012 presidential race. Hoyer gets it, even as he clearly hopes Weiner will take one for the team who can’t force him to do anything.
Still, several House leaders — Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland, Assistant Democratic Leader Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson of Connecticut and Vice Chairman Xavier Becerra of California — pointedly did not join the choreographed team push. None of them has directly called for Weiner to resign, though Hoyer did say Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that he hopes “he would make that judgment.” – Politico
If Democratic leaders were smart, they are not, they would instead muster some discipline and a united front saying that Anthony Weiner’s personal challenges won’t keep seniors from losing Medicare. Weiner’s got a long journey to rehabilitate himself, but the Democrats job remains the same: We’re focused on the most important job we have and that’s standing up for protecting people from the Republican and Paul Ryan’s budget scheme, which threatens the safety net Americans have had since F.D.R.
It’s predictable Republicans will run ads using Weiner, but Democrats can answer those ads with the GOP’s greatest scandal hits, perhaps starting with Newt Gingrich and Rudy Giuliani or maybe Tom Delay, even David Vitter or Mark Foley. There are innumerable options.
As for messaging, the Democratic message for 2010 under Tim Kaine was a historic disaster. Pres. Obama didn’t help, because all he could muster was compromise and capitulation on economic message that further blew out the budget and has his 2012 road looking rougher than it has before, though certainly not impossible to traverse.
Whatever problems Democrats have with messaging aren’t Anthony Weiner’s fault, however infuriating he is as a distraction, though he’s an easy scapegoat.
The Democratic problem is that in the Obama era they can’t figure out what’s worth fighting for and won’t make a case for the Democratic alternative for all things Republican.
Say what you will about Anthony Weiner he never had that problem. As one of the most prominent grandstanding politicians for Democratic ideals, though his Middle East stance is appalling, Weiner knew there was no mileage in parroting Republican economic talking points or selling out people on health care, both of which got Democrats in the ditch they’re in today long before Weiner went wild on Twitter.
June 7th, 2011 marks the 45th anniversary of the landmark 1965 Supreme Court decision Griswold v. Connecticut, which legalized family planning and the right to individual privacy in family planning decisions. But nearly 50 years later, women in the United States can hardly find cause for celebration, because we are engaged in a full-on battle to maintain access to contraception. – Jodi Jacobson
There is no case that means more to modern women than Griswold v. Connecticut, at least that’s my take. The woman on the left in the picture is Estelle Griswold as she reads the news of the decision in the paper.
Jodi Jacobson has a terrific piece on Griswold‘s anniversary, drilling home the challenge women still have today in getting access to contraception. It’s something Margaret Sanger gave her life to so many years ago.
No one group is more responsible for the lack of reproductive health care, counseling and absence of full contraceptive availability than the Republican Party and their surrogates. The women of the Right who are against this basic public necessity are a disgrace.
That Speaker Pelosi and Pres. Obama helped Democrats like Rep. Stupak marginalize women’s freedoms in the health care bill was breaking faith with women who helped elect these officials. When Obama doubled down to take funding away from the women of Washington, D.C. he proved unworthy of the support we gave him in 2012.
To teach Democrats a lesson, putting a Republican in the White House would simply hurt more women. However, the economics of the times, which hits women very hard, has taken our eyes off reproductive health care to the economy. The sad truth is we’re not getting equal attention from either big party who’ll be hawking their policies for 2012 and promising the moon.
Don’t believe Obama or the Republican nominee.
Today, Republicans and some Democrats are attempting to circumvent what women (and every other American) won through this Supreme Court decision, by waging a war against female freedoms that is attempting to make us a prisoner of the states we live in.
Some day Americans will have to ask is freedom just for men? Because when you take away a woman’s right to privacy, which begins with the power to control her own body, you are making us unequal to males.
There are laws that come with Roe v. Wade that make women take responsibility in a way that puts the notion of “abortion on demand” down. That’s not what any intelligently mature female is asking. We all know we have restrictions, which I fully support.
Abortion is a legal, safe and an important reproductive health option that includes abortificients and other methods of stopping pregnancy. It is a woman’s legal right to make this decision without the interference of any bureaucrat, religious fanatic, or male legislator.
If you don’t want an abortion don’t have one.
If you get in a situation where you feel there is no other choice, don’t feel ashamed and don’t allow anyone to tell you it’s wrong, because you are the only one who knows.
It’s difficult, for some it’s tragic. For other women it’s a matter of personal survival.
Justice Earl Warren, appointed by Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower, was a great man and the Supreme Court, the Warren Court, he presided over helped make women equal, with Justice William O. Douglas writing the majority opinion. Justice Warren followed Thomas Jefferson’s idea of the U.S. Constitution to the letter.
“I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions, but laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.” – Thomas Jefferson (engraved on one wall of the Jefferson Memorial.)
Today the Republican Party and some Democrats are trying to undo Roe v. Wade, but what they really want to obliterate from U.S. history is Griswold.
Griswold was the Executive Director of the Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut. Both she and the Medical Director for the League gave information, instruction, and other medical advice to married couples concerning birth control. Griswold and her colleague were convicted under a Connecticut law which criminalized the provision of counselling, and other medical treatment, to married persons for purposes of preventing conception. Question:
Does the Constitution protect the right of marital privacy against state restrictions on a couple’s ability to be counseled in the use of contraceptives?
Conclusion: Though the Constitution does not explicitly protect a general right to privacy, the various guarantees within the Bill of Rights create penumbras, or zones, that establish a right to privacy. Together, the First, Third, Fourth, and Ninth Amendments, create a new constitutional right, the right to privacy in marital relations. The Connecticut statute conflicts with the exercise of this right and is therefore null and void. | <urn:uuid:b34f6b78-8dbe-4e76-abdd-227370febdd0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://taylormarsh.tumblr.com/tagged/Nancy-Pelosi | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954605 | 3,214 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Does this sound familiar? You try to gain attention to your business by running a smart campaign where you offer a sampling of your service for free - maybe it’s a free consultation or download - and the people who take you up on your offer enjoy it, but never come back for the paid service. Why?
Maybe they have gone on to someone similar to you for another free sampling? Maybe they feel they got exactly what they needed from the initial free service.
Maybe people have now come to expect to get something for nothing.
There is psychology involved in this. You have heard the saying “you get what you pay for”? What do you think people perceive they are getting when it is free? I think most of us assume that something that costs more must be worth more – we attribute expertise we may not even know about to the person who is charging higher than the other. This is a psychological effect called prestige pricing, which points to a strong correlation between perceived product quality and price. The higher the price the more likely customers are to perceive it has higher quality compared to a lower-priced product. According to psychologist Dr. Peter Shallard, “Being expensive cultivates an aura of expert and elite status”… “setting your price is the psychological equivalent of setting the value of YOU. Your life, your work, that thing you’ve poured your energy and soul into.” He recommends you ask customers who don’t want to pay your set value what they are comparing your price to; you and they may find it is not apples to apples. When Shallard first asked this question he found out his life-changing services were being compared to piano lessons!
Doing a study on cognitive biases can be very enlightening for an entrepreneur.
- Always include the numerical value in your offer.
- Always include the time value in your offer - i.e., the actual time the service will take (example: a thirty-minute consultation for $30). According to a study from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, marketing time sells better than marketing money because our relationship with time is much more personal than our relationship with money.
- Make them pay a little. With even a small “buy in” made on the customer’s part, a psychological commitment is made. There will be a tendency to continue with the service because they are already invested and don’t want to feel they have lost that initial $5.00. This is known as loss aversion - studies suggest that losses are twice as powerful, psychologically, as gains.
- Make them pay more than a little, but include the original price. According to research by cognitive and mathematical psychologist Amos Tversky and Psychologist Daniel Kahneman, who also were the pioneers in proving loss aversion, creating an anchoring bias has a very strong psychological effect (the anchor being the original price in this example). If consumers are unsure about the price they will look around for comparative prices – you provide them with the price to compare with.
- Offer coupons. Your potential customers will feel they are getting a deal and you still get paid. Again, include monetary and time values in your offer.
- Social media posts that show you are well versed in your field – statistics, what famous people say about it/quotes, questions that get people thinking about their need for your service. Do NOT give away your service in bite-sized portions.
If you don't want to believe the psychologists, why not listen to conventional wisdom? This is just one more example of my belief that SEO and Online Marketing rules are like dating ... what is it your mother always told you about why buy the cow and giving away its milk?
Was this caused by social media and or the economy?
What are your thoughts? | <urn:uuid:66d44858-a367-493f-98d3-6cb28209605b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mcdesignservices.com/4/category/facebook/1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956642 | 781 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Poison ivy is a member of the Rhus or Toxicodendron genus of plants, which also includes poison oak and poison sumac. Poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac are common all over the United States. If you're an avid hiker or otherwise enjoy being outdoors, it's a good idea to become familiar with pictures of the various Rhus plants
. And you may know the basics about poison ivy, oak and sumac -- but you can never know too much!
5 things you may not know about poison ivy, oak and sumac
1. Fido is a carrier
While animals appear to be immune to urushiol, the resin from the Rhus plants that causes the allergic reaction, your pets can run through a patch of poison ivy, oak or sumac and transfer it to you.
When you give your pup a petting, you've made contact with urushiol just as if you'd touched the poison plants yourself. To avoid getting exposed, wear gloves and bathe your animal. If it isn't feasible to give your pet a bath after every jaunt outside (this is especially true of cats), a baby wipe or a disposable washcloth might do the trick. Or simply deter your animals from romping around areas that have poison oak, ivy or sumac.
2. Heat can worsen the effects of a poison ivy rash
Heat tends to make the rash even more inflamed, according to Dr. Greene, online pediatric expert for WebMD and a variety of magazines. Dr. Greene suggests not only staying out of hot weather but advises patients with a poison ivy rash to take cool or lukewarm baths. If you happen to be camping, consider getting in the cold lake or stream to keep your body cool.
