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(covers information from several alternate timelines)
In 2375, the starship USS Voyager crashed on a class L planet in the Takara sector, after attempting to use quantum slipstream drive to return to the Alpha Quadrant, due to a phase variance in the slipstream which caused Voyager to be thrown into normal space. The crew attempted an emergency landing on the planet, but the ship was too heavily damaged, and all hands were killed on impact, except for Commander Chakotay and Ensign Kim, who were piloting the Delta Flyer ahead of Voyager.
Fifteen years later, in an attempt to alter history, Chakotay and Kim stole a salvaged Borg temporal transmitter and tracked down Voyager on the planet, salvaging The Doctor's program and mobile emitter and Seven of Nine's corpse. Using the Doctor's expertise to dissect and analyze Seven's interplexing beacon to determine its unique frequency, they used the temporal transmitter to send a new set of phase corrections to Seven. These phase corrections caused the slipstream to disperse and return Voyager safely to normal space before the crash. This alteration to the timeline constituted a temporal inversion, the effects of which had to be repaired by Captain Braxton, a Starfleet officer from the 29th century. (VOY: "Timeless", "Relativity") | <urn:uuid:0d6a28f8-a3bc-4ff2-8670-399701b9c510> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Takara_sector | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929415 | 266 | 2.3125 | 2 |
The next big step for wireless communications will be the widespread adoption of 802.11ac technology. Though routers and client adaptors have recently become available, with Buffalo, Netgear and ASUS leading the way, 802.11ac's final specification is expected to be approved late next year. 802.11ac is a big deal because it enables speeds of up to 1Gbit/s from a single-antenna source, rising to near-7Gbit/s for a multi-antenna, multi-station solution.
Intel, however, is looking further ahead than 802.11ac. Justin Rattner, the firm's chief technology officer, and Ali Sadri, chairman of the Wireless Gigabit Alliance (WGA), demonstrated 802.11ad technology, which is also known by the more marketing-friendly name of WiGig.
WiGig operates in the unlicensed 60GHz band and can provide multi-gigabit throughput comparable to 8-antenna 802.11ac, albeit at lower power, according to Sadri. It is also backward-compatible with all current standards, too.
Get rid of those wires
Sadri demonstrated practical uses for such high-speed technology by wirelessly transmitting high-definition videos from an external hard disk to an also-WiGig-enabled Ultrabook that in turn beamed them to a multi-output dock situated between the two monitors. The dock was connected to each monitor via regular HDMI cabling. The purpose here was to show that high-bandwidth content could be transferred without the need for pesky I/O wires connected to the Ultrabook. The test setup had a peak bandwidth of 3.5Gbit/s, ensuring plenty of throughput for other tasks. From what I could tell from a cursory look, latency didn't seem to be an apparent issue.
The WGA consortium has big plans for WiGig. They believe that future devices such as hard drives, tablets, computers and monitors will incorporate WiGig chips and users will be able to do away with docks, leaving a genuinely cable-free computing environment. The technology works best when within a 10-metre line-of-sight of the display, by the way, making it useful for both home and office environments
Sadri believes the first WiGig devices will be available some time in 2013... though such vague couching usually means we'll see it in the later part of the year. | <urn:uuid:7413abc8-7af8-42a2-bf3d-ce1dc6e05ad9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hexus.net/tech/news/network/45225-next-gen-wigig-networking-promises-get-rid-wires/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947849 | 500 | 2.1875 | 2 |
By Dr. Molefi Kete Asante
Afrocentricity is a paradigm based on the idea that African people should re-assert a sense of agency in order to achieve sanity. During the l960s a group of African American intellectuals in the newly-formed Black Studies departments at universities began to formulate novel ways of analyzing information. In some cases, these new ways were called looking at information from “a black perspective” as opposed to what had been considered the “white perspective” of most information in the American academy.
In the late l970s Molefi Kete Asante began speaking of the need for an Afrocentric orientation to data. By l980 he had published a book, Afrocentricity: The Theory of Social Change, which launched the first full discussion of the concept. Although the word existed before Asante’s book and had been used by many people, including Asante in the l970s, and Kwame Nkrumah in the l960s, the intellectual idea did not have substance as a philosophical concept until l980.
The Afrocentric paradigm is a revolutionary shift in thinking proposed as a constructural adjustment to black disorientation, decenteredness, and lack of agency. The Afrocentrist asks the question, “What would African people do if there were no white people?” In other words, what natural responses would occur in the relationships, attitudes toward the environment, kinship patterns, preferences for colors, type of religion, and historical referent points for African people if there had not been any intervention of colonialism or enslavement? Afrocentricity answers this question by asserting the central role of the African subject within the context of African history, thereby removing Europe from the center of the African reality. In this way, Afrocentricity becomes a revolutionary idea because it studies ideas, concepts, events, personalities, and political and economic processes from a standpoint of black people as subjects and not as objects, basing all knowledge on the authentic interrogation of location.
So that it becomes legitmate to ask, “Where is the sistah coming from?” or “Where is the brotha at?” “Are you down with overcoming oppression?” These are assessment and evaluative questions that allow the interrogator to accurately pinpoint the responder’s location, whether it be a cultural or psychological location. As a paradigm Afrocentricity enthrones the centrality of the African, that is, black ideals and values, as expressed in the highest forms of African culture, and activates consciousness as a functional aspect of any revolutionary approach to phenomena. The cognitive and structural aspects of a paradigm are incomplete without the functional aspect. There is something more than knowing in the Afrocentric sense; there is also doing. Afrocentricity holds that all definitions are autobiographical.
One of the key assumptions of the Afrocentrist is that all relationships are based on centers and margins and the distances from either the center or the margin. When black people view themselves as centered and central in their own history then they see themselves as agents, actors, and participants rather than as marginals on the periphery of political or economic experience. Using this paradigm, human beings have discovered that all phenomena are expressed in the fundamental categories of space and time. Furthermore, it is then understood that relationships develop and knowledge increases to the extent we are able to appreciate the issues of space and time.
The Afrocentric scholar or practitioner knows that one way to express Afrocentricity is called marking. Whenever a person delineates a cultural boundary around a particular cultural space in human time, this is called marking. It might be done with the announcement of a certain symbol, the creation of a special bonding, or the citing of personal heroes of African history and culture. Beyond citing the revolutionary thinkers in our history, that is, beyond Amilcar Cabral, Frantz Fanon, Malcolm X and Nkrumah, we must be prepared to act upon our interpretation of what is in the best interest of black people, that is, black people as an historically oppressed population. This is the fundamental necessity for advancing the political process.
Afrocentricity is the substance of our regeneration because it is in line with what contemporary philosophers Haki Madhubuti and Maulana Karenga, among others, have articulated as in the best image and interest of African people. What is any better than operating and acting out of our own collective interest? What is any greater than seeing the world through our eyes? What resonates more with people than understanding that we are central to our history, not someone else’s? If we can, in the process of materializing our consciousness, claim space as agents of progressive change, then we can change our condition and change the world.
Afrocentricity maintains that one can claim this space only if one knows the general characteristics of Afrocentricity as well as the practical applications of the field.
There are five general characteristics of the Afrocentric Method
- The Afrocentric method considers that no phenomena can be apprehended adequately without locating it first. A phenom must be studied and analyzed in relationship to psychological time and space. It must always be located. This is the only way to investigate the complex interrelationships of science and art, design and execution, creation and maintenance, generation and tradition, and other areas bypassed by theory.
- The Afrocentric method considers phenomena to be diverse, dynamic, and in motion and therefore it is necessary for a person to accurately note and record the location of phenomena even in the midst of fluctuations. This means that the investigator must know where he or she is standing in the process.
- The Afrocentric method is a form of cultural criticism that examines etymological uses of words and terms in order to know the source of an author’s location. This allows us to intersect ideas with actions and actions with ideas on the basis of what is pejorative and ineffective and what is creative and transformative at the political and economic levels.
- The Afrocentric method seeks to uncover the masks behind the rhetoric of power, privilege, and position in order to establish how principal myths create place. The method enthrones critical reflection that reveals the perception of monolithic power as nothing but the projection of a cadre of adventurers.
- The Afrocentric method locates the imaginative structure of a system of economics, bureau of politics, policy of government, expression of cultural form in the attitude, direction, and language of the phenom, be it text, institution, personality, interaction, or event.
Analytic Afrocentricity is the application of the principles of the Afrocentric method to textual analysis. An Afrocentrist seeks to understand the principles of the Afrocentric method in order to use them as a guide in analysis and discourse. It goes without saying that the Afrocentrist cannot function properly as a scientist or humanist if he or she does not adequately locate the phenom in time and space. This means that chronology is as important in some situations as location. The two aspects of analysis are central to any proper understanding of society, history, or personality.
Inasmuch as phenoms are active, dynamic, and diverse in our society, the Afrocentric method requires the scientists to focus on accurate notations and recording of space and time. In fact, the best way to apprehend location of a text is to determine where the researcher is located in time and space first. Once you know the location and time of the researcher or author it is fairly easy to establish the parameters for the phenom itself. The value of etymology, that is, the origin of terms and words is in the proper identification and location of concepts. The Afrocentrist seeks to demonstrate clarity by exposing dislocations, disorientations, and decenterness. One of the simplest ways of accessing textual clarity is through etymology.
Myths tie all relationships together, whether personal or conceptual. It is the Afrocentrist’s task to determine to what extent the myths of society are represented as being central to or marginal to society. This means that any textual analysis must involve the concrete realities of lived experiences, thus making historical experiences a key element in analytica Afrocentricity. In examining attitude, direction, and language the Afrocentrist is seeking to uncover the imagination of the author. What one seeks to do is to create an opportunity for the writer to show where he or she stands in relationship to the subject. Is the writer centered or is the writer marginalized within his own story?
The philosophy of Afrocentricity as expounded by Molefi Kete Asante and Ama Mazama, central figures of the Temple School, is a way of answering all cultural, economic, political, and social questions related to African people from a centered position. There are other Afrocentric ideas as well but these are the ones propounded in texts by Professors Asante, Mazama, and the late C. Tsehloane Keto. Indeed, Afrocentricity cannot be reconciled to any hegemonic or idealistic philosophy. It is opposed to radical individualism as expressed in the postmodern school. But it is also opposed to spookism, confusion, and superstition. As example of the differences between the methods of Afrocentricity and postmodernism, consider the following question, “Why have Africans been shut out of global development?”
The postmodernist would begin by saying that there is no such thing as “Africans” because there are many different types of Africans and all Africans are not equal. The postmodernist would go on to say that if there were Africans and if the conditions were as described by the querist then the answer would be that Africans had not fully developed their own capacities in relationship to the global economy and therefore they are outside of the normal development patterns of the world economy. On the other hand, the Afrocentrist does not question the fact that there is a collective sense of Africanity revealed in the common experiences of the African world. The Afrocentrist would look to the questions of location, control of the hegemonic global economy, marginalization, and power positions as keys to understand the underdevelopment of African people.
Molefi Kete Asante, The Afrocentric Idea. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1998.
Ama Mazama, ed., The Afrocentric Paradigm. Trenton: Africa World Press, 2003
Posted by Molefi Kete Asante | <urn:uuid:feb74279-2fe5-4a7d-8832-1cfd12a21470> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.asante.net/articles/1/afrocentricity/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944292 | 2,183 | 3.484375 | 3 |
New Findings on Astronaut Vision Loss
Could vision changes experienced by astronauts be linked to a vitamin B-12 or folate deficiency? While investigating the vision changes recently identified
in astronauts, nutritional assessment
data showed similarities to symptoms that occur with vitamin deficiencies, according to a new study published
in the March edition of The Journal of Nutrition
Approximately 20 percent of astronauts living on the International Space Station
have reported post-flight vision changes. Previous research
, published in the October 2011 issue of Ophthalmology
, identified a possible link between the reported vision changes and increased intracranial pressure caused by shifts in bodily fluids from the lower extremities to the upper part if the body, due to microgravity. This may still be part of the problem, but the new study shows there may be other contributing factors. The findings may provide evidence to help understand why some crew members suffer vision-related problems, while others do not.
The nutrition study included 20 astronauts, with 5 experiencing vision or eye anatomy changes. The investigation collected data from crew urine and blood samples taken before spaceflight, while living aboard the station, and after returning to Earth. The samples taken while living in orbit were kept in the station's Minus-Eighty Degree Freezer, or MELFI
, and returned to the ground for analysis.
Comparing the blood analysis with nutritional assessments revealed that crew members experiencing vision changes had consistently lower folate levels and higher levels of metabolites. The comparison suggests the vision changes may be due in part to what's called a "dependent one-carbon metabolic pathway" change.
All About the 1C Pathway
Let's break this down: The human body is like a machine, with many chemical processes taking place to keep cells functioning, which in turn keep the body functioning. These chemical processes use specific pathways to do their job. Everyone has these pathways.
The one-carbon pathway is part of the chemical process the body uses to make DNA, or genetic instructions. The pathways are similar to an assembly line in a factory. If the pathway is not working properly, it gets behind or backs up. This is what happens if there is a vitamin deficiency. Since astronauts participate in dietary and nutritional assessments, researchers were able to rule out common vitamin and nutritional deficiencies.
Enzymes are the workers on the assembly line, and can have different forms -- little changes or variations that occur -- between individuals. These multiple forms are known as polymorphisms. As humans evolve, tiny changes in DNA occur resulting in multiple forms of enzymes. A good example of polymorphisms is blood types -- though blood is blood, there are differences that account for a variety of blood types. Lactose intolerance is another example of polymorphisms in the human body.
With nutritional deficiencies ruled out, researchers began considering the possibility that polymorphisms, which may be part of the one-carbon pathway, could be causing the vision changes.
Since the folate and metabolite variances in the affected astronauts were seen preflight, there are several theories. These individuals may be more prone to microgravity-induced fluid shifts. They may be affected by small changes in the station's cabin carbon dioxide levels, which are slightly higher than those on Earth. Even small changes in the cabin air mix could increase intracranial pressure. On the other hand, other astronauts exposed to higher carbon dioxide levels did not have vision changes.
In Earth-based studies, the enzyme differences that slow down the pathway causing the backup have been linked to a greater occurrence of migraine headaches and strokes. These types of conditions can be related to increased intracranial pressure.
Results from this investigation also could provide advancements in understanding and treating retinal vascular and optic nerve disorders and diseases on Earth.
"While these results are very exciting, they are preliminary," said Scott Smith, a nutritionist and one of the authors of the recent study from NASA's Johnson Space Center's Nutritional Biochemistry Lab. "The next step is to directly test for the presence of enzyme polymorphisms to verify whether this relates to the vision changes."
"We clearly have identified a piece of the vision puzzle," Smith said. "We now need to go another step forward to assess whether it is a small piece among many others, or a large piece that is a primary cause of this problem. Not only may the results have significant implications for NASA and future astronauts, but the implications for the general population could be profound."
Additional research to expand understanding of how life in space affects astronaut vision is planned, and NASA recently selected eight investigations as part of a broader suite of astronaut health research
Public Affairs Office
NASA's Johnson Space Center | <urn:uuid:819a15c6-b78d-4718-9cba-59d70ab74d57> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/vision_changes.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93618 | 948 | 3.265625 | 3 |
Nobel Prize for Literature Winners
2012 - Mo Yan who with hallucinatory realism merges folk tales, history and the contemporary.
2011 - Tomas Transtromer because, through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality.
2010 - Mario Vargas Llosa for his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt, and defeat.
2009 - Heria Muller who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed.
2008 - Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy, explorer of a humanity beyond and below the reigning civilization.
2007 - Doris Lessing that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny.
2006 - Orhan Pamuk who in the quest for the melancholic soul of his native city has discovered new symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures.
2005 - Harold Pinter who in his plays uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression's closed rooms.
2004 - Elfriede Jelinek for her musical flow of voices and counter-voices in novels and plays that with extraordinary linguistic zeal reveal the absurdity of society's clich s and their subjugating power.
2003 - John Maxwell Coetzee who in innumerable guises portrays the surprising involvement of the outsider.
2002 - Imre Kertesz for writing that upholds the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric arbitrariness of history.
2001 - V. S. Naipaul for having united perceptive narrative and incorruptible scrutiny in works that compel us to see the presence of suppressed histories.
2000 - Gao Xingjian for an oeuvre of universal validity, bitter insights and linguistic ingenuity, which has opened new paths for the Chinese novel and drama.
1999 - Gunter Grass whose frolicsome black fables portray the forgotten face of history.
1998 - Jose Saramago who with parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony continually enables us once again to apprehend an elusory reality.
1997 - Dario Fo who emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden.
1996 - Wislawa Szymborska for poetry that with ironic precision allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality.
1995 - Seamus Heaney for works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and the living past.
1994 - Kenzaburo Oe who with poetic force creates an imagined world, where life and myth condense to form a disconcerting picture of the human predicament today.
1993 - Toni Morrison who in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality.
1992 - Derek Walcott for a poetic oeuvre of great luminosity, sustained by a historical vision, the outcome of a multicultural commitment.
1991 - Nadine Gordimer who through her magnificent epic writing has - in the words of Alfred Nobel - been of very great benefit to humanity.
1990 - Octavio Paz for impassioned writing with wide horizons, characterized by sensuous intelligence and humanistic integrity.
1989 - Camilo Jose Cela for a rich and intensive prose, which with restrained compassion forms a challenging vision of man's vulnerability.
1988 - Naguib Mahfouz who, through works rich in nuance-now clearsightedly realistic, now evocatively ambigous-has formed an Arabian narrative art that applies to all mankind.
1987 - Joseph Brodsky for an all-embracing authorship, imbued with clarity of thought and poetic intensity.
1986 - Wole Soyinka who in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones fashions the drama of existence.
1985 - Claude Simon who in his novel combines the poet's and the painter's creativeness with a deepened awareness of time in the depiction of the human condition.
1984 - Jaroslaw Seifert for his poetry which endowed with freshness, sensuality and rich inventiveness provides a liberating image of the indomitable spirit and versatility of man.
1983 - Sir William Golding for his novels which, with the perspicuity of realistic narrative art and the diversity and universality of myth, illuminate the human condition in the world of today.
1982 - Gabriel Garcia Marquez for his novels and short stories, in which the fantastic and the realistic are combined in a richly composed world of imagination, reflecting a continent's life and conflicts.
1981 - Elias Canetti for writings marked by a broad outlook, a wealth of ideas and artistic power.
1980 - Czeslaw Milosz who with uncompromising clear-sightedness voices man's exposed condition in a world of severe conflicts.
1979 - Odysseus Elytis (pen-name of Odysseus Alepoudhelis), for his poetry, which, against the background of Greek tradition, depicts with sensuous strength and intellectual clear-sightedness modern man's struggle for freedom and creativeness.
1978 - Isaac Bashevis Singer for his impassioned narrative art which, with roots in a Polish-Jewish cultural tradition, brings universal human conditions to life.
1977 - Vicente Aleixandre for a creative poetic writing which illuminates man's condition in the cosmos and in present-day society, at the same time representing the great renewal of the traditions of Spanish poetry beween the wars.
1976 - Saul Bellow for the human understanding and subtle analysis of contemporary culture that are combined in his work.
1975 - Eugenio Montale for his distinctive poetry which, with great artistic sensitivity, has interpreted human values under the sign of an outlook on life with no illusions.
1974 - The prize was divided between: Eyvind Johnson for a narrative art, farseeing in lands and ages, in the service of freedom & Harry Martinson for writings that catch the dewdrop and reflect the cosmos.
1973 - Patrick White for an epic and psychological narrative art which has introduced a new continent into literature.
1972 - Heinrich Boll for his writing which through its combination of a broad perspective on his time and a sensitive skill in characterization has contributed to a renewal of German literature.
1971 - Pablo Neruda for a poetry that with the action of an elemental force brings alive a continent's destiny and dreams.
1970 - Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenitsyn for the ethical force with which he has pursued the indispensable traditions of Russian literature.
1969 - Samuel Beckett for his writing, which - in new forms for the novel and drama - in the destitution of modern man acquires its elevation.
1968 - Yasunari Kawabata for his narrative mastery, which with great sensibility expresses the essence of the Japanese mind.
1967 - Miguel Angel Asturias for his vivid literary achievement, deep-rooted in the national traits and traditions of Indian peoples of Latin America.
1966 - The prize was divided equally between: Shmuel Yosef Agnon for his profoundly characteristic narrative art with motifs from the life of the Jewish people & Nelly Sachs for her outstanding lyrical and dramatic writing, which interprets Israel's destiny with touching strength.
1965 - Michail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov for the artistic power and integrity with which, in his epic of the Don, he has given expression to a historic phase in the life of the Russian people.
1964 - Jean-Paul Sartre for his work which, rich in ideas and filled with the spirit of freedom and the quest for truth, has exerted a farreaching influence on our age. (Declined the prize.)
1963 - Giorgos Seferis (pen-name of Giorgos Seferiadis), for his eminent lyrical writing, inspired by a deep feeling for the Hellenic world of culture.
1962 - John Steinbeck for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception.
1961 - Ivo Andri'c for the epic force with which he has traced themes and depicted human destinies drawn from the history of his country.
1960 - Saint-John Perse (pen-name of Alexis Leger), for the soaring flight and the evocative imagery of his poetry which in a visionary fashion reflects the conditions of our time.
1959 - Salvatore Quasimodo for his lyrical poetry, which with classical fire expresses the tragic experience of life in our own times.
1958 - Boris Leonidovich Pasternak for his important achievement both in contemporary lyrical poetry and in the field of the great Russian epic tradition. (Accepted first, later caused by the authorities of his country to decline the prize.)
1957 - Albert Camus for his important literary production, which with clear-sighted earnestness illuminates the problems of the human conscience in our times.
1956 - Juan Ramon Jimenez for his lyrical poetry, which in Spanish language constitutes an example of high spirit and artistical purity.
1955 - Halldor Kiljan Laxness for his vivid epic power which has renewed the great narrative art of Iceland.
1954 - Ernest Miller Hemingway for his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated in The Old Man and the Sea ,and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style.
1953 - Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values.
1952 - Francois Mauriac for the deep spiritual insight and the artistic intensity with which he has in his novels penetrated the drama of human life.
1951 - Par Fabian Lagerkvist for the artistic vigour and true independence of mind with which he endeavours in his poetry to find answers to the eternal questions confronting mankind.
1950 - Earl Bertrand Arthur William Russell in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought.
1949 - William Faulker for his powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel.
1948 - Thomas Stearns Eliot for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry.
1947 - Andre Paul Guillaume Gide for his comprehensive and artistically significant writings, in which human problems and conditions have been presented with a fearless love of truth and keen psychological insight.
1946 - Hermann Hesse for his inspired writings which, while growing in boldness and penetration, exemplify the classical humaitarian ideals and high qualities of style.
1945 - Gabriela Mistral (pen-name of Lucila Godoy Y Alca-Yaga), for her lyric poetry which, inspired by powerful emotions, has made her name a symbol of the idealistic aspirations of the entire Latin American world.
1944 - Johannes Vilhelm Jensen for the rare strength and fertility of his poetic imagination with which is combined an intellectual curiosity of wide scope and a bold, freshly creative style.
1943-1940 - The prize money was allocated to the Main Fund (1/3) and to the Special Fund (2/3) of this prize section.
1939 - Frans Eemil Sillanpaa for his deep understanding of his country's peasantry and the exquisite art with which he has portrayed their way of life and their relationship with Nature.
1938 - Pearl Buck (pen-name of Pearl Walsh née SYDENSTRICKER ), for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China and for her biographical masterpieces.
1937 - Roger Martin Du Gard for the artistic power and truth with which he has depicted human conflict as well as some fundamental aspects of contemporary life in his novelcycle Les Thibault.
1936 - Eugene Gladstone O'Neill for the power, honesty and deep-felt emotions of his dramatic works, which embody an original concept of tragedy.
1935 - The prize money was allocated to the Main Fund (1/3) and to the Special Fund (2/3) of this prize section.
1934 - Luigi Pirandello for his bold and ingenious revival of dramatic and scenic art.
1933 - Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin for the strict artistry with which he has carried on the classical Russian traditions in prose writing.
1932 - John Galsworthy for his distinguished art of narration which takes its highest form in The Forsythe Saga.
1931 - Erik Alex Karlfeldt The poetry of Erik Axel Karlfeldt.
1930 - Sinclair Lewis for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humour, new types of characters.
1929 - Thomas Mann principially for his great novel, Buddenbrooks, which has won steadily increased recognition as one of the classic works of contemporary literature.
1928 - Sigrid Undset principially for her powerful descriptions of Northern life during the Middle Ages.
1927 - Henri Gergson in recognition of his rich and vitalizing ideas and the brillant skill with which they have been presented.
1926 - Grazia Deledda (pen-name of Grazia Madesani née Deledda), for her idealistically inspired writings which with plastic clarity picture the life on her native island and with depth and sympathy deal with human problems in general.
1925 - George Bernard Shaw for his work which is marked by both idealism and humanity, its stimulating satire often being infused with a singular poetic beauty.
1924 - Wladyslaw Stanislaw Reymont (pen-name of Reyment), for his great national epic, The Peasants.
1923 - William Butler Yeats for his always inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation.
1922 - Jacinto Benavente for the happy manner in which he has continued the illustrious traditions of the Spanish drama.
1921 - Anatole France (pen-name of Jaques Anatole Thibault), in recognition of his brilliant literary achievements, characterized as they are by a nobility of style, a profound human sympathy, grace, and a true Gallic temperament.
1920 - Knut Pedersen Hamsun for his monumental work, Growth of the Soil.
1919 - Carl Friedrich Georg Spitteler in special appreciation of his epic, Olympian Spring.
1918 - The prize money for 1918 was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section.
1917 - The prize was divided equally between: Karl Adolph Gjefferup for his varied and rich poetry, which is inspired by lofty ideals & Henrik Pontoppidan for his authentic descriptions of present-day life in Denmark.
1916 - Carl Gustaf Vernier Von Heidenstam in recognition of his significance as the leading representative of a new era in our literature.
1915 - Romain Rolland as a tribute to the lofty idealism of his literary production and to the sympathy and love of truth with which he has described different types of human beings.
1914 - The prize money for 1914 was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section.
1913 - Rabindranath Tagore because of his profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse, by which, with comsummate skill, he has made his poetic thought, expressed in his own English words, a part of the literature of the West.
1912 - Gerhart Johann Robert Hauptmann primarily in recognition of his fruitful, varied and outstanding production in the realm of dramatic art.
1911 - Count Maurice (Mooris) Polidore Marie Bernhard Maeterlinck, in appreciation of his manysided literary activities, and especially of his dramatic works, which are distinguished by a wealth of imagination and by a poetic fancy, which reveals, sometimes in the guise of a fairy tale, a deep inspiration, while in a mysterious way they appeal to the readers' own feelings and stimulate their imaginations.
1910 - Paul Johann Ludwig Heyse as a tribute to the consummate artistry, permeated with idealism, which he has demonstrated during his long productive career as a lyric poet, dramatist, novelist and writer of world-renowned short stories.
1909 - Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlof in appreciation of the lofty idealism, vivid imagination and spiritual perception that characterize her writings.
1908 - Rudolf Christoph Eucken in recognition of his earnest search for truth, his penetrating power of thought, his wide range of vision, and the warmth and strength in presentation with which in his numerous works he has vindicated and developed an idealistic philosophy of life.
1907 - Rudyard Kipling in consideration of the power of observation, originality of imagination, virility of ideas and remarkable talent for narration which characterize the creations of this world-famous author.
1906 - Giosue Carducci not only in consideration of his deep learning and critical research, but above all as a tribute to the creative energy, freshness of style, and lyrical force which characterize his poetic masterpieces.
1905 - Henryk Sienkiewicz because of his outstanding merits as an epic writer.
1904 - The prize was divided equally between: Frederic Mistral in recognition of the fresh originality and true inspiration of his poetic production, which faithfully reflects the natural scenery and native spirit of his people, and, in addition, his significant work as a Provençal philologist & Jose Echegaray Y Eizaguirre in recognition of the numerous and brilliant compositions which, in an individual and original manner, have revived the great traditions of the Spanish drama.
1903 - Bjornstjerne Martinus Bjornson as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished by both the freshness of its inspiration and the rare purity of its spirit.
1902 - Christian Mattias Theodor Mommsen the greatest living master of the art of historical writing, with special reference to his monumental work, A history of Rome.
1901 - Sully Prudhomme (pen-name of Rene Francois Armand), in special recognition of his poetic composition, which gives evidence of lofty idealism, artistic perfection and a rare combination of the qualitites of both heart and intellect. | <urn:uuid:b3274f39-0595-45d2-afc5-664c33fe403a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.franklin.lib.oh.us/NobelPrizeLit.list | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948043 | 3,842 | 2.4375 | 2 |
Facebook is a social networking website Users can add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves.
A few weeks ago Facebook had more visitors than Google! If you don’t have Facebook account you’re in the minority.
Facebook is about sharing your information with firends,friends of friends or everyone, you can customize your settings by going to Account menu on Facebook
Basic Directory Information:
Certain information is visible to everyone because it's essential to helping people find and connect with you on Facebook.
- Name and profile picture are visible to everyone so real-world friends can recognize you, and so we can display them when you write on someone's Wall.
- Gender is public so we can correctly display your gender (for example, "Add her as a friend.")
- Networks are visible to everyone so you can see who else is part of your network (and will have access to your information) before choosing "Friends and Networks" for any of your privacy settings.
Other information in this section, including hometown and interests, is visible by default to help friends and other people you have things in common with connect with you.
Sharing on Facebook:
This section controls who can see all the content you post on a day-to-day basis (such as status updates, photos and videos).
It also includes some things you share about yourself (birthday and contact information) and content others share about you (comments on your posts and photos and videos you've been tagged in).
Set these now with one click, and your settings will apply to all the day-to-day content you post in the future. "Customize settings" displays a full list so you can control the privacy level for each setting.
Applications and Websites
This section controls what information is shared with websites and applications, including search engines (applications and websites you
and your friends use already have access to your name, profile picture, gender, networks, friend list, user ID, and any other information you share with everyone).
You can view your applications, remove any you don't want to use, or turn off platform completely.
Turning off platform means you won't be able to use any platform applications or websites and we won't share your information with them
This section lets you block people from interacting with you or seeing your information on Facebook. You can also specify friends you want to ignore application invites from,
and see a list of the specific applications that you've blocked from accessing your information and contacting you.
Recommended settings; Facebook default setting, You can think of "Everyone," "Friends of Friends" and "Friends Only" as big buckets containing different groups of information.
With default recommended settings, your information is distributed across all three buckets.
"Everyone" contains status updates and information that people may want to share with a larger audience. "Friends of Friends" includes photos and videos of you,
which are often relevant to friends of your friends. "Friends Only" includes all of your contact information and things that are only relevant to people you interact with directly.
Control each time you post
You can control who sees each and every post. Before you post a status update, link or anything else, click the lock icon to choose who can see it.
What you select will override your "Posts by me" setting, which acts as the default.
Control with applications
Applications can only see information you've already made visible to everyone. To access more, applications have to ask for permission for each piece of information,and it can only be information that's needed for them to work.
Control for what you're tagged in
You control who can see the photos and videos you're tagged in that appear on your profile.
Keep in mind, the owner of a photo can still share that photo with people you're not friends with, so remove the tag from the photo or video if you don't want that to happen. | <urn:uuid:65778cb6-7aaa-48e3-976d-11f4a39c3b8a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cyberwarzone.com/content/protect-your-privacy-facebook?page=323 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934163 | 818 | 2.453125 | 2 |
MDX Essentials: Logical Functions: The IsEmpty() Function
November 1, 2004
About the Series ...
This is the twenty-fifth article of the series, MDX Essentials. The series is designed to provide hands-on application of the fundamentals of the Multidimensional Expressions (MDX) language, with each tutorial progressively adding features designed to meet specific real-world needs.
For more information about the series in general, as well as the software and systems requirements for getting the most out of the lessons included, please see the first article, MDX at First Glance: Introduction to MDX Essentials.
Note: Service Pack 3 updates are assumed for MSSQL Server 2000, MSSQL Server 2000 Analysis Services, and the related Books Online and Samples.
In this lesson, we will introduce a function that assists us in the handling of empty cells. In multidimensional data sets, we are often confronted with empty cells - data is often sparse in these sets by their very physical nature. Because, as a simple example, every product might not be sold at every store in every time period (to cite an instance from the FoodMart2000 sample environment), we will see empty cells in abundance in a data set that contains intersects of these dimensions. (Particularly in working with crossjoins of any magnitude, we will encounter many empty cells, as a general rule.) Empty cells mean nulls, and nulls can mean incorrect results in using MDX to support analysis in reporting.
A logical function, ISEMPTY() returns true the expression to which it is applied evaluates to an empty cell. As we will see in the practice example we undertake in this article, ISEMPTY() works ideally with IIF(), a conditional function, to check cells for empty or not-empty status. We will consider elementary uses of the ISEMPTY() function in this article, and then call it into service in subsequent articles where we require it as a tool to perform just this sort of check. In keeping with the objectives of the MDX Essentials series, we will seek to build a foundation in the rudiments of the function, from which we can expand to more sophisticated uses in other articles. As a part of building our basis in the ISEMPTY() function, we will also take a preliminary look at the IIF() function, which we will take up in subsequent articles that we devote to it especially.
ISEMPTY() will likely become a valued member in the toolset of any practitioner that relies heavily upon MDX to supply solutions to the organizations they support. We will introduce the function, commenting upon its operation and touching upon uses at a general level, and then we will: | <urn:uuid:68f4ebb0-171f-4d2a-959b-4f620ba89e67> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.databasejournal.com/features/mssql/print.php/3426201 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914334 | 556 | 2.4375 | 2 |
There have been reductions in the level of greenhouse gas emissions across most sectors between 1995 and 2009 but one of the key drivers of the 42.0 per cent decrease in emissions intensity has been the switch away from coal to natural gas for electricity generation. The electricity, gas and water supply industries produced 5,200 tonnes of emissions (CO2 equivalent) per million pounds of economic output in 2009, less than half that produced in 1995 (11,400 tonnes).