3. Burning poison ivy, poison oak or poison sumac can result in severe allergic reaction
By touch, the Rhus plants do not pose any serious health risks. However, because the plants' urushiol toxin is not hampered by fire, burning it can actually cause serious illness. Inhaling or being exposed to smoke from burning poison ivy, oak or sumac can result in a serious allergic reaction in the nasal passages, lungs and throat as well as on the skin. If you are exposed to smoke from burning poison ivy, oak or sumac, get to a health care provider immediately.
4. Though the plants die down in winter, they are not dormant
Urushiol remains active for at least five years on surfaces, and especially in dead Rhus plants. Since urushiol is found in the leaves, stems and roots of poison ivy, oak and sumac plants, you can get a rash even in the winter, when a plant has lost all of its leaves. Therefore, learn to identify the poisonous plants in all seasons. In addition, poison ivy vines are sometimes found on firewood, which you should reconsider using since the burning of the urushiol can cause a toxic (and painful) reaction.
5. Contact dermatitis from poison ivy, oak or sumac is not contagious
Contrary to popular belief and media misconception (How many TV shows have you seen where one character gets a poison ivy rash from touching someone else?), you can't "catch" contact dermatitis from touching other people unless they still have the urushiol on their bodies or clothing. In addition, the rash will only appear where urushiol makes contact on the skin. It does not spread. It may seem
to spread, however, as the rash can appear over a period of time rather than all at once. | <urn:uuid:ef8c5459-926b-4ad3-b5f6-664c593a7e79> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sheknows.com/health-and-wellness/articles/805132/things-you-dont-know-about-poison-ivy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943682 | 748 | 3.53125 | 4 |
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Kundalini Yoga Explained
Kundalini Yoga is known as the yoga of awareness. It comprises of Kriyas, which are set sequences that aim for specific desired outcomes. The Kriyas consists of asana, breathing exercises, mudras (hand positions), mantras, body locks (bandhas) and meditation. It is known to build stamina, strength and assist with letting go of resistance.
Some postures are performed in quick succession with the addition of the Breath of Fire due to its ability to increase the benefits received by oxygenating the blood and releasing toxins from the body. Typically, the movements involved are to help awaken the Kundalini/Serpent energy that is then channelled up through the centre of the body, activating the chakras and illuminating our connection to the Divine.
There are many Kriyas in Kundalini Yoga including ones for; purification, elimination, prevention and resistance to disease, spinal flexibility, rejuvenation, depression and many more. Each Kriya has several postures to be performed in a set way for desired result. An example of this is The Spinal Warm Up series.
Spinal Warm up consists of:
The Stomach Grind
- Sit cross-legged and hold on to your knees.
- Inhale and start to rotate your body in a counter clockwise circle while pushing the body forward and arching the lower back.
- Exhale as you move to the back and fold your body in.
- Rotate the body in this way for up to two mins then change direction. Start slowly to begin with then speed up as you get used to the posture and find your own rhythm.
- Be careful not to involve the waist in this asana, as it is the lower back/hips we are working.
The Spine Flex (Camel Ride)
- Sit on your heels with your knees bent.
- Put your hands on your knees.
- As you inhale push the body forward, arching your back.
- As you exhale fold the body back.
- Find a comfortable rhythm and build up to doing for three mins.
- Start on all fours.
- As you inhale push the back up like a cat.
- As you exhale arch the back and stick your pelvis up.
- Do several times.
- Build up your own rhythm and aim to do for up to 3 minutes.
- Sit cross-legged with your fingers on your shoulders.
- Fingers should be at the front and thumbs at the back.
- Ensure your elbows are parallel to the ground and at shoulder height.
- As you inhale twist to the left – making sure you move your head.
- As you exhale twist to the right, again move your head.
- Build up a momentum and aim to do for up to 3 minutes.
- Sit cross-legged on the floor.
- Rest your hands on your knees.
- Very slowly roll your neck to the left and make a full circle, bringing the chin down towards the chest.
- On each side roll try to get your ears to touch your shoulders. Do not force this exercise.
- Do clockwise for and anti clockwise for a total of up to 3 minutes.
The Stomach Grind, Camel Ride, Yoga Twists and Cat Cow can all be done using the Breath Of Fire. This acts to warm the body, bring clarity of mind and increase stamina.
This series is a basic warm up set and is usually practiced at the beginning of a class. It is also a very good set of exercises to start the day as it wakes up and energises the body.
Content copyright © 2013 by Tracy Webb. All rights reserved.
This content was written by Tracy Webb. If you wish to use this content in any manner, you need written permission. Contact Tracy Webb for details.
Website copyright © 2013 Minerva WebWorks LLC. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:6b4ebff5-3d17-43c9-aa8b-57269c1acd78> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art6090.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908777 | 867 | 2.5625 | 3 |
WELLINGTON, New Zealand - A royal penguin found stranded on a New Zealand beach has died.
The penguin was found Sunday by hikers. It was emaciated and suffering kidney failure and was taken to the Wellington Zoo.
It was just the fourth time over the past 100 years that a royal penguin has been found on the North Island of New Zealand. They generally live more than 1,000 miles away around Macquarie Island, about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica.
Lisa Argilla, the veterinary science manager at the zoo, said Friday that they suspect the penguin suffered multiple organ failure. It was severely underweight, she said, and had no reserves.
She said the zoo did the best it could.
The penguin's arrival has revived memories of another penguin, an emperor nicknamed Happy Feet, that arrived in 2011 and whose recovery at the zoo captured the hearts of many before he was released.
Royal penguins have a yellow crest, eat krill and squid and generally live on and around Macquarie Island, about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica.
Jenny Boyne, who lives near Tora Beach where the penguin was found, said she drove it to the zoo in a fish crate after staff suggested she bring it in.
"It sat down like a little quiet lamb," she said.
The bird stood up briefly a couple of times and honked but generally lay still for the two-hour journey, she said. She blasted the air conditioning and spritzed the bird with water after zoo staff instructed her to keep it cool. She said she was surprised it had no significant smell.
Argilla said the penguin weighed about 6 pounds when it arrived.
The penguin was about 1 year old, 20 inches long and its sex had not been determined, Argilla said.
Royal penguins can grow to about 30 inches and 12 pounds. They are considered a threatened species but not endangered. They shed all their feathers during an annual molt, which the New Zealand penguin had been doing when found. | <urn:uuid:c27af2ad-ca1a-441f-8708-38f4e394e364> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailymail.com/News/NationandWorld/201302210229 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983786 | 424 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Save money and protect yourself when you are on vacation
We often leave the house for days at a time and I have developed several habits that save us money and protect our belongings.
- Turn down your hot water heater. Most homes in the United States have natural gas powered hot water heaters. When you are gone, obviously you do not use any of the hot water, but if your hot water heater regulator is set too high, the water will continually cool down and have to be reheated again. If you do not need the hot water, there is no reason to keep it hot. Do not turn your hot water heater off, but set it at a lower setting so that it only has to run once a day or once every two days. Just remember to turn it back on before you take your first shower when you return home . . . you could be in for a cold surprise!
- Turn down your heat. Same principle as the water heater, but you need to be aware of how cold you can allow your home to be without freezing your pipes. Err on the side of caution here. A plumbing accident is far worse than spending a couple extra dollars to heat your home. Where we currently live, I can turn the heat completely off, because the sun warms our house every day – even when the outside temp is below zero. In our former house, I could not turn the thermostat below 50 degrees F because of the freezing issue.
- Leave a light or two on, but make certain that the lights are CFL bulbs. I typically do not like compact fluorescent lighting, but if the lights are going to be on for a couple of days or a week, it is worth the time to change the bulb. Leaving a light on will give a feeling that the home is occupied, but more importantly, it allows passersby or police to see into your home. If the light is turned off unexpectedly, this can also be a warning to neighbors.
- Protect important papers. Your important papers should be in a safe place when you are out of the house. Fire can start when you are out of town, floods too. Birth Certificates, deeds, social security cards, titles, insurance forms are all items that are very difficult to replace if damaged – and if they happen to be stolen . . . well, identity theft is one of the worst things that can happen to you nowadays.
- Stop your mail delivery. This is really important. Mail is the most common way for your identity to be stolen. Do not allow mail to pile up in your mailbox. Go to the USPS website and hold your mail. Sometimes we have a trustworthy neighbor pick it up and store it for us – same with the newspaper.
- Trash pick-up. If we leave on a trash day, we will put out our garbage, but ask a neighbor to pull the cans back up by the house after they are emptied. If it is a long time until trash pick up when we leave, we lock our trash in the garage. Better to miss a trash day than to let someone dig through your waste.
- Water. Most of you will not have this problem, but I used to turn off the water to the whole house because we had a couple of faucets that dripped. I also wondered from time to time if the neighbors “borrowed” some of our water from the hose when we were out of town.
- Wash the dishes. This might not save you a lot of money, and I know that none of you would ever leave the house in disarray when you leave for vacation, but for the rest of us, isn’t it nice to come home to clean tile, vacuumed carpets and an empty sink?
Article by Stew
Photo by korona
- Save money by making your own bottled water
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- The M-Network Vacation Guide – Low cost summer family vacations
- Save money while traveling | <urn:uuid:5abb7c24-c4a6-4a58-a523-5764f4203426> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gatherlittlebylittle.com/2010/01/save-money-and-protect-yourself-when-you-are-on-vacation/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948293 | 834 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Institutional Review Board (IRB)
The Institutional Review Board (IRB) has been established to assure the protection of human subjects involved in the conduct of biomedical, clinical, and behavioral research. The IRB is designated to review and monitor research involving human subjects. The IRB is a committee, composed of members from a variety of scientific disciplines as well as community members. The purpose of the IRB review is to assure, both in advance and by periodic review, that appropriate steps are taken to protect the rights and welfare of humans participating as subjects in the research. The IRB has the authority to approve, require modifications in (to secure approval), or disapprove research. All human research projects must be reviewed and approved by the IRB prior to initiation and then conducted in full compliance with the IRB guidelines. IRB approval of research is required for research involving human subjects conducted by anyone on the premises of the Institution and to research conducted elsewhere by faculty, students, staff, or other representatives of the Institution in connection with their Institutional responsibilities.