There has been an increase in the emissions intensity for the agriculture, forestry and fishing industry. Emissions of greenhouse gases have fallen in this sector by 17.7 per cent between 1995 and 2009 but output (gross value added) was down 32.6 per cent over the same period.
Source: Office for National Statistics
Comparisons are made with 1995 for the industry analyses of greenhouse gas emissions intensity as this is the earliest year for which economic output (GVA) data is available on an SIC07 basis at the industry level.
Details of the policy governing the release of new data are available by visiting www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/assessment/code-of-practice/index.html or from the Media Relations Office email: firstname.lastname@example.org
These National Statistics are produced to high professional standards and released according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority. | <urn:uuid:921cdf47-4547-4a13-b52a-4654b9d6c64a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/ons/rel/environmental/uk-environmental-accounts/2011---blue-book-update/sumghgintensitybyindustry.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928131 | 281 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Top White Papers
Exposure Blending with digiKamMay 25, 2010, 22:32 (0 Talkback[s])
(Other stories by Dmitri Popov)
[ Thanks to Dmitri Popov for this link. ]
"No matter how good your camera is, taking a well-exposed photo of a high-contrast scene like a black bird on snow can be really tricky. Even if you switch to the manual mode and tweak the exposure settings, there is still a risk that you will end up with a shot containing under- or overexposed areas. One way to solve this problem is to use exposure blending. This technique involves taking several shots of the same scene or subject with different exposures and then fusing these shots into one perfectly exposed photo.
0 Talkback[s] (click to add your comment) | <urn:uuid:04988c59-819c-4115-9e78-fcb96eebfb60> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.linuxtoday.com/infrastructure/2010052503235MMDTSW | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914744 | 175 | 1.84375 | 2 |
When the final school bell rings and students are dismissed for the summer, parents are already devising ways to keep their children active.
And no, video games don’t count as an activity.
Typically, a popular sport amongst boys is our national pastime: baseball. It is without question the sport of summer.
But, the baseball season only lasts so long. Most leagues have already begun to wind down, or are already finished for the year.
With the first day of school still a couple of months away, what’s a kid to do?
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If you are new to the award winning Canyon Courier and wish to get a subscription or simply gain access to our online content then please enter your ZIP code below and continue to setup your account. | <urn:uuid:c68dbc6d-3ca8-42df-a5fd-7eb7969701b1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.canyoncourier.com/content/football-frisbee-twist?mini=calendar-date%2F2013-02 | 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 | 0.936472 | 205 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Welcome to Character Development
GCS is a 2013 National District of Character!
"Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education"
Congratulations to Guilford County Schools for being selected as the North Carolina District of Character awarded by the Character Education Partnership and Social Studies Division of NC Department of Public Instruction! To read more, click here.
At Guilford County Schools, we recognize that teachers of the highest caliber, an engaging curriculum and even the most advanced technology are not enough to prepare our students for life outside the classroom. It also takes something else. We refer to this missing piece as character development. And while the details of this essential lesson are not outlined in any textbook, it will be reinforced by every teacher, at every grade level, in every school.
The benefit of strong character can't be measured by any test. Rather, it's demonstrated during those common instances when our students are given the opportunity to think for themselves. Simply put, character is about making the right choices. And if we can emphasize it from the moment a child begins school, character development can equip students with the tools and motivation necessary to be the change they wish to see in the world.
To download the Character Development brochure, click here.
To download the Character Development fact sheet, click here.
The three fundamental elements of the Character Development Initiative are character education, civic education, and service learning. Character education includes the integration of character education into routine instruction and school related activities including sports, the arts and student organizations. Civic education in public schools has historically been the primary way to prepare students to use their skills and knowledge to be informed, engaged and responsible participants in our society. Service Learning calls teachers, students, parents and the community out of the classroom and into the lives of others where our compassion, vitality and knowledge will both grow and be of service. | <urn:uuid:bb3b90aa-97cc-4962-876f-09e264a246b4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gcsnc.com/education/school/school.php?sectionid=36201 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955555 | 379 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Advanced Micro Devices may have a yet another trump in its hands to fight low-cost Intel's Pentium 4 "Prescott" microprocessors – an extremely affordable 64-bit Athlon 64 chip that still delivers respectable performance as well as something loads of customers are impatient to bite: 64-bit capability.
In late March 2004, Sunnyvale, California-based chipmaker AMD added the Athlon 64 2800+ processor for desktops into its price-list. The 2800+ chips run at 1.80GHz, incorporate 512KB of L2 cache and feature single-channel memory controller. Thermal and electrical specifications of the Athlon 64 2800+ are the same as those of other PGA754 chips from AMD. The company quotes the new microprocessor at $178 price-point in for business quantities, the same price tag as the least expensive Intel Pentium 4 with 800MHz QPB and HT technology.
News source: X-bit labs | <urn:uuid:d9043227-e930-4f13-88c3-4838f110a95c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.neowin.net/news/amd-holds-athlon-64-2600-chip-in-the-pockets | 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 | 0.914611 | 195 | 1.65625 | 2 |
During their Tuesday meeting, Commissioners heard the recommendation from Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos, that they move forward with plans for the Crime Lab. It would expand and improve what is now the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office, and would include a new building. She told Commissioners to consider the exponential growth of the incorporated areas of Harris County.
"I respectfully request to this court, to approve the sale and property acquisition, recommended by the Public Infrastructure Department, for the nine story institute. The voters approved a bond issue several years ago, design can begin in February."
Harris County Judge Ed Emmett says Attorney Lykos' presentation was not needed for the court to approve the plan.
"Commissioner's Court is very proud of the Institute of Forensic Sciences. It is clearly cutting edge technology, but we're a rapidly growing community. Voters approved an $80 million bond several years ago to build the new Institute of Forensic Sciences or crime lab, as most people call it. And so, we're just progressing in that whole project."
Emmett says the project is already on the fast-track as District Attorney Lykos suggested, but there are still some hurdles to overcome.
"One of my concerns is to make sure that we don't have to redesign later. If we know it's going to be a regional crime lab that the city is going to participate in and others, let's o ahead and get it done right the first time, so that we're not doing this thing peace meal going forward."
The current Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences' facility is located on a tract of land in the Texas Medical Center, not far from where the new facility would be built.
"We have no back log on rape kits or anything else, so they're doing a really fine job. But they need better facilities and if we even put it on the fast-track, the soonest the new Institute of Forensic Sciences could be ready would be December of 2013. And with the growing population we have, we need to take those steps now."
And the new facility would provide independent forensic testing for area law enforcement agencies. Once again, Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos:
"Scientists should be running laboratories, law enforcement should not. No police chief should have to make a decision on whether you put units on the street, or you put money in lab, and so, it's vital. And it also gives the appearance of impropriety when law enforcement controls science." | <urn:uuid:fe71c900-12e0-47e0-b6c8-17cc1397e503> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://app1.kuhf.org/print-articles/1326243401-Push-Made-To-Build-State-Of-The-Art-Crime-Lab.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965088 | 505 | 1.546875 | 2 |
For months, Rick Perry has been traveling the country touting the “Texas economic miracle” of job creation, balanced budgets and low taxes. In recent weeks, he’s taken a bit of flak on his record from Republican rival Mitt Romney, who says the Texas governor may not be the greatest poker player in the world just because he was dealt four aces. But today, after Perry delivered yet another rah-rah Texas speech in Atlanta, the Democratic National Committee responded with all their bazookas.
According to the DNC, Perry has been more talk than action in his claim that Texas sets a national example for job growth. Among its claims:
- Gov. Perry’s approval of a $4 billion cut to education will cost about 49,000 education workers their jobs.
- Texas’ unemployment rate of 8.5 percent currently ranks 27th in the nation, and is at its highest level since 1987.
- During Perry’s ten-year tenure as governor of Texas, job creation in the public sector (18.98 percent) has more than doubled those created in the private sector (7.96 percent).
The DNC vigorously attacks Perry on his claims that health care and environmental conditions have improved under his watch in the second largest state in America.
In his Georgia speech, Perry cited Texas as a model for job growth, a state with improved health care, and one with improved air and environmental conditions.
“In Texas, we’ve cleaned the air while creating jobs and adding millions in population. Another state — Massachusetts — was among the first states to implement its own cap-and-trade program which included limits on carbon emissions for power plants,” said Perry.
“It’s time for a change. And when I say change, I don’t mean the rhetoric of change, but a record of change,” said the presidential candidate. ”I believe I have that record. My home state has not only created 40 percent of the new jobs in America since June 2009, but our credit rating went up that year too.”
Perry touted his tort reform in Texas as a health care victory that would translate over to the nation if elected president.
But the DNC claims that health care costs in Texas have skyrocketed in the past ten years. They also allege that health care has become increasingly hard to obtain, even for those with jobs.
As far as the environment is concerned, Perry has stuck to his guns on the issue, telling the Atlanta crowd that “we’ve cleaned the air while creating jobs and adding millions in population.”
The DNC claims that under Gov. Perry, the American Lung Association has ranked Texas cities’ air in the top ten for seven years running as some of the dirtiest and most polluted in America. | <urn:uuid:d31fc3fc-409d-48db-83b0-74023e0211db> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.chron.com/rickperry/2011/09/perry-says-he-has-a-record-of-change-but-dnc-says-he-has-a-record-of-mediocrity/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970871 | 585 | 1.5 | 2 |
From Non-Runner to Marathon Runner
She Trained Hard -- at Her Pace
How does someone go from 0 to 26.2? Hussa, who before couldn't run a mile, joined Team In Training, a group training program that raises money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. She joined team members whose fitness level matched her own for regular runs in Central Park, first aiming to do 2-3 miles or 30 minutes straight at their own pace.
Along with other Team In Training members, she completed 40-minute runs every Tuesday night and longer runs on Saturday mornings: about 2 hours, building up to an 18-mile run before the race.
Her training plan also called for another short run during the week, but Hussa admitted she couldn't always find time to stick to her schedule and sometimes even missed the long runs on Saturday because of oversleeping or work. "Honestly, I was behind in the training," she said. "Before the marathon, everyone had already run at least 18 miles; my longest run was only 15."
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Creator: Lully, Jean Baptiste, 1632-1687
Description: Isis, which premiered January 5, 1677, at St. Germain-en-Laye, was the fifth of Jean-Baptiste Lully's tragédies lyriques written with librettist Philippe Quinault. The plot is loosely adapted from one of the episodes in Ovid's Metamorphoses. In many of its essentials, the plot of Isis resembles that of Lully's previous opera, Atys. In Isis, the nymph Io, daughter of the river Inachus, is promised in marriage to Hierax, just as the nymph Sangaride, daughter of the river Sangar, was promised to Celoenus. Like Sangaride, Io is pursued by another love and yields to this love in spite of her feelings of guilt. Like Sangaride, Io has a goddess as a rival and is vulnerable to her jealousy. Lully's contemporaries interpreted this story as representing the volatile situation between two of the King's mistresses. The subsequent scandale of the premiere ended the collaboration between Lully and Quinault for a time, and led to the dismissal of a number of members of Lully's artistic circle.
Contributing Partner: UNT Music Library | <urn:uuid:7e05530d-701e-4daf-9180-163e21789b0f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://digital.library.unt.edu/explore/partners/UNTML/browse/?fq=untl_collection%3AJBLC&fq=untl_decade%3A1710-1719&display=list | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951946 | 267 | 1.984375 | 2 |
DAVENPORT - Local cyclists are drawing a line in the sand over a plan to gouge 10 miles of vibration-inducing safety strips along a stretch of Highway 1 known the world over as a cycling destination.
Caltrans is planning the so-called rumble strips between Shaffer Road just north of Santa Cruz and Swanton Road, near Davenport. The strips are aimed at cutting back on car crashes that have claimed numerous lives in recent years, but bicyclists see them as a wheel-busting hazard that could lead to even more problems.
"What we're concerned with is Caltrans' solution creates a whole set of problems for cyclists, specifically on this roadway," said Leo Jed, a local cycling advocate who sits on the board of the California Association of Bicycling Organizations. "This is a nationally known roadway for cyclists."
The issue is gathering broad attention in cycling circles. The stretch of road between Davenport and Santa Cruz is not only popular with recreation bikers, but part of the route for the Amgen Tour of California, the Ride to End AIDS, the upcoming Green Fondo and numerous other organized events. In March, industry magazine Velo News named Santa Cruz one of the top cycling destinations in the world.
In fact, the project has drawn so much attention that a Monday workshop of the Bicycle Committee of the county Regional Transportation Commission, where
"We're expecting a large turnout," RTC senior transportation planner Cory Caletti said.
According to Caltrans and California Highway Patrol data, there have been 10 fatalities along that stretch of road since 2004, most recently an October 2010 crash that killed two when a southbound driver drifted across the center line. The northbound driver's 10-month-old son survived.
During a 5-year stretch from 2004 to 2009, there were 77 non-fatal accidents there, 37 percent of which involved cars drifting off the right shoulder of the road.
"Our goal is to make that a safer roadway," Caltrans spokesman Colin Jones said.
But from bicyclists' perspective, the agency may be making it worse. They say adding rumble strips to a shoulder that can already include debris from agricultural trucks, rock falls, drifting sand, parked cars and other obstacles will only make things worse.
"It's just creating this totally unnecessary hazard for cyclists," said Micah Posner of People Power, who said he would be willing to support centerline rumble strips if Caltrans left the shoulders alone.
Rumble strips, typically made by milling out small trenches in the asphalt, have been shown to reduce traffic accidents. Drivers get a jolt if their tires roll over them.
But there is increased sensitivity to the strips' impact on bicyclists, who have just as much right to the roadway as motorists. Recent revisions to Federal Highway Administration guidelines make clear that rumble strips are not recommended where there is less than 4 feet of shoulder, and that the strips should have gaps allowing bicyclists to traverse the strip.
Jones said Caltrans has already decided against installing strips where there is less than 5 feet of shoulder. But Caltrans is still being inundated by concerned bicyclists, some of whom have even written to Gov. Jerry Brown.
"Our plans are still to go forward with limited rumble strips on the shoulder," Jones said, saying he believes they protect bicyclists as well. "We think that's, on our end, a win-win."
Though they are more frequently found on rural roads where inattentive (or tired) drivers can drift off the road, rumble strips are in place along a number of roadways throughout the state. Highway 84 in San Mateo County, which is popular with cyclists, has centerline strips in parts, with more planned.
Local cyclists say they are sensitive to motorists' safety, but add that they are extremely vulnerable on the roads. Even centerline strips could induce drivers to avoid giving cyclists a wide berth, they say.
But they acknowledge that getting Caltrans, which often faces criticism about focusing on automotive transportation to the exclusion of other ways of getting around, to change its mind is going to be an uphill battle.
"It will take a fairly significant outcry to get Caltrans to change their mind," Jed said.
IF YOU GO
BICYCLE COMMITTEE MEETING
WHAT: Caltrans discusses its plan to install rumble strips along Highway 1 north of Santa Cruz.
When: 6:30 p.m. Monday
WHERE: Museum of Art and History, 705 Front St. | <urn:uuid:b7fa7818-bb08-4bac-a7d5-a9fb5694a265> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_20352294/rumble-over-rumble-strips-caltrans-plan-reduce-north | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965286 | 933 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Dove is an inspirational figure for African-Americans and for women, and her own work reflects these two important facets of her life, featuring many iconic names including Billie Holiday, Rosa Parks and Hattie McDaniel. However, Dove is as much interested in what she has termed "the underside of history" exploring the quiet lives of those who, like Thomas and Beulah, are omitted from the official record. Be they famous or humble, Dove's sensual technique collapses the barriers of history to bring the reader into intimate contact with her subjects. Celebration becomes the best form of protest, whether it's the soldiers returning from the Western Front who play their music "right up white-faced 5th Avenue" ('The Return of Lieutenant James Reese Europe') or Dove herself dancing so ecstatically in 'American Smooth' she and her partner take off for a moment from the earth. Ultimately though, like her dancing body, Dove's poetry isn't restricted by notions of race or gender.
The critic Helen Vendler has said of Dove's poems that they "fall on the ears with solace". This is partly due to Dove's musical instinct (she played the cello from a young age) which underpins her immaculate sense of phrasing. Whatever form she is working in, her poetry lives up to her own high ideals: "I believe that language sings."
Her recording was made for The Poetry Archive on 11 January 2005 at WTJU-FM, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA and was produced by Chuck Taylor. | <urn:uuid:42611166-cc4c-48b9-9e82-a38bae9cf6dc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=6722 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976642 | 311 | 2.140625 | 2 |
POINT BY POINT OUTLINE
prepared by Rabbi P. Feldman of Kollel Iyun Hadaf, Yerushalayim
Rosh Kollel: Rabbi Mordecai Kornfeld
1) BREAKAGE THROUGH USAGE (cont.)
(a) Reuven borrowed a bucket from Shimon, and it broke.
1. Rav Papa: Bring witnesses that you did not use it abnormally, and you are exempt.
(b) Version #1: Reuven borrowed a cat from Shimon, and mice ganged up on it and killed it.
(c) Question (Rav Ashi): Is this like dying during work?
(d) Answer (Rav Mordechai): Yes. (He was not negligent for putting it in a dangerous place. A proper cat would not be killed by mice.)
(e) Version #2: Reuven borrowed a cat from Shimon, and it ate too many mice, got overheated and died.
(f) Question (Rav Ashi): Is this like dying during work?
(g) Answer (Rav Mordechai): Yes. (He was not negligent; the cat killed itself.)
2) WHAT IS CONSIDERED WORKING?
(a) (Rava): If one wants to borrow something and be exempt, he should ask the lender 'give me a drink of water.' This is b'Ba'alim.
1. If the lender is sharp, he will tell the borrower 'I will give you after you take the object.'
(b) (Rava): If any of the following lends (to the one he works for) while working, it is considered b'Ba'alim: a teacher of children (who lends to the parents), one hired to plant a vineyard for half the Peros, a slaughterer, a blood-letter, and the town Sofer (scribe, or barber).
(c) Rabanan (to Rava): You work for us (you teach us. If we borrow from you, we are exempt.)
(d) Rava: No, you work for me. I decide which tractate we learn, and you cannot protest!
(e) The Halachah is, in the period before the festival, when the Rebbi must teach laws of the festival, he works for them. At other times, they work for him.
(f) Mereimar bar Chanina rented a mule to people of Bei Chuzai. He went out to help them load it. They were negligent, and it died; Rava obligated them to pay.
1. Rabanan: This is negligence b'Ba'alim!
2. Rava was embarrassed. Later, it was found that Mereimar did not go to help, rather to ensure that they did not overload his mule.
(g) Question: Granted, according to the opinion that exempts negligence b'Ba'alim, we understand why Rava was embarrassed;
1. According to the opinion that obligates negligence b'Ba'alim, why was he embarrassed?
(h) Answer: It was not a case of negligence. Rather, it was stolen and died in the thief's premises. Rava obligated them to pay.
1. Rabanan: This was b'Ba'alim!
2. Rava was embarrassed. Later, it was found that Mereimar did not go to help, rather to ensure that they did not overload his mule
3) A SAFEK ABOUT WHICH ANIMAL DIED
(a) (Mishnah): Reuven borrowed Shimon's cow for half the day and rented it for half the day, or he borrowed it for today and rented it for tomorrow, or he borrowed one cow and rented another; the cow (in the last case, one of them) died.
1. If Shimon claims that the borrowed cow died (or, in the last case, that at the time it died it was borrowed), and Reuven is unsure, he must pay.
2. If Reuven claims that the cow that died was rented, and Shimon is unsure, Reuven is exempt.
3. If Shimon claims that the cow that died was borrowed, and Reuven says that it was rented, Reuven swears that it was rented and he is exempt.
4. If both are unsure, Reuven pays half.
(b) (Gemara) Inference: If Levi claims that Yehudah owes him money and Yehudah says 'I don't know', he must pay.
(c) Suggestion: This refutes Rav Nachman!
1. (Rav Huna and Rav Yehudah): If Levi claims that Yehudah owes him money and Yehudah says 'I don't know', he must pay;
2. (Rav Nachman and R. Yochanan): Yehudah is exempt.
(d) Rejection: No. Our Mishnah discusses a case like Rav Nachman said (elsewhere), that Reuven must swear to Shimon (about something else. Therefore, Shimon can demand that he include in the oath that the borrowed cow did not die. Reuven must swear, and he cannot, for he is unsure, so he must pay.)
(e) Question: In what case must Reuven (pay because he cannot) swear to Shimon?
(f) Answer: It is a case like Rava taught;
1. (Rava): If David claimed 100 from Moshe, and Moshe admits to 50, and he does not know about the other 50, since Moshe must swear and he cannot, he must pay. | <urn:uuid:6ea5cd84-d6ef-4e53-8bbb-3782beee0dd1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dafyomi.co.il/bmetzia/points/bm-ps-097.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959165 | 1,229 | 2.421875 | 2 |
Reporting Tim Williams
BALTIMORE (WJZ)- A wind advisory is in effect for Baltimore and surrounding counties until 6 p.m. Thursday.
A Wind Advisory means that wind gusts of 45 to 55 mph are expected.
Winds this strong can make driving difficult.
The strong winds could bring down tree limbs and cause scattered power outages and unsecured objects may be blown about.
Tim Williams reports expect temperatures to drop during the afternoon.
“Readings should end up in the 30s by the end of the day. Winds will add a one-two punch. Expect a windchill in the 30s for much of the day,” said Williams. | <urn:uuid:e794ea83-fd6c-43ee-b737-49656fcb4b31> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2013/01/31/wind-advisory/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954651 | 144 | 1.625 | 2 |
Build a solid foundation in science, formulation and product development—find out more!
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L’Oréal USA Awarded for Girls in Science Program
Posted: February 8, 2008
L’Oréal USA was given the Friends of Education Award by the New Jersey Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (NJASCD) for its sponsorship of after-school science clubs and summer camps for girls, and its commitment to inspiring more girls to study science.
The award is presented at the NJASCD Annual State Conference and recognizes individuals or corporations that have played an important role in encouraging leadership or quality in education. L’Oréal USA’s For Girls in Science program partners with Invent Now to provide out-of-school science enrichment.
The award was given to L’Oréal USA for providing girls, grades 1-5, with the opportunity to engage in hands-on, inquiry-based projects that enrich their understanding of science and promote creativity, discovery, teamwork and inventive thinking. The For Girls in Science program also partners with Lawrence Hall of Science for hands-on, interactive curricula and activity development, and with other leading professional science organizations with the goal of inspiring and engaging more girls in science and math disciplines.
The program is a regional complement to L’Oréal USA’s national Fellowships For Women in Science program, which annually recognizes five postdoctoral female researchers with prestigious fellowships. In addition, this year L’Oréal celebrates the tenth anniversary of its international partnership with UNESCO in the global For Women in Science program. As part of this program, the L'ORÉAL –UNESCO For Women in Science Award annually recognizes and honors the career contributions of five eminent women researchers in the life and physical/materials sciences, and the UNESCO-L'ORÉAL International Fellowships provide 15 young women at doctoral and postdoctoral levels with grants to conduct ground-breaking scientific research. | <urn:uuid:a619a2a9-f81d-4acf-ae26-be41c4d277f3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cosmeticsandtoiletries.com/networking/news/people/15439436.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922819 | 410 | 1.953125 | 2 |
If you don't like dealing with dog-eared pages, here's a check list from the folks at Geek Squad on what to do so your technology helps you have a stress-free trip.
•Invest in a GPS device when you plan to drive in an unfamiliar city. Road trips are fun, until you get lost.
•Tape your contact information to all your devices; include your hotel number, if possible.
•Print out or e-mail your travel documents and trip schedule to yourself to make the information easy to access from a borrowed computer.
•Program your GPS device with the addresses of all the destinations you plan to visit during your trip. This prevents you from having to find and enter this information while on the road.
•Remember your power cord, chargers and extra batteries.
•Pack a moisture-absorbing silica gel pack (comes in electronics boxes, shoe boxes or in some preserved foods, such as beef jerky). If you spill anything on a device, put it in a zip-sealing plastic bag with the silica pack and you may be able to revive it.
•Check on the local laws of the states you'll be visiting; some states forbid mounting GPS devices on the windshield.
•It's easy to lose track of cell phones and smart phones. Activate your unit's password feature to make sure no one can see personal data.
Once you're on the road, using a GPS device can help you save money on gas. Most GPS devices offer users two options for route preference: quickest or shortest. The shortest route is not necessarily the best option for saving gas if that route requires a lot of stop-and-go driving. Sometimes instructing your GPS device to find the quickest route will be the most economical way to travel. Many GPS units also will provide you with regular traffic reports and updates on fuel prices at nearby gas stations. | <urn:uuid:1eb70a1e-5529-4b8d-8fd6-faea0cecec8a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.portlandscw32.com/travel/cruise-themes/orl-travel-abbott-062710,0,5043050.column | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912886 | 386 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Contact Mark at firstname.lastname@example.org
Mark Couhig has been a writer for more than 50 years.
His first experience with the written word arrived at a very early age when he was required to painstakingly hand-trace dotted lines in a notebook, a process that led first to a mastery of the straight, purely angular letters of the English alphabet. He soon turned his attention to the curved letters, exhibiting a full proficiency in that skill by the end of his seventh year.
Before another year had passed, Couhig had begun to cluster letters into meaningful compositions, an accomplishment for which he was awarded a coveted gold star, the first-ever public acknowledgement of his extraordinary aptitude with words.
In time he would take these words and strategically create further clusters, which he called “sentences.”
Paragraphs soon followed.
In the third grade Couhig learned the skill of cursive writing, allowing him to greatly expand and accelerate his output.
Over the ensuing months and years Couhig’s now-renown facility for dramatic narrative developed. He was able to work the delicate filigree of fiction — dramatic, purposeful action that engages the reader — to a degree that astonished Ms. Sweeney, his teacher and mentor. Of one of Couhig’s early works, “Run, Tom, Run,” she wrote, “I’m so proud of you.”
As his facility with words grew, so too did his worldview, aided in part by his assiduous readings of “The Weekly Reader,” which he continues to regard as a formative influence in his later, more mature works.
In the fifth grade, Couhig’s repertoire and love of the written word translated to a sterling turn on the stage as Shepherd No. 3 in a new and dynamic dramatic reading of the Gospel According to Luke, a popular work of the time.
Approximately 50 years later Couhig moved to Sequim where he writes a blog.
It’s that time of year when we look over our past failings, whine about them and vow to do better next year.
It’s time for New Year’s resolutions, or as I like to call them, preludes to failure. That’s because no one can be perfect, of course. Not even me.
But every day, in every way, you can get better and better. Let’s begin by making a simple promise to ourselves: next year, less whining, fewer vows.
Here’s my plan for 2012.
1. Diet and Weight Loss: This year I will lose 20 pounds and toward that end I hereby resolve to make my appointment immediately with the liposuctionist.
2. Exercise More: in 2012 I firmly resolve I will exercise more often, and more vigorously, than in 2011. To aid in that effort, I stopped exercising altogether last July.
3. Help Others. This year, I fervently pray, dear Lord, that with the help of your grace I will give more freely to those in need. I even more fervently pray, dear Lord, that you will deliver your part in this bargain by way of that very special lottery ticket I’ve been asking for lo these many years.
4. Spend More Time with Family. This year I swear, dear wife, I will learn the name of my son-in-law and the up-to-the-minute number of my grandchildren.
5. Quit Drinking. After midnight Dec. 31, 2011, I won’t drink any more alcoholic beverages. The punchline, if you actually require it: Of course, I won’t drink any less, either.
6. Quit Smoking. Next year I will quit smoking, quit emitting gamma rays and quit bursting into spectacular displays of pyrotechnics.
7. Chill. I will reduce my stress levels by better understanding that stress is largely self-generated. If I can simply stop worrying about “eating,” “having a roof over my head,” and “paying for my car,” I can relax and live out the rest of my greatly abbreviated life in peace.
8. Get Out of Debt. This year I promise to pay off my credit cards utilizing a whole new set of credit cards.
9. Learn Something New. I may investigate this whole interwebs thing. Sounds like it might grow into something big.
10. Get Organized. Speaking of which: Has anyone seen my stapler? It was here a minute ago. | <urn:uuid:4827ff08-17fc-4dfc-a4a4-69e9134cc2d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://classified@sequimgazette.com/couhig/article.exm/2011-12-27_my_new_year_s_resolutions_as_they_stand_right_now_at_least | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963309 | 957 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Race Organization: Volunteers and Course Monitors
During the race there needs to be some way of keeping runners on the course. The most common approach is a combination of arrows painted in the street and people standing by pointing the runners in the right direction. Make sure in advance they know the right direction. The more corners you have the more people you will need. There is a special paint called athletic athletic field marking paint which is not permanent, and sprays out top of the can in a wide stripe instead of the side like a normal spray can. You will find that spraying from a regular spay can onto the road can be difficult and since the paint is permanent, cities don't like it. It is also nice to have a person on a bicycle lead the race, this way the lead runners do not take the wrong course. The most difficult job as race director will be finding volunteers and committee chairs that will oversee specific aspects of your race. Most runners like volunteers at one-mile intervals reading split times. | <urn:uuid:0ae177e2-dafc-452b-a7c8-c9f663b5a375> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.usracecalendar.com/content/race-organization-volunteers-and-course-monitors | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96903 | 203 | 1.851563 | 2 |
CAIRO — Palestinian leaders formally ended a four-year rift between secular Fatah and the Islamist Hamas at a ceremony in Egypt on Wednesday, a reconciliation their people see as crucial for their drive to set up an independent state.
Israel, which in 1967 captured the territories — the West Bank and Gaza Strip — where the Palestinians seek statehood, decried the deal as a blow to prospects for peace.
“We announce to Palestinians that we turn forever the black page of division,” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Fatah’s leader, said in his opening address.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a visit to London: “What happened today in Cairo is a tremendous blow to peace and a great victory for terrorism.”
Hamas, whose founding charter calls for Israel’s destruction, seized the Gaza Strip from Fatah forces in a brief Palestinian civil war in 2007. It has opposed Abbas’s quest for a negotiated peace with the Jewish state.
In what appeared a sign of lingering friction, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal did not share the podium with Abbas and the ceremony was delayed briefly over where he would sit. Against expectations, neither signed the unity document.
Hamas leaders will meet Abbas next week, possibly in Cairo, to start work on implementing the accord, deputy Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouk said after the ceremony.
In his speech to the gathering, Meshaal said Hamas sought a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza devoid of any Israeli settlers and without “giving up a single inch of land” or the right of return of Palestinian refugees.
Israel withdrew soldiers and settlers from Gaza in 2005. It has kept up settlement activity in the much larger West Bank.
Hamas has stated in the past that it would accept as an interim solution in the form of a state in all of the territory Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war, along with a long-term ceasefire.
The unity deal calls for forming an interim government to run the West Bank, where Abbas is based, and the Gaza Strip, and prepare for long-overdue parliamentary and presidential elections within a year.
In his speech, Abbas repeated his call for a halt to Jewish settlement construction as a condition for resuming peace talks with Israel that began in September but fizzled within weeks after it refused to extend a limited building moratorium.
“The state of Palestine must be born this year,” he said.
Abbas is widely expected, in the absence of peace talks, to ask the U.N. General Assembly in September to recognise a Palestinian state in all of the West Bank and Gaza. Israel and the United States oppose such a unilateral move.
Palestinians view reconciliation as an essential step toward presenting a common front at the United Nations and a reflection of a deep-seated public desire to end the internal schism amid popular revolts that have swept the Arab world.
But the deal presents potential diplomatic problems for Abbas’s aid-dependent Palestinian Authority. Much of the West shuns Hamas over its refusal to recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept interim Israeli-Palestinian peace deals.
The United States has reacted coolly to the reconciliation accord. A State Department spokesman, Mark Toner, said the United States would look at the formation of any new Palestinian government before taking steps on future aid.
The Cairo ceremony was greeted with celebrations in the Palestinian territories. But the public displays were less enthusiastic in the West Bank, where Abbas’s Fatah movement holds sway, and some doubted the deal was genuine.
“We have decided to pay any price so that reconciliation is achieved,” said Meshaal. “Our real fight is with the Israeli occupier, not Palestinian factions and sons of the one nation.”
Meshaal later went to meet Abbas where he was staying in Cairo to discuss the deal, Palestinian sources said.
A spokesman for Abbas, Nabil Abu Rdainah, said the deal was signed on behalf of Fatah by Azzam al-Ahmad and for Hamas by Marzouk. It was not immediately clear why Meshaal and Abbas did not put their own signatures to the deal.
“What we heard was that Abbas said he was the president of the Palestinian people of Fatah and of Hamas and not a leader of one faction only,” said the Palestinian source on the signing.
Egypt has set up a committee to oversee implementation of the accord. | <urn:uuid:4c77e034-0e5a-4592-a639-595ea4bf06ea> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.toledoblade.com/World/2011/05/04/Palestinians-end-division-between-Fatah-Hamas.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964774 | 924 | 2.015625 | 2 |
This etext was typed by Rob Szarka.
There has appeared in our time a particular class of books and articles which I sincerely and solemnly think may be called the silliest ever known among men. They are much more wild than the wildest romances of chivalry and much more dull than the dullest religious tract. Moreover, the romances of chivalry were at least about chivalry; the religious tracts are about religion. But these things are about nothing; they are about what is called Success. On every bookstall, in every magazine, you may find works telling people how to succeed. They are books showing men how to succeed in everything; they are written by men who cannot even succeed in writing books. To begin with, of course, there is no such thing as Success. Or, if you like to put it so, there is nothing that is not successful. That a thing is successful merely means that it is; a millionaire is successful in being a millionaire and a donkey in being a donkey. Any live man has succeeded in living; any dead man may have succeeded in committing suicide. But, passing over the bad logic and bad philosophy in the phrase, we may take it, as these writers do, in the ordinary sense of success in obtaining money or worldly position. These writers profess to tell the ordinary man how he may succeed in his trade or speculation--how, if he is a builder, he may succeed as a builder; how, if he is a stockbroker, he may succeed as a stockbroker. They profess to show him how, if he is a grocer, he may become a sporting yachtsman; how, if he is a tenth-rate journalist, he may become a peer; and how, if he is a German Jew, he may become an Anglo-Saxon. This is a definite and business-like proposal, and I really think that the people who buy these books (if any people do buy them) have a moral, if not a legal, right to ask for their money back. Nobody would dare to publish a book about electricity which literally told one nothing about electricity; no one would dare publish an article on botany which showed that the writer did not know which end of a plant grew in the earth. Yet our modern world is full of books about Success and successful people which literally contain no kind of idea, and scarcely and kind of verbal sense.
It is perfectly obvious that in any decent occupation (such as bricklaying or writing books) there are only two ways (in any special sense) of succeeding. One is by doing very good work, the other is by cheating. Both are much too simple to require any literary explanation. If you are in for the high jump, either jump higher than any one else, or manage somehow to pretend that you have done so. If you want to succeed at whist, either be a good whist-player, or play with marked cards. You may want a book about jumping; you may want a book about whist; you may want a book about cheating at whist. But you cannot want a book about Success. Especially you cannot want a book about Success such as those which you can now find scattered by the hundred about the book-market. You may want to jump or to play cards; but you do not want to read wandering statements to the effect that jumping is jumping, or that games are won by winners. If these writers, for instance, said anything about success in jumping it would be something like this: "The jumper must have a clear aim before him. He must desire definitely to jump higher than the other men who are in for the same competition. He must let no feeble feelings of mercy (sneaked from the sickening Little Englanders and Pro-Boers) prevent him from trying to do his best. He must remember that a competition in jumping is distinctly competitive, and that, as Darwin has gloriously demonstrated, THE WEAKEST GO TO THE WALL." That is the kind of thing the book would say, and very useful it would be, no doubt, if read out in a low and tense voice to a young man just about to take the high jump. Or suppose that in the course of his intellectual rambles the philosopher of Success dropped upon our other case, that of playing cards, his bracing advice would run--"In playing cards it is very necessary to avoid the mistake (commonly made by maudlin humanitarians and Free Traders) of permitting your opponent to win the game. You must have grit and snap and go in to win. The days of idealism and superstition are over. We live in a time of science and hard common sense, and it has now been definitely proved that in any game where two are playing IF ONE DOES NOT WIN THE OTHER WILL." It is all very stirring, of course; but I confess that if I were playing cards I would rather have some decent little book which told me the rules of the game. Beyond the rules of the game it is all a question either of talent or dishonesty; and I will undertake to provide either one or the other--which, it is not for me to say.
Turning over a popular magazine, I find a queer and amusing example. There is an article called "The Instinct that Makes People Rich." It is decorated in front with a formidable portrait of Lord Rothschild. There are many definite methods, honest and dishonest, which make people rich; the only "instinct" I know of which does it is that instinct which theological Christianity crudely describes as "the sin of avarice." That, however, is beside the present point. I wish to quote the following exquisite paragraphs as a piece of typical advice as to how to succeed. It is so practical; it leaves so little doubt about what should be our next step--
The name of Vanderbilt is synonymous with wealth gained by modern enterprise. 'Cornelius,' the founder of the family, was the first of the great American magnates of commerce. He started as the son of a poor farmer; he ended as a millionaire twenty times over.
He had the money-making instinct. He seized his opportunities, the opportunities that were given by the application of the steam-engine to ocean traffic, and by the birth of railway locomotion in the wealthy but underdeveloped United States of America, and consequently he amassed an immense fortune.
Now it is, of course, obvious that we cannot all follow exactly in the footsteps of this great railway monarch. The precise opportunities that fell to him do not occur to us. Circumstances have changed. But, although this is so, still, in our own sphere and in our own circumstances, we can follow his general methods; we can seize those opportunities that are given us, and give ourselves a very fair chance of attaining riches.
In such strange utterances we see quite clearly what is really at the bottom of all these articles and books. It is not mere business; it is not even mere cynicism. It is mysticism; the horrible mysticism of money. The writer of that passage did not really have the remotest notion of how Vanderbilt made his money, or of how anybody else is to make his. He does, indeed, conclude his remarks by advocating some scheme; but it has nothing in the world to do with Vanderbilt. He merely wished to prostrate himself before the mystery of a millionaire. For when we really worship anything, we love not only its clearness but its obscurity. We exult in its very invisibility. Thus, for instance, when a man is in love with a woman he takes special pleasure in the fact that a woman is unreasonable. Thus, again, the very pious poet, celebrating his Creator, takes pleasure in saying that God moves in a mysterious way. Now, the writer of the paragraph which I have quoted does not seem to have had anything to do with a god and I should not think (judging by his extreme unpracticality) that he had ever been really in love with a woman. But the thing he does worship--Vanderbilt --he treats in exactly this mystical manner. He really revels in the fact his deity Vanderbilt is keeping a secret from him. And it fills his soul with a sort of transport of cunning, an ecstasy of priestcraft, that he should pretend to be telling to the multitude that terrible secret which he does not know.
Speaking about the instinct that makes people rich, the same writer remarks--
In the olden days its existence was fully understood. The Greeks enshrined it in the story of Midas, of the 'Golden Touch.' Here was a man who turned everything he laid his hands upon into gold. His life was a progress amidst riches. Out of everything that came in his way he created the precious metal. 'A foolish legend,' said the wiseacres if the Victorian age. 'A truth,' say we of to-day. We all know of such men. We are ever meeting or reading about such persons who turn everything they touch into gold. Success dogs their very footsteps. Their life's pathway leads unerringly upwards. They cannot fail.
Unfortunately, however, Midas could fail; he did. His path did not lead unerringly upward. He starved because whenever he touched a biscuit or a ham sandwich it turned to gold. That was the whole point of the story, though the writer has to suppress it delicately, writing so near to a portrait of Lord Rothschild. The old fables of mankind are, indeed, unfathomably wise; but we must not have them expurgated in the interests of Mr. Vanderbilt. We must not have King Midas represented as an example of success; he was a failure of an unusually painful kind. Also, he had the ears of an ass. Also (like most other prominent and wealthy persons) he endeavoured to conceal the fact. It was his barber (if I remember right) who had to be treated on a confidential footing with regard to this peculiarity; and his barber, instead of behaving like a go-ahead person of the Succeed-at-all-costs school and trying to blackmail King Midas, went away and whispered this splendid piece of society scandal to the reeds, who enjoyed it enormously. It is said that they also whispered it as the winds swayed them to and fro. I look reverently at the portrait of Lord Rothschild; I read reverently about the exploits of Mr. Vanderbilt. I know that I cannot turn everything I touch to gold; but then I also know that I have never tried, having a preference for other substances, such as grass, and good wine. I know that these people have certainly succeeded in something; that they have certainly overcome somebody; I know that they are kings in a sense that no men were ever kings before; that they create markets and bestride continents. Yet it always seems to me that there is some small domestic fact that they are hiding, and I have sometimes thought I heard upon the wind the laughter and whisper of the reeds.
At least, let us hope that we shall all live to see these absurd books about Success covered with a proper derision and neglect. They do not teach people to be successful, but they do teach people to be snobbish; they do spread a sort of evil poetry of worldliness. The Puritans are always denouncing books that inflame lust; what shall we say of books that inflame the viler passions of avarice and pride? A hundred years ago we had the ideal of the Industrious Apprentice; boys were told that by thrift and work they would all become Lord Mayors. This was fallacious, but it was manly, and had a minimum of moral truth. In our society, temperance will not help a poor man to enrich himself, but it may help him to respect himself. Good work will not make him a rich man, but good work may make him a good workman. The Industrious Apprentice rose by virtues few and narrow indeed, but still virtues. But what shall we say of the gospel preached to the new Industrious Apprentice; the Apprentice who rises not by his virtues, but avowedly by his vices? | <urn:uuid:a9190632-71e2-42c7-a7a6-80e0613ab3ee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/gkc/books/success.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983479 | 2,514 | 2.15625 | 2 |
Bartley asks that the correspondent let him borrow a relic from his "former acting days" so that he may use it in his upcoming performance before royalty at Windsor Castle. He regrets not being able to call upon him that morning and offers a box...
Booth, Edwin, 1833-1893; Clarke, H. Savile (Henry Savile), 1841-1893; Letters
Writing on St. James's Hotel stationery, Booth declines the offer to read Clarke's play as his repertoire is already large and he is currently fully engaged. The second and fourth pages of the letter are blank.
Shakespearean actors and actresses; Irving, Henry, Sir, 1838-1905; Letters
Irving writes from London, praising rural life and regretting he cannot spend vacation with Wilkins. He discusses Albion Chapel and long working hours. He signs as J.H. Brodribb [Irving's birth name is John Henry Brodribb]. There is cross-writing...
Lawrence, William J. (William John), 1862-1940; Letters; Archer, William, 1856-1924
In a typed letter from London, Lawrence discusses the progress of his book and asks Archer to send some of the notes and manuscripts he will soon require. He mentions a letter from Holloway which he encloses. | <urn:uuid:45d54289-0c68-4ea3-9808-93c9a9e5c6ba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/cdm/search/collection/phl/searchterm/inclined | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955192 | 277 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Jan. 3, 2013 After recently announcing success in eliminating melanoma metastasis in laboratory experiments, scientists at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center have made another important discovery in understanding the process by which the gene mda-9/syntenin contributes to metastasis in melanoma (the spread of skin cancer) and possibly a variety of other cancers.
Published in the journal Cancer Research, the study demonstrated that mda-9/syntenin is a key regulator of angiogenesis, the process responsible for the formation of new blood vessels in tumors. Mda-9/syntenin was originally cloned in the laboratory of the study's lead author Paul B. Fisher, M.Ph., Ph.D., Thelma Newmeyer Corman Endowed Chair in Cancer Research and program co-leader of Cancer Molecular Genetics at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center, chairman of VCU's Department of Human and Molecular Genetics and director of the VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine.
"Our research brings us one step closer to understanding precisely how metastatic melanoma, a highly aggressive and therapy-resistant cancer, spreads throughout the body," says Fisher. "Additionally, analysis of the human genome has indicated that mda-9/syntenin is elevated in the majority of cancers, which means novel drugs that target this gene could potentially be applicable to a broad spectrum of other deadly cancers."
Fisher's team discovered that mda-9/syntenin regulates the expression of several proteins responsible for promoting angiogenesis, including insulin growth factor binding protein-2 (IGFBP-2) and interleukin-8 (IL-8). The study is the first to provide proof of the pro-angiogenic functions of IGFBP-2 in human melanoma.
In in vivo and in vitro experiments, the scientists confirmed that mda-9/syntenin binds with the extracellular matrix (ECM) to start a series of biological processes that eventually cause endothelial cells to secrete IGFBP-2. The ECM is the substance that cells secrete and in which they are embedded. Endothelial cells are the cells that line the interior surface of blood vessels throughout the entire circulatory system. The secretion of IGFBP-2, in turn, caused the endothelial cells to produce and secrete vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A), a protein that mediates the development of and formation of new blood vessels.
The researchers also noted that IGFBP-2 could potentially serve as a novel biomarker to monitor for disease progression in melanoma patients.
"This is a major breakthrough in understanding angiogenesis and its impact in melanoma metastasis," says Fisher. "We are now focusing on developing novel small molecules that specifically target mda-9/syntenin and IGFBP-2, which could be used as drugs to treat melanoma and potentially many other cancers."
Fisher collaborated on this study with Devanand Sarkar, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., Harrison Scholar and research member of the Cancer Molecular Genetics program at VCU Massey, Blick Scholar and assistant professor in the Department of Human and Molecular Genetics and member of the VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine at VCU School of Medicine; Swadesh K. Das, Ph.D., Santanu Dasgupta, Ph.D., and Luni Emdad, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., from the Department of Human and Molecular Genetics at VCU School of Medicine, the VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine and the Cancer Molecular Genetics research program at VCU Massey; Sujit K. Bhutia, Ph.D., Belal Azab, Ph.D., Upneet K. Sokhi, Timothy P. Kegelman, Leyla Peachy, Prasanna K. Santhekadur, Ph.D., and Rupesh Dash, Ph.D., all from the Department of Human and Molecular Genetics; Paul Dent, Ph.D., Universal Corporation Distinguished Professor for Cancer Cell Signaling and Developmental Therapeutics program member at VCU Massey, and professor and vice chair of research in the Department of Neurosurgery at VCU School of Medicine; Steven Grant, M.D., Shirley Carter Olsson and Sture Gordon Olsson Chair in Oncology Research, associate director for translational research, program co-leader of the Developmental Therapeutics program and Cancer Cell Signaling program member at VCU Massey; and Maurizio Pellacchia, Ph.D., from Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute.
This research was supported by National Institutes of Health grant CA097318, the Thelma Newmeyer Corman Endowment, the National Foundation for Cancer Research, the Goldhirsh Foundation for Brain Tumor Research, the Dana Foundation and, in part, by funding from VCU Massey Cancer Center's NIH-NCI Cancer Center Support Grant P30 CA016059.
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- S. K. Das, S. k. Bhutia, B. Azab, T. P. Kegelman, L. Peachy, P. K. Santhekadur, S. Dasgupta, R. Dash, P. Dent, S. Grant, L. Emdad, M. Pellecchia, D. Sarkar, P. Fisher. MDA-9/Syntenin and IGFBP-2 Promote Angiogenesis in Human Melanoma. Cancer Research, 2012; DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-12-1681
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead. | <urn:uuid:3a45dbcd-66e7-4972-86d2-ab986e58d45c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130103131200.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.904942 | 1,198 | 2.296875 | 2 |
By Edward Reines, Weil, Gotshal & Manges
(Edward Reines is a partner in Weil, Gotshal and Manges’ Patent Litigation Practice.)
Skepticism about the United States patent system has hit historic highs. Even groups without an obvious interest in technology policy have joined the skeptics, such as the ACLU. But is this alarm warranted? Even more importantly, is it dangerous?
These valid questions deserve an informed debate. And virtually any worthy debate deserves to start with the wisdom of our heritage.
The Founding Fathers included the authority to grant patents among the few powers worthy of inclusion in the Constitution. Indeed, the Constitution itself provides authority for awarding exclusive rights to promote science and the useful arts.
Although exclusive commercial rights — like other constitutionally-based rights — can be unpopular in the short-term, Abraham Lincoln famously defended them. He observed that patents “add the fuel of interest to the fire of genius.”
More recently, to safeguard a patent system in disarray, President Reagan in 1982 authorized the creation of the Federal Circuit appeals court to unify patent law. He did so because by the 1970s the system lacked a coherent body of law. In creating the Federal Circuit, Congress concluded that the consequent improved stability and predictability in the patent law would “have important ramifications upon our economy.”
Our leaders have protected the patent system through the centuries because they are aware of its vulnerability. Patents, by constitutional-design, remove innovation from competition by providing for exclusivity. This can increase prices in the short term and trigger populist complaint.
But in the long run patents motivate investment. No one likes to pay market prices for life-saving medicine when it costs only a few cents a pill to manufacture. But common sense tells us we cannot count on advanced medicine if the patent system does not protect the staggering investment required to invent, test, prove and deliver new cures to your pillbox.
Few serious critics suggest the elimination of the patent system outright. One common argument, though, is that patents do not belong in the modern world of information technology, citing recent high-profile patent battles. Critics contend that there are too many patents in the computer area, making it difficult to innovate.
A broadside attack on the patent system is not supported by the evidence. The United States technology sector is thriving amidst world recession like none other. More to the point, that sector is increasingly innovative, especially relative to the innovation levels in regions with weaker patent systems.
A better explanation for big verdicts and robust patenting activity is the surge in innovation. Is it surprising that there are more patents in the computer industry now than in the past? Is it surprising that the latest hi-tech products include inventions worthy of protection? Is it surprising that infringement verdicts between competitors are in the 9 figures when product revenues can be in the 12-figure range?
To be sure, there are excesses in patent litigation that deserve serious attention – just as in other areas of litigation. Patent system problems are magnified as technology products proliferate. But this is why last year Congress passed the most significant modernization of patent law in 50 years. That legislative reform includes, for example, many provisions designed to counteract junk patents, including key improvements that are only now going into effect.
If the recent patent law overhaul proves inadequate to address problems in the system, further changes may well be warranted. Nevertheless, fringe attacks on the idea of the patent system itself — and the climate they create — are unhealthy and can be dangerous.
Take the emerging field of personalized medicine. We are already creating new tests that allow us to identify how best to diagnose and treat patients based on saliva or blood samples. Developing such tests is often like finding a needle in a haystack. Because our genetic code is so complex, it is difficult to determine whether a particular genetic difference means that you suffer from a particular disease or would benefit from a particular treatment. Patents are critical to protect the large investment necessary to develop such a test, just as they are vital to protect the discovery of new pharmaceuticals.
Yet, in view of the populist skepticism about patents which has penetrated deep in the zeitgeist, the Supreme Court sharply cut back on patenting in the emerging field of personalized medicine. The Court in its recent Mayo decision cited academics and other critics to conclude that in this area patenting will actually impede innovation.
The Mayo decision will only hurt the personalized medicine revolution in its delicate infancy. Personalized medicine holds the key not only to improved world health, but in the long run to sharply reduce health cost by treating patients far more intelligently. While having cheap genetic tests unprotected by patents may be convenient today, future generations benefit greatly when we add the fuel of interest to the fire of the genius.
The lesson is that irresponsible attacks on the patent system have the potential to handicap the great American talent for creative enterprise that is the envy of the world. We can recover from one or two errant legal decisions. But tolerating hysteria about patents may cause us to realize that we did not appreciate the value of our strong patent system until we lost it. | <urn:uuid:2e32a108-67e9-4f62-8f65-62560e8d1b81> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://newsandinsight.thomsonreuters.com/Legal/Insight/2013/01_-_January/Patently_hysterical/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936604 | 1,052 | 2.0625 | 2 |
We have already made a few small changes to incorporate solar (path lights, solar powered motion detector, solar roof vent...etc) and I really would like to do more but the initial cost to install solar roofing materials is EXPENSIVE! My house and garage are quite well situated. I have large surface area with adequate slope and get full east to west exposure. There are several options on the market--traditional solar panels, solar shingles (who knew?!) and integrated solar tiles.
There are some energy tax credits/ incentives (Federal) as well as some states incentives. Initial capital outlay could be $20,000. CRIKEY that's a lot of money!!! However after various credits the estimated cost could be as low as $12,000. The cost to replace out our entire roof (house, garage and carport) has been estimated at $5500-$7200. It is estimated that having the solar roofing option could reduce the monthly utility bill from 40-60%. That could equate to $1400-$2100 per year. So in THEORY this could repay itself in several years.
Besides the obvious environmental appeal, I like that unused energy would feed back into the grid (more saving off my utility bills) AND the big boon would be in the event of a power outage I would also have a solar generator. Does anyone here use solar power? What are the pro's and con's?
Solar energy options
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0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users | <urn:uuid:10067355-d21b-4745-8204-eb28ed1145bd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mrssurvival.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=45919 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969703 | 323 | 1.601563 | 2 |
New Diabetes Drugs Bad for Bones
Avandia -- and Probably Actos -- Speeds Up Bone Loss
Dec. 3, 2007 -- The diabetes drug Avandia promotes osteoporosis not only by slowing bone growth but also by speeding up bone loss. Actos, the only other drug in the same class, likely does this as well.
The finding, from mouse experiments by Salk Institute researcher Ronald M. Evans, PhD, and colleagues, helps explain why clinical studies show increased bone fracture risk in people taking Avandia.
Bones stay healthy through an ongoing process called remodeling. The body is constantly breaking down and rebuilding bone. This system of resorption and deposition is tightly controlled with many checks and balances.
"The drug shifts this balance on both sides," Evans tells WebMD. "People taking this drug have somewhat decreased bone deposition -- that is a known action of the drug, resulting in mild bone loss. But what we discovered is it increases bone resorption in a fairly robust way."
Avandia belongs to the glitazone class of drugs, which enhances a chemical signal called PPAR-gamma. One effect of the drug is to increase the body's sensitivity to insulin. But another effect, Evans and colleagues now show, is to activate the bone-eating cells called osteoclasts.
"I would expect to see the same thing with Actos, although we did not actually do that experiment," Evans says. "But it is almost certainly a drug-class effect because the mediator of this effect is the target of both drugs."
Bone Risk From Avandia, Actos
"This is not meant to scare people," Evans asserts. "Only Avandia and Actos act in this unique way, and these drugs are an overall benefit for the patients who take them."
But bone expert J. Edward Puzas, PhD, professor of orthopaedics at the University of Rochester, N.Y., says the new finding confirms something bone researchers have been worrying about.
"This is a nicely done study of how these drugs stimulate the cells that eat away at bone. This leads to lower bone mass and higher bone fragility," Puzas tells WebMD.
Puzas is worried because bone changes occur very slowly, so researchers may only be beginning to appreciate the scope of the problem.
Philip T. Rodgers, PharmD, clinical associate professor of pharmacy at the University of North Carolina, hopes the new findings will make doctors pay more attention to the bone risks posed by Avandia and Actos.
"There is an underappreciation of the risks of osteoporosis with these drugs," Puzas says. "I don't think doctors are paying enough attention to testing the bone-mineral density of people on these drugs."
Mary Anne Rhyne, a spokeswoman for Avandia maker GlaxoSmithKline, says the company is already aware of the drug's bone risks. She notes that the company recently updated the drug's label to reflect new data on fracture risk.
"We have a comprehensive, ongoing clinical program to better understand the mechanism of fractures," Rhyne tells WebMD.
While they worry about the bone risks from Avandia and Actos, both Puzas and Rodgers note that the drugs' benefits outweigh the risks for many patients.
Both suggest that doctors should screen patients for osteoporosis before starting them on Avandia or Actos therapy. And both suggest that patients taking the drugs should discuss bone-protection strategies with their doctors.
Meanwhile, Evans says the new findings should help researchers come up with new diabetes drugs that improve insulin sensitivity without stimulating bone loss.
Evans and colleagues report their findings in this week's advance online issue of Nature Medicine. | <urn:uuid:7e8ad982-61bb-42f4-a989-4b045809ae98> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://diabetes.webmd.com/news/20071203/new-diaberes-drugs-bad-for-bone | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935404 | 778 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Plant of the Week
This is a wonderful native groundcover plant. The common name, Berlander's or Drummond's sundrops, comes from the flowers that look like little drops of sunshine. It flowers from early spring through summer.
Calylophus is a great selection for sunny rock gardens or decomposed granite sites. It's a lovely evergreen choice to border walkways, between steppingstones, or to accent taller plants behind it.
It wants good drainage. In clay soil, just amend the soil by turning in some grit (like decomposed granite). It doesn't require much water, though it appreciates an extra drink in extreme drought.
It spreads to as wide as 20", with rounded clumps that may get as high as a foot. It's hardy to 5 degrees, and tolerates drought and heat, too. | <urn:uuid:07bdee5f-f4c9-4b59-95b2-5cf823e41074> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.klru.org/ctg/plant/name/Calylophus/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955456 | 175 | 2.234375 | 2 |
Love that fails
Blog :Yellow Agony
Date: 8/16/2012 6:01:00 PM
Take a rusted 6 inch iron nail, dip it in fuming acid and before acid can start vaporizing it, hammer it in heart near the center of left ventricle. Living tissue of heart is more sensitive than metal, it'd be dead immediately - stoned forever and what was once the liveliest piece of heart is now a stone cavity meticulously containing the acid like its prized possession, keeping it so close to the aorta that pumps blood to brain't thought facility, ever inducing depressing and venomous imaginations, locking its cause deep down inside the system, not spitting it out.
Meanwhile acid has begun reaction with the nail and soon enough, nail would be gone, circulating in blood stream only leaving a dead hole in the heart. There'd be no nail, only poison and memories of excruciating pain - a bizarre inkling of the rusted metal that once was slender, shiny and beautiful.
That's failed love right there. Just saying. | <urn:uuid:107a1e87-4343-4738-a404-3d41fe138c0c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.haaram.com/CompleteArticle.aspx?aid=429761&ln= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927069 | 219 | 1.695313 | 2 |
(CNN) -- Human rights activists said Tuesday they feared a move by the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to file genocide charges against Sudan's president could provoke a violent backlash.
A Rwandan soldier serving with the U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur guards a U.N. helicopter.
The 10 charges -- three counts of genocide, five of crimes against humanity and two of war crimes -- filed against President Omar Hassan al-Bashir include masterminding attempts to wipe out African tribes in Darfur with a campaign of murder, rape and deportation.
The indictment marks the first time prosecutors at the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal have issued charges against a sitting head of state, but al-Bashir is unlikely to face trial in the immediate future.
Chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo urged judges to issue an arrest warrant for al-Bashir to prevent the deaths of 2.5 million refugees who remain under attack from government-backed Janjaweed militia.
About 300,000 people have already died in Darfur, the United Nations estimates.
But Sudan's anger over the charges could scupper talks to resolve the decades-old rivalry between north and south Sudan as well as efforts by an understaffed joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force (UNAMID) to protect refugees, a rights group said Tuesday.
"The prosecutor's legal strategy ... poses major risks for the fragile peace and security environment in Sudan, with a real chance of greatly increasing the suffering of very large numbers of its people," the Brussels-based International Crisis Group said.
"These are significant risks, particularly given that the likelihood of actually executing any warrant issued against al-Bashir is remote, at least in the short term," it added. Watch as ICC prosecutor targets al-Bashir »
Concerns rose when a senior Sudanese parliamentarian warned Monday that his country could not guarantee "the safety of any individual."
"The U.N. asks us to keep its people safe, but how can we guarantee their safety when they want to seize our head of state?" Mohammed al-Hassan al-Ameen said on state TV, according to The Associated Press.
The U.N. has said it is evacuating non-essential staff from Darfur "due to the recent deteriorating security situation," but UNAMID vowed to maintain its operations, despite last week's killings of seven peacekeepers. Watch a tour of Darfur's deserted Northern Corridor »
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said Monday he "expects that the government of Sudan will continue to cooperate fully with the United Nations in Sudan, while fulfilling its obligation to ensure the safety and security of all United Nations personnel and property."
The ICC has no enforcement arm and relies on governments to act as its police force. The judges are expected to take three months to decide whether to issue an arrest warrant, although they have approved all 11 of Moreno-Ocampo's previous submissions to the court.
At a news conference Monday in Khartoum, Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha rejected the authority of the ICC, saying Sudan was not a signatory to the court's creation.
"Hence there is no legal obligation or power over Sudan, whether Sudanese organizations or citizens," he said.
Taha also called the charges an attempt to "paralyze" his country. And Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad, Sudan's ambassador to the United Nations, said his government would respond through legal, political and "other means."
"The limit is the sky for our retaliation," he said.
He said the country was not mobilizing its military, but has been organizing demonstrations in support of al-Bashir.
However in New York, Sudan's ambassador to the United Nations, Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamed, told The Associated Press that al-Bashir, who has ruled Sudan for 19 years, was weighing all options, including a military response.
Al-Bashir may attend the U.N. General Assembly in New York in September, and Sudan would consider any attempt to arrest him a declaration of war, Mohamed said.
The authorities armed and cooperated with Arab militias that went from village to village in Darfur, killing, torturing and raping residents, according to the U.N., western governments and human rights organizations. The militias targeted civilian members of tribes from which the rebels draw strength.
Despite international condemnation of those atrocities, achieving unanimous backing in the U.N. Security Council for action against Sudan is unlikely to succeed since two of its permanent members, China and Russia, are Sudan's allies.
"China expresses great concern and worry about the ICC's prosecutor's accusation against Sudanese leaders," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said at a regular media briefing reported by AP. "The ICC's move should be conducive to safeguarding the stability of Sudan's situation and the proper resolution for the Darfur region rather than the contrary."
The United States is also reluctant to take steps that lend legitimacy to the ICC, whose jurisdiction it has questioned. The Bush administration refused to join the ICC due to fears that American servicemen overseas could face politically motivated prosecutions.
CNN's Nic Robertson contributed to this report.
Copyright 2008 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
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It's interesting to read the articles that had been published with
regard to dual nationality.
I would like to stress that, it is irrelevant if a Sri Lankan born
person wishes to obtain the citizenship of another country/s. Yet that
person should have the God given right to demand the nationality and the
citizenship of his or her's motherland.
Those who say it is not/ or those who charge money to grant these
rights is guilty of violating the basic Human Rights of a person/s.
Many people have many opinions. We all can argue about this matter
all day long. But we should bare in mind, as Sri Lankans we seek the
international communities' assistance for most of our home-grown
We as Sri Lankans have so far never found a single solution to our
problems in our country. At the same time bare in mind all these Sri
Lankan born overseas citizens have contributed to our motherland in an
There contributions are silent, but valuable. I strongly believe
every Sri Lankan who's holding foreign nationality should be given their
rightful place in our Sri Lankan society by giving their dual
nationality without any cost if they can prove they were born in Sri
Lanka. Its a shame that we put a price tag with money to our
Some voice their opinion by saying... "If its too much, don't take
it". Some say... "They have left Sri Lanka and given up their
nationality, because they do not love Sri Lanka". These opinions are
ignorant and uncivilised. I say to these people... Look at the world
around us and see how the world changes.
Look at China and India, 90 per cent of the investments done in those
countries are by their own people who live in foreign countries. Since
our Independence, we Sri Lankans have been self centered and ignorant,
at least now lets open our eyes.
I think this is the best thing that can happen to women in Sri Lanka!
(D/N Oct. 27). I hope this pilot project will be implemented in order to
give the women of Sri Lanka a smooth ride for what it's worth. To be
very honest with you I came to Sri Lanka after 20 years from Canada and
just to get a taste of Sri Lanka I took a few bus rides and believe me
they were disastrous!
Men kept harrasing, pushing, pretending to be sleeping and falling
across me, keeping their hand as they were sitting in a confi chair at
home, so that they could push with their elbows my waist line. If I sat
on a isle seat, they kept pushing my shoulder and pointless talking
about the incidents, but I am very glad about the suggestion and hope it
Why don't you try this service from Pettah to Gampaha and on the
Colombo-Kandy road? So that we women can have a safe and a peaceful ride
The Northern Province is populated by Tamils. There was a time when
Sinhalese and Muslims lived in amity with the Tamils in that province.
Then came Prabakaran.
He gave the Sinhala and Muslim people 24 hours notice to quit the
province leaving behind their land, houses furniture and all other
belongings and emigrate anywhere else on pain of death for those who
Most went East, others South and were welcome by a humanitarian
populace living in those provinces.
Pressured by India in 1987 Rajiv Gandhi the Indian Prime Minister and
President J. R. Jayewardene of Sri Lanka amalgamated the two provinces
of the North and East by a simple but illegal device of a gazette
notification, which was renewed annually.
The JHU and JVP took the matter of the amalgamation to the Supreme
Court and a learned Bench declared it ultra vires, and now the two
provinces remain separated.
The authoritarian rule of Prabakaran over the North and East no
longer prevails. The Tamils who mistakenly believe that they could lord
over the Muslims and Sinhalese of the East clamour to have the two
If the Government does that it is likely that supremo Prabakaran will
bide his time and at the opportune moment give his customary 24 hours
notice to the Sinhalese and Muslims to leave the East and emigrate to
the Hills and the rest of the South, while the Government will have a
preponderance of refugees on its hands.
Wise Muslims agitate for a de-merger of the North from the East for
they visualise a sorry plight in the event of a merger.
The TNA a band of terrorists in sheep's dressing vociferously shout
in Parliament and outside for amalgamation for Prabakaran. If that
happens, which is unlikely it will be disastrous for the country.
It is our dream for Lanka to become and flourish as a peaceful
nation. If opposing parties come together with open and honest minds
this dream will be realised to the full.
If not, the nation will be torn apart by diverse forces for the sole
benefit of killers and cut-throats ... and our children will have a
bleak and dismal future!
When there is an outbreak of mosquito-borne dengue infection in
Colombo and the provinces, the relevant State authority and its agencies
vigorously broadcast preventive measures to be adopted to deter
spreading its fangs. But no sooner the monsoon rains cease, the relevant
authorities lack combat readiness till the next outbreak.
Over the years, it has been seen by many Mattakkuliya residents that
Sri Wickrema Mawatha, Malwatta Lane, Crows Island, Ferguson Road and
Summit Pura and its hinterlands waterways (large and small) are
completely or partly carpeted with garbage, decayed organic matter and
water hyacinth making the flow of waste and rain water impassable.
Obviously, these eye-sore, stagnated waterways pose an ideal breeding
areas for all varieties of mosquitoes. The residents living in the
vicinity bear the brunt and are disgusted that there is no State
authority to clean and clear these festering waterways. Consequently,
they silently tolerate and pray that their children be immune from
dengue and filaria infections.
There is another rotten matters to focus. The clogged and blocked
decayed organic matter in these stagnated waterways, pose a serious
health hazard to the teeming population living in the vicinity due to
the nauseating stench emanating and fanning in all directions.