Office for the Protection of Human Subjects (OPHS)
The Office for the Protection of Human Subjects (OPHS) is the administrative office for the Institutional Review Board (IRB) and provides support for the IRB committee functions and duties. OPHS staff also assists investigators and their research team in complying with federal, state, and University policies regarding human participant research. OPHS conducts audits on behalf of the IRB to ensure compliance. OPHS is under the jurisdiction of the Office for the Vice President of Research and Health Affairs.
OPHS services provided to the investigators
- Consultation with investigators on designing ethically sound human subject research protocols and preparing the documents for IRB review.
- Pre-review of IRB documents prior to submission.
- Education and training on applicable regulations and laws, CDU IRB policies and procedures.
- Determine whether the study requires IRB review.
- Pre-review of Human Subjects Protection section in grants | <urn:uuid:57f8f58c-652b-44e5-8956-7303561b3cf4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cdrewu.edu/page/1051 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942761 | 409 | 2.171875 | 2 |
“Just Do It!” admonishes the Nike ad.
“God helps those who help themselves”
goes the old saw.
“Carpe diem” is a philosophy everyone
needs to buy into, including the depressed
Of course, depression can strike any age
group, any ethnic category, and any
social–economic strata, but there is a multitude
of reasons why the elderly are
disproportionately afflicted nowadays.
No doubt exists that a family history of the
disorder predisposes some elderly to the
disease. Yet, without that genetic tie, the
elderly can still be candidates for depression
due to several other factors: widowhood, social
seclusion, other diseases, interaction of
medications, a negative perception of body
image, fear of dying, chronic pain, and
self-medication with alcohol or drugs.
Because of outdated stigmas, misguided notions
of family members, or treatment expense, many
seniors suffer their feelings of hopelessness
and helplessness in silence. They resign themselves to being blue and
don’t seek medical intervention.
The sad shame of this situation is that proven
medical help is available for the elderly. Screening devices easily administered in
a variety of medical offices, even optometrist
offices, can identify quickly, painlessly, and
effortlessly those in need of anti–depressants. Once the diagnosis is determined, a
caregiver can ensure follow-up treatment.
There is “light” at the end of the tunnel in
Baltimore! Project LIGHT was created at Levindale
Hebrew Geriatric Center and Hospital in
Baltimore, Maryland to screen the elderly for
depression. LIGHT is an acronym for a four step
process. First, the patient Learns about
depression; the patient is Inspired to seek
help; the patient is Given Hope; and the last
step is Treatment.
In this program, a psychiatric registered
nurse visits primary care physicians where she
conducts tests for depression on site. Therefore, patients and their caregivers
need not make separate trips to psychiatric
offices. Their emotional status can be quickly
assessed in the comfortable and familiar setting
of their family doctor’s office.
Ms. Poklemba, a clinical nurse specialist at
Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center and Hospital
in Baltimore, realizes that building relations
with primary care physicians to help screen for
depression in elderly patients can significantly
reduce patients’ risk for suicide. She cited the alarming statistic that 20
percent of all suicide deaths are in people over
65. Unfortunately, those folks rarely exhibit
any outward sign of their intentions.
The LIGHT Program
uses the Geriatric Depression Scale to screen
patients and start a dialogue with them about
their feelings. Fifteen questions comprise the
survey. They inquire about the person’s energy
level, satisfaction with life, and coping
mechanisms for disappointments.
If a senior tests positive for depression,
that patient can receive psychotherapy in the
same physician’s office and also schedule
follow-up screenings in the same office at three
months, six months, and a year. Ms. Veronica
Poklemba (APRN,CS-P) points out that elderly
patients don’t react well to the idea of a
psychiatrist’s office. Treating them for their depression where
they receive their primary care is more likely
to be successful. Anybody identified as depressed is
offered treatment and if transportation to a
clinic is an issue, a therapist can go into the
home of the referred patient. Project LIGHT is funded by a grant, but
Ms. Poklemba feels that a family doctor could
rent office space to a mental health specialist
just as some rent out office space to
cardiologists, dermatologists or other
The toolkit supplied by Project LIGHT,
containing stickers, posters, brochures, CD’s,
and lists of mental health providers, benefits
the physician as well as the patient. Many physicians ask their own questions
regarding depression and don’t need to pull out
the supplied list. They have appropriate questions. The goal is: screening of the elderly for
depression. The primary care doctor is not
expected to treat the patient for his/her
depression, but the idea is that he can ID the
person’s problem easily and then refer the
patient for more in-depth screening. Because Ms. Poklemba is tied into the
practice, her paperwork goes back to the primary
care doctor, and he can read her conclusions
which she leaves in the patient’s medical
record. She, too, has an accurate record of the
patient’s health problems and doesn’t need to
rely solely on what the senior may or may not
tell her about physical problems.“I make sure the doctor knows if I find
something,” she states.
Ms. Poklemba screens the patient verbally. For example, a question reads: “Has there
been any change in your usual activities?”She knows to add “in the last month.” If not, elderly patients might relate
changes in the last ten years! Veronica phrases it in a way that makes
sense to the elderly person. In addition, she studies their non-verbal
clues, such as a confused expression. Folks in
the beginning stages of dementia are with it
enough to know if they are experiencing
depression, and therapy will help them. They can sit and discuss their worries. However, if suffering from severe
dementia, the senior cannot benefit from
therapy, but sometimes taking anti-depressants
Veronica has worked with caregivers who suffer
stress from managing their elderly parents with
“heavy duty” dementia. If the caregiver gets therapy, it can
help her cope with the senior afflicted with
dementia and depression. By helping the caregiver control her
stress levels, the elder is also helped. Even an aged person with deep confusion
and rampant memory loss can pick up on the
caregiver’s stress. In a situation Veronica relates, she
asserts that when the caregiver became calmer
due to therapy, so did her mother. Veronica emphasizes that caregivers must take care of themselves
if they look after someone else. That 70-year-old didn’t understand all
the ways dementia impacted her 91-year-old
mother until Veronica gave her a book to read on
the subject. Later she remarked to Veronica, “I felt
very frustrated. Now, I understand how
changeable her abilities can be.”Some family members can think the older
person is just trying to seek attention when she
repeats the same thing over and over or when she
forgets something she seemed to know ten minutes
earlier. Therapy for the caregiver can reduce the
anxiety and worry that accompanies looking after
The focus of Project Light is two pronged: Get
Doctors inclined to screen for depression in
their elderly clientele and then get identified
people into treatment. Physicians have told Veronica that
because of Project LIGHT, people have gotten
into treatment that doctors could not persuade
into treatment for years, especially men.
All the physicians involved in LIGHT say they
screen more now, even if they use their own set
of questions rather than the Geriatric
Depression Scale supplied by LIGHT, which is
used in the study so there is a standard
approach to track data.
“Depression is something that, unfortunately,
we don’t pick up on early,” states Steven
Miller, MD at Woodholme Clinic.“In elderly patients, there are other
health issues that come to the surface, like
diabetes or heart disease,” says Dr. Miller.“While depression can be impairing, it
tends to be more hidden. Having the mental health clinician in the
office to screen patients has been a very
Studying the results of the screening of 2,563
seniors living in the Levindale service area,
one finds 251 screened positive for depression. Of the 251, 119 agreed to a treatment
program. One hundred and seven of the depressed
were treated by LIGHT’s clinical nurse
specialist, and 12 were treated elsewhere after
being identified by Project LIGHT.
Of the 107 initially treated by LIGHT, 58
could be contacted at three months. Seventy-five
percent of them showed improvement at the
three-month follow-up using the short form of The
Geriatric Depression Scale. This is a very impressive result given the
fact that a myriad of challenges arise when trying
to reach individuals for follow-up, such as
hospitalization, relocation, tragic events,
telephone disconnection, and increased dementia
interfering with their ability to answer questions.
In meeting with each practice to discuss the
LIGHT toolkit, Veronica Poklemba found high praise
for the information the kit provided: an explanation
of depression, the symptoms, the treatments, the
mental health resources, and educational handouts
for medical and lay communities.
Veronica Poklemba’s advice is: Don’t hesitate
to bring up questions about mental health with your
primary doctor. She urges, “If it’s in your head, you should
She emphasizes that a caregiver must take care of
himself in order to care for another. She advises to search online to find mental
health care providers in your area, ask your
physician for a list, and if you need names of
therapists and psychiatrists in the Baltimore
environs who enjoy working with elderly patients,
call her. [410-601-2875]
Look over the list of symptoms of depression.
If you notice these present in your loved one, ask
the doctor, “Can you determine if my loved one has
Today’s caregivers must be knowledgeable about
the proven tie between a person’s emotional
well-being and physical health. To treat only
symptoms that have a readily identifiable
physical cause is to deny a person help, hope,
and the pursuit of happiness. So, all ostrich heads must yank
themselves up into the 21st century and get
their loved ones to a program like Project LIGHT
where beauty, truth, and joy can be within the
grasp of their beloved charge—the person they
Geriatric Depression Scale
Answers indicating depression are highlighted.
Each BOLD-FACED answer counts
one (1) point. A score greater than 5
is indicative of probable depression.
|Are you basically
satisfied with your life?
|Have you dropped many
of your activities and interests?
|Do you feel happy
most of the time?
Do you prefer to stay in your
room/facility, rather than going out and
doing new things?
If none of the above responses suggests
HERE. If any of the above
responses suggests depression ask
|Do you feel that your
life is empty?
|Do you often get
Are you in good spirits most of the
Are you afraid that something bad is
going to happen to you?
Do you often feel helpless?
Do you feel you have more problems
with memory than most people do?
Do you think it is wonderful to be
Do you feel full of energy?