Phew! There is another glaring matter to state. Most road side drains
in and round Mattakkuliya have no gradient for the quick flow of waste
and rain water to the catchment points. Furthermore, there are
unauthorised privately constructed drains, with the blessings of
politicians' in lanes which pose a serious threat to the health of
residents living in close vicinity. (One such unauthorised lane drain is
adjoining the Sri Wickrema Mawatha Temple)
By these observations, many residents here are questioning as to why
this big commotion over dengue when basic preventive health care steps
are skipped off by the relevant authorities.
Many people are also questioning as to why there is a disparity
between Mattakkuliya and the plush areas; if these environment problems
were existing in plush areas, there would have been loud howls and
consequently remedial steps taken to do the needful.
With the North East monsoon now in progress, every effort should be
taken to accommodate all water possible to be used during the dry spell.
Unless the above is given due consideration, the water that falls, if
not properly guided and thereby accommodated would cause tremendous
damage in the way of heavy soil erosion, in the course of which taking
away the top soil from land to sea. Needless to mention, if the above is
allowed to occur, it would cause a tremendous loss to the country.
Despite all efforts of the Ministry of Power and Energy in their
recent campaign for the conservation of electrical energy in view of the
prohibitive cost of fuel, it would appear that the Local Authorities
have not been adequately briefed.
This is evident as street lamps continue to burn during day time,
coming on at 4 p.m. or earlier and going off at 8 a.m. or later, and
occasionally 24 hours. One can just imagine what colossal amount of
funds utilized for the in purchase of fuel could be saved if it is made
mandatory for authorities in charge of street lamps throughout the
country to ensure that they are lit from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. only.
Due to the recent rains there had been many places including the main
roads which went under water.
The worst I noticed was at Rattanapitiya junction.
The Colombo-Kesbewa Road was under water and only heavy vehicles like
buses and lorries could travel across in the early morning and most of
the other vehicles turned to Delkanda Junction as nobody wanted to get
into trouble by crossing and taking unnecessary risks. | <urn:uuid:26182c48-77af-4e72-9a61-349bb9519041> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailynews.lk/2006/11/01/main_Letters.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952726 | 1,957 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Bamboozle is a collaborative project where Design and Architecture Senior High (DASH) gathers to build a bamboo hut, but it's much more than a bamboo hut. Each class is assigned a bamboo stalk to customize in their own environmentally conscious way. The bamboo stalks are then put together into a bamboo hut in the school's courtyard, thus creating a communal space. This project teaches the benefits of teamwork and corroboration while at the same time beautifying the school campus. It also demonstrates that natural, sustainable elements are just as competent as man-made material when it comes to structure.
Ok due to the fact that the awnings are now tanning booths because the part for shade is destroyed, we decided to apply used plastic bottles that will be gathered from various sources. Will use the bottles to creat a mix of shade and daylight useing the awning frams.will make a flower design. about 20 flower designs will be tied on one awning frams useing wires. will use different types of bottle colors because we have a garedn near the dismantled awnongs and that too is colorful. besides life if full of color.
As a typical day goes by at our school,supplies such as paint,pencils,and paper are overused in every art class. Green ARTTECH is a program that provides a solution to this issue;it involves the awareness of the excess use of art materials through a transparent box sculpture. At the same time we would implement the use of a credit card for each student that would contain points to be able to use art materials given in art classes. Each time a student brings additional recycable waste for the box they will be awarded with extra points for their credit card.
CONGRATULATIONS to Janos, Oandy and Gabi from the Design and Architecture Senior High School in Miami Florida for winning the $10,000 GRAND PRIZE!
This design challenge is partially brought to you by Youth Rock The Rebuild, a group of teen musician, who perform to raise money for various student and disaster relief initiatives.
Guerrilla Green can be broken down into a 3 step process...
Using a ‘March Madness’ bracket system we are pitting the top 8 school teams from different regions against each other, to turn a great idea into a solution that can be scaled throughout the campus.
Check out this video for a full bracket breakdown.
Every time you advance, the CA$H prize increases.
ROUND 1 = $1,000
Come up with an idea to green your school.
ROUND 2 = $2,000
Implement your project. Bring your vision to life.
ROUND 3 = $10,000
Scale your idea. Tell us how your project could benefit a larger community.
FEBRUARY 1 - LAST DAY TO SUBMIT FEBRUARY 15 - Round 1 winners announced
MARCH 29- Round 2 closes APRIL 8 - Round 2 winners announced
APRIL 29 - Round 3 closes MAY 10 - Final winner announced
An online jury of sustainability and youth empowerment rockstars will review your ideas and select the winners of each round. They include a 19 year old film maker, an activist architect, a 21 year old eco-pioneer, and a few more damn cool people.
Learn more about your Guerrilla Green jury on our SUPER JURY page.
Teenagers! Youth Rock the Rebuild, a group of high school bands who raise funds to support eco-friendly building.
The co-founder of Architecture for Humanity, Cameron Sinclair, because he started Architecture for Humanity with 700 bucks, and he's frustrated that you don't have the support you deserve.
We have a group of friends who have been awesome supporters of our youth empowerment programs. For the Guerrilla Green Sustainability Challenge we are getting support from the Bezos Family Foundation, Teens Turning Green, The Goldberg Family Foundation, and the department of small works. | <urn:uuid:d28584a5-83ca-48f3-bfd2-2a21a6be936e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://guerrillagreen.architectureforhumanity.org/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931913 | 817 | 2.1875 | 2 |
Passengers arriving at the Port of San Francisco
Arrive San Francisco
September 7, 1851
Daily Alta California, September 8, 1851
ARRIVAL OF THE
Nine Days Later from the Atlantic States.
Accident to the Northerner.
A Special U.S. Government Agent dispatched to Mexico in relation to the Tehuantepec Treaty.
LOPEZ SAILED FOR CUBA!
Revolution in Quayaquil!
The P.M.S.S. Northerner, Capt. Randall, arrived in our harbor this morning at five o'clock, bringing dates from New Orleans to the 6th of August, and from Liverpool to the 26th of July.
She has brought 350 passengers, a list of whom will be found below; and also a large mail.
We are indebted tot he kindness of J.R. Mayer, the purser of the Northerner, for a list of her passengers, a report of her trip, and other items of interest, which will be found below.
Our acknowledgements are also due to Adams & Co. for the early delivery of papers and our correspondence.
By this arrival we have nine days later intelligence (August 6), from the Atlantic States, via Vera Cruz, Mexico and Acapulco, and the dates from Europe are to 26th July.
The steamer Northerner met with a very serious accident soon after leaving Panama, having broken the shaft of her starboard wheel, and she was therefore forced to run nearly the whole distance with one wheel. Capt. Randall has certainly displayed great courage, coolness and seamanship in thus successfully and quickly performing this long voyage under such unfortunate circumstances. For this reason she has been twenty-two days in making the run.
It is stated by gentlemen who have arrived in the Northerner, that the mutineers from the Commodore Stockton, and the balance of the gang of robbers not taken when their colleagues were on the Isthmus, by the Vigilance Committee of Panama, all came passengers in the Northerner, and were so disorderly during the trip as to require from the officers the strongest measures to keep them down, one of them having been put in irons by the captain. Their case will recommend itself strongly to the Vigilance Committees of California. The mountains of New Grenada afford a securer shelter for rogues and rascals than the wildest region of this State, just at this time.
The following memoranda has been furnished us by the Purser:
August 15th, at 4 P.M., sailed from Panama, with three hundred and fifty passengers, and twenty tons of freight. August 18th, at 9 A.M., five hundred miles from Panama, and in the vicinity of Cape Blano, broke the starboard shaft, close to the inner flange. Breaking it at that precise point allowed the engine to turn the larboard wheel with as much ease and facility as before the accident. Owing to the indefatigable exertions of Mr. Killduff, the first engineer, and his able assistant, in seven hours the ship was under way with one wheel, and running eight miles an hour. The starboard wheel was secured in its place by chains, and the lower sections taken off, so as to leave no drag in the water. Capt. Randall then determined to proceed on his voyage; his long experience in steaming enabling him to judge of the perfect safety and practicability of doing so. August 24 at 6-1/2 A.M., anchored in Acapulco, in a little over one day longer than usual. Found steamship Republic coaled and provisioned waiting for water; she sailed at 4 P.M., same day; California arrived at 7 A.M., on the 25th and sailed on the 26th; crew and passengers all well on both ships. Northerner sailed on the 26th, at 7 P.M. Sloop of war Vandalia was laying at Acapulco waiting orders from Washington.
Sept. 3d, at 2 A.M., arrived at San Diego and left at 7 o'clock, A.M. Steamer Tennessee arrived at 6 o'clock, A.M., and was at anchor when we sailed. Sept. 6th, at 8 A.M., arrived at Monterey and sailed at 3 P.M. Sept. 7th, arrived at 5 A.M., making the run of 3,000 miles in twenty days; a much great distance than has ever before been performed by a crippled steamer . . .
Consignees: J.W. Gregory, E.J. Moor, J.J. Dhauviteau & Co., Rosseet, Ausser & Co., B. Davidson & May, A. Fredenburg, M. Colman, G. Molina, Adams & Co., Berford & Co., Julius Steel, C. Bertrand, Simonsfield, Bach & Co., Dodge & Co.
Alcayde, J. and lady
Almond, J.G. and lady
Berlin, Mr. and Mrs.
Caldwell, lady and child
Carrington, J. and lady
Chapin, J., U.S.M.A.
Coghill, J. Warren
Fegernand, Mrs. and two children
Fiske and lady
Geltis, J.L. and lady
Graham, Mrs. James S., three children and servant
Jacobs, Mrs. H.R.
Lanmaster, Mrs. and child
Madeen, Mrs. and child
Martin, Mr. and lady
Messenger, Mrs. and child
Murphy, Jac (Note: Letter seems to be missing, so this may be Jack Murphy)
Neil, H. M.
Parker, J. R.
Perkins, T. M.
Prank, O. H.
Savage, J. E.
Van Winkle, Mrs. and servant
Wakeman, Col. A.C., lady and two servants
206 in the steerage
~ ~ ~ ~ | <urn:uuid:1a4e2929-8f6b-4176-aee8-92dcf602e436> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.maritimeheritage.org/PassLists/no090751.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93234 | 1,287 | 1.773438 | 2 |
A grasp on elusive red voles
(This is a copy of a story that appeared at http://www.oregonnews.com/1.news/09.13.news1.html)
Biologists study the tree-top mammals nest sites, DNA to determine habitat needs
BY GARRET JAROS
September 13, 2000
GLIDE Shafts of sunlight angle through the treetops, producing rays of prismatic colors as biologist Eric Forsman grips a dead limb and begins to climb toward the nest of a red tree vole.
The Northwest Forest Plan requires agencies to survey for the red tree vole, even though it is not a protected species in Oregon, before beginning any forest projects. Because very little is known about the vole, biologists are trying to determine if the vole lives solely in old growth forests or if it also thrives in younger stands.
A strategic survey is being conducted this summer on the Umpqua National Forest, Roseburg Bureau of Land Management lands and the Klamath National Forest in California. Nearly two months into the survey, biologists are finding enough evidence to indicate the voles are abundant.
Forsman makes quick work of his climb ascending hand-over-hand 30 feet to the nest, his lithe body supported by limbs brittle enough to snap.
Be ready, he calls down to fellow biologist Brian Biswell, who cranes his neck and looks up from the base of the tree.
When a red tree vole nest is disturbed, the hamster-like creature will often leap for the ground. Forsman begins rummaging through the nest, a beaver dam like collection of twigs and discarded fir needles that nearly circle the trunk of the 35-year-old Douglas fir.
The Oregon red tree vole is unique among mammals in that it spends most of its life in the canopy of coniferous trees and eats needles of conifer trees. It is the most arboreal mammal in the Pacific Northwest.
Red tree voles live only in the Cascade and Coast Ranges of western Oregon, and because they spend most of their lives in the forest canopy they are difficult to study.
Biologists began surveying for the voles July 15 and will finish at the end of September. The results will be written up in the fall and winter and then be used for management decisions.
Forsman and Biswell, both Forest Service biologists with the Pacific Northwest Research Station in Portland, are guiding three teams of three people as they search for nest sites and collect DNA samples. They will also look for the remains of voles in owl pellets while other teams map the vegetation types where nests are found.
This is the central part of their range, probably the best range along with the Coos Bay BLM lands, Biswell said of the Umpqua basin. Well survey 70 to 75 stands on Umpqua and BLM lands.
The red tree vole was placed on the list of creatures to survey for because theyre most abundant in old forests and not much is known about them.
You cant jump to conclusions just because theyre on that list, said Forsman, who helped comprise the list.
Past forest management practices have fragmented and converted old growth, or late-successional forests, to young, even-aged forests which is believed to have reduced the number of red tree voles.
Because of the limited range of the vole, females usually move only 15 meters from one nest site to another. Voles travel from treetop to treetop, but on rare occasions will travel on the ground when no other trees are nearby.
At the nest site, Forsman finds vole feces, which he preserves in a plastic vile so it can be tested for DNA if no vole is found. Then he comes across a surprise squatter, a pinkie-sized salamander. He puts it in a plastic bag and drops it to Biswell. Salamanders and tree frogs will often seek out vole nests for their moisture.
Suddenly it happens.
Here comes one! Forsman shouts. Get ready! A rusty cinnamon vole runs down the trunk toward Biswell, pausing for an instant before jumping. Biswell catches the critter against his chest and uses his thumb and forefinger to grab it by the scruff of its neck so it cant bite.
It chatters loudly and shakes furiously while Forsman makes his way back down the tree. The biologists work quickly. It is a post-lactating female. Forsman holds the voles tail with forceps and slices off the last quarter inch with a razor knife. The sample will be used for DNA testing. The tail will not grow back, but it does scab quickly.
From that we get some idea whether or not there are genetically distinct local groups of tree voles, as opposed to a fairly well-mixed gene pool, Forsman said. The idea is to find out if we have to be concerned with genetically distinct pockets of tree voles or whether theyre pretty well mixed.
Whether tree voles are able to travel through younger stands of trees is what biologists are trying to understand.
To say they dont disperse through younger stands at all is flat wrong because were finding them in those stands, Forsman said. My study is somewhat biased because in younger stands its easier to get in, but of the 12 voles weve captured this year, most were found in younger stands.
In older stands, biologists find more nests, but not necessarily more voles.
Very few nests in old or young do we find live tree voles. I dont know what to make of that yet, Forsman said. I have to climb about 40 nests for every vole I catch.
In most nests he finds only fecal material.
The red tree voles range extends from the Columbia River south almost to the San Francisco Bay and includes more than 13 million acres in Oregon, 35 percent on federal land. It is an endemic species that only occurs in the Pacific Northwest in Oregon and California, where it has been a sensitive species since 1991.
It is the primary prey species for the northern spotted owl as well as other owls, weasels, fishers, martens and ring tails.
Voles eat their body weight, about 28 grams for an adult female, in conifer needles a day. They live to be about a year old and dont breed as often as other mice species. No one knows how many litters they have, but they are capable of reproducing multiple times in a year. They will normally have two to three young.
The biologists have come to some conclusions this summer.
In general, the impression here is we have a lot more old unoccupied nests then we do in the coast range, Biswell said. We dont know why yet.
But Forsman believes there are plenty of voles out there.
I dont think theyre rare in this area, Forsman said. When you find them in 14 percent of regurgitated owl pellets that suggests the voles arent that rare. They cant be and show up in that big a proportion of owls diet.
You can reach reporter Garret Jaros at 957-4218 or by e-mail at email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:f5204862-0cd8-4b9f-bd16-1eafd0e375ea> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fs.fed.us/treeclimbing/news/red-voles/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956355 | 1,507 | 3.265625 | 3 |
Are you coming to July 4 at the National Archives? This year, the four readers of the Declaration of Independence are also direct descendents of the signers of the Declaration of Independence!
It’s free, it’s fun! Bring the family for a full day of historic excitement.
Celebrate July 4 at the National Archives Building! Join us on the Constitution Avenue steps between 7th and 9th Streets as we commemorate this historic day with C-SPAN host Steve Scully as emcee and our annual dramatic reading of the Declaration of Independence.
10 a.m.–11 a.m.
Declaration of Independence Reading Ceremony
- Presentation of colors by the Continental Color Guard*
- Performance by the Fife and Drum Corps*
- Remarks by Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero
- Dramatic reading of the Declaration of Independence by special guests including Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Ned Hector (portrayed by historical reenactors)
* Continental Color Guard and Fife and Drum Corps provided by U.S. 3rd Infantry, the Old Guard
11 a.m.–2 p.m.
Inside the National Archives Building
- Take part in hands-on family activities.
- Meet historical figures in the Rotunda: Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Ned Hector, and members of the American Historical Theatre.
July 4th at the National Archives is made possible in part by the generous support of John Hancock Financial and Dykema. | <urn:uuid:3515987c-de9c-45b3-932e-68ffee4fdcfd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://usnatarchives.tumblr.com/tagged/independence-day | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918484 | 319 | 1.960938 | 2 |
Quarters for Conservation is an exciting new initiative launched in August of 2011. Each time a visitor comes to the Oakland Zoo, twenty five cents is donated to one of the zoo’s Conservation Field Partners. Visitors vote for their favorite of three different projects at the conservation voting station in Flamingo Plaza. Be sure to use your token and spare change to vote each time you visit.
Announcing the new 2012-2013 Quarters for Conservation Projects! We are so very excited to support these projects and get to know them better this year.
Protect the Puma, our Local Lion
We share our world with a beautiful keystone species, the puma! These native cats, also known as mountain lions, are in crisis, as habitat and movement corridors are increasingly invaded by human development. Pumas are also being killed by cars and depredation permits (issued when livestock or pets are attacked). The time is now to research and better understand these apex predators and their vital role in our ecosystem.
The Bay Area Puma Project, the first long-term study of mountain lions in the San Francisco bay area, works to track and record pumas, discovering their range, movement, feeding patterns and the effects of human development on puma populations. The Bay Area Puma Project aims to utilize this research to develop new conservation strategies and engaging educational programs to foster a healthy co-existence between humans and this magnificent local lion.
Care for the Malayan Sun Bear
Able to climb some of the world’s tallest trees with the help of its four inch claws, the Malayan sun bear is facing many threats to its survival. Clear cutting for logging and palm oil plantations destroys vital habitat, and poaching for the trade in bear parts kills adult bears and leaves cubs orphaned. Many of these cubs end up in the illegal pet trade, destined to live their lives in small bare cages, never to see the sky or feel the forest floor beneath their feet.
The Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre rescues and cares for bears in need, providing lifelong care for some and striving to return others to the wild. Through public awareness and expansion of the sanctuary, the Centre is making a vital difference in the effort to save this extraordinary bear!
Conserve Central American Wildlife
Illegal wildlife trafficking, often for the pet industry, has a devastating impact on animal welfare, species conservation, and ecosystems. Second to habitat loss, it is a major cause of species extinction. Many smuggled animals die in transit, and those that survive need constant care and attention.
The ARCAS Wild Animal Rescue Center was created by Guatemalan citizens in order to rescue, rehabilitate and release animals confiscated from smugglers operating in the Maya Biosphere Reserve. The ARCAS Rescue Center is now one of the largest rescue centers in the world, receiving between 300 and 600 animals of more than 40 species per year. Thanks to ARCAS, animals such as parrots, scarlet macaws, spider and howler monkeys, ocelots, jaguars and coatimundis, have a chance to live free and fulfill their natural role in the Mayan forest.
We are so very proud of our three wonderful projects. Good luck to them, and happy voting to all the wonderful Oakland Zoo visitors. | <urn:uuid:49deaee6-938e-4e14-a81c-9af3ecc0799a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oaklandzoo.org/blog/tag/bornean-sun-bear/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937592 | 668 | 2.359375 | 2 |
Marc A. Thiessen: An election clarified by secret videos
The choice for president has crystallized in recent days: Do the American people prefer a president who divides them into “makers” and “takers,” or one who divides them into “haves” and “have nots”? Do they want a president who sees a nation of moochers and wants to reduce dependency and the size of government, or a modern-day Robin Hood who wants to expand dependency and dramatically increase the size and scope of government?
That, we now know, is the choice Americans have this November, thanks to dueling secret videos of the candidates telling us what they really think.
Americans have now heard Barack Obama say what many long suspected. He believes in the redistribution of wealth. Some have tried to argue that Obama didn’t really mean it. Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler gave the Romney campaign “four Pinocchios” for seizing on the future president’s declaration as an Illinois state senator that “I actually believe in redistribution” — because the Romney campaign took his remarks “completely out of context,” leaving out what Obama said next: “How do we pool resources at the same time we decentralize delivery systems in ways that both foster competition, can work in the marketplace and can foster innovation at the local level and can be tailored to particular communities?” This proves, Kessler claims, that “Obama is not talking about redistributing wealth at all.”
Nonsense. The context simply shows that he wants to redistribute wealth more efficiently. Obama said the words “I actually believe in redistribution.” Which part isn’t clear? The “I”? The “believe”? Or the “redistribution”? Let’s give the man some credit for saying what he means and meaning what he says.
The reason Obama’s 1998 comment is so revealing is because it is a more explicit declaration of the themes and policies he has pursued as president. This is the same candidate who told Joe the Plumber in 2008, “I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.” This is the same president who declared at a 2010 campaign rally, “I mean, I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money.” This is the same president who is demanding massive tax increases on those he thinks have “made enough money” (a.k.a. job creators) while increasing government spending to the highest levels as a percentage of the economy since the end of World War II.
Just as Obama’s declaration that he believes in redistribution was revealing, so was Mitt Romney’s comment dismissing the 47 percent of Americans “who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. ... And so my job is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”
This, too, is consistent with what Romney has said in the past. Romney has a troubling tendency to write off entire segments of the population, as when he declared in February, “I’m not concerned about the very poor.”
But here are two crucial differences: First, unlike the reaction on the left to Obama’s defense of redistribution, Romney came under sometimes withering criticism on the right for his comments. That is because, while most on the left do believe in redistribution, most conservatives do not believe that nearly half of all Americans consider themselves victims, prefer to be dependent on government or don’t want to take personal responsibility for their lives.
Second, Romney has been busy backtracking ever since the video came out. We have yet to see President Obama disavow his support for the redistribution of wealth because to do so would be to disavow the organizing principle of his entire presidency.
So Americans must decide between an inarticulate champion of smaller government and an eloquent champion of larger, more redistributive government. On this question, surveys suggest most Americans side with Mitt Romney. According to a Post poll last month, “The debate isn’t even close. Nearly six in 10 registered voters pick a ‘smaller government with fewer services,’ while just over a third want a ‘larger government with more services.’ ” Voters also understand exactly where the two candidates stand: Nearly three-quarters say Obama wants bigger government, while almost the same number say Romney wants smaller government. Continued...
In other words, Americans already knew Obama supports the redistribution of wealth before they heard it from his own lips last week. Yet despite this fact, almost 30 percent of those who want smaller government still support Obama. Romney needs to find a way to connect with that 30 percent between now and Election Day. If he doesn’t, Obama will get a second term — and we’ll quickly discover just how deeply this president believes in the redistribution of wealth.
Marc A. Thiessen, a fellow with the American Enterprise Institute, writes a weekly online column for The Post.
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Barbara Lombardo is the managing editor of The Saratogian.
Updates on Spa City and Saratoga County business news and trends.
This blog aims to supplement the daily coverage published online and in the paper.
Reporter Caitlin Morris offers insights into the issues affecting Saratoga County residents. | <urn:uuid:1d087195-008d-482b-8b52-c8bbd7e9dce5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.saratogian.com/articles/2012/09/26/opinion/doc5063c48c54a46921416804.txt | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95082 | 1,456 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Symbols remind us of what’s important. A wedding ring symbolizes a commitment. A lushly green, well-watered lawn symbolizes suburban perfection. A signed baseball symbolizes a brush with fame.
For my uncle, a perfect haystack symbolizes a summer’s work.
I recently found a black-and-white picture of the haystack in my uncle’s collection of personal photos.
“You’ve had this photo for 40-some years,” I said. “There must be a reason you kept it so long.”
“That hay stack represented a finished job,” Uncle Lee said. “I don’t get many ‘finished jobs’ in my line of work now.”
Nowadays, making hay is highly mechanized. Round bales, created by a machine, dot the rural landscape around the little town where I live on the outskirts of Chicago.
But a century ago, hay was cut with scythes and moved with pitchforks, and haystacks shaped like little houses were fixtures of the Midwestern landscape. Square balers mechanized the process in the 1940s. As the farming industry moved to a more corporate operation in recent years, large round bales have become more common.
The biggest advantage of small square bales like those handled by my uncle is that they can be moved by one person without a lot of machinery.
Square hay bales must be stacked in such a way as to shed moisture and prevent rotting. My uncle estimates his haystack probably had 2,000 square bales in it.
“I probably handled those bales six times each,” he said. “That’s why I was in such great shape! The knees wore out of my blue jeans from hiking up those bales. I could throw them like you couldn’t believe.”
As the saying goes, you make hay while the sun shines. One has to cut it, rake it and bale it first. “Dad [my grandfather] had a brand new baler at the time,” Uncle Lee remembers. “Then I’d go out and put ’em in six packs — that’s the first time I handled ’em. Then I’d pick ’em up and throw ’em on the hay wagon (that’s two), then stack ’em again on the wagon (three), bring ’em home, throw ’em down (there’s four, right?), then stack them like you see here in the picture.”
The stack in that picture symbolized a whole summer of work.
“Wait, that’s five times, I think,” I said.
“Then in the winter time, you have to feed the cattle – I had to throw the bales on the ground for the cows.”
“I like everything about cattle,” said Uncle Lee, who grew up and made hay in the western plains of North Dakota. “I enjoyed that part of farming. I didn’t like seeding or combining, but one of my favorite times of year was when we moved the cattle to summer pasture. All winter, they were cooped up in the barnyards, but in spring we moved them to the open fields. They were like little kids! They’d kick up their heels and hit their heads together, they were so happy.
“I still like cattle.”
Early on, Uncle Lee left farming because there was no money in it and embarked on a career in education. He started out as a social studies teacher. Now, he’s a school administrator – the top of the stack, so to speak – in a small, rural school district in Wisconsin.
“That’s probably why I prefer rural districts,” Uncle Lee said. “North Dakota built my foundation. It was a hard place to make a living: It’s got a short growing season. It’s colder than hell. Sometimes it doesn’t rain. It can be a very lonely, lonely place.”
But he learned what hard work can accomplish.
And the picture of his haystack symbolizes it. | <urn:uuid:d5b43feb-c88f-4695-bab9-4c2638c2e5a3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://minnesotatransplant.wordpress.com/2012/08/09/what-a-perfect-haystack-means/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963533 | 907 | 2.828125 | 3 |
If a stiff, sore neck is your only symptom, it's probably not meningitis but only a doctor who examines you and runs tests can tell for sure. Some of the other symptoms of meningitis that usually accompany a stiff neck include:
Severe or worsening headache
Vomiting or nausea with headache
Confusion or difficulty concentrating
Even if it's not meningitis, a stiff neck that has not improved for several weeks should be checked by a doctor.
Lots of times we get worried because of one problematic system but we forget that disorders usually cause 'packages' of symptoms.
For instance, a heart attack in men is usually accompanied not just with chest pain but with lightedness, sweating, nausea, pallor etc. as well. In the same way, meningitis usually comes with a stiff neck and things like headache, fever, vomiting, sensitivity to light, etc.
Many of our symptoms that seem purely muscular in nature; ie involve pain in the muscles are, in fact, due to muscle strains we don't know we have and they usually resolve themselves in a week or two. Of course, only a doctor has the skill and experience to diagnose you correctly...and if you have pain that does not go away in a relatively short period of time - as you are having - you should see a doctor.
We hope you find this general health information helpful. Please note however, that this Q&A is meant to support not replace the professional medical advice you receive from your doctor. No information in the Answers above is intended to diagnose or treat any condition. The views expressed in the Answers above belong to the individuals who posted them and do not necessarily reflect the views of Remedy Health Media. Remedy Health Media does not review or edit content posted by our community members, but reserves the right to remove any material it deems inappropriate. | <urn:uuid:48e9cf26-ee63-4e42-a64d-abec56b1b34f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.healthcentral.com/chronic-pain/c/question/91498/156542/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94629 | 380 | 1.953125 | 2 |
Moose put down after jumping in front of car
COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho (AP) -- A northern Idaho driver was shaken and a yearling bull moose was badly injured after the two collided in a busy Coeur d'Alene intersection.
The Coeur d'Alene Press reports Ray Theander was driving his 1997 Hyundai about 25 miles per hour Tuesday morning when the 700-pound moose jumped in front of him, crumpling the hood and covering the windshield.
The animal wandered to the yard of a nearby house, where it was tranquilized by Idaho Department of Fish and Game workers. Department manager Jim Hayden said the animal had a broken leg and internal injuries, and had to be put down.
Hayden says encounters between moose and humans have become more common, with the department responding to several moose accidents each year.
Information from: Coeur d'Alene Press, http://www.cdapress.com | <urn:uuid:0dcd339c-2535-4665-b50a-b0fe41e6dcb5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kivitv.com/news/local/182192001.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963002 | 199 | 1.6875 | 2 |
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has struck a fighting, proud tone at her party's annual conference - the last before 2013 federal elections. She warned against complacency, and advocated an unchanged German government.
Merkel again said on Tuesday that she thought the current German government was "the most successful since German reunification," pointing to domestic economic successes even amid the so-called eurozone debt crisis.
She also appealed for stability ahead of next year's general elections, saying she would like to continue governing in exactly the current constellation, if possible.
"In these times no other coalition could lead our country into a good future as ours could, the Christian-liberal coalition," Merkel said at the party conference in the northern city of Hanover.
Much of her speech might as easily have been aimed not at her Christian Democratic Union, the CDU and Bavaria's CSU, but at her junior coalition partners, the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP). After a bumper general election in 2009, the best in the party's history, the FDP has crashed in the opinion polls – casting its suitability as a coalition partner into serious doubt.
Merkel told the delegates that she believed their party and the FDP still shared "the greatest similarities" of any potential constellation.
"Our coalition partners need to raise their game, so that we can make it," Merkel said.
The CDU is currently polling at around 40 percent, making it easily the most popular single party in the country, while the FDP is only at the 4-percent mark; together, they would not currently hit the required simple majority. The two main opposition parties, the Social Democrats and the Greens, poll more strongly when combined.
Combative as well as conciliatory
With the national vote topping the agenda, Merkel also took aim at the center-left Social Democrats, saying Germany's continued economic growth and improved employment figures might be in danger with a change of governance.
"An increase in income tax and flat rate tax, an introduction of a wealth tax, the Social Democrats' program is a program that endangers the middle class," Merkel said.
The chancellor was similarly bullish towards business and the financial sector, again calling for progress on gender equality and regulation for the financial markets.
"My patience on this topic is running out," Merkel said on the issue of gender quotas in the boardroom, where her government has been reticent to set fixed legal limits. "I want to finally see results. Companies need to deliver; they cannot exploit the good faith we have extended them."
The 58-year-old party chair, who is all-but certain to be re-elected to the position at the conference, said she would continue pushing for greater regulation of the financial markets and a financial transaction tax - suggestions that have been especially coolly received in London and New York.
"It won't help if only Europe acts," Merkel said, saying that only global measures would regulate a sector whose "irresponsibility" had been unearthed in the years since the so-called financial crisis.
msh/kms (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)
World champions Spain have got off to a winning start at the Confederations Cup in Brazil, beating Uruguay 2-1. Earlier, Italy defeated Mexico by the same score. | <urn:uuid:d73754d9-8aa5-4238-a604-a33d8f0d8b70> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dw.de/merkel-blows-cdu-horn-at-party-conference/a-16427293 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972847 | 676 | 1.53125 | 2 |
It's that time of year again. Every year, late in the summer, major media outlets rank the best and worst jobs in America. PRrag has decided to delve into jobs that have a certain image about them; an image that is either wholly spun and inaccurate or simply misunderstood by the public: Fishermen, lumberjacks, and airplane flyers.
Fun words that elicit a sense of adventure and excitement. Just don't go around saying that to the people who actually do these jobs. These are the three most dangerous jobs in America, as reported by CNNMoney.
Fishermen fared worst in 2005 with a 21 percent increase in fatalities from 2004. Forty-eight fishermen died at a rate of 118.4 per 100,000, as reported.
Even more loggers died in 2005. Last year, 80 people died in the pursuit of wood products, at a rate of 90.2 per 100,000. In a profession where one deals with multi-ton round objects on unstable terrain and hours away from any qualified emergency aid, it is no small wonder how deaths in this profession actually managed to decrease from 2004-2005.
Forestry and logging are somewhat romanticized professions. The image is of big, burly men hacking away at mammoth trees until they come crashing to the earth. It is easy to forget that a tree makes noise when it falls in the woods and people are around to hear it.
Flyers fared "best" on the list of most dangerous jobs. This profession had a 66.9 per 100,000. Whimsical crop dusters flying bi-planes that look leftover from World War I simply don't portray the image of how dangerous this type of work actually is.
With danger comes dirt, and in an effort to humanize the often ignored and ill-perceived "dirty jobs," Discovery Channel has released their own profession rankings: Dirtiest Jobs of 2005. | <urn:uuid:f8515c8e-afe2-4866-9342-2085a2fa87e2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogcritics.org/culture/article/how-does-your-job-stack-up/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959636 | 387 | 2.125 | 2 |
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- What was Zincoshine and did they decide to use for a binder in October Sky? | <urn:uuid:ef1ea4f8-cbef-4bb5-9aba-b5b283eaec6b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.enotes.com/october-sky/documents | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970095 | 126 | 2.078125 | 2 |
As Cigarettes And Booze
Source: Huffington Post
Imagine this: You're going somewhere for the day, when you realize that you've left your smartphone and computer at home. You won't be able to retrieve them for the next 24 hours.
What's the first word that comes to mind?
If it's "nightmare," you should probably consider yourself digitally dependent, according to a new study that showed that for such people, unplugging is like giving up smoking or drinking.
The British study, conducted by the consumer behavior research company Intersperience, shows that 53 percent of people feel "upset" when they are unable to have an Internet connection, and 40 percent of people said they feel "lonely" if they can't go online.
On the other hand, only 23 percent said they would feel "free" if they were cut off from the Internet, Intersperience found.
The study involved 1,000 people ages 18 to 65, who were surveyed about their attitudes toward and usage of the Internet and smartphones. Some of the people also underwent the challenge of unplugging for a full 24 hours.
One participant who gave up technology for a day said it was "like having my hand chopped off," while another said it was "my biggest nightmare," Intersperience reported. | <urn:uuid:1a60b795-767d-4015-950f-f54b384dd1ea> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kfgo.com/health-news-details.php?pageNum_rsNews=36&totalRows_rsNews=387&ID=1927 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975697 | 273 | 2.359375 | 2 |
Thursday, August 9, 2012
The general concept of peer-to-peer networks is extremely attractive. It appeals to my philosophical leanings and to my sense of engineering elegance. The prospect of billions of devices seamlessly interacting with one another seems to allow the Internet of Things to escape the limitations of centralized command and control, instead taking full advantage of Metcalfe's Law to create more value through more interconnections.
But true peer-to-peer communication isn't perfect democracy – it's senseless cacophony. In the IoT, devices at the edge of the network have no need to be connected with other devices at the edge of the network – there is zero value in the information. These devices have simple needs to speak and hear: sharing a few bytes of data per hour on bearing temperature and fuel supply for a diesel generator, perhaps. Therefore, burdening them with protocol stacks, processing, and memory to allow true peer-to-peer networking is a complete waste of resources and creates more risk of failures, management and configuration errors, and hacking.
Having said that, there is obviously a need to transport the data destined to or originating from these edge devices. The desired breakthrough for a truly universal IoT is using increasing degrees of intelligence and networking capability to mange that transportation of data.
Conceptually, a very simple three-level model will suffice. At the edge of the network are simple Devices. They transmit or receive their small amounts of data in a variety of ways: wirelessly over any number of protocols, via power line networking, or by being directly connected to a higher level device. These edge devices simply "chirp" their bits of data or listen for chirps directed toward them (and how are these addressed, you might ask – we'll get there in a later blog post).
Note that I've said nothing about error-checking, routing, higher-level addressing or anything of the sort. That's because none of these are needed. Edge devices (Level I, if you will) are fairly mindless "worker bees" existing on a minimum of data flow. This will suffice for the overwhelming majority of devices connected to the IoT*.
The emphasis in the last sentence above is a key point. Much of what has been written about the IoT assumes an IP stack in every refrigerator, parking meter, and fluid valve. Why? It's obvious that these devices won't need the decades of built-up network protocol detritus encoded in TCP/IP. We all must free our thinking from our personal experience of the networking of computers, Smartphones and human users to address the much simpler needs of the myriad devices at the edge of the IoT.
So if the end devices aren't capable of protocol intelligence, it must reside somewhere. And the major elements of that somewhere are the Level II Propagator nodes. These are technologically a bit more like the networking equipment with which we are all familiar, but they operate in a different way. Propagators listen for data "chirping" from any device. Based on a simple set of rules regarding the "arrow" of transmission (toward devices or away from devices), propagator nodes decide how to broadcast these chirps to other propagator nodes or to the higher-level Integrator device I'll discuss in a moment.
In order to scale to the immense size of the Internet of Things, these propagator nodes must be capable of a great deal of discovery and self-organization. They will recognize other propagator nodes within range, set up simple routing tables of adjacencies, and discover likely paths to the appropriate integrators. I've solved this sort of problem before with wireless mesh networking and although the topology algorithms are complex, the amount of data exchange needed is small.
One of the important capabilities of propagator nodes will be their ability to prune and optimize broadcasts. Chirps passing from-and-to end devices may be combined with other traffic and forwarded in the general direction of their transmission "arrow". In my view of the IoT, propagators are the closest thing to the traditional idea of peer-to-peer networking, but they are providing this networking on behalf of devices and integrators at levels "above" and "below" themselves. Any of the standard networking protocols may be used, and propagator nodes will perform important translation functions between different networks (power line or Bluetooth to ZigBee or WiFi, for example).
Integrator functions are where the chirps from hundreds to millions of devices are analyzed and acted upon. Integrator functions also send their own chirps to get information or set values at devices – of course these chirps' transmission arrow is pointed toward devices. Integrator functions may also incorporate a variety of inputs, from big data to social networking trends and "Likes" to weather reports.
Integrator functions are the human interface to the IoT. As such, they will be built to reduce the unfathomably large amounts of data collected over a period of time to a simple set of alarms, exceptions, and other reports for consumption by humans. In the other direction, they will be used to manage the IoT by biasing devices to operate within certain desired parameters.
Using simple concepts such as "cluster" and "avoid", integrated scheduling and decision-making processes within the integrator functions will allow much of the IoT to operate transparently and without human intervention. One integrator function might be needed for an average household, operating on a Smartphone, computer, or home entertainment device. Or the integrator function could be scaled up to a huge global enterprise, tracking and managing energy usage across a corporation, for example.
When it comes to actually packaging and delivering products, some physical devices will certainly be combinations of functions. Propagator nodes combined with one or more end devices certainly make sense, as will other combinations. But the important concept here is to replace the idea of peer-to-peer for everything with a graduated amount of networking delivered as needed and where needed. In the Internet of Things, we need a division of labor (like ant and bee colonies) so that devices with not much to say or hear receive only the amount of networking they need and no more.
Next time, we'll talk about the communications architecture for the IoT in more detail and why the needs of the crowd are different from the needs of the cloud.
*Yes, there will be a relatively small number (still billions and billions) of more-sophisticated devices connected to the IoT. But these will connect with good ol' IPv6, as the investment of a protocol stack is worth it. | <urn:uuid:9a8b398a-dc63-45e7-bf3d-6c238d283396> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://net-of-things.blogspot.com/2012/08/forget-equality.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934288 | 1,352 | 2.328125 | 2 |
In 2008, as the economy was entering recession, parts of rural Pennsylvania were booming. Energy companies were using hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to tap the natural gas reserves of the Marcellus Shale underlying much of the state. In Wayne County, these corporations offered struggling farmers lucrative leases for mineral rights.
Bob Rutledge, whose family has been in Wayne County since the 1840s, owns a money-losing cattle farm. Photographs by Adam Golfer for Bloomberg Businessweek | <urn:uuid:a26406f3-a955-45bb-9b27-d2030fefe627> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://images.businessweek.com/slideshows/2012-06-07/fracking-fizzles-in-wayne-county.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975721 | 97 | 1.976563 | 2 |
How to Be an Artist in Residence
In the dunes between Race Point, Provincetown, and High Head in North Truro sit 17 dune shacks, originally constructed out of driftwood and found materials between 1935 and 1950. These shelters, which replaced even older structures used as rescue stations, are now part of the Cape Cod National Seashore. Two organizations have an agreement with the National Park Service to carry out artist-in-residence programs here. Provincetown Community Compact and the Outer Cape Artist-in-Residence Consortium (OCARC) invite applications, due mid-February, for stays in one of two shacks during the coming summer. Fees vary. Visit the compact.org to apply for the C-Scape shack; for the Margo-Gelb shack, write to OCARC, c/o Hatty Fitts, 22 Nelson Ave., Provincetown, MA 02657.
When you become a part of the dune shack society, you’ll join the ranks of E. E. Cummings, Harry Kemp, Mary Oliver, Henry Beston, Jack Kerouac, Eugene O’Neill, Willem de Kooning, and Jackson Pollock. | <urn:uuid:3d3f7067-88df-49bd-95ae-6298bd529685> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.yankeemagazine.com/article/features/capecodartist/artist | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.905125 | 256 | 1.6875 | 2 |
A magnetron's electromagnet...
I'm in the process of refurbishing a 915mhz 30kw Microwave power supply. The problem I'm having is that the electromagnet coil's water tubing is busted, and so we are having to replace it, and the standard replacement part is somewhat expensive ($2000+) and will take weeks to arrive. I've found a local shop that specializes in electromagnets and say they can duplicate my old one for less money and quicker return.
Anyways, it's the theory I'm interested in.
There are lots of salespeople in this industry, and a few people who know details about magnetrons, but I'm not finding anyone who can tell me how specific the magnet has to be. Obviously I hope wherever I get a replacement it will be the same as the original, but I want to have my bases covered if the magnetic field produced by the replacement is off by a few %.
So does anyone have any information and/or thoughts about how the magnet affects the magnetron? I understand the theory, but knowing how it will react in practice is a very different thing... | <urn:uuid:75d5ee72-e8c5-43e1-a605-0e7c85f27b33> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.physicsforums.com/showpost.php?p=258423&postcount=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970166 | 234 | 1.9375 | 2 |
January 18, 2009 By Jessica Jones, Contributing Writer
San Francisco, New York City and Washington, D.C., use technology that's intertwined with nature to protect their drinking water. By coughing, swimming at different depths in an aquarium and changing their movements and breathing, bluegills -- a small fish from the sunfish family -- set off an elaborate monitoring system that shows city officials when contaminants are present.
The bluegills are part of an aquatic monitoring system that alerts officials if there's anything foul in the drinking water. The fish react to toxins in the water, and their reactions -- such as bubbles from their coughing -- set off sensors to test the water for contaminants. The fish can detect toxic materials such as metals, cyanide, organic solvents and pesticides.
"We have a probe on there that looks at pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen -- those sorts of things," said Bill Lawler, vice president of sales and marketing for Intelligent Automation Corp. (IAC) -- recently acquired by Honeywell -- the company involved in the system's creation. "We want to make sure there are no other things in the water causing the fish to react."
Scientists at the U.S. Army Center for Environmental Health Research in Fort Detrick, Md., are known for doing much of the basic research on the bluegill, Lawler said.
"They were the ones who started some of the early work monitoring water using bluegills. It was a real-time kind of thing where they would monitor and watch the reactions of the fish."
But even as early as 100 B.C., bluegills were placed in moats to monitor water, Lawler said, adding that he thinks a fair amount of municipalities use a more simplistic version of this technology. "They do it in a sense, not electronically monitoring," he said. "In other words, if the fish floats, the water's bad."
Tom Shedd, a research aquatic biologist at the Center for Environmental Health Research, and one of the scientists who helped create this system, noted the bluegill's history.
"Historically the fish have been shown to be a good indicator of toxicity in the water," he said, "but the problem was how to digest that information, put it all together and get rapid information out."
That's where IAC comes into play.
The technology that San Francisco, New York, Fort Detrick and Washington, D.C., use today -- the IAC 1090 Intelligent Aquatic BioMonitoring System -- was developed in partnership with the U.S. Army.
In October 2001, the Army began using the technology at Fort Detrick. That same year, IAC decided to commercialize it. The Army has a patent on the technology and IAC purchased the license.
It wasn't until spring 2004 that Fort Detrick had an incident. "We never really found the issue," Shedd said, "but the fish responded very aggressively, and we reacted to that appropriately."
Since then, there have been no incidents, but with the decline in the economy, Shedd said people will likely take more shortcuts with chemicals, increasing the chances of water contamination.
"It's just Tom Shedd talking, but with the downturn in the economy, a lot of people don't do the right thing with toxic, industrial chemicals," he said. "They have a tendency to find the easiest path to get rid of them -- an out-of-sight, out-of-mind kind of thing. As the economy turns down, there just isn't enough money to accomplish some of the environmentally relevant activities that you should be doing. I'm not saying it's a bad world out there, but there are some things folks can justify based on where they are in their current financial situation."
IAC worked with the Army by taking its concept and automating it through the IAC software and some electronics experts, to
This Digital Communities white paper highlights discussions with IT officials in four counties that have adopted shared services models. Our aim was to learn about the obstacles these governments have faced when it comes to shared services and what it takes to overcome those roadblocks. We also spoke with several members of the IT industry who have thought long and hard about these issues. The paper offers some best practices for shared government-to-government services, but also points out challenges that government and industry still must overcome before this model gains widespread adoption. | <urn:uuid:ebb798b2-1533-4f84-bc69-a022bc0fef45> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.digitalcommunities.com/articles/Cities-Protect-Drinking-Water-Using-Fish.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97254 | 909 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Mitt Romney is one of a very long and not-so-distinguished list of Republicans who cheers and supports every war we’ve ever been in while refusing to put his ass, or the asses of his sons, on the line in those wars. Ann Romney went on The View and tried to answer questions about that:
Whoopi Goldberg: What I read about your husband, what I read, and maybe you can correct this, is that the reason that he didn’t serve in Vietnam was because it was against the religion.
Ann Romney: He was serving his mission. (Explaining that none of her sons have served in the military) My five sons have also served (on) missions. We find different ways of serving… I sent them away boys and they came back men.
Whoopi Goldberg: So when you’re facing these mothers whose children have not come back, how will you explain to them that your sons haven’t gone?
Ann Romney: I think it’s the hardest thing that a president will probably do.
Goldberg is wrong about going to war being against the Mormon religion; Mormons can and do serve in the military and are anything but pacifist. But Mitt Romney did use the excuse of going on his Mormon mission to get deferrals in order to get out of serving in Vietnam, a war that he actually marched in favor of while in college. And this argument that is just a “different way of serving” is absurd. One simply has nothing to do with the other.
It’s easy to send your boys on a mission where the most terrible thing they’ll face is a barking dog or an impolite comment, all while cheering on a war that puts other people’s children into a war that killed millions of people. And remember a few years ago when Mitt was asked about why none of his sons had ever served in the military and he said “one of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping me get elected.” How patriotic of them. And apparently they were just too busy to serve in both gulf wars when they were of the proper age to join the military; I guess they were showing their support for the nation then by getting ready to help him get elected.
Ann Romney also claimed, falsely, that as governor of Massachusetts Mitt had attended every funeral of a servicemember from that state who died in Iraq and Afghanistan. Well isn’t that convenient. But what he refused to do was put himself or his children at any risk of being in one of those funerals because they’re rich white people and rich white people don’t serve in wars, even when they think those wars are necessary and justified. They only send other people’s children to die, not their own. | <urn:uuid:246d3ab8-ac2d-4a15-a906-cc09e5730878> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2012/10/23/the-romney-family-chicken-hawks/?ak_action=force_mobile | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988223 | 586 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Summary:When Lucy Calkins wrote the first edition of The Art of Teaching Writing, the writing workshop was a fledgling idea, piloted by a few brave innovators. Now, as she brings us this new edition, the writing workshop is at the foundation of language arts education throughout the English-speaking world. This new edition, then, could easily have been a restatement, in grander, more confident tones ...show more, of the original classic. Instead, it is an almost entirely new book. Clearly, during the time in which Calkins's original ideas have spread like wildfire, her focus has not been on articulating and defending those ideas, but on developing and rethinking them. Respecting and responding to the questions which have arisen as thousands of teachers establish writing workshops in their classrooms, and drawing upon the latest knowledge in the field and her own intimate understanding of classroom life, Calkins has re-thought every line and every facet of her original text. In this new edition, Lucy has major new chapters on assessment, thematic studies, writing throughout the day, reading/writing relationships, publication, curriculum development, nonfiction writing and home/school connections. More than this, she has deepened her understanding of the writing process itself: ''When I wrote the first edition, I saw writing as a process of choosing a topic, turning the topic into the best possible draft, sharing the draft with friends, then revising it. But I've come to think that it's very important that writing is a process not only of recording, but also of developing a story or an idea. Now, in this new edition, I describe writing episodes that do not begin with a topic and a draft but instead with something noticed or something wondered about. When writing begins with something that has not yet found its significance, it is more apt to become a process of growing meaning.'' ...show lessEdition/Copyright: (2ND)94
More prices and sellers below. | <urn:uuid:1c897466-e21e-45e8-9fec-5a5cc056e145> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.textbooks.com/Art-of-Teaching-Writing-2nd-Edition/9780435088095/Lucy-M-Calkins.php?CSID=ACTJQMDW2T3QMQDAAMC2DMCCS | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971527 | 402 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Could shooting be a gun-control tipping point?
Likewise, early last year, Obama weighed in on guns after an assailant killed six people and wounded 13, shooting then-Rep. Giffords in the head outside a grocery store in Tucson, Ariz. The president called for ‘‘sound and effective steps’’ in gun laws as part of a ‘‘new discussion on how we can keep America safe for all our people.’’ He soon went back to silence on the topic and gun-control advocates waited in vain for the steps.
With his last presidential campaign behind him, Obama is freer to take up contentious matters that he wouldn’t touch when he was an incumbent seeking re-election. Odds are favorable that he will have at least one vacancy to fill on a Supreme Court now closely divided on gun cases.
The Aurora attack happened in the heat of the campaign, when Democrats wanted no trouble from gun owners. In its first official response to the killings, Obama’s White House pledged to protect fundamental gun rights. Obama and his spokesmen never failed to couple his wish for ‘‘common-sense measures’’ with his devotion to the Second Amendment.
But after the massacre of children Friday, Obama spoke mainly of the anguish, and the need for action, and not at all about the right to bear arms.
By the standards of gun-control politics, that alone was a crack in the status quo.
Associated Press writer Matt Apuzzo in Newtown, Conn., contributed to this report. | <urn:uuid:6a42f91e-2956-4047-a053-9101fb7eda9b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.boston.com/news/education/2012/12/15/could-shooting-gun-control-tipping-point/Ko9TBCgglAicX5vTXxRaAJ/story-1.html | 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 | 0.96951 | 325 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Leadership For Learning: A Research-Based Model And Taxonomy Of Behaviors
Source: Vanderbilt University
In this paper, the authors examine the components of leadership for learning employing research on highly productive schools and school districts and high performing principals and superintendents, using a three-dimensional model of productivity. The authors capture the knowledge base of leadership for learning under eight major dimensions: vision for learning, instructional program, curricular program, assessment program, communities of learning, resource acquisition and use, organizational culture, and advocacy. Over the last half century a great deal has been written about the importance of leadership, in general and in relation to organizational performance in particular. Academics, practitioners, and reviewers from every field of study have concluded that leadership is a central variable in the equation that defines organizational success. | <urn:uuid:81582cfb-db68-4358-a779-ff2e6b68aa74> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.techrepublic.com/whitepapers/leadership-for-learning-a-research-based-model-and-taxonomy-of-behaviors/2404331?scname=leadership-styles | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925762 | 164 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Charlie Johnson of Racine finds joy in learning with others of all ages. “I really like the design of the boot camp…from meeting new people…to learning new skills…to mentoring the younger students…and having very helpful instructors…it’s a good mix,” said Johnson. Johnson has experience in welding and enrolled in the boot camp to get certified. He has taken many courses over the years, so returning to the classroom was not difficult. What he found challenging was the amount of studying required outside the classroom. “We easily have 2-3 hours of studying outside the classroom for every hour we have inside the classroom,” stated Johnson, “but there is excellent tutoring and extra lab time available so it all gets done.”
Along with technical skills, Johnson and his fellow welders-in-training are learning about workplace safety practices through the Manufacturing Skill Standards Council (MSSC) safety module. MSSC is an industry-led training, assessment and certification system focused on the core skills and knowledge needed by the nation’s production workers. MSSC certification is awarded by passing the safety assessment. Johnson described one of the ways that technical skills are measured, “The instructor has a worksheet for each type of welding we are learning (job assignment sheet) and we have to demonstrate each skill technique before we can move on to the next.” The students also get to view practical applications of welding, as they did on a recent company tour. Johnson explained, “We took a tour of a race car body shop in Twin Lakes. We saw how welding is used to fabricate race car parts.”
Johnson sums up the boot camp as an excellent opportunity for getting a welding job. After he attains certification in welding he plans to continue on with his education.
Boot Camp 4 Students Create Artwork
For their capstone project, Boot Camp 4 students created a sculpture titled “Higher Expectations”. Students Bruce Brown, Thomas Degroot, Daryl Hawkins, Nicholas Johnson, Joseph Kahren, Evan Olsen, Matthew Stommel, Mitchell Sytkowski, Jay Thoennes, Kyle Worzala and Andrew Zold fabricated the piece. The design represents the students’ collaborative vision of the theme higher expectations. The art work was a joint project of Gateway Technical College, the Racine County Workforce Development Center, the University of Wisconsin- Parkside and the Racine Unified School District. “Higher Expectations” is on display at the Racine County Workforce Development Center. | <urn:uuid:7eb92517-fefe-439a-9fd0-d6a92f858850> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gtc.edu/wedd/welding-fabrication-student-story | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950923 | 526 | 2 | 2 |
With tattoos becoming more and more mainstream, I think it is very important for teens to have access to credible resources so they can make an informed decision about whether or not to go under the gun. Since I already have several tattoos and am in the planning stages of getting another, I feel like I am pretty well qualified to review the information in this book. And, as far as I am concerned, this book is great! The titles of the chapters speak very well for themselves:
- Thinking Before Inking
- Choosing a Tattoo: What and Where?
- Shopping Around
- Inking: How Getting a Tattoo Works
I thought the author did a great job explaining what factors a person should consider before deciding whether or not to get a tattoo, and I especially appreciated the inclusion of what to look for to ensure that the tattoo artist and his/her shop are legit. The “For More Information” and “For Further Reading” sections were included lots of great resources for people who still want to learn more, and the bibliography was very thorough as well. I think this book is a great choice for anyone who wants to educate his/herself before getting a tattoo and a must have for public library collections. | <urn:uuid:220606ad-1ba7-4aa7-92d2-ba2d5549cd15> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://librarina.wordpress.com/2012/11/19/getting-inked-what-to-expect-when-you-get-a-tattoo-by-larry-gerber/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=756b7883e4 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973544 | 253 | 1.945313 | 2 |
It's time to read and vote for your favorite article in the 2013 Write-Off Contest! The four finalist's articles are featured in the May 13 newsletter and can be found through this link. Hurry! Voting ends May 18.
Blueberries are ideal for the home grower. They do not need much space and can even be grown in containers. I just started my blueberry 'patch' last year, so start yours now and we can become blueberry farmers together.
About twenty years ago, I read an article about growing blueberries in containers and became intrigued. This sounded like something I could manage. Two half whiskey barrels were purchased and placed alongside the vegetable garden in our back yard's best available sunlight. Most blueberries need a second variety for pollination, so two plants of different varieties were purchased, although I no longer recall the names. Perhaps I did not do enough reading on the care of blueberries at the time. Plants in containers have additional needs. They did well for a while and we had enough fruit for a few pancakes and muffins, but rather than growing and becoming more robust they just kind of faded away. It was probably a lack of nutrients.
This time I vow to do better by them. We live in a different home now with tons of sun. I chose an area at one end of what I refer to as my "cottage garden" for all acid-loving plants, which includes blueberries (Vaccinium). They require a soil pH of 4 to 4.5 to thrive and this is rarely found in a home garden. In order to prepare your soil for blueberries, you should start the year before. Test your soil, either with a good test kit, or send a sample to your local extension service. Then add a minimum of four inches of organic matter (grass clippings, aged manure, chopped leaves, etc.) and work it well into the soil. An additional soil test should be done after the organic matter has been added. Granular sulfur can then be used to further lower the pH to the proper level. It should be added at least three months before the blueberries are planted.
Assuming you have properly prepared your bed for planting as I did, it is time to decide how many plants and what varieties you will grow. Athough the newer cultivars are mostly self-fertile, you will get larger berries if you plant two varieties of the same type. There are several types of blueberries, northern highbush (V. corymbosum), southern highbush (V. virgatum), rabbiteye (V. ashei), half-high, lowbush (V. angustifolium) and even some dwarf cultivars. You will choose varieties based on your location and climate. Consult the vendor for advice on what will be best for your particular situation. Although northern highbush would grow well in my climate, I was looking for smaller plants. Northern highbush have a mature height of 5 to 9 feet, so I selected some half-high varieties. Which ones you choose will depend on what qualities you are looking for: size, sweetness, high yield, early-late maturity, etc. My main criterion was a sweet berry. Most recommendations are for plants to be spaced 4 to 5 feet apart in rows. As I decided on only 6 plants, they were planted 5 feet apart in all directions rather than in rows, but if you have more than that you would probably need to do rows for proper maintenance. For the 6 plants, I selected 2 each of 3 varieties; 'Northland' (at one year in the opening thumbnail), 'Northsky' and 'Northblue', from St. Lawrence Nurseries, which specializes in hardy plants for climates like mine (see photos below; descriptions are from St. Lawrence Nurseries' catalog).
'Northland' - 4', big producer, medium berries, sweet with good flavor (not as hardy)
'Northblue' - 2', large, dark blue berries with flavor superior to most half-high varieties
Blueberries should be planted in early spring in all areas of the country. It takes three years for a plant to mature enough to produce berries. Before that, all flowers should be removed so that the plant's energy goes into root growth and strengthening the plant. I have to admit, I let the one flower from the first year mature into a berry. It was irresistible. Big surprise that the birds did not grab it before I got to it! After that, it will be six years before the plant reaches its full maturity. By then, some kind of bird netting will probably be necessary unless your whole goal is to attract birds. Blueberries do not have to be pruned for the first 3 or 4 years . Click on any of the pictures below to go to the PlantFiles entry.
Northern highbush 'Jersey'
Southern highbush 'O'Neal'
Wild Maine blueberry barren (lowbush)
If all this does not entice you into growing some blueberries in your landscape, perhaps the blazing fall color will. They will add a wonderful accent to your landscape and can substitute for plants like burning bush (Euonymus elatus) which can be considered invasive.
Postscript: the photo of the wild berries growing in Maine brings back a fond childhood memory. My grandfather built a camp on Raquette Lake in the Adirondack Mountains in New York State in the 1920s. It was in a secluded area that could only be reached by boat or hiking through the woods. They called it 'As You Like It.' There were wild blueberries growing in swampy sand along some of the unsettled shores of the lake with plenty for both critters and folks, so if we were there when they ripened in July we had a wonderful time picking and eating. There were enough for pancakes, muffins, sprinkling on cereal, or just eating out of hand. I still think my mother was a magician for making muffins on the ancient kerosene stove where the oven was just a metal box you set over the burners. The camp is gone now, flattened by a huge pine in a severe winter storm. The land has been deeded back to the State of New York on the condition that it be kept 'forever wild.'
Many thanks to those who contributed photos: Big_Red ('Northland'), Blueray98 ('Jersey'), Farmerdill ('Woodard', 'O'Neal'), Gardening_Jim ('Northsky'), claypa (lowbush, highbush fall color), plantaholic186 (dwarf 'Top Hat' fall color). 'Northblue' is courtesy Forestfarm.
Look for the other Blueberry articles in this week's series celebrating National Blueberry Month, including Container-grown Blueberries for the Home Garden by Marna Towne and Easy PVC bird netting frame for your suburban blueberries by Sally Miller
I'm a 'dabble' gardener. Been gardening since I was a child. I will plant anything that will grow for me and some things that won't, indoors or out. Outdoors I have theme gardens: roses, butterfly/hummingbird, heathers/dwarf conifers, a rock garden (in progress) and a new English-style cottage garden with an herb garden at it's 'heart'. Indoors I try to concentrate on orchids, African violets, anything that will flower or has lots of color and unusual houseplants. I try to stay organic and keep chemicals to a bare minimum. My non-gardening interests include quilting, counted cross-stitch and watercolor painting. I am a proud grandma, recently celebrated my 40th anniversary and before my retirement I was a clinical systems analyst (computer geek) for 24 years. | <urn:uuid:65460ca0-ded8-4b83-b2d2-9d453b349f85> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/2524/ | 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 | 0.963367 | 1,614 | 2.296875 | 2 |
Ask a question about 'Capital Press Club'
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The Capital Press Club
was founded in 1944 as an African-American alternative to the US National Press Club, which did not then accept black members.
Past presidents include Wallace Terry
Wallace Houston Terry, II was an African American journalist and oral historian, best known for his book about black soldiers in Vietnam, Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War , the first chapter of which served as a basis for the 1995 crime thriller Dead Presidents.Terry had a wide-ranging... | <urn:uuid:c80e46f5-df0e-487f-95ac-37ebcc27c601> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Capital_Press_Club | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923499 | 125 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Solicitor Dr. Ben Kremer and his firm, Freehills in Australia, have graciously given Groklaw permission to reproduce his recent article, "Open Source Software: What Is It and How Does It Work?" originally published in their newsletter and available on the Internet here. I asked for permission because I find it to be one of the clearest, most understandable articles I've come across yet on the GPL, what it is legally (contract or license), and how it works, and I thought it was important to present it to as wide an audience as possible and to have it in Groklaw's searchable collection. Thank you, Dr. Kremer and Freehills.
Open Source Software: What Is It and How Does It Work?
~ by Dr. Ben Kremer
Open source software is playing an increasingly important role in the marketplace. It is, however, still subject to misunderstanding at both the lay and legal level. This article will attempt to clarify some of the uncertainty by addressing two fundamental issues—what open source software is, and how it works.
What is open source software?
The term 'software' refers to two different, but related, things. One is 'source code', which is a set of human-readable and understandable instructions that comprise the 'recipe' from which an executable program can be made. The other is 'object code', which is the actual executable program—the bundle of 1s and 0s which are fed to a computer's microprocessor to make that computer perform various operations.
For various reasons, software is invariably written as source code. That code cannot itself be executed by a computer, but is 'compiled' to form object code by a specialised program. 1 The process is hard to reverse (a technique called 'decompilation'), as the process of compilation generally strips out things such as comments inserted by the programmers to describe how the program works, and names of variables or subroutines. (This information generally cannot be restored during decompilation, so decompiled source code is often difficult to understand and modify.) Commonly, various functions can be incorporated in source code so that different versions of object code—such as 'demo' programs; program versions with greater or restricted functionality; or programs optimised for different computers or operating systems—can be produced with minimal effort.
The 'closed source' model
Historically, software vendors kept source code to themselves (indeed, invariably protecting it as valuable trade secrets) and sold, or licensed, only the object code versions of programs to their customers. Customers can run those pieces of object code, but cannot view or modify the source code (and hence modify the behaviour of the program) without dealing with the software vendor. Licence terms commonly prohibit customers from decompiling the object code. As a result, they can only use whatever is provided to them, along with any modifications they could prevail upon the software supplier to incorporate. This model is called 'closed source' software, and continues to be used by the majority of commercial software companies.
The 'open source' model
'Open source' software, simply put, is software whose source code is released openly, alongside the object code. Each user thus has access to the original source code (with no need to produce an inferior version by decompilation). The intent is that any user of the software is 'free' to modify, enhance or customise the program's source code, and use it to produce modified object code—ie to produce a customised, updated or improved version of the program. Hence the common description of open source software as 'free software': 'free' is used in the sense of 'free to modify' rather than 'free as in beer', although much open source software is both.
The hardest conceptual problem about open source software is how to ensure people play by the rules. There are many models, but the most common is to require any person who redistributes an open source program (whether in its original form, or with any changes they have made) to also redistribute the accompanying source code. The requirement is necessary to overcome human nature: after all, taking a program, making some changes, and redistributing the modified version while keeping the modified source code to yourself is an intuitively valuable way of creating and preserving a competitive edge over others. Anyone else who wants to replicate your modifications to the code must reduplicate your work themselves. Such a user could thus springboard off the earlier open source program to produce a closed source model for themselves.
The answer is easy, but apparently counterintuitive to many: it's done by copyright law.
Copyright and the GPL
The myth of contract
Most people seem to assume that, if one person (the original producer of some open source software) wants to control or limit another's actions (the subsequent modifier of that software), then there must be some kind of contract between the two. While it might be possible to achieve such protection by contract, it would not work in practice. As a general matter, to be enforceable, a contract must be entered into voluntarily by each party. There is usually no way to force another person into a contract. Thus, if the original producer of open source code made it available to others to access without restriction, there would usually not be—as a practical matter—any way to force that other person into the relevant contract. Even if it were, the transaction costs involved would be significant.
However, software—in both its source and object forms—is a copyright work if certain conditions (such as originality and substantiality) are met. The original producer of open source software will thus own copyright in it. 2 Copyright is a bundle of exclusive rights, including the rights to control the copying and adaptation of the copyright work. The default position is that only the copyright owner may reproduce the work (ie make a more or less exact copy of it, or a substantial part of it), or make an adaptation (ie change it into another equivalent but different form of expression, such as translating it. 3 In the context of computer programs, this includes the sole right to copy the source code, make modifications to it, or compile it to form object code, and the sole right to copy the object code thereby produced.
There is nothing, however, to stop the copyright owner from permitting others to do one or more of those acts. There is also nothing to stop that permission being granted on terms. A grant of permission to a person to do something that that person is otherwise forbidden to do is quite common. In legal terms, that is the precise definition of a licence. 4 Licences can come about by contract, or by oral permission (subject to any applicable statute), and can be simple or convoluted, and narrow or broad, but all share the same basic form: a person who otherwise has the power to exclude another from an act, and who has the power to authorise that other person to do the act, does so.
The power to exclude can come from a number of sources, but the most common is property or statute: the occupier of land can allow another person to come onto that land, but in the absence of such permission could generally sue them for trespass. The owner of a car can authorise another person to use it, when without that permission such use would be a trespass and conversion of the fuel. And a person who holds copyright—which is itself a form of statutory property—can authorise another person to do some, any or all of the various rights which that copyright initially vests exclusively in the owner.
The way open source is usually made legally effective is to make the requirement to disclose the source code of any modification of the original source code a term of the permission to deal with the original—copyrighted—source code. Provided subsequent users adhere to the conditions upon which permission is granted, they are within the scope of the permission, and they cannot be sued for infringing the original user's copyright when they make any copies, or adaptations, of the original source code. Such qualified consent is common: the permission given to enter a person's house to attend a party does not give you the right to live there indefinitely; the permission given to enter a shop does not allow you to remain and start busking; and the permission given to affix a person's trade mark to specified goods does not allow you to affix that mark to any other goods. Stray outside the scope of consent, and you are again subject to the legal regime which gives the owner the right to exclude you.