Do you feel that your situation is
Do you think that most people are
better off than you?
Subscribe to our weekly e-newsletter | <urn:uuid:af0eb2f7-2000-4e10-8c89-f799cb256975> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://caregiver.com/articles/print/let_there_be_light.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920198 | 2,506 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Short course, Fourth Brazilian Conference on Statistical Modelling in Insurance and Finance
There has been recently a large interest in catastrophic risks, especially following Hurricane years in 2004 and 2005. But measuring those risks and providing an appropriate cover might be difficult. In this course, we will first describe those risks, especially climate risks (or climate related), man based risks (large fires or business interuption), and mortality risks. For those risks, we will also discuss possible covers, from classical (re)insurance to securitization (cat or mortality bonds) or insurance-linked securities (cat options). As we will see, the pricing of those products can simply be related to the choice of a risk measure. We will then discuss risk measures for large risks, and conclude with the aggregation issue.
For a more fancy description, it can be described as follows, | <urn:uuid:eab4007d-2843-4604-98c8-a4d94f279ffc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://freakonometrics.blog.free.fr/index.php?post/2008/06/30/Fourth-Brazilian-Conference-on-Statistical | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939589 | 174 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Things could be about to get hot in the house for errant landlords, with Prime Minister John Key warning he may wield a stick if the carrot doesn't encourage them to better insulate the houses they own.
Key's message comes as the Herald on Sunday continues its campaign to get more homes insulated, either by extending government funding schemes or through legislation in problem areas.
Housing Minister Phil Heatley has scheduled a meeting this coming week with Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei to discuss extending funding for the Warm Up New Zealand scheme, which is due to run out in 2014 as the $360 million put aside is spent.
As well, more than $80 million has been contributed by agencies to retrofit homes in the past three years.
The government scheme was started in 2009 and offers a 33 per cent subsidy on the cost of insulation - up to $1300, or a 60 per cent subsidy for Community Services Cardholders. Energy and Efficiency Conservation Authority spokeswoman Jane O'Loughlin said many low-income households had paid little or nothing for their insulation because of the injection of funds from other bodies.
"So far since 2009, around $80 million has been contributed by around 70 organisations."
In its latest annual report, at present being drafted, EECA thanks more than 60 organisations for providing $20 million over the past financial year. These include energy trusts, councils, district health boards, commercial businesses and charitable community trusts.
EECA chief executive Mike Underhill said third-party participation was one of the successes of the programme and more low-income homes had been retrofitted than had been expected.
"When it started, the target was 60,000 low-income and 120,000 middle-income families. But we've found a huge amount of demand for low-income homes."
He said 105,000 had been done, a 70 per cent increase on the target.
O'Loughlin said one of the most prominent third-party funders was the ASB Community Trust, which has topped up the Warm Up NZ scheme to fully fund or mostly fund insulation retrofits for 8000 homes.
The trust was joint-funding retrofits in 2007/08, before Warm Up NZ began. Including that period, it has funded more than 10,000 retrofits, in conjunction with EECA, worth about $12 million.
Trust chief executive Jennifer Gill said the focus was purely on extremely low-income families. Over recent years, it had dealt only with Northland because of the number of needy families in the region.
She supported Green Party efforts to continue the Warm Up NZ scheme beyond 2014. "Our money attracts the government subsidy, it's an ideal way to work because you're in partnership with a highly professional organisation."
In Wellington, Sustainability Trust runs a programme called Warm Fuzzies, which helps improve the homes of people referred by community outreach nurses. There have been 67 referrals over the past year.
Damp smell vanquished
Wilson Toma had put up with a strong smell of damp in his Miramar home for about eight years. Visitors would comment on it and he, his wife Jouliat Bay and his elderly mother Betshwa Barkho struggled with respiratory illnesses made worse by mould.
He was referred to the Warm Fuzzies scheme this year because of his asthma and his wife's eczema. His mother, 84, has heart disease. Underfloor insulation, draught stripping and a vapour barrier were put in for a cost of just under $1000 to the landlord.
A mould specialist was called in. Toma cleaned up the mould himself and painted the bedroom.
Warm Fuzzies spokeswoman Willemijn Vermaat said it had made the property a lot drier and would help keep the house in better condition.By Susan Edmunds Email Susan | <urn:uuid:84666021-c131-4237-ad0c-ee9fcd196ba4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10829451 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975093 | 786 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Simple Explanation Of The Federal Reserve Statement (August 1 , 2012)
The Federal Open Market Committee voted to leave the Fed Funds Rate unchanged within its current target range of 0.000-0.250 percent Wednesday. The vote was nearly unanimous.
Only one FOMC member, Richmond Federal Reserve President Jeffrey Lacker, dissented in the 9-1 vote.
The Fed Funds Rate has been near zero percent since December 2008.
In its press release, the Federal Reserve noted that the U.S. economy has “decelerated somewhat” since January. Beyond the next few quarters, though, the Fed expects growth to “remain moderate” and then gradually pick up.
There was no mention of strain in global financial markets and its threat to the U.S. economy, as the Fed had made in its last two post-meeting press releases.
The Fed’s statement also included the following observations about the economy :
- Household spending is “rising at a somewhat slower pace”
- Inflation has declined, mostly on lower oil and gas prices
- Unemployment rates remain “elevated”
Furthermore, the Fed addressed the housing market, stating that, despite signs of improvement, the sector overall remains “depressed”.
The biggest news to come out of the FOMC meeting, though, was that there was no news.
First, the Federal Reserve is leaving its “Operation Twist” program in place. Operation Twist sells shorter-term securities off the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet, using the proceeds to purchase longer-term securities. This move puts “downward pressure on longer-term interest rates” and makes “broader financial conditions more accommodative.”
Second, the Fed re-iterated its pledged to keep the Fed Funds Rate at “exceptionally low” levels at least through late-2014.
And, third, to Wall Street’s surprise, there was no announcement of a third round of quantitative easing, a market stimulus plan by which the Federal Reserve buys U.S. treasuries and mortgage-backed bonds on the open market. QE3 would have likely led mortgage rates lower.
The FOMC’s next scheduled meeting is a two-day event slated for September 12-13, 2012.
Mortgage markets are rising post-FOMC. | <urn:uuid:69cb088a-30a2-4108-981d-5bff12b26892> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.myeastbayagent.com/news/fomc-statement-august-1-2012/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967943 | 503 | 2 | 2 |
In Mexico, culture is expressed through festivals, fiestas and celebrations all year round. There are an important number of cultural venues, theaters and open forums with demonstrations and performances that show the country’s historic and cultural richness.
There is also significant number of performances by international artists. It is very common to find worldwide known shows, recitals or concerts in almost every major city in the country.Nightlife is also part of Mexico’s lifestyle. Discotheques, nightclubs, traditional bars and cantinas, as well as restaurants are some of the places that Mexicans like to enjoy and share with international visitors. | <urn:uuid:9a8f42a5-46fe-4a09-be07-ea24d21dceda> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.visitmexico.com/en-i0/entretenimiento | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964718 | 127 | 2 | 2 |
Mammon over at Why ruin a good story with the truth? referred me to a post with a few more details on this story, thanks to WorldNetDaily.
LIFE WITH BIG BROTHER
Will bill give Obama control of Internet?
Proposed new powers called 'drastic federal intervention'
By Drew Zahn
First, the White House, through the national cybersecurity advisor, shall have the authority to disconnect "critical infrastructure" networks from the Internet – including private citizens' banks and health records, if Rockefeller's examples are accurate – if they are found to be at risk of cyber attack. The working copy of the bill, however, does not define what constitutes a cybersecurity emergency, and apparently leaves the question to the discretion of the president.
Second, the bill establishes the Department of Commerce as "the clearinghouse of cybersecurity threat and vulnerability information," including the monitoring of private information networks deemed a part of the "critical infrastructure."
Third, the legislation proposes implementation of a professional licensing program for certifying who can serve as a cybersecurity professional.
And while the critics concede the need for increased security, they object to what is perceived as a dangerous and intrusive expansion of government power.
A pair of bills introduced in the U.S. Senate would grant the White House sweeping new powers to access private online data, regulate the cybersecurity industry and even shut down Internet traffic during a declared "cyber emergency."
Senate bills No. 773 and 778, introduced by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.V., are both part of what's being called the Cybersecurity Act of 2009, which would create a new Office of the National Cybersecurity Advisor, reportable directly to the president and charged with defending the country from cyber attack.
A working draft of the legislation obtained by an Internet privacy group also spells out plans to grant the Secretary of Commerce access to all privately owned information networks deemed to be critical to the nation's in frastructure" without regard to any provision of law, regulation, rule or policy restricting such access."
Privacy advocates and Internet experts have been quick to sound the alarm over the act's broadly drawn government powers.
"The cybersecurity threat is real," says Leslie Harris, president of the Center for Democracy and Technology, which obtained the draft of S.773, "but such a drastic federal intervention in private communications technology and networks could harm both security and privacy."
"The whole thing smells bad to me," writes Larry Seltzer in eWeek, an Internet and print news source on technology issues. "I don't like the chances of the government improving this situation by taking it over generally, and I definitely don't like the idea of politicizing this authority by putting it in the direct control of the president."
On Facebook, MySpace? Obama's got your e-mail
White House spammer-in-chief wants contractor to track critics
By Chelsea Schilling
The White House is hiring a contractor to harvest information about Americans from its pages on social networking websites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.
The National Legal and Policy Center, or NLPC, revealed the White House New Media team is seeking to hire a technology vendor to collect data such as comments, tag lines, e-mail, audio and video from any place where the White House "maintains a presence" – for a period of up to eight years.
"The contractor shall provide the necessary services to capture, store, extract to approved formats, and transfer content published by EOP (Executive Office of the President) on publicly-accessible web sites, along with information posted by non-EOP persons on publicly-accessible web sites where the EOP offices under PRA (Presidential Records Act) maintains a presence," the posting states. | <urn:uuid:7e18eed8-153b-4330-ab35-674d8500e544> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://itdontmakesense.blogspot.com/2009/09/weve-talked-about-this-with-this-post.html?showComment=1251994234036 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942702 | 770 | 1.5 | 2 |
Andrew William Mellon
Mellon, Andrew William, 1855–1937, American financier, industrialist, and public official, b. Pittsburgh. He studied at the Western Univ. of Pennsylvania (now the Univ. of Pittsburgh), but he left college to organize a lumber business with his brother, Richard B. Mellon. Soon they joined interests with their father, Thomas Mellon, a successful Pittsburgh banker and lawyer, who had helped Henry C. Frick to expand his holdings in the coke industry. When Thomas Mellon retired (1886), the sons took over the banking firm of Thomas Mellon and Sons. In 1889, Andrew Mellon led in establishing the Union Trust Company of Pittsburgh—later to become one of the larger financial institutions in the United States and merge with the Mellon National Bank (and ultimately become Mellon Financial Corporation)—and the Union Savings Bank was created as a subsidiary firm. Meanwhile Andrew Mellon expanded his holdings in key American industries and secured large interests in the Gulf Oil Company, the American Locomotive Company, the Pittsburgh Coal Company, and in hydroelectric, bridge-building, public-utility, steel, insurance, and traction companies. He also played an important role in originating the huge Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa).
Mellon resigned (1921) as president of the Mellon National Bank to become U.S. secretary of the treasury and held that cabinet post until 1932 under Presidents Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover. As secretary, Mellon worked for a downward revision of income taxes and surtaxes, and in spite of drastic tax curtailments, he reduced the national debt from ,298,000,000 in 1920 to ,185,000,000 in 1930. He later served (1932–33) as U.S. ambassador to Great Britain. His income-tax return for the year of 1931 was the subject of a federal investigation in 1935, but he was exonerated in Dec., 1937, four months after he died. He gave million for the founding (1913) of the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research in Pittsburgh (since 1967 Carnegie Mellon Univ.); in 1937 he donated his art collection to the public, with funds for the erection of a building in Washington in which to house it (see National Gallery of Art). He wrote Taxation: The People's Business (1924).
See biography by D. Cannadine (2006); F. D. Denton, The Mellons of Pittsburgh (1948).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
More on Andrew William Mellon from Fact Monster:
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Business Leaders | <urn:uuid:111c1781-d9f2-4f88-b7c3-2e6ff67b57de> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.factmonster.com/encyclopedia/people/mellon-andrew-william.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952172 | 543 | 3.0625 | 3 |
|English Español Italiano|
|The Augustinians - Origins and Spirituality|
Author: Luis Marin OSA
|Lima - Perù
July 30 - August 3, 2012
The Congress calls our attention to the ecclesial nature of Augustinian education. As the Church so our educational ministry is a gateway to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and offers a pathway to the fullness of the Kingdom. It is in this context that we will explore the Augustinian educational apostolate which “should always be regarded as an essentially pastoral activity, so that we teach the truth with love, and the students acquire, along with a humanistic and scientific culture, knowledge of the world, of life and of humanity that is illumined by faith.” (Constitutions of the Order, #179).
The design of the Congress includes major presentations and stresses interaction of participants. Each presentation or experience is followed by small workshops on topics within the field of the presentation. This is one of the richest experiences offered by this international Augustinian Congress. | <urn:uuid:2e0503f9-1994-49f9-aa9e-004d64528322> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://augustinians.net/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01articleid=114&cntnt01returnid=342 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932822 | 218 | 1.921875 | 2 |
Washington : Government Printing Office
|Chap. 707||Seneca Nation of Indians, N.Y. Funds from leases.|
|Sec. 3||Distribution, etc., of funds.|
|Sec. 4||Report to Comptroller.|
|Sec. 5||Additional authority to lease lands.|
|Sec. 6||Copies of official records.|
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all moneys of the Seneca Nation of Indians of New York realized from existing leases, or leases that may hereafter be made, of lands within the Cattaraugus, Allegany, and Oil Springs Reservations shall be paid to and recoverable by the treasurer of the Seneca Nation of Indians for and in the name of the Seneca Nation of Indians: Provided, That the city of Salamanca may, if authorized by the laws of the State of New York, pay to the treasurer of the Seneca Nation all moneys payable on leases within the city of Salamanca on behalf of the owners of such leases: Provided further, That nothing herein contained shall be contrued to authorize the city of Salamanca to grant new leases, or to modify, change, or alter existing leases, except with the consent of the Seneca Nation and upon terms agreeable to the Seneca Nation, such consent and such agreement to be obtained from such officer or agency of the Seneca Nation as may be duly authorized by the Seneca Nation to give such consent or arrive at such agreement.
Nothing in this Act shall be constued as waiving the rights or title of the Seneca Nation to the lands referred to in the first section of this Act, nor shall such rights or title be abridged except as may be hereafter provided by the United States in full consideration of the rights of the Seneca Nation.
From the money so received, the treasurer of the Seneca Nation shall, annually on the first Monday in June, deduct and set aside a sum not to exceed $5,000 for disposal by the council of the Seneca Nation, and distribute the balance among the enrolled members of the Seneca Nation on a per capita basis. The council of the Seneca Nation shall keep complete and detailed record of all payments and disbursements from the sum so set aside, and shall make such records available for inspection by members of the Seneca Nation at all reasonable times.
The treasurer of the Seneca Nation shall give bond to the Seneca Nation, conditioned upon his faithful performance of the duties herein imposed, in such sum as may be approved by the Comptroller of the State of New York, and the treasurer of the Seneca Nation shall, annually on the first Monday in July, make a report to the Comptroller showing the receipts and disbursements of all moneys received by him under authority of this Act, and shall transmit a copy of this report to the council of the Seneca Nation and shall make a copy available for inspection by members of the Seneca Nation at all reasonable times.
In addition to the authority now conferred by law on the Seneca Nation of Indians to lease lands within the Cattaraugus,
Allegany, and Oil Springs Reservations to railroads and to lease lands within the limits of the villages established under authority of the Act of February 19, 1875 (18 Stat. 330), Seneca Nation of Indians, through its council, is authorized to lease lands within the Cattaraugus, Allegany, and Oil Springs Reservations, outside the limits of such villages, for such purposes and such periods as may be permitted by the laws of the State of New York.
The Secretary of the Interior is directed to give to the State of New York or to any authorized agency thereof or to the proper officials of the several tribes copies of official records required by the State, or by any authorized agency thereof or by the officials of the several tribes, to carry out the purposes of this Act or other purposes which, in the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior, are in the interests of the welfare of the Indians of New York State: Provided, That copies as are given to the State of New York or to any authorized agency thereof shall be available for inspection at all reasonable times by duly authorized representatives of such tribes or of the Six Nations of New York.
All Acts or parts of Acts inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed.
Approved, August 14, 1950. | <urn:uuid:3d33b394-349d-4c22-9468-91ec920c08b2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Kappler/Vol6/html_files/v6p0508.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937911 | 925 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Perl Runs Sweden's Pension System
by Ed Stephenson
A Fallback Application Built in Six Months Earns the Prime Role
By the spring of 2000, Swedish government officials were pretty nervous. The delivery date on a major computer application was already a year late, causing a highly publicized delay in the start of the nation's new money-market pension system. With the legal deadline approaching for the system's launch, the government gave PPM--the agency in charge--six months to develop a fallback application, just in case the main commercial program hit another snag.
"Those were the days when stocks only went up," remarks Henrik Sandell, appraising the government's anxious mood at the time. PPM hired Sandell, an independent consultant, and Henrik Johnson from GlobeCom AB, an information technology services company in Stockholm, to design the back-up application for Sweden's Premium Pension System, with the simple directive that they provide something usable very quickly. "In the beginning PPM didn't much care what we used to develop our system, since they were fairly convinced it would never be put in production."
Given the time crunch, Sandell and Johnson's team built the application (known as Pluto) with Perl, using an Oracle database. Not only did they deliver the application on time, but when the commercial system proved difficult to customize and install--despite two years of modification by numerous developers--Pluto demanded a serious look. "An evaluation indicated that our system was faster and more likely to succeed than the original application," Sandell points out, at a fraction of the cost. PPM was convinced, and Pluto became the Premium Pension System's application of choice.
Any doubt that a Perl-based application would be robust enough to handle a large, mission-critical, financial-batch system has been dispelled by Pluto's performance with the Swedish national pension since its launch in the fall of 2000. More than 5 million customers take part in the system, representing every working person in Sweden born in 1938 and after. (The country's population is roughly 9 million.) A portion of every individual's employment tax, equal to 2.5 percent of his or her declared income, is set aside specifically for pension investment, and each person can choose up to 5 mutual funds from a list of 450 commercial funds approved by PPM. Combined, individual accounts exceed 6 billion in U.S. dollars.
Perl Wins the Comparison
Sandell has worked with GlobeCom's Henrik Johnson on several projects over the years, using Perl for system administration and Web development since 1994. They immediately considered using Perl for Pluto as well, mainly because the language facilitates rapid development. But the complexity of the pension application demanded they also look at other alternatives.
The new PPM agency needed a system that would help it manage individual accounts, aggregate the orders, buy the mutual funds, keep track of how many fund-parts each individual owns, and pay dividends to fund holders, among many other functions. Calculations had to be absolutely correct, with multiple layers of check programs, and in order for PPM to run batches in a reasonable amount of time, the system needed to process a large number of accounts per minute. "Traceability" was also a big concern. "We had to be able to examine calculations afterwards in order to answer questions such as, 'Why did customer A buy fund B on the 4th of March?'" Sandell explains.
Good database connectivity gave Perl the nod over C++, and since Sandell and Johnson received project text files in various formats, Perl's ability to parse text with regular expressions was much better than COBOL or Oracle's PL/SQL. And Perl 5's relative longevity provided the stability they required. The only question was performance, given that the processing speed of interpreted languages such as Perl is much slower than that of compiled languages like C++.