The GNU public licence
The way this operates for open source software can be clearly seen in the 'GPL'—the 'GNU public licence'—one of the most common licences under which open source software is distributed. 5 In addition to various other requirements, section 3 of the GPL provides:
'You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it, under Section 2) in object code or executable form under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following:
a) Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable source code, which must be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange.' (italics added)
Although paragraphs 3(b) and (c) allow two other means of compliance with the section, the method in paragraph (a) is probably the most common. Its effect is simple: if the original program is released under the GPL, then you may copy and distribute it, or a modified version, without infringing the copyright in that program provided you also distribute the relevant source code. The provision of your source code is integral to your ability to deal with the original source code. If you fail to distribute your source code, you have gone outside the terms of your original permission to deal with the copyright work, and (in the absence of any applicable defence, or other permission to deal with the work) you become liable for infringing the copyright in it.
To some people, this seems to be a novel use of copyright law. It isn't really: replace 'accompany the work with source code' with 'pay the copyright owner $x per copy', and you have something approaching a standard royalty contract. However, the elegant simplicity hides much power: remedies for breach of copyright are often more powerful than remedies for simple breach of contract. There are many subtle areas involved in open source law and the GPL, but the basic point is quite simple: 'it's the copyright, stupid'.
1 Called, strangely enough, a compiler.
2 This article does not discuss the various legal provisions affecting ownership of copyright, such as where an employee creates a copyright work in the course of his employment, or where a work is made 'for hire', or created jointly by several authors.
3 In the context of computer programs, adaptation will likely include re-expressing the work in any other type of code. Compiling source code probably produces an adaptation of that code, rather than reproducing it: see 'Copyright and Computer Programs: Data Access v Powerflex Before the High Court' (1997) 20 Sydney Law Review 296, available online at http://www.law.usyd.edu.au/~slr/v20/n2/bhc_kremer.html.
4 See Federal Commissioner of Taxation v United Aircraft Corporation (1943) 68 CLR 525 at 533: 'A licence provides an excuse for an act which would otherwise be unlawful as, for example, an entry upon a person's land, or the infringement of a patent or copyright. It is an authority to do something which would otherwise be wrongful or illegal or inoperative.'
5 Accessible at www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html. In a somewhat geeky in-joke, GNU itself stands for 'GNU's Not Unix', which is a recursively defined acronym where G actually stands for 'GNU'. Recursion (where a subroutine invokes itself) is a fairly commonplace feature of computer code, and non-geeks are advised simply to smile, back away, and leave such jokes alone.
This article is not intended to be nor should it be relied upon as a substitute for legal or other professional advice.
Copyright © 2004 Dr. Ben Kremer | <urn:uuid:d00d6b08-61ec-468f-b2a1-a2d9170f1ffe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.groklaw.net/articlebasic.php?story=2004040421042728 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936833 | 2,537 | 3.3125 | 3 |
Exercise videos and equipment often promise to target the oblique abdominal muscles. There are actually two categories of these muscles which wrap around the sides of the abdomen: internal and external. The obliques not only play an important role in physical fitness; they also help to support the upper body and maintain posture.
The external oblique is the largest abdominal muscle and is situated to the side and front of the stomach close to the skin's surface. The muscle extends from the lowest rib down to the upper portion of the hips. In most people, the external oblique is not visible because this area tends to be covered with fat. However, through extensive fat loss and strength training, the lines of the external oblique may become visible in some people.
The internal oblique muscle is located directly below the external oblique and immediately above the transverse abdominal muscle. Because this muscle is located underneath the external oblique muscle, it is not visible, even with rigorous training. However, the strength of the internal oblique may affect the strength of the muscles surrounding it.
Purpose of Obliques
The external oblique muscle pulls the chest downward and aids in the movement of the spine. The internal oblique acts on the diaphragm during exhalation and aids in the rotation of the trunk. Both muscles can affect posture and can be used to aid in lifting and bending.
The external oblique plays a role in the development of the much-coveted "six-pack abs." To work this muscle, hold a small 2- to 5-pound weight or a ball. With your feet slightly more than shoulder-width apart, squat while holding the weight to one side. Then gradually stand up straight, moving the weight to the opposite side as you stand. Repeat on the other side. Lie on your side with your feet touching and extended straight out. Cross your arms over your chest, then gradually flex your obliques to raise your top elbow toward your top hip. Lower yourself back to the ground and repeat on the other side. | <urn:uuid:067e59e8-11aa-4b7e-8b29-d0c9b7f3b29b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://healthyliving.azcentral.com/definition-oblique-abdominals-4791.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918448 | 417 | 2.90625 | 3 |
October 23, 2011
Khan Academy is the free online "for dummies" resource for learning
Would you recommend any of these books to someone taking a physics class?
If someone was taking a physics class and told you they were using one of those books as a supplement, would you tell them not to?
I don't think there is a right or wrong answer to either one of those questions, but I do have my own opinions. :-)
I think, in general, the condensed review-guide style or "for dummies" type books are not particularly great resources for students in my classes to turn to. I would not recommend them, if asked by a student, but if a student said they had picked one up and was trying to use it to help study, I wouldn't necessarily discourage that, either. I would encourage that student (and ALL my students) to focus on the material and concepts we are engaged with in class, but if another books helps facilitate that, maybe that is okay.
The warning that I would give my students is that I cannot possibly review all the material out there to know the quality of that particular book. I wouldn't know if it has any errors or misconceptions presented in it. I also have a bit of trouble knowing whether or not to trust the author without reading the book and evaluating it myself. From the four books shown above, I've only ever heard of one of the co-authors: Eugene Hecht, who has written an optics textbook that I have used in teaching. Finding and verifying the credentials of the other authors is difficult or impossible in many cases.
I go to bookstores frequently, and I have no doubt that any of these books are going away anytime soon. A few new ones trickle out every year or so and eventually old ones go out of print.
If someone was to decide to write a new physics study guide, that wouldn't be a big deal. But what if that person decided to give it away for free on the internet. Would that be a big deal? Would you point your students to that resource? (Maybe you would. Maybe you wouldn't. Again, there is no wrong answer to that question.)
Of course, you can find study guides or collections of notes all over the web. Some are great, some are not so great.
It should be no big deal if someone posts a new resource online. Yet, there is no denying that the Khan Academy has got the attention of teachers, administrators, school boards, foundations and policy makers who are all concerned with the future of education.
My question is WHY are so many people excited about the Khan Academy when the quality of the product is no better than the "for dummies" series of books, and in some cases, isn't even as good as those?
Posted by Andrew at 5:28 PM | <urn:uuid:b1d95d51-bc0c-4de1-90b4-1dac40548973> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.drewsday.com/2011/10/khan-academy-is-free-online-for-dummies.html?showComment=1319413074619 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981729 | 581 | 2.46875 | 2 |
TEDxHarlem Creates Waves in Harlem
After a controversial article appeared on website, DNAinfo accusing the TEDxHarlem Conference of being “elitist,” organizers quickly scrambled to move the venue from the Apollo Theater to Riverside Church and lowered the admission cost from $100 to $20 for general admission and $100 for VIP which includes a luncheon.
Critics have charged the organizers with everything from overpricing event to the lack of Latino representation at the conference.
Topics of TEDxHarlem “Creating Waves,” include:
Movement #1: The Global Future: Topics that will impact your world tomorrow
Movement #2: The Application of Ideas: Ideas in motion
Movement #3: Innovation and Triumph: How we did it
Movement #4: Actionable Moments: The challenge. The call to action.
Throughout the day, approximately 20 speakers, including Chef Marcus Samuelsson, Thelma Golden of Harlem Studio Museum, Braddock, Pennsylvania Mayor John Fetterman, and Bina48, the most advanced humanoid robot, will facilitate short talks, demonstrations and performances on an array of subjects. Topics include health and wellness, civic engagement, science, technology, engineering and math (S.T.E.M.) and mobility and connectivity. You can see a full list of speakers and performers on the TEDxHarlem website.
TEDxHarlem will run from 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM and there will be livestream webcast available at www.livestream.com/tedx.
The event is open to the public and tickets can be purchased on Eventbrite.
What do you think about the changes made by the organizers? Leave your comments below. | <urn:uuid:d3bf90ef-25c9-4fa9-a520-087a78371e9b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://uptownflavor.com/2012/03/26/tedxharlem-makes-waves-in-harlem/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922755 | 358 | 1.5 | 2 |
The Last $1.2 Billionby David Kallick
International attention has focused on the dramatic architectural plans for the World Trade Center site, and the unprecedented outpouring of public desire to be involved in key decisions. But, until now, there has not been much focus on the funds allocated by Congress to revitalize the New York economy.
In the months after the terrorist attacks, Congress and the Bush administration gave $21.5 billion in aid to New York. It was a good deal less than we lost. It did not include, for example, compensation for the lost tax revenue, a standard part of federal relief in hurricanes or floods, which in New York would have amounted to $8.8 billion.
But $2.7 billion of the money came in the form of cash that can be used for virtually any purpose in revitalizing Lower Manhattan. The first $1.5 billion was spent primarily on grants to attract and retain businesses and residents, as well as business recovery grants.
Today, $1.2 billion in federal funds remains.
The chance to figure out how to spend this money brought 150 regular New Yorkers together last week, at a forum sponsored by the Fiscal Policy Institute and Regional Plan Association. They debated a range of ideas about where the money might go. There is widespread concern, though, that many of these ideas may not get the attention they deserve. When it comes down to it, the only vote that counts is that of Governor George Pataki.
The governor has been evasive in recent months, but last August, the Daily News reported that the governor's vote was as good as cast: "The only significant pot of flexible federal aid now available is $1.2 billion held by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. Gov. Pataki has vowed to use all of it for a rail link to Kennedy Airport."
The public sees it differently. There are several alternatives that it prefers to the rail link:
Community Services and Facilities: include investments in parks, streetscape improvements, daycare facilities, libraries, health screening, and "Liberty Jobs" that would put people to work right away, at the same time as providing needed services.
Housing: Investments in housing could include building new, mixed-income housing, making lower Manhattan affordable to a range of New Yorkers; and preserving existing affordable housing, to prevent current residents from being priced out of the neighborhood.
Local Economic Development: Efforts could include providing affordable space to start-ups and small businesses, subsidizing wages, job training and career development, English classes, special events or marketing campaigns to attract visitors to the neighborhoods, and work with business, labor and government representatives to focus on entire business sectors, instead of focusing assistance at dealmaking with individual businesses."
Arts & Culture: Initiatives could include the financing of the much-discussed cultural buildings that have been proposed for the World Trade Center site, community arts institutions in other areas of Lower Manhattan (such as a Children's Theater or a Chinatown cultural & community center), a "NYC WPA for artists" to provide direct employment in the arts, or grants to commission artworks for historical groups, schools, libraries, or other downtown institutions.
MAKING THE CHOICE
Participants at last week's forum heard from an array of experts and community members presenting options about where the money might go and how much it would buy in each category of spending (pdf format). They were then given 12 gold coins, each representing $100 million, and asked to vote with their pocketbooks for how they think the money should be spent.
The clear consensus of the evening was that a tunnel could suck all the money away from other priorities and still be far from having a viable financing plan. This is consistent with public opinion as expressed in many different ways -- a poll of downtown residents released last week , a resolution passed last summer by Community Board 1, the public input at Listening to the City (pdf format), Imagine New York (in pdf format), , and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's own neighborhood outreach meetings (pdf format) from the summer of 2003.
Not everyone who opposes the use of this money for the tunnel is against the project itself, especially if it can be done in a way that adds subway service in Brooklyn and Queens, rather than taking away from it. "The rail link can be a very important project for the city and region if it is done properly and serves a variety of markets," Jeffrey M. Zupan, Senior Fellow for Transportation at the Regional Plan Association and one of the city's foremost experts on the subject, said at Tuesday's meeting. "What's becoming clear, though, is that the community development funds may not be an appropriate funding source for the project."
Still, when the voting was in, the JFK link ranked last in order of importance. The participants gave $468 million to mixed-income housing, $276 million to local economic development, $204 million to community services and facilities, and $180 to arts and culture.
They wanted to give only $72 million to connect JFK and the Long Island Rail Road to lower Manhattan. | <urn:uuid:27848184-7dbb-4e27-8106-e5e5cec70152> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gothamgazette.com/rebuilding_nyc/features/flexiblefunds.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961963 | 1,043 | 1.648438 | 2 |
This too shall pass
January 2, 2013By Nicole Juday
The beginning of the calendar year coincides with the beginning of another annual cycle of renewed growth in the natural world. Winter has decided to pay at least a brief visit to Philadelphia, but even if the weather gets colder and grayer for the next two months, it will not be able to stop the progression of new life outside. Forsythia buds are swelling along the length of the plants' messy, whippy branches, and dogwood buds are prominent at the tips of the twigs. When I dragged out the Christmas tree I noticed that the beech tree in the front yard is covered with pale frosted brown cigar-shaped buds that will open in April. Even under a blanket of rotting snow, the sturdy stem of the hellebore holds the downward-facing blossom aloft like an umbrella. Spring will come.
2012 was a annus horribilis to go in the record books for a large number of people I know, myself included. Job losses, illness, broken relationships, scary diagnoses. A year of sadness, one friend described it.
There may still be several months of darkness ahead, but despite what is in our hearts, outside each day brings a few more moments of light as the earth tilts towards the sun every so slightly more.
If I kneel down and push away the fallen leaves I can see the tiny ruby blossoms of hardy cyclamen. They'll be followed by the strange, fragrant shrub Chimonanthus in a few weeks, then witch hazels, ornamental quince, crocus, spring-blooming camellias, and finally the early daffodils. However inconspicuous, starting now there should be something blooming in my garden until next winter.
I will be looking for these signs of beauty and life. One of the rewards of gardening is the reminder that we, and our problems are small. It's a feeling of insignificance, but in a good way. Greater forces are at play in the world, and walking through a garden, even in January, we observe that this too shall pass. | <urn:uuid:b6b8b23b-8865-40f7-81b3-92d5d2394172> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/blogs/ground-level/item/49053 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941622 | 442 | 1.5625 | 2 |
So many regrettable things stem from the 1963 day when an ICI physicist with no railway expertise presented his report
In a pub in Hendon a man asked me to name the individual who had done most to “shape modern Britain”. No lowbrow saloon chat in London NW4! I think he was expecting me to plump for Lord Reith, creator of the BBC, or Clement Attlee, architect of the welfare state, or Winston Churchill, who inspired us to fight fascism, or Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the internet, or Mrs Thatcher, scourge of the unions.
Instead I replied: “Richard Beeching”. My friend thought I was mad. No change there. But 50 years to the week after the Beeching plan was revealed, | <urn:uuid:8dc1edfc-c189-4080-a9b8-756a0591f076> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/columnists/richardmorrison/article3713860.ece | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95374 | 163 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Family relationships etc.
27.—(1) Nothing in this Act permits a decision on any of the following matters to be made on behalf of a person-
- (a) consenting to marriage or a civil partnership,
- (b) consenting to have sexual relations,
- (c) consenting to a decree of divorce being granted on the basis of two years' separation,
- (d) consenting to a dissolution order being made in relation to a civil partnership on the basis of two years' separation,
- (e) consenting to a child's being placed for adoption by an adoption agency,
- (f) consenting to the making of an adoption order,
- (g) discharging parental responsibilities in matters not relating to a child's property,
- (h) giving a consent under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 (c. 37) [,
- (i) giving a consent under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008.]
(2) "Adoption order" means-
- (a) an adoption order within the meaning of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 (c. 38) (including a future adoption order), and
- (b) an order under section 84 of that Act (parental responsibility prior to adoption abroad). | <urn:uuid:3a4eabd5-d9c9-461a-be40-023e5da42c94> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mentalhealthlaw.co.uk/MCA_2005_s27 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910667 | 278 | 1.632813 | 2 |
On Nov. 17, three weeks after a large sinkhole formed on the property, Parrish Place commercial complex at the intersection of Highway 17 and Prince Street in Georgetown collapsed.
For nearly eight months the unusable building stood as owner Tony Jordan waited to see if the city, the state or anyone would claim responsibility for the destroyed building he feels was caused by the sinkholes.
The craters started forming in that block of the city shortly after water was removed from underground at a rate of 60,000 gallons per hour for weeks.
The project to help the city with its flooding problems is being conducted by the South Carolina Department of Transportation.
The work is being spearheaded by Davis and Floyd Engineering.
Jordan said he has “heard nothing” from the city or any other entity associated with the drainage project since a meeting was held with property owners in late November.
Jordan said he got tired of waiting for whoever is responsible to take care of removing the building, so he decided it was time to do it himself.
Although he does have some insurance that is helping with the demolition costs, it is still costing him “thousands and thousands” of dollars out of his pocket to do with no guarantee he will ever recoup his losses.
“It is just time to try to get this behind us and move forward,” Jordan said Thursday as he watched crews tear down the building that has been part of the city’s landscape since the 1950s. “It’s important to do this to move on with our lives.”
Jordan said since no one is claiming responsibility for the damage, it’s likely the only way he will have a chance to recover his losses is through litigation, although no lawsuits have yet been filed.
“It would be good for folks who are responsible to come forward and take care of this problem,” Jordan said. “No one has talked to us. We are on our own to prove what happened.”
As a way to save some money, all the metal from the building is being placed in piles and will be sold for recycling. This will also help Jordan reduce his costs for taking debris to the county landfill.
He said S&W Concrete has agreed to take the concrete from the site so that will not have to be taken to the landfill.
Jordan said it will take about a week to clear the site and he does not know what will happen to the property in the future.
He said so far, it has not been declared safe to use.
Jordan also owns other commercial buildings in the same block. One of the buildings — before the sinkholes formed — was the home of his Allstate Insurance Agency.
That building now has severe cracks and has been deemed unsafe, so it cannot be used.
The insurance agency moved to one of Jordan’s neighboring buildings but his UPS Store, which was one of the businesses in Parrish Place, has been closed since the building collapsed.
That is expected to change in the next month or two when the UPS Store reopens at a new location on Highmarket Street behind McDonalds.
Jordan said he has also been told the dewatering process — which must take place in order to complete the drainage project — is set to resume soon.
State officials say they have put safeguards in place to make sure the water removal process does not cause any additional damage.
By Scott Harper
Leave a Response
Notice about comments:
The National Transportation Safety Board is recommending lowering the legal blood alcohol content limit for drivers from .08 percent to .05 percent. They say it will decrease the number of traffic fatalities. Do you agree with this idea? | <urn:uuid:3792d30a-925d-4370-941c-99d19f696fab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gtowntimes.com/story/Parrish-Place-demolished2012-08-03T05-44-14 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977183 | 759 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Dear Fellow Explorers,
Have you ever wondered what it was like to mush a team of Polar Huskies across the frozen tundra? Or sleep in a tent at forty below? How about endure an arctic blizzard with gale force winds? Well now is your chance. Bundle up because you are about to join the Polar Huskies and NOMADS team members for another exciting and educational journey.
Looking back over our past ten years of arctic exploration, we are left with many wonderful memories. Snowy and frozen icescapes have become familiar. Cold and wind are now embraced rather than endured. The land and wildlife of these remote regions create a strong sense of place in our minds and in our hearts. We are at home here... its a tough job, but someone has to do it.
One could easily assume that our expeditions have kept us isolated and separated from the rest of the world. However, NOMADS Online Classroom Expeditions have connected us and our participating schools and students with the rest of the world. The internet and other interactive technologies have enabled us to foster cultural understanding, instill a sense of environmental responsibility, and create adventurous spirits.
This year, Arctic Transect 2004 features many interactive components. The ten week educational adventure integrates the expedition website with the Curriculum & Activity Guide. Online chats, collaboration forums, questions for the team, weekly quizzes and much more provide a seamless format to integrate technology into your classroom. Explore the wildness of northern Ontario on an incredible journey filled with unique learning opportunities. With the Polar Huskies as your guide, you will investigate the history, people, culture, geography, climate, ecology, politics, legends and language of this remote region.
Welcome to NOMADS Online Classroom Expedition: Arctic Transect 2004. The Polar Huskies are waiting for you!
Paul Pregont and Mille Porsild
Trek to the Top | <urn:uuid:cdcf05c9-ef56-4277-b2e8-a125b6ba7b51> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://polarhusky.com/2004/public/welcomeletter.asp?menuID=0 | 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 | 0.926737 | 397 | 2 | 2 |
Library: Sacred Texts
The Three Statements Pointing To Absolute Awareness
Intelligence3 is free from existence, and yet the diversity of auto-appearances ceaselessly arise. Thus, all of phenomena4 is a manifestation of the Pure Field of Dharmakaya, simultaneously becoming liberated in its own nature. Thus:
The nature of mind10 from the beginning, is the Buddha-Absolute.11 Mind-in-itself, having neither origin nor end, is empty like space. Having completely realized the meaning of the nonduality12 of all phenomena: to abide thus, without seeking, this is the meditation.
1 sraddha, faith, confidence
2 svasamvedana, Tib.: rang-rig
3 vidya, (Tib.: rigs-pa), intelligence, nondual awareness. This Intelligence is self-reflexively aware. Self-reflexive awareness is what is known as Buddha or "Absolute Intelligence". The worldly Mind (citta, Tib.: sems) or consciousness, on the other hand, is always trapped in a dichotomy, divisible into a "knower" and what is "known", where knower and known are two distinct, separate things.
4 sarvadharma, Tib.: chos-thams-cad, all the elements making up the whole of Existence.
5 aparoksa, direct, immediate. Direct means "in the now", or in the immediate moment – i.e., not gradual. For example, Aparoksanubhuti means "direct experience" [of the Truth]. Yogacara is understood as a path of "direct experience" acquired through meditation, in contrast to those philosophical schools of Buddhism that rest on speculative reasoning or doctrine.
6 upanayam (Tib.: sprad), to introduce, to meet; upanayam can also imply "initiation" (diksha), to be initiated into a specific knowledge or way of realization. Tibetan "sprad-pa" means to be introduced to a someone or something or (in this case) to a specific understanding. The teachings of Dzog-chen are said to "introduce" one to the fact that one’s own mind is the Buddha. This is a new way of viewing the mind.
The three statements or sentences, as they appear in Tibetan, are as follows: (1) Ngo-rang thog-tu sprad. (2) Thag gCig thog-tu bcad. (3) gDeng grol thog-tu bca’. Through these statements one is (1) introduced to the teaching that one’s own ordinary mind is not other than the Buddha-Absolute itself; (2) that one should directly recognize this fact while examining the mind in meditation, with the result (3) that then, by simply holding on to that "recognition" as the method of meditation, Liberation will itself unfold on its own. These three pithy statements represent the whole doctrine and practice of Dzogchen. The first statement clearly outlines the ground (prakriti), the second the path (marga), and the third reveals the result or fruit (phala).
7 Tib.: Ngo-rang, self-essence, one’s own essence or one’s true self-nature.
8 pratyabhijna, recognition. After having been "introduced" to the fact that one's own ordinary mind is indeed the absolute Buddha, the supreme luminous Reality, then it is necessary for the seeker to accept and "directly recognize" that fact, while sitting in meditation. This means to look at one's own mind and "recognize" that no Buddha exists elsewhere, other than in the mind itself. This carries the same implication as in later Kashmir Saivism, which also teaches what is known as the "doctrine of recognition", namely the direct recognition that oneself is not other than Siva (God), the Absolute itself.
9 Here continuation means to sustain the recognition of the truth that one's own ordinary mind is innately absolute Intelligence (Skt: vidya, Tib.: rigs-pa), having faith (or confidence) that Liberation will unfold on its own. The latter is called self-liberation, or auto-liberation. It means that it liberates itself, since oneself (i.e., the ego) cannot bring about liberation. This is the essence of Mahamudra meditation, where no "effort" is made other than to realize the intrinsic nature of mind. What Pramodavajra is saying, is that one must simply sustain direct recognition that mind, in and of itself (or in other words, in its own essence), is Buddha.
10 citta, mind or consciousness. Mind takes three forms: 1. alaya-vijnana, the universal consciousness; 2. klista-manas, the unconsciousness; 3. visaya-vijnana, individual sense-consciousness. In Dzogchen texts, the mind, a "worldly" phenomena, is contrasted to Intelligence (vidya), which is unworldly or free of existence. Intelligence is what the mind is in and of itself, distinct from the "function" of mind-as-consciousness in the world.
11 buddha, from the root "buddh", to know, and "dha", absolute, infinite.
12 adwaita, literally "not-two". To recognize the nonduality of all phenomena is to appreciate the absolute unity of the whole of reality. Nonduality means that Samsara (the worldly) and Nirvana (the transcendental) are not separate. This great wholeness or totality is what is meant by the very term Dzogchen (mahasamdhi).
Kagyu Tradition -
Dharma Fellowship -
Dharma House -
NYC Center -
© Copyright Dharma Fellowship, 2005-2013. | <urn:uuid:0d39093d-a935-4e4a-821c-67902e95995e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dharmafellowship.org/library/texts/three-statements.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917812 | 1,254 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Materials Science and Engineering News
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
New synthetic nanoparticle could disinfect, depollute, and desalinate contaminated water and then get removed magnetically.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
The School of Engineering China programs aim to enhance engineering education by providing undergraduate, co-term, master's, and PhD students with an opportunity to learn about China and to gain meaningful volunteer experience in a culturally diverse and international environment.
Monday, May 6, 2013
The new material's artificial "atoms" are designed to work with a broad range of light frequencies. With adjustments, the researchers believe it could lead to perfect microscope lenses or invisibility cloaks.
Friday, April 26, 2013
Two faculty members at the School of Engineering join one of the country's oldest and most prestigious honorary learned societies.
Friday, April 26, 2013
Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University have designed a low-cost, long-life battery that could enable solar and wind energy to become major suppliers to the electrical grid.
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
EdX will be available as an open source learning platform on June 1. In support of that move, Stanford will integrate features of its existing Class2Go open source online learning platform into the edX platform.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Scientists working at the Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences (SIMES) have improved an innovative solar-energy device to be about 100 times more efficient than its previous design in converting the sun's light and heat into electricity.
Monday, February 4, 2013
Researcher and team are the first to measure all of the elastic properties of an intact spider's web, drawing a remarkable picture of the behavior of one of nature’s most intriguing structures. The work could lead to new “bio-inspired” materials that improve upon nature.
Monday, January 7, 2013
Letter from the Dean of Stanford Engineering.
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
A microscale technique known as optical trapping uses beams of light as tweezers to hold and manipulate tiny particles. Stanford researchers have found a new way to trap particles smaller than 10 nanometers - and potentially down to just a few atoms in size – which until now have escaped light’s grasp.
Monday, December 3, 2012
In an interview on the day of his induction as a Stanford Engineering Hero, Craig Barrett, a former professor in the School of Engineering who rose to be CEO/Chairman of Intel, reminisced about his career, the central role of research universities in America’s economic past and future, and how to remain competitive going forward.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) have elected Professor Zhenan Bao as a Fellow. Bao is one of just six Stanford scholars named to AAAS this year.
Friday, November 9, 2012
Award honors staff members who have made outstanding contributions to Stanford's research mission.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Researchers in Stanford’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering are using models derived in mechanical labs to look closer at how ultraviolet radiation changes the protective functions of human skin.
Friday, September 28, 2012
The two newest classes, "Introduction to Computer Networks," and “Solar Cells, Fuel Cells and Batteries,” offer participants the chance to learn from some of Stanford's most accomplished faculty.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering Jennifer Dionne discusses how engineers are controlling light at the nanoscale to treat cancer, create more efficient solar cells, develop a real-life cloak of invisibility and more.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
William Chueh is recognized for his novel approach to solar fuel production.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
The team leading Stanford's online education initiative announces seed grants to faculty members across campus for course development. "It's been a grassroots phenomenon, which really reflects Stanford's tradition of innovation and creativity," said John Mitchell, professor of computer science and President John Hennessy's special assistant for educational technology.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
The Jell-O-like material, from the labs of Stanford professors Yi Cui and Zhenan Bao, may have applications in areas as widespread as energy storage, medical sensors and biofuel cells.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Stanford’s shared nanotechnology facilities offer state-of-the-art scientific instruments and trained staff that would be too costly for any single researcher to acquire.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
A team of engineers at Stanford and the University of Pennsylvania has for the first time used “plasmonic cloaking” to create a device that can see without being seen – an invisible machine that detects light. It is the first example of what the researchers describe as a new class of devices that controls the flow of light at the nanoscale to produce both optical and electronic functions.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
By depositing atoms on one side of a grid of the “miracle material” graphene, researchers at Stanford have engineered piezoelectricity into a nanoscale material for the first time.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Engineers at Stanford have created photovoltaic nanoshells that harness a peculiar physical phenomenon to better trap light in the solar materials. The results could dramatically improve their efficiency. | <urn:uuid:5f092cbf-6ffa-4636-80b3-5166f05363db> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://engineering.stanford.edu/about/news/department/10 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942982 | 1,144 | 2.25 | 2 |
The U.S. military has introduced a number of measures aimed at reducing binge drinking, NBC News reports. Service members and addiction specialists say alcohol abuse in the military is widespread.
Category results for "Military"
Male veterans with a history of heavy alcohol use are more likely than civilians to seek treatment. They are also more likely to report better overall health, and to be less depressed, according to a study presented at the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting.
Veterans who smoke while trying to stop drinking have a more difficult time becoming sober than their peers who don’t smoke, a new study concludes.
Marines cited for drunk driving and other drinking-related incidents will be required to participate in a new program that focuses on early intervention, according to the Marine Corps Times.
For more than one-third of Texas’ Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who died after leaving the military, the cause was a drug overdose, a deadly combination of drugs, or suicide, according to an investigation by the Austin American-Statesman.
Veterans struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse face an increased risk of death, a new study suggests.
Substance abuse among members of the U.S. military and their families has become a public health crisis, according to a new report. The Defense Department’s approaches to preventing and treating substance abuse are outdated, the report states.
The Naval Academy is using Breathalyzer tests to detect alcohol use in its students, known as midshipmen, the Marine Corps Times reports.
A new study shows people who are treated for both post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance abuse have improved PTSD symptoms, without an increase in severity of substance dependence.
More than 20,000 U.S. veterans have left military service during the past four years with an other-than-honorable discharge, which can restrict their disability and veterans health care benefits, The Seattle Times reports. Many of these men and women are struggling with drug abuse and/or post-traumatic stress disorder. | <urn:uuid:6d8d1033-c206-4b17-afe1-86e5f0ad0074> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.drugfree.org/join-together/military/page/2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963976 | 419 | 2.265625 | 2 |
Accountability is the “willingness to accept responsibility for one’s actions”. In my active addiction, not only did I lack accountability, I sought at any and all costs to avoid it. I did not want to be held accountable for my whereabouts on any given day, for what lies I told to cover my tracks and most certainly not for my behaviors. Accountability implies a level of acceptance with regards to consequences and I spent a tremendous amount of time and effort to evade the consequences and repercussions that resulted from my irresponsible and self-centered lifestyle.
Adopting accountability is a learning process for any recovering addict. It comes slowly because for so long, it was often much simpler to put the blame others or the circumstances and situations. Early in my recovery, as I began to learn and grow, I became able to admit my wrongs or to having had made a mistake but my tendencies to rationalization or justify outside events or other people’s behaviors as a cause still remained. It took a very long time before my pride would allow me to simply state “I was mistaken, I will do better next time and please accept my apology.”
Working at TSN, maintaining personal and professional accountability is absolutely critical. Every call I receive represents a prospective patient who is looking for help. Behind every patient is a concerned and hurting family and many times, other interested and caring healthcare professionals, employers, etc. There is a great deal of trust placed in my hands to be helpful and effective, to educate along the way and to treat everyone I come in contact with, no matter how difficult or abrasive, with patience, respect and above all dignity.
At TSN, we pride ourselves on our accountability. We take it upon ourselves to be responsible to ensure the suffering addict or alcoholic gets the appropriate level of care from that initial call, to being educated on both their disease and the possible placement options, to their stay in one of our facilities and all the way through an effective aftercare program and case management. When mistakes do happen, we take measures to remedy it immediately, as individuals and as a company. In this field, I find there is no other way to operate – the life of the suffering addict or alcoholic is simply too valuable to be jeopardized by a lack of accountability. | <urn:uuid:a6679b04-6fb7-4e24-804a-1d97c9c58f10> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.treatmentsolutions.com/accountability/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973528 | 469 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Frrom: Makani Themba-Nixon, Borders and Bridges: African Americans, Immigration and Racial Justice.
It's impossible to view black sentiment on immigration, or the possibilities for coalition building, as a monolith. Today, there are millions of immigrants in the US of African descent. One in ten foreign born US residents are from the Caribbean. One in twenty hail directly from the African continent. And for African Americans, whose forced migration began with the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, the history includes both conflict and collaboration on immigration issues.
Why would such "natural" allies have such difficulty coming together? And more importantly, what are the opportunities for building lasting alliances grounded in mutual interest and collective vision?
Black anti-immigrant activism dates as far back as the 19th century with the efforts of black trade unions to exclude Chinese laborers from jobs and trade organizations. More recent battles between established black leadership working (often unethically) to hold onto power, and leadership emerging from new immigrant communities seeking fair representation and access, have grown self-defeating at best -- violent at worst. And although blacks with anti-immigrant sentiment are among the minority, these tensions belie significant fear of real or perceived scarcity, job displacement, loss of political power and plain old bigotry. With white dominance and power sadly a given, it's a classic fight for the privilege of being "number two".