"That was an issue all along," Sandell notes, "and we made tests with large volumes from the start. The application seldom spends more than 20 percent of the time executing Perl code, while the database API and the database itself uses the other 80 percent. Even if we had an infinitely fast programming language, the overall performance would be only marginally better."
Convinced that processing speed wasn't a factor, Sandell and Johnson decided that Perl was best for the application. The toughest part was finding enough experienced developers in Sweden who knew Perl. The team sent requests to IT consulting firms (approved by PPM) throughout the country, and came up with a couple of good candidates, but they didn't get as many qualified programmers as they wanted.
So, although Pluto is written primarily in Perl, the team was forced to rely on other languages for various functions. They wrote the Web applications in Jscript, and other parts of the system in Visual Basic. Some functions were written in PL/SQL so they could be accessible from other languages using the system. "If we did the project again, we would probably strive to make more of it in Perl," Sandell concedes. But with so little time, they couldn't ask team members to learn a new language.
Learning Perl, 3rd Edition, has been updated to cover Perl Version 5.6 and rewritten to reflect the needs of programmers learning Perl today.
Ensuring a Smooth Transition
When it came to Perl, the team of four to six developers worked efficiently, programming on a Linux system and conducting peer reviews throughout the process. "One person would write the code and a second developer would check it," Sandell explains. "If the second developer could not understand the code, it was by definition incorrect and had to be improved, either through comments or, more often, through a rewrite since code that is hard to understand is often buggy."
The team--which included three project managers, three testers, two actuarials, and a lawyer to make sure the application was consistent with Swedish pension law--also had weekly deliveries of code for internal testing. Though these deliveries contained only part of the functionality, they had to be bug-free.
The testers would run the code through its paces and report whether any issues had been resolved from previous deliveries. "Perl proved to be a great language for doing the development," Sandell comments, adding that the interpreted language not only reduced development time, but it also avoided problems with different sources and binaries. "The one thing we missed in Perl was a numeric data type with high precision. Since we worked with billions of dollars and wanted to keep track of cents, we needed to have at least 13 digits for amounts. We ended up using scaled integers--storing $1.23 as 123--which worked fine, but having a data type like Oracle's Number (12,6) would have saved a lot of effort."
When PPM approved Pluto for the new pension system, the team moved the application from the Linux box to the Hewlett-Packard UX V2600 production machine, and with Perl's portability, the transition was smooth. Despite the accomplishment, Sandell is not completely satisfied with Pluto's performance overall.
"We would like the system to run about ten times faster," he insists. "We will try to achieve that using parallel batches in a future version. The limiting factor is not Perl, but Oracle." With Pluto in production more than six months, Sandell and Johnson are gradually turning over the maintenance to PPM's IT team. Now that they have proven Perl's worth in large and complex financial applications, they're looking to other countries that are considering market-based pension systems. The stock market may not be what it once was, but the investment made in this particular pension application has already paid tremendous dividends.
Learn how large and small companies are putting Perl to work by reading other Perl Success Stories. | <urn:uuid:8fd42901-de3d-4487-9b83-02054c8054b2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://oreilly.com/pub/a/oreilly/perl/news/swedishpension_0601.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971277 | 1,592 | 1.726563 | 2 |
My boy has developed a new interest, which was initially germinated in school and then transplanted to the home environment.
It started with him 'transplanting' tree branches and flowers at break times, which then led to him being asked to join a new organic lunch-time gardening club. Clever school, they're so clever that they also roped me in!! I am very happy to help of course, even with my very green-less fingers!
The first real planting was 3 tomato seeds in a pot and this has been followed by more. Much more.
All this planting, germinating, transplanting etc; brought lots of childhood memories flooding back to me. Especially when he planted those damn tomatoes.
You see my dad, and his dad before him, were great growers of tomatoes and other vegetables, that they grew in greenhouses. Of sorts.
To clarify, we lived in a council house and had not much funds for expensive greenhouses, so my ingenious father, seriously ingenious, saw an innovative opportunity any time ANY of our neighbours were getting their windows replaced! You can guess the rest and it actually really worked.
He grew the most fabulous and tasty tomatoes but the greenhouse wasn't the only way that they were ripened. He used to wrap them in newspapers, when he plucked them green off the vine and he would put them in the hot press, in among all the clothes. You got more than a clean pair of knickers every time you went in there I can tell you! The tomatoes were also ripened by placing them on the windowsills, which varied depending on where the sun shone.
Silly me shared all of this, ALL of it, with my boy who found it both amusing and intriguing. I'd planted a seed of my own.
Within minutes he decided he was getting his own greenhouse....and that was final. Non negotiable.
So off he went and bought one, with his own money. I'm not a complete walk-over you know! With total insistence he put it all together himself....
He put all his plants into it...tomatoes, 2 different melons and a kiwi seed...don't ask! And also 3 trays of lettuce, carrots and beetroot! He has been watering them and minding them really well for all of last week. While they and the greenhouse somehow survived last Saturday morning's hail/thunderstorm and a nearby tornado they didn't survive heavy wind on Sunday night! Luckily it was just the trays that were left outside that night but they ended up in a total heap, all mixed up together.
I scraped up all the compost and in doing so I came across most of the lettuce seedlings and some beetroot ones. I reckoned as I'd previously saved a goldfish with CPR I could save some seedlings that didn't have any mouths. I mean, how hard could it be? So I just put them back in the trays and hoped for the best.
He was happy with that but it's not the same. They're not perfect, you see and he has to start again. Sigh. Which is fine by me, really, but we'll keep these ones too.
He minds them somewhat now and takes them in at night....and they take over the floor at the radiator, the back door and my draining board! Deja vu all over again!
You can see that the lettuce seedlings are still going strong. The beetroot ones are also coming along but are so tiny that you can't see them here.
His tomato plants are doing amazingly well...
I'm so happy for him and happy to encourage his new found interest. I also look forward to eating his produce.
Just as long as I don't find any ripening tomatoes in my knicker drawer.... | <urn:uuid:83e1ed11-1a80-41d9-a096-744491382d67> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jazzygals-steppingout.blogspot.com/2012/04/planting-seed.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987871 | 787 | 1.65625 | 2 |
The Guangzhou Xiangjiang Safari Park is one of the best known, most beloved, and the largest animal park in all of China. It opened its gates in 1997, but has already served more than ten million guests. While the park prides itself on their ability to provide quality entertainment for the public, their most important interest is the conservation of the world for future generations. Thus, they are proactive in educating visitors about the importance of conservation.
More than 460 species of animal make the park their home, including more than 100 white tigers that were born in the park – which is fifty percent of the total global population. Other than the white tigers, visitors can see tons of other incredible animals, including white lions, red pandas, and koalas brought in from Australia in 2006.
The park is divided into separate areas to make navigating easier. Each area of the park deserves a visit, as you will find something interesting to see just about everywhere you look.
As expected, you will find a number of different Australian animals in the Australian Zone. Some of the great animals you can see here are the red kangaroos, white kangaroos, emus, and the koalas. You can also learn how to make some Australian crafts and taste some authentic Australian food.
Safari on Wheels
Here, you can drive a vehicle through the park and get closer to some of the animals than you ever thought would be possible. You will travel through the Asian Fields, the Predator Territory, and the African Savannah. It is a completely new way to experience nature.
White Tiger Hill
Here you can see some of the beautiful white tigers, one of the rarest animals in the world. The Guangzhou Xiangjiang Safari Park is doing their part in helping to preserve this gorgeous animal.
Here you will find the park's collection of reptiles. Everything from the giant salamanders to pythons and a huge boa can be found there. This is always a popular destination.
Baboons, chimps, orangutans and golden monkeys all make Monkey Hill their home. Many other species of primate live there as well. Monkey Hill is loved by folks both young and old.
At the Performing Area, you can watch animal shows including performances by white tigers and elephants.
The Guangzhou Xiangjiang Safari Park is a wonderful place to the whole family to spend the day. | <urn:uuid:869d5740-b97c-479b-890f-ea261a99eef5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.travelchinatour.com/guangdong-province/guangzhou-xiangjiang-safari-park.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946815 | 492 | 2.125 | 2 |
Tunisia's New Government Off To A Shaky Start
Correction Jan. 19, 2011
This report incorrectly states the date of Tunisia's independence. Tunisia declared independence from France in 1956 and the republic was established in 1957.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
And I'm Steve Inskeep. Good morning.
Tunisia has had only two presidents since it obtained independence in 1957. [POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: Tunisia declared independence from France in 1956; the republic was established in 1957.]
The most recent of those presidents fled on Friday after more than two decades in power, and now Tunisia is trying something new - something. We're not sure what yet. A coalition government was formed yesterday, and opposition figures have been included in the leadership for the first time.
We're going to talk about this with NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson. She's on the line from the Tunisian capital, Tunis.
Soraya, so who's running the country?
SORAYA SARHADDI NELSON: Well, it's a coalition government. And as you mentioned, for the first time, you have opposition groups, like the Progressive Democratic Party, and even a former communist party called Movement for Renewal. And their members or their officials are now in the government, holding ministerial positions and other spots.
But the rest of the government is made up of ruling party members, including the prime minister, the defense minister, the foreign minister and the interior minister. And all of these were close allies of the ousted president.
Now, I've talked to some opposition members to see what they think about the coalition. They're not thrilled with it. They say it's not perfect, but they do insist that none of the former regime members in the new coalition are dirty or have blood on their hands.
INSKEEP: I suppose this raises the question, then, as to whether the opposition leaders who've agreed to participate in this government can bring the crowds on the streets along with them, or whether the people will push in some other direction.
NELSON: Well, the people certainly claim independence from the opposition groups or anybody. The protestors say that they have no leaders, and they're not very happy about the coalition government. And so you still are seeing protests. In fact, I went to a protest that came before the announcement was even officially made, that the coalition government had been formed. And that's because people were getting word that former regime members were still in it, and they wanted them out.