Nineteenth century arsons and murders in black communities by Irish immigrants and more recent clashes between African Americans and immigrants from Southeast Asia are examples from the equally long history of spurning and violence toward blacks by "non-black" immigrant groups. As the hard won gains of African Americans are fragile and hotly contested, there is animosity when immigrants arriving with relatively more capital, more acceptance and more privilege seem to "pass them by". This animosity is exacerbated when groups that avoid working with blacks leverage the language, imagery and tactics of the black civil rights movement to advance their struggles.
Scholars like UC Berkeley's Ian Haney-Lopez assert that one barrier to coalition building is that we black folk focus too much on race. If African Americans insist on building coalitions based on racial solidarity, says Haney-Lopez, they will miss out. In this analysis, racism only occurs between blacks and whites. Hence, the preference by some immigrant organizations for the term "xenophobia" to name and make distinctive the character of oppression that happens to them.
Xenophobia literally means fear of dark or darker people. Given the fact that race is a social construction (that is who we are racially is defined more so by socioeconomic and political convention than biology), assertions of xenophobia assume that the problems and solutions are located outside of an analysis of racism and white privilege, and that 'xenophobic oppression' is a result of one's status as a darker version of the same "race" or social designation as whites.
There are obvious problems with attempting to distinguish xenophobia from racism. The point is that the distinction connotes separation from the meaning and people associated with racism in order to cling to a slim thread of privilege. The politics underpinning this kind of separation are much like those of the "colored" category under apartheid South Africa. To paraphrase philosopher Iris Young, it is the battle over who will be exploited and who will be marginalized.
The confluence of these forces and the largely white-controlled, dehumanizing public context makes coalition building a challenge. Yet, there's hope. Groups are bucking traditional thinking and making a difference. Groups like CAUSA in Oregon and the Committee Against Anti Asian Violence (CAAAV) in New York have been working consciously to build principled alliances that include African Americans.
These initiatives employ a comprehensive framework for understanding common challenges and varied nuances of the intersections race, class, gender, sexual orientation, globalization and other forces. Third World Within, a New York based coalition that includes Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, New York City (an African American led group) and the Audre Lorde Project (a multiracial organization) and CAAAV are one example. Other multicultural organizing groups like Oakland California's PUEBLO and its "mother" organization the Center for Third World Organizing (CTWO) create space for deeper discussion and work that brings together African Americans, non-black immigrants, and others in lasting coalitions.
This work is part of a tradition of progressive, crosscutting organizing that builds bridges that groups can walk across together. They avoid "number two-ism" and challenge the assumptions that make it possible to have a "number one" -- assumptions around us and within us. They also have another important thing in common: a broad but focused agenda of mutual interest and dreaming.
In the final analysis, it will not be an immigrant movement or a black liberation movement that will forge the necessary bridges. It will be a broader movement that has in sharp focus how these and other issues of human dignity and justice relate and fortify one another.
Makani Themba-Nixon is author of Making Policy Making Change, available on Chardon Press | <urn:uuid:b9652c3c-7bba-48ba-b451-c3059a474e74> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://racism.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=591:immigr06-1&catid=23&Itemid=145 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947359 | 1,038 | 3.34375 | 3 |
Health insurance is insurance against expenses incurred from health care. In the United States, health insurance is a service provided by private companies, but in many countries (including Canada), health insurance is partially or completely funded and administered by the government.
In the United States
In the United States, health insurance is a service provided by private companies. Generally, businesses in the United States negotiate health insurance services for their employees, who then pay for a portion their health insurance with an automatic deduction from their paychecks, although some people buy health insurance services on their own.
There are two types of payments for insurance services under the American model. The periodic payment, paid in order to maintain health insurance coverage, is called the premium. When a worker's insurance pays a medical expense, a certain fixed amount of the expense is paid by the worker. This payment is called the deductible. Some insurance policies require a copayment, which is a minimum amount that must be paid by the patient at each doctor's visit.
While most Americans get health insurance through a private company, the United States federal government does provide insurance to certain US citizens. Impoverished people may be eligible for Medicaid, which is a program funded by the federal government and administered by the states, and elderly and disabled people are eligible for Medicare, which is administered and funded by the federal government. Both involve contracts with private insurance companies to actually administer the plans.
Some health care is provided outside the context of insurance. For example, some people join health maintenance organizations (HMO) instead of purchasing insurance. An HMO collects premiums in exchange for providing health care services directly. If there is health care that the HMO cannot provide itself, it will refer the patient to other organizations and will pay those organizations as if it were an insurance company. Some government agencies, such as the Department of Veterans Affairs operate as if they were HMOs.
Until the passage of the Affordable Care Act, United States health insurance companies sought to limit their financial risk in at least two ways. First, they would not cover any medical condition that a patient had before the policy started ("a pre-existing condition.") Second, some policies had a lifetime cap that limited the total amount that would be paid out during any patient's lifetime. So, if a patient had a very expensive illness, insurance benefits could stop long before the patient died. The ACA outlawed both of these limits.
In the United States, insurance companies are regulated by each state. So, an insurance company must get permission to operate state-by-state. Customers are not free to purchase insurance from out-of-state insurance companies, unless that company has received permission to sell insurance in the customer's state. As a result, some states have only one or two companies offering health insurance to its residents.
Canada has a "single payer plan." Although doctors work independently and control the treatment that their patients receive, all payments for health care services go through the government. The government operates like an insurance company and collects premiums from all citizens (as a special health care tax). Because the government dictates what it will pay for a particular service, overall health care costs do not grow unexpectedly. However, the government is slow to adopt experimental health procedures, and there may be long waits for certain specialized services. Advocates of the Canadian system claim that Canada spends less on administrative and overhead costs than does the United States health insurance system. Advocates of the Canadian system emphasize that it never second-guesses a doctor's determination that something is medically necessary. In contrast, many U.S, insurance companies refuse to pay for tests and services that were ordered by a doctor because the insurance company believes they were unnecessary.
In Canada, health care is the responsibility of each provincial government. (However, the federal government is responsible for services provided to aboriginal peoples covered by treaties, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the armed forces, and members of parliament.) This insurance is tax-funded out of general government revenues, although British Columbia and Ontario levy a mandatory premium with flat rates for individuals and families to generate additional revenues (not an income tax). Private health insurance is allowed, but in six provincials only for services that the public health plans do not cover, for example, semi-private or private rooms in hospitals and prescription drug plans. All Canadians are free to use private insurance for elective medical services such as laser vision correction surgery, cosmetic surgery, and other non-basic medical procedures. | <urn:uuid:eee13781-7f17-4dbc-a2aa-e78609af630c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.conservapedia.com/Health_insurance | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971098 | 905 | 3.296875 | 3 |
It’s strange, but not many of my photos end up in black and white.
I’m not sure why – I do really like monochrome images, and it’s an instant way to make almost any shot look more ‘arty’. Maybe that’s the problem: somehow it feels as if I’m hiding something – not capturing the beauty inherent in the world sufficiently well in colour, so I have to do something artificial – turn on the ‘arty’ switch to make it a bit more pretentious…
This is, of course, rubbish. Our eyes are more sensitive, in most ways, to brightness than they are to colour, and you could argue, therefore, that you are capturing the essence of a scene with fewer distractions if you do so in monochrome. It doesn’t bother me that I’m only capturing it in 2D. Why should I hesitate when it comes to discarding another dimension? Perhaps it’s really that I’m not very good at it! I wonder, though… If Ansel Adams and Henri Cartier-Bresson could have worked in accurate colour from the start, would they have done so? And would there then be such a strong tradition of black and white in art photography?
Now, from very early on, digital cameras have had various ‘modes’ into which you can switch them to get different effects. Serious photographers avoid these, preferring to capture as pure an image as possible and do any manipulation later ‘in post’, where you have a great deal more choice and control than you do on the camera. In particular, the option to take pictures in a ‘black and white’ mode seemed very silly to me from the moment it appeared on my very first digital camera. Why throw away data as soon as you take the photo, and deny yourself the chance of changing your mind and using colour?
My main current camera is a Lumix GH2, and I’ve been enjoying combining this bit of high-tech kit, via an adaptor, with the old 50mm Olympus Zuiko lens I had as a teenager. (It’s a nice side-benefit of the micro-four-thirds format that you can find adaptors for all sorts of lenses.) Anyway, this retro, all-manual operation set me thinking about such things again today, and I realised that something fundamental had changed since my first rejection of such frivolities as black-and-white mode…
I now shoot everything in RAW.
What this means is that all the data actually captured by the sensor is saved, regardless of any manipulations the camera may have been told to make at the time. So, I tried switching on the black and white mode for the first time, and found it quite an interesting experience, because the LCD viewfinder then shows you, as you’re composing the shot, roughly what your image would look like if you chose to keep it in black and white. This makes you look at the scene in a different way, think more about contrast than colour, without committing you to B&W as the final output. (Unlike the new Leica Monocchrome: for a little over £6000 you can get a camera that only shoots black and white.) It was a grey, overcast day today, so not very exciting lighting conditions, but I may experiment more with this in future.
It is also, I think, quite fun that only digital cameras can do this: only now can you get a preview, as you’re shooting, of the results you would have had to get before there was even colour film! | <urn:uuid:6cbfc623-0470-47e0-9ffe-68cc37fc565c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.statusq.org/archives/2012/05/ | 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 | 0.963934 | 762 | 1.523438 | 2 |
April is Child Abuse Prevention Month.
According to the federal government’s Administration for Children and Families, in 2009, more than 3 million children were reported as potential victims of maltreatment. This is despite significant declines in the numbers of substantiated child-abuse cases – declines in excess of 50 percent in the last two decades.
During 2009, there were an average of five children a day identified as fatal victims of maltreatment in the United States. That is not acceptable. Moreover, child maltreatment is preventable.
Child maltreatment includes physical abuse, physical neglect, verbal abuse, emotional abuse and sexual abuse. Some child victims are subjected to more than one type of abuse.
Child maltreatment is most commonly suffered at the hands of a family member, including a parent, sibling, relative or another member of the household.
There are a host of factors – internal and external – that contribute to child maltreatment. Many abusers were themselves abused as children and/or suffer from violence or physical intimidation as adults.
Abuse can exist in an environment corrupted by physical violence, such as in the context of domestic violence. Abuse may be even be justified by the perpetrator as an acceptable form of discipline. To be clear, while not all forms of physical discipline rise to the level of abuse, it is never appropriate to hit a child.
Social factors can also influence child maltreatment. Child neglect – defined as absence of sufficient nurturance or access to adequate clothing, nutrition, medical care, education or shelter to meet a child’s basic needs – may result from parental alcohol or drug abuse.
Alcohol also lowers inhibitions, leading to otherwise unintended abusive behaviors. Certain drugs such as methamphetamine may produce irritability or unstable behaviors during intoxication, and apathy thereafter.
Untreated mental illness among child caregivers may contribute to neglect or abuse, particularly when poor coping mechanisms are compounded by social stressors.
A parent’s financial, job and relationship stressors may lead to anger and frustration and result in a volatile home environment where there is less tolerance of otherwise normal child behaviors. Children with developmental or behavioral disorders are especially at risk in a home environment made more stressful by lack of stability and characterized by poor coping mechanisms.
Prevention includes interventions at both the community and individual level. Communities in which child and family-support programs collaborate can build a network of advocacy for both parent and child well-being. Schools, spiritual organizations and community groups (such as our local Family Center and Boys & Girls Club) can all play a role.
Recent federal legislation will expand long-term intervention programs for individual families such as home visitation by trained professionals.
Meanwhile, we must all play a role to stop child maltreatment in our community. Many child advocates such as medical providers and teachers are mandated to report cases of suspected abuse.
There is also support for caregivers amid of crisis through the toll-free National Parent Hotline at (855)-4A-PARENT or online at nationalparenthotline.com.
Dr. Matthew A. Clark is a board-certified physician in internal medicine and pediatrics practicing at the Ute Mountain Health Center in Towaoc. | <urn:uuid:7b400ced-c6b5-4a65-8ffb-06cd8cab38b0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.durangoherald.com/article/20120416/COLUMNISTS16/704169991/0/Sports05 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94588 | 646 | 3.765625 | 4 |
There is a Polish expression: Błogosławiony dom w którym pająki są, which roughly translates to: God blesses the home with a spiderweb in it.
Or something like that.
That expression there is the crux of the pajaki (prounounced Pie-Yonky). Pajakis are a traditional Polish folk art made to look like elaborate spiderwebs. The literal translation is spiders of straw. To you or me they look like paper chandeliers, but to spiders, apparently they look like big glitzy condominium. So, my dining room is like Las Vegas for arachnids. Who knew?
Okay, I know what you are thinking; Spiderwebs at Christmas? Seriously? That’s sort of gross. You want me to put a web in my house for real?
For one thing, The Baby Jesus liked spiders. So there. And, in fact, tinsel is symbolic of the spiderweb that protected Mary and Jesus from Herod in a cave one scary night (read more about this according to The Gospel of Matthew).
And for another thing, Dude, spiders are lucky. And not just at Christmas. And spiderwebs are even luckier. If you find an abandoned spiderweb intact, you are Go-Buy-A-Lotto-Ticket lucky. But— and listen here because this part is important—if you tear, damage, or remove a spiderweb in any way, you will not have good luck. Getting rid of spiderwebs is very bad joojoo. Very bad. I once saw a neighbor woman clean spiderwebs off her garage door and the very next day she was in a car accident. I’m not even kidding. She was fine but the car was wrecked and it all could have been prevented had she just left that spider alone to live in peace in his web. This is why people are scared of them – spiders will take you down to Chinatown if you mess with them.
In conclusion: be nice to spiders. Not just because it's bad joojoo, but because it's what Jesus would do.
|Spiders and Christmas trees go together. Believe it!|
If you did not notice, I have strong opinions about all things superstitious. Old, new, whatever. I make them up as I see fit. Don't pay attention to me. I also think it is unlucky to let the phone ring four times or to open a bag of potato chips with a ragged edge. I can’t sleep without rubbing my feet together for good luck. I have issues. It’s because I’m Polish. Not really. I mean yes, I am part Polish but that’s not why I have issues. Should we start talking about the craft now? Okay. Here we go…
I made this on the fly so exact quantities here are not listed. The good news is that with the exception of the circle base, I didn't purchase any special items for this project. All in, this pajaki cost me exactly $1 to make. My prababcia would be so proud!
- 150ish 2” lengths of drinking straws. I used thin red coffee straws, but any plastic or paper straw would work. Traditional pajakis would be assembled using straws taken from the hollow shafts of rye grass.
- 150ish paper circles cut from sturdy paper. I used the scraps of a previous project that used card stock. I also added some circles cut from tissue paper and wax paper, but I used those to double up on the sturdier stuff. You could also skip circles and make geometric shapes or flowers or something fun. In retrospect, circles seem a little boring now.
- 1 lightweight wire circle. I went to the thrift store and bought an 18” paper lampshade for $1, then tore off all the paper. You could use a wreath form, a hula hoop, or maybe something from the garden center. Whatever it is, just make sure it lays in a perfectly flat circle. You could make your own out of a coat hanger or something but if it’s even a teensy bit off, it will throw off the balance of the final piece. So beware the non-symmetrical circle.
- Bias tape, ribbon, or twine. If you use ribbon, make sure it is thin and flexible (satin would work better than grosgrain).
- One thick needle and strong thread. I used dental floss. Upholstery thread would be fine.
- One pipe cleaner.
- Accent flowers. I made mine from coffee filter flowers I had leftover from easter. You could use fiesta flowers made from tissue, or cupcake liners, or just buy some silk flowers at the dollar store. Anything lightweight will work.
Spiders and chains is the name for traditional Polish Christmas garland and is a forerunner to the paper chains we all made in kindergarten. In this case, it provides the basic framework for the pajaki. I am making mine by alternating small circles (spiders) and straws (chains). I made ten lengths or roughly 60” each. If your ceilings are not so tall, you might want to cut that back a bit.
1. After finishing ten lengths of garland, I tied them all to a single pipe cleaner and wrapped it around the bottom of my chandelier. If you don’t have a chandelier hanging around, put a thumbtack at the top of the doorway or something. Do whatever you need to do to get them hanging upright. 2. Wrap the ribbon around the wire circle as tightly as possible. Secure with a dab of glue or knot in place accordingly. 3. Cut ribbons into 3” lengths and tie one to each garland in the same spot.
Moving one at a time, tie the 3” lengths of ribbon around the hoop. Skip from side to side with each knot. If you can imagine the wire circle was the face of a clock, start at 12, then skip to 6, then 3, then 9, then 1, and so on…. Does that make sense? I hope so.
The base is done! Now it’s time to embellish with flowers. I cut my flowers from pre-dyed coffee filters left over from other projects, plus a couple of cupcake liners stapled together (see here for more). You could use tissue paper or wrapping paper, or whatever you want. You could even go to the dollar store and buy a bunch of fake flowers. Your call, just make sure they are lightweight.
This Christmas, I hung my pajaki around an existing pendant light in my dining room by wrapping the pipe cleaner around point where the hanging wire meets the ceiling cap. It held just fine but I covered it with a thin strip of duct tape just be sure. If this were going to hang for more than a few weeks I would probably figure a way to cover the bare bulb, but for now I’m OK with it. Maybe next year I’ll come up with a better plan. For now, it’s a lovely mobile.
It's strange how something can look like Christmas and sunflowers at the same time.
Wesołych Świąt Bożego Narodzenia i Szczęśliwego Nowego Roku! | <urn:uuid:faab2f96-c42e-4f68-8c4e-2176d122d6fc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.auntpeaches.com/2012/12/the-pajaki-has-landed.html | 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 | 0.940503 | 1,575 | 1.898438 | 2 |
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superslim isGreat for any age.
One of many thoughts getting acceptance is the fact human beings usually are not damaged by default, which a thing about our diet regime causes our body for getting overweight (and sooner or later ill). Specifically what causes it really is not known, but huge doses of wheat, fructose and Omega-6 poly-unsaturated fat together with remarkably processed food items happen to be fingered because the culprits. Paleo dieters keep away from these items (and contact them Neolithic Brokers of Ailment :-) ) plus the body returns to your additional all-natural equilibrium.. Cardio ActivityAerobic pursuits these as jogging, swimming, and biking all boost respiration and coronary heart level. These pursuits make improvements to cardiovascular health and stamina. The NIH implies that folks do two to a few several hours of cardio work out a week, and pursuits should be accomplished for no less than ten minutes at any given time. Wikipedia defines a intercourse diet regime as "a way of life which maximizes the health advantages of normal intercourse. It is far from a diet regime within the perception of the meals based system regimen, but colloqually one particular within the perception of the system intended to improve health."There is often a e-book referred to as "" by Kerry McCloskey which includes turned numerous heads as it 1st was produced in 2004. It introduces the public to 29 sexy exercises, sixty one sensual treats plus a whole new outlook on reconnecting along with your lover. WarningsThe Master Cleanser is just not only unsustainable and ineffective -- it is also dangerous. In his clinical profession, Burroughs was convicted of practising medicine with out a license, second-degree felony murder and illegal sale of most cancers treatments. These charges happened when one among Burroughs's individuals died even though utilizing the Master Cleanse. Consume h2o as an alternative. Enhance the quantity of fruits and veggies you try to eat. In accordance to Liebman and Hurley, within the January/February 2009 situation of "Nutrition Motion," veggies present only ten to fifty energy for each serving. When your fat reduction development would seem gradual, search out for carbs that may be sneaking their way unnoticed into your diet regime. Sugar can lurk within the most surprising locations these as ketchup, salad dressings, teriyaki and barbecue sauces. Look at out also for cornstarch, sugar or milk solids in lots of processed food items these as gravies, or sauces on frozen veggies. George's area SUPER SLIM POMEGRANATE WEIGHT LOSS CAPSULE on one of the operates the Callahan Group handles. Dave Callahan may be the proprietor from the enterprise. He is on the line from St. Didrex and Phendimetrazine will be the most outstanding fat burners. Phentermine is an additional tool for obesity administration. Preventing junk meals, eating healthy meals and ingesting a lot of h2o will be the things which might be beneficial to decrease superfluous fat. Men and women of religion may God recognizing about God that a different tale. The Pew Research Centre quizzed People in america on their own knowledge of faith. And hear to this: the highest scorers had been not the devout believers. Fortunately there are Food and drug administration approved fat reduction tablet solutions like Alli. That is a quite new nutritional health supplement to strike the load reduction scene. Once it popped up, people had been stoked and bottles of Alli had been flying from the cabinets of drugstores and tremendous shops wherever it really is routinely bought.
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The best SUPER SLIM DIET PILLS superslim i ever had. Great ! They may be fashion plus they start looking terrific ! rvadxxzq
A common question for a new HP Laptop Battery user is whether they should charge and discharge completly their batteries for the first time use. In a matter of fact, it's related to the "memory effect" concept. What's exactly the "memory effect"? It is a condition of reduced battery performance (and eventual failure) due to a battery only using those cells that are fully discharged and charged on a regular basis. Say in other words, if a NiCd or NiMH battery on a regular basis is only partially discharged before being recharged, it "forgets" that it has usable capacity to further discharge all the way down.
Will all the rechargeable batteries suffer from "memory effect"? Typically, a NiCd (nickel-cadmium) battery incorporates a "memory effect", each charge will be required before discharge, a breeze to work with, and soon was nickel-metal hydride battery (NiMH) replaced, NiMH not only did not "memory effect", but could make more per unit weight of 10% with the electricity. As a good news for us, No memory effect on lithium HP Pavilion dv6000 Battery, and as opposed to the NiMH per unit excess weight more power, the value twice as high versus NiMH. Within the same weight, this three kinds battery is 1:1.2:1.9 ratio.
Practically, the elimination of memory effect means there are strict norms and an operation process. On the other hand, improper operation would be counter-productive. For nickel-cadmium batteries, a good maintenance way is regular deep-discharge: use of every month (or 30 cycles) for a deep discharge (discharge to 1.0V / per session, foreigners call it exercise), usually use is to run out of battery or shutdown and other means can be used to ease the formation of memory effect, but this is not exercise, because the equipment (such as mobile phones) will not be used in 1.0V / per session before the shutdown, must be specialized equipment or line to complete this work Fortunately, many Ni-MH battery charger comes with this feature.
Since the memory effect will degrade the battery life(though the above-mentioned memory effect has been substantially reduced with the help of improvement of modern laptop battery technology), how we can aovid it? In general, the best way to avoid the memory effect is sufficient to power after the exhaustion. In general, there is a memory effect, just less than lithium nimh. while charging the battery to the notebook, avoid overly long, general control within 12 hours. As we know, every HP Pavilion dv2000 Battery has a stationary charge and discharge cycle for about 300-500 cycles. At this point, what we can do to prong the battery life is use the battery as much as possible to reduce the number. If it is not usually used in battery-powered, the user is preferably in the remaining 50% of the batteries removed and properly placed. In addition, the battery should be avoided in the case of a laptop with repeated power plug, this practise will do harm to the battery. hope it help.
A baby will always look good when well taken care of being
that he or she is not able to go shopping for their own outfits.
Apart from good food and health, a baby needs proper dressing so
as to look good in all ways. Most parents prefer that a baby gets
the best outfit and treatment before one looks at him or herself
in whatever way they might want to get themselves
Wholesale baby shoes are offered in variety of colors and sizes. Wholesale baby shoes are offered by suppliers who give them to wholesalers who then sell them to retailers. The wholesale baby shoes are offered and purchased in bulk and the prices vary depending on the quantity purchased. That can make you save much money to buy other things.
Wholesale Kids clothing are available in different types and
designs which are meant to meet the preferences of different
people. Wholesale kids clothing are much more
affordable and are only offered by the suppliers who hardly
determine the market prices but can easily be of great influence.
The more the quantity of the wholesale kids clothing the less the
Baby clothes for girls are strictly meant for female kids and are available in different sizes and designs. The baby clothes for girls are offered at different prices depending on the design and material used. There are companies that have been known for supplying the best quality for baby clothes for girls being that most clothes are not that genuine and might never last for long as expected by the consumer because some of them are deceived by outer looks.
Baby girl dresses are the other type of clothing for girls that are also much common. The baby girl dresses like most of the baby clothing come in different designs and sizes meant to meet the needs of the different customers. The baby girl dresses have also undergone tremendous changes as compared to the past years even though we still have different designs coming back to the market after several years of existence but that is a common trend in fashion.
I wanted to give everybody the heads up that the radio may be down for a week or more. If I can find a way to keep it up and running during the move I will do that. The website will still be going strong although I am not sure yet how much I will get to be online during the moving process. I will keep you all updated as much as possible! Wish me luck that everything goes smoothly so that I can get back to NGR as soon as possible!
I was dancing in the Naked Girls Night Club for the first Saturday night party!! I've added a whole bunch of new music to the playlist and you can hear it when you come party with me every Saturday night!! I'm also updating the night club all the time to make it better and better for all of my guests! I can't wait till you stop in one of these weekends!
Dancing to the song Touching Bases by King Felix in the Naked Girls Radio Night Club on Saturday Night!
When you join in the fun you can customize your avatar however you want! There are all kinds of hair styles, clothing choices, body art like piercings and tattoos, choice of shoes, eye color, makeup and more! I want to see you get down to the music! Hope you make it in real soon!
I will put up your pre-created banner graphic on my music related website which has well over 65,000 pages currently and a large following (thousands of fans and visitors) plus hundreds of members for one whole week for $5. If you need a graphic made for your business or promotional needs check out my other gigs! I am a graphic designer as well! I will give out the best placements on a first come first served basis! I will currently accept the following ad graphic sizes.. 728 x 90 pixels (horizontal), 160 x 600 pixel (vertical skyscraper ad zone), and a 250 x 300 pixel (horizontal rectangle). NO ADULT ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE!!!
I will place your graphic advertisement on the wall for a 30 second 3D virtual world video in the Naked Girls Radio virtual worlBy Naked Girls Radio
I will make a video using your company logo or ad using your high quality graphic and promote it for your company on the virtual wall in the Naked Girls Radio 3D virtual world for a 30 second video clip and promote it all over the web for $5. I will also send you a copy of your video for your own personal use! I can use either your own original royalty free music or music from one of the musicians from my radio station (just specify your favorite genre of music so I have an idea of what type of songs you might like).
I will play your company's pre-recorded advertisement of up to 30 seconds of audio in duration several times per day for TWO WEEKS!!! Time of day your ad will be played depends on the content of your ad. Any ads of a mature nature will only be played at night time in the USA for example.
I will make you a static banner ad for your advertising campaign with the photos and artwork that you decide! I will create your choice of one of the following banner styles: static 728 x 90 leaderboard, static 300 x 250 rectangle, or static 160 x 600 vertical skyscraper.
But I'm Not
Six Feet Underground
I Can Dance
But Can't Get Down
'Cuz I'm All
Wrapped Up In The Cloud
I Can Speak
But Ain't Got No Tongue
'Cuz Only Men
Can Be Well-Hung
I Am Here
But I'm Not There
You'd See Me Better
If You Knew Where
I Must Get Goin'
And Come 'Round To Be
'Cuz Y'all Done Told Me
What I Can't See
"Bound To Be" written by Sandra LONDON on Tuesday, January 8th, 2013 at 11:35PM Pacific Standard Time
Download and have fun in the virtual world absolutely free (no strings)! If you LOVE it then upgrade to one of our membership packages to unlock more areas of the NGR 3D Virtual World!!Basic Membership Upgrade Includes Access to the Naked Girls Radio 3D Virtual Lobby, Back Yard, and Night Club for an entire month!! Party with your friends, chat and listen to all of your favorite Naked Girls Radio music streaming live!! Create your own customizable avatar that looks just like you and explore our 3D Virtual world!!
*Customize your avatar to be whoever you want.
*Create your own Virtual World
*Meet real people to chat and party with
*Play casino games for v and win virtual Chips
*Attend hundreds of events, meet and mingle with people like you Premium Membership Upgrade Includes Access to the Naked Girls Radio 3D Virtual Lobby, Back Yard, Night Club, Radio Studio and VIP room for an entire month!! Party with your friends, chat and listen to all of your favorite Naked Girls Radio music streaming live!! Create your own customizable avatar that looks just like you and explore our 3D Virtual world!!
*Customize your avatar to be whoever you want.
*Create your own Virtual World
*Meet real people to chat and party with
*Play casino games for v and win virtual Chips
*Attend hundreds of events, meet and mingle with people like you
Minimum System Requirements for Running Naked Girls Radio 3D Virtual World Software
Processer / CPU - Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Equivalent
Operating System - Windows 7 / Vista / XP
RAM - 2 GB
Hard Disk Installation - 3 GB (the total installation is around 1GB but we require additional space to decompress the files during installation)
DirectX - DirectX® version 9.0c
Video Card - Geforce 6 or higher. With 128 MB recommended.
Please check out this wiki for more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Nvidia_graphics_processing_units
Sound Card - DirectX® 9 certified sound card
Connection - Multiplayer via Internet DSL or Cable High Speed Internet DSL or Cable High Speed Internet
Netbooks - We cannot support any kind of Netbook setup, as these types of latops do not meet our minimum requirements for RAM and processing ability.
Note - These are our recommended minimum requirements for running the Utherverse client successfully. Meeting these standards does not necessarily guarantee that the client will work on your system as other software applications or hardware may affect the performance of your system in an undesired way. These just means the client is compatible with your system.
Satellite / Wireless Connections - These kinds of connections are inherently unstable, and cannot be relied upon to provide the steady connection that is necessary to maintain your online status in the game. If the connection drops or fluctuates for a few seconds, it may disconnect you. Unfortunately those kinds of fluctuations are normal and due not affect regular web browsing or downloading. Due to this issue we cannot always ensure the game will work with wireless and / or satellite connections.
Would you love to have a room of your own connected to the Naked Girls Radio 3D Virtual World where you and your friends can get together, chat, and party online? Log in and click on a property thumbnail below to take a 3D Virtual Tour of each room and then rent the one that you love the most! When you rent out your favorite virtual property or properties from Naked Girls Radio you get full creative control to decorate your 3D virtual space to fit your personal needs, tastes, and desires! Hang out, party and chat with your friends in your place and add additional rooms to build and expand your very own virtual reality world!
The creative potential and artistic possibilities are endless when you begin building your own 3D virtual world! Add as many virtual properties as you would like to expand your space. You can even rent outdoor areas like parks and streets with virtual store fronts. Learn to make money by leasing out your own doors or opening your very own 3D virtual business! Maybe you would like to build your own 3D virtual hotel or business center filled with office space. Maybe a mall is more your style or even a bar, night club or other venue where people can get together and party or throw a musical event or networking conference. Learn to make real money with your business venture! Charge a cover charge to the members of your own virtual properties and the work you've done can really pay off! Give it a try and see how exciting the 3D virtual reality world can be! | <urn:uuid:6f020b60-9284-40b5-a000-b9fa03e4c090> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nakedgirlsradio.com/magazine.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935075 | 3,646 | 1.890625 | 2 |
With “Balenciaga: Spanish Master” opening in mid-November at the Queen Sofia Spanish Institute in Manhattan, a new edition of Diana Vreeland’s “Allure” seems strangely well-timed. The first edition appeared in 1980, when Vreeland was special consultant to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she organized costume shows of Balenciaga and Yves Saint Laurent, among other legends. She worked on “Allure” with Christopher Hemphill, a process that took three years as Vreeland sought the elusive quality of personality in images of celebrities and models, in their gestures and sometimes violent expressions — a special condition for pictures of Maria Callas — and Mr. Hemphill did his best to oblige her. He recorded their conversations as they went along.
In the original foreword, Mr. Hemphill wrote: “I went through archives going back to the beginnings of the century. Mrs. Vreeland often emphasized that we were only re-editing other people’s editing, but in our working and reworking of the material, it became our own.”
Looking at the new, weighty edition (Chronicle Books, $35), with an additional foreword by Marc Jacobs, I am struck by how well the choices hold up 30 years later. Among the opening images are those of the coronation of King George V in 1911. Even if one doesn’t know about Vreeland’s fascination with military pomp, one would know that the precision of the ceremony — the lines of horses and soldiers, the palace gates — held allure for Vreeland beyond the actual occasion. “I don’t want to sound like someone who remembers 1911 that clearly,” she wrote. “But, of course, one’s childhood memories remain the most vivid. And I was born in Paris at such an extraordinary time. I saw the whole beginning of the century.”
“Beyond Fashion” — that was Mr. Hemphill’s suggestion for the title. In a way, those words perfectly encompass the spirit of what he and Vreeland were after, an idea that became clear only with time. You see this arresting but indefinable quality in Carl Van Vechten’s portrait (1958) of a dreamily somber Gloria Vanderbilt, in a picture of droopy-eyed Gen. Charles de Gaulle lighting a cigarette (1945), and in one of Callas baring her teeth at a process server. There are plenty of fashion photographs in “Allure,” like one of a model wrapped in Mongolian lamb, as well as the great Paris images of Irving Penn. But it’s the choices of the two collaborators that ultimately engage the reader — even if we are sometimes repulsed by them. That is what Mr. Jacobs zeroed in on in his essay.
“We have tried to impart the immediacy of our adventure,” Mr. Hemphill wrote. What would Vreeland make of the Internet? Or of a site like Polyvore, with its independent, self-styled editors? Can fashion editors today make that kind of difference? And if allure isn’t the compelling, hard-to-define quality of a consuming age, what would it be? | <urn:uuid:b0e05e61-c5d0-45f7-ad09-05288202e547> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://runway.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/28/the-eye-of-mrs-vreeland/?ref=fashion | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965262 | 702 | 1.515625 | 2 |
The CNET test cats don't lead very secret lives, mostly because they are indoors and easily located at any time (usually snoozing on a lap near the computer).
Other felines, however, are footloose and fancy-free. They step outside in the morning and don't show up again until supper time. Where do they go? What do they do? Researchers in England set about trying to answer those questions.
BBC Two's Horizon program and the Royal Veterinary College followed 50 cats in a Surrey village with GPS and micro-cameras. Cats were tracked over six different 24-hour periods to see where they went. A selection of 10 of the furry subjects can be viewed online, along with video clips of their activities.… Read more | <urn:uuid:396f97d6-0d58-4e1a-8228-fa0259d0c651> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cnettv.cnet.com/8300-5_53-0.html?keyword=bbc | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974421 | 155 | 1.90625 | 2 |
December 21, 1995
Web posted at: 4:50 p.m. EST
From Correspondent Al Hinman
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Catch your breath and loosen your belt, the holiday season has kitchens busy and mouths watering. It's literally the "holiday-after-holiday" season, from Thanksgiving through Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa, all the way to New Year's Day. And each one brings its own special traditions and tastes as families gather.
For Laurie and Michael Minardi, helping their children decorate the family Christmas tree is a treasured yearly event. Like so many others, the Minardis view Christmas as a time to share and enjoy the traditions that have been passed on from generation to generation. (77K AIFF sound or 77K WAV sound)
Whatever the holiday, and whatever the special food, this season also has a knack for bringing people together in the kitchen.
Joan Nathan says making gingerbread houses, with their sweet-sticky icing, gives her important "family time" with her children. The holiday the Nathans celebrate is Hanukkah. Some of the Nathan family's holiday traditions come from European Christmas origins, but they're now wrapped up in the spirit of Hanukkah.
In another kitchen preparing for another holiday, Janet Saboor gets some help as she prepares a traditional dish for Kwanzaa. Created just 30 years ago, Kwanzaa is a holiday still searching for, and creating, traditions. (85K AIFF sound or 85K WAV sound)
Kwanzaa's origins go back to centuries-old African folk traditions. Each candle lit during the weeklong celebration between Christmas and New Year's has a special meaning. In addition to the spiritual side of Kwanzaa, there's the fellowship of friends and families together, sharing their favorite foods.
No matter what traditions and tastes are celebrated in your household, remember that if this long holiday season has filled you up, well, that's what New Year's resolutions are for.
Copyright © 1995 Cable News Network, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive. | <urn:uuid:e9cbefd3-3b28-49f8-83a4-574aacb808a7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://edition.cnn.com/HEALTH/9512/holiday_traditions/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94157 | 456 | 2.109375 | 2 |
Although drug testing was not addressed, the topic of meal prices was. Hatfield explained last year the price had gone up 10 cents, and his recommendation was the same for the upcoming school year. The board approved a motion increasing all meal prices by 10 cents.
The cost for a kindergarten through eighth grade breakfast will be $1.20, ninth through 12th grade breakfast will be $1.45. The kindergarten through 8th grade lunch will now be $1.80 and ninth through 12th grade lunch is $1.95. The cost for an adult lunch also increased to $2.35.
-- To read the entire article online, please subscribe to the Planet's e-Edition -- | <urn:uuid:e2e08a8d-ae2f-4f42-a543-55b7c41f686f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.metropolisplanet.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Unit+One+OK-s+meal+price+increases+%20&id=19265294&instance=news | 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 | 0.969925 | 143 | 1.53125 | 2 |
The title pretty much says it all, I couldn't find in the Authentication doc much about the errors (other than the HTTP code will be 400)?
I've updated the documentation with a section about errors. This behavior is defined more by the OAuth 2.0 spec than by me, so it's naturally a little out of sync with the rest of the API. Authentication is also just... weird when compared to pure data queries.
The answer is, it depends. In no case during implicit authentication is a 400 possible, sine you don't actually query the API in a way where we can provide a response code (you're just redirecting users). There is one place in explicit auth where a 400 is possible.
In short, during a redirect an error will be reported by either
Number 1 will occur if the error that was encountered makes it impossible to identify the application (or if the application has been flagged as malicious). Basically, if we can't safely redirect then we don't.
Number 2 occurs in the majority of cases, exactly what the error was will be indicated by the
During the explicit flow, it's possible for an error to occur when POST'ing to | <urn:uuid:d8d6d27b-4510-4d7d-9a1f-f8f3006d6698> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://stackapps.com/questions/2845/what-are-the-possible-errors-returned-from-authentication | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950822 | 242 | 1.65625 | 2 |
The new Chandra finding shows that most of the energy released by matter falling toward a supermassive black hole is in the form of high-energy jets traveling at near the speed of light away from the black hole. This is an important step in understanding how such jets can be launched from magnetized disks of gas near the event horizon of a black hole.
"Just as with cars, it's critical to know the fuel efficiency of black holes," said lead author Steve Allen of the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology at Stanford University, and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. "Without this information, we cannot figure out what is going on under the hood, so to speak, or what the engine can do."
Allen and his team used Chandra to study nine supermassive black holes at the centers of elliptical galaxies. These black holes are relatively old and generate much less radiation than quasars, rapidly growing supermassive black holes seen in the early Universe. The surprise came when the Chandra results showed that these "quiet" black holes are all producing much more energy in jets of high-energy particles than in visible light or X-rays. These jets create huge bubbles, or cavities, in the hot gas in the galaxies.
The efficiency of the black hole energy-production was calculated in two steps: first Chandra images of the inner regions of the galaxies were used to estimate how much fuel is available for the black hole; then Chandra images were used to estimate the power required to produce the cavities.
"If a car was as fuel-efficient as these black holes, it could theoretically travel over a billion miles on a gallon of gas," said coauthor Christopher Reynolds of the University of Maryland, College Park.
New details are given about how black hole engines achieve this extreme efficiency. Some of the gas first attracted to the black holes may be blown away by the energetic activity before it gets too near the black hole, but a significant fraction must eventually approach the event horizon where it is used with high efficiency to power the jets. The study also implies that matter flows towards the black holes at a steady rate for several million years.
"These black holes are very efficient, but it also takes a very long time to refuel them," said Steve Allen who receives funding from the Office of Science of the Department of Energy.
This new study shows that black holes are green in another important way. The energy transferred to the hot gas by the jets should keep hot gas from cooling, thereby preventing billions of new stars from forming. This will place limits on the growth of the largest galaxies, and prevent galactic sprawl from taking over the neighborhood.
These results will appear in an upcoming issue of the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra program for the agency's Science Mission Directorate. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls science and flight operations from the Chandra X-ray Center, Cambridge, Mass.
Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 21 Feb 2009
Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:61c2d6f9-394f-4e4d-ae30-c0c099616bad> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://psychcentral.com/news/archives/2006-04/cxc-ncf042406.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943447 | 638 | 4.25 | 4 |
|by Sean O'Neill||Jamaica, Las Vegas, Innovations, Questions and Opinions||0|
Film critic Roger Ebert has called 3-D "a waste of a perfectly good dimension." But the success of Avatar has spawned renewed interest in technology that can show places in all of their glory. Now even travel companies are getting in on the act.
simulations of the Mirage, the Venetian, and other hotel-resort complexes on The
Strip. Is this the future of travel planning? (You don't need to wear special glasses to see the site. See a preview of it, below.)
•Jamaica is also making waves. Next January, the country's tourism board will debut 3-D commercials, aimed for cinemas and TVs that are equipped to screen 3-D. It's a tourism board first, says Tnooz, which reports that the ad includes images of the country's beaches and rainforests. You do need to wear special glasses to enjoy these ads.
See Vegas in 3-D in this YouTube video. Will the added sense of depth and action improve your travel-planning decisions?
MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL | <urn:uuid:daba496b-ac4e-4701-b66c-bb284150c3c1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.budgettravel.com/blog/new-trend-touring-destinations-in-3-d,11579/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93937 | 250 | 1.6875 | 2 |
LONDON – Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has said it has started manufacturing 64-Gbit NAND memory ICs using a 10-nm class process technology, that is with minimum geometries of somewhere between 10- and 19-nm. The chips are being sold within a 64-Gbyte embedded multimedia card (eMMC) that went into production last month, Samsung states.
The 10nm-class technology based NAND also is compatible with a 64-Gbit MLC NAND made using 2X-nm process, which Samsung started offering in May. However, the 1X-nm device improves manufacturing productivity by 30 percent, Samsung said.
The eMMC uses a high-speed interface with a 30 percent advantage in performance over the eMMC 4.5 interface. The new high-speed eMMC will be submitted to the industry standards body JEDEC, (Joint Electron Device Engineering Council) for adoption as an industry standard in 2013, Samsung said.
The 64-Gbyte eMMC Pro Class 2000 measures 11.5-mm by 13-mm, which represents a 20 percent reduction in size over the conventional embedded memory form factor of 12-mm by 16-mm. This should aid design-in in mobile applications where there is desire to move toward slimmer designs.
Related links and articles:
ISSCC preview: Revving ReRAMS, boosting memory bandwidth
Electronica: Micron memory to skip a node
NAND storage firm raises cash | <urn:uuid:a05e5174-604c-4a8e-a7bc-36b9f0bbb3cf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eetimes.com/design/memory-design/4401791/Samsung-takes-NAND-memory-below-20-nm?Ecosystem=microwave-rf-design | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.900683 | 310 | 1.867188 | 2 |
Visual Arts: Painting
In a world dominated by men and discrimination, she stood her grounds.
Born december 18, 1768 in Paris.
She studied under Jacques-Louis David and Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun.
She was the first western artist to depict an African person as the main subject matter in her famous painting “Portrait d’une Negress”. This painting was her way of acknowledging and approving the end of slavery and the emancipation of women.
(an Applaud to a woman who stood up for rights of ALL Men and Women—>very progressive.)
She died October 8, 1826. | <urn:uuid:941c79b5-7e6d-4e1c-955a-e72e1e8f5cf7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pavantgarden.com/2012/03/07/marie-benoist/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957344 | 133 | 3.3125 | 3 |
Last week's Sunday Standard repeated excerpts from Alexander McCall Smith's lovely interview in Time. There are so many people with so many opinions about Alexander McCall Smith. I think he's lovely. I think he's done wonderful things for Botswana and Batswana writers and other people in the arts. People complain that his books are too happy, that his settings and plots are simplistic and portray Batswana as simpletons. I don't know. Do Mr. Bean and Adrian Mole mean that all British people are silly, self-centred idiots? I don't think so. Fiction, people- isn't this why we all love it? We can make the world we want.
In the interview when McCall Smith is asked about this he says:
"Fiction is able to encompass books that are bleak and which dwell on the manifold and terrible problems of our times. But I don't think that all books need to have that particular focus. If you look at music, do we expect all composers to write dirges? The answer surely is no. There are many other emotions and moods which music can deal with or engage with. And similarly with art. With painting one would expect that there are some which are dark and gloomy and threatening and other paintings that are filed with light and optimism.
But when it comes to literature, there's this curious argument put forth by an extraordinary amount of people that fiction must always dwell on difficulties, and if you write about a situation without dealing with all the difficulties that are attendant on the particular time or place you're writing about, that you're somehow not doing your job as a writer. That seems to me to be an extraordinary argument. My Botswana books are positive, and I've never really sought to deny that. They are positive. They present a very positive picture of the country. And I think that that is perfectly defensible given that there is so much written about Africa which is entirely negative."
I never knew Alexander McCall Smith was born in Zimbabwe, I only learned it in this article. It makes me think a bit about Bessie Head. South Africa claims her as their own since she was born there and we claim her as ours since she wrote here. I wonder why Zimbabwe never tries to claim McCall Smith, or perhaps I've just never heard about it.
I was astounded to also learn that he writes four to five books a year. I also write quickly and often wonder if I'm not giving my writing the attention is deserves since I hear of people who take years to write a single novel that I could finish in less than six months. McCall Smith's take on his speedy writing?
"I use an analogy of which I have no actual knowledge — namely tightrope walking. I have never walked on a tightrope, and indeed know nothing about it. But I imagine that tightrope walkers don't actually look down while they're doing their thing, they look ahead, which is the sort of approach I take. If you look at what my commitments are, I'm doing either four or five books a year, which is breaking all the rules of publishing. And If I stop to think, "Well my goodness me, what am I going to do," I would fall off the rope." | <urn:uuid:383ea393-280b-4494-8b4f-264d1f993d54> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thoughtsfrombotswana.blogspot.com/2009/05/alexander-mccall-smith-in-time.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9881 | 672 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Office of University Communications
From Martha Mitchell’s Encyclopedia Brunoniana:
Kenerson, William H.
William Herbert Kenerson (1873-1966), was born in Fall River, Massachusetts, on December 9, 1873. He completed two years of high school and then through his own efforts prepared himself for college. In 1896 he was awarded the first M.E. degree from Brown. He earned a master of arts degree from Harvard in 1906. He began teaching at Brown immediately after graduation in a room on the top floor of University Hall. In an attic room above the drawing room, he began his research on metals with the help of a microscope borrowed from the biological laboratory. It was through his efforts that the Engineering Department, not always considered appropriate for a liberal arts college, survived and prospered at Brown. When the separate Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering and the course in electrical engineering were merged in a single division of engineering in 1916, Kenerson was named chairman, which he remained for twenty-five years. After retirement in 1941 he became executive secretary of the Division of Engineering and Industrial Research of the National Research Council, and was later appointed executive secretary of the Council and also of the National Academy of Sciences, the first to hold both positions at the same time.
In the Engineering Division Kenerson kept a stone statuette of Ganesha, the Indian elephant god, the “Lord of Obstacles.” He had found the statuette in the rubbish and rescued it to keep as a reminder to students that engineers are expected to overcome obstacles. In teaching thermodynamics, he told his students that the first law was that you can’t get something for nothing, and that the job of an engineer was “to make things work.” Two days before his death, when a hospital technician was having difficulty with an oxygen mechanism, Kenerson, who was thought to be in a coma, came to his own rescue and said, “Just hand it to me and I’ll fix it for you.” He could still “make things work.” He died in Providence on September 22, 1966, at the age of 92.
The above entry appears in Encyclopedia Brunoniana by Martha Mitchell, copyright ©1993 by the Brown University Library. It is used here by permission of the author and the University and may not be copied or further distributed without permission. | <urn:uuid:8b9b7da3-e360-4737-8b19-8fb8694d0772> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/Databases/Encyclopedia/search.php?serial=K0070 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983863 | 493 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Words by Mr Benjamin Seidler
When punk rocker Mr Sid Vicious sang, "Bury me in my leather jacket, jeans and motorcycle boots," he alluded to the uniform of the recklessly confident. Boots have had connotations with hard work and potent masculinity for centuries and have always suggested a sense of strength and purpose. You'll never feel as bold and brave as when braced in leather boots - a popular item in the new season's collections - and here is an edit of styles to choose from as you stomp stylishly into 2012.
FIVE BOOT FACTS
In 1965, a pair of rubber-soled boots saved Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards' life when he accidentally touched an unearthed microphone wire.
In 1967, deputy leader of the House of Lords, Lord Shackleton, allegedly returned from Aden, Yemen wearing a pair of locally made desert boots. He left for his next trip with orders from several government ministers, and thus the fashion for desert boots was reborn.
The Beatle boot is a tight-fitting, Cuban-heeled ankle boot with a sharp, pointed toe so named after being popularised by The Beatles.
Chelsea boots began life in the Victorian period as a form of riding boot before being adopted by mods, when they congregated in London's Chelsea neighbourhood in the 1960s.
Though commonly believed to have originated in Native America or Spain, the cowboy boot was influenced by a style famously worn by Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington. | <urn:uuid:6a524a63-d43d-4440-adc5-a9915510d5bf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mrporter.com/journal/journal/journal_issue47/2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962041 | 304 | 1.8125 | 2 |
:-) Nah, I`d probably end up like that Richard whatsisname from Seinfeld, screaming at the hecklers.
Actually, though, Steve`s right about it being the ratio of time period
to length of life. Added to that is the awareness of external events
and consequences. When we`re little, we tend to live much more in the
moment, savoring the minutes, extracting as much as possible from each
moment. So time moves along slowly because we`re not aware of time.
As we get older, instead of savoring that moment on the beach, we`re
thinking about what`ll happen when we get back from vacation, worrying
about the guy who`s trying to take our job, concerned about
outsourcing, mergers, and buy-outs. We`re thinking about a million
other things, all of which involve time units.
We could almost develop a formula, blending the two concepts.
(Time segment / (Biological Age * 365)) / (No. worries * Sum of Projected Time for each worry to take place)
Suppose I`m on the beach for 6 hours (.25 of a day), and I`m 54.
First, .25 / 19710 = .0001 of my life.
Then, say I worry about getting a job and that process will take 180 days.
.0001 / 180 = 0.0000006.
So instead of enjoying the beach for a quarter of a day, I`m actually enjoying the beach for 0.00006% of the day. See? Simple. | <urn:uuid:556fa4bd-c4a4-459b-8d95-7cc1d8524379> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.startupnation.com/Slowing-down-TIME--Is-it-possible/topic/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921076 | 335 | 1.960938 | 2 |
Senate to Consider Tax Credit for Bringing Jobs to U.S.
As President Barack Obama escalates his contention that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney supports policies that send jobs overseas, Senate Democrats want to advance a measure creating an incentive to bring jobs to the U.S.
The bill, sponsored by Michigan Democrat Debbie Stabenow, would give U.S. companies a 20 percent tax credit for the cost of moving jobs and investment to this country from overseas. It would deny companies a deduction for the expense of moving investment out of the U.S.
“We are now paying the cost of people who move jobs overseas as taxpayers, and people are appalled when they hear that,” Stabenow told reporters yesterday. A procedural vote on the measure is scheduled for tomorrow.
The nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that ending the deduction for moving operations overseas would raise $168 million over a decade, while the 10-year cost of the tax credit would be $255 million, meaning the measure would carry a net cost of $87 million over 10 years, said Stabenow spokesman Cullen Schwarz. Companies could continue to deduct moving expenses for jobs transferred to the U.S.
By comparison, the tax credit for rehabilitating historic structures -- one of the less expensive federal tax breaks -- costs the Treasury $2.9 billion over five years.
Stabenow and other Senate Democrats said today that they don’t think the ability to deduct moving costs is the sole reason companies move operations outside the country.
“It may not be the only thing,” she said, emphasizing the symbolic importance of the tax deduction. “It’s part of the equation overall about how serious we are” about generating domestic jobs.
Douglas A. Shackelford, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, said in an interview that “like all tax legislation” Stabenow’s proposal “probably is dead on arrival before the election.”
Senator Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican and Romney’s chief Senate supporter, said he wasn’t sure if he would support the measure.
“I don’t believe it will produce much in the way of results,” Blunt said. “You might wind up creating a lot of obstacles for businesses of all sizes to do business for no real gain.”
If the bill doesn’t advance, the vote would still have the effect of requiring Republicans “to answer the question as to whether outsourcing is an acceptable business practice,” Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, the chamber’s second-ranking Democrat, said in an interview.
In a Bloomberg National Poll conducted June 17-20, 78 percent of respondents cited U.S. companies investing in jobs overseas as a major reason why the unemployment rate hasn’t declined significantly in the past two or three years.
“It sells politically in certain places so I can certainly understand the political game,” Shackelford said, adding that decisions about whether to employ workers overseas were more complex than the outsourcing debate takes into account.
“It would be good if our political debate went beyond that level of crude assessment into more fundamental issues about how we can grow and expand our economy,” Shackelford said.
‘Make a Profit’
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said today that companies’ “goal should be to make a profit.”
“If your company boosts profits by sending jobs overseas, that’s your right as a business owner,” Reid said. “American taxpayers shouldn’t subsidize your business decisions with outsourced jobs.”
Republicans on July 12 blocked a Democratic plan to provide tax breaks for hiring and capital investment in part because they were denied the chance to offer certain amendments.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce opposes Stabenow’s bill on grounds it would harm economic growth and U.S. companies’ competitiveness, and make the tax code more complex.
The outsourcing proposal is the latest example of the Senate’s majority Democrats coordinating their legislative calendar with Obama’s campaign themes.
Obama’s campaign released a television ad July 14 accusing Romney, a former Massachusetts governor and head of the private equity firm Bain Capital LLC, of “outsourcing” jobs and stashing his money in offshore accounts. The ad, set to Romney singing the song “America the Beautiful,” is scheduled to air in nine battleground states.
Campaigning in southwestern Ohio July 16, Obama told supporters that the U.S. doesn’t “need a president who wants to ship more jobs overseas.”
Romney shot back at Obama, accusing the president of ignoring the plight of middle-income Americans while rewarding campaign donors with federal dollars that led to the outsourcing of U.S. jobs.
“This is a time when it’s good to be a friend of the Obama campaign, because you might be able to get some money for your business,” Romney said in Jackson, Mississippi, at a July 16 event that raised $1.7 million for his campaign. “But it’s not so good to be middle class in America.”
Long before Obama and Romney began sparring over the outsourcing issue, congressional Democrats have sought tax incentives for companies to create jobs in the U.S. instead of overseas. In September 2010, a similar Democratic proposal had no support from Republicans and fell short of the 60 votes needed to advance in the Senate.
To contact the reporter on this story: Kathleen Hunter in Washington at firstname.lastname@example.org
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jodi Schneider at email@example.com
Bloomberg moderates all comments. Comments that are abusive or off-topic will not be posted to the site. Excessively long comments may be moderated as well. Bloomberg cannot facilitate requests to remove comments or explain individual moderation decisions. | <urn:uuid:79302e26-e96a-4045-a250-ee7690f4f754> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-17/senate-to-consider-tax-credit-for-bringing-jobs-to-u-s-.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951594 | 1,275 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Find a Physician
When you search for a physician, your results will appear right in this area after you click the "SEARCH" button on the bottom of the search form on the left. You can click "view complete profile" for more information on a particular physician, then call to make an appointment or speak with that doctor's office.
SEARCH BY NAME
Use this if you know the doctor's last name that you are trying to find. Start by typing the first couple of letters of the first or last name, and you'll see names appear.
SEARCH BY SPECIALTY, CONDITION or TREATMENT
Use this if you want to find the right physician based on their area of expertise, whether it's a particular field like Geriatric Medicine, a condition like Diabetes, or a treatment like knee surgery.
SEARCH BY LOCATION
Use this to find the nearest doctor's office by typing in your zip code. The doctors closest to you will appear at the top of the search results.
You can search in more than one way, such as by location and condition. If you aren't getting the results you are seeking, try simplifying your search or just typing the first few letters. Using the filters beneath the three main methods of searching can also help refine your results.
Please report any inaccuracies here. | <urn:uuid:d56c77d4-fc89-4e8d-860a-5b0538821c98> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.unmcphysicians.com/doctors.aspx?id=15 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920359 | 274 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Libraries throughout the Four County Library System offer a free digital books service. If you have a device, and want to learn more about it and how to use our service, take a class here at the library. Librarian Sarah Livingston will offer classes to help you learn more about your reader and the free service.
For this hands -n workshop, participants should bring their laptop and be able to connect to a wireless Internet connection. The class will focus on laptop users, but anyone interested in learning may attend. Kindle class attendees do not need a laptop, but may bring their own if they prefer. Basic buttons and menus on your device will also be covered.
Please sign up for one time slot. Classes are approximately 1 to 1½ hours long and registration is required. Call the library at 432-1980 or sign up in person for these classes. The schedule is as follows:
Audio Books: 9:30 a.m. Nov. 27 or 2 p.m. Nov. 29.
Non-Kindle Format: 2 p.m. Nov. 27; 10 a.m. Nov. 28; 4 p.m. Nov. 29.
Kindle Format: 11 a.m. Nov. 27; 4 p.m. Nov. 28; 10 a.m. to Nov. 29.
Sleeping Beauty is a well-known fairytale loved by children and adults. Maja Dusikova is the illustrator of a newly released version. “Sleeping Beauty” is a story to be read aloud for the whole family to share. The illustrator shows cut away views of the castle and you be able to see numerous rooms and what everyone is doing it once. A beautiful version of the story.
Local author Suzanne Bloom has now written “Oh! What a Surprise!” Goose, Bear, and Fox are all friends. When Fox sees Goose and Bear making gifts, he automatically thinks the gift is for him. Both the gifts are too big, so are they really for Fox? Should Fox have a gift ready too?
Astronaut Mark Kelly has written a children’s picture book called “Mousetronaut.” Meteor is a hard-working mouse and really wants to fly into space with the astronauts. He’s too little, but one day he finally gets his chance. When they are in space it’s the power of small that helps save the mission.
Noni the Pony is friendly and funny. She is friends with Dave Dog and Coco the Cat. You are invited to come and play with the whole gang in “Noni the Pony” by Alison Lester. The rhyming story will have you traveling all over the countryside visiting different animals as they play one game after another.
Huntington Memorial Library will be closed next Thursday to observe Thanksgiving. Regular hours resume the following morning.
Library Hours: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Friday; 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday; closed Sunday.
Marie Bruni is director of Huntington Memorial Library in Oneonta. Her column appears in the community section of The Daily Star every Thursday. Her columns can be found online at www.thedailystar.com/librarycorner. | <urn:uuid:f2614fe3-8746-4765-b6d4-028339edbbae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thedailystar.com/community/x921314070/Learn-how-to-use-your-digital-book-reader | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935414 | 695 | 2 | 2 |
When it comes to labor laws, China is far more generous to the worker than the United States is.
Unlike those in the U.S., Chinese workers are entitled to vacation time, triple pay for work on holidays and limits on overtime hours.
When it comes to labor reality, however, China doesn’t enforce most of these statutes—and, in some cases, workers don’t even seem to care for the laws.
That is apparently why employees at Apple supplier Hon Hai Precision Industry in Shenzhen, China, have greeted proposed reforms with skepticism. Although Hon Hai is notorious for being a place of worker suicides, many of the workers there prefer to work long hours.
Why? Restrictions on overtime, if enforced, are good for factory workers who want to go home to their families each day. But very few in Shenzhen do that. Instead, they live in eight-people-to-a-room dormitories, far from home, with a strong determination to earn as much as possible, as quickly as possible.
“More than 15 workers on the Shenzhen campus said in interviews that they work more than the legal limit of nine overtime hours a week,” The Wall Street Journal reported today. “A majority said they work 10 to 15 overtime hours and would prefer more, having left their distant homes to make money in this southern Chinese boomtown on the border of Hong Kong.”
So how much should the state intervene in such matters?
As Peter Drucker pointed out, labor conditions a century ago would strike most of us today as ripe for government intervention. “One of the earliest laws to limit working hours for adult males—enacted in Austria in 1884—set the working day at 11 hours, six days a week,” Drucker noted in Managing in a Time of Great Change. “Industrial workers, in 1913, everywhere worked a minimum of 3,000 hours a year.”
At the same time, though, when these conditions changed it was in many cases due to factors separate from labor law. For instance, in the United State there are still no legal limits to overtime and no required vacation days, but blue-collar workers have far more leisure time (and, for now, higher wages) than workers in China.
In the past 100 or so years, “half of the expansion in wealth-producing capacity was used to create leisure time through cutting hours worked while steadily increasing pay,” Drucker wrote in The New Realities. “An American worker now puts in 1,800 hours a year compared with 3,300 hours in the early years of the [20th] century.”
Should leisure time be a matter of law, or should it up to custom and the labor market? | <urn:uuid:4adb5628-c285-4e9d-ac6a-65e6d465d527> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thedx.druckerinstitute.com/2012/12/the-right-to-work-and-work/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966919 | 574 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Did you know that wild violets are a great source of Vitamins A, C and calcium? The leaves and flowers are edible and have a very delicate taste. We love our lawn violets around here and gather them to crystalize, for teas and salads.
We gathered violets yesterday to make a wild violet sun tea. To make the tea you need to gather leaves and blossoms (preferably after the morning dew dries off the plants), then put them through a delicate wash. We bruised them up a bit and filled our sun tea bottle with the blossoms, leaves and filtered water. Then we placed the bottle in the sun to steep for the entire late morning and afternoon.
While the sun was doing its magic Fauna made a sugar syrup for our violet tea. We got the recipe from our new treasure of a book called "Cooking Fun," by Rae Grant. When our violet infusion was ready we strained out the greens and kept them to make a violet salad for lunch.
The violet tea was a very clear color. We added a bit of Fauna's sugar syrup to sweeten it up a bit.
The girls garnished their cups of tea with a violet blossom.
The ladies thought is would taste like water due to it's clear color, but it had a delicate earthy taste to it. Very refreshing and yummy on this very warm day!
Visit candied flowers to learn how to crystalize your violet blossoms. | <urn:uuid:3d7fc55c-1dfa-43b4-87fb-cf46e9b52bae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://5orangepotatoes.blogspot.com/2009/04/wild-violet-tea.html?showComment=1240843260000 | 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 | 0.964207 | 305 | 2.4375 | 2 |
The Republic of Moldova's 20th Birthday. The celebrations, organized by the Government of Chişinău, involved a military parade and a get together of the five Presidents elected in these last twenty years. The current picture is not the most positive: the country remains bogged down in the Transnistria territorial dispute and its European perspectives are still fragile
Last Saturday (27.08) the Republic of Moldova marked 20 years of independence from the collapse of the Soviet Union. The day started with an impressive military parade which cost the Government half a million Euro. Officials from the first Parliament and the current one got together in front of the monument to Ștefan cel Mare, Prince of Moldova between 1457 and 1504. After two decades of independence, Moldova continues to face various challenges. The poorest country of Europe failed to elect its President and remains a split country as a result of the secessionist conflict in Transnistria.
The first President's lesson
Despite Moldovan society being almost split in half, with 70% of the population wanting to join European Union and 50% in favour of developing a strategic partnership with Russia [a high number of the people interviewed supports both alternatives, editor's note], the celebration was a moment for reflection upon successes and mistakes. Prime Minister Vlad Filat organized a big concert to celebrate Independence Day and for the first time brought together all the 5 Presidents elected in the history of the Republic.
Since Independence Day, about 600.000 Moldovan citizens have left their country for better lives. It is true that only during last year about 1,25 billion USD were transferred to families and relatives as remittances, which is the equivalent of the State's yearly budget. Mircea Snegur, the first president of the Republic of Moldova said that Moldovans should love their country and make sacrifices for the sake of its future prosperity.
After 8 years of Communist Party rule, the current Parliament succeeded to have a democratic majority but has failed to elect a President. The opposition Communist Party is hostile to any candidate from the Alliance for European Integration. This political challenge has been going on for more than two years and it is most likely that the scenario will be the same at the end of this year. During the presidency of Petru Lucinschi, Moldova became a parliamentarian State. Now Lucinschi himself says it is time that Moldova changed its election law in order to have a system in which 30% of seats would be allocated proportionally at the country level whereas the rest of the MPs would represent the 32 districts.
Independent with identity crisis
20 years since independence, the Republic of Moldova continues to face an identity crisis. Vladimir Voronin, the third President of Moldova and the current leader of the Communist Party has raised some of the identity issues. Part of the population identifies itself as Romanian and the other as Moldovan. Voronin said that a divided society does not do justice to democracy: “It is a threat to the independence of our country”. Voronin proposes a national project uniting all citizens and in which the Communist Party would also play a role.
In 1994, the Constitution was marked by a significant change: the national language changed from “Romanian” to “Moldovan”. Later in 2006, during Communist rule, in the schools the history of Romania became 'integrated history', with exclusive reference to the Province of Bessarabia (which corresponds, approximately, to the current Republic of Moldova), and this provoked mass protests on the streets. Mihai Ghimpu, the Acting President in 2010, tried to remind people that the decision for changing the Romanian history and language had actually been taken in order to consolidate the new Moldovan identity. “We are and will stay Romanians. People of all Romanian provinces, Moldova, Muntenia, Transislvania, speak the same language, Romanian. For 20 years we promoted a false identity and that is why we became the poorest country of Europe”, added Ghimpu.
Independent to become European
20 years of crisis and transition has lessons for the political class to draw upon. At least, for the current President, Marian Lupu, the lesson that Moldovans need to learn is to be united, regardless of language or identity. "This is the country I want to see. We managed to build a State consciousness, this is a great achievement. Moldova is not a temporary project, and it is not an intermediate stage, it is a State. Regardless of the Russian, Romanina, Gagauz, Ukrainian, or Bulgarian identities, we are all Moldovans and this is the way to join the EU".
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Iurie Leanca, said to journalists it is too early for Moldova to submit a request to become an associate member of the EU: "One cannot only make speeches about values and principles, these need to be put into practice." Leanca, with optimism, believes that Moldova will succeed in getting visa liberalization and a free trade agreement with the European Union. In the last two years, only, the democratic Government of Chişinău managed to launch a whole series of reforms aimed at bringing Moldova closer to the EU.
In between independence and a territorial conflict
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Moldova has been marked by a secessionist conflict. Just two days before Moldova signed its declaration of independence, Transnistria, a region previously under the Ukraine and now supported by the Russian Federation auto proclaimed its own independence. Since then, neither armed conflict nor diplomatic talks helped reunify the territory. The diplomatic representative of Transnistria, Vladimir Iastrebceak, defined the 20th Moldovan Independence Day a formal anniversary: "In all these 20 years we have not felt that Moldova runs an independent policy. Most of the tensions come from the relationships between Chişinău and Bucharest. Moldova has not been able to choose between State interests and the West, and is thus not able to handle independence."
The Republic of Moldova, for centuries a Romanian or Russian Province, had never been an independent State. Prime Minister Vlad Filat says that the greatest achievement Moldova has reached is freedom, which is no easy thing. Since Romania became a member of the EU, many experts say Moldova has now the chance to stand firm on its own feet, and become a European country in its own right. | <urn:uuid:5c34e487-6c67-40a5-b914-c058fa096874> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.balcanicaucaso.org/eng/Regions-and-countries/Moldova/Moldova-twenty-years-of-independence-101977 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956176 | 1,339 | 2.28125 | 2 |