However, there are some other people who are protesting who are for this uprising, who say that they will try and give the coalition government a chance.
INSKEEP: Soraya, I'm trying to figure out exactly who is in the opposition that is part of the government, who's out on the streets, and where Islamist parties fit into all of this, if at all.
NELSON: Well, the opposition members who are in the government are part of so-called legal opposition parties that existed but were politically weak, if you will, and really had no say during the former rule by President Ben Ali.
So the Islamist factions and other groups are actually outside that periphery. They are not considered legal. And so what the coalition government is doing is making some of these factions legal. Although some of the opposition members said they don't want fake groups, if you will, coming in.
And so, as a result, there are people who are still on the outside, but that are going to be made legal - like these Islamic factions - that will then be allowed to run in any future elections. But how popular they will be is another question.
Certainly, there doesn't seem to be much traction here for Islamic groups in Tunis, not with the protestors that I've talked to. For example, I was interviewing one person yesterday who was saying that they should have the right to be running and to take part in a democratic society.
But then other protestors, when they heard this interview, started protesting and saying no. You know, they were objecting to what was being said, saying: No, these Islamists have no rights at all. So there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of conservative fervor here, at least that I've seen in the capital.
INSKEEP: Have any members of the new government said what they intend to do?
NELSON: For one thing, the prime minister, Mohamed Ghannouchi, he's pledged to free political prisoners and lift restrictions on political parties and certain human rights groups. The government has said it will also create three commissions to address political reform and to investigate corruption and bribery. And Ghannouchi says he'll also look into abuses by the police and other security forces during the recent upheaval.
INSKEEP: Are the police still active on the streets and maintaining order?
NELSON: Absolutely. Yesterday, this protest that I was covering was dispersed when security forces began firing water cannons and tear gas, as well as firing some shots into the air. So they're still out there. But there seems to be a little bit of a change of attitude among the people. They don't seem to be as angry as - with the police as they were.
I'm not sure they feel as favorably disposed to them as they do the army. They feel the army is actually on their side. It's really unclear why they really feel that way, because it's not like the army is actually participating in this upheaval.
They do feel the police now are going after former Ben Ali militias and people that were loyal to the former president. So they're not quite as angry with the security forces as they were.
INSKEEP: NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson is in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia.
Soraya, thanks very much.
NELSON: You're welcome, Steve.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio. | <urn:uuid:092b4dd9-de5d-4d49-901b-9f885d71aaee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.npr.org/2011/01/18/133012358/Tunisia-Update | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980559 | 1,312 | 2.296875 | 2 |
Fringes and Snails
When David spared Saul's life, he took away evidence that he had him in his power: "Then David arose and stealthily cut off the skirt (hem) of Saul's robe" (1 Sam. 24:4). Why did David do this, and why did his conscience smite him for having done it? Was there some special significance in what he had done? In fact the act of cutting off the hem (fringe) of Saul's robe was of very great significance, which Saul was not slow to recognize. When the shouting began next day Saul said: "Now, behold, I know that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand" (1 Sam. 24:10). David had robbed Saul of his status symbol, the fringe of his robe that identified him as king.
The hem of a Jew's garment was not, as in modern clothes, a simple fold of the cloth, sewn down to prevent the edge from fraying. It was a decorative feature which made a statement about the status and importance of the wearer. The people of other nearby nations also had this custom. In texts found in Mesopotamia, references indicate that the removal of the fringe of a man's garment was the equivalent of removing part of his personality . To cut off the hem of a wife's garment was regarded as divorcing her. Tablets have been found with the impression of a fringe as the mark of the individual, a personal seal or signature.
Thus the hem or fringe of a garment indicated the rank or personality of the wearer. It will be remembered that Jesus castigated the Pharisees for enlarging their fringes (Matt. 23:5), the inference being that they were thereby trying to magnify their importance. The tassels on the fringes were formed by the threads decorating the fringe being brought together at the corners of the garment and knotted. The original purpose of the fringe and tassels as stated in the law became obscured in course of time, becoming a mere tradition.
The first mention of fringes and tassels in Scripture occurs in Numbers, where the people were instructed to include a special feature in their tassels - cord of blue. This was to remind the wearer (and the observer) to "recall all the commandments of the LORD and observe them" (15:37-41). Thus all Israel were to bear in their tassels this reminder of their obligation to be a holy people, to be heavenlike in their thoughts and ways, to be representatives of their God, "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Exod. 19:6). The tassels were to be four in number at the corners of the garment (Deut. 22:12).
Even though the blue they used was of a violet shade, it was to represent the people's connection with God in heaven, the heavenly instructions they had received and the law of the LORD. Why was there to be only one cord of blue? Why not all blue? The reason is simple and practical. The blue dye was exceedingly expensive and hard to acquire. Blue cloth could only be afforded by the very rich and by kings. Lesser mortals would even find it difficult to acquire a cubit or two of the blue cord. The reason will be made plain later.
The fringes and tassels on the garments of this period are illustrated on murals and inscriptions found in Egypt and elsewhere. For example, in the mortuary temple at Thebes, built by Rameses III, on a wall relief depicting a procession of captives, the distinctive robe with fringe and tassels is being worn by both Semitic and Philistine prisoners. These and other ancient pictures confirm to us that the wearing of a garment decorated with a fringe and bearing a number of tassels was commonplace in Israel and in neighbouring countries.
If it should be thought that this practice was obscure and short-lived, it will be enlightening to look at other Scriptures that clearly have a bearing on this subject. For example, in that delightful account of Ruth and Boaz, it was obviously significant that Ruth said to Boaz, when he discovered her at his feet in the morning, "I am Ruth, your maidservant, spread your skirt over your maidservant, for you are next of kin" (Ruth 3:9). The skirt of Boaz would doubtless be edged with the fringe and tassels that indicated his status. This request by Ruth was for his protection and his care as symbolized by his personal fringe - his status symbol. It is interesting to note that a similar custom still prevails at an orthodox Jewish wedding, when the bridegroom covers his bride with his tallit, his prayer shawl, with its tassels at each corner, signifying that he is taking her into his care.
The Skirt of a Jew
When the prophet Zechariah foretold that ten men will take hold of the skirt of a Jew and say "we will go with you" (Zech. 8:23), why should they take hold of his skirt? Why not his hands? Because the fringe of the skirt would indicate clearly that the Jew was a man of God. The Jew had a status that the ten Gentiles had not, and they knew it. This prophecy is not really as strange as it seems to be at first sight, once we realism the symbolism of the fringe.
One of the best known miracles of healing that Jesus performed was the occasion when "a woman who had suffered from a hemorrhage for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment" (Matt. 9:20). Why should she stoop to touch the fringe? Why not his arm, or his feet? Surely it must have been because the fringe had some special significance as the emblem of Jesus' status and authority, even though it was not enlarged like those of Scribes and Pharisees.
That this was the opinion of many other people is revealed by the crowd who sought his healing powers, "that they might only touch the fringe of his garment, and as many as touched were made whole" (Matt. 14:36). Thus there was a common understanding that the fringe of a man's garment had a special significance. Could it be that the blue cord was a reminder to them of heaven, and that they could appreciate that Jesus' power was divine power? We have no other information about the garment that Jesus wore, until his death, when it was revealed as a seamless garment, specially woven with great skill.
In Biblical times, the distinction between colors was not as definite as it is today, when we can even choose between various shades of white for decorating our homes! The blue color that Moses described for the cloths that were to cover the Tabernacle furniture before it could be removed to a new site (Num. 4:6,7) was almost certainly what we would call violet, or bluish-purple, while the purple used for the embroidery would be a reddish-purple, and the scarlet a true bright red. These three basic colors as used for the priest's garments and the hangings of the Tabernacle were all extremely expensive, and were all obtained from small living creatures.
The blue was only obtained from the hypobranchial gland of a Murex marine snail that only lives in deep water in the Mediterranean. The purple was obtained from another variety of Murex snail that could be gathered in shallow coastal waters of the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas.
The scarlet was produced from a tiny insect that infested oak trees, the Kermes, something like the cochineal insect of the Americas. These had to be collected by hand, dried and ground to a paste to produce the scarlet dye. The production of all these dyes was labor intensive. They were all found in very limited localities and were thus highly prized and highly priced. It has been calculated that it would take 10,000 snails to produce one gram of the blue dye. The purple dye was more readily obtained, but still very limited. Traders traveled hundreds of miles by sea and by land, to obtain or sell these limited supplies.
That the Phoenician traders of Tyre were at the centre of the international exchange of dyes and dyed cloth is brought out clearly in Ezekiel's farranging survey of the extent of Middle Eastern trade. "Blue and purple from the coasts of Elishah" (Ezek. 27:7); "clothes of blue and embroidered work" (v. 24), and "white wool" traded from Damascus (v. 18). Was the white wool to be dyed at Tyre? The Phoenician involvement in this trade in colors seemed to have been maintained for many centuries. It would include supplying the kings of many nations with these rare blue and purple cloths. Ships going west, and caravans going east or south, could easily carry this very valuable light-weight cargo. It seems probable that Israel in the wilderness would obtain either the dye, or ready dyed yarn and cloth from caravans that traversed Sinai en route perhaps to Egypt, or to Sheba. It seems unlikely that the escaping slaves would have brought such rare items with them. But they did carry gold that would enable them to purchase the blue and purple and scarlet from merchants.
The normal clothing of the people of Israel was of undyed linen, woven from the fibers of the flax plant. Cotton was not yet known. Wool they could obtain from their own flocks of sheep. When the people were asked to offer their precious possessions for the construction of the Tabernacle, a distinction was made between the coloured material and the fine twined linen (Exod. 25:4). It seems most likely that this distinction was between dyed woollen yarn and undyed linen. Thus, it seems probable that the embroidery work was of dyed woollen yarn worked upon plain linen cloth. This seems to be confirmed by recent studies which suggest that these dyes could only be made permanent in wool and were not fast in linen. It has been objected that to use dyed wool upon a linen cloth would have contravened the law that forbade the mixing of linen and wool (Lev. 19:19; Deut. 22:11). This taught a divine lesson. Just as a Jew was not to marry a Gentile, an ass and an ox were not to be yoked together, so linen and wool were not to be mingled in the weaving of cloth. The lesson was to be a continual reminder to Israel of their need to remain a separate people, holy to their God. It was a form of moral visual aid.
This question has been a matter of learned debate among Jewish scholars for many centuries. Only quite recently light has been shed upon the subject by an unexpected archaeological discovery. In the Bar Kochba caves by the Dead Sea, tassels have been found which were sufficiently well preserved to reveal that they were composed of linen threads with a cord of blue wool. It is now realised that the prohibition of mixing linen and wool only applied to the weaving process, and not to the added embroidery of the fringe and the tassels. The Hebrew word used in Deuteronomy 22:11 is shaatnez which means literally "mixed cloth". The dyed woollen embroidery may therefore be symbolic of the need for a divine infusion of holiness (blue) and royalty (purple) into the prosaic human stock of Israel.
The production of blue yarn and cloth dyed in the traditional way ceased many centuries ago, when the supply of snails appeared to become extinct. Jews have never been willing to accept any other kind of blue dye, so that to this day they have no blue cord in their fringes and tassels. Imagine therefore the excitement in orthodox Jewry, when, a year or so ago, it was announced that the Murex snails were not extinct after all, and it might be possible to resume production of the traditional blue dye. The Roman historian Pliny described in some detail how these dyes were manufactured in his day, and attempts to follow his method have been tried by a scientific group in the Lebanon. The flurry of excitement among those Jews anxious to be able to comply with the requirements of the Law and once again have a blue cord in their fringe and tassels may speed the efforts of those engaged in this enterprise. Some Jews have even gone so far as to see the revival of the heavenly blue as a sure sign of the advent of their Messiah.
John V. Collyer | <urn:uuid:143aaed6-b98c-4eb8-8340-a8b3e4ca74e6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bibletopics.com/biblestudy/14.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986484 | 2,616 | 3.265625 | 3 |
The University of California, Irvine, is recognized internationally for research, discovery and scholarly efforts that improve lives throughout California and benefit communities in every corner of the globe.
UC Irvine's educational programs prepare students to become global leaders in many fields. Our graduates include leaders in the arts, sciences, business and education — among them is the architect of the HTTP/1.1 Internet protocol used worldwide.
Life at UC Irvine is rich in diversity. Students from California high schools and community colleges, across 50 states and nearly 100 countries are attracted to our campus to live, learn and have fun.
Students and faculty at UC Irvine engage in volunteerism, research and teaching to lead change that will improve the world in which we live.
One of our campus's unique strengths lies in the way we combine the advantages of a large, dynamic research university with the friendly feel of a small college.
UC Irvine is consistently ranked among the nation's best universities. Students, faculty and researchers at UC Irvine are working to solve societal issues and support human development worldwide.
Academic and research options are offered through more than 80 undergraduate degree programs in the Claire Trevor School of the Arts, School of Biological Sciences, Henry Samueli School of Engineering, School of Humanities, Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, School of Physical Sciences, School of Social Ecology, School of Social Sciences, Paul Merage School of Business and programs in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nursing Science and Public health. UC Irvine offers excellent professional schools in the fields of medicine, law, business, education and the arts.
As early as the freshman year, students discover easy access to stellar faculty for research and mentoring. Three UC Irvine researchers have won Nobel Prizes — two in chemistry and one in physics — and one of our faculty members has won the prestigious Templeton Prize.
All undergraduates at UC Irvine can participate in the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program. In learning how to conduct research, students develop skills they will use throughout their lives, such as critical analysis, problem-solving and communication. Research opportunities are available in every discipline, and students can carry out their work at outside agencies, including national laboratories, industrial partners, community service agencies and other universities.
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An NCAA Division I school, UC Irvine has an athletics program featuring 18 sports (nine men's and nine women's teams and a coed sailing program). The Anteaters have won 26 national championships in nine sports, and more than 2,000 students have been honored as Big West Conference Scholar-Athletes. UC Irvine has also had over 400 All-Americans. Additionally, the campus boasts a complete state-of-the-art sports and fitness facility, the Anteater Recreation Center.
Environment and tempo
The contemporary campus sits on 1,500 acres of coastal foothills in Orange County, just a few miles from the Pacific Ocean. Located in one of the safest large cities in the nation, it is centrally located to famous surfing beaches, bike trails, hiking, desert camping and mountain resorts. Aldrich Park is the centerpiece of the campus. Its unique circular design consists of sweeping lawns, native shrubs and large trees, and is surrounded by the university's academic buildings. | <urn:uuid:94351284-45b3-43ea-bfd1-aaf4a73aa2a5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/campuses/irvine/index.html | 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 | 0.954052 | 693 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Top Neuroscience Discoveries in 2012: Researchers Identify Specific Words and Thoughts in The Brain
Marking Our Close Cousin's Thoughts in the Brain
The DNA of a chimpanzee is almost identical to our own, with more than 99% similarity. Our close evolutionary relationship provides great benefits to humans, such as helping us to gain knowledge about our own brains, as they too are similar. For example, studying chimps assisted in recent advances in neuroscience, allowing scientists to map the brain with greater accuracy. Learning more about the human brain empowers our species with greater knowledge of our minds, and assists in the creation of new technology as well.
On November 21, 2012, cognitive neuroscientists from MIT and Boston University revealed how they pinpointed a single thought in a chimp’s brain. They tracked the thought of a block's color, using an fMRI functional magnetic resonance imaging: this device employs spinning magnets to photograph the brain as it lights up with electrical activity.
Ensembles of Neurons Responsible for Thoughts
An image of one thought had been impossible to map previously, but the improved resolution refined and detailed microscopic areas of the brain, specifically neuron groups found to hold these single thoughts. Researchers named the small bundles of neurons that hold a thought an “ensemble.”
The original word refers to a small group of musicians playing in unison—just as music ensembles create beautiful sound, neural ensembles fire together in order to create meaning.
Pinpointing Two Thoughts as They Oscillate
Next, the scientists monitored an ensemble that encoded the shape of the block. Locating a second thought in the chimp’s brain represented a significant achievement because researchers could now track two related thoughts held in the conscious mind at the same time.
After finding the color and shape ensembles, the scientists could watch two conscious thoughts held in the mind simultaneously. We call this multitasking: an impressive ability shared by chimps, humans, and computers.
The scientists recorded remarkable, magical images: prior to this experiment, they had no idea how the brain would handle two conscious thoughts simultaneously. They found this surprising—the ensembles oscillated, meaning that the thought ensemble for color lit up, dimmed, and almost instantly the shape ensemble fired. On and off, the two brain areas blinked, allowing each ensemble to engage.Continued on the next page | <urn:uuid:d36d2970-17d0-417f-92f3-07e86c32ba0e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://technorati.com/technology/article/top-neuroscience-discoveries-in-2012-researchers/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tr-technology+%28Technology+articles+at+Technorati%29 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940339 | 490 | 3.34375 | 3 |
What is that weird mark beside the text? Some say it's the "OJ" of the Oshman Family JCC. Others see a "J" where the dot fell off and slid down the side. To the creative it's a shofar or a man diving. This logo was designed for the Oshman Family JCC, formerly known as the Albert L. Schltz JCC. The name change presaged a physical move from the JCC's Middlefield Road location to the sprawling Taube Koret Campus for Jewish Life. (The Schultz family voluntarily relinquished the naming rights to the JCC, to allow a generous donor to come in and bring the dream of a Jewish Campus to life). The most challenging part of the name change was designing a logo that incorporated the family name, the JCC and the campus! Such is the case with a non-profit that exists largely on the generosity of its donors. In the final logo the elements come together like the parties that worked to make the dream a reality.
The Oshman Family JCC in parnership with AMERICAN ASSOCIATES Ben-Gurion University of the Negev created the BREATHE symposium, focused on women's health and wellness. The concept behind the logo (and name) is that health (whether physical, emotional or financial) begins by taking a single breath. The wavy lines, airey typography and sky blue color scheme help create the feeling of breath and air.
Logo designed for the arts programs at the Oshman Family JCC. The two fonts reflect the beautiful and flowing side of arts programs, such as dance and music and the serious and thought-provoking programs like author interviews, lectures and classes. .
Mitzvah Day was founded in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Junior's legacy of tolerance, peace and equaltiy. Mitzvah Day takes place on Martin Luther King Day, and encourages the community to make this day "A day on, rather than a day off". Participants renew their commitment to service and justice by taking part in community service projects that tackle poverty, hunger, sub-standard housing, homelessness, aging and environmental issues. The logo reflects Dr. King's legacy as it intersects with the Jewish principle of "tikkun olam" (heal the world). In the logo the "i" in Mitzvah, represents the individual who stands up and supports the world. The logo represents the event's overall goal to make the world a better place. It reminds us as individuals that we must take action and be the change we want to see in the world.
Beauty Mirror is the only existing iphone app that targets tween girls and helps them define beauty and build self-esteem. By using this app, girls can create a customized slideshow of the things that make them beautiful, proud, funny, etc. Working with two other powerful women to develop this app, I provided the third leg of this woman powered team and developed the app icon, identity, background fairy-tale frame and buttons. I also designed a corresponding tshirt and postcard.
Logo for a web 2.0 startup company matching users with similar interests via chat.
iDogbook is an application for the iPhone that lets you select your favorite breed and stream flickr photos of that breed to your phone. You can also learn more about your favorite breed with an easy link to wikipedia articles. | <urn:uuid:d015acca-ef13-4cc2-b4f3-c444fc51ff9f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kylakaplan.com/logo.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930045 | 708 | 1.78125 | 2 |